of you; but if you will send to this office
certificates of your good temper and citizenship
of the world, I don't mind communicating
Madame Busque's address to you, in
strict confidence.

THE SAUCY ARETHUSA.

I WISH I were a naval genius! Why is this
my aspiration? Because I have passed the
morning of the very day on which I commit
these lines to the post for England, on board
of the Arethnsa.

I should like to relate the pleasant,
cheery, open-hearted sort of conversation
I have had on board the Arethusa, with as
fine and gallant a set of English gentlemen
as ever trod a plank. I hope the words
"trod a plank" are naval; if not I beg to
retract them and apologize.

I like to recall the talk of those young
men. There was something about it so
modest and unassuming, so courteous and
gentle, yet laughing and unrestrained, that I
could not help thinking what a proud
contrast they made to the youth of most other
nations. My patriotism seemed to kindle
afresh among those hearts of oak, and my
pride in old England to grow warmer.

The Arethusa was lying at anchor near
the arsenal of Constantinople. She was going
to Malta in a few hours for repairs: as she
had suffered severely on the seventeenth of
October, when the bombardment of Sebastopol
was commenced. She and the Albion,
I am told, were the vessels which stood
closest in against the Russian fortress. The
Arethusa was in action one hour and forty
minutes, during which time she fired fifty-
two rounds from each gun, and expended
more than ten tons of powder. She did noble
service, but she suffered severely. The explosion
of one shell only, killed two men and
wounded ten. The stain of blood is still on
the mast near which those two brave fellows
fell, and it tinges the deck beside it. Water
will not wash it out—will tears?

The men, I mean the men before the mast,
showed such true English pluck and spirit,
that when a shell exploded and wounded one
slightly, striking an officer near him sharply
on the leg, though without making a wound,
the tar merely hitched up his trousers, and
said quaintly to his officer, " That was a near
shave, sir." Even a British canary refused
to show the white feather when the cabin, in
which its cage was hung, caught fire from
the explosion of a shell, and it sang merrily
during the whole action. It was touching to
hear, in such simple language, how those
brave men, in the heat of battle, had cared
for the little bird and rescued it. I saw afterwards
a Russian cat an officer had saved
from a burning hay-rick! Any hearts so
fearless and gentle, so staunch and steady,
yet so tender, where shall we find?

Not even a battle lacks a funny story if one
goes to look for it. A lieutenant on board
the Albion was standing near the place where
a shell exploded. He was not wounded, but
his trousers appear to have had something
strangely attractive about them, for the frag-
ments were drawn towards them, and tore
them to ribands! They will become as
honourable an heirloom as a notched sword,
or a dented and battered shield. A sailor,
wounded in the leg on board the same ship,
looked at the shattered limb with the utmost
cheerfulness, and merely said, "Well, I can
stump about without ye, if they take the
other." A marine who lost an eye went
back to his duty without paying the least
attention to the circumstance. Another man
refused to be bound for an amputation. " Off
with un, sir," he said to the surgeon, "I
shan't hurt, if you don't." Unhappily, owing
to the cock-pit (I think they call it) having
been set apart for the wounded according to
ancient usage, the surgeon of the Albion was
the first man injured. There was only one
other medical man on board; and after the
action a great many of the sailors were found
wounded. "Why don't you go and get
your hurt dressed? " asked an officer of some
of them. " Ay ay, sir, time enough for us,"
replied the spokesman, " we arn't got nothing
particular, let him attend to them as has."
And so it seems that the acts of quiet heroism
and unselfishness before the mast were quite
equal to those of the officers, and that Englishmen,
whether gentle or simple, are marvellously
alike. Alike valiant and merciful—
alike heedful of another's pain—unfeeling
only for their own.

There was also a thing occurred on board
the Arethusa, which, two centuries ago,
would have been called a miracle. A shell
exploded and destroyed the whole of a partition
save where hung a portrait of the Queen,
about a foot square. It was pleasant to
notice the cordial good feeling among the
officers, and among the men and officers, on
board the ''saucy Arethusa." I thought I
observed a general affection towards the
captain which one would be glad to see oftener.
The ship seemed quite fresh and inspiriting
with health and good humour; and it is
really astonishing how very much a pleasant
chief can do to render any place whatever
agreeable under his command, while a costive,
surly fellow will render it as wretched and
uncomfortable as Mr. Legree's plantation.

We have excellent reason to be satisfied
with our army and navy in the East.
They have done almost as much to render
us popular and respected, wherever they
have been seen, as our diplomacy and
consular service has done, and is doing, to
render us hated and feared. There has
hardly been an instance of misconduct of any
kind among the thousands of men we have
sent to a foreign land where laws are more
lax than enough, and impunity next to
certain. Wherever our heroes have gone, to