1857
FIRST EUROPEAN TOUR CONTINUED--CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY--AMBLESIDE--MISS
SOUTHEY---THE HERSCHELS--A LONDON ROUT--EDINBORO' AND GLASGOW
OBSERVATORIES--"REFLECTIONS AND MUTTERINGS"
"If any one wishes to know the customs of centuries ago in England, let
him go to Cambridge.
"Sitting at the window of the hotel, he will see the scholars, the
fellows, the masters of arts, and the masters of colleges passing along
the streets in their different gowns. Very unbecoming gowns they are, in
all cases; and much as the wearers must be accustomed to them, they seem
to step awkwardly, and to have an ungraceful feminine touch in their
motions.
"Everything that you see speaks of the olden time. Even the images above
the arched entrance to the courts around which the buildings stand are
crumbling slowly, and the faces have an unearthly expression.
"If the visitor is fortunate enough to have an introduction to one of
the college professors, he will be taken around the buildings, to the
libraries, the 'Combination' room to which the fellows retire to chat
over their wine, and perhaps even to the kitchen.
"Our first knowledge of Cambridge was the entrance to Trinity College
and the Master's Lodge.
"We arrived in Cambridge just about at lunch time--one o'clock.
"Mrs. Airy said to me, 'Although we are invited to be guests of Dr.
Whewell, he is quite too mighty a man to come to meet us." Her sons,
however, met us, and we walked with them to Dr. Whewell's.
"The Master's Lodge, where Dr. Whewell lives, is one of the buildings
composing the great pile of Trinity College. One of the rooms in the
lodge still remains nearly as in the time of Henry VIII. It is immense
in size, and has two oriel windows hung with red velvet. In this room
the queen holds her court when she is in Cambridge; for the lodge then
becomes a palace, and the 'master' retires to some other apartments, and
comes to dinner only when asked.
"It is said that the present master does not much like to submit to this
position.
"In this great room hang full-length portraits of Henry and Elizabeth.
On another wall is a portrait of Newton, and on a third the sweet face
of a young girl, Dr. Whewell's niece, of whom I heard him speak as
'Kate.'
"Dr. Whewell received us in this room, standing on a rug before an open
fireplace; a wood fire was burning cheerily. Mrs. Airy's daughter, a
young girl, was with us.
"Dr. Whewell shook hands with us, and we stood. I was very tired, but we
continued to stand. In an American gentleman's house I should have asked
if I might sit, and should have dropped upon a chair; here, of course, I
continued to stand. After, perhaps, fifteen minutes, Dr. Whewell said,
'Will you sit?' and the four of us dropped upon chairs as if shot!
"The master is a man to be noted, even physically. He is much above
ordinary size, and, though now gray-haired, would be extraordinarily
handsome if it were not for an expression of ill-temper about the mouth.
"An Englishmen is proud; a Cambridge man is the proudest of Englishmen;
and Dr. Whewell, the proudest of Cambridge men.
"In the opinion of a Cambridge man, to be master of Trinity is to be
master of the world!
"At lunch, to which we stayed, Dr. Whewell talked about American
writers, and was very severe upon them; some of them were friends of
mine, and it was not pleasant. But I was especially hurt by a remark
which he made afterwards. Americans are noted in England for their use
of slang. The English suppose that the language of Sam Slick or of Nasby
is the language used in cultivated society. They do not seem to
understand it, and I have no doubt to-day that Lowell's comic poems are
taken seriously. So at this table, Dr. Whewell, wishing to say that we
would do something in the way of sight-seeing very thoroughly, turning
to me, said, 'We'll go the whole hog, Miss Mitchell, as you say in
America.'
"I turned to the young American girl who sat next to me, and said, 'Miss
S., did you ever hear that expression except on the street?' 'Never,'
she replied.
"Afterwards he said to me, 'You in America think you know something
about the English language, and you get out your Webster's dictionary,
and your Worcester's dictionary, but we here in Cambridge think we know
rather more about English than you do.'
"After lunch we went to the observatory. The Cambridge Observatory has
the usual number of meridian instruments, but it has besides a good
equatorial telescope of twenty feet in length, mounted in the English
style; for Mr. Airy was in Cambridge at the time of its establishment.
In this pretty observatory, overlooking the peaceful plains, with some
small hills in the distance, Mr. and Mrs. Airy passed the first year of
their married life.
"Professor Challis, the director, is exceedingly short, thick-headed (in
appearance), and, like many of the English, thick-tongued. While I was
looking at the instruments, Mrs. Airy came into the equatorial house,
bringing Mr. Adams, the rival of Leverrier, [Footnote: See Chapter
VII.]--another short man, but bright-looking, with dark hair and eyes,
and again the thick voice, this time with a nasal twang. He is a fellow
of Pembroke College, and master of arts. If Mr. Adams had become a
fellow of his own college, St. John, he must have gone into holy orders,
as it is called; this he was not willing to do; he accepted a fellowship
from Pembroke.
"Mr. Adams is a merry little man, loves games with children, and is a
favorite with young ladies.
"At 6.30 we went again to the lodge to dine. We were a little late, and
the servant was in a great hurry to announce us; but I made him wait
until my gloves were on, though not buttoned. He announced us with a
loud voice, and Dr. Whewell came forward to receive us. Being announced
in this way, the other guests do not wait for an introduction. There was
a group of guests in the drawing-room, and those nearest me spoke to me
at once.
"Dinner was announced immediately, and Dr. Whewell escorted me
downstairs, across an immense hall, to the dining-room, outside of which
stood the waiters, six in number, arranged in a straight line, in
livery, of course. One of them had a scarlet vest, short clothes, and
drab coat.
"As I sat next to the master, I had a good deal of talk with him. He was
very severe upon Americans; he said that Emerson did not write good
English, and copied Carlyle! I thought his severity reached really to
discourtesy, and I think he perceived it when he asked me if I knew
Emerson personally, and I replied that I did, and that I valued my
acquaintance with him highly.
"I got a little chance to retort, by telling him that we had outgrown
Mrs. Hemans in America, and that we now read Mrs. Browning more. He
laughed at it, and said that Mrs. Browning's poetry was so coarse that
he could not tolerate it, and he was amused to hear that any people had
got above Mrs. Hemans; and he asked me if we had outgrown Homer! To
which I replied that they were not similar cases.
"Altogether, there was a tone of satire in Dr. Whewell's remarks which I
did not think amiable.
"There were, as there are very commonly in English society, some dresses
too low for my taste; and the wine-drinking was universal, so that I had
to make a special point of getting a glass of water, and was afraid I
might drink all there was on the table!
"Before the dessert came on, saucers were placed before each guest, and
a little rose-water dipped into them from a silver basin; then each
guest washed his face thoroughly, dipping his napkin into the saucer.
Professor Willis, who sat next to me, told me that this was a custom
peculiar to Cambridge, and dating from its earliest times.
"The finger bowls came on afterwards, as usual.
"It is customary for the lady of the house or the 'first lady' to turn
to her nearest neighbor at the close of dinner and say, 'Shall we retire
to the drawing-room?' Now, there was no lady of the house, and I was in
the position of first lady. They might have sat there for a thousand
years before I should have thought of it. I drew on my gloves when the
other ladies drew on theirs, and then we waited. Mrs. Airy saw the
dilemma, made the little speech, and the gentlemen escorted us to the
door, and then returned to their wine.
"We went back to the drawing-room and had coffee; after coffee new
guests began to come, and we went into the magnificent room with the
oriel windows.
"Professor Sedgwick came early--an old man of seventy-four, already a
little shattered and subject to giddiness. He is said to be very fond of
young ladies even now, and when younger made some heartaches; for he
could not give up his fellowship and leave Cambridge for a wife; which,
to me, is very unmanly. He is considered the greatest geologist in
England, and of course they would say 'in the world,' and is much loved
by all who know him. He came to Cambridge a young man, and the elms
which he saw planted are now sturdy trees. It is pleasant to hear him
talk of Cambridge and its growth; he points to the stately trees and
says, 'Those trees don't look as old as I, and they are not.'
"I did not see Professor Adams at that time, but I spent the whole of
Monday morning walking about the college with him. I asked him to show
me the place where he made his computations for Neptune, and he was
evidently well pleased to do so.
"We laughed over a roll, which we saw in the College library, containing
a list of the ancestors of Henry VIII.; among them was Jupiter.
"Professor Adams tells me that in Wales genealogical charts go so far
back that about half-way between the beginning and the present day you
find this record: 'About this time the world was created'!
"November 2. At lunch to-day Dr. Whewell was more interesting than I had
seen him before. He asked me about Laura Bridgman, and said that he knew
a similar case. He contended, in opposition to Mrs. Airy and myself,
that loss of vision was preferable to loss of hearing, because it shut
one out less from human companionship.
"Dr. Whewell's self-respect and immense self-esteem led him to
imperiousness of manner which touches the border of discourtesy. He
loves a good joke, but his jests are serious. He writes verses that are
touchingly beautiful, but it is difficult to believe, in his presence,
that he writes them. Mrs. Airy said that Dr. Whewell and I _riled_ each
other!
"I was at an evening party, and the Airy boys, young men of eighteen and
twenty, were present. They stood the whole time, occasionally leaning
against a table or the piano, in their blue silk gowns. I urged them to
sit. 'Of course not,' they said; 'no undergraduate sits in the master's
presence!'
"I went to three services on 'Scarlet Sunday,' for the sake of seeing
all the sights.
"The costumes of Cambridge and Oxford are very amusing, and show, more
than anything I have seen, the old-fogyism of English ways. Dr. Whewell
wore, on this occasion, a long gown reaching nearly to his feet, of rich
scarlet, and adorned with flowing ribands. The ribands did not match the
robe, but were more of a crimson.
"I wondered that a strong-minded man like Dr. Whewell could tolerate
such trappings for a moment; but it is said that he is rather proud of
them, and loves all the etiquette of the olden time, as also, it is
said, does the queen.
"In these robes Dr. Whewell escorted me to church--and of course we were
a great sight!
"Before dinner, on this Scarlet Sunday, there was an interval when the
master was evidently tried to know what to do with me. At length he hit
upon an expedient. 'Boys,' he said to the young Airys, 'take Miss
Mitchell on a walk!'
"I was a little surprised to find myself on a walk, 'nolens volens;' so
as soon as we were out of sight of the master of Trinity, I said, 'Now,
young gentlemen, as I do not want to go to walk, we won't go!'
"It was hard for me to become accustomed to English ideas of caste. I
heard Professor Sedgwick say that Miss Herschel, the daughter of Sir
John and niece to Caroline, married a Gordon. 'Such a great match for
her!' he added; and when I asked what match could be great for a
daughter of the Herschels, I was told that she had married one of the
queen's household, and was asked to _sit_ in the presence of the queen!
"When I hear a missionary tell that the pariah caste sit on the ground,
the peasant caste lift themselves by the thickness of a leaf, and the
next rank by the thickness of a stalk, it seems to me that the heathen
has reached a high state of civilization--precisely that which Victoria
has reached when she permits a Herschel to sit in her presence!
"The University of Cambridge consists of sixteen colleges. I was told
that, of these, Trinity leads and St. John comes next.
"Trinity has always led in mathematics; it boasts of Newton and Byron
among its graduates. Milton belonged to Christ Church College; the
mulberry tree which he planted still flourishes.
"Even to-day, a young scholar of Trinity expressed his regret to me that
Milton did not belong to the college in which he himself studied. He
pointed out the rooms occupied by Newton, and showed us 'Newton's
Bridge,' 'which will surely fall when a greater man than he walks over
it'!
"Milton first planned the great poem, 'Paradise Lost,' as a drama, and
this manuscript, kept within a glass case, is opened to the page on
which the _dramatis personae_ are planned and replanned. On the opposite
page is a part of 'Lycidas,' neatly written and with few corrections.
"The most beautiful of the college buildings is King's Chapel. A
Cambridge man is sure to take you to one of the bridges spanning the
wretched little stream called the 'Silver Cam,' that you may see the
architectural beauties of this building.
"It is well to attend service in one or the other of the chapels, to see
assembled the young men, who are almost all the sons of the nobility or
gentry. The propriety of their conduct struck me.
"The fellows of the colleges are chosen from the 'scholars' who are most
distinguished, as the 'scholars' are chosen from the undergraduates.
They receive an income so long as they remain connected with the college
and unmarried.
"They have also the use of rooms in the college; they dine in the same
hall with the undergraduates, but their tables are placed upon a raised
dais; they have also little garden-places given them.
"'What are their duties?' I asked Mr. Airy. 'None at all; _they_ are the
college. It would not be a seat of learning without them.'
"They say in Cambridge that Dr. Whewell's book, 'Plurality of Worlds,'
reasons to this end: The planets were created for this world; this world
for man; man for England; England for Cambridge; and Cambridge for Dr.
Whewell!
"Ambleside, September 13. We have spent the Sunday in ascending a
mountain, I have a minute route marked out for me by Professor Airy, who
has rambled among the lakes and mountains of Cumberland and Westmoreland
for months, and says that no man lives who knows them better than he.
"In accordance with these directions, I took a one-horse carriage this
morning for Coniston Waters, in order to ascend the 'Old Man.' The
waiter at the 'Salutation' at Ambleside, which we made headquarters,
told me that I could not make the ascent, as the day would not be fine;
but I have not travelled six months for nothing, and I knew he was
saying, 'You are fine American geese; you are not to leave my house
until you have been well plucked!'--which threat he will of course keep,
but I shall see all the 'Old Men' that I choose. So I borrowed the
waiter's umbrella, when he said it would rain, and off we went in an
open carriage, a drive of seven miles, up hill and down dale, among
mountains and around ponds (lakes _they_ called them), in the midst of
rich lands and pretty mansions, with occasionally a castle, and once a
ruin, to diversify the scenery.
"Arrived at Coniston Hotel, the waiter said the same thing: 'It's too
cloudy to ascend the "Old Man;"' but as soon as it was found that if it
was too cloudy we did not intend to stay, it cleared off amazingly fast,
and the ponies were ordered. I thought at first of walking up, but,
having a value for my feet and not liking to misuse them, I mounted a
pony and walked him.
"He was beautifully stupid, but I could not help thinking of Henry
Colman, the agriculturist, who, when in England, went on a fox-hunt. He
said, 'Think of my poor wife's old husband leaping a fence!'
"But I soon forgot any fear, for the pony needed nothing from me or the
guide, but scrambled about any way he chose; and the scenery was
charming, for although the mountains are not very high, they are thrown
together very beautifully and remind me of those of the Hudson
Highlands. Then the little lakes were lovely, and occasionally we came
to a tarn or pond, and exceedingly small waterfalls were rushing about
everywhere, without any apparent object in view, but evidently looking
for something. And spite of the weatherwise head-waiter of the
'Salutation' and of him of Coniston Inn, the day was beautiful. We had
to give up the ponies when we were half a mile from the top, and clamber
up ourselves. The guide was very intelligent, and pointed out the lakes,
Windermere, Coniston; and the mountains, Helvellyn, Skiddaw, and
Saddleback; but at one time he spoke a name that I couldn't understand,
and forgetting that I was in England and not in America, I asked him to
_spell_ it. He replied, 'Theys call it so always.' He did not fail,
however, to ask questions like a Yankee, if he couldn't spell like one.
'Which way be ye coming?'--'From America.'--'Ye'll be going to Scotland
like?'--'Yes.'--'Ye'll be spending much money before ye are home again.'
"When we were quite on top of the mountain I asked what the white
glimmering was in the distance, and he said it was, what I supposed, an
arm of the sea.
"The shadows of the flying clouds were very pretty falling on the hills
around us, and the villages in the valleys beneath looked like white
dots on the green.
"Sunday, Sept. 20, 1857. We have been to see Miss Southey to-day. I sent
the letter which Mrs. Airy gave me yesterday, and with it a note saying
that I would call to-day if convenient.
"Miss Southey replied at once, saying that she should be happy to see
me. She lives in a straggling, irregular cottage, like most of the
cottages around Keswick, but beautifully situated, though far from the
lake.
"Southey himself lived at Greta Hall, a much finer place, for many
years, but he never owned it, and the gentleman who bought it will
permit no one to see it.
"Miss Southey's house is overgrown with climbing plants, has windows
opening to the ground, and is really a summer residence, not a good
winter home.
"When Southey, in his decline, married a second wife, the family
scattered, and this daughter, the only unmarried one, left him.
"We were shown into a pleasant parlor comfortably furnished, especially
with books and engravings, portraits of Southey, Wordsworth, and others.
"Miss Southey soon came down; she is really pretty, having the fresh
English complexion and fair hair. She seems to be a very simple,
pleasant person; chatty, but not too much so. She is much engrossed by
the care of three of her brother's children, an old aunt, and a servant,
who, having been long in the family, has become a dependant. Miss
Southey spoke at once of the Americans whom she had known, Ticknor being
one.
"The old aunt asked after a New York lady who had visited Southey at
Greta Hall, but her niece reminded her that it must have been before I
was born!
"Miss Southey said that her father felt that he knew as many Americans
as Englishmen, and that she wanted very much to go to America. I told
her that she would be in danger of being 'lionized;' she said, 'Oh, I
should like that, for of course it is gratifying to know how much my
father was valued there."
"I asked after the children, and Miss Southey said that the little boy
had called out to her, 'Oh! Aunt Katy, the Ameriky ladies have come!
"The three children were called in; the boy, about six years old, of
course wouldn't speak to me.
"The best portrait of Southey in his daughter's collection is a profile
in wax--a style that I have seen several times in England, and which I
think very pretty.
"We went down to Lodore, the scene of the poem, 'How does the Water come
Down,' etc., and found it about as large as the other waterfalls around
here--a little dripping of water among the stones.
COLLINGWOOD, Nov. 14, 1857.
MY DEAR FATHER: This is Sir John Herschel's place. I came last
night just at dusk.
According to English ways, I ought to have written a note,
naming the hour at which I should reach Etchingham, which is
four miles from Collingwood; but when I left Liverpool I went
directly on, and a letter would have arrived at the same time
that I did. I stopped in London one night only, changed my
lodging-house, that I might pay a pound a week only for letting
my trunk live in a room, instead of two pounds, and started off
again.
I reached Etchingham at ten minutes past four, took a cab, and
set off for Sir John's. It is a large brick house, no way
handsome, but surrounded by fine grounds, with beautiful trees
and a very large pond.
The family were at dinner, and I was shown into the
drawing-room.
There was just the light of a coal fire, and as I stood before
it Sir John bustled in, an old man, much bent, with perfectly
white hair standing out every way. He reached both hands to me,
and said, "We had no letter and so did not expect you, but you
are always welcome in this house." Lady Herschel followed--very
noble looking; she does not look as old as I, but of course must
be; but English women, especially of her station, do not wear
out as we do, who are "Jacks at all trades."
I found a fire in my room, and a cup of tea and crackers were
immediately sent up.
The Herschels have several children; I have not seen Caroline,
Louise, William, and Alexander, but Belle, and Amelie, and
Marie, and Julie, and Rosa, and Francesca, and Constance, and
John are at home!
The children are not handsome, but are good-looking, and well
brought up of course, and highly educated. The children all come
to table, which is not common in England. Think what a table
they must set when the whole twelve are at home!
The first object that struck me in the house was Borden's map of
Massachusetts, hanging in the hall opposite the entrance. Over
the mantelpiece in the dining-room is a portrait of Sir William
Herschel. In the parlor is a portrait of Caroline Herschel, and
busts of Sir William, Sir John, and the eldest daughter.
I spent the evening in looking at engravings, sipping tea, and
talking. Sir John is like the elder Mr. Bond, except that he
talks more readily; but he is womanly in his nature, not a
tyrant like Whewell. Sir John is a better listener than any man
I have met in England. He joins in all the chit-chat, is one of
the domestic circle, and tells funny little anecdotes. (So do
Whewell and Airy.)
The Herschels know Abbot Lawrence and Edward Everett--and
everywhere these two have left a good impression. But I am
certainly mortified by anecdotes that I hear of "pushing"
Americans. Mrs. ---- sought an introduction to Sir John Herschel
to tell him about an abridgment of his Astronomy which she had
made, and she intimated to him that in consequence of her
abridgment his work was, or would be, much more widely known in
America. Lady Herschel told me of it, and she remarked, "I
believe Sir John was not much pleased, for he does not like
abridgments." I told her that I had never heard of the
abridgment.
There are other guests in the house: a lady whose sister was
among those killed in India; and her husband, who is an officer
in the army. We have all been playing at "Spelling" this
evening, with the letters, as we did at home last winter.
Sunday, 15th. I thought of going to London to-day, but was
easily persuaded to stay and go with Lady Herschel to-morrow.
All this afternoon I have spent listening to Sir John, who has
shown me his father's manuscript, his aunt's, beautifully neat,
and he told me about his Cape observations.
The telescope used at the Cape of Good Hope lies in the barn
(the glass, of course, taken care of) unused; and Sir John now
occupies himself with writing only. He made many drawings at the
Cape, which he showed me, and very good ones they are. Lady
Herschel offers me a letter to Mrs. Somerville, who is godmother
to one of her children. I am afraid I shall have no letter to
Leverrier, for every one seems to dislike him. Lady Herschel
says he is one of the few persons whom she ever asked for an
autograph; he was her guest, and he refused!
Just as I was coming away, Sir John bustled up to me with a
sheet of paper, saying that he thought I would like some of his
aunt's handwriting and he would give it to me. He had before
given me one of his own calculations; he says if there were no
"war, pestilence, or famine," and one pair of human beings had
been put upon the globe at the time of Cheops, they would not
only now fill the earth, but if they stood upon each other's
heads, they would reach a hundred times the distance to
Neptune!
I turned over their scrap-books, and Sir John's poetry is much
better than many of the specimens they had carefully kept, by
Sir William Hamilton. Sir William Hamilton's sister had some
specimens in the book, and also Lady Herschel and her brother.
Lady Herschel is the head of the house--so is Mrs. Airy--so, I
suspect, is the wife in all well-ordered households! I perceived
that Sir John did not take a cup of tea until his wife said,
"You can have some, my dear."
Mr. Airy waits and waits, and then says, "My dear, I shall lose
all my flesh if I don't have something to eat and drink."
I am hoping to get to Paris next week, about the 23d. I have had
just what I wanted in England, as to society.
"November 26. A few days ago I received a card, 'Mrs. Baden Powell, at
home November 25.' Of course I did not know if it was a tea party or a
wedding reception. So I appealed to Mrs. Airy. She said, 'It is a London
rout. I never went to one, but you'll find a crowd and a good many
interesting people.'
"I took a cab, and went at nine o'clock. The servant who opened the door
passed me to another who showed me the cloak-room. The girl who took my
shawl numbered it and gave me a ticket, as they would at a public
exhibition. Then she pointed to the other end of the room, and there I
saw a table with tea and coffee. I took a cup of coffee, and then the
servant asked my name, _yelled_ it up the stairs to another, and he
announced it at the drawing-room door just as I entered.
"Mrs. Powell and the professor were of course standing near, and Mrs.
Admiral Smyth just behind. To my delight, I met four English persons
whom I knew, and also Prof. Henry B. Rogers, who is a great society man.
"People kept coming until the room was quite full. I was very glad to be
introduced to Professor Stokes, who is called the best mathematician in
England, and is a friend of Adams. He is very handsome--almost all
Englishmen are handsome, because they look healthy; but Professor Stokes
has fine black eyes and dark hair and good features. He looks very young
and innocent. Stokes is connected with Cambridge, but lives in London,
just as Professor Powell is connected with Oxford, but also lives in
London. Several gentlemen spoke to me without a special
introduction--one told me his name was Dr. Townby [Qy., Toynbie], and he
was a great admirer of Emerson--the first case of the sort I have met.
"Dr. Townby is a young man not over thirty, full of enthusiasm and
progress, like an American. He really seemed to me all alive, and is
either a genius or crazy--the shade between is so delicate that I can't
always tell to which a person belongs! I asked him if Babbage was in the
room, and he said, 'Not yet,' so I hoped he would come.
"He told me that a fine-looking, white-headed, good-featured old man was
Roget, of the 'Thesaurus;' and another old man in the corner was Dr.
Arnott, of the 'Elements of Physics.' I had supposed he was dead long
ago. Afterwards I was introduced to him. He is an old man, but not much
over sixty; his hair is white, but he is full of vigor, short and stout,
like almost all Englishmen and Englishwomen. I have met only two women
taller than myself, and most of them are very much shorter. Dr. Arnott
told me he was only now finishing the 'Elements,' which he first
published in 1827. He intends now to publish the more mathematical
portions with the other volumes. He was very sociable, and I told him he
had twenty years ago a great many readers in America. He said he
supposed he had more there than in England, and that he believed he had
made young men study science in many instances.
"I asked him if Babbage was in the room, and he too said, 'Not yet.' Dr.
Arnott asked me if I wore as many stockings when I was observing as the
Herschels--he said Sir William put on twelve pairs and Caroline
fourteen!
"I stayed until eleven o'clock, then I said 'Good-by,' and just as I
stepped upon the threshold of the drawing-room to go out, a broad old
man stepped upon it, and the servant announced 'Mr. Babbage,' and of
course that glimpse was all I shall ever have!
"Edinboro', September 30. The people of Edinboro', having a passion for
Grecian architecture, and being very proud of the Athenian character of
their city, seek to increase the resemblance by imitations of ancient
buildings.
"Grecian pillars are seen on Calton Hill in great numbers, and the
observatory would delight an old Greek; its four fronts are adorned by
Grecian pillars, and it is indeed beautiful as a structure; but the
Greeks did not build their temples for astronomical observations; they
probably adapted their architecture to their needs.
"This beautiful building was erected by an association of gentlemen, who
raised a good deal of money, but, of course, not enough. They built the
Grecian temple, but they could not supply it with priests.
"About a hundred years ago Colin Maclaurin had laid the foundation of an
observatory, and the curious Gothic building, which still stands, is the
first germ. We laugh now at the narrow ideas of those days, which seemed
to consider an observatory a lookout only; but the first step in a work
is a great step--the others are easily taken. There was added to the
building of Maclaurin a very small transit room, and then the present
edifice followed.
"When the builders of the observatory found that they could not support
it, they presented it to the British government; so that it is now a
government child, but it is not petted, like the first-born of
Greenwich.
"There are three instruments; an excellent transit instrument of six and
a half inches' aperture, resting on its y's of solid granite. The
corrections of the errors of the instrument by means of little screws
are given up, and the errors which are known to exist are corrected in
the computations.
"Professor Smyth finds that although the two pillars upon which the
instrument rests were cut from the same quarry, they are unequally
affected by changes of temperature; so that the variation of the azimuth
error, though slight, is irregular.
"The collimation plate they correct with the micrometer, so that they
consider some position-reading of the micrometer-head the zero point,
and correct that for the error, which they determine by reflection in a
trough of mercury. With this instrument they observe on certain stars of
the British Catalogue, whose places are not very well determined, and
with a mural circle of smaller power they determine declinations.
"The observatory possesses an equatorial telescope, but it is of mixed
composition. The object glass was given by Dr. Lee, the eye-pieces by
some one else, and the two are put together in a case, and used by
Professor Smyth for looking at the craters in the moon; of these he has
made fine drawings, and has published them in color prints.
"The whole staff of the observatory consists of Professor Smyth, Mr.
Wallace, an old man, and Mr. Williamson, a young man.
"The city of Edinboro' has no amateur astronomers, and there are two
only, of note, in Scotland: Sir William Bisbane and Sir William Keith
Murray.
"From the observatory, the view of Edinboro' is lovely. 'Auld Reekie,'
as the Scotch call it, always looks her best through a mist, and a
Scotch mist is not a rare event--so we saw the city under its most
becoming veil.
"October, 1857. I stopped in Glasgow a few hours, and went to the
observatory, which is also the private residence of Professor Nichol.
Miss Nichol received me, and was a very pleasant, blue-eyed young lady.
"I found that the observatory boasts of two good instruments: a meridian
circle, which must be good, from its appearance, and a Newtonian
telescope, differently mounted from any I had seen; cased in a
composition tube which is painted bright blue--rather a striking object.
The iron mounting seemed to me good. It was of the German kind, but
modified. It seemed to me that it could be used for observations far
from the meridian. The iron part was hollow, so that the clock was
inside, as was the azimuth circle, and thus space was saved.
"They have a wind and rain self-register, and a self-registering
barometer, marking on a cylinder turned by a clock, the paper revolving
once an hour.
"When I was at Dungeon Ghyll, a little ravine among the English lakes,
down which trickles an exceedingly small stream of water, but which is,
nevertheless, very picturesque,--as I followed the old man who shows it
for a sixpence, he asked if we had come a long way. 'From America,' I
replied. 'We have many Americans here,' said he; 'it is much easier to
understand their language than that of other foreigners; they speak very
good English, better than the French or Germans.'
"I felt myself a little annoyed and a good deal amused. I supposed that
I spoke the language that Addison wrote, and here was a Westmoreland
guide, speaking a dialect which I translated into English before I could
understand it, complimenting me upon my ability to speak my own tongue.
"I learned afterwards, as I journeyed on, to expect no appreciation of
my country or its people. The English are strangely deficient in
curiosity. I can scarcely imagine an Englishwoman a gossip.
"I found among all classes a knowledge of the extent of America; by the
better classes its geography was understood, and its physical
peculiarities. One astronomer had bound the scientific papers from
America in green morocco, as typical of a country covered by forests.
Among the most intelligent men whom I met I found an appreciation of the
different characters of the States. Everywhere Massachusetts was
honored; everywhere I met the horror of the honest Englishman at the
slave system; but anything like a discriminating knowledge of our public
men I could not meet. Webster had been heard of everywhere. They assured
me that our _really great_ men were known, our really great deeds
appreciated; but this is not true. They make mistakes in their measure
of our men; second-rate men who have travelled are of course known to
the men whom they have met; these travellers have not perhaps thought it
necessary to mention that they represent a secondary class of people,
and they are considered our 'first men.' The English forget that all
Americans travel.
"I was vexed when I saw some of our most miserable novels, bound in
showy yellow and red, exposed for sale. A friend told me that they had
copied from the cheap publications of America. It may be so, but they
have outdone us in the cheapness of the material and the showy covers. I
never saw yellow and red together on any American book.
"The English are far beyond us in their highest scholarship, but why
should they be ignorant of our scholars? The Englishman is proud, and
not without reason; but he may well be proud of the American offshoot.
It is not strange that England produces fine scholars, when we consider
that her colleges confer fellowships on the best undergraduates.
"England differs from America in the fact that it has a past. Well may
the great men of the present be proud of those who have gone before
them; it is scarcely to be hoped that the like can come after them; and
yet I suppose we must admit that even now the strong minds are born
across the water.
"At the same time England has a class to which we have happily no
parallel in our country--a class to which even English gentlemen liken
the Sepoys, and who would, they admit, under like circumstances be
guilty of like enormities. But the true Englishman shuts his eyes for a
great part of the time to the steps in the social scale down which his
race descends, and looks only at the upper walks. He has therefore a
glance of patronizing kindness for the people of the United States, and
regards us of New England as we regard our rich brethren of the West.
"I wondered what was to become of the English people! Their island is
already crowded with people, the large towns are numerous and are very
large. Suppose for an instant that her commerce is cut off, will they
starve? It is an illustration of moral power that, little island as that
of Great Britain is, its power is the great power of the world.
"Crowded as the people are, they are healthy. I never saw, I thought, so
many ruddy faces as met me at once in Liverpool. Dirty children in the
street have red cheeks and good teeth. Nowhere did I see little children
whose minds had outgrown their bodies. They do not live in the
school-room, but in the streets. One continually meets little children
carrying smaller ones in their arms; little girls hand in hand walk the
streets of London all day. There are no free schools, and they have
nothing to do. Beggars are everywhere, and as importunate as in Italy.
For a well-behaved common people I should go to Paris; for clean
working-women I should look in Paris.
"I saw a little boy in England tormenting a smaller one. He spat upon
his cap, and then declared that the little one did it. The little one
sobbed and said he didn't. I gave the little one a penny; he evidently
did not know the value of the coin, and appealed to the bigger boy. 'Is
it a penny?' he asked, with a look of amazement. 'Yes,' said the bigger.
Off ran the smaller one triumphant, and the bigger began to cry, which I
permitted him to do."