his new
born child. He had strolled down from the neighbouring village, after
his first sound and refreshing sleep for weeks, to behold in sunshine and
solitude, that which during a weary period of gestation had been either
mysteriously moving in his brain, or, like a vision--sometimes of good
omen, and sometimes of evil--had, by night as well as by day, been
flitting across his mind.

The next process was the lifting of the tube into its place, which was
performed very deliberately and cautiously. It was raised by powerful
hydraulic presses, only a few feet at a time, and carefully under-built,
before being raised to a farther height. When it had been got up by
successive stages of this kind to about 24 feet, an extraordinary
accident occurred, during Mr. Stephenson's absence in London, which he
afterwards described to the author in as nearly as possible the following
words:--"In a work of such novelty and magnitude, you may readily imagine
how anxious I was that every possible contingency should be provided for.
Where one chain or rope was required, I provided two. I was not
satisfied with 'enough:' I must have absolute security, as far as that
was possible. I knew the consequences of failure would be most
disastrous to the Company, and that the wisest economy was to provide for
all contingencies at whatever cost. When the first tube at the Britannia
had been successfully floated between the piers, ready for being raised,
my young engineers were very much elated; and when the hoisting apparatus
had been fixed, they wrote to me saying,--'We are now all ready for
raising her: we could do it in a day, or in two at the most. But my
reply was, 'No: you must only raise the tube inch by inch, and you must
build up under it as you rise. Every inch must be made good. Nothing
must be left to chance or good luck.' And fortunate it was that I
insisted upon this cautious course being pursued; for, one day, while the
hydraulic presses were at work, the bottom of one of them burst clean
away! The crosshead and the chains, weighing more than 50 tons,
descended with a fearful crash upon the press, and the tube itself fell
down upon the packing beneath. Though the fall of the tube was not more
than nine inches, it crushed solid castings, weighing tons, as if they
had been nuts. The tube itself was slightly strained and deflected,
though it still remained sufficiently serviceable. But it was a
tremendous test to which it