undertaking to bring me home a dish of trouts for my supper, in
atonement for his offences.

Having thus got honourably rid of the trouble of amusing myself
in a way I cared not for, I turned my steps towards the sea, or
rather the Solway Firth which here separates the two sister
kingdoms, and which lay at about a mile's distance, by a pleasant
walk over sandy knells, covered with short herbage, which you
call Links, and we English, Downs.

But the rest of my adventure would weary out my fingers, and must
be deferred until to-morrow, when you shall hear from me, by way
of continuation; and, in the meanwhile, to prevent over-hasty
conclusions, I must just hint to you, we are but yet on the verge
of the adventure which it is my purpose to communicate.




LETTER IV

THE SAME TO THE SAME

SHEPHERD'S BUSH.

I mentioned in my last, that having abandoned my fishing-rod as
an unprofitable implement, I crossed over the open downs which
divided me from the margin of the Solway. When I reached the
banks of the great estuary, which are here very bare and exposed,
the waters had receded from the large and level space of sand,