t. The more I saw of Emily, the firmer and faster did
she rivet my chains. I was her slave; but what was best, I became a
convert to virtue because she was virtuous; and to possess her, I knew I
must become as like her as my corrupt mind and unruly habits would
permit. I viewed my past life with shame and contrition. When I
attended this amiable, lovely creature to church on a Sunday, and saw
her in the posture of devotion before her Maker; I thought her an angel,
and I thought it heaven to be near her. All my thoughts and sentiments
seemed changed and refined by her example and her company. The sparks
of religion, so long buried in the ashes of worldly corruption and
infidelity, began to revive. I recalled my beloved mother and the Bible
to my recollection; and could I have been permitted to have remained
longer with my "governess," I have no doubt that I should have regained
both purity of mind and manner. I should have bidden adieu to vice and
folly, because they could not have dwelt under the same roof with Emily;
and I should have loved the Bible and religion, because they were
beloved by her: but my untoward destiny led me a different way.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN.

And oft his smooth and bridled tongue
Would give the lie to his flushing cheek;
He was a coward to the strong;
He was a tyrant to the weak.
SHELLEY.

My father, as soon as he had obtained my promotion, asked for my being
employed; and having had a promise from the Admiralty, that promise,
unlike thousands of its predecessors and successors, was too rapidly
fulfilled. I received a letter from my father, and a bouncing one from
the Admiralty by the same post, announcing officially my appointment to
the _D---_ brig, of eighteen guns, at Portsmouth, whither I was directed
to repair immediately, and take up my commission. In this transaction I
soon after found there was an underplot, which I was too green to
perceive at the time; but the wise heads of the two papas had agreed
that a separation between the lovers was absolutely necessary, and that
the longer it was delayed the worse it would be for both of us; in
short, that until I had attained my rank, nothing should be thought of
in the way of matrimony.

As the reader is, no doubt, by this time pretty well versed in all the
dialogue of parting lovers, I shall not intrude upon his or her patience
with a repetition of that which has been much too often repeated, and is
equally familia