r part of my stay there was much engrossed by walking,
riding, playing battledore and shuttlecock, singing, and being
exceedingly busy all day long about nothing. I have just left it
for this place, where we stop to-night on our way to Stafford;
Heaton was looking lovely in all the beauty of its autumnal
foliage, lighted by bright autumnal skies, and I am rather glad I
did not answer you before, as it is a consolatory occupation to do
so now.

I am going with my mother to stay a day at Stafford with my
godmother, an old and attached friend of hers, after which we
proceed into Buckinghamshire to join my aunt Dall and Henry and my
sister, who are staying there; and we shall all return to London
together for the opening of the theater, which I think will take
place on the first of next month. I could have wished to be going
immediately to my work; I should have preferred screwing my courage
to my professional tasks at once, instead of loitering by way of
pleasure on the road. Besides that, in my visit to Buckinghamshire
I come in contact with persons whose society is not very agreeable
to me. My mother, however, made a great sacrifice in giving up her
fishing, which she was enjoying very much, to come and chaperon me
at Heaton, where there is no fishing so good as at Aston Clinton,
so that I am bound to submit cheerfully to her wishes in the
present instance.

You probably have by this time heard and read accounts of the
opening of the railroad, and the fearful accident which occurred at
it, for the papers are full of nothing else. The accident you
mention _did_ occur, but though the unfortunate man who was killed
bore Mr. Stephenson's name, he was not related to him. I will tell
you something of the events on the 15th, as, though you may be
acquainted with the circumstances of poor Mr. Huskisson's death,
none but an eyewitness of the whole scene can form a conception of
it. I told you that we had had places given to us, and it was the
main purpose of our returning from Birmingham to Manchester to be
present at what promised to be one of the most striking events in
the scientific annals of our country. We started on Wednesday last,
to the number of about eight hundred people, in carriages
constructed as I before described to you. The most intens