, poor
souls, know very little about the sea, and see no more salt water from
Life's beginning unto its end than is contained within the compass of a
pickling-tub, do use the place much for Bathing, and brag about their
Dips and Flounderings, crying out, _Die Zee ist mein Lust_, in their
plat Deutsch, as though they had all been born so many Porpoises. I
would walk upon a morning much upon the Ramping-Parts, or Fortifications
of the Town, watching whole caravans of Bathers, both of High and Low
Dutch Gentry, coming to be dipped, borne into the Sea by sturdy Fellows
that carried them like so many Sacks of Coals, and who would Discharge
them into shallows with little more Ceremony than they would use in
shooting such a cargo of Fuel into a cellar. "When my Money is gone,"
thought I, "I may earn a crust by the like labour." But then I bethought
me that I was a Stranger among them; that they might be Jealous of me;
and, indeed, when I imparted my design to the Widow-woman Giessens, who
was beholden to me, she said, for that I had warned her how poor a guest
I was growing, she told me that much interest was needed to obtain one
of these Bather's places--almost as much, forsooth, as is wanted to get
the berth of a Tide-waiter in England,--and these rascals were always
waiting for the tide. Something like a Patent had to be humbly sued for,
and fat fees paid to Syndics and Burgomasters, for the fine Privilege of
sousing the gentry in the Brine. The good woman offered me Credit till I
should find employment, and did so vehemently press a couple of
Guilders upon me to defray my present charges, that I had not the heart
to refuse, although I took care to avise her that my prospects of being
able to repay her were as far off as the Cape of Good Hope.

It chanced one morning that I was walking out of the Town by the side of
the Sea below the fortified parts to the Norrard. 'Twas fine and calm
enough, and there was not so much Swell as to take a Puppy off his
swimming legs; but suddenly I heard a great Outcry and Hubbub, and
perceived, some ten feet from me in the Water the head of a Man
convulsed with Terror, and who was crying out with all his might that he
was Drowning, that he should never see his dear Mamma again, and that
all his Estate would go to the Heir-at-Law, whom, as well as he could,
for screeching and spluttering, he Cursed heartily in the English
tongue. I wondered how he could be in such a Pother, seeing that he was