REMARKABLE PRESENTIMENT OF DEATH.

New Zealand Colonist and Port Nicholson Advertiser, Volume I, Issue 99, 11 July 1843, Page 4

REMARKABLE PRESENTIMENT OF DEATH.

•We were dispatched from the squadron in order to draw the attention of the American troops from Baltimore, whilst our army advanced upon Washington; and, consequently, we were engaged in some annoying and offensive operations every day Und-night. * * ’ * *v We had, on the morning of the day om which the following event occurred, not only burnt, but fobbed, a house, from the parlpur of. which we had filched a mahogany table for our berth ; we therefore got rid of our old oaken affair, and placed our ill-gotten furniture in its place. As this genteel apparatus was none the better for long neglect on shore, and the careless manner in which it had been handled in sending it on hoard, I, as the caterer of the mess —to which high had been lately appointed—proposed that we should take it by turns to polish the table, in order to render it a proper bright appendage to our berth. Poor Sands, who was seated in a corner, looking wofully wretched, refused to assist; alleging, as a-reason, that he felt perfectly convinced he should never eat off the table, as that night he was to be killed. In vain I attempted to rally him from the strange melancholy which had overtaken him ; he sat in a state of .almost perfect stupefaction. I ordered some -supper, of which, however, he would not partake, but, opening his desk, he made all his oldest friends a trifling present; to me. he gave a silver knife, and, with a sad countenance, said, ‘ l have nothing to send home; but my death will be severely felt there.’ We, not having exactly the; same awful'feelings as our.messmate, burst into a fit of laughter, which (however neither excited the resentment nor the --spleen of poor Sands. At this time he was the only midshipman destined to remain on hoard, the rest being appointed to the different boats and different divisions of small-arm men, to be ready .for service by nine o’clock/ As -it was requisite to avoid anything like suspicion in the eyes of our enemies, (the frigate being placed within about pistol-shot of the shore), instead of using the boatswain’s-mate’s pipes to call the boats away, the order was 'merely-whispered along the decks. Martin (who afterwards died in command of theNmtilus, 'l believe, in the Havannah) being asleep, andmo.t being roused by the slight bustle, was absent when his boat was manned; and Sands, who had officiated in preparing the boats, was desired4o command-her in Martin’s stead ; thus, he was thrust into service.unprepared, and here he felt the certainty that his death was approaching. That morning Sir Peter Parker (the captain), in, leaning backwards over the taffrail to make, remarks upon the rigging at the mizen-top-gallant-mast head, let his laced cocked .hat fall off.' He said, very fhoughtfußvy and in a very unusual manner, ‘ I much fear my head will follow this evening/ From’ this moment he became thoughtful ; and reserved: he prepared his will with the purser:; he destroyed his letters; he “matfe several allusions,,

to his wife and children; and at dinner—l dined alone with him that day —he was unusually reserved and dull; a kind of melancholy settled upoii his countenance, and every feature 'indicated some secret foreboding awfully present to his imagination. Nine o’clock came; the boat's were nitanned, and I, as his aid-de-camp, toqk my usual seat in his gig. AH the boats left the ship at the same moment, and, with muffled oars and breathless silence, we upproached the landing-place. When the gig’s keel grated on the sand, and the boat stopped, I was surprised to find Sir Peter Parker remain motionless on his seat; and knowing his usual ambition to be first, I was rather slack in asking, which I was obliged to do, if I should land first. This awoke our chief from his lethargy; but, instead of walking over the gangrboard, he stepped overboard alongside in the water, and walked on shore. The preparation of forming the men, selecting the advanceguard, and giving necessary, orders, diverted Sir Peter from his melancholy, and he appeared as animated; and flushed with as much hope and confidence,,as qn. any former occasion. * * * * Sir Peter Parker mounted a steed, and, turning round to his army, gave the word, 4 ‘Battalion, advance .1’ Having some orders to deliver to the different officers, I passed in the rear, and bn my return saw poor Sands: he expressed himself more and more satisfied that his end was approaching, and seemed only vexed at the .idea of his marching a measured -step to his inevitable destruction. I left him 'watchful as to his men, but irrevocably lost as 'to moral courage. * * * 1 * To this moment Sir Peter Parker cheered on ithe marines with his usual determined courage; but now his voice failed, and he fell in my arms —a buck shot had»cut the femoral artery, and he was bleeding to death. “We sent on shore a flag of truce in the morning. The Americans were aware they had killed the Captain; for they produced his shoe which had fallen .from his foot. They likewise mentioned the death of poor Sands; a grape-shot struck him just above the heart.” —From the Life of a Sailor, 4n the Metropolitan for*April. —• Simple Habits <©f Life. — A manufacturer of Paisley* after a long life of severe toil, and . little indulgence in the comforts of life, was suddenly enriched at last by the death of a relative in the West (Indies, who bequeathed him the bulk of his fortune. The old man was soon afterwards at Edinburgh, where.he hapi pened to be introduced to the celebrated Lord Monboddo, to, whom, at the same time, the story of his late acquisition of fortune was related. “Then,” said Monboddo, contemplating tlWspare figure of his new acquaintance, “ you to live generously.; .you and your wife should begin to take a glass or two of wine, and otherwise improve your diet a little.” “.Ay, auld man,” said the Paisley weaver, evidently thinking the advice completely anticipated by the alteration he had already effected in his system of domestic economy, “ we tak parritch and sweet milk to our supper.” A Highland Funeral. —Highland-funerals are usually celebrated with a great deal of festivity. At their date wakes, or watchings of the -corpse, many games used to be played; but now, decorum has substituted the amusement of dancing and. drinking for all other diyertisements. Two young men oonce concerted to give the company a fright, and it was to he done in the following manner : —One of them Becretly contrived to -shift the corpse from the bed, and to put himself in its place, with the iatentiou of starting <up in sight of the mourners, on the signal of a whistle being given by his companion. .All was prepared, and the‘dance went merrily nn for some time when the 'young man, judging it time to give the signal,-whistled softly towards the bed upon which the supposed dead body was extended To his surprise, his companion did not start ,up as he expected. Again he whistled, and .no notice was taken of. ‘his signal. 'Hewhistledyet louder, and again and again, and in the extremity of the moment gave vent to a certain expressive modulation of notes, meant to convey a.sense of his impatience and alarm, and which..has since been converted into a regular tune. But his-companion was still silent, and apparently without motion. He at last went up to the bed, and .threw down the clothes, when he found Lis friend as cold as the corpse which he had meant to represent. He was actually dead. If this event was ; brought about .through-the influence of p peculiar state of feeling, arising from his situation, haw .mysteriously horrible must that feeling’ have been!

•Formerly an old man used to excite the commiseration of the passengers between Leith and Edinburgh, by his screeching performance on a wretched clarionet. One day a distinguished clarionet player, who had been brought down from London for a kind of musical festival, happened to come within hearing of this poor old man.' He wept up, and, begging a loan, of the instrument, fitted on a new mouth-piece, and played, a tune, in his usual brilliant style. The friend of the performer then asked the old man what he thought of,it. " <Oh, if he practises,” said .the.mendicant, “ he'U aiblips come,on.”