d Mantua; Tuscany is to finish its lines from
Pistoja to Florence and Lucca; the Papal government is to connect
Bologna with both the former; and the small states are to carry out
their respective portions. The great difficulty will be, to cut
through the Apennines, which at present sever Tuscany from the other
states; but a greater still will be the moral one, arising from the
disordered state of Italy. Rome has conceded to an Anglo-French
company the construction of a railway from the capital to Ancona; but
that, like all other commercial enterprises in the Papal dominions, is
lagging sadly.

Crossing the Pyrenees to view the works in the Peninsula, which
_Bradshaw_ may possibly have to register in 1862, we find that, amid
the financial difficulties of Spain, three lines of railway have been
marked out--from Madrid to Irun; from Aranjuez to Almansa; and from
Alar to Santander. The first would be a great line to the vicinity of
the French frontier, to cost 600 millions of reals; the second would
be part of an intended route from Aranjuez, near Madrid, to the
Mediterranean; the length to Almansa, involving an outlay of 220
millions. The third line, from Santander to Alar del Rey, on the
Biscayan seaboard of Spain, is intended to facilitate approach from
the interior to the rising port of Santander; the outlay is put down
at 120 millions. It is difficult to translate these high-sounding sums
into English equivalents, for there are three kinds of reals in Spain,
varying from 2-5/8d. to 5-1/4d. English; but taking even the lowest
equivalent, the sum-total amounts to a capital which Spain will have
some difficulty in raising. The Santander line, however, has attracted
English capital and engineering towards it; the first sod was turned
by the king-consort in May 1852, and the works are now in progress.
There is also an important line from Madrid to the Portuguese frontier
near Badajoz, marked out on paper; but the fruition of this as well as
other schemes will mainly depend on the readiness with which English
capital can be obtained. Unfortunately, 'Spanish bonds' are not in the
best favour in England.

Portugal is a _terra incognita_ to railways. It is on the extremest
verge of Europe towards the Atlantic; and European civilisation finds
entrance there with remarkable slowness. In 1845, the government tried
to invite offers from capitalists to construct railways; in 1849, the
invitations were renewed; but the moneyed men