George Ticknor, Life, letters and journals of George Ticknor
George Hillard, Ed.

[391] shops are gayer than they were. . . . . On arriving we went first to the Museum, as they call it, with its beautiful grounds, and the remains of a Roman wall, and the graceful ruins of a rich abbey of the fourteenth century. It did not seem two-and-twenty years since I saw them last. Nor did it seem so long since we all went over the grand old minster with Mr. Harcourt, just as I did to-day. It is in admirable preservation and repair, for since the two fires, . . . . £ 120,000 have been spent with excellent judgment and taste, under Mr. Harcourt's direction. We saw Mrs. Harcourt and Lady Susan¹ in the street,—in a carriage fit for any noble lady,—to make purchases. Indeed, their whole establishment . . . . is of the most liberal sort, without being in the least luxurious, showy, or dainty. It is becoming their station and character, and indicates what is certainly true, that, while Mr. Harcourt is rich, . . . . he prefers to live as a country clergyman and do his duty thoroughly as such. I am very glad to have seen such an establishment, as I have never seen one before. In the winter, for three months, he lives in that more elegant and luxurious establishment in York, which is by turns the official residence of the canons of the minster. . . . .

August 13.—. . . . The weather was very brilliant yesterday, and in the afternoon I took a drive of sixteen or eighteen miles with Mr.Harcourt and Mrs. Harcourt and Lady Susan Harcourt . . . . . We visited, in the course of it, two of those beautiful places with which England abounds. One was the estate of the Wenlocks, where I saw the Dowager, who is a Nevil, which is tantamount to saying one of the oldest families in England. The Lawley family, into which she married, however, is recent and rich, the Hall and its gardens showing their resources, and a new church and rectory, near, showing their good taste and judgment.

The other was a place belonging to a Mr. Preston, who married a grand-daughter of that Pamela who figures so much in Mad. de Genlis' Memoirs, and who was, no doubt, a daughter of Mad. de Genlis and Philippe Egalite.

She is a very bright, brilliant little Irish woman, and so is her mother, Lady Campbell, who is staying with her; both being worthy of their descent from Mad. de Genlis and Lord Edward Fitzgerald.

Mrs. Harcourt seems to like them both, and I was glad to see them, as she much desired I should. Their park and garden, too, are fine. The drive and visits occupied till dinner-time,—indeed, till after t Pamela having married Lord Edward Fitzgerald.