Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1867-04-20
John RapdoIph-tils Experiences in
England
From Parton's s.Famous American

Ifrom Parton's Famous Americana ~
During the last years of his life, the
monOtony of his anguish was relieved
by an occasional visit to the Old
World. 1t is interesting TO note how
thoroughly at home he felt among the
English gentry, and how promptly they
recognized him as "a man and broth
en-. he was, as We have remarked,
more English than an Englishman; for
England does advance. though slowly,
from the insular to the universal Din
ing at great house in London, one
evening, he dwelt with pathetic elo-
quence on the decline of Virginia
Being asked what he thought was the
reason of her decay, he startled and
pleased the lords and ladies present hy
attributing it all to the repeal of the
law of primogeniture. One of the
guests tells US that this was deemed ga
strange remark from Republican" and
that, before the party broke up, the
company had "almost taken him for
an aristOcrat. 1t happened sometimes,
when he was conversiDg with English
politicians, that it was the American
who defended the English system
against the attacks of the Englishmen:
and so full of British prejudice was he,
that, In Paris, he protested that de-
cent dinner could not be bought for
money. Westminster Abbey woke all
his veneration. He went into it one
morning just as service was about be-
ginning, and took his place among the
worshlpers. Those of our readers who
have attended the morning service at
an English cathedral on a week day
cannot have forgotten the ludicrous
smallness of the congregation compared
with the imposing array of Official as
sistants. A person who has little
tincture of the Yankee in him may even
find himself wondering how it can pay
the British empire to employ half a
dozen robust clergymen and a dozen
robust singers to aid seven OF
eight unimportant members of the
community in saying their prayers
But John Randolph, of Roanoke, had
not IN him the least infusion of Yam
kee. Standing erect in the almost va
cant space, he uttered the responses in
a tone that was in startling contrast to
the low humble of the clergyman
voice, and that rose above the melodi-
GUS amens of the choir. He took it all
in most serious earnest. When the
service was over, he said to his compan.
ION, after lamenting the hasty and care.
less manner in which the service had
been performed, that he esteemed II al
honor to have worshipped God in West.
minister Abbey. AS he strolled among
the tombs, he came at last to the grsv Vi
of two men who had often reused his
enthusiasm. He stopped and spoke:- =
II will not say, take off your shoes, fol
the ground on which You stand is holy
but, look, sir, do you see those simple
letters on the flag stones beneath your
feet,-W. p. and @. j. +. Here lie
side by side. the remains of the two
great rivals, Pitt and Fox, whose mem
DRY so completely lives In history. Nc
marble monuments are necessary tC
mark the spot where their bodies re
pose There is more simple grandeur
III those few letters than in all the sur,
rounding monuments, sir. p" How more
than English was all thisl England
had been growing away from and be
yond Westminster Abbey. William PITT
and Charles James Fox, but this Vir
ginia Englishman, living alone in hi.
woods with his slaves and his over
seers, severed from the progressive lift
of his race, was living still in the days
when pair of dissolute young orator.
could be deemed, and with some rea
sou, the most important persons in {
great empire. A friend asked him how
he was pleased with England. He an
swered with enthusiasm, There wa
never such a country on the face of the
earth as England, and it is utterly i'm
possible that there can be any comb
nation of circumstances hereafter Il
make such another country as OLD
England now isl''