The people, however, still exceed the place: here all is civility;
you do not meet with rudeness, or even with the want of a disposition
to oblige, even in persons in the lowest state of life. A friend took
me round the environs of the city; he had a turnpike ticket, received
at the first gate, which cleared five or six gates. It was sufficient
for him to _tell_ the future gatekeepers that he had it. When I saw
that, I said to myself, "Nota bene: Gate-keepers take people's word in
Scotland--a thing that I have not seen before since I left _Long
Island_."
* * * * *
_King John_--died at Swinshead Abbey, in Lincolnshire; his body was
interred at Worcester; his bowels in Croxton Abbey Church, in
Leicestershire, the abbot being his physician; and his heart at
Croxden, in Staffordshire. Perhaps the most precious portion of his
relics would be the hand that signed Magna Charta. (_See page 279_.)
* * * * *
_The River Dove_.--The fertility of the land on the upper parts of
this river has always been proverbial: "as rich as Dove" being applied
to any spot highly forced. The land has a perpetual verdure, and the
spring-floods of the river are very gratifying to the land-occupiers,
who have this proverb--
In April, Dove's flood
Is worth a king's good.
It is also said of Dove's banks in spring, that a stick laid down
there over-night shall not be found next morning for grass.
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