Chamberss Edinburgh Journal, No. 445 | Page 8

foot, and after knocking at the door, was admitted at once by a
young woman, who seemed to have been waiting in the passage for his
arrival. She was about to throw herself into his arms, when suddenly
she started back, and exclaimed: 'It is not he!' Taking up a candle,
which she had placed on the floor, she cast its light on her own face and
that of the stranger, who had remained immovable, as if petrified by the
sound of her voice. 'Madam,' said he, brought to himself by this action,
'I am a stranger in these parts, overtaken by the storm, and I beg an
hour's hospitality.'
'You are welcome, sir,' replied Marie, the wife of Bartuccio, for it was
she; but she did not at the moment recognise the unfortunate man who

stood before her.
They were soon in a comfortable room, where was M. Brivard, now
somewhat broken by age, and a cradle, in which slept a handsome boy
about a year old. Giustiniani, after the interchange of a few
words--perhaps in order to avoid undergoing too close an examination
of his countenance--bent over the cradle to peruse the features of the
child; and the pillow was afterwards found wet with tears. By an
involuntary motion, he clutched at the place where the poniard was
wont to be, and then sat down upon a chair that stood in a dim corner.
A few minutes afterwards, Bartuccio came joyously into the room,
embraced his wife, asked her if she was cold, for she trembled very
much--spoke civilly to the stranger, and began to throw off his wet
cloak and coat. At this moment the tall form of Giustiniani rose like a
phantom in the corner, and passions, which he himself had thought
smothered, worked through his worn countenance. Brivard saw and
now understood, and was nailed to his chair by unspeakable terror,
whilst Bartuccio gaily called for his slippers. Suddenly Marie, who had
watched every motion of the stranger, and, with the vivid intuition of
wife and mother, had understood what part was hers to play, rushed to
the cradle, seized the sleeping child, and without saying a word, placed
it in Giustiniani's arms. The strong-passioned man looked amazed, yet
not displeased, and, after a moment's hesitation, sank on his knees, and
embraced the babe, that, awaking, curled its little arms round his
head----
A tremendous crash aloft interrupted the well-prepared peroration of
the narrator; and, to say the truth, I was not sorry that a sail was carried
away, and one of our boats stove in at this precise moment, for I had
heard quite enough to enable me to guess the conclusion of the history
of this harmless Vendetta.

WRECK-CHART AND LIFE-BOATS.
Many of our readers are probably aware that Prince Albert, in his
capacity of president of the Society of Arts, Manufactures, and

Commerce, suggested that lectures should be delivered on the results of
the different classes of the Great Exhibition, by gentlemen peculiarly
qualified by their several professions and pursuits. This suggestion has
been admirably carried out; but we propose at present to direct attention
only to one of the twenty-four lectures in question--namely, that on
life-boats, by Captain Washington, R. N.; our individual calling in early
life having been such as to enable us to understand thoroughly the
technical details, and judge of the accuracy of the views and opinions
propounded by the gallant and intelligent lecturer.[2]
First, we will speak of the wreck-chart of the British islands prefixed to
the lecture. Round the entire coast is a prodigious number of black dots,
of two kinds--one a simple round dot, and the other having a line drawn
through it. They all point out the locality of shipwrecks during the year
1850, and the latter dot shews the wreck to have been total. The
English coasts are most thickly dotted, but this is to be expected from
the greater proportion of shipping; next in the scale is Ireland, and then
Scotland, which has comparatively few black dots, the densest portion
being on the west coast, from Ayr to Largs, where we count eleven,
nine indicating total wrecks. In the Firth of Forth there are but three,
one total. A sprinkling of dots is seen among the Eastern Hebrides, but
not so many as one would expect. Turning to England, we count about
forty-five wrecks in the Bristol Channel alone, by far the greater
number being total. On the Goodwill Sands there are fourteen, all total
but one. On the Gunfleet Sands there are nine, four total. They are
numerous on the Norfolk and Lincolnshire coasts, especially off
Yarmouth and the Washway. On the Welsh coast, particularly around
Beaumaris, Holyhead, &c., the number is very great. In the firth
leading to Liverpool, we count