Page:Letters from England.djvu/14

 The greatest surprise for a traveller is when he discovers in a foreign country what he has read about or seen in pictures hundreds of times. I was amazed when I found the Milan Cathedral at Milan or the Coliseum at Rome. The effect is a little uncanny; you have the feeling that you have already been there at some time, perhaps in a dream, or that in some way or other you are repeating an experience of long ago. You are startled to find that there really are windmills and canals in Holland, and that the London Strand actually contains so many people that it quite upsets you.

There are two impressions which are completely fantastic: to discover something unexpected, and to discover something altogether familiar. One is always taken aback to meet an old acquaintance unawares. Well, in the same way I was astonished when I discovered the Houses of Parliament by the Thames, gentlemen in grey top-hats in the streets, two-metre bobbies at the cross roads, and so on. It was astonishing