SOME ACCOUNT OF A CAPTIVITY. 



were stripped off in rapid succession : I thought there was no end to 

 the number. It was with no little astonishment that I witnessed this 

 exhibition ; but I soon learnt that every French privateersman adopts 

 this custom from the extremely uncertain nature of their calling it 

 being understood that every seaman,, if captured, retains as his own 

 property what he has about his person. This precaution, however, 

 is superfluous against a British enemy ; the property of the vessel is 

 all that is claimed. We arrived at Dieppe early in the morning after 

 the day on which we were captured, and we were immediately 

 landed on the quay, under the escort of a guard of soldiers. . Our 

 appearance, for English, was unusually mean and miserable; so 

 much so, indeed, that a subscription was made for us among the 

 crowd assembled to witness our debarkation. For myself, I had 

 neither hat, cravat, nor waistcoat, so that my first appearance in 

 France was not the most prepossessing imaginable. The serjeant of 

 the guard took the money to distribute, which amounted to some five 

 or six sous each, and off we were marched to our prison. I know not 

 whether the buoyancy of youth supported me, or whether it was the 

 elasticity of my nature, or, as the captain would have it, the hardness 

 of my heart ; but I was the least affected of any of my companions. 

 Since the last shot we fired on board of the Eden, I had never had a 

 single thought of danger or personal suffering. I had now before me 

 the prospect of a long and miserable captivity, yet I felt not the least 

 dejected; on the contrary, I made observations on all that passed 

 around me, with as light a heart and as free a mind as I had ever 

 possessed. I remember, when passing the market-place, wanting 

 some apples exposed for sale, and making a sign to one of our guards 

 to buy some for me out of my few sous, which constituted my whole 

 earthly riches. The good-natured fellow thought he understood me, 

 and taking two sous made a purchase ; but instead of my much de- 

 sired apples, put into my hand a small roll of something, about the 

 size of a ball cartridge, wrapped in brown paper, and feeling soft as 

 butter. I expressed my disappointment by gestures, feeling sure it 

 was nothing but soap ; but the soldier continued to say " Bon a 

 manger bon a manger avec du pain /" which, of course, was 

 Greek to me, till some one informed me my purchase was a sort 

 of cheese, very much liked by the people in the north of France and 

 French Flanders. 



