DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.25988#0032
IO
Life of Mountstuart Elphinstone.
CH. I.
up beds for John Adam and I, so we will not be obliged to
sleep in cots. My most considerable books are the “ Novelist’s
Magazine,” 25 large volnmes containing two or three novels
each, and the “ British Classics,” same size, five vols., contain-
ing such things as the Spectator, Ouardian, Rambler, and
“Mundell’s Poets,” containing every good British poet, andthe
“ Encyclopgedia Britannica.” .... I cannot get this beast to
write better, nor to say anythmg but about his beastly books.
There is a report in town that the French have got all by tlie
ears, and that the Jacobins have the upper hand, and havesent
four ships of the line to join Admiral Hotham at G-ib.
‘ The mapp 1 of this fellow’s countenance is doing for you.
‘ Your affectionate sons,
‘ JOHN AND MOUNT.’
Plis brother accompanied him to Portsmouth to join the
fleet, which was detained by contrary winds. After a short
stay at ‘ this noble blackguard town,’ as the young writer
describes it, he embarked on board the ‘ Berrington,’ one of the
ships of the East India fleet, in company with his cousin
John Adam, and Robert Houston, who shared the same cabin.
If he felt his separation from his family when at school, he felt
it doubly now. IJe suffered through life from sea-sickness,
and now, after a month of suffering, his spirits were at the
lowest ebb.
1 “ Berrington,” latitode 4 N., August 14, 1795.
‘ My dear Mother,—I write this by “ Belvidere,” which
goes to St. Helena and China, and will leave this at St. Helena,
where some home-bound ship will get it. She leaves us
to-morrow. I wrote a letter by the “ Excellent,” but the boat
sailed before my letter was finished. You will be a little
surprised to hear that I have not got over my sea-sickness yet',
neither has Judge Watson’s son. Adam and Houston have
not been sick at all. There is on board this ship a carpenter
who went out with Bishop. I will write the characters of the
1 The wamp is a pencil drawing frorn which the litliograph was taken
wliich forms the frontispiece of tliis volume.
Life of Mountstuart Elphinstone.
CH. I.
up beds for John Adam and I, so we will not be obliged to
sleep in cots. My most considerable books are the “ Novelist’s
Magazine,” 25 large volnmes containing two or three novels
each, and the “ British Classics,” same size, five vols., contain-
ing such things as the Spectator, Ouardian, Rambler, and
“Mundell’s Poets,” containing every good British poet, andthe
“ Encyclopgedia Britannica.” .... I cannot get this beast to
write better, nor to say anythmg but about his beastly books.
There is a report in town that the French have got all by tlie
ears, and that the Jacobins have the upper hand, and havesent
four ships of the line to join Admiral Hotham at G-ib.
‘ The mapp 1 of this fellow’s countenance is doing for you.
‘ Your affectionate sons,
‘ JOHN AND MOUNT.’
Plis brother accompanied him to Portsmouth to join the
fleet, which was detained by contrary winds. After a short
stay at ‘ this noble blackguard town,’ as the young writer
describes it, he embarked on board the ‘ Berrington,’ one of the
ships of the East India fleet, in company with his cousin
John Adam, and Robert Houston, who shared the same cabin.
If he felt his separation from his family when at school, he felt
it doubly now. IJe suffered through life from sea-sickness,
and now, after a month of suffering, his spirits were at the
lowest ebb.
1 “ Berrington,” latitode 4 N., August 14, 1795.
‘ My dear Mother,—I write this by “ Belvidere,” which
goes to St. Helena and China, and will leave this at St. Helena,
where some home-bound ship will get it. She leaves us
to-morrow. I wrote a letter by the “ Excellent,” but the boat
sailed before my letter was finished. You will be a little
surprised to hear that I have not got over my sea-sickness yet',
neither has Judge Watson’s son. Adam and Houston have
not been sick at all. There is on board this ship a carpenter
who went out with Bishop. I will write the characters of the
1 The wamp is a pencil drawing frorn which the litliograph was taken
wliich forms the frontispiece of tliis volume.