Here we conclude the news from Cadiz. According to another account the captain walked alone about his ship up to the last; others declare that they saw him at an open port-hole, raising his clasped hands to heaven; and according to others, he last of all committed himself to the waves, either to be preserved or to sink as God willed it; and it is no wonder that the weakly old gentleman, after the mental and bodily exertions of the last hours, should have gone to the bottom. A great marvel had been observed by the sailors: three doves had for several hours hovered over the burning ship, to the time of its blowing up.[44] King Charles II. of Spain caused a monument to be erected on the grave of the Hamburg seaman; which, according to consular records, was only destroyed in the Spanish war, the beginning of this century. We rejoice that the deceased kept his oath. The honour of his calling demanded his death, and he died. For it is better that once in a while, a brave, honest, and able man, though he were still able to save himself, should go down with his good ship, than that mariners should in the hour of danger want a model of enduring energy. He died as became a sailor, silent and collected; he laconically dismissed his own son; his whole soul was in his employment. May the German citizen never come to such a pass as to consider the deed of this man, strange and unheard of. In the inland provinces also, many hundreds of peaceable citizens since his time have died in the performance of their duty to the utmost of their power, and beyond it; pastors in the midst of contagion, doctors in the lazar house, and helpful citizens in dangers from fire. And we hope that the reader will discern that this is the path of duty, and the general rule with us. And still our hearts heave with the thought that in the same year in which Strasburg was so ignominiously lost, a fellow-countryman felt even as we should feel, namely, that there is not much cause for astonishment, and no occasion for crying and moaning, when any one dies in the performance of duty. And his memory should be honoured both by those who traverse the sea, and those who never hear its roar. The German had much degenerated after 1648, but he yet deserved a better life; for he still understood how to die for an idea. CHAPTER X. GERMAN LIFE AT THE BATHS IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.