THE SPIRIT-SEEKER. 



Aptkr I had left school, I recollect being much attracted by certain 

 representations of English troops jilundering some Asiatic soldiers of 

 their costly ornaments. This print, which then adorned all the dead 

 walls of the metropolis, I have gazed at for hours ; and at night I could 

 dream of nothing but pagodas and rupees, cashmeres, hookahs, and 

 Damascus blades ! The East Indies appeared to me to be an El Dorado, 

 where the gifts of fortune were showered upon all who sought them. It 

 presented the same temptations to me as the golden shores of the Pacific 

 offered to the Spaniards and Portuguese, after Columbus had given his 

 glowing descriptions of their wealth and fertilit)'. I was a tall youth, 

 above the height required for recruits ; so finding my desires grow 

 stronger every day, and a soldier's life appearing to my young fancy the 

 gayest under the sun, I took the king's bounty, and enlisted in a 

 regiment which was on the point of proceeding to Calcutta. 



It was not long before I found out how much I had been deceived, 

 but as I saw there was little use in repentance, I resolved to make the 

 best of my situation. IMy attention to my duties rose me from the 

 ranks, and by volunteering in every situation of danger, I gained con- 

 tinual promotion. I saw a great deal of hard service, for I lost no op- 

 portunity of distinguishing myself, and by embarking all my gains in 

 mercantile speculations, I found, in the course of fifteen years, that I 

 had realized a very handsome independence for life. My yearnings 

 after home then became very powerful, and as there was no occasion for 

 my staying longer in India, I sold out, for the purpose of returning to 

 England, to learn how many of my friends were dead, and to find out 

 those who remained above ground. 



I took my passage in a fine ship, well rigp;ed and manned, and power- 

 fully armed ; it was the time of wai', which made the masters of our 

 merchant vessels careful in providing for emergencies. She carried but 

 few passengers, none of them particularly deserving of remark save one. 

 He was evidently a person of some consequence, from the attentions 

 paid him by the captain. He M-as a tall and well-formed man, of dark 

 features, whose exj)ression I did not always admire. No one knew him 

 — no one held companionship with him, for his fellow passengers seemed 

 to shrink from him with a feeling of dread. He would walk for hours 

 upon the deck with an abstracted air, as if unconscious of all around ; 

 and would frequently start in the middle of his walk, as if alarmed, — 

 would mutter some unconnected words, and then continue his solitary 

 promenade. 



I felt a desire to know something about so strange a being, and 

 endeavoured to get some intelligence from the captain — a brave, blunt 

 fellow, with whom I was frequently in the habit of conversing. 



" Why, Sir," said he, putting his finger on his broad forehead, " he's a 

 little bit Iteadif, or so." 



It struck me that I had observed a wild restlessness about his gaze, 

 which gave me some doubts of his sanity, but I did not like to rest upon 

 mere suspicion ; I resolvcfl, tlierefore, to pay great attention to his 

 conduct, as I thought his strange behaviour might be the result of ec- 

 centricity. I wislicd to learn something of his history, but gained 

 nothing by my in(iuirics. 



M.iM. Nnv .SVr/ci.— Vol. XII. No. 72. .'5 li 



