med to be turned
of forty; the features of his face were saddened with a reserve and
gravity, which in other countries would have been thought the effect of
melancholy; but here appeared to have been contracted by his commerce
with the Spaniards, who are remarkable for that severity of countenance.
Understanding from Don Antonio that we were his countrymen, he saluted
us all round very complacently, and fixing his eyes attentively on me,
uttered a deep sigh. I had been struck with a profound veneration for
him at his first coming into the room; and no sooner observed this
expression of his sorrow, directed, as it were, in a particular manner
to me, that my heart took part in his grief; I sympathised involuntarily
and sighed in my turn. Having asked leave of our entertainer, he
accosted us in English, professed his satisfaction at seeing so many of
his countrymen in such a remote place, and asked the captain, who went
by the name of Signor Thoma, from what part of Britain he had sailed
and whither he was bound. My uncle told him that we had sailed from the
River Thames, and were bound for the same plane by the way of Jamaica,
where we intended to take in a lading of sugar.

Having satisfied himself in these and other particulars about the state
of the war, he gave us to understand, that he had a longing desire
to revisit his native country, in consequence of which he had already
transmitted to Europe the greatest part of his fortune in neutral
bottoms, and would willingly embark the rest of it with himself in our
ship, provided the captain had no objection to such a passenger. My
uncle very prudently replied, that for his part he should be glad of his
company, if he could procure the consent of the governor, without which
he durst not take him on board, whatever inclination he had to oblige
him. The gentleman approved of his discretion, and telling him that
there would be no difficulty in obtaining the connivance of the
governor, who was his good friend, shifted the conversation to another
subject.

I was overjoyed to hear his intention, and already interested myself so
much in his favour that, had he been disappointed, I should have been
very unhappy. In the course of our entertainment, he eyed me with
uncommon attachment, I felt a surprising attraction towards him; when
he spoke, I listened with attention and reverence; the dignity of his
deportment filled me with affection and awe; and, in short, the emotions
of my