I forgot
to mention, that, first of all, I went to Mr. B------'s, whom I found
kind and vivacious as usual. It now rained heavily, and, being still
showery when we came to Cheapside again, we first stood under an archway
(a usual resort for passengers through London streets), and then betook
ourselves to sanctuary, taking refuge in St. Paul's Cathedral. The
afternoon service was about to begin, so, after looking at a few of the
monuments, we sat down in the choir, the richest and most ornamented part
of the cathedral, with screens or partitions of oak, cunningly carved.
Small white-robed choristers were flitting noiselessly about, making
preparations for the service, which by and by began. It is a beautiful
idea, that, several times in the course of the day, a man can slip out of
the thickest throng and bustle of London into this religious atmosphere,
and hear the organ, and the music of young, pure voices; but, after all,
the rites are lifeless in our day. We found, on emerging, that we had
escaped a very heavy shower, and it still sprinkled and misted as we went
homeward through Holborn and Oxford Street.
SOUTHAMPTON
October 11th.--We all left London on Sunday morning, between ten and
eleven, from the Waterloo station, and arrived in Southampton about two,
without meeting with anything very remarkable on the way. We put up at
Chapple's Castle Hotel, which is one of the class styled "commercial,"
and, though respectable, not such a one as the nobility and gentry
usually frequent.
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