CHAPTER X.

THE NELSON MONUMENT.

The following day being dry, we walked out to view the
wonders of this great commercial city of England, Liverpool.
The side-paths were filled with an active and busy
population, and the main streets thronged with heavily-laden
waggons, conveying to the docks the manufactures of the
country, or carrying inward the productions of foreign
nations. It was an animating and busy scene.

"This," said Mr. Hopewell, "is solitude. It is in a place
like this, that you feel yourself to be an isolated being,
when you are surrounded by multitudes who have no sympathy
with you, to whom you are not only wholly unknown, but
not one of whom you have ever seen before.

"The solitude of the vast American forest is not equal
to this. Encompassed by the great objects of nature, you
recognise nature's God every where; you feel his presence,
and rely on his protection. Every thing in a city is
artificial, the predominant idea is man; and man, under
circumstances like the present, is neither your friend
nor protector. You form no part of the social system
here. Gregarious by nature, you cannot associate; dependent,
you cannot attach yourself; a rational being, you cannot
interchange ideas. In seeking the wilderness you enter