No. 9. EVENING DRESS. Sprigged organdy robe, over straw-coloured taffeta; a low corsage, sharply pointed at bottom, and edged with lace at top. Short tight sleeves, composed of cross folds, and terminated by lace. The skirt a three-quarter length, open at each side, but partially closed by rich ribbon crossed in lozenges, and terminated by floating ends with tassels. Head-dress of hair. No. 10. MORNING VISITING DRESS. Pink barege robe. A high corsage and long tight sleeves. The skirt is trimmed with two very deep scalloped flounces. Tarlatane mantle, very ample, and a three-quarter length; it is trimmed with two richly embroidered flounces; they are very deep, and each headed by an embroidered entre deux. Rice straw chapeau; a moderately close shape, decorated with white ribbon, and a full bouquet of white feathers. No. 11. MORNING VISITING DRESS. Pink moire robe; half-high corsage, and long tight sleeves. Mantelet of the same; a small size, trimmed with flounces to correspond. Pale pink chapeau; a small round shape, the interior decorated with sprigs of lilac, the exterior with ribbon. No. 12. DINNER CAP. Composed of tulle de Bruxelles; it is a round shape, trimmed with three rows of Brussels lace, and bands, knots, and coques of strawcoloured ribbon. No. 13. MORNING CANEZOU. A heart-shape, of embroidered cambric, and trimmed with Valenciennes lace, and a knot of pink ribbon at the waist. No. 14. DINNER CAP. Of blonde d'été; the shape is a bonnet d'enfant. The garniture is composed of a full knot of coques without ends of pink gauze ribbon at each side, and two floating ends at the back. I HAD agreed for my passage with the captain of a Greek polacre, who was to sail in the evening for Odessa. The polacre was a remarkably pretty barque, but had what the sailors call a roguish look; and, unless I shrewdly misconceived appearances, had played her part among the islands in the days when the sabre did more than the invoice, and Greek captains traded in more matters than they would acknowledge in any custom-house in the Mediterranean. But all was now innocent. The polacre had been purified from all her pirate frolics; her destination was legitimate; and my baggage, wallet, and leash of Anatoly greyhounds, were put on board. The cabin was sufficiently small, and I had taken it to myself, with the fair additional stipulation that neither more goods nor passengers should be taken on board than the vessel would be able to carry. The captain, a showy, bronzed, tall Greek, shook me by the hand, in token of being charmed with all my stipulations; pledged himself by the image of the Virgin, which hung prominent and propitious over his forecastle, to fulfil every condition with accuracy unequalled by any navigator of the seas; and finished by promising me a passage worthy of an emperor. The wind was blowing right up the Bosphorus, and I became impatient to begin my voyage. But Captain Callistrato's impatience threw mine totally in the back ground. He ranted, raved, and flung out his whole vocabulary of seanames upon his crew, his passengers, and all things else within his memory. But, to my surprise, there lay our gallant vessel yet with her grapnels to the quay, and her anchor fast in the ooze. As I gazed at the reflection of the moon-rise in the mirror of the waters, I hinted to the captain that the first preliminary to movement was connected with hoisting his anchor. He struck his ample forehead in utter astonishment at the stupidity of his crew, and gave instant OCTOBER, 1847. orders for the handspikes to be in readiness. The orders were echoed and reechoed round the deck. Yet, by some singular mischance, neither grapnel nor anchor stirred. After observing this strange neglect to the captain, who instantly darted away to have it rectified, I went down to my cabin. Imagine my indignation; I found it half full already, my trunks occupied as ottomans by half a dozen long-bearded Osmanlis quietly preparing their pipes for a final treat, before they lay down on their carpets. This was intolerable. It was now my turn to rave. I rushed upon deck, determined to abate the nuisance in the most summary manner, by compelling the captain to clear my cabin of every interloper at once, and to leave his fresh passengers on shore. But I was too late for this part of the performance. I found the deck a pile of goods of every kind; the polacre overloaded to such a degree that the first gale would in all probability blow her over; and the captain wringing his hands at "the trick which had been played upon him by the knavery of the crew." The dew and the gusts together at length overcame my repugnance to venture into the stifling atmosphere of my cabin, possessed as it was by interlopers ; and down I plunged, found a snoring Turk for my pillow, and wrapping myself up in my cloak, waited to be trampled on by the next importation of the disastrous captain. But, to sleep was impossible, and after an hour or two wasted in vain attempts, I left the Turks to settle the matter with each other, and went above. There what a scene met my eye! If I had seen the polacre overloaded before, what was I to make of her now! She was actually a pile of goods. Stem and stern were equally undistinguishable. The gale was increasing: in half an hour we must be in the Euxine; and in half a minute after that it was fifty chances to one but that our story was told. My first business now was to find the captain. But he had, I suppose, exhausted all his pathetics, for he was not to be found. He had ensconced himself among his bales, and he might as well be looked for in the billows that were now beginning to tumble about us in a sufficiently menacing style. As I was rather angrily continuing my search, the mate of the ship, a little Maltese, with shrewd eye and the air of a humourist' addressed me : "You may as well give over your trouble for the night, sir, (said he) for when the captain does not choose to be found, it will not be a very easy matter to find him." "Is the rascal hanged, drowned, or run away?" was my impatient exclamation to the mate. "The last should be first, (coolly replied the Maltese ;) the others may come all in good time. But if you expect to see Captain Callistrato until the moon is down, and we are fairly out of the channel-," |