Thirty years afterwards I crossed the Alps by the same Pass:  and what had become of the forms and powers to which I had been indebted for those emotions?  Many of them remained of course undestroyed and indestructible.  But, though the road and torrent continued to run parallel to each other, their fellowship was put an end to.  The stream had dwindled into comparative insignificance, so much had Art interfered with and taken the lead of Nature; and although the utility of the new work, as facilitating the intercourse of great nations, was readily acquiesced in, and the workmanship, in some places, could not but excite admiration, it was impossible to suppress regret for what had vanished for ever.  The oratories heretofore not unfrequently met with, on a road still somewhat perilous, were gone; the simple and rude bridges swept away; and instead of travellers proceeding, with leisure to observe and feel, were pilgrims of fashion hurried along in their carriages, not a few of them perhaps discussing the merits of ‘the last new Novel,’ or poring over their Guide-books, or fast asleep.  Similar remarks might be applied to the mountainous country of Wales; but there too, the plea of utility, especially as expediting the communication between England and Ireland, more than justifies the labours of the Engineer.  Not so would it be with the Lake District.  A railroad is already planned along the sea coast, and another from Lancaster to Carlisle is in great forwardness:  an intermediate one is therefore, to say the least of it, superfluous.  Once for all let me declare that it is not against Railways but against the abuse of them that I am contending.

How far I am from undervaluing the benefit to be expected from railways in their legitimate application will appear from the following lines published in 1837, and composed some years earlier.

STEAMBOATS AND RAILWAYS.

    Motions and Means, on sea, on land at war
    With old poetic feeling, not for this
    Shall ye, by poets even, be judged amiss! 
    Nor shall your presence, howsoe’er it mar
    The loveliness of Nature, prove a bar
    To the mind’s gaining that prophetic sense
    Of future good, that point of vision, whence
    May be discovered what in soul ye are. 
    In spite of all that Beauty must disown
    In your harsh features, Nature doth embrace
    Her lawful offspring in man’s Art; and Time,
    Pleased with your triumphs o’er his brother Space,
    Accepts from your bold hand the proffered crown
    Of hope, and welcomes you with cheer sublime.