more of those, to whom he is going, than of of those with whom he is going. But at sea, more curiosity is excited, if only on this account, that the pleasant or unpleasant qualities of your companions are of greater importance to you, from the uncertainty how long you may be obliged to house with them. Besides, if you are countrymen, that now begins to form a distinction and a bond of brotherhood; and if of different countries, there are new incitements of conversation, more to ask and more to communicate. I found that I had interested the Danes in no common degree. I had crept into the boat on the deck and fallen asleep; but was awaked by one of them about three o'clock in the afternoon, who told me that they had been seeking me in every hole and corner, and insisted that I should join their party and drink with them. He talked English with such fluency, as left me wholly unable to account for the singular and even ludicrous incorrectness with which he spoke it. I went, and found some excellent wines and a desert of grapes with a pine apple. The Danes had christened me Doctor Teology, and dressed as I was all in black, with large shoes and black worsted stockings, I might certainly have passed very well for a Methodist missionary. However I disclaimed my title. What then may you be? A man of fortune? No!-A merchant? No!

1

A merchant's traveller? No!-A clerk? No! un Philosophe, perhaps? It was at that time in my life, in which of all possible names and characters I had the greatest disgust to that of "un Philosophe." But I was weary of being questioned, and rather than be nothing, or at best only the abstract idea of a man, I submitted by a bow, even to the aspersion implied in the word "un philosophe."-The Dane then informed me, that all in the present party were philosophers likewise. Certes we were not of the stoic school. For we drank and talked and sung, till we talked and sung all together; and then we rose and danced on the deck a set of dances, which in one sense of the word at least, were very intelligibly and appropriately intitled reels. The passengers who lay in the cabin below in all the agonies of sea-sickness, must have found our bacchanalian merriment

-a tune

Harsh and of dissonant mood for their complaint.

I thought so at the time; and (by way, I suppose, of supporting my newly assumed philosophical character) I thought too, how closely the greater number of our virtues are connected with the fear of death, and how little sympathy we bestow on pain, where there is no danger.

The two Danes were brothers. The one was a man with a clear white complexion, white

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hair, and white eye-brows, looked silly, and nothing that he uttered gave the lie to his looks. The other, whom, by way of eminence I have called THE DANE, had likewise white hair, but was much shorter than his brother, with slender limbs, and a very thin face slightly pock-fretten. This man convinced me of the justice of an old remark, that many a faithful portrait in our novels and farces has been rashly censured for an outrageous caricature, or perhaps nonentity. I had retired to my station in the boat-he came and seated himself by my side, and appeared not a little tipsy. He commenced the conversation in the most magnific style, and as a sort of pioneering to his own vanity, he flattered me with such grossness! The parasites of the old comedy were modest in the comparison. His language and accentuation were so exceedingly singular, that I determined for once in my life to take notes of a conversation. Here it follows, somewhat abridged indeed, but in all other respects as accurately as my memory permitted.

THE DANE. Vat imagination! vat language! vat vast science! and vat eyes! vat a milk-vite forehead!-O my heafen! vy, you're a Got!

ANSWER. You do me too much honour, Sir. THE DANE. O me! if you should dink I is flattering you!-No, no, no! I haf ten tousand a year-yes, ten tousand a year-yes, ten tousand pound a year! Vell-and vat is dhat? a

mere trifle! I 'ouldn't gif my sincere heart for ten times dhe money.-Yes, you're a Got! I a mere man! But, my dear friend! dhink of me, as a man! Is, is-I mean to ask you now, my dear friend-is I not very eloquent? Is I not speak English very fine?

ANSW. Most admirably! Believe me, Sir! I have seldom heard even a native talk so fluently.

THE DANE. (squeezing my hand with great vehemence) My dear friend! vat an affection and fidelity we have for each odher! But tell me, do tell me,-Is I not, now and den, speak some fault? Is I not in some wrong?

ANSW. Why, Sir! perhaps it might be observed by nice critics in the English language, that you occasionally use the word "Is" instead of "am." In our best companies we generally say I am, and not I is or Ise. Excuse me, Sir!

it is a mere trifle,

THE DANE. O!-is, is, am, am, am. yes-I know, I know.

Yes,

ANSW. I am, thou art, he is, we are, ye are, they are.

per

THE DANE, Yes, yes-I know, I knowAm, am, am, is dhe presens, and Is is dhe fectum-yes, yes-and are is dhe plusquam perfectum.

ANSW. And "Art," Sir! is---?

THE DANE. My dear friend! it is dhe plusquam perfectum, no, no-dhat is a great lie.

"Are" is the plusquam perfectum-and "art" is dhe plusquam plueperfectum-(then swinging my hand to and fro, and cocking his little bright hazle eyes at me, that danced with vanity and wine) You see, my dear friend! that I too have some lehrning.

ANSW. Learning, Sir? Who dares suspect it? Who can listen to you for a minute, who can even look at you, without perceiving the extent of it?

THE DANE. My dear friend!-(then with a would-be humble look, and in a tone of voice as if he was reasoning) I could not talk so of presens and imperfectum, and futurum and plusquamplue perfectum, and all dhat, my dear friend! without some lehrning?

ANSW. Sir! a man like you cannot talk on any subject without discovering the depth of his information.

THE DANE. Dhe grammatic Greek, my friend! ha! ha! ha! (laughing, and swinging my hand to and fro-then with a sudden transition to great solemnity) Now I will tell you, my dear friend! Dhere did happen about me vat de whole historia of Denmark record no instance about nobody else. Dhe bishop did ask me all dhe questions about all dhe religion in dhe Latin grammar. ANSW. The grammar, Sir? The language, I presume