bout half an hour brought a person with him. We were obliged to
have a lanthorn as far as the boat. We got on board, and went off. But
such a passage I had never before witnessed. The wind was furious. The
waves ran high. I could see nothing but white foam. The boat, also, was
tossed up and down in such a manner that it was with great difficulty I
could keep my seat. The rain, too, poured down in such torrents that we
were all of us presently wet through. We had been, I apprehend, more
than an hour in this situation, when the boatmen began to complain of
cold and weariness. I saw, also, that they began to be uneasy, for they
did not know where they were. They had no way of forming any judgment
about their course, but by knowing the point from whence the wind blew,
and by keeping the boat in a relative position towards it. I encouraged
them as well as I could, though I was beginning to be uneasy myself, and
also sick. In about a quarter of an hour they began to complain again.
They said they could pull no longer. They acknowledged, however, that
they were getting nearer to the shore, though on what part of it they
could not tell. I could do nothing but bid them hope. They then began to
reproach themselves for having come out with me. I told them I had not
forced them, but that it was a matter of their own choice. In the midst
of this conversation I informed them that I thought I saw either a star
or a light straight forward. They both looked at it and pronounced it to
be a light, and added with great joy that it must be a light in the
Passage-house; and so we found it; for in about ten minutes afterwards
we landed, and, on reaching the house, learnt that a servant maid had
been accidentally talking to some other person on the stair-case, near a
window, with a candle in her hand, and that the light had appeared to us
from that circumstance.

It was now near eleven o'clock. My messenger, it appeared, had arrived
safe about five in the evening, and had proceeded on his route. I was
very cold on my arrival, and sick also. There seemed to be a chilliness
all over me, both within and without. Indeed I had not a dry thread
about me. I took some hot brandy and water, and went to bed; but
desired, as soon as my clothes were thoroughly dried, to be called up,
that I might go forward. This happened at about two in the morning, when
I got up. I took my breakfast by the fire-side. I then desired the
post-boy, if he should meet any per