ut him; but then, again, immediately
afterwards, he would say something so full of thought and sense, that I
banished the idea.

To me he proved the greatest blessing. I was becoming a new character.
I had discovered powers within me of which I before had no conception.
I had gone on through life, if not rejoicing in my ignorance, at least
indifferent to it. I had picked up a certain amount of knowledge from
the conversation of others, but it was ill-digested, and I was full of
the grossest prejudices. I have scarcely, indeed, given a correct
notion of what I was up to this time. I might describe myself just as I
once heard a shipmate spoken of--as _just an ignorant common sailor_.
Such I had been. I could now read. I could dive into the rich stores
collected by other minds, and make them my own. Without robbing others,
I could appropriate their wealth, and enjoy all the benefits it could
afford. Once having begun to read, the taste grew on me. I read
through and through every book Newman possessed.

After a time, as his talents came to be known and appreciated by the
captain, and officers, and surgeon, he was able to borrow books from
them, which he allowed me to read. Although not many of them were very
enlightening, they served to show me my own ignorance from the allusions
they made, which I was totally unable to comprehend; and this only made
me desire to gain further information, which it was somewhat difficult
to obtain. As to Newman himself, he literally devoured every book which
came in his way. He soon read through every book to be found on board;
and whenever we fell in with another ship, he used to borrow all he
could, or exchange his own books for others. Unfortunately, the
literature in those days to be found at sea was generally of a very
inferior character, and not at all calculated to improve its readers.
Still, some knowledge was gleaned from all but the worst, and some
errors and prejudices corrected. Newman had, however, certain
favourites among his books, both English and foreign, which he would on
no account have parted with. These he used frequently to read to me in
our spare hours, or when we were engaged in such work as required our
hands alone to be employed. I observed, indeed, after a little time,
that we had far less employment found for us than had been the case in
other ships on board which I had served; and this, I suspect, was
because we found it for ourselves, or rather