These are the errors, and these are the fruits of mis-spending our
prime youth at the schools and universities, as we do, either in
learning mere words, or such things chiefly as were better unlearned.
MILTON.
My father was a gentleman, and a man of considerable property. In my
infancy and childhood I was weak and sickly, but the favourite of my
parents beyond all my brothers and sisters, because they saw that my
mind was far superior to my sickly frame, and feared they should never
raise me to manhood; contrary, however, to their expectations, I
surmounted all these untoward appearances, and attracted much notice
from my liveliness, quickness of repartee, and impudence: qualities
which have been of much use to me through life.
I can remember that I was both a coward and a boaster; but I have
frequently remarked that the quality which we call cowardice, in a
child, implies no more than a greater sense of danger, and consequently
a superior intellect. We are all naturally cowards: education and
observation teach us to discriminate between real and apparent danger;
pride teaches the concealment of fear; and habit render us indifferent
to that from which we have often escaped with impunity. It is related
of the Great Frederick that he misbehaved the first time he went into
action; and it is certain that a novice in such a situation can no more
command all his resources than a boy when first bound apprentice to a
shoemaker can make a pair of shoes. We must learn our trade, whether it
be to stand steady before the enemy or to stitch a boot; practice alone
can make a Hoby or a Wellington.
I pass on to my school-days, when the most lasting impressions are made.
The foundation of my moral and religious instruction had been laid with
care by my excellent parents; but, alas! from the time I quitted the
paternal roof not one stone was added to the building; and even the
traces of what existed were nearly obliterated by the deluge of vice
which threatened soon to overwhelm me. Sometimes, indeed, I feebly, but
ineffectually, endeavoured to stem the torrent; at others, I suffered
myself to be borne along with all its fatal rapidity. I was frank,
generous, quick, and mischievous; and I must admit that a large portion
of what sailors call "devil" was openly displayed, and a much larger
portion latently deposited in my brain and bosom. My ruling passion,
even in this early stage of life was pride. Lucifer himself, if he ever
was seven years old, had not more. If I have gained a fair name in the
service, if I have led instead of followed, it must be ascribed to this
my ruling passion. The world has often given me credit for better
feelings, as the source of action; but I am not writing to conceal, and
the truth must be told.
I was sent to school to learn Latin and Greek, of which there are
various ways of teaching. Some tutors attempt the _suaviter in modo_,
my schoolmaster preferred the _fortiter in re_, and, as the boatswain
said, by the "instigation" of a large knotted stick, he drove knowledge
into our skulls as a caulker drives oakum into the seams of a ship.
Under such tuition, we made astonishing progress; and whatever my less
desirable acquirements may have been, my father had no cause to complain
of my deficiency in classic lore. Superior in capacity to most of my
schoolfellows, I seldom took the pains to learn my lesson previous to
going up with the class: "the master's blessing," as we called it, did
occasionally descend on my devoted head, but that was a bagatelle; I was
too proud not to keep pace with my equals, and too idle to do more.
Had my schoolmaster been a single man, my stay under his care might have
been prolonged to my advantage; but, unfortunately, both for him and for
me, he had a helpmate, and her peculiarly unfortunate disposition was
the means of corrupting those morals over which it was her duty to have
watched with the most assiduous care. _Her_ ruling passions were
suspicion and avarice, written in legible characters in her piercing
eyes and sharp-pointed nose. She never supposed us capable of telling
the truth, so we very naturally never gave ourselves the trouble to
cultivate a useless virtue, and seldom resorted to it unless it answered
our purpose better than a lie. This propensity of Mrs Higginbottom
converted our candour and honesty into deceit and fraud. Never
believed, we cared little about the accuracy of our assertions;
half-starved through her meanness and parsimony, we were little
scrupulous as to the ways and means provided we could satisfy our
hunger; and thus we soon became as great adepts in the elegant
accomplishments of lying and thieving, under her tuition, as we did in
Greek and Latin under that of her husband.
A large orchard, fields, garden, and poultry-yard, attached to the
establishment, were under the care and superintendence of the mistress,
who usually selected one of the boys as her prime minister and
confidential adviser. This boy, for whose education his parents were
paying some sixty or eighty pounds per annum, was permitted to pass his
time in gathering up the windfalls; in watching the hens, and bringing
in their eggs when their cackling throats had announced their safe
accouchement; looking after the broods of young ducks and chickens, _et
hoc genus omne_; in short, doing the duty of what is usually termed the
odd man in the farm-yard. How far the parents would have been satisfied
with this arrangement, I leave my readers to guess; but to us who
preferred the manual to mental exertion, exercise to restraint, and any
description of cultivation to that of cultivating the mind, it suited
extremely well; and accordingly no place in the gift of government was
ever the object of such solicitude and intrigue, as was to us schoolboys
the situation of collector and trustee of the eggs and apples.
I had the good fortune to be early selected for this important post, and
the misfortune to lose it soon after, owing to the cunning and envy of
my schoolfellows and the suspicion of my employers. On my first coming
into office, I had formed the most sincere resolutions of honesty and
vigilance; but what are good resolutions when discouraged on the one
hand by the revilings of suspicion, and assailed on the other by the
cravings of appetite? My morning's collection was exacted from me to
the very last nut, and the greedy eyes of my mistress seemed to inquire
for more. Suspected when innocent, I became guilty out of revenge; was
detected and dismissed. A successor was appointed, to whom I
surrendered all my offices of trust, and having perfect leisure, I made
it my sole business to supplant him.
It was an axiom in mathematics with me at that time, though not found in
Euclid, that wherever I could enter my head, my whole body might follow.
As a practical illustration of this proposition, I applied my head to
the arched hole of the hen-house door, and by scraping away a little
dirt, contrived to gain admittance, and very speedily transferred all
the eggs to my own chest. When the new purveyor arrived, he found
nothing but "a beggarly account of empty boxes;" and his perambulations
in the orchard and garden, for the same reason, were equally
_fruitless_. The pilferings of the orchard and garden I confiscated as
droits; but when I had collected a sufficient number of eggs to furnish
a nest, I gave information of my pretended discovery to my mistress,
who, thinking she had not changed for the better, dismissed my
successor, and received me into favour again. I was, like many greater
men, immediately reinstated in office when it was discovered that they
could not do without me. I once more became chancellor of the hen-roost
and ranger of the orchard, with greater power than I had possessed
before my disgrace. Had my mistress looked half as much in my face as
she did into my hatful of eggs, she would have read my guilt; for at
that unsophisticated age I could blush, a habit long since discarded in
the course of my professional duties.
In order to preserve my credit and my situation, I no longer contented
myself with windfalls, but assisted nature in her labours, and greatly
lightened the burthen of many a loaded fruit-tree; by these means, I not
only gratified the avarice of my mistress at her own expense, but also
laid by a store for my own use. On my restoration to office, I had an
ample fund in my exchequer to answer all present demands; and, by a
provident and industrious anticipation, was enabled to lull the
suspicions of my employers, and to bid defiance to the opposition. It
will readily be supposed that a lad of my acuteness did not omit any
technical management for the purpose of disguise; the fruits which I
presented were generally soiled with dirt at the ends of the stalks, in
such a manner as to give them all the appearance of "_felo de se_," i.e.
fell of itself. Thus, in the course of a few months, did I become an
adept of vice, from the mismanagement of those into whose hands I was
intrusted to be strengthened in religion and virtue.
Fortunately for me, as far as my education was concerned, I did not long
continue to hold this honourable and lucrative employment. One of those
unhappy beings called an usher peeped into my chest, and by way of
acquiring popularity with the mistress and scholars, forthwith denounced
me to the higher powers. The proofs of my peculation were too glaring,
and the amount too serious, to be passed over; I was tried, convicted,
condemned, sentenced, flogged, and dismissed in the course of half an
hour; and such was the degree of turpitude attached to me on this
occasion, that I was rendered for ever incapable of serving in that or
any other employment connected with the garden or farm; I was placed at
the bottom of the list, and declared to be the worst boy in the school.
This in many points of view was too true; but there was one boy who bade
fair to rival me on the score of delinquency; this was Tom Crauford, who
from that day became my most intimate friend. Tom was a fine spirited
fellow, up to everything, loved mischief, though not vicious, and was
ready to support me in everything through thick and thin; and truly I
found him sufficient employment. I threw off all disguise, laughed at
any suggestion of reform, which I considered as not only useless, but
certain of subjecting me to ridicule and contempt among my associates.
I therefore adopted the motto of some great man, "to be rather than seem
to be." I led in every danger; declared war against all drivellers and
half-measures; stole everything that was eatable from garden, orchard,
or hen-house, knowing full well that whether I did so or not, I should
be equally suspected. Thenceforward all fruit missed, all arrows shot
into pigs, all stones thrown into the windows, and all mud spattered
over clean linen hung out to dry, were traced to Tom and myself; and
with the usual alacrity of an arbitrary police, the space between
apprehension and punishment was very short--we were constantly brought
before the master, and as regularly dismissed with "his blessing," till
we became hardened to blows and to shame.
Thus, by the covetousness of this woman, who was the grey mare, and the
folly of the master, who, in anything but Greek and Latin, was an ass,
my good principles were nearly eradicated from my bosom, and in their
place were sown seeds which very shortly produced an abundant harvest.
There was a boy at our school lately imported from the East Indies. We
nick-named him Johnny Pagoda. He was remarkable for nothing but
ignorance, impudence, great personal strength, and, as we thought,
determined resolution. He was about nineteen years of age. One day he
incurred the displeasure of the master, who, enraged at his want of
comprehension and attention, struck him over the head with the knotted
cane. This appeal, although made to the least sensitive part of his
frame, roused the indolent Asiatic from his usual torpid state. The
weapon, in the twinkling of an eye, was snatched out of the hand, and
suspended over the head of the astonished pedagogue, who, seeing the
tables so suddenly turned against him, made the signal for assistance.
I clapped my hands, shouted "Bravo! lay on, Johnny--go it--you have done
it now--you may as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb;" but the ushers
began to muster round, the boys hung aloof, and Pagoda, uncertain which
side the neutrals would take, laid down his arms, and surrendered at
discretion.
Had the East-Indian followed up his act by the application of a little
discipline at the fountain-head, it is more than probable that a popular
commotion, not unlike that of Masaniello, would have ensued; but the
time was not come--the Indian showed a white feather, was laughed at,
flogged, and sent home to his friends, who had intended him for the bar;
but foreseeing that he might, in the course of events, chance to cut a
figure on the wrong side of it, sent him to sea, where his valour, if he
had any, would find more profitable employment.
This unsuccessful attempt of the young Oriental was the primary cause of
all my fame and celebrity in after-life. I had always hated school; and
this, of all others, seemed [seem] to me the most hateful. The
emancipation of Johnny Pagoda convinced me that my deliverance might be
effected in a similar manner. The train was laid, and a spark set it on
fire. This spark was supplied by the folly and vanity of a fat French
dancing-master. These Frenchmen are ever at the bottom of mischief.
Mrs Higginbottom, the master's wife, had denounced me to Monsieur
Aristide Maugrebleu as a _mauvais sujet_; and as he was a creature of
hers, he frequently annoyed me to gratify his patroness. This fellow
was at that time about forty-five years of age, and had much more
experience than agility, having greatly increased his bulk by the roast
beef and ale of England. While he taught us the rigadoons of his own
country, his vanity induced him to attempt feats much above the cumbrous
weight of his frame. I entered the lists with him, beat him at his own
trade, and he beat me with his fiddlestick, which broke in two over my
head; then, making one more glorious effort to show that he would not be
outdone, snapped the tendon Achilles, and down he fell, _hors de combat_
as a dancing-master. He was taken away in his gig to be cured, and I
was taken into the school-room to be flogged.
This I thought so unjust that I ran away. Tom Crauford helped me to
scale the wall; and when he supposed I had got far enough to be out of
danger from pursuit, went and gave information, to avoid the suspicion
of having aided and abetted. After running a mile, to use a sea phrase,
I hove-to, and began to compose, in my mind, an oration which I intended
to pronounce before my father, by way of apology for my sudden and
unexpected appearance; but I was interrupted by the detested usher and
half a dozen of the senior boys, among whom was Tom Crauford. Coming
behind me as I sat on a stile, they cut short my meditations by a tap on
the shoulder, collared and marched me to the right about in double quick
time. Tom Crauford was one of those who held me, and outdid himself in
zealous invective at my base ingratitude in absconding from the best of
masters, and the most affectionate, tender, and motherly of all
school-dames.
The usher swallowed all this, and I soon made him swallow a great deal
more. We passed near the side of a pond, the shoals and depths of which
were well-known to me. I looked at Tom out of the corner of my eye, and
motioned him to let me go; and, like a mackerel out of a fisherman's
hand, I darted into the water, got up to my middle, and then very
coolly, for it was November, turned round to gaze at my escort, who
stood at bay, and looked very much like fools. The usher, like a
low-bred cur, when he could no longer bully, began to fawn; he entreated
and he implored me to think on "my papa and mamma; how miserable they
would be, if they could but see me; what an increase of punishment I was
bringing on myself by such obstinacy." He held out by turns coaxes and
threats; in short, everything but an amnesty, to which I considered
myself entitled, having been driven to rebellion by the most cruel
persecution.
Argument having failed, and there being no volunteers to come in and
fetch me out of the water, the poor usher, much against his inclination,
was compelled to undertake it. With shoes and stockings off, and
trousers tucked up, he ventured one foot into the water, then the other;
a cold shiver reached his teeth, and made them chatter; but, at length,
with cautious tread he advanced towards me. Being once in the water, a
step or two farther was no object to me, particularly as I knew I could
but be well flogged after all, and I was quite sure of that, at all
events, so I determined to have my revenge and amusement. Stepping
back, he followed, and suddenly fell over head and ears into a hole, as
he made a reach at me. I was already out of my depth, and could swim
like a duck, and as soon as he came up, I perched my knees on his
shoulders and my hands on his head, and sent him souse under a second
time, keeping him there until he had drunk more water than any horse
that ever came to the pond. I then allowed him to wallow out the best
way he could; and as it was very cold, I listened to the entreaties of
Tom and the boys who stood by, cracking their sides with laughter at the
poor usher's helpless misery.
Having had my frolic, I came out, and voluntarily surrendered myself to
my enemies, from whom I received the same mercy in proportion, that a
Russian does from a Turk. Dripping wet, cold,--and covered with mud, I
was first shown to the boys as an aggregate of all that was bad in
nature; a lecture was read to them on the enormity of my offence, and
solemn denunciations of my future destiny closed the discourse. The
shivering fit produced by the cold bath was relieved by as sound a
flogging as could be inflicted, while two ushers held me; but no effort
of theirs could elicit one groan or sob from me; my teeth were clenched
in firm determination of revenge: with this passion my bosom glowed, and
my brain was on fire. The punishment, though dreadfully severe, had one
good effect--it restored my almost suspended animation; and I strongly
recommend the same remedy being applied to all young ladies and
gentlemen who, from disappointed love or other such trifling causes,
throw themselves into the water. Had the miserable usher been treated
after this prescription, he might have escaped a cold and rheumatic
fever which had nearly consigned him to a country church-yard, in all
probability to reappear at the dissecting-room of St. Bartholomew's
Hospital.
About this time Johnny Pagoda, who had been two years at sea,--came to
the school to visit his brother and schoolfellows. I pumped this fellow
to tell me all he knew: he never tried to deceive me, or to make a
convert. He had seen enough of a midshipman's life, to know that a
cockpit was not paradise; but he gave me clear and ready answers to all
my questions. I discovered that there was no schoolmaster in the ship,
and that the midshipmen were allowed a pint of wine a day. A
man-of-war, and the gallows, they say, refuse nothing; and as I had some
strong presentiments from recent occurrences, that if I did not
volunteer for the one, I should, in all probability, be pressed for the
other, I chose the lesser evil of the two; and having made up my mind to
enter the glorious profession, I shortly after communicated my intention
to my parents.
From the moment I had come to this determination, I cared not what crime
I committed, in hopes of being expelled from the school. I wrote
scurrilous letters, headed a mutiny, entered into a league with the
other boys to sink, burn, and destroy, and do all the mischief we could.
Tom Crauford had the master's child to dry nurse: he was only two years
old: Tom let him fall, not intentionally, but the poor child was a
cripple in consequence of it for life. This was an accident which under
any other circumstances we should have deplored, but to us it was almost
a joke.
The cruel treatment I had received from these people, had so demoralised
me, that those passions which under more skilful or kinder treatment had
either not been known, or would have lain dormant, were roused into full
and malignant activity: I went to school a good-hearted boy, I left it a
savage. The accident with the child occurred two days before the
commencement of the vacation, and we were all dismissed on the following
day in consequence. On my return home I stated verbally to my father
and mother, as I had done before by letter, that I was resolved to go to
sea. My mother wept, my father expostulated. I gazed with apathy on
the one, and listened with cold indifference to the reasoning and
arguments of the other; a choice of schools was offered to me, where I
might be a parlour boarder, and I was to finish at the university, if I
would give up my fatal infatuation. Nothing, however, would do; the die
was cast, and for the sea I was to prepare.
What fool was it who said that the happiest times of our lives is passed
at school? There may, indeed, be exceptions, but the remark cannot be
generalised. Stormy as has been my life, the most miserable part of it
(with very little exception) was passed at school; and my mind never
received so much injury from any scenes of vice and excess in
after-life, as it did from the shameful treatment and bad example I met
with there. If my bosom burned with fiend-like passions, whose fault
was it? How had the sacred pledge, given by the master, been redeemed?
Was I not sacrificed to the most sordid avarice, in the first instance,
and almost flayed alive in the second, to gratify revenge? Of the
filthy manner in which our food was prepared, I can only say that the
bare recollection of it excites nausea; and to this hour, bread and
milk, suet pudding, and shoulders of mutton, are objects of my
deep-rooted aversion. The conduct of the ushers, who were either
tyrannical extortioners, or partakers in our crimes--the constant loss
of our clothes by the dishonesty or carelessness of the servants--the
purloining our silver spoons, sheets, and towels, when we went away,
upon the plea of "custom"--the charges in the account for windows which
I had never broken, and books which I had never received--the shameful
difference between the annual cost promised by the master, and the sum
actually charged, ought to have opened the eyes of my father.
I am aware how excellent many of these institutions are, and that there
are few so bad as the one I was sent to. The history of my life will
prove of what vital importance it is to ascertain the character of the
master and mistress as to other points besides teaching Greek and Latin,
before a child is intrusted to their care. I ought to have observed,
that during my stay at this school, I had made some proficiency in
mathematics and algebra.
My father had procured for me a berth on board a fine frigate at
Plymouth, and the interval between my nomination and joining was spent
by my parents in giving advice to me, and directions to the several
tradesmen respecting my equipment. The large chest, the sword, the
cocked-hat, the half-boots, were all ordered in succession; and the
arrival of each article, either of use or ornament, was anticipated by
me with a degree of impatience which can only be compared to that of a
ship's company arrived off Dennose from a three years' station in India,
and who hope to be at anchor at Spithead before sunset. The
circumstance of my going to sea affected my father in no other way than
it interfered with his domestic comforts by the immoderate grief of my
poor mother. In any other point of view my choice of profession was a
source of no regret to him. I had an elder brother, who was intended to
have the family estates, and who was then at Oxford, receiving an
education suitable to his rank in life, and also learning how to spend
his money like a gentleman. Younger brothers are, in such cases, just
as well out of the way, particularly one of my turbulent disposition: a
man-of-war, therefore, like _another piece of timber_, has its uses. My
father paid all the bills with great philosophy, and made me a liberal
allowance for my age.
The hour of departure drew near; my chest had been sent off by the
Plymouth waggon, and a hackney-coach drew up to the door, to convey me
to the White Horse Cellar. The letting down of the rattling steps
completely overthrew the small remains of fortitude which my dearest
mother had reserved for our separation, and she threw her arms around my
neck in a frenzy of grief. I beheld her emotions with a countenance as
unmoved as the figure-head of a ship; while she covered my stoic face
with kisses, and washed it with her tears. I almost wondered what it
all meant, and wished the scene was over.
My father helped me out of this dilemma; taking me firmly by the arm, he
led me out of the room; my mother sank upon the sofa, and hid her face
in her pocket-handkerchief. I walked as quickly to the coach as common
decency would permit. My father looked at me, as if he would inquire of
my very inward soul whether I really did possess human feelings? I felt
the meaning of this, even in my then tender years; and such was my sense
of propriety, that I mustered up a tear for each eye, which, I hope,
answered the intended purpose. We say at sea, "When you have no decency
sham a little;" and I verily believe I should have beheld my poor mother
in her coffin with less regret than I could have foregone the gay and
lovely scenes which I anticipated.
How amply has this want of feeling towards a tender parent been recalled
to my mind, and severely punished, in the events of my vagrant life!