Karel Čapek

“ I fear that I have now exhausted the architectural diversity of England.
The most beautiful things in England, however, are the trees, the herds, and the people; and then, too, the ships. But old England comprises those rosy old gentlemen who in the spring-time wear grey top-hats, and in the summer chase tiny balls over golf-courses, and they look so fresh and nice that I should like to play with them if I were eight years old; and the old ladies who always have some knitting in their hands and are rosy, nice-looking and kind, drink hot water and never tell you about their ailments. ”

“ For instance, Salisbury Cathedral is so hopelessly perfect that it makes you feel uneasy: and you circumambulate the town of Salisbury three times as Achilles did at Troy, and then, discovering that you still have two hours to spare before the train starts, you sit down on a bench in the town amid three one-legged old men and watch the local constable puffing out his cheeks to make a baby laugh in its pram. Altogether, nothing is more dreadful than rain in a small town. ”

“ England, it should be explained, is a country of historical traditions; and everything that is, has some cause, as was taught by John Locke, if I remember rightly. In some towns, as, for example Chester, the policemen wear white cloaks like surgeons or barbers; possibly that is a tradition from the time of the Romans. Besides this, old England was fond of all kinds of projecting storeys and gables, so that a house of that sort grows broader and broader towards the top ”