rinthian pillars of the state," were making a fashionable tour to the Hebrides, to measure the basaltic columns of Staffa—BOARDING-SCHOOL MISSES, from Hackney and Hammersmith, with their papas and mammas, determined to see the procession of Roderick Dhu's barge on Loch Katrine, and the battles of the wild "Hielandmen" among the Trosachs —AIDES-DE-CAMP from the Autocrat, bound to the valley of Glencoe and the Cave of M'Leod, to collect hints for the next imperial ukase, entitled "Punishments in Poland"-French SAVANS, on a voyage to the Arctic regions of Sky, in search of materials for a folio volume of adventures, to make the Parisians stare**—ANGLERS and FOWLERS, enough to depiscate (may I use the term?) half the streams and depopulate half the moors of Scotland-ANTIQUARIANS bound for Beregonium, to examine the remains of a city that never existed-MINERALOGISTS on a journey to Craig Phædric, to chip off pieces of lava or pumice-stone from the summit or side of a volcanic mountain, as specimens of vitrified forts-ALDERMEN from Bucklersbury, to exude a portion of green fat and callipash, on the sides of Ben-Lomond-HEBREWS, from Changealley and Monmouth-street, to ventilate and purify, as a peace-offering to cholera and a preparation for their new franchises-BANKERS, from Lombard-street, going to compare notes with their Scotch correspondents -IRVINITES, on a voyage to the Orkneys, to procure a supply of Norse tongues for Babel Chapel, in Regent-street-candidates for the Traveller's Club, going to cross the Tay at Dunkeld, over the PONS ASINORUM, that was to qualify for admission-Tourists of all characters and calibres; some to make a tour simply; some to write a tour badly; but the greater number to talk of a tour incessantly afterwards-POLITICAL ECONOMISTS, on their way to Garveloch, to witness Miss Martineau's millennium in the straths and glens, where, by a kind of modern alchemy, peasants have been transmuted into black cattle, women into sheep, and children into lambs; where farms have been enlarged by the rule of SUBTRACTION, and rents doubled by that of REDUCTION: to the great benefit of mankind, and the encouragement of emigrationPLANTERS, from Jamaica, on a classical tour to the Isle of RUM-NABOBS from the East; civil, military, and mercantile; some with the complexion of a star pagoda; some as pallid as a sicca rupee; and others

* Mons. Panckouke, who is now publishing, in magnificent folio numbers, his "Voyage Pittoresque aux Isles Hébrides," tells us that, "dans ces parages, l'atmosphère est toujours chargée des nouages Epaies”—and in the second livraison, he assures us that the sun never showed his cheerful face for more than six weeks, in the middle of summer, and then only for a few minutes, just to gild the mountains of Mull! "Le soleil, que nous n'avions pas vue depuis plus de six semaines, dora la mer et les sommités des Isles."-p. 16. This is admirable!

as blue as Asiatic cholera; but all moved by the same nostalgic impulse, to revisit their native glens and mountains-SUGAR-BAKERS, from Goodman's-fields, to cool their coppers on the ocean, after being overheated by ginger and the juice of the cane from the AntillesCANTABS, with their tutors, going to study spherics in the Isle of Egg, and conic sections among the Paps of Jura-oxONIANS, to collate Greek and Gaelic in the monumental inscriptions of Iona, and demonstrate the existence of a Deity by the form of the arches in Fingal's Cave*AMBASSADORS from the king of Tahiti, on their way to the north, to dissuade the Scotch from worshipping idolatrous images of gold and silver-HOLLANDERS from the Zuyder-Zee, travelling to Inverness, to ascertain the fact, or rather to expose the fiction, of large Baltic ships sailing through the Highland mountains, at the rate of ten miles an hour, against the wind, thus eclipsing the exploits of their own "flying Dutchman" at the Cape-HEROES of the sock and BUSKIN, migrating to the Land of Cakes, with the laudable intention of making Sawney's sides shake with laughter at mimic scenes of merriment on the stage; an enterprize at all times difficult, but, in cholera times, impossible— Agents from a new joint-stock company, going to plant vines and olives in the Isle of Sky-MISSIONARIES from Ave-Maria-lane; not to convert the Clan Alpines to Christianity; but to convert old rags and threadbare tartans into foolscap for circulating libraries-YOUTHFUL POETS, hoping to "build the lofty verse," among the mountains of Morven, and season it with sublimity on the banks of the roaring Cona-TALEBEARERS from the Chesapeake, collecting Highland traditions for the Transatlantic markett― DIPLOMATISTS from Downing-street, going to collect their scattered thoughts in the mountains, while preparing a second edition of Belgi-Batavian protocols―PHARMACOPOLISTS, whose very mortars had become hoarse with the influenza, and whose phials were drained of their wrath, on a visit to St. Andrew's, preparatory to rising a degree in their profession, before the next epidemic harvestyounger branches of the NOBILITY, taking the benefit of sea air (not at all for the sake of economy) on an autumnal visit to the towers of some friendly Tully-veolan or Bradwardine, for change of scene, and of complexion-GRID-IRONMONGERS, from Kensington, to grill Scotch collops in the Lothians-AGITATORS, seeking tranquillity of mind in locomotion of the body-CONSERVATIVES, flying from the "West end," to preserve the remnants of a shattered constitution-new-made MEMBERS of the IMPERIAL, going to try the patience of a Scotch congregation, by

*See Palmer's Prize Poem on Staffa, Oxford, 1832.

See, farther on, the original of Rip van Winkle, in the two fiddlers of Tom Na heurich.

long-winded speeches about nothing at all—MANDARINS, from Leadenhall-street, with faces much longer than the leases of their tea-shops.

These, and some scores of other personages, whose characters and pursuits were not immediately legible in their looks or language, were quickly assembled on the deck of the steamer-a locality by no means adverse to the interchange of information, or the elicitation of thought and reflexion. The size and celerity of a vessel of this description, induce thousands of the better classes of society to travel annually by steam, who would not embark in sailing packets; and the consequence is, that a large mass of intelligence as well as of amusement is concentrated within a narrow compass, surrounded by wooden walls without gates, and a formidable moat without a drawbridge, and that too under the most favourable circumstances for social converse and intellectual reciprocities. In the steamer, each individual considers himself, for the time, as in a mask and domino, unfettered by introductions or recognitions and what is better, on a perfect equality with his neighbour. The banker and the baker, the marchioness and the milliner, the senator and the tailor, pay the same fare, and are entitled to the same accommodations. There is no weather side of the quarter-deck for grandees, and lee side for inferiors. All cabin passengers sit down at the same table-d'hôte, walk the same plank, and repose in similar dormitories. Having some experience in travelling, I have no hesitation in affirming that, of all modes of conveyance, the steamer combines the greatest number of advantages, whether we view it with reference to economy, comfort, society, or health. The box-seat of a stage-coach, however, may prefer strong claims of rivalry with the steamer. We there enjoy

the

scenery of the country, embrown our complexions, and increase our appetite; not always the case at sea. If the coach breaks down, we have nothing to do with the expenses of repair-if we dislocate a shoulder, the proprietors are bound to put it in again—and if a neck be broken, the doctor's bill will be very short. On the other hand, if the boiler of the steamer burst, and our vapour-bath prove too hot, we have a cold one always ready for a plunge, with cork and air jackets to float us to a friendly shore. If we strike on a rock in a foggy night, Captain Manby is prepared to heave us a rope, and lift us over the breakers. Should animation be suspended, in this enterprize, we have the Humane Society, with JACK FROST, their secretary, supplied with ample materials for restoring vital heat. Much, therefore, may be said on both sides, as Uncle Toby said long ago. The very best English stage, indeed, is not without disadvantages, which are avoided in the steamer. In this last, we are not annoyed by passengers, who either have colds, and cannot bear the windows open in the hottest weather; or asthma, and there-.

fore must have fresh air from both sides, whatever may be the temperature! Although there may be room enough in this world, for great and small; for rich and poor; such is not always the case in a stagecoach. If two great men, or great women, come in contact even on the same political bench, the collisions, during the journey, are often personally offensive. Who has travelled outside, in a rainy day, without feeling the favours of his neighbours, who generously bestow the drippings of their umbrellas, without any view to a return in kind?

The social or colloquial commerce of intellect possesses a feature which distinguishes it from all other kinds of commerce; inasmuch as its merchants do not barter their commodities for money, or for goods in kind, or indeed of any kind; but distribute them gratuitously and bountifully to all who are willing to receive them, and even to many who are insensible to the gift, and ungrateful to the donor. On this account, a long-eared animal, with half the patience of that much injured and much-enduring tribe, may pick up and accumulate an immense store of second-hand wares, with very little expense, and which may be vended again, in this age of intellect, as spank new commodities. We have all seen how Jedediah Cleishbotham, in his arm-chair at the Wallace inn of Gandercleuch, gathered from the travellers, who took up their night's abode in that humble caravansera, a store of anecdote, history, and intelligence, which returned him a revenue greater than that of many a German prince; yet what were his opportunities, compared with those enjoyed by a modern caterer for the public, who travels by steam, indites by steam, prints by steam, and diffuses his writings by steam, all over the world! Why should we not have "Tales of a Steamer" as well as of a whiskey-shop? There are more intelligent personages in the cabin of the one, than in the chimney corner of the other. these hints are thrown out for the benefit of others, not of myself.

But

And this leads me to the PLEASURES of TRAVELLING. Our bards have treated us to the "Pleasures of Hope," the "Pleasures of Imagination," and the "Pleasures of Memory;" but none of them have favoured us with a poem on the pleasures of travel, which are superior to all the others put together*. The pleasures of hope too often end in disappointment-those of the imagination, are only imaginary, at the best —while the pleasures of memory are not seldom embittered by recollections of evils long sustained, and sorrows unassuaged! The pleasures of travel are nearly without alloy. If they are more moderate, they are

* Sir Humphry Davy's "Consolations of Travel" can hardly be considered an exception. They are ruminations in the clouds, or dreams in the Coliseum, the offspring of corporeal disorder and exuberant fancy. See his very accurate description of the inhabitants of Saturn and Jupiter, while asleep in the Flavian Amphitheatre at Rome.

more lasting than many other pleasures, being based in improvement of the mind, and health of the body. The reminiscences, too, of our peregrinations, are productive of still more pleasure than the act of travelling, for reasons which philosophers and poets, of all ages, have amply explained.

"Forsan et hæc, olim meminisse juvabit.”

THE RIVER.

As the clanking engines began to play, and the revolving wheels dashed the white foam from the vessel's sides, we ranged along a noble structure on our right, fit residence for an imperial court, but now standing as a testimony of national gratitude to the sons of the wave. It is within these walls that we may yet see the companions of Nelson, St. Vincent, and Duncan-men whose blood crimsoned the waters of Aboukir, Trafalgar, and Camperdown-whose members were severed from their bodies, and sepulchred beneath the tides of the Nile, the Atlantic, and the German ocean. He who can pass unconcerned these fading memorials of his country's struggles and his country's fame, is defective in sensibility, if not in patriotism, and lacks one of those channels by which external objects make impressions on the mind, excite reflexion, and humanize the heart.

A stranger approaching CANTON would be apt to conclude that half the population of that immense city domiciliated from birth till death on the surface of the Tigris*:-a Chinese sailing up the Thames to London-bridge, would not unnaturally imagine that half the tars of Old England had returned from various parts of the globe to celebrate some jubilee, and had piled their ships together, as soldiers pile their arms, till the festival was over. Not more numerous were the glittering bayonets that bristled on the plains of Friedland, before the hostile armies closed, than are the tall masts of commerce, in densely-planted groves, on the waters of the Thames. If two or three sinuosities on one bank of the Bosphorus, displaying a Lilliputian fleet of galleys, xebecs, and row-boats, whose united cargoes might have been stowed away in the holds of a couple of East Indiamen, were dignified with the title of "THE PORT," par excellence, what designation does the THAMES deserve, on whose tides are wafted to and fro, the flags of all nations, and whose barks crowd every port, from the Hellespont to the Hudson, from Australia to Iceland+? Those who have circumnavigated

*The Canton river bears this name.

Sir Walter Scott puts into the mouth of Sir Walter Raleigh, the following expres