Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Matthew Wheaton and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net [Illustration: _Lord Nelson._] OUR OLD HOME BY NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE ANNOTATED WITH PASSAGES FROM THE AUTHOR'S NOTEBOOK, AND ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAVURES VOLUME II BOSTON AND NEW YORK HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY The Riverside Press, Cambridge MDCCCXCI Copyright, 1863. BY NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE Copyright, 1870. BY SOPHIA HAWTHORNE. Copyright, 1883, 1890, BY HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN & CO. _All rights reserved._ _The Riverside Press, Cambridge, Mass., U. S. A._ Electrotyped and Printed by H. O. Houghton & Company. CONTENTS AND LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS [_Photogravures executed by A. W. Elson & Co., Boston._] LORD NELSON NEAR OXFORD BLENHEIM THE THAMES AT OXFORD FROM FOLLY BRIDGE MAGDALEN COLLEGE, OXFORD, FROM THE CHERWELL SOME OF THE HAUNTS OF BURNS ROBERT BURNS BURNS'S BIRTHPLACE, ALLOWAY PARISH, NEAR AYR THE AULD BRIG O' DOON, AYR ALLOWAY KIRK A LONDON SUBURB A COUNTRY HOUSE THE HOUSES OF PARLIAMENT UP THE THAMES LONDON BRIDGE TOWER OF LONDON, SHOWING TRAITORS' GATE ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL POETS' CORNER, WESTMINSTER ABBEY OUTSIDE GLIMPSES OF ENGLISH POVERTY AN ENGLISH ALMSHOUSE CIVIC BANQUETS OUR OLD HOME VII. NEAR OXFORD On a fine morning in September we set out on an excursion to Blenheim,--the sculptor and myself being seated on the box of our four-horse carriage, two more of the party in the dicky, and the others less agreeably accommodated inside. We had no coachman, but two postilions in short scarlet jackets and leather breeches with top-boots, each astride of a horse; so that, all the way along, when not otherwise attracted, we had the interesting spectacle of their up-and-down bobbing in the saddle. It was a sunny and beautiful day, a specimen of the perfect English weather, just warm enough for comfort,--indeed, a little too warm, perhaps, in the noontide sun,--yet retaining a mere spice or suspicion of austerity, which made it all the more enjoyable.