  Curiosities of Railway Literature.—Has "Bradshaw" had any reviewers? If not, an example or two from this neighbourhood, of the absurdities which reappear month after month in the time-tables, may show the necessity of them. A Midland train proposes to leave Gloucester at 12.40 p.m., and reach Cheltenham at 1 p.m. The Great Western Company advertise an express train, on the very same line, to leave two minutes later and arrive five minutes earlier. It is therefore obvious, that if these trains were to keep their proper time, the express must run into the slow coach in front. The Great Western Railway Company have also, in a very unassuming manner, been advertising a feat hitherto unparalleled in the annals of railway speed,—the mail from Cheltenham at 8.20 a.m. to leave Gloucester at 8.27; that is to say, seven miles, including starting, slackening speed at two or three "crossings," stopping, starting again, all in seven minutes! Let the narrow gauge beat this if it can. Gloucester. Cromwell's Seal.—I am in possession of a fine seal; it is a beautiful engraving of the head of Oliver Cromwell, and was once his property: he presented it to a favourite officer, whose nephew, to whom it was bequeathed, gave it to the father of the lady from whom I received it a few years ago. Thus I am in the singular position of being the fifth holder of it from the Protector. Dublin. Rhymes upon Places.—Buckinghamshire: "Brill upon the Hill, Oakley in the Hole, Shabby little Ickford, Dirty Worminghall." Ingatestow. Tom Track's Ghost.—The following piece of metrical romance has dwelt in my memory as long "Tom Track he came from Buenos Ayres; And now, thought I, for him who cares: But soon his coming wrought me woe; He misled Poll,—as you shall know. All in the togs that I had bought, With that ere Tom she did consort, Which gave my feelings great concern, And caused a row,—as you shall learn. So then challenge Tom I did; We met, shook hands, and took a quid; I shot poor Tom.—The worse for me; It brought his ghost,—as you shall see. Says he, 'I'm Tom Track's ghost, that's flat.' Says I, 'Now only think on that.' Says he, 'I'm come to torment you now;' Which was hard lines,—as you'll allow. 'So, Master Ghost, belay your jaw; For if on me you claps a claw, My locker yonder will reveal, A tight rope's end, which you shall feel.' Then off his winding-sheet he throwed, And by his trousers Tom I knowed; He wasn't dead; but come to mess, So here's an end,—as you may guess." The implicatio, the agnitio, and the peripetia are so well worked out, that Aristotle would, I think, be compelled to admit it as an almost perfect specimen of that most ancient kind of drama which was recited by one actor. I refer especially to C. XXII. of the Poetics, which says, that that agnitio is most beautiful which is joined with the peripetia, of which here we have so striking an example. These reasons embolden me to ask if it be worth preserving in "N. & Q," and who was the author? Tor-Mohun. |
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