their season. I am sure the Man is fit to be King of a
Kingdom as well as of a Lugger. . . .

"I declare, you and I have seen A Man! Have we not? Made in the
mould of what Humanity should be, Body and Soul, a poor Fisherman. The
proud Fellow had better have kept me for a Partner in some of his
responsibilities. But no; he must rule alone, as is right he should
too. . . ."

Yes. It would certainly have been better for Posh if he had kept his
"guv'nor" for a partner. But the "squalls," the occasional beer bouts
(or "settin' ins," as they call them in East Anglia), had excited the
spirit of independence of my gentleman. Possibly FitzGerald himself had,
by too open a display of his admiration for his partner, this typical
longshoreman, contributed to the personal self-satisfaction which must
have been at the bottom of the man's reasons for wishing to be free of
one who had befriended him so delicately and so generously. Posh himself
admits, or rather boasts, that the "break" was owing to his own action.
From first to last it seems that FitzGerald, the cultured gentleman, the
scholar, the poet of perfect language and profound philosophy, regarded
Posh as almost more than man--certainly as more than average man--and
there can be no greater token of the sweet simplicity of the scholar.

CHAPTER XV
A DROP O' BARE

In September, 1870 (which would be just before the home voyage began and
after the Northern voyage was over), Posh seems to have "celebrated" more
than his whilome partner and then mortgagee thought proper. On the 8th
of the month FitzGerald wrote to Mr. Spalding (_Two Suffolk Friends_, p.
119):--

". . . I had a letter from Posh yesterday, telling me he was sorry we
had not 'parted Friends.' That he had been indeed '_a little the
worse_ for Drink'--which means being at a Public-house half the Day,
and having to sleep it off the remainder: having been duly warned by
his Father at Noon that all had been ready for sailing 2 hours before,
and all the other Luggers gone. As Posh could _walk_, I suppose he
only acknowledges a _little_ Drink; but, judging by what followed on
that little Drink, I wish he had simply acknowledged his Fault. He
begs me to write: if I do so I must speak very plainly to him: that,
with all his noble Qualities, I doubt I can never again have
Confidence in his Promise to break this one bad Habit, seeing that He
has br