310 Tally ho, 



bustle of a journey by rail, comes suddenly upon one 

 of these hideous machines. Why, it is a hundred to 

 one that he comes ^^ muchly '' to grief, and I respect- 

 fully inquire what the great unpaid have to say in de- 

 fence of such a dangerous proceeding ? If a " tramp ^* 

 should conduct himself riotously and unbecomingly 

 in a public road they would " run him in/' whilst they 

 permit this traction atrocity to be executed daily, to 

 the terror of many and danger of all. 



Having duly stabled my steed, I proceeded to sound 



the Bell as to its capacity to provide breakfast. After a 



short interval I succeeded in obtaining a modest repast, 



and whilst they boiled the kettle and cajoled the hens 



into laying some eggs, I retired to a parlour from the 



walls of which Cicero and Demosthenes looked sternly 



down upon me as I made my somewhat close approaches 



to the '^ Right Honourable Anne, Lady Sheffield,^' who 



was leaning idly against the wall ; whilst the " Three 



Mr. Wiggins/' evidently persons of distinction in 



the pre-Georgian era, at least I judged so by their 



costume ; and " Wilkes, the Aged Pedestrian," who, 



according to the legend attached to him performed 



the extraordinary feat of walking (many years ago) the 



enormous distance of twelve miles in two hours and 



seven minutes, seemed to be whispering sarcastically to 



the representative of" Thorley's Food for Cattle ; '' and, 



not liking my company, I chummed, so to speak, with 



a '' chummy," one of the representative chimney sweeps 



of the country — not one of your tin-pot suburban 



" Ramoneurs " of the present day, but a regular 



' sweep," travelling his round with his assistant in a 



dilapidated cart drawn by a couple of " mokes," and 



having introduced myself through the medium of a 



