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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/29517-8.txt b/29517-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..714a42f --- /dev/null +++ b/29517-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,7330 @@ +Project Gutenberg's John and Betty's History Visit, by Margaret Williamson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: John and Betty's History Visit + +Author: Margaret Williamson + +Release Date: July 27, 2009 [EBook #29517] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOHN AND BETTY'S HISTORY VISIT *** + + + + +Produced by Mark C. Orton, D Alexander, Linda McKeown and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +JOHN AND BETTY'S HISTORY VISIT + +BY + +MARGARET WILLIAMSON + +_ILLUSTRATED FROM PHOTOGRAPHS_ + +BOSTON LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO. + + + + +Published, March, 1910 + +COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO. + +_All rights reserved_ + +JOHN AND BETTY'S HISTORY VISIT + +Norwood Press + +BERWICK & SMITH CO. + +Norwood, Mass. + +U. S. A. + + + + +[Illustration: THEY SUDDENLY SAW THE TREMENDOUS CATHEDRAL LOOMING UP +BEFORE THEM.--_Page 70._] + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. FIRST IMPRESSIONS 9 + + II. THE FIRST EVENING 15 + + III. WESTMINSTER ABBEY 20 + + IV. PENSHURST PLACE: THE HOME OF SIR PHILIP SIDNEY 37 + + V. THE TOWER OF LONDON 50 + + VI. ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL AND ITS VICINITY 65 + + VII. A SUNDAY NIGHT CHAT 83 + + VIII. WINDSOR CASTLE, STOKE POGES, AND ETON SCHOOL 94 + + IX. MORE ABOUT LONDON 107 + + X. RICHMOND AND HAMPTON COURT PALACE 122 + + XI. STRATFORD-ON-AVON 138 + + XII. A DAY IN WARWICKSHIRE 161 + + XIII. WARWICK AND KENILWORTH CASTLES 181 + + XIV. SHERWOOD FOREST AND HADDON HALL 203 + + XV. WINCHESTER, SALISBURY, AND STONEHENGE 222 + + XVI. CLOVELLY 238 + + XVII. ROCHESTER AND CANTERBURY 251 + + XVIII. GOOD-BY TO LONDON 273 + + INDEX 289 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + THEY SUDDENLY SAW THE TREMENDOUS CATHEDRAL + LOOMING UP BEFORE THEM (_Page 70_) _Frontispiece_ + + FACING + PAGE + + "OH, WHAT'S THIS PLACE? I AM SURE I HAVE SEEN + PICTURES OF IT!" 12 + + "DO YOU REMEMBER THOSE QUAINT LITTLE VERSES + ABOUT 'BOW BELLS'?" 16 + + "I ONLY WISH I COULD BE A GUARD AND RIDE A HORSE + LIKE ONE OF THOSE!" 20 + + "THERE'S THE ABBEY RIGHT AHEAD OF US" 26 + + "WHAT'S THE USE OF HAVING SO MANY DOORS?" 40 + + "THIS SEEMS TO SPEAK OF PEACE, HAPPINESS, AND SAFETY" 44 + + "I WANT TO SEE WHO THOSE FELLOWS IN THE FUNNY + RED UNIFORMS ARE" 50 + + "THE KING CANNOT PROCEED INTO THE 'CITY' WITHOUT + BEING FIRST RECEIVED AT TEMPLE BAR BY THE + LORD MAYOR" 68 + + "I'D FEEL LIKE 'LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY' GOING + AROUND WITH THOSE CLOTHES ON!" 84 + + "YOU REMEMBER, DON'T YOU, HAVING THE GUIDE POINT + OUT LONDON BRIDGE?" 88 + + THE MOSS-GROWN SAXON PORCH 96 + + JOHN MILTON LIVED THERE AFTER HE FLED FROM LONDON 106 + + "OH, HERE'S THE OLD CORONATION CHAIR, ISN'T IT?" 114 + + "EVERY TIME I VISIT THIS PALACE I MARVEL AT THE + AMOUNT OF HISTORY WITH WHICH IT IS CONNECTED" 136 + + "WHY, I DIDN'T SUPPOSE IT WAS AS BIG AS THAT!" 140 + + "DID ANNE TRULY LIVE HERE?" 164 + + "THEY KNOW HOW IMPORTANT THEY ARE, AND THAT + THIS GARDEN WOULDN'T BE COMPLETE WITHOUT + THEM" 184 + + "IT STILL SEEMS ALIVE WITH MEMORIES OF THE FAIR + DOROTHY VERNON" 218 + + "THERE STILL REMAINS THE QUESTION OF HOW THESE + TREMENDOUS STONES WERE BROUGHT HERE" 236 + + ONE OF PLASTER AND THATCH, OVERGROWN WITH ROSES 240 + + "YOU'LL FIND NOTHING AT ALL LIKE THIS STRANGE + LITTLE CLOVELLY" 250 + + "WILLIAM OF SENS, IN 1184, FINISHED THE BUILDING + WHICH WE NOW SEE" 264 + + OLD GENTLEMEN, STOUT LADIES, YOUNG PEOPLE, AND + SMALL CHILDREN, ALL RIDE IN ENGLAND 286 + + + + +JOHN AND BETTY'S HISTORY VISIT + + + + +CHAPTER ONE + +FIRST IMPRESSIONS + + +Two eager young Americans sat, one on each side of the window of an +English train, speeding towards London. They had landed only that +morning, and everything seemed very strange to them, as they watched +the pretty scenes from the car-window. The lady who had met them at +the steamer, was an old friend of the family, who had often been to +America, and was well known to the children, though they had never +seen her son and daughter, whom they had come to visit. Mrs. Pitt soon +aroused them by saying:-- + +"Come, John, we are almost there, so please fetch down Betty's wraps +from the rack. Here are your umbrellas; you may take Betty's bag and +I'll take yours. Yes, it is really England, and soon we'll be in +London, where Philip and Barbara are very impatiently waiting to meet +the American friends with whom they have been exchanging letters for +so long. They have been studying history hard, and have learned all +they possibly could about their own country, which they love, and want +you to know, too. They have never seen very much of England, and this +is an excellent chance for them to do some sight-seeing with you. I +think you'll have a jolly time seeing all the strange sights and +customs, and visiting some historic places. Now, you must not expect +to find Philip and Barbara just like your friends at home; English +children dress very differently, and may use some expressions which +you do not exactly understand, but you'll soon become accustomed to +them all. Here we are at Waterloo Station." + +As the guard swung open the door, two impatient young people hurried +up to the party. + +"Here we are, Mother; did they come?" + +John and Betty shyly shook hands with their English friends, but did +not find anything to say, just at first. Mrs. Pitt went to the +luggage-van, to find the children's trunks, and the others followed. + +"Aren't the trains funny, John?" said Betty, nervously holding her +brother's hand. + +"See, this is the baggage part of the car, but isn't it small!" + +"Oh, there are several on each train," explained Philip. "Are your +vans any bigger?" + +"There are our trunks, Mrs. Pitt," called John. "I know them by the +C's we pasted on the ends." + +"Here, porter, put this luggage on a four-wheeler, please," and Mrs. +Pitt and her charges crowded in, the luggage was piled on top, and +they drove away. + +"Do you think you will like London?" asked Barbara of Betty, rather +anxiously. + +Betty ventured to answer, "Oh, I think so, only it is very different +from New York." + +It certainly was! Great, top-heavy buses swung and lurched past them, +some of them drawn by splendid horses, but still more with motors. The +outsides of the vehicles were covered with all sorts of gay +advertisements and signs, in bright and vivid colors; in this way, and +in their tremendous numbers, they differ from the New York buses on +Fifth Avenue. + +"To-night, we will take you out for a ride on top of a bus if you +like, John," said Philip. + +John, losing his shyness, began to ask questions, and to give his +opinion of the things he saw. + +"I think the buses are great! I shall always choose that seat just +behind the driver, where I can talk to him. He must have fine stories +to tell, doesn't he, Philip? I like the hansoms, too. There really +seem to be more hansoms than anything else in London! Just look, +Betty, at that long row there in the middle of the street! I suppose +they are waiting for passengers. And there's a line of 'taxis,' too. +My, but these streets are crowded! Fifth Avenue isn't in it!" + +Philip and Barbara looked at each other and smiled. All the sights +which were so familiar to them, seemed very novel to their American +visitors. + +"I suppose it would be just the same to us, if we were to visit New +York," said Barbara. "Those bus-horses, which you admire, do look very +fine at first, but the work is so hard on them, that they only last a +very short time. Their days are about over now, for soon we shall have +only the motor-buses." + +[Illustration: "OH, WHAT'S THIS PLACE? I AM SURE I HAVE SEEN PICTURES +OF IT!"--_Page 12_.] + +"Oh, what's this place?" cried John excitedly. "I am sure I have seen +pictures of it! Why, Philip, I think you once sent me some +post-cards which showed this!" + +"Oh, yes, this is Trafalgar Square," broke in Mrs. Pitt. "People +sometimes call it the center of all London. Here is the celebrated +statue of Lord Nelson--here, in the middle; see all the flower-girls, +with their baskets, around its foot. That large building, with the +pillars, is the National Gallery, where I may take you to see the +pictures. The church near it they call St. Martin's-in-the-Fields. +Yes, it doesn't seem a very appropriate name now, but once it really +was 'in the fields,' it has stood here so long. Do you notice all the +streets leading out from this great square? That way is the direction +of the Strand and Fleet Street; Westminster Abbey is not far away; and +you can see the towers of the Houses of Parliament--just there. You +will soon grow more familiar with all this. Now, we must go this way, +and before long, we shall be at home. I think you'll be glad to rest +after your tiresome journey. This is Regent Street, where many of the +shops are. Aren't they attractive?" + +"Yes," said John, "but how very low the buildings are! As far as I can +see they are all of the same height. They are almost all yellow, too, +and with the bright buses the scene is very gay." + +They rode along for some time, the silence being often broken by +exclamations and questions. John and Betty could not understand how +people avoided being run over when they all dashed across the street, +right under the very noses of the horses. It was amusing to see people +stumbling up the narrow, winding stairs of the buses, as they jolted +along, and even the signs over the shops attracted some attention. +They wondered if the King and Queen could shop in them all, for so +many bore the words, "Jewelers to T. R. M.," or "Stationers to Their +Royal Majesties." London seemed very large to them on this first +drive--very strange and foreign, and they were glad when the cab drew +up before a big house in a spacious square, and the rest cried, "Here +we are at home!" + + + + +CHAPTER TWO + +THE FIRST EVENING + + +The big library at Mrs. Pitt's home was a fascinating place, the two +visitors thought. The ceiling was high, the wainscoting was of dark +wood, and the walls were almost entirely lined with book-cases. John +was delighted with some little steps, which you could push around and +climb up on to reach the highest shelves. This room suggested great +possibilities to both the young visitors, for, as they were to stay +many months, there would certainly be days when it would be too wet to +go out, and they could by no means entirely give up their reading. + +As they had felt rather chilly on their bus-ride that evening, the +four young people all came into the library upon their return, and +drew their chairs up to the tiny grate. Betty and John had greatly +enjoyed this new experience, for they had been truly English. Having +jumped aboard while the bus was moving slowly, near the curb, they +had scrambled up the little steps and taken the seats behind the +driver. They had not noticed much about where they were going, for it +had all seemed a jumble of many lights, crowds of people, and noise. +But John had slipped a coin into the driver's hand, and there had been +a steady stream of stories from that moment. London bus-drivers have +plenty to tell, and are not at all loath to tell it--especially after +the encouragement of a tip. John was delighted to hear about the time, +one foggy Christmas Eve, when his friend had "sat for four hours, sir, +without daring to stir, at 'Yde Park Corner." John envied him the +splendid moment when the fog had finally lifted and disclosed the +great mass of traffic, which had been blinded and stalled for so long. + +As John stood in front of the fire thinking it all over, he suddenly +exclaimed, "It was fun to hear that driver drop his h's; that was real +Cockney for you!" + +Betty looked puzzled for a moment, and then said, "Wasn't it supposed +that only people who had been born within the sound of the bells of +old Bow Church could be real Cockneys?" + +[Illustration: "DO YOU REMEMBER THOSE QUAINT LITTLE VERSES ABOUT BOW +BELLS?"--_Page 17._] + +"That's right, Betty; your history is good," said Mrs. Pitt, who had +just entered; "but John, I must tell you that dropping h's is not +necessarily Cockney. The peculiar pronunciation of vowels is what +characterizes a true Cockney's speech, but many others drop h's--the +people of Shropshire for instance. + +"Do you children remember those quaint little verses about Bow Bells?" +continued Mrs. Pitt. "In the days when Dick Whittington was a boy, and +worked at his trade in London, it was the custom to ring Bow Bells as +the signal for the end of the day's work, at eight o'clock in the +evening. One time, the boys found that the clerk was ringing the bells +too late, and indignant at such a thing, they sent the following +verses to him: + + "'Clerke of the Bow Bells, + With the yellow lockes, + For thy late ringing, + Thou shalt have knockes.' + +"The frightened man hastened to send this answer to the boys: + + "'Children of Chepe, + Hold you all stille, + For you shall have Bow Bells + Rung at your wille.'" + +"That was bright of them," commented John, as he rose to take off his +coat. + +Philip and Barbara had long since thrown off their wraps and pulled +their chairs away from the fire, saying how warm they were. Even after +John had dispensed with his coat, Betty sat just as near the tiny +blaze as she could, with her coat still closely buttoned. + +"No, thanks; I want to get warm," she answered, when they spoke of it. +"It seems to me that it's very cold here. Don't you ever have bigger +fires?" + +As Betty spoke, the little blaze flickered and almost went out. + +"I'll shut the window," said Philip. "I remember, now, how cold +Americans always are over here. Mother has told us how frightfully hot +you keep your houses. We don't like that, for we never feel the cold. +Why, just to show you how accustomed to it we English are, let me tell +you what I read the other day. At Oxford University, up to the time of +King Henry VIII, no fires were permitted. Just before going to bed the +poor boys used to go out and run a certain distance, to warm +themselves. Even I shouldn't care for that!" + +"Let's make some plans for to-morrow," exclaimed Mrs. Pitt. "What +should you like to see first, Betty?" + +"I want to go somewhere on a bus!" was John's prompt answer, at which +everybody laughed except Betty. + +"Oh, yes, but let's go to Westminster Abbey just as soon as possible, +John. I've always wanted so much to see it, that I don't believe I can +wait now. Think of all the great people who have been associated with +it," said Betty very earnestly. + +"Very well, I quite agree on taking you first to the Abbey," said Mrs. +Pitt. "It is a place of which I could never tire, myself. And strange +to say, I very seldom, if ever, get time to go there, except when I'm +showing it to strangers. Why! It's twenty-five minutes past nine this +very minute, children; you must go to bed at once!" + + + + +CHAPTER THREE + +WESTMINSTER ABBEY + + +The first thing that Betty heard the following morning was a gentle +knock upon her bedroom door, and a voice saying, "It's seven o'clock, +and will you have some sticks, Miss?" + +"What sticks? What for?" Betty asked sleepily. + +They were for a fire, it seemed, and Betty welcomed the idea. She was +soon dressed, and Barbara came to show her the way to the +breakfast-room. + +"You can't think how good it does seem not to be thrown about while +dressing, as we were on the steamer! Do you know that I can't help +stepping up high over the door-sills even yet!" laughed Betty, as they +went downstairs together. "Mrs. Moore, the friend of mother's in whose +care we came, you know, told me that I should probably feel the motion +for some time after landing." + +[Illustration: "I ONLY WISH I COULD BE A GUARD AND RIDE A HORSE LIKE +ONE OF THOSE!"--_Page 21._] + +To the surprise of John and Betty, there was a very hearty breakfast +awaiting them. They had expected the meager tea, toast, and jam, which +some Americans consider to be customary in English homes, because it +is encountered in the hotels. + +Early in the morning, the buses were even more crowded than the night +before, and they had some difficulty in finding seats. John placed +himself beside a soldier dressed in a scarlet coat and funny little +round cap held on sidewise by a strap across his chin, with every +intention of starting up a conversation with him; but one glance at +his superior air discouraged the boy from any such attempt. When they +arrived at Trafalgar Square again, they jumped off, and walked down +towards the towers of the Houses of Parliament. In front of the Horse +Guards they stood in admiration of the two mounted sentries, stationed +there. + +"Those black horses are great!" cried John. "How fine those fellows do +look sitting there like statues in their scarlet uniforms, and their +shiny helmets with the flying tails to them! I only wish I could be a +Guard, and ride a horse like one of those!" + +"Would you rather be a Horse Guard, or a bus-driver, John?" asked +Betty teasingly. + +"Sometimes you see dozens of the Guards together; that's a fine +sight!" said Barbara, after the laugh had subsided. "They escort the +King when he goes out in state. Oh, you'll see them often." + +That comforted John somewhat, but he could not resist turning around +for several glances towards the gateway where the Guards were. + +"Why do they always stand there?" he questioned. + +Mrs. Pitt explained that they were organized by Charles II, who needed +all possible protection to enable him to hold the throne after his +exile in foreign lands. After the days of Cromwell, times were very +unsettled, and many disturbances were likely to occur. Hence the duty +of these Guards was probably to keep the peace (the 'prentices and +common people were very hot-headed), and to escort the King, as they +still do. + +"Perhaps," she went on, "you don't understand who the 'prentices were. +Long ago it was the custom to apprentice boys to one of the great and +powerful guilds or companies. These were organizations of many +merchants belonging to the same trade; such as shipbuilders, +carpenters, candle-makers, and so forth. Their main object was to see +that the work which was turned out was good. Every man belonged to his +guild; some were for 'common and middling folks,' while kings and +princes were members of others. A great deal of good was done by these +companies, for each, besides aiding and protecting its own members, +usually had some other charity. For instance, the guild at Lincoln fed +yearly as many poor as there were members of the guild; and another +kept a sort of inn for the shelter of poor travelers. The guilds +played an important part in the life of the time. Well, as I was +saying, when a boy had chosen the trade which was to his taste, he +went to the city, and was apprenticed to a member of one of the +guilds, with whom he usually lived. The boys were called 'prentices. +Their life was not an easy one, and yet, it seems to me that they must +have enjoyed it. In those days, there were great tournaments and grand +processions of kings, with hundreds of servants and followers, all +splendidly dressed in brilliant colors. Men wore magnificent clothes +of silks and velvets and cloth-of-gold, with costly jewels, such as +ropes of pearls; and their servants, whose duty it was to go before +their masters on the street, wore suits of livery with the silver +badge of their master. London in those days was a wonderfully busy +place! On board the ships sailing up the river were men in strange +costumes, from foreign lands. The 'prentices would often stop work to +watch a company of Portuguese sailors pass, or a gorgeous procession +of bishops with their retainers; and from this little verse we know +that they did not always return very quickly to their duties. Do you +know this? + + "'When ther any ridings were in Chepe, + Out of the shoppe thider would he lepe; + And till that he had all the sight ysein, + And danced well, he would not come again.' + +"There were always processions, too, in winter as well as in summer, +for the people seemed not to mind rain or storm in the least. The boys +had many holidays,--there were frequent pageants, feasts, and +celebrations of all kinds,--and on the whole, I think they must have +been very happy in spite of the long hours of work, don't you? +Another curious custom was the keeping of cudgels in every shop for +the use of the 'prentices, in case of a fight--and I imagine that they +were numerous. Now, come close to me, children, while we cross this +street; there's the Abbey right ahead of us." + +As they entered the north transept of Westminster Abbey, the dim +light, in contrast to the sunshine outside, was almost blinding. At +first, all was indistinct except the great rose-window, in the +opposite transept, through which the light strayed in many colors. The +morning service was in progress, so they sat down near the door, and +listened and looked. How beautiful!--how tremendous it all was! Even +John's overflowing spirits were quieted, it was so wonderfully +impressive! The rose-window still stood out clearly against the deep +shadows all about it, but a faint light could now be seen coming in +through the little windows, high up near the roof,--the clerestory +windows, they are called. Betty could see the massive roof, the long +aisles crowded with marble monuments, and the pillars. The canon's +voice was heard intoning in a deep, monotonous key; reading followed, +and then some one sang, in a high, clear voice, which seemed to come +from far away, and yet to fill all the space of the great building. +Betty could not have spoken a word; she was filled with a kind of +wondering awe such as she had never known before. + +John, more matter-of-fact, was examining the statues nearest to him. + +He touched Betty's arm to attract her attention, and said, "See, there +are lots of statues here, Betty, but I only know the names of William +Pitt and Benjamin Disraeli, 'Twice Prime-Minister.' Do you remember +him? Wonder if William Pitt was an ancestor of our Mrs. Pitt!" he +rambled on, not seeing that his sister took no notice of him. + +As for Betty, she scarcely knew that any one had spoken to her. She +seemed to be back in the Middle Ages, and the present had vanished +away. + +When the service was ended, they walked about, examining the monuments +as they went. + +[Illustration: "THERE'S THE ABBEY RIGHT AHEAD OF US."--_Page 25._] + +"This long, broad aisle extending from the main entrance to the choir +is called the nave," explained Mrs. Pitt. "The shorter aisles which +form the crossing are the transepts, and the choir is always the +eastern end of the building, containing the altar. These are facts +which you will want to learn and remember." + +"The kings and queens are all buried here, aren't they, Mrs. Pitt?" +questioned John. "Will they put King Edward here, too, when he dies?" + +"A great many kings and queens are buried here, though not all," Mrs. +Pitt told them. "The Royal Tombs are there, behind those gates, in the +chapels which surround the choir. We can't go in there unless we take +a guide, and I thought we would wait for another day to visit the +lovely chapel of Henry VII and all the famous tombs. I don't want you +to see too much at one time. No, John, King Edward probably will not +be buried here. Queen Victoria, his mother, lies at a place called +Frogmore, near Windsor, and it is likely that her son will choose that +spot, also. Here's the Poets' Corner, and there is at least one face +which I'm sure you will be glad to see. This is it." + +As she spoke, the party stopped in front of the well-known bust of our +poet, Longfellow, which I suppose every American is proud to see. + +"So they read 'Hiawatha,' even in England," Betty remarked. + +"There are tablets all over the floor, under our feet! Look, I'm +standing on Dickens' grave this very minute! And there's 'Oh, Rare Ben +Jonson,' right there on the wall; I've always heard of that. And +here's Spenser, and Chaucer, and Browning, and Tennyson, very close +together. Oh! It's dreadful! I don't want to step on them! Why, +everybody who ever was anybody seems to be here!" gasped John, +forgetting his grammar in his interest. + +"Here are busts of Scott (there's the man for me!), and Burns, +Goldsmith, and Coleridge; I know all these names. Here's a statue of +Shakespeare, though of course he isn't buried here. There's a tablet +to Jenny Lind. Wasn't she a singer? Seems to me I've heard my grandpa +speak of her. And, if here isn't Thackeray's grave--there in the floor +again! Well! Well!" + +"Come over here, John, and see this," called Philip, pointing to a +tomb on which was this inscription: + + Thomas Parr of ye county of Salop, born A.D. 1483. He lived + in the reignes of ten princes, viz.--King Edward IV, King + Edward V, King Richard III, King Henry VII, King Henry VIII, + King Edward VI, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, King James, and + King Charles; aged 152 years, and was buryed here, 1635. + +"Well, that beats them all!" laughed John, who was greatly pleased. + +Mrs. Pitt now led the rest into the little chapel of St. Faith, off +the south transept, where they sat down to rest. + +"It's the most wonderful place I ever dreamed of!" said Betty quietly, +as though she were talking to herself. "This little chapel is the +quaintest, oldest thing I ever saw! The walls are so dark; that tiny +window up so high, hardly lets in any light at all; and the altar, +with the faded picture, is so strange! I can't believe it is the +twentieth century; the people in the Abbey now don't seem real to me +at all. They look so small and shadowy beside the huge statues of +people of other days! Surely the people the statues represent belong +here, and not we! Why, I feel so far back in history that I shouldn't +be in the least surprised to see Raleigh, or Chaucer, or Queen +Elizabeth, walk into this chapel, right now! I should probably go up +and say 'How do you do?'" she added laughingly. + +Betty did not know that any one had heard her talking, but Mrs. Pitt +had been listening, and when Betty was silent, she said: + +"Come, let's go out into the sunshine of the cloisters now. I am +really afraid to have Betty stay in here any longer! The first thing +we know, she'll be disappearing into the Middle Ages! She's almost +there now!" + +As they went through the low door into the cloisters, she continued, +"I want to explain to you children, that in connection with this +Abbey, as with all, there was for centuries a great monastery; and +that the buildings which we shall see, as well as the cloisters, had +to do with the monks. Henry VIII dissolved all the monasteries in +England, you remember." + +The ancient cloisters of Westminster Abbey are deeply interesting and +impressive. They are four arcades built around the square grass-plot, +which was the monks' burial-ground. The fine tracery of the windows is +now much broken, and is crumbling away with age, but its exquisite +carving is still plainly seen. The original pavement yet remains; it +is much worn by the feet of the monks, and is almost covered by +tablets which mark the resting-places of the abbots, as well as of +others. The members of our party were touched, as are all, by the +pathetic simplicity of the epitaph: "Jane Lister, Dear Childe, 1688." +Those four short words suggest a sad story about which one would like +to learn more. + +"You must know," said Mrs. Pitt, "that the cloisters were something +besides burial-places. Here the monks spent most of their time, for +this was the center of the life of the monastery. The southern +cloister, over opposite, was the lavatory, and there the monks were +forced to have their heads shaved,--every two weeks in summer, and +every three in winter. These walls were then painted with frescoes, +the floor and benches were covered with rushes or straw, the windows +were partly glazed, and lamps hung from the ceiling. In one of the +cloisters was held a class of novices, taught by a master, and this +was the beginning of Westminster School. I believe the pupils were +allowed to speak only French. How would you like that?" + +Adjoining the cloisters are numerous little passageways, with low +arches, which lead into tiny courts dotted with flowers and little +fountains. In the houses about, live the canons of the Abbey and +others connected with the church. Lovely glimpses of sunlight and the +bright colors of flowers are seen at the ends of these dark, ancient +passages. + +Westminster School may also be reached from the cloisters. Our party +stood a moment in the doorway of the schoolroom to see the splendid +old hall, with its fine oaken roof. This was once the dormitory of the +monks, but is now taken up with the boys' "forms," or desks, piled +with books. The walls above the wainscoting, and the window-recesses, +are covered with signatures of the scholars,--some of them famous, for +the school was begun as long ago as the time of Henry VIII, who was +the founder. The visitor may see the name of the poet, Dryden, on one +of the desks; he was a pupil there, as were also Sir Christopher Wren, +the architect; Ben Jonson; Southey, the poet; and John and Charles +Wesley. + +"What is that iron bar for?" questioned the curious John, pointing to +a long bar which stretches from wall to wall, across the middle of the +room. + +"That divides the Upper and Lower Classes," was the prompt reply of +Mrs. Pitt, whose stock of knowledge seemed endless. "At one time, a +curtain was hung over that bar. Don't you know the story which is told +in the 'Spectator Papers,' about the boy who accidentally tore a hole +in this curtain? He was a timid little fellow, and was terrified at +the thought of the punishment which he felt sure would be his. One of +his classmates came to the rescue, saying that he would take the blame +upon himself, which he did. It was years later, when the timid boy had +become a great judge, that the Civil War broke out, and he and his +friend took opposite sides. The kind man who had saved his friend from +punishment was a Royalist, and was captured and imprisoned at Exeter, +where the other man happened to come at the same time, with the +Circuit Court. At the moment when nothing remained but to sentence the +'rebels,' the judge recognized his friend, and by making a very +hurried trip to London, he was able to secure a pardon from Cromwell, +and thus succeeded in saving the man's life." + +"That was fine!" said John. "He did pay him back after all, didn't +he? I thought he wasn't going to." + +"Now, we will just look into the Chapter House and the old Jerusalem +Chamber, before we go," said Mrs. Pitt, as they left the school. + +The Chapter House is a beautiful, eight-sided room, dating from the +thirteenth century. Here the business of the monastery was always +conducted, and at the meetings which came every week, the monks were +allowed to speak freely, and to make complaints, if they wished. Here +also the monks were punished. + +"They used to whip them against that central pillar, there," the guard +explained. "Here sat the abbot, opposite the door, and the monks sat +on benches ranged around the room. Parliament met here for many years, +too, its last session in this room being on the day that the great +King Hal died." + +The Chapter House has been restored now, and the windows are of modern +stained-glass. In the cases are preserved some valuable documents, the +oldest being a grant of land, made by King Offa, in 785. + +To reach the Jerusalem Chamber, it is necessary to go through a part +of the cloisters, and into the court of the Deanery. On one side is +the old abbot's refectory, or dining-hall, where the Westminster +school-boys now dine. John went boldly up the steps and entered. After +a few minutes, he came running out again, exclaiming: + +"Nobody stopped me, so I went right in, and looked around. A maid was +setting the tables, and I noticed that she stared at me, but she +didn't say anything, so I stayed. The hall is great! It isn't very +large, but is paneled and hung with portraits. The old tables, a +notice says, are made from wood taken from one of the vessels of the +Spanish Armada. Wonder how they found it and brought it here! I was +just going to ask the maid, when a savage-looking man appeared and +said I had no business there. So I came away. I don't care; I saw it, +anyway!" he added, as they approached the entrance of the Jerusalem +Chamber. + +All three sides of this little court were the abbot's lodgings, and +are now the deanery. The Jerusalem Chamber was built about 1376, as a +guest-chamber for the abbot's house. + +"The name is curious, isn't it?" remarked Mrs. Pitt. "It probably came +from some tapestries which formerly hung there, representing the +history of Jerusalem. It was in this room, right here in front of the +fireplace, according to tradition, that Henry IV died. A strange dream +had told the King that he would die in Jerusalem, and he was actually +preparing for the journey there, when he was taken very ill, and they +carried him into this room. When he asked where they had brought him, +and the reply was, 'To the Jerusalem Chamber,' he died satisfied. Many +bodies have lain here in state, too,--among them, that of Joseph +Addison, whom they afterwards buried in the Abbey. When we come again, +I will show you his grave. Now, notice the bits of ancient +stained-glass in the windows, and the cedar paneling; except for that, +there is nothing specially noteworthy here." + +As they left the Dean's Yard and crossed the open space in front of +the great western towers of the Abbey, John and Betty agreed that if +they could see nothing more in England, they were already repaid for +their long journey across the ocean. + + + + +CHAPTER FOUR + +PENSHURST PLACE: THE HOME OF SIR PHILIP SIDNEY + + +In Charing Cross Station one morning, Mrs. Pitt hurried up to the +"booking-office," as the English call the ticket-office, to "book" +five tickets to Penshurst. While the man was getting her change, she +turned and said to Philip:-- + +"Please ask that guard who is standing there, on which platform we +shall find the 9.40 train for Penshurst." + +Philip did so, and returned with the information that they should go +to Platform 8. So they all mounted the steps and walked over the +foot-bridge which always runs across and above all the tracks, in an +English station. There was a bench on the platform, and they sat down +to await the arrival of the train. About 9.35, five minutes before the +train was to start, John happened to see a train official sauntering +by, and asked him if it was correct that the Penshurst train left from +that platform. + +The man stared. "Really, you are quite mistaken," he drawled; "that +train leaves from Platform 2. You had better hurry, you know; you +haven't much time." + +John waited for nothing more, but ran to tell the rest, and they all +started for the other end of the station. Up the steep steps again ran +Mrs. Pitt, with the four young people following. Along the bridge they +flew till they reached Platform 2, and then they almost fell down the +steps in their hurry, for the train was already there. + +When they were fairly seated in a third-class carriage, John, still +out of breath, exclaimed:-- + +"Whew! My! I never ran faster in my life, did you, Philip? How the +girls kept up, I don't know! You're a first-class sprinter all right, +Mrs. Pitt! We'd like you on our football team, at home! My, but I'm +hot!" + +He paused for breath, and then went on excitedly: + +"There was a close call for you! We'd have lost it if I hadn't spoken +to that guard, just in fun! There we were calmly waiting, and all of a +sudden, we took that wild dash across the bridge! It was great! I +hope somebody caught a photograph of us! I'd like to see one! How +stupid of the guard to make that mistake! They never seem to know very +much, anyway. If I ever am a guard, I shall be different; I shall know +things!" + +They all had a good laugh over the adventure, and Mrs. Pitt assured +John that when he was a guard, they would all promise to use his +station. + +"Don't these trains seem different from ours, Betty?" the future guard +asked of his sister. "It seems so queer to me why they want to take a +perfectly good, long car, and chop it up from side to side, into +little narrow rooms, like this! What's the use of having so many +doors?--one on each side of every 'compartment'! And then, they put +handles only on the outside, so you have to let down the window and +lean away out to open it for yourself, if the guard doesn't happen to +do it for you! We Americans couldn't waste so much time!" + +Just then, Betty, who could contain herself no longer, burst out +laughing. + +"Why, what in the world's the matter?" cried Barbara. + +Betty could only point to a passing train. "It's only the funny +little freight cars!" she finally explained, rather ashamed that she +had let her feelings escape in that way. "They look so silly to us! +They seem about a third the size of the ones at home. Really, these +remind me of a picture in my history-book, of the first train ever run +in America!" + +Mrs. Pitt smiled. "Yes, I can imagine just how strange they must seem +to you, for I remember very well how I felt the first time I ever rode +in one of your trains. To me, one of the most interesting things about +visiting a foreign country, is to see the different modes of travel." + +"Oh, please understand that I think so, too!" urged Betty. "It was +only that I couldn't help laughing just at first, you see. I wouldn't +have your trains just like ours for anything, and I'm sure that John +wouldn't either." + +[Illustration: "WHAT'S THE USE OF HAVING SO MANY DOORS?"--_Page 39._] + +"Now," said Mrs. Pitt, "there is a little confession which I feel that +I ought to make. It's about where we are going to-day. Probably most +people would blame me for not taking you to Windsor or Hampton Court, +on your first trip out of town. Both those places are charming, but +I wanted to show you, first of all, this dear little corner of Kent. +All tourists flock to Windsor and Hampton Court, but a great many do +not know about this tiny, out-of-the-way village, with which I fell in +love years ago. Penshurst Place was the home of Sir Philip Sidney, and +is still owned by a member of the same family. You know that Sir +Philip lived in Queen Elizabeth's time, and that his name stands for +the model of a perfect courtier and ideal gentleman. He died when he +was very young--only thirty-two, I think--and he did very little which +you would suppose could have made him so famous. That is, it was +little in comparison with what Raleigh and Drake accomplished, and yet +the name of Sidney ranks with all the rest. It seems to have been more +in the way he did things, than in what he did. Of course, you remember +the story of his death,--that when he was dying, he passed a cup of +water which was brought him, to another dying soldier, saying, 'Thy +need is greater than mine.' Well, to-day we shall see where he was +born and bred,--where Ben Jonson, Edmund Spenser, and Queen Elizabeth +all visited." + +They were now riding through Kent, in which county is some of the most +picturesque English scenery. Although it was only the last of April, +the grass was the freshest green, the great trees were in full leaf, +and primroses were beginning to spring up in the fields. They sped +through little villages of thatched-roofed cottages, each with its +tiny garden of gay flowers. There were little crooked lanes, bordered +by high hedges, and wide, shady roads, with tall, stately elms on +either side, and fields where sheep grazed. + +"Oh, there's a cottage which looks like Anne Hathaway's!" exclaimed +Betty. "It couldn't be, could it? Anyway, it's real story-book +country!" + +They left the train at the little station of Penshurst, two miles from +the village. Behind the building stood a queer, side-seated wagon, +with one stout horse. The driver, when Philip found him, seemed loath +to bestir himself, but was finally persuaded to drive them to the +castle. + +Penshurst village proved to be even prettier than those they had seen +from the train. The Lord of Penshurst Place is a very wise, +appreciative man, and he has made a rule that when any cottage in the +village is found to be beyond repair, it shall be replaced by a new +house exactly like the original. In consequence, the houses look +equally old and equally attractive, with their roofs of grayish +thatch, and the second stories leaning protectingly over the lower +windows, overgrown with rose-vines. + +Mrs. Pitt went into the tiny post-office to buy their tickets of +admission to the castle, and when she called out that there were also +pretty post-cards to be had, the others quickly followed. Having +chosen their cards, they all walked through the little church-yard, +with its ancient yew trees, and out into a field from which they could +see Penshurst Place itself. + +"Why! isn't it a huge place!" cried Barbara. "This is just as new to +Philip and me, you know, Betty, for we have never been here, either." + +"How charmingly situated it is!" exclaimed Mrs. Pitt enthusiastically. +"Just a glance at it would tell you that it was never a strong +fortress. Like Raby Castle, another favorite of mine, I believe that +Penshurst never stood a siege. But it is so stately and graceful, +standing in the center of these perfect lawns and groups of noble old +trees! It is a beautiful contrast to the many fortress-castles! This +seems to speak of peace, happiness, and safety." + +The castle covers a great deal of ground, and is low and square, with +here and there a turret. A terrace, or broad walk, runs the length of +the front of the building, where the moat formerly was, and the party +crossed this to reach the entrance-way. His Lordship came out just +then, with his dog, and glanced kindly at the eager young people. +Continuing, they crossed a square court, and came to a second gateway, +where a servant met them and conducted them into the old-time +Baronial-hall, dating from the fourteenth century. + +"This," announced the guide with tremendous pride, "we believe to be +the only banquet-hall now remaining in England, where the ancient +fireplace in the center of the room still exists. You'll see many fine +halls, but you'll not see another such fireplace." + +[Illustration: "THIS SEEMS TO SPEAK OF PEACE, HAPPINESS, AND SAFETY." +_Page 44._] + +John went up to investigate, and found that right in the middle of the +vast room was a high hearth, on which some logs were piled. "But +how----?" he was asking, when the guide's explanations flowed on once +more: + +"Yes, the smoke went out through a little hole in the roof. This +hall has never been restored, you see. That's the best thing about it, +most people think, lady. Here's the oak paneling, turned gray with +age; there, up on the wall, are the original grotesque figures, carved +in wood; here, are two of the old tables, as old as the hall; and +there's the musicians' gallery, at that end, over the entrance." + +Mrs. Pitt was leaning against one of the massive tables, with her eyes +partly closed. "Let's just imagine the grand feasts which have been +held here," she mused. "I can almost see the Lord and Lady, dressed in +purple and scarlet, sitting with their guests at a table across this +end of the room. A board stretches down the length of the hall, and +here sit the inferiors and retainers. A long procession of servants is +winding always around the tables, bearing great roasts, birds, +pasties, and all sorts of goodies, on huge platters, high above their +heads. Up in the gallery here, the musicians are playing loudly and +gayly, and even when they cease the guests do not lack for +entertainment, for the fool, in his dress of rainbow colors, is +continually saying witty things and propounding funny riddles. In such +a place much elegance and ceremony were the necessary accompaniments +of a grand feast. In a book giving instructions for the serving of the +Royal table, is this direction, which always interested me: 'First set +forth mustard with brawn; take your knife in your hand, and cut the +brawn in the dish, as it lieth, and lay on your Sovereign's trencher, +and see that there be mustard.' As you see, they were exceedingly fond +of mustard. Richard Tarleton, an actor of Queen Elizabeth's time, who +was much at Court as jester, is reported as having called mustard 'a +witty scold meeting another scold.'" + +The guide was growing impatient, and Mrs. Pitt ceased, saying +reluctantly, "Well, I suppose we must go on." + +A servant rang a bell, and soon, down some stairs came a dear little +old lady dressed in stiff black silk, with white apron and cap, and +mitts on her hands. She escorted the party up the stairs, into her +domain. + +"Wouldn't you just know to look at her that she had been in the family +all her life?" whispered Barbara to Betty. + +First they saw the Ball-room, a stately apartment in which hang three +very valuable chandeliers, which Queen Elizabeth gave to Sir Henry +Sidney. The next room is still called "Queen Elizabeth's Room," for +here that Queen slept when upon a visit to the house. The same +furniture which she used is still in place, as well as some tapestries +made in honor of the visit, by Lady Sidney. + +"If Queen Elizabeth slept in that bed," remarked Betty, "she couldn't +have been very tall." + +Their guide, taking this as criticism of one of her beloved treasures, +was quick to say: + +"It only looks short, because it's so uncommon wide, begging your +pardon, Miss." + +"Did that stool belong to anybody?" questioned Barbara, tactfully +changing the subject. "It looks as if it has a history." + +"And it has, Miss; that stool was used by the late Queen Victoria (God +bless her!), at her coronation at Westminster Abbey!" and the loyal +old lady patted the black velvet stool respectfully. + +The rooms and corridors of the old house are crowded with things of +interest. Sir Philip's helmet is there, and a bit of his +shaving-glass. In a small room called the "Pages' Closet," are +preserved rare specimens of china--Queen Elizabeth's dessert-set, in +green, and Queen Anne's breakfast-set, in blue and white. Betty and +Barbara were deeply interested in Mary Stuart's jewel-case, and they +laughed over a very curious old painting which shows Queen Elizabeth +dancing. The long picture-gallery is lined with portraits--most of +them Sidneys--and among them those of the mother of Sir Philip, and of +his sister, the Countess of Pembroke, for whom he wrote his "Arcadia." + +When they again passed through the Ball-room on their way out, they +were shown a little square window on one of the walls, which they had +not noticed before. + +"Why! I can see down into the Banquet-hall!" exclaimed Philip, who had +climbed up to look through. + +"Yes," said their guide, "in the olden times, the master at the ball +could look through there to see how the servants were behaving, down +in the hall below." + +Out on the lawn again, they lingered for a few minutes while Mrs. Pitt +reminded them that there is every reason to believe that under those +very trees Spenser wrote his "Shepherd's Calendar." + +Reluctantly they left the castle and walked back to the carriage, +which awaited them in the village. + +"If all English castles are as beautiful as Penshurst Place," declared +Betty earnestly, "I can't go back to America until I have seen every +one!" + + + + +CHAPTER FIVE + +THE TOWER OF LONDON + + +"I should think they'd call it 'The Towers,' instead of 'The Tower,'" +remarked Betty, surveying the curious, irregular jumble of buildings +before her, as they left the bus. + +"That's true," Mrs. Pitt agreed; "but I suppose the name was first +given to the White Tower, which is the oldest part and was built by +William the Conqueror as long ago as 1080. Why did they call it the +White Tower? Well, I believe it was because they whitewashed the walls +in the thirteenth century. Why, what's the matter, John?" + +"I want to see who those fellows in the funny red uniforms are," John +called back, as he ran ahead. + +[Illustration: "I WANT TO SEE WHO THOSE FELLOWS IN THE FUNNY RED +UNIFORMS ARE."--_Page 50._] + +When they reached the entrance, they saw John admiring a group of +these "fellows," who stood just inside the gate. In reality, they are +old soldiers who have served the King well, and are therefore +allowed to be the keepers and guides of the Tower. They bear the +strange name of "beefeaters" (a word grown from the French +"buffetiers"), and are very picturesque in their gorgeous scarlet +uniforms, covered with gilt trimmings and many badges, a style of +costume which these custodians have worn ever since the time of Henry +VIII, and which was designed by the painter, Holbein. + +Any one may pay sixpence for a ticket which entitles him to wander +about the precincts of the Tower, and to see the "Crown Jewels," and +the armory, but Mrs. Pitt, being more ambitious for her young friends, +had obtained a permit from the Governor of the Tower. This she +presented to the "beefeater" who stood by the first gateway, after +they had crossed the great empty moat. The old man stepped to a tiny +door behind him, opened it, disclosing a small, winding stair, and +called "Warder! Party, please!" + +A venerable "beefeater" with white hair and beard came in answer to +the summons, and bowing politely to the party, immediately started off +with them. They set out along a little, narrow, paved street, lined +by ancient buildings or high walls. + +"They do say h'as 'ow the Princess Elizabeth, afterwards Queen, was +h'imprisoned in that room, up there," stated the guide, pointing to a +small window in a wall on their left. "By Queen Mary's h'orders she +was brought in through the Traitor's Gate, there. That was a great +disgrace, you know, Miss," he said to Betty, "for h'all the State +prisoners entered by there, and few of them h'ever again left the +Tower." + +Before them some steps led down to a little paved court, and beyond, +under a building, they saw the terrible Traitor's Gate,--a low, gloomy +arch, with great wooden doors. The water formerly came through the +arch and up to the steps, at which the unfortunate prisoners were +landed. As the Princess Elizabeth stepped from the boat, she cried, +"Here landeth as true a subject, being a prisoner, as ever landed at +these stairs; and before Thee, O God, I speak it!" + +"Isn't there a proverb, 'A loyal heart may be landed at Traitor's +Gate'?" questioned Mrs. Pitt; and turning to the guide she added, +"Wasn't it right here where we are standing that Margaret Roper +caught sight of her father, Sir Thomas More, after his trial?" As the +guide nodded his assent, she went on, "You all remember Sir Thomas +More, of course,--the great and noble man whom Henry VIII beheaded +because he would not swear allegiance to the King as head of the +Church in England. In those days, an ax was always carried in the boat +with the prisoner, on his return to the Tower, after the trial. If the +head of the ax was turned toward the victim, it was a sign that he was +condemned. It was here, as I said, that Margaret Roper stood with the +crowd, eagerly watching for the first glimpse of her beloved father; +and when he came near and she saw the position of the ax, she broke +away from the soldiers, and flung herself into her father's arms. The +two were so devoted that their story has always seemed an especially +pathetic one to me. I suppose there were many like it, however." + +"Indeed there were, lady," returned the guide, quite moved. + +Just opposite Traitor's Gate is the Bloody Tower, the most picturesque +bit of the entire fortress. The old portcullis there is known as the +only one in England which is still fit for use. At the side is an +ancient and rusty iron ring, which attracted John's attention so much +that he asked about it. + +"Boatmen coming through the Traitor's Gate yonder, used to tie their +boats to that ring," the "beefeater" told them. "That shows you 'ow +much farther h'up the water came in those days. H'in a room over the +gateway of the Bloody Tower there, the Duke of Clarence, h'according +to some, drowned himself in a butt of Malmsey wine; and in h'an +adjoining room, they say that the little Princes were murdered by +h'order of their uncle, the powerful Duke of Gloucester, who stole +their right to the throne. Right 'ere, at the foot of these steps, is +where 'e 'urriedly buried them, h'after 'is men 'ad smothered them." + +The children stood gazing at the little window over the gateway, their +eyes big with horror. It did not seem as though such terrible things +could have been done there in that little room, into which the sun now +poured through the tiny window. + +Every night at eleven o'clock, the warder on guard at the Bloody +Tower challenges the Chief Warder, who passes bearing the keys. Each +time this conversation follows:-- + +"Who goes there?" + +"Keys." + +"Whose keys?" + +"King Edward VII's keys." + +"Advance King Edward VII's keys, and all's well." + +Not until then, may the keys in the Chief Warder's care be allowed to +pass on. + +Some steps just beyond lead into the Wakefield Tower, where the "Crown +Jewels" are now kept. The "beefeater" remained below, but Mrs. Pitt +took the young people up into the little round room where the splendid +crowns and other jewels are seen, behind iron bars. After examining +minutely the objects on view, while leaning just as far as possible +over the rail, John burst out with: + +"Just look at those huge salt-cellars!" pointing to several very large +gold ones. "I should say that the English must be about as fond of +salt as they are of mustard, to have wanted those great things! Oh, I +don't care for these!" he added. "They are stupid, I think! Imagine +being King Edward, and owning such elegant crowns, scepters, and +things, and then letting them stay way down here at the Tower, where +he can't get at them! What's the use of having them, I'd like to know! +Oh, come on! I've seen enough of these!" + +"Wait just a minute, John," interrupted Betty. "See! here's Queen +Victoria's crown, and in it is the ruby that belonged to the Black +Prince, and which Henry V wore in his helmet at Agincourt! Just +think!" with a sigh. "Now I'll go." + +"Speaking of crowns," observed Mrs. Pitt, in passing down the stairs, +"have you ever heard about the large emerald which George III wore in +his crown, at his coronation? During the ceremony, it fell out, and +superstitious people regarded it as a bad omen. Their fears were +realized when that sovereign lost something much dearer to him than +any jewel: his American Colonies." + +The previously-mentioned White Tower stands in the center of all the +other surrounding buildings. It is large and square, with turrets at +the four corners,--an ideal old fortress. As they approached, the +guide took out some keys and unlocked a door, starting down some +steps into the darkness. "Oh, the dungeons!" gasped Betty, and she and +Barbara shivered a little, as they followed. + +Just at the foot they halted, and the guide showed them some round +holes in the floor. + +"'Ere's where they fastened down the rack. This 'ere's the Torture +Chamber. You may think that being so near the entrance, the cries of +the victims could be 'eard by the people outside, lady, but these +walls are so thick that there was no possible chance of that. Ah, down +in these parts is where we still see things, ladies!" + +"Why, what do you mean?" whispered John, dreading and yet longing to +hear. + +Thus encouraged, their guide continued:-- + +"Once h'every month, it is my turn to watch down 'ere, during the +night. Some of us don't like to admit it, lady, but we h'all dread +that! Many things which 'ave never been written down in 'istory, 'ave +'appened in these 'ere passages and cells! Ah, there are figures glide +around 'ere in the dead o' night, and many's the times I've 'eard +screams, way in the distance, as though somebody was being 'urt! Now, +this way, please, and I'll show you Guy Fawkes's cell,--'im h'as was +the originator of the Gunpowder Plot, and tried to blow up the 'ouses +of Parliament." + +They felt their way along the uneven floors, and peered into the +darkness of Guy Fawkes's cell, which was called "Little Ease." + +"Just imagine having to stay long in there!" sighed Betty. "Not able +to stand up, lie down, or even sit up straight! Did they make it that +way on purpose, do you think?" + +"They certainly did, Miss," declared the guide. "They tried to make +'im confess 'o 'ad associated with 'im in the plot; but 'e wouldn't, +and they finally put 'im on the rack, poor man! A terrible thing was +that rack!" + +"Let's come away now," broke in Mrs. Pitt quickly. "I really think we +have all had about enough of this, and there are more cheerful things +to be seen above." + +So they threaded their way out to the entrance again, getting whiffs +of damp, disagreeable air from several dark dungeons, and passing +through a number of great apartments stacked with guns. It was a +relief to gain the main part of the building, where other people were, +and plenty of warmth and sunlight. Their spirits rose, and they +laughed and joked while climbing the narrow, spiral stairs. + +The large room in which they found themselves was filled with weapons +also, and various relics of the old Tower. It was used as the great +Banqueting-hall when the Tower was the Royal Palace, as well as the +fortress, the State prison, the Mint, the Armory, and the Record +Office. The apartment above this was the Council Chamber. They went +up. + +"It was here that Richard II gave up his crown to Henry of Bolingbroke +who became Henry IV, by demand of the people," said Mrs. Pitt. +"Richard was a weak, cruel king, you remember, and was confined in a +distant castle, where he was finally murdered. Suppose we examine some +of this armor now. This suit here belonged to Queen Elizabeth's +favorite, the Earl of Leicester. Notice the initials R. D., which +stand for his name, Robert Dudley. This here was made for Charles I +when he was a boy; and that belonged to Charles Brandon, Duke of +Suffolk; and this, to Henry VIII himself. Aren't they interesting? +Yes, what's that you have found, Barbara?" + +The two boys were absorbed in the armor for some time, but Barbara and +Betty liked a figure on horseback, which represents Queen Elizabeth as +she looked when she rode out in state. It is strangely realistic, for +the figure is dressed in a gown of the period said to have belonged to +that Queen. + +"Do you suppose that jewels were sewn into the dress where those round +holes are?" asked Betty, gently touching the faded velvet with one +finger. + +They all examined the dreadful instruments of torture, some of them +taken from the Armada, and the ghastly headsman's block and mask, and +then they descended the winding stairs again and went into the little +shadowy St. John's Chapel, on the floor with the Banqueting-hall. + +"I want you all to remember that this is called the 'most perfect +Norman chapel in England,'" began Mrs. Pitt. "Some day when you have +learned more about architecture, that will mean a great deal to you. +These heavy circular pillars and the horseshoe arches show the ancient +Norman style. It's a quaint place, isn't it? Here Brackenbury, the +Lieutenant of the Tower, was praying one evening when the order came +to him to murder the two little Princes. In this chapel, the Duke of +Northumberland, the aged father of Lady Jane Grey, heard Mass before +he went out to execution. 'Bloody Mary' came here to attend service +upon the death of her brother, Edward VI. Somewhere on the same floor +of this tower, John Baliol, the Scotch King, was imprisoned and lived +for some time in great state. There is (at any rate, there was) a +secret passage between this chapel and the Royal Apartments. I have +read so much about the dreadful conspirators who skulked about the +Tower, and the fearful deeds that were done here, that I can almost +see a man in armor, with drawn sword, lurking behind one of these +pillars!" + +Some soldiers in their gay uniforms were parading on Tower Green when +they went out again, and the scene was a merry, bright one. + +"How different from the days when the scaffold stood under those +trees!" exclaimed Mrs. Pitt, as they approached the fatal spot. "Here +perished Lady Jane Grey, Anne Boleyn, Katharine Howard, and Queen +Elizabeth's unfortunate favorite, the Earl of Essex. Most of the +victims were beheaded just outside, on Tower Hill. Now, we'll look +into St. Peter's Chapel." + +It is a gloomy, unattractive enough little chapel, but there are +buried here many illustrious men and women, whose lives were unjustly +taken by those in power. Here lie the queens who suffered at the +Tower, and, strangely enough, their tombs are mostly unmarked. John +Fisher, the ancient Bishop of Rochester, lies here, and Guildford +Dudley, husband to Lady Jane Grey, the Earl of Arundel, Sir Thomas +More, and many others whose names are forever famous. + +Our party visited the little room in the Beauchamp Tower, which so +many examine with intense interest. Many people were imprisoned there, +and the walls are literally covered with signatures, verses, +coats-of-arms, crests, and various devices cut into the stone by the +captives. Perhaps the most famous is the simple word "JANE," said to +have been done by her husband, Guildford Dudley. A secret passage has +been discovered extending around this chamber, and probably spies were +stationed there to watch the prisoners and listen to what they said. + +"That's the Brick Tower," said Mrs. Pitt, pointing to it with her +umbrella, as she spoke. "There's where Lady Jane Grey was imprisoned, +and there Sir Walter Raleigh lived during his first stay at the Tower. +It was when he was in the Beauchamp Tower, however, that he burnt part +of his 'History of the World,' the work of many years. It happened in +a curious way! Do you know the story? He was at his window one morning +and witnessed a certain scene which took place in the court beneath. +Later, he talked with a friend who had been a nearer spectator of this +identical scene, and they disagreed entirely as to what passed. +Raleigh was very peculiarly affected by this little incident. He +reasoned that if he could be so much mistaken about something which +had happened under his very eyes, how much more mistaken must he be +about things which occurred centuries before he was born. The +consequence was that he threw the second volume of his manuscript into +the fire, and calmly watched it burn. Think of the loss to us! Poor +Raleigh! He was finally beheaded, and I should think he would have +welcomed it, after so many dreary years of imprisonment. He is buried +in St. Margaret's Church, beside Westminster Abbey, you know." + +"Was there a real palace in the Tower?" inquired Betty, while they +retraced their steps under the Bloody Tower and back toward the +entrance. "Isn't there any of it remaining?" + +"Yes, there was a palace here once, for royalty lived in the Tower +through the reign of James I. No part of it now exists, however. It +stood over beyond the White Tower, in a part which visitors are not +now allowed to see." + +On a hill just outside the Tower, in the center of a large, barren +square, is a little inclosed park with trees and shrubbery. Here stood +the scaffold where almost all of the executions were held. The place +is now green and fruitful, but it is said that on the site of the +scaffold within the Tower, grass cannot be made to grow. + +As they walked toward a station of the "Tube," an underground railway, +John suddenly heaved a great sigh of relief and exclaimed: + +"Well, I tell you what! I've learned heaps, but I don't want to hear +anything more about executions for a few days! What do you all say?" + + + + +CHAPTER SIX + +ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL AND ITS VICINITY + + +When Betty came down to her breakfast the following morning, she found +her plate heaped with letters and fascinating little parcels of +different shapes. For a moment she looked puzzled, then she exclaimed: + +"Oh! I know! It's my birthday, and I'm having such a splendid time +sight-seeing, that I had forgotten all about it! How lovely!" as she +glanced again at the presents. + +"See, John!" she cried, opening the first package, which had an +American postmark, "see what mother has sent me! It is such a pretty +tan leather cover, with little handles, to put on my Baedeker. You +know I always carry the guidebook, and read about things for Mrs. +Pitt. Now, I can keep the book clean, and besides, people can't +recognize me as an American just from seeing my red book! That's a +fine idea, I think!" + +John thought that his sister was not opening the bundles quite fast +enough, so he pounced upon one and unwrapped it for her. + +"This long thing is father's gift, Betty. It's an umbrella, of course, +and a fine one! Here's a card which says, 'Knowing that two umbrellas +could never be amiss in England, I send this.' Do you suppose he +guessed that you'd lost yours?" + +After the bundles were all opened, the letters hurriedly devoured, and +Betty had at last settled down to eating her cold breakfast, Mrs. Pitt +said: + +"I had not decided exactly what we would do to-day, and now I think +I'll let the birthday girl plan. Where will you go, Betty?" + +After due consideration, Betty announced that she would choose to +visit St. Paul's Cathedral, and afterwards, by way of contrast, to +have lunch at the Cheshire Cheese. + +"What in the world's that?" inquired John. + +Mrs. Pitt laughed. "You'll see, for we'll go there, as Betty suggests, +when we have seen St. Paul's. I'm not sure whether you'll care to have +lunch there, but we'll look in, at any rate. It's rather different +from the places where you are accustomed to take your lunch! No, you +must wait, John! I'm not going to tell you any more about it!" + +"What a beautiful day!" Betty cried, taking her seat on the bus a +little later. "I do wish it wouldn't always be so windy, though! I +almost lost my hat then!" + +"As you stay longer in London, you'll notice that a really clear day +is almost always a very windy one as well. We Londoners have to accept +the two together," Mrs. Pitt told the visitors. + +Leaving Trafalgar Square, the bus carried them by Charing Cross +Station, in front of which is a copy of the old Charing Cross. Edward +I, when his queen, Eleanor of Castile, died, put up many crosses in +her memory, each one marking a spot where her body was set down during +its journey to Westminster Abbey for burial. A little farther along, +the bus passed the odd little church of St. Mary-le-Strand, which is +on an "island" in the middle of that wide street and its great busy, +hurrying traffic. It is good to remember that on that very spot, the +maypole once stood. Narrow side streets lead off the Strand, and +looking down them one may see the river, and understand why the +street was so named. It originally ran along by the bank of the +Thames, and the splendid houses of the nobles lined the way. + +"These fine stone buildings on our left are the new Law Courts, and +the griffin in the center of the street marks the position of old +Temple Bar. There! We've passed it, and now we are in Fleet Street. +Temple Bar was the entrance to the 'City,' you know. To this day the +King cannot proceed into the 'City' without being first received at +Temple Bar, by the Lord Mayor. At one time, the city of London +comprised a small area (two and a quarter miles from end to end), and +was inclosed by walls and entered by gates. Originally there were but +four gates,--Aldgate, Aldersgate, Ludgate, and Bridgegate. Think what +a small city it was then! It is curious to know that in spite of that, +there were then one hundred and three churches in London. The real +center of life for centuries was at 'Chepe,' or Cheapside, as it is +now called. You'll see it later." + +[Illustration: "THE KING CANNOT PROCEED INTO THE 'CITY' WITHOUT BEING +FIRST RECEIVED AT TEMPLE BAR BY THE LORD MAYOR."--_Page 68._] + +Betty had been looking eagerly, even while she listened to what Mrs. +Pitt was saying. Her eyes now rested upon an old church, over the +door of which stood a queer, blackened statue of a queen. + +"The church is St. Dunstan's," responded Mrs. Pitt again. "That old +statue of Queen Elizabeth is one of the few things which escaped the +great fire in the reign of Charles II. The figure once stood on the +ancient Lud Gate of the city. They say that it was in the church-yard +of St. Dunstan's that John Milton sold his wonderful poem of 'Paradise +Lost' for five pounds." + +"Let's see,--that would be twenty-five dollars, wouldn't it? I haven't +your English money clear in my mind yet," John confided to Philip. "I +can't somehow feel that it's real money unless it's in dollars and +cents." + +Philip soon pointed to a little alley-way on their left, and said, +"The Cheshire Cheese is in a little court back of there. You can't +think how many buildings, courts, and alleys are hidden in behind all +of these shops. Some of the old inns, or coffee-houses, which were +famous are (or were) there. Now, here's Ludgate Hill, and in a minute +you'll have a view of St. Paul's." + +St. Paul's Cathedral stands on a hill, and because of its position +and huge dome it is the most conspicuous of London's landmarks. But, +because of the closely surrounding buildings, it is much hidden from +near view. As the bus mounted Ludgate Hill, having passed under the +railroad-bridge, they suddenly saw the tremendous cathedral looming up +before them. + +They paused for a moment by the statue of Queen Anne, in front of the +main entrance, while Mrs. Pitt, following her delightful habit, +reminded them of certain notable facts. + +"No one knows exactly how long there has been a church upon this +site," she began, beckoning them closer to her, as the noise of the +traffic was so great, "but Bede, the oldest historian, says that a +chapel was built here by a Saxon king, before the time of the Romans. +When Sir Christopher Wren, the architect, built this present edifice, +after the great fire of 1666, he found relics of three periods,--the +Saxon, the British, and the Roman. St. Paul's has been burned five +times. The last fire (the one of which I just spoke) destroyed the +church which we know as 'old St. Paul's.' Now, let's go in, for there +is much to be seen." + +Next to St. Peter's at Rome, St. Paul's in London is the largest +church, in the world. The first impression a person gets is one of +great vastness and bareness, for, unlike Westminster Abbey, here one +does not encounter at every step famous statues, memorials, and +graves. The nave is tremendous in width and in length. Chapels open +from both sides, but they seem far off and shadowy. Way in the +distance is the choir, the altar, and the group of chairs used at +services. Everything is quiet, empty, and bare. + +"I never imagined such a huge church!" said Betty, much impressed. "I +feel lost and cold, somehow. What are you thinking, Mrs. Pitt? I'm +sure we'd all like to hear." + +"I was just picturing, as I always do when I come here, the scenes the +nave of old St. Paul's presented in Henry VIII's time. Would you like +to hear? Well, in the sixteenth century, this nave was called 'Paul's +Walke,' and it was a place of business. Yes," she assured them, as +John and Betty exclaimed, "down these aisles were booths where +merchants of all kinds sold their wares. Counters were built around +the pillars, and even the font was used by the vendors. Pack-horses +laden with merchandise streamed always in and out, and crowds of +people elbowed their way about, shouting and gesticulating excitedly." + +"But didn't they have any services at all in St. Paul's Cathedral?" +asked Betty wonderingly. + +"Oh, yes!" continued Mrs. Pitt, "the services went on just the same. +The people were used to the noise and confusion. Here came the tailors +to look at the fine new clothes which the young dandies wore when they +took their morning promenades. All the latest books and poems were +always to be found on sale here. Bishop Earle wrote 'Paul's Walke--you +may cal--the lesser Ile of Great Brittaine. The noyse in it is like +that of Bees, in strange hummings, or buzze, mixt of walking, tongues, +and feet; it is a kind of still roare, or loud whisper.' + +"I am glad to be able to say, however," she continued, "that before +that dreadful period, there was a time when the cathedral was not so +dishonored. Once these walls were covered with valuable shrines, +pictures, and tapestries, and costly jewels glittered everywhere. +There was one huge emerald which was said to cure diseases of the +eyes. Here came John Wycliffe, the great reformer, at the summons of +the Archbishop of Canterbury, to answer for the publication of his new +doctrines. Here, Henry of Bolingbroke prayed for his successful +seizure of the throne, and here he also wept over the grave of his +father, John of Gaunt. Sir Philip Sidney was buried here, and his +father-in-law, Sir Francis Walsingham, Queen Elizabeth's secretary; +and there was a magnificent monument to Sir Christopher Hatton, Lord +Chancellor, but these were all destroyed by the Great Fire." + +About the aisles and nave are many monuments to great soldiers, +sailors, painters, statesmen, literary men, and others. Most of them +are very ugly, and our party did not linger long over these. After +walking under the dome, and looking up into its tremendous heights, +they went down into the crypt, which is really the most interesting +part of the cathedral. + +The crypt is vast, dark, and gloomy. Other parties may be heard +walking about and talking in the distance, without being seen, and +their voices echo strangely. In the "Painters' Corner," Sir Joshua +Reynolds, West, Lawrence, Landseer, and Turner, all famous artists, +lie buried beneath the pavement. Sir Christopher Wren, surrounded by +members of his family, lies under the dome, as was his wish. Lord +Nelson and the Duke of Wellington both have splendid tombs there. + +"These are all we now have of the monuments of the old cathedral," +remarked Mrs. Pitt, pointing to where in a corner some mutilated +figures, heads, and broken monuments lay, all in a heap. + +John was delighted when it was proposed to climb up into the dome, and +to test the "Whispering Gallery," on the way. It seemed an endless +climb up the spiral stairs, and Mrs. Pitt, Barbara, and Betty lagged +behind. When they finally came out into the great round gallery, the +two boys were over on the opposite side. Betty, after waving to them, +sat down on a bench against the wall, and suddenly she heard John's +voice, saying "Glad to see you at last!" She put her lips to the wall +and whispering an answer, found that John could hear her, too. They +were having quite a lengthy conversation, holding first their lips to +the wall to speak, and then their ears to listen, when Mrs. Pitt +interrupted them. + +"That's great fun, but we have still a hard climb before us," she +reminded them. "I think we had better go on." + +The remainder of the way was much more difficult, as the steps were +steeper and narrower than ever, but they at last emerged on the little +platform, running around the top of the dome. + +"My, what a view!" they cried. + +"Yes, you're the first visitors in many a day who could see so far," +the man in charge told them. + +If the terrible black smoke which comes from the hundreds of chimneys, +and the fog permit one to see it all, the view is truly fine. It is +especially interesting to trace the river in its various curves, and +to pick out the many bridges which span it. Another striking feature +is the immense number of spires. The guide pointed out the churches to +them, and also the different parts of the city. + +"If you thought it was windy on the bus, Betty, I wonder what you call +this," exclaimed Barbara, grasping her hat with both hands. "I'm going +down now." + +The others were quite ready to follow, and they wound their way down, +down, down, until they stood again on the main floor, under the dome. + +"This is called St. Paul's Church-yard," said Mrs. Pitt, leading the +way around back of the cathedral. "This used to be a very busy place. +St. Paul's School was here, within the yard, as well as many shops. +The first printer who produced books for children had his shop in this +corner. In the days when the interior of the building was put to such +dreadful uses, the outside was treated quite as badly. Shops of all +kinds were built up against the cathedral, and sometimes the noise +which the carpenters made greatly disturbed those at the service +within. It must have been shocking indeed! It is said that for a very +small sum, the sexton would allow boys to climb up and ring the bells +as much as they liked; and, on the day of Queen Mary's coronation, she +saw a Dutchman standing on the weather-vane, waving a flag." + +"My! I'd like to have seen that!" cried John, to whom such gymnastic +feats appealed. + +While they walked back to the Cheshire Cheese, Mrs. Pitt explained to +them what St. Paul's Cathedral once comprised. + +"In the London of the Middle Ages, the Church ruled supreme," she told +them. "At least one-fourth of the entire city was owned by the +churches and the religious houses. To carry on the monasteries and +churches, a tremendous number of people were necessary. At St. Paul's, +in 1450, there were: + + The bishop, + Four archdeacons, + The treasurer, + The precentor, + The chancellor, + Thirty greater canons, + Twelve lesser canons, + Fifty chaplains, and + Thirty vicars. + +These were of the higher rank; there were innumerable others of lower +rank, such as the master of the singing-school, the binder, and the +translator. The brewer, in 1286, brewed 67,814 gallons, and the baker +baked about 40,000 loaves. This gives one a little idea of what it +meant to conduct a cathedral in those days of the all-powerful +Church." + +Between the poor shops of Fleet Street, open many little passages, and +these lead into tiny courts and winding alleys. The entrance to one of +them is marked with the sign, "Wine Office Court." Directly off from +this narrow, dark alley stands the famous Cheshire Cheese, the only +genuine old-time tavern or "coffee-house" which still exists +unchanged. It is a little, low building, with quaint bow-window of +square panes. + +"Why, we can't all get in there, can we?" laughed John, as Mrs. Pitt +stepped inside. The door is very small, and the hallway was so crowded +by curious visitors, and by jostling, pushing waiters, that it did not +seem possible for another person to enter. They managed, however, to +elbow their way through the crowd into the celebrated "coffee-room" +itself. + +That "coffee-room" is splendid! The ceiling is very low, and the walls +are wainscoted in dark wood. Although the room is so small, there are +numerous long tables, and old-fashioned, high-backed settles. One +seat, in the corner farthest from the door, is marked with a little +tablet, telling us that there was Dr. Johnson's chosen place. Several +pictures of that noted gentleman adorn the walls. It always seems +very much out of keeping with the quaintness of the room, to find it +full of laughing, chattering Americans. A few quiet English clerks +come there for their noon meal, but the majority of the patrons of the +Cheshire Cheese are the tourists. + +"There's nothing to do but to wait here until we can get seats," said +Mrs. Pitt; so they all remained standing in the middle of the floor, +directly in the path of the waiters, until finally some seats were +free, and they slid into one of the long benches which extend down +each side of the tables, placed endwise to the wall. + +"Are you sorry you proposed coming here?" Mrs. Pitt asked Betty, +watching with amusement her crest-fallen face as she saw the soiled +linen, and untidy look of the entire table. + +"Oh, no," Betty answered doubtfully, "only I guess people come here +more because Dr. Johnson did, than because they like it." + +Mrs. Pitt laughed. "That's very true," she said. "The service isn't +exactly prompt, either. We've already waited quite fifteen minutes, I +am sure. I ordered lark pie and Cheshire cheese for you, of course. +Every one takes them on his first visit here." + +The lark pie was Dr. Johnson's favorite dish, but that fact does not +suffice to make it very enjoyable. Betty frankly confessed that she +could not manage to eat hers, but John pretended to be very +industrious over his, although he did a good deal of looking about the +room and commenting upon things he saw. + +"There's even sawdust on the floor," he announced jubilantly. "Did you +ever! My! How hot and stuffy it is here! Were all old inns just like +this, Mrs. Pitt?" + +"Yes, pretty much so, I think," was the response. "There were ever so +many of them, you know, and each was frequented by a certain class of +men. For instance, there was the 'British Coffee-house,' where all the +Scotch visitors went; there was 'Robin's,' which was noted for its +foreign bankers and ambassadors; and there was 'Dolly's Chophouse,' +where the wits congregated. Most of the famous clubs held their +meetings at one or another of the 'coffee-houses,' too. The 'Spectator +Club' met at 'Button's Coffee-house,' and there the 'Spectator Papers' +had their beginnings. There Addison, Steele, Pope, and others, spent +their leisure hours. Some of the London clubs of the eighteenth +century had very queer names!" she continued. "There was the 'Ugly +Club,' the 'Quack Club,' the 'Beefsteak Club,' the 'Split-Farthing +Club,' and the 'Small Coalmen's Music Club,' for example. Here, at the +Cheshire Cheese, Goldsmith often came with Dr. Johnson. Can't you +imagine the two sitting over at that table, with Boswell not far away, +patiently listening, quill in hand? Dr. Johnson was very careless and +untidy, you know, and invariably spilled his soup. It was he who used +to walk up and down Fleet Street touching every post he passed!" + +All this time they had been waiting for their cheese. When it finally +came, it proved to be much better than the lark pie. The cheese is +served in little three-cornered tins, and is poured hot over crisp +pieces of toast. + +When they had finished, they went up the winding stairs to see the +room where the famous "Literary Club" used to meet. Dr. Johnson's +chair is preserved there. + +"Didn't Dr. Johnson live near here, too, Mother?" asked Barbara, as +they came out again into the court. + +"Yes, I believe he lived in both Johnson and Bolt Courts," Mrs. Pitt +told them. "His haunts were all about here. In number six, over there, +Goldsmith is said to have written 'The Vicar of Wakefield.'" + +From there, they walked up Fleet Street, discussing their unusual +lunch as they went. They had all enjoyed it,--even Betty. + +She made them all laugh, however, by announcing seriously, "I'm glad I +went, but I think it is just about as nice to read about lunching +there, as to really do it. And then, you wouldn't be quite so hungry +afterwards!" + + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN + +A SUNDAY NIGHT CHAT + + +It was Sunday afternoon, and the time for John and Betty to send their +weekly letters home. The day was a beautiful one in early spring, the +grass and trees in the garden behind the house were very green, birds +were singing outside, people were continually walking by, and the +letters progressed but slowly. Every few moments Betty stole a glance +out-of-doors, and John sat leaning his elbow on the desk chewing the +end of his penholder, while he gazed steadily out of the window. + +"Well, what do you think of it all, John?" asked Betty thoughtfully. +"Aren't we glad we came, and aren't Mrs. Pitt and Barbara and Philip +good to us?" + +"Just splendid!" exclaimed John most emphatically. He had turned away +from the window now, and was entering earnestly into the conversation. +"I just tell you what, Betty, it's a different thing to peg away at +an old, torn history-book at school, and to come over here and see +things and places, while Mrs. Pitt tells you about them! Why, I +honestly like English history the way we're learning it now!" + +Betty smiled in an elder-sisterly fashion. "Well, I always did like to +study history, but it surely makes it nicer and easier to do it this +way. But besides that, John, don't you think it's queer and very +interesting to see the way the English do things--all their customs, I +mean. They're so different from ours! Why, when I first saw Barbara +that day at the train, I thought it was the funniest thing that her +hair was all hanging loose down her back. I wouldn't think of being so +babyish! I thought perhaps she'd lost off her ribbon maybe, but she's +worn it that way ever since. And her little sailor-hat looks so +countrified as she has it,--'way down over her ears!" + +[Illustration: "I'D FEEL LIKE 'LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY' GOING AROUND +WITH THOSE CLOTHES ON!"--_Page 84._] + +"I know it; it seemed mighty funny to me to see Philip's black suit +with the long trousers, his broad collar, and skimpy short coat! It's +what all the boys at the Eton School wear, he says. They must feel +like fools! Why, I'd feel like--like--'Little Lord Fauntleroy' going +around with those clothes on all the time!" John's voice was full of +scorn, yet his eyes twinkled with fun. "But, the high hat, just like +father's opera-hat, which Philip wears, beats it all!" he continued. +"I'm so used to it now, though, that I don't think of it any more. +It's queer how soon you get used to things! It's just like riding +along the streets, and keeping to the left instead of to the right. +The first time I rode in a hansom (you weren't there that day, Betty) +and we suddenly turned a corner, keeping close to the left curb, I +poked open the little door in the roof and shouted, 'Hey there! +Mister! You'll bump into something if you don't look out!' The driver +just stared; he didn't seem to know what I was talking about." + +"Yes," went on Betty in her turn, "keeping to the left did seem queer +at first. You know, John, how often we have wished that Dan and the +automobile were over here. Honestly, I think Dan would surely have an +accident! He never could remember to keep to the left! Now, we simply +must go on with our letters! Begin when I say three! One--two--(hurry, +John, you haven't dipped your pen!), three!" and both commenced to +write industriously. + +The letters were finally finished just as the tea-bell rang. Betty ran +to wash her hands, and then they went down to the library, where tea +was served every afternoon that they were at home. + +"Why! I quite like tea over here!" Betty remarked. "I never drink it +at home! Mother would be so surprised if she saw me! Do all English +people drink it every afternoon as you do, Mrs. Pitt?" + +"Yes, it seems to go with the English people, somehow. We'd quite as +soon think of doing without our breakfast or dinner as our +four-o'clock-tea. You've noticed, my dear, how I always manage to get +my tea at some little shop when we are on one of our sight-seeing +tours. Really, I am quite lost without it! Oh! it's just a habit, of +course." As she spoke, Mrs. Pitt poured herself another cup. + +When the tea things had been removed, and a fire was lighted, stories +were called for. + +"Tell us some of the stories you know about different places and old +customs, Mother," urged Barbara. + +"Very well," said Mrs. Pitt willingly. "Let--me--see! You remember, +don't you, having the guide point out London Bridge to you, from the +top of St. Paul's, day before yesterday? That's the oldest bridge, you +know, for it seems to have existed as long ago as we know anything of +London itself. But legend has it that before there was any bridge over +the Thames, people crossed in a ferry which was run by a certain John +Overs. This man naturally became rich, as very many people were always +paying him for taking them across the river, but he was a great miser. +The ferryman had one fair daughter about whom he was as miserly as he +was with his money,--keeping her shut up out of reach of her lover. +One day, John Overs thought he would like to save the cost of +providing food for his household, so he pretended to be dead. He +expected that his servants would fast in consequence, as was the +ancient custom; but so great was their joy when they thought their +master dead, that they all began to dance, to make merry together, and +to feast upon all they found in the house. The old miser stood this +just as long as he could, and then he sprang up to lay hands upon +them. The servants fled, believing that it was something +supernatural--all except one, who, more daring than the rest, killed +his master with his weapon. So old John did die after all, but in an +unexpected way. + +"Part the second of my story tells of how the monks of a neighboring +abbey finally consented to bury the body; when the abbot returned, +however, he was very angry at what they had done, and gave the friars +some orders. They dug up the body of the poor old boatman, tied it to +the back of an ass, and turned the animal loose. The body was finally +thrown off at the place of public execution (directly under the +gallows), and there it was buried and remained. Meanwhile the +daughter, Mary, was having more trouble. Immediately upon the death of +her father, she had sent for her lover, but in coming to her, he had +been thrown off his horse and killed. This was too much for the +unfortunate girl, who decided to retire to a nunnery, leaving her +entire fortune to found the church of 'St. Mary Overy.' That is the +real name of the church now known as Southwark Cathedral, which stands +just across London Bridge. Now, how do you like that story?" + +[Illustration: "YOU REMEMBER, DON'T YOU, HAVING THE GUIDE POINT OUT +LONDON BRIDGE?"--_Page 86._] + +"Great!" exclaimed John. "Whoever thought that up had a vivid +imagination, all right!" + +"Why, don't you believe it, John?" said Betty, who always took +everything most seriously. + +When they were quiet again, Mrs. Pitt talked on. + +"London Bridge, up to the time of the Great Fire, was crowded with +houses, you know, and there was even a chapel there. Over the gate at +the Southwark end of the bridge, the heads of traitors were exhibited +on the ends of long poles. Here Margaret Roper, whom you met at the +Tower, came, bargained for, and at last secured the head of her +father, Sir Thomas More. But, to go back to the houses! Hans Holbein, +the painter, and John Bunyan, the poet, are both said to have resided +on London Bridge. I also like the story which tells of a famous wine +merchant, named Master Abel, who had his shop there. Before his door, +he set up a sign on which was the picture of a bell, and under it were +written the words, 'Thank God I am Abel.' Here's a picture of old +London Bridge. Imagine how quaint it must have looked crowded by these +picturesque old houses, and with its streets filled with travelers. +All those entering London from the south came across that bridge, +which was consequently a great thoroughfare. Near the Southwark side +of the bridge is where the Tabard Inn stood--the inn from which the +Canterbury Pilgrims set out; and near the bank, known as Bankside in +those days, was the celebrated Globe Theatre, connected with +Shakespeare and his associates. The popular Paris Gardens were there, +too, where the sport of bear-baiting was seen in Queen Elizabeth's +time. If we went over there, we could see the former sites of these +historic places, but they are now covered by unattractive, modern +buildings or great breweries. It's hard to conjure up the Globe +Theatre out of present-day Southwark," she added with a sigh, as if +she were speaking to herself. "Not far from the site of the Tabard +Inn, a picturesque, gabled house once stood, in which John Harvard was +born. Yes, John, that was the man who founded Harvard College, at your +American Cambridge." + +"Yes, and I mean to go there myself some day!" announced John, +immediately fired by the familiar name of our oldest university. "My +father went, you know." + +Mrs. Pitt and the two girls spent the remainder of the evening in +talking over plans for the next day, but John's thoughts had been +turned to college, and so he and Philip had a lively time comparing +notes about English and American colleges. + +"Where do you mean to go, Philip?" John inquired. + +"Oh, to Cambridge, of course! My father, his father, and all my family +for generations back have been to Trinity College, Cambridge. That's +the largest college in England, and was founded by Henry VIII. Oh, +it's jolly there! There are old quadrangles around which the men live; +there's a beautiful old chapel, built in the Tudor period; and there's +the dining-hall. That's grand! Back of the college is the river, the +Cam. There's a lovely garden there, and over the river on which the +men go boating, is an old bridge. I had a cousin who lived in the +rooms which Byron once occupied. He, Macaulay, Tennyson, Thackeray, +Dryden, and many other famous men went there. Oh, it's the only +college for me! I shall be there in three years, I hope!" + +"Well, Harvard's our oldest college. It was founded by your John +Harvard almost as soon as Boston itself, and 'Teddy' Roosevelt went +there! It's good enough for me! The only trouble is that they can't +seem to beat at football, somehow, and I mean to play and see if I +can't help 'em win. That's the only trouble with old Harvard, though," +John said, feeling that he must be loyal to his college in this +international discussion; "otherwise she's all right! There's the +Stadium, where all the big games are played, and there's the Charles +River for us to row on. There are loads of fine new buildings, too, +and I'd like those better than the old ones. We don't care who lived +in 'em! Oh, the fellows at Harvard have a splendid time!" + +Mrs. Pitt had overheard some of this conversation with much amusement, +for the ideas and ideals of the two boys were so different, and so +very characteristic of each. + +"I think you'd enjoy a visit to Cambridge, John," she said. "We must +try to manage it. You'd find one of our colleges very unlike yours in +America. Both Oxford and Cambridge Universities are made up of many +colleges, you know; at Oxford, there are twenty-two, and at Cambridge, +eighteen. Each college has its own buildings, its own professors, its +own chapel and dining-hall, and each college is complete in itself, +although they all belong to one university. You would think the rules +very strict! When the Cambridge men go to chapel, and at other +specified times, they are required to wear their gowns and queer +little flat caps, called 'trenchers' or 'mortar-boards.' At Oxford, +the gates of each college are closed at nine o'clock every evening; a +man may stay out later (even until twelve), if he can give a good +reason for it. If he remains out all night, though, he is immediately +dismissed. How would you like that?" she laughed, seeing John's +disgusted expression. "There are men called 'scouts,' who look after +the men's rooms, and bring them their breakfast. The students are very +carefully watched, and if one of them stays away from his meals at the +dining-hall more than two or three times a week, the affair is +investigated." + +"My! When we go to college in America, we are men, and can look after +ourselves!" John drew himself up very straight, and spoke with great +dignity. "Cambridge may be older and have more--more--'associations,' +but I'd rather go to Harvard." + + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT + +WINDSOR CASTLE, STOKE POGES, AND ETON SCHOOL + + +"It's only a little more than twenty miles out to Windsor," remarked +Mrs. Pitt, one June morning. "Suppose we go in the motor, and then we +can have a glimpse of both Stoke Poges and Eton School, on the way." + +There were always many exclamations of delight at mention of the +"motor," so it was settled, and the party set out at ten o'clock, all +in the highest of spirits. It was slow and difficult driving through +the city streets, but the English chauffeur was quite used to keeping +to the left, as well as being perfectly familiar with the rules which +govern the traffic, so he had none of the accidents which Betty and +John had prophesied that their father's American chauffeur would not +be able to avoid. Very soon, however, they had reached the suburbs, +and then they came into the open country. + +They could go faster now, and the big touring-car sped over the +wonderfully smooth roads at a speed which delighted the young people. +The weather was proving a bit uncertain. Every little while, a tiny +shower descended upon them out of a blue sky full of great white +clouds, the sun shining warm and bright all the while. + +"Oh, don't let's put up any umbrella," exclaimed Betty, during one of +the showers. "Rain never seems to do any harm in England. You don't +get wet, and never mind it a bit. Truly, I like it, for it's so pretty +to see it raining with the sun out. There! now, it's stopped again! +Just see that lovely rainbow!" + +The English country is always beautiful in its individual way, but it +is especially so on one of these showery days, when every leaf and +flower looks fresher than ever with the rain-drops glistening on it. +Now and then, they slowed down while passing through a busy town, +where pretty ladies and children in little two-wheeled carts drove +about doing the morning marketing. Most of the way, however, lay +through country roads bordered by green-hedged fields in which the +ever-present sheep grazed; and here and there were high brick walls +over which the stately, vine-covered homes were just visible. There +were also picturesque little workmen's cottages at the edge of the +wood, and lodges covered with climbing-roses. + +It seemed as though they had only been riding a very short time when, +upon emerging from a shady road, they drew up at a little gateway. +John felt impatient at having to stop, and looked questioningly around +at Mrs. Pitt from his place on the front seat. The others were already +getting out, he found, and Mrs. Pitt was saying: + +"This is Stoke Poges, and I want you to see it, for it's such a lovely +spot. Probably you have all learned in school parts of Gray's 'Elegy,' +and very likely you never cared or thought much about the poem. Even +if that's true, you can't possibly help loving this peaceful, +beautiful place, in which it was written." + +[Illustration: THE MOSS-GROWN SAXON PORCH.--_Page 97._] + +They were now walking along a little path which led into the +church-yard. A straight gravel walk stretches between the graves, up +to the ancient church, which is very small, and has one tower closely +covered with ivy. The fine old Saxon porch, and one doorway show great +age; but it is in the whole effect rather than in any detail of the +little church and its surroundings that the charm lies. One cannot +imagine a more quiet, remote spot! On one side is the group of +yew-trees which Gray mentions in the poem, and in their shelter are +the hoary stones which mark the graves of the "rude forefathers of the +hamlet." Standing there, one almost hesitates to speak above a whisper +for fear of arousing something or somebody out of sleep, or of +breaking the wonderful spell of the place. Pausing under those trees, +and feasting one's eyes upon the lovely, rural scene, not a sound +reaches the ear except the twitter of the birds, and perhaps the faint +jingle of a cow-bell. Mrs. Pitt gave a start at the sound of John's +voice, when he suddenly said: + +"Let's go and find Gray's tomb, Philip; the guidebook says it's on the +other side of the church." + +The rest lingered for just one more look at the little church, with +its vines, and the rich, dark-red brick-work of the moss-grown Saxon +porch, which the sun touches lovingly as it filters through the heavy +leafage of the yew-trees; then they followed Philip and John. + +Close to the outer wall of the church is a large tomb in which Gray is +buried with his beloved mother. No word on the slab tells that the +famous poet is buried within; there is only his mother's epitaph, +which Gray wrote, and in which he speaks of himself as "the only child +who had the misfortune to outlive her." + +When Mrs. Pitt came up, John was standing near the tomb with his hat +off, saying, "All right, Mr. Gray; I'll read your poem over again just +as soon as ever I get home." + +The bustling, lively scenes of Eton School presented a marked contrast +to the quiet of Stoke Poges. Moving about the grounds between the +different school-buildings, were dozens of boys all dressed in the +regulation Eton suit, such as Philip himself wore. They were laughing, +shouting, and playing games, just like other boys, but such actions +somehow seemed out of keeping with their quaint costumes. From the +automobile John looked down upon them, his eyes full of wonder and +surprise. + +"I suppose they are real boys," he said in a puzzled way, "but they +don't look like them." + +While Philip talked with some of his friends, and John lingered near +the group, the others visited the beautiful Eton Chapel, and were +especially interested in the familiar picture of Sir Galahad, which +hangs there. The principal buildings of the school are ranged about +two large courts; in the center of the Outer Quadrangle is a bronze +statue of Henry VI, the founder of the school. The library is valuable +and contains some costly books and manuscripts. Fox, Peel, Chatham, +Wellington, and Shelley were Eton boys, and the latter's autograph may +still be seen on one of the desks. + +As they left Eton and crossed the bridge over the Thames, they duly +admired the magnificent view of Windsor Castle, which may be enjoyed +from that point. Above its many roofs and towers stands the great +round keep, the oldest part of the castle, having been built by Edward +III. + +The castle is on a hill in the center of the town, and the quaint, +red-roofed houses reach even to its walls. After passing the statue of +Queen Victoria, the automobile left the party at the entrance to the +castle, through Henry VIII's gateway, carved with the Tudor Rose. +Inside, they joined a party and were shown about by a guide. + +They saw so many buildings that John and Betty found it rather +bewildering. In thinking it over afterwards, certain objects remained +most clearly in their memory. + +"St. George's Chapel is really the most beautiful thing there, of +course," said Betty, as they rode away. "I never saw such carving as +there is on the seats--no, stalls--in the choir! Henry VIII, Jane +Seymour, and poor Charles I are buried there, too. I like those faded +banners and the coats-of-arms which belonged to the Knights of the +Garter. The whole place is lovely, I think. There are lots of little +chapels off from it, too, like Westminster Abbey; didn't the guide say +that the tomb of Queen Victoria's father, the Duke of Kent, is there?" + +"Yes," answered Mrs. Pitt, "and I hope you haven't forgotten the +Albert Chapel. It adjoins St. George's, you remember, and we stood in +the doorway when our turn came and looked in. It is very old, and is +on the site of an ancient chapel of St. Edward, but Queen Victoria +made it what it is now, and restored it in honor of her husband, +Prince Albert. The interior is truly remarkable for its fine marbles, +mosaics, sculptures, stained-glass, and precious stones. I fancy they +would not especially appeal to you, however. How did you like the +State Apartments? It was fortunate that the Royal Family was not in +residence, so that we could be admitted." + +"Well," began John, "they made us hurry so that I didn't see very +much. That guide drove us along as though we were a flock of sheep! I +liked that big room though, where all the portraits of the generals +are. They called it the Waterloo Room, didn't they? Anyway, there were +splendid pictures of Wellington, Metternich, Blücher, and lots of +other fellows. Did you see the busts of Wellington and Marlborough in +one of the other rooms, Philip? There are silk flags which hang over +both the busts, and that cross old guide growled out that they are +replaced every year on the anniversaries of the two +battles;--Wellington gets a new flag on June 18th, because of Waterloo +in 1815, and Marlborough gets his on August 13th, on account of the +battle of Blenheim in 1704." + +"In that room," explained Mrs. Pitt, "is where the 'command' +theatrical performances are held. When the King hears the report of a +play which he thinks he would like, he simply commands the company to +come to him; and if he happens to be at Windsor, he and the Court +witness the play in the Waterloo Chamber. Your American Sousa's Band +played there once. I saw Betty and Barbara lingering before the large +picture of Charles I and his family. I am glad you liked it, girls, +for that's an especial delight of mine. Dear little 'Baby Stuart' is +so lovable! That was in the Van Dyck Room, which contains many of that +master's works. Those State Apartments are only for the use of Royal +guests, you understand, when they come on visits. I always wish that +we could see the King or Queen's private rooms, don't you? It would be +so interesting. What's your favorite part of the castle, Barbara?" + +"Oh, I like the terrace better than anything else," Barbara answered, +without a moment's hesitation. "The view of the valley, with the river +and Eton Chapel in the distance, is so pretty! Then, there is +something so stately and impressive about the wide, long terrace +itself. I once read that it was Queen Elizabeth's favorite walk, and +there couldn't be a more appropriate place for a queen to choose. I +like that gateway with E. R. on it, showing that it was built in +Elizabeth's reign; and it's fun to look up to the little bay-window +which is said to have been her room. Then I like the old Curfew +Tower, too," she added. + +"Yes," broke in Mrs. Pitt. "That's one of the gloomiest parts of the +whole castle, in its history as well as in its aspect. Of course, +terrible things happened at Windsor just as they did elsewhere; but +although Windsor dates from a very early period, and figures in the +reigns of all the sovereigns, its history contains more of the bright +and happy than of the tragic. Down in a miserable, windowless cell in +the lower part of the Curfew Tower, it is wrongly said that Queen Anne +Boleyn was put to spend the night before her execution, as you know, +and there still remain in the Tower some fearful instruments of +torture. The Horseshoe Cloister near there, is very ancient, and the +houses are delightfully mediæval. Did you look in some of the tiny +windows as we passed through? It is said that in a small hall there, +in the Horseshoe Cloister, Shakespeare's 'Merry Wives of Windsor' was +first produced." + +"Who was it that the guide told us was imprisoned near the Round +Tower, and who fell in love with a lady whom he saw walking in the +gardens? I have forgotten the names." It was Betty who spoke, for she +had been quietly thinking over the visit. + +"That was young James of Scotland, whom Henry V caused to be captured +in time of truce, and thrown into prison at Windsor, where he remained +almost twenty years. The English treated him kindly, however, and he +spent his time in studying and watching the lady in the garden, who +afterwards became his queen." + +"Oh! But, really, the stables are best of all!" exclaimed Philip, who +loved horses like a true Briton. "I do like to go there and be shown +about by one of those men in the black suits and yellow vests, and the +bright cockades in their silk hats. Once when I was little, one of +them let me go into a stall and feed some sugar to a splendid great +horse named Black Beauty. I wished I could do it to-day, too! All the +carriages which carry the Court ladies are stupid, I think, but the +horses and ponies are jolly!" whereupon Philip and John went off into +an animated discussion about the horses of the Royal Stables, and how +much they envied the men who cared for them. + +"Oh, what a sweet little village!" cried Betty, jumping up excitedly, +as the automobile slowed down and entered a little narrow lane. + +Chalfont St. Giles is an extremely picturesque, old-time village. Its +thatched-roofed cottages huddle together in a beautiful green valley, +and about the edge of a pond where ducks swim, and happy, barefooted +children play. One of the old houses is a place of interest to many, +as the great poet, John Milton, lived there after he fled from London +at the time of the plague. + +The poet's home is a most primitive cottage with low ceilings, and a +little dark room, lighted by one casement window, in which he may have +written part of "Paradise Lost." When standing in that chamber, one is +reminded of the well-known picture which shows the blind Milton +dictating one of his poems to a daughter. Outside is a delightful +old-fashioned garden in which the largest and reddest of poppies grow, +and where it is said that Milton loved to linger. + +"I wish we needn't hurry," sighed Mrs. Pitt, "but I'm afraid we'll be +late to dinner. See, we are short of time already!" + +So they quickly took their seats again for the short trip back to +town, and drew their wraps about them, as the air had grown chilly. +They all felt rather tired, and were silent as they reviewed in mind +the history and scenes of Windsor Castle, one of the most beautiful +and certainly the most famous of English royal residences. + +[Illustration: JOHN MILTON LIVED THERE AFTER HE FLED FROM +LONDON.--_Page 105._] + + + + +CHAPTER NINE + +MORE ABOUT LONDON + + +"Big Ben," the great bell on the clock-tower, was just booming ten +deep strokes as our party neared the Houses of Parliament. A steadily +rushing stream of people, buses, hansoms, and trucks (not forgetting +bicycles, which are still numerous in England), was pouring across +Westminster Bridge, and swinging around the corner into the wide +street called Whitehall; but in the near vicinity of the graceful, +long building, with its pinnacles and spires, in which the English +laws are made, all was quiet and few people were moving about. In a +square court from which steps lead down to the river, a sentinel was +pacing back and forth. + +"In the days when the Thames was the most used highway of the +Londoners, here was probably one of the places where the nobles could +step on shore from their luxurious barges." Mrs. Pitt said this as +they were looking down upon the soldier from the street above. + +Close up against one side of the Houses of Parliament is Westminster +Hall, with its quaint row of supporting buttresses. This ancient +edifice was built by William Rufus, the son of the Conqueror himself. +Having entered by St. Stephen's Porch, the usual approach, they went +down a few steps at the left into this fine old room. It is empty now, +and its vastness is unadorned except by some statues of kings and +queens along the sides. + +"This hall," stated Mrs. Pitt, "was first begun by William Rufus, but +it has been restored and added to at various times by many of the +other sovereigns. It also formed part of the ancient Palace of +Westminster. I want you to notice especially the oak roof with its +heavy timbers, and unsupported by any columns. It is considered very +fine in its construction, and I think it beautiful, as well. Have you +the guidebook, Philip? Read to us some of the great events of the hall +while we stand here." + +So Philip began. "Well, some of the earliest meetings of Parliament +were held here; also, all the kings as far down the line as George IV +have celebrated their coronation feasts in this hall. Here Charles I +was tried and condemned (there's a brass in the floor which marks +where he stood at the trial), and here Cromwell in royal purple robes +was received as Lord Protector. Some of the others who were tried here +are William Wallace, the Scotch patriot, Sir Thomas More, Sir Thomas +Wyatt, Guy Fawkes, and the Earls of Essex and Strafford. Until very +recently the Law Courts adjoined here." + +"Thank you, Philip; now, if you are ready, Betty, we'll go on and see +something more of this great building." + +It gives one a slight idea of the extent of the huge structure to know +that therein are one hundred stairways and eleven hundred rooms! +Visitors are shown the "King's Robing-room," the "Victoria or Royal +Gallery," the "Prince's Chamber," and so many rooms and corridors, +that it is impossible to remember them all, or even to appreciate them +at the time of a visit. Fine wall paintings, statues, and rich +decorations of all kinds abound. Both the rooms where sit the House of +Peers and the House of Commons, respectively, are magnificent +apartments; perhaps the former is rather more splendid in appearance, +with its stained-glass windows picturing all the English sovereigns, +its frescoes, and throne, with the gilded canopy. + +As they finally passed out and started over toward Westminster Abbey, +Mrs. Pitt said: + +"It was at one of these entrances (perhaps at the very one by which we +just left), that a most curious thing happened in 1738. It had just +been decided that ladies should no longer be permitted in the +galleries of the Houses. Certain noble dames who were most indignant +at this new rule, presented themselves in a body at the door. They +were, of course, politely refused admission, and having tried every +known means of gaining entrance, they remained at the door all day, +kicking and pounding from time to time. Finally, one of them thought +of the following plan. For some time they stood there in perfect +quiet; some one within opened a door to see if they were really gone, +whereupon they all rushed in. They remained in the galleries until the +'House rose,' laughing and tittering so loudly that Lord Hervey made a +great failure of his speech. Wasn't that absurd? It seems that there +were 'Suffragettes' long before the twentieth century." + +Arrived at the Poets' Corner once again, they found that one of the +vergers was just about to conduct a party "in behind the scenes," as +Barbara called it. "Behind the scenes" includes the Chapel of Henry +VII and that of Edward the Confessor, besides the many smaller ones +which surround the choir. + +These little irregular chapels are crowded with all sorts of tombs, +from those of the long effigy to those of the high canopy. Sometimes a +husband and wife are represented on the tomb, their figures either +kneeling side by side, or facing each other. Often the sons and +daughters of the deceased are shown in quaint little reliefs extending +all around the four sides of a monument. The figures are of alabaster +or marble, and there are frequently fine brasses on them which bear +the inscriptions. It is interesting to remember that the effigy or +reclining figure of a Crusader always has the legs crossed. + +A flight of black marble steps leads up to Henry VII's Chapel. Betty +thought this reminded her a little of the choir of St. George's Chapel +at Windsor,--and it is true that the two are somewhat similar. To +build this memorial to himself, Henry VII tore down another chapel, +and also an old house in which the poet Chaucer once lived. The +loveliest feature of this chapel is the "fan-tracery" of the ceiling. +Its delicacy and grace are very beautiful! There are wonderfully +carved oak choir-stalls here also, each having been assigned to a +certain Knight of the Order of the Bath, and decorated with the +Knight's armorial bearings. Above each stall is a sword and a banner +of faded colors. The tomb of the founder, Henry VII, and of his wife, +Elizabeth of York, is in the center of the chapel, and surrounded by a +brass screen. George II and several members of his family, Edward VI, +Charles II, William and Mary, Queen Anne and her consort, and +Cromwell, are all buried near by--most of them having no monuments. In +the north aisle of this chapel is the tomb of the great Queen +Elizabeth, and just opposite it, in the south aisle, is that of her +cousin and enemy, poor Mary Queen of Scots. + +Just behind the high altar is the chapel of Edward the Confessor, +containing the once splendid, mediæval tomb of that sainted King. Its +precious stones have been stolen away now, and the whole is covered +by a gorgeous cloth put there at the coronation of Edward VII. + +"I've seen the tombs of so many kings and queens," exclaimed John, +heaving a sigh, "that I truly can't take in any more. Why, they're so +thick all around here that you can't move without bumping into three +or four of 'em! There's Henry V, and overhead the shield and helmet he +used at Agincourt; and here's Edward I, and Richard II, and Edward +III, and Queen Eleanor, and Queen Philippa. Who was she? Oh, here's +the old Coronation Chair, isn't it?" At sight of this, he once more +became interested. + +This famous old chair was made in the time of Edward I, and every +English sovereign since that day has been crowned in it. Underneath +the seat of the chair is kept the ancient Stone of Scone, which is +said to have been used as a pillow by the patriarch Jacob. Edward I, +in 1297, brought the stone from Scotland as a sign of his power over +that country, and placed it in the Abbey. King Edward III's sword and +shield-of-state stand beside the chair. There is something about these +three objects which makes one stand long before them. They are so +ancient--so deeply impressive--and embody so much of English history +itself. + +In a little room above one of the smaller chapels are found the +curious Wax Effigies. These figures made of wax, and of life size, +were carried at funerals, and were intended to look like the deceased, +and dressed in their clothes. They are very ghastly, robed in their +faded, torn garments, as each peers out from its glass-case. Queen +Elizabeth, Charles II, William and Mary, Queen Anne, General Monk, +William Pitt, and Lord Nelson are among those represented. + +Betty stood before the figure of Queen Elizabeth, whose waxen face is +pinched and worn, and really most horrible to look at. + +"Didn't she die propped up on the floor in all her State robes?" asked +Betty. + +"Yes," was Mrs. Pitt's reply. "It isn't any wonder that she looked +like that, is it? She is said to have been beautiful in her youth, but +later, she became so very ugly that her ladies-in-waiting got false +looking-glasses, for they didn't dare to allow their mistress to see +her wrinkles." + +[Illustration: "OH, HERE'S THE OLD CORONATION CHAIR, ISN'T IT?"--_Page +113._] + +After lingering for a short time in the grand old Abbey, they all +mounted a bus and rode down to Bishopsgate Street to take lunch, at +Crosby Hall.[A] This splendid old example of a London mediæval palace +(having had a varied career since its great days), is now turned into +a restaurant, and our party took seats at a long table in what was +once the Banqueting-hall. + +[Footnote A: Crosby Hall was taken down in 1908, but is soon to be +re-erected in Chelsea, near the site of the home of Sir Thomas More.] + +"This is really a very historic old house," declared Mrs. Pitt. "It +was built in 1470 by Alderman Sir John Crosby, who died about the time +it was finished, and it passed into the hands of the Duke of +Gloucester, afterwards Richard III. Here, that cruel man had the news +of the successful murder of the little Princes in the Tower, and here +held his great feasts--in this room, I suppose." + +They were all looking about at the lofty hall with its carved oak +ceiling, minstrels' gallery, stained-glass windows, and large +fireplace. + +"This has recently all been restored, and I suppose it gives us a very +slight idea of its past glory. Later on, Sir Thomas More lived here, +and then Philip Sidney's sister, the Countess of Pembroke, owned it. +Shakespeare mentions it in his play of 'Richard III,' you know. In +mediæval times, there were many great houses in London (Baynard's +Castle and Cold Harbour foremost among them), but all except a little +part of Crosby Hall have disappeared. The owners of these houses, the +wealthy nobles, lived in great magnificence, having four, six, or even +eight hundred servants. Just fancy how large the establishments must +have been! In Queen Elizabeth's day, the French Ambassador was lodged +here with four hundred retainers. At that time, there were more great +palaces in London than there were in Verona, Florence, Venice, and +Genoa, all counted together; but instead of being situated on the +Grand Canal or in a spacious square, the English palaces stood in +narrow, filthy streets, surrounded by the poor hovels of the common +people.--It seems to me that our lunch is a long time coming," she +commented. + +Adjoining Crosby Hall is a very interesting church--St. Helen's, which +has been called the "Westminster Abbey of the City," because of famous +citizens of "the City," who are buried there. Among them is Sir Thomas +Gresham, the great merchant of Queen Elizabeth's reign, who founded +the Royal Exchange, and did much to increase London's trade. The +church--dating mostly from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century--is +very quaint and old. It consists of two parallel naves, divided by +pillars. + +"The church was once connected with an ancient nunnery which covered +the whole square outside. The naves were originally quite separated by +a partition; one side was used by the nuns, and the other by the +regular members of the parish. Shakespeare once lived in St. Helen's +parish, and is charged up on the church books with a sum of something +over five pounds." Mrs. Pitt gave this information as they walked +about, gradually growing accustomed to the dim light. + +"See here, John," whispered Philip; "here's something interesting. +It's this little square hole in the wall, which is called the 'nuns' +squint.' That woman, whom I suppose is the caretaker, has just been +telling me what that means. You see, the nunnery was on this side, or, +at any rate, the part where the nuns slept. When a nun was dying, the +rest would carry her to that little 'squint,' and in that way she +could look through to the church and see the altar." + +Leaving St. Helen's Place, and passing the picturesque, narrow façade +(or front) of Crosby Hall, Mrs. Pitt took them along Cheapside, one of +the most crowded streets of the city. The amount of traffic is +tremendous there, and it is said that sometimes teams are held eight +hours in the alleys before they can get out. They noted Bow Church, +and the site of John Gilpin's house at the corner of Paternoster Row. + +"Oh, is that the John Gilpin in Cowper's poem?" cried John, excitedly. +"He lived here, did he? And where did he ride to?" + +"I believe he went out through Tottenham and Edmonton. Mrs. Gilpin was +at the Bell Inn at Edmonton when she saw her husband fly by. Over the +entrance at the Bell is such a funny picture of the scene! They don't +know just where he went, do they, Mother?" inquired Barbara. + +"No, I rather think not," was Mrs. Pitt's laughing answer. "Let's walk +through Paternoster Row, now. The little bookshops are so old and +quaint! For centuries the booksellers have been loyal to this +locality, but I hear that they are beginning to move elsewhere now. +Here's Amen Corner, and Ave Maria Lane is not far away. In London, +there's a reason for the name of almost every street. The monks, in +walking from the river to St. Paul's, used to be telling their beads +and reciting their prayers all the while. You see, the Ave Maria was +said at this point, and back at the corner came an Amen. In olden +days, the makers of rosaries and paternosters had their shops in the +little street we have just left, as well as the booksellers. The +streets leading off Cheapside show what business was carried on there; +for instance, on the south side are Bread, Candles, Soap, Fish, and +Money-changing; and on the north side are Wood, Milk, Iron, Honey, and +Poultry. By the by, the poet Milton was born in Bread Street. The +ironmongers congregated in Ironmongers Lane; the vintners or +wine-merchants were in the Vintry; and the makers of hosiery in +Hosiery Lane. Now we'll go to Chancery Lane, and pay a short visit to +the Record Office, for there are some things there which I want you to +see." + +The Public Record Office is a modern building, constructed for the +purpose of keeping the valuable State documents and archives, which, +during the present reign, have been moved from the Tower and the +Chapter House of Westminster Abbey. The different departments of +government are continually handing over to the Record Office papers +which are no longer needed for daily use. Among the intensely +interesting treasures of this museum are the logbooks of the Royal +Navy, and dispatches from Marlborough, Wellington, and others. There +are State papers of Wolsey, and Thomas Cromwell, and letters of all +the kings and queens, as well as of Chaucer, the Black Prince, Raleigh +at the Tower, Lady Jane Grey as Queen, Sir Philip Sidney on his +death-bed, and many, many others of equal interest. + +"Why, you'd need a whole week to see all these!" exclaimed Betty, +looking up from her examination of a paper containing the confessions +of Guy Fawkes. + +Mrs. Pitt glanced at her quickly. She was excited, and her face was +flushed. + +"Yes, and we must not stay any longer, for we have seen enough for one +day. I want to show you just one more thing before we go, however, and +this is more wonderful than all the rest. See, it is the great +Doomsday Book!" + +Carefully kept under glass, in cases furnished with dark shades to +pull over when the books are not being examined, are the two large +volumes of what is known as the "Doomsday Book." On the ancient, +yellowed parchment pages, and in strange old characters, are the +records, made at the time of William the Conqueror, of the disposal of +the lands of England among his Norman nobles. It is simply impossible +to believe that it is authentic,--that such a very ancient relic +really can exist! + +They soon felt tired and ready to leave any further examination of the +papers until another visit, however. There are times when all +sight-seers, no matter how enthusiastic, come to a point where for +that day they can appreciate no more. So our party adjourned to a +little tea-shop in Regent Street, and afterwards, to make a few +purchases at that fascinating shop,--Liberty's. + + + + +CHAPTER TEN + +RICHMOND AND HAMPTON COURT PALACE + + +"Well, I really don't care much how long the boat is in coming," +exclaimed Betty delightedly. "It's such fun to watch all the other +boats going up and down the river, and to look up at busy Westminster +Bridge!" + +Our friends were at the little landing in the shadow of the +above-mentioned bridge, awaiting the arrival of the steamer which was +to carry them to Kew Gardens. It was early morning, and the distant +roar of the traffic from the great bridge above reached them together +with the shrill whistles of all the different river craft. + +"Hey! There goes _Sir Walter Raleigh_ under the bridge there! I can +see the name just as plainly! And,--well I never!--there come _Lady +Jane Grey_ and _Sir Thomas More_! Do all the boats have names like +that? Wonder how the great people would like it if they knew! _Sir +Thomas_ is an express; he's on official business this morning, and +isn't going to stop! Now! here comes _Queen Elizabeth_ herself! +Nothing less than a queen for me! I hope we'll take her!" John cried +excitedly. + +The _Queen Elizabeth_ did prove to be the Kew and Hampton Court boat, +so when the gangway was put across, the five went on board and took +some comfortable seats in the bow. + +"Now, there are a number of things which I wish to point out to you +right away," remarked Mrs. Pitt, "so please be very attentive for a +few moments. Just as soon as we are started and go under Westminster +Bridge here, you will have the most beautiful view of the Houses of +Parliament, on your right. There! See if the great building isn't +graceful from here! And isn't its river-front imposing with all the +statues of the sovereigns! + +"Now! Quickly! Look to the left, and see the building with the gateway +and square, blackened towers and battlements. That's Lambeth Palace," +she added, "which has been the residence of the Archbishops of +Canterbury (or the 'Primates of England,' as they are called) for six +hundred years. It's a delightful old place, with its fine library, and +its several court-yards! It's very historic as well, for in one of +those towers, according to some people, the Lollards or followers of +the religious reformer, Wycliffe, are said to have been tortured. +Queen Elizabeth's favorite, the unfortunate Earl of Essex, was +imprisoned there, too. + +"Here on our left was the famous amusement-park, Vauxhall, which was +so popular in the eighteenth century. Some day when you read +Thackeray's novels you will find it mentioned. There on the right is +Chelsea, where was Sir Thomas More's home. I think his grounds +bordered on the river, and he used to walk down to the bank, step into +his boat, and his son would row him to the city. At his house there he +was often visited by Henry VIII, Holbein, and the great Dutch scholar, +Erasmus. Just behind those trees is Cheyne Walk, where Thomas +Carlyle's house still stands. (There's the old Chelsea Church, which +is most interesting, and Chelsea Hospital for old pensioners.) There +have been many famous residents of Chelsea in more recent days; among +them George Eliot, the great novelist, who died there; Edward +Burne-Jones, the artist; Rossetti, the poet; Swinburne, Meredith, and +Whistler. There! now I'll leave you in peace to enjoy your boat-ride, +and the music." + +They now came to a part of the river which is neither especially +historic nor attractive, and the young people amused themselves for a +while in talking, or listening to the rather crude music of some old +musicians on the boat. It was not long, however, before the banks +again became green and beautiful, and they passed odd little villages, +and comfortable country-houses, whose smooth terraces slope down to +the river. On the arrival of the boat at Kew, they went on shore and +walked towards the celebrated Gardens. + +"Have Kew Gardens any story or history to them, or are they just +famous because of their flowers?" inquired Betty, as they passed +through the gateway, and caught glimpses of bright blossoms within. + +"Oh, rather!" replied Mrs. Pitt. "You'll find plenty of history about +here, Betty. Let's look at the flowers first, though." + +Kew Gardens are most immaculately cared for. Wide gravel-paths stretch +between the wonderful lawns, which are dotted with flower-beds of all +shapes. There are hot-houses containing tropical plants, and in the +"Rock Garden" is a pond where there are pelicans and other strange +water birds. The party spent an hour very happily in wandering about, +admiring the beautiful views as they went. Best of all were the +rhododendrons, which were glorious at this season in their riot of +pink, deep rose color, and lavender. Betty, who dearly loved flowers, +could hardly be enticed away from that fascinating spot, and was only +persuaded at mention of the old palace, which she had not yet seen. + +When she reached it, she was rather disappointed. Kew Palace is not +large, and altogether, is quite unlike a palace, although it was the +favorite residence of George III and his queen, who died there in +1818. + +"It just looks like any old red-brick Tudor house, which hasn't any +history at all. Even its rooms are all empty, and it isn't the kind of +a palace I like!" Betty declared in injured tones. + +"Well, cheer up, Betty; we're going to Hampton Court Palace soon, and +I guess that'll suit you all right. Is this where we take the tram, +Mrs. Pitt? There's one coming now!" John ran out into the road and +gesticulated frantically, so that the motorman would be sure to stop. +That dignified English personage looked rather surprised, but John did +not care. He liked to take the lead, and to make himself useful +whenever it was possible. + +The ride was not quite as enjoyable as they had hoped, because of a +very high wind. Upon their perch at the top of the tram, it required +about all their attention to keep their hats and other belongings from +blowing away. On the whole, they were quite content to get off at the +bridge at Richmond, and walk up the long hill to the famous Star and +Garter Inn. + +"This hill seems longer than ever to-day, Mother," Barbara complained. +"When we reach that lovely surprise view (you know where I mean), +let's sit down and admire it while we rest a bit." + +"Very well, we will," her mother panted; "we're nearly there now." + +The view to which Barbara and her mother referred proved to be really +very beautiful. On one side of the hill is a little park from which a +precipice descends to the river. Looking through an opening in the +luxuriant foliage of the trees (an opening which takes the place of a +picture-frame), one sees a glorious view of the green valley below, +through which the lazy Thames winds dreamily; and if the day is clear, +Windsor Castle may just be discerned in the distance. + +"Philip, you and John go and engage one of those drivers over opposite +the hotel, to take us for a little drive in the Park; as soon as I +order our luncheon, I'll be out again to go along." With that, Mrs. +Pitt disappeared for a few moments into the Star and Garter. + +Richmond Park is a favorite resort for tourists, and driving and +bicycle parties. It contains some fine old trees, and a great many +deer which add to its attractiveness. Mrs. Pitt directed the coachman +not to drive about much, however, but to show them two points of +interest. + +"This is the 'King's Mound,'" she observed, as the horses slowed down. +"Yes, that little low mound of earth just this side of the clump of +trees. I'll admit that it looks uninteresting enough; but it is known +as the spot where Henry VIII stood while listening for the sound of +the gun at the Tower, which told him of the execution of Anne Boleyn." + +"Ugh!" Betty interposed, in disgusted tones, giving a little shudder. +"Think how he must have felt! Horrid old thing!" + +"Don't be silly, Betty!" retorted John. "I guess a little thing like +that wouldn't trouble him!" + +Almost in the center of the Park is a house called White Lodge, which +has long been a royal residence. It is approached by an avenue, which +was the scene of Jeanie Deans's interview with Queen Caroline, as +Scott describes it in his "Heart of Midlothian." + +Their lunch was quickly over, and they were again on their way down +the long hill. In the town of Richmond, they mounted another tram for +the forty-minute ride to Hampton Court. + +"If we only had had a bit more time," Mrs. Pitt apologized, "I should +have shown you what still remains of the famous old palace of +Richmond. Henry VIII and Elizabeth both held their courts there often, +and there the latter died in 1603. The palace was destroyed by order +of Parliament in 1649; only a small part of it was spared, and in that +the widow of Charles I, poor Queen Henrietta Maria, was allowed to +live. Are you getting plenty of history, Betty, my dear?" + +"Oh, yes, but I'm always ready for more," smiled that young lady in +response. + +The tram set them down very near the great palace of Hampton Court. +They went quickly through the entrance-gates of wrought iron, and +walked towards the building itself. This West Front is as Wolsey left +it, and is made of the old crimson bricks, with here and there a black +one. Passing under the gatehouse, they came into the Green or Base +Court, and here they paused to look about them. + +"You'll remember that the great and powerful Cardinal Wolsey built +Hampton Court," suggested Mrs. Pitt. "He lived in regal state, and had +almost as large a retinue of servants and followers as the King +himself. To gratify his great love for splendor and luxury, he built +this magnificent residence for himself. He was in need of a home a +little removed from the city, where he could rest and enjoy the fresh +air. Yet it was also accessible to London, for he could be rowed up +the river in his barge. Wolsey's two great ambitions--wealth and +power--were both gratified, and for a while all went well; but time +brought the King's displeasure, and it was he who took possession at +Hampton Court after the complete disgrace which led to the death of +the Cardinal. Henry VIII tore down some of Wolsey's buildings, and put +up new ones in their stead; and other monarchs added portions also; +for instance, the huge State Apartments were erected under the +supervision of Sir Christopher Wren, and by order of King William III. +We shall see all these later on. Have you noticed those little oriel +windows of the gatehouse? They are the originals of Wolsey's palace, +and I think this court here is also much the same as he built it. In +his day there were pretty latticed windows in these surrounding +buildings, a grass plot in the center, and around these narrow +passages Wolsey probably rode on his ass." + +"Ass!" cried John. "What for? With all his money, couldn't he even +have a horse?" + +"Oh, rather!" Mrs. Pitt laughed. "No doubt Wolsey would have liked +one, but he was wise enough to always follow custom in such matters as +had to do with his outward appearance and attitude. All religious men +rode on asses; it was the habit of the day. Now, come this way, and +see the Great Hall. Oh, Philip! Please fetch me my umbrella; I left it +on the step in the court, there!" + +Leading into the second or Clock Court, is Anne Boleyn's gateway. +Under this is a broad flight of stairs which takes one to the Great +Hall, erected by Henry VIII, probably on the site of Wolsey's earlier +hall. It is a grand old room with a fine timber roof, and complete +with its daïs or raised platform at the end, its minstrels' gallery +over the entrance doors, its old tapestries, stags' heads, and suits +of armor, and its windows mostly filled with modern stained-glass. Out +of the hall are two smaller apartments, which also contain good +tapestries. From here, the visitor again descends to Anne Boleyn's +gateway. + +"What a funny old clock!" exclaimed Betty, spying it, up above on the +tower under which they had just passed. "It seems to be so mixed up, +somehow, that I can't tell the time by it." + +"It is curious! It's Henry VIII's Astronomical Clock; it has all sorts +of appliances and strange attachments. That's why you can't read it. +It was recently repaired and set going again." + +"The King's Grand Staircase" is broad, stately, and quite as +impressive as its name, and this leads to the pompous State +Apartments. These great square rooms, one opening out of another, +seemed endless to the young people, and contained no attractions for +them. The walls are covered with pictures, some of which are fine, but +there are so many which are very similar that even Sir Peter Lely, +Holbein, and Van Dyck become hopelessly tiresome. These rooms also +contain some old furniture which is interesting, but on the whole, the +best thing about them is the ever charming view of the gardens from +the windows. The visitor may enter one tiny room called "Wolsey's +Closet," which is deeply impressive with its paneled walls and ancient +ceiling. The very atmosphere of the sixteenth century still seems to +linger here, and one can easily believe that nothing herein has been +changed since the great Cardinal used it daily. Near this is a long +gallery which is supposed to be haunted by the ghost of Queen +Catharine Howard. After the dullness of the State Apartments, this +possessed great interest for the boys, and they lingered here as long +as Mrs. Pitt would allow. They were forced to come away disappointed, +however, without having heard even one little scream. + +"You'd better spend the night here, John," remarked Philip, in teasing +tones. "That's the proper time to see and hear ghosts." John decided +not to wait, however. + +Of all the one thousand rooms of the great palace, they saw only one +more, and that was Henry VIII's Gothic Chapel, gorgeous in its fine +carving and gilding, and in which the magnificent ceremony of the +baptism of Prince Edward, afterwards Edward VI, was held. + +The gardens of Hampton Court are perhaps better known and enjoyed than +the palace itself. They are very extensive, and are laid out in the +French style. Directly before the long front of William III's +addition, is a great round basin with a fountain, and beyond stretches +the "Long Canal,"--a straight and narrow artificial pond, bordered by +very beautiful trees. Then there is the "Home Park" on either side of +the canal; here Henry VIII and Catharine Howard probably wandered +often during their long honeymoon at Hampton Court; and here William +III was riding on the day when he was thrown from his horse and +killed. + +There is what is called the "Wilderness,"--in reality a maze--which +was greatly enjoyed by the party; and nearer the palace, again, is the +tennis-court, where that game has been played for three centuries and +a half. Some of the players here have been Henry VIII, the Earl of +Leicester, Charles I, Charles II, and the present King, Edward VII, +when he was Prince of Wales. + +"And didn't that American, Pettitt, play here?" inquired John. "He won +the World's Championship in England, you know. Yes, I thought it was +here, though the word Hampton Court never meant much to me before +to-day." + +There is still the remarkable Hampton Court Vine, the fame of which +has spread so far. The vine fills a whole greenhouse, and one of its +branches is a hundred and fourteen feet long. The attendant told Betty +that the crop consists of about eight hundred bunches, each one +weighing a pound. Having duly marveled at this, they explored Queen +Mary's lovely bower or arbor, where that Queen used to sit with her +ladies at the tapestry-frames. + +"Dear me, let's go back now!" said Betty. "I'm sure we've been miles +over these grounds." + +So they walked along the paths where Henry VIII made love to Anne +Boleyn and Catharine Howard, where Queen Elizabeth took her morning +walks, and where Pope, Swift, Addison, and Walpole wandered in more +recent days. + +"I think I haven't mentioned Cromwell to you in connection with +Hampton Court, but he must not be forgotten, for he came here after he +was made Protector, and lived with as much pomp and splendor as any +king. Every time I visit this palace I marvel at the amount of history +with which it is connected, and at the number of scenes for which it +was the setting!" + +As she spoke, Mrs. Pitt was leading the way to the railroad-station. A +London train came along very soon, fortunately, but they ran up and +down in vain looking for seats in their customary third-class +compartment. These were all crowded, the following day being a "bank +holiday," so when the guard at last came to their rescue, he put them +in a first-class compartment. This greatly interested John and Betty, +as they had not seen one before. + +[Illustration: "EVERY TIME I VISIT THE PALACE I MARVEL AT THE AMOUNT +OF HISTORY WITH WHICH IT IS CONNECTED."--_Page 136._] + +"It isn't so very different, after all," commented Betty. "The +cushions are a little nicer, and there's carpet on the floor, but +that's the only change from an ordinary third-class carriage." + +"I know it," said Philip. "And most English people never think of +traveling first-class except on a long journey; for it really is very +little better, and the price is so ruinously dear!" + + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN + +STRATFORD-ON-AVON + + +"We're going to stay in a really, truly old inn at last, aren't we!" +Betty gave a sigh of satisfaction and walked rapidly along by Mrs. +Pitt's side, as that lady led the way from the station at Stratford to +the famous Red Horse Hotel. + +"Stratford is exactly like any other little English town," John was +commenting to Philip. "There are plenty of new houses made of shiny, +red bricks, and all put close together in blocks, with their tiny +lawns and gardens in front. I suppose they build that way even in the +small towns, because you haven't as much room to spread out as we have +in America. Too bad, though, I say! Makes a little town look just like +a big city, only smaller. I thought Stratford would be different!" His +tones betrayed not a little disappointment. + +As they came into the central and older part of the town, however, +even John was forced to admit that it was "different," after all. +Along Stratford's narrow, clean little streets stand many old houses +adorned with great oak timbers, quaint inscriptions, and carvings; and +quicker than all else, the sight of these, remaining here and there +between the more modern structures, makes one feel the antiquity of +the place. These houses totter a little, and lean their upper stories +over the street,--perhaps with a kind of curiosity to see better the +strange and more and more startling scenes which the centuries bring +forth. For instance, what must these ancient houses, which perchance +witnessed the passing of some splendid pageant of the "spacious times +of Queen Elizabeth," think of the bustle and prosperous commercial air +which the town has gradually taken on? What of the sight-seers whose +automobiles go tearing along, uttering weird and frightful sounds? No +wonder the old houses stand on tiptoe and bend farther and farther +over the street in their amazement and horror! + +The young people were delighted with the odd little Red Horse Hotel. +As it was market-day, the wide street before it was crowded with +people, and down the middle was a row of queer, covered wagons, in +which the farmers bring their produce, and which are used as stalls on +arrival at the market-place. The little hotel is severely plain and +square, and has a passage leading into an old-time court-yard. Inside, +it has quaint little rooms filled with antique furniture, narrow +corridors, and uneven floors, with here a step up, and there two steps +down. Leaving their luggage in the rooms assigned to them, the party +immediately set out for "the Birthplace," as all Stratford people +invariably call the famous Shakespeare house on Henley Street. + +"Is that it!" gasped John, as they stood on the opposite side of the +way and gazed across at the first home of the great Poet. "Why, I +didn't suppose it was as big as that! And it doesn't look old a bit!" + +Shakespeare's birthplace has been too often pictured, and is far too +familiar to all to need any description given it here. Perhaps it does +seem rather larger than we imagined, and the outside certainly looks +surprisingly strong and new. + +[Illustration: "WHY I DIDN'T SUPPOSE IT WAS AS BIG AS THAT!"--_Page +140._] + +"But you know it now belongs to the nation," Mrs. Pitt explained, +"and is always kept in perfect condition. The last restoration was +finished only about fifty or sixty years ago. Although the house was +so completely renewed, the greatest care was used to make it look as +nearly as possible as it did at the time of Shakespeare's birth in +1564. That window above the entrance, with the little diamond panes, +is the original, and is in the room in which the Poet was born." + +Going under the old porch and through the door with its high +threshold, our friends found themselves in the family living-room of +the house. It is low and rather dark, and has whitewashed walls and an +earthen floor. This was in all probability the kitchen and dining-room +as well, and one is reminded of the fact by a huge fireplace which +juts out into the room. In olden times this would have been filled +with great pots and kettles hanging over the fire on cranes. The +chimney is deep enough and wide enough to have two little seats within +it--one on either side. John quickly bent down and seated himself +where he could look straight up the chimney and see a square patch of +blue sky. + +When Mrs. Pitt saw him, she smiled and said, "No doubt, Shakespeare +himself, when he was a small boy, often sat right there with his +brothers and sisters. It must have been very pleasant on cold winter +evenings, to creep into these 'inglenooks,' as they were called, +beside the great blazing fire, and tell stories. I think the children +should have felt themselves very lucky to have such delightfully warm +quarters!" + +From a small entry at the rear of this room, the narrow winding stairs +lead to the floor above. Before going up, Mrs. Pitt wrote their names +in the huge Visitors' Book. Betty was much pleased to find, while +carelessly turning its pages, the name of a girl friend who had been +in England the previous summer. + +"How queer that I should see Evelyn's name!" she exclaimed; "but I +guess almost everybody who visits England comes to this house." + +"Aye! We 'ave thousands of visitors 'ere every year, Miss, and the +most of 'em are Americans, it do appear to me! They do be powerful +fond o' Shakespeare!" The attendant shook his head knowingly as he +gave Betty this information. + +One of the most interesting rooms in the whole world is that chamber +on the second floor in which the great Shakespeare was born. In +itself, it is not in any way remarkable; it contains but a chair or +two, and an old table, which holds a bust of the Poet. But its plaster +walls, low ceiling, and even its window-panes, are inscribed with the +names of great people,--poets, authors, statesmen, men of all +countries, occupations, and beliefs,--who have journeyed here to pay +their tribute to the greatest of all poets and writers. + +"Whenever I meet people who believe that Lord Bacon or any other man +wrote Shakespeare's plays, I never discuss the question with them, for +I have no arguments to withstand their claims," said Mrs. Pitt +intently. "I only remind myself that if such men as Browning, +Thackeray, Kean, Scott, and Carlyle, who have all left their +signatures here, believed that the 'immortal Shakespeare' wrote his +own plays, I can feel safe in believing so, too. Therefore I want you +to understand, children, that you are standing in the room where +Shakespeare was born, and be glad all your lives when you remember +that you have seen it." + +The other room on the second floor--a kind of attic--contains an +important picture of Shakespeare. It is called the "Stratford +Portrait," as it was discovered in that native town, and it is now +thought to have been painted in the eighteenth century, from a bust. + +The Shakespeare house is double. In the other half, which is now a +museum, John Shakespeare, the father of the Poet, used to have his +shop and carry on his trade, or trades, for, like many people at that +time, he had several. This museum now contains many relics of +Shakespeare, which are more or less authentic, as well as a large +number of First Editions of his plays. The young people were +interested in an old desk, much scratched and marred, which it is +supposed that the Poet used when at the Guild School. It is not clear +whether it was when he was a pupil there, or at the time he was +"Junior Master," as he is thought to have been by some. The desk is +long and narrow, having but one little opening into which a hand could +be reached to pull out the books. It occurred to John that it would +have been a very convenient place to hide apples or pickles, or any +such forbidden articles, as the master could never even suspect their +existence in that dark interior. + +"You will see where that desk once stood," remarked Mrs. Pitt, "for +later, I shall show you the old Guild Hall, and the room where the +Stratford boys had their lessons. Now, we are all hungry, and we'll go +straight to the Shakespeare Hotel and have some luncheon. Don't you +all approve that plan?" + +Before leaving "the Birthplace," it must be remembered that there +exists a really very picturesque old English garden. In it were +planted, about fifty years ago, a quantity of the flowers which are +mentioned in the plays of Shakespeare, and the result is a very lovely +mass of brightly-colored, old-fashioned flowers. + +At the Shakespeare Hotel, they were served a typically English +luncheon of mutton, peas seasoned with mint, greens, and afterwards a +"gooseberry tart." John and Betty were in gales of laughter when the +shy, rosy-cheeked maid asked if they would have some "jammed fingers." + +"What in the world does she mean?" inquired Betty, between her +giggles. + +"I don't know, I am sure. Do you, Barbara? Oh, yes I do! Probably she +means 'jam fingers.' I have heard the name. Please bring us some," +Mrs. Pitt requested. + +The "jammed fingers" proved to be long strips of pastry with jam +between. They were very good, and John and Betty much preferred them +to the sour gooseberries, to which they had not taken at all kindly. + +The Shakespeare Hotel is much like its neighbor, the Red Horse, except +for the fact that each room bears the name of one of Shakespeare's +plays. + +"How lovely it would be to sleep in the 'Romeo and Juliet' room,--if +there is one!" Betty sighed. "I almost wish we had planned to stay +here, although I do want to write letters on the table in Washington +Irving's room at the Red Horse!" + +Very near the Shakespeare Hotel is what is known as the "John Harvard +House,"[B]--more accurately, the girlhood home of the mother of John +Harvard. It is high and narrow, but fully as picturesque as is the +nearby Tudor House, which is large and square. Both are excellent +examples of Elizabethan houses, and are very quaint and pretty. The +lower floor of the Tudor House is a most fascinating shop, in which +one may find a really astonishing number of post-cards, books, +pictures, and little souvenirs relating to Shakespeare. + +[Footnote B: This has just recently been restored and presented to +Harvard College. The old house will in the future serve as a +rendezvous for visiting Americans.] + +"Seems to me, everything, from the hotel to the cheapest post-card, +has the name of Shakespeare attached to it somehow!" + +"You are quite right, John!" agreed Mrs. Pitt. "The modern town has +grown up and literally lives upon Shakespeare! Without him, and the +immense number of visitors which his memory brings, Stratford could +hardly exist at all, as there are no factories or important industries +here." + +A long, beautiful afternoon of sight-seeing followed. First, came a +visit to the site of Shakespeare's home of New Place, to see the old +foundations. As they stood looking down at the few pathetic remains, +Mrs. Pitt explained how the house happened to be pulled down. + +"It was shameful!" she cried indignantly. "I dislike to think of the +man who was responsible for its destruction. The house was an old +one, even in Shakespeare's day, as it was probably erected in 1490 by +Sir Hugh Clopton. A historian named Leland of the sixteenth century +says this about New Place and its surroundings: 'There is a right +goodly chappell, in a fayre street towardes the south ende of the +towne dedicated to the Trinitye; this chappell was newly re-edified by +one Hugh Clopton, Mayor of London; this Hugh Clopton builded also by +the north side of this chappell a praty house of brick and tymbre, +wherein he lived in his latter dayes and dyed.' To appreciate that +fully, you should see the queer old spelling! Well, to continue, +Shakespeare left New Place to his eldest daughter, Susanna Hall, and I +don't know just how long it remained in the family. However, at length +it was in the possession of the Rev. Francis Gastrell, who cut down +Shakespeare's celebrated mulberry-tree because too many visitors +troubled him by coming there to see it. In 1759, he became so angry in +a quarrel about the taxes imposed upon New Place, that he had it torn +down and the material sold. I can never forgive him for that! It seems +to me that I never knew of anger having led to a more outrageously +unjust and deplorable act!" Mrs. Pitt's eyes flashed, and her face +was flushed from her feeling of what one might almost be pardoned for +terming "righteous indignation." + +Leaving New Place, they turned into Chapel Lane, which borders on one +side the grounds formerly belonging to the Poet's estate. + +"Let me give you just a little description of this street in +Shakespeare's time," Mrs. Pitt reflected. "You must know that sanitary +conditions were fearful then, and that Stratford was as bad, if not +worse, than other towns in that respect. Even as late as 1769, when +Garrick visited here, he considered it 'the most dirty, unseemly, +ill-paved, wretched-looking town in all Britain.' The people had +absolutely no idea of cleanliness. In Stratford, there were six places +where it was lawful to dump rubbish,--right in the street! Just fancy! +Sometimes these dumps prevented a man from making his way about the +town. Chapel Lane was considered the worst part of the whole place, +for besides the fact that there was a dump here, the neighbors in the +vicinity seemed to be more than usually untidy and +shiftless,--allowing their pigs to wander about loose, for instance. +That was the kind of street which Shakespeare must have entered every +time he left his own house. Think of it! Some people have, I believe, +attributed his early death to the unhealthful conditions of his +surroundings. Inside the homes, things were but little better. People +laid rushes on the floor in the place of carpets, and these became +filthy from dirt, mud, and other things which clung to them. Fresh +rushes were brought but seldom. The churches were not often swept or +cleaned, either. Once, when the roof of the Guild Chapel was being +repaired, a certain man and his wife were appointed to sweep the +interior and clear away the cobwebs. A widow used to sweep the +market-place. She was provided with her utensils,--a shovel, +broom-stick, and bundle of twigs--and was paid six shillings and +eightpence a year. How carefully and how often do you suppose she +swept? Dear me! I sometimes have wished that I had lived in Queen +Elizabeth's age, but when I remember some of the terrible +circumstances of that time, I cannot be too thankful that I live in +the twentieth century!" + +They had been standing before the old Guild Hall for some few minutes +while Mrs. Pitt finished what she was saying. They now turned to +admire and examine it more closely. It is a building of plaster and +huge timbers, long and low, with a second story projecting slightly +over the lower. The old hall on the ground floor is said to be where +the boy Shakespeare first saw a play. A room just above it was the +Grammar School, which Shakespeare probably attended for five years, +and where the desk shown at "the Birthplace" may have been used by +him. + +"It was rather different going to school in those days!" declared Mrs. +Pitt. "The hours were very long, the lessons hard, and the masters +strict, and not unwilling to use the rod for the slightest +misdemeanor. There have been terrible stories of boys being much hurt, +or even killed as a result of this practice. The pupils sat on narrow +benches, their heavy books propped up before them on long tables. It +must have been very hard to stay here in this dark room and listen to +the master's voice reciting monotonous Latin, while birds sang and the +fair world of an English summer was just out of reach. If Shakespeare +was a real boy,--and we think he was--he was surely describing his own +feelings when he wrote the lines in 'As You Like It' about: + + 'The whining schoolboy, with his satchel, + And shining morning face, creeping like snail + Unwillingly to school,--'" + +As they had already walked a good deal that day, Mrs. Pitt found a +carriage, and they drove to Trinity Church and the Shakespeare +Memorial. On the way, the driver pointed out the home of Marie +Corelli, the writer. It is an attractive, square house, which presents +a very gay appearance, with a box of bright flowers on every +window-ledge. + +Trinity Church stands close beside the picturesque Avon. The waters +flow gently against the rushes, making a soft music, and the breeze +just stirs the leaves of the tall trees which keep guard over the +graves in the church-yard. One feels something of the peace and quiet +of Stoke Poges, but here the presence,--or, rather, the memory--of the +great Shakespeare hovers over all, and every one hastens inside to see +the tomb. + +The church is ancient--in part dating from the twelfth century--and it +contains many interesting monuments, but somehow the whole seems like +one huge memorial to Shakespeare. On the floor, at one side of the +chancel, is the slab which marks the Poet's grave, and which bears the +famous epitaph, said to have been written by himself: + + "Good frend; for Jesus' sake forbeare + To digg the dust encloased heare; + Bleste be y{e} man y{e} spares thes stones, + And curst be he y{t} moves my bones." + +On the wall above the tomb is the monument,--a bust of Shakespeare, on +which the original colors have recently been restored. Nearby are +buried Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare's wife, his daughter, Susanna Hall, +and her husband, and other members of the family. + +For some minutes our party stood quietly looking over the altar-rail +at the grave and its inscription, but finally, the arrival of some +loud-voiced, laughing tourists, who conscientiously made fun of +everything they saw, caused them to turn away. + +Mrs. Pitt then called their attention to some of the stained-glass +windows. "Two of them were given by Americans," she said. "This one +here pictures the Seven Ages of Man, which Shakespeare describes in +'As You Like It,' Do you see? Now come to the back of the church and +look at the parish register, which contains the record of the baptism +and burial of Shakespeare. Here it is." + +A glass case holds this precious relic, and by studying carefully the +quaint old writing, the words "Shakespeare" and the dates can be +traced. + +"Think how fortunate that this register was preserved!" exclaimed Mrs. +Pitt, leaning over to examine it again. "Important records of births, +marriages, and deaths, as well as notable events, were always kept in +these books, and yet the people generally did not consider them of +much value. The parchment leaves were often torn out and used to +rebind schoolbooks, or to line a housewife's cooking-utensils! Fancy! +Some vergers, however, recognized the great worth of these books and +preserved them with care. Luckily the men of this church were of that +type." + +Here the modern verger, in his flowing black gown, accosted them, and +urged them to buy some of the Shakespeare Post-cards, at a shilling +each. Having purchased several, and posted them then and there to +various friends, they left the church and walked down the lovely path, +shaded by arching lime-trees. They then drove to the Shakespeare +Memorial, which also stands near the river. + +This large, irregular building of red brick and stone, with its one +high tower, was erected in 1879. In it is a theatre where plays are +given every spring, on the anniversary of Shakespeare's birth, as well +as at certain other times. The children were amused at seeing a +rehearsal in progress on the stage. + +"How absurd Lady Macbeth does look strutting about and clasping her +hands, dressed in that black skirt, shirt-waist, and sailor hat!" +Betty laughed. + +In this Memorial Building are many photographs and paintings of +celebrated actors and actresses in Shakespearean rôles, as well as a +very fine library. There is so much to be seen here--so much +detail--that our friends only took a very hasty look about, and then +went up into the tower to see the view. Stretched out below them, the +quaint little town of Stratford and the lovely green meadows through +which the Avon flows, made a very effective picture! + +It was now late afternoon, and the sun was getting lower and lower. +They did not feel like doing any more real sight-seeing, yet it was +still too delightful out-of-doors to return to the hotel, so Mrs. +Pitt, who always had some fascinating plan ready, suggested that they +walk through the Weir Brake. + +"What's that, Mother? You never took us there!" exclaimed Barbara. + +"Didn't I? Well, I'll show it to you, and I am sure you will like it, +too," their mother promised. "Come on! We'll cross this little +foot-bridge, and go along the opposite bank." + +The view of Holy Trinity Church from across the river is very +charming. The luxuriant foliage almost hides it except for the old +gray spire, which rises most gracefully above the tree-tops. They +strolled happily along over the rough field, Betty stopping sometimes +to gather a few attractive blossoms to add to her bunch of +wildflowers. The light was wonderfully soft and lovely, and the sun +had gone down only to leave behind it a sky glorious in its tints of +pink and lavender, with the deep blue still remaining above. + +"Now, we're coming to the Weir Brake!" announced Mrs. Pitt +triumphantly. "Take care, Barbara! Don't trip over that stump!" + +They followed their guide over a stile, across a field where the smell +of new-mown hay was sweet, through some bars, and finally along a +narrow, rough path on a steep bank close to the Avon. This was the +beginning of the Weir Brake, where Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway may +perhaps have done their courting, as Mrs. Pitt suggested. + +The Avon is narrow at this point, and flows rather swiftly. The sunset +sky was reflected in its waters, which were overshadowed by willow +trees, rushes, and ferns. On the bank was a tangle of underbrush and +wild flowers, and above, the great trees,--the elms, of which +Shakespeare so often speaks. As they rambled on and on, the trees +seemed to grow larger, and more and more gnarled and picturesque. + +"Oh! Can't you just see Titania and Oberon and all the other fairies +dancing here and playing games about these trees! It looks exactly +like a stage-setting for 'As You Like It' or 'Midsummer Night's +Dream,'" exclaimed Betty, who was fascinated with what she saw. The +evening was just dark enough to produce a weird but beautiful effect +of shadows under the elm trees. + +"I'm rejoiced that it appeals to you so, Betty!" cried Mrs. Pitt. +"That's just as I always feel! It seems as though you could actually +touch spots of which Shakespeare must have been thinking when he wrote +certain passages. And it is a fact that he did often have this or +similar places in mind; for, although the scene of 'A Midsummer +Night's Dream' was supposed to be in Greece, Shakespeare allowed his +characters and his entire background to be as absolutely English as he +was himself. You know that in olden times, the Forest of Arden covered +much of Warwickshire; even these old trees with which we are now +surrounded, are remnants of that splendid woodland which is so +familiar to us through Shakespeare. It was surely in just such a scene +that Titania and the other fairies danced, and where Snug, Bottom, +Flute, Snout, and the rest came to practice their play,--those +so-called Athenians, who were so exactly like Stratford tradesmen of +Shakespeare's day. Certainly it was under just such trees that Hermia, +and Helena, Lysander, and Demetrius wandered! + +"And see there where those branches touch the water," she soon +continued; "might not that have been the very place where poor Ophelia +lost her life? Listen! + + 'There is a willow grows aslant a brook, + That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;' + +Isn't that a perfect description of this very spot? And then: + + 'I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows, + Where oxslips and the nodding violet grows,--' + +Just see the violets all about us here! There are the 'pale +cowslips,' too! Do you see? Oh, it's wonderful,--wonderful to find so +many of the very flowers which Shakespeare loved and talked of so +much!--the daisy, the musk-rose and woodbine! There's some right by +your foot, Betty. But come, come, we really must go now! We'll go back +by the field above, where it is not so steep and dark. Come, John!" + +So they hurriedly retraced their steps toward the town. In skirting +the fields on the hill-top, they once had to pick their way with some +difficulty through holes in bristling hedges, and Mrs. Pitt and the +girls were forced to run away from a buck, but these were little +incidents to which they were all quite equal, and they arrived at the +Red Horse Hotel, nothing daunted, just as the dinner-gong sounded +loudly. + + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE + +A DAY IN WARWICKSHIRE + + +Betty did spend the evening "writing letters in Washington Irving's +room at the Red Horse," as she had planned. It was in that quaint, +tiny parlor that Irving wrote his well-known paper about +Stratford-on-Avon, and perhaps Betty hoped to benefit by the literary +atmosphere. At any rate, the letters were accomplished with great ease +and rapidity, after her curiosity had been satisfied by an examination +of the room. + +Washington Irving's armchair is there, and the old poker with which he +is said to have tended the fire. On the walls hang the pictures of a +number of actors and actresses who have played Shakespearean parts. +Except for these, the room differs very little from the rest of the +inn. About nine-thirty, the children started up to bed, Betty, +enthusiastic at the prospect of a high four-poster, which "you really +have to run and give a jump to get into." She and Barbara did not +stay long awake to enjoy it, however, for it seemed as though their +heads had hardly touched the pillows before the maid was calling them, +and the bright sun was pouring in at the windows. + +Very early they set out to walk "across the fields to Anne." The +little village of Shottery, where stands the cottage known all the +world over as "Anne Hathaway's," is only about a mile distant from +Stratford, and our party gayly took the path through the +fields,--perhaps the very one over which Shakespeare trod when he was +Anne's lover. This led them first past the "back-yards" of Stratford, +then over a stile and through the green meadows, where daisies and +cowslips abound. As they went along, Mrs. Pitt repeated to them the +following little verse from Shakespeare's "Winter's Tale": + + "Jog on, jog on, the footpath way, + And merrily hent the stile-a; + A merry heart goes all the way, + Your sad tires in a mile-a." + +The boys learned this, and half-chanted, half-sang it over and over +while they all kept time to the rhythm. + +"There's Shottery, I guess!" Betty called, interrupting the singers, +as she caught sight of a pretty little group of thatched-roofed +cottages. "It seems a very short 'mile-a,' doesn't it!" + +Anne Hathaway's cottage is even more picturesque than its neighbors, +or does this only seem so because of the associations which it has for +all? Every one knows the picture of the cottage. One end stands close +to the country road, and in front of it, behind a green hedge, is the +garden. Growing on the cottage walls are at least half a dozen +different kinds of roses, as well as honeysuckle and jasmine, which +clamber way up and mingle with the heavy thatch. The old +casement-windows with their thick panes of glass were swung open to +let in the morning's fresh air. A young girl dressed in pink and +carrying a broom, appeared on the doorstep as Philip opened the gate. +She was evidently rather surprised to see such early visitors, but she +said they might go in. While Mrs. Pitt paused to speak with her, +Betty, who had already rushed inside, called out: "Here's the old +settle! I know it from its pictures!" + +Sure enough, there it was, close beside the great fireplace,--we hope +just where it has always been ever since Anne Hathaway and +Shakespeare sat there together. + +"But, Mother, is that really the same bench, and did Anne truly live +here?" questioned the all too matter-of-fact Barbara. + +"My dear daughter," began Mrs. Pitt, feigning great severity; "banish +that thought immediately! Just for one little hour we are going to +know that Anne did live here,--that Will said 'Will you?' and Anne +said 'I will,' right on this very bench. I quite refuse to listen to +any doubts on the subject for to-day! You write our names in the book, +please, Philip. I'm going to rest myself here in Anne's +rocking-chair!" + +The girl with the broom looked at her visitor in a puzzled way, and +began,--"But, lady, I brought that chair here with me only----" But +Mrs. Pitt quickly interrupted her, asking some trifling question. Her +illusions were not to be disturbed, it seemed, and the girl beat a +retreat. + +"Well, Mother," said Philip, "you aren't the only one who has ever +believed in the house! Here in this old Visitors' Book are the names +of Dickens, Longfellow, Holmes, General Grant, Edwin Booth, Mary +Anderson, and----" + +[Illustration: "DID ANNE TRULY LIVE HERE?"--_Page 164._] + +"Never mind the rest, Phil; if General Grant said so, it's true! He +knew what he was talking about!" And so John settled the question. + +A flag-stone floor is all this little room can boast of, and a low +ceiling of huge timbers, but it has an air of homelikeness and cosy +comfort, nevertheless. At the windows are flowers which nod to their +cousins out in the garden; some gray knitting usually lies on the +table; and there is the huge fireplace with all its cranes, different +hooks, pots and kettles; and the crowning glory of all, the old oak +settle, upon which every visitor religiously seats himself. + +"Isn't there any upstairs?" demanded John, before many minutes. + +"Oh, yes! May we go up, please?" Mrs. Pitt asked of the attendant. +"Yes, thank you; I know the way, and I'll be careful." + +So they climbed the rickety stairs, and saw a little bedroom under the +eaves, in which stands an old, very forlorn-looking "four-poster." + +"I'm so glad that tiresome, truthful person let us come up alone," +said Mrs. Pitt, panting. "If she had come, too, I could not have +explained that this was Anne's bedroom. She used to sit by this +window and dream about Will, and watch for his coming, too. She----" + +"Don't spoil it all, Mother," pleaded Barbara. "Perhaps it really was +her room!" + +"And didn't I just say as much?" her mother laughed. "But seriously! +This room never appealed to me as does the one below. Anne couldn't +have been very comfortable up here. If she was tall, she could hardly +have stood up straight because of the slanting roof." + +So laughingly, they went downstairs and toward the patch of bright +yellow sun-flowers in the farthest corner of the garden. The young +girl followed them. "Shall I point out the different flowers?" she +timidly inquired. + +They were duly shown the "rosemary for remembrance," the "pansies for +thoughts," and a great many others of Shakespeare's loved flowers. The +view of the cottage from the group of tall sun-flowers is most +charming. There is surely nothing in the world more picturesque than a +thatched-roof. + +Arrived once again at the Red Horse, they all packed up their +belongings, and Mrs. Pitt went over to the station with a boy, who +wheeled the luggage. When the suit-cases were duly labeled +"Leamington," and the station-master had received his tip of a +shilling, to insure his remembering them, Mrs. Pitt returned to the +hotel, where she found five bicycles lined up. At sight of her, the +rest came running out. "This is great!" cried John, already astride +one of the bicycles, and impatient for the start. + +"Yes," answered Mrs. Pitt, much pleased by the enthusiasm. "I thought +this would be rather better than driving out to Charlecote and back, +and then taking the train to Leamington. I know the roads, and am +delighted at riding once more! I had my divided-skirt with me, you +see, in case of this very emergency. You girls will manage somehow; +your skirts are fairly short." This was to Barbara and Betty, and then +they were off. + +The ride of about four miles to Charlecote seemed all too short, for, +as Betty expressed it, "the roads are so smooth and level that I can't +stop. My wheel just goes of itself!" They first came in sight of +Charlecote Park, where there are still great numbers of deer. As the +party passed, the graceful creatures rose from the tall grass, making +an extremely pretty picture. They tried in vain to coax them to the +fence. + +"Deer in Shakespeare's time must have been tamer, or he couldn't have +stolen one," observed John knowingly. + +"Isn't the 'Tumble-down Stile' near here, Mother?" Barbara questioned. + +"Yes, it's just beyond this turn in the road. There it is now! So long +as we are believing all we see to-day, I feel quite justified in +telling you that when the youthful Shakespeare was escaping with his +deer on his shoulders, he fled by way of this stile. Touch that top +rail, John, and see what will happen. No, this end of the rail!" + +As John put his hand on the place which Mrs. Pitt designated, that end +gave way and hit the three other rails, so that they also bent down to +the ground. John was much amused, and repeated the motion again and +again. + +"Did Shakespeare fall over that stile when he was trying to climb it +with the deer, and did they catch him then?" he asked eagerly. + +"Yes, that's the story, and, of course, we know it is true! Now, come +this way to the gatehouse. I was able to get permission, through an +influential friend, to take you inside. I am so glad, for not every +one has such good fortune. This woodland," motioning to the fine old +oaks, as they sped along, "is also a part of the ancient Forest of +Arden. That wood was so dense in this county in the thirteenth +century, that the King ordered the Constable of Warwickshire to cut +down six acres in breadth between Warwick and Coventry, to insure the +greater safety of travelers." + +They were now getting distant glimpses of the fine Elizabethan +residence itself. It was built in 1558, the year of Elizabeth's +accession to the throne, and was made in the general shape of the +letter E, in honor of that Queen. The color of the ancient bricks has +been softened and beautified by the hand of Time, which has also +caused heavy vines to grow upon, and in certain places, almost to +cover the walls. The different courts, gateways, and gables, are +therefore most picturesque. The present owner, a descendant of the Sir +Thomas Lucy whom Shakespeare knew and ridiculed, permits visitors (the +privileged few) to see the Great Hall and the library. + +The former is the most interesting of all the apartments, for here one +stands in the very room where Shakespeare is said to have been +questioned by the pompous Sir Thomas Lucy, after the deer-stealing +episode. This lofty hall has a slight modern atmosphere about it now, +but the dark paneling, bits of really old glass in the windows, and, +above all, the bust of Shakespeare, recall the past very vividly to +mind. + +Most historians admit that there is some truth in the story that +Shakespeare came into unpleasant contact with the Lord of Charlecote, +through a more or less serious boyish prank; but not all believe that +there can be any truth in the statement that he was brought into the +Great Hall by the forester who caught up with him at the "Tumble-down +Stile." It may be, however, that Shakespeare was later on friendly +terms with the Lucy family, and so it is possible that he was then +entertained in the hall. + +"You know," remarked Mrs. Pitt, "that the disgrace of that affair with +Sir Thomas Lucy is thought to have caused Shakespeare to leave his +native town and go to seek his fortune in far-away London. Therefore +the prank is said by some to have been a most important, though +seemingly trivial event in the Poet's life. Shakespeare's revenge +upon the owner of lovely Charlecote came later, when he very plainly +described Sir Thomas in his plays, under the name of 'Justice +Shallow.'" + +Another room at Charlecote is very attractive,--that is, the old +library. There is preserved some wonderful inlaid furniture which +tradition describes as a gift from Queen Elizabeth to Leicester, and +which consequently would once have found a place at Kenilworth Castle. +A very charming view of the lawn sloping gently down to the river is +seen from the library windows. + +Within the precincts of Charlecote is a beautiful church which was +erected by Mrs. Henry Spenser Lucy, in 1852, upon the site of an +ancient chapel. Here there are huge tombs in memory of three Lucys, +and also an interesting monument to the wife of Sir Thomas, with its +tribute to her lovely character, supposed to have been written by +Shakespeare's "Justice Shallow" himself, who seems at least to have +been a devoted husband. This last-mentioned monument was originally a +part of the older edifice, of course. + +It was now about noon, and they were feeling rather hungry, so at a +short distance from Charlecote they selected an inviting place by the +roadside, and there they unpacked the lunch which Mrs. Pitt had +brought. How good it did taste! They all thoroughly enjoyed the +picnic, and when a scarlet automobile went rushing past them, the +ladies' veils fluttering in the breeze, Betty merely remarked:--"An +auto's lovely, of course, but to-day I'd rather have a bicycle. It +seems more appropriate, somehow." + +"Yes," Mrs. Pitt responded. "When you are in such a beautiful county +as this, and want to see it well, a bicycle is best. And then, I think +it is more respectful to Shakespeare to go through his beloved haunts +at a fairly leisurely pace. I imagine that he never would have +understood how any one could care so little for Warwickshire as to go +whirling and jiggling along through it in a motor, at thirty miles an +hour." + +Betty had absent-mindedly picked a daisy from the tall grass in which +she was sitting, and was pulling off its petals, reciting the little +verse about: + + "Rich man, + Poor man, + Beggar man, + Thief." + +"Oh, dear! It's thief!" she cried, making up a wry face. "I'd rather +have any one than that!" + +"Try the other verses," suggested Barbara, entering into the fun. + +"What others?" asked Betty in much surprise. "I didn't know there were +any more." + +"Dear me, yes," Mrs. Pitt broke in. "I used to know several of them +myself,--the one about the house: + + 'Big house, + Little house, + Pig-stye, + Barn,' + +and about the conveyances: + + 'Coach, + Carriage, + Spring-cart, + Wheelbarrow.' + +Wasn't there one more, Barbara? Oh, yes, about the dress materials: + + 'Silk, + Satin, + Muslin, + Rags.'" + +"Well, well!" exclaimed Betty. "I never heard those. They must be just +English." + +"Perhaps so. At any rate, when I was a little girl, I used to say +them, and believe in them, too. I lived here in Warwickshire, in my +childhood, you know; my father was rector of a tiny village not far +from Coventry. There are ever so many queer old rhymes, verses, and +customs still common among Warwickshire children." + +"Tell Betty about some of them, Mother," Barbara urged. "I'm sure that +she'd like to hear, and we don't need to start on just yet." + +Mrs. Pitt leaned thoughtfully against the lowered bars, at the +entrance to a field. "I'll have to think about it," she said; but she +soon added, "There was the 'Wishing Tree.' I remember that." + +"What was it?" the two girls eagerly questioned. John and Philip, +privately considering this talk "silly stuff," had retired to the +farther side of a hay-rick, where they were whittling industriously. + +"The 'Wishing Tree' was a large elm that stood in the park of a +neighboring nobleman's estate. To all the girls of the village, it was +a favorite spot, and we used to steal through the hedge and very +cautiously approach the tree. If the cross old gardener happened to +see us he'd come limping in our direction as fast as his lame legs +could carry him, calling out angrily that if we did not 'shog off +right away, he'd set his ten commandments in our faces.' That's an odd +expression, isn't it? It's very, very old,--so old that Shakespeare +was familiar with it and used it in one of his plays--'King Henry VI,' +I think. The gardener meant that he would scratch us with his ten +fingers--but he wouldn't have, for he was too kind-hearted in spite of +his threats. He was a queer man, with a brown, wrinkled old face. I +can see him just as though it were yesterday." + +"What was that you said?" asked Betty. "'Shog off!' What does it +mean?" + +"Simply Warwickshire for 'Go away,'" was Mrs. Pitt's careless answer. +Her thoughts had gone back to her childhood. + +"You forgot to tell us what the 'Wishing Tree' was for," Betty timidly +suggested, fearful of interrupting her reminiscences. + +"Why, so I did! We would tiptoe all alone up to the tree, and if, +under its wide branches, we made a wish, we thought it was sure to +come true. There was another curious old game of finding out how many +years we were to live, by a ball. We would bounce it upon the hard +ground, and catching it again and again in our hands, would chant all +the while: + + 'Ball-ee, ball-ee, tell me true, + How many years I've got to go through, + One, two, three, four,--' + +If that had proved true, I shouldn't be here to-day to tell of it, +for I was never very skillful with the ball, and could only catch it +ten or fifteen times at the most." + +Mrs. Pitt laughed. "There is so much of ancient folk-lore here in +Warwickshire," she went on. "I remember that the old country people +always crossed themselves or said some charm for a protection, when +one lone magpie flew over their heads. That meant bad luck, for the +verses said: + + 'For one magpie means sorrow, + Two, mirth, + Three, a wedding, + And four, a birth.' + +Why, what is it, Barbara?" + +Barbara had jumped to her feet, and was wildly waving her arms about +her head. "It's only a bee," she said, rather ashamed. "I don't like +them quite so near." + +It was delightful to ride along on this "rare day in June," through +the fair county of Warwickshire,--the "Heart of England." If they were +just a bit uncomfortably warm on the hill-top where the sun beat down +upon the fields and open road, they were soon again in the beautiful +woodland, where the cool air refreshed them, or passing through the +street of some remote village, shaded by giant elms. In each little +hamlet, as well as the row of peaceful thatched cottages, with smoke +curling upwards from their chimneys, there was the ancient +vine-covered church, with perhaps a Norman tower, where the rooks +found a home, and the gray old rectory close at hand. + +When Betty asked if it was in a church "like this" that Mrs. Pitt's +father preached, and if her former home resembled the particular +rectory they then chanced to be passing, Mrs. Pitt replied, "Yes, my +home was somewhat like this one. All English country churches and +rectories look very much alike,--that is, almost all are vine-covered, +and very old and quaint--yet, I think each has its own very distinct +individuality, too." + +Mrs. Pitt, of course, wanted some tea, so about four o'clock they +stopped at a clean little cottage, near a stretch of woodland. Mrs. +Pitt herself dismounted and stepped up to the door, which stood +hospitably open. A little flaxen-haired child ran out curiously at the +sound of the knock, and then, frightened, scampered away to call her +mother. That good woman, in her neat black dress and stiffly-starched +white apron, at once understood the situation. + +"You just seat yourselves there under the trees," she ordered them, +"and I'll bring right out a shive off a loaf of bread, and a tot o' +tea for each of you." + +The young people looked puzzled at this speech, but Mrs. Pitt +smilingly led the way to the place their hostess designated. In a +surprisingly short time the woman brought out a table (having scorned +the assistance of the two boys), spread it with an immaculately clean +cloth, and set thereon a very tempting loaf of brown bread and a pot +of steaming tea. There was also jam, of course. While they enjoyed +their meal, she stood by, her hands on her hips, and a radiant smile +upon her face at the praises of her guests. Every few moments the +little girl would peep out from behind the cottage, and once she +almost came up to the group under the trees; but her mother, when she +spied her, sent her hastily back, saying by way of an apology:--"She's +all swatched, but she's only my reckling, you must know." As they rode +away into the woods, the good woman stood in the middle of the road +waving her table-cloth for good-by. + +"Wasn't she a dandy!" John burst out. "Couldn't understand what she +said, though! Might just as well have been Greek!" + +"She certainly did have some old Warwickshire expressions!" laughed +Mrs. Pitt. "I don't know when I've heard that word 'reckling.' It +simply means her youngest child, who she said was all 'swatched.' That +signifies being untidy, but I am sure I couldn't see the tiniest spot +of dirt anywhere upon the child." + +Betty was rather glad when they at last jumped off their bicycles at +the hotel in Leamington. + +"I guess I'm not used to quite such long rides as you," she said. "It +has been beautiful, though, and I wouldn't have come by train for +anything. I just love Warwickshire, and everything about it, +especially the language, which I mean to learn while I am here." + + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN + +WARWICK AND KENILWORTH CASTLES + + +The bicycles were returned to their owner in Stratford, and Mrs. +Pitt's plan was to drive to Warwick and Kenilworth the following day. +Consequently it was a great disappointment at breakfast-time to see +gray and threatening clouds overhead, from which rain very soon began +to descend. The day was also very cold, and such a chilling wind was +blowing and whistling around the corners of the hotel, that fires were +lighted in all the tiny grates. + +"Whoever heard of such cold weather in June!" John protested, not in +the best of spirits at being shut up in the house. "It's horrid, I +say! Ugh! If my fur coat was here, I should put it on, and then get +inside the fireplace, too." + +At this very dismal burst of feeling from John, Mrs. Pitt came to the +rescue, suggesting a game of billiards. John brightened very +considerably after this, and the remainder of the day was pleasantly +spent in writing letters, playing games, and reading aloud from +Scott's "Kenilworth," in preparation for the morrow's visit to that +castle. + +"Just think of seeing the very spot in the garden where Queen +Elizabeth met Amy Robsart! And perhaps the same room where she slept. +Oh, I can hardly wait till morning!" sighed Betty rapturously. +"Kenilworth" had long been one of her favorite books. + +At bedtime Mrs. Pitt, inwardly rather uncertain about the prospects of +the weather, was outwardly most cheerful with her assurance that she +"felt sure it would be fine in the morning." + +Mrs. Pitt was "usually right about things," as the children had long +since discovered, and this proved no exception to the rule. The sun +shone brightly on the morrow, and the whole country-side looked as +though it had been washed and cleaned so as to appear at its loveliest +for the visitors. + +The drive through Leamington revealed a very pretty watering-place, +with baths, parks, gay streets of shops, and many neat little private +villas, each being dignified by a name. + +"How do they ever find names enough to go around?" Betty thought to +herself. + +They soon left the town behind, and a short drive along the perfectly +smooth, wide, country road, brought them to the well-known bridge over +the Avon, and revealed the fact that the river had not lost a bit of +its beauty since they left it at the Weir Brake. It is from this +bridge that the famous view of Warwick Castle is to be had, and a more +charming picture cannot well be imagined. Just at a bend of the river, +the great gray front looms up, long and straight, the turrets here and +there giving it a most formidable air of old-time majesty and +strength. + +Leaving the carriage at the castle entrance, Mrs. Pitt led the way up +the narrow walk, bounded by high walls of rock, to which the damp moss +clings and over which flowers and trailing vines hang. Finally they +passed under an old gateway with a portcullis, and found themselves in +the inner court-yard of the castle, which is almost round in shape. +Old towers or buildings very nearly surround this court, and in the +center is a wonderfully smooth grass-plot, which is sometimes used as +a tennis-court. Several stately peacocks strutted about displaying +their magnificent feathers. They were very tame, and almost allowed +Betty to come near enough to touch them. She was delighted when the +largest most obligingly dropped a gorgeous feather at her very feet. + +"For a souvenir!" she exclaimed, as she picked it up. "How dear of +him! I like peacocks even if they are proud! I would be, if I lived +here! They know how important they are, and that this garden wouldn't +be complete without them." + +[Illustration: "THEY KNOW HOW IMPORTANT THEY ARE, AND THAT THIS GARDEN +WOULDN'T BE COMPLETE WITHOUT THEM."--_Page 184._] + +"Do you see that high mound?" asked Mrs. Pitt, pointing to the +northern end of the court. "There Æthelflæd, the daughter of Alfred +the Great, is supposed to have built a castle, and thus the history of +Warwick may be said to have commenced in 914. Just fancy! Since that +day, many great families have been in possession here (De Newburghs, +Beauchamps, Nevilles, Plantagenets),--from traditional Guy of Warwick +to 'Warwick the King-maker,' and all along the line to the Greville +family, which has owned it since 1759. 'Warwick the King-maker,' or +Richard Neville, was the famous baron who possessed such wonderful +power in England that he could make and unmake kings at his will. It +was he who captured poor, weak Edward IV, and brought him here as a +prisoner. Of Guy of Warwick, the great warrior and hero, I shall +tell you more when we are at Guy's Cliff, where he lived. He is really +more associated with that place than this. You will see here, however, +what is known as 'Guy's Porridge Pot.' It is an interesting old +vessel, very large and made of metal. Most probably it had nothing +whatever to do with the great Guy; some authorities consider, because +of the existence of this little rhyme, that it belonged to a certain +Sir John Talbot, who died about 1365. + + 'There is nothing left of Talbot's name, + But Talbot's pot and Talbot's Lane.' + +But let's go over to that door by which we enter. There comes a guide +with his party; perhaps we can go in with them." + +They found the interior of Warwick Castle very delightful, and in a +perfect state of preservation, for the family of the present Earl +occupy it often. The ever-present Great Hall is here more grand and +lofty than that of Charlecote, though it has not the appearance of as +great antiquity as the one at beautiful Penshurst Place. Its walls are +lined with old suits of armor, but, nevertheless, the room is +furnished with comfortable easy-chairs, as the family, when in +residence, use this as their living-room. Among the collection of +armor is the helmet of Oliver Cromwell, and a whole miniature suit of +mail which was once worn by the little dwarfed son of Robert Dudley, +the famous Earl of Leicester. In a great bay-window, overlooking the +Avon, stands the huge caldron of Guy of Warwick. Strangely enough, an +exquisite Elizabethan saddle of green velvet had found a temporary +resting-place in its great depths. + +"I think this Cedar Room is very beautiful," remarked Mrs. Pitt, as +they stepped into that apartment. "Do you see that the walls are +entirely of cedar wood from floor to ceiling? Isn't the effect rich, +and doesn't it smell good? Do you notice the fine carving, and the +pictures,--some of Van Dyck's best works? Oh! I must not call your +attention to so many things all at once!" + +In the Green Drawing-room, the Red Drawing-room, the State Bed-room, +and the various other rooms and corridors, are priceless treasures of +art; for besides invaluable paintings by the greatest masters, there +are here beautiful pieces of furniture, made of tortoise-shell and +inlaid with gold or pearl, and ancient marriage-chests, which once +belonged to Italian princesses of bygone days. The armory contains one +of the most valuable collections in England, and in the State Bed-room +are many relics of Queen Anne. One really wearies of so much +costliness which it is utterly impossible to appreciate at one visit. + +"Haven't we time to walk in the gardens a little longer?" asked +Barbara, wistfully. To her, Nature was nearer and dearer than all the +wonders of art and history. + +After a ramble through the bewitchingly lovely gardens,--going across +ancient drawbridges, spanning long-unused, grass-grown moats; under +little postern-gates; into rustic grottoes--they at last came to the +conservatory, in which is preserved the "Warwick Vase." This is made +of white marble, carved with various devices. + +"It has a curious history," answered Mrs. Pitt, in reply to the +children's questions. "In 1770, some workmen found it at the bottom of +a small lake which is about sixteen miles from Rome. Of course, it is +not possible to determine with any certainty how it came to be there, +but as Hadrian's Villa was in A.D. 546 occupied by a king of the +Goths, an enemy who was then laying siege to Rome, it has been thought +that the vase was cast into the lake, to save it from the hands of the +invaders. The second Earl of Warwick was its purchaser." + +Slowly and unwillingly they wended their way back through the gardens, +to the central court of the castle, and then out under the old +gateway. + +"My!" cried John, "it must have taken heaps of soldiers to defend a +place like this in the Middle Ages! I wish I'd been here when it was +just plumb full of great warriors,--when the moat had water in it, the +drawbridge worked, and sentinels called out to you for the password as +you came near the gate. I suppose they could peep out at you from +those little windows up high, too." John looked longingly back, as +they walked away. + +"Oh, yes!" continued Mrs. Pitt, in tones which made the girls shudder. +"From those windows they rained shot down upon the enemy. And there +are little slits in the wall from which men poured boiling metal or +tar upon those besieging the castle. Upon the roof of Guy's Tower +there, it is thought that a huge machine used to stand,--a machine for +slinging down great stones. Oh, yes; there were dungeons here, +too,--deep, dark, damp, and evil-smelling dungeons, into which many +prisoners were thrown. Why, it was from here that Piers Gaveston, the +unfortunate favorite courtier of Edward II, was taken out and executed +upon a hill close by. Underneath the fine halls where splendid +banquets were carried on, out of sight and reach of the fair gardens +and lawns, there were always poor prisoners who were shut away from +the daylight for years perhaps, and laboriously carving crests or +verses in the stone walls, to while away the hours." + +Mrs. Pitt suddenly burst into peals of laughter as she saw the pained +expressions upon the faces of the two girls; then a glance at the +rapt, enthusiastic attention of John, caused her to become serious +again. + +"Never mind, girls," she said gravely. "Such things are now gone +forever; people have advanced too far in their ideas to ever permit of +more of those unjust acts and horrible punishments. I can never +believe that the world isn't growing daily better! And, boys, it is +all very well to love and long for the golden deeds and knightly +ideals of the men of mythical King Arthur's Court, for instance; read +about them all you can, and try to imitate them, but never wish back +the terrible conditions of warfare and brutality which existed at the +time. The kindly thoughts and acts will endure always, but the +rest,--never!" + +Silently they took their seats in the carriage, and the coachman next +drove them to Saint Mary's Church, which stands in the quaint village +of Warwick. Its old tower holds ten bells, and these play every four +hours. There is a different tune for each day, which is always changed +at midnight. The Warwick towns-people, living near their church, must +have an enviable musical education, for they have continually dinned +in their ears all sorts of tunes, from the "Easter Hymn" to "The Blue +Bells of Scotland." + +On the site of Saint Mary's, an ancient church is believed to have +stood, prior to William the Conqueror. The present edifice, having +been much altered and added to by various benefactors, and at very +various times, presents a rather confused and not especially pleasing +appearance architecturally. All visitors to the town are attracted +there, however, by the presence of the Beauchamp Chapel, which +contains the tomb of the Earl of Leicester. + +Having paid the entrance fee, Mrs. Pitt and her charges were permitted +to descend the few steps leading from the church proper into the +Beauchamp Chapel. It is very beautiful, and was built in 1443, by +William Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, who intended it as his memorial. +It was once most elaborate with its fine marbles, monuments adorned +with precious stones, and the gold statuettes which filled its niches, +but these have long since been carried away. The tomb of Ambrose +Dudley, who was named the "Good Earl of Warwick," stands in the +center, and against the wall is that of the great Leicester and the +Countess, his wife. + +"Look here," called Mrs. Pitt. "Here lies their son, the little boy +who wore the armor which you saw over at the castle. The inscription +speaks of him as 'That noble impe, the young Lord Denbigh, their +infant son and heir.' 'Impe' in those days had no such meaning of +mischievous as we give it to-day. It then simply signified a young +boy." + +Betty was much impressed by a small flight of winding stairs, just off +the chapel, which are entirely worn down in the middle. + +"Was it because so many monks went up there?" she asked. + +"Yes, so it is said," was Mrs. Pitt's reply. "Perhaps it may have been +a kind of confessional, where the monks knelt." + +There was one more thing in the church which they paused to note; that +is, the tomb of Fulke Greville, the first Lord Brooke, who was stabbed +by a valet, in 1628. Greville was "servant to Queene Elizabeth, +conceller to King James, and frend to Sir Philip Sidney," as the +inscription tells us; and it would seem that the greatest emphasis and +respect was even then given the fact that he was "frend to" the noble +Sir Philip Sidney. + +Nearby, the quaint buildings of Leicester's Hospital still stand. Here +was a monastery until the Dissolution, or the breaking up, of all the +religious houses, under Henry VIII. When the property came into the +hands of Leicester in 1571, he made the house into a hospital for +twelve men. The present brethren have all been soldiers of the Crown, +who now receive a pension and are spending the remainder of their +days in the sunny nooks and corners of the old timbered houses. One of +these brethren who showed the party about, was a most curious old +character, and afforded the young people no end of amusement. He +invariably gave his information in a very loud voice, which was +absolutely without expression, and his eyes were kept steadily fixed +upon some distant point. + +He showed them the ancient hall in which Sir Fulke Greville once +received King James, and it seemed to give him the keenest pleasure to +describe how that King was "right royally entertained." + +"Oh, ye're right, lady," he panted, "the 'ospital was founded by +Robert Dudley, Lord Leicester, 'e 'o was much at Elizabeth's court, +h'as you all know. And it's a descendant h'of 'is, or of 'is sister, +as you may say, 'o 'as the right to appoint the master 'ere in this +'ospital to this day. 'E's Lord D'Lisle and Dudley, of Penshurst Place +h'in Kent,--'im as is descended direct from the Lady Mary, sister of +Robert Dudley, 'o married Sir 'Enry Sidney. H'its 'e 'o appoints the +master h'over us this very day. But as I was saying,--it was 'ere +that 'is Majesty King James was right royally h'entertained." + +"Yes," broke in John, interrupting the rapid flow of expressionless +words. "We'll remember that all right." Then in an aside to Philip, he +whispered: "That's the ninth time he has said 'right royally +entertained.' I'm going to keep count." + +Having examined an embroidered curtain, the work of Amy Robsart at +Cumnor Hall, the King of Dahomey's State Execution Sword, which seemed +a bit out of place amid the surroundings, and an old battle-ax, +supposed to have been used for one side or the other on the Field of +Hastings, in 1066, they bade farewell to their guide (who had suddenly +ceased his mechanical orations like a clock which has run down), and +drove away toward Kenilworth. + +Guy's Cliff next called for attention. It is first seen at the end of +a long, stately avenue lined by great trees. At the back of the castle +flows a stream, at this point widened out into a miniature lake, on +the bank of which stands a very ancient, moss-covered Saxon mill. The +castle across the water and the old mill make such very attractive +pictures that their vicinity is always frequented by numbers of +artists, sitting under their big umbrellas. + +As the party stood under the trees by the mill, Mrs. Pitt gathered the +young people about her. + +"Now, I want to tell you the story of Guy of Warwick, for whom this +Guy's Cliff was called. He lived long, long ago (if he really did live +at all), when England had great tracts of unsettled country, where men +were afraid to go for fear of horrible monsters. This brave young Guy +was a strong warrior, and he became famous because he slew the Dun +cow, and other terrible animals which were tormenting the country +folk. Guy later went off to the Crusades. These were pilgrimages which +devout men made to Jerusalem, in the endeavor to win back that city +from the Turks. Guy was gone some time from England--years +probably--and when he came back, he lived the life of a hermit, in a +cave near here. The story goes that his wife used to carry food to him +each day, and that she never recognized him until he was dying and +revealed to her his identity." + +Here Mrs. Pitt was forced to pause for breath, and John broke in +excitedly, "Oh, let's go and see the cave! Can't we?" + +"I'm afraid not, John. You see, Guy's Cliff belongs to Lord Algernon +Percy, and the cave is on his private premises. I fear we would not be +allowed to visit it,--especially as the family is now in residence at +the castle. Did I tell you that Guy and his faithful wife were buried +together in the cave?" + +After taking lunch at the King's Arms Hotel at Kenilworth, and seeing +the room in which Scott wrote his novel, they proceeded to the castle. +The afternoon was warm and sunny, with a blue sky and a summer haze +over the landscape,--the kind of afternoon which invites one to +day-dreams. Consequently, Mrs. Pitt ensconced herself against the +crumbling wall of Cæsar's Tower, put up her umbrella to keep off the +glare of the sun, and sat dreaming over the remains of the once +magnificent castle. Meanwhile the young people, accompanied by a +guide, climbed all over the ruin. They scrambled up narrow stairs in +thick walls, climbed as high as it was safe to go on old towers, and +explored the dark chambers and passages near the old Banqueting-hall. + +"This tower is supposed to be where Amy Robsart's lodgings were," +their dignified guide told them, and then he boldly spoiled Betty's +delight, by saying, "It's queer now how fascinated all visitors are by +Amy Robsart. Of course, they've read of her in Scott's novel, but +curiously enough, that's the only part of the tale which is not taken +strictly from history. No one really knows whether Amy Robsart ever +was at Kenilworth, and at any rate, it doesn't seem at all likely that +she was here at the time of Queen Elizabeth's famous visit of 1563." + +"O dear!" Betty sighed, really bitterly disappointed. "I always liked +the part about Amy best of all, and now it isn't true at all!" + +"Never mind, Miss; there would be plenty of interest attached to the +old place, even if Scott had never written of it. Oh, I know it's a +great book, and makes that particular period of Kenilworth's history +remarkably vivid. What I mean is, that the old castle is not dependent +on Scott for its grand history and reputation." He looked above him at +the beautiful oriel-windows of the Banqueting-hall, as if he loved +every stone there. After a few such speeches, even the children began +to notice that he was "different from most guides"; he used most +excellent English, was very neatly dressed, had a pleasant, refined +face, and seemed to take an especial interest in the young people. + +The guide went on in his deep voice. "Kenilworth was built in 1120, by +Geoffrey de Clinton, Lord Chamberlain to Henry I. Later, it came into +the possession of the great Simon de Montfort, and it then +successfully withstood a siege; but it was during the Civil Wars that +Cromwell's soldiers reduced the splendid castle to these almost +equally splendid ruins. Of course, it was at the height of its glory +when the Earl of Leicester owned it, and Queen Elizabeth came here on +a visit. I'm sure you have all read about that famous week,--of all +the pageants, feasts, carnivals, and displays of fireworks upon the +lake. The lake was there; water covered all those low fields back of +the castle. At that time, the main approach was here," pointing to +where a rustic bridge crosses a little ravine. "There was once a large +bridge there, and from that entrance the Queen had her first glimpse +of the castle where she was to be so magnificently entertained." + +Just then Barbara saw that her mother had risen and was motioning +that it was time for them to go. So they reluctantly left the guide, +thanking him as Philip handed him his fee. That gentleman (for so he +really seemed) doffed his hat most politely, and appeared genuinely +sorry to have them go. As Betty turned to take a last look at the old +Banqueting-hall, she saw him standing just where they had left him, +and a bit wistfully watching them walk away. When they were once again +in the carriage and driving toward Coventry, they described the guide +to Mrs. Pitt, who showed much interest. Barbara thought that he was a +poor scholar or teacher, who was taking that way of earning a little +during the summer months; John was sure he was a nobleman in disguise, +for some highly romantic, secret reason; Philip could not even imagine +who he might be, so great was the mysterious atmosphere about him; but +Betty added: "He's surely a gentleman, and he was such an interesting, +polite guide, that I wish they were all like him." + +"Yes, it is curious," agreed Mrs. Pitt. "I'd like to have been along +with you, for I should have enjoyed studying him. I have once or twice +before come across just such puzzling characters. I once spent a +month at a small hotel down in Devonshire, where there was a +head-waiter who always interested me. I decided that he must have a +history, and it was proved that I was right when I discovered him a +few months later, dining with a lady at one of the most aristocratic +hotels in London. I'll never forget my sensations when I realized why +his face was so familiar, and where I had seen it before! That mystery +was never explained, and I'm afraid yours never will be." + +They found Coventry a delightful old town. Here it was that so many of +the Miracle Plays used to be given in olden times. The "Coventry +Plays" were famous, and Mrs. Pitt took the party to the court-yard of +Saint Mary's Hall, where they were wont to be performed; for such +entertainments always took place in the open air,--in squares or +courts, the stage being rudely constructed upon a wagon, which could +be taken from place to place. + +At the corner of two streets is an absurd figure of "Peeping Tom," +which recalls the fabled ride of the Lady Godiva, and her sacrifice to +procure the freedom of the people of Coventry from unjust taxes. + +Coventry streets are very narrow and crooked (Hawthorne once said that +they reminded him of Boston's winding ways), and there are many +picturesque houses, their upper stories jutting out over the street. +One most charming example of sixteenth century architecture is Ford's +Hospital, a home for forty aged women. The street front is unique in +its construction of timbers, gables, and carvings. Inside is an +oblong, paved court, overhung by the second story of the building. + +"It's like Leicester's Hospital at Warwick, only this is really more +quaint, isn't it? The old ladies peeping out from their little rooms +are dear! I'm going to make friends with them," Betty declared, as she +disappeared under one of the low doorways. She was soon seen +accompanying an old dame on crutches, who was hobbling out to show off +her bit of a garden, back of the house. + +On the return trip to Leamington, they were rather quiet. Having seen +so many famous places, it was natural that they should wish to think +them over. The driver approached Leamington by another road than that +by which they had left it, and it took them past Stoneleigh Abbey, +the country seat of Lord Leigh. It is situated in the midst of +woodland, which has been called "the only real bit of old Arden Forest +now to be found in Warwickshire." + +"They say that the Abbey is remarkably beautiful," said Mrs. Pitt, +"but I've never been fortunate enough to see it at any nearer range. +The house is not very old, having been erected in the eighteenth +century, but it stands on the site of a Cistercian Abbey, of which one +gateway still remains." + +It was late when they reached the hotel at Leamington, and they were +forced to hurry in order to be dressed in time for dinner. The gong +found them all assembled, however, for such a day of sight-seeing +makes one hungry. They all had a good laugh at Betty, for when she was +caught in a "brown study," and Mrs. Pitt asked to hear her thoughts, +she replied: + +"Oh, I was thinking over what a lovely day it has been,--especially at +Kenilworth!" and then added with a sigh, "If I only could know who +that guide was, everything would be perfect!" + + + + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN + +SHERWOOD FOREST AND HADDON HALL + + +Betty could scarcely sit still in the train which was carrying her +towards Mansfield, from sheer excitement at the anticipation of +actually seeing the haunts of Robin Hood. Ever since Mrs. Pitt had +mentioned that town as the gateway of the Sherwood Forest of Betty's +dreams, the name had seemed an enchanted one to her. As they had come +only the comparatively short journey from Leeds, they arrived at +Mansfield in the middle of the morning, and being Friday, the public +square presented its usual busy scenes of market-day. Vendors were +shouting their wares, long-suffering babies who had been unwillingly +brought along were crying, women were loudly chattering in shrill +voices, and a poor little dog, who in some mysterious way was being +made to play a part in a Punch and Judy Show, was yelping piteously. + +"Well," began Betty, who could think of only Robin Hood--her dear +hero, whose story was about to be made even more vivid to +her--"perhaps this is the very market where he came when he had bought +out the butcher's stock of meat and was selling it for kisses to the +lasses of the town. Oh, do you suppose it is the same place?" + +"Why, no!" interrupted John, in the decisive tones which he always +used when confident of his superior knowledge. "'Nottingham Town' was +where Robin Hood and his whole gang of fellows always went!" + +"Yes, that was really more associated with the famous outlaw than +Mansfield. You'll see Nottingham this afternoon, or, at any rate, +to-morrow. Now, come this way to the Swan Hotel. While you girls +unpack, I'll see that some horses are harnessed so that we can soon +set off to the forest." Mrs. Pitt then led the way from the +market-square toward the inn of which she had spoken. + +Before the carriage was ready, the young people had thoroughly +explored this remarkable old house. Perhaps the most notable thing +about it is the spiral staircase of solid oak, which is three hundred +years old; but the entire building is filled with little passages and +unexpected, remote nooks and corners, which, like the quaint bedrooms, +are crowded with curios, old pictures, and superb antique furniture. +Betty declared she had never seen such a "darling old four-poster" as +the one which stood in her room, the favorite Number Nine for which +all visitors clamor. Altogether, they considered it a most delightful +place, and Betty thought that without too great a stretch of the +imagination, she could even think of Robin Hood or Little John there. + +The hostess hastened to prepare a delicious, early lunch especially +for the party, and having partaken of it, they went at once to the +open carriage which was drawn up in the odd little inn-yard. John, as +usual, claimed the seat beside the driver, the others settled +themselves, and they started off. + +No sooner had they reached the open country than Betty's pent-up +spirits overflowed entirely. + +"Oh, do you see that little river flowing through the meadows?" she +suddenly cried, standing up to point at it excitedly. "See the reeds +along its edges, the field of tall grain, and the old tree trunk +which has fallen across the water! I just know that must be the place +where Robin first met Little John. They had a fight on a narrow +foot-bridge, you know, and Little John (who wasn't 'little' at all) +was the stronger, and tumbled Robin Hood over into the brook. Don't +you remember, John? That looks exactly like the picture in my Howard +Pyle's 'Robin Hood,' at home. Oh, I'm perfectly sure it must be the +same place! Aren't you, Mrs. Pitt?" + +This enthusiasm of Betty's was soon caught by the rest, and during the +whole afternoon they took turns in telling, one after another, the +"Merry Adventures of Robin Hood," as they recalled them. There could +not be a section of country which more perfectly suggests the setting +for that particular group of legends which has been associated with +it. Here surely is the identical woodland through which Robin Hood and +his merry men roamed. No one could possibly mistake it! Here are the +very same trees, behind which one can almost see lurking the men in +"Lincoln green." Here are ideal little glades carpeted with dainty +ferns, here and there touched with the sunlight which flashes between +the leaves. Sometimes the road emerges from the forest, and winds +along through broad fields,--the "high road" bordered by green meadows +and hedgerows. + +"You know," began Mrs. Pitt, her eyes sparkling with fun, "when Robin +and his men had been in hiding for some days or weeks, perhaps, +because the old Sheriff of Nottingham was trying particularly hard to +catch them at the time, some of the most venturesome ones, not being +able to exist longer under the restraint, would start off in search of +adventure; and leaving a bit reluctantly the heart of Sherwood Forest, +they always made straight for the 'high road.' Now in just such a +place as this, by the cross-roads, Little John, garbed as a gray +friar, met the three lasses who were carrying their eggs to the market +at Tuxford. He swung one basket from his rosary, about his neck, and +took one in either hand, and thus he accompanied the maids to town. Am +I right? Is that the tale?" + +"Yes," continued Philip, taking up the story where his mother had left +off; "then he went to a 'fair, thatched inn,' you know, and he sat +drinking with the tinker, the peddler, and the beggar, when the two +rich brothers from Fountains Abbey came out to start again on their +journey to York. Little John thought there'd be some fun, and perhaps +some good money for him, if he decided to go part of the way with +them, so he did. Don't you remember that one brother was very tall and +thin, and the other very short and stout? They were proud and ashamed +of being seen on the road in the company of a poor friar whose gown +was too short for him, as was Little John's. But he insisted upon +staying by, and strode along between their two nags. Whenever they met +anybody--beggars, fair lords and ladies, or fat Bishops--Little John +called out: 'Here we go; we three!'" + +"And then," broke in Betty, her face literally radiant, "don't you +know how Little John finally robbed them? That was best of all! When +they came to a certain parting of the ways, he did consent to leave +them, but first he asked for a few pence, as he was poor. Both +brothers declared that they hadn't any money, at which Little John +insisted upon their kneeling down on the dusty road and praying to the +good St. Dunstan to send them each ten shillings, so that they could +continue their journey in safety and comfort. You know, he thought it +such a pity for two such worthy brothers to be in sore need of food +and drink!" The children were unconsciously lapsing into the language +of the Robin Hood stories, as they rattled on and on. + +"Well," Betty went on, "Little John prayed and prayed, and then he +asked the brothers to feel and see if the good St. Dunstan hadn't sent +them something. Time after time this performance was repeated, and +still they said they had nothing. Finally Little John himself felt in +their pouches and found,--oh, heaps of money! He left the brothers ten +shillings each, and carried away the rest, saying he was sure that the +good St. Dunstan had meant it for him! Oh, I think I like Little John +best of all,--almost better even than Robin Hood! He always did such +cute things!" + +By this time, they were nearing some of the big palaces which gave +this section of the country the name of "The Dukeries," from the fact +that so many noblemen have lived there. Earl Manvers, the Duke of +Newcastle, and the Duke of Portland, all have tremendous estates +between the towns of Worksop and Edwinstowe. Some of the stately +houses were pointed out in the distance behind the trees, but neither +Barbara nor Betty, Philip nor John, paid the slightest heed to them. +Their minds were fixed on Robin Hood, and they saw only the Sherwood +Forest which he knew. When Betty looked at Clumber House, across a +pretty little lake, she only said: + +"Perhaps near that lake was where Robin found Alan-a-Dale, the dear +minstrel." + +"Oh, no, Betty; it was by a fountain that he found Alan-a-Dale," +Barbara politely corrected. + +"Yes, that's so, Barbara," Betty replied, in all seriousness. "I +forgot." + +There was one thing upon the estate of the Duke of Portland which did +greatly interest the party, however; that is, an old gnarled oak which +is called "Robin Hood's Larder." + +"Ye see, 'e came 'ere to store 'is venison, and to 'ang it up to dry. +'E was a clever chap, 'e was. 'E 'id it inside the trunk." The driver +grinned from ear to ear, as he gave this valuable information. + +Getting out to explore, the children found that the huge tree is +hollow, and propped up to postpone the sad day when it will surely +collapse altogether. Many old tree-trunks, all over Sherwood Forest, +are like this, and in some of them John could stretch his full length +upon the ground. Near "Robin Hood's Larder" is the spot where, +according to Scott, the outlaw met with King Richard of the Lion +Heart,--or, at least, so say the local guidebooks. + +"Yes," said Mrs. Pitt, understanding at once; "don't you remember that +in Scott's 'Ivanhoe'? Another version of this famous meeting is in +Howard Pyle's book. King Richard was at Nottingham Town, you know, and +having a curious desire to meet with Robin Hood, he and his friends +went into Sherwood Forest, dressed as friars. Robin and his men found +them, of course, and made them guests at a feast. Later, there was +shooting, and Robin Hood, having once missed the mark, applied to the +King, whom he did not recognize, for a punishment. Thereupon King +Richard arose, rolled up his sleeve, and gave such a blow as Robin had +never felt before. It was afterwards that Sir Richard of the Lea +appeared upon the scene, and disclosed the identity of the powerful +stranger. Then Robin Hood, Little John, Will Scarlet, and Alan-a-Dale +followed the King to London at the royal wish, and left Sherwood for +many a long day." + +They were now passing through a very dense part of the wood. Close +about the feet of the oaks, a thick, tangled underbrush grows. Some of +the old trees seem to be gray with age, and their whitish, twisted +branches offer a sharp contrast to the dark shadows, and make a weird, +ghostlike effect. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Betty, "it must have been in just such a spot as this +in the forest that Gurth in 'Ivanhoe' suddenly came upon a company of +Robin Hood's men. Gurth was the Saxon, you know. He had been to Isaac, +the Jew, at York, and was carrying back the ransom money to his +master, Ivanhoe. Of course, poor Gurth thought he would surely be +robbed, when he discovered in whose society he was; but as you said, +Mrs. Pitt, Robin Hood never took money from honest men, especially +when it was not their own. They led Gurth farther and farther into the +depths of Sherwood. I can just imagine it was a place like +this,--where the moonlight lit up these ghostly trees, and the red +glow of the camp-fire showed Gurth's frightened face. He was quite +safe, though, for he proved that the money was his master's, and Robin +let him go, and even showed him the way to the 'skirts of the forest,' +as he did the Sheriff of Nottingham." + +All this time the carriage had been rolling along, and as they neared +an open space in the forest, John suddenly caught sight of something +which made him turn to his friend, the driver, and exclaim: "Oh, what +are they?" + +Stretching away for quite a distance on either side of the road were +rows and rows of tiny, peaked houses or coops. The coachman told them +that here was where they breed the pheasants which are hunted. When +the birds have reached a certain age, they are set free, and a gun is +fired in their midst to give them a taint of the wild. John was much +interested, in spite of the fact that he considered it "a mean trick." +It really does not seem quite fair to take excellent, kindly care of +any animal or bird, allow it to believe you are its friend, and then +to suddenly turn it loose and proceed to hunt it for mere sport. + +In strange contrast to the merry drive through Sherwood Forest, was a +little incident which occurred in a village on the edge of "The +Dukeries" district, where they halted to water the horses. On one side +of the quaint main street is a row of old, old houses, where for many +years have lived the aged people who are usually provided for by the +nobleman to whom that village belongs. + +All the tiny houses were empty at the time of this visit, with the +exception of one where lived a dear old lady, by herself, her +neighbors having all died. Mrs. Pitt went in to call upon her, as do +most strangers passing through here, and was touched by her pathetic +speech. She said they were simply waiting to tear down the houses +until she should go, and looking tearfully up into Mrs. Pitt's face, +added: "I'm eighty-six years old now, and I won't last much longer, +but I can't go until the Lord calls me, can I?" In spite of this, she +insisted that she was quite happy, for she had her "good feather +bed,"--and what more could she need? + +The following morning, the party went by train to Nottingham, where +they spent a short time in exploring. The present town is much like +others, except in its legendary connection with Robin Hood. All +visitors might not find it as fascinating as did Mrs. Pitt and the +young people, who knew it as the abode of the disagreeable Sheriff +whom Robin Hood heartily hated, and upon whom he continually played so +many tricks, always evading punishment most successfully. They +pictured the gay procession of soldiers and knights which accompanied +King John when he entered that city, as the Sheriff's guest; and to +them the old market-square (the largest in all England) suggested the +scene of Robin Hood's masquerade as a butcher. There they halted and +imagined him standing beside his booth, and calling out: "Now who'll +buy? who'll buy? Four fixed prices have I. Three pennyworths of meat I +sell to a fat friar or priest for sixpence, for I want not their +custom; stout aldermen I charge threepence, for it doth not matter to +me whether they buy or not; to buxom dames I sell three pennyworths of +meat for one penny, for I like their custom well; but to the bonny +lass that hath a liking for a good tight butcher, I charge nought but +one fair kiss, for I like her custom the best of all." + +"It was here in Nottingham that Will Stutely had his narrow escape, +wasn't it?" questioned Betty. "He was captured by the Sheriff's men +at 'Ye Blue Boar Inn,' and they brought him to town and would have +hanged him, if Robin Hood and his men hadn't arrived just in time to +save his life. Once Little John came to Nottingham Town and lived for +some time in the Sheriff's own castle, pretending to be the cook. My! +what lots of things happened here!" + +Not far away are splendid Chatsworth House, one of the palaces of the +Duke of Devonshire, and lovely Haddon Hall, with its romantic story, +and both of these famous places received a visit from Mrs. Pitt and +her party. + +Chatsworth, I am afraid, was not fully appreciated by our friends. It +has a most beautiful situation--in the valley of the Derwent, which +rushes along through the extensive park; the house itself is +magnificent--filled with fine marble halls and rooms, and costly +treasures of art; and in the gardens almost every sovereign of Europe +seems to have planted some kind of a tree. One curious thing did +wonderfully please the children's fancy; that is, a marvelous +weeping-willow tree, from the metal twigs and branches of which tiny +streams of water come at a sign from the gardener. But somehow, on the +whole, Chatsworth is cold and unfeeling, and failed to appeal to the +party. + +Not so was it with Haddon Hall! The most prosaic summer tourist could +hardly fail to be moved by admiration of its delights. It is still a +real home, and seems alive with memories of the fair Dorothy Vernon +and her family. The old castle has scarcely changed at all since the +sixteenth century, and one feels as though the great lords and ladies +of Queen Elizabeth's time had thoughtfully stepped out on the terrace, +in order that we might wander through their noble old dwelling. + +The custodian was having her afternoon-tea when the party arrived; she +did not think of hurrying in the slightest, but leisurely finished +this most important meal, and then received the visitors' fees and +allowed them to enter. + +"I feel as though I had walked into a story!" remarked Betty quietly. +"Is Dorothy at home?" + +The various buildings of Haddon Hall are built around two square +courts. The oldest bit is the ancient chapel, in part dating from +Norman times, and in which the Vernon family worshiped for four +hundred years. It still contains some old wooden pews, and traces of +grotesque paintings may be seen upon its walls. + +"Where are we going now?" whispered Barbara, keeping close to Betty, +as the guide led them down a very dark passage, with an uneven stone +floor. "Oh, it's the kitchen!" + +A light had now been struck, and the huge fireplaces of this kitchen +of bygone days could be seen. Everything seemed complete, even to the +woodbox which once held the tremendous logs. + +"How in the world could they see to cook in such a dark place?" +inquired the practical John. + +"Oh, there were probably great torches fastened to the walls, and then +there are some tiny windows. When your eyes grow accustomed to the dim +light, you can see fairly well. I should think, though, that once in a +while, the cook might have put a little too much salt in the pasty," +Mrs. Pitt replied laughingly. + +An exceedingly curious feature of Haddon's Banqueting-hall is an iron +bracket with a ring, which is between the entrance doors. Naturally, +Mrs. Pitt was called upon to explain this. + +[Illustration: "IT STILL SEEMS ALIVE WITH MEMORIES OF THE FAIR DOROTHY +VERNON."--_Page 217._] + +"Well," said she, "it's worth an explanation, for it has a strange +purpose. Any guest who could not or would not drink as much as was +required of him by the laws of hospitality, had his arm fastened up to +that ring, and what he had refused to take was poured down his sleeve. +Fancy! For my part, I should consider that a sad waste! Speaking of +drinking, I wonder if you really know what it means when a man pledges +or drinks a health. It's a very ancient custom! Back in the days of +Saxon England, it very often happened that a man would be stabbed +while drinking, so it became the habit for him to turn to his neighbor +and ask if he would 'pledge' him. If he agreed, his duty was to keep +guard over his friend who wished to drink. A trace of this caution +still exists at Queen's College, Oxford. There the students who wait +upon the 'fellows,' stand behind them and place their right thumbs +upon the table." + +The round steps in the Long Gallery are said to have been cut from one +great oak, grown on the estate. Up these they went, and followed the +guide to the celebrated Ball-room, which is so often and so +beautifully pictured. This long room is exquisite with its carved +paneling, polished, inlaid floor, and lovely bay-windows overlooking +the terrace. + +"Here the ball was in progress at the time of Dorothy Vernon's escape. +It was the wedding night of Dorothy's sister, wasn't it? At any rate, +while every one was engrossed in the dancing and merrymaking, Dorothy +quietly slipped away, ran through this door here, along the terrace, +and out to a certain tree in the park where her lover was awaiting her +with the horses. That's the story, and certainly it is a pretty one," +concluded Mrs. Pitt. + +Just off the Ball-room is the State Bed-room, which claims to have had +Queen Elizabeth as an occupant. The great bed, fourteen feet six +inches high, is considered one of the finest in England, and is +finished in green velvet and white satin. + +They strolled out through Dorothy Vernon's door and along the lovely +terrace, over which the solemn yew-trees hang low. From here is seen a +charming view of the garden, hemmed in upon one side by that part of +the castle containing the Ball-room. The sun was just setting as they +lingered upon the steps of the terrace, and it flooded everything with +a golden light. The scene was so beautiful that all were silent as +they gazed and gazed. Betty finally rose with a deep sigh, and said: + +"Well, I suppose Dorothy knew what she was about, but I'm sure that I +should never have run away from Haddon Hall!" + + + + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN + +WINCHESTER, SALISBURY, AND STONEHENGE + + +It was not until they were well on their way toward Winchester, that +Mrs. Pitt found a chance to tell the young people something about that +ancient city which they were so soon to see. + +"Winchester has a cathedral, hasn't it?" Betty had inquired. "I always +like to see those." + +"Yes, indeed," replied Mrs. Pitt. "There surely is a cathedral, for +it's the longest one in all Europe with the exception of St. Peter's +at Rome. I'm certain you will enjoy that; but what I think you'll +appreciate even more are the associations which Winchester has with +the life of Alfred the Great. You all remember about him, don't you!" + +"The fellow who burnt the cakes?" put in John, jeeringly. + +"Yes, but he was also 'the fellow' who led his army at a time when +the country was in great danger--who dressed as a minstrel and dared +to go even into the very camp of the enemy, so as to investigate their +movements. You certainly like that in him, John?" + +"I know it! That was great!" John answered warmly. "Please tell us +some more about him, Mrs. Pitt." + +"To me he has always been one of the most lovable as well as admirable +characters in all our English history. He came to the throne at a time +when his wise leadership was greatly needed, and he fought long and +valiantly for his country. When he burnt the cakes, John, it was +merely because his thoughts were so busy with the plans for England's +future. Alfred made Winchester the capital of his whole realm, and +here he lived with all the court, when there was peace in the land. +Part of Alfred's boyhood had been spent here, too, when he was the +pupil of the wise St. Swithin; and, at Winchester, he made the good +and just laws for which he will always be remembered. Within the walls +of old Wolvesley Castle, the famous 'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle' was +commenced, at the command of the King. But besides all these useful +deeds, Alfred had such a beautiful personality that his family and +all the people of his kingdom loved him, and called him 'the perfect +King.' I have long admired this little tribute which one historian has +given Alfred the Great. He says this; I think these are the very +words: 'He was loved by his father and mother, and even by all the +people, above all by his brothers. As he advanced through the years of +infancy and youth, his form appeared more comely than that of his +brothers; in look, in speech, and in manners, he was more graceful +than they. His noble nature implanted in him from his cradle a love of +wisdom above all things.' And so, through all the centuries between +his time and ours, King Alfred's name has stood for all that is just, +kind, wise, and beautiful." + +"Where was King Alfred buried, Mother?" asked Barbara. + +"I'll show you his grave--or what is supposed to be his. But here we +are at Winchester now!" cried Mrs. Pitt; "and the sun has come out +just for our special benefit, too!" + +In a "cathedral town," one is usually drawn first of all to the +cathedral itself, it being the central point about which the whole +town seems to cluster; and so it was that Mrs. Pitt led the way down +the shaded walk between the broad stretches of lawn surrounding the +great structure. To her great disappointment, an ugly net-work of +staging entirely spoiled the effect of the exterior of the building. + +"I once read a book which an American wrote about his trip abroad," +related Mrs. Pitt. "It amused me very much! After visiting a really +remarkable number of churches and important buildings which were +undergoing reconstruction or strengthening, this gentleman ventured +the belief that the authorities must have made a mistake in the date +of his arrival, for everything seemed to point to the preparation of a +splendid reception to him anywhere from a week to a month later. I +feel that way to-day. The Winchester people certainly could not have +expected us just yet. It's a pity that we cannot see this grand +cathedral at its best!" + +The usual feeling of quiet awe came over the party upon entering the +edifice, and this was here somehow increased by the vastness of the +interior. Their footsteps echoed strangely on the stone floor, and +looking up at the arches above her head, Betty began to walk about on +tiptoe. + +"The marriage of Queen Mary with Philip of Spain took place in this +cathedral," Mrs. Pitt said. "In Bishop Langton's Chapel here, is an +old chair said to have been used by the Queen at the ceremony. Notice +the six wooden chests above that screen. They contain the bones of +some of the old, old kings--William Rufus, Canute, Egbert, Ethelwolf, +and others. Once upon a time, there was a very famous shrine +here--that of St. Swithin. You remember the legend which tells how the +body of that saint was delayed from being removed to the chapel +already fitted to receive it, by forty days of rain. That's why when +we have nasty, rainy weather in England, we always blame St. Swithin. + +"I'll show you the tomb of the well-known authoress, Jane Austen, and +that of Izaak Walton, who is buried in one of the chapels. The former +lived her last days and died in this town, and it was in the little +river Itchen which flows through Winchester, that Izaak Walton used to +fish. They were both laid to rest here in the cathedral, near the +scenes which they dearly loved." + +The environs of the cathedral are very pretty, and one of the most +picturesque features is the old Deanery, where Charles II once lodged. +Just outside the cathedral close is the modest little house which was +Jane Austen's home. + +Winchester School was visited,--a very famous old institution which is +connected with New College, Oxford, and was built by William of +Wykeham in 1396,--and the vine-covered ruins of old Wolvesley Castle, +which stand on the outskirts of the town, and near the river. + +"Didn't you say that this was where King Alfred had them write the +'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'?" Betty asked of Mrs. Pitt. "Will you please +tell us what that was? I don't seem to remember very well." + +"Well, dear, the 'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle' is the 'first history of the +English People,' as some one has correctly said. Part of it was +written by Alfred himself, and the rest was done by others, under his +direction. It is simply a record of all important events which were +written down as they took place. The 'Chronicle' grew and grew for +about two hundred and fifty years, the last mention being of the +accession to the throne of Henry II, in 1154. For many years it was +kept here at its birthplace, but it has now been moved to the library +of Corpus Christi College at Oxford. You see, therefore, that this +important work really marked the start of the wonderful succession of +literary productions which Englishmen have brought forth in these one +thousand years." + +Quite at the other end of the town from Wolvesley Castle is the County +Court, a fine old hall, which once upon a time formed part of a castle +built by William the Conqueror. Mrs. Pitt had some difficulty in +finding the caretaker who could admit them, and not until they were +actually inside did the children understand why she was so very +anxious that they should see it. + +Many were the exclamations of delight, however, when the guide pointed +to the wall at one end of the Norman room, and told them that the +round, flat object hanging thereupon was "King Arthur's Round Table." + +"What!" cried Betty, her mouth wide open in her excitement, "the very +table at which the knights sat!--Sir Lancelot, Sir Gawain, Sir +Perceval, Sir Galahad, and all the rest! Why, I never knew it was +here, or I should have come to see it before anything else! To think +of it's being the real table!" + +It was hard for Mrs. Pitt to tell Betty that all the legends +concerning this table are pure fiction. "Not all authorities consider +its identity absolutely certain," she admitted unwillingly, "but we're +going to believe in it just the same. It must date from the sixth +century! Fancy! However, it was all repainted in the time of Henry +VIII, and these peculiar stripes and devices were the work of some +sixteenth century brush." + +Betty sat right down on the floor, and stared up at the table of her +adored King Arthur and his knights. With much difficulty could Mrs. +Pitt persuade her to leave the hall, and that was not accomplished +until after Betty had trustingly inquired of the guide whether he knew +where the chairs were in which the knights sat when they gathered +about the table, for "she'd like so much to find them right away." + +Passing under a gate of the old city-wall, and along the quaint +streets of the town, the party came to Hyde Abbey,--or what little now +remains of it. + +"Alfred's body was first buried in the old minster (cathedral); then +it was carried to the new; and last of all, it was removed by the +monks here to Hyde Abbey, which monastery Alfred himself had founded. +In the eighteenth century the Abbey was almost entirely destroyed, and +then it was that Alfred's true burial-place was lost sight of. Later +still, in making some excavations here, the workmen found an ancient +coffin which was examined and believed to be that of the King. +Reverently it was reburied and marked with a flat stone, and this +doubtful grave is the only trace we now have of Alfred the Great." +They had all quietly followed Mrs. Pitt to the spot where, across the +way from the Abbey, they saw the grave. + +Before returning to the hotel that night, Mrs. Pitt suggested that +they go to see the old Hospital of St. Cross. + +"It's only about a mile from the town," she said. "There's a charming +little path along the banks of the Itchen, and I think we'd enjoy the +walk in the cool of the afternoon." + +Mrs. Pitt was quite correct. It proved a delightful stroll, leading +them to the fertile valley in which Henry de Blois built his Hospital +of St. Cross, by the side of the pleasant little river. + +"The Hospital was really founded by Henry de Blois, but three +centuries later, Cardinal Beaufort took much interest in it, made some +changes and improvements, and greatly aided in its support," the +children were told. "To this day, there is a distinction between the +St. Cross Brethren and the Beaufort Brethren, but this is chiefly +confined to the matter of dress. Seventeen men are living here now, +and are most kindly treated, fed, clothed, and allowed to plant and +tend their own tiny gardens." + +But the most interesting feature of St. Cross--that which in so +remarkably vivid a way holds its connection with the past--is the +dole. Since the reign of King Stephen, no one applying for food or +drink at the Beaufort Tower of St. Cross Hospital, has ever been +turned away. To each has been given, during all the centuries, a drink +of beer and a slice of bread. A slight distinction is made between +visitors by the scrutiny of the Brethren; for, to the tramp is handed +a long draught of beer from a drinking-horn and a huge piece of bread, +while to some are offered the old silver-mounted cup, and wooden +platter. + +"Can we have some?" John inquired. "I think I might not like the beer, +but the bread would be all right, and I'm hungry!" + +In spite of Betty's reproving cry of "Why, John!" Mrs. Pitt motioned +him to go up to the gate, and ring. + +"Yes, it's quite proper for us to apply for the dole," she said. +"Emerson and Carlyle once did so, and I imagine they were not in any +greater need of it than are we." + +As John received his portions and was looking at them a bit dubiously, +Philip called out to him, "Don't take so much that you can't eat your +dinner, Jack!" and then, seeing that John had already set down the +food untouched, they all laughed merrily. + +After breakfasting at Winchester the following morning, an early train +carried the party to the town of Salisbury, there to see the fairest +of the English cathedrals,--that is, in Mrs. Pitt's opinion, of +course. + +To say that Salisbury Cathedral stands in the center of a velvet-like +lawn, to mention the fact that a little stream flows musically by, to +add that the towers and lines of the building itself are wonderfully +graceful, is attempting to describe things as they exist, but wholly +inadequate in the impression which it gives to the reader. There is an +indescribable fascination about Salisbury Cathedral, which a person +must see to understand. Any one who is at all responsive to the charm +of great architecture, can sit for hours under the old trees on the +little common, and drink in the whole scene,--the beautiful building +with its delicate shapes outlined in shadows upon the green grass. + +"No doubt it is a generally accepted fact that Lincoln is the finest +of the English cathedrals," Mrs. Pitt explained after a time. "Perhaps +Durham comes next in line, and Canterbury has great historical +interest. I only assert that to me Salisbury is the most beautiful. +You know, Betty, that the construction of most cathedrals was extended +over many years,--even many generations, usually. Salisbury was an +exception to that rule, for it was begun and finished within forty +years (1220 to 1260), and therefore has rare harmony and uniformity of +style." + +There are many quaint streets and buildings in the town of Salisbury, +but these become familiar though always delightful sights to the +visitor who gives a good share of his time to old England. Having +noted the old-fashioned King's Arms Inn, which was a secret +meeting-place of the Royalists after the battle of Worcester, the +party had an early lunch, and then set out to drive the ten miles to +Stonehenge. + +The road which they took begins to ascend gradually, and after about a +mile and a half brought them to the high mound which was once "the +largest entrenched camp in the kingdom," according to Betty's +leather-covered Baedeker. This was the site of Old Sarum, a fort +during the Roman occupation, and afterwards a Saxon town. Numerous +interesting remains of the camp are here, and the high elevation +affords an excellent view of Salisbury and the surrounding country. + +The rest of the drive was not particularly enjoyable. A sharp wind +blew over the high Salisbury Plains, which are bare and not very +picturesque to see. In the center of this great stretch of plain +stands that strange relic of the past known as Stonehenge. Being on an +elevation, the stones stand out weirdly against the sky as the visitor +approaches, and give him a foretaste of the peculiar mystery which +pervades the place. + +The section is surrounded by a wire fence, and a man collects a fee of +a shilling before admitting any one into the company of these gigantic +rocks, which are standing or lying about in various positions. It +seems as though there were originally two great circles, one inside +the other, formed by huge oblong stones, set up on end as a child +might arrange his blocks. On the tops of these, others are in some +places still poised, though many have fallen. One great stone lies +broken across the altar. + +After the young people had climbed about and thoroughly explored the +ruins, they gathered around Mrs. Pitt to hear her explanation of the +place. + +"Well," she began, "it is generally believed that we see here the +remains of an ancient temple of the Druids. They were half-mythical +creatures who are thought to have inhabited England in prehistoric +times. They worshiped Nature,--particularly the Sun, and lived +out-of-doors entirely. Most people consider them to have been the +originators of this strange work, though it has also been attributed +to the Saxons, the Danes, and, I believe, even the Phoenicians. But +no matter what people were the real builders, there still remains the +question of how these tremendous stones were brought here in days when +there was no machinery, and in a district near which no stone-quarries +could possibly have been. That has puzzled men in all ages." + +The laughter and chatter of the members of a large "Personally +Conducted" party, who were having their late lunch in the field just +outside the picket-fence, grated upon Mrs. Pitt's nerves. Even more +than in a cathedral with solid walls and a roof, here in this +open-air, ruined temple, dating from unknown ages, one is filled with +deepest reverence. It almost seems possible to see the ancient Druids +who worshiped there, dressed in robes of purest white. + +In spite of the blue sky, the bright sunshine of early afternoon, and +the nearness of very noisy, human tourists, Betty so felt the strange +atmosphere which envelopes these huge sentinels of the past, that she +suddenly exclaimed: + +"Oh, please, Mrs. Pitt, let's go back to Salisbury! I can't bear this +any longer." + +[Illustration: "THERE STILL REMAINS THE QUESTION OF HOW THESE +TREMENDOUS STONES WERE BROUGHT HERE." _Page 236._] + +So they drove slowly away over the fields, and as Mrs. Pitt turned for +a last glance behind, she saw the stones looming up in lonely majesty, +and thought to herself, "They have a secret which no one will ever +know." + + + + +CHAPTER SIXTEEN + +CLOVELLY + + +A big, high, lumbering coach with four horses was slowly carrying Mrs. +Pitt and her young charges toward Clovelly,--that most famous of all +English fishing-villages. Betty, having discovered a photograph of it +some weeks before, had not ceased talking to the others of her great +desire to see the place; and finally Mrs. Pitt postponed her plans for +visiting other and more instructive towns, packed up the young people, +and started for lovely Devonshire. "Well," the kind lady had thought +to herself, "perhaps it will be just as well for them to have a short +holiday, and go to a pretty spot where they can simply amuse +themselves, and not have to learn too much history. Bless their little +hearts! They surely deserve it, for their brains have been kept quite +busy all the spring,--and I believe I shall enjoy Clovelly once again, +myself!" + +Now that they were actually there, the realization was proving even +more delightful than the anticipation. The weather was perfect, and to +drive along the cliffs and moors, with a fresh, cool breeze blowing up +from the blue water below, was wonderfully exhilarating. Their route +led through a country where innumerable bright red poppies grow in the +fields of grain, and where there are genuine "Devonshire lanes," shut +in by tall hedges and wild flowers. Sometimes they clattered through +the narrow streets of a tiny village, while the coachman snapped his +whip, and the postilion in his scarlet coat and brass buttons, sounded +his bugle loudly. As they rolled by farmhouses, heads would appear +curiously at the windows, while children ran out to watch that +important event,--the passing of the daily coach. One rosy-cheeked +girl in a blue pinafore tossed a bunch of yellow cowslips up into Mrs. +Pitt's lap, calling out, "Cowslips, lady; thank ye!" When a sixpence +was thrown down to her, she smiled, courtesied primly, and then +disappeared into the nearest cottage,--one of plaster and thatch, +overgrown with roses. + +However, the crowning joy of the day, even in the opinion of John, +who was difficult to please, was the first glimpse of quaint little +Clovelly itself. The coach set them down in the middle of a field; a +few seafaring men stood about, there was a booth or two where old +women sold fruit, a steep path was before them, but no town was +anywhere in sight. + +"Don't let's go down there," John grumbled. "What's the use? I'd much +rather stay up on that front seat with the driver." + +Mrs. Pitt smiled knowingly, and still led the way on down the walk. +The hedges on either side were so high and thick that they could not +see beyond them, and the children were really speechless when the path +suddenly came to an end, and the whole queer little street of Clovelly +lay before them. For a second no word was spoken, then all burst out +at once. + +"Well, what do you think of that?" chuckled John. "Just look at the +donkeys!" + +"And the pink and white doll's houses!" exclaimed Barbara. + +"And the funny cobble-stone street!" cried Philip. + +[Illustration: ONE OF PLASTER AND THATCH, OVERGROWN WITH ROSES.--_Page +239._] + +"And the blue, blue water at its feet!" rhymed Betty, all +unconsciously. "I just know the Mediterranean isn't any bluer!" + +"Isn't it the dearest, oddest little place!" put in Mrs. Pitt, summing +up all the children's remarks in one. "I do think it's----." But here +Betty interrupted her. + +"Look at that little girl!" she fairly screamed. "Don't let her run +down that steep street like that! She mustn't do it!" + +Mrs. Pitt, after one look at the child, merely laughed and replied, +"Don't worry, Betty; she's used to it. She's probably done it all her +life, and she'll never fall. Now, I turn you all loose for two hours. +Explore the place to your heart's content, for it will be long before +you see such another. Come to the New Inn (that's it, where the sign +is!) at one-thirty for luncheon." + +Enthusiastically the four started off. At first they all picked their +way carefully and slowly down over the smooth, slippery stones, but +gradually they became more expert in keeping their balance, and could +go faster. The two boys made straight for the foot of the town to see +the harbor and fishing-boats; Barbara and Betty were bent on +investigating all the nooks, corners, and tiny shops of the little +place; and Mrs. Pitt contentedly settled herself on the miniature +piazza of the New Inn, and looked with never-failing interest and +delight at the scene before her. + +To explain more in detail, Clovelly is built in what was once a +torrent-bed, and the village tumbles down from the top of the cliff to +the very edge of Hartland Bay. The droll, Italian-like cottages cling +to the hillside, or seem to grow directly out of the gray rock. At +first, the street descends rather gradually and straight, but after a +short distance, it zigzags first to left and then to right, twists and +turns, takes one under parts of houses, into private yards, out to +look-off points, and then pitches very, very abruptly down to the Red +Lion Inn, which guards the little harbor with its long, curving +sea-wall and tiny lighthouse. + +From where Mrs. Pitt sat she had a splendid view up and down the +street, which was then crowded, it being the busiest time of the +season. Just below her, up against the piazza, sat an artist, bent +eagerly forward toward his easel, and absolutely oblivious of the +throngs of people who were noisily passing close by. There were +tourists in gay attire, children romping about in their queer shoes +with nails on the bottom to prevent slipping, big stalwart men sliding +luggage down on sledges, and patient little mules, which struggled up +with big trunks fastened to shelf-like saddles over their backs. To +this busy scene the bright little dwellings which line the way, add +the finishing touch. The roof of one house is on a level with the +second-story window of that above it; the vines are luxuriant, +climbing sometimes up over the very chimneys, and flower-beds and +flower-boxes are everywhere. A holiday, festive air seems universal. + +"Where can one see such a scene?" mused Mrs. Pitt. "Not in Italy +surely, for there the 'picturesque dirt,' as they call it, is so much +in evidence. For my part, I prefer the exquisite neatness and +cleanliness of Clovelly." + +Lunch at the New Inn tasted very good,--especially as here the young +people first made the acquaintance of the much-praised "Devonshire +cream." Served with wild strawberries, or any other fruit, this thick +cream is truly delicious, and unlike anything else. The meal itself +was partaken of in the Annex, a larger, newer house across the way, +but having finished, the party returned to the original hostelry. It +is the tiniest house imaginable, and the little rooms are so crowded +with furniture, the landlord's collection of fine old china, and +knick-knacks of all sorts, that John endangered many valued treasures +by his awkward movements. Once, in passing some people in the hall, +his elbow struck a small cabinet of blue china, and there would have +been a terrible catastrophe had not Mrs. Pitt arrived upon the scene +at the opportune moment. + +"Oh, bother!" exclaimed John, very much irritated, and more ashamed of +his clumsiness than he cared to show. "How can a fellow have room to +breathe in a bandbox like this! Come along, Philip; I'm going down to +talk some more with those sailors." + +The old fishermen who can no longer follow their loved trade sit +sunning themselves comfortably on the doorsteps of their Clovelly +homes, gazing dreamily out to sea. When Mrs. Pitt, Barbara, and Betty +went to find the boys toward tea-time, they discovered them sitting by +a group of these old cronies, who were ensconced upon a bench +affording a beautiful view of the lower part of the town, the bay, and +the cliffs of the rugged coast. The tide had filled the little +harbor, and numerous small boats with copper-colored sails bobbed +about on the opal waters; near the Red Lion Inn stood a row of +sleepy-looking mules waiting for the start up the street. + +The men had been exchanging fishermen's yarns, much to the pleasure of +their audience, but when the ladies appeared, they commenced telling +ghost-stories or curious bits of folk-lore. One tale especially amused +the girls, although John thought he preferred the wild adventures of +the sea. + +After looking long out over the bay, the particular old salt who was +then entertaining them, removed the pipe from between his teeth, and +began the following. Mrs. Pitt took pains to remember it, and this is +how it reads to this very day in her journal: + +"The father of a certain fair young girl had been carried off by +smugglers, and kept for 'a year and a day,'--until a large sum of +money was finally paid for his release. He only lived a short time +after his return home, however, and his daughter died soon after, worn +out by anxiety about her father. This young lady's ghost continually +haunts a certain little village in Devon, where some of the fisherfolk +were said to have taken part in the kidnaping of her father. Instead +of doing anything more violent, the ghost simply appears on Sunday +mornings, just as the dinners are being cooked, and touches the meat +with her white, bony hand, thereby rendering it unfit to eat." + +Mrs. Pitt's famous journal, which is often referred to, contains also +this story heard that day at Clovelly: + +"In front of a certain farm-house was a large, flat stone, which +tradition said was as old as the Flood. Here, at midnight, there +always appeared a female figure, clad in a gray cloak and an +old-fashioned black bonnet. The apparition would remain there until +dawn, always knocking, knocking upon the stone. The inhabitants of the +house nearby became so used to 'Nelly the Knocker,' as she was called, +that they paid no attention whatever to her, did not fear her in the +least, and would even stop to examine her queer garments. Finally, +however, two young men of the family decided to solve the mystery, so +they blasted the rock one day. To their great surprise, underneath +were lying two large urns, packed with gold, which treasure enriched +them for the rest of their days. But 'Nelly the Knocker' came no +more." + +In place of repairing to the somewhat stuffy dining-room at the inn, +they had their tea just outside one of the most sightly cottages, and +were served by a pretty young girl. The china was coarse and the thick +slices, cut with a big knife from huge loaves of bread, were by no +means daintily served, but it could not have tasted better, and John +ate a truly alarming amount of bread and jam. + +At Clovelly, the summer twilights are very long and lovely, and down +on the breakwater our friends enjoyed this one to the full. One might +look over the blue expanse of bay and see the faint outlines of the +coast of Wales, and then turn and gaze at the picturesque harbor and +the quaint, hanging village, in the houses of which, lights were +slowly beginning to twinkle, one after another. They stayed until it +was quite dark, and were even then loath to wend their way up the +steep street, and to waste so many hours by going to bed in the +"Doll's House," as John persisted in calling the New Inn. + +"Well," said Betty comfortingly, "it will be fun after all,--sleeping +in that funny wee inn, where there are only four bedrooms in the whole +house. I choose the one with the pink rose peeping in the window! I +saw it this morning. Come on." + +The next day dawned as fair as one could wish, and at Mrs. Pitt's +suggestion a walk along the "Hobby Drive" was first taken. This +charming road was built by a Mr. Hamlin, the owner of the town of +Clovelly, who lives at Clovelly Court. The drive starts just at the +top of the village, and extends for three miles along the edge of the +cliffs. The views are startlingly beautiful! Through the fresh green +of the trees and vines, glimpses of the deep blue sea are to be had, +and to add to the vivid coloring, there is the peculiar red rock which +belongs to that part of the coast. + +As they were retracing their steps, Mrs. Pitt said with slight +hesitation: + +"I promise not to give you very much history while you are here, but I +must tell you just a bit about the relation which all this country +bears to Charles Kingsley's great book, 'Westward Ho!' Have you never +read it, John? Fancy! I'll get it for you at once! Well, Bideford is +the nearest town to Clovelly, and it was from there that Amyas Leigh, +Salvation Yeo, and all the rest set out with Sir Francis Drake. By the +by, that very sailor, Salvation Yeo, was born in the old Red Lion Inn, +at the foot of the Clovelly street. Oh, you'd like him, John, and all +his brave adventures! At Clovelly Court, in the days of the story, +lived Will Cary, another of the well-known characters in 'Westward +Ho!,' and in the little parish church very near there, Charles +Kingsley's father was rector. Kingsley himself was at Clovelly a great +deal, and probably gained here his knowledge of the seas and those who +sail them. One of those old fishermen last night (he who claimed to be +ninety-eight) told me that he used to know Charles Kingsley well, and +I suppose it is possible." + +That afternoon toward tea-time, after another fascinating roam about +the town,--into its back-yards and blind alleys, and along its pebbly +beach,--as well as numerous exciting rides on the backs of the mules, +the party gathered on the tiny veranda of the New Inn, crowding it to +its utmost capacity. The purpose of this formal meeting was to decide +where they should go the following morning, as they were then leaving +Clovelly. Mrs. Pitt had promised them a week more of play in +Devonshire before their trip to Canterbury, and she advised visits to +Bideford, Minehead, Porlock, Lynton, Lynmouth, and finally Torquay. As +the young people had no ideas of their own upon the subject and as +they had vast confidence in anything Mrs. Pitt proposed, this plan was +at once adopted. + +"These places are all by the sea," Mrs. Pitt continued, "and I'm quite +sure you'll like them. Torquay is just a watering-place, with big +hotels, terraces, and gardens, but oh! it is so lovely, and nearby is +the duckiest little village of Cockington! You'll never leave the +thatched cottages there, Betty! Lynmouth is very fine, with its +combination of mountain and seaside views, and its moors. Close by is +the Doone Valley, which figures so prominently in the story of 'Lorna +Doone,' and we'll visit that. It will all be beautiful--beautiful as +only England and Devonshire can be--but you'll find nothing at all +like this strange little Clovelly, so enjoy it while you may!" + +[Illustration: "YOU'LL FIND NOTHING AT ALL LIKE THIS STRANGE LITTLE +CLOVELLY."--_Page 250._] + + + + +CHAPTER SEVENTEEN + +ROCHESTER AND CANTERBURY + + +As soon as the familiar chugging of the motor was heard at the front +door in Cavendish Square, John hurried out. Just as he was examining +all the chauffeur's arrangements for the trip, and looking with +approval over the entire automobile, the whir of the engine suddenly +gasped, struggled to catch its breath, and then ceased altogether. The +chauffeur, perfectly unconcerned, swung himself off from his seat and +sauntered around to "crank her up," but his expression of assurance +soon changed, for the motor refused to start. + +John's face was pitiful to see. "Oh, bother!" he cried, running to +where the chauffeur stood, in front of the hood. "Why has it got to go +and spoil it all like that! It's mean, I say! Can't you fix her? +What's wrong?" + +Off came the chauffeur's nicely-brushed coat, his clean hands handled +oily tools, and a big streak of grease soon appeared upon his +trousers. Great was his humiliation! After about fifteen minutes of +disagreeable work, all was well, however,--the engine started, and the +sound was again smooth and steady. John's expression was radiant, and +he came to help the ladies in, while the forlorn chauffeur retired to +make himself presentable. + +"Now, we're off for Canterbury!" John announced triumphantly, as they +at last glided around a corner into Piccadilly. + +Slowly and carefully they wended their way down to London Bridge, +crossed, and stopped for a moment before the site of the old Tabard +Inn. + +"I'm going to take you to Canterbury by the very road which Chaucer's +pilgrims in all probability traveled, and I thought that to make the +illusion as perfect as possible, we really should halt here in +Southwark. This is where the pilgrims met, you know, and from here +they set out in the lovely month of April: the 'verray perfight, +gentil knight,' his son, the gay young squire, the stout Wife of Bath, +the dainty prioress, the pale clerk (or scholar), the merchant with +his fine beaver hat, the parson, the plowman, the pardonner, the +summoner, the cook, and all the rest! They traveled on horseback, you +remember, and to beguile the tedious hours when they advanced slowly +along the dusty road, they took turns in telling the stories which +Chaucer gives us in the wonderful 'Canterbury Tales.'" + +"I never did know just why they went," Betty ventured, in some +confusion lest they should laugh at her. + +"Neither did I!" John promptly seconded. "Please tell us, Mrs. Pitt." + +"Dear me, yes! I certainly will, for you must surely understand that!" +After pausing a moment in order to think how best to make her meaning +clear, Mrs. Pitt went on in her pleasant voice. "You see, pilgrimages +were always made to some especial shrine! We'll take Becket's for an +example. After his terrible murder, Becket was immediately canonized +(that is, made a saint), and for many years a very celebrated shrine +to him existed at Canterbury Cathedral. In those days, sumptuous +velvets and abundant jewels adorned the shrines, and if a person +journeyed to one, it meant that his sins were all atoned for. It was a +very easy thing, you see. If a man had committed a wrong, all he had +to do was to go to some shrine, say certain prayers there, and he +thought himself forgiven. Such trips cost men practically nothing, for +pilgrims might usually be freely cared for at the monasteries along +the route; a man was quite sure of good company; and altogether, it +was very pleasant to see the world in this way. The numerous terrible +dangers to be met with only added the spice of excitement to many. In +short, such numbers of poor men started off on these religious +pilgrimages, leaving their families uncared for, that the clergy +finally were forced to interfere. Laws were then made which compelled +a man to procure a license for the privilege of going to a shrine, and +these permits were not granted to all. You understand then, that +toward noted shrines such as St. Thomas à Becket's, pilgrims singly +and in companies were always flocking, and among these was the little +group which Chaucer has made so familiar and real to us all." + +"Here's Deptford," announced John by and by, seeing the name upon some +sign. "What went on here?" + +"What makes you think anything 'went on here'!" Mrs. Pitt exclaimed. +"Fancy! What a curious boy!" + +"Oh!" John burst out. "That's easy enough! I haven't seen more than +about two or three places in all this country where some fellow didn't +do something, or some important thing go on." + +Mrs. Pitt pushed up her veil, removed her glasses, and wiped the tears +of laughter from her eyes. "I think you are about right, John. And +something did happen here in Deptford; in fact, there were several +things. First, I'll tell you that it was here that Queen Elizabeth +came in 1581 and visited the ship in which Drake had been around the +world. The Queen dined on board the vessel and knighted Drake while +there. Event number two was the death of Christopher Marlowe, one of +the greatest of all England's dramatists. Marlowe was only thirty +years old when he was killed in a vulgar fight in a tavern. Fancy! +Poor Anne of Cleves, after the early divorce from her royal husband, +lived near Deptford, at Place House. Writers say that she used often +to go up to London, and visit the Court, just as though she had not +been (for a few short days, to be sure) the 'first lady of the land,' +as you Americans say. Poor Anne! She always seemed a pitiful character +to my mind. She couldn't help it if Henry VIII didn't find her good to +look upon!" + +Beyond Deptford, as they were smoothly gliding along, all at once +there came a loud report. + +"Goodness!" cried John. "What in the world was that!" Then he shouted +with laughter at the frightened expression on Betty's face. + +"Dearie me! It must be a 'blow-out'! Is that the trouble, Jo? Yes? +Well, come, girls; we may as well step out." There was forced +resignation in Mrs. Pitt's voice; she was trying not to mind the +delay. + +For forty minutes she and the girls sat by the roadside and watched +the chauffeur and the two boys at work on the tire. It seemed as +though every part of this operation took longer than usual. The tools +seemed never so easily mislaid; it surely was a longer task than ever +to inflate the tube, and then to fit on the wheel-rim. Finally, +however, the three rose, grimy and dusty, but triumphant, and ready to +set forth once again. + +The accident came just at the edge of Blackheath, amid very historic +surroundings. Some one has called Blackheath the Rotten Row of the +olden days, for there royalty and fashionable people of the town went +to ride and disport themselves, just as they now do in Hyde Park; and +there important guests on the way to London, were wont to be met with +much ceremony by the Mayor and certain great citizens. After the +battle of Agincourt, the victor, Henry V, when returning to London, +was given a magnificent reception at Blackheath, and many were the +speeches of praise which had been prepared. The great soldier cut them +all short, however, insisting that the honor be given God. At +Blackheath, his descendant, Henry VIII, first saw Anne of Cleves +(officially, that is), and straightway decided to divorce her. But +perhaps the most joyful scene of all those at Blackheath, took place +on the May morning when Charles II came into his own, and all England +was glad, after the dark days of the Commonwealth and the iron rule of +the sober Puritans. + +"This," declared Mrs. Pitt a little later, "is 'Shooter's Hill.' That +should bear a familiar sound. How many have ever read Dickens's 'Tale +of Two Cities'? You have, I know, Philip. Well, in the second chapter, +the stage which carried Mr. Jarvis Lorry on his way, is described as +slowly mounting this very hill, while most of its passengers toil +along the wet, snowy road, by its side. Do you remember, Betty? You +must try to think over all of Dickens's works which you have ever +read, for we are coming to a district which that author knew well and +often put into his novels." + +Sure enough, they almost felt as though they had stepped into the +world of Dickens's stories, for so many of the places mentioned +therein they were able to find. Slowly they drove through Rochester's +streets, stopping when they came to any spot of especial interest. + +"Here's the old Bull Inn," said Mrs. Pitt, pointing it out as she +spoke. "It is supposed that there are no less than twenty-five inns +named in Dickens's 'Pickwick Papers' alone. This is one of them, for +Room Number Seventeen was Mr. Pickwick's bedroom, and there is also +Winkle's, which was 'inside of Mr. Tupman's.' Come, shall we go in?" + +The landlord of the Bull has most carefully preserved and cared for +all which is of even the slightest interest in connection with Dickens +or his books. He most kindly took Mrs. Pitt and her party all about +the old house, showing them everything,--including the room where the +famous ball in "Pickwick Papers" was held. + +Leaving the Bull, they noted the Crown Inn, on the site of the one +where Henry VIII went privately to take a look at Anne of Cleves, and +the old White Hart, built in Richard II's reign, which once sheltered +Samuel Pepys. In Restoration House (built in 1587) Charles II stayed +after his landing at Dover. + +"'Dickens wrote thus about Restoration House in "Great +Expectations,"'" Betty read from the guidebook. "'I had stopped to +look at the house as I passed, and its seared red brick walls, blocked +windows and strong green ivy clasping even the stacks of chimneys with +its twigs and tendrils, as if with sinewy arms, made up a rich and +attractive mystery.'" + +"Doesn't that describe it exactly?" exclaimed Mrs. Pitt, with +enthusiasm. "That house always fascinated me, too. When Dickens last +visited Rochester, it is said that he was seen gazing long at this old +place, and some have thought that the result of those reflections +would have appeared in the next chapter of 'Edwin Drood,' which novel, +as you know, he never finished. Now, we'll drive out to take a look +at Gad's Hill. Luckily, this is Wednesday, so we will be admitted." + +After making inquiries, Mrs. Pitt learned that the owner of Gad's Hill +throws it open only on the afternoon of each Wednesday; so they took +their luncheon first, and then motored the mile and a half to +Dickens's home. + +Gad's Hill is charming! Dickens was devoted to this square, +vine-covered house, where he resided from 1856 to the time of his +death, in 1870. The story goes that when he was a small boy the place +had a great attraction for him, and that one day his father, wishing +to spur him on in a way peculiar to parents, reminded him that if he +worked hard and persevered until he was a grown man, he might own that +very estate, or one like it. + +As they left the house, Mrs. Pitt said, "This hill is the spot where +took place the robbery of the travelers in Shakespeare's 'Henry IV.' +The inn just opposite Gad's Hill is the Falstaff Inn, probably built +about Queen Anne's time. It used to have an old sign with pictures of +Falstaff and the 'Merry Wives of Windsor' upon it. I read that in the +olden days ninety coaches daily stopped here. Fancy!" + +"Well," observed Betty, "I shall certainly enjoy reading Dickens +better than ever, when I get home, for now I've seen his study where +he wrote. It makes things so much more real somehow, doesn't it, Mrs. +Pitt?" + +Having visited the cathedral and the old castle, they now left +Rochester, and found that the run to Canterbury was rather longer than +they had realized. + +"But really, you know," Mrs. Pitt had intervened, "Rochester is just +about halfway between the two, London and Canterbury, I would say. And +we did stop quite a bit to see the sights connected with Dickens." + +At last, however, about six in the afternoon, they came in sight of +Canterbury, its great cathedral towering over all,--its timbered +houses, old city-gate, and narrow, picturesque streets. As usual, the +young people who never seemed to need a rest, desired to start +sight-seeing at once, but unfortunately a sudden thunder-shower came +up to prevent. + +"Oh, well, it will stop soon," Betty assured them. "It always does in +England." + +This time, the weather was not so kind, however. The rain continued +persistently, and the party was forced to remain at the inn the entire +evening. + +Sunshine, even though it be sometimes a bit dim and watery, is never +long absent during an English summer, so the morning dawned bright and +clear. Just as they set forth from the hotel, Betty felt in her coat +pocket and found that her precious red notebook, in which she +inscribed all interesting facts and discoveries, was missing. + +Philip promptly came to the rescue, saying: "I saw you put it behind +you on the seat of the motor, yesterday, and it's probably there +still. I'll go to the garage and see." + +Betty gave Philip a grateful little smile, but insisted upon +accompanying him on his search. They came upon the treasure just where +it had been left, and soon rejoined the rest of the party in the +cathedral close, where John was in the midst of taking some +photographs. + +The first near view which they had of Canterbury Cathedral was in +approaching it from under old Christchurch Gateway. In spite of its +great age, the cathedral, in contrast with the much blackened gateway, +appears surprisingly white and fair. The exterior is very beautiful; +the two towers are most majestic, and beyond, one sees the graceful +Bell Tower, rising from the point where the transepts cross. In olden +days, a gilded angel stood on the very top of the Bell Tower, and +served as a beacon to the many pilgrims traveling toward Becket's +shrine. + +Walking about inside the cathedral, they saw, behind the altar, the +position of the once famous shrine. All that now remain to remind one +that this ever existed are the pavement and steps, deeply worn by the +feet of many generations of devout pilgrims. + +"I told you something of the splendor of this shrine," Mrs. Pitt +suggested to them. "It was said that after his visit to it, Erasmus +(the Dutch scholar and friend of Sir Thomas More, you know) in +describing it, told how 'gold was the meanest (poorest) thing to be +seen.' See, here is the tomb of Henry IV, the only king who is buried +here, and there's the monument to the Black Prince. Above hang his +gauntlets, helmet, coat, and shield. Do you see them, John?" + +The northwest transept, so say all guidebooks and vergers (and they +certainly ought to be truthful), was the scene of the murder of the +Archbishop à Becket. There is even a stone in the floor which marks +the precise spot; but, contrary to her usual habit, Mrs. Pitt +absolutely pointed out that all this is false. + +"I'm sorry, children," she said, "but I must contradict this. Becket +was killed at five o'clock on a dreary December afternoon of 1170. +Four years later, the cathedral was entirely destroyed by fire. +Therefore, it is not possible that they can show visitors the exact +spot where the tragedy took place. William of Sens came over from +France, and in 1184, finished the building which we now see. + +"This nave," she continued, as they again entered it, "is one of the +longest in England, and the choir is several feet higher. Do you +notice? It is an unusual feature. Also, the fact that the walls bend +very gradually inward as they near the east end of the choir, is +worthy of note. Here, as at St. Paul's and a number of other +cathedrals, business was carried on, even during services, and +pack-horses and mules went trailing through. It's curious to think of, +isn't it?" + +[Illustration: "WILLIAM OF SENS, IN 1184, FINISHED THE BUILDING WHICH +WE NOW SEE."--_Page 264._] + +Canterbury's cloisters are wonderfully ancient. Blackened as they are +by the centuries, and their still exquisite carvings broken, yet here, +more than in the edifice itself, can one imagine the scene of Becket's +terrible death. + +"The residence of the Archbishop stood alongside the church," Mrs. +Pitt proceeded, "and here the murderers came unarmed, upon their +arrival in the town, to interview him. Becket was unmoved by their +threats, so they left him to go and arm themselves. The entreaties of +the monks that their master should seek safety in the cathedral would +have been of no avail had not the hour for evening service arrived. +Can't you almost think how dark and cold these stones must have seemed +on that winter afternoon, when Becket marched along with majestic +deliberateness through these very cloisters, in by that little door, +and up to the altar. A feeling of dread and terror was everywhere. +Most of the monks had fled to places of hiding, and the Archbishop +found himself alone with his three or four faithful friends, whom he +commanded to unbolt the heavy church doors, which, in a panic, they +had barred. No sooner had the armed men rushed in than the challenge +came from Reginald Fitzurse, as Tennyson gives us the scene: + + 'Where is the Archbishop, Thomas Becket?' + +and Becket's brave answer: + + 'Here. + No traitor to the King, but Priest of God, + Primate of England. I am he ye seek. + What would ye have of me?' + +They responded, 'Your life!' and there immediately followed the +horrible death." + +Mrs. Pitt drew a long breath and sighed. + +"Such were the deeds of those unenlightened days. These fierce Norman +knights, wishing to gain favor in the eyes of the King, and hearing +him say in a moment of anger, that he wished himself rid of the +troublesome Archbishop, they at once proceeded to Canterbury and +killed him. It was all the outcome of the continual strife and +struggle for power, between the Church and the State." + +"What did they do to those three Normans?" demanded John indignantly. + +"Nothing. I believe they went free. But Henry II himself tried to +atone for the deed in doing penance by walking barefooted to +Canterbury and Becket's shrine. Come, let's go outside now." + +They then wandered about the precincts of the cathedral, pausing by +some lovely, ruined arches which tell of an ancient monastery. +Everywhere stretch smooth lawns, with grand old trees, and here and +there the houses of those connected with the church. Also, very close +by stands the King's School, which was founded by Archbishop Theodore +in the seventh century, 'for the study of Greek,' and later refounded +by Henry VIII. Here that famous Canterbury boy, Christopher Marlowe, +was educated. The school is well worth a visit, if only to see the +beautiful outside Norman stairway. + +Mrs. Pitt next led the way down Mercery Lane, at the corner of which +stood The Chequers of Hope, the inn where Chaucer's pilgrims put up. + +"You remember the old gate by which we entered the town yesterday," +said Mrs. Pitt. "Well, under that same arch came the pilgrims as they +approached from London. Although the city-wall then boasted +twenty-one towers and six gates, the West Gate is the only remaining +bit. Here, at the inn which stood conveniently near the cathedral, the +pilgrims stayed, and in Mercery Lane they bought their +souvenirs,--probably rosaries or phials of Holy Water. At the further +end of the Lane stood the ancient rush-market. Rushes were then in +great demand, you recollect, for people used them to strew over their +floors." + +One might stay on indefinitely in Canterbury, and still not discover +all its treasures and interesting nooks and corners. The streets are +narrow, crooked, and contain many very old houses. There is at +Canterbury a castle; one may see the ruins of St. John's Hospital, and +of St. Sepulchre's Nunnery, where Elizabeth Barton, the "Holy Maid of +Kent," once lived; the old gate of St. Augustine's Monastery still +stands, though it is now restored; by exploring, traces of the +city-wall may be found, and the weavers' houses which hang over the +little river offer a delightful view. Interest is endless in +Canterbury. But as it is impossible to see it all, especially in +limited time, the visitor usually seeks out the best known and most +famous places; and surely, after the great cathedral itself, ranks +St. Martin's Church. + +A little way out of the town, and up against a sunny hillside, is this +tiny "Mother Church of England." Imbedded in the rough stone of the +square, Norman tower are the huge stems of giant vines. Altogether, a +more primitive, ancient appearing building cannot well be imagined. + +"Well," remarked Betty impressively, "this is the very oldest place +we've been in yet. It makes me feel as Stonehenge did, somehow." + +"Yes, that's true," assented Mrs. Pitt. "The two places do give you +similar sensations. It's simply that you feel the age. I've always +thought that if I were suddenly blindfolded, carried away, and set +down in St. Martin's Church at Canterbury, that I should know where I +was just from the atmosphere, which is so heavy with the weight of the +years." + +It is claimed for St. Martin's that it is the most ancient church in +all England, a land filled with ancient churches. It is in the +vicinity of sixteen hundred years old, for Bede states that it was +built while the Romans were still in possession, and certain it is +that numerous Roman bricks may be seen to this day in the outer wall. +The church was perhaps erected for the use of Queen Bertha, whose +husband, Ethelbert, King of Kent, was also converted to Christianity, +and baptized here. After the arrival of St. Augustine, it is believed +that he and his followers came here to worship. Inside, the little +church is a curious conglomeration of different styles of +architecture; here a Roman doorway, there a Norman, and here an +ancient Saxon arch. Some of the relics in the church are the Saxon +font, built of twenty-two separate stones, a tomb which has been +called that of Queen Bertha, and two Elizabethan brasses. The party +found a most excellent and intelligent guide, a woman, who showed them +the vessel which held the Holy Oil (a very valuable thing), and the +"leper's squint," a slit in the wall to which the unfortunate sick men +were allowed to come and listen to the service. + +"That's something like the 'nun's squint' at St. Helen's Church in the +city," observed Barbara. + +On the way back to their hotel, John and Philip strayed into the old +Guildhall which contains some portraits, which failed to impress the +boys, however. + +"S'pose they were old Mayors or some such fellows," said John, when +questioned as to what he saw. "Couldn't bear 'em, with their bright +velvet clothes and high ruffs. I'm glad I didn't live then! Excuse me +from ruffs!" + +"If the important men of the town wore such gay and frivolous attire, +they had to pay for it surely," Mrs. Pitt added. "Last night I was +reading that in the records of Canterbury for the year 1556, the Mayor +was required to provide for his wife every year, before Christmas, a +scarlet gown and a bonnet of velvet. That was enforced by law! Fancy! +The women may have had a hand in that, for they very naturally wanted +to make sure not to be outdone by the men in the point of fine +clothes." + +As the automobile again passed under the West Gate, on its way back to +London, Betty turned to Mrs. Pitt, and said in her quiet little way: + +"I think you were right in what you said when we were at Salisbury. I +think, too, that's the most beautiful of all the cathedrals I've seen. +But Canterbury, both the town and church, is very, very interesting. +I like the stories about Becket and the pilgrims, too. I'd like to +come again some day. Please take hold of my hand, John; I want to +stand up a minute and watch that dear Bell Tower as long as I can." + + + + +CHAPTER EIGHTEEN + +GOOD-BY TO LONDON + + +"A wire for you, Master John." + +The butler's interruption while the family was at breakfast one August +morning, caused a sudden hush of expectancy. + +"A telegram for me!" replied John, trying to assume sufficient dignity +for the momentous occasion,--the arrival of the first message he had +ever received. "Why, what can it be?" + +"Do open it, John. It must be a cable," Betty pleaded, fearing +something might be wrong at home. + +"Yes, hurry, dear," put in Mrs. Pitt. + +Just the second that the contents were revealed, a great shout of joy +went up, and John and Betty fairly jumped up and down in their +excitement. + +"Father and mother coming!" John cried. "On the way now! Taking us to +Switzerland! It's great!" + +Betty's radiant face showed what delight the prospect of seeing her +father and mother gave her. Glancing at Mrs. Pitt almost at once, +however, she hastened to say: + +"We're both sorry to go away from you all, though, and I hope they'll +let us come back. We've had such a good time in England! Don't you +think we can go on with our trip here after Switzerland?" + +"I really can't tell, dear, for this is all so unexpected. I don't +know what your father's plans may be, but I hope he will bring you +back to me. I'd be very sorry if it were all at an end! But to think I +shall so soon see your father!" Mrs. Pitt sat staring into the grate, +and seemed to be lost in her thoughts. + +After the general commotion caused by the news had somewhat subsided, +and they had all adjusted themselves to the new plans, Mrs. Pitt +decided to spend the remaining week in the city, as she had still so +much there to show John and Betty. The weather being quite cool and +comfortable, they could easily go about. + +It happened that two events of those busy days made an everlasting +impression on the minds of both John and Betty. First, there was +their glimpse of the King and Queen; and then, there was the fire. + +As they emerged at about noon one day from the National Gallery, where +Mrs. Pitt had been showing them some of the best pictures, Philip +heard some one on the steps of the building say that the King and +Queen had come to town to be present at the unveiling of a statue. +They were soon to pass through St. James Park on their way from +Whitehall, it was understood, and our friends at once hastened in that +direction. For some time they waited with the crowd, and it was not +exactly agreeable, for the day was damp and foggy, and a fine rain had +set in. All the while, John was getting more and more aroused, and +when he finally saw a small company of the Horse Guards, he so forgot +himself as to shout: + +"Hurrah! Here they come!" + +Because of the rain, the Guards, wearing their blue capes lined with +scarlet, were rather less picturesque than usual, but the black horses +were as fine as ever. + +"They step as if they were proud of going along with the King and +Queen," Betty said in a loud whisper to Barbara. + +Between two small squadrons of the Guards came a modest closed +carriage in which Their Majesties rode. Fortunately for the young +visitors, they both kept bending forward and bowing very graciously +from the windows, so that they could be distinctly seen. The sober +British crowd was characteristically well-behaved. No demonstration of +any sort was given the Royalties, except that the men removed their +hats. Swiftly the carriage rolled up the wide avenue toward Buckingham +Palace. + +"Humph! They don't make much fuss about it, do they?" was all John +said, while Betty was especially impressed by how very much the King +and Queen resembled their photographs. + +The following morning an interesting trip to Smithfield was taken. +Going by the "Tube," the ride seemed a short one, and they soon found +themselves at Smithfield Market. + +"Have you ever seen Faneuil Hall Market in Boston?" demanded Mrs. Pitt +laughingly, whereupon John and Betty, the two Bostonians, were rather +ashamed to admit that they had not. + +"Somehow we never have time at home," was Betty's remark. "And I think +perhaps we never really wanted to very much, either." + +"Well, you wouldn't understand why, then, but it always reminded me of +this great Smithfield Market," went on Mrs. Pitt and then added a bit +boastfully, "I've been to Faneuil Hall several times." + +What they saw was a large, lofty building, with a roof of glass and +iron, equipped as a most thoroughly up-to-date meat-market. A street +runs directly through the center, and from this, one can get a +splendid idea of both halves. + +"This great barren square of Smithfield was the place where they had +the tournaments in the olden days, and because of that, the name was +probably once 'Smooth-field.' Edward III held a brilliant tournament +here, and also Richard II, who invited many foreign guests to be +present for that important event. The processions which preceded, as +well as the tournaments themselves, were most elaborate. One old +writer fairly dazzles us by his description of 'sixty horses in rich +trappings, each mounted by an esquire of honor,--and sixty ladies of +rank, dressed in the richest elegance of the day following on their +palfreys, each leading by a silver chain a knight completely armed for +tilting. Minstrels and trumpets accompanied them to Smithfield amidst +the shouting population: there the Queen and her fair train received +them.' Then this same author tells at much length of the commencing of +the tournament, and says 'they tilted each other until dark. They all +then adjourned to a sumptuous banquet, and dancing consumed the +night.' For several days and nights this same performance was +repeated. That gives you a slight idea of the aspect Smithfield bore +in the days when it was far outside the limits of the 'City.'" + +After pausing a few minutes in her talk, while they walked about the +square, Mrs. Pitt proceeded: + +"In 1381, after the peasant uprising, the leader, Wat Tyler, was +killed here. And then, in the reigns of 'Bloody Mary' and of +Elizabeth, this was the place of public execution. Way back in 1305, +the patriot William Wallace was hanged here, and after him came a long +line of sufferers,--among them Anne Askew, Rogers, Bradford, and +Philpot, who were persecuted because of their adherence to the +Protestant Religion. After that terrible period, Smithfield was for +many years the only cattle-market in London; and here was held +Bartholomew Fair, also. Don't you agree that this square has had +about as varied a history as is very well possible?" + +The church of St. Bartholomew the Great, one of the oldest and most +interesting in London, is reached from Smithfield by an inconspicuous +arch, which leads to a narrow walk close beside brick walls. At the +further end is the façade of the church, which boasts of having been +erected in 1123, by Rahere, who also founded the neighboring Hospital +of St. Bartholomew. + +Once inside the doorway, the visitor feels as though he had actually +stepped back many centuries, for, as Baedeker says, "the existing +church, consisting merely of the choir, the crossing, and one bay of +the nave of the original Priory Church, is mainly pure Norman work, as +left by Rahere." Here again, the visitor encounters that strange +atmosphere which belongs to the place pervaded by great age. + +"You see," explained Mrs. Pitt, "the church which we see is only a +very small part of the original edifice as Rahere built it. The +entrance from Smithfield was probably the door to the nave, which was +where the grave-yard now stands. It's curious, isn't it, how the +centuries alter things! Now, step over here, out of the way of the +door, and let me tell you a bit about this old church and its founder. +This Rahere was the King's jester, who came to see the error of his +ways, grew very religious, and went on a pilgrimage. While on his +journey back, he became seriously ill, and turned to St. Bartholomew +for healing, promising to build a hospital for poor men if his +petition were granted. He was cured, and on his return to London, he +built the hospital and also this church, in which he is himself +buried." + +They were all delighted with this story, and went immediately to find +Rahere's tomb, of which the ancient effigy is covered by a fine canopy +of much later date. One other tomb is that of Sir Walter Mildmay, who +was Chancellor of the Exchequer to Queen Elizabeth, and founder of +Emmanuel College, Oxford. John discovered the following quaint +epitaph, which greatly amused the entire party: + + "Shee first deceased, Hee for a little Tryd, + To live without her, likd it not, and dyd." + +This adorns the tomb of John and Margaret Whiting, in the north +transept. + +Some time was passed in this wonderful church,--climbing the tiny, +spiral stairs up to the clerestory, and going cautiously along the bit +of a walk at this dizzy height above the floor of the church. + +It needs time and much study to appreciate this sad old church, which, +in spite of its broken pieces of marble, and ruined splendor and +perfection of form, still bravely stands,--a lonely and pathetic relic +of its grand past. A young person can scarcely understand it at all; +it needs a grown man or woman whose experience enables him to read in +the crumbling pillars and walls, stories of the times when England was +young, the Church was the great glory and power, and there still lived +men who were "fair and fortunate." + +In the vicinity of Smithfield are a number of quaint nooks and corners +of old London. Many consider that the very best idea of the ancient +city may now be had in Cloth Fair and Bartholomew Close, both of which +are in this neighborhood. Here are still standing genuine Sixteenth +Century houses amid much darkness and dirt. + +"Here in Bartholomew Close," stated Mrs. Pitt, "Benjamin Franklin +learned his trade of printing, and Washington Irving, John Milton, and +the painter Hogarth, all lived." + +From Smithfield they hastily betook themselves, by means of hansoms, +to Crosby Hall, there to have luncheon. Mrs. Pitt laughed heartily +when John said how glad he was to be able to eat amid ancient +surroundings. He declared that he had been spending the entire morning +so very far back in the Middle Ages, that it would have been too great +a shock had he been taken immediately to a vulgar, modern restaurant. + +When they had finished their luncheon and were waiting on a street +corner for the arrival of a certain bus, suddenly a thrill of +excitement went through the crowd, all traffic was quickly drawn up at +the sides of the street where it halted, and a weird cry of +"Hi-yi-yi-yi-yi" was heard in the distance. + +"It's the fire-brigade," cried Philip, whereupon he and John were +tense with anticipation. + +Down the cleared street came the galloping horses with the +fire-engines, the men clinging to them wearing dark-blue uniforms with +red bindings, big brass helmets, which gleamed in the sunshine, and +hatchets in their belts. + +It happened that the fire was very near where our friends were +standing, so at the eager solicitations of the two boys, Mrs. Pitt +consented to follow on and watch operations. + +"So it really is a fire this time," she said to Betty, as they hurried +along. "We have very, very few in London, and when the brigade is out, +it is generally only for exercise or practice. But, it will interest +you and John to see how we fight a fire, and to observe whether the +methods differ from yours." + +A building on Bishopsgate Street was really very much on fire when the +party reached the spot, and the firemen were hard at work. Although +the buildings are not high (or at least not according to American +standards), the men use very strong ladders, which can be pulled out +so that they will reach to great heights. But the queerest thing of +all in John's estimation was the way in which the people on the top +floor of the building were rescued. + +A long canvas tube was carried up a ladder by a fireman, who attached +it to the frame of an upper window. The occupants of that floor were +then slid one by one to the ground through this tube, being caught at +the bottom by the firemen. + +"Well, did you ever see anything like that!" cried John, amazed at the +funny sight. "It's great, I say! I'd like to try it!" + +All the way up town, the talk was of fires. John had been tremendously +interested in the English methods, and was planning to introduce the +use of the canvas tube to his own city through a good Irish friend of +his at a Boston fire-station. + +"Honor bright, don't you have many fires over here?" he demanded of +Mrs. Pitt. "We have 'em all the time at home. It must be stupid here +without 'em!" + +"No, we really have very few," Mrs. Pitt responded. "In winter, there +are a number of small outbreaks, but those are very slight. You see, +we burn soft coal, and if the chimney is not swept out quite +regularly, the soot which gathers there is apt to get afire. When a +chimney does have a blaze, the owner has to pay a fine of one pound, +or five dollars, to make him remember his chimney. In olden times, +perhaps two hundred and fifty years ago, there used to be a tax +levied on every chimney in a house. There's a curious old epitaph in +a church-yard at Folkestone, which bears upon this subject. It reads +something like this: + + 'A house she hath, 'tis made in such good fashion, + That tenant n'ere shall pay for reparation, + Nor will her landlord ever raise her rent, + Nor turn her out-of-doors for non-payment, + From chimney-money too, this house is free, + Of such a house who would not tenant be.'" + +They all joined in a good laugh over this, but Betty remarked that she +thought it was "more of an advertisement for a house than an epitaph." + +Their particular bus had been slowly making its way down Ludgate Hill, +along Fleet Street, into the Strand, through Trafalgar Square and +Piccadilly Circus, into Piccadilly itself, and had now reached Hyde +Park Corner, where our friends climbed down the stairs and swung +themselves off. + +Betty was grumbling just a little. "I never can get down those tiny +stairs," she exclaimed, "without almost bumping my head and catching +my umbrella in the stair-rail!" + +Mrs. Pitt smiled. "That shows you are not a true Londoner, my dear. We +are never troubled. But, never mind; they don't have buses in +Switzerland." + +At this, Betty was instantly herself again. "London wouldn't be London +without the funny, inconvenient buses, I know. And it's dear, every +inch of it,--buses and all!" + +Mrs. Pitt pointed out Apsley House, where lived the great Duke of +Wellington. A curious fact about this stately old mansion is that on +fine afternoons, the shadow of a nearby statue of this hero is thrown +full upon the front of his former home. + +[Illustration: OLD GENTLEMEN, STOUT LADIES, YOUNG PEOPLE, AND SMALL +CHILDREN, ALL RIDE IN ENGLAND. _Page 287._] + +As they were about to enter Hyde Park through the imposing gate, Mrs. +Pitt said:-- + +"When we stand here and gaze at this scene before us,--the crowd, +beautiful park, fine hotels, houses, and shops,--it is hard to realize +that this was a dangerous, remote district as recently as 1815. That +was the time of many daring robberies, you know, when it was not safe +walking, riding, or even traveling in a big coach, because of the +highwaymen. Even so late as the year I just mentioned, this vicinity +from Hyde Park to Kensington was patrolled, and people went about in +companies so as to be comparatively secure." + +The remainder of that lovely afternoon was spent in Hyde Park, +watching the riding and driving. Having paid the fee of threepence +each for the use of their chairs, it was pleasant to sit and look on +at the gay sight. Old gentlemen, stout ladies, young people, and small +children, all ride, in England, and at certain times of the day, +during "the season" (May and June), Hyde Park is always filled with a +merry company. In midsummer it is rather more deserted, and yet the +walks stretching between the flower-beds, and the Serpentine stream, +are always flocking with people on summer Sundays or "bank holidays." + +And so passed the last days which John and Betty spent in London. All +the favorite spots--Westminster Abbey, the Tower, Kensington Palace, +and many others--had to be revisited, just as though the young people +never thought to see them again; and then, at last came the day when +the father and mother were expected. They all trooped to Euston +Station to meet the train, and in triumph escorted the American +friends back to Cavendish Square. There they remained for two short +days and then carried the almost reluctant John and Betty away with +them. Mrs. Pitt, Philip, and Barbara remained behind on the platform, +waving a last good-by, and still hearing the many thanks and +expressions of gratitude which John and Betty had repeatedly poured +into their ears, in return for their delightful visit to England. + + THE END. + + + + +INDEX + + + Addison, Joseph, 136 + + Alfred the Great, 222, 227, 229 + + Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 223, 227 + + Anne of Cleves, 255, 257 + + Anne, Queen, 70, 112, 114 + + Arden, Forest of, 158, 169, 202 + + "As You Like It," 157 + + Austen, Jane, 226 + + + Bankside, 90 + + Bartholomew Close, 281 + + Bear-baiting, 90 + + Becket, St. Thomas à, 254, 264 + + Bell Inn, Edmonton, 118 + + "Big Ben," 107 + + Blackheath, 256 + + Black Prince, Edward the, 120, 263 + + Boleyn, Anne, 61, 103, 128, 136 + + "Bow Bells," 17, 118 + + Bunyan, John, 89 + + Bus-drivers, 16 + + Buses, 11 + + + Cambridge, 91 + + Canterbury, 261 + Cathedral, 262 + Chequers of Hope Inn, 267 + Cloisters of Cathedral, 265 + Pilgrims, 90, 252, 267 + Shrine of St. Thomas à Becket, 263 + St. Martin's Church, 269 + Tales, 253 + + Carlyle, Thomas, 124 + + Caroline, Queen, 129 + + Chalfont St. Giles, 105 + + Charing Cross, 67 + + Charlecote, 167 + Park, 167 + + Charles I, 100, 102 + + Charles II, 114, 257 + + Chatsworth House, 216 + + Chaucer, Geoffrey, 28, 112, 120, 252 + + Cheshire Cheese, 78 + + Clopton, Sir Hugh, 148 + + Cloth Fair, 281 + + Clovelly, 238 + Court, 248 + Hobby Drive, 248 + + Cockney, 16 + + Coventry, 200 + Ford's Hospital, 201 + "Peeping Tom," 200 + St. Mary's Hall, 200 + + Cromwell, Oliver, 109, 136, 186, 198 + + Crosby Hall, 115 + + + "Deans, Jeanie," 129 + + Deptford, 254 + + Devonshire, 238 + Cream, 243 + Legends of, 245 + + Dickens, Charles, 28, 257 + + Doomsday Book, 121 + + Drake, Sir Francis, 249, 255 + + Druids, 235 + + + Edward I, 67, 113 + III, 99, 113, 277 + the Confessor, 112 + + Elizabeth, Queen, 52, 60, 69, 102, 112, 114, 129, 136, 169, 171, 197, + 220, 255 + + Essex, Earl of, 61, 124 + + Eton School, 98 + + Evans, Mary Ann (George Eliot), 124 + + + Fawkes, Guy, 58, 120 + + Fire Brigade, 282 + + Fountains Abbey, 208 + + Franklin, Benjamin, 282 + + + Gastrell, Rev. Francis, 148 + + George III, 56, 126 + + Gilpin, John, 118 + + Globe Theatre, 90 + + Gray, Thomas, 96 + + Greville, Fulke, 192 + + Grey, Lady Jane, 61, 120 + + Gunpowder Plot, 58 + + + Haddon Hall, 216 + + Hampton Court, 130 + + Harvard, John, 90, 146 + + Hathaway, Anne, 153, 157, 162 + + Henrietta Maria, Queen, 129 + + Henry II, 267 + IV, 59, 263 + V, 104, 113, 257 + VII, Chapel of, 111 + VIII, 100, 124, 128, 131, 257, 259 + + Hogarth, William, 282 + + Holbein, Hans, 89, 133 + + Holy Trinity Church, Stratford, 152 + + Horse Guards, 21, 275 + + Houses of Parliament, 13, 107, 123 + + Howard, Queen Catharine, 133, 136 + + Hyde Park Corner, 16, 285 + + + Irving, Washington, 161, 282 + + + James I of Scotland, 104 + + Jerusalem Chamber, 35 + + + Kenilworth Castle, 196 + + Kew Gardens, 125 + Palace, 126 + + Kingsley, Charles, 248 + + + Lambeth Palace, 123 + + Leamington, 182 + + Leicester, Earl of, 59, 135, 171, 191, 198 + + "Little John," 206 + + Lollards, 124 + + London Bridge, 87 + + + Mansfield, 203 + + Marlowe, Christopher, 255, 267 + + Mary, Queen, 76, 226 + Queen of Scots, 112 + + "Midsummer Night's Dream," 157 + + Milton, John, 105, 282 + + Miracle Plays, 200 + + More, Sir Thomas, 53, 62, 89, 115, 124 + + + National Gallery, 13, 275 + + Nelson, Lord, 13, 74, 114 + + Nottingham, 204, 214 + + + Oxford, 18, 92 + + + Paternoster Row, 118 + + Pembroke, Countess of, 48, 115 + + Penshurst Place, 42 + + Pepys, Samuel, 259 + + "Pickwick Papers," 258 + + Pitt, William, 26, 114 + + Pope, Alexander, 136 + + Prentices, 22 + + "Princes, the Little," 54 + + Public Record Office, 119 + + + Rahere, 279 + + Raleigh, Sir Walter, 63, 120 + + Richard I, 211 + II, 59, 113, 277 + III, 115 + + Richmond Palace, 129 + Park, 128 + + Robin Hood, 203 + + Robsart, Amy, 182, 194 + + Rochester, 258 + Bull Inn, 258 + Crown Inn, 259 + Falstaff Inn, 260 + Gad's Hill, 260 + Restoration House, 259 + White Hart Inn, 259 + + Round Table, the, 228 + + St. Augustine, 270 + Bartholomew the Great, + Church of, 279 + Cross Hospital, 230 + Helen's Church, 116 + Mary Overy, Southwark, 88 + Paul's Cathedral, 69 + Swithin, 223, 226 + + Salisbury Cathedral, 232 + + Sarum, Old, 234 + + Scott, Sir Walter, 196 + + Shakespeare, William, 28, 90, 117, 140, 169 + + Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 99 + + Shooter's Hill, 257 + + Shottery, 163 + + Sidney, Sir Philip, 41, 73, 120 + + Smithfield, 276 + Market, 276 + + Southwark, 90, 252 + Cathedral, 88 + Tabard Inn, 90, 252 + + Spenser, Edmund, 28, 49 + + Star and Garter Inn, Richmond, 127 + + Stoke Poges, 96 + + Stonehenge, 234 + + Stoneleigh Abbey, 201 + + Stone of Scone, 113 + + Stratford-on-Avon, 138 + the "Birthplace," 140 + Grammar School, 151 + Guild Chapel, 150 + Holy Trinity Church, 152 + John Harvard House, 146 + New Place, 147 + Red Horse Hotel, 138 + Shakespeare Hotel, 145 + Shakespeare Memorial, 155 + Weir Brake, 156 + + Streets in London, names of, 119 + + Swift, Dean, 136 + + Tabard Inn, 90, 252 + + "Tale of Two Cities," 257 + + Thames River, the, 122 + + Tower of London, 50 + + Trafalgar Square, 13, 21 + + Tyler, Wat, 278 + + Vauxhall, 124 + + Vernon, Dorothy, 217 + + Wallace, William, 278 + + Walpole, Horace, 136 + + Warwick Castle, 183 + Guy of, 184, 195 + Guy's Cliff, 194 + Leicester's Hospital, 192 + St. Mary's Church, 190 + "The King-maker," 184 + Vase, 187 + + Warwickshire, 167 + + Weir Brake, Stratford, 156 + + Wellington, Duke of, 74, 286 + + Westminster Abbey, 20 + Chapter House, 34 + Cloisters, 30 + Hall, 108 + School, 32 + + "Westward Ho!" 248 + + White Lodge, 129 + + William and Mary, 112, 114 + + William III, 134 + Rufus, 108, 226 + + Winchester, 222 + Cathedral, 224 + County Court, 228 + Hospital of St. Cross, 230 + + Windsor Castle, 99, 128 + + "Winter's Tale," 162 + + Wolsey, Cardinal, 120, 130 + + + + +Makers of England Series + +By EVA MARCH TAPPAN, Ph.D. + +Dr. Tappan's historical works have already become classics for the +young, and well do they deserve it, with their entertaining +descriptions, perfect English, and historical value. Such books are +the best that can be placed in the hands of children; and the fact +that while being instructive there is never a dull line is the highest +commendation that can be offered. + + =In the Days of Alfred the Great= + Cloth Fully illustrated =Price $1.00= + + =In the Days of William the Conqueror= + Cloth Illustrated by J. W. Kennedy =Price $1.00= + + =In the Days of Queen Elizabeth= + Cloth Illustrated from famous paintings =Price $1.00= + + =In the Days of Queen Victoria= + Cloth Illustrated from paintings and photographs =Price $1.00= + + Miss Tappan reads her authorities intelligently and selects + her material wisely, always having her young audience well + in mind. She has a clear idea of the requirements for + interesting and stimulating young readers, and arousing in + them a desire for further research. The entire series are + admirably adapted to this end, and are warmly recommended to + the attention of parents, teachers, and + librarians.--"_Era_", _Philadelphia, Pa._ + + + + +A Boy of a Thousand Years Ago + +By HARRIET T. COMSTOCK. Large 12mo Profusely illustrated with +full-page drawings and chapter headings by GEORGE VARIAN $1.00 + +It will at once be understood that the "boy" of the story is Alfred +the Great in his youth, but it cannot be understood how delightful a +story this is until it is seen and read. The splendid pictures of +George Varian make this book superior among juveniles. + + "Not a boy lives who will not enjoy this book thoroughly. + There is a good deal of first-class historical information + woven into the story, but the best part of it is the + splendid impression of times and manners it gives in old + England a thousand years ago."--_Louisville + Courier-Journal._ + + "Mrs. Comstock writes very appreciatively of Little Alfred, + who was afterward the Great, and from mighty meagre + materials creates a story that hangs together well. The + illustrations for this volume are especially + beautiful."--_Boston Home Journal._ + + +The Story of Joan of Arc FOR BOYS AND GIRLS + +By KATE E. CARPENTER Illustrated by AMY BROOKS, also from paintings, +and with map Large 12mo Cloth $1.00 + +The favorite story of Joan of Arc is here treated in a uniquely +attractive way. "Aunt Kate" tells the story of Joan of Arc to Master +Harold, aged 11, and to Misses Bessie and Marjorie, aged 10 and 8, +respectively, to their intense delight. They look up places on the +map, and have a fine time while hearing the thrilling story, told in +such simple language that they can readily understand it all. Parents +and teachers will also be greatly interested in this book from an +educational point of view. + + "The tale is well told and the children will delight in + it."--_Chicago Post._ + + "Told so simply and clearly that young readers cannot fail + to be entertained and instructed."--_Congregationalist, + Boston._ + + + + +CHILDREN OF OTHER LANDS SERIES + ++When I Was a Boy in Japan+ + +By SAKAE SHIOYA Illustrated from photographs 12mo Cloth $.75 + +The author was born fifty miles from Tokio, and at the age of twelve +began the study of English at a Methodist school. Later he studied +Natural Science in the First Imperial College at Tokio, after which he +taught English and Mathematics. He came to America in 1901, received +the degree of Master of Arts at the University of Chicago, and took a +two years' post-graduate course at Yale before returning to Japan. No +one could be better qualified to introduce the Japanese to those in +America, and he has done it in a way that will delight both children +and parents. + + ++When I Was a Girl in Italy+ + +By MARIETTA AMBROSI 12mo Cloth Illustrated $.75 + +The author, Marietta Ambrosi, was born in Tyrol, having an +American-born mother of Italian descent, and a Veronese father. Her +entire girlhood was spent in Brescia and other cities of Northern +Italy, and in early womanhood she came with her family to America. Her +story gives a most graphic account of the industries, social customs, +dress, pleasures, and religious observances of the Italian common +people. + + ++When I Was a Boy in China+ + +By YAN PHOU LEE 12mo Cloth Illustrated from photographs $.75 + +New York Independent says: "Yan Phou Lee was one of the young men sent +to this country to be educated here, and finally matriculated at Yale, +where he graduated with honor. 'When I was a Boy in China' embodies +his recollections of his native country. It is certainly attractive, +with more room for nature to operate and play in freely than is +generally attributed to Chinese life." + + + + +ELBRIDGE S. BROOKS'S Books for Young Americans + + +=The True Story of Christopher Columbus=, called the Admiral. Revised +edition. New cover $1.50 + + "With its thorough historical research and its novelty of + treatment, it is the Columbus book of its time."--_The + Interior_, Chicago. + + +=The True Story of George Washington=, called the Father of _His +Country_. 4to, cloth $1.50 + +"Although many excellent biographies of our first President have been +prepared for the young, we think that Mr. Brooks has presented the +best, and has sustained well if not added to his reputation gained by +his previous efforts in historical fields for young readers."--_S. S. +Library Bulletin._ + + +=The True Story of Abraham Lincoln=, the American. Fully illustrated, +4to, cloth $1.50 + + "His life reads like a romance, the best romance that ever + was printed, and Mr. Brooks has done an admirable work.... + The story of Lincoln was never more ably told."--_Evening + Post_, Chicago. + + +=The True Story of U. S. Grant=, the American soldier. Fully +illustrated, 4to, cloth $1.50 + + "Carefully written in that style which makes Mr. Brooks so + popular a writer with his young readers."--_The Pilgrim + Teacher._ + + +=The True Story of Benjamin Franklin=, the American statesman. Profusely +illustrated, 4to $1.50 + +The only popular life of the great Franklin written from a human +standpoint for the boys and girls of America. + +These seven books are now in wide and acceptable use in American +homes, schools, and libraries. They are real stories, true stories, +that interest young readers in and out of school, and imperceptibly +pave the way for their becoming students of America's story and +readers of the bulkier books of American history and biography. + + "An entertaining and instructive series."--_Christian + Endeavor World._ + + +=The True Story of Lafayette=, the friend of America. One vol., +illustrated, 4to $1.50 + +This volume, the seventh in the series of "Children's Lives of Great +Men," will appeal to all young Americans, and older ones as well, to +whom the name of Lafayette is ever dear. It is an absorbing, simply +told, and stirring story of a remarkable character in American +history, and is the "whole story" from the boyhood of the great +Frenchman to the close of his long, dramatic, and romantic career. + + + + +ELBRIDGE S. BROOKS'S BOOKS + + +=The True Story of the United States of America.= Profusely illustrated, +4to, cloth $1.50 + +This is in every sense a companion volume to the series of "Children's +Lives of Great Men." It tells the true story of the beginnings, rise, +and development of the republic of the United States, without the +dreary array of dates or the dull succession of events that so often +make up history for the young. Its object is to tell the story of the +people of America,--to awaken an interest in motives as well as +persons, in principle rather than in battles, in the patriotism and +manliness that make a people rather than in the simply personal +qualities that make the leader or the individual. The book is very +largely used for supplementary reading in schools, and is accepted as +the most popular "story" of the United States yet told for young +people. + + +=The Story of Our War with Spain.= Told for young Americans. Profusely +illustrated, one vol., 8vo $1.50 + +An authentic, complete, up-to-date, and reliable account of the war +for Cuban liberation in 1898, prepared after a careful study of the +best and latest data. It is at once comprehensive, graphic, and +entertaining, and well sustains the reputation earned by this author's +long list of interesting, instructive, and successful books for young +Americans. + + +=In Buff and Blue=: A STORY OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. Illustrated by +Merrill, one vol., 8vo $1.50 + +This stirring story of the Revolution details the adventures of one of +Washington's famous life-guards, who is a college mate of Alexander +Hamilton, and fights with him from Trenton to Yorktown. It deals with +school and camp in the "days that tried men's souls" here in America, +and introduces such famous characters as Washington, Hamilton, +Lafayette, Arnold, André, and Wayne. A splendid book for boys and +girls. + + +=The Story of the American Indian.= Profusely illustrated, 4to, cloth +$1.50 + +The first and only complete and consecutive story of the red men of +America. It is sympathetic but not sentimental, practical but not +one-sided, picturesque but not romantic. A book for all Americans to +read. + + +=The Story of the American Sailor.= Illustrated, 4to, cloth $1.50 + +The only story of the American blue-jacket, whaler, fisherman, +merchantman, and foremast-hand, cabin boy, captain, commodore, and +admiral. A grand book for all lovers of heroism on the +sea,--especially American heroism. + + + + +ELBRIDGE S. BROOKS'S BOOKS + + +=The Story of the American Soldier.= Illustrated, 4to, cloth $1.50 + +A stirring and graphic record of the American fighting man,--the +soldier who has secured peace through war,--from the days of +mound-builders and red Indians to those of Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, +and Miles. + + +=The Story of New York.= (STORY OF THE STATES SERIES.) Illustrated, 8vo, +cloth $1.50 + +This initial volume of the "Story of the States Series," of which Mr. +Brooks is editor, is a story of the beginnings and development of the +Empire State, told in a delightful and attractive manner. + + "More like a charming fireside legend, told by a grandfather + to eager children, than the dry and pompous chronicles + commonly labelled history."--_Critic_, New York. + + +=Storied Holidays=: A Cycle of Red-Letter Days. Illustrated by Howard +Pyle, 12mo, cloth $1.50 + +A unique and charming collection of historical stories about the +world's holidays, told by the author of "Historic Boys" and "Historic +Girls" Splendidly illustrated by Howard Pyle. + + "A book for buying and keeping that the children, as they + grow up, and the parents, too, may dip into and + read."--_Sunday School Times._ + + +=The Boy Life of Napoleon=, afterwards Emperor of the French. Translated +and adapted for American children from the French of Madame Eugénie +Foa. Illustrated by Vesper L. George, and by numerous photographs. One +vol., square 8vo $1.25 + +"The style of the book is simple and graceful, and it has the merit of +historical accuracy, also of dramatic action. For those who wish their +boys and girls to study the life of the great Emperor of France, we +know of no better book than this."--_Literary World_, Boston. + + +=In Leisler's Times=: A Story of Knickerbocker New York, told for boys +and girls. Illustrated by W. T. Smedley, 12mo, cloth $1.50 + +A stirring, dramatic, and vivid historical tale, based on the +remarkable record of Jacob Leisler, earliest of American +patriots,--the first people's governor of New York. + + "A good boy's book; manly, patriotic, and readable."--_The + Independent._ + + +=In No Man's Land=: A Wonder Story. Illustrated by Childe Hassam, 12mo, +cloth $1.00 + +An "Alice in Wonderland" story about an American "Alice" whose name +was Ruthie, and who went to No Man's Land in a street-car. Full of fun +and fancy. The children's favorite wonder story. + + "Sparkles all over with glee.... There is not a dull line in + it."--_The Dial._ + + + + +W. O. STODDARD'S BOOKS + +12mo Cloth Price per volume, $1.25 + + +=DAN MONROE: A Story of Bunker Hill= Illustrated by W. F. Kennedy + +In this volume the hero is one whose name is found in several +trustworthy records as the drummer boy of the Lexington militia, his +closest friend, Nat Harrington, being the fifer. The Concord fight, +the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the arrival of Washington are +introduced as parts of a carefully preserved historical outline. + + +=LONG BRIDGE BOYS= Illustrated by I. B. Hazelton + +It tells the story of an actual attempt made by the Confederates of +Virginia, just prior to the outbreak of the Civil War, to seize the +city of Washington by force of arms, and make prisoners of President +Lincoln and other high government officials. + + +=AHEAD OF THE ARMY= Illustrated by C. Chase Emerson + +This is a lively narrative of the experiences of an American boy who +arrives in Mexico as the war with the United States is beginning. + + +=THE ERRAND BOY OF ANDREW JACKSON: A War Story of 1812= Illustrated by +Will Crawford + +This tale is of the War of 1812, and describes the events of the only +land campaign of 1812-1814 in which the Americans were entirely +successful. + + +=JACK MORGAN: A Boy of 1818= Illustrated by Will Crawford + +It is the adventures of a boy of the frontier during the great fight +that Harrison made on land, and Perry on the lakes for the security of +the border. + + +=THE NOANK'S LOG: A Privateer of the Revolution= Illustrated by Will +Crawford + +The further adventures of the plucky Guert Ten Eyck, as he fought King +George on land and sea. + + +=THE DESPATCH BOAT OF THE WHISTLE: A Story of Santiago= Illustrated by +Frank T. Merrill + +A breezy story of a newspaper despatch boat, in the war with Spain. + + +=GUERT TEN EYCK= Illustrated by Frank T. Merrill + +A hero story of real American girls and boys, in the American +Revolution. + + +=THE PARTNERS= Illustrated by Albert Scott Cox + +A capital story of a bright, go-ahead country girl and two boys who +helped her keep store. + + +=CHUCK PURDY: A New York Boy= Illustrated + +A delightful story of boy life in New York City. + + +=GID GRANGER: A Country Boy= Illustrated + +A capital story of American life. + + + + +George Gary Eggleston's Juveniles + + =The Bale Marked Circle X= + A Blockade Running Adventure + +Illustrated by C. Chase Emerson. 12mo, red cloth, illustrated cover, +$1.50. + +Another of Mr. Eggleston's stirring books for youth. In it are told +the adventures of three boy soldiers in the Confederate Service who +are sent in a sloop on a secret voyage from Charleston to the Bahamas, +conveying a strange bale of cotton which holds important documents. +The boys pass through startling adventures: they run the blockade, +suffer shipwreck, and finally reach their destination after the +pluckiest kind of effort. + + + =Camp Venture= + A Story of the Virginia Mountains + +Illustrated by W. A. McCullough. 12mo, dark red cloth, illustrated +cover, $1.50. + +The _Louisville Courier Journal_ says: "George Gary Eggleston has +written a decidedly good tale of pluck and adventure in 'Camp +Venture.' It will be of interest to young and old who enjoy an +exciting story, but there is also a great deal of instruction and +information in the book." + + + =The Last of the Flatboats= + A Story of the Mississippi + +Illustrated by Charlotte Harding. 12mo, green cloth, illustrated +cover, $1.50. + +The _Brooklyn Eagle_ says: "Mr. George Gary Eggleston, the veteran +editor and author, has scored a double success in his new book, 'The +Last of the Flatboats,' which has just been published. Written +primarily as a story for young readers, it contains many things that +are of interest to older people. Altogether, it is a mighty good +story, and well worth reading." + + + + +_YOUNG DEFENDER SERIES_ + +By ELBRIDGE S. BROOKS + + +=IN DEFENCE OF THE FLAG= + +=A Boy's Adventures in Spain and Cuba in the War of 1898= + +Illustrated by W. F. STECHER 12mo Cloth $1.25 + +A story of action and adventure such as all healthy boys like, telling +of a plucky young American who defended his country's flag against +mobs in Spain and foemen in Cuba, and had many thrilling experiences. + + "Suffice it to say that he will be a lucky boy, with many a + thrill before him, who finds this book in his Christmas + stocking. Don is a hero after every boy's heart."--_Boston + Herald._ + + +=WITH LAWTON AND ROBERTS= + +=A Boy's Adventures in the Philippines and the Transvaal= + +Illustrated by C. CHASE EMERSON 12mo Cloth $1.25 + +The stirring adventures of a manly American boy who follows Lawton in +his last campaigns, and by a singular train of circumstances has +"moving accidents by flood and field," in two wars, with American +soldiers, Filipino insurrectos, Malay pirates, English troopers, and +Boer burghers. + + "Mr. Brooks presents vivid pictures of both wars, so widely + separated. His pages are full of the swift-moving incidents + which boys love. Dull indeed must be the young reader whose + interest flags."--_Boston Journal._ + +=UNDER THE ALLIED FLAGS= + +=A Boy's Adventures in China During the Boxer Revolt= + +Illustrated by W. F. STECHER 12mo Cloth $1.25 + +The stirring story of an American boy's adventures in Tien Tsin and +Pekin, in the ranks of the International troops and as one of the +defenders of the beleaguered legations. Up-to-date, absorbing, and +full of healthy excitement. Characters who are in the stories "With +Lawton and Roberts" and "In Defence of the Flag" reappear in this +story. + + "Men and women, boys and girls, of all the mingled + nationalities that made this war in China so picturesque, + appear in the story and give it vigor, variety, and + unflagging interest."--_Cleveland World._ + + +For sale by all booksellers or sent postpaid on receipt of price by +the publishers, + +LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: + +1. Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters' errors; +otherwise, every effort has been made to remain true to the author's +words and intent. + +2. Words with one or more letters enclosed in {} indicate that the +original word, in the book, had those characters in superscript. + +3. In the advertising pages at the end of this e-text, the use of = +on either side of a phrase indicates that the title was typeset in a +bold face; + indicates that the title was underlined. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of John and Betty's History Visit, by +Margaret Williamson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOHN AND BETTY'S HISTORY VISIT *** + +***** This file should be named 29517-8.txt or 29517-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/5/1/29517/ + +Produced by Mark C. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: John and Betty's History Visit + +Author: Margaret Williamson + +Release Date: July 27, 2009 [EBook #29517] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOHN AND BETTY'S HISTORY VISIT *** + + + + +Produced by Mark C. Orton, D Alexander, Linda McKeown and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 330px;"> +<img src="images/fcover.jpg" width="330" height="500" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<h1>JOHN AND BETTY’S<br />HISTORY VISIT</h1> + +<p> </p> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>MARGARET WILLIAMSON</h2> + +<p class="center"><i>ILLUSTRATED FROM PHOTOGRAPHS</i></p> + +<p class="gap"> </p> + +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 82px;"> +<img src="images/illus-005.jpg" width="82" height="100" alt="" title="" /> +</div> + +<p class="gap"> </p> + +<p class="center">BOSTON<br />LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO. +</p> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<p class="center">Published, March, 1910</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Copyright, 1910, by Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co.</span></p> + +<hr class="tiny" /> + +<p class="center"><i>All rights reserved</i></p> + +<hr class="tiny" /> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">John and Betty’s History Visit</span></p> + +<p class="center">Norwood Press</p> + +<p class="center"><span class="smcap">Berwick & Smith Co.</span></p> + +<p class="center">Norwood, Mass.<br /> +U. S. A.</p> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<p><a name="Frontispiece" id="Frontispiece"></a></p><div class="figcenter" style="width: 321px;"> +<img src="images/illus-004.jpg" class="ispace" width="321" height="500" alt="They suddenly saw the tremendous cathedral looming up +before them." title="" /> +<span class="caption">They suddenly saw the tremendous cathedral looming<br /> +up before them.—Page <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</span> +</div> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr><td align="left"><img src="images/spine.jpg" width="93" height="500" alt="Book spine" title="" /> +</td><td align="left"><div class="center"> +<table border="0" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="2" summary="Contents"> + +<tr> +<td align="right">CHAPTER</td> +<td align="left"> </td> +<td align="right">PAGE</td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">I.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">First Impressions</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#JOHN_AND_BETTYS_HISTORY_VISIT">9</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">II.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The First Evening</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_TWO">15</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">III.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Westminster Abbey</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_THREE">20</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">IV.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Penshurst Place: the Home of Sir Philip Sidney</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_FOUR">37</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">V.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">The Tower of London</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_FIVE">50</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">VI.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">St. Paul’s Cathedral and Its Vicinity</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_SIX">65</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">VII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Sunday Night Chat</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_SEVEN">83</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align: top;">VIII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Windsor Castle, Stoke Poges, and Eton School</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_EIGHT">94</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">IX.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">More About London</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_NINE">107</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">X.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Richmond and Hampton Court Palace</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_TEN">122</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XI.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Stratford-on-Avon</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_ELEVEN">138</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">A Day in Warwickshire</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_TWELVE">161</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XIII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Warwick and Kenilworth Castles</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_THIRTEEN">181</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XIV.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Sherwood Forest and Haddon Hall</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_FOURTEEN">203</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XV.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Winchester, Salisbury, and Stonehenge</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_FIFTEEN">222</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XVI.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Clovelly</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_SIXTEEN">238</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XVII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Rochester and Canterbury</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_SEVENTEEN">251</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right">XVIII.</td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Good-by To London</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_EIGHTEEN">273</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td align="right"> </td> +<td align="left"><span class="smcap">Index</span></td> +<td align="right"><a href="#INDEX">289</a></td></tr> +</table></div> +</td></tr> +</table></div> + +<hr class="large" /> +<h2>ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + +<div class="centered"> +<table border="0" width="80%" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="1" summary="ILLUSTRATIONS"> + +<tr> +<td><span class="smcap">They suddenly saw the tremendous cathedral +looming up before them</span> (<i>Page 70</i>)</td> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align: bottom;"><i><a href="#Frontispiece">Frontispiece</a></i></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td> </td> +<td align="right">FACING<br />PAGE</td></tr> + +<tr> +<td><span class="smcap">“Oh, what’s this place? I am sure I have seen +pictures of it!”</span></td> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align: bottom;"><a href="#illo1">12</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td><span class="smcap">“Do you remember those quaint little verses +about ‘Bow Bells’?”</span></td> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align: bottom;"><a href="#illo2">16</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td><span class="smcap">“I only wish i could be a Guard and ride a horse +like one of those!”</span></td> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align: bottom;"><a href="#illo3">20</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td><span class="smcap">“There’s the Abbey right ahead of us”</span></td> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align: bottom;"><a href="#illo4">26</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td><span class="smcap">“What’s the use of having so many doors?”</span></td> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align: bottom;"><a href="#illo5">40</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td><span class="smcap">“This seems to speak of peace, happiness, and<br /> safety”</span></td> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align: bottom;"><a href="#illo6">44</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td><span class="smcap">“I want to see who those fellows in the funny +red uniforms are”</span></td> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align: bottom;"><a href="#illo7">50</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td><span class="smcap">“The king cannot proceed into the ‘City’ without +being first received at Temple Bar by the Lord Mayor”</span></td> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align: bottom;"><a href="#illo8">68</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td><span class="smcap">“I’d feel like ‘Little Lord Fauntleroy’ going +around with those clothes on!”</span></td> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align: bottom;"><a href="#illo9">84</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td><span class="smcap">“You remember, don’t you, having the guide point +out London Bridge?”</span></td> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align: bottom;"><a href="#illo10">88</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td><span class="smcap">The moss-grown Saxon porch</span></td> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align: bottom;"><a href="#illo11">96</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td><span class="smcap">John Milton lived there after he fled from London</span></td> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align: bottom;"><a href="#illo12">106</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td><span class="smcap">“Oh, here’s the old Coronation Chair, isn’t it?”</span></td> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align: bottom;"><a href="#illo13">114</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td><span class="smcap">“Every time I visit this palace I marvel at the +amount of history with which it is connected”</span></td> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align: bottom;"><a href="#illo14">136</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td><span class="smcap">“Why, I didn’t suppose it was as big as that!”</span></td> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align: bottom;"><a href="#illo15">140</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td><span class="smcap">“Did Anne truly live here?”</span></td> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align: bottom;"><a href="#illo16">164</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td><span class="smcap">“They know how important they are, and that +this garden wouldn’t be complete without them”</span></td> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align: bottom;"><a href="#illo17">184</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td><span class="smcap">“It still seems alive with memories of the fair +Dorothy Vernon”</span></td> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align: bottom;"><a href="#illo18">218</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td><span class="smcap">“There still remains the question of how these +tremendous stones were brought here”</span></td> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align: bottom;"><a href="#illo19">236</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td><span class="smcap">One of plaster and thatch, overgrown with roses</span></td> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align: bottom;"><a href="#illo20">240</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td><span class="smcap">“You’ll find nothing at all like this strange +little Clovelly”</span></td> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align: bottom;"><a href="#illo21">250</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td><span class="smcap">“William of Sens, in 1184, finished the building +which we now see”</span></td> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align: bottom;"><a href="#illo22">264</a></td></tr> + +<tr> +<td><span class="smcap">Old gentlemen, stout ladies, young people, and +small children, all ride in England</span></td> +<td align="right" style="vertical-align: bottom;"><a href="#illo23">286</a></td></tr> + +</table></div> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<h2><a name="JOHN_AND_BETTYS_HISTORY_VISIT" id="JOHN_AND_BETTYS_HISTORY_VISIT"></a>JOHN AND BETTY’S HISTORY VISIT</h2> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[Pg 9]</a></span></p> +<h2>CHAPTER ONE</h2> + +<h3>FIRST IMPRESSIONS</h3> + +<p class="open">Two eager young Americans sat, one on each side of the window of an +English train, speeding towards London. They had landed only that +morning, and everything seemed very strange to them, as they watched +the pretty scenes from the car-window. The lady who had met them at +the steamer, was an old friend of the family, who had often been to +America, and was well known to the children, though they had never +seen her son and daughter, whom they had come to visit. Mrs. Pitt soon +aroused them by saying:—</p> + +<p class="open">“Come, John, we are almost there, so please fetch down Betty’s wraps +from the rack. Here are your umbrellas; you may take Betty’s bag and +I’ll take yours. Yes, it is really England, and soon we’ll be in +London, where Philip and Barbara are very impatiently waiting to meet +the American friends with <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[Pg 10]</a></span>whom they have been exchanging letters for +so long. They have been studying history hard, and have learned all +they possibly could about their own country, which they love, and want +you to know, too. They have never seen very much of England, and this +is an excellent chance for them to do some sight-seeing with you. I +think you’ll have a jolly time seeing all the strange sights and +customs, and visiting some historic places. Now, you must not expect +to find Philip and Barbara just like your friends at home; English +children dress very differently, and may use some expressions which +you do not exactly understand, but you’ll soon become accustomed to +them all. Here we are at Waterloo Station.”</p> + +<p class="open">As the guard swung open the door, two impatient young people hurried +up to the party.</p> + +<p class="open">“Here we are, Mother; did they come?”</p> + +<p class="open">John and Betty shyly shook hands with their English friends, but did +not find anything to say, just at first. Mrs. Pitt went to the +luggage-van, to find the children’s trunks, and the others followed.</p> + +<p class="open">“Aren’t the trains funny, John?” said Betty, nervously holding her +brother’s hand.</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[Pg 11]</a></span>“See, this is the baggage part of the car, but isn’t it small!”</p> + +<p class="open">“Oh, there are several on each train,” explained Philip. “Are your +vans any bigger?”</p> + +<p class="open">“There are our trunks, Mrs. Pitt,” called John. “I know them by the +C’s we pasted on the ends.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Here, porter, put this luggage on a four-wheeler, please,” and Mrs. +Pitt and her charges crowded in, the luggage was piled on top, and +they drove away.</p> + +<p class="open">“Do you think you will like London?” asked Barbara of Betty, rather +anxiously.</p> + +<p class="open">Betty ventured to answer, “Oh, I think so, only it is very different +from New York.”</p> + +<p class="open">It certainly was! Great, top-heavy buses swung and lurched past them, +some of them drawn by splendid horses, but still more with motors. The +outsides of the vehicles were covered with all sorts of gay +advertisements and signs, in bright and vivid colors; in this way, and +in their tremendous numbers, they differ from the New York buses on +Fifth Avenue.</p> + +<p class="open">“To-night, we will take you out for a ride on top of a bus if you +like, John,” said Philip.</p> + +<p class="open">John, losing his shyness, began to ask questions, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[Pg 12]</a></span>and to give his +opinion of the things he saw.</p> + +<p class="open">“I think the buses are great! I shall always choose that seat just +behind the driver, where I can talk to him. He must have fine stories +to tell, doesn’t he, Philip? I like the hansoms, too. There really +seem to be more hansoms than anything else in London! Just look, +Betty, at that long row there in the middle of the street! I suppose +they are waiting for passengers. And there’s a line of ‘taxis,’ too. +My, but these streets are crowded! Fifth Avenue isn’t in it!”</p> + +<p class="open">Philip and Barbara looked at each other and smiled. All the sights +which were so familiar to them, seemed very novel to their American +visitors.</p> + +<p class="open">“I suppose it would be just the same to us, if we were to visit New +York,” said Barbara. “Those bus-horses, which you admire, do look very +fine at first, but the work is so hard on them, that they only last a +very short time. Their days are about over now, for soon we shall have +only the motor-buses.”</p> + +<p><a name="illo1" id="illo1"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus-015.jpg" class="ispace" width="500" height="376" alt="“Oh, what’s this place? I am sure I have seen pictures +of it!”" title="" /> +<span class="caption">“Oh, what’s this place? I am sure I have seen pictures +of it!”—Page <a href="#Page_13">12</a>.</span> +</div> + +<p class="open">“Oh, what’s this place?” cried John excitedly. “I am sure I have seen +pictures of it! <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[Pg 13]</a></span>Why, Philip, I think you once sent me some post-cards which showed +this!”</p> + +<p class="open">“Oh, yes, this is Trafalgar Square,” broke in Mrs. Pitt. “People +sometimes call it the center of all London. Here is the celebrated +statue of Lord Nelson—here, in the middle; see all the flower-girls, +with their baskets, around its foot. That large building, with the +pillars, is the National Gallery, where I may take you to see the +pictures. The church near it they call St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields. +Yes, it doesn’t seem a very appropriate name now, but once it really +was ‘in the fields,’ it has stood here so long. Do you notice all the +streets leading out from this great square? That way is the direction +of the Strand and Fleet Street; Westminster Abbey is not far away; and +you can see the towers of the Houses of Parliament—just there. You +will soon grow more familiar with all this. Now, we must go this way, +and before long, we shall be at home. I think you’ll be glad to rest +after your tiresome journey. This is Regent Street, where many of the +shops are. Aren’t they attractive?”</p> + +<p class="open">“Yes,” said John, “but how very low the buildings are! As far as I can +see they are all <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[Pg 14]</a></span>of the same height. They are almost all yellow, too, +and with the bright buses the scene is very gay.”</p> + +<p class="open">They rode along for some time, the silence being often broken by +exclamations and questions. John and Betty could not understand how +people avoided being run over when they all dashed across the street, +right under the very noses of the horses. It was amusing to see people +stumbling up the narrow, winding stairs of the buses, as they jolted +along, and even the signs over the shops attracted some attention. +They wondered if the King and Queen could shop in them all, for so +many bore the words, “Jewelers to T. R. M.,” or “Stationers to Their +Royal Majesties.” London seemed very large to them on this first +drive—very strange and foreign, and they were glad when the cab drew +up before a big house in a spacious square, and the rest cried, “Here +we are at home!”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[Pg 15]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_TWO" id="CHAPTER_TWO"></a>CHAPTER TWO</h2> + +<h3>THE FIRST EVENING</h3> + +<p class="open">The big library at Mrs. Pitt’s home was a fascinating place, the two +visitors thought. The ceiling was high, the wainscoting was of dark +wood, and the walls were almost entirely lined with book-cases. John +was delighted with some little steps, which you could push around and +climb up on to reach the highest shelves. This room suggested great +possibilities to both the young visitors, for, as they were to stay +many months, there would certainly be days when it would be too wet to +go out, and they could by no means entirely give up their reading.</p> + +<p class="open">As they had felt rather chilly on their bus-ride that evening, the +four young people all came into the library upon their return, and +drew their chairs up to the tiny grate. Betty and John had greatly +enjoyed this new experience, for they had been truly English. Having +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[Pg 16]</a></span>jumped aboard while the bus was moving slowly, near the curb, they +had scrambled up the little steps and taken the seats behind the +driver. They had not noticed much about where they were going, for it +had all seemed a jumble of many lights, crowds of people, and noise. +But John had slipped a coin into the driver’s hand, and there had been +a steady stream of stories from that moment. London bus-drivers have +plenty to tell, and are not at all loath to tell it—especially after +the encouragement of a tip. John was delighted to hear about the time, +one foggy Christmas Eve, when his friend had “sat for four hours, sir, +without daring to stir, at ’Yde Park Corner.” John envied him the +splendid moment when the fog had finally lifted and disclosed the +great mass of traffic, which had been blinded and stalled for so long.</p> + +<p class="open">As John stood in front of the fire thinking it all over, he suddenly +exclaimed, “It was fun to hear that driver drop his h’s; that was real +Cockney for you!”</p> + +<p class="open">Betty looked puzzled for a moment, and then said, “Wasn’t it supposed +that only people who had been born within the sound of the bells of +old Bow Church could be real Cockneys?”</p> + +<p><a name="illo2" id="illo2"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 346px;"> +<img src="images/illus-021.jpg" class="ispace" width="346" height="500" alt="“Do you remember those quaint little verses about Bow +Bells?”" title="" /> +<span class="caption">“Do you remember those quaint little verses about Bow +Bells?”—Page <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</span> +</div> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[Pg 17]</a></span>“That’s right, Betty; your history is good,” said Mrs. Pitt, who had +just entered; “but John, I must tell you that dropping h’s is not +necessarily Cockney. The peculiar pronunciation of vowels is what +characterizes a true Cockney’s speech, but many others drop h’s—the +people of Shropshire for instance.</p> + +<p class="open">“Do you children remember those quaint little verses about Bow Bells?” +continued Mrs. Pitt. “In the days when Dick Whittington was a boy, and +worked at his trade in London, it was the custom to ring Bow Bells as +the signal for the end of the day’s work, at eight o’clock in the +evening. One time, the boys found that the clerk was ringing the bells +too late, and indignant at such a thing, they sent the following +verses to him:</p> + +<div class="centerbox bbox"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">‘Clerke of the Bow Bells,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">With the yellow lockes,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For thy late ringing,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Thou shalt have knockes.’<br /></span> +</div></div></div> + +<p>The frightened man hastened to send this answer to the boys:</p> + +<div class="centerbox bbox"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">‘Children of Chepe,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Hold you all stille,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">For you shall have Bow Bells<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Rung at your wille.’”<br /></span> +</div></div></div> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[Pg 18]</a></span>“That was bright of them,” commented John, as he rose to take off his +coat.</p> + +<p class="open">Philip and Barbara had long since thrown off their wraps and pulled +their chairs away from the fire, saying how warm they were. Even after +John had dispensed with his coat, Betty sat just as near the tiny +blaze as she could, with her coat still closely buttoned.</p> + +<p class="open">“No, thanks; I want to get warm,” she answered, when they spoke of it. +“It seems to me that it’s very cold here. Don’t you ever have bigger +fires?”</p> + +<p class="open">As Betty spoke, the little blaze flickered and almost went out.</p> + +<p class="open">“I’ll shut the window,” said Philip. “I remember, now, how cold +Americans always are over here. Mother has told us how frightfully hot +you keep your houses. We don’t like that, for we never feel the cold. +Why, just to show you how accustomed to it we English are, let me tell +you what I read the other day. At Oxford University, up to the time of +King Henry VIII, no fires were permitted. Just before going to bed the +poor boys used to go out and run a certain distance, to warm +themselves. Even I shouldn’t care for that!”</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[Pg 19]</a></span>“Let’s make some plans for to-morrow,” exclaimed Mrs. Pitt. “What +should you like to see first, Betty?”</p> + +<p class="open">“I want to go somewhere on a bus!” was John’s prompt answer, at which +everybody laughed except Betty.</p> + +<p class="open">“Oh, yes, but let’s go to Westminster Abbey just as soon as possible, +John. I’ve always wanted so much to see it, that I don’t believe I can +wait now. Think of all the great people who have been associated with +it,” said Betty very earnestly.</p> + +<p class="open">“Very well, I quite agree on taking you first to the Abbey,” said Mrs. +Pitt. “It is a place of which I could never tire, myself. And strange +to say, I very seldom, if ever, get time to go there, except when I’m +showing it to strangers. Why! It’s twenty-five minutes past nine this +very minute, children; you must go to bed at once!”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[Pg 20]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_THREE" id="CHAPTER_THREE"></a>CHAPTER THREE</h2> + +<h3>WESTMINSTER ABBEY</h3> + +<p class="open">The first thing that Betty heard the following morning was a gentle +knock upon her bedroom door, and a voice saying, “It’s seven o’clock, +and will you have some sticks, Miss?”</p> + +<p class="open">“What sticks? What for?” Betty asked sleepily.</p> + +<p class="open">They were for a fire, it seemed, and Betty welcomed the idea. She was +soon dressed, and Barbara came to show her the way to the +breakfast-room.</p> + +<p class="open">“You can’t think how good it does seem not to be thrown about while +dressing, as we were on the steamer! Do you know that I can’t help +stepping up high over the door-sills even yet!” laughed Betty, as they +went downstairs together. “Mrs. Moore, the friend of mother’s in whose +care we came, you know, told me that I should probably feel the motion +for some time after landing.”</p> + +<p><a name="illo3" id="illo3"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus-027.jpg" class="ispace" width="500" height="358" alt="“I only wish I could be a guard and ride a horse like +one of those!”" title="" /> +<span class="caption">“I only wish I could be a guard and ride a horse like +one of those!”—Page <a href="#Page_21">21</a>.</span> +</div> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[Pg 21]</a></span>To the surprise of John and Betty, there was a very hearty breakfast +awaiting them. They had expected the meager tea, toast, and jam, which +some Americans consider to be customary in English homes, because it +is encountered in the hotels.</p> + +<p class="open">Early in the morning, the buses were even more crowded than the night +before, and they had some difficulty in finding seats. John placed +himself beside a soldier dressed in a scarlet coat and funny little +round cap held on sidewise by a strap across his chin, with every +intention of starting up a conversation with him; but one glance at +his superior air discouraged the boy from any such attempt. When they +arrived at Trafalgar Square again, they jumped off, and walked down +towards the towers of the Houses of Parliament. In front of the Horse +Guards they stood in admiration of the two mounted sentries, stationed +there.</p> + +<p class="open">“Those black horses are great!” cried John. “How fine those fellows do +look sitting there like statues in their scarlet uniforms, and their +shiny helmets with the flying tails to them! I only wish I could be a +Guard, and ride a horse like one of those!”</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[Pg 22]</a></span>“Would you rather be a Horse Guard, or a bus-driver, John?” asked +Betty teasingly.</p> + +<p class="open">“Sometimes you see dozens of the Guards together; that’s a fine +sight!” said Barbara, after the laugh had subsided. “They escort the +King when he goes out in state. Oh, you’ll see them often.”</p> + +<p class="open">That comforted John somewhat, but he could not resist turning around +for several glances towards the gateway where the Guards were.</p> + +<p class="open">“Why do they always stand there?” he questioned.</p> + +<p class="open">Mrs. Pitt explained that they were organized by Charles II, who needed +all possible protection to enable him to hold the throne after his +exile in foreign lands. After the days of Cromwell, times were very +unsettled, and many disturbances were likely to occur. Hence the duty +of these Guards was probably to keep the peace (the ’prentices and +common people were very hot-headed), and to escort the King, as they +still do.</p> + +<p class="open">“Perhaps,” she went on, “you don’t understand who the ’prentices were. +Long ago it was the custom to apprentice boys to one of the great and +powerful guilds or companies. These <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[Pg 23]</a></span>were organizations of many +merchants belonging to the same trade; such as shipbuilders, +carpenters, candle-makers, and so forth. Their main object was to see +that the work which was turned out was good. Every man belonged to his +guild; some were for ‘common and middling folks,’ while kings and +princes were members of others. A great deal of good was done by these +companies, for each, besides aiding and protecting its own members, +usually had some other charity. For instance, the guild at Lincoln fed +yearly as many poor as there were members of the guild; and another +kept a sort of inn for the shelter of poor travelers. The guilds +played an important part in the life of the time. Well, as I was +saying, when a boy had chosen the trade which was to his taste, he +went to the city, and was apprenticed to a member of one of the +guilds, with whom he usually lived. The boys were called ’prentices. +Their life was not an easy one, and yet, it seems to me that they must +have enjoyed it. In those days, there were great tournaments and grand +processions of kings, with hundreds of servants and followers, all +splendidly dressed in brilliant colors. Men wore magnificent clothes +of silks <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[Pg 24]</a></span>and velvets and cloth-of-gold, with costly jewels, such as +ropes of pearls; and their servants, whose duty it was to go before +their masters on the street, wore suits of livery with the silver +badge of their master. London in those days was a wonderfully busy +place! On board the ships sailing up the river were men in strange +costumes, from foreign lands. The ’prentices would often stop work to +watch a company of Portuguese sailors pass, or a gorgeous procession +of bishops with their retainers; and from this little verse we know +that they did not always return very quickly to their duties. Do you +know this?</p> + +<div class="centerbox2 bbox"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">‘When ther any ridings were in Chepe,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Out of the shoppe thider would he lepe;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And till that he had all the sight ysein,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And danced well, he would not come again.’<br /></span> +</div></div></div> + +<p>There were always processions, too, in winter as well as in summer, +for the people seemed not to mind rain or storm in the least. The boys +had many holidays,—there were frequent pageants, feasts, and +celebrations of all kinds,—and on the whole, I think they must have +been very happy in spite of the long hours of work, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[Pg 25]</a></span>don’t you? +Another curious custom was the keeping of cudgels in every shop for +the use of the ’prentices, in case of a fight—and I imagine that they +were numerous. Now, come close to me, children, while we cross this +street; there’s the Abbey right ahead of us.”</p> + +<p class="open">As they entered the north transept of Westminster Abbey, the dim +light, in contrast to the sunshine outside, was almost blinding. At +first, all was indistinct except the great rose-window, in the +opposite transept, through which the light strayed in many colors. The +morning service was in progress, so they sat down near the door, and +listened and looked. How beautiful!—how tremendous it all was! Even +John’s overflowing spirits were quieted, it was so wonderfully +impressive! The rose-window still stood out clearly against the deep +shadows all about it, but a faint light could now be seen coming in +through the little windows, high up near the roof,—the clerestory +windows, they are called. Betty could see the massive roof, the long +aisles crowded with marble monuments, and the pillars. The canon’s +voice was heard intoning in a deep, monotonous key; reading followed, +and then some one sang, in a high, clear voice, which <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[Pg 26]</a></span>seemed to come +from far away, and yet to fill all the space of the great building. +Betty could not have spoken a word; she was filled with a kind of +wondering awe such as she had never known before.</p> + +<p class="open">John, more matter-of-fact, was examining the statues nearest to him.</p> + +<p class="open">He touched Betty’s arm to attract her attention, and said, “See, there +are lots of statues here, Betty, but I only know the names of William +Pitt and Benjamin Disraeli, ‘Twice Prime-Minister.’ Do you remember +him? Wonder if William Pitt was an ancestor of our Mrs. Pitt!” he +rambled on, not seeing that his sister took no notice of him.</p> + +<p class="open">As for Betty, she scarcely knew that any one had spoken to her. She +seemed to be back in the Middle Ages, and the present had vanished +away.</p> + +<p class="open">When the service was ended, they walked about, examining the monuments +as they went.</p> + +<p><a name="illo4" id="illo4"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 341px;"> +<img src="images/illus-035.jpg" class="ispace" width="341" height="500" alt="“There’s the Abbey right ahead of us.”—Page 25." title="" /> +<span class="caption">“There’s the Abbey right ahead of us.”—Page <a href="#Page_25">25</a>.</span> +</div> + +<p class="open">“This long, broad aisle extending from the main entrance to the choir +is called the nave,” explained Mrs. Pitt. “The shorter aisles which +form the crossing are the transepts, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[Pg 27]</a></span>the choir is always the eastern end of the building, containing the +altar. These are facts which you will want to learn and remember.”</p> + +<p class="open">“The kings and queens are all buried here, aren’t they, Mrs. Pitt?” +questioned John. “Will they put King Edward here, too, when he dies?”</p> + +<p class="open">“A great many kings and queens are buried here, though not all,” Mrs. +Pitt told them. “The Royal Tombs are there, behind those gates, in the +chapels which surround the choir. We can’t go in there unless we take +a guide, and I thought we would wait for another day to visit the +lovely chapel of Henry VII and all the famous tombs. I don’t want you +to see too much at one time. No, John, King Edward probably will not +be buried here. Queen Victoria, his mother, lies at a place called +Frogmore, near Windsor, and it is likely that her son will choose that +spot, also. Here’s the Poets’ Corner, and there is at least one face +which I’m sure you will be glad to see. This is it.”</p> + +<p class="open">As she spoke, the party stopped in front of the well-known bust of our +poet, Longfellow, which I suppose every American is proud to see.</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[Pg 28]</a></span>“So they read ‘Hiawatha,’ even in England,” Betty remarked.</p> + +<p class="open">“There are tablets all over the floor, under our feet! Look, I’m +standing on Dickens’ grave this very minute! And there’s ‘Oh, Rare Ben +Jonson,’ right there on the wall; I’ve always heard of that. And +here’s Spenser, and Chaucer, and Browning, and Tennyson, very close +together. Oh! It’s dreadful! I don’t want to step on them! Why, +everybody who ever was anybody seems to be here!” gasped John, +forgetting his grammar in his interest.</p> + +<p class="open">“Here are busts of Scott (there’s the man for me!), and Burns, +Goldsmith, and Coleridge; I know all these names. Here’s a statue of +Shakespeare, though of course he isn’t buried here. There’s a tablet +to Jenny Lind. Wasn’t she a singer? Seems to me I’ve heard my grandpa +speak of her. And, if here isn’t Thackeray’s grave—there in the floor +again! Well! Well!”</p> + +<p class="open">“Come over here, John, and see this,” called Philip, pointing to a +tomb on which was this inscription:</p> + +<div class="blockquot"><p>Thomas Parr of ye county of Salop, born A.D. 1483. He lived +in the reignes of ten princes, viz.—King Edward <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[Pg 29]</a></span>IV, King +Edward V, King Richard III, King Henry VII, King Henry VIII, +King Edward VI, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, King James, and +King Charles; aged 152 years, and was buryed here, 1635.</p></div> + +<p class="open">“Well, that beats them all!” laughed John, who was greatly pleased.</p> + +<p class="open">Mrs. Pitt now led the rest into the little chapel of St. Faith, off +the south transept, where they sat down to rest.</p> + +<p class="open">“It’s the most wonderful place I ever dreamed of!” said Betty quietly, +as though she were talking to herself. “This little chapel is the +quaintest, oldest thing I ever saw! The walls are so dark; that tiny +window up so high, hardly lets in any light at all; and the altar, +with the faded picture, is so strange! I can’t believe it is the +twentieth century; the people in the Abbey now don’t seem real to me +at all. They look so small and shadowy beside the huge statues of +people of other days! Surely the people the statues represent belong +here, and not we! Why, I feel so far back in history that I shouldn’t +be in the least surprised to see Raleigh, or Chaucer, or Queen +Elizabeth, walk into this chapel, right now! I should probably go <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[Pg 30]</a></span>up +and say ‘How do you do?’” she added laughingly.</p> + +<p class="open">Betty did not know that any one had heard her talking, but Mrs. Pitt +had been listening, and when Betty was silent, she said:</p> + +<p class="open">“Come, let’s go out into the sunshine of the cloisters now. I am +really afraid to have Betty stay in here any longer! The first thing +we know, she’ll be disappearing into the Middle Ages! She’s almost +there now!”</p> + +<p class="open">As they went through the low door into the cloisters, she continued, +“I want to explain to you children, that in connection with this +Abbey, as with all, there was for centuries a great monastery; and +that the buildings which we shall see, as well as the cloisters, had +to do with the monks. Henry VIII dissolved all the monasteries in +England, you remember.”</p> + +<p class="open">The ancient cloisters of Westminster Abbey are deeply interesting and +impressive. They are four arcades built around the square grass-plot, +which was the monks’ burial-ground. The fine tracery of the windows is +now much broken, and is crumbling away with age, but its exquisite +carving is still plainly seen. The original pavement yet remains; it +is much worn by the feet of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[Pg 31]</a></span>the monks, and is almost covered by +tablets which mark the resting-places of the abbots, as well as of +others. The members of our party were touched, as are all, by the +pathetic simplicity of the epitaph: “Jane Lister, Dear Childe, 1688.” +Those four short words suggest a sad story about which one would like +to learn more.</p> + +<p class="open">“You must know,” said Mrs. Pitt, “that the cloisters were something +besides burial-places. Here the monks spent most of their time, for +this was the center of the life of the monastery. The southern +cloister, over opposite, was the lavatory, and there the monks were +forced to have their heads shaved,—every two weeks in summer, and +every three in winter. These walls were then painted with frescoes, +the floor and benches were covered with rushes or straw, the windows +were partly glazed, and lamps hung from the ceiling. In one of the +cloisters was held a class of novices, taught by a master, and this +was the beginning of Westminster School. I believe the pupils were +allowed to speak only French. How would you like that?”</p> + +<p class="open">Adjoining the cloisters are numerous little passageways, with low +arches, which lead into <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[Pg 32]</a></span>tiny courts dotted with flowers and little +fountains. In the houses about, live the canons of the Abbey and +others connected with the church. Lovely glimpses of sunlight and the +bright colors of flowers are seen at the ends of these dark, ancient +passages.</p> + +<p class="open">Westminster School may also be reached from the cloisters. Our party +stood a moment in the doorway of the schoolroom to see the splendid +old hall, with its fine oaken roof. This was once the dormitory of the +monks, but is now taken up with the boys’ “forms,” or desks, piled +with books. The walls above the wainscoting, and the window-recesses, +are covered with signatures of the scholars,—some of them famous, for +the school was begun as long ago as the time of Henry VIII, who was +the founder. The visitor may see the name of the poet, Dryden, on one +of the desks; he was a pupil there, as were also Sir Christopher Wren, +the architect; Ben Jonson; Southey, the poet; and John and Charles +Wesley.</p> + +<p class="open">“What is that iron bar for?” questioned the curious John, pointing to +a long bar which stretches from wall to wall, across the middle of the +room.</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[Pg 33]</a></span>“That divides the Upper and Lower Classes,” was the prompt reply of +Mrs. Pitt, whose stock of knowledge seemed endless. “At one time, a +curtain was hung over that bar. Don’t you know the story which is told +in the ‘Spectator Papers,’ about the boy who accidentally tore a hole +in this curtain? He was a timid little fellow, and was terrified at +the thought of the punishment which he felt sure would be his. One of +his classmates came to the rescue, saying that he would take the blame +upon himself, which he did. It was years later, when the timid boy had +become a great judge, that the Civil War broke out, and he and his +friend took opposite sides. The kind man who had saved his friend from +punishment was a Royalist, and was captured and imprisoned at Exeter, +where the other man happened to come at the same time, with the +Circuit Court. At the moment when nothing remained but to sentence the +‘rebels,’ the judge recognized his friend, and by making a very +hurried trip to London, he was able to secure a pardon from Cromwell, +and thus succeeded in saving the man’s life.”</p> + +<p class="open">“That was fine!” said John. “He did pay <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[Pg 34]</a></span>him back after all, didn’t +he? I thought he wasn’t going to.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Now, we will just look into the Chapter House and the old Jerusalem +Chamber, before we go,” said Mrs. Pitt, as they left the school.</p> + +<p class="open">The Chapter House is a beautiful, eight-sided room, dating from the +thirteenth century. Here the business of the monastery was always +conducted, and at the meetings which came every week, the monks were +allowed to speak freely, and to make complaints, if they wished. Here +also the monks were punished.</p> + +<p class="open">“They used to whip them against that central pillar, there,” the guard +explained. “Here sat the abbot, opposite the door, and the monks sat +on benches ranged around the room. Parliament met here for many years, +too, its last session in this room being on the day that the great +King Hal died.”</p> + +<p class="open">The Chapter House has been restored now, and the windows are of modern +stained-glass. In the cases are preserved some valuable documents, the +oldest being a grant of land, made by King Offa, in 785.</p> + +<p class="open">To reach the Jerusalem Chamber, it is necessary to go through a part +of the cloisters, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[Pg 35]</a></span>into the court of the Deanery. On one side is +the old abbot’s refectory, or dining-hall, where the Westminster +school-boys now dine. John went boldly up the steps and entered. After +a few minutes, he came running out again, exclaiming:</p> + +<p class="open">“Nobody stopped me, so I went right in, and looked around. A maid was +setting the tables, and I noticed that she stared at me, but she +didn’t say anything, so I stayed. The hall is great! It isn’t very +large, but is paneled and hung with portraits. The old tables, a +notice says, are made from wood taken from one of the vessels of the +Spanish Armada. Wonder how they found it and brought it here! I was +just going to ask the maid, when a savage-looking man appeared and +said I had no business there. So I came away. I don’t care; I saw it, +anyway!” he added, as they approached the entrance of the Jerusalem +Chamber.</p> + +<p class="open">All three sides of this little court were the abbot’s lodgings, and +are now the deanery. The Jerusalem Chamber was built about 1376, as a +guest-chamber for the abbot’s house.</p> + +<p class="open">“The name is curious, isn’t it?” remarked Mrs. Pitt. “It probably came +from some <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[Pg 36]</a></span>tapestries which formerly hung there, representing the +history of Jerusalem. It was in this room, right here in front of the +fireplace, according to tradition, that Henry IV died. A strange dream +had told the King that he would die in Jerusalem, and he was actually +preparing for the journey there, when he was taken very ill, and they +carried him into this room. When he asked where they had brought him, +and the reply was, ‘To the Jerusalem Chamber,’ he died satisfied. Many +bodies have lain here in state, too,—among them, that of Joseph +Addison, whom they afterwards buried in the Abbey. When we come again, +I will show you his grave. Now, notice the bits of ancient +stained-glass in the windows, and the cedar paneling; except for that, +there is nothing specially noteworthy here.”</p> + +<p class="open">As they left the Dean’s Yard and crossed the open space in front of +the great western towers of the Abbey, John and Betty agreed that if +they could see nothing more in England, they were already repaid for +their long journey across the ocean.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[Pg 37]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_FOUR" id="CHAPTER_FOUR"></a>CHAPTER FOUR</h2> + +<h3>PENSHURST PLACE: THE HOME OF SIR PHILIP SIDNEY</h3> + +<p class="open">In Charing Cross Station one morning, Mrs. Pitt hurried up to the +“booking-office,” as the English call the ticket-office, to “book” +five tickets to Penshurst. While the man was getting her change, she +turned and said to Philip:—</p> + +<p class="open">“Please ask that guard who is standing there, on which platform we +shall find the 9.40 train for Penshurst.”</p> + +<p class="open">Philip did so, and returned with the information that they should go +to Platform 8. So they all mounted the steps and walked over the +foot-bridge which always runs across and above all the tracks, in an +English station. There was a bench on the platform, and they sat down +to await the arrival of the train. About 9.35, five minutes before the +train was to start, John happened to see a train official sauntering +by, and asked him if it was correct that the Penshurst train left from +that platform.</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[Pg 38]</a></span>The man stared. “Really, you are quite mistaken,” he drawled; “that +train leaves from Platform 2. You had better hurry, you know; you +haven’t much time.”</p> + +<p class="open">John waited for nothing more, but ran to tell the rest, and they all +started for the other end of the station. Up the steep steps again ran +Mrs. Pitt, with the four young people following. Along the bridge they +flew till they reached Platform 2, and then they almost fell down the +steps in their hurry, for the train was already there.</p> + +<p class="open">When they were fairly seated in a third-class carriage, John, still +out of breath, exclaimed:—</p> + +<p class="open">“Whew! My! I never ran faster in my life, did you, Philip? How the +girls kept up, I don’t know! You’re a first-class sprinter all right, +Mrs. Pitt! We’d like you on our football team, at home! My, but I’m +hot!”</p> + +<p class="open">He paused for breath, and then went on excitedly:</p> + +<p class="open">“There was a close call for you! We’d have lost it if I hadn’t spoken +to that guard, just in fun! There we were calmly waiting, and all of a +sudden, we took that wild dash across the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[Pg 39]</a></span>bridge! It was great! I +hope somebody caught a photograph of us! I’d like to see one! How +stupid of the guard to make that mistake! They never seem to know very +much, anyway. If I ever am a guard, I shall be different; I shall know +things!”</p> + +<p class="open">They all had a good laugh over the adventure, and Mrs. Pitt assured +John that when he was a guard, they would all promise to use his +station.</p> + +<p class="open">“Don’t these trains seem different from ours, Betty?” the future guard +asked of his sister. “It seems so queer to me why they want to take a +perfectly good, long car, and chop it up from side to side, into +little narrow rooms, like this! What’s the use of having so many +doors?—one on each side of every ‘compartment’! And then, they put +handles only on the outside, so you have to let down the window and +lean away out to open it for yourself, if the guard doesn’t happen to +do it for you! We Americans couldn’t waste so much time!”</p> + +<p class="open">Just then, Betty, who could contain herself no longer, burst out +laughing.</p> + +<p class="open">“Why, what in the world’s the matter?” cried Barbara.</p> + +<p class="open">Betty could only point to a passing train. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[Pg 40]</a></span>“It’s only the funny +little freight cars!” she finally explained, rather ashamed that she +had let her feelings escape in that way. “They look so silly to us! +They seem about a third the size of the ones at home. Really, these +remind me of a picture in my history-book, of the first train ever run +in America!”</p> + +<p class="open">Mrs. Pitt smiled. “Yes, I can imagine just how strange they must seem +to you, for I remember very well how I felt the first time I ever rode +in one of your trains. To me, one of the most interesting things about +visiting a foreign country, is to see the different modes of travel.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Oh, please understand that I think so, too!” urged Betty. “It was +only that I couldn’t help laughing just at first, you see. I wouldn’t +have your trains just like ours for anything, and I’m sure that John +wouldn’t either.”</p> + +<p><a name="illo5" id="illo5"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus-051.jpg" class="ispace" width="500" height="330" alt="“What’s the use of having so many doors?”—Page 39." title="" /> +<span class="caption">“What’s the use of having so many doors?”—Page <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</span> +</div> + +<p class="open">“Now,” said Mrs. Pitt, “there is a little confession which I feel that +I ought to make. It’s about where we are going to-day. Probably most +people would blame me for not taking you to Windsor or Hampton Court, +on your first trip out of town. Both those places are charming, but I +wanted to show you, first of all, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[Pg 41]</a></span>this dear little corner of Kent. All tourists flock to Windsor and +Hampton Court, but a great many do not know about this tiny, +out-of-the-way village, with which I fell in love years ago. Penshurst +Place was the home of Sir Philip Sidney, and is still owned by a +member of the same family. You know that Sir Philip lived in Queen +Elizabeth’s time, and that his name stands for the model of a perfect +courtier and ideal gentleman. He died when he was very young—only +thirty-two, I think—and he did very little which you would suppose +could have made him so famous. That is, it was little in comparison +with what Raleigh and Drake accomplished, and yet the name of Sidney +ranks with all the rest. It seems to have been more in the way he did +things, than in what he did. Of course, you remember the story of his +death,—that when he was dying, he passed a cup of water which was +brought him, to another dying soldier, saying, ‘Thy need is greater +than mine.’ Well, to-day we shall see where he was born and +bred,—where Ben Jonson, Edmund Spenser, and Queen Elizabeth all +visited.”</p> + +<p class="open">They were now riding through Kent, in which county is some of the most +picturesque English <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[Pg 42]</a></span>scenery. Although it was only the last of April, +the grass was the freshest green, the great trees were in full leaf, +and primroses were beginning to spring up in the fields. They sped +through little villages of thatched-roofed cottages, each with its +tiny garden of gay flowers. There were little crooked lanes, bordered +by high hedges, and wide, shady roads, with tall, stately elms on +either side, and fields where sheep grazed.</p> + +<p class="open">“Oh, there’s a cottage which looks like Anne Hathaway’s!” exclaimed +Betty. “It couldn’t be, could it? Anyway, it’s real story-book +country!”</p> + +<p class="open">They left the train at the little station of Penshurst, two miles from +the village. Behind the building stood a queer, side-seated wagon, +with one stout horse. The driver, when Philip found him, seemed loath +to bestir himself, but was finally persuaded to drive them to the +castle.</p> + +<p class="open">Penshurst village proved to be even prettier than those they had seen +from the train. The Lord of Penshurst Place is a very wise, +appreciative man, and he has made a rule that when any cottage in the +village is found to be beyond <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[Pg 43]</a></span>repair, it shall be replaced by a new +house exactly like the original. In consequence, the houses look +equally old and equally attractive, with their roofs of grayish +thatch, and the second stories leaning protectingly over the lower +windows, overgrown with rose-vines.</p> + +<p class="open">Mrs. Pitt went into the tiny post-office to buy their tickets of +admission to the castle, and when she called out that there were also +pretty post-cards to be had, the others quickly followed. Having +chosen their cards, they all walked through the little church-yard, +with its ancient yew trees, and out into a field from which they could +see Penshurst Place itself.</p> + +<p class="open">“Why! isn’t it a huge place!” cried Barbara. “This is just as new to +Philip and me, you know, Betty, for we have never been here, either.”</p> + +<p class="open">“How charmingly situated it is!” exclaimed Mrs. Pitt enthusiastically. +“Just a glance at it would tell you that it was never a strong +fortress. Like Raby Castle, another favorite of mine, I believe that +Penshurst never stood a siege. But it is so stately and graceful, +standing in the center of these perfect lawns and groups of noble old +trees! It is a beautiful contrast <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[Pg 44]</a></span>to the many fortress-castles! This +seems to speak of peace, happiness, and safety.”</p> + +<p class="open">The castle covers a great deal of ground, and is low and square, with +here and there a turret. A terrace, or broad walk, runs the length of +the front of the building, where the moat formerly was, and the party +crossed this to reach the entrance-way. His Lordship came out just +then, with his dog, and glanced kindly at the eager young people. +Continuing, they crossed a square court, and came to a second gateway, +where a servant met them and conducted them into the old-time +Baronial-hall, dating from the fourteenth century.</p> + +<p class="open">“This,” announced the guide with tremendous pride, “we believe to be +the only banquet-hall now remaining in England, where the ancient +fireplace in the center of the room still exists. You’ll see many fine +halls, but you’ll not see another such fireplace.”</p> + +<p class="open">John went up to investigate, and found that right in the middle of the +vast room was a high hearth, on which some logs were piled. “But +how——?” he was asking, when the guide’s explanations flowed on once +more:</p> + +<p><a name="illo6" id="illo6"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 344px;"> +<img src="images/illus-057.jpg" class="ispace" width="344" height="500" alt="“This seems to speak of peace, happiness, and safety.” +Page 44." title="" /> +<span class="caption">“This seems to speak of peace, happiness, and safety.” +Page <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</span> +</div> + +<p class="open">“Yes, the smoke went out through a little <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[Pg 45]</a></span>hole in the roof. This hall has never been restored, you see. That’s +the best thing about it, most people think, lady. Here’s the oak +paneling, turned gray with age; there, up on the wall, are the +original grotesque figures, carved in wood; here, are two of the old +tables, as old as the hall; and there’s the musicians’ gallery, at +that end, over the entrance.”</p> + +<p class="open">Mrs. Pitt was leaning against one of the massive tables, with her eyes +partly closed. “Let’s just imagine the grand feasts which have been +held here,” she mused. “I can almost see the Lord and Lady, dressed in +purple and scarlet, sitting with their guests at a table across this +end of the room. A board stretches down the length of the hall, and +here sit the inferiors and retainers. A long procession of servants is +winding always around the tables, bearing great roasts, birds, +pasties, and all sorts of goodies, on huge platters, high above their +heads. Up in the gallery here, the musicians are playing loudly and +gayly, and even when they cease the guests do not lack for +entertainment, for the fool, in his dress of rainbow colors, is +continually saying witty things and propounding funny riddles. In such +a place much <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[Pg 46]</a></span>elegance and ceremony were the necessary accompaniments +of a grand feast. In a book giving instructions for the serving of the +Royal table, is this direction, which always interested me: ‘First set +forth mustard with brawn; take your knife in your hand, and cut the +brawn in the dish, as it lieth, and lay on your Sovereign’s trencher, +and see that there be mustard.’ As you see, they were exceedingly fond +of mustard. Richard Tarleton, an actor of Queen Elizabeth’s time, who +was much at Court as jester, is reported as having called mustard ‘a +witty scold meeting another scold.’”</p> + +<p class="open">The guide was growing impatient, and Mrs. Pitt ceased, saying +reluctantly, “Well, I suppose we must go on.”</p> + +<p class="open">A servant rang a bell, and soon, down some stairs came a dear little +old lady dressed in stiff black silk, with white apron and cap, and +mitts on her hands. She escorted the party up the stairs, into her +domain.</p> + +<p class="open">“Wouldn’t you just know to look at her that she had been in the family +all her life?” whispered Barbara to Betty.</p> + +<p class="open">First they saw the Ball-room, a stately apartment in which hang three +very valuable chandeliers, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[Pg 47]</a></span>which Queen Elizabeth gave to Sir Henry +Sidney. The next room is still called “Queen Elizabeth’s Room,” for +here that Queen slept when upon a visit to the house. The same +furniture which she used is still in place, as well as some tapestries +made in honor of the visit, by Lady Sidney.</p> + +<p class="open">“If Queen Elizabeth slept in that bed,” remarked Betty, “she couldn’t +have been very tall.”</p> + +<p class="open">Their guide, taking this as criticism of one of her beloved treasures, +was quick to say:</p> + +<p class="open">“It only looks short, because it’s so uncommon wide, begging your +pardon, Miss.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Did that stool belong to anybody?” questioned Barbara, tactfully +changing the subject. “It looks as if it has a history.”</p> + +<p class="open">“And it has, Miss; that stool was used by the late Queen Victoria (God +bless her!), at her coronation at Westminster Abbey!” and the loyal +old lady patted the black velvet stool respectfully.</p> + +<p class="open">The rooms and corridors of the old house are crowded with things of +interest. Sir Philip’s helmet is there, and a bit of his +shaving-glass. In a small room called the “Pages’ Closet,” <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[Pg 48]</a></span>are +preserved rare specimens of china—Queen Elizabeth’s dessert-set, in +green, and Queen Anne’s breakfast-set, in blue and white. Betty and +Barbara were deeply interested in Mary Stuart’s jewel-case, and they +laughed over a very curious old painting which shows Queen Elizabeth +dancing. The long picture-gallery is lined with portraits—most of +them Sidneys—and among them those of the mother of Sir Philip, and of +his sister, the Countess of Pembroke, for whom he wrote his “Arcadia.”</p> + +<p class="open">When they again passed through the Ball-room on their way out, they +were shown a little square window on one of the walls, which they had +not noticed before.</p> + +<p class="open">“Why! I can see down into the Banquet-hall!” exclaimed Philip, who had +climbed up to look through.</p> + +<p class="open">“Yes,” said their guide, “in the olden times, the master at the ball +could look through there to see how the servants were behaving, down +in the hall below.”</p> + +<p class="open">Out on the lawn again, they lingered for a few minutes while Mrs. Pitt +reminded them that there is every reason to believe that under those +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[Pg 49]</a></span>very trees Spenser wrote his “Shepherd’s Calendar.”</p> + +<p class="open">Reluctantly they left the castle and walked back to the carriage, +which awaited them in the village.</p> + +<p class="open">“If all English castles are as beautiful as Penshurst Place,” declared +Betty earnestly, “I can’t go back to America until I have seen every +one!”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[Pg 50]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_FIVE" id="CHAPTER_FIVE"></a>CHAPTER FIVE</h2> + +<h3>THE TOWER OF LONDON</h3> + +<p class="open">“I should think they’d call it ‘The Towers,’ instead of ‘The Tower,’” +remarked Betty, surveying the curious, irregular jumble of buildings +before her, as they left the bus.</p> + +<p class="open">“That’s true,” Mrs. Pitt agreed; “but I suppose the name was first +given to the White Tower, which is the oldest part and was built by +William the Conqueror as long ago as 1080. Why did they call it the +White Tower? Well, I believe it was because they whitewashed the walls +in the thirteenth century. Why, what’s the matter, John?”</p> + +<p class="open">“I want to see who those fellows in the funny red uniforms are,” John +called back, as he ran ahead.</p> + +<p><a name="illo7" id="illo7"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus-065.jpg" class="ispace" width="500" height="308" alt="“I want to see who those fellows in the funny red +uniforms are.”—Page 50." title="" /> +<span class="caption">“I want to see who those fellows in the funny red +uniforms are.”—Page <a href="#Page_50">50</a>.</span> +</div> + +<p class="open">When they reached the entrance, they saw John admiring a group of +these “fellows,” who stood just inside the gate. In reality, they are +old soldiers who have served the King well, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[Pg 51]</a></span>are therefore allowed to be the keepers and guides of the Tower. They +bear the strange name of “beefeaters” (a word grown from the French +“buffetiers”), and are very picturesque in their gorgeous scarlet +uniforms, covered with gilt trimmings and many badges, a style of +costume which these custodians have worn ever since the time of Henry +VIII, and which was designed by the painter, Holbein.</p> + +<p class="open">Any one may pay sixpence for a ticket which entitles him to wander +about the precincts of the Tower, and to see the “Crown Jewels,” and +the armory, but Mrs. Pitt, being more ambitious for her young friends, +had obtained a permit from the Governor of the Tower. This she +presented to the “beefeater” who stood by the first gateway, after +they had crossed the great empty moat. The old man stepped to a tiny +door behind him, opened it, disclosing a small, winding stair, and +called “Warder! Party, please!”</p> + +<p class="open">A venerable “beefeater” with white hair and beard came in answer to +the summons, and bowing politely to the party, immediately started off +with them. They set out along a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[Pg 52]</a></span>little, narrow, paved street, lined +by ancient buildings or high walls.</p> + +<p class="open">“They do say h’as ’ow the Princess Elizabeth, afterwards Queen, was +h’imprisoned in that room, up there,” stated the guide, pointing to a +small window in a wall on their left. “By Queen Mary’s h’orders she +was brought in through the Traitor’s Gate, there. That was a great +disgrace, you know, Miss,” he said to Betty, “for h’all the State +prisoners entered by there, and few of them h’ever again left the +Tower.”</p> + +<p class="open">Before them some steps led down to a little paved court, and beyond, +under a building, they saw the terrible Traitor’s Gate,—a low, gloomy +arch, with great wooden doors. The water formerly came through the +arch and up to the steps, at which the unfortunate prisoners were +landed. As the Princess Elizabeth stepped from the boat, she cried, +“Here landeth as true a subject, being a prisoner, as ever landed at +these stairs; and before Thee, O God, I speak it!”</p> + +<p class="open">“Isn’t there a proverb, ‘A loyal heart may be landed at Traitor’s +Gate’?” questioned Mrs. Pitt; and turning to the guide she added, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[Pg 53]</a></span>“Wasn’t it right here where we are standing that Margaret Roper +caught sight of her father, Sir Thomas More, after his trial?” As the +guide nodded his assent, she went on, “You all remember Sir Thomas +More, of course,—the great and noble man whom Henry VIII beheaded +because he would not swear allegiance to the King as head of the +Church in England. In those days, an ax was always carried in the boat +with the prisoner, on his return to the Tower, after the trial. If the +head of the ax was turned toward the victim, it was a sign that he was +condemned. It was here, as I said, that Margaret Roper stood with the +crowd, eagerly watching for the first glimpse of her beloved father; +and when he came near and she saw the position of the ax, she broke +away from the soldiers, and flung herself into her father’s arms. The +two were so devoted that their story has always seemed an especially +pathetic one to me. I suppose there were many like it, however.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Indeed there were, lady,” returned the guide, quite moved.</p> + +<p class="open">Just opposite Traitor’s Gate is the Bloody Tower, the most picturesque +bit of the entire <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[Pg 54]</a></span>fortress. The old portcullis there is known as the +only one in England which is still fit for use. At the side is an +ancient and rusty iron ring, which attracted John’s attention so much +that he asked about it.</p> + +<p class="open">“Boatmen coming through the Traitor’s Gate yonder, used to tie their +boats to that ring,” the “beefeater” told them. “That shows you ’ow +much farther h’up the water came in those days. H’in a room over the +gateway of the Bloody Tower there, the Duke of Clarence, h’according +to some, drowned himself in a butt of Malmsey wine; and in h’an +adjoining room, they say that the little Princes were murdered by +h’order of their uncle, the powerful Duke of Gloucester, who stole +their right to the throne. Right ’ere, at the foot of these steps, is +where ’e ’urriedly buried them, h’after ’is men ’ad smothered them.”</p> + +<p class="open">The children stood gazing at the little window over the gateway, their +eyes big with horror. It did not seem as though such terrible things +could have been done there in that little room, into which the sun now +poured through the tiny window.</p> + +<p class="open">Every night at eleven o’clock, the warder on <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[Pg 55]</a></span>guard at the Bloody +Tower challenges the Chief Warder, who passes bearing the keys. Each +time this conversation follows:—</p> + +<p class="open">“Who goes there?”</p> + +<p class="open">“Keys.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Whose keys?”</p> + +<p class="open">“King Edward VII’s keys.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Advance King Edward VII’s keys, and all’s well.”</p> + +<p class="open">Not until then, may the keys in the Chief Warder’s care be allowed to +pass on.</p> + +<p class="open">Some steps just beyond lead into the Wakefield Tower, where the “Crown +Jewels” are now kept. The “beefeater” remained below, but Mrs. Pitt +took the young people up into the little round room where the splendid +crowns and other jewels are seen, behind iron bars. After examining +minutely the objects on view, while leaning just as far as possible +over the rail, John burst out with:</p> + +<p class="open">“Just look at those huge salt-cellars!” pointing to several very large +gold ones. “I should say that the English must be about as fond of +salt as they are of mustard, to have wanted those great things! Oh, I +don’t care for these!” he added. “They are stupid, I think! <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[Pg 56]</a></span>Imagine +being King Edward, and owning such elegant crowns, scepters, and +things, and then letting them stay way down here at the Tower, where +he can’t get at them! What’s the use of having them, I’d like to know! +Oh, come on! I’ve seen enough of these!”</p> + +<p class="open">“Wait just a minute, John,” interrupted Betty. “See! here’s Queen +Victoria’s crown, and in it is the ruby that belonged to the Black +Prince, and which Henry V wore in his helmet at Agincourt! Just +think!” with a sigh. “Now I’ll go.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Speaking of crowns,” observed Mrs. Pitt, in passing down the stairs, +“have you ever heard about the large emerald which George III wore in +his crown, at his coronation? During the ceremony, it fell out, and +superstitious people regarded it as a bad omen. Their fears were +realized when that sovereign lost something much dearer to him than +any jewel: his American Colonies.”</p> + +<p class="open">The previously-mentioned White Tower stands in the center of all the +other surrounding buildings. It is large and square, with turrets at +the four corners,—an ideal old fortress. As they approached, the +guide took out some keys <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[Pg 57]</a></span>and unlocked a door, starting down some +steps into the darkness. “Oh, the dungeons!” gasped Betty, and she and +Barbara shivered a little, as they followed.</p> + +<p class="open">Just at the foot they halted, and the guide showed them some round +holes in the floor.</p> + +<p class="open">“’Ere’s where they fastened down the rack. This ’ere’s the Torture +Chamber. You may think that being so near the entrance, the cries of +the victims could be ’eard by the people outside, lady, but these +walls are so thick that there was no possible chance of that. Ah, down +in these parts is where we still see things, ladies!”</p> + +<p class="open">“Why, what do you mean?” whispered John, dreading and yet longing to +hear.</p> + +<p class="open">Thus encouraged, their guide continued:—</p> + +<p class="open">“Once h’every month, it is my turn to watch down ’ere, during the +night. Some of us don’t like to admit it, lady, but we h’all dread +that! Many things which ’ave never been written down in ’istory, ’ave +’appened in these ’ere passages and cells! Ah, there are figures glide +around ’ere in the dead o’ night, and many’s the times I’ve ’eard +screams, way in the distance, as though somebody was being ’urt! <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[Pg 58]</a></span>Now, +this way, please, and I’ll show you Guy Fawkes’s cell,—’im h’as was +the originator of the Gunpowder Plot, and tried to blow up the ’ouses +of Parliament.”</p> + +<p class="open">They felt their way along the uneven floors, and peered into the +darkness of Guy Fawkes’s cell, which was called “Little Ease.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Just imagine having to stay long in there!” sighed Betty. “Not able +to stand up, lie down, or even sit up straight! Did they make it that +way on purpose, do you think?”</p> + +<p class="open">“They certainly did, Miss,” declared the guide. “They tried to make +’im confess ’o ’ad associated with ’im in the plot; but ’e wouldn’t, +and they finally put ’im on the rack, poor man! A terrible thing was +that rack!”</p> + +<p class="open">“Let’s come away now,” broke in Mrs. Pitt quickly. “I really think we +have all had about enough of this, and there are more cheerful things +to be seen above.”</p> + +<p class="open">So they threaded their way out to the entrance again, getting whiffs +of damp, disagreeable air from several dark dungeons, and passing +through a number of great apartments stacked with guns. It was a +relief to gain the main part of the building, where other people were, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[Pg 59]</a></span>and plenty of warmth and sunlight. Their spirits rose, and they +laughed and joked while climbing the narrow, spiral stairs.</p> + +<p class="open">The large room in which they found themselves was filled with weapons +also, and various relics of the old Tower. It was used as the great +Banqueting-hall when the Tower was the Royal Palace, as well as the +fortress, the State prison, the Mint, the Armory, and the Record +Office. The apartment above this was the Council Chamber. They went +up.</p> + +<p class="open">“It was here that Richard II gave up his crown to Henry of Bolingbroke +who became Henry IV, by demand of the people,” said Mrs. Pitt. +“Richard was a weak, cruel king, you remember, and was confined in a +distant castle, where he was finally murdered. Suppose we examine some +of this armor now. This suit here belonged to Queen Elizabeth’s +favorite, the Earl of Leicester. Notice the initials R. D., which +stand for his name, Robert Dudley. This here was made for Charles I +when he was a boy; and that belonged to Charles Brandon, Duke of +Suffolk; and this, to Henry VIII himself. Aren’t they interesting? +Yes, what’s that you have found, Barbara?”</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[Pg 60]</a></span>The two boys were absorbed in the armor for some time, but Barbara and +Betty liked a figure on horseback, which represents Queen Elizabeth as +she looked when she rode out in state. It is strangely realistic, for +the figure is dressed in a gown of the period said to have belonged to +that Queen.</p> + +<p class="open">“Do you suppose that jewels were sewn into the dress where those round +holes are?” asked Betty, gently touching the faded velvet with one +finger.</p> + +<p class="open">They all examined the dreadful instruments of torture, some of them +taken from the Armada, and the ghastly headsman’s block and mask, and +then they descended the winding stairs again and went into the little +shadowy St. John’s Chapel, on the floor with the Banqueting-hall.</p> + +<p class="open">“I want you all to remember that this is called the ‘most perfect +Norman chapel in England,’” began Mrs. Pitt. “Some day when you have +learned more about architecture, that will mean a great deal to you. +These heavy circular pillars and the horseshoe arches show the ancient +Norman style. It’s a quaint place, isn’t it? Here Brackenbury, the +Lieutenant of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[Pg 61]</a></span>the Tower, was praying one evening when the order came +to him to murder the two little Princes. In this chapel, the Duke of +Northumberland, the aged father of Lady Jane Grey, heard Mass before +he went out to execution. ‘Bloody Mary’ came here to attend service +upon the death of her brother, Edward VI. Somewhere on the same floor +of this tower, John Baliol, the Scotch King, was imprisoned and lived +for some time in great state. There is (at any rate, there was) a +secret passage between this chapel and the Royal Apartments. I have +read so much about the dreadful conspirators who skulked about the +Tower, and the fearful deeds that were done here, that I can almost +see a man in armor, with drawn sword, lurking behind one of these +pillars!”</p> + +<p class="open">Some soldiers in their gay uniforms were parading on Tower Green when +they went out again, and the scene was a merry, bright one.</p> + +<p class="open">“How different from the days when the scaffold stood under those +trees!” exclaimed Mrs. Pitt, as they approached the fatal spot. “Here +perished Lady Jane Grey, Anne Boleyn, Katharine Howard, and Queen +Elizabeth’s unfortunate favorite, the Earl of Essex. Most of the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[Pg 62]</a></span>victims were beheaded just outside, on Tower Hill. Now, we’ll look +into St. Peter’s Chapel.”</p> + +<p class="open">It is a gloomy, unattractive enough little chapel, but there are +buried here many illustrious men and women, whose lives were unjustly +taken by those in power. Here lie the queens who suffered at the +Tower, and, strangely enough, their tombs are mostly unmarked. John +Fisher, the ancient Bishop of Rochester, lies here, and Guildford +Dudley, husband to Lady Jane Grey, the Earl of Arundel, Sir Thomas +More, and many others whose names are forever famous.</p> + +<p class="open">Our party visited the little room in the Beauchamp Tower, which so +many examine with intense interest. Many people were imprisoned there, +and the walls are literally covered with signatures, verses, +coats-of-arms, crests, and various devices cut into the stone by the +captives. Perhaps the most famous is the simple word “JANE,” said to +have been done by her husband, Guildford Dudley. A secret passage has +been discovered extending around this chamber, and probably spies were +stationed there to watch the prisoners and listen to what they said.</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[Pg 63]</a></span>“That’s the Brick Tower,” said Mrs. Pitt, pointing to it with her +umbrella, as she spoke. “There’s where Lady Jane Grey was imprisoned, +and there Sir Walter Raleigh lived during his first stay at the Tower. +It was when he was in the Beauchamp Tower, however, that he burnt part +of his ‘History of the World,’ the work of many years. It happened in +a curious way! Do you know the story? He was at his window one morning +and witnessed a certain scene which took place in the court beneath. +Later, he talked with a friend who had been a nearer spectator of this +identical scene, and they disagreed entirely as to what passed. +Raleigh was very peculiarly affected by this little incident. He +reasoned that if he could be so much mistaken about something which +had happened under his very eyes, how much more mistaken must he be +about things which occurred centuries before he was born. The +consequence was that he threw the second volume of his manuscript into +the fire, and calmly watched it burn. Think of the loss to us! Poor +Raleigh! He was finally beheaded, and I should think he would have +welcomed it, after so many dreary years of imprisonment. He is buried +in St. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[Pg 64]</a></span>Margaret’s Church, beside Westminster Abbey, you know.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Was there a real palace in the Tower?” inquired Betty, while they +retraced their steps under the Bloody Tower and back toward the +entrance. “Isn’t there any of it remaining?”</p> + +<p class="open">“Yes, there was a palace here once, for royalty lived in the Tower +through the reign of James I. No part of it now exists, however. It +stood over beyond the White Tower, in a part which visitors are not +now allowed to see.”</p> + +<p class="open">On a hill just outside the Tower, in the center of a large, barren +square, is a little inclosed park with trees and shrubbery. Here stood +the scaffold where almost all of the executions were held. The place +is now green and fruitful, but it is said that on the site of the +scaffold within the Tower, grass cannot be made to grow.</p> + +<p class="open">As they walked toward a station of the “Tube,” an underground railway, +John suddenly heaved a great sigh of relief and exclaimed:</p> + +<p class="open">“Well, I tell you what! I’ve learned heaps, but I don’t want to hear +anything more about executions for a few days! What do you all say?”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[Pg 65]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_SIX" id="CHAPTER_SIX"></a>CHAPTER SIX</h2> + +<h3>ST. PAUL’S CATHEDRAL AND ITS VICINITY</h3> + +<p class="open">When Betty came down to her breakfast the following morning, she found +her plate heaped with letters and fascinating little parcels of +different shapes. For a moment she looked puzzled, then she exclaimed:</p> + +<p class="open">“Oh! I know! It’s my birthday, and I’m having such a splendid time +sight-seeing, that I had forgotten all about it! How lovely!” as she +glanced again at the presents.</p> + +<p class="open">“See, John!” she cried, opening the first package, which had an +American postmark, “see what mother has sent me! It is such a pretty +tan leather cover, with little handles, to put on my Baedeker. You +know I always carry the guidebook, and read about things for Mrs. +Pitt. Now, I can keep the book clean, and besides, people can’t +recognize me as an American just from seeing my red book! That’s a +fine idea, I think!”</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[Pg 66]</a></span>John thought that his sister was not opening the bundles quite fast +enough, so he pounced upon one and unwrapped it for her.</p> + +<p class="open">“This long thing is father’s gift, Betty. It’s an umbrella, of course, +and a fine one! Here’s a card which says, ‘Knowing that two umbrellas +could never be amiss in England, I send this.’ Do you suppose he +guessed that you’d lost yours?”</p> + +<p class="open">After the bundles were all opened, the letters hurriedly devoured, and +Betty had at last settled down to eating her cold breakfast, Mrs. Pitt +said:</p> + +<p class="open">“I had not decided exactly what we would do to-day, and now I think +I’ll let the birthday girl plan. Where will you go, Betty?”</p> + +<p class="open">After due consideration, Betty announced that she would choose to +visit St. Paul’s Cathedral, and afterwards, by way of contrast, to +have lunch at the Cheshire Cheese.</p> + +<p class="open">“What in the world’s that?” inquired John.</p> + +<p class="open">Mrs. Pitt laughed. “You’ll see, for we’ll go there, as Betty suggests, +when we have seen St. Paul’s. I’m not sure whether you’ll care to have +lunch there, but we’ll look in, at any rate. It’s rather different +from the places where you <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[Pg 67]</a></span>are accustomed to take your lunch! No, you +must wait, John! I’m not going to tell you any more about it!”</p> + +<p class="open">“What a beautiful day!” Betty cried, taking her seat on the bus a +little later. “I do wish it wouldn’t always be so windy, though! I +almost lost my hat then!”</p> + +<p class="open">“As you stay longer in London, you’ll notice that a really clear day +is almost always a very windy one as well. We Londoners have to accept +the two together,” Mrs. Pitt told the visitors.</p> + +<p class="open">Leaving Trafalgar Square, the bus carried them by Charing Cross +Station, in front of which is a copy of the old Charing Cross. Edward +I, when his queen, Eleanor of Castile, died, put up many crosses in +her memory, each one marking a spot where her body was set down during +its journey to Westminster Abbey for burial. A little farther along, +the bus passed the odd little church of St. Mary-le-Strand, which is +on an “island” in the middle of that wide street and its great busy, +hurrying traffic. It is good to remember that on that very spot, the +maypole once stood. Narrow side streets lead off the Strand, and +looking <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[Pg 68]</a></span>down them one may see the river, and understand why the +street was so named. It originally ran along by the bank of the +Thames, and the splendid houses of the nobles lined the way.</p> + +<p class="open">“These fine stone buildings on our left are the new Law Courts, and +the griffin in the center of the street marks the position of old +Temple Bar. There! We’ve passed it, and now we are in Fleet Street. +Temple Bar was the entrance to the ‘City,’ you know. To this day the +King cannot proceed into the ‘City’ without being first received at +Temple Bar, by the Lord Mayor. At one time, the city of London +comprised a small area (two and a quarter miles from end to end), and +was inclosed by walls and entered by gates. Originally there were but +four gates,—Aldgate, Aldersgate, Ludgate, and Bridgegate. Think what +a small city it was then! It is curious to know that in spite of that, +there were then one hundred and three churches in London. The real +center of life for centuries was at ‘Chepe,’ or Cheapside, as it is +now called. You’ll see it later.”</p> + +<p><a name="illo8" id="illo8"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus-085.jpg" class="ispace" width="500" height="343" alt="“The King cannot proceed into the ‘City’ without being +first received at Temple Bar by the Lord Mayor.”—Page 68." title="" /> +<span class="caption">“The King cannot proceed into the ‘City’ without being +first received at Temple Bar by the Lord Mayor.”—Page <a href="#Page_68">68</a>.</span> +</div> + +<p class="open">Betty had been looking eagerly, even while she listened to what Mrs. +Pitt was saying. Her eyes now rested upon an old church, over the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[Pg 69]</a></span>door of which stood a queer, blackened statue of a queen.</p> + +<p class="open">“The church is St. Dunstan’s,” responded Mrs. Pitt again. “That old +statue of Queen Elizabeth is one of the few things which escaped the +great fire in the reign of Charles II. The figure once stood on the +ancient Lud Gate of the city. They say that it was in the church-yard +of St. Dunstan’s that John Milton sold his wonderful poem of ‘Paradise +Lost’ for five pounds.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Let’s see,—that would be twenty-five dollars, wouldn’t it? I haven’t +your English money clear in my mind yet,” John confided to Philip. “I +can’t somehow feel that it’s real money unless it’s in dollars and +cents.”</p> + +<p class="open">Philip soon pointed to a little alley-way on their left, and said, +“The Cheshire Cheese is in a little court back of there. You can’t +think how many buildings, courts, and alleys are hidden in behind all +of these shops. Some of the old inns, or coffee-houses, which were +famous are (or were) there. Now, here’s Ludgate Hill, and in a minute +you’ll have a view of St. Paul’s.”</p> + +<p class="open">St. Paul’s Cathedral stands on a hill, and because <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[Pg 70]</a></span>of its position +and huge dome it is the most conspicuous of London’s landmarks. But, +because of the closely surrounding buildings, it is much hidden from +near view. As the bus mounted Ludgate Hill, having passed under the +railroad-bridge, they suddenly saw the tremendous cathedral looming up +before them.</p> + +<p class="open">They paused for a moment by the statue of Queen Anne, in front of the +main entrance, while Mrs. Pitt, following her delightful habit, +reminded them of certain notable facts.</p> + +<p class="open">“No one knows exactly how long there has been a church upon this +site,” she began, beckoning them closer to her, as the noise of the +traffic was so great, “but Bede, the oldest historian, says that a +chapel was built here by a Saxon king, before the time of the Romans. +When Sir Christopher Wren, the architect, built this present edifice, +after the great fire of 1666, he found relics of three periods,—the +Saxon, the British, and the Roman. St. Paul’s has been burned five +times. The last fire (the one of which I just spoke) destroyed the +church which we know as ‘old St. Paul’s.’ Now, let’s go in, for there +is much to be seen.”</p> + +<p class="open">Next to St. Peter’s at Rome, St. Paul’s in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[Pg 71]</a></span>London is the largest +church, in the world. The first impression a person gets is one of +great vastness and bareness, for, unlike Westminster Abbey, here one +does not encounter at every step famous statues, memorials, and +graves. The nave is tremendous in width and in length. Chapels open +from both sides, but they seem far off and shadowy. Way in the +distance is the choir, the altar, and the group of chairs used at +services. Everything is quiet, empty, and bare.</p> + +<p class="open">“I never imagined such a huge church!” said Betty, much impressed. “I +feel lost and cold, somehow. What are you thinking, Mrs. Pitt? I’m +sure we’d all like to hear.”</p> + +<p class="open">“I was just picturing, as I always do when I come here, the scenes the +nave of old St. Paul’s presented in Henry VIII’s time. Would you like +to hear? Well, in the sixteenth century, this nave was called ‘Paul’s +Walke,’ and it was a place of business. Yes,” she assured them, as +John and Betty exclaimed, “down these aisles were booths where +merchants of all kinds sold their wares. Counters were built around +the pillars, and even the font was used by the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[Pg 72]</a></span>vendors. Pack-horses +laden with merchandise streamed always in and out, and crowds of +people elbowed their way about, shouting and gesticulating excitedly.”</p> + +<p class="open">“But didn’t they have any services at all in St. Paul’s Cathedral?” +asked Betty wonderingly.</p> + +<p class="open">“Oh, yes!” continued Mrs. Pitt, “the services went on just the same. +The people were used to the noise and confusion. Here came the tailors +to look at the fine new clothes which the young dandies wore when they +took their morning promenades. All the latest books and poems were +always to be found on sale here. Bishop Earle wrote ‘Paul’s Walke—you +may cal—the lesser Ile of Great Brittaine. The noyse in it is like +that of Bees, in strange hummings, or buzze, mixt of walking, tongues, +and feet; it is a kind of still roare, or loud whisper.’</p> + +<p class="open">“I am glad to be able to say, however,” she continued, “that before +that dreadful period, there was a time when the cathedral was not so +dishonored. Once these walls were covered with valuable shrines, +pictures, and tapestries, and costly jewels glittered everywhere. +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[Pg 73]</a></span>There was one huge emerald which was said to cure diseases of the +eyes. Here came John Wycliffe, the great reformer, at the summons of +the Archbishop of Canterbury, to answer for the publication of his new +doctrines. Here, Henry of Bolingbroke prayed for his successful +seizure of the throne, and here he also wept over the grave of his +father, John of Gaunt. Sir Philip Sidney was buried here, and his +father-in-law, Sir Francis Walsingham, Queen Elizabeth’s secretary; +and there was a magnificent monument to Sir Christopher Hatton, Lord +Chancellor, but these were all destroyed by the Great Fire.”</p> + +<p class="open">About the aisles and nave are many monuments to great soldiers, +sailors, painters, statesmen, literary men, and others. Most of them +are very ugly, and our party did not linger long over these. After +walking under the dome, and looking up into its tremendous heights, +they went down into the crypt, which is really the most interesting +part of the cathedral.</p> + +<p class="open">The crypt is vast, dark, and gloomy. Other parties may be heard +walking about and talking in the distance, without being seen, and +their voices echo strangely. In the “Painters’ Corner,” <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[Pg 74]</a></span>Sir Joshua +Reynolds, West, Lawrence, Landseer, and Turner, all famous artists, +lie buried beneath the pavement. Sir Christopher Wren, surrounded by +members of his family, lies under the dome, as was his wish. Lord +Nelson and the Duke of Wellington both have splendid tombs there.</p> + +<p class="open">“These are all we now have of the monuments of the old cathedral,” +remarked Mrs. Pitt, pointing to where in a corner some mutilated +figures, heads, and broken monuments lay, all in a heap.</p> + +<p class="open">John was delighted when it was proposed to climb up into the dome, and +to test the “Whispering Gallery,” on the way. It seemed an endless +climb up the spiral stairs, and Mrs. Pitt, Barbara, and Betty lagged +behind. When they finally came out into the great round gallery, the +two boys were over on the opposite side. Betty, after waving to them, +sat down on a bench against the wall, and suddenly she heard John’s +voice, saying “Glad to see you at last!” She put her lips to the wall +and whispering an answer, found that John could hear her, too. They +were having quite a lengthy conversation, holding first their lips to +the wall to speak, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[Pg 75]</a></span>and then their ears to listen, when Mrs. Pitt +interrupted them.</p> + +<p class="open">“That’s great fun, but we have still a hard climb before us,” she +reminded them. “I think we had better go on.”</p> + +<p class="open">The remainder of the way was much more difficult, as the steps were +steeper and narrower than ever, but they at last emerged on the little +platform, running around the top of the dome.</p> + +<p class="open">“My, what a view!” they cried.</p> + +<p class="open">“Yes, you’re the first visitors in many a day who could see so far,” +the man in charge told them.</p> + +<p class="open">If the terrible black smoke which comes from the hundreds of chimneys, +and the fog permit one to see it all, the view is truly fine. It is +especially interesting to trace the river in its various curves, and +to pick out the many bridges which span it. Another striking feature +is the immense number of spires. The guide pointed out the churches to +them, and also the different parts of the city.</p> + +<p class="open">“If you thought it was windy on the bus, Betty, I wonder what you call +this,” exclaimed Barbara, grasping her hat with both hands. “I’m going +down now.”</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[Pg 76]</a></span>The others were quite ready to follow, and they wound their way down, +down, down, until they stood again on the main floor, under the dome.</p> + +<p class="open">“This is called St. Paul’s Church-yard,” said Mrs. Pitt, leading the +way around back of the cathedral. “This used to be a very busy place. +St. Paul’s School was here, within the yard, as well as many shops. +The first printer who produced books for children had his shop in this +corner. In the days when the interior of the building was put to such +dreadful uses, the outside was treated quite as badly. Shops of all +kinds were built up against the cathedral, and sometimes the noise +which the carpenters made greatly disturbed those at the service +within. It must have been shocking indeed! It is said that for a very +small sum, the sexton would allow boys to climb up and ring the bells +as much as they liked; and, on the day of Queen Mary’s coronation, she +saw a Dutchman standing on the weather-vane, waving a flag.”</p> + +<p class="open">“My! I’d like to have seen that!” cried John, to whom such gymnastic +feats appealed.</p> + +<p class="open">While they walked back to the Cheshire <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[Pg 77]</a></span>Cheese, Mrs. Pitt explained to +them what St. Paul’s Cathedral once comprised.</p> + +<p class="open">“In the London of the Middle Ages, the Church ruled supreme,” she told +them. “At least one-fourth of the entire city was owned by the +churches and the religious houses. To carry on the monasteries and +churches, a tremendous number of people were necessary. At St. Paul’s, +in 1450, there were:</p> + +<div class="centerbox bbox" style="text-align: left;">The bishop,<br /> +Four archdeacons,<br /> +The treasurer,<br /> +The precentor,<br /> +The chancellor,<br /> +Thirty greater canons,<br /> +Twelve lesser canons,<br /> +Fifty chaplains, and<br /> +Thirty vicars.</div> + +<p>These were of the higher rank; there were innumerable others of lower +rank, such as the master of the singing-school, the binder, and the +translator. The brewer, in 1286, brewed 67,814 gallons, and the baker +baked about 40,000 loaves. This gives one a little idea of what it +meant to conduct a cathedral in those days of the all-powerful +Church.”</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[Pg 78]</a></span>Between the poor shops of Fleet Street, open many little passages, and +these lead into tiny courts and winding alleys. The entrance to one of +them is marked with the sign, “Wine Office Court.” Directly off from +this narrow, dark alley stands the famous Cheshire Cheese, the only +genuine old-time tavern or “coffee-house” which still exists +unchanged. It is a little, low building, with quaint bow-window of +square panes.</p> + +<p class="open">“Why, we can’t all get in there, can we?” laughed John, as Mrs. Pitt +stepped inside. The door is very small, and the hallway was so crowded +by curious visitors, and by jostling, pushing waiters, that it did not +seem possible for another person to enter. They managed, however, to +elbow their way through the crowd into the celebrated “coffee-room” +itself.</p> + +<p class="open">That “coffee-room” is splendid! The ceiling is very low, and the walls +are wainscoted in dark wood. Although the room is so small, there are +numerous long tables, and old-fashioned, high-backed settles. One +seat, in the corner farthest from the door, is marked with a little +tablet, telling us that there was Dr. Johnson’s chosen place. Several +pictures of that <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[Pg 79]</a></span>noted gentleman adorn the walls. It always seems +very much out of keeping with the quaintness of the room, to find it +full of laughing, chattering Americans. A few quiet English clerks +come there for their noon meal, but the majority of the patrons of the +Cheshire Cheese are the tourists.</p> + +<p class="open">“There’s nothing to do but to wait here until we can get seats,” said +Mrs. Pitt; so they all remained standing in the middle of the floor, +directly in the path of the waiters, until finally some seats were +free, and they slid into one of the long benches which extend down +each side of the tables, placed endwise to the wall.</p> + +<p class="open">“Are you sorry you proposed coming here?” Mrs. Pitt asked Betty, +watching with amusement her crest-fallen face as she saw the soiled +linen, and untidy look of the entire table.</p> + +<p class="open">“Oh, no,” Betty answered doubtfully, “only I guess people come here +more because Dr. Johnson did, than because they like it.”</p> + +<p class="open">Mrs. Pitt laughed. “That’s very true,” she said. “The service isn’t +exactly prompt, either. We’ve already waited quite fifteen minutes, I +am sure. I ordered lark pie and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[Pg 80]</a></span>Cheshire cheese for you, of course. +Every one takes them on his first visit here.”</p> + +<p class="open">The lark pie was Dr. Johnson’s favorite dish, but that fact does not +suffice to make it very enjoyable. Betty frankly confessed that she +could not manage to eat hers, but John pretended to be very +industrious over his, although he did a good deal of looking about the +room and commenting upon things he saw.</p> + +<p class="open">“There’s even sawdust on the floor,” he announced jubilantly. “Did you +ever! My! How hot and stuffy it is here! Were all old inns just like +this, Mrs. Pitt?”</p> + +<p class="open">“Yes, pretty much so, I think,” was the response. “There were ever so +many of them, you know, and each was frequented by a certain class of +men. For instance, there was the ‘British Coffee-house,’ where all the +Scotch visitors went; there was ‘Robin’s,’ which was noted for its +foreign bankers and ambassadors; and there was ‘Dolly’s Chophouse,’ +where the wits congregated. Most of the famous clubs held their +meetings at one or another of the ‘coffee-houses,’ too. The ‘Spectator +Club’ met at ‘Button’s Coffee-house,’ and there the ‘Spectator Papers’ +had their beginnings. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[Pg 81]</a></span>There Addison, Steele, Pope, and others, spent +their leisure hours. Some of the London clubs of the eighteenth +century had very queer names!” she continued. “There was the ‘Ugly +Club,’ the ‘Quack Club,’ the ‘Beefsteak Club,’ the ‘Split-Farthing +Club,’ and the ‘Small Coalmen’s Music Club,’ for example. Here, at the +Cheshire Cheese, Goldsmith often came with Dr. Johnson. Can’t you +imagine the two sitting over at that table, with Boswell not far away, +patiently listening, quill in hand? Dr. Johnson was very careless and +untidy, you know, and invariably spilled his soup. It was he who used +to walk up and down Fleet Street touching every post he passed!”</p> + +<p class="open">All this time they had been waiting for their cheese. When it finally +came, it proved to be much better than the lark pie. The cheese is +served in little three-cornered tins, and is poured hot over crisp +pieces of toast.</p> + +<p class="open">When they had finished, they went up the winding stairs to see the +room where the famous “Literary Club” used to meet. Dr. Johnson’s +chair is preserved there.</p> + +<p class="open">“Didn’t Dr. Johnson live near here, too, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[Pg 82]</a></span>Mother?” asked Barbara, as +they came out again into the court.</p> + +<p class="open">“Yes, I believe he lived in both Johnson and Bolt Courts,” Mrs. Pitt +told them. “His haunts were all about here. In number six, over there, +Goldsmith is said to have written ‘The Vicar of Wakefield.’”</p> + +<p class="open">From there, they walked up Fleet Street, discussing their unusual +lunch as they went. They had all enjoyed it,—even Betty.</p> + +<p class="open">She made them all laugh, however, by announcing seriously, “I’m glad I +went, but I think it is just about as nice to read about lunching +there, as to really do it. And then, you wouldn’t be quite so hungry +afterwards!”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[Pg 83]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_SEVEN" id="CHAPTER_SEVEN"></a>CHAPTER SEVEN</h2> + +<h3>A SUNDAY NIGHT CHAT</h3> + +<p class="open">It was Sunday afternoon, and the time for John and Betty to send their +weekly letters home. The day was a beautiful one in early spring, the +grass and trees in the garden behind the house were very green, birds +were singing outside, people were continually walking by, and the +letters progressed but slowly. Every few moments Betty stole a glance +out-of-doors, and John sat leaning his elbow on the desk chewing the +end of his penholder, while he gazed steadily out of the window.</p> + +<p class="open">“Well, what do you think of it all, John?” asked Betty thoughtfully. +“Aren’t we glad we came, and aren’t Mrs. Pitt and Barbara and Philip +good to us?”</p> + +<p class="open">“Just splendid!” exclaimed John most emphatically. He had turned away +from the window now, and was entering earnestly into the conversation. +“I just tell you what, Betty, it’s <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[Pg 84]</a></span>a different thing to peg away at +an old, torn history-book at school, and to come over here and see +things and places, while Mrs. Pitt tells you about them! Why, I +honestly like English history the way we’re learning it now!”</p> + +<p class="open">Betty smiled in an elder-sisterly fashion. “Well, I always did like to +study history, but it surely makes it nicer and easier to do it this +way. But besides that, John, don’t you think it’s queer and very +interesting to see the way the English do things—all their customs, I +mean. They’re so different from ours! Why, when I first saw Barbara +that day at the train, I thought it was the funniest thing that her +hair was all hanging loose down her back. I wouldn’t think of being so +babyish! I thought perhaps she’d lost off her ribbon maybe, but she’s +worn it that way ever since. And her little sailor-hat looks so +countrified as she has it,—’way down over her ears!”</p> + +<p><a name="illo9" id="illo9"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 332px;"> +<img src="images/illus-103.jpg" class="ispace" width="332" height="500" alt="“I’d feel like ‘Little Lord Fauntleroy’ going around +with those clothes on!”—Page 84." title="" /> +<span class="caption">“I’d feel like ‘Little Lord Fauntleroy’ going around +with those clothes on!”—Page <a href="#Page_85">84</a>.</span> +</div> + +<p class="open">“I know it; it seemed mighty funny to me to see Philip’s black suit +with the long trousers, his broad collar, and skimpy short coat! It’s +what all the boys at the Eton School wear, he says. They must feel +like fools! Why, I’d feel like—like—‘Little Lord Fauntleroy’ going <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[Pg 85]</a></span>around with those clothes on all the time!” John’s voice was full of +scorn, yet his eyes twinkled with fun. “But, the high hat, just like +father’s opera-hat, which Philip wears, beats it all!” he continued. +“I’m so used to it now, though, that I don’t think of it any more. +It’s queer how soon you get used to things! It’s just like riding +along the streets, and keeping to the left instead of to the right. +The first time I rode in a hansom (you weren’t there that day, Betty) +and we suddenly turned a corner, keeping close to the left curb, I +poked open the little door in the roof and shouted, ‘Hey there! +Mister! You’ll bump into something if you don’t look out!’ The driver +just stared; he didn’t seem to know what I was talking about.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Yes,” went on Betty in her turn, “keeping to the left did seem queer +at first. You know, John, how often we have wished that Dan and the +automobile were over here. Honestly, I think Dan would surely have an +accident! He never could remember to keep to the left! Now, we simply +must go on with our letters! Begin when I say three! One—two—(hurry, +John, you haven’t dipped your pen!), three!” and both commenced to +write industriously.</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[Pg 86]</a></span>The letters were finally finished just as the tea-bell rang. Betty ran +to wash her hands, and then they went down to the library, where tea +was served every afternoon that they were at home.</p> + +<p class="open">“Why! I quite like tea over here!” Betty remarked. “I never drink it +at home! Mother would be so surprised if she saw me! Do all English +people drink it every afternoon as you do, Mrs. Pitt?”</p> + +<p class="open">“Yes, it seems to go with the English people, somehow. We’d quite as +soon think of doing without our breakfast or dinner as our +four-o’clock-tea. You’ve noticed, my dear, how I always manage to get +my tea at some little shop when we are on one of our sight-seeing +tours. Really, I am quite lost without it! Oh! it’s just a habit, of +course.” As she spoke, Mrs. Pitt poured herself another cup.</p> + +<p class="open">When the tea things had been removed, and a fire was lighted, stories +were called for.</p> + +<p class="open">“Tell us some of the stories you know about different places and old +customs, Mother,” urged Barbara.</p> + +<p class="open">“Very well,” said Mrs. Pitt willingly. “Let—me—see! You remember, +don’t you, having <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[Pg 87]</a></span>the guide point out London Bridge to you, from the +top of St. Paul’s, day before yesterday? That’s the oldest bridge, you +know, for it seems to have existed as long ago as we know anything of +London itself. But legend has it that before there was any bridge over +the Thames, people crossed in a ferry which was run by a certain John +Overs. This man naturally became rich, as very many people were always +paying him for taking them across the river, but he was a great miser. +The ferryman had one fair daughter about whom he was as miserly as he +was with his money,—keeping her shut up out of reach of her lover. +One day, John Overs thought he would like to save the cost of +providing food for his household, so he pretended to be dead. He +expected that his servants would fast in consequence, as was the +ancient custom; but so great was their joy when they thought their +master dead, that they all began to dance, to make merry together, and +to feast upon all they found in the house. The old miser stood this +just as long as he could, and then he sprang up to lay hands upon +them. The servants fled, believing that it was something +supernatural—all except one, who, more daring <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[Pg 88]</a></span>than the rest, killed +his master with his weapon. So old John did die after all, but in an +unexpected way.</p> + +<p class="open">“Part the second of my story tells of how the monks of a neighboring +abbey finally consented to bury the body; when the abbot returned, +however, he was very angry at what they had done, and gave the friars +some orders. They dug up the body of the poor old boatman, tied it to +the back of an ass, and turned the animal loose. The body was finally +thrown off at the place of public execution (directly under the +gallows), and there it was buried and remained. Meanwhile the +daughter, Mary, was having more trouble. Immediately upon the death of +her father, she had sent for her lover, but in coming to her, he had +been thrown off his horse and killed. This was too much for the +unfortunate girl, who decided to retire to a nunnery, leaving her +entire fortune to found the church of ‘St. Mary Overy.’ That is the +real name of the church now known as Southwark Cathedral, which stands +just across London Bridge. Now, how do you like that story?”</p> + +<p><a name="illo10" id="illo10"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus-109.jpg" class="ispace" width="500" height="312" alt="“You remember, don’t you, having the guide point out +London Bridge?”—Page 86." title="" /> +<span class="caption">“You remember, don’t you, having the guide point out +London Bridge?”—Page <a href="#Page_87">86</a>.</span> +</div> + +<p class="open">“Great!” exclaimed John. “Whoever <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[Pg 89]</a></span>thought +that up had a vivid imagination, all right!”</p> + +<p class="open">“Why, don’t you believe it, John?” said Betty, who always took +everything most seriously.</p> + +<p class="open">When they were quiet again, Mrs. Pitt talked on.</p> + +<p class="open">“London Bridge, up to the time of the Great Fire, was crowded with +houses, you know, and there was even a chapel there. Over the gate at +the Southwark end of the bridge, the heads of traitors were exhibited +on the ends of long poles. Here Margaret Roper, whom you met at the +Tower, came, bargained for, and at last secured the head of her +father, Sir Thomas More. But, to go back to the houses! Hans Holbein, +the painter, and John Bunyan, the poet, are both said to have resided +on London Bridge. I also like the story which tells of a famous wine +merchant, named Master Abel, who had his shop there. Before his door, +he set up a sign on which was the picture of a bell, and under it were +written the words, ‘Thank God I am Abel.’ Here’s a picture of old +London Bridge. Imagine how quaint it must have looked crowded by these +picturesque old houses, and with its streets <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[Pg 90]</a></span>filled with travelers. +All those entering London from the south came across that bridge, +which was consequently a great thoroughfare. Near the Southwark side +of the bridge is where the Tabard Inn stood—the inn from which the +Canterbury Pilgrims set out; and near the bank, known as Bankside in +those days, was the celebrated Globe Theatre, connected with +Shakespeare and his associates. The popular Paris Gardens were there, +too, where the sport of bear-baiting was seen in Queen Elizabeth’s +time. If we went over there, we could see the former sites of these +historic places, but they are now covered by unattractive, modern +buildings or great breweries. It’s hard to conjure up the Globe +Theatre out of present-day Southwark,” she added with a sigh, as if +she were speaking to herself. “Not far from the site of the Tabard +Inn, a picturesque, gabled house once stood, in which John Harvard was +born. Yes, John, that was the man who founded Harvard College, at your +American Cambridge.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Yes, and I mean to go there myself some day!” announced John, +immediately fired by the familiar name of our oldest university. “My +father went, you know.”</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[Pg 91]</a></span>Mrs. Pitt and the two girls spent the remainder of the evening in +talking over plans for the next day, but John’s thoughts had been +turned to college, and so he and Philip had a lively time comparing +notes about English and American colleges.</p> + +<p class="open">“Where do you mean to go, Philip?” John inquired.</p> + +<p class="open">“Oh, to Cambridge, of course! My father, his father, and all my family +for generations back have been to Trinity College, Cambridge. That’s +the largest college in England, and was founded by Henry VIII. Oh, +it’s jolly there! There are old quadrangles around which the men live; +there’s a beautiful old chapel, built in the Tudor period; and there’s +the dining-hall. That’s grand! Back of the college is the river, the +Cam. There’s a lovely garden there, and over the river on which the +men go boating, is an old bridge. I had a cousin who lived in the +rooms which Byron once occupied. He, Macaulay, Tennyson, Thackeray, +Dryden, and many other famous men went there. Oh, it’s the only +college for me! I shall be there in three years, I hope!”</p> + +<p class="open">“Well, Harvard’s our oldest college. It was <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[Pg 92]</a></span>founded by your John +Harvard almost as soon as Boston itself, and ‘Teddy’ Roosevelt went +there! It’s good enough for me! The only trouble is that they can’t +seem to beat at football, somehow, and I mean to play and see if I +can’t help ’em win. That’s the only trouble with old Harvard, though,” +John said, feeling that he must be loyal to his college in this +international discussion; “otherwise she’s all right! There’s the +Stadium, where all the big games are played, and there’s the Charles +River for us to row on. There are loads of fine new buildings, too, +and I’d like those better than the old ones. We don’t care who lived +in ’em! Oh, the fellows at Harvard have a splendid time!”</p> + +<p class="open">Mrs. Pitt had overheard some of this conversation with much amusement, +for the ideas and ideals of the two boys were so different, and so +very characteristic of each.</p> + +<p class="open">“I think you’d enjoy a visit to Cambridge, John,” she said. “We must +try to manage it. You’d find one of our colleges very unlike yours in +America. Both Oxford and Cambridge Universities are made up of many +colleges, you know; at Oxford, there are twenty-two, and at Cambridge, +eighteen. Each college has its own <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[Pg 93]</a></span>buildings, its own professors, its +own chapel and dining-hall, and each college is complete in itself, +although they all belong to one university. You would think the rules +very strict! When the Cambridge men go to chapel, and at other +specified times, they are required to wear their gowns and queer +little flat caps, called ‘trenchers’ or ‘mortar-boards.’ At Oxford, +the gates of each college are closed at nine o’clock every evening; a +man may stay out later (even until twelve), if he can give a good +reason for it. If he remains out all night, though, he is immediately +dismissed. How would you like that?” she laughed, seeing John’s +disgusted expression. “There are men called ‘scouts,’ who look after +the men’s rooms, and bring them their breakfast. The students are very +carefully watched, and if one of them stays away from his meals at the +dining-hall more than two or three times a week, the affair is +investigated.”</p> + +<p class="open">“My! When we go to college in America, we are men, and can look after +ourselves!” John drew himself up very straight, and spoke with great +dignity. “Cambridge may be older and have more—more—‘associations,’ +but I’d rather go to Harvard.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[Pg 94]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_EIGHT" id="CHAPTER_EIGHT"></a>CHAPTER EIGHT</h2> + +<h3>WINDSOR CASTLE, STOKE POGES, AND ETON SCHOOL</h3> + +<p class="open">“It’s only a little more than twenty miles out to Windsor,” remarked +Mrs. Pitt, one June morning. “Suppose we go in the motor, and then we +can have a glimpse of both Stoke Poges and Eton School, on the way.”</p> + +<p class="open">There were always many exclamations of delight at mention of the +“motor,” so it was settled, and the party set out at ten o’clock, all +in the highest of spirits. It was slow and difficult driving through +the city streets, but the English chauffeur was quite used to keeping +to the left, as well as being perfectly familiar with the rules which +govern the traffic, so he had none of the accidents which Betty and +John had prophesied that their father’s American chauffeur would not +be able to avoid. Very soon, however, they had reached the suburbs, +and then they came into the open country.</p> + +<p class="open">They could go faster now, and the big touring-car <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[Pg 95]</a></span>sped over the +wonderfully smooth roads at a speed which delighted the young people. +The weather was proving a bit uncertain. Every little while, a tiny +shower descended upon them out of a blue sky full of great white +clouds, the sun shining warm and bright all the while.</p> + +<p class="open">“Oh, don’t let’s put up any umbrella,” exclaimed Betty, during one of +the showers. “Rain never seems to do any harm in England. You don’t +get wet, and never mind it a bit. Truly, I like it, for it’s so pretty +to see it raining with the sun out. There! now, it’s stopped again! +Just see that lovely rainbow!”</p> + +<p class="open">The English country is always beautiful in its individual way, but it +is especially so on one of these showery days, when every leaf and +flower looks fresher than ever with the rain-drops glistening on it. +Now and then, they slowed down while passing through a busy town, +where pretty ladies and children in little two-wheeled carts drove +about doing the morning marketing. Most of the way, however, lay +through country roads bordered by green-hedged fields in which the +ever-present sheep grazed; and here and there were high brick walls +over which the stately, vine-covered homes were just visible. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[Pg 96]</a></span>There +were also picturesque little workmen’s cottages at the edge of the +wood, and lodges covered with climbing-roses.</p> + +<p class="open">It seemed as though they had only been riding a very short time when, +upon emerging from a shady road, they drew up at a little gateway. +John felt impatient at having to stop, and looked questioningly around +at Mrs. Pitt from his place on the front seat. The others were already +getting out, he found, and Mrs. Pitt was saying:</p> + +<p class="open">“This is Stoke Poges, and I want you to see it, for it’s such a lovely +spot. Probably you have all learned in school parts of Gray’s ‘Elegy,’ +and very likely you never cared or thought much about the poem. Even +if that’s true, you can’t possibly help loving this peaceful, +beautiful place, in which it was written.”</p> + +<p><a name="illo11" id="illo11"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 336px;"> +<img src="images/illus-119.jpg" class="ispace" width="336" height="500" alt="The moss-grown Saxon porch.—Page 97." title="" /> +<span class="caption">The moss-grown Saxon porch.—Page <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</span> +</div> + +<p class="open">They were now walking along a little path which led into the +church-yard. A straight gravel walk stretches between the graves, up +to the ancient church, which is very small, and has one tower closely +covered with ivy. The fine old Saxon porch, and one doorway show great +age; but it is in the whole effect rather than in any detail of the +little church and its surroundings <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[Pg 97]</a></span>that the charm lies. One cannot imagine a more quiet, remote spot! On +one side is the group of yew-trees which Gray mentions in the poem, +and in their shelter are the hoary stones which mark the graves of the +“rude forefathers of the hamlet.” Standing there, one almost hesitates +to speak above a whisper for fear of arousing something or somebody +out of sleep, or of breaking the wonderful spell of the place. Pausing +under those trees, and feasting one’s eyes upon the lovely, rural +scene, not a sound reaches the ear except the twitter of the birds, +and perhaps the faint jingle of a cow-bell. Mrs. Pitt gave a start at +the sound of John’s voice, when he suddenly said:</p> + +<p class="open">“Let’s go and find Gray’s tomb, Philip; the guidebook says it’s on the +other side of the church.”</p> + +<p class="open">The rest lingered for just one more look at the little church, with +its vines, and the rich, dark-red brick-work of the moss-grown Saxon +porch, which the sun touches lovingly as it filters through the heavy +leafage of the yew-trees; then they followed Philip and John.</p> + +<p class="open">Close to the outer wall of the church is a large tomb in which Gray is +buried with his beloved <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[Pg 98]</a></span>mother. No word on the slab tells that the +famous poet is buried within; there is only his mother’s epitaph, +which Gray wrote, and in which he speaks of himself as “the only child +who had the misfortune to outlive her.”</p> + +<p class="open">When Mrs. Pitt came up, John was standing near the tomb with his hat +off, saying, “All right, Mr. Gray; I’ll read your poem over again just +as soon as ever I get home.”</p> + +<p class="open">The bustling, lively scenes of Eton School presented a marked contrast +to the quiet of Stoke Poges. Moving about the grounds between the +different school-buildings, were dozens of boys all dressed in the +regulation Eton suit, such as Philip himself wore. They were laughing, +shouting, and playing games, just like other boys, but such actions +somehow seemed out of keeping with their quaint costumes. From the +automobile John looked down upon them, his eyes full of wonder and +surprise.</p> + +<p class="open">“I suppose they are real boys,” he said in a puzzled way, “but they +don’t look like them.”</p> + +<p class="open">While Philip talked with some of his friends, and John lingered near +the group, the others visited the beautiful Eton Chapel, and were +especially interested in the familiar picture of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[Pg 99]</a></span>Sir Galahad, which +hangs there. The principal buildings of the school are ranged about +two large courts; in the center of the Outer Quadrangle is a bronze +statue of Henry VI, the founder of the school. The library is valuable +and contains some costly books and manuscripts. Fox, Peel, Chatham, +Wellington, and Shelley were Eton boys, and the latter’s autograph may +still be seen on one of the desks.</p> + +<p class="open">As they left Eton and crossed the bridge over the Thames, they duly +admired the magnificent view of Windsor Castle, which may be enjoyed +from that point. Above its many roofs and towers stands the great +round keep, the oldest part of the castle, having been built by Edward +III.</p> + +<p class="open">The castle is on a hill in the center of the town, and the quaint, +red-roofed houses reach even to its walls. After passing the statue of +Queen Victoria, the automobile left the party at the entrance to the +castle, through Henry VIII’s gateway, carved with the Tudor Rose. +Inside, they joined a party and were shown about by a guide.</p> + +<p class="open">They saw so many buildings that John and Betty found it rather +bewildering. In thinking <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[Pg 100]</a></span>it over afterwards, certain objects remained +most clearly in their memory.</p> + +<p class="open">“St. George’s Chapel is really the most beautiful thing there, of +course,” said Betty, as they rode away. “I never saw such carving as +there is on the seats—no, stalls—in the choir! Henry VIII, Jane +Seymour, and poor Charles I are buried there, too. I like those faded +banners and the coats-of-arms which belonged to the Knights of the +Garter. The whole place is lovely, I think. There are lots of little +chapels off from it, too, like Westminster Abbey; didn’t the guide say +that the tomb of Queen Victoria’s father, the Duke of Kent, is there?”</p> + +<p class="open">“Yes,” answered Mrs. Pitt, “and I hope you haven’t forgotten the +Albert Chapel. It adjoins St. George’s, you remember, and we stood in +the doorway when our turn came and looked in. It is very old, and is +on the site of an ancient chapel of St. Edward, but Queen Victoria +made it what it is now, and restored it in honor of her husband, +Prince Albert. The interior is truly remarkable for its fine marbles, +mosaics, sculptures, stained-glass, and precious stones. I fancy they +would not especially appeal to you, however. How did you like the +State Apartments? <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[Pg 101]</a></span>It was fortunate that the Royal Family was not in +residence, so that we could be admitted.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Well,” began John, “they made us hurry so that I didn’t see very +much. That guide drove us along as though we were a flock of sheep! I +liked that big room though, where all the portraits of the generals +are. They called it the Waterloo Room, didn’t they? Anyway, there were +splendid pictures of Wellington, Metternich, Blücher, and lots of +other fellows. Did you see the busts of Wellington and Marlborough in +one of the other rooms, Philip? There are silk flags which hang over +both the busts, and that cross old guide growled out that they are +replaced every year on the anniversaries of the two +battles;—Wellington gets a new flag on June 18th, because of Waterloo +in 1815, and Marlborough gets his on August 13th, on account of the +battle of Blenheim in 1704.”</p> + +<p class="open">“In that room,” explained Mrs. Pitt, “is where the ‘command’ +theatrical performances are held. When the King hears the report of a +play which he thinks he would like, he simply commands the company to +come to him; and if he happens to be at Windsor, he and the Court +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[Pg 102]</a></span>witness the play in the Waterloo Chamber. Your American Sousa’s Band +played there once. I saw Betty and Barbara lingering before the large +picture of Charles I and his family. I am glad you liked it, girls, +for that’s an especial delight of mine. Dear little ‘Baby Stuart’ is +so lovable! That was in the Van Dyck Room, which contains many of that +master’s works. Those State Apartments are only for the use of Royal +guests, you understand, when they come on visits. I always wish that +we could see the King or Queen’s private rooms, don’t you? It would be +so interesting. What’s your favorite part of the castle, Barbara?”</p> + +<p class="open">“Oh, I like the terrace better than anything else,” Barbara answered, +without a moment’s hesitation. “The view of the valley, with the river +and Eton Chapel in the distance, is so pretty! Then, there is +something so stately and impressive about the wide, long terrace +itself. I once read that it was Queen Elizabeth’s favorite walk, and +there couldn’t be a more appropriate place for a queen to choose. I +like that gateway with E. R. on it, showing that it was built in +Elizabeth’s reign; and it’s fun to look up to the little bay-window +which is said to have <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[Pg 103]</a></span>been her room. Then I like the old Curfew +Tower, too,” she added.</p> + +<p class="open">“Yes,” broke in Mrs. Pitt. “That’s one of the gloomiest parts of the +whole castle, in its history as well as in its aspect. Of course, +terrible things happened at Windsor just as they did elsewhere; but +although Windsor dates from a very early period, and figures in the +reigns of all the sovereigns, its history contains more of the bright +and happy than of the tragic. Down in a miserable, windowless cell in +the lower part of the Curfew Tower, it is wrongly said that Queen Anne +Boleyn was put to spend the night before her execution, as you know, +and there still remain in the Tower some fearful instruments of +torture. The Horseshoe Cloister near there, is very ancient, and the +houses are delightfully mediæval. Did you look in some of the tiny +windows as we passed through? It is said that in a small hall there, +in the Horseshoe Cloister, Shakespeare’s ‘Merry Wives of Windsor’ was +first produced.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Who was it that the guide told us was imprisoned near the Round +Tower, and who fell in love with a lady whom he saw walking in the +gardens? I have forgotten the names.” It <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[Pg 104]</a></span>was Betty who spoke, for she +had been quietly thinking over the visit.</p> + +<p class="open">“That was young James of Scotland, whom Henry V caused to be captured +in time of truce, and thrown into prison at Windsor, where he remained +almost twenty years. The English treated him kindly, however, and he +spent his time in studying and watching the lady in the garden, who +afterwards became his queen.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Oh! But, really, the stables are best of all!” exclaimed Philip, who +loved horses like a true Briton. “I do like to go there and be shown +about by one of those men in the black suits and yellow vests, and the +bright cockades in their silk hats. Once when I was little, one of +them let me go into a stall and feed some sugar to a splendid great +horse named Black Beauty. I wished I could do it to-day, too! All the +carriages which carry the Court ladies are stupid, I think, but the +horses and ponies are jolly!” whereupon Philip and John went off into +an animated discussion about the horses of the Royal Stables, and how +much they envied the men who cared for them.</p> + +<p class="open">“Oh, what a sweet little village!” cried <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[Pg 105]</a></span>Betty, jumping up excitedly, +as the automobile slowed down and entered a little narrow lane.</p> + +<p class="open">Chalfont St. Giles is an extremely picturesque, old-time village. Its +thatched-roofed cottages huddle together in a beautiful green valley, +and about the edge of a pond where ducks swim, and happy, barefooted +children play. One of the old houses is a place of interest to many, +as the great poet, John Milton, lived there after he fled from London +at the time of the plague.</p> + +<p class="open">The poet’s home is a most primitive cottage with low ceilings, and a +little dark room, lighted by one casement window, in which he may have +written part of “Paradise Lost.” When standing in that chamber, one is +reminded of the well-known picture which shows the blind Milton +dictating one of his poems to a daughter. Outside is a delightful +old-fashioned garden in which the largest and reddest of poppies grow, +and where it is said that Milton loved to linger.</p> + +<p class="open">“I wish we needn’t hurry,” sighed Mrs. Pitt, “but I’m afraid we’ll be +late to dinner. See, we are short of time already!”</p> + +<p class="open">So they quickly took their seats again for the short trip back to +town, and drew their wraps about them, as the air had grown chilly. +They <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[Pg 106]</a></span>all felt rather tired, and were silent as they reviewed in mind +the history and scenes of Windsor Castle, one of the most beautiful +and certainly the most famous of English royal residences.</p> + +<p><a name="illo12" id="illo12"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus-131.jpg" class="ispace" width="500" height="337" alt="John Milton lived there after he fled from +London.—Page 105." title="" /> +<span class="caption">John Milton lived there after he fled from +London.—Page <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</span> +</div> + +<hr class="large" /><p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[Pg 107]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_NINE" id="CHAPTER_NINE"></a>CHAPTER NINE</h2> + +<h3>MORE ABOUT LONDON</h3> + +<p class="open">“Big Ben,” the great bell on the clock-tower, was just booming ten +deep strokes as our party neared the Houses of Parliament. A steadily +rushing stream of people, buses, hansoms, and trucks (not forgetting +bicycles, which are still numerous in England), was pouring across +Westminster Bridge, and swinging around the corner into the wide +street called Whitehall; but in the near vicinity of the graceful, +long building, with its pinnacles and spires, in which the English +laws are made, all was quiet and few people were moving about. In a +square court from which steps lead down to the river, a sentinel was +pacing back and forth.</p> + +<p class="open">“In the days when the Thames was the most used highway of the +Londoners, here was probably one of the places where the nobles could +step on shore from their luxurious barges.” <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[Pg 108]</a></span>Mrs. Pitt said this as +they were looking down upon the soldier from the street above.</p> + +<p class="open">Close up against one side of the Houses of Parliament is Westminster +Hall, with its quaint row of supporting buttresses. This ancient +edifice was built by William Rufus, the son of the Conqueror himself. +Having entered by St. Stephen’s Porch, the usual approach, they went +down a few steps at the left into this fine old room. It is empty now, +and its vastness is unadorned except by some statues of kings and +queens along the sides.</p> + +<p class="open">“This hall,” stated Mrs. Pitt, “was first begun by William Rufus, but +it has been restored and added to at various times by many of the +other sovereigns. It also formed part of the ancient Palace of +Westminster. I want you to notice especially the oak roof with its +heavy timbers, and unsupported by any columns. It is considered very +fine in its construction, and I think it beautiful, as well. Have you +the guidebook, Philip? Read to us some of the great events of the hall +while we stand here.”</p> + +<p class="open">So Philip began. “Well, some of the earliest meetings of Parliament +were held here; also, all the kings as far down the line as George IV +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[Pg 109]</a></span>have celebrated their coronation feasts in this hall. Here Charles I +was tried and condemned (there’s a brass in the floor which marks +where he stood at the trial), and here Cromwell in royal purple robes +was received as Lord Protector. Some of the others who were tried here +are William Wallace, the Scotch patriot, Sir Thomas More, Sir Thomas +Wyatt, Guy Fawkes, and the Earls of Essex and Strafford. Until very +recently the Law Courts adjoined here.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Thank you, Philip; now, if you are ready, Betty, we’ll go on and see +something more of this great building.”</p> + +<p class="open">It gives one a slight idea of the extent of the huge structure to know +that therein are one hundred stairways and eleven hundred rooms! +Visitors are shown the “King’s Robing-room,” the “Victoria or Royal +Gallery,” the “Prince’s Chamber,” and so many rooms and corridors, +that it is impossible to remember them all, or even to appreciate them +at the time of a visit. Fine wall paintings, statues, and rich +decorations of all kinds abound. Both the rooms where sit the House of +Peers and the House of Commons, respectively, are magnificent +apartments; perhaps the former is rather more splendid in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[Pg 110]</a></span>appearance, +with its stained-glass windows picturing all the English sovereigns, +its frescoes, and throne, with the gilded canopy.</p> + +<p class="open">As they finally passed out and started over toward Westminster Abbey, +Mrs. Pitt said:</p> + +<p class="open">“It was at one of these entrances (perhaps at the very one by which we +just left), that a most curious thing happened in 1738. It had just +been decided that ladies should no longer be permitted in the +galleries of the Houses. Certain noble dames who were most indignant +at this new rule, presented themselves in a body at the door. They +were, of course, politely refused admission, and having tried every +known means of gaining entrance, they remained at the door all day, +kicking and pounding from time to time. Finally, one of them thought +of the following plan. For some time they stood there in perfect +quiet; some one within opened a door to see if they were really gone, +whereupon they all rushed in. They remained in the galleries until the +‘House rose,’ laughing and tittering so loudly that Lord Hervey made a +great failure of his speech. Wasn’t that absurd? It seems that there +were ‘Suffragettes’ long before the twentieth century.”</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[Pg 111]</a></span>Arrived at the Poets’ Corner once again, they found that one of the +vergers was just about to conduct a party “in behind the scenes,” as +Barbara called it. “Behind the scenes” includes the Chapel of Henry +VII and that of Edward the Confessor, besides the many smaller ones +which surround the choir.</p> + +<p class="open">These little irregular chapels are crowded with all sorts of tombs, +from those of the long effigy to those of the high canopy. Sometimes a +husband and wife are represented on the tomb, their figures either +kneeling side by side, or facing each other. Often the sons and +daughters of the deceased are shown in quaint little reliefs extending +all around the four sides of a monument. The figures are of alabaster +or marble, and there are frequently fine brasses on them which bear +the inscriptions. It is interesting to remember that the effigy or +reclining figure of a Crusader always has the legs crossed.</p> + +<p class="open">A flight of black marble steps leads up to Henry VII’s Chapel. Betty +thought this reminded her a little of the choir of St. George’s Chapel +at Windsor,—and it is true that the two are somewhat similar. To +build this memorial <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[Pg 112]</a></span>to himself, Henry VII tore down another chapel, +and also an old house in which the poet Chaucer once lived. The +loveliest feature of this chapel is the “fan-tracery” of the ceiling. +Its delicacy and grace are very beautiful! There are wonderfully +carved oak choir-stalls here also, each having been assigned to a +certain Knight of the Order of the Bath, and decorated with the +Knight’s armorial bearings. Above each stall is a sword and a banner +of faded colors. The tomb of the founder, Henry VII, and of his wife, +Elizabeth of York, is in the center of the chapel, and surrounded by a +brass screen. George II and several members of his family, Edward VI, +Charles II, William and Mary, Queen Anne and her consort, and +Cromwell, are all buried near by—most of them having no monuments. In +the north aisle of this chapel is the tomb of the great Queen +Elizabeth, and just opposite it, in the south aisle, is that of her +cousin and enemy, poor Mary Queen of Scots.</p> + +<p class="open">Just behind the high altar is the chapel of Edward the Confessor, +containing the once splendid, mediæval tomb of that sainted King. Its +precious stones have been stolen away now, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[Pg 113]</a></span>and the whole is covered +by a gorgeous cloth put there at the coronation of Edward VII.</p> + +<p class="open">“I’ve seen the tombs of so many kings and queens,” exclaimed John, +heaving a sigh, “that I truly can’t take in any more. Why, they’re so +thick all around here that you can’t move without bumping into three +or four of ’em! There’s Henry V, and overhead the shield and helmet he +used at Agincourt; and here’s Edward I, and Richard II, and Edward +III, and Queen Eleanor, and Queen Philippa. Who was she? Oh, here’s +the old Coronation Chair, isn’t it?” At sight of this, he once more +became interested.</p> + +<p class="open">This famous old chair was made in the time of Edward I, and every +English sovereign since that day has been crowned in it. Underneath +the seat of the chair is kept the ancient Stone of Scone, which is +said to have been used as a pillow by the patriarch Jacob. Edward I, +in 1297, brought the stone from Scotland as a sign of his power over +that country, and placed it in the Abbey. King Edward III’s sword and +shield-of-state stand beside the chair. There is something about these +three objects which makes one stand long before them. They are so +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[Pg 114]</a></span>ancient—so deeply impressive—and embody so much of English history +itself.</p> + +<p class="open">In a little room above one of the smaller chapels are found the +curious Wax Effigies. These figures made of wax, and of life size, +were carried at funerals, and were intended to look like the deceased, +and dressed in their clothes. They are very ghastly, robed in their +faded, torn garments, as each peers out from its glass-case. Queen +Elizabeth, Charles II, William and Mary, Queen Anne, General Monk, +William Pitt, and Lord Nelson are among those represented.</p> + +<p class="open">Betty stood before the figure of Queen Elizabeth, whose waxen face is +pinched and worn, and really most horrible to look at.</p> + +<p class="open">“Didn’t she die propped up on the floor in all her State robes?” asked +Betty.</p> + +<p><a name="illo13" id="illo13"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 345px;"> +<img src="images/illus-141.jpg" class="ispace" width="345" height="500" alt="“Oh, here’s the old Coronation Chair, isn’t it?”—Page +113." title="" /> +<span class="caption">“Oh, here’s the old Coronation Chair, isn’t it?”—Page +<a href="#Page_113">113</a>.</span> +</div> + +<p class="open">“Yes,” was Mrs. Pitt’s reply. “It isn’t any wonder that she looked +like that, is it? She is said to have been beautiful in her youth, but +later, she became so very ugly that her ladies-in-waiting got false +looking-glasses, for they didn’t dare to allow their mistress to see +her wrinkles.”</p> + +<p class="open">After lingering for a short time in the grand <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[Pg 115]</a></span>old Abbey, they all mounted a bus and rode down to Bishopsgate Street +to take lunch, at Crosby Hall.<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> This splendid old example of a +London mediæval palace (having had a varied career since its great +days), is now turned into a restaurant, and our party took seats at a +long table in what was once the Banqueting-hall.</p> + +<p class="open">“This is really a very historic old house,” declared Mrs. Pitt. “It +was built in 1470 by Alderman Sir John Crosby, who died about the time +it was finished, and it passed into the hands of the Duke of +Gloucester, afterwards Richard III. Here, that cruel man had the news +of the successful murder of the little Princes in the Tower, and here +held his great feasts—in this room, I suppose.”</p> + +<p class="open">They were all looking about at the lofty hall with its carved oak +ceiling, minstrels’ gallery, stained-glass windows, and large +fireplace.</p> + +<p class="open">“This has recently all been restored, and I suppose it gives us a very +slight idea of its past glory. Later on, Sir Thomas More lived here, +and then Philip Sidney’s sister, the Countess of <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[Pg 116]</a></span>Pembroke, owned it. +Shakespeare mentions it in his play of ‘Richard III,’ you know. In +mediæval times, there were many great houses in London (Baynard’s +Castle and Cold Harbour foremost among them), but all except a little +part of Crosby Hall have disappeared. The owners of these houses, the +wealthy nobles, lived in great magnificence, having four, six, or even +eight hundred servants. Just fancy how large the establishments must +have been! In Queen Elizabeth’s day, the French Ambassador was lodged +here with four hundred retainers. At that time, there were more great +palaces in London than there were in Verona, Florence, Venice, and +Genoa, all counted together; but instead of being situated on the +Grand Canal or in a spacious square, the English palaces stood in +narrow, filthy streets, surrounded by the poor hovels of the common +people.—It seems to me that our lunch is a long time coming,” she +commented.</p> + +<p class="open">Adjoining Crosby Hall is a very interesting church—St. Helen’s, which +has been called the “Westminster Abbey of the City,” because of famous +citizens of “the City,” who are buried there. Among them is Sir Thomas +Gresham, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[Pg 117]</a></span>the great merchant of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, who founded +the Royal Exchange, and did much to increase London’s trade. The +church—dating mostly from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century—is +very quaint and old. It consists of two parallel naves, divided by +pillars.</p> + +<p class="open">“The church was once connected with an ancient nunnery which covered +the whole square outside. The naves were originally quite separated by +a partition; one side was used by the nuns, and the other by the +regular members of the parish. Shakespeare once lived in St. Helen’s +parish, and is charged up on the church books with a sum of something +over five pounds.” Mrs. Pitt gave this information as they walked +about, gradually growing accustomed to the dim light.</p> + +<p class="open">“See here, John,” whispered Philip; “here’s something interesting. +It’s this little square hole in the wall, which is called the ‘nuns’ +squint.’ That woman, whom I suppose is the caretaker, has just been +telling me what that means. You see, the nunnery was on this side, or, +at any rate, the part where the nuns slept. When a nun was dying, the +rest would carry her to that little ‘squint,’ and in that way she +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[Pg 118]</a></span>could look through to the church and see the altar.”</p> + +<p class="open">Leaving St. Helen’s Place, and passing the picturesque, narrow façade +(or front) of Crosby Hall, Mrs. Pitt took them along Cheapside, one of +the most crowded streets of the city. The amount of traffic is +tremendous there, and it is said that sometimes teams are held eight +hours in the alleys before they can get out. They noted Bow Church, +and the site of John Gilpin’s house at the corner of Paternoster Row.</p> + +<p class="open">“Oh, is that the John Gilpin in Cowper’s poem?” cried John, excitedly. +“He lived here, did he? And where did he ride to?”</p> + +<p class="open">“I believe he went out through Tottenham and Edmonton. Mrs. Gilpin was +at the Bell Inn at Edmonton when she saw her husband fly by. Over the +entrance at the Bell is such a funny picture of the scene! They don’t +know just where he went, do they, Mother?” inquired Barbara.</p> + +<p class="open">“No, I rather think not,” was Mrs. Pitt’s laughing answer. “Let’s walk +through Paternoster Row, now. The little bookshops are so old and +quaint! For centuries the booksellers have been loyal to this +locality, but I hear that <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[Pg 119]</a></span>they are beginning to move elsewhere now. +Here’s Amen Corner, and Ave Maria Lane is not far away. In London, +there’s a reason for the name of almost every street. The monks, in +walking from the river to St. Paul’s, used to be telling their beads +and reciting their prayers all the while. You see, the Ave Maria was +said at this point, and back at the corner came an Amen. In olden +days, the makers of rosaries and paternosters had their shops in the +little street we have just left, as well as the booksellers. The +streets leading off Cheapside show what business was carried on there; +for instance, on the south side are Bread, Candles, Soap, Fish, and +Money-changing; and on the north side are Wood, Milk, Iron, Honey, and +Poultry. By the by, the poet Milton was born in Bread Street. The +ironmongers congregated in Ironmongers Lane; the vintners or +wine-merchants were in the Vintry; and the makers of hosiery in +Hosiery Lane. Now we’ll go to Chancery Lane, and pay a short visit to +the Record Office, for there are some things there which I want you to +see.”</p> + +<p class="open">The Public Record Office is a modern building, constructed for the +purpose of keeping the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[Pg 120]</a></span>valuable State documents and archives, which, +during the present reign, have been moved from the Tower and the +Chapter House of Westminster Abbey. The different departments of +government are continually handing over to the Record Office papers +which are no longer needed for daily use. Among the intensely +interesting treasures of this museum are the logbooks of the Royal +Navy, and dispatches from Marlborough, Wellington, and others. There +are State papers of Wolsey, and Thomas Cromwell, and letters of all +the kings and queens, as well as of Chaucer, the Black Prince, Raleigh +at the Tower, Lady Jane Grey as Queen, Sir Philip Sidney on his +death-bed, and many, many others of equal interest.</p> + +<p class="open">“Why, you’d need a whole week to see all these!” exclaimed Betty, +looking up from her examination of a paper containing the confessions +of Guy Fawkes.</p> + +<p class="open">Mrs. Pitt glanced at her quickly. She was excited, and her face was +flushed.</p> + +<p class="open">“Yes, and we must not stay any longer, for we have seen enough for one +day. I want to show you just one more thing before we go, however, and +this is more wonderful than <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[Pg 121]</a></span>all the rest. See, it is the great +Doomsday Book!”</p> + +<p class="open">Carefully kept under glass, in cases furnished with dark shades to +pull over when the books are not being examined, are the two large +volumes of what is known as the “Doomsday Book.” On the ancient, +yellowed parchment pages, and in strange old characters, are the +records, made at the time of William the Conqueror, of the disposal of +the lands of England among his Norman nobles. It is simply impossible +to believe that it is authentic,—that such a very ancient relic +really can exist!</p> + +<p class="open">They soon felt tired and ready to leave any further examination of the +papers until another visit, however. There are times when all +sight-seers, no matter how enthusiastic, come to a point where for +that day they can appreciate no more. So our party adjourned to a +little tea-shop in Regent Street, and afterwards, to make a few +purchases at that fascinating shop,—Liberty’s.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[Pg 122]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_TEN" id="CHAPTER_TEN"></a>CHAPTER TEN</h2> + +<h3>RICHMOND AND HAMPTON COURT PALACE</h3> + +<p class="open">“Well, I really don’t care much how long the boat is in coming,” +exclaimed Betty delightedly. “It’s such fun to watch all the other +boats going up and down the river, and to look up at busy Westminster +Bridge!”</p> + +<p class="open">Our friends were at the little landing in the shadow of the +above-mentioned bridge, awaiting the arrival of the steamer which was +to carry them to Kew Gardens. It was early morning, and the distant +roar of the traffic from the great bridge above reached them together +with the shrill whistles of all the different river craft.</p> + +<p class="open">“Hey! There goes <i>Sir Walter Raleigh</i> under the bridge there! I can +see the name just as plainly! And,—well I never!—there come <i>Lady +Jane Grey</i> and <i>Sir Thomas More</i>! Do all the boats have names like +that? Wonder how the great people would like it if they knew! <i>Sir +Thomas</i> is an express; he’s on official business <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[Pg 123]</a></span>this morning, and +isn’t going to stop! Now! here comes <i>Queen Elizabeth</i> herself! +Nothing less than a queen for me! I hope we’ll take her!” John cried +excitedly.</p> + +<p class="open">The <i>Queen Elizabeth</i> did prove to be the Kew and Hampton Court boat, +so when the gangway was put across, the five went on board and took +some comfortable seats in the bow.</p> + +<p class="open">“Now, there are a number of things which I wish to point out to you +right away,” remarked Mrs. Pitt, “so please be very attentive for a +few moments. Just as soon as we are started and go under Westminster +Bridge here, you will have the most beautiful view of the Houses of +Parliament, on your right. There! See if the great building isn’t +graceful from here! And isn’t its river-front imposing with all the +statues of the sovereigns!</p> + +<p class="open">“Now! Quickly! Look to the left, and see the building with the gateway +and square, blackened towers and battlements. That’s Lambeth Palace,” +she added, “which has been the residence of the Archbishops of +Canterbury (or the ‘Primates of England,’ as they are called) for six +hundred years. It’s a delightful old place, with its fine library, and +its several <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[Pg 124]</a></span>court-yards! It’s very historic as well, for in one of +those towers, according to some people, the Lollards or followers of +the religious reformer, Wycliffe, are said to have been tortured. +Queen Elizabeth’s favorite, the unfortunate Earl of Essex, was +imprisoned there, too.</p> + +<p class="open">“Here on our left was the famous amusement-park, Vauxhall, which was +so popular in the eighteenth century. Some day when you read +Thackeray’s novels you will find it mentioned. There on the right is +Chelsea, where was Sir Thomas More’s home. I think his grounds +bordered on the river, and he used to walk down to the bank, step into +his boat, and his son would row him to the city. At his house there he +was often visited by Henry VIII, Holbein, and the great Dutch scholar, +Erasmus. Just behind those trees is Cheyne Walk, where Thomas +Carlyle’s house still stands. (There’s the old Chelsea Church, which +is most interesting, and Chelsea Hospital for old pensioners.) There +have been many famous residents of Chelsea in more recent days; among +them George Eliot, the great novelist, who died there; Edward +Burne-Jones, the artist; Rossetti, the poet; Swinburne, Meredith, and +Whistler. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[Pg 125]</a></span>There! now I’ll leave you in peace to enjoy your boat-ride, +and the music.”</p> + +<p class="open">They now came to a part of the river which is neither especially +historic nor attractive, and the young people amused themselves for a +while in talking, or listening to the rather crude music of some old +musicians on the boat. It was not long, however, before the banks +again became green and beautiful, and they passed odd little villages, +and comfortable country-houses, whose smooth terraces slope down to +the river. On the arrival of the boat at Kew, they went on shore and +walked towards the celebrated Gardens.</p> + +<p class="open">“Have Kew Gardens any story or history to them, or are they just +famous because of their flowers?” inquired Betty, as they passed +through the gateway, and caught glimpses of bright blossoms within.</p> + +<p class="open">“Oh, rather!” replied Mrs. Pitt. “You’ll find plenty of history about +here, Betty. Let’s look at the flowers first, though.”</p> + +<p class="open">Kew Gardens are most immaculately cared for. Wide gravel-paths stretch +between the wonderful lawns, which are dotted with flower-beds of all +shapes. There are hot-houses containing <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[Pg 126]</a></span>tropical plants, and in the +“Rock Garden” is a pond where there are pelicans and other strange +water birds. The party spent an hour very happily in wandering about, +admiring the beautiful views as they went. Best of all were the +rhododendrons, which were glorious at this season in their riot of +pink, deep rose color, and lavender. Betty, who dearly loved flowers, +could hardly be enticed away from that fascinating spot, and was only +persuaded at mention of the old palace, which she had not yet seen.</p> + +<p class="open">When she reached it, she was rather disappointed. Kew Palace is not +large, and altogether, is quite unlike a palace, although it was the +favorite residence of George III and his queen, who died there in +1818.</p> + +<p class="open">“It just looks like any old red-brick Tudor house, which hasn’t any +history at all. Even its rooms are all empty, and it isn’t the kind of +a palace I like!” Betty declared in injured tones.</p> + +<p class="open">“Well, cheer up, Betty; we’re going to Hampton Court Palace soon, and +I guess that’ll suit you all right. Is this where we take the tram, +Mrs. Pitt? There’s one coming now!” John ran out into the road and +gesticulated <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[Pg 127]</a></span>frantically, so that the motorman would be sure to stop. +That dignified English personage looked rather surprised, but John did +not care. He liked to take the lead, and to make himself useful +whenever it was possible.</p> + +<p class="open">The ride was not quite as enjoyable as they had hoped, because of a +very high wind. Upon their perch at the top of the tram, it required +about all their attention to keep their hats and other belongings from +blowing away. On the whole, they were quite content to get off at the +bridge at Richmond, and walk up the long hill to the famous Star and +Garter Inn.</p> + +<p class="open">“This hill seems longer than ever to-day, Mother,” Barbara complained. +“When we reach that lovely surprise view (you know where I mean), +let’s sit down and admire it while we rest a bit.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Very well, we will,” her mother panted; “we’re nearly there now.”</p> + +<p class="open">The view to which Barbara and her mother referred proved to be really +very beautiful. On one side of the hill is a little park from which a +precipice descends to the river. Looking through an opening in the +luxuriant foliage of the trees (an opening which takes the place of a +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[Pg 128]</a></span>picture-frame), one sees a glorious view of the green valley below, +through which the lazy Thames winds dreamily; and if the day is clear, +Windsor Castle may just be discerned in the distance.</p> + +<p class="open">“Philip, you and John go and engage one of those drivers over opposite +the hotel, to take us for a little drive in the Park; as soon as I +order our luncheon, I’ll be out again to go along.” With that, Mrs. +Pitt disappeared for a few moments into the Star and Garter.</p> + +<p class="open">Richmond Park is a favorite resort for tourists, and driving and +bicycle parties. It contains some fine old trees, and a great many +deer which add to its attractiveness. Mrs. Pitt directed the coachman +not to drive about much, however, but to show them two points of +interest.</p> + +<p class="open">“This is the ‘King’s Mound,’” she observed, as the horses slowed down. +“Yes, that little low mound of earth just this side of the clump of +trees. I’ll admit that it looks uninteresting enough; but it is known +as the spot where Henry VIII stood while listening for the sound of +the gun at the Tower, which told him of the execution of Anne Boleyn.”</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[Pg 129]</a></span>“Ugh!” Betty interposed, in disgusted tones, giving a little shudder. +“Think how he must have felt! Horrid old thing!”</p> + +<p class="open">“Don’t be silly, Betty!” retorted John. “I guess a little thing like +that wouldn’t trouble him!”</p> + +<p class="open">Almost in the center of the Park is a house called White Lodge, which +has long been a royal residence. It is approached by an avenue, which +was the scene of Jeanie Deans’s interview with Queen Caroline, as +Scott describes it in his “Heart of Midlothian.”</p> + +<p class="open">Their lunch was quickly over, and they were again on their way down +the long hill. In the town of Richmond, they mounted another tram for +the forty-minute ride to Hampton Court.</p> + +<p class="open">“If we only had had a bit more time,” Mrs. Pitt apologized, “I should +have shown you what still remains of the famous old palace of +Richmond. Henry VIII and Elizabeth both held their courts there often, +and there the latter died in 1603. The palace was destroyed by order +of Parliament in 1649; only a small part of it was spared, and in that +the widow of Charles I, poor Queen Henrietta Maria, was allowed <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[Pg 130]</a></span>to +live. Are you getting plenty of history, Betty, my dear?”</p> + +<p class="open">“Oh, yes, but I’m always ready for more,” smiled that young lady in +response.</p> + +<p class="open">The tram set them down very near the great palace of Hampton Court. +They went quickly through the entrance-gates of wrought iron, and +walked towards the building itself. This West Front is as Wolsey left +it, and is made of the old crimson bricks, with here and there a black +one. Passing under the gatehouse, they came into the Green or Base +Court, and here they paused to look about them.</p> + +<p class="open">“You’ll remember that the great and powerful Cardinal Wolsey built +Hampton Court,” suggested Mrs. Pitt. “He lived in regal state, and had +almost as large a retinue of servants and followers as the King +himself. To gratify his great love for splendor and luxury, he built +this magnificent residence for himself. He was in need of a home a +little removed from the city, where he could rest and enjoy the fresh +air. Yet it was also accessible to London, for he could be rowed up +the river in his barge. Wolsey’s two great ambitions—wealth and +power—were both gratified, and for a while all went <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[Pg 131]</a></span>well; but time +brought the King’s displeasure, and it was he who took possession at +Hampton Court after the complete disgrace which led to the death of +the Cardinal. Henry VIII tore down some of Wolsey’s buildings, and put +up new ones in their stead; and other monarchs added portions also; +for instance, the huge State Apartments were erected under the +supervision of Sir Christopher Wren, and by order of King William III. +We shall see all these later on. Have you noticed those little oriel +windows of the gatehouse? They are the originals of Wolsey’s palace, +and I think this court here is also much the same as he built it. In +his day there were pretty latticed windows in these surrounding +buildings, a grass plot in the center, and around these narrow +passages Wolsey probably rode on his ass.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Ass!” cried John. “What for? With all his money, couldn’t he even +have a horse?”</p> + +<p class="open">“Oh, rather!” Mrs. Pitt laughed. “No doubt Wolsey would have liked +one, but he was wise enough to always follow custom in such matters as +had to do with his outward appearance and attitude. All religious men +rode on asses; it was the habit of the day. Now, come <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[Pg 132]</a></span>this way, and +see the Great Hall. Oh, Philip! Please fetch me my umbrella; I left it +on the step in the court, there!”</p> + +<p class="open">Leading into the second or Clock Court, is Anne Boleyn’s gateway. +Under this is a broad flight of stairs which takes one to the Great +Hall, erected by Henry VIII, probably on the site of Wolsey’s earlier +hall. It is a grand old room with a fine timber roof, and complete +with its daïs or raised platform at the end, its minstrels’ gallery +over the entrance doors, its old tapestries, stags’ heads, and suits +of armor, and its windows mostly filled with modern stained-glass. Out +of the hall are two smaller apartments, which also contain good +tapestries. From here, the visitor again descends to Anne Boleyn’s +gateway.</p> + +<p class="open">“What a funny old clock!” exclaimed Betty, spying it, up above on the +tower under which they had just passed. “It seems to be so mixed up, +somehow, that I can’t tell the time by it.”</p> + +<p class="open">“It is curious! It’s Henry VIII’s Astronomical Clock; it has all sorts +of appliances and strange attachments. That’s why you can’t read it. +It was recently repaired and set going again.”</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[Pg 133]</a></span>“The King’s Grand Staircase” is broad, stately, and quite as +impressive as its name, and this leads to the pompous State +Apartments. These great square rooms, one opening out of another, +seemed endless to the young people, and contained no attractions for +them. The walls are covered with pictures, some of which are fine, but +there are so many which are very similar that even Sir Peter Lely, +Holbein, and Van Dyck become hopelessly tiresome. These rooms also +contain some old furniture which is interesting, but on the whole, the +best thing about them is the ever charming view of the gardens from +the windows. The visitor may enter one tiny room called “Wolsey’s +Closet,” which is deeply impressive with its paneled walls and ancient +ceiling. The very atmosphere of the sixteenth century still seems to +linger here, and one can easily believe that nothing herein has been +changed since the great Cardinal used it daily. Near this is a long +gallery which is supposed to be haunted by the ghost of Queen +Catharine Howard. After the dullness of the State Apartments, this +possessed great interest for the boys, and they lingered here as long +as Mrs. Pitt would allow. They were forced to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[Pg 134]</a></span>come away disappointed, +however, without having heard even one little scream.</p> + +<p class="open">“You’d better spend the night here, John,” remarked Philip, in teasing +tones. “That’s the proper time to see and hear ghosts.” John decided +not to wait, however.</p> + +<p class="open">Of all the one thousand rooms of the great palace, they saw only one +more, and that was Henry VIII’s Gothic Chapel, gorgeous in its fine +carving and gilding, and in which the magnificent ceremony of the +baptism of Prince Edward, afterwards Edward VI, was held.</p> + +<p class="open">The gardens of Hampton Court are perhaps better known and enjoyed than +the palace itself. They are very extensive, and are laid out in the +French style. Directly before the long front of William III’s +addition, is a great round basin with a fountain, and beyond stretches +the “Long Canal,”—a straight and narrow artificial pond, bordered by +very beautiful trees. Then there is the “Home Park” on either side of +the canal; here Henry VIII and Catharine Howard probably wandered +often during their long honeymoon at Hampton Court; and here William +III was riding on the day when he was thrown from his horse and +killed.</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[Pg 135]</a></span>There is what is called the “Wilderness,”—in reality a maze—which +was greatly enjoyed by the party; and nearer the palace, again, is the +tennis-court, where that game has been played for three centuries and +a half. Some of the players here have been Henry VIII, the Earl of +Leicester, Charles I, Charles II, and the present King, Edward VII, +when he was Prince of Wales.</p> + +<p class="open">“And didn’t that American, Pettitt, play here?” inquired John. “He won +the World’s Championship in England, you know. Yes, I thought it was +here, though the word Hampton Court never meant much to me before +to-day.”</p> + +<p class="open">There is still the remarkable Hampton Court Vine, the fame of which +has spread so far. The vine fills a whole greenhouse, and one of its +branches is a hundred and fourteen feet long. The attendant told Betty +that the crop consists of about eight hundred bunches, each one +weighing a pound. Having duly marveled at this, they explored Queen +Mary’s lovely bower or arbor, where that Queen used to sit with her +ladies at the tapestry-frames.</p> + +<p class="open">“Dear me, let’s go back now!” said Betty. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[Pg 136]</a></span>“I’m sure we’ve been miles +over these grounds.”</p> + +<p class="open">So they walked along the paths where Henry VIII made love to Anne +Boleyn and Catharine Howard, where Queen Elizabeth took her morning +walks, and where Pope, Swift, Addison, and Walpole wandered in more +recent days.</p> + +<p class="open">“I think I haven’t mentioned Cromwell to you in connection with +Hampton Court, but he must not be forgotten, for he came here after he +was made Protector, and lived with as much pomp and splendor as any +king. Every time I visit this palace I marvel at the amount of history +with which it is connected, and at the number of scenes for which it +was the setting!”</p> + +<p class="open">As she spoke, Mrs. Pitt was leading the way to the railroad-station. A +London train came along very soon, fortunately, but they ran up and +down in vain looking for seats in their customary third-class +compartment. These were all crowded, the following day being a “bank +holiday,” so when the guard at last came to their rescue, he put them +in a first-class compartment. This greatly interested John and Betty, +as they had not seen one before.</p> + +<p><a name="illo14" id="illo14"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus-165.jpg" class="ispace" width="500" height="373" alt="“Every time I visit the palace I marvel at the amount +of history with which it is connected.”" title="" /> +<span class="caption">“Every time I visit the palace I marvel at the amount +of history with which it is connected.”—Page <a href="#Page_136">136</a>.</span> +</div> + +<p class="open">“It isn’t so very different, after all,” commented <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[Pg 137]</a></span>Betty. “The cushions are a little nicer, and there’s carpet on the +floor, but that’s the only change from an ordinary third-class +carriage.”</p> + +<p class="open">“I know it,” said Philip. “And most English people never think of +traveling first-class except on a long journey; for it really is very +little better, and the price is so ruinously dear!”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[Pg 138]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_ELEVEN" id="CHAPTER_ELEVEN"></a>CHAPTER ELEVEN</h2> + +<h3>STRATFORD-ON-AVON</h3> + +<p class="open">“We’re going to stay in a really, truly old inn at last, aren’t we!” +Betty gave a sigh of satisfaction and walked rapidly along by Mrs. +Pitt’s side, as that lady led the way from the station at Stratford to +the famous Red Horse Hotel.</p> + +<p class="open">“Stratford is exactly like any other little English town,” John was +commenting to Philip. “There are plenty of new houses made of shiny, +red bricks, and all put close together in blocks, with their tiny +lawns and gardens in front. I suppose they build that way even in the +small towns, because you haven’t as much room to spread out as we have +in America. Too bad, though, I say! Makes a little town look just like +a big city, only smaller. I thought Stratford would be different!” His +tones betrayed not a little disappointment.</p> + +<p class="open">As they came into the central and older part <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[Pg 139]</a></span>of the town, however, +even John was forced to admit that it was “different,” after all. +Along Stratford’s narrow, clean little streets stand many old houses +adorned with great oak timbers, quaint inscriptions, and carvings; and +quicker than all else, the sight of these, remaining here and there +between the more modern structures, makes one feel the antiquity of +the place. These houses totter a little, and lean their upper stories +over the street,—perhaps with a kind of curiosity to see better the +strange and more and more startling scenes which the centuries bring +forth. For instance, what must these ancient houses, which perchance +witnessed the passing of some splendid pageant of the “spacious times +of Queen Elizabeth,” think of the bustle and prosperous commercial air +which the town has gradually taken on? What of the sight-seers whose +automobiles go tearing along, uttering weird and frightful sounds? No +wonder the old houses stand on tiptoe and bend farther and farther +over the street in their amazement and horror!</p> + +<p class="open">The young people were delighted with the odd little Red Horse Hotel. +As it was market-day, the wide street before it was crowded with +people, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[Pg 140]</a></span>and down the middle was a row of queer, covered wagons, in +which the farmers bring their produce, and which are used as stalls on +arrival at the market-place. The little hotel is severely plain and +square, and has a passage leading into an old-time court-yard. Inside, +it has quaint little rooms filled with antique furniture, narrow +corridors, and uneven floors, with here a step up, and there two steps +down. Leaving their luggage in the rooms assigned to them, the party +immediately set out for “the Birthplace,” as all Stratford people +invariably call the famous Shakespeare house on Henley Street.</p> + +<p class="open">“Is that it!” gasped John, as they stood on the opposite side of the +way and gazed across at the first home of the great Poet. “Why, I +didn’t suppose it was as big as that! And it doesn’t look old a bit!”</p> + +<p class="open">Shakespeare’s birthplace has been too often pictured, and is far too +familiar to all to need any description given it here. Perhaps it does +seem rather larger than we imagined, and the outside certainly looks +surprisingly strong and new.</p> + +<p><a name="illo15" id="illo15"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus-171.jpg" class="ispace" width="500" height="325" alt="“Why I didn’t suppose it was as big as that!”" title="" /> +<span class="caption">“Why I didn’t suppose it was as big as that!”—Page +<a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</span> +</div> + +<p class="open">“But you know it now belongs to the nation,” <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[Pg 141]</a></span>Mrs. Pitt explained, “and is always kept in perfect condition. The +last restoration was finished only about fifty or sixty years ago. +Although the house was so completely renewed, the greatest care was +used to make it look as nearly as possible as it did at the time of +Shakespeare’s birth in 1564. That window above the entrance, with the +little diamond panes, is the original, and is in the room in which the +Poet was born.”</p> + +<p class="open">Going under the old porch and through the door with its high +threshold, our friends found themselves in the family living-room of +the house. It is low and rather dark, and has whitewashed walls and an +earthen floor. This was in all probability the kitchen and dining-room +as well, and one is reminded of the fact by a huge fireplace which +juts out into the room. In olden times this would have been filled +with great pots and kettles hanging over the fire on cranes. The +chimney is deep enough and wide enough to have two little seats within +it—one on either side. John quickly bent down and seated himself +where he could look straight up the chimney and see a square patch of +blue sky.</p> + +<p class="open">When Mrs. Pitt saw him, she smiled and said, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[Pg 142]</a></span>“No doubt, Shakespeare +himself, when he was a small boy, often sat right there with his +brothers and sisters. It must have been very pleasant on cold winter +evenings, to creep into these ‘inglenooks,’ as they were called, +beside the great blazing fire, and tell stories. I think the children +should have felt themselves very lucky to have such delightfully warm +quarters!”</p> + +<p class="open">From a small entry at the rear of this room, the narrow winding stairs +lead to the floor above. Before going up, Mrs. Pitt wrote their names +in the huge Visitors’ Book. Betty was much pleased to find, while +carelessly turning its pages, the name of a girl friend who had been +in England the previous summer.</p> + +<p class="open">“How queer that I should see Evelyn’s name!” she exclaimed; “but I +guess almost everybody who visits England comes to this house.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Aye! We ’ave thousands of visitors ’ere every year, Miss, and the +most of ’em are Americans, it do appear to me! They do be powerful +fond o’ Shakespeare!” The attendant shook his head knowingly as he +gave Betty this information.</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[Pg 143]</a></span>One of the most interesting rooms in the whole world is that chamber +on the second floor in which the great Shakespeare was born. In +itself, it is not in any way remarkable; it contains but a chair or +two, and an old table, which holds a bust of the Poet. But its plaster +walls, low ceiling, and even its window-panes, are inscribed with the +names of great people,—poets, authors, statesmen, men of all +countries, occupations, and beliefs,—who have journeyed here to pay +their tribute to the greatest of all poets and writers.</p> + +<p class="open">“Whenever I meet people who believe that Lord Bacon or any other man +wrote Shakespeare’s plays, I never discuss the question with them, for +I have no arguments to withstand their claims,” said Mrs. Pitt +intently. “I only remind myself that if such men as Browning, +Thackeray, Kean, Scott, and Carlyle, who have all left their +signatures here, believed that the ‘immortal Shakespeare’ wrote his +own plays, I can feel safe in believing so, too. Therefore I want you +to understand, children, that you are standing in the room where +Shakespeare was born, and be glad all your lives when you remember +that you have seen it.”</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[Pg 144]</a></span>The other room on the second floor—a kind of attic—contains an +important picture of Shakespeare. It is called the “Stratford +Portrait,” as it was discovered in that native town, and it is now +thought to have been painted in the eighteenth century, from a bust.</p> + +<p class="open">The Shakespeare house is double. In the other half, which is now a +museum, John Shakespeare, the father of the Poet, used to have his +shop and carry on his trade, or trades, for, like many people at that +time, he had several. This museum now contains many relics of +Shakespeare, which are more or less authentic, as well as a large +number of First Editions of his plays. The young people were +interested in an old desk, much scratched and marred, which it is +supposed that the Poet used when at the Guild School. It is not clear +whether it was when he was a pupil there, or at the time he was +“Junior Master,” as he is thought to have been by some. The desk is +long and narrow, having but one little opening into which a hand could +be reached to pull out the books. It occurred to John that it would +have been a very convenient place to hide apples or pickles, or any +such forbidden articles, as the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[Pg 145]</a></span>master could never even suspect their +existence in that dark interior.</p> + +<p class="open">“You will see where that desk once stood,” remarked Mrs. Pitt, “for +later, I shall show you the old Guild Hall, and the room where the +Stratford boys had their lessons. Now, we are all hungry, and we’ll go +straight to the Shakespeare Hotel and have some luncheon. Don’t you +all approve that plan?”</p> + +<p class="open">Before leaving “the Birthplace,” it must be remembered that there +exists a really very picturesque old English garden. In it were +planted, about fifty years ago, a quantity of the flowers which are +mentioned in the plays of Shakespeare, and the result is a very lovely +mass of brightly-colored, old-fashioned flowers.</p> + +<p class="open">At the Shakespeare Hotel, they were served a typically English +luncheon of mutton, peas seasoned with mint, greens, and afterwards a +“gooseberry tart.” John and Betty were in gales of laughter when the +shy, rosy-cheeked maid asked if they would have some “jammed fingers.”</p> + +<p class="open">“What in the world does she mean?” inquired Betty, between her +giggles.</p> + +<p class="open">“I don’t know, I am sure. Do you, Barbara? <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[Pg 146]</a></span>Oh, yes I do! Probably she +means ‘jam fingers.’ I have heard the name. Please bring us some,” +Mrs. Pitt requested.</p> + +<p class="open">The “jammed fingers” proved to be long strips of pastry with jam +between. They were very good, and John and Betty much preferred them +to the sour gooseberries, to which they had not taken at all kindly.</p> + +<p class="open">The Shakespeare Hotel is much like its neighbor, the Red Horse, except +for the fact that each room bears the name of one of Shakespeare’s +plays.</p> + +<p class="open">“How lovely it would be to sleep in the ‘Romeo and Juliet’ room,—if +there is one!” Betty sighed. “I almost wish we had planned to stay +here, although I do want to write letters on the table in Washington +Irving’s room at the Red Horse!”</p> + +<p class="open">Very near the Shakespeare Hotel is what is known as the “John Harvard +House,”<a name="FNanchor_B_2" id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a>—more accurately, the girlhood home of the mother of John +Harvard. It is high and narrow, but fully as picturesque as is the +nearby Tudor House, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[Pg 147]</a></span>which is large and square. Both are excellent +examples of Elizabethan houses, and are very quaint and pretty. The +lower floor of the Tudor House is a most fascinating shop, in which +one may find a really astonishing number of post-cards, books, +pictures, and little souvenirs relating to Shakespeare.</p> + +<p class="open">“Seems to me, everything, from the hotel to the cheapest post-card, +has the name of Shakespeare attached to it somehow!”</p> + +<p class="open">“You are quite right, John!” agreed Mrs. Pitt. “The modern town has +grown up and literally lives upon Shakespeare! Without him, and the +immense number of visitors which his memory brings, Stratford could +hardly exist at all, as there are no factories or important industries +here.”</p> + +<p class="open">A long, beautiful afternoon of sight-seeing followed. First, came a +visit to the site of Shakespeare’s home of New Place, to see the old +foundations. As they stood looking down at the few pathetic remains, +Mrs. Pitt explained how the house happened to be pulled down.</p> + +<p class="open">“It was shameful!” she cried indignantly. “I dislike to think of the +man who was responsible for its destruction. The house was an <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[Pg 148]</a></span>old +one, even in Shakespeare’s day, as it was probably erected in 1490 by +Sir Hugh Clopton. A historian named Leland of the sixteenth century +says this about New Place and its surroundings: ‘There is a right +goodly chappell, in a fayre street towardes the south ende of the +towne dedicated to the Trinitye; this chappell was newly re-edified by +one Hugh Clopton, Mayor of London; this Hugh Clopton builded also by +the north side of this chappell a praty house of brick and tymbre, +wherein he lived in his latter dayes and dyed.’ To appreciate that +fully, you should see the queer old spelling! Well, to continue, +Shakespeare left New Place to his eldest daughter, Susanna Hall, and I +don’t know just how long it remained in the family. However, at length +it was in the possession of the Rev. Francis Gastrell, who cut down +Shakespeare’s celebrated mulberry-tree because too many visitors +troubled him by coming there to see it. In 1759, he became so angry in +a quarrel about the taxes imposed upon New Place, that he had it torn +down and the material sold. I can never forgive him for that! It seems +to me that I never knew of anger having led to a more outrageously +unjust and deplorable <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[Pg 149]</a></span>act!” Mrs. Pitt’s eyes flashed, and her face +was flushed from her feeling of what one might almost be pardoned for +terming “righteous indignation.”</p> + +<p class="open">Leaving New Place, they turned into Chapel Lane, which borders on one +side the grounds formerly belonging to the Poet’s estate.</p> + +<p class="open">“Let me give you just a little description of this street in +Shakespeare’s time,” Mrs. Pitt reflected. “You must know that sanitary +conditions were fearful then, and that Stratford was as bad, if not +worse, than other towns in that respect. Even as late as 1769, when +Garrick visited here, he considered it ‘the most dirty, unseemly, +ill-paved, wretched-looking town in all Britain.’ The people had +absolutely no idea of cleanliness. In Stratford, there were six places +where it was lawful to dump rubbish,—right in the street! Just fancy! +Sometimes these dumps prevented a man from making his way about the +town. Chapel Lane was considered the worst part of the whole place, +for besides the fact that there was a dump here, the neighbors in the +vicinity seemed to be more than usually untidy and +shiftless,—allowing their pigs to wander about loose, for instance. +That <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[Pg 150]</a></span>was the kind of street which Shakespeare must have entered every +time he left his own house. Think of it! Some people have, I believe, +attributed his early death to the unhealthful conditions of his +surroundings. Inside the homes, things were but little better. People +laid rushes on the floor in the place of carpets, and these became +filthy from dirt, mud, and other things which clung to them. Fresh +rushes were brought but seldom. The churches were not often swept or +cleaned, either. Once, when the roof of the Guild Chapel was being +repaired, a certain man and his wife were appointed to sweep the +interior and clear away the cobwebs. A widow used to sweep the +market-place. She was provided with her utensils,—a shovel, +broom-stick, and bundle of twigs—and was paid six shillings and +eightpence a year. How carefully and how often do you suppose she +swept? Dear me! I sometimes have wished that I had lived in Queen +Elizabeth’s age, but when I remember some of the terrible +circumstances of that time, I cannot be too thankful that I live in +the twentieth century!”</p> + +<p class="open">They had been standing before the old Guild Hall for some few minutes +while Mrs. Pitt finished <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[Pg 151]</a></span>what she was saying. They now turned to +admire and examine it more closely. It is a building of plaster and +huge timbers, long and low, with a second story projecting slightly +over the lower. The old hall on the ground floor is said to be where +the boy Shakespeare first saw a play. A room just above it was the +Grammar School, which Shakespeare probably attended for five years, +and where the desk shown at “the Birthplace” may have been used by +him.</p> + +<p class="open">“It was rather different going to school in those days!” declared Mrs. +Pitt. “The hours were very long, the lessons hard, and the masters +strict, and not unwilling to use the rod for the slightest +misdemeanor. There have been terrible stories of boys being much hurt, +or even killed as a result of this practice. The pupils sat on narrow +benches, their heavy books propped up before them on long tables. It +must have been very hard to stay here in this dark room and listen to +the master’s voice reciting monotonous Latin, while birds sang and the +fair world of an English summer was just out of reach. If Shakespeare +was a real boy,—and we think he was—he was surely describing his own +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[Pg 152]</a></span>feelings when he wrote the lines in ‘As You Like It’ about:</p> + +<div class="centerbox3 bbox"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">‘The whining schoolboy, with his satchel,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And shining morning face, creeping like snail<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Unwillingly to school,—’”<br /></span> +</div></div></div> + +<p class="open">As they had already walked a good deal that day, Mrs. Pitt found a +carriage, and they drove to Trinity Church and the Shakespeare +Memorial. On the way, the driver pointed out the home of Marie +Corelli, the writer. It is an attractive, square house, which presents +a very gay appearance, with a box of bright flowers on every +window-ledge.</p> + +<p class="open">Trinity Church stands close beside the picturesque Avon. The waters +flow gently against the rushes, making a soft music, and the breeze +just stirs the leaves of the tall trees which keep guard over the +graves in the church-yard. One feels something of the peace and quiet +of Stoke Poges, but here the presence,—or, rather, the memory—of the +great Shakespeare hovers over all, and every one hastens inside to see +the tomb.</p> + +<p class="open">The church is ancient—in part dating from the twelfth century—and it +contains many interesting monuments, but somehow the whole <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[Pg 153]</a></span>seems like +one huge memorial to Shakespeare. On the floor, at one side of the +chancel, is the slab which marks the Poet’s grave, and which bears the +famous epitaph, said to have been written by himself:</p> + +<div class="centerbox2 bbox"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Good frend; for Jesus’ sake forbeare<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To digg the dust encloased heare;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Bleste be y<sup>e</sup> man y<sup>e</sup> spares thes stones,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And curst be he y<sup>t</sup> moves my bones.”<br /></span> +</div></div></div> + +<p class="open">On the wall above the tomb is the monument,—a bust of Shakespeare, on +which the original colors have recently been restored. Nearby are +buried Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare’s wife, his daughter, Susanna Hall, +and her husband, and other members of the family.</p> + +<p class="open">For some minutes our party stood quietly looking over the altar-rail +at the grave and its inscription, but finally, the arrival of some +loud-voiced, laughing tourists, who conscientiously made fun of +everything they saw, caused them to turn away.</p> + +<p class="open">Mrs. Pitt then called their attention to some of the stained-glass +windows. “Two of them were given by Americans,” she said. “This one +here pictures the Seven Ages of Man, which <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[Pg 154]</a></span>Shakespeare describes in +‘As You Like It,’ Do you see? Now come to the back of the church and +look at the parish register, which contains the record of the baptism +and burial of Shakespeare. Here it is.”</p> + +<p class="open">A glass case holds this precious relic, and by studying carefully the +quaint old writing, the words “Shakespeare” and the dates can be +traced.</p> + +<p class="open">“Think how fortunate that this register was preserved!” exclaimed Mrs. +Pitt, leaning over to examine it again. “Important records of births, +marriages, and deaths, as well as notable events, were always kept in +these books, and yet the people generally did not consider them of +much value. The parchment leaves were often torn out and used to +rebind schoolbooks, or to line a housewife’s cooking-utensils! Fancy! +Some vergers, however, recognized the great worth of these books and +preserved them with care. Luckily the men of this church were of that +type.”</p> + +<p class="open">Here the modern verger, in his flowing black gown, accosted them, and +urged them to buy some of the Shakespeare Post-cards, at a shilling +each. Having purchased several, and posted <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[Pg 155]</a></span>them then and there to +various friends, they left the church and walked down the lovely path, +shaded by arching lime-trees. They then drove to the Shakespeare +Memorial, which also stands near the river.</p> + +<p class="open">This large, irregular building of red brick and stone, with its one +high tower, was erected in 1879. In it is a theatre where plays are +given every spring, on the anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth, as well +as at certain other times. The children were amused at seeing a +rehearsal in progress on the stage.</p> + +<p class="open">“How absurd Lady Macbeth does look strutting about and clasping her +hands, dressed in that black skirt, shirt-waist, and sailor hat!” +Betty laughed.</p> + +<p class="open">In this Memorial Building are many photographs and paintings of +celebrated actors and actresses in Shakespearean rôles, as well as a +very fine library. There is so much to be seen here—so much +detail—that our friends only took a very hasty look about, and then +went up into the tower to see the view. Stretched out below them, the +quaint little town of Stratford and the lovely green meadows through +which the Avon flows, made a very effective picture!</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[Pg 156]</a></span>It was now late afternoon, and the sun was getting lower and lower. +They did not feel like doing any more real sight-seeing, yet it was +still too delightful out-of-doors to return to the hotel, so Mrs. +Pitt, who always had some fascinating plan ready, suggested that they +walk through the Weir Brake.</p> + +<p class="open">“What’s that, Mother? You never took us there!” exclaimed Barbara.</p> + +<p class="open">“Didn’t I? Well, I’ll show it to you, and I am sure you will like it, +too,” their mother promised. “Come on! We’ll cross this little +foot-bridge, and go along the opposite bank.”</p> + +<p class="open">The view of Holy Trinity Church from across the river is very +charming. The luxuriant foliage almost hides it except for the old +gray spire, which rises most gracefully above the tree-tops. They +strolled happily along over the rough field, Betty stopping sometimes +to gather a few attractive blossoms to add to her bunch of +wildflowers. The light was wonderfully soft and lovely, and the sun +had gone down only to leave behind it a sky glorious in its tints of +pink and lavender, with the deep blue still remaining above.</p> + +<p class="open">“Now, we’re coming to the Weir Brake!” <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[Pg 157]</a></span>announced Mrs. Pitt +triumphantly. “Take care, Barbara! Don’t trip over that stump!”</p> + +<p class="open">They followed their guide over a stile, across a field where the smell +of new-mown hay was sweet, through some bars, and finally along a +narrow, rough path on a steep bank close to the Avon. This was the +beginning of the Weir Brake, where Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway may +perhaps have done their courting, as Mrs. Pitt suggested.</p> + +<p class="open">The Avon is narrow at this point, and flows rather swiftly. The sunset +sky was reflected in its waters, which were overshadowed by willow +trees, rushes, and ferns. On the bank was a tangle of underbrush and +wild flowers, and above, the great trees,—the elms, of which +Shakespeare so often speaks. As they rambled on and on, the trees +seemed to grow larger, and more and more gnarled and picturesque.</p> + +<p class="open">“Oh! Can’t you just see Titania and Oberon and all the other fairies +dancing here and playing games about these trees! It looks exactly +like a stage-setting for ‘As You Like It’ or ‘Midsummer Night’s +Dream,’” exclaimed Betty, who was fascinated with what she saw. The +evening was just dark enough to produce a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[Pg 158]</a></span>weird but beautiful effect +of shadows under the elm trees.</p> + +<p class="open">“I’m rejoiced that it appeals to you so, Betty!” cried Mrs. Pitt. +“That’s just as I always feel! It seems as though you could actually +touch spots of which Shakespeare must have been thinking when he wrote +certain passages. And it is a fact that he did often have this or +similar places in mind; for, although the scene of ‘A Midsummer +Night’s Dream’ was supposed to be in Greece, Shakespeare allowed his +characters and his entire background to be as absolutely English as he +was himself. You know that in olden times, the Forest of Arden covered +much of Warwickshire; even these old trees with which we are now +surrounded, are remnants of that splendid woodland which is so +familiar to us through Shakespeare. It was surely in just such a scene +that Titania and the other fairies danced, and where Snug, Bottom, +Flute, Snout, and the rest came to practice their play,—those +so-called Athenians, who were so exactly like Stratford tradesmen of +Shakespeare’s day. Certainly it was under just such trees that Hermia, +and Helena, Lysander, and Demetrius wandered!</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[Pg 159]</a></span>“And see there where those branches touch the water,” she soon +continued; “might not that have been the very place where poor Ophelia +lost her life? Listen!</p> + +<div class="centerbox4 bbox"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">‘There is a willow grows aslant a brook,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;’<br /></span> +</div></div></div> + +<p>Isn’t that a perfect description of this very spot? And then:</p> + +<div class="centerbox4 bbox"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">‘I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where oxslips and the nodding violet grows,—’<br /></span> +</div></div></div> + +<p>Just see the violets all about us here! There are the ‘pale +cowslips,’ too! Do you see? Oh, it’s wonderful,—wonderful to find so +many of the very flowers which Shakespeare loved and talked of so +much!—the daisy, the musk-rose and woodbine! There’s some right by +your foot, Betty. But come, come, we really must go now! We’ll go back +by the field above, where it is not so steep and dark. Come, John!”</p> + +<p class="open">So they hurriedly retraced their steps toward the town. In skirting +the fields on the hill-top, they once had to pick their way with some +difficulty through holes in bristling hedges, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[Pg 160]</a></span>Mrs. Pitt and the +girls were forced to run away from a buck, but these were little +incidents to which they were all quite equal, and they arrived at the +Red Horse Hotel, nothing daunted, just as the dinner-gong sounded +loudly.</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[Pg 161]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_TWELVE" id="CHAPTER_TWELVE"></a>CHAPTER TWELVE</h2> + +<h3>A DAY IN WARWICKSHIRE</h3> + +<p class="open">Betty did spend the evening “writing letters in Washington Irving’s +room at the Red Horse,” as she had planned. It was in that quaint, +tiny parlor that Irving wrote his well-known paper about +Stratford-on-Avon, and perhaps Betty hoped to benefit by the literary +atmosphere. At any rate, the letters were accomplished with great ease +and rapidity, after her curiosity had been satisfied by an examination +of the room.</p> + +<p class="open">Washington Irving’s armchair is there, and the old poker with which he +is said to have tended the fire. On the walls hang the pictures of a +number of actors and actresses who have played Shakespearean parts. +Except for these, the room differs very little from the rest of the +inn. About nine-thirty, the children started up to bed, Betty, +enthusiastic at the prospect of a high four-poster, which “you really +have to run and give a jump to get into.” <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[Pg 162]</a></span>She and Barbara did not +stay long awake to enjoy it, however, for it seemed as though their +heads had hardly touched the pillows before the maid was calling them, +and the bright sun was pouring in at the windows.</p> + +<p class="open">Very early they set out to walk “across the fields to Anne.” The +little village of Shottery, where stands the cottage known all the +world over as “Anne Hathaway’s,” is only about a mile distant from +Stratford, and our party gayly took the path through the +fields,—perhaps the very one over which Shakespeare trod when he was +Anne’s lover. This led them first past the “back-yards” of Stratford, +then over a stile and through the green meadows, where daisies and +cowslips abound. As they went along, Mrs. Pitt repeated to them the +following little verse from Shakespeare’s “Winter’s Tale”:</p> + +<div class="centerbox bbox"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">“Jog on, jog on, the footpath way,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And merrily hent the stile-a;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A merry heart goes all the way,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Your sad tires in a mile-a.”<br /></span> +</div></div></div> + +<p>The boys learned this, and half-chanted, half-sang it over and over +while they all kept time to the rhythm.</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[Pg 163]</a></span>“There’s Shottery, I guess!” Betty called, interrupting the singers, +as she caught sight of a pretty little group of thatched-roofed +cottages. “It seems a very short ‘mile-a,’ doesn’t it!”</p> + +<p class="open">Anne Hathaway’s cottage is even more picturesque than its neighbors, +or does this only seem so because of the associations which it has for +all? Every one knows the picture of the cottage. One end stands close +to the country road, and in front of it, behind a green hedge, is the +garden. Growing on the cottage walls are at least half a dozen +different kinds of roses, as well as honeysuckle and jasmine, which +clamber way up and mingle with the heavy thatch. The old +casement-windows with their thick panes of glass were swung open to +let in the morning’s fresh air. A young girl dressed in pink and +carrying a broom, appeared on the doorstep as Philip opened the gate. +She was evidently rather surprised to see such early visitors, but she +said they might go in. While Mrs. Pitt paused to speak with her, +Betty, who had already rushed inside, called out: “Here’s the old +settle! I know it from its pictures!”</p> + +<p class="open">Sure enough, there it was, close beside the great fireplace,—we hope +just where it has always <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[Pg 164]</a></span>been ever since Anne Hathaway and +Shakespeare sat there together.</p> + +<p class="open">“But, Mother, is that really the same bench, and did Anne truly live +here?” questioned the all too matter-of-fact Barbara.</p> + +<p class="open">“My dear daughter,” began Mrs. Pitt, feigning great severity; “banish +that thought immediately! Just for one little hour we are going to +know that Anne did live here,—that Will said ‘Will you?’ and Anne +said ‘I will,’ right on this very bench. I quite refuse to listen to +any doubts on the subject for to-day! You write our names in the book, +please, Philip. I’m going to rest myself here in Anne’s +rocking-chair!”</p> + +<p class="open">The girl with the broom looked at her visitor in a puzzled way, and +began,—“But, lady, I brought that chair here with me only——” But +Mrs. Pitt quickly interrupted her, asking some trifling question. Her +illusions were not to be disturbed, it seemed, and the girl beat a +retreat.</p> + +<p class="open">“Well, Mother,” said Philip, “you aren’t the only one who has ever +believed in the house! Here in this old Visitors’ Book are the names +of Dickens, Longfellow, Holmes, General Grant, Edwin Booth, Mary +Anderson, and——”</p> + +<p><a name="illo16" id="illo16"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus-197.jpg" class="ispace" width="500" height="343" alt="“Did Anne truly live here?”." title="" /> +<span class="caption">“Did Anne truly live here?”—Page <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</span> +</div> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[Pg 165]</a></span>“Never mind the rest, Phil; if General Grant said so, it’s true! He +knew what he was talking about!” And so John settled the question.</p> + +<p class="open">A flag-stone floor is all this little room can boast of, and a low +ceiling of huge timbers, but it has an air of homelikeness and cosy +comfort, nevertheless. At the windows are flowers which nod to their +cousins out in the garden; some gray knitting usually lies on the +table; and there is the huge fireplace with all its cranes, different +hooks, pots and kettles; and the crowning glory of all, the old oak +settle, upon which every visitor religiously seats himself.</p> + +<p class="open">“Isn’t there any upstairs?” demanded John, before many minutes.</p> + +<p class="open">“Oh, yes! May we go up, please?” Mrs. Pitt asked of the attendant. +“Yes, thank you; I know the way, and I’ll be careful.”</p> + +<p class="open">So they climbed the rickety stairs, and saw a little bedroom under the +eaves, in which stands an old, very forlorn-looking “four-poster.”</p> + +<p class="open">“I’m so glad that tiresome, truthful person let us come up alone,” +said Mrs. Pitt, panting. “If she had come, too, I could not have +explained that this was Anne’s bedroom. She <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[Pg 166]</a></span>used to sit by this +window and dream about Will, and watch for his coming, too. She——”</p> + +<p class="open">“Don’t spoil it all, Mother,” pleaded Barbara. “Perhaps it really was +her room!”</p> + +<p class="open">“And didn’t I just say as much?” her mother laughed. “But seriously! +This room never appealed to me as does the one below. Anne couldn’t +have been very comfortable up here. If she was tall, she could hardly +have stood up straight because of the slanting roof.”</p> + +<p class="open">So laughingly, they went downstairs and toward the patch of bright +yellow sun-flowers in the farthest corner of the garden. The young +girl followed them. “Shall I point out the different flowers?” she +timidly inquired.</p> + +<p class="open">They were duly shown the “rosemary for remembrance,” the “pansies for +thoughts,” and a great many others of Shakespeare’s loved flowers. The +view of the cottage from the group of tall sun-flowers is most +charming. There is surely nothing in the world more picturesque than a +thatched-roof.</p> + +<p class="open">Arrived once again at the Red Horse, they all packed up their +belongings, and Mrs. Pitt went over to the station with a boy, who +wheeled <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[Pg 167]</a></span>the luggage. When the suit-cases were duly labeled +“Leamington,” and the station-master had received his tip of a +shilling, to insure his remembering them, Mrs. Pitt returned to the +hotel, where she found five bicycles lined up. At sight of her, the +rest came running out. “This is great!” cried John, already astride +one of the bicycles, and impatient for the start.</p> + +<p class="open">“Yes,” answered Mrs. Pitt, much pleased by the enthusiasm. “I thought +this would be rather better than driving out to Charlecote and back, +and then taking the train to Leamington. I know the roads, and am +delighted at riding once more! I had my divided-skirt with me, you +see, in case of this very emergency. You girls will manage somehow; +your skirts are fairly short.” This was to Barbara and Betty, and then +they were off.</p> + +<p class="open">The ride of about four miles to Charlecote seemed all too short, for, +as Betty expressed it, “the roads are so smooth and level that I can’t +stop. My wheel just goes of itself!” They first came in sight of +Charlecote Park, where there are still great numbers of deer. As the +party passed, the graceful creatures rose from the tall grass, making +an extremely pretty picture. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[Pg 168]</a></span>They tried in vain to coax them to the +fence.</p> + +<p class="open">“Deer in Shakespeare’s time must have been tamer, or he couldn’t have +stolen one,” observed John knowingly.</p> + +<p class="open">“Isn’t the ‘Tumble-down Stile’ near here, Mother?” Barbara questioned.</p> + +<p class="open">“Yes, it’s just beyond this turn in the road. There it is now! So long +as we are believing all we see to-day, I feel quite justified in +telling you that when the youthful Shakespeare was escaping with his +deer on his shoulders, he fled by way of this stile. Touch that top +rail, John, and see what will happen. No, this end of the rail!”</p> + +<p class="open">As John put his hand on the place which Mrs. Pitt designated, that end +gave way and hit the three other rails, so that they also bent down to +the ground. John was much amused, and repeated the motion again and +again.</p> + +<p class="open">“Did Shakespeare fall over that stile when he was trying to climb it +with the deer, and did they catch him then?” he asked eagerly.</p> + +<p class="open">“Yes, that’s the story, and, of course, we know it is true! Now, come +this way to the gatehouse. I was able to get permission, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[Pg 169]</a></span>through an +influential friend, to take you inside. I am so glad, for not every +one has such good fortune. This woodland,” motioning to the fine old +oaks, as they sped along, “is also a part of the ancient Forest of +Arden. That wood was so dense in this county in the thirteenth +century, that the King ordered the Constable of Warwickshire to cut +down six acres in breadth between Warwick and Coventry, to insure the +greater safety of travelers.”</p> + +<p class="open">They were now getting distant glimpses of the fine Elizabethan +residence itself. It was built in 1558, the year of Elizabeth’s +accession to the throne, and was made in the general shape of the +letter E, in honor of that Queen. The color of the ancient bricks has +been softened and beautified by the hand of Time, which has also +caused heavy vines to grow upon, and in certain places, almost to +cover the walls. The different courts, gateways, and gables, are +therefore most picturesque. The present owner, a descendant of the Sir +Thomas Lucy whom Shakespeare knew and ridiculed, permits visitors (the +privileged few) to see the Great Hall and the library.</p> + +<p class="open">The former is the most interesting of all the apartments, for here one +stands in the very <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[Pg 170]</a></span>room where Shakespeare is said to have been +questioned by the pompous Sir Thomas Lucy, after the deer-stealing +episode. This lofty hall has a slight modern atmosphere about it now, +but the dark paneling, bits of really old glass in the windows, and, +above all, the bust of Shakespeare, recall the past very vividly to +mind.</p> + +<p class="open">Most historians admit that there is some truth in the story that +Shakespeare came into unpleasant contact with the Lord of Charlecote, +through a more or less serious boyish prank; but not all believe that +there can be any truth in the statement that he was brought into the +Great Hall by the forester who caught up with him at the “Tumble-down +Stile.” It may be, however, that Shakespeare was later on friendly +terms with the Lucy family, and so it is possible that he was then +entertained in the hall.</p> + +<p class="open">“You know,” remarked Mrs. Pitt, “that the disgrace of that affair with +Sir Thomas Lucy is thought to have caused Shakespeare to leave his +native town and go to seek his fortune in far-away London. Therefore +the prank is said by some to have been a most important, though +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[Pg 171]</a></span>seemingly trivial event in the Poet’s life. Shakespeare’s revenge +upon the owner of lovely Charlecote came later, when he very plainly +described Sir Thomas in his plays, under the name of ‘Justice +Shallow.’”</p> + +<p class="open">Another room at Charlecote is very attractive,—that is, the old +library. There is preserved some wonderful inlaid furniture which +tradition describes as a gift from Queen Elizabeth to Leicester, and +which consequently would once have found a place at Kenilworth Castle. +A very charming view of the lawn sloping gently down to the river is +seen from the library windows.</p> + +<p class="open">Within the precincts of Charlecote is a beautiful church which was +erected by Mrs. Henry Spenser Lucy, in 1852, upon the site of an +ancient chapel. Here there are huge tombs in memory of three Lucys, +and also an interesting monument to the wife of Sir Thomas, with its +tribute to her lovely character, supposed to have been written by +Shakespeare’s “Justice Shallow” himself, who seems at least to have +been a devoted husband. This last-mentioned monument was originally a +part of the older edifice, of course.</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[Pg 172]</a></span>It was now about noon, and they were feeling rather hungry, so at a +short distance from Charlecote they selected an inviting place by the +roadside, and there they unpacked the lunch which Mrs. Pitt had +brought. How good it did taste! They all thoroughly enjoyed the +picnic, and when a scarlet automobile went rushing past them, the +ladies’ veils fluttering in the breeze, Betty merely remarked:—“An +auto’s lovely, of course, but to-day I’d rather have a bicycle. It +seems more appropriate, somehow.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Yes,” Mrs. Pitt responded. “When you are in such a beautiful county +as this, and want to see it well, a bicycle is best. And then, I think +it is more respectful to Shakespeare to go through his beloved haunts +at a fairly leisurely pace. I imagine that he never would have +understood how any one could care so little for Warwickshire as to go +whirling and jiggling along through it in a motor, at thirty miles an +hour.”</p> + +<p class="open">Betty had absent-mindedly picked a daisy from the tall grass in which +she was sitting, and was pulling off its petals, reciting the little +verse about:</p> + +<div class="centerbox5 bbox"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[Pg 173]</a></span><span class="i0">“Rich man,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Poor man,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Beggar man,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thief.”<br /></span> +</div></div></div> + +<p class="open">“Oh, dear! It’s thief!” she cried, making up a wry face. “I’d rather +have any one than that!”</p> + +<p class="open">“Try the other verses,” suggested Barbara, entering into the fun.</p> + +<p class="open">“What others?” asked Betty in much surprise. “I didn’t know there were +any more.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Dear me, yes,” Mrs. Pitt broke in. “I used to know several of them +myself,—the one about the house:</p> + +<div class="centerbox5 bbox"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">‘Big house,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Little house,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Pig-stye,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Barn,’<br /></span> +</div></div></div> + +<p>and about the conveyances:</p> + +<div class="centerbox5 bbox"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">‘Coach,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Carriage,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Spring-cart,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Wheelbarrow.’<br /></span> +</div></div></div> + +<p>Wasn’t there one more, Barbara? Oh, yes, about the dress materials:</p> + +<div class="centerbox5 bbox"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[Pg 174]</a></span><span class="i0">‘Silk,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Satin,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Muslin,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Rags.’”<br /></span> +</div></div></div> + +<p class="open">“Well, well!” exclaimed Betty. “I never heard those. They must be just +English.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Perhaps so. At any rate, when I was a little girl, I used to say +them, and believe in them, too. I lived here in Warwickshire, in my +childhood, you know; my father was rector of a tiny village not far +from Coventry. There are ever so many queer old rhymes, verses, and +customs still common among Warwickshire children.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Tell Betty about some of them, Mother,” Barbara urged. “I’m sure that +she’d like to hear, and we don’t need to start on just yet.”</p> + +<p class="open">Mrs. Pitt leaned thoughtfully against the lowered bars, at the +entrance to a field. “I’ll have to think about it,” she said; but she +soon added, “There was the ‘Wishing Tree.’ I remember that.”</p> + +<p class="open">“What was it?” the two girls eagerly questioned. John and Philip, +privately considering this talk “silly stuff,” had retired to the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[Pg 175]</a></span>farther side of a hay-rick, where they were whittling industriously.</p> + +<p class="open">“The ‘Wishing Tree’ was a large elm that stood in the park of a +neighboring nobleman’s estate. To all the girls of the village, it was +a favorite spot, and we used to steal through the hedge and very +cautiously approach the tree. If the cross old gardener happened to +see us he’d come limping in our direction as fast as his lame legs +could carry him, calling out angrily that if we did not ‘shog off +right away, he’d set his ten commandments in our faces.’ That’s an odd +expression, isn’t it? It’s very, very old,—so old that Shakespeare +was familiar with it and used it in one of his plays—‘King Henry VI,’ +I think. The gardener meant that he would scratch us with his ten +fingers—but he wouldn’t have, for he was too kind-hearted in spite of +his threats. He was a queer man, with a brown, wrinkled old face. I +can see him just as though it were yesterday.”</p> + +<p class="open">“What was that you said?” asked Betty. “‘Shog off!’ What does it +mean?”</p> + +<p class="open">“Simply Warwickshire for ‘Go away,’” was Mrs. Pitt’s careless answer. +Her thoughts had gone back to her childhood.</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[Pg 176]</a></span>“You forgot to tell us what the ‘Wishing Tree’ was for,” Betty timidly +suggested, fearful of interrupting her reminiscences.</p> + +<p class="open">“Why, so I did! We would tiptoe all alone up to the tree, and if, +under its wide branches, we made a wish, we thought it was sure to +come true. There was another curious old game of finding out how many +years we were to live, by a ball. We would bounce it upon the hard +ground, and catching it again and again in our hands, would chant all +the while:</p> + +<div class="centerbox2 bbox"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">‘Ball-ee, ball-ee, tell me true,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How many years I’ve got to go through,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">One, two, three, four,—’<br /></span> +</div></div></div> + +<p>If that had proved true, I shouldn’t be here to-day to tell of it, +for I was never very skillful with the ball, and could only catch it +ten or fifteen times at the most.”</p> + +<p class="open">Mrs. Pitt laughed. “There is so much of ancient folk-lore here in +Warwickshire,” she went on. “I remember that the old country people +always crossed themselves or said some charm for a protection, when +one lone magpie flew over their heads. That meant bad luck, for the +verses said:</p> + +<div class="centerbox bbox"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[Pg 177]</a></span><span class="i0">‘For one magpie means sorrow,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Two, mirth,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Three, a wedding,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And four, a birth.’<br /></span> +</div></div></div> + +<p>Why, what is it, Barbara?”</p> + +<p class="open">Barbara had jumped to her feet, and was wildly waving her arms about +her head. “It’s only a bee,” she said, rather ashamed. “I don’t like +them quite so near.”</p> + +<p class="open">It was delightful to ride along on this “rare day in June,” through +the fair county of Warwickshire,—the “Heart of England.” If they were +just a bit uncomfortably warm on the hill-top where the sun beat down +upon the fields and open road, they were soon again in the beautiful +woodland, where the cool air refreshed them, or passing through the +street of some remote village, shaded by giant elms. In each little +hamlet, as well as the row of peaceful thatched cottages, with smoke +curling upwards from their chimneys, there was the ancient +vine-covered church, with perhaps a Norman tower, where the rooks +found a home, and the gray old rectory close at hand.</p> + +<p class="open">When Betty asked if it was in a church “like this” that Mrs. Pitt’s +father preached, and if <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[Pg 178]</a></span>her former home resembled the particular +rectory they then chanced to be passing, Mrs. Pitt replied, “Yes, my +home was somewhat like this one. All English country churches and +rectories look very much alike,—that is, almost all are vine-covered, +and very old and quaint—yet, I think each has its own very distinct +individuality, too.”</p> + +<p class="open">Mrs. Pitt, of course, wanted some tea, so about four o’clock they +stopped at a clean little cottage, near a stretch of woodland. Mrs. +Pitt herself dismounted and stepped up to the door, which stood +hospitably open. A little flaxen-haired child ran out curiously at the +sound of the knock, and then, frightened, scampered away to call her +mother. That good woman, in her neat black dress and stiffly-starched +white apron, at once understood the situation.</p> + +<p class="open">“You just seat yourselves there under the trees,” she ordered them, +“and I’ll bring right out a shive off a loaf of bread, and a tot o’ +tea for each of you.”</p> + +<p class="open">The young people looked puzzled at this speech, but Mrs. Pitt +smilingly led the way to the place their hostess designated. In a +surprisingly short time the woman brought out a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[Pg 179]</a></span>table (having scorned +the assistance of the two boys), spread it with an immaculately clean +cloth, and set thereon a very tempting loaf of brown bread and a pot +of steaming tea. There was also jam, of course. While they enjoyed +their meal, she stood by, her hands on her hips, and a radiant smile +upon her face at the praises of her guests. Every few moments the +little girl would peep out from behind the cottage, and once she +almost came up to the group under the trees; but her mother, when she +spied her, sent her hastily back, saying by way of an apology:—“She’s +all swatched, but she’s only my reckling, you must know.” As they rode +away into the woods, the good woman stood in the middle of the road +waving her table-cloth for good-by.</p> + +<p class="open">“Wasn’t she a dandy!” John burst out. “Couldn’t understand what she +said, though! Might just as well have been Greek!”</p> + +<p class="open">“She certainly did have some old Warwickshire expressions!” laughed +Mrs. Pitt. “I don’t know when I’ve heard that word ‘reckling.’ It +simply means her youngest child, who she said was all ‘swatched.’ That +signifies being untidy, but I am sure I couldn’t see <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[Pg 180]</a></span>the tiniest spot +of dirt anywhere upon the child.”</p> + +<p class="open">Betty was rather glad when they at last jumped off their bicycles at +the hotel in Leamington.</p> + +<p class="open">“I guess I’m not used to quite such long rides as you,” she said. “It +has been beautiful, though, and I wouldn’t have come by train for +anything. I just love Warwickshire, and everything about it, +especially the language, which I mean to learn while I am here.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[Pg 181]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_THIRTEEN" id="CHAPTER_THIRTEEN"></a>CHAPTER THIRTEEN</h2> + +<h3>WARWICK AND KENILWORTH CASTLES</h3> + +<p class="open">The bicycles were returned to their owner in Stratford, and Mrs. +Pitt’s plan was to drive to Warwick and Kenilworth the following day. +Consequently it was a great disappointment at breakfast-time to see +gray and threatening clouds overhead, from which rain very soon began +to descend. The day was also very cold, and such a chilling wind was +blowing and whistling around the corners of the hotel, that fires were +lighted in all the tiny grates.</p> + +<p class="open">“Whoever heard of such cold weather in June!” John protested, not in +the best of spirits at being shut up in the house. “It’s horrid, I +say! Ugh! If my fur coat was here, I should put it on, and then get +inside the fireplace, too.”</p> + +<p class="open">At this very dismal burst of feeling from John, Mrs. Pitt came to the +rescue, suggesting a game of billiards. John brightened very +considerably after this, and the remainder of the day was pleasantly +spent in writing letters, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[Pg 182]</a></span>playing games, and reading aloud from +Scott’s “Kenilworth,” in preparation for the morrow’s visit to that +castle.</p> + +<p class="open">“Just think of seeing the very spot in the garden where Queen +Elizabeth met Amy Robsart! And perhaps the same room where she slept. +Oh, I can hardly wait till morning!” sighed Betty rapturously. +“Kenilworth” had long been one of her favorite books.</p> + +<p class="open">At bedtime Mrs. Pitt, inwardly rather uncertain about the prospects of +the weather, was outwardly most cheerful with her assurance that she +“felt sure it would be fine in the morning.”</p> + +<p class="open">Mrs. Pitt was “usually right about things,” as the children had long +since discovered, and this proved no exception to the rule. The sun +shone brightly on the morrow, and the whole country-side looked as +though it had been washed and cleaned so as to appear at its loveliest +for the visitors.</p> + +<p class="open">The drive through Leamington revealed a very pretty watering-place, +with baths, parks, gay streets of shops, and many neat little private +villas, each being dignified by a name.</p> + +<p class="open">“How do they ever find names enough to go around?” Betty thought to +herself.</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[Pg 183]</a></span>They soon left the town behind, and a short drive along the perfectly +smooth, wide, country road, brought them to the well-known bridge over +the Avon, and revealed the fact that the river had not lost a bit of +its beauty since they left it at the Weir Brake. It is from this +bridge that the famous view of Warwick Castle is to be had, and a more +charming picture cannot well be imagined. Just at a bend of the river, +the great gray front looms up, long and straight, the turrets here and +there giving it a most formidable air of old-time majesty and +strength.</p> + +<p class="open">Leaving the carriage at the castle entrance, Mrs. Pitt led the way up +the narrow walk, bounded by high walls of rock, to which the damp moss +clings and over which flowers and trailing vines hang. Finally they +passed under an old gateway with a portcullis, and found themselves in +the inner court-yard of the castle, which is almost round in shape. +Old towers or buildings very nearly surround this court, and in the +center is a wonderfully smooth grass-plot, which is sometimes used as +a tennis-court. Several stately peacocks strutted about displaying +their magnificent feathers. They were very tame, and almost allowed +Betty to come near <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[Pg 184]</a></span>enough to touch them. She was delighted when the +largest most obligingly dropped a gorgeous feather at her very feet.</p> + +<p class="open">“For a souvenir!” she exclaimed, as she picked it up. “How dear of +him! I like peacocks even if they are proud! I would be, if I lived +here! They know how important they are, and that this garden wouldn’t +be complete without them.”</p> + +<p><a name="illo17" id="illo17"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus-219.jpg" class="ispace" width="500" height="339" alt="“They know how important they are, and that this garden +wouldn’t be complete without them.”" title="" /> +<span class="caption">“They know how important they are, and that this garden +wouldn’t be complete without them.”—Page <a href="#Page_184">184</a>.</span> +</div> + +<p class="open">“Do you see that high mound?” asked Mrs. Pitt, pointing to the +northern end of the court. “There Æthelflæd, the daughter of Alfred +the Great, is supposed to have built a castle, and thus the history of +Warwick may be said to have commenced in 914. Just fancy! Since that +day, many great families have been in possession here (De Newburghs, +Beauchamps, Nevilles, Plantagenets),—from traditional Guy of Warwick +to ‘Warwick the King-maker,’ and all along the line to the Greville +family, which has owned it since 1759. ‘Warwick the King-maker,’ or +Richard Neville, was the famous baron who possessed such wonderful +power in England that he could make and unmake kings at his will. It +was he who captured poor, weak Edward IV, and brought him here as a +prisoner. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[Pg 185]</a></span>Of Guy of Warwick, the great warrior and hero, I shall tell you more +when we are at Guy’s Cliff, where he lived. He is really more +associated with that place than this. You will see here, however, what +is known as ‘Guy’s Porridge Pot.’ It is an interesting old vessel, +very large and made of metal. Most probably it had nothing whatever to +do with the great Guy; some authorities consider, because of the +existence of this little rhyme, that it belonged to a certain Sir John +Talbot, who died about 1365.</p> + +<div class="centerbox2 bbox"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">‘There is nothing left of Talbot’s name,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">But Talbot’s pot and Talbot’s Lane.’<br /></span> +</div></div></div> + +<p>But let’s go over to that door by which we enter. There comes a guide +with his party; perhaps we can go in with them.”</p> + +<p class="open">They found the interior of Warwick Castle very delightful, and in a +perfect state of preservation, for the family of the present Earl +occupy it often. The ever-present Great Hall is here more grand and +lofty than that of Charlecote, though it has not the appearance of as +great antiquity as the one at beautiful Penshurst Place. Its walls are +lined with old suits of armor, but, nevertheless, the room is +furnished <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[Pg 186]</a></span>with comfortable easy-chairs, as the family, when in +residence, use this as their living-room. Among the collection of +armor is the helmet of Oliver Cromwell, and a whole miniature suit of +mail which was once worn by the little dwarfed son of Robert Dudley, +the famous Earl of Leicester. In a great bay-window, overlooking the +Avon, stands the huge caldron of Guy of Warwick. Strangely enough, an +exquisite Elizabethan saddle of green velvet had found a temporary +resting-place in its great depths.</p> + +<p class="open">“I think this Cedar Room is very beautiful,” remarked Mrs. Pitt, as +they stepped into that apartment. “Do you see that the walls are +entirely of cedar wood from floor to ceiling? Isn’t the effect rich, +and doesn’t it smell good? Do you notice the fine carving, and the +pictures,—some of Van Dyck’s best works? Oh! I must not call your +attention to so many things all at once!”</p> + +<p class="open">In the Green Drawing-room, the Red Drawing-room, the State Bed-room, +and the various other rooms and corridors, are priceless treasures of +art; for besides invaluable paintings by the greatest masters, there +are here beautiful pieces of furniture, made of tortoise-shell and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[Pg 187]</a></span>inlaid with gold or pearl, and ancient marriage-chests, which once +belonged to Italian princesses of bygone days. The armory contains one +of the most valuable collections in England, and in the State Bed-room +are many relics of Queen Anne. One really wearies of so much +costliness which it is utterly impossible to appreciate at one visit.</p> + +<p class="open">“Haven’t we time to walk in the gardens a little longer?” asked +Barbara, wistfully. To her, Nature was nearer and dearer than all the +wonders of art and history.</p> + +<p class="open">After a ramble through the bewitchingly lovely gardens,—going across +ancient drawbridges, spanning long-unused, grass-grown moats; under +little postern-gates; into rustic grottoes—they at last came to the +conservatory, in which is preserved the “Warwick Vase.” This is made +of white marble, carved with various devices.</p> + +<p class="open">“It has a curious history,” answered Mrs. Pitt, in reply to the +children’s questions. “In 1770, some workmen found it at the bottom of +a small lake which is about sixteen miles from Rome. Of course, it is +not possible to determine with any certainty how it came to be there, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[Pg 188]</a></span>but as Hadrian’s Villa was in A.D. 546 occupied by a king of the +Goths, an enemy who was then laying siege to Rome, it has been thought +that the vase was cast into the lake, to save it from the hands of the +invaders. The second Earl of Warwick was its purchaser.”</p> + +<p class="open">Slowly and unwillingly they wended their way back through the gardens, +to the central court of the castle, and then out under the old +gateway.</p> + +<p class="open">“My!” cried John, “it must have taken heaps of soldiers to defend a +place like this in the Middle Ages! I wish I’d been here when it was +just plumb full of great warriors,—when the moat had water in it, the +drawbridge worked, and sentinels called out to you for the password as +you came near the gate. I suppose they could peep out at you from +those little windows up high, too.” John looked longingly back, as +they walked away.</p> + +<p class="open">“Oh, yes!” continued Mrs. Pitt, in tones which made the girls shudder. +“From those windows they rained shot down upon the enemy. And there +are little slits in the wall from which men poured boiling metal or +tar upon those besieging the castle. Upon the roof of Guy’s <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[Pg 189]</a></span>Tower +there, it is thought that a huge machine used to stand,—a machine for +slinging down great stones. Oh, yes; there were dungeons here, +too,—deep, dark, damp, and evil-smelling dungeons, into which many +prisoners were thrown. Why, it was from here that Piers Gaveston, the +unfortunate favorite courtier of Edward II, was taken out and executed +upon a hill close by. Underneath the fine halls where splendid +banquets were carried on, out of sight and reach of the fair gardens +and lawns, there were always poor prisoners who were shut away from +the daylight for years perhaps, and laboriously carving crests or +verses in the stone walls, to while away the hours.”</p> + +<p class="open">Mrs. Pitt suddenly burst into peals of laughter as she saw the pained +expressions upon the faces of the two girls; then a glance at the +rapt, enthusiastic attention of John, caused her to become serious +again.</p> + +<p class="open">“Never mind, girls,” she said gravely. “Such things are now gone +forever; people have advanced too far in their ideas to ever permit of +more of those unjust acts and horrible punishments. I can never +believe that the world isn’t growing daily better! And, boys, it is +all <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[Pg 190]</a></span>very well to love and long for the golden deeds and knightly +ideals of the men of mythical King Arthur’s Court, for instance; read +about them all you can, and try to imitate them, but never wish back +the terrible conditions of warfare and brutality which existed at the +time. The kindly thoughts and acts will endure always, but the +rest,—never!”</p> + +<p class="open">Silently they took their seats in the carriage, and the coachman next +drove them to Saint Mary’s Church, which stands in the quaint village +of Warwick. Its old tower holds ten bells, and these play every four +hours. There is a different tune for each day, which is always changed +at midnight. The Warwick towns-people, living near their church, must +have an enviable musical education, for they have continually dinned +in their ears all sorts of tunes, from the “Easter Hymn” to “The Blue +Bells of Scotland.”</p> + +<p class="open">On the site of Saint Mary’s, an ancient church is believed to have +stood, prior to William the Conqueror. The present edifice, having +been much altered and added to by various benefactors, and at very +various times, presents a rather confused and not especially pleasing +appearance <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[Pg 191]</a></span>architecturally. All visitors to the town are attracted +there, however, by the presence of the Beauchamp Chapel, which +contains the tomb of the Earl of Leicester.</p> + +<p class="open">Having paid the entrance fee, Mrs. Pitt and her charges were permitted +to descend the few steps leading from the church proper into the +Beauchamp Chapel. It is very beautiful, and was built in 1443, by +William Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, who intended it as his memorial. +It was once most elaborate with its fine marbles, monuments adorned +with precious stones, and the gold statuettes which filled its niches, +but these have long since been carried away. The tomb of Ambrose +Dudley, who was named the “Good Earl of Warwick,” stands in the +center, and against the wall is that of the great Leicester and the +Countess, his wife.</p> + +<p class="open">“Look here,” called Mrs. Pitt. “Here lies their son, the little boy +who wore the armor which you saw over at the castle. The inscription +speaks of him as ‘That noble impe, the young Lord Denbigh, their +infant son and heir.’ ‘Impe’ in those days had no such meaning of +mischievous as we give it to-day. It then simply signified a young +boy.”</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[Pg 192]</a></span>Betty was much impressed by a small flight of winding stairs, just off +the chapel, which are entirely worn down in the middle.</p> + +<p class="open">“Was it because so many monks went up there?” she asked.</p> + +<p class="open">“Yes, so it is said,” was Mrs. Pitt’s reply. “Perhaps it may have been +a kind of confessional, where the monks knelt.”</p> + +<p class="open">There was one more thing in the church which they paused to note; that +is, the tomb of Fulke Greville, the first Lord Brooke, who was stabbed +by a valet, in 1628. Greville was “servant to Queene Elizabeth, +conceller to King James, and frend to Sir Philip Sidney,” as the +inscription tells us; and it would seem that the greatest emphasis and +respect was even then given the fact that he was “frend to” the noble +Sir Philip Sidney.</p> + +<p class="open">Nearby, the quaint buildings of Leicester’s Hospital still stand. Here +was a monastery until the Dissolution, or the breaking up, of all the +religious houses, under Henry VIII. When the property came into the +hands of Leicester in 1571, he made the house into a hospital for +twelve men. The present brethren have all been soldiers of the Crown, +who now receive a pension <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[Pg 193]</a></span>and are spending the remainder of their +days in the sunny nooks and corners of the old timbered houses. One of +these brethren who showed the party about, was a most curious old +character, and afforded the young people no end of amusement. He +invariably gave his information in a very loud voice, which was +absolutely without expression, and his eyes were kept steadily fixed +upon some distant point.</p> + +<p class="open">He showed them the ancient hall in which Sir Fulke Greville once +received King James, and it seemed to give him the keenest pleasure to +describe how that King was “right royally entertained.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Oh, ye’re right, lady,” he panted, “the ’ospital was founded by +Robert Dudley, Lord Leicester, ’e ’o was much at Elizabeth’s court, +h’as you all know. And it’s a descendant h’of ’is, or of ’is sister, +as you may say, ’o ’as the right to appoint the master ’ere in this +’ospital to this day. ’E’s Lord D’Lisle and Dudley, of Penshurst Place +h’in Kent,—’im as is descended direct from the Lady Mary, sister of +Robert Dudley, ’o married Sir ’Enry Sidney. H’its ’e ’o appoints the +master h’over us this very day. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[Pg 194]</a></span>But as I was saying,—it was ’ere +that ’is Majesty King James was right royally h’entertained.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Yes,” broke in John, interrupting the rapid flow of expressionless +words. “We’ll remember that all right.” Then in an aside to Philip, he +whispered: “That’s the ninth time he has said ‘right royally +entertained.’ I’m going to keep count.”</p> + +<p class="open">Having examined an embroidered curtain, the work of Amy Robsart at +Cumnor Hall, the King of Dahomey’s State Execution Sword, which seemed +a bit out of place amid the surroundings, and an old battle-ax, +supposed to have been used for one side or the other on the Field of +Hastings, in 1066, they bade farewell to their guide (who had suddenly +ceased his mechanical orations like a clock which has run down), and +drove away toward Kenilworth.</p> + +<p class="open">Guy’s Cliff next called for attention. It is first seen at the end of +a long, stately avenue lined by great trees. At the back of the castle +flows a stream, at this point widened out into a miniature lake, on +the bank of which stands a very ancient, moss-covered Saxon mill. The +castle across the water and the old mill make <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[Pg 195]</a></span>such very attractive +pictures that their vicinity is always frequented by numbers of +artists, sitting under their big umbrellas.</p> + +<p class="open">As the party stood under the trees by the mill, Mrs. Pitt gathered the +young people about her.</p> + +<p class="open">“Now, I want to tell you the story of Guy of Warwick, for whom this +Guy’s Cliff was called. He lived long, long ago (if he really did live +at all), when England had great tracts of unsettled country, where men +were afraid to go for fear of horrible monsters. This brave young Guy +was a strong warrior, and he became famous because he slew the Dun +cow, and other terrible animals which were tormenting the country +folk. Guy later went off to the Crusades. These were pilgrimages which +devout men made to Jerusalem, in the endeavor to win back that city +from the Turks. Guy was gone some time from England—years +probably—and when he came back, he lived the life of a hermit, in a +cave near here. The story goes that his wife used to carry food to him +each day, and that she never recognized him until he was dying and +revealed to her his identity.”</p> + +<p class="open">Here Mrs. Pitt was forced to pause for breath, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[Pg 196]</a></span>and John broke in +excitedly, “Oh, let’s go and see the cave! Can’t we?”</p> + +<p class="open">“I’m afraid not, John. You see, Guy’s Cliff belongs to Lord Algernon +Percy, and the cave is on his private premises. I fear we would not be +allowed to visit it,—especially as the family is now in residence at +the castle. Did I tell you that Guy and his faithful wife were buried +together in the cave?”</p> + +<p class="open">After taking lunch at the King’s Arms Hotel at Kenilworth, and seeing +the room in which Scott wrote his novel, they proceeded to the castle. +The afternoon was warm and sunny, with a blue sky and a summer haze +over the landscape,—the kind of afternoon which invites one to +day-dreams. Consequently, Mrs. Pitt ensconced herself against the +crumbling wall of Cæsar’s Tower, put up her umbrella to keep off the +glare of the sun, and sat dreaming over the remains of the once +magnificent castle. Meanwhile the young people, accompanied by a +guide, climbed all over the ruin. They scrambled up narrow stairs in +thick walls, climbed as high as it was safe to go on old towers, and +explored the dark chambers and passages near the old Banqueting-hall.</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[Pg 197]</a></span>“This tower is supposed to be where Amy Robsart’s lodgings were,” +their dignified guide told them, and then he boldly spoiled Betty’s +delight, by saying, “It’s queer now how fascinated all visitors are by +Amy Robsart. Of course, they’ve read of her in Scott’s novel, but +curiously enough, that’s the only part of the tale which is not taken +strictly from history. No one really knows whether Amy Robsart ever +was at Kenilworth, and at any rate, it doesn’t seem at all likely that +she was here at the time of Queen Elizabeth’s famous visit of 1563.”</p> + +<p class="open">“O dear!” Betty sighed, really bitterly disappointed. “I always liked +the part about Amy best of all, and now it isn’t true at all!”</p> + +<p class="open">“Never mind, Miss; there would be plenty of interest attached to the +old place, even if Scott had never written of it. Oh, I know it’s a +great book, and makes that particular period of Kenilworth’s history +remarkably vivid. What I mean is, that the old castle is not dependent +on Scott for its grand history and reputation.” He looked above him at +the beautiful oriel-windows of the Banqueting-hall, as if he loved +every stone there. After a few such speeches, even the children began +to notice that he was “different <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[Pg 198]</a></span>from most guides”; he used most +excellent English, was very neatly dressed, had a pleasant, refined +face, and seemed to take an especial interest in the young people.</p> + +<p class="open">The guide went on in his deep voice. “Kenilworth was built in 1120, by +Geoffrey de Clinton, Lord Chamberlain to Henry I. Later, it came into +the possession of the great Simon de Montfort, and it then +successfully withstood a siege; but it was during the Civil Wars that +Cromwell’s soldiers reduced the splendid castle to these almost +equally splendid ruins. Of course, it was at the height of its glory +when the Earl of Leicester owned it, and Queen Elizabeth came here on +a visit. I’m sure you have all read about that famous week,—of all +the pageants, feasts, carnivals, and displays of fireworks upon the +lake. The lake was there; water covered all those low fields back of +the castle. At that time, the main approach was here,” pointing to +where a rustic bridge crosses a little ravine. “There was once a large +bridge there, and from that entrance the Queen had her first glimpse +of the castle where she was to be so magnificently entertained.”</p> + +<p class="open">Just then Barbara saw that her mother had <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[Pg 199]</a></span>risen and was motioning +that it was time for them to go. So they reluctantly left the guide, +thanking him as Philip handed him his fee. That gentleman (for so he +really seemed) doffed his hat most politely, and appeared genuinely +sorry to have them go. As Betty turned to take a last look at the old +Banqueting-hall, she saw him standing just where they had left him, +and a bit wistfully watching them walk away. When they were once again +in the carriage and driving toward Coventry, they described the guide +to Mrs. Pitt, who showed much interest. Barbara thought that he was a +poor scholar or teacher, who was taking that way of earning a little +during the summer months; John was sure he was a nobleman in disguise, +for some highly romantic, secret reason; Philip could not even imagine +who he might be, so great was the mysterious atmosphere about him; but +Betty added: “He’s surely a gentleman, and he was such an interesting, +polite guide, that I wish they were all like him.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Yes, it is curious,” agreed Mrs. Pitt. “I’d like to have been along +with you, for I should have enjoyed studying him. I have once or twice +before come across just such puzzling <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[Pg 200]</a></span>characters. I once spent a +month at a small hotel down in Devonshire, where there was a +head-waiter who always interested me. I decided that he must have a +history, and it was proved that I was right when I discovered him a +few months later, dining with a lady at one of the most aristocratic +hotels in London. I’ll never forget my sensations when I realized why +his face was so familiar, and where I had seen it before! That mystery +was never explained, and I’m afraid yours never will be.”</p> + +<p class="open">They found Coventry a delightful old town. Here it was that so many of +the Miracle Plays used to be given in olden times. The “Coventry +Plays” were famous, and Mrs. Pitt took the party to the court-yard of +Saint Mary’s Hall, where they were wont to be performed; for such +entertainments always took place in the open air,—in squares or +courts, the stage being rudely constructed upon a wagon, which could +be taken from place to place.</p> + +<p class="open">At the corner of two streets is an absurd figure of “Peeping Tom,” +which recalls the fabled ride of the Lady Godiva, and her sacrifice to +procure the freedom of the people of Coventry from unjust taxes.</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[Pg 201]</a></span>Coventry streets are very narrow and crooked (Hawthorne once said that +they reminded him of Boston’s winding ways), and there are many +picturesque houses, their upper stories jutting out over the street. +One most charming example of sixteenth century architecture is Ford’s +Hospital, a home for forty aged women. The street front is unique in +its construction of timbers, gables, and carvings. Inside is an +oblong, paved court, overhung by the second story of the building.</p> + +<p class="open">“It’s like Leicester’s Hospital at Warwick, only this is really more +quaint, isn’t it? The old ladies peeping out from their little rooms +are dear! I’m going to make friends with them,” Betty declared, as she +disappeared under one of the low doorways. She was soon seen +accompanying an old dame on crutches, who was hobbling out to show off +her bit of a garden, back of the house.</p> + +<p class="open">On the return trip to Leamington, they were rather quiet. Having seen +so many famous places, it was natural that they should wish to think +them over. The driver approached Leamington by another road than that +by which they had left it, and it took them past Stoneleigh Abbey, +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[Pg 202]</a></span>the country seat of Lord Leigh. It is situated in the midst of +woodland, which has been called “the only real bit of old Arden Forest +now to be found in Warwickshire.”</p> + +<p class="open">“They say that the Abbey is remarkably beautiful,” said Mrs. Pitt, +“but I’ve never been fortunate enough to see it at any nearer range. +The house is not very old, having been erected in the eighteenth +century, but it stands on the site of a Cistercian Abbey, of which one +gateway still remains.”</p> + +<p class="open">It was late when they reached the hotel at Leamington, and they were +forced to hurry in order to be dressed in time for dinner. The gong +found them all assembled, however, for such a day of sight-seeing +makes one hungry. They all had a good laugh at Betty, for when she was +caught in a “brown study,” and Mrs. Pitt asked to hear her thoughts, +she replied:</p> + +<p class="open">“Oh, I was thinking over what a lovely day it has been,—especially at +Kenilworth!” and then added with a sigh, “If I only could know who +that guide was, everything would be perfect!”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[Pg 203]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_FOURTEEN" id="CHAPTER_FOURTEEN"></a>CHAPTER FOURTEEN</h2> + +<h3>SHERWOOD FOREST AND HADDON HALL</h3> + +<p class="open">Betty could scarcely sit still in the train which was carrying her +towards Mansfield, from sheer excitement at the anticipation of +actually seeing the haunts of Robin Hood. Ever since Mrs. Pitt had +mentioned that town as the gateway of the Sherwood Forest of Betty’s +dreams, the name had seemed an enchanted one to her. As they had come +only the comparatively short journey from Leeds, they arrived at +Mansfield in the middle of the morning, and being Friday, the public +square presented its usual busy scenes of market-day. Vendors were +shouting their wares, long-suffering babies who had been unwillingly +brought along were crying, women were loudly chattering in shrill +voices, and a poor little dog, who in some mysterious way was being +made to play a part in a Punch and Judy Show, was yelping piteously.</p> + +<p class="open">“Well,” began Betty, who could think of only <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[Pg 204]</a></span>Robin Hood—her dear +hero, whose story was about to be made even more vivid to +her—“perhaps this is the very market where he came when he had bought +out the butcher’s stock of meat and was selling it for kisses to the +lasses of the town. Oh, do you suppose it is the same place?”</p> + +<p class="open">“Why, no!” interrupted John, in the decisive tones which he always +used when confident of his superior knowledge. “‘Nottingham Town’ was +where Robin Hood and his whole gang of fellows always went!”</p> + +<p class="open">“Yes, that was really more associated with the famous outlaw than +Mansfield. You’ll see Nottingham this afternoon, or, at any rate, +to-morrow. Now, come this way to the Swan Hotel. While you girls +unpack, I’ll see that some horses are harnessed so that we can soon +set off to the forest.” Mrs. Pitt then led the way from the +market-square toward the inn of which she had spoken.</p> + +<p class="open">Before the carriage was ready, the young people had thoroughly +explored this remarkable old house. Perhaps the most notable thing +about it is the spiral staircase of solid oak, which is three hundred +years old; but the entire building <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[Pg 205]</a></span>is filled with little passages and +unexpected, remote nooks and corners, which, like the quaint bedrooms, +are crowded with curios, old pictures, and superb antique furniture. +Betty declared she had never seen such a “darling old four-poster” as +the one which stood in her room, the favorite Number Nine for which +all visitors clamor. Altogether, they considered it a most delightful +place, and Betty thought that without too great a stretch of the +imagination, she could even think of Robin Hood or Little John there.</p> + +<p class="open">The hostess hastened to prepare a delicious, early lunch especially +for the party, and having partaken of it, they went at once to the +open carriage which was drawn up in the odd little inn-yard. John, as +usual, claimed the seat beside the driver, the others settled +themselves, and they started off.</p> + +<p class="open">No sooner had they reached the open country than Betty’s pent-up +spirits overflowed entirely.</p> + +<p class="open">“Oh, do you see that little river flowing through the meadows?” she +suddenly cried, standing up to point at it excitedly. “See the reeds +along its edges, the field of tall grain, and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[Pg 206]</a></span>the old tree trunk +which has fallen across the water! I just know that must be the place +where Robin first met Little John. They had a fight on a narrow +foot-bridge, you know, and Little John (who wasn’t ‘little’ at all) +was the stronger, and tumbled Robin Hood over into the brook. Don’t +you remember, John? That looks exactly like the picture in my Howard +Pyle’s ‘Robin Hood,’ at home. Oh, I’m perfectly sure it must be the +same place! Aren’t you, Mrs. Pitt?”</p> + +<p class="open">This enthusiasm of Betty’s was soon caught by the rest, and during the +whole afternoon they took turns in telling, one after another, the +“Merry Adventures of Robin Hood,” as they recalled them. There could +not be a section of country which more perfectly suggests the setting +for that particular group of legends which has been associated with +it. Here surely is the identical woodland through which Robin Hood and +his merry men roamed. No one could possibly mistake it! Here are the +very same trees, behind which one can almost see lurking the men in +“Lincoln green.” Here are ideal little glades carpeted with dainty +ferns, here and there touched with the sunlight which flashes between +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[Pg 207]</a></span>the leaves. Sometimes the road emerges from the forest, and winds +along through broad fields,—the “high road” bordered by green meadows +and hedgerows.</p> + +<p class="open">“You know,” began Mrs. Pitt, her eyes sparkling with fun, “when Robin +and his men had been in hiding for some days or weeks, perhaps, +because the old Sheriff of Nottingham was trying particularly hard to +catch them at the time, some of the most venturesome ones, not being +able to exist longer under the restraint, would start off in search of +adventure; and leaving a bit reluctantly the heart of Sherwood Forest, +they always made straight for the ‘high road.’ Now in just such a +place as this, by the cross-roads, Little John, garbed as a gray +friar, met the three lasses who were carrying their eggs to the market +at Tuxford. He swung one basket from his rosary, about his neck, and +took one in either hand, and thus he accompanied the maids to town. Am +I right? Is that the tale?”</p> + +<p class="open">“Yes,” continued Philip, taking up the story where his mother had left +off; “then he went to a ‘fair, thatched inn,’ you know, and he sat +drinking with the tinker, the peddler, and the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[Pg 208]</a></span>beggar, when the two +rich brothers from Fountains Abbey came out to start again on their +journey to York. Little John thought there’d be some fun, and perhaps +some good money for him, if he decided to go part of the way with +them, so he did. Don’t you remember that one brother was very tall and +thin, and the other very short and stout? They were proud and ashamed +of being seen on the road in the company of a poor friar whose gown +was too short for him, as was Little John’s. But he insisted upon +staying by, and strode along between their two nags. Whenever they met +anybody—beggars, fair lords and ladies, or fat Bishops—Little John +called out: ‘Here we go; we three!’”</p> + +<p class="open">“And then,” broke in Betty, her face literally radiant, “don’t you +know how Little John finally robbed them? That was best of all! When +they came to a certain parting of the ways, he did consent to leave +them, but first he asked for a few pence, as he was poor. Both +brothers declared that they hadn’t any money, at which Little John +insisted upon their kneeling down on the dusty road and praying to the +good St. Dunstan to send them each ten shillings, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[Pg 209]</a></span>so that they could +continue their journey in safety and comfort. You know, he thought it +such a pity for two such worthy brothers to be in sore need of food +and drink!” The children were unconsciously lapsing into the language +of the Robin Hood stories, as they rattled on and on.</p> + +<p class="open">“Well,” Betty went on, “Little John prayed and prayed, and then he +asked the brothers to feel and see if the good St. Dunstan hadn’t sent +them something. Time after time this performance was repeated, and +still they said they had nothing. Finally Little John himself felt in +their pouches and found,—oh, heaps of money! He left the brothers ten +shillings each, and carried away the rest, saying he was sure that the +good St. Dunstan had meant it for him! Oh, I think I like Little John +best of all,—almost better even than Robin Hood! He always did such +cute things!”</p> + +<p class="open">By this time, they were nearing some of the big palaces which gave +this section of the country the name of “The Dukeries,” from the fact +that so many noblemen have lived there. Earl Manvers, the Duke of +Newcastle, and the Duke of Portland, all have tremendous estates +between <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[Pg 210]</a></span>the towns of Worksop and Edwinstowe. Some of the stately +houses were pointed out in the distance behind the trees, but neither +Barbara nor Betty, Philip nor John, paid the slightest heed to them. +Their minds were fixed on Robin Hood, and they saw only the Sherwood +Forest which he knew. When Betty looked at Clumber House, across a +pretty little lake, she only said:</p> + +<p class="open">“Perhaps near that lake was where Robin found Alan-a-Dale, the dear +minstrel.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Oh, no, Betty; it was by a fountain that he found Alan-a-Dale,” +Barbara politely corrected.</p> + +<p class="open">“Yes, that’s so, Barbara,” Betty replied, in all seriousness. “I +forgot.”</p> + +<p class="open">There was one thing upon the estate of the Duke of Portland which did +greatly interest the party, however; that is, an old gnarled oak which +is called “Robin Hood’s Larder.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Ye see, ’e came ’ere to store ’is venison, and to ’ang it up to dry. +’E was a clever chap, ’e was. ’E ’id it inside the trunk.” The driver +grinned from ear to ear, as he gave this valuable information.</p> + +<p class="open">Getting out to explore, the children found that the huge tree is +hollow, and propped up to postpone <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[Pg 211]</a></span>the sad day when it will surely +collapse altogether. Many old tree-trunks, all over Sherwood Forest, +are like this, and in some of them John could stretch his full length +upon the ground. Near “Robin Hood’s Larder” is the spot where, +according to Scott, the outlaw met with King Richard of the Lion +Heart,—or, at least, so say the local guidebooks.</p> + +<p class="open">“Yes,” said Mrs. Pitt, understanding at once; “don’t you remember that +in Scott’s ‘Ivanhoe’? Another version of this famous meeting is in +Howard Pyle’s book. King Richard was at Nottingham Town, you know, and +having a curious desire to meet with Robin Hood, he and his friends +went into Sherwood Forest, dressed as friars. Robin and his men found +them, of course, and made them guests at a feast. Later, there was +shooting, and Robin Hood, having once missed the mark, applied to the +King, whom he did not recognize, for a punishment. Thereupon King +Richard arose, rolled up his sleeve, and gave such a blow as Robin had +never felt before. It was afterwards that Sir Richard of the Lea +appeared upon the scene, and disclosed the identity of the powerful +stranger. Then Robin Hood, Little John, Will <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[Pg 212]</a></span>Scarlet, and Alan-a-Dale +followed the King to London at the royal wish, and left Sherwood for +many a long day.”</p> + +<p class="open">They were now passing through a very dense part of the wood. Close +about the feet of the oaks, a thick, tangled underbrush grows. Some of +the old trees seem to be gray with age, and their whitish, twisted +branches offer a sharp contrast to the dark shadows, and make a weird, +ghostlike effect.</p> + +<p class="open">“Oh!” exclaimed Betty, “it must have been in just such a spot as this +in the forest that Gurth in ‘Ivanhoe’ suddenly came upon a company of +Robin Hood’s men. Gurth was the Saxon, you know. He had been to Isaac, +the Jew, at York, and was carrying back the ransom money to his +master, Ivanhoe. Of course, poor Gurth thought he would surely be +robbed, when he discovered in whose society he was; but as you said, +Mrs. Pitt, Robin Hood never took money from honest men, especially +when it was not their own. They led Gurth farther and farther into the +depths of Sherwood. I can just imagine it was a place like +this,—where the moonlight lit up these ghostly trees, and the red +glow of the camp-fire showed Gurth’s frightened <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[Pg 213]</a></span>face. He was quite +safe, though, for he proved that the money was his master’s, and Robin +let him go, and even showed him the way to the ‘skirts of the forest,’ +as he did the Sheriff of Nottingham.”</p> + +<p class="open">All this time the carriage had been rolling along, and as they neared +an open space in the forest, John suddenly caught sight of something +which made him turn to his friend, the driver, and exclaim: “Oh, what +are they?”</p> + +<p class="open">Stretching away for quite a distance on either side of the road were +rows and rows of tiny, peaked houses or coops. The coachman told them +that here was where they breed the pheasants which are hunted. When +the birds have reached a certain age, they are set free, and a gun is +fired in their midst to give them a taint of the wild. John was much +interested, in spite of the fact that he considered it “a mean trick.” +It really does not seem quite fair to take excellent, kindly care of +any animal or bird, allow it to believe you are its friend, and then +to suddenly turn it loose and proceed to hunt it for mere sport.</p> + +<p class="open">In strange contrast to the merry drive through Sherwood Forest, was a +little incident <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[Pg 214]</a></span>which occurred in a village on the edge of “The +Dukeries” district, where they halted to water the horses. On one side +of the quaint main street is a row of old, old houses, where for many +years have lived the aged people who are usually provided for by the +nobleman to whom that village belongs.</p> + +<p class="open">All the tiny houses were empty at the time of this visit, with the +exception of one where lived a dear old lady, by herself, her +neighbors having all died. Mrs. Pitt went in to call upon her, as do +most strangers passing through here, and was touched by her pathetic +speech. She said they were simply waiting to tear down the houses +until she should go, and looking tearfully up into Mrs. Pitt’s face, +added: “I’m eighty-six years old now, and I won’t last much longer, +but I can’t go until the Lord calls me, can I?” In spite of this, she +insisted that she was quite happy, for she had her “good feather +bed,”—and what more could she need?</p> + +<p class="open">The following morning, the party went by train to Nottingham, where +they spent a short time in exploring. The present town is much like +others, except in its legendary connection with Robin Hood. All +visitors might not <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[Pg 215]</a></span>find it as fascinating as did Mrs. Pitt and the +young people, who knew it as the abode of the disagreeable Sheriff +whom Robin Hood heartily hated, and upon whom he continually played so +many tricks, always evading punishment most successfully. They +pictured the gay procession of soldiers and knights which accompanied +King John when he entered that city, as the Sheriff’s guest; and to +them the old market-square (the largest in all England) suggested the +scene of Robin Hood’s masquerade as a butcher. There they halted and +imagined him standing beside his booth, and calling out: “Now who’ll +buy? who’ll buy? Four fixed prices have I. Three pennyworths of meat I +sell to a fat friar or priest for sixpence, for I want not their +custom; stout aldermen I charge threepence, for it doth not matter to +me whether they buy or not; to buxom dames I sell three pennyworths of +meat for one penny, for I like their custom well; but to the bonny +lass that hath a liking for a good tight butcher, I charge nought but +one fair kiss, for I like her custom the best of all.”</p> + +<p class="open">“It was here in Nottingham that Will Stutely had his narrow escape, +wasn’t it?” questioned <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[Pg 216]</a></span>Betty. “He was captured by the Sheriff’s men +at ‘Ye Blue Boar Inn,’ and they brought him to town and would have +hanged him, if Robin Hood and his men hadn’t arrived just in time to +save his life. Once Little John came to Nottingham Town and lived for +some time in the Sheriff’s own castle, pretending to be the cook. My! +what lots of things happened here!”</p> + +<p class="open">Not far away are splendid Chatsworth House, one of the palaces of the +Duke of Devonshire, and lovely Haddon Hall, with its romantic story, +and both of these famous places received a visit from Mrs. Pitt and +her party.</p> + +<p class="open">Chatsworth, I am afraid, was not fully appreciated by our friends. It +has a most beautiful situation—in the valley of the Derwent, which +rushes along through the extensive park; the house itself is +magnificent—filled with fine marble halls and rooms, and costly +treasures of art; and in the gardens almost every sovereign of Europe +seems to have planted some kind of a tree. One curious thing did +wonderfully please the children’s fancy; that is, a marvelous +weeping-willow tree, from the metal twigs and branches of which tiny +streams of water come at a sign from the gardener. But somehow, on the +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[Pg 217]</a></span>whole, Chatsworth is cold and unfeeling, and failed to appeal to the +party.</p> + +<p class="open">Not so was it with Haddon Hall! The most prosaic summer tourist could +hardly fail to be moved by admiration of its delights. It is still a +real home, and seems alive with memories of the fair Dorothy Vernon +and her family. The old castle has scarcely changed at all since the +sixteenth century, and one feels as though the great lords and ladies +of Queen Elizabeth’s time had thoughtfully stepped out on the terrace, +in order that we might wander through their noble old dwelling.</p> + +<p class="open">The custodian was having her afternoon-tea when the party arrived; she +did not think of hurrying in the slightest, but leisurely finished +this most important meal, and then received the visitors’ fees and +allowed them to enter.</p> + +<p class="open">“I feel as though I had walked into a story!” remarked Betty quietly. +“Is Dorothy at home?”</p> + +<p class="open">The various buildings of Haddon Hall are built around two square +courts. The oldest bit is the ancient chapel, in part dating from +Norman times, and in which the Vernon family worshiped for four +hundred years. It still <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[Pg 218]</a></span>contains some old wooden pews, and traces of +grotesque paintings may be seen upon its walls.</p> + +<p class="open">“Where are we going now?” whispered Barbara, keeping close to Betty, +as the guide led them down a very dark passage, with an uneven stone +floor. “Oh, it’s the kitchen!”</p> + +<p class="open">A light had now been struck, and the huge fireplaces of this kitchen +of bygone days could be seen. Everything seemed complete, even to the +woodbox which once held the tremendous logs.</p> + +<p class="open">“How in the world could they see to cook in such a dark place?” +inquired the practical John.</p> + +<p class="open">“Oh, there were probably great torches fastened to the walls, and then +there are some tiny windows. When your eyes grow accustomed to the dim +light, you can see fairly well. I should think, though, that once in a +while, the cook might have put a little too much salt in the pasty,” +Mrs. Pitt replied laughingly.</p> + +<p class="open">An exceedingly curious feature of Haddon’s Banqueting-hall is an iron +bracket with a ring, which is between the entrance doors. Naturally, +Mrs. Pitt was called upon to explain this.</p> + +<p><a name="illo18" id="illo18"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus-255.jpg" class="ispace" width="500" height="325" alt="“It still seems alive with memories of the fair Dorothy +Vernon.”—Page 217." title="" /> +<span class="caption">“It still seems alive with memories of the fair Dorothy +Vernon.”—Page <a href="#Page_217">217</a>.</span> +</div> + +<p class="open">“Well,” said she, “it’s worth an explanation, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[Pg 219]</a></span>for it has a strange purpose. Any guest who could not or would not +drink as much as was required of him by the laws of hospitality, had +his arm fastened up to that ring, and what he had refused to take was +poured down his sleeve. Fancy! For my part, I should consider that a +sad waste! Speaking of drinking, I wonder if you really know what it +means when a man pledges or drinks a health. It’s a very ancient +custom! Back in the days of Saxon England, it very often happened that +a man would be stabbed while drinking, so it became the habit for him +to turn to his neighbor and ask if he would ‘pledge’ him. If he +agreed, his duty was to keep guard over his friend who wished to +drink. A trace of this caution still exists at Queen’s College, +Oxford. There the students who wait upon the ‘fellows,’ stand behind +them and place their right thumbs upon the table.”</p> + +<p class="open">The round steps in the Long Gallery are said to have been cut from one +great oak, grown on the estate. Up these they went, and followed the +guide to the celebrated Ball-room, which is so often and so +beautifully pictured. This long room is exquisite with its carved +paneling, polished, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[Pg 220]</a></span>inlaid floor, and lovely bay-windows overlooking +the terrace.</p> + +<p class="open">“Here the ball was in progress at the time of Dorothy Vernon’s escape. +It was the wedding night of Dorothy’s sister, wasn’t it? At any rate, +while every one was engrossed in the dancing and merrymaking, Dorothy +quietly slipped away, ran through this door here, along the terrace, +and out to a certain tree in the park where her lover was awaiting her +with the horses. That’s the story, and certainly it is a pretty one,” +concluded Mrs. Pitt.</p> + +<p class="open">Just off the Ball-room is the State Bed-room, which claims to have had +Queen Elizabeth as an occupant. The great bed, fourteen feet six +inches high, is considered one of the finest in England, and is +finished in green velvet and white satin.</p> + +<p class="open">They strolled out through Dorothy Vernon’s door and along the lovely +terrace, over which the solemn yew-trees hang low. From here is seen a +charming view of the garden, hemmed in upon one side by that part of +the castle containing the Ball-room. The sun was just setting as they +lingered upon the steps of the terrace, and it flooded everything with +a golden <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[Pg 221]</a></span>light. The scene was so beautiful that all were silent as +they gazed and gazed. Betty finally rose with a deep sigh, and said:</p> + +<p class="open">“Well, I suppose Dorothy knew what she was about, but I’m sure that I +should never have run away from Haddon Hall!”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[Pg 222]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_FIFTEEN" id="CHAPTER_FIFTEEN"></a>CHAPTER FIFTEEN</h2> + +<h3>WINCHESTER, SALISBURY, AND STONEHENGE</h3> + +<p class="open">It was not until they were well on their way toward Winchester, that +Mrs. Pitt found a chance to tell the young people something about that +ancient city which they were so soon to see.</p> + +<p class="open">“Winchester has a cathedral, hasn’t it?” Betty had inquired. “I always +like to see those.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Yes, indeed,” replied Mrs. Pitt. “There surely is a cathedral, for +it’s the longest one in all Europe with the exception of St. Peter’s +at Rome. I’m certain you will enjoy that; but what I think you’ll +appreciate even more are the associations which Winchester has with +the life of Alfred the Great. You all remember about him, don’t you!”</p> + +<p class="open">“The fellow who burnt the cakes?” put in John, jeeringly.</p> + +<p class="open">“Yes, but he was also ‘the fellow’ who led <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[Pg 223]</a></span>his army at a time when +the country was in great danger—who dressed as a minstrel and dared +to go even into the very camp of the enemy, so as to investigate their +movements. You certainly like that in him, John?”</p> + +<p class="open">“I know it! That was great!” John answered warmly. “Please tell us +some more about him, Mrs. Pitt.”</p> + +<p class="open">“To me he has always been one of the most lovable as well as admirable +characters in all our English history. He came to the throne at a time +when his wise leadership was greatly needed, and he fought long and +valiantly for his country. When he burnt the cakes, John, it was +merely because his thoughts were so busy with the plans for England’s +future. Alfred made Winchester the capital of his whole realm, and +here he lived with all the court, when there was peace in the land. +Part of Alfred’s boyhood had been spent here, too, when he was the +pupil of the wise St. Swithin; and, at Winchester, he made the good +and just laws for which he will always be remembered. Within the walls +of old Wolvesley Castle, the famous ‘Anglo-Saxon Chronicle’ was +commenced, at the command of the King. But besides all these useful +deeds, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[Pg 224]</a></span>Alfred had such a beautiful personality that his family and +all the people of his kingdom loved him, and called him ‘the perfect +King.’ I have long admired this little tribute which one historian has +given Alfred the Great. He says this; I think these are the very +words: ‘He was loved by his father and mother, and even by all the +people, above all by his brothers. As he advanced through the years of +infancy and youth, his form appeared more comely than that of his +brothers; in look, in speech, and in manners, he was more graceful +than they. His noble nature implanted in him from his cradle a love of +wisdom above all things.’ And so, through all the centuries between +his time and ours, King Alfred’s name has stood for all that is just, +kind, wise, and beautiful.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Where was King Alfred buried, Mother?” asked Barbara.</p> + +<p class="open">“I’ll show you his grave—or what is supposed to be his. But here we +are at Winchester now!” cried Mrs. Pitt; “and the sun has come out +just for our special benefit, too!”</p> + +<p class="open">In a “cathedral town,” one is usually drawn first of all to the +cathedral itself, it being the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[Pg 225]</a></span>central point about which the whole +town seems to cluster; and so it was that Mrs. Pitt led the way down +the shaded walk between the broad stretches of lawn surrounding the +great structure. To her great disappointment, an ugly net-work of +staging entirely spoiled the effect of the exterior of the building.</p> + +<p class="open">“I once read a book which an American wrote about his trip abroad,” +related Mrs. Pitt. “It amused me very much! After visiting a really +remarkable number of churches and important buildings which were +undergoing reconstruction or strengthening, this gentleman ventured +the belief that the authorities must have made a mistake in the date +of his arrival, for everything seemed to point to the preparation of a +splendid reception to him anywhere from a week to a month later. I +feel that way to-day. The Winchester people certainly could not have +expected us just yet. It’s a pity that we cannot see this grand +cathedral at its best!”</p> + +<p class="open">The usual feeling of quiet awe came over the party upon entering the +edifice, and this was here somehow increased by the vastness of the +interior. Their footsteps echoed strangely on the stone floor, and +looking up at the arches <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[Pg 226]</a></span>above her head, Betty began to walk about on +tiptoe.</p> + +<p class="open">“The marriage of Queen Mary with Philip of Spain took place in this +cathedral,” Mrs. Pitt said. “In Bishop Langton’s Chapel here, is an +old chair said to have been used by the Queen at the ceremony. Notice +the six wooden chests above that screen. They contain the bones of +some of the old, old kings—William Rufus, Canute, Egbert, Ethelwolf, +and others. Once upon a time, there was a very famous shrine +here—that of St. Swithin. You remember the legend which tells how the +body of that saint was delayed from being removed to the chapel +already fitted to receive it, by forty days of rain. That’s why when +we have nasty, rainy weather in England, we always blame St. Swithin.</p> + +<p class="open">“I’ll show you the tomb of the well-known authoress, Jane Austen, and +that of Izaak Walton, who is buried in one of the chapels. The former +lived her last days and died in this town, and it was in the little +river Itchen which flows through Winchester, that Izaak Walton used to +fish. They were both laid to rest here in the cathedral, near the +scenes which they dearly loved.”</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[Pg 227]</a></span>The environs of the cathedral are very pretty, and one of the most +picturesque features is the old Deanery, where Charles II once lodged. +Just outside the cathedral close is the modest little house which was +Jane Austen’s home.</p> + +<p class="open">Winchester School was visited,—a very famous old institution which is +connected with New College, Oxford, and was built by William of +Wykeham in 1396,—and the vine-covered ruins of old Wolvesley Castle, +which stand on the outskirts of the town, and near the river.</p> + +<p class="open">“Didn’t you say that this was where King Alfred had them write the +‘Anglo-Saxon Chronicle’?” Betty asked of Mrs. Pitt. “Will you please +tell us what that was? I don’t seem to remember very well.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Well, dear, the ‘Anglo-Saxon Chronicle’ is the ‘first history of the +English People,’ as some one has correctly said. Part of it was +written by Alfred himself, and the rest was done by others, under his +direction. It is simply a record of all important events which were +written down as they took place. The ‘Chronicle’ grew and grew for +about two hundred and fifty years, the last mention being of the +accession to the throne of Henry II, in 1154. For many <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[Pg 228]</a></span>years it was +kept here at its birthplace, but it has now been moved to the library +of Corpus Christi College at Oxford. You see, therefore, that this +important work really marked the start of the wonderful succession of +literary productions which Englishmen have brought forth in these one +thousand years.”</p> + +<p class="open">Quite at the other end of the town from Wolvesley Castle is the County +Court, a fine old hall, which once upon a time formed part of a castle +built by William the Conqueror. Mrs. Pitt had some difficulty in +finding the caretaker who could admit them, and not until they were +actually inside did the children understand why she was so very +anxious that they should see it.</p> + +<p class="open">Many were the exclamations of delight, however, when the guide pointed +to the wall at one end of the Norman room, and told them that the +round, flat object hanging thereupon was “King Arthur’s Round Table.”</p> + +<p class="open">“What!” cried Betty, her mouth wide open in her excitement, “the very +table at which the knights sat!—Sir Lancelot, Sir Gawain, Sir +Perceval, Sir Galahad, and all the rest! Why, I never knew it was +here, or I should have come to <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[Pg 229]</a></span>see it before anything else! To think +of it’s being the real table!”</p> + +<p class="open">It was hard for Mrs. Pitt to tell Betty that all the legends +concerning this table are pure fiction. “Not all authorities consider +its identity absolutely certain,” she admitted unwillingly, “but we’re +going to believe in it just the same. It must date from the sixth +century! Fancy! However, it was all repainted in the time of Henry +VIII, and these peculiar stripes and devices were the work of some +sixteenth century brush.”</p> + +<p class="open">Betty sat right down on the floor, and stared up at the table of her +adored King Arthur and his knights. With much difficulty could Mrs. +Pitt persuade her to leave the hall, and that was not accomplished +until after Betty had trustingly inquired of the guide whether he knew +where the chairs were in which the knights sat when they gathered +about the table, for “she’d like so much to find them right away.”</p> + +<p class="open">Passing under a gate of the old city-wall, and along the quaint +streets of the town, the party came to Hyde Abbey,—or what little now +remains of it.</p> + +<p class="open">“Alfred’s body was first buried in the old <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[Pg 230]</a></span>minster (cathedral); then +it was carried to the new; and last of all, it was removed by the +monks here to Hyde Abbey, which monastery Alfred himself had founded. +In the eighteenth century the Abbey was almost entirely destroyed, and +then it was that Alfred’s true burial-place was lost sight of. Later +still, in making some excavations here, the workmen found an ancient +coffin which was examined and believed to be that of the King. +Reverently it was reburied and marked with a flat stone, and this +doubtful grave is the only trace we now have of Alfred the Great.” +They had all quietly followed Mrs. Pitt to the spot where, across the +way from the Abbey, they saw the grave.</p> + +<p class="open">Before returning to the hotel that night, Mrs. Pitt suggested that +they go to see the old Hospital of St. Cross.</p> + +<p class="open">“It’s only about a mile from the town,” she said. “There’s a charming +little path along the banks of the Itchen, and I think we’d enjoy the +walk in the cool of the afternoon.”</p> + +<p class="open">Mrs. Pitt was quite correct. It proved a delightful stroll, leading +them to the fertile valley <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[Pg 231]</a></span>in which Henry de Blois built his Hospital +of St. Cross, by the side of the pleasant little river.</p> + +<p class="open">“The Hospital was really founded by Henry de Blois, but three +centuries later, Cardinal Beaufort took much interest in it, made some +changes and improvements, and greatly aided in its support,” the +children were told. “To this day, there is a distinction between the +St. Cross Brethren and the Beaufort Brethren, but this is chiefly +confined to the matter of dress. Seventeen men are living here now, +and are most kindly treated, fed, clothed, and allowed to plant and +tend their own tiny gardens.”</p> + +<p class="open">But the most interesting feature of St. Cross—that which in so +remarkably vivid a way holds its connection with the past—is the +dole. Since the reign of King Stephen, no one applying for food or +drink at the Beaufort Tower of St. Cross Hospital, has ever been +turned away. To each has been given, during all the centuries, a drink +of beer and a slice of bread. A slight distinction is made between +visitors by the scrutiny of the Brethren; for, to the tramp is handed +a long draught of beer from a drinking-horn and a huge piece of bread, +while to some are <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[Pg 232]</a></span>offered the old silver-mounted cup, and wooden +platter.</p> + +<p class="open">“Can we have some?” John inquired. “I think I might not like the beer, +but the bread would be all right, and I’m hungry!”</p> + +<p class="open">In spite of Betty’s reproving cry of “Why, John!” Mrs. Pitt motioned +him to go up to the gate, and ring.</p> + +<p class="open">“Yes, it’s quite proper for us to apply for the dole,” she said. +“Emerson and Carlyle once did so, and I imagine they were not in any +greater need of it than are we.”</p> + +<p class="open">As John received his portions and was looking at them a bit dubiously, +Philip called out to him, “Don’t take so much that you can’t eat your +dinner, Jack!” and then, seeing that John had already set down the +food untouched, they all laughed merrily.</p> + +<p class="open">After breakfasting at Winchester the following morning, an early train +carried the party to the town of Salisbury, there to see the fairest +of the English cathedrals,—that is, in Mrs. Pitt’s opinion, of +course.</p> + +<p class="open">To say that Salisbury Cathedral stands in the center of a velvet-like +lawn, to mention the fact that a little stream flows musically by, to +add <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[Pg 233]</a></span>that the towers and lines of the building itself are wonderfully +graceful, is attempting to describe things as they exist, but wholly +inadequate in the impression which it gives to the reader. There is an +indescribable fascination about Salisbury Cathedral, which a person +must see to understand. Any one who is at all responsive to the charm +of great architecture, can sit for hours under the old trees on the +little common, and drink in the whole scene,—the beautiful building +with its delicate shapes outlined in shadows upon the green grass.</p> + +<p class="open">“No doubt it is a generally accepted fact that Lincoln is the finest +of the English cathedrals,” Mrs. Pitt explained after a time. “Perhaps +Durham comes next in line, and Canterbury has great historical +interest. I only assert that to me Salisbury is the most beautiful. +You know, Betty, that the construction of most cathedrals was extended +over many years,—even many generations, usually. Salisbury was an +exception to that rule, for it was begun and finished within forty +years (1220 to 1260), and therefore has rare harmony and uniformity of +style.”</p> + +<p class="open">There are many quaint streets and buildings in the town of Salisbury, +but these become familiar <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[Pg 234]</a></span>though always delightful sights to the +visitor who gives a good share of his time to old England. Having +noted the old-fashioned King’s Arms Inn, which was a secret +meeting-place of the Royalists after the battle of Worcester, the +party had an early lunch, and then set out to drive the ten miles to +Stonehenge.</p> + +<p class="open">The road which they took begins to ascend gradually, and after about a +mile and a half brought them to the high mound which was once “the +largest entrenched camp in the kingdom,” according to Betty’s +leather-covered Baedeker. This was the site of Old Sarum, a fort +during the Roman occupation, and afterwards a Saxon town. Numerous +interesting remains of the camp are here, and the high elevation +affords an excellent view of Salisbury and the surrounding country.</p> + +<p class="open">The rest of the drive was not particularly enjoyable. A sharp wind +blew over the high Salisbury Plains, which are bare and not very +picturesque to see. In the center of this great stretch of plain +stands that strange relic of the past known as Stonehenge. Being on an +elevation, the stones stand out weirdly against the sky as the visitor +approaches, and give him a <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[Pg 235]</a></span>foretaste of the peculiar mystery which +pervades the place.</p> + +<p class="open">The section is surrounded by a wire fence, and a man collects a fee of +a shilling before admitting any one into the company of these gigantic +rocks, which are standing or lying about in various positions. It +seems as though there were originally two great circles, one inside +the other, formed by huge oblong stones, set up on end as a child +might arrange his blocks. On the tops of these, others are in some +places still poised, though many have fallen. One great stone lies +broken across the altar.</p> + +<p class="open">After the young people had climbed about and thoroughly explored the +ruins, they gathered around Mrs. Pitt to hear her explanation of the +place.</p> + +<p class="open">“Well,” she began, “it is generally believed that we see here the +remains of an ancient temple of the Druids. They were half-mythical +creatures who are thought to have inhabited England in prehistoric +times. They worshiped Nature,—particularly the Sun, and lived +out-of-doors entirely. Most people consider them to have been the +originators of this strange work, though it has also been attributed +to the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[Pg 236]</a></span>Saxons, the Danes, and, I believe, even the Phœnicians. But +no matter what people were the real builders, there still remains the +question of how these tremendous stones were brought here in days when +there was no machinery, and in a district near which no stone-quarries +could possibly have been. That has puzzled men in all ages.”</p> + +<p class="open">The laughter and chatter of the members of a large “Personally +Conducted” party, who were having their late lunch in the field just +outside the picket-fence, grated upon Mrs. Pitt’s nerves. Even more +than in a cathedral with solid walls and a roof, here in this +open-air, ruined temple, dating from unknown ages, one is filled with +deepest reverence. It almost seems possible to see the ancient Druids +who worshiped there, dressed in robes of purest white.</p> + +<p class="open">In spite of the blue sky, the bright sunshine of early afternoon, and +the nearness of very noisy, human tourists, Betty so felt the strange +atmosphere which envelopes these huge sentinels of the past, that she +suddenly exclaimed:</p> + +<p class="open">“Oh, please, Mrs. Pitt, let’s go back to Salisbury! I can’t bear this +any longer.”</p> + +<p><a name="illo19" id="illo19"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus-275.jpg" class="ispace" width="500" height="315" alt="“There still remains the question of how these +tremendous stones were brought here.”" title="" /> +<span class="caption">“There still remains the question of how these +tremendous stones were brought here.” Page <a href="#Page_236">236</a>.</span> +</div> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[Pg 237]</a></span>So they drove slowly away over the fields, and as Mrs. Pitt turned for +a last glance behind, she saw the stones looming up in lonely majesty, +and thought to herself, “They have a secret which no one will ever +know.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[Pg 238]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_SIXTEEN" id="CHAPTER_SIXTEEN"></a>CHAPTER SIXTEEN</h2> + +<h3>CLOVELLY</h3> + +<p class="open">A big, high, lumbering coach with four horses was slowly carrying Mrs. +Pitt and her young charges toward Clovelly,—that most famous of all +English fishing-villages. Betty, having discovered a photograph of it +some weeks before, had not ceased talking to the others of her great +desire to see the place; and finally Mrs. Pitt postponed her plans for +visiting other and more instructive towns, packed up the young people, +and started for lovely Devonshire. “Well,” the kind lady had thought +to herself, “perhaps it will be just as well for them to have a short +holiday, and go to a pretty spot where they can simply amuse +themselves, and not have to learn too much history. Bless their little +hearts! They surely deserve it, for their brains have been kept quite +busy all the spring,—and I believe I shall enjoy Clovelly once again, +myself!”</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[Pg 239]</a></span>Now that they were actually there, the realization was proving even +more delightful than the anticipation. The weather was perfect, and to +drive along the cliffs and moors, with a fresh, cool breeze blowing up +from the blue water below, was wonderfully exhilarating. Their route +led through a country where innumerable bright red poppies grow in the +fields of grain, and where there are genuine “Devonshire lanes,” shut +in by tall hedges and wild flowers. Sometimes they clattered through +the narrow streets of a tiny village, while the coachman snapped his +whip, and the postilion in his scarlet coat and brass buttons, sounded +his bugle loudly. As they rolled by farmhouses, heads would appear +curiously at the windows, while children ran out to watch that +important event,—the passing of the daily coach. One rosy-cheeked +girl in a blue pinafore tossed a bunch of yellow cowslips up into Mrs. +Pitt’s lap, calling out, “Cowslips, lady; thank ye!” When a sixpence +was thrown down to her, she smiled, courtesied primly, and then +disappeared into the nearest cottage,—one of plaster and thatch, +overgrown with roses.</p> + +<p class="open">However, the crowning joy of the day, even <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[Pg 240]</a></span>in the opinion of John, +who was difficult to please, was the first glimpse of quaint little +Clovelly itself. The coach set them down in the middle of a field; a +few seafaring men stood about, there was a booth or two where old +women sold fruit, a steep path was before them, but no town was +anywhere in sight.</p> + +<p class="open">“Don’t let’s go down there,” John grumbled. “What’s the use? I’d much +rather stay up on that front seat with the driver.”</p> + +<p class="open">Mrs. Pitt smiled knowingly, and still led the way on down the walk. +The hedges on either side were so high and thick that they could not +see beyond them, and the children were really speechless when the path +suddenly came to an end, and the whole queer little street of Clovelly +lay before them. For a second no word was spoken, then all burst out +at once.</p> + +<p class="open">“Well, what do you think of that?” chuckled John. “Just look at the +donkeys!”</p> + +<p class="open">“And the pink and white doll’s houses!” exclaimed Barbara.</p> + +<p class="open">“And the funny cobble-stone street!” cried Philip.</p> + +<p><a name="illo20" id="illo20"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus-281.jpg" class="ispace" width="500" height="326" alt="One of plaster and thatch, overgrown with roses." title="" /> +<span class="caption">One of plaster and thatch, overgrown with roses.—Page +<a href="#Page_239">239</a>.</span> +</div> + +<p class="open">“And the blue, blue water at its feet!” <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[Pg 241]</a></span>rhymed Betty, all unconsciously. “I just know the Mediterranean isn’t +any bluer!”</p> + +<p class="open">“Isn’t it the dearest, oddest little place!” put in Mrs. Pitt, summing +up all the children’s remarks in one. “I do think it’s——.” But here +Betty interrupted her.</p> + +<p class="open">“Look at that little girl!” she fairly screamed. “Don’t let her run +down that steep street like that! She mustn’t do it!”</p> + +<p class="open">Mrs. Pitt, after one look at the child, merely laughed and replied, +“Don’t worry, Betty; she’s used to it. She’s probably done it all her +life, and she’ll never fall. Now, I turn you all loose for two hours. +Explore the place to your heart’s content, for it will be long before +you see such another. Come to the New Inn (that’s it, where the sign +is!) at one-thirty for luncheon.”</p> + +<p class="open">Enthusiastically the four started off. At first they all picked their +way carefully and slowly down over the smooth, slippery stones, but +gradually they became more expert in keeping their balance, and could +go faster. The two boys made straight for the foot of the town to see +the harbor and fishing-boats; Barbara and Betty were bent on +investigating all the nooks, corners, and tiny shops of the little +place; and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[Pg 242]</a></span>Mrs. Pitt contentedly settled herself on the miniature +piazza of the New Inn, and looked with never-failing interest and +delight at the scene before her.</p> + +<p class="open">To explain more in detail, Clovelly is built in what was once a +torrent-bed, and the village tumbles down from the top of the cliff to +the very edge of Hartland Bay. The droll, Italian-like cottages cling +to the hillside, or seem to grow directly out of the gray rock. At +first, the street descends rather gradually and straight, but after a +short distance, it zigzags first to left and then to right, twists and +turns, takes one under parts of houses, into private yards, out to +look-off points, and then pitches very, very abruptly down to the Red +Lion Inn, which guards the little harbor with its long, curving +sea-wall and tiny lighthouse.</p> + +<p class="open">From where Mrs. Pitt sat she had a splendid view up and down the +street, which was then crowded, it being the busiest time of the +season. Just below her, up against the piazza, sat an artist, bent +eagerly forward toward his easel, and absolutely oblivious of the +throngs of people who were noisily passing close by. There were +tourists in gay attire, children romping <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[Pg 243]</a></span>about in their queer shoes +with nails on the bottom to prevent slipping, big stalwart men sliding +luggage down on sledges, and patient little mules, which struggled up +with big trunks fastened to shelf-like saddles over their backs. To +this busy scene the bright little dwellings which line the way, add +the finishing touch. The roof of one house is on a level with the +second-story window of that above it; the vines are luxuriant, +climbing sometimes up over the very chimneys, and flower-beds and +flower-boxes are everywhere. A holiday, festive air seems universal.</p> + +<p class="open">“Where can one see such a scene?” mused Mrs. Pitt. “Not in Italy +surely, for there the ‘picturesque dirt,’ as they call it, is so much +in evidence. For my part, I prefer the exquisite neatness and +cleanliness of Clovelly.”</p> + +<p class="open">Lunch at the New Inn tasted very good,—especially as here the young +people first made the acquaintance of the much-praised “Devonshire +cream.” Served with wild strawberries, or any other fruit, this thick +cream is truly delicious, and unlike anything else. The meal itself +was partaken of in the Annex, a larger, newer house across the way, +but having finished, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[Pg 244]</a></span>the party returned to the original hostelry. It +is the tiniest house imaginable, and the little rooms are so crowded +with furniture, the landlord’s collection of fine old china, and +knick-knacks of all sorts, that John endangered many valued treasures +by his awkward movements. Once, in passing some people in the hall, +his elbow struck a small cabinet of blue china, and there would have +been a terrible catastrophe had not Mrs. Pitt arrived upon the scene +at the opportune moment.</p> + +<p class="open">“Oh, bother!” exclaimed John, very much irritated, and more ashamed of +his clumsiness than he cared to show. “How can a fellow have room to +breathe in a bandbox like this! Come along, Philip; I’m going down to +talk some more with those sailors.”</p> + +<p class="open">The old fishermen who can no longer follow their loved trade sit +sunning themselves comfortably on the doorsteps of their Clovelly +homes, gazing dreamily out to sea. When Mrs. Pitt, Barbara, and Betty +went to find the boys toward tea-time, they discovered them sitting by +a group of these old cronies, who were ensconced upon a bench +affording a beautiful view of the lower part of the town, the bay, and +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[Pg 245]</a></span>the cliffs of the rugged coast. The tide had filled the little +harbor, and numerous small boats with copper-colored sails bobbed +about on the opal waters; near the Red Lion Inn stood a row of +sleepy-looking mules waiting for the start up the street.</p> + +<p class="open">The men had been exchanging fishermen’s yarns, much to the pleasure of +their audience, but when the ladies appeared, they commenced telling +ghost-stories or curious bits of folk-lore. One tale especially amused +the girls, although John thought he preferred the wild adventures of +the sea.</p> + +<p class="open">After looking long out over the bay, the particular old salt who was +then entertaining them, removed the pipe from between his teeth, and +began the following. Mrs. Pitt took pains to remember it, and this is +how it reads to this very day in her journal:</p> + +<p class="open">“The father of a certain fair young girl had been carried off by +smugglers, and kept for ‘a year and a day,’—until a large sum of +money was finally paid for his release. He only lived a short time +after his return home, however, and his daughter died soon after, worn +out by anxiety about her father. This young lady’s <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[Pg 246]</a></span>ghost continually +haunts a certain little village in Devon, where some of the fisherfolk +were said to have taken part in the kidnaping of her father. Instead +of doing anything more violent, the ghost simply appears on Sunday +mornings, just as the dinners are being cooked, and touches the meat +with her white, bony hand, thereby rendering it unfit to eat.”</p> + +<p class="open">Mrs. Pitt’s famous journal, which is often referred to, contains also +this story heard that day at Clovelly:</p> + +<p class="open">“In front of a certain farm-house was a large, flat stone, which +tradition said was as old as the Flood. Here, at midnight, there +always appeared a female figure, clad in a gray cloak and an +old-fashioned black bonnet. The apparition would remain there until +dawn, always knocking, knocking upon the stone. The inhabitants of the +house nearby became so used to ‘Nelly the Knocker,’ as she was called, +that they paid no attention whatever to her, did not fear her in the +least, and would even stop to examine her queer garments. Finally, +however, two young men of the family decided to solve the mystery, so +they blasted the rock one day. To their great surprise, underneath +were lying <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[Pg 247]</a></span>two large urns, packed with gold, which treasure enriched +them for the rest of their days. But ‘Nelly the Knocker’ came no +more.”</p> + +<p class="open">In place of repairing to the somewhat stuffy dining-room at the inn, +they had their tea just outside one of the most sightly cottages, and +were served by a pretty young girl. The china was coarse and the thick +slices, cut with a big knife from huge loaves of bread, were by no +means daintily served, but it could not have tasted better, and John +ate a truly alarming amount of bread and jam.</p> + +<p class="open">At Clovelly, the summer twilights are very long and lovely, and down +on the breakwater our friends enjoyed this one to the full. One might +look over the blue expanse of bay and see the faint outlines of the +coast of Wales, and then turn and gaze at the picturesque harbor and +the quaint, hanging village, in the houses of which, lights were +slowly beginning to twinkle, one after another. They stayed until it +was quite dark, and were even then loath to wend their way up the +steep street, and to waste so many hours by going to bed in the +“Doll’s House,” as John persisted in calling the New Inn.</p> + +<p class="open">“Well,” said Betty comfortingly, “it will be <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[Pg 248]</a></span>fun after all,—sleeping +in that funny wee inn, where there are only four bedrooms in the whole +house. I choose the one with the pink rose peeping in the window! I +saw it this morning. Come on.”</p> + +<p class="open">The next day dawned as fair as one could wish, and at Mrs. Pitt’s +suggestion a walk along the “Hobby Drive” was first taken. This +charming road was built by a Mr. Hamlin, the owner of the town of +Clovelly, who lives at Clovelly Court. The drive starts just at the +top of the village, and extends for three miles along the edge of the +cliffs. The views are startlingly beautiful! Through the fresh green +of the trees and vines, glimpses of the deep blue sea are to be had, +and to add to the vivid coloring, there is the peculiar red rock which +belongs to that part of the coast.</p> + +<p class="open">As they were retracing their steps, Mrs. Pitt said with slight +hesitation:</p> + +<p class="open">“I promise not to give you very much history while you are here, but I +must tell you just a bit about the relation which all this country +bears to Charles Kingsley’s great book, ‘Westward Ho!’ Have you never +read it, John? Fancy! I’ll get it for you at once! Well, Bideford <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[Pg 249]</a></span>is +the nearest town to Clovelly, and it was from there that Amyas Leigh, +Salvation Yeo, and all the rest set out with Sir Francis Drake. By the +by, that very sailor, Salvation Yeo, was born in the old Red Lion Inn, +at the foot of the Clovelly street. Oh, you’d like him, John, and all +his brave adventures! At Clovelly Court, in the days of the story, +lived Will Cary, another of the well-known characters in ‘Westward +Ho!,’ and in the little parish church very near there, Charles +Kingsley’s father was rector. Kingsley himself was at Clovelly a great +deal, and probably gained here his knowledge of the seas and those who +sail them. One of those old fishermen last night (he who claimed to be +ninety-eight) told me that he used to know Charles Kingsley well, and +I suppose it is possible.”</p> + +<p class="open">That afternoon toward tea-time, after another fascinating roam about +the town,—into its back-yards and blind alleys, and along its pebbly +beach,—as well as numerous exciting rides on the backs of the mules, +the party gathered on the tiny veranda of the New Inn, crowding it to +its utmost capacity. The purpose of this formal meeting was to decide +where they should go the following morning, as they were then leaving +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[Pg 250]</a></span>Clovelly. Mrs. Pitt had promised them a week more of play in +Devonshire before their trip to Canterbury, and she advised visits to +Bideford, Minehead, Porlock, Lynton, Lynmouth, and finally Torquay. As +the young people had no ideas of their own upon the subject and as +they had vast confidence in anything Mrs. Pitt proposed, this plan was +at once adopted.</p> + +<p class="open">“These places are all by the sea,” Mrs. Pitt continued, “and I’m quite +sure you’ll like them. Torquay is just a watering-place, with big +hotels, terraces, and gardens, but oh! it is so lovely, and nearby is +the duckiest little village of Cockington! You’ll never leave the +thatched cottages there, Betty! Lynmouth is very fine, with its +combination of mountain and seaside views, and its moors. Close by is +the Doone Valley, which figures so prominently in the story of ‘Lorna +Doone,’ and we’ll visit that. It will all be beautiful—beautiful as +only England and Devonshire can be—but you’ll find nothing at all +like this strange little Clovelly, so enjoy it while you may!”</p> + +<p><a name="illo21" id="illo21"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 342px;"> +<img src="images/illus-293.jpg" class="ispace" width="342" height="500" alt="“You’ll find nothing at all like this strange little +Clovelly." title="" /> +<span class="caption">“You’ll find nothing at all like this strange little +Clovelly.”—Page <a href="#Page_250">250</a>.</span> +</div> + +<hr class="large" /><p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[Pg 251]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_SEVENTEEN" id="CHAPTER_SEVENTEEN"></a>CHAPTER SEVENTEEN</h2> + +<h3>ROCHESTER AND CANTERBURY</h3> + +<p class="open">As soon as the familiar chugging of the motor was heard at the front +door in Cavendish Square, John hurried out. Just as he was examining +all the chauffeur’s arrangements for the trip, and looking with +approval over the entire automobile, the whir of the engine suddenly +gasped, struggled to catch its breath, and then ceased altogether. The +chauffeur, perfectly unconcerned, swung himself off from his seat and +sauntered around to “crank her up,” but his expression of assurance +soon changed, for the motor refused to start.</p> + +<p class="open">John’s face was pitiful to see. “Oh, bother!” he cried, running to +where the chauffeur stood, in front of the hood. “Why has it got to go +and spoil it all like that! It’s mean, I say! Can’t you fix her? +What’s wrong?”</p> + +<p class="open">Off came the chauffeur’s nicely-brushed coat, his clean hands handled +oily tools, and a big <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[Pg 252]</a></span>streak of grease soon appeared upon his +trousers. Great was his humiliation! After about fifteen minutes of +disagreeable work, all was well, however,—the engine started, and the +sound was again smooth and steady. John’s expression was radiant, and +he came to help the ladies in, while the forlorn chauffeur retired to +make himself presentable.</p> + +<p class="open">“Now, we’re off for Canterbury!” John announced triumphantly, as they +at last glided around a corner into Piccadilly.</p> + +<p class="open">Slowly and carefully they wended their way down to London Bridge, +crossed, and stopped for a moment before the site of the old Tabard +Inn.</p> + +<p class="open">“I’m going to take you to Canterbury by the very road which Chaucer’s +pilgrims in all probability traveled, and I thought that to make the +illusion as perfect as possible, we really should halt here in +Southwark. This is where the pilgrims met, you know, and from here +they set out in the lovely month of April: the ‘verray perfight, +gentil knight,’ his son, the gay young squire, the stout Wife of Bath, +the dainty prioress, the pale clerk (or scholar), the merchant with +his fine beaver hat, the parson, the plowman, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[Pg 253]</a></span>the pardonner, the +summoner, the cook, and all the rest! They traveled on horseback, you +remember, and to beguile the tedious hours when they advanced slowly +along the dusty road, they took turns in telling the stories which +Chaucer gives us in the wonderful ‘Canterbury Tales.’”</p> + +<p class="open">“I never did know just why they went,” Betty ventured, in some +confusion lest they should laugh at her.</p> + +<p class="open">“Neither did I!” John promptly seconded. “Please tell us, Mrs. Pitt.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Dear me, yes! I certainly will, for you must surely understand that!” +After pausing a moment in order to think how best to make her meaning +clear, Mrs. Pitt went on in her pleasant voice. “You see, pilgrimages +were always made to some especial shrine! We’ll take Becket’s for an +example. After his terrible murder, Becket was immediately canonized +(that is, made a saint), and for many years a very celebrated shrine +to him existed at Canterbury Cathedral. In those days, sumptuous +velvets and abundant jewels adorned the shrines, and if a person +journeyed to one, it meant that his sins were all atoned for. It was a +very easy <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[Pg 254]</a></span>thing, you see. If a man had committed a wrong, all he had +to do was to go to some shrine, say certain prayers there, and he +thought himself forgiven. Such trips cost men practically nothing, for +pilgrims might usually be freely cared for at the monasteries along +the route; a man was quite sure of good company; and altogether, it +was very pleasant to see the world in this way. The numerous terrible +dangers to be met with only added the spice of excitement to many. In +short, such numbers of poor men started off on these religious +pilgrimages, leaving their families uncared for, that the clergy +finally were forced to interfere. Laws were then made which compelled +a man to procure a license for the privilege of going to a shrine, and +these permits were not granted to all. You understand then, that +toward noted shrines such as St. Thomas à Becket’s, pilgrims singly +and in companies were always flocking, and among these was the little +group which Chaucer has made so familiar and real to us all.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Here’s Deptford,” announced John by and by, seeing the name upon some +sign. “What went on here?”</p> + +<p class="open">“What makes you think anything ‘went on <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[Pg 255]</a></span>here’!” Mrs. Pitt exclaimed. +“Fancy! What a curious boy!”</p> + +<p class="open">“Oh!” John burst out. “That’s easy enough! I haven’t seen more than +about two or three places in all this country where some fellow didn’t +do something, or some important thing go on.”</p> + +<p class="open">Mrs. Pitt pushed up her veil, removed her glasses, and wiped the tears +of laughter from her eyes. “I think you are about right, John. And +something did happen here in Deptford; in fact, there were several +things. First, I’ll tell you that it was here that Queen Elizabeth +came in 1581 and visited the ship in which Drake had been around the +world. The Queen dined on board the vessel and knighted Drake while +there. Event number two was the death of Christopher Marlowe, one of +the greatest of all England’s dramatists. Marlowe was only thirty +years old when he was killed in a vulgar fight in a tavern. Fancy! +Poor Anne of Cleves, after the early divorce from her royal husband, +lived near Deptford, at Place House. Writers say that she used often +to go up to London, and visit the Court, just as though she had not +been (for a few short days, to be sure) the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[Pg 256]</a></span>‘first lady of the land,’ +as you Americans say. Poor Anne! She always seemed a pitiful character +to my mind. She couldn’t help it if Henry VIII didn’t find her good to +look upon!”</p> + +<p class="open">Beyond Deptford, as they were smoothly gliding along, all at once +there came a loud report.</p> + +<p class="open">“Goodness!” cried John. “What in the world was that!” Then he shouted +with laughter at the frightened expression on Betty’s face.</p> + +<p class="open">“Dearie me! It must be a ‘blow-out’! Is that the trouble, Jo? Yes? +Well, come, girls; we may as well step out.” There was forced +resignation in Mrs. Pitt’s voice; she was trying not to mind the +delay.</p> + +<p class="open">For forty minutes she and the girls sat by the roadside and watched +the chauffeur and the two boys at work on the tire. It seemed as +though every part of this operation took longer than usual. The tools +seemed never so easily mislaid; it surely was a longer task than ever +to inflate the tube, and then to fit on the wheel-rim. Finally, +however, the three rose, grimy and dusty, but triumphant, and ready to +set forth once again.</p> + +<p class="open">The accident came just at the edge of Blackheath, amid very historic +surroundings. Some <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[Pg 257]</a></span>one has called Blackheath the Rotten Row of the +olden days, for there royalty and fashionable people of the town went +to ride and disport themselves, just as they now do in Hyde Park; and +there important guests on the way to London, were wont to be met with +much ceremony by the Mayor and certain great citizens. After the +battle of Agincourt, the victor, Henry V, when returning to London, +was given a magnificent reception at Blackheath, and many were the +speeches of praise which had been prepared. The great soldier cut them +all short, however, insisting that the honor be given God. At +Blackheath, his descendant, Henry VIII, first saw Anne of Cleves +(officially, that is), and straightway decided to divorce her. But +perhaps the most joyful scene of all those at Blackheath, took place +on the May morning when Charles II came into his own, and all England +was glad, after the dark days of the Commonwealth and the iron rule of +the sober Puritans.</p> + +<p class="open">“This,” declared Mrs. Pitt a little later, “is ‘Shooter’s Hill.’ That +should bear a familiar sound. How many have ever read Dickens’s ‘Tale +of Two Cities’? You have, I know, Philip. Well, in the second chapter, +the stage <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[Pg 258]</a></span>which carried Mr. Jarvis Lorry on his way, is described as +slowly mounting this very hill, while most of its passengers toil +along the wet, snowy road, by its side. Do you remember, Betty? You +must try to think over all of Dickens’s works which you have ever +read, for we are coming to a district which that author knew well and +often put into his novels.”</p> + +<p class="open">Sure enough, they almost felt as though they had stepped into the +world of Dickens’s stories, for so many of the places mentioned +therein they were able to find. Slowly they drove through Rochester’s +streets, stopping when they came to any spot of especial interest.</p> + +<p class="open">“Here’s the old Bull Inn,” said Mrs. Pitt, pointing it out as she +spoke. “It is supposed that there are no less than twenty-five inns +named in Dickens’s ‘Pickwick Papers’ alone. This is one of them, for +Room Number Seventeen was Mr. Pickwick’s bedroom, and there is also +Winkle’s, which was ‘inside of Mr. Tupman’s.’ Come, shall we go in?”</p> + +<p class="open">The landlord of the Bull has most carefully preserved and cared for +all which is of even the slightest interest in connection with Dickens +or his books. He most kindly took Mrs. Pitt and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[Pg 259]</a></span>her party all about +the old house, showing them everything,—including the room where the +famous ball in “Pickwick Papers” was held.</p> + +<p class="open">Leaving the Bull, they noted the Crown Inn, on the site of the one +where Henry VIII went privately to take a look at Anne of Cleves, and +the old White Hart, built in Richard II’s reign, which once sheltered +Samuel Pepys. In Restoration House (built in 1587) Charles II stayed +after his landing at Dover.</p> + +<p class="open">“‘Dickens wrote thus about Restoration House in “Great +Expectations,”’” Betty read from the guidebook. “‘I had stopped to +look at the house as I passed, and its seared red brick walls, blocked +windows and strong green ivy clasping even the stacks of chimneys with +its twigs and tendrils, as if with sinewy arms, made up a rich and +attractive mystery.’”</p> + +<p class="open">“Doesn’t that describe it exactly?” exclaimed Mrs. Pitt, with +enthusiasm. “That house always fascinated me, too. When Dickens last +visited Rochester, it is said that he was seen gazing long at this old +place, and some have thought that the result of those reflections +would have appeared in the next chapter of ‘Edwin Drood,’ which novel, +as you know, he never finished. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[Pg 260]</a></span>Now, we’ll drive out to take a look +at Gad’s Hill. Luckily, this is Wednesday, so we will be admitted.”</p> + +<p class="open">After making inquiries, Mrs. Pitt learned that the owner of Gad’s Hill +throws it open only on the afternoon of each Wednesday; so they took +their luncheon first, and then motored the mile and a half to +Dickens’s home.</p> + +<p class="open">Gad’s Hill is charming! Dickens was devoted to this square, +vine-covered house, where he resided from 1856 to the time of his +death, in 1870. The story goes that when he was a small boy the place +had a great attraction for him, and that one day his father, wishing +to spur him on in a way peculiar to parents, reminded him that if he +worked hard and persevered until he was a grown man, he might own that +very estate, or one like it.</p> + +<p class="open">As they left the house, Mrs. Pitt said, “This hill is the spot where +took place the robbery of the travelers in Shakespeare’s ‘Henry IV.’ +The inn just opposite Gad’s Hill is the Falstaff Inn, probably built +about Queen Anne’s time. It used to have an old sign with pictures of +Falstaff and the ‘Merry Wives of Windsor’ upon it. I read that in the +olden <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[Pg 261]</a></span>days ninety coaches daily stopped here. Fancy!”</p> + +<p class="open">“Well,” observed Betty, “I shall certainly enjoy reading Dickens +better than ever, when I get home, for now I’ve seen his study where +he wrote. It makes things so much more real somehow, doesn’t it, Mrs. +Pitt?”</p> + +<p class="open">Having visited the cathedral and the old castle, they now left +Rochester, and found that the run to Canterbury was rather longer than +they had realized.</p> + +<p class="open">“But really, you know,” Mrs. Pitt had intervened, “Rochester is just +about halfway between the two, London and Canterbury, I would say. And +we did stop quite a bit to see the sights connected with Dickens.”</p> + +<p class="open">At last, however, about six in the afternoon, they came in sight of +Canterbury, its great cathedral towering over all,—its timbered +houses, old city-gate, and narrow, picturesque streets. As usual, the +young people who never seemed to need a rest, desired to start +sight-seeing at once, but unfortunately a sudden thunder-shower came +up to prevent.</p> + +<p class="open">“Oh, well, it will stop soon,” Betty assured them. “It always does in +England.”</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[Pg 262]</a></span>This time, the weather was not so kind, however. The rain continued +persistently, and the party was forced to remain at the inn the entire +evening.</p> + +<p class="open">Sunshine, even though it be sometimes a bit dim and watery, is never +long absent during an English summer, so the morning dawned bright and +clear. Just as they set forth from the hotel, Betty felt in her coat +pocket and found that her precious red notebook, in which she +inscribed all interesting facts and discoveries, was missing.</p> + +<p class="open">Philip promptly came to the rescue, saying: “I saw you put it behind +you on the seat of the motor, yesterday, and it’s probably there +still. I’ll go to the garage and see.”</p> + +<p class="open">Betty gave Philip a grateful little smile, but insisted upon +accompanying him on his search. They came upon the treasure just where +it had been left, and soon rejoined the rest of the party in the +cathedral close, where John was in the midst of taking some +photographs.</p> + +<p class="open">The first near view which they had of Canterbury Cathedral was in +approaching it from under old Christchurch Gateway. In spite of its +great age, the cathedral, in contrast with the much blackened gateway, +appears surprisingly <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[Pg 263]</a></span>white and fair. The exterior is very beautiful; +the two towers are most majestic, and beyond, one sees the graceful +Bell Tower, rising from the point where the transepts cross. In olden +days, a gilded angel stood on the very top of the Bell Tower, and +served as a beacon to the many pilgrims traveling toward Becket’s +shrine.</p> + +<p class="open">Walking about inside the cathedral, they saw, behind the altar, the +position of the once famous shrine. All that now remain to remind one +that this ever existed are the pavement and steps, deeply worn by the +feet of many generations of devout pilgrims.</p> + +<p class="open">“I told you something of the splendor of this shrine,” Mrs. Pitt +suggested to them. “It was said that after his visit to it, Erasmus +(the Dutch scholar and friend of Sir Thomas More, you know) in +describing it, told how ‘gold was the meanest (poorest) thing to be +seen.’ See, here is the tomb of Henry IV, the only king who is buried +here, and there’s the monument to the Black Prince. Above hang his +gauntlets, helmet, coat, and shield. Do you see them, John?”</p> + +<p class="open">The northwest transept, so say all guidebooks <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[Pg 264]</a></span>and vergers (and they +certainly ought to be truthful), was the scene of the murder of the +Archbishop à Becket. There is even a stone in the floor which marks +the precise spot; but, contrary to her usual habit, Mrs. Pitt +absolutely pointed out that all this is false.</p> + +<p class="open">“I’m sorry, children,” she said, “but I must contradict this. Becket +was killed at five o’clock on a dreary December afternoon of 1170. +Four years later, the cathedral was entirely destroyed by fire. +Therefore, it is not possible that they can show visitors the exact +spot where the tragedy took place. William of Sens came over from +France, and in 1184, finished the building which we now see.</p> + +<p class="open">“This nave,” she continued, as they again entered it, “is one of the +longest in England, and the choir is several feet higher. Do you +notice? It is an unusual feature. Also, the fact that the walls bend +very gradually inward as they near the east end of the choir, is +worthy of note. Here, as at St. Paul’s and a number of other +cathedrals, business was carried on, even during services, and +pack-horses and mules went trailing through. It’s curious to think of, +isn’t it?”</p> + +<p><a name="illo22" id="illo22"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus-309.jpg" class="ispace" width="500" height="333" alt="“William of Sens, in 1184, finished the building which +we now see.”" title="" /> +<span class="caption">“William of Sens, in 1184, finished the building which +we now see.”—Page <a href="#Page_264">264</a>.</span> +</div> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[Pg 265]</a></span>Canterbury’s cloisters are wonderfully ancient. Blackened as they are +by the centuries, and their still exquisite carvings broken, yet here, +more than in the edifice itself, can one imagine the scene of Becket’s +terrible death.</p> + +<p class="open">“The residence of the Archbishop stood alongside the church,” Mrs. +Pitt proceeded, “and here the murderers came unarmed, upon their +arrival in the town, to interview him. Becket was unmoved by their +threats, so they left him to go and arm themselves. The entreaties of +the monks that their master should seek safety in the cathedral would +have been of no avail had not the hour for evening service arrived. +Can’t you almost think how dark and cold these stones must have seemed +on that winter afternoon, when Becket marched along with majestic +deliberateness through these very cloisters, in by that little door, +and up to the altar. A feeling of dread and terror was everywhere. +Most of the monks had fled to places of hiding, and the Archbishop +found himself alone with his three or four faithful friends, whom he +commanded to unbolt the heavy church doors, which, in a panic, they +had barred. No sooner had the <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[Pg 266]</a></span>armed men rushed in than the challenge +came from Reginald Fitzurse, as Tennyson gives us the scene:</p> + +<div class="centerbox4 bbox"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">‘Where is the Archbishop, Thomas Becket?’<br /></span> +</div></div></div> + +<p>and Becket’s brave answer:</p> + +<div class="centerbox4 bbox"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i20">‘Here.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">No traitor to the King, but Priest of God,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Primate of England. I am he ye seek.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">What would ye have of me?’<br /></span> +</div></div></div> + +<p>They responded, ‘Your life!’ and there immediately followed the +horrible death.”</p> + +<p class="open">Mrs. Pitt drew a long breath and sighed.</p> + +<p class="open">“Such were the deeds of those unenlightened days. These fierce Norman +knights, wishing to gain favor in the eyes of the King, and hearing +him say in a moment of anger, that he wished himself rid of the +troublesome Archbishop, they at once proceeded to Canterbury and +killed him. It was all the outcome of the continual strife and +struggle for power, between the Church and the State.”</p> + +<p class="open">“What did they do to those three Normans?” demanded John indignantly.</p> + +<p class="open">“Nothing. I believe they went free. But <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[Pg 267]</a></span>Henry II himself tried to +atone for the deed in doing penance by walking barefooted to +Canterbury and Becket’s shrine. Come, let’s go outside now.”</p> + +<p class="open">They then wandered about the precincts of the cathedral, pausing by +some lovely, ruined arches which tell of an ancient monastery. +Everywhere stretch smooth lawns, with grand old trees, and here and +there the houses of those connected with the church. Also, very close +by stands the King’s School, which was founded by Archbishop Theodore +in the seventh century, ‘for the study of Greek,’ and later refounded +by Henry VIII. Here that famous Canterbury boy, Christopher Marlowe, +was educated. The school is well worth a visit, if only to see the +beautiful outside Norman stairway.</p> + +<p class="open">Mrs. Pitt next led the way down Mercery Lane, at the corner of which +stood The Chequers of Hope, the inn where Chaucer’s pilgrims put up.</p> + +<p class="open">“You remember the old gate by which we entered the town yesterday,” +said Mrs. Pitt. “Well, under that same arch came the pilgrims as they +approached from London. Although <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_268" id="Page_268">[Pg 268]</a></span>the city-wall then boasted +twenty-one towers and six gates, the West Gate is the only remaining +bit. Here, at the inn which stood conveniently near the cathedral, the +pilgrims stayed, and in Mercery Lane they bought their +souvenirs,—probably rosaries or phials of Holy Water. At the further +end of the Lane stood the ancient rush-market. Rushes were then in +great demand, you recollect, for people used them to strew over their +floors.”</p> + +<p class="open">One might stay on indefinitely in Canterbury, and still not discover +all its treasures and interesting nooks and corners. The streets are +narrow, crooked, and contain many very old houses. There is at +Canterbury a castle; one may see the ruins of St. John’s Hospital, and +of St. Sepulchre’s Nunnery, where Elizabeth Barton, the “Holy Maid of +Kent,” once lived; the old gate of St. Augustine’s Monastery still +stands, though it is now restored; by exploring, traces of the +city-wall may be found, and the weavers’ houses which hang over the +little river offer a delightful view. Interest is endless in +Canterbury. But as it is impossible to see it all, especially in +limited time, the visitor usually seeks out the best known and most +famous places; and <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_269" id="Page_269">[Pg 269]</a></span>surely, after the great cathedral itself, ranks +St. Martin’s Church.</p> + +<p class="open">A little way out of the town, and up against a sunny hillside, is this +tiny “Mother Church of England.” Imbedded in the rough stone of the +square, Norman tower are the huge stems of giant vines. Altogether, a +more primitive, ancient appearing building cannot well be imagined.</p> + +<p class="open">“Well,” remarked Betty impressively, “this is the very oldest place +we’ve been in yet. It makes me feel as Stonehenge did, somehow.”</p> + +<p class="open">“Yes, that’s true,” assented Mrs. Pitt. “The two places do give you +similar sensations. It’s simply that you feel the age. I’ve always +thought that if I were suddenly blindfolded, carried away, and set +down in St. Martin’s Church at Canterbury, that I should know where I +was just from the atmosphere, which is so heavy with the weight of the +years.”</p> + +<p class="open">It is claimed for St. Martin’s that it is the most ancient church in +all England, a land filled with ancient churches. It is in the +vicinity of sixteen hundred years old, for Bede states that it was +built while the Romans were still in <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_270" id="Page_270">[Pg 270]</a></span>possession, and certain it is +that numerous Roman bricks may be seen to this day in the outer wall. +The church was perhaps erected for the use of Queen Bertha, whose +husband, Ethelbert, King of Kent, was also converted to Christianity, +and baptized here. After the arrival of St. Augustine, it is believed +that he and his followers came here to worship. Inside, the little +church is a curious conglomeration of different styles of +architecture; here a Roman doorway, there a Norman, and here an +ancient Saxon arch. Some of the relics in the church are the Saxon +font, built of twenty-two separate stones, a tomb which has been +called that of Queen Bertha, and two Elizabethan brasses. The party +found a most excellent and intelligent guide, a woman, who showed them +the vessel which held the Holy Oil (a very valuable thing), and the +“leper’s squint,” a slit in the wall to which the unfortunate sick men +were allowed to come and listen to the service.</p> + +<p class="open">“That’s something like the ‘nun’s squint’ at St. Helen’s Church in the +city,” observed Barbara.</p> + +<p class="open">On the way back to their hotel, John and Philip strayed into the old +Guildhall which contains <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_271" id="Page_271">[Pg 271]</a></span>some portraits, which failed to impress the +boys, however.</p> + +<p class="open">“S’pose they were old Mayors or some such fellows,” said John, when +questioned as to what he saw. “Couldn’t bear ’em, with their bright +velvet clothes and high ruffs. I’m glad I didn’t live then! Excuse me +from ruffs!”</p> + +<p class="open">“If the important men of the town wore such gay and frivolous attire, +they had to pay for it surely,” Mrs. Pitt added. “Last night I was +reading that in the records of Canterbury for the year 1556, the Mayor +was required to provide for his wife every year, before Christmas, a +scarlet gown and a bonnet of velvet. That was enforced by law! Fancy! +The women may have had a hand in that, for they very naturally wanted +to make sure not to be outdone by the men in the point of fine +clothes.”</p> + +<p class="open">As the automobile again passed under the West Gate, on its way back to +London, Betty turned to Mrs. Pitt, and said in her quiet little way:</p> + +<p class="open">“I think you were right in what you said when we were at Salisbury. I +think, too, that’s the most beautiful of all the cathedrals I’ve seen. +But Canterbury, both the town and church, is <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_272" id="Page_272">[Pg 272]</a></span>very, very interesting. +I like the stories about Becket and the pilgrims, too. I’d like to +come again some day. Please take hold of my hand, John; I want to +stand up a minute and watch that dear Bell Tower as long as I can.”</p> + +<hr class="large" /><p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_273" id="Page_273">[Pg 273]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="CHAPTER_EIGHTEEN" id="CHAPTER_EIGHTEEN"></a>CHAPTER EIGHTEEN</h2> + +<h3>GOOD-BY TO LONDON</h3> + +<p class="open">“A wire for you, Master John.”</p> + +<p class="open">The butler’s interruption while the family was at breakfast one August +morning, caused a sudden hush of expectancy.</p> + +<p class="open">“A telegram for me!” replied John, trying to assume sufficient dignity +for the momentous occasion,—the arrival of the first message he had +ever received. “Why, what can it be?”</p> + +<p class="open">“Do open it, John. It must be a cable,” Betty pleaded, fearing +something might be wrong at home.</p> + +<p class="open">“Yes, hurry, dear,” put in Mrs. Pitt.</p> + +<p class="open">Just the second that the contents were revealed, a great shout of joy +went up, and John and Betty fairly jumped up and down in their +excitement.</p> + +<p class="open">“Father and mother coming!” John cried. “On the way now! Taking us to +Switzerland! It’s great!”</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_274" id="Page_274">[Pg 274]</a></span>Betty’s radiant face showed what delight the prospect of seeing her +father and mother gave her. Glancing at Mrs. Pitt almost at once, +however, she hastened to say:</p> + +<p class="open">“We’re both sorry to go away from you all, though, and I hope they’ll +let us come back. We’ve had such a good time in England! Don’t you +think we can go on with our trip here after Switzerland?”</p> + +<p class="open">“I really can’t tell, dear, for this is all so unexpected. I don’t +know what your father’s plans may be, but I hope he will bring you +back to me. I’d be very sorry if it were all at an end! But to think I +shall so soon see your father!” Mrs. Pitt sat staring into the grate, +and seemed to be lost in her thoughts.</p> + +<p class="open">After the general commotion caused by the news had somewhat subsided, +and they had all adjusted themselves to the new plans, Mrs. Pitt +decided to spend the remaining week in the city, as she had still so +much there to show John and Betty. The weather being quite cool and +comfortable, they could easily go about.</p> + +<p class="open">It happened that two events of those busy days made an everlasting +impression on the minds of both John and Betty. First, there <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_275" id="Page_275">[Pg 275]</a></span>was +their glimpse of the King and Queen; and then, there was the fire.</p> + +<p class="open">As they emerged at about noon one day from the National Gallery, where +Mrs. Pitt had been showing them some of the best pictures, Philip +heard some one on the steps of the building say that the King and +Queen had come to town to be present at the unveiling of a statue. +They were soon to pass through St. James Park on their way from +Whitehall, it was understood, and our friends at once hastened in that +direction. For some time they waited with the crowd, and it was not +exactly agreeable, for the day was damp and foggy, and a fine rain had +set in. All the while, John was getting more and more aroused, and +when he finally saw a small company of the Horse Guards, he so forgot +himself as to shout:</p> + +<p class="open">“Hurrah! Here they come!”</p> + +<p class="open">Because of the rain, the Guards, wearing their blue capes lined with +scarlet, were rather less picturesque than usual, but the black horses +were as fine as ever.</p> + +<p class="open">“They step as if they were proud of going along with the King and +Queen,” Betty said in a loud whisper to Barbara.</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_276" id="Page_276">[Pg 276]</a></span>Between two small squadrons of the Guards came a modest closed +carriage in which Their Majesties rode. Fortunately for the young +visitors, they both kept bending forward and bowing very graciously +from the windows, so that they could be distinctly seen. The sober +British crowd was characteristically well-behaved. No demonstration of +any sort was given the Royalties, except that the men removed their +hats. Swiftly the carriage rolled up the wide avenue toward Buckingham +Palace.</p> + +<p class="open">“Humph! They don’t make much fuss about it, do they?” was all John +said, while Betty was especially impressed by how very much the King +and Queen resembled their photographs.</p> + +<p class="open">The following morning an interesting trip to Smithfield was taken. +Going by the “Tube,” the ride seemed a short one, and they soon found +themselves at Smithfield Market.</p> + +<p class="open">“Have you ever seen Faneuil Hall Market in Boston?” demanded Mrs. Pitt +laughingly, whereupon John and Betty, the two Bostonians, were rather +ashamed to admit that they had not.</p> + +<p class="open">“Somehow we never have time at home,” was Betty’s remark. “And I think +perhaps we never really wanted to very much, either.”</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_277" id="Page_277">[Pg 277]</a></span>“Well, you wouldn’t understand why, then, but it always reminded me of +this great Smithfield Market,” went on Mrs. Pitt and then added a bit +boastfully, “I’ve been to Faneuil Hall several times.”</p> + +<p class="open">What they saw was a large, lofty building, with a roof of glass and +iron, equipped as a most thoroughly up-to-date meat-market. A street +runs directly through the center, and from this, one can get a +splendid idea of both halves.</p> + +<p class="open">“This great barren square of Smithfield was the place where they had +the tournaments in the olden days, and because of that, the name was +probably once ‘Smooth-field.’ Edward III held a brilliant tournament +here, and also Richard II, who invited many foreign guests to be +present for that important event. The processions which preceded, as +well as the tournaments themselves, were most elaborate. One old +writer fairly dazzles us by his description of ‘sixty horses in rich +trappings, each mounted by an esquire of honor,—and sixty ladies of +rank, dressed in the richest elegance of the day following on their +palfreys, each leading by a silver chain a knight completely armed for +tilting. Minstrels and trumpets accompanied them <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_278" id="Page_278">[Pg 278]</a></span>to Smithfield amidst +the shouting population: there the Queen and her fair train received +them.’ Then this same author tells at much length of the commencing of +the tournament, and says ‘they tilted each other until dark. They all +then adjourned to a sumptuous banquet, and dancing consumed the +night.’ For several days and nights this same performance was +repeated. That gives you a slight idea of the aspect Smithfield bore +in the days when it was far outside the limits of the ‘City.’”</p> + +<p class="open">After pausing a few minutes in her talk, while they walked about the +square, Mrs. Pitt proceeded:</p> + +<p class="open">“In 1381, after the peasant uprising, the leader, Wat Tyler, was +killed here. And then, in the reigns of ‘Bloody Mary’ and of +Elizabeth, this was the place of public execution. Way back in 1305, +the patriot William Wallace was hanged here, and after him came a long +line of sufferers,—among them Anne Askew, Rogers, Bradford, and +Philpot, who were persecuted because of their adherence to the +Protestant Religion. After that terrible period, Smithfield was for +many years the only cattle-market in London; and here was held +Bartholomew <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_279" id="Page_279">[Pg 279]</a></span>Fair, also. Don’t you agree that this square has had +about as varied a history as is very well possible?”</p> + +<p class="open">The church of St. Bartholomew the Great, one of the oldest and most +interesting in London, is reached from Smithfield by an inconspicuous +arch, which leads to a narrow walk close beside brick walls. At the +further end is the façade of the church, which boasts of having been +erected in 1123, by Rahere, who also founded the neighboring Hospital +of St. Bartholomew.</p> + +<p class="open">Once inside the doorway, the visitor feels as though he had actually +stepped back many centuries, for, as Baedeker says, “the existing +church, consisting merely of the choir, the crossing, and one bay of +the nave of the original Priory Church, is mainly pure Norman work, as +left by Rahere.” Here again, the visitor encounters that strange +atmosphere which belongs to the place pervaded by great age.</p> + +<p class="open">“You see,” explained Mrs. Pitt, “the church which we see is only a +very small part of the original edifice as Rahere built it. The +entrance from Smithfield was probably the door to the nave, which was +where the grave-yard now stands. It’s curious, isn’t it, how the +centuries <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_280" id="Page_280">[Pg 280]</a></span>alter things! Now, step over here, out of the way of the +door, and let me tell you a bit about this old church and its founder. +This Rahere was the King’s jester, who came to see the error of his +ways, grew very religious, and went on a pilgrimage. While on his +journey back, he became seriously ill, and turned to St. Bartholomew +for healing, promising to build a hospital for poor men if his +petition were granted. He was cured, and on his return to London, he +built the hospital and also this church, in which he is himself +buried.”</p> + +<p class="open">They were all delighted with this story, and went immediately to find +Rahere’s tomb, of which the ancient effigy is covered by a fine canopy +of much later date. One other tomb is that of Sir Walter Mildmay, who +was Chancellor of the Exchequer to Queen Elizabeth, and founder of +Emmanuel College, Oxford. John discovered the following quaint +epitaph, which greatly amused the entire party:</p> + +<div class="centerbox2 bbox"><div class="poem"> +<span class="i0">“Shee first deceased, Hee for a little Tryd,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">To live without her, likd it not, and dyd.”<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>This adorns the tomb of John and Margaret Whiting, in the north +transept.</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_281" id="Page_281">[Pg 281]</a></span>Some time was passed in this wonderful church,—climbing the tiny, +spiral stairs up to the clerestory, and going cautiously along the bit +of a walk at this dizzy height above the floor of the church.</p> + +<p class="open">It needs time and much study to appreciate this sad old church, which, +in spite of its broken pieces of marble, and ruined splendor and +perfection of form, still bravely stands,—a lonely and pathetic relic +of its grand past. A young person can scarcely understand it at all; +it needs a grown man or woman whose experience enables him to read in +the crumbling pillars and walls, stories of the times when England was +young, the Church was the great glory and power, and there still lived +men who were “fair and fortunate.”</p> + +<p class="open">In the vicinity of Smithfield are a number of quaint nooks and corners +of old London. Many consider that the very best idea of the ancient +city may now be had in Cloth Fair and Bartholomew Close, both of which +are in this neighborhood. Here are still standing genuine Sixteenth +Century houses amid much darkness and dirt.</p> + +<p class="open">“Here in Bartholomew Close,” stated Mrs. <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_282" id="Page_282">[Pg 282]</a></span>Pitt, “Benjamin Franklin +learned his trade of printing, and Washington Irving, John Milton, and +the painter Hogarth, all lived.”</p> + +<p class="open">From Smithfield they hastily betook themselves, by means of hansoms, +to Crosby Hall, there to have luncheon. Mrs. Pitt laughed heartily +when John said how glad he was to be able to eat amid ancient +surroundings. He declared that he had been spending the entire morning +so very far back in the Middle Ages, that it would have been too great +a shock had he been taken immediately to a vulgar, modern restaurant.</p> + +<p class="open">When they had finished their luncheon and were waiting on a street +corner for the arrival of a certain bus, suddenly a thrill of +excitement went through the crowd, all traffic was quickly drawn up at +the sides of the street where it halted, and a weird cry of +“Hi-yi-yi-yi-yi” was heard in the distance.</p> + +<p class="open">“It’s the fire-brigade,” cried Philip, whereupon he and John were +tense with anticipation.</p> + +<p class="open">Down the cleared street came the galloping horses with the +fire-engines, the men clinging to them wearing dark-blue uniforms with +red <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_283" id="Page_283">[Pg 283]</a></span>bindings, big brass helmets, which gleamed in the sunshine, and +hatchets in their belts.</p> + +<p class="open">It happened that the fire was very near where our friends were +standing, so at the eager solicitations of the two boys, Mrs. Pitt +consented to follow on and watch operations.</p> + +<p class="open">“So it really is a fire this time,” she said to Betty, as they hurried +along. “We have very, very few in London, and when the brigade is out, +it is generally only for exercise or practice. But, it will interest +you and John to see how we fight a fire, and to observe whether the +methods differ from yours.”</p> + +<p class="open">A building on Bishopsgate Street was really very much on fire when the +party reached the spot, and the firemen were hard at work. Although +the buildings are not high (or at least not according to American +standards), the men use very strong ladders, which can be pulled out +so that they will reach to great heights. But the queerest thing of +all in John’s estimation was the way in which the people on the top +floor of the building were rescued.</p> + +<p class="open">A long canvas tube was carried up a ladder by a fireman, who attached +it to the frame of an upper window. The occupants of that floor <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_284" id="Page_284">[Pg 284]</a></span>were +then slid one by one to the ground through this tube, being caught at +the bottom by the firemen.</p> + +<p class="open">“Well, did you ever see anything like that!” cried John, amazed at the +funny sight. “It’s great, I say! I’d like to try it!”</p> + +<p class="open">All the way up town, the talk was of fires. John had been tremendously +interested in the English methods, and was planning to introduce the +use of the canvas tube to his own city through a good Irish friend of +his at a Boston fire-station.</p> + +<p class="open">“Honor bright, don’t you have many fires over here?” he demanded of +Mrs. Pitt. “We have ’em all the time at home. It must be stupid here +without ’em!”</p> + +<p class="open">“No, we really have very few,” Mrs. Pitt responded. “In winter, there +are a number of small outbreaks, but those are very slight. You see, +we burn soft coal, and if the chimney is not swept out quite +regularly, the soot which gathers there is apt to get afire. When a +chimney does have a blaze, the owner has to pay a fine of one pound, +or five dollars, to make him remember his chimney. In olden times, +perhaps two hundred and fifty years ago, there used to be a tax +<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_285" id="Page_285">[Pg 285]</a></span>levied on every chimney in a house. There’s a curious old epitaph in +a church-yard at Folkestone, which bears upon this subject. It reads +something like this:</p> + +<div class="centerbox6 bbox"><div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">‘A house she hath, ’tis made in such good fashion,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">That tenant n’re shall pay for reparation,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor will her landlord ever raise her rent,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Nor turn her out-of-doors for non-payment,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">From chimney-money too, this house is free,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of such a house who would not tenant be.’”<br /></span> +</div></div></div> + +<p class="open">They all joined in a good laugh over this, but Betty remarked that she +thought it was “more of an advertisement for a house than an epitaph.”</p> + +<p class="open">Their particular bus had been slowly making its way down Ludgate Hill, +along Fleet Street, into the Strand, through Trafalgar Square and +Piccadilly Circus, into Piccadilly itself, and had now reached Hyde +Park Corner, where our friends climbed down the stairs and swung +themselves off.</p> + +<p class="open">Betty was grumbling just a little. “I never can get down those tiny +stairs,” she exclaimed, “without almost bumping my head and catching +my umbrella in the stair-rail!”</p> + +<p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_286" id="Page_286">[Pg 286]</a></span>Mrs. Pitt smiled. “That shows you are not a true Londoner, my dear. We +are never troubled. But, never mind; they don’t have buses in +Switzerland.”</p> + +<p class="open">At this, Betty was instantly herself again. “London wouldn’t be London +without the funny, inconvenient buses, I know. And it’s dear, every +inch of it,—buses and all!”</p> + +<p class="open">Mrs. Pitt pointed out Apsley House, where lived the great Duke of +Wellington. A curious fact about this stately old mansion is that on +fine afternoons, the shadow of a nearby statue of this hero is thrown +full upon the front of his former home.</p> + +<p><a name="illo23" id="illo23"></a></p> +<div class="figcenter" style="width: 500px;"> +<img src="images/illus-333.jpg" class="ispace" width="500" height="346" alt="Old gentlemen, stout ladies, young people, and small +children, all ride in England." title="" /> +<span class="caption">Old gentlemen, stout ladies, young people, and small +children, all ride in England. Page <a href="#Page_287">287</a>.</span> +</div> + +<p class="open">As they were about to enter Hyde Park through the imposing gate, Mrs. +Pitt said:—</p> + +<p class="open">“When we stand here and gaze at this scene before us,—the crowd, +beautiful park, fine hotels, houses, and shops,—it is hard to realize +that this was a dangerous, remote district as recently as 1815. That +was the time of many daring robberies, you know, when it was not safe +walking, riding, or even traveling in a big coach, because of the +highwaymen. Even so late as the year I just mentioned, this vicinity +from Hyde Park to Kensington was patrolled, <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_287" id="Page_287">[Pg 287]</a></span>and people went about in companies so as to be comparatively secure.”</p> + +<p class="open">The remainder of that lovely afternoon was spent in Hyde Park, +watching the riding and driving. Having paid the fee of threepence +each for the use of their chairs, it was pleasant to sit and look on +at the gay sight. Old gentlemen, stout ladies, young people, and small +children, all ride, in England, and at certain times of the day, +during “the season” (May and June), Hyde Park is always filled with a +merry company. In midsummer it is rather more deserted, and yet the +walks stretching between the flower-beds, and the Serpentine stream, +are always flocking with people on summer Sundays or “bank holidays.”</p> + +<p class="open">And so passed the last days which John and Betty spent in London. All +the favorite spots—Westminster Abbey, the Tower, Kensington Palace, +and many others—had to be revisited, just as though the young people +never thought to see them again; and then, at last came the day when +the father and mother were expected. They all trooped to Euston +Station to meet the train, and in triumph escorted the American +friends back to Cavendish Square. There they <span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_288" id="Page_288">[Pg 288]</a></span>remained for two short +days and then carried the almost reluctant John and Betty away with +them. Mrs. Pitt, Philip, and Barbara remained behind on the platform, +waving a last good-by, and still hearing the many thanks and +expressions of gratitude which John and Betty had repeatedly poured +into their ears, in return for their delightful visit to England.</p> + +<h3>THE END.</h3> + +<hr class="large" /><p class="open"><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_289" id="Page_289">[Pg 289]</a></span></p> +<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX</h2> + +<div class="centered"><table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="2" summary="INDEX"> +<tr><td style="width: 50%; vertical-align: top;"> +<ul class="none"> +<li>Addison, Joseph, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> +<li>Alfred the Great, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li> +<li>Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a></li> +<li>Anne of Cleves, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> +<li>Anne, Queen, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> +<li>Arden, Forest of, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a></li> +<li>“As You Like It,” <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> +<li>Austen, Jane, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="none"> +<li>Bankside, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li> +<li>Bartholomew Close, <a href="#Page_281">281</a></li> +<li>Bear-baiting, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li> +<li>Becket, St. Thomas à, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a></li> +<li>Bell Inn, Edmonton, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> +<li>“Big Ben,” <a href="#Page_107">107</a></li> +<li>Blackheath, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></li> +<li>Black Prince, Edward the, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> +<li>Boleyn, Anne, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> +<li>“Bow Bells,” <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> +<li>Bunyan, John, <a href="#Page_89">89</a></li> +<li>Bus-drivers, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> +<li>Buses, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="none"> +<li>Cambridge, <a href="#Page_91">91</a></li> +<li>Canterbury, <a href="#Page_261">261</a> + <ul class="none"> + <li>Cathedral, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li> + <li>Chequers of Hope Inn, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> + <li>Cloisters of Cathedral, <a href="#Page_265">265</a></li> + <li>Pilgrims, 90, 252, 267 <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> + <li>Shrine of St. Thomas à Becket, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> + <li>St. Martin’s Church, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li> + <li>Tales, <a href="#Page_253">253</a></li> + </ul></li> +<li>Carlyle, Thomas, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> +<li>Caroline, Queen, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> +<li>Chalfont St. Giles, <a href="#Page_105">105</a></li> +<li>Charing Cross, <a href="#Page_67">67</a></li> +<li>Charlecote, <a href="#Page_167">167</a> + <ul class="none"> + <li>Park, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> + </ul></li> +<li>Charles I, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a> </li> +<li>Charles II, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a> </li> +<li>Chatsworth House, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> +<li>Chaucer, Geoffrey, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>,</li> +<li>Cheshire Cheese, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li> +<li>Clopton, Sir Hugh, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> +<li>Cloth Fair, <a href="#Page_281">281</a></li> +<li>Clovelly, <a href="#Page_238">238</a> + <ul class="none"> + <li>Court, <a href="#Page_248">248</a></li> + <li>Hobby Drive, <a href="#Page_248">248</a></li> + </ul></li> +<li>Cockney, <a href="#Page_16">16</a></li> +<li>Coventry, <a href="#Page_200">200</a> + <ul class="none"> + <li>Ford’s Hospital, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> + <li>“Peeping Tom,” <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> + <li>St. Mary’s Hall, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> + </ul></li> +<li>Cromwell, Oliver, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_186">186</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a>,</li> +<li>Crosby Hall, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="none"> +<li>“Deans, Jeanie,” <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> +<li>Deptford, <a href="#Page_254">254</a></li> +<li>Devonshire, <a href="#Page_238">238</a> + <ul class="none"> + <li>Cream, <a href="#Page_243">243</a></li> + <li>Legends of, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li> + </ul></li> +<li>Dickens, Charles, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> +<li>Doomsday Book, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li> +<li>Drake, Sir Francis, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> +<li>Druids, <a href="#Page_235">235</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="none"> +<li>Edward I, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a> + <ul class="none"> + <li>III, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a></li> + <li>the Confessor, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> + </ul></li> +<li>Elizabeth, Queen, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>,<br /> +<a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>,<br /> +<a href="#Page_255">255</a></li> +<li>Essex, Earl of, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> +<li>Eton School, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li> +<li>Evans, Mary Ann (George Eliot), <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="none"> +<li>Fawkes, Guy, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> +<li>Fire Brigade, <a href="#Page_282">282</a></li> +<li>Fountains Abbey, <a href="#Page_208">208</a></li> +<li>Franklin, Benjamin, <a href="#Page_282">282</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="none"> +<li>Gastrell, Rev. Francis, <a href="#Page_148">148</a></li> +<li>George III, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> +<li>Gilpin, John, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> +<li>Globe Theatre, <a href="#Page_90">90</a></li> +<li>Gray, Thomas, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> +<li>Greville, Fulke, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> +<li>Grey, Lady Jane, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> +<li>Gunpowder Plot, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="none"> +<li>Haddon Hall, <a href="#Page_216">216</a></li> +<li>Hampton Court, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li> +<li>Harvard, John, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> +<li>Hathaway, Anne, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_156">157</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> +<li>Henrietta Maria, Queen, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> +<li>Henry II, <a href="#Page_167">167</a> + <ul class="none"> + <li>IV, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_263">263</a></li> + <li>V, <a href="#Page_104">104</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> + <li>VII, Chapel of, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li> + <li>VIII, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_257">257</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> + </ul></li> +<li>Hogarth, William, <a href="#Page_282">282</a></li> +<li>Holbein, Hans, <a href="#Page_89">189</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a></li> +<li>Holy Trinity Church, Stratford, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li> +<li>Horse Guards, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li> +<li>Houses of Parliament, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> +<li>Howard, Queen Catharine, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> +<li>Hyde Park Corner, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="none"> +<li>Irving, Washington, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="none"> +<li>James I of Scotland, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li> +<li>Jerusalem Chamber, <a href="#Page_35">35</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="none"> +<li>Kenilworth Castle, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> +<li>Kew Gardens,, <a href="#Page_125">125</a> + <ul class="none"> + <li>Palace, <a href="#Page_126">126</a></li> + </ul></li> +<li>Kingsley, Charles, <a href="#Page_248">248</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="none"> +<li>Lambeth Palace, <a href="#Page_123">123</a></li> +<li>Leamington, <a href="#Page_182">182</a></li> +<li>Leicester, Earl of, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li> +<li>“Little John,” <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li> +<li>Lollards, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> +<li>London Bridge, <a href="#Page_87">87</a></li> +</ul></td> + +<td style="width: 50%; vertical-align: top;"> + +<ul class="none"> +<li>Mansfield, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> +<li>Marlowe, Christopher, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a></li> +<li>Mary, Queen, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a> + <ul class="none"> + <li>Queen of Scots, <a href="#Page_112">112</a></li> + </ul></li> +<li>“Midsummer Night’s Dream,” <a href="#Page_157">157</a></li> +<li>Miracle Plays, <a href="#Page_200">200</a></li> +<li>More, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="none"> +<li>National Gallery, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li> +<li>Nelson, Lord, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> +<li>Nottingham, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_214">214</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="none"> +<li>Oxford, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="none"> +<li>Paternoster Row, <a href="#Page_118">118</a></li> +<li>Pembroke, Countess of, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> +<li>Penshurst Place, <a href="#Page_42">42</a></li> +<li>Pepys, Samuel, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> +<li>“Pickwick Papers,” <a href="#Page_258">258</a></li> +<li>Pitt, William, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> +<li>Pope, Alexander, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> +<li>Prentices, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li> +<li>“Princes, the Little,” <a href="#Page_54">54</a></li> +<li>Public Record Office, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="none"> +<li>Rahere, <a href="#Page_279">278</a></li> +<li>Raleigh, Sir Walter, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a></li> +<li>Richard I, <a href="#Page_211">211</a> + <ul class="none"> + <li>II, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a></li> + <li>III, <a href="#Page_115">115</a></li> + </ul></li> +<li>Richmond Palace, <a href="#Page_129">129</a> + <ul class="none"> + <li>Park, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> + </ul></li> +<li>Robin Hood, <a href="#Page_203">203</a></li> +<li>Robsart, Amy, <a href="#Page_182">182</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> +<li>Rochester, <a href="#Page_258">258</a> + <ul class="none"> + <li>Bull Inn, <a href="#Page_258">258</a></li> + <li>Crown Inn, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> + <li>Falstaff Inn, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + <li>Gad’s Hill, <a href="#Page_260">260</a></li> + <li>Restoration House, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> + <li>White Hart Inn, <a href="#Page_259">259</a></li> + </ul></li> +<li>Round Table, the <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="none"> +<li>St. Augustine, <a href="#Page_270">270</a> + <ul class="none"> + <li>Bartholomew the Great,Church of, <a href="#Page_279">279</a></li> + <li>Cross Hospital, <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li> + <li>Helen’s Church, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li> + <li>Mary Overy, Southwark, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li> + <li>Paul’s Cathedral, <a href="#Page_69">69</a></li> + <li>Swithin, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + </ul></li> +<li>Salisbury Cathedral, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li> +<li>Sarum, Old, <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> +<li>Scott, Sir Walter, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li> +<li>Shakespeare, William, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a></li> +<li>Shelley, Percy Bysshe, <a href="#Page_99">99</a></li> +<li>Shooter’s Hill, <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> +<li>Shottery, <a href="#Page_163">163</a></li> +<li>Sidney, Sir Philip, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_120">110</a></li> +<li>Smithfield, <a href="#Page_276">276</a> + <ul class="none"> + <li>Market, <a href="#Page_276">276</a></li> + </ul></li> +<li>Southwark, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a> + <ul class="none"> + <li>Cathedral, <a href="#Page_88">88</a></li> + <li>Tabard Inn, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> + </ul></li> +<li>Spenser, Edmund <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a></li> +<li>Star and Garter Inn, Richmond, <a href="#Page_127">127</a></li> +<li>Stoke Poges, <a href="#Page_96">96</a></li> +<li>Stonehenge, <a href="#Page_234">234</a></li> +<li>Stoneleigh Abbey, <a href="#Page_201">201</a></li> +<li>Stone of Scone, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li> +<li>Stratford-on-Avon, <a href="#Page_138">138</a> + <ul class="none"> + <li>the “Birthplace,” <a href="#Page_140">140</a></li> + <li>Grammar School, <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li> + <li>Guild Chapel, <a href="#Page_150">150</a></li> + <li>Holy Trinity Church, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li> + <li>John Harvard House, <a href="#Page_146">146</a></li> + <li>New Place, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li> + <li>Red Horse Hotel, <a href="#Page_138">138</a></li> + <li>Shakespeare Hotel, <a href="#Page_145">145</a></li> + <li>Shakespeare Memorial, <a href="#Page_155">155</a></li> + <li>Weir Brake, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> + </ul></li> +<li>Streets in London, names of, <a href="#Page_119">119</a></li> +<li>Swift, Dean, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="none"> +<li>Tabard Inn, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a></li> +<li>“Tale of Two Cities,” <a href="#Page_257">257</a></li> +<li>Thames River, the, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li> +<li>Tower of London, <a href="#Page_50">50</a></li> +<li>Trafalgar Square, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a></li> +<li>Tyler, Wat, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="none"> +<li>Vauxhall, <a href="#Page_124">124</a></li> +<li>Vernon, Dorothy, <a href="#Page_217">217</a></li> +</ul> + +<ul class="none"> +<li>Wallace, William, <a href="#Page_278">278</a></li> +<li>Walpole, Horace, <a href="#Page_136">136</a></li> +<li>Warwick Castle, <a href="#Page_183">183</a> + <ul class="none"> + <li>Guy of, <a href="#Page_184">184</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a></li> + <li>Guy’s Cliff, <a href="#Page_194">194</a></li> + <li>Leicester’s Hospital, <a href="#Page_192">192</a></li> + <li>St. Mary’s Church, <a href="#Page_190">190</a></li> + <li>“The King-maker,” <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li> + <li>Vase, <a href="#Page_187">187</a></li> + </ul></li> +<li>Warwickshire, <a href="#Page_167">167</a></li> +<li>Weir Brake, Stratford, <a href="#Page_156">156</a></li> +<li>Wellington, Duke of, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a></li> +<li>Westminster Abbey, <a href="#Page_20">20</a> + <ul class="none"> + <li>Chapter House, <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li> + <li>Cloisters, <a href="#Page_30">30</a></li> + <li>Hall, <a href="#Page_108">108</a></li> + <li>School, <a href="#Page_32">32</a></li> + </ul></li> +<li>“Westward Ho!” <a href="#Page_248">248</a></li> +<li>White Lodge, <a href="#Page_129">129</a></li> +<li>William and Mary, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a></li> +<li>William III, <a href="#Page_134">134</a> + <ul class="none"> + <li>Rufus, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_226">226</a></li> + </ul></li> +<li>Winchester, <a href="#Page_222">222</a> + <ul class="none"> + <li>Cathedral, <a href="#Page_224">224</a></li> + <li>Cloisters, <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li> + <li>Hospital of St. Cross, <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li> + </ul></li> +<li>Windsor Castle, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li> +<li>“Winter’s Tale,” <a href="#Page_162">162</a></li> +<li>Wolsey, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a></li> +<li style="line-height: 205%;"> </li> +</ul></td></tr></table></div> + +<hr class="large" /> +<div class="centerbox7 bbox"> +<h2>Makers of England Series</h2> + +<h3>By EVA MARCH TAPPAN, Ph.D.</h3> + +<div class="centered"><table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="2" summary="adpage1first"> + +<tr><td style="vertical-align: top;"> +<div class="figleft" style="width: 98px;"> +<img src="images/illus-341a.jpg" width="98" height="130" alt="Book: In the Days of Alfred the Great" title="" /> +</div></td> + +<td><p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:30px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">D</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">r.</span> Tappan’s historical works have already become classics for the +young, and well do they deserve it, with their entertaining +descriptions, perfect English, and historical value. Such books are +the best that can be placed in the hands of children; and the fact +that while being instructive there is never a dull line is the highest +commendation that can be offered.</p></td></tr></table></div> + +<p><b>In the Days of Alfred the Great</b></p> +<p class="right">Cloth Fully illustrated <b>Price $1.00</b></p> + +<p><b>In the Days of William the Conqueror</b></p> +<p class="right">Cloth Illustrated by J. W. Kennedy <b>Price $1.00</b></p> + +<p><b>In the Days of Queen Elizabeth</b></p> +<p class="right">Cloth Illustrated from famous paintings <b>Price $1.00</b></p> + +<p><b>In the Days of Queen Victoria</b></p> +<p class="right">Cloth Illustrated from paintings and photographs <b>Price $1.00</b></p> + +<div class="centered"><table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="2" summary="adpage1second"> + +<tr><td><p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:30px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">M</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">iss</span> Tappan reads her authorities intelligently and selects +her material wisely, always having her young audience well +in mind. She has a clear idea of the requirements for +interesting and stimulating young readers, and arousing in +them a desire for further research. The entire series are +admirably adapted to this end, and are warmly recommended to +the attention of parents, teachers, and +librarians.—“<i>Era</i>,” <i>Philadelphia, Pa.</i></p></td> + +<td style="vertical-align: middle;"> +<div class="figright" style="width: 97px;"> +<img src="images/illus-341b.jpg" width="97" height="130" alt="Book: In the Days of Queen Victoria" title="" /> +</div></td></tr></table></div> + +<h3>LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO.</h3> + +<h4>BOSTON</h4></div> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<div class="centerbox7 bbox"> +<div class="centered"><table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="2" summary="adpage2first"> + +<tr><td style="vertical-align: middle;"><div class="figleft" style="width: 95px;"> +<img src="images/illus-342a.jpg" width="95" height="130" alt="Book: A Boy of a Thousand Years Ago" title="" /> +</div></td> + +<td><h2>A Boy of a Thousand Years Ago</h2> + +<p>By <span class="smcap">Harriet T. Comstock.</span> Large 12mo Profusely illustrated with +full-page drawings and chapter headings by <span class="smcap">George Varian</span> $1.00</p> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:30px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">I</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">t</span> will at once be understood that the “boy” of the story is Alfred +the Great in his youth, but it cannot be understood how delightful a +story this is until it is seen and read. The splendid pictures of +George Varian make this book superior among juveniles.</p></td></tr></table></div> + +<p class="open">“Not a boy lives who will not enjoy this book thoroughly. +There is a good deal of first-class historical information +woven into the story, but the best part of it is the +splendid impression of times and manners it gives in old +England a thousand years ago.”—<i>Louisville +Courier-Journal.</i></p> + +<p class="open">“Mrs. Comstock writes very appreciatively of Little Alfred, +who was afterward the Great, and from mighty meagre +materials creates a story that hangs together well. The +illustrations for this volume are especially +beautiful.”—<i>Boston Home Journal.</i></p> + +<p class="center"><b><span style="font-size: 150%;">The Story of Joan of Arc</span> FOR BOYS AND GIRLS</b></p> + +<div class="centered"><table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="2" summary="adpage2third"> +<tr><td><p>By <span class="smcap">Kate E. Carpenter</span> Illustrated by <span class="smcap">Amy Brooks</span>, also from paintings, +and with map Large 12mo Cloth $1.00</p> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:30px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">he</span> favorite story of Joan of Arc is here treated in a uniquely +attractive way. “Aunt Kate” tells the story of Joan of Arc to Master +Harold, aged 11, and to Misses Bessie and Marjorie, aged 10 and 8, +respectively, to their intense delight. They look up places on the +map, and have a fine time while hearing the thrilling story, told in +such simple language that they can readily understand it all. Parents +and teachers will also be greatly interested in this book from an +educational point of view.</p></td> + +<td style="vertical-align: middle;"><div class="figright" style="width: 96px;"> +<img src="images/illus-342b.jpg" width="96" height="130" alt="Book: The Story of Joan of Arc" title="" /> +</div></td></tr></table></div> + +<p class="open">“The tale is well told and the children will delight in +it.”—<i>Chicago Post.</i></p> + +<p class="open">“Told so simply and clearly that young readers cannot fail +to be entertained and instructed.”—<i>Congregationalist, +Boston.</i></p> + +<hr class="tiny" /> + +<p class="center">For sale by all booksellers or sent postpaid on receipt of price<br /> +by the publishers,</p> + +<p class="center"><b>LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON</b></p></div> + +<hr class="large" /> +<div class="centerbox7 bbox"> + +<h2>CHILDREN OF OTHER LANDS SERIES</h2> + +<p><span class="u" style="font-size: 120%;"><b>When I Was a Boy in Japan</b></span></p> + +<p class="center">By <span class="smcap">Sakae Shioya</span> Illustrated from photographs<br /> +12mo Cloth $.75</p> + +<div class="centered"><table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="0" summary="adpage3"> +<tr><td style="vertical-align: middle;"><div class="figleft" style="width: 98px;"> +<img src="images/illus-343.jpg" width="98" height="130" alt="" title="" /> +</div></td> + +<td><p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:30px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">he</span> author was born fifty miles from Tokio, and at the age of twelve +began the study of English at a Methodist school. Later he studied +Natural Science in the First Imperial College at Tokio, after which he +taught English and Mathematics. He came to America in 1901, received +the degree of Master of Arts at the University of Chicago, and took a +two years’ post-graduate course at Yale before returning to Japan. No +one could be better qualified to introduce the Japanese to those in +America, and he has done it in a way that will delight both children +and parents.</p></td></tr></table></div> + +<p><span class="u" style="font-size: 120%;"><b>When I Was a Girl in Italy</b></span></p> + +<p class="center">By <span class="smcap">Marietta Ambrosi</span> 12 mo Cloth Illustrated $.75</p> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:30px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">he</span> author, Marietta Ambrosi, was born in Tyrol, having an +American-born mother of Italian descent, and a Veronese father. Her +entire girlhood was spent in Brescia and other cities of Northern +Italy, and in early womanhood she came with her family to America. Her +story gives a most graphic account of the industries, social customs, +dress, pleasures, and religious observances of the Italian common +people.</p> + +<p><span class="u" style="font-size: 120%;"><b>When I Was a Boy in China</b></span></p> + +<p class="center">By <span class="smcap">Yan Phou Lee</span> 12mo Cloth Illustrated<br /> +from photographs $.75</p> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:30px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">N</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">ew</span> York Independent says: “Yan Phou Lee was one of the young men sent +to this country to be educated here, and finally matriculated at Yale, +where he graduated with honor. ‘When I was a Boy in China’ embodies +his recollections of his native country. It is certainly attractive, +with more room for nature to operate and play in freely than is +generally attributed to Chinese life.”</p> + +<hr class="full" /> +<p class="center"><i>For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt<br /> +of price by the publishers</i></p> + +<p class="center"><b>LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON</b></p></div> + +<hr class="large" /> +<div class="centerbox7 bbox2"> +<h2>ELBRIDGE S. BROOKS’S</h2> +<h2>Books for Young Americans</h2> + +<p><b>The True Story of Christopher Columbus</b>, called the Admiral. Revised +edition. New cover $1.50</p> + +<p class="open">“With its thorough historical research and its novelty of +treatment, it is the Columbus book of its time.”—<i>The +Interior</i>, Chicago.</p> + +<p><b>The True Story of George Washington</b>, called the Father of <i>His +Country</i>. 4to, cloth $1.50</p> + +<p class="open">“Although many excellent biographies of our first President have been +prepared for the young, we think that Mr. Brooks has presented the +best, and has sustained well if not added to his reputation gained by +his previous efforts in historical fields for young readers.”—<i>S. S. +Library Bulletin.</i></p> + +<p><b>The True Story of Abraham Lincoln</b>, the American. Fully illustrated, +4to, cloth $1.50</p> + +<p class="open">“His life reads like a romance, the best romance that ever +was printed, and Mr. Brooks has done an admirable work.... +The story of Lincoln was never more ably told.”—<i>Evening +Post</i>, Chicago.</p> + +<p><b>The True Story of U. S. Grant</b>, the American soldier. Fully +illustrated, 4to, cloth $1.50</p> + +<p class="open">“Carefully written in that style which makes Mr. Brooks so +popular a writer with his young readers.”—<i>The Pilgrim +Teacher.</i></p> + +<p><b>The True Story of Benjamin Franklin</b>, the American statesman. Profusely +illustrated, 4to $1.50</p> + +<p class="open">The only popular life of the great Franklin written from a human +standpoint for the boys and girls of America.</p> + +<p class="open">These seven books are now in wide and acceptable use in American +homes, schools, and libraries. They are real stories, true stories, +that interest young readers in and out of school, and imperceptibly +pave the way for their becoming students of America’s story and +readers of the bulkier books of American history and biography.</p> + +<p class="open">“An entertaining and instructive series.”—<i>Christian +Endeavor World.</i></p> + +<p><b>The True Story of Lafayette</b>, the friend of America. One vol., +illustrated, 4to $1.50</p> + +<p class="open">This volume, the seventh in the series of “Children’s Lives of Great +Men,” will appeal to all young Americans, and older ones as well, to +whom the name of Lafayette is ever dear. It is an absorbing, simply +told, and stirring story of a remarkable character in American +history, and is the “whole story” from the boyhood of the great +Frenchman to the close of his long, dramatic, and romantic career.</p></div> + +<hr class="large" /> +<div class="centerbox7 bbox2"> + +<h3>ELBRIDGE S. BROOKS’S BOOKS</h3> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p><b>The True Story of the United States of America.</b> Profusely illustrated, 4to, cloth $1.50</p> + +<p class="open">This is in every sense a companion volume to the series of “Children’s +Lives of Great Men.” It tells the true story of the beginnings, rise, +and development of the republic of the United States, without the +dreary array of dates or the dull succession of events that so often +make up history for the young. Its object is to tell the story of the +people of America,—to awaken an interest in motives as well as +persons, in principle rather than in battles, in the patriotism and +manliness that make a people rather than in the simply personal +qualities that make the leader or the individual. The book is very +largely used for supplementary reading in schools, and is accepted as +the most popular “story” of the United States yet told for young +people.</p> + +<p><b>The Story of Our War with Spain.</b> Told for young Americans. Profusely +illustrated, one vol., 8vo $1.50</p> + +<p class="open">An authentic, complete, up-to-date, and reliable account of the war +for Cuban liberation in 1898, prepared after a careful study of the +best and latest data. It is at once comprehensive, graphic, and +entertaining, and well sustains the reputation earned by this author’s +long list of interesting, instructive, and successful books for young +Americans.</p> + +<p><b>In Buff and Blue</b>: <span class="smcap">A Story of the American Revolution.</span> Illustrated by +Merrill, one vol., 8vo $1.50</p> + +<p class="open">This stirring story of the Revolution details the adventures of one of +Washington’s famous life-guards, who is a college mate of Alexander +Hamilton, and fights with him from Trenton to Yorktown. It deals with +school and camp in the “days that tried men’s souls” here in America, +and introduces such famous characters as Washington, Hamilton, +Lafayette, Arnold, André, and Wayne. A splendid book for boys and +girls.</p> + +<p><b>The Story of the American Indian.</b> Profusely illustrated, 4to, cloth +$1.50</p> + +<p class="open">The first and only complete and consecutive story of the red men of +America. It is sympathetic but not sentimental, practical but not +one-sided, picturesque but not romantic. A book for all Americans to +read.</p> + +<p><b>The Story of the American Sailor.</b> Illustrated, 4to, cloth $1.50</p> + +<p class="open">The only story of the American blue-jacket, whaler, fisherman, +merchantman, and foremast-hand, cabin boy, captain, commodore, and +admiral. A grand book for all lovers of heroism on the +sea,—especially American heroism.</p></div> + +<hr class="large" /> +<div class="centerbox7 bbox2"> + +<h3>ELBRIDGE S. BROOKS’S BOOKS</h3> + +<hr class="medium" /> + +<p><b>The Story of the American Soldier.</b> Illustrated, 4to, cloth $1.50</p> + +<p class="open">A stirring and graphic record of the American fighting man,—the +soldier who has secured peace through war,—from the days of +mound-builders and red Indians to those of Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, +and Miles.</p> + +<p><b>The Story of New York.</b> (<span class="smcap">Story of the States Series.</span>) Illustrated, 8vo, +cloth $1.50</p> + +<p class="open">This initial volume of the “Story of the States Series,” of which Mr. +Brooks is editor, is a story of the beginnings and development of the +Empire State, told in a delightful and attractive manner.</p> + +<p class="open">“More like a charming fireside legend, told by a grandfather +to eager children, than the dry and pompous chronicles +commonly labelled history.”—<i>Critic</i>, New York.</p> + +<p><b>Storied Holidays</b>: A Cycle of Red-Letter Days. Illustrated by Howard +Pyle, 12mo, cloth $1.50</p> + +<p class="open">A unique and charming collection of historical stories about the +world’s holidays, told by the author of “Historic Boys” and “Historic +Girls” Splendidly illustrated by Howard Pyle.</p> + +<p class="open">“A book for buying and keeping that the children, as they +grow up, and the parents, too, may dip into and +read.”—<i>Sunday School Times.</i></p> + +<p><b>The Boy Life of Napoleon</b>, afterwards Emperor of the French. Translated +and adapted for American children from the French of Madame Eugénie +Foa. Illustrated by Vesper L. George, and by numerous photographs. One +vol., square 8vo $1.25</p> + +<p class="open">“The style of the book is simple and graceful, and it has the merit of +historical accuracy, also of dramatic action. For those who wish their +boys and girls to study the life of the great Emperor of France, we +know of no better book than this.”—<i>Literary World</i>, Boston.</p> + +<p><b>In Leisler’s Times</b>: A Story of Knickerbocker New York, told for boys +and girls. Illustrated by W. T. Smedley, 12mo, cloth $1.50</p> + +<p class="open">A stirring, dramatic, and vivid historical tale, based on the +remarkable record of Jacob Leisler, earliest of American +patriots,—the first people’s governor of New York.</p> + +<p class="open">“A good boy’s book; manly, patriotic, and readable.”—<i>The +Independent.</i></p> + +<p><b>In No Man’s Land</b>: A Wonder Story. Illustrated by Childe Hassam, 12mo, +cloth $1.00</p> + +<p class="open">An “Alice in Wonderland” story about an American “Alice” whose name +was Ruthie, and who went to No Man’s Land in a street-car. Full of fun +and fancy. The children’s favorite wonder story.</p> + +<p class="open">“Sparkles all over with glee.... There is not a dull line in +it.”—<i>The Dial.</i></p></div> + +<hr class="large" /> +<div class="centerbox7 bbox"> + +<h2>W. O. STODDARD’S BOOKS</h2> + +<p class="center">12mo Cloth Price per volume, $1.25</p> + +<p><b>DAN MONROE: A Story of Bunker Hill</b> Illustrated by W. F. Kennedy</p> + +<p class="open">In this volume the hero is one whose name is found in several +trustworthy records as the drummer boy of the Lexington militia, his +closest friend, Nat Harrington, being the fifer. The Concord fight, +the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the arrival of Washington are +introduced as parts of a carefully preserved historical outline.</p> + +<p><b>LONG BRIDGE BOYS</b> Illustrated by I. B. Hazelton</p> + +<p class="open">It tells the story of an actual attempt made by the Confederates of +Virginia, just prior to the outbreak of the Civil War, to seize the +city of Washington by force of arms, and make prisoners of President +Lincoln and other high government officials.</p> + +<p><b>AHEAD OF THE ARMY</b> Illustrated by C. Chase Emerson</p> + +<p class="open">This is a lively narrative of the experiences of an American boy who +arrives in Mexico as the war with the United States is beginning.</p> + +<p ><b>THE ERRAND BOY OF ANDREW JACKSON: A War Story of 1812</b> Illustrated by +Will Crawford</p> + +<p class="open">This tale is of the War of 1812, and describes the events of the only +land campaign of 1812-1814 in which the Americans were entirely +successful.</p> + +<p><b>JACK MORGAN: A Boy of 1818</b> Illustrated by Will Crawford</p> + +<p class="open">It is the adventures of a boy of the frontier during the great fight +that Harrison made on land, and Perry on the lakes for the security of +the border.</p> + +<p><b>THE NOANK’S LOG: A Privateer of the Revolution</b> Illustrated by Will +Crawford</p> + +<p class="open">The further adventures of the plucky Guert Ten Eyck, as he fought King +George on land and sea.</p> + +<p><b>THE DESPATCH BOAT OF THE WHISTLE: A Story of Santiago</b> Illustrated by +Frank T. Merrill</p> + +<p class="open">A breezy story of a newspaper despatch boat, in the war with Spain.</p> + +<p><b>GUERT TEN EYCK</b> Illustrated by Frank T. Merrill</p> + +<p class="open">A hero story of real American girls and boys, in the American +Revolution.</p> + +<p><b>THE PARTNERS</b> Illustrated by Albert Scott Cox</p> + +<p class="open">A capital story of a bright, go-ahead country girl and two boys who +helped her keep store.</p> + +<p><b>CHUCK PURDY: A New York Boy</b> Illustrated</p> + +<p class="open">A delightful story of boy life in New York City.</p> + +<p><b>GID GRANGER: A Country Boy</b> Illustrated</p> + +<p class="open">A capital story of American life.</p> + +<hr class="tiny" /> + +<p class="center">For sale by all booksellers or sent postpaid on receipt of price by +the publishers.</p> + +<p class="center"><b>LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON</b></p></div> + +<hr class="large" /> +<div class="centerbox7 bbox2"> + +<h2>George Gary Eggleston’s Juveniles</h2> + +<p class="center"><span style="font-size: 120%;"><b>The Bale Marked Circle X</b></span><br /> +A Blockade Running Adventure</p> + +<p class="center">Illustrated by C. Chase Emerson. 12mo, red cloth, illustrated<br /> +cover, $1.50.</p> + +<p class="open">Another of Mr. Eggleston’s stirring books for youth. In it are told +the adventures of three boy soldiers in the Confederate Service who +are sent in a sloop on a secret voyage from Charleston to the Bahamas, +conveying a strange bale of cotton which holds important documents. +The boys pass through startling adventures: they run the blockade, +suffer shipwreck, and finally reach their destination after the +pluckiest kind of effort.</p> + +<p class="center"><span style="font-size: 120%;"><b>Camp Venture</b></span><br /> +Story of the Virginia Mountains</p> + +<p class="center">Illustrated by W. A. McCullough. 12mo, dark red cloth,<br /> +illustrated cover, $1.50.</p> + +<p class="open">The <i>Louisville Courier Journal</i> says: “George Gary Eggleston has +written a decidedly good tale of pluck and adventure in ‘Camp +Venture.’ It will be of interest to young and old who enjoy an +exciting story, but there is also a great deal of instruction and +information in the book.”</p> + +<p class="center"><span style="font-size: 120%;"><b>The Last of the Flatboats</b></span><br /> +A Story of the Mississippi</p> + +<p class="center">Illustrated by Charlotte Harding. 12mo, green cloth, illustrated<br /> +cover, $1.50.</p> + +<p class="open">The <i>Brooklyn Eagle</i> says: “Mr. George Gary Eggleston, the veteran +editor and author, has scored a double success in his new book, ‘The +Last of the Flatboats,’ which has just been published. Written +primarily as a story for young readers, it contains many things that +are of interest to older people. Altogether, it is a mighty good +story, and well worth reading.”</p> + +<p class="center"><b>Lothrop, Lee & Shepard Co., Boston</b></p></div> + +<hr class="large" /> +<div class="centerbox7 bbox"> + +<h2><i>YOUNG DEFENDER SERIES</i></h2> + +<p class="center">By ELBRIDGE S. BROOKS</p> + +<hr class="full" /> + +<div class="centered"><table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="0" summary="adpagelasttop"> + +<tr><td><p class="center"><b>IN DEFENCE OF THE FLAG</b></p> + +<p><b>A Boy’s Adventures in Spain and Cuba in the War of 1898</b></p> + +<p>Illustrated by <span class="smcap">W. F. Stecher</span> 12mo Cloth $1.25</p> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:30px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">A</span> story of action and adventure such as all healthy boys like, telling +of a plucky young American who defended his country’s flag against +mobs in Spain and foemen in Cuba, and had many thrilling experiences.</p></td> + +<td style="vertical-align: middle;"><div class="figright" style="width: 103px;"> +<img src="images/illus-349a.jpg" width="103" height="130" alt="Book: In Defence of the Flag" title="" /> +</div></td></tr></table></div> + +<p class="open">“Suffice it to say that he will be a lucky boy, with many a +thrill before him, who finds this book in his Christmas +stocking. Don is a hero after every boy’s heart.”—<i>Boston +Herald.</i></p> + +<p class="center"><b>WITH LAWTON AND ROBERTS</b></p> + +<p><b>A Boy’s Adventures in the Philippines and the Transvaal</b></p> + +<p>Illustrated by <span class="smcap">C. Chase Emerson</span> 12mo Cloth $1.25</p> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:30px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">he</span> stirring adventures of a manly American boy who follows Lawton in +his last campaigns, and by a singular train of circumstances has +“moving accidents by flood and field,” in two wars, with American +soldiers, Filipino insurrectos, Malay pirates, English troopers, and +Boer burghers.</p> + +<p class="open">“Mr. Brooks presents vivid pictures of both wars, so widely +separated. His pages are full of the swift-moving incidents +which boys love. Dull indeed must be the young reader whose +interest flags.”—<i>Boston Journal.</i></p> + +<div class="centered"><table border="0" width="100%" cellpadding="0" summary="adpagelasttop"> +<tr><td style="vertical-align: middle; padding-right: 1em;"><div class="left" style="width: 81px;"> +<img src="images/illus-349b.jpg" width="81" height="130" alt="Book: Under the Allied Flags" title="" /> +</div></td> + +<td><p class="center"><b>UNDER THE ALLIED FLAGS</b></p> + +<p><b>A Boy’s Adventures in China During the Boxer Revolt</b></p> + +<p>Illustrated by W. F. <span class="smcap">Stecher</span> 12mo Cloth $1.25</p> + +<p class="n"><span style="float:left;font-size:40px;line-height:30px;padding-top:2px;padding-bottom:1px;">T</span><span style="margin-left:0%;">he</span> stirring story of an American boy’s adventures in Tien Tsin and +Pekin, in the ranks of the International troops and as one of the +defenders of the beleaguered legations. Up-to-date, absorbing, and +full of healthy excitement. Characters who are in the stories “With +Lawton and Roberts” and “In Defence of the Flag” reappear in this +story.</p></td></tr></table></div> + +<p class="open">“Men and women, boys and girls, of all the mingled +nationalities that made this war in China so picturesque, +appear in the story and give it vigor, variety, and +unflagging interest.”—<i>Cleveland World.</i></p> + +<hr class="tiny" /> + +<p class="center">For sale by all booksellers or sent postpaid on receipt of price<br /> +by the publishers,</p> + +<p class="center"><b>LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON</b></p></div> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Footnotes:</span></h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> Crosby Hall was taken down in 1908, but is soon to be +re-erected in Chelsea, near the site of the home of Sir Thomas More.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> This has just recently been restored and presented to +Harvard College. The old house will in the future serve as a +rendezvous for visiting Americans.</p></div> + +<hr class="large" /> + +<h3><span class="smcap">Transcriber’s Note:</span></h3> + +<p>Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters’ errors; +otherwise, every effort has been made to remain true to the author’s +words and intent.</p> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of John and Betty's History Visit, by +Margaret Williamson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOHN AND BETTY'S HISTORY VISIT *** + +***** This file should be named 29517-h.htm or 29517-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/9/5/1/29517/ + +Produced by Mark C. 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Margaret Williamson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: John and Betty's History Visit + +Author: Margaret Williamson + +Release Date: July 27, 2009 [EBook #29517] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK JOHN AND BETTY'S HISTORY VISIT *** + + + + +Produced by Mark C. Orton, D Alexander, Linda McKeown and +the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at +https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + + +JOHN AND BETTY'S HISTORY VISIT + +BY + +MARGARET WILLIAMSON + +_ILLUSTRATED FROM PHOTOGRAPHS_ + +BOSTON LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO. + + + + +Published, March, 1910 + +COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO. + +_All rights reserved_ + +JOHN AND BETTY'S HISTORY VISIT + +Norwood Press + +BERWICK & SMITH CO. + +Norwood, Mass. + +U. S. A. + + + + +[Illustration: THEY SUDDENLY SAW THE TREMENDOUS CATHEDRAL LOOMING UP +BEFORE THEM.--_Page 70._] + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAPTER PAGE + + I. FIRST IMPRESSIONS 9 + + II. THE FIRST EVENING 15 + + III. WESTMINSTER ABBEY 20 + + IV. PENSHURST PLACE: THE HOME OF SIR PHILIP SIDNEY 37 + + V. THE TOWER OF LONDON 50 + + VI. ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL AND ITS VICINITY 65 + + VII. A SUNDAY NIGHT CHAT 83 + + VIII. WINDSOR CASTLE, STOKE POGES, AND ETON SCHOOL 94 + + IX. MORE ABOUT LONDON 107 + + X. RICHMOND AND HAMPTON COURT PALACE 122 + + XI. STRATFORD-ON-AVON 138 + + XII. A DAY IN WARWICKSHIRE 161 + + XIII. WARWICK AND KENILWORTH CASTLES 181 + + XIV. SHERWOOD FOREST AND HADDON HALL 203 + + XV. WINCHESTER, SALISBURY, AND STONEHENGE 222 + + XVI. CLOVELLY 238 + + XVII. ROCHESTER AND CANTERBURY 251 + + XVIII. GOOD-BY TO LONDON 273 + + INDEX 289 + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + + + THEY SUDDENLY SAW THE TREMENDOUS CATHEDRAL + LOOMING UP BEFORE THEM (_Page 70_) _Frontispiece_ + + FACING + PAGE + + "OH, WHAT'S THIS PLACE? I AM SURE I HAVE SEEN + PICTURES OF IT!" 12 + + "DO YOU REMEMBER THOSE QUAINT LITTLE VERSES + ABOUT 'BOW BELLS'?" 16 + + "I ONLY WISH I COULD BE A GUARD AND RIDE A HORSE + LIKE ONE OF THOSE!" 20 + + "THERE'S THE ABBEY RIGHT AHEAD OF US" 26 + + "WHAT'S THE USE OF HAVING SO MANY DOORS?" 40 + + "THIS SEEMS TO SPEAK OF PEACE, HAPPINESS, AND SAFETY" 44 + + "I WANT TO SEE WHO THOSE FELLOWS IN THE FUNNY + RED UNIFORMS ARE" 50 + + "THE KING CANNOT PROCEED INTO THE 'CITY' WITHOUT + BEING FIRST RECEIVED AT TEMPLE BAR BY THE + LORD MAYOR" 68 + + "I'D FEEL LIKE 'LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY' GOING + AROUND WITH THOSE CLOTHES ON!" 84 + + "YOU REMEMBER, DON'T YOU, HAVING THE GUIDE POINT + OUT LONDON BRIDGE?" 88 + + THE MOSS-GROWN SAXON PORCH 96 + + JOHN MILTON LIVED THERE AFTER HE FLED FROM LONDON 106 + + "OH, HERE'S THE OLD CORONATION CHAIR, ISN'T IT?" 114 + + "EVERY TIME I VISIT THIS PALACE I MARVEL AT THE + AMOUNT OF HISTORY WITH WHICH IT IS CONNECTED" 136 + + "WHY, I DIDN'T SUPPOSE IT WAS AS BIG AS THAT!" 140 + + "DID ANNE TRULY LIVE HERE?" 164 + + "THEY KNOW HOW IMPORTANT THEY ARE, AND THAT + THIS GARDEN WOULDN'T BE COMPLETE WITHOUT + THEM" 184 + + "IT STILL SEEMS ALIVE WITH MEMORIES OF THE FAIR + DOROTHY VERNON" 218 + + "THERE STILL REMAINS THE QUESTION OF HOW THESE + TREMENDOUS STONES WERE BROUGHT HERE" 236 + + ONE OF PLASTER AND THATCH, OVERGROWN WITH ROSES 240 + + "YOU'LL FIND NOTHING AT ALL LIKE THIS STRANGE + LITTLE CLOVELLY" 250 + + "WILLIAM OF SENS, IN 1184, FINISHED THE BUILDING + WHICH WE NOW SEE" 264 + + OLD GENTLEMEN, STOUT LADIES, YOUNG PEOPLE, AND + SMALL CHILDREN, ALL RIDE IN ENGLAND 286 + + + + +JOHN AND BETTY'S HISTORY VISIT + + + + +CHAPTER ONE + +FIRST IMPRESSIONS + + +Two eager young Americans sat, one on each side of the window of an +English train, speeding towards London. They had landed only that +morning, and everything seemed very strange to them, as they watched +the pretty scenes from the car-window. The lady who had met them at +the steamer, was an old friend of the family, who had often been to +America, and was well known to the children, though they had never +seen her son and daughter, whom they had come to visit. Mrs. Pitt soon +aroused them by saying:-- + +"Come, John, we are almost there, so please fetch down Betty's wraps +from the rack. Here are your umbrellas; you may take Betty's bag and +I'll take yours. Yes, it is really England, and soon we'll be in +London, where Philip and Barbara are very impatiently waiting to meet +the American friends with whom they have been exchanging letters for +so long. They have been studying history hard, and have learned all +they possibly could about their own country, which they love, and want +you to know, too. They have never seen very much of England, and this +is an excellent chance for them to do some sight-seeing with you. I +think you'll have a jolly time seeing all the strange sights and +customs, and visiting some historic places. Now, you must not expect +to find Philip and Barbara just like your friends at home; English +children dress very differently, and may use some expressions which +you do not exactly understand, but you'll soon become accustomed to +them all. Here we are at Waterloo Station." + +As the guard swung open the door, two impatient young people hurried +up to the party. + +"Here we are, Mother; did they come?" + +John and Betty shyly shook hands with their English friends, but did +not find anything to say, just at first. Mrs. Pitt went to the +luggage-van, to find the children's trunks, and the others followed. + +"Aren't the trains funny, John?" said Betty, nervously holding her +brother's hand. + +"See, this is the baggage part of the car, but isn't it small!" + +"Oh, there are several on each train," explained Philip. "Are your +vans any bigger?" + +"There are our trunks, Mrs. Pitt," called John. "I know them by the +C's we pasted on the ends." + +"Here, porter, put this luggage on a four-wheeler, please," and Mrs. +Pitt and her charges crowded in, the luggage was piled on top, and +they drove away. + +"Do you think you will like London?" asked Barbara of Betty, rather +anxiously. + +Betty ventured to answer, "Oh, I think so, only it is very different +from New York." + +It certainly was! Great, top-heavy buses swung and lurched past them, +some of them drawn by splendid horses, but still more with motors. The +outsides of the vehicles were covered with all sorts of gay +advertisements and signs, in bright and vivid colors; in this way, and +in their tremendous numbers, they differ from the New York buses on +Fifth Avenue. + +"To-night, we will take you out for a ride on top of a bus if you +like, John," said Philip. + +John, losing his shyness, began to ask questions, and to give his +opinion of the things he saw. + +"I think the buses are great! I shall always choose that seat just +behind the driver, where I can talk to him. He must have fine stories +to tell, doesn't he, Philip? I like the hansoms, too. There really +seem to be more hansoms than anything else in London! Just look, +Betty, at that long row there in the middle of the street! I suppose +they are waiting for passengers. And there's a line of 'taxis,' too. +My, but these streets are crowded! Fifth Avenue isn't in it!" + +Philip and Barbara looked at each other and smiled. All the sights +which were so familiar to them, seemed very novel to their American +visitors. + +"I suppose it would be just the same to us, if we were to visit New +York," said Barbara. "Those bus-horses, which you admire, do look very +fine at first, but the work is so hard on them, that they only last a +very short time. Their days are about over now, for soon we shall have +only the motor-buses." + +[Illustration: "OH, WHAT'S THIS PLACE? I AM SURE I HAVE SEEN PICTURES +OF IT!"--_Page 12_.] + +"Oh, what's this place?" cried John excitedly. "I am sure I have seen +pictures of it! Why, Philip, I think you once sent me some +post-cards which showed this!" + +"Oh, yes, this is Trafalgar Square," broke in Mrs. Pitt. "People +sometimes call it the center of all London. Here is the celebrated +statue of Lord Nelson--here, in the middle; see all the flower-girls, +with their baskets, around its foot. That large building, with the +pillars, is the National Gallery, where I may take you to see the +pictures. The church near it they call St. Martin's-in-the-Fields. +Yes, it doesn't seem a very appropriate name now, but once it really +was 'in the fields,' it has stood here so long. Do you notice all the +streets leading out from this great square? That way is the direction +of the Strand and Fleet Street; Westminster Abbey is not far away; and +you can see the towers of the Houses of Parliament--just there. You +will soon grow more familiar with all this. Now, we must go this way, +and before long, we shall be at home. I think you'll be glad to rest +after your tiresome journey. This is Regent Street, where many of the +shops are. Aren't they attractive?" + +"Yes," said John, "but how very low the buildings are! As far as I can +see they are all of the same height. They are almost all yellow, too, +and with the bright buses the scene is very gay." + +They rode along for some time, the silence being often broken by +exclamations and questions. John and Betty could not understand how +people avoided being run over when they all dashed across the street, +right under the very noses of the horses. It was amusing to see people +stumbling up the narrow, winding stairs of the buses, as they jolted +along, and even the signs over the shops attracted some attention. +They wondered if the King and Queen could shop in them all, for so +many bore the words, "Jewelers to T. R. M.," or "Stationers to Their +Royal Majesties." London seemed very large to them on this first +drive--very strange and foreign, and they were glad when the cab drew +up before a big house in a spacious square, and the rest cried, "Here +we are at home!" + + + + +CHAPTER TWO + +THE FIRST EVENING + + +The big library at Mrs. Pitt's home was a fascinating place, the two +visitors thought. The ceiling was high, the wainscoting was of dark +wood, and the walls were almost entirely lined with book-cases. John +was delighted with some little steps, which you could push around and +climb up on to reach the highest shelves. This room suggested great +possibilities to both the young visitors, for, as they were to stay +many months, there would certainly be days when it would be too wet to +go out, and they could by no means entirely give up their reading. + +As they had felt rather chilly on their bus-ride that evening, the +four young people all came into the library upon their return, and +drew their chairs up to the tiny grate. Betty and John had greatly +enjoyed this new experience, for they had been truly English. Having +jumped aboard while the bus was moving slowly, near the curb, they +had scrambled up the little steps and taken the seats behind the +driver. They had not noticed much about where they were going, for it +had all seemed a jumble of many lights, crowds of people, and noise. +But John had slipped a coin into the driver's hand, and there had been +a steady stream of stories from that moment. London bus-drivers have +plenty to tell, and are not at all loath to tell it--especially after +the encouragement of a tip. John was delighted to hear about the time, +one foggy Christmas Eve, when his friend had "sat for four hours, sir, +without daring to stir, at 'Yde Park Corner." John envied him the +splendid moment when the fog had finally lifted and disclosed the +great mass of traffic, which had been blinded and stalled for so long. + +As John stood in front of the fire thinking it all over, he suddenly +exclaimed, "It was fun to hear that driver drop his h's; that was real +Cockney for you!" + +Betty looked puzzled for a moment, and then said, "Wasn't it supposed +that only people who had been born within the sound of the bells of +old Bow Church could be real Cockneys?" + +[Illustration: "DO YOU REMEMBER THOSE QUAINT LITTLE VERSES ABOUT BOW +BELLS?"--_Page 17._] + +"That's right, Betty; your history is good," said Mrs. Pitt, who had +just entered; "but John, I must tell you that dropping h's is not +necessarily Cockney. The peculiar pronunciation of vowels is what +characterizes a true Cockney's speech, but many others drop h's--the +people of Shropshire for instance. + +"Do you children remember those quaint little verses about Bow Bells?" +continued Mrs. Pitt. "In the days when Dick Whittington was a boy, and +worked at his trade in London, it was the custom to ring Bow Bells as +the signal for the end of the day's work, at eight o'clock in the +evening. One time, the boys found that the clerk was ringing the bells +too late, and indignant at such a thing, they sent the following +verses to him: + + "'Clerke of the Bow Bells, + With the yellow lockes, + For thy late ringing, + Thou shalt have knockes.' + +"The frightened man hastened to send this answer to the boys: + + "'Children of Chepe, + Hold you all stille, + For you shall have Bow Bells + Rung at your wille.'" + +"That was bright of them," commented John, as he rose to take off his +coat. + +Philip and Barbara had long since thrown off their wraps and pulled +their chairs away from the fire, saying how warm they were. Even after +John had dispensed with his coat, Betty sat just as near the tiny +blaze as she could, with her coat still closely buttoned. + +"No, thanks; I want to get warm," she answered, when they spoke of it. +"It seems to me that it's very cold here. Don't you ever have bigger +fires?" + +As Betty spoke, the little blaze flickered and almost went out. + +"I'll shut the window," said Philip. "I remember, now, how cold +Americans always are over here. Mother has told us how frightfully hot +you keep your houses. We don't like that, for we never feel the cold. +Why, just to show you how accustomed to it we English are, let me tell +you what I read the other day. At Oxford University, up to the time of +King Henry VIII, no fires were permitted. Just before going to bed the +poor boys used to go out and run a certain distance, to warm +themselves. Even I shouldn't care for that!" + +"Let's make some plans for to-morrow," exclaimed Mrs. Pitt. "What +should you like to see first, Betty?" + +"I want to go somewhere on a bus!" was John's prompt answer, at which +everybody laughed except Betty. + +"Oh, yes, but let's go to Westminster Abbey just as soon as possible, +John. I've always wanted so much to see it, that I don't believe I can +wait now. Think of all the great people who have been associated with +it," said Betty very earnestly. + +"Very well, I quite agree on taking you first to the Abbey," said Mrs. +Pitt. "It is a place of which I could never tire, myself. And strange +to say, I very seldom, if ever, get time to go there, except when I'm +showing it to strangers. Why! It's twenty-five minutes past nine this +very minute, children; you must go to bed at once!" + + + + +CHAPTER THREE + +WESTMINSTER ABBEY + + +The first thing that Betty heard the following morning was a gentle +knock upon her bedroom door, and a voice saying, "It's seven o'clock, +and will you have some sticks, Miss?" + +"What sticks? What for?" Betty asked sleepily. + +They were for a fire, it seemed, and Betty welcomed the idea. She was +soon dressed, and Barbara came to show her the way to the +breakfast-room. + +"You can't think how good it does seem not to be thrown about while +dressing, as we were on the steamer! Do you know that I can't help +stepping up high over the door-sills even yet!" laughed Betty, as they +went downstairs together. "Mrs. Moore, the friend of mother's in whose +care we came, you know, told me that I should probably feel the motion +for some time after landing." + +[Illustration: "I ONLY WISH I COULD BE A GUARD AND RIDE A HORSE LIKE +ONE OF THOSE!"--_Page 21._] + +To the surprise of John and Betty, there was a very hearty breakfast +awaiting them. They had expected the meager tea, toast, and jam, which +some Americans consider to be customary in English homes, because it +is encountered in the hotels. + +Early in the morning, the buses were even more crowded than the night +before, and they had some difficulty in finding seats. John placed +himself beside a soldier dressed in a scarlet coat and funny little +round cap held on sidewise by a strap across his chin, with every +intention of starting up a conversation with him; but one glance at +his superior air discouraged the boy from any such attempt. When they +arrived at Trafalgar Square again, they jumped off, and walked down +towards the towers of the Houses of Parliament. In front of the Horse +Guards they stood in admiration of the two mounted sentries, stationed +there. + +"Those black horses are great!" cried John. "How fine those fellows do +look sitting there like statues in their scarlet uniforms, and their +shiny helmets with the flying tails to them! I only wish I could be a +Guard, and ride a horse like one of those!" + +"Would you rather be a Horse Guard, or a bus-driver, John?" asked +Betty teasingly. + +"Sometimes you see dozens of the Guards together; that's a fine +sight!" said Barbara, after the laugh had subsided. "They escort the +King when he goes out in state. Oh, you'll see them often." + +That comforted John somewhat, but he could not resist turning around +for several glances towards the gateway where the Guards were. + +"Why do they always stand there?" he questioned. + +Mrs. Pitt explained that they were organized by Charles II, who needed +all possible protection to enable him to hold the throne after his +exile in foreign lands. After the days of Cromwell, times were very +unsettled, and many disturbances were likely to occur. Hence the duty +of these Guards was probably to keep the peace (the 'prentices and +common people were very hot-headed), and to escort the King, as they +still do. + +"Perhaps," she went on, "you don't understand who the 'prentices were. +Long ago it was the custom to apprentice boys to one of the great and +powerful guilds or companies. These were organizations of many +merchants belonging to the same trade; such as shipbuilders, +carpenters, candle-makers, and so forth. Their main object was to see +that the work which was turned out was good. Every man belonged to his +guild; some were for 'common and middling folks,' while kings and +princes were members of others. A great deal of good was done by these +companies, for each, besides aiding and protecting its own members, +usually had some other charity. For instance, the guild at Lincoln fed +yearly as many poor as there were members of the guild; and another +kept a sort of inn for the shelter of poor travelers. The guilds +played an important part in the life of the time. Well, as I was +saying, when a boy had chosen the trade which was to his taste, he +went to the city, and was apprenticed to a member of one of the +guilds, with whom he usually lived. The boys were called 'prentices. +Their life was not an easy one, and yet, it seems to me that they must +have enjoyed it. In those days, there were great tournaments and grand +processions of kings, with hundreds of servants and followers, all +splendidly dressed in brilliant colors. Men wore magnificent clothes +of silks and velvets and cloth-of-gold, with costly jewels, such as +ropes of pearls; and their servants, whose duty it was to go before +their masters on the street, wore suits of livery with the silver +badge of their master. London in those days was a wonderfully busy +place! On board the ships sailing up the river were men in strange +costumes, from foreign lands. The 'prentices would often stop work to +watch a company of Portuguese sailors pass, or a gorgeous procession +of bishops with their retainers; and from this little verse we know +that they did not always return very quickly to their duties. Do you +know this? + + "'When ther any ridings were in Chepe, + Out of the shoppe thider would he lepe; + And till that he had all the sight ysein, + And danced well, he would not come again.' + +"There were always processions, too, in winter as well as in summer, +for the people seemed not to mind rain or storm in the least. The boys +had many holidays,--there were frequent pageants, feasts, and +celebrations of all kinds,--and on the whole, I think they must have +been very happy in spite of the long hours of work, don't you? +Another curious custom was the keeping of cudgels in every shop for +the use of the 'prentices, in case of a fight--and I imagine that they +were numerous. Now, come close to me, children, while we cross this +street; there's the Abbey right ahead of us." + +As they entered the north transept of Westminster Abbey, the dim +light, in contrast to the sunshine outside, was almost blinding. At +first, all was indistinct except the great rose-window, in the +opposite transept, through which the light strayed in many colors. The +morning service was in progress, so they sat down near the door, and +listened and looked. How beautiful!--how tremendous it all was! Even +John's overflowing spirits were quieted, it was so wonderfully +impressive! The rose-window still stood out clearly against the deep +shadows all about it, but a faint light could now be seen coming in +through the little windows, high up near the roof,--the clerestory +windows, they are called. Betty could see the massive roof, the long +aisles crowded with marble monuments, and the pillars. The canon's +voice was heard intoning in a deep, monotonous key; reading followed, +and then some one sang, in a high, clear voice, which seemed to come +from far away, and yet to fill all the space of the great building. +Betty could not have spoken a word; she was filled with a kind of +wondering awe such as she had never known before. + +John, more matter-of-fact, was examining the statues nearest to him. + +He touched Betty's arm to attract her attention, and said, "See, there +are lots of statues here, Betty, but I only know the names of William +Pitt and Benjamin Disraeli, 'Twice Prime-Minister.' Do you remember +him? Wonder if William Pitt was an ancestor of our Mrs. Pitt!" he +rambled on, not seeing that his sister took no notice of him. + +As for Betty, she scarcely knew that any one had spoken to her. She +seemed to be back in the Middle Ages, and the present had vanished +away. + +When the service was ended, they walked about, examining the monuments +as they went. + +[Illustration: "THERE'S THE ABBEY RIGHT AHEAD OF US."--_Page 25._] + +"This long, broad aisle extending from the main entrance to the choir +is called the nave," explained Mrs. Pitt. "The shorter aisles which +form the crossing are the transepts, and the choir is always the +eastern end of the building, containing the altar. These are facts +which you will want to learn and remember." + +"The kings and queens are all buried here, aren't they, Mrs. Pitt?" +questioned John. "Will they put King Edward here, too, when he dies?" + +"A great many kings and queens are buried here, though not all," Mrs. +Pitt told them. "The Royal Tombs are there, behind those gates, in the +chapels which surround the choir. We can't go in there unless we take +a guide, and I thought we would wait for another day to visit the +lovely chapel of Henry VII and all the famous tombs. I don't want you +to see too much at one time. No, John, King Edward probably will not +be buried here. Queen Victoria, his mother, lies at a place called +Frogmore, near Windsor, and it is likely that her son will choose that +spot, also. Here's the Poets' Corner, and there is at least one face +which I'm sure you will be glad to see. This is it." + +As she spoke, the party stopped in front of the well-known bust of our +poet, Longfellow, which I suppose every American is proud to see. + +"So they read 'Hiawatha,' even in England," Betty remarked. + +"There are tablets all over the floor, under our feet! Look, I'm +standing on Dickens' grave this very minute! And there's 'Oh, Rare Ben +Jonson,' right there on the wall; I've always heard of that. And +here's Spenser, and Chaucer, and Browning, and Tennyson, very close +together. Oh! It's dreadful! I don't want to step on them! Why, +everybody who ever was anybody seems to be here!" gasped John, +forgetting his grammar in his interest. + +"Here are busts of Scott (there's the man for me!), and Burns, +Goldsmith, and Coleridge; I know all these names. Here's a statue of +Shakespeare, though of course he isn't buried here. There's a tablet +to Jenny Lind. Wasn't she a singer? Seems to me I've heard my grandpa +speak of her. And, if here isn't Thackeray's grave--there in the floor +again! Well! Well!" + +"Come over here, John, and see this," called Philip, pointing to a +tomb on which was this inscription: + + Thomas Parr of ye county of Salop, born A.D. 1483. He lived + in the reignes of ten princes, viz.--King Edward IV, King + Edward V, King Richard III, King Henry VII, King Henry VIII, + King Edward VI, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth, King James, and + King Charles; aged 152 years, and was buryed here, 1635. + +"Well, that beats them all!" laughed John, who was greatly pleased. + +Mrs. Pitt now led the rest into the little chapel of St. Faith, off +the south transept, where they sat down to rest. + +"It's the most wonderful place I ever dreamed of!" said Betty quietly, +as though she were talking to herself. "This little chapel is the +quaintest, oldest thing I ever saw! The walls are so dark; that tiny +window up so high, hardly lets in any light at all; and the altar, +with the faded picture, is so strange! I can't believe it is the +twentieth century; the people in the Abbey now don't seem real to me +at all. They look so small and shadowy beside the huge statues of +people of other days! Surely the people the statues represent belong +here, and not we! Why, I feel so far back in history that I shouldn't +be in the least surprised to see Raleigh, or Chaucer, or Queen +Elizabeth, walk into this chapel, right now! I should probably go up +and say 'How do you do?'" she added laughingly. + +Betty did not know that any one had heard her talking, but Mrs. Pitt +had been listening, and when Betty was silent, she said: + +"Come, let's go out into the sunshine of the cloisters now. I am +really afraid to have Betty stay in here any longer! The first thing +we know, she'll be disappearing into the Middle Ages! She's almost +there now!" + +As they went through the low door into the cloisters, she continued, +"I want to explain to you children, that in connection with this +Abbey, as with all, there was for centuries a great monastery; and +that the buildings which we shall see, as well as the cloisters, had +to do with the monks. Henry VIII dissolved all the monasteries in +England, you remember." + +The ancient cloisters of Westminster Abbey are deeply interesting and +impressive. They are four arcades built around the square grass-plot, +which was the monks' burial-ground. The fine tracery of the windows is +now much broken, and is crumbling away with age, but its exquisite +carving is still plainly seen. The original pavement yet remains; it +is much worn by the feet of the monks, and is almost covered by +tablets which mark the resting-places of the abbots, as well as of +others. The members of our party were touched, as are all, by the +pathetic simplicity of the epitaph: "Jane Lister, Dear Childe, 1688." +Those four short words suggest a sad story about which one would like +to learn more. + +"You must know," said Mrs. Pitt, "that the cloisters were something +besides burial-places. Here the monks spent most of their time, for +this was the center of the life of the monastery. The southern +cloister, over opposite, was the lavatory, and there the monks were +forced to have their heads shaved,--every two weeks in summer, and +every three in winter. These walls were then painted with frescoes, +the floor and benches were covered with rushes or straw, the windows +were partly glazed, and lamps hung from the ceiling. In one of the +cloisters was held a class of novices, taught by a master, and this +was the beginning of Westminster School. I believe the pupils were +allowed to speak only French. How would you like that?" + +Adjoining the cloisters are numerous little passageways, with low +arches, which lead into tiny courts dotted with flowers and little +fountains. In the houses about, live the canons of the Abbey and +others connected with the church. Lovely glimpses of sunlight and the +bright colors of flowers are seen at the ends of these dark, ancient +passages. + +Westminster School may also be reached from the cloisters. Our party +stood a moment in the doorway of the schoolroom to see the splendid +old hall, with its fine oaken roof. This was once the dormitory of the +monks, but is now taken up with the boys' "forms," or desks, piled +with books. The walls above the wainscoting, and the window-recesses, +are covered with signatures of the scholars,--some of them famous, for +the school was begun as long ago as the time of Henry VIII, who was +the founder. The visitor may see the name of the poet, Dryden, on one +of the desks; he was a pupil there, as were also Sir Christopher Wren, +the architect; Ben Jonson; Southey, the poet; and John and Charles +Wesley. + +"What is that iron bar for?" questioned the curious John, pointing to +a long bar which stretches from wall to wall, across the middle of the +room. + +"That divides the Upper and Lower Classes," was the prompt reply of +Mrs. Pitt, whose stock of knowledge seemed endless. "At one time, a +curtain was hung over that bar. Don't you know the story which is told +in the 'Spectator Papers,' about the boy who accidentally tore a hole +in this curtain? He was a timid little fellow, and was terrified at +the thought of the punishment which he felt sure would be his. One of +his classmates came to the rescue, saying that he would take the blame +upon himself, which he did. It was years later, when the timid boy had +become a great judge, that the Civil War broke out, and he and his +friend took opposite sides. The kind man who had saved his friend from +punishment was a Royalist, and was captured and imprisoned at Exeter, +where the other man happened to come at the same time, with the +Circuit Court. At the moment when nothing remained but to sentence the +'rebels,' the judge recognized his friend, and by making a very +hurried trip to London, he was able to secure a pardon from Cromwell, +and thus succeeded in saving the man's life." + +"That was fine!" said John. "He did pay him back after all, didn't +he? I thought he wasn't going to." + +"Now, we will just look into the Chapter House and the old Jerusalem +Chamber, before we go," said Mrs. Pitt, as they left the school. + +The Chapter House is a beautiful, eight-sided room, dating from the +thirteenth century. Here the business of the monastery was always +conducted, and at the meetings which came every week, the monks were +allowed to speak freely, and to make complaints, if they wished. Here +also the monks were punished. + +"They used to whip them against that central pillar, there," the guard +explained. "Here sat the abbot, opposite the door, and the monks sat +on benches ranged around the room. Parliament met here for many years, +too, its last session in this room being on the day that the great +King Hal died." + +The Chapter House has been restored now, and the windows are of modern +stained-glass. In the cases are preserved some valuable documents, the +oldest being a grant of land, made by King Offa, in 785. + +To reach the Jerusalem Chamber, it is necessary to go through a part +of the cloisters, and into the court of the Deanery. On one side is +the old abbot's refectory, or dining-hall, where the Westminster +school-boys now dine. John went boldly up the steps and entered. After +a few minutes, he came running out again, exclaiming: + +"Nobody stopped me, so I went right in, and looked around. A maid was +setting the tables, and I noticed that she stared at me, but she +didn't say anything, so I stayed. The hall is great! It isn't very +large, but is paneled and hung with portraits. The old tables, a +notice says, are made from wood taken from one of the vessels of the +Spanish Armada. Wonder how they found it and brought it here! I was +just going to ask the maid, when a savage-looking man appeared and +said I had no business there. So I came away. I don't care; I saw it, +anyway!" he added, as they approached the entrance of the Jerusalem +Chamber. + +All three sides of this little court were the abbot's lodgings, and +are now the deanery. The Jerusalem Chamber was built about 1376, as a +guest-chamber for the abbot's house. + +"The name is curious, isn't it?" remarked Mrs. Pitt. "It probably came +from some tapestries which formerly hung there, representing the +history of Jerusalem. It was in this room, right here in front of the +fireplace, according to tradition, that Henry IV died. A strange dream +had told the King that he would die in Jerusalem, and he was actually +preparing for the journey there, when he was taken very ill, and they +carried him into this room. When he asked where they had brought him, +and the reply was, 'To the Jerusalem Chamber,' he died satisfied. Many +bodies have lain here in state, too,--among them, that of Joseph +Addison, whom they afterwards buried in the Abbey. When we come again, +I will show you his grave. Now, notice the bits of ancient +stained-glass in the windows, and the cedar paneling; except for that, +there is nothing specially noteworthy here." + +As they left the Dean's Yard and crossed the open space in front of +the great western towers of the Abbey, John and Betty agreed that if +they could see nothing more in England, they were already repaid for +their long journey across the ocean. + + + + +CHAPTER FOUR + +PENSHURST PLACE: THE HOME OF SIR PHILIP SIDNEY + + +In Charing Cross Station one morning, Mrs. Pitt hurried up to the +"booking-office," as the English call the ticket-office, to "book" +five tickets to Penshurst. While the man was getting her change, she +turned and said to Philip:-- + +"Please ask that guard who is standing there, on which platform we +shall find the 9.40 train for Penshurst." + +Philip did so, and returned with the information that they should go +to Platform 8. So they all mounted the steps and walked over the +foot-bridge which always runs across and above all the tracks, in an +English station. There was a bench on the platform, and they sat down +to await the arrival of the train. About 9.35, five minutes before the +train was to start, John happened to see a train official sauntering +by, and asked him if it was correct that the Penshurst train left from +that platform. + +The man stared. "Really, you are quite mistaken," he drawled; "that +train leaves from Platform 2. You had better hurry, you know; you +haven't much time." + +John waited for nothing more, but ran to tell the rest, and they all +started for the other end of the station. Up the steep steps again ran +Mrs. Pitt, with the four young people following. Along the bridge they +flew till they reached Platform 2, and then they almost fell down the +steps in their hurry, for the train was already there. + +When they were fairly seated in a third-class carriage, John, still +out of breath, exclaimed:-- + +"Whew! My! I never ran faster in my life, did you, Philip? How the +girls kept up, I don't know! You're a first-class sprinter all right, +Mrs. Pitt! We'd like you on our football team, at home! My, but I'm +hot!" + +He paused for breath, and then went on excitedly: + +"There was a close call for you! We'd have lost it if I hadn't spoken +to that guard, just in fun! There we were calmly waiting, and all of a +sudden, we took that wild dash across the bridge! It was great! I +hope somebody caught a photograph of us! I'd like to see one! How +stupid of the guard to make that mistake! They never seem to know very +much, anyway. If I ever am a guard, I shall be different; I shall know +things!" + +They all had a good laugh over the adventure, and Mrs. Pitt assured +John that when he was a guard, they would all promise to use his +station. + +"Don't these trains seem different from ours, Betty?" the future guard +asked of his sister. "It seems so queer to me why they want to take a +perfectly good, long car, and chop it up from side to side, into +little narrow rooms, like this! What's the use of having so many +doors?--one on each side of every 'compartment'! And then, they put +handles only on the outside, so you have to let down the window and +lean away out to open it for yourself, if the guard doesn't happen to +do it for you! We Americans couldn't waste so much time!" + +Just then, Betty, who could contain herself no longer, burst out +laughing. + +"Why, what in the world's the matter?" cried Barbara. + +Betty could only point to a passing train. "It's only the funny +little freight cars!" she finally explained, rather ashamed that she +had let her feelings escape in that way. "They look so silly to us! +They seem about a third the size of the ones at home. Really, these +remind me of a picture in my history-book, of the first train ever run +in America!" + +Mrs. Pitt smiled. "Yes, I can imagine just how strange they must seem +to you, for I remember very well how I felt the first time I ever rode +in one of your trains. To me, one of the most interesting things about +visiting a foreign country, is to see the different modes of travel." + +"Oh, please understand that I think so, too!" urged Betty. "It was +only that I couldn't help laughing just at first, you see. I wouldn't +have your trains just like ours for anything, and I'm sure that John +wouldn't either." + +[Illustration: "WHAT'S THE USE OF HAVING SO MANY DOORS?"--_Page 39._] + +"Now," said Mrs. Pitt, "there is a little confession which I feel that +I ought to make. It's about where we are going to-day. Probably most +people would blame me for not taking you to Windsor or Hampton Court, +on your first trip out of town. Both those places are charming, but +I wanted to show you, first of all, this dear little corner of Kent. +All tourists flock to Windsor and Hampton Court, but a great many do +not know about this tiny, out-of-the-way village, with which I fell in +love years ago. Penshurst Place was the home of Sir Philip Sidney, and +is still owned by a member of the same family. You know that Sir +Philip lived in Queen Elizabeth's time, and that his name stands for +the model of a perfect courtier and ideal gentleman. He died when he +was very young--only thirty-two, I think--and he did very little which +you would suppose could have made him so famous. That is, it was +little in comparison with what Raleigh and Drake accomplished, and yet +the name of Sidney ranks with all the rest. It seems to have been more +in the way he did things, than in what he did. Of course, you remember +the story of his death,--that when he was dying, he passed a cup of +water which was brought him, to another dying soldier, saying, 'Thy +need is greater than mine.' Well, to-day we shall see where he was +born and bred,--where Ben Jonson, Edmund Spenser, and Queen Elizabeth +all visited." + +They were now riding through Kent, in which county is some of the most +picturesque English scenery. Although it was only the last of April, +the grass was the freshest green, the great trees were in full leaf, +and primroses were beginning to spring up in the fields. They sped +through little villages of thatched-roofed cottages, each with its +tiny garden of gay flowers. There were little crooked lanes, bordered +by high hedges, and wide, shady roads, with tall, stately elms on +either side, and fields where sheep grazed. + +"Oh, there's a cottage which looks like Anne Hathaway's!" exclaimed +Betty. "It couldn't be, could it? Anyway, it's real story-book +country!" + +They left the train at the little station of Penshurst, two miles from +the village. Behind the building stood a queer, side-seated wagon, +with one stout horse. The driver, when Philip found him, seemed loath +to bestir himself, but was finally persuaded to drive them to the +castle. + +Penshurst village proved to be even prettier than those they had seen +from the train. The Lord of Penshurst Place is a very wise, +appreciative man, and he has made a rule that when any cottage in the +village is found to be beyond repair, it shall be replaced by a new +house exactly like the original. In consequence, the houses look +equally old and equally attractive, with their roofs of grayish +thatch, and the second stories leaning protectingly over the lower +windows, overgrown with rose-vines. + +Mrs. Pitt went into the tiny post-office to buy their tickets of +admission to the castle, and when she called out that there were also +pretty post-cards to be had, the others quickly followed. Having +chosen their cards, they all walked through the little church-yard, +with its ancient yew trees, and out into a field from which they could +see Penshurst Place itself. + +"Why! isn't it a huge place!" cried Barbara. "This is just as new to +Philip and me, you know, Betty, for we have never been here, either." + +"How charmingly situated it is!" exclaimed Mrs. Pitt enthusiastically. +"Just a glance at it would tell you that it was never a strong +fortress. Like Raby Castle, another favorite of mine, I believe that +Penshurst never stood a siege. But it is so stately and graceful, +standing in the center of these perfect lawns and groups of noble old +trees! It is a beautiful contrast to the many fortress-castles! This +seems to speak of peace, happiness, and safety." + +The castle covers a great deal of ground, and is low and square, with +here and there a turret. A terrace, or broad walk, runs the length of +the front of the building, where the moat formerly was, and the party +crossed this to reach the entrance-way. His Lordship came out just +then, with his dog, and glanced kindly at the eager young people. +Continuing, they crossed a square court, and came to a second gateway, +where a servant met them and conducted them into the old-time +Baronial-hall, dating from the fourteenth century. + +"This," announced the guide with tremendous pride, "we believe to be +the only banquet-hall now remaining in England, where the ancient +fireplace in the center of the room still exists. You'll see many fine +halls, but you'll not see another such fireplace." + +[Illustration: "THIS SEEMS TO SPEAK OF PEACE, HAPPINESS, AND SAFETY." +_Page 44._] + +John went up to investigate, and found that right in the middle of the +vast room was a high hearth, on which some logs were piled. "But +how----?" he was asking, when the guide's explanations flowed on once +more: + +"Yes, the smoke went out through a little hole in the roof. This +hall has never been restored, you see. That's the best thing about it, +most people think, lady. Here's the oak paneling, turned gray with +age; there, up on the wall, are the original grotesque figures, carved +in wood; here, are two of the old tables, as old as the hall; and +there's the musicians' gallery, at that end, over the entrance." + +Mrs. Pitt was leaning against one of the massive tables, with her eyes +partly closed. "Let's just imagine the grand feasts which have been +held here," she mused. "I can almost see the Lord and Lady, dressed in +purple and scarlet, sitting with their guests at a table across this +end of the room. A board stretches down the length of the hall, and +here sit the inferiors and retainers. A long procession of servants is +winding always around the tables, bearing great roasts, birds, +pasties, and all sorts of goodies, on huge platters, high above their +heads. Up in the gallery here, the musicians are playing loudly and +gayly, and even when they cease the guests do not lack for +entertainment, for the fool, in his dress of rainbow colors, is +continually saying witty things and propounding funny riddles. In such +a place much elegance and ceremony were the necessary accompaniments +of a grand feast. In a book giving instructions for the serving of the +Royal table, is this direction, which always interested me: 'First set +forth mustard with brawn; take your knife in your hand, and cut the +brawn in the dish, as it lieth, and lay on your Sovereign's trencher, +and see that there be mustard.' As you see, they were exceedingly fond +of mustard. Richard Tarleton, an actor of Queen Elizabeth's time, who +was much at Court as jester, is reported as having called mustard 'a +witty scold meeting another scold.'" + +The guide was growing impatient, and Mrs. Pitt ceased, saying +reluctantly, "Well, I suppose we must go on." + +A servant rang a bell, and soon, down some stairs came a dear little +old lady dressed in stiff black silk, with white apron and cap, and +mitts on her hands. She escorted the party up the stairs, into her +domain. + +"Wouldn't you just know to look at her that she had been in the family +all her life?" whispered Barbara to Betty. + +First they saw the Ball-room, a stately apartment in which hang three +very valuable chandeliers, which Queen Elizabeth gave to Sir Henry +Sidney. The next room is still called "Queen Elizabeth's Room," for +here that Queen slept when upon a visit to the house. The same +furniture which she used is still in place, as well as some tapestries +made in honor of the visit, by Lady Sidney. + +"If Queen Elizabeth slept in that bed," remarked Betty, "she couldn't +have been very tall." + +Their guide, taking this as criticism of one of her beloved treasures, +was quick to say: + +"It only looks short, because it's so uncommon wide, begging your +pardon, Miss." + +"Did that stool belong to anybody?" questioned Barbara, tactfully +changing the subject. "It looks as if it has a history." + +"And it has, Miss; that stool was used by the late Queen Victoria (God +bless her!), at her coronation at Westminster Abbey!" and the loyal +old lady patted the black velvet stool respectfully. + +The rooms and corridors of the old house are crowded with things of +interest. Sir Philip's helmet is there, and a bit of his +shaving-glass. In a small room called the "Pages' Closet," are +preserved rare specimens of china--Queen Elizabeth's dessert-set, in +green, and Queen Anne's breakfast-set, in blue and white. Betty and +Barbara were deeply interested in Mary Stuart's jewel-case, and they +laughed over a very curious old painting which shows Queen Elizabeth +dancing. The long picture-gallery is lined with portraits--most of +them Sidneys--and among them those of the mother of Sir Philip, and of +his sister, the Countess of Pembroke, for whom he wrote his "Arcadia." + +When they again passed through the Ball-room on their way out, they +were shown a little square window on one of the walls, which they had +not noticed before. + +"Why! I can see down into the Banquet-hall!" exclaimed Philip, who had +climbed up to look through. + +"Yes," said their guide, "in the olden times, the master at the ball +could look through there to see how the servants were behaving, down +in the hall below." + +Out on the lawn again, they lingered for a few minutes while Mrs. Pitt +reminded them that there is every reason to believe that under those +very trees Spenser wrote his "Shepherd's Calendar." + +Reluctantly they left the castle and walked back to the carriage, +which awaited them in the village. + +"If all English castles are as beautiful as Penshurst Place," declared +Betty earnestly, "I can't go back to America until I have seen every +one!" + + + + +CHAPTER FIVE + +THE TOWER OF LONDON + + +"I should think they'd call it 'The Towers,' instead of 'The Tower,'" +remarked Betty, surveying the curious, irregular jumble of buildings +before her, as they left the bus. + +"That's true," Mrs. Pitt agreed; "but I suppose the name was first +given to the White Tower, which is the oldest part and was built by +William the Conqueror as long ago as 1080. Why did they call it the +White Tower? Well, I believe it was because they whitewashed the walls +in the thirteenth century. Why, what's the matter, John?" + +"I want to see who those fellows in the funny red uniforms are," John +called back, as he ran ahead. + +[Illustration: "I WANT TO SEE WHO THOSE FELLOWS IN THE FUNNY RED +UNIFORMS ARE."--_Page 50._] + +When they reached the entrance, they saw John admiring a group of +these "fellows," who stood just inside the gate. In reality, they are +old soldiers who have served the King well, and are therefore +allowed to be the keepers and guides of the Tower. They bear the +strange name of "beefeaters" (a word grown from the French +"buffetiers"), and are very picturesque in their gorgeous scarlet +uniforms, covered with gilt trimmings and many badges, a style of +costume which these custodians have worn ever since the time of Henry +VIII, and which was designed by the painter, Holbein. + +Any one may pay sixpence for a ticket which entitles him to wander +about the precincts of the Tower, and to see the "Crown Jewels," and +the armory, but Mrs. Pitt, being more ambitious for her young friends, +had obtained a permit from the Governor of the Tower. This she +presented to the "beefeater" who stood by the first gateway, after +they had crossed the great empty moat. The old man stepped to a tiny +door behind him, opened it, disclosing a small, winding stair, and +called "Warder! Party, please!" + +A venerable "beefeater" with white hair and beard came in answer to +the summons, and bowing politely to the party, immediately started off +with them. They set out along a little, narrow, paved street, lined +by ancient buildings or high walls. + +"They do say h'as 'ow the Princess Elizabeth, afterwards Queen, was +h'imprisoned in that room, up there," stated the guide, pointing to a +small window in a wall on their left. "By Queen Mary's h'orders she +was brought in through the Traitor's Gate, there. That was a great +disgrace, you know, Miss," he said to Betty, "for h'all the State +prisoners entered by there, and few of them h'ever again left the +Tower." + +Before them some steps led down to a little paved court, and beyond, +under a building, they saw the terrible Traitor's Gate,--a low, gloomy +arch, with great wooden doors. The water formerly came through the +arch and up to the steps, at which the unfortunate prisoners were +landed. As the Princess Elizabeth stepped from the boat, she cried, +"Here landeth as true a subject, being a prisoner, as ever landed at +these stairs; and before Thee, O God, I speak it!" + +"Isn't there a proverb, 'A loyal heart may be landed at Traitor's +Gate'?" questioned Mrs. Pitt; and turning to the guide she added, +"Wasn't it right here where we are standing that Margaret Roper +caught sight of her father, Sir Thomas More, after his trial?" As the +guide nodded his assent, she went on, "You all remember Sir Thomas +More, of course,--the great and noble man whom Henry VIII beheaded +because he would not swear allegiance to the King as head of the +Church in England. In those days, an ax was always carried in the boat +with the prisoner, on his return to the Tower, after the trial. If the +head of the ax was turned toward the victim, it was a sign that he was +condemned. It was here, as I said, that Margaret Roper stood with the +crowd, eagerly watching for the first glimpse of her beloved father; +and when he came near and she saw the position of the ax, she broke +away from the soldiers, and flung herself into her father's arms. The +two were so devoted that their story has always seemed an especially +pathetic one to me. I suppose there were many like it, however." + +"Indeed there were, lady," returned the guide, quite moved. + +Just opposite Traitor's Gate is the Bloody Tower, the most picturesque +bit of the entire fortress. The old portcullis there is known as the +only one in England which is still fit for use. At the side is an +ancient and rusty iron ring, which attracted John's attention so much +that he asked about it. + +"Boatmen coming through the Traitor's Gate yonder, used to tie their +boats to that ring," the "beefeater" told them. "That shows you 'ow +much farther h'up the water came in those days. H'in a room over the +gateway of the Bloody Tower there, the Duke of Clarence, h'according +to some, drowned himself in a butt of Malmsey wine; and in h'an +adjoining room, they say that the little Princes were murdered by +h'order of their uncle, the powerful Duke of Gloucester, who stole +their right to the throne. Right 'ere, at the foot of these steps, is +where 'e 'urriedly buried them, h'after 'is men 'ad smothered them." + +The children stood gazing at the little window over the gateway, their +eyes big with horror. It did not seem as though such terrible things +could have been done there in that little room, into which the sun now +poured through the tiny window. + +Every night at eleven o'clock, the warder on guard at the Bloody +Tower challenges the Chief Warder, who passes bearing the keys. Each +time this conversation follows:-- + +"Who goes there?" + +"Keys." + +"Whose keys?" + +"King Edward VII's keys." + +"Advance King Edward VII's keys, and all's well." + +Not until then, may the keys in the Chief Warder's care be allowed to +pass on. + +Some steps just beyond lead into the Wakefield Tower, where the "Crown +Jewels" are now kept. The "beefeater" remained below, but Mrs. Pitt +took the young people up into the little round room where the splendid +crowns and other jewels are seen, behind iron bars. After examining +minutely the objects on view, while leaning just as far as possible +over the rail, John burst out with: + +"Just look at those huge salt-cellars!" pointing to several very large +gold ones. "I should say that the English must be about as fond of +salt as they are of mustard, to have wanted those great things! Oh, I +don't care for these!" he added. "They are stupid, I think! Imagine +being King Edward, and owning such elegant crowns, scepters, and +things, and then letting them stay way down here at the Tower, where +he can't get at them! What's the use of having them, I'd like to know! +Oh, come on! I've seen enough of these!" + +"Wait just a minute, John," interrupted Betty. "See! here's Queen +Victoria's crown, and in it is the ruby that belonged to the Black +Prince, and which Henry V wore in his helmet at Agincourt! Just +think!" with a sigh. "Now I'll go." + +"Speaking of crowns," observed Mrs. Pitt, in passing down the stairs, +"have you ever heard about the large emerald which George III wore in +his crown, at his coronation? During the ceremony, it fell out, and +superstitious people regarded it as a bad omen. Their fears were +realized when that sovereign lost something much dearer to him than +any jewel: his American Colonies." + +The previously-mentioned White Tower stands in the center of all the +other surrounding buildings. It is large and square, with turrets at +the four corners,--an ideal old fortress. As they approached, the +guide took out some keys and unlocked a door, starting down some +steps into the darkness. "Oh, the dungeons!" gasped Betty, and she and +Barbara shivered a little, as they followed. + +Just at the foot they halted, and the guide showed them some round +holes in the floor. + +"'Ere's where they fastened down the rack. This 'ere's the Torture +Chamber. You may think that being so near the entrance, the cries of +the victims could be 'eard by the people outside, lady, but these +walls are so thick that there was no possible chance of that. Ah, down +in these parts is where we still see things, ladies!" + +"Why, what do you mean?" whispered John, dreading and yet longing to +hear. + +Thus encouraged, their guide continued:-- + +"Once h'every month, it is my turn to watch down 'ere, during the +night. Some of us don't like to admit it, lady, but we h'all dread +that! Many things which 'ave never been written down in 'istory, 'ave +'appened in these 'ere passages and cells! Ah, there are figures glide +around 'ere in the dead o' night, and many's the times I've 'eard +screams, way in the distance, as though somebody was being 'urt! Now, +this way, please, and I'll show you Guy Fawkes's cell,--'im h'as was +the originator of the Gunpowder Plot, and tried to blow up the 'ouses +of Parliament." + +They felt their way along the uneven floors, and peered into the +darkness of Guy Fawkes's cell, which was called "Little Ease." + +"Just imagine having to stay long in there!" sighed Betty. "Not able +to stand up, lie down, or even sit up straight! Did they make it that +way on purpose, do you think?" + +"They certainly did, Miss," declared the guide. "They tried to make +'im confess 'o 'ad associated with 'im in the plot; but 'e wouldn't, +and they finally put 'im on the rack, poor man! A terrible thing was +that rack!" + +"Let's come away now," broke in Mrs. Pitt quickly. "I really think we +have all had about enough of this, and there are more cheerful things +to be seen above." + +So they threaded their way out to the entrance again, getting whiffs +of damp, disagreeable air from several dark dungeons, and passing +through a number of great apartments stacked with guns. It was a +relief to gain the main part of the building, where other people were, +and plenty of warmth and sunlight. Their spirits rose, and they +laughed and joked while climbing the narrow, spiral stairs. + +The large room in which they found themselves was filled with weapons +also, and various relics of the old Tower. It was used as the great +Banqueting-hall when the Tower was the Royal Palace, as well as the +fortress, the State prison, the Mint, the Armory, and the Record +Office. The apartment above this was the Council Chamber. They went +up. + +"It was here that Richard II gave up his crown to Henry of Bolingbroke +who became Henry IV, by demand of the people," said Mrs. Pitt. +"Richard was a weak, cruel king, you remember, and was confined in a +distant castle, where he was finally murdered. Suppose we examine some +of this armor now. This suit here belonged to Queen Elizabeth's +favorite, the Earl of Leicester. Notice the initials R. D., which +stand for his name, Robert Dudley. This here was made for Charles I +when he was a boy; and that belonged to Charles Brandon, Duke of +Suffolk; and this, to Henry VIII himself. Aren't they interesting? +Yes, what's that you have found, Barbara?" + +The two boys were absorbed in the armor for some time, but Barbara and +Betty liked a figure on horseback, which represents Queen Elizabeth as +she looked when she rode out in state. It is strangely realistic, for +the figure is dressed in a gown of the period said to have belonged to +that Queen. + +"Do you suppose that jewels were sewn into the dress where those round +holes are?" asked Betty, gently touching the faded velvet with one +finger. + +They all examined the dreadful instruments of torture, some of them +taken from the Armada, and the ghastly headsman's block and mask, and +then they descended the winding stairs again and went into the little +shadowy St. John's Chapel, on the floor with the Banqueting-hall. + +"I want you all to remember that this is called the 'most perfect +Norman chapel in England,'" began Mrs. Pitt. "Some day when you have +learned more about architecture, that will mean a great deal to you. +These heavy circular pillars and the horseshoe arches show the ancient +Norman style. It's a quaint place, isn't it? Here Brackenbury, the +Lieutenant of the Tower, was praying one evening when the order came +to him to murder the two little Princes. In this chapel, the Duke of +Northumberland, the aged father of Lady Jane Grey, heard Mass before +he went out to execution. 'Bloody Mary' came here to attend service +upon the death of her brother, Edward VI. Somewhere on the same floor +of this tower, John Baliol, the Scotch King, was imprisoned and lived +for some time in great state. There is (at any rate, there was) a +secret passage between this chapel and the Royal Apartments. I have +read so much about the dreadful conspirators who skulked about the +Tower, and the fearful deeds that were done here, that I can almost +see a man in armor, with drawn sword, lurking behind one of these +pillars!" + +Some soldiers in their gay uniforms were parading on Tower Green when +they went out again, and the scene was a merry, bright one. + +"How different from the days when the scaffold stood under those +trees!" exclaimed Mrs. Pitt, as they approached the fatal spot. "Here +perished Lady Jane Grey, Anne Boleyn, Katharine Howard, and Queen +Elizabeth's unfortunate favorite, the Earl of Essex. Most of the +victims were beheaded just outside, on Tower Hill. Now, we'll look +into St. Peter's Chapel." + +It is a gloomy, unattractive enough little chapel, but there are +buried here many illustrious men and women, whose lives were unjustly +taken by those in power. Here lie the queens who suffered at the +Tower, and, strangely enough, their tombs are mostly unmarked. John +Fisher, the ancient Bishop of Rochester, lies here, and Guildford +Dudley, husband to Lady Jane Grey, the Earl of Arundel, Sir Thomas +More, and many others whose names are forever famous. + +Our party visited the little room in the Beauchamp Tower, which so +many examine with intense interest. Many people were imprisoned there, +and the walls are literally covered with signatures, verses, +coats-of-arms, crests, and various devices cut into the stone by the +captives. Perhaps the most famous is the simple word "JANE," said to +have been done by her husband, Guildford Dudley. A secret passage has +been discovered extending around this chamber, and probably spies were +stationed there to watch the prisoners and listen to what they said. + +"That's the Brick Tower," said Mrs. Pitt, pointing to it with her +umbrella, as she spoke. "There's where Lady Jane Grey was imprisoned, +and there Sir Walter Raleigh lived during his first stay at the Tower. +It was when he was in the Beauchamp Tower, however, that he burnt part +of his 'History of the World,' the work of many years. It happened in +a curious way! Do you know the story? He was at his window one morning +and witnessed a certain scene which took place in the court beneath. +Later, he talked with a friend who had been a nearer spectator of this +identical scene, and they disagreed entirely as to what passed. +Raleigh was very peculiarly affected by this little incident. He +reasoned that if he could be so much mistaken about something which +had happened under his very eyes, how much more mistaken must he be +about things which occurred centuries before he was born. The +consequence was that he threw the second volume of his manuscript into +the fire, and calmly watched it burn. Think of the loss to us! Poor +Raleigh! He was finally beheaded, and I should think he would have +welcomed it, after so many dreary years of imprisonment. He is buried +in St. Margaret's Church, beside Westminster Abbey, you know." + +"Was there a real palace in the Tower?" inquired Betty, while they +retraced their steps under the Bloody Tower and back toward the +entrance. "Isn't there any of it remaining?" + +"Yes, there was a palace here once, for royalty lived in the Tower +through the reign of James I. No part of it now exists, however. It +stood over beyond the White Tower, in a part which visitors are not +now allowed to see." + +On a hill just outside the Tower, in the center of a large, barren +square, is a little inclosed park with trees and shrubbery. Here stood +the scaffold where almost all of the executions were held. The place +is now green and fruitful, but it is said that on the site of the +scaffold within the Tower, grass cannot be made to grow. + +As they walked toward a station of the "Tube," an underground railway, +John suddenly heaved a great sigh of relief and exclaimed: + +"Well, I tell you what! I've learned heaps, but I don't want to hear +anything more about executions for a few days! What do you all say?" + + + + +CHAPTER SIX + +ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL AND ITS VICINITY + + +When Betty came down to her breakfast the following morning, she found +her plate heaped with letters and fascinating little parcels of +different shapes. For a moment she looked puzzled, then she exclaimed: + +"Oh! I know! It's my birthday, and I'm having such a splendid time +sight-seeing, that I had forgotten all about it! How lovely!" as she +glanced again at the presents. + +"See, John!" she cried, opening the first package, which had an +American postmark, "see what mother has sent me! It is such a pretty +tan leather cover, with little handles, to put on my Baedeker. You +know I always carry the guidebook, and read about things for Mrs. +Pitt. Now, I can keep the book clean, and besides, people can't +recognize me as an American just from seeing my red book! That's a +fine idea, I think!" + +John thought that his sister was not opening the bundles quite fast +enough, so he pounced upon one and unwrapped it for her. + +"This long thing is father's gift, Betty. It's an umbrella, of course, +and a fine one! Here's a card which says, 'Knowing that two umbrellas +could never be amiss in England, I send this.' Do you suppose he +guessed that you'd lost yours?" + +After the bundles were all opened, the letters hurriedly devoured, and +Betty had at last settled down to eating her cold breakfast, Mrs. Pitt +said: + +"I had not decided exactly what we would do to-day, and now I think +I'll let the birthday girl plan. Where will you go, Betty?" + +After due consideration, Betty announced that she would choose to +visit St. Paul's Cathedral, and afterwards, by way of contrast, to +have lunch at the Cheshire Cheese. + +"What in the world's that?" inquired John. + +Mrs. Pitt laughed. "You'll see, for we'll go there, as Betty suggests, +when we have seen St. Paul's. I'm not sure whether you'll care to have +lunch there, but we'll look in, at any rate. It's rather different +from the places where you are accustomed to take your lunch! No, you +must wait, John! I'm not going to tell you any more about it!" + +"What a beautiful day!" Betty cried, taking her seat on the bus a +little later. "I do wish it wouldn't always be so windy, though! I +almost lost my hat then!" + +"As you stay longer in London, you'll notice that a really clear day +is almost always a very windy one as well. We Londoners have to accept +the two together," Mrs. Pitt told the visitors. + +Leaving Trafalgar Square, the bus carried them by Charing Cross +Station, in front of which is a copy of the old Charing Cross. Edward +I, when his queen, Eleanor of Castile, died, put up many crosses in +her memory, each one marking a spot where her body was set down during +its journey to Westminster Abbey for burial. A little farther along, +the bus passed the odd little church of St. Mary-le-Strand, which is +on an "island" in the middle of that wide street and its great busy, +hurrying traffic. It is good to remember that on that very spot, the +maypole once stood. Narrow side streets lead off the Strand, and +looking down them one may see the river, and understand why the +street was so named. It originally ran along by the bank of the +Thames, and the splendid houses of the nobles lined the way. + +"These fine stone buildings on our left are the new Law Courts, and +the griffin in the center of the street marks the position of old +Temple Bar. There! We've passed it, and now we are in Fleet Street. +Temple Bar was the entrance to the 'City,' you know. To this day the +King cannot proceed into the 'City' without being first received at +Temple Bar, by the Lord Mayor. At one time, the city of London +comprised a small area (two and a quarter miles from end to end), and +was inclosed by walls and entered by gates. Originally there were but +four gates,--Aldgate, Aldersgate, Ludgate, and Bridgegate. Think what +a small city it was then! It is curious to know that in spite of that, +there were then one hundred and three churches in London. The real +center of life for centuries was at 'Chepe,' or Cheapside, as it is +now called. You'll see it later." + +[Illustration: "THE KING CANNOT PROCEED INTO THE 'CITY' WITHOUT BEING +FIRST RECEIVED AT TEMPLE BAR BY THE LORD MAYOR."--_Page 68._] + +Betty had been looking eagerly, even while she listened to what Mrs. +Pitt was saying. Her eyes now rested upon an old church, over the +door of which stood a queer, blackened statue of a queen. + +"The church is St. Dunstan's," responded Mrs. Pitt again. "That old +statue of Queen Elizabeth is one of the few things which escaped the +great fire in the reign of Charles II. The figure once stood on the +ancient Lud Gate of the city. They say that it was in the church-yard +of St. Dunstan's that John Milton sold his wonderful poem of 'Paradise +Lost' for five pounds." + +"Let's see,--that would be twenty-five dollars, wouldn't it? I haven't +your English money clear in my mind yet," John confided to Philip. "I +can't somehow feel that it's real money unless it's in dollars and +cents." + +Philip soon pointed to a little alley-way on their left, and said, +"The Cheshire Cheese is in a little court back of there. You can't +think how many buildings, courts, and alleys are hidden in behind all +of these shops. Some of the old inns, or coffee-houses, which were +famous are (or were) there. Now, here's Ludgate Hill, and in a minute +you'll have a view of St. Paul's." + +St. Paul's Cathedral stands on a hill, and because of its position +and huge dome it is the most conspicuous of London's landmarks. But, +because of the closely surrounding buildings, it is much hidden from +near view. As the bus mounted Ludgate Hill, having passed under the +railroad-bridge, they suddenly saw the tremendous cathedral looming up +before them. + +They paused for a moment by the statue of Queen Anne, in front of the +main entrance, while Mrs. Pitt, following her delightful habit, +reminded them of certain notable facts. + +"No one knows exactly how long there has been a church upon this +site," she began, beckoning them closer to her, as the noise of the +traffic was so great, "but Bede, the oldest historian, says that a +chapel was built here by a Saxon king, before the time of the Romans. +When Sir Christopher Wren, the architect, built this present edifice, +after the great fire of 1666, he found relics of three periods,--the +Saxon, the British, and the Roman. St. Paul's has been burned five +times. The last fire (the one of which I just spoke) destroyed the +church which we know as 'old St. Paul's.' Now, let's go in, for there +is much to be seen." + +Next to St. Peter's at Rome, St. Paul's in London is the largest +church, in the world. The first impression a person gets is one of +great vastness and bareness, for, unlike Westminster Abbey, here one +does not encounter at every step famous statues, memorials, and +graves. The nave is tremendous in width and in length. Chapels open +from both sides, but they seem far off and shadowy. Way in the +distance is the choir, the altar, and the group of chairs used at +services. Everything is quiet, empty, and bare. + +"I never imagined such a huge church!" said Betty, much impressed. "I +feel lost and cold, somehow. What are you thinking, Mrs. Pitt? I'm +sure we'd all like to hear." + +"I was just picturing, as I always do when I come here, the scenes the +nave of old St. Paul's presented in Henry VIII's time. Would you like +to hear? Well, in the sixteenth century, this nave was called 'Paul's +Walke,' and it was a place of business. Yes," she assured them, as +John and Betty exclaimed, "down these aisles were booths where +merchants of all kinds sold their wares. Counters were built around +the pillars, and even the font was used by the vendors. Pack-horses +laden with merchandise streamed always in and out, and crowds of +people elbowed their way about, shouting and gesticulating excitedly." + +"But didn't they have any services at all in St. Paul's Cathedral?" +asked Betty wonderingly. + +"Oh, yes!" continued Mrs. Pitt, "the services went on just the same. +The people were used to the noise and confusion. Here came the tailors +to look at the fine new clothes which the young dandies wore when they +took their morning promenades. All the latest books and poems were +always to be found on sale here. Bishop Earle wrote 'Paul's Walke--you +may cal--the lesser Ile of Great Brittaine. The noyse in it is like +that of Bees, in strange hummings, or buzze, mixt of walking, tongues, +and feet; it is a kind of still roare, or loud whisper.' + +"I am glad to be able to say, however," she continued, "that before +that dreadful period, there was a time when the cathedral was not so +dishonored. Once these walls were covered with valuable shrines, +pictures, and tapestries, and costly jewels glittered everywhere. +There was one huge emerald which was said to cure diseases of the +eyes. Here came John Wycliffe, the great reformer, at the summons of +the Archbishop of Canterbury, to answer for the publication of his new +doctrines. Here, Henry of Bolingbroke prayed for his successful +seizure of the throne, and here he also wept over the grave of his +father, John of Gaunt. Sir Philip Sidney was buried here, and his +father-in-law, Sir Francis Walsingham, Queen Elizabeth's secretary; +and there was a magnificent monument to Sir Christopher Hatton, Lord +Chancellor, but these were all destroyed by the Great Fire." + +About the aisles and nave are many monuments to great soldiers, +sailors, painters, statesmen, literary men, and others. Most of them +are very ugly, and our party did not linger long over these. After +walking under the dome, and looking up into its tremendous heights, +they went down into the crypt, which is really the most interesting +part of the cathedral. + +The crypt is vast, dark, and gloomy. Other parties may be heard +walking about and talking in the distance, without being seen, and +their voices echo strangely. In the "Painters' Corner," Sir Joshua +Reynolds, West, Lawrence, Landseer, and Turner, all famous artists, +lie buried beneath the pavement. Sir Christopher Wren, surrounded by +members of his family, lies under the dome, as was his wish. Lord +Nelson and the Duke of Wellington both have splendid tombs there. + +"These are all we now have of the monuments of the old cathedral," +remarked Mrs. Pitt, pointing to where in a corner some mutilated +figures, heads, and broken monuments lay, all in a heap. + +John was delighted when it was proposed to climb up into the dome, and +to test the "Whispering Gallery," on the way. It seemed an endless +climb up the spiral stairs, and Mrs. Pitt, Barbara, and Betty lagged +behind. When they finally came out into the great round gallery, the +two boys were over on the opposite side. Betty, after waving to them, +sat down on a bench against the wall, and suddenly she heard John's +voice, saying "Glad to see you at last!" She put her lips to the wall +and whispering an answer, found that John could hear her, too. They +were having quite a lengthy conversation, holding first their lips to +the wall to speak, and then their ears to listen, when Mrs. Pitt +interrupted them. + +"That's great fun, but we have still a hard climb before us," she +reminded them. "I think we had better go on." + +The remainder of the way was much more difficult, as the steps were +steeper and narrower than ever, but they at last emerged on the little +platform, running around the top of the dome. + +"My, what a view!" they cried. + +"Yes, you're the first visitors in many a day who could see so far," +the man in charge told them. + +If the terrible black smoke which comes from the hundreds of chimneys, +and the fog permit one to see it all, the view is truly fine. It is +especially interesting to trace the river in its various curves, and +to pick out the many bridges which span it. Another striking feature +is the immense number of spires. The guide pointed out the churches to +them, and also the different parts of the city. + +"If you thought it was windy on the bus, Betty, I wonder what you call +this," exclaimed Barbara, grasping her hat with both hands. "I'm going +down now." + +The others were quite ready to follow, and they wound their way down, +down, down, until they stood again on the main floor, under the dome. + +"This is called St. Paul's Church-yard," said Mrs. Pitt, leading the +way around back of the cathedral. "This used to be a very busy place. +St. Paul's School was here, within the yard, as well as many shops. +The first printer who produced books for children had his shop in this +corner. In the days when the interior of the building was put to such +dreadful uses, the outside was treated quite as badly. Shops of all +kinds were built up against the cathedral, and sometimes the noise +which the carpenters made greatly disturbed those at the service +within. It must have been shocking indeed! It is said that for a very +small sum, the sexton would allow boys to climb up and ring the bells +as much as they liked; and, on the day of Queen Mary's coronation, she +saw a Dutchman standing on the weather-vane, waving a flag." + +"My! I'd like to have seen that!" cried John, to whom such gymnastic +feats appealed. + +While they walked back to the Cheshire Cheese, Mrs. Pitt explained to +them what St. Paul's Cathedral once comprised. + +"In the London of the Middle Ages, the Church ruled supreme," she told +them. "At least one-fourth of the entire city was owned by the +churches and the religious houses. To carry on the monasteries and +churches, a tremendous number of people were necessary. At St. Paul's, +in 1450, there were: + + The bishop, + Four archdeacons, + The treasurer, + The precentor, + The chancellor, + Thirty greater canons, + Twelve lesser canons, + Fifty chaplains, and + Thirty vicars. + +These were of the higher rank; there were innumerable others of lower +rank, such as the master of the singing-school, the binder, and the +translator. The brewer, in 1286, brewed 67,814 gallons, and the baker +baked about 40,000 loaves. This gives one a little idea of what it +meant to conduct a cathedral in those days of the all-powerful +Church." + +Between the poor shops of Fleet Street, open many little passages, and +these lead into tiny courts and winding alleys. The entrance to one of +them is marked with the sign, "Wine Office Court." Directly off from +this narrow, dark alley stands the famous Cheshire Cheese, the only +genuine old-time tavern or "coffee-house" which still exists +unchanged. It is a little, low building, with quaint bow-window of +square panes. + +"Why, we can't all get in there, can we?" laughed John, as Mrs. Pitt +stepped inside. The door is very small, and the hallway was so crowded +by curious visitors, and by jostling, pushing waiters, that it did not +seem possible for another person to enter. They managed, however, to +elbow their way through the crowd into the celebrated "coffee-room" +itself. + +That "coffee-room" is splendid! The ceiling is very low, and the walls +are wainscoted in dark wood. Although the room is so small, there are +numerous long tables, and old-fashioned, high-backed settles. One +seat, in the corner farthest from the door, is marked with a little +tablet, telling us that there was Dr. Johnson's chosen place. Several +pictures of that noted gentleman adorn the walls. It always seems +very much out of keeping with the quaintness of the room, to find it +full of laughing, chattering Americans. A few quiet English clerks +come there for their noon meal, but the majority of the patrons of the +Cheshire Cheese are the tourists. + +"There's nothing to do but to wait here until we can get seats," said +Mrs. Pitt; so they all remained standing in the middle of the floor, +directly in the path of the waiters, until finally some seats were +free, and they slid into one of the long benches which extend down +each side of the tables, placed endwise to the wall. + +"Are you sorry you proposed coming here?" Mrs. Pitt asked Betty, +watching with amusement her crest-fallen face as she saw the soiled +linen, and untidy look of the entire table. + +"Oh, no," Betty answered doubtfully, "only I guess people come here +more because Dr. Johnson did, than because they like it." + +Mrs. Pitt laughed. "That's very true," she said. "The service isn't +exactly prompt, either. We've already waited quite fifteen minutes, I +am sure. I ordered lark pie and Cheshire cheese for you, of course. +Every one takes them on his first visit here." + +The lark pie was Dr. Johnson's favorite dish, but that fact does not +suffice to make it very enjoyable. Betty frankly confessed that she +could not manage to eat hers, but John pretended to be very +industrious over his, although he did a good deal of looking about the +room and commenting upon things he saw. + +"There's even sawdust on the floor," he announced jubilantly. "Did you +ever! My! How hot and stuffy it is here! Were all old inns just like +this, Mrs. Pitt?" + +"Yes, pretty much so, I think," was the response. "There were ever so +many of them, you know, and each was frequented by a certain class of +men. For instance, there was the 'British Coffee-house,' where all the +Scotch visitors went; there was 'Robin's,' which was noted for its +foreign bankers and ambassadors; and there was 'Dolly's Chophouse,' +where the wits congregated. Most of the famous clubs held their +meetings at one or another of the 'coffee-houses,' too. The 'Spectator +Club' met at 'Button's Coffee-house,' and there the 'Spectator Papers' +had their beginnings. There Addison, Steele, Pope, and others, spent +their leisure hours. Some of the London clubs of the eighteenth +century had very queer names!" she continued. "There was the 'Ugly +Club,' the 'Quack Club,' the 'Beefsteak Club,' the 'Split-Farthing +Club,' and the 'Small Coalmen's Music Club,' for example. Here, at the +Cheshire Cheese, Goldsmith often came with Dr. Johnson. Can't you +imagine the two sitting over at that table, with Boswell not far away, +patiently listening, quill in hand? Dr. Johnson was very careless and +untidy, you know, and invariably spilled his soup. It was he who used +to walk up and down Fleet Street touching every post he passed!" + +All this time they had been waiting for their cheese. When it finally +came, it proved to be much better than the lark pie. The cheese is +served in little three-cornered tins, and is poured hot over crisp +pieces of toast. + +When they had finished, they went up the winding stairs to see the +room where the famous "Literary Club" used to meet. Dr. Johnson's +chair is preserved there. + +"Didn't Dr. Johnson live near here, too, Mother?" asked Barbara, as +they came out again into the court. + +"Yes, I believe he lived in both Johnson and Bolt Courts," Mrs. Pitt +told them. "His haunts were all about here. In number six, over there, +Goldsmith is said to have written 'The Vicar of Wakefield.'" + +From there, they walked up Fleet Street, discussing their unusual +lunch as they went. They had all enjoyed it,--even Betty. + +She made them all laugh, however, by announcing seriously, "I'm glad I +went, but I think it is just about as nice to read about lunching +there, as to really do it. And then, you wouldn't be quite so hungry +afterwards!" + + + + +CHAPTER SEVEN + +A SUNDAY NIGHT CHAT + + +It was Sunday afternoon, and the time for John and Betty to send their +weekly letters home. The day was a beautiful one in early spring, the +grass and trees in the garden behind the house were very green, birds +were singing outside, people were continually walking by, and the +letters progressed but slowly. Every few moments Betty stole a glance +out-of-doors, and John sat leaning his elbow on the desk chewing the +end of his penholder, while he gazed steadily out of the window. + +"Well, what do you think of it all, John?" asked Betty thoughtfully. +"Aren't we glad we came, and aren't Mrs. Pitt and Barbara and Philip +good to us?" + +"Just splendid!" exclaimed John most emphatically. He had turned away +from the window now, and was entering earnestly into the conversation. +"I just tell you what, Betty, it's a different thing to peg away at +an old, torn history-book at school, and to come over here and see +things and places, while Mrs. Pitt tells you about them! Why, I +honestly like English history the way we're learning it now!" + +Betty smiled in an elder-sisterly fashion. "Well, I always did like to +study history, but it surely makes it nicer and easier to do it this +way. But besides that, John, don't you think it's queer and very +interesting to see the way the English do things--all their customs, I +mean. They're so different from ours! Why, when I first saw Barbara +that day at the train, I thought it was the funniest thing that her +hair was all hanging loose down her back. I wouldn't think of being so +babyish! I thought perhaps she'd lost off her ribbon maybe, but she's +worn it that way ever since. And her little sailor-hat looks so +countrified as she has it,--'way down over her ears!" + +[Illustration: "I'D FEEL LIKE 'LITTLE LORD FAUNTLEROY' GOING AROUND +WITH THOSE CLOTHES ON!"--_Page 84._] + +"I know it; it seemed mighty funny to me to see Philip's black suit +with the long trousers, his broad collar, and skimpy short coat! It's +what all the boys at the Eton School wear, he says. They must feel +like fools! Why, I'd feel like--like--'Little Lord Fauntleroy' going +around with those clothes on all the time!" John's voice was full of +scorn, yet his eyes twinkled with fun. "But, the high hat, just like +father's opera-hat, which Philip wears, beats it all!" he continued. +"I'm so used to it now, though, that I don't think of it any more. +It's queer how soon you get used to things! It's just like riding +along the streets, and keeping to the left instead of to the right. +The first time I rode in a hansom (you weren't there that day, Betty) +and we suddenly turned a corner, keeping close to the left curb, I +poked open the little door in the roof and shouted, 'Hey there! +Mister! You'll bump into something if you don't look out!' The driver +just stared; he didn't seem to know what I was talking about." + +"Yes," went on Betty in her turn, "keeping to the left did seem queer +at first. You know, John, how often we have wished that Dan and the +automobile were over here. Honestly, I think Dan would surely have an +accident! He never could remember to keep to the left! Now, we simply +must go on with our letters! Begin when I say three! One--two--(hurry, +John, you haven't dipped your pen!), three!" and both commenced to +write industriously. + +The letters were finally finished just as the tea-bell rang. Betty ran +to wash her hands, and then they went down to the library, where tea +was served every afternoon that they were at home. + +"Why! I quite like tea over here!" Betty remarked. "I never drink it +at home! Mother would be so surprised if she saw me! Do all English +people drink it every afternoon as you do, Mrs. Pitt?" + +"Yes, it seems to go with the English people, somehow. We'd quite as +soon think of doing without our breakfast or dinner as our +four-o'clock-tea. You've noticed, my dear, how I always manage to get +my tea at some little shop when we are on one of our sight-seeing +tours. Really, I am quite lost without it! Oh! it's just a habit, of +course." As she spoke, Mrs. Pitt poured herself another cup. + +When the tea things had been removed, and a fire was lighted, stories +were called for. + +"Tell us some of the stories you know about different places and old +customs, Mother," urged Barbara. + +"Very well," said Mrs. Pitt willingly. "Let--me--see! You remember, +don't you, having the guide point out London Bridge to you, from the +top of St. Paul's, day before yesterday? That's the oldest bridge, you +know, for it seems to have existed as long ago as we know anything of +London itself. But legend has it that before there was any bridge over +the Thames, people crossed in a ferry which was run by a certain John +Overs. This man naturally became rich, as very many people were always +paying him for taking them across the river, but he was a great miser. +The ferryman had one fair daughter about whom he was as miserly as he +was with his money,--keeping her shut up out of reach of her lover. +One day, John Overs thought he would like to save the cost of +providing food for his household, so he pretended to be dead. He +expected that his servants would fast in consequence, as was the +ancient custom; but so great was their joy when they thought their +master dead, that they all began to dance, to make merry together, and +to feast upon all they found in the house. The old miser stood this +just as long as he could, and then he sprang up to lay hands upon +them. The servants fled, believing that it was something +supernatural--all except one, who, more daring than the rest, killed +his master with his weapon. So old John did die after all, but in an +unexpected way. + +"Part the second of my story tells of how the monks of a neighboring +abbey finally consented to bury the body; when the abbot returned, +however, he was very angry at what they had done, and gave the friars +some orders. They dug up the body of the poor old boatman, tied it to +the back of an ass, and turned the animal loose. The body was finally +thrown off at the place of public execution (directly under the +gallows), and there it was buried and remained. Meanwhile the +daughter, Mary, was having more trouble. Immediately upon the death of +her father, she had sent for her lover, but in coming to her, he had +been thrown off his horse and killed. This was too much for the +unfortunate girl, who decided to retire to a nunnery, leaving her +entire fortune to found the church of 'St. Mary Overy.' That is the +real name of the church now known as Southwark Cathedral, which stands +just across London Bridge. Now, how do you like that story?" + +[Illustration: "YOU REMEMBER, DON'T YOU, HAVING THE GUIDE POINT OUT +LONDON BRIDGE?"--_Page 86._] + +"Great!" exclaimed John. "Whoever thought that up had a vivid +imagination, all right!" + +"Why, don't you believe it, John?" said Betty, who always took +everything most seriously. + +When they were quiet again, Mrs. Pitt talked on. + +"London Bridge, up to the time of the Great Fire, was crowded with +houses, you know, and there was even a chapel there. Over the gate at +the Southwark end of the bridge, the heads of traitors were exhibited +on the ends of long poles. Here Margaret Roper, whom you met at the +Tower, came, bargained for, and at last secured the head of her +father, Sir Thomas More. But, to go back to the houses! Hans Holbein, +the painter, and John Bunyan, the poet, are both said to have resided +on London Bridge. I also like the story which tells of a famous wine +merchant, named Master Abel, who had his shop there. Before his door, +he set up a sign on which was the picture of a bell, and under it were +written the words, 'Thank God I am Abel.' Here's a picture of old +London Bridge. Imagine how quaint it must have looked crowded by these +picturesque old houses, and with its streets filled with travelers. +All those entering London from the south came across that bridge, +which was consequently a great thoroughfare. Near the Southwark side +of the bridge is where the Tabard Inn stood--the inn from which the +Canterbury Pilgrims set out; and near the bank, known as Bankside in +those days, was the celebrated Globe Theatre, connected with +Shakespeare and his associates. The popular Paris Gardens were there, +too, where the sport of bear-baiting was seen in Queen Elizabeth's +time. If we went over there, we could see the former sites of these +historic places, but they are now covered by unattractive, modern +buildings or great breweries. It's hard to conjure up the Globe +Theatre out of present-day Southwark," she added with a sigh, as if +she were speaking to herself. "Not far from the site of the Tabard +Inn, a picturesque, gabled house once stood, in which John Harvard was +born. Yes, John, that was the man who founded Harvard College, at your +American Cambridge." + +"Yes, and I mean to go there myself some day!" announced John, +immediately fired by the familiar name of our oldest university. "My +father went, you know." + +Mrs. Pitt and the two girls spent the remainder of the evening in +talking over plans for the next day, but John's thoughts had been +turned to college, and so he and Philip had a lively time comparing +notes about English and American colleges. + +"Where do you mean to go, Philip?" John inquired. + +"Oh, to Cambridge, of course! My father, his father, and all my family +for generations back have been to Trinity College, Cambridge. That's +the largest college in England, and was founded by Henry VIII. Oh, +it's jolly there! There are old quadrangles around which the men live; +there's a beautiful old chapel, built in the Tudor period; and there's +the dining-hall. That's grand! Back of the college is the river, the +Cam. There's a lovely garden there, and over the river on which the +men go boating, is an old bridge. I had a cousin who lived in the +rooms which Byron once occupied. He, Macaulay, Tennyson, Thackeray, +Dryden, and many other famous men went there. Oh, it's the only +college for me! I shall be there in three years, I hope!" + +"Well, Harvard's our oldest college. It was founded by your John +Harvard almost as soon as Boston itself, and 'Teddy' Roosevelt went +there! It's good enough for me! The only trouble is that they can't +seem to beat at football, somehow, and I mean to play and see if I +can't help 'em win. That's the only trouble with old Harvard, though," +John said, feeling that he must be loyal to his college in this +international discussion; "otherwise she's all right! There's the +Stadium, where all the big games are played, and there's the Charles +River for us to row on. There are loads of fine new buildings, too, +and I'd like those better than the old ones. We don't care who lived +in 'em! Oh, the fellows at Harvard have a splendid time!" + +Mrs. Pitt had overheard some of this conversation with much amusement, +for the ideas and ideals of the two boys were so different, and so +very characteristic of each. + +"I think you'd enjoy a visit to Cambridge, John," she said. "We must +try to manage it. You'd find one of our colleges very unlike yours in +America. Both Oxford and Cambridge Universities are made up of many +colleges, you know; at Oxford, there are twenty-two, and at Cambridge, +eighteen. Each college has its own buildings, its own professors, its +own chapel and dining-hall, and each college is complete in itself, +although they all belong to one university. You would think the rules +very strict! When the Cambridge men go to chapel, and at other +specified times, they are required to wear their gowns and queer +little flat caps, called 'trenchers' or 'mortar-boards.' At Oxford, +the gates of each college are closed at nine o'clock every evening; a +man may stay out later (even until twelve), if he can give a good +reason for it. If he remains out all night, though, he is immediately +dismissed. How would you like that?" she laughed, seeing John's +disgusted expression. "There are men called 'scouts,' who look after +the men's rooms, and bring them their breakfast. The students are very +carefully watched, and if one of them stays away from his meals at the +dining-hall more than two or three times a week, the affair is +investigated." + +"My! When we go to college in America, we are men, and can look after +ourselves!" John drew himself up very straight, and spoke with great +dignity. "Cambridge may be older and have more--more--'associations,' +but I'd rather go to Harvard." + + + + +CHAPTER EIGHT + +WINDSOR CASTLE, STOKE POGES, AND ETON SCHOOL + + +"It's only a little more than twenty miles out to Windsor," remarked +Mrs. Pitt, one June morning. "Suppose we go in the motor, and then we +can have a glimpse of both Stoke Poges and Eton School, on the way." + +There were always many exclamations of delight at mention of the +"motor," so it was settled, and the party set out at ten o'clock, all +in the highest of spirits. It was slow and difficult driving through +the city streets, but the English chauffeur was quite used to keeping +to the left, as well as being perfectly familiar with the rules which +govern the traffic, so he had none of the accidents which Betty and +John had prophesied that their father's American chauffeur would not +be able to avoid. Very soon, however, they had reached the suburbs, +and then they came into the open country. + +They could go faster now, and the big touring-car sped over the +wonderfully smooth roads at a speed which delighted the young people. +The weather was proving a bit uncertain. Every little while, a tiny +shower descended upon them out of a blue sky full of great white +clouds, the sun shining warm and bright all the while. + +"Oh, don't let's put up any umbrella," exclaimed Betty, during one of +the showers. "Rain never seems to do any harm in England. You don't +get wet, and never mind it a bit. Truly, I like it, for it's so pretty +to see it raining with the sun out. There! now, it's stopped again! +Just see that lovely rainbow!" + +The English country is always beautiful in its individual way, but it +is especially so on one of these showery days, when every leaf and +flower looks fresher than ever with the rain-drops glistening on it. +Now and then, they slowed down while passing through a busy town, +where pretty ladies and children in little two-wheeled carts drove +about doing the morning marketing. Most of the way, however, lay +through country roads bordered by green-hedged fields in which the +ever-present sheep grazed; and here and there were high brick walls +over which the stately, vine-covered homes were just visible. There +were also picturesque little workmen's cottages at the edge of the +wood, and lodges covered with climbing-roses. + +It seemed as though they had only been riding a very short time when, +upon emerging from a shady road, they drew up at a little gateway. +John felt impatient at having to stop, and looked questioningly around +at Mrs. Pitt from his place on the front seat. The others were already +getting out, he found, and Mrs. Pitt was saying: + +"This is Stoke Poges, and I want you to see it, for it's such a lovely +spot. Probably you have all learned in school parts of Gray's 'Elegy,' +and very likely you never cared or thought much about the poem. Even +if that's true, you can't possibly help loving this peaceful, +beautiful place, in which it was written." + +[Illustration: THE MOSS-GROWN SAXON PORCH.--_Page 97._] + +They were now walking along a little path which led into the +church-yard. A straight gravel walk stretches between the graves, up +to the ancient church, which is very small, and has one tower closely +covered with ivy. The fine old Saxon porch, and one doorway show great +age; but it is in the whole effect rather than in any detail of the +little church and its surroundings that the charm lies. One cannot +imagine a more quiet, remote spot! On one side is the group of +yew-trees which Gray mentions in the poem, and in their shelter are +the hoary stones which mark the graves of the "rude forefathers of the +hamlet." Standing there, one almost hesitates to speak above a whisper +for fear of arousing something or somebody out of sleep, or of +breaking the wonderful spell of the place. Pausing under those trees, +and feasting one's eyes upon the lovely, rural scene, not a sound +reaches the ear except the twitter of the birds, and perhaps the faint +jingle of a cow-bell. Mrs. Pitt gave a start at the sound of John's +voice, when he suddenly said: + +"Let's go and find Gray's tomb, Philip; the guidebook says it's on the +other side of the church." + +The rest lingered for just one more look at the little church, with +its vines, and the rich, dark-red brick-work of the moss-grown Saxon +porch, which the sun touches lovingly as it filters through the heavy +leafage of the yew-trees; then they followed Philip and John. + +Close to the outer wall of the church is a large tomb in which Gray is +buried with his beloved mother. No word on the slab tells that the +famous poet is buried within; there is only his mother's epitaph, +which Gray wrote, and in which he speaks of himself as "the only child +who had the misfortune to outlive her." + +When Mrs. Pitt came up, John was standing near the tomb with his hat +off, saying, "All right, Mr. Gray; I'll read your poem over again just +as soon as ever I get home." + +The bustling, lively scenes of Eton School presented a marked contrast +to the quiet of Stoke Poges. Moving about the grounds between the +different school-buildings, were dozens of boys all dressed in the +regulation Eton suit, such as Philip himself wore. They were laughing, +shouting, and playing games, just like other boys, but such actions +somehow seemed out of keeping with their quaint costumes. From the +automobile John looked down upon them, his eyes full of wonder and +surprise. + +"I suppose they are real boys," he said in a puzzled way, "but they +don't look like them." + +While Philip talked with some of his friends, and John lingered near +the group, the others visited the beautiful Eton Chapel, and were +especially interested in the familiar picture of Sir Galahad, which +hangs there. The principal buildings of the school are ranged about +two large courts; in the center of the Outer Quadrangle is a bronze +statue of Henry VI, the founder of the school. The library is valuable +and contains some costly books and manuscripts. Fox, Peel, Chatham, +Wellington, and Shelley were Eton boys, and the latter's autograph may +still be seen on one of the desks. + +As they left Eton and crossed the bridge over the Thames, they duly +admired the magnificent view of Windsor Castle, which may be enjoyed +from that point. Above its many roofs and towers stands the great +round keep, the oldest part of the castle, having been built by Edward +III. + +The castle is on a hill in the center of the town, and the quaint, +red-roofed houses reach even to its walls. After passing the statue of +Queen Victoria, the automobile left the party at the entrance to the +castle, through Henry VIII's gateway, carved with the Tudor Rose. +Inside, they joined a party and were shown about by a guide. + +They saw so many buildings that John and Betty found it rather +bewildering. In thinking it over afterwards, certain objects remained +most clearly in their memory. + +"St. George's Chapel is really the most beautiful thing there, of +course," said Betty, as they rode away. "I never saw such carving as +there is on the seats--no, stalls--in the choir! Henry VIII, Jane +Seymour, and poor Charles I are buried there, too. I like those faded +banners and the coats-of-arms which belonged to the Knights of the +Garter. The whole place is lovely, I think. There are lots of little +chapels off from it, too, like Westminster Abbey; didn't the guide say +that the tomb of Queen Victoria's father, the Duke of Kent, is there?" + +"Yes," answered Mrs. Pitt, "and I hope you haven't forgotten the +Albert Chapel. It adjoins St. George's, you remember, and we stood in +the doorway when our turn came and looked in. It is very old, and is +on the site of an ancient chapel of St. Edward, but Queen Victoria +made it what it is now, and restored it in honor of her husband, +Prince Albert. The interior is truly remarkable for its fine marbles, +mosaics, sculptures, stained-glass, and precious stones. I fancy they +would not especially appeal to you, however. How did you like the +State Apartments? It was fortunate that the Royal Family was not in +residence, so that we could be admitted." + +"Well," began John, "they made us hurry so that I didn't see very +much. That guide drove us along as though we were a flock of sheep! I +liked that big room though, where all the portraits of the generals +are. They called it the Waterloo Room, didn't they? Anyway, there were +splendid pictures of Wellington, Metternich, Bluecher, and lots of +other fellows. Did you see the busts of Wellington and Marlborough in +one of the other rooms, Philip? There are silk flags which hang over +both the busts, and that cross old guide growled out that they are +replaced every year on the anniversaries of the two +battles;--Wellington gets a new flag on June 18th, because of Waterloo +in 1815, and Marlborough gets his on August 13th, on account of the +battle of Blenheim in 1704." + +"In that room," explained Mrs. Pitt, "is where the 'command' +theatrical performances are held. When the King hears the report of a +play which he thinks he would like, he simply commands the company to +come to him; and if he happens to be at Windsor, he and the Court +witness the play in the Waterloo Chamber. Your American Sousa's Band +played there once. I saw Betty and Barbara lingering before the large +picture of Charles I and his family. I am glad you liked it, girls, +for that's an especial delight of mine. Dear little 'Baby Stuart' is +so lovable! That was in the Van Dyck Room, which contains many of that +master's works. Those State Apartments are only for the use of Royal +guests, you understand, when they come on visits. I always wish that +we could see the King or Queen's private rooms, don't you? It would be +so interesting. What's your favorite part of the castle, Barbara?" + +"Oh, I like the terrace better than anything else," Barbara answered, +without a moment's hesitation. "The view of the valley, with the river +and Eton Chapel in the distance, is so pretty! Then, there is +something so stately and impressive about the wide, long terrace +itself. I once read that it was Queen Elizabeth's favorite walk, and +there couldn't be a more appropriate place for a queen to choose. I +like that gateway with E. R. on it, showing that it was built in +Elizabeth's reign; and it's fun to look up to the little bay-window +which is said to have been her room. Then I like the old Curfew +Tower, too," she added. + +"Yes," broke in Mrs. Pitt. "That's one of the gloomiest parts of the +whole castle, in its history as well as in its aspect. Of course, +terrible things happened at Windsor just as they did elsewhere; but +although Windsor dates from a very early period, and figures in the +reigns of all the sovereigns, its history contains more of the bright +and happy than of the tragic. Down in a miserable, windowless cell in +the lower part of the Curfew Tower, it is wrongly said that Queen Anne +Boleyn was put to spend the night before her execution, as you know, +and there still remain in the Tower some fearful instruments of +torture. The Horseshoe Cloister near there, is very ancient, and the +houses are delightfully mediaeval. Did you look in some of the tiny +windows as we passed through? It is said that in a small hall there, +in the Horseshoe Cloister, Shakespeare's 'Merry Wives of Windsor' was +first produced." + +"Who was it that the guide told us was imprisoned near the Round +Tower, and who fell in love with a lady whom he saw walking in the +gardens? I have forgotten the names." It was Betty who spoke, for she +had been quietly thinking over the visit. + +"That was young James of Scotland, whom Henry V caused to be captured +in time of truce, and thrown into prison at Windsor, where he remained +almost twenty years. The English treated him kindly, however, and he +spent his time in studying and watching the lady in the garden, who +afterwards became his queen." + +"Oh! But, really, the stables are best of all!" exclaimed Philip, who +loved horses like a true Briton. "I do like to go there and be shown +about by one of those men in the black suits and yellow vests, and the +bright cockades in their silk hats. Once when I was little, one of +them let me go into a stall and feed some sugar to a splendid great +horse named Black Beauty. I wished I could do it to-day, too! All the +carriages which carry the Court ladies are stupid, I think, but the +horses and ponies are jolly!" whereupon Philip and John went off into +an animated discussion about the horses of the Royal Stables, and how +much they envied the men who cared for them. + +"Oh, what a sweet little village!" cried Betty, jumping up excitedly, +as the automobile slowed down and entered a little narrow lane. + +Chalfont St. Giles is an extremely picturesque, old-time village. Its +thatched-roofed cottages huddle together in a beautiful green valley, +and about the edge of a pond where ducks swim, and happy, barefooted +children play. One of the old houses is a place of interest to many, +as the great poet, John Milton, lived there after he fled from London +at the time of the plague. + +The poet's home is a most primitive cottage with low ceilings, and a +little dark room, lighted by one casement window, in which he may have +written part of "Paradise Lost." When standing in that chamber, one is +reminded of the well-known picture which shows the blind Milton +dictating one of his poems to a daughter. Outside is a delightful +old-fashioned garden in which the largest and reddest of poppies grow, +and where it is said that Milton loved to linger. + +"I wish we needn't hurry," sighed Mrs. Pitt, "but I'm afraid we'll be +late to dinner. See, we are short of time already!" + +So they quickly took their seats again for the short trip back to +town, and drew their wraps about them, as the air had grown chilly. +They all felt rather tired, and were silent as they reviewed in mind +the history and scenes of Windsor Castle, one of the most beautiful +and certainly the most famous of English royal residences. + +[Illustration: JOHN MILTON LIVED THERE AFTER HE FLED FROM +LONDON.--_Page 105._] + + + + +CHAPTER NINE + +MORE ABOUT LONDON + + +"Big Ben," the great bell on the clock-tower, was just booming ten +deep strokes as our party neared the Houses of Parliament. A steadily +rushing stream of people, buses, hansoms, and trucks (not forgetting +bicycles, which are still numerous in England), was pouring across +Westminster Bridge, and swinging around the corner into the wide +street called Whitehall; but in the near vicinity of the graceful, +long building, with its pinnacles and spires, in which the English +laws are made, all was quiet and few people were moving about. In a +square court from which steps lead down to the river, a sentinel was +pacing back and forth. + +"In the days when the Thames was the most used highway of the +Londoners, here was probably one of the places where the nobles could +step on shore from their luxurious barges." Mrs. Pitt said this as +they were looking down upon the soldier from the street above. + +Close up against one side of the Houses of Parliament is Westminster +Hall, with its quaint row of supporting buttresses. This ancient +edifice was built by William Rufus, the son of the Conqueror himself. +Having entered by St. Stephen's Porch, the usual approach, they went +down a few steps at the left into this fine old room. It is empty now, +and its vastness is unadorned except by some statues of kings and +queens along the sides. + +"This hall," stated Mrs. Pitt, "was first begun by William Rufus, but +it has been restored and added to at various times by many of the +other sovereigns. It also formed part of the ancient Palace of +Westminster. I want you to notice especially the oak roof with its +heavy timbers, and unsupported by any columns. It is considered very +fine in its construction, and I think it beautiful, as well. Have you +the guidebook, Philip? Read to us some of the great events of the hall +while we stand here." + +So Philip began. "Well, some of the earliest meetings of Parliament +were held here; also, all the kings as far down the line as George IV +have celebrated their coronation feasts in this hall. Here Charles I +was tried and condemned (there's a brass in the floor which marks +where he stood at the trial), and here Cromwell in royal purple robes +was received as Lord Protector. Some of the others who were tried here +are William Wallace, the Scotch patriot, Sir Thomas More, Sir Thomas +Wyatt, Guy Fawkes, and the Earls of Essex and Strafford. Until very +recently the Law Courts adjoined here." + +"Thank you, Philip; now, if you are ready, Betty, we'll go on and see +something more of this great building." + +It gives one a slight idea of the extent of the huge structure to know +that therein are one hundred stairways and eleven hundred rooms! +Visitors are shown the "King's Robing-room," the "Victoria or Royal +Gallery," the "Prince's Chamber," and so many rooms and corridors, +that it is impossible to remember them all, or even to appreciate them +at the time of a visit. Fine wall paintings, statues, and rich +decorations of all kinds abound. Both the rooms where sit the House of +Peers and the House of Commons, respectively, are magnificent +apartments; perhaps the former is rather more splendid in appearance, +with its stained-glass windows picturing all the English sovereigns, +its frescoes, and throne, with the gilded canopy. + +As they finally passed out and started over toward Westminster Abbey, +Mrs. Pitt said: + +"It was at one of these entrances (perhaps at the very one by which we +just left), that a most curious thing happened in 1738. It had just +been decided that ladies should no longer be permitted in the +galleries of the Houses. Certain noble dames who were most indignant +at this new rule, presented themselves in a body at the door. They +were, of course, politely refused admission, and having tried every +known means of gaining entrance, they remained at the door all day, +kicking and pounding from time to time. Finally, one of them thought +of the following plan. For some time they stood there in perfect +quiet; some one within opened a door to see if they were really gone, +whereupon they all rushed in. They remained in the galleries until the +'House rose,' laughing and tittering so loudly that Lord Hervey made a +great failure of his speech. Wasn't that absurd? It seems that there +were 'Suffragettes' long before the twentieth century." + +Arrived at the Poets' Corner once again, they found that one of the +vergers was just about to conduct a party "in behind the scenes," as +Barbara called it. "Behind the scenes" includes the Chapel of Henry +VII and that of Edward the Confessor, besides the many smaller ones +which surround the choir. + +These little irregular chapels are crowded with all sorts of tombs, +from those of the long effigy to those of the high canopy. Sometimes a +husband and wife are represented on the tomb, their figures either +kneeling side by side, or facing each other. Often the sons and +daughters of the deceased are shown in quaint little reliefs extending +all around the four sides of a monument. The figures are of alabaster +or marble, and there are frequently fine brasses on them which bear +the inscriptions. It is interesting to remember that the effigy or +reclining figure of a Crusader always has the legs crossed. + +A flight of black marble steps leads up to Henry VII's Chapel. Betty +thought this reminded her a little of the choir of St. George's Chapel +at Windsor,--and it is true that the two are somewhat similar. To +build this memorial to himself, Henry VII tore down another chapel, +and also an old house in which the poet Chaucer once lived. The +loveliest feature of this chapel is the "fan-tracery" of the ceiling. +Its delicacy and grace are very beautiful! There are wonderfully +carved oak choir-stalls here also, each having been assigned to a +certain Knight of the Order of the Bath, and decorated with the +Knight's armorial bearings. Above each stall is a sword and a banner +of faded colors. The tomb of the founder, Henry VII, and of his wife, +Elizabeth of York, is in the center of the chapel, and surrounded by a +brass screen. George II and several members of his family, Edward VI, +Charles II, William and Mary, Queen Anne and her consort, and +Cromwell, are all buried near by--most of them having no monuments. In +the north aisle of this chapel is the tomb of the great Queen +Elizabeth, and just opposite it, in the south aisle, is that of her +cousin and enemy, poor Mary Queen of Scots. + +Just behind the high altar is the chapel of Edward the Confessor, +containing the once splendid, mediaeval tomb of that sainted King. Its +precious stones have been stolen away now, and the whole is covered +by a gorgeous cloth put there at the coronation of Edward VII. + +"I've seen the tombs of so many kings and queens," exclaimed John, +heaving a sigh, "that I truly can't take in any more. Why, they're so +thick all around here that you can't move without bumping into three +or four of 'em! There's Henry V, and overhead the shield and helmet he +used at Agincourt; and here's Edward I, and Richard II, and Edward +III, and Queen Eleanor, and Queen Philippa. Who was she? Oh, here's +the old Coronation Chair, isn't it?" At sight of this, he once more +became interested. + +This famous old chair was made in the time of Edward I, and every +English sovereign since that day has been crowned in it. Underneath +the seat of the chair is kept the ancient Stone of Scone, which is +said to have been used as a pillow by the patriarch Jacob. Edward I, +in 1297, brought the stone from Scotland as a sign of his power over +that country, and placed it in the Abbey. King Edward III's sword and +shield-of-state stand beside the chair. There is something about these +three objects which makes one stand long before them. They are so +ancient--so deeply impressive--and embody so much of English history +itself. + +In a little room above one of the smaller chapels are found the +curious Wax Effigies. These figures made of wax, and of life size, +were carried at funerals, and were intended to look like the deceased, +and dressed in their clothes. They are very ghastly, robed in their +faded, torn garments, as each peers out from its glass-case. Queen +Elizabeth, Charles II, William and Mary, Queen Anne, General Monk, +William Pitt, and Lord Nelson are among those represented. + +Betty stood before the figure of Queen Elizabeth, whose waxen face is +pinched and worn, and really most horrible to look at. + +"Didn't she die propped up on the floor in all her State robes?" asked +Betty. + +"Yes," was Mrs. Pitt's reply. "It isn't any wonder that she looked +like that, is it? She is said to have been beautiful in her youth, but +later, she became so very ugly that her ladies-in-waiting got false +looking-glasses, for they didn't dare to allow their mistress to see +her wrinkles." + +[Illustration: "OH, HERE'S THE OLD CORONATION CHAIR, ISN'T IT?"--_Page +113._] + +After lingering for a short time in the grand old Abbey, they all +mounted a bus and rode down to Bishopsgate Street to take lunch, at +Crosby Hall.[A] This splendid old example of a London mediaeval palace +(having had a varied career since its great days), is now turned into +a restaurant, and our party took seats at a long table in what was +once the Banqueting-hall. + +[Footnote A: Crosby Hall was taken down in 1908, but is soon to be +re-erected in Chelsea, near the site of the home of Sir Thomas More.] + +"This is really a very historic old house," declared Mrs. Pitt. "It +was built in 1470 by Alderman Sir John Crosby, who died about the time +it was finished, and it passed into the hands of the Duke of +Gloucester, afterwards Richard III. Here, that cruel man had the news +of the successful murder of the little Princes in the Tower, and here +held his great feasts--in this room, I suppose." + +They were all looking about at the lofty hall with its carved oak +ceiling, minstrels' gallery, stained-glass windows, and large +fireplace. + +"This has recently all been restored, and I suppose it gives us a very +slight idea of its past glory. Later on, Sir Thomas More lived here, +and then Philip Sidney's sister, the Countess of Pembroke, owned it. +Shakespeare mentions it in his play of 'Richard III,' you know. In +mediaeval times, there were many great houses in London (Baynard's +Castle and Cold Harbour foremost among them), but all except a little +part of Crosby Hall have disappeared. The owners of these houses, the +wealthy nobles, lived in great magnificence, having four, six, or even +eight hundred servants. Just fancy how large the establishments must +have been! In Queen Elizabeth's day, the French Ambassador was lodged +here with four hundred retainers. At that time, there were more great +palaces in London than there were in Verona, Florence, Venice, and +Genoa, all counted together; but instead of being situated on the +Grand Canal or in a spacious square, the English palaces stood in +narrow, filthy streets, surrounded by the poor hovels of the common +people.--It seems to me that our lunch is a long time coming," she +commented. + +Adjoining Crosby Hall is a very interesting church--St. Helen's, which +has been called the "Westminster Abbey of the City," because of famous +citizens of "the City," who are buried there. Among them is Sir Thomas +Gresham, the great merchant of Queen Elizabeth's reign, who founded +the Royal Exchange, and did much to increase London's trade. The +church--dating mostly from the thirteenth to the fifteenth century--is +very quaint and old. It consists of two parallel naves, divided by +pillars. + +"The church was once connected with an ancient nunnery which covered +the whole square outside. The naves were originally quite separated by +a partition; one side was used by the nuns, and the other by the +regular members of the parish. Shakespeare once lived in St. Helen's +parish, and is charged up on the church books with a sum of something +over five pounds." Mrs. Pitt gave this information as they walked +about, gradually growing accustomed to the dim light. + +"See here, John," whispered Philip; "here's something interesting. +It's this little square hole in the wall, which is called the 'nuns' +squint.' That woman, whom I suppose is the caretaker, has just been +telling me what that means. You see, the nunnery was on this side, or, +at any rate, the part where the nuns slept. When a nun was dying, the +rest would carry her to that little 'squint,' and in that way she +could look through to the church and see the altar." + +Leaving St. Helen's Place, and passing the picturesque, narrow facade +(or front) of Crosby Hall, Mrs. Pitt took them along Cheapside, one of +the most crowded streets of the city. The amount of traffic is +tremendous there, and it is said that sometimes teams are held eight +hours in the alleys before they can get out. They noted Bow Church, +and the site of John Gilpin's house at the corner of Paternoster Row. + +"Oh, is that the John Gilpin in Cowper's poem?" cried John, excitedly. +"He lived here, did he? And where did he ride to?" + +"I believe he went out through Tottenham and Edmonton. Mrs. Gilpin was +at the Bell Inn at Edmonton when she saw her husband fly by. Over the +entrance at the Bell is such a funny picture of the scene! They don't +know just where he went, do they, Mother?" inquired Barbara. + +"No, I rather think not," was Mrs. Pitt's laughing answer. "Let's walk +through Paternoster Row, now. The little bookshops are so old and +quaint! For centuries the booksellers have been loyal to this +locality, but I hear that they are beginning to move elsewhere now. +Here's Amen Corner, and Ave Maria Lane is not far away. In London, +there's a reason for the name of almost every street. The monks, in +walking from the river to St. Paul's, used to be telling their beads +and reciting their prayers all the while. You see, the Ave Maria was +said at this point, and back at the corner came an Amen. In olden +days, the makers of rosaries and paternosters had their shops in the +little street we have just left, as well as the booksellers. The +streets leading off Cheapside show what business was carried on there; +for instance, on the south side are Bread, Candles, Soap, Fish, and +Money-changing; and on the north side are Wood, Milk, Iron, Honey, and +Poultry. By the by, the poet Milton was born in Bread Street. The +ironmongers congregated in Ironmongers Lane; the vintners or +wine-merchants were in the Vintry; and the makers of hosiery in +Hosiery Lane. Now we'll go to Chancery Lane, and pay a short visit to +the Record Office, for there are some things there which I want you to +see." + +The Public Record Office is a modern building, constructed for the +purpose of keeping the valuable State documents and archives, which, +during the present reign, have been moved from the Tower and the +Chapter House of Westminster Abbey. The different departments of +government are continually handing over to the Record Office papers +which are no longer needed for daily use. Among the intensely +interesting treasures of this museum are the logbooks of the Royal +Navy, and dispatches from Marlborough, Wellington, and others. There +are State papers of Wolsey, and Thomas Cromwell, and letters of all +the kings and queens, as well as of Chaucer, the Black Prince, Raleigh +at the Tower, Lady Jane Grey as Queen, Sir Philip Sidney on his +death-bed, and many, many others of equal interest. + +"Why, you'd need a whole week to see all these!" exclaimed Betty, +looking up from her examination of a paper containing the confessions +of Guy Fawkes. + +Mrs. Pitt glanced at her quickly. She was excited, and her face was +flushed. + +"Yes, and we must not stay any longer, for we have seen enough for one +day. I want to show you just one more thing before we go, however, and +this is more wonderful than all the rest. See, it is the great +Doomsday Book!" + +Carefully kept under glass, in cases furnished with dark shades to +pull over when the books are not being examined, are the two large +volumes of what is known as the "Doomsday Book." On the ancient, +yellowed parchment pages, and in strange old characters, are the +records, made at the time of William the Conqueror, of the disposal of +the lands of England among his Norman nobles. It is simply impossible +to believe that it is authentic,--that such a very ancient relic +really can exist! + +They soon felt tired and ready to leave any further examination of the +papers until another visit, however. There are times when all +sight-seers, no matter how enthusiastic, come to a point where for +that day they can appreciate no more. So our party adjourned to a +little tea-shop in Regent Street, and afterwards, to make a few +purchases at that fascinating shop,--Liberty's. + + + + +CHAPTER TEN + +RICHMOND AND HAMPTON COURT PALACE + + +"Well, I really don't care much how long the boat is in coming," +exclaimed Betty delightedly. "It's such fun to watch all the other +boats going up and down the river, and to look up at busy Westminster +Bridge!" + +Our friends were at the little landing in the shadow of the +above-mentioned bridge, awaiting the arrival of the steamer which was +to carry them to Kew Gardens. It was early morning, and the distant +roar of the traffic from the great bridge above reached them together +with the shrill whistles of all the different river craft. + +"Hey! There goes _Sir Walter Raleigh_ under the bridge there! I can +see the name just as plainly! And,--well I never!--there come _Lady +Jane Grey_ and _Sir Thomas More_! Do all the boats have names like +that? Wonder how the great people would like it if they knew! _Sir +Thomas_ is an express; he's on official business this morning, and +isn't going to stop! Now! here comes _Queen Elizabeth_ herself! +Nothing less than a queen for me! I hope we'll take her!" John cried +excitedly. + +The _Queen Elizabeth_ did prove to be the Kew and Hampton Court boat, +so when the gangway was put across, the five went on board and took +some comfortable seats in the bow. + +"Now, there are a number of things which I wish to point out to you +right away," remarked Mrs. Pitt, "so please be very attentive for a +few moments. Just as soon as we are started and go under Westminster +Bridge here, you will have the most beautiful view of the Houses of +Parliament, on your right. There! See if the great building isn't +graceful from here! And isn't its river-front imposing with all the +statues of the sovereigns! + +"Now! Quickly! Look to the left, and see the building with the gateway +and square, blackened towers and battlements. That's Lambeth Palace," +she added, "which has been the residence of the Archbishops of +Canterbury (or the 'Primates of England,' as they are called) for six +hundred years. It's a delightful old place, with its fine library, and +its several court-yards! It's very historic as well, for in one of +those towers, according to some people, the Lollards or followers of +the religious reformer, Wycliffe, are said to have been tortured. +Queen Elizabeth's favorite, the unfortunate Earl of Essex, was +imprisoned there, too. + +"Here on our left was the famous amusement-park, Vauxhall, which was +so popular in the eighteenth century. Some day when you read +Thackeray's novels you will find it mentioned. There on the right is +Chelsea, where was Sir Thomas More's home. I think his grounds +bordered on the river, and he used to walk down to the bank, step into +his boat, and his son would row him to the city. At his house there he +was often visited by Henry VIII, Holbein, and the great Dutch scholar, +Erasmus. Just behind those trees is Cheyne Walk, where Thomas +Carlyle's house still stands. (There's the old Chelsea Church, which +is most interesting, and Chelsea Hospital for old pensioners.) There +have been many famous residents of Chelsea in more recent days; among +them George Eliot, the great novelist, who died there; Edward +Burne-Jones, the artist; Rossetti, the poet; Swinburne, Meredith, and +Whistler. There! now I'll leave you in peace to enjoy your boat-ride, +and the music." + +They now came to a part of the river which is neither especially +historic nor attractive, and the young people amused themselves for a +while in talking, or listening to the rather crude music of some old +musicians on the boat. It was not long, however, before the banks +again became green and beautiful, and they passed odd little villages, +and comfortable country-houses, whose smooth terraces slope down to +the river. On the arrival of the boat at Kew, they went on shore and +walked towards the celebrated Gardens. + +"Have Kew Gardens any story or history to them, or are they just +famous because of their flowers?" inquired Betty, as they passed +through the gateway, and caught glimpses of bright blossoms within. + +"Oh, rather!" replied Mrs. Pitt. "You'll find plenty of history about +here, Betty. Let's look at the flowers first, though." + +Kew Gardens are most immaculately cared for. Wide gravel-paths stretch +between the wonderful lawns, which are dotted with flower-beds of all +shapes. There are hot-houses containing tropical plants, and in the +"Rock Garden" is a pond where there are pelicans and other strange +water birds. The party spent an hour very happily in wandering about, +admiring the beautiful views as they went. Best of all were the +rhododendrons, which were glorious at this season in their riot of +pink, deep rose color, and lavender. Betty, who dearly loved flowers, +could hardly be enticed away from that fascinating spot, and was only +persuaded at mention of the old palace, which she had not yet seen. + +When she reached it, she was rather disappointed. Kew Palace is not +large, and altogether, is quite unlike a palace, although it was the +favorite residence of George III and his queen, who died there in +1818. + +"It just looks like any old red-brick Tudor house, which hasn't any +history at all. Even its rooms are all empty, and it isn't the kind of +a palace I like!" Betty declared in injured tones. + +"Well, cheer up, Betty; we're going to Hampton Court Palace soon, and +I guess that'll suit you all right. Is this where we take the tram, +Mrs. Pitt? There's one coming now!" John ran out into the road and +gesticulated frantically, so that the motorman would be sure to stop. +That dignified English personage looked rather surprised, but John did +not care. He liked to take the lead, and to make himself useful +whenever it was possible. + +The ride was not quite as enjoyable as they had hoped, because of a +very high wind. Upon their perch at the top of the tram, it required +about all their attention to keep their hats and other belongings from +blowing away. On the whole, they were quite content to get off at the +bridge at Richmond, and walk up the long hill to the famous Star and +Garter Inn. + +"This hill seems longer than ever to-day, Mother," Barbara complained. +"When we reach that lovely surprise view (you know where I mean), +let's sit down and admire it while we rest a bit." + +"Very well, we will," her mother panted; "we're nearly there now." + +The view to which Barbara and her mother referred proved to be really +very beautiful. On one side of the hill is a little park from which a +precipice descends to the river. Looking through an opening in the +luxuriant foliage of the trees (an opening which takes the place of a +picture-frame), one sees a glorious view of the green valley below, +through which the lazy Thames winds dreamily; and if the day is clear, +Windsor Castle may just be discerned in the distance. + +"Philip, you and John go and engage one of those drivers over opposite +the hotel, to take us for a little drive in the Park; as soon as I +order our luncheon, I'll be out again to go along." With that, Mrs. +Pitt disappeared for a few moments into the Star and Garter. + +Richmond Park is a favorite resort for tourists, and driving and +bicycle parties. It contains some fine old trees, and a great many +deer which add to its attractiveness. Mrs. Pitt directed the coachman +not to drive about much, however, but to show them two points of +interest. + +"This is the 'King's Mound,'" she observed, as the horses slowed down. +"Yes, that little low mound of earth just this side of the clump of +trees. I'll admit that it looks uninteresting enough; but it is known +as the spot where Henry VIII stood while listening for the sound of +the gun at the Tower, which told him of the execution of Anne Boleyn." + +"Ugh!" Betty interposed, in disgusted tones, giving a little shudder. +"Think how he must have felt! Horrid old thing!" + +"Don't be silly, Betty!" retorted John. "I guess a little thing like +that wouldn't trouble him!" + +Almost in the center of the Park is a house called White Lodge, which +has long been a royal residence. It is approached by an avenue, which +was the scene of Jeanie Deans's interview with Queen Caroline, as +Scott describes it in his "Heart of Midlothian." + +Their lunch was quickly over, and they were again on their way down +the long hill. In the town of Richmond, they mounted another tram for +the forty-minute ride to Hampton Court. + +"If we only had had a bit more time," Mrs. Pitt apologized, "I should +have shown you what still remains of the famous old palace of +Richmond. Henry VIII and Elizabeth both held their courts there often, +and there the latter died in 1603. The palace was destroyed by order +of Parliament in 1649; only a small part of it was spared, and in that +the widow of Charles I, poor Queen Henrietta Maria, was allowed to +live. Are you getting plenty of history, Betty, my dear?" + +"Oh, yes, but I'm always ready for more," smiled that young lady in +response. + +The tram set them down very near the great palace of Hampton Court. +They went quickly through the entrance-gates of wrought iron, and +walked towards the building itself. This West Front is as Wolsey left +it, and is made of the old crimson bricks, with here and there a black +one. Passing under the gatehouse, they came into the Green or Base +Court, and here they paused to look about them. + +"You'll remember that the great and powerful Cardinal Wolsey built +Hampton Court," suggested Mrs. Pitt. "He lived in regal state, and had +almost as large a retinue of servants and followers as the King +himself. To gratify his great love for splendor and luxury, he built +this magnificent residence for himself. He was in need of a home a +little removed from the city, where he could rest and enjoy the fresh +air. Yet it was also accessible to London, for he could be rowed up +the river in his barge. Wolsey's two great ambitions--wealth and +power--were both gratified, and for a while all went well; but time +brought the King's displeasure, and it was he who took possession at +Hampton Court after the complete disgrace which led to the death of +the Cardinal. Henry VIII tore down some of Wolsey's buildings, and put +up new ones in their stead; and other monarchs added portions also; +for instance, the huge State Apartments were erected under the +supervision of Sir Christopher Wren, and by order of King William III. +We shall see all these later on. Have you noticed those little oriel +windows of the gatehouse? They are the originals of Wolsey's palace, +and I think this court here is also much the same as he built it. In +his day there were pretty latticed windows in these surrounding +buildings, a grass plot in the center, and around these narrow +passages Wolsey probably rode on his ass." + +"Ass!" cried John. "What for? With all his money, couldn't he even +have a horse?" + +"Oh, rather!" Mrs. Pitt laughed. "No doubt Wolsey would have liked +one, but he was wise enough to always follow custom in such matters as +had to do with his outward appearance and attitude. All religious men +rode on asses; it was the habit of the day. Now, come this way, and +see the Great Hall. Oh, Philip! Please fetch me my umbrella; I left it +on the step in the court, there!" + +Leading into the second or Clock Court, is Anne Boleyn's gateway. +Under this is a broad flight of stairs which takes one to the Great +Hall, erected by Henry VIII, probably on the site of Wolsey's earlier +hall. It is a grand old room with a fine timber roof, and complete +with its dais or raised platform at the end, its minstrels' gallery +over the entrance doors, its old tapestries, stags' heads, and suits +of armor, and its windows mostly filled with modern stained-glass. Out +of the hall are two smaller apartments, which also contain good +tapestries. From here, the visitor again descends to Anne Boleyn's +gateway. + +"What a funny old clock!" exclaimed Betty, spying it, up above on the +tower under which they had just passed. "It seems to be so mixed up, +somehow, that I can't tell the time by it." + +"It is curious! It's Henry VIII's Astronomical Clock; it has all sorts +of appliances and strange attachments. That's why you can't read it. +It was recently repaired and set going again." + +"The King's Grand Staircase" is broad, stately, and quite as +impressive as its name, and this leads to the pompous State +Apartments. These great square rooms, one opening out of another, +seemed endless to the young people, and contained no attractions for +them. The walls are covered with pictures, some of which are fine, but +there are so many which are very similar that even Sir Peter Lely, +Holbein, and Van Dyck become hopelessly tiresome. These rooms also +contain some old furniture which is interesting, but on the whole, the +best thing about them is the ever charming view of the gardens from +the windows. The visitor may enter one tiny room called "Wolsey's +Closet," which is deeply impressive with its paneled walls and ancient +ceiling. The very atmosphere of the sixteenth century still seems to +linger here, and one can easily believe that nothing herein has been +changed since the great Cardinal used it daily. Near this is a long +gallery which is supposed to be haunted by the ghost of Queen +Catharine Howard. After the dullness of the State Apartments, this +possessed great interest for the boys, and they lingered here as long +as Mrs. Pitt would allow. They were forced to come away disappointed, +however, without having heard even one little scream. + +"You'd better spend the night here, John," remarked Philip, in teasing +tones. "That's the proper time to see and hear ghosts." John decided +not to wait, however. + +Of all the one thousand rooms of the great palace, they saw only one +more, and that was Henry VIII's Gothic Chapel, gorgeous in its fine +carving and gilding, and in which the magnificent ceremony of the +baptism of Prince Edward, afterwards Edward VI, was held. + +The gardens of Hampton Court are perhaps better known and enjoyed than +the palace itself. They are very extensive, and are laid out in the +French style. Directly before the long front of William III's +addition, is a great round basin with a fountain, and beyond stretches +the "Long Canal,"--a straight and narrow artificial pond, bordered by +very beautiful trees. Then there is the "Home Park" on either side of +the canal; here Henry VIII and Catharine Howard probably wandered +often during their long honeymoon at Hampton Court; and here William +III was riding on the day when he was thrown from his horse and +killed. + +There is what is called the "Wilderness,"--in reality a maze--which +was greatly enjoyed by the party; and nearer the palace, again, is the +tennis-court, where that game has been played for three centuries and +a half. Some of the players here have been Henry VIII, the Earl of +Leicester, Charles I, Charles II, and the present King, Edward VII, +when he was Prince of Wales. + +"And didn't that American, Pettitt, play here?" inquired John. "He won +the World's Championship in England, you know. Yes, I thought it was +here, though the word Hampton Court never meant much to me before +to-day." + +There is still the remarkable Hampton Court Vine, the fame of which +has spread so far. The vine fills a whole greenhouse, and one of its +branches is a hundred and fourteen feet long. The attendant told Betty +that the crop consists of about eight hundred bunches, each one +weighing a pound. Having duly marveled at this, they explored Queen +Mary's lovely bower or arbor, where that Queen used to sit with her +ladies at the tapestry-frames. + +"Dear me, let's go back now!" said Betty. "I'm sure we've been miles +over these grounds." + +So they walked along the paths where Henry VIII made love to Anne +Boleyn and Catharine Howard, where Queen Elizabeth took her morning +walks, and where Pope, Swift, Addison, and Walpole wandered in more +recent days. + +"I think I haven't mentioned Cromwell to you in connection with +Hampton Court, but he must not be forgotten, for he came here after he +was made Protector, and lived with as much pomp and splendor as any +king. Every time I visit this palace I marvel at the amount of history +with which it is connected, and at the number of scenes for which it +was the setting!" + +As she spoke, Mrs. Pitt was leading the way to the railroad-station. A +London train came along very soon, fortunately, but they ran up and +down in vain looking for seats in their customary third-class +compartment. These were all crowded, the following day being a "bank +holiday," so when the guard at last came to their rescue, he put them +in a first-class compartment. This greatly interested John and Betty, +as they had not seen one before. + +[Illustration: "EVERY TIME I VISIT THE PALACE I MARVEL AT THE AMOUNT +OF HISTORY WITH WHICH IT IS CONNECTED."--_Page 136._] + +"It isn't so very different, after all," commented Betty. "The +cushions are a little nicer, and there's carpet on the floor, but +that's the only change from an ordinary third-class carriage." + +"I know it," said Philip. "And most English people never think of +traveling first-class except on a long journey; for it really is very +little better, and the price is so ruinously dear!" + + + + +CHAPTER ELEVEN + +STRATFORD-ON-AVON + + +"We're going to stay in a really, truly old inn at last, aren't we!" +Betty gave a sigh of satisfaction and walked rapidly along by Mrs. +Pitt's side, as that lady led the way from the station at Stratford to +the famous Red Horse Hotel. + +"Stratford is exactly like any other little English town," John was +commenting to Philip. "There are plenty of new houses made of shiny, +red bricks, and all put close together in blocks, with their tiny +lawns and gardens in front. I suppose they build that way even in the +small towns, because you haven't as much room to spread out as we have +in America. Too bad, though, I say! Makes a little town look just like +a big city, only smaller. I thought Stratford would be different!" His +tones betrayed not a little disappointment. + +As they came into the central and older part of the town, however, +even John was forced to admit that it was "different," after all. +Along Stratford's narrow, clean little streets stand many old houses +adorned with great oak timbers, quaint inscriptions, and carvings; and +quicker than all else, the sight of these, remaining here and there +between the more modern structures, makes one feel the antiquity of +the place. These houses totter a little, and lean their upper stories +over the street,--perhaps with a kind of curiosity to see better the +strange and more and more startling scenes which the centuries bring +forth. For instance, what must these ancient houses, which perchance +witnessed the passing of some splendid pageant of the "spacious times +of Queen Elizabeth," think of the bustle and prosperous commercial air +which the town has gradually taken on? What of the sight-seers whose +automobiles go tearing along, uttering weird and frightful sounds? No +wonder the old houses stand on tiptoe and bend farther and farther +over the street in their amazement and horror! + +The young people were delighted with the odd little Red Horse Hotel. +As it was market-day, the wide street before it was crowded with +people, and down the middle was a row of queer, covered wagons, in +which the farmers bring their produce, and which are used as stalls on +arrival at the market-place. The little hotel is severely plain and +square, and has a passage leading into an old-time court-yard. Inside, +it has quaint little rooms filled with antique furniture, narrow +corridors, and uneven floors, with here a step up, and there two steps +down. Leaving their luggage in the rooms assigned to them, the party +immediately set out for "the Birthplace," as all Stratford people +invariably call the famous Shakespeare house on Henley Street. + +"Is that it!" gasped John, as they stood on the opposite side of the +way and gazed across at the first home of the great Poet. "Why, I +didn't suppose it was as big as that! And it doesn't look old a bit!" + +Shakespeare's birthplace has been too often pictured, and is far too +familiar to all to need any description given it here. Perhaps it does +seem rather larger than we imagined, and the outside certainly looks +surprisingly strong and new. + +[Illustration: "WHY I DIDN'T SUPPOSE IT WAS AS BIG AS THAT!"--_Page +140._] + +"But you know it now belongs to the nation," Mrs. Pitt explained, +"and is always kept in perfect condition. The last restoration was +finished only about fifty or sixty years ago. Although the house was +so completely renewed, the greatest care was used to make it look as +nearly as possible as it did at the time of Shakespeare's birth in +1564. That window above the entrance, with the little diamond panes, +is the original, and is in the room in which the Poet was born." + +Going under the old porch and through the door with its high +threshold, our friends found themselves in the family living-room of +the house. It is low and rather dark, and has whitewashed walls and an +earthen floor. This was in all probability the kitchen and dining-room +as well, and one is reminded of the fact by a huge fireplace which +juts out into the room. In olden times this would have been filled +with great pots and kettles hanging over the fire on cranes. The +chimney is deep enough and wide enough to have two little seats within +it--one on either side. John quickly bent down and seated himself +where he could look straight up the chimney and see a square patch of +blue sky. + +When Mrs. Pitt saw him, she smiled and said, "No doubt, Shakespeare +himself, when he was a small boy, often sat right there with his +brothers and sisters. It must have been very pleasant on cold winter +evenings, to creep into these 'inglenooks,' as they were called, +beside the great blazing fire, and tell stories. I think the children +should have felt themselves very lucky to have such delightfully warm +quarters!" + +From a small entry at the rear of this room, the narrow winding stairs +lead to the floor above. Before going up, Mrs. Pitt wrote their names +in the huge Visitors' Book. Betty was much pleased to find, while +carelessly turning its pages, the name of a girl friend who had been +in England the previous summer. + +"How queer that I should see Evelyn's name!" she exclaimed; "but I +guess almost everybody who visits England comes to this house." + +"Aye! We 'ave thousands of visitors 'ere every year, Miss, and the +most of 'em are Americans, it do appear to me! They do be powerful +fond o' Shakespeare!" The attendant shook his head knowingly as he +gave Betty this information. + +One of the most interesting rooms in the whole world is that chamber +on the second floor in which the great Shakespeare was born. In +itself, it is not in any way remarkable; it contains but a chair or +two, and an old table, which holds a bust of the Poet. But its plaster +walls, low ceiling, and even its window-panes, are inscribed with the +names of great people,--poets, authors, statesmen, men of all +countries, occupations, and beliefs,--who have journeyed here to pay +their tribute to the greatest of all poets and writers. + +"Whenever I meet people who believe that Lord Bacon or any other man +wrote Shakespeare's plays, I never discuss the question with them, for +I have no arguments to withstand their claims," said Mrs. Pitt +intently. "I only remind myself that if such men as Browning, +Thackeray, Kean, Scott, and Carlyle, who have all left their +signatures here, believed that the 'immortal Shakespeare' wrote his +own plays, I can feel safe in believing so, too. Therefore I want you +to understand, children, that you are standing in the room where +Shakespeare was born, and be glad all your lives when you remember +that you have seen it." + +The other room on the second floor--a kind of attic--contains an +important picture of Shakespeare. It is called the "Stratford +Portrait," as it was discovered in that native town, and it is now +thought to have been painted in the eighteenth century, from a bust. + +The Shakespeare house is double. In the other half, which is now a +museum, John Shakespeare, the father of the Poet, used to have his +shop and carry on his trade, or trades, for, like many people at that +time, he had several. This museum now contains many relics of +Shakespeare, which are more or less authentic, as well as a large +number of First Editions of his plays. The young people were +interested in an old desk, much scratched and marred, which it is +supposed that the Poet used when at the Guild School. It is not clear +whether it was when he was a pupil there, or at the time he was +"Junior Master," as he is thought to have been by some. The desk is +long and narrow, having but one little opening into which a hand could +be reached to pull out the books. It occurred to John that it would +have been a very convenient place to hide apples or pickles, or any +such forbidden articles, as the master could never even suspect their +existence in that dark interior. + +"You will see where that desk once stood," remarked Mrs. Pitt, "for +later, I shall show you the old Guild Hall, and the room where the +Stratford boys had their lessons. Now, we are all hungry, and we'll go +straight to the Shakespeare Hotel and have some luncheon. Don't you +all approve that plan?" + +Before leaving "the Birthplace," it must be remembered that there +exists a really very picturesque old English garden. In it were +planted, about fifty years ago, a quantity of the flowers which are +mentioned in the plays of Shakespeare, and the result is a very lovely +mass of brightly-colored, old-fashioned flowers. + +At the Shakespeare Hotel, they were served a typically English +luncheon of mutton, peas seasoned with mint, greens, and afterwards a +"gooseberry tart." John and Betty were in gales of laughter when the +shy, rosy-cheeked maid asked if they would have some "jammed fingers." + +"What in the world does she mean?" inquired Betty, between her +giggles. + +"I don't know, I am sure. Do you, Barbara? Oh, yes I do! Probably she +means 'jam fingers.' I have heard the name. Please bring us some," +Mrs. Pitt requested. + +The "jammed fingers" proved to be long strips of pastry with jam +between. They were very good, and John and Betty much preferred them +to the sour gooseberries, to which they had not taken at all kindly. + +The Shakespeare Hotel is much like its neighbor, the Red Horse, except +for the fact that each room bears the name of one of Shakespeare's +plays. + +"How lovely it would be to sleep in the 'Romeo and Juliet' room,--if +there is one!" Betty sighed. "I almost wish we had planned to stay +here, although I do want to write letters on the table in Washington +Irving's room at the Red Horse!" + +Very near the Shakespeare Hotel is what is known as the "John Harvard +House,"[B]--more accurately, the girlhood home of the mother of John +Harvard. It is high and narrow, but fully as picturesque as is the +nearby Tudor House, which is large and square. Both are excellent +examples of Elizabethan houses, and are very quaint and pretty. The +lower floor of the Tudor House is a most fascinating shop, in which +one may find a really astonishing number of post-cards, books, +pictures, and little souvenirs relating to Shakespeare. + +[Footnote B: This has just recently been restored and presented to +Harvard College. The old house will in the future serve as a +rendezvous for visiting Americans.] + +"Seems to me, everything, from the hotel to the cheapest post-card, +has the name of Shakespeare attached to it somehow!" + +"You are quite right, John!" agreed Mrs. Pitt. "The modern town has +grown up and literally lives upon Shakespeare! Without him, and the +immense number of visitors which his memory brings, Stratford could +hardly exist at all, as there are no factories or important industries +here." + +A long, beautiful afternoon of sight-seeing followed. First, came a +visit to the site of Shakespeare's home of New Place, to see the old +foundations. As they stood looking down at the few pathetic remains, +Mrs. Pitt explained how the house happened to be pulled down. + +"It was shameful!" she cried indignantly. "I dislike to think of the +man who was responsible for its destruction. The house was an old +one, even in Shakespeare's day, as it was probably erected in 1490 by +Sir Hugh Clopton. A historian named Leland of the sixteenth century +says this about New Place and its surroundings: 'There is a right +goodly chappell, in a fayre street towardes the south ende of the +towne dedicated to the Trinitye; this chappell was newly re-edified by +one Hugh Clopton, Mayor of London; this Hugh Clopton builded also by +the north side of this chappell a praty house of brick and tymbre, +wherein he lived in his latter dayes and dyed.' To appreciate that +fully, you should see the queer old spelling! Well, to continue, +Shakespeare left New Place to his eldest daughter, Susanna Hall, and I +don't know just how long it remained in the family. However, at length +it was in the possession of the Rev. Francis Gastrell, who cut down +Shakespeare's celebrated mulberry-tree because too many visitors +troubled him by coming there to see it. In 1759, he became so angry in +a quarrel about the taxes imposed upon New Place, that he had it torn +down and the material sold. I can never forgive him for that! It seems +to me that I never knew of anger having led to a more outrageously +unjust and deplorable act!" Mrs. Pitt's eyes flashed, and her face +was flushed from her feeling of what one might almost be pardoned for +terming "righteous indignation." + +Leaving New Place, they turned into Chapel Lane, which borders on one +side the grounds formerly belonging to the Poet's estate. + +"Let me give you just a little description of this street in +Shakespeare's time," Mrs. Pitt reflected. "You must know that sanitary +conditions were fearful then, and that Stratford was as bad, if not +worse, than other towns in that respect. Even as late as 1769, when +Garrick visited here, he considered it 'the most dirty, unseemly, +ill-paved, wretched-looking town in all Britain.' The people had +absolutely no idea of cleanliness. In Stratford, there were six places +where it was lawful to dump rubbish,--right in the street! Just fancy! +Sometimes these dumps prevented a man from making his way about the +town. Chapel Lane was considered the worst part of the whole place, +for besides the fact that there was a dump here, the neighbors in the +vicinity seemed to be more than usually untidy and +shiftless,--allowing their pigs to wander about loose, for instance. +That was the kind of street which Shakespeare must have entered every +time he left his own house. Think of it! Some people have, I believe, +attributed his early death to the unhealthful conditions of his +surroundings. Inside the homes, things were but little better. People +laid rushes on the floor in the place of carpets, and these became +filthy from dirt, mud, and other things which clung to them. Fresh +rushes were brought but seldom. The churches were not often swept or +cleaned, either. Once, when the roof of the Guild Chapel was being +repaired, a certain man and his wife were appointed to sweep the +interior and clear away the cobwebs. A widow used to sweep the +market-place. She was provided with her utensils,--a shovel, +broom-stick, and bundle of twigs--and was paid six shillings and +eightpence a year. How carefully and how often do you suppose she +swept? Dear me! I sometimes have wished that I had lived in Queen +Elizabeth's age, but when I remember some of the terrible +circumstances of that time, I cannot be too thankful that I live in +the twentieth century!" + +They had been standing before the old Guild Hall for some few minutes +while Mrs. Pitt finished what she was saying. They now turned to +admire and examine it more closely. It is a building of plaster and +huge timbers, long and low, with a second story projecting slightly +over the lower. The old hall on the ground floor is said to be where +the boy Shakespeare first saw a play. A room just above it was the +Grammar School, which Shakespeare probably attended for five years, +and where the desk shown at "the Birthplace" may have been used by +him. + +"It was rather different going to school in those days!" declared Mrs. +Pitt. "The hours were very long, the lessons hard, and the masters +strict, and not unwilling to use the rod for the slightest +misdemeanor. There have been terrible stories of boys being much hurt, +or even killed as a result of this practice. The pupils sat on narrow +benches, their heavy books propped up before them on long tables. It +must have been very hard to stay here in this dark room and listen to +the master's voice reciting monotonous Latin, while birds sang and the +fair world of an English summer was just out of reach. If Shakespeare +was a real boy,--and we think he was--he was surely describing his own +feelings when he wrote the lines in 'As You Like It' about: + + 'The whining schoolboy, with his satchel, + And shining morning face, creeping like snail + Unwillingly to school,--'" + +As they had already walked a good deal that day, Mrs. Pitt found a +carriage, and they drove to Trinity Church and the Shakespeare +Memorial. On the way, the driver pointed out the home of Marie +Corelli, the writer. It is an attractive, square house, which presents +a very gay appearance, with a box of bright flowers on every +window-ledge. + +Trinity Church stands close beside the picturesque Avon. The waters +flow gently against the rushes, making a soft music, and the breeze +just stirs the leaves of the tall trees which keep guard over the +graves in the church-yard. One feels something of the peace and quiet +of Stoke Poges, but here the presence,--or, rather, the memory--of the +great Shakespeare hovers over all, and every one hastens inside to see +the tomb. + +The church is ancient--in part dating from the twelfth century--and it +contains many interesting monuments, but somehow the whole seems like +one huge memorial to Shakespeare. On the floor, at one side of the +chancel, is the slab which marks the Poet's grave, and which bears the +famous epitaph, said to have been written by himself: + + "Good frend; for Jesus' sake forbeare + To digg the dust encloased heare; + Bleste be y{e} man y{e} spares thes stones, + And curst be he y{t} moves my bones." + +On the wall above the tomb is the monument,--a bust of Shakespeare, on +which the original colors have recently been restored. Nearby are +buried Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare's wife, his daughter, Susanna Hall, +and her husband, and other members of the family. + +For some minutes our party stood quietly looking over the altar-rail +at the grave and its inscription, but finally, the arrival of some +loud-voiced, laughing tourists, who conscientiously made fun of +everything they saw, caused them to turn away. + +Mrs. Pitt then called their attention to some of the stained-glass +windows. "Two of them were given by Americans," she said. "This one +here pictures the Seven Ages of Man, which Shakespeare describes in +'As You Like It,' Do you see? Now come to the back of the church and +look at the parish register, which contains the record of the baptism +and burial of Shakespeare. Here it is." + +A glass case holds this precious relic, and by studying carefully the +quaint old writing, the words "Shakespeare" and the dates can be +traced. + +"Think how fortunate that this register was preserved!" exclaimed Mrs. +Pitt, leaning over to examine it again. "Important records of births, +marriages, and deaths, as well as notable events, were always kept in +these books, and yet the people generally did not consider them of +much value. The parchment leaves were often torn out and used to +rebind schoolbooks, or to line a housewife's cooking-utensils! Fancy! +Some vergers, however, recognized the great worth of these books and +preserved them with care. Luckily the men of this church were of that +type." + +Here the modern verger, in his flowing black gown, accosted them, and +urged them to buy some of the Shakespeare Post-cards, at a shilling +each. Having purchased several, and posted them then and there to +various friends, they left the church and walked down the lovely path, +shaded by arching lime-trees. They then drove to the Shakespeare +Memorial, which also stands near the river. + +This large, irregular building of red brick and stone, with its one +high tower, was erected in 1879. In it is a theatre where plays are +given every spring, on the anniversary of Shakespeare's birth, as well +as at certain other times. The children were amused at seeing a +rehearsal in progress on the stage. + +"How absurd Lady Macbeth does look strutting about and clasping her +hands, dressed in that black skirt, shirt-waist, and sailor hat!" +Betty laughed. + +In this Memorial Building are many photographs and paintings of +celebrated actors and actresses in Shakespearean roles, as well as a +very fine library. There is so much to be seen here--so much +detail--that our friends only took a very hasty look about, and then +went up into the tower to see the view. Stretched out below them, the +quaint little town of Stratford and the lovely green meadows through +which the Avon flows, made a very effective picture! + +It was now late afternoon, and the sun was getting lower and lower. +They did not feel like doing any more real sight-seeing, yet it was +still too delightful out-of-doors to return to the hotel, so Mrs. +Pitt, who always had some fascinating plan ready, suggested that they +walk through the Weir Brake. + +"What's that, Mother? You never took us there!" exclaimed Barbara. + +"Didn't I? Well, I'll show it to you, and I am sure you will like it, +too," their mother promised. "Come on! We'll cross this little +foot-bridge, and go along the opposite bank." + +The view of Holy Trinity Church from across the river is very +charming. The luxuriant foliage almost hides it except for the old +gray spire, which rises most gracefully above the tree-tops. They +strolled happily along over the rough field, Betty stopping sometimes +to gather a few attractive blossoms to add to her bunch of +wildflowers. The light was wonderfully soft and lovely, and the sun +had gone down only to leave behind it a sky glorious in its tints of +pink and lavender, with the deep blue still remaining above. + +"Now, we're coming to the Weir Brake!" announced Mrs. Pitt +triumphantly. "Take care, Barbara! Don't trip over that stump!" + +They followed their guide over a stile, across a field where the smell +of new-mown hay was sweet, through some bars, and finally along a +narrow, rough path on a steep bank close to the Avon. This was the +beginning of the Weir Brake, where Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway may +perhaps have done their courting, as Mrs. Pitt suggested. + +The Avon is narrow at this point, and flows rather swiftly. The sunset +sky was reflected in its waters, which were overshadowed by willow +trees, rushes, and ferns. On the bank was a tangle of underbrush and +wild flowers, and above, the great trees,--the elms, of which +Shakespeare so often speaks. As they rambled on and on, the trees +seemed to grow larger, and more and more gnarled and picturesque. + +"Oh! Can't you just see Titania and Oberon and all the other fairies +dancing here and playing games about these trees! It looks exactly +like a stage-setting for 'As You Like It' or 'Midsummer Night's +Dream,'" exclaimed Betty, who was fascinated with what she saw. The +evening was just dark enough to produce a weird but beautiful effect +of shadows under the elm trees. + +"I'm rejoiced that it appeals to you so, Betty!" cried Mrs. Pitt. +"That's just as I always feel! It seems as though you could actually +touch spots of which Shakespeare must have been thinking when he wrote +certain passages. And it is a fact that he did often have this or +similar places in mind; for, although the scene of 'A Midsummer +Night's Dream' was supposed to be in Greece, Shakespeare allowed his +characters and his entire background to be as absolutely English as he +was himself. You know that in olden times, the Forest of Arden covered +much of Warwickshire; even these old trees with which we are now +surrounded, are remnants of that splendid woodland which is so +familiar to us through Shakespeare. It was surely in just such a scene +that Titania and the other fairies danced, and where Snug, Bottom, +Flute, Snout, and the rest came to practice their play,--those +so-called Athenians, who were so exactly like Stratford tradesmen of +Shakespeare's day. Certainly it was under just such trees that Hermia, +and Helena, Lysander, and Demetrius wandered! + +"And see there where those branches touch the water," she soon +continued; "might not that have been the very place where poor Ophelia +lost her life? Listen! + + 'There is a willow grows aslant a brook, + That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;' + +Isn't that a perfect description of this very spot? And then: + + 'I know a bank whereon the wild thyme blows, + Where oxslips and the nodding violet grows,--' + +Just see the violets all about us here! There are the 'pale +cowslips,' too! Do you see? Oh, it's wonderful,--wonderful to find so +many of the very flowers which Shakespeare loved and talked of so +much!--the daisy, the musk-rose and woodbine! There's some right by +your foot, Betty. But come, come, we really must go now! We'll go back +by the field above, where it is not so steep and dark. Come, John!" + +So they hurriedly retraced their steps toward the town. In skirting +the fields on the hill-top, they once had to pick their way with some +difficulty through holes in bristling hedges, and Mrs. Pitt and the +girls were forced to run away from a buck, but these were little +incidents to which they were all quite equal, and they arrived at the +Red Horse Hotel, nothing daunted, just as the dinner-gong sounded +loudly. + + + + +CHAPTER TWELVE + +A DAY IN WARWICKSHIRE + + +Betty did spend the evening "writing letters in Washington Irving's +room at the Red Horse," as she had planned. It was in that quaint, +tiny parlor that Irving wrote his well-known paper about +Stratford-on-Avon, and perhaps Betty hoped to benefit by the literary +atmosphere. At any rate, the letters were accomplished with great ease +and rapidity, after her curiosity had been satisfied by an examination +of the room. + +Washington Irving's armchair is there, and the old poker with which he +is said to have tended the fire. On the walls hang the pictures of a +number of actors and actresses who have played Shakespearean parts. +Except for these, the room differs very little from the rest of the +inn. About nine-thirty, the children started up to bed, Betty, +enthusiastic at the prospect of a high four-poster, which "you really +have to run and give a jump to get into." She and Barbara did not +stay long awake to enjoy it, however, for it seemed as though their +heads had hardly touched the pillows before the maid was calling them, +and the bright sun was pouring in at the windows. + +Very early they set out to walk "across the fields to Anne." The +little village of Shottery, where stands the cottage known all the +world over as "Anne Hathaway's," is only about a mile distant from +Stratford, and our party gayly took the path through the +fields,--perhaps the very one over which Shakespeare trod when he was +Anne's lover. This led them first past the "back-yards" of Stratford, +then over a stile and through the green meadows, where daisies and +cowslips abound. As they went along, Mrs. Pitt repeated to them the +following little verse from Shakespeare's "Winter's Tale": + + "Jog on, jog on, the footpath way, + And merrily hent the stile-a; + A merry heart goes all the way, + Your sad tires in a mile-a." + +The boys learned this, and half-chanted, half-sang it over and over +while they all kept time to the rhythm. + +"There's Shottery, I guess!" Betty called, interrupting the singers, +as she caught sight of a pretty little group of thatched-roofed +cottages. "It seems a very short 'mile-a,' doesn't it!" + +Anne Hathaway's cottage is even more picturesque than its neighbors, +or does this only seem so because of the associations which it has for +all? Every one knows the picture of the cottage. One end stands close +to the country road, and in front of it, behind a green hedge, is the +garden. Growing on the cottage walls are at least half a dozen +different kinds of roses, as well as honeysuckle and jasmine, which +clamber way up and mingle with the heavy thatch. The old +casement-windows with their thick panes of glass were swung open to +let in the morning's fresh air. A young girl dressed in pink and +carrying a broom, appeared on the doorstep as Philip opened the gate. +She was evidently rather surprised to see such early visitors, but she +said they might go in. While Mrs. Pitt paused to speak with her, +Betty, who had already rushed inside, called out: "Here's the old +settle! I know it from its pictures!" + +Sure enough, there it was, close beside the great fireplace,--we hope +just where it has always been ever since Anne Hathaway and +Shakespeare sat there together. + +"But, Mother, is that really the same bench, and did Anne truly live +here?" questioned the all too matter-of-fact Barbara. + +"My dear daughter," began Mrs. Pitt, feigning great severity; "banish +that thought immediately! Just for one little hour we are going to +know that Anne did live here,--that Will said 'Will you?' and Anne +said 'I will,' right on this very bench. I quite refuse to listen to +any doubts on the subject for to-day! You write our names in the book, +please, Philip. I'm going to rest myself here in Anne's +rocking-chair!" + +The girl with the broom looked at her visitor in a puzzled way, and +began,--"But, lady, I brought that chair here with me only----" But +Mrs. Pitt quickly interrupted her, asking some trifling question. Her +illusions were not to be disturbed, it seemed, and the girl beat a +retreat. + +"Well, Mother," said Philip, "you aren't the only one who has ever +believed in the house! Here in this old Visitors' Book are the names +of Dickens, Longfellow, Holmes, General Grant, Edwin Booth, Mary +Anderson, and----" + +[Illustration: "DID ANNE TRULY LIVE HERE?"--_Page 164._] + +"Never mind the rest, Phil; if General Grant said so, it's true! He +knew what he was talking about!" And so John settled the question. + +A flag-stone floor is all this little room can boast of, and a low +ceiling of huge timbers, but it has an air of homelikeness and cosy +comfort, nevertheless. At the windows are flowers which nod to their +cousins out in the garden; some gray knitting usually lies on the +table; and there is the huge fireplace with all its cranes, different +hooks, pots and kettles; and the crowning glory of all, the old oak +settle, upon which every visitor religiously seats himself. + +"Isn't there any upstairs?" demanded John, before many minutes. + +"Oh, yes! May we go up, please?" Mrs. Pitt asked of the attendant. +"Yes, thank you; I know the way, and I'll be careful." + +So they climbed the rickety stairs, and saw a little bedroom under the +eaves, in which stands an old, very forlorn-looking "four-poster." + +"I'm so glad that tiresome, truthful person let us come up alone," +said Mrs. Pitt, panting. "If she had come, too, I could not have +explained that this was Anne's bedroom. She used to sit by this +window and dream about Will, and watch for his coming, too. She----" + +"Don't spoil it all, Mother," pleaded Barbara. "Perhaps it really was +her room!" + +"And didn't I just say as much?" her mother laughed. "But seriously! +This room never appealed to me as does the one below. Anne couldn't +have been very comfortable up here. If she was tall, she could hardly +have stood up straight because of the slanting roof." + +So laughingly, they went downstairs and toward the patch of bright +yellow sun-flowers in the farthest corner of the garden. The young +girl followed them. "Shall I point out the different flowers?" she +timidly inquired. + +They were duly shown the "rosemary for remembrance," the "pansies for +thoughts," and a great many others of Shakespeare's loved flowers. The +view of the cottage from the group of tall sun-flowers is most +charming. There is surely nothing in the world more picturesque than a +thatched-roof. + +Arrived once again at the Red Horse, they all packed up their +belongings, and Mrs. Pitt went over to the station with a boy, who +wheeled the luggage. When the suit-cases were duly labeled +"Leamington," and the station-master had received his tip of a +shilling, to insure his remembering them, Mrs. Pitt returned to the +hotel, where she found five bicycles lined up. At sight of her, the +rest came running out. "This is great!" cried John, already astride +one of the bicycles, and impatient for the start. + +"Yes," answered Mrs. Pitt, much pleased by the enthusiasm. "I thought +this would be rather better than driving out to Charlecote and back, +and then taking the train to Leamington. I know the roads, and am +delighted at riding once more! I had my divided-skirt with me, you +see, in case of this very emergency. You girls will manage somehow; +your skirts are fairly short." This was to Barbara and Betty, and then +they were off. + +The ride of about four miles to Charlecote seemed all too short, for, +as Betty expressed it, "the roads are so smooth and level that I can't +stop. My wheel just goes of itself!" They first came in sight of +Charlecote Park, where there are still great numbers of deer. As the +party passed, the graceful creatures rose from the tall grass, making +an extremely pretty picture. They tried in vain to coax them to the +fence. + +"Deer in Shakespeare's time must have been tamer, or he couldn't have +stolen one," observed John knowingly. + +"Isn't the 'Tumble-down Stile' near here, Mother?" Barbara questioned. + +"Yes, it's just beyond this turn in the road. There it is now! So long +as we are believing all we see to-day, I feel quite justified in +telling you that when the youthful Shakespeare was escaping with his +deer on his shoulders, he fled by way of this stile. Touch that top +rail, John, and see what will happen. No, this end of the rail!" + +As John put his hand on the place which Mrs. Pitt designated, that end +gave way and hit the three other rails, so that they also bent down to +the ground. John was much amused, and repeated the motion again and +again. + +"Did Shakespeare fall over that stile when he was trying to climb it +with the deer, and did they catch him then?" he asked eagerly. + +"Yes, that's the story, and, of course, we know it is true! Now, come +this way to the gatehouse. I was able to get permission, through an +influential friend, to take you inside. I am so glad, for not every +one has such good fortune. This woodland," motioning to the fine old +oaks, as they sped along, "is also a part of the ancient Forest of +Arden. That wood was so dense in this county in the thirteenth +century, that the King ordered the Constable of Warwickshire to cut +down six acres in breadth between Warwick and Coventry, to insure the +greater safety of travelers." + +They were now getting distant glimpses of the fine Elizabethan +residence itself. It was built in 1558, the year of Elizabeth's +accession to the throne, and was made in the general shape of the +letter E, in honor of that Queen. The color of the ancient bricks has +been softened and beautified by the hand of Time, which has also +caused heavy vines to grow upon, and in certain places, almost to +cover the walls. The different courts, gateways, and gables, are +therefore most picturesque. The present owner, a descendant of the Sir +Thomas Lucy whom Shakespeare knew and ridiculed, permits visitors (the +privileged few) to see the Great Hall and the library. + +The former is the most interesting of all the apartments, for here one +stands in the very room where Shakespeare is said to have been +questioned by the pompous Sir Thomas Lucy, after the deer-stealing +episode. This lofty hall has a slight modern atmosphere about it now, +but the dark paneling, bits of really old glass in the windows, and, +above all, the bust of Shakespeare, recall the past very vividly to +mind. + +Most historians admit that there is some truth in the story that +Shakespeare came into unpleasant contact with the Lord of Charlecote, +through a more or less serious boyish prank; but not all believe that +there can be any truth in the statement that he was brought into the +Great Hall by the forester who caught up with him at the "Tumble-down +Stile." It may be, however, that Shakespeare was later on friendly +terms with the Lucy family, and so it is possible that he was then +entertained in the hall. + +"You know," remarked Mrs. Pitt, "that the disgrace of that affair with +Sir Thomas Lucy is thought to have caused Shakespeare to leave his +native town and go to seek his fortune in far-away London. Therefore +the prank is said by some to have been a most important, though +seemingly trivial event in the Poet's life. Shakespeare's revenge +upon the owner of lovely Charlecote came later, when he very plainly +described Sir Thomas in his plays, under the name of 'Justice +Shallow.'" + +Another room at Charlecote is very attractive,--that is, the old +library. There is preserved some wonderful inlaid furniture which +tradition describes as a gift from Queen Elizabeth to Leicester, and +which consequently would once have found a place at Kenilworth Castle. +A very charming view of the lawn sloping gently down to the river is +seen from the library windows. + +Within the precincts of Charlecote is a beautiful church which was +erected by Mrs. Henry Spenser Lucy, in 1852, upon the site of an +ancient chapel. Here there are huge tombs in memory of three Lucys, +and also an interesting monument to the wife of Sir Thomas, with its +tribute to her lovely character, supposed to have been written by +Shakespeare's "Justice Shallow" himself, who seems at least to have +been a devoted husband. This last-mentioned monument was originally a +part of the older edifice, of course. + +It was now about noon, and they were feeling rather hungry, so at a +short distance from Charlecote they selected an inviting place by the +roadside, and there they unpacked the lunch which Mrs. Pitt had +brought. How good it did taste! They all thoroughly enjoyed the +picnic, and when a scarlet automobile went rushing past them, the +ladies' veils fluttering in the breeze, Betty merely remarked:--"An +auto's lovely, of course, but to-day I'd rather have a bicycle. It +seems more appropriate, somehow." + +"Yes," Mrs. Pitt responded. "When you are in such a beautiful county +as this, and want to see it well, a bicycle is best. And then, I think +it is more respectful to Shakespeare to go through his beloved haunts +at a fairly leisurely pace. I imagine that he never would have +understood how any one could care so little for Warwickshire as to go +whirling and jiggling along through it in a motor, at thirty miles an +hour." + +Betty had absent-mindedly picked a daisy from the tall grass in which +she was sitting, and was pulling off its petals, reciting the little +verse about: + + "Rich man, + Poor man, + Beggar man, + Thief." + +"Oh, dear! It's thief!" she cried, making up a wry face. "I'd rather +have any one than that!" + +"Try the other verses," suggested Barbara, entering into the fun. + +"What others?" asked Betty in much surprise. "I didn't know there were +any more." + +"Dear me, yes," Mrs. Pitt broke in. "I used to know several of them +myself,--the one about the house: + + 'Big house, + Little house, + Pig-stye, + Barn,' + +and about the conveyances: + + 'Coach, + Carriage, + Spring-cart, + Wheelbarrow.' + +Wasn't there one more, Barbara? Oh, yes, about the dress materials: + + 'Silk, + Satin, + Muslin, + Rags.'" + +"Well, well!" exclaimed Betty. "I never heard those. They must be just +English." + +"Perhaps so. At any rate, when I was a little girl, I used to say +them, and believe in them, too. I lived here in Warwickshire, in my +childhood, you know; my father was rector of a tiny village not far +from Coventry. There are ever so many queer old rhymes, verses, and +customs still common among Warwickshire children." + +"Tell Betty about some of them, Mother," Barbara urged. "I'm sure that +she'd like to hear, and we don't need to start on just yet." + +Mrs. Pitt leaned thoughtfully against the lowered bars, at the +entrance to a field. "I'll have to think about it," she said; but she +soon added, "There was the 'Wishing Tree.' I remember that." + +"What was it?" the two girls eagerly questioned. John and Philip, +privately considering this talk "silly stuff," had retired to the +farther side of a hay-rick, where they were whittling industriously. + +"The 'Wishing Tree' was a large elm that stood in the park of a +neighboring nobleman's estate. To all the girls of the village, it was +a favorite spot, and we used to steal through the hedge and very +cautiously approach the tree. If the cross old gardener happened to +see us he'd come limping in our direction as fast as his lame legs +could carry him, calling out angrily that if we did not 'shog off +right away, he'd set his ten commandments in our faces.' That's an odd +expression, isn't it? It's very, very old,--so old that Shakespeare +was familiar with it and used it in one of his plays--'King Henry VI,' +I think. The gardener meant that he would scratch us with his ten +fingers--but he wouldn't have, for he was too kind-hearted in spite of +his threats. He was a queer man, with a brown, wrinkled old face. I +can see him just as though it were yesterday." + +"What was that you said?" asked Betty. "'Shog off!' What does it +mean?" + +"Simply Warwickshire for 'Go away,'" was Mrs. Pitt's careless answer. +Her thoughts had gone back to her childhood. + +"You forgot to tell us what the 'Wishing Tree' was for," Betty timidly +suggested, fearful of interrupting her reminiscences. + +"Why, so I did! We would tiptoe all alone up to the tree, and if, +under its wide branches, we made a wish, we thought it was sure to +come true. There was another curious old game of finding out how many +years we were to live, by a ball. We would bounce it upon the hard +ground, and catching it again and again in our hands, would chant all +the while: + + 'Ball-ee, ball-ee, tell me true, + How many years I've got to go through, + One, two, three, four,--' + +If that had proved true, I shouldn't be here to-day to tell of it, +for I was never very skillful with the ball, and could only catch it +ten or fifteen times at the most." + +Mrs. Pitt laughed. "There is so much of ancient folk-lore here in +Warwickshire," she went on. "I remember that the old country people +always crossed themselves or said some charm for a protection, when +one lone magpie flew over their heads. That meant bad luck, for the +verses said: + + 'For one magpie means sorrow, + Two, mirth, + Three, a wedding, + And four, a birth.' + +Why, what is it, Barbara?" + +Barbara had jumped to her feet, and was wildly waving her arms about +her head. "It's only a bee," she said, rather ashamed. "I don't like +them quite so near." + +It was delightful to ride along on this "rare day in June," through +the fair county of Warwickshire,--the "Heart of England." If they were +just a bit uncomfortably warm on the hill-top where the sun beat down +upon the fields and open road, they were soon again in the beautiful +woodland, where the cool air refreshed them, or passing through the +street of some remote village, shaded by giant elms. In each little +hamlet, as well as the row of peaceful thatched cottages, with smoke +curling upwards from their chimneys, there was the ancient +vine-covered church, with perhaps a Norman tower, where the rooks +found a home, and the gray old rectory close at hand. + +When Betty asked if it was in a church "like this" that Mrs. Pitt's +father preached, and if her former home resembled the particular +rectory they then chanced to be passing, Mrs. Pitt replied, "Yes, my +home was somewhat like this one. All English country churches and +rectories look very much alike,--that is, almost all are vine-covered, +and very old and quaint--yet, I think each has its own very distinct +individuality, too." + +Mrs. Pitt, of course, wanted some tea, so about four o'clock they +stopped at a clean little cottage, near a stretch of woodland. Mrs. +Pitt herself dismounted and stepped up to the door, which stood +hospitably open. A little flaxen-haired child ran out curiously at the +sound of the knock, and then, frightened, scampered away to call her +mother. That good woman, in her neat black dress and stiffly-starched +white apron, at once understood the situation. + +"You just seat yourselves there under the trees," she ordered them, +"and I'll bring right out a shive off a loaf of bread, and a tot o' +tea for each of you." + +The young people looked puzzled at this speech, but Mrs. Pitt +smilingly led the way to the place their hostess designated. In a +surprisingly short time the woman brought out a table (having scorned +the assistance of the two boys), spread it with an immaculately clean +cloth, and set thereon a very tempting loaf of brown bread and a pot +of steaming tea. There was also jam, of course. While they enjoyed +their meal, she stood by, her hands on her hips, and a radiant smile +upon her face at the praises of her guests. Every few moments the +little girl would peep out from behind the cottage, and once she +almost came up to the group under the trees; but her mother, when she +spied her, sent her hastily back, saying by way of an apology:--"She's +all swatched, but she's only my reckling, you must know." As they rode +away into the woods, the good woman stood in the middle of the road +waving her table-cloth for good-by. + +"Wasn't she a dandy!" John burst out. "Couldn't understand what she +said, though! Might just as well have been Greek!" + +"She certainly did have some old Warwickshire expressions!" laughed +Mrs. Pitt. "I don't know when I've heard that word 'reckling.' It +simply means her youngest child, who she said was all 'swatched.' That +signifies being untidy, but I am sure I couldn't see the tiniest spot +of dirt anywhere upon the child." + +Betty was rather glad when they at last jumped off their bicycles at +the hotel in Leamington. + +"I guess I'm not used to quite such long rides as you," she said. "It +has been beautiful, though, and I wouldn't have come by train for +anything. I just love Warwickshire, and everything about it, +especially the language, which I mean to learn while I am here." + + + + +CHAPTER THIRTEEN + +WARWICK AND KENILWORTH CASTLES + + +The bicycles were returned to their owner in Stratford, and Mrs. +Pitt's plan was to drive to Warwick and Kenilworth the following day. +Consequently it was a great disappointment at breakfast-time to see +gray and threatening clouds overhead, from which rain very soon began +to descend. The day was also very cold, and such a chilling wind was +blowing and whistling around the corners of the hotel, that fires were +lighted in all the tiny grates. + +"Whoever heard of such cold weather in June!" John protested, not in +the best of spirits at being shut up in the house. "It's horrid, I +say! Ugh! If my fur coat was here, I should put it on, and then get +inside the fireplace, too." + +At this very dismal burst of feeling from John, Mrs. Pitt came to the +rescue, suggesting a game of billiards. John brightened very +considerably after this, and the remainder of the day was pleasantly +spent in writing letters, playing games, and reading aloud from +Scott's "Kenilworth," in preparation for the morrow's visit to that +castle. + +"Just think of seeing the very spot in the garden where Queen +Elizabeth met Amy Robsart! And perhaps the same room where she slept. +Oh, I can hardly wait till morning!" sighed Betty rapturously. +"Kenilworth" had long been one of her favorite books. + +At bedtime Mrs. Pitt, inwardly rather uncertain about the prospects of +the weather, was outwardly most cheerful with her assurance that she +"felt sure it would be fine in the morning." + +Mrs. Pitt was "usually right about things," as the children had long +since discovered, and this proved no exception to the rule. The sun +shone brightly on the morrow, and the whole country-side looked as +though it had been washed and cleaned so as to appear at its loveliest +for the visitors. + +The drive through Leamington revealed a very pretty watering-place, +with baths, parks, gay streets of shops, and many neat little private +villas, each being dignified by a name. + +"How do they ever find names enough to go around?" Betty thought to +herself. + +They soon left the town behind, and a short drive along the perfectly +smooth, wide, country road, brought them to the well-known bridge over +the Avon, and revealed the fact that the river had not lost a bit of +its beauty since they left it at the Weir Brake. It is from this +bridge that the famous view of Warwick Castle is to be had, and a more +charming picture cannot well be imagined. Just at a bend of the river, +the great gray front looms up, long and straight, the turrets here and +there giving it a most formidable air of old-time majesty and +strength. + +Leaving the carriage at the castle entrance, Mrs. Pitt led the way up +the narrow walk, bounded by high walls of rock, to which the damp moss +clings and over which flowers and trailing vines hang. Finally they +passed under an old gateway with a portcullis, and found themselves in +the inner court-yard of the castle, which is almost round in shape. +Old towers or buildings very nearly surround this court, and in the +center is a wonderfully smooth grass-plot, which is sometimes used as +a tennis-court. Several stately peacocks strutted about displaying +their magnificent feathers. They were very tame, and almost allowed +Betty to come near enough to touch them. She was delighted when the +largest most obligingly dropped a gorgeous feather at her very feet. + +"For a souvenir!" she exclaimed, as she picked it up. "How dear of +him! I like peacocks even if they are proud! I would be, if I lived +here! They know how important they are, and that this garden wouldn't +be complete without them." + +[Illustration: "THEY KNOW HOW IMPORTANT THEY ARE, AND THAT THIS GARDEN +WOULDN'T BE COMPLETE WITHOUT THEM."--_Page 184._] + +"Do you see that high mound?" asked Mrs. Pitt, pointing to the +northern end of the court. "There AEthelflaed, the daughter of Alfred +the Great, is supposed to have built a castle, and thus the history of +Warwick may be said to have commenced in 914. Just fancy! Since that +day, many great families have been in possession here (De Newburghs, +Beauchamps, Nevilles, Plantagenets),--from traditional Guy of Warwick +to 'Warwick the King-maker,' and all along the line to the Greville +family, which has owned it since 1759. 'Warwick the King-maker,' or +Richard Neville, was the famous baron who possessed such wonderful +power in England that he could make and unmake kings at his will. It +was he who captured poor, weak Edward IV, and brought him here as a +prisoner. Of Guy of Warwick, the great warrior and hero, I shall +tell you more when we are at Guy's Cliff, where he lived. He is really +more associated with that place than this. You will see here, however, +what is known as 'Guy's Porridge Pot.' It is an interesting old +vessel, very large and made of metal. Most probably it had nothing +whatever to do with the great Guy; some authorities consider, because +of the existence of this little rhyme, that it belonged to a certain +Sir John Talbot, who died about 1365. + + 'There is nothing left of Talbot's name, + But Talbot's pot and Talbot's Lane.' + +But let's go over to that door by which we enter. There comes a guide +with his party; perhaps we can go in with them." + +They found the interior of Warwick Castle very delightful, and in a +perfect state of preservation, for the family of the present Earl +occupy it often. The ever-present Great Hall is here more grand and +lofty than that of Charlecote, though it has not the appearance of as +great antiquity as the one at beautiful Penshurst Place. Its walls are +lined with old suits of armor, but, nevertheless, the room is +furnished with comfortable easy-chairs, as the family, when in +residence, use this as their living-room. Among the collection of +armor is the helmet of Oliver Cromwell, and a whole miniature suit of +mail which was once worn by the little dwarfed son of Robert Dudley, +the famous Earl of Leicester. In a great bay-window, overlooking the +Avon, stands the huge caldron of Guy of Warwick. Strangely enough, an +exquisite Elizabethan saddle of green velvet had found a temporary +resting-place in its great depths. + +"I think this Cedar Room is very beautiful," remarked Mrs. Pitt, as +they stepped into that apartment. "Do you see that the walls are +entirely of cedar wood from floor to ceiling? Isn't the effect rich, +and doesn't it smell good? Do you notice the fine carving, and the +pictures,--some of Van Dyck's best works? Oh! I must not call your +attention to so many things all at once!" + +In the Green Drawing-room, the Red Drawing-room, the State Bed-room, +and the various other rooms and corridors, are priceless treasures of +art; for besides invaluable paintings by the greatest masters, there +are here beautiful pieces of furniture, made of tortoise-shell and +inlaid with gold or pearl, and ancient marriage-chests, which once +belonged to Italian princesses of bygone days. The armory contains one +of the most valuable collections in England, and in the State Bed-room +are many relics of Queen Anne. One really wearies of so much +costliness which it is utterly impossible to appreciate at one visit. + +"Haven't we time to walk in the gardens a little longer?" asked +Barbara, wistfully. To her, Nature was nearer and dearer than all the +wonders of art and history. + +After a ramble through the bewitchingly lovely gardens,--going across +ancient drawbridges, spanning long-unused, grass-grown moats; under +little postern-gates; into rustic grottoes--they at last came to the +conservatory, in which is preserved the "Warwick Vase." This is made +of white marble, carved with various devices. + +"It has a curious history," answered Mrs. Pitt, in reply to the +children's questions. "In 1770, some workmen found it at the bottom of +a small lake which is about sixteen miles from Rome. Of course, it is +not possible to determine with any certainty how it came to be there, +but as Hadrian's Villa was in A.D. 546 occupied by a king of the +Goths, an enemy who was then laying siege to Rome, it has been thought +that the vase was cast into the lake, to save it from the hands of the +invaders. The second Earl of Warwick was its purchaser." + +Slowly and unwillingly they wended their way back through the gardens, +to the central court of the castle, and then out under the old +gateway. + +"My!" cried John, "it must have taken heaps of soldiers to defend a +place like this in the Middle Ages! I wish I'd been here when it was +just plumb full of great warriors,--when the moat had water in it, the +drawbridge worked, and sentinels called out to you for the password as +you came near the gate. I suppose they could peep out at you from +those little windows up high, too." John looked longingly back, as +they walked away. + +"Oh, yes!" continued Mrs. Pitt, in tones which made the girls shudder. +"From those windows they rained shot down upon the enemy. And there +are little slits in the wall from which men poured boiling metal or +tar upon those besieging the castle. Upon the roof of Guy's Tower +there, it is thought that a huge machine used to stand,--a machine for +slinging down great stones. Oh, yes; there were dungeons here, +too,--deep, dark, damp, and evil-smelling dungeons, into which many +prisoners were thrown. Why, it was from here that Piers Gaveston, the +unfortunate favorite courtier of Edward II, was taken out and executed +upon a hill close by. Underneath the fine halls where splendid +banquets were carried on, out of sight and reach of the fair gardens +and lawns, there were always poor prisoners who were shut away from +the daylight for years perhaps, and laboriously carving crests or +verses in the stone walls, to while away the hours." + +Mrs. Pitt suddenly burst into peals of laughter as she saw the pained +expressions upon the faces of the two girls; then a glance at the +rapt, enthusiastic attention of John, caused her to become serious +again. + +"Never mind, girls," she said gravely. "Such things are now gone +forever; people have advanced too far in their ideas to ever permit of +more of those unjust acts and horrible punishments. I can never +believe that the world isn't growing daily better! And, boys, it is +all very well to love and long for the golden deeds and knightly +ideals of the men of mythical King Arthur's Court, for instance; read +about them all you can, and try to imitate them, but never wish back +the terrible conditions of warfare and brutality which existed at the +time. The kindly thoughts and acts will endure always, but the +rest,--never!" + +Silently they took their seats in the carriage, and the coachman next +drove them to Saint Mary's Church, which stands in the quaint village +of Warwick. Its old tower holds ten bells, and these play every four +hours. There is a different tune for each day, which is always changed +at midnight. The Warwick towns-people, living near their church, must +have an enviable musical education, for they have continually dinned +in their ears all sorts of tunes, from the "Easter Hymn" to "The Blue +Bells of Scotland." + +On the site of Saint Mary's, an ancient church is believed to have +stood, prior to William the Conqueror. The present edifice, having +been much altered and added to by various benefactors, and at very +various times, presents a rather confused and not especially pleasing +appearance architecturally. All visitors to the town are attracted +there, however, by the presence of the Beauchamp Chapel, which +contains the tomb of the Earl of Leicester. + +Having paid the entrance fee, Mrs. Pitt and her charges were permitted +to descend the few steps leading from the church proper into the +Beauchamp Chapel. It is very beautiful, and was built in 1443, by +William Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, who intended it as his memorial. +It was once most elaborate with its fine marbles, monuments adorned +with precious stones, and the gold statuettes which filled its niches, +but these have long since been carried away. The tomb of Ambrose +Dudley, who was named the "Good Earl of Warwick," stands in the +center, and against the wall is that of the great Leicester and the +Countess, his wife. + +"Look here," called Mrs. Pitt. "Here lies their son, the little boy +who wore the armor which you saw over at the castle. The inscription +speaks of him as 'That noble impe, the young Lord Denbigh, their +infant son and heir.' 'Impe' in those days had no such meaning of +mischievous as we give it to-day. It then simply signified a young +boy." + +Betty was much impressed by a small flight of winding stairs, just off +the chapel, which are entirely worn down in the middle. + +"Was it because so many monks went up there?" she asked. + +"Yes, so it is said," was Mrs. Pitt's reply. "Perhaps it may have been +a kind of confessional, where the monks knelt." + +There was one more thing in the church which they paused to note; that +is, the tomb of Fulke Greville, the first Lord Brooke, who was stabbed +by a valet, in 1628. Greville was "servant to Queene Elizabeth, +conceller to King James, and frend to Sir Philip Sidney," as the +inscription tells us; and it would seem that the greatest emphasis and +respect was even then given the fact that he was "frend to" the noble +Sir Philip Sidney. + +Nearby, the quaint buildings of Leicester's Hospital still stand. Here +was a monastery until the Dissolution, or the breaking up, of all the +religious houses, under Henry VIII. When the property came into the +hands of Leicester in 1571, he made the house into a hospital for +twelve men. The present brethren have all been soldiers of the Crown, +who now receive a pension and are spending the remainder of their +days in the sunny nooks and corners of the old timbered houses. One of +these brethren who showed the party about, was a most curious old +character, and afforded the young people no end of amusement. He +invariably gave his information in a very loud voice, which was +absolutely without expression, and his eyes were kept steadily fixed +upon some distant point. + +He showed them the ancient hall in which Sir Fulke Greville once +received King James, and it seemed to give him the keenest pleasure to +describe how that King was "right royally entertained." + +"Oh, ye're right, lady," he panted, "the 'ospital was founded by +Robert Dudley, Lord Leicester, 'e 'o was much at Elizabeth's court, +h'as you all know. And it's a descendant h'of 'is, or of 'is sister, +as you may say, 'o 'as the right to appoint the master 'ere in this +'ospital to this day. 'E's Lord D'Lisle and Dudley, of Penshurst Place +h'in Kent,--'im as is descended direct from the Lady Mary, sister of +Robert Dudley, 'o married Sir 'Enry Sidney. H'its 'e 'o appoints the +master h'over us this very day. But as I was saying,--it was 'ere +that 'is Majesty King James was right royally h'entertained." + +"Yes," broke in John, interrupting the rapid flow of expressionless +words. "We'll remember that all right." Then in an aside to Philip, he +whispered: "That's the ninth time he has said 'right royally +entertained.' I'm going to keep count." + +Having examined an embroidered curtain, the work of Amy Robsart at +Cumnor Hall, the King of Dahomey's State Execution Sword, which seemed +a bit out of place amid the surroundings, and an old battle-ax, +supposed to have been used for one side or the other on the Field of +Hastings, in 1066, they bade farewell to their guide (who had suddenly +ceased his mechanical orations like a clock which has run down), and +drove away toward Kenilworth. + +Guy's Cliff next called for attention. It is first seen at the end of +a long, stately avenue lined by great trees. At the back of the castle +flows a stream, at this point widened out into a miniature lake, on +the bank of which stands a very ancient, moss-covered Saxon mill. The +castle across the water and the old mill make such very attractive +pictures that their vicinity is always frequented by numbers of +artists, sitting under their big umbrellas. + +As the party stood under the trees by the mill, Mrs. Pitt gathered the +young people about her. + +"Now, I want to tell you the story of Guy of Warwick, for whom this +Guy's Cliff was called. He lived long, long ago (if he really did live +at all), when England had great tracts of unsettled country, where men +were afraid to go for fear of horrible monsters. This brave young Guy +was a strong warrior, and he became famous because he slew the Dun +cow, and other terrible animals which were tormenting the country +folk. Guy later went off to the Crusades. These were pilgrimages which +devout men made to Jerusalem, in the endeavor to win back that city +from the Turks. Guy was gone some time from England--years +probably--and when he came back, he lived the life of a hermit, in a +cave near here. The story goes that his wife used to carry food to him +each day, and that she never recognized him until he was dying and +revealed to her his identity." + +Here Mrs. Pitt was forced to pause for breath, and John broke in +excitedly, "Oh, let's go and see the cave! Can't we?" + +"I'm afraid not, John. You see, Guy's Cliff belongs to Lord Algernon +Percy, and the cave is on his private premises. I fear we would not be +allowed to visit it,--especially as the family is now in residence at +the castle. Did I tell you that Guy and his faithful wife were buried +together in the cave?" + +After taking lunch at the King's Arms Hotel at Kenilworth, and seeing +the room in which Scott wrote his novel, they proceeded to the castle. +The afternoon was warm and sunny, with a blue sky and a summer haze +over the landscape,--the kind of afternoon which invites one to +day-dreams. Consequently, Mrs. Pitt ensconced herself against the +crumbling wall of Caesar's Tower, put up her umbrella to keep off the +glare of the sun, and sat dreaming over the remains of the once +magnificent castle. Meanwhile the young people, accompanied by a +guide, climbed all over the ruin. They scrambled up narrow stairs in +thick walls, climbed as high as it was safe to go on old towers, and +explored the dark chambers and passages near the old Banqueting-hall. + +"This tower is supposed to be where Amy Robsart's lodgings were," +their dignified guide told them, and then he boldly spoiled Betty's +delight, by saying, "It's queer now how fascinated all visitors are by +Amy Robsart. Of course, they've read of her in Scott's novel, but +curiously enough, that's the only part of the tale which is not taken +strictly from history. No one really knows whether Amy Robsart ever +was at Kenilworth, and at any rate, it doesn't seem at all likely that +she was here at the time of Queen Elizabeth's famous visit of 1563." + +"O dear!" Betty sighed, really bitterly disappointed. "I always liked +the part about Amy best of all, and now it isn't true at all!" + +"Never mind, Miss; there would be plenty of interest attached to the +old place, even if Scott had never written of it. Oh, I know it's a +great book, and makes that particular period of Kenilworth's history +remarkably vivid. What I mean is, that the old castle is not dependent +on Scott for its grand history and reputation." He looked above him at +the beautiful oriel-windows of the Banqueting-hall, as if he loved +every stone there. After a few such speeches, even the children began +to notice that he was "different from most guides"; he used most +excellent English, was very neatly dressed, had a pleasant, refined +face, and seemed to take an especial interest in the young people. + +The guide went on in his deep voice. "Kenilworth was built in 1120, by +Geoffrey de Clinton, Lord Chamberlain to Henry I. Later, it came into +the possession of the great Simon de Montfort, and it then +successfully withstood a siege; but it was during the Civil Wars that +Cromwell's soldiers reduced the splendid castle to these almost +equally splendid ruins. Of course, it was at the height of its glory +when the Earl of Leicester owned it, and Queen Elizabeth came here on +a visit. I'm sure you have all read about that famous week,--of all +the pageants, feasts, carnivals, and displays of fireworks upon the +lake. The lake was there; water covered all those low fields back of +the castle. At that time, the main approach was here," pointing to +where a rustic bridge crosses a little ravine. "There was once a large +bridge there, and from that entrance the Queen had her first glimpse +of the castle where she was to be so magnificently entertained." + +Just then Barbara saw that her mother had risen and was motioning +that it was time for them to go. So they reluctantly left the guide, +thanking him as Philip handed him his fee. That gentleman (for so he +really seemed) doffed his hat most politely, and appeared genuinely +sorry to have them go. As Betty turned to take a last look at the old +Banqueting-hall, she saw him standing just where they had left him, +and a bit wistfully watching them walk away. When they were once again +in the carriage and driving toward Coventry, they described the guide +to Mrs. Pitt, who showed much interest. Barbara thought that he was a +poor scholar or teacher, who was taking that way of earning a little +during the summer months; John was sure he was a nobleman in disguise, +for some highly romantic, secret reason; Philip could not even imagine +who he might be, so great was the mysterious atmosphere about him; but +Betty added: "He's surely a gentleman, and he was such an interesting, +polite guide, that I wish they were all like him." + +"Yes, it is curious," agreed Mrs. Pitt. "I'd like to have been along +with you, for I should have enjoyed studying him. I have once or twice +before come across just such puzzling characters. I once spent a +month at a small hotel down in Devonshire, where there was a +head-waiter who always interested me. I decided that he must have a +history, and it was proved that I was right when I discovered him a +few months later, dining with a lady at one of the most aristocratic +hotels in London. I'll never forget my sensations when I realized why +his face was so familiar, and where I had seen it before! That mystery +was never explained, and I'm afraid yours never will be." + +They found Coventry a delightful old town. Here it was that so many of +the Miracle Plays used to be given in olden times. The "Coventry +Plays" were famous, and Mrs. Pitt took the party to the court-yard of +Saint Mary's Hall, where they were wont to be performed; for such +entertainments always took place in the open air,--in squares or +courts, the stage being rudely constructed upon a wagon, which could +be taken from place to place. + +At the corner of two streets is an absurd figure of "Peeping Tom," +which recalls the fabled ride of the Lady Godiva, and her sacrifice to +procure the freedom of the people of Coventry from unjust taxes. + +Coventry streets are very narrow and crooked (Hawthorne once said that +they reminded him of Boston's winding ways), and there are many +picturesque houses, their upper stories jutting out over the street. +One most charming example of sixteenth century architecture is Ford's +Hospital, a home for forty aged women. The street front is unique in +its construction of timbers, gables, and carvings. Inside is an +oblong, paved court, overhung by the second story of the building. + +"It's like Leicester's Hospital at Warwick, only this is really more +quaint, isn't it? The old ladies peeping out from their little rooms +are dear! I'm going to make friends with them," Betty declared, as she +disappeared under one of the low doorways. She was soon seen +accompanying an old dame on crutches, who was hobbling out to show off +her bit of a garden, back of the house. + +On the return trip to Leamington, they were rather quiet. Having seen +so many famous places, it was natural that they should wish to think +them over. The driver approached Leamington by another road than that +by which they had left it, and it took them past Stoneleigh Abbey, +the country seat of Lord Leigh. It is situated in the midst of +woodland, which has been called "the only real bit of old Arden Forest +now to be found in Warwickshire." + +"They say that the Abbey is remarkably beautiful," said Mrs. Pitt, +"but I've never been fortunate enough to see it at any nearer range. +The house is not very old, having been erected in the eighteenth +century, but it stands on the site of a Cistercian Abbey, of which one +gateway still remains." + +It was late when they reached the hotel at Leamington, and they were +forced to hurry in order to be dressed in time for dinner. The gong +found them all assembled, however, for such a day of sight-seeing +makes one hungry. They all had a good laugh at Betty, for when she was +caught in a "brown study," and Mrs. Pitt asked to hear her thoughts, +she replied: + +"Oh, I was thinking over what a lovely day it has been,--especially at +Kenilworth!" and then added with a sigh, "If I only could know who +that guide was, everything would be perfect!" + + + + +CHAPTER FOURTEEN + +SHERWOOD FOREST AND HADDON HALL + + +Betty could scarcely sit still in the train which was carrying her +towards Mansfield, from sheer excitement at the anticipation of +actually seeing the haunts of Robin Hood. Ever since Mrs. Pitt had +mentioned that town as the gateway of the Sherwood Forest of Betty's +dreams, the name had seemed an enchanted one to her. As they had come +only the comparatively short journey from Leeds, they arrived at +Mansfield in the middle of the morning, and being Friday, the public +square presented its usual busy scenes of market-day. Vendors were +shouting their wares, long-suffering babies who had been unwillingly +brought along were crying, women were loudly chattering in shrill +voices, and a poor little dog, who in some mysterious way was being +made to play a part in a Punch and Judy Show, was yelping piteously. + +"Well," began Betty, who could think of only Robin Hood--her dear +hero, whose story was about to be made even more vivid to +her--"perhaps this is the very market where he came when he had bought +out the butcher's stock of meat and was selling it for kisses to the +lasses of the town. Oh, do you suppose it is the same place?" + +"Why, no!" interrupted John, in the decisive tones which he always +used when confident of his superior knowledge. "'Nottingham Town' was +where Robin Hood and his whole gang of fellows always went!" + +"Yes, that was really more associated with the famous outlaw than +Mansfield. You'll see Nottingham this afternoon, or, at any rate, +to-morrow. Now, come this way to the Swan Hotel. While you girls +unpack, I'll see that some horses are harnessed so that we can soon +set off to the forest." Mrs. Pitt then led the way from the +market-square toward the inn of which she had spoken. + +Before the carriage was ready, the young people had thoroughly +explored this remarkable old house. Perhaps the most notable thing +about it is the spiral staircase of solid oak, which is three hundred +years old; but the entire building is filled with little passages and +unexpected, remote nooks and corners, which, like the quaint bedrooms, +are crowded with curios, old pictures, and superb antique furniture. +Betty declared she had never seen such a "darling old four-poster" as +the one which stood in her room, the favorite Number Nine for which +all visitors clamor. Altogether, they considered it a most delightful +place, and Betty thought that without too great a stretch of the +imagination, she could even think of Robin Hood or Little John there. + +The hostess hastened to prepare a delicious, early lunch especially +for the party, and having partaken of it, they went at once to the +open carriage which was drawn up in the odd little inn-yard. John, as +usual, claimed the seat beside the driver, the others settled +themselves, and they started off. + +No sooner had they reached the open country than Betty's pent-up +spirits overflowed entirely. + +"Oh, do you see that little river flowing through the meadows?" she +suddenly cried, standing up to point at it excitedly. "See the reeds +along its edges, the field of tall grain, and the old tree trunk +which has fallen across the water! I just know that must be the place +where Robin first met Little John. They had a fight on a narrow +foot-bridge, you know, and Little John (who wasn't 'little' at all) +was the stronger, and tumbled Robin Hood over into the brook. Don't +you remember, John? That looks exactly like the picture in my Howard +Pyle's 'Robin Hood,' at home. Oh, I'm perfectly sure it must be the +same place! Aren't you, Mrs. Pitt?" + +This enthusiasm of Betty's was soon caught by the rest, and during the +whole afternoon they took turns in telling, one after another, the +"Merry Adventures of Robin Hood," as they recalled them. There could +not be a section of country which more perfectly suggests the setting +for that particular group of legends which has been associated with +it. Here surely is the identical woodland through which Robin Hood and +his merry men roamed. No one could possibly mistake it! Here are the +very same trees, behind which one can almost see lurking the men in +"Lincoln green." Here are ideal little glades carpeted with dainty +ferns, here and there touched with the sunlight which flashes between +the leaves. Sometimes the road emerges from the forest, and winds +along through broad fields,--the "high road" bordered by green meadows +and hedgerows. + +"You know," began Mrs. Pitt, her eyes sparkling with fun, "when Robin +and his men had been in hiding for some days or weeks, perhaps, +because the old Sheriff of Nottingham was trying particularly hard to +catch them at the time, some of the most venturesome ones, not being +able to exist longer under the restraint, would start off in search of +adventure; and leaving a bit reluctantly the heart of Sherwood Forest, +they always made straight for the 'high road.' Now in just such a +place as this, by the cross-roads, Little John, garbed as a gray +friar, met the three lasses who were carrying their eggs to the market +at Tuxford. He swung one basket from his rosary, about his neck, and +took one in either hand, and thus he accompanied the maids to town. Am +I right? Is that the tale?" + +"Yes," continued Philip, taking up the story where his mother had left +off; "then he went to a 'fair, thatched inn,' you know, and he sat +drinking with the tinker, the peddler, and the beggar, when the two +rich brothers from Fountains Abbey came out to start again on their +journey to York. Little John thought there'd be some fun, and perhaps +some good money for him, if he decided to go part of the way with +them, so he did. Don't you remember that one brother was very tall and +thin, and the other very short and stout? They were proud and ashamed +of being seen on the road in the company of a poor friar whose gown +was too short for him, as was Little John's. But he insisted upon +staying by, and strode along between their two nags. Whenever they met +anybody--beggars, fair lords and ladies, or fat Bishops--Little John +called out: 'Here we go; we three!'" + +"And then," broke in Betty, her face literally radiant, "don't you +know how Little John finally robbed them? That was best of all! When +they came to a certain parting of the ways, he did consent to leave +them, but first he asked for a few pence, as he was poor. Both +brothers declared that they hadn't any money, at which Little John +insisted upon their kneeling down on the dusty road and praying to the +good St. Dunstan to send them each ten shillings, so that they could +continue their journey in safety and comfort. You know, he thought it +such a pity for two such worthy brothers to be in sore need of food +and drink!" The children were unconsciously lapsing into the language +of the Robin Hood stories, as they rattled on and on. + +"Well," Betty went on, "Little John prayed and prayed, and then he +asked the brothers to feel and see if the good St. Dunstan hadn't sent +them something. Time after time this performance was repeated, and +still they said they had nothing. Finally Little John himself felt in +their pouches and found,--oh, heaps of money! He left the brothers ten +shillings each, and carried away the rest, saying he was sure that the +good St. Dunstan had meant it for him! Oh, I think I like Little John +best of all,--almost better even than Robin Hood! He always did such +cute things!" + +By this time, they were nearing some of the big palaces which gave +this section of the country the name of "The Dukeries," from the fact +that so many noblemen have lived there. Earl Manvers, the Duke of +Newcastle, and the Duke of Portland, all have tremendous estates +between the towns of Worksop and Edwinstowe. Some of the stately +houses were pointed out in the distance behind the trees, but neither +Barbara nor Betty, Philip nor John, paid the slightest heed to them. +Their minds were fixed on Robin Hood, and they saw only the Sherwood +Forest which he knew. When Betty looked at Clumber House, across a +pretty little lake, she only said: + +"Perhaps near that lake was where Robin found Alan-a-Dale, the dear +minstrel." + +"Oh, no, Betty; it was by a fountain that he found Alan-a-Dale," +Barbara politely corrected. + +"Yes, that's so, Barbara," Betty replied, in all seriousness. "I +forgot." + +There was one thing upon the estate of the Duke of Portland which did +greatly interest the party, however; that is, an old gnarled oak which +is called "Robin Hood's Larder." + +"Ye see, 'e came 'ere to store 'is venison, and to 'ang it up to dry. +'E was a clever chap, 'e was. 'E 'id it inside the trunk." The driver +grinned from ear to ear, as he gave this valuable information. + +Getting out to explore, the children found that the huge tree is +hollow, and propped up to postpone the sad day when it will surely +collapse altogether. Many old tree-trunks, all over Sherwood Forest, +are like this, and in some of them John could stretch his full length +upon the ground. Near "Robin Hood's Larder" is the spot where, +according to Scott, the outlaw met with King Richard of the Lion +Heart,--or, at least, so say the local guidebooks. + +"Yes," said Mrs. Pitt, understanding at once; "don't you remember that +in Scott's 'Ivanhoe'? Another version of this famous meeting is in +Howard Pyle's book. King Richard was at Nottingham Town, you know, and +having a curious desire to meet with Robin Hood, he and his friends +went into Sherwood Forest, dressed as friars. Robin and his men found +them, of course, and made them guests at a feast. Later, there was +shooting, and Robin Hood, having once missed the mark, applied to the +King, whom he did not recognize, for a punishment. Thereupon King +Richard arose, rolled up his sleeve, and gave such a blow as Robin had +never felt before. It was afterwards that Sir Richard of the Lea +appeared upon the scene, and disclosed the identity of the powerful +stranger. Then Robin Hood, Little John, Will Scarlet, and Alan-a-Dale +followed the King to London at the royal wish, and left Sherwood for +many a long day." + +They were now passing through a very dense part of the wood. Close +about the feet of the oaks, a thick, tangled underbrush grows. Some of +the old trees seem to be gray with age, and their whitish, twisted +branches offer a sharp contrast to the dark shadows, and make a weird, +ghostlike effect. + +"Oh!" exclaimed Betty, "it must have been in just such a spot as this +in the forest that Gurth in 'Ivanhoe' suddenly came upon a company of +Robin Hood's men. Gurth was the Saxon, you know. He had been to Isaac, +the Jew, at York, and was carrying back the ransom money to his +master, Ivanhoe. Of course, poor Gurth thought he would surely be +robbed, when he discovered in whose society he was; but as you said, +Mrs. Pitt, Robin Hood never took money from honest men, especially +when it was not their own. They led Gurth farther and farther into the +depths of Sherwood. I can just imagine it was a place like +this,--where the moonlight lit up these ghostly trees, and the red +glow of the camp-fire showed Gurth's frightened face. He was quite +safe, though, for he proved that the money was his master's, and Robin +let him go, and even showed him the way to the 'skirts of the forest,' +as he did the Sheriff of Nottingham." + +All this time the carriage had been rolling along, and as they neared +an open space in the forest, John suddenly caught sight of something +which made him turn to his friend, the driver, and exclaim: "Oh, what +are they?" + +Stretching away for quite a distance on either side of the road were +rows and rows of tiny, peaked houses or coops. The coachman told them +that here was where they breed the pheasants which are hunted. When +the birds have reached a certain age, they are set free, and a gun is +fired in their midst to give them a taint of the wild. John was much +interested, in spite of the fact that he considered it "a mean trick." +It really does not seem quite fair to take excellent, kindly care of +any animal or bird, allow it to believe you are its friend, and then +to suddenly turn it loose and proceed to hunt it for mere sport. + +In strange contrast to the merry drive through Sherwood Forest, was a +little incident which occurred in a village on the edge of "The +Dukeries" district, where they halted to water the horses. On one side +of the quaint main street is a row of old, old houses, where for many +years have lived the aged people who are usually provided for by the +nobleman to whom that village belongs. + +All the tiny houses were empty at the time of this visit, with the +exception of one where lived a dear old lady, by herself, her +neighbors having all died. Mrs. Pitt went in to call upon her, as do +most strangers passing through here, and was touched by her pathetic +speech. She said they were simply waiting to tear down the houses +until she should go, and looking tearfully up into Mrs. Pitt's face, +added: "I'm eighty-six years old now, and I won't last much longer, +but I can't go until the Lord calls me, can I?" In spite of this, she +insisted that she was quite happy, for she had her "good feather +bed,"--and what more could she need? + +The following morning, the party went by train to Nottingham, where +they spent a short time in exploring. The present town is much like +others, except in its legendary connection with Robin Hood. All +visitors might not find it as fascinating as did Mrs. Pitt and the +young people, who knew it as the abode of the disagreeable Sheriff +whom Robin Hood heartily hated, and upon whom he continually played so +many tricks, always evading punishment most successfully. They +pictured the gay procession of soldiers and knights which accompanied +King John when he entered that city, as the Sheriff's guest; and to +them the old market-square (the largest in all England) suggested the +scene of Robin Hood's masquerade as a butcher. There they halted and +imagined him standing beside his booth, and calling out: "Now who'll +buy? who'll buy? Four fixed prices have I. Three pennyworths of meat I +sell to a fat friar or priest for sixpence, for I want not their +custom; stout aldermen I charge threepence, for it doth not matter to +me whether they buy or not; to buxom dames I sell three pennyworths of +meat for one penny, for I like their custom well; but to the bonny +lass that hath a liking for a good tight butcher, I charge nought but +one fair kiss, for I like her custom the best of all." + +"It was here in Nottingham that Will Stutely had his narrow escape, +wasn't it?" questioned Betty. "He was captured by the Sheriff's men +at 'Ye Blue Boar Inn,' and they brought him to town and would have +hanged him, if Robin Hood and his men hadn't arrived just in time to +save his life. Once Little John came to Nottingham Town and lived for +some time in the Sheriff's own castle, pretending to be the cook. My! +what lots of things happened here!" + +Not far away are splendid Chatsworth House, one of the palaces of the +Duke of Devonshire, and lovely Haddon Hall, with its romantic story, +and both of these famous places received a visit from Mrs. Pitt and +her party. + +Chatsworth, I am afraid, was not fully appreciated by our friends. It +has a most beautiful situation--in the valley of the Derwent, which +rushes along through the extensive park; the house itself is +magnificent--filled with fine marble halls and rooms, and costly +treasures of art; and in the gardens almost every sovereign of Europe +seems to have planted some kind of a tree. One curious thing did +wonderfully please the children's fancy; that is, a marvelous +weeping-willow tree, from the metal twigs and branches of which tiny +streams of water come at a sign from the gardener. But somehow, on the +whole, Chatsworth is cold and unfeeling, and failed to appeal to the +party. + +Not so was it with Haddon Hall! The most prosaic summer tourist could +hardly fail to be moved by admiration of its delights. It is still a +real home, and seems alive with memories of the fair Dorothy Vernon +and her family. The old castle has scarcely changed at all since the +sixteenth century, and one feels as though the great lords and ladies +of Queen Elizabeth's time had thoughtfully stepped out on the terrace, +in order that we might wander through their noble old dwelling. + +The custodian was having her afternoon-tea when the party arrived; she +did not think of hurrying in the slightest, but leisurely finished +this most important meal, and then received the visitors' fees and +allowed them to enter. + +"I feel as though I had walked into a story!" remarked Betty quietly. +"Is Dorothy at home?" + +The various buildings of Haddon Hall are built around two square +courts. The oldest bit is the ancient chapel, in part dating from +Norman times, and in which the Vernon family worshiped for four +hundred years. It still contains some old wooden pews, and traces of +grotesque paintings may be seen upon its walls. + +"Where are we going now?" whispered Barbara, keeping close to Betty, +as the guide led them down a very dark passage, with an uneven stone +floor. "Oh, it's the kitchen!" + +A light had now been struck, and the huge fireplaces of this kitchen +of bygone days could be seen. Everything seemed complete, even to the +woodbox which once held the tremendous logs. + +"How in the world could they see to cook in such a dark place?" +inquired the practical John. + +"Oh, there were probably great torches fastened to the walls, and then +there are some tiny windows. When your eyes grow accustomed to the dim +light, you can see fairly well. I should think, though, that once in a +while, the cook might have put a little too much salt in the pasty," +Mrs. Pitt replied laughingly. + +An exceedingly curious feature of Haddon's Banqueting-hall is an iron +bracket with a ring, which is between the entrance doors. Naturally, +Mrs. Pitt was called upon to explain this. + +[Illustration: "IT STILL SEEMS ALIVE WITH MEMORIES OF THE FAIR DOROTHY +VERNON."--_Page 217._] + +"Well," said she, "it's worth an explanation, for it has a strange +purpose. Any guest who could not or would not drink as much as was +required of him by the laws of hospitality, had his arm fastened up to +that ring, and what he had refused to take was poured down his sleeve. +Fancy! For my part, I should consider that a sad waste! Speaking of +drinking, I wonder if you really know what it means when a man pledges +or drinks a health. It's a very ancient custom! Back in the days of +Saxon England, it very often happened that a man would be stabbed +while drinking, so it became the habit for him to turn to his neighbor +and ask if he would 'pledge' him. If he agreed, his duty was to keep +guard over his friend who wished to drink. A trace of this caution +still exists at Queen's College, Oxford. There the students who wait +upon the 'fellows,' stand behind them and place their right thumbs +upon the table." + +The round steps in the Long Gallery are said to have been cut from one +great oak, grown on the estate. Up these they went, and followed the +guide to the celebrated Ball-room, which is so often and so +beautifully pictured. This long room is exquisite with its carved +paneling, polished, inlaid floor, and lovely bay-windows overlooking +the terrace. + +"Here the ball was in progress at the time of Dorothy Vernon's escape. +It was the wedding night of Dorothy's sister, wasn't it? At any rate, +while every one was engrossed in the dancing and merrymaking, Dorothy +quietly slipped away, ran through this door here, along the terrace, +and out to a certain tree in the park where her lover was awaiting her +with the horses. That's the story, and certainly it is a pretty one," +concluded Mrs. Pitt. + +Just off the Ball-room is the State Bed-room, which claims to have had +Queen Elizabeth as an occupant. The great bed, fourteen feet six +inches high, is considered one of the finest in England, and is +finished in green velvet and white satin. + +They strolled out through Dorothy Vernon's door and along the lovely +terrace, over which the solemn yew-trees hang low. From here is seen a +charming view of the garden, hemmed in upon one side by that part of +the castle containing the Ball-room. The sun was just setting as they +lingered upon the steps of the terrace, and it flooded everything with +a golden light. The scene was so beautiful that all were silent as +they gazed and gazed. Betty finally rose with a deep sigh, and said: + +"Well, I suppose Dorothy knew what she was about, but I'm sure that I +should never have run away from Haddon Hall!" + + + + +CHAPTER FIFTEEN + +WINCHESTER, SALISBURY, AND STONEHENGE + + +It was not until they were well on their way toward Winchester, that +Mrs. Pitt found a chance to tell the young people something about that +ancient city which they were so soon to see. + +"Winchester has a cathedral, hasn't it?" Betty had inquired. "I always +like to see those." + +"Yes, indeed," replied Mrs. Pitt. "There surely is a cathedral, for +it's the longest one in all Europe with the exception of St. Peter's +at Rome. I'm certain you will enjoy that; but what I think you'll +appreciate even more are the associations which Winchester has with +the life of Alfred the Great. You all remember about him, don't you!" + +"The fellow who burnt the cakes?" put in John, jeeringly. + +"Yes, but he was also 'the fellow' who led his army at a time when +the country was in great danger--who dressed as a minstrel and dared +to go even into the very camp of the enemy, so as to investigate their +movements. You certainly like that in him, John?" + +"I know it! That was great!" John answered warmly. "Please tell us +some more about him, Mrs. Pitt." + +"To me he has always been one of the most lovable as well as admirable +characters in all our English history. He came to the throne at a time +when his wise leadership was greatly needed, and he fought long and +valiantly for his country. When he burnt the cakes, John, it was +merely because his thoughts were so busy with the plans for England's +future. Alfred made Winchester the capital of his whole realm, and +here he lived with all the court, when there was peace in the land. +Part of Alfred's boyhood had been spent here, too, when he was the +pupil of the wise St. Swithin; and, at Winchester, he made the good +and just laws for which he will always be remembered. Within the walls +of old Wolvesley Castle, the famous 'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle' was +commenced, at the command of the King. But besides all these useful +deeds, Alfred had such a beautiful personality that his family and +all the people of his kingdom loved him, and called him 'the perfect +King.' I have long admired this little tribute which one historian has +given Alfred the Great. He says this; I think these are the very +words: 'He was loved by his father and mother, and even by all the +people, above all by his brothers. As he advanced through the years of +infancy and youth, his form appeared more comely than that of his +brothers; in look, in speech, and in manners, he was more graceful +than they. His noble nature implanted in him from his cradle a love of +wisdom above all things.' And so, through all the centuries between +his time and ours, King Alfred's name has stood for all that is just, +kind, wise, and beautiful." + +"Where was King Alfred buried, Mother?" asked Barbara. + +"I'll show you his grave--or what is supposed to be his. But here we +are at Winchester now!" cried Mrs. Pitt; "and the sun has come out +just for our special benefit, too!" + +In a "cathedral town," one is usually drawn first of all to the +cathedral itself, it being the central point about which the whole +town seems to cluster; and so it was that Mrs. Pitt led the way down +the shaded walk between the broad stretches of lawn surrounding the +great structure. To her great disappointment, an ugly net-work of +staging entirely spoiled the effect of the exterior of the building. + +"I once read a book which an American wrote about his trip abroad," +related Mrs. Pitt. "It amused me very much! After visiting a really +remarkable number of churches and important buildings which were +undergoing reconstruction or strengthening, this gentleman ventured +the belief that the authorities must have made a mistake in the date +of his arrival, for everything seemed to point to the preparation of a +splendid reception to him anywhere from a week to a month later. I +feel that way to-day. The Winchester people certainly could not have +expected us just yet. It's a pity that we cannot see this grand +cathedral at its best!" + +The usual feeling of quiet awe came over the party upon entering the +edifice, and this was here somehow increased by the vastness of the +interior. Their footsteps echoed strangely on the stone floor, and +looking up at the arches above her head, Betty began to walk about on +tiptoe. + +"The marriage of Queen Mary with Philip of Spain took place in this +cathedral," Mrs. Pitt said. "In Bishop Langton's Chapel here, is an +old chair said to have been used by the Queen at the ceremony. Notice +the six wooden chests above that screen. They contain the bones of +some of the old, old kings--William Rufus, Canute, Egbert, Ethelwolf, +and others. Once upon a time, there was a very famous shrine +here--that of St. Swithin. You remember the legend which tells how the +body of that saint was delayed from being removed to the chapel +already fitted to receive it, by forty days of rain. That's why when +we have nasty, rainy weather in England, we always blame St. Swithin. + +"I'll show you the tomb of the well-known authoress, Jane Austen, and +that of Izaak Walton, who is buried in one of the chapels. The former +lived her last days and died in this town, and it was in the little +river Itchen which flows through Winchester, that Izaak Walton used to +fish. They were both laid to rest here in the cathedral, near the +scenes which they dearly loved." + +The environs of the cathedral are very pretty, and one of the most +picturesque features is the old Deanery, where Charles II once lodged. +Just outside the cathedral close is the modest little house which was +Jane Austen's home. + +Winchester School was visited,--a very famous old institution which is +connected with New College, Oxford, and was built by William of +Wykeham in 1396,--and the vine-covered ruins of old Wolvesley Castle, +which stand on the outskirts of the town, and near the river. + +"Didn't you say that this was where King Alfred had them write the +'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle'?" Betty asked of Mrs. Pitt. "Will you please +tell us what that was? I don't seem to remember very well." + +"Well, dear, the 'Anglo-Saxon Chronicle' is the 'first history of the +English People,' as some one has correctly said. Part of it was +written by Alfred himself, and the rest was done by others, under his +direction. It is simply a record of all important events which were +written down as they took place. The 'Chronicle' grew and grew for +about two hundred and fifty years, the last mention being of the +accession to the throne of Henry II, in 1154. For many years it was +kept here at its birthplace, but it has now been moved to the library +of Corpus Christi College at Oxford. You see, therefore, that this +important work really marked the start of the wonderful succession of +literary productions which Englishmen have brought forth in these one +thousand years." + +Quite at the other end of the town from Wolvesley Castle is the County +Court, a fine old hall, which once upon a time formed part of a castle +built by William the Conqueror. Mrs. Pitt had some difficulty in +finding the caretaker who could admit them, and not until they were +actually inside did the children understand why she was so very +anxious that they should see it. + +Many were the exclamations of delight, however, when the guide pointed +to the wall at one end of the Norman room, and told them that the +round, flat object hanging thereupon was "King Arthur's Round Table." + +"What!" cried Betty, her mouth wide open in her excitement, "the very +table at which the knights sat!--Sir Lancelot, Sir Gawain, Sir +Perceval, Sir Galahad, and all the rest! Why, I never knew it was +here, or I should have come to see it before anything else! To think +of it's being the real table!" + +It was hard for Mrs. Pitt to tell Betty that all the legends +concerning this table are pure fiction. "Not all authorities consider +its identity absolutely certain," she admitted unwillingly, "but we're +going to believe in it just the same. It must date from the sixth +century! Fancy! However, it was all repainted in the time of Henry +VIII, and these peculiar stripes and devices were the work of some +sixteenth century brush." + +Betty sat right down on the floor, and stared up at the table of her +adored King Arthur and his knights. With much difficulty could Mrs. +Pitt persuade her to leave the hall, and that was not accomplished +until after Betty had trustingly inquired of the guide whether he knew +where the chairs were in which the knights sat when they gathered +about the table, for "she'd like so much to find them right away." + +Passing under a gate of the old city-wall, and along the quaint +streets of the town, the party came to Hyde Abbey,--or what little now +remains of it. + +"Alfred's body was first buried in the old minster (cathedral); then +it was carried to the new; and last of all, it was removed by the +monks here to Hyde Abbey, which monastery Alfred himself had founded. +In the eighteenth century the Abbey was almost entirely destroyed, and +then it was that Alfred's true burial-place was lost sight of. Later +still, in making some excavations here, the workmen found an ancient +coffin which was examined and believed to be that of the King. +Reverently it was reburied and marked with a flat stone, and this +doubtful grave is the only trace we now have of Alfred the Great." +They had all quietly followed Mrs. Pitt to the spot where, across the +way from the Abbey, they saw the grave. + +Before returning to the hotel that night, Mrs. Pitt suggested that +they go to see the old Hospital of St. Cross. + +"It's only about a mile from the town," she said. "There's a charming +little path along the banks of the Itchen, and I think we'd enjoy the +walk in the cool of the afternoon." + +Mrs. Pitt was quite correct. It proved a delightful stroll, leading +them to the fertile valley in which Henry de Blois built his Hospital +of St. Cross, by the side of the pleasant little river. + +"The Hospital was really founded by Henry de Blois, but three +centuries later, Cardinal Beaufort took much interest in it, made some +changes and improvements, and greatly aided in its support," the +children were told. "To this day, there is a distinction between the +St. Cross Brethren and the Beaufort Brethren, but this is chiefly +confined to the matter of dress. Seventeen men are living here now, +and are most kindly treated, fed, clothed, and allowed to plant and +tend their own tiny gardens." + +But the most interesting feature of St. Cross--that which in so +remarkably vivid a way holds its connection with the past--is the +dole. Since the reign of King Stephen, no one applying for food or +drink at the Beaufort Tower of St. Cross Hospital, has ever been +turned away. To each has been given, during all the centuries, a drink +of beer and a slice of bread. A slight distinction is made between +visitors by the scrutiny of the Brethren; for, to the tramp is handed +a long draught of beer from a drinking-horn and a huge piece of bread, +while to some are offered the old silver-mounted cup, and wooden +platter. + +"Can we have some?" John inquired. "I think I might not like the beer, +but the bread would be all right, and I'm hungry!" + +In spite of Betty's reproving cry of "Why, John!" Mrs. Pitt motioned +him to go up to the gate, and ring. + +"Yes, it's quite proper for us to apply for the dole," she said. +"Emerson and Carlyle once did so, and I imagine they were not in any +greater need of it than are we." + +As John received his portions and was looking at them a bit dubiously, +Philip called out to him, "Don't take so much that you can't eat your +dinner, Jack!" and then, seeing that John had already set down the +food untouched, they all laughed merrily. + +After breakfasting at Winchester the following morning, an early train +carried the party to the town of Salisbury, there to see the fairest +of the English cathedrals,--that is, in Mrs. Pitt's opinion, of +course. + +To say that Salisbury Cathedral stands in the center of a velvet-like +lawn, to mention the fact that a little stream flows musically by, to +add that the towers and lines of the building itself are wonderfully +graceful, is attempting to describe things as they exist, but wholly +inadequate in the impression which it gives to the reader. There is an +indescribable fascination about Salisbury Cathedral, which a person +must see to understand. Any one who is at all responsive to the charm +of great architecture, can sit for hours under the old trees on the +little common, and drink in the whole scene,--the beautiful building +with its delicate shapes outlined in shadows upon the green grass. + +"No doubt it is a generally accepted fact that Lincoln is the finest +of the English cathedrals," Mrs. Pitt explained after a time. "Perhaps +Durham comes next in line, and Canterbury has great historical +interest. I only assert that to me Salisbury is the most beautiful. +You know, Betty, that the construction of most cathedrals was extended +over many years,--even many generations, usually. Salisbury was an +exception to that rule, for it was begun and finished within forty +years (1220 to 1260), and therefore has rare harmony and uniformity of +style." + +There are many quaint streets and buildings in the town of Salisbury, +but these become familiar though always delightful sights to the +visitor who gives a good share of his time to old England. Having +noted the old-fashioned King's Arms Inn, which was a secret +meeting-place of the Royalists after the battle of Worcester, the +party had an early lunch, and then set out to drive the ten miles to +Stonehenge. + +The road which they took begins to ascend gradually, and after about a +mile and a half brought them to the high mound which was once "the +largest entrenched camp in the kingdom," according to Betty's +leather-covered Baedeker. This was the site of Old Sarum, a fort +during the Roman occupation, and afterwards a Saxon town. Numerous +interesting remains of the camp are here, and the high elevation +affords an excellent view of Salisbury and the surrounding country. + +The rest of the drive was not particularly enjoyable. A sharp wind +blew over the high Salisbury Plains, which are bare and not very +picturesque to see. In the center of this great stretch of plain +stands that strange relic of the past known as Stonehenge. Being on an +elevation, the stones stand out weirdly against the sky as the visitor +approaches, and give him a foretaste of the peculiar mystery which +pervades the place. + +The section is surrounded by a wire fence, and a man collects a fee of +a shilling before admitting any one into the company of these gigantic +rocks, which are standing or lying about in various positions. It +seems as though there were originally two great circles, one inside +the other, formed by huge oblong stones, set up on end as a child +might arrange his blocks. On the tops of these, others are in some +places still poised, though many have fallen. One great stone lies +broken across the altar. + +After the young people had climbed about and thoroughly explored the +ruins, they gathered around Mrs. Pitt to hear her explanation of the +place. + +"Well," she began, "it is generally believed that we see here the +remains of an ancient temple of the Druids. They were half-mythical +creatures who are thought to have inhabited England in prehistoric +times. They worshiped Nature,--particularly the Sun, and lived +out-of-doors entirely. Most people consider them to have been the +originators of this strange work, though it has also been attributed +to the Saxons, the Danes, and, I believe, even the Phoenicians. But +no matter what people were the real builders, there still remains the +question of how these tremendous stones were brought here in days when +there was no machinery, and in a district near which no stone-quarries +could possibly have been. That has puzzled men in all ages." + +The laughter and chatter of the members of a large "Personally +Conducted" party, who were having their late lunch in the field just +outside the picket-fence, grated upon Mrs. Pitt's nerves. Even more +than in a cathedral with solid walls and a roof, here in this +open-air, ruined temple, dating from unknown ages, one is filled with +deepest reverence. It almost seems possible to see the ancient Druids +who worshiped there, dressed in robes of purest white. + +In spite of the blue sky, the bright sunshine of early afternoon, and +the nearness of very noisy, human tourists, Betty so felt the strange +atmosphere which envelopes these huge sentinels of the past, that she +suddenly exclaimed: + +"Oh, please, Mrs. Pitt, let's go back to Salisbury! I can't bear this +any longer." + +[Illustration: "THERE STILL REMAINS THE QUESTION OF HOW THESE +TREMENDOUS STONES WERE BROUGHT HERE." _Page 236._] + +So they drove slowly away over the fields, and as Mrs. Pitt turned for +a last glance behind, she saw the stones looming up in lonely majesty, +and thought to herself, "They have a secret which no one will ever +know." + + + + +CHAPTER SIXTEEN + +CLOVELLY + + +A big, high, lumbering coach with four horses was slowly carrying Mrs. +Pitt and her young charges toward Clovelly,--that most famous of all +English fishing-villages. Betty, having discovered a photograph of it +some weeks before, had not ceased talking to the others of her great +desire to see the place; and finally Mrs. Pitt postponed her plans for +visiting other and more instructive towns, packed up the young people, +and started for lovely Devonshire. "Well," the kind lady had thought +to herself, "perhaps it will be just as well for them to have a short +holiday, and go to a pretty spot where they can simply amuse +themselves, and not have to learn too much history. Bless their little +hearts! They surely deserve it, for their brains have been kept quite +busy all the spring,--and I believe I shall enjoy Clovelly once again, +myself!" + +Now that they were actually there, the realization was proving even +more delightful than the anticipation. The weather was perfect, and to +drive along the cliffs and moors, with a fresh, cool breeze blowing up +from the blue water below, was wonderfully exhilarating. Their route +led through a country where innumerable bright red poppies grow in the +fields of grain, and where there are genuine "Devonshire lanes," shut +in by tall hedges and wild flowers. Sometimes they clattered through +the narrow streets of a tiny village, while the coachman snapped his +whip, and the postilion in his scarlet coat and brass buttons, sounded +his bugle loudly. As they rolled by farmhouses, heads would appear +curiously at the windows, while children ran out to watch that +important event,--the passing of the daily coach. One rosy-cheeked +girl in a blue pinafore tossed a bunch of yellow cowslips up into Mrs. +Pitt's lap, calling out, "Cowslips, lady; thank ye!" When a sixpence +was thrown down to her, she smiled, courtesied primly, and then +disappeared into the nearest cottage,--one of plaster and thatch, +overgrown with roses. + +However, the crowning joy of the day, even in the opinion of John, +who was difficult to please, was the first glimpse of quaint little +Clovelly itself. The coach set them down in the middle of a field; a +few seafaring men stood about, there was a booth or two where old +women sold fruit, a steep path was before them, but no town was +anywhere in sight. + +"Don't let's go down there," John grumbled. "What's the use? I'd much +rather stay up on that front seat with the driver." + +Mrs. Pitt smiled knowingly, and still led the way on down the walk. +The hedges on either side were so high and thick that they could not +see beyond them, and the children were really speechless when the path +suddenly came to an end, and the whole queer little street of Clovelly +lay before them. For a second no word was spoken, then all burst out +at once. + +"Well, what do you think of that?" chuckled John. "Just look at the +donkeys!" + +"And the pink and white doll's houses!" exclaimed Barbara. + +"And the funny cobble-stone street!" cried Philip. + +[Illustration: ONE OF PLASTER AND THATCH, OVERGROWN WITH ROSES.--_Page +239._] + +"And the blue, blue water at its feet!" rhymed Betty, all +unconsciously. "I just know the Mediterranean isn't any bluer!" + +"Isn't it the dearest, oddest little place!" put in Mrs. Pitt, summing +up all the children's remarks in one. "I do think it's----." But here +Betty interrupted her. + +"Look at that little girl!" she fairly screamed. "Don't let her run +down that steep street like that! She mustn't do it!" + +Mrs. Pitt, after one look at the child, merely laughed and replied, +"Don't worry, Betty; she's used to it. She's probably done it all her +life, and she'll never fall. Now, I turn you all loose for two hours. +Explore the place to your heart's content, for it will be long before +you see such another. Come to the New Inn (that's it, where the sign +is!) at one-thirty for luncheon." + +Enthusiastically the four started off. At first they all picked their +way carefully and slowly down over the smooth, slippery stones, but +gradually they became more expert in keeping their balance, and could +go faster. The two boys made straight for the foot of the town to see +the harbor and fishing-boats; Barbara and Betty were bent on +investigating all the nooks, corners, and tiny shops of the little +place; and Mrs. Pitt contentedly settled herself on the miniature +piazza of the New Inn, and looked with never-failing interest and +delight at the scene before her. + +To explain more in detail, Clovelly is built in what was once a +torrent-bed, and the village tumbles down from the top of the cliff to +the very edge of Hartland Bay. The droll, Italian-like cottages cling +to the hillside, or seem to grow directly out of the gray rock. At +first, the street descends rather gradually and straight, but after a +short distance, it zigzags first to left and then to right, twists and +turns, takes one under parts of houses, into private yards, out to +look-off points, and then pitches very, very abruptly down to the Red +Lion Inn, which guards the little harbor with its long, curving +sea-wall and tiny lighthouse. + +From where Mrs. Pitt sat she had a splendid view up and down the +street, which was then crowded, it being the busiest time of the +season. Just below her, up against the piazza, sat an artist, bent +eagerly forward toward his easel, and absolutely oblivious of the +throngs of people who were noisily passing close by. There were +tourists in gay attire, children romping about in their queer shoes +with nails on the bottom to prevent slipping, big stalwart men sliding +luggage down on sledges, and patient little mules, which struggled up +with big trunks fastened to shelf-like saddles over their backs. To +this busy scene the bright little dwellings which line the way, add +the finishing touch. The roof of one house is on a level with the +second-story window of that above it; the vines are luxuriant, +climbing sometimes up over the very chimneys, and flower-beds and +flower-boxes are everywhere. A holiday, festive air seems universal. + +"Where can one see such a scene?" mused Mrs. Pitt. "Not in Italy +surely, for there the 'picturesque dirt,' as they call it, is so much +in evidence. For my part, I prefer the exquisite neatness and +cleanliness of Clovelly." + +Lunch at the New Inn tasted very good,--especially as here the young +people first made the acquaintance of the much-praised "Devonshire +cream." Served with wild strawberries, or any other fruit, this thick +cream is truly delicious, and unlike anything else. The meal itself +was partaken of in the Annex, a larger, newer house across the way, +but having finished, the party returned to the original hostelry. It +is the tiniest house imaginable, and the little rooms are so crowded +with furniture, the landlord's collection of fine old china, and +knick-knacks of all sorts, that John endangered many valued treasures +by his awkward movements. Once, in passing some people in the hall, +his elbow struck a small cabinet of blue china, and there would have +been a terrible catastrophe had not Mrs. Pitt arrived upon the scene +at the opportune moment. + +"Oh, bother!" exclaimed John, very much irritated, and more ashamed of +his clumsiness than he cared to show. "How can a fellow have room to +breathe in a bandbox like this! Come along, Philip; I'm going down to +talk some more with those sailors." + +The old fishermen who can no longer follow their loved trade sit +sunning themselves comfortably on the doorsteps of their Clovelly +homes, gazing dreamily out to sea. When Mrs. Pitt, Barbara, and Betty +went to find the boys toward tea-time, they discovered them sitting by +a group of these old cronies, who were ensconced upon a bench +affording a beautiful view of the lower part of the town, the bay, and +the cliffs of the rugged coast. The tide had filled the little +harbor, and numerous small boats with copper-colored sails bobbed +about on the opal waters; near the Red Lion Inn stood a row of +sleepy-looking mules waiting for the start up the street. + +The men had been exchanging fishermen's yarns, much to the pleasure of +their audience, but when the ladies appeared, they commenced telling +ghost-stories or curious bits of folk-lore. One tale especially amused +the girls, although John thought he preferred the wild adventures of +the sea. + +After looking long out over the bay, the particular old salt who was +then entertaining them, removed the pipe from between his teeth, and +began the following. Mrs. Pitt took pains to remember it, and this is +how it reads to this very day in her journal: + +"The father of a certain fair young girl had been carried off by +smugglers, and kept for 'a year and a day,'--until a large sum of +money was finally paid for his release. He only lived a short time +after his return home, however, and his daughter died soon after, worn +out by anxiety about her father. This young lady's ghost continually +haunts a certain little village in Devon, where some of the fisherfolk +were said to have taken part in the kidnaping of her father. Instead +of doing anything more violent, the ghost simply appears on Sunday +mornings, just as the dinners are being cooked, and touches the meat +with her white, bony hand, thereby rendering it unfit to eat." + +Mrs. Pitt's famous journal, which is often referred to, contains also +this story heard that day at Clovelly: + +"In front of a certain farm-house was a large, flat stone, which +tradition said was as old as the Flood. Here, at midnight, there +always appeared a female figure, clad in a gray cloak and an +old-fashioned black bonnet. The apparition would remain there until +dawn, always knocking, knocking upon the stone. The inhabitants of the +house nearby became so used to 'Nelly the Knocker,' as she was called, +that they paid no attention whatever to her, did not fear her in the +least, and would even stop to examine her queer garments. Finally, +however, two young men of the family decided to solve the mystery, so +they blasted the rock one day. To their great surprise, underneath +were lying two large urns, packed with gold, which treasure enriched +them for the rest of their days. But 'Nelly the Knocker' came no +more." + +In place of repairing to the somewhat stuffy dining-room at the inn, +they had their tea just outside one of the most sightly cottages, and +were served by a pretty young girl. The china was coarse and the thick +slices, cut with a big knife from huge loaves of bread, were by no +means daintily served, but it could not have tasted better, and John +ate a truly alarming amount of bread and jam. + +At Clovelly, the summer twilights are very long and lovely, and down +on the breakwater our friends enjoyed this one to the full. One might +look over the blue expanse of bay and see the faint outlines of the +coast of Wales, and then turn and gaze at the picturesque harbor and +the quaint, hanging village, in the houses of which, lights were +slowly beginning to twinkle, one after another. They stayed until it +was quite dark, and were even then loath to wend their way up the +steep street, and to waste so many hours by going to bed in the +"Doll's House," as John persisted in calling the New Inn. + +"Well," said Betty comfortingly, "it will be fun after all,--sleeping +in that funny wee inn, where there are only four bedrooms in the whole +house. I choose the one with the pink rose peeping in the window! I +saw it this morning. Come on." + +The next day dawned as fair as one could wish, and at Mrs. Pitt's +suggestion a walk along the "Hobby Drive" was first taken. This +charming road was built by a Mr. Hamlin, the owner of the town of +Clovelly, who lives at Clovelly Court. The drive starts just at the +top of the village, and extends for three miles along the edge of the +cliffs. The views are startlingly beautiful! Through the fresh green +of the trees and vines, glimpses of the deep blue sea are to be had, +and to add to the vivid coloring, there is the peculiar red rock which +belongs to that part of the coast. + +As they were retracing their steps, Mrs. Pitt said with slight +hesitation: + +"I promise not to give you very much history while you are here, but I +must tell you just a bit about the relation which all this country +bears to Charles Kingsley's great book, 'Westward Ho!' Have you never +read it, John? Fancy! I'll get it for you at once! Well, Bideford is +the nearest town to Clovelly, and it was from there that Amyas Leigh, +Salvation Yeo, and all the rest set out with Sir Francis Drake. By the +by, that very sailor, Salvation Yeo, was born in the old Red Lion Inn, +at the foot of the Clovelly street. Oh, you'd like him, John, and all +his brave adventures! At Clovelly Court, in the days of the story, +lived Will Cary, another of the well-known characters in 'Westward +Ho!,' and in the little parish church very near there, Charles +Kingsley's father was rector. Kingsley himself was at Clovelly a great +deal, and probably gained here his knowledge of the seas and those who +sail them. One of those old fishermen last night (he who claimed to be +ninety-eight) told me that he used to know Charles Kingsley well, and +I suppose it is possible." + +That afternoon toward tea-time, after another fascinating roam about +the town,--into its back-yards and blind alleys, and along its pebbly +beach,--as well as numerous exciting rides on the backs of the mules, +the party gathered on the tiny veranda of the New Inn, crowding it to +its utmost capacity. The purpose of this formal meeting was to decide +where they should go the following morning, as they were then leaving +Clovelly. Mrs. Pitt had promised them a week more of play in +Devonshire before their trip to Canterbury, and she advised visits to +Bideford, Minehead, Porlock, Lynton, Lynmouth, and finally Torquay. As +the young people had no ideas of their own upon the subject and as +they had vast confidence in anything Mrs. Pitt proposed, this plan was +at once adopted. + +"These places are all by the sea," Mrs. Pitt continued, "and I'm quite +sure you'll like them. Torquay is just a watering-place, with big +hotels, terraces, and gardens, but oh! it is so lovely, and nearby is +the duckiest little village of Cockington! You'll never leave the +thatched cottages there, Betty! Lynmouth is very fine, with its +combination of mountain and seaside views, and its moors. Close by is +the Doone Valley, which figures so prominently in the story of 'Lorna +Doone,' and we'll visit that. It will all be beautiful--beautiful as +only England and Devonshire can be--but you'll find nothing at all +like this strange little Clovelly, so enjoy it while you may!" + +[Illustration: "YOU'LL FIND NOTHING AT ALL LIKE THIS STRANGE LITTLE +CLOVELLY."--_Page 250._] + + + + +CHAPTER SEVENTEEN + +ROCHESTER AND CANTERBURY + + +As soon as the familiar chugging of the motor was heard at the front +door in Cavendish Square, John hurried out. Just as he was examining +all the chauffeur's arrangements for the trip, and looking with +approval over the entire automobile, the whir of the engine suddenly +gasped, struggled to catch its breath, and then ceased altogether. The +chauffeur, perfectly unconcerned, swung himself off from his seat and +sauntered around to "crank her up," but his expression of assurance +soon changed, for the motor refused to start. + +John's face was pitiful to see. "Oh, bother!" he cried, running to +where the chauffeur stood, in front of the hood. "Why has it got to go +and spoil it all like that! It's mean, I say! Can't you fix her? +What's wrong?" + +Off came the chauffeur's nicely-brushed coat, his clean hands handled +oily tools, and a big streak of grease soon appeared upon his +trousers. Great was his humiliation! After about fifteen minutes of +disagreeable work, all was well, however,--the engine started, and the +sound was again smooth and steady. John's expression was radiant, and +he came to help the ladies in, while the forlorn chauffeur retired to +make himself presentable. + +"Now, we're off for Canterbury!" John announced triumphantly, as they +at last glided around a corner into Piccadilly. + +Slowly and carefully they wended their way down to London Bridge, +crossed, and stopped for a moment before the site of the old Tabard +Inn. + +"I'm going to take you to Canterbury by the very road which Chaucer's +pilgrims in all probability traveled, and I thought that to make the +illusion as perfect as possible, we really should halt here in +Southwark. This is where the pilgrims met, you know, and from here +they set out in the lovely month of April: the 'verray perfight, +gentil knight,' his son, the gay young squire, the stout Wife of Bath, +the dainty prioress, the pale clerk (or scholar), the merchant with +his fine beaver hat, the parson, the plowman, the pardonner, the +summoner, the cook, and all the rest! They traveled on horseback, you +remember, and to beguile the tedious hours when they advanced slowly +along the dusty road, they took turns in telling the stories which +Chaucer gives us in the wonderful 'Canterbury Tales.'" + +"I never did know just why they went," Betty ventured, in some +confusion lest they should laugh at her. + +"Neither did I!" John promptly seconded. "Please tell us, Mrs. Pitt." + +"Dear me, yes! I certainly will, for you must surely understand that!" +After pausing a moment in order to think how best to make her meaning +clear, Mrs. Pitt went on in her pleasant voice. "You see, pilgrimages +were always made to some especial shrine! We'll take Becket's for an +example. After his terrible murder, Becket was immediately canonized +(that is, made a saint), and for many years a very celebrated shrine +to him existed at Canterbury Cathedral. In those days, sumptuous +velvets and abundant jewels adorned the shrines, and if a person +journeyed to one, it meant that his sins were all atoned for. It was a +very easy thing, you see. If a man had committed a wrong, all he had +to do was to go to some shrine, say certain prayers there, and he +thought himself forgiven. Such trips cost men practically nothing, for +pilgrims might usually be freely cared for at the monasteries along +the route; a man was quite sure of good company; and altogether, it +was very pleasant to see the world in this way. The numerous terrible +dangers to be met with only added the spice of excitement to many. In +short, such numbers of poor men started off on these religious +pilgrimages, leaving their families uncared for, that the clergy +finally were forced to interfere. Laws were then made which compelled +a man to procure a license for the privilege of going to a shrine, and +these permits were not granted to all. You understand then, that +toward noted shrines such as St. Thomas a Becket's, pilgrims singly +and in companies were always flocking, and among these was the little +group which Chaucer has made so familiar and real to us all." + +"Here's Deptford," announced John by and by, seeing the name upon some +sign. "What went on here?" + +"What makes you think anything 'went on here'!" Mrs. Pitt exclaimed. +"Fancy! What a curious boy!" + +"Oh!" John burst out. "That's easy enough! I haven't seen more than +about two or three places in all this country where some fellow didn't +do something, or some important thing go on." + +Mrs. Pitt pushed up her veil, removed her glasses, and wiped the tears +of laughter from her eyes. "I think you are about right, John. And +something did happen here in Deptford; in fact, there were several +things. First, I'll tell you that it was here that Queen Elizabeth +came in 1581 and visited the ship in which Drake had been around the +world. The Queen dined on board the vessel and knighted Drake while +there. Event number two was the death of Christopher Marlowe, one of +the greatest of all England's dramatists. Marlowe was only thirty +years old when he was killed in a vulgar fight in a tavern. Fancy! +Poor Anne of Cleves, after the early divorce from her royal husband, +lived near Deptford, at Place House. Writers say that she used often +to go up to London, and visit the Court, just as though she had not +been (for a few short days, to be sure) the 'first lady of the land,' +as you Americans say. Poor Anne! She always seemed a pitiful character +to my mind. She couldn't help it if Henry VIII didn't find her good to +look upon!" + +Beyond Deptford, as they were smoothly gliding along, all at once +there came a loud report. + +"Goodness!" cried John. "What in the world was that!" Then he shouted +with laughter at the frightened expression on Betty's face. + +"Dearie me! It must be a 'blow-out'! Is that the trouble, Jo? Yes? +Well, come, girls; we may as well step out." There was forced +resignation in Mrs. Pitt's voice; she was trying not to mind the +delay. + +For forty minutes she and the girls sat by the roadside and watched +the chauffeur and the two boys at work on the tire. It seemed as +though every part of this operation took longer than usual. The tools +seemed never so easily mislaid; it surely was a longer task than ever +to inflate the tube, and then to fit on the wheel-rim. Finally, +however, the three rose, grimy and dusty, but triumphant, and ready to +set forth once again. + +The accident came just at the edge of Blackheath, amid very historic +surroundings. Some one has called Blackheath the Rotten Row of the +olden days, for there royalty and fashionable people of the town went +to ride and disport themselves, just as they now do in Hyde Park; and +there important guests on the way to London, were wont to be met with +much ceremony by the Mayor and certain great citizens. After the +battle of Agincourt, the victor, Henry V, when returning to London, +was given a magnificent reception at Blackheath, and many were the +speeches of praise which had been prepared. The great soldier cut them +all short, however, insisting that the honor be given God. At +Blackheath, his descendant, Henry VIII, first saw Anne of Cleves +(officially, that is), and straightway decided to divorce her. But +perhaps the most joyful scene of all those at Blackheath, took place +on the May morning when Charles II came into his own, and all England +was glad, after the dark days of the Commonwealth and the iron rule of +the sober Puritans. + +"This," declared Mrs. Pitt a little later, "is 'Shooter's Hill.' That +should bear a familiar sound. How many have ever read Dickens's 'Tale +of Two Cities'? You have, I know, Philip. Well, in the second chapter, +the stage which carried Mr. Jarvis Lorry on his way, is described as +slowly mounting this very hill, while most of its passengers toil +along the wet, snowy road, by its side. Do you remember, Betty? You +must try to think over all of Dickens's works which you have ever +read, for we are coming to a district which that author knew well and +often put into his novels." + +Sure enough, they almost felt as though they had stepped into the +world of Dickens's stories, for so many of the places mentioned +therein they were able to find. Slowly they drove through Rochester's +streets, stopping when they came to any spot of especial interest. + +"Here's the old Bull Inn," said Mrs. Pitt, pointing it out as she +spoke. "It is supposed that there are no less than twenty-five inns +named in Dickens's 'Pickwick Papers' alone. This is one of them, for +Room Number Seventeen was Mr. Pickwick's bedroom, and there is also +Winkle's, which was 'inside of Mr. Tupman's.' Come, shall we go in?" + +The landlord of the Bull has most carefully preserved and cared for +all which is of even the slightest interest in connection with Dickens +or his books. He most kindly took Mrs. Pitt and her party all about +the old house, showing them everything,--including the room where the +famous ball in "Pickwick Papers" was held. + +Leaving the Bull, they noted the Crown Inn, on the site of the one +where Henry VIII went privately to take a look at Anne of Cleves, and +the old White Hart, built in Richard II's reign, which once sheltered +Samuel Pepys. In Restoration House (built in 1587) Charles II stayed +after his landing at Dover. + +"'Dickens wrote thus about Restoration House in "Great +Expectations,"'" Betty read from the guidebook. "'I had stopped to +look at the house as I passed, and its seared red brick walls, blocked +windows and strong green ivy clasping even the stacks of chimneys with +its twigs and tendrils, as if with sinewy arms, made up a rich and +attractive mystery.'" + +"Doesn't that describe it exactly?" exclaimed Mrs. Pitt, with +enthusiasm. "That house always fascinated me, too. When Dickens last +visited Rochester, it is said that he was seen gazing long at this old +place, and some have thought that the result of those reflections +would have appeared in the next chapter of 'Edwin Drood,' which novel, +as you know, he never finished. Now, we'll drive out to take a look +at Gad's Hill. Luckily, this is Wednesday, so we will be admitted." + +After making inquiries, Mrs. Pitt learned that the owner of Gad's Hill +throws it open only on the afternoon of each Wednesday; so they took +their luncheon first, and then motored the mile and a half to +Dickens's home. + +Gad's Hill is charming! Dickens was devoted to this square, +vine-covered house, where he resided from 1856 to the time of his +death, in 1870. The story goes that when he was a small boy the place +had a great attraction for him, and that one day his father, wishing +to spur him on in a way peculiar to parents, reminded him that if he +worked hard and persevered until he was a grown man, he might own that +very estate, or one like it. + +As they left the house, Mrs. Pitt said, "This hill is the spot where +took place the robbery of the travelers in Shakespeare's 'Henry IV.' +The inn just opposite Gad's Hill is the Falstaff Inn, probably built +about Queen Anne's time. It used to have an old sign with pictures of +Falstaff and the 'Merry Wives of Windsor' upon it. I read that in the +olden days ninety coaches daily stopped here. Fancy!" + +"Well," observed Betty, "I shall certainly enjoy reading Dickens +better than ever, when I get home, for now I've seen his study where +he wrote. It makes things so much more real somehow, doesn't it, Mrs. +Pitt?" + +Having visited the cathedral and the old castle, they now left +Rochester, and found that the run to Canterbury was rather longer than +they had realized. + +"But really, you know," Mrs. Pitt had intervened, "Rochester is just +about halfway between the two, London and Canterbury, I would say. And +we did stop quite a bit to see the sights connected with Dickens." + +At last, however, about six in the afternoon, they came in sight of +Canterbury, its great cathedral towering over all,--its timbered +houses, old city-gate, and narrow, picturesque streets. As usual, the +young people who never seemed to need a rest, desired to start +sight-seeing at once, but unfortunately a sudden thunder-shower came +up to prevent. + +"Oh, well, it will stop soon," Betty assured them. "It always does in +England." + +This time, the weather was not so kind, however. The rain continued +persistently, and the party was forced to remain at the inn the entire +evening. + +Sunshine, even though it be sometimes a bit dim and watery, is never +long absent during an English summer, so the morning dawned bright and +clear. Just as they set forth from the hotel, Betty felt in her coat +pocket and found that her precious red notebook, in which she +inscribed all interesting facts and discoveries, was missing. + +Philip promptly came to the rescue, saying: "I saw you put it behind +you on the seat of the motor, yesterday, and it's probably there +still. I'll go to the garage and see." + +Betty gave Philip a grateful little smile, but insisted upon +accompanying him on his search. They came upon the treasure just where +it had been left, and soon rejoined the rest of the party in the +cathedral close, where John was in the midst of taking some +photographs. + +The first near view which they had of Canterbury Cathedral was in +approaching it from under old Christchurch Gateway. In spite of its +great age, the cathedral, in contrast with the much blackened gateway, +appears surprisingly white and fair. The exterior is very beautiful; +the two towers are most majestic, and beyond, one sees the graceful +Bell Tower, rising from the point where the transepts cross. In olden +days, a gilded angel stood on the very top of the Bell Tower, and +served as a beacon to the many pilgrims traveling toward Becket's +shrine. + +Walking about inside the cathedral, they saw, behind the altar, the +position of the once famous shrine. All that now remain to remind one +that this ever existed are the pavement and steps, deeply worn by the +feet of many generations of devout pilgrims. + +"I told you something of the splendor of this shrine," Mrs. Pitt +suggested to them. "It was said that after his visit to it, Erasmus +(the Dutch scholar and friend of Sir Thomas More, you know) in +describing it, told how 'gold was the meanest (poorest) thing to be +seen.' See, here is the tomb of Henry IV, the only king who is buried +here, and there's the monument to the Black Prince. Above hang his +gauntlets, helmet, coat, and shield. Do you see them, John?" + +The northwest transept, so say all guidebooks and vergers (and they +certainly ought to be truthful), was the scene of the murder of the +Archbishop a Becket. There is even a stone in the floor which marks +the precise spot; but, contrary to her usual habit, Mrs. Pitt +absolutely pointed out that all this is false. + +"I'm sorry, children," she said, "but I must contradict this. Becket +was killed at five o'clock on a dreary December afternoon of 1170. +Four years later, the cathedral was entirely destroyed by fire. +Therefore, it is not possible that they can show visitors the exact +spot where the tragedy took place. William of Sens came over from +France, and in 1184, finished the building which we now see. + +"This nave," she continued, as they again entered it, "is one of the +longest in England, and the choir is several feet higher. Do you +notice? It is an unusual feature. Also, the fact that the walls bend +very gradually inward as they near the east end of the choir, is +worthy of note. Here, as at St. Paul's and a number of other +cathedrals, business was carried on, even during services, and +pack-horses and mules went trailing through. It's curious to think of, +isn't it?" + +[Illustration: "WILLIAM OF SENS, IN 1184, FINISHED THE BUILDING WHICH +WE NOW SEE."--_Page 264._] + +Canterbury's cloisters are wonderfully ancient. Blackened as they are +by the centuries, and their still exquisite carvings broken, yet here, +more than in the edifice itself, can one imagine the scene of Becket's +terrible death. + +"The residence of the Archbishop stood alongside the church," Mrs. +Pitt proceeded, "and here the murderers came unarmed, upon their +arrival in the town, to interview him. Becket was unmoved by their +threats, so they left him to go and arm themselves. The entreaties of +the monks that their master should seek safety in the cathedral would +have been of no avail had not the hour for evening service arrived. +Can't you almost think how dark and cold these stones must have seemed +on that winter afternoon, when Becket marched along with majestic +deliberateness through these very cloisters, in by that little door, +and up to the altar. A feeling of dread and terror was everywhere. +Most of the monks had fled to places of hiding, and the Archbishop +found himself alone with his three or four faithful friends, whom he +commanded to unbolt the heavy church doors, which, in a panic, they +had barred. No sooner had the armed men rushed in than the challenge +came from Reginald Fitzurse, as Tennyson gives us the scene: + + 'Where is the Archbishop, Thomas Becket?' + +and Becket's brave answer: + + 'Here. + No traitor to the King, but Priest of God, + Primate of England. I am he ye seek. + What would ye have of me?' + +They responded, 'Your life!' and there immediately followed the +horrible death." + +Mrs. Pitt drew a long breath and sighed. + +"Such were the deeds of those unenlightened days. These fierce Norman +knights, wishing to gain favor in the eyes of the King, and hearing +him say in a moment of anger, that he wished himself rid of the +troublesome Archbishop, they at once proceeded to Canterbury and +killed him. It was all the outcome of the continual strife and +struggle for power, between the Church and the State." + +"What did they do to those three Normans?" demanded John indignantly. + +"Nothing. I believe they went free. But Henry II himself tried to +atone for the deed in doing penance by walking barefooted to +Canterbury and Becket's shrine. Come, let's go outside now." + +They then wandered about the precincts of the cathedral, pausing by +some lovely, ruined arches which tell of an ancient monastery. +Everywhere stretch smooth lawns, with grand old trees, and here and +there the houses of those connected with the church. Also, very close +by stands the King's School, which was founded by Archbishop Theodore +in the seventh century, 'for the study of Greek,' and later refounded +by Henry VIII. Here that famous Canterbury boy, Christopher Marlowe, +was educated. The school is well worth a visit, if only to see the +beautiful outside Norman stairway. + +Mrs. Pitt next led the way down Mercery Lane, at the corner of which +stood The Chequers of Hope, the inn where Chaucer's pilgrims put up. + +"You remember the old gate by which we entered the town yesterday," +said Mrs. Pitt. "Well, under that same arch came the pilgrims as they +approached from London. Although the city-wall then boasted +twenty-one towers and six gates, the West Gate is the only remaining +bit. Here, at the inn which stood conveniently near the cathedral, the +pilgrims stayed, and in Mercery Lane they bought their +souvenirs,--probably rosaries or phials of Holy Water. At the further +end of the Lane stood the ancient rush-market. Rushes were then in +great demand, you recollect, for people used them to strew over their +floors." + +One might stay on indefinitely in Canterbury, and still not discover +all its treasures and interesting nooks and corners. The streets are +narrow, crooked, and contain many very old houses. There is at +Canterbury a castle; one may see the ruins of St. John's Hospital, and +of St. Sepulchre's Nunnery, where Elizabeth Barton, the "Holy Maid of +Kent," once lived; the old gate of St. Augustine's Monastery still +stands, though it is now restored; by exploring, traces of the +city-wall may be found, and the weavers' houses which hang over the +little river offer a delightful view. Interest is endless in +Canterbury. But as it is impossible to see it all, especially in +limited time, the visitor usually seeks out the best known and most +famous places; and surely, after the great cathedral itself, ranks +St. Martin's Church. + +A little way out of the town, and up against a sunny hillside, is this +tiny "Mother Church of England." Imbedded in the rough stone of the +square, Norman tower are the huge stems of giant vines. Altogether, a +more primitive, ancient appearing building cannot well be imagined. + +"Well," remarked Betty impressively, "this is the very oldest place +we've been in yet. It makes me feel as Stonehenge did, somehow." + +"Yes, that's true," assented Mrs. Pitt. "The two places do give you +similar sensations. It's simply that you feel the age. I've always +thought that if I were suddenly blindfolded, carried away, and set +down in St. Martin's Church at Canterbury, that I should know where I +was just from the atmosphere, which is so heavy with the weight of the +years." + +It is claimed for St. Martin's that it is the most ancient church in +all England, a land filled with ancient churches. It is in the +vicinity of sixteen hundred years old, for Bede states that it was +built while the Romans were still in possession, and certain it is +that numerous Roman bricks may be seen to this day in the outer wall. +The church was perhaps erected for the use of Queen Bertha, whose +husband, Ethelbert, King of Kent, was also converted to Christianity, +and baptized here. After the arrival of St. Augustine, it is believed +that he and his followers came here to worship. Inside, the little +church is a curious conglomeration of different styles of +architecture; here a Roman doorway, there a Norman, and here an +ancient Saxon arch. Some of the relics in the church are the Saxon +font, built of twenty-two separate stones, a tomb which has been +called that of Queen Bertha, and two Elizabethan brasses. The party +found a most excellent and intelligent guide, a woman, who showed them +the vessel which held the Holy Oil (a very valuable thing), and the +"leper's squint," a slit in the wall to which the unfortunate sick men +were allowed to come and listen to the service. + +"That's something like the 'nun's squint' at St. Helen's Church in the +city," observed Barbara. + +On the way back to their hotel, John and Philip strayed into the old +Guildhall which contains some portraits, which failed to impress the +boys, however. + +"S'pose they were old Mayors or some such fellows," said John, when +questioned as to what he saw. "Couldn't bear 'em, with their bright +velvet clothes and high ruffs. I'm glad I didn't live then! Excuse me +from ruffs!" + +"If the important men of the town wore such gay and frivolous attire, +they had to pay for it surely," Mrs. Pitt added. "Last night I was +reading that in the records of Canterbury for the year 1556, the Mayor +was required to provide for his wife every year, before Christmas, a +scarlet gown and a bonnet of velvet. That was enforced by law! Fancy! +The women may have had a hand in that, for they very naturally wanted +to make sure not to be outdone by the men in the point of fine +clothes." + +As the automobile again passed under the West Gate, on its way back to +London, Betty turned to Mrs. Pitt, and said in her quiet little way: + +"I think you were right in what you said when we were at Salisbury. I +think, too, that's the most beautiful of all the cathedrals I've seen. +But Canterbury, both the town and church, is very, very interesting. +I like the stories about Becket and the pilgrims, too. I'd like to +come again some day. Please take hold of my hand, John; I want to +stand up a minute and watch that dear Bell Tower as long as I can." + + + + +CHAPTER EIGHTEEN + +GOOD-BY TO LONDON + + +"A wire for you, Master John." + +The butler's interruption while the family was at breakfast one August +morning, caused a sudden hush of expectancy. + +"A telegram for me!" replied John, trying to assume sufficient dignity +for the momentous occasion,--the arrival of the first message he had +ever received. "Why, what can it be?" + +"Do open it, John. It must be a cable," Betty pleaded, fearing +something might be wrong at home. + +"Yes, hurry, dear," put in Mrs. Pitt. + +Just the second that the contents were revealed, a great shout of joy +went up, and John and Betty fairly jumped up and down in their +excitement. + +"Father and mother coming!" John cried. "On the way now! Taking us to +Switzerland! It's great!" + +Betty's radiant face showed what delight the prospect of seeing her +father and mother gave her. Glancing at Mrs. Pitt almost at once, +however, she hastened to say: + +"We're both sorry to go away from you all, though, and I hope they'll +let us come back. We've had such a good time in England! Don't you +think we can go on with our trip here after Switzerland?" + +"I really can't tell, dear, for this is all so unexpected. I don't +know what your father's plans may be, but I hope he will bring you +back to me. I'd be very sorry if it were all at an end! But to think I +shall so soon see your father!" Mrs. Pitt sat staring into the grate, +and seemed to be lost in her thoughts. + +After the general commotion caused by the news had somewhat subsided, +and they had all adjusted themselves to the new plans, Mrs. Pitt +decided to spend the remaining week in the city, as she had still so +much there to show John and Betty. The weather being quite cool and +comfortable, they could easily go about. + +It happened that two events of those busy days made an everlasting +impression on the minds of both John and Betty. First, there was +their glimpse of the King and Queen; and then, there was the fire. + +As they emerged at about noon one day from the National Gallery, where +Mrs. Pitt had been showing them some of the best pictures, Philip +heard some one on the steps of the building say that the King and +Queen had come to town to be present at the unveiling of a statue. +They were soon to pass through St. James Park on their way from +Whitehall, it was understood, and our friends at once hastened in that +direction. For some time they waited with the crowd, and it was not +exactly agreeable, for the day was damp and foggy, and a fine rain had +set in. All the while, John was getting more and more aroused, and +when he finally saw a small company of the Horse Guards, he so forgot +himself as to shout: + +"Hurrah! Here they come!" + +Because of the rain, the Guards, wearing their blue capes lined with +scarlet, were rather less picturesque than usual, but the black horses +were as fine as ever. + +"They step as if they were proud of going along with the King and +Queen," Betty said in a loud whisper to Barbara. + +Between two small squadrons of the Guards came a modest closed +carriage in which Their Majesties rode. Fortunately for the young +visitors, they both kept bending forward and bowing very graciously +from the windows, so that they could be distinctly seen. The sober +British crowd was characteristically well-behaved. No demonstration of +any sort was given the Royalties, except that the men removed their +hats. Swiftly the carriage rolled up the wide avenue toward Buckingham +Palace. + +"Humph! They don't make much fuss about it, do they?" was all John +said, while Betty was especially impressed by how very much the King +and Queen resembled their photographs. + +The following morning an interesting trip to Smithfield was taken. +Going by the "Tube," the ride seemed a short one, and they soon found +themselves at Smithfield Market. + +"Have you ever seen Faneuil Hall Market in Boston?" demanded Mrs. Pitt +laughingly, whereupon John and Betty, the two Bostonians, were rather +ashamed to admit that they had not. + +"Somehow we never have time at home," was Betty's remark. "And I think +perhaps we never really wanted to very much, either." + +"Well, you wouldn't understand why, then, but it always reminded me of +this great Smithfield Market," went on Mrs. Pitt and then added a bit +boastfully, "I've been to Faneuil Hall several times." + +What they saw was a large, lofty building, with a roof of glass and +iron, equipped as a most thoroughly up-to-date meat-market. A street +runs directly through the center, and from this, one can get a +splendid idea of both halves. + +"This great barren square of Smithfield was the place where they had +the tournaments in the olden days, and because of that, the name was +probably once 'Smooth-field.' Edward III held a brilliant tournament +here, and also Richard II, who invited many foreign guests to be +present for that important event. The processions which preceded, as +well as the tournaments themselves, were most elaborate. One old +writer fairly dazzles us by his description of 'sixty horses in rich +trappings, each mounted by an esquire of honor,--and sixty ladies of +rank, dressed in the richest elegance of the day following on their +palfreys, each leading by a silver chain a knight completely armed for +tilting. Minstrels and trumpets accompanied them to Smithfield amidst +the shouting population: there the Queen and her fair train received +them.' Then this same author tells at much length of the commencing of +the tournament, and says 'they tilted each other until dark. They all +then adjourned to a sumptuous banquet, and dancing consumed the +night.' For several days and nights this same performance was +repeated. That gives you a slight idea of the aspect Smithfield bore +in the days when it was far outside the limits of the 'City.'" + +After pausing a few minutes in her talk, while they walked about the +square, Mrs. Pitt proceeded: + +"In 1381, after the peasant uprising, the leader, Wat Tyler, was +killed here. And then, in the reigns of 'Bloody Mary' and of +Elizabeth, this was the place of public execution. Way back in 1305, +the patriot William Wallace was hanged here, and after him came a long +line of sufferers,--among them Anne Askew, Rogers, Bradford, and +Philpot, who were persecuted because of their adherence to the +Protestant Religion. After that terrible period, Smithfield was for +many years the only cattle-market in London; and here was held +Bartholomew Fair, also. Don't you agree that this square has had +about as varied a history as is very well possible?" + +The church of St. Bartholomew the Great, one of the oldest and most +interesting in London, is reached from Smithfield by an inconspicuous +arch, which leads to a narrow walk close beside brick walls. At the +further end is the facade of the church, which boasts of having been +erected in 1123, by Rahere, who also founded the neighboring Hospital +of St. Bartholomew. + +Once inside the doorway, the visitor feels as though he had actually +stepped back many centuries, for, as Baedeker says, "the existing +church, consisting merely of the choir, the crossing, and one bay of +the nave of the original Priory Church, is mainly pure Norman work, as +left by Rahere." Here again, the visitor encounters that strange +atmosphere which belongs to the place pervaded by great age. + +"You see," explained Mrs. Pitt, "the church which we see is only a +very small part of the original edifice as Rahere built it. The +entrance from Smithfield was probably the door to the nave, which was +where the grave-yard now stands. It's curious, isn't it, how the +centuries alter things! Now, step over here, out of the way of the +door, and let me tell you a bit about this old church and its founder. +This Rahere was the King's jester, who came to see the error of his +ways, grew very religious, and went on a pilgrimage. While on his +journey back, he became seriously ill, and turned to St. Bartholomew +for healing, promising to build a hospital for poor men if his +petition were granted. He was cured, and on his return to London, he +built the hospital and also this church, in which he is himself +buried." + +They were all delighted with this story, and went immediately to find +Rahere's tomb, of which the ancient effigy is covered by a fine canopy +of much later date. One other tomb is that of Sir Walter Mildmay, who +was Chancellor of the Exchequer to Queen Elizabeth, and founder of +Emmanuel College, Oxford. John discovered the following quaint +epitaph, which greatly amused the entire party: + + "Shee first deceased, Hee for a little Tryd, + To live without her, likd it not, and dyd." + +This adorns the tomb of John and Margaret Whiting, in the north +transept. + +Some time was passed in this wonderful church,--climbing the tiny, +spiral stairs up to the clerestory, and going cautiously along the bit +of a walk at this dizzy height above the floor of the church. + +It needs time and much study to appreciate this sad old church, which, +in spite of its broken pieces of marble, and ruined splendor and +perfection of form, still bravely stands,--a lonely and pathetic relic +of its grand past. A young person can scarcely understand it at all; +it needs a grown man or woman whose experience enables him to read in +the crumbling pillars and walls, stories of the times when England was +young, the Church was the great glory and power, and there still lived +men who were "fair and fortunate." + +In the vicinity of Smithfield are a number of quaint nooks and corners +of old London. Many consider that the very best idea of the ancient +city may now be had in Cloth Fair and Bartholomew Close, both of which +are in this neighborhood. Here are still standing genuine Sixteenth +Century houses amid much darkness and dirt. + +"Here in Bartholomew Close," stated Mrs. Pitt, "Benjamin Franklin +learned his trade of printing, and Washington Irving, John Milton, and +the painter Hogarth, all lived." + +From Smithfield they hastily betook themselves, by means of hansoms, +to Crosby Hall, there to have luncheon. Mrs. Pitt laughed heartily +when John said how glad he was to be able to eat amid ancient +surroundings. He declared that he had been spending the entire morning +so very far back in the Middle Ages, that it would have been too great +a shock had he been taken immediately to a vulgar, modern restaurant. + +When they had finished their luncheon and were waiting on a street +corner for the arrival of a certain bus, suddenly a thrill of +excitement went through the crowd, all traffic was quickly drawn up at +the sides of the street where it halted, and a weird cry of +"Hi-yi-yi-yi-yi" was heard in the distance. + +"It's the fire-brigade," cried Philip, whereupon he and John were +tense with anticipation. + +Down the cleared street came the galloping horses with the +fire-engines, the men clinging to them wearing dark-blue uniforms with +red bindings, big brass helmets, which gleamed in the sunshine, and +hatchets in their belts. + +It happened that the fire was very near where our friends were +standing, so at the eager solicitations of the two boys, Mrs. Pitt +consented to follow on and watch operations. + +"So it really is a fire this time," she said to Betty, as they hurried +along. "We have very, very few in London, and when the brigade is out, +it is generally only for exercise or practice. But, it will interest +you and John to see how we fight a fire, and to observe whether the +methods differ from yours." + +A building on Bishopsgate Street was really very much on fire when the +party reached the spot, and the firemen were hard at work. Although +the buildings are not high (or at least not according to American +standards), the men use very strong ladders, which can be pulled out +so that they will reach to great heights. But the queerest thing of +all in John's estimation was the way in which the people on the top +floor of the building were rescued. + +A long canvas tube was carried up a ladder by a fireman, who attached +it to the frame of an upper window. The occupants of that floor were +then slid one by one to the ground through this tube, being caught at +the bottom by the firemen. + +"Well, did you ever see anything like that!" cried John, amazed at the +funny sight. "It's great, I say! I'd like to try it!" + +All the way up town, the talk was of fires. John had been tremendously +interested in the English methods, and was planning to introduce the +use of the canvas tube to his own city through a good Irish friend of +his at a Boston fire-station. + +"Honor bright, don't you have many fires over here?" he demanded of +Mrs. Pitt. "We have 'em all the time at home. It must be stupid here +without 'em!" + +"No, we really have very few," Mrs. Pitt responded. "In winter, there +are a number of small outbreaks, but those are very slight. You see, +we burn soft coal, and if the chimney is not swept out quite +regularly, the soot which gathers there is apt to get afire. When a +chimney does have a blaze, the owner has to pay a fine of one pound, +or five dollars, to make him remember his chimney. In olden times, +perhaps two hundred and fifty years ago, there used to be a tax +levied on every chimney in a house. There's a curious old epitaph in +a church-yard at Folkestone, which bears upon this subject. It reads +something like this: + + 'A house she hath, 'tis made in such good fashion, + That tenant n'ere shall pay for reparation, + Nor will her landlord ever raise her rent, + Nor turn her out-of-doors for non-payment, + From chimney-money too, this house is free, + Of such a house who would not tenant be.'" + +They all joined in a good laugh over this, but Betty remarked that she +thought it was "more of an advertisement for a house than an epitaph." + +Their particular bus had been slowly making its way down Ludgate Hill, +along Fleet Street, into the Strand, through Trafalgar Square and +Piccadilly Circus, into Piccadilly itself, and had now reached Hyde +Park Corner, where our friends climbed down the stairs and swung +themselves off. + +Betty was grumbling just a little. "I never can get down those tiny +stairs," she exclaimed, "without almost bumping my head and catching +my umbrella in the stair-rail!" + +Mrs. Pitt smiled. "That shows you are not a true Londoner, my dear. We +are never troubled. But, never mind; they don't have buses in +Switzerland." + +At this, Betty was instantly herself again. "London wouldn't be London +without the funny, inconvenient buses, I know. And it's dear, every +inch of it,--buses and all!" + +Mrs. Pitt pointed out Apsley House, where lived the great Duke of +Wellington. A curious fact about this stately old mansion is that on +fine afternoons, the shadow of a nearby statue of this hero is thrown +full upon the front of his former home. + +[Illustration: OLD GENTLEMEN, STOUT LADIES, YOUNG PEOPLE, AND SMALL +CHILDREN, ALL RIDE IN ENGLAND. _Page 287._] + +As they were about to enter Hyde Park through the imposing gate, Mrs. +Pitt said:-- + +"When we stand here and gaze at this scene before us,--the crowd, +beautiful park, fine hotels, houses, and shops,--it is hard to realize +that this was a dangerous, remote district as recently as 1815. That +was the time of many daring robberies, you know, when it was not safe +walking, riding, or even traveling in a big coach, because of the +highwaymen. Even so late as the year I just mentioned, this vicinity +from Hyde Park to Kensington was patrolled, and people went about in +companies so as to be comparatively secure." + +The remainder of that lovely afternoon was spent in Hyde Park, +watching the riding and driving. Having paid the fee of threepence +each for the use of their chairs, it was pleasant to sit and look on +at the gay sight. Old gentlemen, stout ladies, young people, and small +children, all ride, in England, and at certain times of the day, +during "the season" (May and June), Hyde Park is always filled with a +merry company. In midsummer it is rather more deserted, and yet the +walks stretching between the flower-beds, and the Serpentine stream, +are always flocking with people on summer Sundays or "bank holidays." + +And so passed the last days which John and Betty spent in London. All +the favorite spots--Westminster Abbey, the Tower, Kensington Palace, +and many others--had to be revisited, just as though the young people +never thought to see them again; and then, at last came the day when +the father and mother were expected. They all trooped to Euston +Station to meet the train, and in triumph escorted the American +friends back to Cavendish Square. There they remained for two short +days and then carried the almost reluctant John and Betty away with +them. Mrs. Pitt, Philip, and Barbara remained behind on the platform, +waving a last good-by, and still hearing the many thanks and +expressions of gratitude which John and Betty had repeatedly poured +into their ears, in return for their delightful visit to England. + + THE END. + + + + +INDEX + + + Addison, Joseph, 136 + + Alfred the Great, 222, 227, 229 + + Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, 223, 227 + + Anne of Cleves, 255, 257 + + Anne, Queen, 70, 112, 114 + + Arden, Forest of, 158, 169, 202 + + "As You Like It," 157 + + Austen, Jane, 226 + + + Bankside, 90 + + Bartholomew Close, 281 + + Bear-baiting, 90 + + Becket, St. Thomas a, 254, 264 + + Bell Inn, Edmonton, 118 + + "Big Ben," 107 + + Blackheath, 256 + + Black Prince, Edward the, 120, 263 + + Boleyn, Anne, 61, 103, 128, 136 + + "Bow Bells," 17, 118 + + Bunyan, John, 89 + + Bus-drivers, 16 + + Buses, 11 + + + Cambridge, 91 + + Canterbury, 261 + Cathedral, 262 + Chequers of Hope Inn, 267 + Cloisters of Cathedral, 265 + Pilgrims, 90, 252, 267 + Shrine of St. Thomas a Becket, 263 + St. Martin's Church, 269 + Tales, 253 + + Carlyle, Thomas, 124 + + Caroline, Queen, 129 + + Chalfont St. Giles, 105 + + Charing Cross, 67 + + Charlecote, 167 + Park, 167 + + Charles I, 100, 102 + + Charles II, 114, 257 + + Chatsworth House, 216 + + Chaucer, Geoffrey, 28, 112, 120, 252 + + Cheshire Cheese, 78 + + Clopton, Sir Hugh, 148 + + Cloth Fair, 281 + + Clovelly, 238 + Court, 248 + Hobby Drive, 248 + + Cockney, 16 + + Coventry, 200 + Ford's Hospital, 201 + "Peeping Tom," 200 + St. Mary's Hall, 200 + + Cromwell, Oliver, 109, 136, 186, 198 + + Crosby Hall, 115 + + + "Deans, Jeanie," 129 + + Deptford, 254 + + Devonshire, 238 + Cream, 243 + Legends of, 245 + + Dickens, Charles, 28, 257 + + Doomsday Book, 121 + + Drake, Sir Francis, 249, 255 + + Druids, 235 + + + Edward I, 67, 113 + III, 99, 113, 277 + the Confessor, 112 + + Elizabeth, Queen, 52, 60, 69, 102, 112, 114, 129, 136, 169, 171, 197, + 220, 255 + + Essex, Earl of, 61, 124 + + Eton School, 98 + + Evans, Mary Ann (George Eliot), 124 + + + Fawkes, Guy, 58, 120 + + Fire Brigade, 282 + + Fountains Abbey, 208 + + Franklin, Benjamin, 282 + + + Gastrell, Rev. Francis, 148 + + George III, 56, 126 + + Gilpin, John, 118 + + Globe Theatre, 90 + + Gray, Thomas, 96 + + Greville, Fulke, 192 + + Grey, Lady Jane, 61, 120 + + Gunpowder Plot, 58 + + + Haddon Hall, 216 + + Hampton Court, 130 + + Harvard, John, 90, 146 + + Hathaway, Anne, 153, 157, 162 + + Henrietta Maria, Queen, 129 + + Henry II, 267 + IV, 59, 263 + V, 104, 113, 257 + VII, Chapel of, 111 + VIII, 100, 124, 128, 131, 257, 259 + + Hogarth, William, 282 + + Holbein, Hans, 89, 133 + + Holy Trinity Church, Stratford, 152 + + Horse Guards, 21, 275 + + Houses of Parliament, 13, 107, 123 + + Howard, Queen Catharine, 133, 136 + + Hyde Park Corner, 16, 285 + + + Irving, Washington, 161, 282 + + + James I of Scotland, 104 + + Jerusalem Chamber, 35 + + + Kenilworth Castle, 196 + + Kew Gardens, 125 + Palace, 126 + + Kingsley, Charles, 248 + + + Lambeth Palace, 123 + + Leamington, 182 + + Leicester, Earl of, 59, 135, 171, 191, 198 + + "Little John," 206 + + Lollards, 124 + + London Bridge, 87 + + + Mansfield, 203 + + Marlowe, Christopher, 255, 267 + + Mary, Queen, 76, 226 + Queen of Scots, 112 + + "Midsummer Night's Dream," 157 + + Milton, John, 105, 282 + + Miracle Plays, 200 + + More, Sir Thomas, 53, 62, 89, 115, 124 + + + National Gallery, 13, 275 + + Nelson, Lord, 13, 74, 114 + + Nottingham, 204, 214 + + + Oxford, 18, 92 + + + Paternoster Row, 118 + + Pembroke, Countess of, 48, 115 + + Penshurst Place, 42 + + Pepys, Samuel, 259 + + "Pickwick Papers," 258 + + Pitt, William, 26, 114 + + Pope, Alexander, 136 + + Prentices, 22 + + "Princes, the Little," 54 + + Public Record Office, 119 + + + Rahere, 279 + + Raleigh, Sir Walter, 63, 120 + + Richard I, 211 + II, 59, 113, 277 + III, 115 + + Richmond Palace, 129 + Park, 128 + + Robin Hood, 203 + + Robsart, Amy, 182, 194 + + Rochester, 258 + Bull Inn, 258 + Crown Inn, 259 + Falstaff Inn, 260 + Gad's Hill, 260 + Restoration House, 259 + White Hart Inn, 259 + + Round Table, the, 228 + + St. Augustine, 270 + Bartholomew the Great, + Church of, 279 + Cross Hospital, 230 + Helen's Church, 116 + Mary Overy, Southwark, 88 + Paul's Cathedral, 69 + Swithin, 223, 226 + + Salisbury Cathedral, 232 + + Sarum, Old, 234 + + Scott, Sir Walter, 196 + + Shakespeare, William, 28, 90, 117, 140, 169 + + Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 99 + + Shooter's Hill, 257 + + Shottery, 163 + + Sidney, Sir Philip, 41, 73, 120 + + Smithfield, 276 + Market, 276 + + Southwark, 90, 252 + Cathedral, 88 + Tabard Inn, 90, 252 + + Spenser, Edmund, 28, 49 + + Star and Garter Inn, Richmond, 127 + + Stoke Poges, 96 + + Stonehenge, 234 + + Stoneleigh Abbey, 201 + + Stone of Scone, 113 + + Stratford-on-Avon, 138 + the "Birthplace," 140 + Grammar School, 151 + Guild Chapel, 150 + Holy Trinity Church, 152 + John Harvard House, 146 + New Place, 147 + Red Horse Hotel, 138 + Shakespeare Hotel, 145 + Shakespeare Memorial, 155 + Weir Brake, 156 + + Streets in London, names of, 119 + + Swift, Dean, 136 + + Tabard Inn, 90, 252 + + "Tale of Two Cities," 257 + + Thames River, the, 122 + + Tower of London, 50 + + Trafalgar Square, 13, 21 + + Tyler, Wat, 278 + + Vauxhall, 124 + + Vernon, Dorothy, 217 + + Wallace, William, 278 + + Walpole, Horace, 136 + + Warwick Castle, 183 + Guy of, 184, 195 + Guy's Cliff, 194 + Leicester's Hospital, 192 + St. Mary's Church, 190 + "The King-maker," 184 + Vase, 187 + + Warwickshire, 167 + + Weir Brake, Stratford, 156 + + Wellington, Duke of, 74, 286 + + Westminster Abbey, 20 + Chapter House, 34 + Cloisters, 30 + Hall, 108 + School, 32 + + "Westward Ho!" 248 + + White Lodge, 129 + + William and Mary, 112, 114 + + William III, 134 + Rufus, 108, 226 + + Winchester, 222 + Cathedral, 224 + County Court, 228 + Hospital of St. Cross, 230 + + Windsor Castle, 99, 128 + + "Winter's Tale," 162 + + Wolsey, Cardinal, 120, 130 + + + + +Makers of England Series + +By EVA MARCH TAPPAN, Ph.D. + +Dr. Tappan's historical works have already become classics for the +young, and well do they deserve it, with their entertaining +descriptions, perfect English, and historical value. Such books are +the best that can be placed in the hands of children; and the fact +that while being instructive there is never a dull line is the highest +commendation that can be offered. + + =In the Days of Alfred the Great= + Cloth Fully illustrated =Price $1.00= + + =In the Days of William the Conqueror= + Cloth Illustrated by J. W. Kennedy =Price $1.00= + + =In the Days of Queen Elizabeth= + Cloth Illustrated from famous paintings =Price $1.00= + + =In the Days of Queen Victoria= + Cloth Illustrated from paintings and photographs =Price $1.00= + + Miss Tappan reads her authorities intelligently and selects + her material wisely, always having her young audience well + in mind. She has a clear idea of the requirements for + interesting and stimulating young readers, and arousing in + them a desire for further research. The entire series are + admirably adapted to this end, and are warmly recommended to + the attention of parents, teachers, and + librarians.--"_Era_", _Philadelphia, Pa._ + + + + +A Boy of a Thousand Years Ago + +By HARRIET T. COMSTOCK. Large 12mo Profusely illustrated with +full-page drawings and chapter headings by GEORGE VARIAN $1.00 + +It will at once be understood that the "boy" of the story is Alfred +the Great in his youth, but it cannot be understood how delightful a +story this is until it is seen and read. The splendid pictures of +George Varian make this book superior among juveniles. + + "Not a boy lives who will not enjoy this book thoroughly. + There is a good deal of first-class historical information + woven into the story, but the best part of it is the + splendid impression of times and manners it gives in old + England a thousand years ago."--_Louisville + Courier-Journal._ + + "Mrs. Comstock writes very appreciatively of Little Alfred, + who was afterward the Great, and from mighty meagre + materials creates a story that hangs together well. The + illustrations for this volume are especially + beautiful."--_Boston Home Journal._ + + +The Story of Joan of Arc FOR BOYS AND GIRLS + +By KATE E. CARPENTER Illustrated by AMY BROOKS, also from paintings, +and with map Large 12mo Cloth $1.00 + +The favorite story of Joan of Arc is here treated in a uniquely +attractive way. "Aunt Kate" tells the story of Joan of Arc to Master +Harold, aged 11, and to Misses Bessie and Marjorie, aged 10 and 8, +respectively, to their intense delight. They look up places on the +map, and have a fine time while hearing the thrilling story, told in +such simple language that they can readily understand it all. Parents +and teachers will also be greatly interested in this book from an +educational point of view. + + "The tale is well told and the children will delight in + it."--_Chicago Post._ + + "Told so simply and clearly that young readers cannot fail + to be entertained and instructed."--_Congregationalist, + Boston._ + + + + +CHILDREN OF OTHER LANDS SERIES + ++When I Was a Boy in Japan+ + +By SAKAE SHIOYA Illustrated from photographs 12mo Cloth $.75 + +The author was born fifty miles from Tokio, and at the age of twelve +began the study of English at a Methodist school. Later he studied +Natural Science in the First Imperial College at Tokio, after which he +taught English and Mathematics. He came to America in 1901, received +the degree of Master of Arts at the University of Chicago, and took a +two years' post-graduate course at Yale before returning to Japan. No +one could be better qualified to introduce the Japanese to those in +America, and he has done it in a way that will delight both children +and parents. + + ++When I Was a Girl in Italy+ + +By MARIETTA AMBROSI 12mo Cloth Illustrated $.75 + +The author, Marietta Ambrosi, was born in Tyrol, having an +American-born mother of Italian descent, and a Veronese father. Her +entire girlhood was spent in Brescia and other cities of Northern +Italy, and in early womanhood she came with her family to America. Her +story gives a most graphic account of the industries, social customs, +dress, pleasures, and religious observances of the Italian common +people. + + ++When I Was a Boy in China+ + +By YAN PHOU LEE 12mo Cloth Illustrated from photographs $.75 + +New York Independent says: "Yan Phou Lee was one of the young men sent +to this country to be educated here, and finally matriculated at Yale, +where he graduated with honor. 'When I was a Boy in China' embodies +his recollections of his native country. It is certainly attractive, +with more room for nature to operate and play in freely than is +generally attributed to Chinese life." + + + + +ELBRIDGE S. BROOKS'S Books for Young Americans + + +=The True Story of Christopher Columbus=, called the Admiral. Revised +edition. New cover $1.50 + + "With its thorough historical research and its novelty of + treatment, it is the Columbus book of its time."--_The + Interior_, Chicago. + + +=The True Story of George Washington=, called the Father of _His +Country_. 4to, cloth $1.50 + +"Although many excellent biographies of our first President have been +prepared for the young, we think that Mr. Brooks has presented the +best, and has sustained well if not added to his reputation gained by +his previous efforts in historical fields for young readers."--_S. S. +Library Bulletin._ + + +=The True Story of Abraham Lincoln=, the American. Fully illustrated, +4to, cloth $1.50 + + "His life reads like a romance, the best romance that ever + was printed, and Mr. Brooks has done an admirable work.... + The story of Lincoln was never more ably told."--_Evening + Post_, Chicago. + + +=The True Story of U. S. Grant=, the American soldier. Fully +illustrated, 4to, cloth $1.50 + + "Carefully written in that style which makes Mr. Brooks so + popular a writer with his young readers."--_The Pilgrim + Teacher._ + + +=The True Story of Benjamin Franklin=, the American statesman. Profusely +illustrated, 4to $1.50 + +The only popular life of the great Franklin written from a human +standpoint for the boys and girls of America. + +These seven books are now in wide and acceptable use in American +homes, schools, and libraries. They are real stories, true stories, +that interest young readers in and out of school, and imperceptibly +pave the way for their becoming students of America's story and +readers of the bulkier books of American history and biography. + + "An entertaining and instructive series."--_Christian + Endeavor World._ + + +=The True Story of Lafayette=, the friend of America. One vol., +illustrated, 4to $1.50 + +This volume, the seventh in the series of "Children's Lives of Great +Men," will appeal to all young Americans, and older ones as well, to +whom the name of Lafayette is ever dear. It is an absorbing, simply +told, and stirring story of a remarkable character in American +history, and is the "whole story" from the boyhood of the great +Frenchman to the close of his long, dramatic, and romantic career. + + + + +ELBRIDGE S. BROOKS'S BOOKS + + +=The True Story of the United States of America.= Profusely illustrated, +4to, cloth $1.50 + +This is in every sense a companion volume to the series of "Children's +Lives of Great Men." It tells the true story of the beginnings, rise, +and development of the republic of the United States, without the +dreary array of dates or the dull succession of events that so often +make up history for the young. Its object is to tell the story of the +people of America,--to awaken an interest in motives as well as +persons, in principle rather than in battles, in the patriotism and +manliness that make a people rather than in the simply personal +qualities that make the leader or the individual. The book is very +largely used for supplementary reading in schools, and is accepted as +the most popular "story" of the United States yet told for young +people. + + +=The Story of Our War with Spain.= Told for young Americans. Profusely +illustrated, one vol., 8vo $1.50 + +An authentic, complete, up-to-date, and reliable account of the war +for Cuban liberation in 1898, prepared after a careful study of the +best and latest data. It is at once comprehensive, graphic, and +entertaining, and well sustains the reputation earned by this author's +long list of interesting, instructive, and successful books for young +Americans. + + +=In Buff and Blue=: A STORY OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION. Illustrated by +Merrill, one vol., 8vo $1.50 + +This stirring story of the Revolution details the adventures of one of +Washington's famous life-guards, who is a college mate of Alexander +Hamilton, and fights with him from Trenton to Yorktown. It deals with +school and camp in the "days that tried men's souls" here in America, +and introduces such famous characters as Washington, Hamilton, +Lafayette, Arnold, Andre, and Wayne. A splendid book for boys and +girls. + + +=The Story of the American Indian.= Profusely illustrated, 4to, cloth +$1.50 + +The first and only complete and consecutive story of the red men of +America. It is sympathetic but not sentimental, practical but not +one-sided, picturesque but not romantic. A book for all Americans to +read. + + +=The Story of the American Sailor.= Illustrated, 4to, cloth $1.50 + +The only story of the American blue-jacket, whaler, fisherman, +merchantman, and foremast-hand, cabin boy, captain, commodore, and +admiral. A grand book for all lovers of heroism on the +sea,--especially American heroism. + + + + +ELBRIDGE S. BROOKS'S BOOKS + + +=The Story of the American Soldier.= Illustrated, 4to, cloth $1.50 + +A stirring and graphic record of the American fighting man,--the +soldier who has secured peace through war,--from the days of +mound-builders and red Indians to those of Grant, Sherman, Sheridan, +and Miles. + + +=The Story of New York.= (STORY OF THE STATES SERIES.) Illustrated, 8vo, +cloth $1.50 + +This initial volume of the "Story of the States Series," of which Mr. +Brooks is editor, is a story of the beginnings and development of the +Empire State, told in a delightful and attractive manner. + + "More like a charming fireside legend, told by a grandfather + to eager children, than the dry and pompous chronicles + commonly labelled history."--_Critic_, New York. + + +=Storied Holidays=: A Cycle of Red-Letter Days. Illustrated by Howard +Pyle, 12mo, cloth $1.50 + +A unique and charming collection of historical stories about the +world's holidays, told by the author of "Historic Boys" and "Historic +Girls" Splendidly illustrated by Howard Pyle. + + "A book for buying and keeping that the children, as they + grow up, and the parents, too, may dip into and + read."--_Sunday School Times._ + + +=The Boy Life of Napoleon=, afterwards Emperor of the French. Translated +and adapted for American children from the French of Madame Eugenie +Foa. Illustrated by Vesper L. George, and by numerous photographs. One +vol., square 8vo $1.25 + +"The style of the book is simple and graceful, and it has the merit of +historical accuracy, also of dramatic action. For those who wish their +boys and girls to study the life of the great Emperor of France, we +know of no better book than this."--_Literary World_, Boston. + + +=In Leisler's Times=: A Story of Knickerbocker New York, told for boys +and girls. Illustrated by W. T. Smedley, 12mo, cloth $1.50 + +A stirring, dramatic, and vivid historical tale, based on the +remarkable record of Jacob Leisler, earliest of American +patriots,--the first people's governor of New York. + + "A good boy's book; manly, patriotic, and readable."--_The + Independent._ + + +=In No Man's Land=: A Wonder Story. Illustrated by Childe Hassam, 12mo, +cloth $1.00 + +An "Alice in Wonderland" story about an American "Alice" whose name +was Ruthie, and who went to No Man's Land in a street-car. Full of fun +and fancy. The children's favorite wonder story. + + "Sparkles all over with glee.... There is not a dull line in + it."--_The Dial._ + + + + +W. O. STODDARD'S BOOKS + +12mo Cloth Price per volume, $1.25 + + +=DAN MONROE: A Story of Bunker Hill= Illustrated by W. F. Kennedy + +In this volume the hero is one whose name is found in several +trustworthy records as the drummer boy of the Lexington militia, his +closest friend, Nat Harrington, being the fifer. The Concord fight, +the Battle of Bunker Hill, and the arrival of Washington are +introduced as parts of a carefully preserved historical outline. + + +=LONG BRIDGE BOYS= Illustrated by I. B. Hazelton + +It tells the story of an actual attempt made by the Confederates of +Virginia, just prior to the outbreak of the Civil War, to seize the +city of Washington by force of arms, and make prisoners of President +Lincoln and other high government officials. + + +=AHEAD OF THE ARMY= Illustrated by C. Chase Emerson + +This is a lively narrative of the experiences of an American boy who +arrives in Mexico as the war with the United States is beginning. + + +=THE ERRAND BOY OF ANDREW JACKSON: A War Story of 1812= Illustrated by +Will Crawford + +This tale is of the War of 1812, and describes the events of the only +land campaign of 1812-1814 in which the Americans were entirely +successful. + + +=JACK MORGAN: A Boy of 1818= Illustrated by Will Crawford + +It is the adventures of a boy of the frontier during the great fight +that Harrison made on land, and Perry on the lakes for the security of +the border. + + +=THE NOANK'S LOG: A Privateer of the Revolution= Illustrated by Will +Crawford + +The further adventures of the plucky Guert Ten Eyck, as he fought King +George on land and sea. + + +=THE DESPATCH BOAT OF THE WHISTLE: A Story of Santiago= Illustrated by +Frank T. Merrill + +A breezy story of a newspaper despatch boat, in the war with Spain. + + +=GUERT TEN EYCK= Illustrated by Frank T. Merrill + +A hero story of real American girls and boys, in the American +Revolution. + + +=THE PARTNERS= Illustrated by Albert Scott Cox + +A capital story of a bright, go-ahead country girl and two boys who +helped her keep store. + + +=CHUCK PURDY: A New York Boy= Illustrated + +A delightful story of boy life in New York City. + + +=GID GRANGER: A Country Boy= Illustrated + +A capital story of American life. + + + + +George Gary Eggleston's Juveniles + + =The Bale Marked Circle X= + A Blockade Running Adventure + +Illustrated by C. Chase Emerson. 12mo, red cloth, illustrated cover, +$1.50. + +Another of Mr. Eggleston's stirring books for youth. In it are told +the adventures of three boy soldiers in the Confederate Service who +are sent in a sloop on a secret voyage from Charleston to the Bahamas, +conveying a strange bale of cotton which holds important documents. +The boys pass through startling adventures: they run the blockade, +suffer shipwreck, and finally reach their destination after the +pluckiest kind of effort. + + + =Camp Venture= + A Story of the Virginia Mountains + +Illustrated by W. A. McCullough. 12mo, dark red cloth, illustrated +cover, $1.50. + +The _Louisville Courier Journal_ says: "George Gary Eggleston has +written a decidedly good tale of pluck and adventure in 'Camp +Venture.' It will be of interest to young and old who enjoy an +exciting story, but there is also a great deal of instruction and +information in the book." + + + =The Last of the Flatboats= + A Story of the Mississippi + +Illustrated by Charlotte Harding. 12mo, green cloth, illustrated +cover, $1.50. + +The _Brooklyn Eagle_ says: "Mr. George Gary Eggleston, the veteran +editor and author, has scored a double success in his new book, 'The +Last of the Flatboats,' which has just been published. Written +primarily as a story for young readers, it contains many things that +are of interest to older people. Altogether, it is a mighty good +story, and well worth reading." + + + + +_YOUNG DEFENDER SERIES_ + +By ELBRIDGE S. BROOKS + + +=IN DEFENCE OF THE FLAG= + +=A Boy's Adventures in Spain and Cuba in the War of 1898= + +Illustrated by W. F. STECHER 12mo Cloth $1.25 + +A story of action and adventure such as all healthy boys like, telling +of a plucky young American who defended his country's flag against +mobs in Spain and foemen in Cuba, and had many thrilling experiences. + + "Suffice it to say that he will be a lucky boy, with many a + thrill before him, who finds this book in his Christmas + stocking. Don is a hero after every boy's heart."--_Boston + Herald._ + + +=WITH LAWTON AND ROBERTS= + +=A Boy's Adventures in the Philippines and the Transvaal= + +Illustrated by C. CHASE EMERSON 12mo Cloth $1.25 + +The stirring adventures of a manly American boy who follows Lawton in +his last campaigns, and by a singular train of circumstances has +"moving accidents by flood and field," in two wars, with American +soldiers, Filipino insurrectos, Malay pirates, English troopers, and +Boer burghers. + + "Mr. Brooks presents vivid pictures of both wars, so widely + separated. His pages are full of the swift-moving incidents + which boys love. Dull indeed must be the young reader whose + interest flags."--_Boston Journal._ + +=UNDER THE ALLIED FLAGS= + +=A Boy's Adventures in China During the Boxer Revolt= + +Illustrated by W. F. STECHER 12mo Cloth $1.25 + +The stirring story of an American boy's adventures in Tien Tsin and +Pekin, in the ranks of the International troops and as one of the +defenders of the beleaguered legations. Up-to-date, absorbing, and +full of healthy excitement. Characters who are in the stories "With +Lawton and Roberts" and "In Defence of the Flag" reappear in this +story. + + "Men and women, boys and girls, of all the mingled + nationalities that made this war in China so picturesque, + appear in the story and give it vigor, variety, and + unflagging interest."--_Cleveland World._ + + +For sale by all booksellers or sent postpaid on receipt of price by +the publishers, + +LOTHROP, LEE & SHEPARD CO., BOSTON + + + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: + +1. Minor changes have been made to correct typesetters' errors; +otherwise, every effort has been made to remain true to the author's +words and intent. + +2. Words with one or more letters enclosed in {} indicate that the +original word, in the book, had those characters in superscript. + +3. 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