phin, which he had, he said, struck that morning; he wore a large
wig, made of oakum, and a beard of the same materials, which flowed
down to his waist; he was full powdered, and his naked body was
bedaubed with paint.

The god was attended by a splendid court: his secretary of state,
whose head was stuck full of the quills of the sea bird of these
latitudes; his surgeon, with his lancet, pill-box, and his
smelling-bottle; his barber, with a razor, whose blade was two feet
long, cut off an iron hoop; and the barber's mate, who carried a small
tub, as a shaving-box; the materials within I could not analyze,
but my nose convinced me that no part of them came from Smith's, in
Bond-street.

Amphitrite followed, on a similar carriage, drawn by six white men,
whose costume was like the others. This goddess was personified by an
athletic, ugly man, marked with the small-pox, dressed as a female,
with a woman's night-cap on his head, ornamented with sprigs of
sea-weed; she had a harpoon in her hand, on which was fixed an
albicore; and in her lap lay one of the boys of the ship, dressed as a
baby, with long clothes and a cap: he held in his hand a marlinspike,
which was suspended round his neck with a rope yarn: this was to
assist him in cutting his teeth, as the children on shore use a coral.
His nurse attended him with a bucket full of burgoo, or hasty pudding,
with which she occasionally fed him out of the cook's iron ladle.
Two or three stout men were habited as sea nymphs, to attend on
the goddess: they carried a looking-glass, some curry-combs, a
birch-broom, and a pot of red paint, by way of rouge.

As soon as the procession appeared on the forecastle, the captain,
attended by his steward, bearing a tray with a bottle of wine and some
glasses, came out of his cabin, and the cars of the marine deities
were drawn up on the quarter-deck. Neptune lowered his trident, and
presented the dolphin to the captain, as Amphitrite did her albicore,
in token of submission and homage to the representative of the King of
Great Britain.

"I have come," said the god, "to welcome you into my dominions, and to
present my wife and child." The captain bowed. "Allow me to ask after
my brother and liege sovereign, the good old King George."

"He is not so well," said the captain, "as I and all his subjects
could wish."

"More's the pity," replied Neptune; "and how is the Prince of Wales?"

"The Prince is well," said the captain, "and no