
180 KIDD’S OWN JOURNAL. 
in England. This is entirely mismanaged 
from beginning to end. ‘That which the 
traveller does not want he can meet with— 
that which he absolutely requires for his 
comfort and refreshment, is not forthcoming. 
There is not the slightest occasion for red 
cotton velvet sofas, four-post bedsteads with 
faded brocade, or piles of useless furniture 
either in sitting-room or bed-room. No 
traveller cares to see bis mutton chops set 
before him in a dingy kind of imitation of a 
silver dish. These displays are unnecessary, 
or simply annoying. A traveller would 
rather pay for their absence than their pre- 
sence. ‘That which is wanted, however, is 
an establishment in which the passing guest 
can obtain clean and wholesome food at a 
moderate cost—something less than twenty 
times more than he would have paid {for it 
in his own home. 
Then, again, can there be a more incon- 
venient arrangement than that which seals 
the public-entry room to ladies when in the 
company of a father, husband, or any male 
relative? Any one who is unfortunate 
enough to have had experience of English 
travelling, must be well aware that the pre- 
sence of a lady well nigh quadruples hotel 
charges. A private sitting-roum is abso- 
lutely necessary ; and then the bill is calcu- 
lated upon the private-room scale, with the 
usual accompaniments of “ wax lights,’ and 
other abominations of the same description. 
In England, in almost every case, the coffee- 
room is ‘a den,” partitioned off into little 
pens; over each of which, a gas-burner is 
set blazing at night, to the discomfiture of 
the dismal occupant who may be confined 
within its narrow limits. 
Compare this for a moment with the 
“public room” in the foreign hotels. In 
this, breakfast is served as at our own clubs ; 
and later in the day, dinner— either in 
common at the table-d’hdte, or separately if 
desired, without the expense of a private 
sitting-room. The bed-rooms, too, in the 
hotels on the principal Continental lines, are 
infinitely superior to our own. In them at 
least, there are air and space—no filthy car- 
pet there, reeking with the pollution of a 
thousand feet; and no evidences are there of 
a winter’s soot. There is a bed without 
curtams—and consequently without saved- 
up dirt—a table, a sofa, a few chairs, and a 
little bureau, and the usual apparatus for 
washing. That is all there is; indeed all 
that is required. 
Even under the head ef “ ablutions,” the 
Continental hotels are better provided than 
our own. There are either hot and cold baths 
in the house, or they are to be met with at 
a bath establishment a few minutes’ distance 
from the hotel. In France and Germany 
this is invariably the case; and how much 



the arrangement promotes the comfort of 
the traveller they ouly can tell who, aftera 
hard day’s travel, have not been able to pro- 
cure the refreshment and comfort of a bath. 
There are, we admit, hotels in England 
where such things are to be procured ; but 
they must be paid for at a rate far beyond the 
means of ordinary travellers. It is simply 
ridiculous to point to such an establishment 
as the “ Bedford Hotel” at Brighton, and to 
cite it as an example of the comfort of 
British hotels. To frequent or to use such 
a house, a man must either be a millionaire 
or under the reckless influence of approach- 
ing bankruptcy. 
Bad as the character of English hotels 
must be considered, with reference to the 
accommodation they afford, they appear still 
more discreditable when their charges are 
called in question. Perhaps the shortest 
manner of testing the comparative merit of 
the two systems as to price, will be to reprint 
an extract from the letter of a correspon- 
dent which appeared recently in the Zimes 
(see that paper, bearing date September 8th). 
This gives the relative cost of two autumn 
trips made respectively in the years 1851-52 
by the writer, in company with his wife 
and daughter. The first tour extended 
through a portion of Switzerland :— 
1851.—Cost of railway travelling forthree persons, 
for a period of seven weeks, through Belgium, 
France, &c., with fare by diligence occasion- 

aya eh secs Maan ese aot 2008 
Cost of hotel expenses, ditto ... 1,300f. 
Total 2,500f.=£100 
1852.—Cost of railway travelling for three persons 
during a period of six weeks and three days, 
through the south, south-west, and west of 
England, by North and South Wales, towards 
Liverpool, through Scotland, and back to Lon- 
don, vid Newcastle, Durham, York, Leeds, 
Nottingham, Leicester, Leamington, and Ox- 
Or) iB OAS Wty tee NNR CR 
Cost of hotel expenses, ditto £245 
Total £360 
Now, sir, I give you my word of honor that I 
was not only better lodged and fed during my 
Continental tour for £100, than during my home 
tour for £360, but was, moreover, treated with very 
much greater consideration and respect. 
Such a calculation may, perhaps, suffi- 
ciently indicate the reason “‘ why” English- 
men are shy of travelling in their own country. 
An English tourist, of moderate means, 
naturally declines the Scotch Highlands, and 
flies to Constantinople and Asia Minor. He 
cannot afford to travel in England—that is 
the simple reason “ why” he remains ignorant 
of the scenery of his own country. 
The cost of railway travelling, although 
this is far higher with us than on the Conti- 
nent, and far higher than it should be, can- 


