The clerk, taking it out of my hand, read aloud the contents, which were these; 'Dear Friend,--I am so much oppressed with the fatigue I daily and nightly undergo, and the barbarous usage of Doctor Mackshane, who is bent on your destruction as well as mine, that I am resolved to free myself from this miserable life, and, before you receive this, shall be no more.

I could have wished to die in your good opinion, which I am afraid I shall forfeit by the last act of my life; but, if you cannot acquit me, I know you will at least preserve some regard for the memory of an unfortunate young man who loved you.

I recommend it to you, to beware of Mackshane, whose revenge is implacable.
I wish all prosperity to you and Mr.Morgan, to whom pray offer my last respects, and beg to be remembered as your unhappy friend and countryman, 'William Thompson.' This letter was no sooner read, than Mackshane, in a transport of rage, snatched it out of the clerk's hands, and tore it into a thousand pieces, saying, it was a villainous forgery, contrived and executed by myself.

The captain and clerk declared themselves of the same opinion, although I insisted of having the remains of it compared with other writings of Thompson, which they had in their possession; and I was ordered to answer the last article of my accusation, namely, the book of ciphers found among my papers.

"That is easily done," said I."What you are pleased to all ciphers, are no other than the Greek characters, in which, for my amusement, I keep a diary of everything remarkable that has occurred to my observation since the beginning of the voyage, till the day in which I was put in irons; and the same method was practised by Mr.Thompson, who copied mine." "A very likely story," cried Mackshane; "what occasion was there for using Greek characters, if you were not afraid of discovering what you had wrote?
But what d'ye talk of Greek characters?
D'ye think I am so ignorant of the Greek language, as not to distinguish its letters from these, which are no more Greek than Chinese?
No, no, I will not give up my knowledge of the Greek for you, nor none that ever came from your country." So saying, with an unparalleled effrontery, he repeated some gibberish, which by the sound seemed to be Irish, and made it pass for Greek with the captain, who, looking at me with a contemptuous sneer, exclaimed, "Ah, ah! have you caught a tartar ?" I could not help smiling at the consummate assurance of this Hibernian, and offered to refer the dispute to anybody on board who understood the Greek alphabet.