llegorical _crim con_, which we husbands are obliged to
wink at; and I am making love to the brandy bottle, that I may stimulate
my ideas, as unwilling to be roused from their dark cells of the brain
as the spirit summoned by Lochiel, who implored at each response, "Leave
me, oh! leave me to repose."

Now I'll invoke them, conjure them up, like little imps, to do my
bidding:--

By this glass, which now I drain,
By this spirit, which shall cheer you,
As its fumes mount to my brain,
From thy torpid slumbers rear you.

By this head, so tired with thinking,
By this hand, no longer trembling,
By these lips, so fond of drinking,
Let me feel that you're assembling.

By the bottle placed before me,
(Food for you, ere morrow's sun),
By this second glass, I pour me,
Come, you _little beggars_, route.

VOLUME THREE, CHAPTER FOUR.

"British sailors have a knack,
Haul away, yo ho, boys,
Of hauling down a Frenchman's jack
'Gainst any odds, you know, boys."--Old Song.

There was, I flatter myself, some little skill in the introduction of
the foregoing chapter, which has played the part of chorus during the
time that the _Bombay Castle_ has proceeded on to Canton, has taken in
her cargo, and is on her passage home, in company with fifteen other
East Indiamen and several country ships, all laden with the riches of
the East, and hastening to pour their treasures into the lap of their
country. Millions were floating on the waters, intrusted to the skill
of merchant-seamen to convey them home in safety, and to their courage
to defend them from the enemy, which had long been lying in wait to
intercept them. By a very unusual chance or oversight, there had been
no men-of-war despatched to protect property of such enormous value.

The Indian fleet had just entered the Straits of Malacca, and were
sailing in open order, with a fresh breeze and smooth water. The
hammocks had been stowed, the decks washed, and the awnings spread.
Shoals of albicore were darting across the bows of the different ships;
and the seamen perched upon the cat-heads and spritsail-yard, had
succeeded in piercing with their harpoons many, which were immediately
cut up, and in the frying-pans for breakfast. But very soon they had
"other fish to fry:" for one of the Indiamen, the _Royal George_, made
the signal that there were four strange sail in the South West.

"A gun from the commodore, sir," reported Newton, who w