e been just before he
and his wife went to the Continent. After walking some distance (the
gentlemen chatting together, and I gambolling on ahead) we came to the
summit of a low rise, from which we beheld London, flung out, all its
gloomy length, before us; and in all my thoughts of London as a physical
entity the impression then received of it returns to me. It lay vast,
low, and obscure in front of the dull red of the sunset, with dim
lights twinkling dispersedly throughout it, and the dome of St. Paul's
doubtfully defining itself above the level. There is no other general
view of London to be compared with this, seen under those conditions.
Soon after, we came to some ridges and mounds, which, said Bennoch,
marked the place where were buried the heaps of the slain of some great
prehistoric battle--one, at least, which must have taken place while
the Romans yet ruled Britain. It was a noble scene for such an antique
conflict, when man met man, foot to foot and hand to hand, with sword
and spear. My mind was full of King Arthur and his Round-Table knights
of the Pendragonship, and I doubted not that their mightiest fight had
been fought here.

There were many walks in London itself. One day, going west along the
Strand, we found ourselves drawn into the midst of a vast crowd near
Charing Cross; some royal function was in progress. Threading our
way slowly through the press, we saw a troop of horsemen in steel
breastplates, with nodding plumes on their helmets, and drawn swords
carried upright on their thighs--the famous Horse Guards; and farther
on we began to see carriages with highly ornamental coachmen and footmen
passing in dilatory procession; within them were glimpses of ladies in
low-necked dresses, feathers in their hair, and their necks sparkling
with jewels.

At length we turned off towards the north, and by-and-by were entering a
huge building of gray stone, with tall pillars in front of it, which my
father told me was the British Museum. What a place for a boy! Endless
halls of statues; enormous saloons filled with glass-cases of shells;
cases of innumerable birds; acres of butterflies and other insects;
strange objects which I did not understand--magic globes of shining
crystal, enormous masses of iron which were said to have fallen from the
sky; vases and jewels; and finally, at the farther end of a corridor,
a small door, softly opening, disclosed a circular room of stupendous
proportions, domed above,