From Paddington to Penzance: The record of a summer tramp from London to the Land's EndHarper, Charles G. (Charles George)
General
From Paddington to Penzance: The record of a summer tramp from London to the Land's End
Harper, Charles G. (Charles George)
England -- Description and travel
“But straite wayes another storme seemed to appeare for an ancient
Gentleman came suddenly out of another Roome (who had heard all
the former friendly passages,) and hee told mee that I should not
lodge there, for though I had sought and not found a Constable, yet
I should know that I had found a Justice of Peace before I sought
him; and that he would see me safely lodged: I was somewhat amazed
at his words, and answered him, Let him doe his pleasure, for I
submitted my selfe to his disposall.
“To which he replyde, That I should go but halfe a mile with him
to his house, which I did, and there his good Wife and he did
entertayne me courteously, with such fare and lodging as might have
accommodated any Gentleman of more worth and better quality then
one that had been ten times in degree before me: There I stayd
the Saturday, and all the Sunday, where I found more Protestant
Religion in 2 dayes, then I had in 5 yeers before. The Gentlemans
name is Mr. _Iohn Carew_, a Gentleman of noble and ancient descent,
and a worthy Iustice of the Peace in those parts.”
We eventually found very comfortable rooms at a delightful villa-like
house, looking directly on to the sea, beating in upon a rocky shore.
This was the second place in which we touched the fringe of the titled
aristocracy. Our landlady, upon our arrival, proudly showed us the
fragments of an envelope addressed with the name of a Viscount who had
been staying in the house. Eventually we paid a heavier bill than we
should otherwise have done had none but miserable plebeians lodged here
aforetime. We will, in future, be careful to select only the haunts of
the Third Estate.
We don’t (strange to say) seem to hanker after titled folk of any
sort--a curious trait in Britons, who, proverbially, are said to
love lords. Perhaps we are among the proverbial exceptions, and help
thereby to prove the rule. For myself, I hope (and think, indeed) I am
a loyal subject of Her Majesty’s (Hats off, please!); I know, also,
that I have Conservative ideas of an old, not to say a mediæval, type;
but I would not go round the next street corner to catch a glimpse of
the Sovereign, nor any of the Royal Family, for that matter, if they
chanced to be there.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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