CHAPTER X.
"How pleasant and how sad the turning tide Of human life, when side by side The child and youth begin to glide Along the vale of years: The pure twin-being for a little space, With lightsome heart, and yet a graver face. Too young for woe, though not for tears." ALLSTON.
With what interest and deference most Americans of any educationregarded England, her history, laws and institutions, in 1799! Therewere a few exceptions--warm political partisans, and here and therean individual whose feelings had become embittered by some particularincident of the revolution--but surprisingly few, when it is recollectedthat the country was only fifteen years from the peace. I question ifthere ever existed another instance of as strong provincial admirationfor the capital, as independent America manifested for the mothercountry, in spite of a thousand just grievances, down to the periodof the war of 1812. I was no exception to the rule, nor was Talcott.Neither of us had ever seen England before we made the Lizard onthis voyage, except through our minds' eyes; and these had presentedquantities of beauties and excellencies that certainly vanished on anearer approach. By this I merely mean that we had painted in too highcolours, as is apt to be the case when the imagination holds the pencil;not that there was any unusual absence of things worthy to be commended.On the contrary, even at this late, hour, I consider England as amodel for a thousand advantages, even to our own inappreciable selves.Nevertheless, much delusion was blended with our admiration.
English history was virtually American history; and everything on theland, as we made our way towards town, which the pilot could point out,was a source of amusement and delight. We had to tide it up to London,and had plenty of leisure to see all there was to be seen. The Thames isneither a handsome, nor a very magnificent river; but it was amazing towitness the number of vessels that then ascended or descended it.There was scarce a sort of craft known to Christendom, a few of theMediterranean excepted, that was not to be seen there; and as for thecolliers, we drifted through a forest of them that seemed large enoughto keep the town a twelvemonth in fire-wood, by simply burning theirspars. The manner in which the pilot handled our brig, too, among thethousand ships that lay in tiers on each side of the narrow passage wehad to thread, was perfectly surprising to me; resembling the managementof a coachman in a crowded thoroughfare, more than the ordinary workingof a ship. I can safely say I learned more in the Thames, in the way ofkeeping a vessel in command, and in doing what I pleased with her,than in the whole of my voyage to Canton and back again. As for Neb,he rolled his dark eyes about in wonder, and took an occasion to say tome--"He'll make her talk, Masser Miles, afore he have done." I makeno doubt the navigation from the Forelands to the bridges, as it wasconducted thirty years since, had a great influence on the seamanship ofthe English. Steamers are doing away with much of this practice, thoughthe colliers still have to rely on themselves. Coals will scarcely payfor tugging.
I had been directed by Captain Williams to deliver the brig to heroriginal consignee, an American merchant established in the modernBabylon, reserving the usual claim for salvage. This I did, and thatgentleman sent hands on board to take charge of the vessel, relieving meentirely from all farther responsibility. As the captain in his letterhad, inadvertently I trust, mentioned that he had put "Mr. Wallingford,his _third_ mate," in charge, I got no invitation to dinner from theconsignee; though the affair of the capture under Dungeness found itsway into the papers, _via_ Deal, I have always thought, with theusual caption of "Yankee Trick." Yankee trick! This phrase, so oftencarelessly used, has probably done a great deal of harm in this country.The young and ambitious--there are all sorts of ambition, and, amongothers, that of being a rogue; as a proof of which, one daily hearspeople call envy, jealousy, covetousness, avarice, and half of themeaner vices, ambition--the young and _ambitious_, then, of thiscountry, too often think to do a _good_ thing, that shall have some ofthe peculiar merit of a certain other good thing that they have heardlaughed at and applauded, under this designation. I can account in noother manner for the great and increasing number of "Yankee tricks" thatare of daily occurrence among us. Among other improvements in taste,not to say in morals, that might be introduced into the American press,would be the omission of the histories of these rare inventions. Astwo-thirds of the editors of the whole country, however, are Yankees,I suppose they must be permitted to go on exulting in the clevernessof their race. We are indebted to the Puritan stock for most of ourinstructors--editors and school-masters--and when one coolly regards theprodigious progress of the people in morals, public and private virtue,honesty, and other estimable qualities, he must indeed rejoice in thefact that our masters so early discovered "a church without a bishop."
I had an opportunity, while in London, however, of ascertaining thatthe land of our fathers, which by the way has archbishops, containssomething besides an unalloyed virtue in its bosom. At Gravesend we tookon board _two_ customhouse officers, (they always set a rogue to watcha rogue, in the English revenue system,) and they remained in thebrig until she was discharged. One of these men had been a gentleman'sservant, and he owed his place to his former master's interest. He was amiracle of custom-house integrity and disinterestedness, as I discoveredin the first hour of our intercourse. Perceiving a lad of eighteen incharge of the prize, and ignorant that this lad had read a good deal ofLatin and Greek under excellent Mr. Hardinge, besides being the heirof Clawbonny, I suppose he fancied he would have an easy time with him.This man's name was Sweeney. Perceiving in me an eager desire to seeeverything, the brig was no sooner at her moorings, than he proposed acruise ashore. It was Sweeney who showed me the way to the consignee's,and, that business accomplished, he proposed that we should proceed onand take a look at St. Paul's, the Monument, and, as he gradually foundmy tastes more intellectual than he had at first supposed, thewonders of the West End. I was nearly a week under the pilotage of the"Admirable Sweeney." After showing me the exteriors of all the things ofmark about the town, and the interiors of a few that I was disposed topay for, he descended in his tastes, and carried me through Wapping, itspurlieus and its scenes of atrocities. I have always thought Sweeney wassounding me, and hoping to ascertain my true character, by the course hetook; and that he betrayed his motives in a proposition which he finallymade, and which brought our intimacy to a sudden close. The result,however, was to let me into secrets I should probably have never learnedin any other manner. Still, I had read and heard too much to be easilyduped; and I kept myself not only out of the power of my tempter, butout of the power of all that could injure me, remaining simply a curiousobserver of what was placed before my eyes. Good Mr. Hardinge's lessonswere not wholly forgotten; I could run away from him, much easier thanfrom his precepts.
I shall never forget a visit I made to a house called the Black Horse,in St. Catherine's Lane. This last was a narrow street that ran acrossthe site of the docks that now bear the same name; and it was the resortof all the local infamy of Wapping. I say _local_ infamy; for there wereportions of the West End that were even worse than anything which a mereport could produce. Commerce, that parent of so much that is useful toman, has its dark side as everything else of earth; and, among its otherevils, it drags after it a long train of low vice; but this trainis neither so long nor so broad as that which is chained to thechariot-wheels of the great. Appearances excepted, and they are far lessthan might be expected, I think the West End could beat Wapping outand out, in every essential vice; and, if St. Giles be taken into theaccount, I know of no salvo in favour of the land over the sea.
Our visit to the Black Horse was paid of a Sunday, that being theleisure moment of all classes of labourers, and the day when, beingattired in their best, they fancied themselves best prepared to appearin the world. I will here remark, that I have never been in any portionof Christendom that keeps the Sabbath precisely as it is kept inAmerica. In all other countries, even the most rigorously severe intheir practices, it is kept as a day of recreation and rest, as well asof public devotion. Even in the A
merican towns, the old observances aregiving way before the longings or weaknesses of human nature; and Sundayis no longer what it was. I have witnessed scenes of brawling, blasphemyand rude tumult, in the suburbs of New York, on Sundays, within thelast few years, that I have never seen in any other part of the worldon similar occasions; and serious doubts of the expediency of thehigh-pressure principle have beset me, whatever may be the justconstructions of doctrine. With the last I pretend not to meddle; but,in a worldly point of view, it would seem wise, if you cannot make menall that they ought to be, to aim at such social regulations as shallmake them as little vile as possible. But, to return to the Black Horsein St. Catherine's Lane--a place whose very name was associated withvileness.
It is unnecessary to speak of the characters of its female visiters.Most of them were young, many of them were still blooming and handsome,but all of them were abandoned. "I need tell you nothing of thesegirls," said Sweeney, who was a bit of a philosopher in his way,ordering a pot of beer, and motioning me to take a seat at a vacanttable--"but, as for the men you see here, half are house-breakers andpickpockets, come to pass the day genteelly among you gentlemen-sailors.There are two or three faces here that I have seen at the Old Bailey,myself; and how they have remained in the country, is more than I cantell you. You perceive these fellows are just as much at their ease, andthe landlord who receives and entertains them is just as much at _his_ease, as if the whole party were merely honest men."
"How happens it," I asked, "that such known rogues are allowed to go atlarge, or that this inn-keeper dares receive them?"
"Oh! you're a child yet, or you would not ask such a question! You mustknow, Master Wallingford, that the law protects rogues as well as honestmen. To convict a pickpocket, you must have witnesses and jurors toagree, and prosecutors, and a sight of things that are not as plentyas pocket-handkerchiefs, or even wallets and Bank of England notes.Besides, these fellows can prove an alibi any day in the week. An alibi,you must know--"
"I know very well what an alibi means, Mr. Sweeney."
"The deuce you do!" exclaimed the protector of the king's revenue,eyeing me a little distrustfully. "And pray how should one as young asyou, and coming from a new country like America, know that?"
"Oh!" said I, laughing, "America is just the country for_alibis_--everybody is everywhere, and nobody anywhere. The whole nationis in motion, and there is every imaginable opportunity for _alibis_."
I believe I owed the development of Sweeney's "ulterior views" tothis careless speech. He had no other idea of the word than its legalsignification; and it must have struck him as a little suspicious thatone of my apparent condition in life, and especially of my years, shouldbe thus early instructed in the meaning of this very useful professionalterm. It was a minute before he spoke again, having been all that timestudying my countenance.
"And pray, Master Wallingford," he then inquired, "do you happen to knowwhat _nolle prosequi_ means, too?"
"Certainly; it means to give up the chase. The French lugger underDungeness entered a _nolle prosequi_ as respects my brig, when she foundher hands full of the West-Indiaman."
"So, so; I find I have been keeping company all this time with a knowingone, and I such a simpleton as to fancy him green! Well, that I shouldlive to be done by a raw Jonathan!"
"Poh, poh, Mr. Sweeney, I can tell you a story of two of our navalofficers, that took place just before we sailed; and then you will learnthat all hands of us, on the other side of the Big Pond, understandLatin. One of these officers had been engaged in a duel, and he found itnecessary to lie hid. A friend and shipmate, who was in his secret, cameone day in a great hurry to tell him that the authorities of the Statein which the parties fought had entered a _nolle prosequi"_ againstthe offenders. He had a newspaper with the whole thing in it, in print."What's a _nolle prosequi_, Jack?" asked Tom. "Why, it's Latin, to besure, and it means some infernal thing or other. We must contrive tofind out, for it's half the battle to know who and what you've got toface." "Well, you know lots of lawyers, and dare show your face; so,just step out and ask one." "I'll trust no lawyer; I might put thequestion to some chap who has been fee'd. But we both studied a littleLatin when boys, and between us we'll undermine the meaning." Tomassented, and to work they went. Jack had the most Latin; but, do allhe could, he was not able to find a "_nolle_" in any dictionary. Aftera great deal of conjecture, the friends agreed it must be the root of"knowledge," and that point was settled. As for "_prosequi_" it wasnot so difficult, as "sequor" was a familiar word; and, after somecogitation, Jack announced his discoveries. "If this thing were inEnglish, now," he said, "a fellow might understand it. In that case, Ishould say that the sheriff's men were in "pursuit of knowledge;" thatis, hunting after _you_; but Latin, you remember, was always an invertedsort of stuff, and that '_pro_' alters the whole signification. Thepaper says they've '_entered_ a _nolle prosequi;_' and the 'entered'explains the whole. 'Entered a nolle' means, have entered on theknowledge, got a scent; you see it is law English; 'pro' means 'how,'and 'sequi,' 'to give chase.' The amount of it all is, Tom, that theyare on your heels, and I must go to work and send you off, at once, twoor three hundred miles into the interior, where you may laugh at themand their 'nolle prosequis' together." {*]
{Footnote *: There is said to be foundation for this story.]
Sweeney laughed heartily at this story, though he clearly did not takethe joke, which I presume he fancied lay concealed under an Americanflash language; and he proposed by way of finishing the day, to carry meto an entertainment where, he gave me to understand, American officerswere fond of sometimes passing a few minutes. I was led to a Wappingassembly-room, on entering which I found myself in a party composed ofsome forty or fifty cooks and stewards of American vessels, all as blackas their own pots with partners of the usual colour and bloom of Englishgirls I have as few prejudices of colour as any American well canhave; but I will confess this scene struck me as being painfully out ofkeeping. In England, however, nothing seemed to be thought of it; andI afterwards found that marriages between English women, and men of allthe colours of the rainbow, were very common occurrences.
When he had given me this ball as the climax of his compliments, Sweeneybetrayed the real motive of all his attentions. After drinking a pot ofbeer extra, well laced with gin, he offered his services in smugglinganything ashore that the Amanda might happen to contain, and which I,as the prize-master, might feel a desire to appropriate to my ownparticular purposes. I met the proposal with a little warmth, letting mytempter understand that I considered his offer so near an insult, thatit must terminate our acquaintance. The man seemed astounded. In thefirst place, he evidently thought all goods and chattels were made to beplundered, and then he was of opinion that plundering was a verycommon "Yankee trick." Had I been an Englishman, he might possibly haveunderstood my conduct; but, with him, it was so much a habit to fancyan American a rogue, that, as I afterwards discovered, he was tryingto persuade the leader of a press-gang that I was the half-educated andillegitimate son of some English merchant, who wished to pass himselfoff for an American. I pretend not to account for the contradiction,though I have often met with the same moral phenomena among hiscountrymen; but here was as regular a rogue as ever cheated, whopretended to think roguery indigenous to certain nations, among whom hisown was not included.
At length I was cheered with the sight of the Crisis, as she camedrifting through the tiers, turning, and twisting, and glancing along,just as the Amanda had done before her. The pilot carried her tomoorings quite near us; and Talcott, Neb and I were on board her,before she was fairly secured. My reception was very favourable, CaptainWilliams having seen the account of the "Yankee trick" in the papers;and, understanding the thing just as it had happened, he placed the mostadvantageous construction on all I had done. For myself, I confess Inever had any misgivings on the subject.
All hands of us were glad to be back in the Crisis again. CaptainWilliams had remained at Falmouth longer than he expected, to mak
esome repairs that could not be thoroughly completed at sea, which aloneprevented him from getting into the river as soon as I did myself. Nowthe ship was in, we no longer felt any apprehension of being impressed,Sweeney's malignancy having set several of the gang upon the scent afterus. Whether the fellow actually thought I was an English subject or not,is more than I ever knew; but I felt no disposition myself to letthe point be called in question, before my Lord Chief Justice of aRendezvous. The King's Bench was more governed by safe principles, inits decisions, than the gentlemen who presided in these marine courts ofthe British navy.
As I was the only officer in the ship who had ever seen anything ofLondon, my fortnight's experience made me a notable man in the cabin. Itwas actually greater preferment for me than when I was raised from thirdto be second-mate. Marble was all curiosity to see the English capital,and he made me promise to be his pilot, as soon as duty would allow timefor a stroll, and to show him everything I had seen myself. We soon gotout the cargo, and then took in ballast for our North-West voyage; thearticles we intended to traffic with on the coast, being too few and toolight to fill the ship. This kept us busy for a fortnight, after whichwe had to look about us to obtain men to supply the places of thosewho had been killed, or sent away in _la Dame de Nantes_. Of coursewe preferred Americans; and this so much the more, as Englishmen wereliable to be pressed at any moment. Fortunately, a party of men that hadbeen taken out of an American ship, a twelvemonth before, by an Englishcruiser, had obtained their discharges; and they all came to London,for the double purpose of getting some prize-money, and of obtainingpassages home. These lads were pleased with the Crisis and the voyage,and, instead of returning to their own country, sailor-like, theytook service to go nearly round the world. These were first-ratemen--Delaware-river seamen--and proved a great accession to our force.We owed the windfall to the reputation the ship had obtained by heraffairs with the letter-of-marque; an account of which, copied from thelog-book and a little embellished by some one on shore, he consignee hadtaken care should appear in the journals. The history of the surprise,in particular, read very well; and the English were in a remarkably goodhumour, at that time, to receive an account of any discomfiture of aFrenchman. At no period since the year 1775, had the American characterstood so high in England as it did just then; the two nations, for anovelty, fighting on the same side. Not long after we left London,the underwriters at Lloyd's actually voted a handsome compliment to anAmerican commander for capturing a French frigate. Stranger things havehappened than to have the day arrive when English and American fleetsmay be acting in concert. No one can tell what is in the womb of time;and I have lived long enough to know that no man can foresee who willcontinue to be his friends, or a nation what people may become itsenemies.
The Crisis at length began to take in her bales and boxes for theNorth-West Coast, and, as the articles were received slowly, or a fewpackages at a time, it gave us leisure for play. Our captain was insuch good humour with us, on account of the success of the outward-boundpassage, that he proved very indulgent. This disposition was probablyincreased by the circumstance that a ship arrived in a very shortpassage from New York, which spoke our prize; all well, with a smackingsoutherly breeze, a clear coast, and a run of only a few hundred milesto make. This left the almost moral certainty that _la Dame de Nantes_had arrived safe, no Frenchman being likely to trust herself on thatdistant coast, which was now alive with our own cruisers, going to orreturning from the West Indies.
I had a laughable time in showing Marble the sights of London. We beganwith the wild beasts in the Tower, as in duty bound; but of these ourmate spoke very disparagingly. He had been too often in the East "tobe taken in by such animals;" and, to own the truth, the cockneys wereeasily satisfied on the score of their _menagerie_. We next went tothe Monument; but this did not please him. He had seen a shot-tower inAmerica--there was but one in that day--that beat it out and out as toheight, and he thought in beauty, too. There was no reasoning againstthis. St. Paul's rather confounded him. He frankly admitted there was nosuch church at Kennebunk; though he did not know but Trinity, NewYork, "might stand up alongside of it." "Stand up along side of it!" Irepeated, laughing. "Why, Mr. Marble, Trinity, steeple and all, couldstand up in it--_under_ that dome-and then leave more room inthis building than all the other churches in New York contain, putaltogether."
It was a long time before Marble forgave this speech. He said it was"unpatriotic;" a word which was less used in 1799 than it is usedto-day, certainly; but which, nevertheless, _was_ used. It often meantthen, as now, a thick and thin pertinacity in believing in provincialmarvels; and, in this, Marble was one of the most patriotic men withwhom I ever met. I got him out of the church, and along Fleet street,through Temple Bar, and into the Strand, however, in peace; and then weemerged into the arena of fashion, aristocracy and the court. After atime, we worked our way into Hyde Park, where we brought up, to make ourobservations.
Marble was deeply averse to acknowledging all the admiration he reallyfelt at the turn-outs of London, as they were exhibited in the Park, ofa fine day, in their season. It is probable the world elsewhere neversaw anything approaching the beauty and magnificence that is here dailyseen, at certain times, so far as beauty and magnificence are connectedwith equipages, including carriages, horses and servants. Unable to findfault with the _tout ensemble_, our mate made a violent attack on theliveries. He protested it was indecent to put a "hired man"--the word_help_ never being applied to the male sex, I believe, by the mostfastidious New England purist--in a cocked hat; a decoration thatought to be exclusively devoted to the uses of ministers of the gospel,governors of States, and militia officers. I had some notions of thehabits of the great world, through books, and some little learnedby observation and listening; but Marble scouted at most of myexplanations. He put his own construction on everything he saw; and Ihave often thought, since, could the publishers of travels have had thebenefit of his blunders, how many would have profited by them. Gentlemenwere just then beginning to drive their own coaches; and I remember,in a particular instance, an ultra in the new mode had actually put hiscoachman in the inside, while he occupied the dickey in person. Sucha gross violation of the proprieties was unusual, even in London; butthere sat Jehu, in all the dignity of cotton-lace, plush, and a cockedhat. Marble took it into his head that this man was the king, and noreasoning of mine could persuade him to the contrary. In vain I pointedout to him a hundred similar dignitaries, in the proper exercise oftheir vocation, on the hammer-cloths; he cared not a straw--this was notshowing him one _inside_; and a gentleman inside of a carriage, who woreso fine a coat, and a cocked hat in the bargain, could be nothing lessthan some dignitary of the empire; and why not the king! Absurd as allthis will seem, I have known mistakes, connected with the workings ofour own institutions, almost as great, made by theorists from Europe.
While Marble and I were wrangling on this very point, a littleincident occurred, which led to important consequences in the end.Hackney-coaches, or any other public conveyance, short of post-chaisesand post-horses, are not admitted into the English parks. Butglass-coaches are; meaning by this term, which is never used in America,hired carriages that do not go on the stands. We encountered one ofthese glass-coaches in a very serious difficulty. The horses hadgot frightened by means of a wheelbarrow, aided probably by some badmanagement of the driver, and had actually backed the hind-wheels of thevehicle into the water of the canal. They would have soon had the wholecarriage submerged, and have followed it themselves, had it not beenfor the chief-mate and myself. I thrust the wheelbarrow under one ofthe forward-wheels, just in time to prevent the final catastrophe; whileMarble grasped the spoke with his iron gripe, and, together, he and thewheelbarrow made a resistance that counterbalanced the backward tendencyof the team. There was no footman; and, springing to the door, I aided asickly-looking, elderly man--a female who might very well have been hiswife, and another that I took for his daughter--to escape. By my agencyall three were put on the
dry land, without even wetting their feet,though I fared worse myself. No sooner were they safe, than Marble,who was up to his shoulders in the water, and who had made prodigiousefforts to maintain the balance of power, released his hold, thewheelbarrow gave way at the same moment, and the whole affair, coach andhorses, had their will, and went, stern foremost, overboard. One of thehorses was saved, I believe, and the other drowned; but, a crowdsoon collecting, I paid little attention to what was going on in thecarriage, as soon as its cargo was discharged.
The gentleman we had saved, pressed my hand with fervour, and Marble's,too; saying that we must not quit him--that we must go home with him. Tothis we consented, readily enough, thinking we might still be of use. Aswe all walked towards one of the more private entrances of the Park, Ihad an opportunity of observing the people we had served. They were veryrespectable in appearance; but I knew enough of the world to see thatthey belonged to what is called the middle class in England. I thoughtthe man might be a soldier; while the two females had an air of greatrespectability, though not in the least of fashion. The girl appeared tobe nearly as old as myself, and was decidedly pretty. Here, then, was anadventure! I had saved the life of a damsel of seventeen, and had onlyto fall in love, to become the hero of a romance.
At the gate, the gentleman stopped a hackney-coach, put the females in,and desired us to follow. But to this we would not consent, both beingwet, and Marble particularly so. After a short parley, he gave us anaddress in Norfolk Street, Strand; and we promised to stop there on ourway back to the ship. Instead of following the carriage, however, wemade our way on foot into the Strand, where we found an eating-house,turned in and eat a hearty dinner each, the chief-mate resorting to somebrandy in order to prevent his taking cold. On what principle this isdone, I cannot explain, though I know it is often practised, and in allquarters of the world.
As soon as we had dined and dried ourselves, we went into Norfolkstreet. We had been told to ask for Major Merton, and this we did. Thehouse was one of those plain lodging-houses, of which most of that partof the town is composed: and we found the Major and his family in theoccupation of the first floor, a mark of gentility on which some stressis laid in England. It was plain enough, however, to see that thesepeople were not rolling in that splendour, of which we had just seen somuch in the Park.
"I can trace the readiness and gallantry of the English tar in yourconduct," observed the Major, after he had given us both quite as warma reception as circumstances required, at the same time taking out hispocket-book, and turning over some bank-notes. "I wish, for your sakes,I was better able than I am to reward you for what you have done; buttwenty pounds is all I can now offer. At some other time, circumstancesmay place it in my power to give further and better proofs of mygratitude."
As this was said, the Major held two ten-pound notes towards Marble,doubtless intending that I should receive one of them, as a fairdivision of the spoils. Now, according to all theory, and theestablished opinion of the Christian world, America is _the_ avariciouscountry; the land, of all others, in which men are the most greedy ofgain; in which human beings respect gold more, and themselves less, thanin any other portion of this globe. I never dispute anything that issettled by the common consent of my fellow-creatures, for the simplereason that I know the decision must be against me; so I will concedethat money _is_ the great end of American life--that there is littleelse to live for, in the great model republic. Politics have fallen intosuch hands, that office will not even give social station; the peopleare omnipotent, it is true; but, though they can make a governor, theycannot make gentlemen and ladies; even kings are sometimes puzzled to dothat; literature, arms, arts, and fame of all sorts, are unattainable intheir rewards, among us as in other nations, leaving the puissant dollarin its undisturbed ascendency; still, as a rule, twenty Europeans canbe bought with two ten-pound Bank of England notes, much easier than twoAmericans. I leave others to explain the phenomenon; I only speak of the_fact_.
Marble listened to the Major's speech with great attention and respect,fumbling in his pocket for his tobacco-box, the whole time. The box wasopened just as the Major ended, and even I began to be afraid thatthe well-known cupidity of Kennebunk was about to give way before thetemptation, and the notes were to be stowed alongside of the tobacco butI was mistaken. Deliberately helping himself to a quid, the chief-mateshut the box again, and then he made his reply.
"Quite ginerous in you, Major," he said, "and all ship-shape and right.I like to see things done just in that way. Put up the money; we thankyou as much as if we could take it, and that squares all accounts. Iwould just mention, however, to prevent mistakes, as the other ideemight get us impressed, that this young man and I are both bornAmericans--he from up the Hudson somewhere, and I from York city,itself, though edicated down east."
"Americans!" resumed the Major, drawing himself up a little stiffly;"then _you_, young man," turning to me, and holding out the notes, ofwhich he now seemed as anxious to be rid, as I had previously fanciedhe was sorry to see go--"_you_ will do me the favour to accept of thissmall token of my gratitude."
"It is quite impossible, sir," I answered, respectfully. "We are notexactly what we seem, and you are probably deceived by our roundabouts;but we are the first and second officers of a letter-of-marque."
At the word "officers," the Major drew back his hand, and hastilyapologised. He did not understand us even then, I could plainly see;but he had sufficient sagacity to understand that his money would not beaccepted. We were invited to sit down, and the conversation continued.
"Master Miles, there," resumed Marble, "has an estate, a place calledClawbonny, somewhere up the Hudson; and he has no business to be sailingabout the world in jacket and trowsers, when he ought to be studyinglaw, or trying his hand at college. But as the old cock crows, the young'un l'arns; his father was a sailor before him, and I suppose that's thereason on't."
This announcement of my position ashore did me no harm, and I could seea change in the deportment of the whole family--not that it had evertreated me haughtily, or even coldly; but it now regarded me as moreon a level with itself. We remained an hour with the Mertons, and Ipromised to repeat the call before we sailed. This I did a dozen times,at least; and the Major, finding, I suppose, that he had a tolerablywell-educated youth to deal with, was of great service in putting me ina better way of seeing London. I went to both theatres with the family,taking care to appear in a well-made suit of London clothes, in which Imade quite as respectable a figure as most of the young men I saw in thestreets. Even Emily smiled when she first saw me in my long-togs, and Ithought she blushed. She was a pretty creature; gentle and mild in herordinary deportment, but full of fire and spirit at the bottom, asI could see by her light, blue, English eye. Then she had beenwell-educated; and, in my young ignorance of life, I fancied she knewmore than any girl of seventeen I had ever met with. Grace and Lucy wereboth clever, and had been carefully taught by Mr. Hardinge; but thegood divine could not give two girls, in the provincial retirement ofAmerica, the cultivation and accomplishments that were within the reachof even moderate means in England. To me, Emily Merton seemed a marvelin the way of attainments; and I often felt ashamed of myself, as Isat at her side, listening to the natural and easy manner in which shealluded to things, of which I then heard for the first time.
Afloat and Ashore: A Sea Tale Page 11