Ixiv 



AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 



upon us as though she had been a little moon. 

 Whether the severity of the frost which was 

 more than commonly keen, or the hardness of 

 the pavement, or perhaps both conjoined, had 

 deprived my feet of sensibility, I had no means 

 of ascertaining ; but this is certain, I went on 

 merrily for several miles without a suspicion of 

 any thing being wrong, until we halted to ad- 

 mire more particularly the transcendent splen- 

 dour of the morning planet, and then I saw blood 

 on the pavement ; my right foot was bleeding 

 apace, and on turning the sole uppermost, I per- 

 ceived a piece of jagged flesh hanging by a string ; 

 seeing that there would be no chance of re- 

 placing the damaged part with success, I twisted 

 it off, and then took a survey of the foot by 

 the light which the stars afforded. Mr. Fletcher 

 horror-struck at what he saw, proposed imme- 

 diately th^t I should sit down by the side of 

 the road, and there wait for the carriage, or 

 take advantage of any vehicle which might 

 come up. Aware that the pain would be ex- 

 cessive so soon as the lacerated parts would 

 become stiff by inaction, I resolved at once to 

 push on to Rome ; wherefore, putting one shoe 

 on the sound foot, which, by the way, had two 



