The adventures of Thomas Williams Author:Thomas Williams Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: the repairs of the prison, etc. We were so reduced, that we could scarcely fetch our own food from the town, which we were obliged to do every fourth day. The tr... more »uth of this statement is emphasized in a book published by the Rev. R, Barbor Woolfe, the chaplain of the Depot, who came to the prison from Verdun some time after the Depot was established. You can easily picture to yourself the state of society in such a place, without any restraint. Captain Jahlell Brenton, of H.M.S. Le Minerve, before he left our Depot for Verdun, laid down certain rules for the Commandant of the Depot to observe, with respect to the prisoners, as to spirits, beer, etc., which he strictly adhered to, as far as he could in a direct way ; but the old men-of-wars men found out many inventions, and smuggling was carried on in every possible way, and you can easily guess what followed. In the meantime, however, amid much confusion, I did all I could to improve my learning, but not having many books, and wanting the means to buy paper, pens, and ink, my progress was not very rapid, but I did, with much pains and self-denial, get on pretty well with arithmetic. I then began to learn navigation, but having only one old book — Hamilton Moore's Treatise—amongst us, I was obliged to copy out all the tables in that book before I could proceed with my learning. When this was completed I began study in good earnest, though very often, when I was in a corner with my books, the greater part of chapter{Section 4my room mates were drunk and fighting all around me ; but they never attempted to molest me. By close attention I made myself master of the science, and soon became a teacher to many others, thereby making myself more perfect, and receiving many a sol to help me in my own necessities. Some three or four...« less