The Bennington banner. [volume] (Bennington, Vt.) 1858-1894, 1891-01-01
FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF EUROPE.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF EUROPE.
LeamInaIon and Its sParks-WarWieh
aud SiratfOrd-Ons ivOn- Chester :
staging to the West COast-OarliSs
cathedral GIasgOw and scottish
Scenery HIatOrsr spots-Sir walter
I seotI,s MOnument-Msirss ABBEY
newcastle and YOsk-FrOm York
60 LIverpOOI-And Home-Remarks
Especial Correspondence Of the Bdnner.l
NUMBER xIv.-CoNCLUsIoN.
| We left London by the London and
Northwestern Railway, a small corpora
ton with capital of a couple OF hun
/ dred millions of dollars. and employing
about 10000 men. This is the great
route to Liverpool and Scotland, al
though the East coast routes are pushing
it hard, now that the great bridges over
the Firth of Forth and over the Tay are
completed. This railway company has
its enormous shops at Crewe, near
Liverpool, and not long ago it pre-
sented the city with a large and hand
some park. For long distance out of
London 1t is fouT-track road, two Of
the tracks being used for the enormous
local traffic. The country as far as Rug
by is fairly pretty; there we branched
off to bennington, fayOTite Watering
place, very nice town with a
pretty park, many handsome streets and
q mineral spring. 1t is the most con-
venient place frum which go V'esptt war
wick, Kenilworth and StratfOrd-On-
Avon.
We had a drive OF nearly forty miles
through the lovely English roads to visit
those places, taking Kenilworth first to
see the ruins of the castle made famous
by Scott. All these villages are of the
uuaintest sort, looking deliciously an
Gent. Just the kind we wished to see.
The Kenilworth ruins are kept In good
repair by the owner of the land, and are
very handsome; and an intense interest
it had for us as we identified the various
apartments mentioned by Scott.
Our next stop was at Warwick, the
finest and | tliink the only Medieval
Castle in England in perfect condition,
and used as residence. The entrance
is about fouIth of mile long, dug out
like canal, and winds considerably, so
making it of old, easily defended. A
strong wall with high tower i'll the CEN
tire guards one side of the beautiful
grassy court, the castle itself protecting
the other side. The part lately burned
has been completely restored, and the
interior is charming, especially that part
looking out over the quiet stream many
feet below. The great t0werlp the wall,
with its winding stone stairs and various
apaI tments, gave us good idca OF the
old ways OF defense.
Stratford is beautifully situated on the
Avon, one of the typical English rivers,
and ought to be called Shnkspereville.
His house has been restored and is
owned blythe town. but the interior is
as ancient rs any American could desire.
The church where he is buried lies. IN
green meadow close to u bend of the
river, n place lovely for situation, aud a
fine ancient building.
The quaint old hotels and the House
of Seven Gables" are very attractive, but
the cottage Of Anne Hathaway, afterward
his wife, about q mile from Stratford, is
the acme of old English cottages,
thatched roof, ivy, flowers and all the
essentials; here is the original surniture
as Shakspere used it, the old lady who
| lives in the cottage - desccnGent OF
Anne Hathaway. ] doubt, picturesque
as it was, If the average American Work
ingman would not turn up his nose at
| the lQea OF living III IT,
On the way back We walked across the
great deer park of Squire Lucy. de-
scendent of the man who owned the
place in Shaksperes time, and III this
park the great author poached, and shot
deer, besides being impudent to the
Squire. There were more than 200 deer
feeding there, and it was memorable
walk under the shadow of the great clms
over the green turf, it was such good
chance to see an old English park. We
walked across in much less time than the
carriage could drive round, although the
distance was over a mile. Here were
hundreds of acres of fine land kept idle
that lot of deer might roam about then
a sample of hundreds of such estates al
over the Kingdom. Squire Lucy dice
last week.
| AS we rode along, one side of the roaC
for a long distance would be Lore
so-and-so's place, on the other side Mr.
somebody else, scarcely ever seeing an OF
dinary farm owned by the farmer. Mos
of them only rent their farms, and it is
wonder to me how England has kept he
place, with so much of the land idle, o
let out, with nearly the whole islanC
owned by a very few men. On our wa,
to Chester we passed through Coventry
the town of "Peeping Tom, now larg
CITY, where most of the English bicycle
are made. Most of the bicycles have til
seat SO far back that the rider is ben
into a quarter circle when he rides. !
new use for these machines | saw in Lon
don, where bread is distributed in smal
carts rugged as tricycles, darting abou
the city, right among the numerou
. teams, generally operated by boy.
Chester is one of the quaintest of cities
and very old, for it was formerly a Ro
man camp; the principal streets, intel
secting, were the avenues of the camp
A wall still surrounds the city, affordin
the finest kind of a promenade of abou
two miles, much of the city has grow
up outside it. On one side the wal
skirts the river, below the penitentiar
the walk is hung over the stream; a Iii
tie beyond is the large grassy race cours
for steeple chasing, close under the val
and on the other side it runs above
canal which has been excavated far bt
, low in the solid rock. On this side part
of the old wall are visible, serving as
foundation for the later one, and W
looked at it with great interest for it wa
laid in the year 60 A. ID. while some 9
Chrlst's disciples were yet alive. Tn
old tower still stands from which Charlie
= watched the defeat of his army.
Many of the houses are exceedingl
quaint; here is the famous Gods Prov
idence House." so called from a sign o
lit put there long ago as token Of thanl
lufness for deliverence from the plague
The shops are the queerest we saw an!
where; the second story of each built
ing is set back, the first story comm
out to the line of the sidewalk. Alon
this second story was second sidewall
on which shops faced, while another ro'
occupied the first floor, under the uppt
sidewalk. All the best shops were o
the second floor; to reach them one weT
up a flight of steps at the beginning
the block and down another at the en'
in order to cross the street. This peel
liar feature is continued in the ne
buildings, erected as the old have to |
taken down.
The Cathedral is not as large as som
but very handsome with its great squal
tower: the brown stone walls contra
beautifully with the ivy clinging
them. ivy is wonderful beautifier