of
those same hills at noonday, with a very world of beauties at my feet,
laid out in trees, and stream, and field, with a light breeze driving
the patches of cloud over the face of the hot sun, and shifting at every
moment the light and shade beneath; or, lovelier still, the calm repose
of evening, when that same sun had run his course and was sinking to his
rest amid the harmonious sounds of Nature, and surrounded by the glories
of piles and piles of golden and crimson clouds, which, as he sank lower
and lower down, gradually lost their splendour and faded almost
imperceptibly in colour, until all was grey, and the night-wind swept
over the landscape as if mourning at the day's departure! These things
cannot be forgotten while our memory exists at all, and the joy they
awoke in my breast at seeing them, was like that which I had felt when
my dead cousin used to sing some of her delightful songs,--it was all
music to me.

But the first sight of the sea was what filled me with wonder, delight,
and fear! The immense breadth of water,--at one time so calm as though
it were asleep; at another, moaning as if it grieved for the many brave
and good hearts it had engulfed; and on other occasions, fretting
against the rocks, or, when moved by some strong impulse, working itself
white with fury, and carrying all before it in its impetuous course. All
these various moods were matter to me of astonishment and awe, which no
familiarity could ever diminish; and I watched the waves roll in, and
throw shells or corks or pieces of smooth wood to my very feet, with the
same surprise after weeks of acquaintance, as I had done on the first
day of my beholding the ocean.

Our road had led through districts but little frequented by other
animals, and, with the exception of a stray fox or hare, we met scarcely
a single creature. We carefully avoided all intercourse with the former,
and the latter as carefully kept away from communication with ourselves;
for the sight of us appeared so to alarm the poor beasts, that they
would not even answer our questions, whether we were proceeding towards
the habitations of more civilized animals.

To tell the truth, I so thoroughly enjoyed this part of my journey, that
I felt little inclination to change it for the confinement and stiffness
of city life; and as I had no difficulty in procuring food or
lodging,--for mice and wild birds abounded, and any old tree gave me
shelter,--I could have been cont