VOLUME TWO, CHAPTER THIRTEEN.
Poor short-lived things! what plane we lay! Ah! why forsake our native home, To distant climates speed away. For self sticks close, where'er we roam.
Care follows hard, and soon o'ertakes The well-rigg'd ship; the warlike steed Her destin'd quarry ne'er forsakes: Nor the wind flees with half the speed. COWPER.
Newton, who had made every preparation, as soon as he had taken leave ofhis uncle, hastened to join his ship, which still remained at Gravesend,waiting for the despatches to be closed by the twenty-four leaden heads,presiding at Leadenhall Street. The passengers, with the exception oftwo, a Scotch presbyterian divine and his wife, were still on shore,divided amongst the inns of the town, unwilling until the last moment toquit terra firma for so many months of sky and water, daily receiving avisit from the captain of the ship, who paid his respects to them allround, imparting any little intelligence he might have received as tothe probable time of his departure.
When Newton arrived on board, he was received by the first-mate, arough, good-humoured, and intelligent man, about forty years of age, towhom he had already been introduced by the captain, on his previousappearance with the letter from the director.
"Well, Mr Forster, you're in very good time. As in all probability weshall be shipmates for a voyage or two, I trust that we shall be goodfriends. Now for your _traps_:" then turning round, he addressed, inthe Hindostanee language, two or three Lascars (fine olive-coloured men,with black curling bushy hair), who immediately proceeded to hoist inthe luggage.
The first-mate, with an "excuse me a moment" went forward to give somedirections to the English seamen, leaving Forster to look about him.What he observed, we shall describe for the benefit of our readers.
The Indiaman was a twelve hundred ton ship, as large as one of the smallclass seventy-four in the king's service, strongly built, with loftybulwarks, and pierced on the upper deck for eighteen guns, which weremounted on the quarter-deck and forecastle. Abaft, a poop, higher thanthe bulwarks, extended forward, between thirty and forty feet, underwhich was the cuddy or dining-room, and state-cabins, appropriated topassengers. The poop, upon which you ascended by ladders on each side,was crowded with long ranges of coops, tenanted by every variety ofdomestic fowl, awaiting in happy unconsciousness the day when theyshould be required to supply the luxurious table provided by thecaptain. In some, turkeys stretched forth their long necks, and tappedthe decks as they picked up some ant who crossed it, in his industry.In others, the crowing of cocks and calling of the hens were incessant:or the geese, ranged up rank and file, waited but the signal from one ofthe party to raise up a simultaneous clamour, which as suddenly wasremitted. Coop answered coop, in variety of discord, while thepoulterer walked round and round to supply the wants of so many hundredscommitted to his charge.
The booms before the main-mast were occupied by the large boats, whichhad been hoisted in preparatory to the voyage. They also composed aportion of the farm yard. The launch contained about fifty sheep,wedged together so close that it was with difficulty they could findroom to twist their jaws round, as they chewed the cud. Thestern-sheets of the barge and yawl were filled with goats and twocalves, who were the first destined victims to the butcher's knife;while the remainder of their space was occupied by hay and otherprovender, pressed down by powerful machinery into the smallest compass.The occasional baa-ing and bleating on the booms were answered by thelowing of three milch-cows between the hatchways of the deck below;where also were to be descried a few more coops, containing fowls andrabbits. The manger forward had been dedicated to the pigs; but, as thecables were not yet unbent or bucklers shipped, they at present wereconfined by gratings between the main-deck guns, where they grunted ateach passer-by, as if to ask for food.
The boats hoisted up on the quarters and the guys of the davits, towhich they were suspended, formed the kitchen gardens, from which thepassengers were to be supplied, and were loaded with bags containingonions, potatoes, turnips, carrots, beets, and cabbages, the latter intheir full round proportions, hanging in a row upon the guys, likestrings of heads, which had been demanded in the wrath or the caprice ofsome despot of Mahomed's creed.
Forster descended the ladder to the main-deck which he found equallyencumbered with cabins for the passengers, trunks and bedding belongingto them, and many other articles which had not yet found their way intothe hold, the hatches of which were open, and in which lanterns in everydirection partially dispelled the gloom, and offered to his view aconfused outline of bales and packages. Carpenters sawing deals,sail-makers roping the foot of an old mainsail, servants passing to andfro with dishes, Lascars jabbering in their own language, British seamendamning their eyes, as usual, in plain English, gave an idea ofconfusion and want of method to Newton Forster, which, in a short time,he acknowledged himself to have been premature in having conceived.Where you have to provide for such a number, to separate the luggage ofso many parties, from the heavy chest to the fragile bandbox, to take incargo, and prepare for sea, all at the same time, there must beapparently confusion. In a few days every thing finds its place; and,what is of more consequence, is itself to be found as soon as it may berequired.
According to the regulations on board of East India ships, Forstermessed below with the junior mates, midshipmen, surgeon's assistant,etcetera; the first and second mates only having the privilege ofconstantly appearing at the captain's table; while the others receivebut an occasional invitation. Forster soon became on intimate termswith his shipmates. As they will however appear upon the stage whenrequired to perform their parts, we shall at present confine ourselvesto a description of the captain and the passengers.
Captain Drawlock was a man of about fifty years of age. Report saidthat in his youth he had been wild, and some of his contemporarycommanders in the service were wont to plague him by narrating diversfreaks of former days, the recollection of which would create any thingbut a smile upon his face. Whether report and the other captains werecorrect or not in their assertions, Captain Drawlock was in appearancequite a different character at the time we introduce him. He was ofsedate aspect, seldom smiled, and appeared to be wrapt up in theimportance of the trust confided to him, particularly with respect tothe young women who were sent out under his protection. He talked muchof his responsibility, and divided the whole of his time between hischronometers and his young ladies; in both of which a trifling error wasa source of irritation. Upon any deviation on the part of either, thefirst were rated carefully, the latter were _rated soundly_; consideringthe safety of the ship to be endangered on the one hand, and thecharacter of his ship to be equally at stake on the other. It wasmaliciously observed that the latter were by far the more erratic of thetwo; and still more maliciously, that the austere behaviour on the partof Captain Drawlock was all pretence; that he was as susceptible as theyoungest officer in the ship; and that the women found it out longbefore the voyage was completed.
It has been previously mentioned that all the passengers were on shore,except two, a Presbyterian divine and his wife, the expenses attendingwhose passage out were provided for by a subscription which had been puton foot by some of the serious people of Glasgow, who prayed fervently,and enlivened their devotions with most excellent punch. The worthyclergyman (for worthy he was) thought of little else but his calling,and was a sincere, enthusiastic man, who was not to be checked by anyconsideration in what he considered to be his duty; but although herebuked, he rebuked mildly, and never lost his temper. Stern in hiscreed, which allowed no loophole by which the offender might escape,still there was a kindness and even a humility in his expostulation,which caused his zeal never to offend, and often to create seriousreflection. His wife was a tall, handsome woman, who evidently hadusurped an ascendancy over her husband in all points unconnected withhis calling. She too was devout; but hers was not the true religion,for it had not charity for its basis. She was clever and severe; spokeseldom; but the few words which escaped from h
er lips were sarcastic intheir tendency.
The passengers who still remained on shore were numerous. There was anold colonel, returning from a three years' furlough, the major part ofwhich had been spent at Cheltenham. He was an Adonis of sixty, withyellow cheeks and white teeth; a man who had passed through life doingnothing; had risen in his profession without having seen service, excepton one occasion, and of that circumstance he made the most. With a goodconstitution and happy temperament, constantly in society, andconstantly in requisition, he had grown old without being aware of it,and considered himself as much an object of interest with the other sexas he was formerly when a gay captain of five-and-twenty, with goodprospects. Amusing and easily amused, he had turned over the pages ofthe novel of life so uninterruptedly, that he had nearly arrived at thelast page without being conscious that the finis was at hand.
Then there were two cadets from the college, full of themselves andtheir own consequence, fitted out with plenty of money and plenty ofadvice, both of which were destined to be thrown away. There was also ayoung writer, who talked of his mother Lady Elizabeth, and other highrelations, who had despatched him to India, that he might be providedfor by a cholera morbus or a lucrative post; a matter of perfectindifference to those who had sent him from England. Then, let me see,oh! there were two officers of a regiment at St. Helena, with tonguesmuch longer than their purses; who in the forepart of the daycondescended to talk nonsense to the fairer of the other sex, and in theevening to win a few pounds from the weaker of their own.
But all these were nobodies in the eyes of Captain. Drawlock; they werea part of his cargo, for which he was not responsible. The importantpart of his consignment were four unmarried women; three of them wereyoung, good-looking, and poor; the other ill-favoured, old, but rich.
We must give precedence to wealth and age. The lady last mentioned wasa Miss Tavistock, born and educated in the city, where her father hadlong been at the head of the well-established firm of Tavistock,Bottlecock, and Company, Dyers, Callenderers, and Scourers. As webefore observed, she was the fortunate sole heiress to her father'saccumulation, which might amount to nearly thirty thousand pounds; buthad been little gifted by nature. In fact, she was what you may stylemost preposterously ugly; her figure was large and masculine; her hairred; and her face very deeply indented with the small pox. As a man,she would have been considered the essence of vulgarity; as a woman shewas the quintessence: so much so, that she had arrived at the age ofthirty-six without having, notwithstanding her property, received anyattentions which could be construed into an offer. As we always seekmost eagerly that which we find most difficult to obtain, she waspossessed with _une fureur de se marier_; and, as a last resource, hadresolved to go out to India, where she had been informed that "any thingwhite" was acceptable. This _passion_ for matrimony (for with her ithad so become, if not a disease) occupied her whole thoughts; but sheattempted to veil them by always pre tending to be extremely sensitiveand refined; to be shocked at any thing which had the slightest allusionto the "increase and multiply;" and constantly lamented the extremefragility of her constitution; to which her athletic bony frame gave sodetermined a lie, that her hearers were struck dumb with the barefacedassertion. Miss Tavistock had kept up a correspondence with an oldschoolmate, who had been taken away early to join her friends in India,and had there married. As her hopes of matrimony dwindled away, so didher affection for her old friend appear, by her letters, to increase.At last, in answer to a letter, in which she declared that she wouldlike to come out, and (as she had long made a resolution to continuesingle) adopt one of her friend's children, and pass her days with them,she received an answer, stating how happy they would be to receive her,and personally renew the old friendship, if indeed she could bepersuaded to venture upon so long and venturous a passage. Whether thisanswer was sincere or not, Miss Tavistock took advantage of theinvitation; and writing to intimate her speedy arrival, took her passagein the Bombay Castle.
The other three spinsters were sisters; Charlotte, Laura, and IsabelRevel, daughters of the Honourable Mr Revel, a _roue_ of excellentfamily, who had married for money, and had dissipated all his wife'sfortune except the marriage settlement of 600 pounds per annum. Theirmother was a selfish, short-sighted, manoeuvring woman, whose greatanxiety was to form establishments for her daughters, or, in otherterms, remove the expense of their maintenance from her own to theshoulders of other people, very indifferent whether the change mightcontribute to their happiness or not. Mr Revel may be said to havelong deserted his family; he lived nobody knew where, and seldom called,unless it was to "raise the wind," upon his wife, who by intreaties andthreats was necessitated to purchase his absence by a sacrifice of morethan half her income. Of his daughters he took little notice, when he_did_ make his appearance; and if so, it was generally in terms morecalculated to raise the blush of indignant modesty than to stimulate thenatural feelings of affection of a daughter towards a parent. Theirmother, whose income was not sufficient to meet the demands of aworthless husband, in addition to the necessary expenses attendant onthree grown-up women, was unceasing in her attempts to get them off herhands: but we will introduce a conversation which took place between herand a sedate-looking, powdered old gentleman, who had long beenconsidered as a "friend of the family," as thereby more light willperhaps be thrown upon her character.
"The fact is, my dear Mr Heaviside, that I hardly know what to do. MrRevel, who is very intimate with the theatre people, proposed that theyshould try their fortune on the stage. He says (and indeed there issome truth in it) that, now-a-days, the best plan for a man to makehimself popular, is to be sent to Newgate, and the best chance that agirl has of a coronet, is to become an actress. Well, I did not muchlike the idea; but at last I consented. Isabel, my youngest, is, youknow, very handsome in her person, and sings remarkably well, and wearranged that she should go on first; and if she succeeded, that hersister Charlotte should follow her; but Isabel is of a very obstinatedisposition, and when we proposed it to her, she peremptorily refused,and declared that she would go out as governess, or any thing ratherthan consent. I tried what coaxing would do, and her father triedthreatening; but all was in vain. This was about a year ago, and she isnow only seventeen; but she ever was a most decided, a most obstinatecharacter."
"Very undutiful, indeed, ma'am; she might have been a duchess beforethis:--a very foolish girl, indeed, ma'am," observed the gentleman.
"Well, Mr Heaviside, we then thought that Charlotte, our eldest, hadthe next best chance of success. Although not by any means sogood-looking as her sister; indeed, to tell you the truth, MrHeaviside, which I would not do to every body,--but I know that you cankeep a secret, Charlotte is now nearly thirty years old, and her sisterLaura only one year younger."
"Is it possible, madam!" replied Mr Heaviside, looking at the lady withwell feigned astonishment.
"Yes, indeed," replied the lady, who had forgotten that in telling herdaughters' secrets, she had let out her own; "but I was married soyoung, so very young, that I am almost ashamed to think of it. Well,Mr Heaviside, as I was saying, although not so good--looking as hersister, Mr Revel, who is a good judge in these matters, declared thatby the theatre lights Charlotte would be reckoned a very fine woman. Weproposed it to her, and, after a little pouting, she consented; the onlydifficulty was, whether she should attempt tragedy or comedy. Herfeatures were considered rather too sharp for comedy, and her figure notquite tall enough for tragedy. She herself preferred tragedy, whichdecided the point; and Mr Revel, who knows all the actors, persuadedMr Y--- (you know whom I mean, the great tragic actor) to come here,and give his opinion of her recitation. Mr Y--- was excessivelypolite; declared that she was a young lady of great talent; but that aslight lisp, which she has, unfitted her most decidedly for tragedy. Ofcourse it was abandoned for comedy, which she studied some time; andwhen we considered her competent, Mr Revel had interest enough toinduce the great Mr M--- to come and give his opinion. Charlottepe
rformed her part as I thought remarkably well, and when she hadfinished she left the room, that Mr M--- might not be checked by herpresence from giving me his unbiassed opinion."
"Which was favourable, ma'am, I presume; for, if not fitted for the one,she naturally must have been fit for the other."
"So I thought," replied the lady, to this polite _non sequitur_ of thegentleman. "But Mr M--- is a very odd man, and, if I must say it, notvery polite. What do you think, Mr Heaviside, as soon as she left theroom he rose from his chair, and, twisting up the corner of his mouth,as he looked me in the face, he said, `Madam, it is my opinion that yourdaughter's comedy, whenever she makes her appearance on the boards,will, to use a Yankee expression, _be most particularly damned_! I wishyou a very good morning.'"
"Very rude indeed, madam; most excessively unpolite of Mr M---. Ishould not have thought it possible."
"Well, Mr Heaviside, as for Laura; poor thing! you are aware that sheis not quite so clever as she might be; she never had any memory: when achild, she never could recollect the evening hymn if she missed it twonights running; so that acting was out of the question with her. Sothat all my hopes of their forming a splendid establishment by thatchannel have vanished. Now, my dear Mr Heaviside, what would youpropose?"
"Why, really, ma'am, it is so difficult to advise in these times; but,if anxious to dispose of your daughters, why not send them out toIndia?"
"We have thought of it several times; for Mr Revel has an uncle thereunmarried, and they say very rich. He is a colonel in the Bombaymarine, I believe."
"More probably in the Bengal army, ma'am."
"Well, I believe you are right; but I know it's in the Company'sservice. But the old gentleman hates my husband, and will not have anything to say to him. I did write a very civil letter to him, in which Ijust hinted how glad one or two of my daughters would be to take care ofhis house; but he never condescended to give me an answer. I am toldthat he is a very unpleasant man."
"A difficult thing to advise, ma'am, very difficult indeed! but I cantell you a circumstance which occurred about five years ago, when asimilar application to a relative in India was made by a friend of mine.It was no more attended to than yours has been. Nevertheless, as itwas supposed the answer had miscarried, the young lady was sent out toher relative with a decent equipment, and a letter of introduction. Herrelation was very much surprised: but what could he do? he could notpermit the young lady to remain without a roof over her head; so hereceived her; and as he did not like to say how he had been treated, heheld his tongue. The young lady in the course of three months, made avery good match; and is, to my knowledge, constantly sending home Indiashawls and other handsome presents to her mother."
"Indeed, Mr Heaviside, then do you advise--"
"It is difficult, extremely difficult to advise upon so nice a point. Ionly state the fact, my dear madam: I should think the colonel must feelthe want of female society; but, God bless me! it's nearly twoo'clock.--Good morning, my dear Mrs Revel--good morning."
"Good morning, my dear Mr Heaviside; it's very kind of you to call inthis sociable way, and chat an hour or two.--Good morning."
The result of the above conversation was a consultation between MrRevel and his wife upon their first meeting. Mr Revel was delightedwith the plan, not so much caring at the disposal of his daughters as hewas pleased with the idea of annoying his uncle, from whom he, at onetime, had had great expectations: but, as it was necessary to becircumspect, especially with Isabel, Mr Revel took the opportunity of asubsequent visit to state that he had received a letter from his unclein India, wishing one of his daughters to go out and live with him. Ina few months he read another letter (composed by himself, and copied inanother hand), earnestly desiring that they might all come out to him,as it would be much to their advantage. The reluctance of the twoeldest was removed by pointing out the magnificent establishments theymight secure: the consent of Isabel by a statement of difficulty anddebt on the part of her parents, which would end in beggary if notrelieved from the burden of their support.
By insuring her life, a sum of money sufficient for their outfit andpassage was raised on Mrs Revel's marriage settlement; and the threeMiss Revels were thus shipped off by their affectionate parents, as a"venture," in the Bombay Castle.
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