of Queen Elizabeth, had feven or eight fons arrived at the age of manhood, and being himself upon his death bed, addreffed them as follows: "Sons," said he (after some previous difcourfe), "your voyage through life may be compared to an outward bound fleet in time of war, that has a fafe convoy to a certain latitude, where they ufually feparate, and take different courses; fome navigate one fea, fome another, and naturally meeting with various fortunes, one encounters ftorms and tempests; another runs upon fhoals and quickfands; and a third, even in fight of port, ftrikes upon a rock, and is loft; whilft few, very few, fmoothly failing upon the tranquil tide, gain their destined haven in peace. So, my fons, I, your convoy, have conducted you even thus far with honor and fafety to yourselves: I must now leave you for ever, in all probability to be scattered wide by many fates; let each, whatever

courfe

courfe he may fteer, have virtue for his pilot, and I truft that his faithlefs fortunes-;" but here the story breaks off, and fo muft I, in order to make an apology, which, according to the polite rules of writing fhould now follow, for this unne ceffary digreffion.-And methinks I hear you fay, I am travelling 'tis true; but it is into the regions of fancy, beyond the reach of common apprehenfions; I allow the justice of the charge, and stand self convicted; but I find it a very hard task to keep within due bounds; for, to pursue the allegory-in the courfe of a voyage, if the master of the veffel happens to dif cover a beautiful island, abounding with all forts of fruit, is he a criminal, or even an injudicious pilot, if he is tempted to deviate from his direct track, in order to gather fome? Or if he hears a Syren's voice, is he to blame in listening to it?

when

when to refift, the expedient of Ulyffes would be infufficient-he muft alfo fhut out the imagination.

The village of Abber Conway, ufually called Abber, from whence I dated my laft letter, is fituated upon the straits of the Menai, that at high tide is there about four miles across; but when the water is out, it appears perfectly dry; for the fea retires fo far back, that it only leaves a channel of a quarter of a mile, or thereabouts, in breadth: all the reft is a complete flat, and confequently the tide overflows it very rapidly. There are ftated times to pafs this ferry, which one fhould be very exact in observing, for ten minutes may be of the utmost consequence. The clergyman of the place accompanied us to the boundaries of this wilderness of fand; he gave us the neceffary directions

for

for our paffage, which were only to keep a white houfe in view that belonged to the ferryman on the Anglesea shore, and to make what hafte we could, fince there was no time to lofe, for we had four, miles to walk over this frightful defart without shoes or stockings, having been advised to pull them off; for being regularly overflowed every twelve hours, great part of the road is neceffarily wet and dirty. We had scarcely got half way, before it began to grow thick and foggy. The little village of Abber, which we had juft quitted, was no longer perceptible; and nothing behind us was to be seen, but the fteep and fhaggy mountains of Paenman Mawr, and thofe known by the general name of Snowdonia, with the dark vapours floating upon their fides; and very foon even these became no longer diftinguishable, but as one huge mafs of

clouds.

clouds. Myfelf, and another of the party, had confiderably outwalked the other two, who had loft fight of their landmark, and were fteering their courfe much too far to the right; when we discovered their mistake they were not fo vifible to

us,

1

that we could tell what they were; all that we could difcern, was fomething very dark, moving in a different direction to us; confequently we haled them, and waited till they came up to us, and we agreed to part company no more. Darkness had now overtaken us in good earneft, and we could fee nothing, nor hear any thing, except the noife which the fea made in its approach, that alarmed us not a little; at length; to our infinite fatisfaction, we diftinguished the voices of the ferrymen, who were luckily waiting on this fide of the paffage. When they heard us, they were extremely impatient

for