Time was, when _John Bull_ little difference spied, 'Twixt the foe at his feet, and the friend at his side; When he found (such his humour in fighting and eating), His foe, like his beefsteak, the better for beating! But this comes, Master _Ben_, of your curst foreign notions, Your trinkets, wigs, thingambobs, gold lace, and lotions; Your Noyeau's Curacoa's, and the Devil knows what-- (One swig of _Blue Ruin_ is worth the whole lot.) Your great and small _crosses_ (my eyes! what a brood!) A cross buttock from _me_ would do some of 'em good-- Which have spoil'd you, till hardly a drop, my old porpus, Of pure English _claret_ is left in your _corpus_. And (as _Jim_ says) the only one trick, good or bad, Of the _Fancy_, you're up to, is _fibbing_, my lad! Hence it comes, _Boxiana_, disgrace to thy page!-- Having _floor'd_, by good luck, the first _Swell_ of the Age, Having conquer'd the _prime one_ that _mill'd_ us all round, You kick'd him, old _Ben_, as he gasp'd on the ground!-- Aye--just at the time to show spunk, if you'd any, Kick'd him, and jaw'd, and _lag'd_[12] him to Botany! Oh, shade of the Cheesemonger![13] you who, alas! _Doubled up_, by the dozen, those Mounseers in brass, On that great day of _milling_,[14] when blood lay in lakes, When Kings held the bottle, and Europe the Stakes, Look down upon _Ben_, see him, _Dunghill_ all o'er, Moult the fall'n foe that can harm him no more; Out, cowardly _Spooney_! again and again. By the fist of my father, I blush for thee, _Ben_! To show the _white feather_[15] is many men's doom, But what of _one_ feather! _Ben_ boasts a whole _Plume_!!" [Footnote 12: Transported.] [Footnote 13: Shaw the Lifeguardsman.] [Footnote 14: Battle of Waterloo.] [Footnote 15: Cowardice.] And so Napoleon fades away. CHAPTER III. Effects of Napoleon's capture -- The Navy in 1815 -- Margate and Ramsgate -- French Prisoners of war -- Treaty of Peace with France -- Napoleon's house -- A soldier's letter -- A zealous Lord Mayor -- Hotels and clubs in 1815. The effect of the capture and banishment of Napoleon was felt immediately, a great strain was taken off Europe, and it was known to all, that the peace, after so long a conflict, would be enduring. On the 17th of August we read, "The impressment of seamen is directed to be discontinued at all the seaports, as also the receiving of volunteers, except for the peace establishment. Orders have been issued at the different ports to pay off the Navy; and the seamen are to be sent to their respective homes, in small vessels, to be in readiness for that purpose." The Navy was a rough school then, and the officers mainly came from a very different class to that from which they are now recruited. What a Midshipman's berth was like then, we may learn from the following extract from a letter: