CHAPTER XI.
"When I consider life, 'tis all a cheat; Yet fool'd with hope, men favour the deceit; Trust on, and think to-morrow will repay; To-morrow's falser than the former day." DRYDEN.
Although Admiral Bluewater devoted the minimum of time to sleep, he was not what the French term _matinal_.

There is a period in the morning, on board of a ship of war,--that of washing decks,--which can best be compared to the discomfort of the American purification, yelep'd "a house-cleaning." This occurs daily, about the rising of the sun; and no officer, whose rank raises him above mingling with the duty, ever thinks, except on extraordinary occasions that may require his presence for other purposes, of intruding on its sacred mysteries.

It is a rabid hour in a ship, and the wisest course, for all idlers, and all watch-officers, who are not on duty, is to keep themselves under hatches, if their convenience will possibly allow it.

He who wears a flag, however, is usually reposing in his cot, at this critical moment; or, if risen at all, he is going through similar daily ablutions of his own person.
Admiral Bluewater was in the act of opening his eyes, when the splash of the first bucket of water was heard on the deck of the Caesar, and he lay in the species of enjoyment which is so peculiar to naval men, after they have risen to the station of commander; a sort of semi-trance, in which the mind summons all the ancient images, connected with squalls; reefing top-sails in the rain; standing on the quarter of a yard, shouting "haul out to leeward;" peering over the weather hammock-cloths to eye the weather, with the sleet pricking the face like needles;--and, washing decks! These dreamy images of the past, however, are summoned merely to increase the sense of present enjoyment.

They are so many well-contrived foils, to give greater brilliancy to the diamonds of a comfortable cot, and the entire consciousness of being no longer exposed to an untimely summons on deck.
Our rear-admiral, nevertheless, was not a vulgar dreamer, on such occasions.