embankment, we enter the Castlethorp Cutting through the oolitic limestone, and then find ourselves upon another embankment over a wide valley, with the spire of GRAFTON visible on the hill, towards the left, and HANSLOPE CHURCH standing conspicuous to the right; the valley is of a luxuriant nature, consisting of pastures filled with cattle, rich corn fields, and here and there a farm house, with its orchard and other rural appendages. HANSLOPE is principally celebrated for its high spire, which is observable for miles throughout the surrounding country; this steeple was thrown down by lightning in 1804, on a Sunday evening in June; fortunately the church was empty, and no lives were lost the spire has been rebuilt in the original form. The great pugilistic contest between Simon Byrne and Sandy M'Kay, the Scottish giant, in which the latter was slain, took place in this neighbourhood, and the remains of the unfortunate Scot were interred in the churchyard. At the head of the grave, which is of gigantic proportion, is a stone with the following inscription and epitaph: SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF ALEX. M'KAY, WHO DIED 3RD OF JUNE, 1834, Strong and athletic was my frame; Reader! take warning by my fate, Lest you should rue your case too late : Determine now to fight no more. Byrne was killed fighting soon afterwards; so that both these men lost their lives in making a gladiatorial show, for the amusement of the English aristocracy, who are the patrons and supply the pecuniary motive, the prize, for the winner; and a mob, that has been brutalized by such influences. The Roman savagery, however horrific and monstrous it might have been, had something of grandeur in it; our pugilism is mere vulgar brutish ruffianism of the lowest and most disgusting character. The demoralizing show of the ancients is thus described by our great modern poet : I see before me the Gladiator lie: He leans upon his hand-his manly brow The arena swims around him he is gone, In the parish of Hanslope there were formerly many small farmers, but these have latterly almost disappeared, in consequence of the competition for land by a more wealthy class of men, into whose hands the lands in this neighbourhood ha ve, for the most part, latterly fallen, the old small farms being united into larger ones. The ruins of old farm houses, in which, in the small farm times, industrious and respectable families used to live a life of health and happiness, may be observed from the line; these remnants are sad testimonials of the social condition of our country, and few can see them without having the question suggested-Where are they gone by whose care the now damp and wretched ruin was made a comfortable and delightful abode, covered with the ivy, the rose, the woodbine, and the moss, and surrounded by blooming gardens and orchards? Some have been forced on the records of pauperism, and others on those of crime; some have changed the healthy agricultural pursuits of the country for the unhealthy ones of the town; and some have sought in the far-off wilds of America, a more fostering country and a more comfortable home than their native land could afford them. After passing Hanslope, Mr. Clarke's farm house may be seen to the right, just by which is a bridge crossing a cutting; at the end of the latter we come upon an embankment, and then enter another cutting, at the termination of which is the steep ASHTON EMBANKMENT, crossing a fertile valley, from which, on the left, STOKE PARK and HOUSE, and in the distance, the spire of STOKE BRUERN CHURCH, may be seen. On the right SALCEY FOREST is observable in the distance; and looking backwards HANSLOPE CHURCH is still conspicuous. We are now in Northamptonshire; and at the end of the embankment, which is in places upwards of 40 feet high, the line passes through the village of ASHTON, which is divided by it. From the embankment we can look down on the thatched cottages, of which the village is composed, and the humble church on the left; and while the traveller securely rolls with a delightful velocity, by which he has passed through whole counties in the short space of a few hours, little does he think of the sacrifice of life and happiness that was made in the attainment of the means for his present rapid course. The bridge, under which is the road communicating the two parts of the village, has been, during the progress of the works, the scene of several calamitous accidents, in bringing down the stone and clay from the Blisworth Cutting in trains, for the construction of the embankment. At dinner time the men used to ride down from the Blisworth works on the loaded trains, and if a waggon slipped from the rails, its contents of stone and workmen would be precipitated in a heterogeneous mass upon the ground, when, of course, the most rueful consequences resulted. An instance of this kind happened at the time when the editor of this work was engaged in collecting matter to form its contents, which was strikingly illustrative of the recklessness of life and daring hardihood of the British labourer. A few days prior, a severe accident, accompanied with loss of life, had occurred in this place; yet, nothing daunted, the men, instead of walking to their dinner, came riding down on the trains. A similar catastrophe was the result; several waggons were thrown off the rails; one man was completely buried under the masses of limestone, and several partly so. One stalwart navigator disencumbered himself from the heap, and feeling his arm, said, addressing a more fortunate comrade, "It's broke, by G-d! I mun go home." He waited for a short time to ascertain the amount of evil inflicted on his fellow-sufferers, and then supporting his broken arm with his sound one, accompanied by a friend, strode off homewards: his cottage was six miles off! A fine, handsome youth, who had his foot pulverised into a shapeless mass of flesh and bone, bore his fate with less fortitude, and cried bitterly. A rough-looking fellow, who stood by, and seemed to be a sort of foreman among the workmen, took his pipe from his mouth, spat out, and |