e young man, although Time has
since exerted his utmost, through jealousy, to make me appear almost as
old and ill-favoured as himself. The young lady took a fancy to me,
complained of the tooth-ache, and asked for remedies. I offered to
extract the tooth; but either having heard of my reputation, or not
wishing to remove the excuse for our interviews, or, what is still more
probable, having no tooth-ache whatever, she would not consent.

The death of her mother, which had taken place when she was a child, had
left her without guidance,--and the helpless situation of her father,
without protection. Naturally of a warm temperament, and yielding to
the impulse of her feelings, she carried on an intimacy which could only
end in her disgrace; and, at the expiration of a year, her situation
could no longer be concealed. I was now in a dilemma. She had two
brothers in the army, who were returning home, and I dreaded their
vengeance.

I loved her very much, but I loved myself more; so, one evening, I
packed up all that I could call my own, and all that I could lay my
hands on belonging to my honoured parent, and shipped on board a Genoese
vessel, which was then standing out of the harbour. She was a large
ship, mounting twelve long guns, with a complement of sixty men; being
what is termed in European countries a "letter of marque." This implies
that she fights her way without convoy, capturing any of the enemy's
vessels she may happen to fall in with, who are not strong enough to
resist her. We had cleared out for Genoa with a cargo of lead, which
lay at the bottom of the hold, and which merely served for ballast.

I soon found out, by the conversation of the crew, that we were not to
proceed to Genoa direct; in fact, your highness, she was a pirate,
manned by a most desperate set of men. As soon as my qualifications
were made known, I had the honour to remove the beards of sixty of the
greatest villains that ever were permitted to exist, receiving nothing
but blows and curses for my trouble. I certainly improved very much in
my profession; for it was as much as my life was worth to draw blood,
although they made no scruple of carrying on a conversation during the
whole time of the operation. We had taken the cargoes out of several
vessels, all of which were added to the "manifest" by our correct
captain; when one day, we were chased by an English frigate. I never
met the English on shore, but I must say that, a