Of Birmingham itself we
saw little or nothing, except the mean and new brick lodging-houses, on
the outskirts of the town. Passing through Warwick, we had a glimpse of
the castle,--an ivied wall and two turrets, rising out of imbosoming
foliage; one's very idea of an old castle. We reached Leamington at a
little past six, and drove to the Clarendon Hotel,--a very spacious and
stately house, by far the most splendid hotel I have yet seen in England.
The landlady, a courteous old lady in black, showed my wife our rooms,
and we established ourselves in an immensely large and lofty parlor, with
red curtains and ponderous furniture, perhaps a very little out of date.
The waiter brought me the book of arrivals, containing the names of all
visitors for from three to five years back. During two years I estimated
that there had been about three hundred and fifty persons only, and while
we were there, I saw nobody but ourselves to support the great hotel.
Among the names were those of princes, earls, countesses, and baronets;
and when the people of the house heard from R-----'s nurse that I too was
a man of office, and held the title of Honorable in my own country, they
greatly regretted that I entered myself as plain "Mister" in the book.
We found this hotel very comfortable, and might doubtless have made it
luxurious, had we chosen to go to five times the expense of similar
luxuries in America; but we merely ordered comfortable things, and so
came off at no very extravagant rate,--and with great honor, at all
events, in the estimation of the waiter.
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