I
well remember when I was here before. I enquired for him and am told he
is still living, but I have not seen him.

"There is a large black man, a waiter in the house, who is quite a
polished man in his manners, and an elderly white man, with white hair,
who looks so respectable and dignified that one feels a little awkward at
first in ordering him to do this or that service; and the chambermaids
look so venerable and matronly that to ask them for a pitcher of water
seems almost rude to them. But I am in a land where domestic servants are
the best in the world. No servant aspires to a higher station, but feels
a pride in making himself the first in that station. I notice this, for
our own country presents a melancholy contrast in this particular."

Here follows a description of the voyage, and he continues:--

"Yesterday we anchored off the Floating Light, sixteen miles from the
city, unable to reach the dock on account of the wind, but the
post-office steamboat (or steamer, as they call them here) came to us
from Liverpool to take the letter-bags, and I with other passengers got
on board, and at twelve o'clock I once more placed my foot on English
ground.

"The weather is true English weather, thick, smoky, and damp. I can see
nothing of the general appearance of the city. The splendid docks, which
were building when I was here before, are now completed and extend along
the river. They are really splendid; everything about them is solid and
substantial, of stone and iron, and on so large a scale.

"I have passed my baggage through the custom-house, and on Monday I
proceed on my journey to London through Birmingham and Oxford. Miss
Leslie, a sister of my friend Leslie of London, is my _compagnon de
voyage_. She is a woman of fine talents and makes my journey less tedious
and irksome than it would otherwise be.... I have a long journey before
me yet ere I reach Rome, where I intended to be by Christmas Day, but my
long voyage will probably defeat my intention."

CHAPTER XV

DECEMBER 6, 1829--FEBRUARY 6, 1830

Journey from Liverpool to London by coach.--Neatness of the cottages.--
Trentham Hall.--Stratford-on-Avon.--Oxford.--London.--Charles R. Leslie.
--Samuel Rogers.--Seated with Academicians at Royal Academy lecture.--
Washington Irving.--Turner.--Leaves London for Dover.--Canterbury
Cathedral.--Detained at Dover by bad weather.--Incident of a former
visit.--Channel steamer.--Boulogne-sur-Mer.--First i