This vessel he rigged with a single sail of enormous proportions, with the weight of which the long, low, narrow craft rocked like a cradle, even in the harbour. The astounded spectators called her La Grenouille, as signifying that she would soon seek her proper place at the bottom. Be it so,' said her owner; and presently the figure-head of a frog, splendidly painted in green and gold, appeared at the bow. Jérôme himself was from that day called Captain Grenouille, and in the course of a few years was known on the shores of the Channel by no other name.

His commission, in the meantime, had arrived; and all being ready, he filled his tarry hat with six-franc pieces, and stirring them up as he walked with his tarry hand, so as to make them discourse most eloquent music, he went from tavern to tavern to find a crew. The guests crowded round him at the enticing sound. Who is for the Grenouille?' said he; she sails this afternoon.'

'I-I-I!' cried they with one voice.

Avast, brothers! Who are you with the game leg?' 'I have only a little coolness with the government just now.'

You are a deserter?' 'Yes, Captain Grenouille.' 'Nothing more?'

Nothing more at present.'

You are an escaped prisoner?' 'Yes, captain.'

You belong to the Grenouille. And you with the down-look?'

I was in the purser's department of a government ship, and the rascals accused me'

We shall hear the story again. You are now in the purser's department of the Grenouille; but mind this, brother, that the first cipher you turn into a nine by putting a tail to it, I shall take off your head from your shoulders, and so make a cipher of you!'

This arithmetical sally was received with a roar of laughter which made the glasses jingle; and, in fine, by the time Captain Grenouille had made the tour of the taverns, a crew was collected which comprised the choicest ruffianism of the place.

That afternoon the whole population ran along the rocks to see the Grenouille leave the harbour. The sight was worth the trouble; for as she got out into rough water, she appeared to pass between two seas, like a weaver's shuttle between the threads. Nothing was visible but the mighty sail flinging its gigantic shadow upon the water, and the legs of the crew, who were squatted listlessly at the port-holes, leaning their chins on the breeches of the guns, and smoking with imperturbable gravity. The next afternoon the Grenouille returned into the harbour, towing after her an English brig loaded with sugar and tobacco.

But we have no intention to record the battles, victories, repulses, flights, and escapes of the Grenouille. Such narratives have now become nauseous, from the frequency of their appearance, and the change that has taken place in the taste of the public. Suffice it to say, that the vessel became the terror of the Channel; and her captain, notwithstanding his awkward build and low-breeding, the very Roland of privateers. It may be matter of surprise that a little fat man, with a bullethead and a great stomach, should have acquired and retained so perfect a command as was necessary for the success of the letter of marque over the most desperate crew that ever floated on blue water; but Captain Grenouille had such ways of persuasion as no human being could withstand. When he ordered, implicit and instantaneous obedience was necessary: but not because he spoke louder than usual, or had recourse to such ungentlemanly enticements as knocking recusants down with a handspike: far from it. If a voice or a hand was

raised beyond the desirable pitch, he invited the indiscreet individual to his cabin, and pouring out for him a glass of rum from his oldest bottle, addressed him in some such terms as these:- Now do, brother, I beg of you, treat me with a little more kindness. I am as true a comrade as ever a fellow had, and even now, so far from being angry, you see I am as mild as a lamb. But my dear friend, don't do so again; for it would compel me-you know it would, old chap-it would reduce me to the really unpleasant necessity of blowing out your brains with this pistol. There, it is all amicably understood between us; and now, take another glass of rum-it is real good stuff and jump up to your work again like a rigger!' This remonstrance never failed of its effect; and for the simple reason, that every man on board knew that Captain Grenouille would do what he said-seeing as how' he had already done it more than once.

Captain Grenouille was widely different from his crew, and from most other seamen, in one remarkable particular. He was no niggard of his money, and yet no spendthrift. He was devoutly attached to the sea, but at the same time had a passionate desire to be a landed proprietor. He was, in short, a Norman as well as a rover; and he garnered up from time to time the produce of his lawful piracy in fields, and barns, and cows, and cider-mills. An economist privateer must needs be a terrible phenomenon, and Captain Grenouille was this phenomenon.

But Captain Grenouille was not alone in his glory. He had a rival from the other side of the Channel who was as distinguished a scoundrel as himself. The real name of this worthy, we regret to say, is not on record; but his soubriquet was Beggar-Captain Beggar-and the vessel he commanded was a schooner called the Hunger. Among his crew were some regularly-bred seamen; but the greater number were smugglers, thieves, ruined gamesters, and bankrupts-the miscellaneous vagabonds, in short, who, in this amphibious country, take to the water by instinct when the land becomes too hot to hold them. Captain Beggar himself had been bred to the law, and is even said to have practised as a barrister; and his early studies were of great benefit to him in sundry predicaments arising in his new profession. He was a little young man, like the French privateer; but, unlike him, was thin and pale. In action he sustained himself with gin, as Napoleon did with snuff; but as the liquid fire burned in his entrails, it served only to sharpen his intellect, while externally it gave him a phantom-like appearance that terrified his very crew. When all was over, his excitement suddenly evaporated; and the poor little wretch dropped upon the deck, a mere lifeless rag soaked in spirits, and was carried off to his hammock.

These two great rivals met for the first time off Cape la Hogue, and in circumstances of some interest. The English privateer was in chase of a French brig loaded to the gunwale, and stretching in desperation under a cloud of canvas for Cherbourg. But the efforts of the latter were vain; for it was Hunger that was after her, and the importunate Beggar would not be denied. She was just about to surrender as the guns of her pursuer thundered quicker and quicker over the abyss, when suddenly the desert circle of water, which was their field of strife, opened at another point of the horizon, about three leagues distant, and there entered upon the arena two other vessels. One of these fled, and the other pursued, and the sound of their distant cannonade came sullen and subdued over the deep. They were of course French and English; and Captain Beggar had here an opportunity of saving a countryman and destroying an enemy. But the privateers, even in the construction of the law, were afloat on their own account; they were under no legal constraint to interfere;* and even after the strangers proved to be an

*This is proved by the division of spoil; which, in the case of a government prize, was shared in by any government ships that

English argosy in the very clutches of the Grenouille, Captain Beggar looked with his hungry eyes at the heavy French brig, teeming with spoil, and stood irresolute.

Desiring to learn the enemy's intention, he at length put his ship about, and made a sweep round, as if with the view of examining the new-comers from a different quarter. This manoeuvre was exactly imitated by Captain Grenouille; and by and by the two privateers were in a line in which, if far enough produced, they must have met. As they came nearer and nearer, they both cleared for action; but even when greatly within cannon range, not a gun spoke their counsel. When at length they might have fought with pistols, a small boat was seen putting off from the Grenouille; and Captain Beggar, leaping instantly into his yawl, went out to meet her, as in politeness bound, half way. The two captains saluted each other as their boats came alongside. What are we to be about?' said Captain Grenouille. 'Don't know,' replied Captain Beggar.

'If I take you, what shall I do with your rascally crew, that are not worth a five-franc piece?'

'And if I take you, what shall I make of yours, for the whole boiling of whom I would not give a herring?' Then I should lose yonder three-masted prize.' 'And I yonder brig, with a cargo that seems bursting out of her hatches for very richness.'

Suppose we each go about our own business?' 'Done.'

'Done.'

'Shall we do a little more, Captain Frog?' Say away, Captain Beggar.'

'Well, there are ten ships of ours which will pay me a thousand pounds a piece, if I bring them safely through the Channel. Will you let them alone? One good turn, you know'

'Of course. Here is a list I happen to have in my pocket of ten customers of the same sort. Give me yours. Is it agreed?'

Agreed;' and the two captains, first shaking hands, and then pulling off hats, returned to their own ships, and bore away for opposite points of the horizon.

The paction was honourably kept. Gold became a drug among the privateers, who could hardly contrive to spend it fast enough to prevent its accumulation; and Captain Grenouille, who still held to his crotchet of investment, was at length so great a landed proprietor, that he had serious thoughts of giving up the sea, except a cruise against the English now and then for

amusement.

One day, when this idea was passing through his mind, and with the greater force, that he had been scouring the Channel for a week without falling in with anything worth his attention, a promising object was seen on the verge of the leeward horizon. It proved to be a large, dusky, awkward ship, which lay upon the water like an island; and the heart of Captain Grenouille was glad within him, as he noted her unwieldy bulk, her peaceful build, and fat bloated appearance. A thousand jibes passed from mouth to mouth on the privateer's deck, as they set their vessel, with her gigantic sail, large before the wind, and trundled down upon the stranger, rolling from side to side, now over, and now under the waves, like a porpoise gambolling after a shoal of herrings. They likened the huge merchantman to a sleeping whale, whose blubber they would have under hatches in no time; and then they described her as an overgrown turtle, which they would cut up and devour for dinner. The object of their jocularity, in the meantime, as if confiding in her vastness, took no notice of their approach; and Captain Grenouille, as he neared her, threw his ship up in the

"Tis I,' replied the man in the cotton nightcap-'ICaptain Beggar!'-and at the word, a discharge of musketry swept the decks of the French privateer as with a besom. Captain Grenouille, like most of his comrades, was laid prostrate; and when he next opened his eyes, he found himself in the prison of Plymouth. He was one of the ten Frenchmen who effected an escape famous in the annals of ingenuity and daring. Without the assistance of a single instrument of any kind, wood or iron, they excavated a tunnel from their dungeon, eighty feet long, and four feet wide, carrying away the rubbish in their pockets, and spreading it over the surface of a court where they were permitted to walk twice a day. The task, however, was not a brief one; and when Captain Grenouille at length revisited his Norman farms, the harvest had been gathered three times during his absence.

He was wealthy; his estate was flourishing; and his friends urged him to marry, and subside quietly into a great proprietor. But Captain Grenouille had an account to settle, which was his thought by day and his dream by night. Captain Beggar must be paid to the last farthing!-he must be rewarded with interest upon interest: this was the only condition upon which he could rest. After a glance over his farms, and a second at the lady recommended for promotion as Madame Grenouille, he set himself to look out for a vessel which should rival his lost beauty. All was ready towards the end of January 1814; and for no other reason than that all was ready, he set sail in quest of his enemy, in the midst of what was little less than a gale of wind.

By and by it was quite a gale of wind; and at the tail of the storm there descended so thick a fog upon the Channel, that Captain Grenouille, by this time dismasted and water-logged, found himself driving about, the sport of the winds and waves, without the possibility of ascertaining his bearings, or even knowing whether they were close to the land, or had a dozen miles of sea-room. It was intensely cold, and the air was so thick, that they seemed to breathe sponge. All day they could only just recognise one another's faces; but as the night fell down in darkness and horror, even this last comfort was withdrawn. The strain of the ship's timbers was so great, that there was the strongest possibility of her going to pieces; without the agency of anything harder than water; but at two hours after midnight a sudden shock was felt, and after some wild convulsions, the groaning vessel seemed to be settling down in deep water.

'Out with the long-boat!' roared Captain Grenouille through his trumpet, and the order was not given a moment too soon; for the ship, after a furious plunge, went down like a stone, very nearly sucking boat and men with her into the abyss. The proximate cause of the catastrophe had become obvious as the long-boat was leaving her side; for in addition to their own crew, numbering nine men, eleven strangers tumbled in in the dark. It was a case of collision. Both vessels, being near their last hour at any rate, perished in the shock; and both crews saved themselves in the same boat.

Captain Grenouille, who had been the last man to quit his ship, threw himself down sulky and silent in the bottom of the boat; leaving the task of baling to the rest, who had some difficulty in keeping her afloat. Not a word was exchanged among that sullen crew till the gray light of the dawn broke upon the sea, showing that the fog had cleared. Captain Grenouille, who had sank into a doze, opened his eyes, then shut them again; then rubbed them very hard, opened them once more, and stared right forward. But he had not rubbed out the phantom which haunted him, and which he at

looking down upon the earth; and we wished that they were closed for an hour; that the clouds would come over the moon; for the man-hunters had come. They had tracked the young fugitive, and were lying in wait to seize him even on the hearth of a freeman. We never shall forget that hour. We had attired the young slave in a female garb, and put his hand within the arm of one of our number. A passing cloud obscured the moon, and the two issued into the street. Softly and silently we followed them at a distance, and our hearts were heavy within us that Massachusets had no law that could extend protection to that young human being, or permit him to be protected without law. It was a strange feeling to walk the streets of Worcester as if treading on enemies' ground; to avoid the houses and faces of our neighbours and friends, as if they were all slaveholders, and in pursuit of the fugitive; as if here, in the heart of the Old Bay State, there was something felonious in that deed of mercy that would obliterate the track of the innocent image of God flying for life and liberty before his relentless pursuer. We passed close by the old burial-ground, where slumbered many a hero of 76. There, within a stone's throw, was the grave of Captain Peter Slater, one of the Indians' who threw the taxed tea into Boston harbour. It was a moment of humiliation and indignant grief, when, passing by his monument, we compared the taxes on tea and sugar of his day with that despotic land tax, that slave-breeding incumbrance, that Shylock mortgage, which the founders of our constitution imposed upon every square inch of New England, in the terms of the bond."

We have now neither time nor space to tell the story of that young fugitive. We wish he might tell it himself upon every hearthstone in New England. We wish no human heart a needless unpleasant emotion; but we would that every child in this land of the free' might see a slave-a being that owns a God, yet owned, and bound, and beat, and sold by man. We would have the rising generation well instructed in the terms of the bond;' and a few personal illustrations of the condition which it 'secures' might be of service in defining their path of duty. They will soon enter upon this goodly heritage; and shall we give it over into their hands incumbered with this iniquitous entailment in favour of slavery? No! If there be wealth enough in all New England's jewels-in the cabinet of her great deeds of virtue and patriotism-let us lift this bloody mortgage from one square acre of her soil, whereon the hunted slave may say, 'I thank my God that I too am at last a man!' When, trembling and panting, he struck his foot on that consecrated spot, then the chase should cease, though his master and his dogs were at his heels. That English acre in New England should be another Canada for the fugitive bondman. He should carry a handful of its soil in his bosom as a certificate, honoured throughout the world, that he was free!

WARRINGTON INDUSTRIAL SCHOOLS FOR YOUNG WOMEN.

ever made a shirt previously to entering the school. They have, however, made such improvement in this short space of time, that now about one half can fix their work and sew well; and of the rest, a large proportion can sew neatly. They are instructed in cutting out the clothing, and many can make their own dresses. Rewards have been distributed weekly, according to the industry, improvement, and good behaviour of the pupils. The highest amount has been 1s. 6d., the lowest 6d., to each. One half has been given in money when desired; the other in clothing made in the school. Small as these rewards appear, they have been to a large number (independently of the aids afforded by private benevolence) the only means of support. During a few weeks, when bread was at the highest, and potatoes were not ripe, a lady furnished dinners of stewed barley to the most destitute. Instances were frequently discovered of girls having spent the whole day without food. The state of poverty to which the mass of the factory operatives was reduced, was strikingly shown by the following fact:-A visitor offered each of the scholars permission to purchase a dozen pounds of the best flour at twopence per dozen below the usual price. The offer was received with universal joy, and the following Monday was appointed for distributing tickets. However, only fourteen dozen were applied for. Several large families could afford to purchase only three pounds. In about seventy cases out of a hundred and twenty in the school at the time, not a single member of the family was working; and of the remainder, the earnings of an apprentice lad of fourteen or sixteen were often the sole support of large families. The gratitude of the parents for the pains taken with their daughters has been very encouraging. One woman said, This is the grandest thing that was ever invented. I was quite stagnated when Ellen brought me home ninepence and a pinafore.' Another remarked that she had never before been able to get her daughter to mend her clothes. The order, regularity, and cleanliness of the scholars has been very satisfactory. Not a single instance has occurred of a scholar being dismissed for ill behaviour. On several occasions, the pupils have cheerfully contributed time, and even money, to assist those who were more than ordinarily suffering, and to purchase Bibles as presents for their teachers. The monotony of the sewing has been relieved by the practice of music, as well as by reading aloud interesting and instructive books. During the late severe fever epidemic, much sickness has been prevented by attention to first symptoms, and strict enforcement of cleanliness. It is believed that the life of one scholar was saved by the devoted attention of a young woman (also a scholar), who nursed her friend night and day during the whole progress of malignant fever. This nurse was in the lowest class; could not read at all, nor sew, previously to entering the school. A visitor lent her a small sum of money to get some clothes out of pawn. She made no stipulation as to the time when it should be returned. But no sooner did the young woman obtain a little work, than the first money she earned was brought to the lady to repay the debt. The school has been visited by many of the principal inhabitants of the town, as well as strangers from a distance; and all have expressed themselves as much gratified with the working of the institution. The Rev. W. Wight, B. A., who had been lecturing in the town on the 'model parish,' addressed them the next evening on the subject of total abstinence, on which occasion about sixty of them took the pledge.

What has been done shows the power of strong deter

in gaining the affections, and thus influencing for good one of the most neglected classes of our social community. We regret to say that the school is now suspended for want of funds; and this, too, at a time when the few mills which are now working have announced their intention of stopping. If any of your readers feel disposed to assist in the effort which is being made for the continuing of the school through the winter, their donations will be thankfully received by Mrs B. Pierpoint, treasurer, Friar's Green, Warrington.

HOPE OF A FUTURE.

I find in life that suffering succeeds to suffering, and disappointment to disappointment, as wave to wave. To endure, is the only philosophy-to believe that we shall live again in a brighter planet, is the only hope that our reason should accept from our desires.-Bulwer.