"3. The weather very fine, clear, and calm; we perceived that the fhips had been driven far to the eastward; the ice was much closer than before, and the paffage by which we had come in from the weftward clofed up, no open water being in fight, either in that or any other quarter. The pilots having expreffed a wifh to get if poffible farther out, the fhips companies were fet to work at five in the morning, to cut a paffage through the ice, and warp through the fmall openings to the westward. We found the ice very deep, having fawed fometimes through pieces twelve feet thick. This labour was continued the whole day, but without any fuccefs; our utmost efforts not having moved the fhips above three hundred yards to the weftward through the ice, at the fame time that they had been driven (together with the ice itself, to which they were faft) far to the NE and eastward, by the current; which had also forced the loofe ice from the weftward, between the islands, where it became packed, and as firm as the main body.

4. Quite calm till evening, when we were flattered with a light air to the eaft ward, which did not last long, and had no favourable effect. The wind was now at N W, with a very thick fog, the fhips driving to the eastward. The pilots feemed to apprehend that the ice extended very far to the fouthward and weftward.

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5. The probability of getting the fhips out appearing every hour lefs, and the feafon being already far advanced, fome speedy refolution became neceffary as to the fteps to be taken for the prefervation of the people. As the fituation of the fhips prevented us from feeing the ftate of the ice to the weftward, by which our future proceedings mutt in a great measure be determined, I fent Mr. Walden, one of the midshipmen, with two pilots, to an ifland about twelve miles off, which I have diftinguished in the charts by the name of Walden's Ifland, to fee where the open water lay.

"6. Mr. Walden and the pilots, who were fent the day before to examine the ftate of the ice from the ifland, returned this morning, with an account, that the ice, though close all about us, was open to the weltward, round the point by which we came in. They alfo told me, that when upon the island, they had the wind very fresh to the eastward, though where the fhips lay it had been almost calm all day. This circumstance

confiderably leffened the hopes we had hitherto entertained of the immediate effect of an easterly wind in clearing the bay. We had but one alternative; either patiently to wait the event of the weather upon the fhips, in hopes of getting them out, or to betake ourselves to the boats. The flips had driven into foal water, having but fourteen fathom, Should they, or the ice to which they were faft, take the ground, they must be inevitably loft and probably overfet. The hope of getting the fhips out was not hallily to be relinquifhed, nor obftinately adhered to, till all other means of retreat were cut off. Having no harbour to lodge them in, it would be impoffible to winter them here, with any probability of their being again ferviceable; our provifions would be very fhort for fuch an undertak ing, were it otherwise feasible; and fuppofing, what appeared impoffible, that we could get to the nearest rocks, and make fome conveniencies for wintering, being now in an unfrequented part, where fhips never attempt to come, we should have the fame difficulties to encounter the next year, without the fame refources; the remains of the fhip's company, in all probability, not in health; no provifions; and the fea not fo open, this year having certainly been uncommonly clear. Indeed it could not have been expected that more than a very small part fhould furvive the hardships of fuch a winter with every advantage; much lefs in our present fituation. On the other hand, the undertaking to move fo large a body for fo confiderable a distance by boats, was not without very serious difficulties. Should we remain much longer here, the bad weather must be expected to fet in. The stay of the Dutchmen to the northward is very doubtful: if the northern harbours keep clear, they stay till the beginning of September; but when the loofe ice fets in, they quit them immediately. I thought it proper to fend for the officers of both fhips, and informed them of my intention of preparing the boats for going away. I immediately hoifted out the boats, and took every precaution in my power to make them fecure and comfortable; the fitting would neceffarily take up fome days. The water fhoaling, and the fhips driving faft towards the rocks to the NE, I ordered canvafs bread-bags to be made, in cafe it fhould be neceffary to betake ourselves to the boats: I alfo fent a man with a lead and line to the

northward

northward, and another from the Car cafs to the eastward, to found wherever they found cracks in the ice, that we might have notice before either the thips, or the ice to which they were faft, took the ground; as in that cafe, they muft instantly have been crushed or overfet. The weather bad; most part of the day foggy, and rather cold.

7th. In the morning I fet out with the launch over the ice; the was hauled much eafier than I could have expected, we got her about two miles. I then returned with the people for their dinner. Finding the ice rather more open near the fhips, I was encouraged to attempt moving them. The wind being eafterly, though but little of it, we fet the fails, and got the flips about a mile to the weft-, ward. They moved indeed, but very flowly, and were not now by a great deal fo far to the weftward as where they were befet. However, I kept all the fail upon them, to force through whenever the ice flacked the least. The people behaved very well in hauling the boat; they seemed reconciled to the idea of quitting the fhips, and to have the fulleft confidence in their officers. The boats could not with the greatest diligence be got to the water fide before the fourteenth; if the fituation of the ships did not alter by that time, I fhould not be juftified in ftaying longer by them. In the mean time I refolved to carry on both attempts together, moving the boats conftantly, but without omitting any opportunity of getting the fhips through.

"8th. At half haft four, fent two pilots with three men to fee the state of the ice to the weftward, that I might judge of the probability of getting the ships out. At nine they returned, and reported the ice to be very heavy and clofe, confifting chiefly of large fields. Between nine and ten this morning, I fet out with the people, and got the launch above three miles. The weather being foggy, and the people having worked hard, I thought it beft to return on board between fix and feven. The fhips had in the mean time moved fomething through the ice, and the ice itself had drifted ftill more to the weftward. At night there was little wind, and a thick fog, fo that I could not judge precifely of the advantage we had gained; but I ftill feared that, however flattering, it was not fuch as to juftify my giving up the idea of moving the boats, the advancing fo faft, the prefervation

of the fhips being fo uncertain, and the situation of the people fo critical.

"9th. A thick fog in the morning : we moved the fhip a little through fome very fmall openings. In the afternoon, upon its clearing up, we were agreeably furprized to find the fhips had driven much more than we could have expected to the weftward. We worked hard all day, and got them fomething more to the weftward through the ice; but nothing in comparison to what the ice itself had drifted. We got paft the launches; I fent a number of men for them, and got them on board. Between three and four in the morning the wind was wefterly, and it fnowed faft. The people having been much fatigued, we were obliged to defift from working for a few hours. The progrefs which the fhips had made through the ice was, however, a very favourable event: the drift of the ice was an advantage that might be as fuddenly loft, as it had been unexpectedly gained by a change in the current : we had experienced the inefficacy of an eafterly wind when far in the bay, and under the high land; but having now got through fo much of the ice, we began again to conceive hope that a brifk gale from that quarter would foon effectually clear us.

"10th. The wind fpringing up to the N N E. in the morning, we fet all the fail we could upon the fhip, and forced her through a great deal of very heavy ice: fhe ftruck often very hard, and with one ftroke broke the shank of the best bower anchor. About noon we had got her through all the ice, and out to fea. I ftood to the N W to make the ice, and found the main body just where we left it. At three in the morning, with a good breeze easterly, we were standing to the weftward, between the land and the ice, both in fight; the weather hazy.

To refresh the men after these fatigues, the veffels came to an anchor in the harbour of Smeerenberg, where the navigators made feveral observations, that are worthy of being communicated to the public.

and

and thermometer. Being within fight of Cloven Cliff, I took a furvey of this part of Fair Haven, to connect it with the plan of the other part. Dr. Irving climbed up a mountain, to take its height with the barometer, which I determined at the fame time geometrically with great care. By repeated obfervations here we found the latitude to be 79 deg. 44 min. which by the furvey correfponded exactly with the latitude of Cloven Cliff, determined before; the longitude 9 deg. 50 min. 45 fec. E; dip 82 deg. 8 min. 3-4ths; variation 18 deg. 57 min. W; which agrees alfo with the obfervation made on fhore in July. The tide flowed here half past one, the fame as in Vogel Sang harbour.

Opposite to the place where the inftruments ftood, was one of the most remarkable Icebergs in this country. Icebergs are large bodies of ice filling the vallies between the high mountains; the face towards the fea is nearly perpendicular, and of a very lively light green colour. That reprefented in the engraving, from a sketch taken by Mr. D'Auvergne upon the spot was about three hundred feet high, with a cascade of water iffuing out of it. The black mountains, white fnow, and beautiful colour of the ice, made a very romantick and uncommon picture. Large pieces frequently break off from the Icebergs, and fall with great noise into the water: we obferved one piece which had floated out into the bay, and grounded in twentyfour fathom; it was fifty feet high above the furface of the water, and of the fame beautiful colour as the Iceberg.

"I fhall here mention fuch general obfervations as my fhort ftay enabled me to make. The flone we found was chiefly a kind of marble, which diffolved eafily in the marine acid. We perceived no marks of minerals of any kind, nor the leaft appearance of pre. fent, or remains of former volcanoes. Neither did we meet with infects, or any fpecies of reptiles; not even the common earthworm. We faw no fprings or rivers, the water, which we found in great plenty, being all produced by the melting of the fnow from the mountains. During the whole time we were in these latitudes, there was no thunder or lightning. I muft alfo add, that I never found what is mentioned by Marten (who is generally accurate in his obfervations, and faithful in his accounts) of the fun at midnight resembling in appearance the moon; I faw no difference in clear wea

ny other time, but what arose from a different degree of altitude; the brightness of the light appearing there, as well as elsewhere, to depend upon the obliquity of his rays. The fky was in general loaded with hard white clouds; fo that I do not remember to have ever feen the fun and the horizon both free from the even in the clearest weather. We could always perceive when we were approaching the ice, long before we saw it, by a bright appearance near the horizon, which the pilots called the Blink of Ice.' Hudfon remarked, that the fea where he met with ice was blue; but the green fea was free from it. I was particularly attentive to obferve this difference, but could never discern it.

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"The driftwood in these feas has given rife to various opinions and conjectures, both as to its nature and the place of its growth. All that we faw, (except the pipe-ftaves taken notice of by Dr. Irving on the Low Ifland) was fir, and not worm-eaten. The place of its growth I had no opportunity of afcertaining.

"The nature of the ice was a princi pal object of attention in this climate. We found also a great fwell near the edge of it; but whenever we got within the loofe ice, the water was conftantly fmooth. The loofe fields and flaws, as well as the interior part of the fixed ice, were flat, and low; with the wind blowing on the ice, the loofe parts were always, to ufe the phrafe of the Greenlandmen, packed; the ice at the edges appearing rough, and piled up; this roughness and height I imagine to proceed from the fmaller pieces being thrown up by the force of the fea on the folid part. During the time that we were faft amongst the Seven Inlands, we had frequent opportunities of obferving the irrefiftible force of the large bodies of floating ice. We have often feen a piece of feveral acres fquare lifted up between two much larger pieces, and as it were becoming one with them; and afterwards this piece fo formed acting in the fame manner upon a fecond and third; which would probably have continued to be the effect, till the whole bay had been fo filled with ice that the different pieces could have had no motion, had not the stream taken an unexpected turn, and set the ice out of the bay." The Unexpected Meeting. A Tale.

VIR

VIRTUE, my child, is a treasure, the value of which cannot be estimated; like gold, it ftands the fire,

and is thereby purified. It is a gem that will fparkle in the darkett night, the brilliancy of which will fo dazzle the eye, as to render invifible a thousand little foibles, which, without this invaluable quality, would attract the attention of the moit unobfervant."

Such were the last words of Sir William Thompson to his daughter; foon af ter which he breathed his laft, univerfally regretted by an extenfive circle of acquaintance, to whom his uncommon virtues had more than endeared him, and by whom he was long and fincerely lamented. But amongst all his friends no one appeared more fenfible of his lofs than Lord Falkland. They had been companions from their infancy, educated at the fame feminary, inftructed in the fame principles, friends in every revolution of fortune, and fellow-foldiers in war.

Upon opening the Baronet's will, they found he had left his eftates equally divided between his fon (who was then in the army ftudying the art of war under the eye of the King of Pruffia) and his daughter; to the latter of whom he had appointed his friend Lord Falkland guardian. His Lordfhip, wifely confidering how imprudent it would be to permit Maria to continue any longer in a place where every thing would naturally ferve to remind her of her deceafed father, gave immediate orders for conducting the fair mourner to his feat in Wiltshire, where he fought by every amusement in his power to difperfe that gloom which had taken fo univerfal an hold of her mind, and which he was fearful would be attended with fatal confequences to

her health.

Amongst the many places to which Lord Falkland introduced her, was the houfe of Mrs. Carey. This Lady, tho' a widow, had not yet feen her twentyfourth year; and notwithstanding the could not jufily be pronounced any ways remarkable either for her mental or perfonal charms, the was nevertheless, one of thofe females, whom it is impoffible to fee, without wishing to be more intimately acquainted with them, Her houfe was, therefore, a rendezvous for the young and gay the men repaired there, impelled by vanity, whilft thofe

women who could boast of the smallest fhare of beauty, found no lefs powerful an impulfe in their jealousy.

No fooner had Maria made her appearance amongst them, than fhe gave 1 employment to every tongue. The

men were lavith of their encomiums, and the women burnt with envy. She, however was as deaf to the flattery of the one, as the was fuperior to the invidious remarks of the other.

Amongst those who appeared the foremoft in expreffing their affection for her, was a Mr. Benton, a young gentleman of a good family, not entirely unknown to his Lordship, and by whofe means he hoped to commence a more intimate acquaintance with her. He accordingly waited on Lord Falkland the very next day, but was disappointed in his hopes of feeing him, by being informed that he had just before fet out for London. To recompenfe him, however, for that dif appointment, he found Maria at home and difengaged, who very frankly invited him to drink tea. Benton was not backward in complying with her invitation; and as it is impoffible for two young people of different fexes to be long toge ther without their discourse turning upon Love, he foon learned enough to be convinced that he was not entirely indifferent to her, and that if he could gain his Lordship to his intereft, he had but little to fear from any objection of Maria. Mr. Benton was about two-and-twenty, tall and genteel, and of a complexion delicate beyond expreffion. Add to this, his education had been fuch as, joined to his natural good fenfe, rendered it im poffible to behold him with indifference: No wonder, then, that Maria's fenfibility was ftruck with his good qualities, and determined her to do juftice to his merit.

his re

From this time Mr. Benton was frequently with her; and notwithstanding he had never openly avowed his intenti ons to her Guardian, nor folicited his approbation, that Nobleman faw enough to convince him of Benton's defign, and of Maria's compliance, fhould he confent to their union. His Lordship had, however, a quite different intention; gard for his deceased friend would not permit him to approve of his daughter's accepting a man for her husband fo every way her inferior: for Mr. Benton, notwithstanding he boafted of a good fami ly, had little elfe to fupport him except what arofe from the Lieutenancy of a. regiment, then in Ireland, and which he was in conftant expectation of receiving orders to join.

e

As their regard for each other grew very day ftili more evident, Lord Falkland, who was doubtful to what extremi ties it might tend, fent for Benton; and

after

after expoftulating with him for carrying on a correfpondence with his Ward without first asking his approbation, infitted upon his promifing upon his honour never more to think of her. This injunction the other refused to comply with; upon which refufal his Lordship forbid his ever being admitted to his houfe for the future. The first thing Lord Falkland did after this, was to write to a noble friend of his at the War Office, requesting that Benton might receive an immediate order to join his regiment. This order, however, did not arrive fo foon, but our young Officer, in the interim, by the affiftance of Mrs. Carey, found means to obtain a meeting with Maria, when he repeated to her his conversation with her Guardian; the great probability there appeared of his being obliged to leave her, perhaps immediately; and finally, he intreated her, by the fincerity of her regard for him, to put it out of his Lordfhip's power to oppose their union, by giving her confent to a private marriage. Maria, at first, strongly objected to fuch a ftep; but as Benton continued to folicit her with all the arguments his love was capable of furnishing him with, her objections at length began to grow more and more faint; and a prieft being provided, they were indiffolubly united.

The marriage-ceremony was no fooner over, than by mutual confent they feparated, and Maria returned home; nor did his Lordfhip entertain the leaft fufpicion to whom her visit had been directed. The next day Benton received the orders he had been fo long in expectation of: he was, however, determined not to go without first bidding adieu to Maria; and immediately set out for her habitation. He was fo fortunate as to find her walking alone in the court which fronted the houfe but nothing could exceed her grief when the was informed of his bufinefs with her; nor could he himself, prepared as he was for such an event, help hedding tears. They were in this manner employed in giving vent to their forrow, when Lord Falkland furprized them by his entrance. He was enraged at finding the young foldier pay fo little regard to his command; and the more fo, at finding Maria To much grieved at the thoughts of her lover's departure. After expostulating with them both in a stile which fhewed how much he was offended, he fternly feized the afflicted fair one by the hand; and before she could well fay Benton!" forced her into the

The regiment to which Benton belonged was thortly after ordered to Germany, to reinforce the army, which through ficknefs and defertion began to ftand in need of a recruit. Here he foon had an opportunity to diftinguifh himself; nor was he lefs remarkable for his valour, than for the peculiar generofity and modefty of his carriage.

Notwithstanding the extreme feverity with which Lord Falkland watched the conduct of Maria, fhe, nevertheless, found means not only to write to Benton, but alfo by the affiftance of Mrs. Carey, to receive his anfwers. This, as it was a pleasure to her, was almoft the only confolation fhe poflefled to recompenfe her for his abfence.

Benton, who by his merits had raised himself to the command of a company, in a defperate engagement with the enemy was taken prisoner, and with feveral other officers of the fame regiment was conveyed to the next town, where, upon their parole, they were permitted the liberty of walking about, and enjoying the free exercife of the garrifon. Returning to his quarters one evening, at the corner of one of the streets he heard a clashing of fwords, and haftening towards the place whence the noife proceeded, faw one man, with no other arms than a largeftick, engaged with four others, all of whom had fwords. Benton was not long in hefitating which fide to espouse; and notwithstanding, as a prifoner, he was prohibited the ufing any weapons; yet. perceiving one of them fall, he neglected not to feize his fword, with which he flew to the affiftance of the man who had fo long and fo nobly supported himfelf against fuch unequal force. Another of the villains falling, the other two made what hafte they could to escape, leaving their companions to receive the just reward of their villainy.

Some foldiers belonging to the garrifon being by this time alarmed, came to gain intelligence concerning the cause and particulars of the quarrel; when Benton having related every circumstance he knew of it, the two affaffins, neither of whom was mortally wounded, were immediately fecured; and Benton and the other gentleman fuffered to depart.

Being now by themfelyes, the ftranger, after having requested the favour of Benton's addrefs, fpoke to him as follows: "Sir, I am incapable of thanking you. this evening as I ought for your generous behaviour, in giving me your