joo LIFE OF THE AUTHOR. 



" After we had got safe into the Monjibello, and the terror had 

 somewhat abated, I went down into one of her cabins to see how 

 things were going on. At the farthest corner of it, I saw, by the 

 light of a lamp, a venerable-looking priest dripping wet, and ap- 

 parently in much pain. He informed me, that he had fallen into 

 the sea, and he believed that he had broken his arm, for that his 

 sufferings were almost intolerable. I ripped up his coat with my 

 penknife, and found his shoulder dislocated. With the help of 

 three young English engineers, I replaced the bone in its socket, 

 and then took off his wet clothes, and gave them in charge to my 

 servant, that he might dry them in the following morning's sun. A 

 good Samaritan, who was standing by, furnished a shirt for him. 

 Having made him as comfortable as circumstances would permit, I 

 got him some water to drink, and promised that I would be with 

 him every now and then to see that all was right. The people took 

 me for a surgeon, and they requested that I would bleed the captain 

 of the late Pollux, for that he was apparently in a dying state. 

 This dastardly sansculotte was on the floor in horrible despair, 

 sighing, sobbing, and heaving like a broken-winded horse. Having 

 felt his pulse, I recommended that he should be taken on deck, and 

 drenched well with sea-water, adding that this would be a much 

 safer process than drawing his precious blood ; and that a mouthful 

 or two of salt water, with a little fresh air, would tend to collect his 

 scattered senses. 



" The whole blame of this shipwreck must be thrown on the 

 captains and the mates of the respective vessels. All four of these 

 worthless seamen were fast asleep at the time of the accident, in 

 lieu of attending to their duty. Hence the total loss of the beauti- 

 ful steamer Pollux, at the very time when the absence of everything 

 that could retard her progress, or cause alarm for her safety, made 

 us sure of a prosperous passage to Leghorn. Our own individual 

 losses were heavy. The costly wardrobe of my sisters, the objects 

 of art which had been purchased in Rome, our books, our writings, 

 our money, our Palmerston passport, and our letter of credit, all 

 went to the bottom with the foundered steamer. Miss Helen 

 Edmonstone lost an ivory crucifix of rare value. It had been 

 sculptured by some first-rate artist of the i5th century, and its loss 



