190 THE REV. J. G. WOOD. 



tickets, and if the hall had been twice as large it could have been 

 filled. Mr. Lowell says that I now may accept as many engage- 

 ments as I like in or out of Boston, provided that I give no lecture 

 until after it has been delivered at the Institute. The New York 

 Herald announces my coming, and quotes the Boston papers. People 

 here are curiously impressed with my pension. They would not 

 think half so much of a C.B. By the way, instead of illustrating 

 the development of an insect by the gnat, I took the Eristalin 

 (drone-fly), and produced a perfect storm of applause. The iridescent 

 wings took them all by surprise, and I heard them saying that 

 nothing had been seen to compare with it. ... 



It is a good thing that I brought supplies with me, as nearly 

 everything has been doubled in price since the war. Why clothes 

 should be so dear I cannot imagine. A coat, for example, which 

 would cost about 2 in London, costs from Q to 7 in America. 

 Consequently the knowing ones get themselves carefully measured at 

 home, send the measures to London, and have the clothes sent to 

 America. They have to pay 50 or 60 per cent, on the value say 

 \ 10s. at the Custom-house but even with that and the freight 

 they save at least 3 on the suit. American tailors are grumbling 

 terribly, and are trying to put it down, just as our grocers, &c., try 

 to put down the stores. . . . 



Art is charged higher than anything else. For example, I 

 bought one of our penny paint-brushes, and had to pay sixpence for 



it. Had it not been for Mr. P , I might not have got my pastils 



out of the Custom-house yet. The officers have a sweet way of 

 impounding things which they well enough know to be free, charging 

 anything that they like, and then saying that you can pay under 

 protest, and so have the right of appeal ! The Court of Appeal is 

 much like our Chancery, and if you win your case it half ruins you, 

 and does so entirely if you lose it. One of our best artists I think 

 it was Herkomer took with him some of his own pictures in order 

 to illustrate his lecture. Previous to sailing he insured them at 

 their full value. The Custom-house heard of it, and assessed the 

 paintings at 90 per cent, of their value. He was so angry that he 

 refused to clear them, and left them there until he returned to 

 England. So the Customs got nothing. 



As to variability of climate, England cannot hold a candle to 



