Page:Life of Colonel Jack (1810).djvu/20

 soon came to be called so; for at that part of the town, where we had our breeding, viz. near Goodman's-fields, the Johns are generally called Jack; but my nurse, who may be allowed to distinguish her own son a little from the rest, would have him called Captain, because forsooth he was the eldest.

I was provoked at having this boy called captain, and I cried, and told my nurse, I would be called captain; for she told me I was a gentleman, and I would be a captain, that I would: the good woman, to keep the peace, told me, ay, ay, I was a gentleman, and therefore I should be above a captain, for I should be a colonel, and that was a great deal better than a captain; for, my dear, says she, every tarpawlin, if he gets but to be lieutenant of a press smack, is called captain, but colonels are soldiers, and none but gentlemen are ever made colonels; besides, says she, I have known colonels come to be lords, and generals, though they were bastards at first, and therefore you shall be called Colonel.

Well, I was hushed indeed with this for the present, but not thoroughly pleased, till a little while after I heard her tell her own boy, that I was a gentleman, and therefore he must call me colonel; at which her boy fell a crying, and he would be called colonel. That part pleased me to the life, that he should cry to be called colonel, for then I