This abstracting, almost forcibly, the son from his mother, his family, and his destined course of life, was fruitful of evil results from the beginning. Lady Astell retired to her own mansion; Mr. Underdown, of course, went to sea with the Commodore, and the meek, and rather weak Miss Matilda had not even the shadow of control over her wild niece, Rebecea; the good effects of the example and tuition of four years were lost in as many months, and the young lady became wilder and more ungovernable than ever.

In the meantime, Augustus had been entered as a midshipman in his uncle's ship, the Terrific, a first-class seventy-four, which, with three other line-of-battle ships, and two frigates, were watching a superior squadron in the harbour of Cherbourg. The Commodore's broad pennant was flying, of course, in the Terrific. Now the duty was most severe and unremitting; for this was the only disposable force that the French Directory then had, and

which was waiting for a favourable opportunity to slip to sea, in order to intercept our valuable East and West India homeward bound trade.

The Commodore was, at once, gentle and severe to his nephew; he exacted from him a strict performance of his duty, yet showed him, at every opportunity, great indulgences. But events were fast souring a temper that was never one that could be described as being too even. Taking the opportunity of the Commodore having been blown off the coast, the French squadron, consisting of six sail of the line, one of them a three-decker, and two large frigates, got to sea, after a six months' severe blockade: and, for five months longer, Sir Octavius was chasing them, almost literally, all over the world.

Now no one, since Sir Octavius had last joined, had, in the English squadron, placed foot upon the shore; the ships had been victualled at sea, by transports, sent across the

channel for that purpose; and, when they started on their long chase, they happened not to be too well provided. The privations of officers as well as men became great; but, during all this time, the softly-nurtured Augustus did his duty, and flinched not; he had gained the love of his brother officers, the good-will of the crew, and had extorted the admiration of the Commodore.

Away went the chasing squadron, bounding over the ocean, but the flying one sailed the faster. When Sir Octavius had arrived on the coasts of America, he was not soon enough: the fleet foe, which is not always the same as the foe's fleet, had preceded him to the West Indies. In a few weeks, the men who had been frost-bitten in the high and cold latitude of Newfoundland, were now in a state of solution under the life-exacting sun of the tropics. For a whole month, the two squadrons, with anything but innocent intentions towards each other, imitated that very innocent

game of little children, thread-the-needle, through all the West Indian islands; and the French Admiral, having nearly frightened all the Barbadian born out of what they are pleased to consider as their wits, in utter despair of doing anything successful, tripped across the Atlantic to the Cape of Good Hope, the Commodore always following and swearing after him.

The Frenchman, after looking into Table Bay and seeing nothing laid out for his accommodation, not only took French leave but also half-a-dozen English merchantmen at the same time; and thus re-victualled and re-stored, having taken out the kernels he cracked the hulls, and gravely allowed them to find their specific gravity in salt water—that is, having plundered the ships, he sank them. He then showed some indications of paying a visit to our Presidencies in the East, but either from a doubt of his reception or having worn out his holiday suit, he altered, at the same time, his courteous intentions and his course, and stood for any part of

the South American coast that he could fetch; which means, he sailed from such place to such place as the wind might carry him, leaving in his track several sea-marks of his late whereabouts in the shape of plundered and dismasted ships.

During all this time our old Commodore never once got a sight of the enemy, which all the seamen declared would have done him a sight of good, as it would have soothed him much to have been able so to have sworn, that he could have pointed his oaths directly at them. He had now nothing to damn and torment but himself and all those under him. The men were upon short allowance of everything but oaths and blows. I must confess, in this last trip of the Commodore, notwithstanding my great affection for him, he began to be very disagreeable, and the gratings were rigged a little more often than necessary. I have sailed over many thousand leagues of salt water myself, and I have always found that to keep a