Heaven: ſome Evil muſt be mingled with the Good, to the end we may be more dependant on Divine Providence; we should elſe be too apt to forget our Duty, and perhaps, look on the Comforts we receive as our Due, and the juſt Reward of our Actions.
As at my firſt coming to the Iſland, I was extremely ſollicitous in diving into the Manners and Humour of a People, which ſeemed ſo altogether new, and different from all the other Europeans I had ever ſeen; I went to Port Iron, the firſt Seaſon for Fiſhery, after my Arrival: where, falling into diſcourſe with ſome of the Inhabitants, I had an Account given me, which, I think, would be doing ſomething of Injuſtice to the Publick to conceal.
I believe there are few People, who have not heard of Mermaids and Mermen, tho' I never met with any, who looked on them as any thing more than the chimerical Tritons and Amphitrites of the Poets, till accidentally falling in Company with an old Manks Man, who had uſed the Sea many Years, he told me he had frequently ſeen them, and endeavour-
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