and four were Lady Caroline Barrington, Lady Superintendent; the Marchioness of Ely, Lady in Waiting; Viscount Torrington, Lord in Waiting; and General Lord Strathnairn, G.C.B., Gold Stick in Waiting. A fourth carriage and four was occupied by the Duchess of Roxburgh, Lady of the Bedchamber, who on this occasion acted for the Mistress of the Robes; Viscount Sydney, G.C.B., Lord Chamberlain; the Marquis of Ailesbury, K.G., Master of the Horse; and Colonel the Hon. D. F. De Ros, Equerry in Waiting. Next came the first portion of the escort of the 2nd Life Guards, then two of the Royal outriders, and then the Queen's carriage, drawn by six horses, and followed by the rest of the escort. The horses of the five carriages were magnificent, and the outriders, postillions, and footmen were all in their scarlet liveries. The carriages were open barouches. Princess Louisa took her seat by the side of her Majesty, and Prince Leopold and the Princess Beatrice sat opposite. As the Life Guards, with their shining helmets, white plumes, and bright cuirasses, rode out of the station and the carriages turned into the open street, the volunteer band played the National Anthem, and the multitude outside raised a ringing cheer of welcome. Her Majesty appeared to be in excellent health and spirits. She was in deep mourning, and wore a miniver muff and collar; Princess Louisa wore a dark-coloured silk dress and a bonnet trimmed with magenta; and Princess Beatrice a light dress, with a hat and white ostrich-feather. Prince Leopold was in Highland costume, with a plaid of the Stuart tartan. All the Queen's servants had a mourning band of crape on one arm.

In every street through which the Royal carriages passed, on their way from Paddington, crowds of people welcomed the Queen with cheers, and many windows were occupied by ladies, who exhibited their loyalty by waving handkerchiefs. The carriages were driven through London-street, Oxford-terrace, and Westbourneterrace to Hyde Park, which they entered by the Victoria Gate. In Hyde Park and at the Corner, several thousand persons were waiting, and there was a loud cheer as her Majesty and suite passed under the triumphal arch. Thence the route lay down Constitutionhill and through St. James's Park. Here an escort of the 9th Lancers took the place of the Life Guards, and when the Queen reached the archway at the Horse Guards the mounted band played the National Anthem. Along Whitehall and Parliament-street the crowd was not remarkably dense, but at Westminster Bridge there were some thousands of spectators, and the hearty cheers which greeted the Royal visitor were led by the boys of the Westminster School, who had taken their position within the enclosure of Palace-yard.

Her Majesty then crossed Westminster Bridge, which was well filled with people, and proceeded by way of York-road and Stamfordstreet to the Bridge.

The special preparations for the reception of her Majesty upon the Bridge itself consisted chiefly of the galleries along one side,

provided to accommodate spectators, and the pavilion, at the Surrey end, where the Queen was to be met by the Lord Mayor, the Sheriffs, and the other representatives of the City Corporation. The galleries, which extended along the whole eastern side of the Bridge, and for some seventy or eighty yards at the north end of the western side, were light timber structures roofed with waterproof felt, and draped with scarlet and white cloth. They afforded accommodation for five rows of seats, and all the places were occupied by ladies and gentlemen who had been fortunate enough to obtain tickets. The kerbstone of the side pavement was studded at intervals with handsome evergreens in large pots, and the footway was for a considerable part of its extent occupied by the guards of honour, furnished by the Coldstream Guards and the 49th Middlesex or Post Office Volunteers. To complete the decorations, poles had been erected at short intervals upon the temporary wooden bridge, which, being a useful but inelegant structure, was hidden from sight; and from these poles flags and bannerets of all nations, and of all colours and combinations of colours, waved in the morning breeze. The roadway of the Bridge had been covered with several inches of fine gravel. The Royal pavilion, which was erected about thirty yards within the substantial gates, placed at the southern end of the Bridge, was constructed in a simple, but effective style. It was 80 ft. in length, and, extending across the entire width of the roadway, afforded seats for a considerable number of visitors. Tickets for all these had been issued by the committee which had charge of the arrangements, but many places remained unoccupied throughout the morning. Externally this pavilion was decorated in white and gold. The southern entrance was divided into three festooned divisions, those to the right and left being hung with scarlet and white curtains of a light, but handsome material; while the centre, which was the width of the roadway left for the passage of the Queen, was closed with heavy drapery of the richest maroon cloth, edged and ornamented with Greek key-pattern gold lace. The pilasters and entablature were of pearl white, relieved by a moulding of gold; and the high-pitched roof was edged with a parapet of scarlet cloth drapery. In the centre were the City arms, surrounded by an admirably-designed trophy of flags. At the southern end of the apex of the roof fluttered the civic banner, with its white field, and blood-red cross and dagger. At the corners were other banners bearing the well-known plume of feathers of the Prince of Wales, and the Danish national colours, in honour of the Princess. The pavilion was draped with red and white hangings. Through the centre of the pavilion ran the road by which the carriages of the Lord Mayor and the City officials, as well as those of her Majesty and her suite, were to pass on to the Bridge. The space on the western side of the road was devoted exclusively to the accommodation of spectators. In the centre of the eastern side a handsome dais, covered with crimson cloth, had been prepared for the reception of the chief actors in the brief ceremonial of the

no doubt that the signal-man did accidentally affect the points, and it was certainly possible for him to do so. I cannot say he did it, but somebody did, and recently on another line it was done by a boy who happened to be in the signal-box. Means have lately been invented to prevent the points from being shifted while a train is passing through them. I first saw such an invention on this Great Northern Railway, but there was no such thing in this signal-box. I consider the speed of twenty-five miles an hour quite safe on the main line, and the rule which orders men to slacken to ten or twelve miles an hour on approaching junctions might safely be struck out of the books, so far as this part of the main line is concerned. The signal-man must have reversed the points as the train went through them, and must have got them clean over, a thing which I never knew perfectly done before, and which accounts for the little damage done to the rails. He might have moved them at first unconsciously, but could not have moved them back unconsciously. I must disbelieve his evidence or that of my own senses. It is evident the man was very hasty. His strict duty was not to let the Hertford train out by signal from Hatfield till the last carriage of the accident train had passed his box. The tail had not passed. The junction never was clear. His literal duty was not to telegraph the line clear until it was clear, and he did not wait for that. I have known cases where trains have been signalled as arrived before they were within 100 yards."

The Coroner carefully summed up, leaving the jury to decide whether the accident occurred from any defect in the train, or from something that was done to the points. In the latter case they must decide whether the signal-man altered the points accidentally, or with such a degree of gross negligence as would amount to manslaughter.

The jury, after deliberating for half an hour, found a verdict that the accident resulted from the accidental shunting of the points by the pointsman while the train was going over. They added a recommendation that an independent line should be made from Hatfield to Hertford.

29. FUNERAL OF LORD DERBY.-The Earl of Derby was buried at Knowsley Church. The funeral was strictly private, in accordance with the late Earl's written instructions, which prescribed for his last obsequies a style of modest and orderly propriety-the customary funeral of a wealthy English gentleman, attended only by his sorrowing kinsmen, his domestic servants, and a few persons connected with his private life, or with the management of his household and of his large estates.

The church was occupied by an expectant congregation. In the centre of the nave was the opening of the vault, the sides of which were also draped with black, the sombre hue being relieved by a rim of white along the edges. The church is so small that, even if all the seats had remained in their original position, it could not have afforded room for more than 300 visitors, and there was space

for but 250 on this day. Only those were admitted who had received cards and were dressed in mourning, and not a tenth part of the claimants for admission could be satisfied. By half-past eleven all the seats, except those allotted to the mourners, were filled, and in solemn silence the visitors waited for the coming of the funeral procession. It was curious to notice the people who were there doing honour to the memory of the Earl. They were manifestly the parishioners who had been connected with Lord Derby by something like a personal tie. They seemed to be, for the most part, simple village folk; and the homage which they were paying to the memory of the deceased nobleman was none the less impressive. During the time of waiting the wailing of the organ broke the solemn stillness; and when the organ was silent there was borne on the ear the faint, slow notes of a muffled bell.

At Knowsley Hall itself all was quiet up to the hour of noon, when the hearse, decorated with plumes and the armorial bearings of the house of Stanley, drew up at the west front. Following the hearse were eight mourning-coaches. The remains were enclosed in three coffins-the first of oak, made from a fine tree grown on the estate, the second of lead, and the third of oak covered with rich crimson velvet, with the necessary furniture gilt. Both the last coffins bore an Earl's coronet and the following inscription :-" The Right Hon. Sir Edward Geoffrey Stanley, fourteenth Earl of Derby, Baron Stanley of Bickerstaffe, and a Baronet, K.G., P.C. Born March 29, 1799. Died Oct. 23, 1869." When these had been placed in the hearse the funeral procession was formed. Preceding the hearse were a number of mutes, his Lordship's valet bearing the coronet on a cushion of crimson velvet, and following it were the eight mourning-carriages-the first containing Lord Stanley (now Earl of Derby) as chief mourner, the Hon. F. A. Stanley, Colonel the Hon. Charles Stanley, and Captain Stanley. The other mourners were Colonel Long, the Hon. Colonel Wilbraham (Lady Derby's brother), the Rev. Mr. Hopwood (brother-in-law to the late Earl); the Rev. Mr. Hopwood, jun.; Mr. Arthur Hopwood, Mr. Charles Hopwood, the Earl of Wilton, Viscount Grey de Wilton, Mr. Penrhyn, the Rev. Mr. Penrhyn, the Rev. Mr. Champneys, Lord Skelmersdale, Rear-Admiral Hornby, the Rev. Mr. Hornby, Mr. Edmund Hornby, Lord Hyde, Drs. Miller and Gorst (the late Earl's medical attendants); Mr. Lawrence, solicitor to the Knowsley estate; and Messrs. Hale, Moult, Statter, William Moult, and Holme, agents to the estate. About fifty servants followed the carriages on foot, all of course clad in deep mourning. The late Earl's brother, the Hon. Henry Thomas Stanley, was prevented by severe illness from attending the funeral.

The hearse was drawn by four horses, and each carriage by four horses caparisoned in sombre velvet bearing the armorial escutcheons. A limited number of tenants who had been admitted into the park joined the procession at intervals, and outside Knowsley Lodge, where the Knowsley-road joins the Ormskirk-road, a vast crowd of

rushing up the hatchway too plainly told what had occurred. There was no loud report, nor any thing else to indicate that at that very moment eight human beings had been hurried into eternity, and eleven others more or less seriously injured. Yet such was the fact. On the steam clearing away from the engine-room a truly horrible sight presented itself. The bodies of the dead, as well as those of the injured, lay just as they fell when overtaken by the destructive blast. At this time, of course, the chief endeavour was to get the wounded living men on deck, and very opportunely a private steamtug, named the "Rescue," belonging to Gravesend, the crew of which perceived that something was amiss on board the "Thistle," ranged up alongside, and her master (Forbes), in the most praiseworthy manner, consented to convey the injured men into Sheerness harbour. They were landed at the Cornwallis jetty, and at once taken to the sick-bay of the Naval Barracks in the dockyard. Captain the Hon. A. A. Cochrane, C.B., superintendent of the yard, directed that every attention should be shown the wounded men, and his instructions were fully carried out under the superintendence of Commander Silverlock, R.N., Dr. Forbes, R.N., and others. Three of the more severely injured-viz. Messrs. J. Anderson, G. Whalebone, jun., and Edward Mason-were taken on landing to the Military Hospital, where every thing possible was done to alleviate their sufferings by Dr. Reid, R.A., and Dr. Prescott, R.A. There was, however, but little hope of their lives, and the poor fellows gradually sank and died. In the mean time the "Rescue " was once more steered to the disabled vessel, and returned to the harbour, bearing the bodies of Messrs. J. Knight, W. H. Roberts, E. C. Scorrer, and J. Smithers, engineers, and those of Joseph Lawrence, John Timson, John Daer, George Russell, and Robert Robertson, all of whom were killed on board. Later in the evening the tug went out to the Mouse Light, near which the "Thistle" lay at anchor, and with the assistance of a second tug towed her into the harbour.

The high-pressure boiler was placed in midships, between the two condensers, and an investigation showed that one of the plates had cracked to an extent sufficient to allow the whole of the steam to escape, as it were, with one rush. The volume, having no other vent from the stokehole than by way of the engine-room, and hatchway leading therefrom, instantly enveloped the whole of the unfortunate men in super-heated steam, killing the eight abovementioned, and seriously injuring every one else in the engine-room. There was no time for these to escape from either death or injury. One of the least hurt-Mr. John Edgar, engineer-student-gave the following account of the catastrophe:-He was attending the counters, and was standing in the centre of the engine-room. Mr. Smithers was close to him, and the men Daer and Mason were watching the indicators. Suddenly, without any warning, and unaccompanied by any noise, he found himself surrounded with what he termed a flash of "white light." This was as suddenly succeeded by total darkness. He jumped, or was carried, over the starting