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278ddc3
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You are a reasonably civil, complaisant creature on dry land,' said Stephen, 'but the moment you are afloat you become pragmatical and absolute, a bashaw - do this, do that, gluppit the prawling strangles, there - no longer a social being at all. It is no doubt the effect of the long-continued habit of command; but it cannot be considered amiable.
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jargon
navy
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Patrick O'Brian |
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09a9899
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for Captain Aubrey, as for the rest of brute creation, there were only two kinds of birds, the edible and the inedible.
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Patrick O'Brian |
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05456b2
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they made nothing of the administration of the drugs other than the fact that the groans in the cabin stopped; but they did catch some words about "delighted to attend the opening of the body, in the event of a contrary result" that earned Dr Maturin some brooding glances as the two medical men went over the side, for the Otters loved their captain."
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Patrick O'Brian |
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67b3d11
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Stephen came on deck reflecting with satisfaction upon his sloth, now a parlour-boarder with the Irish Franciscans at Rio, and a secret drinker of the altar-wine.
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Patrick O'Brian |
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77abb74
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the education of the young gentlemen aboard is almost all a matter of trigonometry: even of algebra, Heaven preserve us.
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Patrick O'Brian |
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94e565a
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Whereas I had not meant anything so illiberal as a national reflexion, of course; only that I hated Papists.
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Patrick O'Brian |
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52f6006
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Physically he was tired and his body relaxed throughout its entire length; his mind was in much the same state, floating free, detached, as though he had taken his old favourite, the tincture of laudanum. He felt no particular anxiety. The attempt must either succeed or fail: he hoped with all his heart for success, but 'all his heart' did not amount to a great deal now that some essential part of its core seemed to have died. Yet on the ot..
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Patrick O'Brian |
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d03eb2c
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I wonder, James, whether it is not too easy for a rich man to despise money
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Patrick O'Brian |
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7cc212e
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And think of our poor doctor, all alone among them damned trees - why, there might be owls.
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Patrick O'Brian |
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4c28975
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Oh, I shall plead guilty at once,' said Stephen. 'And I shall add that I was sitting in the powder-magazine with a naked light at the time, imagining the death of the King, wasting my medical stores, smoking tobacco and making a fraudulent return of the portable soup. What solemn nonsense it is' - laughing heartily - 'I am surprised so sensible a man as you should attribute any importance to the matter.
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Patrick O'Brian |
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50da935
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Oh for women at sea to obviate the eternal crosscat-harpings,' he said to himself, 'to do away with the grumlinfuttocks, and to inject a little civilization, even of an equivocal nature, even at the risk of moral deviation.
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Patrick O'Brian |
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d352a09
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We understood one another better before ever I opened my mouth.
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Patrick O'Brian |
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705d5d1
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I say these damned things,' Jack went on, musing as they drank their bottle, 'and don't quite understand at the time, though I see people looking black as hell, and frowning, and my friends going "Pst, pst", and then I say to myself, "You're brought by the lee again, Jack."
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Patrick O'Brian |
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f437280
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Yet so far his mind had produced little; it turned and turned, but the turning, though arduous, was sterile. Some great man had said, 'A thought is like a flash between two dark nights': at present Stephen's nights were running into one uninterrupted darkness, lit by no gleams at all. The coca-leaves he chewed had the property of doing away with hunger and fatigue, giving some degree of euphoria, and making one feel clever and even witty; h..
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Patrick O'Brian |
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cfb252a
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Invincible ignorance could not be enlightened; and
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Patrick O'Brian |
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46f5ea6
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Hollom was going forward along the larboard gangway: Nagel, an able seamen but one of the most sullen, bloody-minded and argumentative of the Defenders, was coming aft on the same narrow passage. They were abreast of one another; and Nagel walked straight on without the slightest acknowledgement other than a look of elaborate unconcern.
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aubreyad
hollom
master-and-commander
nagel
the-far-side-of-the-world
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Patrick O'Brian |
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7956444
|
Profane oaths, cursings and execrations (forbidden in any event by the second Article of War) were laid aside or modified, and it was pleasant to hear the bosun cry 'Oh you . . . unskilful fellow' when a hand called Faster Doudle, staring aft at Mrs Fielding, dropped a marline-spike from the maintop, very nearly transfixing Mr Hollar's foot. Punishment, in the sense of flogging at the gangway, was also laid aside; and though this was of no ..
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Patrick O'Brian |
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0acdb07
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but I confess that much as I love them, I could wish them both to the Devil, with their high-flown, egocentrical points of honour and their purblind spurring one another on to remarkable exploits that may very well end in unnecessary death. In their death, which is their concern: but also in mine, to say nothing of the rest of the ship's company.
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Patrick O'Brian |
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5cc0dab
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The pleasant thing about fighting with the Spaniards, Mr Ellis,' said Jack, smiling at his great round eyes and solemn face, 'is not that they are shy, for they are not, but that they are never, never ready.
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Patrick O'Brian |
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e180d6d
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Compulsion is the death of friendship, joy.
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freedom
stephen-maturin
social-pressure
duty
obligation
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Patrick O'Brian |
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6c31b10
|
She then recovered her wits and averting her eyes from the wreck of her house she shook Babbington's hand, embraced Stephen tenderly, greeted all the officers, young gentlemen and seamen she knew, and said she would not get in their way - would go and sort her baggage and draw breath in one of the loose-boxes: there was nothing she preferred to a really commodious loose-box.
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Patrick O'Brian |
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1b809b0
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It meant that Diana had not waited for any explanation, however halting and imperfect, but had condemned him unheard; and this showed a much harder, far less affectionate woman than the Diana he had known or had thought he knew - a mythical person, no doubt created by himself. It had of course been evident from her letter, which made no reference to his; but he had not chosen to see the evidence and now it was absolutely forced upon his sig..
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Patrick O'Brian |
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705973c
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It occurred to him that she had spent these last few years entirely among men, seeing no women apart from a few like Louisa Wogan; she spoke rather as men, and somewhat raffish, moneyed, loose-living men, speak when they are alone together. 'She has forgotten the distinction between what can and what cannot be said,' he reflected. 'A few more years of this company, and she would not scruple to fart.
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Patrick O'Brian |
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d071328
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Still, the farther hills remained as untouched as the sea; high, remote, arid, dark and sterile, poisoned with the sun.
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Patrick O'Brian |
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f57e2eb
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Since then he has said nothing and although from time to time I have thrown out what I hope were delicate hints and suggestions he has not seemed to notice them; and with a man Lucifer could not hold a book, bell or candle to for pride I cannot raise the subject directly.
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Patrick O'Brian |
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dcb6a8e
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The more a victory cost, the more it was esteemed.
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victory
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Patrick O'Brian |
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6c6c58c
|
Wittles is up' said Killick
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wittles
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Patrick O'Brian |
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8c53f93
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What is Catalan?' 'Why, the language of Catalonia - of the islands, of the whole of the Mediterranean coast down to Alicante and beyond. Of Barcelona. Of Lerida. All the richest part of the peninsula.' 'You astonish me. I had no notion of it. Another language, sir? But I dare say it is much the same thing - a putain, as they say in France?' 'Oh no, nothing of the kind - not like at all. A far finer language. More learned, more literary. Muc..
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Patrick O'Brian |
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26e4c90
|
the modesty and diffidence that the penniless, unemployed Standish had brought aboard were now no longer to be seen; and the assurance of a monthly income and a settled position had developed a displeasing and often didactic loquacity. He was also, of course, incompetent.
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Patrick O'Brian |
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d338655
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but the poor boy is in a fair way to becoming an alto, a counter-tenor for life.' 'Hoot,' said Graham, grinning still. 'Does the swelling affect the vocal cords?' 'The back of my hand to the vocal cords,' said Stephen. 'Have you not heard of orchitis? Of the swelling of the cods that may follow mumps?' 'Not I,' said Graham, his smile fading. 'Nor had my messmates,' said Stephen, 'though the Dear knows it is one of the not unusual sequelae o..
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Patrick O'Brian |
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d13e097
|
Smell is of all senses by far the most evocative: perhaps because we have no vocabulary for it - nothing but a few poverty-stricken approximations to describe the whole vast complexity of odour - and therefore the scent, unnamed and unnamable, remains pure of association; it cannot be called upon again and again, and blunted, by the use of a word; and so it strikes afresh every time, bringing with it all the circumstances of its first perce..
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Patrick O'Brian |
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cd0cdc0
|
Yet whether wisdom can be any more profitably pursued than happiness is a question.
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Patrick O'Brian |
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bd36d0a
|
Jack, I must tell you in your private ear that we have some allies ashore, rather curious allies, I admit, who look after these operations: I hope and trust that you will see many another yard burnt or burning before we reach Durazzo. I am aware that this is not your kind of war, brother: it is not glorious. Yet as you see, it is effective.' 'Do not take me for a bloody-minded man, Stephen, a death-or-glory swashbuckling cove. Believe me, I..
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Patrick O'Brian |
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104ebfa
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It is only that I dislike the whole notion of subordination. The corporal lurks in almost every bosom, and each man tends to use authority when he has it, thus destroying his natural relationship with his fellows, a disastrous state of affairs for both sides. Do away with subordination and you do away with tyranny: without subordination we should have no Neros, no Tamerlanes, no Buonapartes.' 'Stuff,' said Jack. 'Subordination is the natura..
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Patrick O'Brian |
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83ac771
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he was a great believer in the healing powers of cheerfulness, if not of open mirth). Yet he had some faults, and one was a habit of dosing himself, generally from a spirit of enquiry, as in his period of inhaling large quantities of the nitrous oxide and of the vapour of hemp, to say nothing of tobacco, bhang in all its charming varieties in India, betel in Java and the neighbouring islands, qat in the Red Sea, and hallucinating cacti in S..
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Patrick O'Brian |
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5f68496
|
and in the din Stephen cried, 'I insist upon a boat - I protest... Jack took him by the elbow and propelled him with affectionate violence into the cabin. 'My dear sir,' he said, 'I am afraid you must not insist, or protest: it is mutiny, you know, and you would be obliged to be hanged.
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Patrick O'Brian |
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de19c01
|
You will not be afraid of all those rough men?' asked Sophie, when Clarissa came down. 'No. As far as I have seen, apart from mere brute strength they are no more formidable than we are. Less so, indeed, since most have that dog-does-not-bite-bitch rule deeply engrained, while nothing of that kind applies to us.
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Patrick O'Brian |
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61c8f81
|
Why, the devil, do you see,' said Jack, 'is the seam between the deck-planking and the timbers, and we call it the devil, because it is the /devil/ for the caulkers to come at: in full we say, the devil to pay and no pitch hot; and what we mean is, that there is something hell-fire difficult to be done - must be done - and nothing to do it with. It is a figure.
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nautical-terminology
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Patrick O'Brian |
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f9f676c
|
should very much like to see your excrement.' 'You shall, my dear sir, you shall.
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Patrick O'Brian |
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1251536
|
At that time I attached a perhaps undue importance to staying alive, and I became moderately proficient with both the pistol and the small-sword.
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Patrick O'Brian |
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abfde10
|
Round she went: the squared main and mizen yards lay parallel with the wind, the topsails shaking. Farther, farther; and now the wind was abaft her beam, and by rights her sternway should have stopped; but it did not; she was still travelling with remarkable speed in the wrong direction. He filled the topsails, gave her weather helm, and still she slid backwards in this insane contradiction of all known principles. For a moment all the cert..
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Patrick O'Brian |
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1de9332
|
Well, as for slavery...it is true that I should not like to be one myself, yet Nelson was in favour of it and he said that the country's shipping would be ruined if the trade were put down. Perhaps it comes more natural if you are black...but come, I remember how you tore that unfortunate scrub Bosville to pieces years ago in Barbados for saying that the slaves liked it - that it was in their masters' interest to treat them kindly - that do..
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Patrick O'Brian |
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c7a6793
|
What was independence but a word? What did any form of government matter? Freedom: to do what?
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Patrick O'Brian |
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aa0dee0
|
Stephen strode forward and as the Frenchman turned he brought the massive obsidian down on his head, breaking both. Pontet-Canet was on the floor, limp but breathing. Stephen bent over him, catling in hand, felt for the still beating common carotid, severed it, and stood back from the jet of blood. Then he pulled the body to the hip-bath, placed towels and mats to prevent the blood soaking through to the floor below, and went through the de..
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Patrick O'Brian |