Non-Fiction > Books > London, 1878 - Inland voyage

On the Willebroek Canal. 19
an infinity of little crystal fountains. There
were no beds to be had in the neighbourhood.
Nothing for it but to lay the sails aside and
address ourselves to steady paddling in the rain.
Beautiful country houses, with clocks and
long lines of shuttered windows, and fine old
trees standing in groves and avenues, gave
a rich and sombre aspect in the rain and the
deepening dusk to the shores of the canal.
I seem to have seen something of the same
effect in engravings : opulent landscapes, de-
serted and overhung with the passage of storm.
And throughout we had the escort of a hooded
cart, which trotted shabbily along the tow-path,
and kept at an almost uniform distance in our
wake.