armada majestically wafted from the shores of Holland.

But, alas! what are the hopes of mortals ? During the night the wind changed, a dreadful tempest arose, the horror of which was augmented by the darkness of the season; the number of the ships thrown instantly into confusion, and dashed against one another; the terrors of the landsmen, who perplexed and impeded the sailors in the discharge of their duty; the quantity of artillery and baggage, put hastily on board and ill-secured; and, above all, by the great numbers of horses, nine hundred of which noble animals were compelled to be thrown overboard, adding to the horrors of the elemental uproar by their piteous cries and neighings. Many a brave heart, that so lately beat high with confidence, quailed before this sudden and frightful calamity; all was clamour, dismay, and distraction; in the intervals of the stunning thunder-crashes were to be heard nothing but the dismal howling and whistling of the wind, confusedly intermingled with human cries and wailings, the roar of the infuriated waters,

or the sullen plash of horses and artillery, as they were cast overboard; while the flashes of lightning increased the terrors of the scene, by revealing the storm-tossed vessels tilting against each other, as if for mutual destruction, and the heads of numerous horses, who were plung, ing and struggling amid the foaming waves. In two hours the whole fleet was dispersed; so that in the morning scarcely two ships could be seen together. After having been tossed about all next day and night in the ocean, the Prince re-entered Helvoetsluys, with only four ships of war and sixty transports, some with broken rudders, their sails and tackle flying loose in the air, their guns and baggage thrown overboard, but himself retaining, in that unexpected reverse, a calm and unruffled mind, that rendered him more truly great and glorious than all the power and splendour with which he had been surrounded only two days before.

Upon what trifling circumstances does our fate sometimes depend! Van Voorst, the astrological merchant of Bruges, having, for his own amusement, cast Forester's nativity, discovered

in his horoscope every thing that was auspi cious, and imagining that his presence would be a protection, entreated him to embark on board his goodly ship the Wilhelmina, which, as we have before stated, was engaged as a transport. Anxious to oblige a man from whom he had received civilities, and the more so, as the ship in question was of the very first class, Forester consented. In a few days after the storm, the whole dispersed and shattered fleet was again assembled at Helvoetsluys, except one transport, which it was concluded had foundered, as she had never been seen by any of the others from the commencement of the tempest. That one was the Wilhelmina!

CHAPTER IV.

How greedily I receive this! Stay, best lady,
And let me by degrees ascend the height
Of human happiness. All at once delivered
The torrent of my joys will overwhelm me.

The Bondman.

LET no one form uncharitable conclusions of a fellow creature, especially of a female, while the suspicious circumstances, however strong, are yet susceptible of a favourable solution; for when motives and actions with which we

are only partially acquainted, come to be fully developed, the very conduct that seemed to warrant our censure, will be often found entitled to the highest praise and admiration. This was eminently the case with respect to Hetty Chervil, whose sudden and unexplained

disappearance from Orchard Place, her presumed abandonment of Walter in the very crisis of his fate, and her imagined elopement with another officer, had occasioned her to be visited with such general and unmeasured obloquy. Not only were these imputations utterly unmerited, but she was establishing a claim to the enduring gratitude of the very parties who were now the most clamorously assailing her. Inheriting from her parents a robust frame, which had corroborated her mental temperament, she possessed a quiet strength of character that enabled her, inexperienced as she was, to struggle with difficulties and adversity much better than if she had been one of the weakly pampered children of higher life. Grafting the gentlewoman upon the farmer's daughter, she united, to a certain extent, the advantages of both classes. If she possessed neither the cultivated refinement of Edith, nor the high-souled magnanimity of Agatha, she was free from the sickly sensibility of the former, and when she had an object to carry, went boldly and straightforward to her point, without