III. 



A 'PRACTICAL' BEGINNING. 



IT was urged by Mr. Brunei as a justification for 

 more attention and expense in the laying of the rails 

 of the Great Western, than had been ever thought of 

 upon previously constructed lines, that all the em- 

 bankments and cuttings and earth- works and Stations 

 and Law and Parliamentary expenses in fact the 

 whole of the outlay encountered in the formation of 

 a Railway, had for its main and ultimate object 

 perfectly smooth and level line of rail ; that to turn 

 stingy at this point, just when you had arrived at the 

 great ultimatum of the whole proceedings, viz. the 

 Iron Wheel-track, was a sort of saving which evinced 

 a want of perception of the true object of all the 

 labour that had preceded it. It may seem curious to 

 our experiences, in these days, that such a doctrine 

 could ever have needed to be enforced by argument ; 



