I used to fill the slides with plates and go out into the country in search of the picturesque, but before I had got clear of the town, I had forgotten my quest altogether, for the camera began to get so heavy that the picturesque was forgotten and my thoughts were entirely confined to the burden on my back, and the weights I carried in either hand. Yet, as an Englishman, I did not like to feel beaten, so I used to trudge on, the camera getting heavier all the way, till at last a rest was imperative. If there happened to be a picture near the spot, well and good; if not I either went on or back as the spirit moved me.