hackney-coach, and drove immediately to the spot, which was covered
by much the largest concourse of people I had ever seen together in my
life. We were hailed with the most deafening shouts, and, with some
considerable difficulty, we were driven to the summit of the hill,
surrounded by the multitude. Upon inquiry where the hustings were, I
found that nothing had been done or thought of towards the erecting of
them. In this dilemma I mounted upon the top of the hackney-coach, and
was immediately followed by the Doctor and another person, which person,
without further ceremony, hoisted a tricoloured flag, _red, white,_
and _green!_ The bearer of this flag was no less a personage than the
notorious Mr. JOHN CASTLES, a gemman that I had never seen before. I
soon found that it was impossible to address such an immense multitude
from such a situation as that of the top of a coach, and as the wind
blew very sharp, our birth was a very disagreeable one. While we were
looking round for a better situation, we were hailed by some gentlemen
from the window of a house in the neighbouring row, and a young person,
whom I afterwards found to be Mr. William Clark, having made his way to
the coach, invited me to enter the house opposite, and to address the
multitude from the window; and, as the party who were assembled in
that room still kept beckoning me to join them, I readily assented. We
dismounted and followed Mr. Clark, who led us up stairs into the front
room of the Merlin's Cave public-house, which I afterwards found had
been taken by, and was partly occupied by, the Magistrates, accompanied
by a number of the officers of the police and the reporters of the
public press. The sashes were immediately removed from the window, and I
presented myself to the assembled multitude amidst universal shouts of
applause. I found myself surrounded by strangers, there being scarcely a
man in the room I had ever before seen, with the exception of Mr. Clark
and some of the reporters of the public press. I proposed that Mr. Clark
should take the chair, which proposal was seconded, and carried by