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 THE 
 
 NAVAL OFFICER; 
 
 OR, 
 
 SCENES AND ADVENTURES 
 
 IN THE 
 
 LIFE OF FRANK MILDMAY. 
 
 My Muse by no means deals in fiction : 
 
 Sbe gathers a repertory of facts, 
 
 Of course with some reserve and slight restriction. 
 
 But mostly treats of human things and acts. 
 
 » « * « * 
 
 Love, war, a tempest — surely there's variety ; 
 Also a seasoning slight of lucubration ; 
 A bird's-eye view, too, of that wild, society ; 
 A alight glance thrown on men of every station. 
 
 Don Jl'Ax. 
 
 IN THREE VOLUMES. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON: 
 HENRY COLBURN, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. 
 
 1829. 
 
Digitized by tine Internet Archive 
 
 in 2010 with funding from 
 
 University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/navalofficerorsc01marr 
 

 THE 
 
 NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 These are the errors, and these are the fruits of mis- 
 spending our prime youth at the schools and universities, as we 
 do, either in learning mere words, or such things chiefly as 
 
 were better imleamed. 
 
 Milton. 
 
 My father was a gentleman and a man of 
 considerable property. In my infancy and child- 
 hood I was weak and sickly, but the favourite 
 of my parents beyond all my brothers and sisters, 
 because they saw that my mind was far superior 
 to my sickly frame, and feared they should 
 never raise me to manhood ; contrary, however, 
 
 VOL. I. B 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 to their expectations, I surmounted all these un- 
 toward appearances, and attracted much notice 
 from my liveliness, quickness of repartee, and 
 impudence ; qualities which have been cf much 
 use to me through life. 
 
 I can remember that I was both a coward and 
 a boaster ; but I have frequently remarked that 
 the quality which we call cowardice in a child, is 
 no more than implying a greater sense of dan- 
 ger, and consequently a superior intellect. We 
 are all naturally cowards : education and obser- 
 vation teach ui to discriminate between real and 
 apparent danger ; pride teaches the concealment 
 of fear, and habit renders us indifferent to that 
 from which we have often escaped with impu- 
 nity. It is related of the Great Frederick that 
 he misbehaved the first time he went into action ; 
 and it is certain that a novice in such a situation, 
 can no more command all his resources than a 
 boy when first bound apprentice to a shoemaker 
 can make a pair of shoes. We must learn our 
 trade, whether it be to stand steady before the 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. S 
 
 enemy, or to stitch a boot : practice alone can 
 make a Hohij or a Wellington. 
 
 I pass on to my school days, when the most 
 lasting i pressions are made. The founriation 
 of my moral and religious instruction had been 
 laid with care by my excellent parents ; but, 
 alas ! from the time I quitteu the paternal roof 
 not one stone was added to the br.'lain£r, and 
 even the traces of what existed were nearly obli- 
 terated by the deluge of vice which threatened 
 soon to overwhelm me. Sometimes, indeed, I 
 feebly, but ineffectually endeavoured to stem 
 the torrent ; at others I suffered myself to be 
 borne along with all its fatal rapidity. I was 
 frank, generous, quick,, and mischiev jus ; and 
 I must admit that r. large portion of what sailors 
 call " devil" was openly displayed, and a much 
 larger portion latently deposited in my brain 
 and bosom. My ruling passion, even in this 
 early stage of life, was pride. Lucifer himself, 
 if he ever was seven years old, had not more. 
 
 B 2 
 
4 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 If I have gained a fair name in the service, if I 
 have led instead of followed, it must be ascribed 
 to this my ruling passion. The world has often 
 given me credit for better feelings, as the source 
 of action, but I am not writing to conceal, and 
 the truth must be told. 
 
 I was sent to school to learn Latin and Greek, 
 which there are various ways of teaching. Some 
 tutors attempt the suaviter in modo, my school- 
 master prefered the^r/i/er in re; and, as the 
 boatswain said, by the " instigation" of a large 
 knotted stick, he drove knowledge into our 
 skulls as a caulker drives oakum into the seams 
 of a ship. Under such tuition we made astonish- 
 ing progress ; and whatever my less desirable 
 acquirements may have been, my father had no 
 cause to complain of my deficiency in classic 
 lore. Superior in capacity to most of my school- 
 fellows, I seldom took the pains to learn my 
 lesson previous to going up with my class : " the 
 master's blessing," as we called it, did occasion- 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 5 
 
 ally descend on my devoted head, but that was 
 a bagatelle ; I was too proud not to keep pace 
 with my equals, and too idle to do more. 
 
 Had my schoolmaster been a single man, my 
 stay under his care might have been prolonged 
 to ray advantage; but unfortunately, both for 
 him and for me, he had a helpmate, and her 
 peculiarly unfortunate disposition was the means 
 of corrupting those morals over which it was her 
 duty to have watched with the most assiduous 
 care. Her ruling passions were suspicion and 
 avarice, written in legible characters in her 
 piercing eyes and sharp-pointed nose. She 
 never supposed us capable of telling the truth, 
 so we very naturally never gave ourselves the 
 trouble to cultivate a useless virtue, and seldom 
 resorted to it unless it answered our purpose 
 better than a lie. This propensity of Mrs. Hig- 
 ginbottom, converted our candour and honesty 
 into deceit and fraud. Never believed, we cared 
 little about the accuracy of our assertions ; half- 
 starved, through her meanness and parsimony. 
 
6 THE NAVAL OFFICEE. 
 
 we were little scrupulous as to the ways and 
 means, provided we could satisfy our hunger ; 
 and thus we soon became as great adepts in the 
 elegant accomplishments of lying and thieving, 
 under her tuition, as we did in Greek and Latin 
 under that of her husband. 
 
 A large orchard, fields, garden, and poultry- 
 yard, attached to the establishment, were under 
 the care and superintendence of the mistress, 
 who usually selected one of the boys as her 
 prime minister and confidential adviser. This 
 boy, for whose education his parents were pay- 
 ing some sixty or eighty pounds per annum, was 
 permitted to pass his time in gathering up the 
 windfalls ; in watching the hens, and bringing in 
 their eggs, when their cackling throats had an- 
 nounced their safe accouchement ; looking after 
 the broods of young ducks and chickens, ct lioc 
 genus omne ; in short, doing the duty of what is 
 usually termed the odd man in the farm-yard. 
 How far the parents would have been satisfied 
 with this arrangement, I leave my readers to 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 7 
 
 guess ; but to us who preferred the manual to 
 mental exertion, exercise to restraint, and any 
 description of cultivation to that of cultivating 
 the mind, it suited extremely well ; and accord- 
 ingly no place in the gift of government was ever 
 the object of such sohcitude and intrigue, as was 
 to us sclioolboys the situation of collector and 
 trustee of the eggs and apples. 
 
 I had the good fortune to be early selected for 
 this important post, and the misfortune to lose it 
 soon after, owing to the cunning and envy of 
 my schoolfellows and the suspicion of my em- 
 ployers. On my first coming into office, 1 had 
 formed the most sincere resolutions of honesty 
 and vigilance ; but what are good resolutions, 
 when discouraged on the one hand by the revil- 
 ings of suspicion, and assailed on the other by 
 the cravings of appetite ? My morning's collec- 
 tion was exacted from me to the very last nut, 
 and the greedy eyes of my mistress seemed to 
 inquire for more. Suspected when innocent, I 
 became guilty out of revenge ; was detected and 
 
8 THE NAVAL OFFICEE. 
 
 dismissed. A successor was appointed, to whom 
 I surrendered all my offices of trust, and having 
 perfect leisur*e, I made it my sole business to 
 supplant him 
 
 It was an axiom in mathematics with me at 
 that time, though not found in Euclid, that 
 wherever I could enter my head, my whole 
 body might follow. As a practical illustration of 
 this proposition, I applied my head to the arched 
 hole of the hen-house door, and by scraping away 
 a little dirt, contrived to gain admittance, and 
 very speedily transferred all the eggs to my 
 own chest. AVhen the new purveyor arrived, he 
 found nothing but " a beggarly account of 
 empty boxes;" and his perambulations in the 
 orchard and garden, for the same reason, were 
 equally jfruitless. The pilferings of the orchard 
 and garden I confiscated as droits ; but when I 
 had collected a sufficient number of eggs to fur- 
 nish a nest, I gave information of my pretended 
 discovery to my mistress, who, thinking she had 
 not changed for the better, dismissed my succes- 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 9 
 
 sor, and received me into favour again. I was, 
 like many greater men, immediately reinstated 
 in office when it was discovered that they could 
 not do without me. I once more became chan- 
 cellor of the hen-roost and ranger of the orchard, 
 with greater power than I had possessed before 
 my disgrace. Had my mistress looked half as 
 much in my face as she did into my hatful of 
 eggs, she would have read my guilt ; for at that 
 unsophisticated age I could blush, a habit long 
 since discarded in the course of my professional 
 duties. 
 
 In order to preserve my credit and my situa- 
 tion, I no longer contented myself with wind- 
 falls, but assisted nature in her labours, and 
 greatly lightened the burthen of many a loaded 
 fruit-tree ; by these means, I not only gratified 
 the avarice of my mistress at her own expence, 
 but also laid by a store for my own use. On 
 my restoration to office, I had an ample fund in 
 my exchequer to answer all present demands ; 
 and by a provident and industrious anticipa- 
 
 b3 
 
10 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 tion, was enabled to lull the suspicions of my 
 employers and to bid defiance to the opposition. 
 It will readily be supposed that a lad of my 
 acuteness did not omit any technical management 
 for the purposes of disguise ; the fruits which I 
 presented were generally soiled with dirt at the 
 ends of the stalks, in such a manner as to give 
 them all the appearance of ^'felo de se,"" ^. e. 
 fell of itself. Thus, in the course of a few 
 months, did I become an adept in vice, from the 
 mismanagement of those into whose hands I was 
 entrusted to be strengthened in religion and 
 virtue. 
 
 Fortunately for me, as far as my education 
 was concerned, I did not long continue to hold 
 this honourable and lucrative employment. 
 One of those unhappy beings called an usher, 
 peeped into my chest, and by way of acquiring 
 popularity with the mistress and scholars forth- 
 with denounced me to the higher powers. 
 The proofs of my peculation were too glaring, 
 and the amount too serious to be passed over ; 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 11 
 
 I was tried, convicted, condemned, sentenced, 
 flogged, and dismissed in the course of half an 
 hour ; and such was the degree of turpitude 
 attached to me on this occasion, that I was 
 rendered for ever incapable of serving in that 
 or any other employment connected with the 
 garden or farm ; I was placed at the bottom 
 of the list, and declared to be the worst boy 
 in the school. 
 
 This in many points of view was too true ; 
 but there was one boy v/ho bade fair to rival 
 me on the score of delinquency ; this was Tom 
 Crauford, who from that day became my most 
 intimate friend. Tom was a fine spirited fel- 
 low ; up to every thing ; loved mischief, though 
 not vicious ; and was ready to support ^me in 
 everything through thick and thin ; and truly 
 I found him sufficient employment. I threw 
 off all disguise, laughed at any suggestion of 
 reform, which I considered as not only useless, 
 but certain of subjecting me to ridicule and 
 
1^ THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 contempt among my associates. I therefore 
 adopted the motto of some great man *' to be 
 rather than seem to be." I led in every danger ; 
 declared war against all drivellers and half mea- 
 sures ; stole every thing that was eatable from 
 garden, orchard, or hen-house, knowing full 
 well that whether I did so or not, I should be 
 equally suspected. Thenceforward all fruit 
 missed, all arrows shot into pigs, all stones 
 thrown into windows, and all mud spattered 
 over clean linen hung out to dry, were traced 
 to Tom and myself; and with the usual alacrity 
 of an arbitrary police, the space between appre- 
 hension and punishment was very short — we 
 Were constantly brought before the master, and 
 as regularly dismissed with " his blessing," till 
 we became hardened to blows and to shame. 
 
 Thus, by the covetousness of this woman, who 
 was the grey mare, and the folly of the master, 
 who, in any thing but Greek and Latin, w^as 
 an asS; my good principles were nearly eradicated 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICEE. 13 
 
 from my bosom, and in their place were sown 
 seeds which very shortly produced an abundant 
 harvest. 
 
 There was a boy at our school lately imported 
 from the East Indies. We nick-named him 
 Johnny Pagoda. He was remarkable for no- 
 thing but ignorance, impudence, great personal 
 strength, and, as we thought, determined reso- 
 lution. He was about nineteen years of age. 
 One day he incurred the displeasure of the 
 master, who, enraged at his want of compre- 
 hension and attention, struck him over the head 
 with the knotted cane. This appeal, although 
 made to the least sensitive part of his frame, 
 roused the indolent Asiatic from his usual torpid 
 state. The weapon, in the twinkling of an eye, 
 was snatched out of the hand, and suspended 
 over the head of the astonished pedagogue, 
 who, seeing the tables so suddenly turned 
 against him, made the signal for assistance. I 
 clapped my hands, shouted '' Bravo ! lay on 
 Johnny — go it — you have done it now — you 
 
14 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 may as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb ;"* 
 but the ushers began to muster round, the 
 boys hung aloof, and Pagoda, uncertain which 
 side the neutrals would take, laid down his 
 arms, and surrendered at discretion. 
 
 Had the East Indian followed up his act by 
 the application of a little discipline at the foun- 
 tain head, it is more than probable that a popu- 
 lar commotion, not unlike that of Mas'" Aniello, 
 would have ensued ; but the time was not come : 
 the Indian shewed a white feather, was laughed 
 at, flogged, and sent home, to his friends, who 
 had intended him for the bar; but foreseeing 
 that he might, in the course of events, chance 
 to cut a figure on the wrong side of it, sent him 
 to sea, where his valour, if he had any, would 
 find more profitable employment. 
 
 This unsuccessful attempt of the young 
 Oriental, was the primary cause of all my fame 
 and celebrity in after life. I had always hated 
 school ; and this, of all others, seemed to me the 
 most hateful. The emancipation of Johnny 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 15 
 
 Pagoda convinced me that my deliverance miglit 
 be effected in a similar manner. The train was 
 laid, and a spark set it on fire. This spark was 
 supplied by the folly and vanity of a fat French 
 dancing master. These Frenchmen are ever 
 at the bottom of mischief. Mrs, Hiorainbot- 
 tom, the master's wife, had denounced me to 
 Monsieur Aristide INIaugrebleu as a niauvais 
 siLJet ; and as he was a creature of her's, he fre- 
 quently annoyed me to gratify his patroness. 
 This fellow was at that time about forty-five 
 years of age, and had much more experience 
 than agility, having greatly increased his bulk 
 by the roast beef and ale of England. While 
 he taught us the rigadoons of his own country, 
 his vanity induced him to attempt feats much 
 above the cumbrous weight of his frame. I 
 entered the lists with him, beat him at his own 
 trade, and he beat me with his fiddle-stick, 
 which broke in two over my head ; then, making 
 one more glorious effort to shew that he would 
 not be outdone, snapped the tendon Achilles, 
 
16 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 and down he fell, hors de combat, as a dancing 
 master. He was taken away in his gig to be 
 cured, and I was taken into the school-room to 
 be flo(jo;ed. 
 
 This I thought so unjust that I ran away. 
 Tom Crauford helped me to scale the wall ; 
 and when he supposed I had got far enough to 
 be out of danger from pursuit, went and gave 
 information, to avoid the suspicion of having 
 aided and abetted. After running a mile, to 
 use a sea phrase, I hove to, and began to com- 
 pose, in my mind, an oration which I intended 
 to pronounce before my father, by way of apo- 
 logy for my sudden and unexpected appearance ; 
 but I was interrupted by the detested usher and 
 half a dozen of the senior boys, among whom 
 was Tom Crauford. Coming behind me as I sat 
 on a stile, they cut short my meditations by a 
 tap on the shoulder, collared and marched me to 
 the right about in double quick time. Tom 
 Crauford was one of those who held me, and 
 outdid himself in zealous invective at my base 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 17 
 
 ingratitude in absconding from the best of 
 masters, and the most affectionate, tender, and 
 motherly of all school-dames. 
 
 The usher swallowed all this, and I soon made 
 him swallow a great deal more. We passed 
 near the side of a pond, the shoals and depths 
 of which were well known to me. I looked at 
 Tom out of the corner of my eye, and motioned 
 him to let me go ; and, like a mackarel out of a 
 fisherman's hand, I darted into the water, got 
 up to my middle, and then very coolly, for it 
 was November, turned round to gaze on my 
 escort, who stood at bay, and looked very much 
 like fools. The usher, like a low-bred cur, when 
 he could no longer bully, began to fawn ; he 
 entreated and he implored me to think on " my 
 Papa and Mamma ; how miserable they would 
 be, if they could but see me ; what an increase 
 of punishment I was bringing on myself by such 
 obstinacy." He held out, by turns, coaxes and 
 threats ; in short, every thing but an amnesty, 
 to which I considered myself entitled, having 
 
18 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 been driven to rebellion by the most cruel 
 persecution. 
 
 Argument having failed, and there being no 
 volunteers to come in and fetch me out of the 
 water, the poor usher, much against his in- 
 clination, was compelled to undertake it. 
 With shoes and stockings off, and trowsers 
 tucked up, he ventured one foot into the wa- 
 ter, then the other ; a cold shiver reached his 
 teeth, and made them chatter ; but, at length, 
 with cautious tread he advanced towards 
 me. Being once in the water, a step or two 
 farther was no object to me, particularly as I 
 knew I could but be well flogged after all, and 
 I was quite sure of that, at all events, so I 
 determined to have my revenge and amusement. 
 Stepping back, he followed, and suddenly fell 
 over head and ears into a hole, as he made a 
 reach at me. I was already out of my depth, 
 and could swim like a duck, and as soon as he 
 came up, I perched my knees on his shoulders 
 and my hands on his head, and sent him souse 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 19 
 
 under a second time, keeping him there until he 
 had drank more water than any horse that ever 
 came to the pond. I then allowed him to wallow 
 out the best way he could ; and as it was very 
 cold, I listened to the entreaties of Tom and the 
 boys who stood by, cracking their sides with 
 laughter at the poor usher's helpless misery. 
 
 Having had my frolic, I came out, and volun- 
 tarily surrendered myself to my enemies, from 
 whom I received the same mercy, in proportion, 
 that a Russian does from a Turk. Dripping 
 wet, cold, and covered with mud, I was first 
 shewn to the boys as an aggregate of all that 
 was bad in nature ; a lecture was read to them 
 on the enormity of my offence, and solemn 
 denunciations of my future destiny closed the 
 discourse. The shivering fit produced by the 
 cold bath was relieved by as sound a flogging 
 as could be inflicted, while two ushers held me ; 
 but no effort of theirs could elicit one groan 
 or sob from me ; my teeth were clenched in firm 
 determination of revenge : with this passion my 
 
20 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 bosom glowed, and my brain was on fire. The 
 punishment, though dreadfully severe, had one 
 good effect — it restored my almost suspended 
 animation ; and I strongly recommend the same 
 remedy being applied to all young ladies and 
 gentlemen who, from disappointed love or other 
 such trifling causes, throw themselves into the 
 water. Had the miserable usher been treated 
 after this prescription, he might have escaped 
 a cold and rheumatic fever, which had nearly 
 consigned him to a country church-yard, in all 
 probability to re-appear at the dissecting-room 
 of St. Bartholomew's Hospital. 
 
 About this time Johnny Pagoda, who had 
 been two years at sea, came to the school to visit 
 his brother and schoolfellows. I pumped this 
 fellow to tell me all he knew : he never tried to 
 deceive me, or to make a convert. He had seen 
 enough of a midshipman's life, to know that a 
 cockpit was not paradise ; but he gave me clear 
 and ready answers to all my questions. I dis- 
 covered that there was no schoolmaster in the 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 21 
 
 ship, and that the midshipmen were allowed a 
 pint of wine a-day. A man-of-war, and the 
 gallows, they say, refuses nothing ; and as I had 
 some strong presentiment from recent occur- 
 rences, that if I did not volunteer for the one, 
 I should, in all probability, be pressed for the 
 other, I chose the lesser evil of the two : and 
 having made up my mind to enter the glorious 
 profession, I shortly after communicated my 
 intention to my parents. 
 
 From the moment I had come to this deter- 
 mination, I cared not what crime I committed, 
 in hopes of being expelled from the school. I 
 wrote scurrilous letters, headed a mutiny, entered 
 into a league with the other boys to sink, burn and 
 destroy, and do all the mischief we could. Tom 
 Crauford had the master's child to dry nurse : 
 he was only two years old : Tom let him fall, 
 not intentionally, but the poor child was a cripple 
 in consequence of it for life. This was an accident 
 which under any other circumstances we should 
 have deplored, but to us it was almost a joke 
 
%% THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 The cruel treatment I bad received from 
 these people, had so demoralized me, that those 
 passions, which under more skilful or kinder 
 treatment, had either not been known, or would 
 have lain dormant, were roused into full and 
 malignant activity : 1 went to school a good 
 hearted boy, I left it a savage. The accident 
 with the child occurred two days before the 
 commencement of the vacation, and we were all 
 dismissed on the following day in consequence. 
 On my retu: jj home I stated verbally to my 
 father and mother, as I had done before by 
 letter, thnt I was resolved to ^^ to sea. My 
 mother wept, my father expostulated. 1 gazed 
 with apathy on the one, and listened with cold 
 indifference to the reasoning and arguments of 
 the other ; a choice of schools was offered to me 
 where I might be a parlour boarder, and I was 
 to finish at the University, if I would but give 
 up my fatal infatuation. Nothing, however, 
 would do ; the die was cast, and for the sea 
 I was to prepare. 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 23 
 
 What fool was it who said that the happiest 
 time of our Hves is passed at school ? There 
 may, indeed, be exceptions, but the remark can- 
 not be generalized. Stormy as has been my 
 life, the most miserable part of it (with very 
 little exception) was passed at school ; and my 
 mind never received so much ininry from any 
 scenes of vice and excess in after life, as it did 
 from the shameful treatment and bad example 
 I met with there. If my bosom burned with 
 fiend-like passions, whose fault was it ? How had 
 the sacred pledge, given by the master, been 
 redeemed ? Was I not sacrificed to the most sor- 
 did avarice, in the first instance, and almost 
 flayed alive in the second, to gratify revenge ? 
 Of the filthy manner in which our food was pre- 
 pared, I can only say that the bare recollection 
 of it excites nausea ; and to this hour, bread and 
 milk, suet pudding, and shoulders of mutton, are 
 objects of my deep-rooted aversion. The con- 
 duct of the ushers, who were either tyrannical 
 extortioners, or partakers in our crimes — the 
 
24? THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 constant loss of our clothes by the dishonesty or 
 carelessness of the servants — the purloining our 
 silver spoons, sheets, and towels, when we went 
 away, under the plea of " custom" — the charges 
 in the account for windows which I had never 
 broken, and books which I had never received — 
 the shameful difference between the annual cost 
 promised by the master, and the sum actually 
 charged, ought to have opened the eyes of my 
 father. 
 
 I am aware how excellent many of thes^ in^** 
 stitutions are, and that there are few so bad as 
 the one I was sent to. The history of my life 
 will prove of what vital importance it is to ascer- 
 tain the character of the master and mistress as 
 to other points besides teaching Greek and 
 Latin, before a child is entrusted to their care. 
 I ought to have observed, that during my stay 
 at this school, I had made some proficiency in 
 mathematics and algebra. 
 
 My father had procured for me a berth on 
 board a fine frigate at Plymouth, and the inter- 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. ^ 
 
 vai between my nomination and joining was 
 spent by my parents in giving advice to me, and 
 directions to the several tradesmen respecting my 
 equipment. The large chest, the sword, the 
 cocked-hat, the half-boots, were all ordered in 
 succession ; and the arrival of each article 
 either of use or ornament was anticipated by me 
 with a degree of impatience which can only be 
 compared to that of a ship's company arrived off 
 Dennose from a three years' station in India, 
 and who hope to be at an anchor at Spithead 
 before sunset. The circumstance of my going 
 to sea affected my father in no other way than 
 as it interfered with his domestic comforts by 
 the immoderate grief of my poor mother. In 
 any other point of view, my choice of a profession 
 was a source of no regret to him. I had an 
 elder brother, who was intended to have the 
 family estates, and who was then at Oxford, re- 
 ceiving an education suitable to his rank in 
 life, and also to learn how to spend his money 
 like a gentleman. Younger brothers are, in 
 
 VOL. I. c 
 
26 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 such cases, just as well out of the way, particu- 
 larly one of my turbulent disposition : a man- 
 of-war, therefore, like another piece of timhery 
 has its uses. My father paid all the bills with 
 great philosophy, and made me a liberal allow- 
 ance, for my age. 
 
 The hour of departure drew near ; my 
 chest had been sent off by the Plymouth wag- 
 gon, and a hackney-coach drew up to the door, 
 to convey me to the White Horse Cellar. The 
 letting down of the rattling steps completely 
 overthrew the small remains of fortitude which 
 ray dearest mother had reserved for our separa- 
 tion, and she threw her arms round my neck in 
 a frenzy of grief. I beheld her emotions with 
 a countenance as unmoved as the figure-head of 
 a ship ; while she covered my stoic face with 
 kisses, and washed it with her tears. I almost 
 wondered \vhat it all meant, and wished the 
 scene was over. 
 
 My father helped me out of this dilemma ; 
 taking me firmly by the arm, he led me out of the 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 27 
 
 room : my mother sank upon the sofa, and hid 
 ' her face in her pocket-handkerchief. I walked 
 as slowly to the coach as common decency would 
 permit. My father looked at me, as if he 
 would inquire of my very inward soul whether I 
 really did possess human feelings ? I felt the 
 meaning of this, even in my then tender years ; 
 and such was my sense of propriety, that I 
 mustered up a tear for each eye, which, I hope, 
 answered the intended purpose. We say at 
 sea, " When you have no decency, sham a 
 little ;" and I verily believe I should have 
 beheld my poor mother in her coffin with less 
 regret than T could have foregone the gay and 
 lovely scenes which I anticipated. 
 
 How amply has this want of feeling towards 
 a tender parent been recalled to my mind, and 
 severely punished, in the events of my vagrant 
 hfe ! 
 
 c :^ 
 
28 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Injuries may be atoned for and forgiven ; but insults admit 
 
 of no compensation. They degrade the mind in its own esteem, 
 
 and force it to recover its level by revenge. 
 
 Junius. 
 
 There are certain events in our lives poeti- 
 tically and beautifully described by Moore, as 
 " green spots in memory's waste." Such are 
 the emotions arising from the attainment, after 
 a long pursuit, of any darling object of love or 
 ambition ; and although possession and subse- 
 quent events may have proved to us that we 
 had over-rated our enjoyment, and experience 
 have shewn us " that all is vanity ,''' still, recol- 
 lection dwells with pleasure upon the beating 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 29 
 
 heart, when the present only was enjoyed, and 
 the picture painted by youthful and sanguine 
 anticipation in glowing and delightful colours. 
 Youth only can feel this ; age has been often 
 deceived — too often has the fruit turned to 
 ashes in the mouth. The old look forward with 
 distrust and doubt, and backward with sorrow 
 and regret. 
 
 One of the red-letter-days of my life, was that 
 on which I first mounted the uniform of a mid- 
 shipman. My pride and ecstacy were beyond 
 description. I had discardecf the school and 
 school-boy dress, and, with them, my almost stag- 
 nant existence. Like the chrysalis changed into a 
 butterfly, I fluttered about as if to try my 
 powers ; and felt myself a gay and beautiful 
 creature, free to range over the wide domains of 
 nature, clear of the trammels of parents or 
 schoolmasters ; and my heart bounded within me 
 at the thoughts of being left to enjoy at my own 
 discretion, the very acme of all the pleasure that 
 human existence could afford ; and I observe 
 
30 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 that in this, as in most other cases, I met with 
 that disappointment, which usually attends us. 
 True it is, that in the days of my youth, I did 
 enjoy myself. I was happy for a time, if hap- 
 piness it could be called ; but dearly have I paid 
 for it. I contracted a debt, which I have been 
 liquidating by instalments ever since ; nor am 
 I yet emancipated. Even the small portion of 
 felicity that fell to my lot on this memorable 
 morning was brief in duration, and speedily 
 followed by chagrin. 
 
 But to return to my uniform. I had arrayed 
 myself in it ; my dirk was belted round my waist ; 
 a cocked hat, of an enormous size, stuck on my 
 head ; and, being perfectly satisfied with my own 
 appearance, at the last survey which I had made 
 in the glass, I first rang for the chambermaid, 
 under pretence of telling her to make my room 
 tidy, but, in reality, that she might admire and 
 compliment me, which she very wisely did ; and 
 I was fool enough to give her half-a-crown and 
 a kiss, for I felt myself quite a man. The 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 31 
 
 waiter, to whom the chambermaid had in all pro- 
 bability communicated the circumstance, pre- 
 sented himself, and having made a low bow, 
 offered the same compliments, and received the 
 same reward, save the kiss. Boots would, in all 
 probability, have come in for his share, had he 
 been in the way, for I was fool enough to 
 receive all their fine speeches as if they were my 
 due, and to pay for them at the same time in 
 ready money. I was a gudgeon and they were 
 sharks ; and more sharks would soon have been 
 about me, for I heard them, as they left the 
 room, call " boots" and " ostler,'' of course to 
 assist in lightening my purse. 
 
 But I was too impatient to wait on my Cap- 
 tain and see my ship — so I bounced down the 
 stairs, and in the twinkling of an eye, was on 
 my way to Stonehouse, where my vanity re- 
 ceived another tribute, by a raw recruit of 
 marine raising his hand to his head, as he passed 
 by me. I took it as it was meant, raised my 
 hat off my head, and shuffled by with much 
 
$^ THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 self-importance. One consideration, I own, mor- 
 tified me — this v/as that the natives did not 
 appear to admire me half so much as I admired 
 myself. It never occurred to me then, that 
 middies were as plentiful at Plymouth Dock as 
 black boys at Port Royal, though, perhaps, not 
 of so much value to their masters. I will not 
 shock the delicacy of my fair readers by repeat- 
 ing all the vulgar alliterations with which my 
 noviciate was greeted, as I passed in review 
 before the ladies of North Corner, who met me 
 in Fore-street. Unsophisticated as I then was, 
 in many points, and certainly in this, I thought 
 them extremely ill-bred. Fortunately for me, 
 the prayers of a certain description of people 
 never prevail, otherwise I should have been 
 immediately consigned to a place, from which, 
 I fear, all the masses of France and Italy would 
 not have extricated me. 
 
 I escaped from these Syrens without being 
 bound to the mast, like Ulysses ; but, like him, 
 I had nearly fallen a victim to a modern Poly- 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 3S 
 
 phemus ; for though he had not one eye in the 
 middle of his forehead, after the manner of his 
 prototype, yet the rays from both his eyes meet- 
 ing together at the tip of his long nose, gave 
 him very much that appearance. Ignorance, 
 sheer ignorance, in this, as in many other cases, 
 was the cause of my disaster. A party of 
 officers, in full uniform, were coming from a 
 court martial. " Oh ho !" said I, " here 
 come some of us."*' I seized my dirk in my 
 left hand, as I saw they held their swords, and 
 I stuck my right hand into my bosom as some 
 of them had done. I tried to imitate their 
 erect and officer-like bearing ; I put my cocked 
 hat on fore and aft, with the gold rosette 
 dangling between my two eyes, so that in 
 looking at it, which I could not help doing, I 
 must have squinted. And I held my nose high 
 in the air, like a pig in a hurricane, fancying 
 myself as much an object of admiration to them 
 as I was to myself. We passed on opposite 
 tacks, and our respective velocities had sepa- 
 
 c 3 
 
34 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 rated us to the distance of twenty or thirty 
 yards, when one of them called to me in a voice 
 evidently cracked in His Majesty's service — 
 '' Hollo, young gentleman, come back here." 
 
 I concluded I was going to be complimented 
 on the cut of my coat, to be asked the address 
 of my tailor, and to hear the rakish sit of my 
 hat admired. I now began to think I should 
 hear a contention between the lords of the ocean, 
 as to who should have me as a sample-middy 
 on their quarter decks ; and I was even framing 
 an excuse to my father's friend for not joining 
 his ship. Judge then of my surprise and mortifi- 
 cation, when I was thus accosted in an angry 
 and menacing tone by the oldest of the officers-— 
 
 " Pray, Sir, what ship do you belong to .?" 
 
 " Sir," said I, proud to be thus interrogated, 
 
 " I belong to His Majesty's ship, the Le ,'' 
 
 (having a French name, I clapped on both the 
 French and English articles, as being more im- 
 pressive.) 
 
 " Oh, you do, do you ?'^ said the veteran, 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 35 
 
 viith an air of conscious superiority ; " then 
 you will be so good as to turn round, go down 
 to Mutton Cove, take a boat, and have your 
 person conveyed with all possible speed on 
 board of His Majesty's ship, the Lee," (imi- 
 tating ine) ; " and tell the first lieutenant it is my 
 order that you be not allowed any more leave 
 while the ship is in port ; and I shall tell your 
 captain he must teach his officers better man- 
 ners than to pass the port-admiral without 
 touching their hats.'^ 
 
 While this harangue was going on, I stood in 
 a circle, of which I was the centre, and the 
 admiral and captains formed the circumference : 
 what little air there was, their bodies intercepted, 
 so that I was not only in a stew, but stupified 
 into the bargain. 
 
 " There, Sir, you hear me — you may go." 
 
 " Yes, I do hear you,"" thinks I ; " but how 
 
 the devil am I to get away from you ?" for the 
 
 cruel captains, like school boys round a rat-trap, 
 
 stood so close that I could not start. Fortunately, 
 
36 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 this my blockade, which they no doubt intended 
 for their amusement, saved me for that time. 
 I recollected myself, and said, with affected sim- 
 plicity of manner, that I had that morning put 
 on my uniform for the first time ; that I had 
 never seen my captain, and never was on board 
 a ship in all my life. At this explanation, the 
 countenance of the admiral relaxed into some- 
 thing that was meant for a smile, and the cap- 
 tains all burst into a loud laugh. 
 
 " Well, young man," said the admiral — who 
 was really a good-tempered fellow, though an 
 odd one — " well, young man, since you have 
 never been at sea, it is some excuse for not 
 knowing good manners ; there is no neces- 
 sity now for delivering my message to the 
 first lieutenant, but you may go on board your 
 ship." 
 
 Having seen me well-roasted, the captains 
 opened right and left, and let me pass. As I left 
 them I heard one say, " Just caught — marks of 
 the dogs' teeth in his heels, I warrant you." I 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 37 
 
 did not stop to make any reply, but sneaked 
 away, mortified and crest fallen, and certainly 
 obeyed this the first order which I had ever 
 received in the service, with more exactness than 
 I ever did any subsequent one. 
 
 During the remainder of my walk, I touched 
 my hat to every one I met. I conferred the 
 honour of a salute on midshipmen, master's 
 mates, Serjeants of marines, and two corporals. 
 Nor was I aware of my over complaisance, until 
 a young woman, dressed like a lady, who knew 
 more of the navy than I did, asked me if I had 
 come down to stand for the borough ? Without 
 knowing what she meant, I replied, " No.'" 
 
 " I thought you might," said she, " seeing 
 you are so d — d civil to every body." 
 
 Had it not been for this friendly hint, I really 
 believe I should have touched my hat to a 
 drummer. 
 
 Having gone through this ordeal, I reached 
 the inn at Plymouth, where I found my captain, 
 and presented my father's letter. He surveyed 
 
38 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 me from top to toe, and desired the pleasure of 
 my company to dinner at six o'clock. " In the 
 mean time,""' he said, " as it is now only eleven, 
 you may go a-board, and shew yourself to Mr. 
 Handstone, the first lieutenant, who will cause 
 your name to be entered on the books, and allow 
 you to come back here to dine." I bowed 
 and retired. And on my way to Mutton 
 Cove, was saluted by the females, with the 
 appellation of Royal Reefer (midshipman), and 
 a Biscuit Nibbler ; but all this I neither under- 
 stood nor cared for. 
 
 I arrived safely at Mutton Cove, where two 
 women, seeing my inquiring eye, and span-new 
 dress, asked what ship they should take " my 
 honour" to. I told them the ship I wished to go 
 on board of. 
 
 " She lays under the Obehsk,'' said the elder 
 woman, who appeared to be about forty years 
 of age ; " and we will take your honour off for 
 a shilling/' 
 
 I agreed to this, both for the novelty of the 
 
THR NAVAL OFFICER. 39 
 
 thing, as well as on account of my natural gal- 
 lantry and love of female society. The elder 
 woman was mistress of her profession, handling 
 her skull (oar) with great dexterity ; but Sally, 
 the younger one, who was her daughter, was 
 still in her noviciate. She was pretty, cleanly 
 dressed, had on white stockings, and sported a 
 neat foot and ancle. 
 
 " Take care, Sally," said the mother; " keep 
 stroke, or you will catch a crab."" 
 
 " Never fear, mother,'' said the confident 
 Sally ; and at the same moment, as if the very 
 caution against the accident was the cause of it, 
 the blade of her skull did not dip into the 
 water. The oar meeting no resistance, its 
 loom, or handle, came back upon the bosom of 
 the unlucky Sally, tipped her backvv'ards — up 
 w^nt her heels in the air, and down fell her 
 head into tlK? bottom of the boat. As she 
 was pulling the stroke oar, her feet almost 
 came in contact with the rosette of my cocked- 
 hat. 
 
40 THE NAVAL OFFECER. 
 
 " There now, Sally," said the wary mother, 
 " I told you how it would be — I knew you 
 would catch a crab !" 
 
 Sally quickly recovered herself, blushed a 
 little, and resumed her occupation. 
 
 *' That's what we calls catching a crab in our 
 country," said the woman. I replied that I 
 thought it was a very pretty amusement ; and 
 I asked Sally to try and catch another: but 
 she declined ; and, by this time, we had reached 
 the side of the ship. 
 
 Having paid my naiads, I took hold of the 
 main-rope, as I was instructed by them, and 
 mounted the side. Reaching the gangway, I 
 was accosted by a midshipman in a round 
 jacket and trowsers, a shirt none oT the cleanest, 
 and a black silk handkerchief tied loosely round 
 his neck. 
 
 *' Who did you want, Sir ?" said he. 
 
 '' I wish to speak with Mr. Handstone, the 
 first lieutenant," said I. He informed me that 
 the first lieutenant was then gone down to frank 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 41 
 
 the letters, and, when he came on deck, he 
 would acquaint him with my being there. 
 
 After this dialogue, I was left on the larboard 
 side of the quarterdeck to my own meditations. 
 The ship was at this time refitting, and was 
 what is usually called in the hands of the dock- 
 yard, and a sweet mess she was in. The quar- 
 ter-deck carronades were run fore and aft ; the 
 slides unbolted from the side, the decks were 
 covered with pitch fresh poured in the 
 seams, and the caulkers were sitting on their 
 boxes, ready to renew their noisy labours as 
 soon as the dinner hour had expired. The 
 middies, meanwhile, on the starboard side of 
 the quarter-deck, were taking my altitude, and 
 speculating as to whether I was to be a mess- 
 mate of theirs, and what sort of a chap I might 
 chance to be — both these points were solved 
 very speedily. 
 
 The first lieutenant came on deck : the mid- 
 shipman of the watch presented me, and I pre- 
 sented my name and the captain's message. 
 
4^ THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 " It is all right. Sir," said Mr. Handstone. 
 " Here, Mr. Fljblock, do you take this young 
 gentleman into your mess ; you may shew him 
 below as soon as you please, and tell him where 
 to hang his hammock up." 
 
 I followed my new friend down the ladder, 
 under the half deck, where sat a woman, selling 
 bread and butter and red herrings to the 
 sailors ; she had also cherries and clotted cream, 
 and a cask of strong beer, which seemed to be 
 in great demand. We passed her, and de- 
 scended another ladder, which brought us to 
 the 'tween decks, and into the steerage, in the 
 forepart of which, on the larboard side, a-breast 
 of the main-mast, was my future residence — a 
 small hole, which they called a berth ; it was 
 ten feet long by six, and about five feet four 
 inches high ; a small aperture, about nine inches 
 square, admitted a very scanty portion of that 
 which we most needed, namely, fresh air and 
 daylight. A deal table occupied a very con- 
 siderable extent of this small apartment, and 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 43 
 
 on it stood a brass candlestick, with a dip can- 
 dle, and a wick like a full-blown carnation. 
 The table-cloth was spread, and the stains 
 of port wine and gravy too visibly indicated, 
 like the midshipman's dirty shirt, the near ap- 
 proach of Sunday. The black servant was 
 preparing for dinner, and I was shewn the seat 
 I was to occupy. '' Good Heaven !' thought I, 
 as I squeezed myself between the ship's side and 
 the mess-table, " and is this to be my future 
 residence ? — better go back to school ; there, at 
 least, there is fresh air and clean linen. '^ 
 
 I would have written that moment to my dear 
 broken-hearted mother, to tell her how gladly 
 her prodigal son would fly back to her arms ; 
 but I was prevented doing this, first by pride, 
 and secondly by want of writing materials. 
 Taking my place, therefore, at the table, I mus- 
 tered up all my philosophy ; and, to amuse 
 myself, called to mind the reflection of Gil Bias, 
 when he found himself in the den of the robbers. 
 
44} THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 " behold then the worthy nephew of my uncle, 
 Gil Perez, caught like a rat in a trap." 
 
 Most of my new associates were absent on 
 duty ; the 'tween-decks was crammed with 
 casks and cases, and chests, and bags, and ham- 
 mocks ; the noise of the caulkers was resumed 
 over my head and all around me ; the stench of 
 bilge water, combining with the smoke of to- 
 bacco, the effluvia of gin and beer, the frying of 
 beef-steaks and onions, and red-herrings — the 
 pressure of a dark atmosphere and a heavy 
 shower of rain, all conspired to oppress my 
 spirits, and render me the most miserable dog 
 that ever lived. I had almost resigned myself 
 to despair, when I recollected the captain's invi- 
 tation, and mentioned it to Fly block. *' That's 
 well thought of," said he, " Murphy also dines 
 with him : you can both go together, and I dare 
 say he will be very glad of your company.'* 
 
 A captain seldom waits for a midshipman, 
 and we took good care he should not wait for 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 45 
 
 US. Tne dinner was in all respects one *' on 
 service." The captain said a great deal, the 
 lieutenants very little, and the raidsliipmen 
 nothing at all ; but the performance of the knife 
 and fork, and wine glass (as far as it could be 
 got at), were exactly in the inverse ratio. The 
 company consisted of my own captain, and two 
 othersj our first lieutenant. Murphy, and my- 
 self. 
 
 As soon as the cloth v/as removed, the captain 
 filled me out a glass of wine, desired I would 
 drink it, and then go and see how the wind was. 
 I took this my first admonitory hint in its literal 
 sense and meaning ; but having a very imperfect 
 idea of the points of the compass, I own I felt 
 a little puzzled how I should obtain the neces- 
 sary information. Fortunately for me, there 
 was a weathercock on the old churcli steeple ; it 
 had four letters, which I certainly did know 
 were meant to represent the cardinal points. 
 One of these seemed so exactly to correspond 
 with the dial above it, that I made up my mind 
 
46 THE NAVAL OFFICEE. 
 
 the wind must be West, and instantly returned 
 to give my captain the desired information, not 
 a little proud with my success in having ob- 
 tained it so soon. But what was my surprise 
 to find that I was not thanked for my trou- 
 ble; the company even smiled and winked 
 at each other ; the first lieutenant nodded his 
 head, and said, '* Rather green yet." The cap- 
 tain, however, settled the point according to the 
 manners and customs, in such cases, used at sea. 
 " Here, youngster," said he, " here is another 
 glass for you : drink that, and then Murphy will 
 shew you what I mean." Murphy was my 
 chaperon ; he swallowed his wine — rather a gorge 
 dephyee ; put down his glass very energetically, 
 and, bowing, left the room. 
 
 When we had got fairly into the hall, we had 
 the following duct: — " What the h — brought 
 you back again, you d — d young green horn ? 
 Could not you take a hint, and be off, as the 
 captain intended ? So I must lose my wine for 
 such a d — d young whelp as you. I'll pay 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 47 
 
 you off for this, my tight fellow, before we have 
 been many weeks together."" 
 
 I listened to this elegant harangue, with some 
 impatience, and much more indignation. " I 
 came back," said I, " to tell the captain how the 
 wind was." 
 
 " You be d — d," replied Murphy ; ''do you 
 think the captain did not know how the wind 
 was ? and if he had wanted to know, don't you 
 think he would have sent a sailor like me, in- 
 stead of such ad — d lubberly whelp as you ?"''' 
 
 " As to what the captain meant," said I, '* 1 
 do not know. I did as I was bid — but what 
 do you mean by calling me a whelp ? I am no 
 more a whelp than yourself!" 
 
 " Oh, you are not, a'n't you ?" said Murphy, 
 seizing me by one of my ears, which he pulled 
 so unmercifully that he altered the shape of it 
 very considerably, making it something like the 
 lee board of a Dutch Schuyt. 
 
 This was not to be borne; though, as I was 
 but thirteen, he seventeen, and a very stout 
 
48 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 fellow, I should rather not have sought an 
 action with him. But he had began it: my 
 honour was at stake, and I only wonder I had 
 not drawn my dirk, and laid him dead at my 
 feet. Fortunately for him, the rage I was in, 
 made me forget I had it by my side ; though I 
 remembered my uniform, the disgrace brought 
 upon it, and the admiration of the chamber- 
 maid, as well as the salute of the sentinel, all 
 which, formed a combustible in my brain. I 
 went off like a flash, and darted my fist (the 
 weapon I had been most accustomed to wield) 
 into the left eye of my adversary, with a force 
 and precision which Crib would have ap- 
 plauded. Murphy staggered back with the 
 blow, and for a moment I flattered myself he had 
 had enough of it. 
 
 But no — alas, this was a day of disappoint- 
 ments ! he had only retreated to take a spring ; he 
 then came on me like the life-guards at Waterloo, 
 and his charge was irresistible. I was upset, pum- 
 melled, thumped, kicked, and should probably 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 49 
 
 Tiave been the subject of a coroner's inquest had 
 not the waiter and chambermaid ran in to my 
 rescue. The tongue of the latter was particu- 
 larly active in my favour : unluckily for me, she 
 had no other weapon near her, or it would have 
 gone hard with Murphy. " Shame !" said she, 
 " for such a great lubberly creature to beat such 
 a poor, little, innocent, defenceless fellow as that. 
 What would his mamma say to see him treated 
 so r 
 
 " D — n his mamma, and you too,'** said Pat, 
 " look at my eye." 
 
 "D — n your eye," said the waiter; " it's a 
 pity he had not served the other one the same 
 way ; no more than you deserve for striking a 
 child ; the boy is game, and that's more than 
 you are ; he is worth as many of you, as will . 
 stand between this and the iron chair at Bar- 
 bican." 
 
 " I'd like to see him ducked in it," said the 
 maid. 
 
 While this was going on, I had resumed my 
 
 VOL. I. D 
 
50 THE >:aval officer. 
 
 defensive attitude. I had never once complain- 
 ed, and had gained the good will of all the by- 
 standers, among whom now appeared my cap- 
 tain and his friends. The blood was streaming 
 from my mouth, and I bore the marks of disci- 
 pline from the superior prowess of my enemy, 
 who was a noted pugilist for his age, and would 
 not have received the hit from me, if he had 
 supposed my presumption would have led me 
 to attack him. The captain demanded an ex- 
 planation. Murphy told the story in his own 
 way, and gave any thing but the true version. 
 I could have beaten him at that, but truth an- 
 swered my purpose better than falsehood on this 
 occasion ; so, as soon as he had done, I gave my 
 round unvarnished tale, and, although defeated 
 in the field, I plainly saw that I had the advan- 
 tage of him in the cabinet. Murphy was dis- 
 missed in disgrace, and ordered to rusticate on 
 board till his eye was bright. 
 
 " I should have confined you to the ship my- 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 51 
 
 self," said the captain, '' but the boy has done 
 it for me ; you cannot appear on shore with that 
 black eye."" 
 
 As soon as he was gone, 1 was admonished to 
 be more careful in future. " You are," said the 
 captain, " like a young bear ; all your sorrows 
 are before you ; if you give a blow for every 
 hard name you receive, your fate in the service 
 may be foreseen : if weak, you will be pounded 
 to a mummy — if strong, you will be hated. A 
 quarrelsome disposition will make you enemies 
 in every rank you may attain ; you will be 
 watched with a jealous eye, well knowing, as we 
 all do, that the same spirit of insolence and 
 overbearing which you shew in the cockpit, will 
 follow you to the quarter-deck, and rise with 
 you in the service. This advice is for your own 
 good ; not that I interfere in these things, as 
 every body and every thing finds its level in a 
 man-of-war ; I only wish you to draw a line be- 
 tween resistance against oppression, which I 
 admire and respect, and a litigious, uncompro- 
 
 D 2 
 
52 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 mising di>positicn, which I despise. Now wash 
 your face and go on board. Try by all means 
 to conciliate the rest of your messmates, for first 
 impressions are everything, and rely on it, 
 Murphy's report will not be in your favour." 
 
 This advice was very good, but had the dis- 
 advantage of coming too late for that occasion 
 by at least half an hour. The fracas was owing 
 to the captain's mismanagement, and the man- 
 ners and customs of the navy at the beginning 
 of the nineteenth century. The conversation at 
 the tables of the higher ranks of the service in 
 tliose days, unless ladies were present, was gene- 
 rally such as a boy could not listen to without 
 injury to his better feelings. I was, therefore, 
 " hinted off ;" but with due respect to my cap- 
 tain, who is still living, I should have been sent 
 on board of my ship, and cautioned against the 
 bad habits of the natives of North Corner and 
 Barbican ; and if I could not be admitted to 
 the mysterious conversation of a captain's table, 
 I should have been told in a clear and decided 
 
THE ITAVAL OFFIflER. 53 
 
 manner to depart, without the needless puzzle 
 of an inuendo, which I did not and could not 
 understand. 
 
 I returned on board about eight o''clock, 
 where Murphy had gone before me, and pre- 
 pared a reception far from agreeable. Instead 
 of being welcomed to my berth, I was received 
 with coldness, and I returned to the quarter- 
 deck, where I walked till I was w^eary, and 
 then leaned against a gun. From this temporary 
 alleviation, I was roused by a voice of thunder, 
 " Lean off that gun." I started up, touched 
 my hat, and continued my solitary walk, looking 
 now and then at the second-lieutenant, who had 
 thus gruffly addressed me. I felt a dejection of 
 spirits, a sense of destitution and misery, which 
 I cannot describe. I had done no wrong, yet 
 I was suffering as if I had committed a crime. 
 I had been aggrieved, and had vindicated myself 
 as well as I could. I thoufjht I was amoner 
 devils, and not men ; my thoughts turned home- 
 ward. I remembered my poor mother in her 
 
54 THE XAVAL OFFJCER. 
 
 agony of grief, on the sofa ; and my unfeeling 
 heart then found that it needed the soothings of 
 aiFection. I could have wept, but I knew not 
 where to go ; for I could not be seen to cry on 
 board of ship. My pride began to be humbled. 
 I felt the misery of dependence, although not 
 wanting pecuniary resources ; and would have 
 given up all my prospects, to have been once 
 more seated quietly at home. 
 
 The first-lieutenant came on board soon 
 after, and 1 heard him relating my adventure to 
 the second-lieutenant. The tide now evidently 
 turned in my favour. I was invited down to 
 the gun-room, and having given satisfactory 
 answers to all the questions put to me, Flyblock 
 was sent for, and I was once more placed under 
 his protection. The patronage of the first- 
 lieutenant, I flattered myself would have en- 
 sured me at least common civility for a short time. 
 
 I had now more leisure to contemplate my 
 new residence and new associates, who having 
 returned from the duty of the dock-yard, were all 
 
THF NAVAL OFFICER. 55 
 
 assembled in the berth, seated round the table 
 on the lockers, which paid " the double debt" 
 of seats and receptacles ; but in order to obtain 
 a sitting, it was requisite either to climb over the 
 backs of the company, or submit to '' high pres- 
 sure" from the last comer. Such close contact, 
 even with our best friends, is never desirable ; 
 but in warm weather, in a close, confined 
 air, with a manifest scarcity of clean linen, 
 it became particularly inconvenient. The po- 
 pulation here very far exceeded the limits 
 usually allotted to human beings in any situa- 
 tion of life, except in a slave ship. The mid- 
 shipmen, of whom there were eight full-grown, 
 and four youngsters, were without either jackets 
 or waistcoats; some of them had their shirt-sleeves 
 rolled up, either to prevent the reception or to 
 conceal the absorption of dirt in the region of 
 the Avristbands. The repast on the table con- 
 sisted of a can or large black-jack of small beer, 
 and a japan breadbasket full of sea biscuit. To 
 compensate for this simple fare, and at the same 
 
56 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 time to cool the close atmosphere of the berth, 
 the table was covered with a large green cloth 
 with a yellow border, and many yellow spots 
 withal, where the colour had been discharged by 
 slops of vinegar, hot tea, &c. &c. ; a sack of 
 potatoes stood in one corner, and the shelves all 
 round, and close over our heads, were stuffed 
 with plates, glasses, quadrants, knives and 
 forks, loaves of sugar, dirty stockings and shirts^ 
 and still fouler table-cloths, small-tooth combs, 
 and ditto large, clothes brushes and shoe brushes, 
 cocked hats, dirks, German flutes, mahogany 
 writing-desks, a plate of salt butter, and some 
 two or three pair of naval half boots. A single 
 candle served to make darkness visible, and the 
 stench had nearly overpowered me. 
 
 The reception I met with tended in no way 
 to relieve these horrible impressions. A black 
 man, with no other dress than a dirty check shirt 
 and trowsers, not smelling of amber, stood 
 Within the door ready to obey all and any one 
 of the commands with which he was loaded. 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 57 
 
 The smell of the towel he held in his hand, to 
 wipe the plates and glasses with, completed my 
 discomfiture; and I fell sick upon the seat 
 nearest to me. Recovering from this, without 
 the aid of any " ministering angel," I contracted 
 the pupils of my eyes, and ventured to look 
 around me. The first who met my gaze, was my 
 recent foe; he bore the marks of contention by 
 having his eye bound up with brown paper and 
 a dirty silk pocket handkerchief; the other was 
 quickly turned on me; and with a savage and bru- 
 tal countenance, he swore and denounced the 
 severest vengeance on me for what I had done. 
 In this, he was joined by another ' ill-looking 
 fellow, with large whiskers. 
 
 I shall not repeat the elegant philippics with 
 which I was grc ed. Suffice it to say that I 
 found all the big cnes against me, and the little 
 ones neuter ; the caterer supposing I had receiv- 
 ed suitable admonition for my future guidance, 
 and that I was completely bound over to keep 
 the peace — turned all the youngsters out of the 
 
 d3 
 
58 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 berth : " As for you, Mr. FistyciifF," said he, 
 addressing himself to me, " you may walk off 
 with the rest of the gang, so make yourself 
 scarce, like the Highlander's breeches." 
 
 The boys all obeyed the command in silence, 
 and I was not sori-v to follow them. As I went 
 out he added, " So, Mr. Rumbusticus, you can 
 obey orders, I see, and it is well for you ; for I 
 had a biscuit ready to shy at your head." This 
 affront, after all I had suffered, I was forced to 
 pocket; but I could not understand what the 
 admiral could mean, when he said that people 
 went to sea '' to learn manners." 
 
 I soon made acquaintance with the younger 
 set of my messmates, and we retreated to the 
 forecastle as the only part of the ship suitable to 
 the nature of the conversation we intended to 
 hold. After one hour's deliberation, and notwith- 
 standing it was the first night I had ever been 
 on board a ship, I was unanimously elected 
 leader of this little band. I became the Wil- 
 liam Tell of the party, as having been the first 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICEB. 59 
 
 to resist the tyranny of the oldsters, and especi- 
 ally of the tyrant Murphy. I was let into all 
 the secrets of the mess in which the youngsters 
 were placed by the captain to be instructed and 
 kept in order. Alas ! what instruction did we 
 get but blasphemy ? What order were we kept 
 in, except that of paying our mess, and being 
 forbidden to partake of those articles which our 
 money had purchased ? My blood boiled when 
 they related all they had suffered, and I vowed I 
 would sooner die than submit to such treat- 
 ment. 
 
 The hour of bedtime arrived. I was in- 
 structed how to get into my hammock, and 
 laughed at for tumbling out on the opposite side. 
 I was forced to submit to this pride of conscious 
 superiority of these urchins who could only boast 
 of a few months more practical experience than 
 myself, and who therefore called me a green- 
 horn. But all this was done in good nature ; 
 and after a few hearty laughs from my compa- 
 nions, I gained the centre of my suspended bed. 
 
» 
 
 60 THE NAVAL OFFICEE. 
 
 and was very soon in a sound sleep. This was 
 only allowed to last till about four o'clock in the 
 morning, when down came the head of my ham- 
 mock, and I fell to the deck, with my feet stiU 
 hanging in the air, like poor Sally, when she 
 caught the crab. Stunned and stupified by the 
 fall, bewildered by the violent concussion and 
 the novelty of all around me, I continued in a 
 state of somnambulism, and it was some minutes 
 before I could recollect myself. 
 
 The marine sentinel at the gun-room door see- 
 ing what had happened, and also espying the person 
 to whom I was indebted for this favour, very 
 kindly came to my assistance. He knotted my 
 lanyard, and restored my hammock to its place, 
 but he could not persuade me to confide myself 
 again to such treacherous bed-posts, for I 
 thought the rope had broken ; and so strongly 
 did the fear of another tumble possess my mind, 
 that I took a blanket, and lay down on a chest 
 at some little distance, keeping a sleepless eye 
 directed to the scene of my late disaster. 
 
THE NAVAL 0771 CER. 61 
 
 This was fortunate; for not many minutes 
 had elapsed, when Murphy, who had been re- 
 Heved from the middle watch, came belovr, and 
 seeing my hammock again hanging up, and sup- 
 posing me in it, took out his knife and cut 
 it down. " So then," said I to myself, *' it was 
 you was it who invaded my slumbers, and 
 nearly dashed my brains out, and have now 
 made the second attempt."' I vowed to Heaven 
 that I would have revenge; and I acquitted 
 myself of that vow. Like the North American 
 savage, crouching lest he sliould see me, I 
 waited patiently till he had got into his ham- 
 mock, and was in a sound sleep. I then gently 
 pushed a shot-case under the head of his ham- 
 mock, and placed the corner of it so as to 
 receive his head ; for had it spht his skull I 
 should not have cared, so exasperated was I, 
 and so bent on revenge. Subtle and silent I 
 then cut his lanyard : he fell, and his head 
 coming in contact with the edge of the shot- 
 
62 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 case, he gave a deep groan, and there he lay. 
 I instantly retreated to my chest and blanket, 
 where I pretended to snore, while the sentinel, 
 who, fortunately for me, had seen Murphy cut 
 me down the first time, came with his lanthorn, 
 and seeing him apparently dead, removed the 
 shot-case out of the way, and then ran to the 
 Serjeant of marines, desiring him to bring the 
 surgeon's assistant. 
 
 While the serjeant was gone, he whispered 
 softly to me, " Lie still ; I saw the whole of it, 
 and if you are found out, it may go hard with 
 you." 
 
 Murphy, it appeared, had few friends in the 
 ship ; all rejoiced at his accident. I laid very 
 quietly in my blanket while the surgeon''s assist- 
 ant dressed the wound ; and, after a considerable 
 time, succeeded in restoring the patient to his 
 senses : he was, however, confined a fortnight to 
 his bed. I was either not suspected, or, if I 
 was, it was known that I was not the aggressor. 
 
THE XAVAL OFFICER. 6S 
 
 The secret was well kept. I gave the marine 
 a guinea, and took him into my service as valet 
 de place. 
 
 And now, reader, in justice to myself, allow 
 me to make a few remarks. They may serve as 
 a palliative, to a certain degree, for that un- 
 principled career which the following pages will 
 expose. The passions of pride and revenge, 
 implanted in our fallen natures, and which, if 
 not eradicated in the course of my education, 
 ought, at least, to have lain dormant as long as 
 possible, were, through the injudicious conduct 
 of those to whom I had been entrusted, called 
 into action and full activity at a very early 
 age. The moral seeds sown by my parents, 
 which might have germinated and produced 
 fruit, were not watered or attended to : weeds 
 had usurped their place, and were occupying the 
 ground which should have supported them ; 
 and at this period, when the most assiduous cul- 
 tivation was necessary to procure a return, into 
 what a situation was I thrown ? In a ship 
 
64 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 crowded with three hundred men, each of them, 
 or nearly so, cohabiting with an unfortunate 
 female, in the lowest state of degradation ; 
 where oaths and blasphemy interlarded every 
 sentence ; where religion was wholly neglected, 
 and the only honour paid to the Almighty was 
 a clean shirt on a Sunday ; where implicit 
 obedience to the will of an officer, was con- 
 sidered of more importance than the observance 
 of the Decalogue ; and the commandments of 
 God, were in a manner abrogated by the articles 
 of war — for the first might be broken with im- 
 punity, and even with applause, while the most 
 severe punishment awaited any infraction of 
 the latter. 
 
 So much for the ship in the aggregate ; let us 
 now survey the midshipman's berth. Here we 
 found the same language and the same manners, 
 with scarcely one shade more of refinement. 
 Their only pursuits, when on shore were in- 
 toxication and worse debauchery, to be gloried 
 in and boasted of when they returned on board. 
 
THE NA'^\L OFFICER. 65 
 
 My captain said that every thing found its level 
 in a man-of-war. True ; but in a midshipman's 
 berth it was the level of a savage, where corporeal 
 strength was the sine qua nori, and decided 
 whether you were to act the part of a tyrant or 
 a slave. The discipline of public schools, bad 
 and demoralizing as it is, was light, compared to 
 the tyranny of a midshipman's berth in 1803. 
 
 A mistaken notion has long prevailed, that 
 boys derive advantages from suffering under the 
 tyranny of their oppressors at school ; and we 
 constantly hear the praises of public schools 
 and midshipmen's berths on this very account, 
 namely, "that boys are taught to find their level." 
 I do not mean to deny but that the higher orders 
 improve by collision with their inferiors, and 
 that a young aristocrat is often brought to his 
 senses by receiving a sound threshing from the 
 son of a tradesman. But he that is brought up 
 a slave, will be a tvrant when he has the power ; 
 the worst of our passions are nourished to inflict 
 the same evil on others which we boast of 
 
66 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 having suffered ourselves. The courage and 
 daring spirit of a noble-minded boy is rather 
 broken down by ill-usage, which he has not the 
 power to resist, or, surmounting all this, he 
 proudly imbibes a dogged spirit of sullen resist- 
 ance and implacable revenge, which become the 
 bane of his future life. 
 
 The latter was my fate ; and let not my 
 readers be surprised or shocked, if, in the course 
 of these adventures, I should display some of 
 the fruits of that fatal seed, so early and so 
 profusely sown in my bosom. If, on my first 
 coming into the ship, I shrunk back with horror 
 at the sound of blasphemy and obscenity — if I 
 shut my eyes to the promiscuous intercourse of 
 the sexes, it was not so long. By insensible de- 
 grees, I became familiarized v/ith vice, and 
 callous to its approach. In a few months I 
 had become nearly as corrupt as others. I 
 might indeed have resisted longer ; but though 
 the fortress of virtue could have held out against 
 open violence, it could not withstand the under- 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 67 
 
 mining of ridicule. My young companions, 
 who, as I have observed, had only preceded 
 me six months in the service, were already 
 grown old in depravity ; they laughed at my 
 squeamishness, called me milksop and board- 
 ing-school miss, and soon made me as bad as 
 themselves. We had not quite attained the age 
 of perpetration, but we were fully prepared to 
 meet it when it came. 
 
 I had not been two days on board, when the 
 youngsters proposed a walk into the main top. 
 I mounted the rigging with perfect confidence, 
 for I was always a good climber ; but I had 
 not proceeded far, when I was overtaken by the 
 captain of the top and another man, who, with- 
 out any ceremony or preface, seized me by each 
 arm, and very deliberately lashed me fast in the 
 rigging. They laughed at my remonstrance. 
 I asked what they meant, and the captain of 
 the top said very civilly, taking off his hat at 
 the same time, " that it was the way all gemmen 
 were sarved when they first went aloft ; and I 
 
68 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 must pay my footing as a bit of a parkazite/^ 
 I looked down to the quarter-deck for assist- 
 ance, but every one there was laughing at me ; 
 and even the very little rogues of midshipmen 
 who had enticed me up were enjoying the joke. 
 Seeing this was the case, I only asked what was 
 to pay. The captain of the top said a seven 
 shilling bit would be thought handsome. This 
 I promised to give, and was released on my own 
 recognizances. When I reached the quarter- 
 deck I paid the money. 
 
 Having experienced nothing but cruelty and 
 oppression since I had been on board, I sorely 
 repented of coming to sea ; my only solace was 
 seeing Murphy, as he lay in his hammock, with 
 his head bound up. This was a balm to me. 
 " I bide my time,"" said I ; '' I will yet be re- 
 venged on all of you;" and so I was. I let 
 none escape ; I had them all in their turns, and 
 glutted my thirst for revenge. 
 
 I had been three weeks on board, when the 
 ship was reported ready for sea. I had acquired 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 69 
 
 the favour of the first heutenant by a constant 
 
 attention ^o the little duties he gave me to per- 
 
 form. _I had been j\ut into a watch, and sta- 
 
 N tigned in the fore-top, and quartered at the 
 
 %»«,j&4I'/jifiast guns on thafcain-deck. I was told by 
 
 %[ ^theyoungsters that the first lieutenant was a harsh 
 
 officer, and implacable when once he took a 
 
 dislike ; his maijwlei'sPKowever, even when under 
 
 tUfe-^^fea^^ cx^ecfynt, were always those of a 
 perfect. gentle^h>..i^nd I continued living on 
 good terms with him. But wich the second 
 lieutenant -I' was not so fortunate. He had 
 ordered me t* ake the jolly-boat and bring off 
 a woman whom he kept ; I remonstrated and 
 refused, and from that moment we never were 
 friends. 
 
 Murphy had also recovered from his fall, 
 and returned to his duty; his malice towards 
 me increased, and I had no peace or comfort in 
 his presence. One day he threw a biscuit at my 
 head, calling me at the same time a name which 
 reflected on the legitimacy of my birth, in 
 
70 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 language the most coarse and vulgar. In a 
 moment all the admonitions which I had 
 received, and all my sufferings for impetuosity 
 of temper, were forgotten ; the blood boiled in 
 my veins and trickled from my wounded fore- 
 head. Dizzy, and almost siglrtless with rage, 
 I seized a brass candlestick, the bottom of 
 which (to keep it steady at sea) was loaded with 
 lead, and threw it at him with all my might ; 
 had it taken effect as I intended, that offence 
 would have been his last. It missed. his head, 
 and struck the black servant on the shoulder ; 
 the poor man went howling to the surgeon, in 
 whose care he remained for many days. 
 
 Murphy started up to take instant Vengeance, 
 but was held by the other seniors of the mess, 
 who unanimously declared that such an offence 
 as mine should be punished in a more solemn 
 manner. A mock trial (without adverting to 
 the provocation I had received) found me guilty 
 of insubordination " to the oldsters," and 
 setting a bad example to the youngsters. I 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 71 
 
 was sentenced to be cobbed with a worsted 
 stocking, filled with wet sand. I was held 
 down on my face on the mess-table by four 
 stout midshipmen ; the surgeon*'s assistant held 
 my wrist, to ascertain if my pulse indicated 
 exhaustion ; while Murphy, at his own particular 
 request, became the executioner. Had it been 
 any other but him, I should have given 
 vent to my agonizing pain by screams, but 
 like a sullen Ebo, I was resolved to endure 
 even to death, rather than gratify him by 
 any expression of pain. After a most severe 
 punishment, a cold sweat and faintness alarmed 
 the surgeon's assistant. I was then released, 
 but ordered to mess on my chest for a fortnight 
 by myself. As soon as I was able to stand, and 
 had recovered mv breath, I declared in the most 
 solemn manner, that a repetition of the offence 
 should produce the action for which I had suf- 
 fered, and I would then appeal to the cap- 
 tain for justice ; *' and," said I, turning to 
 Murphy, " it was I who cut down your ham- 
 
72 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 mock, and had very nearly knocked out your 
 brains. I did it in return for your cowardly 
 attack on me ; and I will do it again, if I 
 suffer martyrdom for it : for every act of ty- 
 ranny you commit, I will have revenge. Try 
 me now, and see if I am not as good as my 
 word." He grinned, and turned pale, but 
 dared do no more, for he was a coward. 
 
 I was ordered to quit the berth, which I did, 
 and as I went out, one of the mates observed, 
 that I was " a proper malignant devil, by G — ." 
 
 This violent scene produced a sort of cessa- 
 tion from hostilities. Murphy knew that he 
 might expect a decanter at his head or a knife 
 in his side, if I was provoked ; and that peace 
 which I could not gain from his compassion, I 
 obtained from his fears. The affair made a 
 noise in the ship. With the officers in the gun- 
 room I lost ground, because it was misrepre- 
 sented. With the men I gained favour, because 
 they hated Murphy. They saw the truth, and 
 admired me for my determined resistance. 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 73 
 
 Sent to Coventry by the officers, I sought the 
 society of the men. I learned rapidly the prac- 
 tical part of ray duty, and profited by the un- 
 couth criticism of these rough warriors on the 
 defective seamanship of their superiors. A sort 
 of compact was made between us : they promised 
 that whenever they deserted, it should not be 
 from my boat when on duty, and I promised to 
 let them go and drink at public houses as long 
 as I could spare them. In spite, however, of 
 this mutual understanding, two of them violated 
 their faith the night before we went to sea, and 
 left the boat of which I had charge ; and as I 
 had disobeyed orders in letting them go to a 
 public house, I was, on my return to the ship, 
 dismissed from the quarter-deck, and ordered to 
 do mv duty in the fore-top. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
74 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 c:hapter III. 
 
 The might of England flush'd 
 
 To anticipate the scene ; 
 And her van the fleeter rush'd 
 
 O'er the deadly space between. 
 " Hearts of oak !" our captains cried; when each gnu 
 
 From its adamantine lips 
 
 Spread a death-shade round the ships, 
 
 Like the hurricane eclipse 
 Of the sun. 
 
 Campbell. 
 
 Considering my youth and inexperience, 
 and the trifling neglect of which I was accused, 
 there are few, even of the most rigid disciphna- 
 rians, who will not admit that I was both un- 
 justly and unkindly treated by the first lieute- 
 nant, who certainly, with all my respect for him, 
 had lent himself to my enemies. The second 
 lieutenant and Mr. Murphy did not even con- 
 ceal their feelings on the occasion, but exulted 
 over my disgrace. 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 75 
 
 The ship was suddenly ordered to Portsmouth, 
 where the captain, who had been on leave, was 
 expected to join us, which he did soon after our 
 arrival, when the first lieutenant made his re- 
 ports of good and bad conduct during his ab- 
 sence. I had been about ten days doing duty 
 in the fore-top, and it was the intention of Mr. 
 Handstone, to which the captain seemed not 
 disinclined, to have given me a flogging at the 
 gun, as a gratuity for losing the men. This 
 part of the sentence, however, was not executed. 
 I continued a member of the midshipmen's 
 mess, but was not allowed to enter the berth : 
 my meals were sent to me, and I took them 
 solus on my chest. The youngsters spoke to me, 
 but only by stealth, being afraid of the oldsters, 
 who had sent me to the most rigid Coventry. 
 
 My situation in the fore-top was nearly nomi- 
 nal. I went aloft when the hands were called, 
 or in my watch, and amused myself with a book 
 until we went below, unless there was any little 
 duty for me to do, which did not appear above 
 
 E 2 
 
76 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 my strength. The men doated on me as a mar- 
 tyr in their cause, and delighted in giving me 
 every instruction in the art of knotting and 
 splicing, rigging, reefing, furling, &c. &c. ; and 
 I honestly own that the happiest hours I had 
 passed in that ship were during my seclusion 
 among these honest tars. 
 
 Whether my enemies discovered this or not, 
 I cannot say ; but shortly after our arrival I was 
 sent for by the captain into his own cabin, 
 where I received a lecture on my misconduct, 
 both as to my supposed irritable and quarrel- 
 some disposition, and also for losing the men 
 out of the boat. " In other respects," he added, 
 "your punishment would have been much more 
 severe but for your general good conduct ; and I 
 have no doubt, from this little well-timed seve- 
 rity, that you will in future conduct yourself 
 with more propriety. I therefore release you 
 from the disgraceful situation in which you are 
 placed, and allow you to return to your dut}^ 
 on the quarter- deck."" 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 77 
 
 The tears which no brutahty or ill-treatment 
 could wring from me, now flowed in abundance, 
 and it was some minutes before I could recover 
 myself sufficiently to thank him for his kind- 
 ness, and to explain the cause of my disgrace. 
 I told him, that since I had joined the ship I 
 had been treated like a dog ; that he alone had 
 been ignorant of it, and that he alone had be- 
 haved to me with humanity. I then related all 
 my suff'erings, from the moment of that fatal glass 
 of wine up to the time I was speaking. I did 
 not conceal the act of cutting down Murphy's 
 hammock, nor of throwing the candlestick at his 
 head. I assured him I never gave any provoca- 
 tion ; that I never struck without being first 
 stricken. I said, moreover, that I would never 
 receive a blow or be called an improper name, 
 without resenting it, as far as I was able. It was 
 my nature, and if killed, I could not help it. 
 Several men have run away," said I, " since I 
 came into the ship and before, and the officers un- 
 der whose charge they were, only received a repri- 
 
78 THE KAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 mand, while I, who have just come to sea, have 
 been treated with the greatest and most de- 
 grading severity."" 
 
 The captain listened to my defence with 
 attention, and I thought seemed very much 
 struck with it. I afterwards learned that Mr. 
 Handstone had received a reprimand for his 
 harsh treatment of me ; he observed, that I 
 should one day turn out a shining character, 
 or go to the devil. 
 
 It appeared pretty evident to me, that how- 
 ever I might have roused the pride and resent- 
 ment of the senior members of the mess by 
 my resistance to arbitrary power, that I had 
 gained some powerful friends, among whom 
 was the captain. Many of the officers admired 
 that dogged, " don't-care" spirit of resistance 
 which I so perseveringly displayed, and were 
 forced to admit that I had right on my side. I 
 soon perceived the change of mind by the 
 frequency of invitations to the cabin and gun- 
 room tables. The youngsters were proud to 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER, 79 
 
 receive me again openly as their associate ; but 
 the oldsters regarded me with a jealousy and 
 suspicion like that of an unpopular government 
 to a favourite radical leader. 
 
 I soon arranged with the boys of my own 
 age a plan of resistance, or rather of self-defence, 
 which proved of great importance in our future 
 warfare. One or two of them had nerve enough 
 to follow it up ; the others made fair promises, 
 but fell off in the hour of trial. My code con- 
 sisted of only two maxims : the first was, always 
 to throw a bottle, decanter, candlestick, knife, 
 or fork, at the head of any person who should 
 strike one of us, if the assailant should appear 
 too strong to encounter in fair fight. The second 
 was, never to allow ourselves to be unjustly de- 
 frauded of our rights ; to have an equal share 
 of what we paid equally for ; and to gain by arti- 
 fice that which was withheld by force. 
 
 I explained to them that by the first plan we 
 should insure civility, at least ; for as tyrants 
 are generally cowards, they would be afraid to 
 
80 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 provoke that anger which in some unlucky 
 moment might be fatal to them, or maim them 
 for life. By the second, I promised to procure 
 them an equal share in the good things of this 
 life, the greater part of which the oldsters 
 engrossed to themselves : in this latter we were 
 much more unanimous than the former, as it 
 incurred less personal risk. I was the projec- 
 tor of all the schemes for forage, and was gene- 
 rally successful. 
 
 At length we sailed to join the fleet off Cadiz, 
 under the command of Lord Nelson. I shall 
 not pretend to describe the passage down Chan- 
 nel and across the Bay of Biscay. I was as 
 sea-sick as a lady in a Dover packet, until 
 inured to the motion of the ship by the merci- 
 less calls to my duties aloft, or to relieve the 
 deck in my watch. 
 
 We reached our station and joined the immor- 
 tal Nelson but a few hours before that battle in 
 which he lost his life and saved his country. 
 The history of that important day has been so 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 81 
 
 often and so circumstantially related, that I 
 cannot add much more to the stock on hand. I 
 am only astonished, seeing the confusion and 
 invariable variableness of a sea-fight, how so 
 much could be known. One observation occur- 
 red to me then, and I have thought of it ever 
 since with redoubled conviction ; this was, that 
 the admiral, after the battle began, was no 
 admiral at all : he could neither see nor be 
 seen ; he could take no advantage of the ene- 
 my's weak points or defend his own ; his ship, 
 the Victory, one of our finest three-deckers, 
 was, in a manner, tied up along-side a French 
 eighty-gun ship. 
 
 These observations I have read in some naval 
 work, and in my mind they receive ample con- 
 firmation. I could not help feeling an agony of 
 anxiety (young as I was) for my country's 
 glory, when I saw the noble leaders of our two 
 lines exposed to the united fire of so many ships. 
 I thought Nelson was too much exposed, and 
 
 E 3 
 
82 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 think so now. Experience has confirmed what 
 youthful fancy suggested ; the enemy's centre 
 should have been Macadamised by our seven 
 three-deckers, some of which, by being placed 
 in the rear, had little share in the action ; 
 and but for the intimidation which their pre- 
 sence afforded, miglit as well have been at Spit- 
 head. I mean no reflection on the officers who 
 had charo-e of them : accidental concurrence of 
 light wind and station in the line, threw them 
 at such a distance from the enemy as kept 
 them in the back ground the greater part of the 
 day. 
 
 Others, again, were in enviable situations, 
 but did not, as far as I could learn from the 
 officers, do quite as much as they might have 
 done. This defect on our part being met by 
 equal disadvantages, arising from nearly similar 
 causes on that of the enemy, a clear victory 
 remained to us. The aof^re^ate of the British 
 navy is brave and good ; and we must admit 
 
THE XAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 83 
 
 that in this day, " when England expected 
 every man to do his duty," there were but few 
 who disappointed their country's hopes. 
 
 When the immortal signal was communicated, 
 I shall never, no, never, forget the electric 
 effect it produced through the fleet. I can com- 
 pare it to noihing so justly as to a match laid 
 to a long train of gunpowder ; and as English- 
 men are the same, the same feeling, the same 
 enthusiasm, was displayed in every ship ; tears 
 ran down the cheeks of many a noble fellow 
 when the affecting sentence was made known. 
 It recalled every past enjoyment, and filled the 
 mind with fond anticipations, which, with many, 
 were never, alas ! to be realized. They went down 
 to their guns without confusion ; and a cool, 
 deliberate courage from that moment seemed 
 to rest on the countenance of every man I saw. 
 My captain, though not in the line, was no 
 niggard in the matter of shot, and though he 
 had no real business to come within range until 
 called by signal, still he thought it his duty to 
 
84 THE \^AVAL OFFICER. 
 
 be as near to our ships engaged as possible, in 
 order to afford them assistance when required. 
 I was stationed at the foremost guns on the 
 main deck, and the ship cleared for action ; and 
 though on a comparatively small scale, I cannot 
 imagine a more solemn, grand, or impressive 
 sight, than a ship prepared as ours was on that 
 occasion. Her noble tier of guns, in a line 
 gently curving out towards the centre ; the 
 tackle laid across the deck ; the shot and wads 
 prepared in ample store (round grape and 
 canister) ; the powder boys each with his box 
 full, seated on it, with perfect apparent indif- 
 ference as to the approaching conflict. The 
 captains of guns, with their priming boxes 
 buckled round their waists; the locks fixed 
 upon the guns ; the lanyards laid around them ; 
 the officers, with their swords drawn, standing 
 by their respective divisions. 
 
 The quarter-deck was commanded by the 
 captain in person, assisted by the first lieute- 
 nant, the lieutenant of marines, a party of small- 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 85 
 
 arm men, with the mate and midshipmen, and 
 a portion of seamen to attend the braces and 
 fight the quarter-deck guns. The boatswain 
 was on the forecastle ; the gunner in the maga- 
 zine, to send up a supply of powder to the 
 guns; the carpenter watched and reported, 
 from time to time, the depth of water in the 
 well ; he also walked round the wings or vacant 
 spaces between the ship's side and the cables, 
 and other stores. He was attended by his mates, 
 who were provided with shot-plugs, oakum, 
 and tallow, to stop any shot holes which might 
 be made. 
 
 The surgeon was in the cock-pit with his 
 assistants. The knives, saws, tourniquets, 
 sponges, basins, w^ine and water, were all dis- 
 played and ready for the first unlucky patient 
 that might be presented. This was more awful 
 to me than any thing I had seen. " How 
 soon,'' thought I, " may I be stretched, mangled 
 and bleeding, on this table, and have occasion 
 for all the skill and all the instruments I now 
 
86 THE XAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 see before me ! '' I turned awav, and endea- 
 voured to forget it all. 
 
 As soon as the fleet bore up to engage the 
 enemy, we did the same, keeping as near as we 
 could to the admiral, whose signals we were 
 ordered to repeat. I was particularly astonished 
 with the skilful manner in which this was done. 
 It was wonderful to see how instantaneously the 
 same flags were displayed at our mast-heads as 
 had been hoisted by the admiral ; and the more 
 wonderful this appeared to me, since his flags 
 were rolled lip in round balls, which were not 
 broke loose until they had reached the mast- 
 head, so that the signal officers of a repeater 
 had to make out the number of the flag during 
 its passage aloft in disguise. This was done by 
 the power of good telescopes, and from habit, 
 and sometimes by anticipation of the signal that 
 would be next made. 
 
 The reader may perhaps not be aware that 
 among civilized nations, in naval warfare, ships 
 in the line never fire at frigates, unless they 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 87 
 
 provoke hostility by interposing between belli- 
 gerent ships, or firing into them, as was the 
 case in the Nile, when Sir James Saumarez, 
 in the Orion, was under the necessity of sinking 
 the Artemise, which he did with one broadside^ 
 as a reward for her temerity. Under this pax- 
 in-hellum sort of compact, we might have come 
 off scot-free, had we not partaken very libe- 
 rally of the shot intended for larger ships, which 
 did serious damage among our people. 
 
 The two British lines running down parallel 
 to each other, and nearly perpendicular to the 
 crescent line of the combined fleets, was the 
 grandest sight that was ever witnessed. As 
 soon as our van was within gun-shot of the 
 enemy, they opened their fire on the Royal 
 Sovereign and the Victory ; but when the first- 
 named of these noble ships rounded to, under 
 the stern of the Santa Anna, and the Victory 
 had very soon after laid herself on board the 
 Redoutable, the clouds of smoke enveloped 
 both fleets, and little was to be seen except the 
 
88 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 falling of masts, and here and there, as the 
 smoke blew away, a ship totally dismasted. 
 
 One of these proved to be English, and our 
 captain seeing her between two of the enemy, 
 bore up to take her in tow : at the same time, one 
 of our ships of the line opened a heavy fire on 
 one of the French line of battle ships, unluckily 
 situated in a right line between us, so that the 
 shot which missed the enemy sometimes came 
 on board of us. I was looking out of the bow- 
 port at the moment that a shot struck our ship 
 on the stern between wind and water. It was 
 the first time I had ever seen the effect of a 
 heavy shot ; it made a great splash_, and, to me, 
 as I then thought, a very unusual noise, throwing 
 a great deal of water in my face. I very na- 
 turally started back, as I believe many a brave 
 fellow has done. Two of the seamen quartered 
 at my guns, laughed at me. I felt ashamed, 
 and resolved to shew no more such weakness. 
 
 This shot was very soon succeeded by some 
 others not quite so harmless : one came into the 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 89 
 
 bow port, and killed the two men who had wit- 
 nessed my trepidation. My pride having been 
 hurt that these men should have seen me flinch, I 
 will own that I was secretly pleased when I saw 
 them removed beyond the reach of human 
 interrogation. 
 
 It would be difficult to describe my feel- 
 ings on this occasion. Not six weeks before, 
 I was the robber of hen-roosts and gar- 
 dens — the hero of a horse-pond, ducking an 
 usher — now suddenly, and almost without any 
 previous warning or reflection, placed in the 
 midst of carnage, and an actor in one of those 
 grand events by which the fate of the civilized 
 world was to be decided. 
 
 A quickened circulation of blood, a fear of 
 immediate death, and a still greater fear of 
 shame, forced me to an involuntary and fre- 
 quent change of position ; and it required some 
 time, and the best powers of intellect, to rea- 
 son myself into that frame of mind in which 
 I could feel as safe and as unconcerned as if 
 
90 THE NAVAL OFFICEK. 
 
 we had been in harbour. To this state I at 
 last did attain, and soon felt ashamed of the 
 perturbation under which I laboured before the 
 firing began. I prayed, it is true; but my 
 prayer was not that of faith, of trust, or of 
 hope — I prayed only for safety from imminent 
 personal danger ; and my orisons consisted of 
 one or two short, pious ejaculations, without a 
 thought of repentance for the past or amendment 
 for the future. 
 
 But Avhen we had once got fairly into action, 
 I felt no more of this, and beheld a poor crea- 
 ture cut in two by a shot with the same indif- 
 ference that at any other time I should have 
 seen a butcher kill an ox. Whether my heart 
 was bad or not, I cannot say ; but I certainly 
 felt my curiosity was gratified more than my 
 feelings were shocked, when a raking-shot killed 
 seven and wounded three more. I was sorry 
 for the men, and, for the world, would not have 
 injured them ; but I had a philosophic turn of 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 91 
 
 mind; I liked to judge of causes and effects; 
 and I was secretly pleased at seeing the effect of 
 a raking-shot. *" 
 
 Towards four p. m. the firing began to abate, 
 the smoke cleared away, and the calm sea be- 
 came ruffled with an increasing breeze. The 
 two hostile fleets were quiet spectators of each 
 other's disasters. We retained possession of 
 nineteen or twenty sail of the line. Some of 
 the enemy's ships were seen running away into 
 Cadiz ; while four others passed to=windward of 
 our fleet, and made their escape. A boat 
 going from our ship to one near us, I jumped 
 into her, and learned the death of Lord Nelson, 
 which I communicated to the captain, who, 
 after paying a tribute to the memory of that 
 great man, looked at me with much compla- 
 cency. I was the only youngster that had been 
 particularly active, and he immediately des- 
 patched me with a message to a ship at a short 
 distance. The first-lieutenant asked if he 
 should not send an officer of more experience. 
 
92 THE XAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 " No," said the captain ; " he shall go : the 
 boy knows very well what he is about !"" — and 
 away I w^ent, not a little proud at the confidence 
 placed in me. 
 
 Farther 'details of this eventful day are to be 
 found recorded in our national histories ; it 
 will, therefore, be needless to repeat them here. 
 When I met my messmates at supper in the 
 berth, I was sorry to see Murphy among them. 
 I had flattered myself that some fortunate 
 shot would have for ever divested me of any fur- 
 ther care on his account ; but his time was not 
 come. 
 
 " The devil has had a fine haul to-day !"" said 
 an old master's mate, as he took off his glass of 
 grog. 
 
 '' Pity you, and some others I could name, 
 had not been in the net !" thinks I to my- 
 self. 
 
 " I hope plenty of the lieutenants are bowled 
 out !"" said another : " we shall stand some 
 chance then of a little promotion !" 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 93 
 
 "When the hands were turned up to muster, 
 the number of killed amounted to nine, and 
 the wounded to thirteen. When this was made 
 known, there seemed to be a general smile of 
 congratulation at the number fallen, rather 
 than of regret for their loss. The vanity of 
 the officers seemed tickled at the disproportionate 
 slaughter in a frigate of our size, as compared 
 to what they had heard the ships of the line 
 had suffered. 
 
 I attended the surgeon in the steerage, to 
 which place the wounded were removed, and 
 saw all the amputations performed, without 
 flinchincr ; while men who had behaved well in 
 the action fainted at the sight. I am afraid I 
 almost took a pleasure in observing the opera- 
 tions of the surgeon, without once reflecting on 
 the pain suffered by the patient. Habit had 
 now begun to corrupt my mind. T was not 
 cruel by nature ; I loved the deep investiga- 
 tion of hidden things ; and this day's action 
 
94 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 gave me a very clear insight to the anatomy of 
 the human frame, which I had seen cut in two 
 by shot, lacerated by splinters, carved out with 
 knives, and separated with saws ! 
 
 Soon after the action, we were ordered to 
 Spithead, with duplicate despatches. One morn- 
 ing I heard a midshipman say, " he would do 
 his old father out of a new kit." I inquired 
 what that meant, was first called a green-horn 
 for not knowing, and then had it explained to 
 me. '' Don't you know," said my instructor, 
 " that after every action there is more canvas, 
 rope, and paint, expended in the warrant-officer's 
 accounts, than were destroyed by the enemy .?"" 
 
 I assented to this on the credit of the in- 
 former, without knowing whether it was true or 
 false, and he proceeded. 
 
 '^ How are we to have white hammock- 
 cloths, sky sail masts, and all our finery, besides 
 a coat of paint for the ship's sides every six 
 weeks, if we don't expend all these things in 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 95 
 
 action, and pretend they were lost overboard, 
 or destroyed ? The hst of defects are given in 
 to the admiral, he signs the demand, and the 
 old commissioner must come down with the 
 stores, whether he will or not. I was once in 
 a sloop of war, when a large forty-four-gun 
 frigate ran on board of us, carried away her 
 jib-boom, and left her large fine weather-jib 
 hanging on our fore-yard. It was made of beau- 
 tiful Russia duck, and, to be sure, didn't we 
 make a gang of white hammock-cloths fore and 
 aft, besides white trowsers for the men ? Well 
 now, you must know, that as we make zincle 
 George suffer for the stores, so I mean to make 
 dad suffer for my traps. I mean to lose my 
 chest overboard, with all my ' kit,"* and return 
 home to him and the old woman just fit for the 
 fashion." 
 
 *' And do you really mean to deceive your 
 father and mother in that way .'*" replied I, 
 with much apparent innocence. 
 
96 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 " Do I ? to be sure I do, you flat. How 
 am I to keep up my stock, if I don't make the 
 proper use of an action like this that we have 
 been in .?" 
 
 I took the hint : it never once occurred to 
 me, that if I had fairly and candidly stated to 
 my parents that my stock of clothes were insuf- 
 ficient for my appearance as a gentleman on the 
 quarter-deck, that they would cheerfully have 
 increased it to any reasonable extent. But I 
 had been taught artifice and cunning ; I could 
 tell the truth where I thought it served my 
 purpose, as well as a lie ; but here I thought 
 deception was a proof at once of spirit and of 
 merit ; and I resolved to practise it, if only to 
 raise myself a trifling degree in the estimation 
 of my unworthy associates. I had become par- 
 tial to deception from habit, and preferred 
 exercising my own ingenuity in outwitting my 
 father, to obtaining what I needed by more 
 straight-forward and honourable measures. 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 97 
 
 The ship needed some repairs, and by the 
 indulgence of the captain, who was pleased with 
 my conduct, I, who required so much instruc- 
 tion ia4he nature and cause of her defects, was 
 allowed to be absent while they were made good. 
 By this oversight, I lost all that improvement 
 which I should have gained by close attention 
 to the unrigging or shipping of the ship ; the 
 manner of returning her stores; taking out her 
 masts and ballast, and seeing her taken into 
 dock ; the shape of her bottom, and the good 
 or bad qualities which might be supposed to 
 accelerate or retard her movement. All this was 
 sacrificed to the impatience of seeing my pa- 
 rents ; to the vain-glory of boasting of the action 
 in which 1 had been present ; and, perhaps, of 
 being encouraged to tell lies of things which I 
 never saw, and to talk of feats which I never 
 performed. I loved effect ; and I timed the 
 moment of my return to my father's house 
 (through a correspondence with my sister) to 
 be just as a large party had sat down to a 
 
 VOL. I. F 
 
98 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 sumptuous dinner. I had only been absent 
 three months, it is true; but it was my first 
 cruize, and then "I had seen so much, and 
 been in such very interesting situations." 
 
THE XAV.^L OlFICKR. 99 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 'Twill be time to go home. "\\Tiat shall I say I have done ? 
 It must be a very plausive invention that canies it. I find my 
 tongue is too fool-hardy. 
 
 Shakspeahe. 
 
 Reaching the well-known mansion of my 
 father, I knocked softly at the front door, 
 was admitted, and, without saying a word 
 to the servant, rushed to the head of the dining- 
 room table, and threw my arms round my 
 mother's neck, who only screamed, " Good Hea- 
 vens, my child !" and fell into hysterics. My 
 father, who was in the very midst of helping his 
 soup, jumped up to embrace me and assist my 
 mother. The company all rose, like a covey of 
 
 F 2 
 
100 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 partridges : one lady spoiled a new pink satin 
 ^own by a tip of the elbow from her next 
 neighbour, just as a spoonful of soup had 
 reached " the rosy portals of her mouth ;'"* the 
 little spaniel. Carlo, sat up a loud and incessant 
 bark; and in one minute the whole comely 
 arrangement of the feast was converted into 
 anarchy and confusion. 
 
 Order was, however, soon restored : my mo- 
 ther recovered her composure — my father shook 
 me by the hand — the company all agreed that 
 I was a very fine, interesting boy — the ladies 
 resumed their seats, and I had the satisfaction 
 to observe that my sudden appearance had not 
 deprived them of their appetites. I soon con- 
 vinced them that in this particular, at least, I 
 also was in high trainmg. My midshipman''s 
 life had neither disqualified nor disgusted me 
 with the luxuries of the table ; nor did I ma- 
 nifest the slightest backwardness or diffidence 
 when invited by the gentlemen to take wine. 
 I answered every question with such fluency of 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 101 
 
 speech, and such compound interest of words, 
 as sometimes caused the propounder to regret 
 that he had put me to the trouble of speaking. 
 
 I gave a very florid description of the fight ; 
 praised some admirals and captains for their 
 bravery, sneered at others, and accused a few of 
 right-down misconduct. Now and then, by way 
 of carrying conviction into my auditors'* very 
 souls, I rammed home my charges with an oath, 
 at which my father looked grave, my mother 
 held up her finger, the gentlemen laughed, 
 and the ladies all said, M'ith a smile, '' Sweet 
 boy ! — what animation ! — what sense ! — what 
 discernment !"" Thinks I to myself, " You are 
 as complete a set of gulls as ever picked up a 
 bit of biscuit V 
 
 Next morning, while my recent arrival "was 
 still warm, I broke the subject of my chest to 
 my father and mother at breakfast ; indeed, my 
 father, very fortunately for me, began it by in- 
 quiring how my stock of clothes held out ? 
 
 " Bad enough,'' said I, as I demolished the 
 
lOS THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 third egg, for I still had a good appetite at 
 breakfast. 
 
 " Bad enough !" repeated my father, " why 
 you were extremely well fitted with every 
 thing." 
 
 " Very true. Sir," said I ; " but then you 
 don't know what a man-of-war is in clearing for 
 action ; every thing not too hot or too heavy is 
 chucked overboard with as little ceremony as I 
 swallow this muffin. ' AVhose hat-box is this ?' 
 ' Mr. Spratt's, Sir.' « D— n Mr. Spratt, I'll 
 teach him to keep his hat-box safe another time ; 
 over with it' — and away it went over the lee 
 gang-way. Spratt's father was a hatter in Bond- 
 street, so we all laughed." 
 
 " And pray, Frank," said my mother, " did 
 your box go in the same way ?'' 
 
 "It kept company, I assure you. I watched 
 them go astern, with tears in my eyes, thinking 
 how angry you would be." 
 
 " Well, but the chest, Frank, what became 
 of the chest ? You said that the Vandals had 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 103 
 
 some respect for heavy objects ; and yours, I am 
 sure, to my cost, had very considerable specific 
 gravity." 
 
 " That's very true, Sir ; but you have no no- 
 tion how much it was lightened the first day the 
 ship got to sea. I was lying on it as sick as a 
 whale — the first heutenant and mate of the lower 
 deck came down to see that the men's berths 
 were clean ; I, and my Noah's ark, lay slap in 
 the way — ' Who have we here ?' said IMr. Hand- 
 stone. * Only Mr. Mildmay, and his chest. Sir,' 
 said the serjeant of marines, into whose territory 
 I acknowledge I had made very considerable 
 encroachments. * Only !' repeated the lieute- 
 nant, ' I thought it had been one of the big 
 stones for the new bridge, and the owner of it a 
 drunken Irish hodsman.' I was too sick to care 
 much about what they said." 
 
 '* You forget your breakfast," said my 
 sister. 
 
 *' I'll thank you for another muffin, and ano- 
 ther cup of coffee," said I. 
 
104 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 " Poor fellow !" said my mother, " what he 
 must have suffered !" 
 
 " Oh ! I have not told you half yet, my dear 
 mother ; I only wonder I am alive."" 
 
 " Alive, indeed !" said my aunt Julia ; " here, 
 my dear, here is a small trifle to help you to 
 replenish the stock you have lost in the service 
 of your country. Noble little fellow ! what 
 should we do without sailors ?'"* 
 
 I pocketed the little donation — it was a ten- 
 pounder ; finished my breakfast, by adding a 
 slice of ham and half a french roll to the arti- 
 cles already shipped, and then continued my 
 story. 
 
 " The first thing Mr. Handstone said, was, 
 that my chest was too big ; and the next thing 
 he said, was, ' tell the carpenter I want him. 
 Here, Mr. Adze, take this chest; reduce it one 
 foot in length, and one in height.' ' Ay, ay. 
 Sir,' said Adze ; ' come, young gentleman, 
 move off, and give me your key.' Sick as I 
 was, I knew remonstrance or prayer were alike 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 105 
 
 useless, so I crawled off and presented my key 
 to the carpenter, who very deliberately un- 
 locked, and as expeditiously unloaded, all my 
 treasure. The midshipmen all gathered round. 
 The jars of preserves, and the cakes of ginger- 
 bread which you, my dearest mother, had so 
 nicely packed up for me, were seized with 
 greediness, and devoured before my face. One 
 of them thrust his filthy paw into a pot of black 
 currant jelly, which you gave me for a sore 
 throat, and held a handful of it to my mouth, 
 knowing at the same time that I was ready to 
 be sea-sick in his hand.*" 
 
 " I shall never bear the sight of jelly again,"" 
 said my sister. 
 
 " The nasty brutes !'' said my aunt. 
 
 " Well," T resumed, " all my nice things 
 went ; and, sick as I was, I wished them gone ; 
 but when they laughed and spoke disrespectfully 
 of you, my dear mother, I was ready to fly up 
 and tear their eyes out."' 
 
 f3 
 
106 
 
 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 *' Never mind, my dear boy," said my mo- 
 ther, " we will make all right again." 
 
 " So I suppose we must," said my father ; 
 " but no more jelly and gingerbread, if you 
 please, my dear. Proceed with your story, 
 Frank." 
 
 " Well, Sir, in half an hour my chest was 
 ready for me again ; but while they were about 
 it, they might have taken off another foot, for I 
 found ample space to stow what the plunderers 
 had left. The preserve-jars, being all empty, 
 were given of course to the marines ; and some 
 other heavy articles being handed away, 1 was 
 no longer puzzled how to stow them. After 
 this, you know, Sir, we had the action, and then 
 chest and bedding and all went to the •" 
 
 *' Do they throw all the chests and bedding 
 overboard on these occasions ?" said my father, 
 with a cool and steady gaze in my face, which I 
 had some trouble in facing back again. 
 
 *' Yes ; always every thing that is in the way, 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICEE. 107 
 
 and my chest was in the way, and away it went. 
 You know, Sir, I could not knock down the 
 first lieutenant ; they would have hanged me at 
 the yard-arm." 
 
 " Thank Heaven you did not, my love," 
 said my mother ; " what has happened can be 
 repaired, but that could never have been got 
 over. And your books, what is become of 
 them ?" 
 
 " All went in the lump. They are some- 
 where near the entrance of the Gut of Gibraltar 
 — all lost, except my Bible ; I saved that, as I 
 happened to be reading it in my berth the night 
 before the action." 
 
 " Excellent boy !" exclaimed my mother and 
 aunt both together; " I am sure he speaks the 
 truth.'' 
 
 " I hope he does," said my father, drily ; 
 " though it must be owned that these sea-fights, 
 however glorious for Old England, are very 
 expensive amusements to the parents of youn^ 
 
108 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 midshipmen, unless the boys happen to be 
 knocked on the head." 
 
 Whether my father began to smell a rat, or 
 whether he was afraid of putting more ques- 
 tions, for fear of hearing more fibs, I know not, 
 but I was not sorry when the narrative was 
 concluded, and I dismissed with flying colours. 
 
 To my shame be it spoken, the Bible that 
 had assisted me so much in my mother's 
 opinion, had never but once been opened since 
 I had left home, and that was to examine if 
 there were any bank-notes between the leaves, 
 having heard of such things being done, merely 
 to try whetto' young gentlemen did '' search 
 the Scriptures." 
 
 My demands were all made good. I believe 
 with the greater celerity, as I began to grow 
 very tiresome; my sea manners were not con- 
 genial to the drawing-room. My mother, aunt, 
 and sister, were very di£Perent from the females 
 I had been in the habit of seeing on board the 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 109 
 
 frigate. My oaths and treatment of the ser- 
 vants, male and female, all conspired to recon- 
 cile the whole family to my departure. They 
 therefore heard with pleasure that my leave 
 was expired ; and, having obtained all I wanted, 
 I did not care one pin how soon I got clear of 
 them ; so when the coach came to the door, 
 I jumped in, drove to the Golden Cross, and 
 the next morning rejoined my ship. 
 
 I was received with cheerfulness and cor- 
 diality by most of my shipmates, except Mur- 
 phy and some of his cronies ; nor did one feel- 
 ing of regret or compunction enter my mind 
 for the lies and hypocrisy with which I had 
 deceived and cheated my parents. The reader 
 will probably be aware that except the circum- 
 stance of reducing the size of my chest, and 
 the seizure and confiscation of my jars and 
 gingerbread, there was scarcely a vestige of 
 truth in my story. That I had lost most of 
 my things was most true ; but they were lost •' 
 by my own carelessness, and not by being 
 
110 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 thrown overboard. iVfter losing the key of my 
 chest, which happened the day I joined, a rapid 
 decrease of my stock convinced the first lieu- 
 tenant that a much smaller package might be 
 made of the remainder, and this was the 
 sole cause of my chest being converted into a 
 razee. 
 
 My fresh stock of clothes I brought down in 
 a trunk, which I found very handy, and con- 
 trived to keep in better order than I had formerly 
 done. The money given me to procure m-ore 
 bedding, I pocketed : indeed, T began to grow 
 cunning. I perceived that the best-dressed 
 midshipmen had alwaj^s the most pleasant duties 
 to perform. I was sent to bring off parties of 
 ladies who came to visit the ship and to dine 
 with the captain and officers. I had a tolerably 
 good address, and was reckoned a very hand- 
 some boy ; and though stout of my age, the 
 ladies admitted me to great freedom, under 
 pretence of my being still a dear little darling 
 of a middy, and so perfectly innocent in my 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. Ill 
 
 mind and manners. The fact is, I was kept in 
 much better order on board my ship than I was 
 in my father's house — so much for the habit of 
 disciphne ; but this was all outside show. My 
 father was a man of talent, and knew the world, 
 but he knew nothing of the navy ; and w^hen 
 I had got him out of his depth, I served him 
 as I did the usher : that is, I soused him and 
 his company head over heels in the horse- 
 pond of their own ignorance. Such is the 
 power of local knowledge and cunning over 
 abstruse science and experience. 
 
 So much assurance had I acquired by my 
 recent success in town, that my self-confidence 
 was increased to an incredible degree. My 
 apparent candour, impudence, and readiness 
 gave a currency to the coinings of my brain 
 which far surpassed the dull matter-of-fact of 
 my unwary cotemporaries. 
 
 Of my boyish days, I have now almost said 
 enough. The adventures of a midshipman, 
 during the three first years of his probationary 
 
lis THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 life, might, if fully detailed, disgust more 
 than amuse, and corrupt more than they would 
 improve : I therefore pass on to the age of 
 sixteen, when my person assumed an outline of 
 which I had great reason to be proud, since I 
 often heard it the subject of encomium among 
 the fair sex, and their award was confirmed even 
 by my companions. 
 
 My mind kept pace with my person in every 
 acquirement save those of morality and religion. 
 In these, alas ! I became daily more and more 
 deficient, and, for a time, lost sight of them 
 altogether. The manly, athletic frame, and 
 noble countenance, with which I was blessed, 
 served to render me only more like a painted 
 sepulchre — all was foul within. Like a beauti- 
 ful snake, whose poison is concealed under the 
 gold and azure of its scales, my inward man 
 was made up of pride, revenge, deceit, and 
 selfishness, and my best talents were generally 
 applied to the worst purposes. 
 
 In the knowledge of my profession I made 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICEK. 113 
 
 rapid progress, because I delighted in it, and 
 because my mind, active and elastic as ray 
 body, required and fed on scientific research. 
 I soon became an expert navigator and a good 
 practical seaman, and all this I acquired by my 
 own application. We had no schoolmaster ; and 
 while the other youngsters learned how to work 
 a common day's work from the instruction of 
 the older midshipmen, I, who was no favourite 
 with the latter, was reiected from their coteries 
 I determined, therefore, to supply the deficiency 
 myself, and this I w^as enabled to do by the 
 help of a good education. I had been well 
 grounded in mathematics, and was far advanced 
 in Euclid and algebra, previous to leaving 
 school : thus I had a vast superiority over my 
 companions. 
 
 The great difficulty was to renew my appli- 
 cation to study, after many months of idleness. 
 This, however, I accomplished, and after having 
 been one year at sea, kept a good reckoning and 
 sent in my day's work to the captain. The 
 
114 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 want of instruction which I first felt in the 
 study of navigation, proved in the end of great 
 service to me : I was forced to study more 
 intensely, and to comprehend the principles on 
 which I founded my theory, so that I was pre- 
 pared to prove by mathematical demonstration, 
 what others could only assert who worked by 
 " inspection." 
 
 The pride of surpassing my seniors, and the 
 hope of exposing their ignorance, stimulated me 
 to inquiry, and roused me to application. The 
 books which I had reported lost to my father, 
 were handed out from the bottom of my chest, 
 and read with avidity ; many others I borrowed 
 from the officers, whom, I must do the justice 
 to say, not only lent them with cheerfulness, but 
 offered me the use of their cabin to study in. 
 
 Thus I acquired a taste for reading. I re- 
 newed my acquaintance with the classic authors. 
 Horace and Virgil, licentious, but alluring, drove 
 me back to the study of Latin, and fixed in ray 
 mind a knowledge of the dead languages, at the 
 
THE NAVAL OFIICER. 115 
 
 expence of my morals. Wliether the exchange 
 were profitable or not, is left to wiser heads than 
 mine to decide ; my business is with facts only. 
 
 Thus while the ungenerous malice of the 
 elder midshipmen thought to have injured me 
 by leaving me in ignorance, they did me the 
 greatest possible service, by throwing me on my 
 own resources. I continued on pretty nearly 
 the same terms with my shipmates to the last. 
 With some of the mess-room officers, I was still 
 in disgrace, and was always disliked by the 
 oldsters in my own mess; with the younger 
 midshipmen and the foremast men I was a 
 favourite. I was too proud to be a tyrant, and 
 the same feeling prevented my submitting to 
 tyranny. As I increased in strength and stature, 
 I showed more determined resistance to arbitrary 
 power : an occasional turn-up with boys of my 
 own size, (for the best friends will quarrel,) and 
 the supernumerary midshipmen sent on board 
 for a passage, generally ended in establishing my 
 
116 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 dominion or insuring for me a peaceable neu- 
 trality. 
 
 I became a scientific pugilist, and now and 
 then took a brush with an oldster ; and although 
 overpowered, yet I displayed so much prowess, 
 that my enemies became cautious how they 
 renewed a struggle, which they perceived became 
 daily more arduous ; till, at last, like the lion's 
 whelp, my play ceased to be a joke, and I was 
 left to enjoy that tranquillity, which few 
 found it safe or convenient to disturb. By 
 degrees the balance of power was fairly esta- 
 blished, and even Murphy was awed into civil 
 silence. 
 
 In addition to my well-known increase in 
 personal strength, I acquired a still greater 
 superiority over my companions by the advan- 
 tage of education ; and this I took great care 
 to make them feel on every occasion. I was 
 appealed to in all cases of literary disputation, 
 and was, by general consent, the umpire of the 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 117 
 
 Steerage. I was termed " good company," — not 
 always to the advantage of the possessor of* such 
 a talent ; for it often tends, as it did ^nth me, 
 to lead into very bad company. I had a fine 
 voice, and played on one or two instruments. 
 This frequently procured me invitations to the 
 gun-room, and excuses from duty, together 
 with more wine or grog than was of service to 
 me, and conversation that I had better not have 
 heard. 
 
 We were ordered on a cruise to the coast of 
 France; and as the junior port-admiral had a 
 
 spite against our captain, he swore by that 
 
 go we should, ready or not ready. Our signal 
 was made to weigh, while lighters of provisions, 
 and the powder-hoy with our powder, were 
 lying alongside — the quarter-deck guns all 
 adrift, and not even mounted. Gun after gun, 
 from the Royal "William, was repeated by the 
 Gladiator, the flag-ship of the harbour- admiral, 
 and with our signal to part company. 
 
 The captain, not knowing how the story 
 
118 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 might travel up by telegraph to London, and 
 conscious, perhaps, that he had left a little too 
 much to the first-lieutenant, " tore the ship 
 away by the hair of the head'*'' — unmoored, 
 bundled every thing in upon deck out of the 
 lighters — turned all the women out of the ship, 
 except five or six of the most abandoned — and, 
 with a strong northerly wind, ran down to 
 Yarmouth-roads, and through the Needles to 
 sea, in a state of confusion and disaster which 
 I hope never to see again. 
 
 The rear-admiral. Sir Hurricane Humbug, 
 stood on the platform looking at us, (I was 
 was afterwards told,) and was heard to exclaim, 
 " D — n his eyes," (meaning our captain,) " there 
 he goes at last ! I was afraid that that fellow 
 would have grounded on his beef bones before 
 we should have got him out !*" 
 
 " The more haste, the less speed," is oftener 
 true in naval affairs than in any other situation 
 of life. With us it had nearly proved fatal to 
 the ship. Had we met with an enemy, we must 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. IIQ 
 
 either have disgraced the flag by running away, 
 or been taken. 
 
 No sooner clear of the Needles, than night 
 came on, and with it a heavy gale of wind at 
 north-north-west. The officers and men were 
 at work till four in the morning, securing the 
 boats, booms, and anchors, clearing the decks 
 of provisions, and setting up the lower rigging, 
 which by the labour of the ship had begun to 
 stretch to an alarming degree ; by great exer- 
 tion this was accomplished^, and the guns secured 
 before the gale had increased to a hurricane. 
 
 About nine the next morning, a poor marine, 
 a recruit from Portsmouth, unfortunately fell 
 overboard ; and though many brave fellows 
 instantly jumped into one of the quarter-boats, 
 and begged to be lowered down to save him, the 
 captain, who was a cool calculator, thought the 
 chance of losing seven men was greater than that 
 of saving one, so the poor fellow was left to his 
 fate. The ship, it is true, was hove too ; but 
 
120 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 she drifted to leeward much faster than the un- 
 fortunate man could swim, though he was one 
 of the best swimmers I ever beheld. 
 
 It was heart-breaking to see the manly but 
 ineffectual exertions made by this gallant youth 
 to regain the ship ; but all his powers only 
 served to prolong his misery. We saw him 
 nearly a mile to windward, at one moment riding 
 on the top of the mountainous wave, at the next, 
 sinking into the deep valley between, till at last 
 we saw him no more I His sad fate was long 
 deplored in the ship. I thought at the time 
 that the captain was cruel in not sending a boat 
 for him ; but I am now convinced, from expe- 
 rience, that he submitted only to hard necessity, 
 and chose the lesser evil of the two. 
 
 The fate of this young man was a serious 
 warning to me. I had become, from habit, so 
 extremely active, and wso fond of displaying my 
 newly-acquired gymnastics, called by the sailors 
 "sky-larking," that my speedy exit was often 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 121 
 
 prognosticated by the old quarter-masters, and 
 even by the officers. It was clearly understood 
 that I was either to be drowned or was to break 
 my neck ; for the latter I took my chance pretty 
 fairly, going up and down the rigging like a 
 monkey. Few of the topmen could equal me in 
 speed, still fewer surpass me in feats of daring 
 activity. I could run along the topsail yards 
 out to the yard-arm, go from one mast to the 
 other by the stays, or down on deck in the 
 twinkling of an eye by the topsail halyards ; 
 and, as I knew myself to be an expert swimmer, 
 I cared little about the chance of being drowned ; 
 but when I witnessed the fate of the poor ma- 
 rine, who I saw could swim as well, if not 
 better than myself, I became much more cau- 
 tious. I perceived that there might be situations 
 in which swimming could be of no use; and 
 however beloved I might have been by the 
 sailors, it was evident that, even if they had the 
 inclination, they might not always have the 
 
 VOL. I. G 
 
122 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 power to relieve me : from this time, I became 
 much more guarded in my movements aloft. 
 
 A circumstance occurred shortly after we got 
 to sea which afforded me infinite satisfaction. 
 Murphy, whose disposition led him to bully every 
 one whom he thought he could master, fixed a 
 quarrel on a very quiet, gentlemanly young man, 
 a supernumerary midshipman, who had come 
 on board for a passage to his own ship, then 
 down in the Bay of Biscay. The young man, 
 resenting this improper behaviour, challenged 
 Murphy to fight, and the challenge was ac- 
 cepted ; but as the supernumerary was engaged 
 to dine with the captain, he proposed that the 
 meeting should not take place till after dinner, 
 not wishing to exhibit a black eye at the cap. 
 tain''s table. This was considered by Murphy 
 as an evasion ; and he added farther insult bv 
 saying that he supposed his antagonist wanted 
 Dutch courage, and that if he did not get wme 
 enough in .the cabin, he would not fight at all. 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 123 
 
 The high spirited youth made no reply to 
 this insolence ; but, having dressed himself, 
 went up to dinner; that over, and after the 
 muster at quarters, he called Mr. Murphy into 
 the steerage, and gave him as sound a drubbing 
 as he ever received in his life. The fight, or 
 set-to, lasted only a quarter of an hour, and the 
 young supernumerary displayed so much science, 
 and such a thorough use of his fists, as to defy 
 the brutal force of his opponent, who could not 
 touch him, and who was glad to retreat to his 
 berth, followed by the groans and hisses of all 
 the midshipmen, in which I most cordially 
 joined. 
 
 After so clear a proof of the advantages of 
 the science of self-defence, I determined to 
 acquire it ; and, with the young stranger for my 
 tutor, I soon became a proficient in the art of 
 boxing, and able to cope with Murphy and his 
 supporters. 
 
 There was a part of my duty which, I am 
 free to confess, I hated : this was keeping watch 
 
 g2 
 
124 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 at night. I loved sleep, and, after ten o'clock, 
 I could not keep my eyes open. Neither 
 the buckets of water which were so liberally 
 poured over me by the midshipmen, under the 
 facetious appellation of " blowing the grampus,*" 
 nor any expostulation or punishments inflicted 
 on me by the first lieutenant, could rouse my 
 dormant energies after the first half of the watch 
 was expired. I was one of the most deter- 
 mined votaries of Somnus ; and for his sake, 
 endured every sort of persecution. The first 
 lieutenant took me into his watch, and tried every 
 means, both of mildness and coercion, to break me 
 of this evil habit. I was sure, however, to escape 
 from him, and to conceal myself in some hole 
 or corner, where I slept out the remainder of the 
 watch ; and the next morning, I was, as regu- 
 larly, mast-headed to do penance during the 
 greater part of the day for my deeds of dark- 
 ness. I believe that of the first two years of 
 my servitude, one half of my waking hours, at 
 least, were passed aloft. 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 125 
 
 I took care, however, to provide myself with 
 books, and on the whole, was perhaps better 
 employed than I should have been in my berth 
 below. Handstone, though a martinet, was a 
 gentleman ; and as he felt a great interest in 
 the young officers in the ship, so he took much 
 pains in the instruction and improvement of 
 them. He frequently expostulated with me on 
 the great impropriety of my conduct : my 
 answer invariably was, that I was as sensible of 
 it as he could be, but that I could not help it ; 
 that I deserved all the punishment I met with, 
 and threw myself entirely on his mercy. He used 
 frequently to call me over to the weather side of 
 the deck, when he would converse with me on 
 any topic which he thought might interest or 
 amuse me. Finding I was tolerably well read 
 in history, he asked my opinion, and gave me 
 his own with great good sense and judgment; 
 but such was the irresistible weight of my eye- 
 lids, that I used, when he was in the midst of a 
 long dissertation, to slip down the gangway- 
 
126 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 ladder and leave him to finish his discourses to 
 the wind. 
 
 Now when this occurred, I was more severely 
 punished than on any other occasion; for, to 
 the neglect of duty, I added contempt both of 
 his rank and the instruction he v/as offering to 
 me. His wrath was also considerably increased 
 when he only discovered my departure by • the 
 tittering of the other midshipmen and the quar- 
 termaster at the conn. 
 
 One evening, I completed my disgrace with 
 him, though a great deal might be said in my 
 own favour. He had sent me to the fore-top-mast 
 head, at seven o'clock in the morning, and very 
 unfeelingly, or forgetfully, kept me there 
 the whole day. When he went off deck to his 
 dinner, I came down into the top, made a bed 
 for myself in one of the top-gallant studding 
 sails, and, desiring the man who had the look- 
 out to call me before the lieutenant was likely 
 to come on deck, I very quietly began to 
 prepare a sacrifice to my favourite deity. 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 127 
 
 Somnus ; but as the look-out man did not see 
 the lieutenant come up, 1 was caught napping 
 just at dusk, when the lieutenant came on deck, 
 and did me the honour to remember where 
 he had left me. Looking at the fore- top-mast 
 head, he called me down. 
 
 Like Milton's devils, who were " found 
 sleeping by one they dread," up I sprang, and 
 regained my perch by the topsail-tie, supposing, 
 or rather hoping that he would not see me be- 
 fore the mast, in the obscurity of the evening ; 
 but he was too lynx-eyed, and had not presence 
 of mind enough not to see what he should not 
 have seen. He called to the three men in the 
 top, and inquired where I was ? They replied, 
 at the mast-head. ''What!" exclaimed Hand- 
 stone, with an oath, " did I not see him, this 
 moment, go up by the topsail-tie?" 
 
 " No, Sir," said the men; " he is now asleep 
 at the mast-head." 
 
 " Come down here, you lying rascals, every 
 
128 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 one of you,"" said the lieutenant, " and FU 
 teach you to speak the truth !" 
 
 I, who had by this time quietly resumed my 
 station, was ordered down along with them ; and 
 \ve all four stood on the quarter-deck, while the 
 following interrogations were put to us : — 
 
 " Now, Sir," said the first lieutenant to the 
 captain of the top, '* how dare you tell me 
 that that young gentleman was at the mast- 
 head, when I myself saw him ' shinning' up by 
 the topsail-tie ?'" 
 
 I was sorry for the men, who, to save me, had 
 got themselves into jeopardy ; and I was just 
 going to declare the truth, and take the whole 
 odium upon myself, when, to my utter 
 astonishment, the man boldly answered, " He 
 was at the mast-head. Sir, upon my honour." 
 
 " Your honour !" cried the lieutenant, with 
 contempt : then, turning to the other men, he put 
 the same question to them both in succession, and 
 received the same positive answers ; so that I 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 129 
 
 really began to think I had been at the mast- 
 head all the time, and had been dreaming T was 
 in the top. At last, turning to me, he said, 
 " Now, Sir, I ask you, on your honour, as an 
 officer and a gentleman, where were you when 
 I first hailed r 
 
 " At the mast-head, Sir,'^ said I. 
 
 '' Be it so,"' he replied : " as you are an 
 officer and a gentleman, I am bound to believe 
 vou.'"* Then turnino^ on his heel, he walked 
 away in a greater rage than I ever remember to 
 have seen him. 
 
 I plainly perceived that I was not believed, 
 and that I had lost his good opinion. Yet, to 
 consider the case fairly and impartially, how 
 could I have acted otherwise ? I had been much 
 too long confined to the mast-head — as long as 
 a man might take to go from London to Bath 
 in a stage coach ; I had lost all my meals ; and 
 these poor fellows, to save me from further pun- 
 ishment, had voluntarily exposed themselves to a 
 flogging at the gangway by telling a barefaced 
 
 G 3 
 
ItJO THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 faisehood in my defence. Had I not supported 
 them, they would certainly have been flogged, 
 and I should have lost myself with every person 
 aboard ; I therefore came to that paradoxical 
 conclusion on the spot, namely, that, as a man of 
 honour and a gentleman, I was bound to tell 
 a lie in order to save those poor men from a 
 cruel punishment. 
 
 I am sensible that this is a case to lay before 
 the bench of bishops ; and though I never 
 pretended to the constancy of a martyr, had 
 the consequences been on myself alone, I should 
 have had no hesitation in speaking the truth. 
 The lieutenant was to blame, first, by too great 
 a severity ; and, secondly, by too rigid an in- 
 quiry into a subject not worth the trouble. 
 Still my conscience smote me that I had done 
 wrong; and when the rage of the lieutenant 
 had abated, so as to insure the impunity of the 
 men, I took the earliest opportunity of explaining 
 to him the motives for my conduct, and the 
 
 A- 
 
 painful situation in which I stood. He received* 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 131 
 
 my excuses coldly, and we never were friends 
 again. 
 
 Our captain, who was a dashing sort of a 
 fellow, contrived to brush up the enemy's 
 quarters, on the coast of France. On one of 
 our boat-expeditions, I contrived to slip away 
 with the rest; we landed, and surprised a 
 battery, which we blew up, and spiked the 
 guns. The French soldiers ran for their lives, 
 and we plundered the huts of some poor fisher- 
 men. I went in with the rest, in hopes of 
 finding plunder, and for my deserts caught a 
 Tartar. A large skait lay with its mouth 
 open, into which I thrust my fore-finger, to 
 drag him away ; the animal was not dead, 
 and closing his jaws, divided my finger to the 
 bone — this was the only blood spilt on the 
 occasion. 
 
 Though guilty myself, I was sorry to 
 
 see the love of plunder prevail so extensively 
 
 among us. The sailors took away articles 
 
 • utterly useless to them ; and, after carrymg 
 
132 THE XAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 them a certain distance, threw them down for 
 others equally useless. I have since often re- 
 flected how justly I was punished for my fault, 
 and how needlessly we inflicted the horrors of 
 war on those inoffensive and unhappy creatures. 
 Our next attempt was of a more serious na- 
 ture, and productive of still greater calamity to 
 the unoffending and industrious, the usual vic- 
 tims of war, while the instigators are reposing 
 in safety on their down beds. 
 
 m 
 
THE >fAVAL OFFICER. 133 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 My life is spann'd already ; 
 * « * • * 
 
 Go with me, like good angels, to my end. 
 
 Hexry VIII. 
 
 Danger, like an ague, subtly taints 
 Even then when we sit idly in the sun. 
 
 Troilus and Cressida. 
 
 I HAD ne^ay^en able to regain the confi- 
 dence and esteem of the first lieutenant since 
 the unfortunate affair of the mast-head. He 
 was certainly an excellent and a correct officer, 
 too much so to overlook what he considered a 
 breach of honour. I, therefore, easily recon- 
 ciled myself to a separation, which occurred 
 very soon after. We chaced a ship into the 
 
134 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 Bay of Arcasson, when, as was customary, she 
 sought safety under a battery ; and the captain, 
 according to our custom, resolved to cut her 
 out. 
 
 For this purpose, the boats were manned 
 and armed, and every preparation made for 
 the attack on the following morning. The 
 command of the expedition was given to the 
 first lieutenant, who accepted of it with cheer- 
 fulness, and retired to his bed in high spirits, with 
 the anticipation of the honour and profit which 
 the dawn of day would heap upon him. He 
 was proverbially brave and cool in action, 
 so that the seamen followed him with confidence, 
 as to certain victory. Whethe|i|ny ill-omened 
 dreams had disturbed his restjjjp^ whether any 
 reflections on the difficult and dangerous na- 
 ture of the service had alarmed him, I could 
 not tell ; but in the morning we all observed 
 a remarkable change in his deportment. His 
 ardour was gone ; he walked the deck with a 
 glow and measured pace, apparently in deep 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICEE. 135 
 
 thought ; and, contrary to his usual manner, 
 was silent and melancholy, abstracted, and inat- 
 tentive to the duties of the ship. 
 
 The boats prepared for the service were 
 manned ; the officers had taken their seats in 
 them ; the oars were tossed up ; the eyes of 
 the young warriors beamed with animation, 
 and we waited for Mr. Handstone, who still 
 walked the deck, absorbed in his own reflec- 
 tions. He was at length recalled to a sense of his 
 situation by the captain, who in a tone of voice 
 more than usually loud, asked him if he in- 
 tended to take the command of the expedition ? 
 He replied " most certainly ;" and ^nth a firm 
 and animated step, crossed the quarter-deck, and 
 went into his boat. 
 
 I, following, seated myself by his side ; he 
 looked at me with a foreboding indifference : 
 had he been in his usual mood, he would have 
 sent me to some other boat. We had a lonqr 
 pull before we reached the object of our intended 
 attack, which we found moored close inshore, and 
 
136 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 well prepared for us. A broadside of grape 
 shot was the first salute we received. It pro- 
 duced the same effect on our men as the spur 
 to a fiery steed. We pulled alongside, and 
 began to scramble up in the best manner we 
 could. Handstone in an instant regained all 
 his wonted animation, cheered his men, and 
 with his drawn sword in his hand, mounted 
 the ship's side, while our men at the same 
 time poured in vollies of musquetry, and then 
 followed their intrepid leader. 
 
 In our boat, the first alongside, eleven men, 
 out of twenty -four, lay killed or disabled. Dis- 
 regarding these, the lieutenant sprang up. I 
 followed close to him ; he -leaped from the 
 bulwark in upon her deck, and, before I could 
 lift my cutlass in his defence, fell back upon me, 
 knocked me down in his fall, and expired 
 in a moment. He had thirteen musquet-balls 
 in his chest and stomach. 
 
 I had no time to disengage myself before I 
 was trampled on, and nearly suffocated by the 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 13? 
 
 pressure of my shipmates, who, burning to 
 gain the prize, or to avenge our fall, rushed 
 on with the most undaunted bravery. I was 
 supposed to be dead, and treated accordingly, my 
 poor body being only used as a stop for the gang- 
 way, where the ladder was unshipped. There I 
 lay fainting with the pressure, and nearly suiBPo- 
 cated with the blood of my brave leader, on whose 
 breast my face rested, with my hands crossed 
 over the back of my head, to save my skull, 
 if possible, from the heels of my friends, and 
 the swords of my enemies ; and while reason 
 held her seat, I could not help thinking that 
 I was just as well where I was, and that 
 a change of position might not be for the 
 better. 
 
 About eight minutes decided the affair, 
 though it certainly did seem to me, in my then 
 unpleasant situation, much longer. Before it 
 was over I had fainted, and before I regained 
 my senses the vessel was under weigh, and out 
 of gun-shot from the batteries. 
 
138 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 The first moments of respite from carnage 
 were employed in examining the bodies of the 
 killed and wounded. I was numbered among 
 the former, and stretched out between the 
 guns by the side of the first lieutenant and 
 the other dead bodies. A fresh breeze blow- 
 ing through the ports revived me a little, but, 
 faint and sick, I had neither the power or 
 inclination to move ; my brain was confused ; I 
 had no recollection of what had happened, and 
 continued to lie in a sort of stupor, until the 
 prize came alongside of the frigate, and I was 
 roused by the cheers of congratulation and 
 victory from those who had remained on 
 board. JSK^k 
 
 A boat instantly brought the surgeon and his 
 assistants to inspect the dead and assist the 
 living. Murphy came along with them. He 
 had not been of the boarding-party ; and seeing 
 my supposed lifeless corpse, he gave it a 
 slight kick, saying, at the same time, " Here is 
 a young cock that has done crowing ! Well, 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 139 
 
 for a wonder, this chap has cheated the gal- 
 lows r 
 
 The sound of the fellow's detested voice was 
 enough to recal me from the grave, if my 
 orders had been signed : I faintly exclaimed, 
 " You are a liar !" which, even with all the 
 melancholy scene around uc, produced a burst 
 of laughter at his expense. I was removed to 
 the ship, put to bed, and bled, and was soon 
 able to narrate the particulars of my adven- 
 ture ; but I continued a long while dangerously 
 
 m. 
 
 The soliloquy of Murphy over my supposed 
 dead body, and my laconic reply, wet*e the 
 cause of much merriment in the ship: the 
 midshipmen annoyed him by asserting that he 
 had saved my life, as nothing but his hated 
 voice could have awoke me from my sleep of 
 death. 
 
 The fate of the first lieutenant was justly 
 deplored by all of us ; though I cannot deny 
 my christian-like acquiescence in the will of 
 
140 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 Providence in this, as well as on a former oc- 
 casion, when the witnesses of my weakness had 
 been removed for ever out of my way. As I 
 saw it was impossible to regain his good 
 opinion, I thought it was quite as well that we 
 should part company. That he. had a strong 
 presentiment of his death was proved ; and 
 though I had often heard these instances as- 
 serted, I never before had it so clearly brought 
 home to my senses. 
 
 The prize was called L'Aimable Julie, laden 
 with coffee, cotton, and indigo ; mounted four- 
 teen guns ; had, at the commencement of the 
 action, forty-seven men, of whom eight were 
 killed, and sixteen wounded. The period of 
 our return into port, according to our orders, 
 happened to coincide with this piece of good 
 fortune, and we came up to Spithead, where our 
 captain met with a hearty welcome from the 
 admiral. 
 
 Having delivered his " butcher's bill," i, e. 
 the list of killed and wounded, together 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 141 
 
 with an account of our defects, they were sent 
 up to the Admiralty ; and, by return of post, 
 we were ordered to fit foreign : and although 
 no one on board, not even the captain, was 
 supposed to know our destination, the girls on 
 the Point assured us it was the Mediterranean ; 
 and this turned out to be the fact. 
 
 A few days only were spent in hurried pre- 
 paration, during which I continued to write to 
 my father and mother. In return I received 
 all I required, which was a remittance in cash. 
 This I duly acknowledged by a few lines as the 
 ship was unmooring. We sailed, and soon 
 after arrived without accident at Gibraltar, 
 where we found general orders for any ship that 
 might arrive' frcMTi England to proceed and join 
 the admiral at Malta. In a few hours our pro- 
 visions and water were complete ; but we were 
 not in so much haste to arrive at Malta as we 
 were to quit Gibraltar — hugging the Spanish 
 coast, in hopes of picking up something to insure 
 
142 THE XAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 US as hearty a welcome at Valette as we found 
 on our last return to Portsmouth. 
 
 Early on the second morning of our depar- 
 ture we made Cape de Gaete. As the day 
 dawned we discovered four sail in the wind's 
 eye, and close in shore. The wind was light, 
 and all sail was made in chase. We gained 
 very little on them for many hours, and towards 
 evening it fell calm. The boats were then 
 ordered to pursue them, and we sat off, diverg- 
 ing a little from each other's course, or, as the 
 French would say, deployee^ to give a better 
 chance of falling in with them. I was in the 
 gig with the master, and, that being the best 
 running boat, we soon came up^\vith one of the 
 feluccas. We fired musqu t her ; but^ 
 
 having a light breeze, she ^>X)ifld not bring-to. 
 We then took good aim at the lielmsman, and 
 hit him. The man only shifted the helm from 
 his right hand to his left, and kept on his 
 course. We still kept firing at this intrepid 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 143 
 
 fellow, and I felt it was like wilful murder, 
 since he made no resistance, but steadily en- 
 deavoured to escape. 
 
 At length we got close under the stern, and 
 hooked on with our boat-hook. This the 
 Spaniards unhooked, and we dropped astern, 
 having laid our oars in ; but the breeze dying 
 entirely away, we again pulled up alongside, 
 and took possession. The poor man was still 
 at the helm, bleeding profusely. We offered 
 him every assistance, and asked why he did 
 not surrender sooner. He replied that he was 
 an old Castilian. Whether he meant that an 
 earlier surrender would have disgraced him, or 
 that he contemplated, from his former ex- 
 perience, a chance o^ escape to the last moment, 
 I cannot tell. Certain it is that no one ever 
 behaved better ; and I felt that I would have 
 given all I possessed to have healed the wounds 
 of this patient, meek, and undaunted old man, 
 who uttered no complaint, but submitted to his 
 fate with a magnanimity which would have done 
 
144 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 credit to Socrates himself. He had received 
 four musket-balls in his body, and, of course, 
 survived his capture but a very few hours. 
 
 We found to our surprise that this vessel, 
 with the three others, one of which was taken 
 by another of our boats, were from Lima. They 
 were single-masted, about thirty tons burthen, 
 twelve men each, and were laden with copper, 
 hides, wax, and cochineal, and had been out five 
 months. They were bound to Valentia, from 
 which they were only one day'^s sail when we 
 intercepted them. Such is the fortune of war I 
 This gallant man, after a voyage of incredible 
 labour and difficulty, would in a few hours have 
 embraced his family, and gladdened their hearts 
 with the produce of honest industry and suc- 
 cessful enterprize ; when, in q^oment, all their 
 hopes were blasted by our legal murder and 
 robbery ; and our prize-money came to our 
 pockets with the tears, if not the curses, of the 
 widow and the orphan ! 
 
 From some information which the captain 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 145 
 
 obtained in the prize, he was induced to stand 
 over towards the Balearic Islands. AVe made 
 Ivica, and stood past it ; then ran for Palma 
 Bay in the island of Majorca ; here we found 
 nothing, to our great disappointment, and con- 
 tinued our course round the island. 
 
 An event occurred here, so singular as scarcely 
 to be credible ; but the fact is well attested, as 
 there were others who witnessed it beside myself. 
 The water was smooth, and the day remarkably 
 fine ; we were distant from the shore more than a 
 mile and a quarter, when the captain, wishing to 
 try the range of the main-deck guns, which were 
 long eigh teen-pounders, ordered the gunner to 
 elevate one of them aid fire it towards the land. 
 Thegunner asked whether he should point thegun 
 at any object. A man was seen walking on the 
 white sandy beach, and as there did not appear 
 to be the slightest chance of hitting him, for he 
 only looked like a speck, the captain desired the 
 gunner to fire at him ; he did so, and the man 
 fell. A herd of bullocks at this moment was 
 
 VOL. I. H 
 
146 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 seen coming out of the woods, and the boats 
 were sent with a party to shoot some of them for 
 the ship's company. 
 
 When we landed we found that the ball had 
 cut the poor man in two ; and what made the 
 circumstance more particularly interesting was, 
 that he was evidently a man of consequence. 
 He was well dressed, had on black breeches and 
 silk stockings ; he was reading Ovid's Metamor- 
 phoses, and still grasped the book, which I took 
 out of his hand. 
 
 We have often heard of the miraculous powers 
 ascribed to a chance shot, but never could we 
 have supposed that this devilish ball could have 
 gone so far, or done so much mischief. We 
 buried the remains of the unfortunate gentleman 
 in the sand, and having selected two or three 
 bullocks out of the herd, shot them, skinned and 
 divided them into quarters, loaded our boat, and 
 returned on board. 
 
 I had taken the book out of the hand of the 
 deceased, and from his neck a small miniature 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 147 
 
 of a beautiful female. The brooch in his shirt I 
 also brought away ; and when I gave an account 
 to the fcaptain of wliat had happened, I offered 
 liim these articles. He returned them all to me, 
 desired me to keep them until I could see any 
 of the friends of the deceased, and appeared so 
 much distressed at the accident, that w^e never 
 mentioned it afterwards; and in the course of 
 the time we were together, it was nearly forgotten. 
 The articles remained in my possession un- 
 noticed for many years. 
 
 Two days after, we fell in with a vessel of a 
 suspicious appearance; and it being calm, the 
 boats were sent in chace. They found her, on 
 their approach, to be a xebeque, under French 
 colours ; but these they very soon hauled down, 
 and showed no others. As we came within hail, 
 they told us to keep off, and that if we attempted 
 to board they should fire into us. This was not 
 a threat likely to deter a British officer, and 
 particularly such fire-eaters as ours. So to it 
 
 H 2 
 
148 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 we went, and a desperate struggle ensued, the 
 numbers being nearly equal on both sides ; but 
 they had the advantage of their own deck and 
 bulwarks. We got on board, however, and in a 
 few minutes gained possession, with a loss, on 
 our side, of sixteen ; and on that of our oppo- 
 nent's of twenty-six, killed and wounded. 
 
 But great was our sorrow and disappointment 
 when we discovered that we had shed the blood 
 of our friends, while we had lost our own. 
 The vessel, it appeared, was a Gibraltar priva- 
 teer ; they took us for French, our boats being 
 fitted with thoels and grummets for the oars, in 
 the French fashion ; and we supposed them to 
 be French from their colours and the language 
 in which they hailed us. In this affair, we had 
 three officers killed or wounded, and some of 
 our best men. The privateer was manned by a 
 mixed crew of all nations, but chiefly Greeks ; 
 and although ostensibly with a commission 
 signed by the governor of Gibraltar, were no 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 149 
 
 doubt little scrupulous as to the colours of any 
 vessel they might encounter, provided she was 
 not too strong for them. 
 
 After this unfortunate mistake we proceeded 
 to ^lalta : the captain expecting a severe re- 
 buke from his admiral, for his rashness in 
 sending away his boats to attack a vessel with- 
 out knowing her force. Fortunately for him, 
 the admiral was not there ; and before we met 
 him, the number of prizes we had taken were 
 found sufficient in his eyes to cover our multi- 
 tude of sins, so the affair blew over. 
 
 While we lay in Malta harbour, my friend 
 Murphy fell overboard one night, just after all 
 the boats were hoisted in ; he could not swim, 
 and would have been drowned if I had not 
 jumped overboard and held him up until a boat 
 was lowered down to our assistance. The 
 officers and ship*'s company gave me more credit 
 for this action than I really deserved. To have 
 saved any person under such circumstances, 
 they said, was a noble deed ; but to risk my 
 
150 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 life for a man ^vho had always, from my first 
 coming into the ship, been my bitterest enemy, 
 was more than they could have expected, and 
 was undoubtedly the noblest revenge that I 
 could have taken. But they were deceived — 
 they knew me not : it was my vanity, and the 
 desire of oppressing my enemy under an into- 
 lerable weight of obligation, that induced me to 
 rush to his rescue ; moreover, as I stood on the 
 gangway witnessing his struggles for life, I felt 
 that I was about to lose all the revenge I had so 
 long laid up in store ; in short, I could not 
 spare him, and only saved him, as a cat does a 
 mouse, to torment him. 
 
 Murphy acknowledged his obligations, and said 
 the terrors of death were upon him ; but in a 
 few days forgot all I had done for him, con- 
 summated his own disgrace, and raised my 
 character on the ruins of his own. On some 
 frivolous occasion he threw a basin of dirty 
 water in my face as I passed through the 
 steerage ; this was too good an opportunity to 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 151 
 
 gratify my darling passion. I had long watched 
 for an occasion to quarrel with him ; but as he 
 had been ill during our passage from Gibraltar 
 to Malta, I could not justify any act of aggres- 
 sion. He had now recovered, and was in the 
 plenitude of his strength, and I astonished him 
 by striking the first blow. 
 
 A set-to followed ; I brought up all my sci- 
 entific powers in aid of my strength and the 
 memory of former injuries. I must do him the 
 justice to say he never showed more game — but 
 he had every thing to contend for ; if I was 
 beaten I was only where I was before, but with 
 him the case would have been different. A 
 fallen tyrant has no friends. Stung to mad- 
 ness by the successful hits I planted in his face, 
 he lost his temper, while I was cool ; he fought 
 wildly, I stopped all his blows, and paid them 
 with interest. He stood forty-three rounds, 
 and then gave in with his eyes bunged up, and 
 his face so swollen and so covered with blood, a.% 
 not to be known by his friends if he had had 
 any. 
 
152 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 I had hardly a mark ; most of our midship- 
 men were absent in prizes ; but the two seniors 
 of our berth, an old master's mate past promo- 
 tion, and the surgeon's assistant, who had held 
 my wrist when I was cobbed, were present as 
 the supporters of Murphy during the combat. 
 I always determined whenever I gained a battle 
 to follow it up. The shouts of victory re- 
 sounded in the berth — the youngsters joined 
 with me in songs of triumph, and gave great 
 offence to the trio. The young Esculapius, a 
 white-faced, stupid, pock-marked, unhealthy- 
 looking man, was fool enough to say, that 
 although I had beaten Murphy, I was not to 
 suppose myself master of the berth. I replied 
 to this only by throwing a biscuit at his head, 
 as a shot of defiance ; and, darting on him 
 before he could get his legs from under the 
 table, I thrust my fingers into his neckcloth, 
 which I twisted so tightly, that I held him till 
 he was nearly choked, giving his head at the 
 same time two or three good thumps against the 
 ship's side. 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 153 
 
 Finding that he grew black in the face, I let him 
 go, and asked if he required any farther satis- 
 faction, to which he replied in the negative, and 
 from that day he was always dutiful and obe- 
 dient to me. The old superannuated mate, a 
 sturdy merchant seaman, seemed greatly dis- 
 mayed at the successive defeats of his allies, and 
 I believe would have gladly concluded a separate 
 peace. He had never offered to come to the 
 assistance of the doctor, although appealed to 
 in the most pitiable gestures. 
 
 This I observed with secret pleasure, and 
 would the more willingly have given him a 
 brush, as I saw he was disinclined to make the 
 attempt. I v/as, however, determined to be at 
 the head of the mess. At twelve o'clock that 
 night 1 was relieved from the first watch, and 
 coming down, I found the old mate in a state 
 of beastly intoxication. Thus he went to his 
 hammock, and fell asleep. While he lay " dor- 
 majit," I took a piece of lunar caustic, which I 
 wetted, and drew stripesand figures all over his 
 
 h3 
 
154s THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 weather-beaten face, increasing his natural ugli- 
 ness to a frightful degree, and made him look 
 very like a New Zealand warrior. The next 
 morning, when he was making his toilet, my 
 party were all ready prepared for the eclaircisse- 
 ment. He opened his little dirty chest, and hav- 
 ing strapped an old razor, and made a lather in 
 a wooden soap box, which bore evident marks 
 of the antique, he placed a triangular piece of a 
 looking-glass against the reclining lid of the 
 chest, and began the operation of shaving. His 
 start back with horror, when he beheld his face, 
 I shall never forget : it outdid the young Ros- 
 cius, when he saw the ghost of Hamlet. Having 
 wetted his forefinger with his tongue, the old 
 mate tried to remove the stain of the caustic, but 
 the " d — d spot" still remained, and we, like so 
 many young imps, surrounded him, roaring with 
 laughter. 
 
 I boldly told him that he bore my marks as 
 well as Murphy and the doctor ; and I added, 
 with a degree of cruel mockery which might 
 hiive been spared, that I thought it right to put 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 155 
 
 all my servants in black to-day. I asked whether 
 he was contented with the arrangement, or 
 whether he chose to appeal against my decree ; 
 he signified that he had no more to say. 
 
 Thus, in twenty-four hours, I had subdued the 
 great allies who had so long oppressed me. 
 I immediately effected a revolution; dismissed 
 the doctor from the office of caterer — took the 
 charge on myself, and administered the most 
 impartial justice. I made the oldsters pay their 
 mess which they had not correctly done before; 
 I caused an equal distribution of all luxuries 
 from which the juniors had till then been de- 
 barred ; and I flatter myself I restored, in some 
 degree, the golden age in the cockpit. There 
 were no more battles, for there was no hope of 
 victory on their part, nor any thing to contend 
 for on mine. I never took any advantage of my 
 strength, farther than to protect the youngsters. 
 I proved by this that I was not quarrelsome, 
 but had only struggled for my own emancipa- 
 tion — that gained, I was satisfied. My conduct 
 
156 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 was explained to the captain and the officers ; 
 and being fully and fairly discussed, did me 
 great service. I was looked upon with respect, 
 and treated with marks of confidence, not usual 
 towards a person so young. 
 
 We left Malta, expecting to find our com- 
 mander-in-chief off Toulon : but it seldom hap- 
 pens that the captain of a frigate is in any hurry 
 to join his admiral, unless charged with de- 
 spatches of importance. This not being our 
 case, we somehow or otlier tumbled down the 
 Mediterranean before a strong Levanter, and 
 then had to work back again along the coast of 
 Spam and France. It is an ill wind, they say, 
 that blows nobody good ; and we found it so 
 with us ; for off Toulon, in company with the 
 fleet, if we did take prizes they became of little 
 value, because there were so many to share 
 them. Our captain, who was a man of the most 
 consummate ruse de guerre I ever saw or heard 
 of, had two reasons for sending his prizes to 
 Gibraltar. The first was, that we should, in all 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 157 
 
 probability, be sent down there to receive our 
 men, and have the advantage of the cruize back ; 
 the second, that he was well aware of the cor- 
 rupt practices of the admiralty-court at Malta. 
 
 All the vessels, therefore, which we had 
 hitherto captured, were sent to Gibraltar for 
 adjudication, and we now added to their num- 
 ber. We had the good fortune to take a large 
 ship laden with barilla, and a brig with to- 
 bacco and wine. The charge of the last I was 
 honoured with ; and no prime minister ever 
 held a situation of such heavy responsibility 
 with such corrupt supporters. So much was 
 the crew of the frigate reduced by former cap- 
 tures and the unlucky affair with the ^laltese 
 privateer, that I was only allowed three men. 
 I was, however, so delighted with my first com- 
 mand, that, I verily believe, if they had only 
 given me a dog and a pig, I should have been 
 satisfied. 
 
 The frigate's boat put us on board. It blew 
 fresh from the eastward, and I instantly put the 
 
158 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 helm up, and shaped my course for the old 
 rock. The breeze soon freshened into a gale : 
 Ave ran slap before it, but soon found it necessary 
 to take in the top-gallant sails. This we at 
 last accomplished, one at a time. We then 
 thought a reef or two in the topsails would be 
 acceptable ; but that was impossible. We tried 
 a Spanish reef; that is, let the yards come down 
 on the cap : and she flew before the gale, which 
 had now increased to a very serious degree. Our 
 cargo of wine and tobacco was, unfortunately, 
 stowed by a Spanish and not a British owner. 
 The difference was very material to me. An 
 Englishman, knowing the vice of his country- 
 men, would have placed the wine underneath 
 and the tobacco above. Unfortunately it was, 
 in this instance, the reverse, and my men very 
 soon helped themselves to as much as rendered 
 them nearly useless to me, being more than 
 half seas over. 
 
 We got on pretty well, however, till about 
 two o'clock in the morning, when the man at 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 159 
 
 the helm, unable to wake the other two sea- 
 men to fetch him a drop, thought he might 
 trust the brig to steer herself for a minute, 
 while he quenched his thirst at the wine-cask : the 
 vessel instantly broached to, that is, came with 
 her broadside to the wind and sea, and away 
 went the mainmast by the board. Fortunately, 
 the foremast stood. The man who had just 
 quitted the helm had not time to get drunk, 
 and the other two were so much frightened 
 that they got sober. 
 
 We cleared the wreck as well as we could, 
 got her before the wind again, and continued on 
 our course. But a British sailor, the most 
 daring of all men, is likewise the most regard- 
 less of warning or of consequences. The loss of 
 the mainmast, instead of shewing my men the 
 madness of their indulgence in drink, turned the 
 scale the opposite way. If they could get drunk 
 with two masts, how much more could they do so 
 with one, when they had only half as much sail 
 to look after ? With such a rule of three, there 
 
160 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 was no reasoning ; and they got drunk, and 
 continued drunk during the whole passage. 
 
 Good luck often attends us when we don't 
 deserve it : 
 
 " The sweet little cherub that sits up aloft," 
 
 as Dibdin says, had an eye upon us. I knew 
 we could not easily get out of the Gut of Gib- 
 raltar without knowing it ; and accordingly, on 
 the third day after leaving the frigate, we made 
 the rock early in the morning, and, by two 
 o'clock, rounded Europa Point. I had ordered 
 the men to bend the cable, and, like many 
 other young officers, fancied it was done be- 
 cause they said it was, and because I had 
 ordered it. It never once occurred to me to go 
 and see if my orders had been executed : in- 
 deed, to say the truth, I had quite as much 
 as I could turn my hand to: I was at the 
 helm from twelve o'clock at night till six in the 
 morning, looking out for the land ; and when I 
 ordered one of the men to relieve me, I directed 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 161 
 
 him how to steer, and fell into a profound 
 sleep, which lasted till ten o'clock ; after 
 which I was forced to exert the whole of my 
 ingenuity in order to fetch into the bay, and 
 prevent being blown through the Gut ; so 
 that the bending of the cable escaped my me- 
 mory until the moment I required the use of 
 the anchor. • 
 
 As I passed under the stern of one of the 
 ships of war in the bay, with my prize colours 
 flying, the officer on deck hailed me, and said I 
 had '^ better shorten sail." I thought so too, 
 but how was this to be done ? My whole ship's 
 company were too drunk to do it, and though I 
 begged for some assistance from his Majesty's 
 ship, it blew so fresh, and we passed so quick, 
 that they could not hear me, or were not in- 
 clined. Necessity has no law. I saw among 
 the other ships in the bay a great lump of a 
 transport, and I thought she was much better 
 able to bear the concussion I intended for her 
 than any other vessel ; because I had heard 
 
162 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 then, and have been made sure of it since, that 
 her owners (like all other owners) were cheating 
 the government out of thousands of pounds 
 a-year. She was lying exactly in the part of 
 the bay assigned for the prizes ; and as I saw no 
 other possible mode of " bringing the ship to 
 anchor," I steered for " the lobster-smack," and 
 ran slap on board of her, to the great astonish- 
 ment of the master, mate, and crew. 
 
 The usual expletives, a volley of oaths and 
 curses on our lubberly heads, followed the shock. 
 This I expected, and was as fully prepared for 
 as I was for the fall of my foremast, which, tak- 
 ing the fore-yard of the transport, fell over the 
 starboard quarter, and greatly relieved me on 
 the subject of shortening sail. Thus, my pretty 
 brig was first reduced to a sloop and then to a 
 hulk; fortunately, her bottom was sound. I 
 was soon cut clear of the transport, and called 
 out in a very manly voice, " Let go the 
 anchor." 
 
 This order was obeyed with promptitude : 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. ' 163 
 
 away it went, sure enough ; but the devil a cable 
 was there bent to it, and my men being all stu- 
 pidly drunk, I let my vessel drift athwart-hawse 
 of a frigate ; the commanding officer of which, 
 seeing I had no other cable bent, very kindly 
 sent a few hands on board to assist me ; and by 
 five o'clock I was safely moored in the bay of 
 Gibraltar, and walked my quarter-deck as high 
 in my own estimation as Columbus, when he 
 made the American islands. 
 
 But short,"short was my power ! my frigate 
 arrived the next morning. The captain sent 
 for me, and I gave him an account of my voy- 
 age and my disasters ; he very kindly consoled 
 me for my misfortune ; and so far from being 
 angry w4th me for losing my masts, said it was 
 wonderfu], under all circumstances, how I had 
 succeeded in saving the vessel. We lay only a 
 fortnight at Gibraltar, when news arrived that 
 the French had entered Spain, and very shortly 
 after orders came from England to suspend 
 all hostilities against the Spaniards. This we 
 
164 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 thought a bore, as it almost annihilated any 
 chance of prize-money ; at the same time that it 
 increased our labours and stimulated our activity 
 in a most surprising manner, and opened scenes 
 to us far more interesting than if the war with 
 Spain had continued. 
 
 We were ordered up to join the admiral off 
 Toulon, but desired to look into the Spanish 
 port of Carthagena, on our way, and to report 
 the state of the Spanish squadron in that ar- 
 senal. We were received with great politeness 
 by the governor and the officers of the Spanish 
 fleet lying there. These people we found were 
 men of talent and education ; their ships were 
 mostly dismantled, and they had not the means 
 of equipping them. 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 165 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Par. You give me most egregious indignity. 
 
 Laf. Ay, with all my heart ; and thou art worthy of it. 
 
 All's Well that Exds Well. 
 
 Naturally anxious to behold a country from 
 which we had hitherto been excluded for so 
 many years, we all applied for leave to go onshore, 
 and obtained it. Even the seamen were allowed 
 the same indulgence, and went in parties of 
 twenty and thirty at a time. We were followed 
 and gaped at by the people ; but shunned at the 
 same time as " hereticos." The inns of the 
 town, like all the rest of them in Spain, have 
 
166 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 not improved since the days of the immortal 
 Santillana — they ^ere all more or less filled 
 with the lowest of the rabble, and a set of bravos 
 whose calling was robbery, and who cared little 
 if murder were its accompaniment. The cookery 
 was execrable. Garlic and oil were its principal 
 ingredients. The olla podrida, and its constant 
 attendant, the tomato sauce, were intolerable, but 
 the wine was very well for a midshipman. When- 
 ever we had a repast in any of these houses, the 
 bravos endeavoured to pick a quarrel with us ; 
 and these fellows being always armed with sti- 
 lettos, we found it necessary to be equally well 
 prepared ; and whenever we seated ourselves at 
 a table we never failed to display the butts of 
 our pistols, which kept them in decent order, for 
 they are as cowardly as they are thievish. Our 
 seamen not being so cautious, or so well provided 
 with arms, were frequently robbed and assas- 
 sinated by these rascals. 
 
 I was, on one occasion, near falling a victim 
 to them. Walking in the evening with the 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 167 
 
 second master, and having a pretty little Spanish 
 girl under my arm, for, to my shame be it spoken, 
 I had already formed an acquaintance with the 
 frail sisterhood, four of these villains accosted 
 us. We soon perceived, by their manner of 
 holding their cloaks, that they had their stilettos 
 ready. I desired my companion to draw his 
 dirk, to keep close to me, and not to let them 
 get between us and the wall. Seeing that we 
 were prepared, they wished us " buenos noches," 
 (good night); and, endeavouring to put usoff our 
 guard by entering into conversation, asked us 
 to give them a cigar, which my companion would 
 have done, had I not cautioned him not to quit 
 his dirk with his right hand, for this was all they 
 wanted. 
 
 In this defensive posture we continued, until 
 we had nearly reached the plaza or great square, 
 w^iere many people w^ere walking and enjoying 
 themselves by moonlight, the usual custom of 
 the country. " Now," said I to my friend, 
 " let us make a start from these fellows. When 
 
168 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 1 run, do you follow me, and don't stop till we 
 are in the middle of the square." 
 
 The manoeuvre was successful ; we out-ran 
 the thieves, who were not aware of our plan, 
 and were encumbered with their heavy cloaks. 
 Finding we had escaped, they turned upon the 
 girl, and robbed her of her miserable earnings. 
 This we saw, but could not prevent ; such was 
 the police of Spain then, nor has it improved 
 since. 
 
 This was the last time I ventured on shore at 
 night, except to go once with a party of our 
 officers to the house of the Spanish admiral, who 
 had a very pretty niece, and was liherale enough 
 not to frown on us poor heretics. She was 
 indeed a pretty creature : her lovely black eyes, 
 long eye-lashes, and raven hair, betrayed a symp- 
 tom of Moorish blood, at the same time that 
 her ancient family name and high good breed- 
 ing gave her the envied appellation of Vieja 
 Christianu. 
 
 This fair creature was pleased to bestow a 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 169 
 
 furtive glance of approbation on my youthful 
 form and handsome dress. My vanity was 
 tickled. I spoke French to her : she under- 
 stood it imperfectly, and pretended to know 
 still less of it, from the hatred borne by all the 
 Spaniards at that time to the French nation. 
 
 We improved our time, however, which was 
 but short; and, before we parted, perfectly un- 
 derstood each other. I thought I could be 
 contented to give up every thing, and reside 
 with her in the wilds of Spain. 
 
 The time of our departure came, and I was 
 torn away from my Rosaritta, not without the 
 suspicions of my captain and shipmates that I 
 had been a too highly favoured youth. This 
 was not true. I loved the dear angel, but 
 never had wronged her ; and I went to sea in a 
 mood which I sometimes thought might end in 
 an act of desperation : but salt water is an 
 admirable specific against love, at least against 
 such love as that was. 
 
 We joined the admiral off Toulon, and were 
 
 VOL. I. I 
 
170 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 ordered by him to cruize between Perpignan 
 and Marseilles. We parted from the fleet on 
 the following day, and kept the coast in a con- 
 tinued state of alarm. Not a vessel dared to 
 shew her nose out of port : we had her if she 
 did. Batteries we laughed at, and either 
 silenced them with our long eigh teen-pounders, 
 or landed and blew them up. 
 
 In one of these httle skirmishes I had very 
 nearly been taken, and should, in that case, have 
 missed all the honour, and glory, and hair- 
 breadth escapes which will be found related in 
 the following pages. I should either have 
 been sabred in mere retaliation, or marched oiF 
 to Verdun for the remaining six years of the 
 war. 
 
 We had landed to storm and blow up a bat- 
 tery, for which purpose we carried with us a bag 
 of powder, and a train of canvas. Every thing 
 went on prosperously. We came to a canal 
 which it was necessary to cross, and the best swim- 
 mers were selected to convey the powder over 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 171 
 
 without wetting it. I was one of them. I took 
 off my shoes and stockings to save them ; and, 
 after we had taken the battery, I was so intent 
 on looking for the telegraphic signal box, that 
 I had quite forgotten the intended explosion, 
 until I heard the cry of " Run ! run !" from 
 those outside who had lighted the train. 
 
 I was at that moment on the wall of the fort, 
 nearly thirty feet high, but sloping. 1 jumped 
 one part, and scrambled the other, and ran away 
 as fast as I could, amidst a shower of stones, 
 which fell round me like an eruption of Vesu- 
 vius. Luckily I was not hit, but I had cut my 
 foot in the leap, and was in much pain. I had 
 two fields of stubble to pass, and my shoes and 
 stockings were on the other side of the canal — 
 the sharp straw entered the wound, and almost 
 drove me mad, and I was tempted to sit down 
 and resign myself to my fate. 
 
 However, I persevered, and had nearly reach- 
 ed the boats which were putting off, not aware 
 of my absence, when a noise like distant thunder 
 
 I 2 
 
172 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 reached my ears. This I soon found was cavalry 
 from Cotte, which had come to defend the bat- 
 tery. I mustered all my strength, and plunged 
 into the sea to swim off to the boats, and so little 
 time had I to spare, that some of the enemy's 
 chasseurs, on their black horses, swam in after 
 me, and fired their pistols at my head. 
 
 The boats were at this time nearly a quarter 
 of a mile from the shore ; the officers in them 
 fortunately perceived the cavalry, and saw me 
 at the same time : a boat laid on her oars, which 
 with great difficulty I reached, and was taken 
 in ; but so exhausted with pain and loss of 
 blood, that I was carried on board almost dead ; 
 my foot was cut to the bone, and I continued a 
 month under the surgeon's care. 
 
 I had nearly recovered from this accident, 
 when we captured a ship, with which Murphy 
 was sent as prize-master, and the same evening 
 a schooner, which we cut out from her anchorage. 
 The command of this latter vessel was given to 
 me — it was late in the evening, and the hurry 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 173 
 
 was SO great that the keg of spirits intended for 
 myself and crew was not put on board. This 
 was going from one extreme to the other ; in 
 my last ship we had too much Hquor, and in 
 this too httle. Naturally thirsty, our desire for 
 drink needed not the stimulus of salt fish and 
 calavances, for such was our cargo and such was 
 our food, and deeply did we deplore the loss of 
 our spirits. 
 
 On the third day after leaving the frigate, on 
 our way to Gibraltar, I fell in with a ship on the 
 coast of Spain, and knew it to be the one 
 Murph}^ commanded, by a remarkable white 
 patch in the main-topsail. I made all sail in 
 chase, in hopes of obtaining some spirits from 
 him, knowing that he had more than he could 
 consume, even if he and his people got drunk 
 every day. When I came near him, he made 
 all the sail he could. At dusk I was near 
 enough almost to hail him, but he stood* on ; 
 and I, having a couple of small three-pounders 
 on board,with some powder, fired one of them as 
 
174 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 a signal. This I repeated again and again ; 
 but he would not bring to, and when it was 
 dark, I lost sight of him, and saw him no more 
 until we met at Gibraltar. 
 
 Next morning I fell in with three Spanish 
 fishing-boats. They took me for a French pri- 
 vateer, pulled up their lines, and made sail. I 
 came up with them, and, firing a gun, they 
 hove to and surrendered. I ordered them 
 alongside; and, finding they had each a keg 
 of wine on board, I condemned that part of 
 their cargo as contraband ; but I honestly 
 offered payment for what 1 had taken. This 
 they dechned, finding I was " Ingles," too 
 happy to think they were not in the hands of 
 the French. I then gave each of them a pound 
 of tobacco, which not only satisfied them, but 
 confirmed them in the newly received opinion 
 among their countrymen, that England was the 
 bravest as well as the most generous of nations. 
 They offered every thing their boat contained ; 
 but I declined all most nobly, because I had 
 
THE MAVAL OFFICER. 175 
 
 obtained all I wanted; and we parted with 
 mutual good will, they shouting " Viva Ligle- 
 terre /" and we drinking them a good passage in 
 their own wine. 
 
 Many days elapsed before we reached Gibral- 
 tar : the winds were light, and the weather fine ; 
 but as we had discovered that the fishing-boats 
 had wine, we took care to supply our cellar 
 without any trouble from the excise ; and, from 
 our equitable mode of barter, I had no rea- 
 son to think that his Majesty King George, 
 lost any of his deserved popularity by our 
 conduct. When we reached Gibraltar, I had 
 still a couple of good kegs wherewith to regale 
 my messmates ; though I was sorry to find the 
 frigate and the rest of her prizes had got in 
 before us. Murphy, indeed, did not arrive till 
 the day after me. 
 
 I was on the quarter-deck when he came in ; 
 and, to my astonishment, he reported that he 
 had been chased by a French privateer, and had 
 
176 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 beat her off after a four hours^ action — that his 
 rigging had suffered a good deal, but that he 
 had not a man hurt. I let him run on till 
 the evening. Many believed him ; but some 
 doubted. At dinner, in the gun-room, his 
 arrogance knew no bounds; and, when half 
 drunk, my three men were magnified into a 
 well-manned brig, as full of men and guns as 
 she could stuff! 
 
 Sick of all this nonsense, I then simply related 
 the story as it had occurred, and sent for the 
 quarter-master, who was with me, and who con- 
 firmed all my statement. From that moment he 
 was a mark of contempt in the ship. Every lie 
 was a Murphy, and every Murphy a liar. He 
 dared not resent this scorn of ours ; and found 
 himself so uncomfortable, that he offered no 
 objection to the removal proposed by the cap- 
 tain ; his character followed him, and he never 
 obtained promotion. It is a satisfaction to me 
 to reflect that I not only had my full revenge on 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 177 
 
 this man, but that I had been the instrument of 
 turning him out of an honourable profession 
 ■which he would have disgraced. 
 
 This was no time for frigates to be idle ; and 
 if I chose to give the name of mine and my 
 captain, the naval history of the country would 
 prove that ours, of all other ships, was one of 
 the most distinguished in the cause of Spanish 
 freedom. The south of Spain became the 
 theatre of the most cruel and desolating war. 
 Our station was off Barcelona, and thence to 
 Perpignan, the frontier of France, on the 
 borders of Spain. Our duty (for which the 
 enterprising disposition of our captain was 
 admirably calculated) was to support the gue- 
 rilla chiefs ; to cut off the enemy's convoys of 
 provisions, either by sea or along the road which 
 lay by the sea shore ; or to dislodge the 
 enemy from any strong hold he might be in 
 possession of. 
 
 I was absent from the ship on such services 
 three and four weeks at a time, being attached to 
 
 I ^ 
 
178 THE NAVAL OFFICEB. 
 
 a division of small-arm men under the command 
 of the third lieutenant. We suffered very much 
 from privations of all kinds. We never took 
 with us more than one week'^s provision, and 
 were frequently three weeks without receiving 
 any supply. In the article of dress, our " cata- 
 logue of negatives,'"* as a celebrated author 
 says, " was very copious ;" we had no shoes 
 nor stockings — no linen, and not all of us 
 had hats — a pocket-handkerchief was the com- 
 mon substitute for this article; we clambered 
 over rocks, and wandered through the flinty or 
 muddy ravines in company with our new allies, 
 the hardy mountaineers. 
 
 These men respected our valour, but did not 
 like our religion or our manners. They cheer- 
 fully divided their rations with us; but were 
 always inexorable in their cruelty to the French 
 prisoners ; and no persuasion of ours could in- 
 duce them to spare the lives of one of these 
 unhappy people, whose cries and entreaties to 
 the EngUsh to intercede for, or save them, were 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 1T9 
 
 always unavailing. They were either stabbed 
 before our faces, or dragged to the top of a hill 
 commanding a view of some fortress occupied by 
 the French, and, in sight of their countrymen, 
 their throats were cut from ear to ear. 
 
 Should the Christian reader condemn this 
 horrid barbarity, as he certainly will, he must 
 remember that tliese people were men whose 
 every feeling had been outraged. Rape, con- 
 flagration, murder, and famine had every where 
 followed the steps of the cruel invaders; and how- 
 ever we might lament their fate, and endeavour 
 to avert it, we could not but admit that the reta- 
 liation was not without justice. 
 
 In this irregular w^arfare, we sometimes re- 
 velled in luxuries, and at others were nearly 
 starved. One day, in particular, when fainting 
 with hunger, we met a fat, rosy-looking capu- 
 chin : we bet^fjed him to shew us where we 
 might procure some food, either by purchase or 
 in any other way ; but he neither knew where 
 to procure any, nor had he any money : his 
 
180 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 order, he said, forbade him to use it. As he 
 turned away from us, in some precipitation, we 
 thought we heard something rattle ; and as ne- 
 cessity has no law, we took the hberty of 
 searching the padne, on whose person we found 
 forty dollars, of which we relieved him, assuring 
 him that our consciences were perfectly clear, 
 since his order forbade him to carry money ; and 
 that as he lived among good Christians, they 
 would not allow him to want. He cursed 
 us ; but we laughed at him, because he had 
 produced his own misfortune by his falsehood 
 and hypocrisy. 
 
 This was the manner in which the Spanish 
 priests generally behaved to us ; and in this 
 way we generally repaid them when we could. 
 We kept the plunder — converted it into food — 
 joined our party soon after, and supposed the 
 affair was over ; but tlie friar had followed us 
 at a distance, and we perceived him coming up 
 the hill where v/e were stationed. To avoid disco- 
 very we exchanged clothes, in such a manner as 
 
THE XAVAL OFFICER. 181 
 
 to render us no longer coornizable. The friar 
 made his complaint to the guerilla chief, whose 
 eyes flashed fire at the indignant treatment his 
 priest had received ; and it is probable that 
 bloodslicd would have ensued had he been able 
 to point out the culprits. 
 
 I kept my countenance though I had changed 
 my dress, and as he looked at me with some- 
 thing beyond suspicion, I stared him full in the 
 face, with the whole united powers of my match- 
 less impudence, and, in a loud and menacing 
 tone of voice, asked him in French if he took me 
 for a brigand. 
 
 This question, as well as the manner in which 
 it was put, silenced, if it did not satisfy, the 
 priest. He seemed to listen with apparent con- 
 viction to the suggestion of some of our people, 
 that he had been robbed by another j^arty, 
 and he set out in pursuit of them. 1 was quite 
 tired of his importunities, and glad to see him 
 depart. As he turned away, he gave me a very 
 scrutinizing look, which I returned with ano- 
 
182 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 ther, full of well-dissembled rage and scorn. 
 My curling hair had been well-flattened down 
 with a piece of soap, which I had in my pocket, 
 and I had much more the appearance of a 
 methodist parson than a pickpocket. 
 
 Some time previous to this, the frigate to 
 which I belonged had been ordered on other 
 services; and as I had no opportunity of join- 
 ing her, I was placed, pro tempore, on board of 
 another. 
 
 But as this chapter has already spun out its 
 length, I shall refer my reader to the next for 
 further particulars. 
 
THE XAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 183 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The shout 
 Of battle now began, and rushing sound 
 Ofonset * • ♦ » • 
 'Twixt host and host but narrow space was left. 
 
 MiLTOy. 
 
 From the deservedly high character borne by 
 the captain of the frigate which I was ordered 
 to join, he was employed by Lord Collingwood 
 on the most confidential services ; and we were 
 sent to assist the Spaniards in their defence of 
 the important fortress of Rosas, in Catalonia. 
 It has already been observed, that the French 
 general, St. Cyr, had entered that country, and, 
 having taken Figueras and Gerona, was looking 
 
184 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 with a wistful eye on the castle of Trinity, on 
 the south-east side, the capture of which would 
 be a certain prelude to the fall of Rosas. 
 
 My captain determined to defend it, although 
 it had just been abandoned by another British 
 naval officer, as untenable. I volunteered, though 
 a supernumerary, to be one of the party, and was 
 sent : nor can I but acknowledge that the officer 
 who had abandoned the place had shewn more 
 than a sound discretion. Every part of the 
 castle was in ruins. Heaps of crumbling stones 
 and rubbish, broken gun carriages, and split 
 guns, presented to my mind a very unfavour- 
 able field of battle. The only advantage we 
 appeared to have over the assailants was, that 
 the breach which they had effected in the walls 
 was steep in its ascent, €.\il the loose stones either 
 fell down upon them, or gave way under their 
 feet, while we plied them with every kind of 
 missile : this was our only defence, and all we 
 had to prevent the enemy marching into the 
 works, if works they could be called. 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 185 
 
 There was another and a very serious disad- 
 vantage attending our locality. The castle was 
 situated very near the summit of a steep hill, 
 the upper part of which was in possession of the 
 enemy, who were, by this means, nearly on a 
 level with the top of the castle, and, on that 
 eminence, three hundred Swiss sharp shooters had 
 effected a lodgment, and thrown up works within 
 fifty yards of us, keeping up a constant fire at 
 the castle. If a head was seen above the walls, 
 twenty rifle bullets whizzed at it in a moment, 
 and the same unremitted attention was paid to 
 our boats as they landed. 
 
 On another hill, much to thenorthward, and con- 
 sequently farther in-land, the French had erected 
 a battery of six twenty-four pounders; this agree- 
 able neighbour was only three hundred yards 
 from us ; and allowing short intervals for the 
 guns to cool, this battery kept up a constant fire 
 upon us from day-light till dark. I never could 
 have supposed, in my boyish days, that the time 
 would arrive when I should envy a cock upon 
 
186 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 Shrove-Tuesday ; yet such was my case when 
 in this infernal castle. It was certainly not 
 gi iUg us fair play ; we had no chance against 
 such a force; but my captain was a knight- 
 errant, and as I had volunteered, I had no 
 right to complain. Such was the precision of 
 the enemy''s fire, that we could tell the stone that 
 would be hit by the next shot, merely from see- 
 ing where the last had struck, and our men 
 were frequently wounded by the splinters of 
 granite, with which the walls were built, and 
 others picked off like partridges, by the Swiss 
 corps on the hill close to us. 
 
 Our force in the castle consisted of a 
 hundred and thirty English seamen and ma- 
 rines, one company of Spanish, and ano- 
 ther of Swiss troops in Spanish pay. Never 
 were troops worse paid and fed, or better 
 fired at. We all pigged in together; dirty 
 straw and fleas for our beds; our food on 
 the same scale of luxury ; from the captain 
 downwards there was no distinction. Fighting 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 187 
 
 is sometimes a very agreeable pastime, but ex- 
 cess ** palls on the sense \" and here we had 
 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 fJl 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, watch- 
 fulness, and abstinence. When poor Penelope 
 wove her web, the poet says — 
 
 " The night unravelled what the day began." 
 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, 
 
188 THE XAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 clearing away rubbish, and preparing to receive 
 the enemy's fire, which was sure to recommence 
 at daylight. These avocations, together with a 
 constant and most vigilant watch against sur- 
 prise, took up so much of our time, that little 
 was left for repose, and our meals required still 
 less. 
 
 There was some originality in one of our 
 modes of defence, and which, not being secun- 
 dum artem, might have provoked the smile of 
 an engineer. The captain contrived to make a 
 shoot of smooth deal boards, which he received 
 from the ship ; these he placed in a slanting di- 
 rection in the breach, and caused them to be 
 well greased with cook's slush : so that the 
 enemies, who wished to come into our hold, must 
 have jumped down upon them, and would in 
 an instant be precipitated into the ditch below, a 
 very considerable depth, where they might 
 either have remained till the doctor came to 
 them, or, if they were able, begin their labours 
 dc novo. This was a very good bug-trap ; for, 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICKR. 189 
 
 at that time, I thought just as little of killing 
 a Frenchman as I did of destroying the filthy 
 little nightly depredator just mentioned. 
 
 Besides this slippery trick, which we played 
 them with great success, we served them an- 
 other. We happened to have on board the 
 frigate a large quantity of fish-hooks : these we 
 planted, not only on the greasy boards, but in 
 every part where the intruders v/ere likely to 
 place their hands or feet. The breach itself was 
 mined, and loaded with shells and hand-grenades; 
 masked guns, charged up to the muzzle with 
 musket-balls, enfiladed the spot in every direc- 
 tion. Such were our defences ; and, consider- 
 ing that we had been three weeks in the castle, 
 opposed to such mighty odds, it is surprising 
 that we only lost twenty men. The crisis was 
 now approaching. 
 
 One morning, very early, I happened to 
 have the look-out. The streak of fog which 
 during the night hangs between the hills in that 
 country, and presses down into the valleys, had 
 
190 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 just begun to rise, and the stars to grow more 
 dim above our heads, when I was looking over 
 the castle wall towards the breach. The captain 
 came out and asked me what I was looking at. 
 I told him I hardly knew ; but there did appear 
 something unusual in the valley, immediately 
 below the breach. He listened a moment, 
 looked attentively with his night-glass, and 
 exclaimed, in his firm voice, but in an un- 
 dertoned manner, " To arms ! — they are 
 coming ! " 
 
 In three minutes every man was at his post; 
 and though all were quick, there was no time 
 to spare, for by this time the black column of 
 the enemy was distinctly visible, curling along 
 the valley like a great centipede ; and, with the 
 daring enterprise so common among the troops 
 of Napoleon, had begun in silence to mount 
 the breach. It was an awful and eventful 
 moment ; but the coolness and determina- 
 tion of the little garrison was equal to the oc- 
 casion. 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 191 
 
 The word was given to take good aim, and a 
 volley from the masked guns and musquetry 
 was poured into the thick of them. They 
 paused — deep groans ascended ! They retreated 
 a few paces in confusion, then rallied, and again 
 advanced to the attack ; and now the fire on 
 both sides was kept up without intermission. 
 The great guns from the hill fort, and the 
 Swiss sharp-shooters, still nearer, poured copious 
 vollies upon us, and with loud shouts cheered on 
 their comrades to the assault. As they a^> 
 proached and covered our mine, the train was 
 fired, and up they went in the air, and down 
 they fell buried in the ruins ! Groans, screams, 
 confusion, French yells, British hurras rent the 
 sky ! The hills resounded with the shouts of 
 victory ! We sent them hand-grenades in 
 abundance, and broke their shins in glorious 
 style ! I must say that the French behaved nobly, 
 though many a tall grenadier and pioneer 
 fell by the symbol in front of his warlike cap. 
 I cried with rage and excitement; and we 
 
192 THE ^AVAL OFFICER. 
 
 all fought like bull-doffs. for we knew there was 
 no quarter to be given. 
 
 Ten minutes had elapsed since the firing 
 began, and in that time many a brave fellow 
 had bit the dust. The head of their attacking 
 column had been destroyed by the explosion of 
 our mine. Still they had re-formed, and Avere 
 again half way up the breach when the day be- 
 gan to dawn ; and we saw a chosen body of one 
 thousand men, led on by their colonel, and ad- 
 vancing over the dead which had just fallen. 
 
 The gallant leader appeared to be as cool and 
 composed as if he were at breakfast ; with his 
 drawn sword he pointed to the breach, and we 
 heard him exclaim, " suivez moi /" I felt jealous 
 of this brave fellow — jealous of his being a 
 Frenchman ; and I threw a lighted hand-gre- 
 nade between his feet — he picked it up, and 
 threw it from him to a considerable distance. , 
 
 " Cool chap enough that,'' said the captain, 
 w^ho stood close to me ; " I'll give him another ;" 
 which he did, but this the officer kicked away 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 193 
 
 with equal sang fro'id and dignity. " Nothing 
 will cure that fellow,"' resumed the captain, 
 *' but an ounce of lead on an empty stomach — 
 it's a pity, too, to kill so fine a fellow — but there 
 is no help for it." 
 
 So saying, he took a musket out of my hand, 
 which I had just loaded — aimed, fired — the 
 colonel staggered, clapped his hand to his breast, 
 and fell back into the arms of some of his men, 
 who threw down iheir muskets, and took him 
 on their shoulders, either unconscious or per- 
 fectly regardless of the death- work which was 
 going on around them. The firing redoubled 
 from our musketry on this little group, every 
 man of whom was either killed or wounded. 
 The colonel, again left to himself, tottered a i^^ 
 paces farther, till he reached a small bush, not 
 ten yards from the spot where he received his 
 mortal wound. Here he fell ; his sword, which 
 he still grasped in his right hand, rested on the 
 boughs, and pointed upwards to the sky, as if 
 
 VOL. I. K 
 
194 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 directing the road to the spirit of its gallant 
 master. 
 
 With the life of the colonel, ended the hopes 
 of the French for that day. The officers, we 
 could perceive, did their duty — cheered, en- 
 couraged, and drove on their men, but all in 
 vain ! We saw them pass their swords through 
 the bodies of the fugitives ; but the men did not 
 even mind that — they would only be killed in 
 their own way — they had had fighting enough 
 for one breakfast. The first impulse, the fiery 
 onset, had been checked by the fall of their 
 brave leader, and sauve qui pent, whether com- 
 ing from the officers or drummers, no matter 
 which, terminated the affair, and we were left a 
 little time to breathe, and to count the number 
 of our dead. 
 
 The moment the French perceived from their 
 batteries that the attempt had failed, and that 
 the leader of the enterprize was dead, they pour- 
 ed in an angry fire upon us. I stuck my hat on 
 the bayonet of my musket, and just shewed it 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICEE. 195 
 
 above the wall. A dozen bullets were through 
 it in a minute : very fortunately my head was 
 not in it. 
 
 The fire of the batteries having ceased, which 
 it generally did at stated periods, we had an 
 opportunity of examining the point of attack. 
 Scaling ladders, and dead bodies, lav in profu- 
 sion. All the wounded had been removed ; but 
 what magnificent " food for powder"' were the 
 bodies which lay before us ! — all, it would seem, 
 picked men ; not one less than six feet, and some 
 more : they were clad in their grey capots, to 
 render their appearance more sombre, and less 
 discernible in the twilight of the morning ; and 
 as the weather was cold durinor the nic-hts, I 
 secretly determined to have one of these great 
 coats as a cliere am'ie to keep me warm in night- 
 watches. I also resolved to have the colonePs 
 sword to present to my captain ; and as soon as 
 it was dark I walked down the breach, brought 
 up one of the scaling ladders, which I deposited 
 
 K 2 
 
196 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 in the castle ; and, having done so much for the 
 king, I sat out to do something for myself. 
 
 It was pitch dark. I stumbled on ; the wind 
 blew a hurricane, and the dust and mortar al- 
 most blinded me ; but I knew my way pretty 
 well. Yet there was something very jackall-like, 
 in wandering about among dead bodies in the 
 night-time, and I really felt a horror at my situa- 
 tion. There was a dreadful stillness between 
 the blasts, which the pitch darkness made pecu- 
 liarly awfuf to an unfortified mind. It is for 
 this reason, that I would ever discourage night- 
 attacks, unless you can rely on your men. They 
 generally fail : because the man of common 
 bravery, who would acquit himself fairly in 
 broad day-light, will hang back during the 
 night. Fear and Darkness have always been 
 firm allies ; and are inseparably playing into 
 each other's hands. Darkness conceals Fear, and 
 therefore Fear loves Darkness, because it saves 
 the coward from shame ; and when the fear of 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 197 
 
 shame is the only stimulus to fight, day-light is 
 essentially necessary. 
 
 I crept cautiously along, feeling for the dead 
 bodies. The first I laid my hand on, made my 
 blood curdle. It was the lacerated thigh of a 
 grenadier, whose flesh had been torn off by a 
 hand grenade. " Friend,'" said I, " if I may 
 judge from the nature of your wound, your 
 great coat is not worth having." The next 
 subject I handled, had been better killed. A 
 musquet ball through his head, had settled all 
 his tradesmen's bills ; and I hesitated not in 
 becoming residuary legatee, as I was sure the 
 assets would more than discharge the under- 
 taker's bill ; but the body was cold and stiff, 
 and did not readily yield its garment. 
 
 I, however, succeeded in obtaining my object; 
 in which I arrayed myself, and went on in search 
 of the colonel's sword ; but here I had been 
 anticipated by a Frenchman. The colonel, 
 indeed, lay there, stiff enough, but his sword 
 
198 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 was gone. I was preparing to return, when I 
 encountered, not a dead, but a living enemy. 
 
 " Qui Vive r' said a low voice. 
 
 " Anglois. bete r answered I, in a low 
 tone ; and added, " mais les corsairs ne se hat- 
 tent pas,''"' 
 
 " Cest vrai,'" said he ; and growling, " hon 
 soir^^ he was soon out of sight. I scrambled 
 back to the castle, gave the countersign to the 
 sentinel, and shewed my new great coat with a 
 vast deal of glee and satisfaction ; some of my 
 comrades went on the same sort of expedition, 
 and were rewarded with more or less success. 
 
 In a few days, the dead bodies on the beach, 
 were nearly denuded by nightly visitors ; but 
 that of the colonel lay respected and untouched. 
 The heat of the day had blackened it, and it 
 was now deprived of all its manly beauty, and 
 nothing remained but a loathsome corpse. The 
 rules of war, as well as of humanity, demanded 
 the honourable interment of the remains of this 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICEE. 199 
 
 hero ; and our captain, who was the very flower 
 of chivalry, desired me to stick a white handker- 
 chief on a pike, as a flag of truce, and bury the 
 bodies, if the enemy would permit us. 
 
 I went out accordingly, with a spade and a 
 pick-axe ; but the tirailleurs on the hill began 
 with their rifles, and wounded one of my men. 
 I looked at the captain, as much as to say, " Am 
 I to proceed ?" He motioned with his hand to 
 go on, and I then began digging a hole by the 
 side of a dead body, and the enemy, seeing my 
 intention, desisted from firing. I had buried 
 several, when the captain came out and joined 
 rae, with a view of reconnoitring the posi- 
 tion of the enemy. He was seen from the fort, 
 and recognized ; and his intention pretty accu- 
 rately guessed at. 
 
 We were near the body of the colonel, which 
 we were going to inter; when the captain, 
 observing a diamond ring on the finger of the 
 corpse, said to one of the sailors, " You may 
 just as well take that off; it can be of no use to 
 
200 THE NAVAL OFFICEE. 
 
 him now." The man tried to get it off, but the 
 rigidity of the muscle after death, prevented his 
 moving it. " He won't feel your knife, poor 
 fellow," said the captain ; " and a finger more 
 or less, is no great matter to him now : off 
 with it." 
 
 The sailor began to saw the finger joint with 
 his knife, when down came a twenty-four pound 
 shot, and with such a good direction, that it took 
 the shoe off the man's foot, and the shovel out 
 of the hand of another man. 
 
 " In with him, and cover him up !" said the 
 captain. 
 
 We did so ; when another shot, not quite so 
 well directed as the first, threw the dirt in our 
 faces, and ploughed the ground at our feet. 
 The captain then ordered his men to run into 
 the castle, which they instantly obeyed ; while 
 he himself walked leisurely along through a 
 shower of musket-balls from those cursed Swiss 
 dogs, whom I most fervently wished at the 
 devil, because, as an aid^de-camp, I felt bound 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 201 
 
 in honour as well as duty to walk by the side 
 of my captain, fully expecting every moment 
 that a rifle-ball would have hit me where I 
 should have been ashamed to shew the scar. I 
 thought this funeral pace, after the funeral was 
 over, confounded nonsense ; but my fire-eating 
 captain never had run away from a Frenchman, 
 and did not intend to begin then. 
 
 I was behind him, making these reflections, 
 and as the shot began to fly very thick, I 
 stepped up alongside of him, and, by degrees, 
 brought him between me and the fire. " Sir," 
 said I, " as I am only a midshipman, I don't 
 care so much about honour as you do ; and, 
 therefore, if it makes no difference to you, I'll 
 take the liberty of getting under your lee." 
 He laughed, and said, " I did not know you 
 were here, for I meant you should have gone 
 with the others ; but, since you are out of your 
 station, Mr. Mildmay, I will make that use of 
 you which you so ingeniously proposed to make 
 of me. My life may be of some importance 
 
 D 3 
 
^02 THE MAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 here ; but yours very little, and another midship- 
 man can be had from the ship only for asking : 
 so just drop astern, if you please, and do duty 
 as a breast- work for me !" 
 
 " Certainly, Sir," said I, " by all means ;" 
 and I took my station accordingly. 
 
 " Now," said the captain, " if you are 
 ' doubled up,'' I will take you on my shoul- 
 ders !'' 
 
 I expressed myself exceedingly obliged, not 
 only for the honour he had conferred on me, 
 but also for that which he intended ; but 
 hoped I should have no occasion to trouble 
 him. 
 
 Whether the enemy took pity on my youth 
 and innocence^ or whether they purposely missed 
 us, I cannot say : I only know I was very 
 happy when I found myself inside the castle with 
 a whole skin, and should very readily have recon- 
 ciled myself to any measure which would have 
 restored me even to the comforts and conve- 
 niences of a man-of-war's cockpit. All human 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 203 
 
 enjoyment is comparative, and nothing ever 
 convinced me of it so much and so forcibly as 
 what took place at this memorable siege. 
 
 Fortune, and the well=known cowardice of 
 the Spaniards, released me from this jeopardy ; 
 they surrendered the citadel, after which the 
 castle was of no use, and we ran down to 
 our boats as fast as we could : and notwith 
 standing the very assiduous fire of the watchful 
 tirailleurs on the hill, we all got on board with- 
 out accident. 
 
 There was one very singular feature in this 
 affair. The Swiss mercenaries in the French 
 and Spanish services, opposed to each other, 
 behaved with the greatest bravery, and did 
 their duty with unexceeded fidelity ; but being 
 posted so near, and coming so often in contact 
 with each other, they w^ould cry truce for a 
 quarter of an hour, while they made inquiries 
 after their mutual friends ; often recognizing 
 each other as fathers and sons, brothers and near 
 relatives, fighting on opposite sides. They 
 
204 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 would laugh and joke with each other, declare 
 the truce at an end, then load their muskets, 
 and take aim, with the same indifference, as re- 
 garded the object, as if they had been perfect 
 strangers : but, as I before observed, fighting is 
 a trade. 
 
 From Rosas w^e proceeded to join the admiral 
 off Toulon ; and being informed that a battery 
 of six brass guns, in the port of Silva, would 
 be in possession of the French in a few hours, 
 we ran in, and anchored within pistol-shot of it. 
 We lashed blocks to our lower mast-heads, rove 
 hawsers through them, sent the ends on shore, 
 made them fast to the guns, and hove off three 
 of them, one after another, by the capstan ; 
 and had the end of the hauser on shore, ready 
 for the others, when our marine videts were 
 surprised by the French, driven in, and re- 
 treated to the beach with the loss of one man 
 taken prisoner. 
 
 Not having sufficient force on shore to resist 
 them, we re-embarked our party, and the French, 
 
THF NAVAL OFFICER. 205 
 
 taking up a position behind the rocks, com- 
 menced a heavy fire of musquetry upon us. We 
 answered it with the same ; and now and then 
 gave them a great gun; but they had the advan- 
 tage of position, and wounded ten or eleven of 
 our men from their elevated stations behind the 
 rocks. At sun-set this ceased, when a boat 
 came off from the shore, pulled by one Spaniard; 
 he brought a letter for the captain, from the 
 officer commanding the French detachment It 
 presented the French captain's compliments to 
 ours; regretted the little interruption he had 
 given to our occupation ; remarked that the 
 weather M'as cold, and as he had been ordered 
 off in a hurry, he had not had time to provide 
 himself ; and as there was always a proper feel- 
 ing among brave gens, requested a few gallons 
 of rum for himself and followers. 
 
 This request was answered with a jjolite note, 
 and the spirits required. The British captain 
 hoped the commandant and his party would 
 
206 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 make themselves comfortable, and have a bon 
 repos. The captain, however, intended the 
 Frenchman should pay for the spirits, though not 
 in money, and sent in the bill about one o'clock 
 in the morning. 
 
 All at that hour was as still as death ; the 
 French guard had refreshed themselves, and 
 were enjoying the full extent of our captain's 
 benediction, when he observed to us that it was 
 a pity to lose the boat which was left on shore, 
 as well as the other brass guns, and proposed 
 making the attempt to bring off both. Five or 
 six of us stripped, and lowering ourselves into 
 the water, very gently swam ashore, in a breath- 
 less kind of silence, that would have done honour 
 to a Pawnee Loup Indian. The water was very 
 cold, and at first almost took away my respira- 
 tion. AVe landed under the battery, and having 
 first secured our boat* without noise, we crept 
 softly up to where the end of the hawsers lay 
 by the side of the guns, to which we instantly 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. S07 
 
 made them fast. About a dozen French sol- 
 diers were lying near, keeping watch, fast 
 asleep. 
 
 We might easily have killed them all ; but as 
 we considered they were under the influence of 
 our rum, we abhorred such a violation of hospi- 
 tality. We helped ourselves, however, to most 
 of the muskets that were near us, and very 
 quietly getting into the boat, put off and rowed 
 with two oars to the ship. The noise of the oars 
 woke some of the soldiers, who, jumping up, 
 fired at us with all the arms they had left ; and 
 I believe soon got a reinforcement, for they 
 fired both quick and well; and, as it was star- 
 light, and we were naked, our bodies were easily 
 seen, so that the shot came very thick about us. 
 '^ Diving," said I, " is not running away ;" 
 so over we all went, except two. I was down 
 like a porpoise, never rising till my head touched 
 the ship's copper. I swam round the stern, and 
 was taken in on the side opposite the enemy. 
 My captain, I dare say, would have disdained 
 
208 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 such a compromise ; but though I was as proud 
 as he was, I always thought, with Falstaff, that 
 " discretion was the better part of valour," 
 especially in a midshipman. 
 
 The men left in the boat got safe on board with 
 her. The hands were all ready, and the moment 
 our oars splashed in the water, they hove round 
 cheerfully, and the guns came galloping down 
 the rocks like young kangaroos. They were 
 soon under water, and long before the French- 
 men could get a cut at the hawsers. They then 
 fired at them with their muskets, in hopes of 
 stranding the rope, but they failed in that also. 
 We secured the guns on board, and before day- 
 light got under weigh, and made sail for the 
 fleet, which we joined shortly afterwards. 
 
 I here learned that my own ship had fought 
 a gallant action with an enemy's frigate, had 
 taken her opponent, but had suffered so much 
 that she was ordered home for repairs, and had 
 sailed for England from Gibraltar. 
 
 I had letters of introduction to the rear- 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 209 
 
 admiral, who was second in command ; and 1 
 thought, under these circumstances, the best 
 thing I could do would be to " clean myself," 
 as the phrase used to be in those days, and go 
 on board and present them. I went accordingly, 
 and saw the flag captain, who took my letters in 
 to the admiral, and brought out a verbal, and not 
 a very civil message, saying, I might join the 
 ship, if I pleased, until my own returned to the 
 station. As it happened to suit my convenience, 
 I did please ; and the manner in which the 
 favour was conferred disburthened my mind of 
 any incumbrance of gratitude. The reception 
 was not such as I might have expected : had 
 the letters not been from people of distinction, 
 and friends of the rear-admiral, I should much 
 have preferred remaining in the frigate, whose 
 captain also wished it, but tbat was not al- 
 lowed. 
 
 To the flag-ship, therefore, I came ; and 
 why I was brought here I never could discover, 
 unless it was for the purpose of completing a 
 
210 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 menagerie, for I found between sixty and seventy 
 midshipmen already assembled. They were 
 mostly youngsters, followers of the rear-admiral, 
 and had seen very little, if any, service, and I 
 had seen a great deal for the time I had been 
 afloat. Listening eagerly to my *' yarns," the 
 youthful ardour of these striplings kindled, and 
 they longed to emulate my deeds. The con- 
 sequence was, numerous applications from the 
 midshipmen to be allowed to join the frigates on 
 the station ; not one was contented in the flag- 
 ship; and the captain having discovered that 
 I was the tarantula who had bitten them, hated 
 me accordingly, and not a jot more than I hated 
 him. 
 
 The captain was a very large, ill-made, broad- 
 shouldered man, with a lack-lustre eye, a pair 
 of thick lips, and a very unmeaning countenance. 
 He wore a large pair of epaulettes ; he was irri- 
 table in his temper ; and when roused, which 
 was frequent, was always violent and overbear- 
 ing. His voice was like thunder, and when he 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 211 
 
 launched cut on the poor midshipmen, they 
 reminded me of the trerabliag bird which, when 
 fascinated by the eye of the snake, loses its 
 powers, and falls at once into the jaws of the 
 monster. When much excited, he had a custom 
 of shaking his shoulders up and down, and his 
 epaulettes, on these occasions, flapped like the 
 huge ears of a trotting elephant. At tbe most 
 distant view of his person or sound of his voice, 
 every midshipmao. not obliged to remain, fled. 
 like the land-crabs on a We^T-Irdii br ;c;i. He 
 was incessantly taunting me, was sure . 
 some fault or other with me, ai.-l r/ ..-.._ .y 
 called me " one of your :: :^ .:: n: en." 
 
 Irritated by this unjust treatoient, I one day 
 answered that I :,as a frigate midshipman, and 
 hoped I could do my duty as well as any line-of- 
 battle-ship midshipman, of my own standing, in 
 the service. For this injudicious, and rather 
 impertinent remark, I was ordered aft on the 
 quarter-deck, and the captain went in to the 
 admiral, and asked permission to flog me ; but 
 
212 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 the admiral refused, observing, that he did not 
 admire the system of flogging young gentlemen : 
 and, moreover, that in the present instance he 
 saw no reason for it. So I escaped ; but I led 
 a sad life of it, and often did I pray for the 
 return of my own ship. 
 
 Among other exercises of the fleet, we used 
 always to reef topsails at sun-set, and this was 
 usually done by all the ships at the same mo- 
 ment, waiting the signal from the admiral to 
 begin ; in this exercise there was much foolish 
 rivalry, and very serious accidents, as well as 
 numerous punishments, took place, in conse- 
 quence of one ship trying to excel another. On 
 these occasions our captain would bellow and 
 foam at the mouth like a mad bull, up and down 
 the quarter-deck. 
 
 One fine evening the signal was made, the 
 topsails lowered and the men laying out on the 
 yards, when a poor fellow from the main-topsail- 
 yard fell, in his trying to lay out ; and, striking 
 his shoulder against the main channels, broke his 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 213 
 
 arm. I saw he was disabled, and could not 
 swim ; and, perceiving him sinking,! darted over- 
 board, and held liim until a boat came and 
 picked us up ; as the water was smooth, and there 
 was little wind, and the ship not going more 
 than two miles an hour, I incurred little 
 risk. 
 
 When I came on deck I found the captain fit 
 for Bedlam, because the accident had delayed 
 the topsails going to the mast head quite as 
 quick as the rest of the fleet. He threatened to 
 flog the man for falling overboard, and ordered 
 me off the quarter-deck. This was great injus- 
 tice to both of us. Of all the characters I ever 
 met with, holding so high a rank in the service, 
 this man was the most unpleasant. 
 
 Shortly after we were ordered to Minorca to 
 refit ; here, to my great joy, I found my own 
 ship, and 1 " shook the dust off my feet," and 
 quitted the flag with a light heart. During the 
 time I had been on board, the admiral had never 
 said, " How do ye do .^" to me — nor did he say, 
 
214 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 " Good bye,*" when I quitted. Indeed, I should 
 have left the ship without ever having been 
 honoured with his notice, if it had not happened 
 that a favourite pointer of his was a shipmate of 
 mine. I recollect hearing of a man who boasted 
 that the king had spoken to him ; and when it 
 was asked what he had said, replied, ''He desired 
 me to get out of his way." 
 
 My intercourse with the admiral was about as 
 friendly and flattering. Pompey and I were on 
 the poop. I presented him with a piece of hide 
 to gnaw, by way of pastime. The admiral 
 came on the poop, and seeing Pompey thus em- 
 ployed, asked who gave him that piece of hide ? 
 The yeoman of the signals said it was me. The 
 admiral shook his long spy-glass at me, and said, 
 " By G — , Sir, if ever you give Pompey a bit 
 of hide again, I will flog you." 
 
 This is all I have to say of the admiral, and 
 all the admiral ever said to me. 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 215 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 Since laws were made for every degree, 
 
 I wonder we haven't better company on Tybiirn tree. 
 
 Beggar's Opera. 
 
 While I was on board of this ship two poor 
 men were executed for mutiny. The scene was 
 far more solemn to me than any thing I had 
 ever beheld. Indeed it was the first thing of 
 the kind I had been present at. When we hear 
 of executions on shore, we are always prepared to 
 read of some foul atrocious crime, some unpro- 
 voked and unmitigated offence against the laws 
 of civilized society, which a just and a merciful 
 
216 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 government cannot allow to pass unpunished. 
 With us at sea there are many shades of dif- 
 ference ; but that which the law of our service 
 considers a serious offence, is often no more than 
 an ebullition of local and temporary feeling, 
 which in some cases might be curbed, and in 
 others totally suppressed by timely firmness and 
 conciliation. 
 
 The ships had been a long time at sea, the 
 enemy did not appear — and there Avas no chance 
 either of bringing him to action, or of returning 
 into port. Indeed nothing can be more dull and 
 monotonous than a blockading cruize " in the 
 team,*" as we call it ; that is, the ships of the 
 line stationed to watch an enemy. The frigates 
 have, in this respect, every advantage ; they are 
 always employed on shore, often in action, and 
 the more men they have killed, the happier are 
 the survivors. Some melancholy ferment on 
 board of the flag ship I was in, caused an open 
 mutiny. Of course it was very soon quelled ; 
 and the ringleaders having been tried by a court- 
 
THK NAVAL OFFICER. 217 
 
 martial, two of them were condemned to be 
 hanged at the yard-arm of their own ship, and 
 were ordered for execution on the following 
 day but one. 
 
 Our courts-martial are always arrayed in the 
 most pompous manner, and certainly are cal- 
 culated to strike the mind with awe — even of a 
 captain himself. A gun is fired at eight o'clock 
 in the morning from the ship where it is to be 
 held, and a union flag is displayed at the raizen 
 peak. If the weather be fine, the ship is ar- 
 ranged with the greatest nicety ; her decks are 
 as white as snow — her hammocks are stowed 
 with care — her ropes are taut — her yards 
 square — her guns run out — and a guard of 
 marines, under the orders of a lieutenant, pre- 
 pared to receive every member of the court w ith 
 the honour due to his rank. Before nine o'clock 
 they are all assembled ; the officers in their un- 
 dress uniform, unless an admiral is to be tried. 
 The great cabin is prepared, with a long table 
 
 VOL. I. L 
 
218 THE NAVAL OFFICEE. 
 
 covered with a green cloth. Pens, ink, paper, 
 prayer books, and the articles of war, are laid 
 round to every member. 
 
 " Open the court," says the president. 
 
 The court is opened, and officers and men, 
 indiscriminately stand round. The prisoners 
 are now brought in under the charge of the 
 provost martial, a master-at-arms, with his sword 
 drawn, and placed at the foot of the table, on 
 the left hand of the judge-advocate. The 
 court is sworn to do its duty impartially, and 
 if there is any doubt, to let it go in favour of 
 the prisoner. Having done this, the members 
 sit down, covered, if they please. 
 
 The judge-advocate is then sworn, and the 
 order for the court-martial read. The prisoner 
 is put on his trial : if he says any thing to com- 
 mit himself, the court stops him, and kindly ob- 
 serves, " We do not want your evidence against 
 yourself; we want only to know what others can 
 prove against you."" The unfortunate man is 
 offered any assistance he may require ; and 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 219 
 
 when the defence is over, the court is cleared, 
 the doors are shut, and the minutes which have 
 been taken down by the judge-ad vocate^ are 
 carefully read over, the credibility of the wit- 
 nesses weighed, and the president puts the ques- 
 tion to the youngest member first, " Proved, or 
 not proved ?" 
 
 All having given their answer, if seven are in 
 favour of proved, and six against, proved is re- 
 corded. The next question — if for mutiny or 
 desertion, or other capital crime — " Flogging or 
 death ?"' The votes are given in the same way : if 
 the majority be for death, the judge-advocate 
 writes the sentence, and it is signed by all the 
 members^ according to seniority beginning with 
 the president, and ending with the judge-ad- 
 vocate. 
 
 The court is now opened again, the prisoner 
 brought in, and an awful and deep silence pre- 
 vails. The members of the court all put their 
 hats on, and are seated ; every one else, except 
 the provost-martial, is uncovered. As soon as 
 
 T 9 
 
220 THE NAVAL OFFICEE. 
 
 the judge-advocate has read the sentence, the 
 prisoners are delivered to the custody of the 
 provost-martial, by a warrant from the presi- 
 dent, and he has charge of them till the time for 
 the execution of the sentence. 
 
 About three o'clock in the afternoon, I received 
 a message from one of the prisoners, saying, he 
 wished much to speak with me. 1 followed the 
 master-at-arms down to the screened cabin, in the 
 gun-room, where the men were confined with their 
 legs in irons. These irons consist of one long 
 bar and a set of shackles. The shackles fit the 
 small part of the leg, just above the ancle ; and, 
 having an eye on each end of them, they receive 
 the leg. The end of the bar is then passed 
 through, and secured with a padlock. I found 
 the poor fellows sitting on a shot box. Their 
 little meal lay before them untouched ; one of 
 them cried bitterly ; the other, a man of the 
 name of Strange, possessed a great deal of equa- 
 nimity, although evidently deeply affected. 
 This man had been pretty well educated in 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 221 
 
 youth, but having taken a wild and indolent 
 turn, had got into mischief, and to save himself 
 from a severe chastisement, had run away from 
 his friends, and entered on board a man-of-war. 
 In this situation he had found time, in the inter- 
 vals of duty, to read and to think ; he became, 
 in time, sullen, and separated himself from the 
 occasional merriment of his messmates ; and it 
 is not improbable that this moody temper had 
 given rise to the mutinous acts for which he was 
 to suffer. 
 
 This man now apologized for the liberty he 
 had taken, and said he would not detain me 
 long. 
 
 " You see, Sir," said he, " that my poor 
 friend is quite overcome with the horror of his 
 situation ; nor do I wonder at it. He is very 
 different from the hardened malefactors that are 
 executed on shore ; we are neither of us afraid 
 to die: but such a death as this, Mr. Mildmay 
 — to be hung up like (logs, an example to the 
 fleet, and a shame and reproach to our friends — 
 
5222 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 this wrings our hearts ! It is this consideration, 
 and to save tlie feehngs of my poor mother, 
 that I have sent for you. I saw you jump 
 overboard to save a poor fellow from drowning; 
 so I thought you would not mind doing a good 
 turn for another unfoitunate sailor. I have 
 made my will, and appointed you my executor ; 
 and with this power of attorney you will receive 
 all my pay and prize-money, which I will 
 thank you to give to my dear mother, whose 
 address you will find written here. My motive 
 for this is, that she may never learn the history 
 of my death. You can tell her that I died for 
 my country's good, which is very true, for I 
 acknowledge the justice of my sentence, and 
 own that a severe example is wanting. It is 
 eleven years since I was in England ; I have 
 served faithfully the whole of that time ; nor 
 did I ever misbehave except in this one in- 
 stance. I think if our good king knew ray sad 
 story, he would be merciful : but God's will be 
 done ! Yet, if I had a wish, it would be that 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER 223 
 
 the enemy's fleet would come out, and that I 
 might die, as I have hved, defending my 
 country. But, Mr. Mildmay, T have one 
 very important question to ask you — do you 
 believe that there is such a thing as a future 
 state ?'' 
 
 " Most surely," said I ; " though we all live 
 as if we beheved there was no such thing : but 
 why do you doubt it V 
 
 " Because," said tiie poor fellow, " when I was 
 an officer's servant, I was one day tending the 
 table in the wardroom, and I heard the com- 
 mander of a sloop of war, who was dining there 
 with his son, say that it was all nonsense — that 
 there was no future state, and the Bible was a 
 heap of lies. I have never been happy since." 
 
 I told him that I was extremely sorry that 
 any officer should have used such expressions at 
 all, particularly before him ; that I was inca- 
 pable of restoring his mind to its proper state ; 
 but that I should recommend his immediately 
 sending for the chaplain, who, I had no doubt. 
 
224 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 would give him all the comfort he could desire. 
 He thanked me for this advice, and profited by 
 it, as he assured me in his last moments. 
 
 " And now. Sir," said he, " let me give you a 
 
 piece of advice. When you are a captain, as I 
 
 am very sure you will be, do not worry your 
 
 men into mutiny by making what is called a 
 
 smart ship. Cleanliness and good order are what 
 
 seamen like ; but niggling, polishing, scraping 
 
 iron bars, and ring-bolts, and the like of that, 
 
 a sailor dislikes more than a flogging at the 
 
 gangway. If, in reefing topsails, you happen 
 
 to be a minute later than another ship, never 
 
 mind it, so long as your sails are well reefed, 
 
 and fit to stand blowing weather. Many a sail 
 
 is split by bad reefing, and many a good sailor 
 
 has lost his life by that foolish hurry which has 
 
 done incredible harm in the navy. What can 
 
 be more cruel or unjust than to flog the last 
 
 man off" the yard ? seeing that he is necessarily 
 
 the most active, and cannot get in without the 
 
 imminent danger of breaking his neck ; and. 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 225 
 
 moreover, that one man must be last. Depend 
 upon it, Sir, ' that nothing is well done which is 
 done in a hurry.* But I have kept you too 
 long. God bless you, Sir ; remember my 
 poor mother, and be sure you meet me on 
 the forecastle to-morrow morning." 
 
 The fatal morning came. It was eight 
 o'clock. The gun fired — the signal for punish- 
 ment flew at our mast-head. The poor men 
 gave a deep groan, exclaiming, " Lord have 
 mercy upon us ! — our earthly career and 
 troubles are nearly over I"^ The master-at-arms 
 came in, unlocked the padlock at the end of 
 the bars, and, slipping off the shackles, desired 
 the marine sentinels to conduct the prisoners to 
 the quarter-deck. 
 
 Here was a scene of solemnity which I hardly 
 dare attempt to describe. The day was clear 
 and beautiful ; the top-gallant yards were crossed 
 on board of all the ships ; the colours were 
 flying ; die crews were all dressed in white 
 trowsers and bluejackets, and hung in clusters, 
 
 L 3 
 
226 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 like bees, on the side of the rigging facing our 
 ship ; a guard of marines, under arms, was 
 placed along each gangway, but on board of 
 our ship they were on the quarter-deck. Two 
 boats from each ship lay off upon their oars 
 along-side of us, with a lieutenant's and a cor- 
 poral's guard in each, with fixed bayonets. The 
 hands were all turned up by the boatswain and 
 his mates with a shrill whistle, and calling down 
 each hatchway, " All hands attend punish- 
 ment !" 
 
 You now heard the quick trampling of feet 
 up the ladders, but not a word was spoken. 
 The prisoners stood on the middle of the quar- 
 ter-deck, while the captain read the sentence of 
 the court-martial and the order from the com- 
 mander-in-chief for the execution. The appro- 
 priate prayers and psalms having been read by 
 the chaplain, with much feeling and devotion, 
 the poor men were asked if they were ready ; 
 they both rephed in the affirmative, but each 
 requested to have a glass of wine, which was 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 227 
 
 instantly brought. They drank it off, bownig 
 most respectfully to the captain and officers. 
 
 The admiral did not appear, it not being 
 etiquette ; but the prisoners desired to be kindly 
 and gratefully remembered to him : they then 
 begged to shake hands with the captain and all 
 the officers, which having done, they asked per- 
 mission to address the ship's company. The 
 captain ordered them all to come aft on the top 
 and quarter-deck. The most profound silence 
 reigned, and there was not an eye but had a tear 
 in it. 
 
 William Strange, the man who had sent for 
 me, then said, in a clear and audible tone of 
 voice, " Brother sailors, attend to the last words 
 of a dying man. We are brought here at the 
 instigation of some of you who are now standing 
 in safety among the crowd ; you have made 
 fools of us, and we are become the victims to 
 the just vengeance of the laws. Had you suc- 
 ceeded in the infamous design you contemplated, 
 what would have been the consequences ? Ruin, 
 
228 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 eternal ruin, to yourselves and to your families ; 
 a disgrace to your country, and the scorn of those 
 foreigners to \vhom you proposed delivering up 
 the ship. Thank God you did not succeed. 
 Let our fate be a warning to you ; and endeav- 
 our to shew by your future acts your deep con- 
 trition for the past. Now, Sir," turning to the 
 captain, " we are ready." 
 
 This beautiful speech from the mouth of a 
 common sailor must as much astonish the reader 
 as it then did the captain and officers of the 
 ship. But Strange, as I have shewn, was no 
 common man; he had had the advantage of 
 education, and, like many of the ringleaders at 
 the mutiny of the Nore, was led into the error 
 of refusing to ohey^ from the conscious feeling 
 that he was born to command. 
 
 The arms of the prisoners were then pinioned, 
 and the chaplain led the way, reading the fune- 
 ral service ; the master-at-arms, with two marine 
 sentinels, conducted them along tlie starboard 
 gangway to the forecastle ; here a stage was 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 2^9 
 
 erected on either side, over the cathead, with 
 steps to ascend to it ; a tail block was attached 
 to the boom iron, at the outer extremity of each 
 fore-yard-arm, and through this a rope was rove, 
 one end of which came down to the stage. The 
 other was led along the yard into the catharpings, 
 and thence down upon the main-deck. A gun 
 was primed and ready to fire, on the fore part 
 of the ship, directly beneath the scaffold. 
 
 I attended poor Strange to the very last 
 moment ; he begged me to see that the halter, 
 which was a piece of line, like a clothes' line, 
 was properly made fast round his neck, for he had 
 known men suffer dreadfully from the want of 
 this precaution. A white cap was placed on the 
 head of each man, and when both mounted the 
 platform, the cap was drawn over their eyes. 
 They shook hands with me^ with their messmates, 
 and with the chaplain, assuring him that they 
 died happy, and confident in the hopes of 
 redemption. They then stood still while the 
 yard ropes were fixed to the halter by a toggle 
 
230 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 in the running noose of the latter; the other 
 end of the yard-ropes were held by some twenty 
 or thirty men on each side of the main-deck, 
 where two heutenants of the ship attended. 
 
 All being ready, the captain waved a white 
 handkerchief, the gun fired, and in an instant 
 the poor fellows were seen swinging at either 
 yard-arm. They had on blue jackets and 
 white trowsers, and were remarkably fine-look- 
 ing young men. They did not appear to suffer 
 any pain, and at the expiration of an hour, the 
 bodies were lowered down, placed in coffins, and 
 sent on shore for interment 
 
 On my arrival in England, nine months after, 
 I acquitted myself of my promise, and paid to 
 the mother of ^Villiam Strange upwards of fifty 
 pounds, for pay and prize-money. I told the 
 poor woman that her son had died a chris- 
 tian, and had fallen for the good of his 
 country ; and having said this, I took a hasty 
 leave, for fear she should ask questions. 
 
 That the execution of a man on board of a 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 2^1 
 
 ship of war does not always produce a proper 
 effect upon the minds of the younger boys, the 
 following fact may serve to prove. 
 
 There were two little fellows on board the 
 ship; one was the son of the carpenter, the 
 other of the boatswain. They were both of 
 them surprised and interested at the sight, but 
 not proportion ably shocked. The next day I 
 was down in one of the wings, reading by the 
 light of a purser's dip — vulgo^ a farthing candle, 
 when these two boys came sliding down the 
 main hatchway by one of the cables. Whether 
 they saw me, and thought I would not 'peach, 
 or whether they supposed I was asleep, I can- 
 not tell ; but they took their seats on the cables, 
 in the heart of the tier, and for some time 
 appeared to be in earnest conversation. They 
 had some articles folded up in a dirty check 
 shirt and pocket handkerchief ; they looked up 
 at the battens, to which the hammocks are 
 suspended, and producing a long rope yarn, 
 tried to pass it over one of them ; but unable 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 to reach, one boy climbed on the back of the 
 other, and effected two purposes, by reeving 
 one end of the line, and bringing it down to the 
 cables again. They next unrolled the shirt, 
 and, to my surprise, took out the boatswain's 
 kitten, about three months old ; its fore paws 
 were tied behind its back, its hind feet were 
 tied together, and a fishing lead attached to 
 them : a piece of white rag was tied over its 
 head as a cap. 
 
 It was now pretty evident what the fate of 
 poor puss was likely to be, and why the lead 
 was made fast to her feet. The rope yarn was 
 tied round her neck ; they each shook one of 
 her paws, and pretended to cry. One of the 
 urchins held in his hand a fife, into which he 
 poured as much flour as it w^ould hold, out of 
 the handkercliief, the other held the end of the 
 rope-yarn : every ceremony was gone tlirough 
 that they could thiiik of. 
 
 "• Are you ready ?" said the executioner, or 
 he that held the line. 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 233 
 
 " All ready," replied the boy with the fife. 
 
 " Fire the gun !'' said the hangman. 
 
 The boy applied one end of the fife to his 
 mouth, blew out all the flour, and in this humble 
 imitation of the smoke of a gun poor puss was 
 run up to the batten, where she hung till she 
 was dead. I am ashamed to say I did not 
 attempt to save the kitten's life, although I 
 caused her foul murder to be revenged by the 
 cat. 
 
 After the body had hung a certain time, they 
 took it down, and buried it in the shot-locker ; 
 this was an indictable offence, as the smell 
 would have proved, so I lodged the informa- 
 tion ; the body was found, and as the facts 
 were clear, the law took its course, to the great 
 amusement of the bystanders, who saw the 
 brats tied upon a gun, and well flogged. 
 
 The boatswain eat the kitten, first, he said, 
 because he had '' lamed" to eat cats in Spain ; 
 secondly, because she had not died a natural 
 death (I thought otherwise) ; and his last 
 
234 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 reason was more singular than either of the 
 others : he had seen a picture in a church in 
 Spain, of Peter's vision of the animals let down 
 in the sheet, and there was a cat among them : 
 observing an alarm of scepticism in my eye, 
 he thought proper to confirm his assertion with 
 an oath. 
 
 " Might it not have been a rabbit ?"" said I. 
 
 " Rabbit! Sir; d — n me, think I didn't 
 know a cat from a rabbit ? Why one has got 
 short ears and long tail, and t'other has got 
 wicee zversee, as we calls it.'' 
 
 A grand carnival masquerade was to be given 
 at Minorca in honour of the English, and the 
 place chosen for the exhibition was a church ; 
 all which was perfectly consistent with the 
 Romish faith. I went in the character of a 
 fool, and met many brother officers there. It 
 was a comical sight to see the anomalous groups 
 stared at by the pictures of the Virgin Mary 
 and all the saints, whose shrines were lit up 
 for the occasion with wax tapers. The admiral, 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 235 
 
 rear admiral, and most of the captains and 
 officers of the fleet were present ; the place was 
 about a mile from the town. 
 
 Having hired a fool's dress, I mounted that 
 very appropriate animal — a donkey, and set off' 
 amidst the shouts of a thousand dirty vaga- 
 bonds. On my arrival, I began to shew off in 
 summersaults, leaps, and all kinds of practical 
 jokes. The manner in which I supported the 
 character drew a little crowd around me. I 
 never spoke to an admiral or captain unless 
 he addressed me first ; and then I generally sold 
 him a bargain. Being very well acquainted with 
 the domestic economy of the ships on the station, a 
 martinet asked me if I would enter for his ship. 
 " No," said I, " you would give me three dozen 
 for not lashing up my hammock properly," 
 " Come with me," said another : " No,'' said I, 
 " your bell-rope is too short — you cannot reach 
 it to order another bottle of w^ine before all the 
 officers have left your table.'' Another pro- 
 mised me kind treatment and plenty of wine. 
 
^6 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 " No," said I ; "in your ship I should be 
 coals at Newcastle ; besides, your coffee is too 
 weak, 3^our steward only puts one ounce into 
 six cups." 
 
 These hits afforded a good deal of mirth 
 among the crowd, and even the admiral himself 
 honoured me with a smile. I bowed respect- 
 fully to his lordship, who merely said — " What 
 do you want of me, fool?" " Oh, nothing at 
 all, my lord," said I ; "I have only a small 
 favour to ask of you."" " What is that?" said 
 the admiral. " Only to make me a captain, 
 ray lord."" " Oh, no," said the admiral, " we 
 never make fools captains." " No !" said I, 
 clapping my arms akimbo, in a very imperti- 
 nent manner; '* then that, I suppose, is a new 
 regulation. How long has the order in council 
 been out ?" 
 
 The good humoured old chief laughed heartily 
 at this piece of impertinence ; but the captain, 
 whose ship I had so recently quitted, was silly 
 enough to be offended : he found me out, and 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 237 
 
 went and complained of me to my captain the 
 next day ; but my captain only laughed at 
 him, said he thought it an excellent joke, and 
 invited me to dinner. 
 
 Our ship was ordered to Gibraltar, where we 
 arrived soon after ; and a packet coming in 
 from England, I received letters from my fa- 
 ther, announcing the death of my dearest 
 mother, O how I then regretted all the sor- 
 rows I had ever caused her ; how incessantly 
 did busy memory haunt me with all my mis- 
 deeds, and recal to mind the last moment I 
 had seen her ! I never supposed I could have 
 regretted her half so much. My father stated 
 that in her last moments she had expressed 
 the greatest solicitude for my welfare. She 
 feared the career of life on which I had entered 
 would not conduce to my eternal welfare, 
 however much it might promise to my temporal 
 advantage. Her dying injunctions to me were, 
 never to forget the moral and religious prin- 
 ciples in which she had brought me up ; and, 
 
238 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 with her last blessing, implored me to read 
 my Bible, and take it as my guide through 
 life. 
 
 My father''s letter was both an affecting and 
 forcible appeal ; and never, in the whole course 
 of my subsequent life, were my feelings so worked 
 upon as they were on that occasion. I went 
 to my hammock with an aching head and an 
 almost broken heart. A retrospection of my 
 life afforded me no comfort. The numerous 
 acts of depravity or pride, of revenge or 
 deceit, of which I had been guilty, rushed 
 through my mind, as the tempest through the 
 rigging, and called me to the most serious and 
 melancholy reflections. It was some time 
 before I could collect my thoughts and analyze 
 my feelings; but when I recalled all my mis- 
 deeds — my departure from that path of virtue, 
 so often and so clearly laid down by my affec- 
 tionate parent — I was overwhelmed with grief, 
 shame, and repentance. I considered how 
 often 1 had been on the brink of eternitv ; and 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 239 
 
 had I been cut off in my sins, what would 
 have been my destiny ? I started with horror 
 at the danger I had escaped, and looked for- 
 ward with gloomy apprehension at those that 
 still awaited me. I sought in vain, among all 
 my actions since I left my mother's care, one 
 single deed of virtue, one that sprang from a 
 good motive. There was, it is true, an out- 
 ward gloss and polish for the world to look at ; 
 but all was dark within : and I felt that a 
 keener eye than that of mortality was searching 
 my soul, where deception was worse than use- 
 less- 
 
 At twelve o''clock, before I liad once closed 
 my eyes, I was called to relieve the deck, having 
 what is called the middle watch, i. e. from mid- 
 night till four in the morning. We had, the 
 day before, buried a quarter-master, nick-named 
 Quid, an old seaman who had destroyed him- 
 self by drinking — no very uncommon case in 
 his majesty's service. The corpse of a man 
 who has destroyed his inside by intemperance is 
 
240 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 generally in a state of putridity immediately after 
 death ; and the decay, particularly in w^rm 
 climates, is very rapid. A few hours after 
 Quid's death, the body emitted certain effluvia 
 denoting the necessity of immediate inter- 
 ment. It was accordingly sewn up in a ham- 
 mock ; and as the ship lay in deep water, with 
 a current sweeping round the bay, and the 
 boats being at the same time all employed at 
 the dock-yard, the first-lieutenant caused shot 
 to be tied to the feet, and, having read the 
 funeral service, launched the body overboard 
 from the gangway, as the ship lay at anchor. 
 
 I was walking the deck, in no very happy 
 state of mind, reflecting seriously on parts of 
 that Bible which for more than two years I had 
 never looked into, when my thoughts were 
 called to the summons which poor Quid had 
 received, and the beauty of the funeral service 
 which I had heard read over him — " I am the 
 resurrection and the life."*' The moon, which 
 had been obscured, suddenly burst from a 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 241 
 
 cloud, and a cry of horror proceeded from the 
 look-out man on the starboard gangway. I ran 
 to inquire the cause, and found him in such a 
 state of nervous agitation that he could only say, 
 " Quid- Quid ! "* and point with his finger into 
 the water. 
 
 1 looked over the side, and, to my amaze- 
 ment, there was the body of Quid, 
 
 " All in dreary hammock shrouded," 
 
 perfectly upright, and floating with the head 
 and shoulders above water! A slight undu- 
 lation of the waves gave it the appearance 
 of nodding its head ; while the rays of the 
 moon enabled us to trace the remainder of the 
 body underneath the surface. For a few 
 moments, I felt a horror which I cannot de- 
 scribe, and contemplated the object in awful 
 silence ; while my blood ran cold, and I 
 felt a sensation as if my hair was standing 
 on end. I was completely taken by surprise, 
 and thought the body had risen up to warn 
 
 VOL. I. M 
 
242 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 me ; but in a few seconds I regained my pre- 
 sence of mind, and I soon perceived the origin 
 of this re-appearance of the corpse. I ordered 
 the cutter to be manned, and, in the mean time, 
 went down to inform the first-Heutenant of 
 what had occurred. He laughed, and said, 
 " I suppose the old boy finds salt water not 
 quite so palatable as grog. Tie some more 
 shot to his feet, and bring the old fellow to his 
 moorings again. Tell him, the next time he 
 trips his anchor, not to run on board of us. He 
 had his regular allowance of prayer : 1 gave 
 him tlie whole service, and I shall not give him 
 any more." So saying, he went to sleep again. 
 This apparently singular circumstance is 
 easily accounted for. Bodies decomposing 
 from putridity, generate a quantity of gas, 
 which svvells them up to an enormous size, and 
 renders them buoyant. The body of this man 
 was thrown overboard just as decomposition 
 was in progress : the shot made fast to the 
 feet were sufficient to sink it at the time ; but 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 243 
 
 in a few hours after were not competent to 
 keep it at the bottom, and it came up to the 
 surface in that perpendicular position which I 
 have described. The current in the bay being 
 at the time either slack or irregular, it floated 
 at the spot whence it had been launched into 
 the water. 
 
 The cutter, being manned, was sent with 
 more shot to attach to the body, and sink it. 
 When they attempted to hold it with the boat- 
 hook, it eluded the touch, turning round and 
 round, or bobbing under the water, and coming 
 up again, as if in sport : but accident saved 
 them any further trouble ; for the bowman, 
 reproached by the boat^s crew for not hooking 
 the body, got angry, and darting the spike of 
 the boat-hook into the abdomen, the pent-up 
 gas escaped with a loud whiz, and the coi'pse 
 instantly sank like a stone. Many jokes were 
 passed on the occasion ; but I was not in 
 humour for joking on serious subjects ; and 
 before the watch was out I had made up my 
 
 M 2 
 
244 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 mind to go home, and to quit the service, as I 
 found I had no chance of obeying my mother's 
 dying injunctions if I remained where I was. 
 
 The next morning I stated my wishes to the 
 captain, not of quitting the service, but of going 
 home in consequence of family arrangements. 
 This was about as necessary as that I should 
 make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The captain 
 had been told of the unpleasant news I had re- 
 ceived, and having listened to all I had to say, 
 he replied, that if I could make up my mind to 
 remain with him it would be better for me. 
 
 " You are now," said he, " accustomed to 
 my ways — you know your duty, and do your 
 work well ; indeed, I have made honourable 
 mention of you to the Admiralty in my public 
 letter: you know your own business best" (here 
 he was mistaken — he ought not to have parted 
 with me for the reasons which I offered) ; " but 
 my advice to you is to stay.*" 
 
 I thanked him — but being bent and deter- 
 mined on going home, he acceded to my request; 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 245 
 
 gave me my discharge, and added a very hand- 
 some certificate of good conduct, far beyond the 
 usually prescribed form ; he also told me that if 
 I chose to return to him he would keep a 
 vacancy for me. I parted with the officers, my 
 messmates, and the ship's company with regret. 
 I had been more than three years with them ; 
 and my stormy commencement had settled down 
 into a quiet and peaceful acknowledgment of my 
 supremacy in the birth ; my qualities were such 
 as to make me a universal favorite, and I was 
 followed down the ship's side with the hearty 
 good wishes of all. I was pulled in the cutter 
 on board of a ship of the line, in which I was 
 ordered to take my passage to England. 
 
246 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 How happy could I be with either, 
 Were t'other dear charmer away ! 
 
 Beggar's Opera. 
 
 Hell, they say, is paved with good inten- 
 tions. If so, it has a much better pavement 
 than it deserves ; for " the trail of the serpent 
 is over us all." Then why send to hell the 
 greatest proof of our perfection before the fali, 
 and of weakness subsequent to it? Honest 
 and sincere professions of amendment must 
 carry with them to the throne of grace a strong 
 recommendation, even if we are again led astray 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 247 
 
 by the allurements of sense and the snares of the 
 world. At least, our tears of contrition and 
 repentance, our sorrow for the past, and our 
 firm resolves for the future, must have given 
 ''joy in heaven," and consequently cannot have 
 been converted into pavement for the infernal 
 regions. 
 
 Pleasure and pain, in youth, are, for the 
 most part, transient impressions, whether they 
 arise from possession or loss of worldly enjoy- 
 ment, or from a sense of having done well or ill 
 in our career. The excitement, though strong, 
 is not durable ; and thus it was with me. I had 
 not been more than four days on board the ship 
 of the line in which I took my passage to Eng- 
 land, when I felt my spirits buoyant, and my 
 levity almost amounting to delirium. The 
 hours of reflection were at first shortened, and 
 then dismissed entirely. The general mirth of 
 my new shipmates, at the thoughts of once 
 more revisitino; their dear native land — the 
 anticipation of indulging in the sensual worship 
 
248 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 of Bacchus and Venus, the constant theme of 
 discourse among the midshipmen ; the loud and 
 senseless applause bestowed on the coarsest 
 ribaldry — these all had their share in destroying 
 that religious frame of mind in which I had 
 parted with my first captain, and seemed to 
 awaken me to a sense of the folly I had been 
 guilty of in quitting a ship, where I was not 
 only at the head of my mess, but in the fair 
 way for promotion. 1 considered that I had 
 acted the part of a madman, and had again 
 begun to renew my career of sin and of folly, a 
 little, and but a little, sobered by the recent 
 event. 
 
 We arrived in England after the usual pas- 
 sage from the Rock. I consented to pass two 
 days at Portsmouth, with my new companions, 
 to revisit our old haunts, and to commit those 
 excesses which fools and knaves applauded and 
 partook of, at my expense, leaving me full 
 leisure to repent, after we separated. I, how- 
 ever, did muster resolution enough to pack my 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 249 
 
 trunk ; and, after an extravagant supper at the 
 Fountain, retired to bed intoxicated, and the 
 next morning, with an aching head, threw my- 
 self into the coach and drove off for London. 
 A day of much hilarity is generally succeeded 
 by one of depression. This is fair and natural ; 
 we draw too largely on our stock, and squander 
 our enjoyment like our money, leaving us the 
 next day with low spirits and a lower purse. 
 
 A stupid dejection succeeded the boisterous 
 mirth of the over-night. I slumbered in a cor- 
 ner of the coach till about one o'clock, when we 
 reached Godalming, where I alighted, took a 
 slight refreshment, and resumed my seat. As we 
 drove along, I had more leisure, and was in a fitter 
 frame of mind to review my past conduct since I 
 had quitted my ship at Gibraltar. My self-exa- 
 mination, asusual,producedno satisfactory results. 
 I perceived that the example of bad company 
 had swept away every trace of good resolution 
 which I had made on the death of my mother. 
 I saw, with grief, that I had no dependance on 
 
 ]M 3 
 
250 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 myself; I had forgotten all my good intentions, 
 and the firm vows of amendment with which I 
 had bound myself, and had yielded to the first 
 temptation which came in my way. 
 
 In vain did I call up every black and threat- 
 ening cloud of domestic sorrow, which was to 
 meet me on my return home — the dreadful 
 vacuum occasioned by my mother's death — the 
 grief of my father — my brother and sisters in 
 deep mourning, and the couch on which I had 
 left the best of parents, when I turned away mv 
 thoughtless head from her in the anguish of her 
 grief. I renewed my promises of amendment, 
 and felt some secret consolation in doino^ so. 
 
 When I arrived at my father's door, the ser- 
 vant who let me in, greeted me with a loud and 
 hearty welcome. I ran into the drawing-room, 
 where I found that my brothers and sisters had 
 a party of children to spend the evening with 
 them. They were dancing to the music of a 
 piano, played on by my aunt, while my father 
 sat in his arm chair, in high good humour. 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 251 
 
 This was a very different scene from what I 
 had expected. I was prepared for a sentimental 
 and affecting meeting ; and my feelings were all 
 worked up to their full bearing for the occasion. 
 Judge, then, of the sudden revulsion in my 
 mind, when I found mirth and good humour 
 where I expected tears and lamentations. It 
 had escaped my recollection, that although the 
 death of my mother was an event new to me, 
 it had happened six months before I had heard 
 of it ; and, consequently, with them grief had 
 given way to time. I was astonished at their 
 apparent want of feeling ; while they gazed 
 with surprise at the sight of me, and the symbols 
 of woe displayed in my equipment. 
 
 My father welcomed me with surprise ; asked 
 where my ship was, and what had brought her 
 home. The fact was, that in my sudden deter- 
 mination to return to England, I had spared 
 myself the trouble of writing to make known 
 my intentions ; and, indeed, if I had written, I 
 should have arrived as soon as my letter, unless 
 
252 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 (which I ought to have done), I had written on my 
 arrival at Portsmouth, instead of throwing away 
 my time in the very worst species of dissipation. 
 Unable, therefore, in the presence of many 
 ■witnesses, to give my father that explanation 
 which he had a right to expect, I suffered greatly 
 for a time in his opinion. He very naturally 
 supposed that some disgraceful conduct on my 
 part was the cause of my sudden return. His 
 brow became clouded and his mind seemed 
 occupied with deep reflection. 
 
 This behaviour of ray father, together with 
 the continued noisy mirth of my brothers and 
 sisters, gave me considerable pain. I felt as 
 if, in the sad news of my mother'*s death, I 
 had over-acted my part in the feeling I had 
 shewn, and the sacrifice I had made in quitting 
 my ship. On explaining to my father, in pri- 
 vate, the motives of ray conduct, I was not 
 successful. He could not believe that my 
 mother's death was the sole cause of my return 
 to England. I stood many firm and angry 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 253 
 
 interrogations as to the possible good which 
 could accrue to me by quitting my ship. I 
 shewed him the captain's handsome certificate, 
 which only mortified him the more. In vain 
 did I plead my excess of feeling. He replied 
 with an argument that I feel to have been 
 unanswerable — that I had quitted my ship when 
 on the very pinnacle of favour, and in the road 
 to fortune. " And what," said he, " is to 
 become of the navy and the country, if every 
 ofiicer is to return home when he receives the 
 news of the death of a relation .?" 
 
 In proportion as my father'^s arguments carried 
 conviction, they did away, at the same time, all 
 the good impressions of my mother's dying 
 injunction. If her death was a matter of so 
 little importance, her last words were equally 
 so ; and from that moment I ceased to think of 
 either. INIy father's treatment of me was now 
 very different from what it had ever been 
 during my mother's life-time. My requests 
 
254 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 were harshly refused, and I was lectured more 
 as a child than as a lad of eighteen, who had 
 seen much of the world. 
 
 Coldness on his part, was met by a spirit of 
 resistance on mine. Pride came in to my as- 
 sistance. A dispute arose one evening, at the 
 finale of which I gave him to understand that 
 if 1 could not live quietly under his roof, I 
 would quit it. He calmly recommended me to 
 do so. Little supposing that I should have 
 taken his advice, I left the room, banging the 
 door after me, packed up a few changes of 
 linen, and took my departure, unperceived by 
 any one, with my bundle on my shoulder, and 
 about sixteen shillings in my pocket. 
 
 Here was great mismanagement on tlie part 
 of my father, and still greater on mine. He 
 was anxious to get me afloat again, and I 
 had no sort of objection to going; but his 
 impatience and my pride spoiled all. Reflection 
 soon came to me, but came too late. Night was 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 255 
 
 fast approaclnng : I had no house over my 
 head, and my exchequer was in no very flourish- 
 ing condition. 
 
 I had walked six miles from my father's 
 house, when I began to tire. It became dark, 
 and I had no fixed plan. A gentleman's 
 carriage came by ; I took up a position in 
 the rear of it, and had ridden four miles, when, 
 as the carriage was slowly dragging up a hill, 
 I was discovered by the parties inside ; and the 
 postilion, who had dismounted and been in- 
 formed of it, saluted me with two or three 
 smart cuts with his whip, intimating that I was 
 of no use, but rather an incumbrance which 
 could be dispensed with. 
 
 My readers know that I had long since adopt- 
 ed the motto of our northern neighbours, nemo 
 me, &c.; so waiting very quietly till the driver 
 had mounted his horses, at the top of the hill, 
 that he might be more at my mercy, I discharg- 
 ed a stone at his head which caused him to vacate 
 his seat, and fall under his horse's belly. The 
 
256 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 animals, frightened at his fall, turned' short 
 round to the right, or they would have gone 
 over him, and ran furiously down the hill. The 
 post-boy, recovering his legs, followed his horses 
 without bestowino; a thought on the author of 
 the mischief ; and I made all the haste I could 
 in the opposite direction, perfectly indifferent as 
 to the fate of the parties inside of the carriage, 
 for I still smarted with the blows I had received. 
 
 " Fools and unkind,'' muttered I, looking 
 back, as they disappeared at the bottom of the 
 hill, with frightful velocity, "you are rightly 
 served. I was a trespasser, 'tis true, but a civil 
 request would have had all the effect you re- 
 quired — that of inducing me to get down ; but 
 a whip to me — ^''* And with my blood still 
 boiling at the recollection, I hastily pursued my 
 journey. 
 
 In a few minutes I reached the httle town of 
 
 , the lights of which were visible at the 
 
 time the horses had turned down the hill and ran 
 away. Entering the first inn I came to, I found 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 257 
 
 the large room below occupied by a set of 
 strolling players, who had just returned from a 
 successful performance of Romeo and Juliet ; 
 and, from the excitement among them, it was easy 
 to perceive that their success had been fully 
 equal to their expectations. They were four- 
 teen in number, seated round a table, not indif- 
 ferently covered with the good things of this 
 life ; they were clad in theatrical costume, which, 
 with the rapid circulation of the bottle, gave the 
 whole scene an air of romantic freedom calcu- 
 lated to interest the mind of a thoughtless half- 
 pay midshipman. 
 
 Being hungry after my walk, I determined 
 to join the party at supper, which, being a table 
 (TJiote, was easily effected. One of the actresses, 
 a sweet little, well-proportioned creature, with 
 large black eyes, was receiving, with apparent 
 indifference, the compliments of the better sort 
 of bumpkins and young farmers of the neigh- 
 bourhood. In her momentary and occasional 
 smiles, she discovered a beautiful set of small, 
 
258 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 white teeth ; but >vhen she resumed her pensive 
 attitude, I was sensible of an enchanting air of 
 melancholy, which deeply interested me in 
 favour of this poor girl, who was evidently in a 
 lower situation in life than that for which she 
 had been educated. The person who sat near- 
 est to her, vacated his seat as soon as he found 
 his attentions were thrown away. I instantly 
 took possession of the place, and, observing the 
 greatest respect, entered at once into conversa- 
 tion with her. 
 
 Whether she was pleased with my address 
 and language, as being superior to what she was 
 usually compelled to listen to, or whether she 
 was flattered by my assiduous attention, I 
 know not ; but she gradually unbent, and 
 became more animated ; shewing great natural 
 talent and a highly cultivated mind ; so that I 
 was every moment more astonished to find her in 
 such a situation. 
 
 Our conversation had lasted a considera- 
 ble time; and I had just made a remark, 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 259 
 
 to "which she had not replied, apparently 
 struggling with concealed emotion, when we 
 were interrupted by a carriage driving up to 
 the door, and cries of " Help ! help !" I in- 
 stantly quitted the side of my new acquaintance, 
 and flew to answer the signal of distress. 
 
 A gentleman in the carriage was supporting a 
 young lady in his arms, to all appearance lifeless. 
 With my assistance, she was speedily removed 
 into the house, and conveyed to a bed-room. A 
 surgeon was sent for, but none was to be had. 
 The only practitioner of the town being at that 
 moment gone to attend one of those cases which, 
 according to Mr. Malthus, are much too fre- 
 quent for the good of the country. I discovered 
 that the carriage had been overturned, and that 
 the young lady had been insensible ever 
 since. 
 
 There was no time to be lost ; I knew that 
 immediate bleeding was absolutely necessary. 
 I had acquired thus much of surgical know- 
 ledge in the course of my professional duties. I 
 
260 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 Stated my opinion to the gentleman ; and though 
 my practice had been very shght, offered my 
 services to perform the operation. This offer 
 was accepted with thanks by the grateful father, 
 for such T found he was. With my sharp pen- 
 knife I opened a vein in one of the whitest arms 
 I ever beheld. After a few moments chafing, 
 the blood flowed more freely; the pulse indi- 
 cated returning animation ; a pair of large blue 
 eyes opened suddenly upon me like a masked 
 battery ; and so alarmingly susceptible was I of 
 the tender passion, that I quite forgot the little 
 actress whom I had left at the supper-table, and 
 who, a few minutes before, had occupied my 
 whole thoughts and attention. 
 
 Having succeeded in restoring the fair pa- 
 tient to consciousness, I prescribed a warm bed, 
 some tea, and careful watching. My orders 
 were punctually obeyed; I then quitted the 
 apartment of my patient, and began to rumi- 
 nate over the hurried and singular events of the 
 day. 
 
THE KAVAL OFFICER. S61 
 
 I had scarcely had time to decide in my own 
 mind on the respective merits of my two rival 
 beauties, when the surgeon arrived ; and, being 
 ushered into the sick room, declared that the 
 patient had been treated with skill, and that in 
 all probability she owed her life to my presence 
 of mind. " But, give me leave to ask," said 
 the doctor, addressing the father, " how the 
 accident happened ?" The gentleman replied, 
 that a scoundrel having got up behind the 
 carriage, had been flogged off by the postilion ; 
 and in revenge, had thrown a stone, which 
 knocked the driver off his horses : they took 
 fright, turned round, and ran away down the 
 hill towards their own stables ; and after running 
 five miles, upset the carriage against a post, " by 
 which accident," said he, " my poor daughter 
 was nearly killed." 
 
 " What a villain !"" said the doctor. 
 " Villain, indeed,'' echoed I ; and so I felt I 
 was. T turned sick at the thoughts of what my 
 ungoverned passion had done; and my regret 
 
262 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 was not a little increased by the charms of my 
 lovely victim ; but I soon recovered from the 
 shock, particularly when I saw that no suspi- 
 cion attached to me. I therefore received the 
 praises of the father and the doctor with a 
 becoming modest diffidence; and, with a hearty 
 shake of the hand from the grateful parent, 
 was svished a good night, and retired to my 
 bed. 
 
 As I stood before the looking-glass, laying 
 my watch and exhausted purse on the dressing- 
 table, and leisurely untying my cravat, I could 
 not forbear a glance of approbation at what I 
 thought a very handsome and a very impudent 
 face : I soliloquized on the events of the day, 
 and, as usual, found the summing-up very much 
 against me. " This, then, Sir,*' said I, " is your 
 road to repentance and. reform. You insult 
 your father; quit his house; get up, like a vaga- 
 bond, behind a gentleman's carriage; are flogged 
 off', break the ribs of an honest man, who has a 
 wife and family to support out of his hard 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 263 
 
 earnings — are the occasion of a carriage being 
 overturned, and very nearly cause the death of 
 an amiable girl ! And all this mischief in the 
 short space of six hours, not to say a word of your 
 intentions towards the httle actress, which I pre- 
 sume are none of the most honourable. Where 
 is all this to end ?" 
 
 " At the gallows,^ said I, in reply to myself, 
 " the more probably, too, as my finances have 
 no means of improvement, except by a miracle 
 or highway robbery. I am in love with two 
 girls, and have only two clean shirts ; conse- 
 quently there is no proportion between the de- 
 mand and the supply." 
 
 With this medley of reflections I fell asleep. 
 I was awoke early by the swallows twittering at 
 the windows ; and the first question which was 
 agitated in my brain was, what account I should 
 give of myself to the father of the young lady, 
 when interrogated by him, as I most certainly 
 should be. I had my choice between truth and 
 falsehood : the latter (such is the force of habit). 
 
264 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 I think, carried it hollow ; but I determined to 
 leave that point to the spur of the moment, and 
 act according to circumstances. 
 
 My meditations were interrupted by the 
 chambermaid, who, tapping at my door, said 
 she came to tell me, " that the gentleman that 
 belonged to the young lady that I was so kind 
 to, was waiting breakfast for me.*" 
 
 The thought of sitting at table with the dear 
 creature whose brains T had so nearly spilled 
 upon the road the night before, quite overcame 
 me ; and leaving the fabric of my history to 
 chance or to inspiration, I darted from my bed- 
 room to the parlour where the stranger awaited 
 me. He received me with great cordiality, 
 again expressed his obligations, and informed 
 me that his name was Somerville, of . 
 
 I had some faint recollection of having heard 
 the name mentioned by my father, and was 
 endeavouring to recal to mind on what occasion, 
 when Mr. Somerville interrupted me, by saying, 
 that he hoped he should have the pleasure of 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 265 
 
 knowing the name of the young gentleman who 
 had conferred such an obligation upon him. I 
 answered that my name was Mildmay ; for I 
 had no time to tell a lie. 
 
 " I should be happy to think," said he, " that 
 you were the son of my old friend and school- 
 fellow, Mr. Mildmay, of ; but that cannot 
 
 well be," said he, " for he had only two sons — 
 one at college, the other as brave a sailor as ever 
 lived, and now in the INIediterranean ; but per- 
 haps you are some relation of his?" 
 
 He had just concluded this speech, and before 
 I had time to reply to it, the door opened, and 
 Miss Somerville entered. We have all heard a 
 great deal about "love at first sight;" but I 
 contend, that the man who would not, at the 
 very first glimpse of Emily Somerville, have 
 fallen desperately in love with her, could have 
 had neither heart nor soul. If I thought her 
 lovely when she lay in a state of insensibility, 
 what did I think of her when her form had 
 
 VOL. I. N 
 
^66 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 assumed its wonted animation, and her cheeks 
 their natural colour ? To describe a perfect 
 beauty never was my forte. I can only say, 
 that Miss Somerville, as far as I am a judge, 
 united in her person all the component parts of 
 the finest specimen of her sex in England ; and 
 these were joined in such harmony by the skil- 
 ful hand of Nature, that I was ready to kneel 
 down and adore her. 
 
 As she extended her white hand to me, and 
 thanked me for my kindness, I was so taken 
 aback with the sudden appearance and address 
 of this beautiful vision, that I knew not what 
 to say. I stammered out something, but have 
 no recollection whether it was French or Eng- 
 lish. I lost my presence of mind, and the 
 blushes of conscious guilt on my face at that 
 moment, might have been mistaken for those of 
 unsophisticated innocence. That these external 
 demonstrations are often confounded, and that 
 such was the case on the present occasion, there 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 267 
 
 can be no doubt. My embarrassment was as- 
 cribed to that modesty ever attendant on real 
 worth. 
 
 It has been said that true merit blushes at 
 being discovered ; but I have lived to see merit 
 that could not blush, and the want of it that 
 could, while the latter has. marched off with all 
 the honours due to the former. The blush that 
 burned on my cheek, at that moment, would 
 have gone far to have condemned a criminal at 
 the Old Bailey; but in the countenance of a 
 handsome young man, was received as the un- 
 failing marks of '^ a pure ingenuous soul." 
 
 I had been too long at school to be ashamed 
 of wearing laurels I had never won ; and, hav- 
 ing often received a flogging which I did not 
 deserve, I thought myself equally well entitled 
 to any advantages which the chances of war 
 might throw in my way ; so having set my ten- 
 der conscience at rest, I sat myself down be- 
 tween my new mistress and her father, and made 
 
 x2 
 
268 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 a most delightful breakfast. Miss Somerville, 
 although declared out of danger by the doctor, 
 was still languid, but able to continue her jour- 
 ney ; and as they had not many miles farther to 
 go, Mr. Somerville proposed a delay of an hour 
 or two. 
 
 Breakfast ended, he quitted the room to 
 arrange for their departure, and I found myself 
 tete-a-tete with the young lady. During this 
 short absence, 1 found out that she was an only 
 daughter, and that her mother was dead ; she 
 again introduced the subject of my family name, 
 and I found also that before Mrs. Somerville's 
 death, my father had been on terms of great inti- 
 macy with Emily's parents. I had not replied to 
 Mr. Somerville's question. A similar one was now 
 asked by his daughter ; and so closely was I inter- 
 rogated by her coral lips and searching blue eyes, 
 that I could not tell a lie. It would have been 
 a horrid aggravation of guilt, so I honestly 
 owned that I was the son of her father's friend, 
 Mr* Mildraay. 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 269 
 
 ** Good Heaven r said she, " why had you 
 not told my father so ?" 
 
 *' Because I must have said a great deal 
 more; besides," added I, making her my confi- 
 dante, " I am the midshipman whom Mr. 
 Somerville supposes to be in the Mediterranean, 
 and I ran away from my father's house last 
 night." 
 
 Although I was as concise as possible in my 
 story, I had not finished before Mr. Somerville 
 came in. 
 
 " Oh, papa," said his daughter, " this young 
 gentleman is Frank Mildmay, after all.*" 
 
 I gave her a reproachful glance for having 
 betrayed my secret ; her father was astonished 
 — she looked confused, and so did I. 
 
 Nothing now remained for me but an open and 
 candid confession, taking especial care, however, 
 to conceal the part I had acted in throwing the 
 stone. Mr. Somerville reproved me very 
 sharply, which I thought was taking a great 
 liberty ; but he softened it down by adding, 
 
270 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 " If you knew how dear the interests of your 
 family are to me, you would not be surprised at 
 my assuming the tone of a parent." 
 
 I looked at Emily, and pocketed the af- 
 front. 
 
 " And, Frank," pursued he, " when I tell 
 you, that, although the distance between your 
 father's property and mine has in some measure 
 interrupted our long intimacy,! have been watch- 
 ing your career in the service with interest, 
 you will, perhaps, take my advice, and return 
 home. Do not let me have to regret that one to 
 whom I am under such obligations should be 
 too proud to acknowledge a fault. I admire a 
 high spirit in a good cause ; but towards a 
 parent it can never be justified. It may be un- 
 pleasant to you ; but I will prepare the way 
 by writing to your father: and do you stay 
 here till you hear from me. I should wish for 
 
 the pleasure of your company at Hall ; 
 
 but your father has prior claims ; and T hardly 
 need tell you, that once restored and reconciled 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 271 
 
 to him, I expect as long a visit as you can 
 afford to pay me. Think on what I have said ; 
 and, in the mean time, as I dare say your 
 finances are not very flourishing," — (thinks I, 
 you are a witch !) — " allow me to leave this 
 ten pound note in your hands." This part of 
 his request was much more readily complied 
 with than the other. 
 
 He left the room, as he said, to pay the 
 bill ; but, I believe, it was to give his fair 
 daughter an opportunity of trying the effect 
 of her eloquence on my proud spirit, which 
 gave no great promise of concession. A few 
 minutes with her, did more than both the 
 fathers could have effected, the most powerful 
 motive to submission being the certainty that I 
 could not visit at her father's house until a re- 
 conciliation had taken place between me and 
 mine. I therefore told her that, at her solici- 
 tation, I would submit to any liberal terms. 
 
 This being agreed to, her father observed that 
 the carriage was at the door, shook hands with 
 
272 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 me, and led his lovely daughter away, whose 
 last nod and parting look confirmed all my 
 good resolutions. 
 
 Reader, Avhatever you may think of the 
 trifling incidents of the last twenty-four hours, 
 you will find that they involved conse- 
 quences of vast importance to the writer of 
 this memoir. Pride induced me to quit my 
 father''s house ; revenge stimulated me to an 
 act which brought the heroine of this story on 
 the stage, for such will Emily Somerville prove 
 to be. But, alas ! by what fatal infatuation 
 was Mr. Somerville induced to leave me my 
 own master at an inn, with ten pounds in my 
 pocket, instead of taking me with him to his 
 own residence, and keeping me till he had 
 heard from my father ? The wisest men often 
 err in points, which at first appear of trivial 
 importance, but which prove in the sequel to 
 have been fraught with evil. 
 
 Left to myself, I ruminated for some time on 
 what had occurred; and the beautiful Emily 
 
THE NAVAL OFFlCEft. 273 
 
 Somerville having vanished from my sights I 
 recollected the little fascinating actress from 
 whom I had so suddenly parted on the pre- 
 ceding night; still I must say, that I was so 
 much occupied with the charms of her successor, 
 thai I sought the society of the youthful Mel- 
 pomene more with a view to beguile the time, 
 than from any serious prepossession. 
 
 I found her in the large room, where they 
 were all assembled. She received me as a 
 friend, and evinced a partiality which flattered 
 my vanity. In three days, I received a letter 
 from Mr. Somerville, enclosing one from my 
 father, whose only request was, that I would 
 return home, and meet him as if nothing un- 
 pleasant had occurred. This I determined to 
 do ; but I had now been so long in the com- 
 pany of Eugenia (for that was the actress's 
 name), that I could not very easily part with 
 her. In fact, I was desperately in love, after 
 my fashion ; and though perhaps I could not 
 with truth say the same of her, yet that she 
 
 n3 
 
274 THE XAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 was partial to my company was evident. I had 
 obtained from her the history of her life, which, 
 in the following chapter, I shall give in her own 
 words. 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 275 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 She is virtuous, though bred behind the scenes ; and, what- 
 ever pleasure she may feel in seeing herself applauded on the 
 stage, she would much rather pass for a modest girl, than for 
 a good actress. 
 
 Gil Bias, 
 
 " My father," said Eugenia, " was at the 
 head of this company of strolling players ; my 
 mother was a young lady of respectable family, 
 at a boarding-school. She took a fancy to my 
 father in the character of ' Rolla;' and, being 
 of course deservedly forsaken by her friends, 
 became a prima donna. I was the only fruits 
 of this connexion, and the only solace of my 
 
276 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 mother in her affliction; for she bitterly re- 
 pented the rash step she had taken. 
 
 " At five years old, my father proposed that 
 I should take the character of Cupid, in the 
 opera of Telemaque. To this my mother 
 strongly objected, declaring that I never should 
 go upon the stage ; and this created a disunion 
 which was daily embittered by my father's 
 unkind treatment, both of my mother and my- 
 self. I never left her side for fear of a kick, 
 which T was sure to receive when I had not 
 her protection. She employed all her spare 
 time in my instruction, and, notwithstanding 
 the folly she had been guilty of, she was fully 
 competent to the task. 
 
 " When I was seven years old, a relation of 
 my mother''s died, and bequeathed fifteen thou- 
 sand pounds, to be equally divided between 
 her and her two sisters, securing my mother's 
 portion in such a manner as to prevent my 
 father having any controul over it. As soon 
 as my mother obtained this information, she 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 277 
 
 quitted my father, who was too prudent to 
 spend either his time or his money in pursuit of 
 her. Had he been aware of her sudden change 
 of fortune, he might have acted differently. 
 
 " We arrived in London, took possession of 
 the propertv, which was all in the funds ; and 
 then, fearing my father might gain information 
 of her wealth, my mother set off for France, 
 taking me with her. There I passed the hap- 
 piest days of my life ; my mother spared no 
 pains, and went to considerable expense in my 
 education. The best masters were provided for 
 me in sinsino:, dancinsT and music ; and so 
 much did I profit by their instruction, that I 
 was very soon considered a pretty specimen of 
 my countrywomen, and much noticed accord- 
 ingly. 
 
 " From France we went to Italy, where we re- 
 mained two years, and where my vocal education 
 was completed. ]\Iy poor mother lived all this 
 time on the principal of her fortune, concluding 
 it would last for ever. At last she was taken ill 
 
278 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 of a fever, and died. This was about a year 
 ago, when I was only sixteen. Delirious many 
 days before her death, she could give me no in- 
 structions as to my future conduct, or where to 
 apply for resources. I liappened, however, to 
 know her banker in London, and wrote to him 
 immediately ; in answer, he informed me that a 
 balance of forty pounds was all that remained in 
 his hands. 
 
 " I believe he cheated me, but I could not 
 help it. My spirits were not depressed at this 
 . news : I sold all the furniture ; paid the little 
 debts to the tradespeople, and with nine pounds 
 in my pocket, took my place in the Diligence, 
 and sat oiF for London, where I arrived without 
 accident. I read in the newspaper, at the inn, 
 that a provincial company was in want of a 
 young actress for genteel comedy. My mother's 
 original passion for the stage had never left her ; 
 and, during our stay in France, we often amused 
 ourselves with la petite cotnedie, in which I 
 always took a part. 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 2T9 
 
 " Without resources, I thought a precarious 
 mode of obtaining a livelihood was better than 
 a vicious one, and determined to try my fortune 
 on the stage ; so I ordered a hack, and drove to 
 the office indicated. I felt a degree of comfort, 
 when I discovered that my father was the adver- 
 tising manager, although I was certain he would 
 never recognize me. I was engaged by the 
 agent, the bargain was approved of, and in a day 
 or two after, was ordered to a country town, 
 some miles from the metropolis. 
 
 " I arrived ; my father did not know me, nor 
 did I wish that he should, as I did not intend 
 to remain long in the company. In short, I 
 aspired to the London boards ; but aware that 
 I wanted practice, without which it would have 
 been useless to have offered myself, I accepted 
 this situation without delay, and applied with 
 great assiduity to the study of my profession. 
 My father, I found, had married again ; and my 
 joining the company added nothing to liis 
 domestic harmony, my step-mother becoming 
 
280 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 immoderately jealous of me ; but I took good 
 care to keep my own secret, and never exposed 
 myself for one moment to any suspicion of my 
 character, which hitherto, thank Heaven, has 
 been pure, though I am exposed to a thousand 
 temptations, and beset by the actors, to become 
 the wife of one, or the mistress of another. 
 
 " Among those who proposed the latter, was 
 my honoured father, to whom, on that account, 
 I was one day on the point of revealing the 
 secret of my birth, as the only means of saving 
 myself from his importunities. He was, at last, 
 taken ill, and died, only three months ago, not 
 before I had completed my engagements, and 
 obtained an increased salary of one guinea and 
 a half per week. It is my intention to quit the 
 company at the expiration of my present term, 
 which will take place in two months, for I am 
 miserable here, although I am quite at a loss to 
 know what will be my future destination." 
 
 In return for her confidence, I imparted as 
 much of my history as I thought it necessary 
 

 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 281 
 
 for her to know. I became deeply fascinated 
 — I forgot Miss Somerville, and answered my 
 father's letter respectfully and kindly. He in- 
 formed me that he had procured my name to be 
 entered on the books of the guard-ship, at Spit- 
 head ; but, that I might gain time to loiter by 
 the side of Eugenia, I begged his permission to 
 join my ship without returning home, alleging 
 as a reason, that delav would soften down any 
 asperity of feeling occasioned by the late fracas. 
 This in his answer he agreed to, enclosing a 
 handsome remittance ; and the same post brought 
 a pressing invitation from Mr. Somerville to 
 
 come to Hall. 
 
 My little actress informed me that the com- 
 pany would set out in two days for the neigh- 
 bourhood of Portsmouth ; and, as I found they 
 would be more than a fortnight in travelling, I 
 determined to accept the invitation, and quit her 
 for the present. I had been more than a week 
 in her society. At parting, I professed my 
 admiration and love. Silence and a starting 
 
282 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 tear were her only acknowledgment. I saw 
 that she was not displeased ; and I left her with 
 joyful anticipations. 
 
 But what did I anticipate, as I rolled heed- 
 lessly along in the chaise to Hall ? Sen- 
 sual gratification at the expense of a poor 
 defenceless orphan, whose future life would be 
 clouded with misery. I could see my wicked- 
 ness, and moralize upon it ; but the devil was 
 triumphant within me, and I consoled myself 
 with the vulgar adage, " Needs must when 
 the devil drives." With this, I dismissed the 
 subject to think of Emily, whose residence was 
 now in sight. 
 
 I arrived at Hall, was kindly received 
 
 and welcomed by both father and daughter ; but 
 on this visit, I must not dwell. When I reflect 
 on it, I hate myself and human nature ! Could I 
 be trusted ? yet I inspired unbounded confi- 
 dence. AVas I not as vicious as one of my age 
 could be ? Yet I made them believe I was 
 almost perfection. Did I deserve to be happy ? 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 283 
 
 Yet I was so, and more so than I had ever been 
 before or ever have been since. I was hke the 
 serpent in Eden, though without his vile inten- 
 tions. Beauty and virtue united to keep my 
 passions in subjection. When they had nothing 
 to feed on, they concealed themselves in the 
 inmost recesses of my bosom. 
 
 Had I remained always with Emily, I should 
 have been reclaimed ; but vrhen I quitted her, 
 I lost all my good feelings and good resolutions ; 
 not, however, before the bright image of virtue 
 liad lighted up in my bosom a holy flame which 
 has never been entirely extinguished. Occa- 
 sionally dimmed, it has afterwards burnt up with 
 renewed brightness ; and, as a beacon-light, has 
 often guided me through perils that might 
 have overwhelmed mc. 
 
 Compelled at last to quit this earthly Para- 
 dise, I told her, at parting, that I loved her, 
 adored her ; and to prove that I was in earnest, 
 and that she believed me, I obtained a lock of 
 her hair. When I left Hall, it was my 
 
284 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 intention to have joined my ship, as I had agreed 
 with my father ; but the temptation to follow 
 up my success with the fair and unfortunate 
 Eugenia, was too strong to be resisted ; at least 
 I thought so, and therefore hardly made an 
 effort to conquer it. True, I did, pro forma, 
 make my appearance on board the guard-ship, 
 had my name entered on the books, that I might 
 not lose my time of servitude, and that I might 
 also deceive my father. All this being duly 
 accomplished, I obtained leave of absence from 
 the first-lieutenant, an old acquaintance, who, 
 in a ship crowded with supernumerary midship- 
 men, was but too happy in getting rid of me 
 and my chest. 
 
 I hastened to the rendezvous, and found the 
 company in full activity. Eugenia, when we 
 parted, expressed a wish that our acquaintance 
 might not be renewed. She feared for her own 
 character as well as mine, and very sensibly 
 and feelingly observed that my professional 
 prospects might be blasted ; but, having made up 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 285 
 
 my mind, I had an answer for all her objections. 
 I presented myself to the manager, and re- 
 quested to be admitted into the company. 
 
 Having taken this step, Eugenia saw that 
 my attachment was not to be overcome ; that I 
 was willing to make any sacrifice for her. I 
 was accepted ; my salary was fixed at one 
 guinea per week, with seven shillings extra for 
 playing the flute. I was indebted for my ready 
 admission into this society to my voice : the 
 manager wanted a first singer. My talent in 
 this science was much admired. I signed my 
 agreement the same evening for two months ; 
 and, being presented in due form to my brethren 
 of the buskin, joined the supper-table, where 
 there was more of abundance than of delicacies. 
 I sat by Eugenia, whose decided preference 
 for me excited the jealousy of my new asso- 
 ciates. I measured them all with my eye, 
 and calculated that, with fair play, I was the 
 best man among them. 
 
 The play-bills announced the tragedy of 
 
286 THE KAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 Romeo and Juliet. I was to be the hero, 
 and four days were allowed me to prepare 
 myself. The whole of that time was passed in 
 the company of Eugenia, who, while she gave 
 me unequivocal proofs of attachment, admitted 
 of no freedom. The day of rehearsal arrived, 
 I was found perfect, and loudly applauded by 
 the company. Six o'clock came, the curtain 
 rose, and sixteen tallow candles displayed my 
 person to an audience of about one hundred 
 people. 
 
 No one who has not been in the situation 
 can form any idea of the nervous feeling of a 
 debutant on such an occasion. The troop, with 
 the exception of Eugenia, was of a description 
 of persons whom I despise, and the audience 
 mostly clodhoppers who could scarcely read or 
 write ; yet I was abashed, and acquitted myself 
 badly, until the balcony scene, when I became 
 enlivened and invigorated by the presence and 
 smiles of my mistress. In the art of love- 
 making I was at home, particularly with the 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICEK. 287 
 
 Juliet of that night. I entered at once into 
 the spirit of the great dramatist, and the cur- 
 tain dropped amidst thunders of applause. 
 My name was announced for a repetition of the 
 play, and I was dragged forward before the 
 curtain, to thank the grocers, tallow-chandlers, 
 cheesemongers, and ploughmen for the great 
 honour they had done me. Heavens ! how I 
 felt the degradation ; but it was too late. 
 
 The natural result of this constant intercourse 
 with Eugenia, may easily be anticipated. I do 
 not attempt to extenuate my fault — it was inex- 
 cusable, and has brought its punishment ; but 
 for poor, forlorn Eugenia I plead; her virtue 
 fell before my importunity and my personal 
 appearance. She fell a victim to those unhappy 
 circumstances of v/hich I basely took the advan- 
 tage. 
 
 Two months I had lived with her, as man 
 and wife ; I forgot my family, profession, and 
 even Emily. I was now upon the ship^s books ; 
 and though no one knew anything of me, my 
 
288 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 father was ignorant of my absence from my 
 ship — everything was sacrificed to Eugenia. I 
 acted with her, strolled the fields, and vowed 
 volumes of stuff about constancy. When we 
 played, we filled the house ; and some of the 
 more respectable townspeople offered to intro- 
 duce us to the London boards, but this we 
 both declined. "We cared for nothing but the 
 society of each other. 
 
 And now that time has cooled the youthful 
 ardour that carried me away, let me do justice 
 to this unfortunate girl. She was the most 
 natural, unaffected, and gifted person I ever 
 met with. Boundless wit, enchanting liveliness, 
 a strong mind, and self-devotion towards me, 
 the first, and, I firmly believe, the only object 
 she ever loved ; and her love for me ceased only 
 with her life. Her faults, though not to be 
 defended, may be palliated and deplored, be- 
 cause they were the defects of education. Her 
 infant days were passed in scenes of domestic 
 strife, profligacy, and penury ; her maturer 
 
THE XAVAT. OIFICER. 289 
 
 years, under the guidance of a ^veak mother, 
 were employed in polishing, not strengthening, 
 the edifice of her understanding, and the exter- 
 nal ornaments only served to accelerate the fall 
 of the fabric, and to increase the calamity. 
 
 Bred up in France, and almost in the fervour 
 of the Revolution, she had imbibed some of its 
 libertine opinions ; among others, that marriage 
 was a civil contract, and if entered into at all, 
 might be broken at the pleasure of either party. 
 This idea was strengthened and confirmed in 
 her by the instances she had seen of matrimonial 
 discord, particularly in her own family. When 
 two people, who fancied they loved, had bound 
 themselves bv"^an indissoluble knot, thev felt 
 from that time the irksomeness of restraint, 
 which they would never have felt if they had 
 possessed the power of separation ; and would 
 have lived happily together, if they had not 
 been compelled to do it. " How long you, my 
 dear Frank,'' said Eugenia to me ore dav, 
 " may continue to love me, I know not ; but 
 
 VOL. I. o 
 
290 THE KAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 the moment you cease to love me, it were better 
 that we parted." 
 
 These were certainly the sentiments of an 
 enthusiast ; but Eugenia lived long enough to 
 acknowledge her error, and to bewail its fatal 
 effects on her peace of mind. 
 
 1 w^as awoke from this dream of happiness, by 
 a curious incident. I thought it disastrous at 
 the time, but am now convinced that it w^as 
 fraught with good, since it brought me back to 
 my profession, recalled me to a sense of duty, 
 and shewed me the full extent of my disgraceful 
 situation. My father, it appears, was still igno- 
 rant of my absence from my ship, and had come 
 down, without my knowledge, on a visit to a 
 friend in the neio'hbourhood. Hearing; of the 
 '•' interesting young man'' who had acquired so 
 much credit in the character of Apollo, as well 
 as of Romeo, he was persuaded to see the per- 
 formance. 
 
 I was in the act of singing " Pray Goody ,^' 
 when my eyes suddenly met those of my papa, 
 who was staring like the head of Gorgon : and 
 
THE XAVAL OFFICER, 291 
 
 though his gaze did not turn me to stone, it 
 turned rae sick. I was stupified, forgot my 
 part, ran off, and left the manager and the music 
 to make the best of it. My father, who could 
 hardly believe his eyes, was convinced when he 
 saw my confusion. I ran into the dressing-room, 
 where, before I had time to divest myself of 
 Apollo's crown and petticoat, I was accosted by 
 my enraged parent, and it is quite impossible for 
 me to describe (taking my costume into conside- 
 ration) how very much like a fool I looked. 
 
 My father sternly demanded how long I had 
 been thus honourably employed. This was a 
 question which I had anticipated, and, there- 
 fore, very readily replied, '' only two or three 
 days ;'*" that I had left Portsmouth for what we 
 called " a lark," and I thought it very amus- 
 ing. 
 
 '• Very amusing, indeed, Sir," said my father ; 
 " and pray, may I venture to inquire, without 
 the fear of having a lie told me, how long this 
 ' Lark,' as you call it, is to continue .'•'' 
 
592 THE XAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 "Oh, to-morrow," said I, "my leave ex- 
 pires, and then I must return to my ship." 
 
 " Allow me the honour of keeping your com- 
 pany," said my father ; " and I shall beg your 
 captain to impose some little restraint as to time 
 and distance on your future excursions." 
 
 Then rising in his tone, he added, " I am 
 ashamed of you, Sir ; the son of a gentleman is 
 not likely to reap any advantage from the society 
 of strolling vagabonds and prostitutes. I had 
 reason to think, by your last letters from Ports- 
 mouth, that you were very differently employed." 
 
 To this very sensible and parental reproof 
 I answered, with a demure and innocent coun- 
 tenance (for I soon regained my presence of 
 mind) that I did not think there had been any 
 harm in doing that which most of the officers of 
 die navy did at one time or another (an asser- 
 tion, by-the-by, much too general) ; that we often 
 got up plays on board of ship, and that I wanted 
 to practice. 
 
 " Practice, then with vour equals," said my 
 
THE XAVAL OFFICER. 293 
 
 father, " not in company with rogues and street- 
 walkers." 
 
 I felt that the latter name was meant for Eu- 
 genia, and was very indignant ; but fortunately 
 kept all my anger within board; and, knowing I 
 was " all in the wrong," allowed my father to fire 
 away without returning a shot. He concluded his 
 lecture by commanding me to call upon him the 
 next morning, at ten o'clock, and left me to 
 change my dress, and to regain my good-humour. 
 I need not add that 1 did not return to the 
 stage that night, but left the manager to make 
 his peace with the audience in any way he 
 thought proper. 
 
 When I informed Eugenia of the evening's 
 adventurCj she was inconsolable : to comfort 
 her, I offered to give up my family and my 
 profession, and live with her. At these words, 
 Eugenia suddenly recollected herself. " Frank,'' 
 said she, " all that has happened is right. We 
 are both wrong. I felt that I was too happy, 
 and shut my eyes to the danger I dared not face. 
 
294 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 Your father is a man of sense ; his object is to 
 reclaim you from inevitable ruin. As for me, 
 if he knew of our connexion, he could only 
 despise me. He sees his son li\dng with strolling 
 players ; and it is his duty to cut the chain, no 
 matter by what means. You have an honourable 
 and distinguished career marked out for you ; I 
 will never be an obstacle to your father's just 
 ambition or your prosperity. 1 did hope for a 
 happier destiny ; but love blinded my eyes : 1 
 am now undeceived. If your father cannot 
 respect me, he shall at least admire the resolu- 
 tion of the unhappy Eugenia. I have tenderly 
 loved you, my dearest Frank, and never have 
 loved any other, nor ever shall; but part we 
 must : Heaven only knows for how long a time. 
 I am ready to make every sacrifice to your fame 
 and character — the only proof I can give of 
 my unbounded love for you." 
 
 I embraced her as she uttered these words ; 
 and we spent a great part of the night in making 
 preparations for my departure, arrangements 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. f^lQS 
 
 for our future correspondence, and, if possible, 
 for our future meetings. T left her early on the 
 following morning ; and with a heavy, I had 
 almost said a broken heart, appeared before my 
 father. He was, no doubt, aware of my attach- 
 ment and the violence of my passions, and pru- 
 dendy endeavoured to soothe them. Pie received 
 me affectionately, did not renew the subject 
 of the preceding night, and we became very 
 good friends. 
 
 In tearing myself away from Eugenia, I found 
 the truth of the French adage, " Ce rt'est que la 
 premiere pas qui coute ;'^ my heart grew hghter 
 as I increased my distance from her. My 
 father, to detach my mind still more from the 
 unfortunate subject, spoke much of family 
 affairs, of my brothers and sisters, and lastly 
 named Mr. Somerville and Emily : here he 
 touched on the right chord. The remembrance 
 of Emily revived the expiring embers of virtue, 
 and the recollection of the pure and perfect 
 mistress of Hall, for a time, dismissed the 
 
296 THE NAVAL OFFICER. 
 
 unhappy Eugenia from ray mind. I told my 
 father that I would engage never to disgrace 
 him or myself any more, if he would promise 
 not to name my late folly to Mr. Somerville or 
 his daughter. 
 
 *' That," said my father, " I promise most 
 readily ; and with the greater pleasure, since I 
 see, in your request, the strongest proof of the 
 sense of vour error." 
 
 This conversation passed on our road to 
 Portsmouth, where we had no sooner arrived 
 than my father, who w^as acquainted with the 
 port-admiral, left me at the " George," while 
 he crossed the street to call on him. The 
 result of this interview was, that I should be 
 sent out immediately in some sea-going ship 
 with a " tight captain." 
 
 There was one of this description just about 
 to sail for Basque Roads ; and, at the admiral's 
 particular request, I was received on board as 
 a supernumerary, there being no vacancies in 
 the ship. My father, who by this time was 
 
THE NAVAL OFFICER. 297 
 
 wide awake to all my wiles, saw me on board ; 
 and then flattering himself that I was in safe 
 custody, took his leave and returned to the 
 shore. I very soon found that I was under an 
 embargo, and was not on any account to be 
 allowed leave of absence. 
 
 This was pretty nearly what I expected ; but 
 I had my own resources. I had now learned 
 to laugh at trifles, and I cared little about 
 this decided step which his prudence induced 
 him to take. 
 
 EXD OF VOL. I. 
 
 LONDON; 
 
 ftHACKELL AND BA\LIS, JOHNSON's-COUET, FLEET-STUEP.T.