IN TWO VOLUMES. Ut in vitâ, sic in studiis, pulcherrimum et humanissimum ex- FIRST AMERICAN, FROM THE THIRD LONDON EDITION. VOLUME II. PHILADELPHIA: H. C. CAREY & I. LEA-CHESNUT STREET. ........... 1824. PUBLIC 26X370 217 THE FATALIST. CAPTAIN FORTISCUE had seen many a naval engagement, and had fought upon every occasion with such undaunted heroism, as left his judgment infinitely more questionable than his courage. He was not only addicted to an excess of patriotic impetuosity, but sought out the road to danger, with the same zeal that others commonly used to avoid it. The same enthusiasm characterised him in every thing. Still he possessed talent which a proper cultivation might have made brilliant,—a genius prompt to invent, and enterprise to encounter; but, like the vessel in which he rode upon the ocean, he stood in frequent need of a rudder to direct his devious course. He had performed such prodigies of valour, and manifested such self-devotion to his profession, that, had he possessed greater stability of discretion, he would have claimed distinction in the service. His spirits were always variable; now buoyed up by sanguine expectation, now dejected by disappointment: like the element on which he lived, he was at one time calm and motionless, at another violent and raging. After having served upon almost every station, and fought with almost every nation of the globe, he had retired upon half-pay, with the addition of a pension, the compensation for the loss of an arm carried away in the last action in which he was engaged. With such a mind, and such feelings, it was impossible for him to remain inactive; but at length wearied with forming projects VOL. I.-T. |