PROSPECT 221 



funds Avere both conspicuous, the Une reached Bishop's 

 Stortford, when, at the instigation of the London pro- 

 prietors, who had become deeply interested in raih^oads, 

 the old Lynn coach company was dissolved, and a new 

 proprietor was admitted at Cambridge. In the fresh 

 arrangement that was made I had to turn my back upon 

 London, and drive from Cambridge to Lynn, or do 

 nothing — a sad alternative, but there was no help 

 for it. 



This was the first blow given to my domestic establish- 

 ment ; and the comfort I derived from having my 

 Sundays at home. It did not seem to decrease the 

 dislike I had long taken to the profession, to which 

 perhaps the undeserved praises bestowed on my other 

 avocation had first given rise. There was no novelty to 

 charm me, everything seemed as dull and dreary as the 

 road I travelled on through the Fens, and the prospect — 

 so evident to my visual organ — painfully and constantly 

 presented to my mental vision a similar and as gloomy a 

 picture. 



Nevertheless, I was now and then cheered with the 

 company of my excellent friend from Marham, and was 

 sometimes amused by the various and naive observations 

 of some of my fellow-travellers, not excluding the female 

 part, as to my future, in which many of them, I believe, 

 felt a sincere interest ; although one from the neighbour- 

 hood of Downham, a Baronet, I remember, whose in- 

 tellect was as lofty as his heart was noble, and who 

 was altogether, and always had been, an exception to 

 his neighbours in his urbanity, told me one day on the 

 box, by way of consolation, " that I could ring the bell for 



