174 



extremes! verge of possibility. Instead of 

 which, what a drawback upon a man's happi- 

 ness are the dull realities of life ! here have I 

 to contemplate myself, " cabined, cribbed, con- 

 fined," and compelled to make the best of a 

 wishful look, occasionally thrown around among 

 the now lifeless trophies* that I have hung up 

 around me; the splendid records, indeed, of 

 many a former triumph, but which unfortunately 

 begin to have somewhat too much of the fuimus 

 Troes! connected with them. Let me take a 

 turn across the room to disperse the cloud that 

 is about to rise : alas ! again these stiffening 

 limbs of mine move heavily beneath me, and 

 do but ill accord with the office that I am about 

 to require of them. Are they now fit to spring 

 through the easy, but decided, motions of the 

 fugelman? And in what manner too shall I 

 convey these motions to your mind's eye, in 

 order to make a transfer of them to yourself? 

 I am well aware, that by the aid of words 

 alone, to convey a clear idea of any mechanical 

 action, or of the methods of personal motion 

 in the human body, is one of the most difficult 

 efforts of language. A man has little notion, 

 until he shall try to put himself down on paper, 



* A small collection of English game, got up in a very 

 superior style, the joint tenants of a room usually inhabited 

 by the author. 



