Grant next went in his Pullman palace car, where he had passed the night, to Shakespeare's home, Stratford-upon-Avon.

Oxford, to which he had been invited, lies near the route, and is distinguished for the beauty and magnificence of its buildings, and its University, consisting of twenty colleges, of which Trinity is one, and five halls. Here he visited the

church where the great delineator of human nature lies buried; looked on the Avon, along whose banks the poet had wandered in strange musings, and stood in the grammar school room where the precious youth obtained his scanty education. As he left the latter, he asked a holiday for the school assembled there, which was granted.

He also drove over to Shotley to see the cottage of Anne Hathaway, that Shakespeare's love has made immortal. The next day he and his party went to Leamington, the pleasantest of all the fashionable wateringplaces of England. London and Liverpool having set the example of a public reception, every town and hamlet of England had to follow their example, much to the discomfort and annoyance of Grant. It was well enough in the great cities, but to have the mayor and common council of every provincial town get up a display, and

make speeches, and talk bombastic nonsense, was tedious in the extreme.

It was but seven miles from here to Kenilworth Castle, made immortal by Walter Scott, and but two to Warwick Castle, its turrets and battlements rising out of a sea of green foliage, one of the finest in England, and celebrated for its armory.

Grant now took a tour through the Midland counties to get an idea of the agricultural condition of England. The gently rolling ground, separated by green hedges and cultivated like a garden, presented a striking con

trast to or agricultural districts. Nothing can be more charming than the rural districts of England-they must be seen not described-and Grant enjoyed them keenly. Everything is different from ours. There are no new wooden churches as here, but old stone ones, half hid among the trees, covered with ivy. All are different, but Penhurst Church perhaps represents as fairly as any one the great proportion of them.

So with everything else. Fresh mills with their rough dams are nowhere found as in our country, but old, quaint structures, with surroundings that make them picturesque.

This pleasant trip was succeeded by a rest with his daughter at Southampton, but on the 16th of October he redeemed his promise, made some time previous, to pay

a visit to Birmingham. The reception and ceremonies were like all others with one exception, an address by Mr. A. O'Neill in behalf of the international arbitration union, in which allusion was made to Grant's efforts to see that the rights of the Indians were secured.

After an inspection of the elaborate works and exquisite specimens of manufacture, the invariable lunch, with toasts and speeches, followed.

Grant now returned to London, and for a time passed a more quiet life, but in December he made a promised visit to Brighton, the most famous watering-place in England, and containing the largest aquarium in the world.

He now proposed to close up his journeys in England, and pay his long-deferred visit to France, deferred on account of the political agitations in Paris, in which the question of a republic entered so largely.

CHAPTER XXVI.

IN PARIS-MARSHAL MCMAHON-VERSAILLES-THE TUILERIES-RECEPTIONS AND DINNERS-OFF FOR THE MEDITERRANEAN-GIBRALTAR-BAY OF NAPLES-VESU. VIUS-POMPEII-HOUSE OF DIOMEDE-OFF FOR PALERMO-CHRISTMAS ON BOARD

SHIP SICILY-STROMBOLI-MALTA.

F

RANCE having gone through her struggle, and

rejoicing in a republican victory, the time seemed appropriate for Grant to make his long contemplated visit to Paris, where he arrived on the 24th of Oc tober, accompanied by his wife and son. The yacht "Victoria," in which he sailed, landed at Boulogne, where the authorities formally received him and welcomed him to the shores of France. After a pleasant conversation with a member of the French Senate, who entered rather largely into the peculiar phases of French politics, Grant took the train for the metropolis. On the way the General studied closely the scenery through which he passed along the route, noted the principal industrial sections, and especially observed the wonderful agricultural resources of the country. He spoke a great deal about the financial policy at home, declaring emphatically on the silver question, saying he was bitterly opposed to the demonetization scheme, which was only another phase of repudiation. He next talked about the war, the relations of the United States with Mexico and St. Domingo.

Our Minister, Mr. Noyes, and a few distinguished American gentlemen, received him at the station, and as