4 



INTRODUCTION. 



nobling excitement of danger and of hardship that 

 our generous passions must be cherished, and our 

 youth led to emulate the Roman in patriotic thirst 

 for glory — the Spartan in devotion — their own ances- 

 tor, the more daring Scandinavian sea-king or rover 

 in adventurous valour. Without, however, seeking 

 the fight, yet in preparation for the perhaps not dis- 

 tant time, when we shall face another foe, it behoves 

 us, without any sickly sentimentality, to cherish our 

 warlike virtues—above all things to attend to what 

 must constitute " the field of our fame," Our Ma- 

 bine, and the material of its construction, Naval 

 Timber, 



* See App. C. 



