When we consider the tendency of luxurious peace, the effeminacy thence flowing in upon many of our wealthier population,—when we view, on the {3} one hand, an entailed aristocracy[2], whose founders had been gradually thrown uppermost in more stirring times, the boldest and the wisest, but whose progeny, “in a calm world” entailed to listless satiety, have little left of hope or fear to awaken in them the dormant energies of their ancestors, or even to preserve these energies from entirely sinking; and, on the other hand, an overflowing population, chained, from the state of society, to incessant toil, the scope of their mental energies narrowed to a few objects from the division of labour, all tending to that mechanical order and tameness incompatible with liberty; thus, perhaps, equally in danger of deteriorating and sinking into _caste_, both classes yielding to the natural law of restricted adaptation to condition:—when we reflect on this, the conclusion is irresistibly _forced_ upon us, that the periodical return of war is indispensable to the heroic chivalrous character and love of freedom which we have so long maintained, and which (Britain being the first in name and power in the family of nations) must be so influential on the _morale_ of the civilized world. It is by the jar and struggle of the conflict that the baser alloy and rust of our manners and institutions must be removed and rubbed away: it is by the {4} ennobling 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 ancestor, the more daring Scandinavian sea-king or rover[3], in adventurous valour. Without, however, seeking the fight, yet in preparation for the perhaps not distant 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_ MARINE, and the material of its construction, _Naval Timber_. ENDNOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION. [1] See App. A. [2] See App. B. [3] See App. C. {5} PART I. STRUCTURE OF VESSELS. Vessels are constructed of wood under two forms, _Plank_ and _Timbers_; Plank, the out and inside skin of the vessel—Timbers, the ribs or frame which support the plank. SECTION I. PLANK.