the way to which, for a considerable distance, lies within sight of the
sea; and in close vicinity to the shore we saw Holy Isle, on which are
the ruins of an abbey. Norham Castle must be somewhere in this
neighborhood, on the English shore of the Tweed. It was pretty late in
the afternoon--almost nightfall--when we reached Newcastle, over the
roofs of which, as over those of Berwick, we had a view from the railway,
and like Berwick, it was a congregation of mostly red roofs; but, unlike
Berwick (the atmosphere over which was clear and transparent), there came
a gush of smoke from every chimney, which made it the dimmest and
smokiest place I ever saw. This is partly owing to the iron founderies
and furnaces; but each domestic chimney, too, was smoking on its own
account,--coal being so plentiful there, no doubt, that the fire is
always kept freshly heaped with it, reason or none. Out of this
smoke-cloud rose tall steeples; and it was discernible that the town
stretched widely over an uneven surface, on the banks of the Tyne, which
is navigable up hither ten miles from the sea for pretty large vessels.
We established ourselves at the Station Hotel, and then walked out to see
something of the town; but I remember only a few streets of duskiness and
dinginess, with a glimpse of the turrets of a castle to which we could
not find our way. So, as it was getting twilightish and very cold, we
went back to the hotel, which is a very good one, better than any one I
have seen in the South of England, and almost or quite as good as those
of Scotland. The coffee-room is a spacious and handsome apartment,
adorned with a full-length portrait of Wellington, and other pictures,
and in the whole establishment there was a well-ordered alacrity and
liberal provision for the comfort of guests that one seldom sees in
English inns. There are a good many American guests in Newcastle, and
through all the North.
An old Newcastle gentleman and his friend came into the smoking-room, and
drank three glasses of hot whiskey-toddy apiece, and were still going on
to drink more when we left them. These respectable persons probably went
away drunk that night, yet thought none the worse of themselves or of one
another for it. It is like returning to times twenty years gone by for a
New-Englander to witness such simplicity of manners.
The next morning, May 8th, I rose and breakfasted early, and took the
rail soon after eight o'clock, leaving Mr. Bowman behind; for he had
business in Newcastle, and would not follow till some hours afterwards.
There is no use in trying to make a narrative of anything that one sees
along an English railway. All I remember of this tract of country is
that one of the stations at which we stopped for an instant is called
"Washington," and this is, no doubt, the old family place, where the De
Wessyngtons, afterwards the Washingtons, were first settled in England.
Before reaching York, first one old lady and then another (Quaker) lady
got into the carriage along with me; and they seemed to be going to York,
on occasion of some fair or celebration. This was all the company I had,
and their advent the only incident. It was about eleven o'clock when I
beheld York Cathedral rising huge above the old city, which stands on the
river Ouse, separated by it from the railway station, but communicating
by a ferry (or two) and a bridge. I wandered forth, and found my way
over the latter into the ancient and irregular streets of