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Article PENCILLIJSTGS FEOM THE SKETCH-BOOK OF A ... ← Page 4 of 7 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Pencillijstgs Feom The Sketch-Book Of A ...
pointment , and when ^ the experience of manhood shall hav e sobered down juvenile fancy , the romantic spell of fiction be displaced by dull matter of fact , and the vision of glory prove , as it too often does , to have been a phantom of the imagination , can rise above its bitterness . Happy is he whose mind is so . constituted , that in its ingredients may be found a resiliency in proportion to its sangutee character .
It beingnow eight bells , or grog-time , on the long table situated athwart ships in the ^ cuddy was placed sangaree , with a variety of other liquids for thirsty souls ; backgammon , chess , and cribbageboards , with cards , offered enticements to beguile the time ; and though but on the eve of starting , already did the young aspirants to military fame in the Company ' s service begin discussing the knotty
point of seniority , interrupted by a little harmless banter directed against them by officers of the Royal army . At length the mooted question being left as undecided as ever , and wearied with conjectures , which turned out after all to be of not the slightest importance , each passenger separated from his fellow to enter Bis berth , and take his first night ' s rest onboard ship .
I , for one , scarcely got a wink of sleep on going below , for the chum assigned me , a brother cadet ( for although the passage-money in those days was upwards of a hundred pounds , it only entitled one to half a cabin ) , already showed symptoms of becoming a first-rate
arithmetician , or in pother words , a fast man at casting up his accounts ! Evidently he had not yet proved the truth of Byron ' s preventive of the unpleasant feeling so many suffer from ,, for which he affords the sea-going landsman a specific . Probably he had not even heard of it . Saith his lordship , —
" The best of remedies is a beefsteak Against sea-sickness ; try it , sir , before You sneer , and I assure you this is true , For I have found it answer , so may you ! " By the bye , it is singular , but the fact that , although in voyages round the Cape of Good Hope and elsewhere , I have traversed so many thousands of miles of ocean , never did I suffer so much from the
malady till crossing the English Channel in after life in a small steamer , which I think is attributable to the jerking and oscillatory motion of the fire-ship . With regard to the sailing-vessels of the olden time , I may say that the peculiar odour arising from tar , and a variety of causes I need not enter into a description of , was often of itself sufficient , even before starting , to give disagreeable sensations
to those wholly unaccustomed to it . A close cabin below , too , was no recommendation , and ours was one in which was just room enough for the suspension of two sea-cots sido by side . Over our heads were swung two globe lamps , and beneath us , in considerable disorder , were piled up such articles of baggage as , being for more immediate use , had not been stowed away in the hold . Scarce room was there for ingress , and to keep the ' door open was impossible . Though we were yet at anchor , the vessel rolled heavily , and alto-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Pencillijstgs Feom The Sketch-Book Of A ...
pointment , and when ^ the experience of manhood shall hav e sobered down juvenile fancy , the romantic spell of fiction be displaced by dull matter of fact , and the vision of glory prove , as it too often does , to have been a phantom of the imagination , can rise above its bitterness . Happy is he whose mind is so . constituted , that in its ingredients may be found a resiliency in proportion to its sangutee character .
It beingnow eight bells , or grog-time , on the long table situated athwart ships in the ^ cuddy was placed sangaree , with a variety of other liquids for thirsty souls ; backgammon , chess , and cribbageboards , with cards , offered enticements to beguile the time ; and though but on the eve of starting , already did the young aspirants to military fame in the Company ' s service begin discussing the knotty
point of seniority , interrupted by a little harmless banter directed against them by officers of the Royal army . At length the mooted question being left as undecided as ever , and wearied with conjectures , which turned out after all to be of not the slightest importance , each passenger separated from his fellow to enter Bis berth , and take his first night ' s rest onboard ship .
I , for one , scarcely got a wink of sleep on going below , for the chum assigned me , a brother cadet ( for although the passage-money in those days was upwards of a hundred pounds , it only entitled one to half a cabin ) , already showed symptoms of becoming a first-rate
arithmetician , or in pother words , a fast man at casting up his accounts ! Evidently he had not yet proved the truth of Byron ' s preventive of the unpleasant feeling so many suffer from ,, for which he affords the sea-going landsman a specific . Probably he had not even heard of it . Saith his lordship , —
" The best of remedies is a beefsteak Against sea-sickness ; try it , sir , before You sneer , and I assure you this is true , For I have found it answer , so may you ! " By the bye , it is singular , but the fact that , although in voyages round the Cape of Good Hope and elsewhere , I have traversed so many thousands of miles of ocean , never did I suffer so much from the
malady till crossing the English Channel in after life in a small steamer , which I think is attributable to the jerking and oscillatory motion of the fire-ship . With regard to the sailing-vessels of the olden time , I may say that the peculiar odour arising from tar , and a variety of causes I need not enter into a description of , was often of itself sufficient , even before starting , to give disagreeable sensations
to those wholly unaccustomed to it . A close cabin below , too , was no recommendation , and ours was one in which was just room enough for the suspension of two sea-cots sido by side . Over our heads were swung two globe lamps , and beneath us , in considerable disorder , were piled up such articles of baggage as , being for more immediate use , had not been stowed away in the hold . Scarce room was there for ingress , and to keep the ' door open was impossible . Though we were yet at anchor , the vessel rolled heavily , and alto-