This officer, I afterwards learned, was in the habit of interlarding
his discourse with this darling object of his ambition; but as he is
now a member of the Upper House, it is to be supposed he has exchanged
the affidavit for some other. While he commanded a ship, he used to
say, "As sure as I shall sit in the House of Peers, I will flog
you, my man;" and when this denunciation had passed his lips, the
punishment was never remitted. With us, the reverse of this became our
bye-word; lieutenants, midshipmen, sailors and marines, asserted their
claim to veracity by saying, "As sure as I shall _not_ sit in the
House of Peers."
This was the noble lord, who when in the command of one of his
Majesty's ships in China, employed a native of that country to take
his portrait. The resemblance not having been flattering, the artist
was sharply rebuked by his patron. The poor man replied, "Ai awe,
master, how can handsome face make if handsome face no have got?" This
story has, like many other good stories, been pirated, and applied to
other cases; but I claim it as the legitimate property of the navy,
and can vouch for its origin as I have related.
My messmates dropped in one after another until our number was
completed; and at length a note, in an envelope addressed to the first
lieutenant "on service," and marked on the lower left hand corner with
the name of the noble writer, announced that our captain would make
his appearance on the following day.
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