after a few minutes of such giddy soaring, the ropes were
slackened and we all got out, looking somewhat pale, and feeling
nervous, if nothing else.

There were also many great tents, hung with boughs and lighted with
innumerable colored lamps, where the people danced their country dances
in a choking cloud of dry saw-dust. Conjurors and gymnastic performers
were showing off on conspicuous platforms, and a continual sound of
drums, cymbals and shrill trumpets called the attention of the crowd to
some "Wonderful Exhibition"--some infant phenomenon, giant, or
three-headed pig. A great part of the crowd belonged evidently to the
very worst part of society, but the watchfulness of the police prevented
any open disorder. We came away early and in a quarter of an hour were
in busy London, leaving far behind us the revel and debauch, which was
prolonged through the whole night.

London has the advantage of one of the most gloomy atmospheres in the
world. During this opening spring weather, no light and scarcely any
warmth can penetrate the dull, yellowish-gray mist, which incessantly
hangs over the city. Sometimes at noon we have for an hour or two a
sickly gleam of sunshine, but it is soon swallowed up by the smoke and
drizzling fog. The people carry umbrellas at all times, for the rain
seems to drop spontaneously out of the very air, without wailing for the
usual preparation of a gathering cloud. Professor Espy's rules would be
of little avail here.

A few days ago we had a real fog--a specimen of November weather, as the
people said. If November wears such a mantle, London, during that sober
month, must furnish a good idea of the gloom of Hades. The streets wore
wrapped in a veil of dense mist, of a dirty yellow color, as if the air
had suddenly grown thick and mouldy. The houses on the opposite sides of
the street were invisible, and the gas lamps, lighted in the shops,
burned with a white and ghastly flame. Carriages ran together in the
streets, and I was kept constantly on the look-out, lest some one should
come suddenly out of the cloud around me, and we should meet with a
shock like that of two knights at a tournament. As I stood in the centre
of Trafalgar Square, with every object invisible around me, it reminded
me, (hoping the comparison will not be accepted in every particular) of
Satan resting in the middle of Chaos. The weather sometimes continues
thus for whole days together.

_April 26._--An hour and a hal