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THE EUROPEAN JOURNALS 



243 



Now I have packed up, paid an enormous bill to my land- 

 lady. I expect to be at Leeds to-morrow. 



Leeds, Sunday, April 28. The town of Leeds is much 

 superior to anything I have seen since Edinburgh, and I 

 have been walking till I feel quite exhausted. I break- 

 fasted in York at five this morning ; the coach did not 

 start till six, so I took my refreshing walk along the Ouse. 

 The weather was extremely pleasant ; I rode outside, but 

 the scenery was little varied, almost uniformly level, well 

 cultivated, but poor as to soil. I saw some " game " as 

 every bird is called here. I was amused to see the great 

 interest which was excited by a covey of Partridges, What 

 would be said to a gang of Wild Turkeys, — several hundred 

 trotting along a sand-bar of the Upper Mississippi? I 

 reached Leeds at half-past nine, distant from York, I be- 

 lieve, twenty-six miles. I found lodgings at once at 39 

 Albion Street, and then started with my letters. 



April 30. Were I to conclude from first appearances as 

 to the amount of success I may expect here, compared with 

 York, by the difference of attention paid me at both places 

 so soon after my arrival, I should certainly expect much 

 more here; for no sooner was breakfast over than Mr. 

 Atkinson called, to be followed by Mr. George and many 

 others, among them a good ornithologist,^ — not a closet 

 naturalist, but a real true-blue, who goes out at night and 

 watches Owls and Night-jars and Water-fowl to some pur- 

 pose, and who knows more about these things than any 

 other man I have met in Europe. This evening I took a 

 long walk by a small stream, and as soon as out of sight 

 undressed and took a dive smack across the creek ; the water 

 was so extremely cold that I performed the same feat back 

 again and dressed in a hurry ; my flesh was already quite 

 purple. Following the stream I found some gentlemen 

 catching minnows with as much anxiety as if large trout, 

 playing the little things with beautiful lines and wheels. 



* Mr. John Backhouse. • ' ' ''■' 



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