A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. 2 | Page 8

In the glorious reign of Edward III. Robert a Machin, of Macham, a
gentleman of the second degree of nobility, whose genius was only
equalled by his gallantry and courage, beheld and loved the beautiful
Anna d'Arfet[5]. Their attachment was mutual, but the pleasing
indulgence of ardent hope gratified and betrayed the secret of their
passion. The pride of the illustrious family of d'Arfet was insensible to
the happiness of their daughter, and they preferred the indulgence of
their own ambition to the voice of love. The feudal tyranny of the age
was friendly to their cruelty, and a royal warrant seemed to justify the
vanity of her parent. The consolation of an ingenious mind supported
Machin under confinement, and enabled him to seek after redress
without yielding to despondency. On his releasement from prison, he
learned that the beloved cause of his persecution had been forced to
marry a nobleman, whose name he could not discover, but who had
carried her to his castle near Bristol. The friends of Machin made his
misfortune their own, and one of them had the address to get
introduced into the service of the afflicted Anna under the character of
a groom. The prospect of the ocean during their rides, suggested or
matured the plan of escape and the hope of a secure asylum
counteracted the imagined dangers of a passage to the coast of France.

Under pretence of deriving benefit from the sea air, the victim of
parental ambition was enabled to elude suspicion, and embarked
without delay, in a vessel procured for the purpose, along with her
lover.
In the successful completion of this anxious design, Machin was alike
insensible to the unfavourable season of the year, and to the portentous
signs of an approaching storm, which in a calmer moment he would
have duly observed. The gradual rising of a gale of wind, rendered the
astonished fugitives sensible of their rashness; and, as the tempest
continued to augment, the thick darkness of night completed the
horrors of their situation. In their confusion, the intended port was
missed, or could not be attained, and their vessel drove at the mercy of
the winds and waves. In the morning they found themselves in the
midst of an unknown ocean, without skill to determine their situation,
and destitute of knowledge or experience to direct their course towards
any known land. At length, after twelve anxious mornings had dawned
without sight of land, with the earliest streaks of day an object dimly
appeared to their eager watchfulness in the distant horizon, and when
the grey haze, which had alternately filled them with hope and
despondency was dissipated by the rising sun, the certainty of having
discovered land was welcomed by a general burst of joy. A great
luxuriancy of trees of unknown species, was soon observed to
overspread the land, whence unknown birds of beautiful plumage came
off in flocks to the vessel, and gave the appearance of a pleasing dream
to their unexpected deliverance.
[Illustration: Chart of North Western Africa]
The boat was hoisted out to examine the new found island, and
returned with a favourable account. Machin and his friends
accompanied their trembling charge on shore, leaving the mariners to
secure the vessel at an anchor. The wilderness and rich scenery of the
adjacent country possessed great charms to these thankful guests, just
escaped from apparently inevitable destruction. An opening in the
extensive woods, which was encircled with laurels and other flowering
shrubs, presented a delightful retreat to the tempest-worn voyagers; a
venerable tree, of ancient growth, offered its welcome shade on an
adjoining eminence, and the first moments of liberty were employed in
forming a romantic residence, with the abundant materials which nature

supplied all around. The novelty of every object they beheld, induced
curiosity to explore their new discovery, and they spent three days in
wandering about the woods, when the survey was interrupted by an
alarming hurricane, which came on during the night, and rendered them
extremely anxious for the safety of their companions, who had been left
in charge of the vessel. The ensuing morning destroyed all prospect of
being ever enabled to get away from the island; the vessel had broke
from her moorings by the violence of the storm, and was wrecked on
the coast of Morocco, where all on board were immediately seized as
slaves.
The afflicted Machin found this last calamity too severe for his terrified
and afflicted companion to endure. Her susceptible mind and tender
frame, overcome by the severity of the scenes she had gone through,
and oppressed by consciousness of having deviated from her duty, sunk
under her afflictive situation. From the moment it was reported that the
vessel had disappeared, she became dumb with sorrow, and expired
after a few days of