covered, and he awaited it. He himself
could command no inconsiderable amount of capital, and he had a
following of obscure rich friends who believed in him, and did what he
liked. His daily visits to the City, except when he was travelling
over England, and especially the north and midland counties, had their
purpose and bore fruit. He was a director, and soon the chairman and
leading spirit, of a railway which was destined to be perhaps our most
important one. He was master of all the details of the business; he had
arrived at conclusions on the question of the gauges, which then was
a _pons asinorum_ for the multitude, and understood all about rolling
stock and permanent ways, and sleepers and branch lines, which were then
cabalistic terms to the general. In his first session in parliament he
had passed quietly and almost unnoticed several bills on these matters,
and began to be recognised by the Committee of Selection as a member who
ought to be "put on" for questions of this kind.

The great occasion had arrived, and Mr. Vigo was equal to it. He was one
of those few men who awake one day and find themselves famous. Suddenly
it would seem that the name of Mr. Vigo was in everybody's mouth. There
was only one subject which interested the country, and he was recognised
as the man who best understood it. He was an oracle, and, naturally,
soon became an idol. The tariff of the ministers was forgotten, the
invectives of the League were disregarded, their motions for the repeal
of the corn laws were invariably defeated by large and contemptuous
majorities. The House of Commons did nothing but pass railway bills,
measures which were welcomed with unanimity by the House of Lords, whose
estates were in consequence daily increasing in value. People went to
the gallery to see Mr. Vigo introduce bills, and could scarcely restrain
their enthusiasm at the spectacle of so much patriotic energy, which
secured for them premiums for shares, which they held in undertakings of
which the first sod was not yet cut. On one morning, the Great Cloudland
Company, of which he was chairman, gave their approval of twenty-six
bills, which he immediately introduced into parliament. Next day, the
Ebor and North Cloudland sanctioned six bills under his advice, and
affirmed deeds and agreements which affected all the principal railway
projects in Lancashire and Yorkshire. A quarter of an hour later, just
time to hurry from one meeting to another, whe