e French vessel, seized the helm, and placing
her out of boarding distance, hailed, with the voice of a conqueror,
the discomfited crowd of Frenchmen who were left on board of the
peaceful bark he had just quitted, and summoned them to follow close
in his wake, or he would blow them out of water, (a threat they well
knew he was very capable of executing, as their guns were loaded
during the chase.) They sorrowfully acquiesced with his commands,
while gallant Charles steered into port, followed by his prize. The
exploit excited universal applause--the former master of the merchant
vessel was examined by the Admiralty, when he stated the whole of the
enterprise as it occurred, and declared that Charles Wager had planned
and effected the gallant exploit, and that to him alone belonged the
honor and credit of the achievement. Charles was immediately
transferred to the British navy, appointed a midshipman, and his
education carefully superintended. He soon after distinguished himself
in action, and underwent a rapid promotion, until at length he was
created an Admiral, and known as Sir Charles Wager. It is said that he
always held in veneration and esteem, that respectable and
conscientious Friend, whose cabin boy he had been, and transmitted
yearly to his OLD MASTER, as he termed him, a handsome present of
Madeira, to cheer his declining days.

[Illustration]

FINGAL'S CAVE.

The most magnificent of all known caverns, is that called Fingal's
Cave, in the Isle of Staffa, on the western coast of Scotland. Its
length is 370 feet; and the height at the entrance of the cave is 117
feet.

Thousands of majestic columns of basalts support a lofty roof, under
which the sea rolls its waves, while the vastness of the entrance
allows the light of day to penetrate the various recesses of the cave.

The mind, says Mr. Pennant, can hardly form an idea more magnificent
than such a space, supported on each side by ranges of columns, and
roofed by the bottom of those which have been broken off in order to
form it, between the angles of which a yellow stalagmatic matter has
exuded, which serves to define the angles precisely, and, at the same
time, vary the color with a great deal of elegance. To render it still
more agreeable, the whole is lighted from without, so that the
farthest extremity is very plainly seen; and the air within, being
agitated by the flux and reflux of the tides is perfectly wholesome,
and free from the da