Page:The Naval Officer (1829), vol. 2.djvu/261

 any excess? The men too readily followed the example of their officers, and died off in the same rapid manner; one of the most regular employments of the morning was to dig graves for the victims of the night. Four or five of these receptacles was thought a moderate number. Such was the fatal apathy in which these officers existed, that the approach, nay, even the certainty of death, gave them no apparent concern, caused no preparation, excited no serious reflection. They followed the corpse of a brother-officer to the grave in military procession. These ceremonies were always conducted in the evening, and often have I seen these thoughtless young men throwing stones at the lanthorns which were carried before them to light them to the burying-ground.

I was always an early riser, and believe I owe much of my good health to this custom. I used to delight in a lovely tropical morning, when, with a segar in my mouth, I walked into the market. What would Sir William Curtis, or