IX] SILSOE AND LEIGHTON BUZZARD 131 



glim the engines dowse.' " He used to show me any letters 

 he thought might interest me, and this "free translation" 

 took my schoolboy fancy so that it has stuck in my memory. 

 One day, having to drive over to Dunstable on some 

 business, my brother took me with him. When there, we 

 walked out to a deep cutting through the chalk about a mile 

 to the north-west, where the road was being improved by 

 further excavation to make the ascent easier. This was 

 the great mail-coach road to Birmingham and Holyhead, and 

 although the railway from London to Birmingham was then 

 making and partly finished, nobody seemed to imagine that 

 in twelve years more a railway would be opened the whole 

 distance, and, so far as the mails and all through traffic were 

 concerned, all such costly improvement of the high-roads would 

 be quite unnecessary. 



My brother had some conversation with the engineer who 

 was inspecting the work, and took a lump of chalk home with 

 him to ascertain its specific gravity, as to which there was 

 some difference of opinion. While taking luncheon at the 

 hotel we met a gentleman of about my brother's age, who 

 turned out to be a surveyor, and who was also interested in 

 engineering and science generally ; and after luncheon they 

 borrowed a small pair of scales and a large jug of water, and 

 by suspending the chalk by a thread below the scale-pan, 

 they weighed it in water, having first weighed it dry in 

 the ordinary way, and the weight in air, divided by the 

 difference between the weights in air and water, gives 

 the specific gravity sufficiently near for ordinary purposes. 

 This little experiment interested me greatly, and made me 

 wish to know something about mechanics and physics. Mr. 

 Matthews lived at Leighton Buzzard, where he carried on 

 the business of watch-and-clock maker as well as that of 

 engineer and surveyor. He had undertaken the survey of 

 the parish of Soulbury, but having too much other work to 

 attend to, he was looking out for some one to take it off his 

 hands. This matter was soon agreed upon, and a few weeks 

 afterwards we left Silsoe to begin the work. 



The village of Soulbury is a very small one, though the 



