ISO ECHOES OF OLD COUNTY LIFE. 



less hospitality, but had made comparatively large 

 fortunes from his various railway schemes. 



I remember I assisted to complete the plans for the 

 Midland Grand Junction, which ran from Northampton 

 to Reading. I shall never forget the night of the 30th 

 November, 1847, which was the last night for depositing 

 the plans. The White Hart at Aylesbury was filled 

 with engineers, lawyers, parliamentary agents, and their 

 satellites, and as each batch of plans was completed and 

 rolled up, the post-chaises rattled out of the yard, from 

 mid-day to nine p.m., and the plans were despatched by 

 them to Oxford, Reading, Hertford, Bedford, and North- 

 ampton. It was nearly eight o'clock before the plans 

 for Northampton were ready ; an engine with steam 

 up was waiting at the Aylesbury station to take this 

 precious freight to Northampton, nearly fifty miles 

 distant by rail. At length, a couple of clerks carried 

 the documents down to the station and took their seats 

 in a single coach attached to a guard's break and the 

 engine, and off they started. When between Leighton 

 Buzzard and Bletchley, the fuel became exhausted, and 

 the guard and the emissaries jumped down and tore up 

 some of the rails which fenced the line, broke them up, 

 and so kept the fire of the engine going until they 

 arrived at Bletchley, where they replenished, and again 

 started on their journey. This delay caused them more 

 than half an hour's loss of time, and it was a quarter to 

 twelve when they neared Northampton station. On 

 arriving they sprang out of the carriage, and ran off up 

 the steep hill to the office of the Clerk of the Peace in 

 the Market Square, and rapped hurriedly at the door, 



