304 ON THE TRACK OF THE MAIL-COACH 



Russell, Lord Carnarvon, desiring to secure tele- 

 graphic accommodation for the villages included in 

 his Berkshire estate, came to see me at the Post- 

 Office, and we pored over the Ordnance map together, 

 he describing clearly and readily his wants, and I 

 explaining what the department had in view. His 

 lordship was very pleasant to deal with, and showed no 

 disposition to stand out for more telegraphs than the 

 department could reasonably be expected to establish. 



Very different from either was the late Earl of 

 Lucan, whose tall military figure marched into my 

 room in the General Post-Office (West) one fine day 

 in the early eighties, just thirty years after the 

 Balaclava charge, which he directed in the Crimea, 

 to discuss arrangements (postal, however, rather than 

 telegraphic) affecting his Irish estates. 



I am afraid I lent but mechanical attention to the 

 subject of conversation, my thoughts being absorbed 

 in contemplation of the man who, in actual obedience 

 to Lord Eaglan's orders, or by tragical misapprehen- 

 sion, contributed so sanguinary, if glorious, a page to 

 the history of the Crimean War. ' C'est magnifique, 

 mais ce n'est pas la guerre !' 



A well-known apparatus in connection with electrical 

 processes is termed a switch. It fulfils much the 

 same purpose as a railway -switch, diverting the 

 accustomed path. A colleague of mine was testing 

 submarine wires at the cable hut at Greenore Point, 

 in the South of Ireland. A lady and her grandchild 



