Unfortunately, Our Books Were Where We Could Not
Get At Them, And We Were Turning About For Something To Do, When One
Man Recollected A Book He Had Left In The Galley.
He went after
it, and it proved to be Woodstock.
This was a great windfall,
and as all could not read it at once, I, being the scholar of
the company, was appointed reader. I got a knot of six or eight
about me, and no one could have had a more attentive audience.
Some laughed at the "scholars," and went over the other side
of the forecastle, to work, and spin their yarns; but I carried
the day, and had the cream of the crew for my hearers. Many of
the reflections, and the political parts, I omitted, but all the
narrative they were delighted with; especially the descriptions
of the Puritans, and the sermons and harangues of the Round-head
soldiers. The gallantry of Charles, Dr. Radcliffe's plots,
the knavery of "trusty Tompkins," - in fact, every part seemed to
chain their attention. Many things which, while I was reading,
I had a misgiving about, thinking them above their capacity, I was
surprised to find them enter into completely.
I read nearly all day, until sundown; when, as soon as supper was
over, as I had nearly finished, they got a light from the galley;
and by skipping what was less interesting, I carried them through
to the marriage of Everard, and the restoration of Charles the
Second, before eight o'clock.
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