in my rambles, did I ever chance to meet
with another family of the same species, or
with kindred habits.

THE QUEEN'S TOBACCO-PIPE.

WE have seen pipes of all sorts and sizes in
our time. In Germany, where the finest
cnaster is but twenty-pence a pound, and
excellent leaf-tobacco only five-pence, we have
seen pipes that resembled actual furnaces
compared with the general race of pipes, and
have known a man smoke out half a pound
of cnaster and drink a gallon of beer at a
sitting. But this is perfectly pigmy work
when compared with the royal pipe and
consumptive tobacco power of Victoria of
England. The Queen's pipe is, beyond all
controversy—for we have seen it—  equal to any
other thousand pipes that can be produced
from the pipial stores of this smoking world.
She has not only an attendant to present it
whenever she may call for it, but his orders
are to have it always in the most admirable
smoking state — always lighted, without regard
to the quantity of  tobacco it may consume; and,
accordingly, her pipe is constantly kept
smoking day and night without a moment's
intermission, and there are, besides the grand
pipe-master, a number of attendants
incessantly employed in seeking the most suitable
tobacco, and bringing it to the grand-master.
There is no species of tobacco which the
Queen has not in her store-room. Shag,
pigtail, Cavendish, Manilla, Havanna, cigars,
cheroots, negrohead every possible species of
nicotian, she gives a trial to, by way of variety.
A single cigar she holds in as much contempt
as a lion would a fly by way of mouthful. We
have seen her grand-master drop whole
handfuls of Havannas at once into her pipe, and
after them as many Cubas.

It may abate the wonder of the reader at
this stupendous smoking power of the Queen,
if we admit, as must, indeed, have become
apparent in the course of our remarks, that
the Queen performs her smoking, as she does
many of her other royal acts, by the hands of
her servants. In truth, to speak candidly,
the Queen never smokes at all, except through
her servants. And this will appear very
likely, when we describe the actual size of her
royal pipe. It is, indeed, of most imperial
dimensions. The head alone is so large, that
while its heel rests on the floor of her cellar,
its top reaches out of the roof. We speak a
literal fact, as any one who procures an order
for the purpose may convince himself by
actual inspection. We are sure that the quantity
of tobacco which is required to supply it must
amount to some tons in the year. Nay, so
considerable is it, that ships are employed
specially to bring over this tobacco, and these
ships have a dock of one acre in extent at the
port of London entirely for their exclusive
reception. In a word, the Queen's Tobacco-
pipe, its dimensions, its attendance, its supply
and consumption of tobacco, are without any
parallel in any age or any nation.

If we have raised any wonder in the breasts
of our readers, we shall not diminish that
wonder by some further explanations regarding
this extraordinary pipe; if we have
raised any incredulity, what we are now about
to add will at once extinguish it.

The Queen's Tobacco-pipe, then, is a furnace
built in the very centre of the great Tobacco
Warehouse at the London Docks. This
furnace is kept for the purpose of consuming all
the damaged tobacco which comes into port.
As the warehouse is the Queen's Warehouse,
the furnace is really termed the Queen's Pipe;
and all that we have related of it is literally
true, and is, in itself and all the circumstances
connected with it, one of the most remarkable
things in this country.

If any one would form anything like an
adequate conception of the wonders of London,
and of the power and wealth of this country,
he should pay a visit to the London Docks.
After having traversed the extent, and
amazed himself at the myriad population, the
intense activity, the stupendous affluence, and
the endless variety of works going on in this
capital of the globe, he will, on arriving at
the Docks, feel a fresh and boundless astonishment.
From near the Tower all the way to
Blackwall, a distance of four miles, he will
find it a whole world of Docks. The mass of
shipping, the extent of vast  warehouses, many
of them five and seven stories high, all crowded
with ponderous heaps of merchandise from
every region of the globe, have nothing like it
besides in the world, and never have had.
The enormous wealth here collected is
perfectly overwhelming to the imagination.

If the spectator first enter St. Katherine's
Docks, he finds them occupying twenty-three
acres, with water capable of  accommodating
one hundred and twenty ships, and
warehouses of holding one hundred and ten
thousand tons of goods; the capital of the company
alone exceeding two millions of pounds.
Proceeding to the London Docks, properly so
called, there he will find an extent of more
than one hundred acres, offering water for
five hundred ships, and warehouse-room for
two hundred and thirty-four thousand tons of
goods; the capital of the company amounting
to four millions of pounds. The West India
Docks next present themselves, being three
times as extensive as the London Docks,
having an area of no less than two hundred
and ninety-five acres, with water to accommodate
four hundred vessels, and warehouse-
room for one hundred and eighty thousand
tons of merchandise; the capital of the
company is more than six millions of pounds, and
the value of goods which have been on the
premises at one time twenty millions. Lastly,
the East India Docks occupy thirty-two acres,
and afford warehouse-room for fifteen
thousand tons of goods.

The whole of these Docks occupying four