JSIAIL SNOWED UP 181 



the time, the country too beino- altogether so strano-e, I 

 could not help afterwards clothing it in my memory with 

 rather an odd-coloured robe, and considering it as 

 approaching to a romantic adventure. 



The road seemed to lay chiefly in a valley, now and 

 then crossing a little stream, that wound between the 

 hills, and the snow having drifted, it required the 

 utmost caution to prevent the animal I rode from 

 floundering or falling in the snow, as he was continually 

 plunging up to his girth. After proceeding about 

 seven miles, where the silence of the night was only 

 broken by the occasional discharge of a fowling-piece, 

 suggesting the retreat of the French in the wilds of 

 Russia and Poland that occurred in the previous winter, 

 we observed the down mail, with only a small part of the 

 roof visible, the other ^Dortion being completely covered 

 with snow. 



Three miles farther we turned out of the road to 

 an inn, or farm-house, where my two companions re- 

 freshed themselves with whisky, in which I joined them, 

 to drown all animosity that had arisen about the ill- 

 treatment the superb animal that had been j)laced at my 

 service had received at my hands. 



On remounting, the falling of snow, which had fallen in 

 great quantities, began to abate, and shortly after, the 

 weather clearing up, the moon, which was at the full, 

 shone forth with a beautiful soft light, to which the snow- 

 covered hills and dales served as strong reflectors. 

 Arriving at Langholm, a distance of, as I said before, 

 twenty-two miles, the guard ordered a post-chaise and 

 four to Longtown, where, when we changed horses, 



