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A GENTLEMAN of credit and of average
ability, whose name we have permission to
publish—Mr. Lost, of the Maze, Ware— was
recently desirous to make a certain journey in
England. Previous to entering on this excursion,
which we believe had a commercial object
(though Mr. Lost has for some years retired
from business as a Woolstapler, having been
succeeded in 1831 by his son who now carries
on the firm of Lost and Lost, in the old-
established premises at Stratford on Avon,
Warwickshire, where it may be interesting to
our readers to know that he married, in 1834,
a Miss Shakespeare, supposed to be a lineal
descendant of the immortal bard,) it was
necessary that Mr. Lost should come to
London, to adjust some unsettled accounts
with a merchant in the Borough, arising out
of a transaction in Hops. His Diary
originating on the day previous to his leaving home
is before us, and we shall present its rather
voluminous information to our readers in a
condensed form: endeavouring to extract its
essence only.

It would appear that Mrs. Lost had a decided
objection to her husband's undertaking the
journey in question. She observed, " that he
had much better stay at home, and not go
and make a fool of himself "—which she seems
to have had a strong presentiment that he
would ultimately do. A young person in their
employ as confidential domestic, also protested
against his intention, remarking " that Master
warn't the man as was fit for Railways, and
Railways warn't the spearses as was fit for
Master." Mr. Lost, however, adhering to his
purpose, in spite of these dissuasions, Mrs.
Lost made no effort (as she might easily have
done with perfect success) to restrain him by
force. But, she stipulated with Mr. Lost, that
he should purchase an Assurance Ticket of
the Railway Passengers' Assurance Company,
entitling his representatives to three thousand
pounds in case of the worst. It was also
understood that in the event of his failing to
write home by any single night's post, he
would be advertised in the Times, at full
length, next day.

These satisfactory preliminaries concluded,

Mr. Lost sent out the confidential domestic
(Mary Anne Mag by name, and born of poor
but honest parents) to purchase a Railway
Guide. This document was the first shock
in connexion with his extraordinary journey
which Mr. Lost and family received. For, on
referring to the Index, to ascertain how Ware
stood in reference to the Railways of the
United Kingdom and the Principality of
Wales, they encountered the following
mysterious characters:

WARE TU . . . . . . . . 6

No farther information could be obtained.
They thought of page six, but there was no
such page in the book, which had the sportive
eccentricity of beginning at page eight. In
desperate remembrance of the dark
monosyllable TU, they turned to the " classification
of Railways," but found nothing there, under
the letter T except " Taff Vale and Aberdare"
—and who (as the confidential domestic said)
could ever want them! Mr. Lost has placed
it on record that his " brain reeled " when he
glanced down the page, and found himself, in
search of Ware, wandering among such names
as Ravenglass, Bootle, and Sprouston.

Reduced to the necessity of proceeding to
London by turnpike-road, Mr. Lost made the
best of his way to the metropolis in his own
one-horse chaise, which he then dismissed in
charge of his man, George Flay, who had
accompanied him for that purpose. Proceeding
to Southwark, he had the satisfaction of
finding that the total of his loss upon the
Hop transaction did not exceed three hundred
and forty-seven pounds, four shillings, and
twopence halfpenny. This, he justly regarded
as, on the whole, a success for an amateur in
that promising branch of speculation; in
commemoration of his good fortune, he gave a
plain but substantial dinner to the Hop
Merchant and two friends at Tom's Coffee House
on Ludgate Hill.

He did not sleep at that house of
entertainment, but repaired in a hackney cab
(No. 482) to the Euston Hotel, adjoining the
terminus of the North-Western Railway.
On the following morning his remarkable
adventures may be considered to have

It appears that with a view to the farther
prosecution of his contemplated journey, it
was, in the first place, necessary for Mr. Lost
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