gine had to be fought,--a battle, not merely against material
difficulties, but against the still more trying obstructions of
deeply-rooted mistrust and prejudice on the part of a considerable
minority of the directors.

He had no staff of experienced assistants,--not even a staff of
draughtsmen in his office,--but only a few pupils learning their
business; and he was frequently without even their help. The time of his
engineering inspectors was fully occupied in the actual superintendence
of the works at different parts of the line; and he took care to direct
all their more important operations in person. The principal draughtsman
was Mr. Thomas Gooch, a pupil he had brought with him from Newcastle. "I
may say," writes Mr. Gooch, "that nearly the whole of the working and
other drawings, as well as the various land-plans for the railway, were
drawn by my own hand. They were done at the Company's office in Clayton
Square during the day, from instructions supplied in the evenings by Mr.
Stephenson, either by word of mouth, or by little rough hand-sketches on
letter-paper. The evenings were also generally devoted to my duties as
secretary, in writing (mostly from his own dictation) his letters and
reports, or in making calculations and estimates. The mornings before
breakfast were not unfrequently spent by me in visiting and lending a
helping hand in the tunnel and other works near Liverpool,--the untiring
zeal and perseverance of George Stephenson never for an instant flagging
and inspiring with a like enthusiasm all who were engaged under him in
carrying forward the works." {189}

The usual routine of his life at this time--if routine it might be
called--was, to rise early, by sunrise in summer and before it in winter,
and thus "break the back of the day's work" by mid-day. While the tunnel
under Liverpool was in progress, one of his first duties in a morning
before breakfast was to go over the various shafts, clothed in a suitable
dress, and inspect their progress at different points; on other days he
would visit the extensive workshops at Edgehill, where most of the
"plant" for the line was in course of manufacture. Then, returning to
his house, in Upper Parliament Street, Windsor, after a hurried
breakfast, he would ride along the works to inspect their progress, and
push them on with greater energy where needful. On other days he would
prepare for the much less congenial engagement of meeting the Board,
whi