my frame gradually became hardened with my constitution, and being both tall and muscular, i was rather disfigured than disabled by my lameness. this personal disadvantage did not prevent me from taking much exercise on horseback, and making long journeys on foot, in the course of which i often walked from twenty to thirty miles a day.
a distinct instance occurs to me. i remember walking with poor james ramsay, my fellow-apprentice, now no more, and two other friends, to breakfast at prestonpans. we spent the forenoon visiting the ruins at seton and the field of battle at preston—dined at prestonpans on tiled haddocks very sumptuously—drank half a bottle of port each, and returned in the evening. this could not be less than thirty miles, nor do i remember being at all fatigued upon the occasion.
these excursions on foot and horseback formed by far my most favourite amusement. i have all my life delighted in travelling, though i have never enjoyed that pleasure[pg 40] upon a large scale. it was a propensity which i sometimes indulged so unduly as to alarm and vex my parents. wood, water, wilderness itself had an inexpressible charm for me, and i had a dreamy way of going much farther than i intended, so that unconsciously my return was protracted, and my parents had sometimes serious cause of uneasiness. for example, i once set out with mr george abercromby (son of the immortal general), mr william clerk, and some others, to fish in the lake above howgate, and the stream which descends from it into the esk. we breakfasted at howgate, and fished the whole day; and while we were on our return next morning, i was easily seduced by william clerk, then a great intimate, to visit pennycuik house, the seat of his family. here he and john irving, and i for their sake, were overwhelmed with kindness by the late sir john clerk and his lady, the present dowager lady clerk. the pleasure of looking at fine pictures, the beauty of the place, and the flattering hospitality of the owners, drowned all recollection of home for a day or two. meanwhile our companions, who had walked on without being aware of our digression, returned to edinburgh without us, and excited no small alarm in my father's household. at length, however, they became accustomed to my[pg 41] escapades. my father used to protest to me on such occasions that he thought i was born to be a strolling pedlar; and though the prediction was intended to mortify my conceit, i am not sure that i altogether disliked it. i was now familiar with shakespeare, and thought of autolycus's song:
"jog on, jog on the footpath way
and merrily hent the stile-a;
a merry heart goes all the day,
your sad tires in a mile-a."
sir walter scott.
