He was a great disciplinarian--so great,
indeed, I remember to have heard, as to cause more than one mutiny--and my
father being a German, and coming from a people that carried military
subordination to extremes, it is highly probable I was indebted, for this
compliment, to a similarity of tastes between the two. I cared little for
all this, however, in 1805, and thought far less of being protected by a
prince of the blood royal, than of going to sea, and especially of
escaping from the moral discipline of Mr. Marchinton. Finding his
arguments vain, Dr. Heizer sent me to school again, where I continued a
few months longer.
All this time, my taste for ships rather increased than diminished. At
every opportunity I was on the wharves, studying the different craft, and
endeavouring to understand their rig. One day I saw a British ensign, and,
while looking at it, with a feeling of strong disgust, I heard myself
called by name. A glance told me that I was seen by a Halifax man, and I
ran away, under the apprehension that he might, by some means, seize me
and carry me back. My feelings on this head were all alive, and that very
day one of the young ladies said, in a melancholy way, "_Edouard_,"
"Halifax." These girls spoke scarcely any English, having been born in
Martinique; and they talked much together in French, looking at me
occasionally, as if I were the subject of their discourse.
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