8 PREFACE 



my head without their ever being offered to me, 

 I exchanged to half -pay, and received two hmidred 

 and fifty pounds for the diiference, between that 

 and my full pay. The greatest part of this sum 

 was appropriated to the payment of the debts 

 which I had contracted in Germany; by being 

 obliged to keep a number of horses and servants, 

 to enable me to attend his Lordship on all occa- 

 sions. 



In the Spring of 1765 I made an excursion to 

 Scotland, to indulge my insatiable propensity for 

 shooting: but I soon found that two shillings and 

 fourpence a day, was too small an income to enable 

 me to live in a Baronet 's country seat, and to keep 

 a female companion, two servants, a couple of 

 horses, and three brace of dogs. As my pocket 

 would not permit me to have any dealings with 

 the butcher, myself and family were compelled to 

 fast, when neither m}^ gun nor fishing rod would 

 supply us with provisions. No sooner did my 

 resources fail, by the scarcity of fish and game 

 at the approach of winter, than I made an auction 

 of all my furniture, and returned to London by 

 sea with the lady and dogs. 



London being no place for a man of my scanty 

 circumstances to remain in, I soon went down to 

 Plymouth, where my brother John then com- 

 manded the Sherborne Cutter, and cruised with 

 him against the smugglers, until he was dis- 

 charged from that vessel, and appointed first lieu- 

 tenant of the Guernsey, of fifty guns, then lying 

 at Spit Head and bound for Newfoundland; on 



