182 THOMAS GRAY. CHAP. X. 



and others, he took the opportunity of advocating the 

 superior advantages of a railway. He occupied himself 

 for some time with the preparation of a pamphlet on 

 the subject. He shut himself up in his room, secluded 

 from his wife and relations, declining to give them any 

 information on the subject of his mysterious studies, 

 beyond the assurance that his scheme "would revolu- 

 tionise the whole face of the material world and of 

 society." In 1820 Mr. Gray published the result of his 

 studies in his ' Observations on a General Iron Rail- 

 way,' l in which, with great cogency, he urged the 

 superiority of a locomotive railway over common roads 

 and canals, pointing out, at the same time, the advan- 

 tages to all classes of the community of this mode of 

 conveyance for merchandise and persons. In this book 

 Mr. Gray suggested the propriety of making a railway 

 between Manchester and Liverpool, "which," he ob- 

 served, " would employ many thousands of the distressed 

 population of Lancashire." The treatise seems to have 

 met with a ready sale, for we find that, two years later, 

 it had already passed into a fourth edition. In 1822, 

 Mr. Gray added a diagram to the book, showing a 

 number of suggested lines of railway connecting the 

 principal towns of England, and another in like manner 

 connecting the principal towns of Ireland. 



The publication of this essay had the effect of bringing 

 the subject of railway extension prominently under the 

 notice of the public. Although little able to afford it, 

 Gray also pressed his favourite project of a general iron 

 road on the attention of public men mayors, members 

 of Parliament, and prime ministers. He sent memorials 

 to Lord Sidmouth in 1820, and to the Lord Mayor and 



1 ' Observations on a General Iron j turnpike-roads and canals ; and claim- 

 Railway (with Plates and Map illus- | ing the particular attention of mer- 

 trative of the plan) ; showing its great chants, manufacturers, farmers, and 

 superiority, by the general introduc- indeed every class of society.' Lon- 

 tion of mechanic power, over all the don : Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy, 

 present methods of conveyance by ' 1820. 



