urchase of a railway ticket
gives them a right to grumble at a thousand imaginary defects and
deficiencies in railway management, how great are the advantages in
swiftness, economy, and safety, which they enjoy through the genius,
enterprise, and stubborn perseverance of George Stephenson and his friends
and pupils in 1825.

EUSTON STATION.

This station was an after-thought, the result of early experience in railway
traffic. Originally the line was to have ended at Camden Town, but a
favourable opportunity led to the purchase of fifteen acres, which has turned
out most convenient for the public and the proprietors. It is only to be
regretted that it was not possible to bring the station within a few yards of
the New Road, so as to render the stream of omnibuses between Paddington and
the City available, without compelling the passenger to perspire under his
carpet-bag, railway-wrapper, umbrella, and hat-box, all the way from the
platform to the edge of Euston Square.

The great gateway or propylaeum is very imposing, and rather out of place; but
that is not the architect's fault. It cost thirty thousand pounds, and had
he been permitted to carry out his original design, no doubt it would have
introduced us to some classic fane in character with the lofty Titanic
columns: for instance, a temple to Mercury the winged messenger and god of
Mammon. But, as is very common in this country,--for familiar examples see
the London University, the National Gallery, and the Nelson Column,--the
spirit of the proprietors evaporated with the outworks; and the gateway leads
to a square court-yard and a building the exterior of which may be described,
in the language of guide books when referring to something which cannot be
praised, as "a plain, unpretending, stucco structure," with a convenient
wooden shed in front, barely to save passengers from getting wet in rainy
weather.

[EUSTON SQUARE, LONDON: ill1.jpg]

As Melrose should be seen by the fair moonlight, so Euston, to be viewed to
advantage, should be visited by the gray light of a summer or spring morning,
about a quarter to six o'clock, three-quarters of an hour before the starting
of the parliamentary train, which every railway, under a wise legislative
enactment, is compelled to run "once a-day from each extremity, with covered
carriages, stopping at every station, travelling at a rate of not less than
fifteen miles an hour, at a charge of one-penny per mile."