all dead upon the ground. For
such were English tars in those days, a manly race of whom we have but
few left now.

The rest of the crew I pass over as being of a class common enough in
all our seaports. The profane language they constantly employed grew,
by dint of repetition, to have no meaning in my ears, as I am sure it
had none, for the most part, in theirs. The thing which I found it
hardest to accustom myself to was the smoking of tobacco. Indeed,
after I had lit my first pipe I fell so ill that I looked upon it as a
judgment of Providence, and vowed I would never light another. But
seeing all the rest at it day by day, I soon ventured again, and came
at last to enjoy it no less than they did. And no doubt if there were
anything mischievous in this habit when pursued in moderation, it
would have been denounced by the sacred writers, who would, by means
of their inspiration, have foreseen its introduction into these
regions, though not then known.

But what will for ever make memorable to me the days which I spent in
Yarmouth, waiting for the _Fair Maid_ to be equipped for sea, was the
deep joy of my first love for the woman whose lot was to be so
strangely cast in with mine. I do not know whether she at first failed
to perceive this passion, or whether she slighted it as the heedless
fancy of a lad, for she behaved towards me as if there could be no
such thoughts between us, caressing me openly before company, and
thereby causing me the keenest joy and anguish at the same time.

Mistress Marian Rising, to give her her full description, was, as I
have said, the niece of my host. Her own parents were settled in the
East India Company's factory at Fort William, on the river Hooghley,
where her father did business in drugs and was amassing, according to
report, a considerable fortune. She told me that her people had
refused to carry her out with them to the East, on account of the
unhealthiness of that climate, but being now grown of age she was
resolved to take the first occasion of going out there to join them.

She spoke much of the marvels of that great region which we now call
Indostan, and of which little then was known in my part of Norfolk,
describing the vast wealth and luxury of its people, the power and
splendour of the nabobs and princes, and the curiosity of their
buildings and manufactures. Of all these she spoke as familiarly as if
she had dwelt among them, deeming, I suppose, that the connection