56 IN CARLYLE'S COUNTRY. 



the rustle of the grass under foot, the tinkling of the 

 brook, or the voices of innocent, primeval things." 

 " I have had days as clear as Italy (as in this Irving 

 case) ; days moist and dripping, overhung with the 

 infinite of silent gray, and perhaps the latter were 

 the preferable, in certain moods. You had the world 

 and its waste imbroglios of joy and woe, of light and 

 darkness, to yourself alone. You could strip bare- 

 foot, if it suited better ; carry shoes and socks over 

 shoulder, hung on your stick ; clean shirt and comb 

 were in your pocket ; omnia mea mecum porto. You 

 lodged with shepherds, who had clean, solid cottages ; 

 wholesome eggs, milk, oatmeal porridge, clean blan- 

 kets to their beds, and a great deal of human sense 

 and unadulterated natural politeness." 



But how can one walk a hundred miles in cool 

 blood without a companion, especially when the trains 

 run every hour, and he has a surplus sovereign in his 

 pocket? One saves time and consults his ease by 

 riding, but he thereby misses the real savor of the 

 land. And the roads of this compact little kingdom 

 are so inviting, like a hard, smooth surface covered 

 with sand-paper ! How easy the foot puts them be- 

 hind it ! And the summer weather, what a fresh 

 under-stratum the air has even on the warmest days ! 

 Every breath one draws has a cool, invigorating core 

 to it, as if there might be some unmelted, or just 

 melted, frost not far off. 



But as we did not walk, there was satisfaction in 

 knowing that the engine which took our train down 



