Cannot be seen or heard:—do but look up!"
"So intently did Adelaide gaze, that one would have thought that the spell-bound charm that fascinated her looks to those lofty cliffs, could only be broken and dispelled by the wand of the enchanter. The following quatrain is my Adelaide's:—
Ye chalky cliffs! unchang'd ye stand,
As pencil'd by great Shakespeare's hand;
Still to the clouds your summits rise,
Nor perish until nature dies!
"Never once changing her position on deck sat the fair enthusiast, until cliff and sky became commingled in one dark-blue mass, and soon completely lost in aërial distance.
"We viewed the church of Notre Dame at Calais, where there is an ill-executed, clumsy statue of the Virgin and Child in statuary marble; the walls are surrounded with paintings of Scriptural subjects, but the design and the execution are very mediocré. As we walked around the walls of this memorable town, we could not but recollect, with the deepest interest, that this city had for upwards of two hundred years appertained to the crown of Britain;—that here had been manifested the most generous and devoted love of country;—that here our own Edward triumphed over the arms, as the benevolent Emma did over the hearts, of the patriot citizens of Calais.
"Once more I tread the sunny region of merry France, endeared from youthful recollection; once more too I tread the same soil that holds him I love the best!—no, not the BEST!—in this earthly globe, and no longer two seas separate me from him whom I acknowledge by the two most endearing titles of my husband, and my Adelaide's father. Yes, dearest friend, this is consoling, and it is balm to the wearied heart of a poor exile roaming in a far and foreign land!
"But I must continue our route:—From Calais we proceeded by Boulogne-Sur-Mer of which I shall just observe, en passant, that it is a handsome town, it is said of great antiquity, and is very remarkable from the circumstance of its having been selected as the port from which the Romans embarked when they invaded Britain; and here still remain the fragments of a Roman tower built during the reign of Caligula. From Boulogne we proceeded to Amiens, where we remained for a couple of days to repose from the fatigues of our journey, and if it will not fatigue you, you shall have a very brief sketch of that fine city.