After tea
I wandered forth, with some thought of going to the theatre, and, passing
the entrance of one, in the Strand, I went in, and found a farce in
progress. It was one of the minor theatres, very minor indeed; but the
pieces, so far as I saw them, were sufficiently laughable. There were
some Spanish dances, too, very graceful and pretty. Between the plays a
girl from the neighboring saloon came to the doors of the boxes, offering
lemonade and ginger-beer to the occupants. A person in my box took a
glass of lemonade, and shared it with a young lady by his side, both
sipping out of the same glass. The audience seemed rather heavy,--not
briskly responsive to the efforts of the performers, but good-natured,
and willing to be pleased, especially with some patriotic dances, in
which much waving and intermingling of the French and English flags was
introduced. Theatrical performances soon weary me of late years; and I
came away before the curtain rose on the concluding piece.
September 28th.--8---- and I walked to Charing Cross yesterday forenoon,
and there took a Hansom cab to St. Paul's Cathedral. It had been a
thick, foggy morning, but had warmed and brightened into one of the
balmiest and sunniest of noons. As we entered the cathedral, the long
bars of sunshine were falling from its upper windows through the great
interior atmosphere, and were made visible by the dust, or mist, floating
about in it. It is a grand edifice, and I liked it quite as much as on
my first view of it, although a sense of coldness and nakedness is felt
when we compare it with Gothic churches.
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