INTRODUCTION OP RAILWAYS. 277 



the prize of five hundred pounds off*ered by 

 the directors of the Liverpool and Man- 

 chester Railway Company for the best locomo- 

 tive. 



In 1834 the "Firefly" attained a speed of 

 twenty miles an hour ; and at the present 

 moment locomotives have increased their speed 

 to over sixty miles an hour. Merciless ridicule 

 attended the introduction of railway travel- 

 ling ; and in reference to a proposed line 

 between London and Woolwich, a writer in 

 the " Quarterly Review" not only backed " Old 

 Father Thames" against it for any sum, but 

 assured his readers that the people of Wool- 

 wich " would as soon suffer themselves to be 

 fired off* upon one of Congreve's ricochet 

 rockets as trust themselves to the mercy ot 

 such a machine — a high-pressure engine, and 

 ofointr at the rate of eis^hteen miles an 

 hour." 



The reviewer adds that he trusts Parliament 

 will limit the speed of railways to eight or nine 

 miles an hour, which is as great as can be 

 ventured upon with safety. Despite this pre- 

 diction, the rail, as we all know, has proved 

 a perfect success. 



When railways were first proposed, in order 



