As we said above,it had been hoped by Sterling's friends,not very confidently by himself,that in the gentler air of Clifton his health might so far recover as to enable him to dispense with autumnal voyages,and to spend the year all round in a house of his own.These hopes,favorable while the warm season lasted,broke down when winter came.In November of this same year,while his little Volume was passing through the press,bad and worse symptoms,spitting of blood to crown the sad list,reappeared;and Sterling had to equip himself again,at this late season,for a new flight to Madeira;wherein the good Calvert,himself suffering,and ready on all grounds for such an adventure,offered to accompany him.Sterling went by land to Falmouth,meaning there to wait for Calvert,who was to come by the Madeira Packet,and there take him on board.
Calvert and the Packet did arrive,in stormy January weather;which continued wildly blowing for weeks;forbidding all egress Westward,especially for invalids.These elemental tumults,and blustering wars of sea and sky,with nothing but the misty solitude of Madeira in the distance,formed a very discouraging outlook.In the mean while Falmouth itself had offered so many resources,and seemed so tolerable in climate and otherwise,while this wintry ocean looked so inhospitable for invalids,it was resolved our voyagers should stay where they were till spring returned.Which accordingly was done;with good effect for that season,and also with results for the coming seasons.Here again,from Letters to Knightsbridge,are some glimpses of his winter-life:--"_Falmouth,February 5th_,1840.--I have been to-day to see a new tin-mine,two or three miles off,which is expected to turn into a copper-mine by and by,so they will have the two constituents of bronze close together.This,by the way,was the 'brass'of Homer and the Ancients generally,who do not seem to have known our brass made of copper and zinc.Achilles in his armor must have looked like a bronze statue.--I took Sheridan's advice,and did not go down the mine.""_February 15th_.--To some iron-works the other day;where I saw half the beam of a great steam-engine,a piece of iron forty feet long and seven broad,cast in about five minutes.It was a very striking spectacle.I hope to go to Penzance before I leave this country,and will not fail to tell you about it."He did make trial of Penzance,among other places,next year;but only of Falmouth this.
"_February 20th_.--I am going on _asy_here,in spite of a great change of weather.The East-winds are come at last,bringing with them snow,which has been driving about for the last twenty-four hours;not falling heavily,nor lying long when fallen.Neither is it as yet very cold,but I suppose there will be some six weeks of unpleasant temperature.The marine climate of this part of England will,no doubt,modify and mollify the air into a happier sort of substance than that you breathe in London.
"The large vessels that had been lying here for weeks,waiting for a wind,have now sailed;two of them for the East Indies,and having three hundred soldiers on board.It is a curious thing that the long-continued westerly winds had so prevented the coasters arriving,that the Town was almost on the point of a famine as to bread.The change has brought in abundance of flour.--The people in general seem extremely comfortable;their houses are excellent,almost all of stone.Their habits are very little agricultural,but mining and fishing seem to prosper with them.There are hardly any gentry here;I have not seen more than two gentlemen's carriages in the Town;indeed I think the nearest one comes from five miles off....
"I have been obliged to try to occupy myself with Natural Science,in order to give some interest to my walks;and have begun to feel my way in Geology.I have now learnt to recognize three or four of the common kinds of stone about here,when I see them;but I find it stupid work compared with Poetry and Philosophy.In the mornings,however,for an hour or so before I get up,I generally light my candle,and try to write some verses;and since I have been here,Ihave put together short poems,almost enough for another small volume.
In the evenings I have gone on translating some of Goethe.But six or seven hours spent on my legs,in the open air,do not leave my brain much energy for thinking.Thus my life is a dull and unprofitable one,but still better than it would have been in Madeira or on board ship.I hear from Susan every day,and write to her by return of post."At Falmouth Sterling had been warmly welcomed by the well-known Quaker family of the Foxes,principal people in that place,persons of cultivated opulent habits,and joining to the fine purities and pieties of their sect a reverence for human intelligence in all kinds;to whom such a visitor as Sterling was naturally a welcome windfall.
The family had grave elders,bright cheery younger branches,men and women;truly amiable all,after their sort:they made a pleasant image of home for Sterling in his winter exile."Most worthy,respectable and highly cultivated people,with a great deal of money among them,"writes Sterling in the end of February;"who make the place pleasant to me.They are connected with all the large Quaker circle,the Gurneys,Frys,&c.,and also with Buxton the Abolitionist.
It is droll to hear them talking of all the common topics of science,literature,and life,and in the midst of it:'Does thou know Wordsworth?'or,'Did thou see the Coronation?'or 'Will thou take some refreshment?'They are very kind and pleasant people to know.""Calvert,"continues our Diarist,"is better than he lately was,though he has not been at all laid up.He shoots little birds,and dissects and stuffs them;while I carry a hammer,and break flints and slates,to look for diamonds and rubies inside;and admire my success in the evening,when I empty my great-coat pocket of its specimens.
