in which Billy now swung his
hammock, very little in the conduct manner of
the men and nothing obvious in the
demeanor of the officers would have
suggested to an ordinary observer
that the Great Mutiny was a recent But on board the seventy-four
event. In their general bearing and
conduct the commissioned officers of a
war-ship naturally take their tone from
the commander, that is if he have that
ascendency of character that ought to
be his.
but
though
never injudiciously
daring.
so.
For his gallantry
in the West Indian waters as
flag-lieutenant under Rodney in
that Admiral's crowning victory over
De Grasse, he was made a post-captain.
Ashore dressed as a in the garb
of a civilian scarce any^body anyone would
have taken him for a sailor, more
especially that his he never int garnished
his unprofessional talk with
nautical terms, and grave in his
bearing, evinced little appreciation of
mere humor. It was not out of
keeping with these traits that
in the West Indian waters as
flag-lieutenant under Rodney in
that Admiral's crowning victory over
De Grasse, he was made a post-captain.
Ashore dressed as a in the garb
of a civilian scarce any^body anyone would
have taken him for a sailor, more
especially that his he never int garnished
his unprofessional talk with
nautical terms, and grave in his
bearing, evinced little appreciation of
mere humor. It was not out of
keeping with these traits that
his paramount action, he was the most
undemonstrative of men. Any landsman
observing this gentleman not conspicuous
by his stature and wearing no
pronounced insignia, emerging from his
retreat cabin to the open deck, and noting
the silent deference of the officers
retiring to leeward, might have
taken him for the King's honored On a passage when nothing demanded
As with some others engaged in various
departments of the world's more
heroic activities, Captain Vere tho though
practical enough upon occasion would
at times betray a certain dreaminess
of mood. Standing alone on the
weather-side of the quarter deck,
and one hand holding by the rigging
he would absently gaze off at the
blank sea. At the presentation to him [Earlier version text from verso of patch on leaf 84, image 202]: Sometimes
he would stand on the weather-side
of the quarter-deck long gazing gazeing absently
off at the blank sea. At the
presentation to him then of some
minor matter interrupting the
current of his revery, he would
the current of his thoughts he would
show more or less irascibility; but all
but instantly he would control it.
Among naval In the navy
he was popularly known by the
appelation—Starry Vere. How such
a designation happened to fall [to] him then of some minor matter interrupting
was possessed of no brilliancy none could hardly
be said to have was without brilliancy
any brilliant ones upon one who whatever his sterling qualities
was in this wise: A favorite kinsman,
one Lord Denton, a free-hearted fellow, had been the first
to meet and congratulate him upon
his return to England from his West
Indian cruise; and but the day previous
turning over a copy of Andrew Marvell's
poems had lighted, not for the first
time however, upon the lines entitled
Appleton House , the name of one of the seats of their
wars of the seventeenth century, in which
poem occur the lines,
"This 'tis to have been from the first
In a domestic heaven nursed,
Under the discipline severe
Of Fairfax and the starry Vere"
And so, upon embracing his gallant
cousin fresh from Rodney's great gallant
victory wherein he had played so gallant
a part, brimming over with full of just family pride in the sailor of their house, he exuberantly exclaimed,
"Give you ye joy, Ed; give ye joy, my
starry Vere!" This got currency,
and the novel prefix serving in familiar
parlance readily to distinguish The Indomitable's captain him
from another Vere his senior, a distant relative an officer
of like rank in the navy, it remained permanently
attached to his the surname. common ancestor, a hero in the German