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diff --git a/42990-0.txt b/42990-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..51b46e1 --- /dev/null +++ b/42990-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10671 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42990 *** + + Transcriber's Note: + + Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as + possible, including inconsistent hyphenation. Some changes have been + made. They are listed at the end of the text. + + Illustrations and maps have been moved. + + Italic text has been marked with _underscores_. + + + + +IN UNFAMILIAR ENGLAND + + + + + _By the Same Author_ + + British Highways and Byways + From a Motor Car + + WITH FORTY-EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS + Sixteen Reproductions in Color and Thirty-Two Duogravures + + _Second Edition_ + + 320 Pages, 8vo, Decorated Cloth, Gilt Top + Price (Boxed), $3.00 + + L. C. PAGE & COMPANY + BOSTON, MASS. + + +[Illustration: SULGRAVE MANOR, THE CRADLE OF THE WASHINGTONS. + +Painted especially for the author by Daniel Sherrin.] + + + + + [Illustration] + + IN UNFAMILIAR + ENGLAND + + A Record of a Seven Thousand Mile Tour by Motor of the + Unfrequented Nooks and Corners, and the Shrines of + Especial Interest, in England; With Incursions + into Scotland and Ireland. + + By THOS. D. MURPHY + + AUTHOR OF "BRITISH HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS FROM A MOTOR CAR." + + WITH SIXTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOR, REPRODUCED FROM ORIGINAL + PAINTINGS BY EMINENT BRITISH ARTISTS, AND FORTY-EIGHT + DUOGRAVURES FROM ENGLISH PHOTOGRAPHS; ALSO + INDEXED MAPS COVERING ROUTES. + + BOSTON + L. C. PAGE & COMPANY + MDCCCCX + + + _Copyright, 1910_ + BY L. C. PAGE & COMPANY + (INCORPORATED) + + _All rights reserved_ + + First Impression, January, 1910 + + + TO MY WIFE + + THE CONSTANT + COMPANION OF + MY WANDERINGS + + + + +PREFACE + + +It may seem that there is little excuse for a new book on English +travel, since works covering the beaten path in the British Isles +fairly teem from the press. But as a record of pilgrimages to the +unfamiliar shrines and to the odd corners all over the United Kingdom +this book may have its value. My reference to the tourist-frequented +spots has been only incidental, and I think I can claim to have found +much of interest not elsewhere described. And this I put forth as my +chief excuse for adding one more to the already long list of British +travel books. + +But in my illustrations I have another, and perhaps to many a better, +excuse for my venture on such well-trodden ground. I believe that few +books of travel have come from the press that can justly claim a higher +rank in this particular. The sixteen color plates reproduce the work of +some of the most noted contemporary artists, and the duogravures are +the most perfect English photographs--no country on earth surpasses +England in photography--perfectly reproduced. + +I trust that these features may give a real value to the book and make +it acceptable to the large and increasing number of those readers and +travelers abroad who are interested in the Motherland. + +T. D. M. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + Page + + I SOME NOOKS ABOUT LONDON 1 + + II WANDERINGS IN EAST ANGLIA 14 + + III SOME MIDLAND NOOKS AND THE WASHINGTON COUNTRY 32 + + IV MEANDERINGS FROM COVENTRY TO EXETER 48 + + V RAMBLES IN THE WEST COUNTRY 68 + + VI ODD CORNERS OF THE WELSH BORDER 85 + + VII A WEEK IN SOUTH WALES 102 + + VIII SOME NOOKS AND CORNERS 127 + + IX THE BYRON COUNTRY 143 + + X FROM YORKSHIRE COAST TO BARNARD CASTLE 160 + + XI LAKELAND AND THE YORKSHIRE DALES 176 + + XII SOME NORTH COUNTRY SHRINES 199 + + XIII ACROSS THE TWEED 212 + + XIV MORE YORKSHIRE WANDERINGS 238 + + XV ROUND ABOUT WILTSHIRE 257 + + XVI DORSET AND THE ISLE OF WIGHT 277 + + XVII SOUTH ENGLAND NOOKS 298 + + XVIII FROM DUBLIN TO CORK 325 + + XIX THROUGH SOUTHERN IRELAND 338 + + XX SOME ODDS AND ENDS 362 + + XXI LUDLOW TOWN 379 + + INDEX 391 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + + COLOR PLATES + + Page + + SULGRAVE MANOR, THE CRADLE OF THE WASHINGTONS Frontispiece + + WARWICK CASTLE FROM THE AVON 1 + + SULGRAVE CHURCH AND VILLAGE 40 + + IN SUNNY DEVON 70 + + KING ARTHUR'S CASTLE, OFF TINTAGEL HEAD, CORNWALL 74 + + OFF THE COAST OF DEVON 76 + + EVENING ON THE CORNISH COAST 82 + + A WORCESTERSHIRE COMMON 136 + + HADDON HALL FROM THE RIVER 146 + + IN OLD WHITBY 168 + + A SUSSEX HARVEST FIELD 306 + + THE HOSPITAL, RYE 312 + + ON THE DOWNS 322 + + A GLIMPSE OF THE LOUGH, IRELAND 346 + + ON THE RIVER LLEDR, WALES 368 + + LUDLOW CASTLE FROM THE RIVER TEME 386 + + + DUOGRAVURES + + OLD MANOR HOUSE, BRENT ELEIGH 20 + + A STREET CORNER, EARLS COLNE, ESSEX 28 + + MARNEY TOWERS, ESSEX 30 + + CROSS ROADS NEAR OUNDLE 34 + + KIRBY HALL 38 + + WASHINGTON BRASS, SULGRAVE CHURCH 42 + + THE WASHINGTON CHURCH, GREAT BRINGTON 46 + + LYGON ARMS, BROADWAY 54 + + TAWSTOCK CHURCH, DEVONSHIRE 78 + + BERKELEY CASTLE 86 + + BISHOP'S PALACE, HEREFORD 92 + + TONG VILLAGE, SHROPSHIRE 94 + + BOSCOBEL HOUSE, SHROPSHIRE 96 + + CAERPHILLY CASTLE, SOUTH WALES 108 + + CARDIFF CASTLE 110 + + NEATH ABBEY, SOUTH WALES 114 + + ST. DAVID'S CATHEDRAL 120 + + TOWN CROSS, STOCKS AND WHIPPING POST, RIPPLE 132 + + RUINS OF CHARTLEY CASTLE, DERBYSHIRE 140 + + CHESTERFIELD CHURCH 144 + + NEWSTEAD ABBEY 154 + + WHITBY ABBEY AND CROSS 166 + + RABY CASTLE 172 + + HAWORTH CHURCH 196 + + CASTLE HOWARD 200 + + REMAINS OF GREAT ROMAN WALL NEAR HEXHAM 208 + + NAWORTH CASTLE 210 + + TANTALLON CASTLE AND BASS ROCK 228 + + CASTLE BOLTON, WENSLEYDALE, YORKSHIRE 240 + + MIDDLEHAM CASTLE, WENSLEYDALE 244 + + RUINS OF PONTEFRACT CASTLE 250 + + LACOCK ABBEY 262 + + BROMHAM CHURCH, BURIAL PLACE OF THOMAS MOORE 266 + + CASTLE COMBE VILLAGE, WILTSHIRE 268 + + CORFE VILLAGE AND CASTLE 280 + + AN ISLE OF WIGHT ROAD 288 + + THE TENNYSON HOME, FRESHWATER, ISLE OF WIGHT 294 + + COTTAGE, FRESHWATER, ISLE OF WIGHT 296 + + ABBEY CHURCH, ROMSEY 300 + + COWDRAY CASTLE, NEAR MIDHURST 304 + + THE "BLUE IDOL," PENN'S MEETING HOUSE, SUSSEX 308 + + KILKENNY CASTLE 328 + + CASHEL CATHEDRAL, TIPPERARY 332 + + HOLY CROSS ABBEY, TIPPERARY 334 + + ANCIENT ORATORY, KILLALOE 356 + + WHITTINGTON CASTLE, SHROPSHIRE 370 + + LUDLOW CASTLE; THE WALK BENEATH THE WALL 380 + + DOOR TO ROUND CHAPEL, LUDLOW CASTLE 384 + + + + +MAPS + + + MAP OF ENGLAND AND WALES 390 + + MAP OF SCOTLAND AND IRELAND 402 + + +[Illustration: WARWICK CASTLE FROM THE AVON. + +Original Painting by Daniel Sherrin.] + + + + +In Unfamiliar England + + + + +I + +SOME NOOKS ABOUT LONDON + + +When Washington Irving made his first journey to England, he declared +the three or four weeks on the ocean to be the best possible +preparation for a visit to the mother country. The voyage, said he, +was as a blank page in one's existence, and the mind, by its utter +severance from the busy world, was best fitted to receive impressions +of a new and strange environment. And it was no doubt so in the slow +ocean voyages of olden time; but today it is more as if one stayed +within his palatial hotel for a few days, at no time losing touch +with the civilized world. Every day of our passage the engines of our +ocean greyhound reeled off distances--five or six hundred nautical +miles--that Irving's vessel would have required nearly a week to +cover, and daily the condensed news of the world was flashed to us +through the "viewless air." Of all our modern miracles, certainly none +would have been more difficult to predict than this--how like a sheer +impossibility it would have seemed! Indeed, to such an extent has +modern science thrown its safeguards around the voyager that "those +in peril on the sea" are rather less so than those on land, and the +ocean liners make trips month after month and year after year without +the loss of a single life. And with the disappearance of its mystery +and terror, the sea has lost much of its romance. No longer does the +bold buccaneer lie in wait for the treasure-laden galleons of Spain and +the Netherlands; no longer may the picturesque pirate sail the seas +unhindered in his quest for ill-gotten gold. Indeed, when one thinks +of the capital and equipment a modern pirate on the high seas would +require, there is no wonder that the good old trade is obsolete. + +But the sea is still as beautiful in its thousand moods of clouds and +sunshine, of storm and calm, as it ever was ere its distances were +annihilated and its romance dispelled. Our voyage was nearly perfect; +the water was smooth and the days mild and clear. From sunrise to +sunset the great ship plowed her way through a sea of pale emerald +flecked with frosted silver, and at night she swept along beneath a +starlit sky. So favorable was her progress that early on the sixth day +she paused in Plymouth harbor. + +If in Washington Irving's day the long sea voyage was the best +preparation for enjoying the beauties of England, it is hardly so now. +Be that as it may, there is possibly nothing that could make one more +keenly appreciate the joys of motoring than the run from Plymouth to +London by the Great Western's "train de luxe." The grime and smoke +that envelop everything about the train, the crash and shriek of the +wheels, the trembling and groaning of the frail carriages hurled onward +at a terrific speed, to say nothing of the never-to-be-forgotten +service--does it deserve such a term--of the dining-car, will all seem +like a nightmare when one glides along beneath the silvery English +skies, through the untainted country air, and pauses for an excellent, +cleanly served luncheon at some well-ordered wayside inn. + +London itself is so vast, and so crowded are its environs with places +that may well engage the attention of the tourist, that it would be +hard to guess how much time one might devote with pleasure and profit +to the teeming circle within twenty-five miles of Charing Cross. +Many of the most charming spots about the metropolis have had scant +mention in the literature of travel, and even now many of the ancient +and picturesque villages are in process of metamorphosis. The steady +encroachments of the great city have already transformed more than one +retired hamlet into a suburban residence town, and historic landmarks +have suffered not a little. The advent of the railroad, always hailed +with joy from a mere material standpoint, is often death to the +atmosphere that attracts the painter and the poet. A run to Chorley +Wood to visit the studio of a well-known English artist, one of whose +pictures graces this book, brought to our minds with peculiar force the +condition of things just outlined. + +Chorley Wood but recently was one of the quaintest and most unspoiled +of the Hertfordshire villages. Here stands the old King farmhouse where +in 1672 William Penn married Gulilema Springett, whose graces and +perfections have been so dwelt upon by the chroniclers. And there are +other old and interesting structures, but crowding them closely and +elbowing them out of existence are the more modern villas of Londoners +whom the railroad has brought within easy reach of this pleasant spot. +Not all of the newer houses were constructed with the consummate taste +of that of our artist friend, whose studio-residence seemed entirely +at home among the quaint old houses of the town. As usual with English +houses, the garden side was most attractive, and a wide veranda--not a +common thing in England--fronted on the well-kept lawn. From this there +was a splendid view of the distant Hertfordshire landscape, which on +this particular June day was glorious with such variations of green +as can be seen only in England, broken here and there by the intense +yellow of the gorse and fading away into a blue haze that half hid the +forest-covered hills in the distance. I could not help suggesting that +this view itself would make a delightful picture, but the artist, who +is noted for his fondness for low tones, demurred--the gorse was too +harsh and jarring. So, after all, Dame Nature isn't much of a colorist! +She mingles the intensest greens and blues and dashes them with the +fiercest of yellows! + +It is not strange that Hertfordshire is favored by the artists, +especially those whose success has been such as to enable them to +maintain country homes. I had the pleasure of calling on another +successful young painter in the adjacent village of Harpenden and on +inquiring for his studio we were given the unique direction to "follow +the road along the common until you come to a new house that looks like +an old one." And the description was apt, indeed, for we did not see +elsewhere the half-timber frame-work with herring-bone masonry, the +studded oak doors with monstrous, straggling wrought-iron hinges, the +open beams, wide carved mantels, the mullioned windows with diamond +panes set in iron casements--all reproduced with the perfect spirit of +the Elizabethan builder. + +Near by is Rickmansworth, an ancient and yet unspoiled town where Penn +lived for five years after his marriage with "Guli," as she was called. +These years were largely occupied in writing theological works and +in public religious disputations. In fact, no name is more identified +with Hertfordshire than Penn's, its only rival being that of Francis +Bacon. In later years Penn removed to Sussex, where he had inherited an +estate, but his final resting-place is at Jordans, Hertfordshire. + +We left Chorley Wood through meandering byways, and threading our way +among the Burnham beeches, soon came into the main Oxford road. It +would be difficult, indeed, to describe the sylvan loveliness of the +country through which we passed. The great trees overarched the narrow +winding lanes, which were bordered with tall ferns in places, and often +a clear rivulet ran alongside. The somber yew, the stately oak and the +graceful birches were interspersed here with a bit of lawn and there +with a tangle of flowering shrubs. Out of this we came into the main +road, broad and white, and teeming with vehicles--the first hint that +London with its ceaseless turmoil is only twenty miles away. + +Farther on the road toward the city we came to Uxbridge, another town +where the new is crowding the old. Fortunately, the famous Treaty Inn +has escaped. Here the emissaries of Charles I. met the representatives +of Parliament in a vain effort to compromise the dispute that had +plunged the nation into civil war. The room where the commissioners +met, with its paneling reaching to the ceiling and its wealth of +antique carving, is little changed, though it has been divided by a +partition into a writing- and a dining-room. The excellent luncheon +served was one of the surprises often met in these dilapidated and +often unprepossessing old hostelries. In the time of the Parliamentary +unpleasantness, this hotel was known as the "Crown," and among its +relics is an immense crown of solid oak weighing two or three hundred +pounds, which was engaging the attention of an English party, one of +whom ironically asked if this were the identical crown worn by Charles +at the council. "Indeed it was," replied another humorist in the party, +"and thus originated the expression, 'Uneasy lies the head which wears +a crown.'" + +Near Uxbridge, but lying a quarter of a mile off the main road, is the +village of Denham. Here we came one fine Sunday afternoon, following +the recommendation of an English friend. The village has no historic +attraction and no famous man's name has ever been associated with +it. Neither has it mention in the books. Yet Denham is a delight--a +sequestered little place nestling under a group of towering trees just +far enough from the highroad to miss the dust and noise. The ancient +half-timbered houses which border the street are redolent with the +spirit of old-time England. The fine unrestored old church stands at +the head of the street and the churchyard about it shows evidence of +painstaking care. What a delight, it seemed to us, it would be to live +in Denham--at least in English June time. One would have rural quiet, +even somnolence, and might lie for hours on the turf under the great +trees, meditating and looking at the sky; and if he should weary of so +secluded and eventless a life, London, with all its mystery and charm, +is less than an hour away--London, the most fascinating city in the +world, despite its preponderance of bad weather and its world-famed +fogs. + +Charles Lamb delighted in Hertfordshire and spent much of his time at +the Four Swans Inn at Waltham, a quaint old building just opposite +Waltham Cross. We made several pilgrimages here; nor did the abbey +grow less interesting upon repeated visits. From here it is only a +little distance to St. Albans, a city proud of its great cathedral, +whose hoary tower dominates the town. Quite different from the ordinary +caretaker was the young clergyman, whose refined, classic face bespoke +his intelligence and who showed us every detail of the great church, +dwelling upon its many ancient and often unique features. Nor did he +omit to call our attention to an epitaph of a very frank citizen of St. +Albans, who, after sleeping three hundred years under the marble slab +in the nave, still complains of his unhappy fate: + + "Great was my grief--I could not rest; + God called me hence--He thought it best. + Unhappy marriage was my fate-- + I did repent when 'twas too late." + +St. Albans is rich in antiquities. Indeed, you can still trace +fragments of the Roman wall which surrounded the place when Albanus +met his fate, and down near the river at the foot of cathedral hill +is another "oldest house" in England. It is a quaint round structure, +built, they say, more than a thousand years ago as a fishing-lodge +for the monks, for it stands hard by a lakelike dam in the river. But +today it has degenerated into a public house, and the broad-shouldered, +black-bearded Irishman who kept the bar was well posted on St. Albans' +antiquities. He showed us the little house and garden and pointed out +the Roman earthworks. Nor did he seem in the least disappointed that +our patronage was limited to a few post card pictures, and, strange +to say, he declined a gratuity. We returned to the George Inn, which +enjoyed great prosperity in the coaching days, being on the main road +to Holyhead. For four hundred years it had cheered the passing guest +and its excellent dinner belied its generally dilapidated appearance. +Its proprietors were just removing to the new and pretentious Red +Lion over the way, but we did not learn whether this meant the final +abandonment of the George. + +It was with some difficulty that we located Rye House, which we +supposed to be within Broxborne, but which really lies on a byroad +two or three miles away. Though in a more or less secluded location, +it is apparently the goal of innumerable pilgrims on gala days in the +summer, especially Sundays. On the day of our arrival, the grounds were +quite deserted and an appropriate quietude hovered over the old manor. +Alas, though, we found it shorn of much of its picturesqueness, for +it had fallen into the clutches of a large brewer, who was using it +as an adjunct to dispose of his product--in fact, the mansion and its +beautiful grounds have become little else than a summer beer garden. + +Rye House figures in history as the seat of a plot, which +contemporaries describe as "horrid," to kill King Charles II. as he +returned from a race meeting in Newmarket in 1683. Unfortunately, +perhaps, the plot failed, owing to the king's return a week earlier +than expected, and there was no telephone to advise the Rye House +assassins of the change of plan. A penny guide-book gives what +purports to be the history of the crime, though I fear most of the +romantic features are mythical. It relates how Ruth, the daughter +of Rumsey, who devised the plot, listened at the door and learned +the plan of the conspirators. Between her father and the king this +devoted maiden never hesitated a minute, but hustled her lover away +to Newmarket to warn Charles of his impending danger. After great +difficulty the youth gained an audience with the king, and it is +recorded that Charles only laughed at his story. Here, at least, is a +touch of probability--Charles laughed at everything. Finding himself +discredited, the lover became desperate; in his loyal zeal "he secretly +set fire to the house in which the king resided in two or three +places." Our chronicler, having thus unceremoniously ousted his royal +majesty from his comfortable quarters, has him proceed "in disguise" +to London, stopping at Rye House, where he confronted and confounded +his enemies and bestowed "substantial marks of his favor" upon Ruth +Rumsey and her lover. What these substantial marks were our chronicler +declareth not--better left to the imagination, anyway, for it would +be far more in keeping with the character of Charles to say that he +promised substantial marks of his favor and forgot all about it. + +So much for Rye House legend. The facts are that the conspirators +were apprehended and executed, and quite in accordance with his usual +practices, the king made the circumstance an excuse for the removal of +numerous of his enemies among the nobility who had nothing whatever to +do with the plot. However, Rye House is quiet enough today and its only +plots are the innocuous ones hatched over pots of beer in the minds of +the trippers who throng it on Sundays and holidays. + +The conspirators did not meet at the inn itself, but in the castellated +manor house just across the byroad. Of this only a fragment remains, +but fortunately this fragment contains the "conspirators' room," +as might be expected. The enterprising brewer has put this in good +repair and has placed on view a number of relics of greater or less +degree of merit. Among these is a pair of stupendous jack-boots, +which our voluble guide assured us were the "hidentical boots what +Holiver Cromwell wore" during a battle in which, as usual, he worsted +the Royalists; but the placard above the relics was more modest in +its claims, for it only stated that the boots were found on the +battlefield. However, if the redoubtable "Holiver" wore these boots +or anything like unto them when he met the enemy, one phase of his +career may be accounted for--why he never ran away. Among the other +curiosities with a real interest is the "Great Bed of Ware," so famous +in its day that Shakespeare immortalized it in his "Twelfth Night." +It is certainly a marvelous creation, some sixteen feet square, with +enormous carved posts supporting an imposing canopy. Our guide asserted +that in its early days no fewer than twenty-four men had slept in it at +one time, and recited, in painful detail, the history of the bed. We +inconsiderately interrupted him in the midst of his declamation and he +had to start all over again, to his manifest annoyance. Even then he +failed to finish, for the shadows were lengthening, and terminating his +flow of eloquence with a shilling or two, we were soon speeding swiftly +over the beautiful Chigwell road to London. + + + + +II + +WANDERINGS IN EAST ANGLIA + + +Despite the fascination that London always has and the fact that one +could scarcely exhaust her attractions in years, it was with impatience +that we endured the delay imposed by business matters and preparations +for a period of two months or more on the road. We were impatient, +surely, or we should hardly have left our hotel at six o'clock in the +evening, in the face of a driving rain. Ordinarily, two or three hours +would have brought us to Cambridge, only fifty miles away; but we could +not depend on this with the caution necessary on the slippery streets +in getting out of London. + +Once clear of the city there was little to hamper us on the fine +Cambridge road and we counted on easily reaching the university town +before lamplighting. The rain had nearly ceased, but the downpour had +been tremendous, and in three successive valleys we forded floods, each +one deeper than the preceding. Almost before we knew it--for in the +gas lamps' glare the rain-soaked road looked little different from the +yellow water--we were axle-deep in a fourth torrent and were deluged +with a dirty spray from the engine fly-wheel. Manifestly we were not +to reach Cambridge that night and we reluctantly turned about to seek +shelter somewhere else. + +It was only a little way to the village of Buntingford, where we +found clean though very unpretentious and not altogether comfortable +accommodations at the George, a rambling old relic of coaching days. +Our late dinner was fair and our rooms good-sized and neat, though +dimly lit with tallow candles; but the ancient feather beds, our +greatest terror in the smaller and a few of the larger towns, caused +a well-nigh sleepless night. Morning revealed a little straggling +gray-stone and slate village, unchanged to all appearances from the +days of the coach-and-four. Our inn was a weather-beaten structure, +and its facilities for dispensing liquor appeared by odds greater than +its accommodation for non-bibulous travelers. Still, it was clean +and homelike, in spots at least, and our hostess, who personally +looked after our needs, was all kindness and sympathetic attention. +Altogether, we had little complaint to lodge against the George, +though greatly different from the really admirable University Arms +at Cambridge, where we had planned to stop. We were early on the +road, from which nearly all trace of the floods of the previous +evening had vanished, and before long we were threading the familiar +streets of Cambridge, where everything appeared to be in a bustle of +preparation--at least so far as such a state of affairs could be in +a staid English town--for the closing of the University year on the +following week. + +There is no finer road in England than that leading from Cambridge to +Newmarket. It is nearly level, and having been newly surfaced with +yellow gravel, it stretches before us like a long golden ribbon in +the sunshine. It leads through wide meadow-lands and at times runs +straight away as an arrow's flight--truly a tempting highway for the +light-footed motor car. + +Beyond Newmarket the road to Bury St. Edmunds is quite as fine, and +no doubt this splendid highway is largely responsible for the intense +antipathy to the motor car in the former town. However, one would +hardly expect Newmarket to be wildly enthusiastic over the horseless +carriage, for this ancient burg contests with Epsom for the position +of chief horse-racing town in England--a proud distinction it had +held for some centuries before the motor snorted through its streets. +Another cause for the grief of the townsmen was the complaint of owners +of high-bred horses that the motors jarred upon the nerves of the +spirited animals to their great detriment, and naturally enough the +citizens sympathized with their patron saint, the horse, against his +petrol-driven rival. And thus it was that when we entered Newmarket +we were met by the Motor Union scout, who cautioned us to observe +rigidly the ten-mile limit or we would more than likely share the fate +of a half dozen of our brethren the day before--a journey to police +headquarters. Two months afterwards, when we again passed through the +town, the war was still on, and it was some months later that I read in +the daily papers that after great bitterness on both sides a truce had +finally been reached. + +Despite its unfriendliness toward our ilk, we must admit that Newmarket +is quite a modern-looking town, clean and attractive, with many +fine buildings and excellent hotels. It lies in the midst of wide +meadow-lands, much used for horseback sports such as polo and racing. +Royal visits, so dear to the average Britisher, are a frequent event, +and here it is that the King, usually in some new style of hat or cut +of trousers, appears, to set the world of fashion agog. + +Well clear of Newmarket and its birds of prey, the most glorious +of roads brought us quickly into the fine old town of Bury St. +Edmunds--and none other in East Anglia has been celebrated by greater +pens; for Charles Dickens and Thomas Carlyle sojourned at Bury and left +us vigorous records of their impressions. The former set them down +in the story of the trials and wanderings of Mr. Pickwick, and that +honest old gentleman's comment on the town and its famous Angel Inn was +altogether commendatory. It was later--in 1878--when Carlyle visited +Bury, and the description he gave it then is quite applicable today. +He saw "a prosperous, brisk town looking out right pleasantly from +the hill-slope toward the rising sun, and on the eastern edge still +runs, long, black and massive, a maze of monastic ruins." The "Angel" +we found still deserving of the encomiums bestowed by Mr. Pickwick, a +delightfully clean and quiet old inn fronting directly on the abbey +gardens and presided over by a suave and very accommodating landlord. +We were given spacious and well-lighted quarters--we may dwell on +"well-lighted," since we could hardly apply this description, so far +as artificial light is concerned, to more than two or three of the +hundreds of hotels we visited. + +The most impressive feature of the abbey ruin is the massive square +tower of the gateway, which stands intact, its ancient state almost +undiminished. The abbey has a long history, for Edmund, King of East +Anglia, was slain near at hand by the Danes in 870--legend says +because he refused to abjure Christianity, and it was this that won +his canonization as St. Edmund. To the time of the Dissolution the +abbey was by far the greatest in East Anglia, and its ruins, though +fragmentary, are quite sufficient to indicate its once vast extent. +Near by stand the churches of St. James and St. Mary's, both rather +ill-proportioned for lack of towers--a deficiency due, it is said, +to the old-time abbots' fear that if these churches should be thus +ornamented they would overshadow the abbey church, now entirely +vanished. Good authorities state that St. Mary's has the finest open +roof in England. It is supported on slender columns and covers a +well-proportioned nave. In the church is the tomb of Mary Tudor, sister +of Henry VIII. and wife first of Louis XII. of France and afterwards of +Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. + +There is not much of historic interest in Bury aside from its abbey and +churches. One may occupy a pleasant hour or two in walking about the +town, which, despite its antiquity, has a prosperous and up-to-date +appearance. Twice in the course of our rambles we visited it and +on both occasions our route led to Ipswich, though over different +roads--first due south through Lavenham and Hadleigh and later by the +way of Stowmarket. The former route is mainly through the retired +Suffolk byways, not in the best condition, but bordered by charming +country. Nowhere did we see a more delightful brick-and-timber house +than the old manor at Brent Eleigh, though it has degenerated into a +mere farm tenement rather better cared for than usual. What a world +of quaint and ancient beauty there is in its many red-tiled gables +surmounted by great clustered chimneys, its double mullioned windows +and its black-oak and red-brick walls, splashed here and there with +clinging masses of ivy. Our illustration only half tells the story, +for it does not give the color or the most picturesque view of the +house. We also came across Bildeston, a little out-of-the-way hamlet +lost in the hills, which has many old houses not as yet fallen into +the clutches of the restorer. This is also true of Hadleigh, a little +farther on the road, which is rich in seventeenth century houses with +fronts of ornamental plaster and carved oaken beams. Among the very +oddest of these is the guildhall, standing quite apart in a graveyard +thickly set with weather-worn headstones. + +[Illustration: OLD MANOR HOUSE, BRENT ELEIGH.] + +We reached Ipswich after a half day of slow progress, for signboards +were often missing and the winding lanes bordered by high hedges made +cautious driving imperative. Later we followed the road by Stowmarket, +a much easier though less interesting route. Stowmarket, aside from +its old-world streets and its huge church with an odd wooden spire, +had nothing to detain us, for one would hardly care to linger at the +gun-cotton factory, which is the most distinctive feature of the +village. + +Little provision was made by the burghers who centuries ago platted +the streets of Ipswich, for the coming of the motor or electric +tram, and it was with difficulty that our car was able to thread its +way through the narrow, crowded main street. It goes without saying +that the objective of the pilgrim on entering the city will be the +Great White Horse, the scene of some of Mr. Pickwick's most noted +adventures, nor are we deterred by any recollection of his decidedly +unpleasant experiences with the inn people. Like many of the incidents +in his writings, it was the personal experience of Dickens that called +forth the rather uncomplimentary remarks set down against the ancient +hostelry; but the very fact that Charles Dickens had stopped there +and written--no matter what--of the Great White Horse--is that not +enough? And we could not forget if we wished that an exact replica of +the Great White Horse was exhibited at the Chicago Fair as typical of +the old-time English inn, for the fact is blazoned forth by a large +placard in the hall. We were offered the spacious room, with its +imposing, tall-posted beds, traditionally occupied by Mr. Pickwick. The +Great White Horse, like many other institutions that felt the scourge +of the caustic pen of Dickens, has changed; no better ordered, more +comfortable and attentive hostelry did we find elsewhere, and we felt +that it had outlived the bad reputation the great author gave it, even +as America lived down the bitter scourging of the "American Notes," +beneath which our fellow-countrymen writhed at the time. And perhaps +we still think of the "Notes" and "Martin Chuzzlewit" with a twinge +of bitterness, forgetting that the ridicule which Dickens indulged in +concerning America was hardly comparable to the sharp castigations he +administered to his own countrymen. His work was productive of good +in both countries, and most of the evils he so scathingly rebuked no +longer exist. + +Ipswich, though a city of some seventy thousand people and of +considerable activity, is by no means shorn of its old-time interest +and picturesqueness. There are many crooked old-world streets where +the soft, time-mellowed tones of the gray walls and antique gables are +diversified by carved beams, plaster fronts and diamond-paned windows, +each of which has its box of brightly colored flowers. The most +notable of the old houses and one of the noblest specimens of Tudor +architecture in the Kingdom is "Ye Ancient House," with its odd dormer +windows and richly decorated plaster front, situated near the Butter +Market. The interior, now occupied by a bookshop and public library, +is as unique and pleasing as the outside. There are paneled rooms, odd +passages and corners, and a very quaint though rude chapel directly +beneath the heavy arched timber roof. Of course such a striking old +house must have its legend of royalty, and tradition has it that +Charles II. was hidden in the chapel when seeking passage to France +after the battle of Worcester. + +But the charm of Ipswich may serve no longer as an excuse to linger. We +bid regretful farewell to the Great White Horse and are soon following +the King's highway to the northward. It was a lowering day, with +frequent dashes of rain and glints of sun breaking from a sky as blue +as one may see in our own prairie states in June time. The road is +winding and hilly for East Anglia, which is so generally level, but it +passes through a fine country with many retired, old-world villages. +Lowestoft we find another of the numerous seaside resorts that dot the +southeastern coast. It has figured little in history and doubtless the +most notable event in its career was its prompt surrender to Colonel +Cromwell in 1642. + +It was gray and chilly when we entered Great Yarmouth, where we found +a leaden-colored ocean thundering on the finest beach in the Kingdom. +Yarmouth is popular as a resort town, though more widely known for its +fisheries. Its characteristic feature is its "rows," a series of very +narrow alleys, mostly bordered with shops and opening into the main +street, forming, as Dickens puts it, "one vast gridiron of which the +bars are represented by the rows." And one will notice that Dickens is +much in evidence in East Anglia. Who can ever forget the freshness +of the description of Yarmouth in "David Copperfield"? The hotels, as +might be expected, are many, and some of them excellent; nowhere did we +have better service than at the Victoria, though cheapness is not one +of its attractions. + +Historic ruins, as a rule, are now carefully maintained in England +and often made a feature of parks and pleasure grounds. But there +are exceptions, where the onslaughts of decay are not withstood and +where, unhindered, green ruin creeps steadily on. Such we found Caister +Castle, four miles to the north of Yarmouth. We were attracted by +its imposing appearance at some distance from the main road, and the +byway into which we turned led into an ill-kept farmyard. Here stands +the impressive ruin, with the stagnant waters of its old-time moat +still surrounding the towering keep and shattered walls. It was quite +deserted, apparently serving the neighboring farmer as a hen-roost. +We learned little of its history, but the mystery, due to our very +ignorance, together with the sad abandon of Caister Castle, makes it +appeal to our imagination more strongly than many a well-cared-for ruin +whose story has become commonplace. + +A broad, level road leads to Norwich and we ran through the flat fen +country, dotted here and there with the Norfolk Broads. These pretty +inland lakes lay dull and motionless under a leaden sky, but we could +imagine them very picturesque on bright days, rippling in the sun and +gleaming with white sails. The hour was late, but our flight was a +rapid one, soon bringing us to the East Anglian metropolis, where we +forthwith sought the Maid's Head Hotel. + +On the following morning we set out to explore the northern coast of +Norfolk and our route led us through many byways and over much bad +road. The day was clear and cool and the fine level country was in the +full glory of June verdure. Everything seemed to indicate that the +East Anglian farmer is contented and prosperous in the small way that +prosperity comes to the common people of England. The countryside had +a well-groomed appearance and the houses were better than the average. +We proceeded almost due north to Mundesley, a mean, bleak little coast +town with a single crooked street, its straggling cottages contrasting +sharply with the palatial hotel in the midst of lawns and gardens on +the hill overlooking the sea. + +Eastward from Mundesley we ran directly along the ocean, which +is visible most of the time; the road is stony and steep in +places--altogether the worst we had yet traversed. The coast country +is decidedly different from the fertile and pleasant fields of the +interior. It is bleak and drab-colored; there are vast stretches of +sand dunes bordered with stony hills whose dull colorings are relieved +by patches of yellow gorse and groups of stunted trees. The villages +are in keeping with the country. The houses are of gray stone and +broken flints and roofed with slate or dull-red tiles; the lines +are square and harsh and there are no touches of ornament. Even the +numerous churches partake of these characteristics; they are huge in +bulk, with little or no attempt at artistic effect, often crowning some +hilltop and looking as if they had defied the wild sea winds for ages. +One we especially noted, standing quite apart on a hill overlooking the +ocean--a vast weather-worn church with a square-topped tower in front +and a queer little minaret to the rear--altogether an imposing and +unusual structure. It completely dominates the poverty-stricken country +and the mean little villages, the nearest of which is a half-mile away. + +The principal resource of the towns of the north Norfolk coast is +resort hotels and boarding-houses. We saw them without number at +Mundesley, Hunstanton, Cromer, Well-Next-the-Sea, and at solitary +points along the road. The fine beach in many places, the rough but +picturesque country and the unusual quiet of the surroundings no doubt +prove attractive to many seeking rest. At Wells-Next-the-Sea we were +glad indeed to forsake the wretched coast road for the broad white +highway that leads by the way of Fakenham to Norwich. + +A few miles out of Norwich on the Newmarket road is Wymondham, +noted for its odd timber cross and its ancient priory church with +octagonal towers, which give it, from a distance, a rather unchurchlike +appearance. The extent of the ruins still remaining is sufficient +evidence that at one time Wymondham Priory was of no little importance. +Most remarkable is the open roof, the oaken timbers of which were +removed at the Dissolution, and after being stored away for ages, were +again put in place at the recent restoration. The caretaker showed us +about with the pride so common to his calling; but he heaved a sigh as +he pointed out many costly features of restoration, such as the great +screen, the massive bronze chandeliers and many elaborate carvings and +furnishings. + +"Ah, sir," he said, "these were all donated by the late vicar; he +carried out and paid for a large part of the restoration--but he's gone +now!" + +"Dead?" we sympathetically asked. + +"No, indeed! It was all the fault of his landlady, who became +displeased with him somehow and gave him notice." + +"Trouble about the rent?" we suggested. + +"Not a bit of it," was the indignant reply. "The rent was nothing to +him. He is the youngest brother of the Duke of W----, and is very +wealthy, with a large following. There is only one house to let in the +parish that could accommodate him at all; and so he had to leave; yes, +he had to leave, for one day he says to me, 'Did you ever hear of a +minister getting the sack?' And he told me how badly his landlady had +treated him and that he had to go. It was a sad day for Wymondham, sir. +He had spent ten times his salary on the church and there were many +other things he was about to do." + +"How much is the salary?" we asked. + +"Six hundred pounds. It is a large parish, covering thirty-five square +miles." + +We gave the old man his expected fee and thought it strange to learn +of a minister who had restored a great church from his private fortune +and then had to give up his charge because there was only one available +house to accommodate him and he couldn't have that. Surely the captious +landlady must be execrated by the good members of the Priory Church of +Wymondham. + +[Illustration: A STREET CORNER, EARLS COLNE, ESSEX.] + +It may seem a far cry from Wymondham, with its ecclesiastical +traditions, to Thetford, the birthplace of that arch-heretic, Thomas +Paine; yet it is only a few miles over the finest of roads. The village +still preserves its old-world atmosphere and the house where Paine was +born still stands, and is frequented, we learned, by many pilgrims. +The old Bell Inn, the oddest of hostelries, looked cozy and restful, +though we did not seek its hospitality. We hastened onward, leaving +the Newmarket highway for Mildenhall, a quiet, unprogressive little +village with an interesting manor house. This we did not see after all, +for it chanced that it was closed during preparations for an open-air +Shakespearean play in the park that afternoon. We paused in the market +square and were accosted by a friendly disposed native who thought us +at a loss for the road. We thanked him and asked him what there might +be of interest in Mildenhall. He scratched his head reflectively and +finally said: + +"Nothin, sir! Hi 'ave lived in Mildenhall for forty years and never saw +anything of hinterest." + +Discouraging, indeed! but we dissented, for there is much in the little +town to please one in whom familiarity has not bred contempt. The huge, +rambling Bell Inn seemed wonderfully attractive, though quite out of +proportion to the village at present. Facing the inn is the church, +remarkable for its Early English windows and fine open hammer-beam, +carved-oak roof, supported from corbels of angel figures with extended +wings. Quite as unusual is the hexagonal market cross, built of heavy +oak timbers, gracefully carved, which support the leaden roof. Besides +these ancient landmarks, there is much else pleasing in Mildenhall. The +thatched cottages, brilliant flower gardens and narrow streets, all +combine to make it a snug, charming place where one might quite forget +the workaday world without. + +Later in our wanderings we made another incursion into East Anglia, +and retraced our route over many of its fine highways. We paused at +Colchester and sought out some of the odd corners we missed before. On +leaving the old city we wandered from the London road into quiet byways +in search of Layer Marney, of whose stupendous ruined towers we had +read years ago. After no end of inquiry, we came in sight of these, +only to learn that the ruin had been incorporated into a modern mansion +by a London gentleman and was no longer accessible to visitors. Still, +we were able to come quite close and found work still in progress--a +number of men laying out formal gardens about the house. The interest +centers in the gate towers built four hundred years ago by Lord Marney, +who planned to erect a mansion to correspond with his exalted station. +But his unfinished work stands as a monument to his blighted hopes, for +he died before his task was well begun and his only son followed him a +year later. The structure is strikingly original in style; the entrance +flanked by great octagonal towers eight stories high, with two immense +windows--a network of stone mullions--just above the gateway. It was +one of the earliest buildings since Roman times to be constructed +of brick, and most unusual are the terra cotta moldings, which have +a classic touch, due to Italian workmen brought to England by Lord +Marney. + +[Illustration: MARNEY TOWERS, ESSEX.] + +The little church near by, of earlier date than the towers, is also +built of brick and has so far escaped the ravages of the restorer. +It has three black marble tombs of old-time Marneys and one of these +must be older than the church, for it bears the mail-clad effigy of +a crusader who died in 1414. The interior has scarcely been altered +in the four hundred years of its existence; and we hardly saw another +to match it in genuine spirit of the olden time. The roof of the nave +had been repaired out of sheer necessity, but the dark, sagging beams +of the chapel had never been molested. Over the door a black letter +inscription, with initial and decorations in still brilliant red, is +devoted to a scathing denunciation of "ye riche," so fierce as to seem +almost modern. Perhaps the Marneys viewed it with the more complacency +from the fact that their worldly possessions hardly accorded with their +high station. One of the oddest features of the interior is the carved +oaken effigies of four little monkeys perched on tall posts at either +end of the family pews, and an ape is shown on the Marney arms. All +because, tradition declares, a pet monkey snatched a prehistoric Marney +while an infant from a burning mansion and lost its life to save the +child. + + + + +III + +SOME MIDLAND NOOKS AND THE WASHINGTON COUNTRY + + +It was not easy to get rooms at the University Arms, even though we had +applied the week before. It was the close of the university year, for +which event, the manageress assured us, many people had engaged rooms a +full year in advance. We were late applicants, to be sure. However, we +had the advantage of a previous acquaintance--a thing that counts for +much in the English hotel--and, since nowhere else would do, we were +soon comfortably established at the University Arms. + +A stop of a day or two gives us the opportunity of seeing much of the +gala life of the town, including the hotly contested boat races on the +Cam. There are many events not directly connected with the university, +among them the cart-horse parade, which includes hundreds of gaily +decked work-horses, splendid fellows, and it is doubtful if any +American town of twice the size of Cambridge could make anything like +such a showing, all points of equine excellence considered. One sees +very few poor-looking horses in England, anyway--outside of London. +But what have we to do with horses? We are again on the road at the +earliest opportunity, following the splendid highway to Huntingdon. +The countryside through which we pass is crowded with memories of the +Great Protector, but we shall give it no place in this chronicle of +unfamiliar England. + +The old Bell Inn at Stilton, on the Great North Road fourteen miles +above Huntingdon, will arrest the attention of any one who has learned +to discriminate. It is a relic of the time when this road was one of +the busiest in all England--the coaching traffic between London, York +and Edinburgh plying over it. The inn fronts directly on the street--a +long, rambling building, with many gables, stone-mullioned windows and +huge, square, clustered chimneys. It is built of sandstone, weatherworn +to a soft, yellowish brown, and once rich in mouldings and carvings +which are now barely discernible. Now only about half of the house is +occupied and the stables have fallen in ruin. The village of Stilton is +one of the sleepiest and most rural type. What a contrast the good old +days must have presented when six and thirty coaches-and-four pulled up +daily at the Bell and its hostlers led nearly one hundred horses to its +capacious stables! + +We saw much of rural England in threading our way from Stilton through +a maze of narrow byroads to Oundle, which caught our eye as one of +the quaintest of the old-world inland villages. Many are the pleasant +vistas down its streets, each with its array of buildings in soft-gray +and red tones, the sagging roofs surmounted by odd gables and huge +chimneys. But most interesting are the old inns, the Turk's Head and +the Talbot. The first is an imposing Jacobean structure with many +gables and deep-set stone-mullioned windows. The Talbot is quite +as fine in exterior, and though we could not remain as guests, the +landlord apparently took pleasure in showing us about, manifesting a +genuine pride in his establishment, which was further evidenced by its +well-kept appearance. Even the court was flower-bordered and there was +a flourishing greenhouse. Inside there are rooms with much antique +paneling and solid oaken beams which support the ceilings. But most +notable are the relics of Fotheringhay Castle incorporated into the +Talbot. The winding black-oak staircase is the one which Mary descended +on the mournful morning of her execution, and among the mullioned +casement windows are doubtless some through which the fair captive +often gazed during the long, weary days of her imprisonment. + +[Illustration: CROSS ROADS NEAR OUNDLE.] + +There are few places in the average village where the tourist can +gain local information so easily as at a picture postcard shop. The +keeper is sure to call your attention to everything of interest +and is equally sure to be well posted on the history and traditions +of the locality. Such a shop we found at Oundle, and the pictures of +Deane House and Church and Kirby Hall soon engaged our attention. "Do +not miss them," said the genial shopkeeper, and he gave us accurate +directions as to the roads--not easy to follow from the confusing +streets of Oundle into another tangle of byways. + +Deane House, the fine Tudor residence of the Earls of Cardigan, is +a few miles to the northwest. It is not shown to visitors, but its +battlemented towers, odd turrets and heavily buttressed walls are +plainly visible from the road. Near it stands Deane Church, whose +fine open-timbered roof is supported by slender oaken columns--quite +unusual, indeed. There is a beautiful sixteenth century tomb, its +details almost perfect, with the effigies of the first earl and his +two wives placed impartially on either side. But nowhere else did we +see an altar-tomb so chaste and artistic as that erected to the late +earl, who died in 1868. It is wrought in purest alabaster, and beside +the figure of the earl, represented as a tall, handsome man in full +military dress, is the effigy of his widow, not interred with her +husband as yet, but living at the age of eighty-four. Evidently the +lady desires that future ages shall remember her at her best, for the +effigy represents a transcendently beautiful young woman of about +twenty, lying calmly in sleep, her head resting on a gracefully rounded +arm and her face turned toward her mate. Every detail is delicately and +correctly done and the whole work is redolent of beauty and sentiment. +Will it ever see such cataclysms as swept over its companion tomb? +May no iconoclastic vandal ever shatter those slenderly wrought hands +or carve his churlish name on the stately figure of the earl--and yet +how often such desecrations have occurred in England in the not very +distant past! + +"There are absolutely no restrictions on visitors at Kirby Hall," we +were informed at Oundle, and it might have been added that no effort is +made to direct one thither. We passed unwittingly and were compelled +to turn about to find the common-looking farm gate that opened through +the hedgerow into the rough, stone-strewn bit of road leading to the +dismantled palace. So uninviting was the neglected lane that two or +three English motorists who arrived about the same time left their +cars and walked the mile or so to the Hall. It was not our wont to be +so cautious, and we drove directly to the stately though crumbling +gateway. As we rounded a group of trees and caught a full view of the +splendid facade of Kirby Hall, we could not repress an exclamation of +surprise. Beautiful and imposing, indeed, despite long years of neglect +and decay, is this magnificent Tudor mansion! It is built of white +stone, its long walls pierced by a multitude of graceful windows and +surmounted by great grouped chimneys and richly carved and pinnacled +gables. Passing the imposing entrance, we found ourselves in a wide, +grass-grown court, which the mansion surrounds in quadrangular form. +The architecture of the court is graceful in the extreme--fluted and +carved marble pilasters running the full height between the windows, +which have a distinctly classic touch on the entrance side. On the +three remaining sides there are great clustered windows, no less than +twenty in one of the groups, separated by slender stone mullions. Most +of the glass has disappeared or clings to the casements in shattered +fragments, though in a small, still-inhabited corner the windows are +entire. We wander at will through the once splendid apartments, now in +pitiable decay and ruin. In the banqueting hall--a vast apartment with +high open-beamed roof and minstrel gallery--a washerwoman is heating +her water-pots, and piles of wool are stored in the Hall of State. +But from the far greater number of the rooms the roof has wholly or +partially disappeared and the rooks scold each other in the chimneys +or caw hungrily among the sagging rafters. The room once used for +the library is less ruinous and its two immense circular bay windows +overlook a beautiful stretch of country. But, altogether, the house is +more of a ruin than we anticipated at first glance. Restoration would +be expensive and difficult. The walls in many places lean far from the +vertical and are intersected by cracks and rents. Columns and pilasters +are broken and sprung and in many windows the mullions are gone or +twisted awry. The staircases are gone and the halls and passageways +piled deep with debris. Yet such is the charm of the place that only +recently an American negotiated with its owner, the Earl of Winchelsea, +with a view to purchase and restoration, but through inability to +clear the title, the deal was never consummated. Kirby Hall has been +in the possession of the Winchelsea family ever since it was built by +Elizabeth's favorite, Sir Christopher Hatton, after plans by the master +architects, John Thorpe and Inigo Jones. Reverses compelled its gradual +abandonment, though it was inhabited by the owner as late as 1830. But +we did not inquire closely into the history of Kirby Hall, nor do we +care to do so. We prefer to think of it as more or less a mystery--an +enchanted palace whose weird beauty is not destroyed but only rendered +pathetic by the decay and desolation that has fallen upon it as it +stands alone in the wide stretches of forest-dotted meadowland. + +It was near the end of a strenuous day when we cast a regretful glance +at the great chimneys and graceful pinnacles silhouetted against +the evening sky--but there are no accommodations for travelers at +Kirby Hall. No place near at hand appealed to us. Coventry and its +comfortable King's Head Hotel was not out of reach and attracted us as +it did more than once in our journeyings. The fifty miles we covered +easily before lamplighting time. + +[Illustration: KIRBY HALL.] + +Although we had visited Coventry before--and, as it chanced, re-visited +it many times later--we did not find our interest in the charming old +city lessen, and it occurs to us more than ever as the best center for +Warwickshire. Kenilworth is only five miles, Warwick twice as far, +and Stratford eight miles farther. At Coventry one may be thoroughly +comfortable, which can hardly be said of the inns at Warwick or +Stratford. Americans always seek the Red Horse at the latter place +because of its associations with Irving; but there is little more +than the room our gentle traveler occupied, the chair he sat in and +the "scepter" wherewith he was wont to stir up a cheerful fire in his +grate, to induce one to return. But in Coventry, at the ancient though +much re-modeled King's Head, one strikes the happy medium of English +hotels. It has the homelikeness and freedom of the smaller country inns +without their discomforts, and it does not force upon one the painful +formalities of the resort hotels, with their terrible English table +d'hote dinners. So when we were established at the King's Head, in +spacious rooms, with plenty of tables and chairs--articles uncommon +enough to merit special mention--there was always a temptation to +linger. + +Of the many thousands of Americans who throng to Stratford every year, +perhaps only a small number are aware that the ancestral homes of the +Washingtons are only a few miles away. Still smaller is the number who +make a pilgrimage to Sulgrave or to Brington, ten miles farther, though +the memories and traditions of these places are so closely connected +with the ancestors of the Father of His Country. True, his stately home +by the Potomac is not neglected by his countrymen, but every American +should be deeply interested in the English forefathers of the man who +more than any other freed them from the "rule of kings." + +[Illustration: SULGRAVE CHURCH AND VILLAGE. + +Laurence, the ancestor of George Washington, is buried in this church. +From Original Painting by Daniel Sherrin.] + +We thought it a favorable omen to see the gray sky which had drenched +Coventry since dawn break into fleecy clouds as we started over the +Banbury road for Sulgrave. The hedges and trees skirting the road were +washed clean of their coating of dust and the whole countryside gleamed +like an emerald in the yellow flood of the afternoon sunshine. Our car +seemed to catch the spirit of delight that pervaded everything and +sprang away airily and noiselessly over the fine highway. Fifteen miles +to the south we turned into a narrow byway leading to Wormleighton, +in whose ancient church there are records chronicling the marriage of +Robert Washington in 1565 and the birth of his son George in 1608, +antedating his famous namesake in America by more than a century. It +would even now be hard to follow on the map this maze of byroads which +we threaded, winding between the hawthorne hedges or gliding beneath +the over-arching branches of ancient elms; passing snug farmhouses and +cottages brilliant with rose vines and creepers and fairly embowered in +old-fashioned flowers; and leading through villages the very embodiment +of quiet and repose. And Sulgrave, the cradle of the Washingtons, +seemed the sleepiest and loneliest of them all--a gray, straggling +hamlet with only here and there a dash of color from flower-beds +or ivied walls, looking much as it must have looked when the last +Washington was Lord of the Manor, more than three hundred years ago. +It rather lacks the neat, trim appearance of the average Midland +village. Its streets are grass-grown and strewn with stones. Many of +the cottages are surrounded by tumble-down stone walls, and the small +church with huge embattled tower, the product of a recent restoration, +crowns the hill in a wide, uncared-for graveyard. + +A little to one side of the village they pointed out the "Washington +House," and we followed a stony path leading into the farmyard, where +the good man was just stabling his horses. A typical country woman--of +the tenant class--warmly welcomed us at Sulgrave Manor. Clearly +they are glad to see Americans here; visitors are not the tolerated +intruders that they are in so many historic places. We learned that we +should even be welcome to a clean, neatly furnished room had we desired +to pass the night beneath the roof. We were shown every nook and corner +of the curious old house--not an extensive or imposing one, but three +hundred years ago domestic accommodations were not elaborate even +in the homes of the nobility, and while the Washingtons ranked high +among the gentry, they did not possess a title. The house has not been +greatly altered, in outward appearance, at least, and is kept in scant +repair by the owner, a Devonshire gentleman; fortunately, the thick +stone wall and heavy oaken beams yield but slowly to time's ravages. +The most imposing feature is the solid black-oak staircase with its +curiously twisted banisters. The interior has been altered from the +original plan--just how much it is difficult to ascertain. Nothing, +however, impresses the American visitor so much as the Washington +coat-of-arms, executed in plaster on one of the gables by the ancient +owner. This had suffered much from the weather, but has lately been +protected by a glass covering. The outer walls were originally covered +with plaster, but this has fallen away in many places, showing the +rough stone underneath; and elsewhere masses of ivy half hide the +small, square-paned windows. Very faithful in detail and sentiment is +Mr. Sherrin's picture, painted at my request--the artist gaining his +inspiration by a week under the old roof while employed in his task. +The picture shows the old house much as we saw it, standing against +a rich sunset sky, its harsh outlines softened by a little distance. +The picture of the village and church was done by the artist at the +same time, though for effect the church is shown rather as it appeared +before it was restored. We followed the rough cobblestone walk to the +church door, but could not gain admittance until the caretaker was +found, for Sulgrave Church has been kept strictly under lock and key +ever since one of the Washington brasses was stolen--by an American, of +course--a few years ago. It is a small, rough, lichen-covered building, +much restored, even to the stolen brass tablet to the memory of the +first Laurence Washington. The engraving of this, on another page, +shows how certainly the Washington coat-of-arms must have suggested the +motif for the American flag and the great seal of the United States. +The church is very ancient and there is in the choir a small "Lepers' +Door," unique as one of three or four in England. Here in olden time +the lepers might approach for alms or to hear the sermon, but dared +not enter the church. + +[Illustration: WASHINGTON BRASS, SULGRAVE CHURCH.] + +It is not the purpose of this book of random wanderings to deal much +with sober history, but the story of Sulgrave's connection with the +Washingtons is not common and a short sketch may not be amiss. In the +reign of Henry VIII., Laurence Washington was Mayor of Northampton and +a gentleman of consequence. Sulgrave was among the confiscated church +lands that the King was offering at bargain prices, and Washington +purchased it for three hundred pounds. A tradition that these alienated +church lands would bring evil fortune to the owner does not seem +to have deterred him, though when his grandson, another Laurence +Washington, was forced by adverse circumstances to sell the estate, +the old superstition might seem to have been verified. This grandson, +with a large family, removed about 1606--the exact date is doubtful--to +Little Brington, some ten miles to the northeast of Sulgrave, where +he was given a house, it is thought, by the Earl of Spencer, to +which noble family the Washingtons were related by marriage. The +Laurence Washington who is buried in Great Brington Church was the +great-great-grandfather of the "first American." + +Later in our wanderings we visited the Bringtons, which lie only a +short distance from Northampton and may be reached by excellent +roads running through some of the most beautiful Midland country. We +paused in the midst of a heavy shower near the village cross under the +gigantic elm that stands in front of Great Brington Church, to which +we gained admission with but little delay. The Brington villages are +on the estate of the Spencers, one of the wealthiest and most ancient +families of the English nobility, and the church is an imposing +one, kept in perfect repair. The chief Washington memorials are the +brasses--the inscription and coat-of-arms--over the grave of Laurence +Washington of Sulgrave and Brington, and these have been sunk deep +in the stone slab and are guarded by lock and key. In the chapel are +some of the most elaborate memorials we saw--altar tombs bearing the +sculptured effigies and ancient arms and armor of the Spencers; and +yet how all this splendid state, all the wealth of carving, arms and +effigies, shrink into insignificance beside the august name on the +plain slab in the aisle, and how all the trappings of heraldry and +the chronicles of all the line of Spencers fade into nothingness over +against that tiny sunken tablet with its stars and bars! + +Half a mile from Great Brington is Little Brington, where we saw the +Washington house referred to previously, with only a few touches, +mullioned windows and carvings, to distinguish it from the cottages +of the village tenantry. There is a world of pathos in the inscription +cut in the stone tablet above the doorway, "The Lord giveth, the Lord +taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord," which may refer to +the loss of Sulgrave and the death of a young son shortly after the +Washingtons reached Brington. Inside, the house, transformed into a +laborer's cottage, has been altered out of all semblance to its former +self. + +But the rain was still coming down in torrents from the leaden skies +and hiding the beauties of the Bringtons. It took another visit on +a perfect August day to fix the impression which we still retain +of the romantic beauty of the little towns, and it is only by such +a comparison that one can judge how much we lost on account of the +many days of dark, foggy weather that prevail during the summer in +Britain. Under the more pleasant conditions we could but feel that, +aside from the memories of the Washingtons which hover over the +Bringtons, these delightful Midland villages might well engage the +admiration of the wayfarer. One may well pause in his flight through +the hawthorne-bordered byways to view the prospect that greets the eye +from Great Brington churchyard. The church occupies slightly rising +ground, from which in almost every direction one may behold stretches +of some of the most charming rural country in England; and the church +itself, with the old village cross beneath the monster elm tree, is +not the least picturesque feature of the landscape. The village which +fronts it, clean, cozy and comfortable-looking, its gray walls dashed +with ivy and relieved by the rich color of rose vines and old-time +flowers, is as lovely and peaceful a hamlet as one will find, even +in England. Not less pleasing is the surrounding country--"pastoral" +describes it--with its long reaches of meadowland, broken by hedgerows +and lordly trees. To the right is Althorpe House, the stately home of +the Spencers, with its vast, well-kept park, where the huge old oaks +shimmer in the hazy midsummer afternoon. Amidst all this quiet and +beauty one forgets the dark problems that threaten England and thinks +only of her ineffable charm. Little Brington is not less attractive +than its neighbor--the thatched structure above the well in the village +green and the two hoary firs overshadowing it forming a picture as +quaint as pleasing. We leave the lovely villages regretfully, and +winding out of the maze of byroads, take the highway that leads toward +the ancient city of Northampton, whose chief distinction should be that +a Washington was once its Lord Mayor. + +[Illustration: THE WASHINGTON CHURCH, TOWN CROSS AND ELM, GREAT +BRINGTON.] + + + + +IV + +MEANDERINGS FROM COVENTRY TO EXETER + + +Despite our numerous visits to Coventry, each one had some new delight +in store; some bit of curious antiquity that had previously escaped us +was sure to turn up, and once in the heart of the old-world town, one +easily forgets the modern manufacturing city that has grown up around +it. In the immediate vicinity of the famous three spires there clusters +much to detain one and which may well make Coventry the shrine of a far +greater number of pilgrims than it now is. If we enter the grand old +church of St. Michael's, whose slender spire rises three hundred feet +into the blue heavens--for the heavens are blue and cloudless after +the rain of yesterday--we shall be confronted by the noblest interior +of any parish church in England. Its unhampered expanse and lightness +of design intensify its splendid proportions. The fine lancet windows +gleam like clustered jewels, for modern glass of unusually good taste +is intermingled with much dating from Tudor times, which, fortunately, +escaped the wrath of the fanatics. The old caretaker tells us that +the church is "soon to be a cathedral," and if so, it will wear its +distinction fitly indeed. + +Near by the church is the guildhall, deservedly known as one of the +finest bits of medieval England now extant. One may not undertake to +catalog its glories, but its contents, as well as its architecture, +will interest even the layman. In its muniment room is a collection +of eleven thousand books and manuscripts of great value, and many +rare old paintings grace the walls of the banqueting hall, which has +an unrivaled open-timber roof. In the oriel window at the head of the +stairs, in the softened light of the antique glass, stands Coventry's +patron saint, Lady Godiva, her shrinking figure beautifully wrought in +white marble. Old arms and armor are scattered about the halls and the +whole atmosphere of the place is that of three hundred years ago. + +To be sure, Elizabeth visited the guildhall. That rare royal traveler +did not neglect the opportunity for entertainment and display offered +her by her loyal subjects of Coventry. Nor is the tradition of a +certain exchange of compliment between the men of the old town and +their royal mistress without a touch of realism in its portrayal of +the sharp sting of Elizabeth's wit, not infrequently felt by those +who, knowing her vanity, undertook to flatter her too grossly. For it +is recorded that the citizens of Coventry greeted her majesty in an +address done into doggerel in this wise: + + "Wee men of Coventree + Are very glad to see + Yr gracious majestie! + Good Lord, how fair ye bee!" + +To which she instantly responded: + + "Our gracious majesty + Is very glad to see + Ye men of Coventree. + Good Lord, what fools ye bee!" + +But we may not linger in Coventry, and after a hasty glance at the +almshouses--whose brick-and-timber front, with richly carved black-oak +beams, rivals Leicester's Hospital at Warwick--we are again on the +King's highway. And it is a highway fit for a king, this broad sweeping +road that leads from Coventry through Kenilworth and Warwick to +Stratford-upon-Avon. There are few more picturesque runs in Britain and +few that take one past so many spots of literary and historic interest. +Only the fact that we have been over this route several times before +offers excuse for covering the twenty miles in less than an hour. As +we flit along we catch glimpses of the fragments of Kenilworth, of +Guy's Cliff, of the old mill; and cautiously thread our way through +the cramped streets of Warwick, which we leave, not without admiring +glances at the Castle, the splendid tower of St. Mary's Church, and +the fine facade of Leicester's Hospital. Passing the confines of +the ancient gate, we soon come into the open road, smooth and gently +undulating, and a few minutes lands us in Shakespeare's Stratford. + +It would be hard to follow in sequence our wanderings from Stratford +to Cheltenham, mainly through country lanes often hidden between +tall hedges and leading over steep, rough hills, as we sought quaint +and historic bits of Worcestershire and Gloucestershire. Just beyond +Shipston-on-Stour we paused before a Jacobean manor house, a slight +opening in the high hedge permitting a glimpse of the gray gables and +mullioned windows from the road. A farmer's wife, who saw us stop, +called to us and offered to conduct us through the quaint sixteenth +century building, Little Woolford Manor, as it is known. The hall, with +open-timber roof, paneled walls and minstrel gallery, lighted by tall +windows still rich with ancient glass, is an apartment to delight any +lover of the old-time domicile. This has been adapted to a schoolroom +and the remainder of the house divided into farm tenements. It is full +of odd corners and weird passageways and very appropriately has its +ghost, a certain "White Ladye," who walks the scene of her earthly +misfortunes at midnight. None of the occupants had ever seen her or +knew anything of the tradition, but no one could dispute the good taste +of a ghost who should choose Little Woolford Manor as a residence. Nor +could such a fine old house properly be without its legend of Charles +the Wanderer, and our guide showed us a small secret chamber behind +an oven where with a few retainers it is said the king hid and was +nearly roasted by a rousing fire built in the grate by the pursuing +Cromwellians. + +There are other traditions and relics of the royal fugitive in the +vicinity, for we passed Little Compton Manor, plainly visible from the +road, which was once the home of Bishop Juxon, the bosom friend of +King Charles. Here for many years was preserved the block upon which +the King's head was severed, and also his favorite chair; but these +disappeared shortly after the Bishop's death. + +A few miles farther, just off the upland road from Little Compton to +Moreton-in-the-Marsh, one may see the Rollright Stones, a druidical +circle; and tradition declares that these stones were once Danish +invaders who were thus metamorphosed for some presumptuous act. + +Descending a long and dangerously steep hill sloping from the upland, +we came into Chipping Campden, and, possibly excepting Broadway, it has +hardly an equal in a section famous for picturesque towns and villages. +A wide street between a long array of gray gables with many time-worn +carvings, odd signs and frequent sun-dials, leads from one end of the +town, marked by a huge oak, to the other, where a giant chestnut +stands sentinel. Here again the almshouses attract attention. They are +built of soft-toned brown stone and the walls are surmounted by pointed +gables and clustered chimneys. Near by rises the graceful church tower, +overshadowing a building whose vast proportions seem to ill accord +with the decayed little town about it. But we learn that it was built +when Chipping Campden was the greatest wool market in the country, and +a brass tablet of 1401 commemorates one of the ancient benefactors of +the church as the "flower of all wool merchants in England." We found +inside some of the most perfect brasses that we had seen, but a general +restoration had quite robbed the church of its greatest charm. The +large pillared cross in the wool market and the massive proportions of +the courthouse, with its heavily buttressed walls, testify mutely of +the time when Chipping Campden was a place of much greater importance +than it is today. + +Broadway is already famous. Its "discovery" is attributed to Americans, +and several American artists of note--among them Mr. F. D. Millet, who +occupies the ancient manor house of the Abbot of Pershore--have been +included in the foreign contingent. Its name is derived from the broad +London and Worcester road which passes in a long sweeping curve between +rows of fine Tudor and Jacobean houses with many fanciful gables and +massive stone chimneys. In the coaching days Broadway was of great +importance and then were built the fine inns and business houses. A +period of decadence followed, during which it gradually sank into a +neglected country village, from which oblivion the old-world charm +of its very decay finally rescued it. It shows quite markedly the +influx of outsiders and the trail of the tourist; in this regard it +is inferior to the as yet undiscovered and unspoiled town of Chipping +Campden. But while there is a touch of newness in the outskirts and +while the antique buildings show traces of returning prosperity, there +is still much in Broadway to please the eye and delight the artistic +sense. Few indeed of the old-time inns have the charm of the Lygon +Arms, where we paused for our afternoon tea. (Afternoon tea--so far +have the customs of the land of our sojourn corrupted us!) It is a +many-gabled building of soft sandstone, rich with browns verging into +reds and dashed here and there with masses of ivy which half hide the +deep-set stone-mullioned windows. To the rear its glass-roofed garage +with cement floor and modern accessories tells plainly of one source of +returning prosperity. Everywhere about the inn is cleanliness, and the +charm of the antique is combined with modern comfort. The interior is +quite as unspoiled as the outside, and nothing could be more redolent +of old-time England than the immense fireplace in the ingle nook of +the hall. Here, too, linger legends of King Charles, and there is one +great paneled room with huge fireplace and Tudor furniture that claims +the honor of association with the sterner name of Cromwell. Perhaps the +least pleasing feature of our pilgrimage was the necessity that often +forced us to hasten by places like the Lygon Arms--but one could scarce +exhaust Britain's attractions in a lifetime should he pause as long and +as often as he might wish. + +[Illustration: LYGON ARMS, BROADWAY.] + +Evesham we passed in the rain and gathering twilight. We reached +Tewkesbury at nightfall, but its inns did not strike our fancy, and we +hastened to Cheltenham, leaving the fine old towns for a later visit. +At the Victoria in Cheltenham we found things much more to our liking. + +We followed a main road almost due south from Cheltenham through +Painswick, Stroud and Nailsworth, gray old towns lying deep in the +hills. At Painswick is a fine Perpendicular church, so much restored +as to present a rather new appearance. The churchyard has a wonderful +array of carefully clipped yew trees, perhaps a hundred in all, +though no one, says local tradition, can count them twice the same--a +peculiarity also ascribed to the monoliths at Stonehenge. Close to the +church walls are the ancient stocks, in this case forged from heavy +iron bars and presenting an air of staunch security that must have +struck terror to the hearts of old-time culprits; and the rough stone +slab upon which the offenders were seated still remains in place. + +Stroud is a larger and better-appearing town, whose ten thousand +inhabitants depend mainly upon the manufacture of English broadcloths. +The whole section, in fact, was once the center of cloth manufacture, +but the advent of the steam engine and more modern methods superseded +the watermills. All about are half-ruined factory buildings, some of +them once of vast extent, with shattered windows and sagging roofs. +Here and there one has survived in a small way or has been adapted to +some other industry. In the neighborhood are many country houses, once +the residences of wealthy cloth-makers, but now either deserted or +turned into farm tenements. + +The country is hilly and wooded, and we had few points of vantage +that afforded views more picturesque and far-reaching than from some +of the upland roads overlooking these Gloucestershire landscapes. The +road sweeps around the hills, rising at times far above the valleys, +affording a panorama of the Avon gleaming through the dense green +foliage that half conceals it. The vale presents the most charming +characteristics of rural England. One sees the irregular patchwork of +the little fields, the great parks with their sunny meadowlands and +groups of ancient trees, the villages lying in the valleys or clinging +to the hillsides, and the gray church towers that lend a touch of +majesty and solemn sentiment to almost every glimpse of Britain. + +We missed the main road from Bath to Wells, wandering through a maze of +unmarked byroads, and were able to proceed only by frequent inquiry. We +did not regain the highway until just entering the town and had been a +comparatively long time in going a short distance. After a few minutes' +pause to admire the marvelous west front of the cathedral, with its +endless array of crumbling prophets, saints and kings, weatherworn +to a soft-gray blur, we were away on the highroad leading across the +wold to Cheddar, famed for its stupendous cliffs, its caverns--and +its cheese. The caverns and cliffs are there, but little cheese now +comes from Cheddar, even though it bears the name. As we ascended the +exceedingly steep and winding road we were astonished--overwhelmed. +We had not expected to find natural scenery upon such an amazing +scale in the heart of England--gray pinnacled cliffs rising, almost +sheer, five hundred feet into the sky. Not often may British scenery +be styled imposing, but the towering cliffs of Cheddar surely merit +such description. In the midst of the gorge between the great cliffs +there are two prehistoric caverns extending far into the earth. We +entered one of them, now a mere passageway, now a spacious cavern +whose domelike roof glistens with translucent stalactites. Here we pass +a still, mirrorlike pool, and there a deep fissure from which comes +the gurgle of a subterranean river. Altogether, there is much that is +interesting and impressive. Perhaps it all seems a little gaudy and +unnatural because of the advertising methods and specious claims of +the owner and alleged discoverer, but none the less a visit is worth +while. The museum of relics found in the cavern contains a remarkable +prehistoric skull, with low, thick frontal bone and heavy square jaw, +but its queerest feature is little spurlike projections of the temporal +bone just above the ear. It is estimated by archaeologists that the +possessor of this curious skull had lived at least forty thousand years +ago and mayhap had made his dwelling-place in the Cheddar Caves. We +were assured that an offer from the British Museum of five thousand +pounds for the relic had been refused. + +The sun was low when we left Cheddar, and Taunton seemed the nearest +place where we might be sure of good accommodations. We soon reached +Axbridge, a gray little market town, so ancient that a hunting-lodge +built by King John still stands on the market square. Near Bridgewater, +a few miles farther, is the Isle of Athelney--once an island in a +marsh, perhaps--where King Alfred made his last desperate stand +against the Danish invaders, defeating them and finally expelling them +from Britain. Not less in interest, though perhaps less important in +its issues, was the Battle of Sedgemoor, fought here in 1685, when the +Duke of Monmouth was disastrously defeated by the Royal Army--the last +battle worthy of the name to be waged on English soil. + +But we were to learn more of Monmouth at Taunton and to have again +impressed upon us how easy it is in Britain for one to hasten through +places of the deepest historic interest quite unaware of their tragic +story. We had passed through Taunton before, seeing little but a staid +old country town with a church tower of unmatched gracefulness and +dignified proportions; but Taunton's tragic part in the parliamentary +wars and her fatal connection with "King Monmouth" never occurred to +us, if, indeed, we knew of it at all. Taunton was strongly for the +Parliament, but it was a storm center and was taken and retaken until +the iron hand of Fairfax crushed the Royalists before its walls. Its +record stood against it when the King "came into his own again." Its +walls were leveled to the ground, its charter taken away and many of +its citizens thrown into prison. Discontent and hatred of the Stuarts +were so rampant that any movement against their rule was welcomed +by the Taunton Whigs, though it is hard to see any consistency in +the unreasoning support they gave to the Duke of Monmouth--the son +of Charles II. and one of his many mistresses--in his pretensions +to the throne occupied by James II. Monmouth entered Taunton amidst +the wildest acclamations, and it was from the market square of the +rebellious town that he issued his proclamation assuming the title of +King. He was followed by an ill-organized and poorly equipped army of +seven thousand men, who were defeated by four thousand Royal Troops. +Then followed a reign of terror in Taunton. The commander of the King's +forces hanged, without pretense of trial, many of his prisoners, using +the sign of the old White Hart Inn as a gallows. Then came the Bloody +Assizes, held by Jeffreys of infamous memory, in the great hall of the +castle. After trials no more than travesties of brutal jests and savage +cruelty, more than three hundred Somersetshire men were sentenced, +according to the terrible customs of the time, to be "hanged, drawn +and quartered," and a thousand were doomed to transportation. Here the +active history of Taunton may be said to have ended. + +But Taunton has little to remind us of these dark and bloody times +as we glide through her fine old streets and draw up in front of the +London Hotel, where the host himself in evening dress welcomes us at +the door. Every attention is given us and The London certainly deserves +its official appointment by the Royal Automobile Club as well as the +double distinction accorded it by the infallible Baedeker. It is one +of the charming old-fashioned inns, such as perhaps inspired the poet +Shenstone with the sentiment expressed in his well-known quatrain: + + "Whoe'er has traveled life's dull round, + Whate'er his stages may have been, + May sigh to think that he has found + His warmest welcome at an inn." + +Modern Taunton is a city of some twenty thousand people, and being the +county town, with some manufactories, it enjoys a quiet prosperity. Of +its ancient landmarks, the castle, dating from the eleventh century, +is the most notable and has appropriately been turned into a museum. +Here one may enter the hall where Jeffreys held his court. Though two +centuries or more have elapsed, the "horror of blood" seems still +to linger in the gloomy apartment. The market-place retains its +old-time characteristics, and though the house occupied by Jeffreys +has disappeared, the White Hart Inn still stands. But the glory of +Taunton is St. Mary's Church, one of the most graceful examples of +the Perpendicular period in England. The splendid tower seems almost +frail in its airy lightness--and perhaps it is, for it is a recent +restoration, or rather replacement, of the older one, which had become +insecure. + +Sherborne Abbey we had missed in our former wanderings, though once +very near it, and we felt that we must make amends though it cost us +a detour of sixty miles. And yet, what hardship is it to go out of +one's way in Britain? Indeed, can one ever go out of his way in rural +England? Scarcely, from the point of view of such nomads as ourselves. + +The great tower of Curry Rivell Church dominates in such a lordly +manner the village straggling up the hill toward it that we were +tempted to look inside, and a mild curiosity was aroused, from which we +have never yet been able to rid ourselves. For, chained to one of the +iron railings of a sixteenth century tomb, is a queer little iron-bound +oaken cabinet. It is scarcely more than a foot in length, the wood is +worm-eaten and the massive lock and heavy hinges are red with rust. +What mystery does it contain and why did it escape the church-looters +of Puritan times? The church is rich in antique carvings, among them a +delicately wrought screen and fine fifteenth century bench ends. The +tomb to which the coffer is chained is a very unusual one. It bears +on its altar the effigies of two mail-clad warriors, while at either +side kneel figures of their wives over two tiny cribs with several +gnomelike children tucked in each. Overhead, borne by four pillars, is +a domed canopy upon which are painted four sprawling cherubs. All very +quaint and strange and illustrative of the queer mortuary ideas of the +medieval period. + +We followed the winding, hilly and often indifferent road that leads +through Somerton, Ilchester and Yeovil to Sherborne, and while our +lunch was preparing at the slow-moving Antelope--there is little in +a name, in this instance--we wandered down old-world streets to the +abbey, the goal of all pilgrims to Sherborne. It seemed odd to find the +old town crowded with rural visitors all agape at a fantastic circus +parade that was winding along the crooked streets, but Sherborne is +fond of parades and pageants, for we were assured that the historical +pageant now the rage in the older towns of England was originated in +Sherborne. The town itself is a charming place--I borrow the words of +an enthusiastic admirer whose picture may be better than I can paint: + +"It is a bright town, prim and old-fashioned, and unsullied by the +aggressive villas and red brick terraces of the modern suburb. Although +a small place, it is yet of much dignity. Here are timber-faced +dwellings, where the upper story overhangs the lower, and where the +roof breaks out into irrelevant gables; houses with the stone-mullioned +casements of Tudor days or the round bow window of the Georgian +period; houses with gateways under them leading into courtyards; humble +buildings fashioned out of stone filched from a church; cottages with +the arched doorways of a convent or with buttresses worthy of a chapel; +pieces of old wall and other miscellaneous fragments which the town +with its love for the past has never had the heart to cast aside. Over +the grey roofs can be seen the trees upon the hilltop, while over many +a crumbling wall comes the fragrance of garden or orchard." + +But as we rounded a corner and came upon a full view of the abbey +church, we felt that it had rightly been styled the "glory of +Sherborne." Perhaps its low tower gives an impression of incompleteness +and lack of proportion--but it seemed to accentuate the mighty +proportions of the church itself and it was with a feeling almost +verging upon awe that we entered the majestic portals. And we learned +it as we know only few historic churches in England, for the gem of all +vergers is at Sherborne. To him his work is a labor of love, not the +usual perfunctory performance in hope of a fee. He had made discoveries +of importance himself in whiling away his time in the abbey and had +located and uncovered an ancient effigy that had been inconsiderately +built into the walls in earlier days. He told us of the checkered +history of the abbey, of the wars of the monks and citizens, as a +result of which the church suffered from a great fire, the marks of +which still remain in the red stains on the soft yellow stone, of the +Dissolution and the cavalier manner in which Henry the Wrecker bestowed +the abbey on one of his friends, who in turn sold it to the parish for +two hundred and fifty pounds--all of which would be too long to record +in detail in this crowded chronicle. But the interior of Sherborne +Abbey--where is there another like it? Not in all England; probably not +in the world. It lacks the "dim religious light" that pervades, like a +soft-toned mist, most of the great church buildings; the windows flood +the yellow stone with many-colored beams and lighten the splendors of +the golden fan vault with its rich bosses and heraldic devices until +every detail comes out clearly to the beholder below. + +But we are lingering too long at the abbey; we were to return to the +Antelope in half an hour, and thrice that period has elapsed. We hie +back to our inn and do not complain of our cold repast. "It is ten +minutes' walk to the castle," said our host. Then why take the car? A +ten minutes' walk will give us a little of the exercise we need. We +start under the sweltering sun--it is a hot day, even as we reckon +it--and follow the crooked streets. Here is a high wall--it must be +the castle. No, the castle is farther on; and we repeat the wearisome +experience until half an hour has elapsed and we are only at the +entrance gate of the park. We are almost exhausted, for our long tramp +on the "abbey stones" did not especially invigorate us, but we will go +on after having come so far. + +It was hardly worth while--Cromwell had left very little of Sherborne +Castle. It seemed melancholy, indeed, that the riddled gateway and the +straggling pieces of wall should be all that remains of such a lordly +building. We were interested to know that it had been granted to Sir +Walter Raleigh "forever" in 1597--but only six years later the knightly +founder of Virginia was indicted for treason and fell a victim to the +cowardly malice of King James, and Sherborne Castle reverted to the +crown. It was less than half a century later that Fairfax received its +surrender in the name of the Parliament, and when the gunpowder mines +were fired the active days of the fortress were at an end. + +We retrace our steps to the Antelope, thinking mournfully of the +car, which would have made such short and easy work of our weary +trip, and we heave a sigh of relief when once more, having donned our +"seven-league boots," we hear the soft purr of the motor and enjoy the +rush of the cool, sweet air--after our "ten minutes' walk." + +It grows late and Exeter is far away, but we are sure of comfort at +the Rougemont and we give the car rein. How she sweeps over the sunset +hills and glides along the cool valleys, pausing cautiously to pass +some rose-embowered village, now gathering speed again for another rush +over the fine road! She is ahead of schedule at Honiton, and one of our +party remembers that the Honiton lace is famous. It is an expensive bit +of recollection, but all things go in a motor tour. After a half-hour's +pause, we are away again, and before long catch sight of the huge bulk +of Exeter Cathedral looming above the old city against the twilight +sky. + + + + +V + +RAMBLES IN THE WEST COUNTRY + + +"Through the heart of Dartmoor forest" may bring up many fascinating, +even weird associations, but on our map we regarded the thin red line +of our road rather dubiously. It runs almost straight from Exeter +to Prince Town--the prison town of the moor--and on either side for +many miles lies a waste country, apparently quite devoid of villages +and even of roads. The road as shown on the map is thickly studded +with arrow heads, denoting dangerous hills, and the description in +the road-book is far from alluring. But we were not to be deterred +from exploring Dartmoor, as we had been on a previous occasion, +though indeed we found the first few miles between Exeter and Moreton +Hampstead trying and almost terrifying in places. The hills offered +little impediment to our motor, but for all that one has a rather eery +feeling when clinging to a precipitous incline. If something should let +loose! But nothing did. + +Moreton Hampstead is a bleak, lonely little town set well into the +western edge of the moor and surrounded by rugged tors on every hand. +It is not without a bit of antiquity, for it has a sixteenth century +building, called the Arcade, whose Moorish touches are decidedly +picturesque. It is like a bit of Spain in the hills of Dartmoor and +seems strangely out of place. Only three miles from Moreton Hampstead, +lying in a secluded valley, is Chagford, famous for its quaint old inn +and wild surroundings. + +Once out of Moreton Hampstead and away on the yellow highway that +bisects the moor, we found ourselves in a country as barren as +any we had seen in England. The road, though winding and steep, +is generally visible for some distance ahead, and we found little +hindrance to a swift, steady flight that carried us over the long +hills far more quickly than we anticipated. The day, which had begun +in mist and rain, became lighter and a rapidly clearing sky gave us +the opportunity of seeing the wild beauty of the moor at its best. +Despite its loneliness and cheerlessness, there was a wonderful play +of color: the reds and browns of the broken granite, the purple blaze +of the heather, the vivid yellow of the gorse and the metallic green +of the whortle, all intensified by golden sunshine, have marvelously +transformed the somber tone of the moorland of scarce an hour before. +But where is the "forest"? Only stunted trees appear here and there, +or a fringe of woods along the clear streams; we learn that "forest" +once meant a waste, uncultivated tract of land, and in later days +has been applied to woodlands alone. We run for miles with no human +habitation in sight save an occasional cottage in a small, barren field +surrounded by stone walls. We come upon a large, attractive-looking +inn unexpectedly--though it ought not to be unexpected to find an inn +anywhere in England--the Two Bridges, situated near the head waters +of the Dart, here no more than a brawling streamlet. We leave the +car by the roadside and enter the homelike hall, where an array of +fishing-tackle makes clear the excuse for this pleasant hotel in the +moor. The day has been chilly and, strange to say, a fire flickers +in the grate. We are just in time for luncheon and a goodly number +of guests respond to the vigorous beating of the gong--that almost +universal abomination of the provincial English hotel. It appears that +the quiet and seclusion of Dartmoor is not without its attractions to +many people. We ourselves leave the pleasant inn with regret; we should +have liked a day's rest in the cozy ingle-nook. + +[Illustration: IN SUNNY DEVON. + +A view of the old town of Totnes from the upland road. Original +Painting by George Bowman, 1908 Royal Academy.] + +The walls and battlements of Prince Town Prison soon loom in sight. +This was established in 1800 as a military prison for French soldiers, +and a few Americans were confined here in 1812. It then fell into +disuse until 1850, but for the half-century since it has served its +present purpose as a penal institution and has been greatly added to +from time to time. + +An English writer says: "Dartmoor is so huge that one must be born +and spend a lifetime near it to really know it, and the visitor can +merely endeavour to see typical examples of its granite tors, its +peaty streams, its great stretches of boulder-strewn heather, and its +isolated villages." Evidently he must mean that it is huge in its +mysteries and its moods, for it is really only fourteen by twenty-two +miles--perhaps half as large as the average county in the United States. + +At Tavistock we are well beyond the confines of the moor and follow a +fine road to Launceston, where we glance at the huge circular keep of +the castle and look longingly at the White Hart, which recalls only +pleasant memories. But we are bound for an enchanted land and, like +many a gallant knight of yore, we would hasten past "many-towered +Camelot" to the castle of the blameless king. The declining sun, toward +which we rapidly course, seems to flash across the Cornish hills the +roselight of the old Arthurian romance, and the stately measures of +the "Idyls of the King" come unbidden to our minds. But we soon have +something less romantic to think of, for in attempting a short cut +to Tintagel without going to Camelford, we run into a series of the +crookedest, roughest lanes we found in all England. These appear to +have been quite abandoned; in places mere ravines with myriads of sharp +loose stones and many long steep hills. But we push on and almost ere +we are aware, find ourselves in Tintagel village, which with its long +rows of boarding-houses hardly accords with one's preconceived romantic +notions. Then we catch a glimpse of the ocean out beyond the headland, +upon which is perched a huge, square-towered building--King Arthur's +Castle Hotel, they tell us--and thither we hasten. This hotel, only +recently completed, is built on a most liberal scale, though it can +hardly accommodate many guests at a time. The public rooms are most +elaborately furnished and of enormous size. The great round table in +the reading room is a replica of the original at Shrewsbury, at which, +declares tradition, King Arthur sat with his fifty knights. The guest +rooms are on an equally generous scale and so arranged that every one +fronts on the sea. The rates are not low by any means, yet it is hard +to conceive how such a hotel can be a paying investment. + +After we reached the hotel, the long twilight still gave time to +contemplate the weird beauty of the surroundings and to explore the +ruins of the castle so famed in song and story. We scrambled down the +high headland, upon which the hotel stands, to the level of the blue +inlet of the sea, depicted in such a masterly manner in the painting +by Mr. Moran, the towering cliffs crowned by the fragmentary ruins +looming far above us. A path cut in the edge of the cliff leads to a +precarious-looking foot-bridge across the chasm and a still narrower +and steeper path hugs the face of the precipice on the opposite side +until a heavy oaken door is reached. This door, to which the old +caretaker in the cottage below had given me the key, opens into the +supposed site of King Arthur's castle. Only a few scattered bits of +masonry remain and these are probably of a later time than that of the +early Briton. + +[Illustration: KING ARTHUR'S CASTLE, OFF TINTAGEL HEAD, CORNWALL. + +From Original Painting by Thos. Moran, N. A.] + +The spot is lonely and quite barren save a few patches of greensward +upon which were peacefully grazing a flock of sheep--one finds them +everywhere in Britain. I was quite alone--there were no other visitors +at that late hour and my companions had given up the dizzy ascent +before it was fairly begun--and I strove to reconstruct in imagination +the castle as it stood in the days of the blameless king. How the wild +old stories crowded upon me in that lonely twilight hour! Here, legend +declares--and I care not if it be dim indeed and questioned by the +wiseacres--was once the court of the wise and faultless Arthur, who +gathered to himself the flower of knighthood of Christendom and was +invincible to all attacks from without, but whose dominion crumbled +away before the faithlessness and dishonor of his own followers. Here, +perchance, the faithless Guinevere pined and sighed for her forsworn +lover and gazed on the sea, calm and radiant as it is even now, or saw +it lash itself into unspeakable fury upon the frowning bastions of the +coast. But, alas! how dim and uncertain is all that is left, and how +the tales vary save that they all center in the king! Little remains +in local tradition of all the vanished splendors of those ancient days +save that the king did not die; that in the form of a chough he haunts +the scenes of his glory and his downfall, and that he will come again-- + +But I am quite forgetting the flight of time, and with a lingering +look at the storied spot, I slowly descend. Then I climb to the more +extensive ruin on the landward side, much shattered but grim and +massive in decay. There must have been a connection between the castles +on either side of the great ravine, though it is hardly apparent how +this could have been. Perhaps the gap has widened much in the long +course of time. It is dusk when we return to the hotel and sit long +on the open terrace fronting the sea, contemplating the beauty of the +scene. + +Never have I beheld a more glorious sunset than that which lightened +the wild Cornish coast and ocean on that particular evening. A dark +band of cloud lay low along the western horizon, with a clear, +opalescent sky above, and below a thin strip of lucent gold with +silvery clouds floating in it like fairy ships. Suddenly the sun +dropped from behind the cloud, which had obscured his full splendor, +into the resplendent zone beneath, flooding the sea, into which he +slowly sank, with a marvelous though evanescent glory. Then followed +all the indescribable color changes and combinations, which varied +momentarily until they faded into the dusky hues of a moonlit night. +It marked the close of a perfect day--clear and cool, with sky of +untainted blue and ocean as still and glassy as a quiet inland lake. + +Not less inspiring was the scene that greeted us through our open +lattices in the morning--a sea steely blue in the distance, rippling +into bars of frosted silver near the shore, while the stern outlines +of the headlands were softened by a clinging blue haze. We lingered on +the legend-haunted ground until nearly noon and it was with keen regret +that we glided away from the pleasant hostelry back to the village and +past the old church on the headland, whose bells tolled without mortal +hands on the far-off day when the body of King Arthur was borne away to +sepulture in Glastonbury Abbey. + +A fine upland road led us nearly due north from Camelford through +long stretches of moorland--or country almost as sterile as the +moors--diversified with great patches of gorse and scattered groups of +stunted trees. We encountered scarcely a village for a distance of +twenty-five miles, for we did not turn aside for Bude or for Stratton, +just opposite on each side of the road. The latter is said to be one +of the most unspoiled and genuinely ancient of the smaller Cornish +villages. At times we were within a mile or two of the ocean and caught +fugitive glimpses of blue expanses of quiet sea. Then the road sweeps +farther inland and the country improves in appearance, though it is +still Cornwall and Devon and far different from the sleek, prosperous +beauty of the Midlands. + +[Illustration: OFF THE COAST OF DEVON. + +From Original Painting by A. J. Warne-Browne.] + +"The most exquisite town in England," writes an enthusiast of Clovelly, +but Clovelly's very quaintness has made it so widely known that it +hardly has a place in a chronicle that seeks rather the untrodden ways. +It is not possible for a motor or any other vehicle to descend the +steep, stone-paved streets, and about a quarter of a mile above the +town we left the car in an exceedingly prosperous-looking stable-yard +filled to overflowing with motors, carriages and chars-a-bancs. + +Clovelly well deserves its reputation for the picturesque qualities +that have transformed it from an unpretentious fishing village, lost +among the clifflike hills, into a thronged tourist resort. Fortunately, +as yet there has been no attempt to modernize; no stucco-and-timber +hotel detracts from the antique flavor; the people who come to Clovelly +do not as a rule stay long. Large excursion steamers, usually +crowded, ply from Ilfracombe, and coaches and chars-a-bancs from +Hartland and Barnstaple bring troops of visitors. Coaching parties +come from Tintagel (round trip eighty miles) and one is sure to find +Clovelly crowded in season, especially if the day is fine. And so +we found it, literally thronged, a huge excursion steamer lying at +anchor in the harbor. There was a little disarray and confusion at the +pleasant New Inn--new in name only--evidently due to more patronage +than could easily be taken care of. As we waited for luncheon we looked +about at the collection of antique brass, copper, china and pottery +that almost covered the walls and crowded the mantelpieces and odd +corners about the inn. We were told that the landlady is a famous +collector and that many of the pieces are rare and valuable. A more +amusing if not less interesting feature of the house is the sentiment +expressed in halting doggerel, emblazoned in large red letters on +the walls and ceiling of the dining-room. It is good only from the +standpoint of exceeding badness, and its general tenor is to flatter +Americans, who no doubt constitute a large proportion of the guests. + +The old, time-worn churches of England are past numbering and they came +to have an almost weird fascination for us. The tombs, ranging from the +artistic to the ghastly or grotesque, the old stones with their often +queer or even ridiculous epitaphs, the sculptures, the bosses, the +frescoes, the stained windows, the gargoyles and the oftentimes strange +history or still stranger legends connected with nearly every one--but +why prolong the list of curious attractions of these ancient fanes, +often quite peculiar in each case? Just before we entered Barnstaple we +turned into a byroad, and dropping down a hill of appalling steepness +and length, came to Tawstock Church, famed as the finest country church +in Devon--the "Westminster of the West Country," some enthusiast has +styled it. Though hardly deserving such a dignified characterization as +this, Tawstock Church is well worth a visit. Besides some remarkable +tombs and fine Elizabethan pews, it has a peculiar gallery curiously +wrought in vine and leaf pattern from black oak, and now used by the +bell-ringers to reach the tower. Tawstock Mansion, near by, appears +rather modern--a large building shining in a fresh coat of yellow +paint that gave it much the appearance of a summer hotel. The house +and church are located in a deep wooded valley and the towers of the +ancient gateway lend a touch of much-needed antiquity to the scene. + +[Illustration: TAWSTOCK CHURCH, DEVONSHIRE.] + +Barnstaple, like Bideford, while a very old town, has few old-time +relics now left. It has become a manufacturing town, its chief product +being Barum ware, an inexpensive grade of pottery. The Golden Lion +Inn, once a residence of the Earl of Bath, is famed as a place of +solid comfort, and still retains much of the gorgeous decorations done +by its former occupant. The poet Shelley had an odd association with +Barnstaple. When living at Lynton, after his marriage with Harriet +Westbrook, he came to Barnstaple and spent some time in bringing out a +pamphlet scurrilously attacking the chief justice who had sentenced to +prison the publisher of the works of Thomas Paine. One of the poet's +associates, who distributed the pamphlets, was sentenced to six months +in jail, and Shelley narrowly escaped by hastily leaving the town. + +The road from Bideford through Barnstaple and Ilfracombe is rather +uninteresting, save the last few miles, which pass through wooded hills +and along deep verdant valleys. Ilfracombe is a resort town, pure and +simple, and we found few hotels on a grander scale than the Ilfracombe, +standing in beautiful grounds facing the sea, which murmured almost +directly beneath our open windows. It was a beautiful evening; the tide +was just receding from the jutting rocks scattered along the coast, +whereon the sea, even in its mildest moods, chafes into foam; and one +can easily imagine a most awe-inspiring scene when the angry ocean, +driven by a westerly wind, assails these bold, angular rocks. After +having visited every resort town of note in England, our recollection +is that of all, Ilfracombe is the most strikingly situated; nor do any +of them command views of a coast line more rugged and picturesque. + +The rain was falling heavily when we came to Dunster on the following +day and the abbey church was gloomy indeed. And what can be gloomier +than an old church on a gray day, when the rain pours from the low-hung +clouds and sweeps in fitful gusts against the mossy gravestones +and crumbling, ivy-clad walls? A scene that renders one solemn and +thoughtful on almost any occasion becomes positively depressing under +such conditions. And though we recall Dunster Church with associations +not unpleasing in perspective, the surroundings were not altogether +pleasing at the time. We found the caretaker, a bent old woman, in the +church, but she informed us that there were really two churches and +that she had jurisdiction over only one of them. However, she conducted +us about the dimly lighted building, gloomy indeed from the lowering +skies without, and our recollection of her story of the quarrel that +resulted in the partition of the church has faded quite away. But we +do remember the rood screen which has fourteen separate openings, no +two wrought in the same pattern and altogether as marvelous a piece of +black-oak carving as we saw in England. + +Aside from the abbey church, there are other things of interest in +Dunster, especially the market cross and the castle. The latter +overlooks the town from a neighboring hill and is one of the lordliest +fortresses in the West Country. The town lies in one of the loveliest +vales in Somersetshire and is famed for its beautiful surroundings. +This section of Somerset and Devon is rich in literary associations; at +Nether Stowey we pass the square, uncomfortable-looking house, close +to the roadside, where Coleridge lived for three years, beginning +in 1797. Indeed, it was in the autumn of that year that he made the +excursion with Wordsworth and Dorothy, during which the plan of the +"Ancient Mariner" was conceived. A few months before, while in a +lonely farmhouse between Porlock and Lynton, he had the dream which he +started to record in "Kubla Khan." This poem he had composed in his +dream, but while writing it down on awakening, a "person from Porlock" +interrupted, and when the poet essayed to write, not only the words but +the images of the vision had faded away, and the fragment of "Kubla +Khan" remains like a shattered gem. Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy +came a little later to Alfoxden House, standing in a pleasant park +in the parish of Halford, and here the literary association between +Coleridge and Wordsworth became intimate and the little volume of +"Lyrical Ballads" was published jointly by them in 1798. Southey, +while storm-stayed by "an unwelcome summer rain" at the Ship Inn in +Porlock, wrote a sonnet in praise of the hills and glens. Hazlitt +and Charles Lamb at times joined their friends here for pedestrian +excursions among the hills. Nor can we forget Blackmore, whose "Lorna +Doone" turned the eyes of the English-speaking world toward the Exmoor +wastes. Shelley's escapade at Barnstaple we have already mentioned +and the cottage he occupied at Lynton still stands. No doubt much of +the weird beauty that pervades his work entered his soul amidst the +glorious surroundings--the sea, the hills and the vales--of the West +Country. + +[Illustration: EVENING ON THE CORNISH COAST. + +From Original Painting by A. J. Warne-Browne.] + +A pause at Cleeve Abbey near at hand gave us perhaps a better idea of +the life of monastic days than any other we visited--and we saw all the +greater abbeys of Britain. In the majority of cases the abbey proper +had been destroyed, but the church escaped, often through purchase +by the citizens. At Cleeve the reverse has happened; the church has +totally disappeared, but the abbey buildings are nearly intact. As a +well-informed writer puts it: + +"The whole life of the society can be lived over again with but little +demands on the imagination. We can see the dormitories in which they +slept, the refectory where they fed, the abbot's particular parlour and +the room for accounts, the kitchen, and even the archway through +which their bodies went out to the grave. The church suffered from +despoilers more than any other part of the abbey, and great is the +loss to architecture. Otherwise we get a community of the Middle Ages +preserved in all its essential surroundings, the refectory being in +particular a grand fifteenth-century hall." The ceiling of this great +apartment is of the hammer-beam pattern, the beams richly carved, and, +springing from oaken corbels, figures of angels with expanded wings. + +It brings one near indeed to the spirit of monastic days--this gray +old ruin, through which sweep the wind and rain and where under foot +the grass grows lush and green as it grows only in England--the spirit +which the Latin legend over the gatehouse so vividly expresses, +quaintly rendered thus: + + "Gate Open be + To honest folk as free." + +And the gray-whiskered custodian, so rheumatic and feeble that his +daughter, a husky peasant woman, guides visitors about the abbey, +warmed up to us as we were about to leave and opened his heart about +the ruin in which he dwelt and which he seemed to love. He told us its +story in the broad West Country dialect and pointed out to us many +things of curious interest that we otherwise should have overlooked. + +The sky is clearing; the low sun flashes along the hill-crests and +floods the Somerset landscape with ethereal beauty, which we drink in +as we skim swiftly along the smooth, wet road. We catch a final gleam +of the ocean at Weston-super-Mare and pass a long row of imposing +hotels. Then we are away for Bristol, the Queen City of the West +Country. + + + + +VI + +ODD CORNERS OF THE WELSH BORDER + + +There are few English castles where the spirit of medievalism lingers +as at Berkeley and few that have darker deeds recorded in their long +annals of crime. It has had a strange fascination for me ever since I +read its story in my boyhood days, and the verse of the poet Gray had +given the castle a weird association in my mind: + + "Mark the year and mark the night + When Severn shall echo with affright; + When shrieks of death through Berkeley's roofs shall ring, + Shrieks of an agonizing king." + +It was therefore a keen disappointment to learn on arriving in the +quiet Gloucestershire town that it was not a day when the castle was +open to visitors. However, we do not regret this so much in retrospect. +The castle, grim, many-towered, ivy-clad, the very embodiment of the +days of chivalry, still lingers in memory, with nothing to disenchant +its mystery and romance. The old keeper at the imposing entrance was +evidently sincere in his regret that the rule might not be suspended +for our benefit--for indeed we had found such regulations not as the +laws of the Medes and Persians, but there was no such good fortune +here. "But do not fail," said he, "to view the castle from the meadows, +for no finer sight will you find in England." + +If there be finer views of other English castles--a mere matter of +opinion, after all--there can hardly be a better viewpoint than the +Berkeley Meadows. It is a wide expanse of lawnlike meadowland lying +alongside the castle, which stretches out its battlemented and turreted +length against a background of majestic trees; from these rises the +square church-tower in stern outline against the bluest of English +June skies. The scene indeed savors more of enchantment than reality, +and the environment seems fitting to the historic pile where a king +was done to death and which Shakespeare mentions more than once. The +present owner is the twenty-seventh in direct descent from Robert +Fitzhardinge, to whom the manor was originally granted and who built a +large part of the present castle in the tenth century. + +The view from the castle keep is described by one who has written much +of its legends and history: "Northwards and southwards the broad Vale +of Berkeley, rich with verdure of pasture and woodland, runs on into +the far distance. To the east and southeast are the Cotswolds, rising +abruptly here and there into bold, bare masses whose sides are +clothed with beech woods, and anon retiring into lovely valleys which +seem to invite the eye to range their recesses. On the west flows the +broad estuary of the Severn, studded with many a white sail; beyond it +are the dark wooded hills of the Forest of Dean, veiled by the smoke +of its iron-works and collieries. Under the walls of the castle, on +the north and west sides, the little town seems to nestle, as though +seeking shelter and protection from the grim old fortress, which was +probably its origin and has been its stay and support through so many +generations." + +[Illustration: BERKELEY CASTLE.] + +Berkeley has another claim to distinction aside from its castle, for +here is the cottage where lived Jenner, whose discovery of vaccination +placed under control the scourge that devastated Europe until quite +recent times. The famous physician is buried in the churchyard. The +church is of imposing dimensions, with stained glass better than the +average and elaborate tombs of the Lords of Berkeley Castle. The bell +tower is detached, standing some distance from the main structure. + +The highway from Bristol to Gloucester is one of the finest in the +Kingdom, and we soon resumed our flight over it after the short +detour to Berkeley. At the Bell Hotel in Gloucester we found mild +excitement prevailing among the guests and servants, some of the +latter standing about in brilliant liveries and powdered wigs. The +manageress explained that the high sheriff and county judge were about +to leave the hotel and that the gaudy attire we beheld disguised only +the porter and head waiter, who had been fitted out in this manner to +give due state to the occasion. During the delay in the departure of +the distinguished guests we had the services of one of the gorgeous +gentlemen at our luncheon. Finally the dignitaries descended the stair, +the bedecked servants bowed them solemnly into a carriage, and the +porter in all his glory rode away beside the driver. I dwell on this +incident, trifling in itself, to illustrate the different status of +such officials in England as compared with our own country. In America +a dozen county judges and sheriffs might be at a hotel in a city the +size of Gloucester without attracting much attention. In some respects +the English way is preferable, since it invests the representatives +of the law with a dignity quite lacking in the States. And in this +connection we might notice that county judges in England receive +salaries from three to five times as great as are paid to corresponding +officials on our side, thus commanding a high average of legal talent +for the bench. + +The half-dozen miles between Gloucester and Tewkesbury are quickly done +and we halt in front of a wide green, studded with gigantic trees, +amidst which rises the huge bulk of a church almost as imposing as +the cathedral that has barely faded from our view. But it lacks the +gracefulness and perfect proportion of the Gloucester church and +perhaps its most striking exterior feature is the arch over the western +windows, so high and majestic as to remind one of Peterborough. The +interior is mainly ponderous Norman--rows of heavy pillars flanking +the long nave and supporting massive rounded arches. The windows, +however, are the lighter and more graceful creations of the Decorated +Period, though the glass is mostly modern. Among the tombs is that of +Prince Edward, son of Henry VI., who was cruelly slain in the battle +of Tewkesbury, so fatal to the Lancastrian cause. Here, too, lies the +"false, fleeting, perjured Clarence," of Shakespeare; and Somerset, +executed by his captors after the battle. The abbey was marked for +destruction by Henry VIII., who was deterred from his purpose by a +public subscription. Tewkesbury is rather decadent, and has many houses +in brick and timber as yet quite unspoiled by modern improvement. It is +pleasantly situated on the banks of the classic Avon near its junction +with the Severn, and the many-arched stone bridge over the former river +is unusually picturesque. Half a mile farther a second bridge crosses +the Severn, which lies in broad, still reaches dotted with small craft +of every description. + +Over these bridges we hastened away toward Hereford, following a level +though sinuous road. The old-world quaintness of Ledbury attracted +our attention. Its rectangular timber market cross, supported on a +colonnade of wooden pillars, is unusual indeed. And nowhere else did we +find finer specimens of Elizabethan half-timbered houses, though some +of them were rather tawdry in recent applications of black and white +paint. Such houses have become quite the rage and some owners have +gone so far as to paint black stripes on common brick to represent the +timbers. However, no such travesty as this is necessary in Ledbury--the +town is overflowing with the genuine article--genuine though disfigured +in some cases by the bad taste of the man with the paint pot. Church +Lane, leading from the main street up a gentle slope to the church, is +bordered with splendid examples of Elizabethan houses, quite unaltered +since they left the builders' hands. At the end of the lane one sees a +graceful spire standing apart from the church, which is quite unique +in design. It has four sharply pitched roofs running parallel, with +odd little minarets between them. The interior has the newness of +recent restoration and shows traces of different styles, from Norman +to Perpendicular. Ledbury has an institute which commemorates its +association with Elizabeth Barrett Browning, who passed her girlhood +near the town. + +At Hereford we sought the cathedral, having missed the interior during +a former visit. A small, bare-headed boy in a red sweater saw us pause +before the close and marked us as his legitimate prey. "I'll take you +into the Bishop's Palace," he said in such a matter-of-fact way that it +disarmed our suspicions and we followed the youngster meekly enough, +for with all our doing of cathedrals we had caught only glimpses of +bishops' palaces, usually embowered in gardens and apparently quite +inaccessible. We had no opportunity to question our small guide as he +rapidly led us through the palace grounds, but when he unhesitatingly +rang at the door, we insisted on an explanation and learned that the +bishop and his family were in London. During their absence the palace +was thrown open to the public and our small friend was doubtless +improving the opportunity to put cathedral visitors under obligations +to himself. + +We were admitted and wandered about at will. It is a rambling old +house and indicates that a bishop occupies about the same plane in +his domestic appointments as a prosperous member of the nobility, +among whom, in fact, he takes a high rank. The house was sumptuously +furnished and had several great rooms with high decorated ceilings and +windows that looked out on the pleasant grounds, bright with flowers +and shrubbery. The study pleased us most, with its high bookshelves +about the walls and tall mullioned bow windows which open almost +directly on the Wye. It was easy to see why the English bishops nearly +all complain that their salaries, though apparently large, are hardly +adequate to the state they are expected to maintain; and why, as in the +case of an American ambassador, a private fortune is often necessary +to enable the recipient of such an honor to pay the legitimate +expenses. Our picture will show, perhaps better than any description, +the beauty of the river front of the palace, with the fine trees and +cathedral tower in the background. We had only a moment to look about +the cathedral, since the closing hour was nearly at hand. However, we +missed little, for Hereford Cathedral has few historic associations and +recent restoration gives it an almost new appearance. It is built of +red sandstone, which gives the interior a rather warm tone, accentuated +by highly-colored modern windows. + +[Illustration: BISHOP'S PALACE, HEREFORD.] + +A pause for the night at Ludlow, where we arrived after a run of an +hour or two through the rich pasture lands along the Welsh Border, gave +us an opportunity of renewing our pleasant associations with that fine +old town. But as we were to visit Ludlow thrice before the close of our +pilgrimage, I shall leave our impressions and discoveries for later +consideration. + +The road from Ludlow to Bridgnorth is--or rather was--not a first-class +one. Road conditions in Britain change so rapidly since the advent of +the motor that one can scarcely speak of them in the present tense. +As we found it, poorly surfaced, narrow and winding, it was not to +be compared with the highway along the border. Bridgnorth is an +ancient market town, famous for its cattle fair, which has been held +yearly since 1226. The service at the Crown Inn, where we stopped for +luncheon, was excellent, and the moderate charge proved Bridgnorth off +the beaten tourist track, a special rate not yet being established for +the infrequent motorists. It was market day and the town was crowded +with country people. The ample market square was filled with booths, +and goods of every description were offered for sale. A socialist +orator--a common nuisance in England--was haranguing the people, who +crowded the streets so closely that we could get through only with +difficulty. That motors are not so common in Bridgnorth was apparent, +and a crowd collected about the car in the hotel stableyard. The +general expression was hostile, and many instances were related where +"one of the things" had worked disaster with skittish horses. + +We made our escape without entering into the discussion and dropped +down the almost precipitous hill to the Severn bridge. The road is +a charming one, with wooded hills rising sharply on one hand and the +broad Severn lying far beneath on the other. At Shifnal a policeman, +in response to our inquiry, directed us to the byway leading to the +village of Tong, some three miles distant. Here, according to one +well qualified to judge, is the "most interesting example of early +Perpendicular architecture in Shropshire--a section famous for +interesting churches." But it is better known through its association +with Little Nell in "Old Curiosity Shop," and Dickens' description +shows that the appearance of the church before its restoration was +quite different from today: + +"The church was old and grey, with ivy clinging to the walls and round +the porch. It was a very quiet place, as such a place should be, save +for the cawing of the rooks, who had built their nests among the +branches of some tall trees. It was a very aged, ghostly place. The +church had been built many hundreds of years ago and once had a convent +or monastery attached; for arches in ruins, remains of oriel windows, +and fragments of blackened walls were yet standing." It is still old +and gray, but no longer ghostly and ruinous. It was far from lonely, +for a crowd of trippers was being shown about by the caretaker when we +arrived. + +The tombs of Tong Church, with their effigies and brasses, are +remarkably perfect, and one of them must be very ancient, for it bears +the figure of a crusader in chain mail. The images escaped destruction, +it is said, because of the friendship of Cromwell for the Stanleys, +who were adherents of the Parliament. In the church are buried several +of the Vernons, whom the madcap Dorothy gave to eternal fame, for they +had little else to rescue them from the oblivion that overwhelmed +such a host of unremembered squires and knights. Dorothy's sister, +Margaret, is buried with her husband, Sir Edward Stanley, who came +into possession of Tong Castle through his wife. The church also has a +remarkable library of black-letter books, some of them almost as old as +the church itself, and a stupendous bell, weighing two tons, hangs in +its tower. + +[Illustration: TONG VILLAGE, SHROPSHIRE.] + +The village well accords with the church--a quiet place half hidden +by trees and shrubbery, while the ivy and blooming vines give a touch +of color to the gray walls. The tiny gardens are brilliant with +old-fashioned flowers and the air is laden with their sweetness. Amidst +such surroundings are scattered the pleasant old timbered cottages, +with thatched roofs and diamond-paned lattice windows. The original +castle has disappeared and has been replaced by a large Georgian +house--a Moorish-looking mansion with domed roofs and pinnacles, +yet rather picturesque, despite the fact that it outrages good +architectural taste. It is in ill accord with the unspoiled little +village; for altogether, Tong, with its church and associations, is one +of the most delightful nooks and thoroughly typical of rural England at +its best. + +There are other associations in the neighborhood of Tong that may +attract anyone especially interested in curious bits of English +history, for near at hand is Boscobel House and its Royal Oak. In +my youthful days, I read in one of the old-fashioned Sunday school +books--many of which were then imported from England and were written +by orthodox royalists--the story of the miraculous escape of His +Gracious Majesty Charles II. from the wicked rebels who sought to lay +violent hands on the "Lord's Anointed." I looked on the honest country +people of Boscobel as direct instruments of Providence in preserving +the sacred life of the king, and fairly held my breath with fear and +excitement when I read that the Puritan troopers rode beneath the very +tree in which the monarch was concealed. Even when sadly disenchanted +by the knowledge that if ever rascal escaped his due it was when +Charles Stuart dodged his pursuers, the romance of the old story +lingered and I always had a desire to see Boscobel House and the Royal +Oak. + +[Illustration: BOSCOBEL HOUSE, SHROPSHIRE.] + +After leaving Tong we were only a few minutes in the shady lanes until +we drew up in front of the ancient manor and found it a shrine for +the English tripper, though the name of no American had been registered +in its visitors' book. The house is quite unaltered and of itself +would be worth a visit as an unusually good specimen of early English +domestic architecture, for it dates from 1540. The walls are stuccoed +between heavy oaken posts at the corners and beams at the line of the +floors. The huge chimney, mullioned windows and other touches indicate +that it was a gentleman's residence. Inside there are several fine +rooms, with much oak carving and paneling, though in the dining-room, +rather the best of all, the oak has been painted. There are a good +many portraits and relics of the king, more or less authentic, which +are shown with a proper degree of reverence. In the attic floor is the +entrance to a small secret chamber reputed as one of the hiding-places +of the king, though no doubt originally planned for a "priest hole," as +the Puritans called such places of concealment. + +The farm-wife who cared for the house, and who was glad to see +visitors, had come to reverence the king as the saint that the old +chronicles picture him and had a full stock of the traditions of the +place. She pointed out the identical tree which sheltered his Sacred +Majesty, though the prosaic and unimpressionable Baedeker declares that +it vanished long ago--which we ventured to hint, only to be met with +proper scorn. To impress us with the goodness and generosity of the +king, she related that the pension he settled on his preservers and +their heirs forever is still paid to the descendants of the Penderels +by an assessment on the parish--characteristic indeed of Charles, who +always rewarded services if he could do so at the expense of some one +else. We purchased a quaint book at the house--a facsimile reprint of +an account of the events at Boscobel, published after the Restoration +and dedicated to the king. As a curious example of the depraved +lickspittle attitude of his flatterers toward the person of the +monarch--a spirit not altogether extinct today, for that matter--I give +a few sentences from the author's dedication: + +"I humbly beg your Majesties pardon, being conscious to myself of my +utter incapacity to express, either your unparallel'd valour in the day +of contending, or (which is a vertue far less usual for Kings) your +strong and even mind in the time of your sufferings. From which sublime +endowments of Your Most Heroick Majesty I derive these comforts to my +self, That whoever undertakes to reach at your perfections, must fall +short as well as I, though not so much. And now, on my bended knees, +let me joyfully congratulate his restored Majesty, and humbly offer him +this short and hearty wish, O KING, LIVE FOR EVER." + +Bidding Boscobel Manor farewell, we pause for a hasty glance at the +scant ruin of White Ladies, an old-time nunnery standing quite apart +in a field near by; then we retrace our way to the main road leading +through Tong to Newmarket and Market Drayton. The latter town should +be of considerable interest to an Englishman, since here was the home +of Robert Clive, who, according to a well-known historian, "will ever +be remembered as the man who laid deeply the foundations of our Indian +Empire and who at a time of national despondency restored the tarnished +honor of British arms." Aside from this, there is little to interest +the wayfarer save several fine Elizabethan houses and a mighty church +that quite overshadows the town and country. + +We are soon away for Shrewsbury, the ever charming county town of +Shropshire, fleeting over as fine a road as ever tempted the winged +wheels of a motor car. It is nearly deserted, straight, broad and +level, and it is quite too late to fear the minions of the law--but +this is not a record of miles per hour. Suffice it to say that very +shortly we stop at the sign of the Raven in Old Salop. + +One could never grow weary of the old town, and we saw another phase +in its life and activity on a Saturday evening. The whole population +seemed to have turned loose, and the brilliantly lighted main street +was quite metropolitan. The quaint old fronts had a rather odd and +out-of-place look in the glare of the electric light; the narrow, dimly +lit side streets were more in accord with the spirit of the place. The +shops were crowded and on the whole seemed surprisingly up to date and +well stocked for a town of thirty thousand. + +The Sunday following was as quiet as the evening before had been +animated, and was as perfect as an English June day can be. In the +afternoon we were off for a run, with scarcely any definite point in +view, though a jaunt of an hour or two brought us in front of Lichfield +Cathedral just as the afternoon service was beginning. We joined the +rather diminutive body of worshippers who occupied but a small part of +the great church. We were perhaps quite as intent on the interior--a +very epic in warm red sandstone--as upon the dreary chant of the +litany. A thorough restoration has been made recently and an air of +newness prevails, but no one interested in cathedral architecture +will miss Lichfield--in some respects the most harmonious and best +proportioned of them all. We have seen the town before, but not the +large square house before which we pause, for a moment, and which bears +a bronze tablet to the memory of its one-time occupant, Erasmus Darwin, +grandfather of Charles Darwin. + +Our route to Shrewsbury was over one of the Roman Watling streets, +straight as an arrow's flight much of the way and often bordered by +giant trees. Never did the English countryside appear more charming +in all our wanderings through it. There was a continual succession +of green fields, vast parks, clear streams and wooded hills, with an +occasional retired village--for on our return we avoided Wolverhampton +with its rough streets and trams--to lend variety to the rural +beauty through which we passed until we again skirted the Severn and +re-entered the town. + + + + +VII + +A WEEK IN SOUTH WALES + + +We leave Shrewsbury by the Welsh bridge for a week among the rugged +hills and valleys of Southern Wales, a country rich in relics of +antiquity and romantic associations. We sweep along the fine highway to +Welshpool and from thence, a little farther, to Montgomery, a decayed, +out-of-the-way town in the hills. A fragment of its castle is perched +high on the precipitous hill commanding the town and looking far over +the vale of the serpentine Severn. The Severn, like the Wye, is the +most sinuous of rivers, and there are few more inspiring prospects than +its long shining folds winding through the verdant valley as seen from +the castle walls. Montgomery, quiet and unheroic as it is today, has +a stirring past. It took its name from Roger de Montgomerie, "Second +in command in the army of his kinsman, William of Normandy," though +the grim, almost inaccessible castle antedated his possession of the +town. Fierce indeed was the strife between the Normans and the wild +Welsh tribes, and the fair vale of the Severn was the scene of many a +bloody conflict. The castle, though with varying owners and fortunes, +continued a stronghold to the day of its surrender to the soldiers +of the Commonwealth; after which nothing remained but blackened +walls--another added to the long list of feudal fortresses "destroyed +by Cromwell." + +The road southward from Newtown leads through as wild a tract of +country as we saw in Britain. Not the Scotch Highlands or the hills +at the headwaters of the Welsh Wye equal it in loneliness and seeming +remoteness. But it is more picturesque than the localities just named, +for the hills are mostly wooded, and the shallow, sparkling river which +we followed--though usually far above it--runs through a narrow valley +diversified in spots with trees and bits of meadow land. For eight +miles out of Newtown we encountered a continually rising grade, which +brought us to a narrow upland road running along the hillsides, which +drop in almost precipitous slopes to the river far below. The road +twists along the edge of the hills, at times in almost circular curves, +and too close to the sharp declivity at its side for one's ease of +mind. At Llandrindod Wells we had passed the wildest part of the road +and we noted with surprise the handsome houses and palatial hotels of +a town we had scarcely heard of before, but which has recently become +the queen of Welsh inland resorts. The declining sun shot his rays +along the purple hilltops that encircle the place and the shadows were +already long in the pine-clad valleys. It was growing late, but after +a hurried consultation we decided against the pretentious hotels of +Llandrindod Wells. + +We dashed across the arched stone bridge over the Wye at Builth Wells +and brought sharply up in front of the Lion Hotel, which, standing +squarely across the way, seemed to bar farther progress, and we had +little choice but to stop for the night. The Lion's accommodations are +not elaborate by any means, but it was quite too late to go farther. +Though Builth has mineral wells and a "pump house," a mile from the +town, there is nothing of the resort hotel about the Lion; on the +contrary, it is the plainest of old-country inns, apparently a haven +for fishermen rather than health seekers. Its walls were covered with +the antique hand-colored prints so characteristic of English inns; its +mantels were loaded with queer pieces of bric-a-brac; tallow candles +lighted the bedrooms. The electric push-button had not superseded the +tasseled rope by the bedside, with which one jangles a bell hung on +a coiled spring in the hallway. But it is spacious and has an air of +old-world comfort about it--little modern except its motor garage. + +After all, we were fortunate in our pause at Builth, for we beheld the +most glorious of sunsets on the long reaches of the Wye as it enters +the town from the west. The river dances down the valley in a series +of broad, shallow rapids, resting itself here and there in a quiet +lakelike pool. The sunset hues were subdued rather than brilliant; pink +and salmon tints were reflected in the stream as we stood on the bridge +and looked up the quiet valley, and these faded into hazy amethyst as +the twilight advanced. It was a scene of quiet, pastoral beauty amidst +surroundings that do not lack for legend and antiquity, and altogether +left a pleasing recollection of an unattractive Welsh town which in +itself has little of the picturesque. + +We were away early in the morning following the Wye Valley road, with +its vistas of hill and river, as far as Llyswen, where we crossed the +hills to Brecon. Our stop here was short, as our route was to bring us +again to this interesting old town in a few days. We did not often find +a more delightful road than that down the Usk Valley to Crickhowell, +Abergavenny and Caerleon. Its excellent surface and long sweeping +grades might be a temptation to speed, but it is quite neutralized by +the constant beauty of the scenery and interest of the country. On +either hand are the low Welsh mountains, wooded to the very crest, +and at times far below we caught the gleam of the river--though so +shrunken as to scarcely deserve the name--leaping and flashing over its +stone-strewn bed. Here and there a quiet village nestled unobtrusively +by the roadside; at Crickhowell we found a larger but somnolent +town whose huge church is crowded with memorials of the old Welsh +warriors. Even larger and more impressive is the great Priory Church at +Abergavenny, whose square battlemented tower one might think had been +built to withstand the sieges of the devil, even as the Welsh castles +were made almost impregnable against the attack of man. No quainter +town did we pass than Usk; it must have been much the same when the +Conqueror sent his legions to overawe the Welsh tribes, save that its +castle, then no doubt a lordly fortress, is now a decayed ivy-mantled +ruin. Its greater importance in years gone by is attested by its +mighty priory church, ill in keeping with the hamlet that clusters +about it today. According to tradition, two kings of England were born +in Usk--Richard III. and Edward IV.--and Roman remains indicate an +important station on the spot almost at the dawn of the Christian Era. + +But what shall one say of Caerleon, farther down the valley, now +practically a suburb of Newport, where dim legends still linger to the +effect that it was once King Arthur's capital and that here was the +castle + + "From whose high towers they say + Men saw the goodly hills of Somerset, + And white sails flying o'er a yellow sea." + +A prosaic historian, however, declares that in all likelihood the King +Arthur legend sprang from Roman ruins which some hundreds of years +ago existed in Caerleon in great magnificence. At any rate, modern +Caerleon has no trace of the regal capital of the early king--a bald, +unattractive town close upon the Usk, now broadened into a considerable +stream, dull with the taint from the manufactories on its banks. + +At Newport we are entering a different order of things, brought about +by the great industrial development in South Wales due to the coal +and iron mines and large shipping interests. In the last century the +population of the town has grown from one to seventy thousand. The old +order is indeed dead here. There is no effort to attract the tourist, +and the castle, almost the sole relic of antiquity, is crumbling +into unhindered ruin as it sits far above the drear expanse of mud +left by the receding tide. We hasten through the town--we may see a +hundred such at home--and seek from a friendly policeman the road to +Caerphilly, a village off in the hills which we know has no new-world +counterpart. + +For ten miles from Newport we wend our way over a dusty, ill-kept +byroad with sharp turns and steep grades, and before we come to the +village we see from some distance the broken towers and battlements +of Caerphilly Castle. We pass through the gateway in the straggling +walls and the scene of desolation and massive ruin that lies before us +is hardly paralleled in impressiveness among British castles, unless +it be by Corfe in Dorset. A great round tower, perhaps fifty feet in +diameter, with walls ten feet thick, split as by a thunder stroke, +greets our eyes. Half of it is still standing, though leaning many +feet from the vertical, and the other half lies in mighty fragments of +masonry at its base. There had been four such towers, but only one is +comparatively entire. The walls, though much shattered in places, still +serve to give an idea of the vast extent of the ancient castle. The +huge banqueting hall has been roofed and recalls in a rather pathetic +way the rude magnificence of its feudal state. + +[Illustration: CAERPHILLY CASTLE, SOUTH WALES.] + +But words quite fail to describe Caerphilly--such a maze of grim walls +and towers, such a network of ruinous apartments, piled deep with +debris, overawe and confuse one. Only the antiquarian may painfully +decipher the plan of the castle and in imagination reconstruct it as +it was when it stood a bulwark between warring nations. But to the +ordinary beholder it will remain a mystery set in the midst of the +barren hills, and he will hardly care to resolve the impressive pile +into its original parts. It will seem an entity to him--it is hard +to think it otherwise than it appears today. Its romance is deepened +by the obscurity of its history--for the story of Caerphilly has many +blanks and breaks. There is no record of when it was first begun and +there is doubt as to when it was finally destroyed. Some say the ruin +is the work of Cromwell, and it surely seems worthy of that master of +the art of wrecking castles; others declare that it was abandoned at +the time of the Commonwealth, having been destroyed by Shakespeare's +"Wild irregular Glendower," in his endless conflicts with the English. + +But after all, does it not savor even more of romance that mystery +enshrouds the past of the stupendous structure whose scanty remnants +encircle us? Why call upon prosaic history to dispel the charm that +emanates from the gray ruin, half hidden by its mantle of ivy and +dashed here and there with the purple valerian and yellow wall-flower? +Such would be folly indeed as we sit on the soft green turf of the +court and contemplate the fantastic outlines in the glow of the sunset; +when all is silence save for the angry brawls of the rooks, which have +entered into full possession--reincarnations, perhaps, of the erstwhile +contentious owners. + +But the spell of Caerphilly dissolves and a different world surrounds +us as we enter the broad modern streets of Cardiff and pause before +the American-looking Park Hotel. Cardiff as a village antedates the +Conquest, but as a metropolis of two hundred thousand, it is quite +recent. One hundred years ago it had a population of a thousand; +in 1837, of ten thousand; and it is easy to see that the traces of +antiquity in such a city must be few. Its future was assured when the +first Marquis of Bute hazarded his entire fortune in the construction +of the extensive docks from which shipments of coal and iron are now +made. It was a lucky throw of the die for the nobleman, for today his +grandson owns the greater part of Cardiff and is one of the wealthiest +men in the Kingdom. + +Cardiff Castle--forever associated with the dark fate of Prince +Robert--has been replaced by a Moorish palace--or rather, an +incongruous mixture in which the Moorish predominates. It is easy to +gain admittance to this imposing palace, where art has been entirely +unhampered by cost, and if garishness and incongruity sometimes +prevail, interest is nevertheless continual. There is a fragment of +the keep of the old castle in the grounds and Duke Robert's dungeon is +incorporated into the new structure--a dark, vaultlike cavity in the +walls where for thirty years the unfortunate prince, the direct heir to +the throne of the Conqueror, was kept a close prisoner by his brother +Henry. Legend has it that his eyes were put out because of an +attempt to escape and that he died in the dungeon at the age of eighty +years. + +[Illustration: CARDIFF CASTLE.] + +Cardiff's municipal buildings are a delight; white stone palaces +standing in ample grounds with wide pleasant approaches--altogether +models of what civic structures ought to be. Immense and busy as it is, +there is little in Cardiff to detain one on such a pilgrimage as ours, +and we were away before noon on the Swansea road. + +Llandaff is but three miles from Cardiff, and we reached it by a +short detour. Its cathedral, recently restored, is probably the most +interesting of Welsh churches excepting St. David's. The site has +been occupied by a church ever since the year 600, though the present +structure dates from early Norman times. It fell into complete ruin +after the time of the Commonwealth. One chronicler declares that +"Cromwell's men turned the nave into an ale house, penned calves in +the choir and fed pigs at the font," though they must have been rather +unorthodox Puritans to countenance the ale house. No attempt was made +to preserve the fine church from decay until about two hundred years +later, and so deplorable was its condition that the task of restoration +seemed a well-nigh impossible one. Still, after much difficulty, the +work was happily carried out, and the twin towers--one a slender spire +and its companion square-topped with Gothic finials--present a very +unusual though not unpleasant effect. Inside there is a mixture of +Norman and early English styles, and some beautiful Decorated work. +There are three paintings by Dante Gabriel Rossetti that arrest +attention at once--done in that artist's best style long ere he was +known to fame. The windows, though modern, are of unusual excellence, +having been designed by Burne-Jones and other notable artists. Near by +are the ruins of the bishop's palace, whose fortresslike walls tell +of a time when the churchman and the warrior went hand in hand. Its +destruction some six hundred years ago is attributed to Owen Glendwr, +whose record for castle-smashing in Wales is second only to that of +Cromwell. The village of Llandaff is still rural and pretty; it is +quite clear of the skirts of Cardiff, being separated from the city by +the River Taff. The old stone cross still stands in front of the palace +and there is now little to remind one of the big modern city near at +hand, which may one day absorb its ancient but diminutive neighbor. + +The Swansea road looks well enough on the map, but our recollections +of it are far from pleasing. Dusty and rough, and crowded with traffic +and tram lines in many places, it wends through a cheerless and often +uninteresting country. It passes frequent mining towns straggling along +for considerable distances and there were many drunken men reeling +on the streets. It was market day at Cowbridge and the village was +filled with countrymen, many of whom treated our right to the road with +supreme indifference. One fellow in a broad-brimmed slouch hat that +made him look like an American cowboy, and who was carrying a black +bottle that might hold a gallon, saluted us with owl-like gravity and +brought the car to a sharp stop by standing directly in our way. + +While getting rid of our would-be acquaintance, we cast about to find a +place for luncheon and soon lighted on the sign of the Bear, the sole +inn, according to Baedeker. It was some distance to the next town and +we decided to patronize the Bear, though its outer appearance filled us +with misgivings. But if its outward aspect inspired doubt, words fail +in speaking of the inside. The handbook of the Royal Automobile Club in +setting forth the delights of a tour in America pays its compliments to +our rural Bonifaces in this wise: "The hotel accommodation in country +districts is often very poor and dirty," all of which may be painfully +true. But in competition for distinction in these particulars, the +Bear would certainly not be distanced by any American rival. Perhaps +the confusion and disarray was partly due to the market-day rush, but +the grime and dirt that prevailed everywhere seemed as ancient as the +ramshackle old house itself. The dining-room was a large apartment with +many long tables of boards laid on trestles--an arrangement, no doubt, +to accommodate the patronage of market day--and the remnants of the +dinner were still heaped upon them in dire confusion. A glance at the +meal placed before us and at the dirty hands of the waiting-girl was +enough--we left the provender untouched and summarily departed from the +table. With difficulty we got the attention of the barmaid, who also +acted as cashier, settled our score, and sallied forth dinnerless upon +the King's highway. + +Threading our way carefully through the streets of Neath, several +miles farther on, with little thought save to get away from the bad +road and unpleasant surroundings, we caught a glimpse, down a side +street, of an ivy-clad ruin of great extent. We followed the rough +rubbish-covered lane that leads directly to the entrance gate of Neath +Abbey, as it proved to be. There was no caretaker in charge, but two +or three workmen were engaged in cleaning away the debris, which was +several feet deep in many of the roofless apartments. Everything +indicated that once the abbey had stood in the pleasantest of valleys +on the bank of a clear, placid little river; but the coaling industry, +which flings its pall over everything in Southern Wales, had played +sad havoc with the sylvan retreat of the old Cistercian monks. Heaps +of rubbish dotted the uncared-for green about the place. Coal trains +rattled on the railroad near at hand. The spot where the abbey now +stands so forlornly is the heart of the suburban slums of Neath, and +so isolated and forgotten is it that few pilgrims come to view its +melancholy beauty. For it is beautiful--does not our picture tell +the story?--the mouldering walls hung with masses of ivy, the fine +doorways, the great groups of mullioned windows and the high chimneys, +green to the very tops, all combine to charm the beholder despite the +unlovely surroundings. The workmen told us that the abbey belonged to +Lord Somebody--we have quite forgotten--and that he was going to clean +up the premises and make necessary repairs. The craze now so prevalent +in Britain for preserving every ancient ruin had extended even to Neath +Abbey and perchance its titled owner will beautify the surroundings and +the fine ruin may yet become a shrine for pilgrims--that the motor-car +will bring. + +[Illustration: NEATH ABBEY, SOUTH WALES.] + +Swansea--Swansy, they call it--had always brought to my mind, I hardly +know why, the idea of a seaside resort town; but never was preconceived +notion more erroneous. If there is a blacker, uglier, more odoriferous +town of the size in the Kingdom, I do not recollect where it is. Here +are the greatest copper smelting works in the world and from these +come the pungent, stifling odors that so unpleasantly pervade the +city. Here, too, is the great steel plant of the Siemens Company and +many allied industries. And yet there was a time when Swansea had at +least the promise of a resort town before it, when the poet Landor +declared that "Italy has a fine climate but that of Swansea is better; +that it is the only spot in Britain where one may have warmth without +wet." Then it had six hundred people, but now its population exceeds +one hundred thousand. We had no desire to linger and rapidly climbed +the long steep hill that leads to the highland road to Carmarthen. +We soon left behind us the smoke and grime of the collieries and +smelting-works, and the road over which we rapidly coursed took us +through a rather pretty rural section, though the hills are numerous +and steep. + +It was late when we came into Carmarthen, a bare, drab-colored town, +but withal rather more prosperous-looking than the average small +town of South Wales. The thirty-two miles to Haverfordwest swept by +too rapidly to permit us to see the country other than as a fleeting +panorama. Just as the twilight faded into dark we came sharply into +Haverfordwest and with grave misgivings halted at the Castle Hotel. +Here we must stop, willy nilly, for there was nothing that promised +better in many miles. But to apply the cautious Yorkshireman's +expression to the Castle Hotel, "It might be worse," and we were +willing to let the uncomfortable feather-beds and the dingy candle-lit +rooms overlooking the stable yard, be atoned for by the excellent +dinner that our landlady prepared at so late an hour. + +We did not linger at Haverfordwest on the following morning, though +perhaps the castle and the priory church might well have detained us. +The castle, which crowns the terribly steep hill to which the town +seems to cling somewhat precariously, has been reduced to a county +jail--or gaol, as the English have it--and thus robbed of much of +its romance. Still, it is an impressive old fortress, dominating the +town with its huge bulk, and it has figured much in the annals of +Pembrokeshire. + +Haverfordwest has a history antedating the Conquest. It was undoubtedly +a stopping-place for the troops of pilgrims who in early days journeyed +to the sacred shrine of St. David's, the Ultima Thule of Southern +Wales, sixteen miles to the west, following a tortuous road over many +steep and barren hills. The railroad ends at Haverfordwest and no doubt +the facilities for reaching St. David's a thousand years ago were quite +as good as today, the daily mail cart and coach twice a week in season +being the only regular means of transportation. No wonder in days when +strenuous journeys to distant shrines were believed to be especially +meritorious, two trips to St. David's were allowed to confer the +spiritual benefit of a single pilgrimage to Rome itself. + +And we ourselves are pilgrims to St. David's shrine--not by the slow +horseback cavalcade of old days, or the more modern coach, but by +motor car. Our forty-horse engine makes quick work of the precipitous +hill out of Haverfordwest and carries us without lagging over the +dozen long steep hills on the road to the ancient town. Shortly before +reaching St. David's the road drops down to the ocean side, but the +sea is hidden by a long ridge of stones and pebbles piled high by the +inrushing waters. The tide was far out and we saw no finer beach on the +Welsh coast than the one that lay before us as we stood on the stony +drift. A great expanse of yellow--almost literally golden--sand ran +down to a pale green sea, which lapped it in silvery sunlit ripples, +so quiet and peaceful was the day. But one could not but think of the +scope afforded for the wild play of the ocean on stormy days--how the +scene must be beyond all description + + "When the great winds shoreward blow, + And the salt tides seaward flow; + Where the wild white horses play, + Champ and chafe and toss in the spray." + +We left the car near the ancient stone cross in the deserted market +place of St. David's and sought the cathedral, which is strangely +situated in a deep dell, the top of the Norman tower being only a +little above the level of the market place. The cathedral has been +recently restored, more perhaps on account of its historic past than +any present need for it, but the bishop's palace, once one of the most +elaborate and extensive in the Kingdom, stands in picturesque decay, +beyond any hope of rehabilitation. As to the old-time importance of +St. David's as contrasted with its present isolation, the words of an +enthusiastic English writer may perhaps serve better than my own: + +"Centuries ago St. David's bishop had seven palaces for his pleasure; +now he does not dwell in his own city. Of old the offerings at St. +David's shrine were divided every Saturday among the priests by the +dishful, to save time in counting the coins; now a few pounds weekly is +accounted a good collection total. Ancient kings came hither in state +to confess their sins; in this travelling age only the enterprising +tourist comes to the city at all. Eight or nine roads converged upon +the little place on its headland of about three miles square, but the +majority are now no better than humble weather-worn lanes. The Atlantic +winds sweep across the depression by the Alan brook in which St. +David's Cathedral, the extensive ruins of the bishop's palace, and the +many other fragments of St. David's glorious prime nestle among trees, +with the humble cottages of the city itself surrounding them as if they +loved them. Even the dilapidation here is so graceful that one would +hardly wish it altered into the trim and rather smug completeness of +many an English cathedral with its close." + +The cathedral is extremely interesting and made doubly so by an +intelligent verger whom we located with considerable difficulty. +Pilgrims to St. David's were apparently too infrequent to justify the +good man's remaining constantly on duty as in larger places, and a +placard forbidding fees, may have dampened his zeal in looking for +visitors. But we found him at last in his garden, and he did his part +well; nothing curious or important in the history of the cathedral was +forgotten by him. The leaning Norman pillars, the open roof of Irish +oak, the gorgeous ceiling with its blood-red and gold decorations, and +many relics discovered during the restoration, were pointed out and +properly descanted upon. But one might write volumes of a shrine which +kings once underwent many hardships to visit, among them Harold the +Saxon and his conqueror, William of Normandy. Nothing but a visit can +do it justice, and with the advent of the motor car, old St. David's +will again be the shrine of an increasing number of pilgrims, though +their mission and personel be widely different from the wayfarers of +early days. + +[Illustration: ST. DAVID'S CATHEDRAL.] + +There is only one road out of the lonely little town besides that which +brought us thither and we were soon upon the stony and uncomfortable +highway to Cardigan. Here we found roadmaking in primitive stages; the +broken stone had been loosely scattered along the way waiting for the +heavy-wheeled carts of the farmers to serve the purpose of the steam +roller. The country is pitifully barren and the little hovels--always +gleaming with whitewash--were later called to mind by those in Ireland. +There are no great parks with fine mansions to relieve the monotony of +the scene. Only fugitive glimpses of the ocean from the upland road +occasionally lend a touch of variety. At Fishguard, a mean little town +with a future before it--for it is now the Welsh terminus of the Great +Western Railway's route to Ireland--we paused in the crowded market +square and a courteous policeman approached us, divining that we needed +directions. + +"The road to Cardigan? Straight ahead down the hill." + +"It looks pretty steep," we suggested. + +"Yes, but nothing to the one you must go up out of the town. Just like +the roofs of those houses there, and the road rough and crooked. Yes, +this is all there is of Fishguard; pretty quiet place except on market +days." + +We thanked the officer and cautiously descended the hill before us. +We then climbed much the steepest and most dangerous hill we found in +all the twelve thousand or more miles covered by our wanderings. To +our dismay, a grocer's cart across the narrow road compelled us to +stop midway on the precipitous ascent, but the motor proved equal to +the task and we soon looked back down the frightful declivity with a +sigh of relief. We were told later of a traveling showman who had been +over all the main roads of the Island with a traction engine and who +declared this the worst hill he knew of. + +Newport--quite different from the Eastern Welsh Newport--and Cardigan +are quaint, old-world villages, though now decayed and shrunken. I will +not write of them, though the history of each is lost in the mists of +antiquity and the former possesses an imposing though ruinous castle. +The road between them is hilly, but the hills are well wooded and the +prospects often magnificent and far-reaching. We found it much the +same after leaving Cardigan, though the country is distinctly better +and more pleasing than the extreme south. The farm houses appear more +prosperous, and well-cared-for gardens surround them. Nowhere did +we find the people kinder or more courteous. An instance occurred +at Carmarthen, where we stopped to consult our maps. The owner of a +near-by jewelry shop came out and accosted us. Did we want information +about the roads? He had lived in Carmarthen many years and was familiar +with all the roads about the town. To Llandovery? We had come too far; +the road north of the river is the best and one of the prettiest in +Wales. It would be worth our while to go back a mile and take this road. + +Thanking him, we retraced our way through the long main street of the +town and were soon away over one of the most perfect and beautiful of +Welsh highways. It runs in straight broad stretches between rows of +fine trees, past comfortable-looking farm houses, and through cozy +little hamlets nestling amid trees and shrubbery, and seems constantly +to increase in charm until it takes one into Llandovery, twenty-five +miles from Carmarthen and the center of one of the most picturesque +sections of Wales. + +Lying among wooded hills in a valley where two clear little rivers join +their waters, Llandovery--the church among the waters--is a village of +surpassing loveliness. The touch of antiquity so necessary to complete +the charm is in the merest fragment of its castle, a mouldering bit +of wall on a mound overlooking the rivers--dismantled "by Cromwell's +orders." Delightful as the town is, its surroundings are even more +romantic. The highest peaks of South Wales, the Beacon and the Black +Mountains, overlook it and in the recesses of these rugged hills are +many resorts for the fisherman and summer excursionist. From the +summits are vast panoramas of wooded hills and verdant valleys. The +view is so far-reaching that on a clear day one may see the ocean to +the south; or, far distant in the opposite direction, the snow-crowned +mountains of Northern Wales. + +The road from Llandovery to Brecon is as fine as that to Carmarthen, +though it is more sinuous and hilly. But it is perfectly surfaced and +climbs the hills in such long sweeping curves and easy uniform grades +that the steepest scarcely checks the flight of our car as it hastens +at a thirty-five mile gait to Brecon. It is growing late--we might +well wish for more time to admire the views from the hillside road. +The valleys are shrouded in the purple haze of twilight and the sky +is rich with sunset coloring. It has been a strenuous day for us--one +of our longest runs over much bad road. We note with satisfaction the +promise of a first-class hotel at Brecon, though we find it crowded +almost to our exclusion. But we are so weary that we vigorously +protest and a little shifting--with some complaint from the shifted +parties--makes room for us. We are told in awe-stricken whispers that +the congestion is partly due to the fact that Her Grace the Duchess of +B---- (wife of one of the richest peers in England) has arrived at the +hotel with her retinue, traveling in two motor cars. She was pointed +out to us in the morning as she walked along the promenade in very +short skirts, accompanied by her poodle. We heard of this duke often +in our journeyings, one old caretaker in a place owned by the nobleman +assuring us that his income was no less than a guinea a minute! The +duke owns many blocks of buildings in some of the busiest sections of +London. The land occupied by them came into possession of the family +through the marriage of the great-grandfather of the present holder of +the title with the daughter of a dairy farmer who owned much of the +quarter where London real estate is now of fabulous value--thus showing +that some of the English aristocracy rose to wealth by means quite as +plebeian as some of those across the water. Nowadays the penniless +duke would have crossed the Atlantic to recoup his fortune, instead of +turning to a rich dairyman's daughter in his own country. + +But in indulging in this more or less interesting gossip, I am +forgetting Brecon and the Castle Hotel, rightly named in this instance, +for the hotel owns the old castle; it stands in the private grounds +which lie between the hotel and the river and are beautified with +flowers and shrubbery. Brecon boasts of great antiquity and it was +here that Sir John Price made overtures to Henry VIII. which resulted +in the union of England and Wales. The priory church is one of the +largest and most important in Wales and is interesting in architecture +as well as historical association. We saw the plain old house where +the ever-charming Mrs. Siddons was born--a distinction of which Brecon +is justly proud. And Brecon is not without its legend of Charles the +Wanderer, who passed a day or two at the priory during one of his +hurried marches in Wales, and the letter he wrote here is the first +record we have of his despair of the success of the royal cause. + +My chapter is already too long--but what else might be expected of an +effort to crowd into a few pages the record of sights and impressions +that might well fill a volume? + + + + +VIII + +SOME NOOKS AND CORNERS + + +Early next day we were in Hereford, for it is but forty miles from +Brecon by the Wye Valley road. It had been just one week since we had +passed through the town preparatory to our tour of South Wales--a +rather wearisome journey of well upon a thousand miles over some of +the worst of Welsh roads. It was not strange, then, that we gladly +seized the opportunity for a short rest in Hereford. There is something +fascinating about the fine old cathedral town. It appeals to one as +a place of repose and quiet, though this may be apparent rather than +real, for we found the Green Dragon filled to the point of turning away +would-be guests. The town stands sedately in the midst of the broad, +level meadows which surround it on every side, and through its very +center meanders the Wye, the queenliest of British rivers, as though +loath to leave the confines of such a pleasant place. It is a modern +city, despite its ancient history, for its old-time landmarks have +largely disappeared and its crowded lanes have been superseded by broad +streets. Even the cathedral has a distressingly new appearance, due +to the recent restoration, and a public park occupies the site of the +vanished castle. But for all that, one likes Hereford. Its newness is +not the cheap veneer so frequently evident in the resort towns; it is +solid and genuine throughout and there are enough antique corners to +redeem it from monotony. To sum up our impressions, Hereford is a place +one would gladly visit again--and again. + +Jotted down on our map adjacent to the Tewkesbury road were blue +crosses, indicating several seldom-visited nooks and corners we had +learned of in our reading and which we determined to explore. No +recollection of our wanderings comes back to us rosier with romance +or more freighted with the spirit of rural England than that of our +meanderings through the leafy byways of Worcestershire in search of +Birtsmorton, Ripple, Stanton and Strensham. One will look long at the +map before he finds them and a deal of inquiry was necessary before we +reached Birtsmorton and its strange moated manor, Moreton Court. No +better idea could be given of the somnolence and utter retirement of +the little hamlet than the words of a local writer: + +"Birtsmorton is remarkable for the almost total absence of the usual +signs of trade and industry; even agriculture is prosecuted within such +limits as consist with leaving an ample portion of its surface in the +good feudal condition of extended sheep walks and open downs. Such +Birtsmorton has ever been, such it still is--but, thanks to projected +railroads, such we trust it will not always be." + +The projected railroad has not yet arrived and the lover of quietude +and of the truly rural will hope that it will still be long delayed. No +quainter old place did we find in our long quest for the quaint than +Moreton Court. Fancy a huge, rambling house, a mixture of brick and +half-timber, with a great gateway over which the ancient port-cullis +still shows its teeth, surrounded closely on all sides by the waters of +a very broad moat and connected with the outer world by a drawbridge. +Once inside the court, for you gain admission easily, you pause to +look at the strange assortment of gables, huge chimneys and mullioned +windows, all indicative of ancient state. Not less interesting is +the interior; one finds a staircase of solid black oak with a queer, +twisted newelpost, dark corridors leading to massive oaken doors, +chambers with ceilings intersected by heavy beams, and a state +apartment of surpassing beauty. This is a spacious room, paneled to +the ceiling with finely wrought dark oak, its mullioned oriel windows +overhanging the moat, which on this side widens to a lake. A marvelous +chimney-piece with the arms of the ancient owners attracts attention +and the scutcheons of a dozen forgotten noblemen are ranged as a frieze +around the walls. + +We will not seek to learn the history of the old house, but some of +its legends have a strange fascination. It is surely appropriate that +Moreton Court should have its ghost--the "lily maid" who on winter +nights kneels over the grave of her murdered lover in the adjoining +churchyard. Her stern father had driven her from his home because of +her constancy to her yeoman lover, whom he caused to be hung on the +false charge of stealing a cow. The next morning the cruel sire found +his daughter dead at his door, covered with the winter snow. But +there is another grim old legend far better authenticated, which had +its origin in a sad incident occurring at Moreton Court two or three +centuries ago, and a sermon is still annually preached in the church +against dueling. A pair of lovers were plighting their troth in the +manor gardens when an unsuccessful rival of the happy youth chanced +upon them and a quarrel ensued which led to a duel fatal to both of +the combatants. The heart-broken maiden ended her days in sorrow at +Moreton Court and left by will a fund to provide for this annual +sermon. Another weird story they tell of the great Wolsey, in his youth +chaplain to the lords of Moreton Court. A recalcitrant priest from +Little Malvern Priory was condemned to crawl on all fours from his +cell to the summit of Ragged-Stone Hill and in his rage cursed all upon +whom the shadow of the hill should afterwards fall. Wolsey was one day +reading in the manor grounds when to his horror he found that the fatal +shadow of the hill-crest enveloped him. + +But today, for all its history and legend, Moreton Court has +degenerated into an ill-kept tenement farmhouse and the banquet hall +with its richly moulded plaster roof is used as a storehouse for +cheese. The stagnant waters of the moat and the uncleanly dairy yard +directly in front of the house accord ill with its old-time state and +with our modern notions of sanitation. The church near at hand is older +and quite as unique as the manor; little restoration has interfered +with its antique charm. Its bench ends still show the Tudor Rose and +are undoubtedly those originally placed in the church. A "sanctuary +ring" in the door and an odd circular alms-chest are very unusual and +the altar tombs and screens are worthy of notice. In the church are +buried the ancient lords of Moreton Court, who sleep their long sleep +while church and manor degenerate into plebeian hands and gradually +fall into ruin. + +We found it practically impossible at the close of the day to trace on +the map the maze of byways we threaded before reaching Worcester, and +now our wanderings come back only as a general impression. We crossed +the Severn at Tewkesbury but did not enter the town. A departure +from the Worcester road into a narrow lane led us in a mile or two +into Ripple, one of the quaintest and coziest of hamlets. Only a few +thatched cottages clustered about the stone market cross of immemorial +days--cottages overshadowed by no less immemorial elms, mantled with +ivy and dashed with the color of rose vines. Near the cross, relics of +days when there were rogues in Ripple--surely there are none now--are +the oaken stocks and weather-beaten whipping-post. What a quiet, +dreamy, secluded place it seems. It is hard indeed to imagine that +within a circle of fifty miles is a country teeming with cities. If the +village has any history we did not learn it--no great man is connected +with Ripple as Tennyson with Somersby, though Ripple is not unlike +Somersby. Ripple is worth a day's journey just for itself. Only one +lane leads to the village, but we left it over a wide common, passing +many gates to regain the main road. + +[Illustration: TOWN CROSS, STOCKS AND WHIPPING POST, RIPPLE.] + +We left this again in a few miles for Strensham, a village not unlike +Ripple, though larger. Its church, our "object of interest," is +situated in the fields a mile from the town. No open road leads to +it, only a rough stone-strewn path through the fields. They told us, +though, that we might take the car to the church, and we passed +through several gates before we paused in the green meadow in front of +the old structure. There was no one in charge; the doors were locked +and it looked as if our pains in coming were all for nothing. A man +who was trimming the hedge pointed out the rectory and a little effort +brought forth the rector himself, who seemed much pleased that pilgrims +should be interested enough to come to his church. + +Surely Strensham Church is one of the quaintest of the smaller English +churches. The restorer's hand has not as yet marred its oddity--though +sorely needed, the rector said, to arrest too evident decay. The floor +is of uneven flagstones, interspersed here and there with remnants of +the original tiling. The high-backed oaken pews have been in place for +centuries, but, alas, have been covered by a coat of yellow "grained" +paint. + +"I had a man come from London to give me the cost of removing the +paint," said the rector, "but he said it would be sixty pounds--quite +out of the question when money is so much needed to prevent actual +decay." + +The rood loft, bearing a dozen painted panels of saints--as old, +perhaps, as the church, yet with colors rich and strong, is very +remarkable. Each face has a characteristic expression, in most cases +rather quaintly distorted, and each saint has some distinguishing +mark, as St. Anthony with his pig. There are several unusually fine +brasses, but the best of these had been torn from its original grave +before the altar a hundred years ago by an ambitious squire who desired +to occupy this place of honor himself. + +"But like the man in the scriptures who sought the head of the table +only to be humiliated, the usurper is likely to be removed," said the +rector, "and the fourteenth century brass replaced over the grave." + +The little church seems lonely and poverty-stricken, but the rectory +near at hand is a large, comfortable house surrounded by well-kept +gardens. Strensham village has a decided advantage over its lowly +neighbor, Ripple, for it is known to fame as the birthplace of Samuel +Butler, the author of "Hudibras." + +A charming road leads through Upton-on-Severn to Malvern Wells and +Great Malvern, but we had no leisure to contemplate its beauties; a +car was bent on passing us--to which we were much averse, for the +road was very dusty. We had only a glimpse of the Malverns, with +their endless array of hotels, lodging-houses and other resort-town +characteristics. The two towns are practically continuous and lie +beneath the Malvern Hills, whose slopes, diversified with stone-walled +fields, groves and farm villages, stretch away to the blue haze that +nearly always envelops the summits. Yet Malvern is not without a touch +of antiquity--no doubt the Romans had a station here and the splendid +priory church rivals some of the cathedrals in size and dignity. Only +scanty ruins remain of the domestic portions of the abbey, which, +with the great beautifully carved Gothic gateway, constitute all that +is left of the old order besides the church. A delightful feature of +the towns is the Common--when we saw it, fine stretches of greensward +with many noble trees. The Common was at one time a royal domain, +and Charles I. in his stresses for money undertook to sell the land +to raise funds, but such rioting ensued in Malvern that a compromise +was effected by surrendering two-thirds of the Chase, as the Common +was then called, to the people. Though the forests have been greatly +thinned by the ax, there still remains enough of sylvan beauty to give +to Malvern Common an indescribable charm, and so intersected is it +with sinuous roads that it was with difficulty we started aright for +Worcester. + +On our way to the cathedral city we passed the battlefield where the +momentous encounter took place between the forces of Cromwell and the +Royalists under Prince Charles--or, as his followers claimed, King +Charles II. through his Scotch coronation--which resulted in such +disaster to the royal arms. Cromwell called it his "crowning mercy," +and indeed it ended all organized efforts against the Commonwealth +while the Protector lived. Charles fled to Boscobel, as already +related, and after many adventures reached France to remain until +peacefully recalled after Oliver's death. + +Worcester is one of the fine old towns that tempt one to linger, no +matter how often he may come. Modern improvements have swept away many +of the relics of extreme antiquity; yet the Romans were certainly here, +and before them the early Britons had a fortified town on the site. +The streets are now lined with attractive shops and here is extensive +manufacturing--few indeed are the wayfarers who escape paying tribute +to "Royal Worcester" before they leave. Not a little of the charm +of the town is due to the Severn, lying broad, bright and still in +its very heart. We pause for tea--again the mild dissipation of the +Englishman attracts us--at the Star Hotel, and as we depart from the +city look lingeringly at the majestic yet graceful outlines of the +cathedral towers against the evening sky. + +[Illustration: A WORCESTERSHIRE COMMON + +From the Original Painting by B. W. Leader, R. A.] + +Coventry is but forty miles away. The King's Head comes to our minds, +though ever so faintly, as something like home, and we may reach it by +the grace of the long twilight. And what a flight it is--through the +most delightful section of rural England, tinged with the golden +glows and purple shades of a perfect summer evening. We sweep over the +broad road to Droitwich, and as soon as we can solve the mystery of +its tortuous streets, we enter the excellent though rather narrow and +winding highway that leads through Alcester to Shakespeare's Stratford. + +It had evidently been a gala day in the old town, for the streets +were thronged with people, mostly from the surrounding country, +though no doubt there was a goodly number of our fellow-countrymen +in the crowd, since it was now the height of the Stratford season. +Under the circumstances, the "eight-mile" limit notice posted on the +roads entering the town was quite superfluous; we could scarcely +have violated it--so it seemed, at least--had it been only a mile +an hour. Once away on the surpassing road to Coventry, the fifteen +miles occupied scarce half an hour, despite the checks at Warwick and +Kenilworth. Coventry was thronged with the happy "Week-End" holiday +crowd, through which we slowly made our way to the King's Head, where +we were now well known and received as warm a welcome as one may find +at an inn. + +Sunday, by odds the best day for getting about London or the larger +cities, is not so satisfactory for touring in the rural sections. +The roads are thronged with pedestrians, including many women and +children. Not a few of the women pushed perambulators and often showed +a strange perversity in crossing to the farther side of the road in +front of the car. Besides, a number of the places one may desire to +visit are closed on Sundays, though the tendency is constantly towards +more liberality in this particular. Yet there was nothing agreeable +in lounging about a hotel, and Sunday--afternoons, at least--usually +found us on the road. It was very quiet in Nuneaton, the rather ugly +town which George Eliot made famous as "Milby." The farmhouse where the +authoress was born and the old manor, her home for many years, were not +accessible. The throngs of Sunday wayfarers made progress slow, but we +reached Tamworth for late luncheon at the excellent Castle Hotel and +learned that the castle--the tower of Scott's "Marmion," would be open +during the afternoon. + +Tamworth Castle is now the property of the town corporation and the +grounds have been converted into a public park, which, judging from the +crowds that filled it on the fine afternoon, must be well appreciated. +The castle is situated on a high, apparently artificial mound. It has +been put in tolerable repair and is used as a museum. So well preserved +is it that one may gain a good idea of the domestic life of a feudal +nobleman of the fourteenth century--a life comfortless and rude, +judged by our present standards. There is much paneling and elaborate +wood-carving on the walls and mantels of many of the rooms, and one +may be quite lost in the devious passageways that lead to odd nooks +and quaint, irregular apartments. The view from the keep tower, with +its massive over-hanging battlements, was indeed a lovely one. The day +was perfectly clear, permitting a far-reaching outlook over the valley +of the Tame, a fertile country of meadow lands and yellowing harvest +fields, while westward in the distance the spires of Lichfield pierced +the silvery sky. + +There is, perchance, something a little incongruous in a restored and +well-cared-for old-time castle such as Tamworth. It can never appeal +to the imagination as does the shattered, neglected ruin crumbling +away beneath its mantle of ivy and flaunting its banners of purple and +yellow wall-flowers. But after all, the Tamworth idea is the right one +and insures the preservation of many historic buildings which otherwise +might gradually fall into complete decay. And yet one almost shudders +to think of Ludlow or Raglan under such conditions. + +We hastened over the broad road to Lichfield, and passing through its +irregular streets, with which we are now fairly familiar, followed the +river to Colwich, where we paused to admire the splendid Decorated +church which overshadows the quiet village. But few prettier and more +truly rural byroads did we find anywhere than the one running northward +from Colwich to Uttoxeter. On either side were flower-spangled +hedge-rows, or in places long ranks of over-arching trees. Though the +road was excellent, the trim neatness so characteristic of England was +quite wanting. The tangle of wild flowers, vines and shrubbery was +faintly suggestive of country roadsides in some of our Western states. + +Midway we came into full view of a lonely ruined castle standing on +the crest of a gently rising hill, and surrounded by a lawnlike meadow +running down to the road. The ragged towers and crumbling walls stood +gray and forbidding against a background of giant trees, and these were +sharply outlined against the bluest of English skies. We learn later +that it is Chartley Castle, which stands in a tract of ancient forest +and heath land, upon which roams a herd of wild white cattle similar +to those of Chillingham. Over Chartley broods the somber memory of its +one-time owner, the Earl of Ferrars, who in a fit of anger murdered a +steward and was hanged two centuries ago for the crime at Tyburn. It +was his whim to be dressed in his wedding garments and hanged with a +silken cord. He was stoic to the last and would say no more than he +expressed in the misanthropic lines: + + "In doubt I lived, in doubt I die, + Yet stand prepared the vast abyss to try, + And undismayed expect eternity." + +A grim old tale that fits well with the lonely fortress, standing in +unguarded ruin in the mysterious forest about it. + +[Illustration: RUINS OF CHARTLEY CASTLE, DERBYSHIRE.] + +But the day was waning and we hastened on to Uttoxeter, a town to +which Nathaniel Hawthorne made a pilgrimage nearly half a century ago, +attracted by the fact that it is the birthplace of Dr. Samuel Johnson. +He regretted that there was no memorial of the great author in his +native town, but this has since been supplied. An ugly fountain has +been erected on the traditional spot where Johnson did penance, as he +described in a letter to Miss Seward on his return from Uttoxeter: + +"Fifty years ago, madam, on the day, I committed a breach of filial +piety which has ever since lain heavy on my mind, and has not till +this day been expiated. My father ... had long been in the habit of +attending Uttoxeter market and opening a stall of his books during +that day. Confined to his bed by indisposition, he requested me, this +time fifty years, to visit the market in his place. But, madam, my +pride prevented me from doing my duty and I gave my father a refusal. +To do away the sin of disobedience, this day I went in a post-chaise +to Uttoxeter, and going into the market at the time of high business, +uncovered my head and stood with it bare an hour before the stall which +my father formerly used, exposed to the sneers of the standers-by and +the inclemency of the weather." + +The open road to Derby is broad, straight, smooth and level--what +a combination of excellences for the motorist!--and the car skims +joyously along. There are many fine estates on either hand with wide +forest-dotted parks and imposing gateways. Derby is a large, rather +unattractive town and we do not care to linger. Mansfield appeals more +strongly to us, for Mansfield is the center of the Byron country. +The road is not a pleasing one, passing through towns crowded with +workingmen's cottages and climbing steep, stony hills. At dusk we come +into Mansfield and find it a larger town than we had fancied--a rather +modern city built around an ancient center, in the very heart of which +stands the old many-gabled Swan Inn. + + + + +IX + +THE BYRON COUNTRY + + +The exterior of the Swan Inn, its weather-beaten gables crowded +between rather shabby-looking buildings on either side, is not wholly +prepossessing. We hesitate to enter the courtyard, though it is quite +late, until a policeman assures us there is nothing better in the +town--or in the country about, for that matter. Had we needed further +assurance, we might have glanced at our trusty Baedeker to find the +Swan honored with special mention as "an excellent, long-established +house with winding oak stairs three hundred years old." Once inside +our misgivings vanish instantly amidst the air of cleanliness, solid +comfort and pleasant antiquity that prevails. We have a large room, +almost oppressive in its wealth of mahogany, and, dimly lighted by +candles in ancient candlesticks, it seems pervaded with an air of +ghostly mystery. There are tall-posted, canopied beds of marvelous +state, mysterious oaken chests heavily carved, antique chairs, quaint +old settees, and many curious things wrought in brass and copper. + +Altogether, few other of the country inns had quite the charm of the +Swan, and very agreeable did we find the ladies who managed it. We told +them of our previous futile attempts to see Newstead Abbey and they +were certain that the coveted privilege would be secured for us on the +following day--it had never been refused to guests of the Swan at the +request of the manageress. She would write at once and would doubtless +have an answer in the morning. It need hardly be said that we were glad +to stay another day at the Swan and in the meanwhile visit some of the +curious and delightful spots in which Derbyshire abounds. No section +of England is more famed than the "Peak District," with Haddon Hall, +Chatsworth, Bakewell Church, Buxton and Dovedale; and though almost +unknown to tourists, the great moorlands which stretch away to the +north we found none the less interesting. + +Chesterfield Church is famous for its distorted spire, strangely +twisted and leaning several degrees from the vertical. Some say it was +due to a whim of the designer, but local legend prefers to ascribe it +to the malice of His Satanic Majesty, who chose such queer ways of +venting his spite on the churches of olden time. If he indeed twisted +Chesterfield's spire, it was at least a far more obvious evidence +of his ill will toward churches than the scratch of his claw still +shown on the bell of St. Mary's at Shrewsbury. But the troublesome +antiquarians, who have such a way of discrediting the painstaking +and very satisfactory work of the legend-makers, would have us believe +that the oaken timbers of the spire warped while seasoning under +their coverings of lead. Be that as it may, Chesterfield Church is +worthy a few minutes' pause on account of its remarkable tombs and +unusual screen mysteriously carved with emblems of the crucifixion. +Less imposing is Trinity Church, though the white marble tablet on its +walls with the simple inscription, "George Stephenson, died August 12, +1848, aged 68 years," will have a fascination for the wayfarer from the +remotest part of the earth, wherever the steam railroad has penetrated. +The great inventor spent his declining years in retirement on a farm +about a mile from Chesterfield, and his house still stands, partly +hidden from the road by ancient trees. + +[Illustration: CHESTERFIELD CHURCH.] + +We had no desire to visit Chatsworth House a second time, though we +followed the much frequented road through the park. No section of +rural England, possibly excepting the Stratford-upon-Avon country is +more favored by tourists; motors, carriages and chars-a-bancs were +everywhere in evidence and stirred up clouds of limestone dust, which +whitened the trees and hedges and filled the sky with a silvery haze. +The number of English visitors is greater than at Stratford, and +the more intelligent Englishman who has not visited Chatsworth is +rather the exception. A thousand visitors a day is not uncommon; yet +Chatsworth House is thrown open free to all every week day--surely an +example of princely generosity on the part of the Duke of Devonshire. + +Few who visit Chatsworth will omit Haddon Hall, and while a single +visit to the modern palace may suffice, a hundred to Haddon, it seemed +to us, would leave one still unsatisfied. Who could ever weary of the +indescribable beauty of the ancient house or cease to delight in its +atmosphere of romantic story? Nowhere in England is there another place +that speaks so eloquently of the past or which brings so near to our +prosaic present day the life, manners and environment of the English +nobleman of three or four centuries ago. No sight in England is more +enchanting than the straggling walls and widely scattered towers of +Haddon, standing in gray outline against the green of its sheltering +hill--the point of view chosen by the painter of our picture. Yet, with +all its battlements and watch-towers, Haddon was never a fortified +castle--a circumstance to which we owe its perfect preservation. +The wars of the Roses and the Commonwealth left it scathless; it +was an actual residence until 1730, since which time every care has +been exercised to maintain it in repair. We will not rehearse the +well-known legends of the place, nor will we give ear for an instant +to the insinuation that the romance of the fair Dorothy was fabricated +less than a hundred years ago. What tinge of romance will be left to +this prosaic world if these busybody iconoclasts are given heed? They +cannot deny that Dorothy married John Manners, Duke of Rutland, anyway, +for it was through this union that Haddon Hall passed to its present +owners. + +[Illustration: HADDON HALL FROM THE RIVER. + +From the Original Water Color by C. F. Allbon.] + +After a long, loving look at her ancestral home, we turn away and +follow the dusty road to Bakewell, where we stand before her tomb in +the fine old church. Here in effigy she kneels facing her husband +and below are the indescribably quaint figures of her four children. +The caretaker, who is loudly lecturing a group of trippers, catches +a glimpse of us as we enter and his practical eye differentiates +instantly the American tourist. He hastens to us and begs us to wait +a little--the party is large--he will soon give us his personal +attention. The trippers are hurried along and dismissed with scant +ceremony and we are shown about in detail that encroaches upon our +time. Still, there are many things of genuine interest and antiquity in +Bakewell Church and the dissertations of our guide concerning them is +worth the half crown we bestow upon him. + +Outside, we pause to contemplate the grand old structure. Its massive +walls terminate in castellated battlements and its splendid spire, a +miniature of Salisbury, in slender yet graceful proportions, rises to +a height of two hundred feet. All around is the spacious churchyard, +thickly set with monumental stones, and upon one of these we noted the +quaintest of the many quaint old English epitaphs we read. Happy indeed +the parish clerk immortalized in the following couplets: + + "The vocal Powers let us mark + Of Philip our late Parish Clerk + In Church none ever heard a Layman + With clearer Voice say Amen! + Who now with Hallelujas Sound + Like Him can make the Roofs rebound. + The Choir lament his Choral tones + The Town--so soon Here lie his bones + Sleep undisturbed within thy peaceful shrine, + Till Angels wake thee with such notes as thine." + +From Bakewell we followed one of the many Wyes to Buxton--a road +scarcely equalled for beauty in the Peak District. What a contrast +its wayside trees and flowers and pleasant farm cottages presented to +the stony moorland road we pursued northward from Buxton! We lingered +at the latter place only enough to note the salient features of the +popular watering-place of the Peak. It is situated in a verdant valley, +but the moorland hills, bleak and barren, nearly surround it. Only +three miles distant is Dovedale, famed as the loveliest and most +picturesque of the many English "Dales." + +I have no words cheerless enough to tell our impressions of the great +Midland Moor, through whose very heart our way led to the northward. A +stony road through a gray, stony country with a stone hovel here and +there, tells something of the story. We pass bleak little towns, climb +many steep, winding hills, speed swiftly along the uplands, leaving a +long trail of white dust-clouds in our wake--until we are surprised +by Glossop, a good-sized city in the midst of the moor. It has large +papermills, substantially built of stone, an industry made possible +by the pure waters of the moor. The streets are paved with rough +cobble-stones and the town has altogether a cheerless, unattractive +look, but interesting as quite a new phase of England. In all our +journeyings throughout the Kingdom we found no section more utterly +bleak and dreary than that through which we passed from Buxton to +Glossop. We could but imagine what aspect a country that so impressed +us on a fine day in June time must present in the dull, gray English +winter. How the unimpeded winds must sweep the brown moorlands! How +their icy blasts must search out every crevice in the lone cottages and +penetrate the cheerless-looking hovels in the villages! A small native +of whom we asked his recollection of winter shook his head sadly and +said, "Awfully cold"; and a local proverb referring to the section has +it that "Kinderscout is the cowdest place aout." + +The Sheffield road follows the hills, which towered high above us at +times or again dropped almost sheer away below to a black, tumbling +stream. In one place, beneath an almost mountainous hill, we had an +adventure which startled us more than any other occurrence of our tour. +From the summit of a hill hundreds of feet above us, some miscreant +loosened a huge boulder, which plunged down the declivity seemingly +straight at us, but by good fortune missed our car by a few yards. The +perpetrator of the atrocity immediately disappeared and there was no +chance of tracing him. Happily, we had no similar outrage to record of +all our twelve thousand miles in Britain, and we pass the act as that +of a criminal or lunatic. This road was built about the beginning of +the nineteenth century and a competent authority expresses doubt if +there is a finer, better-engineered road in England than that between +Glossop and Ashopton, a village about half way to Sheffield, and adds, +"or one where houses are so rare--or the sight of an inn rouses such +pleasureable anticipation," though one of these, "The Snake," must have +other attractions than its name. It is indeed a fine road, though by no +means unmatched by many others--the Manchester road to the northwest +fully equals it, and following as it does the series of fine reservoirs +lying in the valleys, is superior in scenery. + +We took a short cut through Sheffield, the city of knives, razors and +silver plate, caught a second glimpse of Chesterfield's reeling spire, +and swept over the hills into Mansfield just as the long twilight was +fading into night. + +The next morning our hostess of The Swan placed in our hands the +much-sought-for pass to Newstead Abbey, and to while the time until +the hour set for admittance, we went by the way of Hucknall, to visit +Byron's grave in the church whose square-topped tower dominates the +town. Recent restoration gives an air of newness, for Hucknall Church, +when Byron's remains were laid before its altar, was little better than +a ruin. The old man working over the graves in the churchyard knew +full well our mission and leaving his task accosted us in unmistakable +Irish brogue. He led us directly to the poet's tomb, and it was with +deep feeling not unmixed with awe that we advanced toward the high +altar of Hucknall Church and stood silent and uncovered before the +grave of Byron. On the wall over the tomb were graven two of those +passages whose lofty sentiments glitter like gems--though betimes in +inharmonious setting--throughout the poet's writings, which breathe +the high hopes he felt in his better moments. Well may the tablet over +his last resting-place bear the inspired lines: + + "If that high world, which lies beyond + Our own, surviving Love endears; + If there the cherish'd heart be fond, + The eye the same, except in tears-- + How welcome those untrodden spheres! + How sweet this very hour to die! + To soar from earth and find all fears + Lost in thy light--Eternity!" + + "It must be so; 'tis not for self + That we so tremble on the brink; + And, striving to o'erleap the gulf, + Yet cling to Being's severing link. + Oh! in that future let us think + To hold each heart the heart that shares; + With them the immortal waters drink, + And soul in soul grow deathless theirs!" + +The second quotation is from "Childe Harold," more positive in its +tone, though less scintillating in its verbiage. In the wall near +by, the gift of a Scotch admirer, is a marble profile medallion of +the poet's face, with Shelley's characterization, "The Pilgrim of +Eternity." In the adjoining vestry the walls are covered with the +graven words of many of the greatest men of the century--tributes to +the genius of Byron. Verily the church at Hucknall has become as a +mausoleum to one denied burial in the nation's Valhalla, and who was, +in truth, almost grudged sepulture in his native soil by a large number +of the Englishmen of his day. And there came to us a faint conception +of the intense bitterness of the times--when the body of England's +greatest genius, dead in a forlorn but glorious cause, was brought +to his native land to be greeted with a storm of hatred and a fierce +protest against interment in Westminster Abbey. With little ceremony he +was laid away in the church of Hucknall and pilgrims now come daily to +that otherwise uninteresting and rather ugly town to do honor to the +memory of Byron--certainly one of the brightest and most fascinating, +if not the greatest, of English poets. + +For me there was none other of the historic places which we visited +more deeply tinged by its romantic associations or possessing a greater +fascination than Newstead Abbey. Perhaps this feeling was intensified +by our previous unsuccessful attempts to gain admission and by the +recollection of the passion of my boyhood days for the verse of +Byron--though indeed I have hardly read him latterly. But we were to +visit Newstead at last. If we found a little difficulty--possibly the +result of our ignorance--in getting permission, we could not complain +of the opportunities afforded us as visitors. + +From the Mansfield road we entered the gateway and drove through the +stretches of forest and meadow in the great park, halting the car at +the very doorway of the ancient place. We paused to view the fine +facade, with its square battlemented tower at one end and the ruins +of the abbey church at the other. There is little left of this latter +save the east wall, once pierced by three great windows, two of which +have at some time been filled in. We were conducted by the rather +aristocratic housekeeper to every part of the house save the private +apartments of the family, and there was no effort to hurry us along--so +often the fate of the tourist in such cases. + +One who is accustomed to think of Newstead Abbey as it lives, lonely +and half ruinous, in the verse of Byron, who had such an intense +affection for the home of his ancestors; or even one who reads +Washington Irving's interesting account of his visit to the place when +owned by Col. Wildman a few years later, is hardly prepared for the +modern palace into which the abbey has been transformed. The paneled +halls, with their rich furnishings and rare curios from all parts +of the world, and the trim, beautifully kept gardens that greet one +everywhere from the windows, have little in common with the Newstead of +which Byron wrote in "Hours of Idleness:" + + "Through thy battlements, Newstead, the hollow winds whistle, + Thou, the hall of my fathers, art gone to decay; + In thy once smiling garden, the hemlock and thistle + Have choked up the rose which once bloomed in the way." + +Still, much is unaltered and there are many relics to bring memories of +the one-time noble, though unfortunate, owner, whose recklessness quite +as much as his necessities compelled the sale of his ancestral estate. + +[Illustration: NEWSTEAD ABBEY.] + +Of greatest interest are the apartments which Byron himself occupied, +a suite of three medium-sized rooms, which have been religiously kept +through all the years just as the poet left them. The simple blue +and white toilet set was his own, the bed the one he slept in, and +many other articles and furnishings vividly recall the noble occupant +who never returned after the sale of the abbey. Probably no one has +occupied the rooms since Washington Irving slept there during the visit +we have referred to and was roused in the middle of the night by a +ghostly footfall in the hall--but found only Boatswain II. outside the +door. + +In the hall the marks of the pistol shots of the young lord and his +wild companions have not been effaced from the walls and in the +gallery there is a collection of many mementos of the poet. Perhaps +the most interesting is a section of the tree upon which he carved his +name and that of his sister, Augusta--cut down because it was decaying. +The gallery is largely filled with portraits of the present family, +but our interest centers in the famous portrait by Phillips, in which +the refined features and dignified though slightly melancholy air has +invested the poet's face with a spirituality which it probably did not +possess in so great a degree. + +From the house we were ushered into the gardens and were shown every +nook and corner of these by the gardener in charge. They were elaborate +indeed; rich with the color and perfume of the flowers which bloom +so profusely in England; and there were many rare plants and shrubs. +We were interested in Boatswain's grave, with its elaborate monument +and inscription in which pathos verges on the ridiculous, yet highly +consistent with the misanthropic moods so often affected by Byron. In +contrast with the trim neatness of the flower beds and shrubbery is the +fragment of the abbey church, through which the wind whistles as it did +in the poet's day, and which has weathered the sun and rain of more +than three hundred years since the heavy hand of the eighth Henry smote +it into ruins. And it carries us back four hundred years farther to +another Henry, who built the abbey to expiate his crime of instigating +the murder of Thomas a'Becket. + +The history of Newstead told in brief by Irving need not occupy space +in this hasty chronicle. It was with reluctance that we departed after +our two hours' sojourn. It often comes back in memory with all the +color and glory of a perfect June day--the majestic hall, the abbey +ruin, the gardens with their riot of coloring, the shining lake, the +woodland and the meadows--an enchanted world which we left behind us as +we hastened away over the road to Mansfield, where we had late luncheon +at the Swan. + +One will not leave the vicinity of Mansfield without a visit to +Hardwick Hall and Bolsover Castle, famous for their connection +with Elizabeth Spencer, "Bess of Hardwick." Architecturally, both +are disappointing; Hardwick, bald, harsh and square, like a modern +concrete factory, and Bolsover, an incongruous pile cut up into small, +ill-arranged apartments, by far the finest part of it in complete +ruin. Hardwick is still a residence of the Duke of Devonshire and +had just passed on the death of Spencer Cavendish to his nephew, +who was refurnishing the house preparatory to making it his home. A +bare, unhomelike place it seemed, with its great staring windows, its +uneven concrete floors, and its high ceilings of decorated plaster, +broken and discolored in many places. Its chief historical interest +centers in the fact that it was one of the many prison-houses of Mary +Stuart; but her imprisonment here was far from rigorous--in fact, so +considerate was the Earl of Shrewsbury of his royal ward that it roused +the jealousy of his amiable spouse, the energetic Bess. Concerning +this incident Miss Strickland--a rather biased historian, we must +fear--takes the countess to task in vigorous style, declaring that-- + +"His proud and cruel wife, whose temper could not be restrained by any +power on earth or in heaven, soon became jealous of the lovely and +fascinating prisoner, and led her husband, a noble of exemplary gravity +and a grandsire, a terrible life!" + +However, as in nearly every case of the kind, there appears to have +been another side to it, and in any event, there were many who took +the part of the jealous wife, including, as might be expected, Queen +Elizabeth herself. + +The countess, besides Hardwick Hall, built the former house at +Chatsworth, which has since been torn down. Bolsover was completed by +her son; it is now unoccupied but maintained in good repair. It is +worth a visit rather for the fine view from its towers--for it occupies +a most magnificent site on a high promontory overlooking the wide vale +of the river--than for any interest the castle itself possesses. + +The sun had sunk low when we came down from the castle walls and +started for York, sixty miles away. At Worksop we were clear of the +byways and the open road, invitingly smooth and level and almost free +from traffic, stretched out before us. This chronicle is no record of +miles per hour, and the motor enters into it only as a means to an end; +yet there is no harm in saying that we had few swifter, evener flights +through a more charming country than that which fleeted past us between +Worksop and York. We soon caught sight of Doncaster's dominating church +tower, a fit mate for many of the cathedrals, but in our haste out of +the town we missed the North Road and were soon noting the milestones +to Tadcaster, famous for little else than its ales. The North Road is a +trifle better in surface and a little more direct, but we had traversed +it before and did not regret the opportunity of seeing a different +country. The minster towers soon loomed dim in the purple light and we +felt a sense of almost homelike restfulness when we were established +at the Station Hotel--to our notion one of the two or three most +comfortable in England. + + + + +X + +FROM YORKSHIRE COAST TO BARNARD CASTLE + + +The Minster of St. John of Beverley is easily the finest single example +of Perpendicular architecture in England; in beauty and majesty +of design, in proportion and in general effect--from almost any +viewpoint--there is no more pleasing church in the Kingdom. We come in +sight of its graceful twin towers while yet afar from the town, after a +thirty-mile run from York through some of the most prosperous farming +country in the shire. As we come nearer, the mass of red tiles, from +which rises the noble bulk of the minster, resolves itself into the +houses of the old town, whose ancient heart has lost none of its charm +in the little city which has more recently grown up around it. + +As we emerge from a narrow street bordered with mean little houses, +the great church suddenly bursts on our view and we pause to admire +its vast yet perfect proportions, its rich carvings, and the multitude +of graceful pinnacles. We enter, but the caretaker receives us with +little enthusiasm, though at our request he shows us about in a rather +reserved manner. A card on the wall explains matters: "Positively no +fees to attendants." Our experience has been that such a notice means +cash in advance if you are to have the attention you want and which +you really need if you are to see and appreciate such a church. We +proceed, therefore, to get on a proper footing with our guide, and +begin forthwith to learn the history, the architecture, the curiosities +and the gossip of Beverley Minster. And the last is not the least +interesting, for here, as at Wymondham, was a rector who with the +modest salary of four hundred pounds a year had spent many thousands of +his own money in restoration and repair of the minster. He had restored +the intricate screen and replaced some of the images which had been +broken up, yet so cleverly was the toning and coloring done that the +newer work could not be distinguished from the old. + +The St. John from whom the minster took its name was Archbishop of +York and founded a church on the present site in the sixth century. +He died in 731 and, tradition says, is buried in the minster. But +Beverley's most distinguishing historic fact is that it was one of the +three "sanctuaries of refuge" in England. Here, by the strange edict +of the early church, any criminal who could evade his pursuers might +take refuge in the precincts of Beverley Minster and for thirty days be +entitled to the protection and hospitality of the monks, after which +he was given a passport to sail from the nearest port to some foreign +land. We saw the rude stone chair of "refuge" to which no doubt many +a gasping scoundrel clung, safe, for the time, from justice by virtue +of his ability to outrun his pursuers. One incident is recorded of a +"Tailour of York" who had cruelly murdered his wife but who escaped +punishment by taking refuge in Beverley. The only penalty inflicted was +to brand the criminal on the thumb with a hot iron and to watch him +closely until he sailed for France. However, all this was better than +being hanged, the penalty freely administered by the civil authorities +in those days, and as a consequence Beverley always had a large number +of "undesirable citizens" within her borders. + +There is much else of interest in the minster, though we may not linger +over its attractions save to mention the Percy tomb, reputed the finest +in Europe--and indeed, its rare marbles and delicate sculptures must +represent a princely fortune. Nor could we have more than a passing +glimpse of St. Mary's Church, second only to the minster in importance, +for Beverley is the only town in England of anywhere near its size that +has the distinction of possessing two churches of really the first +magnitude. + +Following the road from Beverley to the coast by Great Driffield and +Bridlington, we had a glimpse near the latter place of the high cliff +of Flamborough Head, from which the startled Yorkshiremen of a century +or more ago saw the "pirate," John Paul Jones, win his ever memorable +victory over the Serapis. It is not a subject even to this day which +the natives can discuss with entire equanimity. + +The road closely follows the coast to Scarborough, the queen of +Yorkshire watering-places. We caught frequent glimpses of the ocean, +which, once out of the shadows of the towering cliffs, stretched +away until its deep--almost metallic--blue faded against the silvery +horizon. We soon found ourselves on the handsome main street of the new +town, which brought us to the waterfront at the foot of castle hill. An +old man approached us, seeing our hesitation, and informed us that the +new road around the promontory, one of the finest drives in England, +was open--not officially open, to be sure, and it would not be until +some of the "Nobs" came and the ceremonies of a formal dedication were +performed. The road had been cut in the almost sheer side of the cliff, +a broad driveway overlooking the varied scenery of coast and ocean--the +latter now as mild and softly shimmering as a quiet inland lake. One +could only imagine, on such a day, how the sea must rage and thunder +against the promontory in wild weather, and we learned that storms +interfered much with the building of the road, one of them causing +damage estimated at fifty thousand pounds. But Scarborough persevered +and the splendid driveway had just been completed. Later we had the +satisfaction of learning from the newspapers that the Princess of Wales +had visited Scarborough for the express purpose of formally dedicating +the road with all the ceremony so dear to the English. + +Scarborough is unique in its combination of the old and the modern; +but few of its rivals can boast of a castle with a history reaching +back to the wars with the Danish invaders. Brighton and Eastbourne, +sometimes ranked with Scarborough, are quite recent and lack the +distinction that comes of centuries. Scarborough Castle, perched on +its mighty rock, still presents a formidable appearance and impresses +one with the tremendous strength its situation and heavy walls gave it +before gunpowder brought such things to naught. From the keep tower a +far-reaching prospect lies beneath us; a panorama of the sea chafing +on the broken coast, and to the landward are the barren moors that +encircle the town. There is not much of the fortress left, but the +fragments are carefully guarded from decay and in places have been +somewhat restored. There is a museum near the entrance to the keep, +with a miscellaneous collection of relics, more or less gruesome, +unearthed about the town and castle. + +Few indeed are the places which bring back more delightful memories or +a greater longing to return than Whitby--old, straggling, storm-beaten +Whitby--climbing up its steep hill crowned by one of the most unique +churches and stateliest abbey ruins in all Britain. The road which +takes us from Scarborough to its ancient rival is a wild one, wandering +around the black, heather-splotched hills with trying grades which +make careful driving necessary. To the right the ocean still shimmers +in the setting sun and in nooks on the coast we catch glimpses of +fishing villages--among them Robin Hood's Bay, called by some the most +picturesque of the smaller fishing-towns in England. Long before we +come into Whitby we catch sight of the skeleton of the abbey on the +headland, standing almost weirdly against the evening sky. We descend +a long, winding hill and find ourselves threading our way through +crooked, narrow streets thronged with people who get out of the way +only when they have to. Passing between rows of old houses crowding +closely on either hand, we cross the bridge over the inlet and ascend +the sharp hill where the hotels face the town and abbey on the opposite +cliff. Thither we wend our way after dinner, just as the daylight +begins to fade, and passing through the devious streets thronged with +fisher folk and dirty youngsters, we ascend the ninety-nine broad stone +steps by which one reaches the headland. + +The ruin is deserted and we find ourselves sole possessors of Whitby +Abbey at an hour when the twilight softens the outlines and touches +with gray and purple hues the old town at our feet and the rough +moorland hills in the background, while the wide expanse of ocean +glows mysteriously from the reflection of the dim-lit skies. The +ruin rises abruptly from the soft greensward upon which the cows are +contentedly grazing, and near at hand, gleaming darkly in the fading +light, lies the fish pool, which lends much to the picturesqueness of +the surroundings. The great church has fallen into complete ruin; decay +is riot everywhere. Only half a century ago the central tower crashed +to the earth, carrying many arches and pillars with it, and huge +fragments of masonry still lie scattered about as if fallen from some +thunder-riven cliff. + +Whitby Abbey is rich in legend, and at such an hour we will trouble +ourselves little about sober fact--let mystery wrap the ruin even as +the mantle of gathering darkness; for us it shall be only the "High +Whitby's cloistered pile" of romance. We pass outside the abbey +confines and pause before St. Mary's Church, a long squat building with +low tower, as bald and plain as the abbey is pretentious and ornate. +It was built as a rival to the abbey church in a very early day when +there were bickerings between the townspeople and the monks of Whitby. +In the churchyard, thick with mouldering memorials, has lately been +raised a Saxon cross, inscribed to the memory of Caedmon, Father of +English Letters, who "fell asleep hard by A. D. 680." + +[Illustration: WHITBY ABBEY AND CROSS.] + +As we return to our hotel, we are attracted into one of the old-town +shops by a display of old brass and silver, and the genial proprietor +at once establishes a basis of community, for has he not been in the +States and has he not a brother there now? We pick up an antique +lantern with dingy horn doors and green with verdigris and try the +stale joke, "Made in Birmingham," which once or twice has brought a +storm of indignant protest on our heads. But it does not so excite our +Yorkshire friend. + +"Yes," he said, "I had a dozen copies made of a very rare piece that +came into my hands. And that accounts for the price--genuine antiques +are so rare and so sought for that the original would cost you many +times the copy--and after all, you would be no better off when you had +it." + +We cannot resist such confidence and add further to our burden of +oddities such as one gathers, willy nilly, in a tour of the nooks +and corns. Whitby shops are full of jet ornaments--brooches, beads, +bracelets, and a thousand and one fanciful things--for jet is mined +near the town,--a smooth lustrous substance whose name has come to +signify the final degree of blackness. + +On the following day we again wander about the old-world streets of +the town, which we find ourselves loath to leave. The morning's catch +is just in at the fish-market and the finny tribes of all degrees +are sorted on the pavement and sold to the townspeople. The fishing +industry of Whitby is now on a small scale only; in former days it +constituted a source of some wealth. The ballad writer celebrating +Robin Hood's visit to Whitby gives this very good reason: + + "The fishermen more money have + Than any merchants two or three." + +And thus the sturdy highwayman found it easy to replenish his exchequer +from the fat purses of Whitby folk. It may be, though, that the +isolated situation of the town between the wild moors and the sea, and +its good harbor for small vessels, made the occupation of smuggling +especially profitable, and the wealth of the old-time citizens of +Whitby may have been augmented by this practice. + +[Illustration: IN OLD WHITBY. + +From Original Painting by R. E. Morrison, Royal Cambrian Academy, 1908.] + +Our route out of the town led through the Cleveland Hills, the roughest +and loneliest of the Yorkshire moors. We climbed many steep, rugged +hills and dropped down sharp, dangerous slopes; one will hardly +find elsewhere in England a country scored more deeply by narrow +valleys. There is little of life on the twenty-five miles of road to +Guisborough, where one comes out of the moor into the wide valley +of the Tees. Guisborough is a bleak little town whose beautiful +surroundings have been marred by the mines. Of its ancient priory, +there remains only the magnificent eastern wall, pierced nearly to the +top by tall lancet windows from which the stone tracery has long since +vanished. It stands in a wide meadow, half hidden by giant trees. As we +glided along the highroad we caught glimpses of the wall, rising from a +stretch of velvety lawn, but there was not enough of the ruin to make a +nearer inspection worth while. + +From Guisborough our road ran through a level, fertile farming country. +We missed Middlesbrough, a manufacturing city of one hundred thousand, +whose array of factory chimneys loomed up thickly across the fields, +and soon came into Stockton-on-Tees, about half the size of its +neighbor. It lies directly on the river, here a black, turbid stream, +sullied by the factories that crowd its banks. We hesitated entering +the Black Lion--it had an uncanny look that made us distrust even the +infallible Baedeker. No one except the busy barmaids was to be seen. A +few glances about the place confirmed our suspicions and we "silently +stole away." + +What a contrast to the Black Lion we found in its next-door neighbor, +the Vane Arms, a fine type of the hospitable old-time English inn. +Its massive, richly carved furniture would delight the heart of the +connoisseur and is the pride of the stately landlady, who sat at the +head of the table and treated us as though we were guests in more +than the perfunctory hotel parlance. In the desert of daily hotel +life one does not easily forget such an oasis as the Vane Arms. It is +the only thing I can think of that might make one wish to linger in +Stockton-on-Tees. + +The road to Darlington is excellent, though sinuous, and we found in +that bustling city little evidence of the antiquity vouched for by its +twelfth century church. It is now a railway center and has been since +the first passenger train in England ran over the Darlington & Stockton +Railway in 1825. In going to Barnard Castle we proceeded by the way +of Staindrop, though the direct road by the Tees is the best. But the +route we chose passes Raby Castle, which burst on our view shortly +before we reached Staindrop,--a huge gray pile, half fortress, half +palace, with many square battlemented towers and crenelated turrets, +all combining to fulfill the very ideal of the magnificence of feudal +days. + +Permission to visit the castle was easily gained from the estate agent +at Staindrop. It would be hard to imagine anything more imposing than +Raby Castle as we saw it on that perfect July day, its vast bulk massed +against the green background of the wooded hills, and in front of it +a fine lawn, with many giant elms, stretching down to the road; but +does not our picture tell more than any words? We noted that few of the +great private parks which we had visited were so beautifully kept or +had so much to please and attract; the great trees, the lawnlike sward, +the little blue lakes, the herds of tawny deer--all combined to form a +setting fit for one of the proudest and best preserved of the ancient +homes of England. + +The castle dates from the thirteenth century. By fortunate chance +it escaped the ravages of war, and having been continuously +occupied--indeed, there is a legend that its hearth-fire has never died +out in five hundred years--it is one of the most perfect examples of +its type in England. The exterior has not been greatly altered, but +inside it has been much modernized and transformed into a palatial and +richly furnished residence. In the library is a collection of costly +books; the gallery has many rare portraits and pictures; and scattered +about the different apartments are many valuable objects of art, among +these the famous marble, "The Greek Slave," by Powers, the American +sculptor. + +Least altered of all is the medieval kitchen, which occupies the base +of a large tower and is one of the most interesting features of the +castle. Its immense size serves to impress upon one the proportions +of feudal hospitality--that the lord of the castle must look above +everything else to the good cheer of his guests. But there is a touch +of modernism here, too, in the iron ranges which have superseded the +great fireplace--perhaps thirty feet in width--of former times. + +[Illustration: RABY CASTLE.] + +Raby cannot greatly boast of historic events, yet it is interesting +to know that it was once the home of the younger Sir Henry Vane, who +was governor of the colony of Massachusetts Bay in 1636. It was built +by the Nevilles in 1370, but passed to other hands two hundred years +later, when that family took part in the Catholic uprising in the +north. But after all, Raby is far more interesting as a survival of the +"days of roselight and romance" than would be the story of the tenure +of this or that forgotten lord or earl. + +Barnard Castle takes its name from the ancient fortress whose scanty +ruin still looms over the town. It stands on a cliff which drops +from the castle wall almost sheer to the shallow Tees beneath. One +thinks first of Dickens' association with the town and naturally +enough hastens to the King's Head, where the novelist's room is still +shown. Master Humphrey's clock, which adorned a building just +opposite the hotel, has disappeared--purchased by an American, a native +told us with a shade of indignation in his voice--but the town itself +is little different from the one Dickens knew. He gained here much +material for "Nicholas Nickleby," though at Bowes, high on the moor to +the westward, is supposed to have been the original of Dotheboys Hall. + +The King's Head we found a comfortable, well-managed, old-time inn, an +excellent headquarters for excursions to the many interesting points +of the vicinity. We reached here early in the afternoon, affording +us time for a fifteen-mile jaunt up the Tees Valley to the High +Force--they call a waterfall the "force" in Yorkshire--the largest +cataract in England, we were told. It is situated in a lovely dell, +and while the flood of white water pouring over the jagged cliff into +the brown boiling lake below is pretty and striking, it has nothing +awe inspiring or majestic about it. True, at the time, the Tees was at +lowest ebb; a long drouth had reduced it to a fourth its normal volume +and of course we did not see the High Force at its best. Every spot of +interest in the Kingdom has its inn and it was in the farmyard of the +High Force Hotel that we left the car. On returning from the falls, a +deflated tire prolonged our stay, encouraging acquaintance with the +hotel people. The landlord, who out of the hotel season was apparently +a farmer, became friendly and communicative, especially desiring us +to deliver a message to his son, whom he seemed to think we might +easily locate in America. Then he led us into the hotel, where a framed +page from his visitors' book showed that the Princess Ena--now Queen +Victoria of Spain--and members of her suite had been guests at the High +Force Hotel. The two great events in the old man's life seemed to be +the success that he considered his son was making in the States and +the royal visit to his inn. I do not know which gave him the greater +satisfaction. + +We returned to Barnard Castle following the road north of the Tees--we +had come to Middleton on the south side of the river--and we had +an almost continual view of the winding stream and its pleasantly +diversified valley. It was a peaceful rural landscape, glimmering in +the twilight--the silver thread of the river running through it--that +greeted our view during our swift flight along the upland road. + +It was the end of a rather trying day and it seemed hardly possible +that we had sojourned in Old Whitby only the night before--so different +was the scene and so varied our experiences; still, the distance +in miles is not great. The restful quiet of the King's Head and its +well-served dinner were indeed a welcome close to the wanderings of the +day. + + + + +XI + +LAKELAND AND THE YORKSHIRE DALES + + +During a tour such as ours one becomes impressed that a large +proportion of Britain is in barren moorlands or broken hills suitable +only for sheep grazing--an impression made all the stronger by the +diminutive size of the country. We in America can better afford our +vast tracts of waste land; we have fertile river valleys from which +dozens of Englands might be carved; but it seems almost melancholy that +at least a third of the Kingdom, no greater in size than an average +American state, should be almost as irreclaimable as the Sahara. One +does not so much note this waste in railway travel, for the steam roads +usually follow the valleys and lowlands, always green and prosperous, +and naturally seek out the more populous centers. But the wagon road +climbed steep hills and wended its way into many retired sections where +the steam engine cannot profitably go, and the motor car has opened to +tourists a hitherto almost unexplored country. + +We were early away for Lakeland, and for miles and miles we traversed +a rather inferior road through the moors and fells. Four or five miles +out of Barnard Castle we passed through Bowes, a typical Yorkshire +moorland town stretching some distance along the highroad. Though +otherwise uninteresting enough, Bowes has one distinction of which it +is far from proud, for here Charles Dickens found the school which +served as the prototype of Dotheboys Hall in "Nicholas Nickleby." +The building, altered into a tenement house and its evil reputation +disguised under the more pleasing name of "The Villa," still stands at +the western end of the town. In Dickens' day it was known as Shaw's +School, and it seems that it deserved far less than many others of +its class the overwhelming odium cast upon it in "Nicholas Nickleby"; +and it is said that there still are people in Bowes who chafe at the +injustice done their old-time townsman. But even if the Bowes school +suffered some injustice, the purpose of Dickens was accomplished none +the less in the reformation of the terrible juvenile workhouses which +masqueraded as "schools." + +The moorland road carries us onward to Brough, a shabby, desolate town +deep in the hills, with scarcely a touch of color to lighten its gray +monotone. But this decayed village has its traditions; it was once +famous through all England for its annual horse fair. They tell us +that the fair is still held in Brough, though its fame has long since +declined and it is now of only local interest. + +At Appleby we enter the vale of the Eden, and bounding the western +horizon we catch the first glimpse of the blue hills in whose deep +depressions lie the English lakes. Appleby has a comfortable hotel, +where we pause for lunch, and the appearance of the town is better and +more prosperous than those we have recently passed. The square tower of +the castle rises from an adjacent height and the church presents the +remarkable spectacle of a hair dresser's rooms occupying a portion of +the ancient cloisters which open on the market place. + +There is no finer highway in the north of England than the Carlisle +road through Penrith. It pursues nearly if not quite the course of the +old Roman road following the lowlands along the river--a broad white +way which leads through a pleasant succession of fields and villages. +We pass many ancient landmarks--on the left Brougham Castle, a red +sandstone ruin splashed with ivy and creepers, and farther on to the +right, Eden Hall, made famous by the ballad of Uhland. + +Penrith is a busy town of ten thousand or more, seemingly improved +since our visit of four years before, when it had no electric light +plant. It is the starting-point for most Lake District excursions, +whether by rail or coach. The railway follows the wagon road quite +closely to Keswick and from thence one must have some other conveyance +than rail to explore the region. And is it not well enough, for what +impression worth while could one gain of Lakeland from a railway car? + +From Keswick we turn southward over the hills, from whose summits the +landscape--every hill and vale redolent with music and memories of the +"Lakers"--stretches away beneath us, the lakes set in the valleys like +great flashing gems. How familiar the odd names have been made by the +poets of Lakeland! Skiddaw, Helvellyn, Borrowdale, Langdale Pikes and +Fells, Rydal, Grasmere, and a hundred others--all call to mind the +stanzas of Southey, Coleridge, and Wordsworth. + +Our road sweeps up and down the hills along the sinuous shores of +Thirlmere, certainly one of the most picturesque of the bright +sisterhood of English lakes, but which now serves the very practical +purpose of a source of water-supply for the city of Manchester, which +acquired it by purchase. This transaction has aroused the indignation +of a modern lake poet who falls little short of the best traditions of +his illustrious predecessors and he makes vigorous protest against the +cities whose "million-throated thirst" menaces the "sacred meres" of +Lakeland. But the Manchester ownership--prosaic as it may be--has not +detracted from the beauty of Thirlmere and many nuisances that once +encumbered its shores have been abated. + +But the human interest of the lakes centers around Grasmere and Rydal +Water. Perchance Rydal and Grasmere and Dove Cottage are out of place +in a chronicle of unfamiliar England, and yet who could write of the +Lake District with no reference to the very attractions that have made +it most famous? It is late as we pass the quaint old church "with bald +bare tower" and pause at the cottage just off the highroad, where +Wordsworth passed so many years in humble state that verged closely on +poverty, as one would count it now. There is little of the picturesque +in the gray-stone slate-roofed cottage, though the diamond-paned +windows and the rose vines climbing to the eaves somewhat relieve the +monotony of the square walls and the rude stone fence just in front. +Like Shakespeare's house, it is now the property of an association +which insures its preservation in memory of the poet. It has been +restored as nearly as possible to the same condition as during the +occupancy of the Wordsworths, and the collection of books and other +relics pertaining to them is being constantly increased. + +It is easy for us to enter into the daily life of the poet as we pass +through the small and rather rudely furnished rooms; and one must +indeed be totally lacking in poetic instinct if he cannot feel at +least a touch of sympathy with the pleasant surroundings so often +the theme of the great laureate of the simple life. We sit in the +rustic seat which Wordsworth was wont to occupy and can look over the +gray roof of the cottage to the long succession of hills stretching +away until their blue outlines are silhouetted against the sunset +sky--verily an inspiration even to the most matter-of-fact intellect. +We know that much of Wordsworth's best work was composed in the little +garden to the rear of the cottage--a bit of earth that he loved with an +intensity that has found more than one expression in his written words. +And it was of the very seat upon which we sit that he wrote: + + "Beneath these fruit tree boughs that shed + Their snow-white blossoms on my head, + With brightest sunshine round me spread + Of spring's unclouded weather, + In this sequestered nook how sweet + To sit upon my orchard seat! + And birds and flowers once more to greet + My last year's friends together." + +But to know more of the simple, happy life at Dove Cottage, one may +read from the letter written by Dorothy in 1800: + +"We are daily more delighted with Grasmere and its neighborhood. Our +walks are perpetually varied, and we are more fond of the mountains as +our acquaintance with them increases. We have a boat upon the lake, and +a small orchard and smaller garden, which, as it is the work of our +own hands, we regard with pride and partiality. Our cottage is quite +large enough for us, though very small; and we have made it neat and +comfortable within doors; and it looks very nice on the outside; for +though the roses and honeysuckles which we have planted against it +are only of this year's growth, yet it is covered all over with green +leaves and scarlet flowers; for we have trained scarlet beans upon +threads, which are not only exceedingly beautiful but very useful, as +their produce is immense. We have made a lodging-room of the parlor +below stairs, which has a stone floor, therefore we have covered it +all over with matting. We sit in a room above stairs, and we have one +lodging-room with two single beds, a sort of lumber-room, and a small +low unceiled room, which I have papered with newspapers, and in which +we have put a small bed." + +But come! We may not stop at Dove Cottage for the night; it would now +offer but sorry cheer, and Windermere seems the most available place +to tarry. We pass close to the water's edge along Grasmere, and Rydal +brings up new associations of the poet--here on the "Mount" overlooking +the tiny lake is the house where Wordsworth lived in his later and more +prosperous years, still the home of his granddaughter, we are told. +But the tripper is not welcome and the envious tangle of trees and +shrubbery denies to the wayfarer even a glimpse of the house. + +The beautiful situation of the Lowwood Hotel attracts our attention +as we follow the margin of the lake, but we pass on in our swift race +for Windermere. Coming thither we inquire of a policeman in the market +place for the best hotel. He is diplomatic enough to disclaim fitness +to judge, but adds confidentially, "You'll make no mistake if you go to +the Hold Hengland; that's where the quality goes." We thank him--praise +Heaven that is all one is expected to do, or in fact, may do for a +policeman in Britain!--but when we view the Old England we are seized +with regret that we passed Lowwood with its magnificent frontage on +the lake. It is nothing to retrace the half dozen miles to the most +pretentious hotel in the Lake District, though probably far from the +most comfortable, and certainly anything but the place for travelers +of an economical turn. What motorist could forget or forgive the +charge of half a crown for simple garage--two and one-half times the +standard price in England! Still, the view of the lake from Lowwood as +the evening falls compensates for many shortcomings. The twilight has +transformed the limpid waters into a sheet of dull silver, touched with +faint rose hues from the last glow of the sun. The hills beyond stand +in dark blue outline against a pale opalescent sky and the dim gray +towers of Wray Castle rear their massive bulk in the foreground. There +is no more enchanting view from the shores of Windermere Lake and we +saw it under the most favorable conditions. + +A sharp change has come over the scene when we resume our journey in +the morning. A light rain is falling and the mist hovering over the +lake half hides the distant hills. Gray tones predominate everywhere, +contrasting cheerlessly with the brilliance of the preceding day. But +such a day may be looked for as the rule rather than the exception, for +the rainfall of the Lake District is much the heaviest in England. We +pass Ambleside at the head of the lake, and follow the steep, ill-kept +road, slippery from the rain, to Coniston, a very quiet village, +nestling at the foot of the great hills at the head of Coniston Water. +In the churchyard here John Ruskin was laid to rest--a Celtic cross +marks the spot--and a museum in the town contains many of his sketches +and manuscripts. The road southward closely follows Coniston Water, +though with many slight but sharp undulations, winding through a dense +growth of young trees. We pass directly under Brantwood, the plain old +house where Ruskin lived, and catch glimpses of the oriel window of +leaded glass in which he was wont to sit at his work. The house is +situated on a wooded hillside and commands a fine view of the lake. The +road from Brantwood to the end of the lake is so narrow, so tortuous +and so obscured by the trees that extreme caution is necessary. It is +still early and the way is quite clear; we experience no trouble, yet +we are glad indeed to get into the main road to Dalton and Ulverston. + +Furness Abbey, once neglected and rather inaccessible, has more +recently become one of the best known and most easily reached of the +historic spots of northern England. Among the multifarious activities +of the late Duke of Devonshire, was the building of the railroad that +leads to Barrow-in-Furness and the development of that town into an +important port of sixty thousand inhabitants. A few miles north of the +town are the extensive ruins of Furness Abbey, a Cistercian foundation +of the twelfth century, situated in a narrow valley underneath +overshadowing hills from which the red sandstone used in the building +was taken. The keen business sense of the duke recognized in this +splendid ruin a decided factor to assist in his plan of development. +The grounds surrounding the abbey were converted into a handsome park, +a station was opened on the railroad just opposite, and a large hotel +was built near by. + +Furness Abbey, however, carefully groomed and in charge of voluble +guides posted in the minutest detail of architecture and history, can +hardly impress one as it did when, a lonely and crumbling ruin, it +was the goal of only the infrequent visitor. Its story is a long one +but of interest only to the specialist or antiquarian. To the layman +the tales of the different abbeys seem wonderfully alike: founded in +religious zeal, a period of penury, then of prosperity, and finally +one of great power and affluence. Then came the quarrel of Henry VIII. +with Rome and through the activity of the king's agents the abbeys +were plundered and partially destroyed. The direct damage inflicted by +the looters was usually limited to tearing the lead from the roofs, +smashing the windows, and defacing the tombs. Then followed the long +ages of neglect and the decay consequent upon the rains of summer and +the storms of winter. But more than all other causes that contributed +to the ruin and sometimes complete effacement of the magnificent abbey +buildings, was the vandalism that converted them into stone walls and +hovels--every one became the neighborhood quarry and in many instances +we owe the fragments that remain to the solidity that made tearing down +a difficult task. + +Furness Abbey is well worth a visit. While only fragments of its walls +remain, excavations have been made with such care and intelligence +that one has the whole groundwork of the great establishment before him +and may gain from it an excellent idea of monastic life. With the sole +exception of Fountains, it is probably the most extensive monastic ruin +in Britain, and while it lacks much of the beauty and impressiveness of +its Yorkshire rival, it serves to give one a better insight into the +daily life of the ancient occupants. Judged by our standard, it must +have been a rigorous, cheerless life, though it probably contrasted +more favorably with conditions of its own time. There is today a +growing belief that, on the average, the life of the monks was not so +easy nor so corrupt as apologists for the ruthless despoilation of the +abbeys would have us think. + +I have consumed in these vagaries the space that I should have devoted +to the description of the abbey; but descriptions are easy to be had +and the best of them will fall short of the interest and beauty that +awaits the visitor to the charming Lancashire ruin. One may well stay a +day at the hotel, than which there are few in England more comfortable, +more beautifully located, or better in appointment. + +We have covered three thousand miles in our wanderings and a certain +weariness possesses us. We feel that a rest of a day or two will not +come amiss, and no place within reach appeals to us as old York. To +our notion the resort towns with their ostentatious hotels--Harrogate +and Ilkley are nearer--cannot compare with the cathedral city and its +Station Hotel as a place where one may be at ease. The Station, with +its unpretentious and prosaic name, is the property of the railway +company, a great rambling building of yellow brick, unhampered by +limitations of space and so arranged that every guest-room has light +and air from the outside. There are spacious and finely kept grounds in +front and at some distance to the rear is the station, but not close +enough to disturb the quiet of the hotel. + +But York is full two days' journey at our rate of traveling; there is +much to see on the way and our route will be anything but a direct one. +We leave Furness Abbey in the early afternoon and the skies, which +had cleared as we reached Coniston, are lowering again. The road by +which we came carries us to Ulverston, and from thence we soon come +to Lake Side, at the lower end of Windermere. The fine road to the +north closely skirts the lake, but the trees stand so thickly that we +catch only occasional glimpses of the water. A light summer shower is +falling, and the fleeting sun and shadow over the mirrorlike surface, +mottled with patches of gleaming blue and almost inky blackness, gives +us another of the endless phases of the beauty of Lakeland. For +seven or eight miles we keep close to the shore, through Bowness to +Windermere, two quiet little towns largely given over to hotels and +lodging-houses. The great vogue of the Lake District as a resort is +comparatively recent, and as a consequence one finds in these towns a +mingling of the ancient and modern. Windermere, which grew out of the +little village of Birthswaite, is especially accessible, being reached +in about an hour by train from Manchester. + +Kendal, the county town of Westmoreland, is only seven or eight miles +from Windermere. Once a manufacturing center of importance, famous for +its woolens and "Kendal Green," it has been gradually transformed into +a quiet, unprogressive market town. The King's Arms Hotel is one of the +most typical and interesting of the old-time buildings. It abounds in +narrow hallways, odd corners, beamed ceilings and paneled rooms, all +behind a very common and unpretentious exterior. We have noted many +narrow alleys leading into the main street and some of these still have +heavy gates at the entrance. We are told that Kendal suffered from +frequent incursions of the Scots during the almost endless years of +border strife, and these alleys afforded quick refuge for the citizens +of the town. The gates were closed and the marauders thus confined to +the main street, where they became easy targets for the men behind +the barriers. But no such exciting incident breaks the sleepy quiet +of Kendal today, though the scene before us is not without animation. +It is market day and the streets are thronged with farmers from the +prosperous valley in which the town is situated. Cattle, sheep and +produce seem to be the chief topics of conversation so far as we can +gather from snatches of the broad North Country dialect of the men +about the town. + +Our stay at Kendal is a short one--we are soon away for the + + "Yorkshire Dales, + Among the rocks and winding scars, + Where deep and low the hamlets lie + Beneath their little patch of sky + And little lot of stars." + +So Wordsworth describes the narrow green valleys running between the +long ridges of moorland hills and opening into the wide fertile plain +in the center of which stands the city of York. + +We drop southward for some little distance and then turn to the +east, through the very heart of the hills. Just before we come to +Settle, our attention is attracted by a group of people looking +curiously into a stone trough by the wayside. There are expressions +of disappointment--"It's not working today." We are told that this +is Settle's ebbing and flowing well, famous over all Yorkshire and +concerning which a learned antiquary has written a book. But the well +is out of commission today--the long drouth has affected the spring +until for the second time in the last twenty-five years the phenomenon +has ceased. Ordinarily there is a regular ebb and flow of the waters +at intervals of from five to fifteen minutes. It is known that this +strange spring has been in existence for hundreds of years, but the +phenomenon has never been satisfactorily explained. + +A little farther we find a striking instance of how a bad name +will linger long after its original significance has vanished; for +Hellifield was once Hell-in-the-Field, because of its reputation for +wickedness. But surely this straggling little village hardly looks +its formidable cognomen today. A few miles on the Skipton road brings +us in view of a strangely incongruous spectacle; on one of the rough +hills an oriental temple stands with huge dome and slender minarets +sharply outlined against the evening sky--a sight that almost savors +of enchantment in such surroundings. But it is real enough, for an +eccentric Londoner who embraced Buddhism some years ago, spent a +fortune in erecting this temple on the bare northern hills. + +Skipton is near the head of Airedale, but we see here no sign of the +multitudinous factories that taint the skies and sully the waters +farther down the Aire, which, if one were to follow it for twenty-five +miles, would take him through the heart of Leeds. But Skipton is only +a market town--fairly prosperous, for the narrow vale which surrounds +it is famed as one of the richest pastoral bits of Yorkshire. The +fading light accentuates the gray monotone of the old houses, and +gives a further touch of cheerlessness to the somewhat bleak aspect +of the place. The large market square is paved with cobblestones and +around it in promiscuous array stand public and business buildings, +among them two hotels, large but rather unprepossessing structures. A +hurried glance at the interior of each confirms our first impressions +and we bid Skipton a hasty farewell. We pass under the high walls +of the old castle to reach the Ilkley road. The grim gateway is +flanked by two huge embattled round towers and the walls are pierced +by small mullioned windows. Skipton Castle was once the stronghold +of the Cliffords, and some say the birthplace of Fair Rosamond, +rather than the almost vanished castle on the Welsh Wye, which also +claims the distinction--if indeed it be such. It is wonderfully +well preserved--few other Yorkshire castles can vie with it in this +particular--and stands today as sullen and proud as it must have seemed +when the wars of the Roses swept over the land. + +A narrow upland road bordered by stone fences and leading +through bleak hills carries us over the moorland ridge that lies +between Airedale and Wharfdale, and on entering the latter, the +comfortable-looking Devonshire Arms stands squarely across our way. We +find it a quiet, pleasant place, seemingly half inn and half home for +the family of the genial landlord. It is situated near the entrance to +the grounds of Bolton Abbey and its pretty gardens to the rear slope +down to the rippling Wharfe. The inn is the property of the Duke of +Devonshire, to whom the abbey grounds belong, and as he was averse +to Sunday visitors at the abbey, the hotel is licensed as a "six-day +house." No one may be taken in and no meal served to anyone not already +a guest, on Sunday. When we left the hotel we did not expect to return, +and by paying our bill practically gave up our status as guests of the +Devonshire Arms. But it chanced that we were back in time for lunch and +a serious discussion took place between our landlord and his assistants +as to whether we might be accommodated or not. It was finally decided +to stretch a point in our favor and to assume that we had not severed +our relations when we left in the morning. + +A desire possesses us to see something of the most retired portions +of the Yorkshire moors and from Skipton we start due north over the +hills. We pass Rylstone, the tiny village given to fame by Wordsworth +in his ballad, "The White Doe of Rylstone," and re-enter Wharfdale at +Grassington. The unbroken moors stretch northward on either side of +the river--a country quite devoid of roads excepting the indifferent +ones on each side of the Wharfe--to the village of Kettlewell. We +follow the right-hand road, narrow, steep and winding, and altogether +a severe test for a motor. Fortunately it is quite clear, for in +many places vehicles could scarcely pass each other. Nothing could +be harsher and bleaker than the country, even as we saw it in the +prime of summer time, and the little towns seem almost a part of the +country itself. It would be hard to imagine that there was ever a time +when Grassington, Coniston or Kettlewell did not nestle, angular and +weather-beaten, at the foot of the eternal hills, and they are as bare +and as devoid of the picturesque touches of the village of southern +England as the hills they lie beneath. They seem to have little excuse +for existence and it is not clear to a casual visitor how the lonely +moors that encircle them can afford sustenance to their inhabitants. +Lead-mining once employed many people, though at present most of the +mines are exhausted. Kettlewell is in the very center of the moor; no +railroad comes within many miles of the town. It lies along a narrow +valley--a mere cleft in the hills--that opens into Wharfdale, which +itself becomes very narrow here. It is a center for those who would +explore the mysteries of the surrounding moors or who desire to hunt or +fish in almost primal solitude. That there are many such visitors is +attested by the rather good-looking inns at Kettlewell, and altogether, +the village seems less forlorn than the others we have just passed. The +place is not as quiet as one would expect from its retired location; +coaches are discharging their loads of trippers and evidently do a +thriving business. + +One might find it very interesting to continue northward to +Askrigg, another old and quaint moorland town, and from this to +visit Wensleydale--which we do later--but our present plans do not +contemplate this. The road is a very indifferent one, though probably +not much worse than that over which we came. Returning from Kettlewell +we take the opposite side of the Wharfe, passing at first close to the +river and then beneath gray and red cliffs that ominously overhang the +road. From the hill-crests at times we have wide panoramas of the dale, +with the silver ribbon of the Wharfe stealing through it. The road +takes us back to the village of Grassington; from thence we follow a +road whose steep hills and sharp turns engage the closest attention of +the driver until we reach the Devonshire Arms, as before related. + +A short cut across Rumbles Moor brings us to the road to Keighley, +the last link in the chain of manufacturing towns stretching up the +Aire from Leeds and which we must pass to reach Haworth, a name that +suggests to anyone conversant with English letters the gifted but +unfortunate Bronte family. Haworth has no doubt been influenced in +population and activity by its busy neighbor, Keighley, but the "four +tough scrambling miles" that Charles Dickens found on his visit a +third of a century ago still lie between. The whole distance is a +continual climb, terminating at the top of the hill, to which the +old town seems to cling rather precariously. Indeed, there were few +more forbidding ascents that confronted us than this terribly steep, +rough street--so steep that the paving stones have been set on edge to +enable the horses to climb it. It is bordered with old-world buildings, +gray and weather-beaten, and forms a fit avenue to the church that +dominates the town from the hill and whose massive square tower looks +far over the desolate moorlands beyond it. We visited hundreds of +ancient churches in England and the surroundings of many were somber +and even depressing, but surely none approached Haworth churchyard +in the deep, all-pervading gloom that hovered over the blackened +and thickly clustered gravestones and dimmed the very sunlight that +struggled through the trees which encircle the place. The hilltop is +given up to the churchyard and there seems to be scarcely room for +another grave, so thickly stand the mouldering memorials, which mostly +antedate the time of the Brontes. Out beyond, to the westward, lie the +wild black and purple moors, sweeping away even higher than the church +itself and ending in a long wave of hills rippling darkly against the +horizon. + +When "Jane Eyre," published in 1847, astonished the literary world, +few indeed would have guessed that the humble authoress lived in this +lonely village, then by far lonelier and more remote than it is today; +and it is still a wonder how one with such surroundings and of such +limited experience was able to fathom life so deeply. But one need not +be at a loss to account for the strain of melancholy that runs through +the writings of the gifted sisters. The isolated, dreary village, the +church and rectory, then almost ruinous, the desolate moor lands and +the family tragedy--the only son dying an irreclaimable drunkard--might +furnish a background of gloom even for Wuthering Heights. The sisters +rest in early graves, Charlotte, the eldest, dying last, in 1855, at +the age of thirty-nine. All, together with the father and unhappy +brother, are buried in Haworth churchyard save Anne, who lies in St. +Mary's at Scarborough. + +[Illustration: HAWORTH CHURCH.] + +Haworth has shared the growth in population that has filled Airedale +with manufacturing towns and is now a place of some eight thousand +people. It delights to honor the memory of its distinguished daughters, +and the local Bronte Club has established a museum containing many +interesting relics, manuscripts, and rare editions. + +Retracing our route to Wharfdale, we follow the fine road through +Ilkley and Otley into the broad green lowlands which surround Old York. +There is no more beautiful country in England than that through which +we course swiftly along. We catch continual vistas of the Wharfe, no +longer a brawling moorland stream, but sleeping in broad, silvery +reaches in the midst of the luxuriant meadows. We leave the river road +for Harrogate, pause a few moments to renew our acquaintance with +quaint old Knaresborough, and from thence we glide over twenty miles of +perfect road into York. + + + + +XII + +SOME NORTH COUNTRY SHRINES + + +We have spacious quarters at the Station Hotel, our lattice windows +opening upon a stone balcony beyond which we can see the fountain, +flowers and shrubbery of the gardens, and farther away, against the +purple sky, the massive yet graceful towers of the minster. How +different the Station Hotel is from the average railway hotel in +America can be appreciated only by one who has enjoyed the hospitality +of the one and endured the necessity of staying at the other. We feel +as nearly at home as one possibly may at a hotel, and the spirit of +Shakespeare's worthy who proposes to take his ease at his inn comes +upon us. We look forward with satisfaction to a short pause in the +pleasant old northern capital, whose splendid church and importance in +ecclesiastical antiquity are rivalled only by Canterbury. + +The two chief cathedral cities of England have many points of +similarity, though in population and importance York easily leads. +And yet, neither has ever been thoroughly modernized; the spirit and +relics of ancient days confront one everywhere and the great churches, +while dissimilar, contest for supremacy among English cathedrals. While +Canterbury has the greater historic interest and the tombs of many +famous warriors and churchmen, York Minster can boast of perhaps the +finest windows in the world. But why should I compare or contrast these +delightful towns? When one is in Canterbury there is no place like +Canterbury, and when in York, why York is without a rival. And after +all, neither has much claim to place in this chronicle, which is not to +tell of the familiar shrines. + +As might be expected, the vicinity of York abounds in magnificent +country seats and historic mansions, many of which are open to the +public on specified days. Of these, few are statelier than Castle +Howard, the seat of the Earls of Carlisle, about fifteen miles to +the northwest. It can boast of little historic interest, for it was +built less than two hundred years ago, after the turmoil of internal +warfare had ceased in England. It is therefore not a castle in the +accepted sense, but a stately private residence designed by Vanbrugh, +the architect of Blenheim. Though its architectural faults have been +enlarged upon by critics, none can gainsay the impressiveness of the +building, and Ferguson, in his "History of Modern Architecture," +declares that it "would be difficult to point out a more imposing +country home possessed by any nobleman in England than this palace +of the Howards." With its central dome and purely classic facade, +pierced by monotonous rows of tall windows, it presents the aspect +of a public building--reminding us of some of the state capitols in +America--rather than a private home. Though it serves as the home of +the owner a considerable part of the time, it is really a great museum, +rich in paintings and other works of art which have been accumulated by +the family, which has always been a wealthy one. + +[Illustration: CASTLE HOWARD.] + +The surroundings of the palace are in keeping with its vast size and +architectural importance. It is situated in a large park and stands on +slightly rising grounds overlooking a panorama of lawnlike meadows, +diversified with fine trees and shimmering lakes. Near at hand are the +somewhat formal gardens, ornamented with monuments and statuary. As a +show place it is in much favor with the people of England and few of +the great houses are more accessible to everyone. Though we did not +arrive at the regular hour for visitors, we had little difficulty in +gaining admission and were shown about as though we had been welcome +guests rather than the nuisances which I fear ordinary tourists are +often regarded in such places. The formality of securing tickets is not +required and no admission fee is charged. + +While the interior of the palace is disappointing--huge, +cold, unhomelike rooms--its contents are of greatest interest. +Among the pictures there are examples of English and foreign +masters--Gainsborough, Lely, Van Dyke, Reynolds, and many more--and +there are treasures among the rare books, bronzes and sculptures which +have been collected through many generations. The present earl is +himself a man of literary and artistic tastes, and numerous paintings, +done by himself, hang in the galleries. + +From the large low windows an enchanting view presented itself. +Stretches of beautiful park, dotted with ancient trees, through which +gleamed the placid waters of the lake--now like dull silver, for the +sky had become overcast--sloped away from the front, while to the rear +lay the gardens with all the bloom of English summer time. Out just +beyond these is a many-pillared circular structure, like a classic +temple, the burial-place of the Howards for many generations. Verily +the surroundings almost savor of enchantment, and form, with the great +mansion itself, a background of splendor and romance for the ancient +family. And the very freedom with which such places are thrown open +to people of all degrees does much to entrench the feudal system in +England. + +But we have lingered long enough at Castle Howard; the sky is lowering +and gray sheets of rain are sweeping through the trees. We hasten to +the trusty car and are soon ensconced beneath its rainproof coverings. +It is gloomy and cheerless enough, but it would have seemed far more +so could we have foreseen that for the next ten days the weather would +be little better. One loses much under such conditions. The roads as +a rule are not affected and with a reliable motor one may keep going +quite as well as on sunshiny days; but the beauty of the landscapes +will often be shut out, and a succession of dull, chilly days has a +decidedly depressing effect on one's spirits. + +The direct route across the moor to Thirsk is impassable--the heavy +rain has made it a trail of deep mud, and we dare not attempt its +precipitous "bank" under such conditions. A detour of many miles by way +of Easingwold is necessary, but once on the North Road there is ample +opportunity to make up for delay. Country constables will hardly be +abroad in the driving rain and the motor purrs quite as contentedly and +drives the car quite as swiftly as in the sunniest weather. + +We splash through the streets of Thirsk with a glance at its church +tower, the one redeeming feature of the town. The rain soon ceases, +but a gray mist half hides the outlines of the Cleveland Hills on our +right and hangs heavily over the fertile valley to our left. It is +of little consequence, for there are few stretches of main road in +England that have less to detain the wayfarer than the forty-eight +miles from York to Stockton-on-Tees. Yarm is a sleepy town overshadowed +by its majestic church tower, which again impresses us how the church +alone often relieves the squalidness and gives a touch of sentiment +to many an uninteresting English village. At Yarm we enter the broad +vale of the Tees and again traverse the wide, unattractive street of +Stockton. Twenty miles farther Durham's stately towers loom in dim +outline against the gray sky; we cautiously wend our way through the +crooked streets of the cathedral town and plunge into the fog that +hangs heavily over the Newcastle road. + +We come into Newcastle about lamplighting time, weary and somewhat +bedraggled from our long flight over the rain-soaked roads. And +Newcastle-on-Tyne, at the close of a rainy day, is about the last place +to cheer one's drooping spirits. The lamps glimmer dimly through the +fog as we splash along the bumpy streets to the Station Hotel--and few +hostelries were more genuinely welcome during all our long wanderings. +Nor is Newcastle less dingy and unattractive on the following +morning--the rain is still falling and black clouds of sooty smoke hang +over the place. London is bad enough under such conditions, but the +Tyne city is worse and our first anxiety is to get on the open road +again, although it chanced we were doomed to disappointment for much +of the day. + +Amidst all the evidences of modern industry--the coal-mining and +ship-building that have made Newcastle famous--there still linger +many relics of the ancient order, memorials of the day when all was +rural and quiet along the Tyne. In the very midst of the factories and +shipyards at Jarrow, a suburb a few miles down the river, still stands +the abbey church where some thirteen hundred years ago the Venerable +Bede wrote those chronicles which form the basis of ancient English +history. Thither we resolved to go and found the way with no small +difficulty to the bald, half-ruined structure on the bank of a small +stream whose waters reeked with chemicals from a neighboring factory. +Though much restored, the walls and tower of the church are the same +that sheltered the monastic brotherhood in the time of Bede, about the +seventh century. The present monastic ruins, however, are of Norman +origin, the older Saxon foundation having quite disappeared. Several +relics of Bede are preserved in the church, among them the rude, +uncomfortable chair he is said to have used. Altogether, this shrine +of the Father of English History is full of interest and when musing +within its precincts one will not fail to recall the story of Bede's +death. For tradition has it that "He was translating St. John's Gospel +into English when he was attacked by a sudden illness and felt he was +dying. He kept on with his task, however, and continued dictating to +his scribe, bidding him write quickly. When he was told that the book +was finished, he said, 'You speak truth, all is finished now,' and +after singing 'Glory to God,' he quietly passed away." + +The Tyne valley road to Carlisle on the south side of the river by +the way of Hexham looks very well on the map, but the run would be a +wearisome one under favorable conditions; in the face of a continual +rain it is even more of a task, and no one motoring for pleasure should +take this route. It is rough and hilly and runs through a succession +of mining and manufacturing towns. The road follows the edge of the +moorland hills to the southward, and in many places the hillsides +afford wide views over the Tyne valley, but the gray rain obscured the +prospect for us and only an occasional lull gave some hint of the broad +vale and the purple Northumbrian Hills beyond. + +Hexham is beautifully situated a mile or two below the juncture of the +northern and southern branches of the Tyne, lying in a nook of the +wooded hills, while the broad river sweeps past beneath. The low square +tower of its abbey church looms up over the town from the commanding +hill. It is one of the most important in the North Country, rivaling +the cathedrals in proportions, and has only recently been restored. + +Here we crossed to the northern side of the river to reach the most +stupendous relic of the Roman occupation of Britain--the wall which +Hadrian built as a protection against the incursions of the wild +northern tribes. This wall was seventy miles in length--from Tynemouth +to the Solway--of an average thickness of eight feet and probably not +less than eighteen feet in height. It surmounted the chain of hills +overlooking the valley between Newcastle and Carlisle and was well +supplied with military defenses in the shape of forts and battlemented +towers. We closely followed the line of the wall from Chollerford to +Greenhead, a distance of about fifteen miles. In places it is still +wonderfully perfect, being built of hewn stone, well fitted and +carefully laid, as it must have been to stand the storms of eighteen +hundred years; but most of the distance the course of the wall is now +marked only by an earthen ridge. + +We had seen many relics of the Roman rule in England at Bath, at York, +and also the remarkable remains of Uriconium near Shrewsbury, but +nothing so impressed us with the completeness of the Roman occupation +as this great wall of Hadrian. And it also testifies mutely to the +great difficulty the Roman legions must have experienced in controlling +the light-armed bandits from across the border, in a day when the +means of communication were so few and so slow. This situation +continued until several hundred years later, the country along the +Tyne, the narrow neck of land connecting England and Scotland, being +the scene of constant turmoil and bloody strife. The wild tribes of the +northern hills would sweep down into the valley, leaving a strip of +burned and plundered country, and before soldiers could be gotten into +the field the marauders would retreat to their native fastnesses. One +might not telephone to Carlisle that the Campbells or McGregors were +raiding the country, and troops could not be hurried by railroad to +the scene of trouble. Before the horseback messenger could reach the +authorities, the marauders would have disappeared. This condition of +things the Romans sought to overcome by building the great wall and one +can hardly doubt that they chose the best means at their command; but +the history of those times is hazy at best and we can learn little of +what was really accomplished by this stupendous undertaking. + +[Illustration: REMAINS OF GREAT ROMAN WALL NEAR HEXHAM.] + +The road through the rough Northumbrian hills is as lonely and desolate +as any one will find in England. So much has it fallen into disuse +that the grass and heather have almost obliterated it in places, and +it appeared that little had been done to maintain it for years. The +cheerless day accentuated the dreariness of the rough countryside; the +rain had increased to a downpour and had blown in upon us in spite +of our coverings. The road was clear, fairly level and straight away; +despite its rough surface we splashed onward at a swift pace through +the pools and rivulets that submerged it in places. + +Naworth Castle, also an estate of the Earl of Carlisle, the owner of +Castle Howard, is just off the road before entering Brampton, eight or +nine miles out of Carlisle. It is thrown open with the same freedom +that prevails at the great Yorkshire house, but though the greater part +of Naworth is far older, it has less to interest the casual visitor. +Situated as it is in the very center of the scenes of border turmoil, +it has a stirring history dating back to 1300, when it was built by +Lord Dacre, ancestor of the Howards. The story of his elopement with +the heiress who owned the estate and who was betrothed to a boy of +seven, and of the subsequent pardon of the lovers by the King Edward, +forms a romantic background for the stern-looking old place; but we +will not recount the many legends that gathered about the castle during +the long period of border warfare. Escaping almost unscathed during +the castle-smashing time of Cromwell, Naworth suffered severely from +fire in 1844, but the interior has since been remodeled into a fairly +comfortable modern dwelling. Here again the artistic and literary +tastes of the owner are evident in the valuable library and the fine +gallery of paintings. + +[Illustration: NAWORTH CASTLE.] + +Continuing our way through Naworth Park, we drop down the narrow and +fearfully steep lane to the vale of the Irthing and cross over the old +high-arched bridge to Lanercost Priory. The rain is still falling and +no doubt the custodian has given up hope of visitors on such a day, +for he cannot be found; but we discover the gardener, who secures the +keys from the neighboring rectory and proves himself a capable guide. +The abbey church has been restored by the Carlisles and is used by the +parish as a place of worship. All about are the red sandstone ruins +of a once great monastery. We wander among the mossy grave-stones and +crumbling tombs, + + "The 'Miserere' in the moss, + The 'Mercy Jesu' in the rain," + +calling up thoughts of a forgotten order of things. In the roofless +chapel we pause before an altar-tomb, its sandstone bosses water-soaked +and crumbling in the rain--it is the oldest in the abbey and covers the +grave of Lord Roland de Vaux of Triermaine, an ancestor of the Dacres. +The name seems familiar and the lines, + + "Murmuring over the name again, + Lord Roland de Vaux of Triermaine," + +come unbidden to my mind. Ah, yes! it is in the weird music of +"Christabel" that the name of the long-dead baron is interwoven, and +perhaps his "castle good" was the predecessor of Naworth. There are +other elaborate tombs of the Dacres and Howards, and there is a world +of pathos in Sir Edward Boehm's terra cotta effigy of little Elizabeth, +daughter of the present earl, who died in 1883. It is the figure of +an infant child asleep, with one little rounded arm thrown above the +head and the other folded gracefully on the breast, while a quiet smile +plays over the dimpled face-- + +But come--it is late, and Lanercost Priory would be gloomy enough on +such a day without the infant figure. We retrace our way through the +ivy-mantled portal and hasten through the park to the Carlisle road, +which shortly brings us to the border city, and grateful indeed is the +old-fashioned hospitality of the County Hotel, one of the most pleasant +among the famous inns of the North Country. + + + + +XIII + +ACROSS THE TWEED + + +Gretna Green is a disappointingly modern-looking hamlet, and has little +to accord with the romantic associations that its name always brings +up. In olden days it gained fame as a place where marriages were +accomplished with an ease and celerity that is rivalled in our time +only by the dissolution of the tie in some of our own courts. Hither +the eloping couples hastened from England, to be united with scarcely +other ceremony than mutual promises--witnesses were not required--and +a worthy blacksmith did a thriving business merely by acting as clerk +to record the marriages. The ceremony was legally valid in Scotland +and therefore had to be recognized in England, according to mutual +agreement of the nations to recognize each other's institutions. But +today Gretna Green's ancient source of fame and revenue has vanished; +no Young Lochinvars flee wildly across the Solway to its refuge; it is +just a prosaic Scotch village, whose greatest excitement is occasioned +by the motor cars that sweep through on the fine Edinburgh road. + +Quite different is the fame of Ecclefechan, a few miles farther--a +mean-looking village closely skirting the road for a half-mile. +Typically Scotch in its bleakness and angularity, it seems fittingly +indeed the birthplace of the strange genius who was, in some respects, +the most remarkable man of letters of the last century. Thomas Carlyle +was born here in 1795 and sleeps his last sleep, alone, in the village +kirkyard, for Jane Welsh is not buried by his side. As we came into +the town, we paused directly opposite the whitewashed cottage where +the sage was born and which is still kept sacred to his memory. The +old woman caretaker welcomed us in broadest Scotch and showed us about +with unalloyed pride and satisfaction. Here are gathered mementoes +and relics of Carlyle--books, manuscripts and pictures; the memorial +presented him in 1875, bearing the signature of almost every noted +literary contemporary; the wreath sent by Emperor William in 1895 +to be laid on the grave; and other things of more or less curious +significance. The cottage itself is a typical home of the Scotch +villager, the tiny rooms supplied with huge fireplaces and the quaint +old-time kitchen still in daily use by the caretaker. The house was +built by Carlyle's father, a stonemason by trade, to whose "solid +honest work" the distinguished son was wont proudly to refer on divers +occasions. The motor car is awakening Ecclefechan to the fact that it +is the birthplace of a man famous the world over, for they told us +that many visitors now came like ourselves. + +There are no finer stretches of road in Scotland than the broad, +beautifully engineered highway from Carlisle to Lanark, winding among +the hills with grades so gentle as to be almost imperceptible. The +rain, which followed us since we left Carlisle, has ceased and many +panoramas of hill and valley lie before us. Oftentimes the low-hung +clouds partially obscure the view, but aside from this the scene +stretches away clear and sharp to the gray belt of the horizon. We are +passing through the hills of Tintock Moor, which Burns has sung as + + "Yon wild mossy mountains so lofty and wide + That nurse in their bosom the youth of the Clyde." + +They may have seemed "lofty and wide" to the poet who never left his +native soil, but they are only low green hills. The river here is +little more than a brawling brook, leaping through the stony vale. + +Before we came into Edinburgh we paused at Rosslyn Chapel, perhaps, +after Melrose, Abottsford and Ayr, the most frequented shrine in all +Scotland. Conveyances of all kinds ply continuously from Edinburgh +during the season, and though the day was not especially favorable, +we found a throng at the chapel. The chapel is admittedly the most +elaborate Gothic building in Britain. The intricacy and minuteness of +detail are simply marvelous and compel the admiration of even those +who condemn the ornamentation as overdone and wearisome when studied +closely; still, Sir Gilbert Scott designated Rosslyn as "a poem in +stone," and Wordsworth was so impressed that he wrote one of his finest +sonnets in praise of it. + +One must of course hear the oft-told story of the master workman who, +puzzled over the intricate drawings of one of the carved pillars, went +to Rome to consult the architect of the Vatican; but while he was away +his apprentice solved the problem and when the builder returned the +finished column greeted his eyes. He was so enraged at the success of +the apprentice in overcoming the difficulty that he struck the poor +youth dead at the foot of the pillar and was hanged for the crime. +Anyway, the pillar is there and it is not at all unlikely that the +master workman was hanged--a very common incident in those days. + +Nor will the guide forget to remind you that in the vault beneath your +feet the barons of Rosslyn for the past six hundred years have been +buried, each one sheathed in full armor. And there is a tradition that +on the night before the death of a lord of Rosslyn the chapel seems to +be enveloped in flames, a superstition upon which Scott founded his +ballad of "Rosabelle." + + "Seemed all on fire that chapel proud + Where Rosslyn's chiefs uncoffined lie, + Each baron for a sable shroud + Sheathed in his iron panoply." + +The castle near at hand is as severely plain and rude as the chapel is +ornate--a bare, gloomy place that tells in itself volumes of the hard, +comfortless life of the "good old days." The apartments of the lord of +the castle would be counted a sorry prison-house now--one that would +bring forth a protest from the Howard Society--and what shall one say +of the quarters for the serving-men and soldiers, or of the dungeon +itself, where the unfortunate captives were confined? Nothing, for our +powers of expression are inadequate; language itself is inadequate. +Thank God, the order of things is changed! + +Edinburgh, with its wealth of historic and literary associations, its +famous castle and storied palaces, its classic architecture and its +fine shops, will always appeal to the wayfarer, I care not how often he +may come; but it is too widely known to engage this chronicle of more +unfamiliar Britain. + +The excellent North British Hotel, where, wonder of wonders in Britain, +you may, if fortunate enough, secure a heated bathroom en suite, +might well tempt us to a longer stay; but we must be on, and the next +afternoon finds us on the road to Queensferry. Here our motor, with two +or three others, is loaded on a ferryboat which carries us across the +Firth of Forth. We pass directly under the bridge, and in no other way +can one get a really adequate idea of this marvelous structure, which, +despite all the recent achievements of bridge-building, still holds its +place as the most remarkable feat of engineering in its class. + +About Loch Leven and the ruin that rears its low, square tower from +the clustered foliage of its tiny islet, there will always hover +an atmosphere of romance. And why should it not be thus, since the +authentic feats that history records have in them more of romance than +many of the wild tales of the imagination? But more than this: the halo +which the genius of Scott has thrown over the spot and the song and +story that have been builded on the captivity and escape of the fair +prisoner of Loch Leven, continue to make the placid lake a shrine for +many pilgrims. + +We entered Kinross, the quiet village on the western shore of the lake, +and followed the road to the boathouse, where an English motor party +had just paused. Word had to be sent to the village for boatmen and +I fell into conversation with the Englishman who was waiting like +ourselves. He had come to Loch Leven on quite a different mission from +ours--old castles and legends were so commonplace to him that he hardly +seemed to understand why anyone should trouble himself about them. He +had come to fish and assured us that Loch Leven trout were surpassed +in excellence only by those in an Irish lake where he had fished the +week before. He was sending his car away and expected to pass the +night in pursuing the gentle art of Ike Walton. We were told that more +people came to the lake to fish than to visit the castle. The fishing +rights are owned by a local club and are jealously guarded. The minimum +license fee for trout, of seven shillings sixpence, with an additional +charge per hour, makes the sport a somewhat expensive luxury. + +But our boatmen had come and we put off for the castle. The lake +averages very shallow, and it was necessary to go considerably out of +the direct route, even in the light row-boat, to avoid the shoals. The +bottom in many places was covered with a rank sedge, which our boatman +declared fatal to fishing. It had gotten in the lake a few years +ago--had come from America in some mysterious manner--and nothing could +be done to check its rapid spread. While he bewailed the ravages of +this interloper--from the land of the interlopers--our boat grated on +the pebbly shore of the island. The castle, rude and ruinous indeed, +is quite small and the only part intact is the low, square tower of +the keep. In this is Queen Mary's chamber, and one may look down from +the window from which she made her escape; the water then came up to +the wall, though it is now several yards away. One need not rehearse +the story of the queen's imprisonment at Loch Leven by the ambitious +Douglas and her romantic escape through connivance with her captor's +son, George Douglas, who succumbed to her charms as did nearly every +one who came into her company. And who can wonder that the actual +presence of the fair queen--whose name still enchants us after three +hundred years--should prove so irresistible to those who met her face +to face? Is it strange that one whose memory can cast such a glamour +over the cheerless old pile that has brought us hither, should have so +strongly influenced her associates? + +But after all, the view from the castle tower would be worth the +journey thither. All about the placid water lies gleaming like a mirror +beneath the threatening sky; here we see a flock of water-fowl, so tame +that they scarcely heed the fishing-boats; there a pair of stately +swans, many of which are on the lake; off yonder is the old town with +its spire sharp against the horizon; and near at hand, the encircling +hills and the low green meadows, a delightful setting for the flashing +gem of the lake--all combine to make a scene that would be inspiring +even if the name of Mary Stuart had never been associated with Loch +Leven. As we drift away from the island, the words of a minor poet come +to us, strangely sweet and appropriate: + + "No warden's fire shall e'er again + Illume Loch Leven's bosom fair; + No clarion shrill of armed men + The breeze across the lake shall bear; + + But while remains a stone of thine + It shall be linked to royal fame-- + For here the Rose of Stuart's line + Hath left the fragrance of her name!" + +The Loch Leven anglers have made two or three well-appointed hotels +possible in Kinross, and Green's, where we stopped for tea, seemed +ideal for its quiet retirement and old-fashioned comfort. + +St. Andrews, by the sea, has a combination of attractions, of which the +famous golf links will occur to many people on first thought. There is +no town in Scotland more popular as a seaside resort and the numerous +hotels are crowded in season. But the real merits of St. Andrews are +the ones least known to the world at large--its antiquity, the ruins of +its once stately cathedral, its grim though much shattered castle, and +its university, the oldest in Scotland--one and all, if better known, +would bring many tourists who do not care for golf links and resort +hotels. + +Hither we came from Kinross by the way of Cupar, of which we know +nothing save the old Scotch saw of a headstrong man, "He that will to +Cupar maun to Cupar," but why anyone should be so determined to go to +Cupar is not clear. It is a mean-looking town with cobblestone pavement +so rough that it tried every rivet in our car, and nothing could be +drearier than the rows of gray slate-roofed houses standing dejectedly +in the rain. + +We were early risers, according to their reckoning at the Marine Hotel, +and went for a walk over the golf links after breakfast. I was once a +devotee of the royal game and was able to appreciate why the links by +the sea are counted the finest in the world. Stretching along a sandy +beach over which the tide advances and recedes incessantly, the links +have unlimited sweep over the lawnlike lowlands, with just enough +obstacles, mostly natural, to make a game of highest skill possible. +The lowering sky of the preceding day had cleared and the keen wind +swept in over the northern sea. We would have been glad to linger, if +possible, but there was much to see in the old town which, in the words +of Thomas Carlyle, "has the essence of all the antiquity in Scotland +in good clean condition." + +Directly on the ocean stands the scanty but still imposing ruin of the +cathedral, which in its prime was one of the most magnificent churches +in the Kingdom. Its burnished roof once shone far out at sea and a +wilderness of turrets and pinnacles rose round the central tower, +long since vanished. The church was for some centuries the center of +ecclesiastical life in Scotland. Its dedication took place in 1318, +"as a trophy and memorial of Bannockburn," in the august presence of +King Robert the Bruce. And yet it was only two hundred and forty years +later that fanaticism sounded the doom of the splendid church; when the +Presbyterian Council gave orders that the "monuments of idolatry" be +pulled down. John Knox writes in his journal that the work went forward +"with expedition," and for many years the marvelous Gothic pile served +the people of St. Andrews as a quarry. + +The original outlines of the cathedral are clearly indicated on the +smoothly mown greensward and give an adequate idea of its vast extent. +The square tower of St. Regulus' Chapel is the only portion intact, +and this we ascend by the dark, time-worn stairs inside. From the top +there is a fine view of the town, a broad sweep of glittering sea and +a far-reaching prospect to the landward. The town lies immediately +beneath, spread out like a map, and from every direction the white +country roads wander in to join the maze of crooked streets. Only a +hundred yards away, on the very verge of the sea, is the castle, and +we go thither when we descend. And we are rather glad to descend, for +the wind blows so strongly that the tower trembles despite all its +solidity--and one cannot help thinking of the Campanile at Venice. + +It seems rather incongruous that the massive, martial-looking castle +should originally have been the palace of the Bishop of St. Andrews, +but it was in an age when the church and the military went hand in +hand. It was not strange, perhaps, in Scotland, where the greater +part of the murderous wars among the people sprang out of religious +disputes, that the home of a church dignitary should be a stronghold, +and the traditions of St. Andrews Castle tell more of violence and +bloodshed than the annals of many a secular fortress. + +It is a strange comment on the ferocity of the old-time churchmen that +one of the most fiendish relics of "man's inhumanity to man" is to be +found in this martial bishop's palace. Like all gruesome things, it is +the center of interest, and the rheumatic old custodian had learned the +attraction of the horrible for average human nature, for he greeted us +with "Ye'll be wantin' to see the bottle dungeon first." He led us +into the dark shadows of the "sea tower," as John Knox designated it, +and placing a lighted candle on a staff, dropped it into a circular +opening four or five feet in diameter. Looking down, we could see a +bottle-shaped cavity hewn out of the solid rock, and extending below +the level of the sea. Into this the captives were lowered, and with no +light and little air were left to a dreadful death, their moans drowned +by the thunder of the waves overhead. Or perhaps a more merciful fate +might be meted to some of them--even though it were death at the +stake--for we know that George Wishart, whom Cardinal Beaton burned +before the castle, had first been imprisoned in the dungeon. One +almost breathes a sigh of relief to know that shortly afterwards the +Presbyterians stormed the fortress and slew the inhuman cardinal, whose +body was thrown into the dungeon after having been exposed from the +castle walls. John Knox was one of the party that slew Beaton, and he +wrote a gloating account of the incident. + +But enough of these horrors, which the old custodian drones over in +broad Scotch dialect. Let us go out upon the pleasant greensward of the +courtyard, where there is little to remind us of the terrible deeds +that have transpired within the gloomy walls. The seaward walls have +nearly disappeared, for the stone was used in work on the harbor by a +generation that little dreamed of the value posterity would set on such +historic monuments. + +Following the coast road from St. Andrews to Kirkcaldy, we were seldom +out of sight of the sea, and passed through several little fishertowns +centuries old and quite looking their years. Largo is the birthplace of +Alexander Selkirk, whose experiences on a desert island gave DeFoe the +idea of "Robinson Crusoe." The house where he was born still stands and +a stone figure of Crusoe is set just in front in a niche in the wall. +In all of these coast towns an old-world quiet seemed to reign save in +the "long town" of Kirkcaldy, through whose dirty streets, thronged +with filthy children, we carefully picked our way. Here we turned +inland, passing a succession of towns whose rubbish-covered streets +were full of drunken miners--it was Saturday afternoon--who stumbled +unconcernedly in front of the car; and not a few drunken women joined +in the yells which often greeted us. The road was very bumpy and it +is a far from pleasant or interesting route until the neighborhood of +Dunfermline is reached. + +Dunfermline should be a household word in America, for here is the +modest slate-roofed cottage where our great dispenser of free libraries +was born and which he purchased some years ago. He is a sort of fairy +godfather to Dunfermline and has showered on the town more wealth +than the canny burghers know what to do with. We had a letter of +introduction to one of the linen manufacturers--linen-making is the +great industry of Dunfermline--and he insisted upon showing us about +the town. He pointed out some of the benefactions of Mr. Carnegie, +who, besides the regulation free library, gave a large sum toward the +restoration of the abbey church and to establish a public park. Still +more, he has set aside a sum of no less than half a million sterling, +the income from which is to be spent under the direction of a board +of trustees in promoting "the higher welfare, physical, intellectual +and moral, of the inhabitants." So great are his benefactions that +Dunfermline has been afforded the opportunity of becoming a model town +in every respect, though the experiment is still in its infancy. + +The abbey church is one of the most interesting in Scotland and is +the shrine of all patriotic Scots, for here is buried King Robert the +Bruce, whose name is cut in huge letters in the balustrade surrounding +the tower. The nave of the church has been restored and is now used as +a place of worship, and there remains enough of the ruined monastery to +give the needed touch of the picturesque. + +On leaving the town we were somewhat at a loss for the road, and asked +a respectable-looking gray-whiskered gentleman if he could direct us +to Alloa. + +"Oh," said he, "there are twa roads to Alloa--do you wish the upper or +the lower road?" + +We expressed our indifference; we only wanted the best. + +"I'm no saying which is the best," he said cautiously. + +"But which would you take yourself?" we insisted. + +"Since you must be sae particular, I'd say that I should tak the lower +road." + +"Let it be the lower road, then,"--but he held up his hand at the first +click of the starting lever. + +"Since you have decided to tak the lower road, I might say that I live +a few miles out on this, and seeing there's an empty seat, perhaps +ye'll be willing to give me a ride." It was now clear why he had been +so non-communicative. He did not wish to unduly influence us for his +own advantage; but after it was all decided on our own motion, he felt +free to avail himself of the opportunity to be relieved of a tiresome +walk. A few miles out he pointed to a neat residence--his home--and our +canny Scotsman left us. + +The next day we were in Edinburgh, after passing the night at Stirling. +It had rained fitfully during our tour in Fife and a gray mantle still +hung over "Auld Reekie,"--though perhaps the name is less appropriate +than when Scott first used it. The Fifeshire roads averaged bad--rough +and stony and often quite slippery from the rain. We were glad to +pass the day in our comfortable rooms at the North British watching +the rain-soaked city from our windows. But it was no better on the +following day and we were soon on the North Berwick road in the same +discouraging drizzle. Nothing could be more depressing under such +conditions than the succession of wretched suburban towns through which +we passed for some distance out of Edinburgh. The streets, despite the +rain, were full of dirty children and bedraggled women, and we were +glad to come into the open road along the sea. It is a road that must +afford magnificent views in fine weather, but for us it wended along +a wind-swept, chocolate-colored ocean that was quickly lost in the +driving rain. There are numerous seaside resorts between Portobello and +North Berwick, though the latter is the more popular and is supplied +with palatial hotels. + +It was just beyond here that we caught sight of the object of our +pilgrimage along the Firth--the old Douglas castle of Tantallon, which, +mirrored in Scott's heroic lines, excited and dazzled our youthful +imagination. It stands drearily on a bleak headland and was half +hidden in the gray gusts of rain when + + "Close before us showed + His towers, Tantallon vast." + +But its vastness has diminished since the day of which Scott wrote, for +much of the castle has disappeared and the sea wall which ran along +the edge of the rock has crumbled away. Still, the first impression +one gets of the shapeless ruin as he crosses the waterless moat and +rings the bell for admission is one of majesty, despite the decay riot +everywhere. We waited long, almost despairing of gaining entrance, when +the keeper appeared at the gate. He was not expecting visitors on such +a stormy day and had been drowsing over old papers in his little booth +inside. + +[Illustration: TANTALLON CASTLE AND BASS ROCK.] + +There is not much to remind one of the fiery parting between Douglas +and Marmion so vividly described by Scott. But a mere shell of the +castle remains; the draw-bridge of the ringing lines is gone, and the +inner walls from which the retainers might have watched the fierce +encounter have long since crumbled away. The courtyard where the +doughty warriors engaged in their altercation is covered with grasses +and starred with wild flowers. About all that remains as it was in the +day of Douglas is the dungeon hewn from the solid rock beneath the +walls. We wandered about the roofless, dripping ruins as the old keeper +told us the story of the castle and pointed out the spots that have +been identified with the song of Scott. Here stood the battlements from +which the disconsolate Clare contemplated the desolate ocean--here was +the chapel where Wilton was armed by old Archibald-- + +But the rain has ceased and blue rifts are coming in the sky. As we +look oceanward, a mountainlike bulk rises dimly out of the dull waters. +"Bass Rock," says our guide, "and a peety it is that the sea is too +rough for the boots today." A weird island it is, less than a mile in +circumference, rising to the stupendous height of four hundred feet, +though it little looks it from Tantallon--our guess was less than a +quarter as great. In old days the rock was quite inaccessible; it was +early fortified and in later times was made a prison. Here was confined +a group of the persecuted Covenanters, who lay in the damp, dark +dungeons, "envying the freedom of the birds"--the gulls and wild geese +that wheel almost in clouds about the rock. Dreadful times these--but +to appreciate the real horror of such a fate one would have to stand on +Bass Rock when the storm walks abroad and the wild German Ocean wraps +the rock in the white mist of the angry waves. The rock serves little +purpose now save as a site for a lighthouse, built a few years ago, and +as a resort for curious tourists, who can visit it when the weather +allows landing to be made. + +Turning southward through the Lammermuir Hills, we find at the little +village of East Linton a surprise in the Black Lion, another of those +homelike and wonderfully comfortable Scotch inns which offer genuine +cheer to the wayfarer. Here a fire dances in the grate and our luncheon +is one that the more pretentious hotels do not equal. We resume our +flight under leaden skies through the low gray mists that sweep the +hilltops. Haddington is famed for its abbey church, very old and vast +in bulk. Jane Welsh Carlyle is buried in its choir--for she chose to +lie beside her father in her long sleep. + +The moorland road to Melrose is finely engineered, following the hills +in long sweeping lines with few steep grades or sharp curves. In places +it is marked by rows of posts so that it may be followed when covered +by the snows. Melrose Abbey, familiar from former visits, claims only +a passing glance, as we hasten on to its old-time rival at Jedburgh, +which is now somewhat off the beaten path and few know of the real +interest of the town or the extent and magnificence of its abbey ruin, +whose massive tower and high walls, pierced by three tiers of graceful +windows, dominate any distant view of the place. + +We brought the car up sharply on the steep hillside in front of the +abbey and an old woman in a nearby cottage called to us to "gang right +in--ye'll find the keeper in the gardens." And we did--surprised him at +work with his flowers--a hale old man of seventy with bushy hair and +beard, silver white, and a hearty Scotch accent that wins you at once. +He dropped his garden tools and came forward with a quick, elastic +step, greeting us as if we had been expected friends. When he espied +the lady member of our party, he began to cut roses until he had made +up quite a bouquet, which he gallantly presented her. Then he began a +panegyric on Jedburgh and the abbey, assuring us that a stay of several +days would be necessary to get even an idea of the ruins and the +historic spots of the vicinity. His face visibly fell when we told him +we must be off in an hour. + +"Ah," said he, "sic haste, sic haste to get back to England! Ye should +bide longer in old Scotia and learn her history and her people. I grant +ye England is a great nation, but the Scotch is the greater of the two." + +Then his enthusiasm got the better of him, and forgetting the abbey he +began to point out the beauties of the valley of the Jed, over which we +had a far-reaching view, and to recite snatches of the poetry of Burns +appropriate to the scene. I had thought that I knew a little of the +beauty and spirit of Burns, but it all seemed to take on new meaning +from the lips of the quaint old Scotsman. It was worth a journey to +Jedburgh, and a long one, to hear him recite it. Then he began to point +out the things of interest about the abbey, and so many they seemed +to him that he had difficulty in choosing which he should enlarge +upon during our short stay. He showed us the Norman doorway, the most +elaborate in the Kingdom, so remarkable that the Marquis of Lothian, +the owner of the abbey, has caused an exact duplicate to be made in the +wall near by to preserve the wonderful detail nearly obliterated in the +original. He led us among the great pillars, still intact, springing up +into the mighty arches of the nave, and pointed out the gracefulness +of the numerous windows with slender stone mullions. There are many +notable tombs, among them one with a marble effigy of the late Marquis +of Lothian, a really superb work of art, by George Frederick Watts. Nor +did he forget the odd gravestones in the churchyard with epitaphs in +quaint and halting verse, telling of the virtues of the long-forgotten +dead, of one of whom it was declared: + + "Here Lyes a Christian Bold and True, + An antipode to Babel's Creu, + A Friend to Truth, to Vice a Terrour; + A Lamp of Zeal opposing Errour. + Who fought the Battels of the Lamb, + Of Victory now Bears the Palm." + +And there is another stone with a threat as grim as that of the Bard of +Avon, for the epitaph expresses the wish that + + "Whoever Removes this + Stone + Or causes it to be + Removed + May he die the last of + All his Friends." + +The stone lies flat, above the grave, and our guide declared, + +"I had an unco hard time to get a photo of it for my book, for I did na +fancy moving it, to be sure." + +"Your book? And have you written a book?" He was off in a moment and +with almost boyish enthusiasm brought forth a neat volume, "Poetry and +Prose of Walter Laidlaw, F. S. A.," and we found on later perusal that +it has not a little of true poetic fire, of which an example or two +may not be amiss. It is not strange that one so full of patriotism and +admiration for his native Scotland should deprecate the tendency of her +people to emigrate to foreign lands, and he expostulates as follows: + + "What ails the folk? they've a' gane gyte! + They rush across the sea, + In hope to gather gear galore, + 'Way in some far countree. + + "But let them gang where'er they may, + There's no' a spot on earth + Like ancient Caledonia yet, + The land that ga'e them birth. + + "They ha'e nae grand auld Abbeys there, + Or battered castles hoary, + Or heather hills, or gow'ny glens, + That teem wi' sang and story. + + "Nae doot they've bigger rivers there, + An' broad an' shinin' lakes; + I wadna leave oor classic streams + Or burnies, for their sake. + + "The lonely cot, the bracken brae, + The bonnie milk-white thorn; + The bent frae where the lav'rock springs + To hail the dawn o' morn. + + "The thrashy syke, the broomy knowe, + The gnarled auld aik tree, + Gi'e joys that riches canna buy + In lands ayont the sea." + +But not all of his fellow-countrymen feel so about it, and numbers of +them all over the world are "gathering gear" year after year with +proverbial thriftiness, though they seldom lose their love for old +Caledonia, or forget--to quote Mr. Laidlaw again: + + "the thatched cot with ivy clad, + The hame o' boyhood's happy days. + + "Content were we with but-and-ben + A divot shiel, a broom-thatched byre; + We got our eldin frae the glen, + In winter kept a roosin' fire. + + "There my kind mother sang sae cheery + While she was spinnin' on the wheel; + The winter nights we ne'er did weary, + We liked her sangs and cracks sae weel. + + "When faither us'd oor shoon to mend, + Auld Border tales he wad relate; + Or read ben in the other end + The grave 'Night Thoughts' or 'Fourfold State.'" + +Besides the poems, the book contains several addresses and essays which +show the bent of Mr. Laidlaw's mind, among them, "Robert Burns," "Dr. +John Leyden," and "The Songs of Scotland." + +Besides his literary achievements, we learned that Mr. Laidlaw is a +Fellow of the Scotch Antiquarian Society and a recognized authority on +the antiquities of Jedburgh and vicinity. We left him with regret, +and hope that some day our wanderings may enable us to renew his +acquaintance. + +We followed the Teviot road to Kelso, a few miles away, where the +substantial and comfortable appearance of the Cross Keys induced us +to stop for the night--after an investigation by which we assured +ourselves that conditions within accorded with outward appearances, a +practice to which we had become more and more partial. + +Kelso is situated at the junction of the Teviot and the Tweed, and +is surrounded by an exceedingly picturesque country. A fine view is +afforded from the stone-arched bridge over the Tweed--westward the +Eildon Hills, beloved of Scott, are visible in the blue distance, +and, nearer at hand, the moorish facade of Floors Castle, against a +mass of somber woods. The river is greatly broadened here and the +meeting of its waters with the Teviot is celebrated in song and story. +Of Kelso Abbey little remains save the shattered central tower and +a few straggling walls. It was one of the smaller ecclesiastical +establishments of Scotland founded by David I. in 1130 and was burned +by the English during the invasion of 1545. + +Closely following the beautiful Tweed road, which for the greater part +of the distance to Coldstream keeps in full view of the river, we +re-cross the border quite early on the following morning. + + + + +XIV + +MORE YORKSHIRE WANDERINGS + + +Flodden Field lies adjacent to the road which we pursued southward +from the Tweed, but there is little now to indicate the location +of the historic battlefield. Song and story have done much to +immortalize a conflict whose results were not especially important or +far-reaching--the world knows of it chiefly through the vivid lines +of "Marmion." It is not worth while to follow our hasty flight to the +south; we are again bound for the Yorkshire moors and the distance we +must cover ere night will not admit of loitering. + +At Chillingham Castle we see the herd of native wild cattle made +famous by Landseer's picture. The keeper led us into the park within +a hundred yards of a group of animals, which have become so tame +that they took no notice of our presence. The cattle are white, with +long curving horns and black muzzles, and the purity of the stock is +carefully maintained. The herd is believed to be a direct descendant +of the wild ox of Europe, the progenitor of our domestic cattle, and +its preservation is quite analogous to the few remaining buffaloes in +America. The animals retain many peculiarities of their wild state; +one of the most remarkable of these is the habit which the young calves +have of dropping suddenly to the ground when surprised. The bulls are +often dangerous and it is related that King Edward, when Prince of +Wales, killed one of the animals, arresting with a well-aimed shot its +savage charge toward him. Evidently the present prince did not care to +repeat his father's experience, for he had been at Chillingham a few +days before and declined the opportunity offered him by the Earl of +Tankerville of slaying the king of the herd. + +"'E said 'e 'adn't time," explained the keeper with an air of disgust +that showed he looked on the prince's excuse as a mere subterfuge. + +On a former occasion we had failed to gain admittance to Alnwick +Castle, owing to a visit of the king the previous day. We were more +successful this time and were conducted through the portions usually +shown to visitors, chiefly the remaining parts of the old fortress--the +"castle good" that in early days "threatened Scotland's wastes." The +home of the warlike Percys for many generations, few castles in England +have figured more in ballad and story and few have been the center of +more stirring scenes. But the old castle is almost lost in the palace +of today, upon which the late Duke of Northumberland is said to have +expended the enormous sum of three hundred and sixty thousand pounds +sterling. The walls at present enclose an area of five acres and it +would be hard to imagine more pleasing vistas of forest and meadowland +than those which greet one from the battlements. The great park is +worthy of the castle, and taken altogether there is perhaps no finer +feudal estate in England. + +From Alnwick to Newcastle and from Newcastle to Darlington the road is +familiar; only an occasional town or village interferes with our flight +to the southward. Newcastle, with its bad approaches and crowded, +slippery streets, causes the greatest loss of time, but we make it up +on the broad, level stretch of the Great North Road to Darlington. At +Richmond we leave the lowlands and strike directly across the rough +moorland road to Leyburn in Wensleydale. + +Here in the remote Yorkshire hills is one of the most romantic bits +of England and within a comparatively small space is much of historic +interest. Shall we go to Bolton Castle, which we see off yonder, grim +and almost forbidding in the falling twilight? Its jagged towers +and broken battlements are outlined darkly against the distant +hills; indeed, in the dim light it seems almost a part of the hills +themselves. We follow the rough narrow road that dwindles almost to a +footpath as it approaches the village. Our car splashes through a +rapid, unbridged little river, climbs the steep bank, creeps through +tangled thickets, until it emerges into the main street of Castle +Bolton, if a wide grass-grown road with a few lichen-covered cottages +on either side may be dignified with the name. At the end of the +street, towering over the slate-roofed hovels about it, is the castle, +its walls in fairly good repair and three of its four original towers +still standing. The fourth crumbled and collapsed from the battering +Cromwell gave it--for even this remote fortress in the moors did not +escape the vengeance of the Protector. + +[Illustration: CASTLE BOLTON, WENSLEYDALE, YORKSHIRE.] + +Bolton Castle, nevertheless, is better preserved than the majority of +those which have been abandoned to ruin; the great entrance hall, some +of the stairways, the room of state and many chambers are still intact. +One may climb the winding stairs and from the towers look down upon the +mass of ruined grandeur--sagging and broken roofs, vacant doorways and +windows and towers whose floors have fallen away--the melancholy work +of time and weather, for these have chiefly affected the castle since +it was dismantled by its captors. One is relieved to turn from such a +scene to the narrow green valley through which the river runs and out +beyond it to the wide prospect of brown hills with gray villages and +solitary cottages. + +The history of Bolton Castle is long and varied--too long to tell in +detail. It was built in the twelfth century by Richard, the first Lord +Scrope, founder of the family, which figured so largely in the fierce +struggles of the northern border. From that time to the death of the +last representative of the family in 1630, Bolton Castle was almost +continually the center of stirring scenes. The Archbishop of York +in 1405 was a Scrope, and he preached a fiery sermon denouncing the +reigning King Henry as an usurper. The bold churchman lost his head for +his temerity, but his execution sowed the seed of the long and terrible +wars of the Roses. Nor will the reader of "Marmion" forget Scott's +reference to "Lord Scrope of Bolton, stern and stout," who with "all +Wensleydale did wend" to join the English at Flodden Field. The closing +scene came like the closing scene of many an English castle, when Col. +Scrope, the last owner, was compelled to surrender to the forces of +Parliament and the castle was dismantled. Since then it has stood stern +and lonely in the Yorkshire hills, and nearly three centuries of decay +have added to the ruin wrought by the captors. + +But there is a roselight of romance that enwraps the shattered towers +of Bolton, for does not the moorland ruin call up a thousand memories +of Mary Stuart, yet in the flower of her youth, ere long years of +imprisonment had stolen the color from her face and touched it with +the shade of melancholy that seldom left it? Here was her first prison; +she came as an unwilling guest after her ill-advised visit to Carlisle +in 1568, and remained a charge of Lord Scrope for nearly two years. +The room she occupied is large and gloomy, with but one small window +looking westward over the hills--the same window, legend declares, by +which she escaped from the castle, only to be shortly recaptured by +Lord Scrope's retainers. Her captivity at Bolton, while less rigorous +than in later years, was none the less a captivity, and while she was +allowed to go hawking, she was always under close surveillance. Very +likely she did try to escape, for in such an escapade the unhappy queen +never lacked for accomplices, even among her gaolers. But fate was ever +unkind to Mary Stuart, and though many times her fortune seemed evenly +balanced, some lack of judgment on part of herself or her followers +thwarted the plans for regaining her liberty. They tell that in leaving +Bolton in this attempt, her friends followed the river road to Leyburn +when a dash over the moors to the north might have insured success. +It all seems very real to one who stands in the gloomy apartment at +twilight and looks from the window down the steep narrow road leading +to the valley--no doubt the one Mary followed in her effort to get +out of her arch-enemy's clutches, which ended in such heart-breaking +failure. + +But it is waxing late and we will descend the same hill and follow +the same road to Leyburn. Leyburn is gray and bleak in the falling +night, with a wide bare market place paved with rough cobblestones, +shorn, alas, a few decades ago, of its fine old market cross and town +hall--in a spirit of "improvement!" The prospect for good cheer is far +from flattering, but we must stop in Leyburn perforce. The Bolton Arms +seems to promise the best, but it is full and the Golden Lion offers +the only alternative. It is a typical second-class village inn, not +overly clean. It appears more of an alehouse than hotel, for a crowd of +villagers and farmers is tippling at the bar. + +Directly across the river from Leyburn is Middleham, the old-time +capital of Wensleydale and one of the quaintest and least modernized +towns it was our good fortune to see. The drab-colored buildings +straggle up the hill upon whose crest sits Middleham Castle, grim, vast +and wholly ruinous. And after wandering through the maze of shattered +walls and tottering towers, it seemed to us that here was the very +ideal of ruined castles. We had seen many of them, but none more +awe-inspiring, none more suggestive of the power of the cataclysm which +left such fortresses, seemingly impregnable as the hills themselves, +in shapeless wreck and ruin. Here and there the ivy and wall flower +mantled the nakedness of the mouldering stone, and a stout sapling of +several years' growth had fastened its roots in the deep mould high on +one of the towers. Truly, Cromwell did his work well at Middleham. Such +a stronghold could be dealt with only by gunpowder mines, which were +responsible for the cracked and sundered walls and the shapeless masses +of stone and mortar which have never been cleared away. + +[Illustration: MIDDLEHAM CASTLE, WENSLEYDALE.] + +There are memories connected with Middleham Castle as grim as the ruin +itself; for with them is intertwined the name of Richard of Gloucester, +the hunchback whose crimes, wrought into the imperishable lines of +Shakespeare, have horrified the world. When he came here the castle +was owned by the Nevilles, and here he married Anne, the daughter of +the house, and thus became possessed of the estate. Here his only son, +for whom he committed his unspeakable crimes, was born and here his +ambitions were blasted by the boy's early death. + +But it is no task of mine to tell the story of Richard III.--only to +recall his associations with Middleham. And we noted on one of the two +ancient town crosses the rudely carved figure of a boar, the emblem of +this ruthless king. Altogether, Middleham is very unique--old-world +describes it better than any other term, perhaps. There is scarcely a +jarring note of any kind; the only thing approaching mediocrity and +seemingly much out of place, is the Victoria Jubilee Fountain. And +the customs of the town still have a savor of medievalism--bulls were +baited within the memory of living men. + +The thought that first occurs, when one learns that Jervaulx Priory +is not far from Middleham, is of Prior Aylmer and "Ivanhoe"--showing +how the creations of the Wizard of the North often take precedence in +one's mind over actual history--nay, rather have supplanted historical +knowledge altogether, for we know nothing of the history of Jervaulx +and will not take the pains to learn. It is enough to wander through +its grounds, now kept with all possible care and neatness--every +moss-grown stone replaced as nearly as possible in its original +position and every detail of the abbey marked with exactness on the +sward--and to know that the old story of monastic poverty, pomp and +downfall has been repeated here. It is near the roadside and though +private property, one may easily gain access by application at the +keeper's cottage. The ruins are scanty indeed--little more than mere +outlines of the abbey church and monastery and a few isolated columns +and fragments of wall is to be seen--but the landscape gardener has +come to the rescue and out of the scattered fragments has wrought an +harmonious and pleasing effect. The situation is one of surpassing +loveliness, just at the foot of the hills on the river Ure, which +rushes between almost precipitous banks, over which its tributaries +fall in glittering cascades. The soft summer air is murmurous with +their music and the song of birds. There is no one but ourselves on the +ground; no guide is with us to drone over prosaic history and to point +out nave and transept--and this and that. As we wander almost dreamily +about, we come very near to the spirit of monastic days. It is easy to +imagine the old-time state of the abbey under Prior Aylmer, "when the +good fathers of Jervaulx drank sweet wines and lived on the fat of the +land." Even in that halcyon time it is doubtful if the surroundings +were half so lovely as today. + +But we have mused long enough at Jervaulx--"Jervo," as the railway +company officially declares it; "Jarvey," as the natives perversely +term it. The day is still young and an uninterrupted run over the +winding moorland road brings us to Ripon before noon. The low +square-topped towers of the cathedral break on our view as we descend +the hill to the Ure, upon whose banks Ripon sits. + +Ripon Cathedral is well-nigh forgotten by pilgrims who would see the +great Yorkshire churches--so far is it surpassed by York Minster +and Beverley. But after all, it is an imposing church and of great +antiquity, for a monastery was established on the present site in the +seventh century and St. Wilfred, the famous Archbishop of York, built +the minster. Of this ancient building the crypt still remains, and to +see it we followed the verger down a steep, narrow flight of stairs +into a series of dungeonlike apartments beneath the forward end of the +nave. + +Perhaps the most curious relic is St. Wilfred's Needle, a small window +in the thick wall of the crypt, and various merits have been attributed +to anyone who could pass through it. In old days this was proof of +innocence against any charge of crime; but just now the young woman +who can perform the somewhat acrobatic feat will be married within a +year--rather a discrimination against the more buxom maidens. + +About four hundred years after the founding of the Saxon monastery, +the present church was built; but it was not until 1836 that it was +elevated to the rank of a cathedral. Like York Minster, Ripon is +singularly devoid of tombs of famous men, though there are many fine +monuments and brasses to the noble families of the vicinity. The +architecture is strangely mixed, owing to the many alterations that +have been made from time to time. The exterior must have been far more +imposing before the removal of the wooden spires which rose above the +towers. Ripon is a quiet, old-world market town, progressive in its +way, but having little resource other than the rich agricultural +country around it. There are many quaint streets and odd corners that +attract the lover of such things. A queer relic of the olden days that +arouses the curiosity of the visitor is the blowing of a horn at nine +in the evening before the town cross by the constable. The sojourner +will not be at a loss for comfortable entertainment, since the Unicorn +Hotel fulfills the best traditions of English inns. + +To come within hailing distance of York means that we cannot remain +away from that charming old city; and the early afternoon finds us +passing Bootham Bar. The rest of the day we give to a detailed study of +the minster--our fourth visit, nor are we weary of York Minster yet. + +Pontefract--the Pomfret of olden time--lies about twenty miles +southwest of York. Its very name takes us back to Roman times--Pontem +Fractem, the place of the broken bridge. It is a town that figured much +in early English history and its grim old castle may hold the mystery +of the death of King Richard II. We came here under lowering skies, +and passing the partly ruined church, climbed the steep hill where the +castle--or rather the scanty remnant of it--still stands. Verily, "ruin +greenly dwells" about the old fortress of Pontefract; the walls were +laden heavily with ivy, the greensward covered the floor of the keep, +and the courtyard has been converted into a public garden. There is so +little left that it would require a vivid imagination to reconstruct +the strong and lordly fortress, which endured no fewer than three +sieges during the civil war. The first resulted disastrously to the +Parliamentary forces and the second was successful only after a long +period and very heavy losses, and even then the garrison was given the +honors of the war; yet after all this strenuous work, the castle was +again lost to the Royalists through a trifling bit of strategy. + +The commander became so negligent through a false sense of security +that a handful of adventurers gained admission to the castle, and +driving out the few soldiers who happened to be inside--most of the +garrison was quartered in the town--possessed themselves of the +fortress. A third siege was thus made necessary and such was the +strength of the castle that nearly a year elapsed before it finally +fell--holding out for some time after Charles was beheaded. Even then, +favorable terms were again granted to the defenders, though Col. +Morris, who devised the successful capture, and five others, were +specifically excepted from the amnesty. Much to the disgust of the +captors, Morris escaped for the time, though a little later he was +taken and hanged at York. Thus ended the active history of Pontefract +Castle, but it was considered dangerous to the Commonwealth and was +almost completely razed, the walls being mined with gunpowder. + +[Illustration: RUINS OF PONTEFRACT CASTLE.] + +Pontefract was undoubtedly the prison to which the Duke of Lancaster +consigned King Richard II., + + "That disastrous king on whom + Fate, like a tempest, early fell, + And the dark secret of whose doom + The keep of Pomfret kept full well." + +And yet it is not certain that Richard perished while a prisoner in +the castle. A tradition exists that he escaped and lived many years an +humble peasant. Pontefract was a very storm center in the wars of the +Roses, for almost within sight of its towers was fought the battle of +Towton Moor, the bloodiest conflict that ever took place on English +soil. + +But it would take a volume to record the vicissitudes that have +befallen the mouldering ruin at our feet. The rain is falling more +heavily; let us on to Wakefield, whose spire we might easily see were +it not for the gray veil which hides the landscape. For Wakefield +spire is the loftiest in Yorkshire--a slender, pointed shaft rising +to a height of two hundred and forty-seven feet over a much altered +church that was elevated to the rank of cathedral in 1888. As it now +stands, the interior is chiefly Perpendicular, though there are many +touches of the Decorated and Early English styles. It is characterized +by grace and lightness, giving an altogether pleasing effect. The +windows exhibit as fine modern glass as we saw in the Kingdom, and go +far to prove that the disrepute into which modern glass has fallen is +largely due to lack of artistic taste and a desire for cheapness. Such +windows as those at Wakefield are far from a reproach on the art of the +stained-glass maker. So much has the church been restored and added to +that it gives as a whole an impression of newness that seems strange in +an English cathedral--for there has been no cathedral built in England +since St. Paul's, more than two hundred years ago. + +When we come to Barnsley, a few miles to the south, the rain, which has +gradually increased, is falling in torrents, and we resolve to take +respite from the cold and damp for our belated luncheon. We seek out +the King's Head, for an English friend has told us that twenty-five +years ago this hotel was famous for the best mutton chop in England. +Traditions never die in Britain, and we doubt not the King's Head +still retains its proud distinction. It does not, however, present an +especially attractive appearance; it is rather dingy and time-worn, but +any place might seem a little dreary on such a day. Yes, the King's +Head still serves the Barnsley chop, and we will have it, though we +must wait a half hour for it. And the recollection of the luncheon +comes like a gleam of sunshine into a dark, rainy day, and effaces all +memory of the first unfavorable impression of the King's Head. + +A Barnsley chop defies all description; its mighty dimensions might be +given, its juicy tenderness might be descanted upon; all the language +at the epicure's command might be called into action, and yet, after +all, only he who has actually eaten a Barnsley chop would have an +adequate idea of its savory excellence. O, yes! They imitate it at +other hotels, both in and out of Barnsley, so said the manageress, but +after all, the King's Head alone can prepare the original and only +Barnsley chop; it alone has devised the peculiar process whereby the +truly wonderful result is obtained. Verily, after eating it we sallied +forth into the driving rain feeling something of the spirit of the +ancient Roman who declared, "Fate cannot harm me--I have dined today." + +Three or four miles out of Barnsley on a byway off the Doncaster road +is the village of Darfield, whose church illustrates the interest one +may so often find in out-of-the-way spots in England. Thither we drove +through the heavy rain, and as we stopped in front of the church at +the end of the village street, a few of the natives who happened to be +abroad paused under dripping umbrellas to stare at us. I do not wonder +at their astonishment, for from their point of view persons motoring +in search of old churches on such a day might well have their sanity +questioned. + +The ceiling is painted blue, with stars and feathery clouds--clearly a +representation of the heavens--and it seemed an age since we had seen +them, too. There are many elaborate carvings; the massive Jacobean +cover over the baptismal font, the fine black-oak bench-ends of the +seventeenth century, and a splendid coffer in the vestry, are all +treasures worthy of notice. A Bible with heavy wooden covers is chained +to a solid oaken stand--suggestive of the days when a man's piety might +lead him to steal the rare copies of the Scripture. A beautifully +wrought though scarred and dilapidated alabaster tomb has recumbent +figures of a knight and his lady in costumes of the time of Richard +II., and another tomb bears some very quaint devices, among them an owl +with a crown upon its head. + +It is our third visit to Doncaster, and the giant church tower has +become a familiar object. Its very stateliness is exaggerated by the +dead level of the town and today it rises dim and vast against the +leaden, rain-swept sky, but though it is easily the most conspicuous +object in the town, the fine old church does not constitute Doncaster's +chief claim to fame. Here is the horse-racing center of Yorkshire, and +on its "Leger Day" it is probably the liveliest town in England. The +car shops of the Great Northern Railway keep it quietly busy for the +rest of the year. But as the racing center of a horse-loving shire, it +would be strange if it had not acquired during the ages a reputation +for conviviality. That it had such a reputation a century or more ago +is evidenced by the example of its mayor, set forth by a ballad-maker +of the period: + + "The Doncaster mayor he sits in his chair, + His mills they merrily go; + His nose doth shine with drinking wine, + And the gout is in his great toe." + +We pass on to the southward and pause in the main street of the +quiet village of Scrooby, just on the Yorkshire border, where good +authorities insist the idea of American colonization was first +conceived. Here Elder Brewster, one of the chief founders of the +Plymouth Colony, was born in 1567, and here he passed his boyhood days. +The manor-house where he lived and where he met Rev. John Robinson and +William Bradford is no longer standing; but it is not unreasonable +to suppose that the plan of leaving England for the new world may +have been consummated here by these earnest men, who held themselves +persecuted for righteousness' sake. After varied fortunes they sailed +on the Mayflower in 1620. + +We are now leaving old Yorkshire with its waste moorlands, its wide, +fertile valleys, its narrow, picturesque dales, its quaint old towns +and modern cities, its castles and abbeys, and, more than all, its +associations of the past which reach out even to the shores of our +native land, and we leave it with the keenest regret. It has fallen +to us as it has to few to traverse the highways and byways of every +section of the great county, and I can but be sensible as to how +feebly my pages reflect the things that charmed us. If an American and +a stranger is so impressed, how must the native Englishman feel when +wandering among these memorials of the past? I cannot close my chapter +more fitly than to quote the words of one who in poetic phrase has +written much of Yorkshire and its history: + +"But any man will spend a month in wandering round Yorkshire, with +ears awake to all the great voices of the past, and eyes open to the +beauty which is so peculiarly English, he will find the patriotic +passion roused again, real and living; and thenceforth the rivers and +the glaciers of other lands will be to him no more than the parks +and palaces of other men compared with the white gateway and the low +veranda which speaks to him of home." + + + + +XV + +ROUND ABOUT WILTSHIRE + + +Our run from Nottingham to Oxford was uneventful, for we roved rather +at random for the day through the delightful Midland country. At +Nottingham one will find the Victoria is quite up to the standard of +station-hotel excellence in England and the rates refreshingly low. +The city itself will not detain one long, for the great wave of modern +progress that has inundated it has swept away most of its ancient +landmarks. The old castle, once the key to the Northlands, has been +superseded by a palatial structure which now serves as museum and art +gallery. Unless one would see factories, machine shops and lace-making +works, there will be little to keep him in Nottingham. + +We follow the well-surfaced road to the southeast, and though steep +in places, its hills afford splendid views of the landscape. The rain +interferes much with the prospect, but in the lulls we catch glimpses +of long reaches of meadowland dotted with solitary trees, rich with the +emerald greenness that follows summer rain in England. + +Melton Mowbray has a proud distinction, for does not the infallible +Baedeker accord it the honor of being the "hunting capital of the +Midlands?" And the assertion that it is famous for its pork pies very +appropriately follows, a matter of cause and effect, perhaps, for the +horde of hungry huntsmen who congregate in the town would hardly be +satisfied with anything less substantial than an English pork pie. +Melton Mowbray has a competitor in Market Harborough, some twenty miles +farther, where we stopped for luncheon at a pleasant wayside inn. +Each of these towns has a population of about seven thousand, chiefly +dependent upon the hunting industry--if I may use such a term--and +certain it is that fox hunting is about the only vocation toward which +many of the Midland squires are at all industriously inclined. One is +simply astounded at the hold the sport has in England and the amount +of time and money devoted to it; a leading authority estimates that +not less than nine million pounds is spent yearly by the hunters. In a +summer tour one sees comparatively little of it, but in the autumn and +winter these towns doubtless exhibit great activity, and their streets, +crowded with red-coated huntsmen and packs of yelping dogs, must be +decidedly picturesque. + +From Market Harborough a straight, narrow road carried us swiftly +southward toward Northampton and we passed through the Bringtons, +of whose memories of the Washingtons I have written in an earlier +chapter. The rain, which had been falling fitfully during the day, +ceased and the sun came out with a brilliancy that completely +transformed the landscape. All about us was the dense green of the +trees and meadowlands, bejeweled with sparkling raindrops and dashed +with the gold of the ripening grain, stretching away until lost in the +purple mist of the distance. Even the roadside pools glowed crimson +and gold, and altogether the scene was one of transcendent beauty and +freshness. It was exhilarating indeed as our open car swept over the +fine Oxford road, passing through the ancient towns of Towcester, +Buckingham and Bicester. There is no more beautiful or fertile country +in the Island than that around Oxford, and it was a welcome change to +see it basking in the sunshine after our dull days on the Yorkshire +moors. + +One never wearies of Oxford, and the Randolph Hotel is worth a run of +many miles to reach at nightfall. Aristocratic, spacious and quiet, +with an indefinable atmosphere of the great universities about it, it +appeals to both the bodily and aesthetic senses of the wayfarer--but +Oxford, with all its interest and charm, has no place in this +chronicle, and we leave it, however loath, in the early morning. We +hasten over the Berkshire Hills through Abingdon into Wiltshire, where +there is much to engage our attention. + +Swindon, the first town we encounter after passing the border, is an +up-to-date city of fifty thousand people and the newness everywhere +apparent, the asphalt pavement and the numerous tram lines impress +one with its similarity to live American towns. We learn that it is +practically a creation of the Great Western Railway, whose shops give +employment to a large proportion of the population. Clearly, there is +nothing for us in Swindon and we hasten on to Chippenham, which has +the traditions which Swindon so wofully lacks. It is a staid old town +of six thousand and was important in Saxon times, having frequent +mention in the chronicles of Alfred's wars with the Danes. Strange +indeed the mutations of time--strange it seems that the now decadent +and negligible Denmark once sent her "fair-haired despots of the sea" +into this remote section of the present mistress of the seas. The town +is full of odd old houses and it is the center of one of the most +interesting spots in England, as I hope to be able to show. But its +hotel would hardly invite a long sojourn; we stop for luncheon at the +Angel, and are placed at a large table with several rather red-faced +gentlemen who discuss horses and hunting dogs as vigorously as a lively +onslaught on the host's vintage and good cheer permits. + +Lacock is only four miles away and they tell us that we should see +the abbey; but they do not tell us that the village itself is worth a +day's journey and that the abbey is only secondary. They do not tell us +this, because no one about Lacock knows it. The utter unconsciousness +and genuineness of the village is not its least charm. Lacock never +dreams of being a show place or tourist resort; but despite its +unconsciousness, anyone who has seen England as we have seen it will +know that Lacock is not easily matched for its wealth of old stone +and timber houses and its quaint, genuine antiquity. It is perhaps a +trifle severe and its picturesqueness is of a melancholy and somber +kind--thatched roofs are few, ivy-clad walls and flower gardens are +wanting; there is little color save an occasional red roof to relieve +the all-pervading gray monotone. Its timbered houses are not the +imitations one sees so often, even in England, or the modernized old +buildings shining in black and white paint, but the genuine article, +with weathered oak timbers and lichen-covered brick. There are many +projecting upper stories and sharp gables with casement windows of +diamond panes set in rusty iron frames. The Lacock of today is truly +a voice from the past. It must have been practically the same two or +three hundred years ago. Its houses, its streets, its church and its +very atmosphere carry one back to the England of Shakespeare. + +Such a village seems a fitting introduction to the abbey at whose gates +it sits; and the abbey itself, gray and ancient like the village, is +one of the most perfect monastic buildings in England. Nowhere else did +we see what seemed to us a more appropriate home for romance than this +great rambling pile of towered and gabled buildings, with a hundred odd +nooks and corners, each of which might well have a story of its own. +It is opened freely to visitors by its owner, Mr. Talbot, himself an +antiquarian of note, who is glad to share his unbounded delight in the +old place with anyone who may care to come. We were shown in detail +the parts of the abbey that have a special historic and architectural +interest. It is guarded carefully and the atmosphere of antiquity +jealously preserved. Even the stone steps of the main entrance are +grass-grown and moss-covered--"and he wont let us clean them up," said +our guide. + +Inside there are many fine apartments and notable relics. The arched +cloisters, the chapter house, the refectory and other haunts of the +nuns, are in quite the original state. The immense stone fishtank from +a solid block sixteen feet long and the great bronze cauldron show that +good cheer was quite as acceptable to the nuns as to their brethren. +But the exterior of the abbey and the beautiful grounds surrounding +it impressed us most. All about were splendid trees and plots of +shrubbery, and the Bristol Avon flows through the park. We heard what +we thought the rush of its waters, but our guide told us that it was +the quaking aspens which fringe the river banks, keeping up their +age-long sigh that their species had supplied the wood for the cross. +No day is so still that you do not hear them in summer time. We passed +around the building to note from different viewpoints its quaint +outlines and its great rambling facades with crowded, queerly assorted +gables, battlemented towers and turrets, and mysterious corners, all +combining to make it the very ideal of the abbey of romance. How easy, +when contemplating it in the dim twilight or by the light of a full +moon, for the imagination to re-people it with its old-time habitants; +and surely, if the ghosts of the gray nuns ever return to their earthly +haunts, Lacock Abbey must have such visitants. + +[Illustration: LACOCK ABBEY.] + +But enough of these vagaries--one might yield himself up to them for +days in such surroundings. I will not mar them with sober history, in +any event, though Lacock has quite enough of that. The guide-book which +you may get at the abbey lodge for two-pence tells its story and I have +tried to tell only what we saw and felt. + +At the postcard shop, where we buy a few pictures and souvenirs of +Lacock, the young woman tells us of other Wiltshire nooks that we +should see. Do we know of Sloperton Cottage, of Bromham Church, of +Corsham, of Yatton Keynell and Castle Combe? These are only a few, in +fact, but they are the ones that strike our fancy most and we thank +our informant, who follows us to point out the roads. And never had +we more need of such assistance, for our search for Sloperton Cottage +involves us in a maze of unmarked byways that wind between tall hedges +and overarching trees. + +And what of Sloperton Cottage? Are you, dear reader, so ignorant as we +were, not to know that Tom Moore, the darling poet of Erin, lived in +Sloperton Cottage with his beloved Bessie for a third of a century and +that both are buried at Bromham Church near at hand? One had surely +thought to find his grave in the "ould sod" rather than in the very +heart of rural England; but so it is; and after much inquiry we enter +the lonely lane that leads to Sloperton Cottage and pause before the +long low building, heavily mantled with ivy and roses, though almost +hidden from the road by the tall hedge in front. We had been told that +it is the private home of two ladies, sisters of the owner, and we have +no thought of intruding in such a case--but a neat maid appears at the +gateway as we look, no doubt rather longingly, at the house. + +"Miss ----," said she, "would be pleased to have you come in and see +the cottage." + +Here is unexpected good fortune, and coming voluntarily to us, we +feel free to accept the invitation. We see the cottage and gardens, +which are much the same as when occupied by the poet, though some of +the furniture has been replaced. The garden to the rear, sweet with +old-fashioned flowers, we are told was a favorite resort of the author +of "Lalla Rookh" and that he composed much of his verse here, lying +on his back and gazing at the sky through over-arching branches. The +cottage is quite unpretentious and the whole place is so cozy and +secluded as to be an ideal retreat for the muses, and as an English +writer has observed: + +"It would be an unfeeling person who could stand today before this +leafy cottage, so snugly tucked away by a shady Wiltshire lane, without +some stirring of the pulse, if only for the sake of the melodies. +If they are not great, they are the most felicitous and feeling +English verse, taken as a whole, ever set to music, and are certainly +world-famous and probably immortal. No one would wish to submit "Dear +Harp of My Country" or "Oft in the Stilly Night" to the cold light +of poetic criticism. But when the conscientious expert has finished +with "Lalla Rookh" and the "Loves of the Angels" and consigned them to +oblivion, he goes into another chamber, so to speak, and relaxes into +unrestrained praise of the melodies." + +Moore must have written much of the "melodies" at Sloperton Cottage, +but before he came here his fame had been made by his oriental poems, +whose music and glitter caused them to be greatly over-estimated at +the time. As we take our leave and thank the ladies for the courtesy, +we are told that the cottage is to let and that we may so inform any +of our friends. We do so herewith and can add our unqualified personal +indorsement of Sloperton Cottage. + +Bromham Church, one of the most graceful of the country churches we +have seen, is near at hand. It stands against a background of fine +trees with a hedge-surmounted stone wall in front. It is mainly in +the Perpendicular style and a slender spire rises from its square +battlemented tower. The stained windows are very large, each with many +tall upright stone mullions; one is a memorial to the poet and another +to his wife, whose memory still lingers as one of the best-loved +women of the countryside. She survived the poet, who died in 1852, by +fourteen years. They lie buried just outside the north wall of the +church. The grave is marked by a tall Celtic cross, only recently +erected, and the occasion was observed by a gathering of distinguished +Irishmen in honor of the memory of their poet. On the pedestal of +the cross is graven a verse which truly gives Moore's best claim to +remembrance: + + "Dear Harp of my Country, in darkness I found thee, + The cold chain of silence had hung o'er thee long; + When proudly, my own Island Harp, I unbound thee, + And gave all thy chords to light, freedom and song." + +And indeed it is the harp of his country that is now heard, and not his +labored oriental poems. + +[Illustration: BROMHAM CHURCH, BURIAL PLACE OF THOMAS MOORE.] + +It is a very quiet, retired country lane that we followed to Corsham, +famous for the stately seat of Lord Metheun. Corsham Court is an +Elizabethan mansion of vast extent which has many noted pictures in +its galleries, among them "Charles I. on Horseback," which is counted +the masterpiece of Van Dyck. Near the park entrance is the almshouse, +with its timeworn gables of yellow stone against the dull red of the +tile roofing. Just inside is the chapel, always present in early +English buildings, a fine Jacobean room with a double-deck pulpit and +a gallery behind an intricately carved oaken screen. One finds these +almshouses in many of the older English towns. They were founded some +centuries ago by charitably inclined persons who left legacies for the +purpose, and are maintained for a limited number of old people--women +at Corsham--who are admitted under certain carefully specified +conditions. Each inmate has a small, fairly comfortable room and +usually a little garden plot. We saw such houses at Coventry, Campden +and Corsham--all substantially built and unique in their architecture. +St. Cross at Winchester and Leicester's Hospital at Warwick are similar +institutions. There is always a long waiting-list of applicants for the +charity. + +At the queer little village of Yatton Keynell, as odd and uncouth +as its name, we found another of the melancholy instances so common +in England of the degeneration of a fine manor into a slovenly farm +tenement. We drove into the ill-kept farmyard and picked our way +carefully through the debris to the front entrance, a solid oaken +door under a curious little porch. The house is a good example of the +substantial mansion of the old-time English squire, and though still +quite extensive, is of only half its original size. It has a solid oak +staircase and many touches of its old-time beauty remain. While it has +no history or tradition, it is worthy a visit from anyone interested +in English domestic architecture and in a rather melancholy phase of +social conditions. + +A combe, in west of England parlance, is a deep, ravinelike valley. +Such a description certainly fits the site of Castle Combe, surely +one of the loveliest villages in Wiltshire, or all of England, for that +matter. We carefully descended a steep, narrow road winding through +the trees that cover the sharply rising hillsides, and paused before +the queer old market cross of the little town. Nowhere did we find +a more perfect and secluded gem of rural England. The market cross, +whose quadrangular roof of tile, with a tall slender shaft rising from +the center, is supported on four heavy stone pillars, looks as if it +had scarce been touched in the four hundred years during which it +has weathered sun and rain. Near by is the solid little church with +pinnacled and embattled tower, still more ancient. Along shady lanes +leading from the market place are cozy thatched cottages, bright with +climbing roses and ivy, and others of gray stone seem quite as bleak as +the cross itself. Nothing could be more picturesque than the gateway +to the adjoining park--the thatched roof of the lodgekeeper's house +sagging from the weight of several centuries. On either side of the +village rise the steep, heavily wooded hills and from the foot of the +glen comes up the murmur of the stream. Verily, there is an unknown +England--the guide-books have nothing of Castle Combe, and unless +the wayfarer comes upon it like ourselves, he will miss one of the +most charming bits of old-world life in the Kingdom. And it is all +unconscious of its charm; excepting an occasional incursion of English +trippers, visitors are few. + +[Illustration: CASTLE COMBE VILLAGE, WILTSHIRE.] + +The road out of the valley runs along the wooded glen, by the swift +stream just below, until a sharp rise brings us to the up-lands, where +we enter the main Bath road. And we are glad that the close of our +day's wanderings finds us so close to Bath, for we may be sure of +comfort at the Empire--though we may expect to pay for it--and we have +stopped here often enough to form the acquaintance so helpful to one in +the average English hotel. Bath is in Somerset, but the next morning we +recross the border and resume our pilgrimage in Wiltshire. + +How lightly the rarest antiquities were valued in England until +yesterday is shown by the remarkable history of the Saxon chapel at +Bradford-on-Avon. This tiny church, believed to be the oldest in +England, was completely lost among the surrounding buildings; as the +discoverer, Rev. Laurence Jones, says: "Hemmed in on every side by +buildings of one kind or another, on the north by a large shed employed +for the purposes of the neighbouring woolen manufactory; on the south +by a coach-house and stables which hid the south side of the chancel, +and by a modern house built against the same side of the nave; on the +east by what was formerly, as Leland tells us, 'a very fair house of +the building of one Horton, a rich clothier,' the western gable of +which was within a very few feet of it, and hid it completely from the +general view--the design and nature of the building entirely escaped +the notice of the archaeologist." + +About 1865 Rev. Jones, then Vicar of Bradford, was led to his +investigations by the accidental discovery of stone figures, evidently +rude Saxon carvings, during some repairs to the school-room. From this +beginning the building was gradually disentangled from the surrounding +structures; excavations were made and many old carvings unearthed, and +in short the chapel began to assume its present shape. The history of +the church is of course very obscure, though Rev. Jones with great +ingenuity and research shows that there is good reason to believe that +it was founded by St. Aldhelm, who died in 709. If this be true, the +chapel is twelve hundred years old and contests in antiquity with St. +Augustine's of Canterbury. + +Architecturally, the little church is the plainest possible--it +comprises a tiny entrance porch, nave and chancel. The most remarkable +feature of the nave is its great height as compared with its other +dimensions, being the same as its length, or about twenty-five feet. +The doors are very narrow, barely wide enough for one person at a time, +and windows mere slits through which the sunlight struggled rather +weakly with the gloom of the interior. The chapel is a regularly +constituted Church of England and services are held in it once a year. +With all its crudeness, it serves as one of the milestones of the +progress of a new order of things in Britain, and a space of only three +centuries separates this poor little structure from the cathedrals! + +The youth who acted as guide led us into his cottage near at hand +when we asked for picture cards of the chapel. His eyes brightened +noticeably when he learned we were from America. "Ah," said he, "I am +going there next spring; my brother is already there and doing well. +Do you know that more than a hundred people have gone from Bradford to +America in the past year? And more are going. There is no chance for +a common man in England." No chance for a common man in England!--How +often we heard words to that effect during our pilgrimage. + +Bradford has another unique relic in the "tithe barn" built in 1300, +a long low structure with enormously thick, heavily buttressed walls +and ponderous roof--solid oaken timbers overlaid with stone slabs. Its +capacious dimensions speak eloquently of the tribute the monks were +able to levy in the good old days, for here the people who could not +contribute money brought their offerings in kind and the holy fathers +were apparently well prepared to receive and care for anything of +value. Today it serves as a cow-barn for a nearby farmer. + +We leave Bradford-on-Avon for Marlborough over a fine though rather +undulating road. We pause at Devizes to read the astonishing +inscription on the town cross: + +"The mayor and corporation of Devizes avail themselves of the stability +of this building to transmit to future times the record of an awful +event which occurred in this market place in the year 1753, hoping +that such record may serve as a salutary warning against the danger of +impiously invoking Divine vengeance or calling on the holy name of God +to conceal the devices of falsehood and fraud. On Thursday, the 17th +of January 1753, Ruth Pierce of Pottern in this county agreed with +three other women to buy a sack of wheat in the market, each paying +her due proportion towards the same. One of these women collecting the +several quotas of money, discovered a deficiency and demanded of Ruth +Pierce what was wanting to make good the amount. Ruth Pierce protested +that she had paid her share and said she wished she might drop down +dead if she had not. She rashly repeated this awful wish, when, to the +consternation and terror of the surrounding multitude, she instantly +fell down and expired, having the money concealed in her hand." + +Surely the citizens of Devizes, with such a warning staring them +in the face every day, must be exemplary disciples of George +Washington--and what a discouraging place the town would be for the +headquarters of an American trust! + +The town gets its name from having been a division camp back in Roman +days. It figured much in the civil war, its castle, of which no traces +now remain, holding out for the king until taken by Cromwell in person. +There are in the town two of the finest churches in Wiltshire, second +only to Salisbury Cathedral. Nor is it to be forgotten that the parents +of Sir Thomas Lawrence were at one time keepers of the Bear Inn at +Devizes, and the son acquired his first fame by sketching the guests +and reciting poetry to them. He lived here until eighteen years of age, +when he entered the Royal Academy at London. + +It was a surprise to find at Avebury, a lonely village a few miles +farther on, relics of a pre-historic stone circle that completely dwarf +the giants of Stonehenge. This great circle was about three-quarters +of a mile in circumference and three hundred years ago was nearly +perfect. The mighty relics were destroyed by the unsentimental vandals +of the neighborhood, and it is said that most of the cottages in the +village were built from these stones. Some of them were buried to +clear the land of them! Barely a dozen remain of more than six hundred +monoliths that stood in the circle as late as the reign of Elizabeth; +and the destruction ceased only fifty years ago. The stones are ruder +and less symmetrical than those of Stonehenge, but their individual +bulk averages greater--mighty fragments of rock weighing from fifty to +sixty tons each. The Avebury circle is supposed to have been a temple +of prehistoric sun worshipers, but its crudity indicates that it is far +older than Stonehenge. + +A short run across the downs soon brought us to Marlborough, a name +more familiar as that of a dukedom than of a town. But the Duke of +Marlborough lives at Blenheim, forty miles away, and has no connection +with the Wiltshire town. Its vicissitudes were those of almost any of +the older English towns, though it had the rare distinction of having +its castle destroyed before the time of Cromwell. It has little of +great antiquity, since a fire two hundred and fifty years ago totally +wiped out the town that then existed. In the coaching days, it was an +important point on the London and Bath road; and perhaps the motor car +may bring back something of its old-time prosperity. The Ailesbury +Arms, where we stopped for our belated lunch, appeared to be a most +excellent hotel and is the only one I recollect which had a colored man +in uniform at the door. + +Immediately adjoining Marlborough is Savernake Forest, on the estate +of the Marquis of Ailesbury, which is said to be the only forest of +any extent possessed by a subject. This park is sixteen miles in +circumference, and its chief glory is a straight four-mile drive +between rows of enormous beeches. This splendid avenue is not "closed +to motors" (the inscription that greeted us at the entrance of so many +private parks), and our car carried us soberly enough through the +sylvan scene, which is diversified with many grassy glades. There are +several famous trees, one of which, the King's Oak, is twenty-four +feet in circumference. Savernake is pleasant and impressive in summer +time, but its real beauty must be most apparent in autumn, when, as an +English writer describes it, "it is a blaze of crimson and yellow--the +long shadows and golden sunlight giving the scene a painted, almost too +brilliant effect." + +It is growing late and we must not loiter longer by the way if we are +to reach Bournemouth for the night. We sweep across the great open +Salisbury Plain past Stonehenge and down the sweet vale of the Avon +until the majestic spire of Salisbury pierces the sky. Then southward +through Ringwood to Christchurch, where we catch a glimpse of the scant +fragments of the castle and the abbey church, with its melancholy +memorial to Shelley. A few minutes more on the fine ocean road brings +us into Bournemouth. + + + + +XVI + +DORSET AND THE ISLE OF WIGHT + + +Of the hundreds of hotels whose hospitality we enjoyed--or endured--in +Britain, no other was so barbarously gorgeous as the Royal Bath at +Bournemouth. The furnishings were rich, though verging to some extent +on the gaudy, and the whole place had an air of oriental splendor about +it made the more realistic by "fairy grottoes" and gilded pagodas on +the grounds. It is a rather low building of great extent, with wide, +thickly carpeted halls in which bronze and plaster statuettes and +suits of old plate armor are displayed. At the head of the stairs a +tablet enumerates a few of the patrons of quality--an imposing list +indeed--which we may partly transcribe here. The large gilt letters +solemnly assure us that "This Hotel has been patronised by H. R. H. +the PRINCE OF WALES, H. R. H. the DUCHESS OF ALBANY, and other Members +of the ROYAL FAMILY: H. I. H. the EMPRESS EUGENIE, H. M. the KING OF +THE BELGIANS, H. R. H. CROWN PRINCE OF SWEDEN and NORWAY, H. R. H. +the CROWN PRINCESS OF DENMARK, H. R. H. PRINCE ALBRECHT OF PRUSSIA, +Regent of Brunswick; the Leading Statesmen, and the most Eminent and +Distinguished Personages visiting Bournemouth." Verily a list of +notables that might well overawe a common American citizen. + +But after all, the pretensions of the Royal Bath are not altogether +unwarranted, for its foundation, in 1838, marked the beginning +of Bournemouth itself. It is since then that this handsome +watering-place--it has no superior in the Kingdom--has come into +existence. In few other modern resort towns has the original idea been +so well carried out. The pine trees planted by the early promoters +now form a grove through which runs the magnificent promenade along +the sea. The citizens are mainly of the wealthier class and there are +many fine private residences. There are, of course, the usual adjuncts +of the watering-place, such as the amusement pier, promenades, public +gardens and palatial hotels. The climate, which is as salubrious +as that of Torquay, brings to the town many people seeking health. +Bournemouth, of course, has little of history or tradition. In the +churchyard surrounding its imposing modern church is buried Mary +Wollstonecraft Shelley and her parents, William and Mary Godwin. + +I have not intended to intimate that the Royal Bath, with all its +splendor, is anything but comfortable and first-class. Our tall +casement windows opened directly on the sea, and the high ceilings of +our room were decorated with plaster bosses and stencilled festoons +of roses. The view at sunset over the terrace, down the sandy beach +and sweeping over the sail-flecked waters, was at once restful and +inspiring. The crowd thronging the promenades was in a gay, careless +mood; children played in the sand in unrestrained joy, while the many +colored lights on the pier and the lanterns of the boats gave a touch +of brilliancy to the scene. It all seemed to strangely contrast with +the spirit of the England we were most familiar with, for Bournemouth +belongs to another day and generation than the England of our +pilgrimage. + +The Isle of Purbeck is no island at all--even as the "Isles," Athelney +and Avilion, in no wise fulfill the geographical requirements of +islands. It is a small peninsula of Southern Dorset, and at its very +center stands one of the most remarkable of the English castles. +Thither we go, following the coast from Bournemouth through the somber +little town of Wareham; from thence southward over heather-mottled +hills, and ere long we catch sight of the gigantic mound upon which are +the straggling fragments of Corfe Castle. Before the castle gate stands +Corfe village, a group of plain cottages, seemingly as ancient as the +ruin overlooking them. All are mellowed by the touch of time; there is +naught to mar the harmony of the dull silver grays and moss greens of +the cottages, the solid old church or of the ruins which tower in sharp +outline against a pale, blue sky. + +The entrance to the castle court is well above the roofs of the +cottages and is severed from the village by a deep fosse crossed by a +high-arched stone bridge. The gate is flanked by two huge round towers, +but from the inside one sees the castle proper, perched on the summit +of the mound, its very foundation stones high above the gate towers. +Standing among the stupendous ruins we realize the amazing strength the +castle possessed, both in construction and position. Huge fragments of +walls and towers rise above us like thunder-riven cliffs, their bald +outlines softened in places by the clinging ivy. Here and there masses +of fallen masonry are lying about like boulders, so solidly does the +mass cling together. So ruinous are the walls that it is difficult +to identify the different apartments, and even the antiquarians have +trouble in restoring the original plan of the castle. The keep itself, +generally intact, is shattered, one fragment, almost the entire height +of the structure, standing curiously like a huge chimney. Clearly +enough, an explosive was the agent of destruction here--Corfe Castle +was razed with gunpowder by express order of Cromwell's Parliament. + +[Illustration: CORFE VILLAGE AND CASTLE.] + +From the wall on the highest point of the mound, one has a wide +prospect. It was a clear lucent day and when we climbed a broken tower +the whole peninsula of Purbeck spread beneath us like a map. It is now +bleak and sterile, spotted with gorse and heather and broken in places +with chalk cliffs. Yet when the castle was built the region was covered +with a stately forest, of which no trace now remains. Far to the north +we see the Wareham road winding away like a serpent, while a stony +trail cuts squarely across the moor to the west. When we prepare to +take our leave, we ask the custodian concerning the road to Lulworth, +and he points out the uninviting byway through the fields. We had +planned to return to Wareham, but this route, he assures us, is shorter +and "very good,"--strange ideas of good roads had the old man if he +could so describe the ten miles through the moors to Lulworth, quite as +bad as any of equal distance we found in ten thousand miles. + +But before we go shall we ask the story of Corfe? The tales of the +abbeys and castles are much alike and their end nearly always the +same--dismantled by Henry, destroyed by Cromwell. Still, Corfe is very +old; its records go back to Saxon times. How weird it is to think that +in front of the towers that grimly guard the entrance King Edward +the Martyr was stabbed by order of his stepmother, Elfrida, as he +paused to quaff a goblet of wine. It happened more than a thousand +years ago, and from that time until Cromwell's gunpowder sent walls +and towers tottering to destruction, the sequestered castle was the +scene of intermittent turmoil and bloodshed. Sir Christopher Hatton +built the more modern portions during the reign of Elizabeth, but Corfe +brought him only trouble. In 1633 it passed from the possession of his +descendant to Sir John Bankes, a loyal supporter of King Charles, and +while he was active in court and field, his energetic wife held the +castle against all comers. One siege she repulsed and the surrender in +1646 was brought about only by treachery. Brave Lady Bankes! The story +of her gallant defense will not be forgotten while a single fragment of +the old fortress remains on its bleak, wind-swept hill. + +But they have told us that Lulworth and its cove are worth seeing and +we are soon away over the moorland road. A strenuous ten miles it is, +rough, stony, steep, with numerous gates to open and close between +the fields, and in places the road is so overgrown with grass and +heather as to be hardly discernible. But from the uplands which it +traverses one may see the ocean on the left and to the right a long +array of rolling hills and winding valleys, all in the purple glow of +full-blown heather, with here and there a lonely cottage or group of +trees. We begin a long descent, following the edge of the hill toward +the sea, and a sharp turn leads down a short steep grade into Lulworth. + +The village some years ago had merely a few thatched cottages nestling +beneath the high hills to the landward, but of late Lulworth has +assumed airs as a trippers' resort in the summertime, and the red-tiled +villas rather spoil its old-world effect. Lulworth would be of no more +note than other villages scattered along the south coast were it not +for its peculiar cove, an almost circular, basinlike depression a few +hundred yards in diameter; the sea enters it through a narrow opening +in the cliffs. We were able to take the car down to the very margin +of the water. An angular, red-whiskered fisherman approached us and +in broad South Country speech offered to row us across the cove. We +acquiesced in deference to his story of slack times and hard luck. The +water of the cove has a depth of sixty feet near the center and in old +days offered shelter to smugglers' smacks. From the high cliffs on the +opposite side we had a magnificent view of the rough coast line, a +medley of gray, green and white, stretching along the foam-flecked sea. + +We soon regain the main road and pass Lulworth Castle but a little way +from the village--a massive, rectangular structure with circular, +crenelated towers at each corner. It is not of great antiquity, having +been built during the reign of Elizabeth, who is reputed to have +visited it, and King James came here to escape the plague in London. + +Our route carries us back to Wareham, a sleepy, shrunken town with +little to suggest its strenuous history. Indeed, one writer declares +that no town in England has undergone more calamities in the shape +of sieges and conflagrations from the early wars with the Danes down +to the capture of the place by Cromwell's forces. It is pleasantly +situated on a strip of meadowland between two small rivers, and today +has about two thousand people. Its wall, built more than a thousand +years ago, may still be traced throughout its entire course and proves +Wareham once of much greater extent than at present. + +Wimborne Minster takes its name from the church whose square towers +with odd minaretlike pinnacles loom over the town as we approach it +from the south. And rightly should the name of the minster predominate, +for it is the redeeming feature of the commonplace Dorset town. But +it is quite enough--few English churches have a greater store of +curious relics. The chained library of about two hundred and fifty huge +volumes, each held to its shelf by a heavy, rusty chain, is unique; +but as one reads the ponderous titles of the books he wonders that such +precaution should have been deemed necessary. Still, there were no "six +best sellers" in the day when this library was established, and even +heavy theological treatises in Latin and Greek may have been in demand. + +Not less curious is the orrery clock, five hundred years old, which +illustrates the astronomical ideas of its time in compelling the sun +to make a circuit of the dial every day, while the moon occupies a +month. The sense of humor that mixes itself with the solemnity of +so many English churches finds expression here in an odd, gnomelike +automaton on the western tower that goes through strange contortions +every quarter hour. One cannot but wonder just what is in the huge +chest--unopened for centuries--hewn from a single log and fastened +with great bunglesome locks; but most likely it contains records +and documents pertaining to the church. But all these marvels are +nothing to those which Wimborne Minster once possessed but which have +disappeared; a piece of the true cross and one of the manger in which +the Lord was born; some of the earth from the Bethlehem stable and a +few hairs from Christ's head; a thigh bone of St. Agatha; a few of St. +Philip's teeth; a joint of St. Cecelia; the hair shirt of St. Thomas +a' Becket and a small phial of his blood. Verily Wimborne Minster was +well supplied with the stock in trade of the early church. + +But the minster has associations of a less mythical nature. In the +chancel is the grave of Aethelred, King of the West Saxons, brother +of Alfred the Great, who was slain in 871. A fine brass is set in the +slab over the grave, but this is doubtless of more recent date. There +are tombs of several crusaders, though the effigies have been sadly +mutilated. But the most curious tomb is a gilded coffin set in a niche +in the wall, a little below the level of the floor. On the coffin is +the date 1693, which the occupant at one time fixed as the date for his +demise, but this did not occur until ten years later. He expressed a +wish to be buried "neither under the ground nor above it; neither in +the church nor out of it" and left an annuity of five pounds to keep +his coffin touched up yearly--all of which was faithfully carried out, +for thus did the church once lend itself to clownish eccentricity. + +Wimborne Minster delights in its relics, its traditions, and its +medieval customs. The verger told us of one of the latter that is +perhaps founded on more of common sense than many of the old-time +practices, and which, with that continuity of custom that confronts one +everywhere in England, still prevails. The vestrymen pass through the +church at times during the services and prod the sleeping brethren +with long black rods--not a bad idea, after all, though one that could +hardly be inaugurated without precedent. + +So much of our glimpse of Wimborne Minster; it is late and we are bound +for Southampton, forty or more miles away as we propose to go. The +road to Ringwood and from thence to Lymington leads through an open, +heathlike country--stretches of rank-growing ferns interspersed with +the vivid purple of the heather. A little beyond Ringwood we enter New +Forest, though in this section little of the forest--as one thinks of +the word now--is to be seen. There are occasional groups of trees, +but the prevailing feature of the landscape is the fern-clad heath. A +cheerless road it is, but open, finely surfaced and nearly level, with +nothing to hinder the mad rush of our motor. + +At Lymington we hail a citizen and inquire in our best French accent +for the road to Beaulieu. He studies awhile and shakes his head. Then +we seek a never-failing source of information--a garage man--but to our +astonishment he is puzzled. + +"Boloo, Boloo; never heard of it." + +"What, the old abbey? It can't be far from here." + +"O, you mean Bewley, to be sure--eight miles straight away; you can't +miss it." + +We hasten on over the moors and through a stretch of woodland into a +wooded valley, where we come to a village more pleasing than any we +have yet seen in Dorset--a village of thatched cottages and flower +gardens fitting well into the charming surroundings. The river, held in +leash by a weir, lies in broad, silvery reaches, fringed with willows, +and groups of pond lilies dot its surface. Beaulieu, aside from its +abbey, might be a shrine for the motorist, for here is the estate of +Lord Montague, an enthusiast for the wind-shod steed, who has exchanged +his ancestral stables for motors, and, to cap it all, is owner and +editor of "The Car." + +There is not much left of the abbey. Henry VIII., with characteristic +thrift, floated the stone down the river to build Hurst Castle. The +refectory, now restored and used as a parish church, is the most +perfect remnant of the once magnificent establishment, whose church +almost equalled the huge dimensions of Winchester Cathedral. The late +lord did much to restore the ruins, which are now surrounded by lawns +and shrubbery. The monks of Beaulieu had wide fame for good cheer--they +kept great vineyards and their wines were counted the best in England. +The vineyards throve long after the Dissolution, but the last vine, +several hundred years old, disappeared about two centuries ago. Just +across the river there is a substantial, comfortable hotel belonging +to Lord Montague, which is much frequented by fishermen. + +[Illustration: AN ISLE OF WIGHT ROAD.] + +An hour's run over level but winding roads brought us to the Great +Western Hotel in Southampton. It was a needless trip, after all, for +the Isle of Wight is best reached from Lymington, whither we returned +in the morning. + +At Lymington the motor was loaded into a tiny boat, nearly filling it +from stem to stern, and towed by the little channel steamer across +the Solent to Yarmouth. The captain, who commands a crew of four +men, invited us into the pilot house and gave us his field glasses, +entertaining us with a tale of hard luck, long hours, small pay and +still smaller appreciation of his service on part of the railway +company, which owns the steamers. He was a typical English salt, bluff +and bronzed, with a dialect that was refreshing to hear. We did not +forget him, either, and found him anxiously looking for us next day +when we were ready to return to the mainland. + +Here we are on the sunniest, calmest of summer days in the isle whose +greatest charm for us is, perhaps, in the fact that Tennyson spent +most of his active life here and did much of his best work in his +island home. But this is far from the only attraction of the romantic +island, so small that a circuit of sixty-five miles takes one over the +coast roads. The eastern and half the northern coast is dotted with +increasingly popular resort towns, of which Cowes, of yachting fame, +is the best known, and thither we direct our course. + +It is open day at Osborne House and the short excursion by steamer from +Southampton appeals to English people as few other holiday trips. And +it is not strange when one reflects that no other place was in such a +strict sense the home of Queen Victoria as Osborne House, or has so +many memories of her life. The rather ineffective Italian villa was +designed and built by herself and the Prince Consort and here were +passed the happy years of the early married life of the royal couple. +It was the queen's private property and descended to King Edward, who +presented it to the nation. As it stands now, it may be said to be a +memorial to the queen. Here are the family portraits and the marvelous +presents given to Victoria on the occasions of her golden and diamond +jubilees; some were from other rulers, but the most wonderful came from +Indian potentates and the colonies. These defy all description. The +queen died here in 1901, and altogether Osborne House is full of the +deepest significance to the average British subject. The crowds that +thronged the palace grounds on the day of our visit, we were told, were +quite representative of the open days of the summer season. + +Newport, the capital and metropolis of the island, is a modern-looking +town, whose greatest interest is Carisbrooke Castle, the stronghold of +the ancient governors. It stands on an eminence overlooking the town +and charming indeed was the prospect that greeted us from the walls +on that shimmering summer afternoon. The town, with its red-brick, +slate-roofed buildings, lay just below us; about it were the tiny +fields, with the green meadowlands, the ripening grain, great trees +and snug cottages. One may walk on the battlements--in part modern +replacements--entirely around the castle walls, and thus view the ruin +from every angle. + +Carisbrooke's chief memory is of Charles I., who came here as a +guest only to be detained as a prisoner. The room he occupied has +disappeared, but the window in its outer wall, through which he twice +essayed to escape, may yet be seen. It was during his captivity here +that he first lost hope; his hair turned gray and his trim, jaunty +cavalier air forsook him. Finally, on the last night of November, +1648, he was seized by two companies of Roundhead horse and carried to +Yarmouth and from thence to Windsor Castle. This was the beginning of +the end. After the King's execution, the Princess Elizabeth and the +young duke of Gloucester were sent here by order of Parliament. The +princess soon died and is buried in Newport Church, where a marble +effigy marks the tomb. Aside from the melancholy history of King +Charles, the annals of Carisbrooke have few events of importance. Its +decay and resulting ruin were due to ages of neglect. + +Beginning at Ryde, four miles north of Newport, we followed the coast, +passing a succession of resort towns. Ryde is situated on a hillside +sloping toward the sea, and its water front with drives and gardens, +is one of the most charming we know of. The road from Ryde to Ventnor +is crooked, narrow, and highly dangerous in places. At times it runs +through closely bordering forests; again along the edge of an almost +precipitous incline; then it climbs a long, terribly steep hill, but is +never more than a few hundred yards from the coast. + +The Royal Hotel at Ventnor comes up to its pretensions but poorly. +We were surprised to find the last three parties registered in the +visitors' book coming from France, Germany and Sweden respectively, +while our own added a fourth foreign registry in succession. The number +of foreign guests at this hotel seemed to indicate that Ventnor is +more popular with continental people than the average English resort +town, for as a rule we found very few European guests. Ventnor is +situated on a precipitous hill-slope, quite sheltered from the north +and east. The houses run up the hill in terraces and the ledge of rock +along the beach is barely wide enough for the promenade. The climate +is mild and few spots in England are more favored by invalids. It was +this that brought poor John Keats in 1817, and he composed "Lamia" +during his stay. Here was a favorite resort of Tennyson before he +settled in Freshwater, and Longfellow's visit in 1868 is commemorated +by an inscription which he composed for the fountain near the hotel in +Shanklin, the old town nearly contiguous to Ventnor. Shanklin contains +many bits of the picturesque old-time island--touches of antiquity +quite wanting in Ventnor. + +The following day was one to be remembered; a day as near perfection +as one may have in England--the sky pale blue, cloudless and serene, +toning to lucent gray near the horizon, and the air fresh and +invigorating. Our road closely followed the coast with an almost +continual view of the sea. The ocean lay darkly under the rocks, +rippled over stretches of silvery beach, or glittered under the long +headlands, whose white chalk cliffs were almost dazzling in the +sunlight. There were flower-embowered cottages along the road, but +no villages for many miles. We gave two hours to the twenty miles to +Freshwater and enjoyed the beauty to our hearts' content--but no! to do +that one must linger until darkness shuts out the view. + +Freshwater became famous through its association with Tennyson, +and the poet by coming here destroyed to a certain extent the very +retirement and quiet that he sought, for the tourists followed him, +much to his disgust. Yet he used to go about in a great slouching +hat and military cloak that advertised his presence to everyone--an +inconsistency that even his little grandchild is said to have noticed, +and that she queried in her childish innocence, "If you don't like +people to look at you, Grandpa, why do you wear that queer hat and +cloak?" But in any event, the trippers, though often snubbed for their +pains, flocked to Freshwater. They still come to the old home of the +poet, and the present Lord Tennyson is said to welcome them even less +than did his father. + +We stopped at a post card shop just opposite the rear entrance to +Farringford--a rustic gate opening into a narrow roadway between +tall trees--and they told us that the ban on visitors was absolute. +But one might see the house from the road. The unprecedented snow of +the preceding winter had almost destroyed the tree so beloved of the +poet--the + + "giant Ilex, keeping leaf + When frosts are keen and days are brief," + +which hid the front of the house. Besides, the owner was now at +Aldworth and the gardener might not be so averse to visitors--but +we ignore the hint and content ourselves with a visit to Freshwater +Church. Lady Tennyson is buried in the churchyard, her grave marked +by a white marble cross. Inside there are tablets inscribed to the poet +and his wife, who were regular attendants at the church, and a marble +statue to the memory of Lionel, the son who died on shipboard in the +Red Sea when returning from India. The village of Freshwater is full of +picturesque cottages, and there are many more pretentious modern villas +which indicate that the blight of a popular watering place threatens +it. High on the hill, over the town and sea, towers the Tennyson +memorial, a great Celtic cross, forty feet in height, reared by the +poet's admirers in England and America. + +[Illustration: THE TENNYSON HOME, FRESHWATER, ISLE OF WIGHT.] + +There is little to see at Yarmouth, where we wait an hour or more for +the boat. In the church is buried Admiral Holmes, the man who took the +village of New Amsterdam from the Dutch and called it New York, and +a marble statue, representing the great seaman standing by a cannon, +commemorates this and other achievements. An English writer tells this +curious story of the monument: + +"Even a poor judge of such things can see at a glance that this is +no ordinary piece of work. It is said that the unfinished statue was +intended to represent Louis XIV. and was being conveyed by the sculptor +in a French ship to Paris in order that the artist might model the head +from the living subject. Holmes captured the vessel and conceived the +brilliant idea of compelling the artist to complete the work with his +(the admiral's) likeness instead of that of le Grand Monarque. The old +fellow seems to wear a grim smile as he thinks of the joke, but as the +head is undoubtedly of inferior workmanship to the body, the artist may +have felt that he had his revenge." + +The admiral was a native of Yarmouth and a part of his mansion is +incorporated into the Pier Hotel. It still retains the old staircase +and much antique paneling; and a tablet on the wall recites that +Charles II. was a guest here in 1671 on a visit to Holmes. + +We were soon aboard the little steamer, and despite marine rules and +regulations, on the bridge with our friend the captain. We noticed that +he was going far out of the usual course, directly toward the wreck of +the Gladiator. For the warship Gladiator lay on her side a few furlongs +off the coast west of Yarmouth, whither she had staggered and fallen +when mortally wounded in a collision with the American liner, St. Paul, +a few months before. Salvage crews were working to raise her and we +naturally expressed interest in the sight. Our ancient mariner heard +it and as he steered toward the wreck muttered something about getting +"out of the way of the current," but added, "They may think I did it to +give you a good view of the Gladiator!"--and we are still wondering if +that was the reason for his detour. Far down the Solent he pointed +out the Needles, Swinburne's "loose-linked rivets of rock," and he told +us of the wild storms and shifting bars that confound the navigators in +this locality. Ere long he had to attend closely to business, for the +channel to Lymington is narrow and tortuous, being navigable only at +high tide. A large coaling steamer partly obstructed our way and called +forth a series of marine objurgations from our friend, but he quickly +swung to the pier and the motor soon scrambled out of her little craft +up the steep bank to terra firma. + +We find that our jaunt in the Isle of Wight has covered only seventy +miles and occupied just a day; still, thanks to our trusty car, we have +seen about all the points of interest that the average tourist would +care to see and which it would have required several days to visit in +the ordinary manner of travel. + +[Illustration: COTTAGE, FRESHWATER, ISLE OF WIGHT.] + + + + +XVII + +SOUTH ENGLAND NOOKS + + +One will find Lyndhurst in New Forest a pleasant place for a day's rest +after returning from the Isle of Wight to the mainland. Especially is +this so if it be early in the summer before the more crowded season +comes on. The town will be fairly quiet then and the Crown Inn has an +air of solid comfort that almost takes it out of the class of resort +hotels. Its spacious gardens to the rear afford a sylvan retreat that +is an agreeable variation from an almost continual life on the open +road. Lyndhurst, it is true, is no longer the retired village of +half a century ago, when Leighton and Millais came here to get away +from busy London and to pursue their sketching without interruption. +The rather ugly red brick church just over the way from the Crown +evidences Lyndhurst's modernity, though its distressing newness may be +momentarily forgotten in contemplation of Leighton's great altar piece, +illustrating the story of the ten virgins. + +One may care little about William Rufus, who was so fond of hunting in +New Forest and who, while engaged in his favorite pastime, was killed +by a forester's arrow; yet a pilgrimage to the spot where he is said +to have fallen is worth while--not merely to see the iron casting which +encases the old stone, but to view one of the prettiest glades in the +forest. We came early in the day, which is the time to come to avoid +the crowds of trippers who flock here in season, and we had undivided +possession of the scene of sylvan beauty. A shaded byway leads to the +main road, which soon brings us to Romsey. + +There is little to detain the wayfarer in Romsey aside from the abbey +church, whose high roof reaches almost to the top of its central +tower--in fact, the noble bulk of the church rises over the town, +completely dwarfing the low buildings that crowd closely around it. One +can but admire its great size and perfect proportions, and though there +may be incongruous details, these will hardly be noticed by the layman. + +The interior is almost pure Norman--massive pillars supporting the +great rounded arches. The height and size of the columns give the +church an impressiveness that is hardly surpassed by any other in the +Kingdom, and after Durham, it easily ranks as the finest example of +Norman architecture extant. It dates mainly from the twelfth century, +and a Saxon church previously occupied the site, slight remains of this +being incorporated into the present building. The most remarkable Saxon +relic is a life-size image of Christ upon the cross, of a type not +found later than the eleventh century. + +There is often a gruesome side to the old English church--a bit of +human skin flayed from a living church robber is shown at Gloucester, +frightful effigies representing decayed corpses at Canterbury and +Sherborne, and at Romsey a broad plait of human hair, found in recent +restoration work. It was in a leaden casket and even the bones had +mouldered to dust, but the soft brown hair was almost unaltered, and +it is thought to have adorned the head of some Roman maiden, for the +casket showed traces of Roman work. The old caretaker has reserved this +weird little relic for the last of his wonders--we leave the abbey and +pass out into the sunshine of the perfect summer day. We shall not soon +forget Romsey Abbey Church and we cast more than one backward glance as +its giant bulk recedes in the distance. + +[Illustration: ABBEY CHURCH, ROMSEY.] + +Surely Twyford, a few miles south of Winchester, has quite outlived any +claim to its one-time title of "Queen of Hampshire villages." It has +paid the price of its popularity; modern brick buildings crowd upon its +creeper-clad cottages or have superseded them altogether. Its church +has been restored to the point of newness, and its yew tree, locally +reputed to be the largest in England, is easily surpassed by the one +at Selborne. Still, Twyford is not without an especial interest to +American visitors. Here stands the Elizabethan mansion where Benjamin +Franklin penned his autobiography while a guest of the vicar of St. +Asaphs. The rambling old house with a fine stretch of lawn in front of +it may be plainly seen from the road. + +No matter how frequently the wanderer may pause in Winchester, the +attraction of the ancient capital can never be outworn. One might +spend a day among the college buildings, whose rough flint walls and +slate roofs, sagging but little beneath the weight of years, stand +much the same as when the builder finished them six hundred years ago. +Nor should St. Cross and its quaint brotherhood, one of those strange +medieval charities, be forgotten. A great quadrangle of buildings +and an elaborate church, all for "thirteen poor men decayed and past +their strength," seems a great means for a small achievement. Much +has fallen into disuse, but the church is still in good condition and +in many respects a remarkable piece of architecture. But after all, +Winchester's greatest charm is not in her college or her cathedral, but +in her old-world streets and odd corners. Nor should one forget the +shops in which antiques of merit in furniture, books and other articles +may be found. + +A broad easy road leads from Winchester through Alton to Jane Austen's +Chawton, from whence a secluded byway brings us to Selborne, a nook +that every tourist knows. But Selborne, nestling beneath its hills, its +thatched cottages and weather-worn buildings stretching along a wide +grass-grown street, has no hint of the resort town. There are other +villages in the Hampshire and Surrey hills that may match it, but none +of them had a Gilbert White to give it immortality. + +The street was quite deserted on the drowsy summer afternoon when +we checked our car under the great tree beneath which the village +worthys congregate in Selborne. A shopkeeper pointed out the Wakes, +once White's vicarage, which a modern owner has extended into a large +rambling house, probably bearing little resemblance to the modest home +of the curate of Selborne. Still, it incorporates his cottage, though +red brick and tile have displaced the half-timber gables and thatched +roof. But his church is not much altered and the giant yew, the largest +we saw in England, is still standing, hale and green. Its circumference +measured twenty-three feet in White's time, and he declared that its +years must be at least coeval with Christianity. Its girth at present +exceeds twenty-five feet. One cannot stand beneath it without being +impressed with its hoary antiquity, and the great events that crowd the +procession of years which have passed over the old tree quite overwhelm +one. + +Indeed, it must have stood here when the Romans ruled in Britain; it +was sturdy and green when the Conqueror came a thousand summers past, +and it looks today as if it well might weather the storms of a third +millennium. Such historic trees have almost a human personality; and, +fortunately, they are carefully guarded by an enlightened public +sentiment in England. + +The day is a quiet one in Selborne; we have the yew tree and church +all to ourselves. We wander about the churchyard and with difficulty +locate the unpretentious headstone with the almost illegible initials, +"G. W."--a simple memorial, indeed--though inside the church there is +an appropriate tablet to the memory of the well beloved naturalist. One +can easily see how he could lead in Selborne the simple studious life +reflected in his works. Verily, we need a revival of his plain common +sense today when the fiction of the nature-faker bids fair to supersede +the facts of natural history. + +From Selborne it is but a step across the border into the downs of +Sussex--"Green Sussex, fading into blue," as the poet so aptly puts +it. The low sun strikes along the rough hills as we enter Midhurst, +nestling in a nook in the downs and reached by rather difficult roads. +It is a quiet town with an air of thorough self-contentment; a town of +weather-beaten houses with over-hanging timbered gables, sagging tile +roofs and diamond-paned casements; one long wide street sweeps through +it with narrow crooked lanes branching to either side--an unspoiled +old-country town, as yet quite undiscovered by the globe-trotters. + +And yet Midhurst is not without historic importance, having been a +place of considerable size at the time of the Conquest. The site of +its strong castle which once stood on the banks of the pretty little +river, Rother, is now marked only by a grass-covered mound; but it was +once the home of a powerful Norman family, the Bohuns, who in 1547 +entertained King Edward VI. in great splendor. Nor is Midhurst wanting +in associations with famous men, for Sir Charles Lyell, the great +geologist, and Richard Cobden, the "Father of English Free Trade," +received their early education in the ancient grammar school which may +yet be seen. + +But the romance of Midhurst is in Cowdray Park, the estate which +adjoins the town. What a pity it is that the mansion and the story +did not seize the fancy of Walter Scott--who alone could have done +it justice. We entered the park and drove through an avenue of giant +chestnuts directly to the shattered palace. And what a glorious ruin +it is, with its immense stone-mullioned windows, its great grouped +chimneys, and sculptured mantels and bosses that cling to the wall here +and there. Though roofless, the walls are almost entire, and over +them the ivy flings its dark mantle and falls in heavy masses from the +broken battlements. One does not care to analyze the ruin into its +component parts--what did we care for hall and chapel and chamber? It +is the impression that came to us as we wandered through it in the +fading light that lingers with us now. What a memory it is of darkened +halls, of great empty windows, through which the light falls mellow and +ghostly, and of weird traditions which the old crone who keeps the key +constantly droned in our ears. + +[Illustration: COWDRAY CASTLE, NEAR MIDHURST.] + +The curse of Cowdray has made more than one listener shudder and turn +pale and even those who listen as we do in benevolent scepticism can +only say, "Strange--strange!" For the lands of Cowdray were rent from +the monkish owners by the ruthless Henry and were given into the +possession of the first viscount of Montague, who built the splendid +palace, one of the costliest and most imposing in the Kingdom. It +was in no sense a fortified castle, but a great baronial residence, +standing on low-lying grounds with no attempt at strength of position. +In some respects the palace recalls Kirby Hall, though here ruin is +more complete. + +When the last monkish habitant departed from the lands of Cowdray, +he left his curse upon them: that the line of the Montagues should +perish by fire and water. It was long in being fulfilled, but in 1793 +the palace was destroyed by fire and the last Montague was drowned +in a foolhardy attempt to swim across the Rhine above the Falls of +Schoffhausen. He must have perished without knowing the fate of his +ancestral home. With the palace were burned many works of art and +antiquities of inestimable value, among the latter the roll of Battle +Abbey and the coronation robes and sword of William the Conqueror. +The estate descended to the sister of Lord Montague, who, dreading +the curse, is said to have guarded her two sons with the greatest +care, even filling the fish ponds near her home and keeping the youths +jealously away from sea and river. Yet one day they escaped from the +care of their attendants and were both drowned in the sea at Bognor. +The broken-hearted mother sold Cowdray to the Earl of Egremont, who had +no issue to inherit it. But the curse seems to cling to it still--after +our visit a wealthy London contractor purchased the estate and began a +thorough repair of the modern house (not the ruined palace), but while +the work was in progress the mansion caught fire and was burned to the +ground. + +Darkness overtakes us as we sweep along the hills toward Worthing, +where we arrive by lamplight. Morning reveals a quiet and somewhat +secluded watering-town, patronized by people who seek to get +away from the ceremony and expense of such places as Brighton +and Bournemouth. Its hotels are unpretentious, comfortable and +accommodating--qualities not so common to resort inns as to go without +notice. But Worthing is modern; there is little to detain one on such +a pilgrimage as our own. We follow the broad white road which climbs +steadily northward from the sea to the distant hills and winds among +them to the dreary hamlet of Washington. The name, so familiar to us, +bears no reference to the distinguished family. It is of old Saxon +derivation--Wasa-inga-tun (town of the sons of Wasa). + +[Illustration: A SUSSEX HARVEST FIELD. + +From the Original Painting by Daniel Sherrin.] + +Near at hand is Warminghurst, once the Sussex home of William Penn, +who bought the great house in 1676. One of his children died here and +is buried in Coolham churchyard close by. Penn was wont to attend +services at the meeting house not far away, which was built of timbers +taken from one of his ships. It goes locally by the strange designation +of "The Blue Idol"--just why, no one seemed to know--and we wandered +long in unmarked byroads ere we found it. It is a mile and a half from +Coolham, and one follows for a mile a narrow lane branching from the +Billingshurst road. + +The simple old caretaker lives in a modern addition to the chapel and +tills the plot of ground in connection with it. The chapel is a low +brick-and-timber building whose interior is the plainest imaginable; +a half dozen high-backed benches, a platform pulpit without a stand, +and a few books made up its furnishings. As at Jordans, the women +sat during worship in a gallery which could be cut off by a sliding +partition in case of interruption by persecutors. The old law forbade +the assembling of women in the Quaker meetings, but from the gallery +they could participate in the services, yet could instantly be shut +out of the room if the king's officers should arrive. Outside, the +chapel is surrounded by greensward and tall trees, and the old man was +mowing the grass in the tiny burying-ground. Services are still held +at intervals, as they have been for the past two centuries or more. +Probably the spot was chosen on account of its very retirement, since +when the chapel was built it was a criminal offense for the Quakers to +assemble in any place of worship. The chapel is unaltered and seems +quite as remote and lonely as it must have been in Penn's time; and +the spirit of that old day comes very near as one stands in the tiny +room where the founder of the great American Commonwealth was wont to +worship according to his conscience, coming hither from Warminghurst in +his heavy ox-wagon. + +[Illustration: THE "BLUE IDOL," PENN'S MEETING HOUSE, SUSSEX.] + +We now begin an uninterrupted run to the east through Mid-Sussex over +an unsurpassed road to Cuckfield, Hayward's Heath, and Uckfield. +We continue on the London and Eastbourne road to Hailsham, from +whence a digression of three or four miles brings us to the ruins of +Herstmonceux Castle. Though styled a castle, it was really a great +castellated country mansion, never intended as a defensive fortress. +It reminds one in a certain way of Cowdray, though it lacks much of +the beauty and grace of the Midhurst palace, and its conversion by its +owner into a picnic ground also does much to detract. + +The story of its destruction is peculiar. It was deliberately +dismantled and partially torn down in 1777 by its owner, who used the +materials in erecting a smaller house, now called Herstmonceux Place, +which would be less expensive to maintain. It is interesting to know +that Wyatt, the architect who dealt so barbarously with Salisbury and +Hereford Cathedrals, was the advisor of this wanton destruction. The +last descendant of the original owner died in 1662, and since then the +estate has changed hands many times. It is now one of the most popular +tripper resorts in Sussex and during the summer months the daily +visitors number hundreds. + +It is not our wont to trouble ourselves much with the sober history of +such places, but there is one melancholy incident of the early days of +the palace which has weird interest for the wanderer who stands amidst +the shattered grandeur, and which we may best relate in the words of an +English historian: + +"Lord Dacre, of Herstmonceux, a young nobleman of high spirit and +promise, not more than twenty-four years old, was tempted by his own +folly, or that of his friends, to join a party to kill deer in the +park of an unpopular neighbor. The excitement of lawless adventure was +probably the chief or only inducement for the expedition; but the party +were seen by the foresters; a fray ensued, in which one of the latter +was mortally wounded and died two days after. + +"Had Lord Dacre been an ordinary offender he would have been disposed +of summarily. Both he and his friends happened to be general favorites. +The Privy Council hesitated long before they resolved on a prosecution +and at last it is likely they were assisted by a resolution from the +King. + +"'I found all the Lords at the Star Chamber,' Sir William Paget wrote +to Wriothesley, 'assembled for a conference touching Lord Dacre's +case. They had with them present the Chief Justice with others of the +King's learned council, and albeit I was excluded, yet they spoke so +loud, some of them, that I might hear them notwithstanding two doors +shut between us. Among the rest that could not agree to wilful murder, +the Lord Cobham, as I took him by his voice, was very vehement and +stiff.' They adjourned at last to the King's Bench. The Lord Chancellor +was appointed High Steward and the prisoner was brought up to the bar. +He pleaded 'not guilty,' he said that he intended no harm, he was +very sorry for the death of the forester, but it had been caused in +an accidental struggle; and 'surely,' said Paget, who was president, +'it was a pitiful sight to see a young man brought by his own folly +into so miserable a state.' The lords, therefore, as it seems they +had determined among themselves, persuaded him to withdraw his plea +and submit to the King's clemency. He consented; and they repaired +immediately to the Court to intercede for his pardon. Eight persons +in all were implicated--Lord Dacre and seven companions. The young +nobleman was the chief object of commiseration; but the King remained +true to his principles of equal justice; the frequency of crimes of +violence had required extraordinary measures of repression; and if a +poor man was to be sent to the gallows for an act into which he might +be tempted by poverty, thoughtlessness could not be admitted as an +adequate excuse because the offender was a peer. Four out of the eight +were pardoned. For Lord Dacre there was to the last an uncertainty. +He was brought to the scaffold, when an order arrived to stay the +execution, probably to give time for a last appeal to Henry. But if it +was so the King was inexorable. Five hours later the sheriff was again +directed to do his duty; and the full penalty was paid." + +Leaving the ruined mansion we drop down to the seashore, passing +Bexhill on the way to Hastings, which is now a modern city of +sixty-five thousand people, its red-brick, tile-roofed houses rising +in terraces overlooking the sea. Once it was an important seaport, +but here the sea has advanced and wiped out the harbor, and it is +now chiefly known as a watering-place. A few miles from the town was +fought the Battle of Hastings, which stamped the name so deeply on +English history and marked the overthrow of the Saxon dynasty. On a +precipitous hill looking far over town and sea stands the scanty ruin +of its castle, whose story is much clouded, though legend declares it +was built by the Conqueror. + +Far greater is the attraction of the unspoiled old towns of Winchelsea +and Rye, a few miles farther on the coast road. A former visit gives +them a familiar look, but we stop an hour in Rye. The receding sea +robbed these towns of their importance hundreds of years ago, and their +daily life is now quite undisturbed by modern progress. Each occupies +a commanding hill separated by a few miles of low-lying land. A local +writer makes the truest appeal for Rye when he declares that it gives +us today a presentment of a town of centuries earlier. "Rye," he +says, "is southern and opulent in coloring. There is here mellowness, a +gracious beauty; one has the feeling that every house and garden is the +pride and love of its owner, and indeed this impression is a true one, +for it is the characteristic of Rye to inspire the loving admiration of +its inhabitants, whether native-born or drawn thither in later life." + +Rye has a magnificent church, the largest in Sussex, which overshadows +the town from the very crest of the hill. A very unusual church it +is, with a low cone-pointed tower and triple roofs lying alongside +each other. At the end of the nave are three immense stone-mullioned +windows, very effective and imposing, though the glass is modern. +Queen Elizabeth presented to the church the remarkable old tower clock +which has marked time steadily for more than three hundred years. The +pendulum swings low inside, describing a wide arc only a little above +the preacher's head. + +[Illustration: THE HOSPITAL, RYE. + +From Original Water Color by Theresa Thorp, A. R. M. S.] + +Rye itself is quite as interesting as its church, a place of crooked +lanes and odd buildings, among which the hospital pictured in such a +realistic manner by our artist is one of the most notable. It is a +splendid combination of stucco and timber, with red tiled gables and +diamond-paned lattice windows. Much else there is in Rye to tempt one +to linger, but the sun is setting and we are off on the fine level +road to Folkestone. For the latter half of the distance we run along +the very edge of the ocean--as we saw it, fifteen miles of shimmering +twilight water. Those who are attracted by the gruesome will pause at +the old church in Hythe to see the strange collection of human remains, +thousands of skulls and bones, that are ranged on shelves or piled in +heaps on the floor in the crypt. Whence these ghastly relics came, +antiquarians dispute; but local tradition has it that a great battle +was fought near Hythe, between the Britons and Danes, and these bones +are the remains of the slain. Be that as it may, one does not care to +linger--a mere glance at such a charnel house is quite sufficient. + +Folkestone may well contest with Brighton, Bournemouth and Portsmouth +for first honors among English watering-places. We have seen nearly +all of them and we should be inclined, in some particulars, to give +the honors to Folkestone; but let those who enjoy such places be the +judges. Anyway, there are few statelier hotels in England than those +on the east cliff and few that occupy a more magnificent site. At the +Grand they are more willing to permit you to take ease than at most +English hotels of its class. You are not required under penalty to be +on hand for dinner at a certain hour, announced usually by a strident +gong, and to make the pretense of swallowing an almost uneatable table +d'hote concoction pushed along by a vigilant waiter bent on making +all possible speed. This hotel and many others stand on the east cliff +several hundred feet above the sea, but one may reach the shore by +a lift, or if inclined to exercise, by a steep winding pathway. On +moderately clear days, the white line of the French coast may be seen +from the hotel. + +Very like to Folkstone is Dover, but seven miles farther up the coast, +and thither we proceed over a steep road closely following the sea. +Dover was chief of the cinque ports of olden days and its small bay +still affords shelter for shipping, including ocean-going steamers. But +the first thing that catches the pilgrim's eye when he comes into Dover +is the splendidly preserved, or rather restored, castle, which stands +in sullen inaccessibility on the clifflike hill overlooking the city. +We make the stiff climb up to the castle gateway, only to be halted by +the guard with the information that we are an hour early. We have had +such experiences before and we suggest that no possible harm can be +done by admitting us at once. + +"I really cawn't do it, sir," said the guard. "Some of the guards got +careless in letting people in before hours and the Colonel says he will +court-martial the next one who does it." + +Of course this silences our importunity and we engage our soldier +friend in conversation. Why did he enter the army?--Because a common +man has no chance in England; he was going to the dogs and the army +seemed the best opportunity open to him. He had enlisted three years +ago and it had made a man of him, to use his own words. He rather +looked it, too--a husky young fellow with a fairly good face. + +The castle is strongly fortified and garrisoned by a regiment of +soldiers. The interior of the court is largely occupied by barrack +buildings, and of the ancient castle the keep is the most important +portion left. It was built to withstand the ages, for its walls are +twenty-three feet in thickness and it rises to a height of nearly one +hundred feet. Within it is a well three hundred feet deep, supposed to +have been sunk by the Saxon king, Harold. The primitive chapel dates +from Norman times. There are also remains of the foundation of the +lighthouse that occupied the commanding height, long + + "ere the tanner's daughter's son + From Harold's hand his realm had won." + +Dover has other antiquities, among them a church so old that its origin +has been quite forgotten. Roman brick was used in its construction, +probably by Saxon builders. Over against the town gleams the white +chalk of Shakespeare's Cliff, so called because of the reference in +King Lear. Queen Elizabeth visited Dover and vented her wit for +rhyming on its mayor, who, standing on a stool, began, + + "Welcome, gracious Queen," + +only to get for his pains, + + "O gracious fool, + Get off that stool." + +The eastern Kentish coast, lying nearest to the continent, once had +many towns of importance that have since dwindled and decayed. Among +these is Sandwich, once second of the cinque ports; but the coast line +receded until it is now two miles away. The town contains some of the +richest bits of medieval architecture in England. The wall which once +surrounded it may still be traced and one of the original gateways +is intact. We drove through the narrow crooked lanes that serve as +streets in Sandwich, and could scarce believe the population no more +than three thousand. The low lichen-covered buildings, with leaning +walls and sagging, dull-red tiles, straggle over enough space for a +city of three or four times the size. There is no touch of newness +anywhere; no note of inharmonious color jars with the silver grays, +grayish greens and brownish reds that prevail on every hand; no black +and white paint destroys the beauty of the brick and timber fronts +and gables. Most of the houses have but one story and the streets +run with delightful disregard of straight lines and bid defiance to +points of the compass. The two churches with splendid open-beamed oak +roofs are well in keeping with the spirit of the surrounding twelfth +and thirteenth century structures. They stand a mute evidence of the +one-time greatness and prosperity of Sandwich. One of the old houses +is pointed out as the stopping-place of Queen Elizabeth when she was +touring the Kentish coast. + +From Sandwich we skim along smooth, level roads to Ramsgate, +Broadstairs and Margate, the last of the long chain of resort towns +of the southeastern coast stretching from Land's End to the Thames +River. What an array of them there is: Penzance, Torquay, Portsmouth, +Bournemouth, Brighton, Eastbourne, Bexhill, Hastings, Folkestone, +Dover, Ramsgate, Broadstairs, Margate, and a host of lesser lights. We +have seen them nearly all and many more such places on the northern +and western coasts, as well as a number of inland resorts. It is +therefore a phase of England with which we have become fairly familiar, +and the old towns and isolated ruins seem only the more charming and +time-mellowed by contrast with the crowded and sometimes gaudy modern +resorts. Margate, situated just at the mouth of the Thames on low-lying +grounds, is one of the most pretentious of all. + +A few miles out of Margate we turn from the main Canterbury road into +a byway from which we enter the lanes through the fields and farmyards. +The country is level and intersected everywhere by sluggish drains; +but the wheatfields, nearly ready for the harvest, are as fine as we +have seen in England. From afar we catch sight of the twin towers of +the ruined church at Reculver, the object of our meanderings in the +fen-land lanes. We halt in the tiny hamlet beneath the shadow of the +grim sentinels on the sea-washed headland. The old caretaker hastens +to meet us and is eager to relate the story of the ruin. Aside from +the towers there is nothing but fragments of the walls; he points +out clearly where portions of a Roman temple were incorporated into +the Saxon church, and also the Saxon work that the Normans used. One +hundred years ago, this remarkable church was nearly intact; but the +rapid encroachment of the sea upon the brittle rock on which the +structure stands convinced a short-sighted vicar that it would soon be +undermined by the waves. It was therefore torn down, with the exception +of the towers, and the stone used for a small church farther inland. +The sea is now held in check by stone and timber riprap and though it +gnaws at the very foot of the ruin, there seems little chance that it +will farther advance. Besides the church there are the remains of a +great Roman castrum, or fort, at Reculver: a strong wall, several feet +high in places, once enclosed a space of considerable extent, though a +large part has been inundated by the sea. + +One will never weary of Canterbury; come as often as he may he will +always feel a thrill of pleasure as the great cathedral towers break +on his vision. And indeed there is nothing of the kind in all Britain +finer than these same towers. We reach the town later than we planned +and hasten to the cathedral, but the guide, wearied with troops of +holiday visitors during the day, tells us we are too late. We find +means, however, to extend our time and to enlist his willing services; +and thus we come to see every detail of the magnificent church as we +could hardly have done earlier in the day. It has no place in this +chronicle, this + + "mother minster vast + That guards Augustine's rugged throne," + +about which volumes have been written and with whose history and +traditions the guide-books fairly teem. We have visited it before +during a Sunday-morning service, but its vast dim aisles, its great +crypts, its storied shrines and tombs, and the ivy-clad ruin of its old +monastery, all make a strangely different impression when viewed in the +deepening shadows of the departing day. + +After sunset we wander about the old streets, where even the more +modern buildings conform to the all-pervading air of antiquity. It is +the close of the Saturday holiday and the main street is packed with +a cheerful crowd of people of all degrees. Shop-keepers improve the +opportunity to sell their wares and a lively trade is carried on at +the open booths along the walks. One butcher is especially active in +booming business, having a fellow in front of his place, a "barker," we +would style him in the States, who bellows in a voice like a foghorn, +"Lovely meat! the same that the king and nobility heats--lovely meat." +Surely a recommendation that would shake the resolution of a confirmed +vegetarian. + +But we soon weary of the glare and noise of the crowded street. We +wander into the crooked lanes that lead to the nooks and corners about +the cathedral. We catch the towers from different viewpoints; as they +stand, boldly outlined against an opalescent sky flecked with red-toned +clouds, they form a fit study for the artist--and one of which the +artist has often availed himself. The college court is full of shadows; +how easy it would be to imagine a cowled figure stealing along in the +dusk and passing from sight in the Norman entrance yonder--than which +there is no choicer bit of medieval architecture in the Kingdom. + +We have the whole of the following day to reach London; and what a +superb day it is, the very essence of the beauty of English midsummer! +We have been over the Rochester and Maidstone road before, so we take +the narrow and hilly but marvelously picturesque highway that drops +some fourteen miles straight southward. The country through which it +passes is distinctly rural, with here and there a grove or a farmhouse. +A little to one side is Petham, a quiet hamlet under gigantic trees, +with a half-timbered inn seemingly out of all proportion to the +possible needs of the place. The main road running from Hythe, near the +coast, through Ashford to Tunbridge Wells, a distance of about fifty +miles, is one of the finest in the Kingdom. It runs in broad, sweeping +curves through a gently undulating country, and the grades are seldom +enough to check the motor's flight. It had lately been re-surfaced and +much of the way oiled or asphalted, quite eliminating dust. We pass +much charming country, wooded hills, stretches of meadowland, fields +of yellowing grains, and many sleepy villages, all shimmering in the +lucent air of a perfect summer day. The sky is as blue as one ever sees +it in England, and a few silvery-white clouds drift lazily across it. +It is what the natives call a very warm day, but it seems only balmy to +us. + +[Illustration: ON THE DOWNS. + +From Original Painting by Alfred Elias.] + +Bethesden, Biddenden and Lamberhurst all attract our attention. The +second has a very quaint old inn on the market square, with a queer +little ivy-covered tower; but Lamberhurst hardly merits the extravagant +praise given it by William Cobbett in his "Rural Rides"--"one of the +most beautiful villages that man ever set eyes upon." Still, it may +have altered somewhat since his time; there are few red-brick villas +among the older cottages. It is, none the less, a pleasant place, rich +with verdure and bright with flowers, and picturesquely situated on a +gently rising hill. Coming on this road, one gets the best conception +of the really magnificent situation of Tunbridge Wells, and cannot +wonder that it has gained such popularity. The main part of the town +lies in a depression in the undulating downs, its villas, houses +and streets all set down on a liberal scale with plenty of room for +trees, in whose luxuriant foliage the place is half hidden. All around +stretches the wavelike succession of the hills, diversified with forest +and bright with heather and gorse. Thackeray was very fond of Tunbridge +Wells and his enthusiastic words in "Round About Papers" breathe much +of the spirit of the place: + +"I stroll over the common and survey the beautiful purple hills around, +twinkling with a thousand bright villas which have sprung up over this +charming ground since first I saw it. What an admirable scene of peace +and plenty! What a delicious air breathes over the heath, blows the +cloud-shadows across it, and murmurs through the full-clad trees! Can +the world show a land fairer, richer, more cheerful?" + +We pause at the excellent though rather unpretentious Grand Hotel for +our late luncheon; and as a final adieu to the pleasant town, drive +through its commons with their strange wind-worn stones, before setting +out Londonward. We pass on into Sussex as far as Grinstead and there +strike the direct London road through Epsom, where we have a glimpse +of the famous racing downs. The quiet, staid-looking old town gives no +hint of the furor that possesses it on Derby days. A few miles farther +we enter the outskirts of London. + + + + +XVIII + +FROM DUBLIN TO CORK + + +We are off for the Emerald Isle. There was much of interest in the +three days between London and Dublin, but I will not follow our +journey here; in a later chapter I will endeavor to gather some of the +scattered threads. We reach Ludlow the first night, one hundred and +forty-eight miles in six hours--very speedy going for us--but a day +from Ludlow to Barmouth and another to Holyhead is more in keeping with +our usual leisurely progress. + +One can never truly feel the plaintive sweetness of Lady Dufferin's +song until with his own eyes he beholds the melancholy beauty of the +"Sweet Bay of Dublin." We enter its gates in the opalescent light of +a perfect morning. The purple mists hanging over the headlands are +glowing with the first rays of the sun and the pale emerald waters +flash into burnished gold as the low beams strike along their surface. + +The voyage has been an easy one; our tickets were purchased, our cabin +reserved, and provision made for the transport of the motor, all in +a few minutes at the office of the Royal Automobile Club in London, +and the genial touring-secretary, Mr. Maroney, has supplied us with +necessary maps and information. We have not long to wait at the pier; +a swinging crane picks up the car from the boat and carefully deposits +it on the pavement. A railway employee is at hand with a supply of +petrol and we are soon ready for the road. The night voyage has been +a comfortable one; we were able to go aboard at nine o'clock and take +possession of our cabin, quite as large and well-appointed as those of +the best ocean-going steamers, and breakfast was served on the ship. +Altogether, nothing is easier than a trip to Ireland with a motor car +if one only goes about it rightly. + +An unknown land lies before us. Much has been written of Ireland--books +of travel, history, and fiction--and poets have sung her beauties and +sorrows; we have read much of the Island, but nothing that has given us +more than a hint of what we are about to see. To know Ireland, one must +take a pilgrim's staff, as it were; he must study her ruins and ancient +monuments, see her cities and her towns, her half-deserted villages, +her wretched hovels and her lonely places, and above all, must meet and +know her people; then, after all, he can only say to others, "If you +wish to know the reality, go and do likewise." + +Dublin is a handsomely built modern city of three hundred thousand +inhabitants and has an air of general prosperity. It has much of +interest, but it does not rightly belong in this chronicle. The low +hum of our motor calls us to the open road, the green fields, and the +unfrequented villages. We are soon away on the Carlow road with Cork as +our objective. + +The road out of Dublin is distressingly rough as compared with +English highways, though it improves before we reach Naas. Our first +impressions are distinctly melancholy; a "deserted village"--a row of +stone cottages, roofless, windowless, and with crumbling or fallen +walls--speaks of Ireland's sorrows more plainly than any words. And +such sad reminders are not uncommon; wholly or partly ruined villages +greet us every little while on the way. + +Naas, the first town of any size, is dirty and unattractive, but +its historic importance ill accords with its present meanness. Its +traditions are not antedated by any town in the Island; it was once +the capital of the Leinster kings--half-clad savages, no doubt, but +kings none the less. Cromwell thought it important enough to visit, and +incidentally wiped its strong castle out of existence. Rory O'More a +century later burned it to the ground, destroying some eight hundred +houses--it has not so many now. Adjoining the town is the ruin of +Jigginstown House, an unfinished palace begun on a vast scale by the +Earl of Strafford, who expected to entertain Charles I. here; but +Charles failed to arrive and the Earl had other matters--among them the +loss of his head--to engage his attention. + +The road to the south of Naas lies in broad, straight stretches and +the surface is better, but we found it almost deserted. This impressed +us not a little. We ran many miles, meeting no one; there were few +houses--only wide reaches of meadowland with but few trees--and +altogether the country seemed quite uninhabited. + +Carlow, scarce thirty miles from Naas, is rather above the average, +though it has the bare appearance characteristic of the Irish town. We +had been rather dreading the country-town hotels and here we had our +first experience. The Club House--why so called we did not learn--is a +building not unsightly inside, but on entering it is with difficulty +we could find anyone to minister to our wants. Finally an untidy old +man with bushy whiskers appeared and officiated as porter, chambermaid, +and waiter. He was slow in performing his duties, but the luncheon +was better than we had hoped for. He took our money when we left, but +whether he was boots or proprietor, we never learned. + +Cromwell and Rory O'More paid their compliments to Carlow in the same +emphatic manner as at Naas. There remains but little of the castle +excepting the huge round towers that flanked the entrance. Just out of +the town is the largest of Ireland's cromlechs, a mighty rock weighing +one hundred tons, supported on massive upright granite blocks. + +Kilkenny is twenty miles farther south. Its castle, the home of the +Duke of Ormonde, is perhaps the most notable private residence in +Ireland. It is of ancient origin, but its present state is due to +modern restoration; no longer is it a fortress, but a castellated +mansion of great extent. It is situated on rising ground lying directly +on the river. The front facade, flanked by two great circular towers, +heavily mantled with ivy, presents a highly-imposing appearance. The +most notable feature of the interior is the art gallery, which is +declared to be one of the most important in the Kingdom. + +[Illustration: KILKENNY CASTLE.] + +Kilkenny Cathedral is of great antiquity, having been begun early in +the eleventh century. Close to it stands one of the round towers so +characteristic of early Irish architecture. The town has a population +of about ten thousand, and though apparently prosperous, there was +everywhere evident the untidiness that was more or less typical of the +southern Irish towns. + +Clonmel, however, easily ranked first in neatness and general +up-to-date appearance among the towns we passed on our run to Cork. +Here we came late in the evening, for we had missed our road and +gone some miles out of the way. After leaving the vicinity of Dublin, +signboards were not to be seen and it was easy to go astray. Houses +were not frequent and often the natives could hardly give directions to +the nearest town. Before we knew it we were entering Carrick-on-Suir, +which we took for Clonmel. Something aroused our suspicions and we +hailed a red-faced priest driving in a cart. The good father was much +befuddled and his honest efforts afforded us little enlightenment, but +we finally learned to our chagrin that Clonmel was about twenty miles +to the west. + +Night was falling rapidly and the car leaped onward over a narrow, +grass-grown byroad, passing here and there a farm cottage from which +the inmates rushed in open-mouthed surprise. We soon came into the +main road and reached the town just at dark. The hotel proved quite +comfortable, though distinctly Irish in many particulars; but perhaps +our judgment as to what constitutes comfort in an inn was somewhat +modified by the day's experiences; we were hardly so critical as we +should have been across the channel. + +We had come to Clonmel solely to pass the night, since it was the only +place where we might count on fair accommodations. We had gone somewhat +out of our way, for we must turn northward for Cashel, whose cathedral +is perhaps the most remarkable ruin in the Kingdom. It is nearly twenty +miles from Clonmel, and the road is surprisingly good. + +We soon came in sight of the mighty rock which legend--ever busy in +Ireland--declares was torn from the distant hills by the enraged devil +and flung far out into the plain of Tipperary. When the fiend performed +this wonderful feat, it perhaps did not occur to him that he was +supplying a site for a church; but had he exercised moderate foresight +he would have known that no such opportunity would be neglected by the +cathedral builders. And so it chanced that more than a thousand years +ago the fortified church that rears its vast granite bulk upon the +rock was begun. It grew by various accretions until it stood complete +in the twelfth century. It has passed through fire and siege, but the +massy walls are still as solid as the granite on which they stand. +The roadway winds up the side of the rock and we are able to drive +to the very entrance. A group of youngsters is awaiting us, and one +unspeakably dirty and ragged little fellow volunteers to "watch the +car." + +The custodian greets us at the gate, a keen old fellow, well posted in +the history and tradition of his native land and speaking with little +trace of brogue. He learns that we are from America; his brother is +over there and doing well, as he reckons it, in that Eldorado of every +Irishman forced to remain at home. + +"O, yes! it is a great country, and how closely the old sod is bound +to it; there is no house that you will pass in all your journeys that +has not someone there. It has been the one hope of my life to go to +America, but it has slipped away from me. I am too old now and must die +and be buried in Cashel." + +He said this with a look of sadness, which suddenly forsook his face as +he noted our interest in the ruin. It was the joy of his life to tell +the story of its every nook and corner. + +We found a strange mixture of art and crudity; the square, unadorned +lines of the walls and towers would not lead one to expect the +exquisite artistic touches that are seen here and there. The great +structure once served the purpose of a royal residence as well as a +cathedral. The date of the stone-roofed chapel is placed at 1127; that +of the perfect round tower is unknown, though doubtless much earlier. +The active history of the cathedral-fortress closed with its surrender +to the forces of Cromwell, which was followed by the massacre of the +garrison and dismantling of the buildings. + +[Illustration: CASHEL CATHEDRAL, TIPPERARY.] + +Our guide urges us to ascend the tower--it is the day of all days to +see the golden vale of Tipperary from such a viewpoint--and indeed +the prospect proves an enchanting one. It is a perfect day and the +emerald-green valley lies shimmering under the expanse of pale-blue +sky. In the far distance on every hand are the purple outlines of +the hills--they call them mountains in Ireland--and stretching away +toward them the pleasant fields intersected by sinuous threads of +country roads. The landscape is cut up into little patches by the stone +fences and gleams with tiny whitewashed cottages. Flashing streams +course through the valley and herds of cattle graze upon the luxuriant +grasses. It is a scene of perfect peace, and though the lot of the +people may be one of poverty, it is doubtless one of contentment. +Right at the foot of the ruin-crowned rock lies the wretched little +town, and on leaving the cathedral we stop in the market place. A +busy scene greets our eyes; it is market day and the people of the +surrounding country are thronging the streets. The market place is +full of donkey carts and our car seems in strange company. Old crones +with shawls thrown over their heads, barefooted and brown as Indians, +are selling gooseberries and cabbages. There appears to be little else +in the market and business is far from brisk. There are many husky +farmers from the country and bright-looking young maidens that seem of +a different race from the old market women. We see and hear much to +interest us during our hour's stop in Cashel. + +To one other Tipperary shrine we must make a pilgrimage--Holy Cross +Abbey, which is only a few miles away. We see its low square tower +just above the trees as we approach the town which bears the same +name as the abbey, and we find the caretaker living in wretchedly +dirty quarters in a part of the ruin. A genuine surprise awaits the +visitor to Holy Cross Abbey. Like Cashel, its outlines give no hint of +the superb and even delicate touches of art one will find about the +ruin. Nothing of the kind could be more perfect than the east window, +in which the stone tracery and slender mullions are quite intact, +and there are other windows, doors and arches of artistic design and +execution. The abbey stands on the banks of the Suir, and it is just +across the shallow river that one gets the finest viewpoint. It took +its name from the tradition that it once possessed a portion of the +true cross which had been given it by Queen Eleanor of England, one +of whose six sons was buried here. And thus it chances that a brother +of Richard the Lion-Hearted sleeps amid the mouldering fragments of +Holy Cross. The footprints of history cross and recross one another in +these ancient shrines, and how often they bring remote sections of the +Kingdom to common ground! + +[Illustration: HOLY CROSS ABBEY, TIPPERARY.] + +Leaving Cashel on the main highway to Cork, we begin to verify the +stories we have heard of the dreadful condition of much of the Irish +roads. We have so far found them stony, rough and ill-kept in places, +but on the whole fair to one who has had much experience with very bad +roads. But we now come into a broad stone road that has been neglected +for years, and words are quite inadequate to characterize it. It is a +series of bumps and depressions over which the car bounces and jumps +along, seemingly testing every bolt and rivet to the utmost. Any speed +except one so slow as to be out of the question results in the most +distressful jolting, to which there is not a moment's respite. A fine +gray dust covers the road to a depth of two or three inches and rolls +away from the wheels in dense clouds. There is considerable traffic and +for several miles along one section are military barracks; the soldiers +are maneuvering on the road with cavalry and artillery. Some of the +horses go wild at the car and it is only by great effort that the +soldiers bring them under control. But the dust they kick up! It hangs +over the road like a fog and makes the sky seem a dull gray. It settles +thickly over the car, almost stifling its occupants, for it is really +warm. On we go--bounce, bump, half blinded and nearly choked. Why did +we ever come to Erin, anyway?--we could have gotten this experience +at less cost nearer home. There are few towns on the road; Caher, +Mitchelstown and Fermoy, all bald and untidy, are the only places of +any size. We pass through the "mountains" for a considerable distance, +but the wretched road and blinding dust distracts attention from the +country, which in places is rather pretty. Our route is well away from +the railroad and we see much of retired rural sections which would not +be easily accessible by other means of travel. The infrequent cottages +are mean and dirty, but those we saw later were so much worse that the +recollection of the first is nearly effaced. + +Never did a hotel seem more inviting to us than did the Imperial at +Cork. The car and everything about it is a dirty gray; one tire is +flat, and has been--we don't know how long. But we are fortunate in +our hotel and our troubles are soon forgotten. Our room is an immense +high-ceilinged apartment with massive furniture and a vast deal of +bric-a-brac, including a plaster bust of Washington. There are plenty +of settees and easy chairs--things uncommon enough in hotels to merit +special mention. We have an excellent dinner served just to suit, and +the experiences of the day soon begin to appear in a different light +than they did when we were undergoing them. We are soon in the ample +tall-posted beds, clean and unspeakably comfortable, and our sleep is +too deep to even dream of Irish roads and motor cars. + + + + +XIX + +THROUGH SOUTHERN IRELAND + + +Cork is the gateway by which a large number of visitors enter Ireland, +and is pretty sure to be on the route of anyone making a tour of the +Island. It manifestly has no place in this record, nor has Blarney +Castle, the most famous ruin in the world--among Americans, at least. +And yet, who could write of an Irish tour and make no reference to +Blarney. We may be pardoned for a hasty glance at our visit to the +castle on the day after our arrival at Cork. + +The head porter at the Imperial, clad in his faultless moss-green +uniform, the stateliest and clearly the most important man in the +hotel, marshals his assistants and they strap our luggage to the +car--he does no work himself, nor would anyone be so presumptuous as to +expect it of a man of such mighty presence. We recognize the fact that +his fee must be in proportion to his dignity, and he receives it much +as his forefathers, the ancient Irish kings, exacted tribute from their +vassals. He is not content to have us take the direct route to Blarney, +only five or six miles, but tells us of a longer but more picturesque +route and gives us a rather confusing lot of directions, which we have +some little difficulty in following. Suffice it to say that after +a deal of inquiry and much wandering through steep stony lanes--an +aggregate of more than fifteen miles out of our way--we catch sight of +the square-topped tower of Blarney and hear the shouts and laughter of +a train-load of excursionists who are just arriving. + +Though annoying at the time, we now have no regret for the many miles +we went astray; we saw much of rural life along these lonely little +lanes. We passed tiny huts as wretched as any we saw in Ireland, which +is to say they were wretched beyond description; but in them were +cheery, good-natured people whose efforts to tell us the way to Blarney +only got us farther from it. + +Blarney Castle to some extent deserves the encomiums that have been +so lavishly heaped upon it. It is the one place in Ireland that every +tourist is expected to see; and its fame is probably due more to its +mythical Blarney stone than to its historical importance. As we saw +it on a perfect summer day, the great square tower with overhanging +battlements rising out of the dense emerald foliage and darkly outlined +against the bluest of Irish skies, it seemed to breathe the very spirit +of chivalry, but a rude, barbarous chivalry, for all that. From the +tower, which we ascended by ruinous and difficult stairs, the view +was magnificent, though the groves, famous in song and story, have +been largely felled. And after all, Blarney seems rather "blase" on +close acquaintance, with its throngs of trippers and souvenir hawkers +at every turn. Even the Blarney stone is a sham, a new one having been +placed in a rebuilt portion of the wall knocked down by Cromwell's +cannon; the original is said to be quite inaccessible. + +During the afternoon we follow the valley of the Lee over a road +that averages fairly good and that seldom takes us out of sight of +the river. In many places it ascends the rugged hills and affords a +far-reaching prospect over the valley. At Macroom, the only town of any +size, the road branches; one may cross the hills and reach Killarney +in only twenty miles or may follow the coast along Kenmare River and +Dingle Bay, a total of about one hundred and twenty miles. While we +pause in the village street, a respectable-looking citizen, divining +the cause of our hesitation, approaches us. He urges us to take the +coast route, for there is nothing finer in Ireland. We can heartily +second his enthusiastic claims, but would go farther--there is nothing +finer in the world. + +The Eccles Hotel is a rambling old house, situated at the head of +Bantry Bay on Glengariff Harbor. It stands beneath the sharply rising +hill and only the highway lies between it and the water's edge; the +outlook from its veranda is not surpassed by any we saw in the Kingdom, +not even by the enchanting harbor of Oban or the glorious surroundings +of Tintagel. True, we saw it at its best, just as the sun was setting +and transforming the blue waters into a sheet of burnished gold. As +far as the eye can reach the long inlet lies between bare granite +headlands, interspersed here and there with verdant banks, while the +bright waters were dotted with wooded islets. The sun sank beneath +the horizon, purple shadows gathered in the distance, and the harbor +gleamed mirrorlike in the twilight. An old coast-defense castle, +standing on a headland near the entrance, lent the needed touch of +human interest to the scene. Well might Thackeray exclaim, "Were such a +bay lying upon English shores it would be a world's wonder. Perhaps if +it were on the Mediterranean or Baltic, English travellers would flock +to it by the hundreds. Why not come and see it in Ireland?" Indeed, +more are coming to see it today; the hotel was crowded almost to our +exclusion and we had to take what was left. The motor is bringing many, +for it is more than ten miles from Bantry, the nearest railway station, +and is not easily accessible to travelers whose time is somewhat +limited. + +Our route from Glengariff leads directly over the hills to Kenmare. +The ascent is steep in places and a long tunnel pierces the crest of +the hill. We see much weather-beaten country, stretches of purple +granite boulders devoid of vegetation and bleak beyond description. +From the summit of the hills we glide down a winding and stony road +into Kenmare, passing with considerable difficulty many coaches loaded +with trippers, for this is a favorite coaching route. + +Someone has said that Ireland is like an ugly picture set in a +beautiful frame. We may dissent from the view that the interior is +ugly; we have seen much charming country, though on the whole not +the equal of England or Scotland. The vast peat bogs are dreary, +the meadowlands monotonous, the villages, if interesting, far from +beautiful, and the detached cottages often positively painful in their +filth and squalor. But the frame of the picture--the glorious coast +line--surely, mile for mile, its equal may hardly be found on the +globe. One will behold every mood of sea and shore and sky; beauty and +grandeur combined and every range of coloring, from the lucent gold of +the sunset and the deep blue stillness of the summer noonday to the +gray monotone of the storm-swept granite waste. + +Out of Kenmare, we follow the wide estuary of the river, leaving it +only when the road sweeps a few miles inland to the village of Sneem. +And we behold this Sneem in astonishment; we have seen nothing so +primitive and poverty-stricken since we landed in Ireland, nor do we +see anything later that may match it in apparent wretchedness. Two or +three long rows of low thatched-covered cottages--the thatch green +with weeds--of one or two rooms each, with sagging doors and tiny +windows, make up the village. The interior of the huts is the plainest +imaginable; earthen floors, rough stone walls and open roof under the +rotting thatch. The cottages surround a weed-grown common where the +domestic animals roam at will. A native approaches us, a man of fair +intelligence, who talks freely of the wretched condition of the people. +All who were able to get away have gone to America; only the old, the +desperately poor, and the incompetent remain, and what can one expect +under such conditions? Many eke out their existence on the money +that comes from over the sea. There is no use trying to improve the +situation; if anyone has any ambition, there is no chance for him in +Ireland, and the speaker illustrates with concrete instances. No doubt +Sneem is typical of many retired villages. It is twenty-five miles to +the nearest railroad, and to see this phase of Ireland the motor is +indispensible. + +The road soon takes us again to the estuary of the Kenmare, following +it to the extreme western point of Kerry, with views of river and ocean +on one hand and the stern granite hills on the other. Cahersiveen is +the terminus of the railway and famous in Ireland as the birthplace +of Daniel O'Connell. A memorial chapel of gray granite overshadows +everything else in the village, which, mean and dirty as it is, looks +live and prosperous to one coming from Sneem. Just out of the town is +the ivy-covered ruin of Carhan House, where O'Connell was born. + +I would that the language were mine to even faintly portray the +transcendent beauty of Dingle Bay, along which we course most of the +afternoon. The day is serenely perfect and the sky is clear save for a +few fleecy clouds that drift lazily along the horizon. Our road climbs +the hills fronting on the bay--in places the water lies almost sheer +beneath us--and the panorama that lies before us is like a fairyland. +Of the deepest liquid blue imaginable, the still water stretches out +to the hills beyond the bay, which fade away, range after range, into +the dun and purple haze of the distance; in places their tops are swept +by low-hung clouds of dazzling whiteness--an effect of light and color +indescribably glorious. We have seen the Scotch, Swiss and Italian +lakes, and, second to none of them, our own Lake George, but among them +all there is no match for this splendid ocean inlet on such a day as +this. And truly, the day is the secret of the beauty; the color and +the distant hills vanish in the gray mists that so often envelop the +Irish coast. + +It is a jar to one's sensibilities to pass from such lofty and +inspiring scenes into Killorglin, the shabbiest, filthiest, most +utterly devil-may-care village we see in the Island. It does not show +the almost picturesque poverty of Sneem, but for sheer neglect and +utter lack of anything in the nature of civic pride, we must give +Killorglin the supremacy among numerous competitors for the honor--or +rather, dishonor. The market square is covered with masses of loose +stone intermingled with filth; the odors are what might be expected +from the general condition of the town. There is little temptation +to linger here, and we make hasty inquiries for the Killarney road. +It proves dreadfully rough and stony, a broad and apparently once +excellent highway, but now quite neglected. There is nothing to detain +us on the way and we soon turn into the grounds of the Victoria Hotel +just before we reach Killarney. + +The Victoria, fronting on the lake, is most pretentious, but there are +many little signs of the laxity and untidiness that is seen everywhere +in Ireland. We wait long for a porter to remove the luggage from the +car, and finally begin the task ourselves, when the porter appears +and takes our chaffing good-naturedly. An old lame crow--he has been +a hanger-on at the Victoria for fifteen years, the porter says, and +comes regularly to the kitchen yard for food--clings to a chimney pot +and pours out his harsh guttural jargon. + +"Swearing at us, isn't he?" we remark. + +"Not at all," answers the ready-witted son of Erin. "That's just his +way of expressin' his pleasure at your arrival." + +The Royal Victoria boasts of even a more astonishing array of +distinguished and royal guests than the Royal Bath at Bournemouth--both +have surely earned the prefix to their names. In the drawing-rooms were +posted letters and autographs of royalty from King Edward (as Prince of +Wales) down to ordinary lords and ladies; and there were also letters +from other guests of distinction, including well-known Americans. All +of which only partially atoned for the rather slack service which we +found in many particulars. Still, the Royal Victoria suffered from +no lack of patronage; we had telegraphed the day before and yet with +difficulty were able to secure satisfactory accommodations. + +[Illustration: A GLIMPSE OF THE LOUGH, IRELAND. + +From Original Water Color by Alexander Williams, R. I.] + +I will not write of Killarney's "Lakes and Fells," pre-eminently the +tourist center of Ireland. The drive to Muckross Abbey and along the +shores of the lake is one of surpassing beauty, though the road is +narrow and crooked. Much of the drive is through the private grounds +of Lord Ardilaun, the poetical title which has been accorded to Mr. +Guinness, whose "stout" has given him a wider and more substantial +fame than he can ever hope for from a mere title of nobility. However, +the famous product is responsible for the title, since the wealthy +brewer was elevated to the peerage ostensibly on account of his immense +benefactions to the city of Dublin. His Killarney house--one of several +he owns in Ireland--a modern mansion in the Elizabethan style, may +be plainly seen from the road. And one can hardly wonder that Lord +Ardilaun has thriven greatly and built up what is freely advertised as +the largest brewery in the world, when he has such an unlimited market +for his product right at home--for Ireland is cursed with drink perhaps +beyond any country on earth. Fortunately there is now a marked tendency +toward improvement and the Catholic church is exerting a strong +influence against the drink evil. + +But these reflections are not altogether germane to the transcendent +lake whose bright waters shimmer through the trees or ripple gently on +some open beach as we course along them. Out beyond lie the mountains +against the pale sapphire sky of a perfect summer morning, and the lake +makes a glorious mirror for its wooded islands and encircling hills. +We pass the "meeting of the waters," crossing a rustic bridge over +the narrow strait. Altogether, there is a succession of delightful +scenery, which the motor car affords the ideal means of seeing. + +But I am poorly carrying out my resolution not to write of Killarney, +though surely the theme tempts one to linger; there is much I have +not even hinted at; Ross Castle and Muckross Abbey alone might occupy +many pages were I competent to fill them. But we will leave them all, +though we must pause a moment in the town itself, surely a paradise +for lovers of Irish laces and for seekers after trinkets and souvenirs +galore. It is rather cleaner and more substantial than the average +small Irish town, yet Killarney and its environs have all the earmarks +of a tourist-thronged resort and in this particular, at least, are +disappointing. While there is much of beauty and interest, we cannot +help a feeling as we leave the town behind us that some of the +encomiums may have been a little over-enthusiastic. + +But Killarney rapidly recedes as we hasten toward Tralee through a +country whose bleak hill-ranges alternate with still drearier peat +bogs, often of great extent. Everywhere one sees piles of cut and dried +peat, the almost universal fuel in Ireland. Its use is evidenced by +the thin blue smoke curling from the rude chimneys and by the pungent +odor as it falls to the earth under the lowering sky. For the sky has +become overcast and gray. We have had--very unusual, too, they tell +us--several days of perfect weather; the rule is almost daily showers +in Ireland during the summer. + +We find Tralee a large, lively town; it is market day and the narrow +main street is fairly blocked with donkey-carts, driven by screaming +old women, and the heavier, more unwieldy carts of the farmers. The +old women often go into a panic at the sight of the motor, and grasp +the donkeys by the bridle as though these sleepy little brutes might +be expected to exhibit all the fire of a skittish horse; but never one +of them even lifts his lazy ears as the motor hums under his nose. It +is different with some of the horses, which become unmanageable and +swing the heavy carts around in spite of all the drivers can do. And +woe to the motorist who should try conclusions with one of these carts +that may be suddenly thrown across his way. The wreck of the car would +be almost certain and I doubt if the cart would suffer at all. These +vehicles are primitive in the extreme; two massive wheels, an oaken +beam axle and two shafts made of heavy timbers, is about all there +is to one of them. It is with such vehicles that Tralee swarms and +our progress to the market square is slow indeed. In the midst of the +market place stands a monument surmounted by the figure of a peasant +soldier, the inscriptions commemorating the Irish patriots of '98, '03, +'48 and '67, and declaring the "undying allegiance of the Irish people +to republican principles." The hotel where we stop for luncheon is +a large limestone building, just opposite the monument. It is fairly +clean and the service cannot be complained of; Irish hotels have +averaged better than we had been led to expect. + +From Tralee we take a rough, neglected road to Tarbert-on-Shannon, +running through a desolate hill country--the Stacks Mountains, as +they appear to Irish eyes--almost devoid of trees, with mean and +often unspeakably filthy huts at long intervals. Most of these huts +have but two small rooms; in one the domestic animals--the horse, +donkey or cow, with a pig or two squealing under foot--and in the +other the family. One is quite as clean and comfortable as the other. +The muck-heap is squarely in front of the door; it would be too much +trouble to put it to the rear, and it is probably cleared away once +or twice a year. But withal, the people are probably happier than the +nobles in their castles; a merry, laughing, quick-witted folk who greet +us with good-natured shouts of welcome--there is no prejudice against +the motor here. The cheeriness of the people contrasts with the bleak +and depressing country itself, today wrapped in a gray mist that half +obscures the view. + +As we passed through one of the bogs, an incident occurred that added +to the gloom of the day, and the poverty of the country still leaves a +somber impression on our minds. It was a peasant funeral procession, +forty or fifty of the rude carts such as we have described wending +their way along the wretched road. The plain pine coffin, fastened +with knotted hempen ropes, was borne on a cart similar to the others, +and yet the deceased was evidently a person of importance, indicated +by the large following and several priests in the center of the +procession. As we came up they motioned us to pass, and our car crept +by as stealthily as possible, though not without disturbing some of the +horses. All treated it with good-natured solemnity and many saluted +us as we passed. Farther along the road we saw many people at the +cottages in readiness to join the procession when it reached them. The +incident could not but impress us with the poverty and really primitive +character of the Irish peasants of the inland hills--people and a +country quite unknown to those who follow the ordinary routes of travel. + +Listowel is twenty miles from Tralee, a dilapidated hamlet surrounding +a great gloomy-looking church, and above it the shattered towers of the +ever-present castle peeping out of a mass of ivy. Ten miles farther +over a rough road and we enter Tarbert on a fine wooded headland +overlooking the lordly Shannon--truly worthy of such title here--a +sweeping river two or three miles in width. For twenty miles or more +our road closely follows the southern shore of the broad estuary, and +we realize keenly how much of color and distance one loses when the +gray rain obscures the landscape. The estuary of the Shannon might well +vie with Dingle Bay under conditions similar to those of the preceding +day, but we see only a leaden sheet of water fading away in the fitful +showers or lying sullenly under the dim outlines of the coast of County +Clare. + +At Glin we pass beneath the ancient stronghold of the "Knight of +Glin," which recalls the splendor of a feudal potentate who in Queen +Elizabeth's time was lord of an estate of six hundred thousand acres, +and whose personal train included five hundred gentlemen. So much +glory and an Irish tendency to take a hand in the frequent broils in +the west, brought the English Lord President of Ireland with a strong +besieging force. The defense was desperate in the extreme. The young +son of the lord of the castle was captured by the besiegers and placed +in a post of great danger in hope of checking the fire of the garrison; +but the ruse had no effect on the furious Irishmen in the fortress. +When at last a breach had been made by a heavy cannonade and the fall +of the castle became inevitable, the few remaining defenders, uttering +the ancient warcry of their house, flung themselves from the shattered +battlements into the river. After a lapse of more than three hundred +years, one may still see the marks of the cannon-shot upon the heavy +walls. And this weird story of the defense of Glin Castle is typical of +tales that may be told of hundreds of the mouldering ruins of Ireland. + +At Foynes the river broadens still more; "the spacious Shenan, +spreading like a sea," was how it impressed Edmund Spenser, who has +left in his poems many traces of his Irish wanderings. But we see +little of it in the increasing drizzle that envelops it. Our road turns +farther inland to Askeaton, a bedraggled collection of little huts, +beneath the lordly ruin of Desmond Castle. There is little else to +engage us on our way to Limerick, though we pass through the Vale of +Adare, of which the bard has so musically sung: + + "O sweet Adare, O lovely vale, + O safe retreat of sylvan splendor; + Nor summer sun nor morning gale + E'er hailed a scene so sweetly tender." + +But it is not so sweetly tender on a dark drizzly evening, and we rush +on through the rain to the shelter of an old-time hostelry in Limerick. + +Cruise's Royal is a large plain building perhaps a century or two old +and quite unpretentious and comfortable. Limerick is not frequented by +tourists and little special provision has been made to entertain them. +It is a city of nearly fifty thousand people and has large business +interests in different lines. But Limerick has a past, despite its +modern activity. Its castle, standing directly on the Shannon, was +built by King John in 1205, and the seven original circular towers +are still intact. The cathedral of St. Mary's is even older than the +castle, and though restored, many touches of antiquity still remain. +The Roman Catholic cathedral of St. John's is one of the finest modern +churches in Ireland, its splendid spire rising to a height of three +hundred feet. Its magnificence ill accords with the wretched hovels +that crowd around it; for the Irish Catholic seems to take far more +pride in his church than in his own home. There is a large percentage +of English among the inhabitants of Limerick, which is no doubt a +factor in its business progressiveness. The shops which we visited +would compare favorably with those of a city of the same size almost +anywhere. One of the staple products is Limerick lace and it is sold +here at prices so low, compared with the tourist towns, as to quite +astonish one. + +But the chief glory of Limerick is its broad river, so vast and so +cleansed by the sea tide as to show little trace of pollution, even in +the city limits. It is spanned by two fine bridges, that nearest the +castle replacing one built by King John. At the west end of this bridge +is the famous "Stone of the Violated Treaty," mounted on a properly +inscribed pedestal. The treaty with William and Mary was signed on this +stone, but the English Parliament repudiated the agreement, and hence +the name. + +In leaving Limerick, we closely followed the Shannon, and a magnificent +stream it is, lying in wide, lakelike stretches and rippling gently in +the fresh sea breeze. The valley here is quite level and covered with +emerald verdure to the very banks, between which the river flashes +in gemlike brilliancy. It would be a joy to follow the Shannon and +the loughs, in which it rests itself at frequent intervals, to its +very source, every mile rich in historic interest and storied ruins; +but we may go no farther than Killaloe, at the southern end of Lough +Derg, about fifteen miles from Limerick. Here is a venerable cathedral +church, built about 1150, upon the site of a still older church +founded in the sixth century. And it is to this latter time that most +authorities refer the stone-roofed chapel or oratory standing near +the cathedral. Legend has it that this was built by St. Flannan, who +founded the original cathedral; and certain it is that its antiquity +is very great. One experiences strange sensations as he stands in +this rude, unfurnished little structure. It forcefully brings to him +the fact that Christianity and learning are older in Ireland than in +England and Scotland; that this chapel was probably built before St. +Augustine landed in Kent; that it was from Ireland that Christian +missionaries sailed to teach the savage Britons and marauding Picts. + +We cross the river over a high-arched bridge, near which is an +attractive new hotel, for tourists and fishermen are learning of +the beauties of the Shannon and Lough Derg. We soon reach Nenagh on +the Dublin road, and the graceful church spire at once attracts our +attention. We can scarce forbear an exclamation of surprise as we come +into full view of the splendid structure, just from the builder's +hand. It is truly a poem in gray stone, as fine an example of gothic +architecture as we have seen in the Kingdom--proof that the spirit of +the old cathedral builders lingers still, at least in Ireland. A young +man approaches us as we stand in the churchyard and informs us that +the church has just been completed at a cost of fifty thousand pounds. +We should have guessed much more, but labor and stone are cheap in +Ireland; such a structure could hardly have been erected in America for +less than half a million dollars. + +"And where did all the money come from?" for Nenagh shows little +evidence of wealth. + +"O, they have been long in raising it and much of it came from +America." + +[Illustration: ANCIENT ORATORY, KILLALOE.] + +The church inside is hardly in keeping with the exterior, but this +will no doubt be remedied in time. At the door is a table covered with +pamphlets, with a notice requesting the visitor to place a penny in the +box for each copy taken. We noted the titles of several: "Health and +Cleanliness in Irish Homes," "Temperance Catechism, Showing the Evils +of Drink," "Ireland, the Teacher of England and Scotland," "The Evils +of Emigration," (in which no very glowing picture of the prospects of +the emigrant in America is shown), and many others on Irish history +and Catholic heroes. Nearly all of the dozen booklets which we select +are really excellent and show that the Catholic Church in Ireland is +awakening to the necessities of modern conditions. + +From the church our guide led us to the castle near at hand and secured +the key. There is little left save the stupendous keep, a circular +tower about one hundred feet high and perhaps sixty feet in diameter. +The walls at the bottom have the amazing thickness of eighteen feet and +one would reckon this mighty tower as well-nigh impregnable. + +"Destroyed by Cromwell," said our guide, "who burned the castle and +razed it to the ground." + +Just as we are about to leave a very recently acquired distinction of +Nenagh occurs to our guide--the town is the home of the grandfather of +Hayes, the American runner who won the Marathon race at London. The +old man keeps a baker shop down the street and the hero is here even +now--a twofold hero, indeed, as an Irishman by descent and as a winner +over the English contestants. We pause at the little shop, but the +hero is out and we have to be content with a few purchases. We find +some difficulty in getting out of the town, but after much inquiry a +policeman starts us on the Dublin road. + +And here I might speak a word of the Irish policeman. As in England, he +is everywhere and always ready with information; no matter how dirty +and squalid the surroundings, he is neat, in a faultless moss-green +uniform emblazoned with the gold harp of Erin. He is always conscious +of his dignity as the representative of law and order, and one can +easily imagine that his presence must have a calming effect on the +proverbial Irish tendency for a row. He is indeed a worthy part of the +unequaled police system of the United Kingdom. + +The road which we now followed runs through the very heart of the +Island, a distance of one hundred miles from Nenagh to Dublin. It is +in the main a broad, well-surfaced highway with even grades and slight +curves. It passes through a much better and more prosperous-looking +country than the extreme southern portion of the Island. The farm +cottages are better and apparently cleanlier, but the towns show little +improvement. Nearly all of them are poor and mean-looking, with aged, +weather-beaten buildings and many tumble-down houses. They are a good +distance apart; Roscrea, Mountrath, Maryborough, Kildare and Naas are +the larger places on the road. Only two call for especial mention--one +for its dilapidation and filthiness and the other for rather the +opposite qualities. The first distinction we may freely accord to +Maryborough, the county town of Queens County, with a population of +about three thousand. Perhaps we saw it at its worst, for it was the +weekly market day. The market place was blocked with live stock, and +it was with difficulty that we forced the car through the seething +mass. The streets were covered with loose stones, straw and filth, +and on the sidewalks, little pens were fenced off and filled with +calves and hogs. The farmers circulated among the animals and regarded +us rather sullenly for Irishmen. Our luncheon hour was past and we +looked dubiously toward the Maryborough hotel. A native, divining our +situation, cast a disgusted glance at the wretched surroundings and +said, "You had better go on to Kildare; you will find it much better." + +We thank him and the car spurns the dirt of Maryborough under her +wheels as she springs forward on the twenty miles of fine road to +Kildare. We find this town small and rather poor, but far cleanlier +than its neighbor. It has an ancient cathedral church and one of the +most notable of the round towers, one hundred and five feet high, +though somewhat spoiled by a modern battlemented effect in place of +the usual conical top. But the joy of Kildare is its hotel, a new, +bright-looking brick structure, delightfully pleasant and homelike +inside. There is a piano in the parlor and fresh flowers on the +mantelpiece. Our tea is soon ready in the dining-room, as cleanly and +well ordered as the best across the Channel, and the neat waiter girls +serve us promptly. Of course there is a secret somewhere to all this +wonder, and we fathom it when we learn that the railroad owns the +hotel. May the railroads build more hotels in Ireland! + +At Newbridge, a few miles farther, are extensive barracks, a city of +red brick, where a large body of Irish troops is quartered. Military +life appeals to a great number of Irishmen and some of the crack +British regiments are recruited in the Island. The Irishman may justly +be proud of his reputation as a fighting man and he never wearies of +telling you of the nativity of the Duke of Wellington and of Lord +Roberts, the present chief of the British army. A fine racing course +also lies between Newbridge and Kildare, and races famous throughout +the country are held here annually. + +Our Irish pilgrimage is at an end; we leave Dublin on the following +day, not without reluctance and regret. This Ireland is very old and +very interesting, and it is with a feeling of distinct sadness that we +watch her lessening shores. We find ourselves secretly hoping to come +again some day with out trusty companion of the winged wheels, to spend +a whole summer among the hills and dales, the rivers and loughs of the +"Ould Countree." + + + + +XX + +SOME ODDS AND ENDS + + +Holyhead is an inconsequential town whose chief end is to serve as a +port of departure for Ireland. Were it not for this useful purpose, few +tourists would ever see it--or the Isle of Anglesea, for that matter. +Aside from some fine coast scenery and the castle, now very ruinous, +built by Edward I. at Beaumaris, Anglesea offers little in the way +of attractions. The island is rather barren, with here and there a +mean-looking village with a long, unpronounceable Welsh name. The main +road from the great suspension bridge over the Menai Strait to Holyhead +is excellent, but nearly all others in the island are so bad as to +discourage motorists. + +The Station Hotel at Holyhead is owned by the Northwestern Railway, +and would be creditable to a city of one hundred thousand. It affords +every comfort to its guests, and the railway people have made special +provisions for the motor car, among these one of the best-equipped +garages that I saw anywhere. The motor is becoming a serious rival to +the railway in Britain, the heavy reduction in first-class passenger +travel being attributed to the popularity of the horseless carriage; +but the situation has been accepted by the companies which own hotels +and they have generally provided first-class accommodation for cars +belonging to their guests. + +In a previous chapter I referred to our run from London to Holyhead, +reaching Ludlow the first night. I am going to have my say about Ludlow +in another chapter; for five visits on different occasions to the +delightful old border town should perhaps entitle me, though a stranger +to its people, to record my impressions of it somewhat in detail. + +Bishop's Castle marked our entrance into the hill country of Northern +Wales. It is a lonely town following a steep, roughly-paved main +street, at the top of which we stop for luncheon at an old-fashioned +but very pleasant country inn. From Bishop's Castle to Barmouth by +the way of Welshpool, Llanfair, Dinas Mawddwy and Dolgelley, we pass +through the very heart of North Wales and see many phases of its +beauty, though generally in the wilder and sterner moods. The hills +are often steep, but from their crests we have far-reaching views over +the wooded vales and green hill ranges. In places we wind through +tangled forests or run along the banks of swift little rivers. At +Dinas Mawddwy we enter the Welsh mountains, the most imposing hills in +Britain. The tiny village nestling beside its rippling river seems +lost in the mighty hills that overhang it on every side, rugged and +almost precipitous, yet velvety green to their very summits. We begin +our climb out of the valley over the Bwlch Ooeddrws Pass--the name is +even more alarming than the heavy grade shown in the road book--and for +three miles we climb steadily up the mighty hill alongside an incline +that drops sharply to the roaring stream far below. From the summit a +grand prospect greets our eyes: the wild, broken, intensely green Welsh +hills stretching away range after range until they fade in the purple +shadows of the distance, and yet higher above us looms the crest of +Cader Idris, on which still linger flecks of snow. After a short pause +to contemplate the beauty of the scene, we plunge down the descent, +steep, sinuous and rough, to Dolgelley, lying at the foot of the hill, +a retired little town with a long history; for here the Welsh hero, +Owen Glendwr, held his parliaments and made a rallying point for his +adherents in North Wales. Today its old-time, gray-stone, slate-roofed +houses are hemmed in by more modern villas such as one now finds in +most of the beauty spots of northern Wales. + +The ten miles of road to Barmouth follows the estuary of the river +with only moderate grades until it reaches the town, when it plunges +down the long hill to the seashore. Barmouth, or, as the Welsh style +it, Abermaw, is a quiet watering-place lying along a narrow beach at +the foot of the hills that rise almost sheer behind the town. The +coast line of the wide rock-bound harbor is wild and broken, and the +view over the estuary at sunset is an enchanting one. The hotels are +rather small and the beginning of the crowded season is just at hand. +Should one wish to remain for a time in Barmouth to explore some of the +grandest scenery in Wales, he would be more at ease in May or June. + +As we leave the town an obliging garage man hails us and warns us +to beware of Llanaber, two or three miles to the north; a trap for +motorists has been set there, and as if to convince us that wealth and +station will not protect us, he adds in a rather awe-stricken manner +that Her Grace the Duchess of W----, wife of the richest nobleman in +the Kingdom, was stopped last week and fined ten pounds. We feel that +a contribution to the exchequer of Llanaber would hardly come so easy +from us as from the wealthy duchess, and we pass through the wretched +little hamlet at a most respectful pace. The rain has begun to fall +heavily and has apparently dampened the ardor of the Welsh constables, +for we see nothing of them. The road continues many miles between the +mountain slope and the low green marshes stretching seaward, but the +driving rain obscures the view. At only one point does the ocean lash +the rocks directly beneath us; elsewhere along the coast the road is +separated from the sea by marshes and stretches of sandy beach, varying +from a few hundred feet to two miles in width. + +Suddenly the gray bulk of Harlech Castle, standing on its commanding +eminence, four square to all the winds of heaven, looms up grim and +vast in the gusty rain. It is the last of the great feudal castles of +Britain that we are to see on our pilgrimage--save some of those we +have seen before--and it marks a fitting close to the long list that we +have visited--nearly every one of importance in the Island. + +Harlech is one of the seven great castles built by Edward I. in his +effort to subdue Wales. It contests with Carnarvon and Conway for first +place among the Welsh ruins and is easily one of the half dozen most +remarkable castellated fortresses in the Kingdom. It is perched on a +mighty rock which drops almost sheer to the wide, sandy marsh along +the sea, and just below it on the landward side is the village that +gives the castle its name. Inside the great quadrangle, we find the +trim neatness that characterizes the ruins belonging to the crown. We +ascend the stairway leading to the battlements and follow the path +around the walls and towers. A thousand pities that the rain shuts out +the view, for surely there are few such panoramas of sea and mountain +in Britain as one may get from the walls of Harlech. Shall we let one +more fortunate than we, having seen the prospect on a cloudless day, +tell its beauty in poetic phrase? + +"It is a scene of unparalleled beauty, whichever way one turns; whether +to the sea, out beyond the sandy beach at the foot of Castle Rock, +running far away, a sheet of intensest blue, until it meets the pale +sapphire of the sky; or whether toward the mountains of the north, +Snowdon, the snow-crowned king of them all, rising in matchless majesty +above his satellites; or to the landward where the tiny village nestles +at the foot of craglike hills; or to the westward where the great +promontory of Lleyn stretches away, throwing here and there into the +sky its isolated peaks, so full of savage sternness tempered with weird +beauty." + +Verily, these misty days in Britain often hide visions of beauty from +one's eager eyes. We will ask little of the story of Harlech, but it +is a stirring one. It saw strenuous times as a stronghold of Owen +Glendwr, who captured it in 1404 and held it against the forces of +Henry IV., who re-took the castle four years later, driving the Welsh +prince into the mountains. Here came Margaret, the queen of the Sixth +Henry, during the war of the Roses, and the castle yielded, only after +a long siege, to the onslaught of the adherents of the House of York. +Indeed, Harlech was the last fortress in England to hold out for the +Lancastrian cause. But far more memorable than the siege are the wild +swinging cadences of the "March of the Men of Harlech," to which the +conflict gave birth. During the civil war, the castle was the last +in Wales to hold out for King Charles, and its story closes with its +surrender to the army of the Commonwealth in 1647. + +The rain ceases shortly after we leave Harlech, and the air becomes +clear, though the sky is still overcast. It is fortunate, for we +see some of the wildest and most impressive of Welsh scenery. Great +clifflike hills, splashed with red shale and purple heather or clad +in the somber green of the pines, rise abruptly from the roadside. At +Beddgelert the beauty culminates in one of the finest scenes in Wales. +The valley, a plot of woods and meadows, is surrounded on every hand +by the giant hills, whose sides glow with red and purple rock which +crops out among the scattered pines that climb to the very crests. Two +clear, dashing mountain streams join their waters to form the river +Glaslyn, which winds through a mighty gorge to the sea; and alongside +the river runs the perfect road over which we have just been coursing. +The Royal Goat, right by the roadside, invites us to pause for our late +luncheon; a charming old-fashioned inn, odd as its name, but homelike +and hospitable. At Beddgelert the beauty begins to fade and one sees +only commonplace country and barren hills until he reaches Carnarvon. + +[Illustration: ON THE RIVER LLEDR, WALES. + +From Original Painting by Daniel Sherrin.] + +Returning from Holyhead, we followed the fine coast road from Bangor +to Conway, where we paused to renew our acquaintance with one of the +most charming towns in the Kingdom. In many respects it is unique, for +nowhere will one find more perfect relics of feudal time, or feel more +thoroughly its spirit than at Conway. The little city still lies snugly +behind its ancient wall, whose one and twenty watch towers stand grimly +as of old, though shorn of their defenders in these piping times of +peace. And the castle, from many viewpoints the most picturesque of +them all, looks marvelously perfect from a little distance--so perfect +that one could hardly wonder to see a flash of armor from the stately +battlements. Yet with all its antiquity, Conway, inside its walls, is +clean and neat and has an air of quiet prosperity. So widely known are +its charms that perhaps it should have no place in this record; and yet +it is probable that the great majority of American visitors in England +never see Conway--which assumption is my excuse for a few words of +appreciation. + +If there were no castle or wall, there would be ample warrant for +coming to see one of the most charming Elizabethan mansions in the +Island. Plas Mawr--the Great House--indeed deserves its name; a +huge building of many gables, odd corners and stone-mullioned, +diamond-paned windows. Inside there are great paneled rooms with +richly bossed plaster ceilings, wide fireplaces with mantelpieces +emblazoned with the arms of the ancient owners, and many narrow winding +passageways leading--you never quite learn whither. Very appropriate +is the ghostly legend of the house, and even more fitting the better +substantiated story of the visit of Queen Elizabeth--that splendid +royal traveler who might well be our patron saint. Stately is the great +chamber, the sitting-room of the Queen's suite, with its paneled walls, +its highly ornate ceiling, its great group of no less than a dozen +windows; and the fireplace, six feet or more across, where a great +log might be thrown to glow, a solid core of heat--fit indeed for the +evening musings of the royal guest. + +A thorough round of Plas Mawr will serve to give one an appetite for +luncheon at the Castle Hotel--at least this was the result in our +particular case. But one would not really need much of an appetite +to be tempted by the luncheon set forth at the Castle Hotel, one of +the cleanest, brightest and best-ordered of the many inns at which we +stopped in our wanderings. + +In a jaunt up the Conway River, one will see much pleasing scenery +of hill, valley and river, and will come at Bettws-y-Coed into the +Holyhead road, which splendid highway we follow through Llangollen +and Oswestry to Shrewsbury. This route abounds in interest; Chirk is +famous for its castle and there is an ivy-covered ruin at Whittington, +but we do not pause in our swift flight for any of them. The sky has +cleared and delightful vistas greet our eyes as we hasten through "the +sweet vale of Llangollen." We come into Shrewsbury almost ere we know +it, and a half hour later catch sight of the great church tower of +Ludlow town. + +[Illustration: WHITTINGTON CASTLE, SHROPSHIRE.] + +A longing for a farewell glimpse of Warwickshire comes upon us as we +leave Ludlow on the afternoon of the following day; and what pleasanter +memory could we choose for the closing days of our long pilgrimage +in England than a flight through the charming country that lies at +her very heart? True, we will pass over roads that we have traversed +before, but could one ever weary of Stratford and Warwick and Coventry, +and of the quiet Midlands that lie about them? + +We pause for one last look at the cathedral at Worcester, its great +tower of warm red stone standing sharp against the cloudless sky; it +is altogether one of the most perfect in proportion and design of +all the churches in the Island. Then we hasten through the summer +landscape--its prevailing green dashed with the pale gold of the +yellowing harvests--to Droitwich and through Alcester, with its +dull-red brick and black-oak beams, into the now familiar streets of +Stratford-on-Avon. We pause at the busy souvenir store of which two +years before the white-haired mayor was proprietor; but he has since +retired, his successor tells us. As one of the notables of the town, +he points out Miss Corelli, the novelist, who has made her home in +Stratford and waxed rich through much advertising, which sometimes +assumed forms highly distasteful to her fellow-townsmen. For it chanced +that one Andrew Carnegie would present a handsome library building +to Stratford should the town provide a suitable site, but for some +reason Miss Corelli objected, and by engaging the plan in some of +the endless legal quibbles possible in England, she defeated it. The +mayor was vexed beyond measure and when the attorney for Miss Corelli +interrogated him, + +"Did you not say that you would give a thousand pounds to get Miss +Corelli out of Stratford?" + +"I have never said so," replied his honor, "but though a thousand +pounds does not grow on a gooseberry bush for me, I really believe I +would." + +This retort so irritated the authoress that she brought an action +for libel and was awarded a farthing damages. But this bit of gossip +hardly accords with the spirit of Stratford at the coming of twilight, +when the low sun flashes on the still bosom of the immemorial Avon +and pierces the gloom beneath the great trees that cluster around the +church. + +We come here again from Coventry on the following day to join the +worshipers in the fane where sleeps the Master of English Letters. It +is a perfect day and the large light-toned windows lend an air almost +of cheerfulness to the graceful interior of Stratford Church, and the +great organ fills it with noble melody. With such surroundings, perhaps +we miss much of the sermon--at least we can recall nothing of it in the +lapse of time--but the memories that come back to us now are of the +mingled feelings of reverence and inspiration that dominated us during +the hour we lingered. + +As we leave the church--our car has stood by the roadside the while--an +intelligent little fellow approaches us, urging his services as guide, +and he looks so longingly at the car that we take him in. In all +our wanderings about Stratford, and hardly a highroad or byway has +escaped us, we have missed the old cottage where Mary Arden is said +to have lived. Is said to have lived--alas, that hypothetical "said" +that flings its blight over so many of our sacred shrines. But what +matters it, after all? What mattered it to the pious votary of olden +time that the relics of his revered saint, so fraught with comfort and +healing to him, turned out to be the bones of a goat? There shall be +no question for us on this perfect day of English summer that the low +gray walls and sagging dull-red tile roof of the cottage before us +once sheltered the mother of Shakespeare. It stands behind a low stone +wall, in the village of Wilmcote, two or three miles from Stratford, +a blaze of old-fashioned flowers in front of it and creepers and rose +vines clamber over its gray walls. It is only a farmhouse tenement now, +but with the old buildings grouped about it and its dovecot, it makes a +picture well suited to the glamour that legend throws about the place. +Our small guide eagerly points it out and proposes to seek admittance +for us; but we desire no such disenchantment as this would likely +bring. We ask him to point the way to Shottery, for we wish a final +glimpse of Anne Hathaway's cottage, whose authenticity is only a shade +better attested than that of the home of Mary Arden. + +The road from Stratford to Banbury is winding and steep in places, +and Sun-Rising Hill is known over the Kingdom as the most formidable +in the Midland Country; the road climbs it in sweeping curves and the +increasing grade brings the motor to "low" ere we reach the top. But +the prospect which greets one from its summit makes the climb worth +while, a panorama of green and gold fading into the purple haze of +distance. The Red Lion at Banbury appeals to us and we rest awhile in +the courtyard after luncheon. Along the walls directly in front of us, +a blaze of purple bloom, stretches the "largest wisteria in England," +one hundred and eighty feet in length, its stem like a good-sized tree. +It has been thus with so many of the old-time inns; each has had some +peculiar charm. But surely no architect ever planned the Red Lion Inn; +it is a rambling building that seems to have grown up with the years. +No straight line curbs its walls; none of its floors maintain the same +level; it is a maze of strangely assorted apartments, narrow, winding +hallways and odd nooks and corners. + +The road we follow to Daventry is a retired one, very narrow and almost +lost in places between high hedges and over-arching trees. It leads +through quaint villages, snug and cozy among the hills, seemingly +little disturbed by the workaday world beyond. What a change it is to +come into the Holyhead road at Daventry, the splendid highway that +charms one more and more every time he passes over it; and did ever +anyone see it more golden and glorious than we as we hasten toward +Coventry in the face of the setting sun? The giant elms and yews and +pines that border the road stand sharply against the wide bar of lucent +gold that sweeps around the horizon, flecked here and there with purple +and silver clouds. Soon the three slender spires of the old city loom +out of the purple mists that hover over it and stand in clear outline +against the sunset sky, a scene of calm and inspiring beauty. As we +come nearer the shadows resolve themselves into the houses of the +charming old town, in the heart of which we come to our pleasant inn. + +There is little more to be told; our second long pilgrimage through the +sunlit fields and rain-swept wolds of Britain and Ireland draws near +its close. We take our final leave of Coventry with keen regret and +soon come into the Northamptonshire Hills. We see the Bringtons again, +far more delightful under cloudless skies than in the gray summer +shower that wrapped the little hamlets during our former visit. + +Beyond Northampton, a memory of Ben Franklin brings us to Ecton, +apparently the sleepiest of Midland villages. We follow the straggling +line of thatched cottages to the church, where gray stones with almost +illegible inscriptions mark the graves of Eleanor and Thomas Franklin, +uncle and aunt of one who, in some respects, was our greatest American. +The Franklin manor house is gone and Benjamin himself had little to do +with Ecton save as a visitor to his ancestral home. He relates that in +searching the parish records he learned that he was the youngest son of +the youngest son for no less than five generations--verily, genius has +little respect for the law of primo-geniture so sacred in England. His +grandfather, also a Benjamin, left Ecton for London, where he engaged +in the dyer's trade and varied the drudgery of his calling by writing +much poetry of doubtful merit. His youngest son, Josias, emigrated +to America in 1682, and the rest is American history, too well known +to need recording here. Ecton, somnolent and remote, seems little +conscious today of the achievements of the mighty son of her Franklin +squires of a few centuries ago. + +At Bedford, the brightest and most progressive-looking of English +towns, we enter the old home of Howard, who civilized the prisons of +the world and whose memory is kept green by the excellent work of the +Howard societies of our own and other countries. Near at hand is the +Bunyan memorial chapel, with many relics of the author of "Pilgrim's +Progress." And one is mildly astonished to see the collection of the +works of this famous preacher and to note how "Pilgrim's Progress" +outshone and survived a flood of mediocre, if not stupid, theological +writings which he poured forth. We hasten onward through Cambridge, +and night finds us at the Angel in Bury St. Edmunds. Of our last day's +wanderings I have already told in my chapter on East Anglia. + +Travel-stained but unwearied, the tried and trusty companion of our +pilgrimage stands before our London hotel. It is hard to think of +her--is the pronoun right?--as a thing of iron and steel; she has +won a personality to us; but, metaphor aside, what a splendid means +to a splendid end the motor has become! In two summers we have seen +more of Britain than one might find it practicable to see in years +under old conditions, and we have seen the most delightful, though +unfamiliar, side. I trust that some small measure of our appreciation +has been reflected in these pages, though I well recognize that neither +the words nor the power to use them are mine by which there might be +conveyed a truly adequate idea of such a pilgrimage. + + + + +XXI + +LUDLOW TOWN + + +I am going to write a chapter, though it be a short one, on Ludlow +Town, which, among the hundreds of places rich in historic association +and redolent of romance that we visited in our wanderings, still +continues pre-eminent in our memories. We took occasion to pause here +four or five times for the night, and each succeeding sojourn only +served to heighten our appreciation of the delightful old town and +its traditions. One will not tire of the Feathers Inn--surely one of +the most charming of the very old hostelries and noted as one of the +best preserved brick-and-timber houses in the Kingdom. True, copious +applications of black and white paint gives it a somewhat glaring +appearance, but the beauty of the sixteenth century facade with its +jutting gables, carved beams and antique windows, will appeal to the +most casual beholder. The interior is old-fashioned, but comfortable +withal, and an air of quiet pervades the place. It is not without a +touch of modernity, for between our first and last visit gas lights +superseded candles. On one occasion, when the Feathers was full, we +went to the Angel and will not soon forget the portly Boniface who +welcomed us: a mighty man indeed, who might well be the prince of +inn-keepers and who would tip the scale at not less than twenty-five +stone--for thus they reckon ones weight in England. + +Nothing could be more delightful on the evening of a fine summer day +than to wander about the town and to view the church tower and castle +walls from different angles. Our favorite walk was over the castle +bridge and along the river, whose waters beyond the weir lay broad and +still, reflecting the gray towers far above. One will find few more +romantic sights than the rugged bulk of Ludlow Castle, standing on +its clifflike eminence in sharp outline against the evening sky. Just +beneath rise the ranks of stately lime trees bordering the pleasant +walk cut in the hill slope, which falls sharply to a narrow bank along +the river. One may complete the circuit by following the path between +the trees and making a rather steep descent to the road along the bank. + +The river above the weir is radiant with the reflected glories of the +skies; and the rush of the falling water alone breaks on the evening +stillness. We linger long; the crimson fades from the heavens and +river, but a new, almost ethereal beauty possesses the scene under the +dominance of a full summer moon. The walls and towers lose their traces +of decay in the softened light, and one might easily imagine Ludlow +Castle, proud and threatening, as it stood in the good old times. Did +we catch a glint of armor on yonder grim old tower, or a gleam of +rushlight through its ruinous windows? But our reverie vanishes as the +notes of "Home Sweet Home" come to us, clear and sweet from the church +tower chime. + +[Illustration: LUDLOW CASTLE, THE WALK BENEATH THE WALL.] + +I wish I might write the fuller story of the castle, but its eight +hundred years were too eventful for the limits of my book. A few +scattered incidents of its romance are all that I may essay--and one +can but keenly regret that Walter Scott did not throw the enchantment +of his story over Ludlow rather than the less deserving Kenilworth. + +The castle was built soon after the Conquest, and its warlike history +begins with a siege by King Stephen, who wrested it from its founders, +the Mortimers, and presented it to his favorite, the doughty warrior, +Joce de Dinan. He greatly enlarged and improved it, but was sorely +troubled by Hugh Mortimer, the erstwhile lord of the castle, who +soon made open war upon its new possessor. Joce was no match for +his adversary in men and wealth, but managed to capture Mortimer by +strategy and imprisoned him in the tower which still bears his name. +His captivity was not of long duration, since Joce allowed him to +purchase his freedom at the cost of a large part of his wealth. + +After this, according to the old chronicles, began the bloody strife +between de Dinan and the DeLacys over a portion of an estate in the +valley of the Teme. Finally, after many fierce conflicts, the two +feudal lords met face to face under the walls of Ludlow and engaged +in deadly combat. The redoubtable Joce had just worsted his opponent +when three of the latter's followers appeared on the scene, and finding +the lord of Ludlow already wounded and quite exhausted, his defeat and +even death at the hands of his enemies seemed imminent. From the castle +towers his lady and fair daughters, Sybil and Hawyse, who had watched +the fray with sinking hearts, now rent the air with their cries of +despair, but the castle was deserted by the men-at-arms, and only Fulke +Fitzwarrene, a youth of seventeen, who was considered too young and +inexperienced for bearing arms, remained. He was of noble birth, lord +of the manor of Whittington in Salop--and did we not see the ivy-clad +ruin of his castle?--and he had been placed in the family of de Dinan +to be trained in the noble art of warfare, the only one considered fit +for a gentleman of those days. When he responded to the cries of the +distressed ladies, the fair Hawyse, whose beauty had already wrought +havoc with the heart of the bashful Fulke, turned upon him with all the +fury she could summon: + +"Coward, what doest thou loitering here when my father, who gives thee +shelter and protection, is being done to death in yonder valley?" + +Stung by the maiden's words, Fulke paused not for reply. He snatched a +rusty helmet and battleaxe from the great hall and, no war steeds being +in the castle, flung himself on a lumbering draught horse and galloped +away to his patron's rescue. Shall we tell of his doughty deeds in the +quaint language and style of the old chronicler? + +"Fulke had a foul helmet which covered his shoulders and at the first +onset he smote Godard de Braose, who had seized his lord, with his +axe and cut his backbone in two parts, and remounted his lord. Fulke +then turned towards Sir Andrew de Reese and smote him on his helmet of +white steel that he split it down to the teeth. Sir Arnold de Lys saw +well that he could in no manner escape, for he was sorely wounded and +surrendered to Sir Joce. The Lacy defended himself, but he was soon +taken. Now is Sir Walter de Lacy taken and Sir Arnold de Lys and they +are led over the river towards the castle of Dinan. Then spoke Sir +Joce, 'Friend burgher, you are very strong and valiant; and if it had +not been for you I should have been dead before this, I am much bound +to you and shall be always. You shall live with me and I will never +fail you.' Then the lad answered and said, 'Sir, I am no burgher, do +you not know me, I am Fulke, your foster child.' 'Fair son,' said he, +'blessed be the time that I ever nourished you, for a man will never +lose his labor that he does for a brave man.'" + +Surely such a gallant feat could have but one proper outcome and the +bold Sir Fulke was soon married to the fair Hawyse in the beautiful +circular chapel just built by her father and which stands almost intact +to charm the beholder today. And the Right Reverend Bishop of Hereford +came with his splendid retinue to perform the ceremony. It is a pity +indeed that one may not close the pretty tale here in the happy fashion +of the modern novel, but the wild way of the Welsh Border interferes. + +Walter de Lacy and Arnold de Lys have escaped from Ludlow Castle. So +great is the courtesy of their captor that he will not taste food until +his guests have dined. But one day when their meal is ready, they +cannot be found. A fair traitress in the castle, Maid Marion of the +Heath, who has become infatuated with Arnold, has connived at their +escape, though no one knows of this at the time. + +After the marriage, Joce and Fulke leave for a visit in Berkshire, +entrusting the castle to thirty knights and seventy soldiers. But +Maid Marion is ill; she remains behind, only to notify Arnold de +Lys that he will find a silken cord from one of the castle windows +and that she will draw up a ladder for him to enter her chamber. He +hastens to comply and brings at his back an hundred men-at-arms, who +slay the sleeping knights and soldiers of the garrison in their beds. +And Marion, when she learns of the tragedy the next morning, snatches +her recreant lover's sword, thrusts him through the body and in her +disappointment and despair hurls herself from the window upon the cruel +rocks far beneath. + +When Joce and Fulke heard the astounding news, they hastened back to +Ludlow and with a force of seven thousand men besieged DeLacy, who +was strongly entrenched in the castle. Joce pressed the siege with +great vigor, burning the great gate and making a breach in the outer +walls; and DeLacy, as a last resort, called upon the Welsh chieftains +for assistance. These outlawed gentry were never known to let the +opportunity for a fight go begging, and responded with twenty thousand +men, forcing Joce to appeal to King Henry. The king, who was especially +friendly to Joce, sent peremptory orders to DeLacy to evacuate the +castle forthwith, which he did. + +[Illustration: DOOR OF ROUND CHAPEL, LUDLOW CASTLE.] + +But we will follow the traditions of the castle no farther. The +incident related shows its wealth of romantic associations. Its sober +history is no less full of interesting vicissitudes. It figured +largely in the wars of the Roses; it was for many years the home of +Prince Arthur, eldest son of Henry VII., and his early death placed +the irrepressible Henry VIII. on the throne. For nearly two hundred +years the castle was the seat of the Lord President of the Marches, +and Ludlow was in a certain sense the capital of the border counties. +In Elizabeth's time Sir Henry Sidney of Penshurst, father of the more +famous Sir Philip, was Lord President, serving for twenty-seven years; +yet he suffered from the neglect that the queen so often showed to her +most faithful subjects, and near the close of his life he pathetically +writes: + +"The Queen will not be moved to reward me. I have not now so much +ground as will feed one mutton. My lady is gone with smallpox which +she got by continually nursing her Majesty in that sickness. I am now +fifty-four years of age, toothless and trembling, five thousand pounds +in debt and thirty thousand pounds worse than at the death of my dear +King and master, Edward VI." + +Sixty years later the Parliamentary cannon planted on Whitcliff, just +opposite, brought the active history of Ludlow Castle to an end. In +1651 it was finally dismantled; the lead and timbers were stripped +from the roof, the mantels and furnishings were sold and the fine old +structure given over to unhindered decay for nearly two hundred years. + +[Illustration: LUDLOW CASTLE FROM THE RIVER TEME. + +From Original Water Color by W. Egginton. Royal Cambrian Academy, +1908.] + +The fortunes of Ludlow have been closely intertwined with those of the +castle. Since the fall of the fortress, little has happened to disturb +the serenity and quietude of the town. It is prosperous today in a +quiet way as a country market, and though it has many visitors, it has +in no sense, as yet, become a tourist resort. One will find many fine +buildings, odd nooks and corners, and very quaint streets, all quite +devoid of any taint of modernity. The town is deservedly proud of its +parish church--as fine, perhaps, as any in England. It occupies the +opposite end of the high rock on which the castle sits and, after the +castle, is easily the glory of Ludlow. It is built of red sandstone, +time-stained to a dull brown, touched in places with silver gray; the +shape is cruciform and the splendid square tower with its pinnacled +corners forms a landmark for many miles from the surrounding country. +It was originally built about 1200, on the site of an earlier church, +though of course the present almost perfect structure is the result of +thorough restoration. The windows are unusually good, though modern, +and the tower was rebuilt and fitted with the fine mechanical peal of +bells that ring six times daily with a different refrain for each day +of the week. The tombs and monuments are numerous, but mostly those of +old-time border dignitaries. + +We found much pleasure in wandering about the town on the morning of +our last visit. The commodious market-house was filled with farmers +and their wives from the country, who offered their products for sale, +and as we mingled with them we heard nothing spoken but English. Down +toward the castle a curiosity shop attracted our attention; a brick and +timber house which was crammed to the very garret with antique arms, +armor, jewelry, china, glass, ivory, furniture, brass--but we might +not enumerate its contents in pages. Nor was this all, for at a short +distance an old Norman chapel had been leased by the proprietor and it, +too, was filled to overflowing with ancient things of all degrees, from +a spoon or cup to a massive carved-oak bed worth two hundred pounds. + +The shop keeper, a benevolent-looking, gray-bearded old gentleman, is +an authority on antiques and shows us many curios of astonishing value. +But his daughter is more shrewd at business. No effort is made to sell +us anything--only to interest us--and the apparent honesty of the shop +people spoils many a deal. I am desirous of some souvenir of Ludlow, +something distinctly suggestive of the place; an old sword, or pistol +or what not, that might possibly--I ask no more than possibly--have +been used in the frays that once raged round the castle. There are +ancient swords and pistols galore; but they are French rapiers or +Scotch claymores, and though I eagerly seek for a mere suggestion that +one of them might possibly have come from Ludlow, I am told that it +could hardly be; such treasures have been picked up long ago and should +one be found it would command a large price. It is a disappointment, +but it gives us confidence in the purchases we finally make--so many, +in fact, that our ready cash is quite exhausted; but such a trifling +matter is of no consequence--we are perfectly welcome to take the goods +and send the money when we reach London. + +"We have done considerable business with Americans," says the young +woman. "Were you ever at Mount Vernon?--of course you have been. We +supplied the antiques used in furnishing Washington's kitchen there. +One of the ladies of the committee happened to visit Ludlow and gave us +the order." + +Before we finally leave the old town which has charmed us so much, we +cannot forbear a last look at the castle, whose gray walls are flaunted +by the noonday sun. We enter the wide grass-grown court; it is quite +deserted and we make a farewell round of the lordly though ruinous +apartments. It is the day of all days for a view from the battlements +of the keep, over which flies the red and white banner of St. George. +We climb the shattered and somewhat precarious stairs and behold the +pleasant vale of the Teme, lying far beneath, every feature clear +and distinct in the lucent, untainted summer day. The verdant valley, +with its silvery river, its fine parks, its mansions, farmhouses, +towns and villages, and the far blue outlines of the Welsh hills, make +a scene quite too enchanting for any words of mine to describe. The +town just outside the castle walls lies slumberously below the church +tower, upon which the great clock points to the hour of twelve; the +bells peal forth the melody that finds a response always and in every +heart,--doubly so in that of the exiled wanderer--"Home Sweet Home," +and which never seemed to us so strong in its appeal, for we are to +sail within the week. + + + + +INDEX + + +A + +Abbottsford, 214. + +Abergavenny, 105-106. + +Abermaw, 365. + +Abingdon, 259. + +Aethelred, 286. + +Ailesbury Arms, Marlborough, 275. + +Alcester, 137, 371. + +Aldworth, 294. + +Alfoxden House, 81. + +Alfred the Great, 58-59, 260. + +Alloa, 227. + +Alnwick, 239-240. + +Althorpe House, 47. + +Ambleside, 184. + +"Ancient Mariner," 81. + +Angel Inn, Bury St. Edmunds, 18, 377. + +Angel Hotel, Chippenham, 260. + +Angel, The, Ludlow, 380. + +Anglesea, Isle of, 362. + +Antelope, The, Sherborne, 63, 65. + +Appleby, 178. + +Arden, Mary, 373-374. + +Ardilaun, Lord, 346-347. + +Arthur, King, 71-75, 106-107. + +Arthur, Prince, 386. + +Ashford, 322. + +Ashopton, 150. + +Askeaton, 353. + +Askrigg, 195. + +Athelney, Isle of, 58, 279. + +Austen, Jane, 302. + +Avebury, 274. + +Avilion, 279. + +Axbridge, 58. + +Ayr, 214. + + +B + +Bakewell, 144, 147-148. + +Banbury, 374-375. + +Bankes, Sir John, 282. + +Bangor, 369. + +Bannockburn, Battle of, 222. + +Barmouth, 325, 363, 364-365. + +Barnard Castle, 170, 172-175. + +Barnsley, 252-253. + +Barnstaple, 77-79, 82. + +Barrow-in-Furness, 185. + +Bass Rock, 230-231. + +Bath, 57, 207, 270. + +Bear Inn, Cowbridge, 113. + +Bear Inn, Devizes, 274. + +Beaton, Cardinal, 224. + +Beaulieu, 287-288. + +a'Becket, Thomas, 157, 285. + +Beddgelert, 368-369. + +Bede, 205-206. + +Bedford, 377. + +Bell Hotel, Gloucester, 87-88. + +Bell Inn, Mildenhall, 29. + +Bell Inn, Stilton, 33. + +Bell Inn, Thetford, 28. + +Berkeley, 85-87. + +"Bess of Hardwick," 157-158. + +Bethesden, 322. + +Bettws-y-Coed, 370. + +Beverley, 160-162, 247. + +Bexhill, 312, 318. + +Bicester, 259. + +Biddenden, 322-323. + +Bideford, 78, 79. + +Bildeston, 20. + +Birthswaite, 189. + +Birtsmorton, 128-129. + +Bishop's Castle, 363. + +Black Lion, East Linton, 231. + +Black Lion, Stockton-on-Tees, 169. + +Blackmore, R. D., 82. + +Blarney Castle, 338-340. + +Blenheim, 200, 275. + +Blue Idol, The, 307. + +Bognor, 306. + +Bolsover Castle, 157, 158-159. + +Bolton Abbey, 193. + +Bolton Arms, Leyburn, 244. + +Bolton Castle, 240-244. + +Borrowdale, 179. + +Boscobel, 96-99, 136. + +Bournemouth, 276-279, 307, 314, 318. + +Bowes, 173, 177. + +Bowness, 188. + +Bradford-on-Avon, 270-273. + +Bradford, William, 255. + +Brampton, 209. + +Brandon, Charles, 19. + +Brantwood, 184-185. + +Brecon, 105, 124-126. + +Brent Eleigh, 19. + +Brewster, William, 255. + +Bridgewater, 58. + +Bridgnorth, 93. + +Bridlington, 163. + +Brighton, 164, 307, 314, 318. + +Bringtons, The, 40, 44-47, 258-259, 376. + +Bristol, 84. + +Broadstairs, 318. + +Broadway, 52-55. + +Bromham Church, 264-267. + +Bronte Family, 197. + +Brough, 177. + +Brougham Castle, 178. + +Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, 90. + +Broxborne, 10. + +Bruce, Robert, 222, 226. + +Buckingham, 259. + +Builth, 104. + +Buntingford, 15. + +Bunyan, John, 377. + +Burne-Jones, 112. + +Burns, Robert, 214, 232-233. + +Bury St. Edmunds, 16-19, 377. + +Butler, Samuel, 134. + +Buxton, 144, 148-149. + +Bwlch Ooeddrws Pass, 364. + +Byron, Lord, 151-157. + + +C + +Cader Idris, 364. + +Caedmon, 167. + +Caerleon, 105-107. + +Caerphilly, 107-109. + +Caher, 336. + +Cahersiveen, 344. + +Caister Castle, 24. + +Cambridge, 14-16, 32, 377. + +Camelford, 71, 75. + +Campden, 268. + +Canterbury, 199-200, 271, 300, 320-321. + +Cardiff, 110-111. + +Cardigan, 121-122. + +Carhan House, 344. + +Carisbrook Castle, 291-292. + +Carlisle, 206-207, 214, 243. + +Carlisle Family, 200, 209-210. + +Carlow, 327-329. + +Carlyle, Thomas, 17-18, 213-214, 222. + +Carlyle, Jane Welsh, 213, 231. + +Carmarthen, 116-117, 123. + +Carnarvon, 366. + +Carnegie, Andrew, 225-226, 372. + +Carrick-on-Suir, 330. + +Cashel, 331-335. + +Castle Combe, 269-270. + +Castle Hotel, Brecon, 125-126. + +Castle Hotel, Conway, 370. + +Castle Hotel, Haverford-west, 116-117. + +Castle Hotel, Tamworth, 138. + +Castle Howard, 200-202. + +Charles I., 6-7, 52, 55, 126, 135, 291, 328, 368. + +Charles II., 10-11, 23, 96-98, 135-136, 296. + +Chartley Castle, 140-141. + +Chatsworth, 144-146. + +Chawton, 302. + +Cheddar, 57-58. + +Cheltenham, 51, 55. + +Chesterfield, 144-145, 151. + +"Childe Harold," 152. + +Chillingham, 140, 238-239. + +Chippenham, 260. + +Chipping Campden, 52-54. + +Chirk, 371. + +Chollerford, 207. + +Chorley Wood, 4-6. + +Christchurch, 276. + +Cleeve Abbey, 82-83. + +Cleveland Hills, 168, 203. + +Clifford Family, 192. + +Clive, Robert, 99. + +Clonmel, 329-331. + +Clovelly, 76-77. + +Cobbett, William, 323. + +Colchester, 30. + +Coldstream, 237. + +Coleridge, 81, 179. + +Colwich, 139-140. + +Coniston, 188, 194. + +Conway, 366, 369-370. + +Coolham, 307-308. + +Corelli, Marie, 372. + +Corfe, 108, 279-282. + +Cork, 327, 329, 338-339. + +Corsham, 267-268. + +County Hotel, Carlisle, 211. + +Coventry, 39-40, 48-50, 136-137, 268, 371, 375-376. + +Cowbridge, 113-114. + +Cowdray, 304-306. + +Crickhowell, 105-106. + +Cromer, 26. + +Cromwell, Oliver, 12, 23, 55, 66, 109, 111, 135-136, 241, 245, 274, +284, 327, 328, 332, 340, 357. + +Cross Keys, Kelso, 237. + +Crown Inn, Bridgnorth, 93. + +Crown Inn, Lyndhurst, 298. + +Cruise's Royal, Limerick, 353. + +Cuckfield, 309. + +Cupar, 221. + +Curry Rivell Church, 62-63. + + +D + +Dacre Family, 209-211, 310-312. + +Dalton, 185. + +Darfield, 253-254. + +Darlington, 170, 240. + +Dartmoor, 68-71. + +Darwin, Erasmus, 100. + +Daventry, 375. + +David I., 237. + +"David Copperfield," 24. + +Deane Church, 35-36. + +Deane House, 35. + +DeFoe, Daniel, 225. + +Denham, 7-8. + +Derby, 142. + +Desmond Castle, 353. + +Devizes, 273-274. + +Devonshire Arms, Wharfdale, 193. + +Dickens, Charles, 17-18, 21-22, 23-24, 94, 172-173, 177, 196. + +Dinas Mawddwy, 363-364. + +Dolgelley, 363-364. + +Doncaster, 159, 253-255. + +Dove Cottage, 180-182. + +Dovedale, 144. + +Dover, 315-317, 318. + +Droitwich, 137, 371. + +Dublin, 325, 326-327, 347, 360. + +Dufferin, Lady, 325. + +Dunfermline, 225-226. + +Dunster, 80-81. + +Durham, 204, 299. + + +E + +Easingwold, 203. + +Eastbourne, 164, 318. + +East Linton, 231. + +Ecclefechan, 212-213. + +Eccles Hotel, Glengariff, 340-341. + +Ecton, 376-377. + +Eden Hall, 178. + +Edinburgh, 214, 216-217, 227-228. + +Edmund, King of East Anglia, 18. + +Edward, I., 362, 366. + +Edward IV., 106. + +Edward VII., 239, 290, 346. + +Edward, Prince, 89. + +Edward the Martyr, 282. + +Eliot, George, 138. + +Elizabeth, Queen, 49-50, 158, 284, 313, 316-317, 318, 370, 386. + +Epsom, 16, 324. + +Evesham, 55. + +Exeter, 66-68. + + +F + +Fakenham, 26. + +Fairfax, General, 66. + +Farringford, 294. + +Ferrars, Earl of, 140-141. + +Feathers Inn, Ludlow, 379. + +Fermoy, 336. + +Firth of Forth, 217. + +Fishguard, 121-122. + +Fitzhardinge, Robert, 86. + +Flamborough Head, 163. + +Flodden Field, 238, 242. + +Floors Castle, 237. + +Folkestone, 314-315, 318. + +Fotheringhay, 34. + +Fountains Abbey, 187. + +Four Swans Inn, Waltham, 8. + +Foynes, 353. + +Franklin, Benjamin, 301, 376-377. + +Freshwater, 293-295. + +Furness Abbey, 185-188. + + +G + +Gainsborough, 202. + +George Inn, St. Albans, 9. + +George Hotel, Buntingford, 15. + +Glaslyn, 368. + +Glastonbury Abbey, 75. + +Glendwr, Owen, 109, 112, 364, 367. + +Glengariff, 340-341. + +Glin, 352-353. + +Glossop, 149-150. + +Gloucester, 300. + +Godiva, Lady, 49. + +Golden Lion Inn, Barnstaple, 79. + +Golden Lion Inn, Leyburn, 244. + +Grand Hotel, Folkestone, 314. + +Grand Hotel, Tunbridge Wells, 324. + +Grasmere, 179-182. + +Grassington, 194. + +Gray, Thomas, 85. + +Great Driffield, 163. + +Great Western Hotel, Southampton, 289. + +Great White Horse, Ipswich, 21. + +Great Yarmouth, 23-24. + +Green Dragon, Hereford, 127. + +Greenhead, 207. + +Green's Hotel, Kinross, 220. + +Gretna Green, 212. + +Grinstead, 324. + +Guisborough, 169. + +Guy's Cliff, 50. + + +H + +Haddington, 231. + +Haddon Hall, 144, 146-147. + +Hadleigh, 19-20. + +Hadrian, 207. + +Hailsham, 309. + +Hardwick Hall, 157-158. + +Harlech, 366-368. + +Harold, King, 120, 316. + +Harrogate, 188, 198. + +Hartland, 77. + +Hastings, 312, 318. + +Hathaway, Anne, 374. + +Hatton, Sir Christopher, 38, 282. + +Haverfordwest, 116-118. + +Haworth, 196-198. + +Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 141. + +Hayward's Heath, 309. + +Hazlitt, 82. + +Hellifield, 191. + +Helvellyn, 179. + +Henry II., 157. + +Henry IV., 242, 367. + +Henry VIII., 65, 89, 110, 126, 156, 186, 288, 305, 386. + +Hereford, 90-92, 127-128, 309. + +Herstmonceux, 309-312. + +Hexham, 206-207. + +High Force, The, 173. + +High Force Hotel, 173-174. + +Holmes, Admiral, 295-296. + +Holy Cross Abbey, 334. + +Holyhead, 325, 362-363, 369. + +Honiton, 67. + +"Hours of Idleness," 154-155. + +Howard Family, 200-202. + +Hucknall, 151-153. + +Hunstanton, 26. + +Huntingdon, 33. + +Hurst Castle, 288. + +Hythe, 322. + + +I + +Ilchester, 63. + +Ilfracombe, 77, 79-80. + +Ilkley, 188, 198. + +Imperial Hotel, Cork, 336-339. + +Ipswich, 19-23. + +Irving, Washington, 1, 154-155. + +Isle of Wight, 289-297. + +"Ivanhoe," 246. + + +J + +James I., 66. + +"Jane Eyre," 197. + +Jarrow, 205. + +Jedburgh, 231-236. + +Jeffreys, Judge, 60-61. + +Jenner, Edward, 87. + +Jervaulx Priory, 246-247. + +Jigginstown House, 327. + +John, King, 58, 354. + +Johnson, Dr. Samuel, 141-142. + +Jones, Inigo, 38. + +Jones, John Paul, 163. + +Jones, Rev. Laurence, 270-271. + +Jordans, 6, 308. + +Juxon, Bishop, 52. + + +K + +Keats, John, 293. + +Keighley, 196. + +Kelso, 237. + +Kendal, 189-190. + +Kenilworth, 39, 50, 137,381. + +Kenmare, 342. + +Keswick, 179-180. + +Kettlewell, 194-195. + +Kildare, 359-360. + +Killorglin, 345. + +Kilkenny, 329. + +King Arthur's Castle Hotel, Tintagel, 72, 74-75. + +King's Arms Hotel, Kendal,189. + +King's Head Hotel, Barnard Castle, 172-175. + +King's Head Hotel, Barnsley, 252-253. + +King's Head Hotel, Coventry, 39-40, 136-137. + +Kinross, 217, 220-221. + +Kirby Hall, 35-39, 305. + +Kirkcaldy, 225. + +Knaresborough, 198. + +Knox, John, 222, 224. + +"Kubla Khan," 81. + + +L + +Lacock, 261, 263. + +Laidlaw, Walter, 232-236. + +"Lalla Rookh," 265. + +Lake Side, 188. + +Lamb, Charles, 8, 82. + +Lamberhurst, 322-323. + +Lanark, 214. + +Lanercost Priory, 210-211. + +Langdale Pikes and Fells, 179. + +Largo, 225. + +Launceston, 71. + +Lavenham, 19. + +Lawrence, Sir Thomas, 274. + +Ledbury, 90. + +Leeds, 196. + +Leicester's Hospital, Warwick, 50, 267. + +Leighton, 298. + +Lely, 202. + +Leyburn, 240, 243-244. + +Lichfield, 100, 139. + +Limerick, 353-355. + +Lion Hotel, Builth, 104. + +Listowel, 351. + +Little Compton Manor, 52. + +Little Woolford Manor, 51-52. + +Llanaber, 365. + +Llandaff, 111-112. + +Llandrindod Wells, 103. + +Llandovery, 123-124. + +Llanfair, 363. + +Llangollen, 371. + +Llyswen, 105. + +Loch Leven, 217-220. + +London, 3, 14. + +London Hotel, Taunton, 60-61. + +Longfellow, Henry W., 293. + +"Lorna Doone," 82. + +Lough Derg, 355. + +Louis XII. of France, 19. + +Lowestoft, 23. + +Lowwood Hotel, 183. + +Ludlow, 92, 139, 325, 363, 371, 379-390. + +Lulworth, 281-284. + +Lygon Arms, Broadway, 54-55. + +Lymington, 287, 289, 297. + +Lyndhurst, 298. + +Lynton, 79, 81, 82. + +"Lyrical Ballads," 81-82. + + +M + +Macroom, 340. + +Maid's Head Hotel, Norwich, 25. + +Malvern, 134-135. + +Manchester, 179. + +Mansfield, 142-144, 151. + +Margate, 318. + +Marine Hotel, St. Andrews, 221. + +Market Drayton, 99. + +Market Harborough, 258. + +Marlborough, 275. + +"Marmion," 138, 238, 242. + +Marney, 30-31. + +Maryborough, 359. + +Mary Stuart, 158, 219-220, 242-244. + +Mary Tudor, 19. + +Melrose, 214, 231. + +Melton Mowbray, 257-258. + +Middleham, 244-246. + +Middlesbrough, 169. + +Middleton, 174. + +Midhurst, 304. + +Mildenhall, 29. + +Millais, 298. + +Millet, F. D., 53. + +Mitchelstown, 336. + +Monmouth, Duke of, 59-60. + +Montague Family, 288-289, 305. + +Montgomery, 102. + +Moore, Thomas, 264-266. + +Moran, Thomas, 73. + +Moreton Court, 128-131. + +Moreton Hampstead, 68-69. + +Moreton-in-the-Marsh, 52. + +Morris, Col., 250. + +Mountrath, 359. + +Muckross Abbey, 346, 348. + +Mundesley, 25, 26. + + +N + +Naas, 327, 359. + +Nailsworth, 55. + +Naworth, 209-210. + +Neath, 114-115. + +Nenagh, 356-358. + +Nether Stowey, 81. + +Neville Family, 172. + +Newbridge, 360. + +Newcastle-on-Tyne, 204-205, 240. + +New Forest, 287, 298-299. + +New Inn, Clovelly, 77. + +Newmarket, 11, 16-17, 99. + +Newport (Isle of Wight), 290-291. + +Newport (S. E. Wales), 107. + +Newport (Western Wales), 122. + +Newstead Abbey, 144, 151, 153-157. + +Newtown, 103. + +"Nicholas Nickleby," 173, 177. + +Norfolk Broads, 24-25. + +Northampton, 258, 376. + +North Berwick, 228. + +North British Hotel, Edinburgh, 216-217. + +Norwich, 24-26. + +Nottingham, 257. + +Nuneaton, 138. + + +O + +Oban, 341. + +O'Connell, Daniel, 344. + +"Old Curiosity Shop," 94. + +Old England Hotel, Windermere, 183. + +O'More, Rory, 327, 328. + +Osborne House, 290. + +Oswestry, 371. + +Otley, 198. + +Oundle, 34-36. + +Oxford, 259. + + +P + +Painswick, 55-56. + +Paine, Thomas, 28, 79. + +Park Hotel, Cardiff, 110. + +Peak District, 144. + +Penderel Family, 98. + +Penn, William, 4-6, 307-308. + +Penrith, 178. + +Penzance, 318. + +Percy Family, 162, 239. + +Petham, 322. + +Pier Hotel, Yarmouth, 296. + +"Pilgrim's Progress," 377. + +Plas Mawr, 369-370. + +Plymouth, 2. + +Pontefract, 249-251. + +Porlock, 81-82. + +Portobello, 228. + +Portsmouth, 314, 318. + +Price, Sir John, 126. + +Prince Town, 68, 70. + +Purbeck, Isle of, 279-281. + + +Q + +Queensferry, 217. + + +R + +Raby Castle, 170-172. + +Raglan, 139. + +Raleigh, Sir Walter, 66. + +Ramsgate, 318. + +Randolph Hotel, Oxford, 259. + +Raven Hotel, Shrewsbury, 99. + +Reculver, 319-320. + +Red Horse, Stratford, 39. + +Red Lion, Banbury, 374-375. + +Red Lion, St. Albans, 9. + +Reynolds, 202. + +Richard II., 249, 251. + +Richard III., 106, 245. + +Richmond, 240. + +Rickmansworth, 5. + +Ringwood, 276, 287. + +Ripon, 247-249. + +Ripple, 128, 132. + +Robert, Prince, 110-111. + +Robin Hood's Bay, 165. + +Robinson Crusoe, 225. + +Robinson, Rev. John, 255. + +Rollright Stones, 52. + +Romsey, 299-300. + +Roscrea, 359. + +Ross Castle, 348. + +Rossetti, Dante Gabriel, 112. + +Rosslyn Chapel, 214-216. + +Rougemont Hotel, Exeter, 66. + +"Round About Papers," 323-324. + +Royal Bath, Bournemouth, 277-279, 346. + +Royal Goat, Beddgelert, 368. + +Royal Hotel, Ventnor, 292. + +Rumbles Moor, 195. + +Rumsey, Ruth, 10-11. + +Ruskin, John, 184. + +Ryde, 292. + +Rydal, 179, 180. + +Rye, 292, 312-313. + +Rye House, 10-13. + +Rylstone, 193-194. + + +S + +St. Albans, 8-9. + +St. Aldhelm, 271. + +St. Andrews, 220-225. + +St. Augustine, 356. + +St. Augustine's, Canterbury, 271. + +St. Cross, Winchester, 268, 301. + +St. Flannan, 355. + +St. James' Church, Bury St. Edmunds, 19. + +St. John's Cathedral, Limerick, 354. + +St. David's, 111, 117-121. + +St. Mary's Cathedral, Limerick, 354. + +St. Mary's Church, Beverley, 162. + +St. Mary's Church, Bury St. Edmunds, 19. + +St. Mary's Church, Scarborough, 197. + +St. Mary's Church, Shrewsbury, 144. + +St. Mary's Church, Taunton, 61. + +St. Mary's Church, Warwick, 50. + +St. Mary's Church, Whitby, 166-167. + +St. Michael's Church, Coventry, 48. + +St. Wilfred, 248. + +Salisbury, 276, 309. + +Sandwich, 317-318. + +Savernake Forest, 275-276. + +Scarborough, 163-165. + +Scott, Sir Gilbert, 215. + +Scott, Sir Walter, 138, 228-230, 246, 304, 381. + +Scrooby, 255-256. + +Scrope, Lord, 242-243. + +Sedgemoor, Battle of, 59. + +Selborne, 301, 302-304. + +Selkirk, Alexander, 225. + +Settle, 190-191. + +Shakespeare, 12, 109, 180, 199, 245. + +Shakespeare's Cliff, 316. + +Shanklin, 293. + +Sheffield, 150-151. + +Shelley, Percy B., 79, 82, 152. + +Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, 278. + +Shenstone, William, 61. + +Sherborne, 62-66, 300. + +Sherrin, Daniel, 43. + +Shifnal, 94. + +Ship Inn, Porlock, 82. + +Shipston-on-Stour, 51. + +Shrewsbury, 72, 99-100, 207, 371. + +Siddons, Mrs., 126. + +Sidney Family, 386. + +Skiddaw, 179. + +Skipton, 191-192. + +Sloperton Cottage, 264-266. + +Snake Hotel, 150. + +Sneem, 342-343. + +Solent, 289, 297. + +Solway, 207, 212. + +Somerton, 63. + +Southampton, 287, 289. + +Southey, 82, 179. + +Spencer Family, 44-45, 47, 157. + +Spenser, Edmund, 353. + +Staindrop, 170. + +Stanley Family, 95. + +Stanton, 128. + +Star Hotel, Worcester, 136. + +Station Hotel, Holyhead, 362-363. + +Station Hotel, Newcastle-on-Tyne, 204. + +Station Hotel, York, 159, 187-188, 199. + +Stephen, King, 381. + +Stephenson, George, 145. + +Stilton, 33. + +Stirling, 227. + +Stockton-on-Tees, 169-170, 204. + +Stonehenge, 55, 274-275, 276. + +Stowmarket, 19-20. + +Stratford-on-Avon, 39, 50-51, 137, 145, 371-374. + +Strensham, 128, 132-134. + +Stroud, 55-56. + +Sulgrave, 40-46. + +Swan Inn, Mansfield, 142-144, 151. + +Swansea, 115-116. + +Swinburne, Algernon C., 297. + +Swindon, 260. + + +T + +Tadcaster, 159. + +Talbot Hotel, Oundle, 34. + +Tamworth, 138-139. + +Tantallon, 228-230. + +Tarbert-on-Shannon, 350-351. + +Taunton, 58-61. + +Tavistock, 71. + +Tawstock Church, 78. + +Tennyson, Alfred, 289, 293-295. + +Tewkesbury, 55, 88, 132. + +Tewkesbury, Battle of, 89. + +Thackeray, William M., 323, 341. + +Thetford, 28. + +Thirlmere, 179. + +Thirsk, 203. + +Thorpe, John, 38. + +Tintagel, 71-75, 77, 341. + +Tintock Moor, 214. + +Tong, 94-96, 99. + +Torquay, 318. + +Towcester, 259. + +Towton Moor, 251. + +Tralee, 348-350. + +Treaty Inn, Uxbridge, 6-7. + +Trinity Church, Chesterfield, 145. + +Tunbridge Wells, 322-324. + +Turk's Head, Oundle, 34. + +Two Bridges Hotel, 70. + +Twyford, 300-301. + +Tynemouth, 207. + + +U + +Uckfield, 309. + +Ulverston, 185, 188. + +Unicorn Hotel, Ripon, 249. + +University Arms, Cambridge, 15, 32. + +Upton-on-Severn, 134. + +Uriconium, 207. + +Usk, 106. + +Uttoxeter, 140-142. + +Uxbridge, 6. + + +V + +Vanbrugh, 200. + +VanDyke, 202, 267. + +Vane Arms, Stockton-on-Tees, 170. + +Vane, Sir Henry, 172. + +Ventnor, 292-293. + +Vernon Family, 95, 147. + +Victoria Hotel, Cheltenham, 55. + +Victoria Hotel, Great Yarmouth, 24. + +Victoria Hotel, Killarney, 345-346. + +Victoria, Queen, 290. + +Victoria Hotel, Nottingham, 257. + + +W + +Wakefield, 251-252. + +Wakes, The, Selborne, 302. + +Waltham, 8. + +Wareham, 284. + +Warminghurst, 307, 308. + +Warwick, 39, 50, 137, 268, 371. + +Washington Family, 40-47. + +Watson, William, 302, 303. + +Watts, George Frederick, 233. + +Wells, 57. + +Wells-Next-the-Sea, 26. + +Welshpool, 102, 363. + +Weston-Super-Mare, 84. + +Wharfdale, 193. + +Whitby, 165-168, 174. + +White, Gilbert, 302-304. + +White Hart Inn, Launceston, 71. + +White Hart Inn, Taunton, 60-61. + +White Ladies, 99. + +William Rufus, 298-299. + +William the Conqueror, 120, 189, 306. + +Wimborne Minster, 284-287. + +Winchelsea, 312. + +Winchelsea Family, 38. + +Winchester, 268, 288, 301. + +Windermere, 182-183, 188, 189. + +Wishart, George, 224. + +Wolsey, Cardinal, 130-131. + +Wolverhampton, 101. + +Worcester, 131, 135-136. + +Wordsworth, William and Dorothy, 81, 179-182, 190, 194, 215. + +Worksop, 159. + +Wormleighton, 41. + +Worthing, 306-307. + +Wyatt, 309. + +Wymondham, 27-28. + + +Y + +Yarm, 204. + +Yarmouth, 289, 295-296. + +Yatton Keynell, 268. + +Ye Ancient House, Ipswich, 22-23. + +Yeovil, 63. + +York, 159, 187-188, 198-200, 207, 247, 248. + + + + +[Illustration: Map of England and Wales] + +[Illustration: Maps of Scotland and Ireland] + + + + + Transcriber's notes: + + The following is a list of changes made to the original. + The first line is the original line, the second the corrected one. + + from the fact that their wordly possessions + from the fact that their worldly possessions + + some ten miles to the northeast of Sulgrave. + some ten miles to the northeast of Sulgrave, + + etherial beauty, which we drink in as we skim + ethereal beauty, which we drink in as we skim + + their absence the palace was thown open to the + their absence the palace was thrown open to the + + the Crown Inn, where we stopped for luncheon + the Crown Inn, where we stopped for luncheon, + + colleries and smelting-works, and the road over + collieries and smelting-works, and the road over + + We thanked the officer and cautiously decended + We thanked the officer and cautiously descended + + neccessary to complete the charm is in the merest + necessary to complete the charm is in the merest + + many point of similarity, though in population and + many points of similarity, though in population and + + Gainsborough, Lely, VanDyke, Reynolds, and many + Gainsborough, Lely, Van Dyke, Reynolds, and many + + enough, secure a heated bathroom en suit, might + enough, secure a heated bathroom en suite, might + + rough that it tried every rivit in our car, and nothing + rough that it tried every rivet in our car, and nothing + + Pontefact was a very storm center in the wars of + Pontefract was a very storm center in the wars of + + No chance for a comman man in England!--How + No chance for a common man in England!--How + + 'not guilty,: he said that he intended no harm, he + 'not guilty,' he said that he intended no harm, he + + bcause the offender was a peer. Four out of + because the offender was a peer. Four out of + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's In Unfamiliar England, by Thomas Dowler Murphy + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 42990 *** |