The Eventful History of the Mutiny and Piratical Seizure of H.M.S. Bounty: Its Cause and Consequences online

With gratitude my willing heart expand:
To Thy omnipotence I humbly bow,
Afflicted once - but ah! how happy now!
Restored in peace, submissive to Thy will,
Oh! bless his days to come - protect him still;
Prolong his life, Thy goodness to adore,
And oh! let sorrow's shafts ne'er wound him more.
NESSY HEYWOOD. _London, October 15th, 1792, Midnight_.

[34] Mr. Graham's daughter.

[35] Several elegiac stanzas were written on the death of this
accomplished young lady. The following are dated from her native place,
the Isle of Man, where her virtues and accomplishments could best be
appreciated.
How soon, sweet maid! how like a fleeting dream
The winning graces, all thy virtues seem!
How soon arrested in thy early bloom
Has fate decreed thee to the joyless tomb!
Nor beauty, genius, nor the Muse's care,
Nor aught could move the tyrant Death to spare:
Ah! could their power revoke the stern decree,
The fatal shaft had past, unfelt by thee!
But vain thy wit, thy sentiment refined,
Thy charms external, and accomplish'd mind;
Thy artless smiles, that seized the willing heart,
Thy converse, that could pure delight impart;
The melting music of thy skilful tongue,
While judgement listen'd, ravish'd with thy song:
Not all the gifts that art and nature gave,
Could save thee, lovely Nessy! from the grave.
Too early lost! from friendship's bosom torn,
Oh might I tune _thy_ lyre, and sweetly mourn
In strains like thine, when beauteous Margaret's[A] fate
Oppress'd thy friendly heart with sorrow's weight;
Then should my numbers flow, and laurels bloom
In endless spring around fair Nessy's tomb.
[A] Alluding to some elegant lines, by the deceased, on the death of a
female friend.

[36] The following appears to have been written by Mr. P. Heywood on the
day that the sentence of condemnation was passed on him.
- - Silence then
The whispers of complaint, - low in the dust
Dissatisfaction's dæmon's growl unheard.
All - all is good, all excellent below;
Pain is a blessing - sorrow leads to joy -
Joy, permanent and solid! ev'ry ill,
Grim death itself, in all its horrors clad,
Is man's supremest privilege! it frees
The soul from prison, from foul sin, from woe,
And gives it back to glory, rest, and God!
Cheerly, my friends, - oh, cheerly! look not thus
With Pity's melting softness! - that alone
Can shake my fortitude - -all is not lost.
Lo! I have gain'd on this important day
A victory consummate o'er myself,
And o'er this life a victory, - on this day.
My birthday to eternity, I've gain'd
Dismission from a world, where for a while,
Like you, like all, a pilgrim, passing poor,
A traveller, a stranger, I have met
Still stranger treatment, rude and harsh! I so much
The dearer, more desired, the home I seek,
Eternal of my Father, and my God!
Then pious Resignation, meek-ey'd pow'r,
Sustain me still! Composure still be mine.
Where rests it? Oh, mysterious Providence
I Silence the wild idea. - I have found
No mercy yet - no mild humanity,
With cruel, unrelenting rigour torn,
And lost in prison - lost to all below!
And the following appears to have been written on the day of the king's
pardon being received.
- Oh deem it not
Presumptuous, that my soul grateful thus rates
The present high deliv'rance it hath found; -
Sole effort of Thy wisdom, sov'reign Pow'r,
Without whose knowledge, not a sparrow fells!
Oh I may I cease to live, ere cease to bless
That interposing hand, which turn'd aside -
Nay, to my life and preservation turn'd, -
The fatal blow precipitate, ordain'd
To level all my little hopes in dust,
And give me - to the grave.

[37] With which the Editor, at his request, was favoured at the time.

[38] The only authority that then existed for laying down this island
was that of Captain Carteret, who first saw it in 1767. 'It is so high,'
he says, 'that we saw it at the distance of more than fifteen leagues,
and it having been discovered by a young gentleman, son to Major
Pitcairn of the marines, who was unfortunately lost in the _Aurora_, we
called it _Pitcairn's Island_.' He makes it in lat. 25° 2' S. and long.
133° 30' W., no less than _three degrees_ out of its true longitude!
_Three minutes_ would _now_ be thought a considerable error: - such are
the superior advantages conferred by lunar observations and improvements
in chronometers.

Pitcairn's Island has been supposed to be the '_Encarnaçion_' of Quiros,
by whom it is stated to be in lat. 24° 30', and one thousand leagues
from the coast of Peru; but as he describes it as 'a low, sandy island,
almost level with the sea, having a few trees on it,' we must look for
'_Encarnaçion_' somewhere else; and _Ducies_ Island, nearly in that
latitude, very low, and within 5° of longitude from Pitcairn's Island,
answers precisely to it.

[39] As the manner of Christian's death has been differently reported to
each different visitor, by Adams, the only evidence in existence, with
the exception of three or four Otaheitan women, and a few infants, some
singular circumstances may here be mentioned that happened at home, just
at the time of Folder's visit, and which might render his death on
Pitcairn's Island almost a matter of doubt.

About the years 1808 and 1809, a very general opinion was prevalent in
the neighbourhood of the lakes of Cumberland and Westmoreland, that
Christian was in that part of the country, and made frequent private
visits to an aunt who was living there. Being the near relative of Mr.
Christian Curwen, long member of Parliament for Carlisle, and himself a
native, he was well known in the neighbourhood. This, however, might be
passed over as mere gossip, had not another circumstance happened just
about the same time, for the truth of which the Editor does not hesitate
to avouch.

In Fore Street, Plymouth Dock, Captain Heywood found himself one day
walking behind a man, whose shape had so much the appearance of
Christian's, that he involuntarily quickened his pace. Both were walking
very fast, and the rapid steps behind him having roused the stranger's
attention, he suddenly turned his face, looked at Heywood, and
immediately ran off. But the face was as much like Christian's as the
back, and Heywood, exceedingly excited, ran also. Both ran as fast as
they were able, but the stranger had the advantage, and, after making
several short turns, disappeared.

That Christian should be in England, Heywood considered as highly
improbable, though not out of the scope of possibility; for at this time
no account of him whatsoever had been received since they parted at
Otaheite; at any rate the resemblance, the agitation, and the efforts of
the stranger to elude him, were circumstances too strong not to make a
deep impression on his mind. At the moment, his first thought was to set
about making some further inquiries, but on recollection of the pain and
trouble such a discovery must occasion him, he considered it more
prudent to let the matter drop; but the circumstance was frequently
called to his memory for the remainder of his life.

[40] This Nobbs is probably one of those half-witted persons who fancy
they have received a _call_ to preach nonsense - some cobbler escaped
from his stall, or tailor from his shopboard. Kitty Quintal's cant
phrase - 'we want food for our souls,' and praying at meals for
'spiritual nourishment,' smack not a little of the jargon of the
inferior caste of evangelicals. Whoever this pastoral drone may be, it
is but too evident that the preservation of the innocence, simplicity,
and happiness of these amiable people, is intimately connected with his
speedy removal from the island.

[41] Well may Adams have sought for rules for his little society in a
book, which contains the foundation of the civil and religious policy of
two-thirds of the human race, - in that wonderful book, into whose
inspired pages the afflicted never seek for consolation in vain.
Millions of examples attest this truth. 'There is no incident in
_Robinson Crusoe_,' observes a writer in a critical journal, 'told in
language more natural and affecting, than Robert Knox's accidental
discovery of a Bible, in the midst of the Candian dominions of Ceylon.
His previous despondency from the death of his father, his only friend
and companion, whose grave he had but just dug with his own hands,
"being now," as he says, "left desolate, sick, and in captivity," - his
agitation, joy, and even terror, on meeting with a book he had for such
a length of time not seen, nor hoped to see - his anxiety lest he should
fail to procure it - and the comfort, when procured, which it afforded
him in his affliction - all are told in Buch a strain of true piety and
genuine simplicity as cannot fail to interest and affect every reader of
sensibility.'

[42] If there were _three_ instruments and _three_ boats, there must
have been _one_ for _each_, for the quadrant was just as good as a
sextant. - ED.

[43] The mistake is here again repeated; it would be absurd to suppose
that one boat had both quadrant and sextant.

[44] It is not explained with what kind of fuel they performed this
distressing operation.

[45] Here, again, is another mistake; the number must have been _eleven_
at most, one of the boats having parted before the others reached the
island. - ED.