his table, there were but few who could boast of having had that honour,
and even those few perhaps not more than once in the year. But he was,
as I have said, very poor; and moreover he was a married man, which
reminds me that I must introduce his lady, who, as the ship was on
Channel service, had lodgings at the port near to which the frigate was
stationed, and occasionally came on board to take a passage when the
frigate changed her station to the eastward or to the westward. Lady
Hercules, as we were directed to call her by Sir Hercules, was as large
in dimensions, and ten times more proud than her husband. She was an
excessive fine lady in every respect; and whenever she made her
appearance on board, the ship's company looked upon her with time
greatest awe. She had a great dislike to ships and sailors; officers
she seldom condescended to notice; and pitch and tar were her
abomination. Sir Hercules himself submitted to her dictation; and, had
she lived on board, she would have commanded the ship: fortunately for
the service, she was always very sea-sick when she was taking a passage,
and therefore did no mischief. "I recollect," said my father to me,
"once when we were running down to Portsmouth, where we had been ordered
for provisions, that my Lady Hercules, who was no fool of a weight,
being one night sea-sick in her cot, the lanyard of the cot gave way,
and she came down with a run by the head. The steward was called by the
sentry, and there was a terrible shindy. I, of course, was sent for, as
I had the hanging up of the cot. There was Sir Hercules with his shirt
flapping in the wind, and a blanket over his shoulders, strutting about
in a towering passion; there was the officer of the watch, who had been
sent for by mistake, and who was ordered to quit the cabin immediately;
and there was I, expecting to be put in irons, and have seven dozen for
my breakfast. As for Sir Hercules, he didn't know what to do; he did
nothing but storm at everybody, for my lady, with her head under the
clothes, was serving him out at no small rate. She wouldn't, she
declared, allow any man to come into the cabin to hoist her up again.
So indecent, so indelicate, so shocking,--she was ashamed of Sir
Hercules,--to send for the men; if they didn't leave the cabin
immediately, she'd scream and she'd faint--that she would--there was no
saying what she wouldn't do! Well, there we waited just outside until
at last Sir Hercules