...cjy. CO so > so -< n > =0 -< n '■^ ^t'Aayaaii-i>:'^ ^^AJlVHJin-^.^ C? *:: vvlOS-ANGELfJV^ <<- o =?i. «-' I ^aaAiNii^hV''^ i^YQc Ul^ €3 O o C? , ^C'AHVHeilA^' "^J': o '^AJI3AINn-3\V^ i'j//^ -n O 1^1 ^lilliKAKY-O-C. -^\lLlliHARY-(5/C ■^ C^ /ER5-/A ^v^OSANCElfj> .^.QFCAIIFO/?^ .^.QFCALIFO/?,^ •soi^ ^a^AiNa^w"^ fr HOME TOUR THROUGH THE MANUFACTURING DISTRICTS ENGLAND. IN THE SUMMER OF 1835. SIR GEORGE ^EAD, AUTHOR OF "^~-»^ FOREST SCENES AND INCIDENTS IN THE WILDS OF NORTH AMEHICA*.' NEW EDITION. LONDON : JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE -STREET. MDCCCXXXVI. Pruitesbury. Regeneration of old Garments. Rag-grinders. A Metaphysical Question. Shoddy. Tillage Muck I4l — 152 Chapter XI. WALTON HALL, YORKSHIRE. Approach to Walton Hall. Hall and Staircase. Crocodile. Rattle-snake. Wourali Poison. Nondescript. Mr. Waterton. A Breakfast with the Wanderer. A pet Owl. A Ramble through the Grounds. A New Way of treating an Old 'J'ree. "Wooden Pheasants. Couv.ersation on Serpents. Anecdotes 153 — 171 a3 VI CONTENTS. Chapter XII. LEEDS. Page The old Coal Staitlis. Curious old Steam-Engine. Crown Point and Waterloo Coal Staiths. Bramley Fall Stone Quar- ries. Wodehoiise Quarries. Cloth Hall. Quick dealing. Sawing Stone by Steam. Engine for chopping Sausages. Grinding the Grinder. Cloth IMill. Water heated by Steam. Worsted Spinning. Wool combed by Steam. Manufactory of Machinery. Self-acting Turning- Lathe. Manufactories. Consequent Reflections. Morbid Sympathy of the Public. Actual State of the Operatives. Advance of Intellect coinci- dent with improvement of Machinery. Operatives neces- sarily dependent on the Masters. Education . 1 72 — 203 Chapter XIII. S E L B Y. Railway to Leeds. Tunnel. Journey of the Train from Leeds to Selby. Excitement caused by the Spectacle. Mode of laying down Sleepers. Mode of lading Stone. Selby Church. Extraordinary Personage. An attentive Landlord. Packet- boat Regulations. A Voyage to Hull. Running aground. Remedial Measures. Hard and fast on a Mud-bank. Bad Navigation of the Humber . . . 204 — 214 Chapter XIV. GOOLE. Communication from London by Goole to Manchester. A spe- cimen of the Journey. A Chiming Clock at Doncaster, Tide Coaches. A Coach-race. Thorne Quay. Dutch River. Cor- nelius Vanmuden. Warping. A Walk from Goole to Thorne. Crops, Waggons. Ride to Keadby. Reclaimed Lands. Town of Goole. Its rapid increase. New Works. A Meeting of Ranters. Knottingley Canal. Rapid Horse- boat. Competition with Steam. A Voyage by the former from Goole to Knottingley. A Voyage by the Steamer, by the same route, to Leeds . . . 215 — 23G CONTENTS. VU Chapter XV. HULL. Page A Voyage from London to Hull by the Gazelle. Idlers on the Quays. Victoria Hotel. A Marine Landscape. A Shipwreck in miniature. Arrival of a Whaler. The Docks. Draw- bridges. Extreme nicety of their action. An arbitrary Go- vernor, Intense interest on the Ship's arrival. Custom of the May Garland. Competition of Youth. A Race up the Rigging. A Seaman's Son in danger. Seamen on board a Whaler. State of the Hold. "Rump and Tail." Greenland Yards. A Ship-Launch well performed. The same case reversed. Diving Bell. A few words in behalf of a Squirrel. Silver-haired Rabbits. Manufactory of White and Red Lead ...... 236—256 Chapter XVI. HOLDER NESS. Journey to Patrington. Exhausted State of the Land. Large Breeds of Horned Cattle replaced by small Scotch and Irish Stock. Magnificent Roads and Fields. Pole Waggons. A Bumpkin on Horseback. The Hilyard Arms. Corn Market. Ceremony of the Statutes. A social Squire. A Clockmaker's Dormitory. A Ride to Spurnpoint. Lighthouse — Wood- cocks. Life-boat. A Ramble on the Beach. A wrecked Porpoise. Human Bones. A devoted Village. Kilnsea. Ruins of the Church. A Churchyard ravaged by the Waves. Exhumated Remains. Town of Hornsea. The Cliffs a con- crete Mass of Fossils. ISIanifest Appearances of the Deluge. Corroboration by Heathen Testimony of the Mosaic Record. Submersed Forest. Sunk Island. Good drainage. Live-stock scanty. Patrington Haven. A communicative Farmer 257 — 276 Chapter XVII. SCARBOROUGH— WHITBY. Scarborough Castle. Compendious Arrangement of Museum. Antediluvian Monsters. Whitby Pier. Extraordinary trend- ing of the Coast. Bridges. The Travelling Crane. Head- lands. Old Church. " The Hill of Difficulty." A Shoal Vlll CONTENTS. Page of Sprats. Alum Works. Manufactory of Cement. Lime- stone. Diggers of Jet. Fossils. A Dealer in Saurian Re- mains. A Human Leg petrified. Robin Hood's Bay. Ex- tortion of Innkeepers. A Marine Village. Periwinkles. Herring Fishery. Vareeli suffered to rot for want of means of conveyance. A self-taught Engraver of Epitaphs. A Night's Lodging at York . . %^^ — 295 Chapter XVIIL STOCKTON-UPON-TEES. Road from Whitby to Stockton. Unexpected Changes of Scenery. A Musical Exhibition. An Infant Audience. A well-educated Monkey. Coal-shipments on the Tees. Town of Middleborough. Quakers' Railroad. Clarence Railroad. Suspension Bridge ; Anecdote relating thereto. Coal Staiths. Description of a Coal Staith. Curious mode of letting down the empty \'\'aggons . . . 296 — 306 Chapteu XIX. DINSDALE spa, or " SPAW." A Word for Boots. Approach to the Dinsdale Hotel. The House and Grounds. Table-d'hote. Village of Middleton One Row. The Bath House. The Waters ; Process of boil- ing detrimental. Extraordinary effect of Sulphur in solution. Sulphur Springs. Salmon Leap, or Fish Loch. A vicious Dog. Narrow escape of Alderman F . A Squadron of Fish. Intrepid Charge. Stockton and Darlington Railroad. Sound of the Engines. Curious description of Property. A Train on its route. A sagacious Horse. Comparison of living and inanimate Objects . . 307 — 319 Chapter XX. HARTLEPOOL. Harbour considered as a Port of Refuge. Its curious Situation. Difficult approach by Land. Operations in progress in 1834. Operations in progress in 1835 contrasted with the former. Disappointed Speculators. Interested Opposition. Causes of Failure. Probability of their removal. Present state of the "Works ...... 320 399 CONTENTS. IX Chapteis XXI. SUNDERLAND. Page A diligent Shoemaker. A rough turn-out. Sunderland Bridge. Steep Rise. Advantage of a horizontal Line. Sunderland Keels. Coal Staiths. Trimmers. Adjacent Scenery. Ob- jects in the Landscape curiously contrasted. Pemberton Coal- pit. Staith Basin at Seaham Harbour ; its commodiousness and open position. London Muck in Ballast . 330 — 33S CliAPTEll XXII. NEWCASTLE— SHIELDS. Town Moors. Extraordinary Discipline among the Cows. Carlisle Railroad. A Voyage to Shields. Steam Ferry. Stanhope and Tyne Coal Staiths. Extreme length of the Jib. Curious Principle applied in the Balancing Weight. Effect produced by the Spectacle . . . 339 348 Chapter XXIII. CARLISLE AND ANNAN NAVIGATION CANAL. Accelerated rate of Towing Boats on Canals. The Arrow sheet-iron Passage-boat ; a Voyage thereby. Port Carlisle. Accommodation. The Jetty. Annan Water-foot. " The Newcastle" and " City of Carlisle" Liverpool Steamers. Untoward Arrangements. A boat-load of Passengers. The Works at Maryport. New Drawbridge. Sands. Tiile-light. Extraordinary mode of launching Vessels broadside on. In- convenient embarkation. A Dutch-built Steamer. A Scotch Gentleman ou a Journey . . . 349 — 358 ClIAPTEtt XXIV, SHAW'S WATER-WORKS, GREENOCK. Objects to be effected. Their Completion. Appearance of the Waterfalls. Dimensions of the Reservoirs. The Dam and Jetty. Self-acting Sluices. Their admirable performance. Modes of Action by means of the Float and of the Hollow Cylinder acting as a Weight. Domestic supply of Water- Filters. Mode of cleansing the same. Their formation. Casting Sheet-lead .... 359 — 365 X CONTENTS. Chapter XXV. A li L O N B Y. Page The Ship Inn. Cheap Living. An Arrival. A Mystery. An Adventure. Lovers in a Quandary. A disputed Case of Identity. Billing and Cooing. Female Curiosity. Ladies bred in high Society, and on high Hills. Relative hearing to- wards each other. Arrangement of Time. Way to pass a Honeymoon. A Ride to Gretna. Original Mai-rying-house. Gretna Hall. A Clergyman Landlord. A Sub-Clergyman. Marriage Register. House and Garden . . 366 — 376 Chapter XXVI. A JOURNEY FROM WORKINGTON TO KENDAL. The Lake Tourist Stage Coach. The Coach Office. A Little Man doing Double Duty. A Scramble for Places. Morning's Start. Town of Keswick in a Bustle. A Coach laden with- out mercy. Loss of a Linchpiu. An adipose Auxiliary. A bad Mode of getting up a Hill. A worse Mode of getting down. An Overturn. A Seat on the Box not always to be envied. A frightened Lady. A Dispute. A fat Man in a pucker. A Procession. Stage-coach Passengers. The Saluta- tion Inn. Female Pity. Coach Proprietors at loggerheads. Arrival at Kendal. Approach to Shap ^Vells. Tricks upon Travellers. Sets of Company ; high, low, and middle. A temperate Supper-party. A Way to drink Ginger Beer. The Baths and Hotel .... 377—392 Chapter XXVII. WHITEHAVEN. A rough Flight of Steps. A Rookery of Children. Coal Staiths. Inclined Plane. Descent of laden Waggons. Air Cylinders applied in aid of the Brake AVheel. Ravenshill. Shaft and Tunnel to the Mouth of the Saltham Coal-pit on the level of the Sea. Action of a Counterpoising Weight on an Inclined Plane, in aid of the Raising Engine. Signals. Thundering Sounds. Descent. Female Drivers. Waggons on their route to the Shaft. A Gentleman with a Black Face. Mild Temperature applicable to Medicinal Purposes. Colliers bagging CoaL Bull-dog Spirit of Englishmen. The CONTENTS. XI Page Safety Lamp. A hazardous Experiment. Recent improve- ment of the Extinguisher. George Stephenson, the original Inventor of the Lamp. Incident leading to the Discovery. A Steam-engine 150 fatlioms under ground. The forty-stall Stable. Condition of Horses. A Subject for Canova. Ascent. Sensations. Use of Yellow Soap. The Patent Slip. The Harbour. Collision of Interests. Diving Bell .~ 393—412 Chapter XXVIIL PRESTON. Adjacent Scenery. Communication with the Wigan Canal. Temperance Hotels. A Sanctimonious Landlord. Remnants of Evil Ways. Bibo in a Dilemma. Meeting at Bolton. Heavy opening-Harangue. Speech of a reclaimed Drunkard. Mr. Anderton from Preston. Extraor(}inary Oration. Canal to Kendal. Sheet-ii-on Packet-boats. Waterproof Calico. Paradoxical Argument on the Power of Horses ; i. e., the greater speed the less labour. Reversed Direction of Slant in ' Towing-paths. The Locks. Narrow escape of the Water- witch on passing through one of these. The Legh Arms at Newton, A moving Landscape. A Journey by the Railroad to Wigan. Proposed Railroad from Wigan to Preston. Pre- sent limited means of Public Conveyance. A Change for the worse on a journej'. An Hour at Lancaster. The Assizes- Appeasement of Hunger. Departure for Slyne. Luggage and Impediments synonymous. An ancient Volunteer. A good Wheelbarrow. Hestbank Hotel. A Yorkshire Invalid. Gin versus the Doctor. An obedient Wife. Journey across Morecambe Sands. Guides. Fords. Fish Balks. Preju- dices against the Passage. Danger to be apprehended. Ap- proach to Ulverston. Iron Ore. Journey in a '' Tub Gig" to Whitehaven, through Broughton, Ravenglass, Gosforth, and Egremopt .... 413—440 A HOME TOUR IN THE MANUFACTURING DISTRICTS OF ENGLAND, In 1835. Chapter I. LIVERPOOL. Water Communication to Manchester — Town of Runcorn — Duke of Bri fij'oni the gas and refuse of the manufactories with which it is impregnated. It is proposed, however, to avert this evil by turning the course of the fetid stream elsewhere, though go v/here it may, the fu- ture line of its direction will not probably be agreed upon unanimously. The boat was towed at the rate of about five miles an hour by a couple of clumsy cart-horses, driven beyond their natural pace, and working under such manifold disadvantages that full half the strength of one horse was continually ex- erted to prevent itself from being dragged into the canal by the other. Those acquainted with the good qualities of the animal need not be told that to break a horse no other art is necessary than to conquer his temper:; and that a light hand on the bridle is, in point of fact, rather an appeal to his moral than his pliysical nature. Servants and postboys are nevertheless above these considerations; and, in the present, case, the two small boys, and their unfortunate horses, were lost to the sympathies of a lively state of muscle and a well-tutored mouth. The former whipped and kicked with as genuine insensibihty as if sitting across a tree ; while the latter, tugging and reeling, exhibited a perfect specimen of ill-apphed force, one literally pulling continually one way, and the other another. In the meantime, the thouglxt- less riders, in worsted stockings, with thick country- b3 10 LEEDS AND LIVERPOOL NAVIGATION. [CH. made shoes, hea tl^y and active, jumped on and off, according to their fancy, without slopping the boat or creating delay. Sometimes running for a quarter of an hour together, they mounted when tired, in a way of their own, by merely placing a foot on the chain trace, and a hand on the belly- giit. These little fellows, neither more than twelve years old, rode every day the whole distance, — one day up, the next down, — two-and-thirty miles, hot or cold, wet or dry, winter or summer. We were six hours on the voyage, arriving at four o'clock at Manchester. The next day I returned to Liverpool by another canal route, the Leeds and Liverpool Navigation. This packet-boat starts from Manchester at six o'clock every morning. We pursued the course of the Duke of Bridgcwater's Canal towards Runcorn, till we left this line by a branch which proceeds to Wigan. At one point, a few miles from Manchester, the Duke's canal passes over the river Irwell, the track of the Old Quay Company, by help of an aque- duct, which is not only above the river, but also above the turnpike road from Liverpool to Man- chester ; whereby, as if things were turned upside down, coaches and boats may be seen at the same time passing, the boats above and the coaches be- low — and thus, in the triumph of human art, revers- ing the order of nature. The appointments of the boats, and the pace maintained, were precisely the same as the day before. There are several locks by the way ; and the time expended from Manchester to Liverpool was fourteen liours. I saw certainly no wonders on the route ; and particularly, on a second experiment, a heavy sameness naturally arises ovit of the first conditions of the mode of peregrination, I.] TOWN OF WIGAN. 11 namely, — that of moving- on a level; whence it follows that the horizon is very generally bounded by the banks. The boat was narrow, and the two cabins were rendered independent of each other, by the intervention of the steward's berth ; the platform at the top, as in the Duke's boat, common property, resorted to by all. B]-eakfast and dinner were provided on board at one shilling each meal, the steward very properly judging, that as custom exacted from his stores on both occasions nearly the same quality of viands, no matter what were the name of the repast, his cus- tomers would eat as much at one as the other. Not even the most fastidious could complain of high charges. The dinner consisted of a salted sirloin of beef, garnished with a profusion of fried onions ; and afterwards appeared, as if it were intended to lower the temperature of the stomach, a second course, of radishes and lettuces, together with a good mild cheese. Notwithstandino; the delio-lits of the table, the voyage seemed desperately long, particularly while we were detained for half-an-liour for the pur- pose of loading and unloading at the town of Wigan. Here a " compound of villanous smells " past all endurance rendered the delay in this place that of purgatory. Nothing can surpass the vuilidiness and filth of this warm nook, where the boats are made fast to a quay, which has more the appearance of a landing-place in Lisbon than Old England. As regards society, those on board were what is usually called a "mixture of company," the second cabin being quite as full as it would hold. Notwithstanding the absolute safety of the mode of conveyance, we were nevertheless very near meet- 12 AN AMPHIBIOUS HUSBAND. [CH. inp^ Avitli two serious accidents on tlie voyage, ^'w^p -, a woman contrived to pitch herself head-forenio&tii ofi" the top of the platform, where she was sitting^K down npon the deck, and fell with such violence th*i,f I really thoug-ht she must have been killed. As/git happened, she was not hurt, on ascertaining' wHipllfr point I was contented to make no further inquiries; fc>r,i as I picked her up, she sent forth a sigh, so strongly , impregnated with rum, that I was happy -taconsigaj,) her collapsed form into other hands. The otheii^. adventure was performed by a cpiiet, decent, I'e^b spectablc man, who either meditatively or ri^^fJn^n vertently, but from a cause somewhat similar to thpr, one aforesaid, unluckily, in attempting, on one occtir,,,' sion when the boat stopj)ed at a village, to gtej) ^m-i shore, somehow or other misjudged his distance, an^;^ though he did step out of the boat, as it were veiiyin methodically soused into the water. In one.. n¥JlT;.t ment he was up to his neck, and holding on by a soti'g of red fingers to a plank on the shore. Whoij,,, pulled on deck, he stood helplessly streaming and snuffling; in the mean time the manoeuvre was SQiJ unprovoked and uncalled for, that he excited imv, body's pity, not even that of his wife— who, on thpjiJ contrary, scolded him unmercifully. The lectured she administered caused even amusement among,, , the by-standers, and was really sufficient, not only j^, to recall the circulation of the blood, but set gallop-^,) ing all the humours into the bargain. The unfoivr u tunate fellow, suffering by such a ducking, and afflicted with such a wife, had but few wojds to offev, i j in behalf of himself; and of these, every effort tQ rt articulate produced, rather than a human tone, ^[^ sound that more resembled the snort of a liippopof.jy I/}i'] CABIN PASSENGERS. ]3' tanius. How he contrived to arrange his toilet atnong' so many people I do not know, but he soon appeared again on deck in a diy pair of bright nan- keens.' ' • Among the tenants of the best cabin were a newly- married couple — if such a description can reasonably be given of two young people travelling with a little infant, their first-born, and a nursery-maid in their ti^ain. Howeveiv the pair presented an interesting study of natvn-e, were it only with reference to the ; different degrees of dominion and power in which., mankind exult, and also because it made manifest the very numerous ways there are in the world of being happy. I think I never saw a couple more rich ill their own conceits, or more inclined to be satisfied with themselves and the things about them, notwithstanding all these were on an extremely small scale. In the first place, the husband was a slight, weasel-shaped man, like a stunted stay- maker ; — the wife, little ; — ^the child, by appearance, an abortion ; — and the maid-servant, little, — fresh from the country, with clattering thick- soled shoes, and hair tied back, evidently on her promotion, in a little knot like a shaving-brush, the length of one's thumb. The man and wife smirked and smiled first on each other, and then both gloated Avitli eyes of aflection on the dear baby; The lady was anxious to show to the rest of the passengers that she kept a maid-servant, therefore ever and anon called her from one part of the vessel to another to give some trifling order. The little maid, nevertheless, seemed truly happy, and the more the child cried, the more she jiggled it, and the more her active eyes tra- velled round and round, first towards one person 14 SCAKISBRICK BRIDGE. [CH. and then anotlicr, sparkling- with delight as she in- haled the pure Iresh air. When the child dropped asleep, the mistress immediately summoned the little abigail and set her to work on pieces of <^lazed, crackling linen contained in her bag, in order that she should not be even for one moment idle. The child, lastly, was happy, for it was an ill-conditioned little thing, that delighted in crying, and it cer- tainly must have cried to its heart's content; and the more it roared the more its papa's eyes glistened as, suggesting this, that, and t'other remedy, he obe- diently received pins from the hands of his spouse and stuck them in his sleeve. On arriving at Scarisbrick Bridge, a little to the northward of Ormskirk, omnibuses and lug-p-ap-e- carts were waiting for the conveyance of passengers to Southport, a watering-Yjlace near tlie Kibble, and distant about six miles, with which place the citizens of Manchester keep up a continual communication by means of the canal. Vehicles leave Southport at nine in the morning, meet the Liverpool boat on her way to Manchester, and remain at Scarisbrick Bridge until four o'clock, the usual time for the arrival of the boat moving in the opposite direction. Adjacent to the canal basin at Liverpool the ground is covered with enormous heaps of coal sent by the canal from Wigan. Hence, fly-boats depart to Crosby and other places in that direction, eight times a-day. I observed here abundance of Cannel coal, and took some pains, both now and subse- quently at Kendal, St. Helen's, and other places, to obtain the meaning of the term. Some is procured at St. Helen's, but the greater quantity comes from Wigan, and is dug out of the same shafts with I.] CANNEL-COAL. 15 ordinary coal, though existing in different scams. It appears to be a substance between ordinary coal and jet. In Liverpool, and elsewhere, it is adver- tised by boards and placards — " Coal and Cannel sold here." And is invariably spelt " Cannel." If it have really taken its name from Kendal, the people of the town are not aware of such origin ; neither is there any reason that it should originally have been called Canal coal, it having been dug before canals w^ere adopted, and transported to- gether with larger quantities of ordinary coal. It seems to be the general opinion that having been used to light the men at their work, and serving as candle, it became by corruption " Cannel" coal. It is singular how soon words and phrases creep into use, and totally obliterate every recollection of the cause that produced them. In order to proceed from Liverpool to Manchester, by the third and last canal route, I got on board the Eclipse steamer, at the dock of the Mersey and Ir- well Navigation, or Old Quay Company, at twenty minutes before nine, and before eleven o'clock we arrived at Runcorn. The basin and docks here, and at Liverpool, belonging to this establishment, by no means equal in appearance those of the Duke of Bridgewater ; in fact, a comparison throws them many degrees in the background. At Runcorn, indeed, we came to anchor close alongside the packet-boat ; an obvious convenience to passengers, compared Avith the ceremony of con- signing their luggage to a porter, and toiling to the top of the hill — the level of the Duke's canal. This advantage, however, is counterbalanced in the long run. The clifiFiculties, in one instance, are all sur- r J. 16 PASSENGERS ON BOARD. [ck'. mbimted previous to the cbrnmcnc'cmeiit of xne. voyage; in the other, the delay and trouble of pass- ing the numerous locks is experienced during- its* continuance. This boat is of a heavier construction altogether than that of the Duke, the cabin, instead of on the deck, being below, as in ordinary river or sea boats ; and it is towed by three horses instead or two; the middle horse moving on between the other two, unridden. Two boys rode in the manner and style before described ; Avithout stirrups, resting their feet on the traces, sometimes high, sometimes low, according as the horse lay on his collar. Nei- ther wore coats, and their trousers were as raggedj as those of a scarecrow. The whole fare from Liver- pool to Manchester was the same as before, viz., 3s. 6(/. We left Runcorn precisely at twenty mi^ nutes after eleven, and arrived at a quarter before six. A rough set of people composed the company^ , on board, amongst whom it appeared not to be the fashion to pay first cabin fare; neither did it seciri ^ necessary, for no restriction was enforced among the passengers, nor maintenance of vested rights. All classes were jumbled together; groups of men and , women dirtily dressed and noisy. The former smoked tobacco, and guzzled beer ; so also did the latter, besides occasionally picking periwinkles out of their shells with pins. My powers of endurance here entirely failed me, and having no redress, I abandoned my invaded territory, and removed {qky the other end of the vessel in search of good com- ' pany. Although the course of this navigation chiefly:, leads through the Mersey and Irwell rivers, the, prospect is chiefly shut out by winding, muddy . banks, so lofty that at least seventy yards of tow- I.].. VIADUCTS. 1^7 rope ^re iised; the extremity of which is fastened high qn tti? mai^t abovethe cross-trees. The iirst artificial cut of tlie canal commences at starting-, and continues for about eight miles ; the others on the >Yay'are'of.ipss CTftent. Plaving halted for a short time near the town of Warrington, we continued our passage, witli little exception, on the Mersey, till aiTLying Avithin ten miles of Manchester, at tlie con- flfiience of the Mersey and Irwell rivers, which two slrcams are at this point equal in point of width, vfeprdceede'd for the rest of the vovao-c up the latter' river. , /The line of the new railroad from Manchester tc) liirminghaiii crosses the capal and the rivej- Mersey^ at a point where l)btli run parallel within a few' yards of each other, by a viaduct now in progress of erection about half a mil6 below Warrington. Two other viaducts are also building on the same line between Warrington and Northwich. Tliesc viaducts .are both ta be; thrown^ across thp river . Weaver, within five miles of each other; the one two miles below Northwich, and half-a-mile below tlVe* bridigfe ' at Hartford, which brids^e t paced, and found to be twenty-five yards across. The, viaduct IS to consist 01 tour arches. - , ^ , , The above work I did not see in progress, except , from the distance of half-a-mile, as I stood on the aforesaid bridge ; but I walked to the othei', which is a great wor]c, at a place called Dutton-bottom. This viaduct crosses the river Weaver, and the canal parallel to it, both together, by twenty arches of sixty feet span, and sixty feet high from the jCroyn . of the arch to the bottom of the piers. The piers, in breadth eight feet, appear rather slight in proper- 18 LIFTING OF STONE. [CH. tion to the dimensions of the work ; however, the bottom is thoroughly sound, nor is there any obstacle in the way of the architect. I paced the temporary bridge over the river Weaver, at this spot, forty-five yards in length. A horse windlass was erected on the summit of the steep bank descending to the river, on the southern side, in order to move materials up and down. The workmen were then preparing to commence the first arch — most of the piers were already finished, and it afforded a noble sight while standing on the elevated ground on one side, to look across to the other, and see the vast structure rising from below. As I vmderstood, the versed sine of the arches which spring from the piers is fifteen feet six inches. I remarked an appliance 1 had never seen before attached to the travelling crane, which latter contriv- ance is now generally ado])ted throughout the coun- try, in every great work. Instead of giving the trans- verse motion to the crane by hand, at the top — that is to say, by men who, being at the top, push it along by hand ; the same purpose was effected by means of two small cranes, one on each side, which, being connected by a rope with the crane at the top, were worked by men at the bottom. The description of the travelling crane will be found in the chapter relating to Whitby. I could not help thinking, as I saw the enormous stones of six and eight tons lifted up and down by means of the wedge and Lewis hole, that this simple and ordinary contrivance might possibly easily be applied to more general purposes. If, wherever stone is accessible, a purchase of eight or ten tons is obtained, by making a small hole three or four I.] LIFTING OF STONE. 19 inches deep, an operation easily performed in the same number of minutes ; it follows that, in order to obtain upon a stationary rock a point of resist- ance, by means of more holes, the effect might be almost indefinitely multiplied. \ ,: '/Cl CllAPTKK II. iiiJ^llj'wQ'I . (( r 1 (!'i'f''i_ rL.i'v E R P L. Quays at Liverpool — Docks — Great Tunnel — Warehouses — Con-^ vevance of Pi^'S — Passage through said TuuTiel — Railway Station" at Edgehill — Clever !Mode of unloading Luggage — Landing a Cargo of Pigs from Ireland-^A Perambulating Boar — A Sailor's House of Call— A Dutch Artist — Railway Clock — Equilil)rative Index — Keel's Hotel — A Cheap Dinner — A Diligent Young Lady — New Brighton — Low Seacomhe — Wallasey Pool — A Woodside Pony — Biddestone Hill — Lighthouse ; Veteran in charge — Filial Pidelioyj.*.! a O'^lciO > ;j /1.81; ..JXG i>iii XlU, To a stranger either lanclmg upon the quays, or. departing fram Liverpool^ the order and regularity^ with which the process of debarkation and embarka- tion is condvicted are very remarkable. The coin- , modiousncss and magnificence of the docks are suf- ficiently well known ; in extent, without other means of judging than by the eye, they appear, even now^ at least equal in area to those of the metropolis, in- dependent of new ones, of considerable dimensions, now in a state of forwardness, both to the north and south of the present line. Few vessels ride at aur chor in the Mersey : the lading and unlading is alto- gether performed in the docks, the river being usually shallow, and the anchorage bad ; at all events, the channel of deep water is too narrow to allow , vessels to remain stationary in the stream, Avithout impeding the na\dgation. I have heard it urged, as a matter of complaint, that the space immediately adjoining the docks, and belonging to the cor])ora- tion, is preserved intact, and no bviildings permitted to be erected thereon, whereby extra cartage is in- CH. 11.] DOCKS. 21 currcd to tlie warehouses at a distance within the town. Yet it certainl}- does seem, tliat to this very regulation or prohibition are to be attributed, in great measure, the good effects aUuded to. Contrary to the usual order of things in a sea- })ort town, iand in London especially^ where, going towards the water-side, one feels as if entering by the broad end into the spout of a funnel — here the broad end opens the other way, whence the nearer one advances towards the point of embarkation, the greater appears the freedom of space. On the extensive area of St. George's Dock, no idlers obstruct the w'ay, no obstacles of any descrip- tion impede the passenger, ^^'hethcr a single per- son, a boatload, or a shipload of people either go or come, is an object of consideration only to those wliom it may directly concern ; and though, at a ves- sel's arrival or departure, a temporary collection of persons is discernible on the landing-place, the as- sembly merely consists of travellers, who, in a few moments, together with all their baskets and bun- dles, arc lost in space. In the meantime the police- man steadily treads the ground, backwards and for- Avards on his station, having seldom occasion to accost an individual in the execution of his duty. As the Liverpool Docks occupy already an unin- termitting line along the banks of the river, verging upon three miles in length, the facilities above re- ferred to are in part accounted for : added to which, all that knowledge can suggest, or experience con- firm, has combined to render the action of every one great outlet clear of the other. The three principal separate points are, first, that of St. George's Dock, where the numerous passage-boats ply, many of them 22 GREAT TUNNKL. [CH. every half-hour in the day, to the various little wa- tering-places in the Mersey ; and passengers embark, and return to and from every part of the world ; — secondly, the Clarence Dock, and those appropriated to the American trade, at the north end, the former exclusively containing steamers ; — and, thirdly, the large clocks in the immediate neighbourhood of the new Custom-house, to which those of the Duke of Bridgewater and of the Kailway establishment are immediately adjacent, — all these latter being at the south end of the line. Hence, by the great tunnel, merchandise is con- veyed under the town to the railway station at Edge- hill. This vast subterraneous excavation, a mile and a quarter in lengthy viewed either with regard to the purposes to which it is applied, or its execution, as a channel of conveyance for live cattle, timber, and all sorts of merchandise, through the bowels of the earth, and below the site of a populous town, is a truly wonderful performance. I obtained permission, on one occasion, to pass through it ; and though the passage was performed in utter darkness, it did not the less strongly interest me. This tunnel, and the splendid warehouses and quays at its mouth, are an indication, and a true one, of the vigour with which the projectors of the railway grappled with the undertakinjr. Besides the various established channels of communication with Manchester wliich previously existed, and vnih which the railway ne- cessarily had to compete, the operations on this spot exhibit in addition a specimen of almost unlimited expenditvu'e : an outla}^ against which, as a question of profit and loss, the proprietors also contended, and, in spite of which, their shares have attained, never- II.] FACILITY IN LOADING. 23 theless, nearly a duplicate value. A pleasing exam- ple is here afforded of the energies of the country, as well as an earnest^, in prospectu, of the general ad- vantages likely to be derived by the extension of steam-communication to London, — advantages, 1 am fully persuaded, too great to be fully estimated, till they are really felt. It is quite impossible to describe, within brief compass, the beauty and symmetry of the arrange- ments which prevail among the warehouses, and within these extensive premises. Nevertheless, I was permitted, as a stranger, to contemplate the scene unnoticed and unmolested; either to walk from end to end, or pause for the purpose of observ- ing the address and despatch with which multitudi- nous affairs were conducted. Among the many ob- jects that diverted my attention, I particularlv re- marked the facility with which logs of timber, of the largest dimensions, and all descriptions of bulky and heavy materials were sluno- on the carriag;es ; the great size of the Dobbin wheels, ten feet in dia- meter, occasionally employed ; and also the extreme length of the ordinary Liverpool cart, for the con- veyance of cotton bags, eighteen feet from the tail- board to the point of the shaft, which latter is totally overhung by the body, with the exception only of four feet. The load of these carts, drawn by a couple of horses, is about three tons. Among the timber lying on the ground ready to be sent by the car- riages on the railway. I measured one slick, of which there were several others as large ; it was a piece of squared timber, two feet the side of the square, and fifty-seven feet long. As they allow regularly four tons to a carriage^ and not unfrequently carry five, 24 CARGO OF PIGS. [CH. and as, to convey timber, two carriages arc some- times lashed together, a full load may he estimated at ten tons. Among the various cargoes put on the carriages with the greatest case and despatch, arc ]ngs : a fact which shows what management will eifect ; and, though strange, is at least true. Indeed this branch of business is so well assorted, that though, as to locality, the animals previous to departing on their journey are upon equal terms with the men and merchandise, yet as to actual juxtaposition they might as well be five miles asunder. This desirable object is effected by means of a back entrance into a pig-yard, where all the herds that arrive, on their way to Manchester, find accommodation. Hence there is a small door to a wooden platform, the latter leading, by an inclined plane, to the carriage stand- ing on the railway, close to the mouth of the tunnel. The pigs enjoy this right of road unmolested, and, in point of fact, step quietly out of their drawing- room into their vehicle, each as easily as an old dowager into her chair waiting in the vestibule. On the occasion of my passing through the tunnel before alluded to, I sat in the foremost carriage of a train, by wliich were conveyed, among merchandise of many descriptions, a quantity of pigs and live cattle. The carriages were drawn about tliree hundred yards within the mouth of the tunnel, upon a level, by a single horse, which, at the foot of the inclined plane, was unhitched and sent bach. Prepa- ratory to the ascent, the foremost carriage was made fast, by a messenger line, to the endless rope com- municating with the stationary engine at the east end, when, at the signal of a bell, the wire of which IJ.} TOE TUK^KL. (25 reaches the vvho^e length, viz., a mile and a quarter, l^]^e engine compienced its labours, and we trundled onAvards in the dark at the rate of eight or ten miles ^^n,hpur. There s^vc, indeed, lights at rare intervals ^^yjtl^n ]the tvmnel.; ,hut, nevertheles|§^ ,by., far. the greater part of the distance is performed in total darkness..; As, we passed, along, the effect produced by 3, tl'.ain >Yhich,ca,rae.j,rumbling downAvards, by its ,j^\yn gTayity, in an opposite direction, was awfully :m-^nd.^,, ^he apprqagh, of so stupendous a body ^:ru^ii»g; ^ towards ais. }xx .tlie dark^ geiterated a sound like tliat of distant artillery; while its conductor sat in front, holding in his hand a small o-limmerino'lan- tern. The .whole, jtogethei'., brought the regions of Pluto before my imagination, while the hogs grunted, a^d the calves lowed in funereal cadence, like a legion oJf disconte^ited spirits. Appearances were not less singular as we ap- proached the openiu"- at the extremity : the objects Without beijqig^ si^n tlirough a long .dark tube, which gave them the semblance of shadowy, un- earthly forms, enveloped in mist. On emerging froni the, tunnel at the rail; way station at Edgehill, the high, rising banks on either side, presenting, es- pecially eastward, a lofty cloven passage through the divided rock, fqr the trains to Manchester, proclaim the spot, though lighted by the rays of the sun, a sub- terranean area. Nearly parallel to the outlet already dfiscribed is the small tunnel for passengers to the booking-office, from whence they are conveyed into the town by ordinary carriages ; however, this latter is now about to be superseded by a third spacious ^Uinnel, by which, from a point farther to the cast- c 2G RAILROAD TRAVELLING. [CH. ward, access will. be liad imderground to tlie ccittre of Liverpool. The IK aimer of travelling by the Liverpool and Manchester rail-road is now too" well known to need any description ; yet the oftener it happens to me to witness a train on its arrival, or preparatory to its departure, the less I can refrain from attentively observing the excellence of the arrangements. In the first place, the mode is admirable, by which a hundred people or more are passed through the booking-office, one after another, each moving on, and followed bv his nei":hbour. through a sort of gate, whereby all are allowed to take their time, without impeding or being impeded by each other. Again, on the arrivals, it is curious to see twenty or thirty carriages, containing scores of people inside, and a large proportion of luggage on the top, un- laden, and observe how quietly, rapidly, and dexter- ously to every man is handed his own, so that, in ttiree or four minvites all the wheel-carriages in wait- in"- arc laden and o-one. The luo-orao-e beinjjj at the top of the carriages, nobody but the authorized por- ter is allowed to ascend. A platform of boards is then raised, forming an inclined plane to the ground, and dov;n which every box or trunk is slid, and handed to its owner by one of two porters, stationed one on each side at the bottom. How perfect is this con- trivance, compared with the common mode of un- loading a stage-coach, where a ladys bandbox may, if not narrowly watched, radiate out of her sight in a crowd, in any direction ! Here, no article what- ever, be it where it may, can possibly be overlooked or unseen by its owner, all being collected at the top II.] A CARGO OF PIGS. 27 of the carriages in one single point, from which tliey necessarily slide along, one after another, down the same channel. I went to the Clarence Dock to see a cargo of pigs which had arrived on board the steamer Drogheda, from Belfast, together with a number of oxen, sheep, and geese, unladen from Ireland. The pigs, con- trary to my expectation, quietly walked out without any remonstrance, upon planks placed zig-zag up- wards all the way from the hold. The service of attending a cargo of pigs, and re- maining in their company below, — considering that the flavour rising from their hides is so strong as to taint a column of air a mile long or more, and nobody knows exactly how broad, — must be really arduous. Such attendance is, however, absolutely necessary, and regularly performed, in order to stir the creatures up, as the only means, being so closely packed, to prevent their suffocation. At all events, on the present occasion, the men below did their duty manfully, in a hot and corrupted atmosphere. As each pig walked up the platform, Paddy behind with a small switch, whenever the animal attempted to swerve, merely ]:)ersuaded him with a delicate touch on the rump. The animal probably mistaking this for the bite of a fly, gently placed one leg forward ; which was no sooner set in its place, than another tickle of the switch on the other side caused him to advance the other. An Irishman can certainly, in common cases, do more with his pig than the native of any other country ; and, no doubt, mainly owing to treating the beast with kindness. A very short time ago I met a man leading a large boar in a string through the town of Litchfield. It was not c2 28 THE ROTUNDA. [CH. necessary to inqiiirc whitlicr the latter and his gcn^ tleman usher were going, but I could not help stop- ping to have a little conversation with the man, te which the boar, with a playful glance of his eye, actually seemed to be listening. The creature fol- lowed his master as willingly as a dog, being simply conlincd by a leathern thong, which loosely encom- passed his thick neck ; I was assured that kind treatment alone had brought hiin to his present pe!i'- fect state of discipline. Once or twice during the time the man stopped, it is true the boar seemed anxious to proceed ; and though he did not put forth his strength, his weight alone called for a counter- acting power. Accordingl}-, to stop him, the man, placing one foot against his flank, as d purchase, the other meanwhile resting on the ground, laM his shoulders to the draft, and pulled him off his centre. "*'•' On the parallel road, immediately contiguous to the docks, stands a building, formerly a Avindinill, which having been sonl'6 yekrs ago accideiitally des- troyed by fire as to the internal part, has been con- verted into a marine hotel, or place of entertainment. It is not inaptly called the R6ttinda Steam -packfet Tavern, and certainly bears indications likely' to allure merchant sailors and other persons of sea- faring habits, those who know how to enjoy most ^of life's comforts within small space, to enter for re- creation. A flat roof, leaded, and furnished with benches, and a flag continually flying thereon all the year round, affords a gazebo, whence Jack, as he whiffs his pipe and boozes, may at the same time preserve a communication on board, and telegraph his messmate in the offing. The circle being that II.] CURIOUS CLOCKS. 29 of all mathematical figures, containing tlie most space within least periphery, the assortment of apart- ments is consequently such, that while at all times a snug cabin is to be obtained for parties of every description, a bedroom also may be had on occa- sions of emergency. It really is quite extraordinary to observe how completely every atom of space has been turned to account within this dwelling, the apartments far ex- ceeding, both in number and size, any probable com- putation to be formed without actual inspection. Supposing the building at the bottom to be thirty feet in diameter, as I believe it is, one might reckon, on each floor, a room for every ten or even nine feet of circumference. The staircase and chimney, which pass through the middle, exhibit a chef-cVoeiivre of the architect, who has contrived the former as it were of extension without breadth or thickness, to serve all purposes, and yet stand in as little space as a ladder. All disputes of precedence must, at all events, either be settled at the top or the bottom ; and, in fact, it is so extremely narrow, that, though I did not examine the chimney, I should think it made little difference whether a man crawled up one or the other. In one of the streets leading to the docks, Hano- ),yer Sti'eet, I obsei'vcd in the window of a very small shop, two clocks, each of so singular construction, that I was induced to enter for the purpose of look- ing at them. The owner of the shop was a poor ,;Dutchman, an artist, by name Drielsma, who claimed '„?ao other merit than that of having merely invented the clocks, which as they told the hour much after the same manner as other people's, had nothing to 30 CURIOUS CLOCKS. [CH. recommend tlicm, except that tliey set about their v/ork in a dilt'erent way. Nevertheless, surely the application of a new principle, though not of itself to ))e turned to immediate purpose, is always inte- restin<^, and fairly to be estimated a step in the scale of science. In the meantime, no other mea- sures were taken by Drielsma to bring- his clocks into notice (that of taking- out a patent being, owing to his circumstances, quite out of the question), than to prepare a huge sheet of elephant paper to receive the names of bountiful and scientific contributors. The paper was headed in beautiful text, and con- tained a brief statement of his object. The space below, — blank * * Besides the two clocks aforesaid, I saw very little furniture in his apartment, more than some watchmaker's tools, a few brass wheels, and an eye-glass. The first of these clocks was what he termed a Railwa}^ clock, inasmuch as, when placed on the top of a small inclined plane, it descended slowly by its own gravity, that is to say, about eight inches in thirty-six hours, and by the action of its descent wound itself up. Therefore the owner had nothing to do but merely occasionally to lift it from a lower point on the plane, and place it on a higher. The inclined plane was an ornamental mahogany frame, in shape like an ottoman, the railway being formed by two brass parallel serrated ridges extending from top to bottom. The clock was in shape a cylinder, one of the vertical sides of which formed the dial plate. The other clock consisted, in the first place, of an hour-circle a couple of feet in diameter, having a pin in the centre to receive the index. The hour-circle II.] CURIOUS CLOCKS. 31 was fastened ]jerpendicularly to the wall, and the index lay upon the table. When the index or hoiu'- hand was put on the pin, the machine resembled to all intents and purposes a small church clock ; but the curious act of its performance was, that the liour- circie being against the wall, and the hour hand on the table, as before said, the index need only be put on the pin, and spun round like that of an E O table, when, mirabile dictu ! it always stopped at the hour. And being-, moreover, once set in its place, it con- tinued to traverse the hour-circle like the hand of an ordinary clock. The way I accounted for the operation was this. I'he index was at one end barbed like an arrow, Avhile at the other end was a little watch, having one hand that traversed a dial marked with divi- sions. There was, I imagine, a small weight within this little watch, moving round the circular peri- phery, v.'hich weiglit, as it changed its position, al- tered the centre of gravity of the index. Being at the extreme point of its orbit, that is, aA the greatest distance from the point of the barb, it would natu- rally predominate with the greatest force against the other end, and fall to the bottom ; when the index would point to twelve o'clock. On the con- trary, when the weight reached the nearest point of its crbit, it would act with least force against the other end, which other end woidd in its turn fall to the bottom, and point to six o'clock. The above staled motions being gradual, and not sudden, an equilibrium must be effected in every part of the circle, so as to attain the end y^roposed. A few Aveeks subsequent to my visit to the artist, 1 happened to enter a magnificent shop containing 32 KEELS'S HOTEL. [CH. all sorts of costly articles of rertv, at Buxton ; where amonf^ other objects of curiosity, I observed one of poor Drielsma's liaihvay clocks. 1 recognized it in a moment, and immediately made inquiries on the subject. The gentleman in the shop replied that the article was one made by Driclsma, Avho had,' he said, contracted to supply him with a certain number of them. 1 did not quite understand the remainder of the history, which related to some dispute about the articles of contract. However, as far as I could collect, something being the matter with one of the clocks, he opened it, either to see whether anything was wrong in the inside, or to endeavour to mend it ; and not succeeding in either of the two objects, — he quarrelled with Drielsma. I would recommend any grumbling discontented person to pay a visit to Liverpool, merely for the purpose of witnessing a specimen of the art of living well and cheap, as regards the very important affair of dinner. There, chance led me on one particular occasion to Keelss Hotel, which is, I think, in the large street leading from the Mansion House to St. George's Dock ; however, at all events, it is wliat'is called highly respectable, both as to its position and elevation. Having mistaken the hour of departure of one of the boats, I was directed hither by the policeman, who, to his recommendation, add^d in an awful cadence, that " the magistrates themselves very often dined there." When I entered the coffee-room, nearly a score of people were seated at different tables, some whh their hats off, others with their hats on, but all bu- sily eating their dinner, and a chnir and a table were provided for myself by a good-looking and very 11.] A CHEAP DINNER. 33 smartly dressed young woman, Avho officiated as waiter. Constant communication was held with the bar at the head of the room, at which three or four other females presided. Upon inquiring what I could have for dinner, the young lady produced the carte, whence it appeared that there really was every- thing that an Englishman could possibly desire, in the matter of roasted and boiled meats, meat pies, and pastry. Neither was the adage, "bis dat qui cito dat," within these walls forgotten, for here a hungry man has no sooner made his selection, than in half a minute the smoke of the dish is actually curling under his nose. I think I never partook of a more glorious round of beef than that of which a plateful was now placed before me, together with a delicate lily-white heart of a young cabbage. Next came a delightful apple dumpling well sugared, the fruit transparent, and the crust excellent. The gar- niture of the table was homely but clean, the dishes and covers of queen's metal, as highly polished as silver. And after having eaten a sufficient quantity to satisfy any reasonable appetite, tiie charge for the whole was only one shilling. To conclude — I asked a gentleman sitting at an adjoining table how much it was customary to give the waiter, to which he re- plied, with a look of surprise, — nothing. Had I not come to the same conclusion long before, I certainly should have arrived at it now, namely, that so loiio- as a man can procure so very good a dinner for a shilling, and be Avaited upon by a tidy young woman into the bargain, England cannot be, in spite of a vast deal of modern philosophy, so very bad a coun- •Axy to live in. ijji, •wM^y^AuM-^ /lix •■ The young person referred to was really the pink c3 S4 A SMART WAiTlNG-MAlD. [CH. of her profession, her movements being quiet, quick, dexterous, and I may add, graceful in a great degree. With no one to assist her, she ^vaitcd upon not less than a score of people, who were no sooner satisfied than they went awajs and were replaced by others ; so that the whole set were nearly changed twice over during the half hour I remained in the room. Her eyes were in every corner at the same moment, so that every guest found his wants attended to, as soon almost as he was aware of them himself. At all events she was in perpetual motion, dropping a fork to one, a piece of bread to another, craving pardon of a third, as slie reached across the table for a huge mug, and in the attitude of a flying Mer- cury, exposed precisely as much as Avas decent and proper of a well turned leg, and then away she would go to another quarter, wriggling about, in a way of her own. or in the French style, as if her feet were tied together, like a figure on wheels wovnid up by clock-work. Sucli an active being surely never could be still, — even in her sleep. The more numerous the company in the room, the more rapid the succession of her smiles ; tliese she dispersed gratuitously all around ; every man in the room was sure to obtain one, if he happened t«:; be young, certainly two, yet business was always uppermost in her mind. Sometimes she simpered and flirted, and now and then put on a languish- ing air, as if suffering either by Cupid or the hot weather; no item, meanwhile, of things fiirnished on any body's account was forgotten in the bill, as she went on from morning to night, attending to the interests of her employer, serving the customers, and continually moving between the coffee-room 11.] NEW BRIGHTON. 35 and tlie bar. In short, no ant was ever seen at his work more lively and busy. Notwithstanding- this incessant occupation, she found time for her toilette, and to arrange her dress in the style of a smart lady's maid ; that is to say, she wore a figured nuislin gown with full sleeves, a small black silk apron, stays tightly laced, clothes wejl put on, feet neat to perfection, and lastly, a cap adorned with blue ribands, covering a profusion of ringlets. Twelve months had rolled away, when afterwards on paying to this hotel a second and last visit, I saw the same young woman, on the same spot, perform- ing the duties of the same office, in precisely the same manner, and in the same good humour with lierself and all the rest of the world; and there stiil, I have no doubt, any other body who chooses to make the experiment, in twelve months more, pro- vided she be not already selected as a matrimonial partner, may also find her. I crossed the Mersey in a small steamer which leaves St. George's Dock every two hours in the day for New Brighton, one of those small watering- places that abound on the Cheshire side of the river, on that peninsula whicli divides it from the river Dee. New Brighton, chiefly indebted to indi- vidual speculation for its existence, is on the north- ern extremity of the peninsula aforesaid, contiguous to the battery and lighthouse. The landing at lo-,\' water is at present decidedly bad ; though means will probably by-and-by be taken to make it better ; in the mean time no objections can be made on ti,e score of safety, the punt on which we were received out of the steamer, being so thick-timbered and 36 IMPROVEMENT OF COAST. [CH. steady, that were, all tlie people she could contain to stand on one side, thpir whole weight would be ipl-i sufficient to bring- that side down to the water. This punt having been puslied from the vessel by pples thirty or forty yards nearer the shore. Avhicli was very flat and sandy, we all walked out along a plfit- foim, balanced in the middle on high wheels, one end of which was laid on her gunwale and the other on dry ground. The time allowed to the passengers before the departure of the steamer back to Liver- pool is, half an liour ; sufficient, if an individual be brisk, to explore the wonders of this new watering- place. The coast at this point, like that of a great part of Lancashire, consists of sand-hills ; among these some new small houses have been built, besides a few villas with young grov/ing plantations and gar- dens. Every thing here, however, is in embryo, the place, three or four years ago, having been a barren sand-bank, producing nothing but scanty blades of rushy grass, and here and there a bush of furze. The ground has been subjected to tillage in the vicinity of the houses, and I saw a field of good wl^eat under the liands of the reapers ; this sight rather surprised me ; the corn, nevertheless, was free from Aveeds, bright in the straw and heavy in the ear — the more interesting, as the land had been neither more nor less than pure sea-sand; amended by marl and "sea sluch,'' a black substance dug below high water mark on the sand of the sea- shore. Although the voyage hither from Liverpool is only a, quarter of an hour, a total change of scene is pro- duced in that period of time, and, the undulations of the sand-hills afford many a sequestered spot. II.] LOW SEACOMBE. 3^ whence, with a totkl dMfidbyTiftdnt' of" the cares 6f the town, the citizen of Liverpool has an opportunity of enjoying, during his few vacant hours, a delight- ful mountain prospect towards the Welsh coast, and pure sea air. -^ It is rather extraordinary, that so little commu- nication exists between these small ports on the Cheshire side of the Mersey, — that there is in fact no better conveyance from One to the other than via Liverpool. However, though the New Brighton vessels ply only once in two hours, those of High Seacombe, Low Seacombe, Woodside, and Birldn- head, depart every half-hour. There are also two or three other such places of daily resort, of which I make no mention, as I did not \'isit them. At Low Seacombe an elevated spot is arranged as a tea-garden, whence a fine view is afforded of the lofty brilliant red brick walls and the docks of Li- verpool. Here, on a summer's evening, may be seen, in a happy state of recreation, both young and old, the former seated in bamboo verandahs, and arbours matted with evergreens, while the latter are amusing themselves, some of them fat fellows in their shirt sleeves, by trundling bowls across the lawn, or playing at quoits. Low Seacombe, which by the way is higher up the Mersey than High Seacombe, is divided from Woodside, the port next above it, by Wallazey Pool, a large inlet or creek, within which the tide ebbs and flows its whole length, viz., about three miles. Its direction being to the north-west, or thereabouts, it may be said almost to cut off the tip of this tongue of land. Notwithstanding that it is immediately opposite the town of Liverpool; na- 38 WALLAZEY POOL. [CH,. vigable at liigli water for small craft almost to its extremity ; and that a nobler site, for docks to any extent cannot be imagined, nature having almost formed them there already ; it has been hitherto, with some trifling exceptions, wholly neglected, especially on the southern or Woodside shore, the greater part of which belongs to the corporation of Liverpool. Without entering upon the affairs of corporate bodies, or their local transactions, it is easier to imagine why the inhabitants of Liverpool should seize upon, and retain so valuable an adjunct to their possessions merely for the sake of rescuing it from the hands of others, than to account for the inertness of the Cheshire people in letting it go. In the mean time, owing to the collision of interests, it is of little use to any body ; while the line of Liver- pool docks on the opposite shore is extending both on the right and on tlie left. There is not even a ferry across it, or any communication between Low Seacombe and Woodside, except by crossing to Li- verpool and back again. This natural harbour being allowed thus to lie waste, one cannot avoid coming to the conclusion, that the neglect is, to use a common expression, all in the way of business, while business in this money- getting town predominates even in the midst of pleasure; in fact, all these small watering-places tend to show how incompatible one is with the other, and afford a pleasing example of the differ- ence between recreation and dissipation. At Wood- side even, seven minutes' passage across from Liver- pool, and lying in the main road to the metropolis and Wales, the houses are all of siiiall size, and an attempt a few years since to build a square, contain- II.] A TROOP OF DONKEYS. 39 ing what would merely be called, after all, '' good houses,'- has utterly failed. The town is a place chiefly of daily sort, whither people arrive hy the boats, for a few hours, or the whole day, and return back to Liverpool ; passing the time as they think fit. — the men in the coffee-rooms, the women and children in excursions in cars or on donkeys. Besides the mail-.coaches and public conveyances between Woodside and Chester, a coach runs daily to Parkgate, a small watering-place on the Dee, from whence the ferry crosses to the town of Flint, in Wales. This coach is chiefly supported by the people who supply from thence the Liverpool market. The sands are covered with abvmdance of cockles, and passable at low water on foot to the extent of live or six miles, or as far as the channel of the Dee, which river keeps the opposite shore. As I was walking from Woodside towards Bid- destone lighthouse, the day being hot, I heard the claltering of hoofs behind me, and was accosted by a little boy, with the offer of a pony. I at first thought the whole troop were donkeys ; but, on a second glance, I did certainly perceive that one of the quadrupeds really was a pony. The boy had just emerged, with his long-eared squadron, from the village of Biddestone, on his way to Vv'oodside, in order to pick up customers for the da}-. The colour of the steed in question was a light sandy dun, a black streak extending the whole length from the withers to the tail ; which mark of distinction not only assimilated him lo the rest of his companions, but, from long habits of intimacy, his manners had become so near akin to theirs, that in reality he was, morally speaking, just as much a jackass as a horse. 40 BIDDLESTONE HILL. [CH. Sucli as lie Avas, I immediately engaged his services, xipon paying a shilling down, with a promise of more, according to time, on delivery. I was also famished with a stick into the bargain, which latter I soon found was doomed to considerable wear and tear in my service, the pony being of a nature at all events not to be ridden away with. In a few minutes he was tied up to a rack of hay in a stable belonging to the lighthouse. ■•>■>'>■<- r. ui Biddestonc Hill, about three miles from Wood- side, commands aii extensive view of the country inland, while the forest of signal-poles, with whidh tlie lighthouse is surrounded, give it, at a distance, an extraordinary appearance — that of a dock or harbour on the top of a hill. Hence the merchant- vessels bound to Liverpool are signalled and tele- graphed in the offing, the poles alluded to bearing the private signals of different individuals. And what must be remarked as rather singular is, that, notwithstanding the arduous duty which necessarily falls on the station, the whole is performed, almost exclusively, b}'^ yo^^ng women — daughters of the ve- teran in charge. The old man, thus ably supported in the winter of life, is four-score years old, and has held the office upwards of forty years. Althougli boys are emplo)^ed to run backwards and forwards, out of doors, Avith colours to the poles, and havd them up ; and one of the three young women is mar- ried, and occasionally assisted by her husband ; yet it is she who, being perfect in the whole code of sig- nals, performs the responsible part of the duty. This couple were both at work together at the time I arrived, the young woman keeping the look-out, and calling the numbers, while the man, merely at II.] THE LIGHTHOUSE. 41 her bidding-, pulled the ropes. She not only kept him employed, but managed meanwhile to iron a shirt into the bargain. J.,, The business of the youngest sister is to attend the light, consisting of eleven Argand lampS;, with plated reflectors. By her, every four hours during jthe night, the lamps are trimmed ; by her are these, the stove, copper, oil jars, and paved floor, preserved in a state of cleanliness not to be exceeded ; and, no doubt, the mariner, on the Vvintry and stormy night, while this moxlest and interesting young creature presides over his destinies, may fearlessly confide his life and safety to the tender, never-failing care of — woman. -hliii bna l Chapter III. s u T H P o R T. A Jurii'oling Joui-ney — An Intellecttial Banquet — ' Tlie Bold Aims' — The Town— Rough Pavement — Drifted Sand — Sand Hills — Superficial Springs — The Sands — Ladies bathing — Decent Regu- lations — ^Male Bathing-Women — Sailing Parties — Ladies in a Twitter — Studious Young Ladies — A Donkey Party — The animal Dulie — Giggling- and Galloping — Kggs and Bacon — Rustic Sports — A Horse Laugh — Dipping for Money in Treacle — An Undutiful Grandson — A good-humoured Multitude — MaghuU Races — The Ruffian and his Bull Dog. NoTwiTHSTAMDiNG the town of Southport is much frequented as a wateriiig'-place ; is pleasantly sitviated within a few miles of the riA^er Kibble, twenty-two miles from Liverpool ; and may be fairly called the metropolis of the parish of North Meols ; it has been dignified as yet with a position in but few mo- dern maps. The journey thither alone, without taking into consideration the salubrity of the spot, is equal to a physician's prescription. Two coaches depart from Liverpool every day. Both these vehicles are set upon extraordinary rough springs, while the road nearly all the distance is paved with large stones ; so that it is reasonable to hope that the grievous jolting inflicted on a passenger during his journey, may at least be conducive to his bodily healtli. These paved roads, I imagine, on a sandy bottom, setting com- fort aside, are the most economical. As, for the last few miles before arriving at Southport, the way lies across a flat moor, the sound of the coach-wheels, on CH. III.] '•' THE BOLD ARMS." 43 a still day, may be heard a long way off, whence people, having" nothing to do, and anxious for the arrival of their letters and newspapers by the said coach, stand at their doors listening to the rumbling noise which, like the roll of a drum, lasts for near a quarter of an hour ; and thus they await their intel- lectual banquet with as much eagerness as the hun- gry subaltern longs for his dinner, when he hears the tune of " The Roast Beef of Old England." The line of sand-hills which stretch for a consi- derable distance along the coast form a conspicuous object before arriving at the town ; the approach to which is, as it were, by a diminutive mountain-pass, where the sand lies drifted across the road, to such a depth that the utmost efforts of the cattle are re- quired to drag the vehicle along. The first house in the town is " The Bold Arms," a large square edifice, and though slightly built, an inn where the traveller may put up with a chance of going farther and faring worse. They who keep the house are kind people, the terms extremely moderate, and a common table is provided for the visiters dur- ing the summer season : that is to say, breakfast is served at eight in the morning, dinner at half-past one, and tea at six ; whence complaints are rare as to late hours. The town consists of one very wide, straight street^ in length a full mile, and parallel with the sea; the line of perspective stretching apparently to an in- terminable length ; while a few transverse streets diverge at right angles. The long street aforesaid passes as it were through the sand-hills which extend parallel to it on either side. The houses are chiefly 44 SAND- HILLS. [CH. dwelling or lodging houses ; among tliem very few shops, and all unequal in size, with plenty of space preserved to allow a small railed lawn or gar- den to each. The pavement, after the fashion of the Liverpool road, consists of large stones, and on each side, for the advantage of pedestrians, or rather, that of shoemakers, the side-paths are constructed of smaller ones, more acute than I ever remember to have walked upon — except in a stable. For this reason tliick-soled shoes are indispensable at South- port, and these should also be made to fit close in the quarter, as now and then at the crossings the sand lies ancle deep. The drift of sand is so great at times dvu'ing a gale of wind, that the effects are serious. Many of the o-ardcns in the transverse streets are filled with mountains that overtop the house, overwhelm the lower apartments, and which no one, from their size, thinks of removing. The walking within the town is certainly not good. Without, there is the choice of the sea-shore, or the sand-hills ; in the latter the wayfarer usually sinks up to the knees, except immediately after a smart shower of rain, in which single instance the sand binds instantaneously, concedes free leave and license to range over the tops of these mimic moun- tains, and affords ready means to visit spots which, only half an hour before, were all but inaccessible. It is really with extreme pleasure that treading upon a hardened surface one then explores recesses where nothing but the sky is to be seen, and which seem as wild and solitary as an Arabian desert. Rabbits burrow here abundantly, Avith little or nothing ap- in.] LAND-SPRINGS. 45 parently to feed upon ; and small green lizards, of a colour beautifully vivid, are plentiful. A species of very ^iglv toad, not common, is also here met with. I could not help thinking, Avith reference to the vast tract of land lying thus waste under the form and figure of sand-hills, that it might, at a compa- ratively trifling expense, provided the operation were carried on gradually and by slow degrees, be con- verted into a sheep-walk. No matter how thin the top-soil ; the great difficulty being once overcome, that of causing the Jfirst adhesion, it follows that the moment sheep could walk upon it, then by being fed off, the surface must increase rapidly. By the ap- plication of sea sluch, of which there is plenty on the sea-shore, this object might, I think, be effected; for instances may be seen, in the vicinity of the town, where a bed of indigenous j^ellow trefoil has ad- vanced upon the sand-hills, and grows luxuriantly upon a bottom almost of pure sand. ^'^"The land-springs in the Ioaati and its vicinity are so near the surface of the ground, that, literally speaking, a donkey being on level ground may, any where, and at any time, provided he be thirst)^ scratch a hole with his fore foot, and therein slake his thirst. I saw a labourer digging to plant a post a few yards only from''*' The Bold Arms," reach water at three feet. The wells in the town are generally five feet, of which the water stands at half the depth. The uplands are divided into very small fields, and fenced by ditch and bank, as strongly as any part of Ireland. /x rtft*^i vrtBiuon p/ii; Ji,.// du ■ From the door of" Tlie Bold Arms "a deep sandy road leads straight to the sea-shore, the line of high 46 THE SANDS. [CH. water being about three or foar hundred yards dis- tant. The wide extent of the sands is peculiarly- striking : stretching to the north and south, and, if at low water, seaward also, as far as the eye can reach. On the north, the white houses of the town of Lytham glisten in the sun, their site being at the mouth of the river Ribble, which obstacle, the breadth being foreshortened in the distance, is not percep- tible. Southward an individual may ride along the shore the greater part of the way to Liverpool ; and, as the sea recedes at low water full a mile and a half> as far as regards liberty and range of prospect, the eye may wander over aii area equal at least to twenty square miles. Everywhere, the sands at Southport conA'cy to the mind a strong impression of solitude ; for though the number of people residing in the town, citizens of Liverpool and Manchester, is always considerable, the line of promenaders, extended and broken, is lost in space so as to be in appearance greatly under- rated. The visiters, like the rabbits from their holes, pop in and out from their houses, by the cross streets leadino- throug-h the sand-hills, down to the shore and back again, as their idle moments dictate, by ones, and twos, and threes ; — tired of being in the house and tired of being out of it, now and then grouping together in small straggling parties at the approach of high water. On this occasion a sort of high change and congregation adds enlivenment to the scene ; but as the waves rapidly recede, the ladies, young and old, disappear into the town ; the same vacant watery plain again appears, and the gulls and sand-pipers remain undisturbed till the next tide. III.] LADIES BATHING. 47 The ceremony of ladies batliiiig is accompanied witli some peculiarities. Owing to the rapid rise and fall of the tide they are obliged to be particu- larly quick in their movements, so that not only those who are aboat«to dip are as busy as bees, but likewise the mothers, and aunts, and sisters, and cousins, and friends, who attend them. And perhaps it is this appearance of bustle that always attracts a gang of idlers who, having nothing better to do, stand by and look on. Notwithstanding a painted board, placed in a conspicuous position in the rear of a score or upwards of bathing machines standing in a line, explicitly decrees that those of the gentlemen shall not advance nearer than one hundred yards to those of the ladies, I did not remark any specific regulations enforced as to distance among the spec- tators, which point seemed otherwise decided by common consent to ever3'body's satisfaction. How- ever, all pleasure-boats are prohibited from approach- ing within the distance of thirty yards, under the penalty, in case of contempt of the regulation, of five shillings ; a fine which, under the circumstances, cannot be called exorbitant. I am not aware how it is proposed to adjust a case of disputed distance, some favour being properly due to the variation of the steersman's eye on such an occasion ; the fine has been calculated, probably, by those best able to assess tlie damage, and affords the means of turning, in these liberal days, even a lady's charms to the good of the parish. While the insulted fair one becomes a public benefactress, the gentleman fined, provided his eyes be tolerably good, has no cause to complain of the draft on his purse ; the fine, moreover, falls on the boat's crew, in a kind of ad valorem rate, as 48 MALE BATHING-GUIDES. [CH. the case may be — not exceeding, at all events, a few pence per naked lad}^ All the old bathing-women at Southport'(to make use of an Hibernicism) are youncr men, that is to say, stout lusty fellows under iffiddle age. Whether the service diminishes the chilling effects of the water ; whether it makes young men old, or old men young, is a point, they say, not yet determined ; at all events, such is the force of habit, that the young ladies one and all, Avithout hesitation, submit to their guidance, such as they are. The guide, or male per- sonage, or what not, takes his post in front of the door of the machine, in the usual manner, while the young lady within disencumbers herself of her ap- parel, putting on a dark blue bathing'dress, in which, by the way, I perceived no other difference from those commonly used, than that it was invariably fastened with strings between the ancles. In this costume the fair one, after a few minutes' delay, re- appears on the upper step of the sanctuary, and there stands timidly hesitating — '*' Albo sic huraero nitens, Ut pura nocturno renidet Luna mari.'' " Her shoulder white, As the moonbeam bright, That ilhimines the glittering sea at night." Presenting both hands to the guide, supported by his grasp, and falling backwards on the wave, she then receives the embraces of old Neptune as young ladies usually do, with the accompaniments of squeak- ing, giggling, kicking, splashing, and wincing. Besides the healthful recreation of bathing, the sea affords, from time to time, the diversion of sail- III.] A BOATING PARTY. 49 ing. Boats at high Avater every morning depart for Lytham, besides others which ply rcguhxrly at the same period, for private hire. The boatmen, far from soKciting strangers to go on board with the usual importunity, Avere, on the contrary, so remiss, that I let several opportunities pass of becoming a passenger, imagining them to be engaged by a special part}^ On a subsequent occasion, being better acquainted with the style of things, I paid sixpence on the shore, and wa,llced in with the rest. To get some half-dozen ladies on board was a part of the day's adventure ; for as the tide was not yet sufficiently high, it was indispensable that they should be carried in men's arms for some distance towards the boat. The young gentlemen of their party very gallantly proffered their assistance, and two of them performed the service in a dexterous manner, both together supporting the fair burden by crossing hands, and enabling her to feel as if she sat in a sedan chair. Women are tender, nervous creatures, and some- how or other, whenever they have to deal with that rude, rough animal man, universally put themselves into a twitter. Thus every one of these damsels began to be fussy the moment, or rather a few mo- ments before, her turn to be carried arrived ; and invariably one and all anticipated the gallants, by stepping forward most unnecessarily to meet tlicm, and placing each her dainty little foot in the puddle. But this action was merely preliminary, and quite trifling compared with the furious fit of the fidgets which followed on being actually lifted. This cere- mony was attended by an innumerable host of little difficulties. First they would not be helped at all, — 50 AN AGREEABLE SURPRISE. [CH. then they would he liclped, but theh- clothes were in the way. Some found fault because the gentlemen placed then* hands too high, — others squeaked be- cause they were too low, — now they were sure they w^ould fall forwards, — and then again there was no- thing at all to prevent their falling backwards ; so that finally, what with all their whims and fancies, they really, poor things, became seriously frightened, sometimes, as if wrought to a frenzy of ungovern- able agitation, seizing the beau by his curly poll, at other times firmly clenching in their little fists an ear or a whisker. However, they were no sooner on board than their fears were all forgotten, and they became so joyous and happy that the bloom of youth and hilarity not only irradiated their own counte- nances, but also shed a reflected ligiit all around. It was on the evening of the above-related boat- ing party, when as I was walking near the sea-shore, I observed three ladies perched on the summit of one of the higliest of the sand-hills, and, as I approached nearer, I perceived they were all sitting down, having each a book in her hand which she seemed to be read- ing. As there appeared to be no chance of disturbing them, all being so intently occupied, I continued to stroll onwards, stopping now and then to look at the sea, and then approaching a little nearer by degrees, till I was enabled to discover, not only that they were young and pretty, and that instead of reading their books they were laughing and talking to one another ; — but that they were the very identical ladies whom a few hours before I had silently accom- panied in the boat. I therefore, having hitherto been moving in the periphery of a circle, commenced an approach upon its diameter, and then advancing. III.] A DONKEY PARTY. 51 I accosted the fair group, after having; made a pro- found obeisance. The above occurrence led partly in its turn to my partaking- in an expedition, then on the tapis, namely, a donkey party and fete champefre to be held in the country two miles distant, at a place called '• The Isle of Vvight." Why the spot should thus be de- nominated, I never could learn, the locale consisting merely of a small alehouse, " The Ash Tree," on the edge of the sand-hills, bearing a red flag flying on the roof; and adjoining which is a bowling-green. It was about three o'clock of the appointed day, and not before the party were ready to proceed, that I began seriously to consider what I had under- taken ; not that I had any fears on my own account, or other apprehension than for the back of the don- key, now appropriated to my service ; having been of late years rather out of the habit of bestriding these animals. And it Avas really with unfeigned earnestness that I put the question to the boy, his owner, whether or not he thought him able to carry me. The master of Duke, for that was my donkey's name, had no scruples whatever on the part of his beast, neither had he a word to waste in reply ; and as the ladies were all mounted and moving on, all he did was to tighten the girth. Duke received this favour conferred on him with a sour look, and upon its being repealed shook his ears, switched his tail, and drew himself up into a menacing attitude. He was a dun-coloured, bony patriarch, and though not overburdened with flesh, yet, as the nature of his duties demanded, a comely, able-bodied animal. On preparing to mount, I was somewhat discom- fited by being provided with a lady's saddle, but d2 52 DUKE, THE DONKEY. [c'^'. on these occasions everybody fares alike, and a stirrup is hitched on at the opposite side. This was not agreeable, but there was no help" for it, — it was the custom. When I mounted, not only did Dukes back not bend, but I had reason to be perfectly astonished at the style in which I was carried, particularl}^ as the road was paved, and the animal liad not a shoe on his foot. None of the donkeys at Southport are shod, they ' s'dly that the hoof becomes cracked if shod, and grows harder when bare. At all events, Duke stepped over the ^;rt2;c' without flinching, and at a rate, n6"NV and then, which I should have imagined quite im- possible. As soon as the donkeys trotted, the young ladies began to giggle and titter, when the bbyS in the rear also opened their mouths and gave tongue, at the same time, by the liberal application of their sticks, we enjoyed a burst of a hundred yards at full gallop. On these occasions, such were the powers of Duke, that though I remained quite pas- sive, I always found myself in the end, "first flight." The sagacious animal had a disagreeable fashioii, whenever he felt his master's stick on his posteriors, of shuflling one side of his rump, if he could, under the tail of my coat, in order to avoid a beating, simultaneously yielding to the opposite side, with an oblique twist of his body ; which movement felt precisely as if a strong man were twitching him half round, by a side pull at his tail. A similar ma- liocuvre prevailed among all the donkeys, Avhich caused them continually to cross, during the period of the gallop, in each other's wake, and so jostled and jumbled the riders together, as entirely to dis- sipate at once all manner of formality. 111.] SPORTS ON THE SANDS. 53 On dismounting at tlie sign of the Asli Tree, pre- paration having been previoiisly made, an entertain- ment a la fourchette was displayed on the bowling- green, consisting of abundance of boiled eggs and delicate fried rashers of bacon. As to the tea, which soon was smoking on the boarll, its best pane- gyric rests upon its having been brought thither in a lady's reticule. At all events every one was thoroughly satisfied; and drank tea and ate of the eggs and bacon heartily, till all parties having ren- dered strict justice to the viands, the sand was rubbed off the hides and saddles of the donkeys, we re- mounted, and before seven o'clock the festivities had ceased, and every individual was left to his or her separate resources, for the remainder of the evening, in the town of Southport. ,; Since I have undertaken to relate a part of the gaieties with which I mingled during the few days of my sojourn at Southport, I must add to the fore- going another rviral festival, in the v/ay of races and sports, celebrated on the sands. The ceremonial was duly announced some days before by large pla- cards, printed and distributed, to give it publicity ; b}' these it was set forth, that races would take place between donkeys, and the spavined old horses used in the bathing-machines ; that men would hop in sacks, trundle wheelbarrows blindfold, chase a pig with a soaped tail ; and that boys would climb a greased pole for a gold-laced hat, and dip for pieces ,jof drowned money in a bowl of treacle. jy,. There is no physical or moral act of a man''s life [jihat so thoroughly assists his independence for the tiiue being, proves good fellowship with all the world, and exhibits him in an undisguised state of 54 SPORTS ON TTH'. SANDS. [cH. nature, as a sound horsc-laug'h ; and for what pos- sible reason the laws of fashion have forbidden that innocent recreation, I never could imagine, — a prohi- bition which actually causes the countryman to clap his hand before his mouth, in the presence of his superiors, as if it were absolute sin to give way to an honest impvdse of nature. Certainly it is very delightful to see people happy, especially when, not knowing exactly the reason why, they yield involuntarily to the united sympa- thies of body and mind, in the form aforesaid ; in addition to which, in the present instance, however I might have been naturally predisposed towards this country tournament, there was one part of the exhibition, calculated, I am sure, to unbend muscles rigid as the bow of Ulysses — that of dipping for the pieces of money in treacle. In the first place, the spot chosen for the occasion, on the broad sea-shore, was by nature most happily suited to the purpose, while a projecting ridge of sand-hills afforded a convenient position for the crowd, consisting of five or six hundred people, which had assembled to arrange themselves in clusters, and bask at ease among the little mountains. Besides, it was one of the finest of summer evenings. A table or dresser having been placed on the sands, a huge wooden bowl containing at least a gallon of treacle, was put upon it, while the officiat- ing personage carefully stirred round and round with a stick, ten silver shillings, within the luscious element. The competitors were then summoned by sound of horn to the lists ; it being previously un- derstood that the hands of each boy Avere to be tied behind him, and no means allowed, except the assist- III.] SPORTS ON THE SANDS. 55 ance of his teeth, to recover tlie hidden treasure ; on such conditions, every prize so fished up, to be his by right of salvage. The lirst candidate was a great lubberly boy of seventeen, whose diffidence, excited by the gaze of the multitude, caused him to display to better ad- vantage the wide mouth and projecting teeth with which nature had furnished him. Although shovits resounded on all sides, and appeals were made from intimate friends to his acquaintanceship, the mana- gers without delay proceeded to business, all pre- parations for which were effected in a few minutes. The hands of the hero were now bound, his throat was bared, he was placed kneeling on the table, the bowl of treacle before him, and he was just ready to duck for the prize, when a desperate effort was made by his grandmother to prevent the ceremony. xVt this juncture, she very opportunely, or rather in- opportunely made her appearance, loudly called him by his name, screamed, pushed the people on her rioht and on her left, abused both him and them, and exerted all her feeble strength to make way tln'ouffh the crowd, and seize her recreant relative. But the poor old creature had very little chance, as might well be supposed, of attaining her object ; while she was pushed, and hustled, and impeded in all sorts of ways ; on the contrary, the boy was urged and instigated to be undutiful by public acclama- tion. Recognizing his grandmother, and her solici- tude and inilexibility ought certainly to have won his heart, he grinned clownishly, and as if giving way to a sense of duty, for a moment refrained. — It was but fyr a moment. The sounds of '* Go it, Dick," " Down with your muzzle," were too animal- 56 SPORTS ON THE SANDS. [CH* ing, and urged by the joint love of fame, money, and treacle, down went liis head into the bowl. The first struggle, no matter whether or not suc- cessful, was a very determined one ; and it may well be asserted, that few scenes of the sort ever ,piie- sented a better subject for a painter, tlian the ,one in question, at the moment when, after the first plunge, this rustic renegade drew his head out of the bowl, and recovered his kneeling position. Hjis own countenance more like that of an ourang outang, than anything human, the disappointed rage of the grandmother, and the roars of laughter, proceeding from five or six hundred open mouths in unison, were so many sounds and objects which, when com- bined, presented, in their 'wa.j, a piqturp of_r«^si,l J-ifp, seldom if ever to be svu-passed. ,,j r^ijif// -iunj-xaie. b The festivities had now lasted upwards of three hours, when even before the sun had set, the country people returned to their homes, and the waves broke a^ain in solitude on the shore. During the whole performance, I never witnessed among a multitude of people, more good-humoured and orderly beha- viour; indeed they submitted to be ridden at and driven out of the course by mounted horsemen with infinitely less remonstrance than is usual with many an ignorant vagabond, who reflects not on the process as tending to the general good. In fact, the congregation consisted chiefly of sensible indus- trious people, — of such as, thank God ! there are thousands upon thousands in the country, apart from great towns, who support themselves by daily labour, and pass the chief part of their time in the bosoms of their families. In the ncigli,bourhood of Southport, there is a rural manufacturing, as well as ' IIl.J THE VICTIM OF INTEMPERANCE. 57 agricultural population, of whom these were a part ; domestic silk weavers, living separately in small cot- tages, and working at home at their looms. And a more striking contrast cannot be conceived, than -was presented on this occasion, to another ■-• scene I witnessed only a few days afterwards, at the "• MaghuU races, where the crowd was composed of the rougher sort, in and about the great town of Liver- -pool, being, I sincerely hope, the outpourings of the '-worst class of inhabitants. I can never forget the impression made upon me 'f-by the squalid ruffianly visage of a man, as he v,-as ^'sitting within, at the entrance of one of the tents or -'low receptacles of drunkenness. In one hand was his mug of liquor ; with the other, he held by a string a starving white bull-dog. Several times I passed the spot during the two hours I was on the ground, and could not help pitying the destiny of the unfor- tunate creature, whose staring coat was sufficient in- dication of his hard treatment. I had left South- port on purpose to go to these races, and on my - return home 1 saw once more this man and dog. The former lay on tlie ground in a state degrading J to human nature, while shivering at his side in faith- i'ful attendance stood the dog. Notwithstanding the collapsed muscles of his master's hand had loosed their grasp, the faithful animal, a victim to ill-treat- ment and hunger, ludlinchingly held his parole, evincing that disinterested attachment, that true nobility of nature, in search of which among the human race, many an honest heart may vrither in disappointment. d3 Chapter IV. C H E S T E R. Antiquity versus Utility — Rows, Barns, and Cock-lofts — Ancient Wall — New Stone Bridge — Criminal Court and County Gaol — Canals — Voyage by Canal to EUesmere Port — A humane Chicken- merchant — Salt-Mines at Northwich — Marston Pit Descent — Ex- tensive Excavation — Regent Street — Pic-nic Parties — Subter- ranean Mice — A healthy old Horse — Want of velocity in ascent — Brine Springs. The very ancient city of Chester, -where llie scale of perfection ascends in proportion to antiquity, is certainly entitled to unbounded pre-eminence. It is the most strang-e-looking place in all England. Within its walls the most inconvenient and clumsy forms of architecture are held in preservation, in defiance of the light of modern knowledge and im- provements in the arts. It would, at all events, puzzle a builder or architect to render, without the assistance of a model, an intelligible plan of such premises, among the by-ways and alleys, called rows, where a man must turn completely round, and look above him, in order to ascertain whether he is in the house or out of it ; and where the inhabitants pass backwards and forwards among each other's dwellings, after the fashion of rabbits in a warren, or a race of primitive troglodytes. During the short period I remained at Chester, I may fairly say I suffered from the inclemency of the weather. As regards the inns, the prejudice in favour of old houses has been turned to advantage. CH. IV.] NEW STONE BRIDGE.- 59 and a strang-er is consequently ushered into an apartment, which in other towns would be called a garret or a cock-loft ; not but that in other places instances may he adduced where a sagacious land- lord, finding, contiguous to his house, a bam, throws both under one roof, and contrives to gull a worthy public by raising before their eyes a stately eleva- tion. This principle has been so frequently applied in the town of Chester, and alterations and repairs have followed, century after century, in such dis- cordant succession, that it is difficult, in many parts of it, to determine the difference between being the inhabitant of what was originally a single house, or of two or thi'ee thus knocked into one. In the meantime the town of Chester, though in possession of an outlet by the canal passing through from Ellesmere to the Mersey, may be fairly said to be fed, in great part, by the crumbs which fall from the town of Liverpool's table, the independent traffic bearing no proportion wiiatever to its import- ance as a point of thoroughfare bet^yeGa tne metro- polis, Ireland, Wales, and the latter gToat city. The ancient wall which entirely surrounds the town, affording an excellent promenade along the whole circumference, is a noble and digfuified model, Worthy certainly of being handed down to posterity, and preserved in secula seculorum. In making the circuit of this Avalk, the new stone bridge struck me as being a beautiful structure, and I imagine of the largest span (240 feet) of any stone bridge in England ; it is a single segment arch, a rainbow in symmetry, substantial in the highest degree, at the same time light and airy in appearance. The old bridge, about a quarter of a mile still higher up the 60 CIIIMINAL COURT AND GAOL. [cil. river, is on iivc arclies, no two of which are alike ; one large arch is eUiptical, a small one a segment, and the other three are pointed, and of differeni sides. , . ,, Besides the new bridge, the new buildings of the courts of law and county gaol are erected in a style of improved taste, that renders a contrast with the old part of the town still more obvious. The interior of the criminal court is really splen- did, contrived so as to economise space in an ex- traordinary degree, and exhibit a highly-wrought specimen of architecture. The ground-plan is a semicircle ; the roof a flattened dome, containing a skylight in the centre : the judges seat is on the flat side of the semicircle, in the middle ; the win- dows in the wall above him, the whole area of the court in front. Immediately before, and, as his seat is somewhat raised, below him, are the compartments for the juries and counsel, the witness box, and the dock for the prisoners ; from the latter, an under- ground communication reaches to the gaol. Oppo- site the judge, on the curved part of the semicircle, the public are accommodated, under a colonnade supported by handsome stone pillars, from the base of which broad shallow steps descend into the body of the court. The walls and ceiling arc richly ornamented. The gaol is on the new construction, the go- vernor's house in the centre, from which vistas radiate in every direction. , The house is elevated above the cells, whose roofs spread beneath in the foreground, and in the distance a superb view appears of the surrounding country. On entering the turnkey's door, the healthful airiness of the IV.] CANALS. m pro'spect, and the cleanliness and tidy arrangement within the building, render it difficult to reconcile to the mind the contrasting emblems of solitude and imprisonment. Two canals, converging in a point, commimicate with the river Dee, nnder the walls of Chester ; the one, leading by Nantwich to EUesmere, in Shrop- shire : and the other, by a straiglit cut of nine miles in length, extending to the Mersey. By this latter^ a daily communication is held with Liverpool, whi- ther passengers are conveyed in a steamer from El- lesmere port, a village on the banks of the Mersey^ where warehouses, to a considerable extent, have lately been built. I made one voyage by this canal, from Chester towards Liverpool, by the packet-boat, which started from the canal basin at eleven o'clock in the morn- ing. Notwithstanding the bad navigation of the river Dee necessarily tends to increase the traffic on this canal, the indications of business, both in the office and on board the packet-boat, were fewer than might be imagined ; that is to say, there were not more than twenty or thirty passengers, and the in- land produce chiefly consisted of live fowls. The cheeses from Chester are usually trundled on board vessels of about two hvmdred tons, which latter are towed up and down the Dee by a steamer, called the Dairymaid ; although the period when such a vessel as the former can make her way vipwards must bo extremely near high water. On walking by the side of the river, upon the Dee Cop, as it is called, the large embankment by Avhich some thousands of acres of reclaimed land were formerly enclosed, one is inclined to wonder at the shallow channel of this G2 THE CHICKEN-MERCHAKT. [CH. river, — thus constrained by artiilcial means within a narrow compass. At the same time consideriiig the extreme flatness of the whole of this little peninsvda, occupying its position between the Dee and the Mersey, the former river might be expected, when left to itself, to have laid the greater part of the land under water. The incidents of this short voyage were but common-place, though it behoved each passenger to exercise some degree of watchfulness, to prevent his brains being beaten out by the arches of the numer- ous bridges across the canal. These are so low as not to allow a man to stand upright when passing underneath, and they are encountered at the rate of five or six in a mile. The- l)oat vfas towed by three horses, of Avhich a boy rode the hindmost, driving the 'other U\o before him without reins. The animals thus free of control, were, nevertheless, like men in the same predicament, not quite so independent as might be imagined, the towing-path being so straightened and narrow, that they were unable to tvu'n round ; and as the boy was what is called " sharp," whenever the leaders were deaf to the crack of the whip, he jumped ofl' and flogged them up to the mark. I could not avoid paying some attention to the proceedings of a chicken merchant, who had imder his charge upwards of twenty baskets of live fowls. These a common observer might have thought he was treating in an extraordinary manner; and per- secuting the poor creatures to such a degree, that while the annoyance of their cackling extended to every corner of the vessel, those who sat to leeward were covered with dust and feathers. The entire IV.] THE CHICKEN-MERCHANT. '^ object of his superintendence seemed to be to inflict torment on these miserable animals, being con- tinually on the alert, and as if possessed with a demoniac spirit, exulting in their imprisonment, as he poked them incessantly with a long stick, and grinned horribly at his victims through the wicker bars of their dungeons. But it was easy to perceive, on a more careful survey of this man's countenance, that such surmises were unfounded ; that he was merely labouring in his vocation, and so far from meditating evil to his prisoners, all his acts tended to their prosperity, at least in so far as related to preserving them all alive. Kay, so anxious was he lest any should die, that the perspiration tricklejd down his forehead, while the birds' feathers stuck upon his broad red gums, faster than he could possibly spit them out. As to his grinning at the birds, it proceeded merely from a nervous contortion of features, the effect of extreme earnestness, and was an involuntary effort by which the cheeks and upper lip were elevated by sheer force of the muscles of the sinciput. The simple matter of fact was, that chickens, like human beings, act on selfish principles, and especially wlien a great number find themselves uncomfortable together, each individual tries to get on his neigh- bours shoulders, not caring, so long as he himself obtains a little fresh aii-, whether or not the other endures suffocation. The chicken merchant had ne- cesyp.rily recourse to this revolutionary process ; and though unable to alter the nature of the animals, he thus found means to give each, in his turn, an op- portunity to shake his ears, and exercise retaliation. We arrived at Ellesmere Port, which is, I think. •64 SALT MINES. [ctt. six or seven miles above Liv^erpool, and were met by the steamer, which conducted the passengers thither before two o'clock. The warehouses at the former place, before alluded to, are exceedingly well built, consisting of a triple I'ow, with water cuts, passing through arches, among the buildings. • li A coach starts daily vv^aiting the tide passengers from Liverpool, from Runcorn to Northwich, at which latter town, a stranger, when arrived, may very rea- sonably, without being over fastidious, wish himself out of it. The streets are narrow, dark, and dirty ; some of the inns rather below par. On the present occasion I had availed myself of the above convey- ance, for the purpose of seeing the salt mines in the neighbourhood. It has been my lot to receive so much kindness from strangers, to whom, without any introduction, ] have made application to see their establishments, that I cannot, in fairness, draw an exception here, with regard to some difficulties which appeared when I set out on my present object in the morn- ing ; nor, in fact, were they of any farther conse- quence, than that they might have dispirited and deterred, at the onset, any mere lukewarm adven- turer. It is but reasonable to find such trifling im- pediments thrown in the way of the public at large, by a proprietor subject, day after day, to applica- tions from all descriptions of people, attracted by a great natural curiosity. One may rather wonder at permission being granted to upwards of a thousand people every year, in spite of interruption and detri- ment to business, to visit these mines. Wishing to see the Marston Pit, the same for- merly known as Burns' s Pit, before it came into the IV.] MARSTON PIT. ?65 hands of tlic present proprietor, I was informed, on in([uiring-, that I had nothing to do but go thither, and obtain permission from any of the principal people of the establishment then on the spot. How- ever, having walked to the pit, a mile and a half from the town, on the Liverpool road, I found that nothing short of permission from the proprietor himself v.ould answer the purpose ; I then returned to the town, found out and made personal applica- tion to the gentleman in question, by whom it was immediately granted. Having provided myself with a paper of powder, prepared by a chemist in the town, to answer the purpose of blue light, I presented myself again at the Marston Pit, which consists of two levels, the lower of which is one hundred and twelve yards below the surface of the ground, and the other just half- way down the shaft. Although there were no men at work on this day on the lower level, my conductor recommended me, by all means, to visit this, partly for that reason, but chiefly on account of its being more ancient, and exhibiting a far more extensive excavation. It had, as I understood, been worked for a period of sixty years. As soon as the engineer had " pvit a little steam on," we both stepped into a round tub, and stand- ing upright, holding by the chains, were let down very easily. An extraordinary effect was produced by the scene around me, w^iich surpassed anything I had anticipated ; creating those sensations I re- member to have felt when first I read of the pyra- mids and catacombs of Egypt. A magnificent chamber, apparently of unlimited extent, is sup- ported by a flat roof presenting an area so great 6G EXTENSIVE EXCAVATION. [CH. that one cannot help being astonished at its not having long since given way. Nevertheless no want of security is apparent, and it remains sound and durable as if formed of adamant. Here and there it is fortified by pillars, in size like a clamp of bricks in a brick-field, the latter presenting to the view an arrav of objects sufficient to break the vacancy of uniform space. According to my idea of the extent, it is an area equal to the site of Grosvenor Square, or thereabouts. In the mean time the glistening particles of crystal salt on the walls, and the ex- treme regularity of the concentric curved lines, traced by the tools of the workmen, are very remark- able. Occasionally the mark of the jumper-chisel is observable, where recourse has been had to blast- ing the solid rock. I made a few blows against the side of the mine, with one of the heavy-pointed pickaxes in ordinary use, atid found it hard as free- stone. Under foot the whole surface is a mass of rock-salt, covered with a thick layer of the material, crushed and crumbled to a state resembling the powdered ice on a pond cut up by skaters. Experiments have been made by boring to a depth of seventeen yards, but they have neither perforated the stratum of rock-salt, nor have they hitherto ascertained its thickness. The height of this excavation is about fifteen feet, within which space the salt is estimated as being of the best quality. Above it is somewhat inferior. I was in- formed that thirty-five thousand tons were annually dug out of the different levels, and that the area of all these together amounted to forty-eight statute acres. A considerable quantity is exported to Prussia. IV.J SUBTERRANEAN MICE. ^ At one part is a vista of two hundred yards in length, dignified with the name of " Regent Street." Here occasionally pic-nic parties resort; and on a large table of coarse deal boards, were the evidences of deeds of wassail, performed at a feast of this de- scription, celebrated a few months before. An empty jug and sprig or two of evergreen lay forlorn and neglected, together with natural tokens, indisputable and abvmdant, of mice that had joined in the revelry. These little animals invariably establish their resi- dence under ground, wherever men lead the way. At the coal-pits at Whitehaven, for instance, they are plentiful at a depth of one hundred and forty fathoms, being imported originally, probably in bundles of horse provender. Were it possible, Avithin this mine, to provide against the inconvenience of smoke, there not being any efficacious outlet for its egress, I can- not conceive a place better calculated, with proper appendages and decorations, to give effect to a fete on a magnificent scale. As it is, and as regards light and smoke, people must be content with a choice, either to have too much of the one, or too little of the other. Every one who descends this pit ought to bring a good Bengal light, instead of the j)reparation vended by the learned chemist of Northwich. This is a yellow powder, a quantity of which being placed on the ground, and ignited by a piece of lighted paper, engenders for a few seconds a tantalizing glare, which sinks exhausted before it is possible to take an adequate survey of the objects around. For ordinary purposes, we had recourse to common tallow candles. ii aving wandered a long time, through vast space. 68 ASCENT FROM THE PIT. [CH. but almost in darkness, Ave came again to the foot of the shaft. Previous to ascending-, my guide went a Httle out of the way, in order to carry a pail of Avater to an old horse, Avho, as the Avorkmen Avere absent for the Avhole day, Avas standing by himself in perfect solitude, and till Ave came, Avithout any light at all. Alone and in darkness, he must, poor felloAV, from necessity, live for many hours in the year, and pass thus neglected a very considerable portion of his time. He loudly expressed his gra- titude for the Avater, and as I took an opportunity of examining his condition Avhile he Avas drinking, I found it particularly good ; unlike the flaccid, though line-coated state of horses in coal-pits. His firm crest and perfect state of health, I attribute specially to the salubrious effects of the salt. His stall was comfortable aiid dry, as Avas the whole space beloAv contained in this pit ; nor did I observe any appear- ance Avhatevcr of Avater or moisture during the Avhole time I Avas below. As Ave Avere draAvn up, I failed to experience the joyous bounding sensation I felt at being Avhisked upAvards nearly three times the distance from the bottom of a Whitehaven coal-pit. Whether it be that here they have a delicate Avay of treating sight- seeing people, or that the steam of the engine Avas liardly up, I do not know ; at all events Ave rose ex- ceedingly sloAv, so much so, that it felt to me as if the poAvers of the engine Avcre dying aAvay, and that we Avere about to return, as the sailors say, " by the run." When Avithin a few yards of the summit, the Avlieel made a feAv gentle oscillations, letting us doAvn a little Avay, and then draAving us up again ; so that I Avas truly glad the moment I could catch a firm grip IV.] BRINE SPRINGS. 69 above, and step out of tlie bucket. A certain degree of velocitv in ascending is indispensable to im])ress the mind with a confidence in the power by which one is raised ; and though I have heard of people who, when drawn up quickly, have been so seriousl}^ affected by the motion, as to be obliged to be rolled on the grass at the top before they could recover their sensation, I, for my part, think that the quicker one is pulled iip, and out of such deep holes as these, the better. The salt, after being prepared by the solution of the rock, and evaporation, is formed by wooden moulds, with holes at the bottom, to allow the re- maining water to pass through, into cubical blocks, and in this state shipped, eitlierby the river Weaver and canal to Western Point, and thence into the Mersey, or by the canal southward, if; -.(i' A considerable quantity is prepared from the brine springs, sonfie of which are so strongly satu- rated, as to hold in solution the greatest possible quantity of salt. To the Avater of others less power- fully impregnated, rock-salt is added while boiling in the pans. From all these springs the water, or brine, is raised by a shaft sunk, and a pump worked by an ordinary steam-engine. Chapticr v. MANCHESTER. Proclamation of Banns — Country Couples — An exclusive M'edding Party — An enamoured Bridegroom — Sheepish Lovers — A per- suasive Parish Clerk — Hydraulic Press — Pat^king Cotton Yarn — Museum of Natural History — Waxen Models of Tropical Fruits—^ Stuffed Birds — Egyptian ]\Iummy — An Old Maid in a Glass Case — A moral Reflection — The Old Horse Billy, aged sixty-two years. I ATTi',>:cED the Old Church at Manchester one Mon- day morning in order to witness the solemnization of several marriages I had reason to suppose were then and there to take place. I had heard on the preceding Sunday the banns proclaimed as follows : - — For the first time of asking, sixty-five ; for the se- cond time, seventy-two ; for the f^iird lime, sixty. — Total, one hundred and ninety-seven. Having been advised to be on the spot at eight in the morning, I repaired thither at that hour ; opera- tions, however, did not commence before ten ; the latter is tlie usual time of proceeding to business,, although in cases of persons married by license, eight o'clock is the hour. A full quarter of an hour before the striking of the clock, two beadles in parisli liveries had taken ground opposite the church -door, and a sufficient number of persons, chiefly young women, had assem- bled, whose curious and anxious looks testified that something extraordinary was about to take place. By this time, also, suspicious-looking persons in pairs were beginning tg arrive on foot, whose coun- • r^n CH. v.] COUNTRY COUPLES. 71 tenances were accovding-ly scrutinized without mercy by the crowd of loiterers, and as the church-door was not open, every matrimonial candidate who waited to be let in was subjected to the same ordeal. The couples were all poor people, and as to the brides and bridegrooms, as few were dressed in spe- cial costume, and all were very generally attended by friends and relatives, it was not easy to say wliich Avas which. One party arrived at the churcli-door evidently wishing to belong (as everything in this world goes by comparison) to the higher classes, and though dragged by one solitary horse, made a stre- nuous effort to outshine. Their carriage, a narrow vis-a-vis fly, intended for two persons, now contained four, besides a fat man with bushy whiskers, proba- bly the bride's brother, who occupied the box vrith the coachman. Within, packed as close as they could possibly sit, on one side were tl)e two bride's- maids ; opposite to these the bride and bridegroom ; the latter a spruce sandy-haired young man, looking flushed and eager. One of his arms encircled the waist of the young lady, on whose blooming counte- nance he bestowed glances of the very tenderest de- scription ; — in fact, his looks were so peculiarly ex- pressive, that, attitude and all considered, I hardly knew whether to compare liim, in my mind, to the statue of Cupid regarding his Psyche, or a Scotch terrier watching at a rat-hole. * * The coachman and his companion wore white favours ; the former meditating effect, inflicted some smart strokes of the whip on the horse, intending to bring him on his haunches with a jerk ; but the poor jaded animal, evidently over-driven, had sense enough to anticipate the object proposed, and stopped dead short a few 72 WEDDING PARTIirS DKSCRIBKD. [CH- paces before, by which both men on the box were very nearly pitched over his head. The people sat ill tlie fly till the church-door was opened, and then the ladies got out and tripped across the pavement into the church. They wore short petticoats and white satin bonnets scooped out in the hind part, with sugar-loaf crown s^, and. their back hair under- neath combed upwards.! t otov/ a'j[crfJK)o o'd'rnt teodA When all was ready, and the church-doors opened, the clergyman and clerk betook themselves to the vestry, and the people who were about to be married and their friends seated themselves in the body of the cliurch opposite the communion-table, on benches placed there for the purpose. Not less tliJtn fifty people Avere assembled, among whom I took my seat quietly without being noticed; The party who had arrived upon wheels" most exclusively paraded, in the mean time, up and down, as if unwilling to identify themselves with the hinnbler candidates for matrimony, in another part of the church. Th©! latter at first took their seats in solemn formality,' each one at the same time rather inquisitively sur- veying his neighbour ; but as the clergyman and clerk were some time in preparation, the men first broke silence by whispering one to another, which caused the women to titter, till by degrees they ail^ threw off their reserve, and made audible remarks ' on the new-comers. There was little mauvaise honte among the women, but of the men, poor fellows ! some were seriously abashed ; while among the hy- meneal throng there seemed to prevail a sentiment that obtains pretty generally among their betters, namely, the inclination to put shy people out of con- ceit with themselves. Thus at the advance of a V.J WEDDING PARTJES. 73 slieepish-looking bridegroom, lie was immediatoly assailed on all sides with " Come in, man ; what art afraid of? nobody! hurt thee." And then a general laugh went round in a repressed tone, but quite suf- ficient to confound and subdue the new comer. „fiAt last a sudden buzz broke out — "• The clergy- man's coming !" and all then was perfectly silent. About twelve couples were there to be married ; the rest were friends and attendants. The clerk, who was an adept in his business, and performed the du- ties of his office in a mode admirabh^ calculated to set the people at their ease, and direct tlie ])ro- ccedings, now called upon the former to arrange themselves altogether round the altar. In appoint- ing them to their proper places, he addressed each ill an intonation of voice particularly soft and sooth- ing, and which carried with it the more of encou- ragement as he made use of no appellative but the Christian name of the person spoken to. Thus he proceeded : '•' Daniel and Phccbe ; this way, Daniel ; take off your gloves, Daniel. — William and Anno ; no, Anne ; here, Anne ; t'other side, William. — John and Maryj here, John; oh, John; gentlv. John." And then addressing them all together : " Now all of you give your hats to some person to hold." Although the marriage-service was generally addressed to the whole party, the clergyman was scrupulously exact in obtaining the accurate re- sponses from each individual. No difference was shown towards the exclusive party, other than ])\ being placed on the extreme left. ii * -•!= * * After the above interesting ceremonial, I went to the warehouse of a large establishment in tlie town, E 74 HYDRAULIC PRIiSS. [CH. to see the operation of a powerful hydraulic press, employed in compressing bales of cotton yarn, pre- vious to exportation to Russia. However well known and general in its use this wonderful machine may he, whence with the assistance of a few gallons of water so stupendous a power is obtained, there are few objects better worth the trouble of inspection. When I entered the warehouse there were two presses in an apartment on the grotmd-fioor, the larger of which was now about to be put in opera- tion. As the workmen had just returned from din- ner, no other preparations were at the time visible, except the two presses, fixtures in the apartment ; the iron plates of these, on which the bales were raised and pressed against the upper part of the machine, being about five feet six inches long by three feet six broad. As soon as they were ready to begin, a signal having been made to those in an apartment above, a shower of brown paper parcels, each weighing exactly ten pounds, and containing Ihirt)'^ skeins of yarn, suddenly rolled thumping and thundering down, along a funnel nearly perpendi- cular, with a tremendous clatter, upon the floor. As each bale consists of a hundred yjarcels, it conse- quently weighs one thousand pounds. The first operation, that of placing the parcels in order, so as to form the figure of tlie bale, was per- formed with wonderful adroitness, and, at the same time, apparently in the most careless manner ; the pai'cels being tossed about from one man to the other in forming each layer, as if their position were a matter of chance altogether ; yet they were handled so quickly, that the whole hundred were piled in a very few seconds in a cubic form, a thin shaking of v.] PACKING. 75 straw and a few loose sticks being introduced be- tween each layer. The performance seemed the more void of regular design, as the layers contained unequal numbers of parcels, some of sixteen, and others seventeen, though the interstices were ar- ranged so as to give every layer a similar peri- phery. This inequality in the layers I did not expect to see as a practical example of packing, exercised by professed artists ; to the force of the hydraulic press, it was committed, by squeezing all together, to reconcile such minor differences. The bale being ready for compression, two or three pieces of new blue iron hoop plate, or binders, were laid transversely underneath on the plate of the press ; upon these was placed a piece of ordinary matting, and upon this the bale, which was at pre- sent without its canvas covering, the parcels being loosely lield together by cords. The canvas co- vering aforesaid was now laid on, and on the top of all three or four strong wooden bars, placed trans- versely, in order to preserve space to allow the binders to be brought round from the bottom, after the bale was compressed, so that the former might be riveted before the other was liberated. A couple of men now repaired to the pump, which they worked with the greatest facility, and the bale slowly began to ascend ; not only was the resistance occasioned by raising the weight of one thousand pounds in- considerable, but also the greater effort applied in the first moments of pressure, when further ascent was obstructed by the top part of tlie machine, nor was there any visible increase in the exertion of the men till after its size was reduced by at least one- third. Then indeed the handles of the pump seemed e2 7G rACKiNc. [cm to move stiffly, though even then there was no;:ob'« struction or decrease in the. speed of 4he asoenti The men continued to pump till it became one-third of its original size, and by that; time, the action of the machine seemed somewhat sloworj and theirs a little more laborious, while a peculiar creaking sound bespoke the gigantic power in operation. All tliis time labourers standing byvvith long-handled heavy; wooden mallets, whenever a parcel showed the least disposition to bulge forth out of its place, hitiitia clinking blow with the mallet, and dro^v^hit .bpQk again, and thus they^veiit,on, inco-operatian, pililrtp- ing and, thumping. -' , . : i;/,- -fulwiuo^ It Wias-cm'ip^s to remark, how little ,th«.iTteni,!jw|iQ are employed every day in managing this wonderful engine, seem aware of its power, that is to say,, how little t]-ouble they give themselves to define it^ljesst tent. In answer to several questions I proposed to them, I could obtain no satisfactory reply, , .; ; As soon as the bale v^as pres&ed- tOf r\-,lj...ii ■.. •,;.!. v; lo hu'.-d All that, j>Qv/;i5eiiniained to,fbj^,;4one:"VKa(§>,ita3;]tiv'?(^ tJie binder's, which were brought from tlie b^ttwOi between the wooden bars before-mentioned, having been cut previously of the proper length, so as to encompass the bale and lap one end over the Qtherf But to accomplisli this matter, and, in fact, to m alee both ends of each binder meet, some force wa-s nq-( ¥..{]''"' MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY. 77 cc^ssary. The upper end of the Liiidcr was seized by a pah' of pmcers, formed with handles hke those of scissors, into which handles, a piece of rope being introduced and hauled upon, the pincers join, and the tighter the rope is strained, the faster is their grip. One end of the rope being thus at- tached to the pincers, the other end was made fast to a roller fixed at the bottom of the bale, wliich roller Avas tamed by • levers, after the manner of the cap- stan of a ship, and by this purchase the upper end of the binder was made to overlap the lower. -i)tir;(i! r\ jiJ')M// j/iof! .7i;y/ii,v'[ lv't-''ri:i7j;M LniJ loOC.f ft zig .bficr , /rjiii) jiu ^uv/j ,'jno lodiiilT i 'xoJisI Of I J rao'it Lii i,.]ej!'i;ijj3M otb no ay-Bv/ qrTr:ff^>v■^^ \nn\n -rr n/ft fif OOJjfq fiii'iis W .<,' ;t89W J o'Asii oi s'todib Iff yvodfi oAi -!jj-ii^-| |.^ i:^; ■.■>7'_;;: ijijM 1, !; v/(.M jjn ai ■^TOJOiA'0/Tfim |rr'>.-)v,r ^j,(| -o „ [ j.^cyrj- ff y^ "^,1 '»'>rfJH TO o"in>' >d T^diio yiifi bnj5 j-rjj ;• gjjw I jdf'fBiio aiiJ mo-ft lynodi f orfT ' gjfff^sxl .;?5I0H a JO Vi/ O'd qoJo'ioi btt& octaan odi . •^'vUia [)I0 .L'/Tlai^ Li;-.j[ o/fl 1o rrf^^ orlt "^o rroiij-r;;'r Chapter VI. WARRINGTON— St. HELEN'S. Warrington Junction — Pin JManufactory — St. Helen's Railroad — Plate Glass Manufactory — Branch Railroad from St. Helen's to Runcorn ; a Journey thereby — Way to drive a Carriage down a Hill. The Warrington Junction is a point in the Liver- pool and Manchester Railway, from which a branch road, si.\: miles in length, departs to Warrington. Thither one, two, or three, or as many carriages as necessary, arc despatched every day at stated times from the latter place, to meet the trains going both ways on the Manchester line. Little delay takes })]ace in the mutual exchanges of passengers by the Warrington engine, they being forwarded in the same carriages, without the trouble of getting out, cast or west as it suits them, the engine receiving in tow others to take back, under a similar arrangement, to Warrington. Having gone from Manchester to Warrington by the above mode of conveyance, I visited a large pin manufactory in the town. I had never an opportu- nity either before or since of witnessing this useful art and interesting process, but all the information I was enabled to glean during a hasty walk from chamber to chamber of the premises may be ga- thered from the following description. The brass-wire is received at the manufactory in hanks or rolls from Staffordshire, and these are, in e3 82 PIN MANUFACTORY. [CH. the first place, drawn to a fine thread in the usual manner. As the wire still retains a curved form, it is straightened by straining it between alternate rows of pegs inserted on a table; and when perfectly straight, it is cut into lengths of five or six inches ; which lengths, hoAvever, are determinate, being in- tended to form the shafts of a certain number of pins. A handful of these is delivered to a workman, Avho performs the oflfice of pointing with wonderful quickness, sitting behind two wheels, like those of a scissor- grinder, excepting that, instead of stone, they are of steel, one being of a surface finer than the other. He no sooner receives the little bundle of wires, than in an instant they are assorted in his hand like a pack of cards in an even row ; one touch on each wheel perfects the points of one end ; and then, by a turn of the hand, the points of the other end are made in like manner ; and the bimdle handed to another operator, who, by the eye alone, snips off a pin's length from each end. The cutting is per- formed by a large pair of scissors fixed to the table, the blade of which is as big as a shoulder of mutton. The wires are now re-pointed as before ; and so on re- cut by one man and re-pointed by the other, till the whole are svibdivided into pins' shafts, and nothing is lost. To make the heads, two little boys are employed, one of whom especially exercises in his vocation a degree of cunning workmanship hardly to be ex- pected from an artist so young, and at all events exhibiting an interesting display of perfection in the faculties of sight and touch. From a piece of elastic wire, such as forms the covering of a fiddle- VI.] PIN MANUFACTORY. S3 string, Avith. an ordinary pair of scissors, he snips off, as quick as he can open and shut the scissors, just two threads of the spiral or helix, and no more. Were he to cut one thread or three, the head of the pin, which it is intended to form, being too large or too small, would be conseqviently rejected as waste metal and re-cast into wire. The elastic wire is pre- pared by another little boy in the same apartment, who rolls it round a piece of straight brass-wire of the proper dimensions, and about three yards long, by the assistance of a large spinning-wheel. As the wheel hums round, the covering creeps along from one end to the other at the rate of two or three inches a- second ; and when the straight piece of wire is thus entirely covered, it being, I imagine, made purposely a little smaller at one end than the other, it is drawn out without any difficulty. Tlic pins are headed by little girls v,'ith astonish- ing rapidity. Every pin is taken up between the thumb and finger, and, the head being then strung upon the shaft, it is placed in a small machine, which rivets it at one blow, and disgorges it at another. This machine is of rather complicated construction, but in general appearance like a small turning lathe ; that is to say, it is fixed on a table, and worked in a similar way. At a turn of the wheel two small iron slabs separate with a horizontal motion, and at an- other close again. The little girl sits behind the f^machine with a basin of pins' heads in her lap, which in that state resemble poppy seeds, and having threaded two shafts, gives the wheel a turn with her foot, when the aforesaid slabs diverge one from ano- ther ; she then places the two pins in two small horizontal holes made to receive them, and turning the wheel again, the slabs close violently, and rivet 84 ST. Helen's jiAmiOAD. [ch. til c two heads in a moment. Every,, time tl\c sltit^s opei^y the two new-inav,Qip^ 40|ul^].ppj the paper, and at the same time superintends; ,q- number of g-irls who stick them in. The paper; is doubled entirely by hand and by tjie eye^ in par9,ileb ridges, and then delivered to : tlic. girls, who sit; a,t?i tables, each with a machine like; a vice before herf; The creased ridges or tucks of, the-papepijbieijjgii brought two and two, are introduced below into the ; machine which closes and leaves a narrow horizontal strip above. Into this the pins arc inscrtqd, andiu: order to guide them in a straight line, parallel trans- verse grooves are cut on the surface of the instru- ment, at equal distances, so that each pin cannpti^isiil) t to enter exactly into its proper place, it not being possible for it, when pushed forward, to move in any,-i other direction. -onx Being on my way to St. Helen's, I AvasdischargiejS^ together with seyeii or eight other passengers, from , within one of the carriages of the train fromLivorn m pool to Manchester, at the foot of the Sutton inclined i plane, on the railroad, and as the train from Mai*ti) ; Chester had not yet made its appearance, we waited here about half an hour. So soon as both squads of passengers had arrived from either end of the vt.[f ?rl hiiLen's railroad. 80 line, Avc all got into one'liAr^G covered vehicle, and ^vel'e drao-g-cd at a foot pace, b\'a single horse, along the branch railroad, about a mile in length, that leads to the town. Nothing can afford a more strik- ing contrast, in point of celerity and convenience to passengers, than these newly-formed branch railroads with those on a well-established line; however, this difference cannot fairly be considered a disparage- ment to the undertaldng, being inseparable from an early stage of proceedings. Still it must be confessed, that the present mode of conveyance was as disr^ agreeable and as slow as can well be imagined, v Large quantities of coal are sent from St. Helen s to the banks of the ]Mersey by the Sankey Canal, from whose basin, which is of considerable extent, the vessels enter the river at Runcorn. By the new railroad also numerous coal waggons are coii- - tinually despatched in a parallel direction, the pro- prietors having extensive premises apd a commo- dibits dock-basin adjoining the^ otheiS for the con- venience of the Liverpool small craft attending to receive cargoes. A great deal of tliis,coal goes to Ireland. '» fiii[djsi0 isnh 02 ,a£ BUXTON. <->' l^'^innuirn oliifio ,!TT ; ny A'^tSge-'co&ctt' Ac6?deh't-^Ready answer to obliging Inqmries^ — Tlie great Hotel — Elevated Level — A rural Walk — Hobblers — A spa- vined old Gentleman — A Visit to Poole's Cavern — Two Damsels of Darkness — Stalactites; contrasted with those in Hookey-Hole — s Bats — Lime-burners' Dwellings — Horse and Buggy — "A short J^ytepper" — Shivering Rock — Castleton — A Dealer in Virtu — The ^Devil's Cavern — Ha'l of Pluto — River Styx — Dreary Tunnel .f— An Illumination — The Speedwell Mine — Thundering Cascade-r— Bottomless Pit — Subterranean Voyage — Parturition of the jltlou^, tain — -A sober Proprietor. A COACH leaves Manchester daily during the season"^ for Buxton. On the occasion of availing- myself of this conveyance. I had reason to rejoice at having attached my fortunes on that day to the down, instead of the up, vehicle. > oiov/ ^'la■^^^JH^in] tjjU We departed at three o'clock in the aftemdo'iiv^^ had proceeded on our way till we arrived in sight of our partner coach, advancing in the opposite direc- tion, wlien we perceived that the horses were run- ning away as furiously as their clumsy action would allow, for they were apparently ( even seen under present advantages ) a pair of floundering heavy brutes. Our driver immediately gave them a wide berth, and inasmuch as they preferred the wrong side of the road, he very prudently took up a station on the other. It was well he did so ; for on came' the coach, rolling and swinging in the track we left, while a stout coachman sat on the box, calling ivho- ho in vain, and pulling with all his might against a CH.VIl.] STAGE-COACH ACCIDEKT. 93 pair of determined hard-mouthed 'uns, both obsti- nately bearing towards the off side of the road. The vehicle had no sooner passed us, ( mucli closer, by the way, than Avas agreeable,) than it was evident that a catastrophe was inevitable, as the cattle continued to incline more and more towards the hedge ; in the mean time we remained sta- tionar}-, anxiously waiting tlie result. Nor were we long in suspense, for some obstacle caused the ve- hicle suddenly to stop ; either a horse fell or ran foul of the bank, or a wheel grazed, or some such casualty happened, we could not see what it vrfis, otherwise than by the effect produced ; the coach gave a violent lurch, being all but over, then righted, at the same time flinging out of his seat an unlucky man who sat on the top. I saw him with his heel'^ up, and his head downwards, in figure like the letter' X.; and in that position he fell> 'With the joint ford^' of gravity and progressive motion'. ' "' Our passengers were eager to render^ assistati^^,^ as well from curiosity as commiseration, being rea-lly desirous to know, at least, whether the unfortunate man were aiive ot dead; but the driver vvhipped on his horses in spite of entreaty and remonstrance; neither to this moment do I know how the poor fellow, whom I saw on his short journey; head foremos't,(;to.it}ie' hard., ground, fared when; he^gdti tlierC. ,• i!i-uh ■>[■/•> ;)m",' MM.iM ;.;•;!• .-IV • ■■iUl'! ■i.rTlie object.of the coachman, by his forward moVS^' ment, no doubt was to keep his passengers in ij^- norance of the extent of the damage; and thus it isthatjitlieaiofcessity is not unfrequently obviated of \proViidd.iag /answcrsi.tOiobhging. inquiries, aiid 94 THE GREAT HOTEL. [CH. coach accidents are prevented from finding their way to the ears of the public. After a long descent towards the town of Buxton, the entrance leads, by a well-kept gravelled road, under a handsome gateway, to an open space, bounded on one side by elevated ground, with walks cut in the turf, parallel, one above another, and, on the other side by a circular colonnade. Within the colonnade are the post-office, show- rooms of bijouterie, marble ornaments, &c., also the three principal inns, — namely, the Great Hotel, St. Ann's Hotel, and the Hall. It was my lot to go to the first of these, although they are all so inviting, as to outward appearance, that I had no particular reason for making a selec- tion, other than because the porter who had seized upon my portmanteau seemed determined to deposit it in one of the others. Nor had I reason to repent my choice ; for without disparagement to any other house of entertainment whatever, I may fahly say I never was in a better. The building is solid and spacious, the bed-rooms lofty, well fitted up, and the price of each marked on the door. The whole esta- blishment is conducted altogether in a manner indi- cating that the superintending authorities are well versed in the savoir vivre. For the very few days I was in the house, there was but one other individual besides myself in the coffee-room — an apartment furnished with maps, and in every particular more like a private library than a room in an inn ; and it really was to me a source of regret when I compared the low charges in my bill with the fare that, under circumstances so VII.] ELEVATED LEVEL. 95 disadvantageous to the landlord, had been pro- vided. However, it then being the race week, the stock in hand was probably more exuberant than usual. Besides the low prices above alluded to, a stipulated charge, on an equally reasonable scale, was made for the servants. The site of the town of Buxton is highly elevated above the level of the sea; a fact one is inclined to forget, as, although for the greater part of the way from Manchester the ascent is gradual, the last mile of the journey is all down hill. However, the effects of altitude are perceptible to the senses. When I rose in the morning, the weather felt cold, yet, as it was early in the summer, that was not ex- traordinai'y : the v.'ind also hummed through the window-frames, almost as if it were November ; but in this variable chmate, even a severe change at any time of the year is ,not wonderful. On looking around in a country, as it were, a valley surrounded by hills, the purity and bracing effect of the air were at once remarkable, and the white fleecy clouds moreover, though the day was clear, being certainly nearer the earth than is usual in fine weather, that circumstance brought one at once to the natural conclusion that the earth was nearer to them. And then the matter of altitude occurred to my recollec- tion. Sylvan shade and retirement, when both can be procured, are always agreeable appendages to a wa- tering-place, and though there is a spot where they may be had at Buxton in great perfection, yet it is very possible to remain there a long time without finding it out, merely on account of its being so immediately contiguous as to be mistaken for private property. OP) A RURAL WALK. [CH. A piece of woodland afTords a labyrintli so se- cluded that lovers and doves may Avander therein, among- pm-ling streams and shady walks, and coo or whisper, side by side, protected by branches so luxuriant and leaves so thickly matted, that neither party, no matter how reasonably near, can disturb one another. The approach to this gvove is by an entrance, as it were leading to a shrubberj;, close to the inn, and separated only from the road by a slight fence. Gravel walks lead in various directions through a garden and lawn, and theiice diverge among large thriving trees, such as horse-chestnut, fir, birch, and sycamore. Amidst the branches of the sycamores a colony of rooks have established their domicile above, and below the smaller shrul)s wave their branches in the sliade — the willow, lilac, and golden laburnum. Not far removed, the scene is rendered still more rural by a pond, on which I counted no less than forty-two ducks ; and, on its banks, abundance of poultry, including pea and guinea-fowl. Following th.e course of the walks within the thicket, the scenery is that of a wilderness, where occasionally a rustic bridge is thrown across the stream that trickles at one's side, and now aiicl then one is invited to repose by commodious benches. One chief feature of this retired spot is a her- mitage of heather, the seat entirely encompassing the inner circumference, and here people have left behind tliem the traces of their meditations, having sat v/ith sticJ heel of the carriage proceeds^ till the latter, losing its ecpulibrium, turns fairly over. The most various operations arc conducted within the interior of this large establishment ; and the most ponderous articles manufactured, from an iron Ijridgc to an attenuated plate or rod, amidst a scene v/herein the four ancient elements are subjugated by human power and intelligence. Here, the ore dug from the bowels of the earth; there, the steam-blast rush- ing through the furnaces; together with various contrivances for the economy of water, and appli- cation of its pov»er to the machinery — all these sights and sounds are sufficient to raise, even in the apathetic mind, the sentiment of veneralion. Within a vast shed, or workshop, so extensive, that being under one part of the building it is not pos- sible clearly to perceive what is going forward in tlic other, among the furniture not tlie least re- markable were the luige cranes, the mighty agents for the casting pits in the centre of the floor, capable IX. J WIBSEY IRON FOUKDERY. 133 of raising fourteen tons and upwards, and equipped with iron blocks and quadruple sets of cliains. From an orifice, at the bottom of the door in the furnace, the scoria, or blue dross, was sluggishly trickling in a steady creeping stream into an iron A-essel, in shape like the body of a wheelbarrow, placed to receive it : when cool, the vitriHcd mass is turned out from this vessel in a cubic block, and broken for mcndino- the roads; though it is extra- ordinary that, excellent as this material is for tliat purpose, it never was so applied till within the last eight or ten years : at present, more is so ex- pended than is furnished at the founclery ; the quan- tity disposed of last year being twenty-one thousand six hundred tons. The size of these heaps of shale and dross, the refuse of forty years, is quite extra- ordinary ; those of the former, having been set fire to, are reduced to a substance like red tile : at this moment, su})posing the whole were to form a cone in the centre of Grosvenor-squarc, I really believe its base would include all the houses. The premises, notwithstanding these indications, are now being enlarged, both as to new buildings, engines, and furnaces, in a proportion not less than as two to three. To pass over the two first operations, whereby the iron, after being separated from the ore in the first furnace, and cast into pigs, is again liquefied by heat and re-cast in a shallow trough into slabs, which slabs, being remarkably brittle, are broken up and thrown into a third furnace ; the next process is that whereby it is first beaten into a malleable fi)rm. Athletic men, bathed in perspiration, naked from the waist upwards, exposed to severe alternations of 134 WIBSEY IRON FOUNDERV. [CH temperature, some, with long bars, stirring the fused metal through the door of the furnace, whose flaming concavity presented to the view a glowing lake of fire, — were working like Cyclops. By continued and violent applications of strength, visible in writhing changes of attitude and contortions of the body, rakino- backwards and forwards, and stirring round and about, the yielding metal, they contrived to weld together a shapeless mass, gradually increasing in size till it became about an hundred pounds weight : this, by a simultaneous effort of two men Avith massive tono-s, was drao-o-ed out of the furnace, radiant with white heat, a snow-ball in figure and appearance, along the paved floor. Now subjected to the blows of a ponderous hammer, it was wonderful to mark the vigour and dexterity with which the men con- trived to heave the mass round and round at every rise of the hammer, whose every fall sounded like a mallet on a cotton bag, Avhile the fiery ball was now turned one side, again the other side uppermost, with the same facility apparently to the operators as if it had been a horse-shoe. The glowing substance yielded like clay to the thumps of the hanmier, and as it was pounded into form by the tremendous con- cussion, at each stroke the more liquid matter was forced from the centre and bubbled on the surface : thus what was spherical was soon brought to the shape of a slab or brick, which figure is the one prc])aratory to its being rolled into plates. I'he weight of the hammer was at least four tons, and it was moved by an excenfric wheel, which re- volved above the extremity of its shaft. The sim- plicity and usefulness of the excentric wheel in mechanics, to produce such a motion as is here re- IX.] WlBSF.y IRON FOUNDERY. 135 quired, is particularly interesting and pleasing : in the present instance, were the wheel in question per- fectly circular, the shaft of the hammer could receive no motion, but the former being in one part protu- berant, the latter was depressed by coming in contact with tlie protuberant point in the circumference once in every revolution ; a motion which may be easily elucidated by nailing a piece of wood on the outer rim of the wheel of a wheelbarrow. The mode by which the two men who attended the hammer jointly threw their powers into co- operation was as follows : — one held a hook and the other a lever ; he of the lever stood always ready to aid, by a seasonable and well-directed effort, him of the hook, adding his whole force, in one collected impulse, the moment the latter had taken his grip, to produce a force to fiing over the mass. The iron being by tlie above process manufac- tured into a slab, the next operation is to form a plate, by passing the slab several times in succes- sion between a pair of weighty cylinders, whose position is continuall}' adjusted closer and closer, as the plate diminishes in thickness, by a powerful press screw. The slab, again red hot, was placed between the revolving C3'lindcrs, the ujiper one of which fell with a jarring, clanking sound upon the lower, as the slab was speedily snatched through, and disgorged on the other side. The transit was momentary, and the impression at first trifling, the alteration in shape in fact scarcely perceptible, great as was the shock produced on the machine as the massive bulk was forced through ; but the oftener it passed the greater the change, and every time, bj- a turn of the screw, the cylinders were adjusted closer 136 WIBSEY IRON FOUNDERY. [CH. accordingly ; till what was at first tlie size of a folio volume, Avas brought to the dimensions of a Pem- broke table. The manner in Avhich the slab was handled on the present occasion, and passed over and between the cylinders, Avas as simple and dexterous as the former process : as it fell i'rom the cylinders it was received by a man on a fiat sliovel, which shovel was suspended by a chain from the ceiling, at a point in the handle about a foot from the plate of the shovel. The handle was long, and so Avas the chain, so that the man was enabled by the above purchase to give way to the slab as it approached towards him, and when free from the cylinders, easily to push it over the top of both. It was then handed back by two men on the opposite side, by means of levers a])plied somewhat in a similar wa}-. The stupendous power of the shears here used for the cutting of iron is very wonderful. I saw a s(|uare iron bar, one inch and three-quarters the side of the square, cut asunder in an instant, with as much case as a ploughman would bite off tlie end of a carrot. The mechanical appliance was tlic same as that adopt- ed V, ith the aforesaid hammer — that of the cxccntric ■wheel, and equal in power to the weight of the cutting- limb, as well as that of the resistance to be overcome ; that is to say, the lever was here one of tlie second order, the action of the instrument bcir.g that of a pair of nutcrackers. On another occasion I ob- served a machine of this descriptioii, at a founder}'' in Leeds, worked also by an excentric wheel, but a lever of the first order, the action that of a pair of scissors. This instrument, though not so powerful as the former, produced an extraordinary effect in appearance : for as the cxcentric wheel continually IX.] -WIBSEY IRON FOUNDKRV. 137 revolved, the blades opened and shut as it were spontaneously, after the manner of the jaws of a huge animal, munching, as if in expectation of food ; and the illusion seemed the more perfect Avhen on a piece of iron being presented it was bitten through v.'ithout an effort, and the motion^ witli unappcascd voracity, still continued. But the sight, or rather sound, of all others which created upon my mind the strongest impression v\'as that of the air-blast driven by two powerful steam-engines through the main furnaces ; the two furnaces about twenty feet distant from each other— the engines in the rear of these. A cylin- drical trunk, of a couple of feet diameter, extends from the enjrines, sendinjx forth at ria^ht anj^les two smaller branches, decreasing gradually in size to abovit four or five inches at the extremities, v;hich enter one at tlie bottom of each furnace, like the nozzles of bellows. No verbal description can do justice to the awful effect produced by the air rushing tlu'ough these iron tubes ; and I was involuntarily led to the reflection to Avhat extraordinary extent such a power might be applied in tlie production of musical sounds : for, combining (he volume of air at connnand v.ith the thrilling softness of tone already attained in the key bugle, the effect with which these two elements, — quality and quantity may, by and bye, be blended together, is almost indefinite. Not a word, thougli delivered with the utmost effort, was lieard, spoken at the same time close to the ear. I have listened to a storm on the Atlantic, I have stood on the I'able Kock at Niagara, yet never did I hear a sound in nature cf[ual to this, — so terrific, or of so stunnino- a din. 138 WIBSEY IRON FOUNDERY. [CH. There was an aperture in the main trunk between the diverging tubes, in which a large wooden peg was firmly driven by a mallet, and removed occa- sionally for tlie purpose of allowing the air to escape when the blast was too strong. This being removed, I placed my hand at the draft, when it required all my strength to retain it in its position. It was said that its force was sufficient to drive a man's hat to the ceiling, or to canse a wooden ball transfixed by a peg to dance in the air like a pea on a tobacco- pipe. Though I did not see either of these feats performed, I believe them botli to be practicable. The stupendous force of these continuous air- blasts is supplied in an equable never-failing stream from an air-chamber below, of ample dimensions : compared with an ordinary blow-pipe, its multiplied effects in engendering heat must be truly astonishing. The heated air-blast has not yet been introduced in these founderies. I had an opportunity during the present summer of witnessing the operation of the latter at the Gartsherrie iron-works on the Clyde. There the object seems to answer as well as in the various other establishments Avherein it has been introduced, namely, the effecting a con- siderable saving of fuel by introducing a hot blast instead of a cold one. I was informed the saving was equal to one-half. I saw the apparatus at work, but heard no sound whatever. The air passed first through a heated retort, and afterwards through a series of pipes into an air-vessel of a cylindrical form, and ten feet diameter by forty feet in length, consequently containing upwards of 3141 cubic feet of hot air. From this an equable continuous blast was sent into the furnace. IX.] WIBSEY IRON FOUNDERY. 139 I have now related tlie principal objects I observed Avithin the Low Moor foundery ; besides which prepa- rations were g"oing forward for casting huge caul- drons, and various parts of the machinery of the West India sugar-mills. The models of the caul- drons were first built in brick, and then plastered over with cement. I saw a cylinder, forty inches diameter, belonging to a steam-engine, fixed in a lathe ready for boring. The cutting instrument consisted of an inner cy- linder with mortices, into which the blades were placed as required : the latter were merely plates of iron with a bevilled edge. I saw the beam of an engine, weighing three tons, also fixed in a lathe ; and, notwithstanding its vast weight, revolving on a point which entered only three -qviarters of an inch, with as much ease as if it had been a peg-top : the point was, however, an ex- tremely obtuse cone. Out of doors the clanging din of hammers was incessant, as red-hot bolts were being riveted in the boilers, whose plates had been previously cast within the building. I observed that all the sand used for the casting- beds was prepared by grinding sandstone. This is performed by a large cast-iron roller, moved round on a circumference plated with iron, by a couple of horses pulling at a lever fixed at the centre of the roller. I regret I had not an opportunity of taking more than an extremely cursory view of the excellent arrangements for the economy of water by means of various reservoirs, to which, after being expended, it is pumped back again for the use of the engines. 140 VVIRREY IRON FOUNDKRY. [cil. IX. As tlie tlrair.agc of the Moor is not considerable, ■without the greatest care, the supply Avould be vc ry prccariovis ; as it is, there is sufficient. In one of the small reservoirs out-of-doors, containing water from the engines very warm, what might be called hot,Averc a ])arcel of ducks rioting in smolce, and apparently liigldy delighted. Besides the water for the steam-engines, a supply is obtained to turn various Vvater-wheels : one moves the large lathe for heavy bodies, another propels the waggon-loads of ore up the inclined plane and pitclies them into the furnaces : sundry others are also required for minor contrivances. Chapter X. AV A K E F I E L D. Soutlicotians on a Journey — Corn- Warehouses — Road to Hudders- field — Extraordinary IMode of prepai'ing Stone for the Roads — Beggars and Ballad-singers — Pig-Market — Combing, Sluicing, and Lathering — Iluddersfield Tunnel — Leggers — Dewsbury — • Regeneration of old Garments — Rag-grinders — A I\Ietaphysical Question — Shoddy — Tillage Muck. A STRANGii-LOOKiNG pail", a father and a youiif^ person who represented his dang-litcr, were my companions on tlie top of the coach from Leeds to Walvefield ; they were members of th.e Southcoto persuasion, and dressed, thougli probably according- to regulations, as I considered in a very extraordi- nary Avay. The father v.'as in age about forty, of a light dapper figure, carefully set off to the best advantage, and most remarkable as to the Vandyke- cut of his unshorn beard ; in order to tri)n Avhich to the present style of exquisite perfection, tlie scissors had evidently been put in recpiisition. His broad iOv/-crc\Yncd beaver hat was of a reddish brown, and his gaberdine and'Vv''cllington boots fitted him so neatly, that without changing his costume he might have danced a quadrille without inconvenience. In shoit, he brought to my recollection Anstey's famous portrait of tlie Moravian Rabbi. "VYho perfectly cured the chlorosis of Tabby." The daughter, a llorld, healtliy girl of eighteen. 142 CORN WAREHOUSES. [CH. wore, though in the middle of the day, a Parisian straw bonnet, decked with a huge, curling, full- dress bunch of white ostrich feathers, a blue cloth habit, the back seams of which were ornamented with a wide military border, the latter made of parallel stripes of orange-coloured silk-twist, and a petticoat plaited with broad plaits, disposed about the hips with great care, and laid one over the other with exceeding regularity — nay, as it were, with such geometrical precision, that as natvu'e had been boun- tiful in those latitudes, they exactly resembled the meridian lines of a terrestrial globe. The town of Wakefield is the emporiuin of grain for the manufacturing districts, by means of a canal communication to the north, the cast, the west, and the south, all over the country. The western line, towards Manchester, diverges in two forks ; the one proceeding through the Hucldersfield Tunnel, an underground channel of three miles and a quarter in length, and the other by a more circuitous track through Rochdale. Lai-ge shipments of corn are brought hither from the counties of Norfolk and Lincolnshire by the Trent and Humber. It is not easy to form an idea of the very enormous extent of the storehouses at this place without the actual use of the eyes : they really seem calculated to hold under their roofs, not only all the corn in England, but that of the Baltic into the bargain. For the extent of a mile, the banks of the Calder are studded on both sides with buildings of mag- nificent dimensions ; two-thirds of which have been raised within the last twenty years, and yet indivi- duals are building new ones. I must confess I had X.] ROAD TO HUDDKRSFIELD. 143 previously entertained no sort of notion of the ex- traordinary quantities of grain deposited in these Egyptian magazines. The river, besides, was crowded with sturdy sloops, laden in bulk to the wafer's edge ; and the corn-factors, among whom, specially, the business by large transfers seemed to be conducted, were holding their court on the market-day. In whatever way this extensive w^are- housing of grain may operate upon the interests of the landlords, the farmers, or the consumers, I could not help thinking that the corn-factors, of all par- ties, were making the best livelihood. Great pains have been taken with the road be- tween Wakefield and Huddersfield ; as well by a cut, of unusual depth, made for the purpose of lowering a hill, as by a peculiar process by which the stone is prepared for the roads. This being of a soft, crumbling nature, is placed in heaps, and wath an addition of coal, actually subjected to fire and calcined, in order to harden it. For the last few miles, the blue vitrified dross from the Wisbey Low Moor iron-works forms the very best of all mate- rials — the most level and durable surface. On entering the town a painted board is exhi- bited, proscribing, on the part of the magistrates, " all beggars, vagrants, and ballad-singers ;" a classification, I covdd not help thinking, extremely judicious, and worthy of general imitation. Idle- ness is an anti-English vice, — not tolerated, at all events, at Huddersfield. 7|r ip ^' ^ "F The Huddersfield pig-market has attained much celebrity, and is furnished almost exclusively from Ireland, via Liverpool, whence these animals pass 144 PIG-MARKKT. [cil. in droves, not only tliroiigli tlio manufacturing- dis- tricts, bvit even to more remote parts of the country. T]ie breed of Irish pigs is improved tenfold within the last few years ; besides, as they live on more equal terms with their masters than the English hog", as regards the privileges of air and exercise during the period of fattening, they are conside- rably less oppressed by their weight while on the march. Thus they are greedily bought up, and arc really worthy, in every sense of the word to a spec- tator, of the encomium passed on them by a farmer, i^pon whose recommendation I made it a point to attend on a Huddcrsfield marhet-day, '• Lord, sir," said he, " they arc such beauties !" On arriving at the market-place half an hour be- fore the time of commencing business, not a pig was to be seen ; but on learning that the different droves were at that time undergoing ablution at the river, I walked thitlier in order to see the performance. Few, indeed, are the services a pig receives at the hands of liis master without remonstrance ; and reasonably, — for never, as a Gi-eek autlior has somewlicre observed, are human hands laid u])on him but either to curtail by cunning devices liis animal enjoyment or execute upon his person one vile purpose or another : however, on the present occasion, to my great sur- prise, for I should have thought washing second only to shearing, every pig submitted to the cere- mony v/ith most perfect complacency ; in fact, being heated and feverish after their journey, they seemed delighted by the cooling process. The herd being- driven up to their bellies in the river, one man was entirely occupied in sluicing tliem with water from a pail, which he continually dipped in the stream X.] HuDDERSFIELD TU?■;^■EL. 145 and emptied over tlieir Lacks. Another fellow anointed tliem one after another with yellow soap, and so soon as lie had raised a copious lather rubbed the hide, fi]"st soundly with his hands, and then with the teeth of a liorse-niane comb; — now and then, in particular cases, it became necessary to have recourse to an instrvunent of still greater power, — his broad thumb-nail. After rubbing and lathering for some time, they vvx-re sluiced again, and as pailful after pailful descended on their hides, no sound was heard among them— not even a wince or snort ; on the contrary, every now and then a soft liappy grunt (and a grunt is an expression of happi- ness among the whole animal kingdom, rational or irrational) seemed unequivocally to descri]:)e their perfect content and satisfaction. Their bristles sliining like silver-wire, each lot were nov/ driven to the market-place, where, pro- vided with ample beds of clean strav/, they dis- posed themselves according to their separate par- cels, with such econom}" of space, that though there were not fewer than GOO present, a spectator would have been inclined considerably to underrate their number. ***** The Huddersfield Tunnel is a most extraordi- nary work. Between Huddersfield and the villao-e of Marsden on the road to IManchester where it commences, there are on the canal forty-two lodes, the turnpike road leading by the side, along higher ground, through a romantic glen, which assumes gradually a more and more mountainous character. The mouth of the tunnel is about seven miles dis- tant from Huddersfield, a little to tlic north of the H 146 BOATS ON THE TUNNEL. [CH. canal. Here the road commences a stupendous ascent, of a mile and a half in continuation ; so that, Avere it not that the tunnel proclaims its own won- der, being in lenc^th three miles and a quarter, cut through the middle of a solid mountain, — the face of the country altogether would seem to bid de- fiance to such a work of art. The cost is said to have been 300,000/., which brings tlie expense to 1 1. 5s. 3^c/. per inch ; but notwithstanding the line is regularly worked, the undertaking has failed to reimburse the original proprietors. As the dimen- sions are too small to admit of two boats passing each other during their passage through, strict regulations are enforced as to the times when they are permitted to enter at either end. Accordingly they adopt intervals of four hours, continually during day and night ; when the towing horses are sent over the hill in charge of a man, who receives sixpence for conducting each horse. The span of the circular aperture is about ten feet ; the heiglit not sufficient to allow a man to stand upright in the boat, — those used in this navigation being of a narrow, compact build, suited to the service, and capable of carrying from twelve to twenty tons. The operation of Avorking the boats through is a singular one ; and performed by a description of labourers adventitiously hired for the purpose. As there is generally work to be had, a sufficient number continually present themselves, who having remained a few days or a week, or as long as it suits them, receive their payment, pursue their march, and choose another occupation. These men, from the nature of their service, are called " leggers," for they literally work the boat with their legs, or X.] DEAVSBURY. 147 kick it from one end of the tunnel to the other ; two " leggers," in each boat lying on tl.eir sides back to back, derive a purchase from shoulder to shoulder, and use their feet against the opposite walls. It is a hard service, performed in total darkness, and not altogether void of danger, as the roof is composed of loose material, in some parts continually breaking in. Two hours is the time occupied in legging a boat through, and a legger earns a shilling for a light boat ; after twelve toiis he receives one shil- ling and sixpence ; and so on. Adjacent to the tunnel are considerable reservoirs of water on the higher ground ; I saw one containing about twelve acres ; another, considerably more elevated, is a great deal larger. This latter I did not see, but a miller, whose works receive the stream as it passes towards the lower reservoir, told me it enabled him, on its transit, to set on three pair of stones of four feet ten inches diameter, for three weeks, day and night ; he said it measured forty acres. The town of Dewsbury is not only celebrated for its manufacture of blankets, but also for a novel business or trade which has sprung up in England, in addition to the arts and sciences, of late years, — namely, that of grinding old garments new ; — lite- rally tearing in pieces fusty old rags, collected from Scotland, Ireland, and the Continent, by a machine called a " devil," till a substance very like the ori- ginal wool is reproduced : this, by the help of a small addition of new wool, is respun and manufac- tvu'ed into sundry useful coarse articles, such as the wadding which Messrs. Stultze and Co. introduce within the collars of their very fashionable coats, 11 2 14S RAG-GRINDING. [cil. and vra'loiis descriptions of druggets, horse sheet- ing, &c. The trade or occupation of the late owner, his life and habits, or the filtliincss and antiquity of the garment itself, oppose no bar to this wonderful process of regeneration ; whether from the scare- crow or the gibbet, it makes no difference ; so that, according to the changes of human affairs, it no doubt frequently does happen, without figure of speech or m.etaphor, that the identical garment to-day exposed to the sun and rain in a Kentish cherry-orchard, or saturated witli tobacco-smoke on the back of a beggar in a pot-house, is doomed in its turn, " perfasus liquidis odoribus," to grace the swelling collar, or add dignified proportion to the chest of the dandy. Old flannel-petticoats, serge and bunting, are not only unravelled and brought to their original thread by the claws of the devil, but this macliinc, by the way, simply a series of cylinders armed with iron hooks, effectually, it is said, pulls to pieces and separates the pitch- mark of the sheep's back, — which latter operation really is a job worthy of the very devil himself. Those who delight in matters of speculation liave here an ample held, provided they feel inclined to extend their researches on this doctrine of the trans- migration of coats ; their imagination may freely range in unfettered flight, from the blazing galaxy of a regal drawing-room, down to the night-cellars and lowest haunts of London, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Sec, as well as even to other countries visited by the plague. But as such considerations onl}^ tend to put a man out of conceit with his own coat, or may afflict some of ray fair friends with an X.] EAG-GRINDIKG. 149 antipatliy to flannel altogether, they are miicli better let alone: nevertheless, the suLject may serve as a hint to those whom a spirit of economy urges to drive an over-hard bargain with their tailor, or good housewives, Avho inconsiderately, chuckle at liaving been clever enough, as they ima- gine, to perform an impossibility, — that is to say, in times while the labourer is worthy of his hire, to buy a pair of blankets absolutely for less than the sliecr value of the wool. These economists may treasure up much useful information, by consider- ing well the means by Avhich materials may be com- bined to suit their purpose ; for the " shodd}'," as it is called, is as occasion requires mixed with nev/ Avool in various proportions ; so as in fact to aubrd, by the help of various artists, in this free country, equal satisfaction to all parties, Avhether the latter be tidy or dirty by nature. As I was anxious to see somewhat of the above process, I walked from Dewsbury to the village of Battley Carr, on the river Calder, about a mile distant, where there are several rag-mills, and paid a visit to one of them. The rags v\ere ground, as they term it, in the uppermost apartment of the building, by machines, in outward appearance like Cook's agricultural winnowing-machinc, and each attended by three or four boys and girls. The operation of the machinery was so thoroughly in- cased in wood, that nothing was to be seen, though it consisted, as has been before observed, of cylin- ders armed Avith hooks, which, being of different sizes, perform their office one set after another, till the rags put in at the top come out at the bottom, to all appearance like coarse sliort wool. A single 150 RAG-GRINDING. [CH. glance at the ceremony going forward was quite snfHcient to convey a toleral^le idea of the business, — a single whiff of air from the interior of the apart- ment almost more than could be endured. I will not undertake to render intelligible to the other senses what is an affair of the nose alone, — in other words, I will not attempt to describe an ill smell : first, because the subject is not agreeable, and next, because it is particularly difficult ; indeed, I know not even whether it be a physical or a meta- physical question, whether or not a smell be, de jure, a noun and the name of a thing, having substance and dimensions, or whether it be an ethereal essence void of material particles, — as it were the benedic- tion of animal matter departing from the physical to the metaphysical world, and at that very critical moment of its existence, or non-existence, when it belongs to neither. But if the smell of the rag- grinding process can be estimated in any degree, and, an inference drawn, by the quantity of dust pro- duced, the quality of the latter at the same time not being forgotten, then some little notion may proba- bly be given by stating, that the boys and girls who attend the mill are not only involved all the time it works in a thick cloud, so as to be hardly visible, but, whenever they emerge, appear covered from head to foot with downy particles that entirely ob- scure their features and render them in appearance like so many brown moths. It is really extraordinary to observe, on taking a portion of shoddy in the hand as it comes from the mill, the full extent of its transmutation, — how per- fectly the disentanglement of the filament has been effected ; although, notwithstanding its freshened X.] RAG-GRINDING. 151 appearance, time and temperature must have inevi- tably brought it nearer to the period of ultimate decay. The shoddy thus prepared in the mill is after- wards subjected to the usual process of manufac- ture, and tooether with an admixture of new wool, and the help of large quantities of oil, it is passed through the discipline of the carding-machine, mules, &c., till a thread is formed, which latter is handed to the weavers. But, alas ! there is no such thing as perfection in human nature, or the works of man i — notwith- standing all possible exertions, there are certain parts and particles appertaining to these fusty old rags, that cannot be worked up into new coats, do what men will ; and of which the shoddy, to do it justice, may be said to be wholly liberated and purified : such things, for instance, as the hides of ancient fleas that have lingered through a rainy season an3 died of rheumatism, — and so forth. Yet, in the present day, such is the enlightenment of man's understanding, that even all these, be they what they may, are scrupulously turned to account, being mixed with the refuse and that part of the shoddy too short to spin, packed in bales, covered with coarse matting, and thus shipped off to Kent as manure for hops. In this state, called " tillage muck," it fetches about forty-seven shillings a ton. In a yard adjoining Raven's wharf, which, though a mile from the town of Dewsl)ury, and the road to it extremely hilly, is the usual place of shipment, I saw a large heap of this compost which very much resembled, — " horresco rcfcrens," — " I have a crawling sensation as I write," — the 152 RAG-GRINDING. [CH. X. stuffing I have occasionally seen, nay, slept upon, in inferior mattresses. W orlcmen were at the time employed in lading a cargo of these bales ; these, as well as the compost that lay in bulk in the 3'ard, were then heating most violenth'. Impressed, on account of the vessel, with an apprehension of fire, for never did I see goods put on board in such a state, I ashed the man at the crane whether he did not think there was danger. After looking at me for some seconds with attention, his reply was at least emphatic, — " I like. Sir," said he, " to see 'cm sweat." Chapter XI. WALTON HALL, YORKSHIRE. Approach to Walton Hall — Hall and Staircase — Crocodile— Rattle* snake — Wourali Poison*— Nondescript — Mr. Waterton — A Bieak- fast with the Wanderer — A pet Owl — A Ramble through the Grounds — A new way of treating an Old Tree — Wooden Phea- sants — Conversation on Serpents — 'Anecdotes. Having heard, when at an inn at Wakefield, that strangers were freely admitted to inspect the col- lection of birds, beasts, and reptiles at Walton Hall three miles distant, the residence of Mr. Waterton ; and that, while full permission was granted to those who applied, arrangements were at the same time made to protect the family from interruption — I liired a horse and rode thither. Although not partial to what is usually termed a " show place," the proposed bill of fare was suited to my fancy. The objects of natural history in the collection not only being, it was said, arranged in a very peculiar style, but the disposition of the house and grounds altogether in accordance with the ec- centric taste of the owner. The Watertons are an ancient family in ^'ork- shire. Whatever may have been their early am- phibious tastes or habits, at the present day the otter is identified v.ith the armorial bearings ; and not only the crest is an otter, and the name AVatcr- ton, but the mansion is situated on an island sur- rounded by a moat. Adherents to the Catholic h3 154 MR. WATERTON. [CH. faitli, heavy sequcstratjons at the time of the Refor- mation were levied "against thcin : a part of Mcthley Parlv estate, particularly, was once among their lost possessions. They claim relationship with the re- nowned Sir Thomas More, whose last female de- scendant married a Waterton. The family mansion still occupies its original site, but the ancient build- ing was replaced by the present more modern edi- fice, by the grandfather of the present owner. I soon found that Mr. Waterton was known by all the neighbourhood ; every one seemed to take satisfaction in pointing out the road ; even the little children no sooner heard the inquiry, than they held ont their arms with a smile in the line of direction. I was desired first to turn out of the main road on the left, and then go tlirougli the village of Walton, on the other side of wliieh, not far removed, stood the park gate. On passing* through the gate in question, a lofty meadow-gate of ordi- nary construction, I rode along a bridle-path, across some large pastures, to the park wall.- These fields were in excellent order, well stocked with fat liorned cattle, and ornamented with a row of young and thriving elm trees. At the outside of the park Avail the Barnsley Canal stretches for a considerable dis- tance in a parallel direction : this canal I crossed by a small bridge, and knocked at the gate of the lodge, which was immediately opened by an aged porter. It is not many years since Mr. Waterton built this wall, which now encloses the whole of his park : the former varying in height in different parts from nine to nineteen feet. Although the park is not more than two hundred and sixty acres, yet, as the ground rises from the middle on every side in natu- XI.] WALTON HALL. 155 ral undulations, is well stoCke(,l Ayith timber, and encompassed within by a broad bait of plantation, the effect is precisely the same as if it were of ten times the area ; — whichever way the eye ranges, the pro- spect is limited on the horizon by the waving tops of trees. The house, with stables and farm -yard separate, is a good specimen of an English gentle- man's mansion : the island on which the former stands is in extent one acre ; and a fine lake, nearly contiguous to the island, contains twenty-four acres of water. Considering I was a stranger to the owner, im- pelled to enter his domain b}-^ mere curiosity, I could not help feeling as if intruding on his privacy, when, having tied up my horse, I entered the lawn by an invisible wire fence, and made my way to the drawbridge, from which a straight paved walk led to the drawing-room windows. However, it was now too late to stand upon ceremonies, so,, as the win- dows, which were, cut down to the ground, were Ande open, and an excellent fire appeared blazing in the grate, I walked straight forward and entered a room elegantly furnished ; — besides handsome pic- tures, with which the walls were ornamented, articles of bijouterie were tastily arranged on the tables ; the general decorations Avell chosen, everything in its proper place, and the whole in first-rate aristocratic order. A servant, in a well-appointed imdress livery, at tliis moment entered the room, and conducted me, apparently as a matter of course, to a roomy, old- fashioned hall, from which the staircase, of ample dimensions, leads to the upper part of the house. The staircase was one of those ancient models where 15G WALTON HALL. [CH. each flight of steps is divided from the next by a large square landing-place; so that, in fact, it might fairly he termed a gallery, with pictures arranged upon the wall all the way to the top, and the birds and animals disposed in order, in glass cases, on the right hand and on the left, in attitudes and positions calculated to exhibit them to the very best advan- tage. The servant, havinir ascended to the first landing-place, prepared to leave me to examine the collection alone, and at my leisure, and put into my hand a printed catalogue of the exhibition, as well as a copy of ' The Wanderings.' During the short conversation I had with this person, I learnt tliat he had lived a long time with his present master, and had accompanied him in his excursions abroad : he however remained with me only a few moments, Avhcn, taking his leave in a well-bred, quiet manner, he actually withdrew. Thus far, as a stranger, I was certauily treated with most unusual liospitality ; and as for the servant, whether or not he had learnt to be polite during his sylvan peregrinations it was of no moment, but for his part, had he spent all his days in the metropolis, he could not have done the honours better. The admission of strangers is a matter of ever3^-day practice at Walton Hall ; the mansion is, in fact, open to the public at large— no one is denied, although people of all ranks and conditions make coutir.ual application. Many days in the week gaudy equipages are seen waiting at the gate, while individuals of humble grade are ushered up stairs in a manner more congenial to their habits, though with equal consideration, by way of the kitchen. To grant such privileges it XI.] THE CROCODILE. 157 must be allowed is kind and neighbourly ; find, moreover, leave is given to fisli in the lake adjoin- ing the house, to those who think it worth while to make application. I found much satisfaction in referring to the catalogue given me by the servant, for it not onh' contained the name of the bird or animal according to its particular number, but the reader was also referred, for further particulars, to the precise page in the 'Wanderings,' wherein some anecdote re- lating to the same was recorded, — a species of well- timed inforn>ation, by which the interest was greatly enhanced. With regard to an exhibition such as the present, wherein the owner's adventures are part and parcel with the creatures exhibited, to refresh the memory by a recurrence to the narrative is doubly useful; but the same plan, nevertheless, might be adopted in museums, and general collec- tions of objects of natural history, with advantage ; a trifling appendage to a catalogue, referring to works of authority, or containing short extracts from the same, would afford the visiter the ready means of identifying with the object present its habits in its native wilds. In a commanding position, with a lowering coun- tenance, and an eye as horridly frowning as I ever beheld, stands extended at full length the renowned crocodile, sufficient in his own person to recall to the mind of the spectator that gallant equestrian feat which brought before the notice of the world the latter part of his history ; and among the col- lection of pictures, one, immediately above the ani- mal, an oil painting represents the beast, his rider, together with his attendants, the two former correct 158 THE CROCODILE. [cW. likenesses, all performing- their respective parts in the representation alluded to. This is the original of a caricature, M'hich may be seen in many shop- windows, representing the author of the ' Wander- ings ' seated on the back of the crocodile, and some half-dozen of black fellows tugging at the jaws of the latter by a rope. Every body is acquainted with the story of the crocodile, and some have been inclined to wonder at the particulars, but the narration, althougli evi- dently of a man of eager temperament, contains, nevertheless, nothing, from beginning to end, that can be called improbable, or inconsistent with the feelings of an athletic lover of sport and a traveller. The wisdom of one man is raised by heavy ma- chinery ; the spirits of another are elevated by a more mercurial process ; and such is the difference between both, that either may be totally at a loss to reconcile the tastes and habits of the other to plain reason : neither is it easy to imagine a rational creature submitting to voluntary exile and hard- ships, suffering hunger and thirst, and even braving peril and death in pursuit of objects for which an individual himself entertains not a grain of interest. The mere matter of fact in question is so extremely simple — so obvious in its relation to cause and effect, and akin to the moral and physical qualifi- cations of the person concerned, that the shortest possible acquaintance, even a passing glance at his frame and manners, are sufficient,, even if doubt on the subject did exist, immediately to dispel it. That he did ride the crocodile, precisely in the manner he says he did, I have no manner of doubt whatever ; for, in fact, what was to hinder him ? The beast' XI.] RATTLESKAKE. 159 had gorged his bait, and six or seven men were hauling at a long rope and iron hook, the latter made last in his entrails ; — in such a predicament on he was forced to go, no thanks to him : kick he could not, nor was it altogether convenient to turn ro\nid to bite. The plain tale^ goes no farther than to say, that the animal, being in this helpless state, and so perfectly secured by trammels as to be de- prived of all manner of power, — he whose' hopes and anxieties had been tantalized for three Avhole days and nights in the endeavour to catch him, now, in the moment of exultation, at thQ heel of the hunt, he, a Leicester fox-hunter, put an end to the chase by leaping on his back, and bestriding the scaly monster. So far from being an incredible event, it really seems to me just the very thing it was natural a person " feras consumerc natus" was likely to do : a farmer's boy risks more danger Avhen he rides a pig; and had Mr. Elmore, the horse- dealer, then been present, nothing is more certain than that, had the author of the ' Wanderings' hesi- tated to throw a leg over the " cayman," the former would, off-hand, have exclaimed, non insolitis'^^erbis — " Get an. Sir, get on, he's perfectly quiet : a child might ride him." A reference to the catalogue brought to recollec- tion the incident of the little black bird, with a white spot on his crown ; in the pursuit of which the tra- veller, allured by a sound, incautiously mistaken for the monotonous qhirrup of a grasshopper, Avas luckily convinced of his mistake by the vibratory motion of the tail of a rattlesnake among the grass. The little black bird now occupies a glass case in a conspicuous part of the staircase : in another case, immediately 160 WOURALI rOISON. [CH. below him, is the jaw-bone extended, so as to displa)'' the fangs in high perfection, — such is the will of Providence,— of the identical rattlesnake. Hard by was an ant-bear ; his toes turned in and his flourishino,- stern high in the air like that of a war-horse. Also a sloth, which animal reverses the laws of nature and gravity, its entire weight while sleeping being suspended by its claws from an overhanging bough. A more brilliant Indian cap and plume, composed entirely of feathers, I never remember to have seen, than one in this collection ; besides v»'hich, a further memorial of the travelling companionship and habits of the owner was exhibited, in a quantity of the Wourali poison. The latter, a black pitchy sub- stance, hard and dry, having three or four wooden skewers fast sticking in it, was preserved in a cocoa- nut shell. When introduced by the point of an arrow into the system, it produces instant death by para- lyzing the circulation, yet does not render the flesh of the wounded animal unfit to be eaten. It seems extraordinary, that although scientific experiments on the effect and nature of this poison were made when first brought to England, further speculation on the subject has entirely ceased : for surely its powerful agency on animal life, and particularly on the circulation, might, applied in diminished pro- portion, be efficacious in medicine. I saw the identical ass, upon which the experiment was made in London, upwards of twenty years ago ; after being to all appearance cpiite dead, it was restored to life by inflating its lungs. The animal was in good health and spirits, having remained at Walton XI.] THE NOKDliSCRlPT. _ 161 Hall, a pensioner for life, ever since the aforesaid operation. But above all curiosities, the one I viewed with the most interest was, the stuffed nondescript, whose portrait is given to the Avorld in the frontispiece of the ' Wanderings.' The features in the print, as may be recollected, rather than of a monkey, appear those of some placid, respectable old gentleman ; and they are, as I can testify, accurately repre- sented as one pea is by its fellow, the thick, bushy head of hair of the original being of a reddish brown. The history of this wonderful animal, whether ourang outang, wild man of the woods, chimpanzee, or what not, is, according to the account of him given in the book, involved in some obscurity ; it probably being purposely intended that the scientific reader should draw his own conclusions. At the end of the Avork, and in reference to the appended treatise on the art of stuffing and preserving birds and animals, it may be remembered that the possi- bilitv of changing or retaininof, at the Avill of the ■J O " o artist, the expression of the eye and features of the animal under preparation is strongly insisted on ; therefore, perhaps, this specimen is meant for a dis- play of skill of the artist, whereby these monkey features, moulded into human form, tell their own tale, and remain, among the other numerous prepa- rations, all the work of his own hand, a specific challenge as a preparation to adepts in the artj or to naturalists as an animal, to declare its pedigree. From Mr. Waterton, with whom 1 had afterwards some conversation on the subject, I could elicit no information ; to every interrogatory relating to this 162 MR. WATERTON. [CH. strangely human-looking being lie smiled, and was silent. " Surely," said I at length, '• it could hardly have been in cold blood that you put to death such a reverend personage ? " — " Suppose," replied he, at last, being hard pressed, and pointing with his thumb to a glass case adjoining, " the other fellow were his brother !" This " other fellow"" was a pure dog-faced baboon, but of which the black, leathery skin, eyes, and profuse quantity of red hair on the head, exactly resembled those of the former. I had remained a long time alone on the stair- case, a stranger to the owner of the mansion, 3ret permitted, with a liberal confidence, to remain un- attended amidst objects collected at great pains and cost, and in no small degree liable to damage from heedlessness or accident ; not a soul had I seen witliin the walls but the servant Avho had conducted me hither ; and although it was easy, at a single glance, to perceive that the interior of the house was in excellent order, I saw no visible token of the superintending authorities, any more than had I been in a fairy castle. At last, the summer's evening drawing to a close, I determined to take my departure, and on my way to my horse was passing through the drawing-room, when just as I entered the door, the host, attended by two ladies, his sisters-in-law, and a little boy, his son, six or seven years old, all stepped in at the window. The party were making their way by a side door into another apartment ; when seeing a tall, straight-limbed, athletic person, his hair sprinkled with grey, and cut short, dressed in easy loose- fitting costume, viz., a drugget pea-jacket, and wide trowsers ; and knowing him intuitively to be XI.] BREAKFAST. 163 the governor, although by no means certain of my reception, I could not reconcile to my conscience to bow and walk away ; so I stepped up to him, and briefly expressed my thanks for the great indulgence tliat I felt had been shown me, as well as for the entertainment afforded by the collection. Nothing could be more cordial and frank than the invitation that, after only a few minutes' accjuaintance, I re- ceived to breakfast at Walton Hall at eight o'clock the next morning; the which, for the sake of the place itself, would have been a sufficient induce- ment, even had I not felt a greater interest as to the owner. 1 therefore availed myself of the pre- sent advantageous opportunity of forwarding my objects both in one way and the other. And, having returned and passed the night at my inn at Wake- field, at eight o'clock the next morning, or rather, a few minutes before, I walked into the breakfast parlour at Walton Hall. When I arrived, the family had already as- sembled ; that is to say, Mr. Waterton, the two ladies, and the little boy. I really may say, with great truth, that I never sat down to a better appointed breakfast table ; whether determinable by the decorations, the quality of the coffee, or the interior of the pigeon pie ; at all events, the whole together led instinctively to the aforesaid verdict. After a substantial refreshment, Mr. Waterton made that proposal, which of all others I was most anxious to hear, namely, a walk round the park and grounds ; and it was moreover no sooner hinted than carried into execution. There is no service usually more tedious and tantalising, to one whose thoughts and cares, for 1G4 A RAMBLE THROUGH THE GUOUiNDS. [CH. tlie time being, are of a light description, than the heavy operation of dragging a country gentleman the first two miles from his homo in a morning ; whether to walk, to shoot, or what not. So many matters are to be previously attended to, all of lesser importance to the guest than to the owner, — so many orders to be given to the agricultural servants, — so many people respectfully waiting in the distance with hats off, to claim a magisterial audience, — tliat really one cannot help doubly ap- preciating the value of liberty, when the rich man thus seems chained, as it were, to the rock of his wealth, with vulture after vulture plucking at his liver. But there was nothing like this at Walton Hall, and away we walked, straight from the doors, with- out a soul to interrupt us. The habits of the owner are active and early ; to think and to act being with him synonymous terms, nothing once thought of remains to be done, — besides, we were, above all things, in a park surrounded by a high stone wall. We left the island by the drawbridge before mentioned ; there is no other access to the house ; and this being slightly built, is not sufficiently strong for the transport of heavy articles of home consumption, such as coal. Sec. All such, therefore, are ferried across the moat in a small vessel kept for the purpose. Within the moat, close to the bridge, stands an ivy-clad battlement, all that remains of the ancient wall that in former times surrounded the island. The original gate is still preserved, of massive oak ; and here a bullet is to be seen, deeply embedded in the wood, said to have been shot from a pistol by XI.] PET OWL. 165 the hand of Cromwell himself, on being refused admittance, when, at the head of a squadron of cavalry, he called upon the ancestor of Waterton to surrender. In the midst of the ivy, and partially hidden by its leaves, is a plain wooden cross ; in such a situa- tion this sacred symbol has a striking effect, for while it testifies the firm adherence of the owner to his ancient faith, it is not less calculated to excite in the bosom of a stranger a confidence in his hospitality. After examining the aforesaid gate, many cen- turies old, as appears by its model, as well as the massive fragment of the original wall, sufficient in its state of preservation, and in its dimensions, to serve as a sample of wliat the whole had been in former days, I was proceeding to walk on, when "ijStop" said my host, and, at the same time taking a small stick out of my hand, he inflicted a few gentle taps on the ivy above. "Not at hom.e," said he, returning me the stick. A pet oavI, as I afterwards learnt, had here established his residence ; — his usual habits beinir to mouse bv niirht and slumber by day, the above signal was intended to request him to make his appearance ; on the present occasion^ whether he happened to be sound asleep, absent on business, or troubled Avith indigestion, I never dis- covered; at all events, he disregarded the invitation. Near this spot was a circular pillar of stone, perforated all round with small apertures, after the fashion of those in a pigeon-house, the object being to aflTord an habitation for starlings : in the same pillar, other holes of still smaller dimensions were likcAvise bored in order, the latter for tom-tits. In 166 SUN-DIAL. [CH. neither case did justice appear to be rendered by tlie birds to the intentions of the architect, their capricious fancy not being always determinable by human sagacity and observation. On the lawn, before crossing the moat, stood an extraordinary sun-dial, or, more properly speaking, a cluster of sun-dials, for it consisted of an icosahe- dron, on each of whose twenty sides was a separate dial ; all the twenty gnomons being parallel with its poles. The feathered inhabitants of Walton Park enjoy the peculiar privilege of never being disturbed by the sound of a gun, or annoyed by the smell of gunpowder, let them increase and multiply as they may. Mr. Watertoh never allows a gun to be fired within the walls ; he exerts a similar degree of for- bearance also wi'th regard to vermin, neither making use of traps, nor taking other means to destroy them : his theory is rather singular, for he contends that more game is lost in a year by disturbing the covers in the pursuit of crows, hawks, magpies, and the like, than these birds of prey, if entirely left to themselves, woidd kill and eat. At the same time, when I asked how he accounted for the total dis- appearance of late years of the large fork-tailed kite from many counties in England, he attributed the fact entirely to the vigilance of the gamekeep- ers ; the above bird being, as he said, by its nature, more easily taken in a trap than others of the hawk species. The extirpation system, or the preserva- tion system, have the merit, like most other systems, of being directly opposed to each other ; as to the question which of the two may be most expedient to put in practice for the destruction of vermin, it XI.] WILD DUCKS. 167 is very certain that, as regards the accomplishment of the object, it is much easier said than done : our ancestors certainly succeeded in destroying the Molves in England, but they bequeathed to their posterity by far the more difficult task of the two, namely, to kill the weasels. Not all the accumu- lated sagacity of ages, with the aid of every descrip- tion of trap and gun, has yet accomplished this desirable end. Every living creature within the domain, as may readily be believed, instinctively testifies, by an un- usual degree of tameness, that promptitude with which the animal tribe hasten to repose on the protection of man the moment he ceases to be their enemy; even herons are seen floating in the air in circles far within their accustomed circumference ; and as for wild fowl, the large lake before mentioned teems with numerous flocks of every description. This piece of water is particularly adapted for the habitation of aquatic birds, presenting, in the first place, a wide open area, and converging at the ex- tremity into a narrow gullet, where abundance of rushes, together with a low scrubby jungle, afford them a retreat, than which not even the wildest country in the world can furnish one better suited to their natures. The wild ducks, of which there are here £, suffi- cient number, even during the sununer season, pass their existence, as is usual, between activity and repose ; but when accidentally disturbed, instead of seeking, scared and terrified, other quarta's, they merely take a few turns roundabout on tLe wing, and then drop again peaceably into tha water. Alliances with the domestic birds in the farm-yard IGS anciejnt oak. [ch. are to he traced in the plumage of several half-bred duclvs, among the flocks ; these, nevertheless, vie in rapidity of wing Avith the purely wild ones ; both sorts perform their evening flights together, and not unfrequently those half-bred depart with the rest on their long summer excursions to tlie colder regions of Lapland or elsewhere ; malcing their appearance again all together at the beginning of winter. Mr. Waterton takes special delight in studying the habits, and attending to the motions and con- versations, of his feathered visitants ; sometimes regarding" them, while engaged in their natural occupation, through a powerful telescope from his dravdng-room windows ; and at other times ob- serving their movements from various points of ambush on the banks of the lake. To aid the latter recreation, a well-grown wood extends for a con- siderable distance along the water's edge. We were walking through this wood, when Mr. Waterton, making a sudden turn towards the water, beckoned me to a spot Avhere stood an ancient oak, liollow with age, and covered with ivy. In the hol- low part a bench had been introduced, vrhich latter formed a comfortable seat ; aiid as it afforded a view of the lake, partially intercepted by bushes and thick boughg of trees, it was occasionally used as one of the points of ambush before alluded to. Here we sat for some time looking at the birds, during which period I may safely affirm that I never beliclcl, even in a savage covmtry, wild fowl more at their ease, or more thoroughly in a state of nature ; for, in point of fact, they dabbled and sported about quite as independently, and with as little concern, as if the XI.] REMARKABLE TREE. 169 race of man were blotted out of creation. When we came out of the tree, I was asked what I thought of it ? I rephed, just as I thought, that it was a noble old tree, and a remarkably fine object. I was then made acquainted with its history. This tree had only existed, or rather stood, in its present posi- tion, during the last six years. Its original situation being one wherein its massive trunk and bold out- line were entirely lost to the surrounding landscape, it was accordingly carefully taken down by a hori- zontal cut close to the ground, placed upon a timber- tug, and, by the aid of several horses, conveyed to this new spot. Here, placed upright ingeniously upon a solid stone foundation, the ivy, at the same time planted around it, has since grown up and become so luxuriant, that the venerable exile may fairly be expected to maintain the pseudo honours of antiquity for at least another generation. As Ave were pursuing our walk through this wood I looked up, and perceiving a pheasant sitting on a bough, at the same moment I instinctively pointed it out to Mr. Waterton ; — the branches were thick about the place where he sat, so that the light hardly fell directly on the spot ; nevertheless, the outline was so perfect, that an experienced eye could not possibly make a mistake. I was therefore not a little surprised when, to my discovery, a smile was the only reply. Looking again, I persisted ; and a pheasant it certainly was, — that is to say, an effigy cut in wood for the purpose of deceiving the poachers. No less than two hundred and forty of these wooden pheasants are perched on the trees in different parts of these woods, which ruse de rjuerre had been suc- cessfully resorted to, in consequence of former depre- I 170 TRAPS FOR POACHERS. [CH. dations. I afterwards saw a great many more, all so perfect in shape and attitude, the tail drooping downwards as if the bird were fast asleep, that, as they were all painted blade, it would have been quite impossible, by moonlight, when all dark colours become blended into the same hue, to dis- tinguish the wooden birds from live ones. Besides the above contrivance, there are other arrange- ments in Walton Park for the reception of poachers, - — namely, several small stone buildings, disposed in various places like circular sentry-boxes, Avhich not only form a comfortable guard-room, large enough to accommodate three or four keepers together, but afford a most excellent point of resistance in case of attack. In the course of our walk we talked about ser- pents. I mentioned an instance of a boa constrictor I had once seen exhibited at Dublin. The creature had just swallowed a rabbit when I perceived that he suddenly turned his eye full towards me. I was looking over the edge of his box, so I took the hint and withdrew instantly. The animal, at the same moment, made his spring, and seized a mouthful of his own blanket, on the identical spot where, imme- diately before, I had rested my face ; — and he re- tained the blanket so determinedly within his jaws, that it required the united force of a couple of men for five minutes to remove it. Mr. Water ton ob- served, that the serpent could not, even had he been inclined, have relinquished his hold, and as at the same time he produced the skull of one of these rep- tiles, it was plain to see, from the acute angle which the fangs form with the jaw, that their prey has no chance of escape. He added, that they never seize XI.] BOA CONSTRICTOR. 171 their \'ictim openl3% or go out of their way in pursuit ; on the contrary, they invariably lie in wait, — being, however, seldom backward in resenting an act of aggression on themselves. As an instance of this trait in the character of the . boa, Mr. Waterton related an anecdote. A boa, in South America, pursued to the banks of a muddy river, had eluded his sight. He had some time fruitlessly continued the pursuit, till at last, walking along, and stepping across, on some fallen logs, close to the shore, he suddenly per- ceived the track of the snake making progress be- neath the mud; and immediatel}^ aimed a blow vnih a spear he held in his hand, but missed him. The boa instantaneously returned the compliment, by seizing, quick as thought, a large mouthful of his trowsers, and flinging at the same time a couple of coils round his arm, with such violence, as to benumb the limb for some time afterwards. Al- though assistance was at hand, and the serpent a small one, it was with considerable difficulty, and not till the reptile had been deprived of life, that he relinquished his hold. Thus the morning slipped away at Walton Hall ; when, having returned to the house at one o'clock, and partaken of the family dinner at that hour, — during which meal (either then, or at any other time) Mr. W. drinks no wine or fermented liquor, — I mounted my horse and returned to WakeHeld^ pressed by the most earnest hospitality to repeat my visit, and o>btaining an ample store of agreeable meditations engendered by the excursion. I 2 CllAPTEK XII. LEEDS. The Old Coiil Staiths — Curious old Steam-Engine — Crown Point and Waterloo Coal Staiths — Bramley Fall Stone Quarries — Wode- liouse Quarries — Cloth Hall — Quick dealing — Sawing Stone by Steam — Engine for chopping Sausages — Grinding the Grinder — Cloth Mill — Water heated by Steam — Worsted Spinning — Wool combed by Steam — Manufactory of IMachinery — Self-acting Turn- ing-Lathe — Manufactories — Consequent Eeflections — Morbid Sympathy of the Public — Actual State of the Operatives — Ad- vance of Intellect coincident with improvement of Machinery — Operatives necessarily dependent on the Masters — Education. In no manufacturing town in England, I imagine, is more coal consumed, in proportion to its extent, than Leeds : situated in the heart of a coal-field, and fed by an abundant daily supply, a single glance, whether by night or by da}-, verifies the above conclusion. The sun himself, obscured by smoke, as by a natural mist, no sooner descends be- low the horizon, than streams of brilliant gas burst forth from thousands of illuminated windows. * # * * The Old Coal- Staiths form one principal point of delivery of the coal brought from the pits, four miles westward, to the town. The entrance to the first of these pits, at Middleton, is by a level on the side of the hill, wherein it is only necessary to enter a few yards in order to see a perfect vein of coal. The staiths consist of a platform raised upon a row of brick arches, each having an aperture in the XII.] COAL STAITH.?. 173 summit, so that the cart being brought underneath, in order to receive its load, the coal is at once shot into it from the Avaggon above. As, from the lower level, all the arches are accessible at the same time, several waggons may be unladen together, — any part of a waggon-load may also be delivered by means of a regulating bar, by which the bottom of the waggon is closed or opened at Avill. The railroad and locomotive steam-engines are curious and worthy of observation, being among the earliest in the country; the latter especially is as different in appearance from the engines in present us, as a state-coach in the days of Queen Anne from any of our modern vehicles. A wheel on one side of the engine worhs upon a line of cogs, with which the rails on the same side are furnished; thus, though by a slow motion, gaining a purchase by rack and pinion. This crazy, rickety, old engine continues to trundle along day after day at the rate of about five miles an hour ; an extraordinary in- stance, by comparison, of the improvements in ma- chinery of the last fifteen or sixteen years. :JS: * * * * Considerable cargoes of coal are brought from the eastern vicinity of the town by the river Aire; of these there are two points of delivery, " The Crown Point" and " Waterloo Staiths," both adjoining the river. I was surprised to find the appliances for unlading the vessels not altogether such as one might have expected, considering the enormous consumption of the article ; thence may probabv be inferred that, in addition to. the abundance of the supply, and the natural facilities of delivery, the inhabitants of Leeds have other more important 174 COAL STAITHS. [CH. matters to attend to. At the Crown Point Staiths, the coal is raised upon the wharf, seven or eight feet above the level of the river, by a simple hand- crane, worked by a couple of men at a windlass, it having been previously thrown from the lighter into an iron tub by men with shovels, which tvib is raised, swung round over the cart to be laden, and emptied into it. At the Waterloo Staiths, the lighters, inr stead of bringing the coal in bulk, are furnished with iron tubs like the keels of Sunderland. A lighter carries eighteen of these tubs, each of the latter containing 36 cwt. of coal, or one cart-load. A small steam-engine is employed to raise the tub from the lighter to the wharf, a man at the same time hanging on at the side of it, in order to knock out the bolt which confines the bottom, and thus let the coal fall into the cart. In case of an in- sufficient demand for the cargoes of the lighters, the tubs are unladen from the latter, and wheeled on a small hand-truck to the raised platform which forms the staiths. Here they remain, arranged in order, till the contents are called for. Coal in abundance arrives also daily from the south, in the neighbourhood of Wakefield, brought in ordinary carts along the turnpike-road. Besides the channels already cited, another has lately been opened by the Selby Railroad, in consequence of which vmdertaking, and the facility of delivery re- sulting from it, new staiths have been constructed within the premises of that establishment, and new shafts have already been sunk on the line, which latter will, ere long, contribute largely to the gene- ral stock. X[I.] BUILDING-STONE. 175 The supply of building-stone in the vicinity of Leeds is no less abundant than that of coal. The banks of the Liverpool Canal especially are con- tinually covered with the material in all various sizes and dimensions, such as large blocks, slabs for paving, as well as others of thinner dimensions, termed " gi'ey slate," for roofing -dwellings, &c. ; the whole lying ready for embarkation and export from hence to almost all parts of the country. The navigation to Liverpool by this canal is performed in about a week by the ordinary craft ; the fly-boats occupy two days and three nights : the distance by water is one hundred and twenty miles : the nvniiber of locks ninety-two. By the Aire and Calder navi- gation towards the east, the port of Goole is reached in nine hours, wljence vessels proceed onwards by the Humber to the coast. I rode to the quarries at Bramley Fall, three miles from Leeds, on the south bank of the above canal ; these occupy a slanting ridge of steep ground, covered with scrubby, stunted trees, the excavations being numerous, rather than large or deep. A specimen of the stone, which is of ex- cellent quality, and is quarried with remarkable facility, crumbling, as it were, spontaneously, into large blocks, capable of being removed in their original shape >vithout the trouble of blasting, may be seen in the balustrades of the new London bridge. The workmen were raising a large block of eight tons by a cr ane and a couple of horses. At every round, a circumference of thirty yards was com- pleted, while the stone ascended one foot. Not- withstanding its clumsy, irregular shape, no other 17G liUILDING-STONE. [CH. means were adopted to lift it than by the ordinary " Lewishole." By this apparently small purchase, merely an oblong mortice a few inches deep, in which, being larger at bottom than at the top, an iron pin is confined b}- a wedge, these heavy masses invariably hold together. The block when raised, suspended on the arm of the crane, above the verge of the quarry, was swung round with considerable adroitness on the part of the workmen, and laid upon the stiff wooden truck on solid wheels, on which it was conveyed to the masons below. The old horse that drew the truck was pushed backwards and forwards by the workmen, apparently with much heedlessness, sometimes even to the brink of the precipice ; so near, that had he moved even one foot farther than the prescribed limit, both horse and carriage must have been inevitably precipitated to the bottom ; but the animal had worked so long with the men, that a degree of mutual intelligence prevailed between both: in the mean time, the ex- pression of his eye and ear showed he was aware of his danger ; but whether or not, the men evidently reckoned on his intuitive knowledge. The Wodehouse quarries, situated about a mile northward of the town, produce good sandstone. It is quarried easier, if possible, than that at Bram- ley Fall ; not only 1} ing naturally in horizontal layers, and splitting in a parallel direction b}' the slightest blow of the chisel, but from the alternations of temperature, or other causes, it cracks perpen- dicularly in deep fissures : in fact, the workmen have nothing to do but to raise the blocks irom the quarry. Xll.] CLOTH HALL. 177 Altliough the eye may be perfectly acquainted with an outhne, it is not easy, without actual measure- ment, to describe space, when divided into different areas ; for in such case, ideas, arithmetically definite, are not to be imported by mere correctness of terms. Such were my impressions on paying a visit to the Coloured Cloth Hall, on one of the mornings dedi- cated to the dispatch of business ; for though the extent of the building is very remarkable, I know of no other elsewhere with which to place it in com- parison. It rather resembles three sides of a square of houses, than a single edifice. A long room, gallery or street, as it is most properly called, extends from one end to the other of each side; and in these covered ways, the cloth brought from, the adjacent country by the domestic weavers, in an unfinished state, is exposed for sale to the manu- facturers, who finish it by machinery. Two rows of tables, one on each side, are ranged the whole length of the building : on these the bales of cloth are laid, a wide space remaining in the middle, whereon the purchasers parade up and down. Matters are conducted with remarkable celerity, and, as far as I could see, the first price offered generally adhered to. Few words go to a bargain ; — the cloth is first held up to the light, whipped with a small bundle of blanched sticks, and smoothed down once or twice by the hand, then the price is registered in a little narrow book, and the pur- chaser strides forward in quest of a fresh article. Here men of business may receive a useful lesson in the art of making up their minds in a hurry: for the regulations of the establishment make dispatch indispensable, and a short time only on two days in i3 178 STONE-SAWING BY STEAM. [CH. a week is dedicated to the cloth sales. On the mornings of Tuesdays and Saturdays the com- mencement of the market is proclaimed by the sound of a bell at half-past eight o'clock in the morning;. A few minutes before ten the same bell rings again, the latter being a signal to close the first part of the building, and commence on an upper floor. Twenty minutes is allowed here — the bell then rings a third time, and every body is hustled out. As soon as the Coloured Cloth Hall is closed, that for white undyed cloth, situated in another part of the town, is then opened by a like signal. * * ^: •■>• Within a building at the water's edge, close to the banks of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, I saw a machine at work for the purpose of sawing blocks of stone. It was driven by a steam-engine, ap- parently of small power, although by it were set in motion upwards of three dozen saws. The block to be cut was placed in a frame and moved horizon- tally, stone, frame and all, backwards and forwards by castors on iron rails. The saws, the ordinary iron plates without teeth, such as are used in com- mon by stone-masons, were fixed immoveably above the block. Four of these frames were within the building, each containing eleven saws, dividing each block into tAvelve pa\dng stones. One boy attended all the saws with sand and water, adjusting at the same time, by a screw-purchase, their contact and pressure on the stone. It was agreeable to see, in this instance above all others, the steam-engine substituted for human labour. Nothing can be less gratifying to the mind XII.] STEAM SAUSAGK-MACHINE. 179 than to watch the patient endurance and ahnost hn- perceptible progvess of a mason employed in cutting through a large stone ; —cast a glance on him as you pass, sitting in his comfortless sentry-box, the mighty mass before him, his toil seems incessant, and his attitude as if chained to the galleys. Pass on^ride, walk — wander 'over the hills and far away,' — in three, or four, or five hours return to the same spot, and there appears the same man and the same stone ; the former, poor fellow, enduring the labour of Sisyphus without its variety, or other relief from its monotony than merely to halt now and then for a few moments at a time, to regulate the nozzle of his watering-pot. Even in the present instance, with the power of steam in action, although forty-four saws were moving together, the progress of each, as it made its wa}' through the block, appeared no less tardy than if worked by hand. * * * * In a walk through the streets of Leeds, I wit- nessed the performance of a piece of machinery em- ployed in an unexpected, if not unusual service — that of chopping sausages ; nevertheless, the simplicity of the contrivance afforded fair grounds to consider why the same aid is not more generally applied to culinary purposes ; moreover, 1. am by no means sure that su.ch an instrument, on a small scale, might not be turned to the benefit of those who have lost their teeth — even entirely to supersede the knife and fork. One disadvantage is certainly to be complained ofj namely, the grievous noise it makes while working ; however, to this noise I am indebted for the opportunity of seeing it at all : for. 180 SAUSAGE-MAKING. [CH. such was the rattling and thumping produced, that as I was passing on, my attention was arrested by a sound from the inner part of a butcher s shop, as loud as IF half a dozen dragoons, Avith swords and cuirasses, were galloping round and round a boarded chamber ; while the owner affirmed " the meat was chopped in pieces as fine as flour." Thus one great advantage is gained in sausage-making, wherein it may be advisable, not only to conceal the art, but the material also. The machine was, in size and appearance, like a handmill, such as is used to break beans for horses, with a heavy fly-wheel, and worked by a single man at a winch. The meat to be chopped was placed in a round tub below, Avhich tub turned round and round by a slow horizontal motion. Thus the posi- tion of the meat was continually shifted, under four heavy blades, which latter, as the wheels revolved, were lifted vip, and allowed on their descent to fall with their full weight. I understood from the owner that it cost him thirty pounds. At all events, no six Lcadcnhall butchers could chop up an old cow against time in competition with it. In order to ascertain the force required, I took hold of the handle and gave it a few turns : the movements were so easy, that, notwithstanding the clatter Avas unavoidable from the nature of its busi- ness, a child might have kept it in motion. These implements are, I believe, at j^resent com- mon enough in London; at least, I am mistaken in the sound if one of them be not in constant work towards the south-west end of Oxford Street, * -t * ,-=: With reference to the extreme facility, whereby XIl.] GRINDING A GRINDSTONE. 181 the powers of an engine are brought into action, and accumulated forces expended in some particular moment of contact, without affording to the observer any sensible indication of the resistance that has been overcome, — it would seem, that the greater the deed to be done, the less the noise and disturbance. And this, as it were, in analogy and contrast with the struggle to conquer of a determined heart, and the squabbling warfare of more grovelling minds. The above reflection occurred to me on witnessino-, within a celebrated manufactory of machinery, the attempt, while the more important operations within the chamber were performing in glibness and com- parative silence, to reduce an old mis-shapen grind- stone to its pristine circular form. As it revolved under an overpowering force, notwithstanding the softness of the material, the remonstrance of this XoLccs ocvcu^YiS, this " radical grindstone," was abso- lutely deafening. Although grown ancient in the cause of the levelling system, and protuberant in the exercise of grinding down its betters, yet the moment the experiment was retorted upon itself, it emitted cries as if an hundred hogs were under discipline; — meanwhile an innocuous flame of fire descended from the chisel, expending its venom in the water below, without even the power of raising ebullition. Such impetuous rotatory motion imparted to a grindstone has been heretofore attended with a dangerous catastrophe. It was related to me on the banks of the Kendal and Lancaster Canal, where grinds'tones brought from the quarry in the neigh- bourhood, of all manner of sizes, lihe so many cheeses, lie arranged ready for embarkation, that in one particular instance a grindstone under manu- 182 CARDIISG MACHINE. [CH. facture being caused to revolve too violently, or con- taining perhaps a flaw, suddenly split in the middle, when one of the pieces flew off at a tangent, and forced its way through the roof of the building. Although I learnt thus much of the history of one part of the said grindstone, my informant, on whose veracity 1 altogether depend, omitted to state what became of the other. On making a circuit through the chambers of an extensive cloth manufactory, a stranger, as he is hurried along, feels, as it were, dragged from one object to the other, in unsated curiosity, compelled to leave behind, at every step, recollections on which the mind lingers, and relinquish every moment food for hours of contemplation. First my attention was arrested by the carding machine, by which, aided by exquisite delicacy of sight and touch, the wool is previously prepared by hand. It is indeed beautiful to see the material, after being sorted, weighed in scales, and spread, weight for space, on a flat surface at one end ; — then pass over, between, and among, upwards of a score revolving, toothed cylinders, till it drops out at the other end, at regular periods, in soft rolls, one after another, the size and thickness of a walking cane, which rolls are brought end to end, and spun into the thread. Next I traced the various means and multifarious devices by which the article luider manufacture pro- ceeds towards final perfection. Here the cloth, sub- jected to the powers of numerovis and different machines, the wheels of which might, according to XII.] CLOTH MAKUFACTOUY. 188 appearance, vie with those of a chronometer, passes through the subsequent stages of improvement. In one place, irrigated by soft, equable, artificial showers of water, continually falling over its surface ; — in another, exposed to perpetual contact with a cloud of vapoui-, raised for the purpose; — and thus, through twenty or more degrees of gradation and approxi- mation, to the last finishing point. Then, indeed, it may be said to exhibit a specimen of human art, imitative in no small degree of Nature's works; worked up with such delicacy, and so saturated with oily particles, as, when the knap is raised, to partake of tljat property by which the covering of a living animal preserves its purity, and in a great measure resists the adherence of extraneous matter. In this exclusive department, that of raising the knap, it is worthy of remark that the teazle-plant performs the office awarded to it .from the earliest period, still unrivalled in its peculiarity of touch, and unequalled by any modern invention. I observed in the dyeing-house the mode adopted of boiling liqiiid by steam, whereby vessels contain- ing four hundred gallons were raised from a tempe- rature of fifty degrees of Fahrenheit to that of boil- ing heat in a quarter of an hour. The steam entered from below through a pipe, five or six inches dia- meter, causing a violent commotion in the first moments of contact with the water, and producing a rattling, crackling, gurgling sound, both sonorous and awful. Two steam-engines were employed in the service of these very extensive works, which form one esta- blishment only, among others belonging to the same 184 WORSTED-SPINNlIsG. [cH. proprietor : tlie building* consists of a quadrangle, the front windows of one side of which alone amount to one hundred and sixty-four. After viewing the manufactory, I ascended by a flight of steps to the small stone building containing one of the said steam-engines. Ahhough so vast a power was in action, not the slightest tremulous or other motion was perceptible ; the enormous fly-wheel spinning meanwhile in silence, though weighing some tons, close to the wall; and the harmony of the move- ments of the engine altogether was so perfect and free from friction, the brilliancy of polish bestowed on many of its parts so lustrous, aiid the care^and attention paid to the whole so apparent, that imagi- nation might readily have transformed the edifice to a temple, dedicated by man, grateful for the stu- pendous power that moved within, to Him who built the universe. * * * * js In a large worsted-spinning establishment I saw machines for combing the wool, consisting of wheels four or five feet in diameter, through the hollow radii and fellies of which heat was communicated by steam ; their revolution was vertical, the teeth placed on the circumference, at right angles with the plane of the motion. I observed the vast power by which the water is scpieezed out of the wool, after the latter is washed in a large vessel : this is done so effectually, that the wet wool, merely passed once between a pair of heavy iron cylinders, is rendered nearly dry. In addition to the weight of the upper cylinder, both are pressed together by a compound lever, one arm of which appeared to be about a Xir.] TURNIKG-LATHE. 185 couple of feet in length, and was acted upon by a second of five feet or thereabouts ; the weight at the extremit}^ of the latter, two hundred pounds. The Continent chiefly furnishes the wool for broad-cloth, Eno;land that for the Avorsted manufacture, a lono;er thread being- spun from the latter. The degree of fineness already attained in spinning worsted by ma- chiner}^ is such, that a pound of wool furnishes one hundred and twenty hanks, each hank containing five hundred and sixty yards in length,— equal to thirty-eight miles and two-eleventh parts. * * ;;-- * * Among the numerous objects that attracted my notice in a manufactory of flax machinery ^vas the self-acting turning-lathe. This machine was in the act of reducing to its proportions a hollow iron cylinder, four feet in length by three feet in dia- meter, and thickness three-quarters of an inch. As the cylinder revolved, the graver, or cutting tool, was fixed and adjusted to its proper point of contact and pressure, having, at the same time, a lateral motion imparted to it by a rack and pinion. The graver continually pared away a spiral thread of h'on, a sixteenth of an inch in thickness, or there- abouts ; the revolution of the cylinder being very slow, the lateral motion of the graver still slower, so much so, that the movements of the wheels that imparted it were hardly perceptible to the eye. By slowness of motion, the generation of heat is pre- vented, and consequently the application of oil, water, or other liquid, to refresh the cutting tool, rendered vmijeccssary. I was informed that a good tool would thus plane the whole cylinder, from end to end, without sharpening ; the distance traversed ISG MANUFACTORIES. [CH. being, on a rough calculation, two thousand tliree hundred and four yards. There is aii appearance particularly graceful and majestic in the slow movement of this powerful engine, thus performing its office as an automaton, and almost in silence. It is visited at rare inter- vals, and then only for a moment at a time, by an individual who has this service, besides several other duties, to perform within the building. * ■ * * .t * Although I had frequent opportunities, both in Leeds and elsewhere, of visitino; the interior of several celebrated manufactories, 1 should feel un- willing to make to individuals what might be con- sidered an ungracious return for their liberality, even did I consider myself qualified to describe to the world the movements of their machinery ; nor could I reconcile to myself to publish the most trilling details whatever, in case such had been im- parted to me under the slightest implied impression of confidence, or if, indeed, any reserve at all on the subject Avere, in fact, necessary. But there was neither concealment nor mystery on the part of those to whose kindness I am indebted for having been admitted as a stranger, and conducted off-hand and unreservedly all over their premises ; moreover, I am no mechanic, neither versed in the operations of machinery, — not even acquainted with the vo- cabulary of the members that compose any descrip- tion of engine. An uninterested spectator, and wishing well to all parties, I have no more to de- scribe than what I saw in common with hundreds, nay thousands, of people connected with the w^orks in question ; nor, after all, hg-ve I attempted any Xri.] MECHANICAL INGENUITY. 187 more than to trace, in general terms, the impressions received on my mind. It is with a feeling of veneration that one enters a manufactory, such as the one last referred to, — namely, that for the manufacture of other machinery, — wherein each of the component parts is fashioned, of those machines whose operations, complicated as they may be, when a number are seen all working together in the same apartment, appear somewhat monotonous. Here is a creation in miniature, — wherein variety knows no bounds, and the number and complexity of curious engines, constructed merely for the pur- pose of forming small parts of another, baffle all de- scription. It is most curious to observe the infinity of de- vices b}"^ which the velocity of revolving wheels is regulated, and every description of circular and rectilinear motion generated ; how the revolutions are accelerated or retarded, merely by shifting the gear along the conical axle of the drum-wheel ; how a straight rod, resting vipon the plane periphery of an eccentric revolving wheel, receives and commu- nicates a movement whether vertical or horizontal, equal, and at regular intervals, — such as, for in- stance, is necessary to produce the blow of a ham- mer; how a movement is also obtained, alike equal and at regular intervals, but by impulses longer continued, imparted by means of the traverse or reversing pinion, where a wheel or pinion, acting on botli sides of a rack, by passing over the extremity along the opposite side, reverses the direction of the motion, — such as is exemplified, for instance, in the slow ascent and descent of the frame which J8S REMARKS ON [CH. feeds the spindles in a cotton or worsted mill or the horizontal motion backwards and forwards of an ordinary mangle. There can be no spectacle more grateful to the heart of an Englishman than, viewing the interior of a manufactory of machinery, to observe the features of each hard-working mechanic blackened by smoke, yet radiant with the light of intelligence, — to con- trast with his humble station the lines of fervid thought that mark his countenance and direct his sinewy arm, and to reflect that to such combination of the powers of mind and body England ow'es her present state of commercial greatness. It is no less pleasing to consider, that although particular classes of men have suffered by the substitution of machinery for manual labour, such evils arise from the mutability of human affairs,— are such as the most zealous philanthropist cannot avert ; and, lastly, of themselves insignificant compared with the ge- neral demand for labour throughout the country, which has not only kept pace with the increase of machinery, but no doubt might be shown even to have exceeded it ; — nay, it might be made manifest, that not only is the grand total of operatives em- plo3ed throughout the manufacturing districts aug- mented, but additional employment afforded in like proportion for mechanics, to supply the wear and tear of machinery, and buildings dependent there- upoif, as well as for workmen upon all works to be traced to a similar cause, such as railroads, bridges, viaducts, aqueducts, &c. ! Great have beeir the strides of the commercial interest, while the agricultural have comparatively remained still. In halls like these the growth of XII. J MORBID SYMPATIIV. 189 science has been fostered, and England is no doubt indebted to the manufacturer, among- otlier benefits conferred, for the simvdtaneous expansion of intellect that has spread of late years far and wide through the country. The public, nevertheless, have been, slow to do justice to the character of the manufac- turer, or appreciate the manifold difficulties of his position. Instead of regarding him as an individual on whom hundreds, nay, thousands of his fellow- creatures depend for their daily bread, expressions of morbid sympathy have, on the contrary, never ceased to paint the situation of the operatives far darker than it is in reality ; while there can be no doubt but tliat the well-being of both parties has been preserved through the struggle, not alone by the industry of the servant, but by the benevolence of the master. Benevolence, in England, as well as industry, is a leading virtue, — to exercise it at others' expense is a national failing; as in the case of those, for instance, who, under the forms of vari- ous descriptions of associations and societies, under- take to direct the kindly feelings of individuals. This propensity (laudable in itself, and perhaps harmless, even though misapplied, so long as con- fined really to individuals), exerted in the way of special interference between different classes of persons, and especially between masters and their servants, then subverts the natural dependence whereby both mutually lean upon each other. It is as unquestionable that tjie operatives rely, over and above their daily wages, upon their masters, as that the benevolence of the latter can never flow so freely as through an open channel. Inasmuch as it is owing to the benevolence of individuals, with regard 190 VOLUNTARY LABOUR. [CH. to house servants, that multitudes of those whose ' service is no inheritance/ are preserved in sickness and old age, there is no reason to apprehend that similar unseen channels of sympathy, if left to themselves, would flow less abundantly towards the relief of the operatives among the manufacturing classes. With respect to the general state of the workmen, and especially the children in the factories, I cer- tainly gained, by personal inspection, a happy re- lease from opinions previously entertained ; neither could I acknowledge those resemblances, the work of interested artists, by whom such touching por- traits of misery and over-fatigue have been from time to time embellished : I saw around me wherever I moved, on every side, a crowd of apparently happy beings, working in lofty well-ventilated buildings, with whom a comparison could no more in fairness be drawn with the solitary weaver plying his shuttle from morning to night in his close dusty den, than are the bustle and occupation of life with soul- destroying solitude. It is surprising after all to reflect, that notwithstandino" human labour neces- sarily receives its limit according to the extent of human power, yet how few there are who are aware how great that power is. Extraordinary feats of exertion, from time to time heard of, serve to exhibit prodigies of strength displayed at particular times and places ; nevertheless most people are totally ignorant how far voluntary labour, unrecorded and almost unnoticed, is daily urged. I remember one day at Liverpool, when walking on the Docks, stop- ping to observe the mode in which the labourers employed to carry sacks of oats from the adjoining XII.] CORN-PORTERS. 191 storehouses to a vessel lying at the water-side, con- ducted the operation. These men (chiefly Irishmen) received the full sacks as they were lowered by the crane off the hitch on their shoulders and carried them across the road. They pursued their heavy task during the working hoiu's of a summer's day at a uniform, unremitting pace, a trot of at least five miles an hour, the distance from the vessel to the storehouse being full fifty yards ; they were frequently obliged, moreover, to deviate from a straight line, in order to avoid the numerous carts and carriages that continually obstructed their course. Arrived on the edge of the wharf, they shot the sack into the hold of the vessel, after which, returning to the storehouse, and fixing the empty sack to the hitch at the end of the rope, they received in its place a full one. It was said that at this work a good labourer earned, at 16f/. per 100 sacks, ten shillings a day ; so that consequently he made seven hundred and fifty trips from the storehouse to the vessel, carrpng for half the distance a full sack of oats on his shoulder, thus performing a distance of seventy- five thousand yards, or forty-three miles, nearly. All which, weight, distance, and impediments being considered, though a great performance, is one only of those numberless instances that somehow or other neither cause pity, nor engender that state of excite- ment and outcry, so congenial to the English cha- racter. Inasmvich as during the course of late improve- ments in machinery thousands of the lower classes have been necessarily made conversant with the ope- rations, and daily habit has continually encouraged and confirmed the love of knowledge and the spirit 192 MARCH OF INTELLECT EDUCATION. [CH. of invcstig-ation, I think it follows that the march of intellect at least received from hence a powerful impulse, and that, at all events, it maybe predicated as to the point at which the latter has now arrived, — that even supposing- the mind of the public were suddenly to chang-e, and instead of meditated schemes of education, compulsory and persuasive, an endeavour were made, on the contrary, to stop its progress, — the word " halt" wovdd be vittered in vain. With the same good intention that would fain heretofore have improved the condition of the fac- tory children by special interference, in like manner there are many who would regulate education gene- rally throughout the country, not only for the benefit of the lower classes, but even out of tender mercy towards the higher, from the apprehension that from this said march of intellect the lower classes may gain undue pre-eminence. But it appears to me that the matter ma}^ very well be allowed to rest in the old hands, and that parents and guardians may safely, as usual, continue to direct the course of education, particularly as ex- perience shows that the energies excited have been simultaneous instead of partial, and that all classes of society, not the lower classes exclusively, have been awakened by a sympathetic stimulus ; for it might be shown that knowledge has shed light in equal proportion over the higher ranks, were only the numerous public lectures delivered continually, year after year, on every branch of science^ and in every great town in the country, to be given as an example. It may be a question for consideration, wdiether XII.] EDUCATION. 193 or not. the first process of all in mental cultivation, — that of clearing the soil of the weed of idle habit, and preparing it for the seed of instruction, — be proy^erl}' attended to ; and whether that stupendous engine — the imitative faculty of a child — be made available to its utmost extent. I have often thought that, during the important season of reason's first development, those few years of existence v/hen figures, sounds, colours, languages, fall on the under- standing as the down on the wing of a butterfly, something more might be done under the peripa- tetic system of instruction than has been generally attempted; — I say peripatetic, for the blessing of health is not only the first of all desiderata, but even Icarnino^ itself is little worth without it. Accordino; to the present plan of many infant schools, a peri- patetic system of instruction might, I think, be acted upon, to such extent at least as might not only afford instruction to children of all ranks, but render them at the same time more healthy and happy. At all events, there appears no rational objection to the institution of infant schools for the children of the rich as well as the poor ; were it only as a refuge from those solitary hours of idleness passed by the first-born of the higher classes within the walls of a nursery, wherein many an infant, while the mother is shopping and paying morning visits, untaught one useful lesson — that the world was made for others as well as itself, grows daily more confirmed in its propensity to self-will, and lays the foundation of sorrow and disappointment in after-age. Our public schools, together with the present forms of education, taken with all their imperfec- K 194 EDUCATION. [CH. tions, certainly afford the means of attaining every requisite description of knowledge, provided the mind of the student be properly prepared, and he be willing to learn : but our public schools are not to be blamed if, on the contrary, he, having such advantages at command, and choosing to slumber away his hours on the banks of the stream with- out drinking its waters, should afterwards complain of thirst. Our present forms of education are not, by reason that they hold out the means of obtaining instruction, to be held amenable to their mal-appro- priation. A certain period, no doubt, varying ac- cording to disposition and talent, is indispensable, under any particular course of study ; to define this period it behoves those concerned to exercise their judgment ; for it is as certain that things half learnt are never remembered, as that those thoroughly ingrafted in the mind are never forgotten. There is a time — a moment, perhaps — when the particles of knowledge descending on the memory are liable to be swept from its surface by the most trivial cause ; yet, for that moment being suffered to re- main, sink and amalgamate with its essence for ever. The imperfections in our forms of education are probably more attributable to the apathy of parents and gviardians than to the system itself: for, though public schools may be said partly to lead the public taste, they hold always in due deference public opinion ; the intelligible, definite expression of which, without special interference, will, no doubt, prove alone sufficient to instigate all necessary al- terations. The study of arithmetic and algebra might cer- XII.] EDUCATION. 195 tainly be made a more primary object of interest than has been hitherto the practice. It was a trite adage when Horace was a boy, — " >it pueris olim dant crustula blandi Doctores, elementa velint ut discere prima," yet common custom rather tends to give a distaste to the science of numbers and quantities, than in- spire the pupil with a sense of its beauty ; as it is, the study is taken up altogether in a desultory way, and may rather be said, after a couple of hours' labour, to spoil a half- holiday, than to afford direct advantage. Under the present system a youth has scarcely shaken off the heavy machinery of primary rules, than he leaves school, and bids adieu to the subject for ever ; and this, notwithstanding the ac- cumulating rapidity with which difficulties disappear in proportion to progress. It is really absurd that since, even in the farther stages, there is no mental exercise more painful, one which requires more fixed attention, or more tenacity of thought, than the mere primary, mechanical process of multiplication, the student should be thus propelled, as it were, through stormy weather, and tlien be obliged to abandon his course the moment the liffht of reason illuminates his track, and teaches him to adopt principles painfully acquired to easy practice. Pro- vided arithmetic be made a part of education, the student should never stop short of algebra, of which, by any one versed in common arithmetic, a tolerable insight may be obtained in a few months j By it he not only becomes thoroughly master of theory, but arrives, as it were, in an element, where with every new object calculated to delight and surprise, he k2 196 EDUCATJOV. [CH. breathes afresh, inhales new life, and reposes in peace, half-suffocated by the turbid waters of the immortal Cocker. A problem in algebra once ar- ranged and commenced, no matter how frequent the interruptions, how sudden or long the in- terval, an hour, a day, a week afterwards, it is re- sumed and pursued, precisely with the same interest and the same facility as if no interruption at all had taken place. By the help of algebra, the student not only at once perceives the use of all his early labours, and views the general principles of arith- metic laid bare in surprising beauty ; but obtains, moreover, a master-key, wherewith to advance at will, as fancy or interest in future days may lead, within the pale of mathem.atics. There may be those among classical students who hold arithmetical studies in vile estimation — who consider them derogatory to the heir-apparent of large possessions, and condemn them as vulgar and low. Provided the fancy takes no turn that way, or in the case of imbibing an antipathy, there is no help for what is, after all, in some degree, a matter of taste ; but as to any possible objections which can be raised by such a class of scholars, the follow- ing allegory appears to me to convey in few words a satisfactory replv. Knickerbocker relates, in his History of New York, that in the early days of traffic between the aborigines and the Hollanders, the former wer# totally ignorant of the science of numbers ; and that, although at the same time they had recourse to the use of scales, in their bargains for furs brought from the interior of the country, they were by no means conversant with the adiustm.ent of weia'hts. Here- XII.] EDUCATION. 197 upon it Avas proposed by the Dutchman, merely to facilitate matters and for the sake of convenience, that his foot, placed in one scale, should reckon against five pounds of furs in the other; and upon this understanding they Avent on for a long time, without any other arrangement. Affairs, in conse- quence, it is said, always went well with the Dutch- man, though somehow or other, by the perversity of fortune, it invariably fell out that the Indian remained poor. Considering there are various modes by which the thing to be taught may be administered, and that it may be rendered more or less palatable to the taste of the student, I have often thouj^^ht that the latter object might be somewhat promoted, and the course of instruction improved, merely by an altera- tion in the order of the rules ; for instance, as relates to decimal fractions. According to the present plan, a boy is led through all the primary rules before he is taught that a decreasino- scale exists, to the riarlit of the unit, precisely similar to that which increases to the left. As nothing can be more simple than the whole theory of decinial fractions, which operations are, in fact, the same as those in whole numbers, there is no reason why they should not be taught from the very beginning ; which early insight would certainly tend to encourage reflection, at the expense of hardly any additional incumbrance on the mind. Again, — the rule of three is universally learned bv rote ; a barrier at the beg-innino- to the rano-e of thought, beyond which the mind of a boy has no more scope than if he were taught to reckon with his fingers. It is administered after the manner 198 EDUCATION. [CH. of a quack medicine, or a charm of unknown in- gredients, to be swallowed without further inqviiry, as if to suit all manner of purposes in life. This of the rule of three direct. As for the rule of three inverse, it may be, for aught many know to the con- trary, the other rule set to music ; while the double rule of three, being somewhat complicated and un- intelligible, few are inclined to take it in hand. Yet all these rules, the direct rule of three, the inverse rule of three, and the double rule of three, are, in fact, no rules at all, taken in a primary sense ; but they are secondary rules, founded upon another rule, or elementary law of proportion, which latter rule or elementary law, is the simplest of the two. It were surely better, therefore, since a sufficient demonstration is intelligible to any capacity, that a boy should either not be made acquainted with the rule of three at all, or that the principle, together with the rule, should be explained to him ; and this principle lies, as it were, in a nut-shell, the elemen- tary law alluded to being so generally known, that it is unnecessary to say where it is to be found ; — whether it be known or not, it is as easy to under- stand and remember as the rule of three ; it is simply as follows, namely, — that of four numbers being proportionals, the sum of the two middle terms multiplied together is equal to the sum of the two extremes mviltiplied together. As every pos- sible question in the rule of three, whether direct or inverse, consists, when solved, of four proportional numbers ; suppose it be taken for granted that the question is so solved, the said fourth number being represented by x. Thus — if 3 lbs. cost 9s., what will 5 lbs. cost ? That is, as 3 is to 9, so is 5 to a; ; XII.] EDUCATION. 199 whatever number x may be. Here arc four pro- portional numbers, and, as has been stated, it fol- lows that 3 times x is equal to 9 times 5. Hence, X must be equal to a third part of 9 times 5 ; or, in other words, equal to 5 multiplied by 9, and divided by 3, which is the rule ; for the fourth num- ber, here represented by x, is found by multiplying the second and third numbers together, and dividing by the first, which was to be shown. The above is but a partial demonstration of a common rule, by no means offered to the reader as a perfect illustration. Yet, while I am on the sub- ject, a subject tending at least to promote reflec- tion, and useful as far as regards the endeavour to render more palatable that which is undeservedly called a heavy science, another instance occurs to me, whereupon a very few lines regarding a rule in mensuration, also very generally known, may not altogether be thrown aAvay. The rule I allude to is that for determinino^ the solid contents of the frustum of a pyramid ; and is as follows : Add to the sum of both areas the square root of their product, which multiply by a third of the height. The same, put in an algebraical formula, taking the larger area as A, the smaller a, and the height h, stands thus : — (A + w^aT^ + «) X -^• This formula is applicable to various practical pur- poses ; the figure of a pyramid and, a fortiori, a frustum thereof admitting of such infinite variety, according as the bases may be circles, plane recti- linear figures, or polygons of any description, and also according to the height or variation of the angle 200 EDUCATION. [CH. at the apex : a comiiiou wine- glass, almost' e"»^6iy-' description of vat, tank, or drinking vessel, a log of timber, round or square, a tapering column, a chinu-. ney, and various parts of buildings and ordinary objects, assimilate their solid contents to this rule. But I have only introduced it for the sake of its partial demonstration, and its conformity with the principles that direct the dimensions of the pyramid or cone, and those of the prism or cylinder ; con- ceiving that, with both the rule and its principles, every boy at school ought to be made acquainted. A perfect and neat algebraic demonstration is given in some of the books of arithmetic ; but 1 address myself solely to the plain arithmetical reader. Everybody knows that the solid contents of a prism or cylinder are found by multiplying the area of the base by the altitude ; and secondly, that the solid contents of the pyramid or cone, whose base and height are equal to the base and height of the said prism or cylinder, amount to one-third thereof. It is now necessary to premise what must of neces- sity be previously taken for granted ; namely, that anj' quantity multiplied by nothing amounts to no- thing. Upon this point in arithmetic the demon- stration rests, and this point is no paradox, but a l\ict intelligible to anybody. For, inasmuch as the product of any quantity is diminished, in proportion as the multiplier is greater or less, so of course, when the multiplier arrives at nothing, the product vanishes altogether. Hence to prove the truth of the above formula for determining the solid contents of the frustum of a cone or pyramid, by applying the said formula to the entire figure, — it is evident that a frustum being XII.] EDUCATION. 201 an indefinite term, may approximate infinitely near to the entire figure, of which it is a part, and still be a frustum so long as the lesser area be any quantity at all. Thence it "follows that an entire pyramid may, in correct terms, be defined a frustum, whose lesser area is equal to nothing. In the latter case the formula would stand thus : (A + /A^ + ^) X -^ when the two latter terms within the brackets being multiplied by nought, it would be A X — ' o which is the rule for the pyramid or cone. In like manner, taking either the prism or cylin- der, as a frustum whose areas are equal ; and, rea- soning as before, conversely, the said frustum luay approximate indefinitely near the entire figure, so long as the smallest conceivable particle of diflfcr- cnce remains between the two areas. The formula would then be (A + ^^'"A A + A) X -1= 3 A X 4- or A X ^^', which is the rule for the prism or cy- linder. The above observations have more for their ob- ject to point, as it were, in the direction, than mark the alterations that might be made with good effect were the subject of arithmetical studies treated with more consideration, to the end that the young mind, instead of being burthened with mere rules, should be rather instructed in the principles of their foun- dation : at the same time I trust it by no means fol- lows that I propose, in the least degree, to hold k3 EDUCATION. [CH. cheap the Latin and Greek classics, — quite tlie con- trary; being fully impressed with the conviction that if time l;e judiciously employed, there is time for everything. Our public schools, so long as the tree be judged by its fruit, claim first rank among the seminaries of the world ; and the English aris- tocracy, as regards classical attainments, are second to none; moreover, as the heirloom of the higher classes in every country is leisure, it naturally fol- lows, that the classics must always form a more prominent part of their edvication than of the lower. By the mechanic, a partial proficiency in the dead languages would certainly be desirable, nor would a moderate proportion of pains towards the attain- ment be ill bestowed ; — to many an inquiring mind, the barrier, that first presents itself on the ap- proach towards any particular science, is its glos- sary ; a barrier which, as it frequently causes all further attenq>t to be abandoned, may almost be called insurmountable : were even a partial sum- mary of etymological terms of the sciences prepared and learned by rote as a part of the mechanic's education, while the memory were young and re- tentive, it would doubtless form a desirable and useful adjunct. The Latin and Greek classics stand by far too deeply rooted in the minds of the great and good to be shaken " nrbitrio popularis aurce ;'' and from their beauty and merit alone, must ever remain identified with the literature of modern nations : — on the mere ground of utility, as a branch of study, ten or twelve per cent, of the English words in any ordinary book are to be directly traced therefrom ; XII.] EDUCATION. 203 but surely the dead languages, instead of being taken merely for what they are worth, should be rather acknowledged and received by a civilized people, as the elements of living tongues, and the earliest record of human intelligence illustrative of the gift of speech. Chapter XIII. S E L B Y. Railway to Leeds — Tunnel — Journey of the Train fi-oni Leeds to Selby — Excitement caused by the Spectacle — Mode of laying down Sleepers — Mode of lading Stone — Selby Church — Extraordinary Personage — An attentive Landlord — Packet-boat Regulations — A Voyage to Hull— Running aground — Remedial ]\Ieasures — Hard and fast on a Mud-bank — Bad Navigation of the Humber. The completion of the Leeds and Selby railroad in 1834 has confirmed, beyond all manner of doubt, the reasonable hope of a continuation of the line entirely across the country, from sea to sea; and even at the present moment may be considered as" forming, combined with that from Liverpool to Manchester, both together leading in the same direction, the longest in the kingdom : a railroad from Selby to Hull having been also determined on, which latter, there is every reason to believe will, ere a long period, be taken in hand, it follows. I think, as a matter of course, that energies sufficient to complete the diameter of the country over the intermediate space from Leeds to Manchester will not be wanting. The Leeds and Selby railroad was begun and finished by the steady perseverance of a few in- dividuals in the face of serious opposition and difficulties : whether it be that the inhabitants of Leeds possess other ample means of employing Xlll.j RAILWAY TO LEEDS. 205 both time and capital in their manufactures ; or that the overpowering canal interest in that part of the country was united to frustrate the scheme, it certainly did not receive upon the whole the encouragement that might have been expected ; and even to the very last, abundant were the excla- mations and prophecies against the final issue of the speculation. The proprietors, notwithstanding, con- tinued to make head-way against every obstacle^ liberally relieved their contractor from a considerable additional expense incurred by lilhng up sundry shafts of abandoned coal-pits, unexpectedly encoun- tered on the line ; and completed the whole work in the most substantial manner, notwithstanding almost every yard of the rails are laid either upon an artificial raised causeway, higher or lower as the case may be, or along an excavation. Abundant open space for the buildings of the establishment has been enclosed, at the station of departure from Leeds, where, besides the necessary offices and appurtenances, a complete set of staiths, both for lime and coal, have been erected. These arc built on the plan of the old coal-staiths at Leeds, of which mention is made in another place ; that is to say, with a raised platform for the car- riages at the top, from which the coal is shot into a compartment below. In this compartment sufficient space has been provided, so that a cart may either be backed and receive its cargo as it falls, or several waggon-loads may be shot on the ground, and after- wards shovelled away at leisure. This set of staiths contain a double row of spouts, twenty-four on each side. Already, in consequence of the undertaking, new shafts for coal-pits have been sunk on the line 2()(-) TUNKEL VIADUCTS. [CH. from Leeds to Selby, in prospect of the advantages to be obtained by the facilities of land-carriage. The tunnel, with which the work commences at Leeds, is admirably executed ; eight hundred yards long, of ample dimensions, sufficient to allow the locomotive engines to drag the trains of carriages after them in ordinary course both ways completely through, in at one end and out at the other, and well bricked and whitewashed above and on both sides. It is partially lighted by windows at the top of three shafts, which latter have been left open, at unequal distances. However, in passing through it, it must be confessed that, although no inconvenience is experienced by the smoke, a considerable part of the transit is performed in vitter darkness. Several arches, or viaducts, are thrown across the railroad on the way. One of these, Garforth Bridge, is in a slanting direction, according to the mode now frequently adopted in modern practice, whereby another road crossing the line, not at right angles, is continued straight forwards. Of these Avorks, the most oblique is that of Rainhill Bridge, over the Liverpool Railroad, one of its abutments being I believe upwards of forty feet out of the square, that is to say, it is thrown that distance forward in front of the other. Of these arches when seen in the perspective, the eye traces the figure with no observable deviation ; yet when the spectator views from underneath the symmetrical beauty of the curved lines above him, he becomes impressed with a feeling as if he were within the concavity of a stu- pendous shell. Soon after the railway was opened, I made a jour- ney from Leeds to Selby ; I was conveyed from the XIII.] RAILWAY. 207 centre of the town to the station m an omnibus, one of the most prepossessing carriages of that descrip- tion I remember to have met with ; that is to say, a well- finished vehicle, fitted np withinside with g'lazed pink lining, neatly plaited in festoons, a large look- inor-crlass at the end for the benefit of ladies ; arid, what was better than all, — carefully driven. About a dozen carriages started in our train, and were dragged by the locomotive engine through the tunnel at the rate of twelve miles an hour, after- wards ascending the inclined plane, a rise of one foot in one hundred and eighty, Avith equal velocity. Three or four stoppages were made on the way to take up and set down short fares, nevertheless we performed the whole distance, nineteen miles seven furlongs, in one hour and four minutes. The sensation created by our transit, at this early stage of affairs, was particularly striking. Had the double-tailed comet passed that way, the covuitry- people would hardly have been more interested by the spectacle ; the men at work in the fields and quarries stood like statues, their pickaxes in their hands, in attitudes of fixed attention, and immove- able as if turned by the wand of a magician into blocks of stone ; and women in troops, in their best gowns and bonnets, fled from the villages, and con- gregated at the corner of every intersecting lane, Neitl.er were the brute creation less animated on the occasion; — on the Liverpool and Manchester line, the cattle, accustomed to such phenomena of sight and sound, become apathetic, and hardly lift their noses from the pasture, quietly minding their oAvn business, in spite of roaring, whizzing, and smok- ing ; — here, on the contrary, every horse was on the alert, viewing the huge moving body as it ap- 208 RAILWAY. [CH. proached with a mix t arc of fear and surprise, stamp- ing, pointing forwards his ears, snorting, and evincing a degree of curiosity so intense, that it appeared as if to the instinctive faculty was added reason and the desii'e of knowledge" : — even the cows, as they cocked and twisted their tails, spit out raouthfuls of un- chewed grass, and tried to gallop. Although the railway establishment at Selby is not so large as at Lecds^ the buildings are commo- dious and well arranged, consisting of the booking- office, and, immediately contiguous, a spacious shed, the latter for the purpose of receiving under shelter the arriving and departing trains. As at the time in question a part of the railroad in the vicinity of the booking-office was yet un- finished, I had an opportunity of observing the mode by which the workmen employed in laying down the sleepers conducted the operation. Each of these sleepers, a heavy block of stone, having a small cradle of iron, or chair as it is called, riveted on' the top for the purpose of supporting the rails, must necessarily be placed with very great exactness in the same straight line and level, at the same time on a firm and perfect bed ; yet the work was alto- gether performed by ordinary labourers, by the help of the following very simple contrivance. A strong upright piece of timber, about six feet high, rested on the ground. Across the top of this a scaffold pole, about fifteen feet long, rested on a pivot, so that the latter could traverse horizontally ivi every direction, being at the same time in equilibrio : that is to say, it was so balanced that, with the stone sleeper sus- pended at one end by a short chain, the length of the pole was unequally divided, so as to give the man at the opposite extremity fidl purchase and XIII.] LADIKG STONE. 209 power over the stone. Thus, one man, holding the stone in the air, by pressing the Idng end of the lever, his comrade adjusted the earth Lelow it; it was then lowered by the former, and either pounded itself into its place by a motion given to the pole, or was again raised and its bed re-adjusted. Finally, the accuracy of its position was ascertained by a common mason's level. A vessel in the Ouse river, not more than a few yards from the shed and booking-office, was talcing, in a cargo of stone. It was now low water, and the river saturated with earthy particles, in as great abundance as the stream of the Nile. Block after block of stone was lifted from the ground, and swung on board, by an ordinary crane, Avith singular dexterit}' ; and with equal celerity and ease the men. adjusted and disengaged the tackle, as they placed the stone gently on board the vessel. With no other appliance than that of a common chain, they covitrived to catch a grip at the sides, just as I shovdd take a tea-canister in my hand, and lift it from a table. The chain had a hook at the end, and a ring in place of a link some feet from the hook. The hook was run through the ring, so as to make a noose, which noose was then thrown round the stone horizontally, as it lay on the ground- Drawn tight, the end of the chain passed vertically over the top of the stone, and the hook fastened to a link, opposite the point of juncture. As the men heaved at the crane, the noose jammed, and up went the stone in the air ; so soon as the latter was lowered into the vessel, the noose was slackened, and in a moment quitted its hold. 210 SI^LBY CHURCH. [CH. The Church at Selby is of larger dimensions than is apparently conformable to the extent of the town ; the style nearly that of Rochester Cathedral. Within the building, those who delight to pace among- the venerable tombs of abbots and knig^hts templars have ample opportunity of being gratified ; these noble relics being frequent and in fine pre- servation. Unfortunately a very few minutes were allotted me for inspection, and, insufficient as they were, I should have missed the opportunity alto- gether, had not the door of the church been pre- viously opened to introduce another party. The person in charge of the keys, who acted as verger, was a strange-looking being ; such as, in ordinary life, one seldom meets with, though 1 could not then and there express with propriety my ex- treme curiosity to know his history. This extraordinary personage was in size a dwarf; in appearance both boyish and old. His head was peculiarly formed, and large in proportion to his bodyj his face smooth and wrinkled, without the slightest vestige of a beard : his countenance also bore a marked character, and his cracked shrill voice resembled the voice of a woman. Indeed he afforded a remarkable contrast, in every point of resemblance, with the portly deep-mouthed brethren of his profession. ^ * * * * Having passed the night at the George Inn at Selby, together with several passengers who had arrived from Leeds by the railway, I was somewhat surprised in the morning at the extraordinary anxiety of the landlord to hurry us all away ; inso- much, that I was put to considerable inconvenience. XIII.] PACKET-BOAT RKGULATIONS. 211 by having my luggage summoned unexpectedly full half an hour before the appointed hour^, the landlord asserting, in opposition to the watches of the whole party, that his was the correct time. The time of departure of the packet-boat is eight o'clock, matters being arranged so as to wait for the arrival of the early railway train from Leeds. As the distance from the inn to the vessel is not trifling, and the conveyance of all the luggage undertaken by the landlord, many, being totally unprepared, were hustled grumbling away. It is not always that people in this world under- stand when they are well treated, and though our host had unquestionably ' welcomed the coming, sped the going guest,' it remained for a few hours' consideration and experience to show that his motives were directed to our prosperity. The navigation of the Ouse and Humber, owing to shoals and shifting sands, is, at all times, as bad as can well be. This mornino; the tide was fast ebb- inff, and thouoh to have started one minute sooner might possibly have operated in ovir favour, yet, in point of fact, the chances were, after all, about ten to one, that we stuck in the mud. Notwithstanding such a state of things, and although it is impossible to make the voyage down unless with sufficient water, and at the top of a tide, the proprietors of the packet-boat start every morning unflinchingly at eight o'clock, being the time of arrival of the rail- way train, — this in spite of wind and tide, and in defiance of all rational objections. Punctually at eight o'clock the Leeds train ar- rived, with a numerous cargo ; when all the passen- gers and luggage were put on board the steamer 212 PASSAGE-BOAT TO HULL. [CH. intended to carry us to Hull. Doubts were soon expressed by tliose partially acquainted with the river as to whether the ebb were not too far ad- vanced ; but before we had been a couple of hours on the way, indications appeared sufficient to set speculation at rest, for the Avater, thick as a puddle, actually retarded the rate of the steamer : and two men, one on each side, each with a chequered pole in his hands, continually announced the soundings. After being tantalized for some time by the several annunciations of " six foot, five foot, five and a half foot, five foot," and so on ; at last came " four and a half foot," and then she stuck. As it turned out in the sequel, this not happening to be the spot whereon the captain had made up his mind to repose, he was accordingly the more active and anxious to get the vessel afloat. In this object, he received able sup- port from all his passengers, who, about forty in number, condescendingly acted in concert under his directions, and shuffled across from one side to another so as to keep her going, and prevent her from lying quietly down on the mud. Whenever, in a coarse grulf voice, he gave the emphatic word of command " Howl her," the crowd, like sheep at the bark of a dog, trotted across the deck treading on one another's heels, and suffering much personal in- convenience. At the same time they hauled upon a rope, previously sent on shore, and made fast to a ])urchase, till the vessel was disengaged from her soft bed, and again afloat in a channel nearer the shore. Vic proceeded now about two miles farther, when the men Avith tlie chequered sounding poles were at work again for a few minutes ; and then came an end to all uncertainty, for we touched the f XIII.] RUNNING AGROUND. 213 ground again, and in a few seconds were laid up in riglit earnest. The captain now was so well prepared for the catastrophe, that not an oar was plied, or the least exertion of any sort made : but here she remained for three hours, during which time an opportunity was afforded to those inclined to I'eflection to deter- mine the cause v,-hy this packet-boat might not, by starting some time later, have allowed the people to pass their time at Selby instead of upon this mud- bank. On asking eagerly for information on this point, it was hinted tiiat the licjuors on board were excellent ; but this is mere hearsay. Some of the passengers, after remonstrance, were put on shore in a boat, and v/alked about three miles to the new^ town and port of Goole, where we re-embarked at two o'clock, avrriving at Hull at six o'clock in the cvenino-. o Such accidents, it is said, on the spot, are of rare occurrence, taking place only at neap tides. At aU events a simihir fate to the above related betided the passengers who arrived tlie two subsequent clays at Hull ; and an iron passage-boat recently placed on the station, notwithstanding her lighter draught of water, meets frequently with like disas- ters. The railroad from Selby to Hull, wliich will occupy a line of about thirty miles, and be per- formed in one-fifth of the time required for the passage by water, becomes a very earnest object of anticipation to those who travel in this direction. Notwithstanding the vast expanse of the Humber below its confluence with the Trent, steamers of small size, as has already been observed, are unable to make the passage unless at the latter part of a 214 SHIFTING S.VND-BANKS. [cH. Xlll. tide ; shifting sand-banks, sometimes here, some- times there, thousands ' of acres, perhaps at first accidentally overflowed, are continually rolling back- wards and forwards beneath the surface, — land which at this moment might possibly have been under the plough, but for some casual circumstance connected with the early history of the river. There are numberless instances, no doubt, where a sinirle man with a spade may have been enabled to alter the direction of a stream for ever ; and the Dutch river, whereby the course of the Don was thrown, by a cut of seven miles, into a new channel, is an instance of what, on a large scale, may be effected. The successful drainage, too, of the Fens in Lin- colnshire, whereby entire new parishes have been reclaimed and rescued from the deep, leads nearer to the conclusion, that science may still devise the means, by drainage and embankment, to effect material improvements in the navigation of the Humbcr. Chaptkr XIV. G O O L E. Communication from London by Goole to Manchester — A specimen of the Journey — A Chimney Clock at Doncaster — Tide-coaches — A Coach-race — Thome Quay — Dutch River — Cornelius Van- muden — Warping — A Walk from Goole to Thome — Crops — Waggons — Ride to Keadby — Reclaimed Lands — Town of Goole — Its rapid increase — New Works — A Meeting of Ranters — Knot- tingley Canal — Rapid Horse-boat — Competition with Steaiu — A Voyage by the former from Goole to Kuottingley — A Voyage by the Steamer, by the same route, to Leeds. A CHEAP line of travelling during the last two years has extended from London, by Goole, Doncaster, and Sheffield, to Manchester ; from which latter town an outside passenger, in consequence of tJie competition among the proprietors of the Hull steam-vessels, may perform a journey through the places aforesaid, by land and by water, for about fifteen shillings. Leaving Mancliester, he is in the first place conveyed in the regular stage-coach as far as Sheffield, from whence tide-coaches daily de- part to the small town of Thorne, on the banks of the river Don. Hither a steamer daily arrives and returns, tide permitting, to and from Hull ; but as the navigation of the river Don is precarious, it frequently happens that, on slack tides, the Hull steamer can come no higher than Goole, which latter town is situated on the Ousc, immediately at the month of the Don, in which case the passengers are carried from Thorne to Goole in a vessel towed by 216 DONCASTER. [CH. liorscs, and of lighter draught than the steamer. Thus the communication, though slow, ma}"^ be called sure. When, in the latter ])art of the summer. I fell into this line of peregrination at Sheffield, I found it impossible to inform myself beforehand of the above particulars : upon inquiry, every one of the passen- gers certainly possessed a general notion where he was going, yet not one in a score exactly knew how he was to be conveyed. I arrived at Doncaster early in the evening, to await the arrival of the tide- coaches to Tliorne the next morning. As I sauntered round the town, I had more than one opportunity of hearing the chimes of the old church clock, the machinery of which has now been going these fifty years. Either I was over-fastidious, or my taste not formed to the style, or the music struck up suddenly as I was thinking of something else : but somehow or other, with all respect to old customs, I could not reconcile the melodies to the edifice ; — one, the " Miller of Mansfield," another, the " Pretty Girl,"' or the " Pretty Maid," or some such name, and the rest (except a psalm tune or two for particular occasions) of a like description ; — besides, the bell-ropes we're crazy, or the iron-work rusty — something caused the hammer now and then to hang drowsily on a note, and then, as if to make up for loss of time, hurry furiously over a dozen together. It was before seven o'clock in the morning, after passing the night at Doncaster, that I found myself among a crowd of persons anxiously waiting the arrival of the tide-coaches, which had departed from Sheffield at five o'clock, in order to reach Thorne at XIV.] OPPOSITION COACHES. 217 half-past eight, in time for the Hull steamer. The distance is- not more than thirty miles, and three hours and a half sufficient time for the journey ; nevertheless, from one cause of delay or another, it is not performed without much furious driving*. On the present occasion, the opposition on the road was extraordinary; persons of all conditions, in short, everybody was interested one way or other : so that the crowd, before alkided to, consisted not merely of ^ travellers and bundle-bearers attracted to the spot by their own particular objects, but also of the idle riffraff of the town of Doncaster, assembled to SCO what might be very properly called — a race of coaches. Such Ava« the animation evinced by the multitude, that, for aught I know, bets might have been laid on the advent of the rival vehicles, which now came furiously galloping up the street. Having arrived thus far from Sheffield by a well- regulated conveyance, and disinclined to quit a quiet channel for this unexpected bubbling of the waters, I actually began seriously to weigh in my mind the risk of the experiment against its advan- tages ; — but once in the current, reflection comes too late. Some of the helpers shouldered out of the way the smoking cattle ; others held a finger and thumb each on the corner of the fresh steeds' cloths ; so that I had but barely time to take my my scat inside, before somebody, the Lord knows who, said " All's right," the door was violently banged into its place, and away we went. The boys ran hallooing after us as we rattled over the stones — the children threw up their hats — the old men and women took off their spectacles — every mouth was distended with a smile— the dogs hung their under L 218 THE DUTCH RIVER. [CH. jaws and wa^^ged their tails in silence, and every cobbler turned out of his stall to see our fleet of coaches. Like a pack of fox-hounds, carrying a breast-hig'h scent across a country, we bore with us the sympathies of the young and the old, the halt and the blind, and imposed, for the time being, a stop to all domestic and other occupation. Two x^ehicles had departed a few seconds before us, but these we soon overtook, and sometimes one a-head, sometimes another, there we lay, favourites of for- tune, inasmuch as no accident occurred, yard-arm and yard-arm, as it were, for the rest of the journey. The usual place of embarkation is Thorne Quay, a small village about a mile beyond the town of Thorne ; but the tide, on our arrival there, was so low, that the coaches proceeded a mile farther down the river Don, to a place called " Hangman's Hill," celebrated for the summary vengeance taken in for- mer days, on the part of Cornelius Van Muden, on certain caitiffs who maliciously damaged his dikes. At Hangman's Hill, we fovmd in readiness for the voyage to Goole a flat-bottomed punt, in shape like a Sunderland keel, but furnished with a good cabin under a raised bulkhead, sufficient eifcctively to pro- tect the passengers from the weather. We were towed the whole way, by a couple of horses, to Goole, where, on our arrival, the Hull steamer lay at the quay ready to proceed on her way. The last seven miles of the voyage were per- formed through the " Dutch River," a singular and magnificent work of art ; a straight cut, whereby the ancient circuitous course of the river Don was effectively changed, in the reign of Charles H., by the aforesaid Van Muden. At the present day its XIV.] VAN MUDEN. 219 deep slielving banks, its ample breadth, and the ebbing and flowing of the tide within its channel, give it all the appearances of a natural river. I paced one of the old-fashioned wooden bridges, with a draw-bridge in the centre, thrown across it at Goole, and found the length to be eighty-three yards. No part of England more resembles Holland than the theatre of the above performance ; and therefore no other spot can probably be selected, better suited to the operations of a Dutchman ; but poor Van Muden affords, by his fate, one additional melancholy instance of those benefactors of man- kind, victims to the jnveteracy with which improve- ment in its early stage is always resisted. Unable to stem the torrent of opposition raised by interested persons against him — in spite of his able plans, their vigorous execution, and the liberal appropriation of the whole of his private means to support them — notwithstanding the thousands of acres of land re- claimed by drainage, and that he may fairly be said, at least, to have added one to the navigable rivers of the country — in return for all these benefits, poor Van Muden first fell into discredit, then in debt, and ultimately perished in gaol. To this day, be- sides his dikes and embankments, small Dutch-look- ing edifices, little windmills, and people bearing Dutch names, perpetuate the memory of those Hol- landers who, at the period alluded to, took occasion to settle in the neighbourhood, in consequence of the royal grant, which entitled the projector to a proportion (I believe one-third) of all the land he might be able to reclaim. While the original lofty banks of the Dutch river, its dams, and sluices are L 2 220 WAKPIKG. [CH. in liigli perfection, the bed of the old river has re- ceived gradual accumulations of alluvial soil and vegetation, so as now to be filled up and scarcely discernible. .-): .-H * * * One would at first be inclined to wonder how it came to pass that the operation of " warping," to ■which the embankments of this river first led the w&y, should have remained so long unapplied, and, in point of fact, unknown altogether ; and in at- tempting to account for the circumstance, it is natu- ral to attribute it to the torpid state of people's faculties, contrasted with the vivid rage for improve- ment existing during the last half-century. Yet it is fair to conclude that the owners of lands on a level so low, that it becam.e their first object and care to protect them, at a great e>cpen3e, from in- undation, — to whom the ability of managing sluices, so as to turp the sircara from their fields, had been as a science from their infancy, should liave been slow to adopt a process whereby the whole of their former proceedings were to be reversed, and their understandings, vrith all their early prejudices, turned directly topsy-turvy. Moreover, the warping system is not conformable to general practice, but entirely arises out of local causes, that is to say, the pecuaar muddiness of the water. The lands in question are those contiguous to the Trent and Ouse, which two rivers, flowing through a wide extent of low, fiat soil, become charged and saturated to the highest degree with earthy m.atter, of which alluvial substance, by the system alluded to, a considerable deposit is pro- cured, artificial means having been taken to over- XIV.] V/ARPiXG. 221 flow the ground for that purpose. On passing through these rivers, the tin-bid state of the v^-ater is very remarkable, sufficient, one would imagine, to suffocate the fishes, as Avave after wave rolls after the stern of the vessel, half mud, half v/ater, and increased in volume by the powerful reaction against the shallow bottom. One might expect that from below the confluence of the Trent and Ouse, the Humber would carry down its stream into the sea the mud received within its channel, and bring back at the flood-tide a qu.antity of clear water ; but for many miles on either side of the mouth of the latter, the eastern coast, composed of earthy cliffs, is con- tinually crumbling away ; so that as much soil as is carried down is continually brought back again in exchange. It was about fifty or sixty years ago, when "Warping" was first here introduced. The process is performed by subjecting the lands to be warped to the ingress and egress of the tide, until, by a gradual accumulation of strata, one, two, three, or four feet of mould, as may be required, are depo- sited over a barren waste, and what was before a heathery moor is converted to a state of exuberant fertility. Having arrived at Goole, and being extremely- anxious to see some of the lands in question, I 'made inquiry, not of those persons probably the best able to give information, but of those the most likely, of the few to whom I was limited by time and circum- stances, to have it in their power to direct me where I might see the process to the best advantage. It is rather extraordinary, considering that I was not many miles removed from the principal scene of 999 FERTILITY OF THE SOIL. [cH. operations, that I found no person possessed of local knowledge for tlie purpose. One directed me to go here, another there, so little do people interest themselves about those things they have an oppor- tunity of seeing every day. At last, from what I could learn, I judged it most expedient to follow the course of the Dutch River from Goole alono- the east bank, on foot, and thence, after proceeding three miles, to take a straight road six miles long, which leads to Thorne. Although the greater part of the land close to the river had been reclaimed some years since by warping, I saw little, as 1 wished to see, under pre- sent operation ; at the same time the excessive rich- ness of the crops and soil were most extraordinary. I never saw finer Avheat, beans, or potatoes; the soft, black, friable earth, in rows along the roots of the latter, might have passed, every particle of it, thi'ough a fine hair sieve. I observed also some fields of flax. Leaving the river, the road aforesaid leads nearly to the town of Thorne, and on account of its extending for six miles witliout a turning, is called " Journey me Long Lane;" the line is a dead level, with abundance of greensward preserved on both sides. During the walk I observed one field very recently laid open to the tide, which flowed in from the long drains leading from the Dutch River. The water had receded, the mud lay upon it, looking fat as fish oil, and as the small streams bubbled through the cracks and fissures, geese and gulls were ap- parently filling their bellies very prosperously. Every field hereabouts is provided with a bank and double ditch ; and as all these ditches communicate XIV.] GOOLIC WAGGONS. 223 with the main drain, nothing more is necessary than to make a breach in the bank of the field to be warped, and let the water through. The description of waggon in use through this flat tract of country is rather extraordinary. The body is slung high, extremely narrow, and smaller at the bottom than the top, the greater width being about three feet one inch : tlie carriage is low, and as it is driven not with shafts, but a pole, the latter hardly reaches above the horses' knees. A pair are driven abreast, with no other harness than collar, chain traces, and very loose belly-bands ; the pole- chains and swingle- trees arc attached to the wag- STon. A sinole rein is fixed to the near horse's cheek, the other horse being made fast to his neigh- bour's collar by a halter ; thus the driver has a pull only at one of his cattle, the single rein being formed so as to end in a thong, like an aide-de-camp's whip, and this thong is made fast to the front of the wag- iron. Thev contrive with these aDnendaar-a nrwf ^"i" to proceed usually about five miles an hour, but to manage and turn the vehicle, by many degrees quicker than a shaft-waggon ; the swingle-trees meanwhile, it must be confessed, most awfully rat- tling against the horses' hocks. At Thorne I first got precise information on the subject I required, being not only directed by a gentleman of the town to the immediate neighbour- hood of Keadby, on the banks of the Trent, but also provided with a letter to a pei'son able to explain some operations there going forward on a large scale. I accordingly procured a horse of my land- lord to ride thither. The whole distance was along the towing-path of the Keadby Canal, and I think I 224 EMBANKING. [CH. never experienced a more disagreeable ride ; for the animal I had liircd v.-as a tall rough-trotting post- horse, blind of the near eye, and unused to the ope- ration of opening a gate, so that as these were numerous, low, and each with a ponderous swing, I was always obliged on each occasion to dismount and lead him through. The awkward beast, in re- turn for this act of condescension, the moment I approached his blind "side to get up again, ran side- ways, and snorted, at the same time he did his best to thwart my purpose l)y inconvenient actions and attitudes. On my arrival at Keadby, having found the person to whom my note was addressed, Ave both together walked about a mile back the way I had come, to the spot in question. An extent of one hundred and eighty-four acres was here surrounded bj' an embankment, or sea-wall; the whole of which, only a few years before, had been a moor of peat- moss ; now, it was covered with exuberant patches of rich wiiite clover, and fed seventy horses, thirty- six oxen, and one hundred and sixty sheep : the above stock being apparently more than plentifully supplied with pasture. The operation of raising the embankment which surrounded the enclosure occupied, as my com- panion informed me, one liundred and fifty labourers for eight months, or thereabouts. The water, then conducted from the large main drain, was allowed ingress and egress over the land for three suc- cessive years, during which time the quantity of " Avarp" accumulated, different at different parts, A'aried from one to four feet. One foot of Avarp over a bed of peat is considered quite sufRcient, though a greater quantity is at times laid on, Avitli XIV.] IRRIGATING, 225 reference to the level of the land ; it Leino: srene- rally necessary to conduct the water first to the extremity of the enclosed space, and having raised that as much as possible, then to allow it to flow back again. After the plot in question had laid under warp for the three years aforesaid, it was allowed one year to settle, and then, at the latter end of the last summer, it was sown with clover- seed. Therefore at the time I saw it, on the 8th of July, 1835, scarcely twelve months had elapsed since the first seeds were thrown upon it. It was proposed to allow the ground to remain under pasture for two or three years, and then bring it under the plough. The clover was rank, and in patches, the ground rent in large fissures, in ap- pearance like what in fact it really was, the bed of a river ; and the resemblance was more complete, as indigenous water-plants, with thick succulent stalks, sprang up here and there in large bunches : these the cattle ate greedily. This plot of ground, besides two more lots, in all eight hundred acres, were irrigated from one main drain, two miles long and fifty feet wide. I understood that the proprietors of the three lots paid also for the use of a part of another large drain, half a mile in length, at the rate of seven pounds per acre. Five feet of water was the depth laid on, of which the ingress and egress were per- fectly uncontrolled. It is not necessary to dam up water in order to procure a deposit ; for as gravity is continually acting on tlie particles held in solu- tion, a great part, notwithstanding continual mo- tion, finds its way to the bottom. The diflperent strata left by each tide arc not unfrcquently quite L 3 226 THE NEAY TOWN OF GOOLE. [CH. distinguishable ; and finally, a broad expanse of rich earth, of at least a foot in thickness, and so pure that a })ebble in a tliousand acres can hardly be found to throw at a sparrow, remains to reward the labours of the husbandman. * * * * * It is singidar that in most modern maps the town of Goole is not laid down. Yet, there it stands on the banks of tlie Ousc, two hundred yards from the point where the Dutch River, recently alluded to, empties itself therein — a striking instance of the rapid advance of British commerce : — a small vil- lage risen to the dignity and importance of a con- siderable shipping port ; and at the same time the very boys that play at marbles in the streets call to mind the digging of its foundations. The town of Goole has been forced into existence by the rich and pov/erful Aire and Calder Company, who, possessing the inland navigation of these two rivers by the important ducts of Leeds and Wake- field, have here established the means of communi- cating with the open sea without dependance on the Port of Hull. Whatever may be the future success of this new town, considering present advantages and future probabilities — that its commerce, though wrested from Hull, is not only maintained in spite of a long additional distance of bad navigation, but that that commerce, such as it is, is threatened with the probable completion, at no distant period, of a parallel rival land communication, by the newly pro- jected Selby railroad; it is very certain that the docks and pul)lic edifices have been erected on a scale of magnificence, equal, as far as they go in ex- tent, to Liverpool or any other place. XIV.] COMMERCIAL ENTERPRISE. " 227 Ample space has been allotted to the streets, and the buildings, including spacious bonding ware- houses, are of the finest red brick. Besides the ex- tensive docks already completed, a new one, ap- parently by far the largest of any, is in a forward state ; the cast-iron gates of this dock, and the lock, will, when finished, be, it is said, the largest in Eng- land ; the breadth of the latter, an inverted arch, being from coping to coping fifty-eight feet, and the extreme breadth in the widest part of the curve sixty-four feet. At present, the excavation of the dock, though in rapid progress, is not finished. The coffer-dam, erected for its temporary protec- tion from the river, is of itself a great work ; — one thousand three hundred large piles have already been planted, in three rows, of a semi- elliptical form, and parallel to each other ; the length of the inner row, 420 feet. I observed the workmen as they were laying the foundation of the Dock wall. First a row of piles were driven, and on these, large beams laid longi- tudinally ; the wall was seven feet in breadth at the bottom, tapering to five feet at the top ; height, 21 feet, — finished with brick, and the Bramley Fall free- stone ; rough stone and grouting in the middle. A curious instrument was occasionally used, for the purpose of raising stones, v/orkmen's tools, or what not, dropped by chance into the water : it Avas, in fact, neither more nor less than a pair of tweezers, the handles eleven yards long, and the claw one yard; a long chain being fixed at the hinge, the point between the handles and claw. The move- ments of the instrument after being let down in the water were regulated by hand, till having seized the 223 A CONGREGATION OF RANTERS. [CH. lost article, all was hauled up together by means of a crane on shore, or crab, as tlie M-orkuien called it. As I was sitting- in the parlour at tlie inn, in the evening, looking into the stable-yard, I was dis- turbed by a very disagreeable noise, like a parcel of country fellows singing : now and then it appeared as if a quarrel had commenced, speedily about to be terminated by blows. This continued so long and incessant, as to stop my occupation altogether, and oblige me to listen. On inquiry, I found it proceeded from a building on the opposite side, occupied by a congregation of primitive Methodists, or llantcrs, and these orgies were merely tlieir mode of express- ing devotion. Reading or writing was c|iiite out of the question, so, as I wished to obtain a little idea of what was going forward, I walked across the yard, and, pro- ceeding to the passage, which led, by some stairs, to their apartment, I found it previously occupied by young men and women in pairs, Avhose attitudes and conduct I could not clearly define, as it was almost dark, but Avhose meditations, at all events, I did not feel inclined to disturb. Therefore I retreated back into the stable-yard, and contented myself by stand- ing under the windovv^ of the room to listen. It is quite beyond the power of human lungs, I am sure, to belch forth more discordant tones than were uttered on the present occasion : the inmates of the chamber roared and stamped in chorus, and jiowled, in a manner to be compared, if to anything^ human, to a dance of savage Hottentots. One fellow, especially, wrought lo a tip-top pitch of enthusiasm, and in a state as it were of breathless exhaustion. XIV.] . KNOTTINCLEY CANAL. 229 vented ejaculations at regular intervals, panting monotonously, over and over again, the expression " Praise the Lord :" — which words proceeded from his throat all in a lump, as it were in a fretful, frantic burst, with a sound more like the sudden, short bark of a huge dog, than the voice of a man. Without derogating from the dignity of religion under any of her forms, it may be simply and harmlessly ob- served, that the deep emotions of the heart are best expressed in moderated tones, or silence ; and that to give loose to such unbridled gusts of passion as were exhibited is positively incompatible with the decencies of civilization. * * * * The Knottingley Canal, cut some years since by the Aire and Calder Company (the Marquis of Ca- rabus of these parts), begins at Goole, und falls into the river Aire, a short distance below Ferry- bridge : it runs parallel, and quite close, to the Dutch river for the whole of the length of the latter, althouirli one Avould have imao-ined that this, from its ample dimensions, and being provided with a towing-path as well as the Canal, would liave answered the purpose of ])oth. However, the navi- gation of the river is certainly at times impeded by shallows, to which the canal, belonging exclusively to the Company, is not subject. The town of Goole is actually built upon the Canal, the basin being close to the Docks; the Dutch River is, however, as has been observed, not above two hundred yards from the other. During the last summer tliis canal was the theatre of a severe competition between the rival powers of steam and cattle, — a boat rapidly towed by licrses. 230 KNOTTING LEY CANAL. [CH. and a small steamer; and although fortune has since decided in favour of the latter, it was not for lack of energy on the part of the horse proprietor. His boat was, to use a common expression, better turned out, and in every respect more fancifully equipped, than any other of these quickly towed craft, of which the one from Glasgow to Paisley in Scot- land may be said to have been the first established. This latter I saw at its M'ork only a few weeks ago, when it was evident that though they have reduced their pace to a reasonable rate, eight or nine miles an hour, and the boys ride decidedly better, and give their horses a fairer chance than those I have hap- pened to see in the service of any of our English boats, yet even with all these advantages, the animals were subjected to too violent exertion. The Knottingley proprietor has failed, not from a want of desire to please the public, but from re- quiring too much of his cattle, in order to arrive at which conclusion, it is quite sufficient to see the state of a towing horse at the close of his labour: the dead, heavy pull is, without the nicest manage- ment on the part of the rider, really heart-breaking ; precisely like forcing a horse, without feeling or con- sideration, to gallop at the top of his speed, through a stiif fallow : yet with some of these boats, the fellows appointed to ride, frequently welter weights, crack their whips as happily as a ten-stone postilion, without taking the slightest pains to control and re- gulate the powers of their horses. In the middle of last summer, when the contest between the rival boats was at its height, I made a trip from Goole to Knottingley, in the one aforesaid. Wc started at ten o'clock in the morning, so soon XIV.] "THE TWIN BOAT." 231 as the steamers from Hull had arrived, which bring hither passengers every day for both lines, the one to Selby and the other to Knottingley. The vessel might almost have been mistaken in point of ap- pearance for a triumphal barge, so gaudily, or rather whimsically, was she decorated and painted, exhibit- ing, among other embellishments, a gigantic portrait of Queen Adelaide on her quarter ; it was, in fact, a floating house, with seven windows on each side; and affording to those passengers who preferred an airy seat, a flat roof for the purpose, as well as com- fortable benches thereon, firmly screwed down, to sit upon ; — those who occupied the cabin enjoyed the usual accommodation of a steam-boat. Though built purposely for speed and light draft, this vessel was firm, and steady in the water ; she was indeed two boats linked together, with a double keel, and open channel between both ; — a moveable cast-iron cutwater fixed a-head, when lifted up was completely out of the way, but when down formed a very acute angle, and brought as it Avere the two boats into one ; preventing the stream from filling the hollow channel, and obstructing the progress. This double boat, very properly denominated " The Twin Boat," was lashed to the side of the Quay, so that we had nothing to do but step on board. The fare from Goole to Knottingley, within one mile of Ferrybridge, a distance of eighteen miles, — was two shillings. Before the towing-path commences, a space of a few hundred yards intervenes, through which the boat is worked through locks, and among numerous craft, by pushing and hauhng, from one to the other, by boat-hooks. We were occasionally somewhat in- 232 CANAL-TOV\ING, [CH. convenicntl}' jammed tog-ether, though it was amusing to observe how steadily, yet how differently, every navigator made his way, according to the laws of riA'er etiquette and mutual acconnnodation. On one occasion, our steersman fixed his point on the plank at which three men were eating their breakfast, and though the pole was streaming with water, neither of the three men seemed surprised or offended. Again, we ran bump upon a lighter, where the steersman's wife presided at the tiller. An alter- cation ensued, but the lady held on, in spite of re- monstrance, though the privileges of her sex were disregarded, in the midst of terms of art and nautical phrases. Extraordinary preparations were manifest the moment v/e were clear of the town, and had arrived at the towing-path. Four horses, each nearly tho- roughbred, were standing ready, with traces to their collars ; — and immediately being hooked on, cantered array, without perceptible motion, or any noise to interrupt meditation ; no sound, other than the soft liquid bubbling of the water underneath the boat. The four horses were driven by three postilions, each a small boy, under six stone, and dressed in a light blue jacket, v>'ith red collar, and a white hat. The two' foremost, and the hindmost horses were ridden ; the other carried no rider. The draft of each horse was, by a separate rope, attached to the tow rope, by which one principal objection to the mode, namely that of drawing in an oblique line, was somewhat palliated ; but, nevertheless, as they drew by ordinary traces, their hind legs were con- tinually dragged fi'om the proper point of resistance, to their great discomfiture and increase of laboui". XIV.] LEAVE GOOLE FOR LEEDS. 233 We had two sets of cattle on the journey, cacli set performing' nine miles, in about an hour and ten minutes. I proposed to the proprietor to malcQ trial of the lasso, which seems, of all the services to which that contrivance can possibly be applied, most particularly suited to this, as tending to correct the obliquity of the draft, and, at the same time, afford the animal a firmer footing. It is singular that the lasso should never have been thought of on some one or other of our canal towing-paths ; — the Knot- tingley owner said he would try it — v.hether he did or not I have not been informed. The canal-boats from the Humbcr, instead of using this canal, proceed usually to Ferrybridge, via Selby, between which latter places there is also water-communication. Lighters of upwards of forty tons burden, and sixty registei', make their passage the whole distance from Hull to Manchester, by the way of Wakefield, Cooper-bridge, and Rochdale. ! When at Goole, in the present summer, the esta- blishment of the " twin-boat" had come to an end ; advertisements then proclaimed that the communi- cation was regularly sustained, by the above canal, between Goole and Leeds by steam, and also that great alterations and improvements had been eifected on a part of the line. I determined to go to Leeds accordingl}-. The vessel was one of the lowest class of steamers, about equal, perhaps, to those which ply at all hours of the day between Shields and Newcastle; how- ever, the proceedings of the voyage were as follows. We left Goole at twenty-five minutes before twelve o'clock ; one of our paddles broke in two places before we got out of the dock, and notwithstanding 234 WATER-COMMUNICATION [CH. it was quite evident the vessel was unfit to proceed, on we went, the skipper having directed another steamer to follow in our wake. We encountered sundry delays in consequence of the crazy paddle, and were four hours and a half performing the dis- tance to Knottingley, instead of completing it, as on the previous voyage, Avithin two. The other boat, in due course, overtook us, when we were shifted on board of her, and were obliged to take our own lame vessel in tow, till we arrived at Castleford ; there we left the latter behind. Altogether we were ten hours on our way to Leeds. Castleford occupies the point where the Aire and Calder converge, the latter river proceeding to Wakefield, and the former to Leeds, from which place it is distant nine miles : here the river dues, both for Leeds and Wakefield, are collected ; and here the lightermen, bound either way, leave their skiffs till their return ; of these small craft may be seen from fifty to a hundred in a row, made fast at the bank of the river. The principal improvements, before alluded to, on this line of water-communication, which have been recently completed by the Aire and Calder Com- pany, are between Castleford and Leeds. Although the navigation is impeded by several locks, the workmanship exhibited in these, and in the canal throughout, render this approach to Leeds worthy of a large metropolis. In some places the channel of the river Aire has been improved and rendered serviceable, in others it has been altogether aban- doned, and new cuts substituted ; the depth of the water being seven or eight feet throughout. The long vistas of water, wide and straight, bounded by XIV.] TO lef:ds. 235 graceful elliptical bridges in the distance, the lock- houses, ornamental buildings, the solid masonry at the sides, whether by slanting planes of paving- stone, or low perpendicular walls, altogether form a pleasing exhibition of modern art and excellent taste. One cast-iron bridge at the entrance of the sub- urbs, though some time since erected, should not be forgotten ; a suspension platform, supported under a segment arch. The arch, in span one hundred and forty feet, height forty feet, consists of two ribs; each rib of five castings, each casting twelve tons ; so that the weight of the whole supporting n-on-arch is one hundred and twenty tons. Chapter XV. H U L L. A Voyage from London to Hull by the Gazelle — Idlers on the Quay — Victoria Hotel— A Marine Landscape — A Shipwreck in Minia- ture — Arrival of a Whaler — The Docks— Drawhridges — Extreme nicety of their action — An arbitrary Governor — Intense interest on the Ship's arrival — Custom of the May Garland — Competition of Youth — A Race up the Rigging — A Seaman's Son in danger — Seamen on board a Whaler — State of tlie Hold — "' Rump and Tail" — Greenland Yards — A Ship-Launch well ])erformed — The same case reversed — Diving Bell — A i'aw words in behalf of a Squirrel — Silver-haired Rabbits — Manufactory of White and Red Lead. Travellers in England, at the present day, have no reason to complain of high charges. The Ga- zelle steamer, in which vessel I left London, com- pleted her voyage to Hull, in the teeth of a stiff breeze from the north-west, within thirty-six hours ; the first cabin fare was ten shillings; the steward kind and attentive, the berths good, and provisions of the best description. It must be confessed that those of the after-cabin paid somewhat dear for the privilege of cxclusivcness, for the wind swept along- the raised quarter-deck with unrestrained force, the vessel being provided with painted green netting instead of bulwarks ; nor was there any other protection than this frail substitute against the weather. At no scu-port I know of have people apparently so much spare time upon their hands as Hull. The XV.] VICTORIA KOTKL. 237 inhabitants, on the arrival of a steamer, whether from London, Yorlc, Leeds, GainsLorougli, Lynn, Yarmouth, Newcastle, Dunkirk, Hamburgh, or Rot- terdam, for with all these places there is continual communication, literally infest the quays in swarms. At low water the landing is, to say the best of it, inconvenient ; sometimes it falls to the lot of the stranger to clamber up a perpendicular ladder; at other times, peradventure, he must Avalk across a rickety plank from the ship to the shore ; but always, and under every contingency, he is reduced to the necessity of fighting his way to dry land, and if not tolerably stout in heart and body, at the risk of being shoved off his •' giddy footing," bundles and all, into the mud. Such matters are better managed at Margate, where nobody denies they have at times rough customers to deal with. Passengers and their luggage are there protected, and such loiterers, on the arrival of a vessel, unceremoniously hustled off the pier. A signal flag is first hoisted at both ends, and the hint, if not immediately attended to, enforced by the police. There is no change of scene more delightful than, after the turmoil of a sea-voyage, to sit refreshed and contented at an open window on the sea-shore, and view the same bustle still going forward in which one has been so recently engaged. The Victoria Hotel affords such a gazebo in great perfection, close to the banks of the Humber, and overlooking one of the principal landing quays of the town. Here, as soon as I had dined, I enjoyed, amidst the hissing of steamers, and the Avrangling of boatmen below, the contrast of serene repose. How charminii" to the senses is the incessant 238 A MARINE LANDSCAPE. [cH. mutability of motion ! When a piece of painted can- vass, an inanimate representation of colours and forms, an assemblage brought together and fixed by the hands of the artist in one of Time's short, flashing intervals, can fascinate the observation, and call forth our warmest energies, — how much more is due to the living panorama, where the quivering leaf, the undulating water, the fleeting shadow, and light in its thousand varying hues, com- bine to recreate the mind with the eternal succession of novelty, — the avr,gtO/>(,dv '-/ikacaixx of bountiful na- ture ! No marine landscape can be better calculated to convey agreeable impressions to the mind than the broad expanse of the Humber on a fine evening in autumn. On the present occasion the river was crowded with small craft, passengers Avere bending their steps to and from the several landing-places, and a stately steamer of first-rate proportions was making her way out of port bound to Hamburgh, Having nothing at all to do, I wholly abandoned myself to the occupation of watching the motions of the vessels, — speculating upon the manoeuvres of one as she gallantly bore up to her port, or regarding with equal attention another ready to depart, as her loosened sails flapped under the gentle breeze ; — and thus attaching a momentary importance to any trifling deviation from ordinary appearance, I was the more inclined to observe the progress of a large lighter or sloop, which, with two men on board, and the wind right aft, was now making the best of her way towards the quay. The men were standing together on the stern, while the vessel seemed to labour and roll in an extraordinary manner; I XV.] ARRIVAL OF A AVHALER. 239 thought I had never seen one so heavily laden and low in the water, and, as 1 looked move attentively, I found that neither was I singular in my opinion, nor unreasonable in my apprehensions, for a crowd of people had begun already to hurry to the spot to observe her motions. A perfect representation of the foundering of a ship at sea followed in the catastrophe. The lighter, now within fifty yards of the quay, suddenly rolled over, almost on her beam-ends, righted, gave another roll, righted again, then made one more heavy lurch, and in another instant the Avater was bubbling above her. The men stuck by her to the last, and jumped cleverly into the boat a-midships, without wetting a thread. The lighter was laden with limestone, and there remained, within twenty yards of the quay, in three- fathom water, her mast above the surface for twenty- four hours ; her cargo was all taken out at low water, when she floated, and was towed up the river Hull Avithovit damage. After this event, a couple of hours before sunset, the crowd of people before the doors of the hotel, of whom there are generally a score or two, more or less, who stand listlessly gazing or Avatch the arrival or departure of the shipping, appeared more restless and active than before ; and on going out of the house to ascertain the cause, I found that a whaler had arrived from the Greenland seas, and Avas now about to be towed into port. The people Avere all making their Avay as fast as they could towards the docks ; I, therefore, thrcAV myself into the current, and moved on through the narroAv streets along Avith the rest. The Hull Docks communicate on the cast end 240 THE DOCKS DRAWBRIDGES. [CH. with the river Hull, a few liundred yards from the point whence it empties itself into the Humber, and on the west end directly with the Humber ; so that, in fact, the town is situated on an island. The three docks, namely, the Old Doch, the Junction Dock, and the Humber Dock, are, I believe, merely an enlargement of the fosse, which, in ancient times, partly surrounded the town ; and as the buildings extend over a considerable portion of ground on the other side, there is no other communication than by means of the drawbridges. Of these there is one at tlie head of each dock, and all are particularly well contrived, to the end that, as the whole population depend entirely upon them as a thoroughfare, the evolutions may be as quick as is practicable. Each bridge consists of two leaves, each leaf nine yards, or thereabouts, in length, from the extremity to the point on which it turns, thus allowing an open space of fifty-four feet for a vessel to pass through. Although each leaf contains forty tons of cast-iron, it is raised vertically by a couple of men with perfect facility, being poised upon its pivot by means of heavy counteracting weights, almost in equilibrio ; which weights, as the leaf is raised, sink into a cavity prepared to receive them. The machinery, merely a windlass acting upon a ])inion and circular rack, performs its office with such celerit}^ that in letting a vessel through, she is hardly clear, when the leaves, which as she passes hover as it were over her rig- ging, brush lightly on her stern, and return to their horizontal position. It is beautiful to see, as in the present case, a vast weight handled with such deli- cacy ; the men at the v/indlass being able to regulate with the utmost nicety the exact space necessary to XV.] AIIUIVAL or A WHALER. 241 let a vessel through ; — and invariably, in case of two vessels passing, one immediately after another, though a few yards only intervene between them, the bridge is lowered so soon as the first is clear, and raised again for the next. An old seafaring gentleman, a weather-beaten veteran, conducts operations on these occasions ; during which short period of time this superin- tendent of the bridges is clothed in the most abso- lute authority. The first order to be given is neces- sarily to "■ Clear the bridge," and thence his juris- diction extends to no less than three different classes of his Majesty's subjects, who are all and every one of them, for the time being, amenable to his will ; that is to say, the people on board the ship to be hauled throuo-li, the men workino- under his imme- diate order at the windlass, and passengers on the point of crossing the bridge. With the eye of a hawk, and the stride of a Port Admiral, sometimes casting a rapid glance among the rigging, and then again towards the men at the bridge, as the old gentleman paces backwards and forwards, speaking-trumpet in hand, as if preparing for a naval engagement, his motions are eagerly watched by those anxious to cross the platform, who, prepared for a spring and a run, wait the exact moment ere the instrument finds its way to his mouth. Not only can the old gentleman give tlie order when he sees it convenient, but he has also, what fortunately falls not to the lot of every arbi- trary individual, — the means of enforcing obedience ; and these means arc somewhat ingenious. Previous to the raising the drawbridge, no sooner does the first awful command biu'st forth, in sound like the M 242 ARRIVAL OF A WHALER. [CH. stirring of coal in a furnace, than two hiatus or chasms appear on the platform, one on either ex- tremity, and oppose in an instant an effectual ob- stacle to those about to cross ; a part of the plat- form, four or five feet in length, extending the whole breadth, and suspended on strong hinges, having been turned round vertically, by means of levers, a quarter circle, for that purpose. By this preparatory measure an impediment being first op- posed to all sorts of let or hinderance from the public, the operations are then commenced. The drawbridge is now steadily raised, and as the vessel glides through the bridge, meanwhile the governor imparts his orders to his men and to the crew — " Throw a rope ashore," " Haul in upon the slack," and so forth, till the stately vessel having passed, the leaves of the bridge, in obedience to a few back- ward turns of the windlass, perform their salam, and quietly descend again into their places ; the above-mentioned chasms are, lastl}'", closed in like manner, by the levers, and the whole platform is rendered passable as before. The next moment the crowd, which during the interval has continued to accumulate, rush over in eager haste in opposite directions, like a flock of sheep. A manoeuvre, such as the one described, was now about to be put in practice on the Greenlander, which, at the moment I arrived at the old Dock Bridge, had cleared the gates communicating with the river Hull, and while the bridge and quays were crowded with as many persons as could stand together to see the operation, was being dragged by a long tow-rope from the quay up the dock towards the point in question. XV.] ARRIVAL OF A WHALER. 243 The interest evinced by all descriptions of persons at Hull on the arrival of a whaler is very remark- able, for it may be said that the moral and physical affections of half the inhabitants are more or less excited, — some, in the hope or reality of profit, direct or indirect, and others, by a host of domestic joys and anxieties. And it is pleasing to contrast with the demeanour of the softer sex and of children, eagerly gazing among the multitude, in the fervent and pious endeavour to catch a first glance of a husband or a father, the tones of unrelenting obe- dience breaking out at intervals from on board the vessel, as the long-absent, manly tars are sternly occupied on their duty. An additional cause rendered the present spec- tacle even still more touching. A custom prevails among the seamen of these vessels when traversing the polar seas, to fix, on the first day of May, a garland, aloft, suspended midway on a rope leading from the maintop-gallant mast-head to the foretop mast-head, a garland, not indeed bedecked Avith flowers, but ornamented with knots of riband, love- tokens of the lads from their lasses, each containing as it were a little tender history, sanctified in the heart's treasury, and with the details of which they alone are acquainted. However the garland, once placed in the above position, whether in allegorical allusion to fickleness or constancy, — the boundless range of woman's love from the torrid zone of her passions to the snowy regions of her heart, — be all that as it may, there it swings, blow high, blow low, in spite of sleet and hail, till the ship reaches once more her port. No sooner does she arrive in the docks than, ac- M 2 244 ARRIVAL OF A WHALER. [CH. cording' to long- established custom, it becomes an object of supreme emulation among the boys of the town, seamen's sons, to compete for the possession of the aforesaid symbol, to which end, animated by the gaze of their friends on shore, and a spirit of rivalry among themselves, they vie with each other in a perilous race up the rigging. The contest was at this moment about to take place, the garland being suspended aloft in the position before de- scribed, and containing within its periphery the model of a ship cut from the heart of an English oak, the type of honest affection. A gallant phalanx, animated by youth and enter- prise, sprang from the shore, across the intervening- craft, and mounted, by onq simultaneous charge, on board the vessel, and still a numerous band con- tinued to scale her sides, and nimbly run aloft by rope and rattlin. Every moment, as the strain and struggle among the competitors increased, the lead- ing spirits rose above the rest, reducing the affair by degrees to smaller compass, and, finally, one boy alone so far outstripped his fellows, that common consent yielded to him the victory, and the eyes of all the multitude rested upon him. The boy, apparently about fourteen years old, gained the maintop -gallant mast, and descending by the rope above mentioned, the whole of his body meanwhile, below .it, as he clung by his arms and feet, like a fly upon a ceiling, reached the garland, and in the same attitude now drew from his pocket a knife to cut it away. Some time elapsed, and yet he could not execute his pur- pose ; — either the knife was blunt, or the rope to be cut was unsteady, — or swinging as he was in the air, he was unable to apply sufficient force, or, — XV.] WINNING THE GARLAND. 245 what is most probable, the fingers of liim who made the fastenings, sturdy as his heart, had rendered them almost indissoluble ; but be the cause what it might, the lad remained in his perilous situation so long, that an intense feeling of anxiety began to manifest itself in many quarters. At last he suc- ceeded, — that is to say, he severed the garland, and, with his prize upon his arm, commenced progress upwards, climbing by the rope, when it became im- mediately evident that his strength, unequal to the exertion, had totally failed, and that, although la- bouring to advance with all his might, lie could make no way whatever. It was pitiable to see a lad urged by the spirit of youth and the presence of a multitude into such a predicament ; and during many seconds, such appeared to be his exhaustion, that I really thought he would loose his hold and fall on the deck. It must have been indeed a hard- hearted individual who could have remained un- moved at the scene ; and I could not help reflecting on a motlicr's agonj^ on the pangs of her who, it is more than probable, was at that moment actually standing among the multitude. But the boy's heart was stout — the garland, as it proved in the sequel, Vv-as the only impediment : this, unable to bear away, and unwilling to relinquish, after a protracted struggle, finding it impossible to carry it with him, he placed on one of liis feet and kicked to a com- rade below. Relieved of the burden, he reached to the maintop- galla,nt mast-head, with the activity of a monkey, twisted the vane several times over his head, gave a few hearty cheers, and then, like light- ning, descending on the deck, forthwith received the prize as its lawful owner. 246 GREENLAND YARDS. [CH. The next morning, when I repaired to the docks, the sailors were bnsily employed on board the whaler, and merrily singing at the windlass, as bar- rel after barrel was hoisted upon deck. The hold of the vessel was a compact mass of blubber and barrels : not a square foot was lost ; the latter, some of them large and some small, of sizes arranged to accommodate stowage, were embedded in collops of fat, and supported by joists of whalebone. The tail-end and other parts of the fish, thus packed loose, are technically called " rump and tail," the bare mention of which, on accosting a Greenland seaman, will cause his eye to twinkle with sympathy and recollections of a whale-chase. The cargo raised from the hold was lowered into large shallow lighters, or punts, lashed alongside, and conveyed to the Greenland yards, the nearest of which establish- ments is about a mile up the river Hull, along whose banks a long street, the greater part of which is called Wincolmlea, extends the v/hole way. At these yards the operation of boiling — more simple than agreeable — is immediately commenced. The blubber, which, cut in small narrow junks, resembles fat pork, is first discharged out of the barrels into vats about ten feet diameter, the barrels havino- been previously hoisted up by a crane ; a succession of these large vats are placed one below another in the building, and, as the operation commences in the upper one, the oil, as it rises to the top, is drawn off into the next vat underneath, and so on, into the one still lower, till it becomes quite clear. In an open space in the yard, men separate the layers of whalebone, which form one mass in the mouth of the animal, by an instrument like a broad XV.] WHALEBONE. 247 spud, used after the manner of a spade, wherewith the flesh}^ substance, which somewhat resembles, al- thouo-h rather of a softer nature, the sole of a horse's white hoof, and by Avhich the laminse adhere to each other, is divided. The whalebone is then scraped by common laiives by women ; and the fibrous substance like horse- hair, through which the Avhale strains his food, is cleaned and applied to many of the purposes of horse-hair, such as the stuffing of chairs, &c. Of a part of the offal glue is made, and the refuse afterwards pressed into a compost for ma- nure, together with other ingredients; the larger bones are also reduced to sawdust for the same purpose. The stupendous solid jaw-bones, such as are frequently used to form an arched gateway, (and of which, by the way, at Whitby, several pair in a yow, some curious boat-houses are constructed on the banks of the river Esk;,) are first cut into lengths, by a cross-cut saw, and then applied to a circular saw an inch in breadth, having a double row of teeth. This instrument, beginning longitudinally at the outside, and taking an inch at a time of breadth, soon converts the whole piece to sawdust, which in that state, being nearly as fine as bones ground at a mill, is laid upon the land. Large heaps of these bones may frequently be seen cut into lengths and lying together ; and among them the huge fin-bones; the ball at the joint being as big as a man's head, and the piece altogether such as imagination might readily sub- stitute for the thigh-bone of a Titan. Vast quantities of animal bones are procured via 248 SHIP-LAUNCH. [CH. Hull from the continent. Tliese arrive in bulk, and fetch about four pounds a ton. Entire cargoes of rag's also are continually imported ; the latter for the purpose of being converted, by a modern pro- cess, into new cloth at Dcwsbury, as has been de- scribed in another place. In the latter end of June, the ''William Darley," a large steam-ship for the Hamburgh trade, was launched at Hull, being the largest hitherto sent from the port: her length from stem to stern 156 feet; from the tafFrail to the cutwater 174 feet; extreme breadth 41 feet 3 inches. The circumstance which rendered this launch in- teresting Avas the extreme narrow space at com- mand for the purpose. The vessel rested on her slips, on the eastern bank of the river Hull, exactly opposite the Old Dock basin : the breadth of the ...^1 was w.yj'herc these men Avere at work, the cliffs are two hundred and eighty feet high, and form a bight to which sea-birds resort in con- siderable numbers : though I had probably arrived within a few hundred yards of the place I was seek- ing, without further information, there was no visible object to direct my search. As the crow flies, the point in question is not more than three miles and a half from Whitby ; by the cliffs the way amounts to about five miles : thus as I savmtered along I occasionally descended to the level of th.e sea, and walked sometimes, as far as was practicable, along the shore. The whole of these clilFs, viewed from below, present a wonderful XYIT.] FOSSIL SUBSTANCES. 289 accumulation of fossil substances, among wliicli, of the nautili, or '•' snakcstoncs," as tliey arc provin- cially termed, I might casih', in a couple of hours, have filled a Avheelbarrow. The countr}- people si;pposc them snakes, and assert, as a matter of curiosity, that " no one has ever yet been found with a head." Some lie rolling about among the shingle, like common boulders, others are imbedded in frag- ments of alum-rock, and some are found mingled among the earth; but the entire precij)ice from top to bottom is a mass of shale, shells, and stones, disposed in layers, distinguishable one above an- other, as if each layer had grown year after year, as the strata of wood in an ancient tree. It is remarkable that, for a considerable space hereabouts, the sand of the sea is entirely composed of pulverized ashes of alum-shale, the refuse of old ■works on the spot, but Avhich have been many years abandoned : it has precisely the appearance of pounded tiles, and, although carried by so many succeeding tides backwards and forwards, is still quite pure and unmixed with any other substance. As I walked homewards towards the town with ihe two diggers of jet, one of them informed me that a friend of his had in his possession a fossil monster, as wonderful as anything in Whitby museum; so accordingly I proposed going imme- diately to see it. I was conducted to a small house at the upper end of an alley, in the garret of which, extended in order, on the floor, were the fossil bones in cpiestion. These bones, as far as I could discover, ■might have been, the greater part, those of a small whale ; but the poor owner, partially acquainted Avith the Saurian tribe, had determined accordingly o 290 FOSSIL BAMBOO. [CH. on one of these for liis model ; and liad collected vertebrae, at all events decreasing' in size, and sviffi- cient in number to form, properly distributed, a graceful curve, and outline of a creature possessing, when alive, a long switching tail. The head, for aught I know, might have belonged to an ichthyo- saurus, as well as many of its component parts : the arrangement, at least, did credit to the owner's fancy. ^ ^ ^ ^ This was not the only exhibition of the same sort at Whitby. At a highly-respectable tradesman's shop there was what was said to be a human leg petrified ; but which bore, I think, very little resem- blance to any such member. There was nothing whatever, that I could perceive, to justify its having ever been mistaken for a man's leg, bating that, in the mere outline, it bore somewhat the appearance of a very particularly bad one. * -i= * * I afterwards visited the museum, wherein the specimens are imperfectly arranged, and the exhi- bition is altogether on a small scale ; though it con- tains probably the ver}' best specimen of antedilu- vian remains at present in England. Of the enor- mous skeleton of tlie ichthyosaurus almost every bone is perfect, particularly'' of the small ones com- posing the feet ; of these, even the nail, or claw, is, in one instance, perfect. Among the fossils is a complete plant of sugar- cane, or bamboo, dug up from a spot close adjoin- ing where the ichthyosaurus lay. This, as well as relics from the Kirkdale cave, superior to those in the museum either of Scarborough, Hull, or York, XVI r.] ROBIN hood's bay. 291 bears ample testimony to the violent natural changes which, in past ages, have taken place in the upper strata of this eastern coast. Partly Avith the object in view to visit this little fishing-town, and partly for the purpose of escaping the vortex then setting in from all surrounding quarters towards the York festival, I left Whitby one rainy afternoon, in a hired buggy, for Robin Hood's Bay. It was not without considerable re- luctance that, yielding to other pursuits, I compelled myself to relinquish the pleasures of sight and sound attendant on this ceremonial ; I was, there- fore, more unwilling to witness the tantalizing pre- parations. On such occasions as these. Englishmen by no means appear to advantage ; for, to say nothing of the trickery exercised by coach-proprie- tors, innkeepers also take an opportunity of reaping the harvest of their servility, by exacting from the public usurious remuneration ; — a reflection wdiich certainh' tends to diminish the value of their atten- tions. At all events, a traveller is doomed among them to encounter a hard-hearted band, and even though the money fly from his pocket, like the nails in Sindbad's ship on the rock of adamant, he is nevertheless curtailed in his comforts in a similar proportion. The approach to the village of Robin Hood's Bay is by a steep descent, which, commencing at the parish church and extending a full mile, becomes for the last three or four hundred yards so precipi- tous, as to be all but inaccessible to wheel- carriages of any description ; so that the inhabitants may be o2 292 A MARINE VILLAGE. [CH. said to be secluded, by local causes, from the adjoin- ing- country. Having talvcn no pains to inform myself of the disposition of the villagers, it was with some hesita- tion that I dismissed my vehicle at the door of the j)rincipal inn, being led involuntarily, owing to its small size and the appearance of the street, to ques- tion its respectability. But a more kind, respect- able, w^ell-con ducted, and amiable person I never en- countered, than my hostess of the Mason's Arms ; under whose tranquil roof I sojourned for two days, and then departed with regret. No place of human abode can be conceived more wild in its appearance than this village, where the tidy little edifices of the fishermen are perched, like the nests of sea-gulls, among the cliifs ; the com- munication fi'om one street to another, in some places, is so entirely cut off, that access is ob- tained by a plank bridge thrown over a gulley. Illvcry individiial dwelling is characteristic of the neatness of a seafaring proprietor, him whom early habit has taught the true principles of the economy of space, and whom the contrast of rough and peril- ous hours abroad the more endears to the delights of home, — among such a population, I had no rea- son to repent my visit. Such is the precarious posi- tion of many of the houses among the craggy emi- nences, that one is inclined to wonder they have not long since been washed away. Twenty years ago a considerable number were abandoned, and after- wards actvially swept off by the waves ; and now the sea has undermined the rocks in many places under their foundations to such a degree, that, with an in-shore swell, the sound of the tumbling waters XVII.] HERRIKG-FISHEKY. 293 resembles a distant discliarge of artillery. These cliffs, formed of the deeper lias shale, afford a better resistance than those of loam, which support the devoted town of Kilnsca, elsewhere described; never- theless, the whole shore within the bay appears of the same substance as the cliffs above, the flat sur- face being- worn smooth by the attrition of the waves, and divided by longitudinal and transverse fissures, so as exactly to resemble an artificial pavement. The entire area is covered by multitudes of peri- winkles of unusual size. In every part these shell- fish are scattered in the utmost profusion — so that the only pains necessary to gather them is to sweep them with a common broom into a heap, and carry them off; and in this manner, in the proper season, boat-loads are collected and sent to Yarmouth. The herring-fishery here, as well as at most other parts of the coast, affords the principal source of livelihood for the inhabitants, and has been, during the present year, attended with unusual success : large quantities have been sold to the French fishermen, who bring their own salt and cure them on the spot, as at Hartlepool, Whitby, and other places. I observed vast qviantitics of vareeh or sea-w'eed on the beach, which, notwithstanding its efficacy as a manure, was suffered to lie and rot, swarming with maggots ; however, the steepness of the ascent to the fields above, renders it perhaps impracticable to cart it thither. It occurred to me that, in instances like the present, when it is required to surmount a short and steep acclivity, the substitution of a me- chanical purchase for horse power is seldom applied, though it might be used to advantage : for instance. 294 AN ENGRAVER OF EPITAPHS. [CH. in tlie steep streets leading from the Thames in London, the whole length of the Strand, and east- ward, as well as in many other places that might readily be mentioned. At all events, the quantity of manure that here lay unapplied to useful pur- poses, within the space of three or four hundred yards, was at least forty waggon-loads. On leaving the village, I engaged the service of a man and his cart to transport my luggage to a point of rendezvous, on the turnpike-road, with the stage-coach to York ; and as the old horse leaned steadily on his collar, I walked up the hill, and en- tered into conversation witli the proprietor. My companion was intelligent and inquisitive, all his numerous questions tending directly, one way or other, to increase his little stock of knowledo-e : he was besides, not only a self-taught artist aifection- ateiy devoted to his profession, but a poetaster, pos- sessing at the same time an enviable privilege, — namely, provided all the world v,'ere deaf to the har- mony of his rhymes, the means of ensuring their immortality. By his hand many of the tombstones in the churchyard were engraved, and though I will not venture so far as to criticize the literary merit of this composer of epitaphs, or in any wise inter- fere with the department of the Muses, I may liionestly assert that better specimens of handicraft, even in more civilized parts of England, are not to be found. On proceeding on my journey. I in due course made the discovery that I had unwittingly arrived in York precisely one day too soon : the consequence was just what might l>c expected, — no quiet, no comfort, — the inn, from top to bottom, a scene of XVII.] A LODGING AT YORK. 295 bustle and confusion. When I took my seat in tlie coffee-room, a group of bacchanalians, " far in the "ttdnd," vindicating their musical taste at the expense of the public, levied contributions from every indi- vidual indiscriminately in favour of a trumpery set of glee-singers then standing in the street : they in return, the windows wide open for the purpose, vomited forth " The Hunters' Chorus" in " Der Freischutz," and all the worn-out trash of the London streets. My place of rest Avas a delta chamber in the gar- rets. Here the noise in the house was sufficient effectually to prevent sleep for the whole night : nevertheless, no sooner were the set of people who produced it, worn down by fatigue and silent, than replaced by others. Three sturdy fellows began at day-light, both in the adjoining chamber, and in the landing-place close to my door, to black shoes for all the household. For a night's lodging, that of a traveller merely passing through the town, the charge was precisely, compared with that on ordinary occasions, tenfold. Chapter XVIII. STOCK TON-UPON-TEES. Road from Whitby to S'.ockton — Unexpected Changes of Scenery — A Musical Exliibition — An Infant Audience — A well-ediK-ated Monkey — Coal-shipments on the Tees — Town of Middleborough — Quaker's Railroad — Clarence Railroad — Suspension Bridge — Anecdote relating thereto — Coal Staiths — Description of a Coal Staith — Curious mode of letting down the empty Waggons. The road from Scarborough to Whitby is, perhaps, the worst in all England, — neither from Whitby to Stockton is it much better : the greater part stretches across a moor of high elevation, and rolling stones and deep sand render progress dangerous as well as diflicult. More exhilarating is the sensation when, a few miles before arriving at Stockton, the prospect suddenly brightens, and from a command- ing eminence the vale of Cleveland bursts on the view. The river Tees, here below, gracefully Avinds its course towards the sea ; and on its opposite banks, four miles distant from each other, are the two towns of Stockton and Middleborough. Both, as objects in the landscape, are in ecpial proportion attractive to the eye : yet the latter, fast increasing- in extent and importance, has within a few years only been called into existence. Unlooked-for changes of scenery are sweet among- fortune's vicissitudes ; as the light of hope upon the mind, not only rendering sparkling and verdant the path of the future, but illuminating the darker vaults CH. XVni.] A MUSICAL EXHIBITION. 297 in the depths of memory. As the coach rolled on at a rapid pace towards Stockton through this noble country, the ferfile scene called forth a series of pleasing influences ; till, arrived even at a noisy inn, imagination alone had embellished the objects round and about, and rendered them, for the time being, agreeable to the senses. Above, a huge black lion, carved in wood, brandished his tail at the outside of the window ; below, the broad airy street Avas the rendezvous for stage coaches. On an evening particularly serene, my attention was arrested by the dulcet tones of music; — an Italian boy, with his monkey and organ, was ex- hibiting to the younger classes of the community : the musician, though a foreigner, contrived to fasci- nate by means of his organ, and a string of good old-fashioned English tunes, a mob of at least thirty or forty little children, and with hardly a big one among them all, were pressing around him to listen- It was pleasing to observe the animation of coun- tenance displayed by the very least of the infant crew, as, with eager and intuitive love of harmony, they crept closer and closer to the feet of the young artist, stretching out their arms as if to feel for the notes among the ambient air, and evidently confounding in their minds things visible and tan- gible with the sensation of sound. I almost felt as if all these little children belonged to myself; and that, too, without the inconvenient drawback of paternity. The monkey performed with eclat his part in tlic drama ; for he picked up a sixpence when throAvn on the ground, and presented it to his master. And then, like the rest of the world when paid for o 3 298 Quaker's railroad. [ch. it, lie exhibited his gratitude; that is to say, he pulled off his cap at a jerk on his weasand, Avhich jerk very nearly shook the cap off,*head and all. Whatever craniologists may predicate of Jacko's forehead, if breadth be an earnest of sagacity,' — therein is wisdom; moreover, on his ruminative countenance dwells content and consciousness of worldly dignity. How many people in the world value themselves highly even on more trivial grounds, for, seated on the shoulder of his master, he receives daily otferings of dainties from donors he never saw before, the reward of sheer merit ; his pliant limbs are unassailable by gout or rheumatism ; he possesses splendid teeth, a never failing digestion, and, above all things, enjoys the faculty of executing and ut- tering daily tricks and pleasantries intelligible to the meanest capacity, appreciated by old and young, the fool and the philosopher ; — the which latter of mortal blessings, namely, to hold in absolute control the good humour of the multitude, falls not at all events to the lot of his betters. --i-- * ;|: ^ The mouth of the river Tees is an interesting point on the eastern coast ; by which the coal mo- nopoly has been principally wrested from the Tyne and Wear; and whence coal-fields, which, but for the discoveries and improvements of modern times, would have remained undisturbed these fifty years to come, have been compelled to disembogue their produce for the London market. These local operations have chiefly been effected by the people called Quakers, to whom the town of Midclleborough especially owes it birth. " The Quaker's Railroad," as it is termed, upon the north XVIII.] SUSPENSION BRIDGE. 299 bank of the Tees, extends from their coal-field near Darlington as far as Stockton, where it crosses the river by a suspension-bridge, and then proceeds four miles farther along the southern shore straight to Middleborough. The '' Clarence Railway" reaches from the neighbourhood of Durham to a ]joint on the north bank of the Tees, somewhat lower down the river than the former : hence the pro- prietors, though not with the energy of the other establishments, are now making shipments. The following anecdote relating to the suspension- bridge across the Tees, before mentioned, forms a part of its early history : — The number of coal-waggons which now pass over it. linked together, is almost indefinite ; at all events, the trains cover the whole surface of the platform, and ground on both banks of the river besides. When the bridge w^as completed on the suspension principle, it was found, by previous experiment, not to be strong enough even for twenty waggons, the number then stipulated for. The first trial was made with sixteen, upon which the bridge gave way ; that is to say, as the sixteen carriages advanced upon the ])latform, the latter, yielding at first to their weight, became elevated in the middle, so as by degrees to form an apex, Avhich was no sooner surmounted by half the number, than the couplings broke asunder, and eight carriages rolled one way, and eight another, — the one set onwards on their way, and the other back again. Owing to this mis- adventure, the construction was necessarily altered. The platform remaining suspended, as before, was fortified underneath by four starlings, upon which it has been ever since supported, and, consequently. 300 MIDDLEBOROUGH. [CH. tlie stress on the chains is so effectually relieved^, that the platform assumes a convex appearance. By pacing the platform, I found it to be one hun- dred and four yards in length : it swings on twelve chains, six on one side and six on the other; the cir- cumference of the links of the chains is six inches and a quarter ; the number of perpendicular rods, of three inches and five -eighths circumference, are one hundred and ten, — fifty-five on one side and fifty-five on the other. As the trains of coal-wag- gons cross, the whole space appears covered by about five-and-twent}' ; the train being longer consider- ably than the bridge. A train of coal-waggons, touching close together, and motionless on a railway, occupy about ten feet of space each waggon ; moving, and at the extent of their couplings, considerably more ; the weight of an empty coal-waggon is from 2G to 30 cwt. — the load 53 cwt., or a Newcastle chaldron, — the weight of the engine, eight tons ; consequently the weight laid on the bridge at present is more than an hun- dred tons. * # -1: * Even to those who delight in the relics of anti- quity, the nascent town of MidLllcborough may afford matter for rumination ; by placing the prospective for the retrospective, the same feelings are conversely brought into action, while the sympathies are en- gaged perhaps more profitably, among the expand- ing clement of youth than the withering features of age. The town of Middleborough on the Tyne, as well as Goole upon the Ouse, has not yet, generally speaking, been laid down on the maps ; neverthe- J COAL STAITHS. 301 XVIII. less, in addition to the coal- waggons from the Dar- lington pits, of which frecjuently not less than three hundred may be seen together at the staiths, a com- munication b}^ steam for passengers has been also established with Stockton : and trains of carriages have departed and returned thitlier, for these twelve months past, regularly six times a day. Having crossed the old stone bridge over the Tees, close to the town of Stockton, I took my seat on one of these carriages, and was deposited at Middleborough in about twenty minutes. The extraordinary length of the building appro- priated to the coal staiths, four hundred and fifty yards long, or thereabouts, by means of which all the shipping operations are conducted close to the water's edge under cover, renders it, at first sight, a remarkable object, and the more singular inasmuch as the laden coal-waggons are, in the first instance, raised by a steam-engine to the upper floor, and then lowered again to the vessel below, — a circuitous application of additional labour, than which it cer- tainly appears a more direct mode might have been devised. As many persons have never even heard of a coal staith, it may be here observed that a coal staith merely signifies a raised platform, from which the cargo is discharged into the vessel or carriage below: this operation was for many years performed by means of an iron spout, about three feet in breadth, as a channel to direct the coal in its descent. The violence of the fall, however, by the above mode, caused such considerable damage and breakage, that it became indispensable to determine upon a better expedient. Accordingly, about a dozen years 302 COAL-^YAGGONS. [CH. siuce, or more, the said spout was in many places superseded by the drop, the latter being* a con- trivance whereby the laden waggon, placed on a cradle or frame, with a man beside it, is daintily let down by machinery within a few feet of the hold of the vessel, where a bolt being struck out, the coal immediately falls through the bottom of the waggon, which latter is then bodily lifted up again. Within this building are contained eight drops, constructed as aforesaid, and along the whole length of the upper floor a railway extends in the middle from one end to the other, viz., four hundred and fifty yards. Cross rails are laid down at right angles leading to the several drops, and others to- wards opposite windows or openings, out of which the empty waggons, as soon as unladen on one side, are let ^own by a separate apparatus of machinerv through the other into the yard of the establish- ment. Notwithstanding these sixteen windows, the inside of the building, owing to its length, is nearly as dark as a coal pit. The waggons, as they arrive from the pit, are, in the first instance, as has been observed, raised to the upper floor by a steam-engine : one is con- tinually at work for the purpose, and the proprietors are also provided with aTiother, to the end that they may be prepared with a second in case of the first being out of order. Half a dozen laden waggons are dragged together along the railroad to the par- ticular drop then at work by a stout cob, which is then ridden carelessly back again barebacked, by a small boy, at a shambling trot, notwithstanding that the interstices between the planks admit here and there full two inches of daylight. However, the XVIIl.] PROCESS OF LADING. 303 pony proceeds, clattering on unconcernedly, other- wise than holding his nose close to the floor, the better, and more cautiously, to observe Avhere to place his feet at every step : and thus with horses generally ; the less the rider thinks of himself, the more care they take of him. The beast, vv'hen I witnessed his performance, had only a halter on his head, Avithout winkers, or any harness except collar and light rope traces. As soon as the boy had fastened the hook of the trace to the foremost waggon, the pony invariably turned round his head, as if to inquire whether all were ready, and then exactly at the proper moment commenced his march, the load meanwhile rumbling after him ; ar- rived at the drop, the carriages being detached^ lie here stood jammed close to the wall; showing perfect cognizance, as the carriages passed him, of the degree of attention due to the various noises and manoeuvres going forward, and not only being av.are when it was proper to step out of the way, but how long precisely it was safe to stand still. The better to describe the celerity and adroitness displayed in lading the vessels from the drops, a further illustration of the machine may be afforded by an object familiar to everybody, — that of the vertical roundabout, commonly adapted to the amusement of children at fairs, where a small car^ riage performs a circle in the air, as it swings be^ tween two parallel levers. Each carriage at one extremity of a diameter is here counterbalanced by the carriage at the other extremity : thus, precise]}" in like manner, the frame or cradle, Avith the wai2-"on and man upon it, swings upon an iron bar, laid across two parallel levers at their extremity. As it 304 RETURN OF EMPTY WAGGONS. [CH. descends it is counterpoised by heavy weights, — pigs of iron weighing about four tons ; which, the coal being discharged in the hold of the vessel, cause the waggon and platform to ascend, as it were spon- taneously, by restoring the equilibrium ; the motion, during the previous descent, is regvdated by a brake wheel. I observed that, in ordinary course, the waggons were discharged at the rate of one in two minutes. Each carriage Avas no sooner pushed upon the frame than both frame and carriage began to descend ; before the motion had ceased, the bolt had been struck out of its place, the coal was discharged, and they began to ascend again. Thus, absolutely, no time was lost in the delivery of the cargo, other than was necessary to complete the ascent and descent of the wao-o-on.. I have no doubt, that in a case of emergency, wdth special assistance to push the wag- gons on the frame, and remove tlieni when empty, the rate might yet be increased, I should tliink even as far as a waggon a minute. Tluis, as there are eight drops, and as each waggon contains 53 cwt. of coal, the proprietors possess the power of lading at the rate of 214 tons a minute. It still remains to be stated how the empty waggon, after having delivered its cargo at the drop, is then disposed of, it being remembered that it is hoisted up to the upper floor of the building by a steam-engine, drawn with five or six others by a horse to the drop in question, where it is unladen, and being empty, lowered through the opposite window back again into the yard of the establish- ment. Although for the purpose of merely letting down the empt}'^ waggon the machinery is as simple XVIII.] INGENIOUS DKVICI^ 305 as may be, there is a part of this process very par- ticularly deserving- of notice. It is, perhaps, one of the most simple, and at the same time most inge- nious devices ever hit upon. To a spectator standing below, each waggon is seen at the commencement of its descent at right angles with the line of the building, that is to say, the front jiart of the waggon is opposite the spec- tator, provided he be immediately before the aper- ture. But durino' its descent swino:incovered beams, like the timbers of a seventy-four gun ship, deprive a tall man of the satisfaction of either walking or standing upright. The terms of entertainment are, as may be ima- gined, conformable to the accommodation ; that is to say, five shillings a day for every item of expense attendant on board and lodging ; for this small stipend the host provides his company with a table d'hote, whereupon breakfast is served from eight to nine o'clock, dinner at three, tea at six, and supper at nine. Though one part of the world are gene- rally inquisitive as to how others live, — in this case, considering that the landlord is obliged to pay house -rent and taxes, the guests, as it would appear, do not trouble themselves with his affairs. A small party of quiet people generally congregate here during the summer months, seeking, on their part. 368 AN ARRIVAL FROM GRETNA GREKN. [CH, Sociable retirement, and receiving, from the host, the utmost attention and civiUty. Fortunately, wlien a visiter for a couple of days at the Ship Inn, affairs happened on that occasion lo glide in a more lively stream than ordinary, owing to a recent event, which afforded matter of surmise and a theme of incessant conversation. A recently married pair had arrived in the house from Gretna Green, for the express purpose of ruralizing- and making the most of each other's company ; wherefore, — not only w^as everybody on the alert tc^ discover who the young married couple could pos- sibly be — but there Avas, moreover, a disputed ques- tion of identity, — a sort of romantic episode ap- pended to the histor}^ that inflamed cvn-iosity be- yond measure, and rendered all, the single ladies especially, half mad to discover the mystery. A few evenine^s before, the Carlisle mail beino; on its way through the dreary mountainous district between Kendal and Penrith, had barely arrived at the foot of the long steep ascent called Shap Fells, when the lowering black clouds, which already en- veloped its summit, appearing suddenly to burst in twain, poured forth a deluge of rain, accompanied by flashes of vivid lightning ; — loud peals of thunder crackled in the firmament, and the whole region of air around was swept by a tremendous hurricane. The coachman, half blinded by continued flashes of fire, and volleys of stinging hail, exerted himself man- fully to hold together four gallant blood-horses, and preserve a straight course ; but the efforts of both man and beast were unavailing ; — by dint of main strength alone he kept his seat on the box, mean- XXV.] LOVERS IN A QUANDARY. 369 Avhile the winds might be fairly said to take charge of the cattle, by blowing the reins almost out of his hands, and night having now spread her sable mantle around, after a hard, determined struggle, and having surmounted many serious difficulties, — at last, in one black interval of darkness, — over went the Car- lisle mail into a ditch. Report, with many tongues, relates, that at this awful moment, even in the midst of the conflicting elements, and notwithstand- ing, moreover, that it was pitch dark, — the little god of love, of ubiquitous presence, was seen to smile- At all events, an interesting young lady, accompa- nied and protected the whole of the way from Lon- don by a gallant young gentleman, both on their rapid way to Gretna Green, were the only passen- gers within the vehicle, and they, barring discom- fiture and jumblcment, escaped unhurt. What were the young lady's feelings in this deli- cate and untoward predicament is the province of young ladies alone to imagine, — without an abigail, — no shelter but that of the capsized mail coach, — insufficient space to stand upright, and, — nothing at all to sit down upon. Her lover, poor fellow, was not less awkwardly situated, — but he was a man, and the softer sex, at all events, supposing him able to take care of himself, will of course feel little interested as to what became of him ; but there she remained, and there he remained, and there they both remained imprisoned together, as it is said, for full three-quarters of an hour. Finally, the mail- coachman having spliced his fractures, and other- wise repaired the damage, drove away without them ; for the young lady, by this time far too much terri- fied to proceed by the same conveyance, now pre- r3 370 DISPUTED IDENTITY. [CH. ferred to throw herself altogether on the protection of her lover. The lot of these unfortunate young strangerSj thus to be left alone, in the dark, and at the mercy of the weather, was surely much to be pitied, whatever might have been on that evening their destiny ; — the whole tale, as it came to my ears, is merely hearsay ; and as to what other folks relate, I will not vouch, — I can only hope, and so I do sin- cerely, provided the adventure be as I have related it, — I can only hope, I say, that the lovers found their way to Penrith ; if so, they obtained, no doubt, accommodation suited to their wants, and at least shelter, — for therp the inns, as I have the satisfac- tion to testify, are most particularly warm and com- fortable. To return to the Ship Inn at Allonby. It will readily be believed, upon the foregoing premises, that the visiters in the house, who, let it be clearly understood, were acquainted with all these parti- culars, not only acknowledged in the first place the tendcrest possible general interest in the adventures of the two young pilgrims, but were most categori- cally inquisitive in matters of detail ; particidarly as to what became of the nymph and her swain, from the unlucky moment of the overturn to that of their safe arrival, the next day or the day after, at the shrine of bliss at Gretna ; — and it follows, no less as a matter of course, that upon the advent at the inn, of two persons who, according to appearances, might at all events very well be mistaken for the former, that all were dying to discover, first and foremost, — whether this young couple were that young couple, to the end that they might, in the next place, pro- vided the identity were established, proceed heart XXV.] FEMALE CURIOSITY. 371 and mind to ferret out their names, and all the rest of their private history. Matters had come to this point when I arrived at the Ship Inn, the young pair having strictly pre- served their incognito ; — meanwhile their occupa- tions and dispositions bore so little affinity with the rest of the inmates, that, notwithstanding all were well-meaning, agreeable people, yet, somehow or other, the two sets, ill assorted at least under pre- sent circumstances, had already fallen into disunion ; a classification, as if proceeding sympathetica!!}^ and involuntarily, had taken place ; and each party, actu- ally without the trouble of arranging a dispute, had, in point of fact, absolutely sent the other to Coven- try. For my part, I had the good fortune to be on amicable terms with both ; feeling that each, though under different circumstances, were entitled to much consideration, — the single ladies especially, having no one whereon to bestow their love and attention, tlience, alone, certainly deserved the meed of sympa- thizing pity ; and, jjoor things, I can truly declare that, although now and then one pricked her finger in anxiety to catch a furtive glance at the bride and bridegroom, and the eyes of all, even while they threaded their needles, were never positively avert- ed, yet their good breeding uniformly prevailed over the pains of curiosity, and entirely repressed all appearance of vulgar, ill-restrained scrutiny. Now and then — but perhaps that were fancy — I thought I could perceive slight telegraphic looks pass from one to the other, nay, even a sort of gal- vanic radiance, that flitted in twitches, like shooting crystals across their foreheads, as if in painful recol- lection of preferences ill-bestowed or unrequited, or 372 THE YOUNG BRIDE. [CH. perhaps from eagerness to read in silence and ex- plain to one another the precise extent and meaning of the hieroglyphics in which the other party ex- , changed rapid, intelligible sentences. The bride — a lovely young creature ! more the pity that all such lovely young creatures are not brides — may surely on her part be excused, even though in pastoral air and attitude she devoted incessantly her whole thoughts and attention to a handsome bridegroom ; for where is the young lady to be found who, under similar circumstances, would not, with very trifling variation, do likewise ? — though no doubt, at such a time, to display even the most slight air of satisfaction and triumph towards un- married ladies then present, is not altogether ex- cusable ; nay, I will not call such demeanour other- wise than absolutely aggravating and provolving ; and I must confess that, now and then, certain side looks of the young lady towards her female compa- nions, indisputably partook of such sort of expres- sion. Evidently brought up in high society, and finding herself among ladies reared on Cumberland high hills, she did certainly seem inclined to behave as if they were sheep or cows, or any other dumb animals, or, in other words, just as if they had not been present ; — no wonder, therefore, that the latter were ill-pleased thus to be treated altogether as nonentities, and remained unwillingly passive while, with the utmost nonchalance, the wilful little damsel sat carelessly shampooing the bridegroom, and pass- ing her tiny fingers through his curling hair. I overheard, involuntarily, on more occasions than one, the sotto voce conversations of the enamoured pair, of which, although the warmth of a mutual XXV.] A HONEYMOON. 373 attachment might have rendered them interesting, nothing that fell on my ear might not, in point of fact, have been just as well spoken aloud. I cannot, however, reconcile to a sense of propriety to record, trifling as it may be, any private discourse ; besides, the evidence of one's own eyes and ears on such delicate subjects, even if credited, ought immedi- ately to be forgotten. Who they were, whence they came, how they travelled, or what were their pre- vious adventures, still, as far as I know, remains a mystery, notwithstanding the company at Allonby sedulously exerted themselves to obtain informa- tion ; in fact, no other topic was discussed, while I remained in the house, absolutely from morning to night ; that is to say, whenever the parties con- cerned happened to be but of the room. Ample time, moreover, it must be acknowledged, was allow- ed for the investigation; for the young ones, instead of accommodating their habits to the rules of the house, and conforming with the established hours of the public table, had superseded all such ordinary courses. By an arrangement of their own, they made their first appearance every day at one, dined by themselves at half-past eight, and — went to bed at ten. My own curiosity, I freely confess, struck by the epidemic excitement raging in the house, grew feverish accordingly ; not with reference to the pri- vate affairs of these young people, but from a wish, being in the neighbourhood, to visit the celebrated spot — " That mystical bourne, From whence maidens and bachelors seldom return" — see with my own eyes a shrine equally famous with 374 A VISIT TO GRETNA. [CH. that of Thomas a Bccket, and become partially ac- quainted, on authority, with the observances of the pilgrims. I therefore took advantage of a fine morning, hired a horse at Carlisle, and rode to Gretna. The old original marrying-house is in the vil- lage of Springfield, nearly a mile from Gretna Green, an exceedingly small public-house, kept at present by one John Sowerby, as notified by a square sign, nailed against the side of the house, over the door. The house, since the days of old David or Daniel I.aing, the notorious blacksmith, has undergone no alteration, and the same busi- ness as formerly is transacted under its roof; but the matrimonial branch is now confined almost alto- gether to the poorer classes ; — although the officiat- ing clergymen are various, many is the epithala- mium that in humble life still resounds within its walls. That the edifice, small as it is, isdarge enough for all reasonable pvirposes, is evident by the nume- rous scribblers in prose and in verse who, in various ways, have been pleased, on the windows and on the walls, to bear testimony to hours passed agreeably, and express otherwise their entire satisfaction. Among these 1 was informed (for the room in ques- tion, during my visit, was occupied by a newly- married pair) may be seen the handwriting of the late Lord E . Gretna Hall, a very respectable-looking country inn, is immediately contiguous to Gretna Green, which latter is, as many people know, a small rural common, nine miles from Carlisle. At this house all the modern matrimonial affairs, among the higher classes, have of late years been conducted ; and hither all inquiring strangers are directed point XXV.] THE GRETNA CLERGYMAN. 375 blank ; besides, a painted board points out the way from tlie Green to lovers and travellers, along a wide, straight drive, leading to the door. The esta- blishment possesses considerable advantages over the old one — indeed the one is a comfortable country residence, whereas the other more resembles a pot- house, such as the " Jolly Sailor," or " The Three Loggerheads," in a seaport-town. The new clergy- man also, who may be said, phoenix-like, to have arisen from the ashes of the old one, — for whether or not the ancient Daniel or David departed in a fit of spontaneous combustion, is a point, I believe, hardly determined, — exists under terms of compa- rison Avith his predecessor equally favourable. He is not only clergyman, but landlord also — both per- sons in one ; whence it arises, partly proceeding from his own moral qualities, and partly owing to his office of landlord, which confines him to the spot, that he possesses those qualifications that every Gretna Green clergyman ought to have, — namely, he is at all times to be found in a hurry : and, finally, when found, sober, and able to perform his duty. In person he is a slight, fair, good-looking man ; in age about forty, of prepossessing manners, and mild and respectful in liis demeanour ; and of him it may be particularly remarked, that without bearing the mien of a dignitary of the church, he seems a person qualified to encourage a timid bride, and allay the scruples of any young lady his customer, provided she chance to bring any so far along with her. On the present occasion, he was dressed in the style of a respectable layman or farmer, — altogether in rural costume, namely, a clean, tidy, light-coloured fustian shooting-jacket and shooting ctcseteras. 376 THE MARRIAGE REGISTER, [cH. XXV. In case of emergencies a qualified deputy or sub- clergyman resides on the spot^ in the person of a slim, civil, harmless-looking lad, his son, who, were it not that youth, where the fair sex arc concerned, seldom detracts from personal merit, might be thought too young ; he states his age to be two - and - twenty, though he looks hardly out of his teens. At all events, it is well in matters of love to insure against the possibility of disappoint- ment, and prudent thus to have, in case the old man happen to be out of the way, a young one at hand. No matter by which of the clergymen the everlasting knot be tied, whether the young one or the old one, a regular entry of the marriage is made in a book kept for the purpose ; this entry, after some months, is copied into the register ; in the mean time, the register alone is submitted to the inspection of inquisitive strangers. 'I'he house, though comfortable, is on a moderate scale in point of size; the apartments are scrupu- lously tidy, and the furniture excellent; the site, as a country residence, equally calculated for retire- ment or meditation, exultation or repentance. While the casual visiter is exhilarated by a refreshing airi- ness and agreeable rural scenery, every possible accommodation is afforded to lovers that lovers can require ; — the little garden, especially, embellished with its flowery banks, affords a retreat worthy of Calypso, and the arbours, literally impervious to the eye of a robin, are such as wherein even the most fastidious Rosamond can, I think, hardly, with justice, if accompanied by a suitable helpmate, com- plain of her bower. Chapter XXVI. A JOURNEY FROM WORKINGTON TO KENDAL, The Lake Tourist Stage Coach — The Coach Office — A Little Man doing Double Duty — A Scramble for Places — Morning's Start — Town of Keswick in a Bustle — A Coach laden without mercy — Loss of a Linchpin — An adipose Auxiliary — A bad Mode of getting up a Hill : — A,' worse mode of getting down — An Overturn — A Seat on the Box not always to be envied — A frightened Lady — A Dispute — A fat Man in a pucker — A Procession — Stage-coach Passengers — The Salutation Inn — Female Pity — Coach Proprietors at loggerheads — Arrival at Kendal — Approach to Shap Wells — Tricks upon Travellers — Sets of Company ; high, low, and middle — A temperate Supper-party — A Way to drink Ginger Beer — The Baths and Hotel. With a feeling of considerable satisfaction a traveller along the western coast first receives the intelli- gence that, in addition to the actual pleasure of loco- motion in fine Aveather, an opportunity is afforded him of seeing, in the course of one morning as it were, gratis, most of those beautiful features of the country in succession, Avhich so many thousands of people leave their own homes, and take so much trouble, on purpose to visit, — I mean the principal lakes and mountains of Cumberland. Yet such is the case, for the " Lake Tourist" stage-coach leaves Whitehaven every day during the summer, and proceeds through Workington, Cockermouth, Kes- wick, and Ambleside to Kendal. Mounted on the hinder part of a coach, on my way southward to Whitehaven, I heard two persons conversing on 378 UORKIKGTON. [CH. their projected excursion b}' the above conveyance ; one, a stout, heavy, elderly man, the other, his friend, both travelling together on a party of plea- sure ; so keenly bent were they on the expedition, and anxious to obtain a choice of seats, that they preferred going on through Workington as far as Whitehaven, and returning again the next morning, to remaining all night at the former place ; — for my part, at all times disinclined to a scramble, I got down at Workington, satisfied, as the Lake Tourist departed every day, to take the chance of a vacancy. As sundry bills and placards advertised an agency at Workington, I had no sooner alighted than I proceeded to secure a place, but, though the said bills were printed in exceedingly large letters, I had much difficulty in finding the coach-office ; and wan- dered about a considerable time, till I found myself in a small street, where, g,fter inquiring of many people to no purpose, a woman, who was washing, very kindly left her tub, wiped the soapsuds from her elbows Avith her apron, and undertook to direct me. She accompanied me a short distance, then pointing to a steep flight of wooden steps, rather resembling the broad ladder of a granary than the entrance of a house, — there, at the top of these steps, she said, was the office. I ascended accordingly, and arrived at a narrow passage with a thin deal partition on either side ; at the extremity of which were two very small rooms, one to the right, the other to the left. As I saw nobody, I inflicted a smart rap with my switch on the partition, at the same time entered one of the tiny rooms, where, mounted on a high stool, sat a nimble little man, according to appearance a lawyer, — that is to say, he was busily writing in fair. XXVI.] THE '•' LAKE TOURISt" COACH. 379 round characters, on a skin of parchment. I asked him, where was the coach-office .'' upon which he immediately accompanied me into the opposite little room, and responded to the vocation of book-keeper. I could not help being prepossessed at first sight in favour of one who thus, though of small stature, worked as it were in double harness ; that is to say, performed the duties of two professions, and who, moreover, assured me, on the part of the proprietors of the Lake Tourist, of the first chance of a seat in the morning. In the morning, arrived punctually at the point of rendezvous, it was with a feeling of disappoint- ment I observed, so soon as the coach made its ap- pearance, that she was what sailors call extremely " ill found : '' whether the wheels were of different colours no matter, at all events she was crazy-look- ing, unsteady, and badly appointed altogether. The elderly personage, who had not proceeded to Whitehaven for nothing, now, with a sleek, smiling face, sat triumphantly on the box by the side of the coachman. As the outside places were said to be occupied, I immediately paid inside fare, the which I had no sooner done, than I was provided forthwith with a seat on the roof, and soon afterwards the coach started with a jerk, and jumbled us all into our places. Whether or not the Lake Tourist be supposed to interfere with private interests in the town of Kes- wick 1 cannot say, but if one were to judge from the neglect shown to the passengers on their arrival, she enjoyed not much popularity. Perhaps, being the day of the regatta on Lake Windermere, the people in the inn were in an unusual bustle, and ran 380 SCRAMBLE FOR PLACES. [cH. against eacli other merely in the way of business ; at all events, we were ushered into an untidy room : the display of cold meats was inferior, and the waiter neither attentive nor civil. Out of doors the cargo of the coach was being refitted under the direction of several persons, who, with much squabbling, seemed only unanimous in one point, namely, to place upon her as macli as she was able to carry. Although heavily laden before, much additional lu