1B56. VISIT TO BRIDGE QF ALLAN. 427 



which are to be counted as the things to which NO cannot be 

 said. I mention them that you may know why my pen has 

 not been employed 011 your behalf." 



"We have had here an Eastern War, which has defied all 

 meetings of plenipotentiaries, and still rages unabated. For a 

 month or some forty days, a dreadful Lent, the wind has blown 

 geographically from Araby the blest, but thermometrically from 

 Iceland the accursed. I have been made a prisoner of war, hit 

 by an icicle in the lungs, and have shivered and burned alter- 

 nately for a large portion of the last month, and spat blood till I 

 grew pale with coughing. Now I am better, and to-morrow I 

 give my concluding lecture, thankful that I have contrived, not- 

 withstanding all troubles, to carry on without missing a lecture 

 till the last day of the Faculty of Arts to which I belong. But 

 it was not possible to write you sooner. Jessie and I propose 

 to set off on the 12th for the Bridge of Allan, and thence I 

 engage to write, furnishing all desiderata before next week's 

 post." 



On the 1 3th he writes home from the Bridge of Allan : " We 

 reached this safely last night at half-past six. The band of 

 music was of course at the station, and the people took the 

 horses out of the carriage, of course, and drew us into town. 

 In a region so much visited by volcanoes and earthquakes as 

 this, we could not but expect to find a great physical change. 

 The hills have grown into mountains since last year, perpetual 

 snow covers their summits, and glaciers are continually sliding 

 down into the valleys, sweeping everything before them. The 

 wind has blown so long from the east that most of the tall 

 houses are bent double, and the little ones are turned round so 

 that the back door has become the front. We succeeded, how- 

 ever, in finding our lodging, and duly entered by the proper 

 door. Jessie, indeed, cannot see the differences I have described 

 above, and affirms that there is only one new house. I leave 

 you to judge whether she or I am correct. If people are to 

 travel without seeing wonders, I don't see what is the use of 

 travelling. The folks here evidently recognise me as Professor 

 of Technology, especially those who never saw me before,"- 



