the baron crosses the thames without the assistance of a bridge, ship, boat, balloon, or even his own will: rouses himself after a long nap, and destroys a monster who lived upon the destruction of others.

my first visit to england was about the beginning of the present king's reign. i had occasion to go down to wapping, to see some goods shipped, which i was sending to some friends at hamburgh; after that business was over, i took the tower wharf in my way back. here i found the sun very powerful, and i was so much fatigued that i stepped into one of the cannon to compose me, where i fell fast asleep. this was about noon: it was the fourth of june; exactly at one o'clock these cannon were all discharged in memory of the day. they had been all charged that morning, and having no suspicion of my situation, i was shot over the houses on the opposite side of the river, into a farmer's yard, between bermondsey and deptford, where i fell upon a large hay-stack, without waking, and continued there in a sound sleep till hay became so extravagantly dear (which was about three months after), that the farmer found it his interest to send his whole stock to market: the stack i was reposing upon was the largest in the yard, containing above five hundred load; they began to cut that first. i woke with the voices of the people who had ascended the ladders to begin at the top, and got up, totally ignorant of my situation: in attempting to run away i fell upon the farmer to whom the hay belonged, and broke his neck, yet received no injury myself. i afterwards found, to my great consolation, that this fellow was a most detestable character, always keeping the produce of his grounds for extravagant markets.