Chapter 5 - Page 2

which had escaped him in the course of the day, and which had
conveyed any thing but compliments to the nautical skill of the patron and
his fresh-water followers. Still there were signs of better stuff in this
suspicious-looking person than are usually seen about men, whose attire,
pursuits and situation, are so indicative of the world's pressing hard
upon their principles, as happened to be the fact with this poor and
unknown seaman. Though ill clad, and wearing about him the general tokens
of a vagrant life, and that loose connexion with society that is usually
taken as sufficient evidence of one's demerits, his countenance
occasionally denoted thought, and, during the day, his eye had frequently
wandered towards the group of his more intelligent fellow-passengers, as
if he found subjects of greater interest in their discourse, than in the
rude pleasantries and practical jokes of those nearer his person.

The high-bred are always courteous, except in cases in which presumption
repels civility; for they who are accustomed to the privileges of station,
think far less of their immunities, than they, who by being excluded from
the fancied advantages, are apt to exaggerate a superiority that a short
experience would show becomes of very questionable value in the
possession. Without this equitable provision of Providence, the laws of
civilized society would become truly intolerable, for, if peace of mind,
pleasure, and what is usually termed happiness, were the exclusive
enjoyment of those who are rich and honoured, there would, indeed, be so
crying an injustice in their present ordinances as could not long
withstand the united assaults of reason and justice. But, happily for the
relief of the less gifted and the peace of the world, the fact is very
different. Wealth has its peculiar woes; honors and privileges pall in the
use; and, perhaps, as a rule, there is less of that regulated contentment,
which forms the nearest approach to the condition of the blessed of which
this unquiet state of being is susceptible, among those who are usually
the most envied by their fellow-creatures, than in any other of the
numerous gradations into which the social scale has been divided. He who
reads our present legend with the eyes that we could wish, will find in
its moral the illustration of this truth; for, if it is our intention to
delineate some of the wrongs that spring from the abuses of the privileged
and powerful, we hope equally to show how completely they fall short of
their object, by failing to confer that exclusive happiness which is the
goal that all struggle to attain.

Neither the Baron de Willading, nor his noble friend, the Genoese, though
educated in the opinions of their caste, and necessarily under the