tales that my
brother used to tell us of the high Barbary shore! Poor fellow! what
became of him I can't say; the last time he came back from a voyage, he
told us that his captain, as soon as he had brought his vessel to port,
and settled with his owner, drowned himself off the quay in a fit of the
horrors, which it seems high Barbary captains, after a certain number of
years, are much subject to. After staying about a month with us, he went
to sea again, with another captain; and bad as the old one had been, it
appears the new one was worse, for, unable to bear his treatment, my
brother left his ship off the high Barbary shore, and ran away up the
country. Some of his comrades, whom we afterwards saw, said that there
were various reports about him on the shore; one that he had taken on
with Mumbo Jumbo, and was serving him in his house in the woods, in the
capacity of swash-buckler, or life-guardsman; another, that he was gone
in quest of a mighty city in the heart of the negro country; another,
that in swimming a stream he had been devoured by an alligator. Now,
these two last reports were bad enough; the idea of their flesh and blood
being bit asunder by a ravenous fish, was sad enough to my poor parents;
and not very comfortable was the thought of his sweltering over the hot
sands in quest of the negro city; but the idea of their son, their eldest
child, serving Mumbo Jumbo as swash-buckler, was worst of all, and caused
my poor parents to shed many a scalding tear.

"I stayed at home with my parents until I was about eighteen, assisting
my father in various ways. I then went to live at the squire's, partly
as groom, partly as footman. After living in the country some time, I
attended the family in a trip of six weeks, which they made to London.
Whilst there, happening to have some words with an old ill-tempered
coachman, who had been for a great many years in the family, my master
advised me to leave, offering to recommend me to a family of his
acquaintance who were in need of a footman. I was glad to accept his
offer, and in a few days went to my new place. My new master was one of
the great gentry, a baronet in Parliament, and possessed of an estate of
about twenty thousand a year; his family consisted of his lady, a son, a
fine young man, just coming of age, and two very sweet, amiable
daughters. I liked this place much better than my first, there was so
much more pleasant noise and bustle--so much more g