Hor. Never more in my life: I hate that fickle element; I cannot endure the sea.
Cleo. What was you afraid of?
Hor. That is a pretty question: do you think a young fellow of six-and-twenty, as I was then, and in my circumstances, had a great mind to be drowned? The captain himself said we were in danger.
Cleo. But neither he nor any body else discovered half so much fear and anxiety as you did.
Hor. There was nobody there, yourself excepted, that had half a quarter so much to lose as I had: besides, they are used to the sea; storms are familiar to them. I had never been at sea before, but that fine afternoon we crossed from Dover to Calais.
Cleo. Want of knowledge or experience may make men apprehend danger where there is none; but real dangers, when they are known to be such, try the natural courage of all men; whether they have been used to them or not: sailors are as unwilling to lose their lives as other people.
Hor. I am not ashamed to own, that I am a great coward at sea: give me terra firma, and then—
Cleo. Six or seven months after you fought that duel, I remember you had the small-pox; you was then very much afraid of dying.
Hor. Not without a cause.
Cleo. I heard your physicians say, that the violent apprehension you was under, hindered your sleep, increased your fever, and was as mischievous to you as the distemper itself.