372 Personal Narrative of a Jan rney (^Oct. 



We proceeded on our journey, and at length overtook some fields, 

 " on their way out of town," as my companion jocularly remarked, a 

 little on the other side of the White Conduit House. I shall never forget 

 what I felt at the sight of them ! I was now in the country ; and, for 

 miles and miles all round, as it seemed to me, I could see grass, and 

 trees, and hedges ; and hear birds a-singing, and cows a-mooing, and 

 even lambs a-baaing, not a hundred yards off. Pretty little creatures ! 

 How different, and how innocent-like, their voices sounded, compared to 

 the way in which they baa at Smithfield, or in the slaughter-house next 

 our shop at Whitechapel. I grew melancholy. I had no notion there 

 could be such a difference between country and town. And then the 

 air was so fresh, and so sweet, to what London air is : it was quite 

 a nosegay ! I was sorry we were too late for the haycocks, which, 

 I was told, make the air particularly nice ; and I think it must, for I 

 went and sniffed at a haystack in a cow-yard, where I could have smelt 

 for half an hour, if I had not been run at by an imcommon vicious cow, 

 who thought I was going to meddle with her calf, though I wasn't. 



Our path now lay all through fields, and over stiles, which give one 

 quite the idea of the country ; for they are not what we call turnstiles ; 

 at least, if they are, they do not at all resemble either Great or Little 

 Turnstile, in Holborn. One that we came to had seven rails ; and there 

 was a ditch on the other side such a width, that being full of water, I 

 was afraid to jump. T never saw such a ditch ! My friend Thompson 

 leaped right over it ; but I wouldn't , so I slipped off my shoes and 

 stockings, and putting them in my pocket, waded through it. The water 

 was actually up to my ankles ; and there was a great green frog swimming 

 about, which frightened me so, that, in endeavouring to avoid it, I struck 

 one of my toes against the stump of a tree, and made it bleed. I didn't 

 mind it much : something of that sort generally happens, I think, in 

 country excursions. 



It was almost ten o'clock when we got to ]\rother Red Cap's ; for we 

 had gone a great deal out of the way, I found, by keeping to the fields. 

 But a country walk before breakfast gives one such an appetite ! The 

 house was full of company, and the entrance to it constantly obstructed 

 by crowds of strange-looking men, passing to and from the bar. I was 

 surprised at the circumstance ; but learned, upon inquiry, there had 

 been a dog-fight that morning about half a mile off, and the persons we 

 perceived were those who had attended the performance. I wished, 

 afterwards, we had gone to Mother Black Cap's, on the other side of 

 the way, where there seemed to be nobody : we might have breakfasted 

 much more comfortably. However, it was useless to grumble. I con- 

 sidered that, when one travels, one must not be too particular, or expect 

 to find every thing so comfortable as one does at home. With this 

 reflection I set to, and recruited exhausted nature with three basins of 

 tea, and a quantity of bread-and-butter. 



Having dispatched our meal, and sufficiently rested ourselves, we 

 resumed our journey ; but I now learned with regret that I was soon to 

 lose the company of my friend. I had no idea we were so near Kentish 

 Town, and still less that Kentish Town was in Middlesex. I found, 

 however, that Kentish Town and Camden Town are two populous dis- 

 tricts, laying nearly alongside of one another ; and that, at the extremity 

 of the latter, there are two main roads, diverging right and left, one of 

 which leads to Highgate, and the other to Hampstead. The Highgate 



