ASCENT OF MONT BLANC. 9 



ments in periodical literature, that the effort must be 

 a mere scamper a spasm almost when it was made ; 

 but at length a free fortnight presented itself. I 

 found my old knapsack in a store-room, and I beat 

 out the moths and spiders, and filled it as of old ; 

 and on the first of August I left London Bridge in 

 the mail-train of the South-Eastern Railway, with 

 my Lord Mayor and other distinguished members of 

 the corporation who were going to the fetes at Paris, 

 in honour of the Exhibition, and who, not having a 

 knapsack under their seat, lost all their luggage, as is 

 no doubt chronicled in the city archives. 



I had not undergone the least training for my work. 

 I came from my desk to the railway, from the railway 

 to the diligence, and from that to the char-a-banc; 

 and on the night of my arrival at Chamouni I sent 

 for Tairraz, and we sat upon a bit of timber on the 

 edge of the Arve, consulting upon the practicability 

 of the ascent. He feared the weather was going 

 to change, and that I was scarcely in condition to 

 attempt it ; but he would call a meeting of the chief 

 guides at his little curiosity-shop next morning, and 

 let me know the result. I made up my mind, at the 

 same time, to walk as much as I could ; and on the 

 second day of my arrival, I went twice to the Mer de 

 Glace, and, indeed, crossed to the other side by my- 

 self. In the courtyard of the Hotel de Londres, on 

 the Friday afternoon, I had the pleasure of making 

 the acquaintance of three young gentlemen, who had 



