And, lo! while he was expounding, in set
terms, the most abstruse of his pious doctrines,
the head of the tub whereon the good man stood gave
way, and the preacher was lost from before the eyes
of the whole congregation.
Life of the Reverend Mr Smith, SS.
Seymour, who was always the companion
of Captain M –, whenever either instruction
or amusement was to be gained, now quitted the surveying
party to join Macallan, who still continued seated
on the rocks, reflecting upon the remarkable coincidence
which the coxswain had narrated, sufficient in itself
to confirm the superstitious ideas of the sailors
for another century. His thoughts naturally reverted
to the other point, in which seafaring men are equally
bigoted, the disastrous consequences of “sailing
on a Friday;” the origin of which superstition
can easily be traced to early Catholicism, when out
of respect for the day of universal redemption, they
were directed by their pastors to await the “morrow’s
sun.”
“Thus,” mentally exclaimed
Macallan, “has religion degenerated into superstition;
and that which, from the purity of its origin, would
have commanded our respect, is now only deserving
of our contempt. It is by the motives that have
produced them, that our actions must be weighed.
That which once was an offering of religious veneration
and love, is now a tribute to superstition and to
fear. Well, Seymour,” said he, addressing
his companion, “how do you like surveying?”
“Not much; the sun is hot, and
the glare so powerful that I am almost blind.
What a pity it is that we had not some trees here,
to shade us from the heat! I should like to
plant some for the benefit of those who may come after
us.”
“A correct feeling on your part,
my boy; but no trees would grow here at present there
is no soil.”
“There is plenty of some sort
or other in the part where we have been surveying.”
“Yes, the sand thrown up by
the sea, and the particles of shells and rock, which
have been triturated by the wave, or decomposed by
the alternate action of the elements; but there is
no vegetable matter, without which there can be no
vegetable produce. Observe, Willy, the
skeleton of this earth is framed of rocks and mountains,
which have been proudly rearing their heads into the
clouds, or lying in dark majesty beneath the seas,
since the creation of the world, when they were fixed
by the Almighty architect, to remain till time shall
be no more. Over them, we find the wrecks of
a former world once as beautiful, as thickly
peopled, but more thoughtless and more wicked than
the present, which was hurled into one general chaos,
and its component, but incongruous parts, amalgamated
in awful mockery by the deluge that tremendous
evidence of the wrath of Heaven. But it has long
passed away; and o’er the relics of former creation,
o’er the kneaded mass of man in his pride, of
woman in her beauty, of arts in their splendour, of
vice in her zenith, and of virtue in her tomb, we are
standing upon another, teeming with life, and yielding
forth her fruits in the season as before. But,
Willy, the supports of life are not to be found in
primeval rocks or antediluvial remains. It is
from the superficial covering, the thin crust with
which the earth is covered, composed of the remains
of former existence, of the breccia of exhausted nature,
that animal creation derives its support; and it is
the grand axiom of the universe, that animal life
can only be supported by animal remains.
From the meanest insect that crawls upon the ground,
to man in his perfection, life is supported and continued
by animal and vegetable food; and it is only the decayed
matter returned to the earth, which enables the lofty
cedar to extend its boughs, or the lowly violet to
exhale its perfume. This is a world of eternal
reproduction and decay one endless cycle
of the living preying on the dead a phoenix,
yearly, daily, and hourly springing from its ashes,
in renewed strength and beauty. The blade of
grass, which shoots from the soil, flowers, casts
its seed, and dies, to make room for its offspring,
nourished by the relics of its parent, is a type of
the never-changing law, controlling all nature, even
to man himself, who must pass away to make room for
the generation which is to come.”
The boat which, returning from the
ship, appeared like a black speck on the water, indicated
that the dinner-hour was at hand; and Price and the
purser, who had come on shore with Macallan, now joined
him and Willy, who were sitting down on the rocks
at the water’s edge.
“Well, Macallan,” said
Price, “it’s a fine thing to be a philosopher.
What is that which Milton says? Let me see! sweet something divine
philosophy I forget the exact words.
Well, what have you caught?”
“If you’ve caught nothing,
doctor, you’re better off than I am,” said
the purser, wiping his brow, “for I’ve
caught a headache.”
“I have been very well amused,” replied
Macallan.
“Ay, I suppose, like what’s-his-name in
the forest you recollect?”
“No, indeed, I do not.”
“Don’t you? Bless
my soul you know, sermons in stones, and
good in everything. I forget how the lines run.
Don’t you recollect, O’Keefe?”
continued Price, speaking loud in the purser’s
ear.
“No, I never collect.
I don’t understand these things,” replied
the purser, taking his seat by Macallan, and addressing
him “I cannot think what pleasure
there can be in poking about the rocks as you do.”
“It serves to amuse me, O’Keefe.”
“Abuse you, my dear fellow!
Indeed I never meant it I beg your pardon you
mistook me.”
“It was my fault. I did
not speak sufficiently loud. Make no apology.”
“Too proud to make an
apology! No, indeed I only asked
what amusement you could find? that’s
all.”
“What amusement?” replied
Macallan, rising from his seat, annoyed at these repeated
attacks from all quarters upon his favourite study.
“Listen to me, and I will explain to you how
investigation is the parent of both amusement and
instruction. What is this rock that I am standing
on? Has it remained here for ages to be dashed
by the furious ocean? or has it lately
sprung from the depths, from the silent labour of the
indefatigable zoophytes? Look at its sides;
behold the variety of marine vegetation with which
it is loaded. Are they of the class of the ulvae,
confervae, or fuci? to be welcomed as old
acquaintance, or, hitherto unnoticed, to be added
to the catalogue of Nature’s endless stores?
And what are those corals, that, like mimic tenants
of the forest, extend their graceful boughs!
Look at the variety of shells which are adhering
to its sides. Observe the patellae with
what tenacity they cling to save themselves from being
washed into the deep water, and being devoured by
the fishes that are playing in its chasms! What
a source of endless amusement, what a field for deep
reflection, is there in the investigation of this
one little rock! When you contemplate
the instinct of the different species, the powers given
to them, so adapted to their wants and their privations is
not the eye delighted, is not the mind enlarged, and
are not the feelings harmonised? Study the works
of the creation, and you turn a desert into a peopled
city a barren rock into a source of admiration
and delight. Nay, search into Nature for a few
minutes, and you rise a better man. Dive into ”
What the conclusion of the doctor’s
rhapsody may have been is not known; for, stamping
too energetically upon the seaweed on the edge of the
rock, his foot slipped, and he disappeared, with the
perpendicular descent and velocity of a deep-sea lead,
into the water alongside of it.
Marshall, the coxswain, who had been
astonished at his speech, to which he had listened
with mouth open for want of comprehension, quite forgot
the respect due to an officer, at this unexpected finale.
“Watch, there, watch!”
cried the man, and then threw himself down, and rolled
in convulsions of laughter. Price and Willy,
whose mirth was almost as excessive, did, however,
run to his assistance, and caught him by the collar
as he rose again to the surface, for it was considerably
out of his depth; while the deaf purser, whose eyes
had been fixed on the ground, in deep attention to
catch the doctor’s words, and whose ears were
not sufficiently acute to hear the splash, looked up
as they were going to his assistance, and asked, with
surprise, “Where’s the doctor?”
The sides of the rock were so slippery,
that the united efforts of Price and Seymour (whose
powers were much enfeebled from extreme mirth) were
not sufficient to haul Macallan upon terra firma.
“Marshall, come here directly, sir, and help
us,” cried Willy, an order which the
coxswain, who was sufficiently recovered, immediately
obeyed.
“Give me your hand, Mr Macallan,”
said the man, as the surgeon was clinging to the seaweed;
“it’s no use holding on by them slippery
hanimals. Now, then, Mr Price all
together.”
“Ay, and as soon as you please,”
called out the malicious boatkeeper of the gig “I
seed a large shark but a minute ago.”
“Quick quick!”
roared the surgeon, who already imagined his leg encircled
by the teeth of the ravenous animal.
By their united efforts, Macallan
was at last safely landed and, after much
sputtering, blowing, and puffing, was about to address
the coxswain in no very amicable manner, when the
purser interrupted him.
“By the powers, doctor, but
you took the right way to have a close examination
of all those fine things which you were giving us a
catalogue of; but now give us the remainder of your
speech you gave us a practical illustration
of diving.”
“What sort of sensation was
it, doctor?” said Price. “You recollect
Shakespeare and `O, methinks what pain it
was to drown’ Let me see
something ”
“Pray don’t tax your memory,
Price; it’s something like our country,
past all further taxation.”
“That’s the severest thing
you’ve said since we’ve sailed together.
You’re out of humour, doctor. Well, you
know what Shakespeare says: `There never yet
was found a philosopher’ something
about the toothache. I forget the words.”
These attacks did not at all tend
to restore the equanimity of the doctor’s temper,
which, it must be acknowledged, had some excuse for
being disturbed by the events of the morning; but he
proved himself a wise man, for he made no further
reply. The boat pulled in, and the party returned
on board; and when Macallan had divested himself of
his uncomfortable attire, and joined his messmates
at the dinner-table, he had recovered his usual serenity
of disposition, and joined himself in the laugh which
had been created at his expense.