spite indeed in Densissimus
Imber--and we will insure your life for a presentation copy of your Tour
against all the diseases that leapt out of Pandora's box, not only till
you have reached the Inn at Capel-Cerig, but your own home in England
(we forget the county)--ay, till your marriage, and the baptism of your
first-born.

Dr Kitchiner seems to have been much frightened by Mr Shepherd's picture
of a storm in a puddle, and proposes a plan of alleviation of one great
inconvenience of pedestrianising. "Persons," quoth he, "who take a
pedestrian excursion, and intend to subject themselves to the
uncertainties of accommodation, by going across the country and visiting
unfrequented paths, will act wisely to carry with them a _piece of
oil-skin_ to sit upon while taking refreshments out of doors, which they
will often find needful during such excursions." To save trouble, the
breech of the pedestrian's breeches should be a patch of oil-skin. Here
a question of great difficulty and importance arises--Breeches or
trousers? Dr Kitchiner is decidedly for breeches. "The garter," says he,
"should be below the knee, and breeches are much better than trousers.
The general adoption of those which, till our late wars, were
exclusively used by 'the Lords of the Ocean,' has often excited my
astonishment. However convenient trousers may be to the sailor who has
to cling to slippery shrouds, for the landsman nothing can be more
inconvenient. They are heating in summer, and in winter they are
collectors of mud. Moreover, they occasion a necessity for wearing
garters. Breeches are, in all respects, much more convenient. These
should have the knee-band three quarters of an inch wide, lined on the
upper side with a piece of plush, and fastened with a buckle, which is
much easier than even double strings, and, by observing the strap, you
always know the exact degree of tightness that is required to keep up
the stocking; any pressure beyond that is prejudicial, especially to
those who walk long distances."

We are strongly inclined to agree with the Doctor in his panegyric on
breeches. True, that in the forenoons, especially if of a dark colour,
such as black, and worn with white, or even grey or bluish, stockings,
they are apt, in the present state of public taste, to stamp you a
schoolmaster, or a small grocer in full dress, or an exciseman going to
a ball. We could dispense too with the knee-buckles and plush
lining--though we allow the