76 
WANDERINGS IN 
FIR ST 
JOURK K 
No burden shall be placed upon her, and she shall 
- end her days in peace.* 
For three revolving autumns, the ague-beaten 
wanderer never saw, without a sigh, the swallow 
bend her flight towards warmer regions. He wished 
to go too, but could not; for sickness had enfeebled 
him, and prudence pointed out the folly of roving 
again, too soon, across the northern tropic. To be 
sure, the continent was now open, and change of 
air might prove beneficial; but there was nothing 
very tempting in a trip across the channel, and as 
for a tour through England!—England has long 
ceased to be the land for adventures. Indeed, when 
good King Arthur reappears to claim his crown, he 
will find things strangely altered here; and may we 
not look for his coming ? for there is written upon 
his grave-stone,— 
“Hicjacet Arturus, Rex quondam Rexque futurus.” 
“ Here Arthur lies, who formerly 
Was king—and king again to be.” 
Don Quixote was always of opinion that this 
famous king did not die, but that he was changed 
into a raven by enchantment, and that the English 
are momentarily expecting his return. Be this as 
it may, it is certain that when he reigned here, all 
was harmony and joy. The browsing herds passed 
from vale to vale, the swains sang from the bluebell- 
teeming groves, and nymphs, with eglantine and 
roses in their neatly-braided hair, went hand in hand 
* Poor Wouralia breathed her last on the 15th of February, 1839, 
having survived the operation nearly five-and-twenty years. 
