medicine, he was hardly dressed, having
merely thrown on some clothes; and he went
in slippers which incidents induced the
belief that he was made away with. After
some months his family put on mourning;
and the G.'s (very timid people) were so
sure that he was murdered, that they wrote
verses to his memory, and became sadly worn
by terror. But, after a long time (I fancy,
but am not sure, about a year and a half),
came a letter from the young man, who was
doing well in America. His explanation was,
that a vessel was lying at the wharf about to
sail in the morning, and the youth, who had
long meditated evasion, thought it a good
opportunity, and stepped on board, after
leaving the medicine at the proper door. I
spent some weeks at Dr. G.'s after the occurrence;
and very doleful we used to be about it.
But the next time I went they were, naturally,
very angry with the inconsiderate young man."

COMPLAINT AND REPLY.

THE little poem quoted in our last number
under the title of "The Good Great Man,"
is by Coleridge. The title, as printed in the
newspaper-cutting we had preserved, misled
us in a recent search.  The correct title is
"Complaint and Reply."

THE STORY OF A SAILOR'S LIFE.

CHAPTER THE LAST.

I STAYED in London till the middle of
March, when I shipped on board of a brig
called the "Intrepid " packet, and she was
bound from London to Gibraltar, and from
there to Buenos Ayres. And we sailed from
London the second day of April, 1825, and,
thanks be to God, we had a very good passage
to Gibraltar, where we arrived the first day
of May, and sailed from there the 5th of
June for Buenos Ayres, where we arrived on
the 30th day of July. Now at this present
time the Buenos Ayreans were at war with
the Brazilians, and the River Plate was
blocked up; so we were obliged to go and lay
in a place called Helsenado, about seven
miles from Buenos Ayres, and there we laid
till March 1826, when our captain got a
freight for Gibraltar, to carry some of the old
Spaniards home to their own country; and we
sailed from Helsinado on the 5th of April,
1826. But coming from Helsinado, down the
river Plate, we were caught in a very heavy
Pampiro, and were very near losing the brig;
for our mate that came out from England
with us, had left us at Buenos Ayres; and
the young man that we got in the room of
him was not experienced with the country
he was sailing in; and at twelve o'clock,
when I came on deck, he told me to clear
away the flying-jib, and I told him, "You
had better shorten sail as fast as you can, or
else you will lose every stitch of canvas that
you have got set, for I see it arising;" and I
showed it to him; but he said, "Never mind,
do as you are told." And I told him that for
the safety of myself and the brig, I could not
do it; but, if he would not shorten sail, I
should be obliged to call Captain Gordon,
which I accordingly did. And when he came
on deck, we began to shorten sail; but it was
too late then, for the Pampiro struck the
brig, and she was hove on her beam ends,
and every stitch of canvas that we had set,
blew into ribbons. I advised our captain to
let go both anchors, so as to fetch the ship's
head to wind, that she might righten; and
accordingly I went forward, and got some of
the men to lend me a hand; and I let go the
best bower anchor, which brought her head
to wind; and the brig rightened, for she had
then been nearly a quarter of an hour on her
beam ends; but still she would not bring up,
and with a good deal of trouble, I got the
small bower anchor clear, and let it go. And
she took the chain to the beam end, but still
she would not bring up, but still kept drifting;
and we were afraid we should drive on a sand
called the English bank. So, after a good
deal of trouble, we got our stream anchor
clear, and let it go; and, thanks be to God,
after she got the best part of the stream
cable, she brought up in five fathoms water.
But all this time neither the captain nor I
could see anything of the mate, and we were
afraid that he had gone overboard, and had
been drowned; but after we got everything
middling snug, we found our mate stowed
away down in the fore-hold, amongst the
water-casks; and he said that he was knocked
down the fore hatchway when the squall first
struck the ship. We did not believe his
story; but the captain had been obliged to
make him mate, for he was one of the owners'
nephews. Now, after we got everything
pretty snug, we set the watch again, and next
morning it turned out to be very fine, and
we went to work to bend a fresh set of sails,
for our old ones were all blown to pieces; and
after getting our anchors up, and stowing
them, which took us two days, we went down
to Monte Video, where we arrived on the
12th day of April. And after putting everything
to rights, we sailed for Rio de Janeiro,
where we arrived on the 1st of May.  Now,
as I told you that we had lost all our canvas
in the Pampiro, and bent all new ones, except
what we called our fore and aft spencer, and
the brig having only one on board, I was
obliged to make a new one, for the captain
knew that I was able to do it; and accordingly
the captain bought the canvas, and I
cut the sail out; and on the 18th of May I
and the mate were working about the sail,
and I saw him putting a piece of canvas the
wrong way; and I said, " Mr. Middleton,
you are putting that piece in the wrong way."
He told me to mind my own business; and
words arose between him and me, and at last
he jumped up and struck me. I was obliged
to stand in my defence, and I gave him a