A HOLIDAY NIGHT. 151 



be prosecuted for trespass, and made our escape. I may say, 

 in passing, that the speed upon the English roads is, on an 

 average, not better than on ours. It is commonly only from, 

 fifteen to twenty miles an hour. The express trains, however, 

 upon the main lines, run usually as fast as fifty miles an hour, 

 sometimes sixty. For the accommodation, comfort, and ad 

 vantage of all but those who choose and can afford to pay 

 extravagantly, their whole railroad system is very inferior to 

 ours. 



It was Waterloo Day, and there had been a review of the 

 forces at Portsmouth, before the Duke of Wellington and 

 Prince Albert ; the Queen had been off the harbour in her 

 yacht, and received a salute ; there had been a balloon ascen 

 sion ; there had been a carousal with long and eloquently-re 

 ported speeches, and in one way and the other a great deal of 

 powder and gas spent. There was to be an illumination yet 

 and the town was full some of the streets packed with sol 

 diers and sailors and women. We spent several hours trying 

 to get lodgings ; every hotel, inn, tavern, and lodging-house, 

 high and low, was full. The best thing that kindness or cov- 

 etousness could be induced to offer, was room to lay upon 

 a carpet on the floor, and this nowhere that we thought it 

 likely we should be allowed to sleep. We got supper some 

 where, and the landlady informed us frankly that she charged 

 us twice as much for it as she usually would, because it was 

 &quot;holiday.&quot; 



It was late at night when, by advice of policemen and fa 

 vour of sentinels, we had passed out through a series of ram 

 parts, and were going up a broad street of the adjoining town 

 of Portsea. &quot;Good-night, my dear,&quot; we heard a kindly- 

 toned voice ; and a woman closed a door, and, after walking 

 on a moment, ascended the steps to another. &quot; Could you be 

 good enough, madam,&quot; one of us took the liberty of inqui- 



