e of his loyalty."

"Well, well, Sir Wycherly, I would not give you a false idea of my
friend Atwood, if possible; and so I may as well confess, that, while
his Scotch blood inclines him to toryism, his English reason makes him a
whig. If Charles Stuart never gets the throne until Stephen Atwood helps
him to a seat on it, he may take leave of ambition for ever."

"I thought as much, Sir Gervaise--I thought _your_ secretary could never
lean to the doctrine of 'passive obedience and non-resistance.' That's a
principle which would hardly suit sailors, Admiral Bluewater."

Admiral Bluewater's line, full, blue eye, lighted with an expression
approaching irony; but he made no other answer than a slight inclination
of the head. In point of fact, _he_ was a Jacobite: though no one was
acquainted with the circumstance but his immediate commanding officer.
As a seaman, he was called on only to serve his country; and, as often
happens to military men, he was willing to do this under any superior
whom circumstances might place over his head, let his private sentiments
be what they might. During the civil war of 1715, he was too young in
years, and too low in rank to render his opinions of much importance;
and, kept on foreign stations, his services could only affect the
general interests of the nation, without producing any influence on the
contest at home. Since that period, nothing had occurred to require one,
whose duty kept him on the ocean, to come to a very positive decision
between the two masters that claimed his allegiance. Sir Gervaise had
always been able to persuade him that he was sustaining the honour and
interests of his country, and that ought to be sufficient to a patriot,
let who would rule. Notwithstanding this wide difference in political
feeling between the two admirals--Sir Gervaise being as decided a whig,
as his friend was a tory--their personal harmony had been without a
shade. As to confidence, the superior knew the inferior so well, that he
believed the surest way to prevent his taking sides openly with the
Jacobites, or of doing them secret service, was to put it in his power
to commit a great breach of trust. So long as faith were put in his
integrity, Sir Gervaise felt certain his friend Bluewater might be
relied on; and he also knew that, should the moment ever come when the
other really intended to abandon the service of the house of Hanover, he
would frankly throw up his employments, and join the h