"I will not, then, thwart your inclination, Harry," he answered.  "Your mother and I would rather you had selected a profession which would have kept you nearer to us.  But you have chosen a fine line of life, and may Heaven protect you in your career!  I should have been glad, for some reasons, to have had the power of sending you into the Royal Navy; but I have no interest to get you in, and still less any to advance you in it. The merchant-service should not be looked on as less noble and less creditable a profession.  It is one of the chief means by which England's greatness and prosperity is maintained.  In it your progress and success will depend almost entirely on your own exertions.  You must also so conduct yourself that you may sustain to the utmost the credit of the service, and, I doubt not, you will have no cause to regret entering it.  I might have wished to keep you longer at home, but I am unwilling to miss the opportunity of sending you to sea under charge of a commander of the high character and attainments possessed by Captain Frankland.  He, in the kindest way, tells me that he is ready to take you; and he also informs me that a relative of mine is one of the officers appointed to his ship, Silas Brand by name.  You have heard as speak of my good Cousin Martha, Mrs Brand; Silas is her only son.  He was a steady, good lad when I last heard of him before he went to sea, and I daresay that you will find him a firm friend.  At all events, I am sure, from Captain Frankland's remarks, that he will prove a profitable one.  He tells me also that his proposed voyage will be one of very great interest; that the owners of the ship have a variety of objects in view; so that he expects to visit a number of interesting places during the voyage, which is, in fact, to be completely round the world."