28 Recollections of a Valetudinarian. 



he was so consistent in his conduct to the last, that he would have eaten 

 up the property secured to the younger children, if the parchments had 

 not been too tough for even his appetite. This little property I now 

 possess, but he took care to remove all temptation to my ever residing in 

 my own county, by depriving me of the accommodation of a house, 

 which as he could not otherwise make away with, he knocked down and 

 sold the materials. In this manner he ran through a .very fine fortune, 

 ruined his children, and his children's children ; but he had the conso- 

 lation of giving his name to a fish-sauce. 



My other grandfather died soon afterwards,, leaving me a pitiful an- 

 nuity, after all his magnificent promises, which had the single advantage 

 attached to it of my being unable to make away with it. My Indian in- 

 terest expired with him ; my writership was given to a distant cousin, 

 who will probably return some time or other with a full purse and a 

 diseased liver ; my Persian studies, in which I had made some profi- 

 ciency, became useless ; and it was determined in the family council held 

 on the occasion, that I should be <c sent to sea," while my grandfather 

 had no doubt the comfortable reflection, in his last moments, that he had 

 left me sufficient to keep me from starving. If the reader should con- 

 sider that I reflect too severely on my own relations, let him recollect 

 the story of the boy who bit his mother's ear off when he was going to 

 be hanged, and make the application in any way he pleases. 



It has been observed, that in all large families there is usually one 

 individual somewhat worse than the rest, and he is generally " sent to 

 sea," as the phrase goes, which I now consider to be the next best thing 

 to being sent to Botany Bay. I never had much predilection for his 

 majesty's naval service, for I was always of Dr. Johnson's opinion, that 

 " a ship had all the miseries of a prison, with the additional advantage of 

 the chance of being drowned." However, in spite of likes or dislikes, it 

 was my destiny to go to sea, and I was accordingly rated a midshipman 



on board his majesty's ship , then employed on the very memorable, 



but not over- glorious, expedition to Walcheren, and I proceeded to join 

 her at Flushing. 



I will not attempt to describe my feelings on leaving the comforts of 

 home to encounter the privations of a sea life. I have already said that I 

 disliked it ; and twenty years' experience has not altered my opinion. I 

 had been pampered and indulged too much as a child, and also began 

 my career too late, having been intended for a more learned profession. 

 I do not by any means wish to infer from this that learning is incom- 

 patible with good seamanship ; but it ought rather to be the superstruc- 

 ture than the foundation of a nautical education, as it is too apt to create 

 a distaste to the profession. I would recommend all young men destined 

 for the navy to enter it very early in life (I would say, at about nine or 

 ten years of age), before their habits or their prejudices have had time to 

 take root. An enthusiastic love of the service must be instilled in early 

 life, as it is more difficult to acquire it afterwards. 



I do not recollect ever to have seen a more imposing spectacle than 

 our fleet at anchor before Flushing ; myriads of vessels, as far as the eye 

 could reach, seemed to ensure success. I was told that, including those 

 " armees en flute," there were no less than fifty sail of the line employed on 

 this expedition. Never had England sent forth such an armament, and 

 never since the days of the Spanish armada had such gigantic prepara- 

 tions been so entirely thrown away by any nation. The Spaniards might 



