that a midshipman leads a lord's life in a man-of-war. Far from it.
He lords it over those below him, while lorded over himself by his
superiors. It is as if with one hand a school-boy snapped his fingers
at a dog, and at the same time received upon the other the discipline
of the usher's ferule. And though, by the American Articles of War, a
Navy Captain cannot, of his own authority, legally punish a midshipman,
otherwise than by suspension from duty (the same as with respect to the
Ward-room officers), yet this is one of those sea-statutes which the
Captain, to a certain extent, observes or disregards at his pleasure.
Many instances might be related of the petty mortifications and official
insults inflicted by some Captains upon their midshipmen; far more
severe, in one sense, than the old-fashioned punishment of sending them
to the mast-head, though not so arbitrary as sending them before the
mast, to do duty with the common sailors--a custom, in former times,
pursued by Captains in the English Navy.

Captain Claret himself had no special fondness for midshipmen. A
tall, overgrown young midshipman, about sixteen years old, having
fallen under his displeasure, he interrupted the humble apologies
he was making, by saying, "Not a word, sir! I'll not hear a word!
Mount the netting, sir, and stand there till you are ordered to
come down!"

The midshipman obeyed; and, in full sight of the entire ship's
company, Captain Claret promenaded to and fro below his lofty
perch, reading him a most aggravating lecture upon his alleged
misconduct. To a lad of sensibility, such treatment must have
been almost as stinging as the lash itself would have been.

It is to be remembered that, wherever these chapters treat of