47 



" DOWN !" and still under the gentle fall of the 



whip : circle him a few times : " Now, what 



the djevil is all this tedious formality for ?" you 

 cry ; " why, we have a bird down, and we shall 



lose it." ***'* * you and the bird too, Sir! 



do not interrupt me ! otherwise I shall give you 

 the whip as well as him. I say, Sir, it is to 

 enforce command, and to create obedience : if 

 you do not produce this effect, you are fatiguing 

 yourself, and torturing your dog to no purpose, 

 or worse than none. It is only by thus solemnly 

 lecturing, that you can explain the full meaning 

 of all this flogging f. You may flog until your 



* I place these stars to occupy a blank, which I request 

 the reader to fill up with any word he likes best, most strongly 

 to express my just provocation at being interrupted in so 

 interesting a moment. If he should happen to fill it with 

 one which may shock the delicacy of his own ears, I beg to 

 say, that I do not hold myself amenable. Be that, however, 

 as it may, I do hope, before we part, he will be induced to 

 think that, even on this head, I have made him ample 

 amends. 



t There is an anecdote afloat in the navy, of an officer, 

 most deservedly of the highest rank in it, not long ago 

 deceased, which applies so well to this point of discipline, 

 that I beg permission for its introduction. He was a most 

 judicious disciplinarian, but somewhat too fond of his own 

 oratory ; which, upon every occasion of punishment on board 

 his ship, he never lost the opportunity of displaying in the form 

 of a preliminary lecture, generally bordering on the tedious. 

 It happened, one day, that a black sailor was brought to the 

 cangway, and stripped ready for the boatswain. The captain 



