106 THE SEA-SEKPENT. 



to the unspeakable relief of the crew ! It seemed 

 impossible, from the mass of corroborative testimony, 

 to question two important facts first, the exis- 

 tence of this strange and formidable animal, and 

 secondly, that it took the form of a serpent ! It 

 was no myth, but an actual, living, formidable, 

 unchronicled monster of the deep; and, in the 

 excited state of the public mind, expeditions were 

 planned with a view to capture it, and put to 

 rest all future incredulity, by exhibiting it to the 

 gaze of the people. 



I remember dining, during this excited state of 

 the public mind, with Dr. Bobbins of Boston, at his 

 cottage atNahant. I well remember the sumptuous 

 fare spread before us by our hospitable host the 

 delicacy of the viands, the lusciousness of the fruits, 

 the richness of the wines ; but what I recall with 

 more especial pleasure, is that Prescott the historian 

 was among the guests, and charmed every stranger 

 present by his colloquial powers, and by a modesty 

 of deportment which sat on him too naturally to 

 have been assumed. By my side, too, sat my early 

 friend and cherished classmate, Francis 0. Gray of 

 Boston now, alas ! no more the refined gentle- 

 man, the accomplished scholar, the keen, discrim- 

 inating writer, whose unnumbered kindnesses come 

 crowding thickly on my memory, as I recall his 



