ine Butler and Octavia Hill, and of their great
demonstrations with lords and members of parliament in the chair,
we had longed to compare the actors in those scenes with our
speakers and conventions on this side the water. At last we met
them, one and all, in London, York, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow,
Edinburgh, in great public meetings and parlor reunions, at dinners
and receptions, listened to their public men in parliament, the
courts and the pulpit, to the women in their various assemblies,
and came to the conclusion that Americans surpass them in oratory
and the spirited manner in which they conduct meetings. They have
no system of elocution in England such as we have--a thorough
training of the voice, in what is called vocal gymnastics. A
hesitating, apologetic way seems to be the national idea for an
exordium on all questions. Even their ablest men who have visited
this country, such as Kingsley, Stanley, Arnold, Spencer, Tyndal,
Huxley, and Canon Farrar, have all been criticised by the American
public for their stammering enunciation. They have no speakers to
compare with Wendell Phillips and George William Curtis, or Anna
Dickinson and Phoebe W. Couzins. John Bright is without a peer
among his countrymen, as are Mrs. Bessant and Miss Helen Taylor
among the women. Miss Tod, from Belfast, is a good speaker. The
women, as a general thing, are more fluent than the men; those of
the Bright family in all its branches have deep, rich voices.

Among the young women, Mrs. Fawcett, Mrs. Charles McLaren, Mrs.
Scatcherd, Miss Henrietta Mueller, Mrs. Fenwick Miller, and Lady
Harberton, all speak with comparative ease and self-possession. The
latter is striving to introduce for her countrywomen a new style of
dress, in which all the garments are bifurcated, but so skillfully
adjusted in generous plaits and folds, that while the wearer enjoys
the utmost freedom, the casual observer is quite ignorant of the
innovation. We attended one of their public meetings for the
discussion of that question, at which Miss King, Mrs. Charles
McLaren, and Lady Harberton appeared in the new costume. All spoke
in its defense, and were very witty and amusing in criticising the
present feminine forms and fashions. Lady Harberton gave us a
delightful entertainment one evening at her fine residence on
Cromwell Road, where we laughed enough to dissipate the depressing
effect of the fogs for a week to come over the recitations of
Corney Green