1849 INDOOR WORK AT CAP EL CURIG 155 



afterwards came to regard them as altered Cambrian ; 

 but his original and unbiassed judgment on the subject 

 is now recognised to have been the true one. 



CAPEL CURIG, 31^ October 1849. 



MY DEAR BILL 1 - - . . . Winter does indeed 

 approach, and it often looks sufficiently savage here, 

 specially when the wind comes roaring down the glen, 

 driving the rain before it in sheets for four whole 

 days. Then ho ! to see the rivers burst their bounds, 

 and the lakes rise up a yard or two ! Then old 

 Kuhleborn reigns triumphant, and I, the enchanted 

 knight, fall in love with all the female waiters 

 and chambermaids, the daughters being lantern - 

 jawed. 



Then besides, I have work to do, and have begun 

 to read up for the production of a third Introductory 

 Lecture. What awful stuff the Wernerian disciples 

 wrote, to be sure ! I am busy analysing Jameson s 

 (of Edinburgh) old writings. He was a disciple and 

 pupil of Werner s, a favourite pupil, and by St. 

 Anthony a Tours, I protest t ye, it is about as easy 

 to extract buttermilk from millstones, as to make 

 sense out of the maze of words in which they lost 

 themselves. And all that, too, under the guise of 

 extreme exactitude ! 



But, somehow or other, o nights, after a tough 

 day in the air, I don t feel inclined for that dry work, 

 or indeed for any serious work whatever. What 

 then ? Why, I have generally lots of letters to write, 

 both of Survey import and in the friendly way. 

 There s the home-circle, Sharpe, his honour Judge 

 Johnes, Playfair s jewel, Mrs. Forbes, the Rev. W. 



1 His brother William. 



