i" c 



d'y 



LETTERS OF A CITIZEN. 495 



could say a good deal about ray manoeuvring* that is better unsaid* 

 For instance, I told him to buy a sixty dollar gun, and he bought 

 one for fifty-five dollars, so I wouldn't allow the bill because he 

 did not follow orders. Ha ! ha ! he ! Oh ! wasn't that capital 1 

 But it wouldn't tell well, you know ; and this is a mere sample of 

 what he might disclose. 



Wilkes (after a long and dubious pause). Well, let him pass, 

 then ; but Hale we can't let him go. We have hired an inter- 

 preter who Will be of ten times the service of all the filly what 



e call 'em -fillyologists in Christendom. 



Dicker son. You're right. That department should have been 

 vetoed at first. I once heard a New-Zealander, who had come to 

 this country in a whale-ship, talk his native dialect, and I don't 

 hesitate to aver that I never heard such unmeaning lingo in my 

 life. Ain't our very newspapers written in half a dozen different 

 languages already? I assure you I wouldn't willingly be the 

 cause of introducing any more ; but Duponceau, Professor Anthon, 

 the Honourable John Pickering, and others, have pushed this Hale 

 very hard in their letters, some of which have just been received, 

 and were written, you know, Poinsett, since our young commander 

 said he didn't think him worth the room he would take up. 



Poinsett. I'll fix it so as to let him go. I would not like to 

 come under the lash of the men who back him. 



Wilkes (half grumbling). Well, I won't object, since I'm to 

 have the honour of all the writings. I can write pretty well, that's 

 a fact ; though I don't know much about that humbug they call 

 grammar. 



Poinsett. I have already scratched out Randall's name. What 

 say you to the comparative anatomist, Dr. R. Coates ? He is 

 highly recommended, and is said to be extensively and most fa- 

 vourably known to the profession. 



Dickerson. Comparative nonsense ! We don't want any such 

 supernumerary. It's the business of the purser's steward to cut up 

 the meat on board a man-of-war, according to the revised code of 

 navy regulations which I approved : is it not so, Wilkes ? You 

 know. 



Wilkes. Yes, governor, you're right; it is the business of the 

 purser's steward ; but you omitted one circumstance. The quar- 

 termaster, you know, stands by to see justice done; and, when one 



