London to John C? Groat's. 317 



a thought like that must trouble the American when 

 his fancy passes before his mind's eye the image of 

 Old England Americanised. And a faculty more 

 serious and trusty than fancy will present this trans- 

 formation to him, day by day, as he visits the great 

 centres of the nation's life and industry. In London, 

 Manchester, Liverpool, and all the most busy and 

 prosperous commercial and manufacturing towns, he 

 will see that England is becoming Americanised 

 shockingly fast. In all these populous places it is 

 losing the old individuality that once distinguished 

 the grandfatherland of fifty millions who now speak 

 its language beyond the sea. Look at London ! look 

 at the miles of three and four storey houses under 

 the mason's hands, now running out in every direction 

 from the city. Will you see a single feature of the 

 Old England of our common memories in them ? No, 

 not one ! no more than in a modern English dress- 

 coat, or in one of the iron rails of the British Great 

 Western, or of the Illinois Central. It is doubtful 

 if there will be anything of England left in London 

 at the end of the next fifty years, unless it be the 

 fog and the Lord Mayor's Show. Already the 

 radicals are crying out against both of these insti- 

 tutions, which are merely local, by the way. The 

 tailor's shears, the mason's trowel, and the carpenter's 



