BIOGRAPHY OF THE VICTORY'S CREW. cxliii 



of him, however, a letter came from his wife, of which the following is a copy, and which 

 closed the transaction. 



April 9, 1S29. 

 Sir, 



I have just found out that my husband has made an engagement with you 



to join your expedition, through a dream, uithout consullhig i/te ; I must beg to tell you, 



sir, that he shall not go — I will not let him have his clothes. He must be mad ever to 



think of leaving a comfortable home, to be frozen in with ice, or torn to pieces with 



bears ; therefore, I am determined he shall not leave Gosport, so I hope you will not 



expect him. 



Yours, Sir, &c., and so forth, 



MARY" L. 



The interest which the expedition excited, was indeed intense; but it was nothing 

 compared to the feeling which was every where roused by our arrival. Subscriptions 

 were proposed, and it was believed that 20,000/. might easily have been raised, but 

 Ministers took up the cause so liberally as to induce me to depend solely on them, by, in 

 the first instance, paying the men their double wages until the ship was lost, a,nd full wages 

 up to the day of their arrival — which was far more than they were entitled to by law under 

 any circumstances — and with this they had every reason to be contented, for in fact they 

 were entitled to nothing after the mutiny of the John ; they all agreed by acclamation to 

 I nil all risks for the promise of double pay if they succeeded, or nothing if not. y\y 

 nephew Commander Ross, was put on full pay for a year, and then to receive his promo- 

 tion. Mr. Thom was appointed to the Canopus, and the Surgeon made full Surgeon in 

 the navy. And, although the remuneration which I received was small, compared to what 

 I might have had by a subscription, it was sufficient to cover my losses, and to enable me 

 to recover some of my property which had been sacrificed in my absence ; however, I had 

 an opportunity of refuting calumnies which had been industriously circulated against nie 

 for many years, and, above all, I had the honour of receiving valuable testimonials of high 

 approbation from almost every sovereign in Europe, as well as from our most excellent 

 King. 



