t the farce.

"I tell you what," said R----, "and I tell you _all_ plainly, if you
fellows go ashore, and get into a row, and the police take you in
charge; instead of defending you, as you fancy I will, I will appear
_against_ you, and assist the law in punishing you; and, what is more,
if you are sent to prison, I will up stick, and leave you there."

"Thank you, my Lord," they murmured, and old Tom assisting in the
thankful murmurs of Dick and George, kept reiterating till the sounds
died away as he descended the fore-hatch.

"We warn't drunk, my Lord,--notottoll;" and Tom was the most notorious
drunkard on board.

The story was simply this:--He and his two companions, after trudging
over the town, sight-seeing, till past ten, found, to their dismay, on
arriving at the outer gates, that they were closed. In self-defence, all
three were compelled to take shelter for the night in some low cabaret,
where, meeting with a few jovial Danes, unreluctant to shun the bout,
they drank the night away. Feeling the weight of Danish grog aloft,
Dick, a stalwart young fellow of six feet, lost his balance in stepping
into the boat next morning, and, falling athwart the little dingy's
gunwale, capsized it. Poor old Tom, out of the three, went like a
24-pounder to the bottom; but the transparency of the water allowed some
bystanders to observe his carcass stretched out among the cockles as
composedly as in his hammock, and to raise him, after the lapse of a
short time, by applying a boat-hook to the hole of his breeches' pocket.

P---- returned at one, and told us, that he called at the guard-room,
and, making the harbour-master his marshal and interpreter, had hunted
up the officer so civil to us last night; and expressed our gratitude
for the favour which we had received. To every one who travels
inconveniences must occur, or else travelling loses half its excitement.
I would rather remain all my days at home, my mind compressed within its
narrow precincts, and never see the sunny South, or mingle, as I do,
with people whose warm hearts are softer than the genial air they
breathe, and feel, that extreme nobility of soul and sensitiveness of
wrong are entwined with the purest simplicity of thought and manners,
than lack the slight annoyances of a Scythian life. P---- gave us to
understand that he had inquired about _the gates_; and all the
information he could collect was, that no respect could be paid to our
condition; and, if