On arrival, the first thing to do is to demand and learn the points of compass; because all enquiries about the “Where” in London hinge on those.
The papers by M. P. about cabs and omnibuses will be found as valuable as they are piquant. He tells of certain trips (and tips) on top of a ’bus; he vividly describes how the best way for exploring London is to ride in its every direction on the tops of omnibuses--devoting days to the task, or rather pleasure--and when, as street after street is passed, reading their names, which are always sign-affixed to the turn--a convenience even for residents which, in late years, is strangely unknown in New York City. Thereby locality and prominent buildings and often-referred-to neighborhoods become fixed in an observer’s mind for future uses of memory.
I learned to know London “like a book”--as common phrase goes: and, I therefore fully appreciate how much this book will serve to teach new tourists how to begin to learn London; how much it will revive pleasant memories in former tourists; how greatly it will instruct intending tourists; how pleasantly it will amuse those who may not expect to practically patronize the hotels; how well it will instruct as to London’s vehicles and the wonders of the English city, which is practically seventeen centuries older than New York.
But there are other sides and hues to this prismatic volume. Not only is it inviting to Americans who wish to know about the “across-the-ocean-ferry,” but it will be attractive to the countrymen of the M. P. who may travel or who would like to travel Westward, “where the star of Empire takes its way.” And also to the foreign tourist who may for only one week reside, _in transitu_ to the States, upon the floating greyhoundish hotels which we call steamships.
Marvelous as London is to the American tourist, the wonders, the hotels, the coasts, and the traveling--especially toward the Pacific ocean--are equally marvelous to English M. P.’s and foreign ladies and gentlemen of fortune or leisure who seek transcontinental scenes and comforts.
Merely “turning the leaves,” a phrase happily used as a heading for book notices by the author of “Kissing the Rod” in his _World_ newspaper of London, will at once show any buyer of this volume what I have implied.