CXXVi AUTOBIOGRAPHY OP 



tising rod, so justly due to me, for my many 

 transgressions against his divine law. A fever 

 attacked me, and although it yielded to strength 

 of constitution, it seemed to have sown the 

 seed of future ailment ; for in a few days after 

 its disappearance a thirst came on, as intense 

 as any I had experienced on the other side of 

 the tropic. This was an awful warning. A 

 dysentery at last made its appearance, and it 

 harassed me cruelly all the way through Italy 

 and the intervening countries to Ostend, at 

 which port I embarked for London, and thence 

 took steam to Walton Hall, where the disorder 

 visibly increased. 



The time had now arrived when duty called 

 upon me to place my poor boy under other 

 tuition; and sick as I was, I determined to 

 accompany him to the place selected for his 

 education. 



Ere we set off, I put the Wanderings and 

 Essays into his hand, with short instructions 

 written by myself on a few blank pages in the 

 first. Perhaps the reader will not refuse to 

 cast his eye over them. I have nothing else to 

 show him, how much I love my darling boy ; 



