much better,
though it often broke down, till at length the workmen declared it a
perfect plague. A good story is told of this engine by a traveller, who,
not knowing of its existence, said, after an encounter with the
Newcastle monster working its great piston, like a huge arm, up and
down, and throwing out smoke and fire, that he had just "encountered a
terrible deevil on the Hight Street road."

We now come to George Stephenson, who did for the locomotive what Watt
did for our other steam-engines. His first engine had two vertical
cylinders of eight inches diameter and two-feet stroke, working by
cross-heads; the power was given off by spur-wheels; it had no springs,
consequently it jolted very much on the then bad railways; the wheels
were all smooth, as Stephenson was sure the adhesion would be
sufficient. It began work on the 25th July 1814, went up a gradient of
one in 450, and took eight waggons with 30 tons at four miles an hour.
It was by far the most successful engine that had yet been made. The
next and most valuable improvement of Stephenson was the blast-pipe--by
its means the slow combustion of the fire was at once overcome, and
steam obtained to any amount. This pipe was the result of careful
observation and great thought. His next engine had horizontal connecting
rods, and was the type of the present perfect machine. This truly great
man did not rest here, but time would fail, as well as your patience, if
I were to proceed further. Enough to say, that he afterwards established
a manufactory at Newcastle, and time has shown the result and benefit it
has proved to the whole world at large. A short time before the
Liverpool and Manchester Railway was opened, Stephenson was laughed at
because he said he thought he could go thirty miles an hour, and was
urged before the House of Commons not to say so, as he might be thought
to be mad. This I have from person who knew the circumstances.
Nevertheless, at the trial, I believe the "Rocket" did go at the rate of
thirty miles an hour, to the not small astonishment of the world, and
especially to the unbelievers in steam as a land agent. The stipulation
made was that trains were to be conveyed at the rate of twelve miles an
hour.

In our present perfect engines, the coke or fuel consumed per mile is
about 18 lbs. with a train of 100 tons gross weight, carrying 250
passengers. A first-class carriage weighs 6 tons 10 cwts.; a
second-class, 5 tons 10 cwts., each wi