Page:A tour through the northern counties of England, and the borders of Scotland - Volume II.djvu/42

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proached in spite of the elements ; and the wretched crew, equally affected with astonishment and ex- tacy, beheld the glorious life-boat (never was a name more happily imagined, nor more appropri- ately bestowed) along-side of their shattered ves- sel, and offering refuge from the tremendous abyss that was opening to swallow them up for ever. Restored to hope and life, they were re- moved into the friendly boat, and brought to land, to the unspeakable joy of the benevolent projectors of the plan, who had thus the double gratification of seeing that the vessel was calcu- lated to answer its intention in the compleatest manner, and of rescuing at the same time several fellow-creatures from inevitable destruction. Since this first trial, repeated desperate voyages have been made for similar purposes, and with the like success, to the salvation of many hundred distressed sailors; and so confident are the seamen of the safety of the boat, and the impossibility of its being liable to casualty, that it is now become a matter of satisfaction to be employed in this ser- vice of saving the shipwrecked; a service that well deserves the civic crown. The inventor, naturally enough supposing that an objeci: of such import- ance to the Stale as savinsr its citizens from nerisji-

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ing, would be encouraged by Government, sub-

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