But My Courage Failed Me, And I Dropped The
Resolution Immediately On My Entering The Town.
The houses and
everything else seemed to wear as grand an appearance, almost, as if
I had been still in London.
And yet the manners of some of its
inhabitants were so thoroughly rustic and rude, that I saw them
actually pointing at me with their fingers as a foreigner. And now,
to complete my chagrin and mortification, I came to a long street,
where everybody on both sides of the way were at their doors, and
actually made me run the gauntlet through their inquiring looks.
Some even hissed at me as I passed along. All my arguments to
induce me to pluck up my courage, such as the certainty that I
should never see these people again nor they me, were of no use.
Burton became odious and almost insupportable to me; and the street
appeared as long and tired me as much, as if I had walked a mile.
This strongly-marked contemptuous treatment of a stranger, who was
travelling through their country merely from the respect he bore it,
I experienced nowhere but at Burton.
How happy did I feel when I again found myself out of their town,
although at that moment I did not know where I should find a lodging
for the night, and was, besides, excessively tired. But I pursued
my journey, and still kept in the road to Derby, along a footpath
which I knew to be right. It led across a very pleasant mead, the
hedges of which were separated by stiles, over which I was often
obliged to clamber. When I had walked some distance without meeting
with an inn on the road, and it had already begun to be dark, I at
last sat me down near a small toll-house, or a turnpike-gate, in
order to rest myself, and also to see whether the man at the
turnpike could and would lodge me.
After I had sat here a considerable time, a farmer came riding by,
and asked me where I wanted to go? I told him I was so tired that I
could go no farther. On this the good-natured and truly hospitable
man, of his own accord and without the least distrust, offered to
take me behind him on his horse and carry me to a neighbouring inn,
where he said I might stay all night.
The horse was a tall one, and I could not easily get up. The
turnpike-man, who appeared to be quite decrepid and infirm, on this
came out. I took it for granted, however, that he who appeared to
have hardly sufficient strength to support himself could not help
me. This poor looking, feeble old man, however, took hold of me
with one arm, and lifted me with a single jerk upon the horse so
quick and so alertly that it quite astonished me.
And now I trotted on with my charming farmer, who did not ask me one
single impertinent question, but set me down quietly at the inn, and
immediately rode away to his own village, which lay to the left.
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