ir hives when heavy laden, and hence
they sank exhausted. He afterwards incidentally mentioned the
circumstance to Mr. Jesse the naturalist, who concurred in his view as to
the cause of failure, and was much struck by the keen observation which
had led to its solution.

Mr. Stephenson had none of the in-door habits of the student. He read
very little; for reading is a habit which is generally acquired in youth;
and his youth and manhood had been for the most part spent in hard work.
Books wearied him, and sent him to sleep. Novels excited his feelings
too much, and he avoided them, though he would occasionally read through
a philosophical book on a subject in which he felt particularly
interested. He wrote very few letters with his own hand; nearly all his
letters were dictated, and he avoided even dictation when he could. His
greatest pleasure was in conversation, from which he gathered most of his
imparted information.

It was his practice, when about to set out on a journey by railway, to
walk along the train before it started, and look into the carriages to
see if he could find "a conversable face." On one of these occasions, at
the Euston Station, he discovered in a carriage a very handsome, manly,
and intelligent face, which he afterwards found was that of the late Lord
Denman. He was on his way down to his seat at Stony Middleton, in
Derbyshire. Mr. Stephenson entered the carriage, and the two were
shortly engaged in interesting conversation. It turned upon chronometry
and horology, and the engineer amazed his lordship by the extent of his
knowledge on the subject, in which he displayed as much minute
information, even down to the latest improvements in watchmaking, as if
he had been bred a watchmaker and lived by the trade. Lord Denman was
curious to know how a man whose time must have been mainly engrossed by
engineering, had gathered so much knowledge on a subject quite out of his
own line, and he asked the question. "I learnt clockmaking and
watchmaking," was the answer, "while a working man at Killingworth, when
I made a little money in my spare hours, by cleaning the pitmen's clocks
and watches; and since then I have kept up my information on the
subject." This led to further questions, and then Mr. Stephenson told
Lord Denman the interesting story of his life, which held him entranced
during the remainder of the journey.

Many of his friends readily accepted invitations to Tapton House to enj