432 THE COACHING AGE. 



to the line. No stone was left unturned by many 

 gentlemen and influential landowners to prevent the 

 line being made, and avert what was called the 

 dreaded nuisance of a railway through their properties. 



The grounds of opposition on the part of the Eton 

 College authorities at the present time seem rather 

 ludicrous ; but they were then urged upon Parliament 

 in all seriousness, and doubtless with a sincere 

 belief in their validity. It is worth while to 

 enumerate them a little fully. 



The school, it was said, would be absolutely and 

 entirely destroyed. London would pour forth the 

 most abandoned of its inhabitants to come down by 

 steam, and pollute the young minds of the pupils, ' 

 whilst the boys would take advantage of the short 

 interval of their play-hours to run up to town with 

 the speed of a rocket, mix in all the dissipation there, 

 and return before their absence could be discovered. 

 In addition to this, the beauty of the country and 

 the retirement of private dwellings would be 

 destroyed. 



The battle before the Committee of the House of 

 Commons was fought inch by inch with a degree of 

 earnestness and assiduity on both sides almost un- 

 equalled in any similar proceedings. The Bill 

 eventually passed through the Commons, but before 

 the Committee of the House of Lords the case in 



