a comfortable fire strove to efface from each other's remembrance the fearful tossing, which we had endured upon the wrathful straits of Dover, "mounting up to the heavens, going down again to the depths, our souls melted because of trouble."
It was not until the evening of the following day, that we felt sufficiently reinstated to make trial of the movements of a French diligence. At the hour of nine, off set the cumbrous machine, drawn by five horses, carrying in the coupé three persons, in the interieur six, in the rear compartment three, and on the top an unknown number, beside the conducteur and his compagnon.
The country in the vicinity of Calais is flat, the roads drained by a kind of canal on each side, and planted with clumsy trees. These were partially denuded, but the verdure of the fields was deep and bright as in summer. The processes of agriculture seemed rude, and the ploughs of an awkward construction mounted on wheels. Frequent stacks of grain and hay told of a plentiful harvest, and here and there the scathed grape vine climbed with its crisp tendril to the eaves, or over the tiled roof of some lowly dwelling. Many of the hovels were miserably planted in the midst of an expanse of mud, in which the poor peasants paddled whenever they stepped from the doors. We looked in vain for the white cottages of England, so beautiful with their trim hedges and lingering blossoms.
