sequently appointed engineer of the Eastern
Counties, the Northern and Eastern, and the Blackwall railways, besides
many lines in the midland and southern districts. When the speculation
of 1844 set in, his services were, of course, greatly in request. Thus,
in one session, we find him engaged as engineer for not fewer than 33 new
schemes. Projectors thought themselves fortunate who could secure his
name, and he had only to propose his terms to obtain them. The work
which he performed at this period of his life was indeed enormous, and
his income was large beyond any previous instance of engineering gain.
But much of his labour was heavy hackwork of a very uninteresting
character. During the sittings of the committees of Parliament, almost
every moment of his time was occupied in consultations, and in preparing
evidence or in giving it. The crowded, low-roofed committee-rooms of the
old Houses of Parliament were altogether inadequate to accommodate the
rush of perspiring projectors of bills, and even the lobbies were
sometimes choked with them. To have borne that noisome atmosphere and
heat would have tested the constitutions of salamanders, and engineers
were only human. With brains kept in a state of excitement during the
entire day, no wonder their nervous systems became unstrung. Their only
chance of refreshment was during an occasional rush to the bun and
sandwich stand in the lobby, though sometimes even that resource failed
them. Then, with mind and body jaded--probably after undergoing a series
of consultations upon many bills after the rising of the committees--the
exhausted engineers would seek to stimulate nature by a late, perhaps a
heavy, dinner. What chance had any ordinary constitution of surviving
such an ordeal? The consequence was, that stomach, brain, and liver were
alike irretrievably injured; and hence the men who bore the brunt of
those struggles--Stephenson, Brunel, Locke, and Errington--have already
all died, comparatively young men.

In mentioning the name of Brunel, we are reminded of him as the principal
rival and competitor of Robert Stephenson. Both were the sons of
distinguished men, and both inherited the fame and followed in the
footsteps of their fathers. The Stephensons were inventive, practical,
and sagacious; the Brunels ingenious, imaginative, and daring. The
former were as thoroughly English in their characteristics as the latter
were perhaps as thoroughly French. The