Marmaduke Merry.
by William H. G. Kingston.
CHAPTER ONE.
I belong to the family of the Merrys of Leicestershire. Our chief characteristic was well suited to our patronymic. "Merry by name and merry by nature," was a common saying among us. Indeed, a more good-natured, laughing, happy set of people it would be difficult to find. Right jovial was the rattle of tongues and the cachinnation which went forward whenever we were a.s.sembled together either at breakfast or dinner or supper; our father and mother setting us the example, so that we began the day with a hearty laugh, and finished it with a heartier.
"Laugh and grow fat" is an apothegm which all people cannot follow, but our mother did in the most satisfactory manner. Her skin was fair and most thoroughly comfortably filled out; her hair was light, and her contented spirit beamed out from a pair of large laughing blue eyes, so that it was a pleasure to look at her as she sat at the head of the table, serving out the viands to her hungry progeny. Our sisters were very like her, and came fairly under the denomination of jolly girls; and thoroughly jolly they were;--none of them ever had a headache or a toothache, or any other ache that I know of. Our father was a good specimen of a thorough English country gentleman; he was thorough in everything, honest-faced, stout, and hearty, not over-refined, perhaps, but yet gentle in all his thoughts and acts; a hater of a lie and every thing dishonourable, hospitable and generous to the utmost of his means; a protector of the poor and helpless, and a friend to all his neighbours. Yes, and I may say more, both he and my mother were humble, sincere Christians, and made the law of the Bible their rule of life.
He told a good story and laughed at it himself, and delighted to see our mother and us laugh at it also. Had he been bred a lawyer, and lived in London, he would have been looked upon as a first-rate wit; but I am certain that he was much happier with the lot awarded to him. He had a good estate; his tenants paid their rents regularly; and he had few or no cares to disturb his digestion or to keep him awake at night; and I am very certain that he would far rather have had us to hear his jokes, and laugh at them with him, than all the wits London ever produced. He delighted in joining in all our sports, either of the field or flood, and we always looked forward to certain amus.e.m.e.nt when he was able to accompany us. He was our companion and friend; we had no secrets from him,--why should we? He was always our best adviser, and if we got into sc.r.a.pes, which one or the other of us was not unfrequently doing, we were very certain that no one could extricate us as well as he could. I don"t mean to say that he forgot the proverb, "Spare the rod, spoil the child;" or that we were such pieces of perfection that we did not deserve punishment; but we had sense enough to see that he punished us for our good: he did it calmly, never angrily, and without any unnecessarily severe remark, and we certainly did not love him the less for the sharpest flogging he ever gave us. Directly afterwards, he would meet the culprit in his usual frank, hearty way, and seem to forget all about the matter.
Our sisters were on the same happy intimate terms with our mother, and we boys had no secrets with her, or with them either.
Our father used to believe and a.s.sert that our family had settled in Leicestershire before the Conquest, and, in consequence of this notion, he gave us all old English names or what he supposed to be such. His own name was Joliffe, and he used to be called by his hunting a.s.sociates, the other gentlemen of the county, Jolly Merry. He was not, I should say, _par excellence_ a fox hunter, though he subscribed to the county hunt, and frequently followed the hounds; and no one rode better, nor did any one"s voice sound more cheerily on copse or hill side than did his, as he greeted a friend, or sang out, in the exuberance of his spirits, a loud tallyho-ho. My name stood sixth in the Family Bible, and that of Marmaduke had fallen to my lot. We had a Cedric, an Athelstane, an Egbert, and an Edwin among the boys, and a Bertha, an Edith, and a Winifred among the girls. We all went to school in our turns, but though it was a very good school, we did not like it so much as home. When, however, we got to school, we used to be very jolly, and if other boys pulled long faces we made round ones and laughed away as usual. Our school was in Northamptonshire, so that we had not far to go, and we kept up a very frequent correspondence with home, from which, in consequence of its vicinity, we received more hampers laden with cakes and tongues, and pots of jam, and similar comestible articles, than most of our companions. I do not say that we should not otherwise have been favourites, but it might have been remarked that the attentions and willingness to oblige us of our companions increased in proportion to the size of our hampers, and our readiness to dispense their contents.
However, I will not dwell on my school life. I imbibed a certain amount of cla.s.sical and elementary knowledge of a somewhat miscellaneous description, and received not a few canings, generally for laughing in my cla.s.s at something which tickled my fancy, when I ought not to have allowed my fancy to be tickled; but altogether my conduct was such that I believe I was considered to have brought no discredit on the Merry name or fame. Such was my uneventful career at school.
We were all at home for the summer holidays. We were seated at breakfast. What a rattle of tongues, and knives, and forks, and cups, and saucers there was going on. What vast slices of bread and b.u.t.ter were disappearing within our well practised jaws. Various cries proceeded from each side of the table. "Bertha, another cup of tea;"
"Bertha, some more milk;" "Bertha, you haven"t given me sugar enough by half;" "Bertha, I like strong tea; no wish-wash for me."
Bertha was our oldest sister and tea-maker general. She had no sinecure office of it; but, in spite often of the most remarkable demands, she dispensed the beverage with the most perfect justice and good humour.
Not unsatisfactory were the visits paid to the sideboard, covered as it was with brawn, and ham, and tongue, and a piece of cold beef, and such like substantial fare.
Suddenly the tenor of our conversation was turned by the entrance of the servant with the post-bag. The elders were silent for a few minutes,-- our father and mother and Bertha, and Cedric, who was at home from college. Our mother had a large circle of correspondents, and seldom a post arrived without a letter for her. Our father had fewer; but this morning he received one, in a large official-looking cover, which absorbed his attention. Still the clatter of tongues went on among us younger ones. Our father and mother had grown so accustomed to it, that, as the miller awakes when his mill stops, so they would have looked up to ascertain what was the matter had we been silent.
"Which of you would like to become a midshipman?" asked our father looking up suddenly.
The question had an effect rarely produced in the family. We were all silent. Our mother put down her letters, and her fond eyes glanced round on our faces. Her countenance was unusually grave.
Again my father looked at the doc.u.ment in his hand. "Captain Collyer says he should not be more than fourteen. Marmaduke, that is your age.
What do you say on the subject?" said my father.
"Joliffe, what is it all about?" asked my mother, with a slight trepidation in her voice.
"I forgot that I had not read the letter. It is rather long. It is from my old friend, d.i.c.k Collyer, and a better fellow does not breathe.
The tenor of it is that he has got command of a fine frigate, the Doris, fitting with all despatch for sea, and that he will take one of our boys as a midshipman, if we like to send the youngster with him. There is no time to lose, as he expects to be ready in a week or ten days; so we must decide at once."
The question was put indirectly to me, "Should I like to go to sea?"
Now, I had never even seen the sea, and had never realised what a man-of-war was like. The largest floating thing to which I was accustomed was the miller"s punt, in which my brothers and I used occasionally to paddle about on the mill-pond; in which mill-pond, by the bye, we had all learned to swim. I had seen pictures of ships, though as to the size of one, and the number of men she might carry, I was profoundly ignorant. I was, therefore, not very well qualified to come to a decision. Suddenly I recollected a visit paid to us by Tom Welby, an old schoolfellow, after his first trip to sea, and what a jolly life I thought he must lead as he described his adventures, and how fine a fellow he looked as he strutted about with his dirk at his side, the white patch on his collar, and the c.o.c.kade in his hat. I decided at once. "If you wish it, father, I"m ready to go," said I.
My father looked at me affectionately. There was, I am certain, a conflict going on in his mind whether or not he should part with me; but prudence conquered love.
"Of course, you must all have professions, boys, and the navy is a very fine one," he observed. "What do you say, Mary?"
My mother was too sensible a woman to make any objections to so promising an offer if I did not; and therefore, before we rose from the breakfast table, it was settled that I was to be a midshipman, and we were all soon laughing away as heartily as ever. The news that Master Marmaduke was going away to sea quickly reached the servants" hall, and from thence spread over the village.
Not a moment was lost by our mother in commencing the preparations for my outfit. Stores of calico were produced, and she and Bertha had cut out a set of shirts and distributed them to be made before noon. While they were thus employed, I went down to have a talk with my father, and to have my ignorance on nautical affairs somewhat enlightened, though he, I found, knew very little more about them than I did. While I was in the study the footman came to say that Widow Bluff wished to see him.
"Let her come in," was his reply. "Well, dame, what is it you want this morning?" he asked, in his cheery encouraging tone as she appeared.
"Why, sir, I hears how Master Marmaduke"s going away to sea, and I comes to ask if he"ll take my boy Toby with him," answered the dame, promptly.
"What, Mrs Bluff, do you wish him to be an officer?" said my father.
"Blessy no, sir. It"s to be his servant like. I suppose he"ll want some one to clean his shoes and brush his clothes, and such little things, and I"d be proud for my Toby to do that," answered the dame.
Now, I had always thought Toby Bluff to be a remarkably dunder-headed, loutish fellow, though strong as a lion, and with plenty of pluck in his composition. I had helped him out of a pond once, and done him some other little service, I fancy; but I had forgotten all about the matter.
"I will see about it, dame," said my father. "But I doubt if Toby, though a good lad, will ever set the Thames on fire."
"Blessy heart, I hopes not," exclaimed the dame in a tone of horror.
"He"d be a hanged, if he did, like them as burnt farmer Dobbs"s corn stacks last year."
Toby, it appeared, was waiting outside. My father sent for him, and found that he really had a very strong desire to go to sea, or rather to follow me. Toby had an honest round freckled countenance, with large hands and broad shoulders, but a slouching awkward gait, which made him look far less intelligent than he really was. As he had always borne a good character, my father promised to learn if Captain Collyer would take him. The answer was in the affirmative. Behold, then, Toby Bluff and me about to commence our career on the briny ocean.
I tried to laugh to the last; but somehow or other, it was a harder job than I had ever found it; and as to my mother and sisters, though they said a number of funny things, there was a moisture in their eyes and a tremulousness in their voices very unusual with them. Toby Bluff, as he scrambled up on the box of the chaise, which was to take us to meet the London coach, blubbered out with a vehemence which spoke more for the sensitiveness of his feelings than for his sense of the dignified; but when his mother, equally overcome, exclaimed, "Get down, Toby; I"ll not have thee go, boy, an thou takest on so," he answered st.u.r.dily, "Noa, noa, mother; I"ve said I"d stick to Measter Marmaduke, and if he goes, I"ll go to look after him."
My brothers cheered and shouted as we drove off, and I did my best to shout and cheer in return, as did Toby in spite of his tears. My father accompanied us as far as London. We spent but a few hours in that big city.
"I don"t see that it be so very grand like," observed Toby as we drove through it. "There bees no streets paved with gold, and no Lord Mayor in a gold coach,--only bricks and mortar, and people running about in a precious hurry."
Captain Collyer had desired that I should come down by the coach to the George at Portsmouth, where he would send his c.o.xswain to meet me, and take me to the tailor, who would make my uniform, a part of my outfit which our country town had been unable to supply.
It was a bright summer morning when my father accompanied us to Piccadilly, whence the Portsmouth coach started.
"Cheer up, and don"t forget your name, Marmaduke," he said, wringing my hand as I was climbing on to the front seat. He nodded kindly to Toby, who followed me closely. "Don"t you forget to look after the young master, boy," he added.
"Noa, squire, while I"se got fists at the end of my arms, I won"t,"
answered Toby.
"All right," shouted the guard, and the coach drove off.
I found myself seated by a tall man with a huge red nose, like the beak of an eagle, a copper complexion, jet black piercing eyes, and enormous black bushy whiskers. He looked down at me, I thought, with ineffable contempt. His clothes were of blue cloth, and his hands, which were very large and hairy, were marked on the back with strange devices, among which I observed an anchor, a ship, and a fish, which made me suspect that he must be a nautical character of some sort. He addressed the coachman and the pa.s.senger on the box seat several times in a wonderfully loud gruff voice, but as they showed by their answers that they were not inclined to enter into conversation with him, he at last turned his attention to me.
"Why are you going down to Portsmouth, little boy?" he asked, in a tone I did not like.
"I suppose because I want to get there," I answered.
"Ho! ho! ho!" His laugh was like the bellowing of a bull. "Going to sea, I fancy," he remarked.
"Yes, going to see Portsmouth," said I, quietly, "if I keep my eyes open."
"Ho! ho! sharp as a needle I see," observed the big man.
"Sharpness runs in the family," I replied. We were well up to this sort of repartee among each other at home.
"Your name is Sharp, I suppose," said my friend.
"No, only my nature, like a currant or a sour gooseberry," I replied, not able to help laughing myself.
"Take care, youngster, you don"t get wounded with your own weapon," said the big man.