With a bitter sigh he turned his back on the land to
which he was going, and fixed his eyes on the tract of sea which then
divided him from all that he had ever loved, or had given him true
happiness.
"Father of mercy!" murmured he, in a suppressed voice, "what have I
done to deserve this misery? Why have I been at one stroke deprived
of all that rendered existence estimable? Two months ago, I had a
mother, a more than father, to love and cherish me; I had a country,
that looked up to them and to me with veneration and confidence. Now,
I am bereft of all. I have neither father, mother, nor country, but I
am going to a land of utter strangers."
Such impatient adjurations were never wrung from Sobieski by the
anguish of sudden torture without his ingenuous and pious mind
reproaching itself for such faithless repining. His soul was soft as
a woman's; but it knew neither effeminacy nor despair. Whilst his
heart bled, his countenance retained its serenity. Whilst affliction
crushed him to the earth, and nature paid a few hard-wrung drops to
his repeated bereavements, he contemned his tears, and raised his
fixed and confiding eye to that Power which poured down its tempests
on his head. Thaddeus felt as a man, but received consolation as a
Christian.
When his ship arrived at the mouth of the Thames, the eagerness of
the passengers increased to such an excess that they would not stand
still, nor be silent a moment; and when the vessel, under full sail,
passed Sheerness, and the dome of St.
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