fatigued that I stepped into one of the
cannon to compose me, where I fell fast asleep. This was about noon:
it was the fourth of June; exactly at one o'clock these cannon were all
discharged in memory of the day. They had been all charged that morning,
and having no suspicion of my situation, I was shot over the houses on
the opposite side of the river, into a farmer's yard, between Bermondsey
and Deptford, where I fell upon a large hay-stack, without waking, and
continued there in a sound sleep till hay became so extravagantly dear
(which was about three months after), that the farmer found it his
interest to send his whole stock to market: the stack I was reposing
upon was the largest in the yard, containing above five hundred load;
they began to cut that first. I woke with the voices of the people
who had ascended the ladders to begin at the top, and got up, totally
ignorant of my situation: in attempting to run away I fell upon the
farmer to whom the hay belonged, and broke his neck, yet received no
injury myself. I afterwards found, to my great consolation, that this
fellow was a most detestable character, always keeping the produce of
his grounds for extravagant markets.

CHAPTER XX

_The Baron slips through the world: after paying a visit to Mount Etna
he finds himself in the South Sea; visits Vulcan in his passage; gets on
board a Dutchman; arrives at an island of cheese, surrounded by a sea
of milk; describes some very extraordinary objects--Lose their compass;
their ship slips between the teeth of a fish unknown in this part of the
world; their difficulty in escaping from thence; arrive in the Caspian
Sea--Starves a bear to death--A few waistcoat anecdotes--In this
chapter, which is the longest, the Baron moralises upon the virtue of
veracity._

Mr. Drybones' "Travels to Sicily," which I had read with great pleasure,
induced me to pay a visit to Mount Etna; my voyage to this place was not
attended with any circumstances worth relating. One morning early, three
or four days after my arrival, I set out from a cottage where I had
slept, within six miles of the foot of the mountain, determined to
explore the internal parts, if I perished in the attempt. After three
hours' hard labour I found myself at the top; it was then, and had been
for upwards of three weeks, raging: its appearance in this state has
been so frequently noticed by different travellers, that I will not
tire you with descriptions of objec