lance," and was, therefore, not sufficiently on my guard; however, I am overjoyed that I am not sea"sick." At this moment, the vessel, which had just risen on one of ocean's loftiest billows, was plunging into as deep a gulf, and this sudden motion again convinced our exquisite of the fallacy of all human expectations, for the qualms of sickness forced him to repair precipitately to his cabin. I soon followed his example, though not from the same cause; for I had retired to the loneliness of my state-room to gaze on thy image, my loved Laura, and to peruse again and again thy mournful letter of adieu. After dinner, a meal which few of our party joined in, and none partook of very heartily, the motion of our vessel became so great, that, being landsmen, we could none of us keep the deck. Then, by way of consoling our female passengers, and allaying the tremor of their minds, the hoarse voice of our pilot proclaimed that there was every indication of a storm. Split my topsails," said he, " but we shall have "rough work of it; eh, Captain? Black clouds "over the land yonder. I sha'nt be surprised if we spring a mast, or carry away a yard or two. Hol 66 la, there, you fellows in the forecastle, up the rattlings, and take a reef in the fore top-sail." These expressions were answered by a scream in concert from the ladies, with some alleviating words from the captain, who was really a gentlemanly man. "Dang it, ladies," said the pilot, " don't be afeared "now; I didn't mean to frighten ye, only I thought "it might be as well to tell the truth; and, besides, if we be all sent to Davy Jones, I trust we are good 66 protestants;" here he winked at the captain, and cast a significant look at an old gentleman, sitting in the corner of the cabin, who was a rigid catholic, "how66 ever, thank God," said he, addressing himself to a gentleman who happened to be a clergyman, " thank "God, there are no parsons on board; so it is to be hoped we shall all get on safe:" and then, swallowing a tolerable jorum of brandy toddy, he repaired to the deck, where his thundering voice was quickly heard, commanding more reefs to be taken in the topsails; thereby confirming in the minds of the passengers, that the weather was indeed growing bad. The night began to grow pitchy dark, and the many vessels that were before seen around us, were now, from that cause, becoming invisible. The rain and hail poured in torrents; the howling of the wind was frightful and terrific; fearful and loud was the roaring of the giant waves. The ship now riding on the lofty billows, threatened to touch the black masses of vapour that were bursting over our heads; and then, descending into the yawning gulf below, it seemed as if it would never rise again from the midst of the mighty waters that were foaming around it. Reader, thou mayest have been in a gale, but thou canst hardly fancy such a storm as this; neither canst thou altogether form an idea of the feelings and fears of those who had never been at sea before, when the dead-lights were shipped in the cabin windows; their fears, however, could hardly exceed their danger, which was truly great. We had been obliged to anchor our vessel in the Downs; but we had not been long in this position, before our alarm was excited by a sudden crash: one of our cables had snapped, and we were shortly forced to cut the other, to avoid being run down by an East India ship, which, in the gloomy darkness of the night, had come upon us unawares, and we were only warned of its approach by the shouts of its crew, and by the faint lights which now and then glimmered on its deck. We remained beating about the Downs, at the mercy of the wind and waves, during the rest of the night, and at the dawn of day succeeded, with difficulty, in making the harbour of Portsmouth; where we will leave our indulgent readers, to take a cup of coffee, and some hot rolls, for our breakfast, as they come fresh from the land. CHAPTER III. THE VOYAGE. THE ARRIVAL. "The skies were bright, the seas were calm, Rev. H. Milman. 66 And, oh! it was with raptures such as these SCARCELY had we time to procure fresh anchors, with several other necessaries, at Portsmouth, before a prosperous breeze sprung up from the land; and our vessel was shortly again under full sail. We soon left the land behind us; and, towards evening, the extreme point of Land's End was scarcely visible. I now felt that I had, indeed, left Old England, perhaps for ever, and certainly without a prospect of seeing it again for a long period: this to me was worse than the qualms of sickness, or even than the tempestuous weather we had so lately experienced. We had now, however, a glorious breeze, and our ship was carrying on before it, at the rate of ten knots an hour; we had nothing to alarm, and a great deal to make us hungry. The qualms of sickness being over, our passengers C became tolerable sailors: the ladies managed to get on deck; and when the vessel was steady enough, the gentlemen amused themselves alternately with chess and backgammon in short, we all eat, drank, talked, and slept as well as Christians with good consciences usually do. My slumbers were peaceful, and my dreams sweet; the former composed my mind, and the latter continually presented before it the angelic image of my best loved Laura. Not so our exquisite, who slept in the adjoining berth; soundly, indeed, did he sleep, and loudly did he snore, but not peacefully forsooth. One night his slumber was deeper than usual, and so was mine. I was awakened, however, and like the other passengers, somewhat alarmed, by loud and repeated cries of "Help, help, for God's sake, help; "I shall be drowned, I shall be drowned!" We rushed to the berth of the dandy, whence these cries appeared to proceed; and, lo! there lay our exquisite ! -Verily, verily, I say unto thee, gentle reader, thou canst form no idea of the agony depicted on his countenance, whilst thus roaring for assistance. Our presence somewhat shamed him, and, at all events, immediately quieted his fears. He told us, that he had been dreaming horrid dreams, of storm, dangers, wreck, drowning, &c. and whilst actually fancying he was sinking, a wave,-oh, such a wave!-had dashed in upon him from the port, and awakened him to the painful conviction that all he had been dreaming was reality. He concluded with many |