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 not to refuse him, and we drove off immediately, but not until he had acquainted Morven that we should return to supper, when he hoped we should have music, and that he should set out with me for Swaloal next morning as soon as it was light.

On approaching the port, I observed a great alteration—the stately ships I had seen in full equipment, being now ranged as a kind of hulks for miles together; so that I could not help asking why so grand a fleet had been dismantled, and the answer was a proud one for Armata:

"Because the fleets of our world," he said, "are lying dismantled by their sides—the ocean, which re-echoed through all its caves with the thunder of foreign navies, is now silent as the grave—their cannon are all spiked or upon our battlements, and their flags are the ornaments of our halls:—yonder, (pointing to an immense number at a distance,) yonder are their brave crews, delivered from all their toils."