he _Volage_," replied I, not in love with the
person's face, which was bluish-red, with a large nose. "Then," said he,
"you bloody dog, come and bow to my bishop," pointing to the best house
there. I stared with astonishment, and was turning away presuming he was a
cloth in the wind or some madman escaped from his keeper. "Ho, ho! but you
can't go before you have bowed to my bishop," he again called out; "come
with me to my house, and we shall be better acquainted." He took my arm; I
thought him a character, which I afterwards found he was, and gave in to
his whim. On entering the verandah of the house, which was shaded by close
Venetian blinds and very cool, he stopped before an immense large jug in
the shape of a bishop. It was placed on a bracket slab, so that to drink
out of the corner of its hat, which was its beak or spout, you were
obliged to stoop. This I found he called bowing to his bishop. It
contained delicious sangaree, and I bowed to it without being entreated to
do so a second time. "Now," said he, "you bloody dog, you have complied
like a good fellow with my first request. Your captain dines with me
to-morrow; I must insist on your doing so too, and then I shall consider
you an obedient officer and worthy to bow to my bishop whenever you are
thirsty. My dinner-hour is five o'clock, and as I am the magistrate of
this overgrown metropolis I admit of no excuse." I could not help smiling
at this rough urbanity. I accepted the invitation, and at the appointed
hour repaired to his house with the captain and surgeon. He received us
with great good humour, and insisted, as we were bloody dogs--I understood
afterwards he was very partial to naval officers and always called them by
that pet name--that we should bow to his bishop before dinner. We met at
his table our kind acquaintance Mr. S., his daughter, another gentleman,
his wife and two nieces, who were going to England in one of the ships of
the convoy. The dining-room was entirely of cedar, and the floor like a
mirror, very spacious, and it partly projected over the river. Above the
dining-table was a large punkah, which was kept in constant motion during
dinner by two young grinning black girls. The table groaned with good
things, and we did ample justice to our host's entertainment. He was
evidently a great humourist, and amused us at dinner by relating anecdotes
of Lord Rodney and Admiral Benbow's time. "There are," said he, "twelve
tough old fellows, of wh