 on a common, and read nothing but our uncle Thomas's books
of voyages. At that age I became acquainted with the celebrated poets of our own
country; but it was only when it had ceased to be in my power to derive its most
important benefits from such a conviction, that I perceived the necessity of
becoming acquainted with more languages than that of my native country. Now I am
twenty-eight, and am in reality more illiterate than many schoolboys of fifteen.
It is true that I have thought more, and that my day dreams are more extended
and magnificent; but they want (as the painters call it) keeping; and I greatly
need a friend who would have sense enough not to despise me as romantic, and
affection enough for me to endeavour to regulate my mind.
    Well, these are useless complaints; I shall certainly find no friend on the
wide ocean, nor even here in Archangel, among merchants and seamen. Yet some
feelings, unallied to the dross of human nature, beat even in these rugged
bosoms. My lieutenant, for instance, is a man of wonderful courage and
enterprise; he is madly desirous of glory: or rather, to word my phrase more
characteristically, of advancement in his profession. He is an Englishman, and
in the midst of national and professional prejudices, unsoftened by cultivation,
retains some of the noblest endowments of humanity. I first became acquainted
with him on board a whale vessel: finding that he was unemployed in this city, I
easily engaged him to assist in my enterprise.
    The master is a person of an excellent disposition, and is remarkable in the
ship for his gentleness and the mildness of his discipline. This circumstance,
added to his well known integrity and dauntless courage, made me very desirous
to engage him. A youth passed in solitude, my best years spent under your gentle
and feminine fosterage, has so refined the groundwork of my character, that I
cannot overcome an intense distaste to the usual brutality exercised on board
ship: I have never believed it to be necessary; and when I heard of a mariner
equally noted for his kindliness of heart, and the respect and obedience paid to
him by his crew, I felt myself peculiarly fortunate in being able to secure his
services. I heard of him first in rather a romantic manner, from a lady who owes
to him the happiness of her life. This, briefly, is his story. Some years ago,
he loved a young Russian lady, of moderate fortune; and having amassed a
considerable sum in prize-money, the father of the
