been out in the bay. Mr. Thomas Williams, Sir Richard's agent, was also on the sand on horseback. Too much cannot be said in praise of these gentlemen, whose activity was very great."

In the course of the morning, the fragment of the wreck upon which Mr. Forster's spaniel had contrived to place himself, was washed upon the beach; and the poor animal, which had received no other injury than such a long exposure to cold would necessarily involve, was carried to Mr. Vincent, who took charge of it until he could ascertain to whom it belonged, and whether the individual who owned it was one of the survivors, or numbered with those whose worldly claims were now transferred to others.

L

CHAPTER IV.

BEAUMARIS.7-ARRIVAL OF THE SURVIVORS-LANDING OF THE DEADTHE SHIRE HALL.

ON the Wednesday evening, about the time at which the packets generally arrive, a number of persons had as usual congregated upon Beaumaris Green; some from motives of curiosity, or induced by the chance of meeting an acquaintance amongst the passengers expected by the Rothsay Castle; but with many it was by especial appointment that they came down to "Menai's shelly margin," to meet friends, or dearer relatives: and as the shades of evening drew near, many an impatient look was directed to the points at which Puffin Island “shows its oval steep" on the one hand, and the Great Ormshead, in remoter distance, rears its dark bulk on the other. But still she came not: many an anxious thought, however, was devoted to her; and midnight passed before her arrival was given up as hopeless.

For my own part, I was certainly surprised that the uneasiness caused by the non-arrival of the vessel appeared to be so limited : for without affecting any presentiment on

the occasion, I really could not divest myself of the fear that something serious must have happened. Added to this, I was extremely solicitous about leaving Beaumaris for Liverpool, in the morning, of which there now seemed very little chance. Under these circumstances, when ten o'clock had passed without bringing any tidings of the Rothsay Castle, I mentioned the apprehensions I felt respecting her to a gentleman who had put up at the same inn (the Bull's Head); but he also treated the matter with perfect indifference. "You need not be alarmed, sir," he observed, "that packet has frequently been very late; it is no unusual occurrence." Still, however, I felt restless on the subject; and after supper, at about eleven o'clock, I went down to the Green,8 in the fervent wish that I might be gratified by the knowledge that all was right before I retired to rest. I found all was solitariness there; even the boatmen were gone; not an individual was in attendance to land the passengers, if the vessel had arrived; and I looked around and saw that I was alone-that no other eye was searching for the vessel; and I could not repel a feeling of depression in consequence. I looked out towards the Great Ormshead, but nothing was to be discovered in the misty distance, though the moon gleamed fitfully from the clouds that passed her disk in hurried succession; but she cast her pale light upon the distant mountains, while the agitated sea beneath was “darkened by the shadow" of intervening blackness. The wind, which swept in fierce gusts across the open space around me, the sullen dash of waters upon the beach, and the stormy wildness of the sky, conveyed together, indeed, a sense of melancholy and of desolation which I have no recollection of ever experiencing before; and I felt grateful that I was enabled to turn from such contemplation to the comfort which awaited me in my temporary home. Alas, when I took a farewell look of the cheerless expanse before me, how little did I think

that at that very moment nearly one hundred and fifty of my fellow-creatures were in such awful extremity! and at so short a distance, too, that I must have seen the slightest indication of distress in the way of signal; and, in my state of mind, I should have taken alarm at that which at another time, perhaps, would have passed unheeded; nor should I have rested until the cause were ascertained; and my delight would have been unspeakably great if my humble efforts had been crowned with success. But, to adopt a sentiment of the pious Atterbury, "We should contemplate reverently the inscrutable ways of Providence, and all the wonderful methods of God's dealing with men."

I returned to my inn, and soon after proceeded to my chamber; and had scarcely sunk into repose at the period when the "silver cord,"— the mysterious connecting link between the immortal and the perishable of about one hundred and thirty human beings,—was broken!

A disturbed night induced a later slumber in the morning than my anxiety would otherwise have permitted; but I again hurried towards the Green at about half-past eight o'clock, and had not proceeded far before the intelligence of what had happened afforded fatal confirmation to my fears. I was soon accosted with "Have you heard of this dreadful affair, sir?" and the reply to my consequent negative was, "Why, the Rothsay Castle steamer has gone down, and every soul perished!" The shock thus communicated will depart from my memory only with the life with which it co-exists. Prepared as I had been by vague misgivings, this terrible announcement seemed for a moment to paralyze me, and I beheld in fearful anticipation the scenes of horror which ensued. Hundreds were in the meantime hurrying from all parts of the town in the direction of the Green; and anxious faces were to be seen amongst the various groups of persons, who hastily gathered and separated as the melancholy intelligence was given and received.

I was soon in some degree relieved, by finding that my informant had at any rate exaggerated; and I entertained the hope that the event would prove much less fatal than it had been represented. Four survivors of the calamity, I learned, had been landed at an early hour, and several more had now arrived, but most of them in such a state of exhaustion as to warrant the worst fears for the result; while the distraction which prevailed amongst those who were still uncertain as to the fate of their relations and friends, and who pressed upon the boatmen for intelligence from the scene of death, was truly dreadful. The utmost consternation, indeed, was every where observable; a solemn gloom was depicted upon every countenance; the most hardened and the most indifferent were subdued to sorrow or aroused to interest by the painful scene; and there appeared but one feeling of deep commiseration and regret. Wives were wringing their hands in agony for husbands that had perished, husbands for the loss of wives; parents wept for children, children for parents; and relatives and friends swelled the wild lament with unavailing expressions of grief for the dead, or fear for those of whom they had yet no certain account; for,

"Alas, what links of love that morn
Had Death's rude hand asunder torn!

Thou canst not name one tender tie,
But there dissolved its relics lie;"-

there, amidst the ocean in which earthly union was broken, or mouldering where "ashes to ashes" and "dust to dust" are consecrate!

Every fresh arrival of survivors, or of the bodies of those who had been the victims of this awful sacrifice, was productive of a most distressing renewal of the horrors which I have just attempted to describe. As the boats approached,