n a moment, and flung every man
overboard into the Maese, before they could have the least warning of
their fate, much less time to provide against the accident. Peregrine,
who was an expert swimmer, reached the shore in safety; the physician,
in the agonies of despair, laid fast hold on the trunk-breeches of one
of the men, who dragged him to the other side; the entertainers
landed at the bomb-keys, smoking their pipes all the way with great
deliberation; and the poor painter must have gone to the bottom, had not
he been encountered by the cable of a ship that lay at anchor near the
scene of their disaster. Though his senses had forsaken him, his hands
fastened by instinct on this providential occurrence, which he held with
such a convulsive grasp, that, when a boat was sent out to bring him
on shore, it was with the utmost difficulty that his fingers were
disengaged. He was carried into a house, deprived of the use of speech,
and bereft of all sensation; and, being suspended by the heels, a vast
quantity of water ran out of his mouth. This evacuation being made, he
began to utter dreadful groans, which gradually increased to a continued
roar; and, after he had regained the use of his senses, he underwent
a delirium that lasted several hours. As for the treaters, they never
dreamed of expressing the least concern to Pickle or the physician
for what had happened, because it was an accident so common as to pass
without notice.

Leaving the care of their vessel to the seamen, the company retired to
their respective lodgings, in order to shift their clothes; and in the
evening our travellers were conducted to the house of their new friend,
who, with a view of making his invitation the more agreeable, had
assembled, to the number of twenty or thirty Englishmen, of all ranks
and degrees, from the merchant to the periwig-maker's prentice.

In the midst of this congregation stood a chafing-dish with live coals,
for the convenience of lighting their pipes, and every individual was
accommodated with a spitting-box. There was not a mouth in the apartment
unfurnished with a tube, so that they resembled a congregation of
chimeras breathing fire and smoke; and our gentlemen were fain to
imitate their example in their own defence. It is not to be supposed
that the conversation was either very sprightly or polite; that the
whole entertainment was of the Dutch cast--frowzy and phlegmatic;
and our adventurer, as he returned to his lodg