206 AN OCTOBER ABROAD. 



to be a proverb in England ; yet it is very certain that 

 the orchard is not the institution anywhere in Britain 

 that it is in this country, or so prominent a feature in 

 the landscape. The native apples are inferior in size 

 and quality, and are sold by the pound. Pears were 

 more abundant at the fruit stands, and were of superior 

 excellence and very cheap. 



I hope it will not be set down to any egotism of my 

 own, but rather to the effect upon an ardent pilgrim of 

 the associations of the place and its renown in litera- 

 ture, that all my experience at Stratford seems worthy 

 of recording, and to be invested with a sort of poetical 

 interest — even the fact that I walked up from the sta- 

 tion with a handsome young countrywoman who had 

 chanced to occupy a seat in the same compartment of 

 the car with me from Warwick, and who, learning the 

 nature of my visit, volunteered to show me the Red 

 Horse Inn, as her course led her that way. We walked 

 mostly in the middle of the street, with our umbrellas 

 hoisted, for it was raining slightly, while a boy whom 

 we found lying in wait for such a chance trudged along 

 in advance of us with my luggage. 



At the Red Horse the pilgrim is in no danger of 

 having the charm and the poetical atmosphere with 

 which he has surrounded himself dispelled, but rather 

 enhanced and deepened, especially if he has the luck I 

 had to find few other guests, and to fall into the hands 

 of one of those simple strawberrylike English house- 

 maids, who gives him a cosy, snug little parlor all to 



