1M 'V V L I B RAHY OF THE UN IVER.SITY Of ILLINOIS Se55c v. I Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign http://www.archive.org/details/charlesvernontra01seni CHARLES VERNON. VOL. I. London : Spottiswoode and Shaw, New-street-Square. CHARLES VERNON: a transatlantic 2Tale. BT LIEUT.-COL. HENRY SENIOR. LN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: PRINTED FOR LONGMAN, BROWN, GREEN, & LONGMANS, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 1849. ^4 13 PREFACE The greater part of this Narrative was written thirty years ago, while the Author was serving in Jamaica. The unfinished manuscript was then thrown aside and forgotten until last winter, when he found amusement and occupation in reading it over and completing the story. Many of the descriptions of West Indian habits and manners are consequently no longer accurate portraits, for the social condition of these colonies has since very much improved, and negro slavery, in the English settlements, has happily become a matter of history. Glassdrumraond, Ireland, 1848. CHARLES VERNON CHAPTER I. "Land! Land on the starboard bow!" shouted out the seaman who had ascended the mast-head, in hopes of obtaining a bottle of rum, the usual reward to the sailor who, on a transatlantic voyage, first discovers the shore. After satisfying himself as to the truth of this report, the master of the merchant ship Tiger descended to the cabin to announce the news to his passengers ; but as it was only six in the morning, and the short tropical twilight had but just given way to the sun, he found them all sleeping in their narrow berths round the state cabin. On being roused from their dreams of past scenes in Europe by the hoarse voice of the captain proclaiming " Jamaica is VOL. I. B 2 CHARLES VERNON. in sight,' 7 a general scramble to reach the deck ensued, the men rushing up half-dressed, and wrapped in their great coats ; and the ladies shrouded in their cloaks, to the amusement of the crew on deck. Among these passengers was Captain Charles Vernon, a young man of five- and-t wen ty, who, after serving five years in the Peninsular army, had, within the last three months, on the death of a Mr. Edwards, a distant relation, succeeded to two properties in Jamaica ; a sugar estate called Cane Grove, and a coffee plantation called Mount Edwards. He was among the first to reach the deck, and to join in the general question of " Where's the land?" After looking disappointedly on nothing but an expanse of water, " Look a little over the starboard bow, sir," said the man at the helm. " I see nothing !" " Do you not," said the captain of the ship, " see a faint outline just rising on the hori- zon?" " And is that Jamaica ! Yes, I perceive it now, like a bank of clouds rising from the sea and reflecting the sun." Disappointed at not CHARLES VERNON. 3 seeing more, the other passengers returned to their cabins to rectify the omissions of their dress, breakfast, and prepare for shore. Vernon remained on deck, watching the island rapidly emerge from the ocean. The canvass of the vessel was filled by a steady trade-wind, to which she gently leant her broadside, and dividing each wave as she met it, neared the shore at the rate of seven knots an hour. It was the eastern extremity of Jamaica, and as the ship's course was for Port Royal, she ran down the south coast close into the land. Towering aloft were the misty tops of the Blue Mountains, which, as a back-bone, run from the east to the west of the island in one central ridge. Branching off from these, smaller chains of hills extend towards the sea, where they terminate in abrupt cliffs hanging over the water, — wooded to the very edge of the preci- pice, and giving rise to many rivulets, which rush in a succession of waterfalls from their very sources. Between these lines of hills are luxu- riant valleys, many of them then cultivated, and green with sugar plantations, — others still un- b 2 CHARLES VERNON cleared from the thick woods which cover every spot of uncultivated laud. The stately houses of the planters were easily distinguished, but the small huts of the negroes were lost in groves of cocoa nut and mango trees, which always surround their clustering habitations. Vernon felt his admiration heightened al- most to awe as he gazed on the dark summits of the Blue Mountains, elevated 7000 feet above him, their broken masses presenting the outline of the Alps, clothed with the verdure and forests of the tropics. And the rich val- leys spread between the hills, as he passed them in rapid succession, seemed each a sepa- rate paradise. " Surely here," thought he, " where Nature's bounty seems spontaneously to supply every natural want, — in a climate, too, which renders those wants few, — surely here must be found a greater share of happiness than usually falls to the peasant's lot." His reverie was interrupted by the captain of the ship, who, putting a spy-glass into his hand, told him that he would show him part of his property, and pointed out a white object CHARLES VERNON* 5 high up on one of the central ridges, which he said was Mount Edwards' great house. " I see," answered he, " the house, but can discover no trace of cultivation around it ; it seems buried in forest." " No ; at this distance you cannot discover the coffee pieces, the coffee bushes are planted so thick, and their leaves are much the same colour as the rest of the woods ; but there is some of the finest coffee there that T have seen in the whole country. I ought to know the pro- perty well, as also your sugar estate, Cane Garden, on the other side of the island : many a merry evening I have spent at both with poor Mr. Edwards. He used to keep them in capital order ; but I fear within the last three years, since he left them, they have not been managed as well as they used to be." " How so, captain ? " " Why, on my last voyage I was at Cane Garden to hasten your lazy overseer there in shipping his produce. He kept the Tiger waiting a whole week in Anatto Bay for fifty hogsheads of sugar and ten puncheons of rum, which, if old Edwards had been alive, he would b 3 CHARLES VERNON. have had on board in two days. But I must now go and see the cable got ready, for we shall be at anchor in an hour. Holloa! for- ward there ! all hands heave up the cable and range it ; here comes the pilot. Jack, heave out a rope to the canoe there." Up came the pilot, a stout young African, slave to a master pilot at Port Royal, who seldom went out himself. He took his post at the helm to steer the vessel through the Keys, several dangerous rocks lying outside of the palisadoes, or long peninsula forming the harbour of Kingston, at the extremity of which is situated the town of Port Royal. Between this peninsula and the Keys the vessel has to pass. She soon arrived opposite to Port Royal, and rounding the point of land on which stands Fort Charles, the principal defence of the harbour, she steered safely through the narrow part of the passage navigable for ships of large tonnage, and dropped her anchor be- tween the artillery barracks at Port Royal and the flag- ship. The anxiety of the passengers to get on shore equalled their former eagerness to see CHARLES VERNON. 7 it. All crowded round the captain, impor- tuning him for his boat to go to Kingston. He, however, put them on shore at Port Royal, Kingston being seven miles up the harbour, and too long a row for European sailors. From Port Royal there are wherries, or large flat-battomed open boats, with standing masts, schooner rigged, constantly plying to Kingston and back. In one of these Vernon embarked, or was rather carried ; for the competition being great, and the negro boatmen not ceremonious, a stout negro actually lifted him from the pier-head, and deposited him safely in his wherry, and turned round to the disappointed crews of the others as soon as he had pushed off the boat, exclaiming, with exultation, " Hi, bo ! massa go with me ; massa know the Nancy good wherry." It was three o'clock in the afternoon when Vernon left his ship, and before four he arrived at the wherry- wharf at Kingston, the sea breeze impelling the boat, which carried a great deal of canvass, at the rate of eight miles an hour. b 4 8 CHARLES VERNON. The objects which presented themselves during this short passage were all interesting. Before him was the town of Kingston, screened a good deal by shipping, extending along the wharves in front, over the masts of which rose the red shingled roofs of the town, covering a space of about a mile and a half from east to west, and about half a mile from north to south. Im- mediately to the east of the town was the steep turtle-back-shaped hill, called Long Mountain, and behind it rose a succession of ridges, from the heights of Liguanea to the Blue Mountains. Right opposite the town of Port Royal, the small fort, the Apostle's Battery, showed itself on the barren hill to the right of Port Hen- derson. Further on was the now deserted post of Passage Fort, the landing-place of the small force under Colonel Venables, which captured Jamaica in the Commonwealth. Between Passage Fort and Kingston the long line of lowland was broken by the white battlements of Fort Augusta, projecting far into the sea. On landing at the Kingston wherry- wharf, Vernon inquired the way to the house of CHARLES VERNON. 9 Mr. M'Kenzie, a merchant, who had for some years acted as attorney for Mr. Edwards. He was told that it was too far for a walk. " Why," answered he, " the length of the whole town is not more than two miles ; surely it can he no walk." " No, massa, no very far ; but sun too hot for Buckra to pull foot. Make you sick, massa : me go for fetch chaise for you." " No, no," said Vernon ; " come, my good fellow, and show me the way." The rays of the tropical sun were yet al- most perpendicular, and reflected from the white sandy soil in which the town of King- ston stands (the streets not being paved). Vernon soon repented not having taken his guide's advice. The long, narrow, ill-built lanes, which compose the lower part of the town, shut out the sea-breeze, and the glare and heat reflected from the ground became almost in- tolerable. The first two or three streets next the wherry-wharf seemed rather a part of a Spanish than of an English colony, the shop- doors being covered with Spanish inscriptions, b 5 10 CHARLES VERNON. and here and there a large swinging sign, exhibiting, on the one side, the words " Posada Nueva," and on the other was decorated with the figure of a Spanish-American-Republican patriot, armed cap-a-pie, a sword in his hand, and a cigar in his mouth. Farther on, the streets were wider, and built so as to admit the sea-breeze ; and an open irregular paved arcade ran along the front of the houses in some of the streets, affording the relief of its shade to the few white inhabitants of the place who were forced to walk. The negro population almost rivalled in numbers, though not in activity, some of the busiest parts of London. Crowds stood list- ening to some energetic talker or quarreller, for almost all disputes are there adjusted by the one party outscolding the other at the utmost pitch of the voice. At each corner of the street was a pump, and round it was an assemblage of ten or twenty half-naked women, carrying buckets and jars, some vociferating in a gene- ral contest to get first to the water, the others either singing, laughing, or talking most loudly. All was noise, confusion, and merri- CHARLES VERNON. 1 1 ment. Sometimes the crowd was broken by a sort of gig, with a fixed leather top to it, called a kittireen ; and from time to time showily-dressed coloured women, of all shades, from the dark mulatto to the fair Mustifina, attracted Vernon's attention by their fine tall persons, erect walk, and, amongst the fairer shades, strikingly handsome countenances. Exhausted with the heat, and stunned with the multitude of strange noises, he at length reached M'Kenzie's counting-house, or, as his guide called it, his store. On entering a spacious cool room on the first floor, he was told by one of the clerks that Mr. M'Kenzie had left the counting-house for the day, and returned to his house in the upper part of the town. Thither, therefore, he proceeded, cross- ing in his road the parade, the only square in the town, so called from its being used for the island militia's musters. The front door of Mr. M'Kenzie's house was wide open, and had neither knocker nor bell ; in, therefore, he went, and found him- self in a large empty hall, the mahogany flooring of which, more polished than an old b 6 12 CHARLES VERNON. maid's favourite dining-table in England, reflected his tall figure as he slid and stumbled along, leaving the print of his dusty boots at every step. In vain he called, " Mr. M'Ken- zie's servant ! " — " Waiter ! " — " Halloa ! M nobody appeared, and the whole lower part of the house seemed deserted. At length, as his patience grew exhausted, a female figure made its appearance, perplexing Vernon how to address her, whether as a servant or as a mistress. She was splendidly attired in a fashionably-made silk dress, and covered with ornaments, having a large pearl, two gold, and a coral necklace suspended round her ample neck, ear-rings, and bracelets to match, and her long shining black hair confined behind by a golden comb. With large ani- mated black eyes, and a clear brown com- plexion, she showed the remains of a very fine woman, now past the meridian. She was, in fact, Miss Betsy Green, Mr. M'Kenzie's quadroon housekeeper. " What did you please to want, sir ? " said she, with a tone of great familiarity. " I want to see Mr. M'Kenzie. I called at CHARLES VERXON. 18 his office, but was told that he had gone home." " Yes — he has come home, sir, but you cannot see him now ; he is gone to lie down, and he never likes to be disturbed." " He is not sick, I hope ; is he ? " " No, sir — not sick ; but he always goes to bed when he returns from the store, and then he is very cross if he is disturbed." " But, ma'am, I am just come from England purposely to see him, and for once I think you may venture to wake him, and tell him Mr. Vernon from England wishes to see him." " Very well ; — but / won't do it though. Here ! " exclaimed she, going to the back door which opened into the negro yard, " some- body ! — somebody ! " and, roused by her call, a negro man-servant appeared. " Here, Cupid, go and tell your master that Mr. Vernon, the gentleman he expects from England, is arrived, and wants to see him immediately." " Hi ! " said the astonished negro, " missis no know massa asleep ! " " Yes, Cupid, but you must wake him." 14 CHARLES VERNON. " Missis, me 'fraid ! " " Go, sir, this instant ! " said Miss Betsy, with a voice of authority ; and Cupid trem- blingly obeyed her commands. In a few minutes down came the master, rubbing his red eyes, in his dressing-gown and slippers, and evidently just roused from his siesta ; with a swollen figure, and a purple visage, he looked like a large sponge soaked in Madeira. Although apparently in no very good hu- mour at having his rest disturbed, he wel- comed his guest to Jamaica, offering his hand with the air of a patron, and requested the pleasure of his company to dinner that day, and promised to procure for him a comfortable bed at Betsy Hall's lodging-house, close by. It was now six o'clock in the evening, and Vernon had hardly time to change his dress before Cupid summoned him to dinner. In a sort of open piazza or balcony on the drawing- room floor he found the company assembled, consisting of seven gentlemen, besides M'Ken- zie, and a younger partner in his house, a Mr. Fraser. To each of these Vernon was CHARLES VERNON. 15 formally introduced, receiving from most of them a slight bow on his first title being named as captain in a foot regiment, and a hand cordially extended on its being added, proprietor of Cane Garden and Mount Ed- wards. The dinner-bell soon summoned the party to the dining-room, to which they descended after a more than usually troublesome hitch at the door-way, to establish precedence. Though spread to a greater length than a party of ten required for sitting room, the table was per- fectly crowded with dishes : rich gravy and turtle soups filled each end ; these gave place in due course to a large Jew fish, stewed in port wine, at the head, and a savoury Cali- peevar fish at the bottom ; which, in turn, were superseded by a quarter of lamb, and a sirloin of beef; a turkey and a ham flanked a roasted pig in the centre ; while stews, harri- coes and curries, roast and boiled chickens, geese, and ducks filled every vacant space. Decanters of Madeira, slightly cooled by being- cased in wet linen bags, were placed between the smests ; while bottles of Hock, Vinde- 16 CHARLES VERNON. grave, and Champagne were kept ready on the side-hoard, huried in small tubs, between layers of solid ice. " Come, Captain Vernon," said M'Kenzie, " we'll drink your health and welcome to the island in a glass of Champagne. — Richard, hand round a bottle that has been long enough in the ice." The wine, though half-frozen, still sparkled in the glass, and to Vernon's burning palate seemed to be nectar fit only for the gods. " Where does the ice come from," said he, " which renders your liquors so deliciously cool ? " " Oh, we have whole cargoes of it from Canada." " But how can it be preserved in this cli- mate?" " Why it is brought in large blocks of four or five feet square, and these piled together in an ice-house, from which the air is carefully excluded, produce a kind of frozen atmosphere of their own ; so that the waste is very small. The speculator who first introduced it sells it at a very moderate rate ; he says indeed that he CHARLES VERNON. 17 loses by it ; but he is kind enough to continue supplying us with fresh ship-loads. But the room is getting too warm. Boy, pull the punka ! " A sort of swinging winnow, suspended from the top of the ceiling, was now set in motion by a string and pulley attached to it, worked by a servant in the next room. And this enormous fan swinging backwards and forwards sent down so strong a current of air, that the candles were forced to be removed to the sideboard. A second course of teal, ringtail pigeons, and land-crabs, with jellies and pastry, wound up the feast ; the host telling Vernon that he was obliged to his manager at Mount Edwards for furnishing the former delicacies. And after a sitting of nearly two hours, the cloth was at length removed, and Madeira and well-iced Claret placed on the table, with a desert of pineapples, grapes, strawberries, star apples, mangoes, jack fruit, oranges, sweet-sops, and melons. During dinner the company had been silently intent on the business before them ; but now conversation and the host's excellent wine both circulated briskly. In a circle chiefly 18 CHARLES VERNON. mercantile, colonial affairs and politics were the principal topics. Hopes of the success of the revolutionary cause in South America (the trade with which from Kingston was then very considerable) were ardently expressed. And all joined in expressing sympathy for the op- pressed natives, and detestation of the tyranny of the Spaniards. " It is a noble cause," said M'Kenzie, "and I have patronised it, and embarked much money in it, by sending cargoes of provisions into Carthagena, not so much because I think it a lucrative speculation, — though those that evaded the blockade sold well, — as from my love of the cause of freedom. Gentlemen ! we will drink a bumper to the success of the patriot cause, and more especially the brave garrison at Car- thagena, and that of freedom and liberty all over the world." The wicked machinations of their enemies, Mr. Wilberforce and Mr. Brougham, and the dreaded registration bill, were next canvassed ; and deep indignation was expressed at the gross injustice of the English government in CHARLES VERNON. 19 presuming to interfere between them and their private property, the negroes. " Did you ever read anything so infamous as the paper on West India affairs in the last Edinburgh Review ? " said M'Kenzie. " Do you suppose if these wild ideas become dis- seminated amongst our negroes, (and dissem- nated they will be if their rabid Methodist preachers get hold of it,) that the colony will be able to exist ? For my part, I think our slaves are fast getting dangerous notions into their heads ; several have of late attempted to lay before me formal complaints of my over- seers." " Which of course you did not listen to," observed one of the party. " Oh! certainly not. 1 soon settled that point by ordering the rascals to the workhouse, where the whip should put them in a better humour. But what is Brougham's motive ? what does he get by slandering us ? Surely what passes here is nothing to him, even if any of his representations were true." Vernon, who had been early told and firmly 20 CHARLES VERNON. believed that the negroes were most kindly treated, listened without entering into the dis- cussion. " And how do you like Jamaica, young gentleman ? " said old counsellor Blathwayt. " Why as yet I have not had much oppor- tunity of judging. I only landed to day ; but I was delighted with the appearance of the island as we made the land." " Yes, you saw some fine rich sugar estates about Port Morant, but nothing to those on the north coast. Do you intend making any stay here ? " " I have two years' leave of absence, which I shall not exceed if I can help it." " But surely, sir, succeeding to such fine properties, you don't intend to go on soldiering, do you ? Believe me, you will be more at your ease here than vagabondising with the rest of them to get your brains knocked out." " But perhaps 1 may prefer," said Vernon, " running the risk of getting knocked on the head to your quiet life here." " Oh, there is no accounting for tastes," replied the counsellor ; " but I prophecy that CHARLES VERNON - . 21 you will stay longer than you expect — you will find you like the island the better the longer you remain. I have found it so. I have been here forty years, and I would not on any account leave my comforts for the cold, foggy, unwholesome climate of England." " Have you much society in Kingston ? " asked Vernon. " Not so good as I recollect twenty years ago, when people all lived on their estates instead of going away to England. Very large parties are now more scarce ; but then we meet at little snug family dinners like this pretty often." " Nay," replied Vernon, " I should rather call this entertainment a feast than a family party : but what female society is there in Kingston ? " " Oh, white ladies I suppose you mean. Why I know little of them myself; but if you choose, you may see them all paraded for your inspection to-morrow evening, when one of our monthly subscription assemblies takes place : I can give you a ticket, for I subscribe, though I never go. You '11 see but a poor 22 CHARLES VERNON. display : we have very few married men, and most of these unlucky fellows have managed to persuade their wives to go to England to superintend the education of their daughters. White women cannot stand this climate. You '11 see them deadly pale, or as yellow as the jaundice." " You have really then no ladies' society here?" " Not many ladies" said the counsellor with a smile ; " but then we have the women of colour — the brown ladies, who entre nous have much finer persons, and a hundred times more animation and vivacity, than your Euro- pean women. You'll think so, I'll answer for you, as soon as you know both." " Well," said M'Kenzie, who had been listening to the conversation, " you shall judge for yourself, Captain Vernon. Go to- morrow night to the assembly. I will intro- duce you in the morning to the ladies at my friend Otway's : his daughters will be very glad to get hold of a young officer, and as they are only four in number, and you are fresh landed, it won't fatigue you too much if they expect CHARLES VERNON. 23 you to dance with them all. And they will introduce you as much as you please. The day after we will get up a quality ball for you." " A quality ball ! Pray what does that mean?" asked Vernon. " A brown dance," said M'Kenzie. " What, a ball to which mulattoes are asked?" " Yes, the mulatto women ; the coloured men are of course excluded. My housekeeper shall superintend and take care that it shall be very select." Coffee came, and the party broke up. Cupid showed Vernon the way to his lodging- house, where the fatigues of the day and the luxury of a comfortable bed on shore, together with a more than usual quantity of wine, soon put him to sleep. CHARLES VERNON. CHAPTER II. The next morning, after a Jamaica break- fast, resembling, from the variety of its dishes, an English dinner, Vernon went to Mr. M'Ken- zie's counting-house, where he was occupied the whole forenoon in looking over the ac- counts of his estates. The debt on Cane Garden he found was 10,000/., and that on Mount Edwards 3000/. currency, while the annual income for many years back had been about 2,500/. a year from the sugar estate, and 1000/. a year from the coffee estate. It would therefore take five years' produce to pay off the debt, and though the merchant was quite satis- fied to let it remain, paid off Vernon saw that it ought to be ; for he was astonished at the amount of many of the charges for supplies of provisions, clothing, &c, to the estates ; charges which he suspected to be, as they really were, at least double what the same articles would have cost to a resident proprietor with the CHARLES VERNON. 25 management in his own hands. For as long as the estate was in his debt, the merchant considered the profit of extravagantly-paid sup- plies a legitimate perquisite. " And now," said he, after he had pored over the accounts till his head grew confused, " you must fulfil your promise, Mr. M'Kenzie, of introducing me to the family who are to permit me to make one of their party at the Kingston assembly." They then drove in a kittereen to Mr. Otway's house. Here they found the same difficulty to make themselves heard as Vernon had expe- rienced the day before at M'Kenzie's, proving that a morning visit was an event of too rare occurrence to be provided for. When a servant at length appeared, to their question whether Mrs. Otway and the ladies of the family were at home, he said he must go and enquire. " Ten to one," observed Mr. M'Kenzie, " they are gone to lie down. It is now three o'clock, and at that hour it is the custom to take some sleep. I always do so myself as soon as I can get away from the office." vol. i. c 26 CHARLES VERNON. " Yes, I have to apologise for waking you yesterday ; but here comes the servant back." " Massa, missis say she come down pre- sently." " I hope we did not disturb the ladies," said M'Kenzie. " Yes, massa, dem all gone to bed, but me Avake dem," said Sambo. In about half an hour they made their ap- pearance, and M'Kenzie introduced his friend as a young soldier just arrived, and anxious to show his gallantry by attending the ladies to the assembly that evening. He was gra- ciously received by the girls ; but Mrs. Otway enquired " To what regiment he belonged in the island ? " " To none," said Mr. M'Kenzie. " My friend is come out to see his estates : he is the cousin and heir to poor old Mr. Edwards, whom you knew very well, Mrs. Otway." The mother's features relaxed while she assured Mr. Vernon that she and her daughters would feel most happy to have the pleasure of his company, and requested him to dine with them that day at seven. " Mr. Otway will, I CHARLES VERNON. QTj am sure, be delighted to see a relation of his old and intimate friend poor Mr. Edwards." To fill up the remainder of the day, as Ver- non declined following the general example and going to bed, Mr. M'Kenzie offered him the use of either his curricle or saddle-horse. Vernon chose the latter, and at five o'clock, when the meridian heat began to abate, the merchant's horse, a superb grey, was brought to his lodging-house door. " Massa, take care Springer no trow you," said the groom. " Is he vicious, then ?" " Springer terrible fellow, massa," answered the negroe ; " for me massa, Massa M'Kenzie, no able to ride him ; him trow massa on de race-course last time him try, and him neber ride him since, and him quite saucy now, massa." Vernon's attention was at first employed solely in moderating the impatience of his horse ; but after having breathed himself by a canter of three miles, Springer was satisfied to allow his rider to attend to the features of the new country around him. He had taken the wind- c 2 28 CHARLES VERXOX. ward road, and had now nearly reached the foot of the Long Mountain, where it turns off, and runs along- the side of the harbour, close to the water's edge. Behind him was the ex- tensive uninteresting plain of Liguanea, studded throughout with the villas (creolice penns) of the Kingston traders. Before him, the road was confined on the left by the steep woody sides of the Long Mountain ; and on the right bordered by the harbour, its calm waters shut in by the distant isthmus of the palisadoes, and looking like an inland lake. The surface was only occasionally ruffled by the circular ripples caused by the springing of the shoals of fish as they fled before some voracious Bonito. At the farther extremity of the opposite palisadoes rose the town of Port Royal, and the huge hulls of the men-of-war stationed there, re- flected as in a looking-glass by the still water in which they were riding, appeared at the distance to be double their real size, the re- flected image being so strong as not to be distinguishable from the true object. The whole scene, though it had none of the romantic magnificence of the mountain views CHARLES VERNON. 29 from deck the day before, was still interesting to one to whom every tree, shrub, and weed was new. Crossing the clear rivulet at the naval watering-place, he passed through the noisy assemblage of washerwomen, who, standing all day nearly naked in the running water, with a bench covered with linen before them, hammer it between two boards, after the continental fashion. Half a mile further on, he arrived at Rock Fort, a small battery crossing the road, with lines from its right, extending to the harbour, and to its left reaching up to the steep impracticable sides of the Long Mountain. This small fortification, which requires therefore only a small force, would prove a troublesome obstacle to an invading enemy advancing from windward on King- ston. A fter crossing the sounding drawbridge, over which the road passes through the fort, Vernon turned his horse's head homewards. At Mrs. Otway's a party of five or six men, and about the same number of ladies, were assembled : the women arranged in a circle on and around the drawing-room sofa, wmile the c 3 30 CHARLES VERNON. men formed a separate party, and were walking up and down the open verandah. After being introduced to the master of the house, a re- spectable-looking elderly man, Vernon took his seat next the sofa, and in vain endeavoured to keep up a conversation with the beings on it, who, when they had observed that it was very hot, and very dusty, and that they expected a very full assembly that evening, came to a standstill. The announcement of dinner was therefore particularly welcome, and he took down Margaret Otway. The dinner was as profuse, and the iced wines circulated as rapidly, as at Mr. M