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 we began a rate of speed to me unprecedented. 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 bitterly cold air, it was unpleasant enough. How dreary the country looked! I shut the window and wrapped myself up in my cloak, leaned back in my seat, and, together with Q., enjoyed for a while, in silence, the novelty of our situation and sensations. The motion was pretty uniform--gentle, slightly vibrating, with now and then a jerk: we almost believed 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 anything nearer-at the fence of the railroad, for instance-we became instantly sensible of the prodigious rapidity of our motion. It was really painful to look down for a minute together. 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 I had in my hand; but he dashed my triumph by saying briskly-" Your 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, but it soon passed off, and he ran the remainder of his journey without any apparent effort or exhaustion.

The word "explosion" flitted oftener 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 Railroad, &c.— 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.

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 roadside did not move in the least. Q. sate lazily back in the corner; and since he could not put his head through the window to try the experiment, in order to shew him how matters

stood, I fastened one end of my pocket-handkerchief round 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-rails, 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 monstrous appearance, galloped off, except one, who remained behind, looking 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.

*** 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 as we were, instanter, out of broad daylight into black Cimmerian gloom

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 us-just then!--the tunnel fall in, and bring half Liverpool about our cars;--we 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! ***We drove first to the hotel, 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 wigbox "carefully packed." The direction was in my good wife's handwriting-" distinct" enough, in all conscience -my 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.

*Samson Agonistes, 160, 161.

* * * The next morning, about ten o'clock, we made our appearance in court.

Mr Justice Pattison, a patient, merciful, and very learned judge, presided in the criminal court, the first in which we made our appearance. The prisoner standing at the bar was charged with bigamy. He was a short young man of about five-and-twenty; of so 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 grey eyes, that peered about him anxiously from out of two rather large sockets. He stood 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, businesslike 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 moonth, when one day, what d'ye think, gentleman? I coomed hoam fro' my work, and behold Sally were gone. I wonder what's this, says I; and, putting together a few things as Sal had said to