gers. The door is placed as in English coaches (though there is but one door): the driver's seat is so low, that his head is pretty much on a level with the top of the coach. There is only room for one outside passenger, who sits on the same seat with the driver. The baggage is placed, not very securely, at the back of the coach, within leathern aprons, which are buckled or tied up with ropes or chains. The top of the coach is fixed on a frame, but the leathern curtains all round the carriage may be rolled up in fine weather, to afford air, and allow the country to be seen. The old-fashioned American stages, of which some are even yet in use, contain four seats, the driver having his place on the front bench, and all the passengers entering in a very inconvenient way by the fore-part of the carriage, and sitting with their faces to the front, which was open.

Of travelling in these vehicles, Mr. Stuart gives some interesting details, which may be compared with the usual conduct of stagecoach company in England.

"Having been told that the people of this country are very subject to sickness in the stages, and, on that account, anxious to sit with their faces to the front of the carriage, we took possession of the front, or foremost, nearest to the driver's seat, as being the least popular, with our faces to the back of the carriage. The Chancellor of the State was the first passenger, after we set out, for whom we called. He placed himself in the most distant seat, but gave it up to a family, consisting of two ladies and children, whom we picked up at Cruttenden's, in the upper part of the town, which is the chief hotel at Albany. The ladies were from Providence in Rhode Island, and on an excursion of pleasure to Niagara. There is no such thing as post-chaise travelling in any part of the United States. Journeys are usually performed either in the four-horse stages, or in steam-boats; but on most of the roads of very great resort, extra stages may be obtained, which may be regulated, as the passengers incline, as to the time they are to be on the road. In general, however, the travelling of this country by land is performed in the regular stages, it being the ordinary custom of the country for all descriptions of persons to travel by the same conveyance, and, while travelling to eat together. The present President of the United States, Mr. Adams, whose private residence is near Boston, travels to Washington, the seat of the government, by steam-boat, and the regular stage.

People going short journeys, of course, make use of their own carriages. The close carriage of Britain is rarely seen, but barouches and gigs are common; and small wagons, and dearborns, which are a light, four-wheeled carriage, on springs of wood,

with a movable seat, frequently covered on the top, are in general use.

"The road on which we were driven to Schenectady was in many parts rough, and not well engineered, but wide; and there were rows of large Lombardy poplars on each side of a great part of it: the soil sandy, and by no means fertile; the orchards not pro ductive the wood chiefly oak, cedar, and pine, the greater part of pine. The driver stopped twice on the way to give water to his horses, on account, I presume, of the heat of the weather; and the ladies from Provi dence also got water for themselves and their children, always asking, before they tasted it, whether the water was good? The per sons waiting at the doors of the hotels on the road, for every the most trifling inn, or house of public entertainment, is styled a hotel,-very civilly handed tumblers of water to the passengers, without payment of any kind. The conversation of the passengers was far more unrestrained than it probably would have been with foreigners, especially the chief judge of the state, one of the party,-in an English stage-coach; nor did the judge presume in the slightest degree on his high official situation.”

more

On his journey to Niagara, Mr. Stuart notes:-"We found the stage partly filled before we prepared to take our seats,-half an hour before sunrise,-and did not reach Auburn until nearly sunset. A gentleman who had taken his seat in the back row, insisted on giving it up to my wife, so decidedly, as being her right, that she had no alternative, although it was a matter of indif ference to her on which row she sat. In the same row with that gentleman was a poor woman, the widow of a labourer on one of the lakes, with a child, to whom the gentlemen, two of whom were persons of no small consideration in point of fortune, showed the same attention and wish to be of use, as they could have done to any other female, what. ever might be her rank in society."

In justice, we observe that Mr. Stuart reports the hacks or hackney-coaches of New York to be light, some of them not above 1,100 pounds weight, the roof being sup. ported upon a metal frame. Curtains are let down in a moment in case of rain, or for protection from the sun. The horses are generally active and good. Mrs. Butler like. wise testifies to this superiority of the New York to the London hackney-coaches: the filthy vehicles and jaded horses, such as you see on our coach-stands, would disgrace America; and London cabriolets are in every respect inferior to those of Paris, whence we borrowed the idea. Again, the horses are better treated in New York than in our metropolis, where men cannot even be kept humane by act of parliament.

ANTIQUE TOWER IN CHESHIRE.* In the village of Brimstage, about three miles from Upper Tranmere, on the field road to Porgate, there is an ancient tower, adjoining and apparently forming a part of a farm-house; it is ascended by a round, stone staircase of fifty-two steps.

The occupier of the farm-house states, that the agent of the Earl of Shrewsbury, (who owns it,) has discovered that it was standing five hundred years ago, aud is supposed to have been erected as a watch-tower, to overlook the Welsh mountains. As this ancient building may be passed without observation, may be as well mentioned, that it stands directly opposite the public house, known by the sign of "the Red Cat."-We have been induced to insert the above, in the hope that it may meet the eye of an antiquary, who may be able to favour us with some particulars relative to this time-honoured edifice. • From the Liverpool Albion.

Tranmere is one of the ferries, opposite Liverpool, on the Cheshire side of the river Mersey.

The Public Journals.

PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY TO LITTLE PEDLINGTON.

FELIX HOPPY, Esq. Master of the Ceremonies at Little Pedlington, has confered upon the world in general, and upon me in particular, a never-sufficiently-to-be-appreciated favour, by the publication of the Little Pedlington Guide. At the approach of the summer-season, that season when London, (and since the pacification of Europe, all England,) is declared to be unendurable by all those who fancy they shall be happier any where than where they happen to be, and who possess the means and the opportunity of indulging in the experiment of change of place; at the approach of that season, this present, I found myself, like Othello," perplexed in the extreme." The self-proposed question. "And where shall I go this year?" I could not answer in any way to my satisfaction.

As for the hundredth time I exclaimed, "And where shall I go this year?" a packet was sent me by my bookseller, who has a general order to supply me with all voyages, travels, journeys, tours, road-books, guides, and atlases, as soon as published. The parcel contained new editions of " Denham's Travels in Africa," of "Humboldt's in South America," and of "Parry's Voyages;" together with, just published, and wet from the press, "The Stranger's Guide through Little Pedlington, by Felix Hoppy, Esq., M. C." Throwing aside the rest as unimportant to my present purpose, I, on the instant, perused this last. No longer was I doubtful concerning my "whereabout." Little Pedlington, thought I, must be a Paradise! So I resolved

to book a place for that same evening in the Little Pedlington mail.

Not a little was my astonishment on learning that there was no mail to that celebrated place; but great indeed was it when I was informed that there was no public conveyance whatever direct thither! However, I found that the Winklemouth coach, (which ran nearer to it than any other,) would set me down at Poppleton-End; that there I should be pretty sure of meeting with some one who would carry my luggage to Squashmiregate, a short three miles; and that from thence to Little Pedlington, a distance of eight miles, there or thereabouts, a coach ran regularly three times a week during the seaToo happy to get there in any manner, I took a place in the Winklemouth coach, and, shortly afterwards, was rattling on towards the goal of my desires.

son.

Between four and five in the morning, the coach pulled up at the corner of a narrow cart-road, of no very inviting appearance, the soil being of clay, and the holes and wheeltracks filled with water by the late heavy rains. A slight, drizzling rain was falling then. The country for miles round was a dead flat, and not a house or shelter of any kind, save here and there a tree, was to be

seen.

"Poppleton-End, sir," said the guard, as he let down the step.

"What! is this Poppleton-End ?" said I. Yes, sir," replied he, (adding with a leer which clearly indicated that he was satisfied with the excellence of his joke,) "and has been, time out of mind."

"But I have a heavy valise with me," said I, as I alighted.

"Yes, sir," replied the guard, taking it down from the top of the coach, and placing it against the boundary-stone at the corner of the lane; "it is precious heavy indeed."

"Well-I was informed that I should find somebody here who would carry it to Squashmire-gate; but there is no person within sight, and I can't carry it myself."

66

Why, no, sir, I don't very well see how you can; at least," continued he, in the same facetious tone, "it wouldn't be altogether pleasant. Hows'ever, sir, you have a very good chance of Blind Bob coming up with his truck in about half an hour-or so."

"And pray, guard," inquired I, rather peevishly, "where am I to wait during that half-hour or so ?"

"Why, sir, if you should chance to miss Blind Bob, you might, perhaps, find it a leetle awkward with that large trunk of yours; so if you'll take my advice, sir, you'll wait where you are. Good morning, sir. I don't think it will be much of a rain, sir. All tight, Bill, get on." So saying, he mounted the coach, and left me seated beneath my umbrella on the boundary-stone at Poppleton

End, at half-past four of the morning, in a drizzling rain.

At five, at half-past five, at six o'clock, there I still sat, and not a human creature had come near me. The abominable rain, too! Rain! it was unworthy the name of rain. A good, honest, manly shower, which would have made one wet through and through in five seconds I could have borne without complaint; but to be made to suffer the intolerable sensation of dampness merely, by a snivelling, drivelling, mizzling, drizzling, sputter, and that too, by dint of the exercise of its petty spite for a full hour and a half! At length I perceived, at some distance down the lane, a man dragging along a truck, at what seemed to me a tolerably brisk pace, considering the state of the road. He drew it by means of a strap passing over his shoulders and across his chest: and he carried in his hand a stout staff, which he occasionally struck upon the ground, though, apparently, not for support. He was rather above the middle height, broad, square, and muscular, a cart-horse of a fellow. On arriving within two steps of my restingplace, he stopped, and with a voice of tenboatswain power, shouted

"Any one here for Squash'ire-gate ?" "Yes," said I, almost stunned by the report, "don't you see? I am here?"

"I wish I could," said he; "but as I have lived Blind Bob all my life, Blind Bob I shall die."

"Blind!" I exclaimed; "under the circumstances you have chosen a strange occupation."

"We can't choose what we like in this world, sir: if I warn't blind, I'd never ha' chose to get my living by being a guide, that I promise you."

On my informing him that I had a portmanteau with me, and indicating the spot where it stood, he moved towards it, and lifting it up, he tossed it, heavy as it was, over his shoulder into the truck, and instantly set forward towards Squashmire-gate. The "short three miles," turning out, as matter of course, to be "a long five," and the whole of the road for that agreeable distance being ankle-deep in mud, it was nearly nine o'clock when we came to the end of this portion of the journey.

Squashmire-gate cannot, with strict regard to truth, be termed a pretty place; but as it puts forth no claim to that character, and as it is, moreover, the last stage of the road to Little Pedlington, it would be ungrateful as well as unjust to criticize it severely. It consists merely of a small public-house, of the most modest pretensions, situate on one side of a crooked road, slushy and miry; a small farriery on the other; a barn, a pig-sty, and a horse-trough. And such is Squashmiregate, where I was doomed to exist, asbest I

could, till the arrival of the coach-a term of three mortal hours!

Well! breakfast would beguile half an hour; so I ordered breakfast, which I took to the accompaniment of "a concord of sweet sounds:" the squeaking of a child cutting its teeth, the croaking of a raven in a wicker cage, the creaking of the signboard on its rusty hinges, the occasional braying of a donkey, and the ceaseless yelping of a cur confined in a cupboard.

Breakfast ended, and only half-past nine! What was to be done next? Are there any books in the house? No, not one. A newspaper? No. Then bring me pen, ink, and paper. They were "quite out of paper, the cat had just broken the ink-bottle, and some how they had mislaid the pen: a circumstance the importance of which was siderably diminished by the two previous accidents.

con

I turned for amusement to the windowpanes. There was not a line, nor a word, nor a letter, nor a scratch to be seen. The vulgar scribble upon the glass, by which one is usually offended at country inns, would to me, in my then desolate condition, have been delight ineffable. To have been informed that J. P. and C. S. dined hear on the 15th off June; or that Ephraim Trist lovs Jane Higs; or that Susen Miles is a beatifull cretear; or even such tender exclamations as O? Mariar? or O Poly ¡¡-this, the smallest information, would not only have been thankfully received, but it would have become to me matter of profound interest. But, not a line, not a letter!

At length, after the lapse of considerable time, it came to be ten o'clock.

"And pray, my good woman," inquired I of the hostess, "is there no chance of the Little Pedlington coach coming through earlier than twelve to-day?”

"Not earlier, sir; indeed I shouldn't wonder if it's arter instead of afore, seeing the state of the roads ?”

"What!" shouted Blind Bob, who was in the kitchen, and overheard our short colloquy. "What! afore! and with them 'ere roads! The Lippleton Wonder' won't be here afore three to-day. Blesh you, it can't.”

"Three !" I exclaimed. "It is impossible to remain here till three o'clock; I shall die of impatience or ennui. Can I have a chaise, or a gig?"

"No, sir," replied the woman; we have nothing of that sort. To be sure, we have a one-horse kind of a cart"-here was a prospect of escape-" but our horse died Friday week, and my good man hasn't yet been able to suit himself with another."

"What!" again shouted my evil genius, for as such I now began to consider him; "eight mile? It's thirteen good mile any day of the year; and as you must go round by Lob's Farm, 'cause of the waters being out at Slush-lane, it's a pretty tightish seventeen just now."

I surrendered at discretion to the irresistible attack upon my patience, and striking the table with a force which caused the astonished tea-pot to leap an inch high"And must I," I exclaimed, "must I remain in this infernal place, for the whole of this miserable day ?"

The poor woman, evidently hurt at the opprobrious term which I had cast upon her village, (for such, I suppose, she considered Squashmire-gate to be,) slowly shook her head, and with a look of mild rebuke, and in a corresponding tone.-" Sir," she said, "all the world can't be Lippleton; if it was, it would be much too fine a place, and too good for us poor sinners to live in."

Although this was adding fuel to the fire of my impatience, I was at once overcome by the gentleness of the woman's manner; and unwilling that she should consider me as an incarnation of slander and detraction, I "explained," somewhat after the Parliamentary fashion; assuring her, that by the phrase, "infernal place," I meant nothing more than that it was the sweetest spot on earth, but that I was anxious to proceed on my journey. And now, having satisfied her that I meant no offence to Squashmire - gate, 66 Consider," ," said I, "consider that I have yet five hours to remain here: you cannot furnish me either with books, or paper, or with any earthly thing which would serve to lighten the time;" adding, in the most imploring tone I could assume, "tell me, tell me what can I do to amuse myself?"

The landlady looked at me as if she felt my appeal in its fullest force; then fondly casting her eyes on the sick, squalling child, which she carried on her arm; then again looking at me, she said "I'm sure I hardly know, sir, what you can do; but if you would like to nurse baby for two or three hours you are heartily welcome, indeed you are, sir."

Nothing, perhaps, could more strikingly illustrate the forlorn and helpless condition to which I was reduced, than that it should have instigated one human being to venture such a proposal to another. Inviting as was the offer, I declined it, taking due credit to myself for so exemplary a display of selfdenial.

The weather cleared, and the impartial sun shed a portion of its brightness even upon the ugliness of Squashmire-gate. The landlady seized the auspicious moment to vindicate the reputation of the place, and leading me to the door, exclaimed in a tone

of triumph, "Now, look, sir! It stands to reason, you know, that no place can look pretty in bad weather."

Yet could I not exult in my position. Perhaps the first impression may have produced an unfavourable prejudice on my mind; yet a barn, a horse-trough, a pig-sty, and a smithy, with here and there a stunted tree, were not materials out of which to extract beauty, or capable of exciting pleasurable emotions. No; in these my cooler moments of reflection, I still maintain that Squashmire-gate is not a pretty place.

I walked, or rather waded, outside the house. I peeped into the pig-sty, looked into the barn, examined the smithy, and counted the ducks in the pond. Next, to vary my amusement, I began with the barn, then proceeded to inspect the pig-sty, then on to the duck-pond, and so forth. But by the greatest possible exercise of my ingenuity, I could not force the time on beyond half-past eleven," and here I must needs remain till three !" thought I.

Upon occasions like the present, when one happens to be coach-bound, or otherwise detained in a country-place, the churchyard is an infallible resource, and an epitaph-hunt will generally repay the labour of the chase. I inquired whereabouts was the church. "Just over at Hogsnorton, sir." "And what's the distance to Hogsnorton, ma'am?"

"We call it five mile; but it may be five mile and a half."

"Hogsnorton five and a half!" shouted Bob; it's seven mile or so any day."

The "or so" was sufficient; so I decided against a pilgrimage to Hogsnorton.

*

*

*

*

*

"Order dinner," said a generally-too-late friend with whom I had agreed to dine at a tavern one day; "Order dinner at six for half-past, and I will positively be with you at seven." The Little Pedlington "Wonder" being expected up at three, it consequently arrived at half-past four. And "Oh! what damned minutes told I o'er" in that long interval!

The Little Pedlington "Wonder" was a heavy, lumbering coach, licensed to carry six inside and fourteen out; was drawn by two skinny horses, and driven by a coachman built after the exact fashion of the coach he drove, id est, lumbering and heavy.

"Full out, room for one in," was the coachman's reply to my question whether I could have a place. I expressed my disappointment at not having an outside place, as I should thus be deprived of obtaining the first possible view of Little Pedlington; nor was my disappointment diminished by Coachee's remark that that was, indeed, a sight!

And how long will it be before you start, coachman ?"

"About a quarter of an hour, sir," was the reply.

"What!" bellowed forth my everlasting friend, Bob; a quarter of an hour! You'll not get away from here afore six, Master Giles, and you know you won't."

Mr. Giles was part proprietor of the "Wonder," (the only coach on that road,) which he drove up one day and down another; so, there being no opposition, he carried matters with a high hand, deferring to the wishes or the convenience of one only person that ever travelled by the "Wonder," which

one was himself.

"Six!" said Giles, taking up the word of blind Bob; "why, to be sure, mustn't I have a bit of summut to eat? and mustn't I rest a bit? and mustn't my cattle rest a bit? How can I get off afore six? My tits are tolerable good ones; but if I didn't give 'em a rest here and there, how'd ever they'd get on to Lippleton, I should like to know ?" Considering the appearance of his "tits," the load they had to drag, and the roads along which they were doomed to drag it, that question was, certainly, a poser." When I was told of the Little Pedlington "Wonder," my expectations were of a rapi. dity of progress second in degree only to that of flying; but in the present case, the sole claim which the vehicle could conscientiously make to the title was, that it could be prevailed upon to move at all. It was, therefore, not without trepidation that I ventured to inquire at about what time we were likely to get into Little Pedlington. "Why," replied Giles, "we must take the long road this afternoon, on account of the waters; so we shan't get in much afore

nine."

"And very fair travelling too," said I, happy, at length, at knowing when this day of disagreeables was to terminate: " teen miles in three hours is not to be complained of under the circumstances."

seven

"What!" again shouted the inveterate Blind Bob; "nine! you'll not see Lippleton afore eleven to-night. Why, the "Wonder" never does more nor four mile an hour at the best o' times, and here's the long road to take, and as heavy as putty. Besides, won't you stop three times more to rest the horses? I say you'll not see Lippleton afore eleven; it stands to reason, and you know you won't." "Why, you stupid old fool!" said Giles, "you say yourself I must stop three times to rest the horses: then how can I get in afore eleven? Some folks talk as if they were out of their common senses."

"What!" for the last time cried our Job's comforter; a little? You'll have rain enough to drownd you long afore you're half way to Lippleton, and thunder along with it, mind if you don't. I can feel it in my head, and it stands to reason."

I was

I took my place inside the coach; and now, being fairly on my road to that haven of bliss, Little Pedlington, I soon forgot all the past annoyances of the day. Yet was not my position one of absolute comfort. jammed in between two corpulent ladies, of whom one was suffering under a violent tooth-ach, and the other from head-ach. Opposite to me was a stout man with a strong Stilton cheese on his knee; another saturated with the fumes of bad cigars with which he had been regaling himself; and the third had with him a packet of red herrings.

Then he

We proceeded at what might be the pace of a hearse in a hurry-something short of four miles an hour. At every hovel by the roadside, Mr. Giles pulled up to enjoy his "tithe of talk"" with its inhabitants. Remonstrance and entreaty on the part of us, the impatient travellers, were useless. He plainly told us, that, as there was no opposition on the road, he had always had his own way; and that he saw no reason why he should be baulked of it now. stopped at one small public-house to eat, and at the next to drink, and at another to rest. A long journey, fairly performed, is not an affair to complain of; but, oh! the torments of a short one prolonged by needless delay! At ten o'clock we had yet six miles of ours to accomplish. The night was dark; suddenly, as the sea-song has it, "The rain a deluge poured," and, (to continue the quotation,) "loud roared the dreadful thunder," when-within about two miles of Little Pedlington-crash! the pole broke. Whether or not the horses took fright, I have never had any means of ascertaining certain it is, they neither became unmanageable, nor did they run away; they were not in a state to do either; so like jaded, sensible horses as they were, they stood stock-still. After considerable delay, and many fruitless attempts to repair the accident, we were compelled to walk through a pelting shower the remainder of the way.-Abridged from the New Monthly Magazine.

THE SHIP.

WHERE art thou going, mighty ship?
Thy sails are on the wiud,
And the ocean, with a roaring sweep,
Is racing on behind.

The sea-birds wheel above thy mast,
And the waters fly below,

And the foaming billows, flashing fast,

Are leaping up thy prow,

And 'midst the clouds thy fluttering flag, Is streaming strong and well,