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FROM FALMOUTH TO THE LIZARD 109 of Wight. One of the boys was for running the boat to the Downs, where it would almost certainly have perished ; but the other lad remem- bered a creek in the Isle of Wight, where he thought there would be room to run the boat in. Very wisely the man yielded to his advice, and gave him charge of the helm. " He stood directly in among the rocks, the people on shore thinking they were mad, and that they would in a few minutes be dashed in a thousand pieces. But when they came nearer, and the people found they steered as if they knew the place, they made signals to direct them as well as they could, and the young bold fellow ran her into a small cove, where she stuck fast, as it were, between the rocks on both sides, there being just room enough for the breadth of the ship. The ship indeed, giving two or three knocks, staved and sank, but the man and the two youths jumped ashore and were safe ; and the lading, being tin, was after- wards secured. The merchants very well rewarded the three sailors, especially the lad that ran her into that place." A very fitting sequel, for it was indeed a daring exploit. The storm was that tremendous tempest which desolated the British coasts in 1703, commemorated by Addison in his " Campaign " : — "So when an angel, by divine command, With rising tempests shakes a guilty land, Such as of late o'er pale Britannia pass'd, Calm and serene he drives the furiqus blast, And, pleased th' Almighty's orders to perform, Rides in the whirlwind and directs the storm." That simile, then considered the height of sublimity, had a powerful effect in furthering the writer's fortunes.