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10 years. It was thought advisable by his friends, of whom he had but few, to have him placed under the patronage and employed in the service of a Mr. Levens, a distant relation of his own, formerly of Hull, then of Boston. With this view he was sent out to Mr. Levens, and as Levens traded very extensively at sea, Watson set out as a young adventurer a board a ship in which his friend was chiefly concerned, and it was while this ship lay in Havana harbor that the accident of the shark happened — that as it was an excellent subject for a painting has had great justice done it in the masterly performances of Copely — in consequence of which accident he was taken into the Havana hospital and treated by the Spaniards with the greatest humanity, and after a cure was effected he found means of returning to Boston. But in his absence his friend Levens had failed in trade and left the place; this, you will easily conceive, was not small disappointment to him (young Watson) whose whole dependence here was on his friend now gone. Think now on the mortifying blank of disappointment and the dreary scene of indigence disclosing upon him when he expected the open hand of liberality and the tender consolations of friendship, and how all that fancy had framed out, and that the heart panted for, vanished like the baseless fabric of a night vision, and all the fortitude of his little breast was put to the trial by the unhappy manner in which this fresh misfortune was communicated to him. He scarcely had got into the house where Mr. Levens had formerly resided (a house of entertainment) when the mistress of the house broke out full well and in the most inconsiderate and unfeeling manner ran over the history of Mr. Levens' failure and misfortunes — “La Brook," exclaimed the oddity, " is this you, with a wooden leg, too? Your friend Levens has been so unlucky, has done so-and-so and now he is gone the Lord knows "where. But there is nothing for you here; I can see nothing for you but to have you bound out to be a saylor. I believe I shall send immediately for the select men and was all with them in the business." “The Lord help me," says poor Brook, “for I wish the shark had finished the business he began." The woman talked with such vociferation as to arrest the attention and awaken the curiosity of a gentleman in an adjacent room. He left his room and led the violent talking noise, he stepped into a scene where distress was bearing the lash of insensibility. Here stood young Watson agitated in the very crisis of his eventful fortune, standing |
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