baggage of their inmates respectively passed; but not a word about the "Union" greeted us till the very last. Two partly used bottles of Eau-de-Cologne were taken from us the duty upon which would have amounted to 2s. 6d. ! and my books were detained to ascertain their weight and the amount of duty upon them. Of the charge I have no right to complain, but the detention is a great hardship; it might prove a great inconvenience, and ought not to be allowed. I might have been on urgent business and obliged to quit Dover for Plymouth to embark there forthwith and can it be right that the officers of the customs should so detain articles, perhaps of great importance to the owner, and oblige him either to lose them altogether, or suffer seriously by waiting for them? Three minutes would have dismissed my books, and there can I think be no good reason (when no fraud is intended,) why the baggage every man brings with him should not be at once restored to him. At half past seven we entered a chaise and arrived in yery quick time at Sandwich. The difference between the light and slender post chaise of England and the clumsy conveyance of France-between "the noiseless tenour" of the English post-boy's way, and the constant clamour of the French postillion talking to, or swearing at, his curt-horses three abreast, and cracking his loud whip over their heads, or on their sides, was a contrast too striking not to be observed, and as far as Sandwich the comparison was in favour of England. Two miles from Sandwich * * The narrow and winding roads of England contrast as forcibly with the straight, wide, and roughly paved military ways of France. the case altered a little, and we halted in more senses than one. Our post-boy's horse began to kick and plunge most desperately, and as we could see no good reason for his doing so, we disregarded the request that "for God's sake we would make no noise," and resolved that a station outside the chaise was as eligible just then as a seat within. We had only time to effect this purpose, when our horses at right angles dashed to each side of the road, and gave us proof that to one of them at least the chaise and harness were incumbrances to which he would not quietly submit. In the short space of a minute, we were on one part of the road, the chaise on another in advance of us, and the post-boy with his horses nearer still to our desired destination. This might be very well meant by our Bucephalus, but it was at least an error in his judgment, and though our post-boy very civilly wished to save time by trying again only changing sides (assuring us that the impatient gentleman would then go very well,) we preferred waiting a fresh arrival to an experiment so civilly propounded to us. We became foot-patroles till another horse arrived, and at length in moderately quick time all was again in order, and we were on our way. I arrived at Ramsgate without further interruption at twelve o'clock. Thus ended, after some peril and more fatigue, a journey which, notwithstanding both (added to some of those momentary unpleasantnesses, which are perhaps unavoidable,) afforded to me an enjoyment in the contemplation of scenes ever likely to be remembered by me; and that brought with it an acquaintance with men and things-with mountains and torrents-with awful precipices amid the loveliest landscapes, and eternal glaciers amid scenes as lovely, that hitherto I knew only from books, or from the reports of other men. On the day after my arrival, I did not feel much disposed for active exertion. The lassitude that usually follows long continued activity overspread me, and a short walk upon the pier and sands of Ramsgate were sufficient for that day. I saw the steam-boat on its way from CALAIS to London, on board which our pleasant companions intended to embark. The day was fine and the sea was comparatively calm. It was mere good nature to follow them with a wish that it might remain so to the end of their voyage. FINIS. APPENDIX. MY DEAR SIR, SINCE the conversation I had with you at the Society of Arts on the subject of my visit to LYONS during the last summer, I have frequently thought of my folly in proposing to fnrnish you with a few memoranda connected with the staple trade of that far famed city; for upon looking over my journal, I find the materials so very slender, that I fear it will be quite out of my power to select any thing worthy your acceptance. If I had enjoyed the pleasure of meeting with you there, I am quite sure the interest we mutually take in whatever concerns the commercial prosperity of this country, would have induced us to club our sources of information together, and with our united opportunities of observation, I flatter myself that many details which in all probability escaped attention, would have passed under notice. You are, I believe, aware that during that period of the last session of Parliament when the silk trade of this country occupied so much of its attention, the firm of which I am a member, stood almost alone in the view we took of the measures then adopted by Government. It has always been our opinion, from the time when the Chancellor of the Exchequer first proposed to throw open the trade to foreign competition, that, with such a duty on the manufactured article as the actual difference in the value of labour between France and England might render necessary, |