164 AN ADMIRAL 



which I did — l)ut they had no such person. As we pro- 

 ceeded, he every now and then gave vent to feelings that 

 seemed ahnost to overpower him. First he woukl con- 

 demn the conduct of his son as most culpable, as unworthy 

 the scion of an ancient family as well as the son of a 

 distinguished naval officer, as totally subversive of the 

 benefits that awaited him, and as contrary to what he 

 expected and intended when he first sent him to college. 

 Then he would blame himself in no very measured 

 language. 



" I have committed a great mistake, sir," said he to 

 me — " I ought to have made a sailor of him, and a parson 

 of the other" — alluding to his brother; "he is a meek, 

 unassuming youth, that had nothing to say for himself on 

 board ship ; while this, sir, Avould knock the devil down, 

 let alone a proctor, if he offended him." 



But it would require the pen of a Dickens to describe 

 the ebullitions of anger that escaped him at the miscon- 

 duct of his son. At one breath he Avould avow the most 

 implacable vengeance, while with the next he would say 

 he was " a d high-spirited fellow." He kept coup- 

 ling the unhappy error he had committed in the choice of 

 professions for his sons with a conviction of the heinous 

 offence one of them had been guilty of ; now called down 

 execrations upon him, and then accused his own folly in 

 the most opprobrious terms. 



At length, when this painful excitement had exhausted 

 itself, for want, probably, of fresh fuel, he quietly 

 inquired, — 



" Do you know where I could get a pair of horses like 

 these you are driving ? " 



