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On turning over the leaves of my commonplace book, written at the time of which I speak, I find the following warm-hearted ebullition of feeling, evidently inscribed with a hasty hand on quitting a county in which I had experienced so much of pleasure. "Farewell, thou land of hops and of apples, of bees, and blossoms, and balmy breezes. Thou gayest garland on the brow, and sweetest posy on the bosom, of my mother country!

Fair are thy prospects, green are thy fields, pure thy running waters, and blue and bright thy skies. I owe thee much; for, on thy lovely hills and in thy sweet secluded vales, happy have been my musings. I fling thee now my thanks for the pleasure, the kindness, the hospitality, the friendship, and the affection I have found within thee. And, farewell, thou winding Wye, loveliest of rivers, on whose fair stream so often I have sported; and wandering by whose side, my very cares have been soothed into quietude and peace!"

My friend was a delightful companion. The ardour of his Irish heart, the warmth of his affections, and the depth and decided tone of his piety, doubled my gratifications. With light hearts we passed through Newent, Gloucester, and Birdlip Hill to Cirencester; here, after our walk of thirty-seven miles, we rested for the night.

The following morning we sallied forth for Malmesbury, an olden town, with an ivy-grown abbey; and continuing our course through Chippenham and Devizes, walked thirty-five miles, taking up our abode for the night in a village.

A variety of little incidents and lively sallies gave buoyancy to our spirits, as we walked along. At one place we were taken for pedlars, at another for excisemen, and after that for officers in the army. Our dress was well adapted to give a colour to all these suppositions. Meeting a countryman, in a lonely place, and feeling jocosely inclined, we asked him, in French, to direct us the road, and not receiving an answer, repeated the inquiry more urgently. Had it suddenly thundered, the poor fellow could not have expressed more astonishment. He recoiled from us, as a man would from a bear which he expected to spring upon him, and turned round a dozen times to look at us as he went on.

Being true lovers of nature, we heartily enjoyed the varied scenes which attracted our attention. The rising and setting sun, and the varied landscape of hill and valley, wood and water, all contributed to our delight. We were caught in a storm, but it was too awfully grand

at the time, and imparted too much interest to the surrounding scenery, for us to regret it. Afterwards the sunshine burst forth.

Oh, 'twas a gladd'ning, glorious thing,
To see the sun in pity fling

On the poor weeping trees his ray,
To wipe their falling tears away.
And the rejoicing leaves the while,
Lit by the sun-beam, seemed to smile,
A thousand times, in our rapt eye,
More lovely than when they were dry.

We journeyed on, visiting places of interest, and, crossing the plain of Salisbury, proceeded to Southampton, in all a distance of forty-seven miles. The feet of my companion failed him; they were sadly blistered; this rendered our pilgrimage to him a painful one, but his lively sallies were uninterrupted. We made an odd entry into Southampton; he holding by the skirts of my coat, and I towing him along as a steamer tows a merchant ship. Passing through Gosport, and Portsmouth, and Chichester, and Arundel, and Shoreham, we reached Brighton; but here we parted company, for the ill health of a relative of my friend called him away from my side, and put an end at once to our pleasurable tour together.

On what spider's threads hang our dearest

enjoyments! We build our hopes high, as though they were based on a rock, when, too often, their foundation is in the crumbling dust. How seasonable is the admonition, "Boast not thyself of to-morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth," Prov. xxvii. 1.

The next day I roamed over Brighton, gazed on the mosque-like turrets of the pavilion, and walked on the sea-sands. Far out from the shore floated a bonnet, and fears were entertained that some hapless human being might be beneath it. The tide was rapidly retiring, when a daring sailor leaped into the sea, and a throng gathered on the beach, expressing their doubts whether he could make head against the tide. He regained the shore with difficulty, bringing the bonnet in his hand.

At that time Vallance's celebrated plan of travelling through a cylinder occupied much of public attention. It is an axiom, that common air rushes into a perfect vacuum at a speed equal to that of a thousand miles an hour, and Mr. Vallance considered that between that velocity and the highest rate of speed hitherto attained in travelling, there was abundant room for improvement. He erected a wooden cylinder or tunnel, which might be likened to a huge telescope in appearance. It was, I think, six

feet in diameter. In this was placed a kind of apartment open at one end, having a table and comfortable seat, with a round screen between it and the cylinder. The apartment, lighted up with lamps, moved on rollers, placed at the top, bottom, and sides, so that as fast as the air in the cylinder could be exhausted by air-pumps, the outward air pushed the apartment forward, by forcing against the screen. Through this cylinder I travelled with Mr. Vallance, listening attentively to his explanations; and ultimately left him, with the impression that, if his head were as cool as his disposition was ardent and persevering, his invention would be much more likely than it was to succeed.

But now, with nearly twenty years added to my age, let me glance at this favourite abode of royalty, which has sprung up so suddenly to astonish those who knew the place in their childhood. "When I was a boy," says grey-headed age, in a quavering voice, pointing, with his shaking finger, to the buildings that crown the cliffs, "there were only to be seen a few fishermen's huts, huddled together; but look at the place now." And, certainly, Brighton at the present day, with its park, pleasure-boats, and Pavilion; barracks, battery, boarding houses, and bathing machines; squares, crescents, hotels,

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