A few days after our return home, I received a letter and enclosure from Lord Privilege, the contents of which were as follow:--
"My dear Child,--I send you Lord----'s answer, which I trust will prove satisfactory. My compliments to your family.--Yours, &c., PRIVILEGE."
The inclosure was a handsome letter from the First Lord, stating that he had appointed O'Brien to the _Sanglier_ frigate, and had ordered me to be received on board as midshipman. I was delighted to forward this letter to O'Brien's address, who, in a few days sent me an answer, thanking me, and stating that he had received his 'appointment, and that I need not join for a month, which was quite time enough, as the ship was refitting; but, that if my family were tired of me, which was sometimes the case in the best regulated families, why, then I should learn something of my duty by coming to Portsmouth. He concluded by sending his kind regards to all the family, and his _love_ to my grandfather, which last I certainly did not forward in my letter of thanks. About a month afterwards I received a letter from O'Brien, stating that the ship was ready to go out of harbour, and would be anchored off Spithead in a few days.
Captain and Mrs To--Pork--We go to Plymouth, and fall in with our old Captain.
I immediately took leave of my family, and set off for Portsmouth, and in two days arrived at the Fountain inn, where O'Brien was waiting to receive me. "Peter, my boy, I feel so much obliged to you, that if your uncle won't go out of the world by fair means, I'll pick a quarrel with him, and shoot him, on purpose that you may be a lord, as I am determined you shall be. Now come up into my room, where we'll be all alone, and I'll tell you all about the ship and our new captain. In the first place, we'll begin with the ship, as the most important personage of the two: she's a beauty, I forget her name before she was taken, but the French know how to build ships better than keep them. She's now called the _Sanglier_, which means a wild pig, and, by the powers! a _pig_ ship she is, as you will hear directly. The captain's name is a very short one, and wouldn't please Mr Chucks, consisting only of two letters, T and O, which makes To; his whole title is Captain John To. It would almost appear as if somebody had broken off the better half of his name, and only left him the commencement of it; but, however, it's a handy name to sign when he pays off his ship. And now I'll tell you what sort of a looking craft he is. He's built like a Dutch schuyt, great breadth of beam, and very square tuck. He applied to have the quarter galleries enlarged in the two last ships he commanded. He weighs about eighteen stone, rather more than less. He is a good-natured sort of a chap, amazingly ungenteel, not much of an officer, not much of a sailor, but a devilish good hand at the trencher. But he's only part of the concern; he has his wife on board, who is a red-herring sort of a lady, and very troublesome to boot. What makes her still more annoying is, that she has a _piano_ on board, very much out of _tune_, on which she plays very much out of _time_. Holystoning is music compared with her playing: even the captain's spaniel howls when she comes to the high notes; but she affects the fine lady, and always treats the officers with music when they dine in the cabin, which makes them very glad to get out of it."