234 ^^V IMS CAPE. 



pleasure from the present, as possible, is the most legitimate and avail- 

 able employment of practical philosophy. 



******* 



The skies darken down into twilight. That delicious chiaro scuro 

 partaking ofl the rich pmity of Claude's atmosphere, and the majestic 

 profundity of Rembrandt's distances, soft as the oblique gliding of the 

 sea-mew's wing, steals soberly over the garish brilliancy of the retiring 

 sunset, and sleeps upon the breaking and ever restless waters, like 

 Hope on the stormy surface of life. The scene bon-ows fresh graces 

 from the imagination. The distance melts into vapour; and we might 

 fancy we were sailing in the trackless realms of unintruded space. De- 

 prived of arbitrary materials, the mind is thrown upon its own resources, 

 and fills the spectral gloom around with creations of its own. How 

 vivid — how evanescent, are the figures that the fancy starts up ! Legible, 

 while in being ; but overturned by the succeeding wave of thought. 

 Like characters traced upon the sea-sand, the next sweep of the wind 

 obliterates their characteristics, and hauls them into irretrievable con- 

 fusion. Soon as formed, is their existence annihilated. However, they 

 were once in being ; and having once been in being, they form a unit 

 in the grand history of thought, a link in the universal chain of in- 

 telligence. 



A heavy swell comes from the south-eastward. The noble vessel 

 begins to feel its influence, and rolls deliberately from side to side. 

 As the queenly fabric heaves her broadside from the advancing wave, 

 the watery twilight falls upon it, like the last smile of day, and casts 

 her jetty ports and bulwarks into deeper shade. The ocean grows 

 darker and darker. The profound green gives place to an inky shade 

 of blue : and shadow after shadow sails over the surface, till beauty 

 sinks into grandeur, and grandeur into sublimity. Strips of amber and 

 dusky crimson are yet to be discerned in the west : but they attenuate 

 with rapidity, and are being fast swallowed by the murmuring deep 

 that lies like a gulf beneath them. Faster and faster roll the mists 

 astern ; and a ghostlike sheet of white vapour rises in the east and 

 south. The upper and lower edges of this are jagged, and put on the 

 appearance of a rainy fringe. The swell heaves higher and higher ; 

 undulating every minute into more gigantic sweeps. The ship begins 

 to roll with an increased heaviness, and bends her yai'ds lazily 

 lower and lower down on either side. The skies put on a wild and 

 extremely threatening appearance ; and a mysterious grumble, like a 

 very distant roll of thunder, comes gradually down upon the wind. 



A hoarse voice, rendered deeper by the trumpet through which it 

 renovates, echoes aloag the deck. 



" All hands to reduce sail ! Boatswain's mate, pipe up. Look to the 

 halliards ! — out upon your topsail yards." 



" What shall we take in, sir ?" 



" Close reef topsails and courses ; and in with your head stay-sails. 

 — Cheerily now, cheerily." 



" Close reef topsails and courses ! — forward, then! down with the 

 fore-top mast stay-sail. — Reef away." 



" You, at the helm there ! keep her up to the wind." 



•• Aye, aye, sir !" 



