While  this  ceremony  was  performing,  the  sea-
captain  ordered  out  his  boat  to  row  the  land-captain
to  shore  ;  not  indeed  on  an  uninhabited  island,  but
one  which,  in  this  part,  looked  but  little  better,
not  presenting  us  the  view  of  a  single  house.  In-
deed, our  old  friend,  when  his  boat  returned  on
shore,  perhaps  being  no  longer  able  to  stifle  his  envy
of  the  superiority  of  his  nephew,  told  us  with  a
smile  that  the  young  man  had  a  good  five  mile  to
walk  before  he  could  be  accommodated  with  a  pass-
age to  Portsmouth.
It  appeared  now  that  the  captain  had  been  only
mistaken  in  the  date  of  his  prediction,  by  placing
the  event  a  day  earlier  than  it  happened  ;  for  the
wind  which  now  arose  was  not  only  favourable  but
brisk,  and  was  no  sooner  in  reach  of  our  sails  than  it
swept  us  away  by  the  back  of  the  Isle  of  Wight,
and,  having  in  the  night  carried  us  by  Christchurch

[286]


A    VOYAGE    TO    LISBON

and  Peveral-point,  brought  us  the  next  noon,  Satur-
day, Juhj  25,  off  the  island  of  Portland,  so  famous
for  the  smallness  and  sweetness  of  its  mutton,  of
which  a  leg  seldom  weighs  four  pounds.  We  would
have  bought  a  sheep,  but  our  captain  would  not
permit  it ;  though  he  needed  not  have  been  in  such
a  hurry,  for  presently  the  wind,  I  will  not  positively
assert  in  resentment  of  his  surliness,  shewed  him  a
dog's  trick,  and  slily  slipt  back  again  to  his  sum-
mer-house in  the  south-west.
