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Untitled Article
I dined that day with the General * Captain S , &c . and found that they all gave a different account of the adventure , as regarded the suspicions they had excited . The Portuguese crew , who of course were instantly discovered not to be British sailors , had first created mistrust , especially as there were arms in the boat . Added to this , somebody ( it was Mr Nobody ) had
asked one of the by-standers a very alarming question ; namely , what forces were contained in the Island ? The news quickly got wind , and reached the ears of the Commandant of the Fort , who sent down some soldiers to the beach to bring them up to his house ; that he might question them . He must have been rather incompetent for that , and a bad judge of appearances besides , or he would not so easily have been satisfied . The plausible volubility of the Baron ( though P , as usual , endeavoured to
take all the credit to himself ) , backed by a few well placed allusions to the Jack of old England , the terror of every nation , was , I believe , the chief cause of their liberation . Captain S ' s usual hammering , hesitative mode of speech , was alone enough to have ruined them , had not the Baron taken upon himself to be spokesman , who , as Captain S observed at table , " would not let him put in a word edgeways . " Upon this occasion , the French Gastronomer ( who had received the
further title of General Cook , conferred upon him by the ship ' s company , in consequence of his frequently striking his breast when irritated , and claiming respect as being dee generate cooke !) had exerted all his wondrous art—and certainly there was no knowing what any dish was made of . As to distinguishing such vulgar things as beef , veal , or mutton , it was
out of the question : Ins ragouts , curries , and fricassees were entirely his own idea ; they were like nothing else upon this cooking earth . Independent , however , of all these luxuries ( some of which were brought to that acme of perfection as to be truly disgusting ) , the local circumstances of dining in the Captain ' s cabin were most delightful . Dinner was usually laid in the fore cabin , which , though not so beautifully furnished as the state one , was considerably larger ; and with the wide ports all open , the guns being slewed fore-and-aft to be out of the way , and the fine salt breezes coming fresh from the sea as it sped by us in its glistening course , and wafting over the luxuriant dessert-table , beat all the " salons a manger " in the world .
I liked it still better when we had the wind upon the beam , and were going seven or eight knots through the glittering sea ; and the keen slant of our large table , with the swinging tables overhead , hanging askance , with all their fruit-plates and decanters balancing themselves so admirably , was highly piquant , while the continual flow of the Baron's gentlemanly , well-informed conversation , gave a zest to the whole . I think I never tasted
Untitled Article
Mexican Sketches * 27
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1837, page 27, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1827/page/29/
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