24 great russell street, november 10th.—we have been thinking and negotiating about taking lodgings in london lately, and this morning we left leamington and reached london with no other misadventure than that of leaving the great bulk of our luggage behind us,—the van which we hired to take it to the railway station having broken down under its prodigious weight, in the middle of the street. on our journey we saw nothing particularly worthy of note,—but everywhere the immortal verdure of england, scarcely less perfect than in june, so far as the fields are concerned, though the foliage of the trees presents pretty much the same hues as those of our own forests, after the gayety and gorgeousness have departed from them.

our lodgings are in close vicinity to the british museum, which is the great advantage we took them for.

i felt restless and uncomfortable, and soon strolled forth, without any definite object, and walked as far as charing cross. very dull and dreary the city looked, and not in the least lively, even where the throng was thickest and most brisk. as i trudged along, my reflection was, that never was there a dingier, uglier, less picturesque city than london; and that it is really wonderful that so much brick and stone, for centuries together, should have been built up with so poor a result. yet these old names of the city—fleet street, ludgate hill, the strand-used to throw a glory over these homely precincts when i first saw them, and still do so in a less degree. where farrington street opens upon fleet street, moreover, i had a glimpse of st. paul's, along ludgate street, in the gathering dimness, and felt as if i saw an old friend. in that neighborhood—speaking of old friends—i met mr. parker of boston, who told me sad news of a friend whom i love as much as if i had known him for a lifetime, though he is, indeed, but of two or three years' standing. he said that my friend's bankruptcy is in to-day's gazette. of all men on earth, i had rather this misfortune should have happened to any other; but i hope and think he has sturdiness and buoyancy enough to rise up beneath it. i cannot conceive of his face otherwise than with a glow on it, like that of the sun at noonday.

before i reached our lodgings, the dusk settled into the streets, and a mist bedewed and bedamped me, and i went astray, as is usual with me, and had to inquire my way; indeed, except in the principal thoroughfares, london is so miserably lighted that it is impossible to recognize one's whereabouts. on my arrival i found our parlor looking cheerful with a brisk fire; . . . . but the first day or two in new lodgings is at best an uncomfortable time. fanny has just come in with more unhappy news about ———. pray heaven it may not be true! . . . . troubles are a sociable brotherhood; they love to come hand in hand, or sometimes, even, to come side by side, with long looked-for and hoped-for good fortune. . . .

november 11th.—this morning we all went to the british museum, always a most wearisome and depressing task to me. i strolled through the lower rooms with a good degree of interest, looking at the antique sculptures, some of which were doubtless grand and beautiful in their day. . . . the egyptian remains are, on the whole, the more satisfactory; for, though inconceivably ugly, they are at least miracles of size and ponderosity,—for example, a hand and arm of polished granite, as much as ten feet in length. the upper rooms, containing millions of specimens of natural history, in all departments, really made my heart ache with a pain and woe that i have never felt anywhere but in the british museum, and i hurried through them as rapidly as i could persuade j——- to follow me. we had left the rest of the party still intent on the grecian sculptures; and though j——- was much interested in the vast collection of shells, he chose to quit the museum with me in the prospect of a stroll about london. he seems to have my own passion for thronged streets, and the utmost bustle of human life.

we went first to the railway station, in quest of our luggage, which we found. then we made a pretty straight course down to holborn, and through newgate street, stopping a few moments to look through the iron fence at the christ's hospital boys, in their long blue coats and yellow petticoats and stockings. it was between twelve and one o'clock; and i suppose this was their hour of play, for they were running about the enclosed space, chasing and overthrowing one another, without their caps, with their yellow petticoats tucked up, and all in immense activity and enjoyment. they were eminently a healthy and handsome set of boys.

then we went into cheapside, where i called at mr. bennett's shop, to inquire what are the facts about ———. when i mentioned his name, mr. bennett shook his head and expressed great sorrow; but, on further talk, i found that he referred only to the failure, and had heard nothing about the other rumor. it cannot, therefore, be true; for bennett lives in his neighborhood, and could not have remained ignorant of such a calamity. there must be some mistake; none, however, in regard to the failure, it having been announced in the times.

from bennett's shop—which is so near the steeple of bow church that it would tumble upon it if it fell over—we strolled still eastward, aiming at london bridge; but missed it, and bewildered ourselves among many dingy and frowzy streets and lanes. i bore towards the right, however, knowing that that course must ultimately bring me to the thames; and at last i saw before me ramparts, towers, circular and square, with battlemented summits, large sweeps and curves of fortification, as well as straight and massive walls and chimneys behind them (all a great confusion—to my eye), of ancient and more modern structure, and four loftier turrets rising in the midst; the whole great space surrounded by a broad, dry moat, which now seemed to be used as an ornamental walk, bordered partly with trees. this was the tower; but seen from a different and more picturesque point of view than i have heretofore gained of it. being so convenient for a visit, i determined to go in. at the outer gate, which is not a part of the fortification, a sentinel walks to and fro, besides whom there was a warder, in the rich old costume of henry viii's time, looking very gorgeous indeed,—as much so as scarlet and gold can make him.

as j——- and i were not going to look at the jewel-room, we loitered about in the open space, before the white tower, while the tall, slender, white-haired, gentlemanly warder led the rest of the party into that apartment. we found what one might take for a square in a town, with gabled houses lifting their peaks on one side, and various edifices enclosing the other sides, and the great white tower,—now more black than white,—rising venerable, and rather picturesque than otherwise, the most prominent object in the scene. i have no plan nor available idea of it whatever in my mind, but it seems really to be a town within itself, with streets, avenues, and all that pertains to human life. there were soldiers going through their exercise in the open space, and along at the base of the white tower lay a great many cannon and mortars, some of which were of turkish manufacture, and immensely long and ponderous. others, likewise of mighty size, had once belonged to the famous ship great harry, and had lain for ages under the sea. others were east-indian. several were beautiful specimens of workmanship. the mortars—some so large that a fair-sized man might easily be rammed into them—held their great mouths slanting upward to the sky, and mostly contained a quantity of rain-water. while we were looking at these warlike toys,—for i suppose not one of them will ever thunder in earnest again,—the warder reappeared with his ladies, and, leading us all to a certain part of the open space, he struck his foot on the small stones with which it is paved, and told us that we were standing on the spot where anne boleyn and catharine parr were beheaded. it is not exactly in the centre of the square, but on a line with one of the angles of the white tower. i forgot to mention that the middle of the open space is occupied by a marble statue of wellington, which appeared to me very poor and laboriously spirited.

lastly, the warder led us under the bloody tower, and by the side of the wakefield tower, and showed us the traitor's gate, which is now closed up, so as to afford no access to the thames. no; we first visited the beauchamp tower, famous as the prison of many historical personages. some of its former occupants have left their initials or names, and inscriptions of piety and patience, cut deep into the freestone of the walls, together with devices—as a crucifix, for instance—neatly and skilfully done. this room has a long, deep fireplace; it is chiefly lighted by a large window, which i fancy must have been made in modern times; but there are four narrow apertures, throwing in a little light through deep alcoves in the thickness of the octagon wall. one would expect such a room to be picturesque; but it is really not of striking aspect, being low, with a plastered ceiling,—the beams just showing through the plaster,—a boarded floor, and the walls being washed over with a buff color. a warder sat within a railing, by the great window, with sixpenny books to sell, containing transcripts of the inscriptions on the walls.

we now left the tower, and made our way deviously westward, passing st. paul's, which looked magnificently and beautifully, so huge and dusky as it was, with here and there a space on its vast form where the original whiteness of the marble came out like a streak of moonshine amid the blackness with which time has made it grander than it was in its newness. it is a most noble edifice; and i delight, too, in the statues that crown some of its heights, and in the wreaths of sculpture which are hung around it.

november 12th.—this morning began with such fog, that at the window of my chamber, lighted only from a small court-yard, enclosed by high, dingy walls, i could hardly see to dress. it kept alternately darkening, and then brightening a little, and darkening again, so much that we could but just discern the opposite houses; but at eleven or thereabouts it grew so much clearer that we resolved to venture out. our plan for the day was to go in the first place to westminster abbey; and to the national gallery, if we should find time. . . . the fog darkened again as we went down regent street, and the duke of york's column was but barely visible, looming vaguely before us; nor, from pall mall, was nelson's pillar much more distinct, though methought his statue stood aloft in a somewhat clearer atmosphere than ours. passing whitehall, however, we could scarcely see inigo jones's banqueting-house, on the other side of the street; and the towers and turrets of the new houses of parliament were all but invisible, as was the abbey itself; so that we really were in some doubt whither we were going. we found our way to poets' corner, however, and entered those holy precincts, which looked very dusky and grim in the smoky light. . . . i was strongly impressed with the perception that very commonplace people compose the great bulk of society in the home of the illustrious dead. it is wonderful how few names there are that one cares anything about a hundred years after their departure; but perhaps each generation acts in good faith in canonizing its own men. . . . but the fame of the buried person does not make the marble live,—the marble keeps merely a cold and sad memory of a man who would else be forgotten. no man who needs a monument ever ought to have one.

the painted windows of the abbey, though mostly modern, are exceedingly rich and beautiful; and i do think that human art has invented no other such magnificent method of adornment as this.

our final visit to-day was to the national gallery, where i came to the conclusion that murillo's st. john was the most lovely picture i have ever seen, and that there never was a painter who has really made the world richer, except murillo.

november 12th.—this morning we issued forth, and found the atmosphere chill and almost frosty, tingling upon our cheeks. . . . the gateway of somerset house attracted us, and we walked round its spacious quadrangle, encountering many government clerks hurrying to their various offices. at least, i presumed them to be so. this is certainly a handsome square of buildings, with its grecian facades and pillars, and its sculptured bas-reliefs, and the group of statuary in the midst of the court. besides the part of the edifice that rises above ground, there appear to be two subterranean stories below the surface. from somerset house we pursued our way through temple bar, but missed it, and therefore entered by the passage from what was formerly alsatia, but which now seems to be a very respectable and humdrum part of london. we came immediately to the temple gardens, which we walked quite round. the grass is still green, but the trees are leafless, and had an aspect of not being very robust, even at more genial seasons of the year. there were, however, large quantities of brilliant chrysanthemums, golden, and of all hues, blooming gorgeously all about the borders; and several gardeners were at work, tending these flowers, and sheltering them from the weather. i noticed no roses, nor even rose-bushes, in the spot where the factions of york and lancaster plucked their two hostile flowers.

leaving these grounds, we went to the hall of the middle temple, where we knocked at the portal, and, finding it not fastened, thrust it open. a boy appeared within, and the porter or keeper, at a distance, along the inner passage, called to us to enter; and, opening the door of the great hall, left us to view it till he should be at leisure to attend to us. truly it is a most magnificent apartment; very lofty,—so lofty, indeed, that the antique oak roof was quite hidden, as regarded all its details, in the sombre gloom that brooded under its rafters. the hall was lighted by four great windows, i think, on each of the two sides, descending half-way from the ceiling to the floor, leaving all beneath enclosed by oaken panelling, which, on three sides, was carved with escutcheons of such members of the society as have held the office of reader. there is likewise, in a large recess or transept, a great window, occupying the full height of the hall, and splendidly emblazoned with the arms of the templars who have attained to the dignity of chief justices. the other windows are pictured, in like manner, with coats of arms of local dignitaries connected with the temple; and besides all these there are arched lights, high towards the roof, at either end full of richly and chastely colored glass, and all the illumination that the great hall had come through these glorious panes, and they seemed the richer for the sombreness in which we stood. i cannot describe, or even intimate, the effect of this transparent glory, glowing down upon us in that gloomy depth of the hall. the screen at the lower end was of carved oak, very dark and highly polished, and as old as queen elizabeth's time. the keeper told us that the story of the armada was said to be represented in these carvings, but in the imperfect light we could trace nothing of it out. along the length of the apartment were set two oaken tables for the students of law to dine upon; and on the dais, at the upper end, there was a cross-table for the big-wigs of the society; the latter being provided with comfortable chairs, and the former with oaken benches. from a notification, posted near the door, i gathered that the cost of dinners is two shillings to each gentleman, including, as the attendant told me, ale and wine. i am reluctant to leave this hall without expressing how grave, how grand, how sombre, and how magnificent i feel it to be. as regards historical association, it was a favorite dancing-hall of queen elizabeth, and sir christopher hatton danced himself into her good graces here.

we next went to the temple church, and, finding the door ajar, made free to enter beneath its norman arches, which admitted us into a circular vestibule, very ancient and beautiful. in the body of the church beyond we saw a boy sitting, but nobody either forbade or invited our entrance. on the floor of the vestibule lay about half a score of templars,—the representatives of the warlike priests who built this church and formerly held these precincts,—all in chain armor, grasping their swords, and with their shields beside them. except two or three, they lay cross-legged, in token that they had really fought for the holy sepulchre. i think i have seen nowhere else such well-preserved monumental knights as these. we proceeded into the interior of the church, and were greatly impressed with its wonderful beauty,—the roof springing, as it were, in a harmonious and accordant fountain, out of the clustered pillars that support its groined arches; and these pillars, immense as they are, are polished like so many gems. they are of purbeck marble, and, if i mistake not, had been covered with plaster for ages until latterly redeemed and beautified anew. but the glory of the church is its old painted windows; and, positively, those great spaces over the chancel appeared to be set with all manner of precious stones,—or it was as if the many-colored radiance of heaven were breaking upon us,—or as if we saw the wings of angels, storied over with richly tinted pictures of holy things. but it is idle to talk of this marvellous adornment; it is to be seen and wondered at, not written about. before we left the church, the porter made his appearance, in time to receive his fee,— which somebody, indeed, is always ready to stretch out his hand for. and so ended our visit to the temple, which, by the by, though close to the midmost bustle of london, is as quiet as if it were always sunday there.

we now went to st. paul's. u—— and miss shepard ascended to the whispering gallery, and we, sitting under the dome, at the base of one of the pillars, saw them far above us, looking very indistinct, for those misty upper-depths seemed almost to be hung with clouds. this cathedral, i think, does not profit by gloom, but requires cheerful sunshine to show it to the best advantage. the statues and sculptures in st. paul's are mostly covered with years of dust, and look thereby very grim and ugly; but there are few memories there from which i should care to brush away the dust, they being, in nine cases out of ten, naval and military heroes of second or third class merit. i really remember no literary celebrity admitted solely on that account, except dr. johnson. the crimean war has supplied two or three monuments, chiefly mural tablets; and doubtless more of the same excrescences will yet come out upon the walls. one thing that i newly noticed was the beautiful shape of the great, covered marble vase that serves for a font.

from st. paul's we went down cheapside, and, turning into king street, visited guildhall, which we found in process of decoration for a public ball, to take place next week. it looked rather gewgawish thus gorgeous, being hung with flags of all nations, and adorned with military trophies; and the scene was repeated by a range of looking-glasses at one end of the room. the execrably painted windows really shocked us by their vulgar glare, after those of the temple hall and church; yet, a few years ago, i might very likely have thought them beautiful. our own national banner, i must remember to say, was hanging in guildhall, but with only ten stars, and an insufficient number of stripes.

november 15th.—yesterday morning we went to london bridge and along lower thames street, and quickly found ourselves in billingsgate market, —a dirty, evil-smelling, crowded precinct, thronged with people carrying fish on their heads, and lined with fish-shops and fish-stalls, and pervaded with a fishy odor. the footwalk was narrow,—as indeed was the whole street,—and filthy to travel upon; and we had to elbow our way among rough men and slatternly women, and to guard our heads from the contact of fish-trays; very ugly, grimy, and misty, moreover, is billingsgate market, and though we heard none of the foul language of which it is supposed to be the fountain-head, yet it has its own peculiarities of behavior. for instance, u—— tells me that one man, staring at her and her governess as they passed, cried out, "what beauties!"—another, looking under her veil, greeted her with, "good morning, my love!" we were in advance, and heard nothing of these civilities. struggling through this fishy purgatory, we caught sight of the tower, as we drew near the end of the street; and i put all my party under charge of one of the trump cards, not being myself inclined to make the rounds of the small part of the fortress that is shown, so soon after my late visit.

when they departed with the warder, i set out by myself to wander about the exterior of the tower, looking with interest at what i suppose to be tower hill,—a slight elevation of the large open space into which great tower street opens; though, perhaps, what is now called trinity square may have been a part of tower hill, and possibly the precise spot where the executions took place. keeping to the right, round the tower, i found the moat quite surrounded by a fence of iron rails, excluding me from a pleasant gravel-path, among flowers and shrubbery, on the inside, where i could see nursery-maids giving children their airings. possibly these may have been the privileged inhabitants of the tower, which certainly might contain the population of a large village. the aspect of the fortress has so much that is new and modern about it that it can hardly be called picturesque, and yet it seems unfair to withhold that epithet from such a collection of gray ramparts. i followed the iron fence quite round the outer grounds, till it approached the thames, and in this direction the moat and the pleasure-ground terminate in a narrow graveyard, which extends beneath the walls, and looks neglected and shaggy with long grass. it appeared to contain graves enough, but only a few tombstones, of which i could read the inscription of but one; it commemorated a mr. george gibson, a person of no note, nor apparently connected with the place. st. katharine's dock lies along the thames, in this vicinity; and while on one side of me were the tower, the quiet gravel-path, and the shaggy graveyard, on the other were draymen and their horses, dock-laborers, sailors, empty puncheons, and a miscellaneous spectacle of life,—including organ-grinders, men roasting chestnuts over small ovens on the sidewalk, boys and women with boards or wheelbarrows of apples, oyster-stands, besides pedlers of small wares, dirty children at play, and other figures and things that a dutch painter would seize upon.

i went a little way into st. katharine's dock, and found it crowded with great ships; then, returning, i strolled along the range of shops that front towards this side of the tower. they have all something to do with ships, sailors, and commerce; being for the sale of ships' stores, nautical instruments, arms, clothing, together with a tavern and grog-shop at every other door; bookstalls, too, covered with cheap novels and song-books; cigar-shops in great numbers; and everywhere were sailors, and here and there a soldier, and children at the doorsteps, and women showing themselves at the doors or windows of their domiciles. these latter figures, however, pertain rather to the street up which i walked, penetrating into the interior of this region, which, i think, is blackwall—no, i forget what its name is. at all events, it has an ancient and most grimy and rough look, with its old gabled houses, each of them the seat of some petty trade and business in its basement story. among these i saw one house with three or four peaks along its front,—a second story projecting over the basement, and the whole clapboarded over. . . . there was a butcher's stall in the lower story, with a front open to the street, in the ancient fashion, which seems to be retained only by butchers' shops. this part of london having escaped the great fire, i suppose there may be many relics of architectural antiquity hereabouts.

at the end of an hour i went back to the refreshment-room, within the outer gate of the tower, where the rest of us shortly appeared. we now returned westward by way of great tower street, eastcheap, and cannon street, and, entering st. paul's, sat down beneath the misty dome to rest ourselves. the muffled roar of the city, as we heard it there, is very soothing, and keeps one listening to it, somewhat as the flow of a river keeps us looking at it. it is a grand and quiet sound; and, ever and anon, a distant door slammed somewhere in the cathedral, and reverberated long and heavily, like the roll of thunder or the boom of cannon. every noise that is loud enough to be heard in so vast an edifice melts into the great quietude. the interior looked very sombre, and the dome hung over us like a cloudy sky. i wish it were possible to pass directly from st. paul's into york minster, or from the latter into the former; that is, if one's mind could manage to stagger under both in the same day. there is no other way of judging of their comparative effect.

under the influence of that grand lullaby,—the roar of the city,—we sat for some time after we were sufficiently rested; but at last plunged forth again, and went up newgate street, pausing to look through the iron railings of christ's hospital. the boys, however, were not at play; so we went onward, in quest of smithfield, and on our way had a greeting from mr. silsbee, a gentleman of our own native town. parting with him, we found smithfield, which is still occupied with pens for cattle, though i believe it has ceased to be a cattle-market. except it be st. bartholomew's hospital on one side, there is nothing interesting in this ugly square; though, no doubt, a few feet under the pavement there are bones and ashes as precious as anything of the kind on earth. i wonder when men will begin to erect monuments to human error; hitherto their pillars and statues have only been for the sake of glorification. but, after all, the present fashion may be the better and wholesomer. . . .

november 16th.—mr. silsbee called yesterday, and talked about matters of art, in which he is deeply interested, and which he has had good opportunities of becoming acquainted with, during three years' travel on the continent. he is a man of great intelligence and true feeling, and absolutely brims over with ideas,—his conversation flowing in a constant stream, which it appears to be no trouble whatever to him to keep up. . . . he took his leave after a long call, and left with us a manuscript, describing a visit to berlin, which i read to my wife in the evening. it was well worth reading. he made an engagement to go with us to the crystal palace, and came rather for that purpose this morning.

we drove to the london bridge station, where we bought return tickets that entitled us to admission to the palace, as well as conveyance thither, for half a crown apiece. on our arrival we entered by the garden front, thus gaining a fine view of the ornamental grounds, with their fountains and stately pathways, bordered with statues; and of the edifice itself, so vast and fairy-like, looking as if it were a bubble, and might vanish at a touch. there is as little beauty in the architecture of the crystal palace, however, as was possible to be with such gigantic use of such a material. no doubt, an architectural order of which we have as yet little or no idea is to be developed from the use of glass as a building-material, instead of brick and stone. it will have its own rules and its own results; but, meanwhile, even the present palace is positively a very beautiful object. on entering we found the atmosphere chill and comfortless,—more so, it seemed to me, than the open air itself. it was not a genial day; though now and then the sun gleamed out, and once caused fine effects in the glasswork of a crystal fountain in one of the courts.

we were under mr. silshee's guidance for the day, . . . . and first we looked at the sculpture, which is composed chiefly of casts or copies of the most famous statues of all ages, and likewise of those crumbs and little fragments which have fallen from time's jaw,—and half-picked bones, as it were, that have been gathered up from spots where he has feasted full,—torsos, heads and broken limbs, some of them half worn away, as if they had been rolled over and over in the sea. i saw nothing in the sculptural way, either modern or antique, that impressed me so much as a statue of a nude mother by a french artist. in a sitting posture, with one knee over the other, she was clasping her highest knee with both hands; and in the hollow cradle thus formed by her arms lay two sweet little babies, as snug and close to her heart as if they had not yet been born,—two little love-blossoms,—and the mother encircling them and pervading them with love. but an infinite pathos and strange terror are given to this beautiful group by some faint bas-reliefs on the pedestal, indicating that the happy mother is eve, and cain and abel the two innocent babes.

then we went to the alhambra, which looks like an enchanted palace. if it had been a sunny day, i should have enjoyed it more; but it was miserable to shiver and shake in the court of the lions, and in those chambers which were contrived as places of refuge from a fervid temperature. furthermore, it is not quite agreeable to see such clever specimens of stage decoration; they are so very good that it gets to be past a joke, without becoming actual earnest. i had not a similar feeling in respect to the reproduction of mediaeval statues, arches, doorways, all brilliantly colored as in the days of their first glory; yet i do not know but that the first is as little objectionable as the last. certainly, in both cases, scenes and objects of a past age are here more vividly presented to the dullest mind than without such material facilities they could possibly be brought before the most powerful imagination. truly, the crystal palace, in all its departments, offers wonderful means of education. i marvel what will come of it. among the things that i admired most was benvenuto cellini's statue of perseus holding the head of medusa, and standing over her headless and still writhing body, out of which, at the severed neck, gushed a vast exuberance of snakes. likewise, a sitting statue, by michel angelo, of one of the medici, full of dignity and grace and reposeful might. also the bronze gate of a baptistery in florence, carved all over with relieves of scripture subjects, executed in the most lifelike and expressive manner. the cast itself was a miracle of art. i should have taken it for the genuine original bronze.

we then wandered into the house of diomed, which seemed to me a dismal abode, affording no possibility of comfort. we sat down in one of the rooms, on an iron bench, very cold.

it being by this time two o'clock, we went to the refreshment-room and lunched; and before we had finished our repast, my wife discovered that she had lost her sable tippet, which she had been carrying on her arm. mr. silsbee most kindly and obligingly immediately went in quest of it, . . . . but to no purpose. . . .

upon entering the tropical saloon, we found a most welcome and delightful change of temperature among those gigantic leaves of banyan-trees, and the broad expanse of water-plants, floating on lakes, and spacious aviaries, where birds of brilliant plumage sported and sang amid such foliage as they knew at home. howbeit, the atmosphere was a little faint and sickish, perhaps owing to the odor of the half-tepid water. the most remarkable object here was the trunk of a tree, huge beyond imagination, —a pine-tree from california. it was only the stripped-off bark, however, which had been conveyed hither in segments, and put together again beyond the height of the palace roof; and the hollow interior circle of the tree was large enough to contain fifty people, i should think. we entered and sat down in all the remoteness from one another that is attainable in a good-sized drawing-room. we then ascended the gallery to get a view of this vast tree from a more elevated position, and found it looked even bigger from above. then we loitered slowly along the gallery as far as it extended, and afterwards descended into the nave; for it was getting dusk, and a horn had sounded, and a bell rung a warning to such as delayed in the remote regions of the building. mr. silsbee again most kindly went in quest of the sables, but still without success. . . . i have not much enjoyed the crystal palace, but think it a great and admirable achievement.

november 19th.—on tuesday evening mr. silsbee came to read some letters which he has written to his friends, chiefly giving his observations on art, together with descriptions of venice and other cities on the continent. they were very good, and indicate much sensibility and talent. after the reading we had a little oyster-supper and wine.

i had written a note to ———, and received an answer, indicating that he was much weighed down by his financial misfortune. . . . however, he desired me to come and see him; so yesterday morning i wended my way down into the city, and after various reluctant circumlocutions arrived at his house. the interior looked confused and dismal.

it seems to me nobody else runs such risks as a man of business, because he risks everything. every other man, into whatever depth of poverty he may sink, has still something left, be he author, scholar, handicraftman, or what not; the merchant has nothing.

we parted with a long and strong grasp of the hand, and ——— promised to come and see us soon. . . .

on my way home i called at truebner's in pater noster row. . . . i waited a few minutes, he being busy with a tall, muscular, english-built man, who, after he had taken leave, truebner told me was charles reade. i once met him at an evening party, but should have been glad to meet him again, now that i appreciate him so much better after reading never too late to mend.

december 6th.—all these days, since my last date, have been marked by nothing very well worthy of detail and description. i have walked the streets a great deal in the dull november days, and always take a certain pleasure in being in the midst of human life,—as closely encompassed by it as it is possible to be anywhere in this world; and in that way of viewing it there is a dull and sombre enjoyment always to be had in holborn, fleet street, cheapside, and the other busiest parts of london. it is human life; it is this material world; it is a grim and heavy reality. i have never had the same sense of being surrounded by materialisms and hemmed in with the grossness of this earthly existence anywhere else; these broad, crowded streets are so evidently the veins and arteries of an enormous city. london is evidenced in every one of them, just as a megatherium is in each of its separate bones, even if they be small ones. thus i never fail of a sort of self-congratulation in finding myself, for instance, passing along ludgate hill; but, in spite of this, it is really an ungladdened life to wander through these huge, thronged ways, over a pavement foul with mud, ground into it by a million of footsteps; jostling against people who do not seem to be individuals, but all one mass, so homogeneous is the street-walking aspect of them; the roar of vehicles pervading me,—wearisome cabs and omnibuses; everywhere the dingy brick edifices heaving themselves up, and shutting out all but a strip of sullen cloud, that serves london for a sky,—in short, a general impression of grime and sordidness; and at this season always a fog scattered along the vista of streets, sometimes so densely as almost to spiritualize the materialism and make the scene resemble the other world of worldly people, gross even in ghostliness. it is strange how little splendor and brilliancy one sees in london,—in the city almost none, though some in the shops of regent street. my wife has had a season of indisposition within the last few weeks, so that my rambles have generally been solitary, or with j——- only for a companion. i think my only excursion with my wife was a week ago, when we went to lincoln's inn fields, which truly are almost fields right in the heart of london, and as retired and secluded as if the surrounding city were a forest, and its heavy roar were the wind among the branches. we gained admission into the noble hall, which is modern, but built in antique style, and stately and beautiful exceedingly. i have forgotten all but the general effect, with its lofty oaken roof, its panelled walls, with the windows high above, and the great arched window at one end full of painted coats of arms, which the light glorifies in passing through them, as if each were the escutcheon of some illustrious personage. thence we went to the chapel of lincoln's inn, where, on entering, we found a class of young choristers receiving instruction from their music-master, while the organ accompanied their strains. these young, clear, fresh, elastic voices are wonderfully beautiful; they are like those of women, yet have something more birdlike and aspiring, more like what one conceives of the singing of angels. as for the singing of saints and blessed spirits that have once been human, it never can resemble that of these young voices; for no duration of heavenly enjoyments will ever quite take the mortal sadness out of it.

in this chapel we saw some painted windows of the time of james i., a period much subsequent, to the age when painted glass was in its glory; but the pictures of scriptural people in these windows were certainly very fine,—the figures being as large as life, and the faces having much expression. the sunshine came in through some of them, and produced a beautiful effect, almost as if the painted forms were the glorified spirits of those holy personages.

after leaving lincoln's inn, we looked at gray's inn, which is a great, quiet domain, quadrangle beyond quadrangle, close beside holborn, and a large space of greensward enclosed within it. it is very strange to find so much of ancient quietude right in the monster city's very jaws, which yet the monster shall not eat up,—right in its very belly, indeed, which yet, in all these ages, it shall not digest and convert into the same substance as the rest of its bustling streets. nothing else in london is so like the effect of a spell, as to pass under one of these archways, and find yourself transported from the jumble, mob, tumult, uproar, as of an age of week-days condensed into the present hour, into what seems an eternal sabbath. thence we went into staple inn, i think it was,—which has a front upon holborn of four or five ancient gables in a row, and a low arch under the impending story, admitting you into a paved quadrangle, beyond which you have the vista of another. i do not understand that the residences and chambers in these inns of court are now exclusively let to lawyers; though such inhabitants certainly seem to preponderate there.

since then j——- and i walked down into the strand, and found ourselves unexpectedly mixed up with a crowd that grew denser as we approached charing cross, and became absolutely impermeable when we attempted to make our way to whitehall. the wicket in the gate of northumberland house, by the by, was open, and gave me a glimpse of the front of the edifice within,—a very partial glimpse, however, and that obstructed by the solid person of a footman, who, with some women, were passing out from within. the crowd was a real english crowd, perfectly undemonstrative, and entirely decorous, being composed mostly of well-dressed people, and largely of women. the cause of the assemblage was the opening of parliament by the queen, but we were too late for any chance of seeing her majesty. however, we extricated ourselves from the multitude, and, going along pall mall, got into the park by the steps at the foot of the duke of york's column, and thence went to the whitehall gateway, outside of which we found the horse guards drawn up,—a regiment of black horses and burnished cuirasses. on our way thither an open carriage came through the gateway into the park, conveying two ladies in court dresses; and another splendid chariot pressed out through the gateway,—the coachman in a cocked hat and scarlet and gold embroidery, and two other scarlet and gold figures hanging behind. it was one of the queen's carriages, but seemed to have nobody in it. i have forgotten to mention what, i think, produced more effect on me than anything else, namely, the clash of the bells from the steeple of st. martin's church and those of st. margaret. really, london seemed to cry out through them, and bid welcome to the queen.

december 7th.—this being a muddy and dismal day, i went only to the

british museum,

which is but a short walk down the street (great russell street). i have now visited it often enough to be on more familiar terms with it than at first, and therefore do not feel myself so weighed down by the many things to be seen. i have ceased to expect or hope or wish to devour and digest the whole enormous collection; so i content myself with individual things, and succeed in getting now and then a little honey from them. unless i were studying some particular branch of history or science or art, this is the best that can be done with the british museum.

i went first to-day into the townley gallery, and so along through all the ancient sculpture, and was glad to find myself able to sympathize more than heretofore with the forms of grace and beauty which are preserved there,—poor, maimed immortalities as they are,—headless and legless trunks, godlike cripples, faces beautiful and broken-nosed,— heroic shapes which have stood so long, or lain prostrate so long, in the open air, that even the atmosphere of greece has almost dissolved the external layer of the marble; and yet, however much they may be worn away, or battered and shattered, the grace and nobility seem as deep in them as the very heart of the stone. it cannot be destroyed, except by grinding them to powder. in short, i do really believe that there was an excellence in ancient sculpture, which has yet a potency to educate and refine the minds of those who look at it even so carelessly and casually as i do. as regards the frieze of the parthenon, i must remark that the horses represented on it, though they show great spirit and lifelikeness, are rather of the pony species than what would be considered fine horses now. doubtless, modern breeding has wrought a difference in the animal. flaxman, in his outlines, seems to have imitated these classic steeds of the parthenon, and thus has produced horses that always appeared to me affected and diminutively monstrous.

from the classic sculpture, i passed through an assyrian room, where the walls are lined with great slabs of marble sculptured in bas-relief with scenes in the life of senmacherib, i believe; very ugly, to be sure, yet artistically done in their own style, and in wonderfully good preservation. indeed, if the chisel had cut its last stroke in them yesterday, the work could not be more sharp and distinct. in glass cases, in this room, are little relics and scraps of utensils, and a great deal of fragmentary rubbish, dug up by layard in his researches,— things that it is hard to call anything but trash, but which yet may be of great significance as indicating the modes of life of a long-past race. i remember nothing particularly just now, except some pieces of broken glass, iridescent with certainly the most beautiful hues in the world,—indescribably beautiful, and unimaginably, unless one can conceive of the colors of the rainbow, and a thousand glorious sunsets, and the autumnal forest-leaves of america, all condensed upon a little fragment of a glass cup,—and that, too, without becoming in the least glaring or flagrant, but mildly glorious, as we may fancy the shifting lines of an angel's wing may be. i think this chaste splendor will glow in my memory for years to come. it is the effect of time, and cannot be imitated by any known process of art. i have seen it in specimens of old roman glass, which has been famous here in england; but never in anything is there the brilliancy of these oriental fragments. how strange that decay, in dark places, and underground, and where there are a billion chances to one that nobody will ever see its handiwork, should produce these beautiful effects! the glass seems to become perfectly brittle, so that it would vanish, like a soap-bubble, if touched.

ascending the stairs, i went through the halls of fossil remains,—which i care little for, though one of them is a human skeleton in limestone,— and through several rooms of mineralogical specimens, including all the gems in the world, among which is seen, not the koh-i-noor itself, but a fac-simile of it in crystal. i think the aerolites are as interesting as anything in this department, and one piece of pure iron, laid against the wall of the room, weighs about fourteen hundred pounds. whence could it have come? if these aerolites are bits of other planets, how happen they to be always iron? but i know no more of this than if i were a philosopher.

then i went through rooms of shells and fishes and reptiles and tortoises, crocodiles and alligators and insects, including all manner of butterflies, some of which had wings precisely like leaves, a little withered and faded, even the skeleton and fibres of the leaves represented; and immense hairy spiders, covering, with the whole circumference of their legs, a space as big as a saucer; and centipedes little less than a foot long; and winged insects that look like jointed twigs of a tree. in america, i remember, when i lived in lenox, i found an insect of this species, and at first really mistook it for a twig. it was smaller than these specimens in the museum. i suppose every creature, almost, that runs or creeps or swims or flies, is represented in this collection of natural history; and it puzzles me to think what they were all made for, though it is quite as mysterious why man himself was made.

by and by i entered the room of egyptian mummies, of which there are a good many, one of which, the body of a priestess, is unrolled, except the innermost layer of linen. the outline of her face is perfectly visible. mummies of cats, dogs, snakes, and children are in the wall-cases, together with a vast many articles of egyptian manufacture and use,—even children's toys; bread, too, in flat cakes; grapes, that have turned to raisins in the grave; queerest of all, methinks, a curly wig, that is supposed to have belonged to a woman,—together with the wooden box that held it. the hair is brown, and the wig is as perfect as if it had been made for some now living dowager.

from egypt we pass into rooms containing vases and other articles of grecian and roman workmanship, and funeral urns, and beads, and rings, none of them very beautiful. i saw some splendid specimens, however, at a former visit, when i obtained admission to a room not indiscriminately shown to visitors. what chiefly interested me in that room was a cast taken from the face of cromwell after death; representing a wide-mouthed, long-chinned, uncomely visage, with a triangular english nose in the very centre. there were various other curiosities, which i fancied were safe in my memory, but they do not now come uppermost.

to return to my to-day's progress through the museum;—next to the classic rooms are the collections of saxon and british and early english antiquities, the earlier portions of which are not very interesting to me, possessing little or no beauty in themselves, and indicating a kind of life too remote from our own to be readily sympathized with. who cares for glass beads and copper brooches, and knives, spear-heads, and swords, all so rusty that they look as much like pieces of old iron hoop as anything else? the bed of the thames has been a rich treasury of antiquities, from the time of the roman conquest downwards; it seems to preserve bronze in considerable perfection, but not iron.

among the mediaeval relics, the carvings in ivory are often very exquisite and elaborate. there are likewise caskets and coffers, and a thousand other old world ornamental works; but i saw so many and such superior specimens of them at the manchester exhibition, that i shall say nothing of them here. the seal-ring of mary, queen of scots, is in one of the cases; it must have been a thumb-ring, judging from its size, and it has a dark stone, engraved with armorial bearings. in another case is the magic glass formerly used by dr. doe, and in which, if i rightly remember, used to be seen prophetic visions or figures of persons and scenes at a distance. it is a round ball of glass or crystal, slightly tinged with a pinkish hue, and about as big as a small apple, or a little bigger than an egg would be if perfectly round. this ancient humbug kept me looking at it perhaps ten minutes; and i saw my own face dimly in it, but no other vision. lastly, i passed through the ethnographical rooms; but i care little for the varieties of the human race,—all that is really important and interesting being found in our own variety. perhaps equally in any other. this brought me to the head of one of the staircases, descending which i entered the library.

here—not to speak of the noble rooms and halls—there are numberless treasures beyond all price; too valuable in their way for me to select any one as more curious and valuable than many others. letters of statesmen and warriors of all nations, and several centuries back,—among which, long as it has taken europe to produce them, i saw none so illustrious as those of washington, nor more so than franklin's, whom america gave to the world in her nonage; and epistles of poets and artists, and of kings, too, whose chirography appears to have been much better than i should have expected from fingers so often cramped in iron gauntlets. in another case there were the original autograph copies of several famous works,—for example, that of pope's homer, written on the backs of letters, the direction and seals of which appear in the midst of "the tale of troy divine," which also is much scratched and interlined with pope's corrections; a manuscript of one of ben jonson's masques; of the sentimental journey, written in much more careful and formal style than might be expected, the book pretending to be a harum-scarum; of walter scott's kenilworth, bearing such an aspect of straightforward diligence that i shall hardly think of it again as a romance;—in short, i may as well drop the whole matter here.

all through the long vista of the king's library, we come to cases in which—with their pages open beneath the glass—we see books worth their weight in gold, either for their uniqueness or their beauty, or because they have belonged to illustrious men, and have their autographs in them. the copy of the english translation of montaigne, containing the strange scrawl of shakespeare's autograph, is here. bacon's name is in another book; queen elizabeth's in another; and there is a little devotional volume, with lady jane grey's writing in it. she is supposed to have taken it to the scaffold with her. here, too, i saw a copy, which was printed at a venetian press at the time, of the challenge which the admirable crichton caused to be posted on the church doors of venice, defying all the scholars of italy to encounter him. but if i mention one thing, i find fault with myself for not putting down fifty others just as interesting,—and, after all, there is an official catalogue, no doubt, of the whole.

as i do not mean to fill any more pages with the british museum, i will just mention the hall of egyptian antiquities on the ground-floor of the edifice, though i did not pass through it to-day. they consist of things that would be very ugly and contemptible if they were not so immensely magnified; but it is impossible not to acknowledge a certain grandeur, resulting from the scale on which those strange old sculptors wrought. for instance, there is a granite fist of prodigious size, at least a yard across, and looking as if it were doubled in the face of time, defying him to destroy it. all the rest of the statue to which it belonged seems to have vanished; but this fist will certainly outlast the museum, and whatever else it contains, unless it be some similar egyptian ponderosity. there is a beetle, wrought out of immensely hard black stone, as big as a hogshead. it is satisfactory to see a thing so big and heavy. then there are huge stone sarcophagi, engraved with hieroglyphics within and without, all as good as new, though their age is reckoned by thousands of years. these great coffins are of vast weight and mass, insomuch that when once the accurately fitting lids were shut down, there might have seemed little chance of their being lifted again till the resurrection. i positively like these coffins, they are so faithfully made, and so black and stern,—and polished to such a nicety, only to be buried forever; for the workmen, and the kings who were laid to sleep within, could never have dreamed of the british museum.

there is a deity named pasht, who sits in the hall, very big, very grave, carved of black stone, and very ludicrous, wearing a dog's head. i will just mention the rosetta stone, with a greek inscription, and another in egyptian characters which gave the clew to a whole field of history; and shall pretermit all further handling of this unwieldy subject.

in all the rooms i saw people of the poorer classes, some of whom seemed to view the objects intelligently, and to take a genuine interest in them. a poor man in london has great opportunities of cultivating himself if he will only make the best of them; and such an institution as the british museum can hardly fail to attract, as the magnet does steel, the minds that are likeliest to be benefited by it in its various departments. i saw many children there, and some ragged boys.

it deserves to be noticed that some small figures of indian thugs, represented as engaged in their profession and handiwork of cajoling and strangling travellers, have been removed from the place which they formerly occupied in the part of the museum shown to the general public. they are now in the more private room, and the reason of their withdrawal is, that, according to the chaplain of newgate, the practice of garroting was suggested to the english thieves by this representation of indian thugs. it is edifying, after what i have written in the preceding paragraph, to find that the only lesson known to have been inculcated here is that of a new mode of outrage.

december 8th.—this morning, when it was time to rise, there was but a glimmering of daylight, and we had candles on the breakfast-table at nearly ten o'clock. all abroad there was a dense dim fog brooding through the atmosphere, insomuch that we could hardly see across the street. at eleven o'clock i went out into the midst of the fog-bank, which for the moment seemed a little more interfused with daylight; for there seem to be continual changes in the density of this dim medium, which varies so much that now you can but just see your hand before you, and a moment afterwards you can see the cabs dashing out of the duskiness a score of yards off. it is seldom or never, moreover, an unmitigated gloom, but appears to be mixed up with sunshine in different proportions; sometimes only one part sun to a thousand of smoke and fog, and sometimes sunshine enough to give the whole mass a coppery line. this would have been a bright sunny day but for the interference of the fog; and before i had been out long, i actually saw the sun looking red and rayless, much like the millionth magnification of a new halfpenny.

i was bound towards bennoch's; for he had written a note to apologize for not visiting us, and i had promised to call and see him to-day.

i went to marlborough house to look at the english pictures, which i care more about seeing, here in england, than those of foreign artists, because the latter will be found more numerously and better on the continent. i saw many pictures that pleased me; nothing that impressed me very strongly. pictorial talent seems to be abundant enough, up to a certain point; pictorial genius, i should judge, is among the rarest of gifts. to be sure, i very likely might not recognize it where it existed; and yet it ought to have the power of making itself known even to the uninstructed mind, as literary genius does. if it exist only for connoisseurs, it is a very suspicious matter. i looked at all turner's pictures, and at many of his drawings; and must again confess myself wholly unable to understand more than a very few of them. even those few are tantalizing. at a certain distance you discern what appears to be a grand and beautiful picture, which you shall admire and enjoy infinitely if you can get within the range of distinct vision. you come nearer, and find only blotches of color and dabs of the brush, meaning nothing when you look closely, and meaning a mystery at the point where the painter intended to station you. some landscapes there were, indeed, full of imaginative beauty, and of the better truth etherealized out of the prosaic truth of nature; only it was still impossible actually to see it. there was a mist over it; or it was like a tract of beautiful dreamland, seen dimly through sleep, and glimmering out of sight, if looked upon with wide-open eyes. these were the more satisfactory specimens. there were many others which i could not comprehend in the remotest degree; not even so far as to conjecture whether they purported to represent earth, sea, or sky. in fact, i should not have known them to be pictures at all, but might have supposed that the artist had been trying his brush on the canvas, mixing up all sorts of hues, but principally white paint, and now and then producing an agreeable harmony of color without particularly intending it. now that i have done my best to understand them without an interpreter, i mean to buy ruskin's pamphlet at my next visit, and look at them through his eyes. but i do not think that i can be driven out of the idea that a picture ought to have something in common with what the spectator sees in nature.

marlborough house may be converted, i think, into a very handsome residence for the young prince of wales. the entrance from the court-yard is into a large, square central hall, the painted ceiling of which is at the whole height of the edifice, and has a gallery on one side, whence it would be pleasant to look down on a festal scene below. the rooms are of fine proportions, with vaulted ceilings, and with fireplaces and mantel-pieces of great beauty, adorned with pillars and terminal figures of white and of variegated marble; and in the centre of each mantel-piece there is a marble tablet, exquisitely sculptured with classical designs, done in such high relief that the figures are sometimes almost disengaged from the background. one of the subjects was androcles, or whatever was his name, taking the thorn out of the lion's foot. i suppose these works are of the era of the first old duke and duchess. after all, however, for some reason or other, the house does not at first strike you as a noble and princely one, and you have to convince yourself of it by examining it more in detail.

on leaving marlborough house, i stepped for a few moments into the national gallery, and looked, among other things, at the turners and claudes that hung there side by side. these pictures, i think, are quite the most comprehensible of turner's productions; but i must say i prefer the claudes. the latter catches "the light that never was on sea or land" without taking you quite away from nature for it. nevertheless, i will not be quite certain that i care for any painter except murillo, whose st. john i should like to own. as far as my own pleasure is concerned, i could not say as much for any other picture; for i have always found an infinite weariness and disgust resulting from a picture being too frequently before my eyes. i had rather see a basilisk, for instance, than the very best of those old, familiar pictures in the boston athenaeum; and most of those in the national gallery might soon affect me in the same way.

from the gallery i almost groped my way towards the city, for the fog seemed to grow denser and denser as i advanced; and when i reached st. paul's, the sunny intermixture above spoken of was at its minimum, so that, the smoke-cloud grew really black about the dome and pinnacles, and the statues of saints looked down dimly from their standpoints on high. it was very grand, however, to see the pillars and porticos, and the huge bulk of the edifice, heaving up its dome from an obscure foundation into yet more shadowy obscurity; and by the time i reached the corner of the churchyard nearest cheapside, the whole vast cathedral had utterly vanished, leaving "not a wrack behind," unless those thick, dark vapors were the elements of which it had been composed, and into which it had again dissolved. it is good to think, nevertheless,—and i gladly accept the analogy and the moral,—that the cathedral was really there, and as substantial as ever, though those earthly mists had hidden it from mortal eyes.

i found ——— in better spirits than when i saw him last, but his misfortune has been too real not to affect him long and deeply. he was cheerful, however, and his face shone with almost its old lustre. it has still the cheeriest glow that i ever saw in any human countenance.

i went home by way of holborn, and the fog was denser than ever,—very black, indeed more like a distillation of mud than anything else; the ghost of mud,—the spiritualized medium of departed mud, through which the dead citizens of london probably tread in the hades whither they are translated. so heavy was the gloom, that gas was lighted in all the shop-windows; and the little charcoal-furnaces of the women and boys, roasting chestnuts, threw a ruddy, misty glow around them. and yet i liked it. this fog seems an atmosphere proper to huge, grimy london; as proper to london as that light neither of the sun nor moon is to the new jerusalem.

on reaching home, i found the same fog diffused through the drawing-room, though how it could have got in is a mystery. since nightfall, however, the atmosphere is clear again.

december 20th.—here we are still in london, at least a month longer than we expected, and at the very dreariest and dullest season of the year. had i thought of it sooner, i might have found interesting people enough to know, even when all london is said to be out of town; but meditating a stay only of a week or two (on our way to rome), it did not seem worth while to seek acquaintances.

i have been out only for one evening; and that was at dr. ———'s, who had been attending all the children in the measles. (their illness was what detained us.) he is a homoeopathist, and is known in scientific or general literature; at all events, a sensible and enlightened man, with an un-english freedom of mind on some points. for example, he is a swedenborgian, and a believer in modern spiritualism. he showed me some drawings that had been made under the spiritual influence by a miniature-painter who possesses no imaginative power of his own, and is merely a good mechanical and literal copyist; but these drawings, representing angels and allegorical people, were done by an influence which directed the artist's hand, he not knowing what his next touch would be, nor what the final result. the sketches certainly did show a high and fine expressiveness, if examined in a trustful mood. dr. ——— also spoke of mr. harris, the american poet of spiritualism, as being the best poet of the day; and he produced his works in several volumes, and showed me songs, and paragraphs of longer poems, in support of his opinion. they seemed to me to have a certain light and splendor, but not to possess much power, either passionate or intellectual. mr. harris is the medium of deceased poets, milton and lord byron among the rest; and dr. ——— said that lady byron—who is a devoted admirer of her husband, in spite of their conjugal troubles—pronounced some of these posthumous strains to be worthy of his living genius. then the doctor spoke of various strange experiences which he himself has had in these spiritual matters; for he has witnessed the miraculous performances of home, the american medium, and he has seen with his own eyes, and felt with his own touch, those ghostly hands and arms the reality of which has been certified to me by other beholders. dr. ——— tells me that they are cold, and that it is a somewhat awful matter to see and feel them. i should think so, indeed. do i believe in these wonders? of course; for how is it possible to doubt either the solemn word or the sober observation of a learned and sensible man like dr. ———? but again, do i really believe it? of course not; for i cannot consent to have heaven and earth, this world and the next, beaten up together like the white and yolk of an egg, merely out of respect to dr. ———'s sanity and integrity. i would not believe my own sight, nor touch of the spiritual hands; and it would take deeper and higher strains than those of mr. harris to convince me. i think i might yield to higher poetry or heavenlier wisdom than mortals in the flesh have ever sung or uttered.

meanwhile, this matter of spiritualism is surely the strangest that ever was heard of; and yet i feel unaccountably little interest in it,—a sluggish disgust, and repugnance to meddle with it,—insomuch that i hardly feel as if it were worth this page or two in my not very eventful journal. one or two of the ladies present at dr. ———'s little party seemed to be mediums.

i have made several visits to the picture-galleries since my last date; and i think it fair towards my own powers of appreciation to record that i begin to appreciate turner's pictures rather better than at first. not that i have anything to recant as respects those strange, white-grounded performances in the chambers at the marlborough house; but some of his happier productions (a large landscape illustrative of childe harold, for instance) seem to me to have more magic in them than any other pictures. i admire, too, that misty, morning landscape in the national gallery; and, no doubt, his very monstrosities are such as only he could have painted, and may have an infinite value for those who can appreciate the genius in them.

the shops in london begin to show some tokens of approaching christmas; especially the toy-shops, and the confectioners',—the latter ornamenting their windows with a profusion of bonbons and all manner of pygmy figures in sugar; the former exhibiting christmas-trees, hung with rich and gaudy fruit. at the butchers' shops, there is a great display of fat carcasses, and an abundance of game at the poulterers'. we think of going to the crystal palace to spend the festival day, and eat our christmas dinner; but, do what we may, we shall have no home feeling or fireside enjoyment. i am weary, weary of london and of england, and can judge now how the old loyalists must have felt, condemned to pine out their lives here, when the revolution had robbed them of their native country. and yet there is still a pleasure in being in this dingy, smoky, midmost haunt of men; and i trudge through fleet street and ludgate street and along cheapside with an enjoyment as great as i ever felt in a wood-path at home; and i have come to know these streets as well, i believe, as i ever knew washington street in boston, or even essex street in my stupid old native town. for piccadilly or for regent street, though more brilliant promenades, i do not care nearly so much.

december 27th.—still leading an idle life, which, however, may not be quite thrown away, as i see some things, and think many thoughts.

the other day we went to westminster abbey, and through the chapels; and it being as sunny a day as could well be in london, and in december, we could judge, in some small degree, what must have been the splendor of those tombs and monuments when first erected there.

i presume i was sufficiently minute in describing my first visit to the chapels, so i shall only mention the stiff figure of a lady of queen elizabeth's court, reclining on the point of her elbow under a mural arch through all these dusty years; . . . . and the old coronation-chair, with the stone of scone beneath the seat, and the wood-work cut and scratched all over with names and initials. . . .

i continue to go to the picture-galleries. i have an idea that the face of murillo's st. john has a certain mischievous intelligence in it. this has impressed me almost from the first. it is a boy's face, very beautiful and very pleasant too, but with an expression that one might fairly suspect to be roguish if seen in the face of a living boy.

about equestrian statues, as those of various kings at charing cross, and otherwhere about london, and of the duke of wellington opposite apsley house, and in front of the exchange, it strikes me as absurd, the idea of putting a man on horseback on a place where one movement of the steed forward or backward or sideways would infallibly break his own and his rider's neck. the english sculptors generally seem to have been aware of this absurdity, and have endeavored to lessen it by making the horse as quiet as a cab-horse on the stand, instead of rearing rampant, like the bronze group of jackson at washington. the statue of wellington, at the piccadilly corner of the park, has a stately and imposing effect, seen from far distances, in approaching either through the green park, or from the oxford street corner of hyde park.

january 3d, 1858.—on thursday we had the pleasure of a call from mr. coventry patmore, to whom dr. wilkinson gave me a letter of introduction, and on whom i had called twice at the british museum without finding him. we had read his betrothal and angel in the house with unusual pleasure and sympathy, and therefore were very glad to make his personal acquaintance. he is a man of much more youthful aspect than i had expected, . . . . a slender person to be an englishman, though not remarkably so had he been an american; with an intelligent, pleasant, and sensitive face,—a man very evidently of refined feelings and cultivated mind. . . . he is very simple and agreeable in his manners; a little shy, yet perfectly frank, and easy to meet on real grounds. . . . he said that his wife had proposed to come with him, and had, indeed, accompanied him to town, but was kept away. . . . we were very sorry for this, because mr. patmore seems to acknowledge her as the real "angel in the house," although he says she herself ignores all connection with the poem. it is well for her to do so, and for her husband to feel that the character is her real portrait; and both, i suppose, are right. it is a most beautiful and original poem,—a poem for happy married people to read together, and to understand by the light of their own past and present life; but i doubt whether the generality of english people are capable of appreciating it. i told mr. patmore that i thought his popularity in america would be greater than at home, and he said that it was already so; and he appeared to estimate highly his american fame, and also our general gift of quicker and more subtle recognition of genius than the english public. . . . we mutually gratified each other by expressing high admiration of one another's works, and mr. patmore regretted that in the few days of our further stay here we should not have time to visit him at his home. it would really give me pleasure to do so. . . . i expressed a hope of seeing him in italy during our residence there, and he seemed to think it possible, as his friend, and our countryman, thomas buchanan read, had asked him to come thither and be his guest. he took his leave, shaking hands with all of us because he saw that we were of his own people, recognizing him as a true poet. he has since given me the new edition of his poems, with a kind rote.

we are now making preparations for our departure, which we expect will take place on tuesday; and yesterday i went to our minister's to arrange about the passport. the very moment i rang at his door, it swung open, and the porter ushered me with great courtesy into the anteroom; not that he knew me, or anything about me, except that i was an american citizen. this is the deference which an american servant of the public finds it expedient to show to his sovereigns. thank heaven, i am a sovereign again, and no longer a servant; and really it is very singular how i look down upon our ambassadors and dignitaries of all sorts, not excepting the president himself. i doubt whether this is altogether a good influence of our mode of government.

i did not see, and, in fact, declined seeing, the minister himself, but only his son, the secretary of legation, and a dr. p———, an american traveller just from the continent. he gave a fearful account of the difficulties that beset a person landing with much luggage in italy, and especially at civita vecchia, the very port at which we intended to debark. i have been so long in england that it seems a cold and shivery thing to go anywhere else.

bennoch came to take tea with us on the 5th, it being his first visit since we came to london, and likewise his farewell visit on our leaving for the continent.

on his departure, j——- and i walked a good way down oxford street and holborn with him, and i took leave of him with the kindest wishes for his welfare.