CHESTER AND THE DEE 257 



Chester, and a deal of the other sort. Of late 

 I have generally "done " it from the George Hotel 

 at Knutsford — which is Cranford of fame. In 

 itself, Chester — the central city part, I mean- — 

 suggests cosy snugness, and is not too well off 

 for space in its thoroughfares, especially such 

 main arteries as lead to the Water Gate in the 

 Walls, and so to the Roodee. Now, when in 

 bad weather you get a big crowd, more especially 

 of the sort one experiences at this North- Western 

 racing holiday resort, the comfortable part dis- 

 appears from the snug idea, and you are more 

 impressed with a sense of being hampered till 

 ''bunged up" seems language fully justified. It 

 was while trying to get away from the crowed for 

 a bit that by good chance I made acquaintance 

 with the interiors of some old houses in the 

 quarter which in the long ago represented the 

 west end of a county town that then was to the 

 country-side, for seeing life and town gaiety, what 

 the metropolis is to England. I love these 

 ancient houses — roomy, well, solidly built, for 

 which, so long as quality was assured, expense in 

 moderation was quite a minor consideration — and 

 envy the folk who, mostly with plenty of capital, 

 carried on in them their business or profession 

 on very easy terms, not being above their busi- 

 ness except physically in that the ground floor 

 contained the offices, etc., and the proprietor 

 lived in the upper part. Of all places Chester is 

 the one where you find finest specimens of these 

 old county-town mansions. I have qualified as 

 a kind of guide to the city and its objects of 

 interest from the God's Providence House and 

 its ancient carvings to the still more curious 

 samples of antiquity to be found in the small 



