NEWFOUNDLAND. 53 



^^ greatly exceeded my earnings, at length were overtaken 

 " by them, and all was right again. It was a lesson I 

 " never forgot." 



The remainder of this chapter shall be formed of a 

 variety of desultory scraps, referring mainly to the years 

 1827 and 1828, which I find in my father's handwriting. 

 They have never before been printed, and they may serve 

 to complete the picture of his first years in Newfound- 

 land : — 



" During the first summer, while the skipper (our 

 "representative for the modern term 'governor') was in 

 " England, the dwelling-house had a narrow escape from 

 "fire. I was standing alone at the office window which 

 "looked up to the house, just after dinner one day, 

 "watching a vivid thunderstorm. Suddenly I saw what 

 " appeared exactly as if a cannon had been fired directly 

 "out of the house chimney. This was the lightning 

 "flash, which struck the house, attracted by an iron 

 "fender, which was set on end in the fireplace of the 

 "best bedroom. I saw the wide column of intense 

 "flame; the apparent direction, which suggested the 

 " resemblance to a cannon fired out of the chimney, was 

 " of course, an illusion of my senses. The report, too, 

 "was the short ear-piercing crack of a great gun when 

 "fired close by you; nothing like ordinary thunder. 

 "There was now a general rush to the house. Newell 

 "and Captain Andrews had been cosily sitting before 

 "the empty fireplace in the parlour, each smoking his 

 "long pipe after dinner, while the glass of grog was in 

 "one case standing on the hob, in the other in the 

 "owner's hand. The two sitters had been in a moment 

 "jerked half round, though unhurt ; the glasses dashed 

 "down, much row and terror caused, but wondrously 

 " little damage. The electric course could be distinctly 



