August 13th.—I awoke very sick. At ten minutes to six Euphemia went upstairs to see England. After we had had some tea I went on deck, where I lay down, very glad to leave the close, hot cabin. Euphemia was a very useful little person; she went up and down, and got us all we wanted. William and Stewart sang 'Merrily every bosom boundeth, merrily oh, merrily oh.' I raised myself up to see England; the sight of the white cliffs quite refreshed me. A boat came out at eight o'clock in the evening; it was very rainy, but we soon got on shore. We went to the Old Ship Inn; the beds were very comfortable.
ENGLAND
August 14th.[44]—This morning all our bones ached after being at sea, and everything seemed topsy-turvy. It rained so hard that we could not go out. The rooms looked very comfortable, and in the drawing-room there was a pretty clock, and fruit under glasses. There were two neat, civil chambermaids, who looked nicer than some of the French ladies. Our things went to the Custom House; they examined and opened out everything. We had to pay for all our books and drawings, and a smelling-bottle; and for two pipes which only cost twopence a-piece we paid eighteenpence, through a mistake of the servants about the price.
ARUNDEL
August 15th.—Before we set out for Mrs. Howard's[45] at Arundel we went to look at the Pavilion. I did not much admire it; it looks like some Chinese thing. We asked a man if we could go in front of it, but he answered very rudely that we could not. It was delightful weather when we set off. It so happened that both when we left and when we returned to England it was fine weather, and very cold while we were in France. I did not think the country about Brighton so very ugly as I had heard it was. We got on the first stage very quickly. We were particularly struck with the neatness of the cottages; most of them were covered with roses or vines, and the grapes were much more forward than they were in France. Everybody looked so genteel and nice, and the children so pretty. There is a steep hill going into Arundel, and one has a very fine view of the castle. Before Mrs. Howard's house there is a small terrace full of flowers; there were geraniums, and large myrtles growing out of doors, though in France they are obliged to take the laurels into the house in winter.
OWLS
August 16th.—It was very hot to-day. In the evening we went to see the owls at the castle. There is a great deal of fine ivy about the keep. There are altogether seven owls. One they call 'Lord Thurlow,' another 'Lord Ellenborough,' and two others 'barons of the Exchequer'; they crack their bills very badly. One that had come from Hudson's Bay could mew, bark, and make various noises. We afterwards went along a new walk they were making, and then through a field in which were some deer.
August 18th.—We were surprised to observe this morning that the sun was a bluish silver colour, more like the moon; we afterwards saw it was noticed in the newspaper. We went to see the dresses of Mr. Wyndham (the Catholic priest), who lived next door; he was a very civil old man, and used to bring us in apricots and gooseberries. His dresses were very splendid-purple, red, green, gold, etc. We saw the chapel; there were artificial flowers, gold candlesticks, etc., on the altar. As we were walking on the terrace we saw the Duke and Duchess of Clarence, the Duchess of Kent, and the Princess Fedor, the Duchess of Kent's daughter. We saw them afterwards in a carriage. I never saw any place with such swarms of children as Arundel; but I thought them very pretty after what I had lately seen. The weather continued oppressively hot.