hich may mean anything between its nominal measure and the full holding
capacity of the drinker--which is as vague as "half a pint," itself.

The _Elsie_ was a yacht which belonged to a syndicate of Woodbridge
yachtsmen, of whom Mr. Silver (a Woodbridge friend of FitzGerald's) was
one and Mr. Manby was another. The two friends who went to Mutford
Bridge to look at the lugger were (so far as Posh can remember) Mr.
Silver and Mr. Cobbold, of Cobbold's Bank. Posh says that the lugger was
a beauty. But nothing came of the visit, and the Woodbridge man did not
buy her.

As yet the warning which FitzGerald had given Posh in his sermon had (so
far as the letters tell us) served its purpose. But the letters appear
to be deceitful in this, and the next chapter must deal with a painful
phase of the partnership.

CHAPTER X
POSH'S SPIRIT OF INDEPENDENCE

The hopes for the home fishing of 1869 should have been good. On August
30th, 1869 (_Two Suffolk Friends_, p. 114), FitzGerald wrote to Mr.
Spalding from Lowestoft: "You will see by the enclosed that Posh has had
a little better luck than hitherto. One reason for my not going to
Woodbridge is, that I think it possible that this N.E. wind may blow him
hither to tan his nets. Only please God it don't tan him and his people
first."

Herring are, as our East Anglian fishermen say, "ondependable" in their
travels. They come south along the coast from the north of Scotland till
they are in their prime (full-roed, fat fish) off Yarmouth in October.
But their arrival at the various ports along the east coast can never be
fixed for a certain date. This year, for instance (1907), owing to the
warm August and September they have been late in coming south from Hull.
Generally "longshores" are caught off Lowestoft late in August or early
in September, and by the end of September the home and Scotch fleets are
congesting the herring basins. This year, however, I had my first
longshores brought me yesterday, the 1st of October, and there are not a
dozen Scotch craft to be seen in the basins.

FitzGerald stayed at Lowestoft till the north-easters _did_ blow Posh
home. And perhaps he would have been happier had he gone back to
Woodbridge before the return of the _Meum and Tuum_. As it was, Posh had
"some bare" on regatta day (very late that year), and this upset his
"guv'nor." He wrote to Mr. Spalding on the 4th September (_Two Suffolk
Friends_, p. 115): "I would not med