four o'clock in the
morning
Who had the selection of these books , I do not know , but some of them must have been selected by our Chaplain , who so pranced on Coleridge 's '' _ High German horse _ . '' Mason Good 's Book of Nature -- a very good book , to be sure , but not precisely adapted to tarry tastes -- was one of these volumes ; and Machiavel 's Art of War -- which was very dry fighting ; and a folio of Tillotson 's Sermons -- the best of reading for divines , indeed , but with little relish for a main-top-man ; and Locke 's Essays -- incomparable essays , everybody knows , but miserable reading at sea ; and Plutarch 's Lives -- super-excellent biographies , which pit Greek against Roman in beautiful style , but then , in a sailor 's estimation , not to be mentioned with the _ Lives of the Admirals _ ; and Blair 's Lectures , University Edition -- a fine treatise on rhetoric , but having nothing to say about nautical phrases , such as '' _ splicing the main-brace _ , '' '' _ passing a gammoning _ , '' '' _ puddinging the dolphin _ , '' and '' _ making a Carrick-bend _ ; '' besides numerous invaluable but unreadable tomes , that might have been purchased cheap at the auction of some college-professor 's library . But I found ample entertainment in a few choice old authors , whom I stumbled upon in various parts of the ship , among the inferior officers . One was '' _ Morgan 's History of Algiers _ , '' a famous old quarto , abounding in picturesque narratives of corsairs , captives , dungeons , and sea-fights ; and making mention of a cruel old Dey , who , toward the latter part of his life , was so filled with remorse for his cruelties and crimes that he could not stay in bed after four o'clock in the morning , but had to rise in great trepidation and walk off his bad feelings till breakfast time . And another venerable octavo , containing a certificate from Sir Christopher Wren to its authenticity , entitled '' _ Knox 's Captivity in Ceylon , 1681 _ '' -- abounding in stories about the Devil , who was superstitiously supposed to tyrannise over that unfortunate land : to mollify him , the priests offered up buttermilk , red cocks , and sausages ; and the Devil ran roaring about in the woods , frightening travellers out of their wits ; insomuch that the Islanders bitterly lamented to Knox that their country was full of devils , and consequently , there was no hope for their eventual well-being . Knox swears that he himself heard the Devil roar , though he did not see his horns ; it was a terrible noise , he says , like the baying of a hungry mastiff . Then there was Walpole 's Letters -- very witty , pert , and polite -- and some odd volumes of plays , each of which was a precious casket of jewels of good things , shaming the trash nowadays passed off for dramas , containing `` The Jew of Malta , '' `` Old Fortunatus , '' `` The City Madam . ''