Page:The Naval Officer (1829), vol. 1.djvu/191

 is sometimes a very agreeable pastime, but excess "palls on the sense;" and here we has enough of it, without what I always thought an indispensable accompaniment, namely, a good belly full; nor did I conceive how a man could—perform his duty without it; but here I was forced, with many others, to make the experiment, and when the boats could not land, which was often the case, we piped to dinner pro forma, as our captain liked regularity, and drank cold water to fill our stomachs.

I have often heard my poor old uncle say that no man knows what he can do till he tries; and the enemy gave us plenty of opportunities of displaying our ingenuity, industry, watchfulness, and abstinence. When poor Penelope wove her web, the poet says—

With us it was precisely the reverse: the day destroyed all the labours of the night. The hours of darkness were employed by us in filling sand-bags, and laying them in the breach,