the thermometer was seventy-six degrees
below freezing point; and one day it fell to
an almost incredible extent — ninety-seven
degrees below freezing point; averaging ninety-
four on the whole four-and-twenty hours.
Nevertheless the crew worked manfully,
travelled about on search parties, hunted for
game, and remained, on the whole, in remarkably
good health. "I can attribute our excellent
salutary state," Captain M'Clure wrote,
"to the causes previously alluded to in this
narrative," (namely the courage and
cheerfulness of the men, the cares of the surgeon,
the excellent quality of the stores on board,
and the good ventilation of the ship) "in
conjunction with a bountiful supply of game
which a merciful Providence has aided us
with, and has so materially added to our
otherwise scanty rations." In other
despatches the commander is to be found
providing manfully for the chance of his own
destruction, and warning other ships who may
be sent out to look for him by what signs they
are to conclude that he and his companions
are lost, and in what directions they are
not to imperil other crews in looking for
him.

Enough has been quoted to suggest how
close is the identity of spirit manifested by
each Arctic navigator, from the first down
to the last; but, as we parted from the
Dutchmen when they were fancying
themselves at home again over the Twelfth Night
sports, we will part as pleasantly with our
own countrymen, by help of one more
illustrative passage. "The supply of game kept up
during the winter," Captain M'Clure wrote in
his ice prison after Christmas last, "has
enabled a fresh meal to be issued twice weekly,
and the usual Christmas festivities to pass off
with the greatest cheerfulness. As it was to
be our last, the crew were determined to
make it memorable, and their exertions were
completely successful. Each mess was gaily
illuminated and decorated with original
paintings by our lower deck artists, exhibiting the
ship in her perilous positions during the
transit of the Polar Sea, and divers other
subjects. But the grand features of the day
were the enormous plum-puddings, some
weighing twenty-six pounds; haunches of
venison; hares roasted; and soup made of
the same, with ptarmigan and sea-pies. Such
dainties in such profusion I should imagine
never before graced a ship's lower deck; any
stranger to have witnessed this scene could
but faintly imagine that he saw a crew which
had passed upwards of two years in these
dreary regions, and three entirely on their
own resources, enjoying such excellent health;
so joyful, so happy, indeed such a mirthful
assemblage, under any circumstances, would
be most gratifying to any officer; but in this
lonely situation I could not but feel deeply
impressed, as I contemplated the gay and
plenteous sight, with the many and great
mercies which a kind and beneficent Providence
had extended towards us, to whom
alone are due the heartfelt praises and
thanksgivings of all for the great blessings which we
have hitherto experienced in positions the:
most desolate which can be conceived."

Unfading be the laurels of our northern
navigators thus won by exercise of all the
finest qualities of manhood! Let us be glad,
too, that we have one unspotted place upon
this globe of ours; a Pole that, as it fetches
truth out of a needle, so surely also gets all
that is right-headed and right-hearted from
the sailor whom the needle guides.

TWO COUSINS.

"He didn't care much about it," he said:
"they might marry him, if they liked, and to
whom they liked, provided he was not
expected to make love. Give him his hookah,
and a volume of Shelley, and really, wife or
no wife, it was almost the same thing to him.
By the bye, one thing he must stipulate for—
that she should not hunt nor talk slang."

This Launcelot Chumley said, yawning—
although it was only twelve o'clock, yet it was
ten before he came down to breakfast—and,
sauntering from the drawing-room through
the open window on to the lawn, he stretched
himself under the shadow of the chestnut-trees
to dream vague poems all the day after; a
mode of existence that seemed to him to fulfil
the sacred destiny of his being.

Launcelot Chumley was a spoilt child. A
spoilt child full of noble thoughts and
generous impulses tarnished by prosperity, and
choked for want of stimulants to exertion:
he was also vain for want of wholesome
opposition. Provided people left him alone, they
might do as they liked, he used to say
Let them not disturb his books, nor cut
down the chestnut-trees on the lawn, nor
break his pipes, nor talk loud, nor make a
noise; and he was perfectly satisfied. His
indifference and indolence drove his
mother to despair. She tried to tempt him to
exertion by dazzling visions of distinction.
But Launcelot prided himself on his want of
ambition, and vowed he would not accept a
dukedom if offered to him: it would be such
a bore! His mother had indeed done her
best to ruin him by unmitigated indulgence;
and now she wrung her hands at her own
work. But, as something must be done, she
bethought herself of a marriage, which,
woman-like, she fancied would cure
everything—indolence, vanity, selfishness.

Mrs. Chumley bethought her of a marriage
—but with whom?

There were in London two Chumley cousins,
Ella Limple and little Violet Tudor. These
two young ladies were great friends after the
fashion of young ladies generally. They had
mysterious confidences together, and wrote
wonderful letters. Ella Limple, being of
pathetic and sentimental temperament, talked