tioned dispiriting circumstances, her little remaining strength sunk rapidly, and in a few days after their arrival at Pisa, she expired. Whilst she was dying, the proprietors of the lodgings perpetually assailed and tormented the almost distracted husband, by their reproaches, for the imagined calamity which he had brought upon them; and when she was really dead, they insisted not only that the present furniture should be destroyed, and replaced with new, entirely at his expense, but that the walls should be scraped, and the very floors taken up and new-laid. When my daughters became fully apprized of all these sorrows, much as they had deplored the death of their beloved brother at sea, and had been distressed by the painful idea of a watery grave, they were now truly thankful, as his recovery was hopeless, that he did not survive, merely to endure all these multiplied hardships.

Is it not a matter of surprise ando f deep regret, that these difficulties and sorrows having been so repeatedly experienced, the practice should still continue, of sending persons far advanced in a consumption, to die in Italy?

CHAPTER 40.

A winter's voyage from Leghorn to Liverpool....Extraordinary talents and virtues of a black servant....His great activity and singular fidelity....Sketch of his history.... His sickness and death....Reflections.

My daughters sailed from Leghorn the 21st of Dec.; the wind fair, and the weather fine for the first four days, but afterwards, it became exceedingly tempestuous, and the wind generally contrary. On the 2nd of Jan. 1803, the ship was chased the greater part of the day, by an Algerine corsair, and in the repeated and continual efforts to outsail the enemy, her fore-topmast was carried away. At length having escaped, and the damage being repaired; on the 9th, a violent storm came on at midnight-the sea burst into the cabin, washed over the beds, and completely drenched them in water. On the 12th, the main boom broke, without which it is impossible to guide the vessel, and nothing could now have saved them, had the weather continued tempestuous; but on the contrary, it became perfectly serene, and the sea so calm, that they were enabled to splice the boom, and to make it fit for service. On the 15th, they put into the bay of Almeria, to refit, but found the anchorage so very unsafe, that they were obliged on the 17th, to renew their voyage. On the 29th, they

put into the bay of Gibraltar, and on the 31st, leaving it at eight in the evening, the ship's cable got entangled with that of a very large American vessel, from which they were in great danger many hours; their anxiety being increased by the darkness of the night, and by fear, lest the wind should change, for if it does not blow precisely from the right quarter, no ship can stem the current, which pours in through the Straits, from the Atlantic to the Mediterranean. On the 17th of Feb. at noon, they made the coast of Ireland; and on the 18th, at day-break, were within a ship's length of running upon a point of rock, well known to mariners, by the name of the Truncheon, and against which if they had struck, they must have sunk immediately. The captain had miscalculated, and thinking they had passed this rock, was asleep in the cabin; and the men on watch were so ignorant and stupid, that had it not been for a youth on board, who accidentally discovered an uncommon appearance in the water, from the bubbles, which near the rock, overspread its surface, and instantly sounded an alarm, their fate had been inevitable. The captain got upon deck, just in time to save the vessel, by seizing the helm, and giving her a different direction, by means of which, instead of striking upon the rock, she merely grated against its side, as she went by in full sail!

Their faithful black servant was an excellent swimmer ;-after their escape, he exclaimed, "Ah, if we had struck, what should I have done? I could not have saved both my ladies, and I should not

One of my John, have

have known which to have taken." daughters replied, "You could not, saved either of us, but it would have been your duty to have endeavoured to save yourself.” "Myself!" his countenance beaming with animation, and his eyes filling with tears-"No, mistress, if my ladies had gone down, I would have gone too, I would never have left them!" Yet these are the generous creatures whom European cruelty, rapacity, and avarice, have so long enslaved, insulted, and murdered!-Hail, noble Clarkson, and ye other worthies, Sharp, Wilberforce, Fox, and many more than I can name, whose patient perseverance and undaunted courage, like that of the Apostle of old, "through evil report and good report," have at length been effectual to wipe away this dreadful stain from the British character!

On the 21st of Feb. the ship anchored off the coast of Cheshire, where they might have landed in safety, if they had not been obliged to wait some days, until the quarantine master had written to the Admiralty for permission; and, owing to a holiday at the office, an answer did not arrive, until a violent storm had forced the ship from her anchor, upon a sand-bank, where she continued beating the whole day; forming at length a bed on which she rested, but sinking on one side deeper and still deeper, until the deck was in a direction nearly perpendicular to the water. The wind continued to blow a hurricane; but at nine at night, availing themselves of low tide, my daughters were, with great difficulty and

hazard, relieved from their perilous situation, and assisted into the boat of the quarantine master. Still however they had been lost, together with all in the boat, but for the extraordinary exertions and great presence of mind of their faithful black servant. The sailors had imprudently loosened the rope which connected the boat with the wreck, and the wind being very tempestuous, it was driving out to sea, when this excellent creature, whose acuteness to perceive, and presence of mind to execute, were only equalled by his strength, agility, and courage, leapt into the sea, seized the boat, and by his repeated efforts, brought it so near the shore, as to enable him to take out my daughters, and carry them safe to land. Thus, whilst the sailors were stupified and confounded, were the lives of all preserved by the sole exertions of this extraordinary young man, to whose various talents, disinterestedness, and generosity, it is difficult to do justice, without incurring the suspicion of exaggerated praise. The reader will probably like to hear some further particulars of his interesting history, I shall therefore subjoin the following.

He was born in Jamaica, of free parents. When engaged at Liverpool for the voyage, by Dr. Cappe, he was about twenty-three years of age. He had been obliged to contract a considerable debt for his maintenance, whilst out of place, and requested that part of his stipulated wages might be advanced, before he left England, for the purpose of paying it, which was done accordingly. During the whole of their sorrowful