Our miserable cab drew up at the steps of Eaton Hall, and, ascending
under the portico, the door swung silently open, and we were received
very civilly by two old men,--one, a tall footman in livery; the other,
of higher grade, in plain clothes. The entrance-hall is very spacious,
and the floor is tessellated or somehow inlaid with marble. There was
statuary in marble on the floor, and in niches stood several figures in
antique armor, of various dates; some with lances, and others with
battle-axes and swords. There was a two-handed sword, as much as six
feet long; but not nearly so ponderous as I have supposed this kind of
weapon to be, from reading of it. I could easily have brandished it.

I don't think I am a good sight-seer; at least, I soon get satisfied with
looking at the sights, and wish to go on to the next.

The plainly dressed old man now led us into a long corridor, which goes,
I think, the whole length of the house, about five hundred feet, arched
all the way, and lengthened interminably by a looking-glass at the end,
in which I saw our own party approaching like a party of strangers. But
I have so often seen this effect produced in dry-goods stores and
elsewhere, that I was not much impressed. There were family portraits
and other pictures, and likewise pieces of statuary, along this arched
corridor; and it communicated with a chapel with a scriptural
altar-piece, copied from Rubens, and a picture of St. Michael and the
Dragon, and two, or perhaps three, richly painted windows. Everything
here is entirely new and fresh, this part having been repaired, and never
yet inhabited by the family. This brand-newness makes it much less
effective than if it had been lived in; and I felt pretty much as if I
were strolling through any other renewed house. After all, the utmost
force of man can do positively very little towards making grand things or
beautiful things. The imagination can do so much more, merely on