some time there. Tracing our family, and finding our coat of arms and crest, I ordered a die made, and had the arms and crest stamped and printed on letter-paper to write home. I do not attach much importance to this. It is more a matter of curiosity than anything else. I was told that they worked a good deal for Americans, and was shown their books, in which were the names of Americans from New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, etc. I suppose they, as well as myself, found some satisfaction in not being in the same category with him who said: "My ancient but ignoble blood

Has crept through scoundrels, ever since the flood."

If I had been alone when we visited York and Ripon, I would have gone to see the place where the first of our name was located.

To-day I must go to the bank preparatory to leaving England. We intend to stop over at Canterbury on our way to Dover.

Returning from the bank, I rode along the Thames Embankment. I have intended to speak of this prodigious work every time I have written to you while in London, for whenever I go out or return, if I go anywhere near the Thames, I tell the coachman to drive there. The embankment from Westminster Bridge to the Temple was finished in 1869, and they are now continuing it farther. It consists of a solid river wall of granite, eight feet thick, forty feet high, and seven thousand feet long, founded sixteen to thirty feet below low-water mark. It forms a roadway one hundred feet wide, beneath which there are two tunnels: the lower one is the great sewer, the upper for water, gas-pipes, and telegraph wires. The embankment on the opposite side extends from Westminster Bridge to Lambeth, opposite the Parliament Houses. The new St. Thomas's Hospital stands on it. The cost of property and labor was several millions of dollars.

LORD WARDEN HOTEL, DOVER, July 31.-Sunday morning we went to All Saints' Church, in Margaret St., London, said to be ritualistic. All the difference I saw was that the seats were free, and the men sat on one side of the middle aisle, and the women

on the other. If I see things which others do not see, there are things which others see that escape my notice. All I do know is, that the service was fine, and the sermon practical. In the afternoon we went to Temple Church, where the singing was remarkably good, all the service excellent, and the sermon from Dr. Vaughan very superior. This church I was told is attended principally by barristers or lawyers. I liked the reverend gentleman's voice better than any clergyman's in London. There is a peculiar tone, when not intoning, which is disagreeable to me; the voice does not seem to fall at the periods in the reading, and the tone seems so complaining, so suffering, that I too suffer.

To-day has been fine. We left London at ten o'clock, and refreshed our eyes by looking at the country, after seeing so much brick and stone.

We stopped at Canterbury at noon. Lunched at our old inn, the Rose, and then went to the cathedral. The verger recognized two of us, and showed us, with about twenty other pilgrims, through the cathedral. After which we went into St. Augustine's College. It is said that St. Augustine baptized ten thousand converts in one day. Elated by his success in Kent, he became ambitious of obtaining supremacy over the English churches as archbishop of Canterbury. He was opposed in this attempt by the British bishops in Wales, successors of the British converts in the second century, who had never submitted to the jurisdiction of the Church of Rome. St. Augustine's relics are carefully preserved here. Returning to the inn, we took a fly, rode out to St. Martin's, to St. Dunstan's, to the ruins of an old castle, and to the Dane John, where we got out and walked on the walls, enjoying every moment, for the day was fine, neither too warm nor too cold, and at half-past four took the cars, and arrived here at half-past five.

Our courier is very attentive and deferential, looks after everything, and I really think that it is going to be a very easy thing to travel with him. We seem to have no care. One of us is traveling for health, another for enjoyment, and myself for enjoyment and all else that comes in my way, and we hope each will attain the desired object.

From our parlor we have a good view of Dover Castle, the barracks, and hotels where people resort for bathing. It must be a place of great travel and resort, for there are twelve hotels here. In clear weather the coast of France can be seen from Dover. The others have gone out for a walk towards the castle, but I thought I must send you one more letter before leaving England, and so remained here to write.

Dover seems situated in a valley, or rather the chalk-hills run around it, excepting the side towards the water. The castle is on the top of the hill, and its walls embrace an area of thirty-five acres. Other fortifications are along the hill-tops. They say Shakspeare's Cliff is not far from Dover,-the cliff described in his play of King Lear. We leave here in the morning at halfpast nine.

HOTEL DE BELLE VUE, PLACE ROYALE, BRUSSELS, August 2. -Here we are in Belgium safe and sound. The weather was very beautiful when we left Dover, and the Straits as quiet as the Hudson River. We enjoyed the sea for an hour and three-quarters very much, and one of our party almost wished we had taken the steamer for Ostend, that we might have had a longer trip. However, many were sick, smooth as the sea was. Little white wash-basins were in requisition, and, as I looked around on some faces, they reminded me of the carved heads in the Temple Church, representing souls in purgatory. When it is stormy or looks like rain, there is a great rush to secure cabins. The courier said that it was so pleasant that he did not get us any staterooms, and therefore saved that expense. Most of the passengers, like ourselves, remained on deck. When half-way across the Straits I could see both Dover and the shores of France very distinctly. When we reached Calais we went into the café near the landing and had an excellent lunch, and then took the cars for Brussels. The only large town we passed in France was Lille. A little beyond Lille we came to the frontier, a small town called Blandain, where our luggage was overhauled by the custom-house officials. First of all we had to get out of the cars and go into the custom-house with our hand-bags, each present

ing their own. The officer did not require us to open them, but simply marked and returned them. On leaving the steamer at Calais, our courier, with our passports and his own in his hand, showed them to the officer at the gangway leading from the boat,—the gangway being only large enough for one person to pass at a time. Now too, just before crossing the frontiers, he gave the conductor our passports, and he came to our car, opened the passports, and looked at us to see if we answered the description, and handed them back to the courier. After our hand-bags were marked the courier took the others back to the car, showing their passports to another official on the way. He requested me to stay because I had the keys of the trunks. I did so, and was much amused to see the performance of opening trunks, bags, baskets, and valises. The courier seemed to be in no hurry, but waited patiently until our luggage was brought in, keeping watch whenever anything of ours was brought, and seeing they were placed all together. By the time all of ours were piled together, the officials were so tired they only opened one trunk, and probably judging of the character of the whole party by that one, marked them all; then showing my passport again as I went out, I returned to the cars. The reason of having our passports viséd by the French consul was, because we were to land at Calais; and France being the most unsettled country, we would have no further trouble anywhere, even if we returned through France.

Our courier telegraphed to this hotel for rooms,-telegraphing is cheaper than with us. We have a parlor, into which my room opens, and the others open into mine. When we drove up to the hotel, the landlord came to the carriage and asked if we were Courier's party. The courier was just behind us in a cab with our luggage, and in five minutes we were established in our rooms. The courier says that when he is on routes so much traveled, and in the traveling season, he always telegraphs ahead, and then if they cannot give us good rooms he stays where he is until they answer him when they can do so.

Our rooms front the Palace Royale, in which stands an equestrian statue of Godfrey de Bouillon, the crusader, which is