The rain poured down upon us as we drove away in two cabs, laden with
mountainous luggage to the London Road station; and the whole day was
grim with cloud and moist with showers. We went by way of Birmingham,
and stayed three hours at the great dreary station there, waiting for the
train to Leamington, whither Fanny had gone forward the day before to
secure lodgings for us (as she is English, and understands the matter)
We all were tired and dull by the time we reached the Leamington station,
where a note from Fanny gave us the address of our lodgings. Lansdowne
Circus is really delightful after that ugly and grimy suburb of
Manchester. Indeed, there could not possibly be a greater contrast than
between Leamington and Manchester,--the latter built only for dirty uses,
and scarcely intended as a habitation for man; the former so cleanly, so
set out with shade trees, so regular in its streets, so neatly paved, its
houses so prettily contrived and nicely stuccoed, that it does not look
like a portion of the work-a-day world.
KENILWORTH.
September 13th.--The weather was very uncertain through the last week,
and yesterday morning, too, was misty and sunless; notwithstanding which
we took the rail for Kenilworth before eleven. The distance from
Leamington is less than five miles, and at the Kenilworth station we
found a little bit of an omnibus, into which we packed ourselves,
together with two ladies, one of whom, at least, was an American.
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