I bowed again, and received the fourth card.
Thus were the changes rung by numbers, one, two, and three, until I was tired out, two bottles more drank out, and I had received fifteen cards from my very polite friend, whom I had never seen before.
At four o’clock they all rose to depart.
“Upon my soul, I do believe I’m drunk,” said Number Two; “capital joke—ha, ha, ha!”
Number One continued dumb, brandy had not thawed him; but he stared very hard at me, as much as to say, I would speak if I could.
Number Three put into my hand the sixteenth card, and made a rash attempt at a bow.
Having seen them fairly outside my door, I bolted it, saying with Shakespeare—
“O! that a man
Should put an enemy in his mouth
To steal away his brains!”
I have been this morning to visit an establishment founded by two brothers, of the name of Van der Maelen. It comprehends natural history, botany, geography, and statistics, and they have, moreover, a lithographic press for maps and plates. It is a very curious, and very spirited undertaking. As yet, the whole has been effected by their own means, which are extensive, and without any assistance from government. How few people in this world employ their money so usefully! This establishment is but yet in its infancy, and the collections are not very valuable, although rapidly increasing, from the interest felt by every one in its welfare.
Of all collections of natural history, the fossil department is, to me, the most interesting; there is room for speculation and reflection, till the mind is lost in its own wanderings, which I consider one of the greatest delights of existence. We are indebted to the vast, comprehensive mind, and indefatigable labour of Cuvier, for the gleams of light which have lately burst upon us, and which have rendered what was before mere speculative supposition now a source of interesting and anxious investigation, attended with results that are as satisfactory as they are undeniable.