108 MY LIFE [Chap. 



in England, but I could see that I did not impress them 

 much. 



As Mr. Browne's occupation was to summarize all the 

 evening papers for the morning's issue, his work was from 

 midnight till four in the morning. Then all the forenoon he had 

 to do the same thing with the morning papers for the evening 

 issue, getting his sleep in the early morning and afternoon. 

 One day he got free in order to take me up the Hudson river 

 as far as West Point, passing the celebrated " Palisades " — a 

 continuous row of cliffs about two hundred feet high, and 

 extending for nearly twenty miles on the south bank of the 

 river. They look exactly like a huge fence of enormous split 

 trees, placed vertically, side by side, but are really basaltic 

 columns like those at the Giant's Causeway, crowning a 

 slope of fallen rock. In places the well- wooded country 

 was very beautiful, with the autumnal tints of bright red, 

 purple, and yellow, though we were a little late to see them in 

 perfection. Where we landed, I was delighted to see wild 

 vines clambering over the trees, as well as the Virginia 

 creeper, and there were also sumachs and other characteristic 

 American plants. The situation of the great American 

 Military College is splendid, on an elevated promontory in a 

 bend of the Hudson, surrounded by rugged wooded hills, and 

 with magnificent views up and down the river. 



On the 28th I went to Boston to be ready for my first 

 lecture on November 1. I had been recommended by Mr. 

 J. G. Wood to go to the Quincy House, as being moderate in 

 charges, and celebrated for its excellent table. I stayed 

 there nearly two months, and was, on the whole, very comfort- 

 able ; but it was essentially a business man's hotel, and I 

 made no interesting acquaintances there. My scientific 

 friends told me I ought to have gone to a better hotel, but 

 as these were all four or five dollars a day, with no better 

 accommodation than I had at three dollars, I did not care to 

 change. As I never had better meals at any hotel I stayed 

 at in America (except, perhaps, in San Francisco), I may 

 quote my description of them in a letter to my daughter 

 while they were new to me. "You ought to see the meals at 



