100 AN AMERICAN FARMER IN ENGLAND. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



Chester within Peculiarities of Building The Rows A Sea Captain 



Romancing An Old Inn Old English Town Houses Timber 

 Houses Claiming an Inheritance A Cook Shop One of the Alleys 



Breaking into the Cathedral Expulsion The Curfew. 



rPHE four gates of the city are opposite, and about equally 

 distant from each other. Four streets run from them, meet- 

 ing in the centre and dividing it it into four quarters. These 

 principal streets vary in width from one to three rods, and besides 

 them there are only a few narrow alleys, through which carts can 

 pass. But the whole city is honeycombed with by-ways, varying 

 from two to five feet in width ; sometimes open above, and some- 

 times built over ; crooked and intricate, and, if he cares where 

 they lead him to, most puzzling to a stranger. Besides these 

 courts, alleys, and foot-paths, there is another highway peculiarity 

 in Chester, which it will be difficult to describe ; but 



Imagine you have entered the gate with us, after the walk on 

 the wall. The second story of most the old houses is thrown for- 

 ward, as you have seen it in the " old settlers' " houses at home. 

 Sometimes it projects several feet, and is supported by posts in 

 the sidewalk. Soon this becomes a frequent, and then a continu- 

 ous arrangement ; the posts are generally of stone, forming an 



