me the following anecdote:--

He was walking by the sea-shore at Harwich, with this sling in his
pocket; before his paces had covered a mile he was attacked by a fierce
animal called a seahorse, open-mouthed, who ran at him with great fury;
he hesitated a moment, then took out his sling, retreated back about
a hundred yards, stooped for a couple of pebbles, of which there were
plenty under his feet, and slung them both so dexterously at the animal,
that each stone put out an eye, and lodged in the cavities which their
removal had occasioned. He now got upon his back, and drove him into the
sea; for the moment he lost his sight he lost also ferocity, and became
as tame as possible: the sling was placed as a bridle in his mouth; he
was guided with the greatest facility across the ocean, and in less
than three hours they both arrived on the opposite shore, which is about
thirty leagues. The master of the _Three Cups_, at Helvoetsluys, in
Holland, purchased this marine horse, to make an exhibition of, for
seven hundred ducats, which was upwards of three hundred pounds, and the
next day my father paid his passage back in the packet to Harwich.

_--My father made several curious observations in this passage, which I
will relate hereafter._



CHAPTER XII

_The frolic; its consequences--Windsor Castle--St. Paul's--College of
Physicians--Undertakers, sextons, &c., almost ruined--Industry of the
apothecaries._