Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-08-01
SIGHTS ABROAD.
The JOttiDgs of a Nashville
Tourist.

Notes On tIh1nEB3 anu FersOnASeS OF
LOndOn-A PEEP into Parliament
Psh-FOrttaIts Of Messrs. Bright and
DIsFaeII - Mediocre Efforts I'm the
House Of LOrds-sOmething About
sPurgeOn.
The following letter to friend in this
city, written by a gentleman travelling in
Europe with DR.. Wards party, graphically
describes wide range of interesting things
and persons
HAxELL's ROYAL EXETER HOTEL,
West STRAND, LONDoE, Tuesday, July
13, 1S75.-I wrote you from Belfast. There
we took steamer to cross North Channel to
Glasgow. a heavy head-wind set in, the
vessel pitched extensively and the whole
party except Miss - and Mr.. Ward were
very sick. We made no halt In Glasgow,
but took the cars for the Lakes, and about
II a. m. reached Loeb Lomond, 81 miles
long. This, with its lovely isles, surrounded
with green hills and lofty mountains, is the
pride of Scottish lakes. Hence, up long,
steep hill and among the gorges, we rode
five miles in stages, to Loeb Katrine. Then
by boat, over this, seven and half miles,
where we took stages b the TroSsaeh's Ho-
tel, on the banks of Loeb Achray. We
reached there Monday morning. This Is
one of the most romantic and delightful
places on earth. The hotel is
beautiful structure in the gorge of
the mountain that lies Just in
the rear; in front spreads out a lovely
meadow Of twenty acres, and, at its edge,
Loeb Achray kisses the shining pebbles.
Across the lake another meadow, and then
the mountains again. "NO pen can paint,
no tongue describe" the beauties of that
scene. We all sat, and strOlled and gazed,
and wondered and admired. These three
lakes are the theme OF SCOTS "1iady of the
Lake, Read that, and form an idea, If
you can, of what we saw. We passed and
saw the very spot where Scott makes one of
his characters say,
"COme one, come all this rock shall fly
From its firm base as soon as IL
Monday we took the Stage nine miles 10
the railroad. On these stages we had jolly
times. The young ladies would sing ne
gro melodies, etc, to the infinite delight of
| the drivers, who seemed never to have
known what it was to be in a merry crowd
before. These. stages are well constructed
wagons, for good Weather-With 10 cover
| ing carry 10 to 20 passengers comfortably.
| The weather was all that heart could wish
! alternate sun and cloud-eOol and bracing.
| So we all drank in tho fresh air and the
sweet odor of the wild rose, that grows i'll
prOfusiOn everywhere through the country.
We reached Sterling by IL A. NJ, halted
a few hours to visit historic ground. We
first went TO old Grayfriar's church, built in
| 1894, by James ". Within its walls
| James was crowned in 1857, and John
Knox preached the coronation sermon. We
sat in the coronation chair and in the pull
pit, quaint old relics Of ages past. We
next assembled the castle, on the brow of
precipitOus rock, itself inaccessible to an
| invading force. From this summit, the
panoramic view is unsurpassed. This castle
was the birthplace Of James ii and of
| James Y, who was crowned here. In what
| is called the Douglass rooin,' a small
| apartment, James III assassinated William,
Earl of Douglass, and threw his body from
| the window. The field of BannOckburn
was easily seen, being only mile or two
from the castle, but as nothing particularly
could be gathered from the field, we did
not 90 over it. Having done up this place,
We took the train for Edinburg. This is a
grand old city, and, l believe, our entire
party like it better than any other city that
has fallen in cur way. Here We visited
almost everything worthy of note:
SCOTS monument, the finest l
ever saw, costing $4,000; the
monuments of Dugald Stewart, Burns,
Nelson, etc. You can hardly look in any
direction here without seeing monuments
of Nelson and Wellington, the former par
ticularly. Nelson seems to be, or at least
to have been, the fayOrite of the nation.
Our visit to the castle was interesting. BY
the Way, all these old castles have very
much the same appearance, and are Of much
the same style of build. When you have
seen one, you have seen all, so far as the
architecture is concerned. OF course each
has its history of blood, and Of the crown
ing and decapitation Of.kings and queens.
Here in one small room, away up in the
top Of the castle, are kept, under constant
guard of soldiers, the ancient regalia and
the crown jewels of Scotland, before she
united with England. They are beautiful,
and are valued at five million dollars.
cannot describe them in this running let
ter. We went into the room OF the i'll
fated but beautiful Mary Queen of Scots,
in which her son, James VI, was born. II
is about 10 by y feet, and the ceiling but
little higher than your head. Adjoining
this, however, is large room, in which
she stayed mainly, aud the room of
James nativity is a little side room 10 the
main one.
We next went to Holyrood Palace and
Abbey, half mile distant from the castle.
The most interesting points here are the
apartments Of Mary, Queen of Scots, in
which are her bsd and paraphefnalia, and
the baby basket in which the clothes of
James VI were kept, and which basket was
presented to her by Queen Elizabeth On the
birth of James. In the Abbey, a part and
parcel of the castle, and built in lips,
Charles l was crowned in 1888, and in the
royal vault, dark and gloomy-lOoking re-
ceptacle for Princes, are sleeping David III,
James ii, James V, and his queen, and
Henry, Lord Darnley, husband of Mary,
Queen of Scots. On the way between the
Castle and the Palace we visited the house
Of John Knox, an old, plain, unattractive
tenement built in 1890, and new used in
part for the sale of Scotch whisky, and
wllted vegetables. On the doorway is a
rude inscription telling the stranger that
once the great preacher lived there.
By-the-way, wherever you 60, you find |
something TO call to mind Mary Stuart. |
She lived for years, in the time of her |
power, in Hollywood, aud then babe adieu |
"tO the place of her fathers, whose halls |
we're never again TO be frightened with the |
lustTe of her presence, though destined, in |
after-ages, to be lit by the twilight of her |
memory, and visited by pilgrims from every |
cline, the votaries Of her beauty and her |
sufieriDgs." After she was beheaded by
Elizabeth in 1857, at FOtberingay, and |
buried at Peterborough Cathedral, her re-
mains were removed by James l., her son,
and deposited in Westminster Abbey, |
where he erected to her memory the most /
exquisitely handsome monument in all that /
grand array. We intended to stop over at |
AbbotsfOrd, and visit the home and tomb /
of Walter Scott, but they only allow Wis
itors on Tuesdays and Fridays, and as
these were not our days for the place, we
came to this place. And what do we think
of London? Well, we do not like it so far.
1t is too cold and rainy. It rains more or
less every day, and we sleep under heavy
blankets and long for a good fire,
whenever we cease to walk. But we
are on the run almost necessarily,
and have time for nothing but
sight seeing. This country, though
hOary with age, is far behind America in
many of the comforts and cOnyeniences Of
life. The hotels do not begin to compare
with ours; no elevators, no gas in our rooms;
walters in hotels very Indifferent, and the
fare far inferior. But We are having agoOd
time and learning all we can. We have
seen the Cathedral of st. Paul, and gone
II I