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XXVI. THE RESCUE OF A KITTEN.

1. This gale continued till toward noon; when the east end of the island bore but a little ahead of us. The captain swaggered, and declared that he would keep the sea; but the wind got the better of him, so that about three he gave up the victory, and making a sudden tack, stood in for the shore, passed by Spithead and Portsmouth, and came to an anchor at a place called Ryde, on the island.

2. A most tragical incident fell out this day at sea, while the ship was under sail, but making, as will appear, no great way. A kitten, one of four of the feline inhabitants of the cabin, fell from the window into the water; an alarm was given immediately to the captain, who was then upon deck, and received it with the utmost concern and many bitter oaths.

3. He immediately gave orders to the steersman in favor of the "poor thing," as he called it; the sails were instantly slackened, and all hands, as the phrase is, employed to recover the poor animal. I was, I own, extremely surprised at all this; less, indeed, at the captain's extreme tenderness than at his conceiving any possibility of success; for, if puss had had nine thousand instead of nine lives, I concluded they had been all lost.

4. The boatswain, however, had more sanguine hopes; for, having stripped himself of his jacket, breeches, and shirt, he leaped boldly into the water, and, to my great astonishment, in a few minutes returned to the ship, bearing the motionless animal in his mouth. Nor was this, I observed, a matter of such great difficulty as it appeared to my ignorance, and possibly may seem to that of my fresh-water reader. The kitten was now exposed

to air and sun on the deck, where its life, of which it retained no symptoms, was despaired of by all.

5. The captain's humanity, if I may so call it, did not so totally destroy his philosophy as to make him yield himself up to affliction on this melancholy occasion. Having felt his loss like a man, he resolved to show he could bear it like one; and, having declared he had rather have lost a cask of rum or brandy, betook himself to threshing at backgammon with the Portuguese friar, in which innocent amusement they had passed about twothirds of their time.

6. But as I have, perhaps, a little too wantonly endeavored to raise the tender passions of my readers in this narrative, I should think myself unpardonable if I concluded it without giving them the satisfaction of hearing that the kitten at last recovered, to the great joy of the good captain, but to the great disappointment of some of the sailors, who asserted that the drowning a cat was the very surest way of raising a favorable wind: a supposition of which, though we have heard several plausible accounts, we will not presume to assign the true original reason. Henry Fielding.

FOR PREPARATION.-I. Where is Spithead ?-Portsmouth ?-Ryde? II. Swag'-gered (-gerd), in-hǎb'-it-ants, eon-çern', steers'-man, phrase, eon-çeiv'-ing, pos-si-bil'-i-ty, bōat'-swain (bos'n).

III. Make a list of the sailors' words and phrases in the piece (nautical language). "The drowning [of] a cat" (when "the" is used before a participle ending in ing, “of" should be used after it).

IV. Feline, slackened, sanguine, backgammon, “making a sudden tack,” "about three (o'clock) he gave up the victory," "stood in for the shore," came to an anchor," "tragical incident fell out," "making no great way," "under sail," "sails slackened," wantonly, plausible, "east end bore but little ahead of us" ("bear" means, in sailor's language, to be situated in a direction).

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V. Is this piece sober, or satirical? Is the occupation of sailors such as to make them tender, or rough, in their feelings?—careful of life, or careless of it? Would not this piece be very ludicrous to a people like the English, who are all quite familiar with the manners and habits of sailors? Note the points of contrast: Swaggering captain; bitter oaths and utmost concern at the loss of one of four cats; stopped the vessel; one of the high officers of the boat throws off his clothes, and risks his life in the sea; saves the kitten in his mouth; general despair of the life of the animal; recovery; great joy of the captain. Then a hint is thrown in at the real feeling of sailors, who believe that the drowning of a cat will bring a favorable wind. Note the mock pathetic of the description: "tragical incident,” etc.

XXVII. SUNSET ON THE BORDER.

1. Day set on Norham's castled steep,
And Tweed's fair river broad and deep,
And Cheviot's mountains lone;
The battled towers, the donjon keep,
The loop-hole grates where captives weep,
The flanking walls that round it sweep,
In yellow lustre shone.

2. The warriors on the turrets high,
Moving athwart the evening sky,

Seemed forms of giant height;
Their armor, as it caught the rays,
Flashed back again the western blaze,
In lines of dazzling light.

3. St. George's banner, broad and gay,
Now faded, as the fading ray

Less bright, and less, was flung;
The evening gale had scarce the power
To wave it on the donjon tower,

So heavily it hung.

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