66 RAMBLES AND REVERIES. 



The works of the " Submarine Continental Rail- 

 way Co." lie under the shadow of the mighty 

 Shakespeare Cliff, which rises sheer up from the 

 beach to a height of 450 feet. At the first blush 

 the smoking chimneys and grimy sheds strike the 

 spectator as a black and offensive spot on the fair 

 whiteness of the chalk background, but one has to 

 remind himself that this is a utilitarian age, and 

 has little patience with that sentiment which would 

 fain roll away the murky smoke from our leaden 

 skies, and hurl back the iron wheels that disturb 

 the solitude of every peaceful glen. 



Admission into the works was obtained by a 

 written order bearing the signature of Sir E. W. 

 Watkin. Our Open Sesame had of course been 

 previously provided, and we were able to see all 

 that our eyes might have been trained to see. 

 Machines of various kinds, Swan's electric lighting 

 engines, powerful lifting machinery, and engines 

 for pumping aif into the tunnel and water out of it, 

 all possessed a charm because of their association 

 with this great undertaking ; but of such things I 

 forbear to write, remembering the old proverb about 

 the cobbler and the last, which perhaps I ought 

 to quote rather in the dignified words of Apelles 

 when he rebuked an impertinent shoemaker who 

 dared to criticise a slipper in one of his pictures, 

 Ne sutor ultra crepidam. 



The shaft, of course, is the chief object of interest 

 to the sight-seer. This descends to a depth of 160 

 feet, and constitutes the only outlet for the debris 



