the shield commenced its eventful march. of the greatest danger, sometimes remaining. It had already been discovered that the kind there for several days in succession, taking of soil dug through was altogether different sleep only by snatches on the stage of the from that represented by the surveyor; and shield. No constitution could long endure instead of a stratum of strong blue clay,- such fatigue, and we are not therefore sursilt, sand, and gravel, all pervious to and prised to find that he was laid up for days impregnated with water, were met with in together. Then his father took his place, varying strata. There was thus already a frequently remaining all night in the frames. serious difficulty to be overcome by the To add to these anxieties the directors beengineer on which he had not reckoned, gan to grumble at the unexpected difficulties but respecting which he ought to have been encountered, and the increased cost incurred better informed; and it will be found that in carrying on the work. Brunel, to his to this circumstance the misfortunes after- great chagrin, was even charged by the wards encountered by him in the course of chairman with having misled the subthe undertaking were mainly attributable. scribers and inveigled them into the underAt this early stage of the proceedings Brunel taking. To reduce the expenses the number was necessarily subject to great excitement, of superintendents was limited, and a syswhich seriously affected his health. He tem of piece-work was introduced, against obtained relief by the application of many which Brunel protested in vain. Inferior leeches to his head, and he slowly recovered, class laborers, principally Irish, were taken but only to undergo fresh anxiety and to be on, whose unhandiness greatly hampered subject to renewed attacks of his old enemy. the engineer's proceedings. The work was By the end of 1825 the shield had entered so new to them and so incomprehensible, into undisturbed ground, free from water, that when they observed any unusual activand the first section of some seven feet of ity among the miners-any sudden gush of the double archway was completed. Irregu- sand or rattling of gravel upon the frameslarities in the strata shortly after began to their energies became completely paralyzed, show themselves; and when fourteen feet except for flight. had been completed the water burst in with considerable force; the pumping-engine became deranged, the works were stopped, and the water rose twelve feet in the shaft. The engine having been set to work, the excavation again proceeded; but the anxieties of all concerned in the undertaking were great. Brunel himself was again confined to bed; Armstrong, the principal resident engineer, broke down; and the whole direction of the undertaking devolved upon young Brunel, who exhibited a rare degree of skill, courage, and energy in contending with these terrible difficulties. The excavating and building went forward at the rate of about eight feet a-week; and by the middle of May, 1826, upwards of one hundred feet had been executed. The work went on for months with varying success, often interrupted by bursts of water through porous strata, and requiring the exercise of unremitting vigilance on the part of the engineers and workmen to keep it back. Water and silt were constantly coming in, and often the battle had to be renewed many times in the course of each day. Young Brunel was always at the post As the excavation advanced towards the middle of the stream the perils of the undertaking increased. There was but little solid ground between the works and the river; pieces of coal, brickbats, stones, bones, glass, and china-in fact the scourings of the Thames bottom-frequently dropped into the frames. The bed of the river was examined by means of a diving-bell, and the soil was found so loose at one part that an iron pipe was readily pushed down into the frames. On the 18th of May, 1827, as the tide rose, the ground seemed as though it were alive. The water was pressing in at all points, and it was not long in entering. Occasional bursts of diluted silt were followed by an overwhelming flood of slush and water, which soon drove all before it. The men, forced out of the shield, fled towards the bottom of the shaft. The water came on in a great wave, threatening to sweep them back under the arch by its recoil against the circular wall of the shaft. The lowest flight of steps was reached, and the recoil wave surged under the men's feet. They hurried up the stairs of the shaft, and it was thought that all of them had come in. when the cry was raised, "A rope! a rope! had been "hallooing before he was out of save him! save him!" Some unfortunate the "water. For in two months the workman had been left behind, and was Thames again burst in, owing in some measseen struggling in the water. Young Brunel, ure to the incautiousness of young Brunel seizing a rope, slid down one of the iron ties himself, and the river held possession of the of the shaft, reached the water, passed the Tunnel for several years. The circumstances rope round the man's body, and he was im- connected with the second flooding are so mediately drawn up. It proved to be old well told by Mr. Beamish that we quote his Tillett, the engine-man. The roll was then narrative of the catastrophe :— called, and every man answered to his name, but the Tunnel works were for the time completely drowned. January I came on duty at six o'clock, but On examination of the bed of the river from the diving-bell, a large hole was found extending from the centre of the tunnel excavation to a considerable distance eastward. Measures were taken to fill up the opening with saltpetre bags filled with clay, so laid as to form an arch in the bed of the river immediately over the work. A raft loaded with clay was also sunk, but this expedient not answering it was removed, and more bags of clay were sunk instead. After this operation of lining the bed of the river with clay had been persevered in for nearly a month, and about thirty thousand cubic feet of clay had been thrown into the hole, the pumping was resumed. The water was thus gradually cleared out of the shaft, and it became practicable to examine the state of the work from the inside in a boat. The shield was found in its place, but an In the earnest desire to make progress, immense mass of silt and gravel filled the some of the precautions which experience tunnel in front of it. The details of the had shown to be so important were unforproceedings which followed are related by tunately omitted; and Isambard Brunel, Mr. Beamish with circumstantial accuracy, calculuting upon the tried skill, courage, and and occasionally with great vigor. In some physical power of some of the men coming parts of the biography there is little more and Collins), ventured, at high water, or on in the morning shift (particularly Ball life than in a lay figure; but here, where while the tide was still rising, to open the Mr. Beamish speaks out of the fulness of ground at No. 1. According to his own achis knowledge-having been engaged upon count, given to me that day, upon the rethe work as one of the assistant engineers-moval of the side-shoring the ground began he becomes animated and even eloquent in his descriptions. By the 10th of November following, the Tunnel had again been so far cleared of water that young Brunel determined to give a dinner in one of the arches to about fifty friends of the undertaking; while above a hundred of the leading workmen were similarly regaled in the adjoining arch. The band of the Coldstream Guards enlivened the scene, and the proceedings went off with great éclat. The celebration had, however, been premature; and the young engineer to swell, and in a few moments a column of solid ground, about eight or ten inches in diameter, forced itself in. This was immediately followed by the overwhelming torrent. Collins was forced out of the box, and all the unflinching efforts of Ball to timber the back proved unavailing. So rapid was the influx of water, that had the three not quitted the stage immediately they must have been swept off. A rush of air suddenly extinguished the gas-lights, and they were left to struggle in utter darkness. Scarcely had they proceeded twenty feet from the stage than they were thrown down by the timber now in violent agitation, for already had the water nearly reached as high | difficulties of the undertaking were not yet as Isambard's waist. With great difficulty entirely overcome; the river broke in again he extracted his right leg from something and again-three times in twenty weeks, heavy which had fallen upon it, and made within a distance of only twenty-six feet; his way into the east arch. There he paused but by perseverance and skill the water was for a moment to call for Ball and Collins, but, receiving no answer, and the water con- ultimately mastered, and the work was at tinuing to rise, he was compelled to consult last brought to a completion, and opened to his own safety by flight. Arrived at the shaft, the public on the 25th of March, 1843. he found the workmen's staircase, which opened into the east arch, crowded. The morning shift had not all come down; the night shift had not all come up; added to which, those who had succeeded in placing themselves out of danger, forgetful of their less fortunate companions, stopped and blocked up the passage. Unable to make his way into the west arch and to the visitors' staircase, which was quite clear, owing to the rapidity with which the water rose, Isambard Brunel had no alternative but to aban don himself to the tremendous wave, which, for months." The funds of the Tunnel Company were by this time exhausted; and it was determined to make an appeal to the country for the means of finishing it. A subscription list was opened, and £18,500 promised; but this sum was a mere 66 'fleabite," and the works remained suspended. The only hope which remained was that the Government would take up and prosecute the undertaking as one of national importance and utility. At length the Ministry consented to make a loan of £246,000 for the purpose of enabling the Tunnel to be completed, and the first instalment was advanced in December, 1834. The water was then pumped out of the Tunnel, and the works were re-commenced, after having been at a standstill for a period of seven years. A new shield, of excellent construction, was supplied by the Messrs. Rennie, which was satisfactorily placed in position by the 1st of March, 1836. But the It was the engineer's last work. When the Tunnel was approaching completion, Brunel had a slight stroke of paralysis, from which he gradually recovered, but with his physical powers seriously shaken. In his diary of proceedings connected with the engineering operations, which had been penned up to that time in a fine copperplate-like French hand, there occurred the words, written after his recovery, evidently with shaking fingers, "Thank God, the Tunnel is done!" The anxiety and excitement of so many years were at an end; but he himself was left a wreck. While the work was going on (and it went on by night as well as by day), he ordered that he should be wak ened up every two hours during the night, and informed of the progress made. His house at Rotherhithe was close to the works, and on a bell within his bedroom being rung from below, he got up, struck a light, examined the portion of soil sent up the tube for his inspection, and after writing out instructions to the workmen, and making an entry in his record, he went to bed again. Mrs. Brunel afterwards stated that, for months after the Tunnel was finished, she used regularly to waken up every two hours, and her husband with her. Mrs. Brunel shared all her husband's anxieties, and many of his labors. Writing in his journal, at the age of seventy-six, he said, "To you, my dearest Sophia, I am indebted for all my success." And in another place, amidst the entries relating to the Tunnel works, occurred these words: "On this day, forty-two years since, was I united to Sophia Kingdom, now Lady Brunel; " for in 1841, amidst his other honors, he was raised to the dignity of knighthood. Even in his old age he retained all the sentiment of his youth, and continued to treat Lady Brunel as a lover rather than as the aged partner of his forty years of hardships. The terrible trials of their early life had endeared them to each other in an unusual degree; their affection had been confirmed and strength ened by their subsequent struggles; and cian, and generally well grounded in the while blessing the day that first brought practical sciences. them together, the old man would tenderly When the Tunuel works were brought to take her hand and lift it to his lips. He ex- a stand by the irruption of 1828, young hibited much of the graceful politeness of Brunel sought employment in other underthe old French school, which well suited his takings: and we shortly after find him apkindly and affectionate nature. Yet he was pointed engineer to the Clifton Suspension on the whole a disappointed man, and, not- Bridge Company. With the assistance of withstanding his unquestioned ingenuity and his father, he prepared the design of a suitindefatigable perseverance, it must be ad- able structure for crossing the river Avon. mitted that, excepting the block-machinery, The Clifton Company were, however, unable his undertakings did not prove successful in at that time to raise the requisite fuuds to a pecuniary sense. His biographer confesses build the bridge; but the design was afterthat he was defective in the business quality, wards adopted, with modifications, in the and that he placed his pecuniary interests Suspension Bridge of the same span erected “in the hands of those whose want of capac- across the Thames at Hungerford, in 1845 ity, or equivocal integrity, more than once-one of the most airy and graceful bridges brought him to the verge of ruin." The on the river. Even while we write, it is in Thames Tunnel, though its completion was process of removal, to give place to a much highly honorable to the engineer, as a commercial adventure proved disastrous to all concerned in it. It cost more than double the original estimate, and was next to useless when made. All these things, doubtless, preyed upon the mind of the engineer; yet, though merely vegetating in his later years, he lived to an old age, expiring at his house in Park Street, Westminster, on the 17th December, 1849, in his eighty-first year. The elder Brunel, towards the close of his life, was proud to watch the rising celebrity of his son. We have seen how energetically Isambard assisted his father in carrying on the works of the Tunnel, down to the year 1828, when he was severely injured by the terrible irruption of the river. He worked by his father's side for five years, sharing his labors and anxieties, taking part in his experiments connected with the carbonic gas engine, and gathering experience of the most valuable kind even from failures and defeats. He had been an expert mechanic almost from a boy, when he distinguished himself by his carvings in ivory. He had also acquired considerable dexterity in the handling of tools, while working with M. Breguet, the celebrated chronometer and watch maker at Paris, in 1821. He was thus enabled readily to execute any models which he required, either in wood or iron. He had besides well learnt what his father termed "the alphabet of the engineer"-the art of rapid and accurate drawing; and withal he was a ready calculator, a sound mathemati less picturesque structure-the bridge intended to carry the Charing Cross Railway; and the chains are to be re-suspended at Clifton, on the site for which the design was originally made. Mr. Brunel succeeded in obtaining various other engineering employments. He superintended the construction of docks at Bristol and Sunderland, and laid out several tramways for the accommodation of collieries in Gloucestershire and South Wales. This last kind of occupation probably had the effect of directing his attention to the line of engineering in which he was principally employed during the remainder of his life. By the beginning of 1830 the Liverpool and Manchester Railway was in full operation. The success of the locomotive engine had become matter of fact; and a strong desire existed throughout the country for the extension of railways, more especially to connect the larger towns with London. Numerous projects were shortly set on foot with this object; amongst others the Great Western Railway Company was organized in 1833, though the Act was not obtained until the year 1835: of this undertaking Mr. Brunel was appointed the engineer. He was only about twenty-eight years old at the time, but he was skilful, ingenious, full of resources, and ambitious to distinguish himself in the higher walks of his profession. Indeed, from an early period he seems to have resolved to strike out an entirely new course in railway engineering. For this he was much criticised, and by some severely blamed. But it is only fair to take tinuous bearings throughout, the width of into account the position of railway enter- the road enabling it to accommodate powerprise at the time when Mr. Brunel entered ful engines and large carriages. It is true, upon this part of his career. The only pas- experience has served in a great measure to senger line of any importance actually at diminish the force of the considerations work was the Liverpool and Manchester which induced Brunel to depart from the Railway. The London and Birmingham plans of construction adopted by the Steand Grand Junction schemes were in pro- phensons. The locomotive engine has been gress; but their object was to serve districts so much improved of late years, both in different from that penetrated by the Great power and compactness, that it is now asWestern line. Nor was it at that time antic- certained that a wider gauge than four feet ipated, except by a few far-seeing men, who eight and a half inches is unnecessary. But were then thought unreasonably sanguine in such was not the case when the Great Westtheir expectations, that railways would be ern line was laid out; and the improvement extended in all districts, and become not of the locomotive itself has been, in no small only the highways but the byways of traffic degree, accelerated by the stimulus given to throughout England. When George Ste- it by the bold innovations of the Great phenson was asked what gauge should be Western engineer. The line must, on the adopted on the Leicester and Swannington whole, be regarded as a great, and, in many and Canterbury lines, without a moment's respects, a novel enterprise, carried out in hesitation he pronounced in favor of the the comparative infancy of railways. The gauge of the Stockton and Darlington, and engineer had not only to construct it, but to Liverpool and Manchester lines. "Lay defend his plans almost inch by inch. Inthem down four feet eight and a half deed, no enterprise of the kind has been the inches," he said; "though they are a long subject of such furious contention, battles way apart from each other now, depend amongst the shareholders, and battles in upon it they will all be joined together some Parliament; the chief of all, as everybody day." But many persons then regarded knows, having been the battle of the gauges. Stepenson as an overheated enthusiast about railways, though events proved that his enthusiasm was but the far-sighted judgment of a man of unusually strong common sense. Mr. Brunel, for reasons which appeared to him and his friends conclusive at the time, determined not to adopt the gauge of the railways which had until then been laid down. He held that it was too narrow for the accommodation of passenger trains run at high speed, though it might sufficiently answer the purposes of coal and merchandise traffic. Mr. Brunel believed that greater safety, as well as freedom from oscillation, would be secured by providing a broader base for the support of the carriages, while it would give greater scope for developing the powers of the locomotive engine; and that by improving the gradients throughout the whole line, and avoiding sharp curves, he would be enabled to maintain the highest practicable velocity. These considerations formed the basis of his plan of the Great Western Railway. The line was constructed of the unusual guage of seven feet. The gradients were extremely good. The rails were laid on con The directors themselves seem early to have had misgivings as to the expediency of the changes introduced by their engineer; and in 1838, while the line was still under construction, they invited several engineers of eminence to advise with them on the subject. Robert Stephenson and James Walker declined to do so, but Nicholas Wood and John Hawkshaw consented. Both sent in reports, which concurred in recommending the adoption of the narrow or established gauge in place of the broad or exceptional one. Mr. Hawkshaw clearly pointed out that the existing gauge had originated in experience, and that the men whose practical knowledge of railways had been the greatest, saw the least occasion for its alteration; that three-fourths of England was being traversed by the narrow gauge, and it would be a great evil if the Great Western district were to be isolated from all the great lines in its neighborhood; that nothing was to be gained by increasing the width of the gauge, whilst much might be lost by unnecessary expenditure of capital in the first place, and by driving traffic in other directions in the next; and under these circum |