and plied my good father-in-law beyond what he could well carry; but it was a wedding merrymaking; and he gave a hogshead of beer to the villagers, and made it a happy day. On the morrow we took an affectionate leave of our dear friends: our feelings were deep and various; there was little said at parting, but much expressed by that natural language, which the overflowing heart never fails to manifest. My aunt and uncle first stepped into the coach that was to convey us; I then handed in my dear Eliza; she had scarcely taken her seat, when an unexpected volunteer sprung in after her. "Who are you?” cried my uncle. "Ah, poor Fidele,” said Eliza, "I had overlooked you in taking leave of my friends." She patted him kindly, and was handing him out to the servant, when the dog (a ⚫ beautiful little spaniel of King Charles's breed) turned back his head, to look once more on his favourite mistress, and whined so piteously, that my uncle, who observed it, exclaimed, "No, no!" and stretching himself forward, so as to be heard by the group without, "let the little fellow go with her; he has a warm heart towards her, and a good one too. Dogs never change, though men sometimes do: no allusion to you, Ned.”—“Take him, Eliza,” they all said, and I more emphatically than all the rest. I was affected in witnessing the attachment of this dumb creature, to the one to whom I myself was so devotedly attached. My sister Maria and I then got into the carriage; and, with many adieus from the windows, we set forward; and, after a pleasing journey of a few hours, arrived at the door of my uncle.

Next day we went soberly and diligently to work, to prepare for our departure. However, there was yet much to do. I had frequent conferences with my uncle at the counting-house; and at length he gave me my instructions in writing, with letters to Mr. Dickinson at Kingston, and letters for my cousin at Honduras.

CHAP. II.

WE sailed from Bristol on the 30th of October, 1733, with a fine breeze from the eastward. On going down the river Avon in a boat, to join the brig at Kingroad, Eliza was charmed by the scenery on each side of the banks. St. Vincent's rocks presented a sublime object on the right side; and those on the left, covered with wood from the water's edge to their summits, rivalled, by their beauty, the sublimity of the perpendicular precipices opposite. "I shall never forget this scene," she observed, "it is so impressive." She did not then know that a time was not far distant, when her abode would be under such a rock; equally precipitous, but more gigantic.

The wind was fair; we sailed down the Bristol Channel, with fine weather and smooth water. It blew fresh from the north-west, after passing Lundy Island; and for ten days we proceeded jocundly; but a long continuance of contrary wind, with rain soon after, as emblematic of human life, altered our condition and our feelings. Eliza was very sick, and the captain was in bad humour; so that we were far from comfortable: but the wind changed again, and with it returned our lively sense of present happiness, if I may so express it. Such are the

events that modify earthly enjoyment. In three weeks we got into the trade winds: here, with studding sails, low, and aloft, the vessel glided along smoothly and delightfully. In little more than five weeks, we passed through the Mona passage, between Porto Rico and Hispaniola; and on the day six weeks of quitting the Bristol Channel, we made the east end of Jamaica. The high blue mountains presented a most magnificent spectacle; and when we approached near enough to discern the trees and plantations, we were charmed by the superb face of the whole country. The sky was brilliant and cloudless, the breeze fair and refreshing: our spirits were proportionally buoyant; and as the vessel ran along shore for Port Royal, all the next day our delight was kept alive by the newness and vastness of the scenery which lay upon our right. The grand expanse of ocean was no novelty now to us, or we might have turned our back upon the shore to gaze upon it, as a suitable accompaniment to the sublime and beautiful landscape which so totally absorbed us.

A negro pilot came on board, as we neared Port Royal. Eliza was a good deal struck by his appearance, and his manner, and way of speaking; which, being nothing new to me, I hardly noticed: I had seen such in Virginia, but to her there was much to interest; he was to her mind's eye, at the moment, the representative of the whole negro population; which drew from her some observations alike creditable to her head and her heart. We soon hauled round Port Royal point; the sandy foundation of a small town of little importance, but many years ago, on the space we now sailed over, its ancestor

had stood, a place of great wealth and elegance; and they say, like Sodom and Gomorrah, it became the seat of all licentiousness, and was swallowed up by an earthquake in 1692.

We had nothing to do at Port Royal, therefore did not drop anchor, but worked up to Kingston against the sea breeze; and came to, off the town, just as the breeze was dying away. Mr. Dickinson, my uncle's friend, was absent in the country at his penn; we therefore determined to remain on board all night, and did so. About nine o'clock next morning, we received a visit from him, and much courtesy; he insisting that we should take up our residence at his penn during our stay in the island; which we gladly accepted, and accordingly accompanied him on shore; and after I had delivered my letters to him, and made some arrangements with respect to the cargo, he drove myself and wife out into the country, where we were agreeably entertained by the hospitality of our friend, and the novelty of all we saw.

I returned with him in the morning to Kingston, to business, leaving my dear wife at the penn; and this was our daily practice, going back again a little before supper time. The part of the cargo for the Jamaica market was landed. American lumber, as planks, shingles, &c. together with American our in barrels, some maize or Indian corn, together with island produce, as coffee, sugar, rum, &c. recompleted the cargo for Honduras. Mr. Dickinson gave me an appalling account of the place we were bound to: he said, St. George's Key, where my cousin resided, was nothing better than a large