THE CHRISTMAS ROSE. 171 



among us, when those glad tidings reached his En- 

 glish friends : and our joy was increased, when in- 

 formed that he considered his happiness incom- 

 plete, until he should have received in person the 

 congratulations of those by whom he had been so 

 long regarded as a son and a brother. 



With this object in view, he repaired to one of 

 the West Indian Isles ; from whence a vessel was 

 about to sail for our shores. She was very unfit, 

 in the judgment of many, for a long voyage ; but 

 our young friend's ardent character prevailed over 

 prudential considerations — he would not brook de- 

 lay. He sailed — and we received tidings of the 

 day and hour when he left the port : but other 

 tidings never, never came, of the vessel or her 

 freight. 



Often have we sat round the fire-side of the 

 venerable and venerated individual, who, with 

 maternal fondness looked upon three generations 

 of her numerous progeny : and while the tale of 

 her darling grandson was again and again recount- 

 ed, we have talked of pirates, and of shipwrecks 

 on desolate places, whence after a long lapse of 

 years the objects who were mourned as dead, 

 have returned to overwhelm their sorrowing friends 

 with unlooked-for joy. We have talked, until a 

 Knock at the hall-door, or the sound of a man's 

 voice from without, has sent the thrill of undefined 

 expectation through many a bosom ; to be sue- 



