rous groups of pedestrians, and a
long line of carriages, with "weeping beauty filled,"--all manifesting a
deep interest in the scene. Sailors have generous hearts, which, like
wax, are soon warmed, and easily impressed; but as easily the image may
be effaced. Thus ladies assert, that blue jackets

"In every port a true love find."

Reflections akin to these, probably, may have tortured more than one of
the fair spectators; and mamma, perhaps, considered it extremely
mortifying that an opportunity was not given to _land_ the prize, as
well as _hook_ it; and that sailors, like jacks, were exceedingly
difficult to catch.

Boats pass rapidly to and from the ship;--the yards are manned; the
ambassador's flag flies at the main; and as the smoke from the salute
cleared away, the shore, with its precious and weeping burthen, was seen
fast receding from the sight. The Actaeon had actually sailed; and the
white handkerchiefs, with the ivory arms that waved them, gradually
became lost to the view, till distance mingled the entire scene into one
grey mass, and

"All was mist, and Naples seen no more."

Such were the transactions that marked the 6th of April, 1833, when I
became one of the ship's company, and received an honourable place in
her log.

[Sidenote: ISLAND OF CAPRI.] We were compelled to pass close under
Capri[1], and its bold perpendicular cliffs towered magnificently above
us, casting a deep shadow over the vessel as she sailed along. There was
little wind outside the isle, and we were nearly becalmed; but this
delay was amply compensated by the extreme beauty of the night. The
brilliant moon, shining with far greater lustre than I ever remember to
have witnessed, during the height of summer, in less favoured climes,
lighted up with its silver beams the whole of that beautiful coast
extending along the bay of Salerno, from Amalfi to Palinuro. Long did I
remain upon deck, gazing on

"Heaven's ebon vault,
Studded with stars unutterably bright;
Through which the moon's unclouded grandeur rolls."

[Sidenote: MY FIRST NIGHT AT SEA.] But at length, overcome by weariness,
I hastened to my cot.--My cot! how shall I describe thee? thou oblong,
narrow, swinging thing! rest still a while, nor fly me thus each time I
essay to get within thy narrow precincts. Oh! for a chair, a stool, a
rope; or have they purposely swung thee so high? hadst thou been o'er a
gun, indeed, one might have scaled thee b