PREFACE. THE great increase of travelling which has taken place since the opening of the main lines of railway communication, and which, as other lines are completed, will be still far more extended, must rapidly produce, as indeed it has already begun to produce, great and material changes in society. Many who, but a few years since, scarcely penetrated beyond the county in which they happened to have been born, are now induced to visit places far more remote, from the facility and comfort afforded them by railway transit, which enables them to travel over thousands of miles with greater personal ease than they formerly could over fifty. Thus they are brought into contact with numerous individuals in various parts of the kingdom, and become acquainted with customs, manners and habits which previously were wholly unknown to them. The result of this mutual communication of facts and ideas must be an improved state of society. The prejudices and superstitions which have long held sway in the more retired localities, will be swept away before the flood of knowledge which will now pour in upon them. Districts, which very recently were as far removed from the activities, as their inhabitants were unacquainted with the improvements of those portions of the community which enjoyed the advantage of an advanced stage of civilization, will no longer be thus isolated, and the light of intelligence will be more universally diffused over the whole population of the land. Thus it becomes almost necessary that correct information should be supplied, connected with the country through which the various lines of railway are conducted. As the most efficient aid for this purpose, this little work is embellished with a large colored MAP OF ENGLAND, on which all the lines of railroad completed, in progress, and projected, are distinctly and differently marked, thus shewing, at a glance, those best to be selected for passing to any part of the kingdom which may be desired. Tables of the Times of Starting, Fares, and other information connected with all the railroads are given, and the topography of portions of the country through or near which several of the lines pass is accurately described, and a great deal of useful matter supplied which will be found of essential service by the visiter to the metropolis or to some of the principal manufacturing towns in the kingdom. In order to render the work more highly attractive, the publisher has gone to a great expense in pictorially embellishing it. Most of the illustrations are from the graver of SAMUEL WILLIAMS, whose name is a sufficient guarantee of their excellence. The very great success of a former work of his on the Grand Junction line, has stimulated the publisher to improve the present one in every possible way, and he now confidently leaves it with the public, feeling assured that equal if not greater success will reward his efforts for their gratification. |