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Although this is not my first visit to Ilam, I don't think I have ever described it to you. The house is of wood, two storeys high, and came out from England! It is built on a brick foundation, which is quite unusual here. Inside, it is exactly like a most charming English house, and when I first stood in the drawing-room it was difficult to believe: that I was at the other end of the world.
'Talking of Simon Fuge, I said determined to satisfy my curiosity, 'who WERE the two sisters? 'What two sisters? 'That he spent the night in the boat with, on Ilam Lake. 'Was that in the Gazette? I didn't read all the article. He changed abruptly into the Sword motive, which he gave with a violent flourish, and then he left the piano. 'I do beg you not to wake my children, said his wife.
At its lower end, about twenty miles from the frontier, is the military fort of Ilam, a celebrated stockaded post and cantonment of the Ghorkas: its position is marked by a conspicuous conical hill. The inhabitants are chiefly Brahmins, but there are also some Moormis, and a few Lepchas who escaped from Sikkim during the general massacre in 1825.
Though rich and fertile, the country is scantily populated, and coolies were procured with difficulty: I therefore sent back to Dorjiling all but absolute indispensables, and on the 9th of November started up the ridge in a northerly direction, taking the road from Ilam to Wallanchoon. It was accompanied by an Astragalus, Geranium, and several other plants of the drier interior parts of Sikkim.
His walk is an adventure, and his departure an escape. He has not the tranquillity, but the horror, of solitude; a kind of turbulent pleasure, between fright and admiration. Ilam is the fit abode of pastoral virtue, and might properly diffuse its shades over Nymphs and Swains.
Hawkestone can have no fitter inhabitants than giants of mighty bone and bold emprise ; men of lawless courage and heroic violence. Hawkestone should be described by Milton, and Ilam by Parnel. Miss Hill shewed the whole succession of wonders with great civility. The house was magnificent, compared with the rank of the owner. We left Combermere, where we have been treated with great civility.
'It must be somewhere about, I said; and to Mrs Colclough: 'I suppose you knew him pretty well? 'Oh, bless you, no! I only met him once. 'At Ilam? 'Yes. What are you going to do, Oliver? Her husband was opening the piano. 'Bob and I are just going to have another smack at that Brahms. 'You don't expect us to listen, do you? 'I expect you to do what pleases you, missis, said he.
Doctor Johnson told me in going to Ilam from Ashbourne, 22 September, 1777, that the way the plan of his Dictionary came to be addressed to Lord Chesterfield was this: He had neglected to write it by the time appointed. Dodsley suggested a desire to have it addressed to Lord C. Mr. J. laid hold of this as an excuse for delay, that it might be better done perhaps, and let Dodsley have his desire.
The following is our receipt for killing time at Ilam: After breakfast, take the last Cornhill or Macmillan, put on a shady hat, and sit or saunter by the river-side under the trees, gathering any very tempting peach or apricot or plum or pear, until luncheon; same thing until five o'clock tea; then cross the river by a rustic bridge, ascend some turf steps to a large terrace-like meadow, sheltered from the north-west winds by a thick belt of firs, blue gums, and poplars, and play croquet on turf as level as a billiard-table until dinner.
Next week F is going up to the station, to unpack and arrange a little, and baby and I are going to be taken care of at Ilam, the most charming place I have yet seen. I am looking forward to my visit there with great pleasure. Letter VIII: Pleasant days at Ilam. Ilam, April 1866. We leave this to-morrow for the station in the most extraordinary conveyance you ever saw.
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