Eldredge, with him, who, I think, rather prides
himself upon having a Napoleonic profile. The captain is an old
acquaintance of Mrs. Blodgett, and has cone ashore principally with a
view to calling on her; so, after we had left our cards for the Mayor, I
showed these naval gentlemen the way to her house. Mrs. Blodgett and
Miss W------ were prodigiously glad to see him and they all three began
to talk of old times and old acquaintances; for when Mrs. Blodgett was a
rich lady at Gibraltar, she used to have the whole navy-list at her
table,--young midshipmen and lieutenants then perhaps, but old, gouty,
paralytic commodores now, if still even partly alive. It was arranged
that Mrs. Blodgett, with as many of the ladies of her family as she chose
to bring, should accompany me on my official visit to the ship the next
day; and yesterday we went accordingly, Mrs. Blodgett, Miss W------, and
six or seven American captains' wives, their husbands following in
another boat. I know too little of ships to describe one, or even to
feel any great interest in the details of this or of any other ship; but
the nautical people seemed to see much to admire. She lay in the Sloyne,
in the midst of a broad basin of the Mersey, with a pleasant landscape of
green England, now warm with summer sunshine, on either side, with
churches and villa residences, and suburban and rural beauty. The
officers of the ship are gentlemanly men, externally very well mannered,
although not polished and refined to any considerable extent.
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