No. 1. (Conlaining 12 Letters ) I'rirc 
 
 LETTERS 
 
 FROM 
 
 EUROPE. 
 
 BY J. STEPHENSON DU SOLI.E, 
 
 EDITOR OF THE SPIRIT OF TlIK J'lMKS. 
 
 WITH A PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR 
 

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 sponsible for its return to the library from 
 which it was withdrawn on or before the 
 Latest Date stamped below. 
 
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 are reasons for disciplinary action and may 
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 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 
 
' ", 
 
 O.Si<>"' 
 
 Hf"" 
 
 7'S Puyal . l.Uh.Phil'- 
 
 
 '^'"^^ 
 
LETTERS 
 
 FROM 
 
 EUROPE 
 
 BY J. STEPHENSON DU SOLLE, 
 
 EDITOR OF THE SPIRIT OF THE TIMES. 
 
 WITH A PORTRAIT OF THE AUTHOR. 
 
 %%% %vm^% %\'wm.^ 
 
 No. 32 South Thiup Street, 
 
 Philadelpliia: 
 1846. 
 
^ 1 4-. ?. 1 
 
 ' ^ 
 
 ^< 
 
 I, i: T T ERS 
 
 rW 
 
 FROM EUROPE. 
 
 1845-6. 
 
 
 NO. I. 
 
 The Sea- Voyage— Peculiarities of the "Great 
 Weep" — Curious Contpanioiis — Tlie Ilouri- 
 Ilunter— Sea-Sickness— The "Infallible Anti- 
 dote" — Xaulical Witticisms— The Ghost of the 
 i'ig— Sea and Shore, ice. &c. 
 
 Liverpool, 5th Nov., 1845 
 We arrived here a few minutes ago, after a 
 passage at once prolonged and disagreeable — a 
 passage of nearly six weeks, unusually diver- 
 sified with boisterous storms, violent head- 
 winds, dead calms, and all the other distressing 
 accompaniments that characterize the intro- 
 duction of the unsophisticated to a " lil'e on the 
 ocean- wave," with all its uncomfortable pecu- 
 liarities. 
 
 As the Steamer, much to our mortification, 
 left yesterday, passing us iu the Channel, whero 
 ead-winds detained us a week, we lost ihe 
 ' expected opportunity of transmitting by her 
 even a single chapter of tribulations. The pre- 
 sent steamer enables us to hold a somewhat 
 Klmore regular communion with our far-oil' but 
 ^ear, " our own, our native land." 
 •^ _ And here, in the outset, permit us, dear read- 
 er, tenderly to inquire if, in the course of your 
 iife, you have ever imbibed any of that species 
 pf practical knowledge a vivid idea of whicn 
 h, or ought to be conveyed, in the familiar ex- 
 Tj)res6ion ol "going to sea"? Have you ever, 
 f Jn an unguarded moment, contemplated with 
 .^resolution the chance of placing yourself and 
 ~^our " body corporal" at the mercy of thai 
 " great deep" in whose constancy experience 
 "^ authorizes us to repose as little confidence as 
 the Good Book tells us is due to the faiih of 
 »*prince8," or as Peter Brush assures us, can only, 
 in a republic like our own, be extended to 
 
 «' politicianers," when we are disposed to enjoy 
 the luxury of a " hysi" ? 
 
 Have you ever, for an instant, while Appre- 
 hension, bavins? feasied upon the rum-cherries 
 of H>)pe, indu ged in the inebriate's sleep, and 
 Fancy remained as wide-awake and vivacious 
 as an eel is said to ket-p uself while the fish- 
 women are relieving ii of its cuticle : have you 
 ever, at such a perilou:^ crisis, entertained with 
 complacency the thought of putting yourself, for 
 weeks, on the verge of a watery grave, for the 
 mere satisfaction of gazing into it, and ascer- 
 taining precisely the dilFf rence between bocom- 
 iog '■' food for worms" and provender for 
 fishes? 
 
 Have you gone still further and played the 
 philosopher? for we maintain of the Sea as 
 the Fr> nch writer did of the House ot Correc- 
 tion, viz : that " he who goes once to ii may 
 go by accident ; he who goes twice may go as 
 a philosopher ; but he who goes a third time 
 mti>t,be either a dunce or a madman": have 
 you ever thu.<( worshipped at the shrine of phi- 
 losophy ? If aye, why then you are acquaint- 
 ed with ships : you are qualified, peradventure, 
 to become a " skipper," and may incontinently 
 jump this initial episile We have nothing 
 yet to add to your stock of instruction. 
 
 But, if you be one who has had the sagacity 
 to «' let well enough alone"; if you have templ- 
 ed the Sea, as Ciiampagne tempts the palate of 
 the penniless, only through the assistance ot 
 a lively imagiuation; if you have not suffered 
 yourself to be alienated from the cooil'orts of 
 home, and " tiansported" in obedience to the 
 despotic behests of Fushiuii, like the old lellow 
 who. 
 
 ^45311 
 
DU SOLLE'S 
 
 *' aWiouuli he was n't rirh. 
 
 Siill thuuubt biiiisell a i^entleiiiuQ 
 And wouliJ Tjcliavu as sicli ;" 
 
 if you have remained prudently at home where 
 your head and your stomach could conduct 
 themselves with becoming Ciirisiiaa propriety 
 — where the one would not be constantly 
 •'swimming," en amateAir, as if anticipating a 
 bout with the fishes, and painfully conscious of 
 being the w«ighliest part of the human system, 
 nor the other, with annoying fastidiousness, 
 pertinaciously "throwing up" to you your daily 
 indulgences however abstemious: if you be such, 
 read on ! our melancholy reminiscences may 
 warn, if not serve to amuse you: " Les sou- 
 venirs, madame, sont sans prix." 
 
 In fact, our brief acquaintance with the Sea 
 has been, to us, all-sufficient. It has been, as 
 a French lady-passenger on board the same 
 vessel naively expressed it, " delightfully dis- 
 gusting," and we feel no particular anxiety, at 
 present, to extend the intimacy. Yet its un- 
 pleasantness was mitigated, occasionally, by 
 ludicrous scenes that extracted from us many a 
 hearty laugh in the very midst of our suller- 
 ings. We had on board about ninety steerage 
 passengers returning to the land of their child- 
 hood, and their frolics on deck, for they had 
 anythmg but a Paradise below, were most 
 amusing. Then, again, we had also along a 
 sapient pig, and a fecetious duck, both of which 
 were remarkably fond of rum. Their absurdly 
 human performances, when intoxicated every 
 day by some one of the inhabitants of our 
 miniature world, were irresistible, even while 
 they saddened one by their mute but eloquent 
 commentary upon human infirmities. The pig, 
 in one of his vagaries, fell down the hatchway 
 and fractured a leg. This accident, singularly 
 enough, cured him of his appetite for liquor. 
 He never could be induced., atlerwards, to "put 
 an enemy into his mouth" to rob him of his 
 little wit and his activity. The duck which, 
 by the way, was familiarly known as " Jenny 
 Green," continued, however, to imbibe pota- 
 tions "pottle deep." The admonitory "quack ! 
 quack !" of her partner, a solemn-looking drake 
 who utterly eschewed the blandishments of the 
 bottle, were of no avail ; and the mysterious, 
 semi-rational manner in which, with head on 
 one side, and eye significant of profound sur- 
 prise and contempt, he would gaze upon Jen 
 ny's abortive eflbrts to preserve a respectable 
 perpendicular, provoked many a smile on what 
 would otherwise have been very lugubrious 
 countenances. 
 
 We possessed, besides, another curiosity in 
 
 the shape of a young gentleman witha"pekoo- 
 
 liar liihp '' Now we ag'ee with the song that, 
 
 in lisping, 
 
 " there's soinctliini; iiiiroiiiinou, 
 
 AdiI a lisp, iu iiarlir'Iar, is swcot in a woiiian ;" 
 
 but, in one of the "boots and boaver" gender 
 Ibe adcclution is "tolerable and not to be en- 
 dured " His display of vanity uud verdancy 
 
 too, were exquisitely refreshing. He had 
 abandoned hi-i country, be assured us, because 
 his "too thutheptib'e heart" was about to ren- 
 der him a victim to the wiles of "theven lan- 
 guithing young creatures" whom the law would 
 not permit him legitimately to possess in the ag- 
 gregate, and whom he said it would be "thuilhi- 
 dal" to own, as worshippers, one at a lime. 
 A curious heart must be our fellow-passenger's! 
 But, after all, as the sympathetic Mr. Pecksniff 
 observes, in "Martin Chuzzlewit," the "heart 
 is not always a royal mint, with patent ma- 
 chinery, to work its metal into current coin. 
 Sometimes it throws it out in strange forms, 
 not easily recognized as coin at all." Who 
 knows, therefore, but that the "thutheptible" 
 organ of our friend iu question is a very good 
 one, although, perhaps, one of those old-fashion- 
 ed machines which, in the olden time, was sup- 
 posed to be capable of distributing its alTeclioDa 
 among as many wives as its owner could find 
 board, lodging and work for, without pecuniary 
 inconvenience? Be that as it may, our friend 
 was actually en route for Constantinople, where 
 he had been informed "beautiful Houris" were 
 to be obtained on moderate terms, and a "few 
 of which" he was seriously resolved to own if 
 they could be had, to use his own words, "for 
 either love or the pewter" — two commodities 
 he professed to be abundantly supplied with. 
 
 He was a sweet youth, that passenger ! The 
 Captain pronounced him a "decided cross be- 
 twixt a Cologne-bottle and a^man-milliner," for 
 he was as "spruce" as the beer so much relished 
 in the dog-days by the juvenile economists of 
 Philadelphia, while his habiliments always ex- 
 uded the odor of a remarkable intimacy with 
 our neighbor Roussel, of the same city. How- 
 ever, great men have their failings. Even 
 Richelieu, the splendid statesmen, alTecled the 
 bea7t garon, as well as the wit and the critic, 
 and why not our passenger ? 
 
 "Bleth my soul, Captain," said he, coming on 
 deck about noon of the second day out, with 
 the countenance of one nerved to some despe- 
 rate resolution ; "bleth my thoul, captain," he 
 began, "but thiih ith a motht uneathy veihel." 
 
 "Perhaps, my dear sir, it is your stomach 
 that is uneasy." 
 
 "Ah ! yeth, but, cuth it ' captain " and 
 
 here, what more he would have said was cut 
 off by a hasty rush to the side of the ship, where 
 he "poured out his libathion to Neptune," as he 
 poetically phrased it, with a signiticancy that 
 amply expressed his feelings in the absence of 
 language. 
 
 It seems that it had been his intentiou to 
 request the captain to take in those "little 
 anti-republican thails," (i. e. royals,) at the 
 mast-heads which he suspected gave so much 
 laierul motion of the vessel, or at least to "put 
 out ilioiiic ropes and keep all thnug and quiet'' 
 lor just one evening, for his aucommodatiou ! 
 
 1 
 
LETTERS. 
 
 He waB excespivtly sea-sick, to be sure ; 
 and so were we. fa our own case, we really 
 concluded lliat the accumulated bile of a <iuar- 
 ter of" a century had been manumitted at once, 
 and was determined upon maintaining, every 
 day, in our "in'ards," a sort of Fourth of July 
 celebration of its independence. And lei no 
 one presume to speak of the mal de mer with 
 unbocomiug indilference. It is the most inde- 
 scribable, as well as the most despicable of 
 human disorders, and withal, like the tooth- 
 ache, begets no sympathy. We counted one af- 
 ternoon forty-six persons of both sexes leaning 
 over the ship's gunwale, and all " casting up 
 accounts" at once, with the facility of so 
 many Zerah Colbourns, Tliere was not a dry 
 eye on board, at the sight. Nor could we help 
 laughing ourself whenever Nature, in her pa. 
 cific intervals, would permit us to make a re. 
 spectable use of our risible faculties. To see 
 so many and such varied countenances, at the 
 same moment, down-turned with loathing or 
 up-turned in despair, and each the very perso. 
 nification of helpless nausea as regarded itself, 
 and helpless mirth as regarded its neighbor, 
 was too exquisite a picture to go unconteni. 
 plated. 
 
 In truth it is a curious malady, that of the 
 Sea ! Our lisping friend remarked, in his 
 agony, that, <<cuth it," he was prepared to ex- 
 change places with any dog ! Of course he 
 meant with any respectable dog — a butcher's 
 dog, for instance — but we did not quite reach 
 that anii-climax of self-re^pect. We confess, 
 on reflection, that in the worst phases of our 
 emotion, (and "our suflerings was intolerable,") 
 we would not have consented to exchange con- 
 ditions with any half-dczen dogs — unless they 
 had been very jolly dogs indeed. 
 
 But what increased the chagrin of "cuth-it," 
 (a name which, as the result of his frequent 
 use of ihat delicate expletive, our odoriterous 
 companion was soon familiarly known by, and 
 no oiher,) was the total failure of an antidote 
 for sea-sickness that he had brought with him 
 in the shape of a handful of the American soil, 
 a smell or two at which, he had coaxed him- 
 self to believe, would banish old Diabolus him- 
 self, were he to venture sea-ward in the gui^e 
 of a gastrotiomic disturbance. However, the 
 "American Soil" was carefully watered every 
 day, (and it did our heart good to look at the 
 fresh symbol of Freedom ) its owner declaring 
 that, if in no other way to be inaJe useful, he 
 could take it to Europe and "thinell ith bleth- 
 thed republicanilhm" whenever he became dis- 
 gusted with royal ways and courtly manners. 
 
 Our passage was a very rough and stormy 
 one, and it was necessarily impossible for any 
 one to whom the situation was at all novel, t© 
 enjoy the least repose. Our desired course was 
 easterly, but through the long and dreary hours 
 of night the listening ear could detect nothing 
 
 in the response*? of the hclmomnn besidws 
 <<3ou'," or "Sou' West," or "Hou' Sou' West," 
 or "Sou' West by Sou'," or e(|ually forbidding 
 intelligence. Our lisping beau was exaspera- 
 ted almost to madness by these "she .pork" re. 
 iterations, as he bitterly den<'minated them. 
 
 "The thailors ihay," he whispered to us, in 
 a voice choking with anguish, "that tliome of 
 their interethting ihweethearts ashore have put 
 a 'black cat under the tub,' to occathion thuch 
 contrary winds; but cuth it !" he ejaculated, 
 "it rautht be a black yig, and we are being 
 haunted, in these winds, by the gholht of iih 
 dithcontholate mother." 
 
 We laughed and suggested that, in such a 
 case, the ship stood a very slender chance of 
 "saving its bacon." 
 
 A sudden plunge of the vessel at this mo- 
 ment enabled three or four of us to accon:pli6h 
 a rather decent but unpremeditated somerset. 
 
 "On my thoul," said our companion, who 
 was the first on his feet again, " ihilh ith too 
 bad. I don't tho much objec-t to the thmell of 
 tar, but the 'pitch' of thith vethel, cuth it! is 
 very annoying" His grief had grown 'pun'- 
 gent 
 
 "Yeth," he murmured to himself, as he took 
 up his light 10 ret. re for the night, "the thip 
 wath no doubt built in 'leap'-year, and ith de- 
 termined to jump the whole diibtance between 
 here and Liverpool." And we were soon so- 
 lus. 
 
 It is wonderful how we all love to torture 
 that which is torturablf! Men and dogs, we 
 believe, for the credit of Nature be it said, are 
 the only animals that refine this cruelty by 
 loving to torture their own kind. On board 
 our ship poor "Cuth it" was made the subject 
 of a world of practical waggeries, and not a 
 day passed that did not develope some crude 
 jest at his expense. If he undertook to fish 
 for mackarel with a piece of red flannel for 
 bait, he was certain to pull up a salt codfish 
 that, in his absence, had mysteriously taken its 
 place If the ship liirchtid heavily he was 
 petrified by being told it was "only a rock," 
 (by-the-way, it is no wonder that children are 
 appalled to sleep, in a cradle;) and we shall 
 never forget his countenance of niter dismay, 
 when gravely a.ssnred that such was the charac- 
 ter of the seamen on board, it was necessary 
 to "call the watch" several limes every night! 
 without enlightening him as to the nautical sig- 
 nification of the expression. 
 
 Indeed, without our amusing fellow voy- 
 ager the passage would have been lanuntably 
 uninteresting, for a more mDnolonous life than 
 that on ship board, with its daily ronime of 
 mechanical duties and its unrelieved pro.'^pect 
 of clouds and water, cannot well be conjec- 
 tureil. To be sure, the first few days afforded 
 a thousand objects '.o awaken or gratify the 
 atteutioQ of one uninitiated; aud when, oa the 
 
DU SOLLE S 
 
 (second day out, we rose eaily to behold, for 
 the first time, the sun rise on a perfectly land- 
 less oeean, the view we admit, (for it was 
 blowing a gale,) was fearfully sublime. Indeed, 
 we detected ourselt lurning the terrible pros- 
 pect into a 'werse.' Wes-pare our readers the 
 result of our metrical reflections. 
 
 But, even the vnstness of the sea soon grew 
 familiar, and then all the disagreeable pecu- 
 liarities of our prison-house became gradually 
 more apparent. At a very early day "the cow 
 went ashore," or in other words our stock of 
 milk was exhausted, and the sea-dijhes, how- 
 ever good, were not the most particularly 
 adapted in the world to provoke an appetite, 
 even in a more tranquil state of the digestive 
 organs. 
 
 After all, there is nothing like terra-firma for 
 comfort, and the agrenuvs of life. On shore, 
 objects will, generally speaking, stand still to 
 be looked at; and as to the winds, it is a mat- 
 ter of indiffrirence there whence they come, 
 since "close quarters" is the only quarter from 
 which danger is to be apprehended. The sailor 
 may sing, as sailors do sing — for we heard one 
 sing it the other night as he sat under the lee 
 of the foremast, when it was blowing, (to use 
 the language of his companion,) like "forty 
 Aurora Borealises tied up in a bowline" — the 
 sailor may sing 
 
 ■'A strong North-ERstcr's blowing, Bill, 
 Hailil don't you lieiir it roar, now? 
 
 Lord help 'cm! Ijow I pities all, 
 Unhappy folks ashore, now:" 
 
 but, bless you! a sailor's opinion of "land-ed 
 security" is purely of the "Arabian Nights'" 
 order of logical architecture; and the idea of 
 falling chimney-pois in an October breeze, 
 "strikes more terror to the soul of Richard," (if 
 his name happen to be Bill on the ship's arti- 
 cles,) than would all the dread realiiies of a 
 hurricane on a lee-shore, with the bona-fide 
 Scylla and Charybdis playfully inviting him in 
 the distanse. 
 
 No, no; give us the steady shore for our home 
 The sun may not rise as gloriously there as 
 when he wakes up the misty waters with his 
 b'ight laugh, and makes thfm glitter like so 
 many paths of lapis lazuli, nor loi k as gay, per. 
 hrtps,as when he flashes witii his evening pur- 
 ple the foamy waves, that seem to be puitmg 
 on their little cotton night caps, and rolling over 
 each oth-r, like playful urchins, into bed. We 
 may not have, ashore, the consolation of the 
 "jolly old cock, who was cast on a rock" — 
 
 "I don't care a riirse, 
 
 It might have been worsp. 
 
 This jolly oM coik, say'ahe; 
 I've g' t a K<'od hunoh 
 That will do for my lunch, 
 
 And A BEAUTIFUL VUiW OF THE SEAI" 
 
 But then we have the fresh scent of flowers! 
 the merry song of the b'rdsl the quiet sleep 
 o'nigh's on soraelhiiisf besides what an Irish 
 (riend at our elbow calls "seven-foot fea- 
 thers," {i. e. straW;) and the nice cup of choco- 
 
 late in the mornings, with no lack of milk 
 wherewith to "whitewash the cocoa," as aa 
 English varlet a few minutes ago denominated 
 it, while eulogizing "pleasant lodgings," to 
 convey us to which he demanded, in the same 
 vernacular, a "bob and a tizzy" — meaning 
 thereby, in plain English, one and sixpence. 
 
 We were about to say more, but the land we 
 write in is not the prettiest at this season. A 
 thick fog obscures the sun. The sky is Bot 
 exactly as "brilliant as the shells on Cerigo's 
 shores after the binh of Venu«," and the land- 
 lady says "the gentleman" must purchase a 
 red comforter directly for bis neck, if we do 
 not wish to die of the "catarrhums " So aa 
 abrupt adieu for the present. Du Solle. 
 
 NO. II. 
 
 First impression of Liverpool — Tboiv;hts of 
 Home— Effect of Distance an'l Absence— The 
 streets, houses, women, &c.— The Docks anil 
 the Duties — The Custom-house — Seizure of 
 Boolts— Speaking "good English" — An inter- 
 esting Incident. 
 
 Liverpool, Sth Nov., 1845. 
 Our first day in Europe.' How strange, and 
 yet how familiar appear all that we see around 
 Us! What curious houses! What curious peo- 
 ple! What curious streets! Yet, in sober, plain 
 truth, they are the very houses, the very people 
 and the very streets rendered common to our 
 memory by books, and our eyes by the theatre. 
 The buildings and the streets which, from time 
 immemorial have preserved their uniqueness 
 upon the canvass scenes of the American 
 stage, resembling nothing like the buildings 
 and streets seen in American cities, are, we 
 discover, the "counterfeit presentment" of 
 those that now encounter our eyes in every 
 direction. This makes the singularity of the 
 latter piquant, but it ^aJden6 every reflection 
 with a thought of our far-otfhome. We never 
 more forcibly feel our aliection for our native 
 land than when distant from its shores The 
 heart which, indeed, seems to "drag at each 
 remove a lengthening chain," buries all local 
 animosities. The very men and the very 
 measures, that we hare for years so studiously 
 combatted and exposed, somehow appear en- 
 deared to u* becau::e belonging to the country 
 we call "our own;" and the very mention of 
 their names, or the casual meeting with allu- 
 sions to them in the English press, (we can 
 scarcely find a ne^-spaper from the U. States.) 
 stirs up in one's bosom a sensation which, if 
 not one of fondness, would be mistaken for it 
 by the most sagacious mental police in Chris- 
 tendom. Away from home, we naluraily look 
 at its imperfections through the concave lens 
 of Memory's telescope, thus diminis-hing each 
 dark cloud to an almost indistineuishable point, 
 or beholding it only as the shadow that gives 
 harmony to the general view — the spot upon 
 
LETTERS. 
 
 the sun that nflects not its glorious day-beam, 
 yet bespeaks ils common heriiage of infirmity. 
 As far as the love of one's country is con- 
 cerned, the aphorism is not true that it is di- 
 minished by either time or travel. Perhaps, 
 however, much depends on the nature of that 
 love; and, atter all, Rochefoucauld may be cor- 
 rect in the asferlion that, "absience duninishes 
 small passions and augments great ones, as 
 the wind extinguishes candles and gives addi- 
 tional energy to conflagrations:" a very striking 
 illustration. 
 
 But, << let us return to our muttons," to use 
 a Gallicism, and a truce to philosophy for the 
 present. Let us look around us. We are con- 
 fident that we have seen before, those frown- 
 ing walls — these embellished fronts— this ornate 
 style of window — that classic pile; nay, yon- 
 der buxom housemaid, with rufiled cap on 
 head, (all the female domestics wear caps here,) 
 and round, plump arms bared to the elbow, 
 who trips by with rosy cheeks that, in the lan- 
 guage of Scripture, " stand out with fatness," 
 (indicative of plenty of beer or very little 
 botheration,) methinks she is no stranger to our 
 vision. Yes, we have seen all — but, it was 
 upon << the boards," and the Abigail was then 
 "en costume." Those dark red sails, too, that 
 we beheld this morning in the harbor : how 
 often have we smiled at them in pictures ! 
 How often have wo wondered that the artist 
 had chosen such a dingy color for efiect, little 
 dreaming that they existed out of the painter's 
 imagmation. That hue is really given them 
 to preserve them from the destructive effects 
 of the city's smoke— and Liverpool of the sun- 
 niest day is little betierlhan "darkness visible.'' 
 The bituminous coal in universal use here, 
 emits a smoke from fifty thousand chimnies at 
 once, many of them, (those of manufactories,) 
 six'y feet high, that effectually places the genu- 
 ine daylight " hors de combat," and substitutes 
 a dim, fogiiy medium of sight, very conveni- 
 ent^ possibly, to weak eyes, but not so well 
 adapted to clear views and clean habiliments. 
 
 Yet, Liverpool is an interesting city. The 
 multitude of shipping; the number of ocean- 
 steamers momentarily arriving and departing; 
 the steam-tugs, (tow-boats,) bringing in or 
 conveying out the legion of merchant ves- 
 sels bearing the flags of every trafTicking 
 nation in the world ; the ferry-boats crossing 
 and recrossing the harbor, and looking black- 
 er and homelier than anything of the kind in 
 America : all these speak a lesson of trade 
 and industry not yet vouchsafed in full to our 
 young republic, and would make us feel thu 
 we were among strangers, even did we not 
 hear about us voices that use a tongue recog- 
 nized from childhood, but use it how different- 
 ly ! and did we not inhale for an atmosphere, 
 a thick amalgam of gas and humidity, that one's 
 lungs alojost refuse to consider a legitimate 
 
 aliment, and one's nostrils take pains signifi- 
 cantly to "sneeze at" on all occaoions. Liver- 
 pool is, nevertheless, the beau ideal of com- 
 mercial cities. There is scarcely a spot in its 
 vicinity that does npt bear evidence of the 
 most extraordinary business-cnterprize exerted 
 to encourage and maintain a vast maratimo 
 trad«. The place has not so many natural ad. 
 vantages for the purpose, but Art has done 
 wonders To counteract the disastrous effects 
 of the tide, which has a fall here of about 
 twenty-seven feet ! a bold and very curious 
 scheme was projected, and is in admirable ope. 
 ration. The city was enclosed within a huge 
 wall on the seaward side, with capacious pates 
 at certain intervals. At high-water these eates 
 admit shipping info extensive and wide docks 
 superbly margined with massive stone quays, 
 or wharves, calculated to accommodate an in- 
 calculable number of vessels of all sizes and 
 descriptions. Before the tide ebbs these yates 
 are firmly closed, and thus enc'osing the water 
 like a canal, and securing a sufficient depth at 
 all seasons, even while, outside the walls, the 
 very bed of the river is in places exposed by 
 the retreating waters. This wall and these 
 locks subserve another, and by no means se- 
 condary end in view at their formation. Thev 
 make them«elves useful as well as ornamental, 
 by facilitating to a pretty extent the faithful 
 collection of a large portion of the revenues of 
 Her Majesty, Queen Alexandrina Victoria, con- 
 sort of Prince Albert Francis Augustus Charles 
 Emanuel of Saxe Cobourg and Gotha : we be- 
 lieve we have not omitted any part of the 
 Royal appellation ! 
 
 But, behold us on shore, and on our way lo 
 the Cnsfom-house of the port of Liverpool. 
 We have no passionate desire to inspect that 
 building, bnt the government, in that amusing 
 way in which most governments manifest their 
 desire to become better acquainted with visi- 
 tors and the state of their apparel, has taken 
 possession of our trunks and other little etce- 
 teras, nwd politely invitf>d us to make an ex- 
 hibit of our wardrobe- Of course there is no 
 resisting such affecting solicitude, so we at- 
 tend. The officer who accompanies us has ju^t 
 whisp(*rcd in our ear that, if we "have any- 
 thing private to say," he "is open to re<ison," 
 which, translated into the vernacular of com- 
 mon sense, means that his confidence is to be 
 won as Jupiter won the love of Danae. He is 
 anxious to gnze at our goods and chatte's 
 through golden spectncler! We have no rea- 
 son and less inclination to tempt his cupidity. 
 
 The streets are exceedingly wel'-paved here. 
 S.ime are n.acadam'zcd, we think, and some 
 laid with stone as, in Philadelphia, is Chestnut 
 between Fil'h and Sixth streets. The sidewalks 
 are of fl.iasione, like the pavements of New 
 York. Both the street iind side walk are 
 covered, just now, with a greasy mud that in- 
 
6 
 
 DU SOLLE'S 
 
 Tests a promenade with not a few of the cha- 
 racteristics of an uncertain experiment. It is 
 pleasanter to ride; at any rate, a ride will ', 
 afford an inside view of a cumbrous and inele- 
 gant vehicle called a cab, with a driver titling 
 awkwardly bekind it, and will besides feelingly 
 accustom the passenger to one of the innume- 
 rable advantages taken of those who are not 
 "to the manor born," by the unscrupulous. 
 
 Several things strike the eye of the obser- 
 vant stranger here. A policeman in appro- 
 priate uniform is encountered every few feet. 
 They appear to be either extremely numerous 
 or truly ubiquitous, we have scarcely made up 
 our mind which. Soldiers, in scarlet cloth, 
 are also to be seen lounging about or chatting 
 at the corners with girls, some of them with 
 bunches of parti-colored ribbons streaming in 
 the wind from their caps. The latter are 
 looking for recruits They seem to be anxious 
 to discover those ardent philanthropists who, 
 in the superabundance of their loyalty, are 
 ready to shed their blooa to "preserve the 
 peace of Europe." (We might here indulge 
 in a wretched pun about agreeing to serve for 
 a "Sovereign," and receiving but four pence, 
 per day — but we won't do it) A street- 
 sweeping machine, uncouth and ugly, is en- 
 deavoring to purify the way, just before us. A 
 vehicle, intended for a dray, but with a large 
 cross ot' the wagon in its composition, brings 
 up the rear. It is long, strong, and suspended 
 only a few inches above the ground- Its 
 wheels, several inches on the tire, are of great 
 size, and incline, below, very much from the 
 perpendicular. To complete this picture a 
 number of powerful, deep-chested draught- 
 horses, are at work in sight, and skipping be- 
 side (hem a host of tiny animals des gnated as 
 ponies, attached to pleasure-carriages of sev- 
 eral species. The ponies are, many of them, 
 no larger than some Newfoundland dogs, and 
 look very pretty. The income-tax has made 
 itself familiar with the purses of those who 
 keep horses ; and as ponies were unimagined 
 in the B'.ll, these diminutives have come in for 
 a copious share of the public attention. There 
 is one advantage attending their use. Should 
 they grow obstinate and refuse to proceed in 
 any given direction, it is only necessary to 
 dismount, put the animal under your arm and 
 carry him until he is satisfied that rebellion is 
 unprofitable. 
 
 Let us go on. How massive are the struc- 
 tures all around us ! The houses wear an air 
 of having been erected to endure for ages. 
 The plain brick ones are dark and priaon-hued. 
 We are told that coal-dust is incorporated with 
 the clay of which the bricks are manufactured, 
 in order to strengthen ihem. In the more 
 fashionable thoroughfares the bricks are plas- 
 tered over and painted a lively color. This 
 habit and the imposing style of architecture 
 
 generally adopted, bestow upon the squares 
 quite a dashing and aristocratic appearance. 
 The public edifices have the same as-pect of so- 
 lidity and durability. It is not our province to 
 describe them. 
 
 Here is ihe Custom-house. We enter and 
 oblige an officer with our keys. Our trunks, 
 ikc , are rigidly examined, lest a mouthful of 
 " the noxious weed " be lying perdue in some 
 unsuspected corner. The officers pause in 
 their search. They confer together. Their 
 eyes are cast up m unmitigated horror. What 
 have they discovered? Alas! &omG American 
 books ! Worse than this, some are American 
 re-prinis of English works. The latter, we find, 
 are prohibited — interdicted — as was the intro- 
 duction of opium into China — and we have 
 committed "flat burglary" in their importaiion ! 
 They are taken from us. The others are re- 
 stored to us on the payment of an onerous duty. 
 There is one of the contraband volumes that 
 we really must have, for wc cannot replace it, 
 and it is valuable. A half crown crosses the 
 palm of an officer, and presto ! the book is in 
 our possession The officer is poor, no doubi, 
 and your poverty is a sad commentator upon 
 the ethics of the Customs ! 
 
 Our liberality has done more than we ex- 
 pected, for it hais rendered our Custom-house 
 friend communicative. We enter into conver- 
 sation, and he actually does us the honor to 
 mistake us for an Englishman ! When we 
 rectify his error, he testifies his surprise by de- 
 claring that, "for an American," we really 
 " speak very good English "! We verily be- 
 lieve he labors under the impression that 
 Americans commonly address each other in 
 Choctaw, Iroquois or some other aboriginal 
 jargon unknown to civilized society, for his 
 companions also compliment us. One of them 
 even solemnly avers that our diction is nearly 
 as pure as his own ! although. Heaven help us ! 
 he might easily have been the juvenile of 
 whom the interesting papa says in the song — 
 
 " and oft his head I towels, 
 
 'Cause be cxasiicrattstlic II, 
 
 And won't iiernoume the wuwcls." 
 We left the Custom-hou^e and, but for an in- 
 cident at the door, would have brought to our 
 dinner anything but a wholesome slate of equa- 
 nimity. Napoleon is said to have lost one of 
 his battles in consequence of imbibing his soup 
 in an ill-bumor ; who knows what might have 
 been the result. In the present critical position 
 of public afiairs between the United States and 
 Great Britain, had we ventured to digest our 
 dinner and our dissatisfaction at such a mo- 
 ment! Bat, sitting at the door we saw a sai- 
 lor, picturesquely rageed, laughing immode- 
 rately over a well-thumbed volume he was pe- 
 rusing by what might properly be called 
 "spells." Curiosity overcame propriety. We 
 peeped over his shoulder. The book was an 
 American one ! Nay mure, it was the "Char- 
 
LETTERS. 
 
 noal Sketches" of our modest friend Neal, of 
 I'niladelphia ! We could almost have hugged 
 the taitered rascal tor his appreciation of genu- 
 ine wit, and fell vexed that the scurvy jade, 
 Foriuiie, was so disposed to place him in the 
 fondiiion of one of (he heroes of the book he 
 was reading, by enabling the public to «Beetoo 
 much of him." 
 
 After that we dined well and deliberately. 
 Do SOLLK. 
 
 NO. III. 
 
 Eatiu*; and (lriiikiii<; at Livprpool— pretty wait- 
 iii:;-iiiai(ts, their costume aud manners — hotel 
 arrangements— tlie streets— substitute for pea- 
 nuts— wonderful exhibition— anniversary of 
 the ''Gunpowder Plot" — bonfires, songs — 
 tlioughts on pick-pockets, jcc. 
 
 Liverpool, 5 Nov., (night) 1845 
 Night in Liverpool ! We are so gratified at 
 our leg-freedom — at our escape from on ship- 
 board where, " bouud to the mast like the sou 
 of Ithacus," we vegetated, for, after all, 
 "Man, sir, is but a plant, 
 Although he hold no place in botany"- 
 
 we ar« so delighted ai the opportunity of exer- 
 cising our curiosity aud our powers of locomo- 
 tion at the same moment, that we cannot be 
 tempted to remain indoors, though the luxury 
 of a quiet bed is most inviting. 
 
 We fiud the hotel arrangements here some- 
 what singular, but strikingly comfortable. The 
 bar is not obtruded upon the sight, as in many 
 hotels at home, and is attended, as we perceive 
 through a showy glass door, by a lady dressed 
 in smiles and a black pelisse. The servants 
 are chiefly of the softer gender, active, obliging, 
 and very assiduous in their attentions. Those 
 we see are decidedly pretty, and if they have 
 not the «'robustness of a beer-barrel", have a 
 look of abundant health, and air ot good humor 
 that is really infectious. They wait on one 
 with cheerful alacrity, and in their manner 
 seem anxious to assure one that servitude is, 
 with them, an enjoyment rather than a duty. 
 Their costume is neat and appropriate. The 
 clean white apron sets ofl" their figures to ad- 
 vantage, while the lace-bordared net cap adds 
 an eminently domestic look, aud afibrds a capi- 
 tal contrast to the ruddiness of their cheeks. 
 They are quite modest withal, and we make 
 these notes while a couple of them are vieing 
 with each other in their exertions to provide 
 us with a palatable supper in our chamber, 
 (there are no "tables d'hote" in England,) and 
 anticipate our wishes. There is a want of 
 sociability, certainly, in this English mode of 
 eating in solitude, but the fashion has its conve- 
 niences, not the least of which is the fact that 
 your purse aud your appetite are enabled by it 
 to practise a system of mutual accommodation, 
 to say nothing of ttic obliging atteutious, and 
 the pair of laughing eyes thrown, as a relish, 
 luto the bargain. 13y our side blazes a coal 
 
 fire, (we wish it were Pennsylvania anthracite,) 
 that reminds one of Pittsburgh and its abomi- 
 nations, and before us burn two candles, one 
 of which we were under the necessity of calling 
 for to assist us in seeing the other's light— both 
 together might be eclipsed in their luminous 
 intentions by a hall dozen enterprising Ameri- 
 can "lightning-bugs," provided the latter were 
 made aware of the nature of the experiment. 
 
 Supper over, we may say that the meal was 
 excellent and not unreasonable. The whole 
 expense of Iod;.;ing, meals, &c., is about equal to 
 the cost of the same in the first class hotels of 
 America. In more fashionable quarters the 
 expense is, of course, proportionately aug- 
 mented — the servants' fees being, possibly, no 
 inconsiderable item. At our hotel, these fees, 
 we find, ar« inserted in the bill, and are equi- 
 valent to the gratuities usually bestowed by 
 liberal travellers in our own country. The 
 parlors, we note, are designated by names, 
 painted on small signs over their doors : one 
 is denominated the "Aurora," another the "Mi- 
 nerva," another "Athens," &c. To go into 
 very minute matters, we may add that even a 
 small watch-pocket of knitted-cotton, orna- 
 mented, is suspended, over the head, from the 
 bed-curtains. In fine, nothing is neglected, 
 adapted to increase one's comfort, or minister 
 to moderate desires. 
 
 And now for the street — for it is only in the 
 public streets that one can get a genuine pic- 
 ture of the popular life and of national man- 
 ners. Mud and fog beset our path as usual, 
 but the brilliantly illuminated shops, (gas must 
 be cheap here,) makes a very decent substitute 
 for daylight. Butcher-shops, or stores, some of 
 them elegant establishments, are numerous. 
 Victualing-shops, with men and women dis- 
 posing of the ready-cooked and savory meats 
 in the windows to customers, who carry it 
 away on uncovered plates or dishes, are also 
 abundant. This is classic enough, for "Phaido 
 kept a victualing shop, and entertained those 
 whom he fed," and moreover had Socrates for 
 a boarder. Of stores for the sale of Yankee 
 clocks, we have met three within five minutes: 
 (our Connecticut neighbors never lose a chance 
 of turning a penny, when they can turn it satis- 
 factorily ) The liquor shops are beyond com- 
 putation. Their proprietors, too, seem to be 
 possessed of a pretty large share of that spe- 
 cies of "ambition" which Shakspeare speaks 
 of as likely to "o'erleap itself," for "wine and 
 ale vaults" or "spirit vault" is ostentatiously 
 paraded over every shop, however innocent of 
 subterranean accommodations. Fish, cheese, 
 and other stores for the sale of almost every 
 imaginable article, crowd the thoroughfares, 
 and wear a look of busy gayety. 
 
 The streets are lively and filled with people. 
 The omuibusses, (they resemble our own, but 
 oueh has u "uonduutor" behind, to attend on 
 
8 DU SOLLE S 
 
 passengers,) are raliliiig by. The air is vocal 
 wiib all kinds of noike. Here is a iiille fellow 
 cjt-^rliiig himbeif to biiig '-Lucy Neal," and 
 luakidg au extraordinary effort to convince 
 biaiself that he is buccesbful. There is a man 
 with a fractured vocal organ pressing the pub 
 lie to believe that he is actually giving away 
 his periwinkles. His every shout recalls lo 
 mind Irving's description of Flimsey's Rich- 
 ard HI: "it was like two voices run into one; 
 you would have thought two taei had been 
 calling for a horse, or Kichard calling for two 
 horses" By the way, "periwinkles" ar« the 
 popular English subsliiute for peanuts in 
 America. They are not unlike small snails. 
 They have a black shell, and are boiled as 
 we boil chestnuts; after which they are vended 
 to the juveniles in the streets, and add their 
 quota to the general entertainment at the thea- 
 tre and other public places. A little farther on 
 is the exhibition of a Mummy, and a capital 
 pair of lungs at the door are engaged in speci- 
 fying its attractive qualities. " 'Tis fresh as any 
 hegg, gen'lemen, and is honly G782 years old. 
 It is the spicy remains of the Hegyptian giant 
 of the Acropolis, wat used to tear out peopU's 
 legs, and beat 'em vith the bloody hends. 
 Walk in gen'lemtn — honly a penny." Ti.e 
 curious erudition of the speaker is not to be 
 passed by, and so we commit his words to memo 
 ry while conning a written placard on the door 
 that professes more circumsianiially to enu- 
 merate the contents of the shew. We thus 
 learn that there is really to be seen, within, "A 
 Tiger from Bengal wat used to eat women, 
 and little children under fourtin years of age!" 
 an "American crocodile in exsellen repare;" 
 also "The Patience of Job," and a "tin-cup 
 wat belonged to wun of the Patriarks," are 
 among the curiosities. As to the mummy, we 
 pity it. 
 
 " 'Tis hard one cannot lie amid 
 The mouM, beneath a coffin-lid, 
 But thus the Faculty will hid 
 
 Tlieir rogues break thro' it; 
 If they don't want us there, why did 
 
 They send us to it?" 
 
 The "tin-cup of the Patriarchs" and the "Pa- 
 tience of Job" go entirely beyond our compre- 
 hension. We cannot imagine man or woman 
 having one, and we fancy what a figure an 
 antedeluvian would have made using the other. 
 But hark! a terrific disturbance is going on 
 around the corner. And see! there is the light 
 of a huge bonfire. Listen to the songs. True 
 enough; this is the 5th November, the anni- 
 versary of the "Gunpowder Plot" of Guy 
 Fawkes, and a day universally and peculiarly 
 celebrated in this country. On the morning of 
 this day men and boys parade the streets with 
 stuffed effigies of Fawkes, (who, history in- 
 forms us, in 1604 attempted to blow up the 
 Houses of Parliament,) and beg pennies from 
 public-spirited citizens to purchase fireworks, 
 ale, &c., for the evenings saturnalia. At night, 
 
 immense bonfires are kindled, a chair with one 
 of the effigies is placed on the top of each, and 
 amidst the blaze of the whole, the discbarge of 
 squibs and rockets, and the shout of patriotic 
 songs, the ale is drunk, and dancing over and 
 around the fires is kept up until a late hour. A 
 great many respectable-looking persons of both 
 sexes are standing beside the present confla- 
 gration, laughing at the loyal orgies of the ac- 
 tors in the scene. One man approaches us 
 with a hat. He sings — 
 
 "Remember, remember 
 
 The .5tb of November, 
 
 The gunijowder-trciuion and jilot — 
 
 I see no reason 
 
 Why tunjiowder-trcason 
 
 Should ever be forgot." 
 
 We give him a penny, and he proceeds to ih-i 
 next. Another noisy one is amusing himsolf 
 by feeding the flames, and as he throws the 
 fuel on the effigy, shouts — 
 
 "Stifk in a stake 
 For i<jn? George's sake; 
 Stick in a stump 
 For Kjn^ Gcor<e's rump: 
 Holloa boysl holloa boys! God save the Kinij! holloa boys; 
 holloa boysl God save tlie Queen! Whooray! wbooray!" 
 Another discordant scamp, in the overflow of 
 his patriotism, is screaming, in equally good 
 metre — 
 
 "Guy Fawkes, Guy, did contrive 
 To blow Kins; FarfiameDtup alive, 
 But by God's men y lie was ketiht, 
 Witli a dark lantern and lighted match, 
 And just as he was Roing to touch ihe prime, 
 He was caught by the tail behind— 
 Whooray! whoorajl whooray!" 
 Thus the frolic continues uniil the bonfire is 
 extinguished, and the liquors and the patience 
 as well as pence of the spectators are exhaust- 
 ed. The police are also on the spot. Indeed, 
 it is difficult to say where they are not. We 
 encounter their blue coats and white trimmings 
 at every turn. And yet pickpockets are nu- 
 merous, and a warning to beware of them may 
 be found in every place of common resort. In 
 fact their presence appears to be expected; and 
 it is not very long since a pleasant English au- 
 thor undertook to prove that pickpockets were 
 necessary to a perfect state of society. He 
 considered "a genteel man to be somewhat 
 neglected" whose pockets escaped a contribu- 
 tion of this character; and he argued that a 
 gentleman who "behaves as such," could af- 
 ford lo permit, if not patronize pickpockets, 
 just as well as noblemen to patronize pugilists! 
 Farther than this, he ingeniously sought to 
 eulogize a rogue of the kind, by the shrewd 
 observation that 'he picks his pocket when he 
 picks yours," or in other words, compliments 
 you, by "making a selection, from among a 
 hundred, of your pocket in especial." We 
 confess that as a matter of convenience, as 
 well as taste, we could very well dispense 
 with such compliments altogether. They are 
 "touching," but rather costly indulgences. 
 
 And now to a good night's rest. We grow 
 weary of sight-seeing, and depart betimes in 
 the morning for the great metropolis, Loudon. 
 We shall then have reached the "high top- 
 
LETTERS. 
 
 gallant of our j jy," fo use the language of the 
 love-sick Romeo. We anticipate much plea- 
 sure in treading the streets, and gpzing at the 
 very spots made familiar to us by Shakspeare 
 and the old dramatists, and we trust to be able 
 to impart a little of our satisfaotion to our 
 readers. Till to-morrow then, Adieu, 
 
 Du SOLLK. 
 
 NO. IV. 
 
 Arrival in Loudon — roflectloiis upon the occa- 
 sion— vasarics of Fant y— the p'ltatup-roastcr— 
 the railroad from Liverpool— I lio enj;ines— llf> 
 stopping-places— ru>tic scenery— linglisli cot- 
 tages— tJie canal— poetry, romance, A:c. 
 
 London, 7 Nov. 1815. 
 Here we are at last in the great Babylon of 
 Great Britain! We have reached it from Liver- 
 pool, via Birmirgham, (vulgarly ci'led Brumma- 
 ' gem,) in twelve hours over a superb railroad, and 
 through a region of coiintry abounding in rural 
 scenery of the most picturesque and poetic 
 character. 
 
 Our brain ia in a complete whirl of excite 
 oaent; but we must pen our impressions while 
 they remain still fre«h upon the memory, for 
 having caught them, we cannot put salt upon 
 their tails to keep them, nor let them out on 
 parole with a pledge to return when they are 
 wanted. Besides this, the boiling tide that 
 rushes through our viens, and the painful 
 throbbing at our temples, tell us but too surely 
 that we are about to pay the usual penally of a 
 change of clime. 
 
 Seated in a snug little room then, with a sea- 
 coal fire burning cheeringly in front of us; by 
 our side a lofty gothic window with antique 
 mouldings hung with crimson curtains, and a 
 dim view in the distance of the immense monu- 
 ment immortalized by Pope, which, "like a ir.ll 
 bully, lifts its head and lies;" immediately 
 under our nostrils a delicious cup of tea, smo- 
 king in china of a pattern fully as ancient as 
 that of the curiously carved furniture that sur- 
 rounds us: fancy us thus comfortably siinnted, 
 mentally consigning a troublesome headache to 
 a fervid residence "down, down below," and 
 desperately essaying to clothe our capering 
 thoughts in sober black, for grave perusal. 
 
 Here we are in this vast cauldron of human 
 emotions, our own but a faint ideal in the 
 mighty pulsation of the two millions of hnman 
 hearts beating at once in this overswoln city. 
 We cau scarcely credit the evidence of our 
 senses that the billowy Atlantic rolls between 
 us and our distant home. The clock of St. 
 Paul's is tolling over the busy crowd of Mam- 
 mon's worshippers the waste of time, but our 
 refractory ears persist in recognising in its 
 solemn tones only the familiar voice of our 
 old acquaintance of the Slate-House steeple; 
 and even Fancy busies herself in the erratic 
 task of converting the dissonant cry of the 
 man at an adjacent corner, who is retailing the 
 
 potatoes he is ro-isting in a lin-iub to ihi> popu- 
 lace in the streets, into the cry (for "copy" to 
 which our own little eauctuin is so well accus- 
 tomed. 
 
 All this, to be sure, has nothing to do with 
 the incidents of our transit from Liverpool to 
 London; but we must tell our story in our 
 own way: we have promised to give a faith- 
 ful transcript of our sensations as we go, m a 
 lively, unconstrained and soci.'Me manner, and 
 we feel in'lined to do it even at the hazard of 
 ei;countering the "poohl" and the "p«haw!" of 
 those scurvy curmudgeons who feel no interest 
 in the little figures that goto form the great in- 
 teger of life, and w ho exped a human being to 
 travel wiih his heart, like his best hat, in a 
 leather-box, only to be taken out and made use 
 of on important occasions. 
 
 We le("t the smoke begrimed city of Liver- 
 pool at 6 o'clock this morning It was scarcely 
 daybreak, and to us the railroad t'epot looked, 
 as a buildiig, in the dim light, not unlike a 
 church. We suspect ih^t, w th the exception 
 of the front, the wnole editice is subierrnnean ; 
 for, after seating ourself i:i a cur, and bsi-in?, (of 
 course,) imposed upon by the demapds of half 
 a dozi;n aUeiidani.'< lor services known and un- 
 known, done aid undone, we wer'j whirled 
 about three miles through the bowels cf the 
 earth, and far beneath the houses, churches, 
 markets &c , of Liverpool, by means of ropes, 
 before we emerged into the open air, at smother 
 depot beyond the populous confines of the City. 
 Here we beheld a multitude of fire-fiends, in the 
 shape of locomotive engines, hissing off their 
 superfluous steam, Hashing their blazing eyes, 
 or pulfing forth in huge volumes their thick 
 smoke-breath, as if impatient at the delay that 
 kept each of them from snatching up and de- 
 parting by some out: of the several trains, with 
 its load of mortality. A strange thing is an 
 engine! Our own started off with a horrid, 
 ear-piercing shriek of exiiltalion at having so 
 i-Kany human souls to torture or Irille with, and 
 went panting along the iron road with a vigor 
 that, at first, crowded one's imagination wiih 
 a host of ideas th:it had very litile to do with 
 this world, or with the more agreeable division 
 commonly anticipated of the next 
 
 The English railroad cars do not resemble 
 anything American. They rather, bear an ap- 
 parent relationship to the American cars of an 
 early date. They are, in fact, car-coaches, or 
 .stage-coaches in the chrysalis sta'e of transi- 
 tion into railroad cars, and preserve yet, much 
 of their outward and inward semblance to the 
 original. The first class cars are exiremel;? 
 well fitted up, but the second cla?s are vile, and 
 the third atrocious. The buggape of the pat- 
 sensers is carried on the top of these cars alto- 
 gether, the luggage car in advance being em- 
 ployed to carry frcigtii. Theac rulc& may nut 
 
10 DU SOLLE'S 
 
 be applicable to ail the trains, but we are not 
 aware at present of any exceptions. 
 
 The road between Liverpool and London is 
 not, in construction, attendance, regulations, 
 &c., approached by anything in our country. 
 Railroads, with us, are completed with a sin- 
 gle eye to expedition or profit; here, the grand 
 object aimed at appears to be solidity and dura- 
 bility, regardless of expense; but in America 
 we are, in the matter of luxurious cars, at 
 least hdlf a century ahead of Great Britain 
 
 We left Liverpool at a rapid rate, but as we 
 hiid to slop at some village or "Station," nearly 
 every ten minutes, to take up or set down pas- 
 sengers, our progress was necessarily i^low — 
 Still, It was fa>t enough for every purpose of 
 observation. Everything, indeed, was done 
 with, literally, the regularity of clockwork — 
 ThH way-bills designated the exact minute at 
 which ine train would arrive at every "Station," 
 (the lime being nicely marked by a clock ad- 
 justed agreeably to the longitude of each,) and 
 iiothiug could be more prompt or more punc- 
 tual. The servants, too, of the railroad com- 
 pany, dressed in a plain unilorm, were always 
 on the spot, alert, active and obliging. One 
 of them could always be discerned in the dis- 
 tance as we approached a stopping place, with 
 either a red or green flag in his hand, to im- 
 part to the guard some necessary information. 
 And then at the "Stations," as the stopping- 
 places are termed, what attention is paid to 
 the manifold wants of the traveller! We 
 should really take a lesson, at home, from the 
 English in this particular. The station-house 
 at even the most obscure village is always a 
 tasty, as well as comfortable structure. A hand- 
 some, paved way, extends along the front of it. 
 Conveniences ot all kinds for eeuilemen, as 
 well as ladies, are there erected. A number 
 of large signs conspicuously arranged, render 
 all inquiry as to the title of the place unneces- 
 sary, even to the greatest stranger. All that is 
 required is done with a noiseless, business-like 
 despatch, your trunks are carefully lifted up; 
 way-packages of s.-nall size are placed in 
 lo'-kers under the seats by means of so'eII doors 
 opening upon the outside of the cars; coals are 
 enipiied into the tender from sacks ready filled 
 and in waiting; the water is ejected from a 
 fluted iron column surmounted by a lamp; the 
 bell tolls, and the train is off at the very instant 
 Used for its departure. 
 
 At one of the "Stations" we observed that 
 a martin had built its nest under the eaves of 
 the house, and in the midst of the smoke, and 
 bustle. And the nest remained there undis- 
 turbed, a popular superstiiion rendering it a 
 perilous undertaking to remove it. This bird 
 seems to be aware of its security ; for, in 
 many places it occupies both of the upper cor- 
 ners of the windows of dwelling houses with 
 its bulky, clay domiciles, and cards have to be 
 nailed over ihese snug localities, in order to 
 
 keep the little architects out, and prevent such 
 unsightly disfigurements. 
 
 The scenery along the road, we have said, 
 is picturesque and poetic : nay more, it is 
 really beautiful, even at this sombre and, so- 
 called, suicidal season. It has none of the 
 grandeur and sublimity of our American 
 scenery ; there is not the immensity, nor the 
 majesty that awes while it delights the eye oi 
 the ariist at home ; but there is a serene and 
 touching loveliness in the landscape that stirs 
 up e^'ery ia'eut feeling of romance in one's 
 consiiiulion, and, if ii be true that "Friendship 
 is the wine of existence, and Love the dram- 
 drinking," makes one (eel wonderfully like a 
 maudlin indulgence. It is the realization of 
 one's boyhood dreams of rural pleasantness. 
 There are the very cottages that the old poets 
 have sung of, and of which our fingers have 
 so often sought to catch a living likeness. 
 There they are, with their quaint and ragged 
 outline — iheir comical roofs thatched with straw 
 and o'ergrown with moss, and their tiny lat. 
 ticed windows peeping from between the 
 green ivy that creeps over the walls and sha- 
 dows them, like timid innocence looking out at 
 a sinful world. There, too, is the little wind- 
 ing road, the favorite of every sketch book. 
 There i- the murmering rivulet, meandering 
 through the green meadows, with the willow 
 laving its branches in the cool stream as it 
 flows. There is the ancient village-church, 
 the rustic mill, and the foamy waterfall— the 
 plank bridge, the little white gates, the haw- 
 thorn hedges, the air of domestic induotry and 
 all the thousand and one charming accessories 
 of an exquisite picture that every cultivated 
 mind has painted at times, when in.'pired by 
 the books of what we have all been taught to 
 look upon as a classic age in the history of our 
 common language. 
 
 After all this rhapsody, let it not be sup- 
 posed that we are insensible to the glorious 
 features of our native land, or that we reserve, 
 like too many, our enthusiasm for "foreign 
 graces." But, while we worship the sublime 
 in one, shall we be so prejudiced as to refuse 
 to do homage to the beautiful in the other? 
 Has not the same munificent hand outspread 
 them both for human enjoyment? Is it not, 
 after all, the same Nature, though attired in a 
 diflerent dress? Beshrew us! but we despise 
 the selfish spirit that "can travel from Dan to 
 to Beersheba and find all barren," because the 
 route may happen to have the odor of a dis- 
 tinct nationality; or that fancies it exalts the 
 blessings of its own home, by churlishly dis- 
 paraging those it meets with everywhere else. 
 Nature has no climate, no soil, and no nation. 
 To adore her is to do reverence to her great 
 Author; and an admiration ot her charms in 
 evsry garb, in every clime, is the natural reli. 
 gion of a grateful heart. 
 
LETTERS. 
 
 Une thing strikes the traveller as highly 
 characteristic ia this country. Land is valu- 
 able, and per consequence, almosr every inch 
 of ground is under ouliivation. The eye tra- 
 vels over nothing but fields furrowed by the 
 plough, with vegetation elruggling through the 
 rich dark earth into the sunliehi; or it rests on 
 the still green pasture where the "lowing 
 herd," or the plump sheep, fill up the quiet 
 landscape. Even the trifling space between \ 
 the rails and the green hedge, (fences are rare I 
 here,) is carefully planted with eilhet flowers 
 or vegetables — an exiraordinory sight to an 
 American, and od<j that prettily relieves the 
 tedium of the dullest travel. 
 
 The line of the canal to London frequently 
 crossed our track, a- d it lay like a sheet of 
 molten silver imbedded in the deep green 
 of its banks. Now and then it stole afar 
 ofl in its tortuous path like a huge serpent 
 striving to conceal itssliining folds in the dark 
 grass. Anon, it bursled upon us flgain like a 
 sapphire lake, while the red sails of a passing 
 boat, (for they ui^e sails also, on this canal,) 
 gleamed, in the sunbeam, like rich rubies scat- 
 tered over its placid bosom. 
 
 But, our subject grows upon us as we pro- 
 ceed — c)ur rascally headache is becoming as 
 importunate as a constable — fire, candle and 
 paper are giving us a legitiuiate "notice to 
 quit" — and so like Ctesar, we yield gracefully 
 to overpowering numbers, and decease for the 
 uonce. Du Solle. 
 
 11 
 
 NO. V. 
 
 Canals and lieadaches— rpflections on physic— 
 the railroad to London — the great tunnels— the 
 tiny gardens, the bridges, the fare— the country 
 seats— the chase— singular fact— Birmingham 
 and a breakfast— appropriate thoughts — an 
 accident — an angel in disguise — curious inci- 
 dents—arrival at London, &:c. &c. 
 
 LoNPON, 8 Nov., 1845. 
 We left off last night in the midst of the head- 
 ache, and the Canal to London. The one we 
 soon left behind us, on the railroad; the other is 
 entirely too afl'ectionate, and slicks to us as, 
 agreeably to the vulgar apothegm, Death adheres 
 to a defunct colored gentleman. It is daylight 
 however — perhaps we should say fog-light, i'or 
 positively we can scarce command, through our 
 window, a decent view of the magnificent bijou 
 establishments acro.«s the street, and a sort of 
 clarified Egyptian darkness pervades every nook 
 and corner of the metropolis — it is daylight, how- 
 ever, and that is some comfort, for a headache, 
 proceeding from a cold, bt-ars a strong family 
 likeness, in one respect to the poetic geniu.s, and 
 "Genius," if we may credit Mr. Pump, "never 
 feels its oats until after sunset." We have sent 
 for the man of pills, and it is possible he will be 
 able to exorcise our unpleasant cerebral disturber. 
 He will take some "pains" we trust. At least 
 he should, for we have an invincible repugnance 
 lo the whole contents of the iiharmaco[Kri(i, and 
 
 considerably prefer having our victuals go regu- 
 larly through by due course of mail, lo liaving 
 them physicked through by Express. Still, drugs 
 are better than the lancet. Phlebotomy is, at 
 best, labor m "vain," and "per Ilerclel" we 
 have no relish for such sanguinary recreations. 
 
 But to the railroad again. The distance from 
 Liverpool to London is a little over two hundred 
 miles, but the fare to one used to the cheapness 
 of American transportation seems excessive. 
 Nearly twelve dollars is the price by the best cars, 
 and ten and eight dollars by those with inferior 
 accommodations. To be sure, the road is costly 
 in construction, and is maintained in admirable 
 order, and no doubt at a great expense. We 
 counted six or seven tunnels as we passed, some 
 of them miles in length, that must have required 
 an enormous outlay. The tunnel under the city 
 of Liverpool is, in itself, a wonderful piece of 
 art, and it is a curious thing to see hundreds flash- 
 ed through the earth beneath the very foundations 
 of a mighty congregation of human habitations. 
 There is another tunnel near Birmingham, with 
 huge dome-like openings lo the earth's surface at 
 intervals, intended for the escape of the smoko 
 from the engines. All of them are remarkably 
 massive and solid, and have every appearance of 
 strength and durability. Then there is a legion 
 of stone and brick bridges arching over the rail- 
 way at the cross roads, almo.st all of which make 
 decent pretensions to architectural display, and 
 are very heavy. The neatness, finish, taste and 
 attention to the public convenience, manifested 
 at the "Stations" or stopping-places, we have al- 
 ready enlarged upon, (omitting, we think, to men- 
 tion the gardens of flowers, sometimes only a 
 foot or so square, invariably coaxed out of the 
 trifling waste land discovered and ingeniously 
 cultivated bs' one of the company's attendants on 
 the spot,) and then there are net only white mile 
 p(}sts with large white metallic f gures on a black 
 ground, but half and even quarter mile posts, be- 
 sides a number to designate, at various points, 
 the direction to adjacent villages. These things 
 necessarily involve groat expense. Still we are 
 inclined to think the fare exorbitant, and we sus- 
 pect that, at present prices the investment must 
 be profitable, for the business done on this road, 
 and by means of its branches, amounts to, we aro 
 told, one hundred thousand dollars per week ! 
 
 There were some lovely c<*untry seats, with 
 extensive parks and castellated mansions, to be 
 seen on our route. Now and then we came 
 across the family caniage of an allhient or titled 
 individual. The servants in livery, obseqiiiou.^ 
 both in dress and manner, with knee-breeches, 
 white stockings, shoes and laced coals, presented 
 a novel sight. Of the vehicles, all were heavy, 
 some neat and some otherwise, Occasionally 
 we beheld a party cng;iged in the chase, with 
 their red coals, their hi)rses, dogs, &:c., forming 
 an interesting sight. These were of course the 
 gentry, for the poorer classes have lillle lo do 
 with similar enjoyments, unless it !«", peihap.«, lo 
 
12 
 
 DU SOLLE S 
 
 inveigh against such unnatural political distinc- 
 tions, v/hcn their grounds have been trampled 
 down by the hunters in the pursuit of a sport in 
 which it would be out of character in them to 
 mingle. The farmer cannot but feel vexed, too, 
 when sowinij his buckwheat, at the compulsory- 
 labor and its object; for although buckwheat- 
 cakes — that delicious food — are unknown here, 
 every agriculturalist, it is said, is compelled to de- 
 vote a portion of his land to the cultivation of the 
 grain itself, for the use and benefit of that species 
 of game, viz : partridges, pheasants, &c., which 
 he is not permitted to point a gun at, but which it 
 is the special privilege of a certain class exclu- 
 sively to destroy. This, if it be so, is one of the 
 odious features of a political aristocracy, and one 
 that must make itself sensibly felt, we presume, 
 on many an occasion. It is peculiarly hard when 
 a man cannot pursue the game that he may find 
 upon his own premises ; it is still harder, how- 
 ever, when he is coerced to provide food, on his 
 own premises, for game reserved for the amuse- 
 ment of others. 
 
 At 11 o'clock, A. M., we arrived at Birming- 
 ham, the great iron-manufacturing city, the smoke 
 of which we scented at the distance of several 
 miles. Its approach is marked by iron-works in 
 every direction, with clusters of houses adjacent, 
 the residences, probably, of the workmen. The 
 forest of tall chimnies belching forth black smoke, 
 and enveloping it forever m a murky cloud, does 
 not add much picturesque beauty to this mart of 
 industry, and yet it was vocal with the hum of 
 labor and enterprise. The railroad tracks here 
 were very numerous. The depot is a beautifully 
 constructed building. Its framework is of iron, 
 and though large and strong, wears a charmingly 
 light and airy appearance. We do not know 
 how many locomotive-engines were firing up, or 
 living about, at this station, but there was a very 
 great number. Had it been niglit, one might 
 easily have imagined that Pandemonium had been 
 let loose, and that Earth was being deluged with 
 a llood of living and vivacious fire-demons. 
 
 We left Birmingham at twelve o'clock, M., 
 afler placing a capital brealcfast beneath our 
 waistcoat, and feeling altogether much improved 
 by the circumstance. By the way, it is really 
 surprising what an eflect a satisfactory meal has 
 /upon the human spirits. It is true that of "all 
 ;tlie antagonists to mental depression, travelling is 
 tiic most vigorous;" but then the etceteras, witli- 
 out which travelling is a nuisance, must not be 
 ueglecled — and among them, to say nothing of 
 good roads, palatable food is the most important. 
 In fact, nothing can be properly done, (except 
 taking physic,) that is done fasting — a truism illus- 
 Iraled by the fact that your lean men, your men 
 Willi the corporation of a two-ounce vial, are 
 ever splenetic, while your rotund, Falstalf-like 
 iuiinunitiesjaro luirth incarnate, witty themselves 
 
 f and the cause of wit in otliers. There is some- 
 
 I thing both invigorating and humanizing in a f.»eef- 
 
 I steak — particularly if dished up somewhat afler 
 
 I the fashion of Macbeth's trite reUcction on a very 
 
 i different subject, 
 
 I "If it were done, when 'tis done, then 'twere well 
 I It were clone quinkly:" 
 
 I and we have always given that shrewd English 
 ! commander credit for unusual sagacity who, ad- 
 I dressing his soldiers on the eve of a battle, said, 
 "What a shame it would be to you Englishmen, 
 who feed upon beef and drink beer, to let those 
 rascally Spaniards beat you who eat nothing but 
 oranges and lemons:" truly a "meet" suggestion. 
 
 From Birmingham to London little presented 
 itself that was novel, besides an accident, and a 
 couple of singular fellow-pa.ssengers. The traiu 
 ran over and crushed a poor fellow who, intently 
 gazing upon the hounds in pursuit of a hare in a 
 contiguous field, did not hear the shrill sound of 
 the steam-vi'histle until too late to preserve his 
 life. It was distressing. The calamity developed, 
 however, the s^mipathy of our travelling com- 
 panions, and we found some interest in fabri- 
 cating the remarlcs of each into an index of ia- 
 dividual character, "What a shocking death!" 
 faintly murmered a lady on our right, with the 
 least possible su>picion of a tremulous shudder, 
 as she applied a flacon of salts to her nostrils — 
 performing the act so as to display to the greatest 
 advantage the full roundness of a very beautiful 
 hand, and the jewelled whiteness of her long, 
 tapering fingers that looked like "rolled-up rose 
 leaves, with nails like pieces cut from the lip of 
 a shell." "No business on the railroad," surlily 
 muttered a stout, well-mufiled up old gentleman 
 in the corner, with a close cap drawn down over 
 his ears and eyes, and whom the incident had dis- 
 turbed irom a slumber to which he had composed 
 himself a moment previous. "I hate a scene!" 
 he grufily added, cocking up one little eye with a 
 very curious expression at the delicate lady we 
 have mentioned, ere he relapsed into his com- 
 fortable position. The delicate lady replied only 
 with a furtive glance that, fairly translated, 
 would have said, in the words of Dickens' Jonas, 
 "It must be liquid aggravation that circulates in 
 his viens, and not regular blood;" and then spile- 
 fully hitching up her shawl, she tried to amuse 
 herself by tapping "Di tanti palpiti" on the win- 
 dow pane. We had not observed her lace par- 
 ticularly before, but now that our attention \vas 
 drawn to it, vre thought that it was surpassingly 
 beautiful. Her pouting lips looketl with their 
 deep crimson, like a torn promegranate blossom, 
 in the dark corners of which a world of Cupids 
 were playing at bo-peep with each other. Yet • 
 there was a luxurious sadness, a something inex- 
 pressibly melancholy in the expression of her 
 check, that conjured up a thousand piqiiant de- 
 tails of a romantic history. We perused her lea- 
 lures one by one, a* we would have pored over 
 the pages of some delicious volume, every line 
 deepening an unfathomable well of passionate 
 
LETTERS. 
 
 13 
 
 inspiration. Absorbed in the intoxicating con- 
 templation, we were suddenly aroused from our 
 poetic reverie byaliasly movement ol' llic oIj- 
 ject of our attention. She yawned. The dream 
 was di^^solve5I, Tlie spell was broken! Our 
 beauty had evidently never heard of the won- 
 ders of modern ophthalmic science. In short, 
 
 "A sh'ght cast in licr eye to her louks atlJed vi^or !" 
 while, as if it were " Pelion upon Ossa piled," 
 to increase our discomfiture, three of the ivory 
 angels that should have guarded the rosy portals 
 of her voice, like the "lost i'leiads," were miss- 
 ing Irom Iheir habitation I It was too bad. The 
 book of sweet and unwritten tenderness that 
 we had mentally visioned, lay cruelly mangled 
 before us at a blow. The tearful di.j)ihs of an im- 
 passioned spirii that we had sounded — the cham- 
 ber of grief, " aching with desolation," that, 
 through the "ouler vestibule" of a mournful heart, 
 we had in fancy, penetrated and explored, turned 
 out to be the idle vagaries of a vulgar and alFect- 
 ed shrew. The testy old gentleman in the cor- 
 ner was her huslxuid, andhe always raised "such 
 a precious go!" when disturbed, she assured us, 
 that she would have fainted outright, for our 
 amusement, on the occasion of the accident, but 
 for the inconvenience she experienced when her 
 nerves were in the slightest degree agitated. And 
 yet she was a woman I and our slumbering 
 neighbor had no doubt wedded her from pure 
 love! Ah, truly, too often "I'amour e'est un enig- 
 me, dont !e mariago nous apprendra le mot; mais 
 ce n'est pas un bon mot." 
 
 It grew dark as we approached London, and a 
 heavy fog and rain that had set in, contributed to 
 close from our eyes what we were really yearn, 
 ing for — a perspective picture of the great eity- 
 We soon reached the depot, a large, commodious 
 and illuminated building in one of the suburbs, 
 where omnibusses were in waling to convey us 
 in any required direction. A perfect stranger as 
 we were to the country, little did we know to 
 which point of the compass to recommend our- 
 self, so we concluded, in the true spirit of adven- 
 ture, to trust ourself to Fortune, in the hope that 
 she uiigh.t favor us wiili some sweet bestowing 
 under the eircuniilaiices. We threw oursell' into 
 an omnibus that appeared to have travelled the 
 dirtiest, and of course, the busiest and most pop- 
 ular route, and opening a window, prepared for 
 the result. The vehicle was crowded and soon 
 driven oil", and in a I'aw minules we were 
 whirled through streets blazing with gas-lights, 
 and tilled with carriages and cabs and people, all 
 hurrying to and fro in a stale of apparently des- 
 perate exertion. We were bewildered with the 
 glare and the bustle, and every passenger be- 
 sides us had been set down, when the omnibus 
 finally stopped in the midst of a brilliant and tu- 
 multuous square, and we were politely informed 
 by the conductor that we were in front of our 
 hotel. We couldn't for our life conjecture how 
 he divined our wishes, but we looked out, and as 
 
 the hotel had really an aspect of comfort, as well 
 as elegance, and three or four waiters witli round, 
 jolly faces, stood awaiting our decision, we pre- 
 pared to descend. But our eye caught ihe profile 
 of a cat in the doorway. We hesitated a mo- 
 ment, and the next passed up into the hotel with 
 alacrity. The cat was sleek and well fed. We 
 never, by any chance, voluntarily trust ourself 
 in a place where the grimalkins have a lean, 
 diaphanous appearance. Fat cats indicate good 
 living, fake our word for it. We were not mis- 
 taken in the present instance. Du SoLi^. 
 
 NO. VI. 
 
 liondon— thn " west-cnil" — affhienoe and Indi- 
 gene*^ — omnibu-sscs — a female equestrian— 
 ICiit;!ish men and Kngltsli woiueii— Trafalgar 
 square — Lord Mayor's day, its procession and 
 peculiarities— 3nouutebanl<s, music and gym- 
 nasljes— singing KJrl.s— universal '"intment" 
 —the Iaz/.aruui of the great metropolis, &c. 
 
 Lo.\Do.\, 10 Nov., 184'). 
 
 Wooed by the charming weather, so unusual 
 to the season, we sallied out this morning, after 
 breakfast, ("or a promenade. Gro\\'n leg-weary, 
 we took a seat in an omnibus, and ultimately got 
 out at liyde-Park-corner, in the ultra-fashionable, 
 aristocratic, or "West-End" of London. Before 
 us rose the lordly front of Apsley House, the 
 magnificent residence of the Duke of Welling- 
 ton, and around us a host of other splendid dwel- 
 lings inhabited by the titled or the opulent. As 
 we sauntered along the gay street known so well 
 to all novel readers as Viccadi/ly, admiring the 
 brilliant equipages that dashed us by, or ever and 
 anon rushed through the open gates, and drew \ip 
 before the door of some stalely home of nobility, 
 a half dozen theatrically-dressed servants being 
 instantly in attendance, we could not help giving 
 utterance to a sigh ; for, gazing through the iron 
 railing at this pomp and ceremony of wealth, 
 was a poor woman, with an infant in her arms, 
 whose hollow cheek bespoke abject want and 
 unspeakable suflering, and whose eyes indulged 
 m an eloquence of supplication for which her 
 tongue was forbidden to find words by the con- 
 stant proximity of the police. 
 
 We had .some ditficulty in threading our way 
 quietly through the moving mass of hnmanity 
 that seems to throng the principal .streets of Lon- 
 don at all moments. Once or twice we came 
 near being run down at the cro.-isimjs, such was 
 the press of vehicles of all de.jcnplions, from the 
 patrician coach with its coronet or coat of arms 
 emblazoned upon the panels, its mettlesome 
 horses and gayly-habited outriders down lo the 
 unpretending donkey-cart, with its homely shape 
 and its touching picture of patience in harness. 
 After a hasty tour ihiough the most elegant divi- 
 sions of Old and New Bond, Regent and Oxford 
 streets, and a brief glance at the aristocratic glo- 
 ries of Soho, Beigrave, Portland, Berkely, Ca- 
 vendish, Hanover, Portman, Grosvenor, Kussell 
 and Bedford Squares— regions that have beeu 
 
14 
 
 rendered by fashionable novel writers more fa- 
 miliar to American ears than many of them are 
 10 the eves of a large portion of the citizens ofLon- 
 don themselves— we foimd our road back again 
 to Piccadilly, at its point of junction with Co- 
 ventry street, and the handsome thoroughfare de- 
 nominated the Haymarket. 
 
 Here we paused for a moment to contemplate 
 the busy scene. On either side of the way ran 
 
 two migh'y floo<^s °f ^'^^' ^^'^^ ''"'^ ^°^'^ '" 
 both struggling to get beyond its fellow, and each 
 swelling up and rolling on, mindful only of its 
 own importance, and intent only upon its own 
 object. The carriage-way exhibited a similar 
 and equally active sight. Here were, at least, 
 half a score of handsome omnibusses, (very like 
 our own,) in sight at once, each "licensed to 
 carry thirteen inside and eight outside," as the 
 signs conspicuously inform us, all nearly full, 
 with both men and women perched on top— a 
 seat preferred by many, even m unpleasant 
 weather, there being no difference in the price. 
 
 For one shilling, (2-5 cents) these 'busses, as 
 some call them, will carry you a distance of 
 about ten miles, and no distance whatever for 
 less than six-pence. A conductor, who is usually 
 paid three pounds (Sl-5,) per week for his ser- 
 vices, stands at the door of each to attend upon 
 passengers, and we have found them, so far, very 
 attentive and full of suavity. 
 
 Indeed, we feel bound to say that we have 
 been quite agreeably disappointed, as to our ex- 
 pectations in regard to the English people and 
 their manners. They are not, by any means, 
 what we imagined them to be, judging from our 
 views of too many of them at home. We sus- 
 pect that the belter kind remain here among their 
 kindred and old associations, and that very fre- 
 quently those who visit America with such pre- 
 tensions to consequence, have some pressing 
 reason, besides curiosity, for abandoning their 
 native land. Of course there are many excellent 
 English emigrants in the U. States, some of whom 
 we have the pleasure of numbering as personal 
 friends; but our remarks apply to those dogmatic, 
 supercilious, dissatisfied individuals, who aflect 
 a contempt for every thing American, and an air 
 of royal disgust for luxuries they never scented 
 at home, behind their filthy counters at White- 
 chapel or St. Giles. 
 
 But to return to the omnibusses: they are an 
 amazing convenience in this populous city, whose 
 ten thousand streets, alleys, places and courts, 
 and whose far-reaching extremities, it would be 
 impossible to explore without their assistance. 
 They are universally employed by all classes, 
 and the women, if anything, countenance them 
 still more than the masculine gender: 
 
 "Some la(Ue.<i there are who, I)Ptwixt yon and I, 
 
 Are fond of a 'bus' when a sweetheart is nigh." 
 
 But, the omnibusses, numerous as they were, d'd 
 
 not quite us\irp the road. We beheld one, two 
 
 UU SOLLE'S 
 
 three, four, yes five i)ony phaetons, gliding along 
 with the ease and lightne.*fe of birds, full of joyous 
 eyes and laughing faces, and drawn by the pret- 
 tiest little miniature animals ever manufactured 
 in fairy-land for Cinderalla, their tiny hoofs pit- 
 pating over the smooth stones, like the frightened 
 heart of a timid maiden at sight of the idol of its 
 first devotion. 
 
 Next came a ci-devant Royal Mai Coach, now 
 simply Stage Coach for the conveyance of pas- 
 sengers to distant points not touched by any one 
 of the innumerable railroads that are branching 
 out, like the hundred hands of Briareus, to grasp 
 every accessible spot on the island. The mail- 
 coach still preserves some of its ancient pride, 
 and much of its show and flourish. Blazing 
 stars, and rampant lions, in all the glory of gold- 
 leaf, bedizzen the royal initials and insignia, upon 
 its sides of polished and glittering dark-green or 
 purple, while the merry laugh from the jolly 
 crowd on the "roof," or the obstreperous jest 
 from the spirited party m the "dickey" behind, 
 still rings in our ears, and haunts us with its mu- 
 sical heartiness. 
 
 A lady, on horseback, modestly attired in the 
 customary endless skirt of shadowy hue, with a 
 jaunty black beaver hat on her head, and long 
 bright ringlets streaming down and over her 
 round cheeks, ruddy with exercise, was also 
 trotting past us, managing her beautiful and vi- 
 vacious bay with a skill, ease and grace, thai 
 argued frequent practice. A lady e?i c/ieval, is, 
 at all times, charming to look at, and English wo- 
 men, generally, ride often, much, and very well. 
 Talking of English women, here we have been 
 poignantly deceived again. We expected to 
 meet few besides lovely ones, in the street, with 
 complexions calculated to thaine the lily and 
 rose and suggest to both the propriety of deceas- 
 ing with envy and mortification. But we were 
 egregiously mistaken. Those flowers have not 
 the slightest reason to keep themselves informed 
 of the state of the baneful-drug market, on this 
 account. Certainly, we saw yesterday in Hyde 
 Park, peeping from amid the blue or crimson 
 curtains of an occasional haughty-looking car- 
 riaae, some fair faces wearing an air of distin- 
 g7te, and entitled to be called interesting, if not 
 pretty; but, as a general remark, female beauty is 
 exceedingly rare here; and, on our honor, with 
 everv disposition to be candid and generous, 
 we must say that we have met in ten minutes, 
 more handsome features in Chestnut street, Phi- 
 ladelphia, and JNlarket street, Baltimore, than 
 could be encountered here in almost as many 
 hours. We say nothing of Broadway, New 
 York, for it is a vulgar and common observa- 
 tion, that a decent countenance cannot prome- 
 nade that street except at the imminent hazard of 
 "catching the ugly;" and the notion is almost as 
 applicable to Regent and Oxfoid streets in 
 this city, whether one gaze at the meretricious 
 displays en voitiire, or at, (where we conceive 
 fominiue beaut v is of"tener to he found,) the more 
 
imaeeuming throng wlio are not ashamed to 
 make a leg:itiinate use of the limbs with which 
 Nature has provided them. As a whole, the men 
 are finer-looking than the women, in this coun- 
 try. They are of a proper height, symmetrical, 
 well-knit and muscular, while handsome faces 
 are bv no means uncommon in every rank of 
 life. The women, however, arc unqnes^tionably 
 engaging in their manners, are blessed to a great 
 extent with sweet voices and kind hearts, and 
 make affectionate wives and exemplary mothers. 
 
 But, to get back to our post whence we are ever 
 rambling: at a respectful distance from the lady 
 on horseback rode her e»cort,a servant in livery, 
 with white knee-breeches, gaiters, iScc, and in a 
 black coat and a "brown study." A little beyond, 
 a large, clumsy vehicle, its old and tarnished 
 embellishments bespattered with mud, was rum- 
 bling by, with a smartly caped coachman on the 
 box in front, a male and female servant seated in 
 the curious fixture behind, and four jaded post- 
 horses, the two lel't hand ones being mounted by 
 post-boys in knowing caps, pink jackets, while 
 knee-breeches and Axir-lop boots. Some proud 
 family was, no doubt, returning from the country 
 to its mansion in town. 
 
 Satisfied with our view, we turned down the 
 Haymarket, glanced at the Italian Opera H. use, 
 smiled at the appearance of some two or three 
 loungers against the pillars of the theatre — fel- 
 lows who displayed all their linen between their 
 cravats and the first button of their waistcoats, 
 linen too that manifested a singular ignorance of 
 the price and quality of soap, and fellows whom 
 it was easy to distinguish by their air as attaches 
 of the drama who, "after giving away realms and 
 treasures over night, have scarce a shilling to pay 
 for a breakfast in the morning" — and then saun- 
 tering by Pall Mall and Charing Cross, towards 
 the Strand, stopped to admire the pair of diminu- 
 tive fountains and the lofty monument to Nelson, 
 in Trafalgar Square. 
 
 We have promised to avoid all the usual de- 
 scriptions of public places, engravings of which 
 are in the hands of "all the world and his wife," 
 but we may be permitted to mention that the 
 buildings around Trafalgar Square present a very 
 grand and imposing appearance, if we except the 
 National Gallery, which is an extensive but home- 
 ly edifice. The Club-houses about Pall Mall , too, 
 are showy, though exceeded by those of St. 
 James street, perhaps, in every particular. The 
 front of the Duke of Northumberland's attracted 
 our attention by its "lion of Percy" — a rather 
 stupid one, we thought, with a tail projected at a 
 rigid right-angle, as if it had formed a previous 
 intimacy with a glue-pot. 
 
 We wandered on, and round, and through Lin- 
 coln's Inn Fields, where the new law-building 
 had just been opened with appropriate ceremo- 
 nies by the Queen; and thence back into Fleet 
 street, by Temple Bar — an archway of stone, of 
 the Corinthian order, built by Sir Christopher 
 
 LETTERS. 15 
 
 Wren, after the great fire. Il was originally one 
 of the city entrances, and has still its posterns and 
 gates — the city proper, of London, being limited 
 extremely in extent. We had explored the Tem- 
 ple, another of the legal precincts, and relumed 
 to Fleet street, when we Ibund it completely im- 
 passable. A dense mass of people filled it, and 
 a rapid tide of shouting and boisterous humanity 
 was pouring into it besides, from the Strand, 
 Drury-Lanc, and Ludgate Hill. In fact it was 
 the Lord Mayor's day. The new olTicer, elected 
 by the "Livery" of the ditferent "Guilds," was 
 about to be inducted into his seat, which he re- 
 tains for a twelve-month, with all the extrava- 
 gant ceremony usual to the occasion. The pro- 
 cession was about to turn into Fleet street, at the 
 time we entered it, and hence the tumult and 
 gathering We were instantly jammed into 
 a very inconsiderable space, with our boots in a 
 puddle of mud, our heels against the curbstone, 
 and a solid phalanx of flesh and muscle, not a 
 small portion of which was petticoated, pressing- 
 us on every side, as if to lest our capacity for 
 physical endurance. We submitted to the mar- 
 tyrdom quietly, for there was an infinite deal of 
 merriment in the mob, and remonstrance would 
 have been useless. Some of our neighbors tried 
 their skill, at a few of the sounding expletives in 
 which our language is prolific; but what are 
 oaths? 
 
 " If you have sworn men, into agues, sir, 
 Don't try your skill on me ! My parrot 
 Swears, as well as you !" 
 So we held on, amusing ourself by staring at the 
 ancient palace of Henry VIII. and of Cardinal 
 Wolsey, now converted into a barber-shop, 
 which stood directly vis-a-vis to where we were 
 literally, a fixture, until the gay cortege should 
 think proper to approach. The cruel and iniqui- 
 tous conduct of this tyrant King, the unhappy fate 
 of Anne Boleyne, and the arrogant ambition of 
 the haughty Minister, afforded us scope enough 
 for thought while looking at what was once the 
 great theatre of their shame and glory. But, our 
 musings were suddenly abbreviated by the flour- 
 ish of music, and the advance of a body of horse- 
 men. To these succeeded the pupils of the Ma- 
 rine School on foot — then seamen, with banners, 
 under the weight or importance of which they 
 fairly staggered — more music — vehicles with Al- 
 dermen, &c. — Sheriff's in gay attire — more music 
 — Knights encased from head to foot in ancient 
 armor of brass and steel, mounted upon horses 
 hidden under a similar panoply of burnished 
 metal plates — the late Lord Mayor in a white wig 
 and a green coach, the latter laden with orna- 
 ments of gold, and preceded and followed by 
 a juvenile army of attendants in a livery of the 
 most dramatic and sumptuous character — more 
 music — more horses, more armor, more carriages, 
 and finally the Lord Mayor-elect, in a new coach 
 of immense size, glittering with costly magnifi- 
 cence, profusely decorated, and drawn by eight 
 superb horses fancifully caparisoned, and ridden 
 by postillions in equally pompous costume. A 
 
16 
 
 DU SOLLE S 
 
 torrent of new servants in a new and still more 
 grand livery of crimson cloth, gold lace, cocked- 
 hat, &c. succeeded, when more music and more 
 horsemen brought up the rear. 
 
 We fell into the retreating tide that swept to- 
 wards St. Paul's, and now came the season of 
 mirth. The populace were determined to make 
 this a day of enjoyment, and the street was soon 
 occupied at all points by modntebanks, who 
 essayed to drive a profitable trade am id the crowd. 
 Every few steps a band of musicians made the 
 air melodious with scraps from La Sonnambula, 
 II Puritani, (5cc. or regaled us with "God save the 
 Queen," with embellishments ad. lib. In one 
 spot some wrestlers exerted themselves, making 
 the mud fly at all angles, or, for they were dressed 
 in the usual circus style, they piled themselves 
 up into monuments, or twisted themselves into 
 knots, always concluding by the monotonous pro- 
 jection of a cap into the throng for eleemosynary 
 pennies. At another spot a circular space had 
 been cleared, and two fellows in theatrical cos- 
 tume were dancing hornpipes, minuets, &c. on 
 the greasy, wooden, paved way, with the same 
 pecuniary object. Farther on were two vocalists 
 entertaining the public with an original duett, 
 eulogizing the new officer and cauterizing the 
 late incumbent. They sang with sufRcent vehe- 
 mence, if not skill, and shouts of applause greeted 
 every severe thrust at the deceased lion. 
 
 The next we met was a Paganini of the Tom 
 Thumb order. He was torturing a violin shame- 
 fully, but his want ot height carried it "all hollow" 
 against his want of ability, and the coppers rat- 
 tled bountifully into his papa's "ventilating gos- 
 samer," through the openuigs in the crown of 
 which, paper had been stuffed, to render the 
 "tile" trustworthy. Two small girls, with a mo- 
 rose-looking man, were singing popular music to 
 the accompaniment of an accordion, at still a 
 little distance onward. They had sweet voices 
 and melancholy countenances, and poverty was 
 written very intelligibly, (and we thought iil-usage 
 too,) in their sad little eyes. They did, it was 
 pleasant to perceive, a lucrative business. 
 
 Many other performers were seeking to attract 
 notice in various ways, and the venders of songs, 
 candies, roasted-potatoes, toys, medicines, gin- 
 gerbread, &c., were not idle by any means. 
 "Grapes, grapes — fourpence a pound mid a quar- 
 ter for penny," squeaked one individual, thrusting 
 a handful ot his merchandise almost into our 
 mouth. "Here's old jokes made new again for 
 nothing, and two 'undrcd new 'uus a-going for 
 a' a' penny." "Taters! taters ! betterer for yer 
 "wholesomes than bread, and cheapercr than po- 
 lonies," i. e. Bologna sausages. "Is there any- 
 body here vat don't want to die vatsomdever ? 
 Ere's the 'intment vat eiv'd JNIethusalcm his 
 years, and Solomon his visdom I It sharpens the 
 vit, and takes the hedge ofTmisforlin I It makes 
 young men true, and young vimen iruerer ! It 
 
 makes the 'ead light and the purse 'eavy; eld 
 folks young and young 'uns clever enough to 
 come it over the hold coveys ! It tells fortins, 
 'terprits dreams, and makes riddles ! This 'ere 
 'intment is born magical from T.iy^t, and will do 
 everything almost, besides a good deal more ! A 
 box of 'intment, pir?" But we passed on. A 
 shew next presented itself with "six munificent 
 sights for only one a'penny." Among the sights 
 was "New York in the time of the Cholery." 
 
 Beggars too seized this opportunity, and one 
 horrible looking article of a very questionable 
 gender, stopped our progress, and declared it 
 would have a fit at our feet, if we did not produce 
 a penny. A glimpse at a glazed hat, (a police- 
 man) at a little distance, induced this rascal to 
 evaporate, when another presented himself, sit- 
 ting in a bowl, having lost his pedal "continua- 
 tions." We were told that, in a fit of despair, 
 once, he had thromi himself into a steam- 
 cutting machine, and sadly mangled bis "sit- 
 down" extremity. Time and a surgeon, how- 
 ever, soon restored him. He travelled well in 
 his bowl, and was to us a sort of living illustra- 
 tion of Shakspeare — 
 
 "There's a divhiity doth shape our ends, 
 
 Rough hew them as we will." 
 Shaking ofFthese annoyances, we pursued our 
 way down Gheapside towards Cornhill. to get a 
 view of The Exchange and the Bank of England. 
 The Bank is a mis-shapen structure, too low for 
 its length, but the Exchange, recently restored 
 and finished by Victoria is in very good taste. 
 A finished statue of the Queen occupies a promi- 
 nent place in it, and on the ceiling of the outer 
 promenade are some very skilful efforts of the 
 pencil. The coats of arms of the various na- 
 tions of the world are also depictured there. That 
 of the United States is exactly opposite the en- 
 trance, but is so vile a copy, we could scarcely 
 recognize it. 
 
 Fatigued almost to death we prepared to re 
 
 trace our footsteps, and after pausing to smile at 
 the drolleries of Punch and Judy, exhibited in 
 one of the streets in our route, and to admire the 
 sagacious gravity of the dog, who seemed to en- 
 dure the buffelings that fell to bis share with un- 
 paralleled patience, soon found ourself at our 
 Hotel, discussing a chicken, and the propriety of 
 inditing, (what we fear our readers will pro- 
 nounce,) this tedious epistle. Du Solle. 
 
 NO. VII. 
 
 Nice Weather— Green Park— Physic and Fancy 
 —Regent Street— St. James' Palace— troik. 
 ford's Hell — Buckiii;;linm Palace — Deiis of 
 Misery and Mant— Westminster Abbey — A 
 stroll amid its peopled solitnde. 
 
 London, 20tb Nov., 1S4.3. 
 And this is what is called a "London" day! 
 The smoke-fog is so thick in the streets that it 
 imparts even to one's flesh "an 'ammy ilavor,''as 
 my Lord Bacon might have ol)served iiad be dealt 
 in epithelical philosophy. One might readily 
 
LETTERS. 
 
 17 
 
 Tanoy thai all the teeth belonging to thciuorc than 
 two millions of "forked radishes" who inhabit 
 this monstrous metropolis, had been, at once, 
 afflicted this morning with "odontalgia" — to use 
 the diction of the newspaper advertisements — the 
 very atmosphere is so impregnated with Kreosote. 
 At the same time, a drizzling rain is visiiing the 
 earth with anything bnt freshness, while a raw 
 and searching wind penetrates every creviee, 
 filling the mind with dispiriting emotions, andihe 
 body with what a facettous friend of ours has just 
 called the "poet's palsy," or 'room-attic' disorder. 
 The streets of London, at no time intimately ac- 
 quainted with cleanliness, are at present beyond 
 all description filthy. The wood and stone are 
 completely concealed beneath a garment of unc- 
 tuous mud that slips at the lightest tread of the 
 r pedestrian, with a treacherous facility that pro- 
 mises every moment the most musical results — 
 an Oflagio moveinent, for instance, with volti 
 sitbito, pleasantly imprinted upon each corner. 
 
 Oh! it is a delicious day, to be sure; and yet, 
 having once more disposed of the doctor, we long 
 to Scrape off the verdegris of a week's coerced 
 sojourn within doors, and to acquire an appetite 
 for something besides the preparations of phar- 
 macy. It is very true that physic is said to in- 
 spire some minds, and fancy others. Byron's 
 Don Juan is attributed to gin and water, and 
 Burke's Sublime and Beautiful to the fiy-blister 
 witk which that eloquent gentleman irritattd his 
 stomach to excite his nervous energies : and 
 Bayes tells us, "If I am to write familiar things, 
 as Sonnets to Armida, and the like, I make use 
 of slew'd prunes only, but when I have a grand 
 design on hand, I ever take physic and let blood." 
 But Bayes be hanged ! 
 
 "To keep us from lorrow good-humor's the armour ;" 
 and with plenty of clothing, and a determination, 
 like Mark Tapley, to "be jolly," under all cir- 
 ciunstances, what is to hinder us Irom enjoying 
 ourself, and with one thumb at our nose, bidding 
 defiance of both the weather and the "azure" de- 
 mons? So behold us venturing omnibuS'Ward, 
 on our way to Westminster Abbey, the most ap- 
 propriate lounge we can think of, at such a 
 season. 
 
 It is here, as it is at home in one respect ; the 
 omnibusses are always running East, when you 
 are in a particular hurry to go West, and vice 
 versa; however, by dint of patience, we have 
 paid our sixpence, had our ride, and are set down 
 in Piccadilly, near the Duke of Devonshire's, and 
 ai the lower end of Green Park. 
 
 Let us enter the Park. They have torn down 
 a portion of the old wall at this point, and are re- 
 building one, a few feet farther in, so as to widen 
 the foot-way on Piccadilly — a decided improve- 
 niciit. The wall is, we perceive, being con- 
 strticled of brick, and is to be surmounted with a 
 
 plain iron railing. By the way, the bricks of 
 London, no m(jr*! resemble the bricks of Liver- 
 pool, than they do the bricks of Phrladelphia. 
 When new they are of a yellowish brown color, 
 someihing like under-baked bread. The smoke 
 soon converts them to a very dark, mehuiclioly 
 grey, bestowing even upon comparatively modern 
 buildiirgs a sober, solemn air of antiquity. Hence, 
 the more elegant mansions and "shops," (as all 
 stores however extensive are called here,) are 
 plastered, and then painted, genei-ally a yellowish 
 cream color, and it is this, with the ornamental 
 style of architecture in common use, that invests 
 the better streets with so much florid beauty. 
 Regent street, (the Chestnut street or Broadway 
 of London,) looks, at night, when illuminated 
 with its legion of fashionable shops, like a con- 
 greg-ation of palaces, and yet divested of its paint 
 and plaster, its vehicles, pedestrians, and all its 
 other e.\tensive embellishments, it would present, 
 we suspect, a rather sorry aspect — a sort of mo- 
 dern Venus, robbed of the artistical assistance to 
 which it owes its "form and pressure," if not its 
 "body," for the time. Neamnoins, Regent street 
 is a most magnificent thoroughfare, despite of all 
 this hypercritical disparagement. 
 
 Return we now to Green Park. It is well 
 named, for how remarkably green is its gently 
 undulating surface of grass, even at this late sea- 
 son! Tnat oblong basin of water must be de- 
 ighiful to gaze at in summer! and those large 
 and lofty dwellings, with gardens before them, 
 fronting on the park, the iron gateways of some 
 shadowed by a sylvan bower of flowering plants: 
 what charming residences for hearts that, amid 
 this whirlpool of dissipation, can relish the sim- 
 ple loveliness of rural nature! Yet, strange as 
 it may seem, and it is but another illustration of 
 the truism that extremes seek each other, and 
 meet throughout all conditions, for we now stand 
 in the very hot-bed of an artificial existence, 
 with all itsgor'geous pomp, its splendid misery, 
 its gilded vice and its hollow courtesies! 
 
 Yonder, where the faces of the two red-coated 
 soldiers, peep from beneath their huge fur caps, 
 stands St. James' Palace — quite a plain residence 
 of Royalty. Its every avenue has a couple of 
 crimson shoulders, with gleaming bayonets upon 
 them, parading before it day and night. Just 
 now, the crimson can only be seen in glimpses 
 from under the gray overcoat that this chilling 
 weather renders a very comlortable investment; 
 and those tall boxes on either side of the en- 
 trances, which we must not mistake for elon- 
 gated dog-houses, nor for while collins, are the 
 sentry-bo.xes for the use, when on duty, o( 
 these good-looking members of the "Coldstream 
 Guards." 
 
 A little farther this way, and within ear-shot, 
 (not to mention musket-shot,) of St. James', is 
 the celebrated "hell" of "Old Crocky," as its 
 
18 
 
 proprietor. Jlr. Crockford, is ftimiliarly termed, 
 it istliemoM extraordinary and most aristocratic 
 gaming e#tal)li.*liment, perhaps, in the world; but 
 it has been so minutely descriljed in every lan- 
 guage a.< to render all description on our part su- 
 perfluous. Mr. C, who i.s a very illiterate cha* 
 racier, has realized a princely fortune from it. 
 His cellar of wines alone, is said to be worth 
 three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. His 
 cook is the renowned M. Ude. at a salary of five 
 th'usand dollars per annum, llis prolits are put 
 dowu at half a million of dollars in the year. 
 And we see it slated, that, on a certain occasion, 
 the enormous sum of five millions of dollars was 
 '•turned over," i. e. won and lost, by different 
 branches of the nobility, at this house, in the 
 course of one evening of eight hours! 
 
 Hundreds have entered these golden saloons, 
 full of the joyous hopes and exhilarating pros- 
 pects thiit awaited ilieni as the possessors of in- 
 calculable wealth, and have come out besrgars in 
 pur.se, and something worse in principle — wilh- 
 out even the excuse of 'he ancients who, it in 
 said, invented play in order to forget hunger, and 
 indulged in dice as a sort of substitute for dinner. 
 JMany a one, no doubt, has walked this very 
 gravel path, after an evening spent in that mag- 
 nificent pile, in a slate of mental agony that only 
 the unsuccessful gamester can realize; and has, 
 gazed into those cool waters from which only 
 the tiny iron barrier separated him, with an in- 
 clination that had very little to do with the bright 
 romances of youth, or the luxurious suppers and 
 recherche wines, (ihe envy of monarcbs,) with 
 which Crockford adroitly embellishes the high- 
 way to destruction'. 
 
 These other buildings are the domiciles of dis- 
 tinguished n^en. They are on the left, as we pro- 
 ceed; to liie right, the Park extends its verdant 
 bosom to the triumphal arch at the junction of 
 Grosvener Place and Picc-adilly. That gentle 
 swell which you perceive between us and Hyde 
 Park corner is called Conslitnlion Hill, and those 
 sheep you see nibbling the gra.ss upon it, and 
 looking so dirty, fat and innocent — they are evi- 
 dently mis-placed here by design, it may be to 
 add a pastoral feature to the scene, and it may be 
 to prepare themselves for the i?overeign's table. 
 
 Perhaps you will ask what is this broad car- 
 riage-way, and what these extremely wide foot- 
 paths, all fringed with regular rows of stately 
 trees, and cutting ofl" our passage in this direction? 
 Look to the right. Observe where the splendid 
 avenui's lead to. That lofty, and not inelegant 
 striuilnre, the approach to which is through an- 
 otlier triumphj»l arch, with another couple of 
 bayonets, crimson coats, gray surlouts and while 
 gloves, beside it, was once Buckingham House, 
 and is now Buckiiidwm Palace — the winter 
 home of P>iitaiH's (iueen. It is of stone, and 
 tv.i!iiewUat cliiboraic ju its style, but, either from 
 
 DU SOLLE S 
 
 the rain and wind llial dim our vision, or tJie 
 smoke that has dimmed its greatness, it does nel 
 wear, to us, that imposing grandeur and costli' 
 ness of appearance which one would expect to 
 see characterize the "local habitation" of the 
 ruler of so great and opulent a people. Honestly 
 speaking, it is about the size, and cer'ainly not 
 as handsome a strudure, as the City Hall, Newr 
 York The latter has, to be sure, the advantage 
 of color, and a transparent atmospliere. Marble 
 is rarely used in Txndon, and when used, rapicfly 
 becomes as dingy as granite. What new l^eau- 
 hes Buckingham Palace, tlierefore. might present 
 us, if purified in its exterior and viewed by the 
 broad glare of an American sunlight, we will not 
 pretend to conjecture. 
 
 Let us approach the Palaee. Muskets bristle 
 at every entrance. How much the uniform of 
 th-'se Guards reminds ns of Col. Page's company 
 of State Fencibles of Philadelphia ! The two are 
 really fac-similes of each other. And. saving 
 our national prejudice against the sanguinary hue 
 of the cloth, the unif(»rm is very pretty. Those 
 tall fur caps, however, are out of proportion ex- 
 cepting on the l»ea(]s of m-"n afwve the medium 
 heiglit. The Fencibles have an e\'e to Ibis fact, 
 but some of ilie Guards have ludicrously under- 
 looked it when contemplating llicir own im- 
 portance. 
 
 Now we turn to the left again, and pursue thi» 
 carriage road until it debouches into James st. 
 St. James' Park, which we have thus neglected, 
 is a lovely spot, and wc w ill traverse it as we re- 
 turn. We choose this route tollie Abbey because 
 it takes us through the abodes of indigence and 
 wretchedness. We have just passed the homes 
 of luxury, opulence and authority, and there i.s 
 nothing like a bold contrast to perfect a menial 
 picture. Poverty and wealth, want and abiui- 
 dance, form the chiaroscuro, Ihe bright lights 
 and intense shadows of Life's landscape ; and 
 there is not a better remedy in the books for eri- 
 nui than tlie contemplation of human misery. If 
 you feel sad, or discontented, wander amid the 
 abiding places of those who Iiave incomparably 
 greater reason to complain of the dispensations 
 of Providence. You will find it more elficacious 
 than all the verbosity of Seneca and Hippocrates. 
 The recipes ol' the one, or the philosophy of the 
 other, will furnish no such spirit of contentment 
 — which, after all, is the true elixir of human fe- 
 licity. 
 
 A host of little, dark, crooked and dirty lanes 
 ontstreich themselves here, like the iamifieation.s 
 of a sjtider's web. to catch the reckless or the 
 unsophisticated. Vice holds her court in this 
 region as extensively as upon the other side of 
 the I'alace. Itiit her ministers and subjects belong 
 to a very dillcrcnt stratum of society. Despair 
 in nigs and, despair in robes are not the same in- 
 dividuals, however physiologically identical; 
 and while llxj ruined at Crockfurd's may beiiold 
 
LETTERS. 
 
 19 
 
 a Circe in Ihc Sorpenline, ilio undone in Ihi* 
 vicinity are nn»re likely to gnze into tint Thames, 
 or einl)raoe the mirrnred rolled ion ot" the new 
 Piirlianient House* from the marble balustrade of 
 Westminster bridge, which is quite as ci>nve- 
 iiieut. 
 
 One is strnelc here with the multiplied evi- 
 dences of crime and poverty. Children run 
 about half-naked JVlen and women sneak into 
 and out of surreptitious gin-shops, with big-bellied 
 bottles vainly concealed beneath cloaks whose 
 gaping mouths betray at once their own and their 
 I wearer's infirmity. Painted cheeks and sinister 
 eyes meet your gaze on projecting diior-sills, 
 while red hands seem to grasp at your coat- 
 pockets from blind alleys and suspicious window- 
 panes. We miss, however, one index of desti- 
 tution, "wherever you .sees poverty, there you 
 sees oysters," observes the sagacious t^aniivel 
 Welter; and we have often remarked, in Ameri- 
 can cities, that oyster-cellars are nowhere so sin- 
 gularly abundant as in the very purlieus of want 
 and licentiousness. The observation will not 
 hold good in London. Oy.sters, like all other 
 edibles, are costly, though, in this country; and 
 the best, (which are called "native," and are ex- 
 posed in shop-windows, with the shells nicely 
 cleaned, in tubs of water,) are extremely small 
 indeed, possessing, besides, a somewhat unplea- 
 sant metallic flavor. I'overty could not make 
 much out of such honnropathic do.ses of food, 
 whether as purchaser or retailer, unless, in the 
 latter case, it combined the sale of the infinites- 
 lual luxury with some other pursuit, and 
 
 "Soniciiiiics Kold, perchance, a li.sh. 
 And sometimes soIimI it .slioc." 
 We observed that fresh herrings are universally 
 ' consumed in this ipiarter. They are very cheap, 
 and every shop window is big with intelligence 
 of their price and ipiality. They seem to lie, loo, 
 a li>h suited to (his sinful locality; and, it appears 
 to us, the millionaire-moralists of London would 
 do well, when they have no "other lish to fry," 
 to turn their attention towards what a cockney 
 would call, these 'erring people. 
 
 Before tis, now, rise the two tall towers of 
 Westminster Abbey. Wc know them at aglance. 
 IIow sombre the huge building looks as we ap- 
 proach ill Yet how fiiU of sublime majesty is 
 its solemn time-worn proptn-tionsl We in.stinc- 
 tively lift our hat as we diaw nigli. We rever- 
 ence old age — particularly the wonderful old age 
 of a life so replete with world-renowned and 
 
 ' spirit-stirring events. This is one of the proud 
 monuments of our nature, "a little lower than the 
 angels." For centuries have those grey walls 
 withstood the assaults of Time; yet there they 
 
 } stand, as indigent of fear, as scornfully indomi- 
 table, as when they (irsi threw down the gauntlet 
 to old Chronos. One could stand and muse for 
 Lours OH their hoary front, linding -sermons in 
 
 stones" indeed, and listening to the many totich- 
 ing tales they would have to relate of by-gone 
 days, and dim and distant eras of humanity. 
 
 In walking around the building a sensation of 
 awe overshadows the sunshine of one's spirit. 
 The song of yonder carpenter at his work, almost 
 makes one sick — its merry strain has in it so 
 much of sacrilege, when heard amid the funeral 
 chambers of a so sacred spot. Even the little 
 bird, that has perched himself upon the top of one 
 of the sculptured pinnacles of elaborate work- 
 manship th-it ornament the flying buttresses of the 
 Chapel of Henry VIL has broke out into a cheer- 
 ful whistle that seems horribly dissonant, and 
 we should feel wonderfully like awaking him to 
 asen.se of decency, could we perceive a pebble- 
 stone within reach of vis, adapted to the purpose. 
 
 Let us enter. Those black gowns glidingabont 
 the aisles, and disappearing in the cloistered 
 gloom at intervals, are not apparitions, though at 
 this distance they might seem so. They arc the 
 familiars of the place— the vergers— the living 
 worms amid this pile of motildering mortality — 
 and one of them will ask for sixpence directly — 
 an admirable mode of dispelling, for the moment, 
 all the romantic associations of the spot, and 
 bringing you back from the tenth and eleventh 
 centuries to Anno Homini 181'). 
 
 An arched door opens, and the interior of the 
 Abbey lies before tis in grand perspective and in 
 all its antique and dreary magnificence. The sim 
 at this moment has struggled himself through a 
 cloud, and as if to heighten the scene, has poured 
 a rich stream of glory through the gorgeously 
 painted glass of the tall windows of one of the 
 transepts. It is beautiful ! That little bit of sun- 
 light has infu.sed a new life into the old walls. 
 The rosc-vvindow, and the marigold- window, re- 
 fleet back the day-beam from their multitudinous 
 and picturesquely colored panes, and a thousand 
 before hidden attractions leap into sight. The 
 gigantic dimensions of the building now break 
 upon the eye in all their iiumensity, and the huge, 
 clustering columns stand out in bold relief, their 
 vast arches rushing up into the dark vault above, 
 as if to secrete themselves from hmuan observa- 
 tion. 
 
 We pass on, holding our breath at the pro- 
 found stillness that gives to our footsteps so hol- 
 low a sound upon these teslated marble pave- 
 ments, and listening to the mysterious reverbera- 
 tions that seem to be eommunicaling from one 
 extreme of the hallowed pile to the other the pre- 
 sence of an outer-world intruder. We tread 
 sot"tly here, for we are amid a crowded asseird)ly 
 of the dead. The sombre arcadt!S ; the massy pil- 
 lars crumbling slowly beneath the touch of age ; 
 the mural monuments discolored by time; the 
 damp walls ; the marble figures of Kings, (Queens, 
 Nobles, Warriors, and iniired I'lelales sirewod 
 around; and over all the slow lingcr-work of 
 
20 DU SOLLE'S 
 
 decay, obliterating the running of the chisel, and 
 mocking at human pomp, power and display: 
 they conjure up, in the dread hush of this peopled 
 solitude, a thousand im:iges of dismay, until one's 
 blood runs cold, and a vague fear induces one to 
 look around involuntarily for escape from the liv- 
 ing sepulchre. 
 
 and wealth could command, to render it a fit .»e- 
 piilchre for the wildest and haughtiest drsamer of 
 immortality. 
 
 And here we pause for the moment. Our let- 
 ter will grow too long, and having gotten the 
 reader among the tombs, we leave him, until our 
 next number, to his meditations. 
 
 Di; SoLLE. 
 
 NO. VIJI. 
 
 Westminister Abbey— Chapel Henry VTI— Genl. 
 Wolfe— IMaj. Andre— odd epitaphs— the ^reat 
 Pitt— sculpture— Poet's Corner— Westminister 
 Hall — Queen's Bench — Lord Denman — St. 
 James Park— the lake, shrubberies, birds, &.c. 
 —home. 
 
 London, 20 Nov., 1845. 
 We had our reader with us, in our last, wan- 
 dering amid tne lofty arcades and massive mag- 
 nificence of Westminister Abbey. 
 
 Is it not a glorious old pile ! a fit mausoleum 
 for kings ! Tread lightly ; for here lie not only 
 the embalmed relics of those who have filled the 
 world with terror at their gigantic ambition, but 
 the remains, too, of those gentle beings, whose 
 quaint thoughts are identified with all the kind- 
 lier feelings of humanity, whose very souls seem 
 a part of our own, and with whom we have 
 held sweet converse in books from childhood 
 Here they repose, God bless them ! Shakspeare, 
 Pope, Addison, Gay and the whole noble phalanx 
 of Earth's mighty minds. What is the hollow 
 pageantry of Kings, compared to the solitary tear 
 of honest feeling that swells up unbidden to the 
 memory of these benefactors of mankind ! Even 
 the stranger from a far-ofl;" land pauses in sincere 
 homage at their names, and turns with a sigh 
 from their simple greatness, to contemplate the 
 parish grandeur of the beds of monarchy, as 
 but so many bitter lessons of humility I 
 
 Let us saunter on. The nine or ten side chapels 
 of the Abbey are all occupied with the monu- 
 ments of illustrious men. This one before us is 
 the royal chapel of Henry VK. It is gorgeous in 
 its magnificence. A sumptuous brazen railing, 
 with brazen gates, surround the tomb on which 
 lie stretched the marble effigies of Henry and 
 Elizabeth. Everything around is costly and ele- 
 gant. The fretted roof of marble, exquisitely 
 sculptured; the gold purple banners, now torn, 
 faded and dusty, of the Knights of the Bath; these 
 proud stalls, upon the pinnacles of which are 
 Buspended an army of scarfs, helmets, crests and 
 .swords, that almost breaihe of chivalry; the 
 walls laden with elaborate sculpture, encrusted 
 wiih delicate tracery, or scooped into niches 
 filled wiih the statues of martyrs and saints: 
 uolhing has been spared that taste, luxury and 
 
 What a multitude of titles meet as as we stroll 
 around — lilies made familiar by history. Here is 
 a chaste monument to Geid. Wolfe, who fell at 
 Quebec, and there is a chaste one lo Major Audre. 
 Yes, every American knows his brief career. 
 His fate is prettily glozed over by ihe artist, and 
 — but let that pass. Here too, is Sir Isaac New- 
 ton, and a hundred others lie around, whose fame 
 's common property, and who belong not to 
 England, but to the world. 
 
 What rare old epitapl s ! What ingenious 
 monuments I What a strange confusion of con- 
 ditions! Here reposes Mary, Queen of Scots, 
 looking lovely even in stone, her errors forgotlea 
 in our sympathy for her misfortunes. Opposite 
 to her, sleeps Queen Elizabeth, her enemy to the 
 grave — an enmity we can almost trace in the 
 carved tightness of the lip and nostril, that ai-e 
 turned towards her beautiful rival. Here we 
 behold the noble minded Pitt — the acute states- 
 man and the honest man. When it was heresy 
 to speak the truth, he raised himself from his 
 sick-bed, and with his trembling finger pointing 
 toward the West, dared to confront an English 
 Parliament and say, "I rejoice that America has 
 resisted ! Three millions of people so dead to all 
 the feelings of liberty as voluntarily to be slaves, 
 would have been fit instruments to make slaves 
 of all the rest." Yes; here lies the great Pitt, and 
 beyond him his eloquent antagonist, the celebra- 
 ted Fox. Earls, Marquises, Generals, Poets, 
 Admirals, fee, are scattered about and intermixed 
 with curious irregularity. The loving and the 
 loved ; the hating and the hated ; the hanghty and 
 the humble; all repose tranquilly in their marble 
 beds, iheir hopes, their fears, their animosities, 
 their prejudices and their dignity, alike forgotten 
 in the common republicanism of the grave. 
 
 The chapel of St. Edward the Confessor, in 
 front of the choir, now arrests otu- steps. In the 
 midst of it stands the shrine in which the ashes of 
 that pious but superstitious sovereign are entomb- 
 ed. On the t'rieze of a mutilated, but still impo- 
 sing screen, are sculptured the leading events in 
 his legendary history. Those rough oak chairs, 
 rudely gilded, are the coronation chairs ; and that 
 common-looking stone, fixed in the frame of one, 
 is said to be the very stone of which Jacob made 
 a pillow when he had his beatific dream in Pales- 
 tine. Tradition, we suspect, only plays in this, 
 her usual part, in the great game of delusion. The 
 tombs of several Kings and Queens, with recum- 
 bent elligies upon them — the female figures with 
 particularly small wai.<ts ! are around us in tliis 
 chapel. A beautiful monumental chapel, also 
 enriched with statues and sculpture, surmounts 
 the tomb of Henry V. The figure of the King is 
 headless. The head happened to be cast iu 
 
silver. Some rogiio, discovering the fact has 
 manifested his aflection for the King by abstract- 
 ing it. 
 
 Let us nscend again the shrine of Edward. 
 What a view presents itself! The aisles, the 
 walls, all seem peopled with life. Dusky figures 
 appear kneelins: on cushions, or lying in state, 
 with hands upraised to Heaven in supplication. 
 Here Death is leaping from out a gaping tomb, 
 his dart poised for the bosom of a drooping fe- 
 male, while her husband madly seeks to avert the 
 blow. There, again, Death is grovelling in the 
 dust beneath the tread of Time, who proudly 
 points to the rescue and coming immortality of 
 the anticipated victim. Grim warriors, with all 
 the panoply of battle at their side, look as if 
 snatching on their arms, a brief repose. The mo- 
 saic pavement before the altar-piece grows dim. 
 One can almost fancy that if gapes, and that from 
 its dark bosom misty forms ascend from their 
 chambers in the grave, and noiselessly glide into 
 their places beneath the coroneted stones that 
 speak of their illustrious deeds. A laugh from 
 some new visitor dispels the solemn illusion ; 
 and with a feeling of pity for the costly efforts of 
 pride and ambition to rescue themselves for a few 
 years from forgetfulness, we prepare to return. 
 
 This cross-aisle or transept, by which we re- 
 tire, is commonly known as "Poet's Corner." It 
 is chiefly appropriated lo the remains of men of 
 Letters. Handel has the most elegant monument 
 in this division of the Abbey. Shakspeare has 
 also been thus eulogized in marble. His statue 
 is a very beautiful piece of sculpture. His right 
 hand points to a scroll upon which are graven 
 some of his own immortal words, viz : 
 
 "Its Cloiid-oapt Towers, 
 Its (lorgcdiis Palaoes, 
 Its Soleinii Temples. 
 Yea, the neat Gldlie itself, 
 And all wliirli ii Inherit, 
 Shall Dissolve, 
 And like the liasclevs Fal)riek of a Vision, 
 Leave not a wrci;k liehiiid." 
 
 Addi.«on has tbuud a friend proud to honor him with 
 a monument; but Chaucer, Spencer, Gay, Dryden, 
 Jonson, Milton, Butler and the rest, have gene- 
 rally plain tablets, medallions, or simple inscrip- 
 tions, contributed by some titled, poslliumous 
 patron, who has, in nearly every case, taken es- 
 pecial pains to blazen his own munificence, and 
 commend its remembrance to posterity, along 
 with the merits and virtues of the deceased. 
 
 "The poet's fate is here in EmMeiii .fhewn. 
 He asked for bread and be received a stone." 
 
 It is a question whether the dead or the living are 
 the more exalted by such flattery. These master- 
 spirits have carved out their own monuments — 
 monuments that will endure as long as language 
 is made the vehicle of thought — and a few bits of 
 stone, or a few empty words, more or less, can 
 neither add to, nor diminish their claims upon the 
 grateful rem«rabrance of mankind. 
 
 LETTERS. 21 
 
 \Vc make our exit through an arched d(X)r-way 
 in tho thick wall, and in a moment how changed 
 the scene ! How fresh the air smells ! We enter 
 the old Palace Yard, now a goodly street, and are 
 surprised to find that we have spent several hours 
 among the dead. The clock of the Al>bey is 
 tolling three; but the sun is smiling gaily, the 
 clouds have nearly all vanished, and we can yet 
 take time to make observations on our way home. 
 The streets are smoky, of course, for they are 
 never otherwise ; but then they look so cheerful 
 and companionable afler our solitary communion 
 with the quiet, the long past and gone. 
 
 This largo building opposite lo us is West- 
 minster Hall. By the idlers around its door, we 
 perceive that the Court of Queen's Bench is in 
 session. Suppose we take a glance at its pro- 
 ceedings. Let us enter. Those gentlemen in 
 black, flowing gowns, with large, coarse, white 
 wigs upon their heads, are barristers. They 
 reach the Court-room by that private door. We 
 pursue this passage-way, turn to the left, ascend 
 a step or two, and are in the presence of the pre- 
 sumed ministers of justice. 
 
 It is very unlike the simplicity of similar pub- 
 lic places in the United States. The judges, 
 seated beneath that carved canopy, are also 
 clothed in black gowns and white wigs — the up- 
 per portion of the gown, if our eyes deceive us 
 not, being trimmed with real or fictitious ermine. 
 The costume is startling to a stranger, but when 
 one gets accustomed to the sight, it seems appro 
 priate, and it is probably calculated to inspire 
 respect on the part of the multitude. This seems 
 the more necessary in a nation where the masses 
 have so small a voice in the preparation of the 
 laws which govern them, and hence are naturally 
 less disposed to esteem those who interpret or 
 administer them. 
 
 That stout gentleman in the central seat upon 
 the bench, with his head leaning upon his hand, 
 and a pair of frowning eyes directed towards the 
 door, is the Chief Justice, Lord Deninan. He 
 has acquired some celebrity, and if he were in 
 any other mood, it would be interesting to peruse 
 his countenance. Just now he is probably medi- 
 tating vengeance upon the delinquent whose 
 name has been called repeatedly, but who, con- 
 ceiving with Pope, perchance, that a "no7i est 
 man is the noblest work," &c., refu.«es to bring 
 his auriculars within reach of the Judge's vocal 
 organ. The court-room seems to be very limit- 
 ed; it is chiefly taken up with those divisions re- 
 sembling church-pews, and intended for the ac- 
 conunodation of the gentlemen of the bar; to re- 
 main here long is, therefore, uncomfortable. So 
 allons. 
 
 That wide street to the left will conduct us to 
 Westminster Bridge, but as we approach it, cast 
 back a look at that statue of Mr. Canning. Do 
 
22 
 
 you recollect hi« fate? Energetic but impulsive, j 
 he was hurried to his grave by the relentless an- 
 tagonism and persecution, as Premier, of the 
 present ministers. Their hostility to one of his | 
 noblest and most philanthropic principles, drove 
 him from both power and existence; yet they i 
 have involuniarilydone homage to his statesman- j 
 ship by carrymg out the very scheme of public 1 
 policy, for suggesting and pursuing which they j 
 hunted him into his resting place in the Aljbey. j 
 There is one thing we really admire in Great j 
 Britain — she never forgets the great men who | 
 sacrifice themselves in public service. When l 
 their voice is no longer heard in the Senate- ] 
 house, or when the cannon no more peats its j 
 thunder at their bidding, they still live in storied 
 marble. The people are made to gaze upon their 
 sculptured elTigies in the public streets, or in some 
 ancient hall endeared to history, and ruminating 
 upon their glory, to feel a new impulse to noble 
 deeds or patriotic exertions. 
 
 But here is "Westminster Bridge. Observe how 
 deeply the carriage-way is sunk below the level 
 of the side-paths. The whole structure appears 
 to be of stone, and on either side is a heavy mar- 
 ble balastrade that must have been exceedingly 
 costly in its execution. This is rather an infe- 
 rior bridge, we are told, in comparison with the 
 half dozen or more that serve to connect London 
 with its other, certainly not its 'belter' half over 
 the river. Still, the travel over this highway is 
 wonderful. The mud, which you see is being 
 scraped off for the second time to-day, and ave- 
 rages a depth now, of at lea.st three inches, is 
 evidence enough of this. But stay, let us enu- 
 merate the contents of the bridge, at this mo- 
 ment, for our amusement. There are, one, two, 
 three, yes, four omnibusses, two wagons, a 
 coach, five private vehicles, a cat, and a dozen 
 of oxen, in the middle-way, and just twenty-six 
 foot passengers, crossing it at this in-stant. Enough, 
 in all conscience. 
 
 A good view of the Thames, (pronounced 
 Tems — how the English do clip off their word.s!) 
 is afforded at this point. The new Parliament 
 Houses, in progress of erection, may be srazed at 
 for hours. They are very extensive, and when 
 finished, will present a noble front to the river. 
 To our taste their is nothing comparable to them, 
 at present, in London. The Thames, here, is 
 about the size of the Schuyllcill; and were it not 
 for the beautiful dwellings that adorn its margin 
 and sweep down to its water's edge, would be, 
 with its muddy hue, a dull stream. The towers, 
 the monuments, the steeples, the palaces, the air 
 ol wealth and grandeur that pervades its vicinity, 
 bestow upon it quite a look of romance, some 
 times, singularly inconsistent with its intrinsic 
 insignificance. 
 
 We leave the bridge, and taking our way along 
 
 DU SOLLE S 
 
 this broad tlioroughfare — George st. — we enter 
 the upper end of St. James Park. Here is sta 
 tioned another .soldier. He look-s to see if we 
 have a dog with us as we pass, £is only bipeds are 
 admitted to this charming promenade. Let us 
 take this pretty Utile gravel-walk. It conducts 
 us to the margin of a picturesque sheet of water, 
 a miniature lake, temptingly quiet and pellucid. 
 Above us, a pettit peninsular is crowned with a 
 tiny cottage, poetic in its very form, cc^lor and 
 position. Below, where the stream winds its silver 
 way, you may see a wooded island, the music of 
 whose feathered songsters, secure in their shady 
 retreat, you can almost hear at this distance. Is 
 not this a lovely spot ? See with what taste the 
 shrubberies are interspersed. The indigenous 
 and exotic plants are all, you pierceive, carefully 
 labelled to gratify the student of tx>tany. In sum- 
 mer this must be delightful I What a place for 
 lovers ' Here are benches, too, at intervals, for 
 the weary. And only mark the confidence of the 
 birds ! They fly down from the trees, and hop 
 up to us with a chirp I chirp I chirp! as if the 
 little mendicants knew we had a biscuit in our 
 pocket, and were sure we would give it to them. 
 
 And so we will. We love birds, for they al- 
 ways seem so happy. Our little store is soon 
 emptied upon the path ; but here come other 
 claimants upon our bounty. Two swans, and a 
 flock of aquatic birds of various kinds rush 
 across the lake, and presuming upon our good 
 nature, dispute at our feet, with the birds, for the 
 provision. Well, let them eat. The birds have 
 actually perched themselves upon our person, and 
 the swans are examining our hands with their 
 broad bills, petitioning (or something additional. 
 It is amusing to watch the little creatures, their 
 eves dancing with anxious avidity, and their mo- 
 tions exhibiting such mutual jealousy of even 
 the favors of a stranger. 
 
 An official in livery approaches. He is doubt- 
 less one of those to whose care the Park is 
 committed. He drives our mute companions 
 awav, and suggests that in feeding them we have 
 been superseding him in one of his functions'. 
 Why the I'ellow is as inflated with his importance, 
 and as jealous of power as that King of Prussia 
 who, we are told, went so far as to arrogate the 
 right to regulate all the mouse-traps in his do- 
 minions. Humph I one w. uid think that ho 
 should thank us for having gratuitously dimin- 
 ished his daily labor. But, ''alas I" as Valerie 
 exclaims, "who is grateful, except a dog and a 
 woman." 
 
 These gracefully winding paths coquet wi;h 
 the lake as they go, here running off as if to ab ^n- 
 i don it, and anon returning, and embracing it for 
 i some distance, like an ardent lover. Promena- 
 ders of both sexes, mo.<tly of the middle class, 
 begin now to apiicar.and the walks present quite 
 an animated appearance. Here is the island we 
 alluded to. It is small, but crowded with trees 
 
LETTERS. 
 
 Qnd shrul)l)Ory AnJ only li!<ten to the birds ! 
 Conversation is out of the (|uestioii amid this 
 concert of sweet sounds. Ah I if old Aesophus 
 were living, who used to give $J5,000 dinners, 
 (actors must have been well paid in those ancient 
 days.) made of the tonsrues of siiiging:-birds, how 
 this melody would delight his senses both of 
 jicarine and digestion ! But these little rogues 
 feel and manliest their joyous security. What a 
 gush of song ! They are so free, so fearless, so 
 protected I and that, too, in the heart of this vast, 
 sweltering tumor of mischief and misery. 
 
 The Wellington barracks, the Horse Guards, 
 and a mil itary chapel ol'some pretensions to beauty 
 are opposite us, and a little to the right, but hid- 
 den by the trees. In summer, the foot guards 
 parade daily,upon the open space we passed as we 
 entered. They are always accompanied by a band 
 of music. If we had time vve might stop and ex- 
 amine the long Turkish cannon brought from 
 Alexandria, and covered with Egyptian devices, 
 and the immense mortar, employed at the seige 
 of Cadiz by Marshal Soult. The latter was left 
 behind by the French army after the battle at 
 Salamanca, and was presented by the Spanish 
 Regency to Great Britain. Both are to be seen 
 liere, we are told, but it grows late and chilly, 
 and having been absent all day from the scent of 
 the table, the " still small voice " of appetite 
 grows clamarous as well as importunate for at- 
 tention. 
 
 Thank Heaven ! Loudon, with all its peculiari- 
 ties, is abimdantlysupplied with materials for the 
 gratiiication of the most querulous palate and most 
 vigorous digestion — though, we opine, at anything 
 but reasonable prices. There was a time when, 
 if we may believe Stow, the historian, it was not 
 80 well off, by any means. When " some, 
 through famine, did eale the flesh of their own 
 children ; and some stole others which they de- 
 voured. Theeves that wer« in prisons did plucke 
 in peeces those that were newly brought amongst 
 them, and greedily devoured them half alive." 
 In those days, the prices of eatables were restrain- 
 ed by special ordinances — twenty eggs being 
 compulsorily given for a penny I The only re- 
 straint, at present, is that arising from the condi" 
 tion of your purse and the conscience of your ap- 
 petite. A lively appreciation of the good things 
 of .this life, without the ability to enjoy them is 
 not amusing anywhere ; but here, where delica- 
 cies tempt you in so many windows, it is like the 
 Thracian s;ame of tying one up by the neck, put- 
 ting a knife in his fingers to rescue himself and 
 leaving him to die if lie cannot. 
 
 This brings us to our hotel. The scent of din- 
 ner is in our nostrils, which, ju.st at this moment, 
 are as acute as those of the war-horse that, (as 
 the good book tells as,) " smelleth the battle afar 
 off." So now — 
 
 " to realize wh.it we tliink rabuloiu 
 
 1' til' bill of tare of Kliimalwlus." 
 
 Yours, Du SoLLE. 
 
 23 
 NO IX. 
 
 The ■\Vcathrr-Thp Str<>('t«-OiiiiiiliiKK(>R-v('n. 
 men's Stofkinj,'H— Fire riii;(H— IJiM|iit>iit DeuJ. 
 Walls — Railway .SperulutiuiiH — >* War with 
 Anifrica"— The Duke o/ Welliugton, and "all 
 that sort of thin;;;." 
 
 Ix)\DON, Nov. 2-lth, ISIO. 
 Three days more of solitary confinement as a 
 punishment for our ramble in "London weather" 
 to Westminster Abbey — with the incidents of 
 which ramble we made our readers familiar in 
 No's. 7 and 8. It will not do, we perceive, for 
 strangers to be indifferent to this climate. We 
 have paid the penalty and the doctor's bill, and 
 are determined to be cautious in indulging in 
 similar transgressions. 
 
 Yet, it seems absurd to wait for a " more con- 
 venient season." The sky, here, is most fickle, 
 and the weather perfectly enigmatical. If you 
 venture out at early morn in the midst of a sullen 
 storm, it is quite jiossible you may realize a de- 
 cent time before night, or one, at any rate, upon 
 which you can make yourself respectably mise- 
 rable ; if you select, on the contrary, a cheerful 
 sky, with a glimpse of the sun lighting up the 
 ragged edges of the smoke-cloud that for ever 
 canopies the city of London, you may be just as 
 confident of experiencing an abominable rain be- 
 fore noon, as if ILigue had promised it in his 
 Horoscope, and felt disposed to maintain his repu- 
 tation. 
 
 There is not much choice, however, afforded 
 one in this matter ; for, to do the weather justice, 
 we must say that it has been perseveringly con- 
 sistent since we have been here : it has rained 
 nearly every diy. We have been tempted to 
 exclaim, with Richard, every twenty-four hours, 
 "Who has seen the sun to-day?" and we want 
 no better proof than this very natural expression, 
 of Shakspeare's faculty of observation. 
 
 We strolled out this morning without any par- 
 ticular object or destination, and we had ample 
 reason to reflect upon the melancholy infirmity 
 of the weather. It was laughable, though, to see 
 the ducking and bobbing of umbrellas along th« 
 thoroughfares, overflowing as they were witb 
 such a bustling tide of human life. The omni- 
 busses, too, were doing an excellent business; 
 and the cabs — hideous things that they are, some 
 of them resembling scooped watermelons, and 
 some, with drivers perched up at the back of 
 thera, resembling nothing on this earth, nor "the 
 waters under the earih" — the cabs were drivinj^ 
 everywhere, and perhaps some place else. In- 
 deed these public vehicles appear to be in con- 
 stant demand, and arc considerably fuller at all 
 times of passengers than comfort. It is difficult 
 to get an agreeable ."eat in them, particularly after 
 dinner, for, "thirteen inside," implies a delicate 
 calculation in relation to arms and elbows, to say 
 nothing of a charitable allowance for superfluous 
 flebh. 
 
24 DU 
 
 London is so capacious, and withal its princi- 
 pal streets so crowded and so dirty that, if time 
 be money, as the sage assures us, there can be no 
 question as to the economy of a public convey- 
 ance. Besides this, an omnibus is a capital 
 place for the study of human nature, and is suffi- 
 ciently tardy in its movements to enable you, at 
 your leisure, to peruse the open page of incidents 
 presented in the streets. 
 
 We have been going to mention fifty times, but 
 have always avoided it so far, apprehensive that 
 we might not do it discreet! y enough for American 
 ears, (my fair countrymen are so terribly. squeam- 
 ish, sometimes I) we have been going to mention 
 a striking feature in the habits of the people of 
 London, arising from the constant accumulation 
 of mud upon the side-walks. In walking, the 
 women of all classes invariabl y raise their clothing 
 to an extent that would fairly petrify a belle of 
 Chestnut street, and throw certain delicate con- 
 stitutions into agonies. Yet, when the novelty 
 of the sight has worn off, it seems perfectly mo- 
 dest and quite proper. At first, the exhibition of 
 so many white stockings is rather confusing, but, 
 after the lapse of a day or two, one actually for- 
 gets that the practice has in it anything singular ; 
 and if not, one becomes reconciled to it irom the 
 fact of the obvious necessity^ it occasions for the 
 use of well-shaped boots and clean habiliments. 
 
 The next thing that strikes one in the street is 
 the dress of the younger children. However 
 dressed otherwise, all have very short frocks, 
 exceedingly brief socks, and bare legs. Of a cold 
 day the costume, though highly picturesque, is 
 not exactly becoming ; and when the frost is about, 
 endeavoring to impart to every living thing a 
 keen perception of its edge and temper ; when 
 the most taciturn begin to 'chatter' with suprising 
 facility, and the inexpert in music to 'shake' with 
 commendable perseverance and execution, we 
 cannot help pitying the little creatures who look 
 as if toddling about on two beets. 
 
 Talking about beets, (we have not time to ex- 
 plain the mental coincidence,) reminds us that we 
 have not yet seen a fire-engine in London, nor 
 listened to a single false alarm, nor heard of a 
 conflagration. We are aware that there are ma- 
 chines of some such kind in the nietropolis, for we 
 observe, painted on the dead walls, (as in Boston,) 
 "F. P. 18 ft." &c., which being duly translated 
 into the vernacular, signifies that the fire-plug is 
 to be sought for, in the earth, where it is interred, 
 18 ft from the hieroglyphics aforesaid. Water 
 seems to be abundant, however. There are se- 
 veral water- works, and one that we saw at Chis- 
 •wickor Brentford, we forget which, was really 
 an immense, powerful and eflective concatenation 
 of machinery. 
 
 The dead walls are put to some other use also, 
 by the public, besides that we have mentioned. 
 
 SOLLE'S 
 
 They are covered, a.« with us, with placar{ls,.antl 
 made the vehicle of information of every de- 
 scription. Amongst the more numerous, and be- 
 sides M. Jullien's Grand Promenade Concert 
 posters, which alone conceal something like an 
 acre of bricks, there are the bills describing the 
 interesting contents of the several newspapers, 
 with ingenioas and startling announcements in 
 relation to the 109 new railroads in progress of 
 erection, to the anticipated scarcity of corn, 
 (wheat,) or the calamitous failure of the potatoe 
 crop in Ireland. Th-rse three latter subjects 
 completely absorb, just now, ihe popular atten- 
 tion. The journals are full of them — the public 
 mouth is full of ihem — and our eyes meet wi'h 
 nothing el>e in the shop-windows, upon the big- 
 lettered advertising-carts, or upon the pedomotivc 
 machines, in the shape of men, with Ixjards 
 slung before and behind upon the shoulders, to 
 attract attention. 
 
 We confess that we prefer to see advertise- 
 ments in the newspapers — that is but natural ! 
 but the general mind is in such a state of excite- 
 ment, at this moment, Ibat we suspect these out- 
 door remembrancers are attended with consider- 
 able effect, "since he who runs may read" them, 
 without the slightest dilficulty. And as far as 
 railroads are concerned, almost all who run do 
 want to read, for the railway-mania is epedemi- 
 cal, and the most monstrous schemes are being 
 projected by artful speculators, and all London is 
 madly embarking capital in them in the confident 
 hope of manufacturing instantaneous and incal- 
 culable fortunes. The authors of the trick have 
 fabricated, (upon paper,) an iron route from the 
 metropolis to every occasionally-heard-of point ia 
 the United Kingdom, and not a few on the Con- 
 tinent; and what is more, they have adroitly con- 
 trived to get everybody in a 'line,' in more senses 
 than one, while, having secured their own pri- 
 vate interests, they are making 'tracks,' of a cha- 
 racter very unexpected to their credulous victims. 
 In short, the bubble is upon the point of bursting, 
 and the universal consternation may be imagined. 
 It would only require 3500 millions of dollars to 
 complete the new railroads for which companies 
 have been provisionally instiuted thus far' or, 
 supposing one out of every thirty of the men, 
 women and children who inhabit Great Britain, 
 to be addicted to travelling, it would only require 
 about $1400 per annum, to be expended by each 
 of them in railroad fares, to enable the several 
 companies to pay expenses, and nett five per 
 cent, upon their capital! 
 
 Several journals have been started on the 
 strength of this Munchausen speculation, all, of 
 course, devoted to the details and statistics of 
 this monopolising subject, and it is the flaming 
 synopsis of their thrilling contents that, with all 
 the blandishments of party-colored inks, and 
 outre type, arrest the passer-by at convenient 
 corners. Then, again, pamphlets without num- 
 ber are groaning through the press upon the sub- 
 
Ject of the potatoe-diaease, with remedies for the 
 same, and philanthropic wuggeslions as to means 
 to be employed in averting the horrors of the an- 
 ticipated famine. Endless disquisitions upon the 
 propriety of opening the ports of Great Britain 
 for the admission of foreign grain, that they may 
 have something else to grind besides the faces of 
 the poor, are also finding their way into print; 
 and each and all of these seek every possible 
 miode of bringing their features most conspicu- 
 ously and most attractively before the eye-popu- 
 lar. 
 
 In addition to all this, the steamer has just ar- 
 rived, and "War with America!" stares one in 
 the face from the newspaper-oiiice fronts, in a 
 form of alarming typical latitude and longitude. 
 Rumors are abroad that the Duke of Wellington 
 is resolved to suuunarily punish Yankee auda- 
 city, and that His Grace actually meditates the 
 blJtiing out of tha United States from the physi- 
 cal map of the world, without so much as pur- 
 posing the usual courtesy, of leaving behind the 
 most insignificant grease-spot, as a warning to 
 future oilenders! In the meantime, what would 
 become of Apsley-House, during the Duke's ab- 
 sence on this exterminalmg errand? This is a 
 grave question. Naughty juveniles, without the 
 fear of the police, or of "Napoleon's conqueror" 
 before their optics, have already taken 'pains' to 
 render iron window-shutters necessary to His 
 Grace's mansion — shutters which are never, un- 
 der any circumstances permitted to remain open 
 — and if these things be ventured upon under his 
 very nose, what will not be attempted in the ab- 
 sence of that remarkable organ? 
 
 It strikes us, at this present writing, that Great 
 Britain will have quite as much as she can at- 
 tend to in Ireland for some time to come. "Bread 
 or blood" is a cry that shook France to its cen- 
 tre, and was the fruitful mother of a gigantic 
 revolution. Starvation and oppression may do 
 much, in the sister island, to awaken a sense of 
 former freedom; lor 
 
 "Who, with heart and eyes. 
 Could walk where Lilicrty liaji been, nor see 
 The ibining foot-rrints of her Deit>?" 
 And as to quieting the complaints of hunger with 
 red coats instead of corn, the idea is a allacy. 
 The mmrmurings of a discontented people, as we 
 had read somewhere, may be silenced, perhaps, 
 by thrusting bayonets into their bodies, but it 
 would he better loetfect the same end by putting 
 spoons into their mouths : starving people have 
 long enough been conquered by killing them ; 
 why not stifle their fury with food ? or if they 
 must be killed, try killing them with kindness 
 instead of cannon, by way of Christian variety. 
 After the Saxon has done "justice to Ireland," 
 and taught that noble but persecuted nation to put 
 up with 'half-a-crown'* when they are entitled 
 to a 'sovereign, 't it will be time enough to look 
 
 * "Hair-a-prowD" is twoshilliD^ and sixpcnrc, about 
 sixty-two cent*, 
 t A "soTcreign" is twenty sbillinga, about five dollars. 
 
 LETTERS. 25 
 
 towards the great West, with a dream of ven- 
 geance. 
 
 But, n truce to politics. To return to the streets 
 of London : mendicity is not half so apparent or 
 so oflensive, as we had been taught to expect it. 
 It is obvious that beggary is abundant. The at- 
 mosphere of some localities, (and we freiiuently 
 wander among the obscure haunts of poverty — 
 there is so much to be learned from the rough les- 
 Bon-bookof toil and want!) is redolent of a life of 
 charity; but the Argus-eyes ofthe law restrain and 
 limit now, all that jfrofessional exhibition of dis- 
 ease and destitution which used toaflbrd so much 
 profit in its pursuit, and romance in its description. 
 The police appear to be ubiquitous, and ever on 
 the alert to cut off such appeals to the compas- 
 sionate, whether feigned or involuntary. The 
 eye of distress must needs grow eloquent ; for its 
 slightest murmur vibrates npon the ear of authori- 
 ty, and conjures the instant presence of a suit of 
 blue cloth, trimmed with white, at whose voiee 
 potential, the suppliant "evanishes," like a ghost 
 at the "crowing o' the cock." The vigilancu of 
 the police is, in trulh, remarkable. As late as 
 George II., banditti used to parade with impuni- 
 ty the streets of this metropolis, and were only 
 prevented, once, froin robbing the Queen, in her 
 carriage, in the public streets, by the time con- 
 
 sumed in plundering the retinue of a nobleman. 
 What a change! How farcical would such an 
 adventure prove now-a-days ! Yet a single cen- 
 tury has done all this. One hundred and seventy 
 thousand houses now stand where Llyn-din, or 
 "the town on the lake," once raised its ghastly 
 head from amid the marshes that gave it a 
 name and an exi.stence; and two millions of hu- 
 man beings are now engaged, each in his own 
 way, in "the pursuit of happiness" where, erst, a 
 few hardy adventurers with dilficulty obtained by 
 tralfie a scant subsistence ! What a contempla- 
 tion for thegrowiiiggreatness of America ! What 
 centuries, in the tardy progress of unhaslened 
 time, have ellected here, a few years cannot but 
 accomplish in a nation proverbially ambitious and 
 enterprising, guided by a spirit of rational inde- 
 pendence, impelled and aided onward by iho won- 
 drous energies of modern science and invention. 
 Yes! "westward the march of empire takes its 
 way," and America, we feel, is destined to be 
 the glory and admiration of the world, when 
 Great Britain shall only be read of, as we read of 
 the might and magnificence of ancient Greece 
 and llome, and when the curious traveller may, 
 in memory of the past, penetrate ihe va.<!t soli- 
 tude and "take his stand on a broken arch of 
 London bridge to sketch the ruins of St. Paul's." 
 We admit that all this has but lillle to do with 
 our subject in hand ; but, in a foreign land, with 
 strange faces around one, and a thousand liille 
 incidents daily occurring to make one feel one's 
 heart-alicnship in the siriiggling crowd, ihc bare 
 thought of home is eleclric, and kindles in one's 
 soul an enthusiasm as impetuous as it is irre^ioti- 
 
26 
 
 ble. We met a well-known American, yester- 
 day, however, who liad contrived not only to 
 forget his native land, and to out-Herod Herod in 
 assuming the habits, contour and opinions of the 
 most frivolous of Europeans, but had tlie elfron- 
 tery to disparage the soil that grave him birlh, and 
 the people and liie institulions tliat had raised 
 him above the indistinjuished crowd I We felt 
 too much contempt to be ansrry, and yet we were 
 painfully annoyt-d. It is true he looked not like 
 our countryman, and that was gome comfort to 
 both of us — for he evidently sought to be 
 esteemed a foreigner. He hud conned well the 
 lesson of Rosalind: "lookyoul lisp and wear 
 strange suits ; disable nil the benefits of your 
 own fountry; be out of love with your nativity, 
 and almost chide God for making you that coun- 
 tenance you ware, or I will scarce think you have 
 »wam in a gondola." Confound the fellow I we I 
 pitied him even while we despised his folly. ] 
 Still his conduct may be useful. If there be a | 
 spark of s-imilar ingratitude lurking in the bosom | 
 of any other American with whom we may con»e 
 in contact, we are very sure his excessiv^e affec- 
 tation will extinguish it, and superinduce reflec- i 
 tions calculated to give birlh to nobler, because i 
 more natural and more generous impulses. 
 
 We are afraid this has been a very dull letter, j 
 I'jut ill-heallh must be our apology. A violent j 
 lo'd and a provoking cough are, at best, not very j 
 mirthful companions, and ihe music of the latter j 
 is not exactly like that, in hearing which, in the i 
 language of Esdras, "u man reniemberelh neither 
 sorrow uor debt." Du Solle. 
 
 NO. X. 
 
 RpUPiit-Qiiadrnnt and Circus — The Stroets of 
 tioiidou— I'olici^ GovpriiiiiPut— A Fire and tlie 
 En^^iui'S— Tlie SIiops of tiondou — Livinj; of the 
 Masses — Tlie Tliami^s— I'a.<isa2e in a Ferry 
 SteaiiK-r— Railway Mania— Vie won the River 
 —The Tower- Tile Tlianies Tuunt'l. 
 
 London, Nov. 2Sih, IS'IS. 
 Strolling about the streets, (in the rain, of 
 course,) we made to-day a multitude of observa- 
 tions to ourself, which we may as well transfer to 
 our readers — presuming them sulFiciently good- 
 iiHlured to put up with occiisional trilles, and in- 
 dulgent enough to permit us to deliver ourself in 
 our own desultory way. 
 
 We dare say that much that v/e shall say will 
 be stale to those who have either read carefully, 
 <.)r travelled with both eyes open i' the midst of 
 the habits and customs of this longitude, but our 
 joilingsdown will not be "caviare to the million," 
 perh-jps, and to that respectably arithmetical pro- 
 portion of the human family at home we espe- 
 cially address ourself. At any rate, as Shaks- 
 peare didn't remark, 
 
 •' wlio wouli licartlio impatient Hiir.it ot fame, 
 
 'I'iio iiiilc nl coiisrioiis ineril, and 'bovo all 
 Tlic ipdious ini|iortiin'tv nt triemis, 
 AViipii iio t«im."!' IfiDv''! Ids quietus make, 
 Willi a liare ink-borii .'" 
 
 f-fo imaguic us siiuiiteriiig along Regent street, in 
 
 DU SOLLE'S 
 
 the morning, with throat mullled up a la Anglais 
 in a Cashmere Comforter, and gazing at the mag- 
 nificent Btores in the magnificent "Quadrant." 
 through the dim-medium of a gamboge, or rather 
 a sepia atmosphere, giving to every object at the 
 distance of twenty-four inches from the extremity 
 of one's facial handle, the dim vagueness of body 
 and outline which virtuosi extacy so much in the 
 pictures of Claude Lorraine. Add to this, the 
 wind N. E. and the weather precisely the kind 
 whereof the memory of that usually well-inform- 
 ed individual, the 'oldest inhabitant,' in tiiis vi- 
 cinity, runneth not to the contrary, and you have 
 a glorious idea of our melancholy condition 
 
 It is rather an interesting lounge finder the pil- 
 lars or collonade of the Regent Quadrant. One 
 can lancy one'self, almost, in fairy-land, amid the 
 air-wrought palaces of those clever artificers, the 
 shops are so gay, and everything around wearing 
 the garb of luxury, elegance, and costlines.s. 
 Only one thing mars the exquisite notion — the 
 women are anything but sylphic ! Many of them 
 are sublime enough, (particularly the old ones,) if, 
 as Burke argues, size is the chief element of 
 sublimity, and the great majority, (protect us 
 Heaven! for daring to give utterance to the he- 
 resy,) have ample reason to be grateful that mere 
 beauty is but cuticle-deep, and that its absence 
 robs no woman of her gentler and more excellent 
 qualities. 
 
 We find no difficulty in ferreting out our way 
 amid the nine thousand seven hundred and eighty- 
 two, (nothing like being exact !) thoroughfares of 
 London— at least no more than we have experi- 
 enced amid the labyriuthian intricacies of Boston, 
 of which city, by the way, we are constantly re- 
 minded by a thousand little things here: Boston 
 is, unquestionably, the most English city in 
 America. Sometimes a stranger will necessarily ' 
 get confused. Our organ of locality got singularlj' 
 in a "fix" the other day, while we were peeping 
 at a curious likeness of Dr. Franklin, under the 
 showy portico of the Italian Opera House in the 
 Haymarket. Our eyes maintained that we were 
 in the region of the Quadrant: reflection enter- 
 tained a contrary opinion, and it was some mi- 
 nutes before observation could reconcile the con- 
 flicting opinions of the belligerents. But this was 
 owing entirely to the English artist's idea of Dr. 
 Franklin. What right had he to draught the old 
 philosopher in what he no doubt intended to be a 
 classic tunic, but which presented to our iminiiia- 
 led vision so faitliful a portrait of his night-iihirt? 
 Quoth decency, 'it isn't respectable;' quoth taste, 
 
 'the varlet be hanged for his ignorance ! No 
 
 man looks the more like a poet, Hn economist or 
 a diplomatist, (and it is hard to say in which cha- 
 racter it w-as designed to picture the Doctor,) for 
 being painted in short white linen and a red night, 
 cap.' And taste was in the ripht ; but it was lis- 
 tening to the disputants that lost us, for the nonce 
 our whereabouts 
 
LETTERS. 
 
 27 
 
 The junotion of Regent street and Piccadilly 
 produces tlio "Uegenl's Circus." Each of the 
 lour cornur:* of the streets, instead of remaiiiinu; 
 angular, is here renderetl coiicavoiis, iuid the re- 
 result is a circular appearance, that gives, lo the 
 common ear, an equestrian-ic title lo llie place. 
 It i.s lite slopping-plac-e and 'booking oilice' of 
 something le«s than a inillion of omnihusses, and 
 its hurry and bustle, in consequence, may be con- 
 jectured Certain steam-packet and railway olK- 
 ces are also here, and contribute not a little to 
 inereauc the natural acciimiiUuion of humanily at 
 this point, which, nniwilhstanding the dirt, that a 
 street-sweeping niacliiue, (dragged by one horse, 
 operating, on a small scale, something after the 
 fashion of the New York dock-cleansing ma- 
 chines, and sweeping a surlace of about lliree 
 t'cet in width at a time.) is so constantly required 
 to remove, and the vehicles without number ob- 
 structing the way, and rendering a peripatetic 
 passage from corner to corner a very hazardous 
 enlerprize, is really immense. 
 
 We notice that there are always some of the 
 police stationed hei-e. Talking of police reininds 
 IIS that liondon, in some mimicipal points, resem- 
 bles Philadelphia. In both, the Ci.;;-, proper, is 
 very limited in extent, the adjacent di;itric!s com- 
 prising morespace, more population, r.iorfe*;very- 
 thing, and although distinct in some measure, in 
 their local government, still uniting, to form, in 
 combination, the metropolis. London, in all its 
 divisions, however, is consolidated, as regard.? 
 the ;reneral interests and the general operations 
 of the police. Philadelphia is not. but should be, 
 and will never experience all the advantages of 
 wholesome laws until such a consummation be 
 •witnessed There is one grand dilference be- 
 iween the two cities, though, in question — Lon- 
 don is fully twelve miles wide from East to 
 West: every corn upon our feet painful protests 
 that this is a modest admeasurement, and a pair 
 of Benckerl's boots, (better by lar than any we 
 can find in this country,) opens its soul to us pa- 
 thetically, and yawns a corroboration of the fact. 
 'Ti8, indeed, a giant city, and corpulent as well 
 as longitudinal. 
 
 We saw a fire to-day. It was a small atlair, 
 but it furnished us with what we had l)een labo- 
 riously longing for, viz: a glance at an English 
 fire-engme. They are small, neat, ompact ma- 
 chines, and are drawn by two or more horses, as 
 the distance may require, to the scene of de- 
 struction. There is no noise, no turbulence, no 
 disturbance. Everything is done under t!ie eyo 
 and by the orders of coinmi.ssioued and active 
 agents, and pretty ellectually done, we confess, 
 although not quite so energetically as we do such 
 things at home. The crowd tha' gathers around 
 is kept at a suitab'e distance by the police, and if 
 any unauthorised individual, prompted by a feel- 
 ing of cupidity or generosity, makes himself 
 more useful than ornamenlal on the premises, an 
 
 I opportunity is immediately afforded h'm of gel- 
 ting rid of his superfluous sympathy, l)y an in- 
 volunlnry course of study on the ethics of nocial 
 government behind the jrraled doors of one of 
 Her Majesty's public buildmgs — sign of the Cross- 
 Keys, it used to be in the olden lime — in New- 
 gate street, or Blackfriars. 
 
 Turning around Charing Cross, (the name of a 
 wide ihoroiighl'are, wheie formerly stood the 
 village of Charing, in which Edward L erect- 
 ed a golden cross in memory of his (^ueen PJIea- 
 nor,) we enter the busy street called The Strand. 
 Stores of all descriptions, many of them very 
 beautiful and imposing, here altract the eye. 
 Many of them have, over the door, a large plas- 
 ter-cast of fho national coat of arms, with "IJy 
 Appointment" in significant letters beneath the 
 same — an indication that the establishments so 
 adorned are distinctly patronised, (perhaps ex- 
 clusively,) by the Roy.d Household. The butcher- 
 shops, (handsome places some of them,) are to l)e 
 seen here, as elsewhere, with open windows, in 
 vi'hich the meats sire displayed upon hooks to 
 tempt 'he eye of the epicure, and the fingers of 
 the penniless. "Purveyor to Her Majesiv," em- 
 bellishes the I'ront of more than one, and all have 
 a remarkably clean and tidy appearance. 
 
 Green-grocmr shops are also to be seen here — 
 stores at which only vegetables are retailed lo 
 the million. We must not forget, in turn, the 
 fishmongers. In their stores may be obtained 
 shell and other fish. Oysters, as we have men- 
 tioned are kept in water, are very small, and 
 W( uld not be cat'^n by any one who has epicii- 
 r aiiized on that luxury anion;? Ihe delicious pro- 
 ducts of the Chesapeake. We ale an English 
 one of the belter character, at a friend's yester- 
 day. It was decidedly ' queer." How Darte- 
 neuf, in the "Dialogues of the Dead," can be 
 made to call them "the best in Ihe whole world," 
 passes onr comprehension, excepting upon the 
 idea that spirits being intangible entertain no fear 
 of blistering their tongues with a fib, however 
 immeasurable. We can only forgive him when 
 he tantalizes Apicius with a luscious dc-cription 
 of American turtle, until the latter exclaims "I 
 cannot indeed but lament ray fate that America 
 was not formed before I was borni" and adds, 
 "vvould it be impossible, do you think, to obtain 
 leave from Pluto of going back for one day, just 
 to taste of that food? I would promise to kill 
 rny>elf Ijy the qiiaulity I would eat before next 
 morning." Apicius committed suicide, if our 
 memory betray us not, because he had only be- 
 tween three and lour hundred thou>aiid dollars of 
 his original wealth Icl'i, and was afraid such a 
 paltry sum Avould not inaintain the delicacies 
 ho had been accusloiucd to of the lablel 
 
 Let us Ket back to ihe fishmongers of Loudon. 
 Their windows are full of lobsters, flounders, 
 fresh God, S(jle<, h(;rrings. shrimps, periwinkles. 
 
28 
 
 &c. Herrings— fresh ones— are very cheap and 
 very plentiful, and are the common food ol the 
 poor, at this season. They are remarkably good 
 eating too. Shrimps resemble incipient lobsters, 
 and are, to our taste, highly palatable. Peri- 
 vifinkles, as we have el-sewhere said, might easily 
 be mistaken for juveni'e snails, and are sold and 
 eaten m this country as pea-nuts are in America, 
 performing pretty much the same office in popular 
 public places. As to their flavor, we cannot 
 speak, our prejudice not having yet permitted 
 us to indulge in the experiment. A friend as- 
 sures us that they are not worth the malediction 
 of a tin-dealer, but 
 
 The best of friend.s fall out, and so 
 His teeth had done some years ago— 
 
 of course, therefore, his judgment may be con- 
 sidered questionable. Fish heing on thoj tapis, 
 we may mention here that Charing Cross, ( late 
 Hunserford,) market, is a great depot of this 
 'scaly' species of victual-manufacture. Billings- 
 gale where, according to Dr. Johnson, they "sell 
 the best fish and speak the plainest English," has 
 lost much of its celebrity, but is still an interest- 
 ing subject of contemplation to those who are 
 disposed to "divide their time between an anxious 
 conscience and a nauseated stomach." We are 
 not of that category. 
 
 There are no oyster-cellars in this city, and 
 what is siill more strange, (we admit the want of 
 any decent ideal association between cellars and 
 sausages,) there are very few d"gs. To an 
 American this is a novelty. We only saw two 
 dogs in the streets to-day duringa ramble of seven 
 hours, and both of them were of the greyhound 
 species, and following in the footsteps of their res- 
 pective pioprietors. As to the cellars, they are 
 uncalled for. Eeating hou,ses and restaurats are 
 abundant, of all classes. They seem to be well 
 patronized too. The Club-houses are the fre- 
 quent places of resort for eating, drinking and 
 smoking on the part of the wealthier people, but 
 the great mass eat either at home, or where the 
 viands and the cost of them best accord with 
 their teelings and circumstances. And it is by 
 no means ditlicult to live as well here as in 
 America, (it is impossible to live better, in our 
 opinion, anywhere,) though at, on an average, 
 three times the cost. Luxuries of all kinds are 
 exceedingly expensive; and even the ordinary 
 necessaries of life are rendered very high by the 
 policy of universal taxation. Just now the price 
 of bread is twenty cents per loaf; of beef eighteen 
 cents and mutton sixteen cents per pound ; of po- 
 tatoes eighty cents, per bushel. Delicacies of the 
 hiinihler kind, and such are eaten by the multi- 
 tude at home, present a still sorrier aspect. 
 Fowls, (and. by the way, the poulterers'-shops 
 are seen here almost as frequently as the butchers' 
 ditto,) being, at present, S2 50 a pair, geese §.3 00, 
 and turkics ST) 00 each, if of excellent quality. 
 On the whole, then, this is a capitid place of 
 
 DU SOLLE S 
 
 abode for the millionaire, but it affords an ex- 
 tremely small chance for an enjoyment of the 
 good things of this life, to those whose daily toil 
 is all that can be depended upon for that purpose. 
 It is possible that the curious genius, who insisted 
 upon his ability to discover the bent of a man's 
 talents, by the kind of food he usually selected 
 for his dinner, might find a pretty solid substra- 
 tum in the United Stales, where the product of 
 labor is usually sufficient to permit any industri- 
 ous operative to follow his inclinations ; but, the 
 attempt would be preposterous here, where the 
 great majority eat what they can get, rather than 
 what they want, and make a Barmacide' feast 
 only of a multitude of palatable and piquant 
 dishes common enough in America. 
 
 We turned from the Strand down St. George 
 street, towards the river and the thought struck 
 us that we would visit the celebrated Tunnel, 
 and do so by water. Once upon the quay, (the 
 wharf,) we beheld, instead of a steamboat-wharf, 
 a .bridge of flat-bottomed boats, extending out 
 into the stream, at nearly the farther extremity of 
 which a temporary frame building was erected. 
 To this building we carefully made our way, and 
 paying four pence, waited for the steamer intend- 
 ed to convfry us to the Tunnel. The Thames 
 wore rather a dismal look in the rain, but so 
 would any reasonable river that had the bosom 
 to reflect back the morose countenance of Na- 
 ture, with one of her ill-natured washing-day 
 faces on. So we stood and gazed around us, 
 bethinking us of what we had been told by those 
 conversant with local affairs. The Thames is, 
 here, about one-third of a mile wide, but only 
 navigable for small craft, were even the splen- 
 did stone bridges removed. It is contemplated 
 by the government to erect an embankment fifty 
 feet wide, for a carriage road and an atmosphe- 
 riel-railway up to the new Parliament Houses, 
 on the city side of the river, and about 200 feet 
 outside of the present quay. This will make ad- 
 ditional and noble docks below, will enable ship's 
 cargoes to be brought up from sea without delay, 
 and make a charming addition to the view of 
 London from the Thames. It will require a fear- 
 ful outlay, however, of public monies ! 
 
 The fact is, even the public authorities appear, 
 in some measure, to have caught the prevailing 
 epidemic — the railway fever. If one-half the 
 plans in agitation be carried out, London in a 
 few years will be little else than a huge web of 
 iron. Railway agent* are surveying in all di- 
 rections as if "monarchs of all" they put their 
 instruments on, and even when driven olf pri- 
 vate grounds, continue, on 'public grounds,' to 
 persevere in their efforts, by jumping the walls 
 at night, and subsidising the "demnition bow- 
 wows," to remain inactiveand silent duringtheir 
 operations. Two of the bridges over the Thames 
 have been conditionally purchased by different 
 railway compauies at stupendous prices, and 
 
LETTERS 
 
 another company has just completed a ooatract for 
 the purchase of a right of way through one of the 
 avenues of the Tunnel ! Where the deuce 
 the mania will stop, Heaven only, (and the 
 projectors of the bubble, perhaps,) can tell. 
 The press is ridiculing the speculation wilh some 
 acuieness and more wit, and we have all kinds of 
 humorous cuts at the 'deep cuts,' and a profusion 
 of lines of raillery on the various railway-lines, 
 that have at present so very 'imposing' an exis- 
 tence upon Bristol-board and foolscap. "Punch," 
 as our readers may perceive, is, (as they say 
 here,) "precious sewci e" on the subject ; and we 
 have some quires of note-paper before us, every 
 sheet of which has, at its head, an engraved 
 comical illustration of some one of the many ab- 
 surd phases of this public delirium. 
 
 The boat at length came alongside of our post 
 of tribulation, and along with other passengers 
 who had been in waiting, we went on board. It 
 was a ferry steamer, (although nothing like our 
 ferry-boats, but rather a condensed copy of the 
 English ocean-steamers,) as black and as ugly as 
 painters delight to represent the antique gentle- 
 man who "goeth about like a roaring lion," but 
 nevertheless a very smart little craft, as we sub- 
 sequently discovered. She was one of a num- 
 ber of similar boats that run up and down the 
 Thames, landing and receiving passengers at, 
 perhaps, a dozen points of this extensive city — a 
 sort of water-omnibus, at a reduced fare, and on 
 an enlarged scale. 
 
 Notwithstanding the inclement weather, and 
 the fact that the boat contained no covered refuge 
 from the storm, she was well filled with travel- 
 lers of both sexes and several sizes. Amongst 
 them were several gentlemen in military uni- 
 form. The scene on ihe river was interesting. 
 As we passed under the bridges and saw how 
 superb and solid were the massive structures, 
 we were especially pleased. And then the 
 crowd of umbrellas passing over London bridge! 
 seen just over the stoue parapet, they looked like 
 an army of huge cockroaches wending their way 
 to ;ome deposit of broken victuals! 
 
 The elegant and numerous public buildings on 
 the river bank shewed to very great advantage. 
 The Temple-garden — a miniature New York 
 "Battery," attached to that congregated mass of 
 legal erudition yclept the Temple — looked very 
 pretty. The famous Tower of London lifted its 
 hoarv arms as we passed, and challenged our at- 
 tention. What a change has come over the 
 spirit of its old dream within a century! One can 
 scarcely conceive tliat that demure looking pair 
 of white towers, which a few shells in this age 
 of scientific destruction would astonish into no- 
 thingness, can be the place, the very name of 
 which was once so associated with terror even 
 to royalty, and over whose portals the Italian 
 poet might quite as appropriately have inscribed 
 his celebrated lines, "Leave every hope," &c.. 
 
 89 
 
 as upon the entrance to his gulph of despair it- 
 self. This fortress, built to intimidate London 
 itself, is now a harmless old mo-ister in its 
 d.itage, and is used for various public purposes 
 which we shall allude to anon, when we picture 
 our visit to its "in'ards." 
 
 For what happened on our further voyage 
 down "old Father Thames," a glimpse at tho 
 Tunnel, &c. &c., the reader will be courteous 
 enough to apply to our epistle prochaine. "Time'* 
 up," as they say in ',the ring," the mid-night bell 
 is tolling, our paper is out, and our candle nearly 
 so, even if the fair peruser, vexed at being left 
 at such a spot, complain as sorrowfully as the 
 Prophet did, when the voice cried out to him, 
 "What dost thou here, Elijah?" we must still be 
 ungallant enough to postpone curiosity for "yet 
 a little moment." Du Soluk. 
 
 NO XI. 
 
 The Tower of London — the Docks— filtering 
 vessel— the Thames Tunnel- descent into it — 
 its shops— its iuhabitauts— Gravel-lane- a Gin 
 Palace— its style and its customers — £nglisli 
 drinking— an accident, &c« 
 
 London, Nov. 29th, 1815. 
 We left the reader, in our last, at the Tower of 
 London, where Anne Boleyn and sundry other 
 conspicuous personages left their heads, and the 
 Duke of Clarence his tout ensemble [a a butt of 
 his favorite Malmsley. We were on board a 
 steamer, however, and could afford to snap our 
 finger at such apprehensions. So let us on. 
 
 Just below, we encountered a Filtering Vessel, 
 lying in the stream. This vessel is employed to 
 filter water for ships' uses. The water, which is 
 pumped from the Thames, might, in its original 
 state, easily be mistaken for Cafe an lait, but 
 being filtered on board this vessel, it becomes 
 sweet and clean, and is then conveyed, in a lesser 
 boat, to ships on the eve of departure, and forced 
 up through a hose into suitable casks for safe- 
 keeping. 
 
 The river here began to wear an aspect of 
 much business. The quays were crowded with 
 ships and steamers, leaving but a very narrow 
 passage in the channel-way. We had from here 
 a fine view of the entrances to the great London 
 Docks and St. Katharine Docks, which are canals 
 of vast size, superior even to those of Liverpool, 
 into which the tide is locked by gates at high 
 water, thus affording adequate and convenient 
 berths for a large number of vessels. There are 
 also, the East and the West India Docks. Alto- 
 gether, perhaps two thousand ships may be hand- 
 somely accommodated at once in these grand 
 reservoirs. 
 
 At length we reached and were landed near 
 the Thames Tunnel. At first we felt disappoint- 
 ed. We labored under an impression that the 
 Tunnel commenced about a quarter of a mile up 
 
30 DU SOLLE'S 
 
 from the river on each side, and gradually do- | of every sod 
 
 scended, like a loose rope, under iln dirty bed. 
 It was all a miulake. Two round brick buildings, 
 one on the Wapping and one on the Rotherhithe 
 side of the river, designate the entrance?, and 
 they stand within a few yards of the stream. 
 Being on the Wapping side, we entered, paid 
 our penny for admission, (cheaper than some 
 kinds of dirt here !) and proceeded. Two spiral 
 stairways, (one for ascending, the other for de- 
 scending,) convey the visitor to the required 
 depth. Once at the bottom, the Tunnel lay be- 
 fore u.«, its two twelve hundied-feet-in length, 
 horse-shoe-shaped avenues, lit up by projecting 
 gas-lights, resembling streets at night, in beautiful 
 perspective. Like streets too, the Tunnel con- 
 tains its shops, and its displays of curiosities, 
 chiedy deriving importance, though, f,om the 
 oddness of their location nndir the river. A bill 
 thrust into our palm with a bow of complaisance 
 informed us that a host of novelties in the picto- 
 rial way, were to be seen in an adjacent corner 
 for the sum of two pence. To see the "Bom- 
 Urdment of Algiers," or "Buonaparte at Water- 
 loo"' on oiled paper, with probably a "penny- 
 dip" behind them as a substitute for a "grand 
 Metropolitan illumination" was not much, but to 
 assume a fish-privilege and behold them "at the 
 bottom of the Thames" was a thing not to be got- 
 ten over— and we only wish we could see some 
 other disagreeable things there that we wot of; 
 it would answer as well as at the Red Sea foun- 
 dation, and we should "exhibit the tin" with un- 
 mitigated satisfaction. 
 
 Walking slowly through the Tunnel, we could 
 not help admiring the strength imparted to it by 
 its peculiar shape. In one or two places the wa- 
 ter nevertheless was stealthily oozing through in 
 drops, hesitating ere it fell, as if reconnoitering 
 the ground, apprehensive of detection. The 
 shops mentioned, we discovered were stalls, 
 between the heavy pillars that separate the two 
 passage-ways. Toys, medals, edibles and bibbi- 
 bles formed the staple of them all, (iliere were 
 only about a dozen,) and they were attended 
 principally by young girls. "Capital view, sir. 
 of the Tunnel, through this glass— charge you 
 nothing for looking, sir— do look!" pressed the 
 first one we encountered. "Buy a medal of the 
 Tunnel, sir? Only think sir, mider the Temx'." 
 shrieked a second. "Glass hornamenis, sir, for 
 children sir, — werry nice uns sir- honlya penny 
 —and vndcr tJie Terns'."' insinuated a third. The 
 next was a lean, gaunt Frenchman, whom a pro- 
 per respect for the rhuematism should have kept 
 on the surface of the earth, at least until the 
 worms had imperatively claimed their share of 
 his mortal drapery. "£/j bien, monsieur, avez 
 vous faim? Is you angry, sare? I have de 
 bonne sanwiche, ver goot, monsieur: ainsi du 
 fromage ct bread. Vonlez vous under ze, T<'»?«.'" 
 he politely inquired in the best linglish he could 
 command. "Under the TemsP was the burthen 
 
 until we mode car way to the 
 Rotherhithe termination ofthe Tunnel, which was 
 precisely like the other, only that instead of the 
 picture shew, here were profile likenesses to Ite 
 obtained, "under the Tenvs" for a penny, and "I 
 dreamt that I dwelt in marble halls" from a harp, 
 for any gratuity, the performer being a filthy ras- 
 cal, such as we imagined those l.ieings must be, 
 whom the Brahmins, in their humanity, are said 
 to hire as food for fleas. 
 
 Returning, we soon ascended to the open air, 
 and a few steps placed us in the midst of that end 
 of London known as Wapping — and a wbapping 
 dirty end it appears to be. There is some 
 amusement in perambulating streets that lead, 
 you don't know where, and induct you into 
 scene* of mirth or misery, you don't know how. 
 So we took trravel-Lane at a venture, trusting 
 that it would ultimately eject us into some tho- 
 roughfare traversed by an omnibus. Nor was 
 Gravel-Lane the narrow route its name would 
 indicate to American ears. It was certainly W 
 feet wide, and we came near measuring its depth 
 once or twice, at the crossings, without sny in- 
 tention to attempt it, for we had no wish to dis- 
 turb the deposit of mud that, for aught we could 
 see to the contrary, had been the quiet accumu- 
 lation of ages. 
 
 Gravel-Lane terminated in George street. We 
 took the latter which was alive with drinking 
 shops and their customers, with sailors and their 
 sweethearts, and divers other productions of na- 
 ture. A splendidly fitted up saloon soon attracted 
 our attention. Its dashing appearance in such a 
 spot, throwing all its brother buildings into the 
 shade, " E"en as the siin licks up each sneaking 
 star," was not to be mistaken — it was a Gin 
 Palace I Four splendid lamps were suspended 
 before the front. Although it wa'» but three 
 o'clock i' til' afternoon, it was so e.ttreme'y foggy 
 and dark that all the public lamps were lighted, 
 and all the stores glorying under a full head of 
 gas. But the lamps of the "Palace" in (luestion 
 outshone them all. They were beautiful. We 
 longed to enter — certainly not to drink, for onr 
 beverage at ail times is simple water, but to 
 gratify a morbid curiosity of our own, excited by 
 the marvellous relations we had heard upon such 
 subjects. We hesitated. " Go m," quoth Curi- 
 osity ; " 'tis the part of philosophy to neglect no 
 opportunity for acquiring knowledge." " A 
 pretty picture you 'd make for home contempla- 
 tion," responded Prudence; " a W. P. in a Gin- 
 shop," would make the fortune of any modern 
 Hogarth. " So it would," said Hefleclion. "But 
 It is a Gin Palace," murmured Irresolution. At 
 this moment one of the three bronzed doors 
 opened to exude a glass of gin with a ragged lit- 
 tle girl at the end of it, and a blaze of light re- 
 flected tVoin glittering mirrors, and a gorgeous 
 polished marble counter with expensive brass 
 moulding*, fliishcd upon our face and almost 
 blinded us. We could not <tnnd this, so muster- 
 
LETTERS. 
 
 ing up suincieiit impuJenco, wc piishe<l the 
 painled-glass door of another entrance, and 
 walked in with all the nonchalance of a rabbit 
 under pressing circumstances 
 
 It was a splendid place, that Palace of the Rum 
 Fiend ! and his ministers were very enticing: in 
 appearance. It was a magnificent saloon, wide 
 but not of great depth, apparently, though the ele- 
 gant scarlet curtains, looped over gilt lion's 
 paws, that fell in gracel'ul Iblds at the sides and 
 centre, concealed the rear, with the exception of 
 a small aperture through which a dim figure was 
 now and then visible iu the distance. The ceil- 
 ing of the saloon was tastefully painted in fresco, 
 from groups of (lowers were hanging three sump- 
 tuous chandaliers, the glass pendants of which re- 
 flected a world of rainbow hues, like dew-drops in 
 the sunlight, dancing around us. The side walls 
 contamed very large mirrors with wide goldea 
 frames. The floor was of white and black mar- 
 ble, tesselated, and 
 
 "By many a thirsty pilRrim worn away." 
 The bar was of some dark wood, highly burnish- 
 ed and fancit'ully carved, with Bacchus-heads 
 laughing from the pillar-caps that supported the 
 Italian marble counter. Two massive brass bars 
 that dazzled all human brass out of countenance, 
 kept the fingers of delirious worshippers from 
 the shrines of their idols, while in jetsof ga.«-light 
 were made to appear on either side, the cabalistic 
 words, "Booth's Cordial Gin" — "White's Cream 
 of the Valley," with other equally affecting nouns 
 and templing adjectives. 
 
 Three "delicious arrangements of flesh and 
 blood," in the shape of young women, rather 
 well-dressed, were stationed behind the bar, 
 while before it congregated the blind victims to 
 this European Juggernaut, sacrificing themselves 
 with a heroism that, in a better cause, would win 
 them niches in St. Paul's or the Abbey. "I wants 
 a quartern (a half gill) o' the vile Jemmy," said 
 a little urchin, urging his way in with a tumbler 
 in one hand, and a hat that, like the 3rd Richard, 
 had early lost its crown, twirling in the other; 
 "but mammy says she hain't got no browns to- 
 day, and vill pay yer in the morning." "Your 
 
 mammy be ," the expletive was checked in 
 
 the mouth of the young lady by a sud 'en glance 
 at ourself, when with a smile intended to be be- 
 witching, she courteously desired to be informed 
 if we would "take a wet," if it should be "hot or 
 cold," and concluding with the intimation that she 
 had something "as was fit for a Comm<idore." 
 We replied with an oscillation of the head that, 
 in America, is a sort of a representative-negative, 
 and retired with as polite a bow as we could 
 muster at the moment, leaving the women gazing 
 after us with eyes and mouth in a state of exten- 
 sion that indicated the most profound astonish- 
 ment. 
 
 This was a Gin Palace. There are .several 
 in the neighborhood of Drury Lane of a siaiilar 
 
 31 
 
 cliaraoler, we are told, but tliey Itappcncd not to 
 fall under our observation. It is scarcely fo be 
 wondered at, that the poorer classes, with such 
 habits and such temptations, live here, too many 
 of them, in a state of Remi-.slarvation, nor that 
 there are 800,000 persons in London alone to- 
 tally ignorant of the rudiments of a religious edu- 
 cation. Intemperance is, in truth, very common, 
 and with it naturally comos iho long train of so- 
 cial evils of which it is ever the fruitful parent. 
 One distiller of English gin, Mr. Booth, who 
 has a large establishment in the suburb of Brent- 
 ford, pays to the government in the way of ex- 
 cise duty or lax, an afinual sum of nearly two 
 millions of dollars! The amount of gin he annu- 
 ally produces, and which is but a trilling portion 
 of that consumed in the metropolis, may be from 
 this conjectured. 
 
 Besides English gin, which has a pungent and 
 peculiar smell of turpentine, the use of ale, (or 
 beer, as it is popularly termed,) is universal. We 
 presume scarcely a family can be found in Lon- 
 don, of any means at all, that is not constantly 
 furnished with its little barrel; and those that are 
 not, are supplied by the pot-boy, as it is want- 
 ed. It is the common beverage instead of wa- 
 ter, and is drunk at the morning lunch, at dinner, 
 at noon-lunch, and at all times besides, when 
 thirst in either felt or fancied. It can be had at 
 all prices, and thus is made to suit all pecuniary 
 complexions. Public-houses, (or "taverns" as 
 we call them in America,) invariably put up 
 signs with "Meu.x's Entire," or "Fuller & Co.'s 
 Entire," or some other popular brewer's "En- 
 tire" conspicuously displayed upon them, to sig- 
 nify that the ales of such makers are to be ob- 
 tained there in a "neat" state, as well as in their 
 more ordinary or mixed condition. Indeed there 
 are few who may not say with Boniface in the 
 play, "I have fed purely upon ale: I have eat 
 my ale, drunk my ale, and I always sleep upon 
 
 my ale strong! it must be strong, or how 
 
 would I be strong that drink it?" And it must be 
 admitted that stout, hale, hearty looking men 
 these Englishmen are, in their own country. 
 They degenerate when they forsake the smoke- 
 clime of their ancient home. 
 
 At length we found ourself in the Commercial 
 Road; a broad, well-populated street, something 
 like the outer end of the New York "Bowerv " 
 with a broad-stone paved way upon one siie 
 (amid the pebble paving,) for wide-wheeled and 
 heavy-laden wagons thai traverse it from Ihe 
 London and other docks. An omnibus piissing 
 upward aflbrded us a comfortable seat, the pas- 
 sengers giving us a wide berth, for we resembled 
 by this time a half-drowned rat, and if we may 
 guess at the "corporal su(rerance"of one of those 
 interesting animals in a November storm, our 
 feelings were not much better. It is a bore to 
 carry an umbrella anywhere— particularly foj 
 one who is addicted to leaving it at the first slop- 
 
32 DU 
 
 ping-place, and growing oblivious of the circum- 
 stance — but, in the crowded streets of London 
 the bore becomes an intolerable nuisance. We 
 prefer a thick coat and perfect independence of 
 hands and elbows. And then, what but a drip- 
 ping wet coat can provide you room in an omni- 
 bus? How the cat-like antipathy to water of your 
 companions makes them shrink into the smallest 
 possible circumference, as the raised nap of your 
 D'Orsay glistens in the gas-light, leaving you 
 impressed and snugly wrapped up in your dig- 
 nity and your beaver-cloth, to meditate on what- 
 ever may chance you to hear or happen! 
 
 We rode up past the General Post O/Rce — a 
 commodious edifice — and from there, such was 
 the press of vehicles, our horses were compelled 
 to walk nearly to St. Pauls. The frowning dome 
 of the latter, looked so black as we passed it, 
 that we could not help fancying it was at the 
 thoughts of its origin — for it was completed, if 
 we remember rightly by means of a tax laid on 
 coals. But on we went, jolting along Fleet street, 
 stopping for a moment to drop a passenger who 
 had dropped her six pence, in front of Bow- 
 Church, famous for its bells, (no pun intended,) 
 and then whizzing away through the Strand, until 
 St. Clements and St.Martin-in-lhe-field, seem to 
 shake their religious heads at us and mutter 
 that we were a little too desperate in our expedi- 
 tion. And so we were. In five minutes after- 
 wards some of the minutise of the vehicle gave 
 way, and down came eleven of us, (four fe- 
 males inclusive) as the proverb says the Evil 
 One on a certain day discovered somewhere a 
 six pence, i. e. "all in a heap." We had just 
 been stealing a glance at the women's faces, and 
 wondering what sort of creatures they would 
 make in the next world with little wings to their 
 plump shoulders, and why, in all the master pic- 
 tures we ever saw, the angels were always rep- 
 resented as of the masculme gender: we had just 
 cast an innocent look into their eyes, (a capital 
 volume to read when you are not detected , and one 
 that will afford you many a turned-down page of 
 human emotion, and many a wide margin for 
 deep reflection,) and were wondering whelher 
 the eyes of the Veiled Prophet's idolaters were 
 like these — 
 
 Quick, restless, strange, but exquisite withal, 
 Like those of angels just betore their fall ! 
 
 when the accident happened. It seemed like a 
 salutary hint to abandon the forbidden subject of 
 magic ; and so gathering oureelf up, we pedes- 
 trianed to our temporary home, leaving the om- 
 nibus and its contents to the tender mercies of 
 the public and the police, our " bruised arms" 
 being considerably unauited, aa yet, for "monu- 
 ments." Du SOLLE. 
 
 SOLLES 
 
 NO. xn. 
 
 Letter-writing in general — tlie theatre— 
 Macready— the new oppra— its features— its 
 success— new ballet— new dancer— hints on the 
 En<;lish stage— damnin-^ a play— hot drinlig— 
 scene in an omnibus, kc. ice. 
 
 London, 3 December, 1845. 
 Letter-writing is a pleasant thing when health, 
 comfort and a humor for it, combine to invest it 
 with super-satisfactory qualities. " And the Spiri 
 said unto John write, and he did write:" this wouid 
 have been sufficient apology even had John writ- 
 ten with less inspiration ; but it becomes a very dif- 
 ferent affair when the spirit is wanting, and one 
 cannot froth up insipid small-beer uniil the public 
 will mistake it for the sparkling "Thorn," or the 
 vivacious "Anchor"-brand, nor so rub down the 
 ideal German-silver, that ihe critical will put it in 
 their vaults for plate. Letter- writing is a conve- 
 nient escape-pipe for the discharge of a young 
 traveller's superfluous steam. His mind, his 
 senses, all actively alive to novelty, at first gene- 
 rate feelings and impressions that struggle valiant- 
 ly for a ventage, afier they have exhausted their 
 functionary performances. It is delightful, then, 
 to spread out on paper the multitudinous thoughts, 
 the wild emotions, the curious coincidences that, 
 like unshrived spirits, have made one's soul their 
 abiding place ; but when its repetition Ijecomes 
 a duty, and the " thousand natural ills that flesh 
 is heir to," robs one of the magic wand that will 
 alone exorcise those troublesome customers from 
 their secret hiding-places; when one especially 
 feels, with Mr. Pump, the would-be value of an 
 " intellectual figgery-four," to arrest the stray 
 footsteps of such erratic ideas as are not "up to 
 trap," in order to pin them down, like entomo- 
 logical subjects, for analytical consideration ; 
 then the pleasure becomes an irksome task — a ty- 
 rant impulse — which, like Goethe's broomstick- 
 goblin over-does its work, and notwithstanding 
 all your efforts to 
 
 " bid the busy th'ng nttaia 
 
 Its quiet broomstick form again" 
 
 laughs at your woe, and mocks at all your re- 
 cantations. 
 
 So much by way of entreating indulgence and 
 accounting for mishaps, as young ladies prelmle 
 with a delicate cough, and violins v/ilh a shriek 
 upon A, that which they are about to sing. And 
 now for a word theatrical. 
 
 The drama is doing well in London. Macrea- 
 dy has been drawing excellent houses. At Drury 
 Lane, a new Opera, by W. V. Wallace, well 
 known in the United States as a violinist and . 
 pianist of superior abilities, is attracting con- 
 siderable notice, and what is better, respectably 
 filled houses. The story is founded upon that of •■ 
 Don Ciesar de Bazan, an interesting piece from 
 the French. 
 
 We sat out the first act of this opera the other 
 night, and we conceive that it is really a produc- 
 
LETTERS. 
 
 33 
 
 lion ol mucli iiierii. We observe iliai severa\ 
 musical critics here reliably comi)eteut to tU'cide 
 upon llie subject, coincide willi us in ihis impres- 
 sion. As Mr. Wallace is an Irishman, this 
 judgment on the part ol' Englisli professors may 
 be considered satisfactory and impartial. The 
 overture is rather unfinished. The opening chorus 
 is a pretty tune in F major, Marilana's song Ibl- 
 lows with a full share of Spanish melody, picked 
 up by Mr. W. no doubt in Mexico. The second 
 song of the Gipsey girl is a delicious one, and is 
 embellished with an obligato accompaniment for 
 the harp, which is both singular and agreeable. 
 A subsequent duett between Don Jose and Mari- 
 tana, merits encomium. The cavatina, by Don 
 CiTJsar, wild and vigorous in its melody, with an 
 accompaniment a la holtro, is also striking. 
 The gem, however, of the first act is, in our poor 
 opinion, a chorus and concerted piece beginning 
 "Pretty Gitana tell us," tVc. The melody of the 
 chorus is quaint and eflective, and Maritana's 
 solos charmmgly varied, and skilfully introduced. 
 The brilliant aria by the latter in E major, de- 
 lighted us particularly, and we were pleased to 
 find it unanimously encored. The finale is very 
 good, though the instrumentation, to our ear, was 
 rather boisterous. 
 
 We dropped in, afterwards, at the Adelphia, a 
 theatre somewhat after, (or vice versa) the 
 fashion of Mitchell's New York Olympic. It is 
 managed by Madame Celeste with great success 
 and consummate tact, and she is ably supported 
 by Mrs. Fitzwilliams. Buckstone's stupid play 
 of "Green Bushes" was on, and we should have 
 been off, but that we desired to witness a bur- 
 lesque on a new ballet which we had just beheld 
 at ''old Urury,'" where, by the way, we were 
 delighted with Mademoiselle Flora Fabri, whose 
 dancing was exquisite, and who is said to be fully 
 equal to Cerito. 
 
 In "Green Bushes," Mrs. Fitzwilliams was 
 touchingly pathetic Two comic geniuses con- 
 trived, in the same piece, to keep the audience in 
 a roar by interpolating very "ancient and fish- 
 like" jests, and exclaiming "I believe you m- 
 ^y," with a singular drawl. We glanced at the 
 light moustache and lavender gloves of the gen- 
 tleman of the press who, at home, is so well- 
 known by the latter appellation. He was in an 
 adjacent box, and it struck us that, in future, he 
 would be apt to eschew a so vulgarised cogno- 
 men. 
 
 The burlcscjne was called "Taming the Tartar, 
 or Magic and Mazourkaphobia." It was beauti- 
 fully gotten up, and went off superbly. Celeste 
 acquitting herself with her usual skill, and a 
 Miss Woolgar representing a feminine cream-of- 
 tartar in the shape of a countess, with delight- 
 ful spirit, force and vivacity. This ballet would 
 become very popular in America. 
 
 On the whole we have been sadly ditiappoint 
 ed with the English stage, it may seem like pre- 
 
 judice to say so, but we consrieiiliously declare 
 that we have seen here no better performers, 
 and very few as good, as those attached to the 
 better theatres at home. Farren is extremely 
 good as a comedian, but see him once and you 
 have seen him forever. He is very much the 
 same in all characters. It is Mr. Farren through- 
 out. Burton has no equal in London on the 
 boards, nor can wo find any one to surpass Chip- 
 pendale in a certain line. Helen Faucit is un- 
 doubtedly an actress of talent, but far below what 
 we expected to discover. We liave visited nine 
 out of the fifteen theatres at present open, and 
 putting aside Macready, Anderson, Wallack and 
 one or two others familiar to us on both sides of 
 the Atlantic, the male performers rank from me- 
 diocrity down to insignificance. After those we 
 have named, there is not a general actor here who 
 upon the platform of usefulness and ability, ranks 
 with either Wheatlcy, Wallack, Jr. or Davenport. 
 Among the ladies the same paucity of excellence 
 exists- Miss Faucit is transcended by Charlotte 
 Cushman. After her come a host of creditable 
 actresses, but creditable only — not one approach- 
 ing Mrs. Wallack, Jr., who is surpassed by sev- 
 eral now whom, but we have no desire to insti- 
 tute invidious comparisons, we could name upon 
 the American stage. 
 
 Great attention is paid to scenery, costumes, 
 properties, &c., at most of the theatres in London. 
 It strikes the eye of a stranger as very curious to 
 see the pit wear an air so respectable. Families 
 in middling circumstances, such as would be 
 shocked at the bare idea, in America, of being 
 seen out of the boxes, may be beheld here very 
 comfortably seated in the pit, which custom has 
 invested with no disparaging associations. Be- 
 fore the play begins, bills of the performances are 
 carried around the house for sale, frequently by 
 women, the price being, we believe, a penny, 
 and none being furnished the audience, as with 
 us, gratuitously. Between the acts, oranges, and 
 other fruit, are vended in a similar manner ; 
 while, in the gallery, (around the outside of the 
 railing of which bonnets, muffs, Arc, are suspend- 
 ed for safe-keeping by those in the vicinity,) con- 
 versations intended for the ears of the whole 
 house, are often carried on, of a curious charac- 
 ter. The boxes are by no means well arranged. 
 You sit tmcomfortably in them, you scarcely 
 know why. Some of the private boxes are an 
 exception to this rule, and are pleasant enough. 
 Let us add that every theatre here is fitted up with 
 some conveniences that are utterly unknown in 
 America. 
 
 Speaking of the theatre reminds us that Leo- 
 pold de Meyer has gone to the United States. 
 He bears the reputation hero of being one of the 
 greatest pianists living. Many good judges es- 
 teem him as superior to Lizst. This again re- 
 minds us of Mr. Fiey's Opera of Leonora. We 
 brought out some copies of its published "gems," 
 
 E 
 
34 DU 
 
 and gave them to one or two eminent musical 
 friends. We shall not say what were their ex- 
 clamations when, after seating themselves at the 
 piano, they dashed off the first few bars of each 
 composition The author, may possibly remem- 
 ber Dante's description of Ugolino's pastime in 
 spirit-land, "I beheld two spirits in the ice," &c. 
 We need say no more. We presume Leonora 
 will be brought over the coming Spring, and we 
 will not anticipate its reception. If successful , 
 the composer will have reason to be proud, (for 
 the prejudice against every thing American is 
 unmistakably coyennish here,) and if otherwise, 
 it will be perditioned with a concentrated and in- 
 tense heartiness with which we at home are any- 
 thing but familiar. 
 
 The independence of the audience at the thea- 
 tres in London, is maintained with a zeal, and 
 sometimes with a humor, quite remarkable to an 
 alien. It is the very licentiousness of liberty. — 
 Every one appears disposed to play the popular 
 tyrant, and reflect upon the ministers of the 
 drama the petty despotism which he is himself 
 compelled to endure, out of doors, in a more com- 
 prehensive circle. A dull performance, there- 
 fore, meets with no mercy. We were at the 
 Hay-market theatre one night on the occasion of 
 the production of a vapid novility, and such a 
 scene ! " I say Jack, here's a precious go?" 
 shouted one of the deities in the gallery. " My 
 hyes!" ejaculated a second, in the midst of 
 a pause in a speech intended to be full of pa- 
 thos, " my hyes ! but this is tea-potish. Give 
 that ere voman a vipe." " Off, off, off," screamed 
 a dozen, at a lamentable "stick" of two of 
 the performers who had suddenly grown obli- 
 vious of the dialogue, and could not catch the 
 words of the prompter. "Off! all of you; off, 
 all — "roared a stentor. " Yes, it is awful ;" mur- 
 mured a more modest crowd Then came cat- 
 calls, screams, laughs, and shrieks of " Run old 
 gouty" — "vip up little 'un" — " Two to one on 
 the long tail" — " Whorray! — ha !-^ha ! — hiss — s 
 — s — s" &c., until the curtain dropped in a cha- 
 otic chorus, that might have aflbrded a character- 
 istic idea for his " Creation." 
 
 The usual procedure, after an adjournment 
 from the theatre and preparatory to retiring for 
 the night is supper and something hot to drink. 
 We have seen some beautiful ice, clear as crys- 
 tal, exposed for sale, in the Strand or High Hol- 
 born, (pronounced J/o'-born) we forget which, at 
 an enormous price, but we fancy it is in little de- 
 mand, as the English generally, are as fond as the 
 ancient Romans or modern Chinese of warm 
 drinks. The latter nation, we know, labor under 
 the ridiculous impression that all cold liquids, 
 even pure water, are calculated to occasion dis- 
 ease, and the former, we have seen it stated 
 somewhere, must have had shops fitted up for the 
 sale of warm indulgences, for a number of "Ther- 
 mopolia" have been disembowelled from the 
 earth at Pompeii with all the paraphernalia of 
 
 SOLLE'S 
 
 I urns, metallic liealers and cocks, &:c., like our 
 
 tea and coffee urns. 
 { So .lohn Bull has, at any rate, a precedent of 
 • antiquity for his taste, to say nothing of the pal- 
 pable justice of taking something from the sub- 
 j jecis of the Brother of the Moon and Celestial Re- 
 gulator, besides a few millions of dirty bullion, 
 wellearned in teaching that headstrong nation^the 
 mysterious and subtle relationship exLsting fje 
 tween the use of opium and the progress of Chris- 
 tianity — as understood by British philanthropists. 
 This fondness for heated decoctions runs to an 
 amusing extreme sometimes: we saw "hot 
 Sherry Cobblers" advertised the other day. and 
 we should not be surprised if an "American 
 Mint .lulep — boiling" were next to be served up 
 as a specimen of Yankee bai barism, for the idea 
 of a refrigerating drink would scarcely be tole- 
 rated among the unlravellf-d deuizens of London 
 
 After the theatre we started for our lodgings. 
 As it was pluvious, as usual, we took an omni- 
 bus, squeezing ourself in as the thirteenth pas- 
 senger, and listening complacently to the sup- 
 pressed maledictions of those who, no doubt, 
 would have felt more at ease without us, and 
 wished us, in consequence, in a climate, with the 
 thermo sulphuric properties of which, certain 
 modern theob gists take good care to keep the 
 public mind well acquainted. 
 
 "La, sir," simpered a lady, the moment the 
 omnibus in starling had shaken us down to with- 
 in a few inches of our seat; "La, sir, you are 
 sitting on my Polka." A "Polka," be it under- 
 stood is the, at present, fashionable short species 
 of coat, usually of black silk, with an extremity. 
 We apologize of course. 
 
 "Zounds, sir, are you aware that there are 
 such things as corms?" blustered a testy old gen- 
 tleman upon our other side, in a tone anything 
 but 'queslion'-able. A duplicate apology suc- 
 ceeded; and our comlbrt tliat had "stuck out a 
 foot," was dinTinished by some inches. We be- 
 gan to amuse ourself by turning up the straw 
 with our cane, in the hope of forgetting our pain- 
 ful position. 
 
 "1 beg your pardon sir," said a thin, harsh 
 voice, emanating from a small bundle vis-a-vis 
 to us, out of the upper end of which projected 
 only, as far as we could discern, a nose like a 
 razor, and a pair of Tabby optics full of unchari- 
 table intelligence: "I beg your pardon, sir, liut 
 that is one of iny goloshe's you are making free 
 with." 
 
 A "golosh," is an over-shoe. We carefully 
 replaced it, with ajjologv number three, to which 
 we distinctly heard a sotlo voce "nasty brute!" 
 from the bundle aforesaid, in token of acknow- 
 ledgement. 
 
 In despair, we stared out of the window, and 
 diverted ourself by expending our spleen on the 
 badfitting coats and strapless pantaloons of the 
 "aicu about towu" who chanced to pass us in 
 
the blaze of some of ihe shop gas-liglils. We 
 were just thinking what a sensation Ihe "Car- 
 penters" of Philadelphia would create, were they 
 here, to inspire with their skill and genius, a 
 taste for elegance in ihe figure and make of the 
 garments masculine of London. We doubt if 
 Stultz, in his palmy days, could ever clothe the 
 human form with that surpassing tact, that ad- 
 mirable je ue sais (juoi, which distinguishes the 
 work of those celebrated artistes, the Messrs. C. 
 We were criticising Ihe habits of the men, lis- 
 tening to the tramp! tramp! of the pattens of ihe 
 women, and wondering, as the Post Boy in his 
 red livery and little red-cart flew, by, whether 
 the impatient crowd made way for him as a re- 
 presenlative of her Majesty, or from a social 
 respect for his calling, when a nudge from an 
 umbrella on our left side almost deprived us of 
 breath, and the fair wearer of the Polka we had 
 disarranged, looking into our face, said, "Catha- 
 rine St., if you please," and pointed to the con- 
 ductor. At first we were stupidly confused, and 
 then representing the lady's wish, in the proper 
 direction, llie vehicle slopped, and calling "Cu- 
 pid! Cupidl" she snatched up a trowsered deity 
 in the shape of a candy-faced urchin, and left us 
 plenty of room and infinite satisfaction. But 
 what a name for her son! It reminded us of a 
 P. S. to one o( the old letters of the proraplu of 
 Drury-Lane theatre, to his brother promplu of 
 Covent Garden: "Send us a Cupid — ours has got 
 the measles." 
 
 We begaa now, like Daniel Webster, to 
 
 LETTERS. 35 
 
 "breathe freer and deeper," but wo caught a 
 glance of the Tabby-eyes opposite, and our spi- 
 rits sunk down like railway stock on pay-morn- 
 ing. Somehow, we always had an antipathy for 
 small sharp wine and small sharp women. We 
 looked again at the eyes, and caught ourself ask- 
 ing ourrelf if their owner could be married? 
 Alas! we were afraid so, for there was an air of 
 enalignant satisfaction about them that seemed to 
 say they had some poor victim at home to mag- 
 netise with iheir cold greyness, and teach, after 
 Love's carnival, all Ihe desagremens of the "dis- 
 mal Lent of marriage." Egad! he must be a 
 happy specimen ol humanity. When he goes 
 home o'nights, how the Ibotstepa of his wor- 
 shipped one must ring musically in his ears! and 
 her fingers seem, like the beloved in the Canti- 
 cles, to drop "with sweet smelling myrrh upon 
 the handles of Ihe lock" to give him admission! 
 
 Ugh! the thought was petrifying, and we put 
 our cane down with a force that iiiadothc uncon- 
 scious subject of our reverie .shrink .<. iih appre- 
 hension. Here we introduced apoict-': number 
 four, and we did it with particular piiasuie, be- 
 cause her huge plaid shawl dropping ofi", we dis- 
 covered her to have a rather interesting counte- 
 nance, and that the Tabby-eyes which annoyed 
 us were a pair of horn spectacles. 
 
 We protested that we never would permit 
 vagrant fancy to play us such a trick again, and 
 descending from the omnibus, we sought our 
 home and resigned ourself to dreams of our native 
 country. Du Solle. 
 
ll 
 
Oaylord Bros 
 
 Makers 
 Syracuse, N. Y. 
 PAT. JAN. 2t, 1908 
 
 
 
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