The Morning watch, also, independent of the active employment it hardly ever fails to afford, leaves the whole day free, from eight o’clock till four in the afternoon. Many a previously broken resolution is put off to this period, only to be again stranded. To those, however, who choose to study, the certainty of having one clear day in every three, free from the distraction of all technical duties, is of the greatest consequence; though, it must be owned that, at the very best, a ship is but a wretched place for reading. The eternal motion, and the infernal, noise, almost baffle the most resolute students. For a hungry midshipman (when are they not hungry!) the Morning watch has attractions of a still more tender nature. The mate, or senior man amongst them, is always invited to breakfast with the officers at eight o’clock; and one or two of the youngsters, in turn, breakfast with the captain at half-past eight, along with the officer of the morning watch and the first lieutenant, who, in many ships, is the constant guest of the captain, both at this meal and at dinner. The officer of the Forenoon watch, or that from eight to noon, invariably dines with the captain at three o’clock; and as the ward-room dinner is at two, exactly one hour before that of the captain, the officer who has kept the Forenoon watch again comes on deck, the instant the drum beats “The Roast Beef of Old England,” the well known and invariable signal that the dinner of the officers is on the table. His purpose in coming up is to relieve, or take the place of his brother officer who is keeping the Afternoon watch, till three o’clock arrives, at which hour the captain’s dinner is ready. The same interchange of good offices, in the way of relief, as it is called, takes place amongst the midshipmen of the Forenoon and Afternoon watches. It is material to observe, however, that all these arrangements, though they have the graceful air of being pieces of mutual and voluntary civility, have become quite as much integral parts of the ordinary course of nautical affairs as any other established ordinance of the ship. On Sunday, the captain always dines with the officers in the ward-room; and although ‘shore-going people’ sometimes take upon themselves to quiz these periodical, and, Heaven knows! often formal, dinner parties, there can be no doubt that they do contribute, and that in a most essential degree, to the maintenance of strict discipline on board ship. Indeed, I believe it is now generally admitted, that it would be next to impossible to preserve good order in a man-of-war, for any length of time, without this weekly ceremonial, coupled, of course, with that of the officers’ dining, in turn, with their captain.