the case, is saying a great deal in her favour. Fancy
two women among nearly four hundred men, and not one of the latter even
thinking of infringing the last commandment of the Decalogue. What an
amount of good sense, good-temper, and self-command must have been
exercised on the part of the former.

Susan's qualifications for the position she held were very different to
those of my mother. In appearance she was a very Gorgon, a veritable
strong-minded, double-fisted female, tall, gaunt, and coarse-featured.
A hoarse laugh, and a voice which vied with the boatswain's in
stentorian powers, and yet withal she was a true woman, with a gentle,
loving, tender heart. Bill King, her husband, knew her good qualities,
and vowed that he would not swap her for Queen Charlotte, or any other
lady in the land, not if the offer was made to him with a thousand gold
guineas into the bargain.

I ought to be grateful to her, and do cherish her memory with affection,
for she assisted to bring me into the world; attended my mother in her
time of trial and trouble, and nursed me with the gentlest care. Yet
Sue had a tongue, and could use it too when occasion, in her judgment,
required its employment. But she always took the side of right and
virtue against wrong and vice, and woe betided the luckless wight who
fell under the ban of her just displeasure. She would belabour him, not
with her hands, but by word, look, and gesture, till he shrieked out for
mercy and promised never again to offend, or took to ignominious flight
like a thief with a _posse_ of constables at his heels. Bill King was a
quiet-mannered little man with a huge pair of whiskers, like
studden-sails rigged out on either side of his cheeks, and a mild
expression of countenance which did not belie his calm good-temper and
amiability of disposition. But though gentle in peace, he was as brave
and daring a seaman as ever sprang, cutlass in hand, on an enemy's deck,
or flew aloft to loose topsails when a prize had been cut out, amid
showers of bullets and round-shot.

Of my father, I will only say that he was in no way behind his friend
Bill King in bravery, and though he spoke the sailor's lingo like his
shipmates, he was vastly his superior in manners and appearance.
Indeed, he and my mother were a very handsome couple. They were also, I
may say, deservedly looked upon with great respect by the officers, from
the captain downwards, and regarded with affection by all