CHAPTER VI.
LONDON.
The next day was the first of March, and when I awoke, rose, and opened my curtain, I saw the risen sun struggling through fog.

Above my head, above the house-tops, co-elevate almost with the clouds, I saw a solemn, orbed mass, dark blue and dim--THE DOME.

While I looked, my inner self moved; my spirit shook its always-fettered wings half loose; I had a sudden feeling as if I, who never yet truly lived, were at last about to taste life.

In that morning my soul grew as fast as Jonah's gourd.
"I did well to come," I said, proceeding to dress with speed and care.
"I like the spirit of this great London which I feel around me.

Who but a coward would pass his whole life in hamlets; and for ever abandon his faculties to the eating rust of obscurity ?" Being dressed, I went down; not travel-worn and exhausted, but tidy and refreshed.