England was James' adopted country, so it is not surprising that the essays in English Hours are primarily positive and sometimes downright cheerful.

The essay on London which begins the book gives full play to the British capital's definitely non-beautiful impression on James when he arrived in 1869: "It was not lovely - it was in fact rather horrible; but as I move again through dusky, tortuous miles, in the greasy four-wheeler to which my luggage had compelled me to commit myself, I recognize the first step in an initiation of which the subsequent stages were to abound in pleasant things."

But James never loses his love for the metropolis on the Thames, as "he reflects with elation that the British capital is the particular spot in the world which communicates the greatest sense of life."

The essays in English Hours were written over a span of some three decades, and differences in style are evident despite James' attempt to revise the book into more of a uniform entity.

His knowing affection for "this decent and dauntless people," as he would call the English during World War I, plays through all the essays regardless of their dates.