130 Life and Times of " The Druid" 



in the bright little Yorkshire town which 

 "The Druid" loved so well, for an unknown 

 house in the great wilderness of London — 

 that wilderness with which neither of them 

 had the least acquaintance. On reaching 

 King's Cross early in the spring of 1850, it 

 suddenly struck him that he was entirely 

 ignorant in what part of the Metropolis he 

 was to search for a habitation. The party 

 consisted of himself, his wife and two chil- 

 dren, and also of a sister-in-law, together 

 with her child and nurse. All that they 

 could muster between them in the way of 

 money was twelve pounds. He consulted 

 his wife, who having once put up with her 

 father at the Golden Cross Hotel, Charing 

 Cross, suggested their driving there without 

 further delay. In their total ignorance of 

 London prices they imagined that twelve 

 pounds would hold out for several days, but 

 luckily it occurred to them to ask for the bill 

 on the eve of the second day. To their 

 consternation they found that it already ex- 

 ceeded ten pounds, and rising betimes next 

 morning "The Druid" rushed off on foot to 

 Chiswick, and poured out his tale of distress 



