Chapter 6
CHAPTER 6
But on board the seventy-four in which Billy now swung
his hammock, very little in the manner of the men and nothing obvious in the
demeanor of the officers would have suggested to an ordinary observer that the Great
Mutiny was a recent event. In their general bearing and conduct the commissioned
officers of a war-ship naturally take their tone from the commander, that is if he
have that ascendencyHayford and Sealts emended to "ascendancy," but MEL and NN retain Melville's original spelling in the MS because "ascendency" was an accepted spelling in the eighteenth and nineteenth century, as the Oxford English Dictionary shows (see "ascendancy | ascendency, n.". OED Online. June 2021. Oxford University Press). of character that ought to be his.
Captain the Honorable Edward Fairfax Vere, to
give his full title,
was a bachelor of forty or thereabouts, a sailor of distinction even
in a time prolific of renowned seamen. Though allied to the higher nobility his
advancement had not been altogether
oweing
owing
to influences connected with that circumstance. He had seen much
service, been in many various engagements, always acquitting himself as an
officer mindful of the wellfare of his men, but never tolerating an infraction
of discipline,discipline,] In revising this passage in ink, HM used an insertion bubble
to add "of discipline." He later added a semi-colon outside of the bubble,
but seems to have altered the semi-colon to a comma. NN prints the
semi-colon here; MEL, the comma. thoroughly versed in the science of
his profession, and intrepid to the verge of temerity though never
injudiciously so. For his gallantry in the West Indian waters as flag-lieutenant
under Rodney in that Admiral's crowning victory over De Grasse, he was made a
post-captain.
Ashore in the garb of a civiliancivilian,] MEL adds the comma after "civilian" to
clarify the ending of the (misplaced) introductory prepositional
phrase., scarce anyone would have taken him for a sailor, more especially that
he never garnished unprofessional talk with nautical terms, and grave in his
bearing, evinced little appreciation of mere humor. It was not out of keeping
with these traits that
On (capitalized in MS)
on
a passage when nothing demanded his paramount action, he was the most
undemonstrative of men. Any landsman observing this gentleman not conspicuous by
his stature and wearing no pronounced insignia, emerging from his
retreat / cabin
cabincabin] Originally, Melville inscribed "retreat"
in ink but later wrote "cabin," in pencil above. Because he did not
delete "retreat," the site is an uncompleted and oscillating
revision. MEL emends to "cabin."
to the open deck, and noting the silent deference of the officers
retiring to leeward, might have taken him for the King's guest, a civilian
aboard the King's-ship some highly honorable discreet envoy on his way to an
important post. But in fact this
unobtrusivness
unobtrusiveness
of demeanor may have proceeded from a certain unaffected modesty of
manhood sometimes accompanying a resolute nature, a modesty evinced at all times
not calling for pronounced action, and which shown in any rank of life suggests
a virtue aristocratic in kind. As with some others
engaged in various departments of the world's more heroic activities, Captain
Vere though practical enough upon occasion would at times betray a certain
dreaminess of mood. Standing alone on the weather-side of the quarter deck, one
hand holding by the
rigging (no comma in MS)
rigging,
he would absently gaze off at the blank sea. At the presentation to
him then of some minor
matter interrupting the current of his thoughts he would show more or less
irascibility; but instantly he would control it.
In the navy he was popularly known by the
appellationappellation: MEL emends Melville's MS misspelling "appelation" to "appellation."—Starry Vere. How such a designation happened
to fall to upon (doubled prepositions in MS)
to fall
to fall] Originally, HM wrote "to
fall to him." To expand at this site, he deleted "him" (but not the second
"to") and attached a clip with new text, in pencil, beginning with "upon one
who...." To repair the doubled prepositions in "to fall to upon one who,"
MEL emends to "to fall upon one who."
upon one who
whatever his sterling qualities was without any brilliant ones was in this wise: A
favorite kinsman, Lord Denton, a free-hearted fellow, had been the first to meet
and congratulate him upon his return to England from his West Indian cruise; and
but the day previous turning over a copy of Andrew Marvell's poems had lighted,
not for the first time however, upon the lines entitled Appleton House, the name of one of the seats of their common ancestor, a
hero in the German wars of the seventeenth century, in which poem occur the
lines,
This 'tis to have been from the first
This] In manuscript, HM places
quotation marks around the four quoted lines from Andrew Marvell's 1681 poem
"Upon Appleton House." NN retains the quotation marks, which might suggest
that a voice other than Marvell's is speaking. To avoid this suggestion and
in keeping with modern conventions, MEL drops the quotation mark here and
after "Vere" at the end of the fourth line.
In a domestic heaven nursed,
Under the discipline severe
Of Fairfax and the starry Vere" (no period in MS)Vere.
And so, upon embracing his cousin fresh
from Rodney's great victory wherein he had played so gallant a part, brimming
over with just family pride in the sailor of their house, he exuberantly
exclaimed, "Give ye joy, Ed; give ye joy, my starry Vere!" This got currency,
and the novel prefix serving in familiar parlance readily to distinguish The Indomitable's captain from another Vere his senior, a
distant
relative (no comma in MS)
relativerelative,] Inserting "a distant relative" as a
second apposition, HM neglected to add a comma after "relative." MEL
supplies the necessary comma.,
an officer of like rank in the navy, it remained permanently attached
to the surname.