e of meeting and
forming the acquaintance of an Irish Catholic Priest and a wine merchant
from Wolverhampton, two intelligent and amiable gentlemen, who taught me
much about those curious relics still found in heaps among the ruins of
old Chester. At about 2:00 o'clock we stood upon the high square: tower of
St. John's (thirty-five feet each side at the top) amidst the elderberries
and grass which flourish at that giddy height. Looking at the town from
this elevation, one gets no idea of its _unique_ features, as the numerous
slate-roofs give it the appearance of a modern town. The descent was made
with difficulty, land even attended with some danger, for the long wooden
stairs or ladders are becoming shaky and a break of one of its steps
might precepitate one from such a height that instant death was the most
desirable alternative. But who would not become bold, or even sometimes
more that, amid such surroundings! When one says we _can't_ get there,
another is sure to declare that we _must_ get there! "What! would you come
so far to see antiquity, and then count your steps how near you would
approach her?" Eight bells constitute the peal in this venerable old
tower. Near by, stand the ivy-clad and moss-covered ruins of portions of
the sacred edifices that date back, even to the earlier ages of the
Christian era, and from among the dust and rubbish are picked up the
broken images of hideous-looking idols that were the ornaments (?) of the
temples once standing there. We found a large collection of those
ghastly-looking idols piled away in the crypt of the church. Whether the
emblems of Druid, or Christian worship, these "images cut out of stone"
evidently represent an age, in which the heart was subdued by
superstitious fear rather than by "_love_."

The Walls merit especial attention. They still surround the city
completely, and form, in a certain sense, the proudest and most admirable
promenade that the world affords anywhere. From it are obtained the best
views of the Cathedral and of the country around. The ascent to it is made
by a flight of steps on the north side of the East-gate. A ditch or canal
about twenty-five feet wide, runs all around the wall and used to render
the battering of the wall a matter of extreme difficulty before the
invention of powder and the introduction of fire-arms. The pavement, on
top of the wall, is four and a half to six feet wide, and skirted on both
sides by thinner walls; that on the