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their traces. I was in hopes, from the settled weather,that some one would attempt the ascent whilst I wasat Chamouni, when I should immediately have offeredmyself as a volunteer or porter to accompany him ;but no one came forward until the day after mydeparture, and then a lady, Mademoiselle Henrietted’Angeville, succeeded in reaching the top, togetherwith the landlord of the Hotel ftoyal, and a Polishgentleman, who was stopping in the house.
When I came home to England I had many otherthings to think about. With the very hard workwhich the medical practice attached to a large countryunion required, I had little time for other employment.One dull evening, however, I routed out my oldpanorama, and as our little town was entirely occupieda,t the time with the formation of a literary and scientificinstitution, I thought I could make a grand lectureabout the Alps. Availing myself of every half-hour Icould spare, I copied all my pictures on a comparativelylarge scale—about three feet high—with such daringlights, and shadows, and streaks of sunset, that I havesince trembled at my temerity as I looked at them ;and then contriving some simple mechanism with acarpenter, to make them roll on, I selected the mostinteresting parts of Mr. Auldjo's narrative, and witha few interpolations of my own produced a lecturewhich, in the town, was considered quite a “hit,”