quite spoiled her; she was prouder than her mistress, and gave herself
ten times more airs, and when, at first, my father (who as coxswain was
constantly up at the house) offered to speak to her, she turned away
from him in most ineffable disdain. Now my father was at that time about
thirty years of age, and thought no small beer of himself, as the saying
goes. He was a tall, handsome man, indeed, so good-looking that they
used to call him "Handsome Jack" on board of the "Druid," and he had,
moreover, a pigtail of most extraordinary size and length, of which he
was not a little proud, as it hung down far below the waistband of his
trousers. His hair was black and glossy, and his lovelocks, as the
sailors term the curls which they wear on their temples, were of the
most insinuating description. Now, as my father told me, when he first
saw my mother with her sky-scraping cap at the back of her head, so
different from the craft in general, he was very much inclined to board
her; but when she boomed him off in that style, my father, who was
quite the rage and fancy man among the ladies of Sally Port and Castle
Rag, hauled his wind in no time, hitching up his white trousers and
turning short round on his heel so as to present his back to her
whenever they happened to meet. For a long time he gave her a wide
berth. Now this fact of my father returning her disdain had the usual
effect. At first she was very savage, and when she spoke of him to Lady
Hercules, she designated him as "that proud coxswain, who seemed to
think himself a greater man than Sir Hercules himself--with his filthy
pigtail, indeed!" My father also, when he spoke of her to the boat's
crew, termed her "that proud ---- of a lady's maid," the word not
mentionable being both canine and feminine. Thus matters went on for
some time, until my mother, by a constant survey of my father's handsome
proportions, every day thought him to be a more proper man, and a few
advances on her part at last brought them to a mutual understanding.