istance, and immediately set on
fire. Such was the fate of the General Armstrong privateer!

It is perhaps not strange that, before my shipmates and myself had been
a week at the boarding house, around whose attractive sign clustered
such patriotic associations, Downes, the boatswain of the Casket, and
Jones both became acclimated to the noxious atmosphere redolent of
alcohol and other disgusting compounds, succumbed to the temptations by
which they were surrounded, and drank as much grog, were as noisy and
unruly, and as ready for a quarrel as any dissolute old Irishman in the
whole circle of Jim Hubbards' household. Indeed the boatswain, a
young fellow possessed of many excellent qualities, and who had made a
resolution to reform some bad habits in which he had indulged, got drunk
before he had been three days an inmate of the establishment, quarrelled
with an English sailor, fought with him, was severely whipped and
furnished with a couple of magnificent black eyes. So true is the
sentiment, beautifully expressed in the language of the poet,

"Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,
As to be hated needs but to be seen;
But seen too oft, familiar with the face,
We first endure, then pity, then embrace."

The generality of Jim Hubbard's boarders were what may be technically
termed "a hard set." Among them were many foreigners, who seemed to have
been the off-scourings of their native countries, and whose manners and
morals had not been improved by the peculiar discipline and lessons
in ethics they had become familiar with on board English men-of-war or
Patriot privateers. In truth they were a band of roistering blades,
and by day and by night, when not dead drunk, were restless, noisy,
vociferous, and terribly profane. Flush with their money, and acting
from generous impulses, they would urge a stranger to drink with them in
good fellowship, and if the invitation was declined, were equally ready
to knock him down or kick him into the street, as unworthy the society
of good fellows.

Whole crews came to the house, from long voyages, with pockets
overflowing with cash. They were received with smiles of welcome by
Hubbard, and the treasures of his bar were placed before them. At the
proper time they were told by their obliging landlord that it was
a praiseworthy custom among new comers to "treat all hands." Then
commenced a course of unrestrained dissipation, which was not
interrupted so long as t