Page:Three Years in Europe.djvu/147

Rh We also visited some places out of London. We spent a pleasant summer's day in the beautiful gardens at Kew, and were pleased to see in the great glass houses the palms and bamboos of our native land. We spent one afternoon at Richmond too, taking a boat and rowing up the Thames, which is exceedingly pretty here. I took my children too, one day to Windsor Palace, and they were highly pleased to see the Waterloo Chamber and other State Chambers and the Queen's apartments. And from the lofty tower of the palace we looked down on the Eton College and on the fine country and wooded hills which stretch all round. The most impressive thing, however, in the palace is the Memorial Chapel which the Queen has dedicated (and decorated at her own expense) to the memory of her departed husband, and where her darling son too, who died a few years ago, lies buried. Not far from this chapel is a monument to the memory of the late Prince Imperial of France who died fighting England's battles in far Zululand.

Among the sights of London I must not forget to mention that wonderful institution which is the pride of England, and with which my brother, who is something of an antiquarian, was more pleased than almost with anything else he saw in London. One can spent [sic] days and days strolling through the British Museum, and everything he sees excites his interest and adds to his knowledge. The marbles and beautiful sculpture of ancient Greece recall the days when European civilization was still in its infancy,—when a handful of people in the south-eastern corner of Europe were carefully nursing the