THE EUROPEAN JOURNALS 



195 



comes on ; this evening I had to excuse myself from 

 a gathering at Lady Hunter's, and came home intending 

 to go at once to bed; but I lay down on my sofa for 

 a moment, fell asleep, and did not wake till after midnight, 

 when I found myself both cold and hungry. I have taken 

 some food and now will rest, though no longer sleepy, 

 for to-morrow I go to Earl Morton's, where I wish, at 

 least, to keep awake. 



Dahnahoy, eight miles from Edinburgh, December 27^ 

 Wednesday. I am now seated at a little table i- the 

 Yellow Bedchamber at Earl Morton's, and will give an 

 account of my day. After my breakfast, not anxious to 

 begin another Pheasant, I did some writing and paid some 

 visits, returned to my lodgings and packed a box for 

 America with various gifts, some mementos I had received, 

 and several newspapers, when Lord Morton's carriage was 

 announced. My porte-feuille and valise were carried 

 down, and I followed them and entered a large carriage 

 lined with purple morocco ; never was I in so comfortable 

 a conveyance before; the ship that under easy sail glides 

 slowly on an even sea has a more fatiguing motion ; I 

 might have been in a swinging hammock. We passed 

 the castle, through Charlotte Square, and out on the 

 Glasgow road for eight miles, all so swiftly that my 

 watch had barely changed the time from one hour to 

 another when the porter pushed open the gate of Dal- 

 mahoy. I now began to think of my meeting with the 

 man who had been great Chamberlain to the late Queen 

 Charlotte. I did not so much mind meeting the Countess, 

 for I had become assured of her sweetness of disposition 

 when we had met on previous occasions, but the Cham- 

 berlain I could not help dreading to encounter. This, 

 however, did not prevent the carriage from proceeding 

 smoothly round a great circle, neither did it prevent 

 me from seeing a large, square, half Gothic building with 

 two turrets, ornamented with great lions, and all the signs 



