would be suffered to proceed further without a permit from the Mayor. The "cars" at all events did not run on that day; and having journeyed three days and as many nights without sleep, and part of the time under a scorching sun, which the wood-work of the carriages seemed only to intensify, I was glad of a halting-place, and accordingly adjourned, with a number of officers and other travelling companions, to the Norvell House.

After breakfast I strolled into one of the neighbouring churches, belonging, from what I subsequently learnt, to the Presbyterian denomination. The congregation was large and decorous, the scripture selections and hymns appropriate, but the tenor of the discourse was most unbecoming. Indeed, nothing could have been less appropriate to the occasion. The minister of the Gospel of Peace blew the trumpet of slaughter, and harangued his audience in a strain more suited to a general rallying and stimulating his armed hosts to battle! In the evening I visited cavalry and infantry camps-beautifully situated, not far from the city, on a high elevation, in an extensive park thickly covered with pine-trees, and commanding a fine view of distant mountain scenery. I was politely received by the commanding officers, Colonels Rudford and Rieves, ex-minister to Belgium. Altogether, the troops numbered 1,635

UNEXPECTED VISITORS.

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rank and file. The cavalry expected to be drafted off in a few days to Fairfax Court-house, where an emeute was anticipated. The appearance of the men was admirable, and they all seemed in high spirits. Here and there groups of soldiers and their friends were collected. Violins were brought into requisition, and one party struck up the national and lively air, "I wish I was in Dixie,” which was accompanied by a number of voices. The camp fires, which burnt brightly around as the shades of night were falling, lent a magical effect to the scene.

I returned to the hôtel and proceeded to my chamber, feeling that repose had become necessary after such protracted fatigue. About midnight, however, I was disturbed by the tramp of feet and the sound of voices on the stairs. Suddenly the door of my room was unceremoniously thrown open, when an officer of the Confederate army, the chief of police, and several stout men, armed with formidable clubs, (who were regaling themselves by smoking cigars), entered, followed by a bevy of "darkies" bearing lights, altogether making up a formidable procession. I was somewhat startled, for it was clear that I was a "suspected" character. They remained in my apartment fully three-quarters of an hour, inspecting letters and asking questions, one of which was,

"How did you get here?" To which I curtly replied, "By the 'cars!" After making sundry explanations, and assuring them of my good intentions, my unwelcome visitors departed, greatly mortified, no doubt, that their sagacity turned out to be stupidity; so I was left to enjoy slumber as best I might. At five o'clock next morning, the Mayor attended at the railway depôt, and I had great difficulty, notwithstanding the production of my Foreign Office passport, and letters of introduction to President Davis, and the Attorneygeneral, in convincing him that my object in Richmond was as innocent as I had asserted. After many urgent remonstrances, I was suffered to depart in peace. A lieutenant of the Confederate army, meanwhile, had kindly proposed to pass me to my destination with his men, who were just proceeding onwards. Had the Mayor continued obstinate in his determination, I certainly should have seized so opportune a means of outwitting municipal authority.

I shall now, en passant, revert to the flourishing town of Lynchburg, situated in the county of Campbell, named in honour of General William Campbell, a distinguished officer of the American Revolution. On the south bank of the James River, in the midst of bold and beautiful scenery, within view of the famous Blue Ridge and the

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Peaks of Otter, Lynchburg is situated. The town, which occupies a steep declivity, was first established in 1786, when forty-five acres of land, the property of one John Lynch, were appropriated to this purpose. Lynch's father was an Irish emigrant, who took up land here before the Revolution. He resided at Chesnut Hill, afterwards the seat of Judge Winston, about two miles distant. Upon the death of Lynch, senior, the present site of Lynchburg became entailed to his son John, who did much to establish and extend the town. The original founder, however, was a Quaker, who died a quarter of a century back, at a very advanced age. When the town was formed it contained but a single house, which occupied the site where the toll-house to the bridge now stands. A few tobacco warehouses and two or three stores were thereupon built, under the hill, from which time the growth of the place has slowly but continuously progressed. Lynchburg now contains a population of 8,000, thirty tobacco factories and stemmeries, iron foundries, flouring-mills, and a cotton factory operating 1,400 spindles, besides handsome stores and excellent hôtels. It possesses also a magnificent line of canal, extending to Richmond, a distance of one hundred and forty-seven miles, which opens to the former city the brightest era

which has yet dawned upon her fortunes, capable of furnishing an ample thoroughfare for the countless produce and merchandize of the western and southwestern parts of the State, as well as for that of Tennessee, Alabama, and adjoining States. But the Lynchburg water-works really possess much interest. They were constructed in 1828-29, at a cost of 50,000l., and the laying of the corner stone was celebrated by civic, masonic, and military ceremonies. None of similar magnitude have been attempted in Virginia.

During the halcyon days of Lynchburg, and when it was the centre of fashionable resort, a speculative "Yankee" adventurer, as the story goes, purchased a plot of ground contiguous to the town. He dug a well on the premises, supposed to have yielded a strong mineral water, similar, it was considered, to the celebrated springs in the mountain region. The announcement of the discovery caused some excitement. Visitors tried the water, and found it different in colour and taste to what that fluid generally is. The report of its virtues spread rapidly, and numerous invalids resorted to the yellow fountain at sunrise. Even the Faculty recommended the use of the water, especially to patients whose diseases were imaginary. Its good effects were felt or fancied, so long as it was drunk in moderation and at an