_London, Oct. 15th, 1826._
It seems to me that I shall never get accustomed to this climate, for
ever since my landing I have felt perpetually unwell. However, so long
as I am not confined to my chamber, I do not suffer it to depress me
much; I ride a great deal in the lovely cultivated environs of London,
and do not abstain from my walks about the town.
The turn of the British Museum came lately, where a strange
"_Mischmasch_" of works of art, natural curiosities, books, and models,
are preserved in a miserable building.
At the top of the staircase, as you enter, stand two enormous giraffes,
in the character of stuffed guards, or emblems of English taste! There
is, doubtless, much that is interesting in the various apartments. I
confess, however, to my shame, that I must be in a peculiarly favourable
state of mind not to have an attack of indigestion after such a surfeit
of sights. Among the antediluvian remains I saw an enormous and
remarkably perfect pair of stag's antlers, at least six times as large
as the largest of those which friend C---- keeps in the stag-gallery of
his castle. In a huge shed are deposited the noble Elgin Marbles, as
they are here called.
A bust of Hippocrates struck me as being so perfect a representation of
the physician by profession, that here in England one can hardly look at
it without putting one's hand in one's pocket.[11] I looked at the
celebrated Portland Vase with all the enthusiasm it is calculated to
excite. I send you two little works on the Vase and the Elgin Marbles,
with very tolerable outline engravings. But I must now quit you to give
orders about packing; for to-morrow I mean to start for Newmarket races.
_Newmarket, Oct. 19th._
The beauty of the country, and the extraordinary neatness and elegance
of every place through which my road lay to-day, struck me anew in the
most agreeable manner. These fertile and well-cultivated fields; these
thousands of comfortable and pretty farm-houses and cottages scattered
over every part of the country; this incessant stream of elegant
carriages, well-mounted horsemen, and well-dressed foot-passengers, are
peculiar to England. The beautiful picture has but one fault,--it is all
too cultivated, too perfect; thence always and everywhere the same, and
consequently, in the long run, wearisome:--indeed I can even conceive
that it must become distasteful in time, like a savoury dish of dainties
to the stomach of a sated man. This may explain the great taste of the
English for travelling on the Continent. It is just so in life,--the
thing men can the least bear is undisturbed good fortune, and it may be
doubted whether father Adam would not have died of ennui in paradise.
To-day, however, a due proportion of shadows was provided for me. In
consequence of the great resort to the races, I found at every stage
only miserable overdriven horses, sometimes none at all, so that,
according to the English standard, I travelled wretchedly, and did not
reach Newmarket till late at night.
There was no room in any of the inns; and I thought myself happy at last
to get one small room in a private house, for which I paid five guineas
a week. Fortunately I met an old acquaintance in the same house,--the
son of a little Hungarian Magnate, who seems formed to please himself
and others by his unpretending good-nature and joyous temper. I revere
such natures, precisely because they have all that I want.
Next morning I rode about with him to reconnoitre the ground a little.
One day here is precisely like another. At half-past nine in the morning
you see some hundreds of race-horses, carefully clothed, taking their
morning promenade on a rising ground. The bare, wide-spread heath is
covered with them as with a herd of cattle; some are walking at a foot
pace, others galloping, some slower, some quicker, but none at full
speed. An inspector on a little poney generally accompanies the horses
which belong to the same gentleman, or which are under the care of the
same training-groom. The horses are all ridden without a saddle by
little half-dressed lads, one of whom is every now and then thrown for
the amusement of the spectators. After this exhibition, certainly a most
interesting one to every amateur of horses, people breakfast, and in
half an hour go to the sale, which takes place almost every day in the
open street, under the auspices of the far-famed Mr. Tattersall. They
then ride or drive to the races.
These begin pretty punctually at twelve o'clock. An interminable grassy
plain covered with a thick short turf is the ground, where various
distances, from a full German mile as maximum, to an eighth or tenth, as
minimum, are marked for the course in a perfectly straight line. Near
the end, this course is enclosed between ropes, on the outside of which
rows of carriages three and four deep are drawn up, generally without
horses, and covered within and without, from top to bottom, with
spectators. At the goal itself is a wooden house on wheels, very like
those the shepherds have in many parts of Germany, so that it can be
moved about in case the course is lengthened or shortened: in this sits
the judge. Just opposite to him is a post fixed in the ground, by means
of which he determines which horse's nose first appears exactly on a
line with it; for an inch often decides the race: and it is a very
skilful piece of policy and jockeyship of the riders here, to betray the
real speed of their horses as little as possible, and to display only as
much of it as is necessary to win the race. If they see they have no
chance, they immediately give up; so that those who contend for victory
to the last, are always very nearly together at the goal. The grotesque
spectacle of a rider a mile in the rear, belabouring his horse with whip
and spur, like a steam-engine, is exhibited only in France and Germany.
If two horses reach the post exactly at the same moment, (which
frequently happens,) they must run again. The judge is upon oath, and
there is no appeal from his decision. The English jockeys (who are not,
as foreigners think, little boys, but often dwarfish men of sixty,) form
a perfectly distinct class, and are the best practical riders I know of.
You remember that I kept race-horses myself, and had a Newmarket jockey
for a time in my service, who won a considerable bet for me at Vienna.
It amused me greatly to see this fellow 'training' himself. After dosing
himself severely, he would go out in the greatest heat, dressed in three
or four great-coats, ride a certain distance at a hard trot, till the
sweat streamed off him in torrents, and he almost sank from exhaustion;
'mais tel étoit son plaisir,' and the more completely good-for-nothing
he felt, the better he was pleased.[12]
But there are bounds to this: for the man, by excessive training, may
reduce himself below the weight which the horse is bound to carry, and
thus subject himself to the inconvenient necessity of carrying lead in
the girths. At a certain distance from the goal, about a hundred paces
to the side, stands another white post called the betting-post. Here the
bettors assemble, after they have seen the horses saddled in the stables
at the beginning of the course, thoroughly examined into all the
circumstances of the impending race, or perhaps given a wink to some
devoted jockey. The scene which ensues would to many appear the most
strange that ever was exhibited. In noise, uproar, and clamour, it
resembles a Jews' synagogue, with a greater display of passion. The
persons of the drama are the first peers of England, livery-servants,
the lowest 'sharpers' and 'blacklegs;'--in short, all who have money to
bet here claim equal rights; nor is there any marked difference in their
external appearance. Most of them have pocket-books in their hands, each
calls aloud his bet, and when it is taken, each party immediately notes
it in his book. Dukes, lords, grooms, and rogues, shout, scream, and
halloo together, and bet together, with a volubility and in a technical
language out of which a foreigner is puzzled to make anything; till
suddenly the cry is heard, "The horses have started!" In a minute the
crowd disperses; but the bettors soon meet again at the ropes which
enclose the course. You see a multitude of telescopes, opera-glasses and
eye-glasses, levelled from the carriages and by the horsemen, in the
direction whence the jockeys are coming. With the speed of the wind
they are seen approaching; and for a few moments a deep and anxious
silence pervades the motley crowd; while a manager on horseback keeps
the course clear, and applies his whip without ceremony to the shoulders
of any intruder. The calm endures but a moment;--then once more arises
the wildest uproar; shouts and lamentations, curses and cheers re-echo
on every side, from Lords and Ladies, far and wide. "Ten to four upon
the Admiral!" "A hundred to one upon Madame Vestris!" "Small Beer
against the field!" &c. are heard from the almost frantic bettors: and
scarcely do you hear a "Done!" uttered here and there, when the noble
animals are before you--past you--in the twinkling of an eye; the next
moment at the goal, and luck, or skill, or knavery have decided the
victory. The great losers look blank for a moment; the winners triumph
aloud; many make 'bonne mine à mauvais jeu,' and dart to the spot, where
the horses are unsaddled and the jockeys weighed, to see if some
irregularity may not yet give them a chance. In a quarter of an hour the
same scene begins anew with other horses, and is repeated six or seven
times. "Voilà les courses de Newmarket!"
The first day I was gifted with such a prophetic vision, that twice, by
the mere exercise of my proper observation and judgment, I betted upon
the winner at the saddling, and gained a considerable sum. But I had the
usual fate of play,--what I won that day I lost the next, and as much
more to boot. Whoever is a permanent winner here, is sure of his game
_beforehand_; and it is well known that the principles of many of the
English nobility are remarkably wide and expansive on this head.
Among the company present, I found several old acquaintances, who gave
me permission to see their running horses in the stable, which is
regarded as a signal favour. They also offered to introduce me into the
Club here;--an honour, however, which I declined. It is purely a
gambling Club,--which a man should beware of in England, more than in
any other country.
It may be regarded as a part of the national costume, and highly
characteristic of the general tradesman-like spirit, that beforehand all
advantages are fair; but that after a bet is once taken, though often
amidst the greatest hurry and confusion, it is scarcely ever disputed.
On the other hand, a man who has lost more than he can pay, before
reckoning-day becomes invisible, that is, commits an act of bankruptcy,
and betakes himself to the Continent, either for ever, or till he can
pay.
On the first day of my visit to Newmarket, my Hungarian friend
introduced me to the family of a rich merchant of this neighbourhood,
who with his visitors, among whom were some very pretty girls, came
daily to the races, and returned home after them. They invited us to
dine with them the next day, and stay the day after, which we accepted
with much pleasure.
About five o'clock we set out on horseback. A newly planted, very broad
double avenue of beeches marked the beginning of our host's property,
and led us through about half a mile of road to the entrance of his
park,--a sort of triumphal arch between two lodges, to which the park
paling joined. This was however concealed in the plantation for some
distance on either side the lodges, so that they appeared to stand in
the midst of wood, and thus produced a very good effect. For some time
our way led us through a thick plantation, till we reached the lawn,
studded with groups of trees, which invariably forms the chief feature
of an English park. Here we caught sight of the house, behind which lay
the high trees and 'shrubberies.'
Some cows lay on the grass just before the door of the house, so that we
were obliged almost to ride over them--a strange anomaly, which even
Repton animadverts upon. It is the custom here to have the park, that
is the ornamented pasture land, extend on one side, if not on both, to
the very house; but surely it would be in better taste to have the
garden and pleasure-ground around the house. It seems to me, that
however agreeable the distant view of cattle may be, their immediate
vicinity, with all its accompaniments, is not very pleasant.
We found a pretty numerous company, consisting of the master and
mistress of the house, both of middle age, their eldest married daughter
with her husband, two younger daughters, a neighbouring Baronet with his
pretty wife, and her very pleasing but very melancholy sister, Miss ----,
a much courted lady who frequently moves in higher circles, three
gentlemen not remarkable for anything, the son of the house, and lastly,
a London beau of the second class,--a study of an aspiring City dandy.
The Baronet had served in Germany, and had, as he told us, obtained the
cross of Maria Theresa. He did not wear it, because he thought the thing
very well for a young man, but not at all suitable to the quiet country
gentleman's life he now led. He was a simple, kind-hearted man, who
appeared to have been invited to meet us as best acquainted with the
Continent. We however preferred taking lessons in English manners of his
wife and her sister.
According to this system of manners, as it appeared, a visit from two
'Noblemen,' (even foreign ones, though these are full fifty per cent.
under natives,) was an honour to a house of the 'volée' of our host's.
We were therefore amazingly 'fêtés;' even the dandy was--as far as the
rules of his 'métier' permitted--civil and obliging to us. It is an
almost universal weakness of the unnoble in England, to parade an
acquaintance with the noble: the noble do the same with regard to the
'fashionable' or 'exclusive;' a peculiar caste, an _emperium in
imperio_, which exercises a still more despotical power in society, and
is not influenced by rank, still less by riches, but finds the
possibility of its maintenance only in this national foible.
It is therefore a great delight to the English of the middle classes to
travel on the Continent, where they easily make acquaintance with people
of rank, of whom they can talk as of intimate friends when they come
home. A merchant's wife once gave me a specimen of this: "Do you know
the Queen of ----?" said she. I replied that "I had had the honour of
being presented to her." "She is a great friend of mine," added
she,--exactly as if she had been talking of her husband's partner's
wife. She immediately exhibited, among the numerous trinkets which hung
about her, a portrait of the Queen, which, as she said, Her Majesty had
given her.
It was very likely true, for her daughter produced a letter from
Princess ----, a married daughter of the Queen, containing the most
confidential communications concerning her marriage and domestic
affairs, which has probably been made to serve for some time as 'cheval
de parade' to gratify the vanity of the possessor. Is it not most
extraordinary that our German great people, many of whom are by no means
wanting in pride and 'morgue' towards their own countrymen, should treat
every little English Squire or Miss, however utterly deficient in
intellectual pretensions, almost as an equal, without in the least
inquiring whether this person occupies a station at home which warrants
such a reception?
Nothing lets us down more in the eyes of the English themselves than
this obsequious worship of foreigners; the meanness of which consists in
this, that its true foundation generally lies in the profound respect
which high and low have for English money.
It requires a considerable fortune here to keep up a country-house; for
custom demands many luxuries, and, according to the aspiring and
imitative manners of the country, as much (in the main things) at the
shopkeeper's house, as at the Duke's;--a handsomely fitted-up house,
with elegant furniture, plate, servants in new and handsome liveries, a
profusion of dishes and foreign wines, rare and expensive dessert, and
in all things an appearance of superfluity,--'plenty' as the English
call it. As long as there are visitors in the house, this way of life
goes on; but many a family atones for it by meagre fare when alone: for
which reason nobody here ventures to pay a visit in the country without
being invited, and these invitations usually fix the day and hour. The
acquaintances are generally numerous; and as both room and the time
allotted to the reception of guests are small, one must give place to
another. True hospitality this can hardly be called; it is rather the
display of one's own possessions, for the purpose of dazzling as many as
possible. After a family has thus kept open house for a month or two,
they go for the remainder of the time they have to spend in the country,
to make visits at the houses of others; but the one hospitable month
costs as much as a wealthy landed proprietor spends in a whole year with
us.
As you never were in England, I must say a few words on the routine of
an English dinner, which, as I have said, is, 'à peu de chose près',
everywhere alike.
You like the details of daily life, and have often told me that you feel
the want of them in most books of travels, and yet that nothing gives
you a more lively conception of a foreign country. You must therefore
forgive me if I go into trifles.
The gentlemen lead the ladies into the dining-room, not as in France, by
the hand, but by the arm; and here, as there, are emancipated from the
necessity of those antiquated bows, which even in some of the best
society in Germany, are exchanged every time one hands out a lady. On
the other hand, there is a most anxious regard to rank, in the midst of
all which the strangest blunders are made as to that of foreigners. I
execrated mine to-day, as it brought me to the head of the table; while
my friend very cleverly slipped himself in between the pretty sisters.
When you enter, you find the whole of the first course on the table, as
in France.
After the soup is removed, and the covers are taken off, every man helps
the dish before him, and offers some of it to his neighbour;[13] if he
wishes for anything else, he must ask across the table, or send a
servant for it;--a very troublesome custom, in place of which, some of
the most elegant travelled gentlemen have adopted the more convenient
German fashion of sending the servants round with the dishes.
It is not usual to take wine without drinking to another person. When
you raise your glass, you look fixedly at the one with whom you are
drinking, bow your head, and then drink with great gravity. Certainly
many of the customs of the South Sea Islanders, which strike us the
most, are less ludicrous. It is esteemed a civility to challenge anybody
in this way to drink; and a messenger is often sent from one end of the
table to the other to announce to B---- that A---- wishes to take wine
with him; whereupon each, sometimes with considerable trouble, catches
the other's eye, and goes through the ceremony of the prescribed nod
with great formality, looking at the moment very like a Chinese
mandarin. If the company is small, and a man has drunk with everybody,
but happens to wish for more wine, he must wait for the dessert, if he
does not find in himself courage enough to brave custom.
At the conclusion of the second course comes a sort of intermediate
dessert of cheese, butter, salad, raw celery, and the like; after which
ale, sometimes thirty or forty years old, and so strong that when thrown
on the fire it blazes like spirit, is handed about. The tablecloth is
then removed: under it, at the best tables, is a finer, upon which the
dessert is set. At inferior ones, it is placed on the bare polished
table. It consists of all sorts of hot-house fruits, which are here of
the finest quality, Indian and native preserves, stomachic ginger,
confitures, and the like. Clean glasses are set before every guest, and,
with the dessert plates and knives and forks, small fringed napkins are
laid. Three decanters are usually placed before the master of the house,
generally containing claret, port, and sherry, or madeira. The host
pushes these in stands, or in a little silver wagon on wheels, to his
neighbour on the left. Every man pours out his own wine, and if a lady
sits next him, also helps her; and so on till the circuit is made, when
the same process begins again. Glass jugs filled with water happily
enable foreigners to temper the brandy which forms so large a component
part of English wines. After the dessert is set on, all the servants
leave the room: if more is wanted the bell is rung, and the butler
(Haushofmeister) alone brings it in. The ladies sit a quarter of an hour
longer, during which time sweet wines are sometimes served, and then
rise from table. The men rise at the same time, one opens the door for
them, and as soon as they are gone, draw closer together; the host takes
the place of the hostess, and the conversation turns upon subjects of
local and everyday interest, in which the stranger is pretty nearly
forgotten, and must content himself with listening to what he can take
very little part in. Every man is, however, at liberty to follow the
ladies as soon as he likes,--a liberty of which Count B---- and I very
quickly availed ourselves. We had the singular satisfaction of learning
that this was in accordance with the latest mode, as much drinking is
now 'unfashionable.' Accordingly the dandy had already preceded us. We
found him with the ladies, who received us in a 'salon,' grouped around
a large table on which were tea and coffee.[14] When the whole company
was re-assembled, all fell off into groups, according to their pleasure.
Some entertained themselves with music; here and there a couple
whispered in the recess of a window; several talked politics;--the dandy
alone remained solitary: sunk into a large easy chair, he had laid his
elegantly shod right foot over his left knee, and in that attitude
became apparently so absorbed in Madame de Stäel's 'Allemagne' that he
took not the slightest notice of any one present.
'A tout prendre,' I must do this pretty young fellow the justice to say
that he was not at all a bad copy of higher originals. Perhaps I was
bribed into this favourable opinion by his talking much at dinner about
the great Göthe, and praising his '_Fost_;' both of whom (Göthe and
_Fost_) Lord Byron has brought into fashion in England. _Fost_ seemed to
please him, particularly on account of what he conceived to be its
atheistical tendency, for he had, as he informed us, spent half his life
in Paris, and avowed himself an 'esprit fort.'
The following day, after all breakfasting together, we rode with the
ladies in the park, which contained nothing remarkable except a canal
of stagnant and slimy water, which had cost five thousand pounds in the
digging;--an expense better spared. The fruit-gardens and hot-houses
were admirable: the latter, a hobby of the proprietor, were heated by
steam on a very ingenious plan of his own, and the heat increased or
diminished at pleasure by simply turning a cock. Three-and-twenty
different sorts of pines,--above which, pendent from the glass roof,
hung gigantic purple grapes,--fill these spacious, elegant houses; and
in the fruit-garden we admired pears on the wall seven inches in length,
sixteen in circumference, and of an excellent flavour.
Several of the gentlemen went hunting; but we preferred the society at
home. The gay amusing B---- was become the favourite of the ladies, and
was evidently greatly regretted by them when the post-chaise arrived at
one o'clock in the morning to take us back to Newmarket. I must confess
that we took rather a laughing review of some things that struck us as
ridiculous, though I was really ashamed that we were such genuine B----
's[15] as to make ourselves merry at the expense of our host and his
company, instead of feeling hearty gratitude for our hospitable
reception.
But now-a-days the world is spoiled; and besides, hospitality which
springs from ostentation cannot expect the same hearty requital as that
which is the offspring of the heart. Probably we guests fared no better
in the house we had just quitted.
At the races the next morning we saw the young ladies again, betted
gloves with them till we lost, and delighted them with some Paris ones.
We declined a second invitation, as we were engaged to a gentleman's
dinner, and Count B---- was going to a fox-hunt at Melton. I shall leave
Newmarket too, and continue my letter in London.
_Epping-place, Oct. 20th._
I have travelled as far as I wished, and must pass the night here, as
the inspection of two parks has fully occupied my day.
My trouble has been richly rewarded. The first, Audley-End, belonging to
Lord Braybrooke, claims a place among the finest in the country. The
road lies through the middle of it, with a deep ha-ha on each side,
which secures the park and yet leaves a full view into it. You see, at
first, an extensive green landscape, in the centre of which is a broad,
river-like, and beautifully formed piece of water, which unfortunately,
however, has too little motion to prevent its being covered with
duckweed. Near to the opposite shore stands the splendid Gothic castle,
which was originally built by the Duke of Suffolk, and was then three
times as large as it is now. The multitude of its towers, projecting
angles, and lofty many-formed windows, still give it a very imposing and
picturesque appearance.
Although Lady Braybrooke was at home, I obtained the uncommon permission
to view it. I entered a wide and very simple hall, ornamented only with
some gigantic stag's horns of great antiquity, and furnished with a few
massive benches and chairs, on which the arms of the family were
painted; some very old paintings; a Gothic lamp; a large table,
consisting of two pieces of serpentine, of which only the upper side was
polished, the rest quite rough; and a dozen leather fire-buckets, also
painted with the family arms. The ceiling was of wood, with
deeply-carved compartments and old faded paintings. One saw at the first
glance that it was no house of yesterday one had entered. A high door
of heavy carved oak led from hence into the baron's hall, a large room
whose enormous windows reached from the ceiling to the floor, and
afforded a free view of the landscape. Several family pictures, as large
as life, partly painted by Vandyck, hung on the opposite wall; and
between them rose the huge marble chimney-piece, with the
richly-coloured arms of the Suffolks executed upon it in stucco. The
third side of the room,--that on which we entered,--was entirely covered
with very fine and highly relieved carvings, figures half the size of
life, like those one sees in the choirs of Gothic churches. Opposite
were large folding doors which opened into the eating-hall, and on each
side an open staircase leading to the first story. The dining-room
contains a portrait of Suffolk, and one of Queen Elizabeth. Her red
hair, 'fade' complexion and false look, and her over-done finery, gave
no advantageous idea of the vain and gallant 'Maiden Queen.'
On the first floor is a long narrow gallery full of pretty knick-knacks
and antique curiosities. In the centre is a large chart of the winds,
connected with the weather-cock on the tower, and destined to show the
sportsman every morning which way the wind sets.[16] This serves as
drawing-room, for most English country-houses and mansions are
judiciously made to contain only one principal entertaining room; which
is much more convenient for the reception of a large company.
The chapel is modern, but richly and tastefully ornamented; and here, if
the chaplain is absent, the lord of the house, according to ancient
usage, reads divine service at ten o'clock every morning, at which all
the family and servants must attend.
The park is of considerable extent, but intersected by a troublesome
number of fences, which serve to allot to the sheep, cows, horses and
deer, their several territories. Of the latter, there are from four to
five hundred head, which generally graze pretty near together like a
herd of tame cattle, and do not answer at all to our idea of game.[17]
The flesh too has a totally different flavour from that of the animals
which roam free in our woods, just as they say the flesh of wild oxen
differs from that of tame.
The preserves for partridges and hares are also fenced in to protect the
low copse from the cattle, in consequence of whose presence, the greater
part of an English park consists, as I have already remarked, only of
groups of high trees whose branches the cattle cannot reach.
These extensive views, grand and striking as they are at first, become
tiresome in time from their uniformity. Nor can I see that the numerous
enclosures are advantages to the landscape. Almost every young tree has
a fence round it to protect it from the cattle.
Two temples and an obelisk, to which there is no other way than across
the turf, have a very heterogeneous appearance in the midst of these
pasture-grounds. The distant Gothic tower of Walden church, rearing its
head picturesquely over the summits of the oaks, was in much better
keeping.
On the other hand I greatly admired the flower-garden and pheasantry.
The first describes a large oval, surrounded with a thick natural
evergreen wall of yew, laurel, rhododendron, cedar, cypress, box, holly,
&c.; a brook, adorned with a grotto and water-fall, flows through the
velvet turf, on which the rare and splendid plants and flower-beds of
every form and colour group themselves most beautifully.
The pheasantry, which is nearly two miles from this spot, is a thick
shady grove of various sorts of trees, of considerable extent, and
surrounded by a high wall. We could only get to it over the wet grass,
as the gravel-walk commenced from the entrance-gate. This is from
economy, for roads are excessively expensive both to make and to keep up
in England. There is generally but one carriage-road to the house, and
even the footpaths cease with the iron fences of the pleasure-grounds.
The English ladies are not so afraid of setting their feet on wet grass
as ours are.
After many windings, the path brought me, under a most lovely leafy
canopy, unexpectedly before the ivy-covered door of a little building,
adjoining to which, still more buried in the wood, was the gamekeeper's
house. This door opened from within, and most enchanting was the view
that it disclosed to us. We had entered a little open saloon, the
isolated pillars of which were entirely covered with thick monthly
roses;--between them was seen a large aviary filled with parrots on the
right, and on the left an equally extensive habitation for canaries,
goldfinches, and other small birds; before us lay an open grass-plat
dotted with evergreens, and behind this a background of high woods,
through which small peeps at a distant village and a solitary
church-tower had been cut with singular taste and skill.
On this grass-plat, the keeper now called together perfect clouds of
gold, silver, and pied pheasants, fowls, of exotic breeds, tame rooks,
curious pigeons, and other birds that were accustomed to be fed here,
and thronged together in the most gay and motley crowd. Their various
manners and gestures, rendered more lively by their passionate
eagerness, afforded an amusing spectacle. The behaviour of a gold
pheasant who, like a beau of the old school, seemed trying to make his
court to all the assembled hens with the most ludicrous struts and airs,
was so excessively comic that my old B---- burst into an immoderate fit
of laughter; whereat the English servants, who are accustomed to observe
an exterior of slavish reverence in the presence of their masters,
looked at him with a consternation at his boldness, which amused me as
much as the 'Pantalonnade' among the fowls.
There are above five hundred gold and silver pheasants. They have all
one wing cut as soon as they are hatched, which for ever prevents their
flying. They inhabit these woods winter and summer, without wanting even
the shelter of a shed,--so mild is this climate.
Not to weary you, I omit the description of the second park, Short
Grove, which had nothing remarkable to boast, and appeared much
neglected. The house, park, hot-houses, &c., the former completely
furnished, were to let for the moderate rent of four hundred a-year,--a
very common custom here when the possessors are travelling.
We should not like to imitate it; while on the other hand, a part of our
town-houses are almost always let, the proprietors inhabiting only the
'bel étage.' This again appears very strange to the English, and
certainly is extremely inconvenient, for the presence of several
families in one house is not favourable either to order or cleanliness.
The house-door at Short Grove was covered on the outside with
looking-glass,--a very pretty idea: as you enter the house you have a
beautiful picture of the country.
The great wealth of the landholders of England must always strike people
from the Continent, where the landed proprietors are the poorest class,
and the least protected by laws and institutions. Here everything
conspires for their advantage. It is very difficult for the fundholder
to acquire the free and full possession of land. Almost the whole soil
is the property of the aristocracy, who generally let it only on lease;
so that when a great man calls a village his, this does not mean, as
with us, merely that he has the lordship (_Oberherrschafft_) over it,
but that every house is his absolute property; and only granted to the
actual inhabitants for a certain time. You may conceive what enormous
and ever increasing revenues this must bring them, in a country where
trade and population are continually on the increase; and may admire
with me the concert and address with which this aristocracy has
contrived for centuries to turn all the institutions of the country to
its own advantage.
The free sale of a portion of land is attended by many difficult
conditions, and at so high a price that it is out of the reach of small
capitalists, who find it more advantageous to hire it on lease. Leases
here are, however, of a very different nature from ours. The piece of
land is let to the tenant for ninety-nine years on payment of a certain
yearly rent, which varies from a few shillings to five and ten pounds
yearly per foot of the frontage, if it be for building on; in large
portions, it is so much per acre. The tenant now does with it what he
likes, builds where he pleases, lays out gardens, pleasure-grounds, and
so on: but after the lapse of the ninety-nine years, the whole reverts
just as it stands, sound and tight, to the family of the original lord
of the soil: nay more; the tenant must keep the house in perfect repair,
and paint it every seven years. During his allotted term he may sell or
let it to others, but of course only up to that period when it reverts
to the original proprietor. Almost all the country-houses, villas, &c.,
that one sees, thus belong to great land-owners; and although the
tenants at the expiration of their term generally re-establish this sort
of precarious property in them, yet they must double or treble their
rent, according to the increased value of land, or the improvements they
themselves have made upon it. Even the greater part of London belongs,
on such terms, to certain noblemen, of whom Lord Grosvenor, for
instance, is said to derive above 100,000_l._ a year from his
ground-rents. Scarcely a single inhabitant of London, therefore, except
a few members of the high aristocracy, is the real owner of his house.
Even Rothschild's is not his own: and when a man buys one, as it is
called, people ask him for how long. The price varies according as the
house is taken at first hand, commonly then for a rent; or at second or
third, and then more usually for a sum of money. The greater part of the
profits of industry thus inevitably falls into the hands of the
aristocracy, and necessarily increases the enormous influence which they
already exercise over the government of the country.[18]
_London, October 21st._
This afternoon I got home safe and well through the incessant rain,
refreshed myself with a good dinner at the Club, and in the evening, let
me tell you, won just six times my travelling expenses. I am well and in
good spirits, and find that I want nothing but you.
Let me finish my letter at so favourable a conjuncture. It is already
swelled to a packet.
Ever your faithfully devoted L----.