ABSTRACT
Hawthorne speaks well of the Rock Ferry Hotel, which afforded a "large parlor, extending through the whole breadth of the house". Hawthorne's remarks on English hotels appear when he took day trips to see sites no great distance from Liverpool. The pleasure Hawthorne found in the old inns and hotels in England and Scotland reflect the appeal to him of the layered history of England that he and the family dutifully, almost obsessively, exerted themselves to see, the very historical layering the absence of which in America he had lamented with respect to writing romances in the manner of Scott. He found it abundantly in Great Britain, in castles, churches, cathedrals, and mansions. When he found signs of such layering in hotels, it appeared to lend additional pleasure to his having returned to England as something of the prodigal son, coming back to "our old home", which he would title his last published book.
