246 APPENDIX 



their skill — such as Mr. Stevenson, Mr. 0. Jones, Sir 

 St. Vincent Cotton, John Willan, Esq., and others. 



Indeed, the only amateur I ever knew who combined 

 theory with practice — and I say it without fear of being 

 accused of adulation — a correct judgment, with an easy, 

 at the same time skilful execution in this enviable 

 accomplishment, and who can really be called a perfect 

 master of the art, is the gentleman to whom I have 

 dedicated these volumes. 



The following petition was written when the railroad 

 mania was at its zenith, and the country in a fevered 

 and discontented state. It was presented by the late 

 lamented Lord Joscelyn, in the Session of 1846, when 

 member for King's Lynn, and, like many others of greater 

 or less importance, was ordered to lie on the table : — 



'' To the Honourable the Commons of Great Britain 

 and Ireland, in Parliament assembled, — 



*' The humble Petition of Thomas Cross, of King's 

 Lynn, in the County of Norfolk, late stage-coach 

 proprietor, showeth, — 



"That your petitioner was originally brought up in 

 a noble profession, but from a visitation of Providence, 

 and other circumstances over which he had no control, 

 was compelled to seek subsistence as a stage-coachman. 



'■ That your petitioner has now followed that employ- 

 ment for eight-and-twenty years, and during this time 

 has been enabled to provide for a wife and large family 

 in a respectable manner. 



