594 TRAVEL IJV EUROPE AND AMERICA. [1869, 



in for a piece of very sultry weather in London, 

 where we had to stay awhile, our lodgings here not 

 being available till about 15th September. So after 

 staying to the Harvard boat-race, — which I saw from 

 the umpire's boat, and Mrs. Gray, with good Miss S., 

 from some grounds above Fulham, — we set off on a 

 little round of visits, first to the Darwins', near Brom- 

 ley, then to the Churches' in Somersetshire, a pleasant 

 country rectory and a delightful couple. You remem- 

 ber the university sermons we had up the Nile were 

 his. Next we passed a day with an old bachelor 

 botanical acquaintance near Taunton, who makes a 

 capital squire ; then to Torquay for three days (with 

 a daughter of Sir William Hooker, and her husband. 

 Dr. Lombe), one of which I devoted to an excursion 

 down the river Dart from Totness to Dartmouth 

 (which the English think much of, but you dwellers 

 on the Hudson would not), and to a view of that 

 quaint little town. On our way back we had an hour 

 at Exeter to see the cathedral; a night and morning 

 at Salisbury, the cathedral as to exterior, site, and all, 

 and beautiful spire, one of the most satisfactory in 

 England ; took a glance at Wilton, a peep into old 

 George Herbert's little church of Bemerton and into 

 his house and garden; stopped over a train at Romsey 

 to see the fine Norman abbey church, and to Win- 

 chester, most interesting cathedral as to the interior, 

 Winchester school and the old Hospital of St. Cross. 

 Then, on returning to London, we settled down here, 

 and after a few days were joined by the rest of our 

 party from France. 



. . . No one in England recognized me with my 

 venerable white beard ! 



Ever, dear Howland, your affectionate 



Asa Gray. 



