The Sun.
London, England, 1870-05-28 00:00:00

Road Steamers.

A. new road steamer and omnibus, the invention of
a Mr. R. W. Thompson, has been tried with a
satisfactory result in the streets of Edinburgh. The
wheels of the machine are tiled round with elastic
bands, so that injury to the pavement may be avoided
and the steam is unheard as the vehicle proceeds
along the roadways. This latter is a great advantage,'
as the danger of alarm being caused to horses by
the hissing and snorting of an engine is entirely
avoided. The new omnibus was on Wednesday per-
fectly under control, and that there was no need of
elaborate precautions in the way of signal-
ing usually found necessary when locomotives are
used on roadways. Mr. Thomson's car is
attached to the engine by couplings, and it is
of sufficient length to seat sixty-five pas-
sengers, including outsiders. On the trial trip
the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, several members
of the Town Council, and some scientific visitors were
accommodated with seats in the vehicle, and at the
termination of an hour's drive through the principal
streets, in which it was seen that the locomotive and
omnibus took their places with the usual traffic with-
out hindrance or trouble to anyone, loud praises of
the new road carriage were lavished upon its owner.
The invention of Mr. Thomson has for a long time
been talked about, but he has never shewn its advan-
tages to the public till now.
Cockney Pleasures.

"Not to know the old Welsh Harp and its
landlord is to be ignorant of a remarkable
phase of Cockney life ! " So famous has the
" Harp " become that the directors of the Mid-
land Railway have called a railway station
by its name, and now the " Welsh Harp " as seen
in Bradshaw takes its place with St. Alban's and
Northamptoni and seems to be as much considered in its
arrangements for passenger traffic as many a populous
city. This wonderful hotel is near Kingsbury, and the
proprietor is said to have accidentally strolled into
it one Sunday evening, after the Crimean War,
with a small capital at his bankers, and to have com-
pleted a purchase of the house and its stock before
he left. There are, it would. seem, a host
of stories collected already about this tavern,
and many and strange are the anecdotes of ladies of
high, rank who have walked the grounds in the
present owner's time, of Royal sportsmen who have
hung up their rods in the hall, and of duke's whose
drags have bowled up to the door. A writer of the

Daily News has made himself thoroughly acquainted
with all these facts, and 'also with all the small
attractions which make the inn, to a casual visitor one
)f the resorts which contributed a large amount of
pleasure to the cockney, whether he be fashion-
able, or whether he be humble and poor. " Spend,"
says the, writer, " a, Saturday and Sunday at
the Welsh Harp, mingle with its people, dine at its
.ordinary, and become acquainted' with its
ways," and you will be amply repaid: Dinners
you will obtain par excellence, gardens yott
will see blooming with flowers, and a river
you will find filled with fish. Guests you
will Meet staid and hilarious; military and
civil, and traditions you will hear, which are so
impressive that they will only 'shew yoti, how inade-
quate, as records, are the year books, annuals, and
almanacs you have ever before consulted."
Reading all this description, and consider-
ing that it is merely that of an inn, one cannot
help feeling that Thackeray's partiality for warm club
rooms,. café restaurants, cognac saloons, and heroes
who will ever smoke, has had a woeful effect upon
the literary men of this day, who have now evidently
entered into a conspiracy to shew the pleasure of
these things to the world, and to ruin it as fast as
they can.

OLYMPIC THEATRE.-MISS BA I'EM AN.-
THIS EVENING, at 8, MARY WARNER: Mary Warner,
Miss Bateman; assisted by Messrs. Vernon, D. Fisher, Blakeley,
Roberts, Elliott, Vanghan, and G. Belmore.
receded by, at 7, MUSIC HATH CHARMS: Miss Mattie
Reinhardt.
To conclude with THE 'VARSITY BOAT RACE. Mr. Geo.
Belmore.