as travellers in America
usually do, and put in the note-book,--"_Mem._: None but the sick ever
bathe in England"; for in the next establishment we tried, I found
the plentiful provision for a clean and healthy day, which I had read
would be met _everywhere_ in this country.

All else I must defer to my next, as the mail is soon to close.

LETTER II.

CHESTER.--ITS MUSEUM.--TRAVELLING COMPANIONS.--A BENGALESE.--
WESTMORELAND.--AMBLESIDE.--COBDEN AND BRIGHT.--A SCOTCH
LADY.--WORDSWORTH.--HIS FLOWERS.--MISS MARTINEAU.

Ambleside. Westmoreland, 27th August, 1846.

I forgot to mention, in writing of Chester, an object which gave me
pleasure. I mentioned, that the wall which enclosed the old town was
two miles in circumference; far beyond this stretches the modern
part of Chester, and the old gateways now overarch the middle of long
streets. This wall is now a walk for the inhabitants, commanding a
wide prospect, and three persons could walk abreast on its smooth
flags. We passed one of its old picturesque towers, from whose top
Charles the First, poor, weak, unhappy king, looked down and saw his
troops defeated by the Parliamentary army on the adjacent plain. A
little farther on, one of these picturesque towers is turned to the
use of a Museum, whose stock, though scanty, I examined with singular
pleasure, for it had been made up by truly filial contributions
from, all who had derived benefit from Chester, from the Marquis
of Westminster--whose magnificent abode, Eton Hall, lies not far
off--down to the merchant's clerk, who had furnished it in his leisure
hours with a geological chart, the soldier and sailor, who sent back
shells, insects, and petrifactions from their distant wanderings, and
a boy of thirteen, who had made, in wood, a model of its cathedral,
and even furnished it with a bell to ring out the evening chimes. Many
women had been busy in filling these magazines for the instruction
and the pleasure of their fellow-townsmen. Lady ----, the wife of the
captain of the garrison, grateful for the gratuitous admission of the
soldiers once a month,--a privilege of which the keeper of the Museum
(a woman also, who took an intelligent pleasure in her task) assured
me that they were eager to avail themselves,--had given a fine
collection of butterflies, and a ship. An untiring diligence had
been shown in adding whatever might stimulate or gratify imperfectly
educated minds. I like to see women perceive tha