54 CLIMATE, SEASONS, &C. [PART I. 



1818. 



Jan. 16. so small! It made me laugh to hear 

 little gutters, that I could jump 

 over, called Rivers ! .The Thames 

 was but a " Creek /" But, when, 

 in about a month after my arrival in 

 London, I went to Farn/tam, the 

 :,-f; place of my birth, what was my 



surprise ! Every thing was become 

 so pitifully small! I had to cross, 

 in my post-chaise, the long and 

 jdreary heath of Bagshot. Then, at 

 the end of it, to mount a hill, called 

 Hungry Hill ; and from that hill I 

 knew that I should look down into 

 the beautiful and fertile vale of 

 Farnham. My heart fluttered with 

 impatience, mixed with a sort of 

 fear, to see all the scenes of my 

 childhood ; for I had learnt before, 

 the death of my father and mother. 

 There is a hill, not far from the 

 town, called Crooksbury Hill, which 

 rises up out of a flat, in the form of 

 a cone, and is planted with Scotch 

 fir trees. Here I used to take the 

 eggs and young ones of crows and 

 magpies. This hill was a famous 

 object iq the neighbourhood. It 

 served as the superlative degree of 



