ocks rise sheer up out of the water on either side of the
entrance, and give it a particularly melancholy and unattractive
appearance. One of the owners had come round in the brig, but he had
landed and taken a post-chaise back towards London. In the morning the
brig sailed, and by noon the gale was blowing with its fiercest
violence. In vain my poor mother watched and waited for his return;
from that time to the present neither my father nor any of his crew were
again heard of. The brig with all hands must have foundered, or, as
likely as not, been run down at no great distance from Plymouth itself.
My mother, who had borne so bravely and uncomplainingly her own personal
sufferings, sunk slowly but surely under this dispensation of
Providence. She never found fault with the decrees of the Almighty, but
the colour fled from her cheeks, her figure grew thinner and thinner.
Scarce a smile lighted up her countenance, even when she fondly played
with me. Her complaint was incurable, it was that of a broken heart,
and I was left an orphan.

Most of my father's property had gone to purchase a share in the brig,
which had been most fatally uninsured, and thus an income remained
barely sufficient for the support of my grandmother and aunt. They,
poor things, took in work, and laboured hard, night and day, that they
might supply me with the food and clothing they considered I required,
and, when I grew older, to afford me such an education as they deemed
suitable to the son of one holding the position my father had in life
Aunt Bretta taught me to read pretty well, and to write a little, and I
was then sent to a day-school to pick up some knowledge of arithmetic
and geography. Small enough was the amount I gained of either, and
whether it was owing to my teacher's bad system or to my own stupidity,
I don't know, but I do know that I very quickly lost all I gained, and
by the time I was twelve years old I was a strong, stout lad, with a
large appetite and a very ill-stored head.

Though I had not picked up much information at school, I had some
companions, and they were generally the wildest and least manageable of
all the boys of my age and standing. The truth was, I am forced to
confess, my grandmother and aunt had spoilt me. They could not find it
in their hearts to deny me anything, and the consequence was that I
generally got my own way whether it was a good or bad one. I should
have been altogether ruined had th