...all of them, now joined by the lady on deck, singing *Ah tutti contenti saremo cosi, ah tutti contenti saremo, saremo cosi* with surprisingly melodious full-throated happiness

There is not much of Jack AND Stephen in this chapter, and most of Stephen is bound up with Diana, so I thought it would only be fair to have these posts about them. :D

he and the amazed foremast hands saw a blue and gold coach and four, escorted by a troop of cavalry in mauve coats with silver facings, driving slowly along the quay with their captain and a Swedish officer on the box,

This way for Jack Aubrey, Mr Martin, Gedymin Jagiello, his fiance, Countess Tessin and generally everybody who is not Stephen and

'Would that man be a Finn, at all?' asked Stephen.
'Oh no,' said Diana, amused. 'He is a Lapp, one of Jagiello's Lapps; he owns a dozen or so.'

of Finns and Lapps, ballooning in general, apothecaries and other stuff you can find no place for...what with naval and nautical affairs being precious thin on the ground in this chapter.

His had been a naturally cheerful countenance until all joy was driven out of it, a fine ruddy face whose lines and creases had been formed by laughter and smiling; now it was essentially the same again, ruddier if anything, and lit by eyes that seemed an even brighter blue. Stephen felt his sadness and near-desperation recede, almost vanish, as ( Read more... )

'What are contemporaries?'
'People of the same age: but it usually means people you knew when you were young together - school friends and so on. At least that is what I mean. Cousin Edward and my grandfather were contemporaries, and they were great friends. They had a pack of hounds together when they were young fellows. They hunted the hare.' ( Read more... )

The purser sighed and shook his head and observed that that was the Board all over: they just gave you a chitty saying 'Receive So-and-So aboard, to be borne for victuals only, as far as Stockholm", without a word of his quality: he might be Agamemnon or Nebuchadnezzar and you would be none the wiser. 'We thought you was just an ordinary commercial ( Read more... )

In the course of her long career she had been called L'Unité,, the Retaliation and the Retribution, and the rather cross-looking image in front had answered, more or less, for any of these names; but now some natural genius had arched her eyebrows and pursed her mouth, so that she really was the personification of surprise - pleased surprise, with ( Read more... )

Truly everything in the Aubreyad seems to be based on Collingwood or Cochrane. ;D

( Diane - Jack; Esmeralda - Cochrane )

"He asked Parson West ..." Jack frowned slightly and Stephen clasped his hands. This was the point where the anecdote might so easily break down again, an unhappy echo of the word place appearing as plaice in the bishop's question. 'He asked Parson West, "Have you many souls here?'" Stephen relaxed. 'And Parson West replied, "No, my lord; only ( Read more... )

Yet Sir Joseph fidgeted about, tweaking a fork here, a knife there, and asking Mrs Barlow whether she was sure the removes would be hot and whether there would be plenty of pudding - 'the gentleman is particularly fond of pudding, so is Lord Panmure' - until her answers grew shorter and shorter.Pullings and Babbington, Mrs Barlow and Sir Joseph, ( Read more... )