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Goodenough returned to England in February, 1862, and remained unemployed till July, thoroughly enjoying his holiday in the society of his relations-spending most of his time in the New Forest, and, as long as it lasted, deriving much pleasure and restoring his health, which had been tried with work in a hot climate, in hunting-the only sport of which he was excessively fond.

In July, his old captain of the "Collingwood," Admiral Smart, then in command of the Channel Squadron, asked him to come as commander of his flag-ship, the "Revenge." In that ship he went, in August and September, to Kiel, Stockholm, Riga, Copenhagen, and Christiania—a cruise in which he took great pleasure, the officers being everywhere most kindly received, and finding much that was interesting to see. In the winter the squadron went to Madeira, Lisbon, and Gibraltar; returning in March to escort the Princess of Wales from Antwerp to England. In May, the Revenge took Admiral Smart to Malta, to assume the command of the Mediterranean squadron; and on arriving there Goodenough found his promotion to post captain. He immediately returned to England, stopping only a few days at Toulon to visit the dockyard. The summer of 1863 was spent partly in Normandy, partly in England-first at the meeting of the British Association at Newcastle, and later in the New Forest.

CHAPTER IV.

VICTORIA

SPECIAL MISSION TO NORTH AMERICA-MARRIAGE-H.M.S. MEDITERRANEAN-H. M.S. MINOTAUR-CHANNEL FLEET-TEMPERANCE.

HE had, of course, been much interested in the struggle then going on in North America; and, looking at it from a professional as well as a political point of view, had been impressed with the desirability of an officer being sent to that country to report. It was, therefore, with much gratification that he found his representations had been so well received at the Admiralty, as that he himself was nominated to proceed on a special mission to North America; and, placing himself under the instructions of the British minister at Washington, to obtain what information he could with regard to the ships and guns there in use. This call to service, interesting as it was, came at a moment when he was loath to leave England again; but he threw himself at once into the spirit of his mission, and notwithstanding another strong and engrossing interest, was able to concentrate his attention on completing his own knowledge of the most recent professional improvements in the establishments at home, before proceeding to examine those of the foreign country he was to visit.

Within the fortnight he left Liverpool for Boston. From Boston he proceeded to Washington, where he obtained

permission to see the navy yards of the United States. All of these he visited in succession, going also to Pittsburg to see a big gun cast; and early in April, in company with two officers of the English army, who were in America on a somewhat similar mission to his own, he visited the camp of the Federal army before Charleston. He returned to England on the 1st of May, 1864. His letters from America treat principally on American manners and politics, and on the contest then being waged in the United States, and, therefore, are not of general interest at present. A few extracts, however, will show something of the under-current of his mind at this time, and of the way in which he viewed the deeper aspect of all that he saw and heard :

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"I went on board the Akbar,' a floating reformatory, where the first person I met was an old shipmate, who insisted on showing me all his arrangements for teaching and employing the boys. It was really very interesting, and the good of it was shown by one word of the master to my friend, an old boatswain in the navy, who is his right-hand man. 'They come to us convicted rascals, but we don't find them so very bad, do we, Mr. L. ?' Being out of harm's way they learn good habits, and stick to them. Good begets good, as evil begets evil."

"December 20th, 1863.

"It is a happy thing to begin a day with such vivid poetry, so rich and full of meaning, as that 5th Chapter of Isaiah, especially in the dreamy life of a passage, when one's thoughts are not violently disturbed. How immensely humbling and still how soothing they are. How one always feels the beauty of them afresh, and in a new way from the last . . . . I have thought of

death sometimes with a weary expectant wonder, and now it is all so different. It seems more like the happy crown of life. I was reading yesterday of Johnson's intense dread of death,-as death, the end—and of his saying that every one feared death whose thoughts were not occupied by some stronger feeling which, displaced, did not conquer that one. I think that saying quite true, and that the fear of death can only be blotted out by looking beyond and upwards to the Hands which help us over. You don't mind my talking of death; for you would have me brave, and the only real bravery is that which can look quite calmly and in cold blood upon it. I should like to have the feeling which Captain Bate had, a man like Sir Edward Parry, whose memoir you must read if only for his coxswain's description of the morning of his death,"

"December 23rd, 1863.

"How beautiful those words are, 'Beloved, if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things,' and it is understood 'knows all things to forgive, and to love us still.' How true it is that love is strongest of all."

"BOSTON, December 27th, 1863.

"I find already much of what I have read of, of Yankee freedom. Fortunately it amuses without irritating me, because I am prepared for it, and though I dislike the manners, I like the independence of spirit, which makes a man free spoken."

"February 1st, 1864.

"What a long affair the Crawley court-martial has been, and what a lesson the public ought to learn from it. That lesson this evening (1 Cor. xiii.) is full of thinking matter as any, and beautiful indeed. How beautiful the embodiment of charity is. One of the highest tests is, I think, 'thinketh no evil;' and one of the highest attributes 'rejoiceth in the truth, believeth and hopeth all things.'"

"NEWPORT (NAVAL ACADEMY), February 23rd. "This college is more advanced than our Britannia . . . . If application and study are of any use, I'm afraid that these people will have very superior men to ourselves in their navy. They are working harder and more intelligently for it than we are . . . but the boys don't seem to get exercise enough. I can't make out that they have any games, or outdoor amusement either."

"February 24th.

"I have been to see the classes of midshipmen in their recitation rooms. One class was at mechanics, and another was at moral philosophy, of which I have never read a word, nor do I ever wish to. It seemed so odd to hear certain rules laid down drily, as guides for our actions, without any reference to Christianity at all. A young fellow stood up, and was asked what guide he would take to determine his course under certain circumstances. 'My conscience.' 'Are you quite clear on that point, Mr. K. ?' Quite sure, sir.' And should you be in doubt whether it be right or not to do a certain thing, how would you proceed?' 'I would leave it undone, sir.' 'Is that what President Edwards said, Mr. K. ?' 'Yes, sir.' How incomplete-is it not? and how different from 'If any man lack wisdom let him ask of God, who giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not.' I could not help saying so to my friend the commandant, who accompanied me."

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"AT SEA, April 24th.

"An old clergyman preached a very good sermon on the Lord's Prayer, and concluded very well by saying that our life was like our voyage in all respects but one. At the end of the voyage we should part perhaps never to meet again. At the end of life there would be a great mustering, and we should be divided, and only lovers and followers of Christ would go together into happiness.

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