In fine, it is this
ungenerous treatment that has paralysed my plans, and caused me to give up
the idea I once had of inserting here the newly-discovered mode of
preparing quadrupeds and serpents; and without it the account of this last
expedition to the wilds of Guiana is nothing but a--fragment.
Farewell, gentle reader.
* * * * *
FOURTH JOURNEY
Nunc huc, nunc illuc et utrinque sine ordine curro.
Courteous reader, when I bade thee last farewell I thought these wanderings
were brought to a final close; afterwards I often roved in imagination
through distant countries famous for natural history, but felt no strong
inclination to go thither, as the last adventure had terminated in such
unexpected vexation. The departure of the cuckoo and swallow and summer
birds of passage for warmer regions, once so interesting to me, now
scarcely caused me to turn my face to the south; and I continued in this
cold and dreary climate for three years. During this period I seldom or
never mounted my hobby-horse; indeed, it may be said, with the old song,
The saddle and bridle were laid on the shelf,
and only taken down once, on the night that I was induced to give a lecture
in the Philosophical Hall of Leeds.
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