sorrowful emotions rushed upon him.

He turned away. The spot on which he stood was a piece of ground to be
let (as a board proclaimed) upon a building lease; below, descended the
steps which were to conduct him to the boat; around, the desolate space
allowed him to see in far and broad extent the spires and domes and
chimneys of the great city whose inhabitants he might never plunder more.
As he looked and looked, the tears started to his eyes, and with a gust
of enthusiasm, little consonant with his temperate and philosophical
character, he lifted his right hand from his black breeches-pocket, and
burst into the following farewell to the metropolis of his native
shores:--

"Farewell, my beloved London, farewell! Where shall I ever find a city
like you? Never, till now, did I feel how inexpressibly dear you were to
me. You have been my father and my brother and my mistress and my tailor
and my shoemaker and my hatter and my cook and my wine-merchant! You and
I never misunderstood each other. I did not grumble when I saw what fine
houses and good strong boxes you gave to other men. No! I rejoiced at
their prosperity. I delighted to see a rich man,--my only disappointment
was in stumbling on a poor one. You gave riches to my neighbours; but,
O generous London, you gave those neighbours to me! Magnificent streets,
all Christian virtues abide within you! Charity is as common as smoke!
Where, in what corner of the habitable world, shall I find human beings
with so many superfluities? Where shall I so easily decoy, from
benevolent credulity, those superfluities to myself? Heaven only knows,
my dear, dear, darling London, what I lose in you! O public charities!
O public institutions! O banks that belie mathematical axioms and make
lots out of nothing! O ancient constitution always to be questioned!
O modern improvements that never answer! O speculations! O companies!