CAPTAIN MACNAMARA 229 



as thoughts sometimes will do unaccountably — as the 

 poet so beautifully likens them to the distant thunder in 

 the dying wind — and I as instantly resolved to act ujDon 

 it. It was this : In my early manhood I had attended a 

 ball at the Benevolent Society's rooms at Portsea, where 

 I had met many of the dockyard officials and their 

 families, also some of the most respectable tradesmen in 

 the town. There were generally a few naval officers 

 present, and they were mostly, with one or two exceptions, 

 of the civil department — that is, doctors and pursers. 

 The admission was by tickets. On one occasion the 

 room was crowded with beautv, if not fashion : the music 

 was delightful ; the votaries of terpsichore were giving 

 full play to their ecstatic enjoyment — the evening was 

 advancino:, when, hearins; some rather loud talkins', I 

 turned my head toAvards the folding doors that formed the 

 entrance, and saw there a post-captain in full uniform, 

 whom I immediately knew to be the celebrated duellist 

 Captain Macnamara. He had hold of the arm of a tall 

 oentleman, whom I also knew as Mr. Butt, one of the 

 highest officials in the Xavy Pay Office.^ The music 

 ceased as well as the dancinir : and two of the stewards 

 walked ujd to know what was the cause of this inteiTup- 

 tion, when the doorkeeper informed them that Captain 

 Macnamara had insisted on being admitted without a 

 ticket. This caused no little altercation, during- which 

 one of the stewards denounced such conduct as unbecom- 

 ing a gentleman. The captain, asserting that this was 

 language he was not accustomed to, said that he should 



^ This is the same gentleman Avho shared the fortunes of Lord 

 Cochrane in the famous Stock Exchange trial. 



