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The Prose Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1); Outre-Mer
The Prose Works of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Outre-Mer - 1 Author:Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Volume: 1 General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1880 Original Publisher: Houghton, Osgood Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com w... more »here you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: THE NORMAN DILIGENCE The French guides, otherwise called the postilians, have one most diabolical! custome in their travelling upon the waves. Diabolicall it may be well called ; for, whensoever their horses doe a little anger them, they will say, in their fury, Allans, diablc, -- that is, Go, thou divel. This I know by mine own experience. Coryat's Crudities. IT was early in the " leafy month of June " that I travelled through the beautiful province of Normandy. As France was the first foreign country I visited, everything wore an air of freshness and novelty, which pleased my eye, and kept my fancy constantly busy. Life was like a dream. It was a luxury to breathe again the free air, after having been so long cooped up at sea ; and, like a long-imprisoned bird let loose from its cage, I revelled in the freshness and sunshine of the morning landscape. On every side, valley and hill were covered with a carpet of soft velvet green. The birds were singing merrily in the trees, and the landscape wore that look of gayety so well described in the quaint language of an old romance, making the " sad, pensive, and aching heart to rejoice, and to throw off mourning and sadness." Here and there a cluster of chestnut-trees shaded a thatch-roofed cottage, and little patches of vineyard were scattered on the slope of the hills, mingling their delicate green with the deep hues of the early summer grain. The whole landscape had a fresh, breezy look. It was not hedged in from the highways, but lay open to the eye of the traveller, and seemed to welcome him with open a...« less