we did go a-head, in the very teeth of the gale, and considered the danger over, though our paddle-wheels were still in a crippled state.

ness.

What a strange compound of vanity and selfishness we poor, tempest-tossed mortals are made of; by the starting of a plank, or the failing of a rivet, we may be plunged beneath the boiling waves, and sleep, cheek by jowl, stoker by captain, first-class passenger with greasy butcher, for ever. Notwithstanding all these sad reflections, there is a great deal of grumbling and ill feeling stirred up among us, when the thirdclass passengers, who mess with the first and second classes, are forced to evacuate their berths forward by leakage, and share the cabins and state-rooms of the happy dogs who have hitherto enjoyed single blessedI escape from the honour of being saddled with a damp passenger through a nail-hole, a small leakage rendering the upper berth untenable. But loud words pass between a greasy Israelite and a fastidious West Indian, while old Here-we-go is at loggerheads with a bear-headed blue-nose-certes the blue-nose took up his quarters chez Here-we-go rather unceremoniously, and threw his saddle-bags into that gentleman's berth without leave or licence. Herewe-go jumped up in a rage, threw the saddle-bags down the hatchway, shook his fist in the blue-nose's face, ran down to the saloon, laid the whole case before the captain, snapped his fingers, spoke of law and logic. The captain, distracted enough already, answered testily; Here-we-go retorted uncourteously; and it is "a very pretty quarrel as it stands."

As the storm abates the cold increases, and we are getting into higher latitudes. Having all our Northing to do yet, the want of stoves in the saloon is keenly

felt, and we have only to stamp about the decks, blowing our fingers to keep up the natural heat. It is to the absence of stoves that I attribute the pugnacious spirit which seems to gain ground amongst us with frightful rapidity. The blue-nose (who, by the way, for a reserved tee-totaller of Scottish extraction, seems to blunder into scrapes faster than any man on board) this gentleman did dare to twit the sanguine sympathizer upon his antipathy to pork, and to the carving sucking pig; but the sympathizer took him in hand sur le champ; an angry altercation ensued-the words Jew, quack, Scot, renegade, were bandied backwards and forwards, till the sympathizer, turning up his coat cuffs, offered to crack the blue-nose's neck for the good of society. This generous offer the bluenose declined, and shrunk back from the tug of war with a very bad grace. This day, after dinner, coffee is refused by the steward. The French and Germans raise a great clamour, much jabbering and bombast, till the steward, a foppish prig, makes his appearance, and studiously arranging his ambrosial curls, tells the French they cannot have any more coffee after dinner. Had a bomb-shell fallen on the table before them, it could not have created a greater outcry. They sprung up, and rushed on deck with a whirlwind of sacres ! quel horreur! betise! sottise! c'est epouvantable! detestable! incroyable! sacre! sacre! Thus the French, having ramped about, and expended their violence upon the winds, calmly listen to the captain, who says that the steward is in fault, and they shall have coffee as usual in future. Bravo! bravissimo! c'est tres bien! c'est bien! bon! bon! bon! vive la café! vive le capitain! A violin scraper makes his appearance, our trumpeter joins him, and in five minutes French, Germans, and

Italians go capering and capricoling about the slippery decks, to Strauss's bal Raccatin galop, mingled with O'Keefe's hornpipe. Vive la bagatelle!

Crossing the Banks, the cold still increasing, water frozen in our water-bottles, the ship's bows and forecastle a mass of glittering ice, several sailors ailing, one frost-bitten in the fingers; we are bound for Halifax now. The Baltimore lawyer and others are seen whisking about the state rooms and saloon, with sheets of writing-paper in their hands, and pens behind their ears, or mysteriously conferring together in little knots; the result of their lucubrations and consultations is soon made manifest, and the passengers being mustered in the saloon, the Baltimorean takes leave to read an address from the passengers on board the British Queen to the captain, congratulating him, &c.; upon which another seedy individual-whose face we have not seen since the storm began, and now glides about the deck, recording the doings of the young Italian count, with whom he seems anxious to scrape a close acquaintance-" Monsieur le Count is skipping about! Monsieur le Count, he is dancing like ourselves! Monsieur le Count is quite a sailor!" all this marvellous intelligence is bleated about by this bleaklooking individual-who now thrusts himself forward, and reads a proposal that a subscription be forthwith entered into a purse raised-a few pounds subscribed by the passengers-to purchase a small testimonial, a piece of plate, for the captain. This proposal, emanating from such a source, is not as heartily responded to as that of the Baltimore lawyer; however, the paper was laid on the table with a solicitation for signatures. The wording of the address is the next knotty point, the quaker objecting to flattery in toto, others think

ing the address too long, others thinking it premature ; and in the midst of the debate, Mr. Jonathan Wild rises with his child in his arms, and reads a letter which he has penned, to the company, the proprietors of the British Queen. He began by stating a number of grievances; that he had paid upwards of one hundred pounds for his state room, and should have been treated with more respect; that he had been insulted by the captain, who threatened to put him in irons if he did not behave himself; appeals to the passengers if his conduct has not been that of a gentleman, requests their signatures to his letter, and sets his child on the table while he hands the letter to one of the passengers. The Baltimore lawyer desires Jonathan Wild to take his child out of the light, and a very edifying, though not very elegant, conversation ensues; the lawyer calling Jonathan Wild a disgrace to humanity and his nation, and a pest to society, while the other is not slow to return the compliment, old slave driving bachelor; mean, fawning lickshoe, shy, sly, slippery, canting hypocrite, being the chosen words and epithets lavished upon the lawyer. Meantime a French New Yorker, with a face like a hungry catamount, springs upon Jonathan; the child is snatched up from the table, and is saved from being crushed between the grappling foes. The Frenchman's assault is uncalled for, and Jonathan, if he is to be kicked, must not be kicked by a Frenchman. His unfortunate wife makes her entrée with the screaming infant, and her words and sobs fall like oil upon the angry waves. Jonathan is advised to retire, but he refuses; the captain is sent for, and he says that if the rest of the passengers desire it, Jonathan Wild shall be put in irons. Most votes carry; the French are anxious for the

example to be made, but the lately abused Baltimore lawyer, to his credit be it spoken, enlists the Americans on his side, and Jonathan is saved from the clutch of the quartermaster, and permitted to return to his cabin. Meantime our steward has been fighting behind the scenes, and received a tremendous black eye from an exasperated waiter, who is sent forward in irons.

The French and Germans have got up a separate address to the captain, lauding his conduct and courage to the skies, but condemning the conduct of the steward, who has treated them with great impertinence. This letter is handed round after dinner for signature, and disappears very mysteriously at that end of the table where the ancient people are seated. The French are furious, and this will grow a brawl anon. Several English and Americans now make common cause with the French, and the letter is angrily demanded, and it is traced to the aforesaid quarter. The steward has been seen drinking with Bacchus, Silenus, Jonathan Wild, the sanguine sympathizer, and his clique of ancient people, and being on our legs, a spirited and plucky little German roundly charges the sympathizer, in his tiger-skin waistcoat, with having made away with the letter. That great philanthropist answers in brief and most unparliamentary language; he tucks up his coat cuffs, doubles his fists, and strikes out at the little German, who takes up an imposing position also; but Jonathan Wild throws himself between the pugilists; flinging his sow-wester at one and his mackintosh at the other, he offers to fight them both; while another German and the steward are at loggerheads to leeward, shaking their fists in each other's faces, and threatening to wring each other's noses off. In the midst of this party of