Page:Memoirs James Hardy Vaux.djvu/94

71 fifty-eight men, belonging to Dunkirk, after a chase of three hours, in a gale of wind, in which, we went at the rate of thirteen and a half knots per hour, under a fore-sail and close reefed main top-sail only. During the ensuing summer, being appointed to convoy above three hundred sail of merchantmen to the Baltic Sea, we lay for several weeks, at Elsineur, in Denmark; at which place I went on shore, and had some pleasant rambles into the, adjacent country, visiting Copenhagen which is twenty miles distant. I also viewed the interior of that ancient castle, celebrated by Shakspeare in the tragedy of Hamlet, and many other local curiosities.

The following spring, the Astræa was ordered up the river Thames, for the purpose of receiving on board two hundred thousand pounds in specie, which she was to convey to Cuxhaven, for the use of the Hamburgh merchants. We accordingly came to an anchor at Greenhithe, sixteen miles from London; and while the ship was undergoing some little repairs, I obtained leave of absence for three days, of which I availed myself to visit London, with the view of having a short cruise in that region of pleasure. As I had lately received both pay and prize-money, and had also been economical of what my relations had occasionally remitted me, I was well provided for the purpose.

On the first night of my arrival in town, I went, of course, to the play, where I was struck with the