The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1839-04-13
MISCELLANEOUS.
From :" London as IL is. =
HOTELS IN LONDON.

HOTELS In LONDON.
You have crossed the ocean, with its agree
able and disagreeable association. You have
been whrled along in railroad cars, or you
have ensconced yourself in or on stage
coach, on, in preference, If the day is fine,
and you have an umbrella, and don't mind the
dust. Looking around You upon the DIVERSE
fled scenery that meets your eye, your thoughts
when not engrossed by some especial beauty
in the landscape, will outstrip the speed Of
the fleet horses that are bearing you along in
fine style, and carrying you, " in advance of
the mail" to London. Having brought you
there, that is, in spirit, they will ask you
where you shall sojourn. II is an important
question, the decision Of which will prove a
source of infinite comfort or Inconvenience TO
you.
Stay the first night, or day and night, as it
may be, at a hotel. It matters not which.
You will find plenty in the immediate yicini-
~ Of the place where the stage may stop
If, however, you wish to be in fashionable
neighborhood, get into hackney coach, and
tell the coachman to drive you to any hotel in
Bond Street or that neighborhood Stay
there until you can change your residence for
a boarding honse-no longer.
The manners and customs Of an English
and American hotel are as wide apart as the
poles. In America, traveller, mean a
stranger, cannot do better than to put up at an
hotel, in order TO get an insight into the man
ners Of the people he is among, and, es-
pecially, to form acquaintances In England
a stranger cannot take more impolitic step.
He may live SO for year, and unless he has
letters Of introduction, form a most erroneous
idea of the manners Of England, and fail to
create a single acquaintance,
| will suppose an American gentleman to
have arrived for the first time at an hotel in
London--say Longs, in Bond street; one is
a sample of the rest. He is shown into his
room. In the morning he rings the bell for
the waiter, and learns that he can take his
breakfast in his own apartment or the coffee
room. The custom Of his country induces
him 10 prefer the latter. He descends. But
he does not see, as he has been accustomed
al home, a table standing the whole length Of
the room, covered with a choice collection
from which he has but to choose that which
most tempts his appetite. In lieu Of this, he
sees a number of small tables, which, most
probably, in mahogany boz, as the enclosures
which often encompass the tables are called
Each table is covered with a spollessly white
tablecloth. Into one of these he is ushered,
and has to give his order for whatever he may
choose for his mornings repast. Into the box
occupied by him no one presumes to enter it
is as sacred as if it were his home. He sits
SOLITARY and alone,' spoken to by none, and
speaking to none, unless it be the waiter. At
the various other tables in the room he will
perceive individuals situated as he is, anus
ing themselves with the morning newspapers,
or two or three friends or acquaintances as
sembled together, to enjoy that sociable re-
past for which he is so DESTROYS. If we were
cut off from caravansera in the great desert
--Zahara-he could not be more solitary
!" Cold comfort this" he mentally exclaims
He looks forward to the dinner hour for
something more sociabe. At dinner he finds
himself no better off than he was at breakfast
He dimes at any hour of the day or night he
plcases, but he dimes alone. His tea is taken
in similar manner, and he is, from this cir
cumstance, perhaps, induced to take his meals
hereafter in his private apartment, and to con-
clude that the English are an austere and
frigid people, whose bearing is detestabe.
The fact is, that he is in the wrong place
He must get out. He must get into board
ing house.
Boarding houses in London are not so nu-
merous as in New York, or in any part Of
America But the traveller who takes up the
London Times will have no difficulty in as
certaining the location Of some twenty or
thirty, all of which profess TO afford the most
superior accommodations He will find those
at the West End, in the vicinity Of Piccadilly
and the squares, the best not so much in re-
gard TO accommodations the majority Of
them are excellent in this respect-as in re-
gard to the company, which is more tonish
in this than other quarters Of the metropolis.
He will here pay from two TO three or four
guineas per week, according to the room or
rooms that he may select. For two guineas,
or about ten dollars per week, his comfort will
be precisely as great, and his responsibility
considered precisely as high. as if he paid a
more extravagant price for more splendid
private apartment or suite Of apartments