1815-21.] THE AUTHOR'S EARLY LIFE. 



xix 



This was dreadful news to me ; but our domestic calamities did not 

 terminate here. In about six months afterward, we were called to 

 mourn the loss of two more of the family — two brothers, who also met 

 a watery death. It was now feared by all that my father would sink 

 under the weight of this accumulated affliction, and lose his reason, if 

 not his life. But we were spared such an addition to our present 

 troubles. Summoning to his aid a manly philosophy, combined with 

 a pious resignation to the will of Providence, he bore up against the 

 load of sorrow with a fortitude and calmness beyond our expectations. 



In the height of these calamities, one person only proffered assist- 

 ance of a more substantial nature than mere unavailing expressions 

 of sympathy. This noble and disinterested friend was no other than 

 Silas E. Burrows, Esq., who stepped forward like a man — nay, like 

 an angel of mercy — and took under his protection my two little mother- 

 less sisters, to whom he has shown every mark of tenderness and 

 affection that it is possible even for a fond father to evince for his 

 dearest child. May the choicest blessings in the gift of a bountiful 

 Providence be showered upon him and his. But this was no solitary 

 instance of this good man's benevolence. His general character is 

 above the reach of my feeble panegyric ; thousands are living who 

 will readily bear testimony to his worth as a citizen, and his virtues 

 as a man. 



In the mean time my ruling passion was as restless as ever, pointing 

 to new scenes, in the most remote sections of the globe. I obeyed 

 the impulse, and visited several parts of the eastern world in rapid 

 succession. Madras, Calcutta, Batavia, Canton, Bengal, and New- 

 Holland. These voyages I performed in different ships, before the 

 mast, — the only school in which good seamanship can be successfully 

 and practically taught or learned. 



During all this period, however, I was justly considered a very 

 " wild youth." How long I should have continued in this thoughtless 

 career of folly it is not easy to determine, had not Divine Providence 

 raised up for me a faithful friend and adviser in the person of Captain 

 Josiah Macy, master of the ship Edward of New- York, belonging to 

 Samuel Hicks and himself. On a voyage to Calcutta, this worthy 

 man, who is a pattern for all ship-masters, took me from before the mast, 

 and by his watchfulness and fatherly advice directed my attention to 

 more manly and useful pursuits ; nor did he remit his guardian care 

 until he saw me master of a ship. 



Thus was I diverted from the path of indiscretion, which too often 

 conducts to ruin, by the unsolicited friendship and benevolent feelings 

 of an entire stranger, who long acted towards me the part of a parent 

 and a tutor ; labouring incessantly to supply the glaring defects of my 

 •education (or, more properly, my want of education), and to eradicate 

 from my mind the seeds of folly, and plant in their stead the seeds of 

 useful knowledge ; and finally, putting me forward in the world as a 

 man of business, and thus securing me an honourable rank among my 

 fellow-citizens. Heaven grant that I may feel properly grateful for 

 such inestimable favours. As an evidence that I profited by them, the 

 vear 1819 saw my name enrolled in the honourable list of married 



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