_Dutch_ upon Deck, he address'd himself to the former, desiring their
Captain, who spoke French excellently well, to interpret what he said to
those who did not understand him. He told them, 'before he had the
Misfortune of having them on Board, his Ears were never grated with
hearing the Name of the great Creator prophaned, tho' he, to his Sorrow,
had often since heard his own Men guilty of that Sin, which administer'd
neither Profit nor Pleasure, and might draw upon them a severe
Punishment: That if they had a just Idea of that great Being, they wou'd
never mention him, but they wou'd immediately reflect on his Purity and
their own Vileness. That we so easily took Impression from our Company,
that the _Spanish_ Proverb says, _let a Hermit and a Thief live
together, the Thief wou'd become Hermit, or the Hermit Thief_: That he
saw this verified in his Ship, for he cou'd attribute the Oaths and
Curses he had heard among his brave Companions, to nothing but the
odious Example of the _Dutch_: That this was not the only Vice they had
introduced, for before they were on Board, his Men were Men, but he
found by their beastly Pattern they were degenerated into Brutes, by
drowning that only Faculty, which distinguishes between Man and Beast,
_Reason_. That as he had the Honour to command them, he could not see
them run into these odious Vices without, a sincere Concern, as he had a
paternal Affection for them; and he should reproach himself as
neglectful of the common Good, if he did not admonish them; and as by
the Post which they had honour'd him, he was obliged to have a watchful
Eye over their general Interest; he was obliged to tell them his
Sentiments were, that the _Dutch_ allured them to a dissolute Way of
Life, that they might take some Advantage over them: Wherefore, as his
brave Companions, he was assured, wou'd be guided by Reason, he gave the
_Dutch_ Notice, that the first whom he catch'd either with an Oath in
his Mouth or Liquor in his Head, should be brought to the Geers, whipped
and pickled, for an Example to the rest of his Nation: As to his