Frederick Marryat

“ Had Newton been alone in the world, or his father able to support himself, he would have immediately applied to Captain Carrington to receive him in some capacity on board of his frigate, or have entered on board of some other man-of-war. Newton’s heart was too generous, and his mind too truly English, not to bound when he read or heard of the gallant encounters between the vessels of the rival nations, and he longed to be one of the many thousands so diligently employed in twining the wreath of laurel round their country’s brow. ”

“ All was now ready—but to leave Jackson to be washed away by the returning tide, when the brig would unquestionably go to pieces?—Newton could not do it. True, he had sought his life, and still displayed the most inveterate rancour towards him; and Newton felt convinced that no future opportunity would occur, that his enemy would not profit by, to insure his destruction. Yet to leave him—a murderer!—with all his sins upon his soul, to be launched so unprepared into the presence of an offended Creator!—it was impossible—it was contrary to his nature, and to the religion which he professed. ”

“ I know not how thy power has been bestowed upon thee; yet, if to harmonise the feelings, to allow the thoughts to spring without control, rising like the white vapour from the cottage hearth, on a morning that is sunny and serene;—if to impart that sober sadness over the spirit, which inclines us to forgive our enemy, that calm philosophy which reconciles us to the ingratitude and knavery of the world, that heavenly contemplation whispering to us, as we look around, that “All is good;”—if these be merits, they are thine, most potent weed. ”

“ When we approach the dwelling containing, or supposed to contain, an object of solicitude, of whose existence we are uncertain, what a thrill of anxiety pervades the frame! how quickened is the throbbing of the heart! how checked the respiration! Thus it was with Newton Forster as he raised his hand to the latch of the door. He opened it, and the first object which delighted his eyes was his father seated upon a high stool smoking his pipe, in the company of two veterans of the hospital, who had brought their old bones to an anchor upon a large trunk. ”

“ How little money need be expended to teach a child, and yet what a quantity of books we have to pay for! Amber had hardly ever looked into a book, and yet she knew more, that is, had more general useful knowledge than others who were twice her age. How small was Edward Forster’s little parlour—how humble the furniture it contained!—a carpet, a table, a few chairs, a small China vase, as an ornament, on the mantle-piece. How few were the objects brought to Amber’s view in their small secluded home! The plates and knives for dinner, a silver spoon or two, and their articles of wearing apparel. ”

“ He was now a very tolerable French scholar, and his narratives and adventures were to his benefactors a source of amusement, which amply repaid them for the trouble and kindness which they had shown to him. Newton was, in fact, a general favourite with every one on the plantation, from the highest to the lowest; and his presence received the same smile of welcome at the cottage of the slave, as at the boudoir of Madame de Fontanges. ”

“ And how do you like your berth here?”
“Why, Newton, I get on much better than I did at Bristol.”
“It be Liverpool he mean, Mr Newton; but your good father be a little damaged in his upper works; his memory-box is like a sieve.—Come, Bill, we be two too many. When father and son meet after a India voyage, there be much to say as wants no listeners.—Good-bye, Mr Forster; may you never want a son, and may he never want a ship!” ”

“ Had not one of my uncles hastened to the relief of the vessel in distress, and the other protected your little girl after his death, she would not have been now in existence. My gratitude for your kindness induced me to remain by your ship, and subsequently to rescue you from the pirate, or you would not have now been a prisoner in this country—an evil which, under divine Providence, has been changed to a blessing, by restoring to you your daughter. We have all, I trust, done our duty, and this happy issue is our full reward. ”

“ Newton’s sword had just been passed through the body of a tall powerful man, who had remained uninjured in the front of the opposing party since the commencement of the action, when his fall discovered to Newton’s view the captain of the vessel, whose voice had been so often heard, but who had hitherto been concealed from his sight by the athletic form which had just fallen by his hand. What was his astonishment and his indignation when he found himself confronted by one whom he had long imagined to have been summoned to answer for his crimes—his former inveterate enemy, Jackson! ”

“ As soon as it was dark, he rose, and first listening to the breathing of his comrade, who appeared to be in a sound slumber, he walked away from him about one hundred yards, so that it would be difficult to find him; he placed the handspike under his head for a pillow, and worn out with; mental and bodily fatigue, was soon in a state of oblivion.
His sleep, although profound for three or four hours was subsequently restless. The mind, when agitated, watches for the body, and wakes it at the time when it should be on the alert. Newton woke up: it was not yet daylight, and all was hushed. ”

“ Newton walked aft, and the first person he met was the dubash who had attended the Bombay Castle. The cheeks of Newton flushed, and his heart throbbed quick, and his lips quivered, as he asked intelligence of the colonel and his family.
“Colonel Saib quite well, sir. Two ladies marry officer.”
“Which two?” demanded Newton, eagerly.
“Not know how call Bibi Saib’s names. But one not marry—she very handsome—more handsome than all.”
The heart of Newton bounded at this intelligence, as he knew that it must be Isabel who was still a spinster. ”

“ The sugar-mills, stables of mules, boilers, coolers, etcetera, were all examined, and the party returned to the plantation house.
“Well, captain, now you have witnessed what is termed slavery, what is your opinion? Are your philanthropists justified in their invectives against us?”
“First assure me that all other plantations are as well regulated as your own,” replied Mr Berecroft.
“If not, they soon will be: it is the interest of all the planters that they should; and by that, like all the rest of the world, they will be guided.” ”

“ Those stars now studding the firmament in such apparent confusion, will there appear in all their regularity, as worlds revolving in their several orbits, round suns that gladden them with light and heat, all in harmony, all in beauty, rejoicing as they roll their destined course in obedience to the Almighty fiat; one vast, stupendous, and, to the limits of our present senses, incomprehensible mechanism, perfect in all its parts, most wonderful in the whole. Nor do I doubt it: it is but reasonable to suppose it. He that hath made this world and all upon it, can have no limits to His power. ”

“ A poor man may go to sea, because he stands a chance to come home rich; but a man who has money in hand and in prospect, if he goes to sea, he is a fool. Follow your profession as long as you require it, but no longer.”
“Why then do you work so hard, my dear sir,” said Isabel, leaning over the old gentleman, and kissing him, in gratitude for his decision. “Surely you can afford to relax a little now?”
“Why do I work so hard, Isabel?” replied Mr Forster, looking up at her through his spectacles. “Why you expect to have a family, do you not?” ”

“ There is a serious responsibility on a captain of an Indiaman, who takes charge of perhaps a dozen young women, who are to be cooped up for months in the same ship with as many young men. Love, powerful every where, has on the waters even more potent sway, hereditary I presume, from his mother’s nativity. Idleness is the friend of love; and passengers have little or nothing to do to while away the tedium of a voyage. ”

“ Men are the same every where. But, sir, it is the misfortune of this world, that we never know when to stop. The abolition of the slave-trade was an act of humanity, worthy of a country acting upon an extended scale like England; but your philanthropists, not content with relieving the blacks, look forward to the extermination of their own countrymen, the whites—who, upon the faith and promise of the nation, were induced to embark their capital in these islands.”
“Doubtless they wish to abolish slavery altogether,” replied Berecroft. ”

“ Mrs Beazeley, the housekeeper, has become inert and querulous from rheumatism and the burden of added years. A little girl, daughter of Robinson, the fisherman has been called in to perform her duties, while she basks in the summer’s sun or hangs over the winter’s fire. Edward Forster’s whole employment and whole delight has long been centred in his darling child, whose beauty of person, quickness of intellect, generous disposition, and affectionate heart, amply repay him for his kind protection.
Of all chapters which can be ventured upon, one upon education is perhaps the most tiresome. ”

“ As soon as the Windsor Castle was hove-to, the courses of the enemy were seen to flutter a few moments in the breeze, and then the canvas was expanded. When the vessel had gathered sufficient way, she hove in stays, and crossed the Windsor Castle on the opposite tack.
“I thought so,” observed Captain Oughton. “The fellow knows what he is about. He’ll not ‘put his head in chancery,’ that’s clear. How cautious the rascal is! It’s very like the first round of a fight—much manoeuvring and wary sparring before they begin to make play.” ”

“ Every part of her hull proved the severe and well directed fire of the enemy; her sails were as ragged as Jeremy Didler’s pocket-handkerchief; her remaining masts pitted with shot; the bulwarks torn away in several places; the boats on the booms in shivers; rigging cut away fore and aft, and the ends swinging to and fro with the motion of the vessel; her decks in confusion; and some of her guns, from necessity, deserted. Captain Oughton, Newton, and the rest of the officers, continued to encourage the men, giving them assistance in working the guns ”

“ Mr John Forster heard him without interruption.
“Very nice girl, I dare say, nephew, but you are too young to marry. You can’t marry and go to sea. Follow your profession, Newton; speculate in opium—I’ll find the means.”
“I trust, sir, that I never should speculate in marrying; but, had I acted on that plan, this would prove the best speculation of the two. Miss Revel has a very large fortune.”
“So much the worse: a man should never be indebted to his wife for his money—they never forget it. I’d rather you had fallen in love with a girl without a shilling.” ”

“ I never bet,” answered the colonel, turning away.
“What do you think of her, Mr Mathews?” said Captain Drawlock to the first-mate, who had his eye on the ship.
“She is English built and English rigged, sir, that I’ll swear; look at her lower yard-arms, the squaring of her topsails. She may be French now, but the oak in her timbers grew in old England.”
“I agree with you,” said Newton: look at the rake of her stern; she’s English all over.
“Then why don’t she answer the private signal?” said Captain Drawlock. ”

“ On sailed the boat, left to the steerage of Providence; on slept Newton, as if putting firm reliance on the same. It was not until the break of day that his repose was very abruptly broken by a shock, which threw him from the stern-sheets of the boat, right over the aftermost thwart. Newton recovered his legs and his senses, and found himself alongside of a vessel. He had run stem on to a small schooner, which was lying at anchor. ”

“ The wish of Madame de Fontanges to detain Newton was, as she declared, a caprice on her part, which had entered her head, to amuse herself by teaching him French. It is true that had not Newton been remarkably prepossessing in his appearance, the idea would in all probability have never been conceived; but, observing that he was much above the common class, and wishing to relieve the general monotony of her life by any thing which would create amusement, she had formed the idea, which, when combated by her husband, was immediately strengthened to a resolution. ”

“ The fact was, that Nicholas Forster, like many other husbands, although his wife had been a source of constant annoyance, had become so habituated to her, that he was miserable now that she was gone. Habit is more powerful than even love; and many a married couple continue to live comfortably together long after love has departed, from this most binding of all human sensations. Nicholas determined to quit Overton; and Newton, who perceived that his father’s happiness was at stake, immediately acquiesced in his wish. ”

“ A loud shout from the forecastle of the Windsor Castle announced that the English seamen were but too well aware of their desperate situation, and that they hailed the misfortune of the Frenchmen as their deliverance.
“Now, my lads, be smart,” cried Newton, as he sprang aft to the wheel, and put up the helm; “man the flying jib-halyards (the jib was under the forefoot) ; let go the main-top bowling; square the main-yard. That will do; she’s paying off. Man your guns; half a dozen broadsides, and it’s all our own.” ”

“ Mr Berecroft, who perceived the effect of the arrack punch, could not refrain from laughing as he replied, “Well, your friend Mr Kingston, is he not free?”
“Free! not half so free as that slave boy who stands behind your chair. Why, he is a merchant, and whether he lives upon a scale of princely expenditure, whether wholesale or retail, banker or proprietor of a chandler’s shop, he is a speculator. Anxious days and sleepless nights await upon speculation. A man with his capital embarked, who may be a beggar on the ensuing day, cannot lie down upon roses: he is the slave of Mammon. ”