"For the clerk of the acts, it is indifferent, as before rehearsed, whether commissioner or principal officer; only this may be said, he is better able, by his record (if duly kept), to give a check to the treasurer's payments, than the comptroller; as may be manifested by the manner of keeping his books, to be now seen in the Navy Office.

"It is fit, according to the quality of the persons chosen for commissioners, such of them as are of more honour and better estates than others, should have precedence in commission, place, and signing. And it may be presumed, that men look not so much upon a title (of office), as upon the salary which makes the place acceptable and thanksworthy; for, if as good an allowance and entertainment be given for acting by a joint-commission as by a particular denomination, it may be as much satisfactory, and equivalent for rewarding of a service, as under any title whatsoever.

APPENDIX K.

The following article having been rejected, and another more full of detail substituted in its room, in Dr. Burney's new edition of Falconer's Marine Dictionary (first printed in 1789), I give the original here, as a mark of respect to Falconer's memory :—

"MIDSHIPMAN -a sort of naval cadet, appointed by the captain of a ship of war, to second the orders of the superior officers, and assist in the necessary business of the vessel, either aboard or ashore.

The number of midshipmen, like that of several other officers, is always in proportion to the size of the ship to which they belong. Thus, a first-rate man-of-war has twenty-four, and the inferior rates a suitable number in proportion. No person can be appointed lieutenant, without having previously served two years in the royal navy in this capacity, or in that of mate; besides, having been at least four years in actual service at sea, either in merchant-ships, or in the royal navy.

"Midshipman, is accordingly the station in which a young volunteer is trained in the several exercises necessary to attain a sufficient knowledge of the machinery, discipline, movements, and military operations of a ship, to qualify him for a sea-officer.

"As the chief object of our attention has been to facilitate the acquisition of this intelligence, we have endeavoured to treat those subjects at large, in the different parts of this work, according to their importance. We have also sketched the general outlines of the respective charges of all the superior officers, which, in conformity to the plan of this work, become previous to this article. Thus, the duties of the admiral, the captain, the lieutenant, and the master, are already explained in their proper places; and whatever intelligence appears necessary to discharge those offices, is also, in a high degree, essential to the midshipman. Those officers, indeed, as well as many others, are furnished with suitable instructions to regulate their conduct; but the midshipman, being invested with no particular charge from the government, is by consequence omitted in those official regulations. In a work of this kind, however, the importance of the subject is not always determined by the superiority of rank or station. If our province is to communicate instruction, those who are the least informed are certainly the principal objects thereof, and to them our attention is more peculiarly directed. Hence, the extent of our design comprehends many circumstances which would be immaterial in general orders and regulations; and hence, abundance of particular directions to respective officers, inserted in those general regulations, are rejected here, as foreign to our purpose. Averse as we are, on other occasions, to offend the rigid nicety of a critic, by introducing moral reflections in a performance dedicated to scientifical description, we must for once be indulged with a short deviation from the plan hitherto invariably followed. Happy, if our efforts may in any degree operate to produce the effects for which they were calculated!

"On his first entrance into a ship of war, every midshipman has several disadvantageous circumstances to encounter. These, are partly occasioned by the nature of the sea-service; and partly, by the mistaken prejudices of people in general, respecting naval discipline, and the genius of sailors and their officers. No character, in their opinion, is more excellent than that of the common sailor, whom they generally suppose to be treated with great severity by his officers; drawing a comparison between them, not very advantageous to the latter. The midshipman usually comes aboard tinctured with these prejudices, especially if his education. has been amongst the higher rank of people; and, if the officers

happen to answer his opinion, he conceives an early disgust to the service, from a very partial and incompetent view of its operations. Blinded by these prepossessions, he is thrown off his guard; and very soon surprised to find, amongst those honest sailors, a crew of abandoned miscreants, ripe for any mischief or villany. Perhaps, after a little observation, many of them will appear to him equally destitute of gratitude, shame, or justice; and only deterred from the commission of any crimes by the terror of severe punishment. He will discover, that the pernicious example of a few of the vilest in a ship of war, is too often apt to poison the principles of the greatest number; especially, if the reins of discipline are too much relaxed, so as to foster that idleness and dissipation which engender sloth, diseases, and an utter profligacy of manners. If the midshipman, on many occasions, is obliged to mix with these, particularly in the exercises of extending or reducing the sails in the tops, he ought resolutely to guard against this contagion, with which the morals of his inferiors may be infected. He should, however, avail himself of their knowledge, and acquire their expertness in managing and fixing the sails and rigging; and never suffer himself to be excelled by an inferior. He will probably find a virtue in almost every private sailor, which is entirely unknown to many of his officers that virtue is emulation, which is not indeed mentioned amongst their qualities by the gentlemen of terra firma, by whom their characters are often copiously described with very little judgment. There is hardly a common tar, who is not envious of superior skill in his fellows; and jealous, on all occasions, to be outdone in what he considers as a branch of his duty. Nor is he more afraid of the dreadful consequences of whistling in a storm, than of being stigmatised with the opprobrious epithet of lubber. Fortified against this scandal by a thorough knowledge of his business, the sailor will sometimes sneer in private at the execution of orders which, to him, appear awkward, improper, or unlike a seaman. Nay, he will perhaps be malicious enough to suppress his own judgment; and, by a punctual obedience to command, execute whatever is to be performed, in a manner which he knows to be improper, in order to expose the person commanding to disgrace and ridicule. Little skilled in the method of the schools, he considers the officer who cons his lesson by rote as very ill qualified for his station, because particular situations might render it necessary for the said officer to assist in putting his own orders in practice. An ignorance in this

practical knowledge will, therefore, necessarily be thought an unpardonable deficiency by those who are to follow his directions. Hence the midshipman, who associates with these sailors in the tops, till he has acquired a competent skill in the service of extending or reducing the sails, &c., will be often entertained with a number of scurrilous jests, at the expense of his superiors. Hence also he will learn, that a timely application to those exercises can only prevent him from appearing in the same despicable point of view, which must certainly be a cruel mortification to a man of the smallest sensibility.

"If the midshipman is not employed in these services, which are undoubtedly necessary to give him a clearer idea of the different parts of his occupation, a variety of other objects present themselves to his attention. Without presuming to dictate the studies which are most essential to his improvement, we could wish to recommend such as are most suitable to the bent of his inclination. Astronomy, geometry, and mechanics, which are in the first rank of science, are the materials which form the skilful pilot, and the superior mariner. The theory of navigation is entirely derived from the two former, and all the machinery and movements of a ship are founded upon the latter. The action of the wind upon the sails, and the resistance of the water at the stem, naturally dictate an inquiry into the property of solids and fluids: and the state of the ship floating on the water, seems to direct his application to the study of hydrostatics and the effects of gravity. A proficiency in these branches of science will equally enlarge his views with regard to the operations of naval war, as directed by the efforts of powder, and the knowledge of projectiles. The most effectual method to excite his application to those studies is, perhaps, by looking round the navy, to observe the characters of individuals. By this inquiry he will probably discover, that the officer who is eminently skilled in the sciences will command universal respect and approbation; and that whoever is satisfied with the despicable ambition of shining the hero of an assembly, will be the object of universal contempt. The attention of the former, will be engaged in those studies which are highly useful to him in particular, and to the service in general. The employment of the latter, is to acquire those superficial accomplishments that unbend the mind from every useful science, emasculate the judgment, and render the hero infinitely more dexterous at falling into his station in the dance, than in the line of battle.

"Unless the midshipman has an unconquerable aversion to the acquisition of those qualifications which are so essential to his improvement, he will very rarely want opportunities of making a progress therein. Every step he advances in those meritorious employments, will facilitate his accession to the next in order. If the dunces, who are his officers or messmates, are rattling the dice, roaring bad verses, hissing on the flute, or scraping discord from the fiddle, his attention to more noble studies will sweeten the hours of relaxation. He should recollect, that no example from fools ought to influence his conduct; or seduce him from that laudable ambition, which his honour and advantage are equally concerned to pursue."

It is unnecessary to refer the young seaman, from these hints of Falconer, to the full and animating instructions of Captain Basil Hall, in his first series of Fragments, &c.

APPENDIX L.

The Instructions for Sailing, and for Fighting, issued by Sir William Penn to his fleet in 1655, when he was in the sole command of the expedition to the West Indies, at the beginning of the Spanish war, were abridged from those first issued at the close of the Dutch war, immediately after he had been appointed, on the 2d of December, 1653, one of the Generals of the Fleet: the former are dated the 16th of the same month, the latter in March following, as may be seen in the copy of them among Sir William Penn's Naval Tracts in the Sloane Collection of MSS. Br. Mus. No. 3232. To them are there subjoined, "Additional Instructions," both for sailing and for fighting, subscribed "JAMES," and dated, "On board the Royal Charles, the 27th of April, 1665." All these were afterwards united, and digested into the two following bodies of Instructions, issued by his royal highness the lord high admiral.