In conclusion, I would submit that to anyone wearied with the business, the pleasures, the politics, or the ordinary worries of life, there is no such harbour of refuge and repose as single-handed sailing. When your whole thoughts are intent on the management of your vessel, and the pulling of the right instead of the wrong string, it is impossible to think either of your breakdown in your maiden speech in the House of Commons, of your tailor's bills, or of the young lady who has jilted you. On the other hand, Nature, in all her beauty and majesty, reasserts her supremacy, and claims you for her own, soothing your irritated nerves, and pouring balm over your lacerated feelings. The complicated mysteries of existence reassume their primæval simplicity, while the freshness and triumphant joyousness of early youth return upon you as you sweep in a dream past the magic headlands and islands of the Ionian Sea or glide along the Southern coast of your native land, with its sweet English homes, its little red brick villages and homesteads nestling in repose amid the soft outlines of the dear and familiar landscape. The loveliness of earth, sea, and sky takes possession of your soul, and your heart returns thanks for the gift of so much exquisite enjoyment in the pursuit of an amusement as manly as it is innocent. N.B.--Single-handed sailing need not preclude the presence of a lady passenger. On the contrary, she will be found very useful on occasion, whether in starting the sheets, in taking a spell at the wheel (for they are all familiar with the art of despotic guidance), in keeping a sharp look-out, in making tea, or in taking her part in a desultory conversation. 'THE LADY HERMIONE,' SINGLE-HANDED SAILING YAWL BY JAMES MCFERRAN In the course of two summers passed on the shores of the Gulf of Naples the writer had frequent opportunities of becoming acquainted with the details of the construction, fittings, and equipment of a very remarkable little yacht, whose white canvas for a couple of seasons was constantly to be seen on that unrivalled sheet of water between the months of June and October. He has thought that a description of the vessel in question may prove interesting, not only to such of the readers of these volumes as are devoted to the art of single-handed sailing--that most delightful, manly, and invigorating of all sports--but also to the general body of yachtsmen who, during the summer and autumn months, fill, in ever-increasing numbers, our various yachting ports with the most perfect specimens of the shipwright's craft that the world can produce.