Some on 'em forgot to return things as they _found_ rather too
easy, and some, instead of writing their own name, _by mistake_ wrote
somebody's else's; so government sent 'em here, at its own charge, to
finish their _edication_. You see the _floating academy_ as is kept
a purpose for 'em," said he, pointing to the receiving-hulk for the
convicts at this station, which was lying in the harbour: "them as is
rowing in the boats," added the talkative seaman, "has been a getting
stones, and ballast, and such like, for the repairs of the harbour; they
does all the rough and dirty jobs as is to be done about the works and
place--indeed, we calls 'em the _Port Admiral's skippers_." I now fully
understood the import of the term _Portsmouth Greys_, which had before
been an enigma to ~183~~me; and comprehended that the unhappy beings
before me were of
The ill-fated children of suff'ring and sin,
With conscience reproaching and sorrow within;
Bosoms that mis'ry and guilt could not sever,
Hearts that were blighted and broken for ever:
Where each, to some vice or vile passion a slave,
Shared the wreck of the mind, and the spirit's young grave.
Whose brief hist'ry of life, ere attain'd to its prime,
Unfolded a volume of madness and crime,
Such as leaves on the forehead of manhood a stain
Which tears over shed seek to blot out in vain;
A stain which as long as existence will last,
Embitt'ring the future with thoughts of the past.
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