THE CAPTAIN. 149 



" Sweet in temper, fail' in favour, 

 Mild in manner, firm in fight ; 

 Baron, nobler, gentler, braver, 

 Never shall behold the light." 



The Captain. How shall I describe the Captain ? If 

 the Captain wanted shirts, he would proceed to a haber- 

 dasher's and order home a hundred dozen. If the Captain 

 took a fancy for oysters, he would purchase a schooner 

 full. If his leaning was towards claret, he would negotiate 

 for the produce of a vineyard, He was hospitable, and 

 had a wife who adorned his home — hewas " sui profusus," 

 but he was not "' alieni ap'petens" unless the " chose in 

 action " was a sporting salmon, in which case impartiality 

 compels me to record my opinion, that he would rather 

 prefer to hook and kill the fish himself than that any other 

 individual in the wide world should do so, and small blame 

 to him. He was an exceedingly agreeable companion, 

 highly educated, had served in various parts of the world 

 while very young — during one of his campaigns in a far 

 distant and distracted land I first met him, was a hand- 

 some man and knew it, rather impatient when everything 

 did not go quite right, tard soit peu argumentative, and a 

 little unmanageable when unadvisedly contradicted. Like 

 many others, he was apt, if the wind was easterly, to 

 magnify disagreeable mole-hills into mountains of mis- 

 fortune ; and he, who would face fearlessly the raging bear, 

 jump boldly at a yawning mountain chasm, or swim a 

 swollen torrent in his clothes, would occasionally suffer 



