“Earl has got the appointment to a prison ship at Portsmouth, which he has been for some time desirous of having; & he & his wife are to live on board for the future.”

I wonder if Earl’s wife is ever received at Deane and JA ever meets her—did they ever discuss shipboard life. I guess her brothers told her something of it, but I am not sure if their wives ever lived on a ship—they always seem, up to this letter at least, to be having babies all the time and have no thoughts of anything else.