"Which way did he head, Tom ?" cried Barnstable, the moment the whale was out of sight.

"Pretty much up and down, Sir," returned the Coxswain, whose eye was gradually brightening with the excitement of the sport; "he'll soon run his nose against the bottom, if he stands long on that course, and will be glad to get another snuff of pure air; send her a few fathoms to starboard, Sir, and I promise we shall not be out of his track."

The conjecture of the experienced old seaman proved true, for, in a few minutes, the water broke near them, and another spout was cast into the air, when the huge animal rushed for half his length, in the same direction, and fell on the sea with a turbulence and foam equal to that which is produced by the launching of a vessel for the first time into its proper element. After this evolution, the whale rolled heavily, and seemed to rest from further efforts.

His slightest movements were closely watched by Barnstable and his cockswain, and when he was in a state of comparative rest, the former gave a signal to his crew to ply the oars once more. A few long and vigorous strokes sent the boat directly up to the broadside of the whale, with its bows pointed to one of the fins, which was at times, as the animal yielded sluggishly to the action of the waves, exposed to view. The cockswain poised his harpoon with much precision, and then darted it from him with a violence that buried the iron in the blubber of their foe. The instant the blow was made, long Tom ` shouted, with singular earnestness-" Starn all !"

"Stern all!" echoed Barnstable; when the obedient seamen, by united efforts, forced the boat in a backward direction, beyond the reach of any.

blow from their formidable antagonist. The alarmed animal, however, meditated,no such resistance; ignorant of his own power, and of the insignificance of his enemies, he sought refuge in flight. One moment of stupid surprise succeeded the entrance of the iron, when he cast his huge tail into the air, with a violence that threw the sea around him into increased commotion, and then disappeared, with the quickness of lightning, amid a cloud of foam.

"Snub him!" shouted Barnstable; "hold on, Tom; he rises already."

"Ay, ay, Sir," replied the composed coxswain, seizing the line, which was running out of the boat with a velocity that rendered such a manœuvre rather hazardous, and causing it to yield more gradually round the large loggerhead that was placed in the bows of the boat for that purpose. Presently, the line stretched forward, and, rising to the surface, with tremulous vibrations, it indicated the direction, in which the animal might be expected to reappear.

Barnstable had cast the bows of the boat towards that point, before the terrified and wounded victim rose once more to the surface, whose time was, however, no longer wasted in his sports, but who cast the waters aside, as he forced his way, with prodigious velocity, along their surface. The boat was dragged violently in his wake, and cut through the billows with a terrific rapidity, that, at moments, appeared to bury the slight fabric in the ocean. When long Tom beheld his victim throwing his spouts on high again, he pointed with exultation to the jetting fluid, which was streaked with the deep red of blood, and cried-"Ay! I've touched the fellow's life! it must be more than two feet of

blubber that stops my iron from reaching the life of any whale that ever sculled the ocean."

"I believe you have saved yourself the trouble of using the bayonet, you have rigged for a lance," said his commander, who entered into the sport with all the ardour of one whose youth had been chiefly passed in such pursuits; "feel your line, Master Coffin; can we haul along-side of our enemy? I like not the course he is steering, as he tows us from the schooner."

""Tis the creature's way, Sir," said the cockswain; "you know they need the air in their nostrils, when they run, the same as a man; but, lay hold, boys, and let us haul up to him."

The seamen now seized the whale-line, and slowly drew their boat to within a few feet of the tail of the fish; whose progress became sensibly less rapid, as he grew weak with the loss of blood. In a few minutes he stopped running, and appeared to roll uneasily on the water, as if suffering the agony of death.

"Shall we pull in and finish him, Tom ?" cried Barnstable; "; a few sets from your bayonet-would do it."

The cockswain stood examining his game with cool discretion, and replied to this interrogatory"No, Sir, no-he's going into his flurry; there's no occasion for disgracing ourselves, by using a soldier's weapon, in taking a whale. Starn off, Sir, starn off! the creature's in his flurry!"

The warning of the prudent cockswain was promptly obeyed, and the boat cautiously drew off to a distance, leaving the animal a clean space, while under its dying agonies. From a state of perfect rest, the terrible monster threw its tail on high, as when in sport; but, its blows were trebled

in rapidity and violence, till all was hid from view by a pyramid of foam that was deeply dyed in blood. The roarings of the fish were like the bellowing of a herd of bulls, and to one who was ignorant of the fact, it would have appeared as if a thousand monsters were engaged in deadly combat behind the bloody mist that obstructed the view. Gradually these efforts subsided, and when the discoloured water again settled down to the long and regular swell of the ocean, the fish was seen, exhausted, and yielding passively to its fate. As life departed, the enormous black mass rolled to one side, and when the white and glistening skin of the belly became apparent, the seamen well knew that their victory was achieved.

"What's to be done now?" said Barnstable, as he stood and gazed with a diminished excitement, at their victim; "he will yield no food, and his carcase will probably drift to land, and furnish our enemies with the oil."

"If I had but that creature in Boston bay," said the cockswain, "it would prove the making of me; but such is my luck for ever! Pull up, at any rate, and let me get my harpoon and line the English shall never get them, while old Tom Coffin can blow."

COOPER.

CHARLES V. AND FRANCIS I. COMPARED. FRANCIS I., who mounted the throne of France in the year one thousand five hundred and fifteen, and Charles V., who obtained the imperial crown in the year one thousand five hundred and nineteen, divided between them the strength and affec

tions of all Europe. Their perpetual enmity was not owing solely either to personal jealousy, or to the caprice of private passion, but was founded so much in nature and true policy, that it subsisted between their posterity for several ages. Charles succeeded to all the dominions of the house of Austria. No family had ever gained so much by wise and fortunate marriages. By acquisitions of this kind, the Austrian princes rose, in a short time, from obscure Counts of Hapsbourg, to be archdukes of Austria and kings of Bohemia, and were in possession of the imperial dignity by a sort of hereditary right. Besides these territories in Germany, Charles was heir to the crown of Spain, and to all the dominions which belonged to the house of Burgundy. The Burgundian provinces engrossed, at that time, the riches and commerce of one half of Europe; and he drew from them, on many occasions, those immense sums, which no people without trade and liberty are able to contribute. Spain furnished him a gallant and hardy infantry, to whose discipline he was indebted for all his conquests. At the same time, by the discovery of the new world, a vein of wealth was opened to him, which all the extravagance of ambition could not exhaust. These advantages rendered Charles the first prince in Europe; but he wished to be more, and openly aspired to universal monarchy. His genius was of that kind which ripens slowly, and lies long concealed; but it grew up, without observation, to an unexpected height and vigour. He possessed, in an eminent degree, the characteristic virtues of all the different races of princes to whom he was allied. In forming his schemes, he discovered all the subtlety and penetration of Ferdinand his grandfather; he pursued