initial commit of ebook 5249HEADmain

1 files changed, 5637 insertions, 0 deletions

diff --git a/5249-0.txt b/5249-0.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..efbb84b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/5249-0.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,5637 @@
+The Project Gutenberg eBook, Travels in England in 1782, by Charles P.
+Moritz, Edited by Henry Morley
+
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+
+
+
+Title: Travels in England in 1782
+
+
+Author: Charles P. Moritz
+
+Editor: Henry Morley
+
+Release Date: July 2, 2014  [eBook #5249]
+[This file was first posted on June 11, 2002]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+
+***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRAVELS IN ENGLAND IN 1782***
+
+
+Transcribed from the 1886 Cassell & Company edition by David Price, email
+ccx074@pglaf.org
+
+
+
+
+
+                            TRAVELS IN ENGLAND
+                                 IN 1782
+
+
+                                * * * * *
+
+                                    BY
+
+                              C. P. MORITZ.
+
+                      [Picture: Decorative graphic]
+
+                       CASSELL & COMPANY, Limited:
+                _LONDON_, _PARIS_, _NEW YORK & MELBOURNE_.
+                                  1886.
+
+
+
+
+INTRODUCTION
+
+
+CHARLES P. MORITZ’S “Travels, chiefly on foot, through several parts of
+England in 1782, described in Letters to a Friend,” were translated from
+the German by a lady, and published in 1795.  John Pinkerton included
+them in the second volume of his Collection of Voyages and Travels.
+
+The writer of this account of England as it was about a hundred years
+ago, and seven years before the French Revolution, was a young Prussian
+clergyman, simply religious, calmly enthusiastic for the freer forms of
+citizenship, which he found in England and contrasted with the military
+system of Berlin.  The touch of his times was upon him, with some of the
+feeling that caused Frenchmen, after the first outbreak of the
+Revolution, to hail Englishmen as “their forerunners in the glorious
+race.”  He had learnt English at home, and read Milton, whose name was
+inscribed then in German literature on the banners of the free.
+
+In 1782 Charles Moritz came to England with little in his purse and
+“Paradise Lost” in his pocket, which he meant to read in the Land of
+Milton.  He came ready to admire, and enthusiasm adds some colour to his
+earliest impressions; but when they were coloured again by hard
+experience, the quiet living sympathy remained.  There is nothing small
+in the young Pastor Moritz, we feel a noble nature in his true simplicity
+of character.
+
+He stayed seven weeks with us, three of them in London.  He travelled on
+foot to Richmond, Windsor, Oxford, Birmingham, and Matlock, with some
+experience of a stage coach on the way back; and when, in dread of being
+hurled from his perch on the top as the coach flew down hill, he tried a
+safer berth among the luggage in the basket, he had further experience.
+It was like that of Hood’s old lady, in the same place of inviting
+shelter, who, when she crept out, had only breath enough left to murmur,
+“Oh, them boxes!”
+
+Pastor Moritz’s experience of inns was such as he hardly could pick up in
+these days of the free use of the feet.  But in those days everybody who
+was anybody rode.  And even now, there might be cold welcome to a
+shabby-looking pedestrian without a knapsack.  Pastor Moritz had his
+Milton in one pocket and his change of linen in the other.  From some
+inns he was turned away as a tramp, and in others he found cold comfort.
+Yet he could be proud of a bit of practical wisdom drawn by himself out
+of the “Vicar of Wakefield,” that taught him to conciliate the innkeeper
+by drinking with him; and the more the innkeeper drank of the ale ordered
+the better, because Pastor Moritz did not like it, and it did not like
+him.  He also felt experienced in the ways of the world when, having
+taken example from the manners of a bar-maid, if he drank in a full room
+he did not omit to say, “Your healths, gentlemen all.”
+
+Fielding’s Parson Adams, with his Æschylus in his pocket, and Parson
+Moritz with his Milton, have points of likeness that bear strong witness
+to Fielding’s power of entering into the spirit of a true and gentle
+nature.  After the first touches of enthusiastic sentiment, that
+represent real freshness of enjoyment, there is no reaction to excess in
+opposite extreme.  The young foot traveller settles down to simple truth,
+retains his faith in English character, and reports ill-usage without a
+word of bitterness.
+
+The great charm of this book is its unconscious expression of the
+writer’s character.  His simple truthfulness presents to us of 1886 as
+much of the England of 1782 as he was able to see with eyes full of
+intelligence and a heart full of kindness.  He heard Burke speak on the
+death of his friend and patron Lord Rockingham, with sudden rebuke to an
+indolent and inattentive house.  He heard young Pitt, and saw how he
+could fix, boy as he looked, every man’s attention.
+
+    “Oh, wad some power the giftie gie us
+    To see oursels as others see us!
+    It wad frae many a blunder free us,
+       And foolish notion.”
+
+And when the power is so friendly as that of the Pastor Moritz, we may,
+if wise, know ourselves better than from a thousand satires, but if
+foolish we may let all run into self-praise.
+
+                                                                     H. M.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+
+                                              _On the Thames_, 31st _May_.
+
+AT length, my dearest Gedike, I find myself safely landed on the happy
+shores of that country, a sight of which has, for many years, been my
+most earnest wish; and whither I have so often in imagination transported
+myself.  A few hours ago the green hills of England yet swam imperfectly
+before our eyes, scarcely perceptible in the distant horizon: they now
+unfold themselves on either side, forming as it were a double
+amphitheatre.  The sun bursts through the clouds, and gilds alternately
+the shrubs and meadows on the distant shores, and we now espy the tops of
+two masts of ships just peeping above the surface of the deep.  What an
+awful warning to adventurous men!  We now sail close by those very sands
+(the Goodwin) where so many unfortunate persons have found their graves.
+
+The shores now regularly draw nearer to each other: the danger of the
+voyage is over; and the season for enjoyment, unembittered by cares,
+commences.  How do we feel ourselves, we, who have long been wandering as
+it were, in a boundless space, on having once more gained prospects that
+are not without limits!  I should imagine our sensations as somewhat like
+those of the traveller who traverses the immeasurable deserts of America,
+when fortunately he obtains a hut wherein to shelter himself; in those
+moments he certainly enjoys himself; nor does he then complain of its
+being too small.  It is indeed the lot of man to be always circumscribed
+to a narrow space, even when he wanders over the most extensive regions;
+even when the huge sea envelops him all around, and wraps him close to
+its bosom, in the act, as it were, of swallowing him up in a moment:
+still he is separated from all the circumjacent immensity of space only
+by one small part, or insignificant portion of that immensity.
+
+That portion of this space, which I now see surrounding me, is a most
+delightful selection from the whole of beautiful nature.  Here is the
+Thames full of large and small ships and boats, dispersed here and there,
+which are either sailing on with us, or lying at anchor; and there the
+hills on either side, clad with so soft and mild a green, as I have
+nowhere else ever seen equalled.  The charming banks of the Elbe, which I
+so lately quitted, are as much surpassed by these shores as autumn is by
+spring!  I see everywhere nothing but fertile and cultivated lands; and
+those living hedges which in England more than in any other country, form
+the boundaries of the green cornfields, and give to the whole of the
+distant country the appearance of a large and majestic garden.  The neat
+villages and small towns with sundry intermediate country seats, suggest
+ideas of prosperity and opulence which is not possible to describe.
+
+The prospect towards Gravesend is particularly beautiful.  It is a clever
+little town, built on the side of a hill; about which there lie hill and
+dale and meadows, and arable land, intermixed with pleasure grounds and
+country seats; all diversified in the most agreeable manner.  On one of
+the highest of these hills near Gravesend stands a windmill, which is a
+very good object, as you see it at some distance, as well as part of the
+country around it, on the windings of the Thames.  But as few human
+pleasures are ever complete and perfect, we too, amidst the pleasing
+contemplation of all these beauties, found ourselves exposed on the
+quarter-deck to uncommonly cold and piercing weather.  An unintermitting
+violent shower of rain has driven me into the cabin, where I am now
+endeavouring to divert a gloomy hour by giving you the description of a
+pleasing one.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+
+                                                   _London_, 2_nd_ _June_.
+
+THIS morning those of us who were fellow passengers together in the great
+cabin, being six in number, requested to be set on shore in a boat, a
+little before the vessel got to Dartford, which is still sixteen miles
+from London.  This expedient is generally adopted, instead of going up
+the Thames, towards London, where on account of the astonishing number of
+ships, which are always more crowded together the nearer you approach the
+city, it frequently requires many days before a ship can finish her
+passage.  He therefore who wishes to lose no time unnecessarily, and
+wishes also to avoid other inconveniences, such as frequent stoppages,
+and perhaps, some alarming dashings against other ships, prefers
+travelling those few miles by land in a post-chaise, which is not very
+expensive, especially when three join together, as three passengers pay
+no more than one.  This indulgence is allowed by act of parliament.
+
+As we left the vessel we were honoured with a general huzza, or in the
+English phrase with three cheers, echoed from the German sailors of our
+ship.  This nautical style of bidding their friends farewell our Germans
+have learned from the English.  The cliff where we landed was white and
+chalky, and as the distance was not great, nor other means of conveyance
+at hand, we resolved to go on foot to Dartford: immediately on landing we
+had a pretty steep hill to climb, and that gained, we arrived at the
+first English village, where an uncommon neatness in the structure of the
+houses, which in general are built with red bricks and flat roofs, struck
+me with a pleasing surprise, especially when I compared them with the
+long, rambling, inconvenient, and singularly mean cottages of our
+peasants.  We now continued our way through the different villages, each
+furnished with his staff, and thus exhibited no remote resemblance of a
+caravan.  Some few people who met us seemed to stare at us, struck,
+perhaps, by the singularity of our dress, or the peculiarity of our
+manner of travelling.  On our route we passed a wood where a troop of
+gipsies had taken up their abode around a fire under a tree.  The
+country, as we continued to advance, became more and more beautiful.
+Naturally, perhaps, the earth is everywhere pretty much alike, but how
+different is it rendered by art!  How different is that on which I now
+tread from ours, and every other spot I have ever seen.  The soil is rich
+even to exuberance, the verdure of the trees and hedges, in short the
+whole of this paradisaical region is without a parallel!  The roads too
+are incomparable; I am astonished how they have got them so firm and
+solid; every step I took I felt, and was conscious it was English ground
+on which I trod.
+
+We breakfasted at Dartford.  Here, for the first time, I saw an English
+soldier, in his red uniform, his hair cut short and combed back on his
+forehead, so as to afford a full view of his fine, broad, manly face.
+Here too I first saw (what I deemed a true English fight) in the street,
+two boys boxing.
+
+Our little party now separated, and got into two post-chaises, each of
+which hold three persons, though it must be owned three cannot sit quite
+so commodiously in these chaises as two: the hire of a post-chaise is a
+shilling for every English mile.  They may be compared to our extra
+posts, because they are to be had at all times.  But these carriages are
+very neat and lightly built, so that you hardly perceive their motion as
+they roll along these firm smooth roads; they have windows in front, and
+on both sides.  The horses are generally good, and the postillions
+particularly smart and active, and always ride on a full trot.  The one
+we had wore his hair cut short, a round hat, and a brown jacket of
+tolerable fine cloth, with a nosegay in his bosom.  Now and then, when he
+drove very hard, he looked round, and with a smile seemed to solicit our
+approbation.  A thousand charming spots, and beautiful landscapes, on
+which my eye would long have dwelt with rapture, were now rapidly passed
+with the speed of an arrow.
+
+Our road appeared to be undulatory, and our journey, like the journey of
+life, seemed to be a pretty regular alternation of up hill and down, and
+here and there it was diversified with copses and woods; the majestic
+Thames every now and then, like a little forest of masts, rising to our
+view, and anon losing itself among the delightful towns and villages.
+The amazing large signs which at the entrance of villages hang in the
+middle of the street, being fastened to large beams, which are extended
+across the street from one house to another opposite to it, particularly
+struck me; these sign-posts have the appearance of gates or of gateways,
+for which I at first took them, but the whole apparatus, unnecessarily
+large as it seems to be, is intended for nothing more than to tell the
+inquisitive traveller that there is an inn.  At length, stunned as it
+were by this constant rapid succession of interesting objects to engage
+our attention, we arrived at Greenwich nearly in a state of stupefaction.
+
+                        _The Prospect of London_.
+
+We first descried it enveloped in a thick smoke or fog.  St. Paul’s arose
+like some huge mountain above the enormous mass of smaller buildings.
+The Monument, a very lofty column, erected in memory of the great fire of
+London, exhibited to us, perhaps, chiefly on account of its immense
+height, apparently so disproportioned to its other dimensions (for it
+actually struck us as resembling rather a slender mast, towering up in
+immeasurable height into the clouds, than as that it really is, a stately
+obelisk) an unusual and singular appearance.  Still we went on, and drew
+nearer and nearer with amazing velocity, and the surrounding objects
+became every moment more distinct.  Westminster Abbey, the Tower, a
+steeple, one church, and then another, presented themselves to our view;
+and we could now plainly distinguish the high round chimneys on the tops
+of the houses, which yet seemed to us to form an innumerable number of
+smaller spires, or steeples.
+
+The road from Greenwich to London is actually busier and far more alive
+than the most frequented streets in Berlin.  At every step we met people
+on horseback, in carriages, and foot passengers; and everywhere also, and
+on each side of the road, well-built and noble houses, whilst all along,
+at proper distances, the road was lined with lamp-posts.  One thing, in
+particular, struck and surprised me not a little.  This was the number of
+people we met riding and walking with spectacles on, among whom were many
+who appeared stout, healthy, and young.  We were stopped at least three
+times at barriers or gates, here called turnpikes, to pay a duty or toll
+which, however small, as being generally paid in their copper coinage, in
+the end amounted to some shillings.
+
+At length we arrived at the magnificent bridge of Westminster.  The
+prospect from this bridge alone seems to afford one the epitome of a
+journey, or a voyage in miniature, as containing something of everything
+that mostly occurs on a journey.  It is a little assemblage of contrasts
+and contrarieties.  In contrast to the round, modern, and majestic
+cathedral of St. Paul’s on your right, the venerable, old-fashioned, and
+hugely noble, long abbey of Westminster, with its enormous pointed roof,
+rises on the left.  Down the Thames to the right you see Blackfriar’s
+Bridge, which does not yield much, if at all, in beauty to that of
+Westminster; on the left bank of the Thames are delightful terraces,
+planted with trees, and those new tasteful buildings called the Adelphi.
+On the Thames itself are countless swarms of little boats passing and
+repassing, many with one mast and one sail, and many with none, in which
+persons of all ranks are carried over.  Thus there is hardly less stir
+and bustle on this river, than there is in some of its own London’s
+crowded streets.  Here, indeed, you no longer see great ships, for they
+come no farther than London Bridge.
+
+We now drove into the city by Charing Cross, and along the Strand, to
+those very Adelphi Buildings which had just afforded us so charming a
+prospect on Westminster Bridge.
+
+My two travelling companions, both in the ship and the post-chaise, were
+two young Englishmen, who living in this part of the town, obligingly
+offered me any assistance and services in their power, and in particular,
+to procure me a lodging the same day in their neighbourhood.
+
+In the streets through which we passed, I must own the houses in general
+struck me as if they were dark and gloomy, and yet at the same time they
+also struck me as prodigiously great and majestic.  At that moment, I
+could not in my own mind compare the external view of London with that of
+any other city I had ever before seen.  But I remember (and surely it is
+singular) that about five years ago, on my first entrance into Leipzig, I
+had the very same sensations I now felt.  It is possible that the high
+houses, by which the streets at Leipzig are partly darkened, the great
+number of shops, and the crowd of people, such as till then I had never
+seen, might have some faint resemblance with the scene now surrounding me
+in London.
+
+There are everywhere leading from the Strand to the Thames, some
+well-built, lesser, or subordinate streets, of which the Adelphi
+Buildings are now by far the foremost.  One district in this
+neighbourhood goes by the name of York Buildings, and in this lies George
+Street, where my two travelling companions lived.  There reigns in those
+smaller streets towards the Thames so pleasing a calm, compared to the
+tumult and bustle of people, and carriages, and horses, that are
+constantly going up and down the Strand, that in going into one of them
+you can hardly help fancying yourself removed at a distance from the
+noise of the city, even whilst the noisiest part of it is still so near
+at hand.
+
+It might be about ten or eleven o’clock when we arrived here.  After the
+two Englishmen had first given me some breakfast at their lodgings, which
+consisted of tea and bread and butter, they went about with me
+themselves, in their own neighbourhood, in search of an apartment, which
+they at length procured for me for sixteen shillings a week, at the house
+of a tailor’s widow who lived opposite to them.  It was very fortunate,
+on other accounts, that they went with me, for equipped as I was, having
+neither brought clean linen nor change of clothes from my trunk, I might
+perhaps have found it difficult to obtain good lodgings.
+
+It was a very uncommon but pleasing sensation I experienced on being now,
+for the first time in my life, entirely among Englishmen: among people
+whose language was foreign, their manners foreign, and in a foreign
+climate, with whom, notwithstanding, I could converse as familiarly as
+though we had been educated together from our infancy.  It is certainly
+an inestimable advantage to understand the language of the country
+through which you travel.  I did not at first give the people I was with
+any reason to suspect I could speak English, but I soon found that the
+more I spoke, the more attention and regard I met with.  I now occupy a
+large room in front on the ground floor, which has a carpet and mats, and
+is very neatly furnished; the chairs are covered with leather, and the
+tables are of mahogany.  Adjoining to this I have another large room.  I
+may do just as I please, and keep my own tea, coffee, bread and butter,
+for which purpose my landlady has given me a cupboard in my room, which
+locks up.
+
+The family consists of the mistress of the house, her maid, and her two
+sons, Jacky and Jerry; singular abbreviations for John and Jeremiah.  The
+eldest, Jacky, about twelve years old, is a very lively boy, and often
+entertains me in the most pleasing manner by relating to me his different
+employments at school, and afterwards desiring me in my turn to relate to
+him all manner of things about Germany.  He repeats his _amo_, _amas_,
+_amavi_, in the same singing tone as our common school-boys.  As I
+happened once when he was by, to hum a lively tune, he stared at me with
+surprise, and then reminded me it was Sunday; and so, that I might not
+forfeit his good opinion by any appearance of levity, I gave him to
+understand that, in the hurry of my journey, I had forgotten the day.  He
+has already shown me St. James’s Park, which is not far from hence; and
+now let me give you some description of the renowned
+
+                           _St. James’s Park_.
+
+The park is nothing more than a semicircle, formed of an alley of trees,
+which enclose a large green area in the middle of which is a marshy pond.
+
+The cows feed on this green turf, and their milk is sold here on the
+spot, quite new.
+
+In all the alleys or walks there are benches, where you may rest
+yourself.  When you come through the Horse Guards (which is provided with
+several passages) into the park, on the right hand is St. James’s Palace,
+or the king’s place of residence, one of the meanest public buildings in
+London.  At the lower end, quite at the extremity, is the queen’s palace,
+a handsome and modern building, but very much resembling a private house.
+As for the rest, there are generally everywhere about St. James’s Park
+very good houses, which is a great addition to it.  There is also before
+the semicircle of the trees just mentioned a large vacant space, where
+the soldiers are exercised.
+
+How little this famous park is to be compared with our park at Berlin, I
+need not mention.  And yet one cannot but form a high idea of St. James’s
+Park and other public places in London; this arises, perhaps, from their
+having been oftener mentioned in romances and other books than ours have.
+Even the squares and streets of London are more noted and better known
+than many of our principal towns.
+
+But what again greatly compensates for the mediocrity of this park, is
+the astonishing number of people who, towards evening in fine weather,
+resort here; our finest walks are never so full even in the midst of
+summer.  The exquisite pleasure of mixing freely with such a concourse of
+people, who are for the most part well-dressed and handsome, I have
+experienced this evening for the first time.
+
+Before I went to the park I took another walk with my little Jacky, which
+did not cost me much fatigue and yet was most uncommonly interesting.  I
+went down the little street in which I live, to the Thames nearly at the
+end of it, towards the left, a few steps led me to a singularly pretty
+terrace, planted with trees, on the very brink of the river.
+
+Here I had the most delightful prospect you can possibly imagine.  Before
+me was the Thames with all its windings, and the stately arches of its
+bridges; Westminster with its venerable abbey to the right, to the left
+again London, with St. Paul’s, seemed to wind all along the windings of
+the Thames, and on the other side of the water lay Southwark, which is
+now also considered as part of London.  Thus, from this single spot, I
+could nearly at one view see the whole city, at least that side of it
+towards the Thames.  Not far from hence, in this charming quarter of the
+town, lived the renowned Garrick.  Depend upon it I shall often visit
+this delightful walk during my stay in London.
+
+To-day my two Englishmen carried me to a neighbouring tavern, or rather
+an eating-house, where we paid a shilling each for some roast meat and a
+salad, giving at the same time nearly half as much to the waiter, and yet
+this is reckoned a cheap house, and a cheap style of living.  But I
+believe, for the future, I shall pretty often dine at home; I have
+already begun this evening with my supper.  I am now sitting by the fire
+in my own room in London.  The day is nearly at an end, the first I have
+spent in England, and I hardly know whether I ought to call it only one
+day, when I reflect what a quick and varied succession of new and
+striking ideas have, in so short a time, passed in my mind.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+
+                                                   _London_, 5_th_ _June_.
+
+AT length, dearest Gedike, I am again settled, as I have now got my trunk
+and all my things from the ship, which arrived only yesterday.  Not
+wishing to have it taken to the Custom House, which occasions a great
+deal of trouble, I was obliged to give a douceur to the officers, and
+those who came on board the ship to search it.  Having pacified, as I
+thought, one of them with a couple of shillings, another came forward and
+protested against the delivery of the trunk upon trust till I had given
+him as much.  To him succeeded a third, so that it cost me six shillings,
+which I willingly paid, because it would have cost me still more at the
+Custom House.
+
+By the side of the Thames were several porters, one of whom took my huge
+heavy trunk on his shoulders with astonishing ease, and carried it till I
+met a hackney coach.  This I hired for two shillings, immediately put the
+trunk into it, accompanying it myself without paying anything extra for
+my own seat.  This is a great advantage in the English hackney coaches,
+that you are allowed to take with you whatever you please, for you thus
+save at least one half of what you must pay to a porter, and besides go
+with it yourself, and are better accommodated.  The observations and the
+expressions of the common people here have often struck me as peculiar.
+They are generally laconic, but always much in earnest and significant.
+When I came home, my landlady kindly recommended it to the coachman not
+to ask more than was just, as I was a foreigner; to which he answered,
+“Nay, if he were not a foreigner I should not overcharge him.”
+
+My letters of recommendation to a merchant here, which I could not bring
+with me on account of my hasty departure from Hamburgh, are also arrived.
+These have saved me a great deal of trouble in the changing of my money.
+I can now take my German money back to Germany, and when I return thither
+myself, refund to the correspondent of the merchant here the sum which he
+here pays me in English money.  I should otherwise have been obliged to
+sell my Prussian Fredericks-d’or for what they weighed; for some few
+Dutch dollars which I was obliged to part with before I got this credit
+they only gave me eight shillings.
+
+A foreigner has here nothing to fear from being pressed as a sailor,
+unless, indeed, he should be found at any suspicious place.  A singular
+invention for this purpose of pressing is a ship, which is placed on land
+not far from the Tower, on Tower Hill, furnished with masts and all the
+appurtenances of a ship.  The persons attending this ship promise simple
+country people, who happen to be standing and staring at it, to show it
+to them for a trifle, and as soon as they are in, they are secured as in
+a trap, and according to circumstances made sailors of or let go again.
+
+The footway, paved with large stones on both sides of the street, appears
+to a foreigner exceedingly convenient and pleasant, as one may there walk
+in perfect safety, in no more danger from the prodigious crowd of carts
+and coaches, than if one was in one’s own room, for no wheel dares come a
+finger’s breadth upon the curb stone.  However, politeness requires you
+to let a lady, or any one to whom you wish to show respect, pass, not, as
+we do, always to the right, but on the side next the houses or the wall,
+whether that happens to be on the right or on the left, being deemed the
+safest and most convenient.  You seldom see a person of any understanding
+or common sense walk in the middle of the streets in London, excepting
+when they cross over, which at Charing Cross and other places, where
+several streets meet, is sometimes really dangerous.
+
+It has a strange appearance—especially in the Strand, where there is a
+constant succession of shop after shop, and where, not unfrequently,
+people of different trades inhabit the same house—to see their doors or
+the tops of their windows, or boards expressly for the purpose, all
+written over from top to bottom with large painted letters.  Every
+person, of every trade or occupation, who owns ever so small a portion of
+a house, makes a parade with a sign at his door; and there is hardly a
+cobbler whose name and profession may not be read in large golden
+characters by every one that passes.  It is here not at all uncommon to
+see on doors in one continued succession, “Children educated here,”
+“Shoes mended here,” “Foreign spirituous liquors sold here,” and
+“Funerals furnished here;” of all these inscriptions.  I am sorry to
+observe that “Dealer in foreign spirituous liquors” is by far the most
+frequent.  And indeed it is allowed by the English themselves, that the
+propensity of the common people to the drinking of brandy or gin is
+carried to a great excess; and I own it struck me as a peculiar
+phraseology, when, to tell you that a person is intoxicated or drunk, you
+hear them say, as they generally do, that he is in liquor.  In the late
+riots, which even yet are hardly quite subsided, and which are still the
+general topic of conversation, more people have been found dead near
+empty brandy-casks in the streets, than were killed by the musket-balls
+of regiments that were called in.  As much as I have seen of London
+within these two days, there are on the whole I think not very many fine
+streets and very fine houses, but I met everywhere a far greater number
+and handsomer people than one commonly meets in Berlin.  It gives me much
+real pleasure when I walk from Charing Cross up the Strand, past St.
+Paul’s to the Royal Exchange, to meet in the thickest crowd persons from
+the highest to the lowest ranks, almost all well-looking people, and
+cleanly and neatly dressed.  I rarely see even a fellow with a
+wheel-barrow who has not a shirt on, and that, too, such a one as shows
+it has been washed; nor even a beggar without both a shirt and shoes and
+stockings.  The English are certainly distinguished for cleanliness.
+
+It has a very uncommon appearance in this tumult of people, where every
+one, with hasty and eager step, seems to be pursuing either his business
+or his pleasure, and everywhere making his way through the crowd, to
+observe, as you often may, people pushing one against another, only
+perhaps to see a funeral pass.  The English coffins are made very
+economically, according to the exact form of the body; they are flat, and
+broad at top; tapering gradually from the middle, and drawing to a point
+at the feet, not very unlike the case of a violin.
+
+A few dirty-looking men, who bear the coffin, endeavour to make their way
+through the crowd as well as they can; and some mourners follow.  The
+people seem to pay as little attention to such a procession, as if a
+hay-cart were driving past.  The funerals of people of distinction, and
+of the great, are, however, differently regarded.
+
+These funerals always appear to me the more indecent in a populous city,
+from the total indifference of the beholders, and the perfect unconcern
+with which they are beheld.  The body of a fellow-creature is carried to
+his long home as though it had been utterly unconnected with the rest of
+mankind.  And yet, in a small town or village, everyone knows everyone;
+and no one can be so insignificant as not to be missed when he is taken
+away.
+
+That same influenza which I left at Berlin, I have had the hard fortune
+again to find here; and many people die of it.  It is as yet very cold
+for the time of the year, and I am obliged every day to have a fire.  I
+must own that the heat or warmth given by sea-coal, burnt in the chimney,
+appears to me softer and milder than that given by our stoves.  The sight
+of the fire has also a cheerful and pleasing effect.  Only you must take
+care not to look at it steadily, and for a continuance, for this is
+probably the reason that there are so many young old men in England, who
+walk and ride in the public streets with their spectacles on; thus
+anticipating, in the bloom of youth, those conveniences and comforts
+which were intended for old age.
+
+I now constantly dine in my own lodgings; and I cannot but flatter myself
+that my meals are regulated with frugality.  My usual dish at supper is
+some pickled salmon, which you eat in the liquor in which it is pickled,
+along with some oil and vinegar; and he must be prejudiced or fastidious
+who does not relish it as singularly well tasted and grateful food.
+
+I would always advise those who wish to drink coffee in England, to
+mention beforehand how many cups are to be made with half an ounce; or
+else the people will probably bring them a prodigious quantity of brown
+water; which (notwithstanding all my admonitions) I have not yet been
+able wholly to avoid.  The fine wheaten bread which I find here, besides
+excellent butter and Cheshire-cheese, makes up for my scanty dinners.
+For an English dinner, to such lodgers as I am, generally consists of a
+piece of half-boiled, or half-roasted meat; and a few cabbage leaves
+boiled in plain water; on which they pour a sauce made of flour and
+butter.  This, I assure you, is the usual method of dressing vegetables
+in England.
+
+The slices of bread and butter, which they give you with your tea, are as
+thin as poppy leaves.  But there is another kind of bread and butter
+usually eaten with tea, which is toasted by the fire, and is incomparably
+good.  You take one slice after the other and hold it to the fire on a
+fork till the butter is melted, so that it penetrates a number of slices
+at once: this is called toast.
+
+The custom of sleeping without a feather-bed for a covering particularly
+pleased me.  You here lie between two sheets: underneath the bottom sheet
+is a fine blanket, which, without oppressing you, keeps you sufficiently
+warm.  My shoes are not cleaned in the house, but by a person in the
+neighbourhood, whose trade it is; who fetches them every morning, and
+brings them back cleaned; for which she receives weekly so much.  When
+the maid is displeased with me, I hear her sometimes at the door call me
+“the German”; otherwise in the family I go by the name of “the
+Gentleman.”
+
+I have almost entirely laid aside riding in a coach, although it does not
+cost near so much as it does at Berlin; as I can go and return any
+distance not exceeding an English mile for a shilling, for which I should
+there at least pay a florin.  But, moderate as English fares are, still
+you save a great deal, if you walk or go on foot, and know only how to
+ask your way.  From my lodging to the Royal Exchange is about as far as
+from one end of Berlin to the other, and from the Tower and St.
+Catharine’s, where the ships arrive in the Thames, as far again; and I
+have already walked this distance twice, when I went to look after my
+trunk before I got it out of the ship.  As it was quite dark when I came
+back the first evening, I was astonished at the admirable manner in which
+the streets are lighted up; compared to which our streets in Berlin make
+a most miserable show.  The lamps are lighted whilst it is still
+daylight, and are so near each other, that even on the most ordinary and
+common nights, the city has the appearance of a festive illumination, for
+which some German prince, who came to London for the first time, once,
+they say, actually took it, and seriously believed it to have been
+particularly ordered on account of his arrival.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+
+                                                 _The_ 9_th_ _June_, 1782.
+
+I PREACHED this day at the German church on Ludgate Hill, for the Rev.
+Mr. Wendeborn.  He is the author of “Die statischen Beyträge zur nähern
+Kentniss Grossbrittaniens.”  This valuable book has already been of
+uncommon service to me, and I cannot but recommend it to everyone who
+goes to England.  It is the more useful, as you can with ease carry it in
+your pocket, and you find in it information on every subject.  It is
+natural to suppose that Mr. Wendeborn, who has now been a length of time
+in England, must have been able more frequently, and with greater
+exactness to make his observations, than those who only pass through, or
+make a very short stay.  It is almost impossible for anyone, who has this
+book always at hand, to omit anything worthy of notice in or about
+London; or not to learn all that is most material to know of the state
+and situation of the kingdom in general.
+
+Mr. Wendeborn lives in New Inn, near Temple Bar, in a philosophical, but
+not unimproving, retirement.  He is almost become a native; and his
+library consists chiefly of English books.  Before I proceed, I must just
+mention, that he has not hired, but bought his apartments in this great
+building, called New Inn: and this, I believe, is pretty generally the
+case with the lodgings in this place.  A purchaser of any of these rooms
+is considered as a proprietor; and one who has got a house and home, and
+has a right, in parliamentary or other elections, to give his vote, if he
+is not a foreigner, which is the case with Mr. Wendeborn, who,
+nevertheless, was visited by Mr. Fox when he was to be chosen member for
+Westminster.
+
+I saw, for the first time, at Mr. Wendeborn’s, a very useful machine,
+which is little known in Germany, or at least not much used.
+
+This is a press in which, by means of very strong iron springs, a written
+paper may be printed on another blank paper, and you thus save yourself
+the trouble of copying; and at the same time multiply your own
+handwriting.  Mr. Wendeborn makes use of this machine every time he sends
+manuscripts abroad, of which he wishes to keep a copy.  This machine was
+of mahogany, and cost pretty high.  I suppose it is because the
+inhabitants of London rise so late, that divine service begin only at
+half-past ten o’clock.  I missed Mr. Wendeborn this morning, and was
+therefore obliged to enquire of the door-keeper at St. Paul’s for a
+direction to the German church, where I was to preach.  He did not know
+it.  I then asked at another church, not far from thence.  Here I was
+directed right, and after I had passed through an iron gate to the end of
+a long passage, I arrived just in time at the church, where, after the
+sermon, I was obliged to read a public thanksgiving for the safe arrival
+of our ship.  The German clergy here dress exactly the same as the
+English clergy—_i.e._, in long robes with wide sleeves—in which I
+likewise was obliged to wrap myself.  Mr. Wendeborn wears his own hair,
+which curls naturally, and the toupee is combed up.
+
+The other German clergymen whom I have seen wear wigs, as well as many of
+the English.
+
+I yesterday waited on our ambassador, Count Lucy, and was agreeably
+surprised at the simplicity of his manner of living.  He lives in a small
+private house.  His secretary lives upstairs, where also I met with the
+Prussian consul, who happened just then to be paying him a visit.  Below,
+on the right hand, I was immediately shown into his Excellency’s room,
+without being obliged to pass through an antechamber.  He wore a blue
+coat, with a red collar and red facings.  He conversed with me, as we
+drank a dish of coffee, on various learned topics; and when I told him of
+the great dispute now going on about the _tacismus_ or _stacismus_, he
+declared himself, as a born Greek, for the _stacismus_.
+
+When I came to take my leave, he desired me to come and see him without
+ceremony whenever it suited me, as he should be always happy to see me.
+
+Mr. Leonhard, who has translated several celebrated English plays, such
+as “The School for Scandal,” and some others, lives here as a private
+person, instructing Germans in English, and Englishmen in German, with
+great ability.  He also it is who writes the articles concerning England
+for the new Hamburgh newspaper, for which he is paid a stated yearly
+stipend.  I may add also, that he is the master of a German Freemasons’
+lodge in London, and representative of all the German lodges in
+England—an employment of far more trouble than profit to him, for all the
+world applies to him in all cases and emergencies.  I also was
+recommended to him from Hamburgh.  He is a very complaisant man, and has
+already shown me many civilities.  He repeats English poetry with great
+propriety, and speaks the language nearly with the same facility as he
+does his mother language.  He is married to an amiable Englishwoman.  I
+wish him all possible happiness.  And now let me tell you something of
+the so often imitated, but perhaps inimitable
+
+                               _Vauxhall_.
+
+I yesterday visited Vauxhall for the first time.  I had not far to go
+from my lodgings, in the Adelphi Buildings, to Westminster Bridge, where
+you always find a great number of boats on the Thames, which are ready on
+the least signal to serve those who will pay them a shilling or sixpence,
+or according to the distance.
+
+From hence I went up the Thames to Vauxhall, and as I passed along I saw
+Lambeth; and the venerable old palace belonging to the archbishops of
+Canterbury lying on my left.
+
+Vauxhall is, properly speaking, the name of a little village in which the
+garden, now almost exclusively bearing the same name, is situated.  You
+pay a shilling entrance.
+
+On entering it, I really found, or fancied I found, some resemblance to
+our Berlin Vauxhall, if, according to Virgil, I may be permitted to
+compare small things with great ones.  The walks at least, with the
+paintings at the end, and the high trees, which, here and there form a
+beautiful grove, or wood, on either side, were so similar to those of
+Berlin, that often, as I walked along them, I seemed to transport myself,
+in imagination, once more to Berlin, and forgot for a moment that immense
+seas, and mountains, and kingdoms now lie between us.  I was the more
+tempted to indulge in this reverie as I actually met with several
+gentlemen, inhabitants of Berlin, in particular Mr. S—r, and some others,
+with whom I spent the evening in the most agreeable manner.  Here and
+there (particularly in one of the charming woods which art has formed in
+this garden) you are pleasingly surprised by the sudden appearance of the
+statues of the most renowned English poets and philosophers, such as
+Milton, Thomson, and others.  But, what gave me most pleasure was the
+statue of the German composer Handel, which, on entering the garden, is
+not far distant from the orchestra.
+
+This orchestra is among a number of trees situated as in a little wood,
+and is an exceedingly handsome one.  As you enter the garden, you
+immediately hear the sound of vocal and instrumental music.  There are
+several female singers constantly hired here to sing in public.
+
+On each side of the orchestra are small boxes, with tables and benches,
+in which you sup.  The walks before these, as well as in every other part
+of the garden, are crowded with people of all ranks.  I supped here with
+Mr. S—r, and the secretary of the Prussian ambassador, besides a few
+other gentlemen from Berlin; but what most astonished me was the boldness
+of the women of the town, who often rushed in upon us by half dozens, and
+in the most shameless manner importuned us for wine, for themselves and
+their followers.  Our gentlemen thought it either unwise, unkind, or
+unsafe, to refuse them so small a boon altogether.
+
+Latish in the evening we were entertained with a sight, that is indeed
+singularly curious and interesting.  In a particular part of the garden a
+curtain was drawn up, and by means of some mechanism of extraordinary
+ingenuity, the eye and the ear are so completely deceived, that it is not
+easy to persuade one’s self it is a deception, and that one does not
+actually see and hear a natural waterfall from a high rock.  As everyone
+was flocking to this scene in crowds, there arose all at once a loud cry
+of “Take care of your pockets.”  This informed us, but too clearly, that
+there were some pickpockets among the crowd, who had already made some
+fortunate strokes.
+
+The rotunda, a magnificent circular building in the garden, particularly
+engaged my attention.  By means of beautiful chandeliers, and large
+mirrors, it was illuminated in the most superb manner; and everywhere
+decorated with delightful paintings, and statues, in the contemplation of
+which you may spend several hours very agreeably, when you are tired of
+the crowd and the bustle, in the walks of the garden.
+
+Among the paintings one represents the surrender of a besieged city.  If
+you look at this painting with attention, for any length of time, it
+affects you so much that you even shed tears.  The expression of the
+greatest distress, even bordering on despair, on the part of the
+besieged, the fearful expectation of the uncertain issue, and what the
+victor will determine concerning those unfortunate people, may all be
+read so plainly, and so naturally in the countenances of the inhabitants,
+who are imploring for mercy, from the hoary head to the suckling whom his
+mother holds up, that you quite forget yourself, and in the end scarcely
+believe it to be a painting before you.
+
+You also here find the busts of the best English authors, placed all
+round on the sides.  Thus a Briton again meets with his Shakespeare,
+Locke, Milton, and Dryden in the public places of his amusements; and
+there also reveres their memory.  Even the common people thus become
+familiar with the names of those who have done honour to their nation;
+and are taught to mention them with veneration.  For this rotunda is also
+an orchestra in which the music is performed in rainy weather.  But
+enough of Vauxhall!
+
+Certain it is that the English classical authors are read more generally,
+beyond all comparison, than the German; which in general are read only by
+the learned; or, at most, by the middle class of people.  The English
+national authors are in all hands, and read by all people, of which the
+innumerable editions they have gone through are a sufficient proof.
+
+My landlady, who is only a tailor’s widow, reads her Milton; and tells
+me, that her late husband first fell in love with her on this very
+account: because she read Milton with such proper emphasis.  This single
+instance, perhaps, would prove but little; but I have conversed with
+several people of the lower class, who all knew their national authors,
+and who all have read many, if not all, of them.  This elevates the lower
+ranks, and brings them nearer to the higher.  There is hardly any
+argument or dispute in conversation, in the higher ranks, about which the
+lower cannot also converse or give their opinion.  Now, in Germany, since
+Gellert, there has as yet been no poet’s name familiar to the people.
+But the quick sale of the classical authors is here promoted also by
+cheap and convenient editions.  They have them all bound in pocket
+volumes, as well as in a more pompous style.  I myself bought Milton in
+duodecimo for two shillings, neatly bound; it is such a one as I can,
+with great convenience, carry in my pocket.  It also appears to me to be
+a good fashion, which prevails here, and here only, that the books which
+are most read, are always to be had already well and neatly bound.  At
+stalls, and in the streets, you every now and then meet with a sort of
+antiquarians, who sell single or odd volumes; sometimes perhaps of
+Shakespeare, etc., so low as a penny; nay, even sometimes for a halfpenny
+a piece.  Of one of these itinerant antiquarians I bought the two volumes
+of the Vicar of Wakefield for sixpence, _i.e._ for the half of an English
+shilling.  In what estimation our German literature is held in England, I
+was enabled to judge, in some degree, by the printed proposals of a book
+which I saw.  The title was, “The Entertaining Museum, or Complete
+Circulating Library,” which is to contain a list of all the English
+classical authors, as well as translations of the best French, Spanish,
+Italian, and even German novels.
+
+The moderate price of this book deserves also to be noticed; as by such
+means books in England come more within the reach of the people; and of
+course are more generally distributed among them.  The advertisement
+mentions that in order that everyone may have it in his power to buy this
+work, and at once to furnish himself with a very valuable library,
+without perceiving the expense, a number will be sent out weekly, which,
+stitched, costs sixpence, and bound with the title on the back,
+ninepence.  The twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth numbers contain the first
+and second volume of the Vicar of Wakefield, which I had just bought of
+the antiquarian above-mentioned.
+
+The only translation from the German which has been particularly
+successful in England, is Gesner’s “Death of Abel.”  The translation of
+that work has been oftener reprinted in England than ever the original
+was in Germany.  I have actually seen the eighteenth edition of it; and
+if the English preface is to be regarded, it was written by a lady.
+“Klopstock’s Messiah,” as is well known, has been here but ill received;
+to be sure, they say it is but indifferently translated.  I have not yet
+been able to obtain a sight of it.  The Rev. Mr. Wendeborn has written a
+grammar for the German language in English, for the use of Englishmen,
+which has met with much applause.
+
+I must not forget to mention, that the works of Mr. Jacob Boehmen are all
+translated into English.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+
+                                                  _London_, 13_th_ _June_.
+
+OFTEN as I had heard Ranelagh spoken of, I had yet formed only an
+imperfect idea of it.  I supposed it to be a garden somewhat different
+from that of Vauxhall; but, in fact, I hardly knew what I thought of it.
+Yesterday evening I took a walk in order to visit this famous place of
+amusement; but I missed my way and got to Chelsea; where I met a man with
+a wheel-barrow, who not only very civilly showed me the right road, but
+also conversed with me the whole of the distance which we walked
+together.  And finding, upon enquiry, that I was a subject of the King of
+Prussia, he desired me, with much eagerness, to relate to him some
+anecdotes concerning that mighty monarch.  At length I arrived at
+Ranelagh; and having paid my half-crown on entrance, I soon enquired for
+the garden door, and it was readily shown to me; when, to my infinite
+astonishment, I found myself in a poor, mean-looking, and ill-lighted
+garden, where I met but few people.  I had not been here long before I
+was accosted by a young lady, who also was walking there, and who,
+without ceremony, offered me her arm, asking me why I walked thus
+solitarily?  I now concluded, this could not possibly be the splendid,
+much-boasted Ranelagh; and so, seeing not far from me a number of people
+entering a door, I followed them, in hopes either to get out again, or to
+vary the scene.
+
+But it is impossible to describe, or indeed to conceive, the effect it
+had on me, when, coming out of the gloom of the garden, I suddenly
+entered a round building, illuminated by many hundred lamps; the
+splendour and beauty of which surpassed everything of the kind I had ever
+seen before.  Everything seemed here to be round; above, there was a
+gallery divided into boxes; and in one part of it an organ with a
+beautiful choir, from which issued both instrumental and vocal music.
+All around, under this gallery, are handsome painted boxes for those who
+wish to take refreshments: the floor was covered with mats, in the middle
+of which are four high black pillars; within which there are neat
+fire-places for preparing tea, coffee and punch; and all around, also,
+there are placed tables, set out with all kinds of refreshments.  Within
+these four pillars, in a kind of magic rotundo, all the beau-monde of
+London move perpetually round and round.
+
+I at first mixed with this immense concourse of people, of all sexes,
+ages, countries, and characters; and I must confess, that the incessant
+change of faces, the far greater number of which were strikingly
+beautiful, together with the illumination, the extent and majestic
+splendour of the place, with the continued sound of the music, makes an
+inconceivably delightful impression on the imagination; and I take the
+liberty to add, that, on seeing it now for the first time, I felt pretty
+nearly the same sensations that I remember to have felt when, in early
+youth, I first read the Fairy Tales.
+
+Being, however, at length tired of the crowd, and being tired also with
+always moving round and round in a circle, I sat myself down in one of
+the boxes, in order to take some refreshment, and was now contemplating
+at my ease this prodigious collection and crowd of a happy, cheerful
+world, who were here enjoying themselves devoid of care, when a waiter
+very civilly asked me what refreshments I wished to have, and in a few
+moments returned with what I asked for.  To my astonishment he would
+accept no money for these refreshments; which I could not comprehend,
+till he told me that everything was included in the half-crown I had paid
+at the door; and that I had only to command if I wished for anything
+more; but that if I pleased, I might give him as a present a trifling
+douceur.  This I gave him with pleasure, as I could not help fancying I
+was hardly entitled to so much civility and good attention for one single
+half-crown.
+
+I now went up into the gallery, and seated myself in one of the boxes
+there; and from thence becoming all at once a grave and moralising
+spectator, I looked down on the concourse of people who were still moving
+round and round in the fairy circle; and then I could easily distinguish
+several stars and other orders of knighthood; French queues and bags
+contrasted with plain English heads of hair, or professional wigs; old
+age and youth, nobility and commonalty, all passing each other in the
+motley swarm.  An Englishman who joined me during this my reverie,
+pointed out to me on my enquiring, princes and lords with their dazzling
+stars; with which they eclipsed the less brilliant part of the company.
+
+Here some moved round in an eternal circle to see and be seen; there a
+group of eager connoisseurs had placed themselves before the orchestra
+and were feasting their ears, while others at the well-supplied tables
+were regaling the parched roofs of their mouths in a more substantial
+manner, and again others, like myself, were sitting alone, in the corner
+of a box in the gallery, making their remarks and reflections on so
+interesting a scene.
+
+I now and then indulged myself in the pleasure of exchanging, for some
+minutes, all this magnificence and splendour for the gloom of the garden,
+in order to renew the pleasing surprise I experienced on my first
+entering the building.  Thus I spent here some hours in the night in a
+continual variation of entertainment; when the crowd now all at once
+began to lessen, and I also took a coach and drove home.
+
+At Ranelagh the company appeared to me much better, and more select than
+at Vauxhall; for those of the lower class who go there, always dress
+themselves in their best, and thus endeavour to copy the great.  Here I
+saw no one who had not silk stockings on.  Even the poorest families are
+at the expense of a coach to go to Ranelagh, as my landlady assured me.
+She always fixed on some one day in the year, on which, without fail, she
+drove to Ranelagh.  On the whole the expense at Ranelagh is nothing near
+so great as it is at Vauxhall, if you consider the refreshments; for any
+one who sups at Vauxhall, which most people do, is likely, for a very
+moderate supper, to pay at least half-a-guinea.
+
+                            _The Parliament_.
+
+I had almost forgotten to tell you that I have already been to the
+Parliament House; and yet this is of most importance.  For, had I seen
+nothing else in England but this, I should have thought my journey
+thither amply rewarded.
+
+As little as I have hitherto troubled myself with politics, because
+indeed with us it is but little worth our while, I was however desirous
+of being present at a meeting of parliament—a wish that was soon amply
+gratified.
+
+One afternoon, about three o’clock, at which hour, or thereabouts, the
+house most commonly meets, I enquired for Westminster Hall, and was very
+politely directed by an Englishman.  These directions are always given
+with the utmost kindness.  You may ask whom you please, if you can only
+make yourself tolerably well understood; and by thus asking every now and
+then, you may with the greatest ease find your way throughout all London.
+
+Westminster Hall is an enormous Gothic building, whose vaulted roof is
+supported, not by pillars, but instead of these there are, on each side,
+large unnatural heads of angels, carved in wood, which seem to support
+the roof.
+
+When you have passed through this long hall, you ascend a few steps at
+the end, and are led through a dark passage into the House of Commons,
+which, below, has a large double-door; and above, there is a small
+staircase, by which you go to the gallery, the place allotted for
+strangers.
+
+The first time I went up this small staircase, and had reached the rails,
+I saw a very genteel man in black standing there.  I accosted him without
+any introduction, and I asked him whether I might be allowed to go into
+the gallery.  He told me that I must be introduced by a member, or else I
+could not get admission there.  Now, as I had not the honour to be
+acquainted with a member, I was under the mortifying necessity of
+retreating, and again going down-stairs, as I did much chagrined.  And
+now, as I was sullenly marching back, I heard something said about a
+bottle of wine, which seemed to be addressed to me.
+
+I could not conceive what it could mean, till I got home, when my
+obliging landlady told me I should have given the well-dressed man
+half-a-crown, or a couple of shillings for a bottle of wine.  Happy in
+this information, I went again the next day; when the same man who before
+had sent me away, after I had given him only two shillings, very politely
+opened the door for me, and himself recommended me to a good seat in the
+gallery.
+
+And thus I now, for the first time, saw the whole of the British nation
+assembled in its representatives, in rather a mean-looking building, that
+not a little resembles a chapel.  The Speaker, an elderly man, with an
+enormous wig, with two knotted kind of tresses, or curls, behind, in a
+black cloak, his hat on his head, sat opposite to me on a lofty chair;
+which was not unlike a small pulpit, save only that in the front of there
+was no reading-desk.  Before the Speaker’s chair stands a table, which
+looks like an altar; and at this there sit two men, called clerks,
+dressed in black, with black cloaks.  On the table, by the side of the
+great parchment acts, lies a huge gilt sceptre, which is always taken
+away, and placed in a conservatory under the table, as soon as ever the
+Speaker quits the chair; which he does as often as the House resolves
+itself into a committee.  A committee means nothing more than that the
+House puts itself into a situation freely to discuss and debate any point
+of difficulty and moment, and, while it lasts, the Speaker partly lays
+aside his power as a legislator.  As soon as this is over, some one tells
+the Speaker that he may now again be seated; and immediately on the
+Speaker being again in the chair, the sceptre is also replaced on the
+table before him.
+
+All round on the sides of the house, under the gallery, are benches for
+the members, covered with green cloth, always one above the other, like
+our choirs in churches, in order that he who is speaking may see over
+those who sit before him.  The seats in the gallery are on the same plan.
+The members of parliament keep their hats on, but the spectators in the
+gallery are uncovered.
+
+The members of the House of Commons have nothing particular in their
+dress.  They even come into the House in their great coats, and with
+boots and spurs.  It is not at all uncommon to see a member lying
+stretched out on one of the benches while others are debating.  Some
+crack nuts, others eat oranges, or whatever else is in season.  There is
+no end to their going in and out; and as often as any one wishes to go
+out, he places himself before the Speaker, and makes him his bow, as if,
+like a schoolboy, he asked tutor’s permission.
+
+Those who speak seem to deliver themselves with but little, perhaps not
+always with even a decorous, gravity.  All that is necessary is to stand
+up in your place, take off your hat, turn to the Speaker (to whom all the
+speeches are addressed), to hold your hat and stick in one hand, and with
+the other to make any such motions as you fancy necessary to accompany
+your speech.
+
+If it happens that a member rises who is but a bad speaker, or if what he
+says is generally deemed not sufficiently interesting, so much noise is
+made, and such bursts of laughter are raised, that the member who is
+speaking can scarcely distinguish his own words.  This must needs be a
+distressing situation; and it seems then to be particularly laughable,
+when the Speaker in his chair, like a tutor in a school, again and again
+endeavours to restore order, which he does by calling out “_To order_,
+_to order_,” apparently often without much attention being paid to it.
+
+On the contrary, when a favourite member, and one who speaks well and to
+the purpose, rises, the most perfect silence reigns, and his friends and
+admirers, one after another, make their approbation known by calling out,
+“_Hear him_,” which is often repeated by the whole House at once; and in
+this way so much noise is often made that the speaker is frequently
+interrupted by this same emphatic “_Hear him_.”  Notwithstanding which,
+this calling out is always regarded as a great encouragement; and I have
+often observed that one who began with some diffidence, and even somewhat
+inauspiciously, has in the end been so animated that he has spoken with a
+torrent of eloquence.
+
+As all speeches are directed to the Speaker, all the members always
+preface their speeches with “_Sir_” and he, on being thus addressed,
+generally moves his hat a little, but immediately puts it on again.  This
+“_Sir_” is often introduced in the course of their speeches, and serves
+to connect what is said.  It seems also to stand the orator in some stead
+when any one’s memory fails him, or he is otherwise at a loss for matter.
+For while he is saying “_Sir_,” and has thus obtained a little pause, he
+recollects what is to follow.  Yet I have sometimes seen some members
+draw a kind of memorandum-book out of their pockets, like a candidate who
+is at a loss in his sermon.  This is the only instance in which a member
+of the British parliament seems to read his speeches.
+
+The first day that I was at the House of Commons an English gentleman who
+sat next to me in the gallery very obligingly pointed out to me the
+principal members, such as Fox, Burke, Rigby, etc., all of whom I heard
+speak.  The debate happened to be whether, besides being made a peer, any
+other specific reward should be bestowed by the nation on their gallant
+admiral Rodney.  In the course of the debate, I remember, Mr. Fox was
+very sharply reprimanded by young Lord Fielding for having, when
+minister, opposed the election of Admiral Hood as a member for
+Westminster.
+
+Fox was sitting to the right of the Speaker, not far from the table on
+which the gilt sceptre lay.  He now took his place so near it that he
+could reach it with his hand, and, thus placed, he gave it many a violent
+and hearty thump, either to aid, or to show the energy with which he
+spoke.  If the charge was vehement, his defence was no less so.  He
+justified himself against Lord Fielding by maintaining that he had not
+opposed this election in the character of a minister, but as an
+individual, or private person; and that, as such, he had freely and
+honestly given his vote for another—namely, for Sir Cecil Wray, adding
+that the King, when he appointed him Secretary of State, had entered into
+no agreement with him by which he lost his vote as an individual; to such
+a requisition he never would have submitted.  It is impossible for me to
+describe with what fire and persuasive eloquence he spoke, and how the
+Speaker in the chair incessantly nodded approbation from beneath his
+solemn wig, and innumerable voices incessantly called out, “Hear him!
+hear him!” and when there was the least sign that he intended to leave
+off speaking they no less vociferously exclaimed, “Go on;” and so he
+continued to speak in this manner for nearly two hours.  Mr. Rigby, in
+reply, made a short but humorous speech, in which he mentioned of how
+little consequence the title of “lord” and “lady” was without money to
+support it, and finished with the Latin proverb, “infelix paupertas—quia
+ridiculos miseros facit.”  After having first very judiciously observed
+that previous inquiry should be made whether Admiral Rodney had made any
+rich prizes or captures; because, if that should be the case, he would
+not stand in need of further reward in money.  I have since been almost
+every day at the parliament house, and prefer the entertainment I there
+meet with to most other amusements.
+
+Fox is still much beloved by the people, notwithstanding that they are
+(and certainly with good reason) displeased at his being the cause of
+Admiral Rodney’s recall, though even I have heard him again and again
+almost extravagant in his encomiums on this noble admiral.  The same
+celebrated Charles Fox is a short, fat, and gross man, with a swarthy
+complexion, and dark; and in general he is badly dressed.  There
+certainly is something Jewish in his looks.  But upon the whole, he is
+not an ill-made nor an ill-looking man, and there are many strong marks
+of sagacity and fire in his eyes.  I have frequently heard the people
+here say that this same Mr. Fox is as cunning as a fox.  Burke is a
+well-made, tall, upright man, but looks elderly and broken.  Rigby is
+excessively corpulent, and has a jolly rubicund face.
+
+The little less than downright open abuse, and the many really rude
+things which the members said to each other, struck me much.  For
+example, when one has finished, another rises, and immediately taxes with
+absurdity all that the right honourable gentleman (for with this title
+the members of the House of Commons always honour each other) had just
+advanced.  It would, indeed, be contrary to the rules of the House flatly
+to tell each other that what they have spoken is _false_, or even
+_foolish_.  Instead of this, they turn themselves, as usual, to the
+Speaker, and so, whilst their address is directed to him, they fancy they
+violate neither the rules of parliament nor those of good breeding and
+decorum, whilst they utter the most cutting personal sarcasms against the
+member or the measure they oppose.
+
+It is quite laughable to see, as one sometimes does, one member speaking,
+and another accompanying the speech with his action.  This I remarked
+more than once in a worthy old citizen, who was fearful of speaking
+himself, but when his neighbour spoke he accompanied every energetic
+sentence with a suitable gesticulation, by which means his whole body was
+sometimes in motion.
+
+It often happens that the jett, or principal point in the debate is lost
+in these personal contests and bickerings between each other.  When they
+last so long as to become quite tedious and tiresome, and likely to do
+harm rather than good, the House takes upon itself to express its
+disapprobation; and then there arises a general cry of, “The question!
+the question!”  This must sometimes be frequently repeated, as the
+contending members are both anxious to have the last word.  At length,
+however, the question is put, and the votes taken, when the Speaker says,
+“Those who are for the question are to say _aye_, and those who are
+against it _no_.”  You then hear a confused cry of “_aye_” and “_no_” but
+at length the Speaker says, “I think there are more _ayes_ than _noes_,
+or more _noes_ than _ayes_.  The _ayes_ have it; or the _noes_ have it,”
+as the case may be.  But all the spectators must then retire from the
+gallery; for then, and not till then, the voting really commences.  And
+now the members call aloud to the gallery, “Withdraw! withdraw!”  On this
+the strangers withdraw, and are shut up in a small room at the foot of
+the stairs till the voting is over, when they are again permitted to take
+their places in the gallery.  Here I could not help wondering at the
+impatience even of polished Englishmen.  It is astonishing with what
+violence, and even rudeness, they push and jostle one another as soon as
+the room door is again opened, eager to gain the first and best seats in
+the gallery.  In this manner we (the strangers) have sometimes been sent
+away two or three times in the course of one day, or rather evening,
+afterwards again permitted to return.  Among these spectators are people
+of all ranks, and even, not unfrequently, ladies.  Two shorthand writers
+have sat sometimes not far distant from me, who (though it is rather by
+stealth) endeavour to take down the words of the speaker; and thus all
+that is very remarkable in what is said in parliament may generally be
+read in print the next day.  The shorthand writers, whom I noticed, are
+supposed to be employed and paid by the editors of the different
+newspapers.  There are, it seems, some few persons who are constant
+attendants on the parliament; and so they pay the door-keeper beforehand
+a guinea for a whole session.  I have now and then seen some of the
+members bring their sons, whilst quite little boys, and carry them to
+their seats along with themselves.
+
+A proposal was once made to erect a gallery in the House of Peers also
+for the accommodation of spectators.  But this never was carried into
+effect.  There appears to be much more politeness and more courteous
+behaviour in the members of the upper House.  But he who wishes to
+observe mankind, and to contemplate the leading traits of the different
+characters most strongly marked, will do well to attend frequently the
+lower, rather than the other, House.
+
+Last Tuesday was (what is here called) hanging-day.  There was also a
+parliamentary election.  I could only see one of the two sights, and
+therefore naturally preferred the latter, while I only heard tolling at a
+distance the death-bell of the sacrifice to justice.  I now, therefore,
+am going to describe to you, as well as can, an
+
+                  _Election for a Member of Parliament_.
+
+The cities of London and Westminster send, the one four, and the other
+two, members to parliament.  Mr. Fox is one of the two members for
+Westminster.  One seat was vacant, and that vacancy was now to be filled.
+And the same Sir Cecil Wray, whom Fox had before opposed to Lord Hood,
+was now publicly chosen.  They tell me that at these elections, when
+there is a strong opposition party, there is often bloody work; but this
+election was, in the electioneering phrase, a “hollow thing”—_i.e._ quite
+sure, as those who had voted for Admiral Hood now withdrew, without
+standing a poll, as being convinced beforehand their chance to succeed
+was desperate.
+
+The election was held in Covent Garden, a large market-place in the open
+air.  There was a scaffold erected just before the door of a very
+handsome church, which is also called St. Paul’s, but which, however, is
+not to be compared to the cathedral.
+
+A temporary edifice, formed only of boards and wood nailed together, was
+erected on the occasion.  It was called the hustings, and filled with
+benches; and at one end of it, where the benches ended, mats were laid,
+on which those who spoke to the people stood.  In the area before the
+hustings immense multitudes of people were assembled, of whom the
+greatest part seemed to be of the lowest order.  To this tumultuous
+crowd, however, the speakers often bowed very low, and always addressed
+them by the title of “gentlemen.”  Sir Cecil Wray was obliged to step
+forward and promise these same gentlemen, with hand and heart, that he
+would faithfully fulfil his duties as their representative.  He also made
+an apology because, on account of his long journey and ill-health, he had
+not been able to wait on them, as became him, at their respective houses.
+The moment that he began to speak, even this rude rabble became all as
+quiet as the raging sea after a storm, only every now and then rending
+the air with the parliamentary cry of “Hear him! hear him!” and as soon
+as he had done speaking, they again vociferated aloud an universal
+“_huzza_,” every one at the same time waving his hat.
+
+And now, being formally declared to have been legally chosen, he again
+bowed most profoundly, and returned thanks for the great honour done him,
+when a well-dressed man, whose name I could not learn, stepped forward,
+and in a well-indited speech congratulated both the chosen and the
+choosers.  “Upon my word,” said a gruff carter who stood near me, “that
+man speaks well.”
+
+Even little boys clambered up and hung on the rails and on the
+lamp-posts; and as if the speeches had also been addressed to them, they
+too listened with the utmost attention, and they too testified their
+approbation of it by joining lustily in the three cheers and waving their
+hats.
+
+All the enthusiasm of my earliest years kindled by the patriotism of the
+illustrious heroes of Rome.  Coriolanus, Julius Cæsar, and Antony were
+now revived in my mind; and though all I had just seen and heard be, in
+fact, but the semblance of liberty, and that, too, tribunitial liberty,
+yet at that moment I thought it charming, and it warmed my heart.  Yes,
+depend on it, my friend, when you here see how, in the happy country, the
+lowest and meanest member of society thus unequivocally testifies the
+interest which he takes in everything of a public nature; when you see
+how even women and children bear a part in the great concerns of their
+country; in short, how high and low, rich and poor, all concur in
+declaring their feelings and their convictions that a carter, a common
+tar, or a scavenger, is still a man—nay, an Englishman, and as such has
+his rights and privileges defined and known as exactly and as well as his
+king, or as his king’s minister—take my word for it, you will feel
+yourself very differently affected from what you are when staring at our
+soldiers in their exercises at Berlin.
+
+When Fox, who was among the voters, arrived at the beginning of the
+election, he too was received with an universal shout of joy.  At length,
+when it was nearly over, the people took it into their heads to hear him
+speak, and every one called out, “Fox!  Fox!”  I know not why, but I
+seemed to catch some of the spirit of the place and time, and so I also
+bawled “Fox!  Fox!” and he was obliged to come forward and speak, for no
+other reason that I could find but that the people wished to hear him
+speak.  In this speech he again confirmed, in the presence of the people,
+his former declaration in parliament, that he by no means had any
+influence as minister of State in this election, but only and merely as a
+private person.
+
+When the whole was over, the rampant spirit of liberty and the wild
+impatience of a genuine English mob were exhibited in perfection.  In a
+very few minutes the whole scaffolding, benches, and chairs, and
+everything else, was completely destroyed, and the mat with which it had
+been covered torn into ten thousand long strips, or pieces, or strings,
+with which they encircled or enclosed multitudes of people of all ranks.
+These they hurried along with them, and everything else that came in
+their way, as trophies of joy; and thus, in the midst of exultation and
+triumph, they paraded through many of the most populous streets of
+London.
+
+Whilst in Prussia poets only speak of the love of country as one of the
+dearest of all human affections, here there is no man who does not feel,
+and describe with rapture, how much he loves his country.  “Yes, for my
+country I’ll shed the last drop of my blood!” often exclaims little
+Jacky, the fine boy here in the house where I live, who is yet only about
+twelve years old.  The love of their country, and its unparalleled feats
+in war are, in general, the subject of their ballads and popular songs,
+which are sung about the streets by women, who sell them for a few
+farthings.  It was only the other day our Jacky brought one home, in
+which the history of an admiral was celebrated who bravely continued to
+command, even after his two legs were shot off and he was obliged to be
+supported.  I know not well by what means it has happened that the King
+of England, who is certainly one of the best the nation ever had, is
+become unpopular.  I know not how many times I have heard people of all
+sorts object to their king at the same time that they praised the King of
+Prussia to the skies.  Indeed, with some the veneration for our monarch
+went so far that they seriously wished he was their king.  All that seems
+to shock and dishearten them is the prodigious armies he keeps up, and
+the immense number of soldiers quartered in Berlin alone.  Whereas in
+London, at least in the city, not a single troop of soldiers of the
+King’s guard dare make their appearance.
+
+A few days ago I saw what is here deemed a great sight—viz., a lord
+mayor’s procession.  The lord mayor was in an enormous large gilt coach,
+which was followed by an astonishing number of most showy carriages, in
+which the rest of the city magistrates, more properly called aldermen of
+London, were seated.  But enough for the present.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+
+                                            _London_, _June_ 17_th_, 1782.
+
+I HAVE now been pretty nearly all over London, and, according to my own
+notions, have now seen most of the things I was most anxious to see.
+Hereafter, then, I propose to make an excursion into the country; and
+this purpose, by the blessing of God, I hope to be able to carry into
+effect in a very few days, for my curiosity is here almost satiated.  I
+seem to be tired and sick of the smoke of these sea-coal fires, and I
+long, with almost childish impatience, once more to breathe a fresher and
+clearer air.
+
+It must, I think, be owned, that upon the whole, London is neither so
+handsomely nor so well built as Berlin is; but then it certainly has far
+more fine squares.  Of these there are many that in real magnificence and
+beautiful symmetry far surpass our Gens d’Armes Markt, our Denhoschen and
+William’s Place.  The squares or quadrangular places contain the best and
+most beautiful buildings of London; a spacious street, next to the
+houses, goes all round them, and within that there is generally a round
+grass-plot, railed in with iron rails, in the centre of which, in many of
+them, there is a statue, which statues most commonly are equestrian and
+gilt.  In Grosvenor Square, instead of this green plot or area, there is
+a little circular wood, intended, no doubt, to give one the idea of _rus
+in urbe_.
+
+One of the longest and pleasantest walks I have yet taken is from
+Paddington to Islington; where to the left you have a fine prospect of
+the neighbouring hills, and in particular of the village of Hampstead,
+which is built on one of them; and to the right the streets of London
+furnish an endless variety of interesting views.  It is true that it is
+dangerous to walk here alone, especially in the afternoon and in an
+evening, or at night, for it was only last week that a man was robbed and
+murdered on this very same road.  But I now hasten to another and a more
+pleasing topic:
+
+                          _The British Museum_.
+
+I have had the happiness to become acquainted with the Rev. Mr. Woide;
+who, though well known all over Europe to be one of the most learned men
+of the age, is yet, if possible, less estimable for his learning than he
+is for his unaffected goodness of heart.  He holds a respectable office
+in the museum, and was obliging enough to procure me permission to see
+it, luckily the day before it was shut up.  In general you must give in
+your name a fortnight before you can he admitted.  But after all, I am
+sorry to say, it was the rooms, the glass cases, the shelves, or the
+repository for the books in the British Museum which I saw, and not the
+museum itself, we were hurried on so rapidly through the apartments.  The
+company, who saw it when and as I did, was various, and some of all
+sorts; some, I believe, of the very lowest classes of the people, of both
+sexes; for, as it is the property of the nation, every one has the same
+right (I use the term of the country) to see it that another has.  I had
+Mr. Wendeborn’s book in my pocket, and it, at least, enabled me to take a
+somewhat more particular notice of some of the principal things; such as
+the Egyptian mummy, a head of Homer, &c.  The rest of the company,
+observing that I had some assistance which they had not, soon gathered
+round me; I pointed out to them as we went along, from Mr. Wendeborn’s
+German book, what there was most worth seeing here.  The gentleman who
+conducted us took little pains to conceal the contempt which he felt for
+my communications when he found out that it was only a German description
+of the British Museum I had got.  The rapidly passing through this vast
+suite of rooms, in a space of time little, if at all, exceeding an hour,
+with leisure just to cast one poor longing look of astonishment on all
+these stupendous treasures of natural curiosities, antiquities, and
+literature, in the contemplation of which you could with pleasure spend
+years, and a whole life might be employed in the study of them—quite
+confuses, stuns, and overpowers one.  In some branches this collection is
+said to be far surpassed by some others; but taken altogether, and for
+size, it certainly is equalled by none.  The few foreign divines who
+travel through England generally desire to have the Alexandrian
+manuscript shewn them, in order to be convinced with their own eyes
+whether the passage, “These are the three that bear record, &c.,” is to
+be found there or not.
+
+The Rev. Mr. Woide lives at a place called Lisson Street, not far from
+Paddington; a very village-looking little town, at the west end of
+London.  It is quite a rural and pleasant situation; for here I either
+do, or fancy I do, already breathe a purer and freer air than in the
+midst of the town.  Of his great abilities, and particularly in oriental
+literature, I need not inform you; but it will give you pleasure to hear
+that he is actually meditating a fac-simile edition of the Alexandrian
+MS.  I have already mentioned the infinite obligations I lie under to
+this excellent man for his extraordinary courtesy and kindness.
+
+                     _The Theatre in the Haymarket_.
+
+Last week I went twice to an English play-house.  The first time “The
+Nabob” was represented, of which the late Mr. Foote was the author, and
+for the entertainment, a very pleasing and laughable musical farce,
+called “The Agreeable Surprise.”  The second time I saw “The English
+Merchant:” which piece has been translated into German, and is known
+among us by the title of “The Scotchwoman,” or “The Coffee-house.”  I
+have not yet seen the theatres of Covent Garden and Drury Lane, because
+they are not open in summer.  The best actors also usually spend May and
+October in the country, and only perform in winter.
+
+A very few excepted, the comedians whom I saw were certainly nothing
+extraordinary.  For a seat in the boxes you pay five shillings, in the
+pit three, in the first gallery two, and in the second or upper gallery,
+one shilling.  And it is the tenants in this upper gallery who, for their
+shilling, make all that noise and uproar for which the English
+play-houses are so famous.  I was in the pit, which gradually rises,
+amphitheatre-wise, from the orchestra, and is furnished with benches, one
+above another, from the top to the bottom.  Often and often, whilst I sat
+there, did a rotten orange, or pieces of the peel of an orange, fly past
+me, or past some of my neighbours, and once one of them actually hit my
+hat, without my daring to look round, for fear another might then hit me
+on my face.
+
+All over London as one walks, one everywhere, in the season, sees oranges
+to sell; and they are in general sold tolerably cheap, one and even
+sometimes two for a halfpenny; or, in our money, threepence.  At the
+play-house, however, they charged me sixpence for one orange, and that
+noways remarkably good.
+
+Besides this perpetual pelting from the gallery, which renders an English
+play-house so uncomfortable, there is no end to their calling out and
+knocking with their sticks till the curtain is drawn up.  I saw a
+miller’s, or a baker’s boy, thus, like a huge booby, leaning over the
+rails and knocking again and again on the outside, with all his might, so
+that he was seen by everybody, without being in the least ashamed or
+abashed.  I sometimes heard, too, the people in the lower or middle
+gallery quarrelling with those of the upper one.  Behind me, in the pit,
+sat a young fop, who, in order to display his costly stone buckles with
+the utmost brilliancy, continually put his foot on my bench, and even
+sometimes upon my coat, which I could avoid only by sparing him as much
+space from my portion of the seat as would make him a footstool.  In the
+boxes, quite in a corner, sat several servants, who were said to be
+placed there to keep the seats for the families they served till they
+should arrive; they seemed to sit remarkably close and still, the reason
+of which, I was told, was their apprehension of being pelted; for if one
+of them dares but to look out of the box, he is immediately saluted with
+a shower of orange peel from the gallery.
+
+In Foote’s “Nabob” there are sundry local and personal satires which are
+entirely lost to a foreigner.  The character of the Nabob was performed
+by a Mr. Palmer.  The jett of the character is, this Nabob, with many
+affected airs and constant aims at gentility, is still but a silly
+fellow, unexpectedly come into the possession of immense riches, and
+therefore, of course, paid much court to by a society of natural
+philosophers, Quakers, and I do not know who besides.  Being tempted to
+become one of their members, he is elected, and in order to ridicule
+these would-be philosophers, but real knaves, a fine flowery fustian
+speech is put into his mouth, which he delivers with prodigious pomp and
+importance, and is listened to by the philosophers with infinite
+complacency.  The two scenes of the Quakers and philosophers, who, with
+countenances full of imaginary importance, were seated at a green table
+with their president at their head while the secretary, with the utmost
+care, was making an inventory of the ridiculous presents of the Nabob,
+were truly laughable.  One of the last scenes was best received: it is
+that in which the Nabob’s friend and school-fellow visit him, and address
+him without ceremony by his Christian name; but to all their questions of
+“Whether he does not recollect them?  Whether he does not remember such
+and such a play; or such and such a scrape into which they had fallen in
+their youth?” he uniformly answers with a look of ineffable contempt,
+only, “No sir!”  Nothing can possibly be more ludicrous, nor more comic.
+
+The entertainment, “The Agreeable Surprise,” is really a very diverting
+farce.  I observed that, in England also, they represent school-masters
+in ridiculous characters on the stage, which, though I am sorry for, I
+own I do not wonder at, as the pedantry of school-masters in England,
+they tell me, is carried at least as far as it is elsewhere.  The same
+person who, in the play, performed the school-fellow of the Nabob with a
+great deal of nature and original humour, here acted the part of the
+school-master: his name is Edwin, and he is, without doubt, one of the
+best actors of all that I have seen.
+
+This school-master is in love with a certain country girl, whose name is
+Cowslip, to whom he makes a declaration of his passion in a strange
+mythological, grammatical style and manner, and to whom, among other
+fooleries, he sings, quite enraptured, the following air, and seems to
+work himself at least up to such a transport of passion as quite
+overpowers him.  He begins, you will observe, with the conjugation, and
+ends with the declensions and the genders; the whole is inimitably droll:
+
+    “Amo, amas,
+    I love a lass,
+    She is so sweet and tender,
+    It is sweet Cowslip’s Grace
+    In the Nominative Case.
+    And in the feminine Gender.”
+
+Those two sentences in particular, “in the Nominative Case,” and “in the
+feminine Gender,” he affects to sing in a particularly languishing air,
+as if confident that it was irresistible.  This Edwin, in all his comic
+characters, still preserves something so inexpressibly good-tempered in
+his countenance, that notwithstanding all his burlesques and even
+grotesque buffoonery, you cannot but be pleased with him.  I own, I felt
+myself doubly interested for every character which he represented.
+Nothing could equal the tone and countenance of self-satisfaction with
+which he answered one who asked him whether he was a scholar?  “Why, I
+was a master of scholars.”  A Mrs. Webb represented a cheesemonger, and
+played the part of a woman of the lower class so naturally as I have
+nowhere else ever seen equalled.  Her huge, fat, and lusty carcase, and
+the whole of her external appearance seemed quite to be cut out for it.
+
+Poor Edwin was obliged, as school-master, to sing himself almost hoarse,
+as he sometimes was called on to repeat his declension and conjugation
+songs two or three times, only because it pleased the upper gallery, or
+“the gods,” as the English call them, to roar out “encore.”  Add to all
+this, he was farther forced to thank them with a low bow for the great
+honour done him by their applause.
+
+One of the highest comic touches in the piece seemed to me to consist in
+a lie, which always became more and more enormous in the mouths of those
+who told it again, during the whole of the piece.  This kept the audience
+in almost a continual fit of laughter.  This farce is not yet printed, or
+I really think I should be tempted to venture to make a translation, or
+rather an imitation of it.
+
+“The English Merchant, or the Scotchwoman,” I have seen much better
+performed abroad than it was here.  Mr. Fleck, at Hamburg, in particular,
+played the part of the English merchant with more interest, truth, and
+propriety than one Aickin did here.  He seemed to me to fail totally in
+expressing the peculiar and original character of Freeport; instead of
+which, by his measured step and deliberate, affected manner of speaking,
+he converted him into a mere fine gentleman.
+
+The trusty old servant who wishes to give up his life for his master he,
+too, had the stately walk, or strut, of a minister.  The character of the
+newspaper writer was performed by the same Mr. Palmer who acted the part
+of the Nabob, but every one said, what I thought, that he made him far
+too much of a gentleman.  His person, and his dress also, were too
+handsome for the character.
+
+The character of Amelia was performed by an actress, who made her first
+appearance on the stage, and from a timidity natural on such an occasion,
+and not unbecoming, spoke rather low, so that she could not everywhere be
+heard; “Speak louder! speak louder!” cried out some rude fellow from the
+upper-gallery, and she immediately, with infinite condescension, did all
+she could, and not unsuccessfully, to please even an upper gallery
+critic.
+
+The persons near me, in the pit, were often extravagantly lavish of their
+applause.  They sometimes clapped a single solitary sentiment, that was
+almost as unmeaning as it was short, if it happened to be pronounced only
+with some little emphasis, or to contain some little point, some popular
+doctrine, a singularly pathetic stroke, or turn of wit.
+
+“The Agreeable Surprise” was repeated, and I saw it a second time with
+unabated pleasure.  It is become a favourite piece, and always announced
+with the addition of the favourite musical farce.  The theatre appeared
+to me somewhat larger than the one at Hamburg, and the house was both
+times very full.  Thus much for English plays, play-houses, and players.
+
+                     _English Customs and Education_.
+
+A few words more respecting pedantry.  I have seen the regulation of one
+seminary of learning, here called an academy.  Of these places of
+education, there is a prodigious number in London, though,
+notwithstanding their pompous names, they are in reality nothing more
+than small schools set up by private persons, for children and young
+people.
+
+One of the Englishmen who were my travelling companions, made me
+acquainted with a Dr. G— who lives near P—, and keeps an academy for the
+education of twelve young people, which number is here, as well as at our
+Mr. Kumpe’s, never exceeded, and the same plan has been adopted and
+followed by many others, both here and elsewhere.
+
+At the entrance I perceived over the door of the house a large board, and
+written on it, Dr. G—’s Academy.  Dr. G— received me with great courtesy
+as a foreigner, and shewed me his school-room, which was furnished just
+in the same manner as the classes in our public schools are, with benches
+and a professor’s chair or pulpit.
+
+The usher at Dr. G—’s is a young clergyman, who, seated also in a chair
+or desk, instructs the boys in the Greek and Latin grammars.
+
+Such an under-teacher is called an usher, and by what I can learn, is
+commonly a tormented being, exactly answering the exquisite description
+given of him in the “Vicar of Wakefield.”  We went in during the hours of
+attendance, and he was just hearing the boys decline their Latin, which
+he did in the old jog-trot way; and I own it had an odd sound to my ears,
+when instead of pronouncing, for example _viri veeree_ I heard them say
+_viri_, _of the man_, exactly according to the English pronunciation, and
+_viro_, _to the man_.  The case was just the same afterwards with the
+Greek.
+
+Mr. G— invited us to dinner, when I became acquainted with his wife, a
+very genteel young woman, whose behaviour to the children was such that
+she might be said to contribute more to their education than any one
+else.  The children drank nothing but water.  For every boarder Dr. G—
+receives yearly no more than thirty pounds sterling, which however, he
+complained of as being too little.  From forty to fifty pounds is the
+most that is generally paid in these academies.
+
+I told him of our improvements in the manner of education, and also spoke
+to him of the apparent great worth of character of his usher.  He
+listened very attentively, but seemed to have thought little himself on
+this subject.  Before and after dinner the Lord’s Prayer was repeated in
+French, which is done in several places, as if they were eager not to
+waste without some improvement, even this opportunity also, to practise
+the French, and thus at once accomplish two points.  I afterwards told
+him my opinion of this species of prayer, which however, he did not take
+amiss.
+
+After dinner the boys had leave to play in a very small yard, which in
+most schools or academies, in the city of London, is the _ne plus ultra_
+of their playground in their hours of recreation.  But Mr. G— has another
+garden at the end of the town, where he sometimes takes them to walk.
+
+After dinner Mr. G— himself instructed the children in writing,
+arithmetic, and French, all which seemed to be well taught here,
+especially writing, in which the young people in England far surpass, I
+believe, all others.  This may perhaps be owing to their having occasion
+to learn only one sort of letters.  As the midsummer holidays were now
+approaching (at which time the children in all the academies go home for
+four weeks), everyone was obliged with the utmost care to copy a written
+model, in order to show it to their parents, because this article is most
+particularly examined, as everybody can tell what is or is not good
+writing.  The boys knew all the rules of syntax by heart.
+
+All these academies are in general called boarding-schools.  Some few
+retain the old name of schools only, though it is possible that in real
+merit they may excel the so much-boasted of academies.
+
+It is in general the clergy, who have small incomes, who set up these
+schools both in town and country, and grown up people who are foreigners,
+are also admitted here to learn the English language.  Mr. G— charged for
+board, lodging, and instruction in the English, two guineas a-week.  He
+however, who is desirous of perfecting himself in the English, will do
+better to go some distance into the country, and board himself with any
+clergyman who takes scholars, where he will hear nothing but English
+spoken, and may at every opportunity be taught both by young and old.
+
+There are in England, besides the two universities, but few great schools
+or colleges.  In London, there are only St. Paul’s and Westminster
+schools; the rest are almost all private institutions, in which there
+reigns a kind of family education, which is certainly the most natural,
+if properly conducted.  Some few grammar schools, or Latin schools, are
+notwithstanding here and there to be met with, where the master receives
+a fixed salary, besides the ordinary profits of the school paid by the
+scholars.
+
+You see in the streets of London, great and little boys running about in
+long blue coats, which, like robes, reach quite down to the feet, and
+little white bands, such as the clergy wear.  These belong to a
+charitable institution, or school, which hears the name of the Blue Coat
+School.  The singing of the choristers in the streets, so usual with us,
+is not at all customary here.  Indeed, there is in England, or at least
+in London, such a constant walking, riding, and driving up and down in
+the streets, that it would not be very practicable.  Parents here in
+general, nay even those of the lowest classes, seem to be kind and
+indulgent to their children, and do not, like our common people, break
+their spirits too much by blows and sharp language.  Children should
+certainly be inured early to set a proper value on themselves; whereas
+with us, parents of the lower class bring up their children to the same
+slavery under which they themselves groan.
+
+Notwithstanding the constant new appetites and calls of fashion, they
+here remain faithful to nature—till a certain age.  What a contrast, when
+I figure to myself our petted, pale-faced Berlin boys, at six years old,
+with a large bag, and all the parade of grown-up persons, nay even with
+laced coats; and here, on the contrary see nothing but fine, ruddy, slim,
+active boys, with their bosoms open, and their hair cut on their
+forehead, whilst behind it flows naturally in ringlets.  It is something
+uncommon here to meet a young man, and more especially a boy, with a pale
+or sallow face, with deformed features, or disproportioned limbs.  With
+us, alas! it is not to be concealed, the case is very much otherwise; if
+it were not, handsome people would hardly strike us so very much as they
+do in this country.
+
+This free, loose, and natural dress is worn till they are eighteen, or
+even till they are twenty.  It is then, indeed, discontinued by the
+higher ranks, but with the common people it always remains the same.
+They then begin to have their hair dressed, and curled with irons, to
+give the head a large bushy appearance, and half their backs are covered
+with powder.  I am obliged to remain still longer under the hands of an
+English, than I was under a German hair-dresser; and to sweat under his
+hot irons with which he curls my hair all over, in order that I may
+appear among Englishmen, somewhat English.  I must here observe that the
+English hair-dressers are also barbers, an office however, which they
+perform very badly indeed; though I cannot but consider shaving as a far
+more proper employment for these petit maîtres than it is for surgeons,
+who you know in our country are obliged to shave us.  It is incredible
+how much the English at present Frenchify themselves; the only things yet
+wanting are bags and swords, with which at least I have seen no one
+walking publicly, but I am told they are worn at court.
+
+In the morning it is usual to walk out in a sort of negligée or morning
+dress, your hair not dressed, but merely rolled up in rollers, and in a
+frock and boots.  In Westminster, the morning lasts till four or five
+o’clock, at which time they dine, and supper and going to bed are
+regulated accordingly.  They generally do not breakfast till ten o’clock.
+The farther you go from the court into the city, the more regular and
+domestic the people become; and there they generally dine about three
+o’clock, _i.e._ as soon as the business or ‘Change is over.
+
+Trimmed suits are not yet worn, and the most usual dress is in summer, a
+short white waistcoat, black breeches, white silk stockings, and a frock,
+generally of very dark blue cloth, which looks like black; and the
+English seem in general to prefer dark colours.  If you wish to be full
+dressed, you wear black.  Officers rarely wear their uniforms, but dress
+like other people, and are to be known to be officers only by a cockade
+in their hats.
+
+It is a common observation, that the more solicitous any people are about
+dress, the more effeminate they are.  I attribute it entirely to this
+idle adventitious passion for finery, that these people are become so
+over and above careful of their persons; they are for ever, and on every
+occasion, putting one another on their guard against catching cold;
+“you’ll certainly catch cold,” they always tell you if you happen to be a
+little exposed to the draught of the air, or if you be not clad, as they
+think, sufficiently warm.  The general topic of conversation in summer,
+is on the important objects of whether such and such an acquaintance be
+in town, or such a one in the country.  Far from blaming it, I think it
+natural and commendable, that nearly one half of the inhabitants of this
+great city migrate into the country in summer.  And into the country, I
+too, though not a Londoner, hope soon to wander.
+
+Electricity happens at present to be the puppet-show of the English.
+Whoever at all understands electricity is sure of being noticed and
+successful.  This a certain Mr. Katterfelto experiences, who gives
+himself out for a Prussian, speaks bad English, and understands beside
+the usual electrical and philosophical experiments, some legerdemain
+tricks, with which (at least according to the papers) he sets the whole
+world in wonder.  For in almost every newspaper that appears, there are
+some verses on the great Katterfelto, which some one or other of his
+hearers are said to have made extempore.  Every sensible person considers
+Katterfelto as a puppy, an ignoramus, a braggadocio, and an impostor;
+notwithstanding which he has a number of followers.  He has demonstrated
+to the people, that the influenza is occasioned by a small kind of
+insect, which poisons the air; and a nostrum, which he pretends to have
+found out to prevent or destroy it, is eagerly bought of him.  A few days
+ago he put into the papers: “It is true that Mr. Katterfelto has always
+wished for cold and rainy weather, in order to destroy the pernicious
+insects in the air; but now, on the contrary, he wishes for nothing more
+than for fair weather, as his majesty and the whole royal family have
+determined, the first fine day, to be eye-witnesses of the great wonder,
+which this learned philosopher will render visible to them.”  Yet all
+this while the royal family have not so much as even thought of seeing
+the wonders of Mr. Katterfelto.  This kind of rhodomontade is very finely
+expressed in English by the word puff, which in its literal sense,
+signifies a blowing, or violent gust of wind, and in the metaphorical
+sense, a boasting or bragging.
+
+Of such puffs the English newspapers are daily full, particularly of
+quack medicines and empirics, by means of which many a one here (and
+among others a German who goes by the name of the German doctor) are
+become rich.  An advertisement of a lottery in the papers begins with
+capitals in this manner,—“Ten Thousand Pounds for a Sixpence!  Yes,
+however astonishing it may seem, it is nevertheless undoubtedly true,
+that for the small stake of sixpence, ten thousand pounds, and other
+capital prizes, may be won, etc.”—But enough for this time of the puffs
+of the English.
+
+I yesterday dined with the Rev. Mr. Schrader, son-in-law to Professor
+Foster of Halle.  He is chaplain to the German chapel at St. James’s; but
+besides himself he has a colleague or a reader, who is also in orders,
+but has only fifty pounds yearly salary.  Mr. Schrader also instructs the
+younger princes and princesses of the royal family in their religion.  At
+his house I saw the two chaplains, Mr. Lindeman and Mr. Kritter, who went
+with the Hanoverian troops to Minorca, and who were returned with the
+garrison.  They were exposed to every danger along with the troops.  The
+German clergy, as well as every other person in any public station
+immediately under Government, are obliged to pay a considerable tax out
+of their salaries.
+
+The English clergy (and I fear those still more particularly who live in
+London) are noticeable, and lamentably conspicuous, by a very free,
+secular, and irregular way of life.  Since my residence in England, one
+has fought a duel in Hyde Park, and shot his antagonist.  He was tried
+for the offence, and it was evident the judge thought him guilty of
+murder; but the jury declared him guilty only of manslaughter; and on
+this verdict he was burnt in the hand, if that may be called burning
+which is done with a cold iron; this being a privilege which the nobility
+and clergy enjoy above other murderers.
+
+Yesterday week, after I had preached for Mr. Wendeborne, we passed an
+English church in which, we understood the sermon was not yet quite
+finished.  On this we went in, and then I heard a young man preaching,
+with a tolerable good voice, and a proper delivery; but, like the English
+in general, his manner was unimpassioned, and his tone monotonous.  From
+the church we went to a coffee-house opposite to it, and there we dined.
+We had not been long there before the same clergyman whom we had just
+heard preaching, also came in.  He called for pen and ink, and hastily
+wrote down a few pages on a long sheet of paper, which he put into his
+pocket; I suppose it was some rough sketch or memorandum that occurred to
+him at that moment, and which he thus reserved for some future sermon.
+He too ordered some dinner, which he had no sooner ate, than he returned
+immediately to the same church.  We followed him, and he again mounted
+the pulpit, where he drew from his pocket a written paper, or book of
+notes, and delivered in all probability those very words which he had
+just before composed in our presence at the coffee-house.
+
+In these coffee-houses, however, there generally prevails a very decorous
+stillness and silence.  Everyone speaks softly to those only who sit next
+him.  The greater part read the newspapers, and no one ever disturbs
+another.  The room is commonly on the ground floor, and you enter it
+immediately from the street; the seats are divided by wooden wainscot
+partitions.  Many letters and projects are here written and planned, and
+many of those that you find in the papers are dated from some of these
+coffee-houses.  There is, therefore, nothing incredible, nor very
+extraordinary, in a person’s composing a sermon here, excepting that one
+would imagine it might have been done better at home, and certainly
+should not have thus been put off to the last minute.
+
+Another long walk that I have taken pretty often, is through Hanover
+Square and Cavendish Square, to Bulstrode Street, near Paddington, where
+the Danish ambassador lives, and where I have often visited the Danish
+_Charge d’Affaires_, M. Schornborn.  He is well known in Germany, as
+having attempted to translate Pindar into German.  Besides this, and
+besides being known to be a man of genius, he is known to be a great
+proficient in most of the branches of natural philosophy.  I have spent
+many very pleasant hours with him.
+
+Sublime poetry, and in particular odes, are his forte; there are indeed
+few departments of learning in which he has not extensive knowledge, and
+he is also well read in the Greek and Roman authors.  Everything he
+studies, he studies merely from the love he bears to the science itself,
+and by no means for the love of fame.
+
+One could hardly help saying it is a pity that so excellent a man should
+be so little known, were it not generally the case with men of
+transcendent merit.  But what makes him still more valuable is his pure
+and open soul, and his amiable unaffected simplicity of character, which
+has gained him the love and confidence of all who know him.  He has
+heretofore been secretary to the ambassador at Algiers; and even here in
+London, when he is not occupied by the business arising from his public
+station, he lives exceedingly retired, and devotes his time almost
+entirely to the study of the sciences.  The more agreeable I find such an
+acquaintance, the harder it will be for me to lose, as I soon must, his
+learned, his instructive, and his friendly conversation.
+
+I have seen the large Freemasons’ Hall here, at the tavern of the same
+name.  This hall is of an astonishing height and breadth, and to me it
+looked almost like a church.  The orchestra is very much raised, and from
+that you have a fine view of the whole hall, which makes a majestic
+appearance.  The building is said to have cost an immense sum.  But to
+that the lodges in Germany also contributed.  Freemasonry seems to be
+held in but little estimation in England, perhaps because most of the
+lodges are now degenerated into mere drinking clubs; though I hope there
+still are some who assemble for nobler and more essential purposes.  The
+Duke of Cumberland is now grand master.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+
+                                            _London_, 20_th_ _June_, 1782.
+
+AT length my determination of going into the country takes effect; and I
+am to set off this very afternoon in a stage; so that I now write to you
+my last letter from London, I mean till I return from my pilgrimage, for
+as soon as ever I have got beyond the dangerous neighbourhood of London,
+I shall certainly no longer suffer myself to be cooped up in a
+post-coach, but take my staff and pursue my journey on foot.  In the
+meantime, however, I will relate to you what I may either have forgotten
+to write before, or what I have seen worth notice within these few days
+last past; among which the foremost is
+
+                              _St. Paul’s_.
+
+I must own that on my entrance into this massy building, an uncommon
+vacancy, which seemed to reign in it, rather damped than raised an
+impression of anything majestic in me.  All around me I could see nothing
+but immense bare walls and pillars.  Above me, at an astonishing height,
+was the vaulted stone roof; and beneath me a plain, flat even floor,
+paved with marble.  No altar was to be seen, or any other sign that this
+was a place where mankind assembled to adore the Almighty.  For the
+church itself, or properly that part of it where they perform divine
+service, seems as it were a piece stuck on or added to the main edifice,
+and is separated from the large round empty space by an iron gate, or
+door.  Did the great architects who adopted this style of building mean
+by this to say that such a temple is most proper for the adoration of the
+Almighty?  If this was their aim, I can only say I admire the great
+temple of nature, the azure vaulted sky, and the green carpet with which
+the earth is spread.  This is truly a large temple; but then there is in
+it no void, no spot unappropriated, or unfulfilled, but everywhere proofs
+in abundance of the presence of the Almighty.  If, however, mankind, in
+their honest ambition to worship the great God of nature, in a style not
+wholly unsuitable to the great object of their reverence, and in their
+humble efforts at magnificence, aim in some degree to rival the
+magnificence of nature, particular pains should be taken to hit on
+something that might atone for the unavoidable loss of the animation and
+ampleness of nature; something in short that should clearly indicate the
+true and appropriated design and purpose of such a building.  If, on the
+other hand, I could be contented to consider St. Paul’s merely as a work
+of art, built as if merely to show the amazing extent of human powers, I
+should certainly gaze at it with admiration and astonishment, but then I
+wish rather to contemplate it with awe and veneration.  But, I perceive,
+I am wandering out of my way.  St. Paul’s is here, as it is, a noble
+pile, and not unworthy of this great nation.  And even if I were sure
+that I could, you would hardly thank me for showing you how it might have
+been still more worthy of this intelligent people.  I make a conscience
+however of telling you always, with fidelity, what impression everything
+I see or hear makes on me at the time.  For a small sum of money I was
+conducted all over the church by a man whose office it seemed to be, and
+he repeated to me, I dare say, exactly his lesson, which no doubt he has
+perfectly got by rote: of how many feet long and broad it was; how many
+years it was in building, and in what year built.  Much of this rigmarole
+story, which, like a parrot, he repeated mechanically, I could willingly
+have dispensed with.  In the part that was separated from the rest by the
+iron gate above mentioned, was what I call the church itself; furnished
+with benches, pews, pulpit, and an altar; and on each side seats for the
+choristers, as there are in our cathedrals.  This church seemed to have
+been built purposely in such a way, that the bishop, or dean, or
+dignitary, who should preach there, might not be obliged to strain his
+voice too much.  I was now conducted to that part which is called the
+whispering gallery, which is a circumference of prodigious extent, just
+below the cupola.  Here I was directed to place myself in a part of it
+directly opposite to my conductor, on the other side of the gallery, so
+that we had the whole breadth of the church between us, and here as I
+stood, he, knowing his cue no doubt, flung to the door with all his
+force, which gave a sound that I could compare to nothing less than a
+peal of thunder.  I was next desired to apply my ear to the wall, which,
+when I did, I heard the words of my conductor: “Can you hear me?” which
+he softly whispered quite on the other side, as plain and as loud as one
+commonly speaks to a deaf person.  This scheme to condense and invigorate
+sound at so great a distance is really wonderful.  I once noticed some
+sound of the same sort in the senatorial cellar at Bremen; but neither
+that, nor I believe any other in the world, can pretend to come in
+competition with this.
+
+I now ascended several steps to the great gallery, which runs on the
+outside of the great dome, and here I remained nearly two hours, as I
+could hardly, in less time, satisfy myself with the prospect of the
+various interesting objects that lay all round me, and which can no where
+be better seen, than from hence.
+
+Every view, and every object I studied attentively, by viewing them again
+and again on every side, for I was anxious to make a lasting impression
+of it on my imagination.
+
+Below me lay steeples, houses, and palaces in countless numbers; the
+squares with their grass plots in their middle that lay agreeably
+dispersed and intermixed, with all the huge clusters of buildings,
+forming meanwhile a pleasing contrast, and a relief to the jaded eye.
+
+At one end rose the Tower—itself a city—with a wood of masts behind it;
+and at the other Westminster Abbey with its steeples.  There I beheld,
+clad in smiles, those beautiful green hills that skirt the environs of
+Paddington and Islington; here, on the opposite bank of the Thames, lay
+Southwark; the city itself it seems to be impossible for any eye to take
+in entirely, for with all my pains I found it impossible to ascertain
+either where it ended, or where the circumjacent villages began; far as
+the eye could reach, it seemed to be all one continued chain of
+buildings.
+
+I well remember how large I thought Berlin when first I saw it from the
+steeple of St. Mary, and from the Temple Yard Hills, but how did it now
+sink and fall in my imagination, when I compared it with London!
+
+It is, however, idle and vain to attempt giving you in words, any
+description, however faint and imperfect, of such a prospect as I have
+just been viewing.  He who wishes at one view to see a world in
+miniature, must come to the dome of St Paul’s.
+
+The roof of St. Paul’s itself with its two lesser steeples lay below me,
+and as I fancied, looked something like the background of a small ridge
+of hills, which you look down upon when you have attained the summit of
+some huge rock or mountain.  I should gladly have remained here sometime
+longer, but a gust of wind, which in this situation was so powerful that
+it was hardly possible to withstand it, drove me down.
+
+Notwithstanding that St. Paul’s is itself very high, the elevation of the
+ground on which it stands contributes greatly to its elevation.
+
+The church of St. Peter at Berlin, notwithstanding the total difference
+between them in the style of building, appears in some respects to have a
+great resemblance to St. Paul’s in London.  At least its large high black
+roof rises above the other surrounding buildings just as St. Paul’s does.
+
+What else I saw in this stately cathedral was only a wooden model of this
+very edifice, which was made before the church was built, and which
+suggests some not unpleasing reflections when one compares it with the
+enormous building itself.
+
+The churchyard is enclosed with an iron rail, and it appears a
+considerable distance if you go all round.
+
+Owing to some cause or other, the site of St. Paul’s strikes you as being
+confined, and it is certain that this beautiful church is on every side
+closely surrounded by houses.
+
+A marble statue of Queen Anne in an enclosed piece of ground in the west
+front of the church is something of an ornament to that side.
+
+The size of the bell of St. Paul’s is also worthy of notice, as it is
+reckoned one of those that are deemed the largest in Europe.  It takes
+its place, they say, next to that at Vienna.
+
+Everything that I saw in St. Paul’s cost me only a little more than a
+shilling, which I paid in pence and halfpence, according to a regulated
+price, fixed for every different curiosity.
+
+                           _Westminster Abbey_.
+
+On a very gloomy dismal day, just such a one as it ought to be, I went to
+see Westminster Abbey.
+
+I entered at a small door, which brought me immediately to the poets’
+corner, where the monuments and busts of the principal poets, artists,
+generals, and great men, are placed.
+
+Not far from the door, immediately on my entrance, I perceived the statue
+of Shakespeare, as large as life; with a band, &c., in the dress usual in
+his time.
+
+A passage out of one of Shakespeare’s own plays (the _Tempest_), in which
+he describes in the most solemn and affecting manner, the end, or the
+dissolution of all things, is here, with great propriety, put up as his
+epitaph; as though none but Shakespeare could do justice to Shakespeare.
+
+Not far from this immortal bard is Rowe’s monument, which, as it is
+intimated in the few lines that are inscribed as his epitaph, he himself
+had desired to be placed there.
+
+At no great distance I saw the bust of that amiable writer, Goldsmith: to
+whom, as well as to Butler, whose monument is in a distant part of the
+abbey, though they had scarcely necessary bread to eat during their life
+time, handsome monuments are now raised.  Here, too you see, almost in a
+row, the monuments of Milton, Dryden, Gay, and Thomson.  The inscription
+on Gay’s tombstone is, if not actually immoral, yet futile and weak;
+though he is said to have written it himself:
+
+    “Life is a jest, and all things shew it,
+    ‘I thought so once but now I know it.”
+
+Our Handel has also a monument here, where he is represented as large as
+life.
+
+An actress, Pritchard, and Booth, an actor, have also very distinguished
+monuments erected here to their memories.
+
+For Newton, as was proper, there is a very costly one.  It is above, at
+the entrance of the choir, and exactly opposite to this, at the end of
+the church, another is erected, which refers you to the former.
+
+As I passed along the side walls of Westminster Abbey, I hardly saw any
+thing but marble monuments of great admirals, but which were all too much
+loaded with finery and ornaments, to make on me at least, the intended
+impression.
+
+I always returned with most pleasure to the poets’ corner, where the most
+sensible, most able, and most learned men, of the different ages, were
+re-assembled; and particularly where the elegant simplicity of the
+monuments made an elevated and affecting impression on the mind, while a
+perfect recollection of some favourite passage, of a Shakespeare, or
+Milton, recurred to my idea, and seemed for a moment to re-animate and
+bring back the spirits of those truly great men.
+
+Of Addison and Pope I have found no monuments here.  The vaults where the
+kings are buried, and some other things worth notice in the abbey, I have
+not yet seen; but perhaps I may at my return to London from the country.
+
+I have made every necessary preparation for this journey: In the first
+place, I have an accurate map of England in my pocket; besides an
+excellent book of the roads, which Mr. Pointer, the English merchant to
+whom I am recommended, has lent me.  The title is “A new and accurate
+description of all the direct and principal cross roads in Great
+Britain.”  This book, I hope, will be of great service to me in my
+ramblings.
+
+I was for a long time undecided which way I should go, whether to the
+Isle of Wight, to Portsmouth, or to Derbyshire, which is famous for its
+natural curiosities, and also for its romantic situation.  At length I
+have determined on Derbyshire.
+
+During my absence I leave my trunk at Mr. Mulhausen’s (one of Mr.
+Pointer’s senior partners), that I may not be at the needless expense of
+paying for my lodging without making use of it.  This Mr. Pointer lived
+long in Germany, and is politely partial to us and our language, and
+speaks it well.  He is a well-bred and singularly obliging man; and one
+who possesses a vast fund of information, and a good taste.  I cannot but
+feel myself happy in having obtained a recommendation to so accomplished
+a man.  I got it from Messrs. Persent and Dorner, to whom I had the
+honour to be recommended by Mr. Von Taubenheim, Privy Counsellor at
+Berlin.  These recommendations have been of infinite use to me.
+
+I propose to go to-day as far as Richmond; for which place a stage sets
+out about two o’clock from some inn, not far from the new church in the
+Strand.  Four guineas, some linen, my English book of the roads, and a
+map and pocket-book, together with Milton’s Paradise Lost, which I must
+put in my pocket, compose the whole of my equipage; and I hope to walk
+very lightly with it.  But it now strikes half-past one, and of course it
+is time for me to be at the stage.  Farewell!  I will write to you again
+from Richmond.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+
+                                          _Richmond_, 21_st_ _June_, 1782.
+
+YESTERDAY afternoon I had the luxury for the first time of being driven
+in an English stage.  These coaches are, at least in the eyes of a
+foreigner, quite elegant, lined in the inside; and with two seats large
+enough to accommodate six persons; but it must be owned, when the
+carriage is full, the company are rather crowded.
+
+At the White Hart from whence the coach sets out, there was, at first
+only an elderly lady who got in; but as we drove along, it was soon
+filled, and mostly by ladies, there being only one more gentleman and
+myself.  The conversation of the ladies among themselves, who appeared to
+be a little acquainted with each other, seemed to me to be but very
+insipid and tiresome.  All I could do was, I drew out my book of the
+roads, and marked the way we were going.
+
+Before you well know that you are out of London you are already in
+Kensington and Hammersmith; because there are all the way houses on both
+sides, after you are out of the city; just as you may remember the case
+is with us when you drive from Berlin to Schoneberg; although in point of
+prospect, houses and streets, the difference, no doubt, is prodigious.
+
+It was a fine day, and there were various delightful prospects on both
+sides, on which the eye would willingly have dwelt longer, had not our
+coach rolled on past them, so provokingly quick.  It appeared somewhat
+singular to me, when at a few miles from London, I saw at a distance a
+beautiful white house; and perceived on the high road, on which we were
+driving, a direction post, on which were written these words: “that great
+white house at a distance is a boarding-school!”
+
+The man who was with us in the coach pointed out to us the country seats
+of the lords and great people by which we passed; and entertained us with
+all kind of stories of robberies which had been committed on travellers,
+hereabouts; so that the ladies at last began to be rather afraid; on
+which he began to stand up for the superior honour of the English
+robbers, when compared with the French: the former he said robbed only,
+the latter both robbed and murdered.
+
+Notwithstanding this there are in England another species of villains,
+who also murder, and that oftentimes for the merest trifle, of which they
+rob the person murdered.  These are called footpads, and are the lowest
+class of English rogues; amongst whom in general there reigns something
+like some regard to character.
+
+The highest order of thieves are the pickpockets or cutpurses, whom you
+find everywhere; and sometimes even in the best companies.  They are
+generally well and handsomely dressed, so that you take them to be
+persons of rank; as indeed may sometimes be the case: persons who by
+extravagance and excesses have reduced themselves to want, and find
+themselves obliged at last to have recourse to pilfering and thieving.
+
+Next to them come the highwaymen, who rob on horseback; and often, they
+say, even with unloaded pistols, they terrify travellers, in order to put
+themselves in possession of their purses.  Among these persons, however,
+there are instances of true greatness of soul, there are numberless
+instances of their returning a part of their booty, where the party
+robbed has appeared to be particularly distressed; and they are seldom
+guilty of murder.
+
+Then comes the third and lowest, and worst of all thieves and rogues, the
+footpads before mentioned; who are on foot, and often murder in the most
+inhuman manner, for the sake of only a few shillings, any unfortunate
+people who happen to fall in their way.  Of this several mournful
+instances may be read almost daily in the English papers.  Probably they
+murder, because they cannot like highwaymen, aided by their horses, make
+a rapid flight: and therefore such pests are frequently pretty easily
+pursued and taken if the person robbed gives information of his robbery
+in time.
+
+But to return to our stage, I must observe, that they have here a curious
+way of riding, not in, but upon a stage-coach.  Persons to whom it is not
+convenient to pay a full price, instead of the inside, sit on the top of
+the coach, without any seats or even a rail.  By what means passengers
+thus fasten themselves securely on the roof of these vehicles, I know
+not; but you constantly see numbers seated there, apparently at their
+ease, and in perfect safety.
+
+This they call riding on the outside; for which they pay only half as
+much as those pay who are within: we had at present six of these
+passengers over our heads, who, when we alighted, frequently made such a
+noise and bustle, as sometimes almost frightened us.  He who can properly
+balance himself, rides not incommodiously on the outside; and in summer
+time, in fine weather, on account of the prospects, it certainly is more
+pleasant than it is within: excepting that the company is generally low,
+and the dust is likewise more troublesome than in the inside, where, at
+any rate, you may draw up the windows according to your pleasure.
+
+In Kensington, where we stopped, a Jew applied for a place along with us;
+but as there was no seat vacant in the inside, he would not ride on the
+outside, which seemed not quite to please my travelling companions.  They
+could not help thinking it somewhat preposterous that a Jew should be
+ashamed to ride on the outside, or on any side, and in any way; since as
+they added, he was nothing more than a Jew.  This antipathy and prejudice
+against the Jews, I have noticed to be far more common here, than it is
+even with us, who certainly are not partial to them.
+
+Of the beautiful country seats and villas which we now passed, I could
+only through the windows of our coach gain a partial and indistinct
+prospect, which led me to wish, as I soon most earnestly did, to be
+released from this movable prison.  Towards evening we arrived at
+Richmond.  In London, before I set out, I had paid one shilling; another
+was now demanded, so that upon the whole, from London to Richmond, the
+passage in the stage costs just two shillings.
+
+As soon as I had alighted at an inn and had drunk my tea, I went out
+immediately to see the town and the circumjacent country.
+
+Even this town, though hardly out of sight of London, is more
+countrified, pleasanter, and more cheerful than London, and the houses do
+not seem to be so much blackened by smoke.  The people also appeared to
+me here more sociable and more hospitable.  I saw several sitting on
+benches before their doors, to enjoy the cool breeze of the evening.  On
+a large green area in the middle of the town, a number of boys, and even
+young men, were enjoying themselves, and playing at trap-ball.  In the
+streets there reigned here, compared to London, a pleasing rural
+tranquillity, and I breathed a purer and fresher air.
+
+I went now out of the town over a bridge, which lies across the Thames,
+and where you pay a penny as often as you pass over it.  The bridge is
+lofty and built in the form of an arch, and from it you enter immediately
+into a most charming valley, that winds all along the banks of the
+Thames.
+
+It was evening.  The sun was just shedding her last parting rays on the
+valley; but such an evening, and such a valley!  Oh, it is impossible I
+should ever forget them.  The terrace at Richmond does assuredly afford
+one of the finest prospects in the world.  Whatever is charming in
+nature, or pleasing in art, is to be seen here.  Nothing I had ever seen,
+or ever can see elsewhere, is to be compared to it.  My feelings, during
+the few short enraptured minutes that I stood there, it is impossible for
+any pen to describe.
+
+One of my first sensations was chagrin and sorrow for the days and hours
+I had wasted in London, and I had vented a thousand bitter reproaches on
+my irresolution, that I had not long ago quitted that huge dungeon to
+come here and pass my time in paradise.
+
+Yes, my friend, whatever be your ideas of paradise, and how luxuriantly
+soever it may be depicted to your imagination, I venture to foretell that
+here you will be sure to find all those ideas realised.  In every point
+of view, Richmond is assuredly one of the first situations in the world.
+Here it was that Thomson and Pope gleaned from nature all those beautiful
+passages with which their inimitable writings abound.
+
+Instead of the incessant distressing noise in London, I saw here at a
+distance, sundry little family parties walking arm in arm along the banks
+of the Thames.  Everything breathed a soft and pleasing calm, which
+warmed my heart and filed it with some of the most pleasing sensations of
+which our nature is susceptible.
+
+Beneath I trod on that fresh, even, and soft verdure which is to be seen
+only in England.  On one side of me lay a wood, than which nature cannot
+produce a finer, and on the other the Thames, with its shelvy bank and
+charming lawns rising like an amphitheatre, along which, here and there,
+one espies a picturesque white house, aspiring in majestic simplicity to
+pierce the dark foliage of the surrounding trees; thus studding, like
+stars in the galaxy, the rich expanse of this charming vale.
+
+Sweet Richmond! never, no, never, shall I forget that lovely evening,
+when from thy fairy hills thou didst so hospitably smile on me, a poor
+lonely, insignificant stranger!  As I traversed to and fro thy meads, thy
+little swelling hills and flowery dells, and above all that queen of all
+rivers, thy own majestic Thames, I forgot all sublunary cares, and
+thought only of heaven and heavenly things.  Happy, thrice happy am I, I
+again and again exclaimed, that I am no longer in yon gloomy city, but
+here in Elysium, in Richmond.
+
+O ye copsy hills, ye green meadows, and ye rich streams in this blessed
+country, how have ye enchanted me?  Still, however, let me recollect and
+resolve, as I firmly do, that even ye shall not prevent my return to
+those barren and dusty lands where my, perhaps a less indulgent, destiny
+has placed me, and where, in the due discharge of all the arduous and
+important duties of that humble function to which providence has called
+me, I must and I will faithfully exert my best talents, and in that
+exertion find pleasure, and I trust, happiness.  In every future moment
+of my life, however, the recollection of this scene, and the feelings it
+inspired, shall cheer my labours and invigorate my efforts.
+
+These were some of my reflections, my dearest friend, during my solitary
+walk.  Of the evening I passed at Richmond, I speak feebly when I content
+myself with saying only, it was one of the pleasantest I ever spent in my
+life.
+
+I now resolved to go to bed early, with a firm purpose of also rising
+early the next day to revisit this charming walk; for I thought to
+myself, I have now seen this temple of the modern world imperfectly; I
+have seen it only by moonlight.  How much more charming must it be when
+glistening with the morning dew!  These fond hopes, alas, were all
+disappointed.  In all great schemes of enjoyment, it is, I believe, no
+bad way always to figure to yourself some possible evil that may arise,
+and to anticipate a disappointment.  If I had done so, I should not
+perhaps have felt the mortification I then experienced quite so pungent.
+By some means or other I stayed too long out, and so when I returned to
+Richmond, I had forgot the name and the sign of the inn where I had
+before stopped; it cost me no little trouble to find it again.
+
+When at last I got back, I told the people what a sweet walk I had had,
+and they then spoke much of a prospect from a neighbouring hill, known by
+the name of Richmond Hill, which was the very same hill from the top of
+which I had just been gazing at the houses in the vale, the preceding
+evening.  From this same kill, therefore, I resolved the next morning to
+see the sun rise.
+
+The landlady of this house was a notable one, and talked so much and so
+loud to her servants, that I could not get to sleep till it was pretty
+late.  However, I was up next morning at three o’clock, and was now
+particularly sensible of the great inconveniences they sustain in England
+by their bad custom of rising so late, for as I was the only one in this
+family who was up, I could not get out of the house.  This obliged me to
+spend three most irksome and heavy hours till six o’clock; however, a
+servant at length opened the door, and I rushed out to climb Richmond
+Hill.  To my infinite disappointment, within the space of an hour, the
+sky had become overcast, and it was now so cloudy that I could not even
+see, nor of course enjoy one half of the delightful prospect that lay
+before me.
+
+On the top of this hill is an alley of chestnut trees, under which here
+and there seats are placed.  Behind the alley is a row of well-built
+gentlemen’s country seats.  One does not wonder to see it thus occupied;
+besides the pure air, the prospect exceeds everything else of the kind in
+the world.  I never saw a palace which, if I were the owner of it, I
+would not give for any of the houses I now saw on Richmond Terrace.
+
+The descent of the hill to the Thames is covered with verdure, the Thames
+at the foot of it forms near a semicircle, in which it seems to embrace
+woody plains, with meadows and country seats in its bosom.  On one side
+you see the town and its magnificent bridge, and on the other a dark
+wood.
+
+At a distance you could perceive, peeping out among the meadows and
+woods, sundry small villages, so that notwithstanding the dulness of the
+weather, this prospect even now was one of the finest I had ever seen.
+But what is the reason that yesterday evening my feelings were far more
+acute and lively, the impressions made on me much stronger, when from the
+vale I viewed the hill and fancied that there was in it every thing that
+was delightful, than they are this morning, when from the hill I
+overlooked the vale and knew pretty exactly what it contained?
+
+I have now finished my breakfast, and once more seize my staff, the only
+companion I have, and now again set out on this romantic journey on foot.
+From Windsor you shall hear more of me.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IX.
+
+
+                                                 _Windsor_, 23_rd_ _June_.
+
+I HAVE already, my dearest friend, now that I write to you from hence,
+experienced so many inconveniences as a traveller on foot, that I am at
+some loss to determine whether or no I shall go on with my journey in the
+same manner.
+
+A traveller on foot in this country seems to be considered as a sort of
+wild man or out-of-the way being, who is stared at, pitied, suspected,
+and shunned by everybody that meets him.  At least this has hitherto been
+my case on the road from Richmond to Windsor.
+
+My host at Richmond, yesterday morning, could not sufficiently express
+his surprise that I intended to venture to walk as far as Oxford, and
+still farther.  He however was so kind as to send his son, a clever
+little boy, to show me the road leading to Windsor.
+
+At first I walked along a very pleasant footway by the side of the
+Thames, where close to my right lay the king’s garden.  On the opposite
+bank of the Thames was Isleworth, a spot that seemed to be distinguished
+by some elegant gentlemen’s country-seats and gardens.  Here I was
+obliged to ferry the river in order to get into the Oxford Road, which
+also leads to Windsor.
+
+When I was on the other side of the water, I came to a house and asked a
+man who was standing at the door if I was on the right road to Oxford.
+“Yes,” said he, “but you want a carriage to carry you thither.”  When I
+answered him that I intended walking it, he looked at me significantly,
+shook his head, and went into the house again.
+
+I was now on the road to Oxford.  It is a charming fine broad road, and I
+met on it carriages without number, which, however, on account of the
+heat, occasioned a dust that was extremely troublesome and disagreeable.
+The fine green hedges, which border the roads in England, contribute
+greatly to render them pleasant.  This was the case in the road I now
+travelled, for when I was tired I sat down in the shade under one of
+these hedges and read Milton.  But this relief was soon rendered
+disagreeable to me, for those who rode or drove past me, stared at me
+with astonishment, and made many significant gestures as if they thought
+my head deranged; so singular must it needs have appeared to them to see
+a man sitting along the side of a public road and reading.  I therefore
+found myself obliged, when I wished to rest myself and read, to look out
+for a retired spot in some by-lane or crossroad.
+
+When I again walked, many of the coachmen who drove by called out to me,
+ever and anon, and asked if I would not ride on the outside; and when,
+every now and then, a farmer on horseback met me, he said, and seemingly
+with an air of pity for me, “’Tis warm walking, sir;” and when I passed
+through a village, every old woman testified her pity by an exclamation
+of—“Good God!”
+
+As far as Hounslow the way was very pleasant; afterwards I thought it not
+quite so good.  It lay across a common, which was of a considerable
+extent, and bare and naked, excepting that here and there I saw sheep
+feeding.
+
+I now began to be very tired, when, to my astonishment, I saw a tree in
+the middle of the common that stood quite solitary, and spread a shade
+like an arbour round it.  At the bottom, round the trunk, a bench was
+placed, on which one may sit down.  Beneath the shade of this tree I
+reposed myself a little, read some of Milton, and made a note in my
+memorandum-book that I would remember this tree, which had so charitably
+and hospitably received under its shade a weary traveller.  This, you
+see, I have now done.
+
+The short English miles are delightful for walking.  You are always
+pleased to find, every now and then, in how short a time you have walked
+a mile, though, no doubt, a mile is everywhere a mile, I walk but a
+moderate pace, and can accomplish four English miles in an hour.  It used
+to take me pretty nearly the same time for one German mile.  Now it is a
+pleasing exchange to find that in two hours I can walk eight miles.  And
+now I fancy I was about seventeen miles from London, when I came to an
+inn, where, for a little wine and water, I was obliged to pay sixpence.
+An Englishman who happened to be sitting by the side of the innkeeper
+found out that I was a German, and, of course, from the country of his
+queen, in praise of whom he was quite lavish, observing more than once
+that England never had had such a queen, and would not easily get such
+another.
+
+It now began to grow hot.  On the left hand, almost close to the high
+road, I met with a singularly clear rivulet.  In this I bathed, and was
+much refreshed, and afterwards, with fresh alacrity, continued my
+journey.
+
+I had now got over the common, and was once more in a country rich and
+well cultivated beyond all conception.  This continued to be the case as
+far as Slough, which is twenty miles and a half from London, on the way
+to Oxford, and from which to the left there is a road leading to Windsor,
+whose high white castle I have already seen at a distance.
+
+I made no stay here, but went directly to the right, along a very
+pleasant high road, between meadows and green hedges, towards Windsor,
+where I arrived about noon.
+
+It strikes a foreigner as something particular and unusual when, on
+passing through these fine English towns, he observed one of those
+circumstances by which the towns in Germany are distinguished from the
+villages—no walls, no gates, no sentries, nor garrisons.  No stern
+examiner comes here to search and inspect us or our baggage; no imperious
+guard here demands a sight of our passports; perfectly free and
+unmolested, we here walk through villages and towns as unconcerned as we
+should through a house of our own.
+
+Just before I got to Windsor I passed Eton College, one of the first
+public schools in England, and perhaps in the world.  I have before
+observed that there are in England fewer of these great schools than one
+might expect.  It lay on my left; and on the right, directly opposite to
+it, was an inn, into which I went.
+
+I suppose it was during the hour of recreation, or in playtime, when I
+got to Eton, for I saw the boys in the yard before the college, which was
+enclosed by a low wall, in great numbers, walking and running up and
+down.
+
+Their dress struck me particularly.  From the biggest to the least, they
+all wore black cloaks, or gowns, over coloured clothes, through which
+there was an aperture for their arms.  They also wore besides a square
+hat or cap, that seemed to be covered with velvet, such as our clergymen
+in many places wear.
+
+They were differently employed—some talking together, some playing, and
+some had their books in their hands, and were reading; but I was soon
+obliged to get out of their sight, they stared at me so as I came along,
+all over dust, with my stick in my hand.
+
+As I entered the inn, and desired to have something to eat, the
+countenance of the waiter soon gave me to understand that I should there
+find no very friendly reception.  Whatever I got they seemed to give me
+with such an air as showed too plainly how little they thought of me, and
+as if they considered me but as a beggar.  I must do them the justice to
+own, however, that they suffered me to pay like a gentleman.  No doubt
+this was the first time this pert, bepowdered puppy had ever been called
+on to wait on a poor devil who entered their place on foot.  I was tired,
+and asked for a bedroom where I might sleep.  They showed me into one
+that much resembled a prison for malefactors.  I requested that I might
+have a better room at night; on which, without any apology, they told me
+that they had no intention of lodging me, as they had no room for such
+guests, but that I might go back to Slough, where very probably I might
+get a night’s lodging.
+
+With money in my pocket, and a consciousness, moreover, that I was doing
+nothing that was either imprudent, unworthy, or really mean, I own it
+mortified and vexed me to find myself obliged to put up with this
+impudent ill-usage from people who ought to reflect that they are but the
+servants of the public, and little likely to recommend themselves to the
+high by being insolent to the low.  They made me, however, pay them two
+shillings for my dinner and coffee, which I had just thrown down, and was
+preparing to shake off the dust from my shoes, and quit this inhospitable
+St. Christopher, when the green hills of Windsor smiled so friendly upon
+me, that they seemed to invite me first to visit them.
+
+And now trudging through the streets of Windsor, I at length mounted a
+sort of hill; a steep path led me on to its summit, close to the walls of
+the castle, where I had an uncommonly extensive and fine prospect, which
+so much raised my heart, that in a moment I forgot not only the insults
+of waiters and tavern-keepers, but the hardship of my lot in being
+obliged to travel in a manner that exposed me to the scorn of a people
+whom I wished to respect.  Below me lay the most beautiful landscapes in
+the world—all the rich scenery that nature, in her best attire, can
+exhibit.  Here were the spots that furnished those delightful themes of
+which the muse of Denham and Pope made choice.  I seemed to view a whole
+world at once, rich and beautiful beyond conception.  At that moment what
+more could I have wished for?
+
+And the venerable castle, that royal edifice which, in every part of it,
+has strong traces of antiquity, smiles through its green trees, like the
+serene countenance of some hoary sage, who, by the vigour of a happy
+constitution, still retains many of the charms of youth.
+
+Nothing inspired me with more veneration and awe than the fine old
+building St. George’s Church, which, as you come down from the castle, is
+on your right.  At the sight of it past centuries seemed to revive in my
+imagination.
+
+But I will see no more of those sights which are shown you by one of
+those venal praters, who ten times a day, parrot-wise, repeat over the
+same dull lesson they have got by heart.  The surly fellow, who for a
+shilling conducted me round the church, had nearly, with his chattering,
+destroyed the finest impressions.  Henry VIII., Charles I., and Edward
+IV. are buried here.  After all, this church, both within and without,
+has a most melancholy and dismal appearance.
+
+They were building at what is called the queen’s palace, and prodigious
+quantities of materials are provided for that purpose.
+
+I now went down a gentle declivity into the delightful park at Windsor,
+at the foot of which it looks so sombrous and gloomy that I could hardly
+help fancying it was some vast old Gothic temple.  This forest certainly,
+in point of beauty, surpasses everything of the kind you can figure to
+yourself.  To its own charms, when I saw it, there were added a most
+pleasing and philosophical solitude, the coolness of an evening breeze,
+all aided by the soft sounds of music, which, at this distance from the
+castle, from whence it issued, was inexpressibly sweet.  It threw me into
+a sort of enthusiastic and pleasing reverie, which made me ample amends
+for the fatigues, discourtesies, and continued cross accidents I had
+encountered in the course of the day.
+
+I now left the forest; the clock struck six, and the workmen were going
+home from their work.
+
+I have forgot to mention the large round tower of the castle, which is
+also a very ancient building.  The roads that lead to it are all along
+their sides planted with shrubs; these, being modern and lively, make a
+pleasing contrast to the fine old mossy walls.  On the top of this tower
+the flag of Great Britain is usually displayed, which, however, as it was
+now late in the evening, was taken in.
+
+As I came down from the castle I saw the king driving up to it in a very
+plain, two-wheeled, open carriage.  The people here were politer than I
+used to think they were in London, for I did not see a single person,
+high or low, who did not pull off their hats as their sovereign passed
+them.
+
+I was now again in Windsor, and found myself, not far from the castle,
+opposite to a very capital inn, where I saw many officers and several
+persons of consequence going in and out.  And here at this inn, contrary
+to all expectation, I was received by the landlord with great civility,
+and even kindness—very contrary to the haughty and insolent airs which
+the upstart at the other, and his jackanapes of a waiter, there thought
+fit to give themselves.
+
+However, it seemed to be my fate to be still a scandal and an eyesore to
+all the waiters.  The maid, by the order of her master, showed me a room
+where I might adjust my dress a little; but I could hear her mutter and
+grumble as she went along with me.  Having put myself a little to rights,
+I went down into the coffee-room, which is immediately at the entrance of
+the house, and told the landlord that I thought I wished to have yet one
+more walk.  On this he obligingly directed me to stroll down a pleasant
+field behind his house, at the foot of which, he said, I should find the
+Thames, and a good bathing place.
+
+I followed his advice; and this evening was, if possible, finer than the
+preceding.  Here again, as I had been told I should, I found the Thames
+with all its gentle windings.  Windsor shone nearly as bright over the
+green vale as those charming houses on Richmond Hill, and the verdure was
+not less soft and delicate.  The field I was in seemed to slope a little
+towards the Thames.  I seated myself near a bush, and there waited the
+going down of the sun.  At a distance I saw a number of people bathing in
+the Thames.  When, after sunset, they were a little dispersed, I drew
+near the spot I had been directed to; and here, for the first time, I
+sported in the cool tide of the Thames.  The bank was steep, but my
+landlord had dug some steps that went down into the water, which is
+extremely convenient for those who cannot swim.  Whilst I was there, a
+couple of smart lively apprentice boys came also from the town, who, with
+the greatest expedition, threw off their clothes and leathern aprons, and
+plunged themselves, head foremost, into the water, where they opposed the
+tide with their sinewy arms till they were tired.  They advised me, with
+much natural civility, to untie my hair, and that then, like them, I
+might plunge into the stream head foremost.
+
+Refreshed and strengthened by this cool bath, I took a long walk by
+moonlight on the banks of the Thames.  To my left were the towers of
+Windsor, before me a little village with a steeple, the top of which
+peeped out among the green trees, at a distance two inviting hills which
+I was to climb in the morning, and around me the green cornfields.  Oh!
+how indescribably beautiful was this evening and this walk!  At a
+distance among the houses I could easily descry the inn where I lodged,
+and where I seemed to myself at length to have found a place of refuge
+and a home; and I thought, if I could but stay there, I should not be
+very sorry if I were never to find another.
+
+How soon did all these pleasing dreams vanish!  On my return the waiters
+(who, from my appearance, too probably expected but a trifling reward for
+their attentions to me) received me gruffly, and as if they were sorry to
+see me again.  This was not all; I had the additional mortification to be
+again roughly accosted by the cross maid who had before shown me to the
+bed-chamber, and who, dropping a kind of half courtesy, with a suppressed
+laugh, sneeringly told me I might look out for another lodging, as I
+could not sleep there, since the room she had by mistake shown me was
+already engaged.  It can hardly be necessary to tell you that I loudly
+protested against this sudden change.  At length the landlord came, and I
+appealed to him; and he with great courtesy immediately desired another
+room to be shown me, in which, however, there were two beds, so that I
+was obliged to admit a companion.  Thus was I very near being a second
+time turned out of an inn.
+
+Directly under my room was the tap-room, from which I could plainly hear
+too much of the conversation of some low people, who were drinking and
+singing songs, in which, as far as I could understand them, there were
+many passages at least as vulgar and nonsensical as ours.
+
+This company, I guessed, consisted chiefly of soldiers and low fellows.
+I was hardly well lulled to sleep by this hurly-burly, when my chum
+(probably one of the drinking party below) came stumbling into the room
+and against my bed.  At length, though not without some difficulty, he
+found his own bed, into which he threw himself just as he was, without
+staying to pull off either clothes or boots.
+
+This morning I rose very early, as I had proposed, in order to climb the
+two hills which yesterday presented me with so inviting a prospect, and
+in particular that one of them on the summit of which a high white house
+appeared among the dark-green trees; the other was close by.
+
+I found no regular path leading to these hills, and therefore went
+straight forward, without minding roads, only keeping in view the object
+of my aim.  This certainly created me some trouble.  I had sometimes a
+hedge, and sometimes a hog to walk round; but at length I had attained
+the foot of the so earnestly wished-for hill with the high white house on
+its summit, when, just as I was going to ascend it, and was already
+pleasing myself in the idea with the prospect from the white house,
+behold I read these words on a board: “Take care! there are steel traps
+and spring guns here.”
+
+All my labour was lost, and I now went round to the other hill; but here
+were also steel traps and spring gnus, though probably never intended to
+annoy such a wanderer as myself, who wished only to enjoy the fine
+morning air from this eminence.
+
+Thus disappointed in my hopes, I returned to Windsor, much in the same
+temper and manner as I had yesterday morning from Richmond Hill; where my
+wishes had also been frustrated.
+
+When I got to my inn, I received from the ill-tempered maid, who seemed
+to have been stationed there on purpose to plague and vex me, the polite
+welcome, that on no account should I sleep another night there.  Luckily,
+that was not my intention.  I now write to you in the coffee room, where
+two Germans are talking together, who certainly little suspect how well I
+understand them; if I were to make myself known to them, as a German,
+most probably, even these fellows would not speak to me, because I travel
+on foot.  I fancy they are Hanoverians!  The weather is so fine that,
+notwithstanding the inconveniences I have hitherto experienced on this
+account, I think I shall continue my journey in the same manner.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER X.
+
+
+                                                      _Oxford_, _June_ 25.
+
+TO what various, singular, and unaccountable fatalities and adventures
+are not foot-travellers exposed, in this land of carriages and horses!
+But, I will begin my relation in form and order.
+
+In Windsor, I was obliged to pay for an old fowl I had for supper, for a
+bedroom which I procured with some difficulty, and not without murmurs,
+and in which, to complete my misadventures, I was disturbed by a drunken
+fellow; and for a couple of dishes of tea, nine shillings, of which the
+fowl alone was charged six shillings.
+
+As I was going away the waiter, who had served me with so very ill a
+grace, placed himself on the stairs and said, “Pray remember the waiter.”
+I gave him three halfpence, on which he saluted me with the heartiest
+“G—d d—n you, sir!” I had ever heard.  At the door stood the cross maid,
+who also accosted me with, “Pray remember the chambermaid.”  “Yes, yes,”
+said I, “I shall long remember your most ill-mannered behaviour and
+shameful incivility;” and so I gave her nothing.  I hope she was stung
+and nettled at my reproof; however, she strove to stifle her anger by a
+contemptuous, loud, hoarse laugh.  Thus, as I left Windsor, I was
+literally followed by abuses and curses.
+
+I am very sorry to say that I rejoiced when I once more perceived the
+towers of Windsor behind me.  It is not proper for wanderers to be
+prowling near the palaces of kings, and so I sat me down,
+philosophically, in the shade of a green hedge, and again read Milton, no
+friend of kings, though the first of poets.  Whatever I may think of
+their inns, it is impossible not to admire and be charmed with this
+country.
+
+I took my way through Slough, by Salthill, to Maidenhead.  At Salthill,
+which can hardly be called even a village, I saw a barber’s shop, and so
+I resolved to get myself both shaved and dressed.  For putting my hair a
+little in order, and shaving me, I was forced to pay him a shilling.
+Opposite to this shop there stands an elegant house and a neat garden.
+
+Between Salthill and Maidenhead, I met with the first very remarkable and
+alarming adventure that has occurred during my pilgrimage.
+
+Hitherto I had scarcely met a single foot passenger, whilst coaches
+without number every moment rolled past me, for there are few roads, even
+in England, more crowded than this western road, which leads to Bath and
+Bristol as well as to Oxford.  I now also began to meet numbers of people
+on horseback, which is by no means an usual method of travelling.
+
+The road now led me along a low sunken piece of ground between high
+trees, so that I could not see far before me, when a fellow in a brown
+frock and round hat, with a stick in his hand a great deal stronger than
+mine, came up to me.  His countenance immediately struck me as having in
+it something suspicious.  He however passed me; but, before I was aware,
+he turned back and asked me for a halfpenny to buy, as he said, some
+bread, as he had eaten nothing that day.  I felt in my pocket, and found
+that I had no halfpence: no, nor even a sixpence; in short, nothing but
+shillings.  I told him the circumstance, which I hoped would excuse me;
+on which he said, with an air and manner the drift of which I could not
+understand, “God bless my soul!”  This drew my attention still closer to
+the huge brawny fist, which grasped his stick, and that closer attention
+determined me immediately to put my hand in my pocket and give him a
+shilling.  Meanwhile a coach came up.  The fellow thanked me and went on.
+Had the coach come a moment sooner, I should not easily have given him
+the shilling, which, God knows, I could not well spare.  Whether this was
+a footpad or not, I will not pretend to say, but he had every appearance
+of it.
+
+I now came to Maidenhead bridge, which is five-and-twenty English miles
+from London.
+
+The English milestones give me much pleasure, and they certainly are a
+great convenience to travellers.  They have often seemed to ease me of
+half the distance of a journey merely by telling me how far I had already
+gone, and by assuring me that I was on the right road.  For, besides the
+distance from London, every milestone informs you that to the next place
+is so many miles, and where there are cross-roads there are
+direction-posts, so that it is hardly possible to lose one’s-self in
+walking.  I must confess that all this journey has seemed but as it were
+one continued walk for pleasure.
+
+From Maidenhead bridge there is a delightful prospect towards a hill,
+which extends itself along the right bank of the Thames, and on the top
+of it there are two beautiful country seats, all surrounded with meadows
+and parks.  The first is called Taplow, and belongs to the Earl of
+Inchiquin; and a little farther Cliefden, which also belongs to him.
+
+These villas seem all to be surrounded with green meadows, lying along
+thick woods, and, altogether, are most charming.
+
+From this bridge it is not far to Maidenhead, near which, on the left, is
+another prospect of a beautiful seat, belonging to Pennyston Powney, Esq.
+
+All this knowledge I have gained chiefly from my English guide; which I
+have constantly in my hand; and in which everything most worthy of notice
+in every mile is marked.  These notices I get confirmed or refuted by the
+people at whose houses I stop; who wonder how I, who am a foreigner, have
+come to be so well acquainted with their country.
+
+Maidenhead is a place of little note; for some mulled ale, which I
+desired them to make me, I was obliged to pay ninepence.  I fancy they
+did not take me to be either a great, or a very rich man, for I heard
+them say, as I passed on, “A stout fellow!”  This, though perhaps not
+untrue, did not seem to sound in my ears as very respectful.
+
+At the end of the village was a shoemaker’s shop, just as at the end of
+Salthill there was a barber’s shop.
+
+From hence I went to Henley, which is eleven miles from Maidenhead, and
+thirty-six from London.
+
+Having walked pretty fast for six English miles together, and being now
+only five miles from Henley, I came to a rising ground where there just
+happened to be a milestone, near which I sat down, to enjoy one of the
+most delightful prospects, the contemplation of which I recommend to
+everyone who may ever happen to come to this spot.  Close before me rose
+a soft hill, full of green cornfields, fenced with quick-hedges, and the
+top of it was encircled with a wood.
+
+At some little distance, in a large semicircle, one green hill rose after
+another, all around me, gently raising themselves aloft from the banks of
+the Thames, and on which woods, meadows, arable lands, and villages were
+interspersed in the greatest and most beautiful variety; whilst at their
+foot the Thames meandered, in most picturesque windings, among villages,
+gentlemen’s seats, and green vales.
+
+The banks of the Thames are everywhere beautiful, everywhere charming;
+how delighted was I with the sight of it when, having lost it for a short
+time, I suddenly and unexpectedly saw it again with all its beautiful
+banks.  In the vale below, flocks were feeding; and from the hills I
+heard the sweet chimes of distant bells.
+
+The circumstance that renders these English prospects so enchantingly
+beautiful, is a concurrence and union of the _tout ensemble_.  Everything
+coincides and conspires to render them fine, moving pictures.  It is
+impossible to name, or find a spot, on which the eye would not delight to
+dwell.  Any of the least beautiful of any of these views that I have seen
+in England would, anywhere in Germany, be deemed a paradise.
+
+Reinforced, as it were, by this gratifying prospect, to support fresh
+fatigues, I now walked a quick pace, both up and down the hills, the five
+remaining miles to Henley, where I arrived about four in the afternoon.
+
+To the left, just before I got to Henley, on this side of the Thames, I
+saw on a hill a fine park and a magnificent country seat, at present
+occupied by General Conway.
+
+Just before my entrance into Henley, I walked a little directly on the
+banks of the Thames; and sat myself down in the high grass, whilst
+opposite to me, on the other side, lay the park on the hill.  As I was a
+little tired, I fell asleep, and when I awoke the last rays of the
+setting sun just shone upon me.
+
+Invigorated by this sweet, though short, slumber, I walked on and entered
+the town.  Its appearance, however, indicated that it was too fine a
+place for me, and so I determined to stop at an inn on the road-side,
+such a one as the Vicar of Wakefield well calls, “the resort of indigence
+and frugality.”
+
+The worst of it was, no one, even in these places of refuge, would take
+me in.  Yet, on this road, I met two farmers, the first of whom I asked
+whether he thought I could get a night’s lodging at a house which I saw
+at a distance, by the road side.  “Yes, sir, I daresay you may,” he
+replied.  But he was mistaken: when I came there, I was accosted with
+that same harsh salutation, which though, alas, no longer quite new to
+me, was still unpleasing to my ears; “We have got no beds; you can’t stay
+here to-night.”   It was the same at the other inn on the road; I was
+therefore obliged to determine to walk on as far as Nettlebed, which was
+five miles farther, where I arrived rather late in the evening, when it
+was indeed quite dark.
+
+Everything seemed to be all alive in this little village; there was a
+party of militia soldiers who were dancing, singing, and making merry.
+Immediately on my entrance into the village, the first house that I saw,
+lying on my left, was an inn, from which, as usual in England, a large
+beam extended across the street to the opposite house, from which hung
+dangling an astonishing large sign, with the name of the proprietor.
+
+“May I stay here to-night?” I asked with eagerness.  “Why, yes, you may;”
+an answer which, however cold and surly, made me exceedingly happy.
+
+They showed me into the kitchen, and set me down to sup at the same table
+with some soldiers and the servants.  I now, for the first time, found
+myself in one of those kitchens which I had so often read of in
+Fielding’s fine novels; and which certainly give one, on the whole, a
+very accurate idea of English manners.
+
+The chimney in this kitchen, where they were roasting and boiling, seemed
+to be taken off from the rest of the room and enclosed by a wooden
+partition; the rest of the apartment was made use of as a sitting and
+eating-room.  All round on the sides were shelves with pewter dishes and
+plates, and the ceiling was well stored with provisions of various kinds,
+such as sugar-loaves, black-puddings, hams, sausages, flitches of bacon,
+&c.
+
+While I was eating, a post-chaise drove up, and in a moment both the
+folding-doors were thrown open and the whole house set in motion, in
+order to receive, with all due respect, these guests, who, no doubt, were
+supposed to be persons of consequence.  The gentlemen alighted, however,
+only for a moment, and called for nothing but a couple of pots of beer,
+and then drove away again.  Notwithstanding, the people of the house
+behaved to them with all possible attention, for they came in a
+post-chaise.
+
+Though this was only an ordinary village, and they certainly did not take
+me for a person of consequence, they yet gave me a carpeted bedroom, and
+a very good bed.
+
+The next morning I put on clean linen, which I had along with me, and
+dressed myself as well as I could.  And now, when I thus made my
+appearance, they did not, as they had the evening before, show me into
+the kitchen, but into the parlour, a room that seemed to be allotted for
+strangers, on the ground-floor.  I was also now addressed by the most
+respectful term, “sir;” whereas the evening before I had been called only
+“master”: by this latter appellation, I believe, it is usual to address
+only farmers and quite common people.
+
+This was Sunday, and all the family were in their Sunday-clothes.  I now
+began to be much pleased with this village, and so I resolved to stop at
+it for the day, and attend divine service.  For this purpose I borrowed a
+prayer-book of my host.  Mr. Illing was his name, which struck me the
+more, perhaps, because it is a very common name in Germany.  During my
+breakfast I read over several parts of the English liturgy, and could not
+help being struck at the circumstance that every word in the whole
+service seems to be prescribed and dictated to the clergyman.  They do
+not visit the sick but by a prescribed form; as, for instance, they must
+begin by saying, “Peace be to this house,” &c.
+
+Its being called a prayer-book, rather than, like ours, a hymn-book,
+arises from the nature of the English service, which is composed very
+little of singing, and almost entirely of praying.  The psalms of David,
+however, are here translated into English verse, and are generally
+printed at the end of English prayer-books.
+
+The prayer-book which my landlord lent me was quite a family piece, for
+all his children’s births and names, and also his own wedding-day, were
+very carefully set down on it.  Even on this account alone the book would
+not have been uninteresting to me.
+
+At half-past nine the service began.  Directly opposite to our house, the
+boys of the village were all drawn up, as if they had been recruits to be
+drilled; all well-looking, healthy lads, neat and decently dressed, and
+with their hair cut short and combed on the forehead, according to the
+English fashion; their bosoms were open, and the white frills of their
+shirts turned back on each side.  They seemed to be drawn up here at the
+entrance of the village merely to wait the arrival of the clergyman.
+
+I walked a little way out of the village, where, at some distance, I saw
+several people coming from another village, to attend divine service here
+at Nettlebed.
+
+At length came the parson on horseback.  The boys pulled off their hats,
+and all made him very low bows.  He appeared to be rather an elderly man,
+and wore his own hair round and decently dressed, or rather curled
+naturally.
+
+The bell now rung in, and so I too, with a sort of secret proud
+sensation, as if I also had been an Englishman, went with my prayer-book
+under my arm to church, along with the rest of the congregation; and when
+I got into the church, the clerk very civilly seated me close to the
+pulpit.
+
+Nothing can possibly be more simple, apt, and becoming than the few
+decorations of this church.
+
+Directly over the altar, on two tables in large letters, the ten
+commandments were written.  There surely is much wisdom and propriety in
+thus placing, full in the view of the people, the sum and substance of
+all morality.
+
+Under the pulpit near the steps that led up to it, was a desk, from which
+the clergyman read the liturgy, the responses were all regularly made by
+the clerk; the whole congregation joining occasionally, though but in a
+low voice; as for instance, the minister said, “Lord, have mercy upon
+us!” the clerk and the congregation immediately subjoin, “and forgive us
+all our sins.”  In general, when the clergyman offers up a prayer, the
+clerk and the whole congregation answer only, Amen!
+
+The English service must needs be exceedingly fatiguing to the
+officiating minister, inasmuch as besides a sermon, the greatest part of
+the liturgy falls to his share to read, besides the psalms and two
+lessons.
+
+The joining of the whole congregation in prayer has something exceedingly
+solemn and affecting in it.
+
+Two soldiers, who sat near me in the church, and who had probably been in
+London, seemed to wish to pass for philosophers, and wits; for they did
+not join in the prayers of the church.
+
+The service was now pretty well advanced, when I observed some little
+stir in the desk, the clerk was busy, and they seemed to be preparing for
+something new and solemn, and I also perceived several musical
+instruments.  The clergyman now stopped, and the clerk then said in a
+loud voice, “Let us sing to the praise and glory of God, the
+forty-seventh psalm.”
+
+I cannot well express how affecting and edifying it seemed to me, to hear
+this whole orderly and decent congregation, in this small country church,
+joining together with vocal and instrumental music, in the praise of
+their Maker.  It was the more grateful, as having been performed, not by
+mercenary musicians, but by the peaceful and pious inhabitants of this
+sweet village.  I can hardly figure to myself any offering more likely to
+be grateful to God.
+
+The congregation sang and prayed alternately several times, and the tunes
+of the psalms were particularly lively and cheerful, though at the same
+time sufficiently grave, and uncommonly interesting.  I am a warm admirer
+of all sacred music, and I cannot but add that that of the Church of
+England is particularly calculated to raise the heart to devotion; I own
+it often affected me even to tears.
+
+The clergyman now stood up and made a short but very proper discourse on
+this text: “Not all they who say, Lord, Lord! shall enter the kingdom of
+heaven.”  His language was particularly plain, though forcible; his
+arguments were no less plain, convincing, and earnest, but contained
+nothing that was particularly striking.  I do not think the sermon lasted
+more than half an hour.
+
+This clergyman had not perhaps a very prepossessing appearance; I thought
+him also a little distant and reserved, and I did not quite like his
+returning the bows of the farmers with a very formal nod.
+
+I stayed till the service was quite over, and then went out of the church
+with the congregation, and amused myself with reading the inscriptions on
+the tombstones in the churchyard, which in general, are simpler, more
+pathetic, and better written than ours.
+
+There were some of them which, to be sure, were ludicrous and laughable
+enough.
+
+Among these is one on the tomb of a smith, which on account of its
+singularity, I here copy and send you.
+
+    “My sledge and anvil he declined,
+    My bellows too have lost their wind;
+    My fire’s extinct, my forge decayed,
+    My coals are spent, my iron’s gone,
+    My nails are drove: my work is done.”
+
+Many of these epitaphs closed with the following quaint rhymes:
+
+    “Physicians were in vain;
+    God knew the best;
+    So here I rest.”
+
+In the body of the church I saw a marble monument of a son of the
+celebrated Dr. Wallis, with the following simple and affecting
+inscription:
+
+    “The same good sense which qualified him for every public employment
+    Taught him to spend his life here in retirement.”
+
+All the farmers whom I saw there were dressed, not as ours are, in coarse
+frocks, but with some taste, in fine good cloth; and were to be
+distinguished from the people of the town, not so much by their dress, as
+by the greater simplicity and modesty of their behaviour.
+
+Some soldiers, who probably were ambitious of being thought to know the
+world, and to be wits, joined me, as I was looking at the church, and
+seemed to be quite ashamed of it, as they said it was only a very
+miserable church.  On which I took the liberty to inform them, that no
+church could be miserable which contained orderly and good people.
+
+I stayed here to dinner.  In the afternoon there was no service; the
+young people however, went to church, and there sang some few psalms;
+others of the congregation were also present.  This was conducted with so
+much decorum, that I could hardly help considering it as actually a kind
+of church-service.  I stayed with great pleasure till this meeting also
+was over.
+
+I seemed indeed to be enchanted, and as if I could not leave this
+village.  Three times did I get off, in order to go on farther, and as
+often returned, more than half resolved to spend a week, or more, in my
+favourite Nettlebed.
+
+But the recollection that I had but a few weeks to stay in England, and
+that I must see Derbyshire, at length drove me away.  I cast many a
+longing, lingering look on the little church-steeple, and those
+hospitable friendly roofs, where, all that morning, I had found myself so
+perfectly at home.
+
+It was now nearly three o’clock in the afternoon when I left this place,
+and I was still eighteen miles from Oxford.  However, I seemed resolved
+to make more than one stage of it to Oxford, that seat of the muses, and
+so, by passing the night about five miles from it, to reach it in good
+time next morning.
+
+The road from Nettlebed seemed to me but as one long fine gravel walk in
+a neat garden.  And my pace in it was varied, like that of one walking in
+a garden: I sometimes walked quick, then slow, and then sat down and read
+Milton.
+
+When I had got about eight miles from Nettlebed, and was now not far from
+Dorchester, I had the Thames at some distance on my left, and on the
+opposite side I saw an extensive hill, behind which a tall mast seemed to
+rise.  This led me to suppose that on the other side of the hill there
+must needs also be a river.  The prospect I promised myself from this
+hill could not possibly be passed, and so I went out of the road to the
+left over a bridge across the Thames, and mounted the hill, always
+keeping the mast in view.  When I had attained the summit, I found (and
+not without some shame and chagrin) that it was all an illusion.  There
+was, in fact, nothing before me but a great plain, and the mast had been
+fixed there, either as a maypole only, or to entice curious people out of
+their way.
+
+I therefore now again, slowly and sullenly, descended the hill, at the
+bottom of which was a house, where several people were looking out of the
+window, and, as I supposed, laughing at me.  Even if it were so, it
+seemed to be but fair, and so it rather amused, than vexed me, and I
+continued to jog on, without much regretting my waste journey to the
+mast.
+
+Not far from Dorchester, I had another delightful view.  The country here
+became so fine, that I positively could not prevail on myself to quit it,
+and so I laid myself down on the green turf, which was so fresh and
+sweet, that I could almost have been contented, like Nebuchadnezzar, to
+have grazed on it.  The moon was at the full; the sun darted its last
+parting rays through the green hedges, to all which was added, the
+overpowering fragrance of the meadows, the diversified song of the birds,
+the hills that skirted the Thames, some of them of a light, and others of
+a dark-green hue, with the tufted tops of trees dispersed here and there
+among them.  The contemplation of all these delightful circumstances
+well-nigh overcame me.
+
+I arrived rather late at Dorchester.  This is only a small place, but
+there is in it a large and noble old church.  As I was walking along, I
+saw several ladies with their heads dressed, leaning out of their
+windows, or standing before the houses, and this made me conclude that
+this was too fine a place for me, and so I determined to walk on
+three-quarters of a mile farther to Nuneham, which place is only five
+miles from Oxford.  When I reached Nuneham, I was not a little tired, and
+it was also quite dark.
+
+The place consists of two rows of low, neat houses, built close to each
+other, and as regular and uniform as a London street.  All the doors
+seemed to be shut, and even a light was to be seen only in a few of them.
+
+At length quite at the end of the place, I perceived a great sign hanging
+across the street, and the last house to the left was the inn, at which
+everything seemed to be still in motion.
+
+I entered without ceremony, and told them my errand, which was, that I
+intended to sleep there that night.  “By no means,” was the answer, “it
+was utterly impossible; the whole house was full, and all their beds
+engaged, and, as I had come so far, I might even as well walk on the
+remaining five miles to Oxford.”
+
+Being very hungry, I requested that, at least, they would give me
+something to eat.  To this they answered that, as I could not stay all
+night there, it would be more proper for me to sup where I lodged, and so
+I might go on.
+
+At length, quite humbled by the untowardness of my circumstances, I asked
+for a pot of beer, and that they did vouchsafe to give me, for ready
+money only; but a bit of bread to eat with it (for which also I would
+willingly have paid) they peremptorily refused me.
+
+Such unparalleled inhospitality I really could not have expected in an
+English inn, but resolving, with a kind of spiteful indignation, to see
+how far their inhumanity would carry them, I begged that they would only
+let me sleep on a bench, and merely give me house-room, adding, that if
+they would grant me that boon only, I would pay them the same as for a
+bed, for, that I was so tired, I could not possibly go any farther.  Even
+in the moment that I was thus humbly soliciting this humble boon, they
+banged the door to full in my face.
+
+As here, in a small village, they had refused to receive me, it seemed to
+be presumption to hope that I should gain admittance at Oxford.  What
+could I do?  I was much tired, and so, as it was not a very cold night, I
+resolved to pass it in the open air; in this resolution, bouncing from
+this rude inn, I went to look out for a convenient spot for that purpose
+in an adjoining field, beneath some friendly tree.  Just as I had found a
+place, which I thought would do, and was going to pull off my great coat
+to lay under my head by way of pillow, I heard someone behind me,
+following me with a quick pace.  At first I was alarmed, but my fears
+were soon dispelled by his calling after me, and asking “if I would
+accept of company.”
+
+As little as anyone is to be trusted who thus follows you into a field in
+a dark night, yet it was a pleasure to me to find that there were still
+some beings not quite inhuman, and at least one person who still
+interested himself about me, I therefore stopped, and as he came up to me
+he said that if I was a good walker, we might keep each other company, as
+he was also going to Oxford.  I readily accepted of his proposal, and so
+we immediately set off together.
+
+Now, as I could not tell whether my travelling companion was to be
+trusted or not, I soon took an opportunity to let him know that I was
+poor, and much distressed.  To confirm this, I told him of the inhumanity
+with which I had just been treated at the inn, where they refused a poor
+wanderer so much as a place to lay his head, or even a morsel of bread
+for his money.
+
+My companion somewhat excused the people by saying that the house was
+really full of people who had been at work in the neighbourhood, and now
+slept there.  But that they had refused me a bit of bread he certainly
+could not justify.  As we went along, other topics of conversation were
+started, and among other things he asked me where I came from that day.
+
+I answered from Nettlebed, and added, that I had attended divine service
+there that morning.
+
+“As you probably passed through Dorchester this afternoon,” said he, “you
+might have heard me preach also, had you come into the church there, for
+that is my curacy, from which I am just come, and am now returning to
+Oxford.”  “So you are a clergyman;” said I, quite overjoyed that, in a
+dark night, I had met a companion on the road, who was of the same
+profession as myself.  “And I, also,” said I, “am a preacher of the
+gospel, though not of this country.”  And now I thought it right to give
+him to understand, that it was not, as I had before intimated, out of
+absolute poverty, but with a view of becoming better acquainted with men
+and manners, that I thus travelled on foot.  He was as much pleased with
+this agreeable meeting as myself, and before we took a step farther, we
+cordially shook hands.
+
+He now began to address me in Latin, and on my answering him in that
+language, which I attempted to pronounce according to the English manner
+of speaking it, he applauded me not a little for my correct
+pronunciation.  He then told me, that some years ago, in the night also,
+and nearly at the same spot where he found me, he had met another German,
+who likewise spoke to him in Latin; but this unknown countryman of mine
+had pronounced it so very badly, that he said it was absolutely
+unintelligible.
+
+The conversation now turned on various theological matters; and among
+others on the novel notions of a Dr. Priestly, whom he roundly blamed.  I
+was not at all disposed to dispute that point with him, and so,
+professing with great sincerity, a high esteem for the Church of England,
+and great respect and regard for its clergy, I seemed to gain his good
+opinion.
+
+Beguiling the tediousness of the road by such discourse, we were now got,
+almost without knowing it, quite to Oxford.
+
+He told me I should now see one of the finest and most beautiful cities,
+not only in England, but in all Europe.  All he lamented, was, that on
+account of the darkness of the night, I should not immediately see it.
+
+This really was the case: “And now,” said he, as we entered the town, “I
+introduce you into Oxford by one of the finest, the longest, and most
+beautiful streets, not only in this city, but in England, and I may
+safely add in all Europe.”
+
+The beauty and the magnificence of the street I could not distinguish;
+but of its length I was perfectly sensible by my fatigue; for we still
+went on, and still through the longest, the finest, and most beautiful
+street in Europe, which seemed to have no end; nor had I any assurance
+that I should be able to find a bed for myself in all this famous street.
+At length my companion stopped to take leave of me, and said he should
+now go to his college.
+
+“And I,” said I, “will seat myself for the night on this stone bench and
+await the morning, as it will be in vain for me, I imagine, to look for
+shelter in a house at this time of night.”
+
+“Seat yourself on a stone!” said my companion, and shook his head.  “No,
+no! come along with me to a neighbouring ale-house, where it is possible
+they mayn’t be gone to bed, and we may yet find company.”  We went on a
+few houses further, and then knocked at a door.  It was then nearly
+twelve.  They readily let us in; but how great was my astonishment, when,
+on being shown into a room on the left, I saw a great number of
+clergymen, all with their gowns and bands on, sitting round a large
+table, each with his pot of beer before him.  My travelling companion
+introduced me to them, as a German clergyman, whom he could not
+sufficiently praise for my correct pronunciation of the Latin, my
+orthodoxy, and my good walking.
+
+I now saw myself in a moment, as it were, all at once transported into
+the midst of a company, all apparently very respectable men, but all
+strangers to me.  And it appeared to me extraordinary that I should, thus
+at midnight, be in Oxford, in a large company of Oxonian clergy, without
+well knowing how I had got there.  Meanwhile, however, I took all the
+pains in my power to recommend myself to my company, and in the course of
+conversation, I gave them as good an account as I could of our German
+universities, neither denying nor concealing that, now and then, we had
+riots and disturbances.  “Oh, we are very unruly here, too,” said one of
+the clergymen as he took a hearty draught out of his pot of beer, and
+knocked on the table with his hand.  The conversation now became louder,
+more general, and a little confused; they enquired after Mr. Bruns, at
+present professor at Helmstadt, and who was known by many of them.
+
+Among these gentlemen there was one of the name of Clerk, who seemed
+ambitious to pass for a great wit, which he attempted by starting sundry
+objections to the Bible.  I should have liked him better if he had
+confined himself to punning and playing on his own name, by telling us
+again and again, that he should still be at least a Clerk, even though he
+should never become a clergyman.  Upon the whole, however, he was, in his
+way, a man of some humour, and an agreeable companion.
+
+Among other objections to the Scriptures, he started this one to my
+travelling companion, whose name I now learnt was Maud, that it was said
+in the Bible that God was a wine-bibber.  On this Mr. Maud fell into a
+violent passion, and maintained that it was utterly impossible that any
+such passage should be found in the Bible.  Another divine, a Mr. Caern
+referred us to his absent brother, who had already been forty years in
+the church, and must certainly know something of such a passage if it
+were in the Bible, but he would venture to lay any wager his brother knew
+nothing of it.
+
+“Waiter! fetch a Bible!” called out Mr. Clerk, and a great family Bible
+was immediately brought in, and opened on the table among all the beer
+jugs.
+
+Mr. Clerk turned over a few leaves, and in the book of Judges, 9th
+chapter, verse xiii, he read, “Should I leave my wine, which cheereth God
+and man?”
+
+Mr. Maud and Mr. Caern, who had before been most violent, now sat as if
+struck dumb.  A silence of some minutes prevailed, when all at once, the
+spirit of revelation seemed to come on me, and I said, “Why, gentlemen,
+you must be sensible that it is but an allegorical expression;” and I
+added, “how often in the Bible are kings called gods!”
+
+“Why, yes, to be sure,” said Mr. Maud and Mr. Caern, “it is an
+allegorical expression; nothing can be more clear; it is a metaphor, and
+therefore it is absurd to understand it in a literal sense.”  And now
+they, in their turn, triumphed over poor Clerk, and drank large draughts
+to my health in strong ale; which, as my company seemed to like so much,
+I was sorry I could not like.  It either intoxicated or stupefied me; and
+I do think it overpowers one much sooner than so much wine would.  The
+conversation now turned on many other different subjects.  At last, when
+morning drew near, Mr. Maud suddenly exclaimed, “D-n me, I must read
+prayers this morning at All-Souls!”  D-n me is an abbreviation of G—d d—n
+me; which, in England, does not seem to mean more mischief or harm than
+any of our or their common expletives in conversation, such as O gemini!
+or, The deuce take me!
+
+Before Mr. Maud went away, he invited me to go and see him in the
+morning, and very politely offered himself to show me the curiosities of
+Oxford.  The rest of the company now also dispersed; and as I had once
+(though in so singular a manner) been introduced into so reputable a
+society, the people of the house made no difficulty of giving me lodging,
+but with great civility showed me a very decent bed-chamber.
+
+I am almost ashamed to own, that next morning, when I awoke, I had got so
+dreadful a headache, from the copious and numerous toasts of my jolly and
+reverend friends, that I could not possibly get up; still less could I
+wait on Mr. Maud at his college.
+
+The inn where I was goes by the name of the Mitre.  Compared to Windsor,
+I here found prince-like attendance.  Being, perhaps, a little elevated
+the preceding evening, I had in the gaiety, or perhaps in the vanity of
+my heart, told the waiter, that he must not think, because I came on
+foot, that therefore I should give him less than others gave.  I assured
+him of the contrary.  It was probably not a little owing to this
+assurance that I had so much attention shown to me.
+
+I now determined to stay at least a couple of days at Oxford; it was
+necessary and proper, if for no other reason, yet merely that I might
+have clean linen.  No people are so cleanly as the English, nor so
+particular about neat and clean linen.  For, one afternoon, my shirt not
+having been lately changed, as I was walking through a little street, I
+heard two women, who were standing at a door, call after me, “Look at the
+gentleman there! a fine gentleman, indeed, who cannot afford even a clean
+shirt!”
+
+I dined below with the family, and a few other persons, and the
+conversation in general was agreeable enough.  I was obliged to tell them
+many wonderful stories (for who are so illiterate or insensible as not to
+be delighted with the marvellous!) concerning Germany and the King of
+Prussia.  They could not sufficiently admire my courage in determining to
+travel on foot, although they could not help approving of the motive.  At
+length, however, it came out, and they candidly owned, that I should not
+have been received into their house, had I not been introduced as I was.
+
+I was now confirmed in my suspicions, that, in England, any person
+undertaking so long a journey on foot, is sure to be looked upon and
+considered as either a beggar or a vagabond, or some necessitous wretch,
+which is a character not much more popular than that of a rogue; so that
+I could now easily account for my reception in Windsor and at Nuneham.
+But, with all my partiality for this country, it is impossible even in
+theory, and much less so in practice, to approve of a system which
+confines all the pleasures and benefits of travel to the rich.  A poor
+peripatetic is hardly allowed even the humble merit of being honest.
+
+As I still intended to pursue my journey to Derbyshire, I was advised (at
+least till I got further into the country) to take a place in a
+post-coach.  They told me that the further I got from London, the more
+reasonable and humble I should find the people; everything would be
+cheaper, and everybody more hospitable.  This determined me to go in the
+post-coach from Oxford to Birmingham; where Mr. Pointer, of London, had
+recommended me to a Mr. Fothergill, a merchant there; and from thence to
+continue my journey on foot.
+
+Monday I spent at Oxford, but rather unpleasantly, on account of my
+headache.  Mr. Maud himself came to fetch me, as he had promised he
+would, but I found myself unable to go with him.
+
+Notwithstanding this, in the afternoon, I took a little walk up a hill,
+which lies to the north of Oxford; and from the top of which I could see
+the whole city; which did not, however, appear to me nearly so beautiful
+and magnificent as Mr. Maud had described it to me during our last
+night’s walk.
+
+The colleges are mostly in the Gothic taste, and much overloaded with
+ornaments, and built with grey stone; which, perhaps, while it is new,
+looks pretty well, but it has now the most dingy, dirty, and disgusting
+appearance that you can possibly imagine.
+
+Only one of these colleges is in the modern style.  The houses of the
+city are in general ordinary, in some parts quite miserable; in some
+streets they are only one story high, and have shingled roofs.  To me
+Oxford seemed to have but a dull and gloomy look; and I cannot but wonder
+how it ever came to be considered as so fine a city, and next to London.
+
+I remained on the hill, on which there was a flight of steps that led to
+a subterraneous walk, till sunset, and saw several students walking here,
+who wore their black gowns over their coloured clothes, and flat square
+hats, just like those I had seen worn by the Eton scholars.  This is the
+general dress of all those who belong to the universities, with the
+exception of a very trifling difference, by which persons of high birth
+and rank are distinguished.
+
+It is probably on account of these gowns that the members of the
+university are called Gownsmen, to distinguish them from the citizens,
+who are called Townsmen; and when you want to mention all the inhabitants
+of Oxford together, you say, “the whole town, Gownsmen and Townsmen.”
+
+This dress, I must own, pleases me far beyond the boots, cockades, and
+other frippery, of many of our students.  Nor am I less delighted with
+the better behaviour and conduct which, in general, does so much credit
+to the students of Oxford.
+
+The next morning Mr. Maud, according to his promise, showed me some of
+the things most worthy of notice in Oxford.  And first he took me to his
+own room in his own college, which was on the ground floor, very low and
+dark, and resembled a cell, at least as much as a place of study.  The
+name of this college is Corpus Christi.  He next conducted me to All
+Souls’ College, a very elegant building, in which the chapel is
+particularly beautiful.  Mr. Maud also showed me, over the altar here, a
+fine painting of Mengs, at the sight of which he showed far more
+sensibility than I thought him possessed of.  He said that
+notwithstanding he saw that painting almost daily, he never saw it
+without being much affected.
+
+The painting represented Mary Magdalene when she first suddenly sees
+Jesus standing before her, and falls at His feet.  And in her countenance
+pain, joy, grief, in short almost all the strongest of our passions, are
+expressed in so masterly a manner, that no man of true taste was ever
+tired of contemplating it; the longer it is looked at the more it is
+admired.  He now also showed me the library of this college, which is
+provided with a gallery round the top, and the whole is most admirably
+regulated and arranged.  Among other things, I here saw a description of
+Oxford, with plates to illustrate it: and I cannot help observing what,
+though trite, is true, that all these places look much better, and are
+far more beautiful on paper, than they appeared to me to be as I looked
+at them where they actually stand.
+
+Afterwards Mr. Maud conducted me to the Bodleian Library, which is not
+unworthy of being compared to the Vatican at Rome; and next to the
+building which is called the Theatre, and where the public orations are
+delivered.  This is a circular building with a gallery all round it,
+which is furnished with benches one above the other, on which the
+doctors, masters of arts, and students sit, and directly opposite to each
+other are erected two chairs, or pulpits, from which the disputants
+harangue and contend.
+
+Christ Church and Queen’s College are the most modern, and, I think,
+indisputably the best built of all the colleges.  Balliol College seems
+particularly to be distinguished on account of its antiquity, and its
+complete Gothic style of building.
+
+Mr. Maud told me that a good deal of money might be sometimes earned by
+preaching at Oxford; for all the members of a certain standing are
+obliged in their turn to preach in the church of the university; but many
+of them, when it comes to their turn, prefer the procuring a substitute;
+and so not unfrequently pay as high as five or six guineas for a sermon.
+
+Mr. Maud also told me he had been now eighteen years at this university,
+and might be made a doctor whenever he chose it: he was a master of arts,
+and according to his own account gave lectures in his college on the
+classics.  He also did the duty and officiated as curate, occasionally,
+in some of the neighbouring villages.  Going along the street we met the
+English poet laureate, Warton, now rather an elderly man; and yet he is
+still the fellow of a college.  His greatest pleasure next to poetry is,
+as Mr. Maud told me, shooting wild ducks.
+
+Mr. Maud seemed upon the whole to be a most worthy and philanthropic man.
+He told me, that where he now officiated the clerk was dead, and had left
+a numerous family in the greatest distress; and that he was going to the
+place next day, on purpose to try if he could bring about the election of
+the son, a lad about sixteen years of age, in the place of his deceased
+father, as clerk, to support a necessitous family.
+
+At the Mitre, the inn where I lodged, there was hardly a minute in which
+some students or others did not call, either to drink, or to amuse
+themselves in conversation with the daughter of the landlord, who is not
+only handsome, but sensible, and well behaved.
+
+They often spoke to me much in praise of a German, of the name of
+Mitchel, at least they pronounced it so, who had for many years rendered
+himself famous as a musician.  I was rejoiced to hear one of my
+countrymen thus praised by the English; and wished to have paid him a
+visit, but I had not the good fortune to find him at home.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XI.
+
+
+                                               _Castleton_, _June_ 30_th_.
+
+BEFORE I tell you anything of the place where I now am, I will proceed
+regularly in my narrative, and so begin now where I left off in my last
+letter.  On Tuesday afternoon Mr. Maud took me to the different walks
+about Oxford, and often remarked, that they were not only the finest in
+England, but he believed in Europe.  I own I do not think he over-rated
+their merit.  There is one in particular near the river, and close to
+some charming meadows, behind Corpus Christi College, which may fairly
+challenge the world.
+
+We here seated ourselves on a bench, and Mr. Maud drew a review from his
+pocket, where, among other things, a German book of Professor Beckman’s
+was reviewed and applauded.  Mr. Maud seemed, on this occasion, to show
+some respect for German literature.  At length we parted.  He went to
+fill up the vacancy of the clerk’s place at Dorchester, and I to the
+Mitre, to prepare for my departure from Oxford, which took place on
+Wednesday morning at three o’clock, in the post-coach.  Considering the
+pleasing, if not kind attention shown me here, I own I thought my bill
+not unreasonable; though to be sure, it made a great hole in my little
+purse.
+
+Within this coach there was another young man, who, though dressed in
+black, yet to judge from the cockade in his hat might be an officer.  The
+outside was quite full with soldiers and their wives.  The women of the
+lower class here wear a kind of short cloak made of red cloth: but women
+in general, from the highest to the lowest, wear hats, which differ from
+each other less in fashion than they do in fineness.
+
+Fashion is so generally attended to among the English women, that the
+poorest maid-servant is careful to be in the fashion.  They seem to be
+particularly so in their hats or bonnets, which they all wear: and they
+are in my opinion far more becoming than the very unsightly hoods and
+caps which our German women, of the rank of citizens, wear.  There is,
+through all ranks here, not near so great a distinction between high and
+low as there is in Germany.
+
+I had, during this day, a little headache; which rendered me more silent
+and reserved to my company than is either usual in England or natural to
+me.  The English are taxed, perhaps too hastily, with being shy and
+distant to strangers.  I do not think this was, even formerly, their true
+character; or that any such sentiment is conveyed in Virgil’s
+“_Hospitibus feros_.”  Be this as it may, the case was here reversed.
+The Englishman here spoke to me several times in a very friendly manner,
+while I testified not the least inclination to enter into conversation
+with him.
+
+He however owned afterwards that it was this very apparent reserve of
+mine that first gained me his good opinion.
+
+He said he had studied physic, but with no immediate view of practising
+it.  His intention, he said, was to go to the East Indies, and there,
+first, to try his fortune as an officer.  And he was now going to
+Birmingham, merely to take leave of his three sisters, whom he much
+loved, and who were at school there.
+
+I endeavoured to merit his confidence by telling him in my turn of my
+journey on foot through England; and by relating to him a few of the most
+remarkable of my adventures.  He frankly told me he thought it was
+venturing a great deal, yet he applauded the design of my journey, and
+did not severely censure my plan.  On my asking him why Englishmen, who
+were so remarkable for acting up to their own notions and ideas, did not,
+now and then, merely to see life in every point of view, travel on foot.
+“Oh,” said he, “we are too rich, too lazy, and too proud.”
+
+And most true it is, that the poorest Englishman one sees, is prouder and
+better pleased to expose himself to the danger of having his neck broken
+on the outside of a stage, than to walk any considerable distance, though
+he might walk ever so much at his ease.  I own I was frightened and
+distressed when I saw the women, where we occasionally stopped, get down
+from the top of the coach.  One of them was actually once in much danger
+of a terrible fall from the roof, because, just as she was going to
+alight, the horses all at once unexpectedly went on.  From Oxford to
+Birmingham is sixty-two miles; but all that was to be seen between the
+two places was entirely lost to me, for I was again mewed up in a
+post-coach, and driven along with such velocity from one place to
+another, that I seemed to myself as doing nothing less than travelling.
+
+My companion, however, made me amends in some measure for this loss.  He
+seemed to be an exceedingly good-tempered and intelligent man; and I felt
+in this short time a prepossession in his favour one does not easily form
+for an ordinary person.  This, I flattered myself, was also the case with
+him, and it would mortify me not a little to think he had quite forgotten
+me, as I am sure I shall never forget him.
+
+Just as we had been sometime eagerly conversing about Shakespeare, we
+arrived, without either of us having thought of it, at
+Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare’s birthplace, where our coach stopped,
+that being the end of one stage.  We were still two-and-twenty miles from
+Birmingham, and ninety-four from London.  I need not tell you what our
+feelings were, on thus setting our feet on classic ground.
+
+It was here that perhaps the greatest genius nature ever produced was
+born.  Here he first lisped his native tongue; here first conceived the
+embryos of those compositions which were afterwards to charm a listening
+world; and on these plains the young Hercules first played.  And here,
+too, in this lowly hut, with a few friends, he happily spent the decline
+of his life, after having retired from the great theatre of that busy
+world whose manners he had so faithfully portrayed.
+
+The river Avon is here pretty broad, and a row of neat though humble
+cottages, only one storey high, with shingled roofs, are ranged all along
+its banks.  These houses impressed me strongly with the idea of
+patriarchal simplicity and content.
+
+We went to see Shakespeare’s own house, which, of all the houses at
+Stratford I think is now the worst, and one that made the least
+appearance.  Yet, who would not be proud to be the owner of it?  There
+now however lived in it only two old people, who show it to strangers for
+a trifle, and what little they earn thus is their chief income.
+
+Shakespeare’s chair, in which he used to sit before the door, was so cut
+to pieces that it hardly looked like a chair; for every one that travels
+through Stratford cuts off a chip as a remembrance, which he carefully
+preserves, and deems a precious relic, I also cut myself a piece of it,
+but reverencing Shakespeare as I do, I am almost ashamed to own to you it
+was so small that I have lost it, and therefore you will not see it on my
+return.
+
+As we travelled, I observed every spot with attention, fancying to myself
+that such or such a spot might be the place where such a genius as
+Shakespeare’s first dawned, and received those first impressions from
+surrounding nature which are so strongly marked in all his works.  The
+first impressions of childhood, I knew, were strong and permanent; of
+course I made sure of seeing here some images at least of the wonderful
+conceptions of this wonderful man.  But my imagination misled me, and I
+was disappointed; for I saw nothing in the country thereabouts at all
+striking, or in any respect particularly beautiful.  It was not at all
+wild and romantic; but rather distinguished for an air of neatness and
+simplicity.
+
+We arrived at Birmingham about three o’clock in the afternoon.  I had
+already paid sixteen shillings at Stratford for my place in the coach
+from Oxford to Birmingham.  At Oxford they had not asked anything of me,
+and indeed you are not obliged in general in England, as you are in
+Germany, to pay your passage beforehand.
+
+My companion and myself alighted at the inn where the coach stopped.  We
+parted with some reluctance, and I was obliged to promise him that, on my
+return to London, I would certainly call on him, for which purpose he
+gave me his address.  His father was Dr. Wilson, a celebrated author in
+his particular style of writing.
+
+I now inquired for the house of Mr. Fothergill, to whom I was
+recommended, and I was readily directed to it, but had the misfortune to
+learn, at the same time, that this very Mr. Fothergill had died about
+eight days before.  As, therefore, under these circumstances, my
+recommendation to him was likely to be but of little use, I had the less
+desire to tarry long at Birmingham, and so, without staying a minute
+longer, I immediately inquired the road to Derby, and left Birmingham.
+Of this famous manufacturing town, therefore, I can give you no account.
+
+The road from Birmingham onwards is not very agreeable, being in general
+uncommonly sandy.  Yet the same evening I reached a little place called
+Sutton, where everything, however, appeared to be too grand for me to
+hope to obtain lodgings in it, till quite at the end of it I came to a
+small inn with the sign of the Swan, under which was written Aulton,
+brickmaker.
+
+This seemed to have something in it that suited me, and therefore I
+boldly went into it; and when in I did not immediately, as heretofore,
+inquire if I could stay all night there, but asked for a pint of ale.  I
+own I felt myself disheartened by their calling me nothing but master,
+and by their showing me into the kitchen, where the landlady was sitting
+at a table and complaining much of the toothache.  The compassion I
+expressed for her on this account, as a stranger, seemed soon to
+recommend me to her favour, and she herself asked me if I would not stay
+the night there?  To this I most readily assented; and thus I was again
+happy in a lodging for another night.
+
+The company I here met with consisted of a female chimney-sweeper and her
+children, who, on my sitting down in the kitchen, soon drank to my
+health, and began a conversation with me and the landlady.
+
+She related to us her history, which I am not ashamed to own I thought
+not uninteresting.  She had married early, but had the hard luck to be
+soon deprived of her husband, by his being pressed as a soldier.  She
+neither saw nor heard of him for many years, so concluded he was dead.
+Thus destitute, she lived seven years as a servant in Ireland, without
+any one’s knowing that she was married.  During this time her husband,
+who was a chimney-sweeper, came back to England and settled at Lichfield,
+resumed his old trade, and did well in it.  As soon as he was in good
+circumstances, he everywhere made inquiry for his wife, and at last found
+out where she was, and immediately fetched her from Ireland.  There
+surely is something pleasing in this constancy of affection in a
+chimney-sweeper.  She told us, with tears in her eyes, in what a style of
+grandeur he had conducted her into Lichfield; and how, in honour to her,
+he made a splendid feast on the occasion.  At this same Lichfield, which
+is only two miles from Sutton, and through which she said the road lay
+which I was to travel to-morrow, she still lived with this same excellent
+husband, where they were noted for their industry, where everybody
+respected them, and where, though in the lowest sphere, they are passing
+through life neither uselessly nor unhappily.
+
+The landlady, during her absence, told me as in confidence, that this
+chimney-sweeper’s husband, as meanly as I might fancy she now appeared,
+was worth a thousand pounds, and that without reckoning in their plate
+and furniture, that he always wore his silver watch, and that when he
+passed through Sutton, and lodged there, he paid like a nobleman.
+
+She further remarked that the wife was indeed rather low-lived; but that
+the husband was one of the best-behaved, politest, and civilest men in
+the world.  I had myself taken notice that this same dingy companion of
+mine had something singularly coarse and vulgar in her pronunciation.
+The word old, for example, she sounded like auld.  In other respects, I
+had not yet remarked any striking variety or difference from the
+pronunciation of Oxford or London.
+
+To-morrow the chimney-sweeper, said she, her husband, would not be at
+home, but if I came back by the way of Lichfield, she would take the
+liberty to request the honour of a visit, and to this end she told me her
+name and the place of her abode.
+
+At night the rest of the family, a son and daughter of the landlady, came
+home, and paid all possible attention to their sick mother.  I supped
+with the family, and they here behaved to me as if we had already lived
+many years together.
+
+Happening to mention that I was, if not a scholar, yet a student, the son
+told me there was at Sutton a celebrated grammar-school, where the
+school-master received two hundred pounds a year settled salary, besides
+the income arising from the scholars.
+
+And this was only in a village.  I thought, and not without some shame
+and sorrow, of our grammar-schools in Germany, and the miserable pay of
+the masters.
+
+When I paid my reckoning the next morning, I observed the uncommon
+difference here and at Windsor, Nettlebed, and Oxford.  At Oxford I was
+obliged to pay for my supper, bed, and breakfast at least three
+shillings, and one to the waiter.  I here paid for my supper, bed, and
+breakfast only one shilling, and to the daughter, whom I was to consider
+as chambermaid, fourpence; for which she very civilly thanked me, and
+gave me a written recommendation to an inn at Lichfield, where I should
+be well lodged, as the people in Lichfield were, in general, she said,
+very proud.  This written recommendation was a masterpiece of
+orthography, and showed that in England, as well as elsewhere, there are
+people who write entirely from the ear, and as they pronounce.  In
+English, however, it seems to look particularly odd, but perhaps that may
+be the case in all languages that are not native.
+
+I took leave here, as one does of good friends, with a certain promise
+that on my return I would certainly call on them again.
+
+At noon I got to Lichfield, an old-fashioned town with narrow dirty
+streets, where for the first time I saw round panes of glass in the
+windows.  The place to mime wore an unfriendly appearance; I therefore
+made no use of my recommendation, but went straight through, and only
+bought some bread at a baker’s, which I took along with me.
+
+At night I reached Burton, where the famous Burton ale is brewed.  By
+this time I felt myself pretty well tired, and therefore proposed to stay
+the night here.  But my courage failed me, and I dropped the resolution
+immediately on my entering the town.  The houses and everything else
+seemed to wear as grand an appearance, almost, as if I had been still in
+London.  And yet the manners of some of its inhabitants were so
+thoroughly rustic and rude, that I saw them actually pointing at me with
+their fingers as a foreigner.  And now, to complete my chagrin and
+mortification, I came to a long street, where everybody on both sides of
+the way were at their doors, and actually made me run the gauntlet
+through their inquiring looks.  Some even hissed at me as I passed along.
+All my arguments to induce me to pluck up my courage, such as the
+certainty that I should never see these people again nor they me, were of
+no use.  Burton became odious and almost insupportable to me; and the
+street appeared as long and tired me as much, as if I had walked a mile.
+This strongly-marked contemptuous treatment of a stranger, who was
+travelling through their country merely from the respect he bore it, I
+experienced nowhere but at Burton.
+
+How happy did I feel when I again found myself out of their town,
+although at that moment I did not know where I should find a lodging for
+the night, and was, besides, excessively tired.  But I pursued my
+journey, and still kept in the road to Derby, along a footpath which I
+knew to be right.  It led across a very pleasant mead, the hedges of
+which were separated by stiles, over which I was often obliged to
+clamber.  When I had walked some distance without meeting with an inn on
+the road, and it had already begun to be dark, I at last sat me down near
+a small toll-house, or a turnpike-gate, in order to rest myself, and also
+to see whether the man at the turnpike could and would lodge me.
+
+After I had sat here a considerable time, a farmer came riding by, and
+asked me where I wanted to go?  I told him I was so tired that I could go
+no farther.  On this the good-natured and truly hospitable man, of his
+own accord and without the least distrust, offered to take me behind him
+on his horse and carry me to a neighbouring inn, where he said I might
+stay all night.
+
+The horse was a tall one, and I could not easily get up.  The
+turnpike-man, who appeared to be quite decrepid and infirm, on this came
+out.  I took it for granted, however, that he who appeared to have hardly
+sufficient strength to support himself could not help me.  This poor
+looking, feeble old man, however, took hold of me with one arm, and
+lifted me with a single jerk upon the horse so quick and so alertly that
+it quite astonished me.
+
+And now I trotted on with my charming farmer, who did not ask me one
+single impertinent question, but set me down quietly at the inn, and
+immediately rode away to his own village, which lay to the left.
+
+This inn was called the Bear, and not improperly; for the landlord went
+about and growled at his people just like a bear, so that at first I
+expected no favourable reception.  I endeavoured to gentle him a little
+by asking for a mug of ale, and once or twice drinking to him.  This
+succeeded; he soon became so very civil and conversable, that I began to
+think him quite a pleasant fellow.  This device I had learnt of the
+“Vicar of Wakefield,” who always made his hosts affable by inviting them
+to drink with him.  It was an expedient that suited me also in another
+point of view, as the strong ale of England did not at all agree with me.
+
+This innkeeper called me sir; and he made his people lay a separate table
+for himself and me; for he said he could see plainly I was a gentleman.
+
+In our chat, we talked much of George the Second, who appeared to be his
+favourite king, much more so than George the Third.  And among others
+things, we talked of the battle at Dettingen, of which he knew many
+particulars.  I was obliged also in my turn to tell him stories of our
+great King of Prussia, and his numerous armies, and also what sheep sold
+for in Prussia.  After we had been thus talking some time, chiefly on
+political matters, he all at once asked me if I could blow the French
+horn?  This he supposed I could do, only because I came from Germany; for
+he said he remembered, when he was a boy, a German had once stopped at
+the inn with his parents who blew the French horn extremely well.  He
+therefore fancied this was a talent peculiar to the Germans.
+
+I removed this error, and we resumed our political topics, while his
+children and servants at some distance listened with great respect to our
+conversation.
+
+Thus I again spent a very agreeable evening; and when I had breakfasted
+in the morning, my bill was not more than it had been at Sutton.  I at
+length reached the common before Derby on Friday morning.  The air was
+mild, and I seemed to feel myself uncommonly cheerful and happy.  About
+noon the romantic part of the country began to open upon me.  I came to a
+lofty eminence, where all at once I saw a boundless prospect of hills
+before me, behind which fresh hills seemed always to arise, and to be
+infinite.
+
+The ground now seemed undulatory, and to rise and fall like waves; when
+at the summit of the rise I seemed to be first raised aloft, and had an
+extensive view all around me, and the next moment, when I went down the
+hill, I lost it.
+
+In the afternoon I saw Derby in the vale before me, and I was now an
+hundred and twenty-six miles from London.  Derby is but a small, and not
+very considerable town.  It was market-day when I got there, and I was
+obliged to pass through a crowd of people: but there was here no such
+odious curiosity, no offensive staring, as at Burton.  At this place too
+I took notice that I began to be always civilly bowed to by the children
+of the villages through which I passed.
+
+From Derby to the baths of Matlock, which is one of the most romantic
+situations, it was still fifteen miles.  On my way thither, I came to a
+long and extensive village, which I believe was called Duffield.  They
+here at least did not show me into the kitchen, but into the parlour; and
+I dined on cold victuals.
+
+The prints and pictures which I have generally seen at these inns are, I
+think, almost always prints of the royal family, oftentimes in a group,
+where the king, as the father of the family, assembles his children
+around him; or else I have found a map of London, and not seldom the
+portrait of the King of Prussia; I have met with it several times.  You
+also sometimes see some of the droll prints of Hogarth.  The heat being
+now very great, I several times in this village heard the commiserating
+exclamation of “Good God Almighty!” by which the people expressed their
+pity for me, as being a poor foot passenger.
+
+At night I again stopped at an inn on the road, about five miles from
+Matlock.  I could easily have reached Matlock, but I wished rather to
+reserve the first view of the country till the next day than to get there
+when it was dark.
+
+But I was not equally fortunate in this inn, as in the two former.  The
+kitchen was full of farmers, among whom I could not distinguish the
+landlord, whose health I should otherwise immediately have drank.  It is
+true I heard a country girl who was also in the kitchen, as often as she
+drank say, “Your health, gentlemen all!”  But I do not know how it was, I
+forgot to drink any one’s health, which I afterwards found was taken much
+amiss.  The landlord drank twice to my health sneeringly, as if to
+reprimand me for my incivility; and then began to join the rest in
+ridiculing me, who almost pointed at me with their fingers.  I was thus
+obliged for a time to serve the farmers as a laughing-stock, till at
+length one of them compassionately said, “Nay, nay, we must do him no
+harm, for he is a stranger.”  The landlord, I suppose, to excuse himself,
+as if he thought he had perhaps before gone too far said, “Ay, God forbid
+we should hurt any stranger,” and ceased his ridicule; but when I was
+going to drink his health, he slighted and refused my attention, and told
+me, with a sneer, all I had to do was to seat myself in the
+chimney-corner, and not trouble myself about the rest of the world.  The
+landlady seemed to pity me, and so she led me into another room where I
+could be alone, saying, “What wicked people!”
+
+I left this unfriendly roof early the next morning, and now quickly
+proceeded to Matlock.
+
+The extent of my journey I had now resolved should be the great cavern
+near Castleton, in the high Peak of Derbyshire.  It was about twenty
+miles beyond Matlock.
+
+The country here had quite a different appearance from that at Windsor
+and Richmond.  Instead of green meadows and pleasant hills, I now saw
+barren mountains and lofty rocks; instead of fine living hedges, the
+fields and pasture lands here were fenced with a wall of grey stone; and
+of this very same stone, which is here everywhere to be found in plenty,
+all the houses are built in a very uniform and patriarchal manner,
+inasmuch as the rough stones are almost without any preparation placed
+one upon another, and compose four walls, so that in case of necessity, a
+man might here without much trouble build himself a house.  At Derby the
+houses seem to be built of the same stone.
+
+The situation of Matlock itself surpassed every idea I had formed of it.
+On the right were some elegant houses for the bathing company, and lesser
+cottages suspended like birds’ nests in a high rock; to the left, deep in
+the bottom, there was a fine bold river, which was almost hid from the
+eye by a majestic arch formed by high trees, which hung over it.  A
+prodigious stone wall extended itself above a mile along its border, and
+all along there is a singularly romantic and beautiful secret walk,
+sheltered and adorned by many beautiful shrubs.
+
+The steep rock was covered at the top with green bushes, and now and then
+a sheep, or a cow, separated from the grazing flock, came to the edge of
+the precipice, and peeped over it.
+
+I have got, in Milton’s “Paradise Lost,” which I am reading thoroughly
+through, just to the part where he describes Paradise, when I arrived
+here and the following passage, which I read at the brink of the river,
+had a most striking and pleasing effect on me.  The landscape here
+described was as exactly similar to that I saw before me, as if the poet
+had taken it from hence
+
+    “—delicious Paradise,
+    Now nearer, crowns with her enclosure green,
+    As with a rural mound, the champion head
+    Of a steep wilderness, whose hairy sides
+    With thicket overgrown, grotesque and wild,
+    Access denied.”—_Book_ IV. v. 132.
+
+From Matlock Baths you go over Matlock Bridge, to the little town of
+Matlock itself, which, in reality, scarcely deserves the name of a
+village, as it consists of but a few and miserable houses.  There is
+here, on account of the baths, a number of horses and carriages, and a
+great thoroughfare.  From hence I came through some villages to a small
+town of the name of Bakewell.  The whole country in this part is hilly
+and romantic.  Often my way led me, by small passes, over astonishing
+eminences, where, in the deep below me, I saw a few huts or cottages
+lying.  The fencing of the fields with grey stone gave the whole a wild
+and not very promising appearance.  The hills were in general not wooded,
+but naked and barren; and you saw the flocks at a distance grazing on
+their summit.
+
+As I was coming through one of the villages, I heard a great farmer’s boy
+eagerly ask another if he did not think I was a Frenchman.  It seemed as
+if he had been waiting some time to see the wonder; for, he spoke as
+though his wish was now accomplished.
+
+When I was past Bakewell, a place far inferior to Derby, I came by the
+side of a broad river, to a small eminence, where a fine cultivated field
+lay before me.  This field, all at once, made an indescribable and very
+pleasing impression on me, which at first, I could not account for; till
+I recollected having seen, in my childhood, near the village where I was
+educated, a situation strikingly similar to that now before me here in
+England.
+
+This field, as if it had been in Germany, was not enclosed with hedges,
+but every spot in it was uninterruptedly diversified with all kinds of
+crops and growths of different green and yellowish colours, which gave
+the whole a most pleasing effect; but besides this large field, the
+general view of the country, and a thousand other little circumstances
+which I cannot now particularly enumerate, served to bring back to my
+recollection the years of my youth.
+
+Here I rested myself a while, and when I was going on again I thought of
+the place of my residence, on all my acquaintances, and not a little on
+you, my dearest friend, and imagined what you would think and say, if you
+were to see your friend thus wandering here all alone, totally unknown,
+and in a foreign land.  And at that moment I first seriously felt the
+idea of distance, and the thought that I was now in England, so very far
+from all I loved, or who loved me, produced in me such sensations as I
+have not often felt.
+
+It was perhaps the same with you, my dearest friend, when on our journey
+to Hamburg we drove from Perlsbeg, to your birthplace, the village of
+Boberow; where, among the farmers, you again found your own playmates,
+one of whom was now become the bailiff of the place.  On your asking them
+whether they knew you, one and all of them answered so heartily, “O, yes,
+yes—why, your are Master Frederic.”  The pedantic school-master, you will
+remember, was not so frank.  He expressed himself in the stiff town
+phrase of, “He had not the honour of knowing you, as during your
+residence in that village, when a child, he had not been _in loco_.”
+
+I now came through a little place of the name of Ashford, and wished to
+reach the small village of Wardlow, which was only three miles distant,
+when two men came after me, at a distance, whom I had already seen at
+Matlock, who called to me to wait for them.  These were the only foot
+passengers since Mr. Maud, who had offered to walk with me.
+
+The one was a saddler, and wore a short brown jacket and an apron, with a
+round hat.  The other was very decently dressed, but a very silent man,
+whereas the saddler was quite talkative.
+
+I listened with astonishment when I heard him begin to speak of Homer, of
+Horace, and of Virgil; and still more when he quoted several passages, by
+memory, from each of these authors, pronouncing the words, and laying his
+emphasis, with as much propriety as I could possibly have expected, had
+he been educated at Cambridge or at Oxford.  He advised me not to go to
+Wardlow, where I should find bad accommodations, but rather a few miles
+to Tideswell, where he lived.  This name is, by a singular abbreviation,
+pronounced Tidsel, the same as Birmingham is called by the common people
+Brummidgeham.
+
+We halted at a small ale-house on the road-side, where the saddler
+stopped to drink and talk, and from whence he was in no haste to depart.
+He had the generosity and honour, however, to pay my share of the
+reckoning, because, as he said, he had brought me hither.
+
+At no great distance from the house we came to a rising ground, where my
+philosophical saddler made me observe a prospect, which was perhaps the
+only one of the kind in England.  Below us was a hollow, not unlike a
+huge kettle, hollowed out of the surrounding mass of earth; and at the
+bottom of it a little valley, where the green meadow was divided by a
+small rivulet, that ran in serpentine windings, its banks graced with the
+most inviting walks; behind a small winding, there is just seen a house
+where one of the most distinguished inhabitants of this happy vale, a
+great philosopher, lives retired, dedicating almost all his time to his
+favourite studies.  He has transplanted a number of foreign plants into
+his grounds.  My guide fell into almost a poetic rapture as he pointed
+out to me the beauties of this vale, while our third companion, who grew
+tired, became impatient at our tediousness.
+
+We were now led by a steep road to the vale, through which we passed, and
+then ascended again among the hills on the other side.
+
+Not far from Tideswell our third companion left us, as he lived in a
+neighbouring place.  As we now at length saw Tideswell lying before us in
+the vale, the saddler began to give me an account of his family, adding,
+by way of episode, that he never quarrelled with his wife, nor had ever
+once threatened her with his fist, much less, ever lifted it against her.
+For his own sake, he said, he never called her names, nor gave her the
+lie.  I must here observe, that it is the greatest offence you can give
+any one in England to say to him, _you lie_.
+
+To be called a _liar_ is a still greater affront, and you _are a damned
+liar_, is the very acme of vulgar abuse.
+
+Just as in Germany, no one will bear the name of a _scoundrel_, or
+_knave_, or as in all quarrels, the bestowing such epithets on our
+adversary is the signal for fighting, so the term of a _liar_ in England
+is the most offensive, and is always resented by blows.  A man would
+never forgive himself, nor be forgiven, who could bear to be called a
+_liar_.
+
+Our Jackey in London once looked at me with astonishment, on my happening
+to say to him in a joke, you _are a liar_.  I assure you I had much to do
+before I could pacify him.
+
+If one may form a judgment of the character of the whole nation, from
+such little circumstances as this, I must say this rooted hatred of the
+word liar appears to me to be no bad trait in the English.
+
+But to return to my travelling companion, who further told me that he was
+obliged to earn his livelihood, at some distance from home, and that he
+was now returning for the first time, for these two months, to his
+family.
+
+He showed me a row of trees near the town which he said his father had
+planted, and which, therefore, he never could look at but with emotion,
+though he passed them often as he went backwards and forwards on his
+little journeys to and from his birthplace.  His father, he added, had
+once been a rich man, but had expended all his fortune to support one
+son.  Unfortunately for himself as well as his family, his father had
+gone to America and left the rest of his children poor, notwithstanding
+which, his memory was still dear to him, and he was always affected by
+the sight of these trees.
+
+Tideswell consists of two rows of low houses, built of rough grey stone.
+My guide, immediately on our entrance into the place, bade me take notice
+of the church, which was very handsome, and notwithstanding its age, had
+still some pretensions to be considered as an edifice built in the modern
+taste.
+
+He now asked me whether he should show me to a great inn or to a cheap
+one, and as I preferred the latter, he went with me himself to a small
+public-house, and very particularly recommended me to their care as his
+fellow-traveller, and a clever man not without learning.
+
+The people here also endeavoured to accommodate me most magnificently,
+and for this purpose gave me some toasted cheese, which was Cheshire
+cheese roasted and half melted at the fire.  This, in England it seems,
+is reckoned good eating, but, unfortunately for me, I could not touch a
+bit of it; I therefore invited my landlord to partake of it, and he
+indeed seemed to feast on it.  As I neither drank brandy nor ale, he told
+me I lived far too sparingly for a foot traveller; he wondered how I had
+strength to walk so well and so far.
+
+I avail myself of this opportunity to observe that the English innkeepers
+are in general great ale drinkers, and for this reason most of them are
+gross and corpulent; in particular they are plump and rosy in their
+faces.  I once heard it said of one of them, that the extravasated claret
+in his phiz might well remind one, as Falstaff says of Bardolph, of
+hell-fire.
+
+The next morning my landlady did me the honour to drink coffee with me,
+but helped me very sparingly to milk and sugar.  It was Sunday, and I
+went with my landlord to a barber, on whose shop was written “Shaving for
+a penny.”  There were a great many inhabitants assembled there, who took
+me for a gentleman, on account, I suppose, of my hat, which I had bought
+in London for a guinea, and which they all admired.  I considered this as
+a proof that pomp and finery had not yet become general thus far from
+London.
+
+You frequently find in England, at many of the houses of the common
+people, printed papers, with sundry apt and good moral maxims and rules
+fastened against the room door, just as we find them in Germany.  On such
+wretched paper some of the most delightful and the finest sentiments may
+be read, such as would do honour to any writer of any country.
+
+For instance, I read among other things this golden rule on such an
+ordinary printed paper stuck against a room door, “Make no comparisons;”
+and if you consider how many quarrels, and how much mischief arise in the
+world from odious comparisons of the merits of one with the merits of
+another, the most delightful lessons of morality are contained in the few
+words of the above-mentioned rule.
+
+A man to whom I gave sixpence conducted me out of the town to the road
+leading to Castleton, which was close to a wall of stones confusedly
+heaped one upon another, as I have before described.  The whole country
+was hilly and rough, and the ground covered with brown heath.  Here and
+there some sheep were feeding.
+
+I made a little digression to a hill to the left, where I had a prospect
+awfully beautiful, composed almost entirely of naked rocks, far and near,
+among which, those that were entirely covered with black heath made a
+most tremendous appearance.
+
+I was now a hundred and seventy miles from London, when I ascended one of
+the highest hills, and all at once perceived a beautiful vale below me,
+which was traversed by rivers and brooks and enclosed on all sides by
+hills.  In this vale lay Castleton, a small town with low houses, which
+takes its name from an old castle, whose ruins are still to be seen here.
+
+A narrow path, which wound itself down the side of the rock, led me
+through the vale into the street of Castleton, where I soon found an inn,
+and also soon dined.  After dinner I made the best of my way to the
+cavern.
+
+A little rivulet, which runs through the middle of the town, led me to
+its entrance.
+
+I stood here a few moments, full of wonder and astonishment at the
+amazing height of the steep rock before me, covered on each side with ivy
+and other shrubs.  At its summit are the decayed wall and towers of an
+ancient castle which formerly stood on this rock, and at its foot the
+monstrous aperture or mouth to the entrance of the cavern, where it is
+pitch dark when one looks down even at mid-day.
+
+As I was standing here full of admiration, I perceived, at the entrance
+of the cavern, a man of a rude and rough appearance, who asked me if I
+wished to see the Peak, and the echo strongly reverberated his coarse
+voice.
+
+Answering as I did in the affirmative, he next further asked me if I
+should want to be carried to the other side of the stream, telling me at
+the same time what the sum would be which I must pay for it.
+
+This man had, along with his black stringy hair and his dirty and
+tattered clothes, such a singularly wild and infernal look, that he
+actually struck me as a real Charon.  His voice, and the questions he
+asked me, were not of a kind to remove this notion, so that, far from its
+requiring any effort of imagination, I found it not easy to avoid
+believing that, at length, I had actually reached Avernus, was about to
+cross Acheron, and to be ferried by Charon.
+
+I had no sooner agreed to his demand, than he told me all I had to do was
+boldly to follow him, and thus we entered the cavern.
+
+To the left, in the entrance of the cavern, lay the trunk of a tree that
+had been cut down, on which several of the boys of the town were playing.
+
+Our way seemed to be altogether on a descent, though not steep, so that
+the light which came in at the mouth of the cavern near the entrance
+gradually forsook us, and when we had gone forward a few steps farther, I
+was astonished by a sight which, of all other, I here the least expected.
+I perceived to the right, in the hollow of the cavern, a whole
+subterranean village, where the inhabitants, on account of its being
+Sunday, were resting from their work, and with happy and cheerful looks
+were sitting at the doors of their huts along with their children.
+
+We had scarcely passed these small subterranean houses when I perceived a
+number of large wheels, on which on week days these human moles, the
+inhabitants of the cavern, make ropes.
+
+I fancied I here saw the wheel of Ixion, and the incessant labour of the
+Danaides.
+
+The opening through which the light came seemed, as we descended, every
+moment to become less and less, and the darkness at every step to
+increase, till at length only a few rays appeared, as if darting through
+a crevice, and just tinging the small clouds of smoke which, at dusk,
+raised themselves to the mouth of the cavern.
+
+This gradual growth, or increase of darkness, awakens in a contemplative
+mind a soft melancholy.  As you go down the gentle descent of the cavern,
+you can hardly help fancying the moment is come when, without pain or
+grief, the thread of life is about to be snapped; and that you are now
+going thus quietly to that land of peace where trouble is no more.
+
+At length the great cavern in the rock closed itself, in the same manner
+as heaven and earth seem to join each other, when we came to a little
+door, where an old woman came out of one of the huts, and brought two
+candles, of which we each took one.
+
+My guide now opened the door, which completely shut out the faint
+glimmering of light, which, till then, it was still possible to perceive,
+and led us to the inmost centre of this dreary temple of old Chaos and
+Night, as if, till now, we had only been traversing the outer courts.
+The rock was here so low, that we were obliged to stoop very much for
+some few steps in order to get through; but how great was my
+astonishment, when we had passed this narrow passage and again stood
+upright, at once to perceive, as well as the feeble light of our candles
+would permit, the amazing length, breadth, and height of the cavern;
+compared to which the monstrous opening through which we had already
+passed was nothing!
+
+After we had wandered here more than an hour, as beneath a dark and dusky
+sky, on a level, sandy soil, the rock gradually lowered itself, and we
+suddenly found ourselves on the edge of a broad river, which, from the
+glimmering of our candles amid the total darkness, suggested sundry
+interesting reflections.  To the side of this river a small boat was
+moored, with some straw in its bottom.  Into this boat my guide desired
+me to step, and lay myself down in it quite flat; because, as he said,
+towards the middle of the river, the rock would almost touch the water.
+
+When I had laid myself down as directed, he himself jumped into the
+water, and drew the boat after him.
+
+All around us was one still, solemn, and deadly silence; and as the boat
+advanced, the rock seemed to stoop, and come nearer and nearer to us,
+till at length it nearly touched my face; and as I lay, I could hardly
+hold the candle upright.  I seemed to myself to be in a coffin rather
+than in a boat, as I had no room to stir hand or foot till we had passed
+this frightful strait, and the rock rose again on the other side, where
+my guide once more handed me ashore.
+
+The cavern was now become, all at once, broad and high: and then suddenly
+it was again low and narrow.
+
+I observed on both sides as we passed along a prodigious number of great
+and small petrified plants and animals, which, however, we could not
+examine, unless we had been disposed to spend some days in the cavern.
+
+And thus we arrived at the opposite side, at the second river or stream,
+which, however, was not so broad as the first, as one may see across it
+to the other side; across this stream my guide carried me on his
+shoulders, because there was here no boat to carry us over.
+
+From thence we only went a few steps farther, when we came to a very
+small piece of water which extended itself lengthways, and led us to the
+end of the cavern.
+
+The path along the edge of this water was wet and slippery, and sometimes
+so very narrow, that one can hardly set one foot before the other.
+
+Notwithstanding, I wandered with pleasure on this subterranean shore, and
+was regaling myself with the interesting contemplation of all these
+various wonderful objects, in this land of darkness and shadow of death,
+when, all at once, something like music at a distance sounded in mine
+ears.
+
+I instantly stopped, full of astonishment, and eagerly asked my guide
+what this might mean?  He answered, “Only have patience, and you shall
+soon see.”
+
+But as we advanced, the sounds of harmony seemed to die away; the noise
+became weaker and weaker; and at length it seemed to sink into a gentle
+hissing or hum, like distant drops of falling rain.
+
+And how great was my amazement when, ere long, I actually saw and felt a
+violent shower of rain falling from the rock, as from a thick cloud,
+whose drops, which now fell on our candles, had caused that same
+melancholy sound which I had heard at a distance.
+
+This was what is here called a mizzling rain, which fell from the ceiling
+or roof of the cavern, through the veins of the rock.
+
+We did not dare to approach too near with our candles, as they might
+easily have been extinguished by the falling drops; and so we perhaps
+have been forced to seek our way back in vain.
+
+We continued our march therefore along the side of the water, and often
+saw on the sides large apertures in the rock, which seemed to be new or
+subordinate caverns, all which we passed without looking into.  At length
+my guide prepared me for one of the finest sights we had yet seen, which
+we should now soon behold.
+
+And we had hardly gone on a few paces, when we entered what might easily
+have been taken for a majestic temple, with lofty arches, supported by
+beautiful pillars, formed by the plastic hand of some ingenious artist.
+
+This subterranean temple, in the structure of which no human hand had
+borne a part, appeared to me at that moment to surpass all the most
+stupendous buildings in the world, in point of regularity, magnificence,
+and beauty.
+
+Full of admiration and reverence, here, even in the inmost recesses of
+nature, I saw the majesty of the Creator displayed; and before I quitted
+this temple, here, in this solemn silence and holy gloom, I thought it
+would be a becoming act of true religion to adore, as I cordially did,
+the God of nature.
+
+We now drew near the end of our journey.  Our faithful companion, the
+water, guided us through the remainder of the cavern, where the rock is
+arched for the last time, and then sinks till it touches the water, which
+here forms a semicircle, and thus the cavern closes, so that no mortal
+can go one step farther.
+
+My guide here again jumped into the water, swam a little way under the
+rock, and then came back quite wet, to show me that it was impossible to
+go any further, unless this rock could be blown up with powder, and a
+second cavern opened.  I now thought all we had to do was to return the
+nearest way; but there were new difficulties still to encounter, and new
+scenes to behold still more beautiful than any I had yet seen.
+
+My guide now turned and went back towards the left, where I followed him
+through a large opening in the rock.
+
+And here he first asked me if I could determine to creep a considerable
+distance through the rock, where it nearly touched the ground.  Having
+consented to do so, he told me I had only to follow him, warning me at
+the same time to take great care of my candle.
+
+Thus we crept on our hands and feet, on the wet and muddy ground, through
+the opening in the rock, which was often scarcely large enough for us to
+get through with our bodies.
+
+When at length we had got through this troublesome passage, I saw in the
+cavern a steep hill, which was so high that it seemed to lose itself as
+in a cloud, in the summit of the rock.
+
+This hill was so wet and slippery, that as soon as I attempted to ascend,
+I fell down.  My guide, however, took hold of my hand and told me I had
+only resolutely to follow him.
+
+We now ascended such an amazing height, and there were such precipices on
+each side, that it makes me giddy even now when I think of it.
+
+When we at length had gained the summit, where the hill seemed to lose
+itself in the rock, my guide placed me where I could stand firm, and told
+me to stay there quietly.  In the meantime he himself went down the hill
+with his candle, and left me alone.
+
+I lost sight of him for some moments, but at length I perceived, not him,
+indeed, but his candle, quite in the bottom, from whence it seemed to
+shine like a bright and twinkling star.
+
+After I had enjoyed this indescribably beautiful sight for some time, my
+guide came back, and carried me safely down the hill again on his
+shoulders.  And as I now stood below, he went up and let his candle shine
+again through an opening of the rock, while I covered mine with my hand;
+and it was now as if on a dark night a bright star shone down upon me, a
+sight which, in point of beauty, far surpassed all that I had ever seen.
+
+Our journey was now ended, and we returned, not without trouble and
+difficulty, through the narrow passage.  We again entered the temple we
+had a short time before left; again heard the pattering of the rain,
+which sounded as rain when we were near it, but which at a distance
+seemed a sonorous, dull, and melancholy hum; and now again we returned
+across the quiet streams through the capacious entrance of the cavern to
+the little door, where we had before taken our leave of daylight, which,
+after so long a darkness, we now again hailed with joy.
+
+Before my guide opened the door, he told me I should now have a view of a
+sight that would surpass all the foregoing.  I found that he was in the
+right, for when he had only half opened the door, it really seemed as if
+I was looking into Elysium.
+
+The day seemed to be gradually breaking, and night and darkness to have
+vanished.  At a distance you again just saw the smoke of the cottages,
+and then the cottages themselves; and as we ascended we saw the boys
+still playing around the hewn trunk, till at length the reddish purple
+stripes in the sky faintly appeared through the mouth of the hole; yet,
+just as we came out, the sun was setting in the west.
+
+Thus had I spent nearly the whole afternoon till it was quite evening in
+the cavern; and when I looked at myself, I was, as to my dress, not much
+unlike my guide; my shoes scarcely hung to my feet, they were so soft and
+so torn by walking so long on the damp sand, and the hard pointed stones.
+
+I paid no more than half-a-crown for seeing all that I had seen, with a
+trifle to my guide; for it seems he does not get the half-crown, but is
+obliged to account for it to his master, who lives very comfortably on
+the revenue he derives from this cavern, and is able to keep a man to
+show it to strangers.
+
+When I came home I sent for a shoemaker.  There was one who lived just
+opposite; and he immediately came to examine my shoes.  He told me he
+could not sufficiently wonder at the badness of the work, for they were
+shoes I had brought from Germany.  Notwithstanding this, he undertook, as
+he had no new ones ready, to mend them for me as well as he could.  This
+led me to make a very agreeable acquaintance with this shoemaker; for
+when I expressed to him my admiration of the cavern, it pleased him
+greatly that in so insignificant a place as Castleton there should be
+anything which could inspire people with astonishment, who came from such
+distant countries; and thereupon offered to take a walk with me, to show
+me, at no great distance, the famous mountain called Mam Tor, which is
+reckoned among the things of most note in Derbyshire.
+
+This mountain is covered with verdure on its summit and sides; but at the
+end it is a steep precipice.  The middle part does not, like other
+mountains, consist of rock, but of a loose earth, which gives way, and
+either rolls from the top of the precipice in little pieces, or tears
+itself loose in large masses, and falls with a thundering crash, thus
+forming a hill on its side which is continually increasing.
+
+From these circumstances probably is derived the name of Mam Tor, which
+literally signifies Mother Hill; for Tor is either an abbreviation of, or
+the old word for, Tower, and means not only a lofty building, but any
+eminence.  Mam is a familiar term, that obtains in all languages, for
+Mother; and this mountain, like a mother, produces several other small
+hills.
+
+The inhabitants here have a superstitious notion that this mountain,
+notwithstanding its daily loss, never decreases, but always keeps its
+own, and remains the same.
+
+My companion told me a shocking history of an inhabitant of Castleton who
+laid a wager that he would ascend this steep precipice.
+
+As the lower part is not quite so steep, but rather slanting upwards, he
+could get good hold in this soft loose earth, and clambered up, without
+looking round.  At length he had gained more than half the ascent, and
+was just at the part where it projects and overlooks its basis.  From
+this astonishing height the unfortunate man cast down his eyes, whilst
+the threatening point of the rock hung over him, with tottering masses of
+earth.
+
+He trembled all over, and was just going to relinquish his hold, not
+daring to move backwards or forwards; in this manner he hung for some
+time between heaven and earth, surrounded by despair.  However, his
+sinews would bear it no longer, and therefore, in an effort of despair,
+he once more collected all his strength and got hold of first one loose
+stone, and then another, all of which would have failed him had he not
+immediately caught hold of another.  By these means, however, at length,
+to his own, as well as to the astonishment of all the spectators, he
+avoided almost instant and certain death, safely gained the summit of the
+hill, and won his wager.
+
+I trembled as I heard this relation, seeing the mountain and the
+precipice in question so near to me, I could not help figuring to myself
+the man clambering up it.
+
+Not far from hence is Elden Hole, a cavity or pit, or hole in the earth,
+of such a monstrous depth, that if you throw in a pebble stone, and lay
+your ear to the edge of the hole, you hear it falling for a long time.
+
+As soon as it comes to the bottom it emits a sound as if some one were
+uttering a loud sigh.  The first noise it makes on its being first parted
+with affects the ear like a subterranean thunder.  This rumbling or
+thundering noise continues for some time, and then decreases as the stone
+falls against first one hard rock and then another at a greater and a
+greater depth, and at length, when it has for some time been falling, the
+noise stops with a kind of whizzing or a hissing murmur.  The people have
+also a world of superstitious stories relating to this place, one of
+which is that some person once threw into it a goose, which appeared
+again at two miles’ distance in the great cavern I have already
+mentioned, quite stripped of its feathers.  But I will not stuff my
+letters with many of these fabulous histories.
+
+They reckon that they have in Derbyshire seven wonders of nature, of
+which this Elden Hole, the hill of Mam Tor, and the great cavern I have
+been at are the principal.
+
+The remaining four wonders are Pool’s Hole, which has some resemblance to
+this that I have seen, as I am told, for I did not see it; next St.
+Anne’s Well, where there are two springs which rise close to each other,
+the one of which is boiling hot, the other as cold as ice; the next is
+Tide’s Well, not far from the town of that name through which I passed.
+It is a spring or well, which in general flows or runs underground
+imperceptibly, and then all at once rushes forth with a mighty rumbling
+or subterranean noise, which is said to have something musical in it, and
+overflows its banks; lastly Chatsworth, a palace or seat belonging to the
+Dukes of Devonshire, at the foot of a mountain whose summit is covered
+with eternal snow, and therefore always gives one the idea of winter, at
+the same time that the most delightful spring blooms at its foot.  I can
+give you no further description of these latter wonders, as I only know
+them by the account given me by others.  They were the subjects with
+which my guide, the shoemaker, entertained me during our walk.
+
+While this man was showing me everything within his knowledge that he
+thought most interesting, he often expressed his admiration on thinking
+how much of the world I had already seen; and the idea excited in him so
+lively a desire to travel, that I had much to do to reason him out of it.
+He could not help talking of it the whole evening, and again and again
+protested that, had he not got a wife and child, he would set off in the
+morning at daybreak along with me; for here in Castleton there is but
+little to be earned by the hardest labour or even genius.  Provisions are
+not cheap, and in short, there is no scope for exertion.  This honest man
+was not yet thirty.
+
+As we returned, he wished yet to show me the lead mines, but it was too
+late.  Yet, late as it was, he mended my shoes the same evening, and I
+must do him the justice to add in a very masterly manner.
+
+But I am sorry to tell you I have brought a cough from the cavern that
+does not at all please me; indeed, it occasions me no little pain, which
+makes me suppose that one must needs breathe a very unwholesome damp air
+in this cavern.  But then, were that the case, I do not comprehend how my
+friend Charon should have held it out so long and so well as he has.
+
+This morning I was up very early in order to view the ruins, and to climb
+a high hill alongside of them.  The ruins are directly over the mouth of
+the hole on the hill, which extends itself some distance over the cavern
+beyond the ruins, and always widens, though here in front it is so narrow
+that the building takes up the whole.
+
+From the ruins all around there is nothing but steep rock, so that there
+is no access to it but from the town, where a crooked path from the foot
+of the hill is hewn in the rock, but is also prodigiously steep.
+
+The spot on which the ruins stand is now all overgrown with nettles and
+thistles.  Formerly, it is said, there was a bridge from this mountain to
+the opposite one, of which one may yet discover some traces, as in the
+vale which divides the two rocks we still find the remains of some of the
+arches on which the bridge rested.  This vale, which lies at the back of
+the ruins and probably over the cavern, is called the Cave’s Way, and is
+one of the greatest thoroughfares to the town.  In the part at which, at
+some distance, it begins to descend between these two mountains, its
+descent is so gentle that one is not at all tired in going down it; but
+if you should happen to miss the way between the two rocks and continue
+on the heights, you are in great danger of falling from the rock, which
+every moment becomes steeper and steeper.
+
+The mountain on which the ruins stand is everywhere rocky.  The one on
+the left of it, which is separated by the vale, is perfectly verdant and
+fertile, and on its summit the pasture hands are divided by stones, piled
+up in the form of a wall.  This green mountain is at least three times as
+high as that on which the ruins stand.
+
+I began to clamber up the green mountain, which is also pretty steep; and
+when I had got more than half way up without having once looked back, I
+was nearly in the same situation as the adventurer who clambered up Mam
+Tor Hill, for when I looked round, I found my eye had not been trained to
+view, unmoved, so prodigious a height.  Castleton with the surrounding
+country lay below me like a map, the roofs of the houses seemed almost
+close to the ground, and the mountain with the ruins itself seemed to be
+lying at my feet.
+
+I grew giddy at the prospect, and it required all my reason to convince
+me that I was in no danger, and that, at all events, I could only
+scramble down the green turf in the same manner as I had got up.  At
+length I seemed to grow accustomed to this view till it really gave me
+pleasure, and I now climbed quite to the summit and walked over the
+meadows, and at length reached the way which gradually descends between
+the two mountains.
+
+At the top of the green mountain I met with some neat country girls, who
+were milking their cows, and coming this same way with their milk-pails
+on their heads.
+
+This little rural party formed a beautiful group when some of them with
+their milk-pails took shelter, as it began to rain, under a part of the
+rock, beneath which they sat down on natural stone benches, and there,
+with pastoral innocence and glee, talked and laughed till the shower was
+over.
+
+My way led me into the town, from whence I now write, and which I intend
+leaving in order to begin my journey back to London, but I think I shall
+not now pursue quite the same road.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XII.
+
+
+                                                            _Northampton_.
+
+WHEN I took my leave of the honest shoemaker in Castleton, who would have
+rejoiced to have accompanied me, I resolved to return, not by Tideswell,
+but by Wardlow, which is nearer.
+
+I there found but one single inn, and in it only a landlady, who told me
+that her husband was at work in the lead mines, and that the cavern at
+Castleton, and all that I had yet seen, was nothing to be compared to
+these lead mines.  Her husband, she said, would be happy to show them to
+me.
+
+When I came to offer to pay her for my dinner she made some difficulty
+about it, because, as I had neither drank ale or brandy, by the selling
+of which she chiefly made her livelihood, she said she could not well
+make out my bill.  On this I called for a mug of ale (which I did not
+drink) in order to enable me the better to settle her reckoning.
+
+At this same time I saw my innkeeper of Tideswell, who, however, had not,
+like me, come on foot, but prancing proudly on horseback.
+
+As I proceeded, and saw the hills rise before me, which were still fresh
+in my memory, having so recently become acquainted with them in my
+journey thither, I was just reading the passage in Milton relative to the
+creation, in which the Angel describes to Adam how the water subsided,
+and
+
+    “Immediately the mountains huge appear
+    Emergent, and their broad bare backs upheave
+    Into the clouds, their tops ascend the sky.”
+
+                                                      _Book VII._, 1. 285.
+
+It seemed to me, while reading this passage, as if everything around me
+were in the act of creating, and the mountains themselves appeared to
+emerge or rise, so animated was the scene.
+
+I had felt something not very unlike this on my journey hither, as I was
+sitting opposite to a hill, whose top was covered with trees, and was
+reading in Milton the sublime description of the combat of the angels,
+where the fallen angels are made, with but little regard to chronology,
+to attack their antagonists with artillery and cannon, as if it had been
+a battle on earth of the present age.  The better angels, however, defend
+themselves against their antagonists by each seizing on some hill by the
+tufts on its summit, tearing them up by the root, and thus bearing them
+in their hands to fling them at their enemy:
+
+    “—they ran, they flew,
+    From their foundation loos’ning to and fro,
+    They pluck’d the seated hills with all their load,
+    Rocks, waters, woods, and by the shaggy tops
+    Uplifting bore them in their hands—.”
+
+                                                       Book _VI._, 1. 642.
+
+I seemed to fancy to myself that I actually saw an angel there standing
+and plucking up a hill before me and shaking it in the air.
+
+When I came to the last village before I got to Matlock, as it was now
+evening and dark, I determined to spend the night there, and inquired for
+an inn, which, I was told, was at the end of the village; and so on I
+walked, and kept walking till near midnight before I found this same inn.
+The place seemed to have no end.  On my journey to Castleton I must
+either not have passed through this village or not have noticed its
+length.  Much tired, and not a little indisposed, I at length arrived at
+the inn, where I sat myself down by the fire in the kitchen, and asked
+for something to eat.  As they told me I could not have a bed here, I
+replied I absolutely would not be driven away, for that if nothing better
+could be had I would sit all night by the fire.  This I actually prepared
+to do, and laid my head on the table in order to sleep.
+
+When the people in the kitchen thought that I was asleep, I heard them
+taking about me, and guessing who or what I might be.  One woman alone
+seemed to take my part, and said, “I daresay he is a well-bred
+gentleman;” another scouted that notion, merely because, as she said, “I
+had come on foot;” and “depend on it,” said she, “he is some poor
+travelling creature!”  My ears yet ring with the contemptuous tone with
+which she uttered, “poor travelling creature!”  It seems to express all
+the wretchedness of one who neither has house nor home—a vagabond and
+outcast of society.
+
+At last, when these unfeeling people saw that I was determined, at all
+events, to stay there all night, they gave me a bed, but not till I had
+long given up all hopes of getting one.  And in the morning, when they
+asked me a shilling for it, I gave them half-a-crown, adding, with
+something of an air, that I would have no change.  This I did, though
+perhaps foolishly, to show them that I was not quite “_a poor creature_.”
+And now they took leave of me with great civility and many excuses; and I
+now continued my journey much at my ease.
+
+When I had passed Matlock I did not go again towards Derby, but took the
+road to the left towards Nottingham.  Here the hills gradually
+disappeared; and my journey now lay through meadow grounds and cultivated
+fields.
+
+I must here inform you that the word _Peake_, or _Pike_, in old English
+signifies a point or summit.  The _Peak_ of Derbyshire, therefore, means
+that part of the country which is hilly, or where the mountains are
+highest.
+
+Towards noon I again came to an eminence, where I found but one single
+solitary inn, which had a singular inscription on its sign.  It was in
+rhyme, and I remember only that it ended with these words, “Refresh, and
+then go on.”  “Entertainment for man and horse.”  This I have seen on
+several signs, but the most common, at all the lesser ale-houses, is, “A.
+B. C. or D. dealer in foreign spirituous liquors.”
+
+I dined here on cold meat and salad.  This, or else eggs and salad, was
+my usual supper, and my dinner too, at the inns at which I stopped.  It
+was but seldom that I had the good fortune to get anything hot.  The
+salad, for which they brought me all the ingredients, I was always
+obliged to dress myself.  This, I believe, is always done in England.
+
+The road was now tolerably pleasant, but the country seemed here to be
+uniform and unvaried, even to dulness.  However, it was a very fine
+evening, and as I passed through a village just before sunset several
+people who met me accosted me with a phrase which, at first, I thought
+odd, but which I now think civil, if not polite.  As if I could possibly
+want information on such a point as they passed me, they all very
+courteously told me, “’Twas a fine evening,” or “A pleasant night.”
+
+I have also often met people who as they passed me obligingly and kindly
+asked: “How do you do?”  To which unexpected question from total
+strangers I have now learned to answer, “Pretty well, I thank you; how do
+you do?”  This manner of address must needs appear very singular to a
+foreigner, who is all at once asked by a person whom he has never seen
+before how he does.
+
+After I had passed through this village I came to a green field, at the
+side of which I met with an ale-house.  The mistress was sitting at the
+window.  I asked her if I could stay the night there.  She said “No!” and
+shut the window in my face.
+
+This unmannerliness recalled to my recollection the many receptions of
+this kind to which I have now so often been exposed, and I could not
+forbear uttering aloud my indignation at the inhospitality of the
+English.  This harsh sentiment I soon corrected, however, as I walked on,
+by recollecting, and placing in the opposite scale, the unbounded and
+unequalled generosity of this nation, and also the many acts of real and
+substantial kindness which I had myself experienced in it.
+
+I at last came to another inn, where there was written on the sign: “The
+Navigation Inn,” because it is the depot, or storehouse, of the colliers
+of the Trent.
+
+A rougher or ruder kind of people I never saw than these colliers, whom I
+here met assembled in the kitchen, and in whose company I was obliged to
+spend the evening.
+
+Their language, their dress, their manners were, all of them, singularly
+vulgar and disagreeable, and their expressions still more so, for they
+hardly spoke a word, without adding “a G—d d— me” to it, and thus
+cursing, quarrelling, drinking, singing, and fighting, they seemed to be
+pleased, and to enjoy the evening.  I must do them the justice to add,
+that none of them, however, at all molested me or did me any harm.  On
+the contrary, every one again and again drank my health, and I took care
+not to forget to drink theirs in return.  The treatment of my host at
+Matlock was still fresh in my memory, and so, as often as I drank, I
+never omitted saying, “Your healths, gentlemen all!”
+
+When two Englishmen quarrel, the fray is carried on, and decided, rather
+by actions than by words; though loud and boisterous, they do not say
+much, and frequently repeat the same thing over and over again, always
+clinching it with an additional “G— d— you!”  Their anger seems to
+overpower their utterance, and can vent only by coming to blows.
+
+The landlady, who sat in the kitchen along with all this goodly company,
+was nevertheless well dressed, and a remarkably well-looking woman.  As
+soon as I had supped I hastened to bed, but could not sleep; my quondam
+companions, the colliers, made such a noise the whole night through.  In
+the morning, when I got up, there was not cue to be seen nor heard.
+
+I was now only a few miles from Nottingham, where I arrived towards noon.
+
+This, of all the towns I have yet seen, except London, seemed to me to be
+one of the best, and is undoubtedly the cleanest.  Everything here wore a
+modern appearance, and a large place in the centre, scarcely yielded to a
+London square in point of beauty.
+
+From the town a charming footpath leads you across the meadows to the
+high-road, where there is a bridge over the Trent.  Not far from this
+bridge was an inn, where I dined, though I could get nothing but
+bread-and-butter, of which I desired to have a toast made.
+
+Nottingham lies high, and made a beautiful appearance at a distance, with
+its neat high houses, red roofs, and its lofty steeples.  I have not seen
+so fine a prospect in any other town in England.
+
+I now came through several villages, as Ruddington, Bradmore, and Buny,
+to Castol, where I stayed all night.
+
+This whole afternoon I heard the ringing of bells in many of the
+villages.  Probably it is some holiday which they thus celebrate.  It was
+cloudy weather, and I felt myself not at all well, and in these
+circumstances this ringing discomposed me still more, and made me at
+length quite low-spirited and melancholy.
+
+At Castol there were three inns close to each other, in which, to judge
+only from the outside of the houses, little but poverty was to be
+expected.  In the one at which I at length stopped there was only a
+landlady, a sick butcher, and a sick carter, both of whom had come to
+stay the night.  This assemblage of sick persons gave me the idea of an
+hospital, and depressed me still more.  I felt some degree of fever, was
+very restless all night, and so I kept my bed very late the next morning,
+until the woman of the house came and aroused me by saying she had been
+uneasy on my account.  And now I formed the resolution to go to Leicester
+in the post-coach.
+
+I was now only four miles from Loughborough, a small, and I think, not a
+very handsome town, where I arrived late at noon, and dined at the last
+inn on the road that leads to Leicester.  Here again, far beyond
+expectation, the people treated me like a gentleman, and let me dine in
+the parlour.
+
+From Loughborough to Leicester was only ten miles, but the road was sandy
+and very unpleasant walking.
+
+I came through a village called Mountsorrel, which perhaps takes its name
+from a little hill at the end of it.  As for the rest, it was all one
+large plain, all the way to Leicester.
+
+Towards evening I came to a pleasant meadow just before I got to
+Leicester, through which a footpath led me to the town, which made a good
+appearance as I viewed it lengthways, and indeed much larger than it
+really is.
+
+I went up a long street before I got to the house from which the
+post-coaches set out, and which is also an inn.  I here learnt that the
+stage was to set out that evening for London, but that the inside was
+already full; some places were, however, still left on the outside.
+
+Being obliged to bestir myself to get back to London, as the time drew
+near when the Hamburg captain, with whom I intend to return, had fixed
+his departure, I determined to take a place as far as Northampton on the
+outside.
+
+But this ride from Leicester to Northampton I shall remember as long as I
+live.
+
+The coach drove from the yard through a part of the house.  The inside
+passengers got in in the yard, but we on the outside were obliged to
+clamber up in the public street, because we should have had no room for
+our heads to pass under the gateway.
+
+My companions on the top of the coach were a farmer, a young man very
+decently dressed, and a blackamoor.
+
+The getting up alone was at the risk of one’s life, and when I was up I
+was obliged to sit just at the corner of the coach, with nothing to hold
+by but a sort of little handle fastened on the side.  I sat nearest the
+wheel, and the moment that we set off I fancied that I saw certain death
+await me.  All I could do was to take still safer hold of the handle, and
+to be more and more careful to preserve my balance.
+
+The machine now rolled along with prodigious rapidity, over the stones
+through the town, and every moment we seemed to fly into the air, so that
+it was almost a miracle that we still stuck to the coach and did not
+fall.  We seemed to be thus on the wing, and to fly, as often as we
+passed through a village, or went down a hill.
+
+At last the being continually in fear of my life became insupportable,
+and as we were going up a hill, and consequently proceeding rather slower
+than usual, I crept from the top of the coach and got snug into the
+basket.
+
+“O, sir, sir, you will be shaken to death!” said the black, but I
+flattered myself he exaggerated the unpleasantness of my post.
+
+As long as we went up hill it was easy and pleasant.  And, having had
+little or no sleep the night before, I was almost asleep among the trunks
+and the packages; but how was the case altered when we came to go down
+hill! then all the trunks and parcels began, as it were, to dance around
+me, and everything in the basket seemed to be alive, and I every moment
+received from them such violent blows that I thought my last hour was
+come.  I now found that what the black had told me was no exaggeration,
+but all my complaints were useless.  I was obliged to suffer this torture
+nearly an hour, till we came to another hill again, when quite shaken to
+pieces and sadly bruised, I again crept to the top of the coach, and took
+possession of my former seat.  “Ah, did not I tell you that you would be
+shaken to death?” said the black, as I was getting up, but I made him no
+reply.  Indeed, I was ashamed; and I now write this as a warning to all
+strangers to stage-coaches who may happen to take it into their heads,
+without being used to it, to take a place on the outside of an English
+post-coach, and still more, a place in the basket.
+
+About midnight we arrived at Harborough, where I could only rest myself a
+moment, before we were again called to set off, full drive, through a
+number of villages, so that a few hours before daybreak we had reached
+Northampton, which is, however, thirty-three miles from Leicester.
+
+From Harborough to Leicester I had a most dreadful journey, it rained
+incessantly; and as before we had been covered with dust, we now were
+soaked with rain.  My neighbour, the young man who sat next me in the
+middle, that my inconveniences might be complete, every now and then fell
+asleep; and as, when asleep, he perpetually bolted and rolled against me,
+with the whole weight of his body, more than once he was very near
+pushing me entirely off my seat.
+
+We at last reached Northampton, where I immediately went to bed, and have
+slept almost till noon.  To-morrow morning I intend to continue my
+journey to London in some other stage-coach.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIII.
+
+
+                                              _London_, 15th _July_, 1782.
+
+THE journey from Northampton to London I can again hardly call a journey,
+but rather a perpetual motion, or removal from one place to another, in a
+close box; during your conveyance you may, perhaps, if you are in luck,
+converse with two or three people shut up along with you.
+
+But I was not so fortunate, for my three travelling companions were all
+farmers, who slept so soundly that even the hearty knocks of the head
+with which they often saluted each other, did not awake them.
+
+Their faces, bloated and discoloured by their copious use of ale and
+brandy, looked, as they lay before me, like so many lumps of dead flesh.
+When now and then they woke, sheep, in which they all dealt, was the
+first and last topic of their conversation.  One of the three, however,
+differed not a little from the other two; his face was sallow and thin,
+his eyes quite sunk and hollow, his long, lank fingers hung quite loose,
+and as if detached from his hands.  He was, in short, the picture of
+avarice and misanthropy.  The former he certainly was; for at every stage
+he refused to give the coachman the accustomed perquisite, which every
+body else paid; and every farthing he was forced to part with, forced a
+“G—d d—n” from his heart.  As he sat in the coach, he seemed anxious to
+shun the light; and so shut up every window that he could come at, except
+when now and then I opened them to take a slight view of the charms of
+the country through which we seemed to be flying, rather than driving.
+
+Our road lay through Newport Pagnell, Dunstable, St. Albans, Barnet, to
+Islington, or rather to London itself.  But these names are all I know of
+the different places.
+
+At Dunstable, if I do not mistake, we breakfasted; and here, as is usual,
+everything was paid for in common by all the passengers; as I did not
+know this, I ordered coffee separately; however, when it came, the three
+farmers also drank of it, and gave me some of their tea.
+
+They asked me what part of the world I came from; whereas we in Germany
+generally inquired what countryman a person is.
+
+When we had breakfasted, and were again seated in the coach, all the
+farmers, the lean one excepted, seemed quite alive again, and now began a
+conversation on religion and on politics.
+
+One of them brought the history of Samson on the carpet, which the
+clergyman of his parish, he said, had lately explained, I dare say very
+satisfactorily; though this honest farmer still had a great many doubts
+about the great gate which Samson carried away, and about the foxes with
+the firebrands between their tails.  In other respects, however, the man
+seemed not to be either uninformed or sceptical.
+
+They now proceeded to relate to each other various stories, chiefly out
+of the Bible; not merely as important facts, but as interesting
+narratives, which they would have told and listened to with equal
+satisfaction had they met them anywhere else.  One of them had only heard
+these stories from his minister in the church, not being able to read
+them himself.
+
+The one that sat next to him now began to talk about the Jews of the Old
+Testament, and assured us that the present race were all descended from
+those old ones.  “Ay, and they are all damned to all eternity!” said his
+companion, as coolly and as confidently as if at that moment he had seen
+them burning in the bottomless pit.
+
+We now frequently took up fresh passengers, who only rode a short
+distance with us, and then got out again.  Among others was a woman from
+London, whose business was the making of brandy.  She entertained us with
+a very circumstantial narrative of all the shocking scenes during the
+late riot in that city.  What particularly struck me was her saying that
+she saw a man, opposite to her house, who was so furious, that he stood
+on the wall of a house that was already half burnt down, and there, like
+a demon, with his own hands pulled down and tossed about the bricks which
+the fire had spared, till at length he was shot, and fell back among the
+flames.
+
+At length we arrived at London without any accident, in a hard rain,
+about one o’clock.  I had been obliged to pay sixteen shillings
+beforehand at Northampton, for the sixty miles to London.  This the
+coachman seemed not to know for certain, and therefore asked me more
+earnestly if I was sure I had paid: I assured him I had, and he took my
+word.
+
+I looked like a crazy creature when I arrived in London; notwithstanding
+which, Mr. Pointer, with whom I left my trunk, received me in the most
+friendly manner, and desired me during dinner to relate to him my
+adventures.
+
+The same evening I called on Mr. Leonhardi, who, as I did not wish to
+hire a lodging for the few days I might be obliged to wait for a fair
+wind, got me into the Freemasons’ Tavern.  And here I have been waiting
+these eight days, and the wind still continues contrary for Hambro’;
+though I do now most heartily wish for a fair wind, as I can no longer
+make any improvement by my stay, since I must keep myself in constant
+readiness to embark whenever the wind changes; and therefore I dare go no
+great distance.
+
+Everybody here is now full of the Marquis of Rockingham’s death, and the
+change of the ministry in consequence of it.  They are much displeased
+that Fox has given up his seat; and yet it is singular, they still are
+much concerned, and interest themselves for him, as if whatever
+interested him were the interest of the nation.  On Tuesday there was a
+highly important debate in Parliament.  Fox was called on to assign the
+true reasons of his resignation before the nation.  At eleven o’clock the
+gallery was so full that nobody could get a place, and the debates only
+began at three, and lasted this evening till ten.
+
+About four Fox came.  Every one was full of expectation.  He spoke at
+first with great vehemence, but it was observed that he gradually became
+more and more moderate, and when at length he had vindicated the step he
+had taken, and showed it to be, in every point of view, just, wise, and
+honourable, he added, with great force and pathos, “and now I stand here
+once more as poor as ever I was.”  It was impossible to hear such a
+speech and such declarations unmoved.
+
+General Conway then gave his reasons why he did not resign, though he was
+of the same political principles as Mr. Fox and Mr. Burke; he was of the
+same opinion with them in regard to the independency of America; the more
+equal representation of the people in Parliament, and the regulations
+necessary in Ireland; but he did not think the present minister, Lord
+Shelburne, would act contrary to those principles.  As soon as he did, he
+should likewise resign, but not before.
+
+Burke now stood up and made a most elegant though florid speech, in
+praise of the late Marquis of Rockingham.  As he did not meet with
+sufficient attention, and heard much talking and many murmurs, he said,
+with much vehemence and a sense of injured merit, “This is not treatment
+for so old a member of Parliament as I am, and I will be heard!”—on which
+there was immediately a most profound silence.  After he had said much
+more in praise of Rockingham, he sub-joined, that with regard to General
+Conway’s remaining in the ministry, it reminded him of a fable he had
+heard in his youth, of a wolf, who, on having clothed himself as a sheep,
+was let into the fold by a lamb, who indeed did say to him, “Where did
+you get those long nails, and those sharp teeth, mamma?”  But
+nevertheless let him in; the consequence of which was he murdered the
+whole flock.  Now with respect to General Conway, it appeared to him,
+just as though the lamb certainly did perceive the nails and teeth of the
+wolf, but notwithstanding, was so good-tempered to believe that the wolf
+would change his nature, and become a lamb.  By this, he did not mean to
+reflect on Lord Shelburne: only of this he was certain, that the present
+administration was a thousand times worse than that under Lord North (who
+was present).
+
+When I heard Mr. Pitt speak for the first time, I was astonished that a
+man of so youthful an appearance should stand up at all; but I was still
+more astonished to see how, while he spoke, he engaged universal
+attention.  He seems to me not to be more than one-and-twenty.  This same
+Pitt is now minister, and even Chancellor of the Exchequer.
+
+It is shocking to a foreigner, to see what violent satires on men, rather
+than on things, daily appear in the newspapers, of which they tell me
+there are at least a dozen, if not more, published every day.  Some of
+them side with the Ministry, and still more I think with the Opposition.
+A paper that should be quite impartial, if that were possible, I
+apprehend would be deemed so insipid as to find no readers.  No longer
+ago than yesterday, it was mentioned in one of these newspapers, that
+when Fox, who is fallen, saw so young a man as Pitt made the minister, he
+exclaimed with Satan, who, in “Paradise Lost,” on perceiving the man
+approved by God, called out, “O hateful sight!”
+
+On Thursday the king went with the usual solemnity to prorogue the
+Parliament for a stated time.  But I pass this over as a matter that has
+already been so often described.
+
+I have also, during this period, become acquainted with Baron Grothaus,
+the famous walker, to whom I had also a letter of recommendation from
+Baron Groote of Hambro’.  He lives in Chesterfield House, not far from
+General Paoli, to whom he has promised to introduce me, if I have time to
+call on him again.
+
+I have suffered much this week from the violent cough I brought with me
+from the hole in Derbyshire, so that I could not for some days stir;
+during which time Messrs. Schonborn and Leonhardi have visited me very
+attentively, and contributed much to my amendment.
+
+I have been obliged to relate as much about my journey out of London here
+as I probably shall in Germany of all England in general.  To most people
+to whom I give an account of my journey, what I have seen is quite new.
+I must, however, here insert a few remarks on the elocution, or manner of
+speaking, of this country, which I had forgot before to write to you.
+
+English eloquence appears to me not to be nearly so capable of so much
+variety and diffusion as ours is.  Add to this, in their Parliamentary
+speeches, in sermons in the pulpit, in the dialogues on the stage; nay,
+even in common conversation, their periods at the end of a sentence are
+always accompanied by a certain singular uniform fall of the voice,
+which, notwithstanding its monotony has in it something so peculiar, and
+so difficult, that I defy any foreigner ever completely to acquire it.
+Mr. Leonhardi in particular seemed to me, in some passages which he
+repeated out of _Hamlet_, to have learnt to sink his voice in the true
+English manner; yet any one might know from his speaking that he is not
+an Englishman.  The English place the accent oftener on the adjectives
+than they do on the substantive, which, though undoubtedly the most
+significant word in any sentence, has frequently less stress laid on it
+than you hear laid on mere epithets.  On the stage they pronounce the
+syllables and words extremely distinct, so that at the theatres you may
+always gain most instruction in English elocution and pronunciation.
+
+This kingdom is remarkable for running into dialect: even in London they
+are said to have one.  They say, for example, “it a’nt” instead of “it is
+not;” “I don’t know,” for “I do not know;” “I don’t know him,” for “I do
+not know him;” the latter of which phrases has often deceived me, as I
+mistook a negative for an affirmative.
+
+The word “sir,” in English, has a great variety of significations.  With
+the appellation of “sir,” an Englishman addresses his king, his friend,
+his foe, his servant, and his dog; he makes use of it when asking a
+question politely; and a member of Parliament, merely to fill up a
+vacancy, when he happens to be at a loss.  “Sir?” in an inquiring tone of
+voice, signifies what is your desire?  “Sir!” in a humble tone—gracious
+Sovereign!—“Sir!” in surly tone, a box on the ear at your service!  To a
+dog it means a good beating.  And in a speech in Parliament, accompanied
+by a pause, it signifies, I cannot now recollect what it is I wish to say
+farther.
+
+I do not recollect to have heard any expression repeated oftener than
+this, “Never mind it!”  A porter one day fell down, and cut his head on
+the pavement: “O, never mind it!” said an Englishman who happened to be
+passing by.  When I had my trunk fetched from the ship in a boat, the
+waterman rowed among the boats, and his boy, who stood at the head of his
+boat, got a sound drubbing, because the others would not let him pass:
+“O, never mind it!” said the old one, and kept rowing on.
+
+The Germans who have been here any time almost constantly make use of
+Anglicisms, such as “_es will nicht thun_” (it will not do), instead of
+_es ist nicht hinlänglich_ (it is not sufficient), and many such.  Nay,
+some even say, “_Ich habe es nicht geminded_” (I did not mind it),
+instead of _ich habe mich nicht daran errinnert_, oder _daran gedacht_ (I
+did not recollect it, or I did not think of it).
+
+You can immediately distinguish Englishmen when they speak German, by
+their pronunciation according to the English manner; instead of _Ich
+befinde mich wohl_, they say _Ich befirmich u’hol_ (I am very well), the
+_w_ being as little noticed as _u_ quickly sounded.
+
+I have often heard, when directing any one in the street, the phrase, “Go
+down the street as far as ever you can go, and ask anybody.”  Just as we
+say, “Every child can direct you.”
+
+I have already noticed in England they learn to write a much finer hand
+than with us.  This probably arises from their making use of only one
+kind of writing, in which the letters are all so exact that you would
+take it for print.
+
+In general, in speaking, reading, in their expressions, and in writing,
+they seem, in England, to have more decided rules than we have.  The
+lowest man expresses himself in proper phrases, and he who publishes a
+book, at least writes correctly, though the matter be ever so ordinary.
+In point of style, when they write, they seem to be all of the same
+country, profession, rank, and station.
+
+The printed English sermons are beyond all question the best in the
+world; yet I have sometimes heard sad, miserable stuff from their
+pulpits.  I have been in some churches where the sermons seem to have
+been transcribed or compiled from essays and pamphlets; and the motley
+composition, after all, very badly put together.  It is said that there
+are a few in London, by whom some of the English clergy are supposed to
+get their sermons made for money.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XIV.
+
+
+                                                    _London_, 18th _July_.
+
+I WRITE to you now for the last time from London; and, what is still
+more, from St. Catherine’s, one of the most execrable holes in all this
+great city, where I am obliged to stay, because the great ships arrive in
+the Thames here, and go from hence, and we shall sail as soon as the wind
+changes.  This it has just now done, yet still it seems we shall not sail
+till to-morrow.  To-day therefore I can still relate to you all the
+little that I have farther noticed.
+
+On Monday morning I moved from the Freemasons’ Tavern to a public-house
+here, of which the master is a German; and where all the Hambro’ captains
+lodge.  At the Freemasons’ Tavern, the bill for eight days’ lodging,
+breakfast, and dinner came to one guinea and nine shillings and nine
+pence.  Breakfast, dinner, and coffee were always, with distinction,
+reckoned a shilling each.  For my lodging I paid only twelve shillings a
+week, which was certainly cheap enough.
+
+At the German’s house in St. Catherine’s, on the contrary, everything is
+more reasonable, and you here eat, drink, and lodge for half-a-guinea a
+week.  Notwithstanding, however, I would not advise anybody who wishes to
+see London, to lodge here long; for St. Catherine’s is one of the most
+out-of-the-way and inconvenient places in the whole town.
+
+He who lands here first sees this miserable, narrow, dirty street, and
+this mass of ill-built, old, ruinous houses; and of course forms, at
+first sight, no very favourable idea of this beautiful and renowned city.
+
+From Bullstrode Street, or Cavendish Square, to St. Catherine’s, is
+little less than half a day’s journey.  Nevertheless, Mr. Schonborn has
+daily visited me since I have lived here; and I have always walked back
+half-way with him.  This evening we took leave of each other near St.
+Paul’s, and this separation cost me not a few tears.
+
+I have had a very agreeable visit this afternoon from Mr. Hansen, one of
+the assistants to the “Zollner book for all ranks of men” who brought me
+a letter from the Rev. Mr. Zollner at Berlin, and just arrived at London
+when I was going away.  He is going on business to Liverpool.  I have
+these few days past, for want of better employment, walked through
+several parts of London that I had not before seen.  Yesterday I
+endeavoured to reach the west end of the town; and I walked several
+miles, when finding it was grown quite dark, I turned back quite tired,
+without having accomplished my end.
+
+Nothing in London makes so disgusting an appearance to a foreigner, as
+the butchers’ shops, especially in the environs of the Tower.  Guts and
+all the nastiness are thrown into the middle of the street, and cause an
+insupportable stench.
+
+I have forgot to describe the ’Change to you; this beautiful building is
+a long square in the centre of which is an open area, where the merchants
+assemble.  All round, there are covered walks supported by pillars on
+which the name of the different commercial nations you may wish to find
+are written up, that among the crowd of people you may be able to find
+each other.  There are also stone benches made under the covered walks,
+which after a ramble from St. Catherine’s, for example, hither, are very
+convenient to rest yourself.
+
+On the walls all kinds of handbills are stuck up.  Among others I read
+one of singular contents.  A clergyman exhorted the people not to assent
+to the shameful Act of Parliament for the toleration of Catholics, by
+suffering their children to their eternal ruin to be instructed and
+educated by them; but rather to give him, an orthodox clergyman of the
+Church of England, this employ and this emolument.
+
+In the middle of the area is a stone statue of Charles the Second.  As I
+sat here on a bench, and gazed on the immense crowds that people London,
+I thought that, as to mere dress and outward appearance, these here did
+not seem to be materially different from our people at Berlin.
+
+Near the ’Change is a shop where, for a penny or even a halfpenny only,
+you may read as many newspapers as you will.  There are always a number
+of people about these shops, who run over the paper as they stand, pay
+their halfpenny, and then go on.
+
+Near the ’Change there is a little steeple with a set of bells which have
+a charming tone, but they only chime one or two lively tunes, though in
+this part of the City you constantly hear bells ringing in your ears.
+
+It has struck me that in London there is no occasion for any elementary
+works or prints, for the instruction of children.  One need only lead
+them into the City, and show them the things themselves as they really
+are.  For here it is contrived, as much as possible, to place in view for
+the public inspection every production of art, and every effort of
+industry.  Paintings, mechanisms, curiosities of all kinds, are here
+exhibited in the large and light shop windows, in the most advantageous
+manner; nor are spectators wanting, who here and there, in the middle of
+the street, stand still to observe any curious performance.  Such a
+street seemed to me to resemble a well regulated cabinet of curiosities.
+
+But the squares, where the finest houses are, disdain and reject all such
+shows and ornaments, which are adapted only to shopkeepers’ houses.  The
+squares, moreover, are not nearly so crowded or so populous as the
+streets and the other parts of the city.  There is nearly as much
+difference between these squares and the Strand in London, in point of
+population and bustle, as there is between Millbank and Fredericksstadt
+in Berlin.
+
+I do not at present recollect anything further, my dear friend, worth
+your attention, which I can now write to you, except that everything is
+ready for our departure to-morrow.  I paid Captain Hilkes, with whom I
+came over from Hambro’, four guineas for my passage and my board in the
+cabin.  But Captain Braunschweig, with whom I am to return, charges me
+five guineas; because provisions, he says, are dearer in London than at
+Hambro’.  I now have related to you all my adventures and all my history
+from the time that I took leave of you in the street, my voyage hither
+with Captain Hilkes excepted.  Of this, all that I think it necessary to
+mention is, that, to my great dissatisfaction, it lasted a fortnight, and
+three days I was sea-sick.  Of my voyage back I will give you a personal
+account.  And now remember me to Biester, and farewell till I see you
+again.
+
+
+
+
+***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TRAVELS IN ENGLAND IN 1782***
+
+
+******* This file should be named 5249-0.txt or 5249-0.zip *******
+
+
+This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
+http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/5/2/4/5249
+
+
+
+Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions
+will be renamed.
+
+Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no
+one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation
+(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without
+permission and without paying copyright royalties.  Special rules,
+set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to
+copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to
+protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark.  Project
+Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you
+charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission.  If you
+do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the
+rules is very easy.  You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose
+such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and
+research.  They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do
+practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks.  Redistribution is
+subject to the trademark license, especially commercial
+redistribution.
+
+
+
+*** START: FULL LICENSE ***
+
+THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
+PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
+
+To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
+distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
+(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at
+  www.gutenberg.org/license.
+
+
+Section 1.  General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic works
+
+1.A.  By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
+and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
+(trademark/copyright) agreement.  If you do not agree to abide by all
+the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy
+all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession.
+If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the
+terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or
+entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8.
+
+1.B.  "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark.  It may only be
+used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
+agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement.  There are a few
+things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
+even without complying with the full terms of this agreement.  See
+paragraph 1.C below.  There are a lot of things you can do with Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement
+and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.  See paragraph 1.E below.
+
+1.C.  The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation"
+or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic works.  Nearly all the individual works in the
+collection are in the public domain in the United States.  If an
+individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are
+located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from
+copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative
+works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg
+are removed.  Of course, we hope that you will support the Project
+Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by
+freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of
+this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with
+the work.  You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by
+keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project
+Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others.
+
+1.D.  The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
+what you can do with this work.  Copyright laws in most countries are in
+a constant state of change.  If you are outside the United States, check
+the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement
+before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or
+creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project
+Gutenberg-tm work.  The Foundation makes no representations concerning
+the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United
+States.
+
+1.E.  Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
+
+1.E.1.  The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate
+access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently
+whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the
+phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project
+Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed,
+copied or distributed:
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+1.E.2.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived
+from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is
+posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied
+and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees
+or charges.  If you are redistributing or providing access to a work
+with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the
+work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1
+through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the
+Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or
+1.E.9.
+
+1.E.3.  If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
+with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
+must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional
+terms imposed by the copyright holder.  Additional terms will be linked
+to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the
+permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work.
+
+1.E.4.  Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
+work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
+
+1.E.5.  Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
+electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
+prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
+active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm License.
+
+1.E.6.  You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
+compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any
+word processing or hypertext form.  However, if you provide access to or
+distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than
+"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version
+posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org),
+you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a
+copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon
+request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other
+form.  Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
+
+1.E.7.  Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
+performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
+unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
+
+1.E.8.  You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
+access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided
+that
+
+- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
+     the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
+     you already use to calculate your applicable taxes.  The fee is
+     owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he
+     has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the
+     Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation.  Royalty payments
+     must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you
+     prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax
+     returns.  Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and
+     sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the
+     address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to
+     the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation."
+
+- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
+     you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
+     does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
+     License.  You must require such a user to return or
+     destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium
+     and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of
+     Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any
+     money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
+     electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days
+     of receipt of the work.
+
+- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
+     distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
+
+1.E.9.  If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm
+electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set
+forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from
+both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael
+Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark.  Contact the
+Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
+
+1.F.
+
+1.F.1.  Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
+effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
+public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm
+collection.  Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain
+"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or
+corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual
+property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a
+computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by
+your equipment.
+
+1.F.2.  LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
+of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
+Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
+Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
+liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
+fees.  YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
+LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
+PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3.  YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
+TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
+LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
+INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
+DAMAGE.
+
+1.F.3.  LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
+defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
+receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
+written explanation to the person you received the work from.  If you
+received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with
+your written explanation.  The person or entity that provided you with
+the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a
+refund.  If you received the work electronically, the person or entity
+providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to
+receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund.  If the second copy
+is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further
+opportunities to fix the problem.
+
+1.F.4.  Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
+in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO OTHER
+WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO
+WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
+
+1.F.5.  Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
+warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages.
+If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the
+law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be
+interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by
+the applicable state law.  The invalidity or unenforceability of any
+provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions.
+
+1.F.6.  INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
+trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
+providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance
+with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production,
+promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works,
+harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees,
+that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do
+or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm
+work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any
+Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause.
+
+
+Section  2.  Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
+electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers
+including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers.  It exists
+because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from
+people in all walks of life.
+
+Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
+assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
+goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
+remain freely available for generations to come.  In 2001, the Project
+Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
+and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations.
+To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
+and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4
+and the Foundation information page at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Section 3.  Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive
+Foundation
+
+The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
+501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
+state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
+Revenue Service.  The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
+number is 64-6221541.  Contributions to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent
+permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
+
+The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S.
+Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered
+throughout numerous locations.  Its business office is located at 809
+North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887.  Email
+contact links and up to date contact information can be found at the
+Foundation's web site and official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact
+
+For additional contact information:
+     Dr. Gregory B. Newby
+     Chief Executive and Director
+     gbnewby@pglaf.org
+
+Section 4.  Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
+Literary Archive Foundation
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
+spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
+increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
+freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
+array of equipment including outdated equipment.  Many small donations
+($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
+status with the IRS.
+
+The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
+charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
+States.  Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
+considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
+with these requirements.  We do not solicit donations in locations
+where we have not received written confirmation of compliance.  To
+SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any
+particular state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate
+
+While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
+have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
+against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
+approach us with offers to donate.
+
+International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
+any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
+outside the United States.  U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
+
+Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
+methods and addresses.  Donations are accepted in a number of other
+ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations.
+To donate, please visit:  www.gutenberg.org/donate
+
+
+Section 5.  General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic
+works.
+
+Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm
+concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared
+with anyone.  For forty years, he produced and distributed Project
+Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support.
+
+Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
+editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S.
+unless a copyright notice is included.  Thus, we do not necessarily
+keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition.
+
+Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility:
+
+     www.gutenberg.org
+
+This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
+including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
+Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
+subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.