of the successful travelers was of the lowest order of mechanics
and artisans, among whom great distress and a dangerous spirit of
discontent with the Government at that time prevailed. Groans and hisses
greeted the carriage, full of influential personages, in which the Duke
of Wellington sat. High above the grim and grimy crowd of scowling faces
a loom had been erected, at which sat a tattered, starved-looking
weaver, evidently set there as a _representative man_, to protest
against this triumph of machinery, and the gain and glory which the
wealthy Liverpool and Manchester men were likely to derive from it. The
contrast between our departure from Liverpool and our arrival at
Manchester was one of the most striking things I ever witnessed. The
news of Mr. Huskisson's fatal accident spread immediately, and his
death, which did not occur till the evening, was anticipated by rumor. A
terrible cloud covered this great national achievement, and its success,
which in every respect was complete, was atoned for to the Nemesis of
good fortune by the sacrifice of the first financial statesman of the
country.

CHAPTER XVII.

GREAT RUSSELL STREET, Friday, October 1, 1830.
DEAREST H----,

I have risen very early, for what with excitement, and the
wakefulness always attendant with me upon a new bed, I have slept
but little, and I snatch this first hour of the day, the only one I
may be able to command, to tell you that I have heard from my
brother, and that he is safe and well, for which, thank God!
Further I know nothing. He talks vaguely of being with us toward
the end of the winter, but in the meantime, unless he finds some
means of conveying some tidings of his welfare to me, I must remain
in utter ignorance of his circumstances and situation. Your letter,
which was to welcome me to my new home, arrived there two days
before I did, and was forwarded to me into Buckinghamshire. A few
days there--taking what interest I could in the sporting and
fishing, the country quiet of the place, and above all the
privilege of taking the sacrament, which, had I remained at Heaton,
I should have had no opportunity of doing--gave me a breathing-time
and a sense of mental repose before entering again upon that busy
life whose demands are already besieging me in the inexorable form
of half a dozen new stage dresses to