But to return to our stage, I must observe, that they have here a
curious way of riding, not in, but upon a stage-coach. Persons to
whom it is not convenient to pay a full price, instead of the
inside, sit on the top of the coach, without any seats or even a
rail. By what means passengers thus fasten themselves securely on
the roof of these vehicles, I know not; but you constantly see
numbers seated there, apparently at their ease, and in perfect
safety.
This they call riding on the outside; for which they pay only half
as much as those pay who are within: we had at present six of these
passengers over our heads, who, when we alighted, frequently made
such a noise and bustle, as sometimes almost frightened us. He who
can properly balance himself, rides not incommodiously on the
outside; and in summer time, in fine weather, on account of the
prospects, it certainly is more pleasant than it is within:
excepting that the company is generally low, and the dust is
likewise more troublesome than in the inside, where, at any rate,
you may draw up the windows according to your pleasure.
In Kensington, where we stopped, a Jew applied for a place along
with us; but as there was no seat vacant in the inside, he would not
ride on the outside, which seemed not quite to please my travelling
companions. They could not help thinking it somewhat preposterous
that a Jew should be ashamed to ride on the outside, or on any side,
and in any way; since as they added, he was nothing more than a Jew.
This antipathy and prejudice against the Jews, I have noticed to be
far more common here, than it is even with us, who certainly are not
partial to them.
Of the beautiful country seats and villas which we now passed, I
could only through the windows of our coach gain a partial and
indistinct prospect, which led me to wish, as I soon most earnestly
did, to be released from this movable prison. Towards evening we
arrived at Richmond. In London, before I set out, I had paid one
shilling; another was now demanded, so that upon the whole, from
London to Richmond, the passage in the stage costs just two
shillings.
As soon as I had alighted at an inn and had drunk my tea, I went out
immediately to see the town and the circumjacent country.
Even this town, though hardly out of sight of London, is more
countrified, pleasanter, and more cheerful than London, and the
houses do not seem to be so much blackened by smoke. The people
also appeared to me here more sociable and more hospitable. I saw
several sitting on benches before their doors, to enjoy the cool
breeze of the evening. On a large green area in the middle of the
town, a number of boys, and even young men, were enjoying
themselves, and playing at trap-ball. In the streets there reigned
here, compared to London, a pleasing rural tranquillity, and I
breathed a purer and fresher air.
I went now out of the town over a bridge, which lies across the
Thames, and where you pay a penny as often as you pass over it. The
bridge is lofty and built in the form of an arch, and from it you
enter immediately into a most charming valley, that winds all along
the banks of the Thames.
It was evening. The sun was just shedding her last parting rays on
the valley; but such an evening, and such a valley! Oh, it is
impossible I should ever forget them. The terrace at Richmond does
assuredly afford one of the finest prospects in the world. Whatever
is charming in nature, or pleasing in art, is to be seen here.
Nothing I had ever seen, or ever can see elsewhere, is to be
compared to it. My feelings, during the few short enraptured
minutes that I stood there, it is impossible for any pen to
describe.
One of my first sensations was chagrin and sorrow for the days and
hours I had wasted in London, and I had vented a thousand bitter
reproaches on my irresolution, that I had not long ago quitted that
huge dungeon to come here and pass my time in paradise.
Yes, my friend, whatever be your ideas of paradise, and how
luxuriantly soever it may be depicted to your imagination, I venture
to foretell that here you will be sure to find all those ideas
realised. In every point of view, Richmond is assuredly one of the
first situations in the world. Here it was that Thomson and Pope
gleaned from nature all those beautiful passages with which their
inimitable writings abound.
Instead of the incessant distressing noise in London, I saw here at
a distance, sundry little family parties walking arm in arm along
the banks of the Thames. Everything breathed a soft and pleasing
calm, which warmed my heart and filed it with some of the most
pleasing sensations of which our nature is susceptible.
Beneath I trod on that fresh, even, and soft verdure which is to be
seen only in England. On one side of me lay a wood, than which
nature cannot produce a finer, and on the other the Thames, with its
shelvy bank and charming lawns rising like an amphitheatre, along
which, here and there, one espies a picturesque white house,
aspiring in majestic simplicity to pierce the dark foliage of the
surrounding trees; thus studding, like stars in the galaxy, the rich
expanse of this charming vale.
Sweet Richmond! never, no, never, shall I forget that lovely
evening, when from thy fairy hills thou didst so hospitably smile on
me, a poor lonely, insignificant stranger!
