Three Years in Europe: Places I Have Seen and People I Have MetBrown, William Wells
History
Three Years in Europe: Places I Have Seen and People I Have Met
Brown, William Wells
Great Britain -- Description and travel
The castle, standing as it does on an eminence, and surrounded by a
beautiful valley covered with splendid villas, has the appearance of
Gulliver looking down upon the Lilliputians. It rears its massive
towers and irregular walls over and above every other object; it stands
like a mountain in the desert. How full this old palace is of material
for thought! How one could ramble here alone, or with one or two
congenial companions, and enjoy a recapitulation of its history! But an
engagement to be at Croydon in the evening cut short my stay at Windsor,
and compelled me to return to town in advance of my party.
* * * * *
Having met with John Morland, Esq., of Heath Lodge, at Paris, he gave me
an invitation to visit Croydon, and deliver a lecture on American
Slavery; and last evening, at eight o'clock, I found myself in a fine
old building in the town, and facing the first English audience that I
had seen in the sea-girt isle. It was my first welcome in England. The
assembly was an enthusiastic one, and made still more so by the
appearance of George Thompson, Esq., M.P., upon the platform. It is not
my intention to give accounts of my lectures or meetings in these pages.
I therefore merely say, that I left Croydon with a good impression of
the English, and Heath Lodge with a feeling that its occupant was one
of the most benevolent of men.
The same party with whom I visited Windsor being supplied with a card of
admission to the Bank of England, I accepted an invitation to be one of
the company. We entered the vast building at a little past twelve
o'clock to-day. The sun threw into the large halls a brilliancy that
seemed to light up the countenances of the almost countless number of
clerks, who were at their desks, or serving persons at the counters. As
nearly all my countrymen who visit London pay their respects to this
noted institution, I shall sum up my visit to it, by saying that it
surpassed my highest idea of a bank. But a stroll through this monster
building of gold and silver brought to my mind an incident that occurred
to me a year after my escape from slavery.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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