s, which lay basking as it were in the morning sun. The whole
scene was at once gay and tranquil. The sea had put off its terrors and
wore the beauty of a lake: the air was "frosty but kindly:" and the
shores of merry England, which he now for the first time contemplated
in peace and serenity, were dressed in morning smiles; a morning, it is
true, of winter; yet of winter not angry--not churlish and chiding--but
of winter cheerful and proclaiming welcome to Christmas. The colours,
which predominated, were of autumnal warmth: the tawny ferns had not
been drenched and discoloured by rains; the oaks retained their dying
leaves: and, even where the scene was most wintry, it was cheerful: the
forest of ported lances, which the deciduous trees presented, were
broken pleasingly by the dark glittering leaves of the holly; and the
massy gloom of the yew and other evergreens was pierced and irradiated
by the scarlet berries of various shrubs, or by the puce-coloured
branches and the silvery stem of the birch. The _Fleurs de lys_ had
gradually neared the shore; and in the deep waters upon this part of
the coast there was so little danger for a ship of much heavier
burthen, that she was now running down within pistol shot of the
scenery which Bertram contemplated with so much pleasure. He could
distinguish every cottage that lurked in the nooks of the hills, as it
sent up its light vapoury column of smoke: here and there he could see
the dark blue dresses of the cottage-children: and occasionally a sound
of laughter or the tones of their innocent voices, betraying them to
the ear where they were not seen,--or the crowing of a cock from the
bosom of some hamlet

Answer'd by faintly echoing farms remote,

gave language and expression to the tranquil beauty of the spectacle.

Bertram absolutely shuddered, with the feeling of one who treads, upon
a snake, as he turned from these touching images of human happiness to
the grim tackling and warlike furniture of the "little bloody: vixen"
on board which he was embarked, together with the ferocious though
intelligent aspects of her desperate crew. He was already eager to be
set ashore; and the sudden shock of contrast made him more so. On
communicating his wishes to the boatswain, however, he was honoured by
a broad stare and a laugh of derision:

"What," said the boatswain, "put you ashore close under the muzzle of
Walladmor Castle?"

"And why not?"

"Ask the Captain, my