BRANDY AND SEA SICKNESS. 207 



great men ; — and so was Homer and Virgil — but they were poets, 

 yes, yes, I know all about it. But what can any body say more 

 than this? we are all equal, all Got's children. I haf ten thou- 

 sand a year, but I am no more than the meanest man alive. I haf 

 no pride ; and yet, my dear friend, I can say, do, and it is done. 

 Ha, ha, ha ! my dear friend ; Now dhere is dhat gentleman {point- 

 ing to " Nobility") he is a Swedish baron — you shall see. Ho ! 

 {calling to the Swede) get me will you, a bottle of wine from the 

 cabin. Swede. — Here, Jack, go and get your master a bottle of 

 wine from the cabin. Dane. No, no, no, do i/ou go now — you 

 go yourself — i/ou go now. Swede. Pah! Dane. Now go, 

 go, I pray you. And the Swede went! 



He retired to his cabin, and I wrapped myself up in my great 

 coat, and looked at the water. A beautiful white cloud of foam at 

 momentary intervals coursed by the side of the vessel with a roar, 

 and little stars of flame danced and sparkled and went out in it : 

 and every now and then light detachments of this white cloud-like 

 foam darted off from the vessel's side, each with "its own small 

 constellation, over the sea, and scoured out of sight like a Tartar 

 troop over a wilderness. 



It was cold, the cabin was at open war with my olfactories, 

 and I found reason to rejoice in my great coat, a weighty high- 

 caped, respectable rug, the collar of which turned over, and played 

 the part of a night-cap very passably. In looking up at two or 

 three bright stars, which oscillated with the motion of the sails, I 

 fell asleep, but was awakened at one o'clock, Monday morning, 

 by a shower of rain. I found myself compelled to go down into 

 the cabin, where I slept very soundly, and awoke with a very 

 good appetite at breakfast time, my nostrils, the most placable of 

 all the senses, reconciled to, or indeed insensible of, the mephitis. 

 Monday, September 17th, I had a long conversation with the 

 Swede, who spoke with the most poignant contempt of the Dane, 

 whom he described as a fool, purse-mad ; but he confirmed the 

 boasts of the Dane respecting the largeness of his fortune, which 

 he had acquired in the first instance as an advocate, and after- 

 wards as a planter. From the Dane and from himself I collected 

 that he was indeed a Swedish nobleman, who had squandered a 

 fortune, that was never very large, and had made over his pro- 

 perty to the Dane, on whom he was now utterly dependent. He 

 was in Ingh degree humane and attentive to the English lady, 

 who suffered most fearfully, and for whom he performed many 

 little offices with a tenderness and delicacy which seemed to prove 



