rs like the cheeks
of a trumpeter. Yorkshire wool could not stand the inflated pressure,
the dress split to ribbons, and soundly flagellated the very part it was
intended to conceal. What could he do, "in sweet confusion lost, and
dubious _flutterings_"--the only defence left against the rude blast was
his shirt (for the weather was so warm that second garments were
dispensed with), and this too being old, fled in tatters before the
gale. In short, clap a sailor's jacket on the Gladiator in Hyde Park,
and you have a fair view of Lord Edward in the hurricane.

The case was inconvenient enough; but as the ship was in distress, and
we all expected to go to the bottom in half an hour, it was not worth
while to quit the deck to replace the dress, which would have availed
him nothing in the depths of the sea, particularly as we were not likely
to meet with any ladies there: nor if there had been any, was it a
matter of any moment whether we went to Davy's locker with or without
breeches; but when the danger was passed, the joke began to appear, and
I was amusing a large company with the _tale_, when his lordship came
in. The titter of the ladies increased to a giggle, and then by regular
gradation, to a loud and uncontrollable laugh. He very soon discovered
that he was the subject, and I the cause, and for a minute or two seemed
sulky; but it soon went off, and I cannot think this was the reason of
his change of sentiments; for, although it is high treason in a
midshipman to look black at the captain's dog, much less to laugh at the
captain under any circumstances, still I knew that my captain was too
good a fellow to be offended with such a trifle. I rather suspect I was
wished out of the ship by the first lieutenant and gun-room officers;
and they were right, for where an inferior officer is popular with the
men, discipline must suffer from it. I received a good-natured hint
from Lord Edward that another captain in a larger frigate would be happy
to receive me. I understood him; we parted good friends, and I shall
ever think of him with respect and gratitude.

My new captain was a very different sort of man, refined in his manner,
a scholar, and a gentleman. Kind and friendly with his officers, his
library was at their disposal; the fore cabin, where his books were
usually kept, was open to all; it was the school-room of the young
midshipmen and the study of the old ones. He was an excellent
draughtsman, and I pr