Jacob Faithful, by Captain Frederick Marryat

[bauhiniakapok]

In my current obsession with all things vaguely related to AoS and especially Hornblower, I've been exploring the books of Captain Frederick Marryat. They are so droll, especially when he talks about the antics of midshipmen. The current book I'm on, Jacob Faithful, concerns an orphaned river boat boy who's been sent to a charity school. The school

Comments

[mylodon]

Yes, it does. And as possessor of an AU HH in just such a setting, I wish I'd come across Dobs ages ago!

[bauhiniakapok]

I'm picturing a sort of academic Admiral Hornblower here - Not as pretty as IG, but more what I gathered from the books.

And I'm thinking that even in non-AU, Dreary Dobs could have been young Horatio's maternal uncle or great-uncle, whom he visited while his mother was alive. Horatio would be handed a book and then left to his own devices, his uncle occasionally surfacing from his musings to vaguely pat the boy on his curly head. Dobs was the one who sent Horatio his precious copy of Euclid, but it arrived several months distant from any birthday or holiday.

[bauhiniakapok]

No, wait!
It was thin, horny, transparent and sonorous. Its snuffle was consequential and its sneeze oracular.
Dobs wasn't Horatio's maternal uncle - he was his paternal ancestor. One of his other nicknames became the family surname. *Groan!*

I am now firmly convinced that Forester read this book and was inspired by it. And that Bracegirdle's given name really was Barnaby.

[mylodon]

That makes absolute sense.