man grasping with all the energy of
despair to catch the slippery planks, which rose and sank with every
motion of the tide. Though apparently far out at sea, all was palpable
and distinct to my eyes as if happening close to where I sat. A
grey darkness was around, and yet at one moment--so brief as to be
uncountable--I could mark his features, beautifully handsome and calm
even in his drowning agony; at least so did their wan and wearied
expression strike me. Poor Shelley! I fancied you were before me; and,
long after the vision passed away, a faint, low cry, continued to ring
in my ears--the last effort of the voice about to be hushed for ever.
Then the whole picture changed, and I beheld the French fleet all
illuminated, as if for a victory; the decks and yards crowded with
seamen, and echoing with their triumphant cheers; while on the poop-deck
of the "Souverain" stood a pale and sickly youth, thoughtful and sad,
his admiral's uniform carelessly half-buttoned, and his unbelted sword
carried negligently in his hand. This was the Prince de Joinville, as I
had seen him the day before, when visiting the fleet. I could not frame
to my mind where and over whom the victory was won; but disturbed fears
for our own naval supremacy flitted constantly across me, and every word
I had heard from the French captain who had accompanied me in my
visit kept sounding in my ears: as, for instance, while exhibiting the
Paixhan's cannons, he added,--"Now, here is an arm your ships have not
acquired." Such impressions must have gone deeper than, at the time, I
knew of, for they made the substance of a long and painful dream; and
when, awaking suddenly, the first object I beheld was the French fleet
resting still and tranquil in the bay, my heart expanded with a sense of
relief unspeakably delightful.

So, then, I must hence. These Levanters usually continue ten or twelve
days, and then are followed by the Tramontana, as is called the wind
from the Apennines; and this same Tramontana is all but fatal to those
as weak as I am. How puzzling--I had almost said, how impossible--to
know any thing about climate! and how invariably, on this as on most
other subjects, mere words usurp the place of ideas! It is enough to say
"Italy," to suggest hope to the consumptive man; and yet, what severe
trials does this same boasted climate involve! These scorching autumnal
suns; and cold, cutting breezes, wherever shade is found;--the genial
warmth of summ