VI PREFACE. 
ward secure from shoals and rocks, with every 
sheet of canvass hoisted. Then he may be 
threading his dangerous way through reefs and 
islands, heaving his lead, consulting his chart, 
and calculating his reckoning, at every moment. 
Then the risks of war and piracy, and in un- 
known seas, of hidden banks and shelves — every 
where of fogs, which hide his course, and storms 
that drive him from it. So like the vicissitudes 
of a whole life, are all his voyages, that we read 
the details of his route, even his dry log-book, 
with a fellow-feeling of interest and anxiety. 
Then we have the enjoyment of his adventures, 
without their dangers. It is pleasant to listen 
to perils we do not share — to feel our hearts 
beat, not from fear, but from interest and excite- 
ment. "It is pleasant, when the winds are 
rousing the waves, to look out, from the shore, 
on the open sea, and see another's peril : not 
because we are pleased that another suffers, 
but because it is pleasant to look on danger, 
