LETTER No. VII. [1886. 



OSTERLEY PARK LAKE ON A BANK HOLIDAY. 



" Much for my sport I cannot say, 



Though, mind, I like the fun ; 

 Here have I sat the livelong day 



Without extracting one." 



.Frank Bucklancfs Life. 



NCE upon a time I found myself a 

 solitary unit amongst a couple of 

 thousand joyful holiday makers be- 

 sieging the gates of the South-Western Rail- 

 way at eleven a.m. on Bank Holiday. I had 

 taken a first-class ticket, and eventually be- 

 came the sole occupant of a first-class smoking 

 compartment ; but I was not long sole pos- 

 sessor, for the crowd surged in. Jack opened 

 the door, followed by Tom, Bill, and 'Any, 

 their sisters, their cousins, their mothers and 

 their aunts, with a few babies. On seeing the 

 ladies, I ventured to remark that it was a 

 smoking compartment. Yes, they all knew 

 that ; there was nothing they liked better ; 



