ly about five-and-thirty
years old: he wore a little powder in his hair, black silk stockings,
and knee-breeches. In this I consider Doctor Plausible was right; the
above look much more scientific than Wellington trousers; and much
depends upon the exterior. He was quite a ladies' man; talked to them
about their extreme sensibility, their peculiar fineness of organic
structure, their delicacy of nerves; and soothed his patients more by
flattery than by physic. Having discovered that Miss Laura was not
inclined to give up her gingerbread, he immediately acknowledged its
virtues, but recommended that it should be cut into extremely small
dice, and allowed, as it were, to melt, away upon the tongue; stating,
that her digestive organs were so refined and delicate, that they would
not permit them selves to be loaded with any large particles, even of
farinaceous compound. Isabel Revel, who had been informed that Mrs
Ferguson was on deck, expressed a wish to escape from the confined
atmosphere of the cabin; and Doctor Plausible, as soon as he had
prescribed for Miss Laura, offered Miss Isabel his services; which, for
want of a better, perhaps, were accepted.

The ship at this time had a great deal of motion. The gale was spent;
but the sea created by the violence of the wind had not yet subsided,
and the waves continued still to rise and fall again, like the panting
breasts of men who have just desisted from fierce contention. Captain
Drawlock hastened over to receive his charge from the hands of the
medical attendant; and paying Isabel some compliments on her appearance,
was handing her over to the weather-side, where Mrs Ferguson was
seated, when a sea of larger dimensions than usual careened the ship to
what the sailors term a "heavy lurch." The decks were wet and slippery.
Captain Drawlock lost his footing and was thrown to leeward. Isabel
would have most certainly kept him company; and indeed was already under
weigh for the lee-scuppers, had not it been that Newton Forster, who
stood near, caught her round the waist, and prevented her from falling.

It certainly was a great presumption to take a young lady round the
waist previous to any introduction; but, at sea, we are not very
particular; and if we do perceive that a lady is in danger of a severe
fall, we do not stand upon etiquette. What is more remarkable, we
generally find that the ladies excuse our unpolished manners, either
upon the score of our good int