1830.] The King's Own. 563 



miscalled " men of pleasure !" who think, that if any gratification is in 

 their power, it ceases, on that very account, to be desirable. We will 

 not forestal the pleasure of the reader by acquainting him with the sin- 

 gular catastrophe which terminates the strange, eventful life of the hero; 

 though we cannot forbear to state that his career includes all those various 

 incidents which turn the life of a seaman into a romance. We are pre- 

 sented with scenes in wild and distant countries ; we are present in the 

 roar of battle, and participate in the throbbing anxiety of the chase ; we 

 are made to feel the desolate horror of shipwreck, and in other moods 

 the author excites our mirth by whimsical pictures of life afloat. Of this 

 last, especially as we are confident that it shadows forth a living ori- 

 ginal, we lay before our readers the following inimitable and graphic 

 dialogue between a peculating captain and the inferiors under his com- 

 mand. *;; 



" It may then be inquired, why he requested to be employed during the war ? 

 Because he liked full pay and prize-money when it could be obtained without risk, 

 and because his wife and family were living on shore in a very snug little cottage 

 at Ryde, in the Isle of Wight, which cottage required nothing but furniture and a 

 few- other trifles to render it complete. Marriage had not only subtracted from 

 the courage of this worthy officer, but, moreover, a little from his honesty. Captain 

 Capperbar (for such was his name) should have been brought up as a missionary, 

 for he could convert any thing, and expend more profusely than any bible society. 

 The name by which he had christened his domicile was probably given as a sort 

 of salvo to his conscience. He called it the ( ship ; and when he signed his name 

 to the expense-books of the different warrant-officers, without specifying the exact 

 use to which the materials were applied, the larger proportions were invariably 

 expended, by the general term, for ' ship's use/ He came into harbour as often 

 as he could, always had a demand for stores to complete, and a defect or two for 

 the dock-yard to make good; and the admiral, who was aware of Mrs. Capperbar 

 being a near resident, made every reasonable allowance for his partiality to Spit- 

 head. But we had better introduce the captain, sitting at his table in the fore- 

 cabin, on the day of his arrival in port, the carpenter having obeyed his summons. 



" ' Well, Mr. Cheeks, what are the carpenters about f 



" ' Weston and Smallbridge are going on with the chairs ; the whole of them 

 will be finished to-morrow/ 



' Well?' 



" ' Smith is about the chest of drawers to match the one in my Lady Capperbar's 

 bed-room/ 



" ' Very good. And what is Hilton about?' 



" ' He has finished the spare-leaf of the dining-table, sir; he is now about a 

 little job for the second lieutenant/ 



" ' A job for the second lieutenant, sir ? How often have I told you, Mr. Cheeks, 

 that the carpenters are not to be employed, except on ship's duty, without my 

 special permission/ 



" ' His standing bed-place is broke, sir ; he is only getting out a chock or 

 two/ 



" ' Mr. Cheeks, you have disobeyed my most positive orders. By the by, sir, 

 I understand you were not sober last night.' 



" ' Please your honour,' replied the carpenter, ' I wasn't drunk ; I was only a 

 little fresh/ 



" ' Take you care, Mr. Cheeks. Well, now, what are the rest of your crew 

 about ? 



" ' Why, Thompson and Waters are cutting out the pales for the garden, out 

 of the jib-boom ; I've saved the heel to return/ 



" ' Very well; but there won't be enough, will there?* 



" ' No, sir ; it will take a handmast to finish the whole/ 



" e Then we must expend one when we go out again. We can carry away a 

 topmast, and make a new one out of the handmast, at sea. In the meantime, if 



4C2 



