The life of George Stephenson, railway engineer - Lighthouse ...

452 LIFE OF GEOEGE STEPHENSON. [chap, xxxvi.
to multiply and spread abroad the conveniences of life, openiilg
up new fields of industry, bringing nations nearer to each other,
and thus promoting the great ends of civilization, the founding
of the railway system by George Stephenson must be regarded
as one of the most important events, if not the very greatest
event, in the first half of this nineteenth century.
To quote his own modest words, in conclusion, as expressed
at a meeting of engineers in Birmingham towards the close of
his career : " I may say," he observed, " without being egotis-
tical, that I have mixed with a greater variety of society than
perhaps any man living. I have dined in mines among miners,
and I have dined with kings and queens and with all grades of
the nobility, and have seen enough to inspire me with the hope
that my exertions have not been without their beneficial results
—that my labours have not been in vain."