On July 28, 1835, a diabolical attempt was made in Paris to shoot Louis-Philippe, king of the French. The assassin, whose name was Fieschi, constructed an infernal machine, consisting of twenty-five barrels, charged with various kinds of missiles, and lighted simultaneously by a train of gunpowder. The machine was fired from a window as the King rode along the lines of the National Guard, on the Boulevard du Temple, accompanied by his three sons and suite. The King and his sons escaped, but Marshal Mortier was shot dead and many officers were dangerously wounded. Amongst the spectators upwards of forty persons were killed or injured. In its number for August 9, 1835, the _Observer_ gave a sketch of the attempted assassination, a portrait of the criminal, and a representation of the infernal machine. The actual infernal machine, with a waxen effigy of Fieschi, formed for many years a prominent attraction at Madame Tussaud's Exhibition. The reign of William IV. was a short one, and soon the _Observer_ had to illustrate his funeral, as it had done that of his predecessor. The number for July 3, 1837, contained three engravings of the royal obsequies, and ere long the brief rule of the Sailor King was forgotten in the dawning glories of the Victorian era. The epoch of railways was opening. The Greenwich Railway was the first railway out of London, and the next was the North-Western, or the London and Birmingham as it was then called. On July 24, 1837, the _Observer_ published a large woodcut of the 'Grand entrance to the London and Birmingham Railway at Euston Square.' Mr. Hardwick's massive structure was then in progress, and formed the entrance to the first of the great London railway stations--vast buildings, some of which have swallowed up whole streets, and contributed greatly to alter the appearance of London in their vicinity. [Illustration: GERARD, _ALIAS_ FIESCHI, AND THE INFERNAL MACHINE. FROM THE 'OBSERVER,' AUGUST 9, 1835.] On July 24, 1837, a balloon ascended from Vauxhall with a parachute attached, in which was Mr. Cocking, who in descending was killed. The _Observer_ published illustrations of this event, which excited great interest at the time. Other papers illustrated Mr. Cocking's death, which I will recount more at length when I come to treat of the _Weekly Chronicle_, which contained more illustrations of the event than any other paper. A large engraving appeared in the _Observer_ for August 20, 1837, representing the Waterloo shield, given by Lord George Bentinck, and run for at Goodwood Races, 1837.