"Well, well, Grooves, we must grin and bear it, as we have before. And when do you mean to come into your cabin?" looking round the berth which he had tenanted, with the regret of one who leaves in adversity, some spot that had witnessed his happier hours.

"Why, Master Græme, the first leaftenant sent me here for that purpose jist now: only I couldn't have the heart to say so; but if-so-be you'll accept of it, why ye see, you can sleep here at night and mess with ship suddenly heeled over, as if under the press

me,

and so

Here the

ure of a heavy gust of wind. A shrill pipe was then heard, followed by the hoarse cry of the boatswain, "All hands shorten sail.",

"Douse the glim, boy," said Græme-the lamp was blown out, and a general rush was made towards the quarter-deck.

Taking advantage of the license entrusted by Horace to all gentlemen of the pen or pencil, I shall beg leave to pass over the scene that awaited the crew on deck, as it was merely one of the frequent squalls which a sailor has to encounter.

Having shortened sail to the three close-reefed top-sails, the watch was called at eleven o'clock,

when the carpenter reporting that the ship had made five inches of water, two gangs of men were set to the pumps.

By the next morning, the wind having considerably abated, a sail was descried to windward, running down to join the Admiral. The captain of the stranger having come on board, followed by his coxswain, bearing a leathern mail-bag, the report soon spread through the ship, that despatches had arrived from England in the frigate to windward. In a few seconds, many a gruff and weather-beaten countenance might have been seen crowding aft, and prying about, anxious to receive the long-expected epistle from home.

Foremost among these expectants stood Græme; but it was no longer with the fervent, the buoyant hope of former days, that eagerly waited to hear its wishes confirmed, and yet more deeply dreaded to see its fears realized.-No it was more like one whose last stay is gone, and who now proceeds in the usual routine from mere habit.

The captain and his clerk were standing abaft on the main deck; the latter holding the various letters which had just one open in his hand.

arrived, the former with Around them walked up

and down such passengers as were sufficiently well to enjoy the exercise; among the rest, Mrs. Somers, who was leaning on the arm of a friend. Before the captain were grouped the men; to the right, leaning on the ridge rope of the guns with his arms crossed on his breast, stood the dejected and disrated carpenter.

"Where is Græme of the carpenter's crew?" suddenly demanded the captain, in a tone of voice that caused Mrs. Somers to turn round in a startled manner.

The carpenter stepped forward, and uncovering his head, answered in a voice of considerable emotion-" Here I am, Sir." As the captain looked on his countenance, a mingled expression of triumph and sarcasm was visible.

"Stand out here, Sir, and listen to the contents of this letter."

The carpenter having taken up the spot pointed out by the captain, the latter read in a voice distinctly audible, the following letter :

66 SIR,

"Admiralty.

"I am desired by my Lords Commissioners to inform you, that the enclosed letter is for Charles

Græme, landsman,

Majesty's ship

69

now serving on board his under your command.

“It has been forwarded to this office by the under secretary of state for the home department; who received it from Mary Græme, to be transmitted to her husband, subsequent to her condemnation, and prior to her execution for theft; she having suffered the extreme penalty of the law for

this offence on the

ultimo."

A scream from Mrs. Somers here interrupted any further perusal, and on the captain's looking up, he beheld stretched at his feet the figure of the bereaved husband. From the first word of the letter he had listened with the most intense anxiety, which had rapidly changed to

suspicion — alarm-agony, and then a maddened unconscious gaze of bewilderment; but when the final and irrevocable sentence was heard, amid the breathless silence of the crew, over

stretched nature could

support

no more: the dis

tended eye-the set teeth-the hand that idly clutched at the empty air, relaxed-no sound was uttered,—no tear was seen to fall, but consciousness and reason appeared to desert their empire,

and the deck received

a form not less insensate

than itself. All colour,

save the sallow tints of

the grave, had flown from his gaunt swarthy cheek, and several of his shipmates now kindly endeavoured to lift up the stiffened body.

Convulsions followed,-the sufferer was carried below-and revived to feel yet more acutely those throes which during lifetime surpass the pangs of death. With the utmost eagerness he demanded the letter-the last relic he was ever to behold on earth of the beloved wife of his bosom: she on whom his dearest affections had rested in the waste of the world's waters, like the olive branch of the bird of peace; she whose memory had stood the barrier to his fierce and angry emotions; she who in thought had stemmed his soul, when scorn and oppression had roused it up to fury-she was gone! The last link between himself and humanity; between the noontide of his days and his young morn of life-all was past-severed-but a name-and that name was-infamy and disgrace!!-Never was revolution in the nature of a man more complete, more instantaneous, or more deeply fraught with ruin to all around.

When the captain read the letter, he had suppressed a passage to this effect: "And I have it further in command from my Lords Commissioners, to desire that you will take every means