(Second Pilgrimage.)
CHEMIN DE MER—CHEMIN DE FER.
A short run of fourteen hours from the Tower, on a road as smooth as that of the Great Western Railway, deposited us safely at Ostende—a kind of flat and fortified Gravesend, where John Bull, as far as tongue and table are concerned, is as much at home as if he were in Deptford or Greenwich. At six in the morning, every thing is bustle among the baggage, and it requires half a dozen omnibuses to convey travellers, trunks, clothes-bags and band-boxes from the hotels to the station. And here I would advise every passenger to mark the destination on every package, and take care of the receipt ticket, otherwise he may find, on his arrival at Brussels, Liege, or Antwerp, that his luggage has travelled to quite a different quarter, requiring a “reclamation” to be sent along the lines, and perhaps two or three days’ delay! One of my trunks, and that too, the one containing the “sinews of war,” was “absent without leave,” when I reached Brussels, and was afterwards found lying in the office at Ghent!
Short as was our passage to the Station by the omnibus, it gave rise to a warm discussion respecting this very convenient and economical vehicle, which was considered by one of the party as a great recent improvement on hackneys, cabs, and stage-coaches. An Irish Tutor, however, who was one of the company, maintained that the omnibus was in common use more than two thousand years ago, in every country between the banks of the Ganges and the pillars of Hercules. This was so startling an assertion that the gentleman was called on for proof. “That I will give,” said he, “from the tenth Satire of Juvenal, which commences thus:”—
“OMNIBUS in terris quæ sunt à gadibus usque
Auroram et gangem.”——
The cockneys stared at each other, and one or two gentlemen laughed most immoderately. The Domine proceeded to translate the passage for the benefit of the ladies, and others who might not possess a knowledge of the dead languages.
“Omnibus in terris” there are OMNIBUSES in all countries, “quæ sunt,” that lie, “a gadibus,” between Cadiz, “auroram et gangem” and the banks of the Ganges.
This ingenious distortion of the celebrated passage in Juvenal, was delivered with such assumed gravity and apparent honesty, that it carried conviction to nine-tenths of the passengers, and those few who detected the sophistry, were so much pleased with the joke, that they applauded the learning of the Theban. Nor would it have been very easy to prove that he was literally wrong. “Omnibus” was in use wherever the latin language prevailed; and though not specifically designed as a vehicle for passengers and luggage, it was employed to carry all kinds of things—hence the application of it to the modern and very useful Noah’s Ark on four wheels.