32 COLLOQUY 



one who was sure to rise in the service, for he could 

 assume the officer and the gentleman, as well as any of 

 'em, and he again expressed the pleasure he should have 

 on seeing him. 



" AVell," I said, " I am sure the pleasure would be 

 reciprocal. I will write to him, and tell him of the 

 discovery I have made." 



" Do," he said, " and bring him down with ye, I shall 

 be delighted to see him again." 



With this short and elegant colloquy, I rose to leave ; 

 but this the doctor would not allow till I had tasted his 

 home-brewed. He set the example, by helping himself 

 from the foaming pitcher, and swallowing two tumblers 

 full in such quick time, that I almost fancied I could hear 

 the liquid hiss as it went down. The copper's hot this 

 morning, I thought, as I deliberately drank mine, and 

 then made my exit, not a little gratified at hearing such 

 an eulogy on one united to me by ties of unbroken 

 aftection, although from the lips of one of the most 

 unpolished orators I had ever heard. 



I did as I promised, and it was not long before my 

 brother, attending to my summons, came from Hampshire, 

 and joyfully took his seat by my side. He had always 

 entertained a better opinion of both my heart and under- 

 standing than I did myself, — perhaps far better than T 

 deserved ; and never suffered the regard and esteem we 

 had for each other to be damaged by any word or deed 

 of his, much less by any change in my fortune. 



On our way down to Redbourn he told me this 

 doctor was a very extraordinary character ; that when 

 on board the Gyane, after the action with the French 



