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1826.]] Letier.on Affairs,in general. \ 6395 
too, has been doing|pretty fairly; and there is not,trade enough in) tewn,’ 
for two—both the patent establishments seldom du well togethers; ... 
The disfranchisement of the borough of Grampound has left: Mr.,Ro-,; 
bertson. without) a,.seat.in Parliament—to. the. serious regret,.of ,the 
reporters of the morning newspapers, who always, shut up their, books,|; 
-and -took.a holiday, as soon as he got upon his legs. |The peculiar 
feature of this, gentleman’s, speaking was, that he always—upon every. 
subject—went back to the time of the ancient Greeks—and sometimes. 
even still further.. I went into the gallery one night, I recollect, when 
he was opposing Mr. Sergeant Onslow’s bill for repealing the usury laws.:): 
he had then, been. speaking an hour and forty minutes, and the first 
words I. heard were, ‘* But we now come to the day of Romulus and. 
Remus.” $9 
_°The malicious-curiosity of the world is quite abominable! . There. is, 
the most ill-natured story going about that can be conceived, about a. 
well known literary character; and all the result of that detestable , 
prying disposition, which makes idle people so fond of ‘ finding out:” 
every thing that does not concern them, It seems the party in question | 
—whose name I will not mention—has lately taken a house a little way out 
of town, with a “carriage sweep,” great gates, &c. in front of the 
dwelling; something perhaps upon the pompous order—like a shrimp 
going to live in the shell of a lobster—rather too imperial for his ap- 
parent estate and means —but extremely respectable. However, this, one . 
would have thought, was nothing to any body. And the new proprietor’: 
kept the mansion up very carefully ; and every thing appeared about the 
place as it had been used to do, and as if the accustomed.competent estab- 
lishment were:still maintained in it. But, at last, some meddling overlook- 
ing coxcomb took it into his head to perceive, that the marks of wheels upon 
Mr.- -’s gravel drive were distinctly visible every morning, though, he 
kept no carriage himself, nor any ever—that was seen—came to visit 
him. And, being determined to fathom that, and all other mysteries, 
the villain—who perhaps had some suspicion—got up one morning at 
five o’clock—and, actually, saw the proprietor in person, running a wheel- 
barrow twice round the coach circle, to produce the desired effect ! 
This is the age of invention and of speculation! And so much 
miracle is from day to day actually accomplished, that we become shy 
of ridiculing even the most monstrous propositions. But there are such 
things as “ impossibilities,” nevertheless—though we have been mistaken 
once or twice when we thought we had got hold of them; and I think 
M. Vallance, the gentleman at Brighton who is making stage coaches to 
run a hundred miles an hour, has put his finger upon one at last. , 
M. Vallance’s scheme, which was treated as a hoax when it. first 
appeared in the newspapers, but which is perfectly serious, and capable 
-onva'small scale of being exemplified, amounts to this.—It is well known 
that a current of air, having a determination given to it, no matter how, 
will impel any object forward—the weight of that object. being duly 
adjusted to the proportion of the impulse. Seamen become acquainted 
with this fact in the ordinary course of their profession; and any lands- 
man (who doubts) may obtain a certificate of it, by leaving his “ swing 
glass” standing, on a rough day, at his open bed-chamber window ; or 
attempting to pass'round the north side of St. Paul’s Church-yard at any 
time between the 25th of February and the 24th of March, carrying an 
open umbrella.) | 
