they must make some allowance for variation and leeway."--"Lord,
sir!" said the valet, "what occasion have you to go zig-zag in
that manner? Do but clap spurs to your horses, and ride straight
forward, and I'll engage yea shall be at the church-porch in
less than a quarter of an hour."-"What? right in the wind's eye?"
answered the commodore; "ahey! brother, where did you learn your
navigation? Hawser Trunnion is not to be taught at this time of day
how to lie his course, or keep his own reckoning. And as for you,
brother, you best know the trim of your own frigate."

The courier, finding he had to do with people who would not be
easily persuaded out of their own opinions, returned to the temple,
and made a report of what he had seen and heard, to the no small
consolation of the bride, who had begun to discover some signs of
disquiet. Composed, however, by this piece of intelligence, she
exerted her patience for the space of another half-hour, during which
period, seeing no bridegroom arrive, she was exceedingly alarmed;
so that all the spectators could easily perceive her perturbation,
which manifested itself in frequent palpitations, heart-heavings,
and alterations of countenance, in spite of the assistance of a
smelling-bottle which she incessantly applied to her nostrils.

Various were the conjectures of the company on this occasion: some
imagined he had mistaken the place of rendezvous, as he had never
been at church since he first settled in that parish; others
believed he had met with some accident, in consequence of which
his attendants had carried him back to his own house; and a third
set, in which the bride herself was thought to be comprehended,
could not help suspecting that the commodore had changed his mind.
But all these suppositions, ingenious as they were, happened to be