Part 9

_August 24th._--We set off five minutes before seven. It was very foggy. There is a pretty hill and a good deal of wood going out of Arundel. After the fog cleared away it was _excessively_ hot; every person looked half roasted. There were a number of pretty cottages; most of which, and even some of the sheds, were covered with vines, roses, and jessamines; there were also many remarkably fine hollyoaks before the doors. Every person looked clean and neat; there seemed to be no poverty: we did not meet with a single beggar. It was delightful to see the green fields full of sheep and cows, all looking so happy. There were several boats full of ladies on the Thames. We saw London some time before we were in it; it only appeared like a great deal of smoke. We scarcely saw any soldiers in London--very different to Paris! We arrived at the New Hummums, Russell Street, at half-past four. In the evening we went to Drury Lane and saw the Coronation. The first play was very ugly. The first scene of the coronation was a distant view of Westminster Abbey. There were a number of soldiers and people painted at a distance. The procession was very long and beautiful. The herb-women walked first, strewing the way with flowers; they were dressed in white, and pink roses on their heads, and the first had on a scarlet mantle. The king had on a crimson velvet robe with an immense long train covered with gold stars, and borne by seven pages. The second scene was the inside of Westminster Abbey: the ceiling was covered with scarlet drapery; there were a great many chandeliers, and one could not imagine anything more magnificent. There were painted people in the galleries, and real people at one end. There was a great deal of music and a large harmonica. The king went up to the altar, and they put on him a purple crown. In the third scene there came in a sailor who sang a curious song about the coronation. The fourth scene was the banquet. There were gold plates and such a number of lights that they made my eyes quite sore. The champion came in on horseback and threw down the glove: two other men on horseback followed him: the horses reared and plunged: a man in armour made of rings stood on each side of him. It was altogether beautiful. It was very hot.

_August 25th._--Before we set off we went to Covent Garden market, and saw some beautiful fruit in the shop windows; we had not time to go through it, but what we saw was not to be compared to the flower-markets in Paris. We did not see anything here very pretty. It was _excessively_ hot when we set off. We passed several pretty houses, and we stopped at Hampstead Heath to see Mr. and Mrs. Spedding.[46] We dined at Welwin, not a very good inn. There were several nice little girls dancing along with bundles of corn on their heads. We slept at Antonbury Hill. It was a nice inn, and the people were civil.

_August 26th._--The weather to-day was quite changed: it was cold and rainy. We dined at Grantham. In one of the towns we passed through there were some soldiers and a band of music. We slept at Tuxford. It was a middling inn, and the people were civil.

_August 27th._--The weather continued cold and disagreeable. We breakfasted at Bawtry. We passed Robin Hood's well. About Ferry Bridge we saw a number of people gathering teasels. We dined at Leeds: it is a dirty, disagreeable town. Numbers of children ran after the carriage; sometimes six or seven got up at a time; we had nothing to do but to watch for them. The country was very pretty. Before Otley there is an excessively steep hill; we walked down it: a number of children got up behind the carriage. We slept at Otley.

_August 28th._--It was very rainy when we set off. We went along by a river; where was a pretty wooded bay. There was a great deal of honeysuckle in the hedges, which smelt very sweet. We breakfasted at Skipton, where there was a cattle-market; and saw some hills near Settle; and passed a pretty rocky river before Kirby Lonsdale. We stayed all night at Kendal, in the same room that we were in before, in 1819.

_August 29th._--We set off at seven, happy to think we were near the end of our journey. No person in the inn was ready. It was a dull morning. We passed Windermere and breakfasted at Ambleside. After this we passed some beautiful mountains very much wooded, and Rydal Water, a pretty little lake, and also Grasmere. As soon as we passed the boundary wall and entered Cumberland the sun came out and shone brightly for a little while. We saw the blue mountains peeping up behind, and the clear mountain streams. We passed Thirlmere, which is more like a river, and Helvellyn, an ugly mountain. We saw Keswick Lake; arrived at Keswick by one o'clock, and stayed there till three. After we had left this, a flock of sheep ran on before the carriage for above a mile with a man and his dog after them. The sun shone as we went up Whinlatter; and we saw the end of Bassenthwaite; the sixth lake we saw to-day. The time seemed very short till we reached Cockermouth, where we saw the new bridge they were building. At last we arrived in safety at Tallantire.

M. B.

Friday, _December 21st_, 1821.

Printed by T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to His Majesty at the Edinburgh University Press

[1] Married Lord Teignmouth, Conservative member for Marylebone, in 1838.--EDITOR.

[2] The steward was very civil.

[3] The packet was nearly lost going in; we lost sight of the lighthouse in the fog, before the light was put up as a signal that there was water enough. In standing in to discover it again, we got into shoal water, near the breakers, and had to tack in ten feet of water, the vessel drawing near eight feet. It was a mere accident our not striking the ground.

[4] In after years published a clever children's book, _Aunt Effie's Nursery Rhymes_ (illustrated), which ran through many editions; also a volume of sacred poems, _The Dove on the Cross_.--EDITOR.

[5] We expected we were going for a carriage, so we could not think where they were taking us; the custom-house looked more like a den of robbers.

[6] I awoke this morning very uncomfortable; although I had been very anxious to go to France, I now felt so far from home that I would have done anything to get back again.

[7] The governess. This 'clever and progressive' lady published, anonymously, in 1821, _The History of William and his Little Scholar, Joseph, with some account of Joseph's Mother_: sketches of Cumberland life, based on her experiences with the Brownes, from whose household the characters were taken.--EDITOR.

[8] There is a hedge at one side of the Forest.

[9] At the doors of many of the houses we saw children eating something out of a porringer and holding long rolls in their hands.

[10] Here papa left a pocket-handkerchief which was afterwards sent, but another gentleman got it by mistake. The French are very honest about stealing.

[11] They were the _Sœurs de Charité_; dressed in a black cloth jacket and petticoat, a full apron, and a kind of linen cap. By their side they carry a rosary, a death's head, and a pair of scissors.

[12] The room we breakfasted in was painted like a panorama.

[13] Miss Wragge went to see the Church of Notre Dame which was dressed up with gold cloth, artificial flowers, etc., round the pillars for the Duke of Bordeaux's baptism.

[14] Before breakfast we bought some Leghorn bonnets at Madame Denis, Rue St. Honoré.

[15] As several men were looking down at the bear, one dropt a shilling into the enclosure, and imprudently jumped in to get it, when the black bear tore him to pieces as soon as he reached the bottom. A man told us that the bear had never been well since.

[16] Mamma sent a small gold earring to Paris to be mended, instead of which they changed it for a brass one.

[17] We saw part of the mass at Notre Dame; it was much the same as the other.

[18] It may be of interest to quote the remarks of the author of _The Diary of an Invalid_ (Henry Mathews), in 1819: 'The French women must, I think, yield the palm to their English and Italian neighbours.... It is a curious fact that in 1814, the English ladies were so possessed with a rage for imitating even the deficiencies of their French sisterhood, that they actually had recourse to violent means, even to the injury of their health, to compress their beautiful bosoms as flatly as possible, and destroy every vestige of those charms for which, of all other women, they are perhaps the most indebted to nature.' _Paris, May_ 28, 1819.--EDITOR.

[19] While Mademoiselle Allemagne was questioning them on geography, Miss Fuller stood on the table fiddling with her hand and imitating M. Bréton.

[20] When we used to work at beads, the French girls were very fond of taking our horsehair, etc. If we discovered them they used to call us every name they could think of, 'Diable,' 'Menteuse,' etc.

[21] The French girls seemed very ignorant; one of them (Mademoiselle Josephe) of thirteen or fourteen, on being asked what an active verb was, replied, 'Un verbe actif c'est un verbe passif.' Another, on being asked what map the map of Africa was, answered, 'C'est Amérique.'

[22] A common refreshment in French parties; and a favourite medicine also (_eau sucrée_).

[23] The French millers wear very large, curious hats.

[24] We saw a monkey in the opposite balcony which played a number of tricks.

[25] One Sunday, when papa was at Paris, he counted nineteen places of public amusement open; on another seventeen, besides many for the lower classes.

[26] The milliners'shops are very ugly, but there are some very pretty things in the others, particularly little dolls' chairs, etc., of mother-of-pearl and gold, and flowers at the bottom. We saw some pretty clocks; also a snuffer dish and a pair of snuffers covered with flowers under glass.

[27] The girls think of their dresses for weeks before.

[28] They spoil them very much in _some_ things, but they are not near so _kind_ to them as the English.

[29] I never felt anything but dull air in _France_; while we were at Versailles six French people killed themselves.

[30] The baskets were _very_ pretty: they were ornamented with silk and muslin.

[31] The fruit that we tasted in France (except the melons) was very bad. Their best cherries--_cerises anglaises_--were so hard one was obliged to chew them, their gooseberries were like blighted ones, and their pears and plums indifferent. (Grapes were not ripe.)

[32] A Cumberland name for 'curds.'--EDITOR.

[33] She happened to be very plain.

[34] The French are _excessively_ great talkers. If one asks a question in the street, they tell such roundabout stories one can hardly get away. They never say they do not know a thing. We one day went in search of a Mr. Dyas; we enquired of nearly a dozen people the way; they each told us _different_, and not one _right_. The people in the house he lived in directed us to a different one.

[35] There were several French _ladies_ with them, who, they said, gave the most fashionable parties in Versailles, and were very agreeable. These ladies were as much like ladies in their _appearance_ as servants.

[36] I think this must be a mistake.--W. B. Indeed it is not.--M. B.

[37] A _frotteur_ is a man that comes to clean the rooms; he fastens a small brush on to each foot and skates about the room till the boards or flags are polished.

[38] An old-fashioned name for camellia.--EDITOR.

[39] It was a young vineyard; there were plenty of _unripe_ grapes in the old ones, but spoiled by the weather.

[40] It rained part of the time, so we were obliged to keep up our umbrellas.

[41] There were several pretty white buildings which were manufactories.

[42] A number of people were standing round a woman who was quarrelling with her husband.

[43] Some of their earrings were tied on.

[44] Papa would not pay the steward anything as he had been so tipsy (but he asked poor Miss Reed for five shillings). Papa had also a battle with the people, who wished to make some additional charge for landing, which was contrary to his agreement at Dieppe.

[45] An aunt of Mrs. Browne's.--EDITOR.

[46] Of Mirehouse, Keswick.--EDITOR.