May I never get groggy, if I shall ever forget the
joke between you and the old Sheenie, when you threatened to throw him
overboard for selling you a dumb time-keeper. 'Blesh ma heart,' said the
Jew, while his under works shook like a cutter's foresail going about,
'how could you expect de vatch to go well, ven de ship vas all
in confushion?' an excuse that saved him from sailing ashore in a
skuttle-bucket." "Have you weathered Gosport lately?" inquired Jem:
"there used to be a little matter of joviality going forward there upon
the beach in war time, but I suppose it's all calm enough now." "All
ruined by the peace; and all that glorious collection of the kings and
queens of England, and her admirals and heroes, which used to swing to
and fro in the wind, when every house upon the beach was a grog-shop,
are past, vanished, or hanging like pirates in tatters; the sound of a
fiddle never reaches their ears; and the parlour-floors, where we used
to dance and sing till all was blue, are now as smooth and as clean as
the decks of Lord Nelson's flag ship, the Victory, which lies moored in
our harbour, like a Greenwich pensioner, anchored in quiet, to drop to
pieces with old age. You may fire a nine-pounder up the principal street
at noon-day now and not hurt any body; and if the peace lasts much
longer, horses may graze in their roads, and persons receive pensions
for inhabiting the vacant houses.
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