148 LIFE OF BENJAMIN SILLIMAN. 



which I was about to visit. His letter was truly a catholic 

 epistle, not indeed to the churches, but to the ministers of 

 his denomination in the provincial places on my intended 

 route to Cornwall and back to London. 



After stating my character as it was made known to him 

 by President Dwight, and my object in travelling, he rec- 

 ommends me to a long column of clergymen with their 

 places of residence annexed ; and finally, " to any one else 

 who knows John Ryland." 



As I travelled along the coast of the English Channel, I 

 saw piles of combustibles which had been placed on the 

 hills, to be seen as burning signals in case the French 

 should invade England. Before I left London I was in- 

 formed that every volunteer was warned to be ready, and 

 not to leave his place even for a short time, without leaving 

 a notice where he might be found at a moment's warning. 

 My book-merchant, Ogilby, showed me such a government 

 notice. All the vehicles of the country, including farm- 

 wagons, were numbered and registered, that they might 

 be employed in transporting troops ; and the people were 

 in a state of constant anxiety. When I crossed the Channel 

 I found that the fears of the English had not been without 

 cause. An immense array was assembled at Boulogne, 

 ready to embark. Troops were actually embarked in Hol- 

 land, and were ready to embark from other ports, when the 

 new war in Germany called for the troops to be marched 

 in that direction, and the campaign which ended in the 

 battle of Austerlitz, diverted JNapoleon from his purpose 

 of invading England. 



..... Returning to London, at the house of Mr. West, 

 the distinguished American artist, I met our celebrated 

 countryman Joel Barlow, recently from the Continent. He 

 was a Fairfield-County man, was acquainted at my father's, 

 and was a class-mate with my oldest half-brother, Joseph 

 Noyes, in Yale College. He received me with great cordi- 

 ality, and furnished me with letters to eminent men of science 



