the gloomy offsprings of my fancy, distressed by the appearing slowness of time, and entirely cut off from every comfort by the snoring disposition of my fellow travellers, which made me resolve to leave the stage next morning, and to continue my journey on horseback. I left, therefore, my cheerless and sullen companions, with the first dawn of day, bought a horse in the first village where we stopped, and trotted briskly onward.
I was not in the least acquainted with the roads in those parts, a circumstance which ought to have come sooner in my mind: I was obliged to ride back several times, and when it began to grow dark, found myself bewildered in a dreary forest, without knowing which way to turn. My jaded horse being hardly able to stir, I alighted, leading the poor beast by the bridle, in order to advance with more expedition.
It
