getting into. He continued still to pursue his wild career, and then they refused to support him in idleness any longer. Necessity compelled him to live in quiet, and to resume his books. His father threatened that if he did not pass his examination at the College of Surgeons before a certain day, that he would no longer own him as a son. That day was near at hand, and Johnson tried hard to make up for lost time. He was up early and late, reading, and repeating passages which he had learned by rote, from little books treating of medicine and surgery, and the connecting branches of science, as Pinnock's Catechisms treat of history and geography! "I'm devilish glad to see you back again, Arden," said he when I returned. "A fellow with his brain excited like mine, requires somebody to speak to in his leisure hours. You can't think what horrid thoughts have disturbed me all night! Don't go away again, until I have passed the College-there's a good fellow."

"Let us have breakfast, Johnson," said I, " for I'm abominably hungry."

"I'll ring the bell," said he, suiting the action to the word. "You can't tell how glad I am to see you back again-I must have somebody with me-I am not to be trusted by myself, for I more than half made up my mind last night to commit suicide!”

"If you talk to me in that way I'll break your head for you," I exclaimed, laughing, to divert his melancholy thoughts. "You have been at home too much lately-I'll treat you to the theatre to-night if you will come; I daresay Furnival will go with us."

"My dear fellow," he remonstrated, "I shall never pass the College, if I allow you to entice me out-I can't go indeed-stay here with me, and let Furnival come if he likes."

We sat down to breakfast, and Johnson entertained me with a description of the liver and its appendages, much to my annoyance; therefore before his account was ended, I put a cigar in my mouth, and walked to the Hospital, where I found Furnival.

"By all the wonders of the world, honest men and virtuous women included," he exclaimed, "what in the name of Sphinx brought you here to-day?"

"What would require no Edipus to explain," I replied; "I have left my situation already, and have got a fresh supply of the needful. What's going on in the dissecting room? I shall not go in to chemical lecture this morning."

"Boxing and fencing, talking and smoking."

"I am just in the humour to give you a turn with the gloves. By-the-by, I won two guineas last night with them; if I go on at this rate, I shall wear the belt. What an idea, that this is a place to study in!" I continued as we entered the dissecting room; "certainly there is one studious fellow amongst them, dissecting an eye in a cup of water-work delicate enough for a lady-and that little Jew counting the foramina in the base of the skull is another; but who would think that was our demonstrator, who is knocking Simons about with the gloves; a confoundedly powerful fellow he is!"

Yes," replied Tom. "By the voices of the wood and the forest, nightingales, and blackbirds, and throstles! what a sweet voice he has! Who would think such a tone came out of a chest as wide and as deep as his? There's a blow for you! By all the powers, horse power and steam power! Simons is down. Earth to earth and ashes to ashes."

What a scene was that! life and death mingled together-the remains of mortality melting away into nothingness, and the careless laugh, and the merry jest of the young and the strong, whose hearts were hardened to the horrid sights which failed even to remind them of one solemn reflection.

A large fire burnt merrily at one end of the room, welcome and cheering to the heart in that cold weather, while at the other end was suspended the cold, stern emblem of death, a well-bleached skeleton!

Two young men in masks were amusing themselves by fencing; the demonstrator, Mr. Fitzsparks, and Mr. Simons continued their boxing match; some others were jumping over the tables and stools, and two more were engaged in the laborious, but useless employment of throwing a heavy wooden stool at each other, and catching it before it reached the ground. In fact the place looked more like a gymnasium than a dissecting room.

"I say, Arden," said Tom, who was disputing with a fine handsome fellow named Oldham, and nephew to a member of Parliament; come here and settle this question. Mr. Oldham has been telling us that the blood that runs in his veins and arteries is some of the oldest and purest propelled by any heart in the kingdom."

"Yes," said Mr. Oldham, "and I say it is; my ancestor, Sir Firebrand Oldham, came into England with William the Conqueror, and lost his life in the Holy Land, fighting against the Saracens !"

"More fool he !" exclaimed Tom.

"This is his crest," continued Mr. Oldham, showing the engraving upon his signet ring; "A helmet with the visor downthe only thing he bequeathed to his family."

"A fool's cap," said Tom. "Nothing could have suited them better."

"What is the question that I am required to settle?" I inquired.

"Whether this is a fool's cap or a helmet," replied my friend. "I really don't see any difference-it entirely depends on the capacity of the wearer."

"That settles the matter at once," said Tom; "the helmet is a fool's cap."

"I deny it, Mr. Furnival," exclaimed Sir Firebrand's descendant, "it is a helmet."

After some further desultory conversation, I quitted the dissectg-rooms, being in no mood of mind to stay and witness any the anatomical operations.

THE BALTIC FLEET,

BY AN OLD MAN-O'-WAR'S MAN.

WITH A MAP.

THANKS to the Emperor of all the Russias, we shall soon have an opportunity of trying our Screws" and our "Moorsom shells," and so commence a new and important era in naval warfare. We have almost forgotten those glorious days when our tars wore "pigtails," drank rum instead of tea, sported silver buckles in their shoes, and, of course, minded shot no more than they did peas. Many alterations since then have taken place in the service; amongst others, a new mode of manning the navy, and the introduction of steam, as a motive power. Formerly we relied upon the press-gang and an iron discipline for raising men and making our force effective; but now that we are about to have a hug with the great Northern Bear, we have reversed our plan, and instead of issuing "Press Warrants," the Press warrants that fair wages shall be given to our seamen to man our ships and fight our guns. Of the two modes of raising men, FORCE and CHOICE, we have hitherto chiefly relied upon the first; we have now tried the last upon rather an extended scale-compulsion has given way to solicitation, and "Jack" now stands arms akimbo, makes his bargain with the nation, and selects his favourite ship, without the fear of the tyranny of the Pressgang.

If the new system of manning our fleets exhibits the social advance of the people, so does the application of the "Screw" attest the progress of science applied to warfare afloat. Liners under canvas, that once settled the fate of empires, are now considered "slow-coaches," without the aid of the modern auxiliary, and we are beginning to look forward with real (salt-water) sorrow to the day when the "white-bosom'd sail" will be numbered amongst the glorious visions of the past. Black grimy stokers supply the place of neat sail-trimmers and active topmen, and the opening and shutting of a valve gives and takes away the motion of a line of battle-ship; a few curt sentences, such as "Ease her," "Stop her," "Go-a-head," "Back her," cut short the labours of hundreds of men at the halyards, braces, bowlines, sheets, clewgarnets, and bunt-lines. The glorious tactics of the quarter-deck are past, and a stern, naked, uncanvassed rig has supplied the place of the swelling sail, with its intricate tracery of ropes, peopled with lithe and sinewy topmen. Our three-deckers have become floating bastions, and gunnery, murderous gunnery, has superseded the professional skill of the seaman, and land and sea artillerists now, one as good as another, man the side-tackles of our sixty-eight pounders.

This is evidently a period of transition, and consequently open to doubt and conjecture, but we have no fear about the result. A noble spirit has manifested itself amongst the maritime population, and although few men in the Baltic fleet, under fifty years of age, can have much experience in naval war (and the same must be said of our foe), yet who doubts that our blue jackets will fail to show the Russian serfs the difference between volunteers and pressed men? Besides, we have an earnest of what may be done, if we make the service palatable in the manning of the present fleet. It has been assembled in an incredible short period, and yet it is acknowledged to be the most efficient that ever floated upon any sea. We should have been laughed at, if, at Michaelmas last, we had talked about sending such a squadron to seal up the Baltic in the early part of Spring, and so put a "stopper over all," upon the designs of Russia, in that quarter. And yet Sir Charles has led the "Duke of Wellington," "Royal George," "St. Jean D'Acre," and a score more of his flock of "early lambs," to the Russian pastures, to get a nibble as soon as the ice melts. Then, this fleet has been manned in defiance of the attractions of a "run out to the gold fields," with unprecedented wages-manned too, without the aid(!) of the pressgang.

Whether we consider this mighty force in its new character as a "steam squadron"-the magnitude of the ships-the symmetry of their form-their prodigious broadside force-the rapidity with which it has been manned-and the deadly target practice of our "Excellent" seamen,-feelings of national pride arise at the reflection, that such daring specimens of human ingenuity and Titanic power should have been turned out of our dockyards. Without trespassing upon the discussion of political questions, we cannot be expected to be silent witnesses of this immense preparation for a naval struggle. We are deeply interested in this matter, so far, at least, as the character and conduct of British seamen are concerned; for we have no doubt, that a material change will be found to have taken place in them for the better since the last war. Those who remember that death-struggle for foreign mastery, must also recollect, that our naval arsenals were then full of men who had earned for themselves a world-wide reputation for invincible courage as well as reckless folly. Things are altered now: not that "Jack" has forfeited his character for indomitable and selfdenying heroism, but that his moral character has been greatly amended, during the peace, by legislative enactments adapted to his necessities, and, to some degree, by the general social improvement of the people.

What a jumble of press-gangs, "Nancy Dawsons," dram-shops, brothels, jolly Jacks, Jews, crimps, and fiddlers, the fitting out of a few ships of war brought together five-and-twenty years ago. But we hear and see little of these doings now. There is no pressgang; and though there may not be any sensible diminution in the number of "Benbows' Heads" and "Admiral Keppels," yet if "Jack" dances his hornpipe, it is done in an orderly way, and to the "genteelest of tunes.' Whatever the result may be in the

forthcoming struggle, it must be admitted by all those who have the welfare of our seamen at heart, that the alteration in their habits is as agreeable to witness as it is an evidence of their future comfort. Order, sobriety, and obedience, and the influence which these qualities exercise upon the conduct of men acting together in large bodies, cannot fail to render our tars more effective than they were when riot, drunkenness, and insubordination were their besetting sins. Admiral Chads, no mean authority, is of the same opinion; for he says, that "Jack's" target-practice is not impaired by having his eyes cleared of the vapours of the rum-bottle.

In the Royal Navy, under the new Regulations, a seaman obtains a pension for limited service as well as for long service. Then the victualling of the ships under the Crown insures food of good quality, while the quantity is abundant, and it is always well cooked, and the meals are eaten with regularity and cleanliness. Moreover, the navy admits and encourages every opportunity for the men to improve and qualify themselves for promotion; nor must it be forgotten, that the ratio of their share of prize money has been increased, and in the distribution the men in the higher ratings receive proportionally more than the unskilled. Compensation is allowed for loss of clothes or effects by shipwreck; the seaman has good medical attendance in sickness; support in Greenwich Hospital when crippled or worn out-where, indeed, his children are educated free of expense, and trained for any employment.

Considering the very important part that the "screw" is likely to perform in all future naval operations, a few brief allusions to the effect it has already had upon our resources for manning the navy will not be inappropriate. That steam has altered the character of our seamen no one can doubt, and, indeed, we generally overlook the fact, that important changes, all to be traced to this new motive power, have been silently undermining what were formerly considered " our resources" for manning the Navy.

Steam-boats alone have almost annihilated one of our greatest nurseries for seamen, which formerly existed in the coasting trade. The Scotch smacks, each with its twenty or thirty of the best seamen in the world, are gone. The sailing packets from Liverpool, Bristol, Glasgow, Weymouth, Southampton, Dover-in short from every port within the four seas-have been entirely superseded by steam. Railways again in bringing coals to London will ultimately destroy the collier trade. And what is offered to the nation in lieu of the men raised in these hazardous and hardy services? A steam-bred mariner, who is useful in hauling at a rope-can man a capstan bar-heave the lead-steer-who has a pair of sea legs-and a sea stomach; serviceable qualities as far as they go. But we look in vain for the men of experience, who manned our ships in the last war, men who in the midst of wind and storm could mount aloft, and if the ship was in difficulties, possessed the heads to plan, and the hands to extricate her from her perils. Still there yet remains abundant raw material for our use, if it is but properly "worked