as we hauled to the wind, and the weather looked very threatening. In an hour afterwards the whole sky was covered with one black cloud, which sank so low as nearly to touch our mastheads, and a tremendous sea, which appeared to have risen up almost by magic, rolled in upon us, setting the vessel on a dead lee shore. As the night closed in it blew a dreadful

gale, and the ship

was nearly buried

we must inevitably have been lost; and I said my prayers at least a dozen times during the night, for I felt it impossible to go to bed. I had often wished, out of curiosity, that I might be in a gale of wind, but I little thought it was to have been a scene of this description, or anything half so dreadful. What made it more appalling was that we were on a lee shore, and the consultations of the captain and officers, and the eagerness with which they looked out for daylight, told us that we had other dangers to encounter besides the storm. At last the morning broke, and the lookout man upon the gangway called out, 'Land on the lee beam.' I perceived the master dash his fist against the hammock rails, as if with vexation, and walk away without saying a word, and looking very grave.

with the press of canvas which she was obliged to carry; for had we sea room, we should have been lying-to under storm staysails; but we were forced to carry on at all risks, that we might claw off shore. The seas broke over as we lay in the trough, deluging us with water from the forecastle, aft, to the binnacles; and very often as the ship descended with a plunge, it was with such force that I really thought she would divide in half with the violence of the shock. Double breechings were rove on the guns, and they were further secured with tackles, and strong cleats nailed behind the trunnions, for we heeled over so much when we lurched that the guns were wholly supported by the breechings and tackles, and had one of them broken loose, it must have burst right through the lee side of the ship, and she must have foundered. The captain, first lieutenant, and most of the officers remained on deck during the whole of the night; and really, what with the howling of the wind, the violence of the rain, the washing of the water about the decks, the working of the chain pumps, and the creaking and groaning of the timbers, I thought that

'Up, there, Mr Wilson,' said the captain to the second lieutenant, 'and see how far the land trends forward, and whether you can distinguish the point.' The second lieutenant went up the mainrigging, and pointed with his hand to about two points before the beam.

'Do you see two hillocks inland?'

'Yes, sir,' replied the second lieutenant.

"Then it is so,' observed the captain to the master,

'and if we weather it we shall have more sea room. Keep her full, and let her go through the water; do you hear, quarter-master?'

'Aye, aye, sir.'

'Thus, and no nearer, my man. Ease her with a spoke or two when she sends; but be careful, or she'll take the wheel out of your hands.'

It really was a very awful sight. When the ship was in the trough of the sea, you could distinguish nothing but a waste of tumultuous water; but when she was borne up on the summit of the enormous waves, you then looked down, as it were, upon a low, sandy coast, close to you, and covered with foam and breakers. 'She behaves nobly,' observed the captain, stepping aft to the binnacle, and looking at the compass; if the wind does not baffle us, we shall weather.' The captain had scarcely time to make the observation, when the sails shivered and flapped like thunder. Up with the helm: what are you about, quarter-master?'

'The wind has headed us, sir,' replied the quarter. master, coolly.

The captain and master remained at the binnacle watching the compass, and when the sails were again full she had broken off two points, and the point of land was only a little on the lee bow.

'We must wear her round, Mr Falcon. Hands, wear ship-ready, oh, ready.'

'She has come up again,' cried the master, who was at the binnacle.

'Hold fast there a minute. How's her head now?' 'N.N.E., as she was before she broke off, sir.'

'Pipe belay,' said the captain. 'Falcon,' continued he, 'if she breaks off again we may have no room to wear; indeed there is so little room now that I must run the risk. Which cable was ranged last night-the best bower?'

The ship continued to hold her course good; and we were within half a mile of the point, and fully expected to weather it, when again the wet and heavy sails flapped in the wind, and the ship broke off two points as before. The officers and seamen were aghast, for the ship's head was right on to the breakers. 'Luff now, all you can, quarter-master,' cried the captain. 'Send the men aft directly. My lads, there is no time for words-I am going to club-haul the ship, for there is no room to wear. The only chance you have of safety is to be cool, watch my eye, and execute my orders with precision. Away to your stations for tacking ship. Hands by the best bower anchor. Mr Wilson, attend below with the carpenter and his mates, ready to cut away the cable at the moment that I give the order. Silence there, fore and aft. Quarter-master, keep her full again for stays. Mind you ease the helm down when I tell you.' About a minute passed before the captain gave any further orders. The ship had closed-to within a quarter of a mile of the beach, and the waves curled and topped around us, bearing us down upon the shore, which presented one continued surface of foam, extending to within half a cable's length of our position, at which distance the enormous waves culminated and fell with the report of thunder. The captain waved his hand in silence to the quarter-master at the wheel, and the helm was put down. The ship turned slowly to the wind, pitching and chopping as the sails were spilling. When she had lost her way the captain gave the order, 'Let go the anchor. We will haul all at once, Mr Falcon,' said the captain. Not a word was spoken; the men went to the fore-brace, which had not been manned; most of them knew, although I did not, that if the ship's head did not go round the other way we should be on shore and among the breakers in half a minute. I thought at the time that the captain had said that he would haul all the yards at once, there appeared to be doubt or dissent on the countenance of Mr Falcon; and I was afterwards told that he had not agreed with the captain, but he was too good an officer, and knew that there was no time for discussion, to make any remark; and the event proved that the captain was right. At last the ship was head to wind, and the captain gave the signal. The yards flew round with such a creaking noise that I thought the masts had gone over the side, and the next moment the wind had caught the sails, and the ship, which for a moment or two had been on an

even keel, careened over to her gunnel with its force. The captain, who stood upon the weather hammock rails, holding by the main-rigging, ordered the helm amidships, looked full at the sails, and then at the cable, which grew broad upon the weather bow, and held the ship from nearing the shore. At last he cried, 'Cut away the cable.' A few strokes of the axes were heard, and then the cable flew out of the hawse-hole in a blaze of fire, from the violence of the friction, and disappeared under a huge wave, which struck us on the chess-tree and deluged us with water fore and aft. But we were now on the other tack, and the ship regained her way, and we had evidently increased our distance from the land.

'My lads,' said the captain to the ship's company, 'you have behaved well, and I thank you; but I must tell you honestly that we have more difficulties to get through. We have to weather a point of the bay on this tack. Mr Falcon, splice the main-brace and call the watch. How's her head, quarter-master?'

'S.W. by S. Southerly, sir.'

'Very well; let her go through the water;' and the captain, beckoning to the master to follow him, went down into the cabin. (From Peter Simple.)

Mr Easy receives the First-Lieutenant. In the meantime Mr Sawbridge, who was not in his uniform, had entered, and perceived Jack alone, with the dinner-table laid out in the best style for eight, a considerable show of plate for even the Fountain Inn, and everything, as well as the apartment itself, according to Mr Sawbridge's opinion, much more fit for a commander-in-chief than a midshipman of a sloop of

war.

Now Mr Sawbridge was a good officer, one who had really worked his way up to the present rank-that is to say, that he had served seven-and-twenty years, and had nothing but his pay. He was a little soured in the service, and certainly had an aversion to the young men of family who were now fast crowding into it--and with some grounds, as he perceived his own chance of promotion decrease in the same ratio as the numbers increased. He considered that in proportion as midshipmen assumed a cleaner and more gentlemanly appearance, so did they become more useless, and it may therefore be easily imagined that his bile was raised by this parade and display in a lad who was very shortly to be, and ought three weeks before to have been, shrinking from his frown. Nevertheless, Sawbridge was a good-hearted man, although a little envious of luxury, which he could not pretend to indulge in himself.

'May I beg to ask,' said Jack, who was always remarkably polite and gentlemanly in his address, 'in what manner I may be of service to you?'

'Yes, sir, you may-by joining your ship immediately. And may I beg to ask in return, sir, what is the reason you have stayed on shore three weeks without joining her?'

Hereupon Jack, who did not much admire the peremptory tone of Mr Sawbridge, and who during the answer had taken a seat, crossed his legs, and played with the gold chain to which his watch was secured, after a pause very coolly replied—

'And pray, who are you?'

'Who am I, sir?' replied Sawbridge, jumping out of

his chair. 'My name is Sawbridge, sir, and I am the first-lieutenant of the Harpy. Now, sir, you have your answer.'

Mr Sawbridge, who imagined that the name of the first-lieutenant would strike terror to a culprit midshipman, threw himself back in the chair and assumed an air of importance.

'Really, sir,' replied Jack, 'what may be your exact situation on board, my ignorance of the service will not allow me to guess, but if I may judge from your behaviour, you have no small opinion of yourself.'

'Look ye, young man, you may not know what a firstlieutenant is, and I take it for granted that you do not, by your behaviour; but depend upon it, I'll let you know very soon. In the meantime, sir, I insist upon it, that you go immediately on board.'

'I'm sorry that I cannot comply with your very moderate request,' replied Jack, coolly. 'I shall go on board when it suits my convenience, and I beg that you will give yourself no further trouble on my account.'

Jack then rang the bell; the waiter, who had been listening outside, immediately entered, and before Mr Sawbridge, who was dumb with astonishment at Jack's impertinence, could have time to reply

'Waiter,' said Jack, 'show this gentleman downstairs.' 'By the god of war!' exclaimed the first-lieutenant, 'but I'll soon show you down to the boat, my young bantam; and when once I get you safe on board, I'll make you know the difference between a midshipman and a first-lieutenant.'

'I can only admit of equality, sir,' replied Jack; we are all born equal-I trust you'll allow that.'

'Equality-damn it, I suppose you'll take the command of the ship. However, sir, your ignorance will be a little enlightened by-and-by. I shall now go and report your conduct to Captain Wilson; and I tell you plainly that, if you are not on board this evening, tomorrow morning, at daylight, I shall send a sergeant and a file of marines to fetch you.'

'You may depend upon it, sir,' replied Jack, 'that I also shall not fail to mention to Captain Wilson that I consider you a very quarrelsome, impertinent fellow, and recommend him not to allow you to remain on board. It will be quite uncomfortable to be in the same ship with such an ungentlemanly bear.'

'He must be mad—quite mad,' exclaimed Sawbridge, whose astonishment even mastered his indignation. 'Mad as a March hare-by God!'

'No, sir,' replied Jack, I am not mad, but I am a philosopher.'

'A what?' exclaimed Sawbridge. 'Damme, what next?-Well, my joker, all the better for you; I shall put your philosophy to the proof.'

'It is for that very reason, sir,' replied Jack, 'that I have decided upon going to sea: and if you do remain on board, I hope to argue the point with you, and make you a convert to the truth of equality and the rights of man.'

'By the Lord that made us both, I'll soon make you a convert to the thirty-six articles of war-that is, if you remain on board; but I shall now go to the captain and report your conduct, sir, and leave you to your dinner with what appetite you may.'

'Sir, I am infinitely obliged to you; but you need not be afraid of my appetite; I am only sorry, as you happen to belong to the same ship, that I cannot, in

justice to the gentlemanly young men whom I expect, ask you to join them. I wish you a very good morning, sir.'

'Twenty years have I been in the service,' roared Sawbridge, and, damme, but he's mad-downright, stark, staring mad.' And the first-lieutenant bounced out of the room.

Jack was a little astonished himself. Had Mr Sawbridge made his appearance in uniform it might have been different, but that a plain-looking man, with black whiskers, shaggy hair, and old blue frock-coat and yellow casimere waistcoat, should venture to address him in such a manner was quite incomprehensible. He calls me mad,' thought Jack; I shall tell Captain Wilson what is my opinion about his lieutenant.' Shortly afterwards the company arrived, and Jack soon forgot all about it.

In the meantime Sawbridge called at the captain's lodgings, and found him at home: he made a very faithful report of all that had happened, and concluded his request by demanding, in great wrath, either an instant dismissal or a court-martial on our hero, Jack. (From Mr Midshipman Easy.)

Cheeks and his Captain.

'Well, Mr Cheeks, what are the carpenters about?' 'Weston and Smallbridge are going on with the chairs -the whole of them will be finished to-morrow.'

Well?'-Smith is about the chest of drawers, to match the one in my Lady Capperbar's bedroom.'

'Very good. And what is Hilton about?'' He has finished the spare leaf of the dining table, sir; he is now about a little job for the second-lieutenant.'

'A job for the second-lieutenant, sir! How often have I told you, Mr Cheeks, that the carpenters are not to be employed, except on ship's duty, without my special permission !'-'His standing bed-place is broken, sir; he is only getting out a chock or two.'

'Mr Cheeks, you have disobeyed my most positive orders. By the bye, sir, I understand you were not sober last night. Please your honour,' replied the carpenter, 'I wasn't drunk-I was only a little fresh.'

Take you care, Mr Cheeks. Well, now, what are the rest of your crew about?'-'Why, Thomson and Waters are cutting out the pales for the garden out of the jib-boom; I've saved the heel to return.'

'Very well; but there won't be enough, will there?' 'No, sir; it will take a hand-mast to finish the whole.'

'Then we must expend one when we go out again. We can carry away a top-mast, and make a new one out of the hand-mast at sea. In the meantime, if the sawyers have nothing to do, they may as well cut the palings at And now let me see-oh, the painters must go on shore to finish the attics.'

once.

'Yes, sir; but my Lady Capperbar wishes the jealowsees to he painted vermilion; she says it will look more rural.'-' Mrs Capperbar ought to know enough about ship's stores by this time to be aware that we are only allowed three colours. She may choose or mix them as she pleases; but as for going to the expense of buying paint, I can't afford it. What are the rest of the men about?' Repairing the second cutter, and making a new mast for the pinnace.'

'By the bye-that puts me in mind of it-have you expended any boat's masts?'-'Only the one carried away, sir.'

'Then you must expend two more. Mrs C. has just sent me off a list of a few things that she wishes made while we are at anchor, and I see two poles for clotheslines. Saw off the sheave-holes, and put two pegs through at right angles-you know how I mean?'

'Yes, sir. What am I to do, sir, about the cucumber frame? My Lady Capperbar says that she must have it, and I haven't glass enough. They grumbled at the yard last time.'-'Mrs C. must wait a little. What are the armourers about?'

They have been so busy with your work, sir, that the arms are in a very bad condition. The first-lieutenant said yesterday that they were a disgrace to the ship.' 'Who dares say that?'-' The first-lieutenant, sir.' 'Well, then, let them rub up the arms, and let me know when they are done, and we'll get the forge up.'

'The armourer has made six rakes and six hoes, and the two little hoes for the children; but he says that he can't make a spade.'

'Then I'll take his warrant away, by heavens! since he does not know his duty. That will do, Mr Cheeks. I shall overlook your being in liquor this time; but take care. Send the boatswain to me.'

(From The King's Own.) Marryat's Life and Letters (2 vols. 1872) was published by his daughter Florence, successively Mrs Ross Church and Mrs Lean, and herself a prolific novelist. See also the sketch by Mr D. Hannay in the Great Writers' series (1889).

William Nugent Glascock (1787-1847) served with credit in the navy from 1800 till the year of his death, with long intervals of half-pay, during which he produced many good pictures of maritime life and adventures, based largely on his varied experiences afloat in the Baltic and the Mediterranean, off Portugal, Newfoundland, and the West Indies. The Naval Sketch-Book (1826), Sailors and Saints (1829), Tales of a Tar 11836, Land Sharks and Sea Gulls (1838), are all genuine tales of the sea, and display a hearty comic humour, a rich phraseology, and a cordial contempt for regularity of plot. Captain Glascock's Naval Service, or Officer's Manual, passed through several editions, and translated was used in the French, Russian, Swedish, and Turkish services.

Edward Howard, a naval lieutenant who died still a comparatively young man in 1841, was a shipmate of Marryat's, and his sub-editor on the Metropolitan Magazine; and was the author of Rattlin the Reefer (1836), a capital sea-story sometimes published with Marryat's works, and wrongly attributed to Marryat, who was said to have edited it. It was very well received, and was followed by Outward Bound, Jack Ashore, Sir Henry Morgan the Buccaneer, and other stories. Several of these are better managed as to fable, particularly Outward Bound, but have not the same breadth of humour as Captain Glascock's novels. He ventured also on a poem, The Centad (1841). Tom Hood, on whose staff in the New Monthly he served, spoke warmly of his work, and said Howard 'had just felt the true use of his powers when he was called to resign them.'

Frederick Chamier (1796-1870) served in the navy from 1809 till 1827, and then produced, in imitation of Marryat, The Life of a Sailor (1832), Ben Brace, The Arethusa, Jack Adams, and Tom Bowling (1841), stories which for a time were very popular, and were mostly reprinted as recently as 1881-90. Count Königsmark (1845) was a historical romance. Captain Chamier continued James's Naval History, recorded his experiences of the French Revolution of 1848, and published in 1855 a painfully facetious book of travels in France, Switzerland, and Italy.

Charles Wentworth Dilke (1789-1864), editor of the Athenæum, served twenty years in the Navy Pay-Office, and on retiring with a pension devoted himself wholly to literary occupations. He had long been a zealous student of literature, had in 1814-16 edited a continuation of Dodsley's 'old plays,' and had contributed much to the magazines and reviews, especially to the Retrospective. In 1829 he became part-proprietor of the Athenæum (founded by Silk Buckingham in 1828, and owned for a few months by John Sterling and others), and speedily became its supreme and highly effective editor. He soon had Charles Lamb, Tom Hood, Leigh Hunt, Allan Cunningham, Barry Cornwall, Chorley, and George Darley on his staff or amongst his contributors, and from abroad-an innovation in English journalism-he enlisted the services of Sainte-Beuve and Jules Janin. To ensure perfect impartiality, the editor withdrew from general society, saw as little as possible of authors and publishers, and so long as he edited the paper did not himself contribute to its columns. He resigned the editorial charge in 1846, for three years edited the Daily News, and now began to contribute to the Athenæum the famous articles on Junius, Pope Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Burke, Wilkes, and Peter Pindar, which were published as The Papers of a Critic by Dilke's grandson, Sir Charles, in 1875. Dr Carruthers, who did not wholly agree with him, said that the personal history of Pope was never properly understood till it was taken up by Mr Dilke;' and his views were substantially adopted by Mr Elwin and Mr Courthope in the magistral edition. Dilke's contribution to the Junius controversy, mainly destructive of current theories, was the most important that had been made.

Thomas Keightley (1789-1872), born in Dublin and educated at Trinity College, settled in London in 1824 as a writer of books, and published a series of histories of Greece, Rome, and England, long used as school manuals; books on the Greek War of Independence and on the Crusades; notes to Virgil and Horace; a Life of Milton and an edition of his works. His Fairy Mythology (1850) is, however, by far his most important work, and is still useful, though, like all books of that date dealing with folklore, it must be read with a certain caution.

William Maginn (1793-1842) was one of the wittiest, most accomplished, and versatile writers of his time in prose and verse, but has left little permanent memorial of his genius or acquirements. He was born at Cork, was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, assisted his father in conducting an academy in his native city, and in 1816 (not in 1819, as is usually said) was made LL.D. by his alma mater. It was in 1819 that he began to write for Blackwood's Magazine. His papers were lively, learned, often abusive, and sometimes libellous; he was a keen political partisan, a Tory of the old Orange stamp, who gave no quarter to an opponent. At the same time there was so much scholarly wit and literary power about Maginn's contributions that all parties read and admired him. For nine years he was one of the most constant writers in Blackwood, and his Odoherty papers (prose and verse) were eagerly welcomed. He had removed to London in 1823, and adopted literature as a profession. In 1824 John Murray the publisher commenced a daily newspaper, The Representative; and Maginn was engaged as Paris correspondent. His residence in France was short; the Representative soon collapsed, and Maginn returned to London to 'spin his daily bread out of his brains.' He was associated with Dr Stanley Lees Giffard in conducting the Standard newspaper, and when Fraser's Magazine was established in 1830, he became one of its chief literary supporters, contributing thereto the famous 'Gallery of Literary Characters,' illustrated by Maclise; probably neither Thackeray nor Carlyle did as much for the popularity of Fraser as Maginn did. One article in this periodical (1836), a review of the poor novel of Berkeley Castle, led to a hostile meeting between Maginn and its author, the Hon. Grantley Berkeley. Mr Berkeley had brutally assaulted Fraser, the publisher of the offensive criticism, when Maginn wrote to him, declaring that he was the authorhence the challenge and the duel. The parties exchanged shots thrice, Maginn being slightly wounded. Maginn's life, literary and personal, became very irregular; intemperance gained upon him; the indisputable original of Thackeray's 'Captain Shandon,' he was often arrested and in jail; but his good-humour seems never to have forsaken him. His burlesque review of Southey's Doctor was called 'a farrago of Rabelaisian wit and learning'-a description that applies to a good deal of his work. He wrote a series of really admirable Shakespeare papers for Blackwood in 1837, and in the following year he commenced a series of sixteen Homeric ballads. In 1842 he was again in prison, and his health gave way. One of his friends wrote to Sir Robert Peel, describing the lamentable condition of the decayed wit, and the minister sent him £100, which Maginn did not live to receive. He died a discharged but insolvent debtor at Walton-on-Thames. The esteem in which he was held by his contemporaries may

be gathered from the so-called epitaph on him by Lockhart-or, rather, the genial elegy:

Here, early to bed, lies kind WILLIAM MAGINN,
Who, with genius, wit, learning, life's trophies to win,
Had neither great lord nor rich cit of his kin,
Nor discretion to set himself up as to tin;
So his portion soon spent-like the poor heir of Lynn-
He turned author while yet was no beard on his chin,
And, whoever was out, or whoever was in,

For your Tories his fine Irish brains he would spin,
Who received prose and rhyme with a promising grin-
'Go ahead, you queer fish, and more power to your fin,’
But to save from starvation stirred never a pin.
Light for long was his heart, though his breeches were thin.
Else his acting for certain was equal to Quin;
But at last he was beat, and sought help of the bin-
All the same to the doctor from claret to gin-
Which led swiftly to jail and consumption therein.
It was much when the bones rattled loose in his skin,
He got leave to die here out of Babylon's din.
Barring drink and the girls, I ne'er heard of a sin:
Many worse, better few, than bright, broken MAGINN.
Even at his best he had more copiousness, clever-
ness, and wit than judgment or good feeling, and
some of his work was in execrable taste-his
treatment of Christabel and of Adonais, for
example. The parodies of Carlyle and Disraeli
in the 'Gallery,' on the other hand, are brilliant
and blameless. The 'Story without a Tail' and
'Bob Burke's Duel with Ensign Brady,' both for
Blackwood, were reckoned his masterpieces. Some
of his Latin verse, classical as well as doggerel, was
brilliant. His 'Homeric Ballads' are very good
ballads, but are not in the least Homeric; his
blank verse reconstruction of Lucian's dialogues as
comedies did not preserve much of Lucian's spirit.
Wit and humour he always had at command,
and he was an extraordinary improvisator. 'The
Maxims of Odoherty' vary from pointed apoph-
thegms such as 'The next best thing to a really
good woman is a really good-natured one,' and
'The next worst thing to a really bad man (in other
words, a knave) is a really good-natured one (in
other words, a fool),' to disquisitions—some of
them tedious-on the impropriety of mixing your
liquors or of taking lobster sauce with salmon,
the best method of discomfiting a punster during
dinner, and facetious literary criticism somewhat
of the Noctes order. The Vision of Purgatory'
is not solemnising. The value or entertainment
to be derived from Maginn's Latin versions of
'Chevy Chase' and 'Back and side go bare' may
be guessed from a verse of the former :

Persaeus ex Northumbria
Vovebat dîs iratis,
Venare inter dies tres
In montibus Cheviatis,
Contemtis forti Douglaso
Et omnibus cognatis.

Byron and Campbell are treated only less contemptuously in several articles than are Keats and Shelley, as types of the Cockney school; the