50 THE EULOGY OF RICHARD JEFFERIES. 



we have seen, who had the power of imposing 

 his own imagination upon others, even those 

 of sluggish temperament as Don Quixote 

 overpowered the slow brain of Sancho Panza. 



Eichard Jefieries then, at the age of sixteen, 

 conceived a magnificent scheme, the like of 

 which never before entered a boy's brain. Above 

 all things he wanted to see foreign countries. 

 He therefore proposed to another lad nothing 

 less than to undertake a walk through the 

 whole of Europe, as far as Moscow and back 

 again. The project was discussed and debated 

 long and seriously. At last it was referred to 

 the decision of the dog as to an oracle, In 

 this way : if the dog wagged his tail within a 

 certain time, they would go ; if the dog's tail 

 remained quiet, it should be taken as a warn- 

 ing or premonition against the journey. Ee- 

 liance should never, as a matter of fact, be 

 placed in the oracle of the dog's tail ; but 

 this the lads were too young to understand. 

 The tail wagged. The boys ran away. It 

 was on November 11, in the year 1864. Now, 

 here, certain details of the story are wanting. 

 The novelist is never happy unless the whole 



