e assume the average rate of travelling on the railway
to be 20 miles an hour, (which is about the mark,) that 1,200 persons pass
along it in a day, and 120 are conveyed in each train of carriages, then
only ten trains of carriages would be required for all the passengers;
each train would separately take a minute and a half, and the ten trains
not more than fifteen minutes in passing over half a mile of ground. Allow
twice this time for the passage of cattle and merchandise, and it is
manifest that the traffic on railways can never be a source of annoyance
to persons residing near them. All who have travelled in carriages drawn
by locomotive steam-engines on the Liverpool and Manchester railway can
vouch for the safety and comfort, as well as the expedition, of this mode
of conveyance; but the strongest evidence of public opinion on this
subject is the fact, that twice as many persons go by the railway, as were
formerly carried in coaches running on the roads between the two
places--and yet, although the expense of travelling is reduced one-half,
and the works of the railway cost more than 800,000_l_., the proprietors
are in the receipt of a dividend of 9_l_. for a year on their 100_l_.
shares! Enough has been ascertained of the traffic in the districts
through which the London and Birmingham Railway will pass, to remove all
doubt as to an ample return for the necessary outlay.--_Metropolitan_.

* * * * *

THE GATHERER.

_A Dancing Archbishop_.--Dr. King, Archbishop of Dublin, having invited
several persons of distinction to dine with him, had, amongst a great
variety of dishes, a fine leg of mutton and caper sauce; but the doctor,
who was not fond of butter, and remarkable for preferring a trencher to a
plate, had some of the abovementioned pickle introduced dry for his use;
which, as he was mincing, he called aloud to the company to observe him;
"I here present you, my lords and gentlemen," said he, "with a sight that
may henceforward serve you to talk of as something curious, namely, that
you saw an Archbishop of Dublin, at fourscore and seven years of age, cut
capers upon a trencher."

T.H.

* * * * *

_Singular Parish_.--In the parish of East Twyford, near Harrow, in the
county of Middlesex, there is only one house, and the farmer who occupies
it is perpetual churchwarden of a church which has no incumbent, and in
which no duty is performe