"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 education
regarded England, her history, laws and institutions, in 1799! There
were a few exceptions--warm political partisans, and here and there an
individual whose feelings had become embittered by some particular
incident of the revolution--but surprisingly few, when it is
recollected that the country was only fifteen years from the peace. I
question if there ever existed another instance of as strong
provincial admiration for the capital, as independent America
manifested for the mother country, in spite of a thousand just
grievances, down to the period of 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 on this voyage, except through our minds'
eyes; and these had presented quantities of beauties and excellencies
that certainly vanished on a nearer approach. By this I merely mean
that we had painted in too high colours, 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 a model 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 the
land, 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 is neither a handsome, nor a very magnificent river; but it was
amazing to witness the number of vessels that then ascended or
descended it. There was scarce a sort of craft known to Christendom, a
few of the Mediterranean excepted, that was not to be seen there; and
as for the colliers, we drifted through a forest of them that seemed
large enough to keep the town a twelvemonth in fire-wood, by simply
burning their spars. The manner in which the pilot handled our brig,
too, among the thousand ships that lay in tiers on each side of the
narrow passage we had to thread, was perfectly surprising to me;
resembling the management of a coachman in a crowded thoroughfare,
more than the ordinary working of a ship. I can safely say I learned
more in the Thames, in the way of keeping 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 to me--"He'll make her talk,
Masser Miles, afore he have done." I make no doubt the navigation from
the Forelands to the bridges, as it was conducted thirty years since,
had a great influence on the seamanship of the English. Steamers are
doing away with much of this practice, though the colliers still have
to rely on themselves. Coals will scarcely pay for tugging.
I had been directed by Captain Williams to deliver the brig to her
original consignee, an American merchant established in the modern
Babylon, reserving the usual claim for salvage. This I did, and that
gentleman sent hands on board to take charge of the vessel, relieving
me entirely from all farther responsibility. As the captain in his
letter had, inadvertently I trust, mentioned that he had put
"Mr. Wallingford, his _third_ mate," in charge, I got no
invitation to dinner from the consignee; though the affair of the
capture under Dungeness found its way into the papers, _viâ_
Deal, I have always thought, with the usual caption of "Yankee Trick."
Yankee trick! This phrase, so often carelessly used, has probably done
a great deal of harm in this country. The young and ambitious--there
are all sorts of ambition, and, among others, that of being a rogue;
as a proof of which, one daily hears people call envy, jealousy,
covetousness, avarice, and half of the meaner vices, ambition--the
young and _ambitious_, then, of this country, too often think to
do a _good_ thing, that shall have some of the peculiar merit of
a certain other good thing that they have heard laughed at and
applauded, under this designation. I can account in no other manner
for the great and increasing number of "Yankee tricks" that are 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. As
two-thirds of the editors of the whole country, however, are Yankees,
I suppose they must be permitted to go on exulting in the cleverness
of their race. We are indebted to the Puritan stock for most of our
instructors--editors and school-masters--and when one coolly regards
the prodigious progress of the people in morals, public and private
virtue, honesty, and other estimable qualities, he must indeed rejoice
in the fact that our masters so early discovered "a church without a
bishop."
I had an opportunity, while in London, however, of ascertaining that
the land of our fathers, which by the way has archbishops, contains
something besides an unalloyed virtue in its bosom. At Gravesend we
took on board _two_ customhouse officers, (they always set a
rogue to watch a rogue, in the English revenue system,) and they
remained in the brig until she was discharged. One of these men had
been a gentleman's servant, and he owed his place to his former
master's interest. He was a miracle of custom-house integrity and
disinterestedness, as I discovered in the first hour of our
intercourse. Perceiving a lad of eighteen in charge of the prize, and
ignorant that this lad had read a good deal of Latin and Greek under
excellent Mr. Hardinge, besides being the heir of 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 see everything, the brig
was no sooner at her moorings, than he proposed a cruise ashore. It
was Sweeney who showed me the way to the consignee's, and, that
business accomplished, he proposed that we should proceed on and take
a look at St. Paul's, the Monument, and, as he gradually found my
tastes more intellectual than he had at first supposed, the wonders 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 of mark
about the town, and the interiors of a few that I was disposed to pay
for, he descended in his tastes, and carried me through Wapping, its
purlieus and its scenes of atrocities. I have always thought Sweeney
was sounding me, and hoping to ascertain my true character, by the
course he took; and that he betrayed his motives in a proposition
which he finally made, and which brought our intimacy to a sudden
close. The result, however, was to let me into secrets I should
probably have never learned in any other manner. Still, I had read and
heard too much to be easily duped; and I kept myself not only out of
the power of my tempter, but out of the power of all that could injure
me, remaining simply a curious observer of what was placed before my
eyes. Good Mr. Hardinge's lessons were not wholly forgotten; I could
run away from him, much easier than from 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 across
the site of the docks that now bear the same name; and it was the
resort of all the local infamy of Wapping. I say _local_ infamy;
for there were portions of the West End that were even worse than
anything which a mere port could produce. Commerce, that parent of so
much that is useful to man, has its dark side as everything else of
earth; and, among its other evils, it drags after it a long train of
low vice; but this train is neither so long nor so broad as that which
is chained to the chariot-wheels of the great. Appearances excepted,
and they are far less than might be expected, I think the West End
could beat Wapping out and out, in every essential vice; and, if
St. Giles be taken into the account, 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 the
leisure moment of all classes of labourers, and the day when, being
attired in their best, they fancied themselves best prepared to appear
in the world. I will here remark, that I have never been in any
portion of Christendom that keeps the Sabbath precisely as it is kept
in America. In all other countries, even the most rigorously severe in
their practices, it is kept as a day of recreation and rest, as well
as of public devotion. Even in the American towns, the old observances
are giving way before the longings or weaknesses of human nature; and
Sunday is no longer what it was. I have witnessed scenes of brawling,
blasphemy and rude tumult, in the suburbs of New York, on Sundays,
within the last few years, that I have never seen in any other part of
the world on similar occasions; and serious doubts of the expediency
of the high-pressure principle have beset me, whatever may be the just
constructions 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 men all that they ought to be, to aim at such social regulations
as shall make them as little vile as possible. But, to return to the
Black Horse in St. Catherine's Lane--a place whose very name was
associated with vileness.
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 these girls," 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 vacant table--"but, as for the men you see here, half are
house-breakers and pickpockets, 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 can tell you. You perceive these fellows are
just as much at their ease, and the 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
at large, or that this inn-keeper dares receive them?"
"Oh! you're a child yet, or you would not ask such a question! You
must know, Master Wallingford, that the law protects rogues as well as
honest men. To convict a pickpocket, you must have witnesses and
jurors to agree, and prosecutors, and a sight of things that are not
as plenty as 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 as
you, 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 nation is in motion, and there is every imaginable opportunity
for _alibis_."
I believe I owed the development of Sweeney's "ulterior views" to this
careless speech. He had no other idea of the word than its legal
signification; and it must have struck him as a little suspicious that
one of my apparent condition in life, and especially of my years,
should be thus early instructed in the meaning of this very useful
professional term. It was a minute before he spoke again, having been
all that time studying my countenance.
"And pray, Master Wallingford," he then inquired, "do you happen to
know what _nolle prosequi_ means, too?"
"Certainly; it means to give up the chase. The French lugger under
Dungeness entered a _nolle prosequi_ as respects my brig, when
she found her hands full of the West-Indiaman."
"So, so; I find I have been keeping company all this time with a
knowing one, and I such a simpleton as to fancy him green! Well, that
I should live to be done by a raw Jonathan!"
"Poh, poh, Mr. Sweeney, I can tell you a story of two of our naval
officers, that took place just before we sailed; and then you will
learn that all hands of us, on the other side of the Big Pond,
understand Latin. One of these officers had been engaged in a duel,
and he found it necessary to lie hid. A friend and shipmate, who was
in his secret, came one day in a great hurry to tell him that the
authorities of the State in which the parties fought had entered a
_nolle prosequi"_ against the 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 be sure, and it means some
infernal thing or other. We must contrive to find out, for it's half
the battle to know who and what you've got to face." "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 the question to some chap who
has been fee'd. But we both studied a little Latin when boys, and
between us we'll undermine the meaning." Tom assented, and to work
they went. Jack had the most Latin; but, do all he could, he was not
able to find a "_nolle_" in any dictionary. After a great deal of
conjecture, the friends agreed it must be the root of "knowledge," and
that point was settled. As for "_prosequi_" it was not so
difficult, as "sequor" was a familiar word; and, after some
cogitation, Jack announced his discoveries. "If this thing were in
English, now," he said, "a fellow might understand it. In that case, I
should say that the sheriff's men were in "pursuit of knowledge;" that
is, hunting after _you_; but Latin, you remember, was always an
inverted sort of stuff, and that '_pro_' alters the whole
signification. The paper says they've '_entered_ a _nolle
prosequi;_' and the 'entered' explains the whole. 'Entered a nolle'
means, have entered on the knowledge, 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 they are on your heels, and I must go to work
and send you off, at once, two or three hundred miles into the
interior, where you may laugh at them and 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 take
the joke, which I presume he fancied lay concealed under an American
flash language; and he proposed by way of finishing the day, to carry
me to an entertainment where, he gave me to understand, American
officers were fond of sometimes passing a few minutes. I was led to a
Wapping assembly-room, on entering which I found myself in a party
composed of some forty or fifty cooks and stewards of American
vessels, all as black as their own pots with partners of the usual
colour and bloom of English girls I have as few prejudices of colour
as any American well can have; but I will confess this scene struck me
as being painfully out of keeping. In England, however, nothing seemed
to be thought of it; and I afterwards found that marriages between
English women, and men of all the colours of the rainbow, were very
common occurrences.
When he had given me this ball as the climax of his compliments,
Sweeney betrayed the real motive of all his attentions. After
drinking a pot of beer extra, well laced with gin, he offered his
services in smuggling anything ashore that the Amanda might happen to
contain, and which I, as the prize-master, might feel a desire to
appropriate to my own particular purposes. I met the proposal with a
little warmth, letting my tempter understand that I considered his
offer so near an insult, that it must terminate our acquaintance. The
man seemed astounded. In the first place, he evidently thought all
goods and chattels were made to be plundered, and then he was of
opinion that plundering was a very common "Yankee trick." Had I been
an Englishman, he might possibly have understood my conduct; but, with
him, it was so much a habit to fancy an American a rogue, that, as I
afterwards discovered, he was trying to persuade the leader of a
press-gang that I was the half-educated and illegitimate son of some
English merchant, who wished to pass himself off for an American. I
pretend not to account for the contradiction, though I have often met
with the same moral phenomena among his countrymen; but here was as
regular a rogue as ever cheated, who pretended to think roguery
indigenous to certain nations, among whom his own was not included.
At length I was cheered with the sight of the Crisis, as she came
drifting through the tiers, turning, and twisting, and glancing along,
just as the Amanda had done before her. The pilot carried her to
moorings quite near us; and Talcott, Neb and I were on board her,
before she was fairly secured. My reception was very favourable,
Captain Williams having seen the account of the "Yankee trick" in the
papers; and, understanding the thing just as it had happened, he
placed the most advantageous construction on all I had done. For
myself, I confess I never had any misgivings on the subject.
All hands of us were glad to be back in the Crisis again. Captain
Williams had remained at Falmouth longer than he expected, to make
some repairs that could not be thoroughly completed at sea, which
alone prevented him from getting into the river as soon as I did
myself. Now the ship was in, we no longer felt any apprehension of
being impressed, Sweeney's malignancy having set several of the gang
upon the scent after us. 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 let the point be called in question, before my
Lord Chief Justice of a Rendezvous. The King's Bench was more
governed by safe principles, in its decisions, than the gentlemen who
presided in these marine courts of the British navy.
As I was the only officer in the ship who had ever seen anything of
London, my fortnight's experience made me a notable man in the
cabin. It was actually greater preferment for me than when I was
raised from third to 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 time for a stroll, and to show him everything I
had seen myself. We soon got out the cargo, and then took in ballast
for our North-West voyage; the articles we intended to traffic with on
the coast, being too few and too light to fill the ship. This kept us
busy for a fortnight, after which we had to look about us to obtain
men to supply the places of those who had been killed, or sent away in
_la Dame de Nantes_. Of course we preferred Americans; and this
so much the more, as Englishmen were liable to be pressed at any
moment. Fortunately, a party of men that had been taken out of an
American ship, a twelvemonth before, by an English cruiser, had
obtained their discharges; and they all came to London, for the double
purpose of getting some prize-money, and of obtaining passages home.
These lads were pleased with the Crisis and the voyage, and, instead
of returning to their own country, sailor-like, they took service to
go nearly round the world. These were first-rate men--Delaware-river
seamen--and proved a great accession to our force. We owed the
windfall to the reputation the ship had obtained by her affairs with
the letter-of-marque; an account of which, copied from the log-book
and a little embellished by some one on shore, he consignee had taken
care should appear in the journals. The history of the surprise, in
particular, read very well; and the English were in a remarkably good
humour, at that time, to receive an account of any discomfiture of a
Frenchman. At no period since the year 1775, had the American
character stood so high in England as it did just then; the two
nations, for a novelty, fighting on the same side. Not long after we
left London, the underwriters at Lloyd's actually voted a handsome
compliment to an American commander for capturing a French
frigate. Stranger things have happened than to have the day arrive
when English and American fleets may 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 will continue to be his friends, or a
nation what people may become its enemies.
The Crisis at length began to take in her bales and boxes for the
North-West Coast, and, as the articles were received slowly, or a few
packages at a time, it gave us leisure for play. Our captain was in
such good humour with us, on account of the success of the
outward-bound passage, that he proved very indulgent. This disposition
was probably increased by the circumstance that a ship arrived in a
very short passage from New York, which spoke our prize; all well,
with a smacking southerly breeze, a clear coast, and a run of only a
few hundred miles to make. This left the almost moral certainty that
_la Dame de Nantes_ had arrived safe, no Frenchman being likely
to trust herself on that distant coast, which was now alive with our
own cruisers, going to or returning from the West Indies.
I had a laughable time in showing Marble the sights of London. We
began with the wild beasts in the Tower, as in duty bound; but of
these our mate spoke very disparagingly. He had been too often in the
East "to be taken in by such animals;" and, to own the truth, the
cockneys were easily satisfied on the score of their _menagerie_.
We next went to the Monument; but this did not please him. He had
seen a shot-tower in America--there was but one in that day--that beat
it out and out as to height, and he thought in beauty, too. There was
no reasoning against this. St. Paul's rather confounded him. He
frankly admitted there was no such church at Kennebunk; though he did
not know but Trinity, New York, "might stand up alongside of it."
"Stand up along side of it!" I repeated, laughing. "Why, Mr. Marble,
Trinity, steeple and all, could stand up in it--_under_ that
dome-and then leave more room in this building than all the other
churches in New York contain, put altogether."
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 used
to-day, certainly; but which, nevertheless, _was_ used. It often
meant then, as now, a thick and thin pertinacity in believing in
provincial marvels; and, in this, Marble was one of the most patriotic
men with whom 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 we emerged into the arena of fashion, aristocracy and the
court. After a time, we worked our way into Hyde Park, where we
brought up, to make our observations.
Marble was deeply averse to acknowledging all the admiration he really
felt at the turn-outs of London, as they were exhibited in the Park,
of a fine day, in their season. It is probable the world elsewhere
never saw anything approaching the beauty and magnificence that is
here daily seen, at certain times, so far as beauty and magnificence
are connected with equipages, including carriages, horses and
servants. Unable to find fault with the _tout ensemble_, our
mate made a violent attack on the liveries. He protested it was
indecent to put a "hired man"--the word _help_ never being
applied to the male sex, I believe, by the most fastidious New England
purist--in a cocked hat; a decoration that ought to be exclusively
devoted to the uses of ministers of the gospel, governors of States,
and militia officers. I had some notions of the habits of the great
world, through books, and some little learned by observation and
listening; but Marble scouted at most of my explanations. He put his
own construction on everything he saw; and I have often thought,
since, could the publishers of travels have had the benefit of his
blunders, how many would have profited by them. Gentlemen were just
then beginning to drive their own coaches; and I remember, in a
particular instance, an ultra in the new mode had actually put his
coachman in the inside, while he occupied the dickey in person. Such a
gross violation of the proprieties was unusual, even in London; but
there sat Jehu, in all the dignity of cotton-lace, plush, and a cocked
hat. Marble took it into his head that this man was the king, and no
reasoning of mine could persuade him to the contrary. In vain I
pointed out to him a hundred similar dignitaries, in the proper
exercise of their vocation, on the hammer-cloths; he cared not a
straw--this was not showing him one _inside_; and a gentleman
inside of a carriage, who wore so fine a coat, and a cocked hat in the
bargain, could be nothing less than some dignitary of the empire; and
why not the king! Absurd as all this will seem, I have known mistakes,
connected with the workings of our own institutions, almost as great,
made by theorists from Europe.
While Marble and I were wrangling on this very point, a little
incident occurred, which led to important consequences in the
end. Hackney-coaches, or any other public conveyance, short of
post-chaises and post-horses, are not admitted into the English
parks. But glass-coaches are; meaning by this term, which is never
used in America, hired carriages that do not go on the stands. We
encountered one of these glass-coaches in a very serious
difficulty. The horses had got frightened by means of a wheelbarrow,
aided probably by some bad management of the driver, and had actually
backed the hind-wheels of the vehicle into the water of the
canal. They would have soon had the whole carriage submerged, and have
followed it themselves, had it not been for the chief-mate and
myself. I thrust the wheelbarrow under one of the forward-wheels, just
in time to prevent the final catastrophe; while Marble grasped the
spoke with his iron gripe, and, together, he and the wheelbarrow made
a resistance that counterbalanced the backward tendency of the
team. There was no footman; and, springing to the door, I aided a
sickly-looking, elderly man--a female who might very well have been
his wife, and another that I took for his daughter--to escape. By my
agency all 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
prodigious efforts to maintain the balance of power, released his
hold, the wheelbarrow gave way at the same moment, and the whole
affair, coach and horses, had their will, and went, stern foremost,
overboard. One of the horses was saved, I believe, and the other
drowned; but, a crowd soon collecting, I paid little attention to what
was going on in the carriage, 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. To this we consented, readily enough, thinking we might
still be of use. As we all walked towards one of the more private
entrances of the Park, I had an opportunity of observing the people we
had served. They were very respectable in appearance; but I knew
enough of the world to see that they belonged to what is called the
middle class in England. I thought the man might be a soldier; while
the two females had an air of great respectability, though not in the
least of fashion. The girl appeared to be nearly as old as myself, and
was decidedly pretty. Here, then, was an adventure! I had saved the
life of a damsel of seventeen, and had only to 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
being wet, and Marble particularly so. After a short parley, he gave
us an address in Norfolk Street, Strand; and we promised to stop there
on our way back to the ship. Instead of following the carriage,
however, we made 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 some brandy in order to prevent his taking cold. On what
principle this is done, I cannot explain, though I know it is often
practised, and in all quarters of the world.
As soon as we had dined and dried ourselves, we went into Norfolk
street. We had been told to ask for Major Merton, and this we did. The
house was one of those plain lodging-houses, of which most of that
part of the town is composed: and we found the Major and his family in
the occupation of the first floor, a mark of gentility on which some
stress is laid in England. It was plain enough, however, to see that
these people were not rolling in that splendour, of which we had just
seen so much in the Park.
"I can trace the readiness and gallantry of the English tar in your
conduct," observed the Major, after he had given us both quite as warm
a reception as circumstances required, at the same time taking out his
pocket-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; but twenty pounds is all I can now offer. At some other time,
circumstances may place it in my power to give further and better
proofs of my gratitude."
As this was said, the Major held two ten-pound notes towards Marble,
doubtless intending that I should receive one of them, as a fair
division of the spoils. Now, according to all theory, and the
established opinion of the Christian world, America is _the_
avaricious country; the land, of all others, in which men are the most
greedy of gain; in which human beings respect gold more, and
themselves less, than in any other portion of this globe. I never
dispute anything that is settled by the common consent of my
fellow-creatures, for the simple reason that I know the decision must
be against me; so I will concede that money _is_ the great end of
American life--that there is little else to live for, in the great
model republic. Politics have fallen into such hands, that office will
not even give social station; the people are omnipotent, it is true;
but, though they can make a governor, they cannot make gentlemen and
ladies; even kings are sometimes puzzled to do that; literature, arms,
arts, and fame of all sorts, are unattainable in their rewards, among
us as in other nations, leaving the puissant dollar in its undisturbed
ascendency; still, as a rule, twenty Europeans can be bought with two
ten-pound Bank of England notes, much easier than two Americans. 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 was opened just as the Major ended, and even I began to
be afraid that the well-known cupidity of Kennebunk was about to give
way before the temptation, and the notes were to be stowed alongside
of the tobacco but I was mistaken. Deliberately helping himself to a
quid, the chief-mate shut 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 thank you as much as if we could take it, and that squares all
accounts. I would just mention, however, to prevent mistakes, as the
other idee might get us impressed, that this young man and I are both
born Americans--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, of which he now seemed as anxious to be rid, as I had
previously fancied he was sorry to see go--"_you_ will do me the
favour to accept of this small token of my gratitude."
"It is quite impossible, sir," I answered, respectfully. "We are not
exactly 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 hastily
apologised. He did not understand us even then, I could plainly see;
but he had sufficient sagacity to understand that his money would not
be accepted. We were invited to sit down, and the conversation
continued.
"Master Miles, there," resumed Marble, "has an estate, a place called
Clawbonny, somewhere up the Hudson; and he has no business to be
sailing about the world in jacket and trowsers, when he ought to be
studying law, 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 the reason on't."
This announcement of my position ashore did me no harm, and I could
see a change in the deportment of the whole family--not that it had
ever treated me haughtily, or even coldly; but it now regarded me as
more on a level with itself. We remained an hour with the Mertons, and
I promised 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
tolerably well-educated youth to deal with, was of great service in
putting me in a 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 I made quite as respectable a figure as most of the
young men I saw in the streets. Even Emily smiled when she first saw
me in my long-togs, and I thought she blushed. She was a pretty
creature; gentle and mild in her ordinary deportment, but full of fire
and spirit at the bottom, as I could see by her light, blue, English
eye. Then she had been well-educated; and, in my young ignorance of
life, I fancied she knew more than any girl of seventeen I had ever
met with. Grace and Lucy were both clever, and had been carefully
taught by Mr. Hardinge; but the good divine could not give two girls,
in the provincial retirement of America, the cultivation and
accomplishments that were within the reach of even moderate means in
England. To me, Emily Merton seemed a marvel in the way of
attainments; and I often felt ashamed of myself, as I sat at her side,
listening to the natural and easy manner in which she alluded to
things, of which I then heard for the first time.