It is a singular fact, that where life is most
precarious, men are most indifferent about its preservation; and, where
death is constantly before our eyes, as in this country, eternity is
seldom in our thoughts: but so it is; and the rule extends still further
in despotic countries. Where the union between the head and shoulders
may be dissolved in a moment by the sword of a tyrant, life is not so
valued, and death loses its terrors; hence the apathy and indifference
with which men view their executioners in that state of society. It
seems as if existence, like estates, was valuable in proportion to the
validity of the title-deeds by which they are held.

To digress no more. Although I was far from being commonly virtuous,
which is about tantamount to absolute wickedness, I was no longer the
thoughtless mortal I had ever been since I left school. The society of
Emily, and her image graven on my heart; the close confinement to the
brig, and the narrow escape from death in the second attempt to save the
poor sailor's life, had altogether contributed their share to a kind of
temporary reformation, if not a disgust at the coarser descriptions of
vice. The lecture I had received from Emily on deceit, and the
detestable conduct of my last captain, had, as I thought, almost
completed my reformation. Hitherto I felt I had acted wrong, without
having the power to act right. I forgot that I had never made the
experiment. The declaration of Captain G---'s atheism was so far from
converting me, that from that moment I thought more seriously than ever
of religion. So great was my contempt for his character, that I knew
whatever he said must be wrong, and, like the Spartan drunken slave, he
gave me the greatest horror of vice.

Such was my reasoning, and such my sentiments, previous to any relapse
into sin or folly, I knew its heinousness. I transgressed and repented;
habit was all-powerful in me; and the only firm support I could have
looked to for assistance was, unfortunately, very superficially attended
to. Religion, for any good purposes, was scarcely in my thoughts. My
system was a sort of Socratic heathen philosophy--a moral code
calculated to take a man tolerably safe through a quiet world, but not
to extricate him from a labyrinth of long-practised iniquity.

The thoughtless and vicious conduct of my companions became to me a
source of serious reflection. Far from following their example, I felt
myself some d