ELECTION ROWS. AMERICAN BOOKS. 163 



into the cloisters, and from them into the chapter-house, in 

 which the heavy-groined arches, simple, and without the 

 slightest ornament, have a grand effect. The date is about 

 1190. We saw here some very strongly marked faces which 

 in stone represent certain Norman abbots whose graves were 

 under us. 



Without the cathedral yard, the ruins of the old abbey 

 appear frequently among the houses, the old black oak tim 

 ber and brick work of the time of Cromwell, mingling pictu 

 resquely with the water-worn carvings of the older, old ma 

 sonry. This morning we saw a stout, round, old Saxon arch 

 giving protection to a fire-engine, which brought to mind the 

 improbability of the present race of New-Yorkers sending 

 down to posterity such memorials of itself. Well, it will 

 send better perhaps, and more lasting than in stones or 

 stocks. 



On the town-hall is a large statue, said to be of Queen 

 Anne, but so battered and chipped, that it might stand for 

 any body else, in a long dress. The hands and nose, and all 

 the regalia are knocked off. And how, do you suppose ? By 

 the super-sovereign people in election demonstrations. Thank 

 God, we may yet boast, that in our thoroughly democratic 

 elections, where the whole national policy is turning, and the 

 most important private and local interests are at issue, we 

 leave no such memorials of our time. (I beg pardon of the 

 &quot; bloody Sixth.&quot;) 



Going into a book-shop for a direction, we saw Emerson s 

 &quot; Representative Men.&quot; and Irving s &quot; Sketch-Book,&quot; on the 

 counter, with newspapers and railway guides, and the propri 

 etor told us he had sold a great many of them. 



We passed through a crockery shop to see a Roman bath, 

 which had been discovered in excavating a cellar in the rear 

 of it. Such things are being every year brought to light. 



