A Journey to London in 1840'. 14S 



travelled in 4J hours, in other words we arrived at the great 

 metropolis at fifteen minutes past one, being at the rate of about 

 24 miles per hour. So anxious was I to enjoy the best view pos- 

 sible of the country through which we were to pass that I obtained 

 permission to sit on the top of one of the carriages beside the 

 guard, a degree of liberty for which I felt exceedingly grateful. 

 There were six stations between Birmingham and London, and, of 

 course, we stopped at each of them. Our first station was 

 Coventry, a place celebrated for its silk manufactures, particu- 

 larly ribbons. Our next was Rugby, famous for its school, 

 founded by Lawrence Sheriffe, grocer, London, about the middle 

 of the sixteenth century. It is regarded as one of the great public 

 schools in England. The education is gratuitous to the youth of 

 the parish and neighbourhood, but the number of strangers who 

 board with the headmaster or in .some other boarding establish- 

 ment is generally between 300 and 400. The other stations — 

 Blisworth, Wolverton, Tring, and Watford — are of no importance 

 except, perhaps, Wolverton, where the proprietors of the railroad 

 are engaged in erecting a manufactory for making their own 

 machines, coaches, etc., which promises to be an extensive con- 

 cern. There are "stands " where a variety of refreshments can 

 be got. When between Coventry and Rugby we crossed the 

 :\\-on, the stream on whose banks at Stratford-on-Avon Shake- 

 speare was born. When within eleven miles of London we passed 

 near Harrow-on-the-Hill, so called from its being situated on a 

 hill, indeed the highest hill in the county — Middlesex — to which it 

 belongs, and, like Rugby, famous for its public school. Among 

 other eminent persons who have been educated at Harrow was 

 Lord Byron, who in the notes to CJiilde Harold pays one of 

 the handsomest and neatest compliments to his preceptor, the 

 headmaster, Dr Drurv. 



The country between Birmingham and London is richer, 

 more picturesque, and more varied than that between Liverpool 

 and the former place. The general levelness and uniformity that 

 obtained along the whole line of the railroad from Liverpool to the 

 capital is to a Scotsman most remarkable. The physical appear- 

 ance of the two countries is as different and opposite as any two 

 things of the same genus can well be. In England, with one or 

 two exceptions, which did not come within the range of my vision, 

 there are neither hills nor mountains, at least as these terms are 



