072 LEAVES FROM A LOG. 



avoid which his friends hurried him to the capital. His sorrow ren- 

 dered him too passive to resist, although in London he appeared 

 solitary even in a crowd. Those around him in vain endeavoured to 

 amuse him : he seemed sensible of their kindness, but could not 

 avail himself of it. Alarming symptoms of pulmonary consumption 

 appeared : this induced a relation who held extensive estates in 

 the island of St. Christopher, to persuade him to take a trip across 

 the Atlantic ; it being a well-known fact, that those who quit Eu- 

 rope in the early stages of consumption, often not only recover from 

 their malady ; but become the healthiest European residents in the 

 West Indies. His relation was a man of some knowledge of the 

 world ; and having observed how business dissipates grief, appointed 

 Fitz-Allen joint attorney (agent) with his old St. Kitt's partner, 

 giving the latter secret instruction to watch Albert's conduct. The 

 plan succeeded. A voyage across the Western Ocean and a tropi- 

 cal climate renovated his health ; while a change of scene, and being 

 plunged into business, so far alleviated his misery, that he became 

 active, tranquil and conversable, and apparently contented. He, 

 however, was seldom seen to smile, and never to laugh. One, at 

 first, would take him for an antidote to mirth; but he delighted to 

 see others enjoy that happiness to which he was a stranger ; if his 

 manners were not the most engaging, he never offended. 



Fifteen years after his arrival in the Carribean Islands, business in- 

 duced him to visit Trinidad, when our acquaintance commenced. 

 Although but thirty-four, he looked fifty. A long residence in the 

 Antilles makes men seem old ere they have attained middle age : but 

 grief had done more towards giving the traits of age to poor Fitz- 

 Allen than dwelling between the tropics. 



He informed me, that the relation who sent him to the West-In- 

 dies had died and bequeathed him considerable property in England : 

 he proposed, therefore, to go " home " by the first packet from Bar- 

 badoes. From this I dissuaded him: it was the "hurricane season/' 

 and he might expect a boisterous passage, and would, besides, arrive 

 in England at the beginning of winter : a season, by no means aus- 

 picious to one who has been consumptive. As his presence was not 

 essential in Europe, he acquiesced. I invited him to spend a few 

 weeks with me on an estate I managed on the south side of the island. 

 This invitation he accepted ; and we went down together. The 

 greater part of our journey was performed on board a small vessel, 

 which we left, and by way of avoiding a tedious navigation, tra- 

 versed a narrow neck of land about seven miles, across a wood lying 

 between Ivois and Erin. 



Upon our arrival at the estate, I called my overseer (a respect- 

 able, but rather timid young man) as usual, after my absence from 

 the plantation, to knowwhat had occurred whilst I was away. He 

 told me what work had been done. He further informed me, that 

 there had been a Spanish launch wrecked off the coast of Morouga, 

 a quarter some ten miles distant ; and that one of the people in her, 

 an Englishman, after saving his life by swimming, had met little hos- 

 pitality on shore: but, being told there was a plantation on which 

 some English resided, he walked to the estate, where he arrived about 



