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manufactory and Mr. Muntz's whiskers, but the thing could not, then, be helped.

Í rose at half-past six o'clock in the morning the train starting from a place two miles off at eight o'clock. It was bitterly cold, and the snow was fluttering down fast and thick. I was in the coffee-room about seven, and found it crowded as on the previous morning by travellers, most of whom looked cold, and wearied, and hungry. As before, too, I had to wait a considerable time before I could get my breakfast. I had barely finished my second egg and cup of coffee when the omnibus which was to convey us to the railroad was announced. We hurriedly discharged our bill, threw our cloaks around us, and succeeded in getting to the omnibus just as, being full, it set off. We were obliged, therefore, to have a fly, and stood, while it was preparing for us, by our luggage at the door, in the cold and snow, cursing our constant ill luck. We reached the railroad station, however, in good time; and having in our turn for there was a crowd of applicants-paid a guinea a-piece for ourselves, and fourteen shillings for the servant, for which we received tickets, numbering both our carriage and the particular seat which we were to occupy, we went forthwith to the train - e. a series of the bodies-as they seemed of handsome and commodious stage-coaches, hooked together -say fourteen of them-each containing ample room for six passengers, the seats being separate, and which, being also numbered, secured regularity and a good understanding as to their rights among the passengers. This circumstance I learnt thus:"Sir, I beg your pardon," said a gentleman entering, and looking at me and the seat I had chosen, "but I am eighty."

"Really, sir, I don't understand," I replied, with a smile, and great surprise; "what if you are eighty?-you don't look as much."

"Oh, my seat is number 80-that's all," he rejoined, smiling in his turn, and pointing to the number, which glittered in brass letters immediately

over me.

Of course I immediately surrendered my seat, and took one just opposite to Q., each of us sitting near the window. This matter settled, I was getting out to look about me for

a moment, when I heard the sound of a trumpet, and in a moment after saw a ponderous structure roll slowly and hissing past;-it was the engine, just taken out of his shed, and going to be attached to the train. He bore the startling name, "SIROCCO," in large gold letters, on his flank, and looked quite splendid in his polished brass and steel. He carried his food and water after him! Presently our tickets were called for; then a man went along from carriage to carriage, carefully fastening the doors and adjusting the handles safely, while another placed palm-oil on the wheels. There was none of the noise and bustle ordinarily attending the starting of a stage-coach; on the contrary, all was quiet and methodical, Again the trumpet sounded; and just at eight o'clock we felt a gentle motion. noiseless withal-and found that we had commenced our journey, but as slowly as we could well move at first. Gradually we quickened our speed till we had got fairly on our way and were clear of all interruption, when, as Q. expressed it, we certainly "went the pace!" I let down the glass and put out my head to see the length and appearance of the train, but quickly withdrew it; for, what with the sleet, and the draught occasioned by the rapidity with which we were passing through the bitterlycold air, it was unpleasant enough. How dreary the country looked! I shut the window and wrapped myself up in my cloak, leant back in my seat, and, together with Q., enjoyed for a while, in silence, the novelty of our sensation and situation. The motion was pretty uniform-gentle, slightly vibrating, with now and then a jerk: we could have written all the way we went. So long as we looked only at distant objects, we did not seem to be going much quicker than in a fast stage-coach; but as soon as we looked at any thing nearer-at the fence of the rail-road, for instance-we became instantly sensible of the prodigious rapidity of our motion. It was really painful to look down for a minute to gether. While I was thinking about the rapidity and pleasure of our rate and mode of travelling

"Confound it!" exclaimed Q "where's my umbrella?"

Certes we were a precious pair of travellers! He had left it at the Swan! I pointed significantly to mine, which 1 had in my hand; but he dashed my

triumph by saying briskly-"Your my pocket-handkerchief round wig, you'll remember!"

We stopped once in about every twelve or fifteen miles at " Stations," in order to give off or take in passengers, as also to let our good Sirocco drink (a rare draught, merry monster! was his-a hogshead at least!) --and feed, when he snapped up several sacks of coals, apparently with great relish. What a digestion must be his! Well may his breath be hot and his system feverish! He generally panted a little at starting and stopping, but it soon passed off, and he ran the remainder of his journey without any apparent effort or ex

haustion.

The word "explosion" flitted of tener through my thoughts, I must confess, than I could have wished, and always occasioned a momentary tremor, especially when my fancy would fly forward and image forth some such pleasant paragraph as-"Frightful Accident and Loss of Lives on the Liverpool and Birmingham Rail-Road, fc-Boiler burst, &c. &c.; engineman blown to atoms, his remains falling at several fields' distance. Amongst the sufferers, we regret to say, two gentlemen of the bar, going for the first time on the Northern Circuit, &c.-now lying in an utterly hopeless state at the Cat and Cockchafer, near Stafford; rejoice to add, no fault to be attributed to any one,' &c. &c.

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Have you never, my dear sir, experienced similar feelings?-or have you ever "steamed it?" I would give a trifle, if you had, for your description of it-of your feelings while being whirled along at such an astounding speed, and in such a novel manner. For about twelve miles we went at the rate of at least forty miles an hour! To prove the very great rapidity with which we were flying along:-there was not a breath of air when we started from one of the stations; in a few minutes' time, happening to put my head through the window for a moment, I seemed to encounter a hurricane, and yet I observed that the small branches of the trees near the road-side did not move in the least. Q. sat lazily back in the corner; and since he could not put his head through the window to try the experiment, in order to show him how matters stood, I fastened one end of

my

finger, and put my hand outside
when the handkerchief instantly flew
and fluttered along, crackling like a
pennant at a mast-head in a strong
wind. Indeed, I was very nearly
losing it. It was really painful to the
eyes to look out a-head, the draught of
air was so strong; and, as I observed
before, it was dizzy work to look
down immediately upon the road, and
see the velocity with which we passed
over it. Object after object-rane,
posts, trees, &c., glanced like light as
we shot past them. On one occasion
I had just thrust my head out, when
something huge, black, tremendous,
rushed hissing close past me, within a
few inches of my face, and I fell back in
my seat as if I had been shot. It was
another train which was coming in
the opposite direction. After only a
few moments' pause, I looked out
after it; but I protest it was almost
out of sight. At one place there were
several horses in a field near the road,
all of whom, affrighted at our mon-
strous appearance, galloped off, ex-
cept one, who remained behind, look-
ing at us, I could imagine, with a sad
air; possibly repeating to himself the
words of our great poet-

-" O, farewell,
Farewell the neighing steed!
And, oh! you mortal engines!—
Farewell! Othello's occupation's gone!"

When we had considerably abated our speed, I observed a droll evidence of the rapidity with which we were still travelling. A good-sized dog suddenly popped out of a shed on the roadside, and literally ran a race with us for about two minutes, evidently as fast as he could lay his feet to the ground: but 'twas in vain; he could not keep abreast of the carriage opposite to which he had started; but carriage after carriage quickly passed him, till the whole train had got a-head of him, when he stopped-a mere speck in the rapidly-increasing distance. This is certainly quick work, but why should we not go far quicker? Why not a hundred miles an hour? What is to prevent it, except the increased danger arising from any possible interruption or obstacle, or the expense of increased wear and tear? I was told that, not more than a month before, an experimental trip was made on the same line of road by some en

gineer, with only one carriage attached to the engine, and they went seventy miles in one hour! We had to go through a tunnel on reaching the confines of Liverpool, and which passes directly under the town. The engine was detached from the train on arriving at the mouth of the tunnel, and a rope, or ropes, attached in its place but I did not see the process-by which we were to be drawn through the whole length of the tunnel! It was dreary enough work, plunged we were, instanter, out of broad daylight into black Cimmerian gloom

"Shut up from outward light, To incorporate with gloomy night."* A lamp here and there shed its pallid, circumscribed light over the damp low sides and roof of the tunnel, which is very narrow, and so long, that if you put your head through the window you could not see light at either extremity at least, only as a kind of speck. And there we were labouring heavily along, not at our former speed; nothing being heard but the dull rumbling noise of the wheels upon the rails, and the vapours striking so raw and cold, that we were forced to close the window; when divers pleasant thoughts crossed my mind. Suppose some accident should happen to usjust then! The tunnel fall in, and bring half Liverpool about our earswe should not be dug out in less than three years' time, if any one had curiosity enough to set about such a task. Suppose some of the queer invisible mechanism by which we were drawn along should give way-in short, how I hate tunnels; especially tunnels a mile and a quarter in length Hear this, and remember it, all ye constructors of railroads; or dread ye my displeasure, and also yours, revered Christopher North. Right glad was I when, after an eight minutes' incarceration in pitch-darkness-and six hours and a half's journey from Birmingham-a much longer one than usual we emerged into the dear dayfight again, when the train stopped at a handsome and commodious station, where were numerous porters and flies awaiting our arrival. We got into one of the latter, with our luggage, in a trice-having to encoun

66

ter no pestering about gratuities, &c. on quitting the train, a circumstance which almost always throws a dash of unpleasantness into the close of a stage-coach journey. Every thing was then as silent and systematic as it had been on our starting at Birmingham. We drove first to the Adelphi, where I jumped out to inquire about my wig; and-joy indeed!-soon had in my hands such a little parcel as I desired-plainly my wig-box, most carefully packed." The direction was in my good wife's handwriting"distinct" enough, in all consciencemy name being in letters more than half an inch in length, and elaborately painted (as we called it at school), to prevent all possibility of obliteration or mistake. We then drove to the office of a merchant, a friend of Q.'s, who had most good-naturedly hunted out excellent lodgings for us in a very pleasant part of the town Mount Pleasant-and whither we went immediately, passing in our way the Judges' procession-with scarlet-coated javelin-men, mounted and on foot, and a band of music; a show which I am glad to find has just escaped abolition at the hands of some small Radical in the House of Commons, owing to the interference of the Attorney-General.

Well, then, here were Q. and I at Liverpool. But a truce with all general reflections. After surveying our spacious and convenient apartments, we ordered dinner at six o'clock, and then set out to make inquiries as to our future movements of any friend we might chance to meet. One of them soon put us in the way of duly, indicating our arrival, i. e. set ting down our names and address in the Bar list at the Adelphi hotel, where the Bar dined together daily. This, of course, we did at once; and then walked about the town a little to view the scene of our speedy triumphs! Liverpool is a far larger town than I had imagined, even laying aside the most important part of it-the shipping, which we did not see on that day. We were very much struck with the size and style of some of the public buildings, and especially with the truly noble monument to Nelson, in

Samson Agonistes, 160. 161.

the square at the back of the Town hall. But why should I mention more about a town which, though quite new to me, you and most of your readers must be familiar with? I am no sightseer, being indolent and incurious about such matters; so that I am neither disposed nor able to say more about the town of Liverpool in general, except that almost all the chief people, bless them! are Tories good and true, and gloriously carried both members at the last election. On our way back to our 'odgings we passed the church -St George's-where the assize sermon was being preached by a grayheaded clergyman, in the midst of a pretty crowded audience. The only Judge present (Mr Justice Coleridge having not yet arrived from the last Circuit town) was Mr Justice Pattison, who sat in his robes, under the grave indoctrination of the reverend teacher, with an air most attentive and devout, as did also a few of my brethren whom I observed there. After dinner, Q. and I were persuaded to go to the Assize ball: he, being a gay bachelor, enjoyed it; but I, being a grave Benedict, could scarcely keep my eyes

open

at my sad age such sights The eye looks heavily on; the graceful dance

And jocund song, the foot responsive

rouse not,

Nor the ear delight, as they have done." The next morning, about ten o'clock, we made our appearance in court. Whether or not the Judge bowed, and the whole Bar rose to receive us, as we entered, are matters which my modesty will not let me enter into; nor doth it particularly signify to state, just at present, how many briefs were eagerly thrust into our hands by clients whose anxious faces brightened when they saw ours-for even as iron sharpeneth iron, so doth the countenance of a counsel his client! I may as well, however, intimate that I discovered that there were several respectable bankers in the town with whom any amount of fees might be safely deposited, and duly transmitted to London.

Mr Justice Pattison, a patient, merciful, and very learned judge, presided in the criminal court, the first in which we made our appearance. We soon dropped into the little circle of "old familiar faces,"-our brethren

66

of the long robe,"-nodding and smiling at us, and which could almost have persuaded one that one was in one of the courts at Westminster! A hulking, beetle-browed Lancashire fellow stood at the bar on an indictment for manslaughter, by driving carelessly over some one and killing him; but he was acquitted, after a very dull and somewhat lengthened trial. The next was a case of bigamy. The prisoner was a short young man of about five-and-twenty; of so very mean and insignificant an appearance, that I wondered how he could ever have persuaded one woman to marry him— to say nothing of two! He had light close-cut hair, just like pig's bristles in colour and coarseness, sans eyebrows, beard, or whiskers; with sharp gray eyes, that peered about him anxiously from out of two rather large sockets. He stood very patiently in the dock, with a kind of quaint composure, his hands disposed behind him, under the tails of a decent blue coat, while the clearest case in the world was being proved against him. When called on for his defence he gave a quiet hem! and in a calm, business-like way, with much self-possession and infinite quaintness, delivered himself thus:

"Hem!-Sir, my Lord, and you gentlemen there," (the jury) "this is the meaning of the whole thing, you see. I tuk a fancy to Sally-that's my first wife-'cause she and me was workers i' the same factory, and she did seem then a good girl, and likely to make me a good woife. So I says to her one day-says I, Sally, will't ha' me for thy husband if I'll tak thee for my woife? Yea, says she,. I will -so we kip coompany for some toime, an' I giv her money and things, ye see, to mak her loike me moore and moore-and I thowt she did; so we got married to each other. Well" (with this word, uttered with a kind of sigh, he commenced almost every sentence), "well, you see, sir, I got married, as I said, and we got on well enough for about a month, when one day, what d'ye think, gentlemen? I coomed hoam fro' my work, and behold Sally was gone. I wonder what's this, says I; and, putting together a few things as Sal had said to me now an' then, you may depend on't, says I to myself, Sal is gone whoam to her awld faither an' mither (they lived ten miles

off, sir); for she was very p'tic'lar fond o' them; fonder nor she were o' me a dom'd deal; an' she'd often said to me, Tummas, faither an' mither must coom an' live wi' us. But I said na; if I've married thee, I han't married all thy family; which was the truth, gentlemen, an' every one of you would ha' said the same. Well, a p'tic'lar friend o' mine and me talked the thing over together; and he says to me, Tummus,' says he, I'd go arter Sal, and bring her whoam again; for if thee's married a woife, thee's a reet to ha' her live wi' thee,' and I thowt the same."

6

To be sure you had-you were quite right," interposed the Judge, who seemed listening to his statement with some interest; "go on."

"Well, I set off directly, an' walked the whool way theere and back, wi' only tenpence i'my pocket, and toired and hoongry I wer, I reckon, when I coamed whom again. Well, I saw Sally, sure enough; and I says to her, in a very proper way, Sally, is this good o' thee? Arn't thee my laful woife? And an't I a reet to ha' thee?—Na, na,' says she, I won't coom back, without faither and mither coom wi' me,'-an' she stuck to this, an' we'd a good deal o' talk about the matter, an' she abused me, and so did t'ould ones, and they said I might go back, for Sal shouldn't go wi' me unless all went togither, an' lived loving-loike togither. I warn't going to do this neither, any how; so I went whoam without her, an' did my work as usual. Well, howsever, in a week's toime Sally coom'd back, and I thowt she'd thowt better on't, an' was going to live comfortable and proper-loike wi' me. Well, she were a reet loving wi' me for some toime, when one day, to be sure, I found she'd pawned and sold a' my things, an' gone off wi't money to t'ould ones agin"

66

Theer't leeing, Tummas !-theer't leeing, an' thee knows it," suddenly squalled out a female voice from the further end of the court. "I'm thy laful woife, an' I've got the 'tificate of our marriage with me here, thou leer!"

She was soon silenced, and the prisoner calmly proceeded :

"But Sally coom'd back again when the money wer all gone, and what a loife she did lead me, to be sure! She

took to drink, and sold all my things to get it, even a noice silver watch, that had been giv me by my faither all went for drink. She went on i'this'ns for about a year, gentlemen, and I got toired o' my loife. Sometimes she'd come an' live wi' me, and sometimes not; I do'ant say Sally kep coompany wi' other men, but she wor no coompany to me. Well, at last I says to her "Sally, wil't a live wi' me loike a wife should, or wil't a not? Na,' says she, snapping her finger.

Well then,' says I, coome before a magistrate, and let's get parted in a laful way.'

"Get parted in a lawful way!What do you mean by that? interposed the Judge, with a kind of stern curiosity.

"Get divoorced, sir, accordin' to

la."

Mr. Justice Pattison leaned back, with an air of mingled surprise and pity.

"Well," added the prisoner, after a short pause, "Sally wouldn't do one thing nor t'other-she'd neither live wi' me nor stop away-leastwise, whenever she did, it were only for mischief, to pawn and sell my goods, d'ye see. So at length I says to her

Sally, since thee won't part lawfully from me, I've done wi' thee, an' I'll part wi' thee; and since thee doen't know what a good husband is, I know them that does, an' I'll give thee leave, once for all, to go to thy awld faither and mither-an' marry 'em, if thee loik'st-but I've done wi' thee. Well, I went and tould all this to my present woife."

"Your present wife! She isn't your wife," interrupted the Judge.

"And I said to her," continued the prisoner, "will thee object to marry me, an' live wi' me, and be a good woife? And she didn't say me nay; so we got married, an' we've lived very, different-wise to Sally and me. So I thowt I'd a reet to do it; and this second woman's my woife; and Sally isn't my woife any longer, an' that's the truth o' the whole matter, and I've got nothing more to say, gentlemen."

All this had been said in a firm, earnest, respectful tone and manner, which satisfied me that the prisoner had been telling the truth; and if so, he was, indeed, to be pitied. If it were all false, then he must be a clever

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