PRIDE. 41 



deck to take an altitude at noon, his venom 

 would display itself in some arrogant ex- 

 pressions on the inequality of our births ; 

 and my angry, and sometimes pithy, allu- 

 sions to his gross ignorance would excite 

 general sympathy, while some happy tra- 

 vestie on his high-sounding name would 

 create the laughter of our superior officers. 

 Another, with whom I was more imme- 

 diately associated, for he was one of the 

 three committed to the care of the gunner, 

 was a true scion of the aristocracy, had 

 some pretensions to the birth of a gentle- 

 man, and would be possessed, on coming of 

 age, of considerable property. This hero in 

 embryo would take frequent opportunities 

 of showing his personal dislike, as well as 

 his contempt, for all beneath him in birth 

 and connections. He was my superior in 

 age by two or three years, and I should 

 have fared badly with this haughty, su- 

 percilious boy, as he then was, had it not 

 been for the fellow-feeling, that afterwards 



