{"id":"01KG8AKWFZZNW0X3KQHCMBE587","cid":"bafkreiclaoeobqufhjymbyx6uu37ttdt7cs3yptm4murawhkdn7rfdtkya","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":8605,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:14.842Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","start_line":8548,"text":"Harry! indifferent to my historic mosses, and caring not for my annual\r\nverdure, thou must needs be lured by other tassels, and wouldst fain,\r\nlike the Prodigal, squander thy patrimony, then, go not away from old\r\nBury to do it. For here, on Angel-Hill, are my coffee and card-rooms,\r\nand billiard saloons, where you may lounge away your mornings, and\r\nempty your glass and your purse as you list.\r\n\r\nIn vain. Bury was no place for the adventurous Harry, who must needs\r\nhie to London, where in one winter, in the company of gambling\r\nsportsmen and dandies, he lost his last sovereign.\r\n\r\nWhat now was to be done? His friends made interest for him in the\r\nrequisite quarters, and Harry was soon embarked for Bombay, as a\r\nmidshipman in the East India service; in which office he was known as a\r\n_“guinea-pig,”_ a humorous appellation then bestowed upon the middies\r\nof the Company. And considering the perversity of his behavior, his\r\ndelicate form, and soft complexion, and that gold guineas had been his\r\nbane, this appellation was not altogether, in poor Harry’s case,\r\ninapplicable.\r\n\r\nHe made one voyage, and returned; another, and returned; and then threw\r\nup his warrant in disgust. A few weeks’ dissipation in London, and\r\nagain his purse was almost drained; when, like many prodigals, scorning\r\nto return home to his aunt, and amend—though she had often written him\r\nthe kindest of letters to that effect—Harry resolved to precipitate\r\nhimself upon the New World, and there carve out a fresh fortune. With\r\nthis object in view, he packed his trunks, and took the first train for\r\nLiverpool. Arrived in that town, he at once betook himself to the\r\ndocks, to examine the American shipping, when a new crotchet entered\r\nhis brain, born of his old sea reminiscences. It was to assume duck\r\nbrowsers and tarpaulin, and gallantly cross the Atlantic as a sailor.\r\nThere was a dash of romance in it; a taking abandonment; and scorn of\r\nfine coats, which exactly harmonized with his reckless contempt, at the\r\ntime, for all past conventionalities.\r\n\r\nThus determined, he exchanged his trunk for a mahogany chest; sold some\r\nof his superfluities; and moved his quarters to the sign of the Gold\r\nAnchor in Union-street.\r\n\r\nAfter making his acquaintance, and learning his intentions, I was all\r\nanxiety that Harry should accompany me home in the Highlander, a desire\r\nto which he warmly responded.\r\n\r\nNor was I without strong hopes that he would succeed in an application\r\nto the captain; inasmuch as during our stay in the docks, three of our\r\ncrew had left us, and their places would remain unsupplied till just\r\nupon the eve of our departure.\r\n\r\nAnd here, it may as well be related, that owing to the heavy charges to\r\nwhich the American ships long staying in Liverpool are subjected, from\r\nthe obligation to continue the wages of their seamen, when they have\r\nlittle or no work to employ them, and from the necessity of boarding\r\nthem ashore, like lords, at their leisure, captains interested in the\r\nownership of their vessels, are not at all indisposed to let their\r\nsailors abscond, if they please, and thus forfeit their money; for they\r\nwell know that, when wanted, a new crew is easily to be procured,\r\nthrough the crimps of the port.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJS9Y3P2G15TJFFMCY4EB","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1GP71YDJ60P8SRH97MF","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKWFZ5RGEBHRXTPR44GAE","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKWFZQVW5H4E9XT6X5GTH","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:18.943Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:32.294Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}