RANDOM READING BIEL FOR THE RAIL, THE RIVER, AND THE ROAD; THE FIELD, CONSISTING OF ENTERTAINING AND INSTRUCTIVE MATTER, SUITABLE FOR GENERAL READING. "An orchard bearing several trees, MIDDLETON. LONDON: GROOM BRIDGE AND SONS, 5, PATERNOSTER ROW. M DCCC LIV. 270.c.273. PREFACE. Ir hitherto time has been valuable, how much more so is it in this age of travelling by steam, and talking by lightning—of rapid movement, of quick transition, and of intense mental activity! Few persons can command enough of it, or sufficiently abstract their thoughts, to peruse large books, or laboured disquisitions. They must read as they run, or rather as they fly, and only that which is most likely to inform, and at the same time to stimulate the mind for good, should be offered for their perusal. Now it is that small books are a desideratum, that the few who have leisure should sift and glean for the many, who have not, whatsoever is most beautiful, and true, and strikingly characteristic of life in its various phases, which is to be found in the current literature of the present, and also in that of past ages: and this task we have endeavoured to accomplish, in a small pocket volume, complete in itself; to be followed by others of a similar character, should the sale of this be sufficiently encouraging. Here will be found Tales, Essays, Biographic Sketches, Glimpses of Travel, Historic Gleanings, Records of Facts, and Discoveries in Art and Science, and of the Mirthful, Mournful, and Marvellous Sayings and Occurrences which give colour and variety to the great Kaleidoscope called Human Life. The Grave, the Gay, the Witty, and the Sententious will here alike find something congenial to their tastes, and apropos to their various pursuits; and it is hoped that this humble contribution to the cheap Railway and Fireside Literature of the day, will meet with that acceptance and support which it has been the aim of all concerned in its production to deserve. CONTENTS. PAGE. Within and Without; a Story of Fashionable Life........ Private Character of a Locomotive........ The Locomotive Engine v. the Light-fingered Fraternity.... Continental Sketches.......... The Inspiring Influence of True Genius.................... BITS OF BIOGRAPHY.-The Biographical Notices in the London Press. CHIPPINGS OF CHINA.-Tien-Teh, the Chinese Usurper. The Drama PAGE. LEGENDARY LORE.-Germany. Oda and the Snake. The Corn Ears. The Monk and the Little Bird. The King's Minster......... THE beauty and fashion of Belgravia were there, for the soirées of Lady Mary were about the most delightful things of a London season; and few to whom the high privilege of an invitation was awarded, neglected to avail themselves of it. And on the present occasion, the usual attractions were greatly heightened by the rumoured first public appearance of her ladyship's niece, of whom it was confidently predicted that she was destined to eclipse all other stars in the hemisphere of aristocratic loveliness. The daughter of an earl, connected with the first families in the kingdom, and heiress to immense wealth, her expected advent on the stage of fashionable life created quite a sensation, especially among younger sons, and such as were on the look-out for an advantageous matrimonial alliance, as the means of enabling them to keep upan appearance befitting their rank and station, and obtaining those "necessaries of life," a cab and a tiger, a box at the opera, and "all that sort of thing," without which "a fellow" is looked upon as a nobody and a nothing, in the clubs and coteries which compose that select society, emphatically denominated "the world." Lo, what a scene of beauty and of splendour! Through the |