it required some
ingenuity to devise any plan that should possess the charm of novelty to
recommend it. This purpose was completely answered by a proposal of
Captain Hoppner, to attempt a _masquerade_, in which officers and men
should alike take a part, but which, without imposing any restraint
whatever, would leave every one to his own choice whether to join in
this diversion or not. It is impossible that any idea could have proved
more happy, or more exactly suited to our situation. Admirably dressed
characters of various descriptions readily took their parts, and many of
these were supported with a degree of spirit and genuine humour which
would not have disgraced a more refined assembly; while the latter might
not have disdained, and would not have been disgraced by, copying the
good order, decorum, and inoffensive cheerfulness which our humble
masquerade presented. It does especial credit to the dispositions and
good sense of our men, that, though all the officers entered fully into
the spirit of these amusements, which took place once a month, no
instance occurred of anything that could interfere with the regular
discipline, or at all weaken the respect of the men towards their
superiors. Ours were masquerades without licentiousness; carnivals
without excess.

But an occupation not less assiduously pursued, and of infinitely more
eventual benefit, was furnished by the re-establishment of our schools,
under the voluntary superintendence of my friend Mr. Hooper in the
Hecla, and of Mr. Mogg in the Fury. By the judicious zeal of Mr. Hooper,
the Hecla's school was made subservient, not merely to the improvement
of the men in reading and writing (in which, however, their progress was
surprisingly great), but also to the cultivation of that religious
feeling which so essentially improves the character of a seaman, by
furnishing the highest motives for increased attention to every other
duty. Nor was the benefit confined to the eighteen or twenty
individuals whose want of scholarship brought them to the school-table,
but extended itself to the rest of the ship's company, making the whole
lower-deck such a scene of quiet rational occupation as I never before
saw on board a ship. And I do not speak lightly when I express my
thorough persuasion, that to the moral effects thus produced upon the
minds of the men, were owing, in a very high degree, the constant yet
sober cheerfulness, the uninterrupted good order, and even, in