APPROACH TO CHESTER. 91 



tesque carving, until it was spanned by a handsome brown stone 

 arch, not the viaduct of a railroad, as at first seemed likely, but 

 one of the four gateways of the city. Passing under it, we found 

 on the inner side a flight of broad stairs leading on to the city 

 wall, which we ascended. At the top, on the inside of the wall, 

 was a printer's shop, in which guide-books were offered for sale. 

 Entering this we were received by an obliging young man, who 

 left the press to give us chairs, and with whom we had an inter- 

 esting conversation about the town and about his trade. Printers' 

 wages, if I recollect rightly, were about one quarter more in New 

 York than in Chester. After purchasing a guide-book and a few 

 prints of him, we accepted his invitation to leave our knapsacks 

 in his shop, and take a walk on the walls before entering the 

 town. 



