SUFFERINGS OF LIEUTENANT o'bRIEN. 61 



draught was weak; very weak; and Carl Hantz 

 protested, by the image of the virgin, which had been 

 his wife's father's, who stole it from his sister, to 

 whom it had been given by her sweet-heart — that 

 it contained " only a leetle more Schiedam than was 

 waters." 



SUFFERINGS OF LIEUTENANT D. O'BRIEN, R. N. 



Continued from page 20. 



The river Vilaine runs through Vitre, and there appears to be an abundance 

 of fish in this town. On the 3rd of March, at daylight, we quitted our hos- 

 pitable host, and were marched on towards Laval, a tolerably large town on 

 the Mayenne, renowned for its linen manufactories. We arrived about 5 in 

 the evening, and were kept some time in the market-place, as a spectacle for 

 the inhabitants, before we were shown to our respective places for the night. 

 Some of the people, who could speak English, came to inform us that our 

 gracious sovereign had been dead several days, and that the result would be a 

 general peace. We spurned at their intelligence, and assured them we did 

 not give it the smallest credit. From Laval, we passed through Prezen paille 

 to Alencon, where we arrived on the evening of the 5th. We rested here 24 

 hours. The lieutenants, midshipmen, &c., on the 7th, in the morning, were 

 marched the Paris route ; the adjutants and half the ship's company towards 

 Rouen, on the northern route to Charlemonte, in the department of the 

 Ardennes. I confess this separation grieved me extremely — parting with my 

 messmates and friends, in a foreign country, together with the imposition, and 

 injustice, of being treated in an inferior degree to my brother officers, could 

 not fail of producing that effect of depression so natural to the human mind. 

 From Alencon we passed 'through Sees, Bernay, and several small villages to 

 Rouen, where we arrived at about 2 in the afternoon of the 12th. We were 

 all put into the common jail ; and I must not pass over a circumstance that 

 had happened in the morning prior to our arrival : trivial as it was it will give 

 the reader an idea of French liberality. At about 9 in the morning, we had 

 halted in a village on the banks of the Seine, to get some refreshment ; the 

 only things we could procure were bread and eggs, which were served up with 

 large pewter spoons ; I observed to the French officer, that a small spoon 

 would be much more convenient ; upon which he asked the old lady of the 

 house if she had any ; she replied in the affirmative, opened a large coffer, 

 and took out six silver tea spoons, which she placed on the table. We finished 

 our repast, called for the bill, and found that this parsimonious old wretch had 

 charged us, though poor prisoners, a penny each for the use of the tea spoons. 

 The officer, quite amazed, asked her, what she could mean by such a demand ; 

 She replied, with sang froid, " You sec those Englishmen are so particulars 

 they cannot eat like other people. My spoons have not been out of my chest 

 for a number of years ; and I am deteiinined they shall pay for the trouble 

 they put me to." We of course paid her, and wished her a good morning. I 

 observed a number of brigs, and small craft, lying up at Rouen, in a dismantled 

 and neglected state, and could not help expressing my astonishment to one of 

 the Frenchmen, who were confined with us, that those vessels should not have 

 been equipped and sent to sea, or have been employed in some commercial 



