HUDIBRAS.

The dinner on board the Orion, which was not served up till one o'clock,
by the way, as Captain Hazard wished to be more than usually genteel,
was excellent, and was preceded, and followed, by copious libations of
punch; after which the wine was set on table, and the veterans, that is,
the military, the nautical, and ecclesiastical, part of the company,
proceeded to discuss it, "in manner and form." The governor, as was his
custom on such occasions, told interminable stories of the siege of
Gibraltar, during which, his hopeful nephew elect enjoyed a very
comfortable nap, and even Father Josef nodded occasionally.

The ladies had made their escape, as soon us dinner was finished; and
Morton, on the watch, like a cat to steal cream, was on the alert, as
soon as he perceived their intentions, and accompanied them on deck. To
his great satisfaction, none of the Spanish officers made any attempt to
leave the table; for, as the old Don had just got fairly under weigh
with one of his campaigning stories, they were afraid to treat him with
so much disrespect, and, of course, hazard their hopes of being invited
to attend him again upon a similar party. Accordingly, Morton had the
pleasure of enjoying the society of the ladies, without interruption,
and found many opportunities of saying a few words to Isabella. In this,
he was again much beholden to the skilful manoeuvring of his messmate,
Coffin, who was already higher in the good graces of the mother and
daughters than Morton, who, though a handsome man, had not so much of
that dashing, off-hand, sort of gallantry as the other; and which goes
an incredible way with most ladies.

Morton had seen more of the polite world, and was better educated, and
more refined in his manners, than Coffin; but, besides being, at that
time, wholly engrossed and engaged by a particular object, he had that
peculiar kind of modesty, or diffidence, that does a man so much injury
with the other sex; who, though they pretend to prize modesty so highly
among themselves, abominate it as unnatural, absurd, and affected, in
men; while the pert and obsequious fluttering of a fashionable
water-fly, which is always received with a smile, is generally more
prized, and rewarded more bountifully still. There is, however, some
consolation in the thought, that repentance always overtakes, and
punishes, the silly woman who has allowed herself to be so fatally
"pleased with a rattl