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The lottery of the sea is not altogether so disadvantageous as

that of the army. The son of a creditable labourer or artificer

may frequently go to sea with his father's consent; but if he

enlists as a soldier, it is always without it. Other people see

some chance of his making something by the one trade; nobody but

himself sees any of his making any thing by the other. The great

admiral is less the object of public admiration than the great

general; and the highest success in the sea service promises a

less brilliant fortune and reputation than equal success in the

land. The same difference runs through all the inferior degrees

of preferment in both. By the rules of precedency, a captain in

the navy ranks with a colonel in the army; but he does not rank

with him in the common estimation. As the great prizes in the

lottery are less, the smaller ones must be more numerous.