CHAPTER XI 



THE PORTSMOUTH ROCKET 



Ambition — The Beetle — Loss of Caste — The Brighton Eoad — Box 

 Companions — A Naval Hero — Sporting Colonel — E. B. 

 Sheridan — New Friends — A Race — The Eesult — Fog — Sin- 

 gular Appearance — Talkative Companion — A Spill — Scene in 

 the Bere Forest — Unrewarded Friends — Experience — An 

 Exeat. 



Whatever the pliilosojDlier may imply, or however the 

 cynic may deride, it must be conceded that ambition 

 forms part of our existence ; it is wound up in all our 

 thoughts, words, and actions, and is as much the moving 

 power of those engaged in commercial pursuits, of 

 whatever grade, as it is of either of the liberal 

 professions. 



It Avould be a difficult matter to decide whether to 

 place it in the category of our virtues or our vices, for it 

 is an allurement both to the good and the bad, of every 

 age and nation. It is a deity that is worshipped alike by 

 the warrior and the priest — the statesman and the poet 

 — the lawyer and the doctor, in the higher sphere — the 

 mechanic and the merchant — the industrious and the 

 idle — the honest man and the thief, in the lower. 



All sacrifice at its shrine, all are eao:er alike to mount 

 its ladder, and all are subject by a false step to fall " e'en 



