frame to mature in muscular
solidity. It gave immigrants time to test the climate; to learn the
habit of government in states as well as in families; to acquire the
bearing of freemen; to abandon their imitation of the whites among
whom they had lived; and thus, by degrees, to consolidate a social and
political system which may expand into independent and lasting
nationality. Instead, therefore, of lamenting the slowness with which
the colonies have reached their vigorous promise, we should consider
it a blessing that the vicious did not rush forth in turbulent crowds
with the worthy, and impede the movements of better folks, who were
still unused to the task of self-reliance.

Men are often too much in a hurry to do good, and mar by excessive
zeal what patience would complete. "Deus quies quia aeternus," saith
St. Augustine. The cypress is a thousand years in growth, yet its
limbs touch not the clouds, save on a mountain top. Shall the
regeneration of a continent be quicker than its ripening? That would
be miracle--not progress.

Accept this offering, my dear Willis, as a token of that sincere
regard, which, during an intimacy of a quarter of a century, has never
wavered in its friendly trust.

Faithfully, yours,

BRANTZ MAYER.

BALTIMORE, _1st July, 1854_.

FOOTNOTE:

[1] MORETUM,--Carm. Virg. Wagner's ed. vol. 4, p. 301.

CONTENTS.

PAGE
CHAP. I.--My parentage and education--Apprenticed at Leghorn to
an American captain--First voyage--its mishaps--overboard--black
cook--Sumatra--cabin-boy--Arrival in Boston--My first
_command_--View of Boston harbor from the mast-head--My first
interview with a Boston merchant, WILLIAM GRAY 1

CHAP. II.--My uncle tells my adventure with LORD BYRON--CAPTAIN
TOWNE, and my life in Salem--My skill in Latin--Five years
voyaging from Salem--I rescue a Malay girl at Quallahbattoo--The
_first_ slave I ever saw--End of my apprenticeship--My backslidings
in Antwerp and Paris--Ship on a British vessel for Brazil--The
captain and his wife--Love, grog, and grumbling--A scene in the
harbor of Rio--Matrimonial happiness--Voyage to Europe--Wreck
and loss on the coast near Ostend 10

CHAP. III.--I design going to South America--A Dutch galliot
for Havana--Male and female captain--Run foul of in the Bay
of Biscay--Put into Ferrol