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always at hand, when you like to touch it. Now if the temperature of the nose is colder than that of the finger, under ordinary circumstances, if it tingles or otherwise misconducts itself in any way whatsoever, the possessor of that nose, if a judicious man and willing to be guided by the councils of experience, will immediately warm it, either by active exercise, or on the most reckless anti-teetotal principle. I am, however, rather inclined to advise the latter method, supposing the said possessor of the said nose to have already tired himself on the slippery deck of a Varna steamer, and being otherwise disposed for rest as we were. We passed Burgas in the night, and were dashing away merrily enough over waters hardly disturbed by a ripple when I awoke in the morning. I was first up of our party, as I ought to have been, for I had slept in far more agreeable quarters. They had retired, uncomplaining, to the dismal little holes in the wall, which the steward had ruthlessly pointed out to them. I on the contrary had taken that functionary aside, and held sweet converse with him, till he was thereby induced to make me up a very jolly little bed on one of the sofas in the cabin, where I had more leg and elbow room, though I am bound to confess that the odour of the powerful cheese we had for supper was audible during a part of the night, say till I got used to it, or went to sleep.

We had a pretty good breakfast, the ship's cook being a deacon of his craft. There was ham, fish, beefsteaks, caviar, maccaroni, and the sort of things it requires a traveller's appetite to put under his waistcoat at ten o'clock in the morning. I wonder what one would say at such a diet at the end of a London season, and in Pall Mall, or St. James'sstreet.

The steamer library was also remarkably good, and very well chosen. There were just the kind of books that give spice and zest to a journey in a half-civilized country. Cooper, Scott, Washington Irving (the kindest, gentlest, most amusing of all the rovers that have ever roved or written). There were also Leake's Travels in Greece, and the transactions of some German antiquarian society, for those fond of solid things when sea-sick.

I do not know that anything occurred during our voyage

worth notice, except that we met some immense flocks of migratory wild ducks, bearing with quivering flight and outstretched bills, away for the marshes of Bulgaria and the Principalities.

We had a discussion with one of the officers about our fare, however, and I note it, because the same thing has occurred to me before on these Lloyd's boats, and cries loudly for notice. We had been unable from want of time to take our passage at Constantinople, and consequently had to pay on board; the officer, an ill-conditioned fellow, if ever there was one, determined to turn this circumstance to account, and mulcted us of precisely two shillings in every Turkish pound above the exchange at Varna or Constantinople!

This wants sadly looking into, and therefore it is well to be explicit, and repeat, that the boat to which I refer, was the Stamboul, which left Constantinople on the 8th December, 1854; and the officer, whose misconduct was very gross, was not one of the stewards, who are apt enough to do such things, but one of the superior officers appointed by the company, and wearing their uniform.

It has been objected to these kind of details, that they show something like a settled intention to complain. Well, be it so. A traveller who only complains of things really wrong, cannot complain too much. The fact is, far too few people will take the trouble to complain, and therefore folks should be the more obliged to those who will; and the more amateur inspectors of roads and other things we have perambulating the world, the better.

F

CHAPTER XII.

Varna. Its dirt is Turkish, not peculiar. Our historical friend William the Conqueror appears unexpectedly. Military preparation. Body guard of the King of Candy, and warm personal friends of that monarch. The commissariat are not cavaliers. General O'Flannigan and his staff. Their rows with consuls. Their pluck and spirit. Their opinions on things in general. French officers. Chances of promotion. French privates. Their prosiness. Politeness. British soldiers. An Irish gentleman. The doctors. Greek fire. More agreeable evidence of the results of our spirited conduct. Army chaplains. Italian hucksters. Military messes are broken up. The interpreter of the British consulate. His house. Away.

It is said that Varna has about it a dirtiness peculiarly its own, but I incline to the opinion that it is merely Turkish, and that there is nothing at all remarkable about it. We landed not without some difficulty and danger, and then immediately took possession of the country by tumbling down very much in the same manner as that which our historical friend William the Conqueror turned to such famous account; that is to say, we slipped up in the mud, and extremely foul, black, slimy mud it was.

The note of military preparation was pealing everywhere. Gents belonging to the commissariat, and unused to riding, were holding on to the pummels of their saddles, and jogging about uncomfortably in many directions, or carried on those eternal sly conversations with cunning men, in corners and outof-the-way places. Officers in astounding uniforms, supposed to be those of the body guard of his majesty the King of Candy, in whose service they had been, and obtained all sorts of rank, honours, and decorations, were twirling their moustaches, and conversing together in groups. I never saw so many colonels and generals at once in all my born days. You could not request the dingiest individual to make way for you on the narrow foot-paths, without having your breath taken away by a nudge from your friend's elbow, and a hurried whisper of "General O'Flannigan! take

care!"

It is one of the few pleasant features of the war, that it

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