One would
think the space sufficiently extensive for a man to stretch his
limbs in, as, besides a reasonable proportion of level ground
(considering that the scene lies in Scotland), it includes within
its precincts the mountain of Arthur's Seat and the rocks and
pasture land called Salisbury Crags. But yet it is inexpressible
how, after a certain time had elapsed, I used to long for Sunday,
which permitted me to extend my walk without limitation. During
the other six days of the week I felt a sickness of heart, which,
but for the speedy approach of the hebdomadal day of liberty, I
could hardly have endured. I experienced the impatience of a
mastiff who tugs in vain to extend the limits which his chain
permits.
Day after day I walked by the side of the kennel which divides
the Sanctuary from the unprivileged part of the Canongate; and
though the month was July, and the scene the old town of
Edinburgh, I preferred it to the fresh air and verdant turf which
I might have enjoyed in the King's Park, or to the cool and
solemn gloom of the portico which surrounds the palace. To an
indifferent person either side of the gutter would have seemed
much the same, the houses equally mean, the children as ragged
and dirty, the carmen as brutal--the whole forming the same
picture of low life in a deserted and impoverished quarter of a
large city.
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