travellers
occurred--as on the occasion of the Queen's coronation--the greatest
inconvenience was experienced, and as much as 10 pounds was paid for a
seat on a donkey-chaise between Rugby and Denbigh. On the opening of the
railway throughout, of course all this inconvenience and delay was
brought to an end.

Numerous other openings of railways constructed by Mr. Stephenson took
place about the same time. The Birmingham and Derby line was opened for
traffic in August, 1839; the Sheffield and Rotherham in November, 1839;
and in the course of the following year, the Midland, the York and North
Midland, the Chester and Crewe, the Chester and Birkenhead, the
Manchester and Birmingham, the Manchester and Leeds, and the Maryport and
Carlisle railways, were all publicly opened in whole or in part. Thus
321 miles of railway (exclusive of the London and Birmingham) constructed
under Mr. Stephenson's superintendence, at a cost of upwards of eleven
millions sterling, were, in the course of about two years, added to the
traffic accommodation of the country.

The ceremonies which accompanied the public opening of these lines were
often of an interesting character. The adjoining population held general
holiday; bands played, banners waved, and assembled thousands cheered the
passing trains amidst the occasional booming of cannon. The proceedings
were usually wound up by a public dinner; and in the course of the
speeches which followed, Mr. Stephenson would revert to his favourite
topic--the difficulties which he had early encountered in the promotion
of the railway system, and in establishing the superiority of the
locomotive. On such occasions he always took great pleasure in alluding
to the services rendered to himself and the public by the young men
brought up under his eye--his pupils at first, and afterwards his
assistants. No great master ever possessed a more devoted band of
assistants and fellow-workers than he did. It was one of the most marked
evidences of his own admirable tact and judgment that he selected, with
such undeviating correctness, the men best fitted to carry out his plans.
Indeed, the ability to accomplish great things, and to carry grand ideas
into practical effect, depends in no small measure on that intuitive
knowledge of character, which Stephenson possessed in so remarkable a
degree.

At the dinner at York, which followed the partial opening of the York and
North Midland Railway, Mr. Stephenso