The Sun.
London, England, 1845-03-25 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

cani.

THE ARCHIBOLOGICAL ALBUM; or, MU-
SEUM OF NATIONAL ANTIQUI7'ES. Edited
by THOMAS WRIGHT, Esq., MA. F.S.A.
Corresponding Member of the Institute of France. The
Illustrations by Frederick W. Fairholt, F.S.A.
This is a book in which the Bannatyne and the
Roxburgh Clubs would have delighted ; printed in a
quarto size, on the very finest paper, with the most
beautifully clear type, and profusely illustrated by
exquisite copper-plate engravings and magnificent il-
luminations—published, moreover, in an ornamental
cover—it has altogether a very aristocratical appear-
ance. There is an excellent paper in the present
number, entitled "History of Art in the Middle
Ages, as exhibited in Illuminated Manuscripts."
This paper is profusely illustrated by woodcut en-
gravings from ancient illuminations. From a paper
on obsolete punishments we extract the following
account of the last recorded instance in which the
punishment of ducking was inflicted on a scold by
sentence of the law :
" Nearly all town accounts during the sixteenth cen-
tury and the commencement of the seventeenth contain
entries relating to these implements of punishment. The
practice of ducking continued through the whole of the
seventeenth century, and the name, now no longer un-
derstood in its original form, began to be changed from
tucking-stool to ducking-stool. Instances of this
punishment being put in practice occur as late as the
middle of the last century. In Brand's Popular An-
tiquities' an extract is given from a London newspaper
of the year 1745, stating that last week a woman that
keeps the Queen's Head alehouse at Kingston, in Surrey,
was ordered by the Court to be ducked for scolding, and
was accordingly placed in the chair, and ducked in the
river Thames, under Kingston-bridge, in the presence
of two or three thousand people.' The guilty individual
appears to have been often carried to the place of punish-
ment in procession by the mob. Our readers will re-
member the description of such a procession in Hudi-
bras,' which makes the subject of one of Hogarth's illus-
trations of that poem."

cqiitatie to mistalz« the cause -of sv h expressions, which
were perfectly nanral undler the cirentn,tanoes, but they
nevertheles deeply afflictcAi him, V,tri they reached his
In this sate of things frimds resolved to re-
move him from such a scent :.,xcitement, and to place
him amA the quiet scenery of the country. An asylum
was offered him in the family of Ijount Itzeoplitsch, where
he was sufficiently near to become acquainted with the
gradual development of the all-important crisis, and yet
free from any unpleasant personal contact with it. Here,
at the family-seat of Cunersdurf, scarcely a day's journey
from Berlin, wholly devoted to botany and other fa-
vourite pursuits, Chamisso conceived the idea of Peter
Schlemihl, and with rapid pen finished off the story.
" Chamisso was often pestered with questions respect-
ing what he really meant by the story of Schlemihl.
These questions amused as well as annoyed him. The
truth is, that his intention in writing it was perhaps
scarcely of so precise a nature as to admit of his giving
a formal account of it. The story, sprang into being of

itself, like every work of genius, prompted by a self-
creating power. In a letter to the writer of this notice,
after he had just commenced the story, he says, ' A
book was the last thing you would have expected from
me ! Place it before your wife this evening, if you have
time; should she be desirous to know Schlemihl's fur-
ther adventures, and particularly who the man in the
grey cloak is—send me back the MS. immediately, that
I may continue the story ; but if you do not return it, I
shall know the meaning perfectly.' Is it possible for
any writer to submit himself to the scrutiny of the public
more good naturedly?"

FRENCH RAILWAY COMPANIES.
The following is the Bill drawn up by the Com-
mittee appointed by the Chamber of Peers to examine
Count Darn's proposition relative to the proceedings
of railroad Companies:—
Art. 1. Companies formed for the partial or in-
tegral execution of railroads cannot, under the pe-
nalties fixed by Art. 419 of the penal code, create or
issue shares or promises of shares, before the period
that they shall have been constituted en societie
anonyme, in the forms ordered by Art. 37 of the
commercial code.

Art. 2. There can only be delivered to subscribers
a receipt of the sums or assets by them paid in. This
receipt shall be addressed to each person by name.
It shall be cut off from a register kept for the pur-
pose,
and shall have a fixed number. It shall men-
tion the number of shares demanded by the subscriber;
and, in addition, shall state, first, the purport of
Arts. 4 and 5 of the present Bill ; and, second, the
obligation under which each subscriber lies, to ex-
change the receipt for shares, when the society shall
have been legally constituted.
Art. 3. These receipts cannot be quoted at the
Bourse. All publications whatever of their value, be-
fore the issue of the royal ordonnance authorising the
formation of the company, shall be punished by a fine
of from 500 f. to 3,0001.
Art. 4. These receipts cannot in any way be
transferred or ceded, in totality or in part, under pain
of nullity of all negotiation of the kind. The sums
paid for any such negotiations may be remanded and
sued for.

Art. 5. Furthermore, all persons engaged in such
negotiation of receipts, whether principals or agents,
may be punished by fines not exceeding the capital of
the values negotia•ed.
Art. 6. All notaries, agens de change, or other per-
sons who may assist in such negotiations, are to be
liable to lose their places, and in addition to be fined
from 500 f. to 5,000 f. for each negotiation.
Art. 7. No adjudication of any railroad line can be
definitively approved of by royal ordonnance, unless
the sociae anonyme shall have been at the same time
authorised in the form prescribed by Article 37 of the
Communal Code.
Art. 8. Within the month after the issue of the
royal ordonnance, the receipts shall be changed for
shares. Should the subscriber not appear in person
to claim his shares, the authority which he gives to
his agent or representative must be in authentic
form, and must bear date posterior to the royal or-
donnance.

Art. 9. After the delivery of the shares, the ori-
ginal subscribers shall not remain responsible to the
company for more than five-tenths of the nominal ca-
pital of the shares, for which they have subscribed.
Art. 10. The first payment of each subscription
cannot be inferior to the tenth of the nominal value of
the shares subscribed for.
Art.ll. The projectors, directors, or provisional
managers of the company are personally and con-
jointly responsible to the subscribers and to the com-
pany, for the safe-keeping and employment of the
sums paid in.
Art. 12. The funds arising from the subscriptions
are to be paid into the Casse des Depots et Consigna-
tions within ten days after they have been received,
under penalty of the application of Art. 40 of the
Penal Code.
Art. 13. The Caisse des Depots et Consignations
shall draw the interests that may fall due, and shall
credit the company therewith, the company account-
ing for the same to the subscribers.
Art. 14. The company to which the concession is
granted may draw out its funds, with the interest
thereon, as soon as it shall have been regularly con-
stituted by royal ordonnance. In case of non-con•
cession, the funds deposited as ordered above, and the
interests thereon, shall be paid back to the subscribers,
the lawful expenses being always deducted.
Art. 15. It is forbidden, under pain of nullity of all
the proceedings, to stipulate in the provisional
statutes any indemnity, retribution, or salary what-
ever, to the projectors, directors, or temporary
managers.
Art. 16. The designation of the directors or ma-
nagers in the statutes, before the approbation by
Royal ordonnance, is essentially provisional.
Art. 17. Within three months after the Royal ordon-
nance, the shareholders shall be convoked in a general
meeting, to definitively appoint directors or managers
—to fix their emoluments—and to determine and re-
pay all that may be due to the projectors, for ad-
vances, cost of surveys, or other expenses.

It:I.EL WAY INTELLIGENCE.

REPORT OF THE RAILWAY DEPARTMENT
OF THE BOARD OF TRADE ON THE
SCHEMES FOR EXTENDING RAILWAY
COMMUNICATION BETWEEN LONDON AND
YORK, &c.

Railway Department, Board of Trade,
Whitehall, March 20, 1845.
The Board constituted by Minute of the Lords of the
Committee of Privy Council for Trade, for the transac-
tion of railway business, having had under consideration
the different schemes deposited with the Railway Depart-
ment for extending Railway Communication between
London and York, and the intermediate districts to the
east of the existing lines of railway, have determined on
submitting the following Report thereon, for the con-
sideration of Parliament.
The following is a List of the Schemes in question,
showing the number of miles of railway proposed to
be constructed in each case, and the estimated capital.
I.—lntegral Schemes for effecting a new and independent
Communication from London to York.
Length. Estimated
Capital.
Miles. Chains. £
London and York ...... 327 18 6,500,000
Direct Northern lB5 52 4,000,000
ll.—Schemes for effecting a new Communication be-
tween London and York, in connexion with existing
Railways.

Length. Estimated
Capital.
Miles. Chains. A:
Cambridge and Lincoln B3 20 1,250,000
Tottenham and Farringdon-street
Extension
Midland Railway :
Swinton to Lincoln, Boston, and
March
Lincoln, York, and Leeds B3 42 1,400,000
York and North Midland to Don-
caster
lll.—Schemes more or less connected with the above,
for supplying East and West Communication, and local
accommodation to the intermediate districts.
Length. Estimated
Capital.
Miles. Chains.

Bedford, and London and Bir-
mingham
Eastern Counties—Hertford and

5 1G 800,000

16 31 125,000

Biggleswade Branch
Eastern Counties—Cambridge and
Huntingdon
Ely and Bedford
Midland Rail way—Sys ton to
Peterborough
Midland Railway—Nottingham
to Lincoln 33 52 408,000
Newark and Sheffield 32 60 500,000
Manchester and Sheffield, and
Midland Junction (Sheffield to
Chesterfield) l2 14 400,000
Sheffield and Lincolnshire
Rotherham, Bawtry, and Gains-
borough
Great Grimsby and Sheffield 6O 48 600,000
hull and Gainsborough
Wakefield, Pontefract, and Goole 30 73 365,000
Barnsley and Goole
Goole, Doncaster, Sheffield, and
Manchester
York and North Midland and
Goole
Goole and Snaith 5 27
It will be seen from the above list, that the question
upon which we have now to report involves the con-
struction of upwards of 1,200 miles of railway ; an
amount not much less than that of the whole of the
railways in the kingdom already in existence, and the
proposed investment of upwards of 20,000,0001. of capital.
We have approached the subject with a full sense of its
importance, and of the responsibility which is imposed
upon us in expressing any opinion upon questions of such
magnitude; and we have now to report the conclusions
at which we have arrived, after most anxious and delibe-
rate investigation.
The leading objects which are proposed to be accom-
plished by the schemes under consideration may be
classed under two heads, viz.:-
Ist. To extend the benefits of railway communication
to the large portion of England which lies intermediate
between the London and Birmingham, and Northern and
Eastern Railways, and to the east of the Midland and
York, and North Midland Railways.
2d. To form a new trunk line from London to York
and the north, by the east of England, more direct than
the present circuitous route by Rugby and Derby.
The former of these objects appears to be decidedly
the more important. In our report on the projected
railways in Scotland, we have already stated our reasons
for believing that, owing to the interruptions occasioned
by the Firths of Tay and Forth, the eastern line can
never become the principal trunk line of communication
between Scotland and England. In the event of the
Caledonian and Scottish Central lines being sanctioned
by Parliament, the traffic of Glasgow, and of the whole
of the northern, western, and central portions of Scot-
land with England, would pass principally by way of
Carlisle and the western route; and if the Trent or
Churnet Valley lines should be constructed, the distance
even from Edinburgh to London would be almost as
short by the western as by the shortest of the proposed
eastern routes.
The existing through traffic to London that would pass
over a more direct London and York line, is stated not
to amount to more than about 97,0004 a year ; and al-
though this amount may probably be increased by the
opening of new lines between Newcastle and Edinburgh,
yet, on the other hand, it must be remembered that a
larger proportion of the existing Scotch traffic now comes
up by way of Newcastle than can be expected to do so
ultimately, when both the eastern and western lines of
eommuuication are completed.
On the whole, therefore, we are not of opinion that
the probable importance or amount of the through traffic
between London and York would be sufficient to justify
an expenditure of several millions for the sole object of
shortening this communication by a few miles. At the
same time we consider it obviously desirable, for na-
tional as well as for commercial purposes, that the whole
railway communications of the metropolis with the
northern portions of the kingdom should not depend
upon a single trunk line ; and that, consequently, the
opportunity should be embraced now which presents it-
self of obtaining a good second trunk line to the north,
by a combination which at the same time provides for
the local and lateral communications of the eastern
counties.
These general considerations appear to us to be suffi-
cient to narrow the question considerably, by the ex-
clusion of two of the principal schemes which enter into
competition.
The Direet Northern, considered as an integral
scheme between London and York, has been projected
mainly with a view to the attainment of the shortest
practicable route between the termini, to which object
the local accommodation of the district traversed has
been considered as secondary. Should Parliament be of
opinion that the construction of the most direct line be-
tween London and York ought to be considered as a
paramount object, the integral scheme of the Direct
Northern would deserve a preference. It reduces the
distance to 1761 miles, being 42 miles shorter than by the
existing route, and 91 miles shorter than by the proposed
London and York line. But for the reasons already
stated, we do not consider that a slight saving of dis-
tance between London and York would be a sufficient
compensation for neglecting the local accommodation of
the intermediate districts ; nor do we think that it
would justify the outlay of capital requisite for the con-
struction of such a trunk line as the Direct Northern.
On the other hand, the scheme of the Midland Rail-
way Company from Swinton by Lincoln, Boston, Spald-
ing, and Wisbeach, to March, is open to the opposite
objection, that it entirely sacrifices the object of attain-
ing a tolerably good second line of communication from
London northwards. As part of a trunk line to York,
it is obviously inadmissible, since it would make the dis-
tance as circuitous as by the existing route by way of
Rugby, while, as a more local line, although in itself it
might be useful, it is too long and expensive, and com-
petes too much with any possible trunk line through the
same district, to be allowed to stand independently. An
inspection of the map will be sufficient to show that its
extension is altogether incompatible with that of the
Cambridge and Lincoln line, to which it would be a di-
rectly competing line for the greater part of its course,
while, as compared with the London and York scheme,
it would merely be an expensive substitute for the
" loop" or second line of that scheme, which diverges at
Peterborough and joins the main line again at Lincoln.
Even apart from other schemes, and considered merely
with reference to local purposes, this scheme also,
although in some respects it would be advantageous,
would obviously be insufficient, since it merely skirts
the coast from Boston southwards, and affords no ac-
commodation to the important agricultural districts of
the interior.
We shall at once assume, therefore, that the question
may be narrowed by the exclusion of the Midland scheme,
and of the Direct Northern, considered as an integral
scheme, and that the comparison rests between the Lon-
don and York, and the Cambridge and Lincoln, in con-
nexion with some scheme for completing the communi-
cation from Lincoln to York ; those two schemes alone
complying with what we consider to be the indispen-
sable requisite of uniting the two objects of promoting
local accommodation, and of affording a good trunk line.
As regards the latter object, we are of opinion that
the merits of the two schemes are very equally balanced,
and that either would afford a very good trunk line be-
tween London and York. The distance from London to
York, by the London and York scheme, is 186 miles ;
by the Cambridge and Lincoln (in connexion with the
northern portion of the Direct Northern, and with the
Tottenham and Farringdon-street Extension, which is
proposed as part of this combination), it would be 1951
miles ; the difference in favour of the London and York 1
being 91 miles. But on the one hand, the gradients of
the Cambridgeroute are very superior ; and on the other
the terminus at Farringdon-street is nearer to the Bank,
the Post-office, and Charing-cross, than that of the
London and York Railway at King's-cross. The main
line of the London and York has two miles of its length
at an inclination of 1 in 100, to 1 in 110 ; and 51i miles
at an inclination of 1 in 181, to 1 in 200 ; with 4• miles
of tunnelling ; while the whole of the proposed line from
Cambridge to York has no plane so steep as I in 200,
and oaly five short planes, whose united length amounts
to 51 miles, steeper than 1 in 250 ; while for the greater
part of its course it is practically level.
Although the gradients of the London and York line
are for moderate lengths, and have nothing in themselves
that can be considered as objectionable, it is evident, that
as compared with the extraordinarily good gradients of
the Cambridge route, they detract from the advantage
in respect of absolute distance.
Recent experience has shown upon the Brighton Rail-
way, that a train may b© worked regularly with safety

17 35 I.=-0,000
43 - 270,000

47 62 750,000

42 24 635,000