VALPARAISO. 335 



had been an hour and a quarter in riding the twelve miles, including 

 the ford ; which takes a long time both to find and to cross, the river, 

 though shallow, being wider and more rapid than the Thames at 

 London-bridge. Mr. Miers accompanied me to the port ; and after 

 transacting some business (for some of the merchants do appear in 

 the day time at their warehouses, or the scites of them), and chang- 

 ing my riding-dress, 1 went on board the O'Higgins to dinner. 



I find that although Lord Cochrane has twice tendered his resign- 

 ation to the government, it has not been accepted. But he is not the 

 less resolved on a temporary absence. After dinner, as I was waiting 

 for a boat to pay a visit on board another ship, and leaning over the 

 taffel-rail of the frigate, musing on all the discomforts of my situation, 

 and the dreariness of my prospects, especially if the rains should 

 come before Glennie was able to move to some warm dry house, I 

 felt a heaviness of heart that few occurrences of my life, and many a 

 painful one I have abided, had occasioned. I saw no prospect of 

 comfort ; and suddenly it came from a quarter where I had not ex- 

 pected, indeed where I should not have dared to expect it. Lord 

 Cochrane came up to me where I stood, and gently calling my atten- 

 tion, said, that as he was going to sail soon from this country, I 

 should take a great uneasiness from his mind if I would go with 

 him. He could not bear, he said, to leave the unprotected widow 

 of a British officer thus on the beach, and cast away as it were in a 

 ruined town, a country full of civil war ! I replied, 1 could not 

 leave my sick relation, — I had promised his mother to watch him. 

 " Nor do I ask you to do so," answered Lord Cochrane. " No, he must 

 go too, and surely he will be as well taken care of with us, as you could 

 do it alone." I could not answer — I could not look my thanks ; but 

 if there is any one who has had an oppressive weight on the heart, 

 that seemed too great either to bear or to obtain relief for, and who 

 has had that weight suddenly and kindly removed, then they may 

 understand my sensations, — then they may guess at a small part of 

 the gratitude with which my heart was filled, but which I could 

 not utter. 



