words to that effect. Then Miss MILLWARD
chimed in, and thus touched the heart of Lieutenant
WARNER, R.N., so deeply that he ordered Mr. GLENNEY’s
immediate release. “I forget my duty,”
explained the generous WARNER. “But I don’t,”
put in his superior officer, Captain WILLIAM LUGG
VERNON, “and I order that man to be carried on
board!” and there was not a dry eye amongst those
present, except, perhaps, amongst the heartless “Press
Gang,” who, having to write notices for the
daily and weekly papers, were naturally eager to see
what “In the Fo’castle” and “The
Deck of the Dauntless” were like.
And these they did see in the next Act of this really
capital Drama. And here came in a scene that
will long be remembered to the honour of the British
Navy and the National and Royal Theatre, Drury Lane.
There came a mutiny, with the misguided GLENNEY at
the head of it. Said Captain WILLIAM LUGG VERNON,
after it was quelled, “We can’t spare a
man, and so I shall have Mr. GLENNEY flogged.”
“Don’t do that,” cried Lieutenant
WARNER; “he is my brother and my friend, although
he has given me a oner, owing to a misunderstanding.
Captain, may I appeal to these men, and ask them in
stirring language, to fight the foe.” “You
shall,” replied his superior officer; “and,
by arrangement with Mr. HENRY PETTITT, I will see
that ‘Rule Britannia’ is played
softly by an efficient orchestra while you are speaking
to them.” “A thousand thanks!”
cried the eloquent WARNER; and then he let them have
it. He told them that the enemy were waiting
for them—that they had left Brest for the
purpose of engaging in a first-class naval engagement.
He pointed out that the other ships of the Fleet were
on their way to the scrimmage. “Would the
gallant Dauntless be the only laggard?”
“No!” shouted the now-amenable-to-naval-discipline
GLENNEY, and with the rest of the malcontents, he
asked to be led to glory. It was indeed stirring
to see the red-coats waving their hats on the tops
of their bayonets, and the Blue Jackets brandishing
their swords. In the enthusiasm of the moment,
the entire ship’s company seemed to have lost
their heads, and cheers came from the deck, and the
auditorium equally. It was a moment of triumph
for everyone concerned! Everyone! And need
I say anything more? Need I tell you how it came
right in the end? How Miss MILLWARD (who was
always on the eve of being married to someone) did
actually go through a civil ceremony (the French were
polite even in the days before Waterloo) with the Count,
which, however, failed to count (as an old wag, with
a taste for ancient jests, observed to a brother droll),
because the Gallic nobleman got killed immediately
after the ceremony? Need I hint that Mr. GLENNEY
was falsely accused of murder, to be rescued at the
right moment by the ever-useful and forgiving WARNER?
Need I say that Mr. HENRY PETTITT was cheered to the
echo for his piece, and Sir AUGUSTUS DRURIOLANUS for
his stage management? No, for other chronicles