I am
as free as a wild Indian, enjoying myself at liberty amid the grandest
scenes of nature; while during my winters and springs I am not only
cabined, cribbed, and confined in a miserable garret, but condemned to as
intolerable subservience to the humour of others, and to as indifferent
company, as if I were a literal galley slave." I have promised him your
acquaintance, Delaserre; you will be delighted with his specimens of art,
and he with your Swiss fanaticism for mountains and torrents.

'When I lose Dudley's company, I am informed that I can easily enter
Scotland by stretching across a wild country in the upper part of
Cumberland; and that route I shall follow, to give the Colonel time to
pitch his camp ere I reconnoitre his position. Adieu! Delaserre. I shall
hardly find another opportunity of writing till I reach Scotland.'

CHAPTER XXII
Jog on, jog on, the footpath way,
And merrily bend the stile-a,
A merry heart goes all the day,
A sad one tires in a mile-a.

--Winter's Tale.

Let the reader conceive to himself a clear frosty November morning, the
scene an open heath, having for the background that huge chain of
mountains in which Skiddaw and Saddleback are preeminent; let him look
along that BLIND ROAD, by which I mean the track so slightly marked by
the passengers' footsteps that it can but be traced by a slight shade of
verdure from the darker heath around it, and, being only visible to the
eye when at some distance, ceases to be distinguished while the foot is
actually treading it; along this faintly-traced path advances the object
of our present narrative. His firm step, his erect and free carriage,
have a military air which corresponds well with his well-proportioned
limbs and stature of six feet high. His dress is so plain and simple that
it indicates nothing as to rank; it may be that of a gentleman who
travels in this manner for his pleasure, or of an inferior person of whom
it is the proper and usual garb. Nothing can be on a more reduced scale
than his travelling equipment. A volume of Shakspeare in each pocket, a
small bundle with a change of linen slung across his shoulders, an oaken
cudgel in his hand, complete our pedestrian's accommodations, and in this
equipage we present him to our readers.

Brown had parted that morning from his friend Dudley, and begun his
solitary walk towards Scotland.

The first two or three miles were rather melancholy