Impressions of England; or, Sketches of English scenery and society

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Preface

The following sketches pre-suppose, on the part of the reader, a familiarity with English subjects, and with the geography, history and literature of England. The writer has endeavored to avoid the common-places of travel, and has made no allusion to topics which are generally understood, such as the petty annoyances one meets at hotels, and the coldness and phlegm of fellow-travellers. He has also forborne to dwell on the greater evils of English society, because these have been thoroughly discussed and exposed, as well by Englishmen as by foreigners. Besides, our countrymen are kept constantly in view of that side of the matter, and there would be no relish of novelty to excuse him for treating them afresh to whole pages made up of the untrustworthy statistics of Dissenting Almanacs, and the rant of Irish members of Parliament. Although English travellers have often dealt unfairly with us, he prefers to show his dislike of such examples, by forbearing to imitate them. Nor does he regard a different course as due to his love of country. A clergyman who devotes his life to the holiest interests of his native land, and who daily thinks, and prays, and toils, and exhorts others, in behalf of her wants — alike those which are purely religious and those which

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pertain to letters, to education and to society in general — may surely excuse himself from vociferous professions of patriotism. He freely avows his love of country to be consistent with a perception of her faults and deficiencies, and mainly to consist in a high appreciation of her many advantages ; in a sense of responsibility for the blessings of which she has made him partaker ; and in a studious desire always to remember what is due to her reputation, so far as his humble share in it may be concerned. Whether at home or abroad, he would endeavour so to act as never to disgrace her ; but he cannot sympathize with the sort of patriotism which rejoices in the faults of other countries, or which travels mainly to gloat over them. Least of all, can he share in any petty comparisons of ourselves with our mother country. If there be Englishmen who take any pleasure in our defects, he is sorry for their narrowness ; if any American finds satisfaction in this or that blemish of English society, he cannot comprehend it. He considers a sacred alliance between the two countries eminently important to mankind ; and he who would peril such interests, for the sake of some trivial matter of personal pride, must be one of the most pitiable specimens of human nature, be he American or Briton.

He has aimed, therefore, to present his countrymen with a record of the pleasures which travel in England may afford to any one pre-disposed to enjoy himself, and able to appreciate what he sees. He confesses, also, that he has tho rather confined himself to an exhibition of the bright side of the picture, because he fears that many of his countrymen are sceptical as to r its existence. He suspects that Americans too commonly go to England prepared to dislike it, and soon cross the channel determined to be happy in France.

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As a great measure of his own enjoyment depended upon the fact, that he mingled freely with English society, he thinks it proper to say that he owed his introductions chiefly to a few English friends with whom he had corresponded for years beforehand. He supplied himself with very few introductions from his native land, and even of these he presented only a part ; and in accepting civilities he was careful to become indebted for them, only when he had a prospect of being able, in some degree, to return them. As the inter-communion of the Churches tends to make the interchange of hospitalities more frequent, he was the rather desirous in nothing to presume on the good-will at present existing ; the abuse of which will certainly defeat the ends for which it has been so generously promoted.

Having given years to the study of the British Constitution, and to the Literature and Religion of England, he has for a long time been accustomed to watch its politics, and its public men. He has, therefore, spoken of several public characters, both Whigs and Tories, in a manner which their respective admirers will hardly approve, but, as he believes, without prejudice, and as a foreigner may do, with more freedom than a fellow-subject. In such expressions of personal opinion he has given an independent judgment, and he is very sure that many of his English friends will be sorry to see some of his criticisms on their leading statesmen. It is but just to them to say, that in remarks on the Sovereign, and her amiable Consort, the writer has spoken entirely for himself, and with a freedom, in which their loyalty and affection never allow them to indulge. He believes that an impartial posterity will, nevertheless, sustain the views with respect to political matters which he has expressed, and he considers it part of the duty viii

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of a traveller, in detailing his impressions, to be frank on such subjects, in avowing “ how it strikes a stranger.”

He desires also to confess another purpose, in preparing and publishing this little work. He has aimed to present, prominently, to his readers, the distinguishing and characteristic merits of English civilization. Innumerable causes are now at work to debase the morals of our own countrymen. With the contemporaries of Washington, that high social refinement which was kept up amid all the evils of our colonial position, has well-nigh passed away. The dignity of personal bearing, the careful civility of intercourse, and the delicate sense of propriety which characterized the times of our grandfathers, have disappeared. The vulgarizing influences of a dissocial sectarianism are beginning to be perceived. The degrading effects of sudden wealth ; the corruptions bred of luxury ; the evils of a vast and mongrel immigration ; and not least, the vices communicated to our youth, by contact with the Mexican and half- Spanish populations contiguous to our southern frontier ; all these corrosive elements are operating among us with a frightful and rapid result. The contrast with such tendencies, of the sober and comparatively healthful progress of society in our ancestral land, the writer supposes, cannot but be acceptable at least to those of his countrymen who deprecate this deterioration, and who, for themselves and their families, are anxious to cultivate an acquaintance with those domestic, educational and religious institutions which have given to England her moral power and dignity among the nations of the civilized world.

These sketches were originally contributed to the New- York Church Journal , but are here given in a revised and complete form. They are a record of the memorable year

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1851 — a year to which English history will look hack as the last, and the full-blown flower of a long peace. The revival of the imperial power in France, at the close of that year, has opened a new era in Europe, the effects of which upon the British Empire can hardly be foreseen.

Baltimore , 1855.

Chapter I

Holyhead — Incidents of the Voyage — Oxford stage-coach and Stratford guide-post — Easter-bells and Easter solemnities — An Elizabethan Mansion — A Roger-de-Coverley picture in real life — A Fancy Chapel — An old fashioned Vicarage.

Chapter II

Aspect of a Cathedral-town — Litchfield Cathedral, its injuries and restorations — St. Chad, and Stowe-Church — Lord Brooke, his sacrilege and retribution — Dr. Johnson and his penance — The Three-Crowns Inn — Evening Service at the Cathedral — A Midland-county custom.

Chapter III

Brummagem Bishops — American oak in King Edward’s School — New- England in Deritend — Oscott — Italian Catholicity — Pugin and the Papists— The Oratory and Mr. Newman — An Oratorian Sermon — Romish Methodism.

Chapter IV

Scene at a London Railway Station — A drive to Pall-Mall — Whitehall and Hungerford Bridge — The new Bishop of Lincoln — The S. P. G. House — Nell Gwynne — Westminster Abbey — The Jerusalem Chamber — Lord John Tliynnc — The Coronation Vestments.

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CHATTER V.

Historic Scenes in Westminster Hall — The Scene it presents in our days — The New Palace and Victoria Tower — The silent Highway — Lambeth Palace — Chelsea, and Martin the painter — Whitehall Palace and Garden — Oratorio at Chelsea — Sara Coleridge and other members of the poet’s family.

Chapter VI

Bury Street, St. James — The Lungs of London — Riding in Rotten-Row — First view of the Crystal-palace — The venerable S. P. G. — The Bishop of Oxford — First glimpse of Oxford — Cuddesdon Palace — A Sermon at St. Ebbe’s — A country Church — Bishop Lowth’s Epitaph on his daughter.

Chapter VII

Forest-hill — A walk in the country — Miltonian scenery — Mary Powell’s birth-place — A dame’s School — Milton’s Well — A neat-handed Phillis — Elucidations on the spot — Sir William Jones.

Chapter VIII

Oxford — William of Wykeham — New College and its Gardens — Magdalen — Addison’s Walk — Scene in the Convocation-house — May-morning hymn on Magdalen Tower — Scenery of the surrounding country — Morning bells and a walk in the College-grounds.

Chapter IX

The Queen’s Progress to the Crystal-palace — The mob in the Park The

Queen’s return — Her appearance at Buckingham Palace — Americans at a discount — The interior view of the Great Exhibition — A high-priced day and a low-priced day — The end of the bubble — Jack in the Green.

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Chapter X

The Chapel Royal of St. James — The Duke of Wellington at his prayers — The Sermon — The Duke at the Holy Communion — St. Paul’s Cathedral — How it compares with St. Peter’s — Effect of the Choral Service — Dean Milman — St. Barnabas’, Pimlico, and its Mediae valisms — Fashion at St. George’s — The Bishop of Nova-Scotia.

Chapter XI

Ramblings in London — All-hallows, Barking — First view of the Tower — The Sovereigns on horseback — Historical relics — The Armada and its cargo — The block and the axe — The jewel-room — Laud and Strafford — Prisoners’ inscriptions — The graves in the Tower-Chapel — The Traitors’ gate.

Chapter XII

House of Commons — Message from the Lords — D’lsraeli — Lord John — The Speaker — The Abbey and Whitehall at dead of night — The Papal Aggression — The course of the Whigs with the Papists — The Irish Brigade — Lord John and D’lsraeli in a personal debate — Feebleness of Ministerial measures.

Chapter XIII

Decorations of the House of Lords — Their wholesome moral — The future of the new Chamber — The Aristocracy — Manners in Parliament — The Lord Chancellor Truro — The London Police — Their impartiality.

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CONTENTS.

Chapter XIV

Exhibitions of Art — Westminster Bridge — Lambeth — A wherry on the River — Temple Gardens and Church — Twelfth-Night — To the ball on the dome of St. Pau ’s — Descent to the Crypts — Nelson’s Tomb — The Thame. Tunnel — Shipping.

Chapter XV

The Cries of London — Covent Garden Market — The Savoy — St. Clement Danes and Dr. Johnson — Anecdote of Johnson at Temple-bar — Lincoln’s Inn — Heralds’ College — The Times — The Old Bailey — A Trial for Murder — A Visit to the Dead — Milton’s Grave — Grub-street — Chaucer’s Tabard

Chapter XVI

Charms of Society in London — The London Season — Breakfast-parties— Dining out — Children at the Dessert — Evening-parties — Historical Costumes — A literary party at Lady Talfourd’s — Influence of high refinement on in lividual character — Pronunciation — A breakfast at Samuel Rogers’.

Chapter XVII

Exeter College, Oxford — A Sunday at Oxford — Common-room of Oriel — Visit to Nuneham Courtenay — Parish-school — Society in Oxford — Life of an Oxonian Fellow — A visit to Dr. Routh — Relics of Laud — Oxford Martyrs — Libraries and Museum — Chapel of Merton — A boat-race.

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Chapter XVIII

Iffley Church — Radley, and a walk through Bagley wood — Making a Doctor of Divinity — A drive through the country — Parish-stocks — Incidents of the journey — Old villages — Descent into the Vale of Gloucester — A picture in real scenery.

Chapter XIX

Worcester Cathedral — Coaching to Malvern — Great and Little Malvern — Tewksbury — Wars of the Roses — Bredon — Sunday at Kemerton — May’s Hill — The Cuckoo — Gloucester — The Church at Highnam — Architectural beauty of Gloucester Cathedral — Effect in twilight.

Chapter XX

The Old Palace of St. James — Preparations for going to Court — The procession of carriages — The Presentation — The Queen and Prince A lbert — A drawing-room — The Ladies — Decorations of the royal apartments — Portraits in the Corridor — Reflections.

Chapter XXI

A visit to Harrow Weald — Ascension Day — Oak-leaves in honor of the Restoration — Cricket — Evening Service, and a remarkable Sermon — Coventry — Peeping Tom and Lady Godiva — Kenilworth — The ruins — Guy’s Cliff— Piers Gaveson— Warwick Castle.

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CONTENTS.

Chapter XXII

Stratford-upon-Avon — The Red-Horse Inn — Geoffrey Crayon — The Birth-place of Shakspeare— New-Place— Walk to Shottery— The Churchyard— The Church and Tomb — The Epitaph of Shakspeare’s daughter — Influence of the Church on the mind of Shakspeare.

Chapter XXIII

Nottingham — Lord Byron’s reputation — The Castle — Derby — The Wyo — Haddon Hall — Gallery — Chapel — Chatsworth — Matlock-Bath — Shrewsbury — A Sedan-chair — Welsh Emigrants — Chester — Eaton-Hall.

Chapter XXIV

St. Winifred’s Well — The Vale of Clwyd — Rhuddlan — St. Asaph — A Welsh Inn — Welsh hospitality — The Welsh service in a rural Church — The Holy Clerk of Llanerch — Mrs. Hemans — St. Mary’s Well — Conway Castle

Chapter XXV

Bangor — Menai Straits, and a Trip to Caernarvon — Llanberis and Dolbardan — Caernarvon Castle — The Eagle tower — Nant Ffrancon — Capel Curig — Corwen — Valle Crucis — Llangollen — Miss Ponsonby and Lady Eleanor Butler

Chapter XXVI

Gypsies — The Man of Ross — Market day — Monmouth — Tintern Abbey in a storm — A Vicar’s children — The Wind-cliff — Tintern in sunshine — The Severn — Clifton, Bristol and St. Mary Redcliffe — Chattcrton — Bristol Cathedral — Mrs. Mason's tomb — A dissenting minister — His charity.

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Chapter XXVII

Glastonbury — King Arthur’s coffin — Restorations at Wells — Ordination at Bradfield — Solemnities of the Jubilee — Willis’s Rooms — A Centenarian — Speeches at St. Martin’s Hall — The Archbishop in his Study — The Jubilee Sermons — Samuel Warren.

Chapter XXVIII

Jubilee-service at the Cathedral — A Lord Mayor’s Feast — Lord Glenelg— Eton College — St. George’s Chapel and Windsor Castle — A Dame’s House A swim in the Thames — Hampton Court — Pictures and Cartoons — Hurslcy Church, and the Poet Keble — Winchester School — St. Cross Hospital — Relics.

Chapter XXIX

Winchester Cathedral — Wykeham and Waynefletc — Cardinal Beaufort — Bishop Fox — Stephen Gardiner — The Altar — Reliquary chests — Izaak Walton — An American Vicar — His ingenuities — Salisbury Plain and Stonehenge — George Herbert — Netley Abbey — The Isle of Wight — Portsmouth — Chichester — B r ighton .

Chapter XXX

St. Augustine’s, Canterbury — Queen Bertha’s Church — The Patriarchal Cathedral — Becket — The Black Prince — Archbishop Howley — The Dane John— Drive to Borne— The Judicious Hooker— One of the Squirearchy— Rochester — Westminster Archives — Chapel of Henry VII. — Grave ot Addison— British Museum— Richmond Hill— Thomson’s grave— Pope’s skull.

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CONTENTS.

Chapter XXXI

The Encaenia at Oxford — The uproar — Bedford and JohnBunyan — Fourth of July— The gates of Caius — Comparison of the two Universities — Chancellor Albert — Old Hobson — The Isthmus of Sues — Milton’s Mulberry — The small Colleges — The Fitzwilliam — King’s College— Trinity.

Chapter XXXII

Ely Cathedral — Its beautiful restorations — Peterborough — The graves of two Queens — A King of Spades — Lincoln and Bishop Grostete — The Cathedral — Jews’ House — The City of Constantine — York Minster — Ripon — Fountains’ Abbey — Durham — The Bishop of Exeter — The University — Newcastle — Amen Corner.

Chapter XXXIII

Return from Scotland — Gretna Green — Carlisle — The Lakes — Windermere — Dr. Arnold’s enthusiasm — An American Sunday and an English one — Grassmere — A Poet’s Widow — A walk to Keswick — Cockney rhetoric — Derwentwater — A poet’s sepulchre — Penrith — The Countess’ Pillar — Dotheboys Hall — Rokeby — Kirkstall Abbey.

CHAPTER XXXIY.

A pilgrimage to Olney — Cowper’s services to Literature — Anti-Snobbery — Cowper’s pedigree — A lace-maker — Olney bridge — The Summer-house — Weston-Underwood — The Wilderness — Cowper’s Autograph and Adieu — The Greek Slave — White-bait at Greenwich — The prime meridian — The pensioners — Good-night.

CONTENTS.

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Chapter XXXV

Return from the Continent — Despatches — England and Southern Europe — The Sepulchre of Andre wes — Westminster by Candlelight — St. Bartholomew’s, Moor-lane — The Anglican Reformers — Superficial views o i travellers — Dissent in England — Tithes — The late Recusancy — Newman and the Dublin Review — The English Bible — Conclusion

IMPRESSIONS OE ENGLAND.

CHAPTER I. First and Second Thoughts — A Warwickshire Welcome

About noon, one hazy April day, I found myself approaching the British coast, and was informed by the Captain of our gallant steamer, that in a few minutes we should gain a glimpse of the mountains of Wales. ' Instead of rushing to the upper-deck, I found myself forced by a strange impulse to retire to my state-room. For nearly thirty years had my imagination been fed with tales of the noble island over the sea ; and for no small portion of that period, its history and its institutions had been a favorite subject of study. To exchange, forever, the England of my fancy for the matter-of-fact England of the nineteenth century, was something to which I was now almost afraid to consent. For a moment I gave way to misgivings ; collected and reviewed the conceptions of childhood ; and then betook myself, solemnly, to the reality of seeing, with my own eyes, the land of my ancestors, in a spirit of thankfulness for so great a privilege. I went on deck. There was a faint outline of Snowdon in the misty distance ; and before long, as the mist dispersed, there, just before us, was the noble brow of Holyhead.

It reminded me of the massive promontory opposite Breakneck, as we descend the Hudson, towards West Point : but the thought that it was another land, and an old as well as an ancestral one, strangely mingled with my comparative memories of home.

IMPRESSIONS OF ENGLAND.

There is something like dying and waking to life again, in leaving one’s home, and committing one’s self to such a symbol of Eternity as the Ocean, and then, after long days and nights, beholding the reality of things unknown before, and entering upon new scenes, with a sense of immense separation from one’s former self. Oppressive thoughts of the final emigration from this world, and descrying, at last, “ the land that is very far off,” were forced upon me. We doubled the dangerous rocks of Skerries, and began to coast along the northern shore of Anglesea : and then, with my perspective-glass, I amused myself contentedly, for hours, as I picked out the objects presenting themselves on the land. Now a windmill, now a village, and now — delightful sight — a Christian spire ! It was night-fall when our guns saluted the port of Liverpool, and our noble steamer came to anchor in the Mersey. ..j

Our voyage had been a very pleasant, and a highly interesting one. Extraordinary icebergs had been visible for several sue* cessive days, and had given us enough of excitement to relieve the tediousness of the mid-passage. Our two Sundays had been sanctified by the solemnities of worship ; and the only mishap ot our voyage had been such as to draw forth much good feeling, and to leave a very deep impression. One of the hands had been killed by accidental contact with the engine, and had been com mitted to the deep with the Burial Service of the Church, in the presence of all on board. A handsome purse was immediately made up for the surviving mother of the deceased ; and the painful event tended greatly to the diffusion of a fraternal sympathy among the entire company. We became as one family: and now, before retiring for the night, I was requested, by those who remained on board, to offer a solemn thanksgiving to Almighty God, for our safe deliverance from the perils of the sea. This ii gave me pleasure to do ; and the words of the Psalmist rose in our evening devotions, “ Then are they glad because they are at rest ; and so he bringeth them unto the haven where they would be.” The noble vessel in which we had accomplished our voyage now lies many fathoms deep in the sea. It was the Arctic.

On landing, in the morning, I inwardly saluted the dear soil, on which I was permitted at last to place my feet, and on which I could not feel, altogether, a foreigner. I ran the gauntlet of tide-waiters, and the like, without anything to complain of, and, after a bath at the Adelphi, made my way to St. George’s Church. Here, for the first time, I joined in the worship of our English Mother ; though it was difficult to conceive myself a

HOLY-WEEK.

stranger, until the expression — “ Victoria, our Queen and Governor” — recalled the fact that I was worshipping with the subjects of an earthly Sovereign, as well as among my brethren of the glorious City of God.

A letter awaited me at the Post Office, which invited me to spend my rest-days with a dear friend. So, after a hasty survey of Liverpool, which I did not care to inspect minutely, I took an early evening train for Warwickshire, and was soon speeding athwart highways, and through hedges, towards my friend’s abode. Even my glimpses of England, from the flying carriage, were enough to occupy my mind delightfully: and often did some scene upon the road-side, or in the sprouting fields, recall incidents of history, or passages of poetic description, which filled me with emotion, and greatly heightened my preconceptions of the pleasures before me, in the tour which I thus began.

So it happened that my first night on shore was passed beneath the roof of a pleasant English parsonage. My host had been, for years, my correspondent, and though we had never met before, we counted ourselves old friends. My bed-room had been prepared for me, and furnished with such things, in the way of books and the like, as, it was fancied, would suit my tastes. One window overlooked the Church ; and another, over the churchyard, and its green graves, commanded a pretty view of the fields. It was the Holy Week. I was waked every morning by the bell

for early prayers. The Bishop of W had sent me his

permission to officiate, and when I went to Church, it was always as a priest of the One Communion. I was at home : as much so as if I had lived, for years, in the house where I was a guest. We kept the holy time together, and limited our diversions to pleasant and somewhat professional walks. We visited, for example, a parochial establishment, in which some twenty widows were lodged, by the benevolent charity of an individual. Every widow had her own little cottage, and the entire buildings enclosed a square, in which was their common garden. There was also a small chapel ; and in each little home there was a text inscribed over the fire-place, encouraging charity, forbearance, and love to God. Here was a quiet Beguinage, built many years ago, and never heard of : but there are many such, in England, dear to God, and the fruits of his Church. I visited also a school founded by King Edward Sixth ; and having, on my first landing at Liverpool, paid a visit to its Blue Coat Hospital, founded by a prosperous seaman of the port, and furnishing a noble example to

IMPRESSIONS OF ENGLAND.

all sea-port cities, I had seen not a little to charm me with the religion of England, before I had been a week on her shores. Our quiet walks through lanes and by-paths, were not less gratifying in their way. The hedges and the fields, gardens and residences, the farms and the very highways, were full of attractions to my eye, and the more so, because my companion seemed to think he could find nothing to show me! He knew not the heart of an American, fond of his mother country, and for the first time in his life coming into contact with old-fashioned things. A heavy wagon, lumbering along the road to market, and inscribed, “ John Trott, Carrier, Ashby-de-la-Zouche ” — was enough to set me thinking of past and present, of the poetry of Ivanhoe, and the prose of a market- wain ; and when I saw a guide-post, which for years had directed travellers “ To Stratford,” only twenty miles off, I could almost have bowed to it. A stage coach came along, bearing “Oxford” on its panels; and the thought that it had started that very morning from the seat of the University, and had raised the dust of Stratford-on-Avon, made its wheels look dignified. To enjoy England one must be an American, and a hearty and earnest member of the Anglican Church. Even the cry of “ hot cross buns,” which waked me on Good Friday morning, reviving the song of the nursery, and many more sacred associations with the day, made me thankful that I was no alien to the spirit of the solemnities, which even a traditionary cry in the streets tends to fasten upon the heart and conscience of a nation.

Easter morning came at last, and I was up with the sun, and out for a walk. It came with a bright sunrise, and many cheerful notes from morning birds. I was confident I heard a lark singing high up in the air, for though I could not see the little fellow, I could not mistake the aspiring voice. His Easter Carol was a joyous one, and I set it to the familiar words —

Christ, our Lord, is risen to-day,

Sons of men and angels say !

The hedges were just in leaf : here and there the hawthorn had blossomed, but the weather was too cold for its silvery beauty ; and one almost pitied the few adventurous flowers, that, like good Churchmen, seemed only to have come out in conscientious regard to the day. I finished my morning walk by a turn or two through the church-yard, every grave of which was sparkling with dews, illuminated by the Easter sun. How forcibly the

EASTER SUNDAY. 5

scene represented the resurrection : “ The dew of thy birth is of the womb of the morning.”

As I entered the parsonage, I heard the bells chiming from a distant parish church. My reverend friend met me with the salutation — “ the Lord is risen to which I could not but fervently respond in the same primitive spirit. We had a festal breakfast, after family prayers, and soon it was time for service. I could willingly have been a worshipper in private, but submitted to the authority of the parson, and became one of his curates for the day. We emerged from the Vestry in due order of the Psalmist — “ the singers going before,” men and boys alike in surplices ; the latter with red cheeks, and white ribbons to tie their collars, looking like little chubby cherubs, and when they lifted their voices, sounding still more like them. The chancel was neatly decorated ; a few flowers placed over the altar, and an inscription on its cloth, “ I am the Bread of Life.” With the choral parts of the service I was surprised, as well as delighted. Boys and men all did their parts, in a manner which would have done honor to the authorities of a Cathedral, and I observed that the congregation generally accompanied the choir, especially the children in the galleries. I had never before heard the Athanasian Hymn as part of the regular Service, and I was greatly* impressed by its majestic effect. After the Nicene Creed, I ascended the pulpit, and preached “ Jesus and the Resurrection,” and then, returning to the Altar, celebrated the Holy Eucharist, according to the English rite, administering to my reverend brethren and the lay-communicants. To this high privilege I was pressingly invited by the pastor himself, in token of entire communion with the Church in America ; and thus I was able to join my personal thanksgivings for the mercies of a voyage, and my prayers for my absent flock and family, to a public exercise of the highest functions of my priesthood, at the altar of an English Church.

The many incidents of the day, which afforded me ever fresh delight, might lose their charm, if reduced to narration, or might strike the reader as proofs of my facility to be gratified. But I cannot but mention that, strolling away, in the afternoon, to see how service was performed at another Church, I was gratified to find it filled with devout worshippers of the plainer sort, attentively listening to a very excellent sermon, appropriate to the day. While the preacher was warmly enlarging upon the promise of a glorious resurrection, and I was quite absorbed in his