CHAP. XX. HIS LAST KAILWAY CELEBRATIONS. 453 



ample by pricking his own thumb ; and the other 

 guests, by turns, in like manner gave up a small 

 portion of their blood for the purpose of ascertaining 

 the comparative liveliness of their circulation. When 

 Sir Eobert Peel's turn came, Mr. Stephenson said he was 

 curious to know " how the blood globules of a great 

 politician would conduct themselves." Sir Robert held 

 forth his finger for the purpose of being pricked ; but 

 once, and again, he sensitively shrunk back, and at 

 length the experiment, so far as he was concerned, was 

 abandoned. Sir Eobert Peel's sensitiveness to pain was 

 extreme, and yet he was destined, a few years after, to 

 die a death of the most distressing agony. 



In 1847, the year before his death, Mr. Stephenson 

 was again invited to join a distinguished party at Dray- 

 ton Manor, and to assist in the ceremony of formally 

 opening the Trent Yalley Railway, which had been 

 originally designed and laid out by himself many years 

 before. The first sod of the railway had been cut 

 by the Prime Minister, in November, 1845, during the 

 time when Mr. Stephenson was abroad on the business 

 of the Spanish railway. The formal opening took place 

 on the 26th of June, 1847, the line having thus been 

 constructed in less than two years. 



What a change had come over the spirit of the landed 

 gentry since the time when George Stephenson had 

 first projected a railway through that district ! Then 

 they were up in arms against him, characterising him as 

 the devastator and spoiler of their estates ; now he was 

 hailed as one of the greatest benefactors of the age. 

 Sir Robert Peel, the chief political personage in Eng- 

 land, welcomed him as a guest and friend, and spoke 

 of him as the chief among practical philosophers. A 

 dozen members of Parliament, seven baronets, with all 

 the landed magnates of the district, assembled to cele- 

 1 a ate the opening of the railway. The clergy were there 



