446 HOSPITALITY AT TAPTON. CHAP. XX. 



amazed his lordship by the extent of his knowledge on 

 the subject, in which he displayed as much minute infor- 

 mation, even down to the latest improvements in watch- 

 making, as if he had been bred a watchmaker and lived 

 by the trade. Lord Denman was curious to know how 

 a man whose time must have been mainly engrossed by 

 engineering, had gathered so much knowledge on a 

 subject quite out of his own line, and he asked the 

 question. "I learnt clockmaking and watchmaking," 

 was the answer, " while a working man at Killingworth, 

 when I made a little money in my spare hours, by clean- 

 ing the pitmen's clocks and watches ; and since then I 

 have kept up my information on the subject." This led 

 to further questions, and then Mr. Stephenson told Lord 

 Denman the interesting story of his life, which held him 

 entranced during the remainder of the journey. 



Many of his friends readily accepted invitations to 

 Tapton House to enjoy his hospitality, which never 

 failed. With them he would " fight his battles o'er 

 again," reverting often to his battle for the locomotive ; 

 and he was never tired of telling, nor were his auditors 

 of listening to, the lively anecdotes with which he was 

 accustomed to illustrate the struggles of his early career. 

 Whilst walking in the woods or through the grounds, 

 he would arrest his friends' attention by allusion to 

 some simple object, such as a leaf, a blade of grass, a 

 bit of bark, a nest of birds, or an ant carrying its eggs 

 across the path, and descant in glowing terms upon 

 the creative power of the Divine Mechanician, whose 

 contrivances were so exhaustless and so wonderful. 

 This was a theme upon which he was often accus- 

 tomed to dwell in reverential admiration, when in the 

 society of his more intimate friends. 



One night, when walking under the stars, and gazing 

 up into the field of suns, each the probable centre of a 

 system, forming the Milky Way, a friend said to him, 

 " What an insignificant creature is man in sight of so 



