I believe that my gentlemanly ideas were innate, Mr Simple; I
never, as a child, could bear the idea of the merchant service. After I
had been a week on board, I was appointed servant to the purser, where I
gave such satisfaction by my alertness and dexterity, that the first
lieutenant took me away from the purser to attend upon himself, so that
in two months I was a person of such consequence as to create a
disturbance in the gunroom, for the purser was very angry, and many of
the officers took his part. It was whispered that I was the son of the
first lieutenant, and that he was aware of it. How far that may be true
I know not, but there was a likeness between us; and my mother, who was
a very pretty woman, attended his ship many years before as a bumboat
girl. I can't pretend to say anything about it, but this I do say, Mr
Simple--and many will blame me for it, but I can't help my natural
feelings--that I had rather be the bye-blow of a gentleman, than the
'gitimate offspring of a boatswain and his wife. There's no chance of
good blood in your veins in the latter instance, whereas, in the former
you may have stolen a drop or two. It so happened, that after I had
served the first lieutenant for about a year, a young lord (I must not
mention his name, Mr Simple) was sent to sea by his friends, or by his
own choice, I don't know which, but I was told that his uncle, who was
'zeckative, and had an interest in his death, persuaded him to go. A
lord at that period, some twenty-five years ago, was a rarity in the
service, and they used to salute him when he came on board.
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