Category: Travel Writing
Old Sarum.—Country thinly 54 peopled.—Basingstoke.—Ruins of a Catholic Chapel.—Waste Land near London.—Staines.—Iron Bridges.—Custom of exposing the dead Bodies of Criminals.—Hounslow Brentford.—Approach to London.—Arrival
_Westminster Abbey.—Legend of its Consecration.—Its single Altar in bad Taste.—Gothic or English Architecture.—Monuments.— Banks the Sculptor.—Wax-work.—Henry the Seventh’s Chap...
33. LETTER IV.We started early, and hurried over four leagues of the same open and uninteresting country, which brought us to Dorchester, the capital of the province, or county town, as it is...
56. LETTER XXVII._Saint Paul’s.—Anecdote of a female Esquimaux.—Defect of Grecian Architecture in cold Climates.—Nakedness of the Church.—Monuments.—Pictures offered by Sir Joshua Reynolds, &c.,...
31. LETTER II.Early in the morning our chaise was at the door, a four-wheeled carriage which conveniently carries three persons. It has glass in front and at the sides, instead of being close...
43. LETTER XIV.One of the peculiarities in this country is, that every body lives upon the ground floor, except the shopkeepers. The stable and coach-house either adjoin the house, or more fre...
51. LETTER XXII._English Coins.—Paper Currency.—Frequent Executions for Forgery.—Dr Dodd.—Opinion that Prevention is the End of Punishment.—This End not answered by the Frequency of Executions....
48. LETTER XIX.The ceremonies of the English Church Service are soon described. Imagine a church with one altar covered with crimson velvet, the Creed and the Decalogue over it in golden lette...
49. LETTER XX._Irreverence of the English towards the Virgin Mary and the Saints.—Want of Ceremonies in their Church.—Festival Dainties.—Traces of Catholicism in their Language and Oaths.—Dis...
47. LETTER XVIII.There is nothing in a foreign land which a traveller is so little able to enjoy as the national theatre: though he may read the language with ease, and converse in it with littl...
32. LETTER III.If the outside of this New London Inn, as it is called, surprised me, I was far more surprised at the interior. Excellent as the houses appeared at which we had already halted,...
36. LETTER VII.My first business was to acquire some knowledge of the place whereof I am now become an inhabitant. I began to study the plan of London, though dismayed at the sight of its prod...
60. LETTER XXXI.The stage-coach in which we had taken our places was to start at six. We met at the inn, and saw our trunks safely stowed in the boot, as they call a great receptacle for baggag...
50. LETTER XXI.Yesterday I went to see a show of tulips, as it is called, about three miles from town. The bed in which they were arranged, each in its separate pot, was not less than fifty _v...
55. LETTER XXVI.With us charity is a religious duty, with the English it is an affair of law. We support the poor by alms; in England a tax is levied to keep them from starving, and, enormous a...
58. LETTER XXIX.The heretical sects in this country are so numerous, that an explanatory dictionary of their names has been published. They form a curious list! Arminians, Socinians, Baxterians...
42. LETTER XIII.The dress of Englishmen wants that variety which renders the figures of our scenery so picturesque. You might think, from walking the streets of London, that there were no minis...
37. LETTER VIII.The definitive treaty has arrived at last; peace was proclaimed yesterday, with the usual ceremonies, and the customary rejoicings have taken place. My expectations were raised...
38. LETTER IX.Nothing is now talked of in London but the fate of Governor Wall, who has just been executed for a crime committed twenty years ago. He commanded at that time the English settle...
34. LETTER V._Old Sarum.—Country thinly peopled,—Basingstoke.—Ruins of a Catholic Chapel.—Waste Land near London.—Staines.—Iron Bridges.—Custom of exposing the dead Bodies of Criminals.—Houn...
57. LETTER XXVIII._State of the English Catholics.—Their prudent Silence in the Days of Jacobitism.—The Church of England jealous of the Dissenters.—Riots in 1780.—Effects of the French Revolutio...
53. LETTER XXIV._Complexion of the English contradictory to their historical Theories.—Christian Names, and their Diminutives.—System of Surnames.—Names of the Months and Days.—Friday the unluc...
41. LETTER XII._Causes of the Change of Ministry not generally understood.—Catholic Emancipation.—The Change acceptable to the Nation.—State of Parties.—Strength of the new Administration.—Its...
39. LETTER X.The execution of Governor Wall is considered as a great triumph of justice. Nobody seems to recollect that he has been hanged, not for having flogged three men to death, but for...
54. LETTER XXV.The king of England has a regular bug-destroyer in his household! a relic no doubt of dirtier times; for the English are a truly clean people, and have an abhorrence of all verm...
44. LETTER XV.The English do not eat beef-steaks for breakfast, as lying travellers have told us, nor can I find that it has ever been the custom. The breakfast-table is a cheerful sight in t...
40. LETTER XI.I have employed this morning in wandering about this huge metropolis with an English gentleman, well acquainted with the manners and customs of foreign countries, and therefore...
59. LETTER XXX.The English migrate as regularly as rooks. Home-sickness is a disease which has no existence in a certain state of civilization or of luxury, and instead of it these islanders a...
45. LETTER XVI.They talk here of our Holy Office as a disgrace to the Spanish nation, when their own government is ten times more inquisitorial, for the paltry purposes of revenue. Shortly aft...
46. LETTER XVII.There are two words in their language on which these people pride themselves, and which they say cannot be translated. _Home_ is the one, by which an Englishman means his house....
30. LETTER I.I write to you from English ground. On the twelfth morning after our departure from Lisbon we came in sight of the Lizard, two light-houses on the rocks near the Land’s End, whi...
35. LETTER VI.The first night in a strange bed is seldom a night of sound rest;—one is not intimate enough with the pillow to be quite at ease upon it. A traveller, like myself, indeed, might...
27. LETTER XXVIII.State of the English Catholics.—Their 322 prudent Silence in the Days of Jacobitism.—The Church of England jealous of the Dissenters.—Riots in 1780.—Effects of the French Revolu...
19. LETTER XX.Irreverence of English towards the 215 Virgin Mary and the Saints.—Want of Ceremonies in their Church.—Festival Dainties.—Traces of Catholicism in their Language and Oaths.—Disb...
21. LETTER XXII.English Coins.—Paper Currency.—Frequent 241 Executions for Forgery.—Doctor Dodd.—Opinion that Prevention is the End of Punishment.—This End not answered by the Frequency of Exec...
22. LETTER XXIII.Westminster Abbey.—Legend of its 256 Consecration.—Its single Altar in bad Taste.—Gothic or English Architecture.—Monuments.—Banks the Sculptor.—Wax-work.—Henry the Seventh’s Ch...
26. LETTER XXVII.Saint Paul’s.—Anecdote of a female 307 Esquimaux.—Defect of Grecian Architecture in cold Climates.—Nakedness of the Church.—Monuments.—Pictures offered by Sir Joshua Reynolds, &...
5. LETTER V.Old Sarum.—Country thinly 54 peopled.—Basingstoke.—Ruins of a Catholic Chapel.—Waste Land near London.—Staines.—Iron Bridges.—Custom of exposing the dead Bodies of Criminals.—Ho...
11. LETTER XII.Causes of the Change of Ministry not 127 generally understood.—Catholic Emancipation.—The Change acceptable to the Nation.—State of Parties.—Strength of the new Administration.—...
23. LETTER XXIV.Complexion of the English contradictory 274 to their historical Theories.—Christian Names, and their Diminutives.—System of Surnames.—Names of the Months and Days.—Friday the un...
7. LETTER VII.12. LETTER XIII.25. LETTER XXVI.4. LETTER IV.2. LETTER II.18. LETTER XIX.10. LETTER XI.3. LETTER III.15. LETTER XVI.20. LETTER XXI.14. LETTER XV.16. LETTER XVII.28. LETTER XXIX.8. LETTER VIII.1. LETTER I.6. LETTER VI.24. LETTER XXV.13. LETTER XIV.9. LETTER X.29. LETTER XXXI.17. LETTER XVIII.