CHAP. XVill. CHARACTERISTICS OF BRUNEL. 399 



their locomotives to the utmost ; they were improved 

 and re-improved ; their machinery was simplified and 

 perfected ; outside cylinders gave place to inside ; the 

 steadier and more rapid and effective action of the 

 engine was secured ; and in a few years the highest 

 speed on the narrow-gauge lines went up from thirty to 

 about fifty miles an hour. For this rapidity of progress 

 we are in no small degree indebted to the stimulus im- 

 parted to the narrow-gauge engineers by Mr. Brunei., 

 And it is well for a country that it should possess men' 

 such as he, ready to dare the untried, and to venture 

 boldly into new paths. Individuals may suffer from the 

 cost of the experiments, but the nation, which is an 

 aggregate of individuals, gains, and so does the world 

 at large. 



It was one of the characteristics of Brunei to believe 

 in the success of the schemes for which he was profes- 

 sionally engaged as engineer; and he proved this by 

 investing his savings largely in the Great Western 

 Railway, in the South Devon atmospheric line, and in 

 the Great Eastern steamship, with what results are well 

 known. Robert Stephenson, on the contrary, with cha- 

 racteristic caution, towards the latter years of his life, 

 avoided holding unguaranteed railway shares ; and 

 though he might execute magnificent structures, such as 

 the Yictoria Bridge across the St. Lawrence, he was 

 careful not to embark any portion of his own fortune in 

 the ordinary capital of these concerns. In 1845, he 

 shrewdly foresaw the inevitable crash that was about to 

 follow the mania of that year ; and while shares were 

 still at a premium he took the opportunity of selling out 

 all that he had. He urged his father to do the same 

 thing, but George's reply was characteristic. " No,'' 

 said he ; " I took my shares for an investment, and not 

 to speculate with, and I am not going to sell them now 

 because folks have gone mad about railways." The 

 consequence was, that he continued to hold the 60,000/. 



