At last the prejudices of the ignorant multitude were uprooted, and the scientific few delighted. They who had gone to scoff remained to praise; and an engineer, who had sneeringly said they had heard of castles in the air, but now they were to see them realized, began to wonder as much at his own opposition as at the simple grandeur of the work he had derided. The chief business of the Duke’s agent was to ride about the country, borrowing money on the promissory notes of his Grace, whose bond for £500 was refused in the city, where great purposes are little regarded unless they promise a great percentage. In five years the attempt was crowned with success, and the effect upon commerce became manifest. Liverpool received the manufactures of Manchester at a cheaper rate, and Manchester was supplied with goods from places hitherto comparatively inaccessible. The neighbouring woods and vales were visited by the pale denizen of the factory on the day of rest; and passengers were enabled to travel along that canal which they owed to the patient endurance and undeviating firmness of Francis, Duke of Bridgewater, and to the singular ability of his unrivalled architect, to both of whom personal comfort and public praise were nothing in comparison with the achievement of a great idea. But a new power was in progress, which was to realize all the visions of a day-dreamer, and almost to annihilate both time and space. The progress and development of railways is one of the most interesting features in locomotion. About 1646, a Mr. Beaumont was ruined in attempting to convey coals in carriages of a novel construction. The necessity of some improvement in the conveyance of this article was, therefore, thus early recognized. Thirty years afterwards, a saving of thirty per cent. was effected by some tram-roads near Newcastle; and as information spread, and the great dogma that _time is money_ began to be appreciated, further improvements were made. The wooden roller of the wagon was changed for an iron wheel with cast-iron rails. Plenty of claimants were found for this imperfect alteration, although soon after it was necessary to adopt a rail fixed a few inches above the ground. The next improvement was that which detached the horse, and made him follow the wagon; and when the road was constructed with two inclines, so that a descending train of loaded coal might draw up an empty one, it was thought that all which human ingenuity could effect had been achieved; and at this point it is probable the rail would have remained, but for the great discovery of steam-power, and its application to practical purposes. About 1760, coeval with the introduction of iron rails, Watt entertained the idea of employing steam as a moving power; but the design was abandoned; nor was it till 1802 that the attention of engineers was devoted to locomotive engines on railroads; when a patent was taken out, and the principle tested with success at Merthyr Tydvil.[6]