VIII 



AN OCTOBER ABROAD 

 I 



MELLOW ENGLAND 



T WILL say at the outset, as I believe some one 

 -*- else has said on a like occasion, that in this 

 narrative I shall probably describe myself more than 

 the objects I look upon. The facts and particulars 

 of the case have already been set down in the guide- 

 books and in innumerable books of travel. I shall 

 only attempt to give an account of the pleasure and 

 satisfaction I had in coming face to face with things 

 in the mother country, seeing them as I did with 

 kindred and sympathizing eyes. 



The ocean was a dread fascination to me, — a world 

 whose dominion I had never entered; but I proved 

 to be such a wretched sailor that I am obliged to 

 confess, Hibernian fashion, that the happiest mo- 

 ment I spent upon the sea was when I set my foot 

 upon the land. 



It is a wide and fearful gulf that separates the 

 two worlds. The landsman can know little of the 

 wildness, savageness, and mercilessness of nature till 

 he has been upon the sea. It is as if he had taken a 



