till I began to understand a more substantial reason, namely, that it
would cost the captain rather too much trouble.

"We have now, however, got safe here, after a tedious voyage of
nine weeks, and I will give you a short account of what happened
during that time.

"We sailed, as you know, from Greenock, June 10. For the first
five or six days we had fine weather and fair winds, and got quite
clear of land; after this, we had nearly six weeks of most tempestuous
weather, and the wind, except for about two days, directly against us.
The gentlemen after some time began to be very impatient; for my part
I should not have cared although it had lasted twelve months. I had
left all that was dear to me behind, except one dear friend, that one
was constantly with me, and although the rest of the company in the
ship was very agreeable, yet I was the great object of his attention,
and his invention was ever on the stretch to find amusement for me. It
is not possible for me to say with what indulgent tenderness I was
treated; but though I love my husband even to extravagance, yet my
dear friends whom I left behind have a large share of my heart. They
dwell on my mind in the daytime; and at night, when sleep lays the
body aside and leaves the soul at liberty, she on the wings of
imagination makes one skip over whole seas, and is immediately with
those dear friends whose absence she so much lamented during the day,
and in an imaginary body as truly enjoys you for the time as if really
present with you.

"The gentlemen on board soon found reason to be thankful for the
preservation of life, and got something very different to think of
than fret at the contrary winds. A leak sprung in the ship, which