The master is a person of an excellent disposition, and is
remarkable in the ship for his gentleness and the mildness of his
discipline. This circumstance, added to his well known integrity
and dauntless courage, made me very desirous to engage him. A
youth passed in solitude, my best years spent under your gentle
and feminine fosterage, has so refined the groundwork of my
character, that I cannot overcome an intense distaste to the
usual brutality exercised on board ship: I have never believed it
to be necessary; and when I heard of a mariner equally noted for
his kindliness of heart, and the respect and obedience paid to
him by his crew, I felt myself peculiarly fortunate in being able
to secure his services. I heard of him first in rather a romantic
manner, from a lady who owes to him the happiness of her life.
This, briefly, is his story. Some years ago he loved a young
Russian lady, of moderate fortune; and having amassed a
considerable sum in prize-money, the father of the girl consented
to the match. He saw his mistress once before the destined
ceremony; but she was bathed in tears, and, throwing herself at
his feet, entreated him to spare her, confessing at the same time
that she loved another, but that he was poor, and that her father
would never consent to the union. My generous friend reassured
the suppliant, and on being informed of the name of her lover,
instantly abandoned his pursuit. He had already bought a farm
with his money, on which he had designed to pass the remainder of
his life; but he bestowed the whole on his rival, together with
the remains of his prize-money to purchase stock, and then
himself solicited the young woman's father to consent to her
marriage with her lover. But the old man decidedly refused,
thinking himself bound in honour to my friend; who, when he found
the father inexorable, quitted his country, nor returned until he
heard that his former mistress was married according to her
inclinations. "What a noble fellow!" you will exclaim. He is so;
but then he is wholly uneducated: he is as silent as a Turk, and
a kind of ignorant carelessness attends him, which, while it
renders his conduct the more astonishing, detracts from the
interest and sympathy which otherwise he would command.