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    unfrequent occurrence . They met him backed by tenders of willing hospitality , as well in the village hostels as in the pent-up cities of the teeming north , where labour bends over a thousand anvils , and millions of yards of the costliest productions of the loom are continually created by machinery as marvellous and costly . No wonder the Univers insists that perfide Albion is destined to perish through this pietliora of commercial greatness . He visits the crack warehouse of Bradford , -where

    business is carried on with elegant and somewhat luxurious appliances , with a request he might be allowed to look over its arrangements . "I handed my card to a gentleman , but was told that strangers were not admitted . I was about to leave , when he said , musingly , that my name seemed familiar to him , and after a moment added , Yes , yes—it was on the title-page of A Londoner's Walk to the Lantfs End . How that book made me long for a trip to Cornwall ! And you axe the Londoner ! Well , of course you shall see the " house . " "

    The book opens with the steam-boat passage to Hull . His fellow-passengers were Yorksliiremen , returning home from London . There was the tall , broad-shonldered rustic , whose stalwart limbs , light grey ^ or blue eyes , yellowish hair , and open features indicate the Saxon ; then the Scandinavian , less tall and big ; , with eyes , hair , and complexion dark , and an lntenseness in the expression not perceptible in the Saxon face ; and , lastly , the Gelt—short , swarthy , and Irish-looking . The two first classes seem most numerous in the East and North Ridings ; the last in the West . The Vivid

    ¦ was bound for Hull , and one might fancy a richer twang in the speech of these stalwart aborigines , as they approach the Pharos surmounting the harbour entrance , than , had been perceptible in the southern latitude of London . A few , who rubbed their hands and tried to look hearty , vowed their future travels should not be on tlie sea . T , hey reach the city " memorable for mud and train-oil , " as Etty said of the town where he had served an apprenticeship of seven weary years . Hull river- — one part water , three parts mud—is not , as is our royal s towered Thame , abandoned to its own

    devises through the helpless ignorance and apathy of the Hull " Board of Works : " fifty thousand tons of deposit are annually dredged from the dock and basin . The steam apparatus effecting this lifts fifty tons of mud per hour , pours it into lighters , which , when laden , drop'down with the tide , and discharge their slimy "burden in certain parts of the stream where it cannot accumulate . Will London incur the charges of a fleet of similar dredges , until we may again look down upon the cleanly silt and gravel which formed the river ' s natural bed ?

    The trade of Hull is enormous . A hundred steamers cross the sea , or navigate the sluggish Ouse . 2500 tons of German yeast , worth upwards of 130 , 000 / . are imported , and the Hamburg and Russian trade is of vast extent . ^ Mr . White , after a full morning ' s exploration , decided that the most cheerful quarter of Hull is its cemetery ! He sat there on a grassy bauk , enjoying the breeze from seaward , when a countryman apentered into

    proached , conversation , and in a short time became autobiographical . He was an invalid village carpenter , " come forty miles out of Lincolnshire , " had been waiting three days for his brother's ship in which ho meant to take a voyage to Cliina , and feeling dull , walked every day in the cemetry . Reading is named as a resource ; but lie couldn't make much o' readin '—" ud rayther work the jackplane all day than read . " At all events , a few books for the China irin must ; ho rl / rt » i inVila nnr \ miA books for the China trimust be desirableand one

    p , hour ' s study every day during so long a voyage , would enable him to read with satisfaction ere he returned . " Oh ! but we shall be only three days a-goin *; " and he was firmly persuaded that would be the utmost duration of the voyage . Quitting without regret the smoke-enveloped town , the traveller starts for Patrington , a town of Holdemess—the south-eastern corner of the great county of York . Here , the vast inroads of the devouring sea , and contrarywise its recession , are

    lorcibly illustrated . At breakfast , the landlord points to a garden near the churchyard , where the building stone of the beautiful parish church was landed from boats . Should a certain popular authoress ever publish her autobiography , she will perhaps tell ua how her father , Mr . Strickncy , used when a boy to skate three or four miles to sohool over unreclaimed flats now rich in grass and grain ; we know that she could also tell us something abou tUo tall olms of a certain rookery ,

    quia , very interesting to the heirs of Sir Clifford Constable . To Beverley—a staid , respectable town , as if aware of its claims to consideration . Breakfasted at the farmers' inn table , where " the Londoner" marvels that tall , burly , stalwart farmers ,-who talk a dialect half Danish half Saxon , feed but daintily on the beef , ham , mutton , brawn , and other delicious comestibles that literally burdened the table . It grieves him to see no one—himself exceptedplay- the part _ of a good trencherman , bat trifling as victims of dinners fashionably late . They talked much , of horses , and when the conyersatiosi took a turn , expressed themselves disdainfully of pedestrianism as a means of locomotion . " I ha ' n't

    walked four mile I don't know -when , " said one ; and his fellows avowed themselves equally lazylimbed . White ' s avowed intent of making his legs his compasses along : the coast as far as the mouth of Tees was voted a weak-minded project . In following out this plan he once undesignedly trespasses into some private grounds , where he encounters the lady and gentleman ^ and apologizes . They were both merrily engaged in hoisting a flag as an hospitable dinner signal and invitation to a neighbouring family , and did not call in the police , as a suburban Cockney would most probably have done . They said there needed no apology , and only wondering timi suuuiu travel wiia

    , j * uj uuc Euongcunsonsu . cn a morning . " Did you do it for pleasure ? " asked the lady , with a merry twinkle in her eye , as she saw how bedraggled he looked below the ' knees , tablishment . To leave the noblest of English counties , within the borders of -which any six of the other thirty-nine could be placed , without alluding to this remarkable illustration of the achievements of mechanical ingenuity , would be a reproach . Great packets of bales piled up nv stacks , every bale branded Ativers , and casks full of oil from Semla * was a proof that here was the head-quarters of shoddy . It is , in fact , a re-mannfacture of filthy , greasy , old woollen tatters into broadcloth . Rags

    are shipped at Antwerp from all parts of northern Europe . Thinkof that . Hither were assembled tatters from pediculous Poland , from the gipsies of Hungary , from the beggars and scarecrows of Gei * - many , from the frowsy peasants of Muscovy ; to say nothing of snips and shreds from monks' gowns and lawyers' robes , from postilions' jackets and soldiers' coats , from maidens'boddices and the cloaks of nobles—a vast medley , all to be manufactured into pilot cloth , silky mohairs , the fabric cf Talmas , Raglans , paletots , and of other garments , in which fine gentlemen ride to the Derby , saunter through

    the Exhibition , or visit the evening services at the Abbey . Grey cloth , fit for the jackets and mantles off winsome maidens , blue for their riding-habits , in fact , all those cloths in which ladies feel so comfortable and look so graceful , are shoddy , i . e . a manufacture of which the material is partly composed of old cashiered woollen stockings . Compared with the condition of a Wilts or Dorset labourer , that of a Yorkshire peasant is indeed enviable . The former starves on coarse dry bread , his only drink water , his family the same , varied , perhaps , now and then , with unsweetened , doublediluted tea of the worst quality ( a cottager never

    enjoys the luxury of even skimmed milk ) . Mr . mute dines at a roadside public-house with a number of sunburnt rustics , fresh from the liayfield . "They eat smoking mutton-pie without shirts , and had a supply of excellent beer . " Ho converses freely with them . Not one , mirabile dictu ! complained of hard times . Wages were one-and-sixpence a day with meat—and good meat , too—beef , mutton , and pies—as much as they could eat . They did not want to emigrate , they—Yorkshire was good enough for them . Paid three pounds a year for cottages , but got it back from the gardens in fruit and flowers . One young labourer , tenant of a lone cottage , standing in a Tittle wood , offers shelter from the storm . He praised liis wife . It was a pleasure to come homo when there was such a lass

    to make a man comfortable . Nobody could beat Ler at making a ahirt , or bread , or cooking ; and he opened the oven to show how much room there was for loaves . They part with mutual regret . " Stay a bit longer , " says the peasant , " I like to liear ye talk . " Northern countrymen are , however , not always so canny . Passing a tilory ncar Wchy ick , a . beery fellow threw up the window , nsking , in a gruff , insolent tone , " A say , guvnor , did yo meet Pathcr MatuowP" " Yes . "' " Wfiat did he say to yer " " Ho told mo I should see n fool nt the 1 ileworks . " Down went the window with a hearty slam , and before the pedestrian was fifty yards oiF , the same

    voice rushed into the road , and challenged him baet to fight , but of course no heed was taken thereof "The Londoner" often alludes to the SrL hospitality he experienced at the little roadside inm during the course of this his sometimes weary pilgrimage . His statement will be a great en coui-agement to those who contemplate alike tour ] V ? ° , ff t 1 |? an one old ; hostess , when he arrived at nightfall , hungry and footsore , would have him sit at the end of the high-backed settle nearest the fire or in the " neukm" under the vast chimnev when she would bustle about with motherly kindness to get tea ready ; and before the first pile of cakes was consumed , another still warmer entered and was with

    pressed an assurance that young men could never eat enough . The one traveller being often the only guest , she whlled away the . time in motherlv conversation , charging only ei K hteenpence for tea bed , and breakfast ; and once " slily thrust into my pocket at parting a couple of cakes , which I did not discover till half-way across a snow-drifted moor , where no house was to be seen for miles . ' * How incredible to a London victualler must such a tale appear . After having had this taste of the varied and original matter of this clever book , the reader needs no further recommendation , but will forthwith invest the moderate sum of nine shulings in its purchase .

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    THE A . GE . The Age j a Colloquial Satire . By Philip Jame 3 Bailey , Author of " Festus . " Chapman and Hall . Mr . Bailey , having no doubt a very high opiuion of . the generosit y oi the press , and being quite certain that no critic will retort upon him on account of any abuse he may indulge in , here has his fling against what he calls the Typocrats . We are sorry that we cannot comply with the inducement which he thus gives us to bestow unreserved praise on his work ; but when so able a man as he is concerned , we can afford to disdain the opportunity of affecting to be magnanimous . There is , of course , some truth in what he says of the press , though we cannot quite agree that it

    Ne er in wit , nor e ' en in wish surpasses The Bedford level of the middle classes . Mr . Bailey , however , frequently mistakes vituperation—we might use a very much stronger wordfor wit and humour ; and attacks the press , as he attacks many other things , pretty indiscriminately with so much recklessness , that we are compelled to lay down his volume at every page , and ask , " Is this satire , real genuine satire , aiming at reforming mankind by pressing on their sores until they wince , or is it merely the random ribaldry of a very amiable man who wants to persuade himself that he is ferocious , and in a huge passion with the world in general ?"

    Mr . Bailey has not a methodical mind , and does not seem to care for the high rules of . Art , according to which the great outline of a book , whether in prose or verse , should be constructed . His poem has no form ; and , therefore , no proper limits . It begins and ends just where the author chooses , but it possesses no defined parts and no sequence . In this respect , it is " colloquial" enough ; but though divided into speeches long and short , it is not by any means a dialogue . It resolves itself into a series of epigrams and diatribes , some excellent , many impertinent , several unjustifiable , on the men , things , and doctrines of the day . The author has prosaio tastes and is full of prosaic allusions , lie talks of the Loviathan and the ballet almost in the

    tone of a leading article , or the speech of a county member . We seem quite shocked , indeed , to find hi these pages abold summary , varied with mention of millocrats and tillocrat . s , of one half of a recent debate on secret suffrage—the half that expressed the unpopular view . Mr . Bailey almost always takes the unpopular view , because he seems to think that shows his independence . Having abused the Times , which with reason asserts itsolt to be an institution of this realm , he abuses the Chartists , who no longer exist . Then he gets into a passion \ y il . h the whole country , and taking up tho cosmopolitan cry , loses all tho dignity and self-possession of satire , and rails at us in good set terms , which are anything , however , but graceful and poelicul , us " a brigand race outlawed , ' occupied in " gutting 1 friends' houses , ' stealing and slaughtering , " '

    cursed with lust , Polygamous of all conterminous bonds . Then we havo repeated the wearisome French story of our thrusting " poisonous stuff" down tho

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    not te mile from his residence 718 THE . JiEADEE . [ No . 435 3 July 24 , 1858 .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 24, 1858, page 718, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2252/page/22/