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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/17297-h.zip b/17297-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..adca82c --- /dev/null +++ b/17297-h.zip diff --git a/17297-h/17297-h.htm b/17297-h/17297-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9c31f48 --- /dev/null +++ b/17297-h/17297-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,9232 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> + <head> + <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> + <title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of British Highways and Byways From a Motor Car, by Thos. D. Murphy. + </title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + p { margin-top: .75em; + text-align: justify; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6 { + text-align: center; /* all headings centered */ + clear: both; + } + hr { width: 33%; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + margin-left: auto; + margin-right: auto; + clear: both; + } + + table {margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;} + + body{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + + .linenum {position: absolute; top: auto; left: 4%;} /* poetry number */ + .blockquot{margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 10%;} + .pagenum {position: absolute; left: 1%; font-size: smaller; text-align: left; color: gray;} + .sidenote {width: 20%; padding-bottom: .5em; padding-top: .5em; + padding-left: .5em; padding-right: .5em; margin-left: 1em; + float: right; clear: right; margin-top: 1em; + font-size: smaller; background: #eeeeee; border: dashed 1px;} + + .bb {border-bottom: solid 2px;} + .bl {border-left: solid 2px;} + .bt {border-top: solid 2px;} + .br {border-right: solid 2px;} + .bbox {border: solid 2px;} + + .center {text-align: center;} + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + .u {text-decoration: underline;} + .signature {text-align: right; margin-right: 20%;} + + .caption {font-weight: bold;} + + .figcenter {margin: auto; text-align: center;} + + .figleft {float: left; clear: left; margin-left: 0; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-top: + 1em; margin-right: 1em; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .figright {float: right; clear: right; margin-left: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em; + margin-top: 1em; margin-right: 0; padding: 0; text-align: center;} + + .footnotes {border: dashed 1px;} + .footnote {margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-size: 0.9em;} + .footnote .label {position: absolute; right: 84%; text-align: right;} + .fnanchor {vertical-align: super; font-size: .8em; text-decoration: none;} + + .poem {margin-left:10%; margin-right:10%; text-align: left;} + .poem br {display: none;} + .poem .stanza {margin: 1em 0em 1em 0em;} + .poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em;} + .poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 2em;} + .poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 4em;} + .poem span.i6 {display: block; margin-left: 6em;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of British Highways And Byways From A Motor Car +by Thomas D. Murphy + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: British Highways And Byways From A Motor Car + Being A Record Of A Five Thousand Mile Tour In England, + Wales And Scotland + +Author: Thomas D. Murphy + +Release Date: December 13, 2005 [EBook #17297] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRITISH HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Taavi Kalju and the Online +Distributed Proofreaders Europe at http://dp.rastko.net. + + + + + + +</pre> + + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image01" name="image01"> + <img src="images/01.jpg" + alt="OLD HALF-TIMBERED HOUSES IN LEDBURY." + title="OLD HALF-TIMBERED HOUSES IN LEDBURY." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">OLD HALF-TIMBERED HOUSES IN LEDBURY.<br />From Water Color by B. McGuinness.</span> +</div> + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <img src="images/cover.jpg" + alt="Cover" + title="Cover" /> +</div> + + +<h1> +British Highways<br /> +and Byways<br /> +From a Motor Car<br /> +</h1> + + +<h4>BEING A RECORD OF A FIVE THOUSAND MILE TOUR IN ENGLAND, WALES AND +SCOTLAND</h4> + +<h3>BY</h3> + +<h2>Thos. D. Murphy</h2> + + +<p class="center">With Sixteen Illustrations in Colour and Thirty-two Duogravures From +Photographs; Also Two Descriptive Maps.</p> + + +<h5> +BOSTON<br /> +L.C. Page & Company<br /> +MDCCCCVIII<br /> +</h5> + +<hr style="width: 35%;" /> + +<h5> +<i>Copyright</i>, 1908<br /> +BY L.C. PAGE & COMPANY<br /> +(INCORPORATED)<br /> +</h5> + +<h5><i>All rights reserved</i></h5> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>A FOREWORD</h2> + + +<p>In this chronicle of a summer's motoring in Britain I have not attempted +a guide-book in any sense, yet the maps, together with the comments on +highways, towns, and country, should be of some value even in that +capacity. I hope, however, that the book, with its many illustrations +and its record of visits to out-of-the way places, may be acceptable to +those who may desire to tour Britain by rail or cycle as well as by +motor car. Nor may it be entirely uninteresting to those who may not +expect to visit the country in person but desire to learn more of it and +its people. Although our journey did not follow the beaten paths of +British touring, and while a motor car affords the most satisfactory +means of reaching most of the places described, the great majority of +these places are accessible by rail, supplemented in some cases by a +walk or drive. A glance at the maps will indicate the large scope of +country covered and the location of most places especially mentioned in +the text.</p> + +<p>It was not a tour of cities by any means, but of the most delightful +country in the world, with its towns, villages, historic spots and +solitary ruins. Whatever the merits or demerits of the text, there can +be no question concerning the pictures. The color-plates were reproduced +from original paintings by prominent artists, some of the pictures +having been exhibited in the London Royal Academy. The thirty-two +duogravures represent the very height of attainment in that process, +being reproductions of the most perfect English photographs obtainable.</p> + +<p class="signature">T.D.M.</p> + +<p>January 1908.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>FOREWORD TO SECOND EDITION</h2> + + +<p>The first edition of BRITISH HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS FROM A MOTOR CAR was +printed from type—instead of from electrotype plates—thus giving an +opportunity for additional care in the press work, with better results +than with the ordinary book printed from plates. The publishers thought +also that some time might elapse before a second edition would be called +for. However, the unexpected happened and in less than a year a new +edition is required.</p> + +<p>This has afforded opportunity for numerous additions and +corrections—since it was hardly possible that a book covering such a +wide scope could be entirely free from mistakes, though, fortunately, +these were mainly minor ones. I have to thank numerous readers for +helpful suggestions.</p> + +<p>That there is a distinct field for such a book is proven by the +unexpectedly large demand for the first edition. I hope that the new and +revised edition may meet with like favor.</p> + +<p class="signature">T.D.M.</p> + +<p>March 1, 1909.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr> + <td align='left'></td> + <td align='left'></td> + <td align='left'>Page</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>I </td> + <td align='left'><b>A FEW GENERALITIES</b></td> + <td align='right'><a href="#page1">1</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>II </td> + <td align='left'><b>IN AND ABOUT LONDON</b></td> + <td align='right'><a href="#page11">11</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>III </td> + <td align='left'><b>A PILGRIMAGE TO CANTERBURY</b></td> + <td align='right'><a href="#page26">26</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>IV </td> + <td align='left'><b>A RUN THROUGH THE MIDLANDS</b></td> + <td align='right'><a href="#page40">40</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>V </td> + <td align='left'><b>THE BORDER TOWNS, SHREWSBURY AND LUDLOW</b></td> + <td align='right'><a href="#page58">58</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>VI </td> + <td align='left'><b>LONDON TO LAND'S END</b></td> + <td align='right'><a href="#page80">80</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>VII </td> + <td align='left'><b>FROM CORNWALL TO SOUTH WALES</b></td> + <td align='right'><a href="#page100">100</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>VIII </td> + <td align='left'><b>THROUGH BEAUTIFUL WALES</b></td> + <td align='right'><a href="#page115">115</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>IX </td> + <td align='left'><b>CHESTER TO THE "HIELANDS"</b></td> + <td align='right'><a href="#page137">137</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>X </td> + <td align='left'><b>THROUGH HISTORIC SCOTLAND</b></td> + <td align='right'><a href="#page156">156</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>XI </td> + <td align='left'><b>FROM EDINBURGH TO YORKSHIRE</b></td> + <td align='right'><a href="#page173">173</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>XII </td> + <td align='left'><b>IN OLD YORKSHIRE</b></td> + <td align='right'><a href="#page190">190</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>XIII </td> + <td align='left'><b>A ZIG-ZAG TRIP FROM YORK TO NORWICH</b></td> + <td align='right'><a href="#page206">206</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>XIV </td> + <td align='left'><b>PETERBOROUGH, FOTHERINGHAY, ETC</b></td> + <td align='right'><a href="#page221">221</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>XV </td> + <td align='left'><b>THE CROMWELL COUNTRY; COLCHESTER</b></td> + <td align='right'><a href="#page235">235</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>XVI </td> + <td align='left'><b>THE HAUNTS OF MILTON AND PENN</b></td> + <td align='right'><a href="#page247">247</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>XVII </td> + <td align='left'><b>A CHAPTER OF DIVERS PLACES AND EXPERIENCES</b></td> + <td align='right'><a href="#page260">260</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>XVIII </td> + <td align='left'><b>IN SURREY AND SUSSEX</b></td> + <td align='right'><a href="#page275">275</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>XIX </td> + <td align='left'><b>KNOLE HOUSE AND PENSHURST</b></td> + <td align='right'><a href="#page290">290</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='right'>XX </td> + <td align='left'><b>SOME MIGHT-HAVE-BEENS</b></td> + <td align='right'><a href="#page299">299</a></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'></td> + <td align='left'><span style="margin-left: 2em;"><b>INDEX</b></span></td> + <td align='right'><a href="#page311">311</a></td> +</tr> +</table></div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2> + + +<div class='center'> +<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""> +<tr> + <td align='left' colspan="2"><h4>COLOUR PLATES</h4></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'></td> + <td align='right'>Page</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image01">OLD HALF-TIMBEREID HOUSES IN LEDBURY</a></td> + <td align='right'>Frontispiece</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image02">OLD COTTAGE AT NORTON, NEAR EVESHAM</a></td> + <td align='right'>1</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image03">HARVESTING IN HERTFORDSHIRE</a></td> + <td align='right'>16</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image07">THE THREE SPIRES OF LICHFIELD</a></td> + <td align='right'>48</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image08">SUNSET ON THE MOOR</a></td> + <td align='right'>56</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image13">A COTTAGE IN HOLDENHURST, HAMPSHIRE</a></td> + <td align='right'>86</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image15">ROCKS OFF CORNWALL</a></td> + <td align='right'>96</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image16">NEAR LAND'S END</a></td> + <td align='right'>100</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image17">ON DARTMOOR</a></td> + <td align='right'>104</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image19">IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE</a></td> + <td align='right'>112</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image22">ENTRANCE TO LOCH TYNE</a></td> + <td align='right'>144</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image23">THE PATH BY THE LOCH</a></td> + <td align='right'>150</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image25">IN THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS</a></td> + <td align='right'>160</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image40">A SURREY LANDSCAPE</a></td> + <td align='right'>272</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image47">A BIT OF OLD ENGLAND</a></td> + <td align='right'>300</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image48">THE CALEDONIAN COAST</a></td> + <td align='right'>308</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left' colspan="2"><h4>DUOGRAVURES</h4></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image04">HADLEY CHURCH, MONKEN HADLEY</a></td> + <td align='right'>22</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image05">DICKENS' HOME, GAD'S HILL, NEAR ROCHESTER</a></td> + <td align='right'>30</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image06">CATHEDRAL, CANTERBURY</a></td> + <td align='right'>33</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image09">RUINS OF URICONIUM, NEAR SHREWSBURY</a></td> + <td align='right'>64</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image10">STOKESAY MANOR HOUSE, NEAR LUDLOW</a></td> + <td align='right'>66</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image11">THE FEATHERS HOTEL, LUDLOW</a></td> + <td align='right'>68</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image12">LUDLOW CASTLE, THE KEEP AND ENTRANCE</a></td> + <td align='right'>72</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image14">A GLADE IN NEW FOREST</a></td> + <td align='right'>88</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image18">ST. JOSEPH'S CHAPEL, GLASTONBURY ABBEY</a></td> + <td align='right'>108</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image20">DISTANT VIEW OF ROSS, SOUTH WELSH BORDER</a></td> + <td align='right'>114</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image21">RUINS OF RAGLAN CASTLE, SOUTH WALES</a></td> + <td align='right'>120</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image24">KILCHURN CASTLE, LOCH AWE</a></td> + <td align='right'>152</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image26">TOWERS OF ELGIN CATHEDRAL, NORTH SCOTLAND</a></td> + <td align='right'>162</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image27">DUNNOTTAR CASTLE, STONEHAVEN, NEAR ABERDEEN</a></td> + <td align='right'>164</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image28">TOWN HOUSE, DUNBAR, SCOTLAND</a></td> + <td align='right'>180</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image29">BAMBOROUGH CASTLE, NORTHUMBERLAND</a></td> + <td align='right'>184</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image30">OLD COTTAGE AT COCKINGTON</a></td> + <td align='right'>200</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image31">SOMERSBY RECTORY, BIRTHPLACE OF TENNYSON</a></td> + <td align='right'>210</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image32">SOMERSBY CHURCH</a></td> + <td align='right'>212</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image33">ST. BOTOLPH'S CHURCH FROM THE RIVER, BOSTON</a></td> + <td align='right'>216</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image34">A TYPICAL BYWAY</a></td> + <td align='right'>224</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image35">JOHN WYCLIF'S CHURCH, LUTTERWORTH</a></td> + <td align='right'>232</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image36">BYRON'S ELM IN CHURCHYARD, HARROW</a></td> + <td align='right'>246</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image37">MILTON'S ROOM IN COTTAGE AT CHALFONT ST. GILES</a></td> + <td align='right'>250</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image38">DISTANT VIEW OF MAGDALEN TOWER, OXFORD</a></td> + <td align='right'>256</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image39">RINGWOOD CHURCH</a></td> + <td align='right'>260</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image41">WINDMILL NEAR ARUNDEL, SUSSEX</a></td> + <td align='right'>274</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image42">ARUNDEL CASTLE</a></td> + <td align='right'>276</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image43">PEVENSEY CASTLE, WHERE THE NORMANS LANDED</a></td> + <td align='right'>280</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image44">WINCHELSEA CHURCH AND ELM TREE</a></td> + <td align='right'>282</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image45">ENTRANCE FRONT BODIAM CASTLE, SUSSEX</a></td> + <td align='right'>286</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image46">PENSHURST PLACE, HOME OF THE SIDNEYS</a></td> + <td align='right'>292</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left' colspan="2"><h4>MAPS</h4></td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image49">MAP OF ENGLAND AND WALES</a></td> + <td align='right'>310</td> +</tr> +<tr> + <td align='left'><a href="#image50">MAP OF SCOTLAND</a></td> + <td align='right'>318</td> +</tr> +</table></div> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image02" name="image02"> + <img src="images/02.jpg" + alt="OLD COTTAGE AT NORTON, NEAR EVESHAM." + title="OLD COTTAGE AT NORTON, NEAR EVESHAM." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">OLD COTTAGE AT NORTON, NEAR EVESHAM.<br />From Water Color by G.F. Nicholls.</span> +</div> + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page1" name="page1"></a>Pg 1</span></p> +<h2>British Highways and Byways From a Motor Car</h2> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /> +<h2>I</h2> + +<h3>A FEW GENERALITIES</h3> + + +<p>Stratford-on-Avon stands first on the itinerary of nearly every American +who proposes to visit the historic shrines of Old England. Its +associations with Britain's immortal bard and with our own gentle +Geoffrey Crayon are not unfamiliar to the veriest layman, and no fewer +than thirty thousand pilgrims, largely from America, visit the +delightful old town each year. And who ever came away disappointed? Who, +if impervious to the charm of the place, ever dared to own it?</p> + +<p>My first visit to Stratford-on-Avon was in the regulation fashion. +Imprisoned in a dusty and comfortless first-class apartment—first-class +is an irony in England when applied to railroad travel, a mere excuse +for charging double—we shot around the curves, the glorious +Warwickshire landscapes fleeting past in a haze or obscured at times by +the drifting smoke. Our reveries were rudely interrupted by<span class="pagenum"><a id="page2" name="page2"></a>Pg 2</span> the shriek +of the English locomotive—like an exaggerated toy whistle—and, with a +mere glimpse of town and river, we were brought sharply up to the +unattractive station of Stratford-on-Avon. We were hustled by an +officious porter into an omnibus, which rattled through the streets +until we landed at the Sign of the Red Horse; and the manner of our +departure was even the same.</p> + +<p>Just two years later, after an exhilarating drive of two or three hours +over the broad, well-kept highway winding through the parklike fields, +fresh from May showers, between Worcester and Stratford, our motor +finally climbed a long hill, and there, stretched out before us, lay the +valley of the Avon. Far away we caught the gleam of the immortal river, +and rising from a group of splendid trees we beheld Trinity +Church—almost unique in England for its graceful combination of massive +tower and slender spire—the literary shrine of the English-speaking +world, the enchanted spot where Shakespeare sleeps. About it were +clustered the clean, tiled roofs of the charming town, set like a gem in +the Warwickshire landscape, famous as the most beautiful section of Old +England. Our car slowed to a stop, and only the subdued hum of the motor +broke the stillness as we saw Stratford-on-Avon from afar, conscious of +a beauty and sentiment that made our former visit seem commonplace +indeed.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page3" name="page3"></a>Pg 3</span></p> + +<p>But I am not going to write of Stratford-on-Avon. Thousands have done +this before me—some of them of immortal fame. I shall not attempt to +describe or give details concerning a town that is probably visited each +year by more people than any other place of the size in the world. I am +simply striving in a few words to give the different impressions made +upon the same party who visited the town twice in a comparatively short +period, the first time by railway train and the last by motor car. If I +have anything to say of Stratford, it will come in due sequence in my +story.</p> + +<p>There are three ways in which a tourist may obtain a good idea of +Britain during a summer's vacation of three or four months. He may cover +most places of interest after the old manner, by railway train. This +will have to be supplemented by many and expensive carriage drives if he +wishes to see the most beautiful country and many of the most +interesting places. As Professor Goldwin Smith says, "Railways in +England do not follow the lines of beauty in very many cases," and the +opportunity afforded of really seeing England from a railway car window +is poor indeed. The tourist must keep a constant eye on the time-tables, +and in many of the more retired places he will have to spend a day when +an hour would suffice quite as well could he get away. If he travels +first-class, it is quite expen<span class="pagenum"><a id="page4" name="page4"></a>Pg 4</span>sive, and the only advantage secured is +that he generally has a compartment to himself, the difference in +accommodations between first and third-class on the longer distance +trains being insignificant. But if he travels third-class, he very often +finds himself crowded into a small compartment with people in whom, to +say the least, he has nothing in common. One seldom gets the real +sentiment and beauty of a place in approaching it by railway. I am +speaking, of course, of the tourist who endeavors to crowd as much as he +can into a comparatively short time. To the one who remains several days +in a place, railroad traveling is less objectionable. My remarks +concerning railroad travel in England are made merely from the point of +comparison with a pleasure journey by motor, and having covered the +greater part of the country in both ways, I am qualified to some extent +to speak from experience.</p> + +<p>For a young man or party of young men who are traveling through Britain +on a summer's vacation, the bicycle affords an excellent and expeditious +method of getting over the country, and offers nearly all the advantages +of the motor car, provided the rider is vigorous and expert enough to do +the wheeling without fatigue. The motor cycle is still better from this +point of view, and many thousands of them are in use on English roads, +while cyclists may be counted by the tens of thousands. But the bicycle<span class="pagenum"><a id="page5" name="page5"></a>Pg 5</span> +is out of the question for an extended tour by a party which includes +ladies. The amount of impedimenta which must be carried along, and the +many long hills which are encountered on the English roads, will put the +cycle out of the question in such cases.</p> + +<p>In the motor car, we have the most modern and thorough means of +traversing the highways and byways of Britain in the limits of a single +summer, and it is my purpose in this book, with little pretensions to +literary style, to show how satisfactorily this may be done by a mere +layman. To the man who drives his own car and who at the outstart knows +very little about the English roads and towns, I wish to undertake to +show how in a trip of five thousand miles, occupying about fifty days, +actual traveling time, I covered much of the most beautiful country in +England and Scotland and visited a large proportion of the most +interesting and historic places in the Kingdom. I think it can be +clearly demonstrated that this method of touring will give opportunities +for enjoyment and for gaining actual knowledge of the people and country +that can hardly be attained in any other way.</p> + +<p>The motor car affords expeditious and reasonably sure means of getting +over the country—always ready when you are ready, subservient to your +whim to visit some inaccessible old ruin, flying over<span class="pagenum"><a id="page6" name="page6"></a>Pg 6</span> the broad main +highways or winding more cautiously in the unfrequented country +byways—and is, withal, a method of locomotion to which the English +people have become tolerant if not positively friendly. Further, I am +sure it will be welcome news to many that the expense of such a trip, +under ordinary conditions, is not at all exorbitant or out of the reach +of the average well-to-do citizen.</p> + +<p>Those who have traveled for long distances on American roads can have no +conception whatever of the delights of motor traveling on the British +highways. I think there are more bad roads in the average county, taking +the States throughout, than there are in all of the United Kingdom, and +the number of defective bridges in any county outside of the immediate +precincts of a few cities, would undoubtedly be many times greater than +in the whole of Great Britain. I am speaking, of course, of the more +traveled highways and country byways. There are roads leading into the +hilly sections that would not be practicable for motors at all, but, +fortunately, these are the very roads over which no one would care to +go. While the gradients are generally easier than in the States, there +are in many places sharp hills where the car must be kept well under +control. But the beauty of it is that in Britain one has the means of +being thoroughly warned in advance of the road conditions which he must +encounter.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page7" name="page7"></a>Pg 7</span>The maps are perfect to the smallest detail and drawn to a large scale, +showing the relative importance of all the roads; and upon them are +plainly marked the hills that are styled "dangerous." These maps were +prepared for cyclists, and many of the hills seem insignificant to a +powerful motor. However, the warning is none the less valuable, for +often other conditions requiring caution prevail, such as a dangerous +turn on a hill or a sharp descent into a village street. Then there is a +set of books, four in number, published by an Edinburgh house and +illustrated by profile plans, covering about thirty thousand miles of +road in England and Scotland. These show the exact gradients and supply +information in regard to the surface of the roads and their general +characteristics. Besides this, the "objects of interest" scattered along +any particular piece of road are given in brief—information at once so +desirable and complete as to be a revelation to an American. There are +sign-boards at nearly every crossing; only in some of the more retired +districts did we find the crossroads unmarked. With such advantages as +these, it is easily seen that a tour of Britain by a comparative +stranger is not difficult; that a chauffeur or a guide posted on the +roads is not at all necessary. The average tourist, with the exercise of +ordinary intelligence and a little patience, can get about any part of +the country without difficulty. One of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page8" name="page8"></a>Pg 8</span> the greatest troubles we found +was to strike the right road in leaving a town of considerable size, but +this was overcome by the extreme willingness of any policeman or native +to give complete information—often so much in detail as to be rather +embarrassing. The hundreds of people from whom we sought assistance in +regard to the roads were without exception most cheerful and willing +compliants, and in many places people who appeared to be substantial +citizens volunteered information when they saw us stop at the town +crossing to consult our maps. In getting about the country, little +difficulty or confusion will be experienced.</p> + +<p>Generally speaking, the hotel accommodations in the provincial towns +throughout England and Scotland are surprisingly good. Of course there +is a spice of adventure in stopping occasionally at one of the small +wayside inns or at one of the old hostelries more famous for its +associations than for comfort, but to one who demands first-class +service and accommodations, a little of this will go a long way. +Generally it can be so planned that towns with strictly good hotel +accommodations can be reached for the night. Occasionally an unusually +comfortable and well-ordered hotel will tempt the motorist to tarry a +day or two and possibly to make excursions in the vicinity. Such hotels +we found at Chester and York, for instance. The country hotel-keeper in<span class="pagenum"><a id="page9" name="page9"></a>Pg 9</span> +Britain is waking up to the importance of motor travel. Already most of +the hotels were prepared to take care of this class of tourists, and in +many others improvements were under way. It is safe to say that in the +course of two or three years, at the farthest, there will be little to +be desired in the direction of good accommodations in the better towns. +Rates at these hotels are not low by any means—at least for the +motorist. It is generally assumed that a man who is in possession of an +automobile is able to pay his bills, and charges and fees are exacted in +accordance with this idea. There is, of course, a wide variation in this +particular, and taking it right through, the rates at the best hotels +would not be called exorbitant. The Motor Club of Great Britain and +Ireland have many especially designated hotels where the members of this +association are given a discount. These are not in every case the best +in the town, and we generally found Baedeker's Hand Book the most +reliable guide as to the relative merits of the hotels. It is a poorly +appointed hotel that does not now have a garage of some sort, and in +many cases, necessary supplies are available. Some even go so far as to +charge the storage batteries, or "accumulators," as they are always +called in Britain, and to afford facilities for the motorist to make +repairs.</p> + +<p>It goes without saying that a motor tour should<span class="pagenum"><a id="page10" name="page10"></a>Pg 10</span> be planned in advance +as carefully as possible. If one starts out in a haphazard way, it takes +him a long time to find his bearings, and much valuable time is lost. +Before crossing the water, it would be well to become posted as +thoroughly as possible on what one desires to see and to gain a general +idea of the road from the maps. Another valuable adjunct will be a +membership in the A.C.A. or a letter from the American motor +associations, with an introduction to the Secretary of the Motor Union +of Great Britain and Ireland. In this manner can be secured much +valuable information as to the main traveled routes; but after all, if +the tourist is going to get the most out of his trip, he will have to +come down to a careful study of the country and depend partly on the +guide-books but more upon his own knowledge of the historical and +literary landmarks throughout the Kingdom.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page11" name="page11"></a>Pg 11</span></p> +<h2>II</h2> + +<h3>IN AND ABOUT LONDON</h3> + + +<p>London occurs to the average tourist as the center from which his +travels in the Kingdom will radiate, and this idea, from many points of +view, is logically correct. Around the city cluster innumerable literary +and historic associations, and the points of special interest lying +within easy reach will outnumber those in any section of similar extent +in the entire country. If one purposes to make the tour by rail, London +is pre-eminently the center from which to start and to which one will +return at various times in his travels. All the principal railways lead +to the metropolis. The number of trains arriving and departing each day +greatly exceeds that of any other city in the world, and the longest +through journey in the island may be compassed between sunrise and +sunset.</p> + +<p>The motorist, however, finds a different problem confronting him in +making London his center. I had in mind the plan of visiting the famous +places of the city and immediate suburbs with the aid of my car, but it +was speedily abandoned when I found myself confronted by the actual +conditions. One attempt at carrying out this plan settled the matter<span class="pagenum"><a id="page12" name="page12"></a>Pg 12</span> +for me. The trip which I undertook would probably be one of the first to +occur to almost anybody—the drive to Hampton Court Palace, about twelve +or fifteen miles from the central part of the city. It looked easy to +start about two or three o'clock, spend a couple of hours at Hampton +Court and get back to our hotel by six. After trying out my car—which +had reached London some time ahead of me—a few times in localities +where traffic was not the heaviest, I essayed the trip without any +further knowledge of the streets than I had gained from the maps. I was +accompanied by a nervous friend from Iowa who confessed that he had been +in an automobile but once before. He had ridden with a relative through +a retired section of his native state, traversed for the first time by +an automobile, and he had quit trying to remember how many run-aways and +smash-ups were caused by the fractious horses they met on the short +journey. Visions of damage suits haunted him for months thereafter. In +our meanderings through the London streets, the fears for the other +fellow which had harassed him during his former experience, were +speedily transferred to himself. To his excited imagination, we time and +again escaped complete wreck and annihilation by a mere hair's breadth. +The route which we had taken, I learned afterwards, was one of the worst +for motoring in all London. The streets were<span class="pagenum"><a id="page13" name="page13"></a>Pg 13</span> narrow and crooked and +were packed with traffic of all kinds. Tram cars often ran along the +middle of the street, with barely room for a vehicle to pass on either +side. The huge motor busses came tearing towards us in a manner most +trying to novices, and it seemed, time after time, that the dexterity of +the drivers of these big machines was all that saved our car from being +wrecked. We obtained only the merest glimpse of Hampton Palace, and the +time which we had consumed made it apparent that if we expected to reach +our hotel that night, we must immediately retrace our way through the +wild confusion we had just passed. It began to rain, and added to the +numerous other dangers that seemed to confront us was that of "skidding" +on the slippery streets. When we finally reached our garage, I found +that in covering less than twenty-five miles, we had consumed about four +hours and we had been moving all the time. The nervous strain was a +severe one and I forthwith abandoned any plan that I had of attempting +to do London by motor car. With more knowledge and experience I would +have done better, but a local motorist, thoroughly acquainted with +London, told me that he wouldn't care to undertake the Hampton Court +trip by the route which we had traveled.</p> + +<p>On Saturday afternoons and Sundays, the motorist may practically have +freedom of the city. He<span class="pagenum"><a id="page14" name="page14"></a>Pg 14</span> will find the streets deserted everywhere. The +heavy traffic has all ceased and the number of cabs and motor busses is +only a fraction of what it would be on business days. He will meet +comparatively few motors in the city on Sunday, even though the day be +fine, such as would throng the streets of Chicago or New York with cars. +The Englishman who goes for a drive is attracted from the city by the +many fine roads which lead in every direction to pleasure resorts. One +of the most popular runs with Londoners is the fifty miles to Brighton, +directly southward, and the number of motors passing over this highway +on fine Sundays is astonishing. I noted a report in the papers that on a +certain Sunday afternoon no less than two hundred cars passed a police +trap, and of these, thirty-five were summoned before the magistrates for +breaking the speed limit. To the average American, this run to Brighton +would not be at all attractive compared with many other roads leading +out of London, on which one would scarcely meet a motor car during the +day and would be in no danger from the machinations of the police. Of +course the places frequented by tourists are often closed on Sunday—or +at least partially so, as in the case of Windsor Castle, where one is +admitted to the grounds and court, but the state apartments, etc., are +not shown. Even the churches are closed to Sunday visitors ex<span class="pagenum"><a id="page15" name="page15"></a>Pg 15</span>cept +during the regular services.</p> + +<p>Within a radius of thirty miles of London, and outside its immediate +boundaries, there are numerous places well worth a visit, most of them +open either daily or at stated times. A few of such places are Harrow on +the Hill, with its famous school; Keston, with Holwood House, the home +of William Pitt; Chigwell, the scene of Dickens' "Barnaby Rudge;" +Waltham Abbey Church, founded in 1060; the home of Charles Darwin at +Downe; Epping Forest; Hampton Court; Rye House at Broxborne; Hatfield +House, the estate of the Marquis of Salisbury; Runnymede, where the +Magna Charta was signed; St. Albans, with its ancient cathedral church; +Stoke Poges Church of Gray's "Elegy" fame; Windsor Castle; Knole House, +with its magnificent galleries and furniture; Penshurst Place, the home +of the Sidneys; John Milton's cottage at Chalfont St. Giles; the ancient +town of Guildford in Surrey; Gad's Hill, Dickens' home, near Rochester; +the vicarage where Thackeray's grandfather lived and the old church +where he preached at Monken Hadley; and Whitchurch, with Handel's +original organ, is also near the last-named village. These are only a +few of the places that no one should miss. The motor car affords an +unequalled means of reaching these and other points in this vicinity; +since many are at some distance<span class="pagenum"><a id="page16" name="page16"></a>Pg 16</span> from railway stations, to go by train +would consume more time than the average tourist has at his disposal. +While we visited all the places which I have just mentioned and many +others close to London, we made only three or four short trips out of +the city returning the same or the following day. We managed to reach +the majority of such points by going and returning over different +highways on our longer tours. In this way we avoided the difficulty we +should have experienced in making many daily trips from London, since a +large part of each day would have been consumed merely in getting in and +out of the city.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image03" name="image03"> + <img src="images/03.jpg" + alt="HARVESTING IN HERTFORDSHIRE." + title="HARVESTING IN HERTFORDSHIRE." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">HARVESTING IN HERTFORDSHIRE.<br />From Painting by Alfred Elias. Exhibited in 1906 Royal Academy.</span> +</div> + +<p>Our first trip into the country was made on the Sunday after our +arrival. Although we started out at random, our route proved a fortunate +one, and gave us every reason to believe that our tour of the Kingdom +would be all we had anticipated. During the summer we had occasion to +travel three times over this same route, and we are still of the opinion +that there are few more delightful bits of road in England. We left +London by the main highway, running for several miles through Epping +Forest, which is really a great suburban park. It was a good day for +cyclists, for the main road to the town of Epping was crowded with +thousands of them. So great was the number and so completely did they +occupy the highway, that it was nec<span class="pagenum"><a id="page17" name="page17"></a>Pg 17</span>essary to drive slowly and with +the greatest care. Even then, we narrowly avoided a serious accident. +One of the cyclists, evidently to show his dexterity, undertook to cut +around us by running across the tramway tracks. These were wet and +slippery, and the wheel shot from under the rider, pitching him headlong +to the ground not two feet in front of our car, which was then going at +a pretty good rate. If the cyclist did not exhibit skill in managing his +wheel, he certainly gave a wonderful display of agility in getting out +of our way. He did not seem to touch the ground at all, and by turning +two or three handsprings, he avoided being run over by the narrowest +margin. His wheel was considerably damaged and his impedimenta scattered +over the road. It was with rather a crestfallen air that he gathered up +his belongings, and we went on, shuddering to think how close we had +come to a serious accident at the very beginning of our pilgrimage. A +policeman witnessed the accident, but he clearly placed the blame on the +careless wheelman.</p> + +<p>Passing through the forest, we came to Epping, and from there into a +stretch of open country that gave little suggestion of proximity to the +world's metropolis. Several miles through a narrow but beautifully kept +byway brought us to the village of Chipping-Ongar, a place of +considerable antiquity, and judging from the extensive site of its +ancient<span class="pagenum"><a id="page18" name="page18"></a>Pg 18</span> castle, at one time of some military importance.</p> + +<p>At Ongar we began our return trip to London over the road which we +agreed was the most beautiful leading out of the city, for the suburbs +do not extend far in this direction and one is comparatively soon in the +country. The perfectly surfaced road, with only gentle slopes and +curves, runs through the parklike fields, here over a picturesque stone +bridge spanning a clear stream, there between rows of magnificent trees, +occasionally dropping into quiet villages, of which Chigwell was easily +the most delightful.</p> + +<p>Chigwell became known to fame through the writings of Charles Dickens, +who was greatly enamored of the place and who made it the scene of much +of his story of "Barnaby Rudge." But Dickens, with his eye for the +beautiful and with his marvelous intuition for interesting situations, +was drawn to the village by its unusual charm. Few other places can +boast of such endorsement as he gave in a letter to his friend, Forster, +when he wrote: "Chigwell, my dear fellow, is the greatest place in the +world. Name your day for going. Such a delicious old inn facing the +church; such a lovely ride; such glorious scenery; such an +out-of-the-way rural place; such a sexton! I say again, name your day." +After such a recommendation, one will surely desire to visit the place, +and it is pleasant to know that the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page19" name="page19"></a>Pg 19</span> "delicious old inn" is still +standing and that the village is as rural and pretty as when Dickens +wrote over sixty years since.</p> + +<p>The inn referred to, the King's Head, was the prototype of the Maypole +in "Barnaby Rudge," and here we were delighted to stop for our belated +luncheon. The inn fronts directly on the street and, like all English +hostelries, its main rooms are given over to the bar, which at this time +was crowded with Sunday loafers, the atmosphere reeking with tobacco +smoke and the odor of liquors. The garden at the rear was bright with a +profusion of spring flowers and sheltered with ornamental trees and +vines. The garden side of the old house was covered with a mantle of +ivy, and, altogether, the surroundings were such as to make ample amends +for the rather unprepossessing conditions within. One will not fully +appreciate Chigwell and its inn unless he has read Dickens' story. You +may still see the panelled room upstairs where Mr. Chester met Geoffry +Haredale. This room has a splendid mantel-piece, great carved open beams +and beautiful leaded windows. The bar-room, no doubt, is still much the +same as on the stormy night which Dickens chose for the opening of his +story. Just across the road from the inn is the church which also +figures in the tale, and a dark avenue of ancient yew trees leads from +the gateway to the door. One can eas<span class="pagenum"><a id="page20" name="page20"></a>Pg 20</span>ily imagine the situation which +Dickens describes when the old sexton crossed the street and rang the +church bells on the night of the murder at Haredale Hall.</p> + +<p>Aside from Dickens' connection with Chigwell, the village has a place of +peculiar interest to Americans in the old grammar school where William +Penn received his early education. The building still stands, with but +little alteration, much as it was in the day when the great Quaker sat +at the rude desks and conned the lessons of the old-time English +schoolboy.</p> + +<p>When we invited friends whom we met in London to accompany us on a +Sunday afternoon trip, we could think of no road more likely to please +them than the one I have just been trying to describe. We reversed our +journey this time, going out of London on the way to Chigwell. +Returning, we left the Epping road shortly after passing through that +town, and followed a narrow, forest-bordered byway with a few steep +hills until we came to Waltham Abbey, a small Essex market town with an +important history. The stately abbey church, a portion of which is still +standing and now used for services, was founded by the Saxon king, +Harold, in 1060. Six years later he was defeated and slain at Hastings +by William the Conqueror, and tradition has it that his mother buried +his body a short<span class="pagenum"><a id="page21" name="page21"></a>Pg 21</span> distance to the east of Waltham Church. The abbey gate +still stands as a massive archway at one end of the river bridge. Near +the town is one of the many crosses erected by Edward I in memory of his +wife, Eleanor of Castile, wherever her body rested on the way from +Lincoln to Westminster. A little to the left of this cross, now a +gateway to Theobald Park, stands Temple Bar, stone for stone intact as +it was in the days when traitors' heads were raised above it in Fleet +Street, although the original wooden gates are missing. Waltham Abbey is +situated on the River Lea, near the point where King Alfred defeated the +Danes in one of his battles. They had penetrated far up the river when +King Alfred diverted the waters from beneath their vessels and left them +stranded in a wilderness of marsh and forest.</p> + +<p>Another pleasant afternoon trip was to Monken Hadley, twenty-five miles +out on the Great North Road. Hadley Church is intimately associated with +a number of distinguished literary men, among them Thackeray, whose +grandfather preached there and is buried in the churchyard. The sexton +was soon found and he was delighted to point out the interesting objects +in the church and vicinity.</p> + +<p>The church stands at the entrance of a royal park, which is leased to +private parties and is one of the quaintest and most picturesque of the +country<span class="pagenum"><a id="page22" name="page22"></a>Pg 22</span> churches we had seen. Over the doors, some old-fashioned +figures which we had to have translated indicated that the building had +been erected in 1494. It has a huge ivy-covered tower and its interior +gives every evidence of the age-lasting solidity of the English +churches.</p> + +<p>Hadley Church has a duplicate in the United States, one having been +built in some New York town precisely like the older structure. We +noticed that one of the stained-glass windows had been replaced by a +modern one, and were informed that the original had been presented to +the newer church in America—a courtesy that an American congregation +would hardly think of, and be still less likely to carry out. An odd +silver communion service which had been in use from three to five +hundred years was carefully taken out of a fire-proof safe and shown us.</p> + +<p>Hadley Church is a delight from every point of view, and it is a pity +that such lines of architecture are not oftener followed in America. Our +churches as a rule are shoddy and inharmonious affairs compared with +those in England. It is not always the matter of cost that makes them +so, since more artistic structures along the pleasing and substantial +lines of architecture followed in Britain would in many cases cost no +more than we pay for such churches as we now have.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image04" name="image04"> + <img src="images/04.jpg" + alt="HADLEY CHURCH, MONKEN HADLEY." + title="HADLEY CHURCH, MONKEN HADLEY." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">HADLEY CHURCH, MONKEN HADLEY.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page23" name="page23"></a>Pg 23</span></p> +<p>Our friend the sexton garrulously assured us that Thackeray had spent +much of his time as a youth at the vicarage and insisted that a great +part of "Vanity Fair" was written there. He even pointed out the room in +which he alleged the famous book was produced, and assured us that the +great author had found the originals of many of his characters, such as +Becky Sharp and Col. Newcome, among the villagers of Hadley. All of +which we took for what it was worth. Thackeray himself told his friend, +Jas. T. Fields, that "Vanity Fair" was written in his London house; +still, he may have been a visitor at the Hadley vicarage and might have +found pleasure in writing in the snug little room whose windows open on +the flower garden, rich with dashes of color that contrasted effectively +with the dark green foliage of the hedges and trees. The house still +does duty as a vicarage; the small casement windows peep out of the ivy +that nearly envelops it, and an air of coziness and quiet seems to +surround it. Near at hand is the home where Anthony Trollope, the +novelist, lived for many years, and his sister is buried in the +churchyard.</p> + +<p>A short distance from Hadley is the village of Edgeware, with +Whitchurch, famous for its association with the musician Handel. He was +organist here for several years, and on the small pipe-organ, still in +the church though not in use, composed his<span class="pagenum"><a id="page24" name="page24"></a>Pg 24</span> oratorio, "Esther," and a +less important work, "The Harmonious Blacksmith." The idea of the latter +came from an odd character, the village blacksmith, who lived in +Edgeware in Handel's day and who acquired some fame as a musician. His +tombstone in the churchyard consists of an anvil and hammer, wrought in +stone. Afterwards Handel became more widely known, and was called from +Whitchurch for larger fields of work. He is buried in Westminster Abbey.</p> + +<p>The road from Edgeware to the city is a good one, and being Saturday +afternoon, it was nearly deserted. Saturday in London is quite as much +of a holiday as Sunday, little business being transacted, especially in +the afternoon. This custom prevails to a large extent all over the +Kingdom, and rarely is any attempt made to do business on Saturday. The +Week-End holiday, as it is called, is greatly prized, and is recognized +by the railroads in granting excursions at greatly reduced rates. There +is always a heavy exodus of people from the city to the surrounding +resorts during the summer and autumn months on Saturday afternoon and +Sunday.</p> + +<p>Owing to the extreme difficulty of getting about the city, we made but +few short excursions from London such as I have described. If one +desires to visit such places in sequence, without going farther into the +country, it would be best to stop for the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page25" name="page25"></a>Pg 25</span> night at the hotels in the +better suburban towns, without attempting to return to London each day.</p> + +<p>The garage accomodations in London I found very good and the charges +generally lower than in the United States. There is a decided tendency +at grafting on the part of the employes, and if it is ascertained that a +patron is a tourist—especially an American—he is quoted a higher rate +at some establishments and various exactions are attempted. At the first +garage where I applied, a quotation made was withdrawn when it was +learned that I was an American. The man said he would have to discuss +the matter with his partner before making a final rate. I let him carry +on his discussion indefinitely, for I went on my way and found another +place where I secured accommodations at a very reasonable rate without +giving information of any kind.</p> + +<p>With the miserable business methods in vogue at some of the garages, it +seemed strange to me if any of the money paid to employes ever went to +the business office at all. There was no system and little check on +sales of supplies, and I heard a foreman of a large establishment +declare that he had lost two guineas which a patron had paid him. "I +can't afford to lose it," he said, "and it will have to come back +indirectly if I can't get it directly." In no case should a motorist pay +a bill at a London garage without a proper receipt.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page26" name="page26"></a>Pg 26</span></p> +<h2>III</h2> + +<h3>A PILGRIMAGE TO CANTERBURY</h3> + + +<p>No place within equal distance of London is of greater interest than +Canterbury, and, indeed, there are very few cities in the entire Kingdom +that can vie with the ancient cathedral town in historical importance +and antiquity. It lies only sixty-five miles southeast of London, but +allowing for the late start that one always makes from an English hotel, +and the points that will engage attention between the two cities, the +day will be occupied by the trip. Especially will this be true if, as in +our case, fully two hours be spent in getting out of the city and +reaching the highway south of the Thames, which follows the river to +Canterbury.</p> + +<p>Leaving Russell Square about ten o'clock, I followed the jam down +Holborn past the Bank and across London Bridge, crawling along at a +snail's pace until we were well beyond the river. A worse route and a +more trying one it would have been hard to select. With more experience, +I should have run down the broad and little-congested Kingsway to +Waterloo Bridge and directly on to Old Kent road in at least one-fourth +the time which I consumed in<span class="pagenum"><a id="page27" name="page27"></a>Pg 27</span> my ignorance. Nevertheless, if a novice +drives a car in London, he can hardly avoid such experiences. Detailed +directions given in advance cannot be remembered and there is little +opportunity to consult street signs and maps or even to question the +policeman in the never-ending crush of the streets. However, one +gradually gains familiarity with the streets and landmarks, and by the +time I was ready to leave London for America, I had just learned to get +about the city with comparative ease.</p> + +<p>Old Kent road, which leads out of London towards Canterbury, is an +ancient highway, and follows nearly, if not quite, the route pursued by +the Canterbury pilgrims of the poet Chaucer. In the main it is unusually +broad and well kept, but progress will be slow at first, as the suburbs +extend a long way in this direction, and for the first twenty-five miles +one can hardly be said to be out of the city at any time. Ten miles out +the road passes Greenwich, where the British observatory is located, and +Woolwich, the seat of the great government arsenals and gun works, is +also near this point, lying directly by the river.</p> + +<p>Nearly midway between London and Rochester is the old town of Dartford, +where we enjoyed the hospitality of the Bull Hotel for luncheon. A +dingy, time-worn, rambling old hostelry it is, every odd corner filled +with stuffed birds and beasts to an ex<span class="pagenum"><a id="page28" name="page28"></a>Pg 28</span>tent that suggested a museum, and +as if to still further carry out the museum feature, mine host had built +in a small court near the entrance a large cage or bird-house which was +literally alive with specimens of feathered songsters of all degrees. +The space on the first floor not occupied by these curios was largely +devoted to liquor selling, for there appeared to be at least three bars +in the most accessible parts of the hotel. However, somewhat to the rear +there was a comfortable coffee room, where our luncheon was neatly +served. We had learned by this time that all well regulated hotels in +the medium sized towns, and even in some of the larger cities—as large +as Bristol, for instance—have two dining rooms, one, generally for +tourists, called the "coffee room," with separate small tables, and a +much larger room for "commercials," or traveling salesmen, where all are +seated together at a single table. The service is practically the same, +but the ratio of charges is from two to three times higher in the coffee +room. We found many old hotels in retired places where a coffee room had +been hastily improvised, an innovation no doubt brought about largely by +the motor car trade and the desire to give the motorist more +aristocratic rates than those charged the well-posted commercials. +Though we stopped in Dartford no longer than necessary for lunch and a +slight repair to the car, it is a place of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page29" name="page29"></a>Pg 29</span> considerable interest. Its +chief industry is a large paper-mill, a direct successor to the first +one established in England near the end of the Sixteenth Century, and +Foolscap paper, standard throughout the English-speaking world, takes +its name from the crest (a fool's cap) of the founder of the industry, +whose tomb may still be seen in Dartford Church.</p> + +<p>A short run over a broad road bordered with beautiful rural scenery +brought us into Rochester, whose cathedral spire and castle with its +huge Norman tower loomed into view long before we came into the town +itself. A few miles out of the town our attention had been attracted by +a place of unusual beauty, a fine old house almost hidden by high hedges +and trees on one side of the road and just opposite a tangled bit of +wood and shrubbery, with several of the largest cedars we saw in +England. So picturesque was the spot that we stopped for a photograph of +the car and party, with the splendid trees for a background, but, as +often happens in critical cases, the kodak film only yielded a "fog" +when finally developed.</p> + +<p>When we reached Rochester, a glance at the map showed us that we had +unwittingly passed Gad's Hill, the home where Charles Dickens spent the +last fifteen years of his life and where he died thirty-six years ago. +We speedily retraced the last four or five miles of our journey and +found ourselves<span class="pagenum"><a id="page30" name="page30"></a>Pg 30</span> again at the fine old place with the cedar trees where +we had been but a short time before. We stopped to inquire at a roadside +inn which, among the multitude of such places, we had hardly noticed +before, and which bore the legend, "The Sir John Falstaff," a +distinction earned by being the identical place where Shakespeare +located some of the pranks of his ridiculous hero. The inn-keeper was +well posted on the literary traditions of the locality. "Yes," said he, +"this is Gad's Hill Place, where Dickens lived and where he died just +thirty-six years ago today, on June 9th, 1870; but the house is shown +only on Wednesdays of each week and the proprietor doesn't fancy being +troubled on other days. But perhaps, since you are Americans and have +come a long way, he may admit you on this special anniversary. Anyway, +it will do no harm for you to try."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image05" name="image05"> + <img src="images/05.jpg" + alt="DICKENS' HOME, GAD'S HILL, NEAR ROCHESTER." + title="DICKENS' HOME, GAD'S HILL, NEAR ROCHESTER." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">DICKENS' HOME, GAD'S HILL, NEAR ROCHESTER.</span> +</div> + +<p>Personally, I could not blame the proprietor for his disinclination to +admit visitors on other than the regular days, and it was impressed on +me more than once during our trip that living in the home of some famous +man carries quite a penalty, especially if the present owner happens to +be a considerate gentleman who dislikes to deprive visitors of a glimpse +of the place. Such owners are often wealthy and the small fees which +they fix for admittance are only required as evidence of good faith and +usually devoted to charity. With a full appreciation of the +situ<span class="pagenum"><a id="page31" name="page31"></a>Pg 31</span>ation, it was not always easy to ask for the suspension of a +plainly stated rule, yet we did this in many instances before our tour +was over and almost invariably with success. In the present case we were +fortunate, for the gentleman who owned Gad's Hill was away and the neat +maid who responded to the bell at the gateway seemed glad to show us the +place, regardless of rules. It is a comfortable, old-fashioned house, +built about 1775, and was much admired by Dickens as a boy when he lived +with his parents in Rochester. His father used to bring him to look at +the house and told him that if he grew up a clever man, he might +possibly own it some time.</p> + +<p>We were first shown into the library, which is much the same as the +great writer left it at his death, and the chair and desk which he used +still stand in their accustomed places. The most curious feature of the +library is the rows of dummy books that occupy some of the shelves, and +even the doors are lined with these sham leather backs glued to boards, +a whim of Dickens carefully respected by the present owner. We were also +accorded a view of the large dining room where Dickens was seized with +the attack which resulted in his sudden and unexpected death. After a +glimpse of other parts of the house and garden surrounding it, the maid +conducted us through an underground passage leading beneath the road, to +the plot of shrubbery which lay opposite the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page32" name="page32"></a>Pg 32</span> mansion. In this secluded +thicket, Dickens had built a little house, to which in the summer time +he was often accustomed to retire when writing. It was an ideal English +June day, and everything about the place showed to the best possible +advantage. We all agreed that Gad's Hill alone would be well worth a +trip from London. The country around is surpassingly beautiful and it is +said that Dickens liked nothing better than to show his friends about +the vicinity. He thought the seven miles between Rochester and Maidstone +the most charming walk in all England. He delighted in taking trips with +his friends to the castles and cathedrals and he immensely enjoyed +picnics and luncheons in the cherry orchards and gardens.</p> + +<p>A very interesting old city is Rochester, with its Eleventh Century +cathedral and massive castle standing on the banks of the river. Little +of the latter remains save the square tower of the Norman keep, one of +the largest and most imposing we saw in England. The interior had been +totally destroyed by fire hundreds of years ago, but the towering walls +of enormous thickness still stand firm. Its antiquity is attested by the +fact that it sustained a siege by William Rufus, the son of the +Conqueror. The cathedral is not one of the most impressive of the great +churches. It was largely rebuilt in the Twelfth Century, the money being +obtained from miracles<span class="pagenum"><a id="page33" name="page33"></a>Pg 33</span> wrought by the relics of St. William of Perth, a +pilgrim who was murdered on his way to Canterbury and who lies buried in +the cathedral. Rochester is the scene of many incidents of Dickens' +stories. It was the scene of his last unfinished work, "Edwin Drood," +and he made many allusions to it elsewhere, the most notable perhaps in +"Pickwick Papers," where he makes the effervescent Mr. Jingle describe +it thus: "Ah, fine place, glorious pile, frowning walls, tottering +arches, dark nooks, crumbling staircases—old cathedral, too,—earthy +smell—pilgrims' feet worn away the old steps."</p> + +<p>Across the river from Rochester lies Chatham, a city of forty thousand +people and a famous naval and military station. The two cities are +continuous and practically one. From here, without further stop, we +followed the fine highway to Canterbury and entered the town by the west +gate of Chaucer's Tales. This alone remains of the six gateways of the +city wall in the poet's day, and the strong wall itself, with its +twenty-one towers, has almost entirely disappeared. We followed a +winding street bordered with quaint old buildings until we reached our +hotel—in this case a modern and splendidly kept hostelry. The hotel was +just completing an extensive garage, but it was not ready for occupancy +and I was directed to a well equipped private establishment with every +facility for the care and re<span class="pagenum"><a id="page34" name="page34"></a>Pg 34</span>pair of motors. The excellence of the +service at this hotel attracted our attention and the head waiter told +us that the owners had their own farm and supplied their own +table—accounting in this way for the excellence and freshness of the +milk, meat and vegetables.</p> + +<p>The long English summer evening still afforded time to look about the +town after dinner. Passing down the main street after leaving the hotel, +we found that the river and a canal wound their way in several places +between the old buildings closely bordering on each side. The whole +effect was delightful and so soft with sunset colors as to be suggestive +of Venice. We noted that although Canterbury is exceedingly ancient, it +is also a city of nearly thirty thousand population and the center of +rich farming country, and, as at Chester, we found many evidences of +prosperity and modern enterprise freely interspersed with the quaint and +time-worn landmarks. One thing which we noticed not only here but +elsewhere in England was the consummate architectural taste with which +the modern business buildings were fitted in with the antique +surroundings, harmonizing in style and color, and avoiding the +discordant note that would come from a rectangular business block such +as an American would have erected. Towns which have become known to fame +and to the dollar-distributing tour<span class="pagenum"><a id="page35" name="page35"></a>Pg 35</span>ists are now very slow to destroy or +impair the old monuments and buildings that form their chief +attractiveness, and the indifference that prevailed generally fifty or a +hundred years ago has entirely vanished. We in America think we can +afford to be iconoclastic, for our history is so recent and we have so +little that commands reverence by age and association; yet five hundred +years hence our successors will no doubt bitterly regret this spirit of +their ancestors, just as many ancient towns in Britain lament the folly +of their forbears who converted the historic abbeys and castles into +hovels and stone fences.</p> + +<p>Fortunately, the cathedral at Canterbury escaped such a fate, and as we +viewed it in the fading light we received an impression of its grandeur +and beauty that still keeps it pre-eminent after having visited every +cathedral in the island. It is indeed worthy of its proud position in +the English church and its unbroken line of traditions, lost in the mist +of antiquity. It is rightly the delight of the architect and the artist, +but an adequate description of its magnificence has no place in this +hurried record. Time has dealt gently with it and careful repair and +restoration have arrested its decay. It stands today, though subdued and +stained by time, as proudly as it did when a monarch, bare-footed, +walked through the roughly paved streets to do penance at the tomb of +its martyred archbishop. It escaped lightly during the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page36" name="page36"></a>Pg 36</span> Reformation and +civil war, though Becket's shrine was despoiled as savoring of idolatry +and Cromwell's men desecrated its sanctity by stabling their horses in +the great church.</p> + +<p>The next day being Sunday, we were privileged to attend services at the +cathedral, an opportunity we were always glad to have at any of the +cathedrals despite the monotony of the Church of England service, for +the music of the superb organs, the mellowed light from the stained +windows, and the associations of the place were far more to us than +litany or sermon. The archbishop was present at the service in state +that fitted his exalted place as Primate of all England and his rank, +which, as actual head of the church, is next to the king, nominally head +of the church as well as of the state. He did not preach the sermon but +officiated in the ordination of several priests, a service full of +solemn and picturesque interest. The archbishop was attired in his +crimson robe of state, the long train of which was carried by young boys +in white robes, and he proceeded to his throne with all the pomp and +ceremony that so delights the soul of the Englishman. He was preceded by +several black-robed officials bearing the insignia of their offices, and +when he took his throne, he became apparently closely absorbed in the +sermon, which was preached by a Cambridge professor.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page37" name="page37"></a>Pg 37</span></p> + +<p>We were later astonished to learn that the archbishop's salary amounts +to $75,000 per year, or half as much more than that of the President of +the United States, and we were still more surprised to hear that the +heavy demands made on him in maintaining his state and keeping up his +splendid episcopal palaces are such that his income will not meet them. +We were told that the same situation prevails everywhere with these high +church dignitaries, and that only recently the Bishop of London had +published figures to show that he was $25,000 poorer in the three years +of his incumbency on an annual salary of $40,000 per year. It is not +strange, therefore, that among these churchmen there exists a demand for +a simpler life. The Bishop of Norwich frankly acknowledged recently that +he had never been able to live on his income of $22,500 per year. He +expressed his conviction that the wide-spread poverty of the bishops is +caused by their being required to maintain "venerable but costly +palaces." He says that he and many of his fellow-churchmen would prefer +to lead plain and unostentatious lives, but they are not allowed to do +so; that they would much prefer to devote a portion of their income to +charity and other worthy purposes rather than to be compelled to spend +it in useless pomp and ceremony.</p> + +<p>Aside from its cathedral, Canterbury teems with<span class="pagenum"><a id="page38" name="page38"></a>Pg 38</span> unique relics of the +past, some antedating the Roman invasion of England. The place of the +town in history is an important one, and Dean Stanley in his "Memorials +of Canterbury," claims that three great landings were made in Kent +adjacent to the city, "that of Hengist and Horsa, which gave us our +English forefathers and character; that of Julius Caesar, which revealed +to us the civilized world, and that of St. Augustine, which gave us our +Latin Christianity." The tower of the cathedral dominates the whole city +and the great church often overshadows everything else in interest to +the visitor. But one could spend days in the old-world streets, +continually coming across fine half-timbered houses, with weather-beaten +gables in subdued colors and rich antique oak carvings. There are few +more pleasing bits of masonry in Britain than the great cathedral +gateway at the foot of Mercery Lane, with its rich carving, weather-worn +to a soft blur of gray and brown tones. Near Mercery Lane, too, are +slight remains of the inn of Chaucer's Tales, "The Chequers of Hope," +and in Monastery Street stands the fine gateway of the once rich and +powerful St. Augustine's Abbey. Then there is the quaint little church +of St. Martins, undoubtedly one of the oldest in England, and generally +reputed to be the oldest. Here, in the year 600, St. Augustine preached +before the cathedral was built. Neither<span class="pagenum"><a id="page39" name="page39"></a>Pg 39</span> should St. John's hospital, +with its fine, half-timbered gateway be forgotten; nor the old grammar +school, founded in the Seventh Century.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image06" name="image06"> + <img src="images/06.jpg" + alt="CATHEDRAL, CANTERBURY." + title="CATHEDRAL, CANTERBURY." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">CATHEDRAL, CANTERBURY.</span> +</div> + +<p>Our stay in the old town was all too short, but business reasons +demanded our presence in London on Monday, so we left for that city +about two o'clock. We varied matters somewhat by taking a different +return route, and we fully agreed that the road leading from Canterbury +to London by way of Maidstone is one of the most delightful which we +traversed in England. It led through fields fresh with June verdure, +losing itself at times in great forests, where the branches of the trees +formed an archway overhead. Near Maidstone we caught a glimpse of Leeds +Castle, one of the finest country seats in Kent, the main portions of +the building dating from the Thirteenth Century. We had a splendid view +from the highway through an opening in the trees of the many-towered old +house surrounded by a shimmering lake, and gazing on such a scene under +the spell of an English June day, one might easily forget the present +and fancy himself back in the time when knighthood was in flower, though +the swirl of a motor rushing past us would have dispelled any such +reverie had we been disposed to entertain it. We reached London early, +and our party was agreed that our pilgrimage to Canterbury could not +very well have been omitted from our itinerary.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page40" name="page40"></a>Pg 40</span></p> +<h2>IV</h2> + +<h3>A RUN THROUGH THE MIDLANDS</h3> + + +<p>I had provided myself with letters of introduction from the American +Automobile Association and Motor League, addressed to the secretary of +the Motor Union of Great Britain and Ireland, and shortly after my +arrival in London, I called upon that official at the club headquarters. +After learning my plans, he referred me to Mr. Maroney, the touring +secretary, whom I found a courteous gentleman, posted on almost every +foot of road in Britain and well prepared to advise one how to get the +most out of a tour. Ascertaining the time I proposed to spend and the +general objects I had in view, he brought out road-maps of England and +Scotland and with a blue pencil rapidly traced a route covering about +three thousand miles, which he suggested as affording the best +opportunity of seeing, in the time and distance proposed, many of the +most historic and picturesque parts of Britain.</p> + +<p>In a general way, this route followed the coast from London to Land's +End, through Wales north to Oban and Inverness, thence to Aberdeen and +back to London along the eastern coast. He chose<span class="pagenum"><a id="page41" name="page41"></a>Pg 41</span> the best roads with +unerring knowledge and generally avoided the larger cities. On the +entire route which he outlined, we found only one really dangerous +grade—in Wales—and, by keeping away from cities, much time and nervous +energy were saved. While we very frequently diverged from this route, it +was none the less of inestimable value to us, and other information, +maps, road-books, etc., which were supplied us by Mr. Maroney, were +equally indispensable. I learned that the touring department of the +Union not only affords this service for Great Britain, but has equal +facilities for planning tours in any part of Europe. In fact, it is able +to take in hand the full details, such as providing for transportation +of the car to some port across the Channel, arranging for necessary +licenses and supplying maps and road information covering the different +countries of Europe which the tourist may wish to visit. This makes it +very easy for a member of the Union—or anyone to whom it may extend its +courtesies—to go direct from Britain for a continental trip, leaving +the tourist almost nothing to provide for except the difficulties he +would naturally meet in the languages of the different countries.</p> + +<p>When I showed a well posted English friend the route that had been +planned, he pronounced very favorably upon it, but declared that by no +means should we miss a run through the Midlands. He<span class="pagenum"><a id="page42" name="page42"></a>Pg 42</span> suggested that I +join him in Manchester on business which we had in hand, allowing for an +easy run of two days to that city by way of Coventry. On our return +trip, we planned to visit many places not included in our main tour, +among them the Welsh border towns, Shrewsbury and Ludlow, and to run +again through Warwickshire, taking in Stratford and Warwick, on our +return to London. This plan was adopted and we left London about noon, +with Coventry, nearly one hundred miles away, as our objective point.</p> + +<p>A motor car is a queer and capricious creature. Before we were entirely +out of the crush of the city, the engine began to limp and shortly came +to a stop. I spent an hour hunting the trouble, to the entertainment and +edification of the crowd of loafers who always congregate around a +refractory car. I hardly know to this minute what ailed the thing, but +it suddenly started off blithely, and this was the only exhibition of +sulkiness it gave, for it scarcely missed a stroke in our Midland trip +of eight hundred miles—mostly in the rain. Nevertheless, the little +circumstance, just at the outset of our tour, was depressing.</p> + +<p>We stopped for lunch at the Red Lion in the old town of St. Albans, +twenty miles to the north of London. It is a place of much historic +interest, being a direct descendant of the ancient Roman city of +Verulamium; and Saint Albans, or Albanus, who<span class="pagenum"><a id="page43" name="page43"></a>Pg 43</span> gave his name to the town +and cathedral and who was beheaded near this spot, was the first British +martyr to Christianity of whom there is any record. The cathedral +occupies the highest site of any in England, and the square Norman +tower, which owes its red coloring to the Roman brick used in its +construction, is a conspicuous object from the surrounding country. The +nave is of remarkable length, being exceeded only by Winchester. Every +style of architecture is represented, from early Norman to late +Perpendicular, and there are even a few traces of Saxon work. The +destruction of this cathedral was ordered by the pious Henry VIII at the +time of his Reformation, but he considerately rescinded the order when +the citizens of St. Albans raised money by public subscription to +purchase the church. Only an hour was given to St. Albans, much less +than we had planned, but our late start made it imperative that we move +onward.</p> + +<p>Our route for the day was over the old coach road leading from London to +Holyhead, one of the most perfect in the Kingdom, having been in +existence from the time of the Romans. In fact, no stretch of road of +equal distance in our entire tour was superior to the one we followed +from St. Albans to Coventry. It was nearly level, free from sharp turns, +with perfect surface, and cared for with neatness such as we would find +only in a millionaire's<span class="pagenum"><a id="page44" name="page44"></a>Pg 44</span> private grounds in the United States. +Everywhere men were at work repairing any slight depression, trimming +the lawnlike grasses on each side to an exact line with the edges of the +stone surface, and even sweeping the road in many places to rid it of +dust and dirt. Here and there it ran for a considerable distance through +beautiful avenues of fine elms and yews; the hawthorne hedges which +bordered it almost everywhere were trimmed with careful exactness; and +yet amid all this precision there bloomed in many places the sweet +English wild flowers—forget-me-nots, violets, wild hyacinths and +bluebells. The country itself was rather flat and the villages generally +uninteresting. The road was literally bordered with wayside inns, or, +more properly, ale houses, for they apparently did little but sell +liquor, and their names were odd and fantastic in a high degree. We +noted a few of them. The "Stump and Pie," the "Hare and Hounds," the +"Plume of Feathers," the "Blue Ball Inn," the "Horse and Wagon," the +"Horse and Jockey," the "Dog and Parson," the "Dusty Miller," the "Angel +Hotel" the "Dun Cow Inn," the "Green Man," the "Adam and Eve," and the +"Coach and Horses," are a few actual examples of the fearful and +wonderful nomenclature of the roadside houses. Hardly less numerous than +these inns were the motor-supply depots along this road. There is +probably no other<span class="pagenum"><a id="page45" name="page45"></a>Pg 45</span> road in England over which there is greater motor +travel, and supplies of all kinds are to be had every mile or two. The +careless motorist would not have far to walk should he neglect to keep +up his supply of petrol—or motor spirit, as they call it everywhere in +Britain.</p> + +<p>Long before we reached Coventry, we saw the famous "three spires" +outlined against a rather threatening cloud, and just as we entered the +crooked streets of the old town, the rain began to fall heavily. The +King's Head Hotel was comfortable and up-to-date, and the large room +given us, with its fire burning brightly in the open grate, was +acceptable indeed after the drive in the face of a sharp wind, which had +chilled us through. And, by the way, there is little danger of being +supplied with too many clothes and wraps when motoring in Britain. There +were very few days during our entire summer's tour when one could +dispense with cloaks and overcoats.</p> + +<p>Coventry, with its odd buildings and narrow, crowded streets, reminded +Nathaniel Hawthorne of Boston—not the old English Boston, but its big +namesake in America. Many parts of the city are indeed quaint and +ancient, the finest of the older buildings dating from about the year +1400; but these form only a nucleus for the more modern city which has +grown up around them. Coventry now has a population of about +seventy-five thousand, and still<span class="pagenum"><a id="page46" name="page46"></a>Pg 46</span> maintains its old-time reputation as +an important manufacturing center. Once it was famed for its silks, +ribbons and watches, but this trade was lost to the French and +Swiss—some say for lack of a protective tariff. Now cycles and motor +cars are the principal products; and we saw several of the famous +Daimler cars, made here, being tested on the streets.</p> + +<p>Coventry has three fine old churches, whose tall needlelike spires form +a landmark from almost any point of view in Warwickshire, and give to +the town the appellation by which it is often known—"The City of the +Three Spires." Nor could we well have forgotten Coventry's unique +legend, for high up on one of the gables of our hotel was a wooden +figure said to represent Peeping Tom, who earned eternal ignominy by his +curiosity when Lady Godiva resorted to her remarkable expedient to +reduce the tax levy of Coventry. Our faith in the story, so beautifully +re-told by Tennyson, will not be shaken by the iconoclastic assertion +that the effigy is merely an old sign taken from an armourer's shop; +that the legend of Lady Godiva is common to half a dozen towns; and that +she certainly never had anything to do with Coventry, in any event.</p> + +<p>Leaving Coventry the next day about noon in a steady rain, we sought the +most direct route to Manchester, thereby missing Nuneaton, the +birthplace<span class="pagenum"><a id="page47" name="page47"></a>Pg 47</span> and for many years the home of George Eliot and the center +of some of the most delightful country in Warwickshire. Had we been more +familiar with the roads of this country, we could have passed through +Nuneaton without loss of time. The distance was only a little greater +and over main roads, whereas we traveled for a good portion of the day +through narrow byways, and the difficulty of keeping the right road in +the continual rain considerably delayed our progress. We were agreeably +surprised to find that the car did not skid on the wet macadam road and +that despite the rain we could run very comfortably and quite as fast as +in fair weather. I had put up our cape top and curtains, but later we +learned that it was pleasanter, protected by water-proof wraps, to dash +through the rain in the open car. English spring showers are usually +light, and it was rather exhilarating to be able to bid defiance to +weather conditions that in most parts of the United States would have +put a speedy end to our tour.</p> + +<p>A few miles farther brought us to Tamworth with its castle, lying on the +border between Warwickshire and Staffordshire, the "tower and town" of +Scott's "Marmion." The castle of the feudal baron chosen by Scott as the +hero of his poem still stands in ruins, and was recently acquired by +the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page48" name="page48"></a>Pg 48</span> town. It occupies a commanding position on a knoll and is +surrounded by a group of fine trees.</p> + +<p>A dozen miles more over a splendid road brought in view the three spires +of Lichfield Cathedral, one of the smallest though most beautiful of +these great English churches. Built of red sandstone, rich with +sculptures and of graceful and harmonious architecture, there are few +cathedrals more pleasing. The town of Lichfield is a comparatively small +place, but it has many literary and historical associations, being the +birthplace of Dr. Samuel Johnson, whose house is still standing, and for +many years the home of Maria Edgeworth. Here, too, once lived Major +Andre, whose melancholy death in connection with the American Revolution +will be recalled. The cathedral was fortified during the civil war and +was sadly battered in sieges by Cromwell's Roundheads; but so completely +has it been rebuilt and restored that it presents rather a new +appearance as compared with many others. It occurred to us that the hour +for luncheon was well past, and we stopped at the rambling old Swan +Hotel, which was to all appearances deserted, for we wandered through +narrow halls and around the office without finding anyone. I finally +ascended two flights of stairs and found a chambermaid, who reluctantly +undertook to locate someone in authority, which she at last did. We were +shown into a clean, comfortable coffee<span class="pagenum"><a id="page49" name="page49"></a>Pg 49</span> room, where tea, served in +front of a glowing fire place, was grateful indeed after our long ride +through the cold rain.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image07" name="image07"> + <img src="images/07.jpg" + alt="THE THREE SPIRES OF LICHFIELD." + title="THE THREE SPIRES OF LICHFIELD." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">THE THREE SPIRES OF LICHFIELD.<br />From Photograph.</span> +</div> + +<p>It became apparent that owing to our many delays, we could not easily +reach Manchester, and we stopped at Newcastle-under-Lyme for the night. +This town has about 20,000 people and lies on the outer edge of the +potteries district, where Josiah Wedgewood founded this great industry +over one hundred years ago. The whole region comprising Burslem, Hanley, +Newcastle, Stoke-on-Trent and many smaller places may be described as a +huge, scattered city of about 300,000 inhabitants, nearly all directly +or indirectly connected with the manufacture of various grades of china +and earthenware. The Castle Hotel, where we stopped, was a very old inn, +yet it proved unexpectedly homelike and comfortable. Our little party +was given a small private dining room with massive antique furniture, +and we were served with an excellent dinner by an obsequious waiter in +full-dress suit and with immaculate linen. He cleared the table and left +us for the evening with the apartment as a sitting room, and a mahogany +desk by the fireside, well supplied with stationery, afforded amends for +neglected letters. In the morning, our breakfast was served in the same +room, and the bill for entertainment seemed astonishingly low. Mine host +will no doubt be wiser in<span class="pagenum"><a id="page50" name="page50"></a>Pg 50</span> this particular as motorists more and more +invade the country.</p> + +<p>An hour's drive brought us to Manchester. The road by which we entered +the city took us direct to the Midland Hotel, which is reputed to be the +finest in the Kingdom. Manchester is a city of nearly a million +inhabitants, but its streets seemed almost like those of a country town +as compared with the crowded thoroughfares of London. It is a great +center for motoring and I found many of the garages so full that they +could not take another car. I eventually came to one of the largest, +where by considerable shifting they managed to accommodate my car. But +with all this rush of business, it seemed to me that the owners were in +no danger of becoming plutocrats, for the charge for a day's garage, +cleaning the car, polishing the brass and making a slight repair, was +five shillings.</p> + +<p>For half the way from Manchester to Leeds, the drive was about as trying +as anything I found in England. The road is winding, exceedingly steep +in places, and built up on both sides with houses—largely homes of +miners and mill operatives. The pavement is of rough cobble-stones, and +swarms of dogs and children crowded the way everywhere. Under such +conditions, the numerous steep hills, narrow places and sharp turns in +the road made progress slow indeed. It was evident that the British<span class="pagenum"><a id="page51" name="page51"></a>Pg 51</span> +motorists generally avoid this country, for we met no cars and our own +attracted attention that showed it was not a common spectacle. However, +the trip was none the less an interesting one as showing a bit of the +country and a phase of English life not usually seen by tourists.</p> + +<p>There is little to detain one within the city of Leeds itself, but there +are many places of interest in its immediate vicinity. There are few +more picturesque spots in Yorkshire than Wharfdale, with its riotous +little river and ruins of Bolton Abbey and Barden Tower. This lies about +fifteen miles to the northwest, and while for special reasons we went to +Ilkley Station by train, the trip is a fine motor drive over good roads. +The park which contains the abbey and castle is the property of the Duke +of Devonshire, who keeps it at all times open to the public. The River +Wharfe, rippling over shingly rocks, leaping in waterfalls and +compressed into the remarkable rapids called the Strid, only five or six +feet wide but very deep and terribly swift, is the most striking feature +of the park. The forest-clad cliffs on either side rise almost +precipitously from the edges of the narrow dale, and from their summit, +if the climb does not deter one, a splendid view presents itself. The +dale gradually opens into a beautiful valley and here the old abbey is +charmingly situated on the banks of the river. The ruins are not<span class="pagenum"><a id="page52" name="page52"></a>Pg 52</span> +extensive, but the crumbling walls, bright with ivy and wall flowers, +and with the soft green lawn beneath, made a delightful picture in the +mottled sunshine and shadows of the English May day.</p> + +<p>On our return to Leeds, our friend who accompanied us suggested that we +spend the next day, Sunday, at Harrogate, fifteen miles to the north, +one of the most famous of English watering places. It had been drizzling +fitfully all day, but as we started on the trip, it began to rain in +earnest. After picking our way carefully until free from the slippery +streets in Leeds, we found the fine macadam road little affected by the +deluge. We were decidedly ahead of the season at Harrogate, and there +were but few people at the splendid hotel where we stopped.</p> + +<p>The following Sunday was as raw and nasty as English weather can be when +it wants to, regardless of the time of year, and I did not take the car +out of the hotel garage. In the afternoon my friend and I walked to +Knaresborough, one of the old Yorkshire towns about three miles distant. +I had never even heard of the place before, and it was a thorough +surprise to me to find it one of the most ancient and interesting towns +in the Kingdom. Not a trace of modern improvement interfered with its +old-world quaintness—it looked as if it had been clinging undisturbed +to the sharply rising hillside for<span class="pagenum"><a id="page53" name="page53"></a>Pg 53</span> centuries. Just before entering the +town, we followed up the valley of the River Nidd to the so-called +"dripping well," whose waters, heavily charged with limestone, drip from +the cliffs above and "petrify" various objects in course of time by +covering them with a stonelike surface. Then we painfully ascended the +hill—not less than a forty-five per cent grade in motor parlance—and +wandered through the streets—if such an assortment of narrow +foot-paths, twisting around the corners, may be given the courtesy of +the name—until we came to the site of the castle. The guide-book gives +the usual epitaph for ruined castles, "Dismantled by orders of +Cromwell's Parliament," and so well was this done that only one of the +original eleven great watch-towers remains, and a small portion of the +Norman keep, beneath which are the elaborate vaulted apartments where +Becket's murderers once hid. No doubt the great difficulty the +Cromwellians had in taking the castle seemed a good reason to them for +effectually destroying it. At one time it was in the possession of the +notorious Piers Gaveston, and it was for a while the prison-house of +King Henry II. There are many other points of interest in Knaresborough, +not forgetting the cave from which Mother Shipton issued her famous +prophecies, in which she missed it only by bringing the world to an end +ahead of schedule time. But they deny in Knaresborough<span class="pagenum"><a id="page54" name="page54"></a>Pg 54</span> she ever made +such a prediction, and prefer to rest her claims to infallibility on her +prophecy illustrated on a post card by a highly colored motor car with +the legend,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Carriages without horses shall go,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And accidents fill the world with woe."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Altogether, Knaresborough is a town little frequented by Americans, but +none the less worthy of a visit. Harrogate is an excellent center for +this and many other places, if one is insistent on the very best and +most stylish hotel accommodations that the island affords. Ripon, with +its cathedral and Fountains Abbey, perhaps the finest ruin in Great +Britain, is only a dozen miles away; but we visited these on our return +to London from the north.</p> + +<p>On Monday the clouds cleared away and the whole country was gloriously +bright and fresh after the heavy showers. We returned to Leeds over the +road by which we came to Harrogate and which passes Haredale Hall, one +of the finest country places in the Kingdom. A large portion of the way +the road is bordered by fine forests, which form a great park around the +mansion. We passed through Leeds to the southward, having no desire to +return to Manchester over the road by which we came, or, in fact, to +pass through the city at all. Our objective point for the evening was +Chester, and this could be reached quite as easily by passing to the +south of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page55" name="page55"></a>Pg 55</span> Manchester. Wakefield, with its magnificent church, recently +dignified as a cathedral, was the first town of consequence on our way, +and about twenty-five miles south of Leeds we came to Barnsley, lying on +the edge of the great moorlands in central England. There is hardly a +town in the whole Kingdom that does not have its peculiar tradition, and +an English friend told us that the fame of Barnsley rests on the claim +that no hotel in England can equal the mutton chops of the King's +Head—a truly unique distinction in a land where the mutton chop is +standard and the best in the world.</p> + +<p>An English moor is a revelation to an American who has never crossed one +and who may have a hazy notion of it from Tennyson's verse or "Lorna +Doone." Imagine, lying in the midst of fertile fields and populous +cities, a large tract of brown, desolate and broken land, almost devoid +of vegetation except gorse and heather, more comparable to the Arizona +sagebrush country than anything else, and you have a fair idea of the +"dreary, dreary moorland" of the poet. For twenty miles from Barnsley +our road ran through this great moor, and, except for two or three +wretched-looking public houses—one of them painfully misnamed "The +Angel"—there was not a single town or habitation along the road. The +moorland road began at Penistone, a desolate-looking little mining town +straggling along a single street that<span class="pagenum"><a id="page56" name="page56"></a>Pg 56</span> dropped down a very sharp grade +on leaving the town. Despite the lonely desolation of the moor, the road +was excellent, and followed the hills with gentle curves, generally +avoiding steep grades. So far as I can recall, we did not meet a single +vehicle of any kind in the twenty miles of moorland road—surely a +paradise for the scorcher. Coming out of the moor, we found ourselves +within half a dozen miles of Manchester—practically in its suburbs, for +Stalybridge, Stockport, Altrincham and other large manufacturing towns +are almost contiguous with the main city. The streets of these towns +were crowded with traffic and streetcar lines are numerous. There is +nothing of the slightest interest to the tourist, and after a belated +luncheon at a really modern hotel in Stockport, we set out on the last +forty miles of our journey. After getting clear of Manchester and the +surrounding towns, we came to the Chester road, one of the numberless +"Watling Streets," which one finds all over England—a broad, finely +kept high way, leading through a delightful country. Northwich, famous +for its salt mines, was the only town of any consequence until we +reached Chester. We had travelled a distance of about one hundred and +twenty miles—our longest day's journey, with one exception—not very +swift motoring, but we found that an average of one hundred miles per +day was quite enough to thoroughly satisfy us, and even with such an +ap<span class="pagenum"><a id="page57" name="page57"></a>Pg 57</span>parently low average as this, a day's rest now and then did not +come amiss.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image08" name="image08"> + <img src="images/08.jpg" + alt="SUNSET ON THE MOOR." + title="SUNSET ON THE MOOR." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">SUNSET ON THE MOOR.<br />From Painting by Termohlen.</span> +</div> + +<p>It would be better yet if one's time permitted a still lower daily +mileage. Not the least delightful feature of the tour was the marvelous +beauty of the English landscapes, and one would have a poor appreciation +of these to dash along at forty or even twenty-five miles per hour. +There were many places at which we did not stop at all, and which were +accorded scant space in the guide-books, that would undoubtedly have +given us ideas of English life and closer contact with the real spirit +of the people than one could possibly get in the tourist-thronged towns +and villages.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page58" name="page58"></a>Pg 58</span></p> +<h2>V</h2> + +<h3>THE BORDER TOWNS, SHREWSBURY AND LUDLOW</h3> + + +<p>I shall say but little of Chester, as of every other place on the line +of our journey so well known as to be on the itinerary of nearly +everybody who makes any pretensions at touring Britain. The volumes +which have been written on the town and the many pages accorded it in +the guide-books will be quite sufficient for all seekers after +information. Frankly, I was somewhat disappointed with Chester. I had +imagined its quaintness that of a genuine old country town and was not +prepared for the modern city that surrounds its show-places. In the +words of an observant English writer: "It seems a trifle +self-conscious—its famous old rows carry a suspicion of being swept and +garnished for the dollar-distributing visitor from over the Atlantic, +and of being less genuine than they really are. However that may be, the +moment you are out of these show-streets of Chester, there is a singular +lack of charm in the environment. The taint of commerce and the smoke of +the north hangs visibly on the horizon. Its immediate surroundings are +modern and garish to a degree that by no means assists in the fiction +that Ches<span class="pagenum"><a id="page59" name="page59"></a>Pg 59</span>ter is the unadulterated old-country town one would like to +think it." Such a feeling I could not entirely rid myself of, and even +in following the old wall, I could not help noting its carefully +maintained disrepair. I would not wish to be understood as intimating +that Chester is not well worth a visit, and a visit of several days if +one can spare the time; only that its charm was, to me, inferior to that +of its more unpretentious neighbors, Shrewsbury and Ludlow. Our stay was +only a short one, since our route was to bring us to the town again; +still, we spent half a day in a most delightful manner, making a tour of +the "rows" and the odd corners with quaint buildings. The tourist, +fortified with his red-backed Baedecker, is a common sight to Chester +people, and his "dollar-distributing" propensity, as described by the +English writer I have quoted, is not unknown even to the smallest fry of +the town. Few things during our trip amused me more than the antics of a +brown, bare-foot, dirt-begrimed little mite not more than two or three +years old, who seized my wife's skirts and hung on for dear life, +pouring out earnestly and volubly her unintelligible jargon. We were at +first at a loss to understand what our new associate desired, and so +grimly did she hang on that it seemed as if another accession to our +party was assured—but a light dawned suddenly on us, and, as the brown +little hand clasped a broad English copper, our self-<span class="pagenum"><a id="page60" name="page60"></a>Pg 60</span>appointed +companion vanished like a flash into a neighboring shop.</p> + +<p>Even when touring in your "wind-shod" car, as an up-to-date English poet +puts it, and though your motor waits you not a stone's throw from your +hotel, you may not entirely dispense with your antiquated equine friend +as a means of locomotion. So we learned when we proposed to visit Eaton +Hall, the country place of the Duke of Westminster, which lies closely +adjoining Chester, situated deep in the recesses of its +eight-thousand-acre park. A conspicuous sign, "Motors strictly +forbidden," posted near the great gateway, forced us to have recourse to +the hackman, whose moderate charge of eight shillings for a party of +three was almost repaid by his services as a guide. He was voluble in +his information concerning the Duke and especially dwelt on his +distinction as the richest man in the world—an honor which as good and +loyal Americans we could not willingly see wrested from our own John D. +of oleaginous fame. Eaton Hall is one of the greatest English +show-places, but it is modern and might well be matched by the castles +of several of our American aristocracy. Tame indeed seemed its swept and +garnished newness, its trim and perfect repair, after our visits to so +many time-worn places, with their long succession of hoary traditions. +The great library, with its thousands of volumes in the richest<span class="pagenum"><a id="page61" name="page61"></a>Pg 61</span> +bindings and its collections of rare editions, might well be the despair +of a bibliophile and the pictures and furnishings of rare interest to +the connoisseur—but these things one may find in the museums.</p> + +<p>Over a main road, almost level and as nearly straight as any English +road merits such a description, we covered the forty miles from Chester +to Shrewsbury without incident. The most trying grade given in the +road-book is one in twenty-five, and all conditions are favorable for +record time—in absence of police traps. Four miles out of Chester we +passed Rowton Station, lying adjacent to Rowton Moor, where King +Charles, standing on the tower of Chester Wall which bears his name, saw +his army defeated by the Parliamentarians. We made a late start from +Chester, but reached Shrewsbury in time to visit many parts of the town +after dinner. We found it indeed a delightful old place, rich in +historic traditions, and the center of a country full of interesting +places. The town is built on a lofty peninsula, surrounded on three +sides by the River Severn, and the main streets lead up exceedingly +steep hills. In fact, many of the steepest and most dangerous hills +which we found in our travels were in the towns themselves, where grades +had been fixed by buildings long ago. The clean macadam in Shrewsbury +made it possible to drive our car without chains, though it rained +incessantly, but so<span class="pagenum"><a id="page62" name="page62"></a>Pg 62</span> steep and winding are some of the streets that the +greatest caution was necessary.</p> + +<p>Shrewsbury is described by an English writer as a "sweet-aired, genuine, +dignified and proud old market town, the resort of squires, parsons and +farmers, and mainly inhabited by those who minister to their wants. It +never dreams of itself as a show-place." He also adds another strong +point in its claim to distinction: "Some years ago a book was published +by a zealous antiquarian, enumerating with much detail all the families +of England of a certain consequence who still occupied either the same +estate or estates contiguous to those upon which they were living in the +Fifteenth Century. The shire of which Shrewsbury is the capital very +easily headed the list in this honorable competition and thereby +justified the title of 'proud Salopians,' which the more consequential +of its people submit to with much complacency, even though it be not +always applied in a wholly serious way."</p> + +<p>It is a genuine old border town, so far unspoiled by commercialism. +Modern improvements have not invaded its quaint streets to any great +extent, and many of these still retain their old names—Dog-pole, +Wylecop and Shoplatch—and are bordered by some of the finest +half-timbered houses in Britain. Nor is Shrewsbury wanting in famous +sons. In front of the old grammar school building is a bronze<span class="pagenum"><a id="page63" name="page63"></a>Pg 63</span> statue of +Charles Darwin, the man who changed the scientific thought of a world, +who was born here in 1809. This same grammar school was built in 1630 +and is now converted into a museum of Roman relics, which have been +found in the immediate vicinity. In its earlier days, many distinguished +men received their education here, among them Sir Philip Sidney and +Judge Jeffreys. The Elizabethan market-house and the council-house which +was visited by both Charles I and James II on different occasions are +two of the most fascinating buildings to be seen in the town. There are +scant remains, principally of the keep of the castle, built by the +Norman baron to whom William the Conqueror generously presented the +town. St. Mary is the oldest and most important church, and in some +particulars it surpasses the cathedral at Chester. It is architecturally +more pleasing and its windows are among the finest examples of antique +stained glass in the Kingdom.</p> + +<p>We spent some time among the remarkable collection of relics in the +museum, and as they mainly came from the Roman city of Uriconium, we +planned a side-trip to this place, together with Buildwas Abbey and the +old Saxon town of Much Wenlock, all of which are within twenty miles of +Shrewsbury. When we left the Raven Hotel it was raining steadily, but +this no longer deterred us, and after cautiously descending the steep +hill leading out of the town<span class="pagenum"><a id="page64" name="page64"></a>Pg 64</span> we were soon on the road to Wroxeter, the +village lying adjacent to the Roman ruins. We found these of surprising +extent and could readily believe the statement made in the local +guide-book that a great city was at one time located here. Only a +comparatively small portion has been excavated, but the city enclosed by +the wall covered nearly one square mile. One great piece of wall about +seventy-five feet long and twenty feet in height still stands above +ground to mark the place, but the most remarkable revelations were found +in the excavations. The foundations of a large public building have been +uncovered, and the public baths to which the Romans were so partial are +in a remarkable state of preservation, the tile flooring in some cases +remaining in its original position. There is every indication that the +city was burned and plundered by the wild Welsh tribes sixteen hundred +or more years ago.</p> + +<p>A few miles farther, mainly through narrow byways, brought us to +Buildwas Abbey, beautifully situated near the Severn. Evidently this +fine ruin is not much frequented by tourists, for we found no custodian +in charge, and the haunts of the old monks had been converted into a +sheepfold by a neighboring farmer. Yet at one time it was one of the +richest and most extensive monasteries in England. On our return to +Shrewsbury, we passed through Much Wenlock, a very ancient town,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page65" name="page65"></a>Pg 65</span> +which also has its ruined abbey. It is remarkable how thickly these +monastic institutions were at one time scattered over the Kingdom, and +when one considers what such elaborate establishments must have cost to +build and to maintain, it is easy to understand why, in the ages of +church supremacy, the common people were so miserably poor.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image09" name="image09"> + <img src="images/09.jpg" + alt="RUINS OF URICONIUM, NEAR SHREWSBURY." + title="RUINS OF URICONIUM, NEAR SHREWSBURY." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">RUINS OF URICONIUM, NEAR SHREWSBURY.</span> +</div> + +<p>Aside from the places of historic interest that we visited on this trip, +the country through which we passed would have made our half day a +memorable one. Though the continual rain intercepted the view much of +the time, yet from some of the hilltops we had vistas of the Severn +Valley with its winding river that we hardly saw surpassed in a country +famous for lovely landscapes. We regretted later that our stay at +Shrewsbury was so short, for we learned that in the immediate vicinity +there are many other places which might well have occupied our +attention; but in this case, as in many others, we learned afterwards +the things we should have known before our tour began.</p> + +<p>Late in the afternoon we started for Ludlow. It was still raining—a +gray day with fitful showers that never entirely ceased but only varied +in intensity. Much of the beauty of the landscape was hidden in the gray +mist, and the distant Welsh hills, rich with soft coloring on clear +days, were entirely lost to us. Yet the gloomy day was not altogether +with<span class="pagenum"><a id="page66" name="page66"></a>Pg 66</span>out its compensation, for if we had visited Stokesay when the +garish sunshine gilded "but to flaunt the ruins gray," we should have +lost much of the impression which we retain of the gloom and desolation +that so appropriately pervaded the unique old manor with its timbered +gatehouse and its odd little church surrounded by thickly set +gravestones.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image10" name="image10"> + <img src="images/10.jpg" + alt="STOKESAY MANOR HOUSE, NEAR LUDLOW." + title="STOKESAY MANOR HOUSE, NEAR LUDLOW." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">STOKESAY MANOR HOUSE, NEAR LUDLOW.</span> +</div> + +<p>It was only by an accidental glance at our road-book that we saw +Stokesay Castle as an "object of interest" on this road about eight +miles north of Ludlow. This old house is the finest example in the +Kingdom of a fortified manor as distinguished from a castle, its +defensive feature being a great crenolated tower, evidently built as a +later addition when the manor passed from a well-to-do country gentleman +to a member of the nobility. This is actually the case, for there is on +record a license granted in 1284 to Lawrence de Ludlow permitting him to +"crenolate his house." The house itself was built nearly two hundred +years earlier and was later surrounded by a moat as a further means of +defense. Considering its age, it is in a wonderfully good state of +preservation, the original roof still being intact. We were admitted by +the keeper, who lives in the dilapidated but delightfully picturesque +half-timbered gatehouse. The most notable feature of the old house is +the banqueting hall occupying the greater portion of the first floor, +showing how, in the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page67" name="page67"></a>Pg 67</span> good old days, provision for hospitality took +precedence over nearly everything else. Some of the apartments on the +second floor retain much of their elaborate oak paneling and there are +several fine mantel-pieces. A narrow, circular stairway leads to the +tower, from which the beauty of the location is at once apparent. +Situated as the mansion is in a lovely valley, bounded by steep and +richly wooded hills at whose base the river Onny flows through luxuriant +meadows, one is compelled to admire the judgment of the ancient founder +who selected the site. It indeed brought us near to the spirit and +customs of feudal times as we wandered about in the gloom of the +deserted apartments. How comfortless the house must have been—from our +standard—even in its best days, with its rough stone floors and rude +furnishings! No fireplace appeared in the banqueting hall, which must +have been warmed by an open fire, perhaps in the center, as in the hall +of Penshurst Place. How little these ancient landmarks were appreciated +until recently is shown by the fact that for many years Stokesay Manor +was used as a blacksmith-shop and a stable for a neighboring farmer. The +present noble proprietor, however, keeps the place in excellent repair +and always open to visitors. In one of the rooms of the tower, is +exhibited a collection of ancient documents relating to the founding of +Stokesay and to its early history.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page68" name="page68"></a>Pg 68</span></p> + +<p>After visiting hundreds of historic places during our summer's +pilgrimage, the memory of Ludlow, with its quaint, unsullied, old-world +air, its magnificent church, whose melodious chime of bells lingers with +us yet, its great ruined castle, redolent with romance, and its +surrounding country of unmatched interest and beauty, is still the +pleasantest of all. I know that the town has been little visited by +Americans, and that in Baedeker, that Holy Writ of tourists, it is +accorded a scant paragraph in small type. Nevertheless, our deliberately +formed opinion is still that if we could re-visit only one of the +English towns it would be Ludlow. Mr. A.G. Bradley, in his delightful +book, "In the March and Borderland of Wales," which everyone +contemplating a tour of Welsh border towns should read, gives an +appreciation of Ludlow which I am glad to reiterate when he styles it +"the most beautiful and distinguished country town in England." He says: +"There are towns of its size perhaps as quaint and boasting as many +ancient buildings, but they do not crown an eminence amid really +striking scenery, nor yet again share such distinction of type with one +of the finest mediaeval castles in England and one possessed of a +military and political history unique in the annals of British castles. +It is this combination of natural and architectural charm, with its +intense historical interest, that gives Ludlow such pe<span class="pagenum"><a id="page69" name="page69"></a>Pg 69</span>culiar +fascination. Other great border fortresses were centers of military +activities from the Conquest to the Battle of Bosworth, but when Ludlow +laid aside its armour and burst out into graceful Tudor architecture, it +became in a sense the capital of fourteen counties, and remained so for +nearly two hundred years."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image11" name="image11"> + <img src="images/11.jpg" + alt="THE FEATHERS HOTEL, LUDLOW." + title="THE FEATHERS HOTEL, LUDLOW." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">THE FEATHERS HOTEL, LUDLOW.</span> +</div> + +<p>We were indeed fortunate in Ludlow, for everything conspired to give us +the best appreciation of the town, and were it not for the opinion of +such an authority as I have quoted, I might have concluded that our +partiality was due to some extent to the circumstances. We had been +directed to a hotel by our host in Shrewsbury, but on inquiring of a +police officer—they are everywhere in Britain—on our arrival in +Ludlow, he did us a great favor by telling us that "The Feathers" hotel +just opposite would please us better. We forthwith drew up in front of +the finest old black and white building which we saw anywhere in the +Kingdom and were given a room whose diamond-paned windows opened toward +church and castle. No modern improvements broke in on our old-time +surroundings—candles lighted us when the long twilight had faded away.</p> + +<p>The splendid dark-oak paneling that reached to the ceiling of the dining +room and the richly carved mantel-piece, they told us, were once in +rooms of Ludlow Castle. As we sat at our late dinner, a fam<span class="pagenum"><a id="page70" name="page70"></a>Pg 70</span>iliar melody +from the sonorous chimes of the church-tower came through the open +window to our great delight. "O, what a nuisance those bells are," said +the neat waiting maid, "and a bad thing for the town, too. Why, the +commercials all keep away from Ludlow. They can't sleep for the noise." +"Do the chimes ring in the night?" we asked. "At midnight and at four +o'clock in the morning," she said, and I was fearful that we would not +awake. But we did, and the melody in the silence of the night, amid the +surroundings of the quaint old town, awakened a sentiment in us no doubt +quite different from that which vexed the soul of the commercial. But we +felt that credit was due the honest people of Ludlow, who preferred the +music of the sweet-toned bells to sordid business; and, as the maid +said, the bells did not awaken anyone who was used to them—surely a fit +reward to the citizens for their high-minded disregard of mere material +interests.</p> + +<p>I said we were fortunate at Ludlow. The gray, chilly weather and almost +continual rain which had followed us for the last few days vanished and +the next morning dawned cool and fair, with sky of untainted blue. Our +steps were first turned towards the castle, which we soon reached. There +was no one to admit us. The custodian's booth was closed, but there was +a small gate in the great entrance and we walked in. We had the noble +ruin to ourselves,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page71" name="page71"></a>Pg 71</span> and a place richer in story and more beautiful and +majestic in decay we did not find elsewhere. A maze of gray walls rose +all around us, but fortunately every part of the ruin bore a printed +card telling us just what we wanted to know. The crumbling walls +surrounded a beautiful lawn, starred with wild flowers—buttercups and +forget-me-nots—and a flock of sheep grazed peacefully in the wide +enclosure. We wandered through the deserted, roofless chambers where +fireplaces with elaborate stone mantels and odd bits of carving told of +the pristine glory of the place. The castle was of great extent, +covering the highest point in Ludlow, and before the day of artillery +must have been well-nigh impregnable. The walls on the side toward the +river rise from a cliff which drops down a sharp incline toward the edge +of the water but leaving room for a delightful foot path between rows of +fine trees. The stern square tower of the keep, the odd circular chapel +with its fine Norman entrance, the great banqueting hall, the elaborate +stone fireplaces and the various apartments celebrated in the story of +the castle interested us most. From the great tower I saw what I still +consider the finest prospect in England, and I had many beautiful views +from similar points of vantage. The day was perfectly clear and the wide +range of vision covered the fertile valleys and wooded hills +interspersed with the villages, the whole<span class="pagenum"><a id="page72" name="page72"></a>Pg 72</span> country appearing like a vast +beautifully kept park. The story of Ludlow Castle is too long to tell +here, but no one who delights in the romance of the days of chivalry +should fail to familiarize himself with it. The castle was once a royal +residence and the two young princes murdered in London Tower by the +agents of Richard III dwelt here for many years. In 1636 Milton's "Mask +of Comus," suggested by the youthful adventures of the children of the +Lord President, was performed in the castle courtyard. The Lord of the +castle at one time was Henry Sidney, father of Sir Philip, and his +coat-of-arms still remains over one of the entrances. But the story of +love and treason, of how in the absence of the owner of the castle, Maid +Marion admitted her clandestine lover, who brought a hundred armed men +at his back to slay the inmates and capture the fortress, is the saddest +and most tragic of all. We saw high up in the wall, frowning over the +river, the window of the chamber from which she had thrown herself after +slaying her recreant lover in her rage and despair. A weird story it is, +but if the luckless maiden still haunts the scene of her blighted love, +an observant sojourner who fitly writes of Ludlow in poetic phrase never +saw her. "Nearly every midnight for a month," he says, "it fell to me to +traverse the quarter of a mile of dark, lonely lane that leads beneath +the walls of the castle to the falls of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page73" name="page73"></a>Pg 73</span> river, and a spot more +calculated to invite the wanderings of a despairing and guilty spirit, I +never saw. But though the savage gray towers far above shone betimes in +the moonlight and the tall trees below rustled weirdly in the night +breeze and the rush of the river over the weir rose and fell as is the +wont of falling water in the silence of the night, I looked in vain for +the wraith of the hapless maiden of the heath and finally gave up the +quest."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image12" name="image12"> + <img src="images/12.jpg" + alt="LUDLOW CASTLE, THE KEEP AND ENTRANCE." + title="LUDLOW CASTLE, THE KEEP AND ENTRANCE." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">LUDLOW CASTLE, THE KEEP AND ENTRANCE.</span> +</div> + +<p>When we left the castle, though nearly noon, the custodian was still +belated, and we yet owe him sixpence for admittance, which we hope to +pay some time in person. A short walk brought us to the church—"the +finest parish church in England," declares one well qualified to judge. +"Next to the castle," he says, "the glory of Ludlow is its church, which +has not only the advantage of a commanding site but, as already +mentioned, is held to be one of the finest in the country." It is built +of red sandstone and is cruciform in shape, with a lofty and graceful +tower, which is a landmark over miles of country and beautiful from any +point of view. I have already mentioned the chime of bells which flings +its melodies every few hours over the town and which are hung in this +tower. The monuments, the stained-glass windows and the imposing +architecture are scarcely equalled by any other church outside of the +cathedrals.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page74" name="page74"></a>Pg 74</span></p> + +<p>We had made the most of our stay in Ludlow, but it was all too short. +The old town was a revelation to us, as it would be to thousands of our +countrymen who never think of including it in their itinerary. But for +the motor car, it would have remained undiscovered to us. With the great +growth of this method of touring, doubtless thousands of others will +visit the place in the same manner, and be no less pleased than we were.</p> + +<p>From Ludlow we had a fine run to Worcester, though the road was +sprinkled with short, steep hills noted "dangerous" in the road-book. +Our fine weather was very transient, for it was raining again when we +reached Worcester. We first directed our steps to the cathedral, but +when nearly there beheld a large sign, "This way to the Royal Porcelain +Works," and the cathedral was forgotten for the time by at least one +member of our party. The Royal Porcelain Works it was, then, for hadn't +we known of Royal Worcester long before we knew there was any +cathedral—or any town, for that matter? It is easy to get to the Royal +Porcelain Works: a huge sign every block will keep you from going astray +and an intelligent guide will show you every detail of the great +establishment for only a sixpence. But it is much harder and more costly +to get away from the Royal Worcester Works, and when we finally did we +were several guineas poorer<span class="pagenum"><a id="page75" name="page75"></a>Pg 75</span> and were loaded with a box of fragile ware +to excite the suspicions of our amiable customs officials. Nevertheless, +the visit was full of interest. Our guide took us through the great +plant from the very beginning, showing us the raw materials—clay, chalk +and bones—which are ground to a fine powder, mixed to a paste, and +deftly turned into a thousand shapes by the skilled potter. We were +shown how the bowl or vase was burned, shrinking to nearly half its size +in the process. We followed the various steps of manufacture until the +finished ware, hand-painted, and burned many times to bring out the +colors, was ready for shipment. An extensive museum connected with the +works is filled with rare specimens to delight the soul of the admirer +of the keramic art. There were samples of the notable sets of tableware +manufactured for nearly every one of the crowned heads of Europe during +the last century, gorgeous vases of fabulous value, and rare and curious +pieces without number.</p> + +<p>When we left the porcelain works it was too late to get into the +cathedral, and when we were ready to start in the morning it was too +early. So we contented ourselves with driving the car around the noble +pile and viewing the exterior from every angle. We took the word of +honest Baedeker that the interior is one of the most elaborate and +artistic in England but largely the result of modern restoration. The<span class="pagenum"><a id="page76" name="page76"></a>Pg 76</span> +cathedral contains the tomb of King John, who requested that he be +buried here, though his life was certainly not such as to merit the +distinction. Here, too, is buried the elder brother of King Henry VIII, +Prince Arthur, who died at Ludlow Castle in 1502; and had he lived to be +king in place of the strenuous Henry, who can say what changes might +have been recorded in English history? All these we missed; nor did we +satisfy ourselves personally of the correctness of the claim that the +original entry of the marriage contract of William Shakespeare and Anne +Hathaway is on file in the diocese office near the gateway of the +cathedral. Along with the other notable places of the town mentioned in +the guide-book as worthy of a visit is the great factory where the fiery +Worcestershire sauce is concocted, but this did not appeal to our +imagination as did the porcelain works. Our early start and the fine, +nearly level road brought us to Stratford-upon-Avon well before noon. +Here we did little more than re-visit the shrines of Shakespeare—the +church, the birthplace, the grammar school—all familiar to the +English-speaking world. Nor did we forget the Red Horse Inn at luncheon +time, finding it much less crowded than on our previous visit, for we +were still well in advance of the tourist season. After luncheon we were +lured into a shop across the street by the broad assurance made on an +exceedingly conspicuous sign<span class="pagenum"><a id="page77" name="page77"></a>Pg 77</span> that it is the "largest souvenir store on +earth." Here we hoped to secure a few mementos of our visit to Stratford +by motor car. We fell into a conversation with the proprietor, a genial, +white-haired old gentleman, who, we learned, had been Mayor of the town +for many years—and is it not a rare distinction to be Mayor of +Shakespeare's Stratford? The old gentleman bore his honors lightly +indeed, for he said he had insistently declined the office but the +people wouldn't take no for an answer.</p> + +<p>It is only a few miles to Warwick over winding roads as beautiful as any +in England. One of these leads past Charlecote, famous for Shakespeare's +deer-stealing episode, but no longer open to the public. We passed +through Warwick—which reminded us of Ludlow except for the former's +magnificent situation—without pausing, a thing which no one would do +who had not visited that quaint old town some time before. In +Leamington, three miles farther on, we found a modern city of forty +thousand inhabitants, noted as a resort and full of pretentious hotels. +After we were located at the Manor House there was still time for a +drive to Kenilworth Castle, five miles away, to which a second visit was +even more delightful than our previous one. For the next day we had +planned a circular tour of Warwickshire, but a driving, all-day rain +and, still more, the indisposition of one of our party, confined us to +our<span class="pagenum"><a id="page78" name="page78"></a>Pg 78</span> hotel. Our disappointment was considerable, for within easy reach +of Leamington there were many places that we had planned to visit. Ashow +Church, Stoneleigh Abbey, George Eliot's birthplace and home near +Nuneaton, the cottage of Mary Arden, mother of Shakespeare, Rugby, with +its famous school, and Maxstoke Castle—an extensive and picturesque +ruin—are all within a few miles of Leamington.</p> + +<p>From Leamington to London was nearly an all-day's run, although the +distance is only one hundred miles. A repair to the car delayed us and +we went several miles astray on the road. It would have been easier to +have returned over the Holyhead Road, but our desire to see more of the +country led us to take a route nearly parallel to this, averaging about +fifteen miles to the southward. Much of the way this ran through narrow +byways and the country generally lacked interest. We passed through +Banbury, whose cross, famous in nursery rhyme, is only modern. At +Waddesdon we saw the most up-to-date and best ordered village we came +across in England, with a fine new hotel, the Five Arrows, glittering in +fresh paint. We learned that this village was built and practically +owned by Baron Rothschild, and just adjoining it was the estate which he +had laid out. The gentleman of whom we inquired courteously offered to +take us into the great park,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page79" name="page79"></a>Pg 79</span> and we learned that he was the head +landscape gardener. The palace is modern, of Gothic architecture, and +crowns an eminence in the park. It contains a picture gallery, with +examples of the works of many great masters, which is open to the public +on stated days of the week.</p> + +<p>On reaching London, we found that our tour of the Midlands had covered a +little less than eight hundred miles, which shows how much that distance +means in Britain when measured in places of historic and literary +importance, of which we really visited only a few of those directly on +the route of our journey or lying easily adjacent to it.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page80" name="page80"></a>Pg 80</span></p> +<h2>VI</h2> + +<h3>LONDON TO LAND'S END</h3> + + +<p>The road from London to Southampton is one of the oldest in the Kingdom +and passes many places of historic interest. In early days this highway, +leading from one of the main seaports through the ancient Saxon capital, +was of great importance. Over this road we began the trip suggested by +the Touring Secretary of the Motor Union. As usual, we were late in +getting started and it was well after noon when we were clear of the +city. At Kingston-on-Thames, practically a suburb, filled with villas of +wealthy Londoners, we stopped for lunch at the Griffin Hotel, a fine old +inn whose antiquity was not considered sufficient to atone for bad +service, which was sometimes the case. Kingston has a history as ancient +as that of the capital itself. Its name is peculiar in that it was not +derived from King's Town, but from King's Stone; and at the town +crossing is the identical stone, so says tradition, upon which the Saxon +kings were crowned. It would seem to one that this historic bit of rock +would form a more fitting pedestal for the English coronation chair than +the old Scottish stone from Dunstafnage Castle.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page81" name="page81"></a>Pg 81</span></p> + +<p>After a short run from Kingston, we passed down High Street, Guildford, +which, a well qualified authority declares, is "one of the most +picturesque streets in England." Guildford might well detain for a day +or more anyone whose time will permit him to travel more leisurely than +ours did. William Cobbett, the author and philosopher, who was born and +lived many years near by, declared it "the happiest looking town he ever +knew"—just why, I do not know. The street with the huge town clock +projecting half way across on one side, the Seventeenth Century Town +Hall with its massive Greek portico on the other, and a queerly assorted +row of many-gabled buildings following its winding way, looked odd +enough, but as to Guildford's happiness, a closer acquaintance would be +necessary.</p> + +<p>Shortly after leaving the town, the ascent of a two-mile hill brought us +to a stretch of upland road which ran for several miles along a +tableland lying between pleasantly diversified valleys sloping on either +side. From this a long, gradual descent led directly into Farnham, the +native town of William Cobbett. The house where he was born and lived as +a boy is still standing as "The Jolly Farmers' Inn." One may see the +little house which was the birthplace of the Rev. Augustus Toplady, +whose hymn, "Rock of Ages," has gained world-wide fame. On the hill +overlooking the town is the an<span class="pagenum"><a id="page82" name="page82"></a>Pg 82</span>cient castle, rebuilt in the Sixteenth +Century and from that time one of the palaces of the bishops of +Winchester. Here, too, lingers one of the ubiquitous traditions of King +Charles I, who stopped at Vernon House in West Street while a prisoner +in the hands of the Parliamentarians on their way to London. A silk cap +which the king presented to his host is proudly shown by one of the +latter's descendants, who is now owner of the house.</p> + +<p>One must be well posted on his route when touring Britain or he will +pass many things of note in sublime ignorance of their existence. Even +the road-book is not an infallible guide, for we first knew that we were +passing through Chawton when the postoffice sign, on the main street of +a straggling village, arrested our attention. We were thus reminded that +in this quiet little place the inimitable Jane Austin had lived and +produced her most notable novels, which are far more appreciated now +than in the lifetime of the authoress. An old woman of whom we inquired +pointed out the house—a large square building with tiled roof, now used +as the home of a workingmen's club. Less than two miles from Chawton, +though not on the Winchester road, is Selborne, the home of Gilbert +White, the naturalist, and famed as one of the quaintest and most +retired villages in Hampshire.</p> + +<p>But one would linger long on the way if he<span class="pagenum"><a id="page83" name="page83"></a>Pg 83</span> paused at every landmark on +the Southampton road. We had already loitered in the short distance +which we had traveled until it was growing late, and with open throttle +our car rapidly covered the last twenty miles of the fine road leading +into Winchester.</p> + +<p>From an historical point of view, no town in the Kingdom surpasses the +proud old city of Winchester. The Saxon capital still remembers her +ancient splendor and it was with a manifest touch of pride that the old +verger who guided us through the cathedral dwelt on the long line of +kings who had reigned at Winchester before the Norman conquest. To him, +London at best was only an upstart and an usurper. Why,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"When Oxford was shambles<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And Westminster was brambles,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Winchester was in her glory."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And her glory has never departed from her and never will so long as her +great cathedral stands intact, guarding its age-long line of proud +traditions. The exterior is not altogether pleasing—the length +exceeding that of any cathedral in Europe, together with the abbreviated +tower, impresses one with a painful sense of lack of completeness and a +failure of proper proportion. It has not the splendid site of Durham or +Lincoln, the majesty of the massive tower of Canterbury, or the grace of +the great spire of Salisbury. But its interior makes full amends. No<span class="pagenum"><a id="page84" name="page84"></a>Pg 84</span> +cathedral in all England can approach it in elaborate carvings and +furnishings or in interesting relics and memorials. Here lie the bones +of the Saxon King Ethelwulf, father of Alfred the Great; of Canute, +whose sturdy common sense silenced his flatterers; and of many others. A +scion of the usurping Norman sleeps here too, in the tomb where William +Rufus was buried, "with many looking on and few grieving." In the north +aisle a memorial stone covers the grave of Jane Austen and a great +window to her memory sends its many-colored shafts of light from above. +In the south transept rests Ike Walton, prince of fishermen, who, it +would seem to us, must have slept more peacefully by some rippling +brook. During the Parliamentary wars Winchester was a storm center and +the cathedral suffered severely at the hands of the Parliamentarians. +Yet fortunately, many of its ancient monuments and furnishings escaped +the wrath of the Roundhead iconoclasts. The cathedral is one of the +oldest in England, having been mainly built in the Ninth Century. +Recently it has been discovered that the foundations are giving away to +an extent that makes extensive restoration necessary, but it will be +only restored and not altered in any way.</p> + +<p>But we may not pause long to tell the story of even Winchester Cathedral +in this hasty record of a motor flight through Britain. And, speaking +of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page85" name="page85"></a>Pg 85</span> the motor car, ardent devotee as I am, I could not help feeling a +painful sense of the inappropriateness of its presence in Winchester; of +its rush through the streets at all hours of the night; of its clatter +as it climbed the steep hills in the town; of the blast of its unmusical +horn; and of its glaring lights, falling weirdly on the old buildings. +It seemed an intruder in the capital of King Alfred.</p> + +<p>There is much else in Winchester, though the cathedral and its +associations may overshadow everything. The college, one of the earliest +educational institutions in the Kingdom, was founded about 1300, and +many of the original buildings stand almost unchanged. The abbey has +vanished, though the grounds still serve as a public garden; and of +Wolvesley Palace, a castle built in 1138, only the keep still stands. +How usual this saying, "Only the keep still stands," becomes of English +castles,—thanks to the old builders who made the keep strong and high +to withstand time, and so difficult to tear down that it escaped the +looters of the ages.</p> + +<p>A day might well be given to the vicinity of Winchester, which teems +with points of literary and historic interest. In any event, one should +visit Twyford, only three miles away, often known as the "queen of the +Hampshire villages" and famous for the finest yew tree in England. It is +of especial interest to Americans, since Benjamin Franklin wrote<span class="pagenum"><a id="page86" name="page86"></a>Pg 86</span> his +autobiography here while a guest of Dr. Shipley, Vicar of St. Asaph, +whose house, a fine Elizabethan mansion, still stands.</p> + +<p>To Salisbury by way of Romsey is a fine drive of about thirty miles over +good roads and through a very pleasing country. Long before we reached +the town there rose into view its great cathedral spire, the loftiest +and most graceful in Britain, a striking landmark from the country for +miles around. Following the winding road and passing through the narrow +gateway entering High Street, we came directly upon this magnificent +church, certainly the most harmonious in design of any in the Kingdom. +The situation, too, is unique, the cathedral standing entirely separate +from any other building, its gray walls and buttresses rising sheer up +from velvety turf such as is seen in England alone. It was planned and +completed within the space of fifty years, which accounts for its +uniformity of style; while the construction of most of the cathedrals +ran through the centuries with various architecture in vogue at +different periods. The interior, however, lacks interest, and the +absence of stained glass gives an air of coldness. It seems almost +unbelievable that the original stained windows were deliberately +destroyed at the end of the Eighteenth Century by a so-called architect, +James Wyatt, who had the restoration of the cathedral in charge. To his +everlasting infamy,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page87" name="page87"></a>Pg 87</span> "Wyatt swept away screens, chapels and porches, +desecrated and destroyed the tombs of warriors and prelates, obliterated +ancient paintings; flung stained glass by cart loads into the city +ditch; and razed to the ground the beautiful old campanile which stood +opposite the north porch." That such desecration should be permitted in +a civilized country only a century ago indeed seems incredible.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image13" name="image13"> + <img src="images/13.jpg" + alt="A COTTAGE IN HOLDENHURST, HAMPSHIRE." + title="A COTTAGE IN HOLDENHURST, HAMPSHIRE." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">A COTTAGE IN HOLDENHURST, HAMPSHIRE.<br />From Water Color by Noelsmith.</span> +</div> + +<p>No one who visits Salisbury will forget Stonehenge, the most remarkable +relic of prehistoric man to be found in Britain. Nearly everyone is +familiar with pictures of this solitary circle of stones standing on an +eminence of Salisbury Plain, but one who has not stood in the shadow of +these gigantic monoliths can have no idea of their rugged grandeur. +Their mystery is deeper than that of Egypt's sphynx, for we know +something of early Egyptian history, but the very memory of the men who +reared the stones on Salisbury Plain is forgotten. Who they were, why +they built this strange temple, or how they brought for long distances +these massive rocks that would tax modern resources to transport, we +have scarcely a hint. The stones stand in two concentric circles, those +of the inner ring being about half the height of the outer ones. Some of +the stones are more than twenty feet high and extend several feet into +the ground. There are certain signs which seem to indicate that +Stonehenge was the temple of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page88" name="page88"></a>Pg 88</span> some early sun-worshiping race, and Sir +Norman Lockyer, who has made a special study of the subject, places the +date of construction about 1680 B.C. No similar stone is found in the +vicinity; hence it is proof positive that the builders of Stonehenge +must have transported the enormous monoliths for many miles. The place +lies about eight miles north of Salisbury. We went over a rather lonely +and uninteresting road by the way of Amesbury, which is two miles from +Stonehenge. We returned by a more picturesque route, following the River +Avon to Salisbury and passing through Millston, a quaint little village +where Joseph Addison was born in 1672.</p> + +<p>A few miles south of Salisbury we entered New Forest, an ancient royal +hunting domain covering nearly three hundred square miles and containing +much of the most pleasing woodland scenery in England. This is extremely +diversified but always beautiful. Glades and reaches of gentle park and +meadow and open, heathlike stretches contrast wonderfully with the dark +masses of huge oaks and beeches, under some of which daylight never +penetrates. We stopped for the night at Lyndhurst, directly in the +center of the forest and sometimes called the capital of New Forest. It +looks strangely new for an English town, and the large church, built of +red brick and white stone, shows its recent origin. In this<span class="pagenum"><a id="page89" name="page89"></a>Pg 89</span> church is +a remarkable altar fresco which was executed by the late Lord Leighton. +The fine roads and splendid scenery might occupy at least a day if time +permitted; but if, like us, one must hasten onward, a run over the main +roads of New Forest will give opportunity to see much of its sylvan +beauty.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image14" name="image14"> + <img src="images/14.jpg" + alt="A GLADE IN NEW FOREST." + title="A GLADE IN NEW FOREST." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">A GLADE IN NEW FOREST.</span> +</div> + +<p>Our route next day through the narrow byways of Dorsetshire was a +meandering one. From Lyndhurst we passed through Christchurch, Blandford +and Dorchester and came for the night to Yeovil. We passed through no +place of especial note, but no day of our tour afforded us a better idea +of the more retired rural sections of England. By the roadside +everywhere were the thatched roof cottages with their flower gardens, +and here and there was an ancient village which to all appearances might +have been standing quite the same when the Conqueror landed in Britain. +Oftentimes the byways were wide enough for only one vehicle, but were +slightly broadened in places to afford opportunity for passing. Many of +the crossings lacked the familiar sign-boards, and the winding byways, +with nothing but the map for a guide, were often confusing, and sharp +turns between high hedges made careful driving necessary. At times we +passed between avenues of tall trees and again unexpectedly dropped into +some quiet village nestling in the Dorset hills. One of the quaintest of +these, not even mentioned in<span class="pagenum"><a id="page90" name="page90"></a>Pg 90</span> Baedeker, is Cerne Abbas, a straggling +village through which the road twisted along—a little old-world +community, seemingly severed from modern conditions by centuries. It +rather lacked the cozy picturesqueness of many English villages. It +seemed to us that it wanted much of the bloom and shrubbery. Everywhere +were the gray stone houses with thatched roofs, sagging walls and odd +little windows with square or diamond-shaped panes set in iron +casements. Nowhere was there a structure that had the slightest taint of +newness. The place is quite unique. I do not recall another village that +impressed us in just the same way. Our car seemed strangely out of place +as it cautiously followed the crooked main street of the town, and the +attention bestowed on it by the smaller natives indicated that a motor +was not a common sight in Cerne Abbas. Indeed, we should have missed it +ourselves had we not wandered from the main road into a narrow lane that +led to the village. While we much enjoyed our day in the Dorset byways, +our progress had necessarily been slow.</p> + +<p>In Yeovil, we found an old English town apparently without any important +history, but a prosperous center for a rich farming country. The place +is neat and clean and has a beautifully kept public park—a feature of +which the average English town appears more appreciative than the small +American city.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page91" name="page91"></a>Pg 91</span></p> + +<p>From Yeovil to Torquay, through Exeter, with a stop at the latter place, +was an unusually good day's run. The road was more hilly than any we had +passed over heretofore, not a few of the grades being styled +"dangerous," and we had been warned by an English friend that we should +find difficult roads and steep hills in Devon and Cornwall. However, to +one who had driven over some of our worst American roads, even the "bad" +roads of England looked good, and the "dangerous" hills, with their +smooth surface and generally uniform grade, were easy for our +moderate-powered motor.</p> + +<p>Exeter enjoys the distinction of having continuously been the site of a +town or city for a longer period than is recorded of any other place in +England. During the Roman occupation it was known as a city, and it is +believed that the streets, which are more regular than usual and which +generally cross each other at right angles, were first laid out by the +Romans. It is an important town of about fifty thousand inhabitants, +with thriving trade and manufactures, and modern improvements are in +evidence everywhere.</p> + +<p>The cathedral, though not one of the largest or most imposing, is +remarkable for the elaborate carving of the exterior. The west front is +literally covered with life-sized statues set in niches in the wall, but +the figures are all sadly time-worn, many of them<span class="pagenum"><a id="page92" name="page92"></a>Pg 92</span> having almost +crumbled away. Evidently the Roundheads were considerate of Exeter +Cathedral that such a host of effigies escaped destruction at their +hands; and they were not very well disposed towards Exeter, either, as +it was always a Royalist stronghold. Possibly it was spared because the +Cromwellians found it useful as a place of worship, and in order to +obtain peace and harmony between the two factions of the army the +cathedral was divided into two portions by a high brick wall through the +center, the Independents holding forth on one side and the Presbyterians +on the other.</p> + +<p>The road from Exeter to Torquay follows the coast for some distance, +affording many fine views of the ocean. We were now in the "limestone +country," and the roads are exceedingly dusty in dry weather. The dust, +in the form of a fine white powder, covers the trees and vegetation, +giving the country here and there an almost ghostly appearance. No +wonder that in this particular section there is considerable prejudice +against the motor on account of its great propensity to stir up the +dust. So far as we ourselves were concerned, we usually left it behind +us, and it troubled us only when some other car got in ahead of us.</p> + +<p>Torquay is England's Palm Beach—a seacoast-resort town where the +temperature rarely falls below forty degrees, thanks to the warm current +of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page93" name="page93"></a>Pg 93</span> Gulf Stream; and where the sea breezes keep down the summer +heat, which seldom rises above sixty degrees. It is especially a winter +resort, although the hotels keep open during the year. Most of the town +is finely situated on a high promontory overlooking a beautiful harbor, +studded with islands and detached rocks that half remind one of Capri. +From our hotel window we had a glorious ocean view, made the more +interesting for the time being by a dozen of King Edward's men-of-war, +supposed to be defending Torquay against "the enemy" of a mimic naval +warfare.</p> + +<p>On the opposite side of Tor Bay is the quiet little fishing village of +Brixham, the landing-place of Prince William of Orange. We reached here +early on a fine June day when everything was fresh after heavy showers +during the night. The houses rise in terraces up the sharp hillside +fronting the harbor, which was literally a forest of fishing-boat masts. +A rather crude stone statue of William stands on the quay and a brass +foot-print on the shore marks the exact spot where the Dutch prince +first set foot in England, accompanied by an army of thirteen thousand +men. Our car attracted a number of urchins, who crowded around it and, +though we left it unguarded for an hour or more to go out on the +sea-wall and look about the town, not one of the fisher lads ventured to +touch it or to molest anything—an<span class="pagenum"><a id="page94" name="page94"></a>Pg 94</span> instance of the law-abiding spirit +which we found everywhere in England.</p> + +<p>From Brixham, an hour's drive over bad roads brought us to Dartmouth, +whither we had been attracted by the enthusiastic language of an English +writer who asserts that "There is scarcely a more romantic spot in the +whole of England than Dartmouth. Spread out on one of the steep slopes +of the Dart, it overlooks the deep-set river toward the sea. Steep +wooded banks rising out of the water's edge give the winding of the +estuaries a solemn mystery which is wanting in meadows and plough-land. +In the midst of scenery of this character—and it must have been richer +still a few centuries back—the inhabitants of Dartmouth made its +history."</p> + +<p>As we approached the town, the road continually grew worse until it was +little better than the average unimproved country highway in America, +and the sharp loose stones everywhere were ruinous on tires. It finally +plunged sharply down to a steamboat ferry, over which we crossed the +Dart and landed directly in the town. There are few towns in England +more charmingly located than old Dartmouth, and a hundred years ago it +was an important seaport, dividing honors about equally with Plymouth.</p> + +<p>The road to Dartmouth was unusually trying;<span class="pagenum"><a id="page95" name="page95"></a>Pg 95</span> the route which we took to +Plymouth was by odds the worst of equal distance we found anywhere. We +began with a precipitous climb out of the town, up a very steep hill +over a mile long, with many sharp turns that made the ascent all the +more difficult. We were speedily lost in a network of unmarked byways +running through a distressingly poor-looking and apparently quite thinly +inhabited country. After a deal of studying the map and the infrequent +sign-boards we brought up in a desolate-looking little village, merely a +row of gray stone, slate-roofed houses on either side of the way, and +devoid of a single touch of the picturesque which so often atones for +the poverty of the English cottages. No plot of shrubbery or +flower-garden broke the gray monotony of the place. We had seen nothing +just like it in England, though some of the Scotch villages which we saw +later, matched it very well.</p> + +<p>Here a native gave us the cheerful information that we had come over the +very road we should not have taken; that just ahead of us was a hill +where the infrequent motor cars generally stalled, but he thought that a +good strong car could make it all right. Our car tackled the hill +bravely enough, but slowed to a stop before reaching the summit; but by +unloading everybody except the driver, and with more or less coaxing and +adjusting, it was induced to try it again, with a rush that carried it +through. The<span class="pagenum"><a id="page96" name="page96"></a>Pg 96</span> grade, though very steep, was not so much of an obstacle +as the deep sand, with which the road was covered. We encountered many +steep hills and passed villages nearly as unprepossessing as the first +one before we came to the main Plymouth-Exeter road, as excellent a +highway as one could wish. It was over this that our route had +originally been outlined, but our spirit of adventure led us into the +digression I have tried to describe. It was trying at the time, but we +saw a phase of England that we otherwise would have missed and have no +regrets for the strenuous day in the Devonshire byways.</p> + +<p>Plymouth, with the adjoining towns of Devonport and Stonehouse, is one +of the most important seaports in the Kingdom, the combined population +being about two hundred thousand. The harbor is one of the best and +affords safe anchorage for the largest ocean-going vessels. It is +protected by a stupendous granite breakwater, costing many millions and +affording a delightful promenade on a fine day. Plymouth is the +principal government naval port and its ocean commerce is gaining +rapidly on that of Liverpool. To Americans it appeals chiefly on account +of its connection with the Pilgrim Fathers, who sailed from its harbor +on the Mayflower in 1620. A granite block set in the pier near the +oldest part of the city is supposed to mark the exact spot of +de<span class="pagenum"><a id="page97" name="page97"></a>Pg 97</span>parture of the gallant little ship on the hazardous voyage, whose +momentous outcome was not then dreamed of. I could not help thinking +what a fine opportunity is offered here for some patriotic American +millionaire to erect a suitable memorial to commemorate the sailing of +the little ship, fraught with its wonderful destiny. The half day spent +about the old city was full of interest; but the places which we missed +would make a most discouraging list. It made us feel that one ought to +have two or three years to explore Britain instead of a single summer's +vacation.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image15" name="image15"> + <img src="images/15.jpg" + alt="ROCKS OFF CORNWALL." + title="ROCKS OFF CORNWALL." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">ROCKS OFF CORNWALL.<br />From Painting by Warne Browne. Exhibited 1906 Royal Academy.</span> +</div> + +<p>From Plymouth to Penzance through Truro runs the finest road in +Cornwall, broad, well kept and with few steep grades. It passes through +a beautiful section and is bordered in many places by the immense parks +of country estates. In some of these the woods were seemingly left in +their natural wild state, though close inspection showed how carefully +this appearance was maintained by judicious landscape gardening. In many +of the parks, the rhododendrons were in full bloom, and their rich +masses of color wonderfully enlivened the scenery. Everything was fresh +and bright. It had been raining heavily the night before and the air was +free from the dust that had previously annoyed us. It would be hard to +imagine anything more inspiring than the vistas which opened to us as we +sped along. The<span class="pagenum"><a id="page98" name="page98"></a>Pg 98</span> road usually followed the hills in gentle curves, but +at places it rose to splendid points of vantage from which to view the +delightful valleys. Then again it lost itself under great over-arching +trees, and as we came too rapidly down a steep hill on entering Bodmin, +the road was so heavily shaded that we were near our undoing. The loose +sand had been piled up by the rain and the dense shade prevented the +road from drying. The car took a frightful skid and by a mere hair's +breadth escaped disastrous collision with a stone wall—but we learned +something.</p> + +<p>After leaving Truro, an ancient town with a recently established +cathedral, the road to Penzance, though excellent, is without special +interest. It passes through the copper-mining section of Cornwall and +the country is dotted with abandoned mines. A few are still operated, +but it has come to the point where, as a certain Englishman has said, +"Cornwall must go to Nevada for her copper," and there are more Cornish +miners in the western states than there are in their native shire.</p> + +<p>Penzance is another of the South of England resort towns and is +beautifully situated on Mounts Bay. One indeed wonders at the great +number of seacoast resorts in Britain, but we must remember that there +are forty millions of people in the Kingdom who need breathing places as +well as a number of Amer<span class="pagenum"><a id="page99" name="page99"></a>Pg 99</span>icans who come to these resorts. The hotels at +these places are generally excellent from the English point of view, +which differs somewhat from the American. Probably there is no one point +on which the difference is greater than the precise temperature that +constitutes personal comfort and makes a fire in the room necessary. On +a chilly, muggy day when an American shivers and calls for a fire in the +generally diminutive grate in his room, the native enjoys himself or +even complains of the heat, and is astonished at his thin-skinned +cousin, who must have his room—according to the British notion—heated +to suffocation. The hotel manager always makes a very adequate charge +for fires in guest-rooms and is generally chary about warming the +corridors or public parts of the hotel. In one of the large London +hotels which actually boasts of steam heat in the hallways, we were +amazed on a chilly May day to find the pipes warm and a fine fire +blazing in the great fireplace in the lobby. The chambermaid explained +the astonishing phenomenon: the week before several Americans had +complained frequently of the frigid atmosphere of the place without +exciting much sympathy from the management, but after they had left the +hotel, it was taken as an evidence of good faith and the heat was turned +on. But this digression has taken me so far away from Penzance that I +may as well close this chapter with it.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page100" name="page100"></a>Pg 100</span></p> +<h2>VII</h2> + +<h3>FROM CORNWALL TO SOUTH WALES</h3> + + +<p>In following a five-thousand-mile motor journey through Britain, there +will be little to say of Penzance, a pleasant resort town, yet without +anything of notable importance. A mile farther down the coast is Newlyn, +a fishing-village which has become a noted resort for artists and has +given its name to a school of modern painting. A handsome building for a +gallery and art institute, and which also serves as headquarters for the +artists, has recently been erected by a wealthy benefactor. We walked +over to the village, hoping to learn that the fisher-fleet would be in +the next morning, but were disappointed. A man of whom we inquired +informed us that the fishermen would not bring in their catch until two +days later. He seemed to recognize at once that we were +strangers—Americans, they all know it intuitively—and left his task to +show us about the immense quay where the fishermen dispose of their +catch at auction. He conducted us out on the granite wall, built by the +Government to enclose the harbor and insuring the safety of the +fisher-fleet in fiercest storms. He had been a deep-sea fisherman<span class="pagenum"><a id="page101" name="page101"></a>Pg 101</span> +himself and told us much of the life of these sturdy fellows and the +hardships they endure for little pay.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image16" name="image16"> + <img src="images/16.jpg" + alt="NEAR LAND'S END." + title="NEAR LAND'S END." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">NEAR LAND'S END.<br />From Water Color by Wm. T. Richards.</span> +</div> + +<p>The ordinary fishing boat is manned by five or six men and makes two +trips each week to the deep-sea fishing "grounds," seventy-five to one +hundred miles away. The craft is rude and comfortless in the extreme and +so constructed as to be nearly unsinkable if kept off the rocks. The +fish are taken by trawling great nets and drawing them aboard with a +special tackle. The principal catch of the Newlyn fishermen is herring, +which are pickled in the village and exported, mainly to Norway and +Sweden. The value of the fish depends on the state of the market, and +the price realized is often as low as a shilling per hundred weight. The +majority of the population of Cornwall is engaged directly or indirectly +in the fisheries, and considering the inferiority of most of the country +for agriculture and the extensive coast line with its numerous harbors, +it is not strange that so many of the natives should follow this life. +In earlier days, smuggling and wrecking constituted the occupation of a +large number of the Cornishmen, but under modern conditions these gentle +arts can no longer be successfully practiced, and fishing furnishes +about the only alternative.</p> + +<p>Just across the peninsula is St. Ives, another fishing village, even +more picturesque than Newlyn and quite as much in favor with the +artists. To reach<span class="pagenum"><a id="page102" name="page102"></a>Pg 102</span> this town we turned a few miles from the main road on +the following day, but missed the fisher-fleet as before. The bay on +which St. Ives is situated is the most beautiful on the Cornish coast, +and on the day of our visit the bright stretch of water, sleeping +placidly under the June skies and dotted with glistening sails, well +maintained its reputation for surpassing loveliness. Before we entered +the town a man of whom we inquired the way advised us to leave our car +and walk down the sharp descent to the coast, where the village mostly +lies. The idea of the return trip was not pleasing, and we boldly +started down, only to wish we had been more amenable to the friendly +advice, for a steeper, narrower, crookeder street we did not find +anywhere. In places it was too narrow for vehicles to pass abreast, and +sharp turns on a very steep grade, in streets crowded with children, +made the descent exceedingly trying. However, we managed to get through +safely and came to a stop directly in front of the Fifteenth Century +church, an astonishingly imposing structure for a village which showed +more evidences of poverty than of anything else. The church was built at +a time when the smugglers and wreckers of Cornwall no doubt enjoyed +greater prosperity and felt, perhaps, more anxiety for their souls' +welfare than do their fisher-folk descendants.</p> + +<p>On re-ascending the hill we stopped at the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page103" name="page103"></a>Pg 103</span> Castle for our noonday +luncheon, but the castle in this instance is a fine old mansion built +about a hundred years ago as a private residence and since passed into +the possession of a railway company, which has converted it into an +excellent hotel. Situated as it is, in a fine park on the eminence +overlooking the bay, few hostelries at which we paused seemed more +inviting for a longer sojourn.</p> + +<p>Four miles from Penzance is Marazion, and St. Michael's Mount, lying +near at hand, takes its name from the similar but larger and more +imposing cathedral-crowned headland off the coast of France. It is a +remarkable granite rock, connected with the mainland by a strip of sand, +which is clear of the water only four hours of the day. The rock towers +to a height of two hundred and fifty feet and is about a mile in +circumference. It is not strange that in the days of castle-building +such an isolated site should have been seized upon; and on the summit is +a many-towered structure built of granite and so carefully adapted to +its location as to seem almost a part of the rock itself. When we +reached Marazion, the receding tide had left the causeway dry, and as we +walked leisurely the mile or so between the town and the mount, the +water was already stealthily encroaching on the pathway. We found the +castle more of a gentleman's residence than a fortress, and it was +evidently never intended for defensive pur<span class="pagenum"><a id="page104" name="page104"></a>Pg 104</span>poses. It has been the +residence of the St. Aubyn family since the time of Charles II, and the +villagers were all agog over elaborate preparations to celebrate the +golden wedding anniversary of the present proprietor. The climb is a +wearisome one, and we saw little of the castle, being admitted only to +the entrance-hall and the small Gothic chapel, which was undergoing +restoration; but the fine view from the battlements alone is worth the +effort. The castle never figured in history and is remarkable chiefly +for its unique location. By the time of our return the tide had already +risen several feet and we were rowed to the mainland in a boat.</p> + +<p>On our return to Truro we took the road by which we came, but on leaving +there our road roughly followed the Northern Cornish coast, and at +intervals we caught glimpses of the ocean. For some distance we ran +through a rough moorland country, although the road was comparatively +level and straight. We passed Camelford—which some say is the Camelot +of the Arthur legends—only five miles distant from the ruins of +Tintagel Castle on the coast, and came early to Launceston, where the +clean hospitable-looking White Hart Hotel offered strong inducements to +stop for the night. A certain weariness of the flesh, resulting from our +run over the last long stretch of the moorland road, was an equally +important factor in influencing our action.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image17" name="image17"> + <img src="images/17.jpg" + alt="ON DARTMOOR." + title="ON DARTMOOR." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">ON DARTMOOR.<br />From Water Color by Vincent.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page105" name="page105"></a>Pg 105</span></p> +<p>Launceston was one of the surprises that we frequently came across—a +town that we had never heard of before and doubtless one that an +American seldom sees. Yet the massive castle, whose circular keep crowns +an eminence overlooking the town, was one of the objects that loomed +into view long before we reached the place, and its gloomy grandeur, as +we wandered through its ruins in the fading twilight, deeply impressed +us. A rude stairway led to the top of the great circular tower, rising +high above the summit of the hill, which itself dominates the country, +and the view stretching away in every direction was far-reaching and +varied. The castle has been gradually falling into ruin for the last six +hundred years, but in its palmy days it must have been one of the +grimmest and most awe-inspiring of the fortresses in the west country. +Scarcely another ruin did we see anywhere more imposing in location and +more picturesque in decay. Masses of ivy clung to the crumbling walls +and all around spread a beautiful park, with soft, velvety turf +interspersed with shrubbery and bright dashes of color from numerous +well cared-for flower beds.</p> + +<p>Not less unique is St. Steven's church, the like of which is not to be +found elsewhere in Britain. Its walls are covered with a network of fine +carving, vine and flower running riot in stone, and they told us that +this was done by English stonecutters, though<span class="pagenum"><a id="page106" name="page106"></a>Pg 106</span> nearly all such carving +on the cathedrals was the work of artisans from the continent. The +Launceston church is pointed to as an evidence that English workmen +could have done quite as well had they been given the chance. Aside from +this wonderful carving, which covers almost every stone of the exterior, +the church is an imposing one and has lately been restored to its +pristine magnificence. Launceston had its abbey, too, but this has long +since disappeared, and all that now remains of it is the finely carved +Norman doorway built into the entrance of the White Hart Hotel.</p> + +<p>Our next day's run was short, covering only forty-two miles between +Launceston and Exeter. For about half the distance the road runs along +the edge of Dartmoor, the greatest of English moorlands. A motor trip of +two or three days through the moor itself would be time well spent, for +it abounds in romantic scenery. The road which we followed is a good +one, though broken into numerous steep hills, but a part of the way we +might as well have been traveling through a tunnel so far as seeing the +country was concerned. A large proportion of the fences are made of +earth piled up four or five feet high, and on the top of this ridge are +planted the hedges, generally reaching three or four feet higher. There +were times when we could catch only an occasional glimpse of the +landscape, and if such fences were<span class="pagenum"><a id="page107" name="page107"></a>Pg 107</span> everywhere in England they would be +a serious deterrent upon motoring. Fortunately, they prevail in a +comparatively small section, for we did not find them outside of +Cornwall and Devon. This experience served to impress on us how much we +lost when the English landscapes were hidden—that the vistas which +flitted past us as we hurried along were among the pleasantest features +of our journey. It was little short of distressing to have mud fences +shut from view some of the most fascinating country through which we +passed.</p> + +<p>The greatest part of the day we spent in Exeter. The Rougemont Hotel, +where we stopped for the night, is spacious and comfortable, and a +series of stained-glass windows at the head of the great staircase tells +the story of Richard Ill's connection with Exeter; how, according to +Shakespeare's play, the Rougemont of Exeter recalled to the king's +superstitious mind an ancient prophecy of his defeat at the hands of +Richmond, later Henry VII.</p> + +<p>Leaving Exeter early, we planned to reach Bath in the evening—only +eighty-one miles over an almost perfect road—not a very long run so far +as actual distance is concerned, but entirely too long considering the +places of unusual interest that lie along the way. We passed through the +little town of Wellington, noted chiefly for giving his title to the +Iron Duke, and it commemorates its great namesake by<span class="pagenum"><a id="page108" name="page108"></a>Pg 108</span> a lofty column +reared on one of the adjacent hills.</p> + +<p>No town in Britain has an ecclesiastical history more important than +Glastonbury, whose tradition stretches back to the very beginning of +Christianity in the Island. Legend has it that St. Joseph of Arimathea, +who begged the body of Christ and buried it, came here in the year 63 +and was the founder of the abbey. He brought with him, tradition says, +the Holy Grail; and a thorn-tree staff which he planted in the abbey +grounds became a splendid tree, revered for many centuries as the Holy +Thorn. The original tree has vanished, though there is a circumstantial +story that it was standing in the time of Cromwell and that a Puritan +who undertook to cut it down as savoring of idolatry had an eye put out +by a flying chip and was dangerously wounded by his axe-head flying off +and striking him. With its awe-inspiring traditions—for which, +fortunately, proof was not required—it is not strange that Glastonbury +for many centuries was the greatest and most powerful ecclesiastical +establishment in the Kingdom. The buildings at one time covered sixty +acres, and many hundreds of monks and dignitaries exerted influence on +temporal as well as ecclesiastical affairs. It is rather significant +that it passed through the Norman Conquest unscathed; not even the +greedy conquerors dared invade the sanctity of Glastonbury Abbey. The +revenue at that time is<span class="pagenum"><a id="page109" name="page109"></a>Pg 109</span> said to have been about fifty thousand pounds +yearly and the value of a pound then would equal twenty-five to fifty of +our American dollars. However much the Normans respected the place, its +sanctity had no terrors for the rapacious Henry VIII. The rich revenues +appealed too strongly and he made a clean sweep, hanging the mitered +abbot and two of his monks on the top of Tor Hill. The Abbey is the +traditional burial-place of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere, and four of +the Saxon kings sleep in unmarked graves within its precincts. +Considering its once vast extent, the remaining ruins are scanty, +although enough is left to show how imposing and elaborate it must have +been in its palmy days. And there are few places in the Kingdom where +one is so impressed with the spirit of the ancient order of things as +when surrounded by the crumbling walls of Glastonbury Abbey.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image18" name="image18"> + <img src="images/18.jpg" + alt="ST. JOSEPH'S CHAPEL, GLASTONBURY ABBEY." + title="ST. JOSEPH'S CHAPEL, GLASTONBURY ABBEY." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">ST. JOSEPH'S CHAPEL, GLASTONBURY ABBEY.</span> +</div> + +<p>At Wells is the cathedral that gives the town an excuse for existence. +Although one of the smallest of these great English churches, it is in +many respects one of the most symmetrical and beautiful. Its glory is +centered chiefly in its west front, with deep buttresses and many +sculptured images of kings and saints. We had only an unsatisfactory +glimpse of the interior, as services happened to be in progress. The +town of Wells is a mere adjunct to the cathedral. It has no history of +its own; no great family<span class="pagenum"><a id="page110" name="page110"></a>Pg 110</span> has ever lived there; and it can claim no +glory as the birthplace of distinguished sons. Still it has a distinct +charm as a quiet little Somersetshire town which has preserved its +antiquity and fascination. Its name is taken from the natural wells +still found in the garden of the Bishop's palace.</p> + +<p>Bath, though it has the most remarkable Roman relics in the Kingdom, is +largely modern. It is now a city of fifty thousand and dates its rise +from the patronage of royalty a century and a half ago. It is one of the +towns that a motorist could scarcely miss if he wished—so many fine +roads lead into it—and I shall not attempt especial comment on a place +so well known. Yet, as in our case, it may be a revelation to many who +know of it in a general way but have no adequate idea of the real extent +of the Roman baths. These date from 50 to 100 A.D. and indicate a degree +of civilization which shows that the Roman inhabitants in Britain must +have been industrious, intelligent and cleanly.</p> + +<p>Excavations have been conducted with great difficulty, since the Roman +remains lie directly under an important part of the city covered with +valuable buildings. Nearly all of the baths in the vicinity of the +springs have been uncovered and found in a surprising state of +perfection. In many places the tiling with its mosaic is intact, and +parts of the system of piping laid to conduct the water still may be<span class="pagenum"><a id="page111" name="page111"></a>Pg 111</span> +traced. Over the springs has been erected the modern pump-house and many +of the Roman baths have been restored to nearly their original state. In +the pump-house is a museum with hundreds of relics discovered in course +of excavation—sculpture, pottery, jewelry, coin and many other articles +that indicate a high degree of civilization. Outside of the Roman +remains the most notable thing in Bath is its abbey church, which, in +impressive architecture and size, will compare favorably with many of +the cathedrals. In fact, it originally was a cathedral, but in an early +day the bishopric was transferred to Wells. There is no ruined fortress +or castle in Bath, with its regulation lot of legends. Possibly in an +effort to remedy the defect, there has been erected on one of the hills +that overlook the town a structure which goes by the epithet of the Sham +Castle.</p> + +<p>On leaving Bath, we followed the fine London road as far as Chippenham, +a prosperous agricultural town celebrated for its wool market. To the +north of this is Malmesbury, with an abbey church whose history goes +back to the Ninth Century. A portion of the nave is still used for +services and is remarkable for its massive pillars and Norman doorway, +the great arch of which has perhaps a hundred rude carvings illustrating +scenes from scripture history. The strong walls of the church caused it +to be used at times as a fortress, and it underwent sieges<span class="pagenum"><a id="page112" name="page112"></a>Pg 112</span> in the +different wars that raged over the Kingdom. The verger pointed out to us +deep indentations made by Cromwell's cannon and told us that one of the +abbey's vicissitudes was its use for some years as a cloth manufacturing +establishment.</p> + +<p>From Malmesbury we followed the road through Cirencester to Cheltenham, +one of the most modern-looking cities which we saw in England. Like +Bath, it is famous for its springs, and a large share of its population +is made up of retired officers of the army and navy. The main streets +are very wide, nearly straight, and bordered in many places with fine +trees. However, its beginning dates from only about 1700, and therefore +it has little claim on the tourist whose heart is set upon ancient and +historic things.</p> + +<p>Of much greater interest is its neighbor, Gloucester, about twelve miles +away. The two cities are almost of the same size, each having about +fifty thousand people. Gloucester can boast of one of the most beautiful +of the cathedrals, whether considered from its imposing Gothic exterior +or its interior, rich with carvings and lighted by unusually fine +stained-glass windows, one of which is declared to be the largest in the +world. The cathedral was begun in 1088, but the main tower was not +completed until nearly five hundred years later, which gives some idea +of the time covered in the construction of many of these great churches. +Gloucester<span class="pagenum"><a id="page113" name="page113"></a>Pg 113</span> boasts of great antiquity, for it is known that the +Britons had a fortified town here which they defended against the Roman +attacks; and after having become possessed of it, the Romans greatly +strengthened it as a defense against incursions from the Welsh tribes. +Before the Norman Conquest, it was of such importance that Edward the +Confessor held his court in the town for some time. Being in the west +country, it naturally was a storm-center in the parliamentary struggle, +during which time a great deal of the city was destroyed. But there are +many of the old portions still remaining and it has numbers of beautiful +half-timbered buildings. One of these was the home of Robert Raikes, +known to the world as the founder of the Sunday School. Gloucester is +worthy of a longer stay than we were able to make, and in arranging an +itinerary one should not fail to provide for a full day in the town.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image19" name="image19"> + <img src="images/19.jpg" + alt="IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE." + title="IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE.<br />From Water Color by A. Waters.</span> +</div> + +<p>From Gloucester to Ross runs an excellent highway, though rather devoid +of interest. It was thronged with motorists who generally dashed along +in sublime disregard of the speed limits. We passed several who were +occupied with "roadside troubles" and we were in for an hour or so +ourselves, due to a refractory "vibrator." The Welsh farmers who passed +joked us good-naturedly and one said he would stick to his horse until +he had money to buy a motor—then, he added, he wouldn't buy it, but<span class="pagenum"><a id="page114" name="page114"></a>Pg 114</span> +would live on the income of the money. We told him that he was a man +after Solomon's own heart. Suddenly the evil spirit left the car and she +sprang away over the beautiful road in mad haste that soon landed us in +Ross.</p> + +<p>Ross is a pretty village, situated on a green hillside overlooking the +Wye, and the tall, graceful spire of its church dominates all views of +the town. Although it was growing quite late, we did not stop here, but +directed our way to Monmouth, twelve miles farther on, which we reached +just as the long twilight was turning into night.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image20" name="image20"> + <img src="images/20.jpg" + alt="DISTANT VIEW OF ROSS, SOUTH WELSH BORDER." + title="DISTANT VIEW OF ROSS, SOUTH WELSH BORDER." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">DISTANT VIEW OF ROSS, SOUTH WELSH BORDER.</span> +</div> + + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page115" name="page115"></a>Pg 115</span></p> +<h2>VIII</h2> + +<h3>THROUGH BEAUTIFUL WALES</h3> + + +<p>Of no part of our tour does a pleasanter memory linger than of the five +or six hundred miles on the highways of Wales. The weather was glorious +and no section of Britain surpassed the Welsh landscapes in beauty. A +succession of green hills, in places impressive enough to be styled +mountains, sloping away into wooded valleys, with here and there a +quaint village, a ruined castle or abbey, or an imposing country mansion +breaking on the view—all combined to make our journey through Wales one +of our most pleasing experiences. Historic spots are not far apart, +especially on the border, where for centuries these brave people fought +English invaders—and with wonderful success, considering the greatly +superior number of the aggressors. I have already written of Ludlow and +Shrewsbury on the north, but scarcely less attractive—and quite as +important in early days—are the fine old towns of Hereford and Monmouth +on the southern border.</p> + +<p>We were everywhere favorably impressed with the Welsh people as being +thrifty and intelligent. The roadside drinking-houses were not so +numerous<span class="pagenum"><a id="page116" name="page116"></a>Pg 116</span> as in England, for the Welsh are evidently more temperate in +this regard than their neighbors. My observation in this particular is +borne out by an English writer well qualified to judge. He says: "There +is, of a truth, very little drinking now in rural Wales. The farming +classes appear to be extremely sober. Even the village parliament, which +in England discusses the nation's affairs in the village public house, +has no serious parallel in Wales, for the detached cottage-renting +laborer, who is the mainstay of such gatherings, scarcely exists, and +the farmer has other interests to keep him at home." Evidently the Welsh +farmer does attend to his business in an industrious manner, for he +generally has a substantial and prosperous appearance. People with whom +we engaged in conversation were always courteous and obliging and almost +everything conspired to heighten our good opinion of the Welsh. The +fusion with England is nearly complete and the Welsh language is +comparatively little used except by the older people. King Edward has no +more loyal subjects than the Welshmen, but apparently they do not +greatly incline towards admitting his claims as their spiritual head. +The Church of England in Wales is greatly inferior in numbers and +influence to the various nonconformist branches. This is especially true +of the more rural sections.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page117" name="page117"></a>Pg 117</span></p> + +<p>We found Monmouth an unusually interesting town on account of its +antiquity and the numerous historic events which transpired within its +walls. At the King's Head Hotel, which of course afforded shelter to +Charles I when he was "touring" Britain, we were able with difficulty to +find accommodation, so crowded was the house with an incursion of +English trippers. Monmouth's chief glory and distinction is that it was +the birthplace of King Henry V, Shakespeare's Prince Hal, whom William +Watson describes as</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The roystering prince that afterward<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Belied his madcap youth and proved<br /></span> +<span class="i0">A greatly simple warrior lord<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Such as our warrior fathers loved."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>The scanty ruins of the castle where the prince was born still overlook +the town. Thus King Henry became the patron of Monmouth, and in front of +the town hall has been erected an inartistic effigy of a knight in full +armour, with the inscription, "Henry V, born at Monmouth, August 9, +1387." The old bridge over the river Monnow is unique, with an odd, +castellated gateway at one end, probably intended not so much for +defense as for collecting tolls.</p> + +<p>After dark we wandered about the streets until the church-tower chimes +warned us of the lateness of the hour. And even these church bells have +their history. When King Henry sailed from a seaport in<span class="pagenum"><a id="page118" name="page118"></a>Pg 118</span> France on one +occasion the inhabitants rang the bells for joy, which so incensed the +monarch that he ordered the bells removed and presented them to his +native town. We saw too little of Monmouth, for the next morning we were +away early, taking the fine road that leads directly south to Tintern +and Chepstow.</p> + +<p>The abbey-builders chose their locations with unerring judgment, always +in a beautiful valley near a river or lake, surrounded by fertile fields +and charming scenery. Of the score of ruined abbeys which we visited +there was not one that did not fulfill this description, and none of +them to a greater extent—possibly excepting Fountain's—than Tintern. +In the words of an enthusiastic admirer, "Tintern is supremely wonderful +for its situation among its scores of rivals. It lies on the very brink +of the River Wye, in a hollow of the hills of Monmouth, sheltered from +harsh winds, warmed by the breezes of the Channel—a very nook in an +earthly Eden. Somehow the winter seems to fall more lightly here, the +spring to come earlier, the foliage to take on a deeper green, the grass +a greater thickness, and the flowers a more multitudinous variety." +Certainly the magnificent church—almost entire except for its fallen +roof—standing in the pleasant valley surrounded by forest-clad hills on +every side, well merits such enthusiastic language. It is well that +this<span class="pagenum"><a id="page119" name="page119"></a>Pg 119</span> fine ruin is now in the possession of the Crown, for it insures +that decay will be arrested and its beauties preserved as an inspiration +to art and architecture of later times.</p> + +<p>From Tintern to Chepstow we followed an unsurpassed mountain road. For +three miles our car gradually climbed to the highest point, winding +along the hillside, from which the valley of the Severn, with its broad +river, spread out beneath us in all the freshness of June verdure; while +on the other hand, for hundreds of feet sheer above us, sloped the hill, +with its rich curtain of forest trees, the lighter green of the summer +foliage dashed with the somber gloom of the yew. Just at the summit we +passed the Wyndcliffe, towering five hundred feet above us, from which +one may behold one of the most famous prospects in the Island. Then our +car started down a three-mile coast over a smooth and uniform grade +until we landed at the brow of the steep hill which drops sharply into +Chepstow.</p> + +<p>A rude, gloomy fortress Chepstow Castle must have been in its day of +might, and time has done little to soften its grim and forbidding +aspect. Situated on a high cliff which drops abruptly to the river, it +must have been well-nigh invincible in days ere castle walls crumbled +away before cannon-shot. It is of great extent, the wails enclosing an +area of about four acres, divided into four separate courts.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page120" name="page120"></a>Pg 120</span> The +best-preserved portion is the keep, or tower, in which the caretaker +makes his home; but the fine chapel and banqueting hall were complete +enough to give a good idea of their old-time state. We were able to +follow a pathway around the top of the broad wall, from which was +afforded a widely extended view over the mouth of the Severn towards the +sea. "This is Martin's Tower," said our guide, "for in the dungeon +beneath it the regicide, Henry Martin, spent the last twenty years of +his life and died." The man spoke the word "regicide" as though he felt +the stigma that it carries with it everywhere in England, even though +applied to the judge who condemned to death Charles Stuart, a man who +well deserved to die. And when Britain punished the regicides and +restored to power the perfidious race of the Stuarts, she was again +putting upon herself the yoke of misgovernment and storing up another +day of wrath and bloodshed.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image21" name="image21"> + <img src="images/21.jpg" + alt="RUINS OF RAGLAN CASTLE, SOUTH WALES." + title="RUINS OF RAGLAN CASTLE, SOUTH WALES." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">RUINS OF RAGLAN CASTLE, SOUTH WALES.</span> +</div> + +<p>From Chepstow it is only a short journey to Raglan, whose ruined castle +impressed us in many ways as the most beautiful we saw in Britain. It +was far different from the rude fortress at Chepstow. In its best days +it combined a military stronghold with the conveniences and artistic +effects of a palace. It is fortunately one of the best-preserved of the +castellated ruins in the Kingdom. Impressive indeed were the two square +towers flanking its great entrance,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page121" name="page121"></a>Pg 121</span> yet their stern aspect was +softened by the heavy masses of ivy that covered them almost to the top. +The walls, though roofless, were still standing, so that one could gain +a good idea of the original plan of the castle. The fire places, with +elaborate mantels still in place, the bits of fine carvings that clung +to the walls here and there, the grand staircase, a portion of which +still remains, all combined to show that this castle had been planned as +a superb residence as well as a fortress. From the Gwent tower there was +an unobstructed view stretching away in every direction toward the +horizon. The day was perfect, without even a haze to obscure the +distance, and save from Ludlow Castle, I saw nothing to equal the +prospect which lay beneath me when standing on Raglan Tower.</p> + +<p>Raglan's active history ended with its surrender August 15, 1646, to the +Parliamentary army under General Fairfax, after a severe siege of more +than two months. It was the last fortress in England to hold out for the +lost cause of King Charles, and a brave record did its gallant defenders +make against an overwhelmingly superior force. The Marquis of Worcester, +though eighty-five years of age, held the castle against the +Cromwellians until starvation forced him to surrender. The old nobleman +was granted honorable terms by his captors, but Parliament did not keep +faith, and he died a year later<span class="pagenum"><a id="page122" name="page122"></a>Pg 122</span> in the Tower of London. On being told a +few days before his death that his body would be buried in Windsor +Chapel, he cheerfully remarked: "Why, God bless us all, then I shall +have a better castle when I am dead than they took from me when I was +alive."</p> + +<p>After the surrender the castle was dismantled by the soldiers, and the +farmers in the vicinity emulated the Parliamentary destroyers in looting +the fine edifice. Seventeen of the stone staircases were taken away +during the interval and the great hall and chapel were seriously +injured. Enough of the massive walls is left to convey a vivid idea of +the olden grandeur of the castle. The motto of the time-worn arms +inscribed over the entrance speaks eloquently of the past, expressing in +Latin the sentiment, "I scorn to change or fear."</p> + +<p>A quiet, unpretentious old border town is Hereford, pleasantly located +on the banks of the always beautiful Wye. The square tower of the +cathedral is the most conspicuous object when the town first comes into +view. Though dating in part from the Eleventh Century, work on the +cathedral occupied the centuries until 1530, when it was practically +completed as it now stands. The vandal Wyatt, who dealt so hardly with +Salisbury, had the restoration of the cathedral in hand early in the +Eighteenth Century. He destroyed many of its most artistic<span class="pagenum"><a id="page123" name="page123"></a>Pg 123</span> features, +but recently his work was undone and a second restoration was completed +in about 1863. The structure as it now stands is mainly Norman in style, +built of light-brown stone, and remarkably beautiful and imposing.</p> + +<p>Hereford Castle has entirely vanished, though a contemporary writer +describes it as "one of the fairest, largest, and strongest castles in +England." The site which it occupied is now a public garden, diversified +with shrubbery and flowers. An ornamental lake indicates where once was +the moat, but the outlines of the walls are shown only by grass-covered +ridges. Its history was no doubt as stirring as that of others of the +border castles, which more fortunately escaped annihilation.</p> + +<p>Despite its present atmosphere of peace and quietude, Hereford saw +strenuous times in the fierce warfare which raged between the English +and Welsh, though few relics of those days remain. The streets are +unusually wide and with few exceptions the buildings are modern. +Surrounding the town is a stretch of green, level meadow, upon which +graze herds of the red and white cattle whose fame is wider than that of +their native shire. No doubt there are many familiar with the sleek +Herefords who have no idea from whence they take their name.</p> + +<p>Our hotel, the Green Dragon, had recently been re-furnished and +brightened throughout, and its ex<span class="pagenum"><a id="page124" name="page124"></a>Pg 124</span>cellent service was much better than +we often found in towns the size of Hereford. Its well planned motor +garage, just completed, showed that its proprietors recognized the +growing importance of this method of touring.</p> + +<p>Our run from Hereford up the Wye Valley to the sea, we agreed was one of +our red-letter days. We passed through greatly varied scenery from the +fertile, level country around Hereford to the rough, broken hills near +the river's source, but the view was always picturesque in the highest +degree. The road runs along the edge of the hills, and the glorious +valley with its brawling river spread out before us almost the entire +day. At times we ran through forests, which cover the immense parks +surrounding the country estates along the river. We saw many fine +English country-seats, ranging from old, castellated structures to +apparently modern mansions. There are also a number of ruins along the +valley, each with its romantic legends. At Hay, on the hill overlooking +the town, is the castle, partly in ruins and partly in such state of +repair as to be the summer home of the family that owns it. A little +farther, upon a knoll directly overhanging the river, are crumbling +piles of stone where once stood Clifford Castle, the home of Fair +Rosamond, whose melancholy story Tennyson has woven into one of his +dramas.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page125" name="page125"></a>Pg 125</span></p> + +<p>As we advanced farther up the valley, the country grew wilder and more +broken and for many miles we ran through the towering hills that pass +for mountains in Wales. These were covered with bright-green verdure to +their very tops, and the flocks of sheep grazing everywhere lent an +additional charm to the picture. At the foot of the hills the road +follows the valleys with gentle curves and easy grades. The Wye dwindles +to the merest brook, and some miles before we reached the coast, we +passed the head waters of the river and followed a brook flowing in an +opposite direction.</p> + +<p>The road over which we had traveled is not favorable for fast time. +Though comparatively level and with splendid surface, it abounds in +sharp curves and in many places runs along high embankments. The Motor +Union has recommended that eighteen miles per hour be not exceeded on +this road. The distance from Hereford to Aberyswith is only ninety +miles, yet we occupied the greater part of the day in the trip, and had +time permitted, we would gladly have broken the journey at one of the +quaint towns along the way. At many points of vantage we stopped to +contemplate the beauty of the scene—one would have to be a speed maniac +indeed to "scorch" over the Wye Valley road.</p> + +<p>Aberyswith is a seaside resort, somewhat similar to Penzance. It is +situated on the harbor at the foot<span class="pagenum"><a id="page126" name="page126"></a>Pg 126</span> of a high bluff, and its principal +feature is the long row of hotels fronting on the ocean. Though mostly +modern, it is by no means without history, as evidenced by its ruined +castle overlooking the sea and vouching for the antiquity of the town.</p> + +<p>We left Aberyswith next morning with considerable apprehensions. Our +books and maps showed that we would encounter by odds the worst roads of +our entire tour. A grade of one in five along the edge of an almost +precipitous hill was not an alluring prospect, for we were little +inclined toward hill-climbing demonstrations. Shortly after leaving the +town we were involved in poorly kept country byways without sign-boards +and slippery with heavy rains of the night before. After meandering +among the hills and inquiring of the natives for towns the names of +which they could not understand when we asked and we could not +understand when they answered, we came to Dinas Mowddwy, where there was +little else than a handsome hotel. This reminded us that in our +wanderings the hour for luncheon had passed. We stopped at the hotel, +but found difficulty in locating anybody to minister to our wants; and +so deliberate were the movements of the party who finally admitted +responsibility that an hour was consumed in obtaining a very +unpretentious repast.</p> + +<p>The hotelkeeper held out a discouraging prospect<span class="pagenum"><a id="page127" name="page127"></a>Pg 127</span> in regard to the hills +ahead of us. He said that the majority of the motorists who attempted +them were stalled and that there had been some serious accidents. We +went on our way with considerable uneasiness, as our car had not been +working well, and later on trouble was discovered in a broken +valve-spring. However, we started over the mountain, which showed on our +road-book to be not less than three miles in length. There were many +dangerous turns of the road, which ran alongside an almost precipitous +incline, where there was every opportunity for the car to roll a mile or +more before coming to a standstill if it once should get over the edge. +We crawled up the hill until within about fifty yards from the top, and +right at this point there was a sharp turn on an exceedingly stiff +grade. After several trials at great risk of losing control of the car, +I concluded that discretion was (sometimes) the better part of valor, +and with great difficulty turned around and gave it up.</p> + +<p>We made a detour by way of Welshpool and Oswestry, where we came into +the London and Holyhead road, bringing up for the night at Llangollen. +We found it necessary to travel about sixty miles to get to the point +which we would have reached in one-fourth the distance had we succeeded +in climbing the hill. It proved no hardship, as we saw some of the most +beautiful country in Wales<span class="pagenum"><a id="page128" name="page128"></a>Pg 128</span> and traveled over a level road which enabled +us to make very good time with the partly crippled car.</p> + +<p>Although Llangollen is a delightful town, my recollections of it are +anything but pleasant. Through our failure to receive a small repair +which I ordered from London, we were delayed at this place for two days, +and as it usually chances in such cases, at one of the worst hotels +whose hospitality we endured during our trip. It had at one time been +quite pretentious, but had degenerated into a rambling, dirty, old inn, +principally a headquarters for fishing parties and local "trippers." And +yet at this dilapidated old inn there were a number of guests who made +great pretensions at style. Women "dressed for dinner" in low-necked +gowns with long trains; and the men attired themselves in dress-suits of +various degrees of antiquity.</p> + +<p>While we were marooned here we visited Vale Crucis Abbey, about a mile +distant. The custodian was absent, or in any event could not be aroused +by vigorously ringing the cowbell suspended above the gate, and we had +to content ourselves with a very unsatisfactory view of the ruin over +the stone wall that enclosed it. The environments of Llangollen are +charming in a high degree. The flower-bordered lanes lead past cottages +and farm houses surrounded by low stone walls and half hidden by +brilliantly colored creepers. Bits of woodland are<span class="pagenum"><a id="page129" name="page129"></a>Pg 129</span> interspersed with +bright green sheep pastures and high, almost mountainous, bluffs +overhang the valley. On the very summit of one of these is perched a +ruined castle, whose inaccessible position discouraged nearer +acquaintance.</p> + +<p>The country around Llangollen was beautiful, but the memory of the hotel +leaves a blight over all. We were happy indeed when our motor started +off again with the steady, powerful hum that so delights the soul of the +driver, and it seemed fairly to tremble with impatience to make up for +its enforced inaction. Though it was eight o'clock in the evening, it +was anything to get away from Llangollen, and we left with a view of +stopping for the night at Bettws-y-Coed, about thirty miles away.</p> + +<p>With our motor car racing like mad over the fine highway—there was no +danger of police traps at that hour—we did not stop to inquire about +the dog that went under the wheels in the first village we passed. +However, the night set in suddenly and a rain began to fall heavily +before we had gone half the distance we proposed. We had experienced +trouble enough in finding the roads in Wales during the daytime, and the +prospect of doing this by night and in a heavy rain was not at all +encouraging, and we perforce had to put up at the first place that +offered itself. A proposition to stop at one of the so-called inns along +the road was received with<span class="pagenum"><a id="page130" name="page130"></a>Pg 130</span> alarm by the good woman who attended the +bar. She could not possibly care for us and she was loud in her praises +of the Saracen's Head at Cerrig-y-Druidion, only a little farther on, +which she represented as a particular haven for motorists.</p> + +<p>The appearance of our car with its rapidly vibrating engine and glaring +headlights before the Saracen's Head created considerable commotion +among the large family of the host and the numerous guests, who, like +Tam-O'-Shanter, were snug and cozy by their inglenook while the storm +was raging outside. However, the proprietor was equal to the occasion +and told me that he had just come from Liverpool to take charge of the +inn and that he hoped to have the patronage of motorists. With +commendable enterprise he had fitted up a portion of his barn and had +labeled it "Motor Garage" in huge letters. The stable man was also +excited over the occasion, and I am sure that our car was the first to +occupy the newly created garage, which had no doubt been cut off from +the cow-stable at a very recent date.</p> + +<p>The shelter of the Saracen's Head was timely and grateful none the less, +and no one could have been kindlier or more attentive than our hostess. +We had a nicely served lunch in the hotel parlor, which was just across +the hallway from the lounging room, where the villagers assembled to +indulge in such<span class="pagenum"><a id="page131" name="page131"></a>Pg 131</span> moderate drinking as Welshmen are addicted to. The +public room was a fine old apartment with open-beamed ceiling—not the +sham with which we decorate our modern houses, but real open beams that +supported the floor—and one end of the room was occupied by a great +open fireplace with old-time spits and swinging cranes. Overhead was +hung a supply of hams and bacon and on iron hooks above the door were +suspended several dressed fowls, on the theory that these improve with +age. We were given a small but clean and neat apartment, from which I +suspicion the younger members of the landlord's family had been +unceremoniously ousted to make room for us. The distressing feature was +the abominable beds, but as these prevailed in most of the country +hotels at which we stopped we shall not lay this up too strongly against +the Saracen's Head. I noticed that on one of the window-panes someone +had scribbled with a diamond, "Sept. 4, 1726," which would seem to +indicate that the original window was there at that time. The house +itself must have been considerably older. If rates had been the sole +inducement, we should undoubtedly have become permanent boarders at the +Saracen's Head, for I think that the bill for our party was seven +shillings for supper, room and breakfast.</p> + +<p>We left Cerrig-y-Druidion next morning in a<span class="pagenum"><a id="page132" name="page132"></a>Pg 132</span> gray, driving rain, with +drifting fogs that almost hid the road at times. A few miles brought us +to the Conway River, the road closely following the stream through the +picturesque scenery on its banks. It was swollen by heavy rains and the +usually insignificant river was a wild torrent, dashing in rapids and +waterfalls over its rocky bed. The clouds soon broke away and for the +remainder of the day the weather was as fine as could possibly be wished +for.</p> + +<p>Bettws-y-Coed is the most famous of mountain towns in Wales, and its +situation is indeed romantic. It is generally reputed to be the chief +Welsh honeymoon resort and a paradise for fishermen, but it has little +to detain the tourist interested in historic Britain. We evidently +should have fared much differently at its splendid hotel from what we +did at Cerrig-y-Druidion, but we were never sorry for our enforced +sojourn at the Saracen's Head.</p> + +<p>The road from Bettws-y-Coed to Carnarvon is a good one, but steep in +places, and it passes through some of the finest mountain scenery in +Wales. It leads through the Pass of Llanberis and past Snowdon, the king +of the Welsh mountains—though tame indeed to one who has seen the +Rockies. Snowdon, the highest in the Kingdom, rises not so much as four +thousand feet above the sea level.</p> + +<p>Carnarvon Castle is conceded from many points of view to be the finest +ruin in the Kingdom. It<span class="pagenum"><a id="page133" name="page133"></a>Pg 133</span> does not occupy an eminence, as did so many +castles whose position contributed much to their defense, but it +depended more on its lofty watch-towers and the stupendous strength of +its outer walls. These are built of solid granite with a thickness of +ten feet or more in vital places, and it is doubtful if even the +old-time artillery would have made much impression upon them. Its +massive construction no doubt accounts for the wonderful preservation of +the outer walls, which are almost entire, and Carnarvon Castle, as +viewed from the outside, probably appears very much the same as it did +when the builders completed the work about 1300. It was built by King +Edward I as a royal residence from which to direct his operations +against the Welsh, which finally resulted in the conquest of that people +by the English invaders. In a little dungeonlike room, tradition +declares that Edward II, first Prince of Wales, was born. This is +vigorously insisted upon in the local guide-book as an actual historic +fact, although it is quite as vigorously disputed by numerous +antiquarians, uninfluenced by Carnarvon's interests. The castle is now +the property of the town and is well looked after.</p> + +<p>Leaving Carnarvon, our next objective was Conway, whose castle is hardly +less famous and even more picturesque than that of its neighbor, though +in more ruinous condition. The road we followed<span class="pagenum"><a id="page134" name="page134"></a>Pg 134</span> closely skirts the +coast for a great part of the distance, running at times on the verge of +the ocean. In places it reminds one of the Axenstrasse of Lake Lucerne, +being cut in the side of the cliffs overhanging the sea, with here and +there great masses of rock projecting over it; and passes occasionally +through a tunnel cut in the stone. A few miles north of Carnarvon we +passed through Bangor, one of the most prosperous-looking towns in North +Wales and the seat of one of the few Welsh cathedrals—a long, low, +though not unpleasing, building. The site of this cathedral had been +continuously occupied by a church since the Sixth Century, although the +present structure dates from the Thirteenth.</p> + +<p>An hour's run after leaving Bangor brought us in sight of the towers of +Conway Castle. Nowhere in Britain does the spirit of mediaevalism linger +as it does in the ancient town of Conway. It is still surrounded by its +old wall with twenty-one watch-towers and the three gateways originally +leading into the town have been recently restored. The castle stands on +the verge of a precipitous rock and its outer walls are continuous with +those of the town. It is a perfect specimen of a Thirteenth Century +military fortress, with walls of enormous thickness, flanked by eight +huge, circular towers. It was built by Edward I in 1284. Several times +it was be<span class="pagenum"><a id="page135" name="page135"></a>Pg 135</span>sieged by the Welsh and on one occasion came near falling into +their hands while the king himself was in the castle. It was besieged +during the Parliamentary wars, but for some unaccountable reason it was +not destroyed or seriously damaged when captured. Its present +dilapidated state is due to the action of its owner, Lord Conway, +shortly after, in dismantling it to sell the lead and timber of the +building, and it was permitted to fall into gradual decay. The castle, +with its eight towers and bridge, which matches it in general style and +which was built about fifty years ago, is one of the best known objects +in the whole Kingdom. It has been made familiar to everybody through +innumerable photographs and pictures.</p> + +<p>When we drew our car up in front of the castle it was in gala attire and +was the scene of activity which we were at a loss to account for. We +soon learned that the Wesleyans, or Welsh Methodists, were holding a +festival in the castle, and the shilling we paid for admission included +a nicely served lunch, of which the Welsh strawberries were the +principal feature. The occasion was enlivened by music from the local +band and songs by young girls in the old Welsh costume. This led us to +ask if the Welsh language were in common use among the people. We were +told that while the older people can speak it, it does not find much +favor among the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page136" name="page136"></a>Pg 136</span> younger generation, some of whom are almost ashamed to +admit knowledge of the old tongue. English was spoken everywhere among +the people at the gathering, and the only Welsh heard was in some of the +songs by the girls. We wandered about the ruin and ascended the towers, +which afford a fine view of the town and river. There seems to have been +little done in the way of restoration, or repair, but so massive are the +walls that they have splendidly stood the ravages of time.</p> + +<p>On leaving Conway we crossed the suspension bridge, paying a goodly toll +for the privilege. It was already growing late when we left the town, +but the fine level road and the unusually willing spirit evinced by our +motor enabled us to cover the fifty miles to Chester before night set +in.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page137" name="page137"></a>Pg 137</span></p> +<h2>IX</h2> + +<h3>CHESTER TO "THE HIELANDS"</h3> + + +<p>Chester stands a return visit well, and so does the spacious and +hospitable Grosvenor Hotel. It was nearly dark when we reached the city +and the hotel was crowded, the season now being at its height. We had +neglected to wire for reservation, but our former stop at the hotel was +not forgotten and this stood us in good stead in securing +accommodations. So comfortably were we established that we did not take +the car out of the garage the next day but spent our time in leisurely +re-visiting some of the places that had pleased us most.</p> + +<p>The next day we were early away for the north. I think that no other +stretch of road of equal length was more positively unattractive than +that we followed from Chester to Penrith. Even the road-book, whose +"objects of interest" were in some cases doubtful, to say the least, +could name only the battlefield of 1648 near Preston and one or two +minor "objects" in a distance of one hundred miles. I recalled the +comment of the Touring Secretary of the Motor Union as he rapidly drew +his pencil through this road as shown on the map: "Bad road, rough +pavement, houses for thirty miles at a stretch right<span class="pagenum"><a id="page138" name="page138"></a>Pg 138</span> on each side of +the street, crowds of children everywhere—but you cannot get away from +it very well." All of which we verified by personal experience.</p> + +<p>At starting it seemed easy to reach Carlisle for the night, but progress +was slow and we met an unexpected delay at Warrington, twenty miles +north of Chester. A policeman courteously notified us that the main +street of the city would be closed three hours for a Sunday School +parade. We had arrived five minutes too late to get across the bridge +and out of the way. We expressed our disgust at the situation and the +officer made the conciliatory suggestion that we might be able to go on +anyway. He doubted if the city had any authority to close the main +street, one of the King's highways, on account of such a procession. We +hardly considered our rights so seriously infringed as to demand such a +remedy, and we turned into the stable-yard of a nearby hotel to wait +until the streets were clear. In the meantime we joined the crowd that +watched the parade. The main procession, of five or six thousand +children, was made up of Sunday Schools of the Protestant churches—the +Church of England and the "Non-Conformists." The Catholics, whose +relations in England with Protestants are strained to a much greater +extent than in the United States, did not join, but formed a smaller +procession in one of the side streets. The parade was brilliant with +flags<span class="pagenum"><a id="page139" name="page139"></a>Pg 139</span> and with huge banners bearing portraits of the King and Queen, +though some bore the names and emblems of the different schools. One +small fellow proudly flourished the Stars and Stripes, which was the +only foreign flag among the thousands in the procession. In this +connection I might remark that one sees the American flag over here far +oftener than he would traveling in America. We found nothing but the +kindest and most cordial feeling toward Americans everywhere; and the +very fact that we were Americans secured us special privileges in not a +few cases.</p> + +<p>After the procession had crossed the bridge, a policeman informed us +that we could proceed. We gained considerable time by making a detour +through side streets—not an altogether easy performance—and after much +inquiry regained the main road leading out of the city. Warrington is a +city of more than one hundred and twenty thousand inhabitants, a +manufacturing place with nothing to detain the tourist. On the main +street near the river is a fine bronze statue of Oliver Cromwell, one of +four that I saw erected to the memory of the Protector in England. Our +route from Warrington led through Wigan and Preston, manufacturing +cities of nearly one hundred thousand each, and the suburbs of the three +are almost continuous. Tram cars were numerous and children played +everywhere<span class="pagenum"><a id="page140" name="page140"></a>Pg 140</span> with utter unconcern for the vehicles which crowded the +streets.</p> + +<p>When we came to Lancaster we were glad to stop, although our day's +journey had covered only sixty miles. We knew very little of Lancaster +and resorted to the guide-books for something of its antecedents, only +to learn the discouraging fact that here, as everywhere, the Romans had +been ahead of us. The town has a history reaching back to the Roman +occupation, but its landmarks have been largely obliterated in the +manufacturing center which it has become. Charles Dickens was a guest at +Lancaster, and in recording his impressions he declared it "a pleasant +place, dropped in the midst of a charming landscape; a place with a +fine, ancient fragment of a castle; a place of lovely walks and +possessing many staid old houses, richly fitted with Honduras mahogany," +and followed with other reflections not so complimentary concerning the +industrial slavery which prevailed in the city a generation or two ago. +The "fine, ancient fragment of a castle" has been built into the modern +structure which now serves as the seat of the county court. The square +tower of the Norman keep is included in the building. This in general +style and architecture conforms to the old castle, which, excepting the +fragment mentioned by Dickens, has long since vanished. Near at hand is +St. Mary's Church,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page141" name="page141"></a>Pg 141</span> rivaling in size and dignity many of the cathedrals, +and its massive, buttressed walls and tall, graceful spire do justice to +its magnificent site. From the eminence occupied by the church the Irish +Sea is plainly visible, and in the distance the almost tropical Isle of +Man rises abruptly out of the blue waters. The monotony of our previous +day's travel was forgotten in lively anticipation as we proceeded at +what seemed a snail's pace over the fine road leading from Penrith to +Carlisle. We had been warned at Penrith, not against the bold +highwaymen, the border moss-troopers or the ranting Highlandmen of song +and story, but against a plain, Twentieth Century police trap which was +being worked very successfully along this road. Such was our approach in +these degenerate days to "Merrie Carlile," which figured so largely in +the endless border warfare between the Scotch and English. But why the +town should have been famed as "Merrie Carlile" would be hard to say, +unless more than a thousand years of turmoil, bloodshed and almost +ceaseless warfare through which it passed earned it the cheerful +appellation. The trouble between the English and the Welsh ended early, +but it has been only a century and a half ago since the closing scene of +the long and bitter conflict between the north and south was enacted at +Carlisle. Its grim old castle was the scene of the imprisonment and +execution of the last<span class="pagenum"><a id="page142" name="page142"></a>Pg 142</span> devoted followers of Prince Charlie, and +according to Scott's Waverly the dashing but sadly deluded young +chieftain, Fergus McIvor, was one of those who suffered a shameful +death. In this connection one remembers that Scott's marriage to Miss +Carpentier took place in Carlisle, an event that would naturally +accentuate our interest in the fine old border city. As we had +previously visited Carlisle, our stay was a short one, but its +remarkable history, its connection with the stories of Walter Scott, its +atmosphere of romance and legend and the numerous points of interest +within easy reach—all combine to make it a center where one might spend +several days. The Romans had been here also, and they, too, had +struggled with the wild tribes on the north, and from that time down to +the execution of the last adherents of the Stuarts in 1759 the town was +hardly at any time in a state of quietude. As described by an observant +writer, "every man became a soldier and every house that was not a mere +peasant's hut was a fortress." A local poet of the Seventeenth Century +summed it up in a terse if not elegant couplet as his unqualified +opinion</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"That whoso then in the border did dwell<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Lived little happier than those in hell."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>But Carlisle is peaceful and quiet enough at the present time, a place +of considerable size and with a thriving commerce. Its castle, a plain +and unim<span class="pagenum"><a id="page143" name="page143"></a>Pg 143</span>pressive structure, still almost intact, has been converted +into military barracks, and its cathedral, which, according to an old +chronicle, in 1634 "impressed three observant strangers as a great wild +country church," has not been greatly altered in appearance since that +period. It suffered severely at the hands of the Parliamentary soldiers, +who tore down a portion of the nave to use the materials in +strengthening the defenses of the town. But the story of Carlisle could +not be told in many volumes. If the mere hint of its great interest +which I have given here can induce any fellow tourist to tarry a little +longer at "Merrie Carlile," it will be enough.</p> + +<p>Leaving Carlisle, we crossed "Solway Tide" and found ourselves in the +land of bluebells and heather, the "Bonnie Scotland" of Robert Burns. +Shortly after crossing the river, a sign-board pointed the way to Gretna +Green, that old-time haven of eloping lovers, who used to cross the +Solway just as the tide began to rise, and before it subsided there was +little for the paternal ancestors to do but forgive and make the best of +it. But we missed the village, for it was a mile or two off the road to +Dumfries, which we hoped to reach for the night. An unexpected +difficulty with the car nearly put this out of the range of possibility, +but by grace of the long Scotch twilight, we came into Dumfries about +ten o'clock without finding it necessary to light our lamps. Our<span class="pagenum"><a id="page144" name="page144"></a>Pg 144</span> day's +journey had been a tiresome one, and we counted ourselves fortunate on +being directed to the Station Hotel, which was as comfortable and well +managed as any we found. The average railway hotel in America is +anything but an attractive proposition, but in Scotland and in England +conditions are almost reversed, the station hotels under the control of +the different railway companies being generally the best.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image22" name="image22"> + <img src="images/22.jpg" + alt="ENTRANCE TO LOCH TYNE." + title="ENTRANCE TO LOCH TYNE." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">ENTRANCE TO LOCH TYNE.<br />From Water Color by Stewart.</span> +</div> + +<p>We had been attracted to Dumfries chiefly because of its association +with Robert Burns, who spent the last years of his life in the town or +in its immediate vicinity. Our first pilgrimage was to the poet's tomb, +in St. Michael's churchyard. A splendid memorial marks the place, but a +visit to the small dingy house a few yards distant, in which he died, +painfully reminded us of his last years of distress and absolute want. +Within easy reach of Dumfries lie many points of interest, but as our +time permitted us to visit only one of these, we selected Caerlaverock +Castle, the Ellangowan of Scott's "Guy Mannering," lying about ten miles +to the south. In location and style of construction it is one of the +most remarkable of the Scotch ruins. It stands in an almost level +country near the coast and must have depended for defense on its +enormously thick walls and the great double moat which surrounded it, +rather than the strength of its position.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page145" name="page145"></a>Pg 145</span> The castle is built of +dark-brown stone, and the walls, rising directly from the waters of the +moat and covered with masses of ivy, are picturesque, though in a sad +state of disrepair. Bits of artistic carving and beautiful windows +showed that it was a palace as well as a fortress, though it seems +strange that the builder should select such a site. In common with most +British castles, it was finally destroyed by Cromwell, and the custodian +showed us a pile of cannon balls which he had gathered in the vicinity. +On one of the stones of the inner wall were the initials, "R.B.," and +the date, "1776," which our guide assured us were cut by Robert Burns; +and there are certain peculiarities about the monogram which leave +little doubt that it was the work of the poet. From the battlements of +the castle the old man pointed to a distant hill, where, he told us, the +home of the Carlyles had been for many years and where Thomas Carlyle, +who was born at Ecclefechan, lies buried. Within a few miles of Dumfries +is Ellisland Farm, where Robert Burns was a tenant for several years, +and many of his most famous poems were written during that period. And +besides, there were old abbeys and castles galore within easy reach; and +glad indeed we should have been had we been able to make the Station +Hotel our headquarters for a week and devote our time to explor<span class="pagenum"><a id="page146" name="page146"></a>Pg 146</span>ing. But +we were already behind schedule and the afternoon found us on the road +to Ayr.</p> + +<p>A little more than half the distance from Dumfries to Ayr the road runs +through the Nith Valley, with river and forest scenery so charming as to +remind us of the Wye. The highway is a splendid one, with fine surface +and easy grades. It passes through an historic country, and the journey +would consume a long time if one should pause at every point that might +well repay a visit. A mile on the way is Lincluden Abbey, in whose +seclusion Burns wrote many of his poems, the most famous of which, "The +Vision of Liberty," begins with a reference to the ruin:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"As I stood by yon roofless tower<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Where wall flowers scent the dewy air,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Where the owlet lone in her ivy bower,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Tells to the midnight moon her care—"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Ellisland Farm is only a few miles farther on the road, never to be +forgotten as the spot where "Tam-O'-Shanter" was written. The farm home +was built by Burns himself during what was probably the happiest period +of his life, and he wrote many verses that indicated his joyful +anticipation of life at Ellisland Farm. But alas, the "best laid plans +o' mice and men gang oft agley," and the personal experience of few men +has more strikingly proven the truth of the now famous lines than of +Robert<span class="pagenum"><a id="page147" name="page147"></a>Pg 147</span> Burns himself! Many old castles and magnificent mansions crown +the heights overlooking the river, but we caught only glimpses of some +of them, surrounded as they were by immense parks, closed to the public. +Every one of the older places underwent many and strange vicissitudes in +the long years of border warfare, and of them all, Drumlanrigh Castle, +founded in 1689, is perhaps the most imposing. For ten years its +builder, the first Earl of Queensbury, labored on the structure, only to +pass a single night in the completed building, never to revisit it, and +ending his days grieving over the fortune he had squandered on this +many-towered pile of gray stone.</p> + +<p>We may not loiter along the Nithdale road, rich as it is in traditions +and relics of the past. Our progress through such a beautiful country +had been slow at the best, and a circular sign-board, bearing the +admonition, "Ten Miles Per Hour," posted at each of the numerous +villages on the way, was another deterrent upon undue haste. The +impression that lingers with us of these small Scotch villages is not a +pleasant one. Rows of low, gray-stone, slate-roofed cottages straggling +along a single street—generally narrow and crooked and extending for +distances depending on the size of the place—made up the average +village. Utterly unrelieved by the artistic touches of the English +cottages and without<span class="pagenum"><a id="page148" name="page148"></a>Pg 148</span> the bright dashes of color from flowers and vines, +with square, harsh lines and drab coloring everywhere, these Scotch +villages seemed bleak and comfortless. Many of them we passed through on +this road, among them Sandquhar, with its castle, once a strong and +lordly fortress but now in a deplorable state of neglect and decay, and +Mauchline, where Burns farmed and sang before he removed to Dumfries. It +was like passing into another country when we entered Ayr, which, +despite its age and the hoary traditions which cluster around it, is an +up-to-date appearing seaport of about thirty thousand people. It is a +thriving business town with an unusually good electric street-car +system, fine hotels and (not to be forgotten by motorists) excellent +garages and repair shops.</p> + +<p>Ayr is one of the objective points of nearly every tourist who enters +Scotland. Its associations with Burns, his birthplace, Kirk Alloway, his +monument, the "Twa Brigs," the "Brig O' Doon," and the numerous other +places connected with his memory in Ayr and its vicinity, need not be +dwelt on here. An endless array of guide-books and other volumes will +give more information than the tourist can absorb and his motor car will +enable him to rapidly visit such places as he may choose. It will be of +little encumbrance to him, for he may leave the car stand<span class="pagenum"><a id="page149" name="page149"></a>Pg 149</span>ing at the +side of the street while he makes a tour of the haunts of Burns at +Alloway or elsewhere.</p> + +<p>It was a gloomy day when we left Ayr over the fine highway leading to +Glasgow, but before we had gone very far it began to rain steadily. We +passed through Kilmarnock, the largest city in Ayrshire. Here a splendid +memorial to Burns has been erected, and connected with it is a museum of +relics associated with the poet, as well as copies of various editions +of his works. This reminds one that the first volume of poems by Burns +was published at Kilmarnock, and in the cottage at Ayr we saw one of the +three existing copies, which had been purchased for the collection at an +even thousand pounds.</p> + +<p>We threaded our way carefully through Glasgow, for the rain, which was +coming down heavily, made the streets very slippery, and our car showed +more or less tendency to the dangerous "skid." Owing to former visits to +the city, we did not pause in Glasgow, though the fact is that no other +large city in Britain has less to interest the tourist. It is a great +commercial city, having gained in the last one hundred years three +quarters of a million inhabitants. Its public buildings, churches, and +other show-places—excepting the cathedral—lack the charm of antiquity. +After striking the Dumbarton road, exit from the city was easy, and for +a considerable distance we passed near the Clyde shipyards, the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page150" name="page150"></a>Pg 150</span> +greatest in the world, where many of the largest merchant and war +vessels have been constructed. Just as we entered Dumbarton, whose +castle loomed high on a rocky island opposite the town, the rain ceased +and the sky cleared with that changeful rapidity we noticed so often in +Britain. Certainly we were fortunate in having fine weather for the +remainder of the day, during which we passed perhaps as varied and +picturesque scenery as we found on our journey.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image23" name="image23"> + <img src="images/23.jpg" + alt="THE PATH BY THE LOCH." + title="THE PATH BY THE LOCH." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">THE PATH BY THE LOCH.<br />From Photograph.</span> +</div> + +<p>For the next thirty miles the road closely followed the west shore of +Loch Lomond, and for the larger part of the way we had a magnificent +panorama of the lake and the numberless green islands that rose out of +its silvery waters. Our view in places was cut off by the fine country +estates that lay immediately on the shores of the lake, but the grounds, +rich with shrubbery and bright with flowers, were hardly less pleasing +than the lake itself. These prevailed at the southern portion of the +lake only, and for at least twenty miles the road closely followed the +shore, leading around short turns on the very edges of steep embankments +or over an occasional sharp hill—conditions that made careful driving +necessary. Just across the lake, which gradually grew narrower as we +went north, lay the low Scotch mountains, their green outlines subdued +by a soft blue haze, but forming a striking background to the +ever-varying<span class="pagenum"><a id="page151" name="page151"></a>Pg 151</span> scenery of the lake and opposite shore. Near the +northern end on the farther side is the entrance to the Trosachs, made +famous by Scott's "Lady of the Lake." The roads to this region are +closed to motors—the only instance that I remember where public +highways were thus interdicted. The lake finally dwindled to a brawling +mountain stream, which we followed for several miles to Crianlarich, a +rude little village nestling at the foot of the rugged hills. From here +we ran due west to Oban, and for twenty miles of the distance the road +was the worst we saw in Scotland, being rough and covered with loose, +sharp stones that were ruinous to tires. It ran through a bleak, +unattractive country almost devoid of habitations and with little sign +of life excepting the flocks of sheep grazing on the short grasses that +covered the steep, stony hillsides. The latter half of the distance the +surroundings are widely different, an excellent though winding and +narrow road leading us through some of the finest scenes of the +Highlands. Especially pleasing was the ten-mile jaunt along the north +shore of Loch Awe, with the glimpses of Kilchurn Castle which we caught +through occasional openings in the thickly clustered trees on the shore. +Few ruins are more charmingly situated than Kilchurn, standing as it +does on a small island rising out of the clear waters—the crumbling +walls overgrown with ivy and wall-<span class="pagenum"><a id="page152" name="page152"></a>Pg 152</span>flowers. The last fifteen miles were +covered in record time for us, for it was growing exceedingly chilly as +the night began to fall and the Scotch July day was as fresh and sharp +as an American October.</p> + +<p>Oban is one of the most charming of the north of Scotland resort towns, +and is becoming one of the most popular. It is situated on a little +land-locked bay, generally white in summer time with the sails of +pleasure vessels. Directly fronting the town, just across the harbor, +are several ranges of hills fading away into the blue mists of the +distance and forming, together with the varying moods of sky and water, +a delightful picture. Overhanging the town from the east is the scanty +ruin of Dunollie Castle, little more than a shapeless pile of stone +covered over with masses of ivy. Viewed from the harbor, the town +presents a striking picture, and the most remarkable feature is the +great colosseum on the hill. This is known as McCaig's Tower and was +built by an eccentric citizen some years ago merely to give employment +to his fellow townsmen. One cannot get an adequate idea of the real +magnitude of the structure without climbing the steep hill and viewing +it from the inside. It is a circular tower, pierced by two rows of +windows, and is not less than three hundred feet in diameter, the wall +ranging in height from thirty to seventy-five feet from the ground. It +lends<span class="pagenum"><a id="page153" name="page153"></a>Pg 153</span> a most striking and unusual appearance to the town, but among +the natives it goes by the name of "McCaig's Folly."</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image24" name="image24"> + <img src="images/24.jpg" + alt="KILCHURN CASTLE, LOCH AWE." + title="KILCHURN CASTLE, LOCH AWE." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">KILCHURN CASTLE, LOCH AWE.</span> +</div> + +<p>From Oban as a center, numberless excursions may be made to old castles, +lakes of surpassing beauty and places of ancient and curious history. +None of the latter are more famous than the island of Iona, lying about +thirty-five miles distant and accessible by steamer two or three days of +each week in summer time. We never regretted that we abandoned the car a +day for the trip to this quaint spot and its small sister island, +Staffa, famed for Fingall's cave and the curious natural columns formed +by volcanic action. The round trip covers a distance of about +seventy-five miles and occupies eight or ten hours. Iona is a very small +island, with a population of no more than fifty, but it was a place of +importance in the early religious history of Scotland; and its odd +little cathedral, which is now in ruins—except the nave, but recently +restored—was originally built in the Eleventh Century. Weird and +strange indeed is the array of memorials rudely cut from Scotch granite +that mark the resting places of the chiefs of many forgotten clans, +while a much higher degree of art is shown in the regular and even +delicate designs traced on the numerous old crosses still standing. In +olden days Iona was counted sacred ground after the landing of St. +Columba in<span class="pagenum"><a id="page154" name="page154"></a>Pg 154</span> 563, and its fame even extended to Sweden and Denmark, whose +kings at one time were brought here for interment. We were fortunate in +having a fine day, the sky being clear and the sea perfectly smooth. We +were thus enabled to make landing at both isles, a thing that is often +impossible on account of the weather. This circular trip—for the return +is made by the Sound of Mull—is a remarkably beautiful one, the steamer +winding in and out through the straits among the islands and between +shores wild and broken, though always picturesque and often impressive. +Many of the hills are crowned with ruined fortresses and occasionally an +imposing modern summer residence is to be seen. Competent judges declare +that provided the weather is fine no more delightful short excursion by +steamer can be made on the British coast than the one just described. +Three miles from Oban lies Dunstafnage Castle, a royal residence of the +Pictish kings, bearing the marks of extreme antiquity. It occupies a +commanding position on a point of land extending far into the sea and +almost surrounded by water at high tide. We visited it in the fading +twilight, and a lonelier, more ghostly place it would be hard to +imagine. From this old castle was taken the stone of destiny upon which +the Pictish kings were crowned, but which is now the support of the +coronation chair in Westminster Abbey. A place so rich in romantic<span class="pagenum"><a id="page155" name="page155"></a>Pg 155</span> +legend could not be expected to escape the knowledge of the Wizard of +the North and Scott made more than one visit to this solitary ruin. As a +result the story of Dunstafnage has been woven into the "Legend of +Montrose" as "Ardenvohr" and the description may be easily recognized by +any one who visits the old castle.</p> + +<p>Oban is modern, a place of many and excellent hotels fronting on the +bay. So far, only a small per cent of its visitors are Americans, and +the indifferent roads leading to the town discourage the motorist. Had +we adhered to the route outlined for us by the Motor Union Secretary, we +should have missed it altogether. We had made a stop in the town two +years before, and yet there are few places in Britain that we would +rather visit a third time than Oban.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page156" name="page156"></a>Pg 156</span></p> +<h2>X</h2> + +<h3>THROUGH HISTORIC SCOTLAND</h3> + + +<p>The north of Scotland is rapidly becoming little more than a +pleasure-ground for the people of the Kingdom, and its attractions are +yearly drawing a larger number of Americans. There are practically no +European visitors, but that is largely true of the entire Kingdom. The +people of the Continent consider Britain a chilly, unattractive land. +Its historic and literary traditions, so dear to the average American, +who holds a common language, do not appeal to those who think their own +countries superior to any other in these particulars.</p> + +<p>It is only a natural consequence that Scotland, outside of the three or +four largest cities, is becoming, like Switzerland, a nation of +hotelkeepers—and very excellent ones they are. The Scotch hotels +average as good as any in the world. One finds them everywhere in the +Highlands. Every lake, every ruin frequented by tourists has its hotel, +many of them fine structures of native granite, substantially built and +splendidly furnished.</p> + +<p>We left Oban over the route by which we came, since no other was +recommended to motorists. Our<span class="pagenum"><a id="page157" name="page157"></a>Pg 157</span> original plan to follow the Caledonian +Canal to Inverness was abandoned on account of difficult roads and +numerous ferries with poor and infrequent service. After waiting three +hours to get an "accumulator" which had been turned over to a local +repair man thirty-six hours before with instructions to have it charged +and returned promptly, we finally succeeded in getting off. This delay +is an example of those which we encountered again and again from failure +to get prompt service, especially when we were making an effort to get +away before ten or eleven in the morning.</p> + +<p>It was no hardship to follow more leisurely than before the road past +Loch Awe, whose sheet of limpid water lay like a mirror around Kilchurn +Castle under the cloudless, noonday sky. A little farther on, at +Dalmally, we paused at a pleasant old country hotel, where the delicious +Scotch strawberries were served fresh from the garden. It was a quaint, +clean, quiet place, and the landlord told us that aside from the old +castles and fine scenery in the vicinity, its chief attraction to guests +was trout-fishing in neighboring streams. We were two days in passing +through the heart of the Highlands from Oban to Inverness over about two +hundred miles of excellent road running through wild and often beautiful +scenery, but there were few historic spots as compared with the coast +country. The road usually<span class="pagenum"><a id="page158" name="page158"></a>Pg 158</span> followed the edge of the hills, often with a +lake or mountain stream on one hand. From Crianlarich we followed the +sparkling Dochart until we reached the shore of Loch Tay, about twenty +miles distant. From the mountainside we had an unobstructed view of this +narrow but lovely lake, lying for a distance of twenty miles between +ridges of sharply rising hills. White, low-hung clouds half hid the +mountains on the opposite side of the loch, giving the delightful effect +of light and shadow for which the Scotch Highlands are famous and which +the pictures of Watson, Graham and Farquharson have made familiar to +nearly everyone.</p> + +<p>At the northern end of the lake we caught distant glimpses of the +battlemented towers of Taymouth Castle, home of the Marquis of +Breadalbane, which, though modern, is one of the most imposing of the +Scotch country seats. If the castle itself is imposing, what shall we +say of the estate, extending as it does westward to the Sound of Mull, a +distance of one hundred miles—a striking example of the inequalities of +the feudal system. Just before we crossed the bridge over the Tay River +near the outlet of the lake, we noticed a gray old mansion with many +Gothic towers and gables, Grandtully Castle, made famous by Scott as the +Tully-Veolan of Waverly. Near by is Kinniard House, where Robert Louis +Stevenson wrote "Treasure Island."</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page159" name="page159"></a>Pg 159</span></p> + +<p>A few miles farther on we came to Pitlochry, a surprisingly well built +resort with excellent hotels and a mammoth "Hydropathic" that dominates +the place from a high hill. The town is situated in the very center of +the Highlands, surrounded by hills that supply the gray granite used in +its construction; and here we broke our journey for the night.</p> + +<p>Our way to Inverness was through a sparsely inhabited, wildly broken +country, with half a dozen mean-looking villages at considerable +distances from each other and an occasional hut or wayside inn between. +Although it was July and quite warm for the north of Scotland, the snow +still lingered on many of the low mountains, and in some places it +seemed that we might reach it by a few minutes' walk. There was little +along the road to remind one of the stirring times or the plaided and +kilted Highlander that Scott has led us to associate with this country. +We saw one old man, the keeper of a little solitary inn in the very +heart of the hills, arrayed in the full glory of the old-time +garb—plaid, tartan, sporran and skene-dhu, all set off by the plumed +Glengarry cap—a picturesque old fellow indeed. And we met farther on +the way a dirty-looking youth with his bagpipes slung over his +shoulder—in dilapidated modern garb he was anything but a fit +descendant of the minstrels whose fame has come down to us in song and +story. Still,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page160" name="page160"></a>Pg 160</span> he was glad to play for us, and despite his general +resemblance to an every-day American tramp, it was something to have +heard the skirl of the bag-pipe in the Pass of Killiekrankie. And after +all, the hills, the vales and the lochs were there, and everywhere on +the low green mountains grazed endless flocks of sheep. They lay +leisurely in the roadway or often trotted unconcernedly in front of the +car, occasioning at times a speed limit even more unsatisfactory than +that imposed in the more populous centers by the police traps. +Incidentally we learned that the finest sheep in the world—and vast +numbers of them—are produced in Great Britain. When we compare them +with the class of animals raised in America it is easy to see why our +wool and mutton average so greatly inferior.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image25" name="image25"> + <img src="images/25.jpg" + alt="IN THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS." + title="IN THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">IN THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS.<br />From Painting by D. Sherrin.</span> +</div> + +<p>A clean, quiet, charming city is Inverness, "the capital of the +Highlands," as the guide-books have it. It is situated on both shores of +its broad, sparkling river—so shallow that the small boys with +turned-up pantaloons wade across it in summer time—while an arm of the +sea defines the boundary on the northeast. Though tradition has it that +Macbeth built a castle on the site of the present structure, it +disappeared centuries ago, and there is now little evidence of antiquity +to be found in the town. The modern castle is a massive, rambling, +brown-stone building less than a hundred years old, now serving<span class="pagenum"><a id="page161" name="page161"></a>Pg 161</span> as a +county court. The cathedral is recent, having been completed in the last +quarter of a century. It is an imposing church of red stone, the great +entrance being flanked by low, square-topped towers. As a center for +tourists, Inverness is increasingly popular and motor cars are very +common. The roads of the surrounding country are generally excellent, +and a trip of two hundred miles will take one to John O'Groats, the +extreme northern point of Scotland. The country around has many spots of +interest. Cawdor Castle, where tradition says Macbeth murdered Duncan, +is on the Nairn road, and on the way to this one may also visit Culloden +Moor, a grim, shelterless waste, where the adherents of Prince Charlie +were defeated April 16th, 1746. This was the last battle fought on +British soil, and the site is marked by a rude round tower built from +stones gathered from the battlefield.</p> + +<p>From Inverness an unsurpassed highway leads to Aberdeen, a distance of a +little over one hundred miles. It passes through a beautiful country, +the northeastern Scottish Lowlands, which looked as prosperous and +productive as any section we saw. The smaller towns appeared much better +than the average we had so far seen in Scotland; Nairn, Huntly, Forres, +Keith and Elgin more resembling the better English towns of similar size +than Scotch towns which we had previously passed through. At<span class="pagenum"><a id="page162" name="page162"></a>Pg 162</span> Elgin are +the ruins of its once splendid cathedral, which in its best days easily +ranked as the largest and most imposing church in Scotland. Time has +dealt hardly with it, and the shattered fragments which remain are only +enough to confirm the story of its magnificence. Fire, and vandals who +tore the lead from the roof for loot having done their worst, the +cathedral served the unsentimental Scots of the vicinity as a +stone-quarry until recent years, but it is now owned by the crown and +every precaution taken to arrest further decay.</p> + +<p>The skies were lowering when we left Inverness and the latter half of +the journey was made in the hardest rainstorm we encountered on our +tour. We could not see ten yards ahead of us and the water poured down +the hills in torrents, yet our car ran smoothly on, the fine macadam +road being little affected by the deluge. The heavy rain ceased by the +time we reached Inverurie, a gray, bleak-looking little town, closely +following a winding street, but the view from the high bridge which we +crossed just on leaving the place made full amends for the general +ugliness of the village.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image26" name="image26"> + <img src="images/26.jpg" + alt="TOWERS OF ELGIN CATHEDRAL, NORTH SCOTLAND." + title="TOWERS OF ELGIN CATHEDRAL, NORTH SCOTLAND." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">TOWERS OF ELGIN CATHEDRAL, NORTH SCOTLAND.</span> +</div> + +<p>It would be hard to find anywhere a more beautiful city than Aberdeen, +with her clean, massively built structures of native gray granite, +thickly sprinkled with mica facets that make it fairly glitter in the +sunlight. Everything seems to have been planned by<span class="pagenum"><a id="page163" name="page163"></a>Pg 163</span> the architect to +produce the most pleasing effect, and careful note must have been taken +of surroundings and location in fitting many of the public buildings +into their niches. We saw few more imposing structures in Britain than +the new postoffice at Aberdeen, and it was typical of the solidity and +architectural magnificence of the Queen City of the North. But Aberdeen +will be on the route of any tourist who goes to Northern Scotland, so I +will not write of it here. It is a great motoring center, with finely +built and well equipped garages.</p> + +<p>As originally planned we were to go southward from Aberdeen by the way +of Braemar and Balmoral in the very heart of the Highland country—the +route usually followed by British motorists. It passes through wild +scenery, but the country has few historic attractions. The Motor Union +representative had remarked that we should probably want to spend +several days at Braemar, famous for its scenic surroundings—the wild +and picturesque dales, lakes and hills near at hand; but to Americans, +from the country of the Yellowstone and Yosemite, the scenery of +Scotland can be only an incident in a tour. From this consideration, we +preferred to take the coast road southward, which, though it passes +through a comparatively tame-looking country, is thickly strewn with +places replete with stirring and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page164" name="page164"></a>Pg 164</span> romantic incidents of Scottish +history. Nor had we any cause to regret our choice.</p> + +<p>Fifteen miles south of Aberdeen we came in sight of Dunnottar Castle, +lying about two miles from the highway. We left the car by the roadside +and followed the footpath through the fields. The ruin stands on a high, +precipitous headland projecting far out into the ocean and cut off from +the land side by a deep, irregular ravine, and the descent and ascent of +the almost perpendicular sides was anything but an easy task. A single +winding footpath leads to the grim old gateway, and we rang the bell +many times before the custodian admitted us. Inside the gate the steep +ascent continues through a rude, tunnellike passageway, its sides for a +distance of one hundred feet or more pierced with many an embrasure for +archers or musketeers. Emerging from this we came into the castle court, +the center of the small plateau on the summit of the rock. Around us +rose the broken, straggling walls, bare and bleak, without a shred of +ivy or wall-flower to hide their grim nakedness. The place was typical +of a rude, semi-barbarous age, an age of rapine, murder and ferocious +cruelty, and its story is as terrific as one would anticipate from its +forbidding aspect. Here it was the wont of robber barons to retire with +their prisoners and loot; and later, on account of the inaccessibility, +state and political prisoners were confined here from<span class="pagenum"><a id="page165" name="page165"></a>Pg 165</span> time to time. +In the frightful "Whig's Vault," a semi-subterranean dungeon, one +hundred and sixty covenanters—men and women—were for several months +confined by orders of the infamous Claverhouse. A single tiny window +looking out on the desolate ocean furnished the sole light and air for +the great cavern, and the story of the suffering of the captives is too +dreadful to tell here. The vault was ankle deep in mire and so crowded +were the prisoners that no one could sit without leaning upon another. +In desperation and at great risk, a few attempted to escape from the +window, whence they clambered down the precipitous rock; but most of +them were re-taken, and after frightful tortures were thrown into a +second dungeon underneath the first, where light and air were almost +wholly excluded. Such was Scotland in the reign of Charles Stuart II, +and such a story seemed in keeping with the vast, dismal old fortress.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image27" name="image27"> + <img src="images/27.jpg" + alt="DUNNOTTAR CASTLE, STONEHAVEN, NEAR ABERDEEN." + title="DUNNOTTAR CASTLE, STONEHAVEN, NEAR ABERDEEN." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">DUNNOTTAR CASTLE, STONEHAVEN, NEAR ABERDEEN.</span> +</div> + +<p>But Dunnottar, secluded and lonely as it was, did not escape the +far-reaching arm of the Lord Protector, and in 1562 his cannon, planted +on the height opposite the headland, soon brought the garrison to terms. +It was known that the Scottish regalia—the crown believed to be the +identical one worn by Bruce at his coronation, the jewelled scepter and +the sword of state presented to James IV by the pope—had been taken for +safety to Dunnottar, held in repute as the most impregnable stronghold +in the North.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page166" name="page166"></a>Pg 166</span> The English maintained a close blockade by sea and land +and were in strong hopes of securing the coveted relics. The story is +that Mrs. Granger, the wife of a minister of a nearby village, who had +been allowed by the English to visit the castle, on her departure +carried the relics with her, concealed about her clothing. She passed +through the English lines without interference, and the precious +articles were safely disposed of by her husband, who buried them under +the flagstones in his church at Kinneff, where they remained until the +restoration of 1660. The English were intensely disappointed at the +loss. The minister and his wife did not escape suspicion and were even +subjected to torture, but they bravely refused to give information as to +the whereabouts of the regalia.</p> + +<p>We wandered about, following our rheumatic old guide, who pointed out +the different apartments to us and, in Scotch so broad that we had to +follow him very closely, told us the story of the fortress. From the +windows everywhere was the placid, shimmering summer sea, its surface +broken into silvery ripples by the fresh morning wind, but it was left +to the imagination to conceive the awful desolation of Dunnottar Castle +on a gray and stormy day. The old man conducted us to the keep, and I +looked over a year's record in the visitors' book without finding a +single American registered, and was more than ever<span class="pagenum"><a id="page167" name="page167"></a>Pg 167</span> impressed as to the +manner in which the motor car will often bring the tourist from the +States into a comparatively undiscovered country. The high tower of the +keep, several hundred feet above the sea, afforded scope for a most +magnificent outlook. One could get a full sweep of the bleak and sterile +country through which we had passed, lying between Aberdeen and +Stonehaven, and which Scott celebrated as the Muir of Drumthwacket. It +was with a feeling of relief that we passed out of the forbidding +portals into the fresh air of the pleasant July day, leaving the old +custodian richer by a few shillings, to wonder that the "American +Invasion" had reached this secluded old fortress on the wild headland +washed by the German Ocean.</p> + +<p>From Stonehaven we passed without special incident to Montrose, +following an excellent but rather uninteresting road, though an +occasional fishing-village and frequent view of the ocean broke the +monotony of the flying miles. Montrose is an ancient town delightfully +situated between the ocean and a great basin connected with the sea by a +broad strait, over which a suspension bridge five hundred feet long +carried us southward. I recall that it was at Montrose where an obliging +garage man loaned me an "accumulator"—my batteries had been giving +trouble—scouting the idea of a deposit, and I<span class="pagenum"><a id="page168" name="page168"></a>Pg 168</span> gave him no more than my +agreement to return his property when I reached Edinburgh.</p> + +<p>At Arbroath are the ruins of the most extensive of the Scotch abbeys, +scanty indeed, but still enough to show its state and importance in the +"days of faith." Here once reigned the good abbott celebrated by Southey +in his ballad of Ralph the Rover, familiar to every schoolboy. Ten miles +off the coast is the reef where</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The abbott of Aberbrothok<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Had placed a bell on the Inchcape rock.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Like a buoy in the storm it floated and swung,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And over the waves its warning rung."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>And where the pirate, out of pure malice, "To vex the abbott of +Aberbrothok," cut the bell from its buoy only to be lost himself on the +reef a year later. The abbey was founded by William the Lion in 1178, +but war, fire and fanaticism have left it sadly fragmentary. Now it is +the charge of the town, but the elements continue to war upon it and the +brittle red sandstone of which it is built shows deeply the wear of the +sea wind.</p> + +<p>Dundee, no longer the "Bonnie Dundee" of the old ballad, is a great +straggling manufacturing city, whose ancient landmarks have been almost +swept away. Its churches are modern, its one remaining gateway of +doubtful antiquity, and there is little in the city itself to detain the +tourist. If its points of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page169" name="page169"></a>Pg 169</span> interest are too few to warrant a stay, its +hotels—should the one given in the guide-book and also locally reputed +to be the best, really merit this distinction—will hardly prove an +attraction. It is a large, six-story building, fairly good-looking from +the outside, but inside dirty and dilapidated, with ill-furnished and +uncomfortable rooms. When we inquired of the manageress as to what might +be of especial interest in Dundee, she considered awhile and finally +suggested—the cemetery. From our hotel window we had a fine view of the +broad estuary of the Tay with its great bridge, said to be the longest +in the world. It recalled the previous Tay bridge, which fell in a storm +in 1879, carrying down a train, from which not a single one of the +seventy or more passengers escaped. Around Dundee is crowded much of +historic Scotland, and many excursions worth the while may be made from +the city by those whose time permits.</p> + +<p>From Dundee an excellent road leads to Stirling by the way of Perth. +There is no more beautiful section in Scotland than this, though its +beauty is not the rugged scenery of the Highlands. Low hills, rising +above the wooded valleys, with clear streams winding through them; +unusually prosperous-looking farm-houses; and frequent historic ruins +and places—all combine to make the forty or fifty miles a delightful +drive. We did not pause at Perth, a city<span class="pagenum"><a id="page170" name="page170"></a>Pg 170</span> with a long line of +traditions, nor at Dunblane, with its severely plain cathedral founded +in 1100 but recently restored.</p> + +<p>Stirling, the ancient capital, with its famous castle, its memories of +early kings, of Wallace, Bruce and of Mary Stuart, and with its +wonderfully beautiful and historic surroundings, is perhaps the most +interesting town of Scotland. No one who pretends to see Scotland will +miss it, and no motor tour worthy of the name could be planned that +would not lead through the quaint old streets. From afar one catches a +glimpse of the castle, perched, like that of Edinburgh, on a mighty +rock, rising almost sheer from a delightfully diversified plain. It is a +many-towered structure, piercing the blue sky and surrounded by an air +of sullen inaccessibility, while the red-cross flag flying above it +proclaims it a station of the king's army. It is not by any means the +castle of the days of Bruce and Wallace, having been rebuilt and adapted +to the purpose of military barracks. True, many of the ancient portions +remain, but the long, laborious climb to the summit of the rock and the +battlements of the castle will, if the day be fine, be better repaid by +the magnificent prospect than by anything else. If the barrack castle is +a little disappointing, the wide sweep of country fading away into the +blue mountains on the west—-Ben Venue, Ben Ledi and Ben Lomond of "The<span class="pagenum"><a id="page171" name="page171"></a>Pg 171</span> +Lady of the Lake"—eastward the rich lowlands, running for miles and +miles down the fertile valley of the Forth, dotted with many towns and +villages; the wooded hills to the north with the massive tower of the +Wallace monument and the dim outlines of the ruins of Cambuskenneth +Abbey; or, near at hand, the old town under your very eye and the +historic field of Bannockburn just adjoining, will make ample amends. +The story of "The Lady of the Lake" pictures Stirling in its palmiest +days, and no one who visits the castle will forget the brilliant closing +scene of the poem. Here too,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"The rose of Stuart's line<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Has left the fragrance of her name,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>for Mary was hurried for safety to the castle a few days after her birth +at Linlithgow Palace, and as a mere baby was crowned Queen of Scotland +in the chapel. The parish church was also the scene of many coronations, +and in the case of James VI, later James I of England, John Knox +preached the sermon.</p> + +<p>One cannot go far in Scotland without crossing the path of Prince +Charlie or standing in the shadow of some ancient building associated +with the melancholy memory of Queen Mary, and, despite the unquestioned +loyalty of the Scottish people to the present government, there seems to +linger everywhere a spirit of regret over the failure of the chevalier +to re<span class="pagenum"><a id="page172" name="page172"></a>Pg 172</span>gain the throne of his fathers. Perhaps it is scarcely +expressed—only some word dropped in casual conversation, some flash of +pride as you are pointed to the spots where Prince Charlie's triumphs +were won, or some thinly veiled sentiment in local guide-books will make +it clear to you that Scotland still cherishes the memory of the prince +for whom her fathers suffered so much. Passing Falkirk, now a large +manufacturing town, dingy with the smoke from its great furnaces, we +were reminded that near here in 1746 the prince gained one of his most +decisive victories, the precursor of the capture of Edinburgh by his +army. A few miles farther on is Linlithgow with its famous palace, the +birthplace of the Queen of Scots. This more accords with our idea of a +royal residence than the fortified castles, for it evidently was never +intended as a defensive fortress. It stands on the margin of a lovely +lake, and considering its delightful situation and its comparative +comfort, it is not strange that it was a favorite residence of the +Scottish kings. It owes its dismantled condition to the wanton spite of +the English dragoons, who, when they retreated from Linlithgow in face +of the Highland army in 1746, left the palace in flames.</p> + +<p>From Linlithgow the broad highway led us directly into Edinburgh by the +way of Princess Street.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page173" name="page173"></a>Pg 173</span></p> +<h2>XI</h2> + +<h3>FROM EDINBURGH TO YORKSHIRE</h3> + + +<p>Two men above all others and everything else are responsible for the +romantic fame which the bleak and largely barren Land of Scots enjoys +the English-speaking world over. If Robert Burns and Walter Scott had +never told the tales and sung the songs of their native land, no endless +streams of pilgrims would pour to its shrines and its history and +traditions would be vastly second in interest to those of England and +Wales. But the Wizard of the North touched Scotia's rough hills with the +rosy hues of his romance. He threw the glamour of his story around its +crumbling ruins. Through the magic of his facile pen, its petty chiefs +and marauding nobles assumed heroic mould and its kings and +queens—rulers over a mere handful of turbulent people—were awakened +into a majestic reality. Who would care aught for Prince Charlie or his +horde of beggarly Highlanders were it not for the song of Burns and the +story of Scott? Nor would the melancholy fate of Queen Mary have been +brought so vividly before the world—but wherefore multiply instances to +illustrate an admitted fact?</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page174" name="page174"></a>Pg 174</span></p> + +<p>In Edinburgh we were near the center from which Scott's vast influences +radiated. The traditions of Burns overshadowed Southwestern Scotland and +the memories of Scott seem to be indentified with the cities, the +villages, the solitary ruins, the hills and vales of the eastern coast. +We note as we pass along Princess Street, one of the finest +thoroughfares in Britain, the magnificent monument to the great +author—the most majestic tribute ever erected to a literary man—a +graceful Gothic spire, towering two hundred feet into the sky. The city +is full of his memories. Here are many of the places he celebrated in +his stories, his haunts for years, and the house where he retired after +financial disaster to face a self-chosen battle with a gigantic debt +which he might easily have evaded by a mere figment of the law.</p> + +<p>However, one can hardly afford to take from a motor tour the time which +should rightly be given to Edinburgh, for the many attractions of the +Athens of the North might well occupy a solid week. Fortunately, a +previous visit by rail two years before had solved the problem for us +and we were fairly familiar with the more salient features of the city. +There is one side-trip that no one should miss, and though we had once +journeyed by railway train to Melrose Abbey and Abbottsford House, we +could not forego a second visit to these famous shrines and to Dryburgh +Abbey, which we had missed before. Thus<span class="pagenum"><a id="page175" name="page175"></a>Pg 175</span> again we had the opportunity of +contrasting the motor car and the railway train. I remembered distinctly +our former trip to Melrose by rail. It was on a Saturday afternoon +holiday when crowds of trippers were leaving the city, packed in the +uncomfortable compartments like sardines in a box—not one in a dozen +having a chance to sit. We were driven from Melrose to Abbottsford House +at a snail's pace, consuming so much time that a trip to Dryburgh Abbey +was out of the question, though we had left Edinburgh about noon. By +motor, we were out of the city about three o'clock, and though we +covered more than eighty miles, we were back before lamp-lighting time. +The road to Dryburgh Abbey runs nearly due south from Edinburgh, and the +country through which we passed was hardly so prosperous looking as the +northeastern section of Scotland—much of it rather rough-looking +country, adapted only for sheep-grazing and appearing as if it might be +reclaimed moorland.</p> + +<p>The tomb of Walter Scott is in Dryburgh Abbey, and with the possible +exception of Melrose it probably has more visitors than any other point +in Scotland outside of Edinburgh. The tourist season had hardly begun, +yet the caretaker told us that more than seventy people had been there +during the day and most of them were Americans. The abbey lies on the +margin of the River Tweed, the silver stream<span class="pagenum"><a id="page176" name="page176"></a>Pg 176</span> so beloved of Scott, and +though sadly fragmentary, is most religiously cared for and the decay of +time and weather held in check by constant repairs and restoration. The +many thousands of admission fees every year no doubt form a fund which +will keep this good work going indefinitely. The weather-beaten walls +and arches were overgrown with masses of ivy and the thick, green grass +of the newly mown lawn spread beneath like a velvet carpet. We had +reached the ruin so late that it was quite deserted, and we felt the +spirit of the place all the more as we wandered about in the evening +silence. Scott's tomb, that of his wife and their eldest son are in one +of the chapels whose vaulted roof still remains in position. Tall iron +gates between the arches enclose the graves, which are marked with +massive sarcophagi of Scotch granite. Dryburgh Abbey was at one time the +property of the Scott family, which accounts for its use as their +burial-ground. It has passed into other hands, but interments are still +made on rare occasions. The spot was one which always interested and +delighted Scott and it was his expressed wish that he be buried there.</p> + +<p>We had been warned that the byways leading to the abbey from the north +of the Tweed were not very practicable for motors and we therefore +approached it from the other side. This made it necessary to cross the +river on a flimsy suspension bridge<span class="pagenum"><a id="page177" name="page177"></a>Pg 177</span> for foot-passengers only, and a +notice at each end peremptorily forbade that more than half a dozen +people pass over the bridge at one time. After crossing the river it was +a walk of more than a mile to the abbey, and as we were tempted to +linger rather long it was well after six o'clock when we re-crossed the +river and resumed our journey. Melrose is twelve miles farther on and +the road crosses a series of rather sharp hills. We paused for a second +glimpse of Melrose Abbey, which has frequently been styled the most +perfect and beautiful ecclesiastical ruin in Britain. We were of the +opinion, however, that we had seen at least three or four others more +extensive and of greater architectural merit. Undoubtedly the high +praise given Melrose is due to the fame which it acquired from the poems +and stories of Scott. The thousands of pilgrims who come every year are +attracted by this alone, since the abbey had no extraordinary history +and no tomb of king or hero is to be found in its precincts. Were it not +for the weird interest which the "Lay of the Last Minstrel" has thrown +around Melrose, its fame would probably be no greater than that of the +abbeys of Jedburgh and Kelso in the same neighborhood. Abbottsford House +is only three miles from Melrose, but it is closed to visitors after +five o'clock and we missed a second visit, which we should have liked +very much. Upon such things the motorist must fully inform him<span class="pagenum"><a id="page178" name="page178"></a>Pg 178</span>self or +he is liable to many disappointments by reaching his objective point at +the wrong time.</p> + +<p>We returned to Edinburgh by the way of Galashiels, a manufacturing town +of considerable size that lay in a deep valley far below the road which +we were following along the edges of the wooded hills. This road +abounded in dangerous turns and caution was necessary when rounding +sharp curves that, in places, almost described a circle. We had a clear +right-of-way, however, and reached Edinburgh before nine o'clock. A +delightful feature of summer touring in Britain is the long evening, +which is often the pleasantest time for traveling. The highways are +usually quite deserted and the mellow effect of the sunsets and the long +twilights often lend an additional charm to the landscapes. In the +months of July and August in Scotland daylight does not begin to fade +away until from nine to ten, and in northern sections the dawn begins as +early as two or three o'clock. During our entire tour we found it +necessary to light our lamps only two or three times, although we were +often on the road after nine o'clock. Though Edinburgh has unusually +broad and well paved streets, it is a trying place for a motorist. The +people make little effort to keep to the sidewalk, but let the fellow +who is driving the car do the looking out for them. In no city through +which we passed did I find greater<span class="pagenum"><a id="page179" name="page179"></a>Pg 179</span> care necessary. Despite all this, +accidents are rare, owing to the fact that drivers of motor cars in +Great Britain have had the lesson of carefulness impressed upon them by +strict and prompt enforcement of police regulations.</p> + +<p>We left Edinburgh the next forenoon with a view of making +Berwick-on-Tweed our stopping place for the evening—not a long distance +in miles but a considerable one measured in spots of historical +importance. The road much of the way skirts the ocean and is a +magnificent highway leading through a number of quaint towns famous in +Scotch song and story. Numerous battlefields are scattered along the +way, but we found it difficult to locate a battlefield when we passed +it, and generally quit trying. In fact, in the days of border warfare +the whole south of Scotland was the scene of almost continuous strife, +and battles of greater or less importance were fought everywhere with +the English in the centuries of fierce hatred which existed between the +two nations. The Scots held their own wonderfully well, considering +their greatly inferior numbers and the general poverty of their country. +The union, after all, was brought about not by conquest but by a Scotch +king going to London to assume the crown of the two kingdoms. The famous +old town of Berwick-on-Tweed bore the brunt of the incursions from both +sides on the eastern coast, as did Carlisle on the west.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page180" name="page180"></a>Pg 180</span> The town of +Dunbar, situated on the coast about midway between Edinburgh and +Berwick, was of great importance in border history. It had an extensive +and strongly fortified castle, situated on the margin of a cliff +overhanging the ocean, and which was for a time the residence of Queen +Mary after her marriage with Darnley. Nothing now remains of this great +structure save a few crumbling walls of red sandstone, which are +carefully propped up and kept in the best possible repair by the +citizens, who have at last come to realize the cash value of such a +ruin. If such a realization had only come a hundred years ago, a great +service would have been done the historian and the antiquarian. But this +is no less true of a thousand other towns than of Dunbar. No quainter +edifice did we see in all Britain than Dunbar's Fifteenth Century town +hall. It seemed more characteristic of an old German town than of +Scotland. This odd old building is still the seat of the city +government.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image28" name="image28"> + <img src="images/28.jpg" + alt="TOWN HOUSE, DUNBAR, SCOTLAND." + title="TOWN HOUSE, DUNBAR, SCOTLAND." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">TOWN HOUSE, DUNBAR, SCOTLAND.</span> +</div> + +<p>Our route from Dunbar ran for a long way between the hills of Lammermoor +and the ocean and abounded in delightful and striking scenery. We were +forcibly reminded of Scott's mournful story, "The Bride of Lammermoor," +as we passed among the familiar scenes mentioned in the book, and it was +the influence of this romantic tale that led us from the main road into +narrow byways and sleepy little<span class="pagenum"><a id="page181" name="page181"></a>Pg 181</span> coast towns innocent of modern +progress and undisturbed by the rattle of railways trains. No great +distance from Berwick and directly on the ocean stands Fast Castle, said +to be the prototype of the Wolf's Crag of "Lammermoor." This wild story +had always interested me in my boyhood days and for years I had dreamed +of the possibility of some time seeing the supposed retreat of the +melancholy Master of Ravenswood. We had great difficulty in locating the +castle, none of the people seeming to know anything about it, and we +wandered many miles among the hills through narrow, unmarked byways, +with little idea of where we were really going. At last, after dint of +inquiry, we came upon a group of houses which we were informed were the +headquarters of a large farm of about two thousand acres, and +practically all the people who worked on the farm lived, with their +families, in these houses. The superintendent knew of Fast Castle, which +he said was in a lonely and inaccessible spot, situated on a high, +broken headland overlooking the ocean. It was two or three miles distant +and the road would hardly admit of taking the car any farther. He did +not think the ruin was worth going to see, anyhow; it had been cared for +by no one and within his memory the walls had fallen in and crumbled +away. Either his remarks or the few miles walk discouraged me, and after +having traveled fully thirty miles to<span class="pagenum"><a id="page182" name="page182"></a>Pg 182</span> find this castle, I turned about +and went on without going to the place at all, and of course I now +regret it as much as anything I failed to do on our whole tour. I shall +have to go to Fast Castle yet—by motor car.</p> + +<p>After regaining the main road, it was only a short run along the edge of +the ocean to Berwick-on-Tweed, which we reached early in the evening. I +recall no more delightful day during our tour. It had been fresh and +cool, and the sky was perfectly clear. For a great part of the way the +road had passed within view of the ocean, whose deep unruffled blue, +entirely unobscured by the mists which so often hang over the northern +seas, stretched away until it was lost in the pale, sapphire hues of the +skies. The country itself was fresh and bright after abundant rains, and +as haymaking was in progress in many places along the road, the air was +laden with the scent of the newly mown grasses. Altogether, it was a day +long to be remembered.</p> + +<p>Berwick-on-Tweed lies partly in England and partly in Scotland, the +river which runs through it forming the boundary line. An odd bridge +built by James I connects the two parts of the town, the highest point +of its archway being nearest the Scottish shore and giving the effect of +"having its middle at one end," as some Scotch wit has expressed it. The +town was once strongly fortified, especially on the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page183" name="page183"></a>Pg 183</span> Scottish side, and +a castle was built on a hill commanding the place. Traces of the wall +surrounding the older part of the city still remain; it is easy to +follow it throughout its entire course. When the long years of border +warfare ended, a century and a half ago, the town inside of the wall +must have appeared much the same as it does today. It is a town of +crooked streets and quaint buildings, set down without the slightest +reference to the points of the compass. The site of the castle is +occupied by the railway station, though a few crumbling walls of the +former structure still remain. The station itself is now called The +Castle and reproduces on a smaller scale some of the architectural +features of the ancient fortress.</p> + +<p>We started southward from Berwick the following morning over the fine +road leading through Northumberland. About ten miles off this road, and +reached by narrow byways, is the pleasant little seacoast village of +Bamborough, and the fame of its castle tempted us to visit it. I had +often wondered why some of the old-time castles were not restored to +their pristine magnificence—what we should have if Kenilworth or Raglan +were re-built and to their ancient glory there were added all the modern +conveniences for comfort. I found in Bamborough Castle a case exactly to +the point. Lord Armstrong, the millionaire shipbuilder, had purchased +this castle—<span class="pagenum"><a id="page184" name="page184"></a>Pg 184</span>almost a complete ruin—and when he began restoration only +the Norman tower of the keep was intact; and besides this there was +little except the foundation walls. Lord Armstrong entirely rebuilt the +castle, following the original plan and designs, and the result is one +of the most striking and pleasing of the palatial residences in England. +The situation, on a high headland extending into the ocean, commands a +view in every direction and completely dominates the sleepy little +village lying just beneath. The castle is of great antiquity, the +records showing that a fortress had been built on this side in the Fifth +Century by Ida, King of Northumberland, though the present building +largely reproduces the features of the one founded in the time of the +Conqueror.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image29" name="image29"> + <img src="images/29.jpg" + alt="BAMBOROUGH CASTLE, NORTHUMBERLAND." + title="BAMBOROUGH CASTLE, NORTHUMBERLAND." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">BAMBOROUGH CASTLE, NORTHUMBERLAND.</span> +</div> + +<p>Lord Armstrong died the year before the work on the castle was completed +and it passed into the hands of his nephew. It is open to visitors only +one day in the week, and it happened, as usual, that we had arrived on +the wrong day. Fortunately, the family were absent, and our plea that we +were Americans who had come a long distance to see the place was quite +as effective here as in other cases. The housekeeper showed us the +palace in detail that we could hardly have hoped for under other +circumstances. The interior is fitted in the richest and most +magnificent style, and I have never seen the natural beauties of +woodwork brought out with<span class="pagenum"><a id="page185" name="page185"></a>Pg 185</span> better effect. How closely the old-time +construction was followed in the restoration is shown by the fact that +the great open roof of the banqueting hall is put together with wooden +pins, no nail having been used. The castle has every modern convenience, +even hot-water heating—a rare thing in England—being installed. When +we saw what an excellent result had been attained in the restoration, we +could not but wonder that such a thing has not oftener been done. In the +village churchyard is the massive gray granite monument erected to the +memory of Grace Darling, who lived and died in Bamborough, and a brass +tablet in the ancient church is inscribed with the record of her +heroism. The lighthouse which was kept by her father is just off +Bamborough Head, and it was from this, in the face of a raging storm, +that she launched her frail boat and saved several people from a +foundering ship. Only four years later she succumbed to consumption, but +her unparalleled bravery has made the name of this young girl a +household word wherever the English language is spoken.</p> + +<p>On leaving Bamborough we came as nearly getting lost in the narrow, +winding byways as at any time during our tour. A bridge under repair on +the direct route to the main road compelled us to resort to byways which +were unmarked by signboards and in as ill condition as many American +roads. Nor<span class="pagenum"><a id="page186" name="page186"></a>Pg 186</span> could the people of whom we inquired give us intelligent +direction. We finally reached the road again after a loss of an hour or +more.</p> + +<p>A short time afterwards we came to Alnwick, whose castle is one of the +most extensive and complete specimens of mediaeval architecture in +England. In the last century it has been largely restored, following out +the original design of the exterior, at least, and is now the residence +of the Duke of Northumberland. Usually it is open to visitors, but in +the confusion that followed the visit of the king the day before, the +castle and its great park had been closed until the next week. We had +seen the interior of so many similar places that this was not so much of +a disappointment, especially as we had a splendid view of the old +fortress from the outside and also from the courtyard. On the +battlements of this castle are numerous stone figures of men in the act +of hurling down missiles on the heads of foes who might besiege it. This +was quite common in early days and feudal barons perhaps thought to make +up for their shortage of real men by placing these effigies on the walls +of their fortresses, but Alnwick is the only castle on which the figures +still remain. The town itself was still in holiday attire in honor of +its royal guest of the preceding day. The buildings were covered with +the national colors and many decorations and illuminations had been +planned to cele<span class="pagenum"><a id="page187" name="page187"></a>Pg 187</span>brate the occasion. Alnwick is one of the most typical +of the English feudal towns. It is owned largely by the Duke of +Northumberland, who appears to be popular with his tenantry, the latter +having erected, in honor of their noble landlord, a lofty column +surmounted by the figure of a lion. Every view from the distance for +miles around is dominated by the battlemented and many-towered walls of +the castle, which surmounts a hill overlooking the town. The story of +Alnwick and its castle would be long to tell, for they bore the brunt of +many Scotch incursions and suffered much at the hands of the fierce +marauders from the north.</p> + +<p>Our afternoon's run led us from Alnwick to Durham, passing through +Newcastle-on-Tyne. Newcastle is a large commercial city, famous for its +mining and shipbuilding industries, and has but little to engage the +attention of the tourist. Our pause was a short one, and we reached +Durham in good time after a run of over one hundred miles, broken by +several lengthy stops on the way.</p> + +<p>The main street of Durham in many places is barely wide enough for two +vehicles to pass. It winds and twists through the town in such a way +that one seems to be almost moving in a circle at times and constant +inquiry is necessary to keep from being lost on the main street of a +city of fifteen or twenty thousand. The town is almost as much of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page188" name="page188"></a>Pg 188</span> a +jumble as if its red, tile-roof buildings had been promiscuously thrown +to their places from Cathedral Hill. Durham is strictly an +ecclesiastical center. There is little except the cathedral, which, in +addition to being one of the most imposing, occupies perhaps the finest +site of any of the great English churches. Together with Durham Castle, +it monopolizes the summit of a hill which at its base is three-quarters +surrounded by the river. The greater part of the cathedral dates back +seven or eight hundred years, but additions have been made from time to +time so that nearly all styles of architecture are represented. +Tradition has it that it was founded by St. Cuthbert, whose chief +characteristic is declared to have been his antipathy toward women of +all degrees. A curious relic of this peculiarity of the saint remains in +a granite cross set in the center of the floor of the nave, beyond +which, in the earlier days, no woman was ever allowed to pass. The +interior of the church is mainly in the massive and imposing Norman +style. The carved stone screen is one of the most elaborate and perfect +in Britain, and dates back from the Thirteenth Century. The verger told +us of the extreme care which must be taken to preserve this relic. He +said that the stone of the screen is rather soft and brittle, and that +in cleaning it was never touched, the dust being blown away with +bellows. Durham, in common with most<span class="pagenum"><a id="page189" name="page189"></a>Pg 189</span> of the cathedrals, suffered +severely at the hands of the Parliamentarians under Cromwell. It was +used as a prison for a part of the Scotch army captured at the battle of +Dunbar, and as these Presbyterians had almost as much contempt for +images as the Cromwellians themselves, many of the beautiful monuments +in the cathedral were broken up. Durham, like Canterbury, is a town that +is much favored by the artists, and deservedly so. The old buildings +lining the winding river and canal form in many places delightful vistas +in soft colors almost as picturesque as bits of Venice itself. The +hotels, however, are far from first-class, and one would probably be +more comfortable at Newcastle. Speaking of hotels, we did not at any +time engage accommodations in advance, and Durham was the only town +where we found the principal hotel with all rooms taken. With the rapid +increase of motoring, however, it will probably become necessary to +telegraph for accommodations at the best hotels. And telegraphing is an +exceedingly easy thing in England. A message can be sent from any +postoffice at a cost of sixpence for the first ten words.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page190" name="page190"></a>Pg 190</span></p> +<h2>XII</h2> + +<h3>IN OLD YORKSHIRE</h3> + + +<p>York is by far the largest of the English shires, a widely diversified +country, ranging from fertile farm land to broken hills and waste +moorland, while its river valleys and considerable coast line present +greatly varied but always picturesque scenery. The poet describes the +charms of Yorkshire as yielding</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Variety without end, sweet interchange<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Of hill and valley, river, wood and plain."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Nor did we find this description at all inapt as we drove over its +excellent roads during the fine July weather. But the Yorkshire country +is doubly interesting, for if the landscape is of surpassing beauty, the +cities, the villages, the castles and abbeys, and the fields where some +of the fiercest battles in Britain have been fought, have intertwined +their associations with every hill and valley. Not only the size of the +shire, but its position—midway between London and the Scottish border, +and extending almost from coast to coast—made it a bulwark, as it were, +against the incursions of the Scots and their numerous sympathizers in +the extreme north of England. No part of England is more thickly strewn +with attractions<span class="pagenum"><a id="page191" name="page191"></a>Pg 191</span> for the American tourist and in no other section do +conditions for motor travel average better.</p> + +<p>From London to York, the capital city of the shire, runs the Great North +Road, undoubtedly the finest highway in all Britain. It is laid out on a +liberal scale, magnificently surfaced and bordered much of the way by +wide and beautifully kept lawns and at times skirted with majestic +trees. We saw a facsimile of a broadside poster issued about a century +ago announcing that the new lightning coach service installed on this +road between London and York would carry passengers the distance of one +hundred and eighty-eight miles in the astonishingly short space of four +days. This coach, of course, traveled by relays, and at what was then +considered breakneck speed. Over this same highway it would now be an +easy feat for a powerful car to cover the distance in three or four +hours. The great North Road was originally constructed by the Romans to +maintain the quickest possible communication between London and +Eboracum, as York was styled during the Roman occupation.</p> + +<p>The limitation of our time had become such that we could but feel that +our tour through Yorkshire must be of the most superficial kind. Not +less than two weeks of motoring might well be spent in the county and +every day be full of genuine enjoyment. The main roads are among the +best in England and<span class="pagenum"><a id="page192" name="page192"></a>Pg 192</span> afford access to most of the important points. We +learned, however, that there is much of interest to be reached only from +byways, but that these may lead over steep and even dangerous hills and +are often in not much better condition than our American roads.</p> + +<p>We left Durham about noon, following a rather indirect route to +Darlington; from thence, through hawthorne-bordered byways, we came to +Richmond, one of the quaintest and most representative of the old +Yorkshire towns. We happened here on market day and the town was crowded +with farmers from the surrounding country. Here we saw many types of the +Yorkshire man, famed for his shrewdness and fondness for what we would +call "dickering." Much of the buying and selling in English towns is +done on market day; live stock, produce, farm implements, and almost +every kind of merchandise are sold at auction in the public market +place. If a farmer wants to dispose of a horse or to buy a mowing +machine, he avails himself of this auction and the services of a +professional auctioneer. Such an individual was busily plying his +vocation in front of the King's Head Hotel, and the roars of laughter +from the farmers which greeted his sallies as he cried his wares +certainly seemed to indicate that the charge that Englishmen can not +appreciate humor—at least of a certain kind—is a base slander. As +Richmond is the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page193" name="page193"></a>Pg 193</span> center of one of the best farming districts in +Yorkshire, its market day was no doubt a typical one.</p> + +<p>Richmond Castle at one time was one of the most formidable and strongly +situated of the northern fortresses. It stands on an almost +perpendicular rock, rising one hundred feet above the River Swale, but +with the exception of the Norman keep the ruins are scanty indeed. There +is enough of the enclosing walls to give some idea of the extent of the +original castle, which covered five acres, its magnificent position +commanding the whole of the surrounding country. The keep is now used as +a military storehouse. The soldier-guard in charge was very courteous +and relieved us the necessity of securing a pass from the commandant, as +was required by a notice at the castle entrance. He conducted us to the +top of the great tower, from which we were favored with one of the +finest views in Central England and one that is almost unobstructed in +every direction. Unfortunately, a blue mist obscured much of the +landscape, but the guard told us that on clear days York Minster, more +than forty miles away, could be easily seen. Near at hand, nestling in +the valley of the Swale, are the ivy-covered ruins of Easby Abbey; while +still nearer, on the hillside, the great tower of Grey Friars Church is +all that remains of another once extensive monastery. In no way can one +get a more adequate idea of the parklike beauty<span class="pagenum"><a id="page194" name="page194"></a>Pg 194</span> of the English +landscape than to view it from such point of vantage as the keep of +Richmond Castle. Richmond Church is an imposing structure standing near +the castle and has recently been restored as nearly as possible to its +ancient state. An odd feature of the church is the little shop built in +the base of the tower, where a tobacconist now plies his trade.</p> + +<p>From the castle tower, looking down the luxuriant valley, we noticed at +no great distance, half hidden by the trees, the outlines of a ruined +church—the Easby Abbey which I have just mentioned as one of the +numerous Yorkshire ruins. It is but a few furlongs off the road by which +we left Richmond and the byway we entered dropped down a sharp hill to +the pleasant spot on the riverside, where the abbey stands. The location +is a rather secluded one and the painstaking care noticeable about so +many ruins is lacking. It is surrounded by trees, and a large elm +growing in the very midst of the walls and arches flung a network of sun +and shade over the crumbling stones. The murmur of the nearby Swale and +the notes of the English thrushes filled the air with soft melody. Amid +such surroundings, we hardly heard the old custodian as he pointed out +the different apartments and told us the story of the palmy days of the +abbey and of its final doom at the relentless hands of Henry VIII. Near +by is a tiny<span class="pagenum"><a id="page195" name="page195"></a>Pg 195</span> church, which no doubt had served the people of the +neighborhood as a place of worship since the abbey fell into ruin.</p> + +<p>The day, which had so far been fine, soon began to turn cold—one of +those sudden and disagreeable changes that come in England and Scotland +in the very midst of summertime, an experience that happens so often +that one can not wonder at Byron's complaint of the English winter, +"closing in July to re-commence in August." At no time in the summer +were we able to dispense for any length of time with heavy wraps and +robes while on the road. From Richmond we hastened away over a fine and +nearly straight road to Ripon, whose chief attraction is its cathedral. +Speaking of cathedrals again, I might remark that our tour took us to +every one of these, with one exception—in England and Scotland, about +thirty in all—and the exception, Beverly Minster, is but newly created +and relatively of lesser importance.</p> + +<p>Ripon is one of the smaller cathedrals and of less importance in +historical associations. It occupies a magnificent site, crowning a hill +rising in the very center of the town, and from a distance gives the +impression of being larger than it really is. It presents a somewhat +unfinished aspect with its three low, square-topped towers, once +surmounted by great wooden spires, which became unsafe and were<span class="pagenum"><a id="page196" name="page196"></a>Pg 196</span> taken +down, never to be replaced. These must have added wonderfully to the +dignity and proper proportion of the church.</p> + +<p>Just outside Ripon lies Fountains Abbey, undoubtedly the most striking +and best preserved ecclesiastical ruin in England. It is on the estate +of the Marquis of Ripon, adjoining the town, and this nobleman takes +great pride in the preservation of the abbey. The great park, which also +surrounds his residence, is thrown open every day and one has full +liberty to go about it at pleasure. It is a popular resort, and on the +day of our visit the number of people passing through the gate exceeded +five hundred. The gatekeeper assured us that a thousand visitors on a +single day was not an uncommon occurrence. The abbey stands in a wooded +valley on the margin of a charming little river, and underneath and +around the ruin is a lawn whose green loveliness is such as can be found +in England alone. There is no room in this record for the description of +such a well known place or for its story. The one feature which +impressed us most, and which is one of the finest specimens of Norman +architecture in England, is the great cellarium, where the monks stored +their wine in the good old days. The vaulted roof of this vast +apartment, several hundred feet in length, is in perfect condition and +shows how substantially the structure must have been built<span class="pagenum"><a id="page197" name="page197"></a>Pg 197</span> Fountains +Abbey shared the fate of its contemporaries at the hand of Henry VIII, +who drove the monks from its shelter, confiscating their property and +revenues. It was growing late when we left Ripon for York, but the road +was perfect and we had no trouble in covering the twenty miles or more +in about an hour. We were soon made comfortable at the Station Hotel in +York, one of the oldest and most interesting of the larger cities.</p> + +<p>The following day being Sunday, we availed ourselves of the opportunity +of attending services at the Minster. The splendid music of the great +organ was enough to atone for the long dreary chant of the litany, and +the glory of the ancient windows, breaking the gloom of the church with +a thousand shafts of softened light, was in itself an inspiration more +than any sermon—at least to us, to whom these things had the charm of +the unusual.</p> + +<p>York Minster, with the exception of St. Paul's in London, is the largest +cathedral in England and contests with Canterbury for first place in +ecclesiastical importance. Its greatest glory is its windows, which are +by far the finest of any in England. Many of them date back to the +Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries, and when one contemplates their +subdued beauty it is easy to understand why stained-glass making is now +reckoned one of the lost arts. These windows escaped numerous +vicissitudes which im<span class="pagenum"><a id="page198" name="page198"></a>Pg 198</span>periled the cathedral, among them the disastrous +fires which nearly destroyed it on two occasions within the last +century. The most remarkable of them all is the "Five Sisters" at the +end of the nave, a group of five slender, softly-toned windows of +imposing height. The numerous monuments scattered throughout the church +are of little interest to the American visitor. We were surprised at the +small audiences which we found at the cathedrals where we attended +services. A mere corner is large enough to care for the congregations, +the vast body of the church being seldom used except on state occasions. +Though York is a city of seventy-five thousand population, I think there +were not more than four or five hundred people in attendance, though the +day was exceptionally fine.</p> + +<p>There are numerous places within easy reach of York which one should not +miss. A sixty-mile trip during three or four hours of the afternoon gave +us the opportunity of seeing two abbey ruins, Helmsley Castle and +Laurence Sterne's cottage at Coxwold. Our route led over a series of +steep hills almost due north to Helmsley, a town with unbroken +traditions from the time of the Conqueror. Its ancient castle +surrendered to Fairfax with the agreement that "it be absolutely +demolished and that no garrison hereafter be kept by either party." So +well was this provision carried out that only a ragged fragment<span class="pagenum"><a id="page199" name="page199"></a>Pg 199</span> remains +of the once impregnable fortress, which has an added interest from its +connection with Scott's story, "The Fortunes of Nigel"</p> + +<p>Two miles from Helmsley is Rievaulx Abbey, situated in a deep, secluded +valley, and the narrow byway leading to the ruin was so steep and rough +that we left the car and walked down the hill. A small village nestles +in the valley, a quiet, out-of-the-way little place whose thatched +cottages were surrounded by a riot of old-fashioned flowers and their +walls dashed with the rich color of the bloom-laden rose vines. Back of +the village, in lonely grandeur, stands the abbey, still imposing +despite decay and neglect. Just in front of it is the cottage of the old +custodian, who seemed considerably troubled by our application to visit +the ruins. He said that the place was not open on Sunday and gave us to +understand that he had conscientious scruples against admitting anyone +on that day. The hint of a fee overcame his scruples to such an extent +that he intimated that the gates were not locked anyway and if we +desired to go through them he did not know of anything that would +prevent us. We wandered about in the shadows of the high but crumbling +walls, whose extent gave a strong impression of the original glory of +the place, and one may well believe the statement that, at the time of +the Dissolution, Rievaulx was one of the largest as well as richest of +the English abbeys.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page200" name="page200"></a>Pg 200</span> The old keeper was awaiting us at the gateway and +his conscientious scruples were again awakened when we asked him for a +few post-card pictures. He amiably intimated his own willingness to +accommodate us, but said he was afraid that the "old woman" (his wife) +wouldn't allow it, but he would find out. He returned after a short +interview in the cottage and said that there were some pictures on a +table in the front room and if we would go in and select what we wanted +and leave the money for them it would be all right.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image30" name="image30"> + <img src="images/30.jpg" + alt="OLD COTTAGES AT COCKINGTON." + title="OLD COTTAGES AT COCKINGTON." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">OLD COTTAGES AT COCKINGTON.</span> +</div> + +<p>On our return from Helmsley, we noticed a byway leading across the +moorland with a sign-board pointing the way "to Coxwold." We were +reminded that in this out-of-the-way village Laurence Sterne, "the +father of the English novel," had lived many years and that his cottage +and church might still be seen. A narrow road led sharply from the +beautiful Yorkshire farm lands, through which we had been traveling, its +fields almost ready for the harvest, into a lonely moor almost as brown +and bare as our own western sagebrush country. It was on this +unfrequented road that we encountered the most dangerous hill we passed +over during our trip, and the road descending it was a reminder of some +of the worst in our native country. They called it "the bank," and the +story of its terrors to motorists, told us by a Helmsley villager, was +in no wise an<span class="pagenum"><a id="page201" name="page201"></a>Pg 201</span> exaggeration. It illustrates the risk often attending a +digression into byroads not listed in the road-book, for England is a +country of many hilly sections. I had read only a few days before of the +wreck of a large car in Derbyshire where the driver lost control of his +machine on a gradient of one in three. The car dashed over the +embankment, demolishing many yards of stone wall and coming to rest in a +valley hundreds of feet beneath. And this was only one of several +similar cases. Fortunately, we had only the descent to make. The bank +dropped off the edge of the moorland into a lovely and fertile valley, +where, quite unexpectedly, we came upon Bylands Abbey, the rival of +Rievaulx, but far more fallen into decay. It stood alone in the midst of +the wide valley; no caretaker hindered our steps to its precincts and no +effort had been made to prop its crumbling walls or to stay the green +ruin creeping over it. The fragment of its great eastern window, still +standing, was its most imposing feature and showed that it had been a +church of no mean architectural pretension. The locality, it would seem, +was well supplied with abbeys, for Rievaulx is less than ten miles away, +but we learned that Bylands was founded by monks from the former +brotherhood and also from Furness Abbey in Lancashire. In the good old +days it seems to have been a common thing when the monks became +dissatisfied with the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page202" name="page202"></a>Pg 202</span> establishment to which they were attached for the +dissenters to start a rival abbey just over the way.</p> + +<p>Coxwold is a sleepy village undisturbed by modern progress, its thatched +cottages straggling up the crooked street that leads to the hilltop, +crowned by the hoary church whose tall, massive octagonal tower +dominates the surrounding country. It seems out of all proportion to the +poverty-stricken, ragged-looking little village on the hillside, but +this is not at all an uncommon impression one will have of the churches +in small English towns. Across the road from the church is the old-time +vicarage, reposing in the shade of towering elms, and we found no +difficulty whatever in gaining admission to "Shandy Hall," as it is now +called. We were shown the little room not more than nine feet square +where Sterne, when vicar, wrote his greatest book, "Tristram Shandy." +The kitchen is still in its original condition, with its rough-beamed +ceiling and huge fireplace. Like most English cottages, the walls were +covered with climbing roses and creepers and there was the usual +flower-garden in the rear. The tenants were evidently used to visitors, +and though they refused any gratuity, our attention was called to a box +near the door which was labeled, "For the benefit of Wesleyan Missions."</p> + +<p>Two or three miles through the byways after leaving Coxwold brought us +into the main road leading<span class="pagenum"><a id="page203" name="page203"></a>Pg 203</span> into York. This seemed such an ideal place +for a police trap that we traveled at a very moderate speed, meeting +numerous motorists on the way. The day had been a magnificent one, +enabling us to see the Yorkshire country at its best. It had been +delightfully cool and clear, and lovelier views than we had seen from +many of the upland roads would be hard to imagine. The fields of yellow +grain, nearly ready for harvesting, richly contrasted with the +prevailing bright green of the hills and valleys. Altogether, it was a +day among a thousand, and in no possible way could one have enjoyed it +so greatly as from the motor car, which dashed along, slowed up, or +stopped altogether, as the varied scenery happened to especially please +us.</p> + +<p>York abounds in historic relics, odd corners and interesting places. The +city was surrounded by a strong wall built originally by Edward I, and +one may follow it throughout its entire course of more than two miles. +It is not nearly so complete as the famous Chester wall, but it encloses +a larger area. It shows to even a greater extent the careful work of the +restorer, as do the numerous gate-towers, or "bars," which one meets in +following the wall. The best exterior views of the minster may be had +from vantage points on this wall, and a leisurely tour of its entire +length is well worth while. The best preserved of the gate-towers is +Micklegate Bar, from which, in<span class="pagenum"><a id="page204" name="page204"></a>Pg 204</span> the War of the Roses, the head of the +Duke of York was exhibited to dismay his adherents. There were +originally forty of these towers, of which several still exist. Aside +from its world-famous minster, York teems with objects and places of +curious and archaeological interest. There are many fine old churches +and much mediaeval architecture. In a public park fragments still remain +of St. Mary's Abbey, a once magnificent establishment, destroyed during +the Parliamentary wars; but it must be said to the everlasting credit of +the Parliamentarians that their commanders spared no effort to protect +the minster, which accounts largely for its excellent preservation. The +Commander-in-Chief, General Fairfax, was a native of Yorkshire and no +doubt had a kindly feeling for the great cathedral, which led him to +exert his influence against its spoliation. Such buildings can stand +several fires without much damage, since there is little to burn except +the roof, and the cathedrals suffered most severely at the hands of the +various contending factions into which they fell during the civil wars.</p> + +<p>The quaintest of old-time York streets is The Shambles, a narrow lane +paved with cobblestones and only wide enough to permit the passing of +one vehicle at a time. It is lined on either side with queer, +half-timbered houses, and in one or two places these have sagged to such +an extent that their tops<span class="pagenum"><a id="page205" name="page205"></a>Pg 205</span> are not more than two or three feet apart. In +fact it is said that neighbors in two adjoining buildings may shake +hands across the street. The Shambles no doubt took its name from the +unattractive row of butcher shops which still occupy most of the small +store-rooms on either side. Hardly less picturesque than The Shambles is +the Petergate, and no more typical bits of old-time England may be found +anywhere than these two ancient lanes. Glimpses of the cathedral towers +through the rows of odd buildings is a favorite theme with the artists. +Aside from its antiquity, its old-world streets and historic buildings +are quite up to the best of the English cities. It is an important +trading and manufacturing point, though the prophecy of the old saw,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Lincoln was, London is, York shall be.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The greatest city of the three,"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>seems hardly likely to be realized.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page206" name="page206"></a>Pg 206</span></p> +<h2>XIII</h2> + +<h3>A ZIG-ZAG TRIP FROM YORK TO NORWICH</h3> + + +<p>Late in the afternoon we left York over the Great North Road for +Retford, from whence we expected to make the "Dukeries" circuit. The +road runs through a beautiful section and passes many of the finest of +the English country estates. It leads through Doncaster, noted for its +magnificent church, and Bawtry, from whence came many of the Pilgrim +Fathers who sailed in the Mayflower. This road is almost level +throughout, and although it rained continuously, the run of fifty miles +was made in record time—that is, as we reckoned record time.</p> + +<p>At Retford we were comfortably housed at the White Hart Hotel, a well +conducted hostelry for a town of ten thousand. The "White Hart" must be +a favorite among English innkeepers, for I recollect that we stopped at +no fewer than seven hotels bearing this name during our tour and saw the +familiar sign on many others. On our arrival we learned that the +Dukeries trip must be made by carriage and that the fifty miles would +consume two days. We felt averse to subtracting so much from our already +short remaining time, and when we found still further that<span class="pagenum"><a id="page207" name="page207"></a>Pg 207</span> admission +was denied for the time at two of the most important estates, we decided +to proceed without delay. The motor would be of no advantage to us in +visiting the Dukeries, for the circuit must be made in a staid and +leisurely English victoria.</p> + +<p>Since this chronicle was written, however, I have learned that the +embargo on motoring through the Dukeries is at least partially +raised—another step showing the trend in England in favor of the motor +car. By prearrangement with the stewards of the various estates, +permission may be obtained to take a car through the main private roads. +Thus the tourist will be enabled in half a day to accomplish what has +previously required at least two days driving with horse and carriage.</p> + +<p>In this vicinity is Newstead Abbey, the ancestral home of Byron, and one +of our greatest disappointments was our inability to gain access to it. +Perhaps we might have done so if we had made arrangements sufficiently +in advance, since visitors are admitted, they told us, on certain days +by special permission. There has, however, been an increasing tendency +on the part of the owner to greatly limit the number of visitors. The +coal mines discovered on the lands have become a great source of wealth +and the abbey has been transformed into a modern palace in one of the +finest private parks in England. The rooms occupied by Byron, it is +said, are kept exactly as<span class="pagenum"><a id="page208" name="page208"></a>Pg 208</span> they were when he finally left Newstead and +there are many interesting relics of the poet carefully preserved by the +present proprietor.</p> + +<p>It would be a bad thing for England if the tendency on the part of +private owners of historic places, to exclude visitors from their +premises, should become general. The disposition seems somewhat on the +increase, and not without cause. Indeed, I was told that in a number of +instances the privileges given had been greatly abused; that gardens had +been stripped of their flowers and relics of various kinds carried away. +This vandalism was not often charged against Americans, but rather +against local English "trippers," as they are called—people who go to +these places merely for a picnic or holiday. No doubt this could be +overcome—it has been overcome in a number of instances, notably Warwick +Castle and Knole House—by the charge of a moderate admission fee. +People who are willing to pay are not generally of the class who commit +acts of vandalism. That this practice is not adopted to a greater extent +is doubtless due to the fact that numbers of aristocratic owners think +there is something degrading in the appearance of making a commercial +enterprise out of the historic places which they possess.</p> + +<p>It is only twenty miles from Retford to Lincoln, and long before we +reached the latter town we saw the towers of its great cathedral, which +crowns a<span class="pagenum"><a id="page209" name="page209"></a>Pg 209</span> steep hill rising sharply from the almost level surrounding +country. It is not strange that the cathedral-builders, always with an +eye to the spectacular and imposing, should have fixed on this +remarkable hill as a site for one of their churches. For miles from +every direction the three massive towers form a landmark as they rise +above the tile roofs of the town in sharp outline against the sky. To +reach Lincoln we followed a broad, beautiful highway, almost level until +it comes to the town, when it abruptly ascends the hill, which is so +steep as to tax the average motor. The cathedral in some respects is the +most remarkable and imposing in England. The distinctive feature is the +great towers of equal size and height, something similar to those of +Durham, though higher and more beautifully proportioned. The interior +shows some of the finest Norman architecture in the Kingdom and the +great Norman doorway is said to be the most perfect of its kind. Near +the chapel in the cathedral close is a bronze statue of Tennyson +accompanied by his favorite dog. This reminded us that we were in the +vicinity of the poet's birthplace, and we determined that the next point +in our pilgrimage should be Somersby, where the church and rectory of +Tennyson's father still stand.</p> + +<p>We planned to reach Boston that evening, and as there were a good many +miles before us we were not<span class="pagenum"><a id="page210" name="page210"></a>Pg 210</span> able to give the time that really should be +spent in Lincoln. It has many ancient landmarks, the most remarkable +being a section of the Roman wall that surrounded the town about 15 A.D. +and in which the arch of one of the gateways is still entire. It now +appears to have been a very low gateway, but we were informed that +excavations had shown that in the many centuries since it was built the +earth had risen no less than eight feet in the archway and along the +wall. Lincoln Castle, much decayed and ruinous, is an appropriate +feature of one of the public parks. Along the streets leading up +Cathedral Hill are rows of quaint houses, no doubt full of interest; but +a motor tour often does not permit one to go much into detail.</p> + +<p>So we bade farewell to Lincoln, only stopping to ask the hostler for +directions to the next town on our way. Generally such directions are +something like this: "Turn to the right around the next corner, pass two +streets, then turn to the left, then turn to the right again and keep +right along until you come to the town hall"—clock tower, or something +of the kind—"and then straight away." After you inquire two or three +more times and finally come to the landmark, you find three or four +streets, any one of which seems quite as "straight away" as the others, +and a consultation with a nearby policeman is necessary, after all, to +make sure you are right. When once<span class="pagenum"><a id="page211" name="page211"></a>Pg 211</span> well into the country, the +milestones, together with the finger-boards at nearly every parting of +the ways, can be depended on to keep you right. These conveniences, +however, are by no means evenly distributed and in some sections a +careful study of the map and road-book is necessary to keep from going +astray.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image31" name="image31"> + <img src="images/31.jpg" + alt="SOMERSBY RECTORY, BIRTHPLACE OF TENNYSON." + title="SOMERSBY RECTORY, BIRTHPLACE OF TENNYSON." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">SOMERSBY RECTORY, BIRTHPLACE OF TENNYSON.</span> +</div> + +<p>The twenty miles to Somersby went by without special incident. This +quaint little hamlet—it can hardly be called a village—is almost +hidden among the hills, well off the main-traveled roads and railway. We +dashed through the narrow lanes, shaded in many places by great +over-arching trees and the road finally led across the clear little +brook made famous by Tennyson's verse. After crossing the bridge we were +in Somersby—if such an expression is allowable. Nothing is there except +the rectory, the church just across the way, the grange, and half a +dozen thatched cottages. A discouraging notice in front of the Tennyson +house stated positively that the place would not be shown under any +conditions except on a certain hour of a certain day of the week—which +was by no means the day nor the hour of our arrival. A party of English +teachers came toward us, having just met with a refusal, but one of them +said that Americans might have an exception made in their favor. Anyway, +it was worth trying.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page212" name="page212"></a>Pg 212</span></p> + +<p>Our efforts proved successful and a neat, courteous young woman showed +us over the rambling house. It is quite large—and had to be, in fact, +to accommodate the rector's family of no fewer than twelve children, of +whom the poet was the fourth. The oddest feature is the large dining +room, which has an arched roof and narrow, stained-glass windows, and +the ceiling is broken by several black-oak arches. At the base of each +of these is a queer little face carved in stone and the mantel is +curiously carved in black oak—all of this being the work of the elder +Tennyson himself. There is some dispute as to the poet's birthroom. Our +fair guide showed us all the rooms and said we might take our choice. We +liked the one which opened on the old-fashioned garden at the rear of +the house, for as is often the case in England, the garden side was more +attractive than the front. Just across the road stands the tiny church +of which the Rev. Tennyson was rector for many years. This was one of +the very smallest that we visited and would hardly seat more than fifty +people altogether. It is several hundred years old, and in the +churchyard is a tall, Norman cross, as old as the church itself.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image32" name="image32"> + <img src="images/32.jpg" + alt="SOMERSBY CHURCH." + title="SOMERSBY CHURCH." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">SOMERSBY CHURCH.</span> +</div> + +<p>A rare thing it is to find the burying-ground around a church in England +quite neglected, but the one at Somersby is the exception to the rule. +The graves of the poet's father and brother were over<span class="pagenum"><a id="page213" name="page213"></a>Pg 213</span>grown with grass +and showed evidences of long neglect. We expressed surprise at this, and +the old woman who kept the key to the church replied with some +bitterness that the Tennysons "were ashamed to own Somersby since they +had become great folks." Anyway, it seems that the poet never visited +the place after the family left in 1837. Near the church door was a box +with a notice stating that the congregation was small and the people +poor, and asking for contributions to be used in keeping the church in +repair. The grange, near the rectory, is occupied by the squire who owns +the birthplace, it is a weatherbeaten building of brick and gray stone +and perhaps the "gray old grange" referred to in "In Memoriam." +Altogether, Somersby is one of the quietest and most charming of places. +Aside from its connection with the great poet, it would be well worthy +of a visit as a bit of rural England. Scattered about are several great +English elms, which were no doubt large trees during the poet's boyhood, +a hundred years ago.</p> + +<p>For a long distance our road from Somersby to Boston ran on the crest of +a hill, from which we had a far-reaching view over the lovely +Lincolnshire country. Shortly after, we left the hills and found +ourselves again in the fen country. Many miles before we reached Boston +we saw the great tower of St. Botolph's Church, in some respects the +most<span class="pagenum"><a id="page214" name="page214"></a>Pg 214</span> remarkable in England. They give it the inartistic and +inappropriate appellation of "The Stump," due to the fact that it rises +throughout its height of more than three hundred feet without much +diminution in size. So greatly does this tower dominate the +old-fashioned city that one is in danger of forgetting that there is +anything else in Boston, and though it is a place little frequented by +Americans, there are few quainter towns in England. Several hundred +years ago it was one of the important seaports, but it lost its position +because the river on which it is situated is navigable only by small +vessels at high tide.</p> + +<p>Boston is of especial interest to Americans on account of its great +namesake in this country and because it was the point from which the +Pilgrim Fathers made their first attempt to reach America. Owing to +pestilence and shipwreck, they were compelled to return, and later they +sailed in the Mayflower on a more successful voyage from Plymouth. We +can get a pretty good idea of the reasons which led the Pilgrim Fathers +to brave everything to get away from their home land. One may still see +in the old town hall of Boston the small, windowless stone cells where +the Fathers were confined during the period of persecution against the +Puritans. Evidently they did not lay their sufferings against the town +itself, or they would hardly have given the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page215" name="page215"></a>Pg 215</span> name to the one they +founded in the New World. Boston is full of ancient structures, among +them Shodfriars Hall, one of the most elaborate half-timbered buildings +in the Kingdom. The hotels are quite in keeping with the dilapidation +and unprogressiveness of the town and there is no temptation to linger +longer than necessary to get an idea of the old Boston and its +traditions.</p> + +<p>The country through which we traveled next day is level and apparently +productive fanning land. The season had been unusually dry and favorable +to the fen land, as this section is called. The whole country between +Boston and Norwich has scarcely a hill and the numerous drains showed +that it is really a reclaimed marsh. In this section English farming +appeared at its best. The crops raised in England and Scotland consist +principally of wheat, oats and various kinds of grasses. Our Indian corn +will not ripen and all I saw of it was a few little garden patches. The +fen country faintly reminds one of Holland, lying low and dotted here +and there with huge windmills. As a matter of curiosity, we visited one +of the latter. The miller was a woman, and with characteristic English +courtesy she made us acquainted with the mysteries of the ancient mill, +which was used for grinding Indian corn for cattle-feed.</p> + +<p>Our route for the day was a circuitous one, as there were numerous +points that we wished to visit<span class="pagenum"><a id="page216" name="page216"></a>Pg 216</span> before coming to Norwich for the night. +A broad, level road leads from Boston to King's Lynn, a place of +considerable size. Its beginning is lost in antiquity, and a recent +French writer has undertaken to prove that the first settlement of +civilized man in Britain was made at this point. We entered the town +through one of the gateways, which has no doubt been obstructing the +main highway for several hundred years. It is a common thing in the +English towns to find on the main street one of the old gates, the +opening through which will admit but one vehicle at a time, often making +it necessary to station a policeman on each side to see that there are +no collisions. But the gateways have been standing for ages and it would +be sacrilege to think of tearing them down to facilitate traffic. Just +outside King's Lynn we passed Sandringham Palace, a spacious modern +country house and one of the favorite homes of the Royal Family.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image33" name="image33"> + <img src="images/33.jpg" + alt="ST. BOTOLPH'S CHURCH FROM THE RIVER, BOSTON." + title="ST. BOTOLPH'S CHURCH FROM THE RIVER, BOSTON." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">ST. BOTOLPH'S CHURCH FROM THE RIVER, BOSTON.</span> +</div> + +<p>A few hours through winding byways brought us to the village of Burnham +Thorpe, the birthplace of Admiral Nelson. It is a tiny hamlet, whose +mean-looking, straggling cottages with red tiles lack the artistic +beauty of the average English village—the picturesque, thatched roofs +and brilliant flower gardens were entirely wanting. The admiral was the +son of the village rector, but the parsonage in which he was born was +pulled down many years ago.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page217" name="page217"></a>Pg 217</span> Still standing, and kept in good repair, +is the church where his father preached. The lectern, as the +pulpit-stand in English churches is called, was fashioned of oak taken +from Nelson's flagship, the Victory. The father is buried in the +churchyard and a memorial to Nelson has been erected in the church. The +tomb of the admiral is in St. Paul's Cathedral in London.</p> + +<p>From Burnham Thorpe on the way to Norwich are the scant ruins of the +priory of Walsingham. In its palmy days this was one of the richest in +the world, and it is said that it was visited by more pilgrims than was +the shrine of Becket at Canterbury. In every instance a gift was +expected from the visitor, and as a consequence the monks fared +sumptuously. Among these pilgrims were many of the nobility and even +kings, including Henry VIII, who, after visiting the priory as a votary +in the early part of his reign, ordered its complete destruction in +1539. This order was evidently carried out, for only shattered fragments +of the ruins remain to show how splendid the buildings must once have +been.</p> + +<p>Walsingham is an unusually quaint little village, with a wonderful, +ancient town pump of prodigious height and a curious church with a tall +spire bent several degrees from the perpendicular. Near the priory are +two springs, styled Wishing Wells, which were believed to have +miraculous power, the legend<span class="pagenum"><a id="page218" name="page218"></a>Pg 218</span> being that they sprang into existence at +the command of the Virgin. This illustrates one of the queer and not +unpleasing features of motoring in England. In almost every +out-of-the-way village, no matter how remote or small and how seldom +visited by tourists, one runs across no end of quaint landmarks and +historic spots with accompanying incidents and legends. Twenty miles +more through a beautiful country brought us in sight of the cathedral +spire of Norwich. This city has a population of about one hundred and +twenty thousand and there is a unique charm in its blending of the +mediaeval and modern. It is a progressive city with large business and +manufacturing interests, but these have not swept away the charm of the +old-time town. The cathedral is one of the most imposing in England, +being mainly of Norman architecture and surmounted by a graceful spire +more than three hundred feet in height. Norwich also presents the +spectacle of a modern cathedral in course of building, a thing that we +did not see elsewhere in England. The Roman Catholic Church is +especially strong in this section, and under the leadership of the Duke +of Norfolk has undertaken to build a structure that will rival in size +and splendor those of the olden time. No doubt the modern Catholics bear +in mind that their ancestors built all the great English churches and +cathedrals and that these were lost to them at the time of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page219" name="page219"></a>Pg 219</span> +so-called Reformation of Henry VIII. Religious toleration does not +prevail to any such extent in England as in the United States and there +is considerable bitterness between the various sects.</p> + +<p>Speaking of new cathedrals, while several are being built by the Roman +Catholics, only one is under construction by the Church of England—the +first since the days of the Stuarts. This is at Liverpool and the +foundations have barely been begun. The design for the cathedral was a +competitive one selected from many submitted by the greatest architects +in the world. The award was made to Gilbert Scott, a young man of only +twenty-one and a grandson of the famous architect of the same name who +had so much to do with the restoration of several of the cathedrals. The +Liverpool church is to be the greatest in the Kingdom, even exceeding +York Minster and St. Paul's in size. No attempt is made to fix the time +when the building will be completed, but the work will undoubtedly +occupy several generations.</p> + +<p>In Norwich we stopped at the Maid's Head Hotel, one of the noted +old-time English hostelries. It has been in business as a hotel nearly +five hundred years and Queen Elizabeth was its guest while on one of her +visits to the city of Norwich. Despite its antiquity, it is thoroughly +up-to-date and was one of the most comfortable inns that we found +anywhere. No doubt this is considerably due to a large modern<span class="pagenum"><a id="page220" name="page220"></a>Pg 220</span> addition, +which has been built along the same lines as the older portion. Near the +cathedral are other ancient structures among which are the two gateways, +whose ruins still faintly indicate their pristine splendor of carving +and intricate design. The castle, at one time a formidable fortress, has +almost disappeared. "Tombland" and "Strangers' Hall" are the +appellations of two of the finest half-timbered buildings that we saw. +The newer portions of Norwich indicate a prosperous business town and it +is supplied with an unusually good street-car system. Most of the larger +English cities are badly off in this particular. York, for instance, a +place of seventy-five thousand, has but one street-car line, three or +four miles in length, on which antiquated horse-cars are run at +irregular intervals.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page221" name="page221"></a>Pg 221</span></p> +<h2>XIV</h2> + +<h3>PETERBOROUGH, FOTHERINGHAY, ETC</h3> + + +<p>The hundred miles of road that we followed from Norwich to Peterborough +has hardly the suggestion of a hill, though some of it is not up to the +usual English standard. We paused midway at Dereham, whose remarkable +old church is the only one we saw in England that had the bell-tower +built separate from the main structure, though this same plan is +followed in Chichester Cathedral. In Dereham Church is the grave of +Cowper, who spent his last years in the town. The entire end of the nave +is occupied by an elaborate memorial window of stained glass, depicting +scenes and incidents of the poet's life and works. To the rear of the +church is the open tomb of one of the Saxon princesses, and near it is a +tablet reciting how this grave had been desecrated by the monks of Ely, +who stole the relics and conveyed them to Ely Cathedral. Numerous +miracles were claimed to have been wrought by the relics of the +princess, who was famed for her piety. The supposed value of these +relics was the cause of the night raid on the tomb—a practice not +uncommon in the days of monkish supremacy. The bones<span class="pagenum"><a id="page222" name="page222"></a>Pg 222</span> of saint or martyr +had to be guarded with pious care or they were likely to be stolen by +the enterprising churchmen of some rival establishment. Shortly +afterwards, it would transpire that miracles were being successfully +performed by the relics in the hands of the new possessors.</p> + +<p>Leaving the main road a detour of a few miles enabled us to visit +Crowland Abbey shortly before reaching Peterborough. It is a remarkable +ruin, rising out of the flat fen country, as someone has said, "like a +light-house out of the sea." Its oddly shaped tower is visible for +miles, and one wide arch of the nave still stands, so light and airy in +its gracefulness that it seems hardly possible it is built of heavy +blocks of stone. A portion of the church has been restored and is used +for services, but a vast deal of work was necessary to arrest the +settling of the heavy walls on their insecure foundations. The cost of +the restoration must have been very great, and the people of Crowland +must have something of the spirit of the old abbey builders themselves, +to have financed and carried out such a work. Visitors to the church are +given an opportunity to contribute to the fund—a common thing in such +cases. Crowland is a gray, lonely little town in the midst of the wide +fen country. The streets were literally thronged with children of all +ages; no sign of race suicide in this bit of Lincolnshire. Every<span class="pagenum"><a id="page223" name="page223"></a>Pg 223</span>where +is evidence of antiquity—there is much far older than the old abbey in +Crowland. The most notable of all is the queer three-way arched stone +bridge in the center of the village—a remarkable relic of Saxon times. +It seems sturdy and solid despite the thousand or more years that have +passed over it, and is justly counted one of the most curious antiques +in the Kingdom.</p> + +<p>It was late when we left Crowland, and before we had replaced a tire +casing that, as usual, collapsed at an inopportune moment, the long +English twilight had come to an end. The road to Peterborough, however, +is level and straight as an arrow. The right of way was clear and all +conditions gave our car opportunity to do its utmost. It was about ten +o'clock when we reached the excellent station hotel in Peterborough.</p> + +<p>Before the advent of the railroad, Peterborough, like Wells, was merely +an ecclesiastical town, with little excuse for existence save its +cathedral. In the last fifty years, however, the population has +increased five-fold and it has become quite on important trading and +manufacturing center. It is situated in the midst of the richest farm +country in England and its annual wool and cattle markets are known +throughout the Kingdom. The town dates from the year 870, when the first +cathedral minster was built by the order of one of the British +chieftains. The<span class="pagenum"><a id="page224" name="page224"></a>Pg 224</span> present magnificent structure was completed in 1237, +and so far as appearance is concerned, now stands almost as it left the +builder's hands. It is without tower or spire of considerable height and +somewhat disappointing when viewed from the exterior. The interior is +most imposing and the great church is rich in historical associations. +Here is buried Catherine of Aragon, the first queen of Henry VIII, and +the body of the unfortunate Queen of Scots was brought here after her +execution at Fotheringhay. King James I, when he came to the throne, +removed his mother's remains to Westminster Abbey, where they now rest.</p> + +<p>Strangely enough, the builders of the cathedral did not take into +consideration the yielding nature of the soil on which they reared the +vast structure, and as a consequence, a few years ago the central tower +of the building began to give way and cracks appeared in the vaulting +and walls. Something had to be done at once, and at the cost of more +than half a million dollars the tower was taken down from top to +foundation, every stone being carefully marked to indicate its exact +place in the walls. The foundations were carried eleven feet deeper, +until they rested upon solid rock, and then each stone was replaced in +its original position. Restoration is so perfect that the ordinary +beholder would never know the tower had been touched. This incident<span class="pagenum"><a id="page225" name="page225"></a>Pg 225</span> +gives an idea of how the cathedrals are now cared for and at what cost +they are restored after ages of neglect and destruction.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image34" name="image34"> + <img src="images/34.jpg" + alt="A TYPICAL BYWAY." + title="A TYPICAL BYWAY." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">A TYPICAL BYWAY.</span> +</div> + +<p>Peterborough was stripped of most of its images and carvings by +Cromwell's soldiers and its windows are modern and inferior. Our +attention was attracted to three or four windows that looked much like +the crazy-quilt work that used to be in fashion. We were informed that +these were made of fragments of glass that had been discovered and +patched together without any effort at design, merely to preserve them +and to show the rich tones and colorings of the original windows. The +most individual feature of Peterborough is the three great arches on the +west, or entrance, front. These rise nearly two-thirds the height of the +frontage and it is almost a hundred feet from the ground to the top of +the pointed arches. The market square of Peterborough was one of the +largest we had seen—another evidence of the agricultural importance of +the town. Aside from the cathedral there is not much of interest, but if +one could linger there is much worth seeing in the surrounding country.</p> + +<p>The village of Fotheringhay is only nine miles to the west. The +melancholy connection of this little hamlet with the Queen of Scots +brings many visitors to it every year, although there are few relics of +Mary and her lengthy imprisonment now remain<span class="pagenum"><a id="page226" name="page226"></a>Pg 226</span>ing. Here we came the next +morning after a short time on winding and rather hilly byways. It is an +unimportant looking place, this sleepy little village where three +hundred years ago Mary fell a victim to the machinations of her rival, +Elizabeth. The most notable building now standing is the quaint inn +where the judges of the unfortunate queen made their headquarters during +her farcial trial. Of the gloomy castle, where the fair prisoner +languished for nineteen long years, nothing remains except a shapeless +mass of grass covered stone and traces of the old-time moat. Much of the +stone was built into cottages of the surrounding country and in some of +the mansions of the neighborhood may be found portions of the windows +and a few of the ancient mantel pieces. The great oak staircase which +Mary descended on the day of her execution, is built into an old inn at +Oundle, not far away. Thus the great fortress was scattered to the four +winds, but there is something more enduring than stone and mortar,—its +memories linger and will remain so long as the story of English history +is told. King James, by the destruction of the castle, endeavored to +show fitting respect to the memory of his mother and no doubt hoped to +wipe out the recollection of his friendly relations with Queen Elizabeth +after she had caused the death of Mary.</p> + +<p>The school children of Fotheringhay seemed<span class="pagenum"><a id="page227" name="page227"></a>Pg 227</span> quite familiar with its +history and on the lookout for strangers who came to the place. Two or +three of them quickly volunteered to conduct us to the site of the +castle. There was nothing to see after we got there, but our small +guides were thankful for the fee, which they no doubt had in mind from +the first. Mournful and desolate indeed seemed the straggling little +village where three centuries ago "a thousand witcheries lay felled at +one stroke," one of the cruelest and most pitiful of the numberless +tragedies which disfigure the history of England.</p> + +<p>From Fotheringhay we returned to the York road and followed it northward +for about twenty miles. We passed through Woolsthorpe, an unattractive +little town whose distinction is that it was the birthplace of Sir Isaac +Newton. The thatched roof farmhouse where he was born is still standing +on the outskirts of the village. At Grantham, a little farther on, we +stopped for lunch at the "Royal and Angel" Hotel, one of the most +charming of the old-time inns. Like nearly all of these old hostelries, +it has its tradition of a royal guest, having offered shelter to King +Charles I when on his endless wanderings during the Parliamentary wars. +It is a delightful old building, overgrown with ivy, and its +diamond-paned lattice windows, set in walls of time-worn stone, give +evidence to its claims to antiquity.</p> + +<p>We had paused in Grantham on our way to Bel<span class="pagenum"><a id="page228" name="page228"></a>Pg 228</span>voir Castle, about six miles +away, the seat of the Duke of Rutland. This is one of the finest as well +as most strikingly situated of the great baronial residences in England. +Standing on a gently rising hill, its many towers and battlements +looking over the forests surrounding it, this vast pile more nearly +fulfilled our ideas of feudal magnificence than any other we saw. It is +famous for its picture gallery, which contains many priceless originals +by Gainsborough, Reynolds and others. It has always been open to +visitors every week-day, but it chanced at the time that the old duke +was dangerously ill—so ill, in fact, that his death occurred a little +later on—and visitors were not admitted. We were able to take the car +through the great park, which affords a splendid view of the exterior of +the castle.</p> + +<p>Near by is the village of Bottisford, whose remarkable church has been +the burial place of the Manners family for five hundred years and +contains some of the most complete monumental effigies in England. These +escaped the wrath of the Cromwellians, for the Earl of Manners was an +adherent of the Protector. In the market square at Bottisford stand the +old whipping-post and stocks, curious relics of the days when these +instruments were a common means of satisfying justice—or what was then +considered justice. They were made of solid oak timbers and had +withstood the sun and rain of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page229" name="page229"></a>Pg 229</span> two or three hundred years without +showing much sign of decay. Although the whipping-post and stocks used +to be common things in English towns, we saw them preserved only at +Bottisford.</p> + +<p>On leaving Bottisford, our car dashed through the clear waters of a +little river which runs through the town and which no doubt gave it the +name. We found several instances where no attempt had been made to +bridge the streams, which were still forded as in primitive times. In a +short time we reached Newark, where we planned to stop for the +night—but it turned out otherwise. We paused at the hotel which the +guide-book honored with the distinction of being the best in the town +and a courteous policeman of whom we inquired confirmed the statement. +We were offered our choice of several dingy rooms, but a glance at the +time-worn furnishings and unattractive beds convinced us that if this +were Newark's best hotel we did not care to spend the night in Newark. +To the profound disgust of the landlady—nearly all hotels in England +are managed by women—we took our car from the garage and sought more +congenial quarters, leaving, I fear, anything but a pleasant impression +behind us. We paused a few minutes at the castle, which is the principal +object of antiquity in Newark. It often figured in early history; King +John died here—the best thing he ever did—and it<span class="pagenum"><a id="page230" name="page230"></a>Pg 230</span> sustained many +sieges until it was finally destroyed by the Parliamentarians—pretty +effectively destroyed, for there is little remaining except the walls +fronting immediately on the river.</p> + +<p>Though it was quite late, we decided to go on to Nottingham, about +twenty miles farther, where we could be sure of good accommodation. It +seemed easy to reach the city before dark, but one can hardly travel on +schedule with a motor car—at least so long as pneumatic tires are used. +An obstinate case of tire trouble just as we got outside of Newark meant +a delay of an hour or more, and it was after sunset before we were again +started on our journey. There is a cathedral at Southwell, and as we +permitted no cathedral to escape us, we paused there for a short time. +It is a great country church of very unusual architecture, elevated to +the head of a diocese in 1888. The town of Southwell is a retired place +of evident antiquity and will be remembered as having been the home of +Lord Byron and his mother for some time during his youth. The route +which we followed to Nottingham was well off the main highway—a +succession of sharp turns and steep little hills that made us take +rather long chances in our flight around some of the corners. But, +luckily, the way was clear and we came into Nottingham without mishap, +though it became so dark that we were forced to light our lamps—a<span class="pagenum"><a id="page231" name="page231"></a>Pg 231</span> +thing that was necessary only two or three times during our summer's +tour.</p> + +<p>Our route south from Nottingham was over a splendid and nearly level +road that passes through Leicester, one of the most up-to-date business +towns in the Kingdom. I do not remember any place outside of London +where streets were more congested with all kinds of traffic. The town is +of great antiquity, but its landmarks have been largely wiped out by the +modern progress it has made. We did not pause here, but directed our way +to Lutterworth, a few miles farther, where the great reformer, John +Wyclif, made his home, the famous theologian who translated the bible +into English and printed it two hundred years before the time of Martin +Luther. This act, together with his fearless preaching, brought him into +great disfavor with the church, but owing to the protection of Edward +III, who was especially friendly to him, he was able to complete his +work in spite of fierce opposition. Strangely enough, considering the +spirit of his time, Wyclif withstood the efforts of his enemies, lived +to a good old age, and died a natural death. Twenty years afterward the +Roman Church again came into power and the remains of the reformer were +exhumed and burned in the public square of Lutterworth. To still further +cover his memory with obloquy, the ashes were thrown into the clear, +still,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page232" name="page232"></a>Pg 232</span> little river that we crossed on leaving the town. But his +enemies found it too late to overthrow the work he had begun. His +church, a large, massive building with a great, square-topped tower, +stands today much as it did when he used to occupy the pulpit, which is +the identical one from which he preached. A bas-relief in white marble +by the American sculptor, Story, commemorating the work of Wyclif, has +been placed in the church at a cost of more than ten thousand dollars, +and just outside a tall granite obelisk has been erected in his honor. +In cleaning the walls recently, it was discovered that under several +coats of paint there were some remarkable frescoes which, being slowly +uncovered, were found to represent scenes in the life of the great +preacher himself.</p> + +<p>Leaving Lutterworth, we planned to reach Cambridge for the night. On the +way we passed through Northampton, a city of one hundred thousand and a +manufacturing place of importance. It is known in history as having been +the seat of Parliament in the earlier days. A detour of a few miles from +the main road leaving Northampton brought us to Olney, which for twenty +years was the home of William Cowper. His house is still standing and +has been turned into a museum of relics of the poet, such as rare +editions of his books and original manuscripts. The town is a quiet, +sleepy-looking place,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page233" name="page233"></a>Pg 233</span> situated among the Buckinghamshire hills. It is +still known as a literary center and a number of more or less noted +English authors live there at the present time.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image35" name="image35"> + <img src="images/35.jpg" + alt="JOHN WYCLIF'S CHURCH, LUTTERWORTH." + title="JOHN WYCLIF'S CHURCH, LUTTERWORTH." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">JOHN WYCLIF'S CHURCH, LUTTERWORTH.</span> +</div> + +<p>Bedford, only a few miles farther on the Cambridge road, was one of the +best-appearing English towns of the size we had seen anywhere—with +handsome residences and fine business buildings. It is more on the plan +of American towns, for its buildings are not ranged along a single +street as is the rule in England. It is best known from its connection +with the immortal dreamer, John Bunyan, whose memory it now delights to +honor. Far different was it in his lifetime, for he was confined for +many years in Bedford Jail and it was during this imprisonment that he +wrote his "Pilgrim's Progress." At Elstow, a mile from Bedford, we saw +his cottage, a mean-looking little hut with only two rooms. The tenants +were glad to admit visitors as probable customers for postcards and +photographs. The bare monotony of the place was relieved not a little by +the flowers which crowded closely around it.</p> + +<p>Cambridge is about twenty miles from Bedford, and we did not reach it +until after dark. It was Week-End holiday, and we found the main street +packed with pedestrians, through whom we had to carefully thread our way +for a considerable distance before we came to the University Arms. We +found<span class="pagenum"><a id="page234" name="page234"></a>Pg 234</span> this hotel one of the most comfortable and best kept of those +whose hospitality we enjoyed during our tour.</p> + +<p>Cambridge is distinctly a university town. One who has visited Oxford +and gone the rounds will hardly care to make a like tour of Cambridge +unless he is especially interested in English college affairs. It does +not equal Oxford, either in importance of colleges or number of +students. It is a beautiful place, lying on a river with long stretches +of still water where the students practice rowing and where the famous +boat races are held.</p> + +<p>Cambridge is rich in traditions, as any university might be that +numbered Oliver Cromwell among its students. Its present atmosphere and +influences, as well as those of Oxford, are vastly different from those +of the average American school of similar rank; nor do I think that the +practical results attained are comparable to those of our own colleges. +The Rhodes scholarship, so eagerly sought after in America, is not, in +my estimation, of the value that many are inclined to put upon it. Aside +from the fact that caste relegates the winners almost to the level of +charity students—and they told us in Oxford that this is literally +true—it seems to me that the most serious result may be that the +student is likely to get out of touch with American institutions and +American ways of doing things.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page235" name="page235"></a>Pg 235</span></p> +<h2>XV</h2> + +<h3>THE CROMWELL COUNTRY. COLCHESTER.</h3> + + +<p>A distinguished observer, Prof. Goldwin Smith, expressed it forcibly +when he said that the epitaph of nearly every ruined castle in Britain +might be written, "Destroyed by Cromwell." It takes a tour such as ours +to gain something of a correct conception of the gigantic figure of +Oliver Cromwell in English history. The magnitude and the far-reaching +results of his work are coming to be more and more appreciated by the +English people. For a time he was considered a traitor and regicide, but +with increasing enlightenment and toleration, his real work for human +liberty is being recognized by the great majority of his countrymen. It +was only as far back as 1890 that Parliament voted down a proposition to +place a statue of Cromwell on the grounds of the House of Commons; but +two years later sentiment had advanced so much that justice was done to +the memory of the great Protector and a colossal bronze figure was +authorized and erected. I know of no more impressive sight in all +England than this great statue, standing in solitary grandeur near the +Houses of Parliament, representing Crom<span class="pagenum"><a id="page236" name="page236"></a>Pg 236</span>well with sword and bible, and +with an enormous lion crouching at his feet. It divides honor with no +other monument in its vicinity and it seems to stand as a warning to +kingcraft that it must observe well defined limitations if it continues +in Britain. I saw several other statues of Cromwell, notably at +Manchester, Warrington and at St. Ives.</p> + +<p>An incident illustrating the sentiment with which the Protector is now +regarded by the common people came under my own observation. With a +number of other sightseers, we were visiting Warwick Castle and were +being shown some of the portraits and relics relating to Cromwell, when +the question was raised by someone in the party as to his position in +English history. A young fellow, apparently an aspirant for church +honors, expressed the opinion that Cromwell was a traitor and the +murderer of his king. He was promptly taken to task by the old soldier +who was acting as our guide through the castle. He said, "Sir, I can not +agree with you. I think we are all better off today that there was such +a man as Cromwell."</p> + +<p>That appears to be the general sentiment of the people of Great Britain, +and the feeling is rapidly growing that he was distinctly the defender +of the people's rights. True, he destroyed many of the historic castles, +but such destruction was a military necessity. These fortresses, almost +without excep<span class="pagenum"><a id="page237" name="page237"></a>Pg 237</span>tion, were held by supporters of King Charles, who used +them as bases of operation against the Parliamentary Army. If not +destroyed when captured, they were re-occupied by the Royalists and the +work had to be done over again. Therefore Cromwell wisely dismantled the +strongholds when they came into his possession, and generally he did his +work so well that restoration was not possible, even after the Royalists +regained power. The few splendid examples which escaped his +wrath—notably Warwick Castle—fortunately happened at the time to be in +possession of adherents of Parliament. The damage Cromwell inflicted +upon the churches was usually limited to destruction of stone images, +tombs and altars, as savoring of idolatry. This spirit even extended to +the destruction of priceless stained-glass windows, the loss of which we +can not too greatly deplore, especially since the very art of making +this beautiful glass seems to be a lost one.</p> + +<p>At Cambridge we were within easy reach of the scenes of the Protector's +early life. He was born in 1599 at Huntingdon, sixteen miles distant, +and was twenty years a citizen of St. Ives, only a few miles away. He +was a student at Cambridge and for several years was a farmer near Ely, +being a tenant on the cathedral lands. As Ely is only fifteen miles +north of Cambridge, it occurred to us to attend services at the +cathedral there on Sunday morning.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page238" name="page238"></a>Pg 238</span> We followed a splendid road leading +through a beautiful country, rich with fields of grain almost ready for +harvest.</p> + +<p>The cathedral is one of the largest and most remarkable in England, +being altogether different in architecture from any other in the +Kingdom. Instead of a spire, it has a huge, castellated, octagonal +tower, and while it was several hundred years in building, a harmonious +design was maintained throughout, although it exhibits in some degree +almost every style of church architecture known in England. Ely is an +inconsequential town of about seven thousand inhabitants and dominated +from every point of view by the huge bulk of the cathedral. Only a +portion of the space inside the vast building was occupied by seats, and +though the great church would hold many thousands of people if filled to +its capacity, the congregation was below the average that might be found +in the leading churches of an American town the size of Ely. One of the +cathedral officials with whom I had a short talk said that the +congregations averaged small indeed and were growing smaller right +along. The outlook for Ely he did not consider good, a movement being on +foot to cut another diocese from the territory and to make a cathedral, +probably of the great church, at Bury St. Edmunds. In recent years this +policy of creating new dioceses has been<span class="pagenum"><a id="page239" name="page239"></a>Pg 239</span> in considerable vogue in +England, and of course is distasteful to the sections immediately +affected. The services in Ely Cathedral were simpler than usual and were +through well before noon.</p> + +<p>Before returning to Cambridge we visited St. Ives and Huntingdon, both +of which were closely associated with the life of Cromwell. The former +is a place of considerable antiquity, although the present town may be +said to date from 1689, at which time it was rebuilt after being totally +destroyed by fire. One building escaped, a quaint stone structure +erected in the center of the stone bridge crossing the River Ouse and +supposed to have been used as a chapel by the early monks. Cromwell's +connection with St. Ives began in 1628, after he had been elected to +Parliament. He moved here after the dissolution of that body and spent +several years as a farmer. The house which he occupied has disappeared +and few relics remain of his residence in the town. In the market square +is a bronze statue of the Protector, with an inscription to the effect +that he was a citizen of St. Ives for several years. A few miles farther +on is Huntingdon, his birthplace. It is a considerably larger town, but +none of the buildings now standing has any connection with the life of +the Protector. Doubtless the citizens of Huntingdon now recognize that +the manor house where Cromwell was born, which was<span class="pagenum"><a id="page240" name="page240"></a>Pg 240</span> pulled down a +hundred years ago, would be a valuable asset to the town were it still +standing.</p> + +<p>From Huntingdon we returned to Cambridge, having completed a circular +tour of about sixty miles. We still had plenty of time to drive about +Cambridge and to view from the outside the colleges and other places of +interest. The streets are laid out in an irregular manner, and although +it is not a large city—only forty thousand—we had considerable +difficulty in finding our way back to the hotel. The University Arms is +situated on the edge of a large common called "The Field." Here in the +evening were several open-air religious services. One of these was +conducted by the Wesleyans, or Methodists, with a large crowd at the +beginning, but a Salvation Army, with several band instruments, soon +attracted the greater portion of the crowd. We found these open-air +services held in many towns through England and Scotland. They were +always conducted by "dissenting churches"—the Church of England would +consider such a proceeding as too undignified.</p> + +<p>We wished to get an early start from Cambridge next morning, hoping to +reach London that night, and accordingly made arrangements with the head +waiter for an early breakfast. We told him we should probably want it at +7:30, and he looked at us in an incredulous manner. I repeated the +hour,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page241" name="page241"></a>Pg 241</span> thinking he did not understand, but he said he thought at first +we were surely joking. However, he would endeavor to accommodate us. If +we would leave our order that evening he thought he could arrange it at +the time desired, but we could easily see that it was going to upset the +traditions of the staid hotel, for the breakfast hour is never earlier +than nine o'clock. However, we had breakfast at 7:30 and found one other +guest in the room—undoubtedly an American. He requested a newspaper and +was informed that the morning papers were not received at the hotel +until half past ten o'clock, although Cambridge is just fifty miles from +London, or about an hour by train. The curiosity which the average +American manifests to know what happened on the day previous is almost +wanting in the staid and less excitable Britisher.</p> + +<p>We were away from Cambridge by nine o'clock and soon found ourselves in +a country quite different in appearance from any we had yet passed +through. Our route led through Essex to Colchester on the coast. We +passed through several ancient towns, the first of them being Haverhill, +which contributed a goodly number of the Pilgrim Fathers and gave its +name to the town of Haverhill in Massachusetts. It is an old, straggling +place that seems to be little in harmony with the progress of the +Twentieth Century.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page242" name="page242"></a>Pg 242</span></p> + +<p>Our route on leaving Haverhill led through narrow byways, which wind +among the hills with turns so sharp that a close lookout had to be +maintained. We paused at Heddingham, where there is a great church and a +partly ruined Norman castle. The town is made up largely of cottages +with thatched roofs, surrounded by the bright English flower gardens. It +was typical of several other places which we passed on our way. I think +that in no section of England did we find a greater number of +picturesque churches than in Essex, and a collection of photographs of +these, which was secured at Earl's Colne, we prize very highly.</p> + +<p>Colchester is an interesting town, deserving of much longer time than we +were able to stay. It derived its name from King Cole, the "merry old +soul" of the familiar nursery rhyme. It is one of the oldest towns in +England and was of great importance in Roman times. One of the largest +collections of Roman relics in Britain is to be found in the museum of +the castle. There are hundreds of specimens of coin, pottery, jewelry, +statuary, etc., all of which were found in excavations within the city. +The castle is one of the gloomiest and rudest in the Kingdom, and was +largely built of Roman bricks. It is quadrangular in shape, with high +walls from twenty to thirty feet thick surrounding a small court. About +a hundred years ago it was sold to a con<span class="pagenum"><a id="page243" name="page243"></a>Pg 243</span>tractor who planned to tear it +down for the material, but after half completing his task he gave it up, +leaving enough of the old fortress to give a good idea of what it was +like.</p> + +<p>The grim old ruin has many dark traditions of the times when "man's +inhumanity to man" was the rule rather than the exception. Even the +mild, nonresistant Quaker could not escape the bitterest persecution and +in one of the dungeons of Colchester Castle young George Fox was immured +and suffered death from neglect and starvation. This especially +attracted our attention, since the story had been pathetically told by +the speaker at the Sunday afternoon meeting which we attended at Jordans +and which I refer to in the following chapter. While there is a certain +feeling of melancholy that possesses one when he wanders through these +mouldering ruins, yet he often can not help thinking that they deserved +their fate.</p> + +<p>Colchester suffered terribly in Parliamentary wars and only surrendered +to Cromwell after sustaining a seventy-six day siege, many traces of +which may still be seen. There are two or three ancient churches dating +from Saxon times which exhibit some remarkable specimens of Saxon +architecture. Parts of Colchester appeared quite modern and up-to-date, +the streets being beautifully kept, and there were many handsome +residences. Altogether, there is a strange<span class="pagenum"><a id="page244" name="page244"></a>Pg 244</span> combination of the very old +and the modern in Colchester.</p> + +<p>We left this highway at Chelmsford to visit the Greenstead Church near +Chipping-Ongar, about twenty-two miles from London. This is one of the +most curious churches in all England. It is a diminutive building, half +hidden amidst the profusion of foliage, and would hardly attract +attention unless one had learned of its unique construction and +remarkable history. It is said to be the only church in England which is +built with wooden walls, these being made from the trunks of large oak +trees split down the center and roughly sharpened at each end. They are +raised from the ground by a low brick foundation, and inside the spaces +between the trunks are covered with pieces of wood. The rough timber +frame of the roof is fastened with wooden pins. The interior of the +building is quite dark, there being no windows in the wooden walls, and +the light comes in from a dormer window in the roof. This church was +built in the year 1010 to mark the resting place of St. Edmund the +Martyr, whose remains were being carried from Bury to London. The town +of Ongar, near by, once had an extensive castle, of which little +remains, and in the chancel of the church is the grave of Oliver +Cromwell's favorite daughter. A house in High Street was for<span class="pagenum"><a id="page245" name="page245"></a>Pg 245</span> some time +the residence of David Livingstone, the great African explorer.</p> + +<p>From Chipping-Ongar we followed for the third time the delightful road +leading to London, passing through the village of Chigwell, of which I +have spoken at length elsewhere. On coming into London, we found the +streets in a condition of chaos, owing to repairs in the pavement. The +direct road was quite impassable and we were compelled to get into the +city through by-streets—not an easy task. In London the streets do not +run parallel as in many of our American cities. No end of inquiry was +necessary to get over the ten miles after we were in the city before we +reached our hotel. It was not very convenient to make inquiries, either, +when driving in streets crowded to the limit where our car could not +halt for an instant without stopping the entire procession. We would +often get into a pocket behind a slow-moving truck or street car and be +compelled to crawl along for several blocks at the slowest speed.</p> + +<p>It was just sunset when we stopped in front of the Hotel Russell. We had +been absent on our tour six weeks to a day and our odometer registered +exactly 3070 miles. As there were five or six days of the time that we +did not travel, we had averaged about six hundred miles a week during +the tour. The weather had been unusually fine for England;<span class="pagenum"><a id="page246" name="page246"></a>Pg 246</span> we had +perhaps half a dozen rainy days, but only once did it rain heavily. We +had now traveled a total of 4100 miles and had visited the main points +of interest in the Kingdom excepting those in the country south of the +city, where we planned a short tour before sailing. We remained in +London a week before starting on this trip, but during that time I did +not take the car out of the garage. I had come to the conclusion that +outside of Sundays and holidays the nervous strain of attempting to +drive an automobile in the streets of London was such as to make the +effort not worth while.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image36" name="image36"> + <img src="images/36.jpg" + alt="BYRON'S ELM IN CHURCH YARD, HARROW." + title="BYRON'S ELM IN CHURCH YARD, HARROW." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">BYRON'S ELM IN CHURCH YARD, HARROW.</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page247" name="page247"></a>Pg 247</span></p> +<h2>XVI</h2> + +<h3>THE HAUNTS OF MILTON AND PENN</h3> + + +<p>Leaving London by the Harrow road, in course of an hour we came to the +famous college town, which lies about fifteen miles north of the city. +It is known chiefly for its boys' school, which was founded early in the +reign of Queen Elizabeth and at which many great Englishmen received +their early education. The school is situated on the top of a hill, one +of the most commanding positions in the vicinity of London, and on the +very summit is the Norman church. The view from this churchyard is one +of the finest in England. For many miles the fertile valley of the +Thames spreads out like a great park, exhibiting the most pleasing +characteristics of an English landscape. On one side the descent is +almost precipitous, and at the edge, in the churchyard, stands a +gigantic elm—now in the late stages of decay—which still bears the +sobriquet of "Byron's Elm." It is said that Byron, during his days at +Harrow, would sit here for hours at a time and contemplate the beautiful +scene which spread out before him. A descendant of one of the poet's +friends has placed near the spot a brass tablet, in<span class="pagenum"><a id="page248" name="page248"></a>Pg 248</span>scribed with the +somewhat stilted lines, On a Distant view From Harrow Churchyard,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Spot of my youth, whose hoary branches sigh,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Swept by the breeze that fans the cloudless sky;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O! as I trace again thy winding hill,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Mine eyes admire, my heart adores thee still.<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Thou drooping elm! Beneath whose boughs I lay,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And frequent mused the twilight hours away;<br /></span> +<span class="i0">How do thy branches, moaning to the blast,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Invite this bosom to recall the past,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">And seem to whisper, as they gently swell,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">'Take, while thou canst, a lingering, last farewell'"<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>We reached Harrow too late to attend church as we had hoped, the morning +services just closing as we entered the churchyard. We saw everywhere +numbers of students in Sunday garb, and an odd appearance these boys of +from fifteen to eighteen presented in a costume very nearly the +counterpart of an ordinary dress suit, usually set off by a high silk +hat. Harrow is associated with the names of many men who attained high +rank in English history and literature, some of whom strove in their +boyhood days to anticipate immortality by carving their names on the +wooden desks. Among these may still be seen the rudely cut letters of +the names of Byron, Sheridan and Peele.</p> + +<p>The town, which slopes away from the top of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page249" name="page249"></a>Pg 249</span> hill, has an up-to-date +appearance and is a favorite place for suburban residences of wealthy +Londoners. The road leading down the hill from the church turned sharply +out of view, and just as we were beginning the descent a gentleman +hastened to us and cautioned us not to undertake it. He said that +numerous motors had been wrecked in the attempt. We went down by a +roundabout way, but when we came to pass the hill at its foot, we found +it was not nearly so steep as some we had already passed over.</p> + +<p>Two or three hours over narrow and generally bad roads for England +brought us to the village of Chalfont St. Giles, where John Milton made +his residence while writing "Paradise Lost." It is a retired little +place, mere lanes leading into it. The shriek of the railroad train does +not disturb its quietude, the nearest station being several miles away. +The village doubtless appears much as it did in Milton's time, three +hundred years ago, and the cottage which he occupied stands practically +unaltered. A notice posted outside stated that the cottage would not be +shown on Sunday. But such announcements had little terror for us by this +time, and we found no difficulty in gaining admittance to the quaint +little building. It is in the Elizabethan style, with half-timber frame +and sagging tile roof. The windows have small, diamond-shaped panes of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page250" name="page250"></a>Pg 250</span> +leaded glass set in rude iron frames and open on a typical English +flower garden. The villagers purchased the cottage by public +subscription and its preservation is thus fortunately insured. The +tenant acts as caretaker and apparently takes pride in keeping the place +in order. The poet's room, directly on the right when entering, is +rather dark, and has a low-beamed ceiling. There is a wide fireplace +with the old time appliances accompanying it, and one can imagine the +blind poet sitting by his fireside on winter days or enjoying the +sweetness that in summertime came through the antique windows from the +flower garden. Here he dictated "Paradise Lost" to his daughter, who +acted as his secretary. One can not help contrasting the unsurpassed +majesty and dignity of the great poem with the humble and even rude +surroundings of the cottage. Milton came here in 1665 to escape the +plague which was then devastating London. His eldest daughter was at +that time about seventeen years of age, and there is reason to believe +that she was with him during his stay in St. Giles. We were delighted +with the place, for we had seen little else more typical of old-time +England than this cottage, which would have been worth seeing aside from +its connection with the great epic poet. In front was the garden, a +blaze of bright colors, and the walls were half hidden by climbing +rose-vines in full boom—for the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page251" name="page251"></a>Pg 251</span> roses in England stay much later in +the summer than they do with us. The entrance to the cottage fronts on +the garden. There is no door next the street, the great chimney built on +the outside leaving no room for one.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image37" name="image37"> + <img src="images/37.jpg" + alt="MILTON'S ROOM IN COTTAGE AT CHALFONT ST. GILES." + title="MILTON'S ROOM IN COTTAGE AT CHALFONT ST. GILES." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">MILTON'S ROOM IN COTTAGE AT CHALFONT ST. GILES.</span> +</div> + +<p>We were now in the vicinity where William Penn was born and where he +lies buried. We had some trouble in finding Jordans, the little +meeting-house near which is the grave of the Quaker philanthropist. Many +of the people of whom we inquired did not know of its existence, and +after considerable wandering through the byways we learned that we were +within a mile of the place. For this distance we followed a shady lane, +over-arched by trees and so ill kept that it was about as rough motoring +as one will find in England. Directly at the foot of a steep hill we +came upon the meeting-house, nestling in a wooded valley. It had in its +plain simplicity the appearance of an ordinary cottage; with the Quakers +there in no such thing as a church, for they prefer to call their places +of worship simply "meeting-houses." We were surprised to find a number +of people about the chapel and soon learned that we had the good fortune +to arrive on one of the meeting days. These meetings had for years been +held annually, but during the present summer they were being held once a +month. As the Friends are not numerous in this vicinity, many of the +congre<span class="pagenum"><a id="page252" name="page252"></a>Pg 252</span>gation had come from long distances—some from London. We learned +this in conversation with a sweet-faced, quiet-mannered lady who had all +the Quaker characteristics. She said that she and her husband had come +from London that day, most of the way on their cycles; that they had +been in Philadelphia and knew something of America. She presented us to +a benevolent-looking, white-bearded man who afterwards proved to be the +leader of the meeting, simply saying, "Our friends are from Iowa." The +old gentleman pressed us to remain, as the meeting would begin +immediately, and we were delighted to acquiesce. There were about forty +people gathered in the little room, which was not more than fifteen by +twenty feet in size and supplied with the plainest straight-backed +benches imaginable. It was a genuine Quaker meeting. For perhaps half an +hour the congregation sat in perfect silence, and finally the old +gentleman who acted as leader arose and explained—largely for our +benefit, I think, as we were the only strangers present—that this was +the Quaker method of worship. Unless a member of the congregation felt +he had something really worth saying, he waited to speak only "as the +Spirit moved him." I could not help thinking that I had been in many +meetings where, if this rule had been followed, everybody would have +been better off. However, in the course of a few minutes he arose<span class="pagenum"><a id="page253" name="page253"></a>Pg 253</span> again +and began his talk. We had attended many services in England at noted +churches and cathedrals, but for genuine Christianity, true brotherly +love and real inspiration, I think the half hour talk of the old Quaker +was worth them all. We agreed that it was one of our most fortunate +experiences.</p> + +<p>In the churchyard we stood before the grave of William Penn, marked by +the plainest kind of a small headstone and identical with the few others +beside it. We expressed wonder at this, but the lady with whom we had +previously talked explained that it would be inharmonious with the +Quaker idea to erect a splendid monument to any man. For many years the +graves had not been marked at all, but finally it was decided that it +would not be inappropriate to put up plain headstones, all of the same +style, to let visitors know where the great Quaker and his family rest. +And very simple were the inscriptions chiseled upon the stones. All +around the meeting-house is a forest of great trees, and no other +building is in the immediate vicinity. One might almost have imagined +himself at a Quaker service in pioneer times in America, when the +meeting-houses were really as remote and secluded as this one seemed, +rather than within twenty miles of the world's metropolis, in a country +teeming with towns and villages.</p> + +<p>It was about three o'clock when we left Jordans<span class="pagenum"><a id="page254" name="page254"></a>Pg 254</span> with a view of reaching +Oxford, still a good many miles away, by nightfall. In this vicinity are +the Burnham beeches, made known almost everywhere by the camera and the +brush of the artist. A byway runs directly among the magnificent trees, +which we found as imposing as the pictures had represented—sprawling +old trees, many feet in circumference, but none of very great height. +Near by is Stoke-Poges church, whose memory is kept alive by the "Elegy" +of the poet Gray. It is one of the best known of the English country +churches and is visited annually by thousands of people. The poet and +his relatives are buried in the churchyard and the yew tree under which +he is said to have meditated upon the theme of the immortal poem is +still standing, green and thriving. The church, half covered by ivy and +standing against a background of fine trees, presents a beautiful +picture. In the immediate neighborhood a monument has been raised in +memory of Gray—a huge bulk of stone of inartistic and unpleasing +design. The most appropriate monument of the poet is the church itself, +with its yew tree, which is now known wherever the English language is +spoken.</p> + +<p>Two or three miles farther on is Windsor, with its castle, the principal +residence of royalty, and Eton College, its well known school for boys. +This school is more exclusive and better patronized than<span class="pagenum"><a id="page255" name="page255"></a>Pg 255</span> Harrow, and I +was told that it is quite a difficult problem for the average youth to +enter at all. The sons of the nobility and members of the royal family +are given the preference and expenses are so high as to shut out all but +the wealthy. Windsor Castle is the most imposing of its kind in the +world. It is situated on the Thames River, about twenty miles from +London. Crowning a gently rising hill, its massive towers and +battlements afford a picturesque view from almost anywhere in the +surrounding country and especially from points of vantage in the park, +where one can catch glimpses of the fortress through some of the avenues +of magnificent trees. On a clear day, when the towers of the castle are +sharply outlined against the sky and surmounted by the brightly colored +royal standards, one might easily imagine himself back in the good old +days of knight-errantry. Windsor is shown to visitors at any time when +the royal family is not in residence. Queen Victoria and Albert, the +Prince Consort, are buried in Frogmore Park, near by, but the tombs are +sacredly guarded from the public. The grounds surrounding the castle are +laid out in flower gardens and parks, and the forest of more than seven +thousand acres is the finest in England. It is one of the royal +preserves where the king occasionally goes hunting, but it really serves +more the purpose of a great public park. There are many splen<span class="pagenum"><a id="page256" name="page256"></a>Pg 256</span>did drives +through the forest open to everybody, the main one leading straight away +from the castle gates for about four miles and terminating at an +equestrian statue of George the Third, of more or less happy memory.</p> + +<p>A broad road leads from Windsor to Oxford; it is almost straight and +without hills of consequence. It is a favorite route for motorists, and +at several points were stationed bicycle couriers of the Motor Union to +give warning for police traps. These guards patrolled the road and +carried circular badges, red on one side and white on the other. If the +white side were shown to the passing motorist, the road ahead was clear; +but the red was a caution for moderate speed for several miles. This +system, which we found in operation in many places, is the means of +saving motor drivers from numerous fines. The bicycle courier receives a +fee very thankfully and no doubt this constitutes his chief source of +revenue for service rendered.</p> + +<p>About ten miles from Oxford we passed through Henley-on-Thames, famed +for the University rowing-matches. Here the river lies in broad still +stretches that afford an ideal place for the contests. The Thames is +navigable for small steamboats and houseboats from London to Oxford, a +distance of sixty miles, and the shores of the stream throughout afford +scenes of surpassing beauty. Just at sunset the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page257" name="page257"></a>Pg 257</span> towers of Oxford +loomed in the distance, and it was easy to recognize that of Magdalen +College, which rises to a height of two hundred feet. Though Oxford is +one of the older of the English towns, parts of it seemed as up-to-date +as any we had seen, and the Randolph Hotel compared favorably with the +best we found anywhere.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image38" name="image38"> + <img src="images/38.jpg" + alt="DISTANT VIEW OF MAGDALEN TOWER, OXFORD." + title="DISTANT VIEW OF MAGDALEN TOWER, OXFORD." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">DISTANT VIEW OF MAGDALEN TOWER, OXFORD.</span> +</div> + +<p>The time which a tourist will devote to Oxford will depend upon his +point of view. To visit the forty-four colleges in detail and to give +any time to each would manifestly require several days—if not +weeks—and especially would this be true if one were interested to any +extent in student life in the University. Manifestly, people touring +England in a motor car do not belong to the class described. In order to +get the most out of the trip, there is a constant necessity for moving +on. By an economical use of time, one may gain a fair idea of Oxford in +a few hours. This was what we had done on a previous trip and +consequently we spent little time in the city on our second visit, +merely remaining over night. I think the method we pursued would be the +most practical for anyone who desires to reach the most interesting +points of the town in the shortest time. We engaged an experienced +hack-driver, who combined with his vocation the qualities of a well +informed guide as well. We told him of our limited time and asked him to +make the most of it<span class="pagenum"><a id="page258" name="page258"></a>Pg 258</span> by taking us about the universities, stopping at +such as would give us the best idea of the schools and of university +life. He did this to our satisfaction, and as we passed the various +institutions his comments gave us a general idea of each. He stopped at +some of the more noted colleges, where we often found guides who +conducted us about the buildings and grounds. Perhaps Magdalen College +is as interesting as any. Its fine quadrangular tower is one of the +landmarks of the city, and they will tell you of the quaint custom that +has prevailed for many centuries of celebrating May Day morning with +music from the top of the tower by a choir of boys. Magdalen has its +park and gardens, and Addison's Walk—a pathway extending for +considerable distance between an avenue of fine trees beside a clear +little river—is reputed to have been a haunt of the great essayist when +a student at the University. Next to Magdalen, the most celebrated +colleges are New College, Christ Church and Merton. At the first of +these Cecil Rhodes was a student, and the great promoter must have had a +warm feeling for the University, since his bequest has thrown open the +various colleges to more than a hundred students from all parts of the +world, but principally from the United States. Practically all of the +students have their quarters in connection with the colleges and meals +are served in public dining rooms.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page259" name="page259"></a>Pg 259</span></p> + +<p>Aside from its colleges, there is much else of interest in and about +Oxford. The castle, of which there are scant remains, is one of the very +oldest in England and has a varied and often stirring history. During +the Parliamentary War, Oxford was one of the strongholds of the king and +underwent many sieges from Cromwell's army—which was responsible for +the final destruction of the castle. As a seat of learning, the town +dates from the time of Alfred, who was born at Wantage, only twenty +miles away. Naturally, Oxford was always prominent in ecclesiastical +affairs and during the reign of Mary the three bishops of the English +church suffered martyrdom there. In one of the public places of the city +stands a tall Gothic monument commemorating the services of these men +and incidentally putting severe strictures on the "errors" of the Roman +church. The language in which this latter clause is stated caused a +storm of protest when the monument was erected, but it had no more +effect than did the protest against the iron-clad, anti-Catholic +coronation oath of the king. The Bodleian Library, located in Oxford, is +the greatest in England, with the exception of the library of the +British Museum.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page260" name="page260"></a>Pg 260</span></p> +<h2>XVII</h2> + +<h3>A CHAPTER OF DIVERS PLACES AND EXPERIENCES</h3> + + +<p>Ten miles north of Oxford is Woodstock, near which is Blenheim Palace, +the seat of the Dukes of Marlborough. This great estate and imposing +mansion was presented by Act of Parliament to the first Duke of +Marlborough in recognition of the victory which he won over the French +at Blenheim. The architect who prepared the plans for the great +structure was the famous Sir John Vanbrugh, who was so noted for the +generally low heavy effect of his creations. While he was still alive a +wit proposed a satirical epitaph in the couplet,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i0">"Lie heavy on him, Earth, for he<br /></span> +<span class="i0">Laid many a heavy load on thee."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>So enormous was the cost of the palace and estate that the half million +pounds sterling voted by parliament was not sufficient and more than +sixty thousand pounds of the great Duke's private fortune went into it +as well. In his fondness for state and display, he was quite the +opposite of the other great national hero, the Duke of Wellington, who +was satisfied with the greatest simplicity and preferred cash to +expensive palaces and great estates. As a<span class="pagenum"><a id="page261" name="page261"></a>Pg 261</span> consequence, the Dukes of +Marlborough have been land-poor for several generations and until +recently Blenheim Palace seemed in a fair way to be added to the already +long list of ruins in Britain. Something has lately been done in the way +of repair and restoration, but there are many evidences of decay still +apparent.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image39" name="image39"> + <img src="images/39.jpg" + alt="RINGWOOD CHURCH." + title="RINGWOOD CHURCH." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">RINGWOOD CHURCH.</span> +</div> + +<p>Blenheim Palace has been shorn of many of its treasures, among them the +great Sunderland Library of 80,000 volumes, sold at auction some years +ago. Many valuable objects of art still remain, especially family +portraits by nearly every great artist from Gainsborough to Sargent, and +there is much fine statuary. The tapestries, in the state rooms, +illustrating the achievements of the first Duke, are especially +remarkable and were made in Belgium under his directions. But from the +English view-point, no doubt the original documents pertaining to the +Duke are most notable; among these is the modest note which he addressed +to Queen Anne from Blenheim, announcing his "famous victory."</p> + +<p>The park is one of the largest in England, but it showed many evidences +of neglect and slovenly care. Some of the worst looking cattle I saw in +England obstructed the ornamental stone bridge that crosses the stream +flowing into a large artificial lake within the park. The driveways were +not kept in<span class="pagenum"><a id="page262" name="page262"></a>Pg 262</span> the perfect manner that is characteristic of the English +private park. Despite these evidences of neglect, the beauty of the +place was little impaired. There are some of the finest oak trees in +England and down by the lake are groups of magnificent cedars through +whose branches the bright water shimmered in the sunshine. As we circled +about the park, the distant views of the palace well bore out its +reputation of being one of the stateliest private homes in the Kingdom. +Our guide pointed out the spot where once stood the manor-house of +Woodstock, torn down about a hundred years ago. In this house Princess +Elizabeth was held a prisoner for a time by her sister, Queen Mary, but +it is best known from the story of Walter Scott, who located here the +principal scenes of "Woodstock."</p> + +<p>The town of Woodstock has a long line of traditions, but shows little +evidence of modern progress. It is a quiet, old-world little place with +clean streets and many fine trees. Tradition asserts that the father of +English poetry, Geoffrey Chaucer, was born here and the old house, +alleged to be his birthplace, still stands in Park Street. However, the +poet himself declares that London was his native city and the confiding +tourist is left with the necessity of balancing the poet's own assertion +on this important point against that of the Woodstock guide books. In +any event, Chaucer<span class="pagenum"><a id="page263" name="page263"></a>Pg 263</span> certainly lived in Woodstock—very likely in the +house assigned to him today. The town was also a residence of the Saxon +kings, and here are many legends of Henry II and Fair Rosamond. Perhaps +its most distinguished resident, however, was Oliver Cromwell, who put +up at an inn, now a private house, while his army battered down the old +palace as described by Scott.</p> + +<p>We returned from Woodstock to Oxford and from there directed our course +to Wantage, the birthplace of King Alfred the Great and, I might +incidentally remark, at that time the residence of a well known +expatriated New York City politician. This latter distinction did not +occur to us until after we had left the town, and therefore we failed to +make inquiries as to how this gentleman was regarded by his +fellow-citizens of Oxfordshire. In this connection, soon afterwards I +saw an amusing report in the newspapers stating that a libel suit had +been brought against a British magazine for having published an article +in which the ex-boss was spoken of in an uncomplimentary manner. The +report stated that the case had been settled, the magazine editor paying +the legal costs and retracting what he had said, as well as publishing +an apology for the attack. Here we have an example of the British idea +of the sacredness of private character. This politician while in America +was almost daily ac<span class="pagenum"><a id="page264" name="page264"></a>Pg 264</span>cused by the newspapers of every crime in the +calendar and never thought it worth while to enter a denial. No sooner +is he fairly established in England than he brings suit against a +magazine whose charges appear to have been of the mildest character. One +seldom sees in English newspapers the violent attacks on individuals and +the severe denunciations of public men so common in American journals. +If the editor forgets himself, as in the case cited, suit for libel is +sure to be brought and often proves a serious thing. While this to some +extent may obstruct the freedom of the press, it is nevertheless a +relief to miss the disgraceful and unwarranted attacks on public men +that continually fill the columns of many American newspapers.</p> + +<p>The road from Oxford to Wantage is a splendid one, running through a +beautiful country and bordered much of the way with ancient trees. +Wantage is a quiet town, lying at the foot of the hills, and is chiefly +noted as the birthplace of the great Saxon king. A granite statute of +Alfred stands in the market square, representing the king with the +charter of English liberties in one hand and a battle-ax in the other. +As he was born more than a thousand years ago, there are no buildings +now standing that were connected with his history. The church is +probably the oldest building—a fine example of early English +architecture. Near it is<span class="pagenum"><a id="page265" name="page265"></a>Pg 265</span> buried the wife of Whittington, "Lord Mayor of +Londontown." Dr. Butler, the theologian and author of "The Analogy," was +born in the town and this house is still to be seen.</p> + +<p>Leaving Wantage, the road to Reading runs along the crest of the hills, +and on either side from the breezy uplands, the green fields, dashed +with the gold of the ripening harvest, stretched away for many miles. +This was one of the few spots in England where the view was unobstructed +by fences of any kind, and while the average English hedge-row is not +unpleasing, the beauty of the landscape in this instance certainly did +not suffer by its absence. From Kingston-on-Thames, the perfectly kept +road closely follows the river. Reading has a population of about one +hundred and twenty thousand and is a place of considerable business +activity. Though the city has a history stretching back to ancient +times, most of the evidences of antiquity have disappeared in modern +progress. It was chosen as the seat of Elizabeth's parliament when the +plague was devastating London. Fragments of the old abbey hall in which +this parliament met still remain and the gateway was restored a few +years ago. Reading offered a stout resistance to the Commonwealth and +suffered severely at Cromwell's hands. Its chief industries today are +biscuit making and seed farming, which give employment to ten thousand +people.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page266" name="page266"></a>Pg 266</span></p> + +<p>From Reading, a few miles through byways brought us to Eversley, a +retired village five miles from a railway station, where the church and +rectory of Charles Kingsley may be seen. The church is picturesquely +situated on the hillside, with an avenue of fine yew trees leading from +the gate to the door. The building has been altered a good deal since +Kingsley was rector, but the pulpit from which he preached is +practically the same. The rectory, which is directly by the church, is a +very old building, though it has been modernized on the side fronting +the road. It stands in the midst of a group of Scotch firs which were +great favorites with Kingsley. Their branches almost touch the earth, +while their huge trunks form a strong contrast with the dense green of +the foliage. Kingsley and his wife are buried in the churchyard on the +side nearest the firs. The graves are marked by a simple Runic cross in +white marble bearing the names, the date, and the legend, "God is Love." +Eversley and its surroundings are thoroughly typical of rural England. A +quieter and more retired little place could hardly be imagined. One +wonders why the great novelist and preacher spent so many years of his +life here. It may have been that the seclusion was not a little +conducive to his successful literary labors.</p> + +<p>Thirty miles farther over main-traveled highways brought us for a second +time to Winchester. Here<span class="pagenum"><a id="page267" name="page267"></a>Pg 267</span> we stopped for the night after an unusually +long run. An early start soon brought us to Southampton, which is known +everywhere as a port of arrival and departure of great merchant steamers +and which, aside from its commercial importance, is one of the most +ancient and interesting cities in the Kingdom. The most notable relic is +a portion of the Saxon wall, the part known as the "Arcade," built in a +series of arches, being the most remarkable. Close by, in a little +street called Blue Anchor Lane, is a house reputed to have been the +palace of King John and said to be the oldest in England, although +several others contest that distinction. At the head of Blue Anchor Lane +is a picturesque Tudor house, once the residence of Henry VIII and his +queen, Anne Boleyn. This is open to visitors and we were shown every +part of the house by the tenant, who is also custodian. With all its +magnificence of carved oak and wide fireplaces, it must have been a +comfortless dwelling measured by more modern ideas.</p> + +<p>Leaving the city, we crossed Southampton Water on a steam ferry which +was guided by a chain stretched from bank to bank. Two or three miles to +the southward lies Netley, a small village with the remains of an abbey +dating from the reign of Henry I. The road to Netley followed the shore +closely, but on nearing the village suddenly entered an avenue of fine +trees which so effectually concealed<span class="pagenum"><a id="page268" name="page268"></a>Pg 268</span> the ruin that we stopped directly +opposite the abbey to inquire its whereabouts. Leaving the car standing +in the road, we spent a quarter of an hour wandering about the ruin and +trying to locate the various apartments from a hand-book. The custodian +here did not act as a guide, and we were left to figure out for +ourselves the intricacies of nave, refectory, cloister, etc. Only the +ivy-covered walls of the building are now standing, but these are in an +unusual state of completeness. The chapel or church was cruciform in +shape and built in the early English style. The walls of the west end +have practically disappeared, but the great east window is fairly well +preserved and its most remarkable feature is its two beautifully +proportioned lights, the stone tracery of which remains almost intact. A +legend in connection with this abbey no doubt grew out of the desire of +some of the people to prevent the destruction of the beautiful building. +After the abbey had been dismantled, the church was sold to a +contractor, who proceeded to tear it down for the material. He was +warned in a dream by the appearance of a monk not to proceed with the +work, but disregarded the warning and was killed by the falling of a +portion of the wall. If incidents of this kind had happened more +frequently England would no doubt be richer in historic buildings.</p> + +<p>We were preparing to leave Netley when a man<span class="pagenum"><a id="page269" name="page269"></a>Pg 269</span> in plain clothes +approached us, and civilly touching his hat, inquired if I were the +owner of the motor car. I confessed that I was and he stated he was an +officer and regretted that he would have to report me to the police +captain for leaving the car standing on a public walk. I had +inadvertantly left the machine so that it partially obstructed the +narrow gravel walk alongside the road, and some of the citizens had no +doubt complained to the officer. We were naturally enough much +chagrined, not knowing how much inconvenience and delay this incident +might cause. The constable took my name and the number of the car and +said I could report the circumstance myself to the captain of the +police. I desired him to accompany me to call on this dignitary, but he +did not seem at all anxious for the job.</p> + +<p>This is the general procedure in England. An arrest is very seldom made +in a case of this kind. The officer simply takes the name and number and +the motorist can call on the proper official himself. The police system +is so perfect that it would be quite useless to attempt to run away, as +would happen if such a system were pursued in this country. If, in the +judgment of the police official, the case should come to trial, a +summons is served on the offender and the date is set. This is what I +feared might happen in this case, and as it was within a<span class="pagenum"><a id="page270" name="page270"></a>Pg 270</span> week of our +sailing time, I could imagine that it might cause a great deal of +inconvenience.</p> + +<p>I found the police captain's office in a neatly kept public building +with a flower garden in front of it. I put the case to the captain, and +after he had learned all the particulars he hastened to assure me that +he would waive prosecution of the offense. He said some of the people in +Netley were prejudiced against motors and no doubt were annoyed by the +numerous tourists who came there to visit the abbey. Thus all the +difficulties I had conjured up faded away and I had a pleasant +conversation with the captain, who was a thorough gentleman. He said +that the motor car was detested by many people, and no doubt with reason +in some cases; but it had come to stay and forbearance and common sense +were needed on part of motorist and the public generally. Much of the +trouble, he stated, is due to reckless motorists who disregard the +rights of other people. The week previous they had considerable +difficulty in his district with an American who drove his car recklessly +and defied regulations, and it was such performances that were +responsible for the prejudice against the motor. This incident was my +only personal experience with the British police in official capacity, +barring a friendly admonition or two in London when I managed to get on +the right side of<span class="pagenum"><a id="page271" name="page271"></a>Pg 271</span> the road—which is literally the wrong side in +Britain.</p> + +<p>The English police, taken as a whole, is unquestionably the most +efficient and best disciplined in the world. A policeman's authority is +never questioned in England and his raised hand is a signal that never +goes unheeded. He has neither club nor revolver and seldom has need for +these weapons. He is an encyclopedia of information, and the cases where +he lent us assistance both in directing us on our road and informing us +as to places of interest, literally numbered hundreds. He is a believer +in fair play and seldom starts out of his own accord to make anyone +trouble. It is not the policeman, but the civil officials who are +responsible for the police traps which in many places are conducted in a +positively disreputable manner, the idea being simply to raise revenue +regardless of justice and without discrimination among the offenders. +Graft among British policemen is unknown and bribery altogether unheard +of. Of course their task is easier than that of the average American +policeman, on account of the greater prevalence of the law-abiding +spirit among the people. One finds policemen everywhere. Even the +country districts are carefully patrolled. The escape of a law-breaker +is a difficult if not impossible thing. One seldom hears in England of a +motorist running away and leaving the scene of an<span class="pagenum"><a id="page272" name="page272"></a>Pg 272</span> accident that he has +caused. Another thing that greatly helps the English policeman in his +work is that a captured criminal is not turned loose again as is often +the case in this country. Justice is surer and swifter in England, and +as a consequence crime averages less than in most parts of the States. +The murders committed yearly in Chicago outnumber many times those of +London, which is three times as large. The British system of +administering justice is one that in many particulars we could imitate +to advantage in this country.</p> + +<p>After bidding farewell to my friend the police captain and assuring him +I was glad that our acquaintance terminated so quickly and happily, we +proceeded on our way towards Chichester. The road for a distance of +twenty-five miles led through an almost constant succession of towns and +was frightfully dusty. The weather was what the natives call "beastly +hot," and really was as near an approach to summer as we had experienced +so far.</p> + +<p>The predominating feature of Chichester is its cathedral, which dates +from about 1100. It suffered repeatedly from fires and finally underwent +complete restoration, beginning in 1848. The detached bell-tower is +peculiar to the cathedral. This, although the most recent part of the +building, appeared to be crumbling away and was undergoing extensive +repairs. The cathedral is one of lesser<span class="pagenum"><a id="page273" name="page273"></a>Pg 273</span> importance among the great +English churches, though on the whole it is an imposing edifice.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image40" name="image40"> + <img src="images/40.jpg" + alt="A SURREY LANDSCAPE." + title="A SURREY LANDSCAPE." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">A SURREY LANDSCAPE.<br />From Painting by D. Sherrin.</span> +</div> + +<p>At Chichester we stopped for lunch at the hotel, just opposite the +cathedral, where we had an example of the increasing tendency of hotel +managers to recoup their fortunes by special prices for the benefit of +tourists. On entering the dining room we were confronted with large +placards conveying the cheerful information that luncheon would cost +five shillings, or about $1.25 each. Evidently the manageress desired +the victims to be prepared for the worst. There was another party in the +dining room, a woman with five or six small children, and a small riot +began when she was presented with a bill of five shillings for each of +them. The landlady, clad in a low-necked black dress with long sweeping +train, was typical of many we saw in the old-country hotels. She +received her guest's protest with the utmost hauteur, and when we left +the altercation was still in progress. It was not an uncommon thing in +many of the dingiest and most unpretentious hotels to find some of the +women guests elaborately dressed for dinner in the regulation low neck +and long train. In many cases the example was set by the manageress and +her assistants, though their attire not infrequently was the worse for +long and continuous use.</p> + +<p>Directly north of Chichester lie the picturesque<span class="pagenum"><a id="page274" name="page274"></a>Pg 274</span> hills of Surrey, which +have not inaptly been described as the play-ground of London. The +country around Chichester is level bordering on the coast. A few miles +to the north it becomes rough and broken. About twenty miles in this +direction is Haselmere, with many associations of George Eliot and +Tennyson. This, together with the picturesque character of the country, +induced us to turn our course in that direction, although we found a +number of steep hills that were as trying as any we had met with. On the +way we passed through Midhurst, one of the quaintest of Surrey towns, +situated on a hill so steep and broken as to be quite dangerous. Not far +from this place is the home of Richard Cobden, the father of English +free trade, and he is buried in the churchyard near the town. He was +evidently held in high regard in his time, for his house, which is still +standing, was presented him by the nation. Among the hills near the town +are several stately English country houses, and about half a mile +distant are the ruins of Cowdray mansion, which about a hundred years +ago was one of the most pretentious of all. There was an old tradition +which said that the house and family should perish by fire and water, +and it was curiously enough fulfilled when the palace burned and the +last lord of the family was drowned on the same day.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image41" name="image41"> + <img src="images/41.jpg" + alt="WINDMILL NEAR ARUNDEL, SUSSEX." + title="WINDMILL NEAR ARUNDEL, SUSSEX." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">WINDMILL NEAR ARUNDEL, SUSSEX.</span> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page275" name="page275"></a>Pg 275</span></p> +<h2>XVIII</h2> + +<h3>IN SURREY AND SUSSEX</h3> + + +<p>Twenty miles over a narrow road winding among the hills brought us to +Shottermill, where George Eliot spent much of her time after 1871—a +pleasant little hamlet clinging to a steep hillside. The main street of +the village runs up the hill from a clear little unbridged stream, over +whose pebbly bottom our car dashed unimpeded, throwing a spray of water +to either side. At the hilltop, close to the church, is the +old-fashioned, many-gabled cottage which George Eliot occupied as a +tenant and where she composed her best known story, "Middlemarch." The +cottage is still let from time to time, but the present tenant was away +and the maid who answered us declined to show the cottage in her +mistress' absence—a rather unusual exhibition of fidelity. The village, +the surrounding country, and the charming exterior of the cottage, with +its ivy and climbing roses, were quite enough to repay us for coming +though we were denied a glimpse of the interior.</p> + +<p>Haselmere is only a mile distant—a larger and unusually fine-looking +town with a number of good hotels. It is a center for tourists who come +from<span class="pagenum"><a id="page276" name="page276"></a>Pg 276</span> London to the Hindhead District—altogether one of the most +frequented sections of England. The country is wild and broken, but in +late summer and autumn it is ablaze with yellow gorse and purple heather +and the hills are covered with the graceful Scotch firs. All about are +places of more or less interest and a week could be spent in making +excursions from Haselmere as a center. This country attracted Tennyson, +and here he built his country seat, which he called Aldworth. George +Eliot often visited him at this place. The house is surrounded by a park +and the poet here enjoyed a seclusion that he could not obtain in his +Isle of Wight home. Aldworth belongs to the present Lord Tennyson, son +of the poet, who divides his time between it and Farringford in the Isle +of Wight, and neither of the places are shown to visitors. However, a +really interested party might see the house or even live in it, for we +saw in the window of a real estate man in Haselmere a large photograph +of Aldworth, with a placard announcing that it was to be "let +furnished"—doubtless during the period of the year the owner passes at +Farringford House.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image42" name="image42"> + <img src="images/42.jpg" + alt="ARUNDEL CASTLE." + title="ARUNDEL CASTLE." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">ARUNDEL CASTLE.</span> +</div> + +<p>Much as we wished to tarry in this vicinity, our time was so limited +that we were compelled to hasten on. It was nearly dark when we reached +Arundel, whose castle, the residence of the Duke of Norfolk, was the +stateliest private mansion we saw<span class="pagenum"><a id="page277" name="page277"></a>Pg 277</span> in England. The old castle was +almost dismantled by Cromwell's troops, but nearly a hundred years ago +restoration was begun by the then Duke of Norfolk. It was carried out as +nearly as possible along the lines of the old fortress, but much of the +structure was rebuilt, so that it presents, as a whole, an air of +newness. The great park, one of the finest in England, is open to +visitors, who may walk or drive about at will. The road into the town +leads through this park for many miles. Bordered on both sides by +ancient trees and winding between them in graceful curves, it was one of +the most beautiful that we had seen anywhere.</p> + +<p>We had planned to stop at Arundel, but the promise in our guide-books of +a "level and first-class" road to Brighton, and the fact that a full +moon would light us, determined us to proceed. It proved a pleasant +trip; the greater part of the way we ran along the ocean, which sparkled +and shimmered as it presented a continual vista of golden-hued water +stretching away toward the moon. It was now early in August; the English +twilights were becoming shorter, and for the third time it was necessary +to light the gas-lamps. We did not reach the hotel in Brighton until +after ten o'clock.</p> + +<p>Brighton is probably the most noted seaside resort in England—a +counterpart of our American Atlantic City. It is fifty miles south of +London, within easy<span class="pagenum"><a id="page278" name="page278"></a>Pg 278</span> reach of the metropolis, and many London business +men live here, making the trip every day. The town has a modern +appearance, having been built within the past hundred years, and is more +regularly laid out than the average English city. For two or three miles +fronting the beach there is a row of hotels, some of them most palatial. +The Grand, where we stopped, was one of the handsomest we saw in +England. It has an excellent garage in connection and the large number +of cars showed how important this branch of hotel-keeping had become. +There is no motor trip more generally favored by Londoners than the run +to Brighton, as a level and nearly straight road connects the two +cities. There is nothing here to detain a tourist who is chiefly +interested in historic England. About a hundred years ago the fine sunny +beach was "discovered" and the fishing village of Brightholme was +rapidly transformed into one of the best built and most modern of the +resort towns in England. Its present population of over one hundred +thousand places it at the head of the exclusive watering places, so far +as size is concerned.</p> + +<p>A little to the north of Brighton is Lewes, the county town of Sussex, +rich in relics of antiquity. Its early history is rather vague, but it +is known to have been an important place under the Saxon kings. William +the Conqueror generously presented it to<span class="pagenum"><a id="page279" name="page279"></a>Pg 279</span> one of his followers, who +fortified it and built the castle the ruins of which crown the hill +overlooking the town. The keep affords a vantage point for a magnificent +view, extending in every direction. I had seen a good many English +landscapes from similar points of vantage, notably the castles of +Ludlow, Richmond, Raglan, Chepstow and others, and it seemed strange +that in such a small country there should be so many varying and +distinctly dissimilar prospects, yet all of them pleasing and +picturesque.</p> + +<p>The country around Lewes is hilly and rather devoid of trees. It is +broken in many places by chalk bluffs, and the chalky nature of the soil +was noticeable in the whiteness of the network of country roads. Many +old houses are still standing in the town and one of these is pointed +out as the residence of Anne of Cleves, one of the numerous wives of +Henry VIII. Near the town and plainly visible from the tower is the +battlefield where in 1624 the Battle of Lewes was fought between Henry +VII and the barons, led by Simon de Montfort. Lewes appears to be an +old, staid and unprogressive town. No doubt all the spirit of progress +in the vicinity has been absorbed by the city of Brighton, less than a +dozen miles away. If there has been any material improvement in Lewes +for the past hundred years, it is hardly apparent to the casual +observer.</p> + +<p>We were now in a section of England rich in<span class="pagenum"><a id="page280" name="page280"></a>Pg 280</span> historic associations. We +were nearing the spot where William the Conqueror landed and where the +battle was fought which overthrew the Saxon dynasty—which an eminent +authority declares to have done more to change the history of the +Anglo-Saxon race than any other single event. From Lewes, over crooked, +narrow and rather rough roads, we proceeded to Pevensey, where the +Normans landed nearly a thousand years ago. It is one of the sleepy, +unpretentious villages that dot the southern coast of England, but it +has a history stretching far back of many of the more important cities +of the Kingdom. It was a port of entry in early times and is known to +have been in existence long before the Romans came to Britain. The +Romans called it Anderida, and their city was situated on the site of +the castle. Like other Sussex towns, Pevensey lost its position as a +seaport owing to a remarkable natural movement of the coast line, which +has been receding for centuries. When the Conqueror landed the sea came +up to the castle walls, but now there is a stretch of four miles of +meadowland between the coast and the town.</p> + +<p>The castle, rude and ruinous, shows the work of many centuries, and was +really a great fortress rather than a feudal residence. It has been in a +state of decay for many hundreds of years, but its massive walls, though +ivy-grown and crumbling, still show<span class="pagenum"><a id="page281" name="page281"></a>Pg 281</span> how strongly it was built. It is +now the property of the Duke of Devonshire, who seeks to check further +decay and opens it to the public without charge.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image43" name="image43"> + <img src="images/43.jpg" + alt="PEVENSEY CASTLE, WHERE THE NORMANS LANDED." + title="PEVENSEY CASTLE, WHERE THE NORMANS LANDED." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">PEVENSEY CASTLE, WHERE THE NORMANS LANDED.</span> +</div> + +<p>Battle, with its abbey, is a few miles from Pevensey. This abbey marks +the site of the conflict between the Normans and the Saxons and was +built by the Conqueror on the spot where Harold, the Saxon king, fell, +slain by a Norman arrow. William had piously vowed that if he gained the +victory he would commemorate it by building an abbey, and this was the +origin of Battle Abbey. William took care, however, to see that it was +filled with Norman monks, who were granted extraordinary privileges and +treasure, mostly at the expense of the conquered Saxons. The abbey is +one of the best preserved of the early monastic buildings in England, +and is used as a private residence by the proprietor. The church is in +ruins, but the great gateway, with its crenelated towers, and the main +part of the monastic building are practically as they were when +completed, shortly after the death of the Conqueror.</p> + +<p>Battle Abbey, since the time of our visit, has passed into the +possession of an American, who has taken up his residence there. This +case is typical of not a few that came to our attention during our stay +in England. Many of the historic places that have for generations been +in the possession of members of the nobility have been sold to wealthy +Americans or<span class="pagenum"><a id="page282" name="page282"></a>Pg 282</span> Englishmen who have made fortunes in business. These +transactions are made possible by a law that permits entailed estates to +be sold when the owner becomes embarrassed to such an extent that he can +no longer maintain them. And some of these places are sold at +astonishingly low figures—a fraction of their cost. It is another of +the signs of the changing social conditions in the British Empire.</p> + +<p>A quaint old village is Winchelsea, on the coast about fifteen miles +from Battle. It is a small, straggling place, with nothing but its +imposing though ruinous church and the massive gateways of its ancient +walls remaining to indicate that at one time it was a seaport of some +consequence. But here, as at Pevensey, the sea receded several miles, +destroying Winchelsea's harbor. Its mosts interesting relic is the +parish church, built about 1288. The greater portion of this is now in +ruins, nothing remaining but the nave, which is still used for services. +In the churchyard, under a great tree, still standing, John Wesley +preached his last open-air sermon.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image44" name="image44"> + <img src="images/44.jpg" + alt="WINCHELSEA CHURCH AND ELM TREE." + title="WINCHELSEA CHURCH AND ELM TREE." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">WINCHELSEA CHURCH AND ELM TREE.</span> +</div> + +<p>Two miles from Winchelsea is Rye, another of the decayed seaports of the +southeast coast. A few small fishing vessels still frequent its harbor, +but the merchant ships, which used to contribute to its prosperity, are +no longer seen. It is larger than Winchelsea and is built on a hill, its +steep, narrow streets being lined with quaint houses. These two queer<span class="pagenum"><a id="page283" name="page283"></a>Pg 283</span> +towns seem indeed like an echo from the past. It does not appear that +there have been any changes of consequence in them for the past several +hundred years. People continue to live in such villages because the +average Englishman has a great aversion to leaving his native land. One +would think that there would be emigration from such places to the +splendid lands of Western Canada, but these lands are not being taken by +Englishmen, although the opportunity is being widely advertised by the +Canadian Government and the various transportation companies. And yet +one can hardly wonder at the reluctance of the native Englishman to +leave the "tight little island," with its trim beauty and proud +tradition, for the wild, unsubdued countries of the West. If loyal +Americans, as we can rightly claim to be, are so greatly charmed with +England, dear indeed it must be to those who can call it their native +land.</p> + +<p>Winchelsea and Rye are typical of hundreds of decayed towns throughout +the Kingdom, though perhaps they are more interesting from an historic +standpoint than the others. Being so near the French coast, they +suffered terribly in the continual French and English wars and were +burned several times by the French in their descents upon the English +coast. It was nearly dark when we reached Rye; we had planned to stop +there, but the un<span class="pagenum"><a id="page284" name="page284"></a>Pg 284</span>inviting appearance of the hotel was a strong factor +in determining us to reach Tunbridge Wells, about thirty miles away.</p> + +<p>We saw few more beautiful landscapes than those which stretched away +under the soft glow of the English twilight from the upland road leading +out of Rye. We did not have much leisure to contemplate the beauty of +the scene, but such a constant succession of delightful vistas as we +dashed along, together with the exhilaration of the fresh sea breeze, +forms a pleasing recollection that will not be easily effaced. The +twilight was beginning to fade away beneath the brilliancy of the full +moon when we ran into the village of Bodiam, where stands one of the +most perfect of the ancient castellated mansions to be found in the +Kingdom. We paused a few minutes to view it from a distance and found +ourselves directly in front of a neat-looking hotel—the Castle Inn. Its +inviting appearance, our desire to see the castle more closely, and the +fact that Tunbridge Wells was still a good many miles away over winding +roads liberally sprinkled with steep hills, led us to make Bodiam our +stopping place. There are few things that we have more reason for +rejoicing over, for we saw the gray walls and towers of Bodiam Castle +under the enchanting influence of a full, summer moon.</p> + +<p>The castle was built in 1385 and appears to have<span class="pagenum"><a id="page285" name="page285"></a>Pg 285</span> been intended more as +a palatial residence than a feudal fortress. Its position is not a +strong one for defense, being situated on a level plain rather than upon +a commanding eminence, as is usually the case with fortified castles. It +was built after artillery had come into use, and the futility of +erecting a structure that would stand against this new engine of +destruction must have been obvious. The most remarkable feature is the +wide moat which surrounds the castle. In fact, this gives it the +appearance of standing on an island in the middle of a small lake. The +water of the moat was nearly covered by water-lilies.</p> + +<p>The walls of the castle are wonderfully complete, every tower and turret +retaining its old-time battlements. It is supposed never to have +sustained an attack by armed forces and its present condition is due to +neglect and decay. From our point of view, it must have been an +insanitary place, standing in the low-lying fens in the midst of a pool +of stagnant water, but such reflection does not detract from its beauty. +I have never seen a more romantic sight than this huge, quadrangular +pile, with its array of battlements and towers rising abruptly out of +the dark waters of the moat. And its whole aspect, as we beheld +it—softened in outline by the mellow moonlight—made a picture that +savored more of enchantment than reality.</p> + +<p>Although the hour was late, the custodian ad<span class="pagenum"><a id="page286" name="page286"></a>Pg 286</span>mitted us to the ruins and +we passed over a narrow bridge which crossed the moat. The pathway led +through a door in the great gateway, over which still hangs suspended +the iron port-cullis. Inside there was a grassy court, surrounded by the +walls and ruined apartments of the castle. I ascended one of the main +towers by a dilapidated stone stairway and was well repaid for the +effort by the glorious moonlit prospect that stretched out before me.</p> + +<p>When we returned to the Castle Inn, we found the landlady all attention +and she spared no effort to contribute to our comfort. The little inn +was cleanlier and better kept than many of the more pretentious ones. +Bodiam is several miles from the railroad and but few tourists visit the +castle. The principal business of the hotel is to cater to parties of +English trippers who make the neighborhood a resort for fishing and +hunting.</p> + +<p>An early start from Bodiam brought us to Tunbridge Wells before ten +o'clock in the morning. This city, although of considerable size, is +comparatively modern and has little to detain tourists. Like Harrogate +and Bath, its popularity is largely due to its mineral springs. In its +immediate neighborhood, however, there are many places of interest, and +we determined to make a circular tour among some of these, returning to +Tunbridge Wells for the night.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image45" name="image45"> + <img src="images/45.jpg" + alt="ENTRANCE FRONT BODIAM CASTLE, SUSSEX." + title="ENTRANCE FRONT BODIAM CASTLE, SUSSEX." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">ENTRANCE FRONT BODIAM CASTLE, SUSSEX.</span> +</div> + +<p>A few miles from Tunbridge Wells is Offham, a<span class="pagenum"><a id="page287" name="page287"></a>Pg 287</span> little, out-of-the-way +village which boasts of a queer mediaeval relic, the only one of the +kind remaining in the Kingdom. This is called a quintain post and stands +in the center of the village green. It consists of a revolving crossbar +on the top of a tall, white post. One end of the bar is flattened and +pierced with small holes, while at the other a billet of wood is +suspended from a chain. The pastime consisted of riding on horseback and +aiming a lance at one of the holes in the broad end of the crossbar. If +the aim were true, the impact would swing the club around with violence, +and unless the rider were agile he was liable to be unhorsed—rough and +dangerous sport, but no doubt calculated to secure dexterity with the +lance on horseback. This odd relic is religiously preserved by the +village and looks suspiciously new, considering the long period since +such a pastime must have been practiced. However, this may be due to the +fact that the tenant of an adjoining cottage is required by the terms of +his lease to keep the post in good repair, a stipulation, no doubt, to +which we owe its existence.</p> + +<p>In Westerham, a few miles farther on, we saw the vicarage where Gen. +Wolfe, the hero of Quebec, was born. His parents were tenants of this +house for a short time only, and soon after his birth they moved to the +imposing residence now known as Quebec House, and here Wolfe spent the +first twelve<span class="pagenum"><a id="page288" name="page288"></a>Pg 288</span> years of his life. It is a fine Tudor mansion and has been +little altered since the boyhood of the great warrior. Visitors are not +now admitted. There are many relics of Wolfe in Westerham, and the spot +where he received his first military commission is marked by a stone +with an appropriate inscription. Wolfe's memory is greatly revered in +England and he is looked upon as the man who saved not only Canada, but +the United States as well, to the Anglo-Saxon race.</p> + +<p>Quite as closely connected with American history as Quebec House is the +home of William Pitt, near at hand. Holwood House, as it is called, is a +stately, classic building, situated in a great forest-clad park. It +passed out of the hands of Pitt more than a hundred years ago, and being +in possession of a private owner, is no longer open to visitors.</p> + +<p>Passing again into the hedge-bordered byways, we came to Downe, a +retired village four miles from the railway station and known to fame as +having been the home of Charles Darwin. Downe House, where he lived, is +still standing, a beautiful old Eighteenth Century place which was +considerably altered by Darwin himself. The house at present is +evidently in the hands of a prosperous owner, for it was apparent that +watchful care is expended upon it. But it is in no sense a show-place +and the few<span class="pagenum"><a id="page289" name="page289"></a>Pg 289</span> pilgrims who come to the town must content themselves with +a glimpse from the outside.</p> + +<p>To get a view of the place, I surreptitiously stepped through the open +gateway, the house itself being some distance from the road and +partially concealed by the hedges and trees in front of it. It is a +rather irregular, three-story building, with lattice windows surrounded +by ivy and climbing roses. It stands against a background of fir trees, +with a stretch of green lawn and flowers in front, and the whole place +had an air of quiet beauty and repose. On the front of the house was an +ancient sun-dial, and across it, in antique letters, the legend "Time +will show." I do not know whether this was placed there by Darwin or +not, but it is the most appropriate answer which the great scientist +might have made to his hosts of critics. Time has indeed shown, and the +quiet philosopher who lived in this retired village has revolutionized +the thought of the civilized world.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page290" name="page290"></a>Pg 290</span></p> +<h2>XIX</h2> + +<h3>KNOLE HOUSE AND PENSHURST</h3> + + +<p>One of the greatest show-places of England is Knole House, the seat of +the Sackville-Wests, near Seven-Oaks. The owner at the time of our visit +was the Lord Sackville-West who was British ambassador at Washington, +where he achieved notoriety by answering a decoy letter advising a +supposed British-American to vote for Grover Cleveland as being +especially friendly to England. The letter created a tremendous furor in +the United States, and the result was the abrupt recall of the +distinguished writer from his post.</p> + +<p>No difficulty is experienced in obtaining admission to Knole House, +providing one pays the price. The thousands of tourists who come +annually are handled in a most businesslike manner. An admission fee of +two shillings, or about fifty cents, is charged, and at numerous stands +near the gateway photographs, post cards, souvenirs and guide-books +galore are sold. Motor cars are allowed to drive right up to the great +gateway, where they are assigned a position and supervised by an +attendant, all for the sum of one shilling. However, the show<span class="pagenum"><a id="page291" name="page291"></a>Pg 291</span> is well +worth the price, and the owner of the palace is entitled to no small +credit for making it so readily accessible.</p> + +<p>The house is a fine example of the baronial residences erected just +after the period of fortified castles, when artillery had rendered these +fortress-mansions useless as a means of defense. It surrounds three +square courts and covers about five acres; it contains three hundred and +sixty-five rooms and has seven great staircases, some of them very +elaborate. The collection of paintings and mediaeval furniture is one of +the best in England. The pictures are of untold value, one room being +filled with originals by Gainsborough and Reynolds alone. Some idea of +the value of these pictures may be gained from the fact that an offer of +twenty thousand pounds for one of the Gainsboroughs was refused; and +there are other pictures quite as valuable, not only by English masters, +but by great continental artists as well.</p> + +<p>King James I visited Knole House and preparations were made to receive +him as befitted his rank. The immense stateroom was especially furnished +for the occasion at a cost, it is said, of about one hundred thousand +pounds. This room has never been used since and it stands today just as +it did when it served its royal occupant, though the gorgeous hangings +and tapestries are somewhat dingy and worn from the dust and decay of +three hundred years.</p> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page292" name="page292"></a>Pg 292</span>It took nearly two hours to go through the parts of the house that are +shown, although the parties were accompanied by guides who kept them +moving along. On the afternoon of our arrival there were quite a number +of visitors, five motor cars and several carriages bringing them. Knole +House stands in a large park, which has the finest beeches in England, +and it is really more of a show-place than a family residence. The +Sackville-Wests are among the richest of the nobility and have other +homes which are probably more comfortable than this impressive but +unhomelike palace.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image46" name="image46"> + <img src="images/46.jpg" + alt="PENSHURST PLACE, HOME OF THE SIDNEYS." + title="PENSHURST PLACE, HOME OF THE SIDNEYS." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">PENSHURST PLACE, HOME OF THE SIDNEYS.</span> +</div> + +<p>Something similar to Knole House is Penshurst Place, about ten miles +away, but with an atmosphere and traditions quite different from the +Sackville-West mansion. This great palace, just adjacent to the village +of Penshurst, was built in the Thirteenth Century, passing shortly after +into the hands of the Sidney family, with whom it has remained ever +since. Of the Sidneys, one only is known wherever the English language +is spoken—the gallant young knight, Sir Philip, who, when still below +the age of thirty, lost his life while fighting for a forlorn cause in +the Netherlands. Of all the brilliant array of statesmen, soldiers and +writers who graced the reign of Queen Elizabeth, none gave greater +promise than did young Sidney. Nothing is more characteristic of him +than the oft-told story of how,<span class="pagenum"><a id="page293" name="page293"></a>Pg 293</span> when suffering from his death-wound +on the field of Zutphen, he gave to a wounded soldier by his side the +cup of water brought to him with the greatest difficulty. There are few +who have received a higher or a more deserved tribute than that of the +poet Watson, when he mused upon</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<span class="i6">"the perfect knight,<br /></span> +<span class="i0">The soldier, courtier, bard in one,<br /></span> +<span class="i2">Sidney, that pensive Hesper-light<br /></span> +<span class="i0">O'er Chivalry's departed Sun."<br /></span> +</div></div> + +<p>Naturally, we were interested in the ancestral home of such a man and +the many historical associations which have gathered round it. It was at +the close of a busy day for us when we reached Penshurst and learned +that half an hour remained before the house would be closed for the day. +Admission was easily gained and ample time given to inspect such parts +of the house as were shown. We entered the great park through a gateway +near the church where several members of the Sidney family are buried.</p> + +<p>The palace stands in a large open space with a level lawn in front, and +the five hundred years which have passed over it have dealt kindly with +it. Few of the ancient places which we had seen in England were in +better state of preservation. Nor was this due so much to restoration as +in many cases. It had never been intended as a fortified castle and had<span class="pagenum"><a id="page294" name="page294"></a>Pg 294</span> +escaped the ravages of war which destroyed so many of the strongholds. +Its most striking feature is the baronial hall with its high, +open-raftered roof, maintained in general appearance and furnishing much +as it was five hundred years ago. It is of great size, and in early days +the tables probably furnished cheer to hundreds of revelers at a time. +At one end of the room is a gallery which the musicians occupied, and at +the other, our attention was called to a small opening through which the +lord of the establishment could secretly witness the doings in the hall. +A remarkable feature is the fireplace, situated in the center of the +room and without chimney of any kind, the smoke being left to find its +way out through the windows or apertures in the roof, as the case might +be—a striking example of the discomforts of the good old days when +knighthood was in flower.</p> + +<p>Queen Elizabeth, who was one of the greatest royal travelers of her +time, made a visit to the home of her favorite, Sidney, and the drawing +room which she honored as a guest is still shown, with much of the +handsome furniture which was especially made for the occasion of Her +Majesty's visit. On the walls are some examples of beautifully wrought +needlework and satin tapestry which tradition says is the work of the +queen herself and her maidens. In the picture gallery the majority of +the paintings are portraits of the Sidney family.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page295" name="page295"></a>Pg 295</span></p> + +<p>From Penshurst we returned to Tunbridge Wells, having covered in all +about one hundred miles since leaving that town—not a very long +distance for a day's motoring, but we had seen more things of interest, +perhaps, than on any other day of our tour. It was a fitting close to +our tour, since we had determined that we would at once return to London +and bid farewell to the English highways and byways. The next morning we +spent a short time looking about Tunbridge Wells. This town has been +known as a watering place since 1606 and has maintained great popularity +ever since. Its unique feature is the promenade, known as "The +Pantiles," with its row of stately lime trees in the center and its +colonade in front of the shops. It is referred to in Thackeray's +"Virginians," and readers of that story will recall his description of +the scenes on the Pantiles in the time of the powdered wigs, silver +buckles and the fearful and wonderful "hoop." Tunbridge Wells makes a +splendid center for several excursions and one might well spend +considerable time there. Our trip of the previous day had taken us at no +time more than thirty miles from the town and had covered only a few of +the most interesting places within that distance.</p> + +<p>We were ready to leave Tunbridge Wells before noon, and it was with +feelings of mingled satisfaction and regret that we turned toward +London, about<span class="pagenum"><a id="page296" name="page296"></a>Pg 296</span> thirty miles away. Our long summer's pilgrimage through +Britain was over. Despite our anxiety to return home, there was, after +all, a sense of regret that we had left undone much that would have been +well worth while. Our last day on the English country roads was a lovely +one. A light rain had fallen the night before, just enough to beat down +the dust and freshen the landscape. We passed through a country thickly +interspersed with suburban towns. The fields had much the appearance of +a well kept park, and everything conspired to make the day a pleasant +recollection.</p> + +<p>When we came into the immediate suburbs of London, I found that the +knowledge I had gained on our frequent trips gave me a great advantage +in getting into the city. I was able to avoid the crowded streets and to +select those where traffic was lighter, thus reducing the time of +reaching our hotel fully an hour. There is much difference in the +traffic on the eight bridges which cross the Thames. London Bridge, +which crosses near the Bank of England, is the most congested of all. +There is hardly an hour when it is not a compact mass of slowly moving +vehicles. The bridge by Parliament House is less crowded, but I should +say that Waterloo Bridge furnishes the best route for motorists in +getting across the river. It leads directly into the new boulevard known +as Kingsway, which has just been completed<span class="pagenum"><a id="page297" name="page297"></a>Pg 297</span> at an expense of many +millions of pounds. This is the broadest street in London and was opened +by wholesale condemnation of private property. It is little used for +heavy traffic and has a fine asphalted surface. It extends from the +Strand to Holborn, the two principal business arteries of London. The +street now presents a rather ragged appearance on account of the +buildings that were torn down to make way for it. However, new +structures of fine architecture are rapidly being built and Kingsway is +destined to become one of the handsomest boulevards in the world.</p> + +<p>A little after noon we reached our London hotel, having spent ten weeks +in touring England, Wales and Scotland. We had not confined ourselves to +the highways, but had journeyed a great part of the distance through +less frequented country roads. In fact, many of the most charming places +we had visited could be reached only from the byways and were not +immediately accessible from railway stations. With the exception of the +first two weeks, when we had rain more or less every day, we had been +favored with exceptionally fine weather. During the last seven or eight +weeks of our trip, only light showers had fallen and we were assured +that the season had been an unusual one for England.</p> + +<p>The matter of weather is not of great moment to the motorist in Great +Britain. The roads are not<span class="pagenum"><a id="page298" name="page298"></a>Pg 298</span> affected in the least, so far as traveling +is concerned, and dashing through the open air in a rain is not an +unpleasant experience. A closed top for the car is rarely necessary. +Plenty of waterproof coats and coverings answer the purpose very well +and the open air is much pleasanter than being cooped up in a closed +vehicle. Rubber tires do not slip on good macadam roads and during our +tour it was necessary to use chains on the wheels only a few times.</p> + +<p>Altogether, the experience was worth while; nor was it so expensive as +many have imagined it to be. A party of three or four people with their +own car, if one of them drives, can tour Britain for less than it would +cost to cover the same ground, traveling first-class, by railway train. +As to the comparative satisfaction derived from the two methods of +touring, no comment whatever is needed. Making the trip by motor affords +so many advantages and so many opportunities of seeing the country and +of coming in touch with the people that there is really no other method +that can in any way compare with it.</p> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page299" name="page299"></a>Pg 299</span></p> +<h2>XX</h2> + +<h3>SOME MIGHT-HAVE-BEENS</h3> + + +<p>In closing this desultory record of a summer's motoring in Britain, I +can easily see that a great deal was missed, much of which might have +been included with little or no loss of time had we been well enough +informed in advance. There were cases where we actually passed through +places of real interest only to learn later that we had overlooked +something that might well have engaged our attention. There were other +points, readily accessible from our route, which we omitted because +previously visited by rail; and though many of these places we should +have been glad to see again, our limited time forbade. In order to get +all that should be gotten out of a five-thousand-mile tour by motor car, +one would have to be familiar indeed with England's history and +traditions, as well as conversant with her literature. There is little +opportunity for studying hand-books as one goes along. A few weeks of +preparation, of well selected reading and the study of road-books and +maps would make such a tour doubly valuable in saving time and in an +intelligent understanding of the country and the places<span class="pagenum"><a id="page300" name="page300"></a>Pg 300</span> worth seeing. +What one should have done he will know far better after the trip is +over, and the main excuse for this modest record is that it may supply +in popular form some data from the experience of one who has been over +part of the ground, while the superb illustrations of the volume will +give a far better idea of what awaits the tourist than the mere written +words.</p> + +<p>Among the places in which our time was too short is Canterbury. Another +day would have given us a chance to see more of that ancient town, and a +side trip of thirty miles would have taken us to Sandwich, Margate and +Reculvers. We had expected to come a second time to Canterbury and to +visit these three points then, but were unable to carry out our plan. +Sandwich was at one time an important seaport, but lost its position +from the same cause that affected so many of the south coast towns—the +receding of the sea. It contains many of the richest bits of mediaeval +architecture in England, and a few hours in its quaint streets would +have been well repaid. Reculvers, or ancient Regulbium, was a Roman city +that was destroyed by the encroachments of the sea. Here is one of the +oldest and strangest of the ruined churches in England, now standing on +the verge of the ocean, which still continues to advance with a prospect +of ultimately wiping out the little village.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image47" name="image47"> + <img src="images/47.jpg" + alt="A BIT OF OLD ENGLAND." + title="A BIT OF OLD ENGLAND." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">A BIT OF OLD ENGLAND.<br />From Water Color by Anderson.</span> +</div> + +<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page301" name="page301"></a>Pg 301</span></p> +<p>On our trip to Manchester we passed within two or three miles of +Knutsford, the delightful old town selected by Mrs. Gaskell as the scene +of her story, "Granford." Had we known of this at the time, a short +detour would have taken us through its quaint streets.</p> + +<p>The Isle of Wight is immediately across the strait from Southampton, and +while a motor car could be transported by steamer to traverse its fifty +or sixty miles of main road, this is not very often done. It would +require one or two days to visit the interesting points in the island, +among which are Carisbrooke Castle, where King Charles I was confined as +a prisoner; Osborne House, formerly a royal residence but presented to +the nation by King Edward; and Freshwater, the home where the poet +Tennyson lived for many years.</p> + +<p>Sherborne and Tewkesbury were both only a few miles off our route, and +had we planned rightly we could have visited with very little loss of +time these two interesting towns with their great abbey churches, which +rank in size and importance with many of the cathedrals.</p> + +<p>Ten miles from Penzance would have brought us to Lands End—the extreme +southwestern point of England, abounding in wild and beautiful +ocean-shore scenery, but the story of dangerous hills deterred us, +though we afterwards regretted our de<span class="pagenum"><a id="page302" name="page302"></a>Pg 302</span>cision. Nor could we pass again as +we did at Camelford in Cornwall within five miles of King Arthur's +Tintagel without seeing this solitary and wonderfully romantic ruin, +with the majestic—even awe-inspiring—scenery around it.</p> + +<p>Perhaps the most interesting trip which we missed, but which would have +required more time than we could give, was a two or three days' run +through the extreme south of Wales. It is only thirty miles from +Monmouth to Cardiff, a coal-mining metropolis, itself of little +interest, but with many places worth visiting in its immediate vicinity. +Cardiff Castle, too, is one of the best known of the Welsh ruins, and +here Henry I confined his elder brother Robert for twenty years while he +himself, in reality a usurper, held the English throne. Ten miles north +of Cardiff is the rude and inaccessible castle of Caerphilly, which is +reckoned the most extensive ruin in the Kingdom.</p> + +<p>Following the coast road for one hundred miles, one comes to the ancient +town of St. Davids, at the extreme southwestern point of Wales. Here in +the Middle Ages was a city of considerable size, a great resort of +pilgrims to St. David's shrine, William the Conqueror being one of +these. The modern St. Davids is a mere village, and its chief attraction +is its grand cathedral and the ruins of the once gorgeous episcopal +palace. The cathedral, built in the<span class="pagenum"><a id="page303" name="page303"></a>Pg 303</span> Tenth Century, is curiously +situated in a deep dell, and only the great tower is visible from the +village.</p> + +<p>The return trip from St. Davids would best be made over the same road to +Carmarthen, then taking the road northward to Llandovery, where is +located one of the ruins of what was once the greatest abbey in Southern +Wales. From this point the road direct to Abergavenny is a good one and +passes through much of the picturesque hill country of Wales.</p> + +<p>From Bangor in North Wales it is about twenty miles to Holyhead, from +which point the car could easily be transferred to Ireland in two or +three hours. This would mean an additional two weeks to the tour, and no +doubt more time could pleasantly be spent in the Emerald Isle. The roads +in Ireland are far from equal to those of England or Scotland, but the +scenery, especially on the coast, is even lovelier, and the points of +interest quite as numerous.</p> + +<p>The Isle of Man, in the Irish Channel, is a famous resort of motorists, +and many of the speed and reliability contests have been held there. It +is about the only spot in the world where no speed limit is imposed, the +inhabitants of the island recognizing the financial advantage which they +reap from the numerous motorists. There are about fifty or sixty miles +of road in the island said to be as fine as any in the world. The island +is charming and interesting, with ruins and relics dating from the time +it<span class="pagenum"><a id="page304" name="page304"></a>Pg 304</span> was an independent kingdom. The two days which would have to be +given it would be well spent.</p> + +<p>No one who had not visited it before would miss the Lake District in the +north of England. A former trip through this section by coach caused us +to omit it from our tour, though we would gladly have seen this +delightful country a second time. One could depart from the main highway +from Lancaster to Carlisle at Kendall and in a single day visit most of +the haunts of Ruskin, Coleridge, Wordsworth and Southey, whose names are +always associated with the English lakes. Many steep hills would be +encountered, but none that would present great difficulty to a +moderate-powered motor. It would be much better, however, if two or +three days could be given to the Lakes, and this time might also include +Furness Abbey and Lanercost Priory. Volumes have been written of the +English lakes, but with all the vivid pen-pictures that have been drawn +one will hardly be prepared for the beauty of the reality.</p> + +<p>The Peak District in Derbyshire we omitted for the same reason—a +previous visit. At Nottingham we were within ten or fifteen miles of +this section, and by following a splendid road could have reached +Rowsley Station, with its quaint inn, near Chatsworth House and Haddon +Hall. No one who makes any pretense of seeing England will miss either +of these places. Haddon Hall is said<span class="pagenum"><a id="page305" name="page305"></a>Pg 305</span> to be the most perfect of the +baronial mansion houses now to be found in England. It is situated in a +wonderfully picturesque position, on a rocky bluff overlooking the River +Wye. The manor was originally given by the Conqueror to Peveril of the +Peak, the hero of Scott's novel. The mansion is chiefly famous for its +connection with Dorothy Vernon, who married the son of the Earl of +Rutland in the time of Queen Elizabeth, the property thus passing to the +Rutland family, who are still the owners. The mansion is approached by a +small bridge crossing the river, whence one enters under a lofty archway +the main courtyard. In this beautiful quadrangle, one of the most +interesting features is the chapel at the southwest corner. This is one +of the oldest portions of the structure. Almost opposite is the +magnificent porch and bay-window leading into the great hall. This is +exactly as it was in the days of the Vernons, and its table, at which +the lord of the feast sat, its huge fireplace, timber roof and minstrel +gallery are quite unaltered. It has recently been announced that the +Duke of Rutland will make repairs to this old place and occupy it as one +of his residences, closing Belvoir Castle, his present home, on account +of the great expense of maintaining it.</p> + +<p>Four or five miles from Haddon Hall is Chatsworth House, the splendid +country seat of the Duke<span class="pagenum"><a id="page306" name="page306"></a>Pg 306</span> of Devonshire. This was built over a hundred +years ago and is as fine an example of the modern English mansion as +Haddon Hall is of the more ancient. It is a great building in the +Georgian style, rather plain from the outside, but the interior is +furnished in great splendor. It is filled with objects of art presented +to the family at various times, some of them representing gifts from +nearly every crowned head in Europe during the last hundred years. Its +galleries contain representative works of the greatest ancient and +modern artists. Even more charming than the mansion itself are its +gardens and grounds. Nowhere in England are these surpassed. The +mansion, with its grounds, is open daily to the public without charge, +and we were told that in some instances the number of visitors reaches +one thousand in a single day. As I noted elsewhere, the Duke of +Devonshire owns numerous other palaces and ruins, all of which are open +to the public without charge—a fine example of the spirit of many of +the English nobility who decline to make commercial enterprises of their +historic possessions.</p> + +<p>In this immediate vicinity is Buxton, another of the English watering +places famous for mineral springs. The neighborhood is most romantic, +with towering cliffs, strange caverns, leaping cataracts and wooded +valleys. However, the section abounds in<span class="pagenum"><a id="page307" name="page307"></a>Pg 307</span> very steep hills, dangerous to +the most powerful motor.</p> + +<p>In Yorkshire we missed much, chiefly on account of lack of time. A +single day's journey would have taken us over a fine road to +Scarborough, an ancient town which has become a modern seacoast resort, +and to Whitby, with one of the finest abbey ruins in the shire, as well +as to numerous other interesting places between. Barnard Castle, lying +just across the western boundary of Yorkshire, was only a few miles off +the road from Darlington, and would have been well worth a visit. These +are only a few of the many places which might be seen to advantage if +one could give at least a week to Yorkshire.</p> + +<p>From Norwich an hour or two would have taken us to Yarmouth through the +series of beautiful lakes known as the Norfolk Broads. Yarmouth is an +ancient town with many points of interest and at present noted +principally for its fisheries.</p> + +<p>On the road to Colchester we might easily have visited Bury St. Edmunds, +and coming out of Colchester, only seven miles away is the imposing ruin +of the unfinished mansion of the Marneys, which its builder hoped to +make the most magnificent private residence in the Kingdom. The death of +Lord Marney and his son brought the project to an end and for several +hundred years this vast ruin has stood as a monument to their +unfulfilled hopes.</p><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page308" name="page308"></a>Pg 308</span></p> + +<p>It may seem that as Americans we were rather unpatriotic to pass within +a few miles of the ancestral country of the Washingtons without visiting +it, but such was the case. It is not given much space in the guide-books +and it came to us only as an afterthought. It was but five or six miles +from Northampton, through which we passed. In the old church at Brington +is the tomb of George Washington's great-great-great-grandfather and +also one of the houses which was occupied by his relatives. In the same +section is Sulgrave Manor, the home of the Washingtons for several +generations, which still has over its front doorway the Washington +coat-of-arms. In the same vicinity and near the farmhouse where George +Eliot was born is Nuneaton, a place where she spent much of her life and +to which numerous references are made in her novels.</p> + +<p>In Scotland we also missed much, but very little that we could have +reached without consuming considerably more time. A day's trip north of +Edinburgh, across the Firth of Forth into Fife, would have enabled us to +visit Loch Leven and its castle, where Queen Mary was held prisoner and +was rescued by young Douglas, whom she afterward unfortunately married. +Had we started two or three hours earlier on our trip to Abbottsford and +Melrose, we could easily have reached Jedburgh and Kelso, at each of +which there are interesting abbey ruins.<span class="pagenum"><a id="page309" name="page309"></a>Pg 309</span> Of course it would have been +a fine thing to go to the extreme northern point of Scotland, known as +John O' Groats, but this, at the rate we traveled, would have consumed +two or three days. The country is not specially interesting and has few +historical associations. Tourists make this trip chiefly to be able to +say they have covered the Kingdom from Lands End to John O' Groats.</p> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image48" name="image48"> + <img src="images/48.jpg" + alt="THE CALEDONIAN COAST." + title="THE CALEDONIAN COAST." /></a><br /> + <span class="caption">THE CALEDONIAN COAST.<br />From Painting by D. Sherrin.</span> +</div> + +<p>I have said little of the larger cities—we did not stop long in any of +these. The chief delight of motoring in Britain is seeing the country +and the out-of-the-way places. In the cities, where one may spend days +and where the train service and other methods of transportation in the +place and its suburbs are practically unlimited, one can ill afford to +linger with his car in the garage much of the time. Of London I have +already spoken. Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, Birmingham, +Edinburgh and Glasgow are examples to my point. We had visited nearly +all of these by rail, but in again planning a tour by car I should not +stop at such places for any length of time and should avoid passing +through them whenever practicable.</p> + +<p>Of course I do not pretend in the few suggestions I have made in this +chapter to have named a fraction of the points of interest that we did +not visit—only the ones which appealed to me most when I had become +more familiar with Britain. I only offer<span class="pagenum"><a id="page310" name="page310"></a>Pg 310</span> these few comments to show how +much more might have been compassed in the space of a week or two, +leaving out Ireland, John O' Groats, and the Isles of Wight and Man. One +week would have given ample time for us to include the places I have +enumerated. In planning a tour, individual taste must be a large +element. What will please one may not appeal so strongly to another. +Still, I am sure that the greater part of the route which we covered and +which I have tried to outline will interest anyone who cares enough to +give the time and money necessary to tour Britain.</p> + + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image49" name="image49"></a><a href="images/49large.jpg"> + <img src="images/49.jpg" + alt="MAP OF ENGLAND AND WALES." + title="MAP OF ENGLAND AND WALES." /></a> +</div> + + + +<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class="pagenum"><a id="page311" name="page311"></a>Pg 311</span></p> +<h2>INDEX</h2> + + +<p><span style="margin-left: 6em;"><b>A</b></span></p> + +<ul> +<li>Abbottsford, <a href='#page174'>174</a>-<a href='#page175'>175</a>, <a href='#page177'>177</a>.</li> + +<li>Aberdeen, <a href='#page161'>161</a>-<a href='#page164'>164</a>.</li> + +<li>Abergavenny, <a href='#page303'>303</a>.</li> + +<li>Aberyswith, <a href='#page125'>125</a>-<a href='#page126'>126</a>.</li> + +<li>Addison, Jos., <a href='#page88'>88</a>.</li> + +<li>Aldworth, <a href='#page276'>276</a>.</li> + +<li>Alfred the Great, <a href='#page21'>21</a>, <a href='#page84'>84</a>-<a href='#page85'>85</a>, <a href='#page259'>259</a>, <a href='#page263'>263</a>.</li> + +<li>Alloway, <a href='#page148'>148</a>-<a href='#page140'>140</a>.</li> + +<li>Alnwick, <a href='#page186'>186</a>-<a href='#page187'>187</a>.</li> + +<li>Altrincham, <a href='#page56'>56</a>.</li> + +<li>Amesbury, <a href='#page88'>88</a>.</li> + +<li>Anderida, <a href='#page280'>280</a>.</li> + +<li>Andre, Major, <a href='#page48'>48</a>.</li> + +<li>Anne of Cleves, <a href='#page279'>279</a>.</li> + +<li>Anne, Queen, <a href='#page261'>261</a>.</li> + +<li>Arbroath, <a href='#page168'>168</a>.</li> + +<li>Arthur, King, <a href='#page109'>109</a>, <a href='#page302'>302</a>.</li> + +<li>Arthur, Prince, <a href='#page76'>76</a>.</li> + +<li>Arundel, <a href='#page276'>276</a>-<a href='#page277'>277</a>.</li> + +<li>Ashow Church, <a href='#page78'>78</a>.</li> + +<li>Austen, Jane, <a href='#page84'>84</a>.</li> + +<li>Awe, Loch, <a href='#page151'>151</a>, <a href='#page157'>157</a>.</li> + +<li>Ayr, <a href='#page148'>148</a>-<a href='#page149'>149</a>.</li> + +</ul> +<p><span style="margin-left: 6em;"><b>B</b></span></p> +<ul> + +<li>Bamborough, <a href='#page183'>183</a>-<a href='#page185'>185</a>.</li> + +<li>Banbury, <a href='#page78'>78</a>.</li> + +<li>Bangor, <a href='#page134'>134</a>.</li> + +<li>Bannockburn, <a href='#page171'>171</a>.</li> + +<li>Barden Tower, <a href='#page51'>51</a>.</li> + +<li>"Barnaby Rudge," <a href='#page18'>18</a>-<a href='#page20'>20</a>.</li> + +<li>Barnard Castle, <a href='#page307'>307</a>.</li> + +<li>Barnsley, <a href='#page55'>55</a>.</li> + +<li>Bath, <a href='#page110'>110</a>-<a href='#page111'>111</a>.</li> + +<li>Battle, <a href='#page281'>281</a>.</li> + +<li>Bawtry, <a href='#page206'>206</a>.</li> + +<li>Bedford, <a href='#page233'>233</a>.</li> + +<li>Belvoir Castle, <a href='#page227'>227</a>-<a href='#page228'>228</a>.</li> + +<li>Berwick-on-Tweed, <a href='#page182'>182</a>-<a href='#page183'>183</a>.</li> + +<li>Bettws-y-Coed, <a href='#page132'>132</a>.</li> + +<li>Blandford, <a href='#page89'>89</a>.</li> + +<li>Blenheim, <a href='#page260'>260</a>-<a href='#page262'>262</a>.</li> + +<li>Bodiam Castle, <a href='#page284'>284</a>-<a href='#page286'>286</a>.</li> + +<li>Bodleian Library, <a href='#page259'>259</a>.</li> + +<li>Boleyn, Anne, <a href='#page267'>267</a>.</li> + +<li>Bolton Abbey, <a href='#page51'>51</a>.</li> + +<li>Boston, <a href='#page214'>214</a>-<a href='#page216'>216</a>.</li> + +<li>Bottisford, <a href='#page228'>228</a>-<a href='#page229'>229</a>.</li> + +<li>Bradley, A.G., <a href='#page68'>68</a>-<a href='#page69'>69</a>.</li> + +<li>Braemar, <a href='#page163'>163</a>.</li> + +<li>Brightholme, <a href='#page278'>278</a>.</li> + +<li>Brighton, <a href='#page277'>277</a>-<a href='#page278'>278</a>.</li> + +<li>"Brig O' Doon," <a href='#page148'>148</a>.</li> + +<li>Brington, <a href='#page308'>308</a>.</li> + +<li>Brixham, <a href='#page93'>93</a>-<a href='#page94'>94</a>.</li> + +<li>Bruce, <a href='#page165'>165</a>, <a href='#page170'>170</a>.</li> + +<li>Buildwas Abbey, <a href='#page64'>64</a>.</li> + +<li>Bull Hotel, Dartford, <a href='#page27'>27</a>-<a href='#page28'>28</a>.</li> + +<li>Bunyan, John, <a href='#page233'>233</a>.</li> + +<li>Burnham Thorpe, <a href='#page217'>217</a>.</li> + +<li>Burns, Robt., <a href='#page143'>143</a>-<a href='#page149'>149</a>.</li> + +<li>Burslem, <a href='#page49'>49</a>.</li> + +<li>Bury St. Edmunds, <a href='#page238'>238</a>, <a href='#page307'>307</a>.</li> + +<li><span class="pagenum"><a id="page312" name="page312"></a>Pg 312</span>Butler, Dr., <a href='#page265'>265</a>.</li> + +<li>Buxton, <a href='#page306'>306</a>.</li> + +<li>Bylands Abbey, <a href='#page201'>201</a>.</li> + +<li>Byron, Lord, <a href='#page230'>230</a>, <a href='#page247'>247</a>-<a href='#page248'>248</a>.</li> + + +</ul> +<p><span style="margin-left: 6em;"><b>C</b></span></p> +<ul> + +<li>Caerlaverock Castle, <a href='#page144'>144</a>-<a href='#page145'>145</a>.</li> + +<li>Caerphilly, <a href='#page302'>302</a>.</li> + +<li>Caledonian Canal, <a href='#page157'>157</a>.</li> + +<li>Cambridge, <a href='#page233'>233</a>-<a href='#page234'>234</a>, <a href='#page237'>237</a>, <a href='#page240'>240</a>-<a href='#page241'>241</a>.</li> + +<li>Cambuskenneth Abbey, <a href='#page171'>171</a>.</li> + +<li>Camelford, <a href='#page104'>104</a>.</li> + +<li>Canterbury, <a href='#page26'>26</a>-<a href='#page27'>27</a>, <a href='#page33'>33</a>-<a href='#page39'>39</a>, <a href='#page300'>300</a>.</li> + +<li>Canute, <a href='#page84'>84</a>.</li> + +<li>Cardiff, <a href='#page302'>302</a>.</li> + +<li>Carisbrooke Castle, <a href='#page301'>301</a>.</li> + +<li>Carlisle, <a href='#page141'>141</a>-<a href='#page143'>143</a>.</li> + +<li>Carlyle, Thos., <a href='#page145'>145</a>.</li> + +<li>Carmarthen, <a href='#page303'>303</a>.</li> + +<li>Carnarvon, <a href='#page132'>132</a>-<a href='#page134'>134</a>.</li> + +<li>Castle Hotel, New Castle-Under-Lyme, <a href='#page49'>49</a>.</li> + +<li>Catherine of Aragon, <a href='#page224'>224</a>.</li> + +<li>Cawdor Castle, <a href='#page161'>161</a>.</li> + +<li>Cerne Abbas, <a href='#page89'>89</a>-<a href='#page90'>90</a>.</li> + +<li>Cerrig-y-Druidion, <a href='#page130'>130</a>-<a href='#page132'>132</a>.</li> + +<li>Chalfont St. Giles, <a href='#page249'>249</a>-<a href='#page251'>251</a>.</li> + +<li>Charlecote, <a href='#page77'>77</a>.</li> + +<li>Charles I, <a href='#page61'>61</a>, <a href='#page63'>63</a>, <a href='#page82'>82</a>, <a href='#page117'>117</a>, <a href='#page120'>120</a>-<a href='#page121'>121</a>, <a href='#page227'>227</a>, <a href='#page301'>301</a>.</li> + +<li>Charles II, <a href='#page165'>165</a>.</li> + +<li>Charles the Pretender, <a href='#page161'>161</a>, <a href='#page171'>171</a>-<a href='#page172'>172</a>.</li> + +<li>Chatham, <a href='#page33'>33</a>.</li> + +<li>Chatsworth House, <a href='#page305'>305</a>-<a href='#page306'>306</a>.</li> + +<li>Chaucer, <a href='#page27'>27</a>, <a href='#page262'>262</a>.</li> + +<li>Chawton, <a href='#page82'>82</a>.</li> + +<li>Chelmsford, <a href='#page243'>243</a>.</li> + +<li>Cheltenham, <a href='#page112'>112</a>.</li> + +<li>Chepstow, <a href='#page119'>119</a>-<a href='#page120'>120</a>.</li> + +<li>Chester, <a href='#page8'>8</a>, <a href='#page58'>58</a>-<a href='#page61'>61</a>, <a href='#page137'>137</a>.</li> + +<li>Chichester, <a href='#page272'>272</a>-<a href='#page273'>273</a>.</li> + +<li>Chigwell, <a href='#page18'>18</a>-<a href='#page20'>20</a>.</li> + +<li>Chippenham, <a href='#page111'>111</a>.</li> + +<li>Chipping-Ongar, <a href='#page17'>17</a>-<a href='#page18'>18</a>, <a href='#page243'>243</a>-<a href='#page244'>244</a>.</li> + +<li>Christchurch, <a href='#page89'>89</a>.</li> + +<li>Cirencester, <a href='#page112'>112</a>.</li> + +<li>Claverhouse, <a href='#page165'>165</a>.</li> + +<li>Clifford Castle, <a href='#page124'>124</a>.</li> + +<li>Clyde Shipyards, <a href='#page149'>149</a>-<a href='#page150'>150</a>.</li> + +<li>Cobbett, Wm., <a href='#page81'>81</a>.</li> + +<li>Cobden, Richard, <a href='#page274'>274</a>.</li> + +<li>Colchester, <a href='#page241'>241</a>-<a href='#page244'>244</a>.</li> + +<li>Coleridge, <a href='#page304'>304</a>.</li> + +<li>Conway Castle, <a href='#page134'>134</a>-<a href='#page136'>136</a>.</li> + +<li>Conway River, <a href='#page132'>132</a>.</li> + +<li>Coventry, <a href='#page45'>45</a>-<a href='#page46'>46</a>.</li> + +<li>Cowdray Mansion, <a href='#page274'>274</a>.</li> + +<li>Cowper, Wm., <a href='#page221'>221</a>, <a href='#page232'>232</a>.</li> + +<li>Coxwold, <a href='#page198'>198</a>, <a href='#page200'>200</a>, <a href='#page202'>202</a>.</li> + +<li>Crayon, Geoffrey, <a href='#page1'>1</a>.</li> + +<li>Crianlarich, <a href='#page151'>151</a>.</li> + +<li>Cromwell, Oliver, <a href='#page139'>139</a>, <a href='#page235'>235</a>-<a href='#page240'>240</a>, <a href='#page244'>244</a>, <a href='#page263'>263</a>, <a href='#page265'>265</a>.</li> + +<li>Crowland, <a href='#page222'>222</a>-<a href='#page223'>223</a>.</li> + +<li>Culloden Moor, <a href='#page161'>161</a>.</li> + + +</ul> +<p><span style="margin-left: 6em;"><b>D</b></span></p> +<ul> + +<li>Dalmally, <a href='#page157'>157</a>.</li> + +<li>Darling, Grace, <a href='#page185'>185</a>.</li> + +<li>Darnley, <a href='#page180'>180</a>.</li> + +<li>Dartford, <a href='#page27'>27</a>-<a href='#page29'>29</a>.</li> + +<li>Dartmoor, <a href='#page106'>106</a>.</li> + +<li>Dartmouth, <a href='#page94'>94</a>.</li> + +<li><span class="pagenum"><a id="page313" name="page313"></a>Pg 313</span>Dart, River, <a href='#page94'>94</a>.</li> + +<li>Darwin, Charles, <a href='#page63'>63</a>, <a href='#page288'>288</a>-<a href='#page289'>289</a>.</li> + +<li>Dereham, <a href='#page221'>221</a>.</li> + +<li>Devonport, <a href='#page96'>96</a>.</li> + +<li>Dickens, <a href='#page18'>18</a>-<a href='#page20'>20</a>, <a href='#page29'>29</a>-<a href='#page32'>32</a>, <a href='#page140'>140</a>.</li> + +<li>Dinas Mowddwy, <a href='#page126'>126</a>.</li> + +<li>Dochart, River, <a href='#page158'>158</a>.</li> + +<li>Doncaster, <a href='#page206'>206</a>.</li> + +<li>Dorchester, <a href='#page89'>89</a>.</li> + +<li>Downe, <a href='#page288'>288</a>-<a href='#page289'>289</a>.</li> + +<li>Drumlanrigh Castle, <a href='#page147'>147</a>.</li> + +<li>Dryburgh Abbey, <a href='#page174'>174</a>-<a href='#page176'>176</a>.</li> + +<li>Dukeries, <a href='#page206'>206</a>-<a href='#page207'>207</a>.</li> + +<li>Dumbarton, <a href='#page150'>150</a>.</li> + +<li>Dumfries, <a href='#page144'>144</a>-<a href='#page146'>146</a>.</li> + +<li>Dunbar, <a href='#page180'>180</a>.</li> + +<li>Dunblane, <a href='#page170'>170</a>.</li> + +<li>Duncan, <a href='#page161'>161</a>.</li> + +<li>Dundee, <a href='#page168'>168</a>-<a href='#page169'>169</a>.</li> + +<li>Dunnottar Castle, <a href='#page164'>164</a>-<a href='#page167'>167</a>.</li> + +<li>Dunollie Castle, <a href='#page152'>152</a>.</li> + +<li>Dunstafnage Castle, <a href='#page154'>154</a>-<a href='#page155'>155</a>.</li> + +<li>Durham, <a href='#page187'>187</a>-<a href='#page189'>189</a>.</li> + + +</ul> +<p><span style="margin-left: 6em;"><b>E</b></span></p> +<ul> + +<li>Earl's Colne, <a href='#page242'>242</a>.</li> + +<li>Easby Abbey, <a href='#page193'>193</a>-<a href='#page194'>194</a>.</li> + +<li>Eaton Hall, <a href='#page60'>60</a>.</li> + +<li>Eboracum, <a href='#page191'>191</a>.</li> + +<li>Ecclefechan, <a href='#page145'>145</a>.</li> + +<li>Edgeware, <a href='#page23'>23</a>.</li> + +<li>Edgeworth, Maria, <a href='#page48'>48</a>.</li> + +<li>Edinburgh, <a href='#page174'>174</a>, <a href='#page178'>178</a>-<a href='#page179'>179</a>.</li> + +<li>Edward the Confessor, <a href='#page113'>113</a>.</li> + +<li>Edward I, <a href='#page21'>21</a>, <a href='#page133'>133</a>, <a href='#page134'>134</a>.</li> + +<li>Edward II, <a href='#page133'>133</a>.</li> + +<li>Edward III, <a href='#page231'>231</a>.</li> + +<li>Elgin, <a href='#page161'>161</a>-<a href='#page162'>162</a>.</li> + +<li>Eliot, George, <a href='#page78'>78</a>, <a href='#page274'>274</a>-<a href='#page276'>276</a>, <a href='#page308'>308</a>.</li> + +<li>Elizabeth, Queen, <a href='#page219'>219</a>, <a href='#page226'>226</a>, <a href='#page262'>262</a>, <a href='#page292'>292</a>, <a href='#page294'>294</a>, <a href='#page305'>305</a>.</li> + +<li>Ellisland Farm, <a href='#page146'>146</a>.</li> + +<li>Elstow, <a href='#page233'>233</a>.</li> + +<li>Ely, <a href='#page221'>221</a>, <a href='#page237'>237</a>-<a href='#page239'>239</a>.</li> + +<li>Epping Forest, <a href='#page16'>16</a>-<a href='#page17'>17</a>.</li> + +<li>Ethelwulf, King, <a href='#page84'>84</a>.</li> + +<li>Eton College, <a href='#page254'>254</a>-<a href='#page255'>255</a>.</li> + +<li>Eversley, <a href='#page266'>266</a>.</li> + +<li>Exeter, <a href='#page91'>91</a>-<a href='#page92'>92</a>, <a href='#page107'>107</a>.</li> + + +</ul> +<p><span style="margin-left: 6em;"><b>F</b></span></p> +<ul> + +<li>Fairfax, Gen., <a href='#page121'>121</a>, <a href='#page198'>198</a>.</li> + +<li>Falkirk, <a href='#page172'>172</a>.</li> + +<li>Falstaff, Sir John, <a href='#page30'>30</a>.</li> + +<li>Farnham, <a href='#page81'>81</a>.</li> + +<li>Farringford, <a href='#page276'>276</a>.</li> + +<li>Fast Castle, <a href='#page181'>181</a>-<a href='#page182'>182</a>.</li> + +<li>Feathers Hotel, Ludlow, <a href='#page69'>69</a>-<a href='#page70'>70</a>.</li> + +<li>Fife, <a href='#page308'>308</a>.</li> + +<li>Forres, <a href='#page161'>161</a>.</li> + +<li>Fotheringhay, <a href='#page225'>225</a>-<a href='#page227'>227</a>.</li> + +<li>Fountains Abbey, <a href='#page54'>54</a>, <a href='#page196'>196</a>.</li> + +<li>Fox, George, <a href='#page243'>243</a>.</li> + +<li>Franklin, Benjamin, <a href='#page85'>85</a>-<a href='#page86'>86</a>.</li> + +<li>Freshwater, <a href='#page301'>301</a>.</li> + +<li>Frogmore Park, <a href='#page255'>255</a>.</li> + +<li>Furness Abbey, <a href='#page304'>304</a>.</li> + + +</ul> +<p><span style="margin-left: 6em;"><b>G</b></span></p> +<ul> + +<li>Gad's Hill, <a href='#page29'>29</a>-<a href='#page32'>32</a>.</li> + +<li>Galashiels, <a href='#page178'>178</a>.</li> + +<li>Gaskell, Mrs., <a href='#page301'>301</a>.</li> + +<li>Gaveston, Piers, <a href='#page53'>53</a>.</li> + +<li>George III, <a href='#page256'>256</a>.</li> + +<li><span class="pagenum"><a id="page314" name="page314"></a>Pg 314</span>Glasgow, <a href='#page149'>149</a>.</li> + +<li>Glastonbury, <a href='#page108'>108</a>-<a href='#page109'>109</a>.</li> + +<li>Gloucester, <a href='#page112'>112</a>-<a href='#page113'>113</a>.</li> + +<li>Grandtully Castle, <a href='#page158'>158</a>.</li> + +<li>Grantham, <a href='#page227'>227</a>.</li> + +<li>Gray, Thos., <a href='#page254'>254</a>.</li> + +<li>Great North Road, <a href='#page191'>191</a>, <a href='#page206'>206</a>.</li> + +<li>Greenstead Church, <a href='#page243'>243</a>.</li> + +<li>Greenwich, <a href='#page27'>27</a>.</li> + +<li>Grey Friars Church, <a href='#page193'>193</a>.</li> + +<li>Guildford, <a href='#page81'>81</a>.</li> + +<li>Guinevere, Queen, <a href='#page109'>109</a>.</li> + + +</ul> +<p><span style="margin-left: 6em;"><b>H</b></span></p> +<ul> + +<li>Haddon Hall, <a href='#page304'>304</a>-<a href='#page305'>305</a>.</li> + +<li>Hadley Church, Monken Hadley, <a href='#page21'>21</a>-<a href='#page22'>22</a>.</li> + +<li>Hampton Court Palace, <a href='#page12'>12</a>-<a href='#page13'>13</a>.</li> + +<li>Handel, <a href='#page23'>23</a>-<a href='#page24'>24</a>.</li> + +<li>Hanley, <a href='#page49'>49</a>.</li> + +<li>Haredale Hall, <a href='#page54'>54</a>.</li> + +<li>Harold, King, <a href='#page20'>20</a>, <a href='#page281'>281</a>.</li> + +<li>Harrogate, <a href='#page52'>52</a>, <a href='#page54'>54</a>.</li> + +<li>Harrow-on-the-Hill, <a href='#page247'>247</a>, <a href='#page248'>248</a>.</li> + +<li>Haselmere, <a href='#page274'>274</a>-<a href='#page276'>276</a>.</li> + +<li>Hastings, Battle of, <a href='#page20'>20</a>.</li> + +<li>Hatfield House, <a href='#page15'>15</a>.</li> + +<li>Hathaway, Anne, <a href='#page76'>76</a>.</li> + +<li>Haverhill, <a href='#page241'>241</a>.</li> + +<li>Hay, <a href='#page124'>124</a>.</li> + +<li>Heddingham, <a href='#page242'>242</a>.</li> + +<li>Helmsley, <a href='#page198'>198</a>-<a href='#page199'>199</a>.</li> + +<li>Henley-on-Thames, <a href='#page256'>256</a>.</li> + +<li>Henry I, <a href='#page267'>267</a>, <a href='#page302'>302</a>.</li> + +<li>Henry II, <a href='#page53'>53</a>, <a href='#page263'>263</a>.</li> + +<li>Henry V, <a href='#page117'>117</a>-<a href='#page118'>118</a>.</li> + +<li>Henry VII, <a href='#page107'>107</a>, <a href='#page279'>279</a>.</li> + +<li>Henry VIII, <a href='#page43'>43</a>, <a href='#page76'>76</a>, <a href='#page109'>109</a>, <a href='#page194'>194</a>, <a href='#page197'>197</a>, <a href='#page217'>217</a>-<a href='#page218'>218</a>, <a href='#page224'>224</a>, <a href='#page267'>267</a>, <a href='#page279'>279</a>.</li> + +<li>Hereford, <a href='#page122'>122</a>-<a href='#page124'>124</a>.</li> + +<li>Hindhead District, <a href='#page276'>276</a>.</li> + +<li>Holwood House, <a href='#page288'>288</a>.</li> + +<li>Holyhead, <a href='#page303'>303</a>.</li> + +<li>Holyhead Road, <a href='#page43'>43</a>-<a href='#page44'>44</a>.</li> + +<li>Huntingdon, <a href='#page237'>237</a>, <a href='#page239'>239</a>-<a href='#page240'>240</a>.</li> + +<li>Huntly, <a href='#page161'>161</a>.</li> + + +</ul> +<p><span style="margin-left: 6em;"><b>I</b></span></p> +<ul> + +<li>Ilkley Station, <a href='#page51'>51</a>.</li> + +<li>Inverness, <a href='#page159'>159</a>-<a href='#page161'>161</a>.</li> + +<li>Inverurie, <a href='#page162'>162</a>.</li> + +<li>Iona, <a href='#page153'>153</a>-<a href='#page154'>154</a>.</li> + +<li>Ireland, <a href='#page303'>303</a>.</li> + +<li>Irish Sea, <a href='#page141'>141</a>.</li> + +<li>Isle of Man, <a href='#page141'>141</a>, <a href='#page303'>303</a>.</li> + +<li>Isle of Wight, <a href='#page276'>276</a>, <a href='#page301'>301</a>.</li> + + +</ul> +<p><span style="margin-left: 6em;"><b>J</b></span></p> +<ul> + +<li>James I, <a href='#page171'>171</a>, <a href='#page182'>182</a>, <a href='#page224'>224</a>, <a href='#page291'>291</a>.</li> + +<li>James II, <a href='#page63'>63</a>.</li> + +<li>James IV, <a href='#page165'>165</a>.</li> + +<li>Jedburgh, <a href='#page177'>177</a>, <a href='#page308'>308</a>.</li> + +<li>Jeffreys, Judge, <a href='#page63'>63</a>.</li> + +<li>John, King, <a href='#page76'>76</a>, <a href='#page229'>229</a>, <a href='#page267'>267</a>.</li> + +<li>John O' Groats, <a href='#page161'>161</a>, <a href='#page308'>308</a>.</li> + +<li>Johnson, Dr. Samuel, <a href='#page48'>48</a>.</li> + +<li>Jordans, <a href='#page243'>243</a>, <a href='#page250'>250</a>-<a href='#page253'>253</a>.</li> + + +</ul> +<p><span style="margin-left: 6em;"><b>K</b></span></p> +<ul> + +<li>Keith, <a href='#page161'>161</a>.</li> + +<li>Kelso, <a href='#page177'>177</a>, <a href='#page308'>308</a>.</li> + +<li>Kenilworth, <a href='#page77'>77</a>.</li> + +<li>Kilchurn Castle, <a href='#page151'>151</a>, <a href='#page157'>157</a>.</li> + +<li>Killiekrankie, Pass of, <a href='#page160'>160</a>.</li> + +<li><span class="pagenum"><a id="page315" name="page315"></a>Pg 315</span>Kilmarnock, <a href='#page149'>149</a>.</li> + +<li>Kingsley, Chas. <a href='#page266'>266</a>.</li> + +<li>King's Lynn, <a href='#page216'>216</a>.</li> + +<li>Kingston-on-Thames, <a href='#page80'>80</a>.</li> + +<li>Kingsway, London, <a href='#page296'>296</a>-<a href='#page297'>297</a>.</li> + +<li>Kinneff, <a href='#page166'>166</a>.</li> + +<li>Kinniard House, <a href='#page158'>158</a>.</li> + +<li>Knaresborough, <a href='#page52'>52</a>-<a href='#page54'>54</a>.</li> + +<li>Knole House, <a href='#page290'>290</a>-<a href='#page292'>292</a>.</li> + +<li>Knutsford, <a href='#page301'>301</a>.</li> + + +</ul> +<p><span style="margin-left: 6em;"><b>L</b></span></p> +<ul> + +<li>Lake District, <a href='#page304'>304</a>.</li> + +<li>Lammermoor, <a href='#page180'>180</a>-<a href='#page181'>181</a>.</li> + +<li>Lancaster, <a href='#page140'>140</a>-<a href='#page141'>141</a>.</li> + +<li>Land's End, <a href='#page301'>301</a>.</li> + +<li>Lanercost Priory, <a href='#page304'>304</a>.</li> + +<li>Launceston, <a href='#page104'>104</a>-<a href='#page106'>106</a>.</li> + +<li>Lea, River, <a href='#page21'>21</a>.</li> + +<li>Leamington, <a href='#page77'>77</a>-<a href='#page78'>78</a>.</li> + +<li>Leeds, <a href='#page50'>50</a>-<a href='#page52'>52</a>.</li> + +<li>Leeds Castle, <a href='#page39'>39</a>.</li> + +<li>Leicester, <a href='#page231'>231</a>.</li> + +<li>Leven, Loch, <a href='#page308'>308</a>.</li> + +<li>Lewes, <a href='#page278'>278</a>-<a href='#page279'>279</a>.</li> + +<li>Lichfield, <a href='#page48'>48</a>.</li> + +<li>Lincluden Abbey, <a href='#page146'>146</a>.</li> + +<li>Lincoln, <a href='#page209'>209</a>-<a href='#page210'>210</a>.</li> + +<li>Linlithgow, <a href='#page171'>171</a>, <a href='#page172'>172</a>.</li> + +<li>Livingstone, David, <a href='#page245'>245</a>.</li> + +<li>Llanberis, Pass of, <a href='#page132'>132</a>.</li> + +<li>Llandovery, <a href='#page303'>303</a>.</li> + +<li>Llangollen, <a href='#page127'>127</a>-<a href='#page129'>129</a>.</li> + +<li>Lockyer, Sir Norman, <a href='#page88'>88</a>.</li> + +<li>Lomond, Loch, <a href='#page150'>150</a>.</li> + +<li>London, <a href='#page11'>11</a>-<a href='#page25'>25</a>, <a href='#page39'>39</a>-<a href='#page40'>40</a>, <a href='#page80'>80</a>, <a href='#page245'>245</a>-<a href='#page246'>246</a>, <a href='#page296'>296</a>-<a href='#page297'>297</a>.</li> + +<li>London Tower, <a href='#page72'>72</a>.</li> + +<li>Ludlow, <a href='#page66'>66</a>-<a href='#page74'>74</a>.</li> + +<li>Lutterworth, <a href='#page231'>231</a>-<a href='#page232'>232</a>.</li> + +<li>Lyndhurst, <a href='#page88'>88</a>-<a href='#page89'>89</a>.</li> + + +</ul> +<p><span style="margin-left: 6em;"><b>M</b></span></p> +<ul> + +<li>McCaig's Tower, <a href='#page152'>152</a>-<a href='#page153'>153</a>.</li> + +<li>Macbeth, <a href='#page160'>160</a>, <a href='#page161'>161</a>.</li> + +<li>Magdalen College, Oxford, <a href='#page257'>257</a>-<a href='#page258'>258</a>.</li> + +<li>Maidstone, <a href='#page32'>32</a>, <a href='#page39'>39</a>.</li> + +<li>Malmesbury, <a href='#page111'>111</a>-<a href='#page112'>112</a>.</li> + +<li>Manchester, <a href='#page50'>50</a>, <a href='#page54'>54</a>, <a href='#page236'>236</a>.</li> + +<li>Marazion, <a href='#page103'>103</a>.</li> + +<li>Margate, <a href='#page300'>300</a>.</li> + +<li>Martin, Henry, <a href='#page120'>120</a>.</li> + +<li>Mary, Queen, <a href='#page262'>262</a>.</li> + +<li>Mary Queen of Scots, <a href='#page170'>170</a>-<a href='#page173'>173</a>, <a href='#page180'>180</a>, <a href='#page224'>224</a>, <a href='#page225'>225</a>-<a href='#page227'>227</a>, <a href='#page308'>308</a>.</li> + +<li>Mauchline, <a href='#page148'>148</a>.</li> + +<li>Maxstoke Castle, <a href='#page78'>78</a>.</li> + +<li>Mayflower, The, <a href='#page96'>96</a>, <a href='#page206'>206</a>.</li> + +<li>Melrose Abbey, <a href='#page174'>174</a>-<a href='#page175'>175</a>, <a href='#page177'>177</a>.</li> + +<li>Micklegate Bar, York, <a href='#page203'>203</a>.</li> + +<li>Midhurst, <a href='#page274'>274</a>.</li> + +<li>Millston, <a href='#page88'>88</a>.</li> + +<li>Milton, John, <a href='#page72'>72</a>, <a href='#page249'>249</a>-<a href='#page250'>250</a>.</li> + +<li>Monken Hadley, <a href='#page21'>21</a>-<a href='#page23'>23</a>.</li> + +<li>Monmouth, <a href='#page114'>114</a>-<a href='#page118'>118</a>.</li> + +<li>Monnow River, <a href='#page117'>117</a>.</li> + +<li>Montfort, Simon de, <a href='#page279'>279</a>.</li> + +<li>Montrose, <a href='#page167'>167</a>.</li> + +<li>Much Wenlock, <a href='#page64'>64</a>-<a href='#page65'>65</a>.</li> + +<li>Mull, Sound of, <a href='#page154'>154</a>.</li> + + +</ul> +<p><span style="margin-left: 6em;"><b>N</b></span></p> +<ul> + +<li>Nairn, <a href='#page161'>161</a>.</li> + +<li>Nelson, Admiral, <a href='#page216'>216</a>-<a href='#page217'>217</a>.</li> + +<li>Netley, <a href='#page267'>267</a>-<a href='#page269'>269</a>.</li> + +<li><span class="pagenum"><a id="page316" name="page316"></a>Pg 316</span>Newark, <a href='#page229'>229</a>.</li> + +<li>Newcastle-on-Tyne, <a href='#page187'>187</a>.</li> + +<li>New Castle-Under-Lyme, <a href='#page49'>49</a>.</li> + +<li>New College, Oxford, <a href='#page258'>258</a>.</li> + +<li>New Forest, <a href='#page88'>88</a>-<a href='#page89'>89</a>.</li> + +<li>Newlyn, <a href='#page100'>100</a>-<a href='#page101'>101</a>.</li> + +<li>Newstead Abbey, <a href='#page207'>207</a>-<a href='#page208'>208</a>.</li> + +<li>Newton, Sir Isaac, <a href='#page227'>227</a>.</li> + +<li>Nidd, River, <a href='#page53'>53</a>.</li> + +<li>Nith, Valley, <a href='#page146'>146</a>.</li> + +<li>Norfolk Broads, <a href='#page307'>307</a>.</li> + +<li>Northampton, <a href='#page232'>232</a>.</li> + +<li>Norwich, <a href='#page215'>215</a>-<a href='#page220'>220</a>.</li> + +<li>Nottingham, <a href='#page230'>230</a>-<a href='#page231'>231</a>.</li> + +<li>Nuneaton, <a href='#page46'>46</a>-<a href='#page47'>47</a>, <a href='#page78'>78</a>, <a href='#page308'>308</a>.</li> + + +</ul> +<p><span style="margin-left: 6em;"><b>O</b></span></p> +<ul> + +<li>Oban, <a href='#page151'>151</a>-<a href='#page155'>155</a>.</li> + +<li>Offham, <a href='#page286'>286</a>-<a href='#page287'>287</a>.</li> + +<li>Old Kent Road, <a href='#page26'>26</a>-<a href='#page27'>27</a>.</li> + +<li>Olney, <a href='#page232'>232</a>-<a href='#page233'>233</a>.</li> + +<li>Osborne House, <a href='#page301'>301</a>.</li> + +<li>Oswestry, <a href='#page127'>127</a>.</li> + +<li>Ouse, River, <a href='#page239'>239</a>.</li> + +<li>Oxford, <a href='#page234'>234</a>, <a href='#page256'>256</a>-<a href='#page259'>259</a>.</li> + + +</ul> +<p><span style="margin-left: 6em;"><b>P</b></span></p> +<ul> + +<li>Parliamentary Army, <a href='#page61'>61</a>, <a href='#page82'>82</a>, <a href='#page121'>121</a>-<a href='#page122'>122</a>, <a href='#page143'>143</a>, <a href='#page204'>204</a>, <a href='#page228'>228</a>, <a href='#page230'>230</a>, <a href='#page243'>243</a>, <a href='#page259'>259</a>.</li> + +<li>Peak District, <a href='#page304'>304</a>.</li> + +<li>Peele, <a href='#page248'>248</a>.</li> + +<li>Penistone, <a href='#page55'>55</a>.</li> + +<li>Penn, Wm., <a href='#page20'>20</a>, <a href='#page251'>251</a>, <a href='#page253'>253</a>.</li> + +<li>Penrith, <a href='#page141'>141</a>.</li> + +<li>Penshurst Place, <a href='#page67'>67</a>, <a href='#page292'>292</a>-<a href='#page294'>294</a>.</li> + +<li>Penzance, <a href='#page98'>98</a>-<a href='#page100'>100</a>.</li> + +<li>Perth, <a href='#page169'>169</a>-<a href='#page170'>170</a>.</li> + +<li>Peterborough, <a href='#page223'>223</a>-<a href='#page225'>225</a>.</li> + +<li>Petergate, The, York, <a href='#page205'>205</a>.</li> + +<li>Pevensey, <a href='#page280'>280</a>-<a href='#page281'>281</a>.</li> + +<li>Pilgrim Fathers, <a href='#page96'>96</a>, <a href='#page206'>206</a>, <a href='#page214'>214</a>-<a href='#page215'>215</a>, <a href='#page241'>241</a>.</li> + +<li>Pitlochry, <a href='#page159'>159</a>.</li> + +<li>Pitt, Wm., <a href='#page288'>288</a>.</li> + +<li>Plymouth, <a href='#page96'>96</a>-<a href='#page97'>97</a>.</li> + +<li>Preston, <a href='#page137'>137</a>, <a href='#page139'>139</a>.</li> + + +</ul> +<p><span style="margin-left: 6em;"><b>Q</b></span></p> +<ul> + +<li>Quebec House, <a href='#page287'>287</a>-<a href='#page288'>288</a>.</li> + + +</ul> +<p><span style="margin-left: 6em;"><b>R</b></span></p> +<ul> + +<li>Raglan, <a href='#page120'>120</a>-<a href='#page121'>121</a>.</li> + +<li>Raikes, Robt., <a href='#page113'>113</a>.</li> + +<li>Reading, <a href='#page265'>265</a>.</li> + +<li>Reculvers, <a href='#page300'>300</a>.</li> + +<li>Regulbium, <a href='#page300'>300</a>.</li> + +<li>Retford, <a href='#page206'>206</a>.</li> + +<li>Rhodes, Cecil, <a href='#page258'>258</a>.</li> + +<li>Richard III, <a href='#page72'>72</a>, <a href='#page107'>107</a>.</li> + +<li>Richmond, <a href='#page192'>192</a>-<a href='#page194'>194</a>.</li> + +<li>Rievaulx Abbey, <a href='#page199'>199</a>-<a href='#page200'>200</a>.</li> + +<li>Ripon, <a href='#page54'>54</a>, <a href='#page195'>195</a>-<a href='#page197'>197</a>.</li> + +<li>Rochester, <a href='#page29'>29</a>, <a href='#page32'>32</a>-<a href='#page33'>33</a>.</li> + +<li>Ross, <a href='#page113'>113</a>-<a href='#page114'>114</a>.</li> + +<li>Roundheads, <a href='#page48'>48</a>, <a href='#page84'>84</a>, <a href='#page92'>92</a>.</li> + +<li>Rowsley, <a href='#page304'>304</a>.</li> + +<li>Rowton Moor, <a href='#page61'>61</a>.</li> + +<li>Royal Porcelain Works, Worcester, <a href='#page74'>74</a>-<a href='#page75'>75</a>.</li> + +<li>Rugby, <a href='#page78'>78</a>.</li> + +<li>Runnymede, <a href='#page15'>15</a>.</li> + +<li>Ruskin, <a href='#page304'>304</a>.</li> + +<li>Rye, <a href='#page282'>282</a>-<a href='#page283'>283</a>.</li> + +<li>Rye House, Broxborne, <a href='#page15'>15</a>.</li> + + +</ul> +<p><span style="margin-left: 6em;"><b>S</b></span></p> +<ul> + +<li>St. Albans, <a href='#page42'>42</a>-<a href='#page43'>43</a>.</li> + +<li>St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury, <a href='#page38'>38</a>.</li> + +<li><span class="pagenum"><a id="page317" name="page317"></a>Pg 317</span>St. Botolph's Church, <a href='#page213'>213</a>-<a href='#page214'>214</a>.</li> + +<li>St. Columba, <a href='#page153'>153</a>-<a href='#page154'>154</a>.</li> + +<li>St. Cuthbert, <a href='#page188'>188</a>.</li> + +<li>St. Davids, <a href='#page302'>302</a>.</li> + +<li>St. Edmund the Martyr, <a href='#page244'>244</a>.</li> + +<li>St. Ives, <a href='#page101'>101</a>-<a href='#page103'>103</a>, <a href='#page236'>236</a>-<a href='#page239'>239</a>.</li> + +<li>St. John's Hospital, <a href='#page39'>39</a>.</li> + +<li>St. Joseph of Arimathea, <a href='#page108'>108</a>.</li> + +<li>St. Martin's, Canterbury, <a href='#page38'>38</a>.</li> + +<li>St. Mary's Abbey, York, <a href='#page204'>204</a>.</li> + +<li>St. Mary's Church, Lancaster, <a href='#page140'>140</a>-<a href='#page141'>141</a>.</li> + +<li>St. Mary's Church, Shrewsbury, <a href='#page63'>63</a>.</li> + +<li>St. Michael's Church, Dumfries, <a href='#page144'>144</a>.</li> + +<li>St. Michael's Mount, <a href='#page103'>103</a>.</li> + +<li>St. Steven's Church, Launceston, <a href='#page105'>105</a>-<a href='#page106'>106</a>.</li> + +<li>St. William of Perth, <a href='#page33'>33</a>.</li> + +<li>Salisbury, <a href='#page86'>86</a>-<a href='#page87'>87</a>.</li> + +<li>Sandquhar, <a href='#page148'>148</a>.</li> + +<li>Sandringham Palace, <a href='#page216'>216</a>.</li> + +<li>Sandwich, <a href='#page300'>300</a>.</li> + +<li>Saracen's Head, Cerrig-y-Druidion, <a href='#page130'>130</a>-<a href='#page132'>132</a>.</li> + +<li>Scarborough, <a href='#page307'>307</a>.</li> + +<li>Scott, Gilbert, <a href='#page219'>219</a>.</li> + +<li>Scott, Sir Walter, <a href='#page47'>47</a>, <a href='#page142'>142</a>, <a href='#page144'>144</a>, <a href='#page151'>151</a>, <a href='#page155'>155</a>, <a href='#page158'>158</a>, <a href='#page167'>167</a>, <a href='#page173'>173</a>-<a href='#page177'>177</a>, <a href='#page181'>181</a>, <a href='#page199'>199</a>, <a href='#page262'>262</a>, <a href='#page305'>305</a>.</li> + +<li>Selborne, <a href='#page82'>82</a>.</li> + +<li>Severn, River, <a href='#page61'>61</a>, <a href='#page64'>64</a>-<a href='#page65'>65</a>, <a href='#page119'>119</a>-<a href='#page120'>120</a>.</li> + +<li>Shakespeare, <a href='#page76'>76</a>-<a href='#page77'>77</a>, <a href='#page107'>107</a>.</li> + +<li>Shambles, The, York, <a href='#page205'>205</a>.</li> + +<li>Sherborne, <a href='#page301'>301</a>.</li> + +<li>Sheridan, <a href='#page248'>248</a>.</li> + +<li>Shipley, Dr., <a href='#page86'>86</a>.</li> + +<li>Shipton, Mother, <a href='#page53'>53</a>-<a href='#page54'>54</a>.</li> + +<li>Shottermill, <a href='#page275'>275</a>.</li> + +<li>Shrewsbury, <a href='#page61'>61</a>-<a href='#page63'>63</a>, <a href='#page65'>65</a>.</li> + +<li>Sidney, Henry, <a href='#page72'>72</a>.</li> + +<li>Sidney, Sir Philip, <a href='#page63'>63</a>, <a href='#page72'>72</a>, <a href='#page292'>292</a>-<a href='#page294'>294</a>.</li> + +<li>Smith, Prof. Goldwin, <a href='#page3'>3</a>, <a href='#page235'>235</a>.</li> + +<li>Snowdon, Mt., <a href='#page132'>132</a>.</li> + +<li>Solway Tide, <a href='#page143'>143</a>.</li> + +<li>Somersby, <a href='#page211'>211</a>-<a href='#page213'>213</a>.</li> + +<li>Southampton, <a href='#page267'>267</a>.</li> + +<li>Southey, <a href='#page168'>168</a>, <a href='#page304'>304</a>.</li> + +<li>Southwell, <a href='#page230'>230</a>.</li> + +<li>Staffa, <a href='#page153'>153</a>.</li> + +<li>Stalybridge, <a href='#page56'>56</a>.</li> + +<li>Stanley, Dean, <a href='#page38'>38</a>.</li> + +<li>Sterne, Laurence, <a href='#page198'>198</a>-<a href='#page200'>200</a>.</li> + +<li>Stevenson, Robert Louis, <a href='#page158'>158</a>.</li> + +<li>Stirling, <a href='#page170'>170</a>-<a href='#page171'>171</a>.</li> + +<li>Strid, The, <a href='#page51'>51</a>.</li> + +<li>Stockport, <a href='#page56'>56</a>.</li> + +<li>Stoke-on-Trent, <a href='#page49'>49</a>.</li> + +<li>Stoke Poges, <a href='#page254'>254</a>.</li> + +<li>Stokesay, <a href='#page66'>66</a>-<a href='#page67'>67</a>.</li> + +<li>Stonehaven, <a href='#page167'>167</a>.</li> + +<li>Stonehenge, <a href='#page87'>87</a>-<a href='#page88'>88</a>.</li> + +<li>Stonehouse, <a href='#page96'>96</a>.</li> + +<li>Stoneleigh Abbey, <a href='#page78'>78</a>.</li> + +<li>Story, <a href='#page232'>232</a>.</li> + +<li>Stratford-on-Avon, <a href='#page1'>1</a>-<a href='#page3'>3</a>, <a href='#page76'>76</a>-<a href='#page77'>77</a>.</li> + +<li>Sulgrave Manor, <a href='#page308'>308</a>.</li> + +<li><span class="pagenum"><a id="page318" name="page318"></a>Pg 318</span>Swale River, <a href='#page193'>193</a>, <a href='#page194'>194</a>.</li> + + +</ul> +<p><span style="margin-left: 6em;"><b>T</b></span></p> +<ul> + +<li>Tamworth, <a href='#page47'>47</a>.</li> + +<li>Tay, Loch, <a href='#page158'>158</a>.</li> + +<li>Tay, River, <a href='#page158'>158</a>, <a href='#page169'>169</a>.</li> + +<li>Taymouth Castle, <a href='#page158'>158</a>.</li> + +<li>Temple Bar, <a href='#page21'>21</a>.</li> + +<li>Tennyson, <a href='#page46'>46</a>, <a href='#page124'>124</a>, <a href='#page209'>209</a>, <a href='#page211'>211</a>-<a href='#page213'>213</a>, <a href='#page274'>274</a>, <a href='#page276'>276</a>, <a href='#page301'>301</a>.</li> + +<li>Tewkesbury, <a href='#page301'>301</a>.</li> + +<li>Thackeray, <a href='#page21'>21</a>-<a href='#page23'>23</a>, <a href='#page295'>295</a>.</li> + +<li>Thames River, <a href='#page256'>256</a>.</li> + +<li>Tintagel Castle, <a href='#page104'>104</a>, <a href='#page302'>302</a>.</li> + +<li>Tintern, <a href='#page118'>118</a>-<a href='#page119'>119</a>.</li> + +<li>Toplady, Rev. Augustus, <a href='#page81'>81</a>.</li> + +<li>Torquay, <a href='#page92'>92</a>-<a href='#page93'>93</a>.</li> + +<li>Trinity Church, Stratford, <a href='#page2'>2</a>.</li> + +<li>Trollope, Anthony, <a href='#page23'>23</a>.</li> + +<li>Trosachs, <a href='#page151'>151</a>.</li> + +<li>Truro, <a href='#page97'>97</a>-<a href='#page98'>98</a>, <a href='#page104'>104</a>.</li> + +<li>Tunbridge Wells, <a href='#page284'>284</a>, <a href='#page286'>286</a>, <a href='#page295'>295</a>.</li> + +<li>Tweed River, <a href='#page175'>175</a>-<a href='#page176'>176</a>.</li> + +<li>Twyford, <a href='#page85'>85</a>.</li> + + +</ul> +<p><span style="margin-left: 6em;"><b>U</b></span></p> +<ul> + +<li>Uriconium, <a href='#page63'>63</a>.</li> + + +</ul> +<p><span style="margin-left: 6em;"><b>V</b></span></p> +<ul> + +<li>Vale Crucis Abbey, <a href='#page128'>128</a>.</li> + +<li>Vernon House, Farnham, <a href='#page82'>82</a>.</li> + +<li>Verulamium, <a href='#page42'>42</a>.</li> + +<li>Victoria, Queen, <a href='#page255'>255</a>.</li> + + +</ul> +<p><span style="margin-left: 6em;"><b>W</b></span></p> +<ul> + +<li>Waddesdon, <a href='#page78'>78</a>.</li> + +<li>Wakefield, <a href='#page55'>55</a>.</li> + +<li>Wallace, <a href='#page170'>170</a>, <a href='#page171'>171</a>.</li> + +<li>Walsingham, <a href='#page217'>217</a>.</li> + +<li>Waltham Abbey, <a href='#page20'>20</a>-<a href='#page21'>21</a>.</li> + +<li>Walton, Ike, <a href='#page84'>84</a>.</li> + +<li>Wantage, <a href='#page259'>259</a>, <a href='#page263'>263</a>-<a href='#page264'>264</a>.</li> + +<li>Warrington, <a href='#page138'>138</a>-<a href='#page139'>139</a>, <a href='#page236'>236</a>.</li> + +<li>Warwick, <a href='#page77'>77</a>.</li> + +<li>Washington, George, <a href='#page308'>308</a>.</li> + +<li>Wedgewood, Josiah, <a href='#page49'>49</a>.</li> + +<li>Wells, <a href='#page109'>109</a>.</li> + +<li>Welshpool, <a href='#page127'>127</a>.</li> + +<li>Wesley, John, <a href='#page282'>282</a>.</li> + +<li>Westerham, <a href='#page287'>287</a>-<a href='#page288'>288</a>.</li> + +<li>Westminster Abbey, <a href='#page21'>21</a>, <a href='#page24'>24</a>, <a href='#page154'>154</a>, <a href='#page224'>224</a>.</li> + +<li>Wharfdale, <a href='#page51'>51</a>.</li> + +<li>Wharfe River, <a href='#page51'>51</a>.</li> + +<li>Whitby, <a href='#page307'>307</a>.</li> + +<li>Whitchurch, <a href='#page23'>23</a>.</li> + +<li>White, Gilbert, <a href='#page82'>82</a>.</li> + +<li>Whittington, <a href='#page265'>265</a>.</li> + +<li>Wigan, <a href='#page139'>139</a>.</li> + +<li>William the Conqueror, <a href='#page20'>20</a>, <a href='#page63'>63</a>, <a href='#page278'>278</a>-<a href='#page281'>281</a>, <a href='#page302'>302</a>, <a href='#page305'>305</a>.</li> + +<li>William the Lion, <a href='#page168'>168</a>.</li> + +<li>William of Orange, <a href='#page93'>93</a>.</li> + +<li>William Rufus, <a href='#page32'>32</a>, <a href='#page84'>84</a>.</li> + +<li>Winchelsea, <a href='#page282'>282</a>-<a href='#page283'>283</a>.</li> + +<li>Winchester, <a href='#page83'>83</a>-<a href='#page85'>85</a>, <a href='#page266'>266</a>.</li> + +<li>Windsor, <a href='#page254'>254</a>-<a href='#page255'>255</a>.</li> + +<li>Wishing Wells, <a href='#page217'>217</a>-<a href='#page218'>218</a>.</li> + +<li>Wolfe, Gen., <a href='#page287'>287</a>-<a href='#page288'>288</a>.</li> + +<li>Wolvesley Palace, <a href='#page85'>85</a>.</li> + +<li>Woodstock, <a href='#page262'>262</a>-<a href='#page263'>263</a>.</li> + +<li>Woolsthorpe, <a href='#page227'>227</a>.</li> + +<li>Woolwich, <a href='#page27'>27</a>.</li> + +<li>Worcester, <a href='#page74'>74</a>-<a href='#page76'>76</a>.</li> + +<li>Wordsworth, <a href='#page304'>304</a>.</li> + +<li>Wroxeter, <a href='#page64'>64</a>.</li> + +<li><span class="pagenum"><a id="page319" name="page319"></a>Pg 319</span>Wyatt, James, <a href='#page86'>86</a>-<a href='#page87'>87</a>, <a href='#page122'>122</a>-<a href='#page123'>123</a>.</li> + +<li>Wyclif, John, <a href='#page231'>231</a>-<a href='#page232'>232</a>.</li> + +<li>Wye, River, <a href='#page122'>122</a>, <a href='#page125'>125</a>.</li> + +<li>Wyndcliffe, <a href='#page119'>119</a>.</li> + + +</ul> +<p><span style="margin-left: 6em;"><b>Y</b></span></p> +<ul> + +<li>Yarmouth, <a href='#page307'>307</a>.</li> + +<li>Yeovil, <a href='#page90'>90</a>.</li> + +<li>York, <a href='#page8'>8</a>, <a href='#page191'>191</a>, <a href='#page197'>197</a>-<a href='#page198'>198</a>, <a href='#page203'>203</a>-<a href='#page205'>205</a>.</li></ul> + +<div class="figcenter"> + <a id="image50" name="image50"></a><a href="images/50large.jpg"> + <img src="images/50.jpg" + alt="MAP OF SCOTLAND." + title="MAP OF SCOTLAND." /></a> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of British Highways And Byways From A +Motor Car, by Thomas D. 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Murphy + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: British Highways And Byways From A Motor Car + Being A Record Of A Five Thousand Mile Tour In England, + Wales And Scotland + +Author: Thomas D. Murphy + +Release Date: December 13, 2005 [EBook #17297] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BRITISH HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Taavi Kalju and the Online +Distributed Proofreaders Europe at http://dp.rastko.net. + + + + + +[Illustration: OLD HALF-TIMBERED HOUSES IN LEDBURY. + +From Water Color by B. McGuinness.] + + + + +British Highways +and Byways +From a Motor Car + + +BEING A RECORD OF A FIVE THOUSAND MILE TOUR IN ENGLAND, WALES AND +SCOTLAND + +BY + +Thos. D. Murphy + + +With Sixteen Illustrations in Colour and Thirty-two Duogravures From +Photographs; Also Two Descriptive Maps. + + +BOSTON +L.C. Page & Company +MDCCCCVIII + + +_Copyright_, 1908 +BY L.C. PAGE & COMPANY +(INCORPORATED) + +_All rights reserved_ + + + + +A FOREWORD + + +In this chronicle of a summer's motoring in Britain I have not attempted +a guide-book in any sense, yet the maps, together with the comments on +highways, towns, and country, should be of some value even in that +capacity. I hope, however, that the book, with its many illustrations +and its record of visits to out-of-the way places, may be acceptable to +those who may desire to tour Britain by rail or cycle as well as by +motor car. Nor may it be entirely uninteresting to those who may not +expect to visit the country in person but desire to learn more of it and +its people. Although our journey did not follow the beaten paths of +British touring, and while a motor car affords the most satisfactory +means of reaching most of the places described, the great majority of +these places are accessible by rail, supplemented in some cases by a +walk or drive. A glance at the maps will indicate the large scope of +country covered and the location of most places especially mentioned in +the text. + +It was not a tour of cities by any means, but of the most delightful +country in the world, with its towns, villages, historic spots and +solitary ruins. Whatever the merits or demerits of the text, there can +be no question concerning the pictures. The color-plates were reproduced +from original paintings by prominent artists, some of the pictures +having been exhibited in the London Royal Academy. The thirty-two +duogravures represent the very height of attainment in that process, +being reproductions of the most perfect English photographs obtainable. + + T.D.M. +January 1908. + + + + +FOREWORD TO SECOND EDITION + + +The first edition of BRITISH HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS FROM A MOTOR CAR was +printed from type--instead of from electrotype plates--thus giving an +opportunity for additional care in the press work, with better results +than with the ordinary book printed from plates. The publishers thought +also that some time might elapse before a second edition would be called +for. However, the unexpected happened and in less than a year a new +edition is required. + +This has afforded opportunity for numerous additions and +corrections--since it was hardly possible that a book covering such a +wide scope could be entirely free from mistakes, though, fortunately, +these were mainly minor ones. I have to thank numerous readers for +helpful suggestions. + +That there is a distinct field for such a book is proven by the +unexpectedly large demand for the first edition. I hope that the new and +revised edition may meet with like favor. + + T.D.M. +March 1, 1909. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + Page + I A FEW GENERALITIES 1 + II IN AND ABOUT LONDON 11 + III A PILGRIMAGE TO CANTERBURY 26 + IV A RUN THROUGH THE MIDLANDS 40 + V THE BORDER TOWNS, SHREWSBURY AND LUDLOW 58 + VI LONDON TO LAND'S END 80 + VII FROM CORNWALL TO SOUTH WALES 100 + VIII THROUGH BEAUTIFUL WALES 115 + IX CHESTER TO THE "HIELANDS" 137 + X THROUGH HISTORIC SCOTLAND 156 + XI FROM EDINBURGH TO YORKSHIRE 173 + XII IN OLD YORKSHIRE 190 + XIII A ZIG-ZAG TRIP FROM YORK TO NORWICH 206 + XIV PETERBOROUGH, FOTHERINGHAY, ETC 221 + XV THE CROMWELL COUNTRY; COLCHESTER 235 + XVI THE HAUNTS OF MILTON AND PENN 247 + XVII A CHAPTER OF DIVERS PLACES AND EXPERIENCES 260 +XVIII IN SURREY AND SUSSEX 275 + XIX KNOLE HOUSE AND PENSHURST 290 + XX SOME MIGHT-HAVE-BEENS 299 + INDEX 311 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + +COLOUR PLATES + + Page +OLD HALF-TIMBEREID HOUSES IN LEDBURY Frontispiece +OLD COTTAGE AT NORTON, NEAR EVESHAM 1 +HARVESTING IN HERTFORDSHIRE 16 +THE THREE SPIRES OF LICHFIELD 48 +SUNSET ON THE MOOR 56 +A COTTAGE IN HOLDENHURST, HAMPSHIRE 86 +ROCKS OFF CORNWALL 96 +NEAR LAND'S END 100 +ON DARTMOOR 104 +IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE 112 +ENTRANCE TO LOCH TYNE 144 +THE PATH BY THE LOCH 150 +IN THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS 160 +A SURREY LANDSCAPE 272 +A BIT OF OLD ENGLAND 300 +THE CALEDONIAN COAST 308 + +DUOGRAVURES + +HADLEY CHURCH, MONKEN HADLEY 22 +DICKENS' HOME, GAD'S HILL, NEAR ROCHESTER 30 +CATHEDRAL, CANTERBURY 33 +RUINS OF URICONIUM, NEAR SHREWSBURY 64 +STOKESAY MANOR HOUSE, NEAR LUDLOW 66 +THE FEATHERS HOTEL, LUDLOW 68 +LUDLOW CASTLE, THE KEEP AND ENTRANCE 72 +A GLADE IN NEW FOREST 88 +ST. JOSEPH'S CHAPEL, GLASTONBURY ABBEY 108 +DISTANT VIEW OF ROSS, SOUTH WELSH BORDER 114 +RUINS OF RAGLAN CASTLE, SOUTH WALES 120 +KILCHURN CASTLE, LOCH AWE 152 +TOWERS OF ELGIN CATHEDRAL, NORTH SCOTLAND 162 +DUNNOTTAR CASTLE, STONEHAVEN, NEAR ABERDEEN 164 +TOWN HOUSE, DUNBAR, SCOTLAND 180 +BAMBOROUGH CASTLE, NORTHUMBERLAND 184 +OLD COTTAGE AT COCKINGTON 200 +SOMERSBY RECTORY, BIRTHPLACE OF TENNYSON 210 +SOMERSBY CHURCH 212 +ST. BOTOLPH'S CHURCH FROM THE RIVER, BOSTON 216 +A TYPICAL BYWAY 224 +JOHN WYCLIF'S CHURCH, LUTTERWORTH 232 +BYRON'S ELM IN CHURCHYARD, HARROW 246 +MILTON'S ROOM IN COTTAGE AT CHALFONT ST. GILES 250 +DISTANT VIEW OF MAGDALEN TOWER, OXFORD 256 +RINGWOOD CHURCH 260 +WINDMILL NEAR ARUNDEL, SUSSEX 274 +ARUNDEL CASTLE 276 +PEVENSEY CASTLE, WHERE THE NORMANS LANDED 280 +WINCHELSEA CHURCH AND ELM TREE 282 +ENTRANCE FRONT BODIAM CASTLE, SUSSEX 286 +PENSHURST PLACE, HOME OF THE SIDNEYS 292 + +MAPS + +MAP OF ENGLAND AND WALES 310 +MAP OF SCOTLAND 318 + + +[Illustration: OLD COTTAGE AT NORTON, NEAR EVESHAM. + +From Water Color by G.F. Nicholls.] + + + + +British Highways and Byways From a Motor Car + + + + +I + +A FEW GENERALITIES + + +Stratford-on-Avon stands first on the itinerary of nearly every American +who proposes to visit the historic shrines of Old England. Its +associations with Britain's immortal bard and with our own gentle +Geoffrey Crayon are not unfamiliar to the veriest layman, and no fewer +than thirty thousand pilgrims, largely from America, visit the +delightful old town each year. And who ever came away disappointed? Who, +if impervious to the charm of the place, ever dared to own it? + +My first visit to Stratford-on-Avon was in the regulation fashion. +Imprisoned in a dusty and comfortless first-class apartment--first-class +is an irony in England when applied to railroad travel, a mere excuse +for charging double--we shot around the curves, the glorious +Warwickshire landscapes fleeting past in a haze or obscured at times by +the drifting smoke. Our reveries were rudely interrupted by the shriek +of the English locomotive--like an exaggerated toy whistle--and, with a +mere glimpse of town and river, we were brought sharply up to the +unattractive station of Stratford-on-Avon. We were hustled by an +officious porter into an omnibus, which rattled through the streets +until we landed at the Sign of the Red Horse; and the manner of our +departure was even the same. + +Just two years later, after an exhilarating drive of two or three hours +over the broad, well-kept highway winding through the parklike fields, +fresh from May showers, between Worcester and Stratford, our motor +finally climbed a long hill, and there, stretched out before us, lay the +valley of the Avon. Far away we caught the gleam of the immortal river, +and rising from a group of splendid trees we beheld Trinity +Church--almost unique in England for its graceful combination of massive +tower and slender spire--the literary shrine of the English-speaking +world, the enchanted spot where Shakespeare sleeps. About it were +clustered the clean, tiled roofs of the charming town, set like a gem in +the Warwickshire landscape, famous as the most beautiful section of Old +England. Our car slowed to a stop, and only the subdued hum of the motor +broke the stillness as we saw Stratford-on-Avon from afar, conscious of +a beauty and sentiment that made our former visit seem commonplace +indeed. + +But I am not going to write of Stratford-on-Avon. Thousands have done +this before me--some of them of immortal fame. I shall not attempt to +describe or give details concerning a town that is probably visited each +year by more people than any other place of the size in the world. I am +simply striving in a few words to give the different impressions made +upon the same party who visited the town twice in a comparatively short +period, the first time by railway train and the last by motor car. If I +have anything to say of Stratford, it will come in due sequence in my +story. + +There are three ways in which a tourist may obtain a good idea of +Britain during a summer's vacation of three or four months. He may cover +most places of interest after the old manner, by railway train. This +will have to be supplemented by many and expensive carriage drives if he +wishes to see the most beautiful country and many of the most +interesting places. As Professor Goldwin Smith says, "Railways in +England do not follow the lines of beauty in very many cases," and the +opportunity afforded of really seeing England from a railway car window +is poor indeed. The tourist must keep a constant eye on the time-tables, +and in many of the more retired places he will have to spend a day when +an hour would suffice quite as well could he get away. If he travels +first-class, it is quite expensive, and the only advantage secured is +that he generally has a compartment to himself, the difference in +accommodations between first and third-class on the longer distance +trains being insignificant. But if he travels third-class, he very often +finds himself crowded into a small compartment with people in whom, to +say the least, he has nothing in common. One seldom gets the real +sentiment and beauty of a place in approaching it by railway. I am +speaking, of course, of the tourist who endeavors to crowd as much as he +can into a comparatively short time. To the one who remains several days +in a place, railroad traveling is less objectionable. My remarks +concerning railroad travel in England are made merely from the point of +comparison with a pleasure journey by motor, and having covered the +greater part of the country in both ways, I am qualified to some extent +to speak from experience. + +For a young man or party of young men who are traveling through Britain +on a summer's vacation, the bicycle affords an excellent and expeditious +method of getting over the country, and offers nearly all the advantages +of the motor car, provided the rider is vigorous and expert enough to do +the wheeling without fatigue. The motor cycle is still better from this +point of view, and many thousands of them are in use on English roads, +while cyclists may be counted by the tens of thousands. But the bicycle +is out of the question for an extended tour by a party which includes +ladies. The amount of impedimenta which must be carried along, and the +many long hills which are encountered on the English roads, will put the +cycle out of the question in such cases. + +In the motor car, we have the most modern and thorough means of +traversing the highways and byways of Britain in the limits of a single +summer, and it is my purpose in this book, with little pretensions to +literary style, to show how satisfactorily this may be done by a mere +layman. To the man who drives his own car and who at the outstart knows +very little about the English roads and towns, I wish to undertake to +show how in a trip of five thousand miles, occupying about fifty days, +actual traveling time, I covered much of the most beautiful country in +England and Scotland and visited a large proportion of the most +interesting and historic places in the Kingdom. I think it can be +clearly demonstrated that this method of touring will give opportunities +for enjoyment and for gaining actual knowledge of the people and country +that can hardly be attained in any other way. + +The motor car affords expeditious and reasonably sure means of getting +over the country--always ready when you are ready, subservient to your +whim to visit some inaccessible old ruin, flying over the broad main +highways or winding more cautiously in the unfrequented country +byways--and is, withal, a method of locomotion to which the English +people have become tolerant if not positively friendly. Further, I am +sure it will be welcome news to many that the expense of such a trip, +under ordinary conditions, is not at all exorbitant or out of the reach +of the average well-to-do citizen. + +Those who have traveled for long distances on American roads can have no +conception whatever of the delights of motor traveling on the British +highways. I think there are more bad roads in the average county, taking +the States throughout, than there are in all of the United Kingdom, and +the number of defective bridges in any county outside of the immediate +precincts of a few cities, would undoubtedly be many times greater than +in the whole of Great Britain. I am speaking, of course, of the more +traveled highways and country byways. There are roads leading into the +hilly sections that would not be practicable for motors at all, but, +fortunately, these are the very roads over which no one would care to +go. While the gradients are generally easier than in the States, there +are in many places sharp hills where the car must be kept well under +control. But the beauty of it is that in Britain one has the means of +being thoroughly warned in advance of the road conditions which he must +encounter. + +The maps are perfect to the smallest detail and drawn to a large scale, +showing the relative importance of all the roads; and upon them are +plainly marked the hills that are styled "dangerous." These maps were +prepared for cyclists, and many of the hills seem insignificant to a +powerful motor. However, the warning is none the less valuable, for +often other conditions requiring caution prevail, such as a dangerous +turn on a hill or a sharp descent into a village street. Then there is a +set of books, four in number, published by an Edinburgh house and +illustrated by profile plans, covering about thirty thousand miles of +road in England and Scotland. These show the exact gradients and supply +information in regard to the surface of the roads and their general +characteristics. Besides this, the "objects of interest" scattered along +any particular piece of road are given in brief--information at once so +desirable and complete as to be a revelation to an American. There are +sign-boards at nearly every crossing; only in some of the more retired +districts did we find the crossroads unmarked. With such advantages as +these, it is easily seen that a tour of Britain by a comparative +stranger is not difficult; that a chauffeur or a guide posted on the +roads is not at all necessary. The average tourist, with the exercise of +ordinary intelligence and a little patience, can get about any part of +the country without difficulty. One of the greatest troubles we found +was to strike the right road in leaving a town of considerable size, but +this was overcome by the extreme willingness of any policeman or native +to give complete information--often so much in detail as to be rather +embarrassing. The hundreds of people from whom we sought assistance in +regard to the roads were without exception most cheerful and willing +compliants, and in many places people who appeared to be substantial +citizens volunteered information when they saw us stop at the town +crossing to consult our maps. In getting about the country, little +difficulty or confusion will be experienced. + +Generally speaking, the hotel accommodations in the provincial towns +throughout England and Scotland are surprisingly good. Of course there +is a spice of adventure in stopping occasionally at one of the small +wayside inns or at one of the old hostelries more famous for its +associations than for comfort, but to one who demands first-class +service and accommodations, a little of this will go a long way. +Generally it can be so planned that towns with strictly good hotel +accommodations can be reached for the night. Occasionally an unusually +comfortable and well-ordered hotel will tempt the motorist to tarry a +day or two and possibly to make excursions in the vicinity. Such hotels +we found at Chester and York, for instance. The country hotel-keeper in +Britain is waking up to the importance of motor travel. Already most of +the hotels were prepared to take care of this class of tourists, and in +many others improvements were under way. It is safe to say that in the +course of two or three years, at the farthest, there will be little to +be desired in the direction of good accommodations in the better towns. +Rates at these hotels are not low by any means--at least for the +motorist. It is generally assumed that a man who is in possession of an +automobile is able to pay his bills, and charges and fees are exacted in +accordance with this idea. There is, of course, a wide variation in this +particular, and taking it right through, the rates at the best hotels +would not be called exorbitant. The Motor Club of Great Britain and +Ireland have many especially designated hotels where the members of this +association are given a discount. These are not in every case the best +in the town, and we generally found Baedeker's Hand Book the most +reliable guide as to the relative merits of the hotels. It is a poorly +appointed hotel that does not now have a garage of some sort, and in +many cases, necessary supplies are available. Some even go so far as to +charge the storage batteries, or "accumulators," as they are always +called in Britain, and to afford facilities for the motorist to make +repairs. + +It goes without saying that a motor tour should be planned in advance +as carefully as possible. If one starts out in a haphazard way, it takes +him a long time to find his bearings, and much valuable time is lost. +Before crossing the water, it would be well to become posted as +thoroughly as possible on what one desires to see and to gain a general +idea of the road from the maps. Another valuable adjunct will be a +membership in the A.C.A. or a letter from the American motor +associations, with an introduction to the Secretary of the Motor Union +of Great Britain and Ireland. In this manner can be secured much +valuable information as to the main traveled routes; but after all, if +the tourist is going to get the most out of his trip, he will have to +come down to a careful study of the country and depend partly on the +guide-books but more upon his own knowledge of the historical and +literary landmarks throughout the Kingdom. + + + + +II + +IN AND ABOUT LONDON + + +London occurs to the average tourist as the center from which his +travels in the Kingdom will radiate, and this idea, from many points of +view, is logically correct. Around the city cluster innumerable literary +and historic associations, and the points of special interest lying +within easy reach will outnumber those in any section of similar extent +in the entire country. If one purposes to make the tour by rail, London +is pre-eminently the center from which to start and to which one will +return at various times in his travels. All the principal railways lead +to the metropolis. The number of trains arriving and departing each day +greatly exceeds that of any other city in the world, and the longest +through journey in the island may be compassed between sunrise and +sunset. + +The motorist, however, finds a different problem confronting him in +making London his center. I had in mind the plan of visiting the famous +places of the city and immediate suburbs with the aid of my car, but it +was speedily abandoned when I found myself confronted by the actual +conditions. One attempt at carrying out this plan settled the matter +for me. The trip which I undertook would probably be one of the first to +occur to almost anybody--the drive to Hampton Court Palace, about twelve +or fifteen miles from the central part of the city. It looked easy to +start about two or three o'clock, spend a couple of hours at Hampton +Court and get back to our hotel by six. After trying out my car--which +had reached London some time ahead of me--a few times in localities +where traffic was not the heaviest, I essayed the trip without any +further knowledge of the streets than I had gained from the maps. I was +accompanied by a nervous friend from Iowa who confessed that he had been +in an automobile but once before. He had ridden with a relative through +a retired section of his native state, traversed for the first time by +an automobile, and he had quit trying to remember how many run-aways and +smash-ups were caused by the fractious horses they met on the short +journey. Visions of damage suits haunted him for months thereafter. In +our meanderings through the London streets, the fears for the other +fellow which had harassed him during his former experience, were +speedily transferred to himself. To his excited imagination, we time and +again escaped complete wreck and annihilation by a mere hair's breadth. +The route which we had taken, I learned afterwards, was one of the worst +for motoring in all London. The streets were narrow and crooked and +were packed with traffic of all kinds. Tram cars often ran along the +middle of the street, with barely room for a vehicle to pass on either +side. The huge motor busses came tearing towards us in a manner most +trying to novices, and it seemed, time after time, that the dexterity of +the drivers of these big machines was all that saved our car from being +wrecked. We obtained only the merest glimpse of Hampton Palace, and the +time which we had consumed made it apparent that if we expected to reach +our hotel that night, we must immediately retrace our way through the +wild confusion we had just passed. It began to rain, and added to the +numerous other dangers that seemed to confront us was that of "skidding" +on the slippery streets. When we finally reached our garage, I found +that in covering less than twenty-five miles, we had consumed about four +hours and we had been moving all the time. The nervous strain was a +severe one and I forthwith abandoned any plan that I had of attempting +to do London by motor car. With more knowledge and experience I would +have done better, but a local motorist, thoroughly acquainted with +London, told me that he wouldn't care to undertake the Hampton Court +trip by the route which we had traveled. + +On Saturday afternoons and Sundays, the motorist may practically have +freedom of the city. He will find the streets deserted everywhere. The +heavy traffic has all ceased and the number of cabs and motor busses is +only a fraction of what it would be on business days. He will meet +comparatively few motors in the city on Sunday, even though the day be +fine, such as would throng the streets of Chicago or New York with cars. +The Englishman who goes for a drive is attracted from the city by the +many fine roads which lead in every direction to pleasure resorts. One +of the most popular runs with Londoners is the fifty miles to Brighton, +directly southward, and the number of motors passing over this highway +on fine Sundays is astonishing. I noted a report in the papers that on a +certain Sunday afternoon no less than two hundred cars passed a police +trap, and of these, thirty-five were summoned before the magistrates for +breaking the speed limit. To the average American, this run to Brighton +would not be at all attractive compared with many other roads leading +out of London, on which one would scarcely meet a motor car during the +day and would be in no danger from the machinations of the police. Of +course the places frequented by tourists are often closed on Sunday--or +at least partially so, as in the case of Windsor Castle, where one is +admitted to the grounds and court, but the state apartments, etc., are +not shown. Even the churches are closed to Sunday visitors except +during the regular services. + +Within a radius of thirty miles of London, and outside its immediate +boundaries, there are numerous places well worth a visit, most of them +open either daily or at stated times. A few of such places are Harrow on +the Hill, with its famous school; Keston, with Holwood House, the home +of William Pitt; Chigwell, the scene of Dickens' "Barnaby Rudge;" +Waltham Abbey Church, founded in 1060; the home of Charles Darwin at +Downe; Epping Forest; Hampton Court; Rye House at Broxborne; Hatfield +House, the estate of the Marquis of Salisbury; Runnymede, where the +Magna Charta was signed; St. Albans, with its ancient cathedral church; +Stoke Poges Church of Gray's "Elegy" fame; Windsor Castle; Knole House, +with its magnificent galleries and furniture; Penshurst Place, the home +of the Sidneys; John Milton's cottage at Chalfont St. Giles; the ancient +town of Guildford in Surrey; Gad's Hill, Dickens' home, near Rochester; +the vicarage where Thackeray's grandfather lived and the old church +where he preached at Monken Hadley; and Whitchurch, with Handel's +original organ, is also near the last-named village. These are only a +few of the places that no one should miss. The motor car affords an +unequalled means of reaching these and other points in this vicinity; +since many are at some distance from railway stations, to go by train +would consume more time than the average tourist has at his disposal. +While we visited all the places which I have just mentioned and many +others close to London, we made only three or four short trips out of +the city returning the same or the following day. We managed to reach +the majority of such points by going and returning over different +highways on our longer tours. In this way we avoided the difficulty we +should have experienced in making many daily trips from London, since a +large part of each day would have been consumed merely in getting in and +out of the city. + +[Illustration: HARVESTING IN HERTFORDSHIRE. + +From Painting by Alfred Elias. Exhibited in 1906 Royal Academy.] + +Our first trip into the country was made on the Sunday after our +arrival. Although we started out at random, our route proved a fortunate +one, and gave us every reason to believe that our tour of the Kingdom +would be all we had anticipated. During the summer we had occasion to +travel three times over this same route, and we are still of the opinion +that there are few more delightful bits of road in England. We left +London by the main highway, running for several miles through Epping +Forest, which is really a great suburban park. It was a good day for +cyclists, for the main road to the town of Epping was crowded with +thousands of them. So great was the number and so completely did they +occupy the highway, that it was necessary to drive slowly and with +the greatest care. Even then, we narrowly avoided a serious accident. +One of the cyclists, evidently to show his dexterity, undertook to cut +around us by running across the tramway tracks. These were wet and +slippery, and the wheel shot from under the rider, pitching him headlong +to the ground not two feet in front of our car, which was then going at +a pretty good rate. If the cyclist did not exhibit skill in managing his +wheel, he certainly gave a wonderful display of agility in getting out +of our way. He did not seem to touch the ground at all, and by turning +two or three handsprings, he avoided being run over by the narrowest +margin. His wheel was considerably damaged and his impedimenta scattered +over the road. It was with rather a crestfallen air that he gathered up +his belongings, and we went on, shuddering to think how close we had +come to a serious accident at the very beginning of our pilgrimage. A +policeman witnessed the accident, but he clearly placed the blame on the +careless wheelman. + +Passing through the forest, we came to Epping, and from there into a +stretch of open country that gave little suggestion of proximity to the +world's metropolis. Several miles through a narrow but beautifully kept +byway brought us to the village of Chipping-Ongar, a place of +considerable antiquity, and judging from the extensive site of its +ancient castle, at one time of some military importance. + +At Ongar we began our return trip to London over the road which we +agreed was the most beautiful leading out of the city, for the suburbs +do not extend far in this direction and one is comparatively soon in the +country. The perfectly surfaced road, with only gentle slopes and +curves, runs through the parklike fields, here over a picturesque stone +bridge spanning a clear stream, there between rows of magnificent trees, +occasionally dropping into quiet villages, of which Chigwell was easily +the most delightful. + +Chigwell became known to fame through the writings of Charles Dickens, +who was greatly enamored of the place and who made it the scene of much +of his story of "Barnaby Rudge." But Dickens, with his eye for the +beautiful and with his marvelous intuition for interesting situations, +was drawn to the village by its unusual charm. Few other places can +boast of such endorsement as he gave in a letter to his friend, Forster, +when he wrote: "Chigwell, my dear fellow, is the greatest place in the +world. Name your day for going. Such a delicious old inn facing the +church; such a lovely ride; such glorious scenery; such an +out-of-the-way rural place; such a sexton! I say again, name your day." +After such a recommendation, one will surely desire to visit the place, +and it is pleasant to know that the "delicious old inn" is still +standing and that the village is as rural and pretty as when Dickens +wrote over sixty years since. + +The inn referred to, the King's Head, was the prototype of the Maypole +in "Barnaby Rudge," and here we were delighted to stop for our belated +luncheon. The inn fronts directly on the street and, like all English +hostelries, its main rooms are given over to the bar, which at this time +was crowded with Sunday loafers, the atmosphere reeking with tobacco +smoke and the odor of liquors. The garden at the rear was bright with a +profusion of spring flowers and sheltered with ornamental trees and +vines. The garden side of the old house was covered with a mantle of +ivy, and, altogether, the surroundings were such as to make ample amends +for the rather unprepossessing conditions within. One will not fully +appreciate Chigwell and its inn unless he has read Dickens' story. You +may still see the panelled room upstairs where Mr. Chester met Geoffry +Haredale. This room has a splendid mantel-piece, great carved open beams +and beautiful leaded windows. The bar-room, no doubt, is still much the +same as on the stormy night which Dickens chose for the opening of his +story. Just across the road from the inn is the church which also +figures in the tale, and a dark avenue of ancient yew trees leads from +the gateway to the door. One can easily imagine the situation which +Dickens describes when the old sexton crossed the street and rang the +church bells on the night of the murder at Haredale Hall. + +Aside from Dickens' connection with Chigwell, the village has a place of +peculiar interest to Americans in the old grammar school where William +Penn received his early education. The building still stands, with but +little alteration, much as it was in the day when the great Quaker sat +at the rude desks and conned the lessons of the old-time English +schoolboy. + +When we invited friends whom we met in London to accompany us on a +Sunday afternoon trip, we could think of no road more likely to please +them than the one I have just been trying to describe. We reversed our +journey this time, going out of London on the way to Chigwell. +Returning, we left the Epping road shortly after passing through that +town, and followed a narrow, forest-bordered byway with a few steep +hills until we came to Waltham Abbey, a small Essex market town with an +important history. The stately abbey church, a portion of which is still +standing and now used for services, was founded by the Saxon king, +Harold, in 1060. Six years later he was defeated and slain at Hastings +by William the Conqueror, and tradition has it that his mother buried +his body a short distance to the east of Waltham Church. The abbey gate +still stands as a massive archway at one end of the river bridge. Near +the town is one of the many crosses erected by Edward I in memory of his +wife, Eleanor of Castile, wherever her body rested on the way from +Lincoln to Westminster. A little to the left of this cross, now a +gateway to Theobald Park, stands Temple Bar, stone for stone intact as +it was in the days when traitors' heads were raised above it in Fleet +Street, although the original wooden gates are missing. Waltham Abbey is +situated on the River Lea, near the point where King Alfred defeated the +Danes in one of his battles. They had penetrated far up the river when +King Alfred diverted the waters from beneath their vessels and left them +stranded in a wilderness of marsh and forest. + +Another pleasant afternoon trip was to Monken Hadley, twenty-five miles +out on the Great North Road. Hadley Church is intimately associated with +a number of distinguished literary men, among them Thackeray, whose +grandfather preached there and is buried in the churchyard. The sexton +was soon found and he was delighted to point out the interesting objects +in the church and vicinity. + +The church stands at the entrance of a royal park, which is leased to +private parties and is one of the quaintest and most picturesque of the +country churches we had seen. Over the doors, some old-fashioned +figures which we had to have translated indicated that the building had +been erected in 1494. It has a huge ivy-covered tower and its interior +gives every evidence of the age-lasting solidity of the English +churches. + +Hadley Church has a duplicate in the United States, one having been +built in some New York town precisely like the older structure. We +noticed that one of the stained-glass windows had been replaced by a +modern one, and were informed that the original had been presented to +the newer church in America--a courtesy that an American congregation +would hardly think of, and be still less likely to carry out. An odd +silver communion service which had been in use from three to five +hundred years was carefully taken out of a fire-proof safe and shown us. + +Hadley Church is a delight from every point of view, and it is a pity +that such lines of architecture are not oftener followed in America. Our +churches as a rule are shoddy and inharmonious affairs compared with +those in England. It is not always the matter of cost that makes them +so, since more artistic structures along the pleasing and substantial +lines of architecture followed in Britain would in many cases cost no +more than we pay for such churches as we now have. + +[Illustration: HADLEY CHURCH, MONKEN HADLEY.] + +Our friend the sexton garrulously assured us that Thackeray had spent +much of his time as a youth at the vicarage and insisted that a great +part of "Vanity Fair" was written there. He even pointed out the room in +which he alleged the famous book was produced, and assured us that the +great author had found the originals of many of his characters, such as +Becky Sharp and Col. Newcome, among the villagers of Hadley. All of +which we took for what it was worth. Thackeray himself told his friend, +Jas. T. Fields, that "Vanity Fair" was written in his London house; +still, he may have been a visitor at the Hadley vicarage and might have +found pleasure in writing in the snug little room whose windows open on +the flower garden, rich with dashes of color that contrasted effectively +with the dark green foliage of the hedges and trees. The house still +does duty as a vicarage; the small casement windows peep out of the ivy +that nearly envelops it, and an air of coziness and quiet seems to +surround it. Near at hand is the home where Anthony Trollope, the +novelist, lived for many years, and his sister is buried in the +churchyard. + +A short distance from Hadley is the village of Edgeware, with +Whitchurch, famous for its association with the musician Handel. He was +organist here for several years, and on the small pipe-organ, still in +the church though not in use, composed his oratorio, "Esther," and a +less important work, "The Harmonious Blacksmith." The idea of the latter +came from an odd character, the village blacksmith, who lived in +Edgeware in Handel's day and who acquired some fame as a musician. His +tombstone in the churchyard consists of an anvil and hammer, wrought in +stone. Afterwards Handel became more widely known, and was called from +Whitchurch for larger fields of work. He is buried in Westminster Abbey. + +The road from Edgeware to the city is a good one, and being Saturday +afternoon, it was nearly deserted. Saturday in London is quite as much +of a holiday as Sunday, little business being transacted, especially in +the afternoon. This custom prevails to a large extent all over the +Kingdom, and rarely is any attempt made to do business on Saturday. The +Week-End holiday, as it is called, is greatly prized, and is recognized +by the railroads in granting excursions at greatly reduced rates. There +is always a heavy exodus of people from the city to the surrounding +resorts during the summer and autumn months on Saturday afternoon and +Sunday. + +Owing to the extreme difficulty of getting about the city, we made but +few short excursions from London such as I have described. If one +desires to visit such places in sequence, without going farther into the +country, it would be best to stop for the night at the hotels in the +better suburban towns, without attempting to return to London each day. + +The garage accomodations in London I found very good and the charges +generally lower than in the United States. There is a decided tendency +at grafting on the part of the employes, and if it is ascertained that a +patron is a tourist--especially an American--he is quoted a higher rate +at some establishments and various exactions are attempted. At the first +garage where I applied, a quotation made was withdrawn when it was +learned that I was an American. The man said he would have to discuss +the matter with his partner before making a final rate. I let him carry +on his discussion indefinitely, for I went on my way and found another +place where I secured accommodations at a very reasonable rate without +giving information of any kind. + +With the miserable business methods in vogue at some of the garages, it +seemed strange to me if any of the money paid to employes ever went to +the business office at all. There was no system and little check on +sales of supplies, and I heard a foreman of a large establishment +declare that he had lost two guineas which a patron had paid him. "I +can't afford to lose it," he said, "and it will have to come back +indirectly if I can't get it directly." In no case should a motorist pay +a bill at a London garage without a proper receipt. + + + + +III + +A PILGRIMAGE TO CANTERBURY + + +No place within equal distance of London is of greater interest than +Canterbury, and, indeed, there are very few cities in the entire Kingdom +that can vie with the ancient cathedral town in historical importance +and antiquity. It lies only sixty-five miles southeast of London, but +allowing for the late start that one always makes from an English hotel, +and the points that will engage attention between the two cities, the +day will be occupied by the trip. Especially will this be true if, as in +our case, fully two hours be spent in getting out of the city and +reaching the highway south of the Thames, which follows the river to +Canterbury. + +Leaving Russell Square about ten o'clock, I followed the jam down +Holborn past the Bank and across London Bridge, crawling along at a +snail's pace until we were well beyond the river. A worse route and a +more trying one it would have been hard to select. With more experience, +I should have run down the broad and little-congested Kingsway to +Waterloo Bridge and directly on to Old Kent road in at least one-fourth +the time which I consumed in my ignorance. Nevertheless, if a novice +drives a car in London, he can hardly avoid such experiences. Detailed +directions given in advance cannot be remembered and there is little +opportunity to consult street signs and maps or even to question the +policeman in the never-ending crush of the streets. However, one +gradually gains familiarity with the streets and landmarks, and by the +time I was ready to leave London for America, I had just learned to get +about the city with comparative ease. + +Old Kent road, which leads out of London towards Canterbury, is an +ancient highway, and follows nearly, if not quite, the route pursued by +the Canterbury pilgrims of the poet Chaucer. In the main it is unusually +broad and well kept, but progress will be slow at first, as the suburbs +extend a long way in this direction, and for the first twenty-five miles +one can hardly be said to be out of the city at any time. Ten miles out +the road passes Greenwich, where the British observatory is located, and +Woolwich, the seat of the great government arsenals and gun works, is +also near this point, lying directly by the river. + +Nearly midway between London and Rochester is the old town of Dartford, +where we enjoyed the hospitality of the Bull Hotel for luncheon. A +dingy, time-worn, rambling old hostelry it is, every odd corner filled +with stuffed birds and beasts to an extent that suggested a museum, and +as if to still further carry out the museum feature, mine host had built +in a small court near the entrance a large cage or bird-house which was +literally alive with specimens of feathered songsters of all degrees. +The space on the first floor not occupied by these curios was largely +devoted to liquor selling, for there appeared to be at least three bars +in the most accessible parts of the hotel. However, somewhat to the rear +there was a comfortable coffee room, where our luncheon was neatly +served. We had learned by this time that all well regulated hotels in +the medium sized towns, and even in some of the larger cities--as large +as Bristol, for instance--have two dining rooms, one, generally for +tourists, called the "coffee room," with separate small tables, and a +much larger room for "commercials," or traveling salesmen, where all are +seated together at a single table. The service is practically the same, +but the ratio of charges is from two to three times higher in the coffee +room. We found many old hotels in retired places where a coffee room had +been hastily improvised, an innovation no doubt brought about largely by +the motor car trade and the desire to give the motorist more +aristocratic rates than those charged the well-posted commercials. +Though we stopped in Dartford no longer than necessary for lunch and a +slight repair to the car, it is a place of considerable interest. Its +chief industry is a large paper-mill, a direct successor to the first +one established in England near the end of the Sixteenth Century, and +Foolscap paper, standard throughout the English-speaking world, takes +its name from the crest (a fool's cap) of the founder of the industry, +whose tomb may still be seen in Dartford Church. + +A short run over a broad road bordered with beautiful rural scenery +brought us into Rochester, whose cathedral spire and castle with its +huge Norman tower loomed into view long before we came into the town +itself. A few miles out of the town our attention had been attracted by +a place of unusual beauty, a fine old house almost hidden by high hedges +and trees on one side of the road and just opposite a tangled bit of +wood and shrubbery, with several of the largest cedars we saw in +England. So picturesque was the spot that we stopped for a photograph of +the car and party, with the splendid trees for a background, but, as +often happens in critical cases, the kodak film only yielded a "fog" +when finally developed. + +When we reached Rochester, a glance at the map showed us that we had +unwittingly passed Gad's Hill, the home where Charles Dickens spent the +last fifteen years of his life and where he died thirty-six years ago. +We speedily retraced the last four or five miles of our journey and +found ourselves again at the fine old place with the cedar trees where +we had been but a short time before. We stopped to inquire at a roadside +inn which, among the multitude of such places, we had hardly noticed +before, and which bore the legend, "The Sir John Falstaff," a +distinction earned by being the identical place where Shakespeare +located some of the pranks of his ridiculous hero. The inn-keeper was +well posted on the literary traditions of the locality. "Yes," said he, +"this is Gad's Hill Place, where Dickens lived and where he died just +thirty-six years ago today, on June 9th, 1870; but the house is shown +only on Wednesdays of each week and the proprietor doesn't fancy being +troubled on other days. But perhaps, since you are Americans and have +come a long way, he may admit you on this special anniversary. Anyway, +it will do no harm for you to try." + +[Illustration: DICKENS' HOME, GAD'S HILL, NEAR ROCHESTER.] + +Personally, I could not blame the proprietor for his disinclination to +admit visitors on other than the regular days, and it was impressed on +me more than once during our trip that living in the home of some famous +man carries quite a penalty, especially if the present owner happens to +be a considerate gentleman who dislikes to deprive visitors of a glimpse +of the place. Such owners are often wealthy and the small fees which +they fix for admittance are only required as evidence of good faith and +usually devoted to charity. With a full appreciation of the +situation, it was not always easy to ask for the suspension of a +plainly stated rule, yet we did this in many instances before our tour +was over and almost invariably with success. In the present case we were +fortunate, for the gentleman who owned Gad's Hill was away and the neat +maid who responded to the bell at the gateway seemed glad to show us the +place, regardless of rules. It is a comfortable, old-fashioned house, +built about 1775, and was much admired by Dickens as a boy when he lived +with his parents in Rochester. His father used to bring him to look at +the house and told him that if he grew up a clever man, he might +possibly own it some time. + +We were first shown into the library, which is much the same as the +great writer left it at his death, and the chair and desk which he used +still stand in their accustomed places. The most curious feature of the +library is the rows of dummy books that occupy some of the shelves, and +even the doors are lined with these sham leather backs glued to boards, +a whim of Dickens carefully respected by the present owner. We were also +accorded a view of the large dining room where Dickens was seized with +the attack which resulted in his sudden and unexpected death. After a +glimpse of other parts of the house and garden surrounding it, the maid +conducted us through an underground passage leading beneath the road, to +the plot of shrubbery which lay opposite the mansion. In this secluded +thicket, Dickens had built a little house, to which in the summer time +he was often accustomed to retire when writing. It was an ideal English +June day, and everything about the place showed to the best possible +advantage. We all agreed that Gad's Hill alone would be well worth a +trip from London. The country around is surpassingly beautiful and it is +said that Dickens liked nothing better than to show his friends about +the vicinity. He thought the seven miles between Rochester and Maidstone +the most charming walk in all England. He delighted in taking trips with +his friends to the castles and cathedrals and he immensely enjoyed +picnics and luncheons in the cherry orchards and gardens. + +A very interesting old city is Rochester, with its Eleventh Century +cathedral and massive castle standing on the banks of the river. Little +of the latter remains save the square tower of the Norman keep, one of +the largest and most imposing we saw in England. The interior had been +totally destroyed by fire hundreds of years ago, but the towering walls +of enormous thickness still stand firm. Its antiquity is attested by the +fact that it sustained a siege by William Rufus, the son of the +Conqueror. The cathedral is not one of the most impressive of the great +churches. It was largely rebuilt in the Twelfth Century, the money being +obtained from miracles wrought by the relics of St. William of Perth, a +pilgrim who was murdered on his way to Canterbury and who lies buried in +the cathedral. Rochester is the scene of many incidents of Dickens' +stories. It was the scene of his last unfinished work, "Edwin Drood," +and he made many allusions to it elsewhere, the most notable perhaps in +"Pickwick Papers," where he makes the effervescent Mr. Jingle describe +it thus: "Ah, fine place, glorious pile, frowning walls, tottering +arches, dark nooks, crumbling staircases--old cathedral, too,--earthy +smell--pilgrims' feet worn away the old steps." + +Across the river from Rochester lies Chatham, a city of forty thousand +people and a famous naval and military station. The two cities are +continuous and practically one. From here, without further stop, we +followed the fine highway to Canterbury and entered the town by the west +gate of Chaucer's Tales. This alone remains of the six gateways of the +city wall in the poet's day, and the strong wall itself, with its +twenty-one towers, has almost entirely disappeared. We followed a +winding street bordered with quaint old buildings until we reached our +hotel--in this case a modern and splendidly kept hostelry. The hotel was +just completing an extensive garage, but it was not ready for occupancy +and I was directed to a well equipped private establishment with every +facility for the care and repair of motors. The excellence of the +service at this hotel attracted our attention and the head waiter told +us that the owners had their own farm and supplied their own +table--accounting in this way for the excellence and freshness of the +milk, meat and vegetables. + +The long English summer evening still afforded time to look about the +town after dinner. Passing down the main street after leaving the hotel, +we found that the river and a canal wound their way in several places +between the old buildings closely bordering on each side. The whole +effect was delightful and so soft with sunset colors as to be suggestive +of Venice. We noted that although Canterbury is exceedingly ancient, it +is also a city of nearly thirty thousand population and the center of +rich farming country, and, as at Chester, we found many evidences of +prosperity and modern enterprise freely interspersed with the quaint and +time-worn landmarks. One thing which we noticed not only here but +elsewhere in England was the consummate architectural taste with which +the modern business buildings were fitted in with the antique +surroundings, harmonizing in style and color, and avoiding the +discordant note that would come from a rectangular business block such +as an American would have erected. Towns which have become known to fame +and to the dollar-distributing tourists are now very slow to destroy or +impair the old monuments and buildings that form their chief +attractiveness, and the indifference that prevailed generally fifty or a +hundred years ago has entirely vanished. We in America think we can +afford to be iconoclastic, for our history is so recent and we have so +little that commands reverence by age and association; yet five hundred +years hence our successors will no doubt bitterly regret this spirit of +their ancestors, just as many ancient towns in Britain lament the folly +of their forbears who converted the historic abbeys and castles into +hovels and stone fences. + +Fortunately, the cathedral at Canterbury escaped such a fate, and as we +viewed it in the fading light we received an impression of its grandeur +and beauty that still keeps it pre-eminent after having visited every +cathedral in the island. It is indeed worthy of its proud position in +the English church and its unbroken line of traditions, lost in the mist +of antiquity. It is rightly the delight of the architect and the artist, +but an adequate description of its magnificence has no place in this +hurried record. Time has dealt gently with it and careful repair and +restoration have arrested its decay. It stands today, though subdued and +stained by time, as proudly as it did when a monarch, bare-footed, +walked through the roughly paved streets to do penance at the tomb of +its martyred archbishop. It escaped lightly during the Reformation and +civil war, though Becket's shrine was despoiled as savoring of idolatry +and Cromwell's men desecrated its sanctity by stabling their horses in +the great church. + +The next day being Sunday, we were privileged to attend services at the +cathedral, an opportunity we were always glad to have at any of the +cathedrals despite the monotony of the Church of England service, for +the music of the superb organs, the mellowed light from the stained +windows, and the associations of the place were far more to us than +litany or sermon. The archbishop was present at the service in state +that fitted his exalted place as Primate of all England and his rank, +which, as actual head of the church, is next to the king, nominally head +of the church as well as of the state. He did not preach the sermon but +officiated in the ordination of several priests, a service full of +solemn and picturesque interest. The archbishop was attired in his +crimson robe of state, the long train of which was carried by young boys +in white robes, and he proceeded to his throne with all the pomp and +ceremony that so delights the soul of the Englishman. He was preceded by +several black-robed officials bearing the insignia of their offices, and +when he took his throne, he became apparently closely absorbed in the +sermon, which was preached by a Cambridge professor. + +We were later astonished to learn that the archbishop's salary amounts +to $75,000 per year, or half as much more than that of the President of +the United States, and we were still more surprised to hear that the +heavy demands made on him in maintaining his state and keeping up his +splendid episcopal palaces are such that his income will not meet them. +We were told that the same situation prevails everywhere with these high +church dignitaries, and that only recently the Bishop of London had +published figures to show that he was $25,000 poorer in the three years +of his incumbency on an annual salary of $40,000 per year. It is not +strange, therefore, that among these churchmen there exists a demand for +a simpler life. The Bishop of Norwich frankly acknowledged recently that +he had never been able to live on his income of $22,500 per year. He +expressed his conviction that the wide-spread poverty of the bishops is +caused by their being required to maintain "venerable but costly +palaces." He says that he and many of his fellow-churchmen would prefer +to lead plain and unostentatious lives, but they are not allowed to do +so; that they would much prefer to devote a portion of their income to +charity and other worthy purposes rather than to be compelled to spend +it in useless pomp and ceremony. + +Aside from its cathedral, Canterbury teems with unique relics of the +past, some antedating the Roman invasion of England. The place of the +town in history is an important one, and Dean Stanley in his "Memorials +of Canterbury," claims that three great landings were made in Kent +adjacent to the city, "that of Hengist and Horsa, which gave us our +English forefathers and character; that of Julius Caesar, which revealed +to us the civilized world, and that of St. Augustine, which gave us our +Latin Christianity." The tower of the cathedral dominates the whole city +and the great church often overshadows everything else in interest to +the visitor. But one could spend days in the old-world streets, +continually coming across fine half-timbered houses, with weather-beaten +gables in subdued colors and rich antique oak carvings. There are few +more pleasing bits of masonry in Britain than the great cathedral +gateway at the foot of Mercery Lane, with its rich carving, weather-worn +to a soft blur of gray and brown tones. Near Mercery Lane, too, are +slight remains of the inn of Chaucer's Tales, "The Chequers of Hope," +and in Monastery Street stands the fine gateway of the once rich and +powerful St. Augustine's Abbey. Then there is the quaint little church +of St. Martins, undoubtedly one of the oldest in England, and generally +reputed to be the oldest. Here, in the year 600, St. Augustine preached +before the cathedral was built. Neither should St. John's hospital, +with its fine, half-timbered gateway be forgotten; nor the old grammar +school, founded in the Seventh Century. + +[Illustration: CATHEDRAL, CANTERBURY.] + +Our stay in the old town was all too short, but business reasons +demanded our presence in London on Monday, so we left for that city +about two o'clock. We varied matters somewhat by taking a different +return route, and we fully agreed that the road leading from Canterbury +to London by way of Maidstone is one of the most delightful which we +traversed in England. It led through fields fresh with June verdure, +losing itself at times in great forests, where the branches of the trees +formed an archway overhead. Near Maidstone we caught a glimpse of Leeds +Castle, one of the finest country seats in Kent, the main portions of +the building dating from the Thirteenth Century. We had a splendid view +from the highway through an opening in the trees of the many-towered old +house surrounded by a shimmering lake, and gazing on such a scene under +the spell of an English June day, one might easily forget the present +and fancy himself back in the time when knighthood was in flower, though +the swirl of a motor rushing past us would have dispelled any such +reverie had we been disposed to entertain it. We reached London early, +and our party was agreed that our pilgrimage to Canterbury could not +very well have been omitted from our itinerary. + + + + +IV + +A RUN THROUGH THE MIDLANDS + + +I had provided myself with letters of introduction from the American +Automobile Association and Motor League, addressed to the secretary of +the Motor Union of Great Britain and Ireland, and shortly after my +arrival in London, I called upon that official at the club headquarters. +After learning my plans, he referred me to Mr. Maroney, the touring +secretary, whom I found a courteous gentleman, posted on almost every +foot of road in Britain and well prepared to advise one how to get the +most out of a tour. Ascertaining the time I proposed to spend and the +general objects I had in view, he brought out road-maps of England and +Scotland and with a blue pencil rapidly traced a route covering about +three thousand miles, which he suggested as affording the best +opportunity of seeing, in the time and distance proposed, many of the +most historic and picturesque parts of Britain. + +In a general way, this route followed the coast from London to Land's +End, through Wales north to Oban and Inverness, thence to Aberdeen and +back to London along the eastern coast. He chose the best roads with +unerring knowledge and generally avoided the larger cities. On the +entire route which he outlined, we found only one really dangerous +grade--in Wales--and, by keeping away from cities, much time and nervous +energy were saved. While we very frequently diverged from this route, it +was none the less of inestimable value to us, and other information, +maps, road-books, etc., which were supplied us by Mr. Maroney, were +equally indispensable. I learned that the touring department of the +Union not only affords this service for Great Britain, but has equal +facilities for planning tours in any part of Europe. In fact, it is able +to take in hand the full details, such as providing for transportation +of the car to some port across the Channel, arranging for necessary +licenses and supplying maps and road information covering the different +countries of Europe which the tourist may wish to visit. This makes it +very easy for a member of the Union--or anyone to whom it may extend its +courtesies--to go direct from Britain for a continental trip, leaving +the tourist almost nothing to provide for except the difficulties he +would naturally meet in the languages of the different countries. + +When I showed a well posted English friend the route that had been +planned, he pronounced very favorably upon it, but declared that by no +means should we miss a run through the Midlands. He suggested that I +join him in Manchester on business which we had in hand, allowing for an +easy run of two days to that city by way of Coventry. On our return +trip, we planned to visit many places not included in our main tour, +among them the Welsh border towns, Shrewsbury and Ludlow, and to run +again through Warwickshire, taking in Stratford and Warwick, on our +return to London. This plan was adopted and we left London about noon, +with Coventry, nearly one hundred miles away, as our objective point. + +A motor car is a queer and capricious creature. Before we were entirely +out of the crush of the city, the engine began to limp and shortly came +to a stop. I spent an hour hunting the trouble, to the entertainment and +edification of the crowd of loafers who always congregate around a +refractory car. I hardly know to this minute what ailed the thing, but +it suddenly started off blithely, and this was the only exhibition of +sulkiness it gave, for it scarcely missed a stroke in our Midland trip +of eight hundred miles--mostly in the rain. Nevertheless, the little +circumstance, just at the outset of our tour, was depressing. + +We stopped for lunch at the Red Lion in the old town of St. Albans, +twenty miles to the north of London. It is a place of much historic +interest, being a direct descendant of the ancient Roman city of +Verulamium; and Saint Albans, or Albanus, who gave his name to the town +and cathedral and who was beheaded near this spot, was the first British +martyr to Christianity of whom there is any record. The cathedral +occupies the highest site of any in England, and the square Norman +tower, which owes its red coloring to the Roman brick used in its +construction, is a conspicuous object from the surrounding country. The +nave is of remarkable length, being exceeded only by Winchester. Every +style of architecture is represented, from early Norman to late +Perpendicular, and there are even a few traces of Saxon work. The +destruction of this cathedral was ordered by the pious Henry VIII at the +time of his Reformation, but he considerately rescinded the order when +the citizens of St. Albans raised money by public subscription to +purchase the church. Only an hour was given to St. Albans, much less +than we had planned, but our late start made it imperative that we move +onward. + +Our route for the day was over the old coach road leading from London to +Holyhead, one of the most perfect in the Kingdom, having been in +existence from the time of the Romans. In fact, no stretch of road of +equal distance in our entire tour was superior to the one we followed +from St. Albans to Coventry. It was nearly level, free from sharp turns, +with perfect surface, and cared for with neatness such as we would find +only in a millionaire's private grounds in the United States. +Everywhere men were at work repairing any slight depression, trimming +the lawnlike grasses on each side to an exact line with the edges of the +stone surface, and even sweeping the road in many places to rid it of +dust and dirt. Here and there it ran for a considerable distance through +beautiful avenues of fine elms and yews; the hawthorne hedges which +bordered it almost everywhere were trimmed with careful exactness; and +yet amid all this precision there bloomed in many places the sweet +English wild flowers--forget-me-nots, violets, wild hyacinths and +bluebells. The country itself was rather flat and the villages generally +uninteresting. The road was literally bordered with wayside inns, or, +more properly, ale houses, for they apparently did little but sell +liquor, and their names were odd and fantastic in a high degree. We +noted a few of them. The "Stump and Pie," the "Hare and Hounds," the +"Plume of Feathers," the "Blue Ball Inn," the "Horse and Wagon," the +"Horse and Jockey," the "Dog and Parson," the "Dusty Miller," the "Angel +Hotel" the "Dun Cow Inn," the "Green Man," the "Adam and Eve," and the +"Coach and Horses," are a few actual examples of the fearful and +wonderful nomenclature of the roadside houses. Hardly less numerous than +these inns were the motor-supply depots along this road. There is +probably no other road in England over which there is greater motor +travel, and supplies of all kinds are to be had every mile or two. The +careless motorist would not have far to walk should he neglect to keep +up his supply of petrol--or motor spirit, as they call it everywhere in +Britain. + +Long before we reached Coventry, we saw the famous "three spires" +outlined against a rather threatening cloud, and just as we entered the +crooked streets of the old town, the rain began to fall heavily. The +King's Head Hotel was comfortable and up-to-date, and the large room +given us, with its fire burning brightly in the open grate, was +acceptable indeed after the drive in the face of a sharp wind, which had +chilled us through. And, by the way, there is little danger of being +supplied with too many clothes and wraps when motoring in Britain. There +were very few days during our entire summer's tour when one could +dispense with cloaks and overcoats. + +Coventry, with its odd buildings and narrow, crowded streets, reminded +Nathaniel Hawthorne of Boston--not the old English Boston, but its big +namesake in America. Many parts of the city are indeed quaint and +ancient, the finest of the older buildings dating from about the year +1400; but these form only a nucleus for the more modern city which has +grown up around them. Coventry now has a population of about +seventy-five thousand, and still maintains its old-time reputation as +an important manufacturing center. Once it was famed for its silks, +ribbons and watches, but this trade was lost to the French and +Swiss--some say for lack of a protective tariff. Now cycles and motor +cars are the principal products; and we saw several of the famous +Daimler cars, made here, being tested on the streets. + +Coventry has three fine old churches, whose tall needlelike spires form +a landmark from almost any point of view in Warwickshire, and give to +the town the appellation by which it is often known--"The City of the +Three Spires." Nor could we well have forgotten Coventry's unique +legend, for high up on one of the gables of our hotel was a wooden +figure said to represent Peeping Tom, who earned eternal ignominy by his +curiosity when Lady Godiva resorted to her remarkable expedient to +reduce the tax levy of Coventry. Our faith in the story, so beautifully +re-told by Tennyson, will not be shaken by the iconoclastic assertion +that the effigy is merely an old sign taken from an armourer's shop; +that the legend of Lady Godiva is common to half a dozen towns; and that +she certainly never had anything to do with Coventry, in any event. + +Leaving Coventry the next day about noon in a steady rain, we sought the +most direct route to Manchester, thereby missing Nuneaton, the +birthplace and for many years the home of George Eliot and the center +of some of the most delightful country in Warwickshire. Had we been more +familiar with the roads of this country, we could have passed through +Nuneaton without loss of time. The distance was only a little greater +and over main roads, whereas we traveled for a good portion of the day +through narrow byways, and the difficulty of keeping the right road in +the continual rain considerably delayed our progress. We were agreeably +surprised to find that the car did not skid on the wet macadam road and +that despite the rain we could run very comfortably and quite as fast as +in fair weather. I had put up our cape top and curtains, but later we +learned that it was pleasanter, protected by water-proof wraps, to dash +through the rain in the open car. English spring showers are usually +light, and it was rather exhilarating to be able to bid defiance to +weather conditions that in most parts of the United States would have +put a speedy end to our tour. + +A few miles farther brought us to Tamworth with its castle, lying on the +border between Warwickshire and Staffordshire, the "tower and town" of +Scott's "Marmion." The castle of the feudal baron chosen by Scott as the +hero of his poem still stands in ruins, and was recently acquired by +the town. It occupies a commanding position on a knoll and is +surrounded by a group of fine trees. + +A dozen miles more over a splendid road brought in view the three spires +of Lichfield Cathedral, one of the smallest though most beautiful of +these great English churches. Built of red sandstone, rich with +sculptures and of graceful and harmonious architecture, there are few +cathedrals more pleasing. The town of Lichfield is a comparatively small +place, but it has many literary and historical associations, being the +birthplace of Dr. Samuel Johnson, whose house is still standing, and for +many years the home of Maria Edgeworth. Here, too, once lived Major +Andre, whose melancholy death in connection with the American Revolution +will be recalled. The cathedral was fortified during the civil war and +was sadly battered in sieges by Cromwell's Roundheads; but so completely +has it been rebuilt and restored that it presents rather a new +appearance as compared with many others. It occurred to us that the hour +for luncheon was well past, and we stopped at the rambling old Swan +Hotel, which was to all appearances deserted, for we wandered through +narrow halls and around the office without finding anyone. I finally +ascended two flights of stairs and found a chambermaid, who reluctantly +undertook to locate someone in authority, which she at last did. We were +shown into a clean, comfortable coffee room, where tea, served in +front of a glowing fire place, was grateful indeed after our long ride +through the cold rain. + +[Illustration: THE THREE SPIRES OF LICHFIELD. + +From Photograph.] + +It became apparent that owing to our many delays, we could not easily +reach Manchester, and we stopped at Newcastle-under-Lyme for the night. +This town has about 20,000 people and lies on the outer edge of the +potteries district, where Josiah Wedgewood founded this great industry +over one hundred years ago. The whole region comprising Burslem, Hanley, +Newcastle, Stoke-on-Trent and many smaller places may be described as a +huge, scattered city of about 300,000 inhabitants, nearly all directly +or indirectly connected with the manufacture of various grades of china +and earthenware. The Castle Hotel, where we stopped, was a very old inn, +yet it proved unexpectedly homelike and comfortable. Our little party +was given a small private dining room with massive antique furniture, +and we were served with an excellent dinner by an obsequious waiter in +full-dress suit and with immaculate linen. He cleared the table and left +us for the evening with the apartment as a sitting room, and a mahogany +desk by the fireside, well supplied with stationery, afforded amends for +neglected letters. In the morning, our breakfast was served in the same +room, and the bill for entertainment seemed astonishingly low. Mine host +will no doubt be wiser in this particular as motorists more and more +invade the country. + +An hour's drive brought us to Manchester. The road by which we entered +the city took us direct to the Midland Hotel, which is reputed to be the +finest in the Kingdom. Manchester is a city of nearly a million +inhabitants, but its streets seemed almost like those of a country town +as compared with the crowded thoroughfares of London. It is a great +center for motoring and I found many of the garages so full that they +could not take another car. I eventually came to one of the largest, +where by considerable shifting they managed to accommodate my car. But +with all this rush of business, it seemed to me that the owners were in +no danger of becoming plutocrats, for the charge for a day's garage, +cleaning the car, polishing the brass and making a slight repair, was +five shillings. + +For half the way from Manchester to Leeds, the drive was about as trying +as anything I found in England. The road is winding, exceedingly steep +in places, and built up on both sides with houses--largely homes of +miners and mill operatives. The pavement is of rough cobble-stones, and +swarms of dogs and children crowded the way everywhere. Under such +conditions, the numerous steep hills, narrow places and sharp turns in +the road made progress slow indeed. It was evident that the British +motorists generally avoid this country, for we met no cars and our own +attracted attention that showed it was not a common spectacle. However, +the trip was none the less an interesting one as showing a bit of the +country and a phase of English life not usually seen by tourists. + +There is little to detain one within the city of Leeds itself, but there +are many places of interest in its immediate vicinity. There are few +more picturesque spots in Yorkshire than Wharfdale, with its riotous +little river and ruins of Bolton Abbey and Barden Tower. This lies about +fifteen miles to the northwest, and while for special reasons we went to +Ilkley Station by train, the trip is a fine motor drive over good roads. +The park which contains the abbey and castle is the property of the Duke +of Devonshire, who keeps it at all times open to the public. The River +Wharfe, rippling over shingly rocks, leaping in waterfalls and +compressed into the remarkable rapids called the Strid, only five or six +feet wide but very deep and terribly swift, is the most striking feature +of the park. The forest-clad cliffs on either side rise almost +precipitously from the edges of the narrow dale, and from their summit, +if the climb does not deter one, a splendid view presents itself. The +dale gradually opens into a beautiful valley and here the old abbey is +charmingly situated on the banks of the river. The ruins are not +extensive, but the crumbling walls, bright with ivy and wall flowers, +and with the soft green lawn beneath, made a delightful picture in the +mottled sunshine and shadows of the English May day. + +On our return to Leeds, our friend who accompanied us suggested that we +spend the next day, Sunday, at Harrogate, fifteen miles to the north, +one of the most famous of English watering places. It had been drizzling +fitfully all day, but as we started on the trip, it began to rain in +earnest. After picking our way carefully until free from the slippery +streets in Leeds, we found the fine macadam road little affected by the +deluge. We were decidedly ahead of the season at Harrogate, and there +were but few people at the splendid hotel where we stopped. + +The following Sunday was as raw and nasty as English weather can be when +it wants to, regardless of the time of year, and I did not take the car +out of the hotel garage. In the afternoon my friend and I walked to +Knaresborough, one of the old Yorkshire towns about three miles distant. +I had never even heard of the place before, and it was a thorough +surprise to me to find it one of the most ancient and interesting towns +in the Kingdom. Not a trace of modern improvement interfered with its +old-world quaintness--it looked as if it had been clinging undisturbed +to the sharply rising hillside for centuries. Just before entering the +town, we followed up the valley of the River Nidd to the so-called +"dripping well," whose waters, heavily charged with limestone, drip from +the cliffs above and "petrify" various objects in course of time by +covering them with a stonelike surface. Then we painfully ascended the +hill--not less than a forty-five per cent grade in motor parlance--and +wandered through the streets--if such an assortment of narrow +foot-paths, twisting around the corners, may be given the courtesy of +the name--until we came to the site of the castle. The guide-book gives +the usual epitaph for ruined castles, "Dismantled by orders of +Cromwell's Parliament," and so well was this done that only one of the +original eleven great watch-towers remains, and a small portion of the +Norman keep, beneath which are the elaborate vaulted apartments where +Becket's murderers once hid. No doubt the great difficulty the +Cromwellians had in taking the castle seemed a good reason to them for +effectually destroying it. At one time it was in the possession of the +notorious Piers Gaveston, and it was for a while the prison-house of +King Henry II. There are many other points of interest in Knaresborough, +not forgetting the cave from which Mother Shipton issued her famous +prophecies, in which she missed it only by bringing the world to an end +ahead of schedule time. But they deny in Knaresborough she ever made +such a prediction, and prefer to rest her claims to infallibility on her +prophecy illustrated on a post card by a highly colored motor car with +the legend, + + "Carriages without horses shall go, + And accidents fill the world with woe." + +Altogether, Knaresborough is a town little frequented by Americans, but +none the less worthy of a visit. Harrogate is an excellent center for +this and many other places, if one is insistent on the very best and +most stylish hotel accommodations that the island affords. Ripon, with +its cathedral and Fountains Abbey, perhaps the finest ruin in Great +Britain, is only a dozen miles away; but we visited these on our return +to London from the north. + +On Monday the clouds cleared away and the whole country was gloriously +bright and fresh after the heavy showers. We returned to Leeds over the +road by which we came to Harrogate and which passes Haredale Hall, one +of the finest country places in the Kingdom. A large portion of the way +the road is bordered by fine forests, which form a great park around the +mansion. We passed through Leeds to the southward, having no desire to +return to Manchester over the road by which we came, or, in fact, to +pass through the city at all. Our objective point for the evening was +Chester, and this could be reached quite as easily by passing to the +south of Manchester. Wakefield, with its magnificent church, recently +dignified as a cathedral, was the first town of consequence on our way, +and about twenty-five miles south of Leeds we came to Barnsley, lying on +the edge of the great moorlands in central England. There is hardly a +town in the whole Kingdom that does not have its peculiar tradition, and +an English friend told us that the fame of Barnsley rests on the claim +that no hotel in England can equal the mutton chops of the King's +Head--a truly unique distinction in a land where the mutton chop is +standard and the best in the world. + +An English moor is a revelation to an American who has never crossed one +and who may have a hazy notion of it from Tennyson's verse or "Lorna +Doone." Imagine, lying in the midst of fertile fields and populous +cities, a large tract of brown, desolate and broken land, almost devoid +of vegetation except gorse and heather, more comparable to the Arizona +sagebrush country than anything else, and you have a fair idea of the +"dreary, dreary moorland" of the poet. For twenty miles from Barnsley +our road ran through this great moor, and, except for two or three +wretched-looking public houses--one of them painfully misnamed "The +Angel"--there was not a single town or habitation along the road. The +moorland road began at Penistone, a desolate-looking little mining town +straggling along a single street that dropped down a very sharp grade +on leaving the town. Despite the lonely desolation of the moor, the road +was excellent, and followed the hills with gentle curves, generally +avoiding steep grades. So far as I can recall, we did not meet a single +vehicle of any kind in the twenty miles of moorland road--surely a +paradise for the scorcher. Coming out of the moor, we found ourselves +within half a dozen miles of Manchester--practically in its suburbs, for +Stalybridge, Stockport, Altrincham and other large manufacturing towns +are almost contiguous with the main city. The streets of these towns +were crowded with traffic and streetcar lines are numerous. There is +nothing of the slightest interest to the tourist, and after a belated +luncheon at a really modern hotel in Stockport, we set out on the last +forty miles of our journey. After getting clear of Manchester and the +surrounding towns, we came to the Chester road, one of the numberless +"Watling Streets," which one finds all over England--a broad, finely +kept high way, leading through a delightful country. Northwich, famous +for its salt mines, was the only town of any consequence until we +reached Chester. We had travelled a distance of about one hundred and +twenty miles--our longest day's journey, with one exception--not very +swift motoring, but we found that an average of one hundred miles per +day was quite enough to thoroughly satisfy us, and even with such an +apparently low average as this, a day's rest now and then did not +come amiss. + +[Illustration: SUNSET ON THE MOOR. + +From Painting by Termohlen.] + +It would be better yet if one's time permitted a still lower daily +mileage. Not the least delightful feature of the tour was the marvelous +beauty of the English landscapes, and one would have a poor appreciation +of these to dash along at forty or even twenty-five miles per hour. +There were many places at which we did not stop at all, and which were +accorded scant space in the guide-books, that would undoubtedly have +given us ideas of English life and closer contact with the real spirit +of the people than one could possibly get in the tourist-thronged towns +and villages. + + + + +V + +THE BORDER TOWNS, SHREWSBURY AND LUDLOW + + +I shall say but little of Chester, as of every other place on the line +of our journey so well known as to be on the itinerary of nearly +everybody who makes any pretensions at touring Britain. The volumes +which have been written on the town and the many pages accorded it in +the guide-books will be quite sufficient for all seekers after +information. Frankly, I was somewhat disappointed with Chester. I had +imagined its quaintness that of a genuine old country town and was not +prepared for the modern city that surrounds its show-places. In the +words of an observant English writer: "It seems a trifle +self-conscious--its famous old rows carry a suspicion of being swept and +garnished for the dollar-distributing visitor from over the Atlantic, +and of being less genuine than they really are. However that may be, the +moment you are out of these show-streets of Chester, there is a singular +lack of charm in the environment. The taint of commerce and the smoke of +the north hangs visibly on the horizon. Its immediate surroundings are +modern and garish to a degree that by no means assists in the fiction +that Chester is the unadulterated old-country town one would like to +think it." Such a feeling I could not entirely rid myself of, and even +in following the old wall, I could not help noting its carefully +maintained disrepair. I would not wish to be understood as intimating +that Chester is not well worth a visit, and a visit of several days if +one can spare the time; only that its charm was, to me, inferior to that +of its more unpretentious neighbors, Shrewsbury and Ludlow. Our stay was +only a short one, since our route was to bring us to the town again; +still, we spent half a day in a most delightful manner, making a tour of +the "rows" and the odd corners with quaint buildings. The tourist, +fortified with his red-backed Baedecker, is a common sight to Chester +people, and his "dollar-distributing" propensity, as described by the +English writer I have quoted, is not unknown even to the smallest fry of +the town. Few things during our trip amused me more than the antics of a +brown, bare-foot, dirt-begrimed little mite not more than two or three +years old, who seized my wife's skirts and hung on for dear life, +pouring out earnestly and volubly her unintelligible jargon. We were at +first at a loss to understand what our new associate desired, and so +grimly did she hang on that it seemed as if another accession to our +party was assured--but a light dawned suddenly on us, and, as the brown +little hand clasped a broad English copper, our self-appointed +companion vanished like a flash into a neighboring shop. + +Even when touring in your "wind-shod" car, as an up-to-date English poet +puts it, and though your motor waits you not a stone's throw from your +hotel, you may not entirely dispense with your antiquated equine friend +as a means of locomotion. So we learned when we proposed to visit Eaton +Hall, the country place of the Duke of Westminster, which lies closely +adjoining Chester, situated deep in the recesses of its +eight-thousand-acre park. A conspicuous sign, "Motors strictly +forbidden," posted near the great gateway, forced us to have recourse to +the hackman, whose moderate charge of eight shillings for a party of +three was almost repaid by his services as a guide. He was voluble in +his information concerning the Duke and especially dwelt on his +distinction as the richest man in the world--an honor which as good and +loyal Americans we could not willingly see wrested from our own John D. +of oleaginous fame. Eaton Hall is one of the greatest English +show-places, but it is modern and might well be matched by the castles +of several of our American aristocracy. Tame indeed seemed its swept and +garnished newness, its trim and perfect repair, after our visits to so +many time-worn places, with their long succession of hoary traditions. +The great library, with its thousands of volumes in the richest +bindings and its collections of rare editions, might well be the despair +of a bibliophile and the pictures and furnishings of rare interest to +the connoisseur--but these things one may find in the museums. + +Over a main road, almost level and as nearly straight as any English +road merits such a description, we covered the forty miles from Chester +to Shrewsbury without incident. The most trying grade given in the +road-book is one in twenty-five, and all conditions are favorable for +record time--in absence of police traps. Four miles out of Chester we +passed Rowton Station, lying adjacent to Rowton Moor, where King +Charles, standing on the tower of Chester Wall which bears his name, saw +his army defeated by the Parliamentarians. We made a late start from +Chester, but reached Shrewsbury in time to visit many parts of the town +after dinner. We found it indeed a delightful old place, rich in +historic traditions, and the center of a country full of interesting +places. The town is built on a lofty peninsula, surrounded on three +sides by the River Severn, and the main streets lead up exceedingly +steep hills. In fact, many of the steepest and most dangerous hills +which we found in our travels were in the towns themselves, where grades +had been fixed by buildings long ago. The clean macadam in Shrewsbury +made it possible to drive our car without chains, though it rained +incessantly, but so steep and winding are some of the streets that the +greatest caution was necessary. + +Shrewsbury is described by an English writer as a "sweet-aired, genuine, +dignified and proud old market town, the resort of squires, parsons and +farmers, and mainly inhabited by those who minister to their wants. It +never dreams of itself as a show-place." He also adds another strong +point in its claim to distinction: "Some years ago a book was published +by a zealous antiquarian, enumerating with much detail all the families +of England of a certain consequence who still occupied either the same +estate or estates contiguous to those upon which they were living in the +Fifteenth Century. The shire of which Shrewsbury is the capital very +easily headed the list in this honorable competition and thereby +justified the title of 'proud Salopians,' which the more consequential +of its people submit to with much complacency, even though it be not +always applied in a wholly serious way." + +It is a genuine old border town, so far unspoiled by commercialism. +Modern improvements have not invaded its quaint streets to any great +extent, and many of these still retain their old names--Dog-pole, +Wylecop and Shoplatch--and are bordered by some of the finest +half-timbered houses in Britain. Nor is Shrewsbury wanting in famous +sons. In front of the old grammar school building is a bronze statue of +Charles Darwin, the man who changed the scientific thought of a world, +who was born here in 1809. This same grammar school was built in 1630 +and is now converted into a museum of Roman relics, which have been +found in the immediate vicinity. In its earlier days, many distinguished +men received their education here, among them Sir Philip Sidney and +Judge Jeffreys. The Elizabethan market-house and the council-house which +was visited by both Charles I and James II on different occasions are +two of the most fascinating buildings to be seen in the town. There are +scant remains, principally of the keep of the castle, built by the +Norman baron to whom William the Conqueror generously presented the +town. St. Mary is the oldest and most important church, and in some +particulars it surpasses the cathedral at Chester. It is architecturally +more pleasing and its windows are among the finest examples of antique +stained glass in the Kingdom. + +We spent some time among the remarkable collection of relics in the +museum, and as they mainly came from the Roman city of Uriconium, we +planned a side-trip to this place, together with Buildwas Abbey and the +old Saxon town of Much Wenlock, all of which are within twenty miles of +Shrewsbury. When we left the Raven Hotel it was raining steadily, but +this no longer deterred us, and after cautiously descending the steep +hill leading out of the town we were soon on the road to Wroxeter, the +village lying adjacent to the Roman ruins. We found these of surprising +extent and could readily believe the statement made in the local +guide-book that a great city was at one time located here. Only a +comparatively small portion has been excavated, but the city enclosed by +the wall covered nearly one square mile. One great piece of wall about +seventy-five feet long and twenty feet in height still stands above +ground to mark the place, but the most remarkable revelations were found +in the excavations. The foundations of a large public building have been +uncovered, and the public baths to which the Romans were so partial are +in a remarkable state of preservation, the tile flooring in some cases +remaining in its original position. There is every indication that the +city was burned and plundered by the wild Welsh tribes sixteen hundred +or more years ago. + +A few miles farther, mainly through narrow byways, brought us to +Buildwas Abbey, beautifully situated near the Severn. Evidently this +fine ruin is not much frequented by tourists, for we found no custodian +in charge, and the haunts of the old monks had been converted into a +sheepfold by a neighboring farmer. Yet at one time it was one of the +richest and most extensive monasteries in England. On our return to +Shrewsbury, we passed through Much Wenlock, a very ancient town, +which also has its ruined abbey. It is remarkable how thickly these +monastic institutions were at one time scattered over the Kingdom, and +when one considers what such elaborate establishments must have cost to +build and to maintain, it is easy to understand why, in the ages of +church supremacy, the common people were so miserably poor. + +[Illustration: RUINS OF URICONIUM, NEAR SHREWSBURY.] + +Aside from the places of historic interest that we visited on this trip, +the country through which we passed would have made our half day a +memorable one. Though the continual rain intercepted the view much of +the time, yet from some of the hilltops we had vistas of the Severn +Valley with its winding river that we hardly saw surpassed in a country +famous for lovely landscapes. We regretted later that our stay at +Shrewsbury was so short, for we learned that in the immediate vicinity +there are many other places which might well have occupied our +attention; but in this case, as in many others, we learned afterwards +the things we should have known before our tour began. + +Late in the afternoon we started for Ludlow. It was still raining--a +gray day with fitful showers that never entirely ceased but only varied +in intensity. Much of the beauty of the landscape was hidden in the gray +mist, and the distant Welsh hills, rich with soft coloring on clear +days, were entirely lost to us. Yet the gloomy day was not altogether +without its compensation, for if we had visited Stokesay when the +garish sunshine gilded "but to flaunt the ruins gray," we should have +lost much of the impression which we retain of the gloom and desolation +that so appropriately pervaded the unique old manor with its timbered +gatehouse and its odd little church surrounded by thickly set +gravestones. + +[Illustration: STOKESAY MANOR HOUSE, NEAR LUDLOW.] + +It was only by an accidental glance at our road-book that we saw +Stokesay Castle as an "object of interest" on this road about eight +miles north of Ludlow. This old house is the finest example in the +Kingdom of a fortified manor as distinguished from a castle, its +defensive feature being a great crenolated tower, evidently built as a +later addition when the manor passed from a well-to-do country gentleman +to a member of the nobility. This is actually the case, for there is on +record a license granted in 1284 to Lawrence de Ludlow permitting him to +"crenolate his house." The house itself was built nearly two hundred +years earlier and was later surrounded by a moat as a further means of +defense. Considering its age, it is in a wonderfully good state of +preservation, the original roof still being intact. We were admitted by +the keeper, who lives in the dilapidated but delightfully picturesque +half-timbered gatehouse. The most notable feature of the old house is +the banqueting hall occupying the greater portion of the first floor, +showing how, in the good old days, provision for hospitality took +precedence over nearly everything else. Some of the apartments on the +second floor retain much of their elaborate oak paneling and there are +several fine mantel-pieces. A narrow, circular stairway leads to the +tower, from which the beauty of the location is at once apparent. +Situated as the mansion is in a lovely valley, bounded by steep and +richly wooded hills at whose base the river Onny flows through luxuriant +meadows, one is compelled to admire the judgment of the ancient founder +who selected the site. It indeed brought us near to the spirit and +customs of feudal times as we wandered about in the gloom of the +deserted apartments. How comfortless the house must have been--from our +standard--even in its best days, with its rough stone floors and rude +furnishings! No fireplace appeared in the banqueting hall, which must +have been warmed by an open fire, perhaps in the center, as in the hall +of Penshurst Place. How little these ancient landmarks were appreciated +until recently is shown by the fact that for many years Stokesay Manor +was used as a blacksmith-shop and a stable for a neighboring farmer. The +present noble proprietor, however, keeps the place in excellent repair +and always open to visitors. In one of the rooms of the tower, is +exhibited a collection of ancient documents relating to the founding of +Stokesay and to its early history. + +After visiting hundreds of historic places during our summer's +pilgrimage, the memory of Ludlow, with its quaint, unsullied, old-world +air, its magnificent church, whose melodious chime of bells lingers with +us yet, its great ruined castle, redolent with romance, and its +surrounding country of unmatched interest and beauty, is still the +pleasantest of all. I know that the town has been little visited by +Americans, and that in Baedeker, that Holy Writ of tourists, it is +accorded a scant paragraph in small type. Nevertheless, our deliberately +formed opinion is still that if we could re-visit only one of the +English towns it would be Ludlow. Mr. A.G. Bradley, in his delightful +book, "In the March and Borderland of Wales," which everyone +contemplating a tour of Welsh border towns should read, gives an +appreciation of Ludlow which I am glad to reiterate when he styles it +"the most beautiful and distinguished country town in England." He says: +"There are towns of its size perhaps as quaint and boasting as many +ancient buildings, but they do not crown an eminence amid really +striking scenery, nor yet again share such distinction of type with one +of the finest mediaeval castles in England and one possessed of a +military and political history unique in the annals of British castles. +It is this combination of natural and architectural charm, with its +intense historical interest, that gives Ludlow such peculiar +fascination. Other great border fortresses were centers of military +activities from the Conquest to the Battle of Bosworth, but when Ludlow +laid aside its armour and burst out into graceful Tudor architecture, it +became in a sense the capital of fourteen counties, and remained so for +nearly two hundred years." + +[Illustration: THE FEATHERS HOTEL, LUDLOW.] + +We were indeed fortunate in Ludlow, for everything conspired to give us +the best appreciation of the town, and were it not for the opinion of +such an authority as I have quoted, I might have concluded that our +partiality was due to some extent to the circumstances. We had been +directed to a hotel by our host in Shrewsbury, but on inquiring of a +police officer--they are everywhere in Britain--on our arrival in +Ludlow, he did us a great favor by telling us that "The Feathers" hotel +just opposite would please us better. We forthwith drew up in front of +the finest old black and white building which we saw anywhere in the +Kingdom and were given a room whose diamond-paned windows opened toward +church and castle. No modern improvements broke in on our old-time +surroundings--candles lighted us when the long twilight had faded away. + +The splendid dark-oak paneling that reached to the ceiling of the dining +room and the richly carved mantel-piece, they told us, were once in +rooms of Ludlow Castle. As we sat at our late dinner, a familiar melody +from the sonorous chimes of the church-tower came through the open +window to our great delight. "O, what a nuisance those bells are," said +the neat waiting maid, "and a bad thing for the town, too. Why, the +commercials all keep away from Ludlow. They can't sleep for the noise." +"Do the chimes ring in the night?" we asked. "At midnight and at four +o'clock in the morning," she said, and I was fearful that we would not +awake. But we did, and the melody in the silence of the night, amid the +surroundings of the quaint old town, awakened a sentiment in us no doubt +quite different from that which vexed the soul of the commercial. But we +felt that credit was due the honest people of Ludlow, who preferred the +music of the sweet-toned bells to sordid business; and, as the maid +said, the bells did not awaken anyone who was used to them--surely a fit +reward to the citizens for their high-minded disregard of mere material +interests. + +I said we were fortunate at Ludlow. The gray, chilly weather and almost +continual rain which had followed us for the last few days vanished and +the next morning dawned cool and fair, with sky of untainted blue. Our +steps were first turned towards the castle, which we soon reached. There +was no one to admit us. The custodian's booth was closed, but there was +a small gate in the great entrance and we walked in. We had the noble +ruin to ourselves, and a place richer in story and more beautiful and +majestic in decay we did not find elsewhere. A maze of gray walls rose +all around us, but fortunately every part of the ruin bore a printed +card telling us just what we wanted to know. The crumbling walls +surrounded a beautiful lawn, starred with wild flowers--buttercups and +forget-me-nots--and a flock of sheep grazed peacefully in the wide +enclosure. We wandered through the deserted, roofless chambers where +fireplaces with elaborate stone mantels and odd bits of carving told of +the pristine glory of the place. The castle was of great extent, +covering the highest point in Ludlow, and before the day of artillery +must have been well-nigh impregnable. The walls on the side toward the +river rise from a cliff which drops down a sharp incline toward the edge +of the water but leaving room for a delightful foot path between rows of +fine trees. The stern square tower of the keep, the odd circular chapel +with its fine Norman entrance, the great banqueting hall, the elaborate +stone fireplaces and the various apartments celebrated in the story of +the castle interested us most. From the great tower I saw what I still +consider the finest prospect in England, and I had many beautiful views +from similar points of vantage. The day was perfectly clear and the wide +range of vision covered the fertile valleys and wooded hills +interspersed with the villages, the whole country appearing like a vast +beautifully kept park. The story of Ludlow Castle is too long to tell +here, but no one who delights in the romance of the days of chivalry +should fail to familiarize himself with it. The castle was once a royal +residence and the two young princes murdered in London Tower by the +agents of Richard III dwelt here for many years. In 1636 Milton's "Mask +of Comus," suggested by the youthful adventures of the children of the +Lord President, was performed in the castle courtyard. The Lord of the +castle at one time was Henry Sidney, father of Sir Philip, and his +coat-of-arms still remains over one of the entrances. But the story of +love and treason, of how in the absence of the owner of the castle, Maid +Marion admitted her clandestine lover, who brought a hundred armed men +at his back to slay the inmates and capture the fortress, is the saddest +and most tragic of all. We saw high up in the wall, frowning over the +river, the window of the chamber from which she had thrown herself after +slaying her recreant lover in her rage and despair. A weird story it is, +but if the luckless maiden still haunts the scene of her blighted love, +an observant sojourner who fitly writes of Ludlow in poetic phrase never +saw her. "Nearly every midnight for a month," he says, "it fell to me to +traverse the quarter of a mile of dark, lonely lane that leads beneath +the walls of the castle to the falls of the river, and a spot more +calculated to invite the wanderings of a despairing and guilty spirit, I +never saw. But though the savage gray towers far above shone betimes in +the moonlight and the tall trees below rustled weirdly in the night +breeze and the rush of the river over the weir rose and fell as is the +wont of falling water in the silence of the night, I looked in vain for +the wraith of the hapless maiden of the heath and finally gave up the +quest." + +[Illustration: LUDLOW CASTLE, THE KEEP AND ENTRANCE.] + +When we left the castle, though nearly noon, the custodian was still +belated, and we yet owe him sixpence for admittance, which we hope to +pay some time in person. A short walk brought us to the church--"the +finest parish church in England," declares one well qualified to judge. +"Next to the castle," he says, "the glory of Ludlow is its church, which +has not only the advantage of a commanding site but, as already +mentioned, is held to be one of the finest in the country." It is built +of red sandstone and is cruciform in shape, with a lofty and graceful +tower, which is a landmark over miles of country and beautiful from any +point of view. I have already mentioned the chime of bells which flings +its melodies every few hours over the town and which are hung in this +tower. The monuments, the stained-glass windows and the imposing +architecture are scarcely equalled by any other church outside of the +cathedrals. + +We had made the most of our stay in Ludlow, but it was all too short. +The old town was a revelation to us, as it would be to thousands of our +countrymen who never think of including it in their itinerary. But for +the motor car, it would have remained undiscovered to us. With the great +growth of this method of touring, doubtless thousands of others will +visit the place in the same manner, and be no less pleased than we were. + +From Ludlow we had a fine run to Worcester, though the road was +sprinkled with short, steep hills noted "dangerous" in the road-book. +Our fine weather was very transient, for it was raining again when we +reached Worcester. We first directed our steps to the cathedral, but +when nearly there beheld a large sign, "This way to the Royal Porcelain +Works," and the cathedral was forgotten for the time by at least one +member of our party. The Royal Porcelain Works it was, then, for hadn't +we known of Royal Worcester long before we knew there was any +cathedral--or any town, for that matter? It is easy to get to the Royal +Porcelain Works: a huge sign every block will keep you from going astray +and an intelligent guide will show you every detail of the great +establishment for only a sixpence. But it is much harder and more costly +to get away from the Royal Worcester Works, and when we finally did we +were several guineas poorer and were loaded with a box of fragile ware +to excite the suspicions of our amiable customs officials. Nevertheless, +the visit was full of interest. Our guide took us through the great +plant from the very beginning, showing us the raw materials--clay, chalk +and bones--which are ground to a fine powder, mixed to a paste, and +deftly turned into a thousand shapes by the skilled potter. We were +shown how the bowl or vase was burned, shrinking to nearly half its size +in the process. We followed the various steps of manufacture until the +finished ware, hand-painted, and burned many times to bring out the +colors, was ready for shipment. An extensive museum connected with the +works is filled with rare specimens to delight the soul of the admirer +of the keramic art. There were samples of the notable sets of tableware +manufactured for nearly every one of the crowned heads of Europe during +the last century, gorgeous vases of fabulous value, and rare and curious +pieces without number. + +When we left the porcelain works it was too late to get into the +cathedral, and when we were ready to start in the morning it was too +early. So we contented ourselves with driving the car around the noble +pile and viewing the exterior from every angle. We took the word of +honest Baedeker that the interior is one of the most elaborate and +artistic in England but largely the result of modern restoration. The +cathedral contains the tomb of King John, who requested that he be +buried here, though his life was certainly not such as to merit the +distinction. Here, too, is buried the elder brother of King Henry VIII, +Prince Arthur, who died at Ludlow Castle in 1502; and had he lived to be +king in place of the strenuous Henry, who can say what changes might +have been recorded in English history? All these we missed; nor did we +satisfy ourselves personally of the correctness of the claim that the +original entry of the marriage contract of William Shakespeare and Anne +Hathaway is on file in the diocese office near the gateway of the +cathedral. Along with the other notable places of the town mentioned in +the guide-book as worthy of a visit is the great factory where the fiery +Worcestershire sauce is concocted, but this did not appeal to our +imagination as did the porcelain works. Our early start and the fine, +nearly level road brought us to Stratford-upon-Avon well before noon. +Here we did little more than re-visit the shrines of Shakespeare--the +church, the birthplace, the grammar school--all familiar to the +English-speaking world. Nor did we forget the Red Horse Inn at luncheon +time, finding it much less crowded than on our previous visit, for we +were still well in advance of the tourist season. After luncheon we were +lured into a shop across the street by the broad assurance made on an +exceedingly conspicuous sign that it is the "largest souvenir store on +earth." Here we hoped to secure a few mementos of our visit to Stratford +by motor car. We fell into a conversation with the proprietor, a genial, +white-haired old gentleman, who, we learned, had been Mayor of the town +for many years--and is it not a rare distinction to be Mayor of +Shakespeare's Stratford? The old gentleman bore his honors lightly +indeed, for he said he had insistently declined the office but the +people wouldn't take no for an answer. + +It is only a few miles to Warwick over winding roads as beautiful as any +in England. One of these leads past Charlecote, famous for Shakespeare's +deer-stealing episode, but no longer open to the public. We passed +through Warwick--which reminded us of Ludlow except for the former's +magnificent situation--without pausing, a thing which no one would do +who had not visited that quaint old town some time before. In +Leamington, three miles farther on, we found a modern city of forty +thousand inhabitants, noted as a resort and full of pretentious hotels. +After we were located at the Manor House there was still time for a +drive to Kenilworth Castle, five miles away, to which a second visit was +even more delightful than our previous one. For the next day we had +planned a circular tour of Warwickshire, but a driving, all-day rain +and, still more, the indisposition of one of our party, confined us to +our hotel. Our disappointment was considerable, for within easy reach +of Leamington there were many places that we had planned to visit. Ashow +Church, Stoneleigh Abbey, George Eliot's birthplace and home near +Nuneaton, the cottage of Mary Arden, mother of Shakespeare, Rugby, with +its famous school, and Maxstoke Castle--an extensive and picturesque +ruin--are all within a few miles of Leamington. + +From Leamington to London was nearly an all-day's run, although the +distance is only one hundred miles. A repair to the car delayed us and +we went several miles astray on the road. It would have been easier to +have returned over the Holyhead Road, but our desire to see more of the +country led us to take a route nearly parallel to this, averaging about +fifteen miles to the southward. Much of the way this ran through narrow +byways and the country generally lacked interest. We passed through +Banbury, whose cross, famous in nursery rhyme, is only modern. At +Waddesdon we saw the most up-to-date and best ordered village we came +across in England, with a fine new hotel, the Five Arrows, glittering in +fresh paint. We learned that this village was built and practically +owned by Baron Rothschild, and just adjoining it was the estate which he +had laid out. The gentleman of whom we inquired courteously offered to +take us into the great park, and we learned that he was the head +landscape gardener. The palace is modern, of Gothic architecture, and +crowns an eminence in the park. It contains a picture gallery, with +examples of the works of many great masters, which is open to the public +on stated days of the week. + +On reaching London, we found that our tour of the Midlands had covered a +little less than eight hundred miles, which shows how much that distance +means in Britain when measured in places of historic and literary +importance, of which we really visited only a few of those directly on +the route of our journey or lying easily adjacent to it. + + + + +VI + +LONDON TO LAND'S END + + +The road from London to Southampton is one of the oldest in the Kingdom +and passes many places of historic interest. In early days this highway, +leading from one of the main seaports through the ancient Saxon capital, +was of great importance. Over this road we began the trip suggested by +the Touring Secretary of the Motor Union. As usual, we were late in +getting started and it was well after noon when we were clear of the +city. At Kingston-on-Thames, practically a suburb, filled with villas of +wealthy Londoners, we stopped for lunch at the Griffin Hotel, a fine old +inn whose antiquity was not considered sufficient to atone for bad +service, which was sometimes the case. Kingston has a history as ancient +as that of the capital itself. Its name is peculiar in that it was not +derived from King's Town, but from King's Stone; and at the town +crossing is the identical stone, so says tradition, upon which the Saxon +kings were crowned. It would seem to one that this historic bit of rock +would form a more fitting pedestal for the English coronation chair than +the old Scottish stone from Dunstafnage Castle. + +After a short run from Kingston, we passed down High Street, Guildford, +which, a well qualified authority declares, is "one of the most +picturesque streets in England." Guildford might well detain for a day +or more anyone whose time will permit him to travel more leisurely than +ours did. William Cobbett, the author and philosopher, who was born and +lived many years near by, declared it "the happiest looking town he ever +knew"--just why, I do not know. The street with the huge town clock +projecting half way across on one side, the Seventeenth Century Town +Hall with its massive Greek portico on the other, and a queerly assorted +row of many-gabled buildings following its winding way, looked odd +enough, but as to Guildford's happiness, a closer acquaintance would be +necessary. + +Shortly after leaving the town, the ascent of a two-mile hill brought us +to a stretch of upland road which ran for several miles along a +tableland lying between pleasantly diversified valleys sloping on either +side. From this a long, gradual descent led directly into Farnham, the +native town of William Cobbett. The house where he was born and lived as +a boy is still standing as "The Jolly Farmers' Inn." One may see the +little house which was the birthplace of the Rev. Augustus Toplady, +whose hymn, "Rock of Ages," has gained world-wide fame. On the hill +overlooking the town is the ancient castle, rebuilt in the Sixteenth +Century and from that time one of the palaces of the bishops of +Winchester. Here, too, lingers one of the ubiquitous traditions of King +Charles I, who stopped at Vernon House in West Street while a prisoner +in the hands of the Parliamentarians on their way to London. A silk cap +which the king presented to his host is proudly shown by one of the +latter's descendants, who is now owner of the house. + +One must be well posted on his route when touring Britain or he will +pass many things of note in sublime ignorance of their existence. Even +the road-book is not an infallible guide, for we first knew that we were +passing through Chawton when the postoffice sign, on the main street of +a straggling village, arrested our attention. We were thus reminded that +in this quiet little place the inimitable Jane Austin had lived and +produced her most notable novels, which are far more appreciated now +than in the lifetime of the authoress. An old woman of whom we inquired +pointed out the house--a large square building with tiled roof, now used +as the home of a workingmen's club. Less than two miles from Chawton, +though not on the Winchester road, is Selborne, the home of Gilbert +White, the naturalist, and famed as one of the quaintest and most +retired villages in Hampshire. + +But one would linger long on the way if he paused at every landmark on +the Southampton road. We had already loitered in the short distance +which we had traveled until it was growing late, and with open throttle +our car rapidly covered the last twenty miles of the fine road leading +into Winchester. + +From an historical point of view, no town in the Kingdom surpasses the +proud old city of Winchester. The Saxon capital still remembers her +ancient splendor and it was with a manifest touch of pride that the old +verger who guided us through the cathedral dwelt on the long line of +kings who had reigned at Winchester before the Norman conquest. To him, +London at best was only an upstart and an usurper. Why, + + "When Oxford was shambles + And Westminster was brambles, + Winchester was in her glory." + +And her glory has never departed from her and never will so long as her +great cathedral stands intact, guarding its age-long line of proud +traditions. The exterior is not altogether pleasing--the length +exceeding that of any cathedral in Europe, together with the abbreviated +tower, impresses one with a painful sense of lack of completeness and a +failure of proper proportion. It has not the splendid site of Durham or +Lincoln, the majesty of the massive tower of Canterbury, or the grace of +the great spire of Salisbury. But its interior makes full amends. No +cathedral in all England can approach it in elaborate carvings and +furnishings or in interesting relics and memorials. Here lie the bones +of the Saxon King Ethelwulf, father of Alfred the Great; of Canute, +whose sturdy common sense silenced his flatterers; and of many others. A +scion of the usurping Norman sleeps here too, in the tomb where William +Rufus was buried, "with many looking on and few grieving." In the north +aisle a memorial stone covers the grave of Jane Austen and a great +window to her memory sends its many-colored shafts of light from above. +In the south transept rests Ike Walton, prince of fishermen, who, it +would seem to us, must have slept more peacefully by some rippling +brook. During the Parliamentary wars Winchester was a storm center and +the cathedral suffered severely at the hands of the Parliamentarians. +Yet fortunately, many of its ancient monuments and furnishings escaped +the wrath of the Roundhead iconoclasts. The cathedral is one of the +oldest in England, having been mainly built in the Ninth Century. +Recently it has been discovered that the foundations are giving away to +an extent that makes extensive restoration necessary, but it will be +only restored and not altered in any way. + +But we may not pause long to tell the story of even Winchester Cathedral +in this hasty record of a motor flight through Britain. And, speaking +of the motor car, ardent devotee as I am, I could not help feeling a +painful sense of the inappropriateness of its presence in Winchester; of +its rush through the streets at all hours of the night; of its clatter +as it climbed the steep hills in the town; of the blast of its unmusical +horn; and of its glaring lights, falling weirdly on the old buildings. +It seemed an intruder in the capital of King Alfred. + +There is much else in Winchester, though the cathedral and its +associations may overshadow everything. The college, one of the earliest +educational institutions in the Kingdom, was founded about 1300, and +many of the original buildings stand almost unchanged. The abbey has +vanished, though the grounds still serve as a public garden; and of +Wolvesley Palace, a castle built in 1138, only the keep still stands. +How usual this saying, "Only the keep still stands," becomes of English +castles,--thanks to the old builders who made the keep strong and high +to withstand time, and so difficult to tear down that it escaped the +looters of the ages. + +A day might well be given to the vicinity of Winchester, which teems +with points of literary and historic interest. In any event, one should +visit Twyford, only three miles away, often known as the "queen of the +Hampshire villages" and famous for the finest yew tree in England. It is +of especial interest to Americans, since Benjamin Franklin wrote his +autobiography here while a guest of Dr. Shipley, Vicar of St. Asaph, +whose house, a fine Elizabethan mansion, still stands. + +To Salisbury by way of Romsey is a fine drive of about thirty miles over +good roads and through a very pleasing country. Long before we reached +the town there rose into view its great cathedral spire, the loftiest +and most graceful in Britain, a striking landmark from the country for +miles around. Following the winding road and passing through the narrow +gateway entering High Street, we came directly upon this magnificent +church, certainly the most harmonious in design of any in the Kingdom. +The situation, too, is unique, the cathedral standing entirely separate +from any other building, its gray walls and buttresses rising sheer up +from velvety turf such as is seen in England alone. It was planned and +completed within the space of fifty years, which accounts for its +uniformity of style; while the construction of most of the cathedrals +ran through the centuries with various architecture in vogue at +different periods. The interior, however, lacks interest, and the +absence of stained glass gives an air of coldness. It seems almost +unbelievable that the original stained windows were deliberately +destroyed at the end of the Eighteenth Century by a so-called architect, +James Wyatt, who had the restoration of the cathedral in charge. To his +everlasting infamy, "Wyatt swept away screens, chapels and porches, +desecrated and destroyed the tombs of warriors and prelates, obliterated +ancient paintings; flung stained glass by cart loads into the city +ditch; and razed to the ground the beautiful old campanile which stood +opposite the north porch." That such desecration should be permitted in +a civilized country only a century ago indeed seems incredible. + +[Illustration: A COTTAGE IN HOLDENHURST, HAMPSHIRE. + +From Water Color by Noelsmith.] + +No one who visits Salisbury will forget Stonehenge, the most remarkable +relic of prehistoric man to be found in Britain. Nearly everyone is +familiar with pictures of this solitary circle of stones standing on an +eminence of Salisbury Plain, but one who has not stood in the shadow of +these gigantic monoliths can have no idea of their rugged grandeur. +Their mystery is deeper than that of Egypt's sphynx, for we know +something of early Egyptian history, but the very memory of the men who +reared the stones on Salisbury Plain is forgotten. Who they were, why +they built this strange temple, or how they brought for long distances +these massive rocks that would tax modern resources to transport, we +have scarcely a hint. The stones stand in two concentric circles, those +of the inner ring being about half the height of the outer ones. Some of +the stones are more than twenty feet high and extend several feet into +the ground. There are certain signs which seem to indicate that +Stonehenge was the temple of some early sun-worshiping race, and Sir +Norman Lockyer, who has made a special study of the subject, places the +date of construction about 1680 B.C. No similar stone is found in the +vicinity; hence it is proof positive that the builders of Stonehenge +must have transported the enormous monoliths for many miles. The place +lies about eight miles north of Salisbury. We went over a rather lonely +and uninteresting road by the way of Amesbury, which is two miles from +Stonehenge. We returned by a more picturesque route, following the River +Avon to Salisbury and passing through Millston, a quaint little village +where Joseph Addison was born in 1672. + +A few miles south of Salisbury we entered New Forest, an ancient royal +hunting domain covering nearly three hundred square miles and containing +much of the most pleasing woodland scenery in England. This is extremely +diversified but always beautiful. Glades and reaches of gentle park and +meadow and open, heathlike stretches contrast wonderfully with the dark +masses of huge oaks and beeches, under some of which daylight never +penetrates. We stopped for the night at Lyndhurst, directly in the +center of the forest and sometimes called the capital of New Forest. It +looks strangely new for an English town, and the large church, built of +red brick and white stone, shows its recent origin. In this church is +a remarkable altar fresco which was executed by the late Lord Leighton. +The fine roads and splendid scenery might occupy at least a day if time +permitted; but if, like us, one must hasten onward, a run over the main +roads of New Forest will give opportunity to see much of its sylvan +beauty. + +[Illustration: A GLADE IN NEW FOREST.] + +Our route next day through the narrow byways of Dorsetshire was a +meandering one. From Lyndhurst we passed through Christchurch, Blandford +and Dorchester and came for the night to Yeovil. We passed through no +place of especial note, but no day of our tour afforded us a better idea +of the more retired rural sections of England. By the roadside +everywhere were the thatched roof cottages with their flower gardens, +and here and there was an ancient village which to all appearances might +have been standing quite the same when the Conqueror landed in Britain. +Oftentimes the byways were wide enough for only one vehicle, but were +slightly broadened in places to afford opportunity for passing. Many of +the crossings lacked the familiar sign-boards, and the winding byways, +with nothing but the map for a guide, were often confusing, and sharp +turns between high hedges made careful driving necessary. At times we +passed between avenues of tall trees and again unexpectedly dropped into +some quiet village nestling in the Dorset hills. One of the quaintest of +these, not even mentioned in Baedeker, is Cerne Abbas, a straggling +village through which the road twisted along--a little old-world +community, seemingly severed from modern conditions by centuries. It +rather lacked the cozy picturesqueness of many English villages. It +seemed to us that it wanted much of the bloom and shrubbery. Everywhere +were the gray stone houses with thatched roofs, sagging walls and odd +little windows with square or diamond-shaped panes set in iron +casements. Nowhere was there a structure that had the slightest taint of +newness. The place is quite unique. I do not recall another village that +impressed us in just the same way. Our car seemed strangely out of place +as it cautiously followed the crooked main street of the town, and the +attention bestowed on it by the smaller natives indicated that a motor +was not a common sight in Cerne Abbas. Indeed, we should have missed it +ourselves had we not wandered from the main road into a narrow lane that +led to the village. While we much enjoyed our day in the Dorset byways, +our progress had necessarily been slow. + +In Yeovil, we found an old English town apparently without any important +history, but a prosperous center for a rich farming country. The place +is neat and clean and has a beautifully kept public park--a feature of +which the average English town appears more appreciative than the small +American city. + +From Yeovil to Torquay, through Exeter, with a stop at the latter place, +was an unusually good day's run. The road was more hilly than any we had +passed over heretofore, not a few of the grades being styled +"dangerous," and we had been warned by an English friend that we should +find difficult roads and steep hills in Devon and Cornwall. However, to +one who had driven over some of our worst American roads, even the "bad" +roads of England looked good, and the "dangerous" hills, with their +smooth surface and generally uniform grade, were easy for our +moderate-powered motor. + +Exeter enjoys the distinction of having continuously been the site of a +town or city for a longer period than is recorded of any other place in +England. During the Roman occupation it was known as a city, and it is +believed that the streets, which are more regular than usual and which +generally cross each other at right angles, were first laid out by the +Romans. It is an important town of about fifty thousand inhabitants, +with thriving trade and manufactures, and modern improvements are in +evidence everywhere. + +The cathedral, though not one of the largest or most imposing, is +remarkable for the elaborate carving of the exterior. The west front is +literally covered with life-sized statues set in niches in the wall, but +the figures are all sadly time-worn, many of them having almost +crumbled away. Evidently the Roundheads were considerate of Exeter +Cathedral that such a host of effigies escaped destruction at their +hands; and they were not very well disposed towards Exeter, either, as +it was always a Royalist stronghold. Possibly it was spared because the +Cromwellians found it useful as a place of worship, and in order to +obtain peace and harmony between the two factions of the army the +cathedral was divided into two portions by a high brick wall through the +center, the Independents holding forth on one side and the Presbyterians +on the other. + +The road from Exeter to Torquay follows the coast for some distance, +affording many fine views of the ocean. We were now in the "limestone +country," and the roads are exceedingly dusty in dry weather. The dust, +in the form of a fine white powder, covers the trees and vegetation, +giving the country here and there an almost ghostly appearance. No +wonder that in this particular section there is considerable prejudice +against the motor on account of its great propensity to stir up the +dust. So far as we ourselves were concerned, we usually left it behind +us, and it troubled us only when some other car got in ahead of us. + +Torquay is England's Palm Beach--a seacoast-resort town where the +temperature rarely falls below forty degrees, thanks to the warm current +of the Gulf Stream; and where the sea breezes keep down the summer +heat, which seldom rises above sixty degrees. It is especially a winter +resort, although the hotels keep open during the year. Most of the town +is finely situated on a high promontory overlooking a beautiful harbor, +studded with islands and detached rocks that half remind one of Capri. +From our hotel window we had a glorious ocean view, made the more +interesting for the time being by a dozen of King Edward's men-of-war, +supposed to be defending Torquay against "the enemy" of a mimic naval +warfare. + +On the opposite side of Tor Bay is the quiet little fishing village of +Brixham, the landing-place of Prince William of Orange. We reached here +early on a fine June day when everything was fresh after heavy showers +during the night. The houses rise in terraces up the sharp hillside +fronting the harbor, which was literally a forest of fishing-boat masts. +A rather crude stone statue of William stands on the quay and a brass +foot-print on the shore marks the exact spot where the Dutch prince +first set foot in England, accompanied by an army of thirteen thousand +men. Our car attracted a number of urchins, who crowded around it and, +though we left it unguarded for an hour or more to go out on the +sea-wall and look about the town, not one of the fisher lads ventured to +touch it or to molest anything--an instance of the law-abiding spirit +which we found everywhere in England. + +From Brixham, an hour's drive over bad roads brought us to Dartmouth, +whither we had been attracted by the enthusiastic language of an English +writer who asserts that "There is scarcely a more romantic spot in the +whole of England than Dartmouth. Spread out on one of the steep slopes +of the Dart, it overlooks the deep-set river toward the sea. Steep +wooded banks rising out of the water's edge give the winding of the +estuaries a solemn mystery which is wanting in meadows and plough-land. +In the midst of scenery of this character--and it must have been richer +still a few centuries back--the inhabitants of Dartmouth made its +history." + +As we approached the town, the road continually grew worse until it was +little better than the average unimproved country highway in America, +and the sharp loose stones everywhere were ruinous on tires. It finally +plunged sharply down to a steamboat ferry, over which we crossed the +Dart and landed directly in the town. There are few towns in England +more charmingly located than old Dartmouth, and a hundred years ago it +was an important seaport, dividing honors about equally with Plymouth. + +The road to Dartmouth was unusually trying; the route which we took to +Plymouth was by odds the worst of equal distance we found anywhere. We +began with a precipitous climb out of the town, up a very steep hill +over a mile long, with many sharp turns that made the ascent all the +more difficult. We were speedily lost in a network of unmarked byways +running through a distressingly poor-looking and apparently quite thinly +inhabited country. After a deal of studying the map and the infrequent +sign-boards we brought up in a desolate-looking little village, merely a +row of gray stone, slate-roofed houses on either side of the way, and +devoid of a single touch of the picturesque which so often atones for +the poverty of the English cottages. No plot of shrubbery or +flower-garden broke the gray monotony of the place. We had seen nothing +just like it in England, though some of the Scotch villages which we saw +later, matched it very well. + +Here a native gave us the cheerful information that we had come over the +very road we should not have taken; that just ahead of us was a hill +where the infrequent motor cars generally stalled, but he thought that a +good strong car could make it all right. Our car tackled the hill +bravely enough, but slowed to a stop before reaching the summit; but by +unloading everybody except the driver, and with more or less coaxing and +adjusting, it was induced to try it again, with a rush that carried it +through. The grade, though very steep, was not so much of an obstacle +as the deep sand, with which the road was covered. We encountered many +steep hills and passed villages nearly as unprepossessing as the first +one before we came to the main Plymouth-Exeter road, as excellent a +highway as one could wish. It was over this that our route had +originally been outlined, but our spirit of adventure led us into the +digression I have tried to describe. It was trying at the time, but we +saw a phase of England that we otherwise would have missed and have no +regrets for the strenuous day in the Devonshire byways. + +Plymouth, with the adjoining towns of Devonport and Stonehouse, is one +of the most important seaports in the Kingdom, the combined population +being about two hundred thousand. The harbor is one of the best and +affords safe anchorage for the largest ocean-going vessels. It is +protected by a stupendous granite breakwater, costing many millions and +affording a delightful promenade on a fine day. Plymouth is the +principal government naval port and its ocean commerce is gaining +rapidly on that of Liverpool. To Americans it appeals chiefly on account +of its connection with the Pilgrim Fathers, who sailed from its harbor +on the Mayflower in 1620. A granite block set in the pier near the +oldest part of the city is supposed to mark the exact spot of +departure of the gallant little ship on the hazardous voyage, whose +momentous outcome was not then dreamed of. I could not help thinking +what a fine opportunity is offered here for some patriotic American +millionaire to erect a suitable memorial to commemorate the sailing of +the little ship, fraught with its wonderful destiny. The half day spent +about the old city was full of interest; but the places which we missed +would make a most discouraging list. It made us feel that one ought to +have two or three years to explore Britain instead of a single summer's +vacation. + +[Illustration: ROCKS OFF CORNWALL. + +From Painting by Warne Browne. Exhibited 1906 Royal Academy.] + +From Plymouth to Penzance through Truro runs the finest road in +Cornwall, broad, well kept and with few steep grades. It passes through +a beautiful section and is bordered in many places by the immense parks +of country estates. In some of these the woods were seemingly left in +their natural wild state, though close inspection showed how carefully +this appearance was maintained by judicious landscape gardening. In many +of the parks, the rhododendrons were in full bloom, and their rich +masses of color wonderfully enlivened the scenery. Everything was fresh +and bright. It had been raining heavily the night before and the air was +free from the dust that had previously annoyed us. It would be hard to +imagine anything more inspiring than the vistas which opened to us as we +sped along. The road usually followed the hills in gentle curves, but +at places it rose to splendid points of vantage from which to view the +delightful valleys. Then again it lost itself under great over-arching +trees, and as we came too rapidly down a steep hill on entering Bodmin, +the road was so heavily shaded that we were near our undoing. The loose +sand had been piled up by the rain and the dense shade prevented the +road from drying. The car took a frightful skid and by a mere hair's +breadth escaped disastrous collision with a stone wall--but we learned +something. + +After leaving Truro, an ancient town with a recently established +cathedral, the road to Penzance, though excellent, is without special +interest. It passes through the copper-mining section of Cornwall and +the country is dotted with abandoned mines. A few are still operated, +but it has come to the point where, as a certain Englishman has said, +"Cornwall must go to Nevada for her copper," and there are more Cornish +miners in the western states than there are in their native shire. + +Penzance is another of the South of England resort towns and is +beautifully situated on Mounts Bay. One indeed wonders at the great +number of seacoast resorts in Britain, but we must remember that there +are forty millions of people in the Kingdom who need breathing places as +well as a number of Americans who come to these resorts. The hotels at +these places are generally excellent from the English point of view, +which differs somewhat from the American. Probably there is no one point +on which the difference is greater than the precise temperature that +constitutes personal comfort and makes a fire in the room necessary. On +a chilly, muggy day when an American shivers and calls for a fire in the +generally diminutive grate in his room, the native enjoys himself or +even complains of the heat, and is astonished at his thin-skinned +cousin, who must have his room--according to the British notion--heated +to suffocation. The hotel manager always makes a very adequate charge +for fires in guest-rooms and is generally chary about warming the +corridors or public parts of the hotel. In one of the large London +hotels which actually boasts of steam heat in the hallways, we were +amazed on a chilly May day to find the pipes warm and a fine fire +blazing in the great fireplace in the lobby. The chambermaid explained +the astonishing phenomenon: the week before several Americans had +complained frequently of the frigid atmosphere of the place without +exciting much sympathy from the management, but after they had left the +hotel, it was taken as an evidence of good faith and the heat was turned +on. But this digression has taken me so far away from Penzance that I +may as well close this chapter with it. + + + + +VII + +FROM CORNWALL TO SOUTH WALES + + +In following a five-thousand-mile motor journey through Britain, there +will be little to say of Penzance, a pleasant resort town, yet without +anything of notable importance. A mile farther down the coast is Newlyn, +a fishing-village which has become a noted resort for artists and has +given its name to a school of modern painting. A handsome building for a +gallery and art institute, and which also serves as headquarters for the +artists, has recently been erected by a wealthy benefactor. We walked +over to the village, hoping to learn that the fisher-fleet would be in +the next morning, but were disappointed. A man of whom we inquired +informed us that the fishermen would not bring in their catch until two +days later. He seemed to recognize at once that we were +strangers--Americans, they all know it intuitively--and left his task to +show us about the immense quay where the fishermen dispose of their +catch at auction. He conducted us out on the granite wall, built by the +Government to enclose the harbor and insuring the safety of the +fisher-fleet in fiercest storms. He had been a deep-sea fisherman +himself and told us much of the life of these sturdy fellows and the +hardships they endure for little pay. + +[Illustration: NEAR LAND'S END. + +From Water Color by Wm. T. Richards.] + +The ordinary fishing boat is manned by five or six men and makes two +trips each week to the deep-sea fishing "grounds," seventy-five to one +hundred miles away. The craft is rude and comfortless in the extreme and +so constructed as to be nearly unsinkable if kept off the rocks. The +fish are taken by trawling great nets and drawing them aboard with a +special tackle. The principal catch of the Newlyn fishermen is herring, +which are pickled in the village and exported, mainly to Norway and +Sweden. The value of the fish depends on the state of the market, and +the price realized is often as low as a shilling per hundred weight. The +majority of the population of Cornwall is engaged directly or indirectly +in the fisheries, and considering the inferiority of most of the country +for agriculture and the extensive coast line with its numerous harbors, +it is not strange that so many of the natives should follow this life. +In earlier days, smuggling and wrecking constituted the occupation of a +large number of the Cornishmen, but under modern conditions these gentle +arts can no longer be successfully practiced, and fishing furnishes +about the only alternative. + +Just across the peninsula is St. Ives, another fishing village, even +more picturesque than Newlyn and quite as much in favor with the +artists. To reach this town we turned a few miles from the main road on +the following day, but missed the fisher-fleet as before. The bay on +which St. Ives is situated is the most beautiful on the Cornish coast, +and on the day of our visit the bright stretch of water, sleeping +placidly under the June skies and dotted with glistening sails, well +maintained its reputation for surpassing loveliness. Before we entered +the town a man of whom we inquired the way advised us to leave our car +and walk down the sharp descent to the coast, where the village mostly +lies. The idea of the return trip was not pleasing, and we boldly +started down, only to wish we had been more amenable to the friendly +advice, for a steeper, narrower, crookeder street we did not find +anywhere. In places it was too narrow for vehicles to pass abreast, and +sharp turns on a very steep grade, in streets crowded with children, +made the descent exceedingly trying. However, we managed to get through +safely and came to a stop directly in front of the Fifteenth Century +church, an astonishingly imposing structure for a village which showed +more evidences of poverty than of anything else. The church was built at +a time when the smugglers and wreckers of Cornwall no doubt enjoyed +greater prosperity and felt, perhaps, more anxiety for their souls' +welfare than do their fisher-folk descendants. + +On re-ascending the hill we stopped at the Castle for our noonday +luncheon, but the castle in this instance is a fine old mansion built +about a hundred years ago as a private residence and since passed into +the possession of a railway company, which has converted it into an +excellent hotel. Situated as it is, in a fine park on the eminence +overlooking the bay, few hostelries at which we paused seemed more +inviting for a longer sojourn. + +Four miles from Penzance is Marazion, and St. Michael's Mount, lying +near at hand, takes its name from the similar but larger and more +imposing cathedral-crowned headland off the coast of France. It is a +remarkable granite rock, connected with the mainland by a strip of sand, +which is clear of the water only four hours of the day. The rock towers +to a height of two hundred and fifty feet and is about a mile in +circumference. It is not strange that in the days of castle-building +such an isolated site should have been seized upon; and on the summit is +a many-towered structure built of granite and so carefully adapted to +its location as to seem almost a part of the rock itself. When we +reached Marazion, the receding tide had left the causeway dry, and as we +walked leisurely the mile or so between the town and the mount, the +water was already stealthily encroaching on the pathway. We found the +castle more of a gentleman's residence than a fortress, and it was +evidently never intended for defensive purposes. It has been the +residence of the St. Aubyn family since the time of Charles II, and the +villagers were all agog over elaborate preparations to celebrate the +golden wedding anniversary of the present proprietor. The climb is a +wearisome one, and we saw little of the castle, being admitted only to +the entrance-hall and the small Gothic chapel, which was undergoing +restoration; but the fine view from the battlements alone is worth the +effort. The castle never figured in history and is remarkable chiefly +for its unique location. By the time of our return the tide had already +risen several feet and we were rowed to the mainland in a boat. + +On our return to Truro we took the road by which we came, but on leaving +there our road roughly followed the Northern Cornish coast, and at +intervals we caught glimpses of the ocean. For some distance we ran +through a rough moorland country, although the road was comparatively +level and straight. We passed Camelford--which some say is the Camelot +of the Arthur legends--only five miles distant from the ruins of +Tintagel Castle on the coast, and came early to Launceston, where the +clean hospitable-looking White Hart Hotel offered strong inducements to +stop for the night. A certain weariness of the flesh, resulting from our +run over the last long stretch of the moorland road, was an equally +important factor in influencing our action. + +[Illustration: ON DARTMOOR. + +From Water Color by Vincent.] + +Launceston was one of the surprises that we frequently came across--a +town that we had never heard of before and doubtless one that an +American seldom sees. Yet the massive castle, whose circular keep crowns +an eminence overlooking the town, was one of the objects that loomed +into view long before we reached the place, and its gloomy grandeur, as +we wandered through its ruins in the fading twilight, deeply impressed +us. A rude stairway led to the top of the great circular tower, rising +high above the summit of the hill, which itself dominates the country, +and the view stretching away in every direction was far-reaching and +varied. The castle has been gradually falling into ruin for the last six +hundred years, but in its palmy days it must have been one of the +grimmest and most awe-inspiring of the fortresses in the west country. +Scarcely another ruin did we see anywhere more imposing in location and +more picturesque in decay. Masses of ivy clung to the crumbling walls +and all around spread a beautiful park, with soft, velvety turf +interspersed with shrubbery and bright dashes of color from numerous +well cared-for flower beds. + +Not less unique is St. Steven's church, the like of which is not to be +found elsewhere in Britain. Its walls are covered with a network of fine +carving, vine and flower running riot in stone, and they told us that +this was done by English stonecutters, though nearly all such carving +on the cathedrals was the work of artisans from the continent. The +Launceston church is pointed to as an evidence that English workmen +could have done quite as well had they been given the chance. Aside from +this wonderful carving, which covers almost every stone of the exterior, +the church is an imposing one and has lately been restored to its +pristine magnificence. Launceston had its abbey, too, but this has long +since disappeared, and all that now remains of it is the finely carved +Norman doorway built into the entrance of the White Hart Hotel. + +Our next day's run was short, covering only forty-two miles between +Launceston and Exeter. For about half the distance the road runs along +the edge of Dartmoor, the greatest of English moorlands. A motor trip of +two or three days through the moor itself would be time well spent, for +it abounds in romantic scenery. The road which we followed is a good +one, though broken into numerous steep hills, but a part of the way we +might as well have been traveling through a tunnel so far as seeing the +country was concerned. A large proportion of the fences are made of +earth piled up four or five feet high, and on the top of this ridge are +planted the hedges, generally reaching three or four feet higher. There +were times when we could catch only an occasional glimpse of the +landscape, and if such fences were everywhere in England they would be +a serious deterrent upon motoring. Fortunately, they prevail in a +comparatively small section, for we did not find them outside of +Cornwall and Devon. This experience served to impress on us how much we +lost when the English landscapes were hidden--that the vistas which +flitted past us as we hurried along were among the pleasantest features +of our journey. It was little short of distressing to have mud fences +shut from view some of the most fascinating country through which we +passed. + +The greatest part of the day we spent in Exeter. The Rougemont Hotel, +where we stopped for the night, is spacious and comfortable, and a +series of stained-glass windows at the head of the great staircase tells +the story of Richard Ill's connection with Exeter; how, according to +Shakespeare's play, the Rougemont of Exeter recalled to the king's +superstitious mind an ancient prophecy of his defeat at the hands of +Richmond, later Henry VII. + +Leaving Exeter early, we planned to reach Bath in the evening--only +eighty-one miles over an almost perfect road--not a very long run so far +as actual distance is concerned, but entirely too long considering the +places of unusual interest that lie along the way. We passed through the +little town of Wellington, noted chiefly for giving his title to the +Iron Duke, and it commemorates its great namesake by a lofty column +reared on one of the adjacent hills. + +No town in Britain has an ecclesiastical history more important than +Glastonbury, whose tradition stretches back to the very beginning of +Christianity in the Island. Legend has it that St. Joseph of Arimathea, +who begged the body of Christ and buried it, came here in the year 63 +and was the founder of the abbey. He brought with him, tradition says, +the Holy Grail; and a thorn-tree staff which he planted in the abbey +grounds became a splendid tree, revered for many centuries as the Holy +Thorn. The original tree has vanished, though there is a circumstantial +story that it was standing in the time of Cromwell and that a Puritan +who undertook to cut it down as savoring of idolatry had an eye put out +by a flying chip and was dangerously wounded by his axe-head flying off +and striking him. With its awe-inspiring traditions--for which, +fortunately, proof was not required--it is not strange that Glastonbury +for many centuries was the greatest and most powerful ecclesiastical +establishment in the Kingdom. The buildings at one time covered sixty +acres, and many hundreds of monks and dignitaries exerted influence on +temporal as well as ecclesiastical affairs. It is rather significant +that it passed through the Norman Conquest unscathed; not even the +greedy conquerors dared invade the sanctity of Glastonbury Abbey. The +revenue at that time is said to have been about fifty thousand pounds +yearly and the value of a pound then would equal twenty-five to fifty of +our American dollars. However much the Normans respected the place, its +sanctity had no terrors for the rapacious Henry VIII. The rich revenues +appealed too strongly and he made a clean sweep, hanging the mitered +abbot and two of his monks on the top of Tor Hill. The Abbey is the +traditional burial-place of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere, and four of +the Saxon kings sleep in unmarked graves within its precincts. +Considering its once vast extent, the remaining ruins are scanty, +although enough is left to show how imposing and elaborate it must have +been in its palmy days. And there are few places in the Kingdom where +one is so impressed with the spirit of the ancient order of things as +when surrounded by the crumbling walls of Glastonbury Abbey. + +[Illustration: ST. JOSEPH'S CHAPEL, GLASTONBURY ABBEY.] + +At Wells is the cathedral that gives the town an excuse for existence. +Although one of the smallest of these great English churches, it is in +many respects one of the most symmetrical and beautiful. Its glory is +centered chiefly in its west front, with deep buttresses and many +sculptured images of kings and saints. We had only an unsatisfactory +glimpse of the interior, as services happened to be in progress. The +town of Wells is a mere adjunct to the cathedral. It has no history of +its own; no great family has ever lived there; and it can claim no +glory as the birthplace of distinguished sons. Still it has a distinct +charm as a quiet little Somersetshire town which has preserved its +antiquity and fascination. Its name is taken from the natural wells +still found in the garden of the Bishop's palace. + +Bath, though it has the most remarkable Roman relics in the Kingdom, is +largely modern. It is now a city of fifty thousand and dates its rise +from the patronage of royalty a century and a half ago. It is one of the +towns that a motorist could scarcely miss if he wished--so many fine +roads lead into it--and I shall not attempt especial comment on a place +so well known. Yet, as in our case, it may be a revelation to many who +know of it in a general way but have no adequate idea of the real extent +of the Roman baths. These date from 50 to 100 A.D. and indicate a degree +of civilization which shows that the Roman inhabitants in Britain must +have been industrious, intelligent and cleanly. + +Excavations have been conducted with great difficulty, since the Roman +remains lie directly under an important part of the city covered with +valuable buildings. Nearly all of the baths in the vicinity of the +springs have been uncovered and found in a surprising state of +perfection. In many places the tiling with its mosaic is intact, and +parts of the system of piping laid to conduct the water still may be +traced. Over the springs has been erected the modern pump-house and many +of the Roman baths have been restored to nearly their original state. In +the pump-house is a museum with hundreds of relics discovered in course +of excavation--sculpture, pottery, jewelry, coin and many other articles +that indicate a high degree of civilization. Outside of the Roman +remains the most notable thing in Bath is its abbey church, which, in +impressive architecture and size, will compare favorably with many of +the cathedrals. In fact, it originally was a cathedral, but in an early +day the bishopric was transferred to Wells. There is no ruined fortress +or castle in Bath, with its regulation lot of legends. Possibly in an +effort to remedy the defect, there has been erected on one of the hills +that overlook the town a structure which goes by the epithet of the Sham +Castle. + +On leaving Bath, we followed the fine London road as far as Chippenham, +a prosperous agricultural town celebrated for its wool market. To the +north of this is Malmesbury, with an abbey church whose history goes +back to the Ninth Century. A portion of the nave is still used for +services and is remarkable for its massive pillars and Norman doorway, +the great arch of which has perhaps a hundred rude carvings illustrating +scenes from scripture history. The strong walls of the church caused it +to be used at times as a fortress, and it underwent sieges in the +different wars that raged over the Kingdom. The verger pointed out to us +deep indentations made by Cromwell's cannon and told us that one of the +abbey's vicissitudes was its use for some years as a cloth manufacturing +establishment. + +From Malmesbury we followed the road through Cirencester to Cheltenham, +one of the most modern-looking cities which we saw in England. Like +Bath, it is famous for its springs, and a large share of its population +is made up of retired officers of the army and navy. The main streets +are very wide, nearly straight, and bordered in many places with fine +trees. However, its beginning dates from only about 1700, and therefore +it has little claim on the tourist whose heart is set upon ancient and +historic things. + +Of much greater interest is its neighbor, Gloucester, about twelve miles +away. The two cities are almost of the same size, each having about +fifty thousand people. Gloucester can boast of one of the most beautiful +of the cathedrals, whether considered from its imposing Gothic exterior +or its interior, rich with carvings and lighted by unusually fine +stained-glass windows, one of which is declared to be the largest in the +world. The cathedral was begun in 1088, but the main tower was not +completed until nearly five hundred years later, which gives some idea +of the time covered in the construction of many of these great churches. +Gloucester boasts of great antiquity, for it is known that the +Britons had a fortified town here which they defended against the Roman +attacks; and after having become possessed of it, the Romans greatly +strengthened it as a defense against incursions from the Welsh tribes. +Before the Norman Conquest, it was of such importance that Edward the +Confessor held his court in the town for some time. Being in the west +country, it naturally was a storm-center in the parliamentary struggle, +during which time a great deal of the city was destroyed. But there are +many of the old portions still remaining and it has numbers of beautiful +half-timbered buildings. One of these was the home of Robert Raikes, +known to the world as the founder of the Sunday School. Gloucester is +worthy of a longer stay than we were able to make, and in arranging an +itinerary one should not fail to provide for a full day in the town. + +[Illustration: IN GLOUCESTERSHIRE. + +From Water Color by A. Waters.] + +From Gloucester to Ross runs an excellent highway, though rather devoid +of interest. It was thronged with motorists who generally dashed along +in sublime disregard of the speed limits. We passed several who were +occupied with "roadside troubles" and we were in for an hour or so +ourselves, due to a refractory "vibrator." The Welsh farmers who passed +joked us good-naturedly and one said he would stick to his horse until +he had money to buy a motor--then, he added, he wouldn't buy it, but +would live on the income of the money. We told him that he was a man +after Solomon's own heart. Suddenly the evil spirit left the car and she +sprang away over the beautiful road in mad haste that soon landed us in +Ross. + +Ross is a pretty village, situated on a green hillside overlooking the +Wye, and the tall, graceful spire of its church dominates all views of +the town. Although it was growing quite late, we did not stop here, but +directed our way to Monmouth, twelve miles farther on, which we reached +just as the long twilight was turning into night. + +[Illustration: DISTANT VIEW OF ROSS, SOUTH WELSH BORDER.] + + + + +VIII + +THROUGH BEAUTIFUL WALES + + +Of no part of our tour does a pleasanter memory linger than of the five +or six hundred miles on the highways of Wales. The weather was glorious +and no section of Britain surpassed the Welsh landscapes in beauty. A +succession of green hills, in places impressive enough to be styled +mountains, sloping away into wooded valleys, with here and there a +quaint village, a ruined castle or abbey, or an imposing country mansion +breaking on the view--all combined to make our journey through Wales one +of our most pleasing experiences. Historic spots are not far apart, +especially on the border, where for centuries these brave people fought +English invaders--and with wonderful success, considering the greatly +superior number of the aggressors. I have already written of Ludlow and +Shrewsbury on the north, but scarcely less attractive--and quite as +important in early days--are the fine old towns of Hereford and Monmouth +on the southern border. + +We were everywhere favorably impressed with the Welsh people as being +thrifty and intelligent. The roadside drinking-houses were not so +numerous as in England, for the Welsh are evidently more temperate in +this regard than their neighbors. My observation in this particular is +borne out by an English writer well qualified to judge. He says: "There +is, of a truth, very little drinking now in rural Wales. The farming +classes appear to be extremely sober. Even the village parliament, which +in England discusses the nation's affairs in the village public house, +has no serious parallel in Wales, for the detached cottage-renting +laborer, who is the mainstay of such gatherings, scarcely exists, and +the farmer has other interests to keep him at home." Evidently the Welsh +farmer does attend to his business in an industrious manner, for he +generally has a substantial and prosperous appearance. People with whom +we engaged in conversation were always courteous and obliging and almost +everything conspired to heighten our good opinion of the Welsh. The +fusion with England is nearly complete and the Welsh language is +comparatively little used except by the older people. King Edward has no +more loyal subjects than the Welshmen, but apparently they do not +greatly incline towards admitting his claims as their spiritual head. +The Church of England in Wales is greatly inferior in numbers and +influence to the various nonconformist branches. This is especially true +of the more rural sections. + +We found Monmouth an unusually interesting town on account of its +antiquity and the numerous historic events which transpired within its +walls. At the King's Head Hotel, which of course afforded shelter to +Charles I when he was "touring" Britain, we were able with difficulty to +find accommodation, so crowded was the house with an incursion of +English trippers. Monmouth's chief glory and distinction is that it was +the birthplace of King Henry V, Shakespeare's Prince Hal, whom William +Watson describes as + + "The roystering prince that afterward + Belied his madcap youth and proved + A greatly simple warrior lord + Such as our warrior fathers loved." + +The scanty ruins of the castle where the prince was born still overlook +the town. Thus King Henry became the patron of Monmouth, and in front of +the town hall has been erected an inartistic effigy of a knight in full +armour, with the inscription, "Henry V, born at Monmouth, August 9, +1387." The old bridge over the river Monnow is unique, with an odd, +castellated gateway at one end, probably intended not so much for +defense as for collecting tolls. + +After dark we wandered about the streets until the church-tower chimes +warned us of the lateness of the hour. And even these church bells have +their history. When King Henry sailed from a seaport in France on one +occasion the inhabitants rang the bells for joy, which so incensed the +monarch that he ordered the bells removed and presented them to his +native town. We saw too little of Monmouth, for the next morning we were +away early, taking the fine road that leads directly south to Tintern +and Chepstow. + +The abbey-builders chose their locations with unerring judgment, always +in a beautiful valley near a river or lake, surrounded by fertile fields +and charming scenery. Of the score of ruined abbeys which we visited +there was not one that did not fulfill this description, and none of +them to a greater extent--possibly excepting Fountain's--than Tintern. +In the words of an enthusiastic admirer, "Tintern is supremely wonderful +for its situation among its scores of rivals. It lies on the very brink +of the River Wye, in a hollow of the hills of Monmouth, sheltered from +harsh winds, warmed by the breezes of the Channel--a very nook in an +earthly Eden. Somehow the winter seems to fall more lightly here, the +spring to come earlier, the foliage to take on a deeper green, the grass +a greater thickness, and the flowers a more multitudinous variety." +Certainly the magnificent church--almost entire except for its fallen +roof--standing in the pleasant valley surrounded by forest-clad hills on +every side, well merits such enthusiastic language. It is well that +this fine ruin is now in the possession of the Crown, for it insures +that decay will be arrested and its beauties preserved as an inspiration +to art and architecture of later times. + +From Tintern to Chepstow we followed an unsurpassed mountain road. For +three miles our car gradually climbed to the highest point, winding +along the hillside, from which the valley of the Severn, with its broad +river, spread out beneath us in all the freshness of June verdure; while +on the other hand, for hundreds of feet sheer above us, sloped the hill, +with its rich curtain of forest trees, the lighter green of the summer +foliage dashed with the somber gloom of the yew. Just at the summit we +passed the Wyndcliffe, towering five hundred feet above us, from which +one may behold one of the most famous prospects in the Island. Then our +car started down a three-mile coast over a smooth and uniform grade +until we landed at the brow of the steep hill which drops sharply into +Chepstow. + +A rude, gloomy fortress Chepstow Castle must have been in its day of +might, and time has done little to soften its grim and forbidding +aspect. Situated on a high cliff which drops abruptly to the river, it +must have been well-nigh invincible in days ere castle walls crumbled +away before cannon-shot. It is of great extent, the wails enclosing an +area of about four acres, divided into four separate courts. The +best-preserved portion is the keep, or tower, in which the caretaker +makes his home; but the fine chapel and banqueting hall were complete +enough to give a good idea of their old-time state. We were able to +follow a pathway around the top of the broad wall, from which was +afforded a widely extended view over the mouth of the Severn towards the +sea. "This is Martin's Tower," said our guide, "for in the dungeon +beneath it the regicide, Henry Martin, spent the last twenty years of +his life and died." The man spoke the word "regicide" as though he felt +the stigma that it carries with it everywhere in England, even though +applied to the judge who condemned to death Charles Stuart, a man who +well deserved to die. And when Britain punished the regicides and +restored to power the perfidious race of the Stuarts, she was again +putting upon herself the yoke of misgovernment and storing up another +day of wrath and bloodshed. + +[Illustration: RUINS OF RAGLAN CASTLE, SOUTH WALES.] + +From Chepstow it is only a short journey to Raglan, whose ruined castle +impressed us in many ways as the most beautiful we saw in Britain. It +was far different from the rude fortress at Chepstow. In its best days +it combined a military stronghold with the conveniences and artistic +effects of a palace. It is fortunately one of the best-preserved of the +castellated ruins in the Kingdom. Impressive indeed were the two square +towers flanking its great entrance, yet their stern aspect was +softened by the heavy masses of ivy that covered them almost to the top. +The walls, though roofless, were still standing, so that one could gain +a good idea of the original plan of the castle. The fire places, with +elaborate mantels still in place, the bits of fine carvings that clung +to the walls here and there, the grand staircase, a portion of which +still remains, all combined to show that this castle had been planned as +a superb residence as well as a fortress. From the Gwent tower there was +an unobstructed view stretching away in every direction toward the +horizon. The day was perfect, without even a haze to obscure the +distance, and save from Ludlow Castle, I saw nothing to equal the +prospect which lay beneath me when standing on Raglan Tower. + +Raglan's active history ended with its surrender August 15, 1646, to the +Parliamentary army under General Fairfax, after a severe siege of more +than two months. It was the last fortress in England to hold out for the +lost cause of King Charles, and a brave record did its gallant defenders +make against an overwhelmingly superior force. The Marquis of Worcester, +though eighty-five years of age, held the castle against the +Cromwellians until starvation forced him to surrender. The old nobleman +was granted honorable terms by his captors, but Parliament did not keep +faith, and he died a year later in the Tower of London. On being told a +few days before his death that his body would be buried in Windsor +Chapel, he cheerfully remarked: "Why, God bless us all, then I shall +have a better castle when I am dead than they took from me when I was +alive." + +After the surrender the castle was dismantled by the soldiers, and the +farmers in the vicinity emulated the Parliamentary destroyers in looting +the fine edifice. Seventeen of the stone staircases were taken away +during the interval and the great hall and chapel were seriously +injured. Enough of the massive walls is left to convey a vivid idea of +the olden grandeur of the castle. The motto of the time-worn arms +inscribed over the entrance speaks eloquently of the past, expressing in +Latin the sentiment, "I scorn to change or fear." + +A quiet, unpretentious old border town is Hereford, pleasantly located +on the banks of the always beautiful Wye. The square tower of the +cathedral is the most conspicuous object when the town first comes into +view. Though dating in part from the Eleventh Century, work on the +cathedral occupied the centuries until 1530, when it was practically +completed as it now stands. The vandal Wyatt, who dealt so hardly with +Salisbury, had the restoration of the cathedral in hand early in the +Eighteenth Century. He destroyed many of its most artistic features, +but recently his work was undone and a second restoration was completed +in about 1863. The structure as it now stands is mainly Norman in style, +built of light-brown stone, and remarkably beautiful and imposing. + +Hereford Castle has entirely vanished, though a contemporary writer +describes it as "one of the fairest, largest, and strongest castles in +England." The site which it occupied is now a public garden, diversified +with shrubbery and flowers. An ornamental lake indicates where once was +the moat, but the outlines of the walls are shown only by grass-covered +ridges. Its history was no doubt as stirring as that of others of the +border castles, which more fortunately escaped annihilation. + +Despite its present atmosphere of peace and quietude, Hereford saw +strenuous times in the fierce warfare which raged between the English +and Welsh, though few relics of those days remain. The streets are +unusually wide and with few exceptions the buildings are modern. +Surrounding the town is a stretch of green, level meadow, upon which +graze herds of the red and white cattle whose fame is wider than that of +their native shire. No doubt there are many familiar with the sleek +Herefords who have no idea from whence they take their name. + +Our hotel, the Green Dragon, had recently been re-furnished and +brightened throughout, and its excellent service was much better than +we often found in towns the size of Hereford. Its well planned motor +garage, just completed, showed that its proprietors recognized the +growing importance of this method of touring. + +Our run from Hereford up the Wye Valley to the sea, we agreed was one of +our red-letter days. We passed through greatly varied scenery from the +fertile, level country around Hereford to the rough, broken hills near +the river's source, but the view was always picturesque in the highest +degree. The road runs along the edge of the hills, and the glorious +valley with its brawling river spread out before us almost the entire +day. At times we ran through forests, which cover the immense parks +surrounding the country estates along the river. We saw many fine +English country-seats, ranging from old, castellated structures to +apparently modern mansions. There are also a number of ruins along the +valley, each with its romantic legends. At Hay, on the hill overlooking +the town, is the castle, partly in ruins and partly in such state of +repair as to be the summer home of the family that owns it. A little +farther, upon a knoll directly overhanging the river, are crumbling +piles of stone where once stood Clifford Castle, the home of Fair +Rosamond, whose melancholy story Tennyson has woven into one of his +dramas. + +As we advanced farther up the valley, the country grew wilder and more +broken and for many miles we ran through the towering hills that pass +for mountains in Wales. These were covered with bright-green verdure to +their very tops, and the flocks of sheep grazing everywhere lent an +additional charm to the picture. At the foot of the hills the road +follows the valleys with gentle curves and easy grades. The Wye dwindles +to the merest brook, and some miles before we reached the coast, we +passed the head waters of the river and followed a brook flowing in an +opposite direction. + +The road over which we had traveled is not favorable for fast time. +Though comparatively level and with splendid surface, it abounds in +sharp curves and in many places runs along high embankments. The Motor +Union has recommended that eighteen miles per hour be not exceeded on +this road. The distance from Hereford to Aberyswith is only ninety +miles, yet we occupied the greater part of the day in the trip, and had +time permitted, we would gladly have broken the journey at one of the +quaint towns along the way. At many points of vantage we stopped to +contemplate the beauty of the scene--one would have to be a speed maniac +indeed to "scorch" over the Wye Valley road. + +Aberyswith is a seaside resort, somewhat similar to Penzance. It is +situated on the harbor at the foot of a high bluff, and its principal +feature is the long row of hotels fronting on the ocean. Though mostly +modern, it is by no means without history, as evidenced by its ruined +castle overlooking the sea and vouching for the antiquity of the town. + +We left Aberyswith next morning with considerable apprehensions. Our +books and maps showed that we would encounter by odds the worst roads of +our entire tour. A grade of one in five along the edge of an almost +precipitous hill was not an alluring prospect, for we were little +inclined toward hill-climbing demonstrations. Shortly after leaving the +town we were involved in poorly kept country byways without sign-boards +and slippery with heavy rains of the night before. After meandering +among the hills and inquiring of the natives for towns the names of +which they could not understand when we asked and we could not +understand when they answered, we came to Dinas Mowddwy, where there was +little else than a handsome hotel. This reminded us that in our +wanderings the hour for luncheon had passed. We stopped at the hotel, +but found difficulty in locating anybody to minister to our wants; and +so deliberate were the movements of the party who finally admitted +responsibility that an hour was consumed in obtaining a very +unpretentious repast. + +The hotelkeeper held out a discouraging prospect in regard to the hills +ahead of us. He said that the majority of the motorists who attempted +them were stalled and that there had been some serious accidents. We +went on our way with considerable uneasiness, as our car had not been +working well, and later on trouble was discovered in a broken +valve-spring. However, we started over the mountain, which showed on our +road-book to be not less than three miles in length. There were many +dangerous turns of the road, which ran alongside an almost precipitous +incline, where there was every opportunity for the car to roll a mile or +more before coming to a standstill if it once should get over the edge. +We crawled up the hill until within about fifty yards from the top, and +right at this point there was a sharp turn on an exceedingly stiff +grade. After several trials at great risk of losing control of the car, +I concluded that discretion was (sometimes) the better part of valor, +and with great difficulty turned around and gave it up. + +We made a detour by way of Welshpool and Oswestry, where we came into +the London and Holyhead road, bringing up for the night at Llangollen. +We found it necessary to travel about sixty miles to get to the point +which we would have reached in one-fourth the distance had we succeeded +in climbing the hill. It proved no hardship, as we saw some of the most +beautiful country in Wales and traveled over a level road which enabled +us to make very good time with the partly crippled car. + +Although Llangollen is a delightful town, my recollections of it are +anything but pleasant. Through our failure to receive a small repair +which I ordered from London, we were delayed at this place for two days, +and as it usually chances in such cases, at one of the worst hotels +whose hospitality we endured during our trip. It had at one time been +quite pretentious, but had degenerated into a rambling, dirty, old inn, +principally a headquarters for fishing parties and local "trippers." And +yet at this dilapidated old inn there were a number of guests who made +great pretensions at style. Women "dressed for dinner" in low-necked +gowns with long trains; and the men attired themselves in dress-suits of +various degrees of antiquity. + +While we were marooned here we visited Vale Crucis Abbey, about a mile +distant. The custodian was absent, or in any event could not be aroused +by vigorously ringing the cowbell suspended above the gate, and we had +to content ourselves with a very unsatisfactory view of the ruin over +the stone wall that enclosed it. The environments of Llangollen are +charming in a high degree. The flower-bordered lanes lead past cottages +and farm houses surrounded by low stone walls and half hidden by +brilliantly colored creepers. Bits of woodland are interspersed with +bright green sheep pastures and high, almost mountainous, bluffs +overhang the valley. On the very summit of one of these is perched a +ruined castle, whose inaccessible position discouraged nearer +acquaintance. + +The country around Llangollen was beautiful, but the memory of the hotel +leaves a blight over all. We were happy indeed when our motor started +off again with the steady, powerful hum that so delights the soul of the +driver, and it seemed fairly to tremble with impatience to make up for +its enforced inaction. Though it was eight o'clock in the evening, it +was anything to get away from Llangollen, and we left with a view of +stopping for the night at Bettws-y-Coed, about thirty miles away. + +With our motor car racing like mad over the fine highway--there was no +danger of police traps at that hour--we did not stop to inquire about +the dog that went under the wheels in the first village we passed. +However, the night set in suddenly and a rain began to fall heavily +before we had gone half the distance we proposed. We had experienced +trouble enough in finding the roads in Wales during the daytime, and the +prospect of doing this by night and in a heavy rain was not at all +encouraging, and we perforce had to put up at the first place that +offered itself. A proposition to stop at one of the so-called inns along +the road was received with alarm by the good woman who attended the +bar. She could not possibly care for us and she was loud in her praises +of the Saracen's Head at Cerrig-y-Druidion, only a little farther on, +which she represented as a particular haven for motorists. + +The appearance of our car with its rapidly vibrating engine and glaring +headlights before the Saracen's Head created considerable commotion +among the large family of the host and the numerous guests, who, like +Tam-O'-Shanter, were snug and cozy by their inglenook while the storm +was raging outside. However, the proprietor was equal to the occasion +and told me that he had just come from Liverpool to take charge of the +inn and that he hoped to have the patronage of motorists. With +commendable enterprise he had fitted up a portion of his barn and had +labeled it "Motor Garage" in huge letters. The stable man was also +excited over the occasion, and I am sure that our car was the first to +occupy the newly created garage, which had no doubt been cut off from +the cow-stable at a very recent date. + +The shelter of the Saracen's Head was timely and grateful none the less, +and no one could have been kindlier or more attentive than our hostess. +We had a nicely served lunch in the hotel parlor, which was just across +the hallway from the lounging room, where the villagers assembled to +indulge in such moderate drinking as Welshmen are addicted to. The +public room was a fine old apartment with open-beamed ceiling--not the +sham with which we decorate our modern houses, but real open beams that +supported the floor--and one end of the room was occupied by a great +open fireplace with old-time spits and swinging cranes. Overhead was +hung a supply of hams and bacon and on iron hooks above the door were +suspended several dressed fowls, on the theory that these improve with +age. We were given a small but clean and neat apartment, from which I +suspicion the younger members of the landlord's family had been +unceremoniously ousted to make room for us. The distressing feature was +the abominable beds, but as these prevailed in most of the country +hotels at which we stopped we shall not lay this up too strongly against +the Saracen's Head. I noticed that on one of the window-panes someone +had scribbled with a diamond, "Sept. 4, 1726," which would seem to +indicate that the original window was there at that time. The house +itself must have been considerably older. If rates had been the sole +inducement, we should undoubtedly have become permanent boarders at the +Saracen's Head, for I think that the bill for our party was seven +shillings for supper, room and breakfast. + +We left Cerrig-y-Druidion next morning in a gray, driving rain, with +drifting fogs that almost hid the road at times. A few miles brought us +to the Conway River, the road closely following the stream through the +picturesque scenery on its banks. It was swollen by heavy rains and the +usually insignificant river was a wild torrent, dashing in rapids and +waterfalls over its rocky bed. The clouds soon broke away and for the +remainder of the day the weather was as fine as could possibly be wished +for. + +Bettws-y-Coed is the most famous of mountain towns in Wales, and its +situation is indeed romantic. It is generally reputed to be the chief +Welsh honeymoon resort and a paradise for fishermen, but it has little +to detain the tourist interested in historic Britain. We evidently +should have fared much differently at its splendid hotel from what we +did at Cerrig-y-Druidion, but we were never sorry for our enforced +sojourn at the Saracen's Head. + +The road from Bettws-y-Coed to Carnarvon is a good one, but steep in +places, and it passes through some of the finest mountain scenery in +Wales. It leads through the Pass of Llanberis and past Snowdon, the king +of the Welsh mountains--though tame indeed to one who has seen the +Rockies. Snowdon, the highest in the Kingdom, rises not so much as four +thousand feet above the sea level. + +Carnarvon Castle is conceded from many points of view to be the finest +ruin in the Kingdom. It does not occupy an eminence, as did so many +castles whose position contributed much to their defense, but it +depended more on its lofty watch-towers and the stupendous strength of +its outer walls. These are built of solid granite with a thickness of +ten feet or more in vital places, and it is doubtful if even the +old-time artillery would have made much impression upon them. Its +massive construction no doubt accounts for the wonderful preservation of +the outer walls, which are almost entire, and Carnarvon Castle, as +viewed from the outside, probably appears very much the same as it did +when the builders completed the work about 1300. It was built by King +Edward I as a royal residence from which to direct his operations +against the Welsh, which finally resulted in the conquest of that people +by the English invaders. In a little dungeonlike room, tradition +declares that Edward II, first Prince of Wales, was born. This is +vigorously insisted upon in the local guide-book as an actual historic +fact, although it is quite as vigorously disputed by numerous +antiquarians, uninfluenced by Carnarvon's interests. The castle is now +the property of the town and is well looked after. + +Leaving Carnarvon, our next objective was Conway, whose castle is hardly +less famous and even more picturesque than that of its neighbor, though +in more ruinous condition. The road we followed closely skirts the +coast for a great part of the distance, running at times on the verge of +the ocean. In places it reminds one of the Axenstrasse of Lake Lucerne, +being cut in the side of the cliffs overhanging the sea, with here and +there great masses of rock projecting over it; and passes occasionally +through a tunnel cut in the stone. A few miles north of Carnarvon we +passed through Bangor, one of the most prosperous-looking towns in North +Wales and the seat of one of the few Welsh cathedrals--a long, low, +though not unpleasing, building. The site of this cathedral had been +continuously occupied by a church since the Sixth Century, although the +present structure dates from the Thirteenth. + +An hour's run after leaving Bangor brought us in sight of the towers of +Conway Castle. Nowhere in Britain does the spirit of mediaevalism linger +as it does in the ancient town of Conway. It is still surrounded by its +old wall with twenty-one watch-towers and the three gateways originally +leading into the town have been recently restored. The castle stands on +the verge of a precipitous rock and its outer walls are continuous with +those of the town. It is a perfect specimen of a Thirteenth Century +military fortress, with walls of enormous thickness, flanked by eight +huge, circular towers. It was built by Edward I in 1284. Several times +it was besieged by the Welsh and on one occasion came near falling into +their hands while the king himself was in the castle. It was besieged +during the Parliamentary wars, but for some unaccountable reason it was +not destroyed or seriously damaged when captured. Its present +dilapidated state is due to the action of its owner, Lord Conway, +shortly after, in dismantling it to sell the lead and timber of the +building, and it was permitted to fall into gradual decay. The castle, +with its eight towers and bridge, which matches it in general style and +which was built about fifty years ago, is one of the best known objects +in the whole Kingdom. It has been made familiar to everybody through +innumerable photographs and pictures. + +When we drew our car up in front of the castle it was in gala attire and +was the scene of activity which we were at a loss to account for. We +soon learned that the Wesleyans, or Welsh Methodists, were holding a +festival in the castle, and the shilling we paid for admission included +a nicely served lunch, of which the Welsh strawberries were the +principal feature. The occasion was enlivened by music from the local +band and songs by young girls in the old Welsh costume. This led us to +ask if the Welsh language were in common use among the people. We were +told that while the older people can speak it, it does not find much +favor among the younger generation, some of whom are almost ashamed to +admit knowledge of the old tongue. English was spoken everywhere among +the people at the gathering, and the only Welsh heard was in some of the +songs by the girls. We wandered about the ruin and ascended the towers, +which afford a fine view of the town and river. There seems to have been +little done in the way of restoration, or repair, but so massive are the +walls that they have splendidly stood the ravages of time. + +On leaving Conway we crossed the suspension bridge, paying a goodly toll +for the privilege. It was already growing late when we left the town, +but the fine level road and the unusually willing spirit evinced by our +motor enabled us to cover the fifty miles to Chester before night set +in. + + + + +IX + +CHESTER TO "THE HIELANDS" + + +Chester stands a return visit well, and so does the spacious and +hospitable Grosvenor Hotel. It was nearly dark when we reached the city +and the hotel was crowded, the season now being at its height. We had +neglected to wire for reservation, but our former stop at the hotel was +not forgotten and this stood us in good stead in securing +accommodations. So comfortably were we established that we did not take +the car out of the garage the next day but spent our time in leisurely +re-visiting some of the places that had pleased us most. + +The next day we were early away for the north. I think that no other +stretch of road of equal length was more positively unattractive than +that we followed from Chester to Penrith. Even the road-book, whose +"objects of interest" were in some cases doubtful, to say the least, +could name only the battlefield of 1648 near Preston and one or two +minor "objects" in a distance of one hundred miles. I recalled the +comment of the Touring Secretary of the Motor Union as he rapidly drew +his pencil through this road as shown on the map: "Bad road, rough +pavement, houses for thirty miles at a stretch right on each side of +the street, crowds of children everywhere--but you cannot get away from +it very well." All of which we verified by personal experience. + +At starting it seemed easy to reach Carlisle for the night, but progress +was slow and we met an unexpected delay at Warrington, twenty miles +north of Chester. A policeman courteously notified us that the main +street of the city would be closed three hours for a Sunday School +parade. We had arrived five minutes too late to get across the bridge +and out of the way. We expressed our disgust at the situation and the +officer made the conciliatory suggestion that we might be able to go on +anyway. He doubted if the city had any authority to close the main +street, one of the King's highways, on account of such a procession. We +hardly considered our rights so seriously infringed as to demand such a +remedy, and we turned into the stable-yard of a nearby hotel to wait +until the streets were clear. In the meantime we joined the crowd that +watched the parade. The main procession, of five or six thousand +children, was made up of Sunday Schools of the Protestant churches--the +Church of England and the "Non-Conformists." The Catholics, whose +relations in England with Protestants are strained to a much greater +extent than in the United States, did not join, but formed a smaller +procession in one of the side streets. The parade was brilliant with +flags and with huge banners bearing portraits of the King and Queen, +though some bore the names and emblems of the different schools. One +small fellow proudly flourished the Stars and Stripes, which was the +only foreign flag among the thousands in the procession. In this +connection I might remark that one sees the American flag over here far +oftener than he would traveling in America. We found nothing but the +kindest and most cordial feeling toward Americans everywhere; and the +very fact that we were Americans secured us special privileges in not a +few cases. + +After the procession had crossed the bridge, a policeman informed us +that we could proceed. We gained considerable time by making a detour +through side streets--not an altogether easy performance--and after much +inquiry regained the main road leading out of the city. Warrington is a +city of more than one hundred and twenty thousand inhabitants, a +manufacturing place with nothing to detain the tourist. On the main +street near the river is a fine bronze statue of Oliver Cromwell, one of +four that I saw erected to the memory of the Protector in England. Our +route from Warrington led through Wigan and Preston, manufacturing +cities of nearly one hundred thousand each, and the suburbs of the three +are almost continuous. Tram cars were numerous and children played +everywhere with utter unconcern for the vehicles which crowded the +streets. + +When we came to Lancaster we were glad to stop, although our day's +journey had covered only sixty miles. We knew very little of Lancaster +and resorted to the guide-books for something of its antecedents, only +to learn the discouraging fact that here, as everywhere, the Romans had +been ahead of us. The town has a history reaching back to the Roman +occupation, but its landmarks have been largely obliterated in the +manufacturing center which it has become. Charles Dickens was a guest at +Lancaster, and in recording his impressions he declared it "a pleasant +place, dropped in the midst of a charming landscape; a place with a +fine, ancient fragment of a castle; a place of lovely walks and +possessing many staid old houses, richly fitted with Honduras mahogany," +and followed with other reflections not so complimentary concerning the +industrial slavery which prevailed in the city a generation or two ago. +The "fine, ancient fragment of a castle" has been built into the modern +structure which now serves as the seat of the county court. The square +tower of the Norman keep is included in the building. This in general +style and architecture conforms to the old castle, which, excepting the +fragment mentioned by Dickens, has long since vanished. Near at hand is +St. Mary's Church, rivaling in size and dignity many of the cathedrals, +and its massive, buttressed walls and tall, graceful spire do justice to +its magnificent site. From the eminence occupied by the church the Irish +Sea is plainly visible, and in the distance the almost tropical Isle of +Man rises abruptly out of the blue waters. The monotony of our previous +day's travel was forgotten in lively anticipation as we proceeded at +what seemed a snail's pace over the fine road leading from Penrith to +Carlisle. We had been warned at Penrith, not against the bold +highwaymen, the border moss-troopers or the ranting Highlandmen of song +and story, but against a plain, Twentieth Century police trap which was +being worked very successfully along this road. Such was our approach in +these degenerate days to "Merrie Carlile," which figured so largely in +the endless border warfare between the Scotch and English. But why the +town should have been famed as "Merrie Carlile" would be hard to say, +unless more than a thousand years of turmoil, bloodshed and almost +ceaseless warfare through which it passed earned it the cheerful +appellation. The trouble between the English and the Welsh ended early, +but it has been only a century and a half ago since the closing scene of +the long and bitter conflict between the north and south was enacted at +Carlisle. Its grim old castle was the scene of the imprisonment and +execution of the last devoted followers of Prince Charlie, and +according to Scott's Waverly the dashing but sadly deluded young +chieftain, Fergus McIvor, was one of those who suffered a shameful +death. In this connection one remembers that Scott's marriage to Miss +Carpentier took place in Carlisle, an event that would naturally +accentuate our interest in the fine old border city. As we had +previously visited Carlisle, our stay was a short one, but its +remarkable history, its connection with the stories of Walter Scott, its +atmosphere of romance and legend and the numerous points of interest +within easy reach--all combine to make it a center where one might spend +several days. The Romans had been here also, and they, too, had +struggled with the wild tribes on the north, and from that time down to +the execution of the last adherents of the Stuarts in 1759 the town was +hardly at any time in a state of quietude. As described by an observant +writer, "every man became a soldier and every house that was not a mere +peasant's hut was a fortress." A local poet of the Seventeenth Century +summed it up in a terse if not elegant couplet as his unqualified +opinion + + "That whoso then in the border did dwell + Lived little happier than those in hell." + +But Carlisle is peaceful and quiet enough at the present time, a place +of considerable size and with a thriving commerce. Its castle, a plain +and unimpressive structure, still almost intact, has been converted +into military barracks, and its cathedral, which, according to an old +chronicle, in 1634 "impressed three observant strangers as a great wild +country church," has not been greatly altered in appearance since that +period. It suffered severely at the hands of the Parliamentary soldiers, +who tore down a portion of the nave to use the materials in +strengthening the defenses of the town. But the story of Carlisle could +not be told in many volumes. If the mere hint of its great interest +which I have given here can induce any fellow tourist to tarry a little +longer at "Merrie Carlile," it will be enough. + +Leaving Carlisle, we crossed "Solway Tide" and found ourselves in the +land of bluebells and heather, the "Bonnie Scotland" of Robert Burns. +Shortly after crossing the river, a sign-board pointed the way to Gretna +Green, that old-time haven of eloping lovers, who used to cross the +Solway just as the tide began to rise, and before it subsided there was +little for the paternal ancestors to do but forgive and make the best of +it. But we missed the village, for it was a mile or two off the road to +Dumfries, which we hoped to reach for the night. An unexpected +difficulty with the car nearly put this out of the range of possibility, +but by grace of the long Scotch twilight, we came into Dumfries about +ten o'clock without finding it necessary to light our lamps. Our day's +journey had been a tiresome one, and we counted ourselves fortunate on +being directed to the Station Hotel, which was as comfortable and well +managed as any we found. The average railway hotel in America is +anything but an attractive proposition, but in Scotland and in England +conditions are almost reversed, the station hotels under the control of +the different railway companies being generally the best. + +[Illustration: ENTRANCE TO LOCH TYNE. + +From Water Color by Stewart.] + +We had been attracted to Dumfries chiefly because of its association +with Robert Burns, who spent the last years of his life in the town or +in its immediate vicinity. Our first pilgrimage was to the poet's tomb, +in St. Michael's churchyard. A splendid memorial marks the place, but a +visit to the small dingy house a few yards distant, in which he died, +painfully reminded us of his last years of distress and absolute want. +Within easy reach of Dumfries lie many points of interest, but as our +time permitted us to visit only one of these, we selected Caerlaverock +Castle, the Ellangowan of Scott's "Guy Mannering," lying about ten miles +to the south. In location and style of construction it is one of the +most remarkable of the Scotch ruins. It stands in an almost level +country near the coast and must have depended for defense on its +enormously thick walls and the great double moat which surrounded it, +rather than the strength of its position. The castle is built of +dark-brown stone, and the walls, rising directly from the waters of the +moat and covered with masses of ivy, are picturesque, though in a sad +state of disrepair. Bits of artistic carving and beautiful windows +showed that it was a palace as well as a fortress, though it seems +strange that the builder should select such a site. In common with most +British castles, it was finally destroyed by Cromwell, and the custodian +showed us a pile of cannon balls which he had gathered in the vicinity. +On one of the stones of the inner wall were the initials, "R.B.," and +the date, "1776," which our guide assured us were cut by Robert Burns; +and there are certain peculiarities about the monogram which leave +little doubt that it was the work of the poet. From the battlements of +the castle the old man pointed to a distant hill, where, he told us, the +home of the Carlyles had been for many years and where Thomas Carlyle, +who was born at Ecclefechan, lies buried. Within a few miles of Dumfries +is Ellisland Farm, where Robert Burns was a tenant for several years, +and many of his most famous poems were written during that period. And +besides, there were old abbeys and castles galore within easy reach; and +glad indeed we should have been had we been able to make the Station +Hotel our headquarters for a week and devote our time to exploring. But +we were already behind schedule and the afternoon found us on the road +to Ayr. + +A little more than half the distance from Dumfries to Ayr the road runs +through the Nith Valley, with river and forest scenery so charming as to +remind us of the Wye. The highway is a splendid one, with fine surface +and easy grades. It passes through an historic country, and the journey +would consume a long time if one should pause at every point that might +well repay a visit. A mile on the way is Lincluden Abbey, in whose +seclusion Burns wrote many of his poems, the most famous of which, "The +Vision of Liberty," begins with a reference to the ruin: + + "As I stood by yon roofless tower + Where wall flowers scent the dewy air, + Where the owlet lone in her ivy bower, + Tells to the midnight moon her care--" + +Ellisland Farm is only a few miles farther on the road, never to be +forgotten as the spot where "Tam-O'-Shanter" was written. The farm home +was built by Burns himself during what was probably the happiest period +of his life, and he wrote many verses that indicated his joyful +anticipation of life at Ellisland Farm. But alas, the "best laid plans +o' mice and men gang oft agley," and the personal experience of few men +has more strikingly proven the truth of the now famous lines than of +Robert Burns himself! Many old castles and magnificent mansions crown +the heights overlooking the river, but we caught only glimpses of some +of them, surrounded as they were by immense parks, closed to the public. +Every one of the older places underwent many and strange vicissitudes in +the long years of border warfare, and of them all, Drumlanrigh Castle, +founded in 1689, is perhaps the most imposing. For ten years its +builder, the first Earl of Queensbury, labored on the structure, only to +pass a single night in the completed building, never to revisit it, and +ending his days grieving over the fortune he had squandered on this +many-towered pile of gray stone. + +We may not loiter along the Nithdale road, rich as it is in traditions +and relics of the past. Our progress through such a beautiful country +had been slow at the best, and a circular sign-board, bearing the +admonition, "Ten Miles Per Hour," posted at each of the numerous +villages on the way, was another deterrent upon undue haste. The +impression that lingers with us of these small Scotch villages is not a +pleasant one. Rows of low, gray-stone, slate-roofed cottages straggling +along a single street--generally narrow and crooked and extending for +distances depending on the size of the place--made up the average +village. Utterly unrelieved by the artistic touches of the English +cottages and without the bright dashes of color from flowers and vines, +with square, harsh lines and drab coloring everywhere, these Scotch +villages seemed bleak and comfortless. Many of them we passed through on +this road, among them Sandquhar, with its castle, once a strong and +lordly fortress but now in a deplorable state of neglect and decay, and +Mauchline, where Burns farmed and sang before he removed to Dumfries. It +was like passing into another country when we entered Ayr, which, +despite its age and the hoary traditions which cluster around it, is an +up-to-date appearing seaport of about thirty thousand people. It is a +thriving business town with an unusually good electric street-car +system, fine hotels and (not to be forgotten by motorists) excellent +garages and repair shops. + +Ayr is one of the objective points of nearly every tourist who enters +Scotland. Its associations with Burns, his birthplace, Kirk Alloway, his +monument, the "Twa Brigs," the "Brig O' Doon," and the numerous other +places connected with his memory in Ayr and its vicinity, need not be +dwelt on here. An endless array of guide-books and other volumes will +give more information than the tourist can absorb and his motor car will +enable him to rapidly visit such places as he may choose. It will be of +little encumbrance to him, for he may leave the car standing at the +side of the street while he makes a tour of the haunts of Burns at +Alloway or elsewhere. + +It was a gloomy day when we left Ayr over the fine highway leading to +Glasgow, but before we had gone very far it began to rain steadily. We +passed through Kilmarnock, the largest city in Ayrshire. Here a splendid +memorial to Burns has been erected, and connected with it is a museum of +relics associated with the poet, as well as copies of various editions +of his works. This reminds one that the first volume of poems by Burns +was published at Kilmarnock, and in the cottage at Ayr we saw one of the +three existing copies, which had been purchased for the collection at an +even thousand pounds. + +We threaded our way carefully through Glasgow, for the rain, which was +coming down heavily, made the streets very slippery, and our car showed +more or less tendency to the dangerous "skid." Owing to former visits to +the city, we did not pause in Glasgow, though the fact is that no other +large city in Britain has less to interest the tourist. It is a great +commercial city, having gained in the last one hundred years three +quarters of a million inhabitants. Its public buildings, churches, and +other show-places--excepting the cathedral--lack the charm of antiquity. +After striking the Dumbarton road, exit from the city was easy, and for +a considerable distance we passed near the Clyde shipyards, the +greatest in the world, where many of the largest merchant and war +vessels have been constructed. Just as we entered Dumbarton, whose +castle loomed high on a rocky island opposite the town, the rain ceased +and the sky cleared with that changeful rapidity we noticed so often in +Britain. Certainly we were fortunate in having fine weather for the +remainder of the day, during which we passed perhaps as varied and +picturesque scenery as we found on our journey. + +[Illustration: THE PATH BY THE LOCH. + +From Photograph.] + +For the next thirty miles the road closely followed the west shore of +Loch Lomond, and for the larger part of the way we had a magnificent +panorama of the lake and the numberless green islands that rose out of +its silvery waters. Our view in places was cut off by the fine country +estates that lay immediately on the shores of the lake, but the grounds, +rich with shrubbery and bright with flowers, were hardly less pleasing +than the lake itself. These prevailed at the southern portion of the +lake only, and for at least twenty miles the road closely followed the +shore, leading around short turns on the very edges of steep embankments +or over an occasional sharp hill--conditions that made careful driving +necessary. Just across the lake, which gradually grew narrower as we +went north, lay the low Scotch mountains, their green outlines subdued +by a soft blue haze, but forming a striking background to the +ever-varying scenery of the lake and opposite shore. Near the +northern end on the farther side is the entrance to the Trosachs, made +famous by Scott's "Lady of the Lake." The roads to this region are +closed to motors--the only instance that I remember where public +highways were thus interdicted. The lake finally dwindled to a brawling +mountain stream, which we followed for several miles to Crianlarich, a +rude little village nestling at the foot of the rugged hills. From here +we ran due west to Oban, and for twenty miles of the distance the road +was the worst we saw in Scotland, being rough and covered with loose, +sharp stones that were ruinous to tires. It ran through a bleak, +unattractive country almost devoid of habitations and with little sign +of life excepting the flocks of sheep grazing on the short grasses that +covered the steep, stony hillsides. The latter half of the distance the +surroundings are widely different, an excellent though winding and +narrow road leading us through some of the finest scenes of the +Highlands. Especially pleasing was the ten-mile jaunt along the north +shore of Loch Awe, with the glimpses of Kilchurn Castle which we caught +through occasional openings in the thickly clustered trees on the shore. +Few ruins are more charmingly situated than Kilchurn, standing as it +does on a small island rising out of the clear waters--the crumbling +walls overgrown with ivy and wall-flowers. The last fifteen miles were +covered in record time for us, for it was growing exceedingly chilly as +the night began to fall and the Scotch July day was as fresh and sharp +as an American October. + +Oban is one of the most charming of the north of Scotland resort towns, +and is becoming one of the most popular. It is situated on a little +land-locked bay, generally white in summer time with the sails of +pleasure vessels. Directly fronting the town, just across the harbor, +are several ranges of hills fading away into the blue mists of the +distance and forming, together with the varying moods of sky and water, +a delightful picture. Overhanging the town from the east is the scanty +ruin of Dunollie Castle, little more than a shapeless pile of stone +covered over with masses of ivy. Viewed from the harbor, the town +presents a striking picture, and the most remarkable feature is the +great colosseum on the hill. This is known as McCaig's Tower and was +built by an eccentric citizen some years ago merely to give employment +to his fellow townsmen. One cannot get an adequate idea of the real +magnitude of the structure without climbing the steep hill and viewing +it from the inside. It is a circular tower, pierced by two rows of +windows, and is not less than three hundred feet in diameter, the wall +ranging in height from thirty to seventy-five feet from the ground. It +lends a most striking and unusual appearance to the town, but among +the natives it goes by the name of "McCaig's Folly." + +[Illustration: KILCHURN CASTLE, LOCH AWE.] + +From Oban as a center, numberless excursions may be made to old castles, +lakes of surpassing beauty and places of ancient and curious history. +None of the latter are more famous than the island of Iona, lying about +thirty-five miles distant and accessible by steamer two or three days of +each week in summer time. We never regretted that we abandoned the car a +day for the trip to this quaint spot and its small sister island, +Staffa, famed for Fingall's cave and the curious natural columns formed +by volcanic action. The round trip covers a distance of about +seventy-five miles and occupies eight or ten hours. Iona is a very small +island, with a population of no more than fifty, but it was a place of +importance in the early religious history of Scotland; and its odd +little cathedral, which is now in ruins--except the nave, but recently +restored--was originally built in the Eleventh Century. Weird and +strange indeed is the array of memorials rudely cut from Scotch granite +that mark the resting places of the chiefs of many forgotten clans, +while a much higher degree of art is shown in the regular and even +delicate designs traced on the numerous old crosses still standing. In +olden days Iona was counted sacred ground after the landing of St. +Columba in 563, and its fame even extended to Sweden and Denmark, whose +kings at one time were brought here for interment. We were fortunate in +having a fine day, the sky being clear and the sea perfectly smooth. We +were thus enabled to make landing at both isles, a thing that is often +impossible on account of the weather. This circular trip--for the return +is made by the Sound of Mull--is a remarkably beautiful one, the steamer +winding in and out through the straits among the islands and between +shores wild and broken, though always picturesque and often impressive. +Many of the hills are crowned with ruined fortresses and occasionally an +imposing modern summer residence is to be seen. Competent judges declare +that provided the weather is fine no more delightful short excursion by +steamer can be made on the British coast than the one just described. +Three miles from Oban lies Dunstafnage Castle, a royal residence of the +Pictish kings, bearing the marks of extreme antiquity. It occupies a +commanding position on a point of land extending far into the sea and +almost surrounded by water at high tide. We visited it in the fading +twilight, and a lonelier, more ghostly place it would be hard to +imagine. From this old castle was taken the stone of destiny upon which +the Pictish kings were crowned, but which is now the support of the +coronation chair in Westminster Abbey. A place so rich in romantic +legend could not be expected to escape the knowledge of the Wizard of +the North and Scott made more than one visit to this solitary ruin. As a +result the story of Dunstafnage has been woven into the "Legend of +Montrose" as "Ardenvohr" and the description may be easily recognized by +any one who visits the old castle. + +Oban is modern, a place of many and excellent hotels fronting on the +bay. So far, only a small per cent of its visitors are Americans, and +the indifferent roads leading to the town discourage the motorist. Had +we adhered to the route outlined for us by the Motor Union Secretary, we +should have missed it altogether. We had made a stop in the town two +years before, and yet there are few places in Britain that we would +rather visit a third time than Oban. + + + + +X + +THROUGH HISTORIC SCOTLAND + + +The north of Scotland is rapidly becoming little more than a +pleasure-ground for the people of the Kingdom, and its attractions are +yearly drawing a larger number of Americans. There are practically no +European visitors, but that is largely true of the entire Kingdom. The +people of the Continent consider Britain a chilly, unattractive land. +Its historic and literary traditions, so dear to the average American, +who holds a common language, do not appeal to those who think their own +countries superior to any other in these particulars. + +It is only a natural consequence that Scotland, outside of the three or +four largest cities, is becoming, like Switzerland, a nation of +hotelkeepers--and very excellent ones they are. The Scotch hotels +average as good as any in the world. One finds them everywhere in the +Highlands. Every lake, every ruin frequented by tourists has its hotel, +many of them fine structures of native granite, substantially built and +splendidly furnished. + +We left Oban over the route by which we came, since no other was +recommended to motorists. Our original plan to follow the Caledonian +Canal to Inverness was abandoned on account of difficult roads and +numerous ferries with poor and infrequent service. After waiting three +hours to get an "accumulator" which had been turned over to a local +repair man thirty-six hours before with instructions to have it charged +and returned promptly, we finally succeeded in getting off. This delay +is an example of those which we encountered again and again from failure +to get prompt service, especially when we were making an effort to get +away before ten or eleven in the morning. + +It was no hardship to follow more leisurely than before the road past +Loch Awe, whose sheet of limpid water lay like a mirror around Kilchurn +Castle under the cloudless, noonday sky. A little farther on, at +Dalmally, we paused at a pleasant old country hotel, where the delicious +Scotch strawberries were served fresh from the garden. It was a quaint, +clean, quiet place, and the landlord told us that aside from the old +castles and fine scenery in the vicinity, its chief attraction to guests +was trout-fishing in neighboring streams. We were two days in passing +through the heart of the Highlands from Oban to Inverness over about two +hundred miles of excellent road running through wild and often beautiful +scenery, but there were few historic spots as compared with the coast +country. The road usually followed the edge of the hills, often with a +lake or mountain stream on one hand. From Crianlarich we followed the +sparkling Dochart until we reached the shore of Loch Tay, about twenty +miles distant. From the mountainside we had an unobstructed view of this +narrow but lovely lake, lying for a distance of twenty miles between +ridges of sharply rising hills. White, low-hung clouds half hid the +mountains on the opposite side of the loch, giving the delightful effect +of light and shadow for which the Scotch Highlands are famous and which +the pictures of Watson, Graham and Farquharson have made familiar to +nearly everyone. + +At the northern end of the lake we caught distant glimpses of the +battlemented towers of Taymouth Castle, home of the Marquis of +Breadalbane, which, though modern, is one of the most imposing of the +Scotch country seats. If the castle itself is imposing, what shall we +say of the estate, extending as it does westward to the Sound of Mull, a +distance of one hundred miles--a striking example of the inequalities of +the feudal system. Just before we crossed the bridge over the Tay River +near the outlet of the lake, we noticed a gray old mansion with many +Gothic towers and gables, Grandtully Castle, made famous by Scott as the +Tully-Veolan of Waverly. Near by is Kinniard House, where Robert Louis +Stevenson wrote "Treasure Island." + +A few miles farther on we came to Pitlochry, a surprisingly well built +resort with excellent hotels and a mammoth "Hydropathic" that dominates +the place from a high hill. The town is situated in the very center of +the Highlands, surrounded by hills that supply the gray granite used in +its construction; and here we broke our journey for the night. + +Our way to Inverness was through a sparsely inhabited, wildly broken +country, with half a dozen mean-looking villages at considerable +distances from each other and an occasional hut or wayside inn between. +Although it was July and quite warm for the north of Scotland, the snow +still lingered on many of the low mountains, and in some places it +seemed that we might reach it by a few minutes' walk. There was little +along the road to remind one of the stirring times or the plaided and +kilted Highlander that Scott has led us to associate with this country. +We saw one old man, the keeper of a little solitary inn in the very +heart of the hills, arrayed in the full glory of the old-time +garb--plaid, tartan, sporran and skene-dhu, all set off by the plumed +Glengarry cap--a picturesque old fellow indeed. And we met farther on +the way a dirty-looking youth with his bagpipes slung over his +shoulder--in dilapidated modern garb he was anything but a fit +descendant of the minstrels whose fame has come down to us in song and +story. Still, he was glad to play for us, and despite his general +resemblance to an every-day American tramp, it was something to have +heard the skirl of the bag-pipe in the Pass of Killiekrankie. And after +all, the hills, the vales and the lochs were there, and everywhere on +the low green mountains grazed endless flocks of sheep. They lay +leisurely in the roadway or often trotted unconcernedly in front of the +car, occasioning at times a speed limit even more unsatisfactory than +that imposed in the more populous centers by the police traps. +Incidentally we learned that the finest sheep in the world--and vast +numbers of them--are produced in Great Britain. When we compare them +with the class of animals raised in America it is easy to see why our +wool and mutton average so greatly inferior. + +[Illustration: IN THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS. + +From Painting by D. Sherrin.] + +A clean, quiet, charming city is Inverness, "the capital of the +Highlands," as the guide-books have it. It is situated on both shores of +its broad, sparkling river--so shallow that the small boys with +turned-up pantaloons wade across it in summer time--while an arm of the +sea defines the boundary on the northeast. Though tradition has it that +Macbeth built a castle on the site of the present structure, it +disappeared centuries ago, and there is now little evidence of antiquity +to be found in the town. The modern castle is a massive, rambling, +brown-stone building less than a hundred years old, now serving as a +county court. The cathedral is recent, having been completed in the last +quarter of a century. It is an imposing church of red stone, the great +entrance being flanked by low, square-topped towers. As a center for +tourists, Inverness is increasingly popular and motor cars are very +common. The roads of the surrounding country are generally excellent, +and a trip of two hundred miles will take one to John O'Groats, the +extreme northern point of Scotland. The country around has many spots of +interest. Cawdor Castle, where tradition says Macbeth murdered Duncan, +is on the Nairn road, and on the way to this one may also visit Culloden +Moor, a grim, shelterless waste, where the adherents of Prince Charlie +were defeated April 16th, 1746. This was the last battle fought on +British soil, and the site is marked by a rude round tower built from +stones gathered from the battlefield. + +From Inverness an unsurpassed highway leads to Aberdeen, a distance of a +little over one hundred miles. It passes through a beautiful country, +the northeastern Scottish Lowlands, which looked as prosperous and +productive as any section we saw. The smaller towns appeared much better +than the average we had so far seen in Scotland; Nairn, Huntly, Forres, +Keith and Elgin more resembling the better English towns of similar size +than Scotch towns which we had previously passed through. At Elgin are +the ruins of its once splendid cathedral, which in its best days easily +ranked as the largest and most imposing church in Scotland. Time has +dealt hardly with it, and the shattered fragments which remain are only +enough to confirm the story of its magnificence. Fire, and vandals who +tore the lead from the roof for loot having done their worst, the +cathedral served the unsentimental Scots of the vicinity as a +stone-quarry until recent years, but it is now owned by the crown and +every precaution taken to arrest further decay. + +The skies were lowering when we left Inverness and the latter half of +the journey was made in the hardest rainstorm we encountered on our +tour. We could not see ten yards ahead of us and the water poured down +the hills in torrents, yet our car ran smoothly on, the fine macadam +road being little affected by the deluge. The heavy rain ceased by the +time we reached Inverurie, a gray, bleak-looking little town, closely +following a winding street, but the view from the high bridge which we +crossed just on leaving the place made full amends for the general +ugliness of the village. + +[Illustration: TOWERS OF ELGIN CATHEDRAL, NORTH SCOTLAND.] + +It would be hard to find anywhere a more beautiful city than Aberdeen, +with her clean, massively built structures of native gray granite, +thickly sprinkled with mica facets that make it fairly glitter in the +sunlight. Everything seems to have been planned by the architect to +produce the most pleasing effect, and careful note must have been taken +of surroundings and location in fitting many of the public buildings +into their niches. We saw few more imposing structures in Britain than +the new postoffice at Aberdeen, and it was typical of the solidity and +architectural magnificence of the Queen City of the North. But Aberdeen +will be on the route of any tourist who goes to Northern Scotland, so I +will not write of it here. It is a great motoring center, with finely +built and well equipped garages. + +As originally planned we were to go southward from Aberdeen by the way +of Braemar and Balmoral in the very heart of the Highland country--the +route usually followed by British motorists. It passes through wild +scenery, but the country has few historic attractions. The Motor Union +representative had remarked that we should probably want to spend +several days at Braemar, famous for its scenic surroundings--the wild +and picturesque dales, lakes and hills near at hand; but to Americans, +from the country of the Yellowstone and Yosemite, the scenery of +Scotland can be only an incident in a tour. From this consideration, we +preferred to take the coast road southward, which, though it passes +through a comparatively tame-looking country, is thickly strewn with +places replete with stirring and romantic incidents of Scottish +history. Nor had we any cause to regret our choice. + +Fifteen miles south of Aberdeen we came in sight of Dunnottar Castle, +lying about two miles from the highway. We left the car by the roadside +and followed the footpath through the fields. The ruin stands on a high, +precipitous headland projecting far out into the ocean and cut off from +the land side by a deep, irregular ravine, and the descent and ascent of +the almost perpendicular sides was anything but an easy task. A single +winding footpath leads to the grim old gateway, and we rang the bell +many times before the custodian admitted us. Inside the gate the steep +ascent continues through a rude, tunnellike passageway, its sides for a +distance of one hundred feet or more pierced with many an embrasure for +archers or musketeers. Emerging from this we came into the castle court, +the center of the small plateau on the summit of the rock. Around us +rose the broken, straggling walls, bare and bleak, without a shred of +ivy or wall-flower to hide their grim nakedness. The place was typical +of a rude, semi-barbarous age, an age of rapine, murder and ferocious +cruelty, and its story is as terrific as one would anticipate from its +forbidding aspect. Here it was the wont of robber barons to retire with +their prisoners and loot; and later, on account of the inaccessibility, +state and political prisoners were confined here from time to time. +In the frightful "Whig's Vault," a semi-subterranean dungeon, one +hundred and sixty covenanters--men and women--were for several months +confined by orders of the infamous Claverhouse. A single tiny window +looking out on the desolate ocean furnished the sole light and air for +the great cavern, and the story of the suffering of the captives is too +dreadful to tell here. The vault was ankle deep in mire and so crowded +were the prisoners that no one could sit without leaning upon another. +In desperation and at great risk, a few attempted to escape from the +window, whence they clambered down the precipitous rock; but most of +them were re-taken, and after frightful tortures were thrown into a +second dungeon underneath the first, where light and air were almost +wholly excluded. Such was Scotland in the reign of Charles Stuart II, +and such a story seemed in keeping with the vast, dismal old fortress. + +[Illustration: DUNNOTTAR CASTLE, STONEHAVEN, NEAR ABERDEEN.] + +But Dunnottar, secluded and lonely as it was, did not escape the +far-reaching arm of the Lord Protector, and in 1562 his cannon, planted +on the height opposite the headland, soon brought the garrison to terms. +It was known that the Scottish regalia--the crown believed to be the +identical one worn by Bruce at his coronation, the jewelled scepter and +the sword of state presented to James IV by the pope--had been taken for +safety to Dunnottar, held in repute as the most impregnable stronghold +in the North. The English maintained a close blockade by sea and land +and were in strong hopes of securing the coveted relics. The story is +that Mrs. Granger, the wife of a minister of a nearby village, who had +been allowed by the English to visit the castle, on her departure +carried the relics with her, concealed about her clothing. She passed +through the English lines without interference, and the precious +articles were safely disposed of by her husband, who buried them under +the flagstones in his church at Kinneff, where they remained until the +restoration of 1660. The English were intensely disappointed at the +loss. The minister and his wife did not escape suspicion and were even +subjected to torture, but they bravely refused to give information as to +the whereabouts of the regalia. + +We wandered about, following our rheumatic old guide, who pointed out +the different apartments to us and, in Scotch so broad that we had to +follow him very closely, told us the story of the fortress. From the +windows everywhere was the placid, shimmering summer sea, its surface +broken into silvery ripples by the fresh morning wind, but it was left +to the imagination to conceive the awful desolation of Dunnottar Castle +on a gray and stormy day. The old man conducted us to the keep, and I +looked over a year's record in the visitors' book without finding a +single American registered, and was more than ever impressed as to the +manner in which the motor car will often bring the tourist from the +States into a comparatively undiscovered country. The high tower of the +keep, several hundred feet above the sea, afforded scope for a most +magnificent outlook. One could get a full sweep of the bleak and sterile +country through which we had passed, lying between Aberdeen and +Stonehaven, and which Scott celebrated as the Muir of Drumthwacket. It +was with a feeling of relief that we passed out of the forbidding +portals into the fresh air of the pleasant July day, leaving the old +custodian richer by a few shillings, to wonder that the "American +Invasion" had reached this secluded old fortress on the wild headland +washed by the German Ocean. + +From Stonehaven we passed without special incident to Montrose, +following an excellent but rather uninteresting road, though an +occasional fishing-village and frequent view of the ocean broke the +monotony of the flying miles. Montrose is an ancient town delightfully +situated between the ocean and a great basin connected with the sea by a +broad strait, over which a suspension bridge five hundred feet long +carried us southward. I recall that it was at Montrose where an obliging +garage man loaned me an "accumulator"--my batteries had been giving +trouble--scouting the idea of a deposit, and I gave him no more than my +agreement to return his property when I reached Edinburgh. + +At Arbroath are the ruins of the most extensive of the Scotch abbeys, +scanty indeed, but still enough to show its state and importance in the +"days of faith." Here once reigned the good abbott celebrated by Southey +in his ballad of Ralph the Rover, familiar to every schoolboy. Ten miles +off the coast is the reef where + + "The abbott of Aberbrothok + Had placed a bell on the Inchcape rock. + Like a buoy in the storm it floated and swung, + And over the waves its warning rung." + +And where the pirate, out of pure malice, "To vex the abbott of +Aberbrothok," cut the bell from its buoy only to be lost himself on the +reef a year later. The abbey was founded by William the Lion in 1178, +but war, fire and fanaticism have left it sadly fragmentary. Now it is +the charge of the town, but the elements continue to war upon it and the +brittle red sandstone of which it is built shows deeply the wear of the +sea wind. + +Dundee, no longer the "Bonnie Dundee" of the old ballad, is a great +straggling manufacturing city, whose ancient landmarks have been almost +swept away. Its churches are modern, its one remaining gateway of +doubtful antiquity, and there is little in the city itself to detain the +tourist. If its points of interest are too few to warrant a stay, its +hotels--should the one given in the guide-book and also locally reputed +to be the best, really merit this distinction--will hardly prove an +attraction. It is a large, six-story building, fairly good-looking from +the outside, but inside dirty and dilapidated, with ill-furnished and +uncomfortable rooms. When we inquired of the manageress as to what might +be of especial interest in Dundee, she considered awhile and finally +suggested--the cemetery. From our hotel window we had a fine view of the +broad estuary of the Tay with its great bridge, said to be the longest +in the world. It recalled the previous Tay bridge, which fell in a storm +in 1879, carrying down a train, from which not a single one of the +seventy or more passengers escaped. Around Dundee is crowded much of +historic Scotland, and many excursions worth the while may be made from +the city by those whose time permits. + +From Dundee an excellent road leads to Stirling by the way of Perth. +There is no more beautiful section in Scotland than this, though its +beauty is not the rugged scenery of the Highlands. Low hills, rising +above the wooded valleys, with clear streams winding through them; +unusually prosperous-looking farm-houses; and frequent historic ruins +and places--all combine to make the forty or fifty miles a delightful +drive. We did not pause at Perth, a city with a long line of +traditions, nor at Dunblane, with its severely plain cathedral founded +in 1100 but recently restored. + +Stirling, the ancient capital, with its famous castle, its memories of +early kings, of Wallace, Bruce and of Mary Stuart, and with its +wonderfully beautiful and historic surroundings, is perhaps the most +interesting town of Scotland. No one who pretends to see Scotland will +miss it, and no motor tour worthy of the name could be planned that +would not lead through the quaint old streets. From afar one catches a +glimpse of the castle, perched, like that of Edinburgh, on a mighty +rock, rising almost sheer from a delightfully diversified plain. It is a +many-towered structure, piercing the blue sky and surrounded by an air +of sullen inaccessibility, while the red-cross flag flying above it +proclaims it a station of the king's army. It is not by any means the +castle of the days of Bruce and Wallace, having been rebuilt and adapted +to the purpose of military barracks. True, many of the ancient portions +remain, but the long, laborious climb to the summit of the rock and the +battlements of the castle will, if the day be fine, be better repaid by +the magnificent prospect than by anything else. If the barrack castle is +a little disappointing, the wide sweep of country fading away into the +blue mountains on the west---Ben Venue, Ben Ledi and Ben Lomond of "The +Lady of the Lake"--eastward the rich lowlands, running for miles and +miles down the fertile valley of the Forth, dotted with many towns and +villages; the wooded hills to the north with the massive tower of the +Wallace monument and the dim outlines of the ruins of Cambuskenneth +Abbey; or, near at hand, the old town under your very eye and the +historic field of Bannockburn just adjoining, will make ample amends. +The story of "The Lady of the Lake" pictures Stirling in its palmiest +days, and no one who visits the castle will forget the brilliant closing +scene of the poem. Here too, + + "The rose of Stuart's line + Has left the fragrance of her name," + +for Mary was hurried for safety to the castle a few days after her birth +at Linlithgow Palace, and as a mere baby was crowned Queen of Scotland +in the chapel. The parish church was also the scene of many coronations, +and in the case of James VI, later James I of England, John Knox +preached the sermon. + +One cannot go far in Scotland without crossing the path of Prince +Charlie or standing in the shadow of some ancient building associated +with the melancholy memory of Queen Mary, and, despite the unquestioned +loyalty of the Scottish people to the present government, there seems to +linger everywhere a spirit of regret over the failure of the chevalier +to regain the throne of his fathers. Perhaps it is scarcely +expressed--only some word dropped in casual conversation, some flash of +pride as you are pointed to the spots where Prince Charlie's triumphs +were won, or some thinly veiled sentiment in local guide-books will make +it clear to you that Scotland still cherishes the memory of the prince +for whom her fathers suffered so much. Passing Falkirk, now a large +manufacturing town, dingy with the smoke from its great furnaces, we +were reminded that near here in 1746 the prince gained one of his most +decisive victories, the precursor of the capture of Edinburgh by his +army. A few miles farther on is Linlithgow with its famous palace, the +birthplace of the Queen of Scots. This more accords with our idea of a +royal residence than the fortified castles, for it evidently was never +intended as a defensive fortress. It stands on the margin of a lovely +lake, and considering its delightful situation and its comparative +comfort, it is not strange that it was a favorite residence of the +Scottish kings. It owes its dismantled condition to the wanton spite of +the English dragoons, who, when they retreated from Linlithgow in face +of the Highland army in 1746, left the palace in flames. + +From Linlithgow the broad highway led us directly into Edinburgh by the +way of Princess Street. + + + + +XI + +FROM EDINBURGH TO YORKSHIRE + + +Two men above all others and everything else are responsible for the +romantic fame which the bleak and largely barren Land of Scots enjoys +the English-speaking world over. If Robert Burns and Walter Scott had +never told the tales and sung the songs of their native land, no endless +streams of pilgrims would pour to its shrines and its history and +traditions would be vastly second in interest to those of England and +Wales. But the Wizard of the North touched Scotia's rough hills with the +rosy hues of his romance. He threw the glamour of his story around its +crumbling ruins. Through the magic of his facile pen, its petty chiefs +and marauding nobles assumed heroic mould and its kings and +queens--rulers over a mere handful of turbulent people--were awakened +into a majestic reality. Who would care aught for Prince Charlie or his +horde of beggarly Highlanders were it not for the song of Burns and the +story of Scott? Nor would the melancholy fate of Queen Mary have been +brought so vividly before the world--but wherefore multiply instances to +illustrate an admitted fact? + +In Edinburgh we were near the center from which Scott's vast influences +radiated. The traditions of Burns overshadowed Southwestern Scotland and +the memories of Scott seem to be indentified with the cities, the +villages, the solitary ruins, the hills and vales of the eastern coast. +We note as we pass along Princess Street, one of the finest +thoroughfares in Britain, the magnificent monument to the great +author--the most majestic tribute ever erected to a literary man--a +graceful Gothic spire, towering two hundred feet into the sky. The city +is full of his memories. Here are many of the places he celebrated in +his stories, his haunts for years, and the house where he retired after +financial disaster to face a self-chosen battle with a gigantic debt +which he might easily have evaded by a mere figment of the law. + +However, one can hardly afford to take from a motor tour the time which +should rightly be given to Edinburgh, for the many attractions of the +Athens of the North might well occupy a solid week. Fortunately, a +previous visit by rail two years before had solved the problem for us +and we were fairly familiar with the more salient features of the city. +There is one side-trip that no one should miss, and though we had once +journeyed by railway train to Melrose Abbey and Abbottsford House, we +could not forego a second visit to these famous shrines and to Dryburgh +Abbey, which we had missed before. Thus again we had the opportunity of +contrasting the motor car and the railway train. I remembered distinctly +our former trip to Melrose by rail. It was on a Saturday afternoon +holiday when crowds of trippers were leaving the city, packed in the +uncomfortable compartments like sardines in a box--not one in a dozen +having a chance to sit. We were driven from Melrose to Abbottsford House +at a snail's pace, consuming so much time that a trip to Dryburgh Abbey +was out of the question, though we had left Edinburgh about noon. By +motor, we were out of the city about three o'clock, and though we +covered more than eighty miles, we were back before lamp-lighting time. +The road to Dryburgh Abbey runs nearly due south from Edinburgh, and the +country through which we passed was hardly so prosperous looking as the +northeastern section of Scotland--much of it rather rough-looking +country, adapted only for sheep-grazing and appearing as if it might be +reclaimed moorland. + +The tomb of Walter Scott is in Dryburgh Abbey, and with the possible +exception of Melrose it probably has more visitors than any other point +in Scotland outside of Edinburgh. The tourist season had hardly begun, +yet the caretaker told us that more than seventy people had been there +during the day and most of them were Americans. The abbey lies on the +margin of the River Tweed, the silver stream so beloved of Scott, and +though sadly fragmentary, is most religiously cared for and the decay of +time and weather held in check by constant repairs and restoration. The +many thousands of admission fees every year no doubt form a fund which +will keep this good work going indefinitely. The weather-beaten walls +and arches were overgrown with masses of ivy and the thick, green grass +of the newly mown lawn spread beneath like a velvet carpet. We had +reached the ruin so late that it was quite deserted, and we felt the +spirit of the place all the more as we wandered about in the evening +silence. Scott's tomb, that of his wife and their eldest son are in one +of the chapels whose vaulted roof still remains in position. Tall iron +gates between the arches enclose the graves, which are marked with +massive sarcophagi of Scotch granite. Dryburgh Abbey was at one time the +property of the Scott family, which accounts for its use as their +burial-ground. It has passed into other hands, but interments are still +made on rare occasions. The spot was one which always interested and +delighted Scott and it was his expressed wish that he be buried there. + +We had been warned that the byways leading to the abbey from the north +of the Tweed were not very practicable for motors and we therefore +approached it from the other side. This made it necessary to cross the +river on a flimsy suspension bridge for foot-passengers only, and a +notice at each end peremptorily forbade that more than half a dozen +people pass over the bridge at one time. After crossing the river it was +a walk of more than a mile to the abbey, and as we were tempted to +linger rather long it was well after six o'clock when we re-crossed the +river and resumed our journey. Melrose is twelve miles farther on and +the road crosses a series of rather sharp hills. We paused for a second +glimpse of Melrose Abbey, which has frequently been styled the most +perfect and beautiful ecclesiastical ruin in Britain. We were of the +opinion, however, that we had seen at least three or four others more +extensive and of greater architectural merit. Undoubtedly the high +praise given Melrose is due to the fame which it acquired from the poems +and stories of Scott. The thousands of pilgrims who come every year are +attracted by this alone, since the abbey had no extraordinary history +and no tomb of king or hero is to be found in its precincts. Were it not +for the weird interest which the "Lay of the Last Minstrel" has thrown +around Melrose, its fame would probably be no greater than that of the +abbeys of Jedburgh and Kelso in the same neighborhood. Abbottsford House +is only three miles from Melrose, but it is closed to visitors after +five o'clock and we missed a second visit, which we should have liked +very much. Upon such things the motorist must fully inform himself or +he is liable to many disappointments by reaching his objective point at +the wrong time. + +We returned to Edinburgh by the way of Galashiels, a manufacturing town +of considerable size that lay in a deep valley far below the road which +we were following along the edges of the wooded hills. This road +abounded in dangerous turns and caution was necessary when rounding +sharp curves that, in places, almost described a circle. We had a clear +right-of-way, however, and reached Edinburgh before nine o'clock. A +delightful feature of summer touring in Britain is the long evening, +which is often the pleasantest time for traveling. The highways are +usually quite deserted and the mellow effect of the sunsets and the long +twilights often lend an additional charm to the landscapes. In the +months of July and August in Scotland daylight does not begin to fade +away until from nine to ten, and in northern sections the dawn begins as +early as two or three o'clock. During our entire tour we found it +necessary to light our lamps only two or three times, although we were +often on the road after nine o'clock. Though Edinburgh has unusually +broad and well paved streets, it is a trying place for a motorist. The +people make little effort to keep to the sidewalk, but let the fellow +who is driving the car do the looking out for them. In no city through +which we passed did I find greater care necessary. Despite all this, +accidents are rare, owing to the fact that drivers of motor cars in +Great Britain have had the lesson of carefulness impressed upon them by +strict and prompt enforcement of police regulations. + +We left Edinburgh the next forenoon with a view of making +Berwick-on-Tweed our stopping place for the evening--not a long distance +in miles but a considerable one measured in spots of historical +importance. The road much of the way skirts the ocean and is a +magnificent highway leading through a number of quaint towns famous in +Scotch song and story. Numerous battlefields are scattered along the +way, but we found it difficult to locate a battlefield when we passed +it, and generally quit trying. In fact, in the days of border warfare +the whole south of Scotland was the scene of almost continuous strife, +and battles of greater or less importance were fought everywhere with +the English in the centuries of fierce hatred which existed between the +two nations. The Scots held their own wonderfully well, considering +their greatly inferior numbers and the general poverty of their country. +The union, after all, was brought about not by conquest but by a Scotch +king going to London to assume the crown of the two kingdoms. The famous +old town of Berwick-on-Tweed bore the brunt of the incursions from both +sides on the eastern coast, as did Carlisle on the west. The town of +Dunbar, situated on the coast about midway between Edinburgh and +Berwick, was of great importance in border history. It had an extensive +and strongly fortified castle, situated on the margin of a cliff +overhanging the ocean, and which was for a time the residence of Queen +Mary after her marriage with Darnley. Nothing now remains of this great +structure save a few crumbling walls of red sandstone, which are +carefully propped up and kept in the best possible repair by the +citizens, who have at last come to realize the cash value of such a +ruin. If such a realization had only come a hundred years ago, a great +service would have been done the historian and the antiquarian. But this +is no less true of a thousand other towns than of Dunbar. No quainter +edifice did we see in all Britain than Dunbar's Fifteenth Century town +hall. It seemed more characteristic of an old German town than of +Scotland. This odd old building is still the seat of the city +government. + +[Illustration: TOWN HOUSE, DUNBAR, SCOTLAND.] + +Our route from Dunbar ran for a long way between the hills of Lammermoor +and the ocean and abounded in delightful and striking scenery. We were +forcibly reminded of Scott's mournful story, "The Bride of Lammermoor," +as we passed among the familiar scenes mentioned in the book, and it was +the influence of this romantic tale that led us from the main road into +narrow byways and sleepy little coast towns innocent of modern +progress and undisturbed by the rattle of railways trains. No great +distance from Berwick and directly on the ocean stands Fast Castle, said +to be the prototype of the Wolf's Crag of "Lammermoor." This wild story +had always interested me in my boyhood days and for years I had dreamed +of the possibility of some time seeing the supposed retreat of the +melancholy Master of Ravenswood. We had great difficulty in locating the +castle, none of the people seeming to know anything about it, and we +wandered many miles among the hills through narrow, unmarked byways, +with little idea of where we were really going. At last, after dint of +inquiry, we came upon a group of houses which we were informed were the +headquarters of a large farm of about two thousand acres, and +practically all the people who worked on the farm lived, with their +families, in these houses. The superintendent knew of Fast Castle, which +he said was in a lonely and inaccessible spot, situated on a high, +broken headland overlooking the ocean. It was two or three miles distant +and the road would hardly admit of taking the car any farther. He did +not think the ruin was worth going to see, anyhow; it had been cared for +by no one and within his memory the walls had fallen in and crumbled +away. Either his remarks or the few miles walk discouraged me, and after +having traveled fully thirty miles to find this castle, I turned about +and went on without going to the place at all, and of course I now +regret it as much as anything I failed to do on our whole tour. I shall +have to go to Fast Castle yet--by motor car. + +After regaining the main road, it was only a short run along the edge of +the ocean to Berwick-on-Tweed, which we reached early in the evening. I +recall no more delightful day during our tour. It had been fresh and +cool, and the sky was perfectly clear. For a great part of the way the +road had passed within view of the ocean, whose deep unruffled blue, +entirely unobscured by the mists which so often hang over the northern +seas, stretched away until it was lost in the pale, sapphire hues of the +skies. The country itself was fresh and bright after abundant rains, and +as haymaking was in progress in many places along the road, the air was +laden with the scent of the newly mown grasses. Altogether, it was a day +long to be remembered. + +Berwick-on-Tweed lies partly in England and partly in Scotland, the +river which runs through it forming the boundary line. An odd bridge +built by James I connects the two parts of the town, the highest point +of its archway being nearest the Scottish shore and giving the effect of +"having its middle at one end," as some Scotch wit has expressed it. The +town was once strongly fortified, especially on the Scottish side, and +a castle was built on a hill commanding the place. Traces of the wall +surrounding the older part of the city still remain; it is easy to +follow it throughout its entire course. When the long years of border +warfare ended, a century and a half ago, the town inside of the wall +must have appeared much the same as it does today. It is a town of +crooked streets and quaint buildings, set down without the slightest +reference to the points of the compass. The site of the castle is +occupied by the railway station, though a few crumbling walls of the +former structure still remain. The station itself is now called The +Castle and reproduces on a smaller scale some of the architectural +features of the ancient fortress. + +We started southward from Berwick the following morning over the fine +road leading through Northumberland. About ten miles off this road, and +reached by narrow byways, is the pleasant little seacoast village of +Bamborough, and the fame of its castle tempted us to visit it. I had +often wondered why some of the old-time castles were not restored to +their pristine magnificence--what we should have if Kenilworth or Raglan +were re-built and to their ancient glory there were added all the modern +conveniences for comfort. I found in Bamborough Castle a case exactly to +the point. Lord Armstrong, the millionaire shipbuilder, had purchased +this castle--almost a complete ruin--and when he began restoration only +the Norman tower of the keep was intact; and besides this there was +little except the foundation walls. Lord Armstrong entirely rebuilt the +castle, following the original plan and designs, and the result is one +of the most striking and pleasing of the palatial residences in England. +The situation, on a high headland extending into the ocean, commands a +view in every direction and completely dominates the sleepy little +village lying just beneath. The castle is of great antiquity, the +records showing that a fortress had been built on this side in the Fifth +Century by Ida, King of Northumberland, though the present building +largely reproduces the features of the one founded in the time of the +Conqueror. + +[Illustration: BAMBOROUGH CASTLE, NORTHUMBERLAND.] + +Lord Armstrong died the year before the work on the castle was completed +and it passed into the hands of his nephew. It is open to visitors only +one day in the week, and it happened, as usual, that we had arrived on +the wrong day. Fortunately, the family were absent, and our plea that we +were Americans who had come a long distance to see the place was quite +as effective here as in other cases. The housekeeper showed us the +palace in detail that we could hardly have hoped for under other +circumstances. The interior is fitted in the richest and most +magnificent style, and I have never seen the natural beauties of +woodwork brought out with better effect. How closely the old-time +construction was followed in the restoration is shown by the fact that +the great open roof of the banqueting hall is put together with wooden +pins, no nail having been used. The castle has every modern convenience, +even hot-water heating--a rare thing in England--being installed. When +we saw what an excellent result had been attained in the restoration, we +could not but wonder that such a thing has not oftener been done. In the +village churchyard is the massive gray granite monument erected to the +memory of Grace Darling, who lived and died in Bamborough, and a brass +tablet in the ancient church is inscribed with the record of her +heroism. The lighthouse which was kept by her father is just off +Bamborough Head, and it was from this, in the face of a raging storm, +that she launched her frail boat and saved several people from a +foundering ship. Only four years later she succumbed to consumption, but +her unparalleled bravery has made the name of this young girl a +household word wherever the English language is spoken. + +On leaving Bamborough we came as nearly getting lost in the narrow, +winding byways as at any time during our tour. A bridge under repair on +the direct route to the main road compelled us to resort to byways which +were unmarked by signboards and in as ill condition as many American +roads. Nor could the people of whom we inquired give us intelligent +direction. We finally reached the road again after a loss of an hour or +more. + +A short time afterwards we came to Alnwick, whose castle is one of the +most extensive and complete specimens of mediaeval architecture in +England. In the last century it has been largely restored, following out +the original design of the exterior, at least, and is now the residence +of the Duke of Northumberland. Usually it is open to visitors, but in +the confusion that followed the visit of the king the day before, the +castle and its great park had been closed until the next week. We had +seen the interior of so many similar places that this was not so much of +a disappointment, especially as we had a splendid view of the old +fortress from the outside and also from the courtyard. On the +battlements of this castle are numerous stone figures of men in the act +of hurling down missiles on the heads of foes who might besiege it. This +was quite common in early days and feudal barons perhaps thought to make +up for their shortage of real men by placing these effigies on the walls +of their fortresses, but Alnwick is the only castle on which the figures +still remain. The town itself was still in holiday attire in honor of +its royal guest of the preceding day. The buildings were covered with +the national colors and many decorations and illuminations had been +planned to celebrate the occasion. Alnwick is one of the most typical +of the English feudal towns. It is owned largely by the Duke of +Northumberland, who appears to be popular with his tenantry, the latter +having erected, in honor of their noble landlord, a lofty column +surmounted by the figure of a lion. Every view from the distance for +miles around is dominated by the battlemented and many-towered walls of +the castle, which surmounts a hill overlooking the town. The story of +Alnwick and its castle would be long to tell, for they bore the brunt of +many Scotch incursions and suffered much at the hands of the fierce +marauders from the north. + +Our afternoon's run led us from Alnwick to Durham, passing through +Newcastle-on-Tyne. Newcastle is a large commercial city, famous for its +mining and shipbuilding industries, and has but little to engage the +attention of the tourist. Our pause was a short one, and we reached +Durham in good time after a run of over one hundred miles, broken by +several lengthy stops on the way. + +The main street of Durham in many places is barely wide enough for two +vehicles to pass. It winds and twists through the town in such a way +that one seems to be almost moving in a circle at times and constant +inquiry is necessary to keep from being lost on the main street of a +city of fifteen or twenty thousand. The town is almost as much of a +jumble as if its red, tile-roof buildings had been promiscuously thrown +to their places from Cathedral Hill. Durham is strictly an +ecclesiastical center. There is little except the cathedral, which, in +addition to being one of the most imposing, occupies perhaps the finest +site of any of the great English churches. Together with Durham Castle, +it monopolizes the summit of a hill which at its base is three-quarters +surrounded by the river. The greater part of the cathedral dates back +seven or eight hundred years, but additions have been made from time to +time so that nearly all styles of architecture are represented. +Tradition has it that it was founded by St. Cuthbert, whose chief +characteristic is declared to have been his antipathy toward women of +all degrees. A curious relic of this peculiarity of the saint remains in +a granite cross set in the center of the floor of the nave, beyond +which, in the earlier days, no woman was ever allowed to pass. The +interior of the church is mainly in the massive and imposing Norman +style. The carved stone screen is one of the most elaborate and perfect +in Britain, and dates back from the Thirteenth Century. The verger told +us of the extreme care which must be taken to preserve this relic. He +said that the stone of the screen is rather soft and brittle, and that +in cleaning it was never touched, the dust being blown away with +bellows. Durham, in common with most of the cathedrals, suffered +severely at the hands of the Parliamentarians under Cromwell. It was +used as a prison for a part of the Scotch army captured at the battle of +Dunbar, and as these Presbyterians had almost as much contempt for +images as the Cromwellians themselves, many of the beautiful monuments +in the cathedral were broken up. Durham, like Canterbury, is a town that +is much favored by the artists, and deservedly so. The old buildings +lining the winding river and canal form in many places delightful vistas +in soft colors almost as picturesque as bits of Venice itself. The +hotels, however, are far from first-class, and one would probably be +more comfortable at Newcastle. Speaking of hotels, we did not at any +time engage accommodations in advance, and Durham was the only town +where we found the principal hotel with all rooms taken. With the rapid +increase of motoring, however, it will probably become necessary to +telegraph for accommodations at the best hotels. And telegraphing is an +exceedingly easy thing in England. A message can be sent from any +postoffice at a cost of sixpence for the first ten words. + + + + +XII + +IN OLD YORKSHIRE + + +York is by far the largest of the English shires, a widely diversified +country, ranging from fertile farm land to broken hills and waste +moorland, while its river valleys and considerable coast line present +greatly varied but always picturesque scenery. The poet describes the +charms of Yorkshire as yielding + + "Variety without end, sweet interchange + Of hill and valley, river, wood and plain." + +Nor did we find this description at all inapt as we drove over its +excellent roads during the fine July weather. But the Yorkshire country +is doubly interesting, for if the landscape is of surpassing beauty, the +cities, the villages, the castles and abbeys, and the fields where some +of the fiercest battles in Britain have been fought, have intertwined +their associations with every hill and valley. Not only the size of the +shire, but its position--midway between London and the Scottish border, +and extending almost from coast to coast--made it a bulwark, as it were, +against the incursions of the Scots and their numerous sympathizers in +the extreme north of England. No part of England is more thickly strewn +with attractions for the American tourist and in no other section do +conditions for motor travel average better. + +From London to York, the capital city of the shire, runs the Great North +Road, undoubtedly the finest highway in all Britain. It is laid out on a +liberal scale, magnificently surfaced and bordered much of the way by +wide and beautifully kept lawns and at times skirted with majestic +trees. We saw a facsimile of a broadside poster issued about a century +ago announcing that the new lightning coach service installed on this +road between London and York would carry passengers the distance of one +hundred and eighty-eight miles in the astonishingly short space of four +days. This coach, of course, traveled by relays, and at what was then +considered breakneck speed. Over this same highway it would now be an +easy feat for a powerful car to cover the distance in three or four +hours. The great North Road was originally constructed by the Romans to +maintain the quickest possible communication between London and +Eboracum, as York was styled during the Roman occupation. + +The limitation of our time had become such that we could but feel that +our tour through Yorkshire must be of the most superficial kind. Not +less than two weeks of motoring might well be spent in the county and +every day be full of genuine enjoyment. The main roads are among the +best in England and afford access to most of the important points. We +learned, however, that there is much of interest to be reached only from +byways, but that these may lead over steep and even dangerous hills and +are often in not much better condition than our American roads. + +We left Durham about noon, following a rather indirect route to +Darlington; from thence, through hawthorne-bordered byways, we came to +Richmond, one of the quaintest and most representative of the old +Yorkshire towns. We happened here on market day and the town was crowded +with farmers from the surrounding country. Here we saw many types of the +Yorkshire man, famed for his shrewdness and fondness for what we would +call "dickering." Much of the buying and selling in English towns is +done on market day; live stock, produce, farm implements, and almost +every kind of merchandise are sold at auction in the public market +place. If a farmer wants to dispose of a horse or to buy a mowing +machine, he avails himself of this auction and the services of a +professional auctioneer. Such an individual was busily plying his +vocation in front of the King's Head Hotel, and the roars of laughter +from the farmers which greeted his sallies as he cried his wares +certainly seemed to indicate that the charge that Englishmen can not +appreciate humor--at least of a certain kind--is a base slander. As +Richmond is the center of one of the best farming districts in +Yorkshire, its market day was no doubt a typical one. + +Richmond Castle at one time was one of the most formidable and strongly +situated of the northern fortresses. It stands on an almost +perpendicular rock, rising one hundred feet above the River Swale, but +with the exception of the Norman keep the ruins are scanty indeed. There +is enough of the enclosing walls to give some idea of the extent of the +original castle, which covered five acres, its magnificent position +commanding the whole of the surrounding country. The keep is now used as +a military storehouse. The soldier-guard in charge was very courteous +and relieved us the necessity of securing a pass from the commandant, as +was required by a notice at the castle entrance. He conducted us to the +top of the great tower, from which we were favored with one of the +finest views in Central England and one that is almost unobstructed in +every direction. Unfortunately, a blue mist obscured much of the +landscape, but the guard told us that on clear days York Minster, more +than forty miles away, could be easily seen. Near at hand, nestling in +the valley of the Swale, are the ivy-covered ruins of Easby Abbey; while +still nearer, on the hillside, the great tower of Grey Friars Church is +all that remains of another once extensive monastery. In no way can one +get a more adequate idea of the parklike beauty of the English +landscape than to view it from such point of vantage as the keep of +Richmond Castle. Richmond Church is an imposing structure standing near +the castle and has recently been restored as nearly as possible to its +ancient state. An odd feature of the church is the little shop built in +the base of the tower, where a tobacconist now plies his trade. + +From the castle tower, looking down the luxuriant valley, we noticed at +no great distance, half hidden by the trees, the outlines of a ruined +church--the Easby Abbey which I have just mentioned as one of the +numerous Yorkshire ruins. It is but a few furlongs off the road by which +we left Richmond and the byway we entered dropped down a sharp hill to +the pleasant spot on the riverside, where the abbey stands. The location +is a rather secluded one and the painstaking care noticeable about so +many ruins is lacking. It is surrounded by trees, and a large elm +growing in the very midst of the walls and arches flung a network of sun +and shade over the crumbling stones. The murmur of the nearby Swale and +the notes of the English thrushes filled the air with soft melody. Amid +such surroundings, we hardly heard the old custodian as he pointed out +the different apartments and told us the story of the palmy days of the +abbey and of its final doom at the relentless hands of Henry VIII. Near +by is a tiny church, which no doubt had served the people of the +neighborhood as a place of worship since the abbey fell into ruin. + +The day, which had so far been fine, soon began to turn cold--one of +those sudden and disagreeable changes that come in England and Scotland +in the very midst of summertime, an experience that happens so often +that one can not wonder at Byron's complaint of the English winter, +"closing in July to re-commence in August." At no time in the summer +were we able to dispense for any length of time with heavy wraps and +robes while on the road. From Richmond we hastened away over a fine and +nearly straight road to Ripon, whose chief attraction is its cathedral. +Speaking of cathedrals again, I might remark that our tour took us to +every one of these, with one exception--in England and Scotland, about +thirty in all--and the exception, Beverly Minster, is but newly created +and relatively of lesser importance. + +Ripon is one of the smaller cathedrals and of less importance in +historical associations. It occupies a magnificent site, crowning a hill +rising in the very center of the town, and from a distance gives the +impression of being larger than it really is. It presents a somewhat +unfinished aspect with its three low, square-topped towers, once +surmounted by great wooden spires, which became unsafe and were taken +down, never to be replaced. These must have added wonderfully to the +dignity and proper proportion of the church. + +Just outside Ripon lies Fountains Abbey, undoubtedly the most striking +and best preserved ecclesiastical ruin in England. It is on the estate +of the Marquis of Ripon, adjoining the town, and this nobleman takes +great pride in the preservation of the abbey. The great park, which also +surrounds his residence, is thrown open every day and one has full +liberty to go about it at pleasure. It is a popular resort, and on the +day of our visit the number of people passing through the gate exceeded +five hundred. The gatekeeper assured us that a thousand visitors on a +single day was not an uncommon occurrence. The abbey stands in a wooded +valley on the margin of a charming little river, and underneath and +around the ruin is a lawn whose green loveliness is such as can be found +in England alone. There is no room in this record for the description of +such a well known place or for its story. The one feature which +impressed us most, and which is one of the finest specimens of Norman +architecture in England, is the great cellarium, where the monks stored +their wine in the good old days. The vaulted roof of this vast +apartment, several hundred feet in length, is in perfect condition and +shows how substantially the structure must have been built Fountains +Abbey shared the fate of its contemporaries at the hand of Henry VIII, +who drove the monks from its shelter, confiscating their property and +revenues. It was growing late when we left Ripon for York, but the road +was perfect and we had no trouble in covering the twenty miles or more +in about an hour. We were soon made comfortable at the Station Hotel in +York, one of the oldest and most interesting of the larger cities. + +The following day being Sunday, we availed ourselves of the opportunity +of attending services at the Minster. The splendid music of the great +organ was enough to atone for the long dreary chant of the litany, and +the glory of the ancient windows, breaking the gloom of the church with +a thousand shafts of softened light, was in itself an inspiration more +than any sermon--at least to us, to whom these things had the charm of +the unusual. + +York Minster, with the exception of St. Paul's in London, is the largest +cathedral in England and contests with Canterbury for first place in +ecclesiastical importance. Its greatest glory is its windows, which are +by far the finest of any in England. Many of them date back to the +Thirteenth and Fourteenth Centuries, and when one contemplates their +subdued beauty it is easy to understand why stained-glass making is now +reckoned one of the lost arts. These windows escaped numerous +vicissitudes which imperiled the cathedral, among them the disastrous +fires which nearly destroyed it on two occasions within the last +century. The most remarkable of them all is the "Five Sisters" at the +end of the nave, a group of five slender, softly-toned windows of +imposing height. The numerous monuments scattered throughout the church +are of little interest to the American visitor. We were surprised at the +small audiences which we found at the cathedrals where we attended +services. A mere corner is large enough to care for the congregations, +the vast body of the church being seldom used except on state occasions. +Though York is a city of seventy-five thousand population, I think there +were not more than four or five hundred people in attendance, though the +day was exceptionally fine. + +There are numerous places within easy reach of York which one should not +miss. A sixty-mile trip during three or four hours of the afternoon gave +us the opportunity of seeing two abbey ruins, Helmsley Castle and +Laurence Sterne's cottage at Coxwold. Our route led over a series of +steep hills almost due north to Helmsley, a town with unbroken +traditions from the time of the Conqueror. Its ancient castle +surrendered to Fairfax with the agreement that "it be absolutely +demolished and that no garrison hereafter be kept by either party." So +well was this provision carried out that only a ragged fragment remains +of the once impregnable fortress, which has an added interest from its +connection with Scott's story, "The Fortunes of Nigel" + +Two miles from Helmsley is Rievaulx Abbey, situated in a deep, secluded +valley, and the narrow byway leading to the ruin was so steep and rough +that we left the car and walked down the hill. A small village nestles +in the valley, a quiet, out-of-the-way little place whose thatched +cottages were surrounded by a riot of old-fashioned flowers and their +walls dashed with the rich color of the bloom-laden rose vines. Back of +the village, in lonely grandeur, stands the abbey, still imposing +despite decay and neglect. Just in front of it is the cottage of the old +custodian, who seemed considerably troubled by our application to visit +the ruins. He said that the place was not open on Sunday and gave us to +understand that he had conscientious scruples against admitting anyone +on that day. The hint of a fee overcame his scruples to such an extent +that he intimated that the gates were not locked anyway and if we +desired to go through them he did not know of anything that would +prevent us. We wandered about in the shadows of the high but crumbling +walls, whose extent gave a strong impression of the original glory of +the place, and one may well believe the statement that, at the time of +the Dissolution, Rievaulx was one of the largest as well as richest of +the English abbeys. The old keeper was awaiting us at the gateway and +his conscientious scruples were again awakened when we asked him for a +few post-card pictures. He amiably intimated his own willingness to +accommodate us, but said he was afraid that the "old woman" (his wife) +wouldn't allow it, but he would find out. He returned after a short +interview in the cottage and said that there were some pictures on a +table in the front room and if we would go in and select what we wanted +and leave the money for them it would be all right. + +[Illustration: OLD COTTAGES AT COCKINGTON.] + +On our return from Helmsley, we noticed a byway leading across the +moorland with a sign-board pointing the way "to Coxwold." We were +reminded that in this out-of-the-way village Laurence Sterne, "the +father of the English novel," had lived many years and that his cottage +and church might still be seen. A narrow road led sharply from the +beautiful Yorkshire farm lands, through which we had been traveling, its +fields almost ready for the harvest, into a lonely moor almost as brown +and bare as our own western sagebrush country. It was on this +unfrequented road that we encountered the most dangerous hill we passed +over during our trip, and the road descending it was a reminder of some +of the worst in our native country. They called it "the bank," and the +story of its terrors to motorists, told us by a Helmsley villager, was +in no wise an exaggeration. It illustrates the risk often attending a +digression into byroads not listed in the road-book, for England is a +country of many hilly sections. I had read only a few days before of the +wreck of a large car in Derbyshire where the driver lost control of his +machine on a gradient of one in three. The car dashed over the +embankment, demolishing many yards of stone wall and coming to rest in a +valley hundreds of feet beneath. And this was only one of several +similar cases. Fortunately, we had only the descent to make. The bank +dropped off the edge of the moorland into a lovely and fertile valley, +where, quite unexpectedly, we came upon Bylands Abbey, the rival of +Rievaulx, but far more fallen into decay. It stood alone in the midst of +the wide valley; no caretaker hindered our steps to its precincts and no +effort had been made to prop its crumbling walls or to stay the green +ruin creeping over it. The fragment of its great eastern window, still +standing, was its most imposing feature and showed that it had been a +church of no mean architectural pretension. The locality, it would seem, +was well supplied with abbeys, for Rievaulx is less than ten miles away, +but we learned that Bylands was founded by monks from the former +brotherhood and also from Furness Abbey in Lancashire. In the good old +days it seems to have been a common thing when the monks became +dissatisfied with the establishment to which they were attached for the +dissenters to start a rival abbey just over the way. + +Coxwold is a sleepy village undisturbed by modern progress, its thatched +cottages straggling up the crooked street that leads to the hilltop, +crowned by the hoary church whose tall, massive octagonal tower +dominates the surrounding country. It seems out of all proportion to the +poverty-stricken, ragged-looking little village on the hillside, but +this is not at all an uncommon impression one will have of the churches +in small English towns. Across the road from the church is the old-time +vicarage, reposing in the shade of towering elms, and we found no +difficulty whatever in gaining admission to "Shandy Hall," as it is now +called. We were shown the little room not more than nine feet square +where Sterne, when vicar, wrote his greatest book, "Tristram Shandy." +The kitchen is still in its original condition, with its rough-beamed +ceiling and huge fireplace. Like most English cottages, the walls were +covered with climbing roses and creepers and there was the usual +flower-garden in the rear. The tenants were evidently used to visitors, +and though they refused any gratuity, our attention was called to a box +near the door which was labeled, "For the benefit of Wesleyan Missions." + +Two or three miles through the byways after leaving Coxwold brought us +into the main road leading into York. This seemed such an ideal place +for a police trap that we traveled at a very moderate speed, meeting +numerous motorists on the way. The day had been a magnificent one, +enabling us to see the Yorkshire country at its best. It had been +delightfully cool and clear, and lovelier views than we had seen from +many of the upland roads would be hard to imagine. The fields of yellow +grain, nearly ready for harvesting, richly contrasted with the +prevailing bright green of the hills and valleys. Altogether, it was a +day among a thousand, and in no possible way could one have enjoyed it +so greatly as from the motor car, which dashed along, slowed up, or +stopped altogether, as the varied scenery happened to especially please +us. + +York abounds in historic relics, odd corners and interesting places. The +city was surrounded by a strong wall built originally by Edward I, and +one may follow it throughout its entire course of more than two miles. +It is not nearly so complete as the famous Chester wall, but it encloses +a larger area. It shows to even a greater extent the careful work of the +restorer, as do the numerous gate-towers, or "bars," which one meets in +following the wall. The best exterior views of the minster may be had +from vantage points on this wall, and a leisurely tour of its entire +length is well worth while. The best preserved of the gate-towers is +Micklegate Bar, from which, in the War of the Roses, the head of the +Duke of York was exhibited to dismay his adherents. There were +originally forty of these towers, of which several still exist. Aside +from its world-famous minster, York teems with objects and places of +curious and archaeological interest. There are many fine old churches +and much mediaeval architecture. In a public park fragments still remain +of St. Mary's Abbey, a once magnificent establishment, destroyed during +the Parliamentary wars; but it must be said to the everlasting credit of +the Parliamentarians that their commanders spared no effort to protect +the minster, which accounts largely for its excellent preservation. The +Commander-in-Chief, General Fairfax, was a native of Yorkshire and no +doubt had a kindly feeling for the great cathedral, which led him to +exert his influence against its spoliation. Such buildings can stand +several fires without much damage, since there is little to burn except +the roof, and the cathedrals suffered most severely at the hands of the +various contending factions into which they fell during the civil wars. + +The quaintest of old-time York streets is The Shambles, a narrow lane +paved with cobblestones and only wide enough to permit the passing of +one vehicle at a time. It is lined on either side with queer, +half-timbered houses, and in one or two places these have sagged to such +an extent that their tops are not more than two or three feet apart. In +fact it is said that neighbors in two adjoining buildings may shake +hands across the street. The Shambles no doubt took its name from the +unattractive row of butcher shops which still occupy most of the small +store-rooms on either side. Hardly less picturesque than The Shambles is +the Petergate, and no more typical bits of old-time England may be found +anywhere than these two ancient lanes. Glimpses of the cathedral towers +through the rows of odd buildings is a favorite theme with the artists. +Aside from its antiquity, its old-world streets and historic buildings +are quite up to the best of the English cities. It is an important +trading and manufacturing point, though the prophecy of the old saw, + + "Lincoln was, London is, York shall be. + The greatest city of the three," + +seems hardly likely to be realized. + + + + +XIII + +A ZIG-ZAG TRIP FROM YORK TO NORWICH + + +Late in the afternoon we left York over the Great North Road for +Retford, from whence we expected to make the "Dukeries" circuit. The +road runs through a beautiful section and passes many of the finest of +the English country estates. It leads through Doncaster, noted for its +magnificent church, and Bawtry, from whence came many of the Pilgrim +Fathers who sailed in the Mayflower. This road is almost level +throughout, and although it rained continuously, the run of fifty miles +was made in record time--that is, as we reckoned record time. + +At Retford we were comfortably housed at the White Hart Hotel, a well +conducted hostelry for a town of ten thousand. The "White Hart" must be +a favorite among English innkeepers, for I recollect that we stopped at +no fewer than seven hotels bearing this name during our tour and saw the +familiar sign on many others. On our arrival we learned that the +Dukeries trip must be made by carriage and that the fifty miles would +consume two days. We felt averse to subtracting so much from our already +short remaining time, and when we found still further that admission +was denied for the time at two of the most important estates, we decided +to proceed without delay. The motor would be of no advantage to us in +visiting the Dukeries, for the circuit must be made in a staid and +leisurely English victoria. + +Since this chronicle was written, however, I have learned that the +embargo on motoring through the Dukeries is at least partially +raised--another step showing the trend in England in favor of the motor +car. By prearrangement with the stewards of the various estates, +permission may be obtained to take a car through the main private roads. +Thus the tourist will be enabled in half a day to accomplish what has +previously required at least two days driving with horse and carriage. + +In this vicinity is Newstead Abbey, the ancestral home of Byron, and one +of our greatest disappointments was our inability to gain access to it. +Perhaps we might have done so if we had made arrangements sufficiently +in advance, since visitors are admitted, they told us, on certain days +by special permission. There has, however, been an increasing tendency +on the part of the owner to greatly limit the number of visitors. The +coal mines discovered on the lands have become a great source of wealth +and the abbey has been transformed into a modern palace in one of the +finest private parks in England. The rooms occupied by Byron, it is +said, are kept exactly as they were when he finally left Newstead and +there are many interesting relics of the poet carefully preserved by the +present proprietor. + +It would be a bad thing for England if the tendency on the part of +private owners of historic places, to exclude visitors from their +premises, should become general. The disposition seems somewhat on the +increase, and not without cause. Indeed, I was told that in a number of +instances the privileges given had been greatly abused; that gardens had +been stripped of their flowers and relics of various kinds carried away. +This vandalism was not often charged against Americans, but rather +against local English "trippers," as they are called--people who go to +these places merely for a picnic or holiday. No doubt this could be +overcome--it has been overcome in a number of instances, notably Warwick +Castle and Knole House--by the charge of a moderate admission fee. +People who are willing to pay are not generally of the class who commit +acts of vandalism. That this practice is not adopted to a greater extent +is doubtless due to the fact that numbers of aristocratic owners think +there is something degrading in the appearance of making a commercial +enterprise out of the historic places which they possess. + +It is only twenty miles from Retford to Lincoln, and long before we +reached the latter town we saw the towers of its great cathedral, which +crowns a steep hill rising sharply from the almost level surrounding +country. It is not strange that the cathedral-builders, always with an +eye to the spectacular and imposing, should have fixed on this +remarkable hill as a site for one of their churches. For miles from +every direction the three massive towers form a landmark as they rise +above the tile roofs of the town in sharp outline against the sky. To +reach Lincoln we followed a broad, beautiful highway, almost level until +it comes to the town, when it abruptly ascends the hill, which is so +steep as to tax the average motor. The cathedral in some respects is the +most remarkable and imposing in England. The distinctive feature is the +great towers of equal size and height, something similar to those of +Durham, though higher and more beautifully proportioned. The interior +shows some of the finest Norman architecture in the Kingdom and the +great Norman doorway is said to be the most perfect of its kind. Near +the chapel in the cathedral close is a bronze statue of Tennyson +accompanied by his favorite dog. This reminded us that we were in the +vicinity of the poet's birthplace, and we determined that the next point +in our pilgrimage should be Somersby, where the church and rectory of +Tennyson's father still stand. + +We planned to reach Boston that evening, and as there were a good many +miles before us we were not able to give the time that really should be +spent in Lincoln. It has many ancient landmarks, the most remarkable +being a section of the Roman wall that surrounded the town about 15 A.D. +and in which the arch of one of the gateways is still entire. It now +appears to have been a very low gateway, but we were informed that +excavations had shown that in the many centuries since it was built the +earth had risen no less than eight feet in the archway and along the +wall. Lincoln Castle, much decayed and ruinous, is an appropriate +feature of one of the public parks. Along the streets leading up +Cathedral Hill are rows of quaint houses, no doubt full of interest; but +a motor tour often does not permit one to go much into detail. + +So we bade farewell to Lincoln, only stopping to ask the hostler for +directions to the next town on our way. Generally such directions are +something like this: "Turn to the right around the next corner, pass two +streets, then turn to the left, then turn to the right again and keep +right along until you come to the town hall"--clock tower, or something +of the kind--"and then straight away." After you inquire two or three +more times and finally come to the landmark, you find three or four +streets, any one of which seems quite as "straight away" as the others, +and a consultation with a nearby policeman is necessary, after all, to +make sure you are right. When once well into the country, the +milestones, together with the finger-boards at nearly every parting of +the ways, can be depended on to keep you right. These conveniences, +however, are by no means evenly distributed and in some sections a +careful study of the map and road-book is necessary to keep from going +astray. + +[Illustration: SOMERSBY RECTORY, BIRTHPLACE OF TENNYSON.] + +The twenty miles to Somersby went by without special incident. This +quaint little hamlet--it can hardly be called a village--is almost +hidden among the hills, well off the main-traveled roads and railway. We +dashed through the narrow lanes, shaded in many places by great +over-arching trees and the road finally led across the clear little +brook made famous by Tennyson's verse. After crossing the bridge we were +in Somersby--if such an expression is allowable. Nothing is there except +the rectory, the church just across the way, the grange, and half a +dozen thatched cottages. A discouraging notice in front of the Tennyson +house stated positively that the place would not be shown under any +conditions except on a certain hour of a certain day of the week--which +was by no means the day nor the hour of our arrival. A party of English +teachers came toward us, having just met with a refusal, but one of them +said that Americans might have an exception made in their favor. Anyway, +it was worth trying. + +Our efforts proved successful and a neat, courteous young woman showed +us over the rambling house. It is quite large--and had to be, in fact, +to accommodate the rector's family of no fewer than twelve children, of +whom the poet was the fourth. The oddest feature is the large dining +room, which has an arched roof and narrow, stained-glass windows, and +the ceiling is broken by several black-oak arches. At the base of each +of these is a queer little face carved in stone and the mantel is +curiously carved in black oak--all of this being the work of the elder +Tennyson himself. There is some dispute as to the poet's birthroom. Our +fair guide showed us all the rooms and said we might take our choice. We +liked the one which opened on the old-fashioned garden at the rear of +the house, for as is often the case in England, the garden side was more +attractive than the front. Just across the road stands the tiny church +of which the Rev. Tennyson was rector for many years. This was one of +the very smallest that we visited and would hardly seat more than fifty +people altogether. It is several hundred years old, and in the +churchyard is a tall, Norman cross, as old as the church itself. + +[Illustration: SOMERSBY CHURCH.] + +A rare thing it is to find the burying-ground around a church in England +quite neglected, but the one at Somersby is the exception to the rule. +The graves of the poet's father and brother were overgrown with grass +and showed evidences of long neglect. We expressed surprise at this, and +the old woman who kept the key to the church replied with some +bitterness that the Tennysons "were ashamed to own Somersby since they +had become great folks." Anyway, it seems that the poet never visited +the place after the family left in 1837. Near the church door was a box +with a notice stating that the congregation was small and the people +poor, and asking for contributions to be used in keeping the church in +repair. The grange, near the rectory, is occupied by the squire who owns +the birthplace, it is a weatherbeaten building of brick and gray stone +and perhaps the "gray old grange" referred to in "In Memoriam." +Altogether, Somersby is one of the quietest and most charming of places. +Aside from its connection with the great poet, it would be well worthy +of a visit as a bit of rural England. Scattered about are several great +English elms, which were no doubt large trees during the poet's boyhood, +a hundred years ago. + +For a long distance our road from Somersby to Boston ran on the crest of +a hill, from which we had a far-reaching view over the lovely +Lincolnshire country. Shortly after, we left the hills and found +ourselves again in the fen country. Many miles before we reached Boston +we saw the great tower of St. Botolph's Church, in some respects the +most remarkable in England. They give it the inartistic and +inappropriate appellation of "The Stump," due to the fact that it rises +throughout its height of more than three hundred feet without much +diminution in size. So greatly does this tower dominate the +old-fashioned city that one is in danger of forgetting that there is +anything else in Boston, and though it is a place little frequented by +Americans, there are few quainter towns in England. Several hundred +years ago it was one of the important seaports, but it lost its position +because the river on which it is situated is navigable only by small +vessels at high tide. + +Boston is of especial interest to Americans on account of its great +namesake in this country and because it was the point from which the +Pilgrim Fathers made their first attempt to reach America. Owing to +pestilence and shipwreck, they were compelled to return, and later they +sailed in the Mayflower on a more successful voyage from Plymouth. We +can get a pretty good idea of the reasons which led the Pilgrim Fathers +to brave everything to get away from their home land. One may still see +in the old town hall of Boston the small, windowless stone cells where +the Fathers were confined during the period of persecution against the +Puritans. Evidently they did not lay their sufferings against the town +itself, or they would hardly have given the name to the one they +founded in the New World. Boston is full of ancient structures, among +them Shodfriars Hall, one of the most elaborate half-timbered buildings +in the Kingdom. The hotels are quite in keeping with the dilapidation +and unprogressiveness of the town and there is no temptation to linger +longer than necessary to get an idea of the old Boston and its +traditions. + +The country through which we traveled next day is level and apparently +productive fanning land. The season had been unusually dry and favorable +to the fen land, as this section is called. The whole country between +Boston and Norwich has scarcely a hill and the numerous drains showed +that it is really a reclaimed marsh. In this section English farming +appeared at its best. The crops raised in England and Scotland consist +principally of wheat, oats and various kinds of grasses. Our Indian corn +will not ripen and all I saw of it was a few little garden patches. The +fen country faintly reminds one of Holland, lying low and dotted here +and there with huge windmills. As a matter of curiosity, we visited one +of the latter. The miller was a woman, and with characteristic English +courtesy she made us acquainted with the mysteries of the ancient mill, +which was used for grinding Indian corn for cattle-feed. + +Our route for the day was a circuitous one, as there were numerous +points that we wished to visit before coming to Norwich for the night. +A broad, level road leads from Boston to King's Lynn, a place of +considerable size. Its beginning is lost in antiquity, and a recent +French writer has undertaken to prove that the first settlement of +civilized man in Britain was made at this point. We entered the town +through one of the gateways, which has no doubt been obstructing the +main highway for several hundred years. It is a common thing in the +English towns to find on the main street one of the old gates, the +opening through which will admit but one vehicle at a time, often making +it necessary to station a policeman on each side to see that there are +no collisions. But the gateways have been standing for ages and it would +be sacrilege to think of tearing them down to facilitate traffic. Just +outside King's Lynn we passed Sandringham Palace, a spacious modern +country house and one of the favorite homes of the Royal Family. + +[Illustration: ST. BOTOLPH'S CHURCH FROM THE RIVER, BOSTON.] + +A few hours through winding byways brought us to the village of Burnham +Thorpe, the birthplace of Admiral Nelson. It is a tiny hamlet, whose +mean-looking, straggling cottages with red tiles lack the artistic +beauty of the average English village--the picturesque, thatched roofs +and brilliant flower gardens were entirely wanting. The admiral was the +son of the village rector, but the parsonage in which he was born was +pulled down many years ago. Still standing, and kept in good repair, +is the church where his father preached. The lectern, as the +pulpit-stand in English churches is called, was fashioned of oak taken +from Nelson's flagship, the Victory. The father is buried in the +churchyard and a memorial to Nelson has been erected in the church. The +tomb of the admiral is in St. Paul's Cathedral in London. + +From Burnham Thorpe on the way to Norwich are the scant ruins of the +priory of Walsingham. In its palmy days this was one of the richest in +the world, and it is said that it was visited by more pilgrims than was +the shrine of Becket at Canterbury. In every instance a gift was +expected from the visitor, and as a consequence the monks fared +sumptuously. Among these pilgrims were many of the nobility and even +kings, including Henry VIII, who, after visiting the priory as a votary +in the early part of his reign, ordered its complete destruction in +1539. This order was evidently carried out, for only shattered fragments +of the ruins remain to show how splendid the buildings must once have +been. + +Walsingham is an unusually quaint little village, with a wonderful, +ancient town pump of prodigious height and a curious church with a tall +spire bent several degrees from the perpendicular. Near the priory are +two springs, styled Wishing Wells, which were believed to have +miraculous power, the legend being that they sprang into existence at +the command of the Virgin. This illustrates one of the queer and not +unpleasing features of motoring in England. In almost every +out-of-the-way village, no matter how remote or small and how seldom +visited by tourists, one runs across no end of quaint landmarks and +historic spots with accompanying incidents and legends. Twenty miles +more through a beautiful country brought us in sight of the cathedral +spire of Norwich. This city has a population of about one hundred and +twenty thousand and there is a unique charm in its blending of the +mediaeval and modern. It is a progressive city with large business and +manufacturing interests, but these have not swept away the charm of the +old-time town. The cathedral is one of the most imposing in England, +being mainly of Norman architecture and surmounted by a graceful spire +more than three hundred feet in height. Norwich also presents the +spectacle of a modern cathedral in course of building, a thing that we +did not see elsewhere in England. The Roman Catholic Church is +especially strong in this section, and under the leadership of the Duke +of Norfolk has undertaken to build a structure that will rival in size +and splendor those of the olden time. No doubt the modern Catholics bear +in mind that their ancestors built all the great English churches and +cathedrals and that these were lost to them at the time of the +so-called Reformation of Henry VIII. Religious toleration does not +prevail to any such extent in England as in the United States and there +is considerable bitterness between the various sects. + +Speaking of new cathedrals, while several are being built by the Roman +Catholics, only one is under construction by the Church of England--the +first since the days of the Stuarts. This is at Liverpool and the +foundations have barely been begun. The design for the cathedral was a +competitive one selected from many submitted by the greatest architects +in the world. The award was made to Gilbert Scott, a young man of only +twenty-one and a grandson of the famous architect of the same name who +had so much to do with the restoration of several of the cathedrals. The +Liverpool church is to be the greatest in the Kingdom, even exceeding +York Minster and St. Paul's in size. No attempt is made to fix the time +when the building will be completed, but the work will undoubtedly +occupy several generations. + +In Norwich we stopped at the Maid's Head Hotel, one of the noted +old-time English hostelries. It has been in business as a hotel nearly +five hundred years and Queen Elizabeth was its guest while on one of her +visits to the city of Norwich. Despite its antiquity, it is thoroughly +up-to-date and was one of the most comfortable inns that we found +anywhere. No doubt this is considerably due to a large modern addition, +which has been built along the same lines as the older portion. Near the +cathedral are other ancient structures among which are the two gateways, +whose ruins still faintly indicate their pristine splendor of carving +and intricate design. The castle, at one time a formidable fortress, has +almost disappeared. "Tombland" and "Strangers' Hall" are the +appellations of two of the finest half-timbered buildings that we saw. +The newer portions of Norwich indicate a prosperous business town and it +is supplied with an unusually good street-car system. Most of the larger +English cities are badly off in this particular. York, for instance, a +place of seventy-five thousand, has but one street-car line, three or +four miles in length, on which antiquated horse-cars are run at +irregular intervals. + + + + +XIV + +PETERBOROUGH, FOTHERINGHAY, ETC + + +The hundred miles of road that we followed from Norwich to Peterborough +has hardly the suggestion of a hill, though some of it is not up to the +usual English standard. We paused midway at Dereham, whose remarkable +old church is the only one we saw in England that had the bell-tower +built separate from the main structure, though this same plan is +followed in Chichester Cathedral. In Dereham Church is the grave of +Cowper, who spent his last years in the town. The entire end of the nave +is occupied by an elaborate memorial window of stained glass, depicting +scenes and incidents of the poet's life and works. To the rear of the +church is the open tomb of one of the Saxon princesses, and near it is a +tablet reciting how this grave had been desecrated by the monks of Ely, +who stole the relics and conveyed them to Ely Cathedral. Numerous +miracles were claimed to have been wrought by the relics of the +princess, who was famed for her piety. The supposed value of these +relics was the cause of the night raid on the tomb--a practice not +uncommon in the days of monkish supremacy. The bones of saint or martyr +had to be guarded with pious care or they were likely to be stolen by +the enterprising churchmen of some rival establishment. Shortly +afterwards, it would transpire that miracles were being successfully +performed by the relics in the hands of the new possessors. + +Leaving the main road a detour of a few miles enabled us to visit +Crowland Abbey shortly before reaching Peterborough. It is a remarkable +ruin, rising out of the flat fen country, as someone has said, "like a +light-house out of the sea." Its oddly shaped tower is visible for +miles, and one wide arch of the nave still stands, so light and airy in +its gracefulness that it seems hardly possible it is built of heavy +blocks of stone. A portion of the church has been restored and is used +for services, but a vast deal of work was necessary to arrest the +settling of the heavy walls on their insecure foundations. The cost of +the restoration must have been very great, and the people of Crowland +must have something of the spirit of the old abbey builders themselves, +to have financed and carried out such a work. Visitors to the church are +given an opportunity to contribute to the fund--a common thing in such +cases. Crowland is a gray, lonely little town in the midst of the wide +fen country. The streets were literally thronged with children of all +ages; no sign of race suicide in this bit of Lincolnshire. Everywhere +is evidence of antiquity--there is much far older than the old abbey in +Crowland. The most notable of all is the queer three-way arched stone +bridge in the center of the village--a remarkable relic of Saxon times. +It seems sturdy and solid despite the thousand or more years that have +passed over it, and is justly counted one of the most curious antiques +in the Kingdom. + +It was late when we left Crowland, and before we had replaced a tire +casing that, as usual, collapsed at an inopportune moment, the long +English twilight had come to an end. The road to Peterborough, however, +is level and straight as an arrow. The right of way was clear and all +conditions gave our car opportunity to do its utmost. It was about ten +o'clock when we reached the excellent station hotel in Peterborough. + +Before the advent of the railroad, Peterborough, like Wells, was merely +an ecclesiastical town, with little excuse for existence save its +cathedral. In the last fifty years, however, the population has +increased five-fold and it has become quite on important trading and +manufacturing center. It is situated in the midst of the richest farm +country in England and its annual wool and cattle markets are known +throughout the Kingdom. The town dates from the year 870, when the first +cathedral minster was built by the order of one of the British +chieftains. The present magnificent structure was completed in 1237, +and so far as appearance is concerned, now stands almost as it left the +builder's hands. It is without tower or spire of considerable height and +somewhat disappointing when viewed from the exterior. The interior is +most imposing and the great church is rich in historical associations. +Here is buried Catherine of Aragon, the first queen of Henry VIII, and +the body of the unfortunate Queen of Scots was brought here after her +execution at Fotheringhay. King James I, when he came to the throne, +removed his mother's remains to Westminster Abbey, where they now rest. + +Strangely enough, the builders of the cathedral did not take into +consideration the yielding nature of the soil on which they reared the +vast structure, and as a consequence, a few years ago the central tower +of the building began to give way and cracks appeared in the vaulting +and walls. Something had to be done at once, and at the cost of more +than half a million dollars the tower was taken down from top to +foundation, every stone being carefully marked to indicate its exact +place in the walls. The foundations were carried eleven feet deeper, +until they rested upon solid rock, and then each stone was replaced in +its original position. Restoration is so perfect that the ordinary +beholder would never know the tower had been touched. This incident +gives an idea of how the cathedrals are now cared for and at what cost +they are restored after ages of neglect and destruction. + +[Illustration: A TYPICAL BYWAY.] + +Peterborough was stripped of most of its images and carvings by +Cromwell's soldiers and its windows are modern and inferior. Our +attention was attracted to three or four windows that looked much like +the crazy-quilt work that used to be in fashion. We were informed that +these were made of fragments of glass that had been discovered and +patched together without any effort at design, merely to preserve them +and to show the rich tones and colorings of the original windows. The +most individual feature of Peterborough is the three great arches on the +west, or entrance, front. These rise nearly two-thirds the height of the +frontage and it is almost a hundred feet from the ground to the top of +the pointed arches. The market square of Peterborough was one of the +largest we had seen--another evidence of the agricultural importance of +the town. Aside from the cathedral there is not much of interest, but if +one could linger there is much worth seeing in the surrounding country. + +The village of Fotheringhay is only nine miles to the west. The +melancholy connection of this little hamlet with the Queen of Scots +brings many visitors to it every year, although there are few relics of +Mary and her lengthy imprisonment now remaining. Here we came the next +morning after a short time on winding and rather hilly byways. It is an +unimportant looking place, this sleepy little village where three +hundred years ago Mary fell a victim to the machinations of her rival, +Elizabeth. The most notable building now standing is the quaint inn +where the judges of the unfortunate queen made their headquarters during +her farcial trial. Of the gloomy castle, where the fair prisoner +languished for nineteen long years, nothing remains except a shapeless +mass of grass covered stone and traces of the old-time moat. Much of the +stone was built into cottages of the surrounding country and in some of +the mansions of the neighborhood may be found portions of the windows +and a few of the ancient mantel pieces. The great oak staircase which +Mary descended on the day of her execution, is built into an old inn at +Oundle, not far away. Thus the great fortress was scattered to the four +winds, but there is something more enduring than stone and mortar,--its +memories linger and will remain so long as the story of English history +is told. King James, by the destruction of the castle, endeavored to +show fitting respect to the memory of his mother and no doubt hoped to +wipe out the recollection of his friendly relations with Queen Elizabeth +after she had caused the death of Mary. + +The school children of Fotheringhay seemed quite familiar with its +history and on the lookout for strangers who came to the place. Two or +three of them quickly volunteered to conduct us to the site of the +castle. There was nothing to see after we got there, but our small +guides were thankful for the fee, which they no doubt had in mind from +the first. Mournful and desolate indeed seemed the straggling little +village where three centuries ago "a thousand witcheries lay felled at +one stroke," one of the cruelest and most pitiful of the numberless +tragedies which disfigure the history of England. + +From Fotheringhay we returned to the York road and followed it northward +for about twenty miles. We passed through Woolsthorpe, an unattractive +little town whose distinction is that it was the birthplace of Sir Isaac +Newton. The thatched roof farmhouse where he was born is still standing +on the outskirts of the village. At Grantham, a little farther on, we +stopped for lunch at the "Royal and Angel" Hotel, one of the most +charming of the old-time inns. Like nearly all of these old hostelries, +it has its tradition of a royal guest, having offered shelter to King +Charles I when on his endless wanderings during the Parliamentary wars. +It is a delightful old building, overgrown with ivy, and its +diamond-paned lattice windows, set in walls of time-worn stone, give +evidence to its claims to antiquity. + +We had paused in Grantham on our way to Belvoir Castle, about six miles +away, the seat of the Duke of Rutland. This is one of the finest as well +as most strikingly situated of the great baronial residences in England. +Standing on a gently rising hill, its many towers and battlements +looking over the forests surrounding it, this vast pile more nearly +fulfilled our ideas of feudal magnificence than any other we saw. It is +famous for its picture gallery, which contains many priceless originals +by Gainsborough, Reynolds and others. It has always been open to +visitors every week-day, but it chanced at the time that the old duke +was dangerously ill--so ill, in fact, that his death occurred a little +later on--and visitors were not admitted. We were able to take the car +through the great park, which affords a splendid view of the exterior of +the castle. + +Near by is the village of Bottisford, whose remarkable church has been +the burial place of the Manners family for five hundred years and +contains some of the most complete monumental effigies in England. These +escaped the wrath of the Cromwellians, for the Earl of Manners was an +adherent of the Protector. In the market square at Bottisford stand the +old whipping-post and stocks, curious relics of the days when these +instruments were a common means of satisfying justice--or what was then +considered justice. They were made of solid oak timbers and had +withstood the sun and rain of two or three hundred years without +showing much sign of decay. Although the whipping-post and stocks used +to be common things in English towns, we saw them preserved only at +Bottisford. + +On leaving Bottisford, our car dashed through the clear waters of a +little river which runs through the town and which no doubt gave it the +name. We found several instances where no attempt had been made to +bridge the streams, which were still forded as in primitive times. In a +short time we reached Newark, where we planned to stop for the +night--but it turned out otherwise. We paused at the hotel which the +guide-book honored with the distinction of being the best in the town +and a courteous policeman of whom we inquired confirmed the statement. +We were offered our choice of several dingy rooms, but a glance at the +time-worn furnishings and unattractive beds convinced us that if this +were Newark's best hotel we did not care to spend the night in Newark. +To the profound disgust of the landlady--nearly all hotels in England +are managed by women--we took our car from the garage and sought more +congenial quarters, leaving, I fear, anything but a pleasant impression +behind us. We paused a few minutes at the castle, which is the principal +object of antiquity in Newark. It often figured in early history; King +John died here--the best thing he ever did--and it sustained many +sieges until it was finally destroyed by the Parliamentarians--pretty +effectively destroyed, for there is little remaining except the walls +fronting immediately on the river. + +Though it was quite late, we decided to go on to Nottingham, about +twenty miles farther, where we could be sure of good accommodation. It +seemed easy to reach the city before dark, but one can hardly travel on +schedule with a motor car--at least so long as pneumatic tires are used. +An obstinate case of tire trouble just as we got outside of Newark meant +a delay of an hour or more, and it was after sunset before we were again +started on our journey. There is a cathedral at Southwell, and as we +permitted no cathedral to escape us, we paused there for a short time. +It is a great country church of very unusual architecture, elevated to +the head of a diocese in 1888. The town of Southwell is a retired place +of evident antiquity and will be remembered as having been the home of +Lord Byron and his mother for some time during his youth. The route +which we followed to Nottingham was well off the main highway--a +succession of sharp turns and steep little hills that made us take +rather long chances in our flight around some of the corners. But, +luckily, the way was clear and we came into Nottingham without mishap, +though it became so dark that we were forced to light our lamps--a +thing that was necessary only two or three times during our summer's +tour. + +Our route south from Nottingham was over a splendid and nearly level +road that passes through Leicester, one of the most up-to-date business +towns in the Kingdom. I do not remember any place outside of London +where streets were more congested with all kinds of traffic. The town is +of great antiquity, but its landmarks have been largely wiped out by the +modern progress it has made. We did not pause here, but directed our way +to Lutterworth, a few miles farther, where the great reformer, John +Wyclif, made his home, the famous theologian who translated the bible +into English and printed it two hundred years before the time of Martin +Luther. This act, together with his fearless preaching, brought him into +great disfavor with the church, but owing to the protection of Edward +III, who was especially friendly to him, he was able to complete his +work in spite of fierce opposition. Strangely enough, considering the +spirit of his time, Wyclif withstood the efforts of his enemies, lived +to a good old age, and died a natural death. Twenty years afterward the +Roman Church again came into power and the remains of the reformer were +exhumed and burned in the public square of Lutterworth. To still further +cover his memory with obloquy, the ashes were thrown into the clear, +still, little river that we crossed on leaving the town. But his +enemies found it too late to overthrow the work he had begun. His +church, a large, massive building with a great, square-topped tower, +stands today much as it did when he used to occupy the pulpit, which is +the identical one from which he preached. A bas-relief in white marble +by the American sculptor, Story, commemorating the work of Wyclif, has +been placed in the church at a cost of more than ten thousand dollars, +and just outside a tall granite obelisk has been erected in his honor. +In cleaning the walls recently, it was discovered that under several +coats of paint there were some remarkable frescoes which, being slowly +uncovered, were found to represent scenes in the life of the great +preacher himself. + +Leaving Lutterworth, we planned to reach Cambridge for the night. On the +way we passed through Northampton, a city of one hundred thousand and a +manufacturing place of importance. It is known in history as having been +the seat of Parliament in the earlier days. A detour of a few miles from +the main road leaving Northampton brought us to Olney, which for twenty +years was the home of William Cowper. His house is still standing and +has been turned into a museum of relics of the poet, such as rare +editions of his books and original manuscripts. The town is a quiet, +sleepy-looking place, situated among the Buckinghamshire hills. It is +still known as a literary center and a number of more or less noted +English authors live there at the present time. + +[Illustration: JOHN WYCLIF'S CHURCH, LUTTERWORTH.] + +Bedford, only a few miles farther on the Cambridge road, was one of the +best-appearing English towns of the size we had seen anywhere--with +handsome residences and fine business buildings. It is more on the plan +of American towns, for its buildings are not ranged along a single +street as is the rule in England. It is best known from its connection +with the immortal dreamer, John Bunyan, whose memory it now delights to +honor. Far different was it in his lifetime, for he was confined for +many years in Bedford Jail and it was during this imprisonment that he +wrote his "Pilgrim's Progress." At Elstow, a mile from Bedford, we saw +his cottage, a mean-looking little hut with only two rooms. The tenants +were glad to admit visitors as probable customers for postcards and +photographs. The bare monotony of the place was relieved not a little by +the flowers which crowded closely around it. + +Cambridge is about twenty miles from Bedford, and we did not reach it +until after dark. It was Week-End holiday, and we found the main street +packed with pedestrians, through whom we had to carefully thread our way +for a considerable distance before we came to the University Arms. We +found this hotel one of the most comfortable and best kept of those +whose hospitality we enjoyed during our tour. + +Cambridge is distinctly a university town. One who has visited Oxford +and gone the rounds will hardly care to make a like tour of Cambridge +unless he is especially interested in English college affairs. It does +not equal Oxford, either in importance of colleges or number of +students. It is a beautiful place, lying on a river with long stretches +of still water where the students practice rowing and where the famous +boat races are held. + +Cambridge is rich in traditions, as any university might be that +numbered Oliver Cromwell among its students. Its present atmosphere and +influences, as well as those of Oxford, are vastly different from those +of the average American school of similar rank; nor do I think that the +practical results attained are comparable to those of our own colleges. +The Rhodes scholarship, so eagerly sought after in America, is not, in +my estimation, of the value that many are inclined to put upon it. Aside +from the fact that caste relegates the winners almost to the level of +charity students--and they told us in Oxford that this is literally +true--it seems to me that the most serious result may be that the +student is likely to get out of touch with American institutions and +American ways of doing things. + + + + +XV + +THE CROMWELL COUNTRY. COLCHESTER. + + +A distinguished observer, Prof. Goldwin Smith, expressed it forcibly +when he said that the epitaph of nearly every ruined castle in Britain +might be written, "Destroyed by Cromwell." It takes a tour such as ours +to gain something of a correct conception of the gigantic figure of +Oliver Cromwell in English history. The magnitude and the far-reaching +results of his work are coming to be more and more appreciated by the +English people. For a time he was considered a traitor and regicide, but +with increasing enlightenment and toleration, his real work for human +liberty is being recognized by the great majority of his countrymen. It +was only as far back as 1890 that Parliament voted down a proposition to +place a statue of Cromwell on the grounds of the House of Commons; but +two years later sentiment had advanced so much that justice was done to +the memory of the great Protector and a colossal bronze figure was +authorized and erected. I know of no more impressive sight in all +England than this great statue, standing in solitary grandeur near the +Houses of Parliament, representing Cromwell with sword and bible, and +with an enormous lion crouching at his feet. It divides honor with no +other monument in its vicinity and it seems to stand as a warning to +kingcraft that it must observe well defined limitations if it continues +in Britain. I saw several other statues of Cromwell, notably at +Manchester, Warrington and at St. Ives. + +An incident illustrating the sentiment with which the Protector is now +regarded by the common people came under my own observation. With a +number of other sightseers, we were visiting Warwick Castle and were +being shown some of the portraits and relics relating to Cromwell, when +the question was raised by someone in the party as to his position in +English history. A young fellow, apparently an aspirant for church +honors, expressed the opinion that Cromwell was a traitor and the +murderer of his king. He was promptly taken to task by the old soldier +who was acting as our guide through the castle. He said, "Sir, I can not +agree with you. I think we are all better off today that there was such +a man as Cromwell." + +That appears to be the general sentiment of the people of Great Britain, +and the feeling is rapidly growing that he was distinctly the defender +of the people's rights. True, he destroyed many of the historic castles, +but such destruction was a military necessity. These fortresses, almost +without exception, were held by supporters of King Charles, who used +them as bases of operation against the Parliamentary Army. If not +destroyed when captured, they were re-occupied by the Royalists and the +work had to be done over again. Therefore Cromwell wisely dismantled the +strongholds when they came into his possession, and generally he did his +work so well that restoration was not possible, even after the Royalists +regained power. The few splendid examples which escaped his +wrath--notably Warwick Castle--fortunately happened at the time to be in +possession of adherents of Parliament. The damage Cromwell inflicted +upon the churches was usually limited to destruction of stone images, +tombs and altars, as savoring of idolatry. This spirit even extended to +the destruction of priceless stained-glass windows, the loss of which we +can not too greatly deplore, especially since the very art of making +this beautiful glass seems to be a lost one. + +At Cambridge we were within easy reach of the scenes of the Protector's +early life. He was born in 1599 at Huntingdon, sixteen miles distant, +and was twenty years a citizen of St. Ives, only a few miles away. He +was a student at Cambridge and for several years was a farmer near Ely, +being a tenant on the cathedral lands. As Ely is only fifteen miles +north of Cambridge, it occurred to us to attend services at the +cathedral there on Sunday morning. We followed a splendid road leading +through a beautiful country, rich with fields of grain almost ready for +harvest. + +The cathedral is one of the largest and most remarkable in England, +being altogether different in architecture from any other in the +Kingdom. Instead of a spire, it has a huge, castellated, octagonal +tower, and while it was several hundred years in building, a harmonious +design was maintained throughout, although it exhibits in some degree +almost every style of church architecture known in England. Ely is an +inconsequential town of about seven thousand inhabitants and dominated +from every point of view by the huge bulk of the cathedral. Only a +portion of the space inside the vast building was occupied by seats, and +though the great church would hold many thousands of people if filled to +its capacity, the congregation was below the average that might be found +in the leading churches of an American town the size of Ely. One of the +cathedral officials with whom I had a short talk said that the +congregations averaged small indeed and were growing smaller right +along. The outlook for Ely he did not consider good, a movement being on +foot to cut another diocese from the territory and to make a cathedral, +probably of the great church, at Bury St. Edmunds. In recent years this +policy of creating new dioceses has been in considerable vogue in +England, and of course is distasteful to the sections immediately +affected. The services in Ely Cathedral were simpler than usual and were +through well before noon. + +Before returning to Cambridge we visited St. Ives and Huntingdon, both +of which were closely associated with the life of Cromwell. The former +is a place of considerable antiquity, although the present town may be +said to date from 1689, at which time it was rebuilt after being totally +destroyed by fire. One building escaped, a quaint stone structure +erected in the center of the stone bridge crossing the River Ouse and +supposed to have been used as a chapel by the early monks. Cromwell's +connection with St. Ives began in 1628, after he had been elected to +Parliament. He moved here after the dissolution of that body and spent +several years as a farmer. The house which he occupied has disappeared +and few relics remain of his residence in the town. In the market square +is a bronze statue of the Protector, with an inscription to the effect +that he was a citizen of St. Ives for several years. A few miles farther +on is Huntingdon, his birthplace. It is a considerably larger town, but +none of the buildings now standing has any connection with the life of +the Protector. Doubtless the citizens of Huntingdon now recognize that +the manor house where Cromwell was born, which was pulled down a +hundred years ago, would be a valuable asset to the town were it still +standing. + +From Huntingdon we returned to Cambridge, having completed a circular +tour of about sixty miles. We still had plenty of time to drive about +Cambridge and to view from the outside the colleges and other places of +interest. The streets are laid out in an irregular manner, and although +it is not a large city--only forty thousand--we had considerable +difficulty in finding our way back to the hotel. The University Arms is +situated on the edge of a large common called "The Field." Here in the +evening were several open-air religious services. One of these was +conducted by the Wesleyans, or Methodists, with a large crowd at the +beginning, but a Salvation Army, with several band instruments, soon +attracted the greater portion of the crowd. We found these open-air +services held in many towns through England and Scotland. They were +always conducted by "dissenting churches"--the Church of England would +consider such a proceeding as too undignified. + +We wished to get an early start from Cambridge next morning, hoping to +reach London that night, and accordingly made arrangements with the head +waiter for an early breakfast. We told him we should probably want it at +7:30, and he looked at us in an incredulous manner. I repeated the +hour, thinking he did not understand, but he said he thought at first +we were surely joking. However, he would endeavor to accommodate us. If +we would leave our order that evening he thought he could arrange it at +the time desired, but we could easily see that it was going to upset the +traditions of the staid hotel, for the breakfast hour is never earlier +than nine o'clock. However, we had breakfast at 7:30 and found one other +guest in the room--undoubtedly an American. He requested a newspaper and +was informed that the morning papers were not received at the hotel +until half past ten o'clock, although Cambridge is just fifty miles from +London, or about an hour by train. The curiosity which the average +American manifests to know what happened on the day previous is almost +wanting in the staid and less excitable Britisher. + +We were away from Cambridge by nine o'clock and soon found ourselves in +a country quite different in appearance from any we had yet passed +through. Our route led through Essex to Colchester on the coast. We +passed through several ancient towns, the first of them being Haverhill, +which contributed a goodly number of the Pilgrim Fathers and gave its +name to the town of Haverhill in Massachusetts. It is an old, straggling +place that seems to be little in harmony with the progress of the +Twentieth Century. + +Our route on leaving Haverhill led through narrow byways, which wind +among the hills with turns so sharp that a close lookout had to be +maintained. We paused at Heddingham, where there is a great church and a +partly ruined Norman castle. The town is made up largely of cottages +with thatched roofs, surrounded by the bright English flower gardens. It +was typical of several other places which we passed on our way. I think +that in no section of England did we find a greater number of +picturesque churches than in Essex, and a collection of photographs of +these, which was secured at Earl's Colne, we prize very highly. + +Colchester is an interesting town, deserving of much longer time than we +were able to stay. It derived its name from King Cole, the "merry old +soul" of the familiar nursery rhyme. It is one of the oldest towns in +England and was of great importance in Roman times. One of the largest +collections of Roman relics in Britain is to be found in the museum of +the castle. There are hundreds of specimens of coin, pottery, jewelry, +statuary, etc., all of which were found in excavations within the city. +The castle is one of the gloomiest and rudest in the Kingdom, and was +largely built of Roman bricks. It is quadrangular in shape, with high +walls from twenty to thirty feet thick surrounding a small court. About +a hundred years ago it was sold to a contractor who planned to tear it +down for the material, but after half completing his task he gave it up, +leaving enough of the old fortress to give a good idea of what it was +like. + +The grim old ruin has many dark traditions of the times when "man's +inhumanity to man" was the rule rather than the exception. Even the +mild, nonresistant Quaker could not escape the bitterest persecution and +in one of the dungeons of Colchester Castle young George Fox was immured +and suffered death from neglect and starvation. This especially +attracted our attention, since the story had been pathetically told by +the speaker at the Sunday afternoon meeting which we attended at Jordans +and which I refer to in the following chapter. While there is a certain +feeling of melancholy that possesses one when he wanders through these +mouldering ruins, yet he often can not help thinking that they deserved +their fate. + +Colchester suffered terribly in Parliamentary wars and only surrendered +to Cromwell after sustaining a seventy-six day siege, many traces of +which may still be seen. There are two or three ancient churches dating +from Saxon times which exhibit some remarkable specimens of Saxon +architecture. Parts of Colchester appeared quite modern and up-to-date, +the streets being beautifully kept, and there were many handsome +residences. Altogether, there is a strange combination of the very old +and the modern in Colchester. + +We left this highway at Chelmsford to visit the Greenstead Church near +Chipping-Ongar, about twenty-two miles from London. This is one of the +most curious churches in all England. It is a diminutive building, half +hidden amidst the profusion of foliage, and would hardly attract +attention unless one had learned of its unique construction and +remarkable history. It is said to be the only church in England which is +built with wooden walls, these being made from the trunks of large oak +trees split down the center and roughly sharpened at each end. They are +raised from the ground by a low brick foundation, and inside the spaces +between the trunks are covered with pieces of wood. The rough timber +frame of the roof is fastened with wooden pins. The interior of the +building is quite dark, there being no windows in the wooden walls, and +the light comes in from a dormer window in the roof. This church was +built in the year 1010 to mark the resting place of St. Edmund the +Martyr, whose remains were being carried from Bury to London. The town +of Ongar, near by, once had an extensive castle, of which little +remains, and in the chancel of the church is the grave of Oliver +Cromwell's favorite daughter. A house in High Street was for some time +the residence of David Livingstone, the great African explorer. + +From Chipping-Ongar we followed for the third time the delightful road +leading to London, passing through the village of Chigwell, of which I +have spoken at length elsewhere. On coming into London, we found the +streets in a condition of chaos, owing to repairs in the pavement. The +direct road was quite impassable and we were compelled to get into the +city through by-streets--not an easy task. In London the streets do not +run parallel as in many of our American cities. No end of inquiry was +necessary to get over the ten miles after we were in the city before we +reached our hotel. It was not very convenient to make inquiries, either, +when driving in streets crowded to the limit where our car could not +halt for an instant without stopping the entire procession. We would +often get into a pocket behind a slow-moving truck or street car and be +compelled to crawl along for several blocks at the slowest speed. + +It was just sunset when we stopped in front of the Hotel Russell. We had +been absent on our tour six weeks to a day and our odometer registered +exactly 3070 miles. As there were five or six days of the time that we +did not travel, we had averaged about six hundred miles a week during +the tour. The weather had been unusually fine for England; we had +perhaps half a dozen rainy days, but only once did it rain heavily. We +had now traveled a total of 4100 miles and had visited the main points +of interest in the Kingdom excepting those in the country south of the +city, where we planned a short tour before sailing. We remained in +London a week before starting on this trip, but during that time I did +not take the car out of the garage. I had come to the conclusion that +outside of Sundays and holidays the nervous strain of attempting to +drive an automobile in the streets of London was such as to make the +effort not worth while. + +[Illustration: BYRON'S ELM IN CHURCH YARD, HARROW.] + + + + +XVI + +THE HAUNTS OF MILTON AND PENN + + +Leaving London by the Harrow road, in course of an hour we came to the +famous college town, which lies about fifteen miles north of the city. +It is known chiefly for its boys' school, which was founded early in the +reign of Queen Elizabeth and at which many great Englishmen received +their early education. The school is situated on the top of a hill, one +of the most commanding positions in the vicinity of London, and on the +very summit is the Norman church. The view from this churchyard is one +of the finest in England. For many miles the fertile valley of the +Thames spreads out like a great park, exhibiting the most pleasing +characteristics of an English landscape. On one side the descent is +almost precipitous, and at the edge, in the churchyard, stands a +gigantic elm--now in the late stages of decay--which still bears the +sobriquet of "Byron's Elm." It is said that Byron, during his days at +Harrow, would sit here for hours at a time and contemplate the beautiful +scene which spread out before him. A descendant of one of the poet's +friends has placed near the spot a brass tablet, inscribed with the +somewhat stilted lines, On a Distant view From Harrow Churchyard, + + "Spot of my youth, whose hoary branches sigh, + Swept by the breeze that fans the cloudless sky; + O! as I trace again thy winding hill, + Mine eyes admire, my heart adores thee still. + Thou drooping elm! Beneath whose boughs I lay, + And frequent mused the twilight hours away; + How do thy branches, moaning to the blast, + Invite this bosom to recall the past, + And seem to whisper, as they gently swell, + 'Take, while thou canst, a lingering, last farewell'" + +We reached Harrow too late to attend church as we had hoped, the morning +services just closing as we entered the churchyard. We saw everywhere +numbers of students in Sunday garb, and an odd appearance these boys of +from fifteen to eighteen presented in a costume very nearly the +counterpart of an ordinary dress suit, usually set off by a high silk +hat. Harrow is associated with the names of many men who attained high +rank in English history and literature, some of whom strove in their +boyhood days to anticipate immortality by carving their names on the +wooden desks. Among these may still be seen the rudely cut letters of +the names of Byron, Sheridan and Peele. + +The town, which slopes away from the top of the hill, has an up-to-date +appearance and is a favorite place for suburban residences of wealthy +Londoners. The road leading down the hill from the church turned sharply +out of view, and just as we were beginning the descent a gentleman +hastened to us and cautioned us not to undertake it. He said that +numerous motors had been wrecked in the attempt. We went down by a +roundabout way, but when we came to pass the hill at its foot, we found +it was not nearly so steep as some we had already passed over. + +Two or three hours over narrow and generally bad roads for England +brought us to the village of Chalfont St. Giles, where John Milton made +his residence while writing "Paradise Lost." It is a retired little +place, mere lanes leading into it. The shriek of the railroad train does +not disturb its quietude, the nearest station being several miles away. +The village doubtless appears much as it did in Milton's time, three +hundred years ago, and the cottage which he occupied stands practically +unaltered. A notice posted outside stated that the cottage would not be +shown on Sunday. But such announcements had little terror for us by this +time, and we found no difficulty in gaining admittance to the quaint +little building. It is in the Elizabethan style, with half-timber frame +and sagging tile roof. The windows have small, diamond-shaped panes of +leaded glass set in rude iron frames and open on a typical English +flower garden. The villagers purchased the cottage by public +subscription and its preservation is thus fortunately insured. The +tenant acts as caretaker and apparently takes pride in keeping the place +in order. The poet's room, directly on the right when entering, is +rather dark, and has a low-beamed ceiling. There is a wide fireplace +with the old time appliances accompanying it, and one can imagine the +blind poet sitting by his fireside on winter days or enjoying the +sweetness that in summertime came through the antique windows from the +flower garden. Here he dictated "Paradise Lost" to his daughter, who +acted as his secretary. One can not help contrasting the unsurpassed +majesty and dignity of the great poem with the humble and even rude +surroundings of the cottage. Milton came here in 1665 to escape the +plague which was then devastating London. His eldest daughter was at +that time about seventeen years of age, and there is reason to believe +that she was with him during his stay in St. Giles. We were delighted +with the place, for we had seen little else more typical of old-time +England than this cottage, which would have been worth seeing aside from +its connection with the great epic poet. In front was the garden, a +blaze of bright colors, and the walls were half hidden by climbing +rose-vines in full boom--for the roses in England stay much later in +the summer than they do with us. The entrance to the cottage fronts on +the garden. There is no door next the street, the great chimney built on +the outside leaving no room for one. + +[Illustration: MILTON'S ROOM IN COTTAGE AT CHALFONT ST. GILES.] + +We were now in the vicinity where William Penn was born and where he +lies buried. We had some trouble in finding Jordans, the little +meeting-house near which is the grave of the Quaker philanthropist. Many +of the people of whom we inquired did not know of its existence, and +after considerable wandering through the byways we learned that we were +within a mile of the place. For this distance we followed a shady lane, +over-arched by trees and so ill kept that it was about as rough motoring +as one will find in England. Directly at the foot of a steep hill we +came upon the meeting-house, nestling in a wooded valley. It had in its +plain simplicity the appearance of an ordinary cottage; with the Quakers +there in no such thing as a church, for they prefer to call their places +of worship simply "meeting-houses." We were surprised to find a number +of people about the chapel and soon learned that we had the good fortune +to arrive on one of the meeting days. These meetings had for years been +held annually, but during the present summer they were being held once a +month. As the Friends are not numerous in this vicinity, many of the +congregation had come from long distances--some from London. We learned +this in conversation with a sweet-faced, quiet-mannered lady who had all +the Quaker characteristics. She said that she and her husband had come +from London that day, most of the way on their cycles; that they had +been in Philadelphia and knew something of America. She presented us to +a benevolent-looking, white-bearded man who afterwards proved to be the +leader of the meeting, simply saying, "Our friends are from Iowa." The +old gentleman pressed us to remain, as the meeting would begin +immediately, and we were delighted to acquiesce. There were about forty +people gathered in the little room, which was not more than fifteen by +twenty feet in size and supplied with the plainest straight-backed +benches imaginable. It was a genuine Quaker meeting. For perhaps half an +hour the congregation sat in perfect silence, and finally the old +gentleman who acted as leader arose and explained--largely for our +benefit, I think, as we were the only strangers present--that this was +the Quaker method of worship. Unless a member of the congregation felt +he had something really worth saying, he waited to speak only "as the +Spirit moved him." I could not help thinking that I had been in many +meetings where, if this rule had been followed, everybody would have +been better off. However, in the course of a few minutes he arose again +and began his talk. We had attended many services in England at noted +churches and cathedrals, but for genuine Christianity, true brotherly +love and real inspiration, I think the half hour talk of the old Quaker +was worth them all. We agreed that it was one of our most fortunate +experiences. + +In the churchyard we stood before the grave of William Penn, marked by +the plainest kind of a small headstone and identical with the few others +beside it. We expressed wonder at this, but the lady with whom we had +previously talked explained that it would be inharmonious with the +Quaker idea to erect a splendid monument to any man. For many years the +graves had not been marked at all, but finally it was decided that it +would not be inappropriate to put up plain headstones, all of the same +style, to let visitors know where the great Quaker and his family rest. +And very simple were the inscriptions chiseled upon the stones. All +around the meeting-house is a forest of great trees, and no other +building is in the immediate vicinity. One might almost have imagined +himself at a Quaker service in pioneer times in America, when the +meeting-houses were really as remote and secluded as this one seemed, +rather than within twenty miles of the world's metropolis, in a country +teeming with towns and villages. + +It was about three o'clock when we left Jordans with a view of reaching +Oxford, still a good many miles away, by nightfall. In this vicinity are +the Burnham beeches, made known almost everywhere by the camera and the +brush of the artist. A byway runs directly among the magnificent trees, +which we found as imposing as the pictures had represented--sprawling +old trees, many feet in circumference, but none of very great height. +Near by is Stoke-Poges church, whose memory is kept alive by the "Elegy" +of the poet Gray. It is one of the best known of the English country +churches and is visited annually by thousands of people. The poet and +his relatives are buried in the churchyard and the yew tree under which +he is said to have meditated upon the theme of the immortal poem is +still standing, green and thriving. The church, half covered by ivy and +standing against a background of fine trees, presents a beautiful +picture. In the immediate neighborhood a monument has been raised in +memory of Gray--a huge bulk of stone of inartistic and unpleasing +design. The most appropriate monument of the poet is the church itself, +with its yew tree, which is now known wherever the English language is +spoken. + +Two or three miles farther on is Windsor, with its castle, the principal +residence of royalty, and Eton College, its well known school for boys. +This school is more exclusive and better patronized than Harrow, and I +was told that it is quite a difficult problem for the average youth to +enter at all. The sons of the nobility and members of the royal family +are given the preference and expenses are so high as to shut out all but +the wealthy. Windsor Castle is the most imposing of its kind in the +world. It is situated on the Thames River, about twenty miles from +London. Crowning a gently rising hill, its massive towers and +battlements afford a picturesque view from almost anywhere in the +surrounding country and especially from points of vantage in the park, +where one can catch glimpses of the fortress through some of the avenues +of magnificent trees. On a clear day, when the towers of the castle are +sharply outlined against the sky and surmounted by the brightly colored +royal standards, one might easily imagine himself back in the good old +days of knight-errantry. Windsor is shown to visitors at any time when +the royal family is not in residence. Queen Victoria and Albert, the +Prince Consort, are buried in Frogmore Park, near by, but the tombs are +sacredly guarded from the public. The grounds surrounding the castle are +laid out in flower gardens and parks, and the forest of more than seven +thousand acres is the finest in England. It is one of the royal +preserves where the king occasionally goes hunting, but it really serves +more the purpose of a great public park. There are many splendid drives +through the forest open to everybody, the main one leading straight away +from the castle gates for about four miles and terminating at an +equestrian statue of George the Third, of more or less happy memory. + +A broad road leads from Windsor to Oxford; it is almost straight and +without hills of consequence. It is a favorite route for motorists, and +at several points were stationed bicycle couriers of the Motor Union to +give warning for police traps. These guards patrolled the road and +carried circular badges, red on one side and white on the other. If the +white side were shown to the passing motorist, the road ahead was clear; +but the red was a caution for moderate speed for several miles. This +system, which we found in operation in many places, is the means of +saving motor drivers from numerous fines. The bicycle courier receives a +fee very thankfully and no doubt this constitutes his chief source of +revenue for service rendered. + +About ten miles from Oxford we passed through Henley-on-Thames, famed +for the University rowing-matches. Here the river lies in broad still +stretches that afford an ideal place for the contests. The Thames is +navigable for small steamboats and houseboats from London to Oxford, a +distance of sixty miles, and the shores of the stream throughout afford +scenes of surpassing beauty. Just at sunset the towers of Oxford +loomed in the distance, and it was easy to recognize that of Magdalen +College, which rises to a height of two hundred feet. Though Oxford is +one of the older of the English towns, parts of it seemed as up-to-date +as any we had seen, and the Randolph Hotel compared favorably with the +best we found anywhere. + +[Illustration: DISTANT VIEW OF MAGDALEN TOWER, OXFORD.] + +The time which a tourist will devote to Oxford will depend upon his +point of view. To visit the forty-four colleges in detail and to give +any time to each would manifestly require several days--if not +weeks--and especially would this be true if one were interested to any +extent in student life in the University. Manifestly, people touring +England in a motor car do not belong to the class described. In order to +get the most out of the trip, there is a constant necessity for moving +on. By an economical use of time, one may gain a fair idea of Oxford in +a few hours. This was what we had done on a previous trip and +consequently we spent little time in the city on our second visit, +merely remaining over night. I think the method we pursued would be the +most practical for anyone who desires to reach the most interesting +points of the town in the shortest time. We engaged an experienced +hack-driver, who combined with his vocation the qualities of a well +informed guide as well. We told him of our limited time and asked him to +make the most of it by taking us about the universities, stopping at +such as would give us the best idea of the schools and of university +life. He did this to our satisfaction, and as we passed the various +institutions his comments gave us a general idea of each. He stopped at +some of the more noted colleges, where we often found guides who +conducted us about the buildings and grounds. Perhaps Magdalen College +is as interesting as any. Its fine quadrangular tower is one of the +landmarks of the city, and they will tell you of the quaint custom that +has prevailed for many centuries of celebrating May Day morning with +music from the top of the tower by a choir of boys. Magdalen has its +park and gardens, and Addison's Walk--a pathway extending for +considerable distance between an avenue of fine trees beside a clear +little river--is reputed to have been a haunt of the great essayist when +a student at the University. Next to Magdalen, the most celebrated +colleges are New College, Christ Church and Merton. At the first of +these Cecil Rhodes was a student, and the great promoter must have had a +warm feeling for the University, since his bequest has thrown open the +various colleges to more than a hundred students from all parts of the +world, but principally from the United States. Practically all of the +students have their quarters in connection with the colleges and meals +are served in public dining rooms. + +Aside from its colleges, there is much else of interest in and about +Oxford. The castle, of which there are scant remains, is one of the very +oldest in England and has a varied and often stirring history. During +the Parliamentary War, Oxford was one of the strongholds of the king and +underwent many sieges from Cromwell's army--which was responsible for +the final destruction of the castle. As a seat of learning, the town +dates from the time of Alfred, who was born at Wantage, only twenty +miles away. Naturally, Oxford was always prominent in ecclesiastical +affairs and during the reign of Mary the three bishops of the English +church suffered martyrdom there. In one of the public places of the city +stands a tall Gothic monument commemorating the services of these men +and incidentally putting severe strictures on the "errors" of the Roman +church. The language in which this latter clause is stated caused a +storm of protest when the monument was erected, but it had no more +effect than did the protest against the iron-clad, anti-Catholic +coronation oath of the king. The Bodleian Library, located in Oxford, is +the greatest in England, with the exception of the library of the +British Museum. + + + + +XVII + +A CHAPTER OF DIVERS PLACES AND EXPERIENCES + + +Ten miles north of Oxford is Woodstock, near which is Blenheim Palace, +the seat of the Dukes of Marlborough. This great estate and imposing +mansion was presented by Act of Parliament to the first Duke of +Marlborough in recognition of the victory which he won over the French +at Blenheim. The architect who prepared the plans for the great +structure was the famous Sir John Vanbrugh, who was so noted for the +generally low heavy effect of his creations. While he was still alive a +wit proposed a satirical epitaph in the couplet, + + "Lie heavy on him, Earth, for he + Laid many a heavy load on thee." + +So enormous was the cost of the palace and estate that the half million +pounds sterling voted by parliament was not sufficient and more than +sixty thousand pounds of the great Duke's private fortune went into it +as well. In his fondness for state and display, he was quite the +opposite of the other great national hero, the Duke of Wellington, who +was satisfied with the greatest simplicity and preferred cash to +expensive palaces and great estates. As a consequence, the Dukes of +Marlborough have been land-poor for several generations and until +recently Blenheim Palace seemed in a fair way to be added to the already +long list of ruins in Britain. Something has lately been done in the way +of repair and restoration, but there are many evidences of decay still +apparent. + +[Illustration: RINGWOOD CHURCH.] + +Blenheim Palace has been shorn of many of its treasures, among them the +great Sunderland Library of 80,000 volumes, sold at auction some years +ago. Many valuable objects of art still remain, especially family +portraits by nearly every great artist from Gainsborough to Sargent, and +there is much fine statuary. The tapestries, in the state rooms, +illustrating the achievements of the first Duke, are especially +remarkable and were made in Belgium under his directions. But from the +English view-point, no doubt the original documents pertaining to the +Duke are most notable; among these is the modest note which he addressed +to Queen Anne from Blenheim, announcing his "famous victory." + +The park is one of the largest in England, but it showed many evidences +of neglect and slovenly care. Some of the worst looking cattle I saw in +England obstructed the ornamental stone bridge that crosses the stream +flowing into a large artificial lake within the park. The driveways were +not kept in the perfect manner that is characteristic of the English +private park. Despite these evidences of neglect, the beauty of the +place was little impaired. There are some of the finest oak trees in +England and down by the lake are groups of magnificent cedars through +whose branches the bright water shimmered in the sunshine. As we circled +about the park, the distant views of the palace well bore out its +reputation of being one of the stateliest private homes in the Kingdom. +Our guide pointed out the spot where once stood the manor-house of +Woodstock, torn down about a hundred years ago. In this house Princess +Elizabeth was held a prisoner for a time by her sister, Queen Mary, but +it is best known from the story of Walter Scott, who located here the +principal scenes of "Woodstock." + +The town of Woodstock has a long line of traditions, but shows little +evidence of modern progress. It is a quiet, old-world little place with +clean streets and many fine trees. Tradition asserts that the father of +English poetry, Geoffrey Chaucer, was born here and the old house, +alleged to be his birthplace, still stands in Park Street. However, the +poet himself declares that London was his native city and the confiding +tourist is left with the necessity of balancing the poet's own assertion +on this important point against that of the Woodstock guide books. In +any event, Chaucer certainly lived in Woodstock--very likely in the +house assigned to him today. The town was also a residence of the Saxon +kings, and here are many legends of Henry II and Fair Rosamond. Perhaps +its most distinguished resident, however, was Oliver Cromwell, who put +up at an inn, now a private house, while his army battered down the old +palace as described by Scott. + +We returned from Woodstock to Oxford and from there directed our course +to Wantage, the birthplace of King Alfred the Great and, I might +incidentally remark, at that time the residence of a well known +expatriated New York City politician. This latter distinction did not +occur to us until after we had left the town, and therefore we failed to +make inquiries as to how this gentleman was regarded by his +fellow-citizens of Oxfordshire. In this connection, soon afterwards I +saw an amusing report in the newspapers stating that a libel suit had +been brought against a British magazine for having published an article +in which the ex-boss was spoken of in an uncomplimentary manner. The +report stated that the case had been settled, the magazine editor paying +the legal costs and retracting what he had said, as well as publishing +an apology for the attack. Here we have an example of the British idea +of the sacredness of private character. This politician while in America +was almost daily accused by the newspapers of every crime in the +calendar and never thought it worth while to enter a denial. No sooner +is he fairly established in England than he brings suit against a +magazine whose charges appear to have been of the mildest character. One +seldom sees in English newspapers the violent attacks on individuals and +the severe denunciations of public men so common in American journals. +If the editor forgets himself, as in the case cited, suit for libel is +sure to be brought and often proves a serious thing. While this to some +extent may obstruct the freedom of the press, it is nevertheless a +relief to miss the disgraceful and unwarranted attacks on public men +that continually fill the columns of many American newspapers. + +The road from Oxford to Wantage is a splendid one, running through a +beautiful country and bordered much of the way with ancient trees. +Wantage is a quiet town, lying at the foot of the hills, and is chiefly +noted as the birthplace of the great Saxon king. A granite statute of +Alfred stands in the market square, representing the king with the +charter of English liberties in one hand and a battle-ax in the other. +As he was born more than a thousand years ago, there are no buildings +now standing that were connected with his history. The church is +probably the oldest building--a fine example of early English +architecture. Near it is buried the wife of Whittington, "Lord Mayor of +Londontown." Dr. Butler, the theologian and author of "The Analogy," was +born in the town and this house is still to be seen. + +Leaving Wantage, the road to Reading runs along the crest of the hills, +and on either side from the breezy uplands, the green fields, dashed +with the gold of the ripening harvest, stretched away for many miles. +This was one of the few spots in England where the view was unobstructed +by fences of any kind, and while the average English hedge-row is not +unpleasing, the beauty of the landscape in this instance certainly did +not suffer by its absence. From Kingston-on-Thames, the perfectly kept +road closely follows the river. Reading has a population of about one +hundred and twenty thousand and is a place of considerable business +activity. Though the city has a history stretching back to ancient +times, most of the evidences of antiquity have disappeared in modern +progress. It was chosen as the seat of Elizabeth's parliament when the +plague was devastating London. Fragments of the old abbey hall in which +this parliament met still remain and the gateway was restored a few +years ago. Reading offered a stout resistance to the Commonwealth and +suffered severely at Cromwell's hands. Its chief industries today are +biscuit making and seed farming, which give employment to ten thousand +people. + +From Reading, a few miles through byways brought us to Eversley, a +retired village five miles from a railway station, where the church and +rectory of Charles Kingsley may be seen. The church is picturesquely +situated on the hillside, with an avenue of fine yew trees leading from +the gate to the door. The building has been altered a good deal since +Kingsley was rector, but the pulpit from which he preached is +practically the same. The rectory, which is directly by the church, is a +very old building, though it has been modernized on the side fronting +the road. It stands in the midst of a group of Scotch firs which were +great favorites with Kingsley. Their branches almost touch the earth, +while their huge trunks form a strong contrast with the dense green of +the foliage. Kingsley and his wife are buried in the churchyard on the +side nearest the firs. The graves are marked by a simple Runic cross in +white marble bearing the names, the date, and the legend, "God is Love." +Eversley and its surroundings are thoroughly typical of rural England. A +quieter and more retired little place could hardly be imagined. One +wonders why the great novelist and preacher spent so many years of his +life here. It may have been that the seclusion was not a little +conducive to his successful literary labors. + +Thirty miles farther over main-traveled highways brought us for a second +time to Winchester. Here we stopped for the night after an unusually +long run. An early start soon brought us to Southampton, which is known +everywhere as a port of arrival and departure of great merchant steamers +and which, aside from its commercial importance, is one of the most +ancient and interesting cities in the Kingdom. The most notable relic is +a portion of the Saxon wall, the part known as the "Arcade," built in a +series of arches, being the most remarkable. Close by, in a little +street called Blue Anchor Lane, is a house reputed to have been the +palace of King John and said to be the oldest in England, although +several others contest that distinction. At the head of Blue Anchor Lane +is a picturesque Tudor house, once the residence of Henry VIII and his +queen, Anne Boleyn. This is open to visitors and we were shown every +part of the house by the tenant, who is also custodian. With all its +magnificence of carved oak and wide fireplaces, it must have been a +comfortless dwelling measured by more modern ideas. + +Leaving the city, we crossed Southampton Water on a steam ferry which +was guided by a chain stretched from bank to bank. Two or three miles to +the southward lies Netley, a small village with the remains of an abbey +dating from the reign of Henry I. The road to Netley followed the shore +closely, but on nearing the village suddenly entered an avenue of fine +trees which so effectually concealed the ruin that we stopped directly +opposite the abbey to inquire its whereabouts. Leaving the car standing +in the road, we spent a quarter of an hour wandering about the ruin and +trying to locate the various apartments from a hand-book. The custodian +here did not act as a guide, and we were left to figure out for +ourselves the intricacies of nave, refectory, cloister, etc. Only the +ivy-covered walls of the building are now standing, but these are in an +unusual state of completeness. The chapel or church was cruciform in +shape and built in the early English style. The walls of the west end +have practically disappeared, but the great east window is fairly well +preserved and its most remarkable feature is its two beautifully +proportioned lights, the stone tracery of which remains almost intact. A +legend in connection with this abbey no doubt grew out of the desire of +some of the people to prevent the destruction of the beautiful building. +After the abbey had been dismantled, the church was sold to a +contractor, who proceeded to tear it down for the material. He was +warned in a dream by the appearance of a monk not to proceed with the +work, but disregarded the warning and was killed by the falling of a +portion of the wall. If incidents of this kind had happened more +frequently England would no doubt be richer in historic buildings. + +We were preparing to leave Netley when a man in plain clothes +approached us, and civilly touching his hat, inquired if I were the +owner of the motor car. I confessed that I was and he stated he was an +officer and regretted that he would have to report me to the police +captain for leaving the car standing on a public walk. I had +inadvertantly left the machine so that it partially obstructed the +narrow gravel walk alongside the road, and some of the citizens had no +doubt complained to the officer. We were naturally enough much +chagrined, not knowing how much inconvenience and delay this incident +might cause. The constable took my name and the number of the car and +said I could report the circumstance myself to the captain of the +police. I desired him to accompany me to call on this dignitary, but he +did not seem at all anxious for the job. + +This is the general procedure in England. An arrest is very seldom made +in a case of this kind. The officer simply takes the name and number and +the motorist can call on the proper official himself. The police system +is so perfect that it would be quite useless to attempt to run away, as +would happen if such a system were pursued in this country. If, in the +judgment of the police official, the case should come to trial, a +summons is served on the offender and the date is set. This is what I +feared might happen in this case, and as it was within a week of our +sailing time, I could imagine that it might cause a great deal of +inconvenience. + +I found the police captain's office in a neatly kept public building +with a flower garden in front of it. I put the case to the captain, and +after he had learned all the particulars he hastened to assure me that +he would waive prosecution of the offense. He said some of the people in +Netley were prejudiced against motors and no doubt were annoyed by the +numerous tourists who came there to visit the abbey. Thus all the +difficulties I had conjured up faded away and I had a pleasant +conversation with the captain, who was a thorough gentleman. He said +that the motor car was detested by many people, and no doubt with reason +in some cases; but it had come to stay and forbearance and common sense +were needed on part of motorist and the public generally. Much of the +trouble, he stated, is due to reckless motorists who disregard the +rights of other people. The week previous they had considerable +difficulty in his district with an American who drove his car recklessly +and defied regulations, and it was such performances that were +responsible for the prejudice against the motor. This incident was my +only personal experience with the British police in official capacity, +barring a friendly admonition or two in London when I managed to get on +the right side of the road--which is literally the wrong side in +Britain. + +The English police, taken as a whole, is unquestionably the most +efficient and best disciplined in the world. A policeman's authority is +never questioned in England and his raised hand is a signal that never +goes unheeded. He has neither club nor revolver and seldom has need for +these weapons. He is an encyclopedia of information, and the cases where +he lent us assistance both in directing us on our road and informing us +as to places of interest, literally numbered hundreds. He is a believer +in fair play and seldom starts out of his own accord to make anyone +trouble. It is not the policeman, but the civil officials who are +responsible for the police traps which in many places are conducted in a +positively disreputable manner, the idea being simply to raise revenue +regardless of justice and without discrimination among the offenders. +Graft among British policemen is unknown and bribery altogether unheard +of. Of course their task is easier than that of the average American +policeman, on account of the greater prevalence of the law-abiding +spirit among the people. One finds policemen everywhere. Even the +country districts are carefully patrolled. The escape of a law-breaker +is a difficult if not impossible thing. One seldom hears in England of a +motorist running away and leaving the scene of an accident that he has +caused. Another thing that greatly helps the English policeman in his +work is that a captured criminal is not turned loose again as is often +the case in this country. Justice is surer and swifter in England, and +as a consequence crime averages less than in most parts of the States. +The murders committed yearly in Chicago outnumber many times those of +London, which is three times as large. The British system of +administering justice is one that in many particulars we could imitate +to advantage in this country. + +After bidding farewell to my friend the police captain and assuring him +I was glad that our acquaintance terminated so quickly and happily, we +proceeded on our way towards Chichester. The road for a distance of +twenty-five miles led through an almost constant succession of towns and +was frightfully dusty. The weather was what the natives call "beastly +hot," and really was as near an approach to summer as we had experienced +so far. + +The predominating feature of Chichester is its cathedral, which dates +from about 1100. It suffered repeatedly from fires and finally underwent +complete restoration, beginning in 1848. The detached bell-tower is +peculiar to the cathedral. This, although the most recent part of the +building, appeared to be crumbling away and was undergoing extensive +repairs. The cathedral is one of lesser importance among the great +English churches, though on the whole it is an imposing edifice. + +[Illustration: A SURREY LANDSCAPE. + +From Painting by D. Sherrin.] + +At Chichester we stopped for lunch at the hotel, just opposite the +cathedral, where we had an example of the increasing tendency of hotel +managers to recoup their fortunes by special prices for the benefit of +tourists. On entering the dining room we were confronted with large +placards conveying the cheerful information that luncheon would cost +five shillings, or about $1.25 each. Evidently the manageress desired +the victims to be prepared for the worst. There was another party in the +dining room, a woman with five or six small children, and a small riot +began when she was presented with a bill of five shillings for each of +them. The landlady, clad in a low-necked black dress with long sweeping +train, was typical of many we saw in the old-country hotels. She +received her guest's protest with the utmost hauteur, and when we left +the altercation was still in progress. It was not an uncommon thing in +many of the dingiest and most unpretentious hotels to find some of the +women guests elaborately dressed for dinner in the regulation low neck +and long train. In many cases the example was set by the manageress and +her assistants, though their attire not infrequently was the worse for +long and continuous use. + +Directly north of Chichester lie the picturesque hills of Surrey, which +have not inaptly been described as the play-ground of London. The +country around Chichester is level bordering on the coast. A few miles +to the north it becomes rough and broken. About twenty miles in this +direction is Haselmere, with many associations of George Eliot and +Tennyson. This, together with the picturesque character of the country, +induced us to turn our course in that direction, although we found a +number of steep hills that were as trying as any we had met with. On the +way we passed through Midhurst, one of the quaintest of Surrey towns, +situated on a hill so steep and broken as to be quite dangerous. Not far +from this place is the home of Richard Cobden, the father of English +free trade, and he is buried in the churchyard near the town. He was +evidently held in high regard in his time, for his house, which is still +standing, was presented him by the nation. Among the hills near the town +are several stately English country houses, and about half a mile +distant are the ruins of Cowdray mansion, which about a hundred years +ago was one of the most pretentious of all. There was an old tradition +which said that the house and family should perish by fire and water, +and it was curiously enough fulfilled when the palace burned and the +last lord of the family was drowned on the same day. + +[Illustration: WINDMILL NEAR ARUNDEL, SUSSEX.] + + + + +XVIII + +IN SURREY AND SUSSEX + + +Twenty miles over a narrow road winding among the hills brought us to +Shottermill, where George Eliot spent much of her time after 1871--a +pleasant little hamlet clinging to a steep hillside. The main street of +the village runs up the hill from a clear little unbridged stream, over +whose pebbly bottom our car dashed unimpeded, throwing a spray of water +to either side. At the hilltop, close to the church, is the +old-fashioned, many-gabled cottage which George Eliot occupied as a +tenant and where she composed her best known story, "Middlemarch." The +cottage is still let from time to time, but the present tenant was away +and the maid who answered us declined to show the cottage in her +mistress' absence--a rather unusual exhibition of fidelity. The village, +the surrounding country, and the charming exterior of the cottage, with +its ivy and climbing roses, were quite enough to repay us for coming +though we were denied a glimpse of the interior. + +Haselmere is only a mile distant--a larger and unusually fine-looking +town with a number of good hotels. It is a center for tourists who come +from London to the Hindhead District--altogether one of the most +frequented sections of England. The country is wild and broken, but in +late summer and autumn it is ablaze with yellow gorse and purple heather +and the hills are covered with the graceful Scotch firs. All about are +places of more or less interest and a week could be spent in making +excursions from Haselmere as a center. This country attracted Tennyson, +and here he built his country seat, which he called Aldworth. George +Eliot often visited him at this place. The house is surrounded by a park +and the poet here enjoyed a seclusion that he could not obtain in his +Isle of Wight home. Aldworth belongs to the present Lord Tennyson, son +of the poet, who divides his time between it and Farringford in the Isle +of Wight, and neither of the places are shown to visitors. However, a +really interested party might see the house or even live in it, for we +saw in the window of a real estate man in Haselmere a large photograph +of Aldworth, with a placard announcing that it was to be "let +furnished"--doubtless during the period of the year the owner passes at +Farringford House. + +[Illustration: ARUNDEL CASTLE.] + +Much as we wished to tarry in this vicinity, our time was so limited +that we were compelled to hasten on. It was nearly dark when we reached +Arundel, whose castle, the residence of the Duke of Norfolk, was the +stateliest private mansion we saw in England. The old castle was +almost dismantled by Cromwell's troops, but nearly a hundred years ago +restoration was begun by the then Duke of Norfolk. It was carried out as +nearly as possible along the lines of the old fortress, but much of the +structure was rebuilt, so that it presents, as a whole, an air of +newness. The great park, one of the finest in England, is open to +visitors, who may walk or drive about at will. The road into the town +leads through this park for many miles. Bordered on both sides by +ancient trees and winding between them in graceful curves, it was one of +the most beautiful that we had seen anywhere. + +We had planned to stop at Arundel, but the promise in our guide-books of +a "level and first-class" road to Brighton, and the fact that a full +moon would light us, determined us to proceed. It proved a pleasant +trip; the greater part of the way we ran along the ocean, which sparkled +and shimmered as it presented a continual vista of golden-hued water +stretching away toward the moon. It was now early in August; the English +twilights were becoming shorter, and for the third time it was necessary +to light the gas-lamps. We did not reach the hotel in Brighton until +after ten o'clock. + +Brighton is probably the most noted seaside resort in England--a +counterpart of our American Atlantic City. It is fifty miles south of +London, within easy reach of the metropolis, and many London business +men live here, making the trip every day. The town has a modern +appearance, having been built within the past hundred years, and is more +regularly laid out than the average English city. For two or three miles +fronting the beach there is a row of hotels, some of them most palatial. +The Grand, where we stopped, was one of the handsomest we saw in +England. It has an excellent garage in connection and the large number +of cars showed how important this branch of hotel-keeping had become. +There is no motor trip more generally favored by Londoners than the run +to Brighton, as a level and nearly straight road connects the two +cities. There is nothing here to detain a tourist who is chiefly +interested in historic England. About a hundred years ago the fine sunny +beach was "discovered" and the fishing village of Brightholme was +rapidly transformed into one of the best built and most modern of the +resort towns in England. Its present population of over one hundred +thousand places it at the head of the exclusive watering places, so far +as size is concerned. + +A little to the north of Brighton is Lewes, the county town of Sussex, +rich in relics of antiquity. Its early history is rather vague, but it +is known to have been an important place under the Saxon kings. William +the Conqueror generously presented it to one of his followers, who +fortified it and built the castle the ruins of which crown the hill +overlooking the town. The keep affords a vantage point for a magnificent +view, extending in every direction. I had seen a good many English +landscapes from similar points of vantage, notably the castles of +Ludlow, Richmond, Raglan, Chepstow and others, and it seemed strange +that in such a small country there should be so many varying and +distinctly dissimilar prospects, yet all of them pleasing and +picturesque. + +The country around Lewes is hilly and rather devoid of trees. It is +broken in many places by chalk bluffs, and the chalky nature of the soil +was noticeable in the whiteness of the network of country roads. Many +old houses are still standing in the town and one of these is pointed +out as the residence of Anne of Cleves, one of the numerous wives of +Henry VIII. Near the town and plainly visible from the tower is the +battlefield where in 1624 the Battle of Lewes was fought between Henry +VII and the barons, led by Simon de Montfort. Lewes appears to be an +old, staid and unprogressive town. No doubt all the spirit of progress +in the vicinity has been absorbed by the city of Brighton, less than a +dozen miles away. If there has been any material improvement in Lewes +for the past hundred years, it is hardly apparent to the casual +observer. + +We were now in a section of England rich in historic associations. We +were nearing the spot where William the Conqueror landed and where the +battle was fought which overthrew the Saxon dynasty--which an eminent +authority declares to have done more to change the history of the +Anglo-Saxon race than any other single event. From Lewes, over crooked, +narrow and rather rough roads, we proceeded to Pevensey, where the +Normans landed nearly a thousand years ago. It is one of the sleepy, +unpretentious villages that dot the southern coast of England, but it +has a history stretching far back of many of the more important cities +of the Kingdom. It was a port of entry in early times and is known to +have been in existence long before the Romans came to Britain. The +Romans called it Anderida, and their city was situated on the site of +the castle. Like other Sussex towns, Pevensey lost its position as a +seaport owing to a remarkable natural movement of the coast line, which +has been receding for centuries. When the Conqueror landed the sea came +up to the castle walls, but now there is a stretch of four miles of +meadowland between the coast and the town. + +The castle, rude and ruinous, shows the work of many centuries, and was +really a great fortress rather than a feudal residence. It has been in a +state of decay for many hundreds of years, but its massive walls, though +ivy-grown and crumbling, still show how strongly it was built. It is +now the property of the Duke of Devonshire, who seeks to check further +decay and opens it to the public without charge. + +[Illustration: PEVENSEY CASTLE, WHERE THE NORMANS LANDED.] + +Battle, with its abbey, is a few miles from Pevensey. This abbey marks +the site of the conflict between the Normans and the Saxons and was +built by the Conqueror on the spot where Harold, the Saxon king, fell, +slain by a Norman arrow. William had piously vowed that if he gained the +victory he would commemorate it by building an abbey, and this was the +origin of Battle Abbey. William took care, however, to see that it was +filled with Norman monks, who were granted extraordinary privileges and +treasure, mostly at the expense of the conquered Saxons. The abbey is +one of the best preserved of the early monastic buildings in England, +and is used as a private residence by the proprietor. The church is in +ruins, but the great gateway, with its crenelated towers, and the main +part of the monastic building are practically as they were when +completed, shortly after the death of the Conqueror. + +Battle Abbey, since the time of our visit, has passed into the +possession of an American, who has taken up his residence there. This +case is typical of not a few that came to our attention during our stay +in England. Many of the historic places that have for generations been +in the possession of members of the nobility have been sold to wealthy +Americans or Englishmen who have made fortunes in business. These +transactions are made possible by a law that permits entailed estates to +be sold when the owner becomes embarrassed to such an extent that he can +no longer maintain them. And some of these places are sold at +astonishingly low figures--a fraction of their cost. It is another of +the signs of the changing social conditions in the British Empire. + +A quaint old village is Winchelsea, on the coast about fifteen miles +from Battle. It is a small, straggling place, with nothing but its +imposing though ruinous church and the massive gateways of its ancient +walls remaining to indicate that at one time it was a seaport of some +consequence. But here, as at Pevensey, the sea receded several miles, +destroying Winchelsea's harbor. Its mosts interesting relic is the +parish church, built about 1288. The greater portion of this is now in +ruins, nothing remaining but the nave, which is still used for services. +In the churchyard, under a great tree, still standing, John Wesley +preached his last open-air sermon. + +[Illustration: WINCHELSEA CHURCH AND ELM TREE.] + +Two miles from Winchelsea is Rye, another of the decayed seaports of the +southeast coast. A few small fishing vessels still frequent its harbor, +but the merchant ships, which used to contribute to its prosperity, are +no longer seen. It is larger than Winchelsea and is built on a hill, its +steep, narrow streets being lined with quaint houses. These two queer +towns seem indeed like an echo from the past. It does not appear that +there have been any changes of consequence in them for the past several +hundred years. People continue to live in such villages because the +average Englishman has a great aversion to leaving his native land. One +would think that there would be emigration from such places to the +splendid lands of Western Canada, but these lands are not being taken by +Englishmen, although the opportunity is being widely advertised by the +Canadian Government and the various transportation companies. And yet +one can hardly wonder at the reluctance of the native Englishman to +leave the "tight little island," with its trim beauty and proud +tradition, for the wild, unsubdued countries of the West. If loyal +Americans, as we can rightly claim to be, are so greatly charmed with +England, dear indeed it must be to those who can call it their native +land. + +Winchelsea and Rye are typical of hundreds of decayed towns throughout +the Kingdom, though perhaps they are more interesting from an historic +standpoint than the others. Being so near the French coast, they +suffered terribly in the continual French and English wars and were +burned several times by the French in their descents upon the English +coast. It was nearly dark when we reached Rye; we had planned to stop +there, but the uninviting appearance of the hotel was a strong factor +in determining us to reach Tunbridge Wells, about thirty miles away. + +We saw few more beautiful landscapes than those which stretched away +under the soft glow of the English twilight from the upland road leading +out of Rye. We did not have much leisure to contemplate the beauty of +the scene, but such a constant succession of delightful vistas as we +dashed along, together with the exhilaration of the fresh sea breeze, +forms a pleasing recollection that will not be easily effaced. The +twilight was beginning to fade away beneath the brilliancy of the full +moon when we ran into the village of Bodiam, where stands one of the +most perfect of the ancient castellated mansions to be found in the +Kingdom. We paused a few minutes to view it from a distance and found +ourselves directly in front of a neat-looking hotel--the Castle Inn. Its +inviting appearance, our desire to see the castle more closely, and the +fact that Tunbridge Wells was still a good many miles away over winding +roads liberally sprinkled with steep hills, led us to make Bodiam our +stopping place. There are few things that we have more reason for +rejoicing over, for we saw the gray walls and towers of Bodiam Castle +under the enchanting influence of a full, summer moon. + +The castle was built in 1385 and appears to have been intended more as +a palatial residence than a feudal fortress. Its position is not a +strong one for defense, being situated on a level plain rather than upon +a commanding eminence, as is usually the case with fortified castles. It +was built after artillery had come into use, and the futility of +erecting a structure that would stand against this new engine of +destruction must have been obvious. The most remarkable feature is the +wide moat which surrounds the castle. In fact, this gives it the +appearance of standing on an island in the middle of a small lake. The +water of the moat was nearly covered by water-lilies. + +The walls of the castle are wonderfully complete, every tower and turret +retaining its old-time battlements. It is supposed never to have +sustained an attack by armed forces and its present condition is due to +neglect and decay. From our point of view, it must have been an +insanitary place, standing in the low-lying fens in the midst of a pool +of stagnant water, but such reflection does not detract from its beauty. +I have never seen a more romantic sight than this huge, quadrangular +pile, with its array of battlements and towers rising abruptly out of +the dark waters of the moat. And its whole aspect, as we beheld +it--softened in outline by the mellow moonlight--made a picture that +savored more of enchantment than reality. + +Although the hour was late, the custodian admitted us to the ruins and +we passed over a narrow bridge which crossed the moat. The pathway led +through a door in the great gateway, over which still hangs suspended +the iron port-cullis. Inside there was a grassy court, surrounded by the +walls and ruined apartments of the castle. I ascended one of the main +towers by a dilapidated stone stairway and was well repaid for the +effort by the glorious moonlit prospect that stretched out before me. + +When we returned to the Castle Inn, we found the landlady all attention +and she spared no effort to contribute to our comfort. The little inn +was cleanlier and better kept than many of the more pretentious ones. +Bodiam is several miles from the railroad and but few tourists visit the +castle. The principal business of the hotel is to cater to parties of +English trippers who make the neighborhood a resort for fishing and +hunting. + +An early start from Bodiam brought us to Tunbridge Wells before ten +o'clock in the morning. This city, although of considerable size, is +comparatively modern and has little to detain tourists. Like Harrogate +and Bath, its popularity is largely due to its mineral springs. In its +immediate neighborhood, however, there are many places of interest, and +we determined to make a circular tour among some of these, returning to +Tunbridge Wells for the night. + +[Illustration: ENTRANCE FRONT BODIAM CASTLE, SUSSEX.] + +A few miles from Tunbridge Wells is Offham, a little, out-of-the-way +village which boasts of a queer mediaeval relic, the only one of the +kind remaining in the Kingdom. This is called a quintain post and stands +in the center of the village green. It consists of a revolving crossbar +on the top of a tall, white post. One end of the bar is flattened and +pierced with small holes, while at the other a billet of wood is +suspended from a chain. The pastime consisted of riding on horseback and +aiming a lance at one of the holes in the broad end of the crossbar. If +the aim were true, the impact would swing the club around with violence, +and unless the rider were agile he was liable to be unhorsed--rough and +dangerous sport, but no doubt calculated to secure dexterity with the +lance on horseback. This odd relic is religiously preserved by the +village and looks suspiciously new, considering the long period since +such a pastime must have been practiced. However, this may be due to the +fact that the tenant of an adjoining cottage is required by the terms of +his lease to keep the post in good repair, a stipulation, no doubt, to +which we owe its existence. + +In Westerham, a few miles farther on, we saw the vicarage where Gen. +Wolfe, the hero of Quebec, was born. His parents were tenants of this +house for a short time only, and soon after his birth they moved to the +imposing residence now known as Quebec House, and here Wolfe spent the +first twelve years of his life. It is a fine Tudor mansion and has been +little altered since the boyhood of the great warrior. Visitors are not +now admitted. There are many relics of Wolfe in Westerham, and the spot +where he received his first military commission is marked by a stone +with an appropriate inscription. Wolfe's memory is greatly revered in +England and he is looked upon as the man who saved not only Canada, but +the United States as well, to the Anglo-Saxon race. + +Quite as closely connected with American history as Quebec House is the +home of William Pitt, near at hand. Holwood House, as it is called, is a +stately, classic building, situated in a great forest-clad park. It +passed out of the hands of Pitt more than a hundred years ago, and being +in possession of a private owner, is no longer open to visitors. + +Passing again into the hedge-bordered byways, we came to Downe, a +retired village four miles from the railway station and known to fame as +having been the home of Charles Darwin. Downe House, where he lived, is +still standing, a beautiful old Eighteenth Century place which was +considerably altered by Darwin himself. The house at present is +evidently in the hands of a prosperous owner, for it was apparent that +watchful care is expended upon it. But it is in no sense a show-place +and the few pilgrims who come to the town must content themselves with +a glimpse from the outside. + +To get a view of the place, I surreptitiously stepped through the open +gateway, the house itself being some distance from the road and +partially concealed by the hedges and trees in front of it. It is a +rather irregular, three-story building, with lattice windows surrounded +by ivy and climbing roses. It stands against a background of fir trees, +with a stretch of green lawn and flowers in front, and the whole place +had an air of quiet beauty and repose. On the front of the house was an +ancient sun-dial, and across it, in antique letters, the legend "Time +will show." I do not know whether this was placed there by Darwin or +not, but it is the most appropriate answer which the great scientist +might have made to his hosts of critics. Time has indeed shown, and the +quiet philosopher who lived in this retired village has revolutionized +the thought of the civilized world. + + + + +XIX + +KNOLE HOUSE AND PENSHURST + + +One of the greatest show-places of England is Knole House, the seat of +the Sackville-Wests, near Seven-Oaks. The owner at the time of our visit +was the Lord Sackville-West who was British ambassador at Washington, +where he achieved notoriety by answering a decoy letter advising a +supposed British-American to vote for Grover Cleveland as being +especially friendly to England. The letter created a tremendous furor in +the United States, and the result was the abrupt recall of the +distinguished writer from his post. + +No difficulty is experienced in obtaining admission to Knole House, +providing one pays the price. The thousands of tourists who come +annually are handled in a most businesslike manner. An admission fee of +two shillings, or about fifty cents, is charged, and at numerous stands +near the gateway photographs, post cards, souvenirs and guide-books +galore are sold. Motor cars are allowed to drive right up to the great +gateway, where they are assigned a position and supervised by an +attendant, all for the sum of one shilling. However, the show is well +worth the price, and the owner of the palace is entitled to no small +credit for making it so readily accessible. + +The house is a fine example of the baronial residences erected just +after the period of fortified castles, when artillery had rendered these +fortress-mansions useless as a means of defense. It surrounds three +square courts and covers about five acres; it contains three hundred and +sixty-five rooms and has seven great staircases, some of them very +elaborate. The collection of paintings and mediaeval furniture is one of +the best in England. The pictures are of untold value, one room being +filled with originals by Gainsborough and Reynolds alone. Some idea of +the value of these pictures may be gained from the fact that an offer of +twenty thousand pounds for one of the Gainsboroughs was refused; and +there are other pictures quite as valuable, not only by English masters, +but by great continental artists as well. + +King James I visited Knole House and preparations were made to receive +him as befitted his rank. The immense stateroom was especially furnished +for the occasion at a cost, it is said, of about one hundred thousand +pounds. This room has never been used since and it stands today just as +it did when it served its royal occupant, though the gorgeous hangings +and tapestries are somewhat dingy and worn from the dust and decay of +three hundred years. + +It took nearly two hours to go through the parts of the house that are +shown, although the parties were accompanied by guides who kept them +moving along. On the afternoon of our arrival there were quite a number +of visitors, five motor cars and several carriages bringing them. Knole +House stands in a large park, which has the finest beeches in England, +and it is really more of a show-place than a family residence. The +Sackville-Wests are among the richest of the nobility and have other +homes which are probably more comfortable than this impressive but +unhomelike palace. + +[Illustration: PENSHURST PLACE, HOME OF THE SIDNEYS.] + +Something similar to Knole House is Penshurst Place, about ten miles +away, but with an atmosphere and traditions quite different from the +Sackville-West mansion. This great palace, just adjacent to the village +of Penshurst, was built in the Thirteenth Century, passing shortly after +into the hands of the Sidney family, with whom it has remained ever +since. Of the Sidneys, one only is known wherever the English language +is spoken--the gallant young knight, Sir Philip, who, when still below +the age of thirty, lost his life while fighting for a forlorn cause in +the Netherlands. Of all the brilliant array of statesmen, soldiers and +writers who graced the reign of Queen Elizabeth, none gave greater +promise than did young Sidney. Nothing is more characteristic of him +than the oft-told story of how, when suffering from his death-wound +on the field of Zutphen, he gave to a wounded soldier by his side the +cup of water brought to him with the greatest difficulty. There are few +who have received a higher or a more deserved tribute than that of the +poet Watson, when he mused upon + + "the perfect knight, + The soldier, courtier, bard in one, + Sidney, that pensive Hesper-light + O'er Chivalry's departed Sun." + +Naturally, we were interested in the ancestral home of such a man and +the many historical associations which have gathered round it. It was at +the close of a busy day for us when we reached Penshurst and learned +that half an hour remained before the house would be closed for the day. +Admission was easily gained and ample time given to inspect such parts +of the house as were shown. We entered the great park through a gateway +near the church where several members of the Sidney family are buried. + +The palace stands in a large open space with a level lawn in front, and +the five hundred years which have passed over it have dealt kindly with +it. Few of the ancient places which we had seen in England were in +better state of preservation. Nor was this due so much to restoration as +in many cases. It had never been intended as a fortified castle and had +escaped the ravages of war which destroyed so many of the strongholds. +Its most striking feature is the baronial hall with its high, +open-raftered roof, maintained in general appearance and furnishing much +as it was five hundred years ago. It is of great size, and in early days +the tables probably furnished cheer to hundreds of revelers at a time. +At one end of the room is a gallery which the musicians occupied, and at +the other, our attention was called to a small opening through which the +lord of the establishment could secretly witness the doings in the hall. +A remarkable feature is the fireplace, situated in the center of the +room and without chimney of any kind, the smoke being left to find its +way out through the windows or apertures in the roof, as the case might +be--a striking example of the discomforts of the good old days when +knighthood was in flower. + +Queen Elizabeth, who was one of the greatest royal travelers of her +time, made a visit to the home of her favorite, Sidney, and the drawing +room which she honored as a guest is still shown, with much of the +handsome furniture which was especially made for the occasion of Her +Majesty's visit. On the walls are some examples of beautifully wrought +needlework and satin tapestry which tradition says is the work of the +queen herself and her maidens. In the picture gallery the majority of +the paintings are portraits of the Sidney family. + +From Penshurst we returned to Tunbridge Wells, having covered in all +about one hundred miles since leaving that town--not a very long +distance for a day's motoring, but we had seen more things of interest, +perhaps, than on any other day of our tour. It was a fitting close to +our tour, since we had determined that we would at once return to London +and bid farewell to the English highways and byways. The next morning we +spent a short time looking about Tunbridge Wells. This town has been +known as a watering place since 1606 and has maintained great popularity +ever since. Its unique feature is the promenade, known as "The +Pantiles," with its row of stately lime trees in the center and its +colonade in front of the shops. It is referred to in Thackeray's +"Virginians," and readers of that story will recall his description of +the scenes on the Pantiles in the time of the powdered wigs, silver +buckles and the fearful and wonderful "hoop." Tunbridge Wells makes a +splendid center for several excursions and one might well spend +considerable time there. Our trip of the previous day had taken us at no +time more than thirty miles from the town and had covered only a few of +the most interesting places within that distance. + +We were ready to leave Tunbridge Wells before noon, and it was with +feelings of mingled satisfaction and regret that we turned toward +London, about thirty miles away. Our long summer's pilgrimage through +Britain was over. Despite our anxiety to return home, there was, after +all, a sense of regret that we had left undone much that would have been +well worth while. Our last day on the English country roads was a lovely +one. A light rain had fallen the night before, just enough to beat down +the dust and freshen the landscape. We passed through a country thickly +interspersed with suburban towns. The fields had much the appearance of +a well kept park, and everything conspired to make the day a pleasant +recollection. + +When we came into the immediate suburbs of London, I found that the +knowledge I had gained on our frequent trips gave me a great advantage +in getting into the city. I was able to avoid the crowded streets and to +select those where traffic was lighter, thus reducing the time of +reaching our hotel fully an hour. There is much difference in the +traffic on the eight bridges which cross the Thames. London Bridge, +which crosses near the Bank of England, is the most congested of all. +There is hardly an hour when it is not a compact mass of slowly moving +vehicles. The bridge by Parliament House is less crowded, but I should +say that Waterloo Bridge furnishes the best route for motorists in +getting across the river. It leads directly into the new boulevard known +as Kingsway, which has just been completed at an expense of many +millions of pounds. This is the broadest street in London and was opened +by wholesale condemnation of private property. It is little used for +heavy traffic and has a fine asphalted surface. It extends from the +Strand to Holborn, the two principal business arteries of London. The +street now presents a rather ragged appearance on account of the +buildings that were torn down to make way for it. However, new +structures of fine architecture are rapidly being built and Kingsway is +destined to become one of the handsomest boulevards in the world. + +A little after noon we reached our London hotel, having spent ten weeks +in touring England, Wales and Scotland. We had not confined ourselves to +the highways, but had journeyed a great part of the distance through +less frequented country roads. In fact, many of the most charming places +we had visited could be reached only from the byways and were not +immediately accessible from railway stations. With the exception of the +first two weeks, when we had rain more or less every day, we had been +favored with exceptionally fine weather. During the last seven or eight +weeks of our trip, only light showers had fallen and we were assured +that the season had been an unusual one for England. + +The matter of weather is not of great moment to the motorist in Great +Britain. The roads are not affected in the least, so far as traveling +is concerned, and dashing through the open air in a rain is not an +unpleasant experience. A closed top for the car is rarely necessary. +Plenty of waterproof coats and coverings answer the purpose very well +and the open air is much pleasanter than being cooped up in a closed +vehicle. Rubber tires do not slip on good macadam roads and during our +tour it was necessary to use chains on the wheels only a few times. + +Altogether, the experience was worth while; nor was it so expensive as +many have imagined it to be. A party of three or four people with their +own car, if one of them drives, can tour Britain for less than it would +cost to cover the same ground, traveling first-class, by railway train. +As to the comparative satisfaction derived from the two methods of +touring, no comment whatever is needed. Making the trip by motor affords +so many advantages and so many opportunities of seeing the country and +of coming in touch with the people that there is really no other method +that can in any way compare with it. + + + + +XX + +SOME MIGHT-HAVE-BEENS + + +In closing this desultory record of a summer's motoring in Britain, I +can easily see that a great deal was missed, much of which might have +been included with little or no loss of time had we been well enough +informed in advance. There were cases where we actually passed through +places of real interest only to learn later that we had overlooked +something that might well have engaged our attention. There were other +points, readily accessible from our route, which we omitted because +previously visited by rail; and though many of these places we should +have been glad to see again, our limited time forbade. In order to get +all that should be gotten out of a five-thousand-mile tour by motor car, +one would have to be familiar indeed with England's history and +traditions, as well as conversant with her literature. There is little +opportunity for studying hand-books as one goes along. A few weeks of +preparation, of well selected reading and the study of road-books and +maps would make such a tour doubly valuable in saving time and in an +intelligent understanding of the country and the places worth seeing. +What one should have done he will know far better after the trip is +over, and the main excuse for this modest record is that it may supply +in popular form some data from the experience of one who has been over +part of the ground, while the superb illustrations of the volume will +give a far better idea of what awaits the tourist than the mere written +words. + +Among the places in which our time was too short is Canterbury. Another +day would have given us a chance to see more of that ancient town, and a +side trip of thirty miles would have taken us to Sandwich, Margate and +Reculvers. We had expected to come a second time to Canterbury and to +visit these three points then, but were unable to carry out our plan. +Sandwich was at one time an important seaport, but lost its position +from the same cause that affected so many of the south coast towns--the +receding of the sea. It contains many of the richest bits of mediaeval +architecture in England, and a few hours in its quaint streets would +have been well repaid. Reculvers, or ancient Regulbium, was a Roman city +that was destroyed by the encroachments of the sea. Here is one of the +oldest and strangest of the ruined churches in England, now standing on +the verge of the ocean, which still continues to advance with a prospect +of ultimately wiping out the little village. + +[Illustration: A BIT OF OLD ENGLAND. + +From Water Color by Anderson.] + +On our trip to Manchester we passed within two or three miles of +Knutsford, the delightful old town selected by Mrs. Gaskell as the scene +of her story, "Granford." Had we known of this at the time, a short +detour would have taken us through its quaint streets. + +The Isle of Wight is immediately across the strait from Southampton, and +while a motor car could be transported by steamer to traverse its fifty +or sixty miles of main road, this is not very often done. It would +require one or two days to visit the interesting points in the island, +among which are Carisbrooke Castle, where King Charles I was confined as +a prisoner; Osborne House, formerly a royal residence but presented to +the nation by King Edward; and Freshwater, the home where the poet +Tennyson lived for many years. + +Sherborne and Tewkesbury were both only a few miles off our route, and +had we planned rightly we could have visited with very little loss of +time these two interesting towns with their great abbey churches, which +rank in size and importance with many of the cathedrals. + +Ten miles from Penzance would have brought us to Lands End--the extreme +southwestern point of England, abounding in wild and beautiful +ocean-shore scenery, but the story of dangerous hills deterred us, +though we afterwards regretted our decision. Nor could we pass again as +we did at Camelford in Cornwall within five miles of King Arthur's +Tintagel without seeing this solitary and wonderfully romantic ruin, +with the majestic--even awe-inspiring--scenery around it. + +Perhaps the most interesting trip which we missed, but which would have +required more time than we could give, was a two or three days' run +through the extreme south of Wales. It is only thirty miles from +Monmouth to Cardiff, a coal-mining metropolis, itself of little +interest, but with many places worth visiting in its immediate vicinity. +Cardiff Castle, too, is one of the best known of the Welsh ruins, and +here Henry I confined his elder brother Robert for twenty years while he +himself, in reality a usurper, held the English throne. Ten miles north +of Cardiff is the rude and inaccessible castle of Caerphilly, which is +reckoned the most extensive ruin in the Kingdom. + +Following the coast road for one hundred miles, one comes to the ancient +town of St. Davids, at the extreme southwestern point of Wales. Here in +the Middle Ages was a city of considerable size, a great resort of +pilgrims to St. David's shrine, William the Conqueror being one of +these. The modern St. Davids is a mere village, and its chief attraction +is its grand cathedral and the ruins of the once gorgeous episcopal +palace. The cathedral, built in the Tenth Century, is curiously +situated in a deep dell, and only the great tower is visible from the +village. + +The return trip from St. Davids would best be made over the same road to +Carmarthen, then taking the road northward to Llandovery, where is +located one of the ruins of what was once the greatest abbey in Southern +Wales. From this point the road direct to Abergavenny is a good one and +passes through much of the picturesque hill country of Wales. + +From Bangor in North Wales it is about twenty miles to Holyhead, from +which point the car could easily be transferred to Ireland in two or +three hours. This would mean an additional two weeks to the tour, and no +doubt more time could pleasantly be spent in the Emerald Isle. The roads +in Ireland are far from equal to those of England or Scotland, but the +scenery, especially on the coast, is even lovelier, and the points of +interest quite as numerous. + +The Isle of Man, in the Irish Channel, is a famous resort of motorists, +and many of the speed and reliability contests have been held there. It +is about the only spot in the world where no speed limit is imposed, the +inhabitants of the island recognizing the financial advantage which they +reap from the numerous motorists. There are about fifty or sixty miles +of road in the island said to be as fine as any in the world. The island +is charming and interesting, with ruins and relics dating from the time +it was an independent kingdom. The two days which would have to be +given it would be well spent. + +No one who had not visited it before would miss the Lake District in the +north of England. A former trip through this section by coach caused us +to omit it from our tour, though we would gladly have seen this +delightful country a second time. One could depart from the main highway +from Lancaster to Carlisle at Kendall and in a single day visit most of +the haunts of Ruskin, Coleridge, Wordsworth and Southey, whose names are +always associated with the English lakes. Many steep hills would be +encountered, but none that would present great difficulty to a +moderate-powered motor. It would be much better, however, if two or +three days could be given to the Lakes, and this time might also include +Furness Abbey and Lanercost Priory. Volumes have been written of the +English lakes, but with all the vivid pen-pictures that have been drawn +one will hardly be prepared for the beauty of the reality. + +The Peak District in Derbyshire we omitted for the same reason--a +previous visit. At Nottingham we were within ten or fifteen miles of +this section, and by following a splendid road could have reached +Rowsley Station, with its quaint inn, near Chatsworth House and Haddon +Hall. No one who makes any pretense of seeing England will miss either +of these places. Haddon Hall is said to be the most perfect of the +baronial mansion houses now to be found in England. It is situated in a +wonderfully picturesque position, on a rocky bluff overlooking the River +Wye. The manor was originally given by the Conqueror to Peveril of the +Peak, the hero of Scott's novel. The mansion is chiefly famous for its +connection with Dorothy Vernon, who married the son of the Earl of +Rutland in the time of Queen Elizabeth, the property thus passing to the +Rutland family, who are still the owners. The mansion is approached by a +small bridge crossing the river, whence one enters under a lofty archway +the main courtyard. In this beautiful quadrangle, one of the most +interesting features is the chapel at the southwest corner. This is one +of the oldest portions of the structure. Almost opposite is the +magnificent porch and bay-window leading into the great hall. This is +exactly as it was in the days of the Vernons, and its table, at which +the lord of the feast sat, its huge fireplace, timber roof and minstrel +gallery are quite unaltered. It has recently been announced that the +Duke of Rutland will make repairs to this old place and occupy it as one +of his residences, closing Belvoir Castle, his present home, on account +of the great expense of maintaining it. + +Four or five miles from Haddon Hall is Chatsworth House, the splendid +country seat of the Duke of Devonshire. This was built over a hundred +years ago and is as fine an example of the modern English mansion as +Haddon Hall is of the more ancient. It is a great building in the +Georgian style, rather plain from the outside, but the interior is +furnished in great splendor. It is filled with objects of art presented +to the family at various times, some of them representing gifts from +nearly every crowned head in Europe during the last hundred years. Its +galleries contain representative works of the greatest ancient and +modern artists. Even more charming than the mansion itself are its +gardens and grounds. Nowhere in England are these surpassed. The +mansion, with its grounds, is open daily to the public without charge, +and we were told that in some instances the number of visitors reaches +one thousand in a single day. As I noted elsewhere, the Duke of +Devonshire owns numerous other palaces and ruins, all of which are open +to the public without charge--a fine example of the spirit of many of +the English nobility who decline to make commercial enterprises of their +historic possessions. + +In this immediate vicinity is Buxton, another of the English watering +places famous for mineral springs. The neighborhood is most romantic, +with towering cliffs, strange caverns, leaping cataracts and wooded +valleys. However, the section abounds in very steep hills, dangerous to +the most powerful motor. + +In Yorkshire we missed much, chiefly on account of lack of time. A +single day's journey would have taken us over a fine road to +Scarborough, an ancient town which has become a modern seacoast resort, +and to Whitby, with one of the finest abbey ruins in the shire, as well +as to numerous other interesting places between. Barnard Castle, lying +just across the western boundary of Yorkshire, was only a few miles off +the road from Darlington, and would have been well worth a visit. These +are only a few of the many places which might be seen to advantage if +one could give at least a week to Yorkshire. + +From Norwich an hour or two would have taken us to Yarmouth through the +series of beautiful lakes known as the Norfolk Broads. Yarmouth is an +ancient town with many points of interest and at present noted +principally for its fisheries. + +On the road to Colchester we might easily have visited Bury St. Edmunds, +and coming out of Colchester, only seven miles away is the imposing ruin +of the unfinished mansion of the Marneys, which its builder hoped to +make the most magnificent private residence in the Kingdom. The death of +Lord Marney and his son brought the project to an end and for several +hundred years this vast ruin has stood as a monument to their +unfulfilled hopes. + +It may seem that as Americans we were rather unpatriotic to pass within +a few miles of the ancestral country of the Washingtons without visiting +it, but such was the case. It is not given much space in the guide-books +and it came to us only as an afterthought. It was but five or six miles +from Northampton, through which we passed. In the old church at Brington +is the tomb of George Washington's great-great-great-grandfather and +also one of the houses which was occupied by his relatives. In the same +section is Sulgrave Manor, the home of the Washingtons for several +generations, which still has over its front doorway the Washington +coat-of-arms. In the same vicinity and near the farmhouse where George +Eliot was born is Nuneaton, a place where she spent much of her life and +to which numerous references are made in her novels. + +In Scotland we also missed much, but very little that we could have +reached without consuming considerably more time. A day's trip north of +Edinburgh, across the Firth of Forth into Fife, would have enabled us to +visit Loch Leven and its castle, where Queen Mary was held prisoner and +was rescued by young Douglas, whom she afterward unfortunately married. +Had we started two or three hours earlier on our trip to Abbottsford and +Melrose, we could easily have reached Jedburgh and Kelso, at each of +which there are interesting abbey ruins. Of course it would have been +a fine thing to go to the extreme northern point of Scotland, known as +John O' Groats, but this, at the rate we traveled, would have consumed +two or three days. The country is not specially interesting and has few +historical associations. Tourists make this trip chiefly to be able to +say they have covered the Kingdom from Lands End to John O' Groats. + +[Illustration: THE CALEDONIAN COAST. + +From Painting by D. Sherrin.] + +I have said little of the larger cities--we did not stop long in any of +these. The chief delight of motoring in Britain is seeing the country +and the out-of-the-way places. In the cities, where one may spend days +and where the train service and other methods of transportation in the +place and its suburbs are practically unlimited, one can ill afford to +linger with his car in the garage much of the time. Of London I have +already spoken. Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Bristol, Birmingham, +Edinburgh and Glasgow are examples to my point. We had visited nearly +all of these by rail, but in again planning a tour by car I should not +stop at such places for any length of time and should avoid passing +through them whenever practicable. + +Of course I do not pretend in the few suggestions I have made in this +chapter to have named a fraction of the points of interest that we did +not visit--only the ones which appealed to me most when I had become +more familiar with Britain. I only offer these few comments to show how +much more might have been compassed in the space of a week or two, +leaving out Ireland, John O' Groats, and the Isles of Wight and Man. One +week would have given ample time for us to include the places I have +enumerated. In planning a tour, individual taste must be a large +element. What will please one may not appeal so strongly to another. +Still, I am sure that the greater part of the route which we covered and +which I have tried to outline will interest anyone who cares enough to +give the time and money necessary to tour Britain. + + +[Illustration: MAP OF ENGLAND AND WALES.] + + + + +INDEX + + +A + +Abbottsford, 174-175, 177. + +Aberdeen, 161-164. + +Abergavenny, 303. + +Aberyswith, 125-126. + +Addison, Jos., 88. + +Aldworth, 276. + +Alfred the Great, 21, 84-85, 259, 263. + +Alloway, 148-140. + +Alnwick, 186-187. + +Altrincham, 56. + +Amesbury, 88. + +Anderida, 280. + +Andre, Major, 48. + +Anne of Cleves, 279. + +Anne, Queen, 261. + +Arbroath, 168. + +Arthur, King, 109, 302. + +Arthur, Prince, 76. + +Arundel, 276-277. + +Ashow Church, 78. + +Austen, Jane, 84. + +Awe, Loch, 151, 157. + +Ayr, 148-149. + + +B + +Bamborough, 183-185. + +Banbury, 78. + +Bangor, 134. + +Bannockburn, 171. + +Barden Tower, 51. + +"Barnaby Rudge," 18-20. + +Barnard Castle, 307. + +Barnsley, 55. + +Bath, 110-111. + +Battle, 281. + +Bawtry, 206. + +Bedford, 233. + +Belvoir Castle, 227-228. + +Berwick-on-Tweed, 182-183. + +Bettws-y-Coed, 132. + +Blandford, 89. + +Blenheim, 260-262. + +Bodiam Castle, 284-286. + +Bodleian Library, 259. + +Boleyn, Anne, 267. + +Bolton Abbey, 51. + +Boston, 214-216. + +Bottisford, 228-229. + +Bradley, A.G., 68-69. + +Braemar, 163. + +Brightholme, 278. + +Brighton, 277-278. + +"Brig O' Doon," 148. + +Brington, 308. + +Brixham, 93-94. + +Bruce, 165, 170. + +Buildwas Abbey, 64. + +Bull Hotel, Dartford, 27-28. + +Bunyan, John, 233. + +Burnham Thorpe, 217. + +Burns, Robt., 143-149. + +Burslem, 49. + +Bury St. Edmunds, 238, 307. + +Butler, Dr., 265. + +Buxton, 306. + +Bylands Abbey, 201. + +Byron, Lord, 230, 247-248. + + +C + +Caerlaverock Castle, 144-145. + +Caerphilly, 302. + +Caledonian Canal, 157. + +Cambridge, 233-234, 237, 240-241. + +Cambuskenneth Abbey, 171. + +Camelford, 104. + +Canterbury, 26-27, 33-39, 300. + +Canute, 84. + +Cardiff, 302. + +Carisbrooke Castle, 301. + +Carlisle, 141-143. + +Carlyle, Thos., 145. + +Carmarthen, 303. + +Carnarvon, 132-134. + +Castle Hotel, New Castle-Under-Lyme, 49. + +Catherine of Aragon, 224. + +Cawdor Castle, 161. + +Cerne Abbas, 89-90. + +Cerrig-y-Druidion, 130-132. + +Chalfont St. Giles, 249-251. + +Charlecote, 77. + +Charles I, 61, 63, 82, 117, 120-121, 227, 301. + +Charles II, 165. + +Charles the Pretender, 161, 171-172. + +Chatham, 33. + +Chatsworth House, 305-306. + +Chaucer, 27, 262. + +Chawton, 82. + +Chelmsford, 243. + +Cheltenham, 112. + +Chepstow, 119-120. + +Chester, 8, 58-61, 137. + +Chichester, 272-273. + +Chigwell, 18-20. + +Chippenham, 111. + +Chipping-Ongar, 17-18, 243-244. + +Christchurch, 89. + +Cirencester, 112. + +Claverhouse, 165. + +Clifford Castle, 124. + +Clyde Shipyards, 149-150. + +Cobbett, Wm., 81. + +Cobden, Richard, 274. + +Colchester, 241-244. + +Coleridge, 304. + +Conway Castle, 134-136. + +Conway River, 132. + +Coventry, 45-46. + +Cowdray Mansion, 274. + +Cowper, Wm., 221, 232. + +Coxwold, 198, 200, 202. + +Crayon, Geoffrey, 1. + +Crianlarich, 151. + +Cromwell, Oliver, 139, 235-240, 244, 263, 265. + +Crowland, 222-223. + +Culloden Moor, 161. + + +D + +Dalmally, 157. + +Darling, Grace, 185. + +Darnley, 180. + +Dartford, 27-29. + +Dartmoor, 106. + +Dartmouth, 94. + +Dart, River, 94. + +Darwin, Charles, 63, 288-289. + +Dereham, 221. + +Devonport, 96. + +Dickens, 18-20, 29-32, 140. + +Dinas Mowddwy, 126. + +Dochart, River, 158. + +Doncaster, 206. + +Dorchester, 89. + +Downe, 288-289. + +Drumlanrigh Castle, 147. + +Dryburgh Abbey, 174-176. + +Dukeries, 206-207. + +Dumbarton, 150. + +Dumfries, 144-146. + +Dunbar, 180. + +Dunblane, 170. + +Duncan, 161. + +Dundee, 168-169. + +Dunnottar Castle, 164-167. + +Dunollie Castle, 152. + +Dunstafnage Castle, 154-155. + +Durham, 187-189. + + +E + +Earl's Colne, 242. + +Easby Abbey, 193-194. + +Eaton Hall, 60. + +Eboracum, 191. + +Ecclefechan, 145. + +Edgeware, 23. + +Edgeworth, Maria, 48. + +Edinburgh, 174, 178-179. + +Edward the Confessor, 113. + +Edward I, 21, 133, 134. + +Edward II, 133. + +Edward III, 231. + +Elgin, 161-162. + +Eliot, George, 78, 274-276, 308. + +Elizabeth, Queen, 219, 226, 262, 292, 294, 305. + +Ellisland Farm, 146. + +Elstow, 233. + +Ely, 221, 237-239. + +Epping Forest, 16-17. + +Ethelwulf, King, 84. + +Eton College, 254-255. + +Eversley, 266. + +Exeter, 91-92, 107. + + +F + +Fairfax, Gen., 121, 198. + +Falkirk, 172. + +Falstaff, Sir John, 30. + +Farnham, 81. + +Farringford, 276. + +Fast Castle, 181-182. + +Feathers Hotel, Ludlow, 69-70. + +Fife, 308. + +Forres, 161. + +Fotheringhay, 225-227. + +Fountains Abbey, 54, 196. + +Fox, George, 243. + +Franklin, Benjamin, 85-86. + +Freshwater, 301. + +Frogmore Park, 255. + +Furness Abbey, 304. + + +G + +Gad's Hill, 29-32. + +Galashiels, 178. + +Gaskell, Mrs., 301. + +Gaveston, Piers, 53. + +George III, 256. + +Glasgow, 149. + +Glastonbury, 108-109. + +Gloucester, 112-113. + +Grandtully Castle, 158. + +Grantham, 227. + +Gray, Thos., 254. + +Great North Road, 191, 206. + +Greenstead Church, 243. + +Greenwich, 27. + +Grey Friars Church, 193. + +Guildford, 81. + +Guinevere, Queen, 109. + + +H + +Haddon Hall, 304-305. + +Hadley Church, Monken Hadley, 21-22. + +Hampton Court Palace, 12-13. + +Handel, 23-24. + +Hanley, 49. + +Haredale Hall, 54. + +Harold, King, 20, 281. + +Harrogate, 52, 54. + +Harrow-on-the-Hill, 247, 248. + +Haselmere, 274-276. + +Hastings, Battle of, 20. + +Hatfield House, 15. + +Hathaway, Anne, 76. + +Haverhill, 241. + +Hay, 124. + +Heddingham, 242. + +Helmsley, 198-199. + +Henley-on-Thames, 256. + +Henry I, 267, 302. + +Henry II, 53, 263. + +Henry V, 117-118. + +Henry VII, 107, 279. + +Henry VIII, 43, 76, 109, 194, 197, 217-218, 224, 267, 279. + +Hereford, 122-124. + +Hindhead District, 276. + +Holwood House, 288. + +Holyhead, 303. + +Holyhead Road, 43-44. + +Huntingdon, 237, 239-240. + +Huntly, 161. + + +I + +Ilkley Station, 51. + +Inverness, 159-161. + +Inverurie, 162. + +Iona, 153-154. + +Ireland, 303. + +Irish Sea, 141. + +Isle of Man, 141, 303. + +Isle of Wight, 276, 301. + + +J + +James I, 171, 182, 224, 291. + +James II, 63. + +James IV, 165. + +Jedburgh, 177, 308. + +Jeffreys, Judge, 63. + +John, King, 76, 229, 267. + +John O' Groats, 161, 308. + +Johnson, Dr. Samuel, 48. + +Jordans, 243, 250-253. + + +K + +Keith, 161. + +Kelso, 177, 308. + +Kenilworth, 77. + +Kilchurn Castle, 151, 157. + +Killiekrankie, Pass of, 160. + +Kilmarnock, 149. + +Kingsley, Chas. 266. + +King's Lynn, 216. + +Kingston-on-Thames, 80. + +Kingsway, London, 296-297. + +Kinneff, 166. + +Kinniard House, 158. + +Knaresborough, 52-54. + +Knole House, 290-292. + +Knutsford, 301. + + +L + +Lake District, 304. + +Lammermoor, 180-181. + +Lancaster, 140-141. + +Land's End, 301. + +Lanercost Priory, 304. + +Launceston, 104-106. + +Lea, River, 21. + +Leamington, 77-78. + +Leeds, 50-52. + +Leeds Castle, 39. + +Leicester, 231. + +Leven, Loch, 308. + +Lewes, 278-279. + +Lichfield, 48. + +Lincluden Abbey, 146. + +Lincoln, 209-210. + +Linlithgow, 171, 172. + +Livingstone, David, 245. + +Llanberis, Pass of, 132. + +Llandovery, 303. + +Llangollen, 127-129. + +Lockyer, Sir Norman, 88. + +Lomond, Loch, 150. + +London, 11-25, 39-40, 80, 245-246, 296-297. + +London Tower, 72. + +Ludlow, 66-74. + +Lutterworth, 231-232. + +Lyndhurst, 88-89. + + +M + +McCaig's Tower, 152-153. + +Macbeth, 160, 161. + +Magdalen College, Oxford, 257-258. + +Maidstone, 32, 39. + +Malmesbury, 111-112. + +Manchester, 50, 54, 236. + +Marazion, 103. + +Margate, 300. + +Martin, Henry, 120. + +Mary, Queen, 262. + +Mary Queen of Scots, 170-173, 180, 224, 225-227, 308. + +Mauchline, 148. + +Maxstoke Castle, 78. + +Mayflower, The, 96, 206. + +Melrose Abbey, 174-175, 177. + +Micklegate Bar, York, 203. + +Midhurst, 274. + +Millston, 88. + +Milton, John, 72, 249-250. + +Monken Hadley, 21-23. + +Monmouth, 114-118. + +Monnow River, 117. + +Montfort, Simon de, 279. + +Montrose, 167. + +Much Wenlock, 64-65. + +Mull, Sound of, 154. + + +N + +Nairn, 161. + +Nelson, Admiral, 216-217. + +Netley, 267-269. + +Newark, 229. + +Newcastle-on-Tyne, 187. + +New Castle-Under-Lyme, 49. + +New College, Oxford, 258. + +New Forest, 88-89. + +Newlyn, 100-101. + +Newstead Abbey, 207-208. + +Newton, Sir Isaac, 227. + +Nidd, River, 53. + +Nith, Valley, 146. + +Norfolk Broads, 307. + +Northampton, 232. + +Norwich, 215-220. + +Nottingham, 230-231. + +Nuneaton, 46-47, 78, 308. + + +O + +Oban, 151-155. + +Offham, 286-287. + +Old Kent Road, 26-27. + +Olney, 232-233. + +Osborne House, 301. + +Oswestry, 127. + +Ouse, River, 239. + +Oxford, 234, 256-259. + + +P + +Parliamentary Army, 61, 82, 121-122, 143, 204, 228, 230, 243, 259. + +Peak District, 304. + +Peele, 248. + +Penistone, 55. + +Penn, Wm., 20, 251, 253. + +Penrith, 141. + +Penshurst Place, 67, 292-294. + +Penzance, 98-100. + +Perth, 169-170. + +Peterborough, 223-225. + +Petergate, The, York, 205. + +Pevensey, 280-281. + +Pilgrim Fathers, 96, 206, 214-215, 241. + +Pitlochry, 159. + +Pitt, Wm., 288. + +Plymouth, 96-97. + +Preston, 137, 139. + + +Q + +Quebec House, 287-288. + + +R + +Raglan, 120-121. + +Raikes, Robt., 113. + +Reading, 265. + +Reculvers, 300. + +Regulbium, 300. + +Retford, 206. + +Rhodes, Cecil, 258. + +Richard III, 72, 107. + +Richmond, 192-194. + +Rievaulx Abbey, 199-200. + +Ripon, 54, 195-197. + +Rochester, 29, 32-33. + +Ross, 113-114. + +Roundheads, 48, 84, 92. + +Rowsley, 304. + +Rowton Moor, 61. + +Royal Porcelain Works, Worcester, 74-75. + +Rugby, 78. + +Runnymede, 15. + +Ruskin, 304. + +Rye, 282-283. + +Rye House, Broxborne, 15. + + +S + +St. Albans, 42-43. + +St. Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury, 38. + +St. Botolph's Church, 213-214. + +St. Columba, 153-154. + +St. Cuthbert, 188. + +St. Davids, 302. + +St. Edmund the Martyr, 244. + +St. Ives, 101-103, 236-239. + +St. John's Hospital, 39. + +St. Joseph of Arimathea, 108. + +St. Martin's, Canterbury, 38. + +St. Mary's Abbey, York, 204. + +St. Mary's Church, Lancaster, 140-141. + +St. Mary's Church, Shrewsbury, 63. + +St. Michael's Church, Dumfries, 144. + +St. Michael's Mount, 103. + +St. Steven's Church, Launceston, 105-106. + +St. William of Perth, 33. + +Salisbury, 86-87. + +Sandquhar, 148. + +Sandringham Palace, 216. + +Sandwich, 300. + +Saracen's Head, Cerrig-y-Druidion, 130-132. + +Scarborough, 307. + +Scott, Gilbert, 219. + +Scott, Sir Walter, 47, 142, 144, 151, 155, 158, 167, 173-177, 181, 199, + 262, 305. + +Selborne, 82. + +Severn, River, 61, 64-65, 119-120. + +Shakespeare, 76-77, 107. + +Shambles, The, York, 205. + +Sherborne, 301. + +Sheridan, 248. + +Shipley, Dr., 86. + +Shipton, Mother, 53-54. + +Shottermill, 275. + +Shrewsbury, 61-63, 65. + +Sidney, Henry, 72. + +Sidney, Sir Philip, 63, 72, 292-294. + +Smith, Prof. Goldwin, 3, 235. + +Snowdon, Mt., 132. + +Solway Tide, 143. + +Somersby, 211-213. + +Southampton, 267. + +Southey, 168, 304. + +Southwell, 230. + +Staffa, 153. + +Stalybridge, 56. + +Stanley, Dean, 38. + +Sterne, Laurence, 198-200. + +Stevenson, Robert Louis, 158. + +Stirling, 170-171. + +Strid, The, 51. + +Stockport, 56. + +Stoke-on-Trent, 49. + +Stoke Poges, 254. + +Stokesay, 66-67. + +Stonehaven, 167. + +Stonehenge, 87-88. + +Stonehouse, 96. + +Stoneleigh Abbey, 78. + +Story, 232. + +Stratford-on-Avon, 1-3, 76-77. + +Sulgrave Manor, 308. + + +Swale River, 193, 194. + + +T + +Tamworth, 47. + +Tay, Loch, 158. + +Tay, River, 158, 169. + +Taymouth Castle, 158. + +Temple Bar, 21. + +Tennyson, 46, 124, 209, 211-213, 274, 276, 301. + +Tewkesbury, 301. + +Thackeray, 21-23, 295. + +Thames River, 256. + +Tintagel Castle, 104, 302. + +Tintern, 118-119. + +Toplady, Rev. Augustus, 81. + +Torquay, 92-93. + +Trinity Church, Stratford, 2. + +Trollope, Anthony, 23. + +Trosachs, 151. + +Truro, 97-98, 104. + +Tunbridge Wells, 284, 286, 295. + +Tweed River, 175-176. + +Twyford, 85. + + +U + +Uriconium, 63. + + +V + +Vale Crucis Abbey, 128. + +Vernon House, Farnham, 82. + +Verulamium, 42. + +Victoria, Queen, 255. + + +W + +Waddesdon, 78. + +Wakefield, 55. + +Wallace, 170, 171. + +Walsingham, 217. + +Waltham Abbey, 20-21. + +Walton, Ike, 84. + +Wantage, 259, 263-264. + +Warrington, 138-139, 236. + +Warwick, 77. + +Washington, George, 308. + +Wedgewood, Josiah, 49. + +Wells, 109. + +Welshpool, 127. + +Wesley, John, 282. + +Westerham, 287-288. + +Westminster Abbey, 21, 24, 154, 224. + +Wharfdale, 51. + +Wharfe River, 51. + +Whitby, 307. + +Whitchurch, 23. + +White, Gilbert, 82. + +Whittington, 265. + +Wigan, 139. + +William the Conqueror, 20, 63, 278-281, 302, 305. + +William the Lion, 168. + +William of Orange, 93. + +William Rufus, 32, 84. + +Winchelsea, 282-283. + +Winchester, 83-85, 266. + +Windsor, 254-255. + +Wishing Wells, 217-218. + +Wolfe, Gen., 287-288. + +Wolvesley Palace, 85. + +Woodstock, 262-263. + +Woolsthorpe, 227. + +Woolwich, 27. + +Worcester, 74-76. + +Wordsworth, 304. + +Wroxeter, 64. + +Wyatt, James, 86-87, 122-123. + +Wyclif, John, 231-232. + +Wye, River, 122, 125. + +Wyndcliffe, 119. + + +Y + +Yarmouth, 307. + +Yeovil, 90. + +York, 8, 191, 197-198, 203-205. + + +[Illustration: MAP OF SCOTLAND.] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of British Highways And Byways From A +Motor Car, by Thomas D. 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