pocket, and not only so, but attended with the value of ten pound
more in sundries into the bargain. I must confess myself

therefore at a loss how the epithet PITIFUL came to be annexed to
the above sum; for, not being a pitiful price for what it was

given, I cannot conceive it to be pitiful in itself; nor do I
believe it is thought by the greatest men in the kingdom; none of

whom would scruple to search for it in the dirtiest kennel, where
they had only a reasonable hope of success. How, therefore, such

a sum should acquire the idea of pitiful in the eyes of the
master of a ship seems not easy to be accounted for; since it

appears more likely to produce in him ideas of a different kind.
Some men, perhaps, are no more sincere in the contempt for it

which they express than others in their contempt of money in
general; and I am the rather inclined to this persuasion, as I

have seldom heard of either who have refused or refunded this
their despised object. Besides, it is sometimes impossible to

believe these professions, as every action of the man's life is a
contradiction to it. Who can believe a tradesman who says he

would not tell his name for the profit he gets by the selling
such a parcel of goods, when he hath told a thousand lies in

order to get it? Pitiful, indeed, is often applied to an object
not absolutely, but comparatively with our expectations, or with

a greater object: in which sense it is not easy to set any
bounds to the use of the word. Thus, a handful of halfpence

daily appear pitiful to a porter, and a handful of silver to a
drawer. The latter, I am convinced, at a politetavern, will

not tell his name (for he will not give you any answer) under the
price of gold. And in this sense thirty pound may be accounted

pitiful by the lowest mechanic.
One difficulty only seems to occur, and that is this: how comes

it that, if the profits of the meanest arts are so considerable,
the professors of them are not richer than we generally see them?

One answer to this shall suffice. Men do not become rich by what
they get, but by what they keep. He who is worth no more than

his annual wages or salary, spends the whole; he will be always a
beggar let his income be what it will, and so will be his family

when he dies. This we see daily to be the case of ecclesiastics,
who, during their lives, are extremely well provided for, only

because they desire to maintain the honor of the cloth by living
like gentlemen, which would, perhaps, be better maintained by

living unlike them.
But, to return from so long a digression, to which the use of so

improper an epithet gave occasion, and to which the novelty of
the subject allured, I will make the reader amends by concisely

telling him that the captain poured forth such a torrent of abuse
that I very hastily and very foolishlyresolved to quit the ship.

I gave immediate orders to summon a hoy to carry me that evening
to Dartmouth, without considering any consequence. Those orders

I gave in no very low voice, so that those above stairs might
possibly conceive there was more than one master in the cabin.

In the same tone I likewise threatened the captain with that
which, he afterwards said, he feared more than any rock or

quicksand. Nor can we wonder at this when we are told he had
been twice obliged to bring to and cast anchor there before, and

had neither time escaped without the loss of almost his whole cargo.
The most distant sound of law thus frightened a man who had

often, I am convinced, heard numbers of cannon roar round him
with intrepidity. Nor did he sooner see the hoy approaching the

vessel than he ran down again into the cabin, and, his rage being
perfectly subsided, he tumbled on his knees, and a little too

abjectly implored for mercy.
I did not suffer a brave man and an old man to remain a moment in

this posture, but I immediately forgave him.
And here, that I may not be thought the sly trumpeter of my own

praises, I do utterly disclaim all praise on the occasion.
Neither did the greatness of my mind dictate, nor the force of my

Christianity exact, this forgiveness. To speak truth, I forgave
him from a motive which would make men much more forgiving if

they were much wiser than they are, because it was convenient for
me so to do.

Wednesday.--This morning the captain dressed himself in scarlet
in order to pay a visit to a Devonshire squire, to whom a captain

of a ship is a guest of no ordinary consequence, as he is a
stranger and a gentleman, who hath seen a great deal of the world

in foreign parts, and knows all the news of the times.
The squire, therefore, was to send his boat for the captain, but

a most unfortunate accident happened; for, as the wind was
extremely rough and against the hoy, while this was endeavoring

to avail itself of great seamanship in hauling up against the
wind, a sudden squall carried off sail and yard, or at least so

disabled them that they were no longer of any use and unable to
reach the ship; but the captain, from the deck, saw his hopes of

venison disappointed, and was forced either to stay on board his
ship, or to hoist forth his own long-boat, which he could not

prevail with himself to think of, though the smell of the venison
had had twenty times its attraction. He did, indeed, love his

ship as his wife, and his boats as children, and never willingly
trusted the latter, poor things! to the dangers of the sea.

To say truth, notwithstanding the strict rigor with which he
preserved the dignity of his stations and the hasty impatience

with which he resented any affront to his person or orders,
disobedience to which he could in no instance brook in any person

on board. he was one of the best natured fellows alive. He
acted the part of a father to his sailors; he expressed great

tenderness for any of them when ill, and never suffered any the
least work of supererogation to go unrewarded by a glass of gin.

He even extended his humanity, if I may so call it, to animals,
and even his cats and kittens had large shares in his affections.

An instance of which we saw this evening, when the cat, which had
shown it could not be drowned, was found suffocated under a

feather-bed in the cabin. I will not endeavor to describe his
lamentations with more prolixity than barely by saying they were

grievous, and seemed to have some mixture of the Irish howl in
them. Nay, he carried his fondness even to inanimate objects, of

which we have above set down a pregnant example in his
demonstration of love and tenderness towards his boats and ship.

He spoke of a ship which he had commanded formerly, and which was
long since no more, which he had called the Princess of Brazil,

as a widower of a deceased wife. This ship, after having
followed the honest business of carrying goods and passengers for

hire many years, did at last take to evil courses and turn
privateer, in which service, to use his own words, she received

many dreadful wounds, which he himself had felt as if they had
been his own.

Thursday.--As the wind did not yesterday discover any purpose of
shifting, and the water in my belly grew troublesome and rendered

me short-breathed, I began a second time to have apprehensions of
wanting the assistance" target="_blank" title="n.协作；援助；帮助">assistance of a trochar when none was to be found; I

therefore concluded to be tapped again by way of precaution, and
accordingly I this morning summoned on board a surgeon from a

neighboring parish, one whom the captain greatly recommended, and
who did indeed perform his office with much dexterity. He was, I

believe, likewise a man of great judgment and knowledge in the
profession; but of this I cannot speak with perfect certainty,

for, when he was going to open on the dropsy at large and on the
particular degree of the distemper under which I labored, I was

obliged to stop him short, for the wind was changed, and the
captain in the utmost hurry to depart; and to desire him, instead

of his opinion, to assist me with his execution. I was now once
more delivered from my burden, which was not indeed so great as I

had apprehended, wanting two quarts of what was let out at the
last operation.

While the surgeon was drawing away my water the sailors were
drawing up the anchor; both were finished at the same time; we

unfurled our sails and soon passed the Berry-head, which forms
the mouth of the bay.

We had not however sailed far when the wind, which, had though
with a slow pace, kept us company about six miles, suddenly

turned about, and offered to conduct us back again; a favor which,
though sorely against the grain, we were obliged to accept.