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Untitled Article
in the direction given . Ay ,, land it was ; but an hour beyond this I could see nothing but a thick black cloud rising from the horizon . That could not be land ? yes : it grew into distinctness and assumed solidity of appearance : this was Porto Santo ; the
first bit of foreign land my young and wistful eyes had yet seen ; and I felt towards it a love and reverence , though it looked like nothing else than a huge black castle rising directly out of the sea , with its walls dilapidated , and its turrets and towers in demolition . Signal was now made for the headmost ship to shorten sail , and to the fleet to draw close in round the
commander-inchief , which , by sunset , was accomplished : all were packed up in a small circle , with main - topsails aback ; and the space between every ship was alive with boats , passing to and from the Admiral and others with final orders ; and in a short time the A was in a buz , fore and aft , from forecastle to ' tween decks ,
from quarter-deck to cock-pit . We were to attack Madeira next day . During the night , the fleet filled and made sail , and at earliest dawn > for I did not require rousing from the boatswain ' s mate on this occasion , I was gazing with more than all my eyes on the mountain which rose up to the sky on our starboard-bow : my heart leaped with ecstasy on seeing it : I knew nothing of the
pending battle , and probability of death , my every faculty was in my eyes ; my soul had leaped to that mountain ' s top ; and when the morning ^ s sun had lifted himself sufficiently high to throw his broad light there , I felt myself almost in heaven . Nearer and nearer we approached , and flitted along the mountain ' s base : while I was feasting on the ten thousand objects which
rose , changed , and vanished , till I was drunk with delight , yet speechless through all . I have frequently , but fruitlessly endeavoured to trace the origin , the cause , the germ of this , if not singular , at least unusually strong and graspingly deep pleasure , which I ever enjoy in looking on a new scene , or perhaps an old one , if beautiful , wild , romantic , or when decorated by art . Is it one of those faculties which are called innate ? I well remember
that I used to lie awake for hours , forming , as it were , in dreams , gardens , mountains , rocks , landscapes , seas , rivers , summerhouses , grottos , and temples , and holding them in my eye as palpabl y as if they were physically present , long before I read ,
or could read of such things : this I do remember , distinctly , as far back as before my fifth year , I am certain of the time , for I have room and bed in whicn I lay , under my eyes now : but I have not the slightest recollection that my father , or any one , ever spoke to me of these matters ; and I think I could not have
forgotten it , had they done so : and , here , as we rolled into Funchal bay , was the very realisation of one of these waking dreams of my childhood . I would cheerfully go back and live years of misery over again , if I could again feel what 1 felt on the morning of December 24 , 1807 . Oh ! I remember it , —
Untitled Article
36 Autobiography of Pel . Verjuice .
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Jan. 2, 1834, page 36, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2629/page/36/
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