Newton Forster

by Frederick Marryat

  Chapter XXXI

  "Poor, short-lived things! what plans we lay! Ah! why forsake our native home, To distant climates speed away, For self sticks close, where'er we roam.

  "Care follows hard, and soon o'ertakes The well-rigg'd ship; the warlike steed Her destin'd quarry ne'er forsakes: Nor the wind flees with half the speed."

  COWPER.

  Newton, who had made every preparation, as soon as he had taken leave ofhis uncle, hastened to join his ship, which still remained at Gravesend,waiting for the despatches to be closed by the twenty-four leaden headspresiding at Leadenhall Street. The passengers, with the exception of two,a Scotch Presbyterian divine and his wife, were still on shore, dividedamongst the inns of the town, unwilling until the last moment to quit_terra firma_ for so many months of sky and water, daily receiving a visitfrom the captain of the ship, who paid his respects to them all round,imparting any little intelligence he might have received as to the probabletime of his departure.

  When Newton arrived on board, he was received by the first mate, a rough,good-humoured, and intelligent man, about forty years of age, to whom hehad already been introduced by the captain on his previous appearance withthe letter from the director.

  "Well, Mr Forster, you're in very good time. As in all probability we shallbe shipmates for a voyage or two, I trust that we shall be good friends.Now for your _traps_:" then, turning round, he addressed, in theHindostanee language, two or three Lascars (fine, olive-coloured men, withblack curling bushy hair), who immediately proceeded to hoist in theluggage.

  The first mate, with an "excuse me a moment," went forward to give somedirections to the English seamen, leaving Forster to look about him. Whathe observed, we shall describe for the benefit of our readers.

  The Indiaman was a twelve-hundred-ton ship, as large as one of the smallclass seventy-four in the king's service, strongly built, with loftybulwarks, and pierced on the upper deck for eighteen guns, which weremounted on the quarter-deck and forecastle. Abaft, a poop, higher than thebulwarks, extended forward, between thirty and forty feet, under which wasthe cuddy or dining-room, and state-cabins, appropriated to passengers. Thepoop, upon which you ascended by ladders on each side, was crowded withlong ranges of coops, tenanted by every variety of domestic fowl, awaiting,in happy unconsciousness, the day when they should be required to supplythe luxurious table provided by the captain. In some, turkeys stretchedforth their long necks, and tapped the decks as they picked up some ant whocrossed it, in his industry. In others, the crowing of cocks and calling ofthe hens were incessant: or the geese, ranged up rank and file, waited butthe signal from one of the party to raise up a simultaneous clamour, whichas suddenly was remitted. Coop answered coop, in variety of discord, whilethe poulterer walked round and round to supply the wants of so manyhundreds committed to his charge.

  The booms before the main-mast were occupied by the large boats, which hadbeen hoisted in preparatory to the voyage. They also composed a portion ofthe farmyard. The launch contained about fifty sheep, wedged together soclose that it was with difficulty they could find room to twist their jawsround, as they chewed the cud. The stern-sheets of the barge and yawl werefilled with goats and two calves, who were the first-destined victims tothe butcher's knife; while the remainder of their space was occupied by hayand other provender, pressed down by powerful machinery into the smallestcompass. The occasional ba-aing and bleating on the booms were answered bythe lowing of three milch-cows between the hatchways of the deck below;where also were to be descried a few more coops, containing fowls andrabbits. The manger forward had been dedicated to the pigs; but, as thecables were not yet unbent or bucklers shipped, they at present wereconfined by gratings between the main-deck guns, where they grunted at eachpasser-by, as if to ask for food.

  The boats hoisted up on the quarters, and the guys of the davits, to whichthey were suspended, formed the kitchen-gardens, from which the passengerswere to be supplied, and were loaded with bags containing onions, potatoes,turnips, carrots, beets, and cabbages, the latter, in their full roundproportions, hanging in a row upon the guys, like strings of heads, whichhad been demanded in the wrath or the caprice of some despot of Mahomet'screed.

  Forster descended the ladder to the main-deck, which he found equallyencumbered with cabins for the passengers, trunks and bedding belonging tothem, and many other articles which had not yet found their way into thehold, the hatches of which were open, and in which lanterns in everydirection partially dispelled the gloom, and offered to his view a confusedoutline of bales and packages. Carpenters sawing deals, sailmakers ropingthe foot of an old mainsail, servants passing to and fro with dishes,Lascars jabbering in their own language, British seamen d-----g their eyes,as usual, in plain English, gave an idea of confusion and want of method toNewton Forster, which, in a short time, he acknowledged himself to havebeen premature in having conceived. Where you have to provide for such anumber, to separate the luggage of so many parties, from the heavy chest tothe fragile bandbox, to take in cargo, and prepare for sea, all at the sametime, there must be apparently confusion. In a few days everything findsits place; and, what is of more consequence, is itself to be found as soonas it may be required.

  According to the regulations on board of East India ships, Forster messedbelow with the junior mates, midshipmen, surgeon's assistant, &c.: thefirst and second mates only having the privilege of constantly appearing atthe captain's table, while the others receive but an occasional invitation.Forster soon became on intimate terms with his shipmates. As they will,however, appear upon the stage when required to perform their parts, weshall at present confine ourselves to a description of the captain and thepassengers.

  Captain Drawlock was a man of about fifty years of age. Report said that inhis youth he had been wild; and some of his contemporary commanders in theservice were wont to plague him by narrating divers freaks of former days,the recollection of which would create anything but a smile upon his face.Whether report and the other captains were correct or not in theirassertions, Captain Drawlock was in appearance quite a different characterat the time we introduce him. He was of sedate aspect, seldom smiled, andappeared to be wrapt up in the importance of the trust confided to him,particularly with respect to the young women who were sent out under hisprotection. He talked much of his responsibility, and divided the whole ofhis time between his chronometers and his young ladies; in both of which atrifling error was a source of irritation. Upon any deviation on the partof either, the first were rated carefully, the latter were _rated soundly_;considering the safety of the ship to be endangered on the one hand, andthe character of his ship to be equally at stake on the other.' It wasmaliciously observed that the latter were by far the more erratic of thetwo; and, still more maliciously, that the austere behaviour on the part ofCaptain Drawlock was all pretence; that he was as susceptible as theyoungest officer in the ship; and that the women found it out long beforethe voyage was completed.

  It has been previously mentioned that all the passengers were on shore,except two, a Presbyterian divine and his wife, the expenses attendingwhose passage out were provided for by a subscription which had been put onfoot by some of the serious people of Glasgow, who prayed fervently, andenlivened their devotions with most excellent punch. The worthy clergyman(for worthy he was) thought of little else but his calling, and was asincere, enthusiastic man, who was not to be checked by any considerationin what he considered to be his duty; but although he rebuked, he rebukedmildly, and never lost his temper. Stern in his creed, which allowed noloophole by which the offender might escape, still there was a kindness andeven a humility in his expostulation, which caused his zeal never tooffend, and often to create serious reflection. His wife was a tall,handsome woman, who evidently had usurped an ascendency over her husband inall points unconnected with his calling. She, too, was devout; but hers wasnot the true religion, for it had not charity for its basis. She was cleverand severe; spoke seldom; but the few words which escaped from
her lipswere sarcastic in their tendency.

  The passengers who still remained on shore were numerous. There was an oldcolonel, returning from a three years' furlough, the major part of whichhad been spent at Cheltenham. He was an Adonis of sixty, with yellow cheeksand white teeth; a man who had passed through life doing nothing; had risenin his profession without having seen service, except on one occasion, andof that circumstance he made the most. With a good constitution and happytemperament, constantly in society, and constantly in requisition, he hadgrown old without being aware of it, and considered himself as much anobject of interest with the other sex as he was formerly when a gay captainof five-and-twenty, with good prospects. Amusing, and easily amused, he hadturned over the pages of the novel of life so uninterruptedly, that he hadnearly arrived at the last page without being conscious that the finis wasat hand.

  Then there were two cadets from the college, full of themselves and theirown consequence, fitted out with plenty of money and plenty of advice, bothof which were destined to be thrown away. There was also a young writer,who talked of his mother, Lady Elizabeth, and other high relations, who haddespatched him to India, that he might be provided for by a cholera morbusor a lucrative post; a matter of perfect indifference to those who had senthim from England. Then, let me see,--oh! there were two officers of aregiment at St Helena, with tongues much longer than their purses; who, inthe forepart of the day, condescended to talk nonsense to the fairer of theother sex, and, in the evening, to win a few pounds from the weaker oftheir own.

  But all these were nobodies in the eyes of Captain Drawlock; they were apart of his cargo, for which he was not responsible. The important part ofhis consignment were four unmarried women; three of them were young,good-looking, and poor; the other ill-favoured, old, but rich.

  We must give precedence to wealth and age. The lady last mentioned was aMiss Tavistock, born and educated in the city, where her father had longbeen at the head of the well-established firm of Tavistock, Bottlecock &Co., Dyers, Calenderers, and Scourers. As we before observed, she was thefortunate sole heiress to her father's accumulation, which might amount tonearly thirty thousand pounds; but had been little gifted by nature. Infact, she was what you may style most preposterously ugly; her figure waslarge and masculine; her hair red; and her face very deeply indented withthe small-pox. As a man, she would have been considered the essence ofvulgarity; as a woman, she was the quintessence: so much so, that she hadarrived at the age of thirty-six without having, notwithstanding herproperty, received any attentions which could be construed into an offer.As we always seek most eagerly that which we find most difficult to obtain,she was possessed with _une fureur de se marier_; and, as a last resource,had resolved to go out to India, where she had been informed that "anythingwhite" was acceptable. This _passion_ for matrimony (for with her it had sobecome, if not a disease) occupied her whole thoughts; but she attempted toveil them by always pretending to be extremely sensitive and refined; to beshocked at anything which had the slightest allusion to the "increase andmultiply;" and constantly lamented the extreme fragility of herconstitution; to which her athletic bony frame gave so determined a lie,that her hearers were struck dumb with the barefaced assertion. MissTavistock had kept up a correspondence with an old schoolmate, who had beentaken away early to join her friends in India, and had there married. Asher hopes of matrimony dwindled away, so did her affection for her oldfriend appear, by her letters, to increase. At last, in answer to a letter,in which she declared that she would like to come out, and (as she had longmade a resolution to continue single) adopt one of her friend's children,and pass her days with them, she received an answer, stating how happy theywould be to receive her, and personally renew the old friendship, if indeedshe could be persuaded to venture upon so long and venturous a passage.Whether this answer was sincere or not, Miss Tavistock took advantage ofthe invitation; and writing to intimate her speedy arrival, took herpassage in the _Bombay Castle_.

  The other three spinsters were sisters: Charlotte, Laura, and Isabel Revel,daughters of the Honourable Mr Revel, a _roue_ of excellent family, who hadmarried for money, and had dissipated all his wife's fortune except themarriage settlement of L600 per annum. Their mother was a selfish,short-sighted, manoeuvring woman, whose great anxiety was to formestablishments for her daughters, or, in other terms, remove the expense oftheir maintenance from her own to the shoulders of other people, veryindifferent whether the change might contribute to their happiness or not.Mr Revel may be said to have long deserted his family; he lived nobody knewwhere, and seldom called, unless it was to "raise the wind" upon his wife,who by entreaties and threats was necessitated to purchase his absence by asacrifice of more than half her income. Of his daughters he took littlenotice, when he _did_ make his appearance; and if so, it was generally interms more calculated to raise the blush of indignant modesty than tostimulate the natural feelings of affection of a daughter towards a parent.Their mother, whose income was not sufficient to meet the demands of aworthless husband, in addition to the necessary expenses attendant on threegrown-up women, was unceasing in her attempts to get them off her hands:but we will introduce a conversation which took place between her and asedate-looking, powdered old gentleman, who had long been considered as a"friend of the family," as thereby more light will perhaps be thrown uponher character.

  "The fact is, my dear Mr Heaviside, that I hardly know what to do. MrRevel, who is very intimate with the theatre people, proposed that theyshould try their fortune on the stage. He says (and indeed there is sometruth in it) that nowadays, the best plan for a man to make himself popularis to be sent to Newgate; and the best chance that a girl has of a coronet,is to become an actress. Well, I did not much like the idea; but at last Iconsented. Isabel, my youngest, is, you know, very handsome in her person,and sings remarkably well, and we arranged that she should go on first;and, if she succeeded, that her sister Charlotte should follow her; butIsabel is of a very obstinate disposition, and when we proposed it to her,she peremptorily refused, and declared that she would go out as agoverness, or anything, rather than consent. I tried what coaxing would do,and her father tried threatening; but all was in vain. This was about ayear ago, and she is now only seventeen; but she ever was a most decided, amost obstinate character."

  "Very undutiful, indeed, ma'am; she might have been a duchess beforethis:--a very foolish girl, indeed, ma'am," observed the gentleman.

  "Well, Mr Heaviside, we then thought that Charlotte, our eldest, had thenext best chance of success. Although not by any means so good-looking asher sister; indeed, to tell you the truth, Mr Heaviside, which I would notdo to everybody, but I know that you can keep a secret, Charlotte is nownearly thirty years old, and her sister, Laura, only one year younger."

  "Is it possible, madam!" replied Mr Heaviside, looking at the lady withwell-feigned astonishment.

  "Yes, indeed," replied the lady, who had forgotten that in telling herdaughters' secrets, she had let out her own. "But I was married so young,so very young, that I am almost ashamed to think of it. Well Mr Heaviside,as I was saying, although not so good-looking as her sister, Mr Revel, whois a good judge in these matters, declared that by the theatre lightsCharlotte would be reckoned a very fine woman. We proposed it to her, and,after a little pouting, she consented. The only difficulty was whether sheshould attempt tragedy or comedy. Her features were considered rather toosharp for comedy, and her figure not quite tall enough for tragedy. Sheherself preferred tragedy, which decided the point; and Mr Revel, who knowsall the actors, persuaded Mr Y---- (you know who I mean, the great tragicactor) to come here, and give his opinion of her recitation. Mr Y---- wasexcessively polite; declared that she was a young lady of great talent, butthat a slight lisp, which she has, unfitted her most decidedly for tragedy.Of course, it was abandoned for comedy, which she studied some time, andwhen we considered her competent, Mr Revel had interest enough to inducethe great Mr M---- to come and give his opinion. Charlotte performed herpart, as I thought, remark
ably well, and when she had finished she left theroom, that Mr M---- might not be checked by her presence from giving me hisunbiased opinion."

  "Which was favourable, ma'am, I presume; for, if not fitted for the one,she naturally must have been fit for the other."

  "So I thought," replied the lady, to this polite _non sequitur_ of thegentleman. "But Mr M---- is a very odd man, and if I must say it, not verypolite. What do you think, Mr Heaviside, as soon as she left the room herose from his chair, and, twisting up the corner of his mouth, as he lookedme in the face, he said, 'Madam, it is my opinion that your daughter'scomedy, whenever she makes her appearance on the boards, will, to use aYankee expression, _be most particularly damned_! I wish you a very goodmorning.'"

  "Very rude, indeed, madam; most excessively unpolite of Mr M----. I shouldnot have thought it possible."

  "Well, Mr Heaviside, as for Laura, poor thing! you are aware that she isnot quite so clever as she might be; she never had any memory: when achild, she never could recollect the evening hymn if she missed it twonights running; so that acting was out of the question with her. So thatall my hopes of their forming a splendid establishment by that channel havevanished. Now, my dear Mr Heaviside, what would you propose?"

  "Why, really, ma'am, it is so difficult to advise in these times; but, ifanxious to dispose of your daughters, why not send them out to India?"

  "We have thought of it several times; for Mr Revel has an uncle thereunmarried, and they say very rich. He is a colonel in the Bombay marine, Ibelieve."

  "More probably in the Bengal army, ma'am."

  "Well, I believe you are right; but I know it's in the Company's service.But the old gentleman hates my husband, and will not have anything to sayto him. I did write a very civil letter to him, in which I just hinted howglad one or two of my daughters would be to take care of his house, but henever condescended to give me an answer. I am told that he is a veryunpleasant man."

  "A difficult thing to advise, ma'am, very difficult indeed! but I can tellyou a circumstance which occurred about five years ago, when a similarapplication to a relative in India was made by a friend of mine. It was nomore attended to than yours has been. Nevertheless, as it was supposed thatthe answer had miscarried, the young lady was sent out to her relative witha decent equipment, and a letter of introduction. Her relation was verymuch surprised: but what could he do? he could not permit the young lady toremain without a roof over her head, so he received her, and as he did notlike to say how he had been treated, he held his tongue. The young lady, inthe course of three months, made a very good match; and is, to myknowledge, constantly sending home India shawls and other handsome presentsto her mother."

  "Indeed, Mr Heaviside, then do you advise--"

  "It is difficult, extremely difficult to advise upon so nice a point. Ionly state the fact, my dear madam: I should think the colonel must feelthe want of female society; but, God bless me! it's nearly two o'clock.Good morning, my dear Mrs Revel--good morning."

  "Good morning, my dear Mr Heaviside; it's very kind of you to call in thissociable way and chat an hour or two. Good morning."

  The result of the above conversation was a consultation between Mr Reveland his wife upon their first meeting. Mr Revel was delighted with theplan, not so much caring at the disposal of his daughters as he was pleasedwith the idea of annoying his uncle, from whom he, at one time, had greatexpectations; but, as it was necessary to be circumspect, especially withIsabel, Mr Revel took the opportunity of a subsequent visit to state thathe had received a letter from his uncle in India, wishing one of hisdaughters to go out and live with him. In a few months he read anotherletter (composed by himself, and copied in another hand), earnestlydesiring that they might all come out to him, as it would be much to theiradvantage. The reluctance of the two eldest was removed by pointing out themagnificent establishments they might secure: the consent of Isabel by astatement of difficulty and debt on the part of her parents, which wouldend in beggary if not relieved from the burden of their support.

  By insuring her life, a sum of money sufficient for their outfit andpassage was raised on Mrs Revel's marriage settlement; and the three MissRevels were thus shipped off by their affectionate parents, as a "venture,"in the _Bombay Castle._