The
consequence was, that the young lord must have a servant to himself,
although all the rest of the midshipmen had but one servant between
them. The captain inquired who was the best boy in the ship, and the
purser, to whom he appealed, recommended me. Accordingly, much to the
annoyance of the first lieutenant (for first lieutenants in those days
did not assume as they do now, not that I refer to Mr Falcon, who is a
gentleman), I was immediately surrendered to his lordship. I had a very
easy, comfortable life of it--I did little or nothing; if inquired for
when all hands were turned up, I was cleaning his lordship's boots, or
brushing his lordship's clothes, and there was nothing to be said when
his lordship's name was mentioned. We went to the Mediterranean (because
his lordship's mamma wished it), and we had been there about a year,
when his lordship ate so many grapes that he was seized with a
dysentery. He was ill for three weeks, and then he requested to be sent
to Malta in a transport going to Gibraltar, or rather to the Barbary
coast, for bullocks. He became worse every day, and made his will,
leaving me all his effects on board, which I certainly deserved for the
kindness with which I had nursed him. Off Malta we fell in with a
xebeque, bound to Civita Vecchia, and the captain of the transport,
anxious to proceed, advised our going on board of her, as the wind was
light and contrary, and these Mediterranean vessels sailed better on a
wind than the transport.
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