"to Berlin". "to Amsterdam' - - "to Stockholm ""to the Hague "—" to Hanover "—"to Warsaw"-"to Vienna "to Rome"-"to Madrid"--and thus the ideas which in London were confined to England-in Paris expand themselves throughout the whole of Europe, with grand and thrilling interest. But do I stop here, awarding the preference to France, because of our confined and insular position? No!--and why? Because my country stands pre-eminent in nautical fame-because I have merely mentioned land carriage with its associations in the mind-because I have only yet spoken of the British Isles and Europe, whilst a wider field than both combined lies open to the view. If the departure of the mails on their several tracks is calculated to excite the musings of the moralist, what must be his sensations on visiting the numerous docks in the neighbourhood of the Metropolis, or at Liverpool, and reading on the several boards exhibited in the rigging of the vessels, "To Calcutta"-" to Canton "-" to South Australia". "to Van Dieman's Land' "to Otaheite"" to Lima' "to the River Plate Rio Janeiro"-" to Bahia” - "to Maranham Demerara "-" to the Caraccas' -- 66 to 66 to "to the Bay of Honduras -"to the West Indies (naming the several islands respectively)- "to Charlestown"-"to Philadelphia "" to New York"-"to Boston "to Halifax "to the River St. Lawrence" (Quebec and Montreal)" to St. John's, Newfoundland"- to Hudson's Bay"-"to Baffin's Bay "—" to Greenland "-" to Iceland and Spitsbergen "-" to Archangel "-" to Stockholm"-"to Copenhagen "-the various ports of Europe -the Mediterranean on both shores - the Coast of Africa-the Cape of Good Hope-Madagascar-Bom bay, Ceylon, Madras-in fact, to all the ports in the habitable part of the globe. Here then is a stupendous object for contemplation, proving that what London is to our own country, and Paris to Europe, England is to all the rest of the world. Talk of floating capitalhere we have it to perfection-millions and millions, the produce of British industry alive upon the waters, and wafted by the breeze. Perhaps there is nothing-not even her proud wooden walls,—that so strongly exemplifies the naval majesty of England-that "Her march is o'er the mountain wave, Her throne is on the deep," as a visit to the docks; and what further effects will be produced by the application of steam to navigation,— even in its present infancy, a giant-remains to be seen. For myself I wandered over the ocean in the days of masts and sails, when the old man-of-war's man was a peculiar and distinct character from the rest of the genus homo, amphibious like a live lobster, and at all times. ready to claw hold of an enemy. Whether they will get parboiled amongst the hot water, or only brought to a simmer by steam, time must develope, but I fear "the race of yore Who danced our infancy upon their knee, And told our boyhood legends store Of their strange 'ventures happ'd by land or sea," are gone, never to return. But shall they be forgotten? is their memorial to pass entirely away? No! Smollett rescued the tar of his day from oblivion, and I-with pride, I say it have faithfully portrayed the seaman of my own life and times; and now, though I cannot boast of possessing floating capital. I will once more try at capital afloat, by a few remembrances of circumstances that have occurred to me in different parts of the world, not in correct succession as they took place, but just as they arise in my mind, sometimes like the bubble on the stream-at others, like the proud ship as she climbs the rolling billow. [7] Ꭲ Ꮋ Ꭼ Ꭰ Ꭼ Ꮪ Ꭼ Ꭱ Ꭲ Ꭼ Ꭱ . In the year, I belonged to a dashing frigate, whose Captain, though a rigid disciplinarian and unrelenting in punishment, was nevertheless generous in the extreme, and allowed his people more liberty on shore than any other commander in the service. A breach of decorum, and especially desertion, he looked upon and felt more keenly as a personal insult to himself, than as derogatory to the regulations imposed by the rigid and death-dealing Articles of War. The officers of a ship generally shape their conduct by that of the Captain, and there were but few on board who were not connected with some aristocratic family of distinction. Amongst the seamen was a remarkably handsome young man, who did his duty in the main top, and was universally esteemed for his cheerful readiness on all occasions, either when his services were required aloft, or when any scheme was proposed to promote exercise and amusement below. He pulled the stroke oar in the barge, and in several boat affairs had manifested a courage and a daring that had rendered him formidable to the enemy and valuable to his friends. When on shore he was particularly trust-worthy, and those who well knew him, would as soon have expected one of the timberheads of the ship to have gone ashore upon the sheet anchor, as Jem Collins to entertain an idea of deserting. Yet one day the barge returned from the Sallyport at Portsmouth without him, and though at first it was imagined he had been left behind through some casual accident or mischance, yet as no intelligence could be obtained of him, and the ship received orders for sea, the R (for run) was affixed to his name in the musterbook. We were absent from Spithead about three months, on a cruise off the Western Islands, and having captured a brig under Spanish colours, I was sent home in her as prize-master. Almost the first intelligence I received on reporting my arrival at the Admiral's office, was the apprehension of Jem Collins, charged not only with desertion, but with a crime of equal magnitude, and liable to the same infliction-striking his superior officer whilst in the execution of his duty. He was then in irons on board the Gladiator, awaiting the return of the frigate into port. As soon as circumstances would permit I went to see him; he was sitting in the cock-pit, dark and gloomy, the deck was his seat, and both legs in irons. The light from the sentry's lantern threw its dim rays upon his face,--and oh how changed was that countenance since I had last beheld it: there was the same outline of features, but pale and haggard and sunken as if a sudden blight had swept across them and added twenty years to the semblance of age; his eyes no longer glowed with proud animation, they were dull, and red, and unnatural. I stood several minutes looking at him, and being shrouded by the gloom of the cockpit, he could not, had he observed me, have ascertained who I was, but his earnest gaze was fixed upon the light, and his mind seemed abstracted from all surrounding objects. I own that I had imbibed from my commander those peculiar feelings and influences that |