"'My uncle's great journey was in the fall of the leaf, at which
time he collected debts, and took orders, in the north; going
from London to Edinburgh, from Edinburgh to Glasgow, from
Glasgow back to Edinburgh, and thence to London by the
smack. "

We have had post from UK saying autumn there is never called "fall", but Dickens comes pretty close to it here.

And this expression 'the fall of the leaf' makes me think of the two words tsuwm has published in his lexicon, filemot and feuillemorte. {I think I've spelled them correctly; please do correct me if I'm wrong here.} Those words had to do with the color of faded leaves in the fall rather than the time of year. However, when I read your phrase, wwh, 'in the fall of the leaf,' I immediately thought of tsuwm's lexicon.