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FOURTH JOURNEY.

CHAPTER I.

"Nunc huc, nunc illuc et utrinque sine ordine curro."

Three years in England.-Sail for New York.-Nomenclature.-Alteration of scenery.-A sprained ankle.-Magnificent cure.-Feats of climbing. — Quebec. — Irish emigrants.— Ticonderago.— Saratoga.— Philadelphia.-White-headed Eagle.-Form and fashion.-Climate.— Forebodings of the civil war.—Sail for Antigua.

JOURNEY.

COURTEOUS reader, when I bade thee last farewell, I FOUrth thought these Wanderings were brought to a final close; afterwards I often roved in imagination through distant countries famous for natural history, but felt no strong inclination to go thither, as the last adventure had terminated in such unexpected vexation. The departure of the Cuckoo and Swallow, and summer birds of passage, for warmer regions, once so interesting to me, now scarcely caused me to turn my face to the south; and I continued in this cold and dreary climate for three years. During this period, I seldom or ever mounted my hobby-horse; indeed it may be said, with the old song

"The saddle and bridle were laid on the shelf,"

and only taken down once, on the night that I was induced to give a lecture in the philosophical hall of

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Leeds. A little after this, Wilson's Ornithology of the JOURNEY. United States fell into my hands.

Sails for

The desire I had of seeing that country, together with New York, the animated description which Wilson had given of the birds, fanned up the almost expiring flame. I forgot the vexations already alluded to, and set off for New York, in the beautiful packet John Wells, commanded by Captain Harris. The passage was long and cold; but the elegant accommodations on board, and the polite attention of the commander, rendered it very agreeable; and I landed, in health and merriment, in the stately capital of the new world.

Leaves

We will soon pen down a few remarks on this magnificent city, but not just now. I want to venture into the north-west country, and get to their great canal, which the world talks so much about, though I fear it will be hard work to make one's way through bugs, bears, brutes, and buffaloes, which we Europeans imagine are so frequent and ferocious in these never-ending western wilds.

I left New York on a fine morning in July, without New York one letter of introduction, for the city of Albany, some Albany. hundred and eighty miles up the celebrated Hudson. I

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seldom care about letters of introduction, for I am one of those who depend much upon an accidental acquaintance. Full many a face do I see, as I go wandering up and down the world, whose mild eye, and sweet and placid features, seem to beckon to me, and say, as it were, "Speak but civilly to me, and I will do what I can for you." Such a face as this is worth more than a dozen letters of introduction; and such a face, gentle reader, I found on board the steam-boat from New York to the city of Albany.

There was a great number of well-dressed ladies and gentlemen in the vessel, all entire strangers to me. I fancied I could see several whose countenances invited an

JOURNEY,

unknown wanderer to come and take a seat beside them; FOURTH but there was one who encouraged me more than the rest. I saw clearly that he was an American, and I judged, by his manners and appearance, that he had not spent all his time upon his native soil. I was right in this conjecture, for he afterwards told me that he had been in France and England. I saluted him as one stranger gentleman ought to salute another when he wants a little information; and soon after, I dropped in a word or two by which he might conjecture that I was a foreigner; but I did not tell him. so; I wished him to make the discovery himself.

He entered into conversation with the openness and candour which is so remarkable in the American; and in a little time observed that he presumed I was from the old country. I told him that I was, and added, that I was an entire stranger on board. I saw his eye brighten up at the prospect he had of doing a fellow-creature a kind turn or two, and he completely won my regard by an affability which I shall never forget. This obliging gentleman pointed out everything that was grand and interesting as the steam-boat plied her course up the majestic Hudson. Here the Catskill mountains raised their lofty summit; and there the hills came sloping down to the water's edge. Here he pointed to an aged and venerable oak, which having escaped the levelling axe of man, seemed almost to defy the blasting storm and desolating hand of time; and there, he bade me observe an extended tract of wood, by which I might form an idea how rich and grand the face of the country had once been. Here it was that, in the great and momentous struggle, the colonists lost the day; and there, they carried all before them :-

"They closed full fast, on every side

No slackness there was found;

And many a gallant gentleman
Lay gasping on the ground.”

JOURNEY.

FOURTH Here, in fine, stood a noted regiment; there, moved their great captain; here, the fleets fired their broadsides; and there, the whole force rushed on to battle :

The great canal.

"Hic Dolopum manus, hic magnus tendebat Achilles,
Classibus hic locus, hic acies certare solebat."

At tea-time we took our tea together, and the next
morning this worthy American walked up with me to the
inn in Albany, shook me by the hand, and then went his
way. I bade him farewell, and again farewell, and hoped that
fortune might bring us together again once more. Possibly
she may yet do so; and should it be in England, I will
take him to my house, as an old friend and acquaintance,
and offer him my choicest cheer.

It is at Albany that the great canal opens into the Hudson, and joins the waters of this river to those of Lake Erie. The Hudson, at the city of Albany, is distant from Lake Erie about three hundred and sixty miles. The level of the lake is five hundred and sixty-four feet higher than the Hudson, and there are eighty-one locks on the canal. It is to the genius and perseverance of De Witt Clinton that the United States owe the almost incalculable advantages of this inland navigation. Exegit monumentum ære perennius." You may either go along it all the way to Buffalo, on Lake Erie, or by the stage; or sometimes on one and then in the other, just as you think fit. Scenery. Grand, indeed, is the scenery by either route, and capital

the accommodations. Cold and phlegmatic must he be
who is not warmed into admiration by the surrounding
scenery, and charmed with the affability of the travellers he
meets on the way.

This is now the season of roving, and joy and merriment
for the gentry of this happy country. Thousands are on
the move from different parts of the Union for the springs

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and lakes, and the falls of Niagara. There is nothing FOURTH haughty or forbidding in the Americans; and wherever JOURNEY. you meet them, they appear to be quite at home. This is exactly what it ought to be, and very much in favour of the foreigner who journeys amongst them. The immense number of highly polished females who go in the stages to visit the different places of amusement, and see the stupendous natural curiosities of this extensive country, incontestably proves that safety and convenience are ensured to them, and that the most distant attempt at rudeness would, by common consent, be immediately put down.

By the time I had got to Schenectady, I began strongly to suspect that I had come into the wrong country to look for bugs, bears, brutes, and buffaloes. It is an enchanting journey from Albany to Schenectady, and from thence to Lake Erie. The situation of the city of Utica is particularly attractive; the Mohawk running close by it, the fertile fields and woody mountains, and the falls of Trenton, forcibly press the stranger to stop a day or two here before he proceeds onward to the lake.

At some far-distant period, when it will not be possible to find the place where many of the celebrated cities of the East once stood, the world will have to thank the United States of America for bringing their names into the western regions. It is, indeed, a pretty thought of these people to give to their rising towns the names of places so famous and conspicuous in former times.

As I was sitting one evening under an oak, in the high grounds behind Utica, I could not look down upon the city without thinking of Cato and his misfortunes. Had the town been called Crofton, or Warmfield, or Dewsbury, there would have been nothing remarkable in it; but Utica at once revived the scenes at school long past and half forgotten, and carried me with full speed

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