of course, a fixture), scratched one of my shawls, which was near at hand, into it for a cushion, and then rolled himself up into the basin, which exactly held him, and stayed there the rest of the day. George and I saw him do it, and quite wished we had as good a resource for our wretched selves, but the foot-tub would not hold us. The midshipmen acted the ‘Mayor of Garrett’ the other day for our diversion. They made a very pretty theatre, and acted wonderfully well—considering that none of them had ever acted before; and the officers gave us a grand supper in the gun-room afterwards. One of them wrote a prologue, of which I send you some lines, as you like anything about us:
If such examples fire the sailor’s mind,
Shall a good ship—shall we remain behind,
Who, with fair breezes and with sails unfurled,
Convey the ruler of our Eastern world?
For some slight honours we can claim, at least,
Who plant new Edens in the gorgeous East.
The sailors were so exhilarated by the officers’ play, that the following Friday they announced that, in the ‘Theatre Royal Oriental,’ His Majesty’s servants would perform ‘All the World’s a Stage,’ with a dance—there is no
