Sunday, November 5th 1854 ~ Milan

Hotel de Ville ~ We find ourselves in a fine situation not far from the cathedral and the Imperial Palace. Today (there being no protestant church in the city) we attended the Catholic church “San Carlo Borromeo” and heard some very fine music there. It happened to be the day of this saint and a fine opera corps had been engaged for the occasion who supplied us with music that sounded anything but devotional. After services there we went over to the celebrated cathedral or “Duomo” and were delighted with its beauties and overcome with wonder at the {minute a dommient}. Its many long graceful gothic spires of stone recall in a measure Westminster Abbey. It is unfair for me to attempt its description. As a mere item however I may mention that the outside is adorned with two thousand statues, all in marble, the size of life or greater, in niches, at different heights. As a whole the cathedral is wonderful in its beauty and imposing in its proportions. I had often read descriptions and seen prints of it but never knew it as it is. Today all the shops are closed here, as much as in one of our own New England villages, but the city lacks that aspect of quiet; for the streets are crowded. Apple, cake, and candy venders abound. People peddling portraits of saints etc. etc. At four, Lizzie and myself took a walk out to the Porte Orientale to see the “belle-monde”. This fashionable thoroughfare was crowded with ladies and gentlemen handsomely drest, Austrian officers in their gay uniforms, handsome carriages , and single turnouts, each gentleman with his footman behind etc. A fine military band way playing in the square. We returned to a five o’clock table d’hote dinner as usual in the French style. In the evening we read the Episcopal service before a wood fire in our own room. When we entered the cars at Como for Milan, an official in uniform took away our passport and gave us a receipt for it on the back of which I found that unless I called at the police office in Milan within 24 hours I should subject myself to a fine and fourteen days imprisonment etc. The arrival at the gates of the city was the signal for the receipt being demanded and shown. We had not been in the hotel half an hour when a printed blanc was sent me to be filled up with my country, age, profession, wherefrom, destination, object in traveling etc. Tomorrow I must call at the police office in propria personae to verify the description and furthermore must wait upon the gentlemen every third day after, while I remain to report myself. A government loved at home and respected abroad!

Sunday, October 29th 1854 ~ Geneva

Caesar Malan

The day has been perfectly splendid. Lake Leman unruffled and clear as crystal, and in the distance the white chain of Mt. Blanc presided over by the monarch himself. A little before ten this morning Lizzie and myself sallied out on a voyage of discovery for the chapel of the celebrated Caesar Malin {actually spelled Malán}. He does not seem at all popular in his native place and we found it difficult to hear where he could be found. After many inquiries we discovered his house just out of the city proper and his church in the grounds. We rang at his garden gate and were told by the woman that came that he would not preach until two o’clock so we went back to the English Chapel and heard the service badly read and a sermon so delivered that we could comprehend very little of it. After church we returned to the hotel and in a quarter of an hour set out again for Mr. Malan’s. It is a very plain little building of wood not painted on the inside with a high old fashioned pulpit, narrow and covered by a canopy of green velvet. Mr. Malin is a fine looking old man about middle height with long hair white as snow. His text was from St. John’s gospel “He it was that should betray him being one of the twelve.” His doctrine we found were very severe (Calvinistic), and somewhat peculiar, but his sermon forcible and manner most impressive, voice musical and instinct with deep feeling. In speaking of the love of Christ it faintly trembled. It is needless to say the sermon impressed us all much. It was in French but remarkably distinct and clear. As he descended from the pulpit in his long black robe he extended his hand to one, a stranger, and I took the opportunity to introduce myself and Lizzie whose father he remembered well. The sunset was superb; we saw it returning along the banks of the lake. The giant shadows of the mountains were reflected in the many colored waters. Byron’s description does not now seem over drawn. In the evening before our woodfire we talked over our plans and concluded to separate our party, Mary and Alice passing over the lake to Hotel Byron and meeting us at Martigny and we going by way of Chamonix, Alice not being able to bear the fatigue of this route.

Sunday, October 15th 1854, Lucerne, Switzerland

Lake Lucerne from Mt. Rigi (photo: J. Selby, cc).

Hotel du Cygne ~ Last evening Lizzie and myself took a row boat and made a little excursion on the Lake, I rowing, but the boat was heavy and the clouds too low to enable us to see anything of the mountains. Coming back we met a party of washerwomen, rowing themselves and their linen [Lumenards] and singing so merrily that it was quite delightful. A little steamer that makes the trip over the Lake and back lies just under our windows. The day has been cloudy and rainy part of the time. We however got a little sight of the top of the Rigi for the first time. There is no English chapel here, or rather none open at present, so after watching the peasants pass the hotel on their way to church, we followed them there (the cathedral is quite near us). The dress of the female peasants was a striped skirt reaching a little below the knee, a short white apron, basque looking like a boys jacket open in front, disclosing what old fashioned people call a stomacher of black velvet and tinsel, worn with a white under handkerchief pleated. The hair generally long, braided, and hanging down the back with ribbons on the ends. We had in the cathedral some quite fine orchestral music, or rather fine music with orchestral accompaniment. European cathedrals are never provided with fixed seats, but each person, on entering, calls for a chair which is provided upon the payment of a small fee. They are used more for kneeling on than for sitting, the back of the chair being as arranged as to make a very good desk or shelf for a prayer book. All these peasants looked very picturesquely kneeling with their faces to the Alter. After church we took a walk into the country choosing a road, running along the border of the Lake, but on the hill side. We walked several miles enjoying the beautiful scenery. On the road we past an old watch tower in ruins, and were drown by a sudden shower under the forties of a large and very dirty cottage. We could not persuade ourselves to enter its hallowed precincts, and after a time were forced to walk home with umbrellas up. Ours is not the first house and we regret having come to it. It is comfortable but small, has no table d’hote, so that we are obliged to dine in private. Today we had nothing but chicken and for dessert ‘compot’ of peaches. This afternoon read the church service at home. The Switzerhof is the name of the best house; this is the first class of course but not as good.

Saturday, October 7th 1854 ~ Baden Baden, Germany

Hotel de la Courde Baden ~ This certainly is a charming place. Very beautifully situated, but looking in itself like all watering places. The streets wide and unpaved, rows of trees, wooden houses etc. Baden is surrounded on three sides by high hills covered with deep woods, and having beautiful walks along their sides extending for miles in every direction. Just behind our hotel is a large flower garden filled with bright autumnal flowers, bounded by a high brick wall and behind it rises one of the three hills to a height, which would make its ascent very toilsome. At a distance of about half a mile in front is the hill which forms the opposite boundary of our little valley. It is somewhat higher than the one behind us and is crowned by an old ruin which was the earliest residence of the Dukes of Baden. This ruin is so embowered by the trees, that it is only seen through the foliage and above it, in its iron strength of other days. We attended service this morning at the English Chapel, but Alice was obliged to remain in the house on account of a bad toothache. At four o’clock Lizzie and myself took a walk to the neighborhood of the great club house, which seems to be the favorite promenade; there a band (a large and fine one) was playing polkas in the open air, while ladies and gentlemen handsomely drest were sitting or walking under thee trees. Nurses teaching children to dance to the music etc. Rather a gay scene for the Sabbath! From here we struck off on one of the paths through the hill side woods, taking religious books with us and using them when quite above society and its [voices]. After returning home we started out again to obtain some medicine for Alice and were informed that the apothecary could only sell a small quantity of landanum (too small to take life) to any one person. Baden is a place where gambling is authorized by law, and this perhaps accounts for such a regulation. In our walk before breakfast this morning, we saw a handsome house of peculiar architecture, with long piazzas, etc. which we found covered the chief springs. We went in and were served from the spring which comes up into the midst of a handsome room with frescoed ceiling. The waters are hot, have no decided taste and resemble in color water slightly tinged with milk. They spring from the ground in thirteen places at a boiling heat. I bathed in them this evening and found the bath so warm that cold water was needed to dilute.

Sunday, October 1st 1854 ~ Brussels, Belgium

"A canal near Brussels in 1871" (C. Monet).

Hotel de l’Univers ~ We all went to an English chapel this morning and heard the service badly performed. After church I wandered about the city and saw the Place Royale in the centre of which is a beautiful equestrian statue in bronze of Godfrey of Bouillon of enormous size. This square is in the very best part of the city at the upper end of the Park. I walked around the Park, seeing in passing the Palais Royal, the Palais de la Nation and the Museum or Palais des Beaux Arts. This last I went into, but was unable to see anything but ordinary paintings. Those by Rubens and Van Dyck being closed for the season. The public buildings are large and handsome and the whole city wears an air of fite. It is clean, has nice, broad sidewalks, wide streets and a gay mirth seeking population. Brussels is said to imitate Paris closely, at least as closely as a place of this size can. All the shops are open today and many places of amusement which are open once each week. Even during the morning the shops were all open. Many English people come here to enconomize, so many that Brussels has ceased to be a cheap place to live in. The Park is truly beautiful. It is made into hill and dale, and ornamented with statuary. It is well shaded with large trees and contains several little ponds of water. There was one that took my fancy very much, with a grotto at one end and in it a reclining nymph. The whole shaded with high trees and the grounds about covered with the greenest grass. Brussels like Paris boasts here Boulevarts, which are long wide avenues shaded with trees, not paved, but macadamized. These were originally the top of the walls of the city, but as the city grew, they have in some places become almost its centre. The boulevards today are crowded with ladies and gentlemen showily drest, walking and driving. Young men in handsome military uniforms form a large part of the assemblage. The stately trees, the gay looking people, the bright uniforms, the foreign intonation, the military bands, makes this to me a scene of enchantment. This city is more lively and strikes me as more beautiful than London. In this fashionable part of the town each house is a palace. I past the house in which the Dutchess of Richmond gave a ball the night before the battle of Waterloo. “There was a sound of revelry by night.” This house is close to the great conservatory. One of the largest in Europe. The weather is fine, too warm for an overcoat, and the trees have not yet lost their verdure.

Thursday, September 21st 1854 ~ London

The coronation chair, Westminster Abbey.

Miss Ayres boarding house, 29 Geo St Hanover Square ~ As we drove through the streets from the [?] last evening – the lamps are just lighted and London was in her glory. But I was not as much impressed with the size of the city as I expected to be for we must have driven nearly the whole length of the place and through many of the finest streets. The streets were not fuller than those of New York and most of the buildings we passed no longer or more handsome, but there was a greater uniformity of appearance and there were less small houses placed beside great ones. All was equal and regular in the same locality, whole streets of stately edifices all looking alike. When I woke up this morning, I was much surprised to find the roof of the houses covered with an inch or two of snow. It was not enough to make bad walking however and immediately after breakfast we started out for a walk to Westminster Abbey. We are in a little street running parallel with Regent St. only a few steps from “Regent Circus” toward Cheapside, so that we had only a long half mile to walk through Regent St and the Quadrant. We didn’t come within sight of the old Abbey until we were quite upon it and then of course we recognized it by the peculiar spires that we had so often seen in prints. It is very striking in appearance, more so even than one would suppose from seeing it merely on paper. The parliament houses are just opposite and constitute, with the Abbey, a very imposing group. And now we are about to enter this great mausoleum of England kings and of her most celebrated men, pause we on the threshold and ponder its history. Here most of the sovereign of England have been crowned. It has seen them in adversity as well as in prosperity for it was for a long time the sanctuary of England and during the wars of the roses royalty and the brigand took refuge here together. Cardinals, bishops, and priests owning allegiance to the Pope have administered here. Here the covenant has been supreme. Now the sites of the church of England alone find access to these walls. How many generations of men have worshiped here. From the mail clad Norman, when might made right, to the man in bradcloth of these latter days engaged in commerce, manufacture, and invention. The proportions of the Abbey surprised me, it was more vast than I had imagined. When we entered service was being performed, and we sat down to join in worship before beginning our round of examination. It was performed in a way that did not please us at all. The reading was quick indistinct and monotonous, so much so that it sounded far more like bad chanting. The voice rose and fell in a regular cadence. It was to our unaccustomed ears anything but solemn. After service a virger carried us about and showed us the tombs of Mary Queen of Scots, the mother of Lord Darnly, Queen Elizabeth (these three lay side by side), Henry 7th and his queen, Charles 2nd, Anne, Mary, Addison, Gen. Wolfe, Mers Liddons, Sir Robert Peel,William Pitt, Kimble, Garrick, Sheridan, Dr. Johnson, Shakespeare. This is a full length figure of the great poet bearing in his hand a scroll with the words “the cloud capt towers, the gorgeous palaces etc.” Major Andre in marble size of life. Fox, a beautiful reclining figure. Newton and many hundred other great men. Besides the great assembly of Kings and Princes of whom I have mentioned but a very small part, I could scarcely realize that we were standing on the ashes of men who were so famous in their time and who even now, being dead yet live. The chair was shown us in which all the kings of England have been crowned since the time of Edward 1st. It is a very old rough and uncouth piece of carved oak with arms. We noticed here a monument to Rich and Kane, who died 1679.

Tuesday, September 19th 1854 ~ Liverpool, U.K.

Liverpool ~ The Doctor (Gallup) finally bid us good bye today and started for London. He had become, in his character of suitor to Alice, a little in the way. It would have been amusing to me, if I had not felt a little badly for him in his disappointment. We bought for him yesterday a cane with a compass in the top, a very odd affair, as a little memento of our friendship and voyage. He said goodbye to us just as we were getting into a carriage to take us to the railway for Chester, which ancient city we visited today in company with Capt Knowles. Starting at ten this morning and returning at seven o’clock in the evening – as soon as we arrived in Chester we went to a hotel and ordered dinner prepared at a certain hour and then walked out to see the place. This is the oldest town in England, or rather the oldest looking town- its walls are still perfect and most of their watch towers standing, all of course covered with moss and ivy. The walls cannot be over 12 feet high and have a very antique bow and arrow look. They extend completely around the city and upon them is a very pretty walk presenting picturesque views. This being the first walled town we have seen delights us much – the streets are narrow; the houses queer and old fashioned, and the people primitive looking for England. The chief object of interest in this place is the fine old cathedral, which with a few alterations since, was completed in the 12th century and is still perfect. It is a most venerable looking pile of blackened stone, weather worn on the outside and its carving much defaced. Like almost all catholic cathedrals it is cruciform – one enters by the (nave) which is empty and unadorned, except by a few plain marble tablets to the memory of men who died in the 18th century. From the end of the nave opens the Choir, which is beautifully fitted up for service. The lower part is lined with tier above tier of carved oak in gothic spires – the seats, or rather their arms, are also elaborately carved and this work is very curious. It was done in the middle ages and is taken from scriptural history. Of course the designs are somewhat rough and uncouth – one is the “root of Jesse, he is represented as an old man with a tail and to this tail are attached several other old men and women, his descendants in single file. Many feet above us and running around the building is a very narrow stone gallery – so narrow that two persons could not possibly walk abreast in it. It is arched and that so low that a man of the usual size cannot stand upright in it. Here, eight hundred years ago, in each of these arches, stood a veiled nun and chanted the Te Deum, in concert with the monks who were placed in a similar gallery just above this. The Captain became wedged in one of the passages and it was really several minutes before he could extricate himself. In the transepts are the “parish chapel”, the “chapter house”, school room and monks refectory. The transepts being thus divided up, break the cruciform appearance of the cathedral. In the chapter house are preserved some torn flags borne at Bunker Hill. In one of the passages a Norman crypt was pointed out to us, where many of the dignitaries of church and state in the times of the first English Normans were laid. We saw it through a grated window. In passing we noticed a monument about two feet high of stone and somewhat carved of an Abbot that landed in England with William the Conqueror – this is in one of the side isles. There are many monuments here that were much defaced in the time of Cromwell who made the cathedral a vast stable for his horses. We now returned to the hotel and dined, after dinner we returned and heard service here. The chanting was done by a choir of eleven boys of different sizes and it was very sweet indeed. They were all robed in white and looked very devotional and withal made a perfect picture standing in the midst of the gothic spires of dark oak, in this venerable and massive building. The shadows of a thousand years seemed looking down upon us. These sang sweetly and the whole service was most impressive. We walked to the barracks and on the wall of the city and then returned to Liverpool.

Sunday, September 17th 1854 ~ Liverpool, U.K.

Queens Hotel ~ We landed at noon today after a splendid sail up the river; we took a towboat outside and came up wind with its assistance, although it was not necessary for the wind was fair for coming in alone. There is an aspect about the harbour unlike America. The river Mercy, a short distance up which Liverpool is situated is straight, wide and regular, and shores low and verdant. It is lined with beautiful beaches on either side, with thin black bathing boxes. Just back of the beaches, are often long blocks or rows of white houses, gentlemans beach residences or resorts for passing a few hours of a hot afternoon, for the gentleman of Liverpool. As we approached land today near enough to see verdure again our delight was extreme, green things never looked so beautiful before to us, who had seen nothing but the ocean for 21 days. It being Sunday we could not land with any thing more than a carpetbag, so shall have to go to the custom house tomorrow. This afternoon we drove over to Doctor McNeil’s church at “Princes Park” but did not hear him. We walked back from there. It is a beautiful walk and the park is beautiful and extensive, decidedly English in style. Mr. Treadwell and myself have taken a parlor between us.

Sunday, September 3rd 1854 ~ At sea

At sea ~ The morning is glorious, no wind and no sea of any consequence, the ship is scarcely making two knots per hour. This quite comes up to my idea of a Sabbath at sea, the stillness of the waters recalls the unwonted quiet of a New England village on the Lord’s day. The wide expanse enlarges and elevates our thoughts, while the balmy air inspires peace and content. Of course all are feeling well. We had service in the cabin at eleven o’clock. I read the service and Dr. Gallup the lessons, after which I read a sermon. We sat upon the deck until about 9 o’clock.