and run for Liverpool. To
this course Peveril did not object. It saved him some land journey, in
case he visited his father's castle; and the Countess's commission would
be discharged as effectually the one way as the other.

The vessel was put, accordingly, before the wind, and ran with great
steadiness and velocity. The captain, notwithstanding, pleading some
nautical hazards, chose to lie off, and did not attempt the mouth of
the Mersey until morning, when Peveril had at length the satisfaction of
being landed upon the quay of Liverpool, which even then showed symptoms
of the commercial prosperity that has since been carried to such a
height.

The master, who was well acquainted with the port, pointed out to Julian
a decent place of entertainment, chiefly frequented by seafaring people;
for, although he had been in the town formerly, he did not think it
proper to go anywhere at present where he might have been unnecessarily
recognised. Here he took leave of the seaman, after pressing upon him
with difficulty a small present for his crew. As for his passage, the
captain declined any recompense whatever; and they parted upon the most
civil terms.

The inn to which he was recommended was full of strangers, seamen, and
mercantile people, all intent upon their own affairs, and discussing
them with noise and eagerness, peculiar to the business of a thriving
seaport. But although the general clamour of the public room, in
which the guests mixed with each other, related chiefly to their own
commercial dealings, there was a general theme mingling with them, which
was alike common and interesting to all; so that, amidst disputes about
freight, tonnage, demurrage, and such like, were heard the
emphatic sounds of "Deep, damnable, accursed plot,"--"Bloody Papist
villains,"--"The King in danger--the gallows too good for them," and so
forth.

The fermentation excited in London had plainly reached even this remote
seaport, and was received by the inhabitants with the peculiar stormy
energy which invests men in their situation with the character of the
winds and waves with which they are chiefly conversant. The
commercial and nautical interests of England were indeed particularly
anti-Catholic; although it is not, perhaps, easy to give any distinct
reason why they should be so, since theological disputes in general
could scarce be considered as interesting to them. But zeal, amongst the
lower orders at least, is often in an inve