LOST CHILD. 201 



first had to undo the luggage-straps and 

 get the loading off the roof. This, toge- 

 ther with getting the coach on her legs, 

 we soon accomplished ; but, luckily, no 

 child for, had it been there, it must 

 have been literally crushed. Presently, 

 I thought I heard the feeble cry of 

 an infant, and looking behind me I saw 

 it, or the white garments in which it 

 was enveloped, lying under the fence or 

 hedge. The rush of the hitherto dis- 

 tracted mother, and the rapture with 

 which she clasped her child to her bosom, 

 formed a scene the pen of Sterne only could 

 describe ; and such as it was, it has never 

 been erased from my memory. Seeing 

 there was no further harm done, and 

 that they had but to reload the coach, I 

 wished them good-night, and proceeded 

 on my way to London. 



The other accident, that of the " Liver- 

 pool Umpire," was under very different 



