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AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 



sylvan music ; and when the chilling blasts of 

 Autumn warned them to return to their own sunny 

 regions in Africa, their loss would be replaced by 

 congregated ducks and geese, and even by Cormo- 

 rants, to change the scenery, — and still bring joy. 



Vain castles in the air ! devoid of all reality ! 

 delusive as the quagmire's treacherous surface. 

 My roving spirit, ever on the watch for new 

 adventures, disdained a life so tame and unimport- 

 ant. Even the Roman poet's warning line of " 0 

 navis referent in mare te novi fluctus," had no 

 effect upon me. So, having formed a plan of the 

 campaign with my two dear sisters-in-law, Miss 

 Edmonstone, and Miss Helen Edmonstone, I 

 bade adieu to these regions of the North, and we 

 turned our faces once more to those of the smiling 

 South. 



I had read Lord Shrewsbury's pamphlet on the 

 Tyrolean Ecstatica ; and felt wishful to see with my 

 own eyes, the prodigy which his Lordship has 

 pourtrayed most minutely. So we wended our 

 way through fertile lands, and magnificent scenery, 

 amongst people whose conduct and courtesy required 

 no rural police, (such as that which has lately been 

 inflicted, at an enormous expense, on this part of 

 Yorkshire,) till we arri ved at the hill - surrounded 

 town of Botzen. 



