ith Adam Clark, that for the
sake of humanity, it were better that such ages should never return."

"We talk much," says he, "of ancient manners, their _simplicity and
ingenuousness_, and say that _the former days were better than these_. But
who says this who is a judge of the times? In those days of celebrated
simplicity, there were not so _many_ crimes as at present, I grant; but
what they wanted in _number_, they made up in _degree_; _deceit_,
_cruelty_, _rapine_, _murder_, and _wrong_ of almost every kind, then
flourished. _We_ are _refined_ in our vices, they were _gross_ and
_barbarous_ in theirs. They had neither so many _ways_ nor so many _means_
of sinning; but the _sum_ of their moral turpitude was greater than ours.
We have a sort of _decency_ and good _breeding_, which lay a certain
restraint on our passions; they were boorish and beastly, and their bad
passions ever in full play. Civilization prevents barbarity and atrocity;
mental cultivation induces decency of manners--those primitive times were
generally without these. Who that knows them would wish such ages to
return?"[A]

[A] Adam Clark's "Commentary on Book of Kings." II. Samuel, chap. iii.

CHAPTER XIII.

Truro--On the Road to Halifax--Drive to the Left--A Member of the Foreign
Legion--Irish Wit at Government Expense--The first Battle of the
Legion--Ten Pounds Reward--Sir John Gaspard's Revenge--The Shubenacadie
Lakes--Dartmouth Ferry, and the Hotel Waverley.

Pleasant Truro! At last we regain the territories of civility and
civilization! Here is the honest little English inn, with its cheerful
dining-room, its clean spread, its abundant dishes, its glass of ripe ale,
its pleased alacrity of service. After our long ride from West River, we
enjoy the best inn's best room, the ease, the comfort, and the fair aspect
of one of the prettiest towns in the province. Truro is situated on the
head waters of the Basin of Minas, or Cobequid Bay, as it is denominated
on the map, between the Shubenacadie and Salmon rivers. Here we are within
fifty miles of the idyllic land, the pastoral meadows of Grand-Pre! But,
alas! there is yet a long ride before us; the path from Truro to Grand-Pre
being in the shape of an acute angle, of which Halifax is the apex. As
yet there is no direct road from place to place, but by the shores of the
Basin of Minas. Let us look, however, at pleasant Truro.

One of the striking features of this part of the country is the