540 The Pressed Man : a Tale of the Coast. [MAY, 



careful of driving a poor fellow mad, because he happened to have a 

 pretty sweetheart, and an anchor tattooed on his arm." 



But I must divest the tale of the profusion of nautical phrases with 

 which honest Kit embellished it, and tell it in my own language. 



The squire of our little village had an only son, who, though born to 

 the inheritance of a magnificent fortune, chose to serve his country in her 

 proudest, and then most cherished service, the Navy. He was just such 

 an officer as Jack best loves: sharp, smart, and straight-armed on duty, 

 but knowing well a sailor's wants, wishes, and frailties ; anxiously pro- 

 viding for the one, indulging, as far as duty permitted, or winking at the 

 others in a good seaman ; while woe to the confirmed lubber that turned 

 out fit for nothing better than lop -lolly-boy or cook's shifter. Prize- 

 money was sure if he headed the cutting out boats ; victory no longer 

 doubtful if he led on the boarders. He knew what a sailor could do, 

 and ought to do, and never spurred him beyond his power, or pardoned 

 wilful neglect. So much for the officer. . The man was light-hearted, 

 generous, and amiable ; a firm friend, an honourable enemy. But he 

 had one fault, the indulgence of which sent him, after years of protracted 

 suffering, a maimed and miserable tenant to the long home of all that is 

 mortal : his attachment to the fair sex was unbounded ; and where that 

 passion was concerned, conscience, and almost even honour, were con- 

 demned to silence. 



Ned Needham was the flower and glory of the E. fishermen. No one 

 steered the boat in a gale so steadily, or threw a net with such precision as 

 Ned. That he occasionally speculated in " moonshine" has been already 

 confessed, and what fisherman in war-time has not ? Ned had saved some 

 money, armed a boat or two of his own, and was about to man the pret- 

 tiest pinnace in the village, when the young squire, just one and twenty, 

 and recently made^r-rt of a crack six and thirty, came home to celebrate 

 at once his arrival at years of discretion, and raise as many daring dogs 

 among the fishermen of E. as were inclined to the sport of catching 

 French or Dutch Indiamen between the Straits of Sunda and the Cape. 

 Bonfires were lighted, ale barrels broached, and, in a few days, hardly a 

 ood hand remained in the village. But Ned, to the surprise of all who 

 id not know the cruise he was upon, Ned, the daring, the brave, held 

 back. The squire wanted him particularly for coxswain of the gig, for 

 no man dipped a lug like Ned; but no promises of additional pay, 

 certain promotion on good behaviour, or the best interest for his imme- 

 diate discharge at the end of the cruise, were lavished in vain. At length 

 the squire found out at once the cause of Ned's backwardness, and why 

 All his warmest advances to Fanny Cottrell, the prettiest girl in the parish, 

 or five surrounding ones, had been met with a disdain to which he was 

 wholly unused. But, to do him justice, even where he was most cul- 

 pable, he did not learn how close their engagement, or how near its 

 consummation. 



Revenge took possession of the lieutenant : he knew the single blot in 

 poor Ned's character ; and though determined now not to have him in 

 his own crew, he gave the hint to another officer, and just as the happy 

 fisherman was leaving the church door with his bride, a press-gang, 

 whose numbers defied the resistance even of desperation, conveyed him 

 on board the receiving ship, from whence he was soon drafted into a 

 seventy-four. 



vacancy for coxswain of the gig, which poor Needham's ill-. 



g 

 di 



