FOOTNOTES:

FINIS.

FOOTNOTES:[1]There is surely some error here.[2]Narrative, &c. p. 225.[3]He is said to have been especially negligent in collecting his fees.[4]His stepmother had not as an excuse that she was burdened with the care of the children of the former marriage. Most of them were from home, and one of them gave up an annuity for her benefit, and this she and her family still enjoy.[5]In a notice of Captain Clapperton’s life, published lately by John M‘Diarmid, Esq. Editor of the Dumfries Courier, it is stated, that while under the tuition of Mr. Downie, he catered successfully for newspapers, both for the benefit of his master and that of himself; and one gentleman he was in the habit of applying to, once said to him, though merely in joke, “What makes you come always to me; do you suppose you have a right to borrow all my papers?” At first the boy was rather abashed; but rallying in a moment, he presently replied, “I am sure I neither dirty nor keep them long, and your maids, I can tell you, hang all your washings to dry on Mr. Downie’s hedge.”—Sketches from Nature, p. 324.[6]M‘Diarmid’s account of this matter is to the following effect, namely, that at the age of seventeen Clapperton became cabin-boy to Captain Smith of the Postlethwaite of Maryport having been recommended to him by the late Mr. Jonathan Nelson of Port Annan; that after he had made several voyages across the Atlantic in that ship, he was detected at Liverpool in the act of smuggling a few pounds of rock salt, to please the landlady of a house which he frequented; that after he had pled his ignorance of the revenue laws in mitigation of the terrors of trial and imprisonment with which he was threatened, he consented to go on board the Tender. Sketches from Nature, page 325. The whole of this account shows that the circumstances both of his entrance upon a sea-faring life, and into the royal navy, are now altogether unknown; or at least involved in great uncertainty.[7]M‘Diarmid’s version of this important passage of Clapperton’s life is, that after he had by compulsion become a sailor on board a man-of-war, he wrote to Mr. Scott, banker in Annan, describing his situation and soliciting his interest; that Mr. Scott applied to General Dirom, and that the General applied to Sir Home Popham, while his lady applied to her cousin Captain Briggs of the Clorinde, and by the aid of these combined and powerful applications in his behalf, Clapperton was raised to the rank of a midshipman. This is the first time we ever heard that the youth was an object of interest to so many honourable individuals; but when they claim the merit of having been the means of promoting him to the rank of midshipman in the navy, they claim more than their due; because it can be proved by the date of documents still in the possession of a near relation of the traveller, that he was a midshipman long before he was known to Captain Briggs of the Clorinde.[8]Since the above account of this transaction was printed, we have been informed on unquestionable authority that Clapperton, though without his own knowledge, was in reality indebted to his uncle for the first step of his promotion in the navy. The matter had been agreed upon between Colonel Clapperton and Sir Thomas Livingstone. The situation in which he had discovered his nephew, not only in the condition of a common sailor, but under the disguise of an assumed name, was not fitted to lead to great familiarity between them when they first met. But after the nephew had become a midshipman, and had resumed his own name, the uncle took him to the shop of a Scotsman in Gibraltar, and fitted him out with every thing requisite for his new situation, and recommended him to the patronage of his friend Sir Thomas Livingstone.[9]To this the letters of his cousin, Mrs. General Dirom, in Clapperton’s favour, might in some degree contribute.[10]The following anecdote is transcribed from M‘Diarmid:—“At this period, and before the Asia had weighed anchor, an incident occurred which illustrates very strikingly his characteristic coolness and intrepidity. One evening, the alarm was given that the ship was on fire; the drums immediately beat to quarters, and the firemen were piped away to the gun-room, where an immense quantity of luggage had been temporarily deposited, and from whence were issuing huge and increasing volumes of smoke. The after-magazine, containing some hundred barrels of gun-powder, was immediately beneath, and the appearance of the combustion had become so alarming, that every man awaited his fate in silence, under an impression that the ship would speedily be blown to atoms. At this awful moment, which will recal to every mind Campbell’s striking description,“As they drifted o’er their path,There was silence deep as death;And the boldest held his breathFor a time”—my informant, Mr. Archibald Blacklock, one of the assistant surgeons of the Asia, left the deck, and on passing through the cock-pit, observed a midshipman in the larboard birth, sitting at a table, and very quietly smoking a cigar. The sight surprised him, and on discovering that the smoker was his friend Clapperton, he could not help marvelling at his seeming apathy. The other, however, was quite cool, and stated, ‘that he was only a supernumerary; that no particular station had been assigned to him; and that if the ship blew up, as seemed very likely, it was of little consequence where he was.’ But the seat of the fire was fortunately discovered, and the flames subdued with admirable order and presence of mind, which are never more apparent than in ships of war during moments of danger; and on the first of February, the Asia and Superb weighed their anchors and stood out to sea.”—Sketches from Nature, p. 330.[11]Lander, along with his brother, has lately gone on an exploratory expedition to the interior of Africa.

[1]There is surely some error here.

[2]Narrative, &c. p. 225.

[3]He is said to have been especially negligent in collecting his fees.

[4]His stepmother had not as an excuse that she was burdened with the care of the children of the former marriage. Most of them were from home, and one of them gave up an annuity for her benefit, and this she and her family still enjoy.

[5]In a notice of Captain Clapperton’s life, published lately by John M‘Diarmid, Esq. Editor of the Dumfries Courier, it is stated, that while under the tuition of Mr. Downie, he catered successfully for newspapers, both for the benefit of his master and that of himself; and one gentleman he was in the habit of applying to, once said to him, though merely in joke, “What makes you come always to me; do you suppose you have a right to borrow all my papers?” At first the boy was rather abashed; but rallying in a moment, he presently replied, “I am sure I neither dirty nor keep them long, and your maids, I can tell you, hang all your washings to dry on Mr. Downie’s hedge.”—Sketches from Nature, p. 324.

[6]M‘Diarmid’s account of this matter is to the following effect, namely, that at the age of seventeen Clapperton became cabin-boy to Captain Smith of the Postlethwaite of Maryport having been recommended to him by the late Mr. Jonathan Nelson of Port Annan; that after he had made several voyages across the Atlantic in that ship, he was detected at Liverpool in the act of smuggling a few pounds of rock salt, to please the landlady of a house which he frequented; that after he had pled his ignorance of the revenue laws in mitigation of the terrors of trial and imprisonment with which he was threatened, he consented to go on board the Tender. Sketches from Nature, page 325. The whole of this account shows that the circumstances both of his entrance upon a sea-faring life, and into the royal navy, are now altogether unknown; or at least involved in great uncertainty.

[7]M‘Diarmid’s version of this important passage of Clapperton’s life is, that after he had by compulsion become a sailor on board a man-of-war, he wrote to Mr. Scott, banker in Annan, describing his situation and soliciting his interest; that Mr. Scott applied to General Dirom, and that the General applied to Sir Home Popham, while his lady applied to her cousin Captain Briggs of the Clorinde, and by the aid of these combined and powerful applications in his behalf, Clapperton was raised to the rank of a midshipman. This is the first time we ever heard that the youth was an object of interest to so many honourable individuals; but when they claim the merit of having been the means of promoting him to the rank of midshipman in the navy, they claim more than their due; because it can be proved by the date of documents still in the possession of a near relation of the traveller, that he was a midshipman long before he was known to Captain Briggs of the Clorinde.

[8]Since the above account of this transaction was printed, we have been informed on unquestionable authority that Clapperton, though without his own knowledge, was in reality indebted to his uncle for the first step of his promotion in the navy. The matter had been agreed upon between Colonel Clapperton and Sir Thomas Livingstone. The situation in which he had discovered his nephew, not only in the condition of a common sailor, but under the disguise of an assumed name, was not fitted to lead to great familiarity between them when they first met. But after the nephew had become a midshipman, and had resumed his own name, the uncle took him to the shop of a Scotsman in Gibraltar, and fitted him out with every thing requisite for his new situation, and recommended him to the patronage of his friend Sir Thomas Livingstone.

[9]To this the letters of his cousin, Mrs. General Dirom, in Clapperton’s favour, might in some degree contribute.

[10]The following anecdote is transcribed from M‘Diarmid:—“At this period, and before the Asia had weighed anchor, an incident occurred which illustrates very strikingly his characteristic coolness and intrepidity. One evening, the alarm was given that the ship was on fire; the drums immediately beat to quarters, and the firemen were piped away to the gun-room, where an immense quantity of luggage had been temporarily deposited, and from whence were issuing huge and increasing volumes of smoke. The after-magazine, containing some hundred barrels of gun-powder, was immediately beneath, and the appearance of the combustion had become so alarming, that every man awaited his fate in silence, under an impression that the ship would speedily be blown to atoms. At this awful moment, which will recal to every mind Campbell’s striking description,“As they drifted o’er their path,There was silence deep as death;And the boldest held his breathFor a time”—my informant, Mr. Archibald Blacklock, one of the assistant surgeons of the Asia, left the deck, and on passing through the cock-pit, observed a midshipman in the larboard birth, sitting at a table, and very quietly smoking a cigar. The sight surprised him, and on discovering that the smoker was his friend Clapperton, he could not help marvelling at his seeming apathy. The other, however, was quite cool, and stated, ‘that he was only a supernumerary; that no particular station had been assigned to him; and that if the ship blew up, as seemed very likely, it was of little consequence where he was.’ But the seat of the fire was fortunately discovered, and the flames subdued with admirable order and presence of mind, which are never more apparent than in ships of war during moments of danger; and on the first of February, the Asia and Superb weighed their anchors and stood out to sea.”—Sketches from Nature, p. 330.

[10]The following anecdote is transcribed from M‘Diarmid:—

“At this period, and before the Asia had weighed anchor, an incident occurred which illustrates very strikingly his characteristic coolness and intrepidity. One evening, the alarm was given that the ship was on fire; the drums immediately beat to quarters, and the firemen were piped away to the gun-room, where an immense quantity of luggage had been temporarily deposited, and from whence were issuing huge and increasing volumes of smoke. The after-magazine, containing some hundred barrels of gun-powder, was immediately beneath, and the appearance of the combustion had become so alarming, that every man awaited his fate in silence, under an impression that the ship would speedily be blown to atoms. At this awful moment, which will recal to every mind Campbell’s striking description,

“As they drifted o’er their path,There was silence deep as death;And the boldest held his breathFor a time”—

“As they drifted o’er their path,

There was silence deep as death;

And the boldest held his breath

For a time”—

my informant, Mr. Archibald Blacklock, one of the assistant surgeons of the Asia, left the deck, and on passing through the cock-pit, observed a midshipman in the larboard birth, sitting at a table, and very quietly smoking a cigar. The sight surprised him, and on discovering that the smoker was his friend Clapperton, he could not help marvelling at his seeming apathy. The other, however, was quite cool, and stated, ‘that he was only a supernumerary; that no particular station had been assigned to him; and that if the ship blew up, as seemed very likely, it was of little consequence where he was.’ But the seat of the fire was fortunately discovered, and the flames subdued with admirable order and presence of mind, which are never more apparent than in ships of war during moments of danger; and on the first of February, the Asia and Superb weighed their anchors and stood out to sea.”—Sketches from Nature, p. 330.

[11]Lander, along with his brother, has lately gone on an exploratory expedition to the interior of Africa.

Transcriber's note:The change indicated in theERRATUMhas been made.pg92Changed: September 1, 1829 to: 1821pg107Changed: and flutes.” to: and flutes.pg141Changed: to 75° 68° among to: to 75°-68°pg143Changed: had accompained him to: accompaniedMinor changes in punctuation have been done silently.Other spelling inconsistencies have been left unchanged.New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain.

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