ack Jack, who was a little round fellow, of about five feet two;
'I would not stand to be called Portuguese by Nelson himself.' Jack was
rather fond of talking about Nelson, and hearing people talking about
him, so that it is not improbable that he may have sailed with him; and
with respect to his having been King Pharaoh's butler, all I have to say
is, I am not disposed to give the downright lie to the report. Jack was
always ready to do a kind turn to a poor servant out of place, and has
often been known to assist such as were in prison, which charitable
disposition he perhaps acquired from having lost a good place himself,
having seen the inside of a prison, and known the want of a meal's
victuals, all which trials King Pharaoh's butler underwent, so he may
have been that butler; at any rate, I have known positive conclusions
come to, on no better premises, if indeed as good. As for the story of
his coming direct from Satan's kitchen, I place no confidence in it at
all, as Black Jack had nothing of Satan about him, but blackness, on
which account he was called Black Jack. Nor am I disposed to give credit
to a report that his hatred of the Portuguese arose from some ill
treatment which he had once experienced when on shore, at Lisbon, from
certain gentlewomen of the place, but rather conclude that it arose from
an opinion he entertained that the Portuguese never paid their debts, one
of the ambassadors of that nation, whose house he had served, having left
Paris several thousand francs in his debt. This is all that I have to
say about Black Jack, without whose funny jokes, and good ordinary, I
should have passed my time in Paris in a very disconsolate manner.

"After we had been at Paris between two and three months, we left it in
the direction of Italy, which country the family had a great desire to
see. After travelling a great many days in a thing which, though called
a diligence, did not exhibit much diligence, we came to a great big town,
seated around a nasty saltwater basin, connected by a narrow passage with
the sea. Here we were to embark; and so we did as soon as possible, glad
enough to get away; at least I was, and so I make no doubt were the rest;
for such a place for bad smells I never was in. It seems all the drains
and sewers of the place run into that same salt basin, voiding into it
all their impurities, which, not being able to escape into the sea in any
considerable quantity, owing to the nar