THE BOATSWAIN; A FORECASTLE YARN, ENDEAVOURED TO BE SPUN IN NAUTICAL PHRASEOLOGY. "Sir, he hath never fed of the dainties that are bred in a book; he hath not eat paper, as it were; he hath not drunk ink; his intellect is not replenished; he is only an animal, only sensible in the duller parts ;— And such barren plants are set before us, that we thankful should be, (Which we of taste and feeling are) for those parts that do fructify in us more than he. For as it would ill become me to be vain, indiscreet, or a fool, SHAKSPEARE. THE BOATSWAIN, &c. CHAPTER I. He hath not eat paper, as it were. SHAKSPEARE. TOM PIPES at this time was a man who had passed the years of maturity, without arriving at those of discretion. He was of the middle size, and his complexion had been darkened and his skin wrinkled by severe service in various climates. He wore a thick and long cue, not tied so tight as to prevent him shutting his eyes, but just sufficiently so to permit what Tom called in woman a crowfoot, to form at the margins of them when he blinked, which quently. was fre His friends only accused him of “ 'clipping the King's English;" but high commentators on language insist that he must have been imprisoned for a considerable time, by which he lost the last syllable of many of his words, and, unfortunately for harmony, he had a coarse voice, and was once detected in spelling a word in the middle of a song. He drank grog profusely, and was often seen hovering near the mate of the main-deck at seven bells, when that rum-and-water beverage was preparing. His character was rough and ready, and his motto might with justice have been “ Nunquam non paratus ;" but the herald had forgotten to record it on his shield, though it was written in legible characters on the shield of his face. Tom, when he was impressed into his Majesty's service, had taken the "purser's name" literally "un nom de guerre" of Thomas Call, |