utmost. Bands were playing, shows were on exhibition, and all the paraphernalia of a first-class hubbub was brought into requisition. Such was our introduction to the mother country, and it was not displeasing. With Liverpool we were more favorably impressed than we had anticipated being. It is a substantial place, and one of the great commercial cities of the world. The private blocks and public buildings are strong and enduring, without being elegant. But this remark does not apply to St. George's Hall, whose architecture is of the finest order. The open space in front of this structure is ornamented with equestrian statues of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, and of Lord Wellington standing on a lofty and massive granite column. Liverpool is the principal seaport of England in Lancashire. It stands on the banks of the Mersey, four miles above its mouth in the Irish Sea. In 1644, during the contest between Charles I. and his parliament, the town held out for the latter nearly a month. It was finally taken by Prince Rupert; and a great number of its inhabitants perished by the sword, and others, soon afterwards, by pestilence and famine. Liverpool is now the focus of a net of railways encircling the whole United Kingdom. We landed at Liverpool on the tenth day of April; and though the latitude of that city is SPEED OF TRAINS. 23 53° 30',- ten degrees greater than that of Concord, N.H., - we found the spring there much more advanced than it could have been at the latter place. The laburnum, an early ornamental tree, was nearly in full leaf; and other varieties of trees were in about the same stage of advancement: but it should be stated, that, on account of a lighter winter in England than usual, the trees and grasses were much further advanced than they generally are at that date. We registered at the North-western Hotel, right at the rear of which, and adjoining it, is the spacious, open station-house at the terminus of the Great North-western Railway. The next day, after calling at the American Consulate, we proceeded by rail, through a very rich and beautiful country, to Leamington, distant from Liverpool ninety-five miles. The train ran at great speed, much of the way a mile a minute. The roads are substantially made, and the trains are well conducted; but the passenger-cars are constructed on a plan that is ridiculous. We found the country all along clothed in its rich spring verdure. Many trees and shrubs were in full blossom, garden vegetables had attained considerable growth in the open fields, much of the grain of spring-sowing was up; but plowing, planting, and sowing were still occupying the attention of farmers on every hand. Cattle, sheep, and horses were grazing in the green pas 24 HIGH CULTIVATION. tures: rooks (or crows) had their nests all made; in some instances a half-dozen of them were in a single tree. These birds are very plenty; but instead of being destroyed there, as in our country, they are protected by the agriculturalists. There are many varieties of smaller birds, and the air is made vocal with their song. The land is generally divided into small fields by simple hedges, or hedges and ditches, or hedges supported by a light post-and-rail fence. There is no stone-wall: I am not sure that we saw a single stone in the ground, or above ground, on the whole ride. The country shows a high state of cultivation, and the land is of great value. The fuel used is mostly soft coal, mines of which abound all over England. forest-land; but there are groves of trees, and larger patches embracing five, ten, twenty acres. These larger tracts cover the low, swampy places, and crown the rough, irregular elevations, and do much to give to the landscape an attractive appearance, like that of the blue-grass region of Kentucky. There is not much Manufacturing villages, full of enterprise and activity, are met at very short intervals. The black coal-smoke, which is constantly issuing from their chimneys, gives to those villages a dark and somber appearance. The public roads are very fine, and they seldom cross the railroads on a level. They go under or CITY OF LEAMINGTON. 25 over, generally over; and the bridges are thoroughly made. Most of them are arched, and constructed of stone or brick. We crossed the classic Avon at sunset, reached Leamington Station at dark, and soon found acceptable quarters at the Manor House. An additional interest attached to this charming locality by reason of the fact that my son-in-law was reared here. We visited the house of his abode on one of the popular streets of the city; the trees that he had planted in his early youth; and the garden, extending down to the bank of the river, that he had richly stocked with vines and shrubs. The earliest notice of Leamington is in that admirable survey made by William the Conqueror, according to which the place contained "two hides of land and two mills, valued at £4." It is situated on the river Leam, in Warwickshire, twenty-two miles from Birmingham. It has a population of twenty-four thousand, a college, and a Latin school. Its prosperity and importance have chiefly arisen from the rich agricultural district of which it is the center. It has very celebrated mineral springs. Camden, in his "Britannica," published in 1586, mentions them. In 1848 her Majesty, who, when Princess Victoria, had visited the spa, was pleased to accede to the request of the inhabitants, that it might be called " Royal Leamington Spa." Her Majesty also granted a charter of incorporation in 1875. |