New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-10-25
col, UIGGINSON'S ENGLAND.
THE BOSTON RADICAL CLUB.


LoNDON-DIsCUssIoN By MR.. WEISS DIX.
DARToI, MR. LEWIS, Mrs. HOWE AM
OTHERS. - r,.,,
IFROM A REGULAR CoRRBsPoNDENTofIh THE lh'Do"n,' =,
RosroN. Oct. 22.-Yesterday the first FAN
sess,ou Of the Radical Club took place at No Is Chestnut
81 The iptrnation that Col HRginson was to give us
como Of his impressions Of Europe and particularly OF
London excited general interest and parors and halls
were thronged with wise, witty. ana wnsome. Mr
Potter announced the intention Of the Free Religious
Association to resume, during the coming winter the
Sunday afternoon lectures in Horticultural Hai ana
offered the assembled friends an opportunity 10 SUD
scribe for that purpose. few dignitaries, Harvard
professors distinguished Enghmen, and the like were
seated in the chief seats; ordinary moras seated the
selves, and then Col. HiggInson began.
He professed O little feeling Of shyness because MS
subject required that Le should talk more about hmseH
than was usual at the Club, where people commonly
began at least by talking about something other an
themselves and came round TO the personal aspect "
the question gently and by degrees He dld not lhehu
to give formal lecture about London or the resi- oi VIC
world but simply TO talk about tho impression maui
upon him by Lis recent brief glimpse Mt foreign me- ne
considered himself almost the last representative VI
fast vanishing type-the American VINO Goes ho' 'ot
Europe until late in life. 1t used TO be the iashioh 10
take your life first and your Europe afterwards ~ 70
getting to be the fashion 10 take your Europe S' anu
your life afterwards and doubtless this last Is the more
excellent way Still, the other has recon-
mendaiions OF IFS own, and ho thought
that in his own case bis enjoyment
Of travel had been greatly enhanced by the delay ms
previous life may have suffered somewhat ior want Vi
the larger vision but tic waiting had made him Det'er
able 60 use the new light when 1t camc There Is an
advantage in having learned your way TO hing-found
ont what you want TO see and how you want to see IT,
You have painted in your atmosphere, and through IL
you see your picture in clearer light clever woman
said once that she could quite make up her MIND
whether she got OF an author from years OF PARENT
reading in which she had followed mp all he had TO say
or in the first glance at his face, in which, for the me
all the previous impression faded and she came into the
personal sphere Of the man. she hardly knew which
went for most toward his knowledge OF Ewope-al his
preceding years OF thought and reading or the BIRDS
eve look be had had at the real thing, expeng with
its certainty all previous imaginations.
He protested q sympathy with the daily struggles
OF New.York clergyman whom he encountered
again and again during his travels. This clergy
man was doing escort duty to three happy and
frisky young ladies, one of whom was his vile
The poor parson said, pathetically, that he tried'
in the evenings, to improve their MINDS ana give
them some historic light upon the places they had SEEM
or were going TO see but he couldn't make them pay
much attention. they were having such good time IL
was the surface good time of gnnsructed YOUTH worth
somewhat less perhaps, than the more thoughtful II
moro chastened enjoyment Of maturer life How could
he describe his emotions from the first sight OF ruin on
the high coast Of Ireland He began then, to live again
I'm the old centuries and through all bis stay the dream
lasted He was in world Of vision and he ala not IN
ger long enough to awake. A European can nave no
convention of what a single castle Is TO an
American who carries to it the reading and
the fancies Of his whole past life. In Its
time 1t held one small family, perhaps, but
now the number Of its tenants is almost Infinite.
Landing at Killarney he went along those beautiful lakes
to Mucross Abbey. Dismounting from his jauntingcar
he brushed aside the towering hawthorn and went in
TO find the stones worn by the feet Of SO many monks
He looked into the Abbots chamber; into the chapel
where the monks had prayed the cellar where they had
cooked; paths they had trod For the moment, all
reading vanished centuries full OF memories were swept
away; he felt like the first conner at Pompe lie stood
I'm the midst Of medieval fe At Ross Castle he climbed
the steep stone stairway. How high you grope before
you come to q window You must get above arrow-shaf
ven know Here is Iyanhoe" again; here is Frossart
here is the life of feudalsm In the Isle Of Iunsiaen
where the monastery founded so long ago. the many
tombs seem men, but Of institutions. So at Conway
Castle you seem far away from modern life that you
might be-for any hint Of bustling modern world-n
a keep in the moon. Eight great towers, with walls
dozen feet thick defend you. Here is Queen EoanOr's
bower where she sat in the twelfth century and looked
out over these same soft hills.
In England the traveller especially II there only for
short time, must always ask himself "Whchp and
when the question was "YoIkminster or Darwing"
salisbury TennysOn ~ the men carried the day;
that the first real sense of cathedras to tray
oer after he had reached the Continent He read pas
sage from his note book written at halfpas nine in the
morning. in the Cathedral Of Cologne, where the light
pouring through the wonderful staned-glass windows
seemed to come through all the jewels OF the world"
ITSELF the GROWING jewel Watching all this glory, while
the noble male voices of the chOrsters filed the choir
with music, he thought what must it not have cost
the Reformers to turn away from much beauty.
la at "A
TO him conscious OF the past till he looked at the wonder
full carved creatures the outside OF Notre Dame.
There they were-grinns stOrks ibses-who had looked
through all the years OF the Paris Of the Bourbons
the Paris OF the Revolution the Paris Of the Empire the
Paris OF the Commune looked silent motioness tell
ing no tales trembling at doom. One feels that this
stony calm cannot last forever that day the long
spell will be lbroken. day they must come to life
aud then all VIII be over.
In going to Europe, his most profound desire had
BEEN after ALL know human beings lie preferred to
all art the artmakers Especially in England he longed
to know those like, yet, he had heard unlike
ourselves speaking the same tongue holding the
traditions He discovered in the literary and jour
nasts surprisingly little difference from own. At
parties he found 1t quito impossible to distinguish the
English from the Americans. Among the women, he
saw more unkeness. The English women were heavier
and slower their eyes not bright The average
Eugshman might be less hopeful and less yivacious
than the average American 1t was easier to keep an
English crowd in order; police duty less difficult
there he did not find the insuar excusvcness
he had been led TO expect The English seemed to him
as ready make acquaintance, in travelling in no
tells as the Americans. OF the highest circles he would
say lttlehs acquaintance with palaces and princesses
being limited. But he had been some time in the
try before encounteTing Jeames. Yeowplush must be
going out and II desires TO the vanishing glory
he should the SOON There Is good deal Of
splendor in equipages and when he went out upon the
avenue Newport after his return-tha avenue whose