d, like most persons who labour diligently. The curly-haired
Italian lad became a general favourite. He took his native politeness
with him everywhere; and made many friends among his various customers
throughout the country.

Bianconi used to say that it was about this time when he was carrying
his heavy case upon his back, weighing at least a hundred pounds--that
the idea began to strike him, of some cheap method of conveyance being
established for the accommodation of the poorer classes in Ireland. As
he dismantled himself of his case of pictures, and sat wearied and
resting on the milestones along the road, he puzzled his mind with the
thought, "Why should poor people walk and toil, and rich people ride
and take their ease? Could not some method be devised by which poor
people also might have the opportunity of travelling comfortably?"

It will thus be seen that Bianconi was already beginning to think about
the matter. When asked, not long before his death, how it was that he
had first thought of starting his extensive Car establishment, he
answered, "It grew out of my back!" It was the hundred weight of
pictures on his dorsal muscles that stimulated his thinking faculties.
But the time for starting his great experiment had not yet arrived.

Bianconi wandered about from town to town for nearly two years. The
picture-case became heavier than ever. For a time he replaced it with
a portfolio of unframed prints. Then he became tired of the wandering
life, and in 1806 settled down at Carrick-on-Suir as a print-seller and
carver and gilder. He supplied himself with gold-leaf from Waterford,
to which town he used to proceed by Tom Morrissey's boat. Although the
distance by road between the towns was only twelve miles, it was about
twenty-four by water, in consequence of the windings of the river Suir.
Besides, the boat could only go when the state of the tide permitted.
Time was of little consequence; and it often took half a day to make
the journey. In the course of one of his voyages, Bianconi got himself
so thoroughly soaked by rain and mud that he caught a severe cold,
which ran into pleurisy, and laid him up for about two months. He was
carefully attended to by a good, kind physician, Dr. White, who would
not take a penny for his medicine and nursing.

Business did not prove very prosperous at Carrick-on-suir; the town was
small, and the trade was not very brisk. Accordingly, Bianconi
resolved, after