HOMEWARD BOUND.

CONSIDERED merely as a novel, this work wants the interest that springs from number, variety, and novelty of incidents woven into a connected story ; all which are probably reserved fur the cun- tinuation,—as the Homeward Bound breaks off with the arrival of the ship at New York, where the persons in whom the author desires to excite an interest are left in a requisite state of mystery, dilemma, and distress. As a distinct, complete, and truthful pic- ture of life at sea in a New York packet ship, varied by a gale and a wreck, the book is entitled to high praise. It has also con- siderable merit for sketches of character, as well as for its ob- servations on life and opinions; which are always shrewd and thoughtful, though some of them are dry and out of place. Whatever the object of the author might be, the effect of the Homeward Bound is to lay the foundation of a tale of love and rivalry, which shall open where any other novel might do, with the advantage of having the reader familiarized with the charac- ters and the growth of their feelings : as if SHAKSPEARS, for example, had written an introductory account of the dangers and wooing of Othello. The subject is simply the narrative of a voyage to America in the Montauk, which is driven from bet course by a King's ship following her to search for a public defaulter, whereas the commander of the Montauk apprehended delay on some trumped-up charge of smuggling. The incidents springing out of this are a long and varied chase, a tempest, and a partial wreck, followed by several adventures on the African coast in a voyage of boats, and a contest with the Arabs, until the packet is refitted. All this is little enough of itself for three volumes : the interest in it arises from our feelings towards the persons, who are so truly and so quietly developed, that before long we regard them as old acquaintances. As yet, indeed, only three or four persons—the lovers, the lady, her thither, and an old bachelor cousin—seem cer- tain to act very prominent parts in the ensuing volumes; but it is probable that the conduct of several other characters will have some material influence on the future fate of the hero. It is chiefly, however, in the portraits that ate interest of the work resides. Mr. Truck, the master—a thorough-bred seaman, whose soul is in his ship, and whose country's contests with England on maritime rights have induced him to ponder over Vattel with- out understanding him—is a capital specimen of a respectable, good-hearted American seaman, without a dash of caricature, but perhaps with a little favourable softening. The Coloured steward, Saunders, is also a sketch to the life—with the love of gossip and grcatnesg inherent in Negro blood ; the slave's habits of familiarity checked by the discipline of a ship; his affectation of fine words caught up from the passengers and misapplied; and his whole thoughts centred in his pantry. The foolish, vain defaulter, voyaging mole:. the style and title of a baronet, is slightly touched, but with truth and effirct; as is Mr. Monday, the com- mercial traveller—thoroughly attentive to his own comforts, with a strong dash of vulgar sensualism, but good-natured, unaacted, and brave when necessity calls. Steadfast Dodge, Esq., the repre- sentative of the servile American when travelling abroad, and of the thorough-paced demagogue at home, is the most elaborated personage, though scarcely the most successful : he is too much an abstraction of mean-spiritedness, vulgarity, and all the other shabby qualities which Mr. COOPER seems to consider charac- teristic of the present American political mob-leaders. The rest of the persons, even when weak or bad-principled, have their lights and reliefs thrown in with remarkable skill; but for Mr. Dodge, the author has neither respect nor pity. Wlenever any meanness is to be perpetrated, in thought, word, or deed, he is the man engaged ; and, by way of capping the whole, he is made to have written a journal, during his European tour,—a species of Pencillings by the Way, some of which he has sent to the Ameri- can newspapers, and parts of which he occasionally reads to the passengers : these, though amusing enough, and cleverly imagined, are too exaggerated to be possible.

Always excepting the political discussions on America and Federalism, with some other points of a similar kind, which are becoming bores in the hands of Mr. Cooesa, the interest of the book is inseparably bound up with its character us a whole; the incidents being too few, and too long drawn out, to have any attraction without the characters and little events that give them nature and reality. The dialogues, however, are always truthful and characteristic, even when they lead to nothing. To these dialogues and some of the reflections, we shall confine our extracts.

To make the first quotations intelligible, the reader should know, that in the gale the Montauk has lost her masts, and is set by the current on the coast of Africa. To supply their place, the crew quit her in the boats to go to a stranded vessel, after having laid up their own in an inlet, where she is threatened by the natives. After some scenes of distress and terror, Paul Blunt, the hero— travelling, for reasons yet to be unfolded, under an assumed mums, and with a mystery about him—escapes in the boat, with the other passengers and the steward; leaving the vessel to her fate, and at first with a notion that her crew has been massacred.

A STEWARD'S RTGRETS.

"Bear a hand, Saunders," he said, having taken the steward forward with rim, as one more accustomed to ships than the others ; " bear a hand, my fine fellow, and light up this chain. Ten minutes just now ate of more value than a year at another time." "'Tis awful, Mr. Blunt, Sir, werry awful, I do confirm," returned the steward, blubbering and wiping his eyes between the drags at the chains. "Such a fate to befall such cabins, Sir ! And the crockery of the very best quality out of London or New Yuck ! Had I diwined such an issue fur the Montauk, Sir, I never would have counselled Captain Truck to lay in half the stores we did, and most essentially nut the new lots of vines. Oh, Sir, it is truly awful to have such a calamity visit so much elegant preparation !"

"Forget it all, my fine fellow, and light tip the chain. llti, she touches abaft! Ten or fifteen fathoms moire will answer."

"I've paid great dewotion to the silver, Mr. Blunt, Sir, for it's all in the launch, even to the broken mustard•spoon ; and I do hope, if Captain Truck's soul is permitted to superintend the pantry any longer, it will be quite beatified and encouraged with my prudence and oversight. I left all the rest of the table-furniture, Sir; though I suppose these musc/conen will not have much use for any but the oyster knives, as I am informed they eat with their fingers. I declare it is quite oppressive and indium:tie to have such wagabunds rum- maging one's lockers " "Rouse away, my men, and light up! the ship has caught the breeze on her larboard bow, and begins to take the chain more freely. Remember that precious beings depend on tie for safety !" "Ay, ay, Sir, light up it is. I feel quite a concern for the ladies, Sir, and more especially for the stores we abandon to the underwriters."

A DEMAGOGUE IN A COUNCIL OF WAIL

"You intend to attempt recapturing the ship !" exclaimed Paul." "I do, Sir, returned Mr. Truck ; who having thus far opened his mind, for the first time that morning, gavea vigorous hem ! and set about lighting a cigar.

"We may do it, gentlemeo or We may not do it. If we do it, you will hear further from me; if we 'fail, why, tell them at home that we carried sail its long as a stitch would draw." The gentlemen looked at each other ; the young waiting in respect for the counsel of the old, the old hesitating in deference to the pride and feelings of the young. " We must join you in this enterprise, Captain," said Mr. Sharp quietly, but with the manner of a man of spirit and nerve. "Certainly, certainly," cried Mr. Monday ; " we ought to make a common affair of it ; as I dare say Sir George Templemore will agree with me in main- taining the nobility and gentry are not often backward when their persons are to he risked."

The spuricus baronet acquiesced in the proposal as readily as it had been made by him whom he had temporarily deposed; for, though a weak and a vain young non, he was far from being a dastard. " This is a serious business," observed Paul, "and it ought to he ordered with method and intelligence. If we have a ship to care fur, we have those also who are infinitely more precious." " Very true, Mr. Blunt, very ttue," interrupted Mr. Dodge, a little eagerly. It is any maxim to let well alone; and I ant certain shipwrecked peeple Can hardly be better off and more comfortable than we are at this very moment. I dare say these gallant sailors, if the question were fairly put to them, would give it by a handsome majority in favour of things as they are. I act a con- servative, Captain ; and I think an appeal ought to Ire made to he made to the halluMoxes before we decide on a measure of so much magnitude." The occasion was too grave for the ordinary pleasantry; and this singular proposition was heard in silence, to Mr. Dodge's great di-gust. I thick it the duty of Captain Truck to endeavour to retake 164 vessel," eentinue I Paul ; "but the affair will be serious and success is far limn cant tin.

The I:much ought to be left at a safe distance with all the fem des, and in pendent lreepititr ; for any disaster to the loaruling- p arty would puolu.thly throw the :est of the goats into the 'nods of the barbarians, and endanger the

safety of those left in the launch. Mr. Effingham and Mr. Julio EttjngLani will of course remain with the ladies."

The father assented with the simplicity of one who did not distrust his own notices; but the e igle-shaped features of his kinsman curled with a coo! and sarcastic sari le.

" Will q,,,1 reinain on the launch?" the latter asked paiuttelly, tumiog towards 1'a u!.

" Certainly it would be greatly out of character were I to think of it. My trade is war ; and I trust that Captain Truck means to honour me with the command of one of the boats."

" I thought as much, by Jove'. " exclaimed the Captain, seizing a hand, which he shook with the utmost cordiality. " I should as soon expect to see the sheet. anchor wink, or the best bower give a mourtifid smile, as to see your duck. Still, gentlemen, I am well aware of the difference in our situations. 1 ask no turn to forget his duties to those on shore in my account ; and I fancy that my regular people, aided by 'Mr. Blunt, who can really serve me by his knowledge, will be as likely to do all that can but done as all of us united. It is not numbers that carry ships, as much as spirit, promptitude, and resolution." " But the question lets not yet been put to the 'wooly," said Mr. Madge, who was a little mystified by the word last used ; which he had yet to learn was strictly technical as applied to a vessel's crew. " It shall, Sir," returned Captain 'truck; "and I beg you to note the ma. jority. My lads," he continued, rising on a thwart, and speaking aloud, " yote Lime; the hie•my of the ship. As to the Arabs, now they have got her, they do not knots' how to sail her; and it is no more than a kindness to take her oat of their band,. For this business I want volunteers ; those who are for the reef, and an attic!:, will rise up and chaser; while they who like an offing have only to sit still and stay where they are.'' The words were no sooner spoken than Mr. Leach jumped up on the gun- W:de and waved his hat. The people rose as one man, and, takiug the signal from the mate, they gave three as hearty cheers as ever rung over the bottle.

" Dce11 against you, Sir," observed the Captain, nodding to the editor;

and 1 loupe you are now satisfied."

" The ballut might have given it the other way," muttered Mr. Dodge; "there can be no freedom of election without the ballot."

NAUTICAL THEOLOGY, WITH TOUCHES OF NATURE.

"air. Leach !"

" Captain Truck !

" DJ, )0l1 ever pray ? " " I have done such a thing in my time, Sir; hut, since I have sailed with you I have been taught to wink first and pray afterwards; and when the ditlicuity phiatstsat,

been gotten over by the work, the prayers have commouly seemed sus- " Yon should then take to your thanksgivings. I think your graudfather was a parson, Leach."

" Yes, he was, Sir, and I have been told your father followed the same trade."

" You have been told the truth, Mr. Leach. My father was as meek, and pious, and humble a Christian as ever thumped a pulpit. A poor man, and, if truth must be spoken, a pole preacher too ; but a zealous one, and thoroughly &vont. I ran away from him at twelve, and never passed a week at a time under his roof afterwards. Ile could do little for me, fur he had little educa- tion and im money, and, 1 believe, carried on the business pretty much by faith. lie was a goad imam Leach, notwithstandilig there might be a little of a take-in for such a person to set up us a teacher : and as for my mother, if there ever was a pure spirit on math, it was in her body !"

" Ay, that is the way commonly with the mothers, Sir."

" She taught me to pray," added the Captain, speaking a little thick, "but since I've lava in this London line, to own the truth, I final 'nut little time for any thing but hard work, until, for want of practice, praying has got to be among the hardest things I can turn my hand to." " TI:is is the way with all of us : it is my opinion, Captain Truck, these London and Liverpool liners will have a good many lost souls to soarer for." "Ay, ay, if we could putt it on them, it would do well enough ; but my honest old father always maintaiiied, that every man must stand in the gap left

be hie sins; though he did assert, also, that we were all foreortleined to ekaite our courses starboard or port, even before we were launched."

" That doctriue makes an easy tide's-way of life • for I see no great use in a man's carrying Fail and jamming himself up is die wind, to claw off huller. ralitiee, when he knows he is to fetch upon them after all his pains." " I have worked all sorts of traverses to get hold of this matter, and never could make any thing of it. It is harder than logarithms. If my father had been the only one to teach it, I should hate thought less about it, fur he was no scholar, and might have been paying it out just in the way of business; but then my mother believed it, body and soul, and she was too good a woman to stiidt long to a course that had not tenth to back it." " Why not believe it heartily, Sir, and let the wheel fly? One gets to the end of the v'y'ge on this tack as well as on another."

THE COAST OF ENGLAND.

The coast of England, though infinitely finer than our own, is more remark. able for its verdure, and for the general appearance of civilization, than for its natural beauties. The chalky cliffs may seem bold and noble to the Ainericao, though, compared to the granite piles that buttress the Mediterranean, they are but inole.hills; and the travelled eye seeks beauties instead, in the retiring

vales, the leafy hedges, and the clustering towns that dot the teeming island. Neither is Portsmouth a very favourable specimen of a British port, considered solely in reference to the picturesque. A town situated on a humble point, and fortified after the manner of the Low Countries, with an excellent haven, sug- gests more images of the useful and the pleasing ; while a background of modest receding hills offers little beyond the verdant males of the country. In this respect, England itself has the fresh beauty of youth, rather than the mel. lowed hues of a more advanced period of life ; or it might be better to say, it has the young freshness and retiring sweetness that distinguish her females, as compared with the warmer tints of Spain and Italy, and which, women and landscape alike, need the near view to be appreciated.

A STORM BREWING.

The awaking of the winds on the ocean is frequently attended with signs and portents as sublime as any the fancy can conceive. On the present occasion, the breeze that had prevailed so steadily for a week was succeeded by light baffling puffs ; as if, conscious of the mighty powers of the airs that were as- sembling in their strength, these inferior blasts were hurrying to and fro for a refuge. The clouds, too, were whirling about in uncertain eddies; many of the heaviest and darkest descending so low along the horizon, that they had an ap• pearance of settling on the watets in quest of repose. But the waters them- selves were unnaturally agitated ; the billows, no longer following each other in long regular waves, were careering upwards like fiery coursers suddenly checked in their mad career. The usual order of the eternally unquiet ocean was lost in a species of chaotic tossings of the element—the seas heaving them- selves upward without order, and frequently without any visible cause. This was the reaction of the currents and of the influence of breezes still older than the last. Not the least fearful symptom of the hour, was the terrific calmness of the air amid such a scene of menacing wildness. Even the ship came into the picture to aid the impression of intense expectation ; for, with her canvass -reduced, she too seemed to have lust that instinct which had so lately guided her along the trackless waste, and was " wallowing," nearly helpless, among the confused waters. Still she was a beautiful and a grand object—perhaps the snore so at that moment than at any other ; for her vast arid naked spars, her well-supported masts, and all the ingenious and complicated hamper of the machine, gave her a resemblance to some sinewy and gigantic gladiator pacing the arena, in waiting for the conflict that was at hand. This is an extraordinary scene." said Eve, who clung to her father's arm, as she gazed around her equally in admiration and in awe; " a dread exhibition of the sublimity of nature."

THE RISKS OF SCUDDING

The velocity of the water, urged as it is before a tempest, is often as great as that of the ship; and at such moments the rudder is useless, its whole power being derived from its action as a moving body against the element in compara- tive repose. When ship and water move together, at an equal rate, in the same direction, of course this power of the helm is neutralized ; and then the hull is driven much at the mercy of the winds and waves. Nor is this all : the rapidity of the billows often exceeds that of a ship, and then the action of the rudder becomes momentarily reversed, producing an effect exactly opposite to that which is desired. It is true this last difficulty is never of more than a few moments continuance ; else, indeed, would the condition of the mariner be hopeless; but it is of constant occurrence, and so irregular as to defy calcula. tions and defeat caution. In the present instance, the Montauk would seem to fly through the water, so swift was her progress ; and then, as a furious surge overtook her in the chase, she settled heavily into the element, like a wounded animal, that, despairing of escape, sinks helplessly in the grass, resigned to fate. At such times the crests of the waves swept past her, like vapour in the atmo- sphere ; and one unpractised would be apt to think the ship stationary, though in truth whirling along iu company with a frightful momentum.

It is scarcely necessary to say, that the process of scudding requires the nicest attention to the helm, in order that the hull may be brought speedily back to the right direction, when thrown aside by the power of the billows ; for, besides losing her way in the cauldron of water—an imminent danger of itself, if left exposed to the attack of the succeeding waves—her decks at least would be swept, even should she escape a still inure serious calamity. Pooping is a hazard of another nature, and is also peculiar to the process of scudding. It merely means the ship's being overtaken by the waters while running from them, when the crest of a sea, broken by the resistance, is thrown inboard over the taffrail or quarter. The term is derived from the name of that particular pot tion of the ship. In order to avoid this risk, sail is carried on the vessel as long as possible ; it being deemed one of the greatest securities of scud. sling to force the hull through the water at the greatest attainable rate. In consequence of these complicated risks, ships that sail the fastest and steer the easiest scud the best. There is, however, a species of velocity that becomes a source of new danger of itself : thus, exceedingly sharp vessels have been known to force themselves so far into the watery mounds in their front, and to receive so much of the etemeut on deck, as never to rise again.