74 1NFL UENCES OF CL IMA TE. 



by nature, to the hot south, and hotter tropics, 

 where exercise is a toil, the "far niente" a 

 pleasure, and where even the pleasure of rest 

 is broken in upon by the pest of insects. 

 Thinking of such distant scenes, I thought 

 how thankful we Englishmen should be for 

 such a land as ours, and such a climate ! 



PISCATOR. Yours was a pleasant train of 

 thought! How much, indeed, do we ow r e 

 to our climate ! Perhaps even our rational 

 freedom, our best institutions. Were it dif- 

 ferent, were it either like that of Northern 

 Eussia, or of Southern Naples or Sicily, should 

 we have preserved the sustained vigour that 

 marks our race, and which is as remarkable in 

 the races of our domestic animals, a vigour 

 to which we owe so much ? 



AMICUS. In my pensive mood by the river 

 side, I remembered me of a former remark of 

 yours, how angling affords an opportunity, 

 hardly to be enjoyed otherwise, to become 

 acquainted with the habits of the people, and 

 began to reflect on the contrast that is so 

 marked between the natives of this district and 

 of any part of Ireland which I have yet visited. 

 How different their manners, how different 



