the lady who sat opposite-or favouring the gentleman on his right hand with a detail of some remarkable enormity which had been committed either by himself or his elder brother.

I was consequently made acquainted off-hand with Major, Mrs., and Miss Evans; Dr., Mrs., and the three Misses Morgan; Lieutenant and Mrs. Jones; Mr. and Mrs. and Mr. Howell, junior; Major and three Misses Price; Mr. Rice; Mr. Joves of Mgldmpwn; and Mr. Apreece Jones of Gmpwldmygd ;-to the pronunciation of which distinctive dignities I never could have attained, if our excellent host, baving perceived how much I was puzzled at the sound, had not resolved good-naturedly to write down the names of the places, in order to simplify the affair.

My appetite having reached its highest eating power, I waited impatiently for the summons. The trout were before my eyes—but then what an extensive party!—and even then I heard our excellent host inquire whether anybody else was expected.

“ Yes, my love,” said the lady; "there are Mr. and Mrs. Williams of Pillgwylligam, and all the Jenkinses of Carbygllgomd.”

“ Very well, dear,” said the obedient husband; and the conversation went on.

Presently the Jenkinses of Carbygllgomd, and the Williamses of Pillgwylligam came; and then, with the greatest delight, I heard the lady of the house give permission to her lord to say they were ready.

There being then present not less than twenty-six persons, I was puzzled to know how the affair was to be managed; but I waited not long. The drawing-room doors were thrown open, and, to my utter astonishment and dismay, which were met with instantaneous sympathy on the part of my travelling companions, I saw a large lout of a liveryservant walk into the room with a huge tray, covered with tea and coffee cups, a large silver tea-pot, ditto coffee-pot, ditto sugar-basin, ditto creamjug, followed by the fellow whom I had seen bring in the trout to the kitchen-door, dressed in a similar garb on a smaller scale to that of his huge predecessor, bearing on a salver a plate of hot buttered cakes, and another of diaculum-plaster bread and butter.

I started at the sight-my companions, scattered as they were, did the same, and our eyes met. What was to be done ? Our leader, as I call him, for he was the oldest, and had undertaken not only to show us the country, but to introduce us to his friend, came to me, and whispered something about a mistake ; and, such was his anxiety to wound no man's feelings, and his desire to show that he appreciated the kindness of our host, that he hinted the propriety of satisfying ourselves with the fare provided, and making up for the deficiency by a supper at the inn.

Now, if we had not been pedestrianizing, amenity might have conquered appetite, and the desire to do the delicate might have superseded the dinner; as it was, I for one voted for immediately bolting; nor should we—for we three of the four were in the majority—have long hesitated upon the measure, if our worthy head had not consented to explain to the gentleman of the house that the difference between the hours of dinner in Wales and Westminster had caused a little contretemps, which, under all the circumstances, was extremely inconvenient to his friends. I never saw a man more truly vexed. They always dined at three at the latest, and of course he had imagined, when he talked of six as being in good time, we should understand what the invitation meant."

There seemed (at least to nie) no alternative but the abandonment of the fair at the château for the fare at the inn, although our leader, in the plenitude of his good-nature and consideration, would rather have stayed and fasted with his old friend than endanger his peace of mind, or run the chance of annoying him, by quitting his house for the enjoyment of the finest dinner that Ude could devise.

Talking of abandoning the young ladies, I cannot help noticing an instance in which the word “abandoned ” once assumed a sense certainly not in accordance with the intentions of the lady who used it. During the

war, and while numerous French emigrants of distinction were living in England, one of the highest rank, full of attractions and accomplishments, having rather exceeded her very slender means, was unable to pay the rent of her lodgings, whereupon the landlord, whose estimation of the French noblesse was only commensurate with his belief in the genuineness and reality of their claims, and even titles, seized everything which the Duchess—for she was of that order—possessed, to secure himself.

In this emergency, and being personally free, the poor dear Duchess hurried off to one of her best English friends, whom she found in her drawing-room surrounded by company, and, unable to restrain her feelings, exclaimed, in the middle of the circle, " Oh, my dear Madam! such thing has happen to me--two men come to my room-dere dey stop--I have nobody to help me--I am an abandoned woman, and have lost all my propriety.”

This abrupt announcement startled several of the ladies to whom the Duchess was not personally known, even more perhaps than it surprised those with whom she was better acquainted; however, a few moments of time, and a few words of explanation, set the matter right, and the Duchess got her“ propriety," as she called it, back again.

I confess, upon the occasion of our departure from the Château de Crickhowel, one of the “ abandoned ”

young ladies sadly haunted my imagination; however, our retreat was really inevitable, and so we departed, promising faithfully to return to Pope Joan, long whist, and, as something tending supper-wise, at a very early hour.

Alas ! to them, I lament to say, there was no return. When we got to the inn the larder was empty; some small fragments of cold meat only served to awaken the appetite which they could not allay, and it was very nearly eight o'clock when two roasted fowls and a boiled leg of lamb, or perhaps Welsh mutton looking lamb-like, graced the board; vegetables au naturel, and snow-white bread, “ illustrated the solids," and I believe never did banquet bear more unquestionable marks of activity than our humble, but to us delicious, repast, so long delayed, but so much rejoiced in.

The sequel is what I am coming to, as touching pedestrian tours. The little contretemps as to the dinner at the other end of the town was nothing; we grew comfortable and happy, and put our legs upon chairs, and drank, what might perhaps not have been expected, some remarkably good claret. The idea of returning to the Tectotalers-as they were then not called, inasmuch as such absurdities had not then obtained-faded, as did the light; and even I, with my fair Eliza-and,

oh! she was so pretty-still in my mind, felt a fatigue arising from the morning's walk and the afternoon's ramble, to which the soulagements of the refreshments had given a decided character, just at which period a remarkably nice travelling carriage suddenly halted before the inn; the said halt being instantly followed by the well-known cry of, “ First and second, turn out.”

We raised ourselves from our horizontality and went to the door, when we found the travellers to be three delightful persons whom we had left at Malvern, but who were now on their way to a hospitable mansion near Cardiff, which shall be nameless. We exchanged a few words while the exchange of horses was going on, and explained to the fair inmate—fair, though dark-of the carriage, our intention of walking through the principality: she smiled as she could smile-doubtingly, as I thought, but she smiled—and, all being ready, the word was given, and away they went.

We returned to our humble, ay, dear humble parlour, and talked over the passing travellers; there was a pause at last in the conversation, and the eyes of our leader-for so I still call now, as I considered then, our dear lost friend-met mine. I had said nothing which could lead him to the conclusion, at which, however, it seemed he himself had arrived, nor had I the slightest conception of what he meant when he said

“ Yes; I think so, too.”

Now, what I did think I did not choose to explain ; more, perhaps, from an apprehension of being laughed at, for something very like a defection from the pedestrianism to which we had so earnestly looked forward; although I admit that the sight of our late companions at Malvern rolling and bowling," as George Colman says, along the road, and all

“ Without hurry, or bustle, or care," did excite in my bosom some feelings, if not of discontent, at least of a consciousness of the absurdity of trudging and tramping over a country through which, as I have before said, one might be comfortably driven, stopping at points worthy of observation.

“ I think so, too,” said my dear friend.

But not a syllable did I utter upon the subject; and when I saw our sketching companion in close discussion with his servant as to the ease and comfort of a huge pair of what are called “high-lows,” destined for the next day's service, I resolved to stifle all further expression of my feeling, and go on.

We parted for the night-the aimable blonde and the animated brunette having been superseded in our minds by the natural desire for rest, arising out of our feats of the day and the anticipation of our less comfortable feat of the morrow; and so we went to our white-curtained beds, all so fresh, so sweet, so clean. Dear Crickhowel, I love thee still !

By eight, breakfast was on the board : nothing could be nicer. One likes to be long at breakfast, and it was just nine when the meal was concluded. Every man to his room, every man to see that his servant - for the maintenance of this rear-guard, who travelled at their ease, made the thing more ridiculous-had filled his master's wallet with all that was essential for the journey. At ten we were to start : down I came; I found our dear leader in the little parlour rowing us for being so slow and so unpunctual.

“I am ready,” said I, emphatically stumping the end of a stick, which I had bought as a support, on the floor.

“ Are we all ready?” said he.
“ All,” said the other two.
Whereupon our said dear friend said to his servant-
“ Get it, then."

What it was I did not at all know, but I supposed it might be his wallet, for he had none slung over his shoulder, or perhaps some of that unspellable ale in which the Principality rejoices : but no; in two minutes after “ Get it was pronounced, up rolled to the door the dear delightful barouche all open, drawn thereunto by four spanking posters.

Why,” said I, “ here is the carriage which we left at Abergavenny!"

“ True,” said our friend, “I sent for it last night. Now perhaps you will understand what I meant after dinner by saying, “I think so, too.'

The sight of our Malvern companions going along easy had created what I consider a very reasonable doubt of the superiority of a walking tour. I saw the feeling in the expression of your countenance, and agreed; so now cast off your wallet, leave your stick, and jump in."

And so we did.

I might here enlarge upon this tour, which was as extraordinary as it was delightful, but, as I am only treating of pedestrian proceedings, I am bound to end my notice of it at the moment I step into the carriage.

As we left the pretty little town we cast a longing lingering look at the house which held the charming Eliza and Annie, but, it being a quarter past ten, it was most natural to imagine, according to the family scale of hours, that they had passed a considerable portion of the morning before we passed their residence. On we went. I have never seen Crickhowel since.

As this was my first attempt at a pedestrian tour, I crave, not without hope, pardon for detailing my proceedings so minutely. My second and third were equally failures, and then came an event in my life which, although it did not, as the sequel will show, cure “my truant disposition," or check my rambling, certainly placed me in a different position in society, and induced me to devote a certain portion of my time to matters of higher importance. A young cousin of mine, a female cousin, died, by which event the whole of her very large fortune, through her uncle, my father, came to me, and I found myself suddenly full of wealth, and consequently of much more consequence than I had ever expected to be. The death of so young and amiable a girl was, of course, a severe blow to the family. I had never seen her, therefore the calamity which put me in possession of four thousand pounds a-year was not likely to affect me personally so much as it naturally would those who had been acquainted with her beauty, her virtue, and her merits.

Amelia Vincent, whose husband, had she lived, I was destined to be, was the idol of her father, my uncle; having lost her mother while Amelia was yet a child, all his care was directed to her education-in fact, they were never separated till death took him from her, upon which event she came to reside with my father. The great object of my uncle's ambition was that we should be united, and so intent and

carnest was he upon this favourite point, that, in case of her not marrying me before she was of age, the fortune which he bequeathed her was to pass immediately to me, chargeable with an annuity of three hundred a-year to her for life.

These precautions, however, proved fruitless; from the period of my uncle's death poor Amelia's health declined, symptoms of consumption showed themselves, and, as a last resource, she accepted an offer from her oldest and dearest friend, Lady Sandford, to accompany her to the south of France, where she died soon after her arrival, in the twentieth year of her age, a victim, as Lady Sandford wrote to my father, to grief and regret for her much-loved parent.

I have often reflected upon the strange coincidences which occurred in the early part of my life to prevent our having ever met. While I was at school and college she and my uncle were living in Barbados, where most of his then valuable property lay; when they returned to England I was availing myself of the return of the peace so gloriously earned by my country and her allies, making an extended tour of Europe; and at the time of my uncle's death was upon my return home; so that, as my poor cousin did not survive that event more than eight months, if I had been aware that she was in the south of France, I might have seen her, for, upon a retrospective review of my journal, its dates compared with the events connected with her removal and subsequent death placed me one day, unconsciously, within three leagues and a half of her residence.

However, I rejoice that, at that period of her existence, I did not meet her:—to see those to whom we are either by affinity, or affection without affinity, deeply attached, sinking, without hope of rescue, into an early grave, is something which requires sterner nerves than mine to endure. Yet I should like to have seen her—the destined partner of my existence. Still, perhaps, all is for the best ; no picture of her remainsnothing by which I can embody my regrets; but my imagination still paints her fair and faultless, as I have heard she was. Instead of sharing her fortune, her death made it all my own. This circumstance alone cast

earlier life a gloom of which I never could divest myself: I felt as if I were a widowed husband, and would willingly have given up the wealth which had devolved to me, if my cousin could have lived again to share with me the much smaller income which my father was enabled to bequeath me.

I suppose I shall be laughed at for cherishing this strange feeling; suffice it to say that I have not been able to conquer it: the sudden surprise, the chilling check to all my early hopes of happiness, never have been overcome, and here I am at forty-seven years of age an old bachelor.

Well, then, having made this very disagreeable confession, I may be excused for that periodical unsettledness-if I may use the expressionwhich has induced me in the autumn of every year to undertake a pedestrian tour, upon the “ ease-and-comfort” plan of having“ hard by some” carriage" at my charge,” so that I might never be compelled to do more in the walking line than might suit me; nor need I add that each succeeding season brought its periodical hints as to shortening the tether which bound me to head-quarters.

The first indication kind Nature was good enough to give me of the

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