OFF THE CAP2. S235 



" That's right I get in your canvass. Bravo !" 



In a short time the yards are sliding down the masts, the reefs are 

 taken in, the head stay-sails sent flapping down, and the men are des- 

 cending from their duty. The veil of cloud in the meantime widens ; 

 increases in tenuity, and its jagged edges pale away into regularity. 



The wind, which has hitherto been almost dead, springs up again in 

 another quarter. The threatening appearances, which a little while ago 

 called the attention of the officers into activity, begin to clear away. 

 The mists, in wheeling troops, drive away on either side. But the 

 eweep of the occean still increases in sublimity. One hill of water suc- 

 ceeds the first, rolling with majestic deliberation, like so many mountains, 

 put into motion by the throes of a volcano. Their summits, as we look 

 up at them, however, seem to become lighter, and once more put on a 

 purity of colouring. The vapour around gradually sinks down, or dissi- 

 pates itself abroad, and reveals the background of the mighty picture 

 upon which we gaze. At length, a long and reverberating roll of thun- 

 der rumbles heavily overhead ; and the clouds and gloom begin to 

 break grandly away in every direction. 



But now for the exhibition of our grand, nautical, pen-and-ink dio- 

 rama. We say to our readers, what Sancho addresses to Don Quixote, 

 before he made a beginning, of that of which he never made an end ; 

 namely, the tale of the Shepherdess Torralva : — Pray be attentive, for 

 now we begin." We premise that a great call must be made upon the 

 fnnds of imagination ; and beseech our readers to provide colouring, to 

 fill up the sketch which we will strike out for their guidance. 



In the first place, darken the stage : create that advantageous twi- 

 light, in which impressive objects are magnified. Take in as much open 

 sea and sky as the mind is capable of picturing to itself, and 



" Give ample room, and verge enough," 



for the scene about to be introduced. These dispositions complete, and 

 the imagination guided into proper condition, bid the bell ring, and the 

 curtain deliberately rise. 



How grand ! how solemn ! What an admixture of the sublime and 

 beautiful ! How little does the landsman dream of the glories ever pre- 

 sent to him, " who goeth down to the deep in ships, and whose business 

 lieth in the deep waters." Superb revelation of the greatness of nature, 

 once seen, thou cans't never be forgotten. 



From right to left, sweeps a mighty mountain of water, shelving pre- 

 cipitously down, and, apparently, about to hurl the graceful vessel, 

 which heels nobly over in the midst, into total and momentary ruin. 

 Upon its gloomy breadth, falls a melancholy light. In the middle dis- 

 tance, overpowering in its stern immensity, wheeling as it rolls resist- 

 lessly and majestically down, into the darkness that broods upon the 

 awful intervals, threatening, unpitying, and colossal, heaves a corres- 

 ponding hill of water. The distance is shut out by the towering crests 

 of these prodigious seas : and looking upwards, we can only distinguish 

 the darkening masses of cloud that troop across the empyrean, and the 

 pale light reflected by the far summits of the weltering waves. The 

 heavens retain the last glimmering of twilight, and a bluish haze droops 

 upon remoter objects. 



R2 



