and self-gratulation of a little
mind, after having done a very little action. He did indeed feel
somewhat anxious as to the effect the intelligence might have upon the
ladies of his household, who had been projecting another visit to the
American ship, being the fourth that had already taken place; but he
finally determined, as the only course left him, to ensconce himself
behind the intrenchments of his dignity, and to merge the urbane
feelings of the hospitable gentleman in the awful gravity of the dog in
office. Besides, he hoped that his vigilance and severity on the present
occasion would be a sweet savor in the nostrils of his august monarch,
and that promotion would follow as an affair of course; and he dropped
asleep, fancying himself Lieutenant-General Don Gaspar de Luna, Knight
of the most noble order of St. Jago de Compostella, and Governor-General
of the island of Cuba or St. Domingo.

CHAPTER XIV

I'll follow him no more with bootless prayers.

MERCHANT OF VENICE.

The old Don, on rising the next morning, found all his womankind
"overwhelmed with grief" in consequence of the news of the capture and
imprisonment of the American seamen, and prepared to assail him with
prayers, petitions, and tears, as soon as he made his appearance. In
vain he tried to assume the governor, and to look and act dignified; he
had not, either in appearance or manner, or even language, so "much of
the Roman" in him, as a certain other potentate who shall be nameless;
the persevering ladies followed him, and gave him no rest; and perhaps,
by their pertinacity, drove him to declare, in his vexation, that it was
his fixed and settled resolve to inflict upon his prisoners the
extremity of the law's indignation. In fact, the tribulation caused in
the governor's family by the unhappy events of the past night, had
reached to an extravagant and general height; for even the wife of his
bosom remonstrated in no very gentle terms against her lord's severity;
so that his poor excellency found the gubernatorial chair as
uncomfortable a seat as though its cushion had been stuffed with pins.
He made good his retreat as quick as possible to his usual place of
official business, or _bureau d'office_, but there new trials awaited
him; for the very first person he saw there, and evidently waiting for
him, was Captain Williams.

Isabella, in the mean time, had not yet risen; her sleeping thoug