t--for, alas! how completely had I before
neglected it.

After this extraordinary incident, I believe that had I been near a
port, I should have again embarked for London; but as it was, we agreed
to continue our journey by land. We reached London in safety.

We did not stay there long. The bustle and noise, and seeming
confusion, after the complete quiet of our Shetland life, was so
wearying, that, having seen some of the chief lions of that great city,
we were glad to set off by the coach for Portsmouth.

Aunt Bretta was delighted to receive us, and my jovial, kind-hearted
uncle welcomed us most cordially. I thought Aunt Bretta would never
have ceased asking questions about dear old Shetland. A stranger would
have supposed from her expressions about it, that there did not exist a
more delightful spot on earth.

Margaret, however, was never weary of replying to all the inquiries
made. I never saw two people suit each other so well as my aunt and
wife,--the one so hearty, full of life and spirits, and brimming over
with the milk of human kindness,--the other so tranquil, so sensible,
and sweet-tempered.

My uncle and I also got on capitally together. I admired his jovial,
frank, hearty, and kind disposition, his thorough uprightness and hatred
of deceit, while he found in me enough good qualities to like, and was
pleased because I admired him and was able to talk with him frankly and
openly on all subjects. That is, I believe, the great secret of
friendship. Mutual esteem and perfect confidence is the only foundation
on which it can be built up and made perfect. Both parties to the bond
must feel that they appreciate each other's motives and objects, and
that every allowance will be made for what they say, and the best
possible construction put on their words. When two people meet between
whom such qualifications exist, their friendship is lasting.

My uncle told me, that as he knew I should not wish to be idle, he had
obtained a situation for me, which he thought I should like, as suitable
to my former habits.

"It is in a private dockyard, where, if you are steady and attentive you
will, I am certain, obtain a still more lucrative employment," he
remarked; "had it been war time I should have tried to obtain an
appointment in the Royal Dockyard, because you would then have had
protection from the pressgang; but now you need have no fear of that."

Two days after that, war again broke out with France!