There is, indeed, nothing so useful to man in general, nor so beneficial to particular societies and individuals, as trade. This is that alma mater, at whose plentiful breast all mankind are nourished. It is true, like other parents, she is not always equally indulgent to all her children; but tho' she gives to her favourites a vast proportion of redundancy and superfluity, there are very few whom she refuses to supply with the conveniences, and none with the necessaries of life.

Such a benefactress as this must naturally be beloved by mankind in general; it would be wonderful, therefore, if her interest was not considered by them, and protected from the fraud and violence of some of her rebellious offspring, who coveting more than their share, or more than she thinks proper to allow them, are daily employed in meditating mischief against her, and in endeavouring to steal from their brethren those shares which this great alma mater had allowed them.

At length our Governor came on board, and about six in the evening we weighed anchor, and fell down to the Nore, whither our passage was extremely pleasant, the evening being very delightful, the moon just past the full, and both wind and tide favourable

to us.

Tuesday, July 2. This morning we again set sail, under all the advantages we had enjoy'd the evening before this day we left the shore of Essex, and coasted along Kent, passing by the pleasant island of Thanet, which is an island, and that of Sheppey, which is not an island; and about three o'clock, the wind being now full in our teeth, we came to an anchor in the Downs, within two miles of Deal. My wife, having suffered intolerable pain from her tooth, again renewed her resolution of having it drawn, and another surgeon was sent for from Deal, but with no better success than the former. He likewise declined the operation, for the same reason which had been assigned by the former: however, such was her resolution, backed with pain, that he was obliged to

make the attempt, which concluded more in honour of his judgment, than of his operation; for after having put my poor wife to inexpressible torment, he was obliged to leave her tooth in statu quo; and she had now the comfortable prospect of a long fit of pain, which might have lasted her her whole voyage, without any possibility of relief.

In these pleasing sensations, of which I had my just share, nature, overcome with fatigue, about eight in the evening resign'd her to rest; a circumstance which would have given me some happiness, could I have known how to employ those spirits which were raised by it but unfortunately for me, I was left in a disposition of enjoying an agreeable hour, without the assistance of a companion, which has always appeared to me necessary to such enjoyment; my daughter and her companion were both retired seasick to bed; the other passengers were a rude schoolboy of fourteen years old, and an illiterate Portuguese friar, who understood no language but his own, in which I had not the least smattering. The captain was the only person left, in whose conversation I might indulge myself; but unluckily for me, besides his knowledge being chiefly confined to his profession, he had the misfortune of being so deaf, that to make him hear my words, I must run the risque of conveying them to the ears of my wife, who, tho' in another room (called, I think, the state-room; being indeed a most stately apartment capable of containing one human body in length, if not very tall, and three bodies in breadth) lay asleep within a yard of me. In this situation necessity and choice were one and the same thing; the captain and I sat down together to a small bowl of punch, over which we both soon fell fast asleep, and so concluded the evening.

Wednesday, July 3. This morning I awaked at four o'clock, for my distemper seldom suffered me to sleep later. I presently got up, and had the pleasure of enjoying the sight of what I thought a tempestuous sea for four hours before the captain was stirring;

for he loved to indulge himself in morning slumbers, which were attended with a wind music, much more agreeable to the performers than to the hearers, especially such as have, as I had, the privilege of sitting in the orchestra. At eight o'clock the captain rose, and sent his boat on shore. I ordered my man likewise to go in it, as my distemper was not of that kind which entirely deprives us of appetite. Now tho' the captain had well victualled his ship with all manner of salt provisions for the voyage, and had added great quantities of fresh stores, particularly of vegetables, at Gravesend, such as beans and peas, which had been on board only two days, and had, possibly, not been gathered above two more, I apprehended I could provide better for myself at Deal, than the ship's ordinary seemed to promise. I accordingly sent for fresh provisions of all kinds from the shore, in order to put off the evil day of starving as long as possible. My man returned with most of the articles I sent for, and I now thought myself in a condition of living a week on my own provisions. I therefore ordered my own dinner, which I wanted nothing but a cook to dress, and a proper fire to dress it at! but those were not to be had, nor, indeed, any addition to my roast mutton, except the pleasure of the captain's company, with that of the other passengers; for my wife continued the whole day in a state of dozing; and my other females, whose sickness did not abate by the rolling of the ship at anchor, seemed more inclined to empty their stomachs than to fill them. Thus I pass'd the whole day (except about an hour at dinner) by myself, and the evening concluded with the captain, as the preceding one had done: one comfortable piece of news he communicated to me, which was, that he had no doubt of a prosperous wind in the morning; but as he did not divulge the reasons of this confidence, and as I saw none myself, besides the wind being directly opposite, my faith in this prophecy was not strong enough to build any great hopes upon.

Thursday, July 4. This morning, however, the captain seem'd resolved to fulfil his own predictions, whether the wind would or no; he accordingly weighed anchor, and taking the advantage of the tide, when the wind was not very boisterous, he hoisted his sails, and, as if his power had been no less absolute over Eolus than it was over Neptune, he forced the wind to blow him on in its own despight.

But as all men who have ever been at sea well know how weak such attempts are, and want no authorities of Scripture to prove, that the most absolute power of a captain of a ship is very contemptible in the wind's eye, so did it befal our noble commander; who having struggled with the wind three or four hours, was obliged to give over, and lost, in a few minutes, all that he had been so long a gaining; in short, we returned to our former station, and once more cast anchor in the neighbourhood of Deal.

Here, though we lay near the shore, that we might promise ourselves all the emolument which could be derived from it, we found ourselves deceived, and that we might with as much conveniency be out of the sight of land; for, except when the captain launch'd forth his own boat, which he did always with great reluctance, we were incapable of procuring any thing from Deal, but at a price too exorbitant, and beyond the reach even of modern luxury; the fare of a boat from Deal, which lay at two miles distance, being at least three half-crowns, and if we had been in any distress for it, as many half guineas; for these good people consider the sea as a large common, appendant to their manor, in which when they find any of their fellow creatures impounded, they conclude, that they have a full right of making them pay at their own discretion for their deliverance: to say the truth, whether it be that men, who live on the seashore, are of an amphibious kind, and do not entirely partake of human nature, or whatever else may be the reason, they are so far from taking any share in the

distresses of mankind, or of being moved with any compassion for them, that they look upon them as blessings shower'd down from above; and which the more they improve to their own use, the greater is their gratitude and piety. Thus at Gravesend, a sculler requires a shilling for going less way than he would row in London for three-pence; and, at Deal, a boat often brings more profit in a day, than it can produce in London in a week, or, perhaps, in a month: in both places, the owner of the boat founds his demand on the necessity and distress of one, who stands more or less in absolute want of his assistance; and with the urgency of these, always rises in the exorbitancy of his demand, without ever considering, that, from these very circumstances, the power or ease of gratifying such demand is in like proportion lessened. Now, as I am unwilling that some conclusions, which may be, I am aware, too justly drawn from these observations, should be imputed to human nature in general, I have endeavoured to account for them in a way more consistent with the goodness and dignity of that nature: however it be, it seems a little to reflect on the governors of such monsters, that they do not take some means to restrain these impositions, and prevent them from triumphing any longer in the miseries of those, who are, in many circumstances at least, their fellow-creatures, and considering the distresses of a wretched seaman, from his being wrecked to his being barely wind-bound, as a blessing sent among them from above, and calling it by that blasphemous name.

Friday, July 5. This day I sent a servant on board a man of war, that was stationed here, with my compliments to the captain, to represent to him the distress of the ladies, and to desire the favour of his long-boat to conduct us to Dover, at about seven miles distance; and, at the same time, presumed to make use of a great lady's name, who would, I told him, be pleased with any kindness shewn by him towards us in our miserable condition. And