There were six passengers on top.
"Aylesbury is a small town, and Stone is a very small village. The
driver stopped at what seemed to be a cultivated field, and told me that
I was at my journey's end. On looking down I saw a wheelbarrow near the
fence, and I remembered that Mrs. Smyth had said that one would be
waiting for our luggage, and I soon saw Mrs. Smyth and her daughter
coming towards us. It was a walk of about an eighth of a mile to the
'Lodge'--a pleasant cottage surrounded by a beautiful garden.
"Admiral Smyth's family go to a little church seven hundred years old,
standing in the midst of tombstones and surrounded by thatched cottages.
English scenery seems now (September) much like our Southern scenery in
April--rich and lovely, but wanting mountains and water. An English
village could never be mistaken for an American one: the outline against
the sky differs; a thatched cottage makes a very wavy line on the blue
above.
"We find enough in St. John's Lodge, in the admiral's library, and in
the society of the cultivated members of his family to interest us for a
long time.
"The admiral himself is upwards of sixty years of age, noble-looking,
loving a good joke, an antiquarian, and a good astronomer. I picked up
many an anecdote from him, and many curious bits of learning.
"He tells a good story, illustrative of his enthusiasm when looking at a
crater in the moon. He says the night was remarkably fine, and he
applied higher and higher powers to his glass until he seemed to look
down into the abyss, and imagining himself standing on its verge he felt
himself falling in, and drew back with a shudder which lasted even after
the illusion was over.
Pages:
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123