cluding the arrangement. The necessary documents, strongly backed by Colonel Grimshawe, were forwarded to England, and before, by the re-establishment of my health, I was again fit for duty, my appointment had appeared in the Gazette, and I was once more restored to the —, in the character of lieutenant.

After my reappointment, the regiment did not long remain in America. Towards the end of spring we were ordered to Gibraltar. The ——— regiment arrived to relieve us, and we embarked in the transports which had brought them to America. In a few days we sailed. Twilight was on the waters when, having emerged with a fair breeze from the bay, we found ourselves on the open bosom of the Atlantic. With feelings somewhat allied to regret, I watched the land till it disappeared in the darkness. In the morning, it was no longer visible.

Our convoy consisted of the Hyperion and Cyrene, and the fleet, which had been joined by many merchant vessels, amounted in all to about thirty sail. We did not take the direct course to the ultimate point of our destination. A detachment of the regiment was stationed in the Bermuda Islands, and it was of course necessary that we should call there to receive them. That this interruption to our voyage might be as short as possible, orders had previously been sent, directing them to be in readiness for instant embarkation, and it was not the intention of the Commodore to have anchored. But one of the hurricanes to which that portion of the Atlantic is peculiarly liable, came on, and the transport in which I sailed, and several other ships of the fleet, were so severely damaged as to require considerable repairs before they could with safety proceed on their voyage. All of us suffered severely from the storm. I am not sailor enough to describe either its grandeur or its terrors. The ship staggered like a drunken man, and I saw the foretopsail, the only canvass we carried, rent in shivers from the mast, and floating far away upon the wind. This, at least to a landsman, was unpleasant; but this was not all. A sea that apparently might have overset a mountain, struck the stern of the vessel, and carried away her helm. I shall never forget that moment. Her timbers groaned from the violence of the concussion, she reeled under the shock, and for a time was buffeted about, a mere passive and inert mass upon waters. Whether our situation was really so perilous as it ap peared, I know not. But there were loud shrieks and wailing

the

heard from the women and children, and the fear of death fell with a withering chill on the heart of the stoutest ;

"The boldest held his breath for a time."

The peril passed, however, and once more there were grateful hearts and happy looks in the ship. The disappearance of the danger made us almost smile at its consequences, and though not only our persons, but our bedding and baggage were drenched with water, these misfortunes were submitted to without repining.

In such a plight did the sun go down on us; and when he rose, judge of our delight to find ourselves anchored safely in a smooth and quiet cove of the Bermudas. Never was the eye

of the mariner greeted by a sight more beautiful. The little bay in which we were anchored, lay embedded in a cluster of islands covered with cedar-wood. White cottages.rose here and there, on the sides of the hills, and on the lower ground were seen at intervals, glimmering through the foliage of the trees. Close to the shore was the town of St. George, which though, like most towns, it loses much of its charm on a nearer approach, formed an interesting feature in the landscape, when seen from the anchorage.

The luxury of going ashore just after escaping from a tempest, is great, and scarcely too dearly earned, even by the peril of going to the bottom. At least I thought so at Bermuda. Novelty and curiosity contributed to heighten our enjoyment. The boats were instantly ordered to be lowered, and separating into different parties, as inclination prompted, we set out to explore the beauties of the surrounding scenery.

We asked no information, and took no guide, but wandered onwards through the woods, skirting in our progress many calm and lonely inlets of the sea, and resting, when tired, beneath the shade of the lemon-trees, in some sequestered dell. Peace seemed to brood over these happy islands. Nothing can be imagined more brightly yet more serenely beautiful. An European eye knows nothing of such verdure as it here encounters, nothing of the splendour of shade and sunshine which here blend together in the landscape. In the scenery of the Bermuda Islands, there is nothing at all approaching to the grand or magnificent: No lofty mountains, no frowning and precipitous rocks, no sound of cataract, nor sight of mighty river flowing onwards in its majesty. It seems as if nature

had here delighted to cast aside her terrors, and appear only in her smiles.

We spent the day in rambling through the woods, which are intersected by footpaths. The heat was intense, but sheltered by the far-extending branches of the cedar-trees, and fanned occasionally by a cool breeze from the sea, we did not feel it oppressive. At evening we returned to the ship, and in the close and sultry suffocation of the cabin, fancy returned, in dreams, to those scenes of pleasant beauty amid which we had so recently wandered.

It was known that repairs necessary for the ships would occupy some time. We had nothing to do on board, and Stanhope, Popham, and myself, employed a fatigue party to erect a hut in a spot of uncommon beauty. It was composed of branches of trees, and impervious to sun and rain. Here we lived during our sojourn at Bermuda, nor did we return on board, till the blue Peter was seen flying from the mast-head of the Commodore, and the signal-gun for weighing anchor was fired. My memory invests the period thus passed with a peculiar charm. By day we spent our time in sailing about the islands, or exploring new beauties through the neighbouring woods. Often, too, when the heat rendered motion unpleasant, did we lie extended on the fragant greensward, and

"Under the shade of melancholy boughs

Lose and neglect the creeping hours of time;"

while Stanhope, with a taste and elegance I have never heard equalled, read aloud portions of Scott or Shakspeare, the great master spirits of our national literature. Among these selections I need scarcely say that the play of “As you Like it," was one. The scene around us-our own situation as voluntary tenants of the woods, gave extrinsic piquancy to its enchantment, and arrayed it in a charm never destined to fade from the heart or fancy. A new page in the beautiful volume of nature had been opened to our view, no worldly cares oppressed our spirits, and gay and thoughtless as we were,

even we

"In this our life, exempt from public haunt,

Found tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in stones, and good in everything."

CHAPTER XXIV.

With easy course'

The vessels glide, unless their speed be stopp'd
By dead calms, that oft lie on these smooth seas,
While every zephyr sleeps; then the shrouds drop,
The downy feather, on the cordage hung,
Moves not; the flat sea shines like yellow gold,
Fused in the fire; or like the marble floor

Of some old temple wide; but where so wide,
In old or later time, its marble floor

Did ever temple boast as this, which here
Spreads its bright level many a league around?

DYER'S Fleece.

WE left Bermuda under different auspices than had marked our arrival. There was a breeze, but so gentle as to cause no ripple on the sea, which, bright and calm, reflected back the blaze of the meridian sun, like a vast mirror. The motion of the ships, as they glided forth from their isle-girt haven, was almost imperceptible; and they held on their way in silence, only broken at intervals by the musical cry of the sailors, or the flapping of the sails, as the wind occasionally lost something of its power. Nowhere is ocean so lucid and transparent as at Bermuda; and the glorious beauty by which above, all nature was encircled, had penetrated even to its depths. Far down were distinctly visible vast rocks of coral, wreathed into innumerable lovely and fantastic shapes-now rising into lofty mountains, now descending into vales, more beautiful than the fabled Tempé; or spreading into forests never visted by verdure. There were cities, too, in the depths, and towers, and temples, and spires, and pinnacles, and pyramids which shall endure, when those of Egypt have been crumbled into dust. On deck, the heat of the sun was almost overpowering. Yet I could not quit gazing on the scene of entrancing beauty for several hours. Towards evening, the breeze freshened, and a haze came on, by which all distant objects were obscured. To me thenceforward, the Bermuda Isles have been, and must ever be, a dream-a memory.

For

Our voyage, though a tranquil, was a tedious one. weeks we lay in a dead calm, scarcely stirred but by the currents of the ocean, which carried us still farther from our destined port. Sometimes, indeed, towards evening and at midnight, a slight breathing of wind was perceptible, which, tired as we

were with the monotony of the life thus involuntarily imposed on us, we watched with the alternating anxieties of hope and fear, till towards morning it again died away, and the ship lay hovering over her own beautiful image, almost motionless in the sunshine.

Nothing can be conceived more tedious and insipid than our life on board. The heat was so oppressive during the day, as to render it almost impossible to remain on deck, even with the protection of an awing; and the cabin-no baker's oven could be more close and sultry. The atmosphere seemed to have lost all power of propulsion, and

Day after day, day after day,

We stuck, nor breath nor motion,
As idly as a painted ship

Upon a painted ocean.

In vain did we resort to all the usual and approved expedients for killing time on shipboard. We fished for sharks and dolphins, and tried to stimulate their appetite by every unheard of variety of bait; but our lines lay idly in the water, and neither shark nor dolphin condescended to indulge us even with a nibble. Whist, backgammon, and piquet did much to support us in these untoward circumstances; but even their infinite variety was at length staled by repetition, and they were voted dull and insipid. Doctor Johnson, I think, compares a ship to a prison; had ours afforded a treadmill, I do believe we should have become voluntary labourers from pure ennui.

The influence of the time extended even to the sailors. In such a situation, the duties of the ship were nothing, and they might be seen idly seated in groups on the deck, smoking or

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spinning tough yarns" to astonish the admiring soldiers. Some ascended to the main-top for the purpose of enjoying a quiet sleep, unbroken by the pranks or noise of their compan ions; while others, more musical, were leaning lazily against the tafferal, with arms a-kimbo, listening erectis auribus to songs commemorative of Admiral Benbow and the exploits of the Arethusa.

Such was our situation for upwards of a month after quitting Bermuda, and a consequence of this unusual protraction of our voyage, was a deficiency of water in many of the ships of the fleet, which threatened serious consequences to the health of those on board. The Commodore, therefore, judged it necessary that we should put into some intermediate port for the supply of our necessities, and issued fresh orders to the fleet,