he necessaries of life being more
easily procured, the mind will develope itself accordingly, and each
individual would be more at liberty to make at his own cost excursions
in any direction which might be most inviting to him. There would then
be no need for their masters sending them in droves scores of miles from
their homes and families to the borders of Windermere, or anywhere else.
Consider also the state of the lake district; and look, in the first
place, at the little town of Bowness, in the event of such railway
inundations. What would become of it in this, not the Retreat, but the
Advance, of the Ten Thousand? Leeds, I am told, has sent as many at once
to Scarborough. We should have the whole of Lancashire, and no small
part of Yorkshire, pouring in upon us to meet the men of Durham, and the
borderers from Cumberland and Northumberland. Alas, alas, if the lakes
are to pay this penalty for their own attractions!

--Vane could tell what ills from beauty spring,
And Sedley cursed the form that pleased a king.

The fear of adding to the length of my last long letter prevented me
from entering into details upon private and personal feelings among the
residents, who have cause to lament the threatened intrusion. These are
not matters to be brought before a Board of Trade, though I trust there
will always be of that board members who know well that as we do 'not
live by bread alone,' so neither do we live by political economy alone.
Of the present Board I would gladly believe there is not one who, if his
duty allowed it, would not be influenced by considerations of what may
be felt by a gallant officer now serving on the coast of South America,
when he shall learn that the nuisance, though not intended actually to
enter his property, will send its omnibuses, as fast as they can drive,
within a few yards of his modest abode, which he built upon a small
domain purchased at a price greatly enhanced by the privacy and beauty
of the situation. Professor Wilson (him I take the liberty to name),
though a native of Scotland, and familiar with the grandeur of his own
country, could not resist the temptation of settling long ago among our
mountains. The place which his public duties have compelled him to quit
as a residence, and may compel him to part with, is probably dearer to
him than any spot upon earth. The reader should be informed with what
respect he has been treated. Engineer agents, to his astonishment, came