slab, or perch, of which there were two within; and looked, without
any expression of countenance whatever, at some friends who had
come on board with us, and who were crushing their faces into all
manner of shapes by endeavouring to squeeze them through the small
doorway.

We had experienced a pretty smart shock before coming below, which,
but that we were the most sanguine people living, might have
prepared us for the worst. The imaginative artist to whom I have
already made allusion, has depicted in the same great work, a
chamber of almost interminable perspective, furnished, as Mr.
Robins would say, in a style of more than Eastern splendour, and
filled (but not inconveniently so) with groups of ladies and
gentlemen, in the very highest state of enjoyment and vivacity.
Before descending into the bowels of the ship, we had passed from
the deck into a long narrow apartment, not unlike a gigantic hearse
with windows in the sides; having at the upper end a melancholy
stove, at which three or four chilly stewards were warming their
hands; while on either side, extending down its whole dreary
length, was a long, long table, over each of which a rack, fixed to
the low roof, and stuck full of drinking-glasses and cruet-stands,
hinted dismally at rolling seas and heavy weather. I had not at
that time seen the ideal presentment of this chamber which has
since gratified me so much, but I observed that one of our friends
who had made the arrangements for our voyage, turned pale on
entering, retreated on the friend behind him, smote his forehead
involuntarily, and said below his breath, 'Impossible! it cannot
be!' or words to that effect. He recovered himself however by a
great effort, and after a preparatory cough or two, cried, with a
ghastly smile which is still before me, looking at the same time