Each Sunday night we gave a rout I found my study full of whist! Now was not that an awful dream SKETCHES ON THE ROAD. THE RAILWAY. My acquaintance with railways commenced on the Belgian line, at the quaint, ancient, and picturesque city of Bruges. The carriages were all full, except the one nearest the engine, against which there is some prejudice, as being the vehicle that "must bust fust." There was only one other passenger, a lady, in the opposite seat; and, as far as the time allowed, we entered into conversation. “This is a quick mode of travelling, Madam, compared with the old horse-powers." "I really wish I could think so, Sir,” replied the lady; "but it is far from the saving, either in time or expense, that I was led to anticipate. I am going to Ostend, and, according to my own highly-raised expectations, I ought to have dined there yesterday. What is more provoking, I brought some cold provision along with me, but it was deposited by mistake amongst the luggage, and I am informed that I cannot get at either till the end of my journey." There was no time to answer; Chak! chak! chakkery-chit-chittery-churr! talked the engine, increasing in velocity every minute. Houses flew past-then cottages and little gardens, with groups of children's faces, all looking alike, and all going to cheer, but we left the voices behind. The pace was certainly good; however, it relaxed after a while, and at last we stopped. "There is a great sameness about this country," I remarked, pointing to a stagnant piece of water beside the road, something between a ditch and a canal, half water and half bulrushes. On the other side of the ditch there was a row of stunted willows, bearing the same proportion to trees as Brussels sprouts to cabbages; beyond, by way of distance, stretched a vast dingy flat, with a church steeple on the horizon, a real land-mark, no doubt, to the mariner, to inform him that the flat aforesaid was land and not sea. "A great sameness, indeed," said the lady. "Look on either side, and you would almost swear you had seen the same dull uninteresting level before." Chak! chak! chakkery-chit-chit-churrrr! Being somewhat hard of hearing, the rumble caused by the friction of the wheels and rails, however slight, was sufficient to disconcert my organ. The lady's lips kept moving, but I could not distinguish a syllable. There was no alternative but to watch the moving diorama that was gliding past the window. The staple article of the view was a mud bank, which seemed being reeled off like a long broad drab watered ribbon. Now and then came a workman, with difficulty distinguished from his barrow, his red nightcap flashing by like a fiery meteor. The willows which bordered the road, or marked the boundaries of a field, coalesced into a stream of foliage. The peasant, who stood to stare at us, seemed to be enjoying a rapid slide in the opposite direction, whilst occasionally a cur would dart out of a cottage to bark at the train, and by running parallel with us, with all his might, contrived to appear stationary, violently lifting up his legs and putting them down again to no purpose. Fresh editions of the broad ditches, and the scrubby trees, and the gloomy flats, kept whirling past. "A great sameness indeed," said the lady, availing herself of a temporary halt to resume the subject; "and as if to render the uniformity still more intolerable, Art imitating Nature, the inhabitants have made duplicates of their principal towns, as like each other as two peas-for instance, two Ghents and two Bruges." Chak, chak, chakkery, &c.-away we went faster than ever. The steam was up. We seemed to have become aware of the earth's motion instead of our own. In the mean time, I turned over in my mind the lady's extraordinary information, which certainly did not agree with any I had derived from my Belgian Guide Book. The engine, however, was soon eased again, to enable us to get safely over a dangerous bridge. |