ll proved
my Cannae. Freed from every accustomed annoyance in that "shady, blest
retreat," I had absolutely begun to doubt whether there could be any
longer found in the world below either heat or musquitoes; with the
confident presumption of restored vigour, I stooped from my security,
and reaped the harvest of my folly.

My first idea was to return to the hills, but I had made an appointment
to sail from Nahant down the east coast for a day or two with a friend,
who I knew would expect me; and thither I resolved to push, the more
especially as I was informed musquitoes were not strong enough on the
wing to abide the rough breezes blowing in the bay of Massachusetts.

It was nigh midnight when the night-boat touched, in its way down, at
the pier of Hyde Park: bidding adieu to my friends, I stepped on board,
and was again cutting through the dark river.

The boat was crowded; and what a scene did the cabins present! But to
describe it is impossible: indeed, the glance of curiosity I was tempted
to take was an exceedingly brief one. Let the reader only imagine some
two hundred men stowed away in double tiers of berths, or lying in rows
upon stretchers placed close together, between the decks of a steamer,
on one of the hottest, closest nights of a North American summer, and he
may imagine a picture it would be very difficult to describe correctly.

The night was very beautiful however, and almost reconciled me to
passing it sleepless. Many persons kept the decks, which were yet ample
enough to afford solitude to those who desired it. Myself and H----e
quietly lighted our cigars, and philosophically roughed it out till six
o'clock A.M., at which time we were landed in New York.

We knocked up the lazy varlets of the hot baths, and with this luxury
balanced the loss of sleep.

I found myself back in New York sooner than I had anticipated on
starting for the west; but, in the course of the day, discovered that
the good city was yet too hot to hold me. W----n, who by good fortune
was yet holding out here, invited me to dine with B----r and himself at
the club; and, could we only have contrived to ice the atmosphere,
nothing would have been wanting to our comfort. I found these last of
the Romans were off in a day or two for the Springs, after the rest of
the world; so, nothing being left to hold me, I took my passage next
evening for Boston.

Roomy as is the "Benjamin Franklin," I found on this occasion every
berth a