A few months after the expiring of the year of grace, she was the affianced bride of a highly respectable, well-to-do, middle-aged gentleman.

John Lindsey, her intended husband, could not boast of his good looks; he was little, rather stout, was deeply pitted in the face with the small-pox, and had a very red nose, but he was considered by the ladies of Bristol as a very good match for all that." "Oh, Cecilia, how ridiculous!" exclaimed Sophia.
"Better, at all events, than turning nun," said Jack.
"The family this season had gone to pass the summer at the sea-coast; and one day that Cecilia and her intended were taking their accustomed walk along the shore--" "Holloa!" cried Jack, "the truant is going to appear, after all." "John Lindsey, observing a ring of some value upon Cecilia's finger, politely asked her if she had any objections to tell him its history.
She replied that she had none, and told him it was a gift of young Philipson's.

'I am well acquainted with your story,' said Lindsey, 'and do not blame the constancy with which you have treasured the memory of that young man; on the contrary, I respect you for it--in fact, it was the knowledge of your self-sacrifice to this affection and all its attendant circumstances, that led me to solicit the honor of your hand; for, said I to myself, one who has evinced so much devotion for a mere sentiment, is never likely to prove unfaithful to sacred vows pledged at the altar,' 'Come what may, you may at least rely upon that, sir,' she answered.

'Then,' continued Lindsey, 'as an eternal barrier is about to be placed between yourself and your past affections, perhaps you will pardon my desire to separate you, as much as possible, from everything that is likely to recal them to your mind.' Saying that, he gently drew the ring from her finger, and threw it into the sea." It was strongly suspected that Mary shed a tear at this point of the recital.
"It is all over with you now, Herbert," cried Fritz.
"You had better make a bonfire of your ships, like Fernando Cortez in Mexico; or, if you are on your way home, better pray for a hurricane to swallow you up, than have all your bright hopes dashed to atoms, when you arrive in port." "I am only a little girl," said Sophia; "but I know what I should have said, if the gentleman had done the same thing to me." "And what would you have said, child ?" inquired her mother.
"I should have said, that I was not the Doge of Venice, and had no intention of marrying the British Channel." "Can you describe the ceremony to which you refer ?" "Yes; but it would interrupt papa's story, and Jack would laugh at me." "Never mind my story," replied her father, "there is plenty of time to finish that." "And as for me," said Jack, "though I do not wear a cocked hat and knee breeches, and though, in other respects, my tailor has rather neglected my outward man, still I know what is due to a lady and a queen." "There, he begins already!" said Sophia.
"Never mind him, child; go on with your account of the marriage." "Well," began Sophia, "for a long time, there had been disputes between the states of Bologna, Ancona, and Venice, as to which possessed the sovereignty of the Adriatic." "If it had been a dispute about the Sovereignty of the ocean in general," remarked Willis, "there would have been another competitor." "Venice," continued Sophia, "carried the day, and about 1275 or 76 she resolved to celebrate her victory by an annual ceremony.

For this purpose, a magnificent galley was built, encrusted with gold, silver, and precious stones.