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130
Recollections of
[Ch. XII.

hear it, and intimated that he should come for that purpose. He came according to promise, but was not only disappointed but angry at the discordant sounds that issued from the piano, which, from damp and disuse, had acquired tones very like those of a broken down hurdy-gurdy. The only person on the island capable of remedying the defects of the instrument, was Mr. Guinness, band-master on board the "General Kid," then lying in the St. James's harbour. Mr. Guinness[1], who, at the request of the countess was summoned by my father for the purpose, was on the point of leaving the side of the ship, when an order from the governor desired him to stay where he was.

Napoleon expressed a wish to see a boa constrictor brought by Captain Murray Maxwell to the island. I had described

  1. ↑ Mr. Guinness is now a member of the Royal Society of Musicians, and the well known leader of the orchestra at the Almack's balls, &c.
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