So says our good
landlady. At any rate, looking at this miserable race of Byrons, who
held the estate so long, and at Colonel Wildman, whom it has ruined in
forty years, we might see grounds for believing in the evil fate which is
supposed to attend confiscated church property. Nevertheless, I would
accept the estate, were it offered me.
. . . . Glancing back, I see that I have omitted some items that were
curious in describing the house; for instance, one of the cabinets had
been the personal property of Queen Elizabeth. It seems to me that the
fashion of modern furniture has nothing to equal these old cabinets for
beauty and convenience. In the state apartments, the floors were so
highly waxed and polished that we slid on them as if on ice, and could
only make sure of our footing by treading on strips of carpeting that
were laid down.
June 7th.--We left Nottingham a week ago, and made our first stage to
Derby, where we had to wait an hour or two at a great, bustling,
pell-mell, crowded railway station. It was much thronged with second and
third class passengers, coming and departing in continual trains; for
these were the Whitsuntide holidays, which set all the lower orders of
English people astir. This time of festival was evidently the origin of
the old "Election" holidays in Massachusetts; the latter occurring at the
same period of the year, and being celebrated (so long as they could be
so) in very much the same way, with games, idleness, merriment of set
purpose, and drunkenness.
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