Vi PREFACE. 



recovered from his winter's torpor, would again 

 breast the sparkling streams, and recal me from 

 the closed room and sweltering hearth, to gather 

 bodily health and vigour from the pure breath 

 of the mountains. 



But woe to you who dwell in pent-up 

 cities ! A chaos of bricks and smoke, and 

 fumes of every unsavoury odour, constitute 

 your dreary world. To you, ever surrounded 

 by the cares of life, and perpetually bored to 

 desperation by that demon, whose imps are 

 . s. D., in an everlasting and ceaseless contest ; 

 the glorious works of the Creator's hands green 

 hills and sunny fields are scarcely known ; to 

 you, a mouthful of fresh air, and a glimpse of 

 rural scenes, must be a treat indeed ! Rise 

 then, gird on your mantle, and follow me, at 

 least in imagination, and I will initiate you 

 into the mysteries of the " gentle art," giving 

 you such a taste of rural entertainment as shall 

 render the country for ever dear to your recol- 

 lection ; and the squalid haunts of vice, pesti- 

 lence, and immorality, hideous and detestable. 



MARCH, 1865. 



