I had entertained of remaining there a day or two, and immediately proceeded in the stage for Leicester.

Derby is a handsome although ancient town, containing about 10,000 inhabitants. It is celebrated for its extensive silk mills.

The Scotch rebels in 1745 made no farther progress south than this place. The celebrated Dr. Darwin resided here.

Our route to Leicester was through a most enchanting country. The distance from Derby is 28 miles, and the scenery in every part of the way was beautiful in the extreme. The surface was generally level, adorned with frequent groves, neat hedge rows, and verdure so deep and rich, that it resembled rather green velvet than grass. The fruit trees were in many instances in blossom, and gave an air of gaiety to the villages and towns through which we passed. Among the chief of these were Loughborough and Mount Sorrel.

Leicestershire is a county of great agricultural wealth, and celebrated for an excellent breed of sheep; they are not of the largest species, but very fat, with abundant fleeces of fine wool.

In the course of this day's ride I was directly interrogated concerning my name and personal history.

LEICESTER.

May 18.-I rose at 6 o'clock this morning, and having some little time to spare, before the setting out of the coach, I employed a part of it in walking around the streets of Leicester. I cannot, however, pretend, from such very limited observations, to give an account of the town. Most of those streets through which I

passed were narrow, but there was a tolerable number of good buildings. I regret that I had not time to see the remains of an ancient and very extensive castle, formerly belonging to the great Duke of Lancaster, and it would have given me still greater pleasure to have visited Bosworth Fields, near this town, where you will remember that Henry VII. then Earl of Richmond, gained the crown of England, and Richard III. lost it with his life. There are few events in English history which excite a more general interest; the stake was a kingdom,-the characters of the combatants were splendid, and that of Richard, especially, was surrounded with a kind of atrocious and sanguinary greatness. Besides, the genius of Shakespeare has add. ded a fascination to the subject, which makes us imagine that we listen to the groans which disturbed the slumbers of, the royal murderer, on the night before the fatal contest, and causes us to hear him exclaim, amidst the din of battle,-my kingdom for a horse! After one has been delighted with a fine historical dra. ma or poem, he is always prone to conceive of the facts as the poet and not as the historian has related them. Who has not substituted the paradise which Milton has painted, instead of the strong but incomplete sketch of the scriptures; and who does not conceive of Richard as Shakespeare and not as Hume has drawn him?

Leicester contains about 16,000 inhabitants ;-it sends two members to Parliament, and is the capital of Leicestershire. Cardinal Wolsey died here, and here Richard III. was buried. At the beginning of the last century his coffin was converted into a trough for horses to drink out of, and was actually used for that purpose at a public-house in this town.

No. IX.-LEICESTER TO BIRMINGHAM.

Ride to Coventry....Ladies and band-boxes....Coventry election ....Crowd.....Confusion.....Uproar.....Drunkenness.... Ludicrous scene....Violence of English elections.

RIDE TO COVENTRY.

In

At 7 o'clock A. M. I stepped into the coach for Birmingham. It was a small vehicle, capable of carrying four passengers inside with convenience, and six with difficulty. Although I had a priority of claim, I found five ladies already seated in the coach, and some of them were such beauties as Addison says are estimated at Haarlem by weight. Four of them carried huge band-boxes in their laps, and the fifth an infant. so small a carriage, and under such circumstances, you cannot but suppose that an additional one must have occasioned some inconvenience. I was obliged to sit sidewise, with one arm out of the coach, and I found my companions so little disposed for conversation, and the situation so uncomfortable, that, before we had travelled a mile, I relinquished my seat in favour of the ladies, and mounted the roof of the coach.

Three or four miles from Leicester we passed Bosworth Fields at some distance; the coachman pointed them out to me. We passed through Nuneaton, a considerable town, and as we approached Coventry, the country became luxuriantly beautiful. We saw frequent coal mines, and while they changed horses we looked at the mouth of one. The access was down a

pit, precisely like a well, only much wider; through this opening the coal is drawn up by means of machinery, and the people and implements are let down.

COVENTRY ELECTION.

When we arrived at Coventry, we found the street leading to the inn where we were to dine, so obstructed by crowds of people, that we were compelled to stop the coach at a considerable distance from the house, and to make our way as well as we could, with no small inconvenience, and some hazard of being pressed more than was perfectly agreeable. The greatest crowd was immediately before our door, and we learned that it was occasioned by a contested election, at that moment held, for a member of Parliament for Coventry. I had heard much of English elections, and thought myself very fortunate in having an opportunity to see the bustle of such an occasion. But I am quite satisfied with one exhibition of the kind, nor do I wish ever to behold another. For, never before did I wit-' ness such a scene of drunkenness, uproar and riot. The genius of M'Fingal or of Hudibras alone could convey to you an adequate idea of a state of things, in which was most forcibly exhibited the majesty of the sovereign people exercising the right of unbiassed suffrage,

The candidates were a Mr. Mills of Coventry and a Mr. Parry of London. The friends of Mr. Parry alleged that Mr. Mills was a friend to the rich ;-that he was in favour of enclosing the common land, which would injure the poor; and in short, that he was an aristocrat, and did not care for the people. In favour of Mr. Parry they said that he was the people's friend.

It seems that the voters at English elections do not necessarily reside on the spot; many live in remote towns, and when the period of the election arrives they are transported to the place by the candidates whose cause they espouse, and are maintained by them free of expense during the contest, which frequently lasts two or three weeks. It is stated, in extenuation of this practice, that some of the electors, and especially me chanics and labourers, cannot afford to leave their homes and pursuits, to travel to a distant county, and remain at their own charge during a contested election, and that therefore it is but reasonable that the candidates should sustain this expense. However plausible

this statement may appear, it is certain that it is only an apology for an indirect species of bribery, not less effectual than the direct giving of money. For, under the pretence of maintaining their voters, the candidates buy them with wine, whiskey and dinners, for he is always the best patriot who gives the people the most good things.

In this instance the adherents of the two rival can. didates were distinguished by papers on their hats, having the names of the men whom they supported written upon them. The poll was held in a building, which appeared to be the market, and the respective parties were striving each to prevent the other from getting up to the poll to give in their votes. For this purpose, they did not hesitate to use every degree of violence short of blows. The contest was principally in pushing; the two contending parties were arrayed in opposition, like two armies, and when they came up to the poll, the two fronts met, and in every instance a violent contest ensued; hands to hands, face to face,

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