Chapter I: Foreword

The only excuse I have to offer for the publication of these desultory and chatty letters in this more permanent form is that a number of my friends have requested it. Many of the letters have already appeared in the columns of _The Children's Friend_, for which they were originally written, at the instance of the Presbyterian Committee of Publication; but I have included in the volume several letters which were written for other periodicals, and a considerable number which have not been published anywhere till now. Some of them were written hastily, and, as it were, on the wing, others with more deliberation and care. Some were intended for young readers, others for older people. This will account for the differences of style and subject matter which will strike every one, and which will be particularly noticeable when the letters are read consecutively.

In some cases I have drawn the materials, in part, from other sources besides my own observations, the main object at times being not originality, but accuracy and fullness of information. In such cases I have endeavored to make full acknowledgment of my indebtedness to other writers.

As most of the letters were written for a denominational paper, they naturally contain a good many references to notable events in the history of the Presbyterian Church, and to some of the differences between that church and others in matters of doctrine, polity and forms of worship. But I trust that in no case have I felt or expressed a spirit of uncharitable sectarianism. If any reader should receive the impression that I have done so in one or two instances, I request him to suspend judgment till he has read all the references to such matters contained in the letters. It will then be seen that if I have had occasion to make some strictures upon the Anglican and Roman Catholic Churches, I have not hesitated to make them upon my own church also, when I have observed, in her worship or work, things which seemed to argue that she was untrue in any measure to her principles; and that if I have criticised the Anglo-Catholic and Roman Catholic systems as erroneous, I have recognized thankfully the great evangelical truths embedded in the heart of Anglican, and even Romish theology, though so sadly overlaid, and have rejoiced to pay my tribute of praise to the saintly characters that have been developed within those bodies in spite of their errors.

RICHMOND, VA., _June 1, 1904_.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

A COLD SUMMER VOYAGE.

A Pleasant Memory.--A Depressing Start.--Discomforts at
Sea.--Life on a German Steamship.--The Unification of
the World.--All's Well that Ends Well.--Arrival at Southampton, 9

CHAPTER II.

A VISIT TO THE TOWN OF DR. ISAAC WATTS.

A Sheltered Harbor with Double Tides.--Historical Interest
of Southampton: Canute, William the Conqueror, William Rufus,
Richard Lion Heart, the Pilgrim Fathers.--The Chief Distinction of
the Town.--Statue of Dr. Watts.--Sketch of the great hymn writer, 16

CHAPTER III.

SALISBURY, SARUM, AND STONEHENGE.

A Fascinating Cathedral Town.--Rural Scenery in Southern
England.--Impressiveness of Stonehenge.--Other Things of Interest
About Salisbury.--What the Bishop Said About the Presbyterian Form
of the Early Church, 21

CHAPTER IV.

WINCHESTER WORTHIES: ALFRED THE GREAT, IZAAK WALTON, THOMAS KEN.

Memorials of Kings Good and Bad.--Memorial of the Gentle
Fisherman.--Wit in Winchester College.--A Lovely Churchman.--Ken's
Defiance of James II., 28

CHAPTER V.

THE UGLINESS AND THE CHARM OF LONDON.

A Vast and Dingy Metropolis.--The Æsthetic Value of Soot.--Brick
versus Stone.--Scotch Cities' Stately, but Gloomy.--Brightness of
Paris.--Immensity and Multitude.--The Body is More than Raiment, 34

CHAPTER VI.

THE ENGLISH VIEW OF THE FOURTH OF JULY.

Ambassador Choate's Reception.--Increasing Friendliness Between
America and England.--How the English Now View the American
Revolution.--A Fair Statement of the Question and the
Conflict.--What England Learned from Fighting Against Her Own
Principles.--The Monument of Washington in St. Paul's
Cathedral.--The Possible Union of Canada and the United States, 41

CHAPTER VII.

HOW THE ENGLISH REGARD THE AMERICANS.

Former Prejudices Passing Away.--The English Admit that America
Holds the Future.--English Candor and English Inconsistency.--A
Sectarian Measure in Parliament.--What Scotchmen Think of the
Education Bill.--Passive Resistance of the Nonconformists, 49

CHAPTER VIII.

THE BRITISH REPUBLIC AND THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.

The Real Ruler of the British Empire.--The House of
Parliament.--Getting into the Lower House.--The Debate and the
Debaters.--Harcourt, Bryce, Campbell-Bannerman, Lloyd-George, John
Dillon, Arthur Balfour.--The Incongruity of a Presbyterian Prime
Minister.--English and American Oratory, 55

CHAPTER IX.

CAMBRIDGE AND HER SCHOOLS.

The Cathedral Route.--The Two University Towns.--Cambridge More
Progressive than Oxford.--The Presbyterian Element.--The Two
Most Learned Women in the World.--Westminster College.--The Same
Difficulties About Candidates for the Ministry, 63

CHAPTER X.

FROM ENGLAND TO SCOTLAND--THE EASTERN ROUTE.

The Land of the Mountain and the Flood.--Melrose, Abbotsford,
and Dryburgh.--The Wizard of the North.--Edinburgh.--Temporary
Residence in Auld Reekie.--Public Worship in Scotland.--Organ,
Choir, and Congregation.--Bibles in the Churches, 68

CHAPTER XI.

SOME ENGLISH AND SCOTCH PREACHERS.

Dean Farrar in Westminster Abbey.--Mr. Haweis and Dr.
Wace.--Spurgeon, Parker, and Hughes.--Moravian Mission
House.--General Booth.--Scottish Mind and Scottish Heart.--Dr.
Marcus Dods.--Dr. George Matheson.--Dr. Whyte and Mr.
Black.--Interview with Professor Sayce.--The Inevitable Subject, 75

CHAPTER XII.

ECHOES OF A SPICY BOOK ON SCOTLAND.

A Unique Prayer for Prince Charlie.--Church-Going in
Edinburgh.--The Bibles, the Sermons, the Prayers, the Music.--Jenny
Geddes and her Stool.--The Disruption in 1843.--A Sermon-Taster
with a Nippy Tongue.--Scottish and American Repartee, 87

CHAPTER XIII.

IS THE SCOTTISH CHARACTER DEGENERATING?

"Mine Own Romantic Town."--The Seamy Side of Edinburgh.--The
Cause of Her Wretchedness.--Not Lack of Native Ability, nor
Disregard of the Sabbath, but the Curse of Strong Drink.--Appalling
Statistics.--A Lesser Menace, 100

CHAPTER XIV.

STIRLING, THE LAKES, AND GLASGOW.

The Wallace Monument.--Memorials of the Martyrs.--Margaret
Wilson.--The Covenanters.--The Author of "The Men of the
Moss Hags."--Aberfoyle, The Trossachs, Loch Katrine, Loch
Lomond.--Lord Overtoun's Garden Party.--Rev. John McNeill.--Scotch
Humor.--Glasgow.--The Cathedral.--Lord Kelvin, 107

CHAPTER XV.

OBAN, IONA, AND STAFFA.

Rude Seas off the West Coast.--A Difficult Landing.--The Presbyter
Abbot, Columba.--The Evangelization of Scotland from Iona.--The
Burial Place of the Scottish Kings.--The Basaltic Columns of
Staffa.--Fingal's Cave.--Nature's Cathedral.--The Caledonian
Canal, 119

CHAPTER XVI.

INVERNESS AND MEMORIES OF FLORA MACDONALD.

A Clean and Comely City.--The Statue of Flora Macdonald.--The
Career of a Royal Adventurer.--A Fugitive in the Hebrides.--A
Woman to the Rescue.--Feminine Courage and Resource.--Flora
Macdonald as Prisoner.--Her Marriage.--She Entertains Dr. Johnson
and Boswell.--Moves to North Carolina.--Misfortunes in the New
World.--Her Return to Scotland and her Last Days, 124

CHAPTER XVII.

FROM SCOTLAND TO ENGLAND--WESTERN ROUTE.

In and Around Perth.--Quhele, Shoe Heel and Maxton.--Crieff and
Drumtochty.--Loch Leven.--Ayr and Robert Burns.--Dumfries,
Keswick, Skiddaw.--The English Lakes.--Chester.--Lichfield and Dr.
Samuel Johnson.--The Shakespeare Country.--The American Window at
Stratford.--The English Language as Spoken in the Birthplace of
Shakespeare and Elsewhere, 133

CHAPTER XVIII.

A VISIT TO RUGBY AND A TRAMP TO THE WHITE HORSE HILL.

Tom Brown's School Days at Rugby.--The Rugby of To-day.--Our
Expedition to Tom Brown's Birthplace.--The Highest Horse we
Ever Mounted.--The Roman Camp.--King Alfred's Defeat of the
Danes.--The Manger and the Dragon's Hill.--The Blowing Stone.--The
effect upon our Appetites.--The Tea we did not Drink.--Return to
Oxford.--London Once More, 142

CHAPTER XIX.

THE MOST INTERESTING BUILDING IN THE WORLD.

The Birthplace of the Shorter Catechism.--The Coronation
Postponed.--Westminster Abbey Still Closed.--The Assembly
of Divines.--The Two Places of Meeting.--The Two Types of
Worship.--Interior of the Jerusalem Chamber.--Exterior
of the Jerusalem Chamber.--Connection of Henry IV., Sir
Thomas More, Joseph Addison, and Sir Isaac Newton with the
Jerusalem Chamber.--Architectural Glory of Westminster
Abbey.--Its Historical Interest.--Coronations.--The Stone of
Scone.--Burials.--Monuments.--Pagan Sculptures in a Christian
Church, 151

CHAPTER XX.

THE ROYAL CHAPELS IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY.

A Hard-Hearted Verger.--A Courteous Sub-Dean.--The Wax
Effigies.--Mutilated Monuments.--Monuments Denied to Notable
Persons.--The Objection to Milton.--General Meigs and President
Davis.--The Vindication of Cromwell.--Treatment of his Dead
Body.--History of his Head.--His Statue at Westminster, 168

CHAPTER XXI.

THE CATHEDRALS VERSUS THE GOSPEL.

Original Significance of the Cathedrals.--Their Æsthetic
Influence.--Their Romanizing Tendency.--Their Charm for the
Greatest of the Puritans.--A Half-Reformed Church.--Relics of
Romanism.--Effect of Cathedrals on Presbyterian Worship.--Superior
Impressiveness of Protestant Simplicity, 177

CHAPTER XXII.

SOME THINGS FOR HIGH CHURCHMEN TO THINK ABOUT.

The Use of Written Prayers.--The Huguenot Presbyterians in
Canterbury Cathedral.--Scuffle Between the Archbishops of
Canterbury and York.--The Concomitants of Anglican Worship.--The
Intoning.--Canon Henson at St. Margaret's.--His Remarks on Anglican
Narrowness.--What he Could See in Virginia.--Decreasing Attendance
in the Anglican Churches in London.--An Episcopalian Estimate of
Presbyterian Preaching, 186

CHAPTER XXIII.

PARIS AND MEMORIES OF THE HUGUENOTS.

The English Channel as a Health Resort.--The External Beauty of
the French Capital.--What we Did Not Like About Paris.--The Louvre
and its Treasures.--The Boer Generals.--The Huguenot Name and the
Huguenot Character.--Palissy the Potter.--Other Huguenot Heroes
and Heroines.--A Roman Catholic's Condemnation of Roman Catholic
Persecutions.--France's Loss the World's Gain.--What we Owe to the
Huguenots.--The Huguenot Strain in Virginia.--The Present Huguenot
Revival in France.--Brussels and Waterloo, 199

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE MAKING OF HOLLAND.

Unique Interest of Holland.--A Land Below Sea-Level.--Water as
an Enemy.--Dykes as Protectors.--How Dykes are Made.--Sand
Dunes.--Canals.--Wind-Mills.--Polders.--Entering Holland.--The
Scenery and the Scenes.--Rotterdam and Erasmus.--Delft and
William the Silent.--The Hague.--Rembrandt's "School of
Anatomy."--A Presbyterian Queen.--A Presbyterian Preacher as Prime
Minister.--Unpresbyterian Church Buildings.--Would the Destruction
of all the Cathedrals have been a Loss or a Gain? 212

CHAPTER XXV.

LEYDEN'S UNIVERSITY, HAARLEM'S FLOWERS, AND AMSTERDAM'S COMMERCE.

The Great Siege.--A University as a Reward of Valor.--John
Robinson and the Pilgrim Fathers.--Horse Flesh as Food.--Haarlem
and the Flower Boom.--Amsterdam's Islands and Canals.--A City
Built on Stakes.--Business of Amsterdam.--President Kruger
at Utrecht.--Queer Customs in Holland.--The Dutch Mania for
Cleanliness.--Mr. Edward Bok on "The Mother of America," 222

CHAPTER XXVI.

UP THE RHINE AND OVER THE ALPS.

Cologne and Coblentz.--The Vintage of the Rhine Valley.--Wiesbaden
and the German Woods.--The Luther Monument at Worms.--Wintry
Weather at Heidelberg.--Strasburg's Cathedral and
Clock.--Switzerland in Winter-time.--The Lion of Lucerne.--A Cold
Day on the Lake.--Over the Alps.--Snow in Italy.--Milan, 238

CHAPTER XXVII.

VENICE, BOLOGNA, FLORENCE, AND PISA.

The Queen of the Adriatic.--The Fallen Campanile.--Fra Paolo
Sarpi, the Greatest of the Venetians.--Busy Bologna.--The Leaning
Towers.--The Colonnades.--The Oldest University.--Galvani and his
Frog.--The Flower of Fair Cities.--Art Treasures of Florence.--The
Reformer Before the Reformation.--Martyrdom of Savonarola.--Pisa's
Four Monuments, 245

CHAPTER XXVIII.

SOME LITTLE ADVENTURES BY THE WAY.

Letter-Writing Under Difficulties.--An Exemplary Traveller.--A
Mild Sensation in Leyden.--A German Baby-Cart out of its
Element.--Something New in Venice.--No Place for Wheels.--Gondolas
and Gondoliers.--Wonderful Dexterity with a Single Oar.--A
Scattering of Baggage on the Streets of Cologne.--Disastrous
Descent of a Baby-Cart from the Top of an Omnibus.--Extortion and
Fraud in Sacred Places, 254

CHAPTER XXIX.

RELICS IN GENERAL AND THE IRON CROWN OF LOMBARDY IN PARTICULAR.

Mark Twain's Animadversions.--The Palladium of Venice.--The Gift
of Leo XIII. to London.--The Blood of St. Januarius.--The House of
the Virgin at Loretto.--The Wonder-Working Bones of St. Anne in
Canada.--The Iron Crown of Lombardy.--A Winter Trip to Monza.--The
Treasury of the Cathedral.--The Chapel of the Great Relic.--Why
the Crown is so Sacred.--How it was used by Charlemagne and
Napoleon.--Rome Caps the Climax.--Do American Roman Catholics
Believe in the Relics? 259

CHAPTER XXX.

ROMAN CATHOLIC RELICS AT ROME.

The Miraculous Snow in Summertime.--The Holy Cradle.--The Little
Doll that Owns a Large Carriage.--The Wealth and Power of the
Miraculous Bambino.--The Communion Table Used by Christ.--The
Holy Stairs from Pilate's Palace.--The Man who Crawled Up
and Walked Down.--The Miraculous Portrait and the Shoes of
Christ.--The Inscription on the Cross and the Finger of Thomas.--A
Bottle of the Blood of Christ.--Exclusion of Women from Holy
Places.--The Hardness of St. Peter's Knees.--The Hardness of St.
Peter's Head.--What the Head of St. Paul Did.--St. Paul's Use
of Plautilla's Veil.--The Footprints of Christ in Stone.--The
Chains of St. Peter.--The Column Against which Christ Leaned in
the Temple.--The Chair of St. Peter.--The Lance that Pierced the
Saviour's Side.--The Napkin of St. Veronica with the Miraculous
Impression of our Lord's Face.--The Head of the Apostle Andrew, 273

CHAPTER XXXI.

THE LEGENDS, THE POPES, AND THE PASQUINADES.

The Manufacture of St. Philomena.--The Canonization of Buddha.--The
Courteous Spaniard.--The Miracles of St. Dominic.--Miracles
Wrought by Other Saints and Images.--How the Papal Treasury was
Filled, and How it was Emptied.--Some Ugly Passages in Papal
History.--Pasquino's View of the Pope.--What the Italians Now
Think About it.--Few Men and Many Women at the Confessional.--Lord
Macaulay, Charles Dickens, Mr. Gladstone, Mr. McCarthy and
Nathaniel Hawthorne on the Influence of Romanism.--The New Pope a
Good Man, 293

CHAPTER XXXII.

THE OLD FORCES AND THE NEW IN THE ETERNAL CITY.

An Audience with the Pope.--"Long Live the Pope-King!" The
Pope's Last Jubilee in St. Peter's.--Our Quarters on the Pincian
Hill.--The Sweep of History Seen from the Janiculum.--The Colosseum
and the Baths of Caracalla.--The Papal Passion for Terrestrial
Immortality.--The Building Boom Under the New Government.--Can the
New Government Maintain Itself Against the Priests? 315

CHAPTER XXXIII.

THE TWO TYPES OF RELIGION IN ROME.

The Cappucin Cemetery.--Some Differences Between America and
Italy.--The Playful Inquisition.--The Relative Rank of the Deities
Worshipped in Rome.--The Fee of the Visitor More Important than
the Soul of the Worshipper.--Sensuality versus Spirituality
in Art.--The Kind of Character Produced.--The Other Type.--An
Apostolic Preacher in Rome.--A Wise and Loving Pastor, 328

CHAPTER XXXIV.

THE INEXHAUSTIBLENESS OF ROME.

The Most Interesting City in the World.--The Embarrassment of
Riches.--Boundless Wealth of Materials.--The Appian Way, the
Catacombs, the Ecclesiastical Statues.--The Remains of Classical
Rome: The Arches, the Columns, the Tombs, the Statues.--The
Masterpieces of Sculpture and the Masterpieces of Painting in
Rome.--The Best Books About Rome.--Lord Mahon and Professor
Lanciani on the Last of the Stuarts.--Ave Roma Immortalis, 341