high admiral of Great Britain, but as it had been
thrust upon him, why, he would do his best to sustain the character; he
knew his friends at Stunin'tun would be glad to hear of his promotion,
for, though in his country there were no lords, nor even any admirals,
his countrymen were always exceedingly rejoiced whenever any of
their fellow-citizens were preferred to those stations by anybody but
themselves, seeming to think an honor conferred on one, was an honor
conferred on the whole nation; he liked to confer honor on his own
nation, for no people on 'arth tuck up a notion of this sort and divided
it among themselves in a way to give each a share, sooner than the
people of the States, though they were very cautious about leaving any
portion of the credit in first hands, and therefore he was disposed to
keep as much as he could while it was in his power; he believed he was
a better seaman than most of the lord high admirals who had gone
before him, and he had no fears on that score; he wondered whether his
promotion made Miss Poke lady high admiral; as I seemed greatly put out
about my own rank, he would give me the acting appointment of a chaplain
(he didn't think I was qualified to be a sea-officer), and do doubt I
had interest enough at home to get it confirmed; a great statesman in
his country had said "that few die and none resigned," and he didn't
like to be the first to set new fashions; for his part, he rather looked
upon Dr. Reasono as his friend, and it was unpleasant to quarrel with
one's friends; he was willing to do anything in reason, but resign, and
if I could persuade the Doctor to say he had fallen into a mistake in
my particular case, and that I had been sent to Leaphigh as a lord high
ambassador, lord high priest, or lord high anything else, except lord
high admiral, why, he was ready to swear to it--though he now gave
notice, that in the event of such an arrangement, he should claim to
rank me in virtue of the date of his own commission; if he gave up his
appointment a minute sooner than was absolutely necessary, he should
lose his own self-respect, and never dare look Miss Poke in the face
again--on the whole, he should do no such thing; and, finally, he wished
me a good morning, as he was about to make a call on the lord high
admiral of Leaphigh.

CHAPTER XVII. NEW LORDS, NEW LAWS--GYRATION, ROTATION, AND ANOTHER
NATION; ALSO AN INVITATION.

I felt that my situation had now become exceedi