s
carved old oaken chimneys and paneled chambers and latticed
windows, and intricate ups and downs of internal architecture, to
present use apparently as purposeless and inconvenient as if one
was living in a cat's-cradle. I have seen a rush-bearing with its
classical morris dance, executed in honor of some antique
observance by the country folk of Lancashire, with whom this
commemoration, but no knowledge of its original significance,
remains. I have seen Birmingham, its button-making, pin-making,
plating, stamping, etc.; I have seen Aston Hall, an old house two
miles from the town, and two hundred from everything in it, where
Charles the First slept after the battle of Edge Hill, and whose
fine old staircase still retains the marks of Cromwell's
cannon,--which house, moreover, possesses an oaken gallery one
hundred and odd feet long, hung with old portraits, one of the most
delightful apartments imaginable. How I did sin in envy, and long
for that nice room to walk up and down and dream and poetize in;
but as I know of no earthly way of compassing this desirable
acquisition but offering myself in exchange for it to its present
possessor (who might not think well of the bargain), _il n'y faut
plus penser_. Moreover, as the grapes are sour, I conclude that
upon the whole it might not be an advantageous one for me. I am at
this moment writing in a drawing-room full of people, at Heaton
(Lord W----'s place), taking up my pen to talk to you and laying it
down to talk to others. I must now, however, close my double and
divided conversation, because I have not brains enough to play at
two games at once. I am ever yours, very sincerely,

F. A. K.

While we were acting at Liverpool an experimental trip was proposed upon
the line of railway which was being constructed between Liverpool and
Manchester, the first mesh of that amazing iron net which now covers the
whole surface of England and all the civilized portions of the earth.
The Liverpool merchants, whose far-sighted self-interest prompted them
to wise liberality, had accepted the risk of George Stephenson's
magnificent experiment, which the committee of inquiry of the House of
Commons had rejected for the government. These men, of less intellectual
culture than the Parliament member