Grizzle, by name, from the censures he liberally
bestowed upon the rest of her sex. "She is not a drunkard, like
Nan Castick, of Deptford," he would say; "not a nincompoop, like
Peg Simper, of Woolwich; not a brimstone, like Kate Koddle, of
Chatham; nor a shrew, like Nell Griffin, on the Point, Portsmouth"
(ladies to whom, at different times, they had both paid their
addresses); "but a tight, good-humoured, sensible wench, who knows
very well how to box her compass; well-trimmed aloft, and well-sheathed
alow, with a good cargo under her hatches." The commodore at first
imagined this commendation was ironical; but, hearing it repeated
again and again, was filled with astonishment at this surprising
change in the lieutenant's behaviour; and, after a long fit of
musing, concluded that Hatchway himself harboured a matrimonial
design on the person of Mrs. Grizzle.
Pleased with this conjecture, he rallied jack in his turn, and
one night toasted her health as a compliment to his passion--a
circumstance which the lady learned next day by the usual canal
of her intelligence; and interpreting as the result of his own
tenderness for her, she congratulated herself on the victory she
had obtained; and thinking it unnecessary to continue the reserve
she had hitherto industriously affected, resolved from that day
to sweeten her behaviour towards him with such a dash of affection
as could not fail to persuade him that he had inspired her with
a reciprocal flame.
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