120 THE BATH ROAD 



evening lie took a walk out of the town, to Riclnnond 

 Hill and the Terrace, where his feelings during the 

 few enraptured minutes that he stood there seemed 

 impossible for his pen to describe. One of his first 

 sensations was chagrin and sorrow for the days 

 wasted in London, and he vented a thousand bitter 

 reproaches on his irresolution in not quittiug that 

 huge dungeon long before, to come here and spend 

 his time in paradise. 



The landlady of the inn was so noted for the 

 copiousness and the loudness of her talking to the 

 servants that our traveller could not get to sleep until 

 it was very late ; but, notwithstanding this, he was up 

 l)y three o'clock the next morning to see the sun rise 

 over Richmond Hill. Alas ! alas I the lazy servants, 

 who cared nothino- for such sisfhts, did not arise till 

 six o'clock, when he rushed out, only to be dis- 

 appointed at finding the sky overcast. 



And now, having finished his breakfast, he seized 

 his stalf, his only companion, and proceeded to set 

 forth on foot. Unfortunately, however, a traveller in 

 this wise seemed to be considered as a sort of wild 

 man or eccentric creature, who was stared at, pitied, 

 suspected, and shunned by all. There were carriages 

 without number on the road, and they occasioned a 

 troublesome and disagreeable dust, and when he sat 

 down in a hedge to read Milton, the people who rode 

 or drove past stared at him with astonishment, and 

 made significant gestures, as wdio should say, " This 

 is a poor devil with a deranged head," so singular did 

 it appear to them that a man should sit beside the 

 public hiohwav and read books. 



