322 AN AMERICAN FARMER IN ENGLAND. 



downs. Those who have heard Mr. Emerson's lecture upon 

 England will remember it also as the town of " William of 

 Wykeham? 



We visited the cathedral, the college, and other notable insti- 

 tutions and monuments, and demanded and received our share of 

 the legacy bequeathed by William of Wykeham, five hundred 

 years ago, to all wayfarers passing by a generous slice of good 

 bread, and a draught of ale, served in an ancient horn. There is 

 certainly no humbug about it, and the good bishop's hospitable 

 will, in this particular, is yet as sincerely executed as if by serv- 

 ants under his own eye. Mr. Emerson was, nevertheless, unfor- 

 tunate in his eloquent use of this circumstance to illustrate the 

 simple honesty of English character, and the permanence and 

 trustworthiness of English institutions ; for it appears that, not- 

 withstanding substantial bread and unadulterated beer, this is but 

 the cleanliness of the cup and platter, and that in the real and 

 worthy legacy which the far-reaching piety of the good prelate 

 left to the future of England, there is much rottenness. Gener- 

 ally, the means which the piety of Englishmen of former genera- 

 tions bequeathed, for furnishing to the poor aliment of mind, 

 have been notoriously diverted to the emolument and support, in 

 luxurious sinecures, of a few individuals, whom, but for the 

 association of their titles with religion, loyalty, law, and order, and 

 the poor conscience-salve that it is the system and not they who 

 are wrong, every man would know for hypocrites, liars, swindlers ; 

 more detestable than American repudiators, French sycophants, 

 or Irish demagogues. 



The cathedral is low and heavy, covering much ground ; and 

 exhibits, curiously intenvorked, the styles of Saxon, Norman, and 

 early and later English architects. I again wrote in my note- 

 book, "unimpressive ;" but now, after two years, I find that my 

 mind was strongly impressed by it ; for there returns to me, as I 



