pride, and we shouted out, spontaneously-" Hurra for the Yankee!" but this was high treason against the pompous English captain, and he caused us to be driven down below again, quick step.

The pretext for our cruel treatment was, that they were afraid that we should rise upon them; and this, too, in the English channel, in sight of other ships all the way, and almost under the guns of the batteries on shore; yet 1 do not know, if we had continued on board this frigate a day or two longer, that we should not have been goaded into sufficient desperation to make the attempt. Had not the treatment we received in this vessel effectually deprived us of appetite, we should have suffered from hunger; for our food was, as nearly as we could judge, about one-third of a pound of salt beef per day, and half a pound of mouldy shipbread, alive with weevils, for each man; and, in the morning, an addition of half a pint of what they called cocoa, but in which the proportion of cocoa to water was almost infinitely small. sorry to feel obliged to go into these details, for I would much rather find occasion to praise than to blame those who had charge of us during our captivity; but the treatment we received on board this ship was marked with so evident a design to oppress us, that I can conceive of no palliation for it.

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We sailed from Spithead on the afternoon of the 26th of September, and arrived at Plymouth three days after. In going into the harbor, we struck upon an unfinished part of the breakwater, but we got off in a little while without material injury. But the event was not without danger to us in the hold; for the frigate careened over to one side, and the water-casks of the upper tier gave way, and came smashing down among us-so that we had to dodge hither and thither to avoid them. Luckily, a few bruised shins were the only consequence.

In the evening, we were removed from the Sybille, and were put on board the Van Tromp, an old 64 gun-ship, used as a sheer-hulk. Whether by mistake, or with fraudulent intention, we were reported to the officer of the sheer-hulk by the purser of the Sybille, as being victualled for the next day; and we had nothing to eat on board the

Van Tromp, so that we were obliged to start on our travels the next morning with empty and hungry stomachs.

The next morning, we were taken on shore in the transport boats, and landed at that part of Plymouth called Hamoaz, where we found one or two companies of soldiers, who were to escort us on our inland journey. From some cause or other, we were detained on the mole an hour or more, although impatient to move, and to know the worst of it. At last the word was given to march; the soldiers shouldered arms; the music struck up a lively tune, and away we trudged, as ther-beaten, dirty-looking a crew as ever paraded on the soil of " merry England”—Sir John Falstaff's ragged regiment not excepted. Our tramp may have shaken the dust of the Sybille from our feet, but it could not dislodge its mud from our tattered habiliments and tangled elfin locks; it was too firmly imbedded, and required many days' purification in the bathing-pond of Dartmoor before we got rid of it.

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The spectacle could not, I presume, be a rare one to the people of Plymouth; yet it seemed to be one of great interest to them-if we could judge from the crowds gathered together to view us as we passed along.Docks, grog-shops, and ale-houses sent forth their tenants to see us; and, early as it was in the day, the sailors were carousing in the grog-shops, and the noise of revelry and debauch resounded from within their walls. The people were civil enough; they did not insult us, either by language or gesture; and some, I thought, seemed to eye us with a look of compassion.

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Before we started, we were rounded by men, women and children, offering cakes, and fruit, and ale for sale; and those of our company who had any money had thus an opportunity of breaking their fast.

Most of us left Plymouth with craving appetites, which the luxury of breathing the fresh air had very much sharpened, but with the comfortable prospect of marching 16 or 18 miles before we could get any thing to eat; and our legs were so much cramped by our sitting posture in the dungeon of the Sybille, that we could not walk without considerable pain. The officer of the guard was not disposed to make

much allowance for these circumstances, but caused the soldiers to goad the poor laggers with the points of their sharp bayonets, which they found to be admirable promoters of motion. Now and then some poor fellow was found to be utterly unable to continue the journey on foot, notwithstanding these army surgeons were faithful and diligent in the application of their specifics; and he was then pitched into the baggage carts.

At length we arrived at a small village some eight or ten miles from Plymouth, where the soldiers who had guarded us thus far left us, and a detachment from Dartmoor took us in charge. The day was wearing away, the soldiers were impatient, and we were hungry and tired; so we started off again over the muddy highway, up this most bleak and sterile moor. It had been up hill work for us before, but we were now going up hill in good earnest. It was up hill as far as the eye could see; and not a blade of grass, nor the remnants of one, not an object which appeared to be susceptible of cultivation, could be seen. It was all bleak, barren, desolate. We had passed hitherto through a highway, on either side of which were fields, which although the harvest was gathered, bore marks of high cultivation; but now all was changed to sterility.

On our journey, hitherto, we had met a number of market women who were going to, or returning from Plymouth. We were objects of great curiosity to them; and they upbraided us in their Devonshire patois, with being renegade Englishmen and traitors, and predicted that they should shortly have the pleasure of seeing us all hung. It was in vain to protest that we were Americans; they would not believe it; they could not conceive how, being Yankees, we had white skins and talked the language, as one of them said, "almost as gud as we do."—"No! no! there is but one Yankee among ye all."-" And which is he?" inquired one of our number. "There he is," said she, pointing to a black man, a native of one of the West India islands, who spoke English very imperfectly.

To show the utter weariness of most of our party, I will relate a simple fact:

One of my messmates had on a very good overcoat, or pea-jacket, when we started from Plymouth, but we had not proceeded far, before he found it irksome to wear it. He accordingly took it off and bore it on his arm, for some distance, when, finding himself unable to carry it farther, he hired a companion to bear it for him. This one soon became tired of it, and relinquished his bargain, and he then endeavored, in vain, to hire some one else. He then offered to make a present of it to me, and although in my state of destitution, I eagerly coveted it, yet I had as much as I could do to drag my legs along, and I refused it. After endeavoring in vain to give it away, he, in desperation, threw it down by the road side, when it was picked up by a soldier and tossed into the baggage carts when they came along. It was restored to him in prison.

At last, after a weary journey of 16 miles, we came to a straggling village called Princetown, which is but a little distance from the prisons, and the inhabitants of which were, in some way or other, dependent on them for support. It was called Princetown in honor of the Prince Regent, afterwards George IV., who was the owner of this moor. Here we halted for a few minutes, and then resumed our march.

It was night when we had succeeded in crawling over this tedious road, and had arrived at the depot. The baggage carts had not yet come up; so we were all huddled into an empty prison, without any change of raiment, and without any bedding, and the keys turned upon us. Presently we had some pickled fish, and some bread and water sent in; and never shall I forget with what avidity we seized upon them, how we rolled the sweet morsels into our mouths, and how we washed them down in copious draughts of pure water. Never, never, till my dying day, shall I forget it; for it was the sweetest repast I ever partook of. Having thus broken, what to many of us was a thirty hour's fast, we laid ourselves down in our wet and muddy clothes. on the cold stone floor, and soon forgot our weariness, and wretchedness, ir sleep.

I was aroused by the turnkey opening the ponderous doors of our prisonhouse, and by his harsh command, to "tumble up and turn out." We were turned out into the yard, where we found a number of prison officials waiting for us. Each man was measured, and his height recorded in a book; he was critically examined, and his face peered into to discover any mark by which he might be distinguished; this, and his complexion, were likewise recorded. He was interrogated as to his age, place of nativity, the vessel he was captured in, and the station he filled on board. His answers to these questions were set down against his name. We had a worthy Irishman of our company; and when asked, where he was born, he answered, “Ould Ireland, sir. I'll niver deny me counthry; but I've me American natchuralization papers about me."-" Your naturalization papers will not serve you," said the clerk; "you will be hung for a rebel, you Irish scoundrel."-"Och botheration,' said pat, "and bad luck to ye, the hemp isn't sown yet, that'll make me last convulsion," and off he went laughing.

He was never afterwards molested. I never heard of but one instance of the absurd extremity of the law being executed on any British subject captured in an American vessel; though no doubt there were a great many so captured. This was a young, likely, and interesting man, named (I believe) James Wurburton. He was one of a prize crew, which was put on

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While cruizing in the Frolic, we captured a small sloop, belonging to St. Vincents, but not being of much value, we released her. We enlisted out of her a young Englishman, about seventeen years of age; he had never been in the United States, and enlisted on board of us on account of the cruel treatment he received from the captain of the sloop. We did not put him on the schooner-roll, for fear of accident: and when captured, we reported him as a prisoner. When we arrived at Barbadoes, the sloop was there, and the captain came on board the Heron and complained of the young man. was arrested as a traitor, put in irons, and sent on board the admiral's ship. His trial took place in a short time after, and we were afraid that he would be hung, and felt much interested in his fate, as he was a very amiable young man. On his trial, however, one or two English man-of war's men went before the court and swore that they knew the lad to be an American, having boarded at his mother's house, in Norfolk, Virginia, when he was Я mere child. He was acquitted, and enlisted on board of one of the ships. We always supposed that this story was connived at by the English officers to save the youth from being hung.

I had a neighbor while in prison, who frequently corresponded with his parents in some part of England, and as all letters had to go and come unsealed through the hands of the commander of

the depot, he must have known of the relationship; but the man was always treated as an American citizen-(I be lieve he was a naturalized one,) and was sent to the United States with the rest, after the peace.

Some twenty-five years, or more, prior to my arrival at the depot, there had lived in Salem a young man, an only son of one of its most respectable inhabitants. His father, who was a ship-master, had educated him to his own profession; and being a young man of more than ordinary talents and great energy of character, his prospects in life were of the most promising nature. About the period above mentioned, he went on a voyage to France, and, from some cause or other, he left the vessel, and ceased from all correspondence with his connections. Time wore on, and nothing was heard of J. B., till about the beginning of the present century, when the frigate Essex was fitting, at Salem, for her first cruise, a man of her crew claimed to be the long-absent J. B. B. had a large circle of friends and acquaintances, and the circumstance becoming known, many went to see him. He called them all by their names; related many circumstances of their condition; spoke of the incidents of their former acquaintance, and succeeded in convincing many that he was the veritable J. B.; and even his parents, who at first doubted, had begun to believe that this was their long-lost son.

A man, who had been the most intimate friend of B. when they were boys, and who had continued the intimacy up to the time of his departure, went on board the ship, and a gentleman who was present, has related to me the circumstances of the interview. He says that, when this person first made his appearance, the pretender said, "There comes -," naming him correctly; but that he did not appear to be desirous to meet him. Presently, how ever, the person accosted him, and asked him if he was J. B.; and on his reply that he was, he said to him-"If you are J. B. you have a particular mark, (naming it,) on your right foot." The pretender pulled off his shoe and displayed the true mark. The gentleman then said, "J. B. had a certain device, with certain initials, (naming them,) tattoed with Indian ink on his

right arm." The pretender, B., immediately pulled up his sleeve and displayed the device and initials. Still there was something suspicious in the man, and many doubted if he was the true one; and the circumstance made no little stir, at the time, in our little community, and his slightest movement was watched, for something to disprove or corroborate his assertion.

One day, when the crew were getting in the shingle-ballast, a crowd was standing round, and this man took a pebble-stone and slung it, with his right hand, over a neighboring building."There!" said one," that proves that he is not J. B. ;-he was left-handed.” The man heard him and took up another pebble, and, with his left hand, threw it further than he had the other. The frigate sailed, and the man went with her, and none knew with certainty whether he was J. B. or an impostor; but the opinion settled down into the latter supposition.

More time passed away, and nothing futher was heard of B. or his counterfeit. The morning when we were interrogated and recorded, as I have described, a crowd was gathered round, as usual, to see the new comers; and after I had answered to my name, which was called in an audible voice by the clerk, and had been inspected, I was accosted by a man-a rough, weather-beaten and care-worn sailor, bearing the marks of premature old agewith the question, if my father was

, and my mother ―, naming them correctly. On my answering in the affirmative, he asked me if I had ever beard them speak of J. B. I told him that I had heard them both speak of him as a mutual acquaintance, and particulary in relation to the man on board the Essex. He said that he had heard of that circumstance, but that the man was an impostor, as he himself was the veritable J. B., and had not been in Salem for more than a quarter of a century. He related to me his history, which was the usual one of a sailor-of ship-wrecks and impressinent, and hard fare and hard usage, but with which I shall not trouble the reader.

I saw him again, occasionally while there; but did not know whether he was the true man or the impostor, until after my return home. Some time