diff --git a/dataset/persistence/database.py b/dataset/persistence/database.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c7a8814
--- /dev/null
+++ b/dataset/persistence/database.py
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+import logging
+from threading import RLock
+
+from sqlalchemy import create_engine
+from migrate.versioning.util import construct_engine
+from sqlalchemy.pool import NullPool
+
+log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+
+class Database(object):
+
+    def __init__(self, url):
+        kw = {}
+        if url.startswith('postgres'):
+            kw['poolclass'] = NullPool
+        engine = create_engine(url, **kw)
+        self.lock = RLock()
+        self.url = url
+        self.engine = construct_engine(engine)
+        self.metadata = MetaData()
+        self.metadata.bind = self.engine
+        self.tables = {}
+        self.indexes = {}
+
+    @classmethod
+    def connect(self, url):
+        return Database(url)
+
+
+    def __repr__(self):
+        return '<Database(%s)>' % self.url
+
+
+
diff --git a/dataset/schema.py b/dataset/schema.py
index 281acec..40b5d19 100644
--- a/dataset/schema.py
+++ b/dataset/schema.py
@@ -1,32 +1,13 @@
 import logging
 from datetime import datetime
 from collections import defaultdict
-from threading import RLock
 
-from sqlalchemy import create_engine
 from sqlalchemy import Integer, UnicodeText, Float, DateTime, Boolean
 from sqlalchemy.schema import Table, MetaData, Column, Index
 from sqlalchemy.sql import and_, expression
-from migrate.versioning.util import construct_engine
 
 log = logging.getLogger(__name__)
-lock = RLock()
 
-def connect(url):
-    """ Create an engine for the given database URL. """
-    kw = {}
-    if url.startswith('postgres'):
-        #kw['pool_size'] = 5
-        from sqlalchemy.pool import NullPool
-        kw['poolclass'] = NullPool
-    engine = create_engine(url, **kw)
-    engine = construct_engine(engine)
-    meta = MetaData()
-    meta.bind = engine
-    engine._metadata = meta
-    engine._tables = dict()
-    engine._indexes = dict()
-    return engine
 
 def create_table(engine, table_name):
     with lock: