HOME LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE. 221 



'• He revised and corrected all the proofs of the ' Horn Book,' 

 as far as it was printed, as he subsequently did those of 

 ' British Seaweeds ' many years afterwards. And this in spito 

 of his almost morbid dislike to going over old ground a second 

 time. But for which feeling, indeed, we might have had a 

 revised edition of his ' Manual,' a boon to the public which it 

 was almost cruel on his part to withhold. 



" Such is the account of the origin of our friendship, and it 

 will serve to introduce those of his letters to me which my 

 friend, the editor, may think suited to these pages. 



" I should in vain attempt to say how honoured I feel to take 

 my place in them as one of Dr. Harvey's many admirers and 

 friends." 



To Mrs. Harvey, New York. 



Giant's Causeway, August 31, 1850. 

 Put this letter down to my misfortunes and not to my 

 credit, for had it been a fine day I should have been jaunting 

 to " Carrickarede " instead of writing to you ; but it has set in 

 for a thick sea mist and fog, and we have accordingly settled 

 ourselves in the hotel to employ ourselves as best we can. . . . 

 I must now tell you something of our doings here, though it is 

 mere folly to write on so hackneyed a subject as the Causeway, 

 of which those who have not seen it can know very little, and of 

 those who come to see it, three-fourths appear to us to go 

 away with a very imperfect knowledge of what they came for. 

 There are flocks going and coming, just as they do at Niagara — 

 taking a peep and off again ; whereas, half the pleasure is in taking 

 one's leisure and finding out new points of view for oneself. 

 On Sunday last at Cushendall (it was a stormy Sunday, and we 

 were shut up in the house) our quietude was broken by seeing 

 a party of seven arrive, with such a profusion of trunks that I 

 was sure they must be Americans ; and so they proved, for they 



were my friends, Mr L , of Boston, and family, en route to 



Causeway. I was very glad to meet them, and we had half-au- 

 hour's pleasant chat before they set off. They moved at a rapid 

 rate, driving through the country at the greatest speed, and 

 stopping for nothing by the way. Here at the Causeway they 

 merely called en route, running clown to the shore with a guide 

 and back again, and, of course, missing all the beauties of the 



