LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Clogs n .t hers — Entered apprentice to a London goldsmith — Goldsmiths in early limes — London at the end of the 16th century — Myddelton a merchant adventurer — Adventures of the Londoners — Sir Walter Raleigh — Myddel- ton's marriage — Is made an alderman of Denbigh — A ttempts to find coal Denbigh, and fails 94-106 near CHAPTER III. Myddelton elected representative of Denbigh in Parliament — Supplies jewellery to King James — Project of bringing water to London — The Corpora lion invest him with the requisite powers — The works begun — Plan of New River — The opposition to the works — London water-carriers — Myddelton obtains the assistance of King James — Theobald's Park — Agreement between the King and Myddelton — Probable cost of New River 107-119 CHAPTER IV. Method of constructing the New River works — Boarded river at Bush-hill -The works completed and New River opened — Myddelton knighted — Accident to King James in New River — Supply of the waier to tin- inhabitants — New River Company formed, and Sir Hugh appointed Governor — Fortunes of the New River Company 120-132 CHAPTER V. Brading Haven, Isle of Wight — Project for reclaiming it — Sir Hugh Myddel- ton undertakes the enterprise — His patent — The Oglander MSS., descrip- tive of the failure of the works — Sir Bevis Thelwall 133-140 CHAPTER VI. Sir Hugh enters upon his mining enterprise in Wales — Mines Royal of Cardi- ganshire — Silver found at Cwmsymlog — Sir Hugh made a Baronet — Is invited to undertake the reclamation of Traeth-Mawr, and reasons for declining — Sir Hugh's death — His will — His descendant 1 1 l-lf>2 < '(INTENTS OF VOL. 1. PART III. — EARLY ROADS AND MODES OF TRAVELLING. CHAPTER I. I'se.s and iiitliu.im.vs of roads — Old English trackways — Roman roads — Early attempts to improve tin- highways— Wretched state of the roads throughout tlu- kingdom — Devonshire lanes — Hollow ways — Sussex roads — High- ways near London Page 155-163 CHAPTER II. Ordinary modes of conveyance in early times — Riding on horseback — Queen Eli/.abrth's journeys — The first coach in England — Waggons and carriages introduced — The old stage-waggon — Stage-coaches — The opposition to their introduction — Perils and delays of stage-coach travelling — Highway robberies — Carriage of goods — Pack-horse travelling — Pack-horses in Yorkshire and Lancashire 164-181 CHAPTER III. Influence of roads on manners and customs — Local superstitions and ignorance — Camden's reference to Lancashire — Rev. Mr. Brome's travels through England — News carried by pedlars and packmen — Household life influenced by defective communications — Fairs in early times — Win- chester, Wey hill, and Boston Fairs — Ancient fair on Dartmoor — Picture of Chagford District, valley of the Xorth Teigu — Devonshire crooks 182-195 CHAPTER IV. Improvements in travelling ; Manchester " Flying Coach " — Time occupied in travelling between London and the principal towns — Journeys of Lord Chancellors to London — Mr. Moritz's description of his journey by coach — The basket coach — Arthur Young's description of English roads — Progress of road legislation — Rebellion of 1745 — Turnpike roads — The turnpikes destroyed by rioters — Prejudices entertained against turnpike roads — Profession of road-making as yet unknown 196-207 CHAPTER V. Mi moir of John Metcalf — His early life — Loses his sight — Becomes a musician — A guide — Runs horses at races — His travels — His journey on foot from London to Harrogate — Joins the army as musician in the rebellion of 1745 — His adventures in Scotland — Becomes travelling merchant and horse-dealer — Begins road-making — Builds a bridge — His extensive road contracts in Yorkshire and Lancashire — Manner of making his surveys — His skill in road-making — Becomes a cotton-spinner — His last road — Death — Dunstan Pillar 208-234 xiv CONTENTS OF VOL. 1. PART IV. — BRIDGES, HARBOURS, AND FERRIES. CHAPTER I. Old fords — Necessity for bridges — Ancient British bridge on Dartmoor — Eoman bridges — Croyland Bridge — Bow Bridge — Order of Brothers of the Bridge — Bridges built by the early churchmen, at Burton, Norwich, Wadebridge, &c. — Rochester Bridge — Wakefield Bridge — Raglan Castle Bridge — Inigo Jones's bridge at Llanrwst Page 237-252 CHAPTER II. Thames ferry between London and Southwark — John Overy — The first London Bridge of wood — Rebuilt of stone — The foundations — Time occupied in the building — Description of old London Bridge — The piers — The roadway and street upon the bridge — Vicissitudes of the old bridge — A second bridge over the Thames opposed by the citizens of London — Westminster Bridge built by Labelye — Its foundations — Blackfriars Bridge 253-265 CHAPTER III. Memoir of William Edwards — His early life — Learns dry-p.tone wall-build- ing — Self-education — Builds iron forges — Studies the ruins of Caerphilly Castle — His three successive bridges over the Taff — Font-y-Prydd — His other bridges — His character — His sons also bridge-builders .. 206-275 CHAPTER IV. Insignificant character of the English navy in early times — The riches and enterprise of the Dutch — The English seas fished by them — Prevalence of piracy along the English coasts — Early harbours — London — Bristol — Lyme Regis — Dover — Whitby — Yarmouth — Lighthouses — Dover Pharos — Old English beacons — Incorporation of the Trinity House- Lights on the south coast — Tour de Cordouan 276-290 CHAPTER V. Inland navigation — The coal-trade — Crowding of the Thames — The long ferry to Gravesend — Fielding's voyage to Lisbon — Smollett's voyage from Dover to Boulogne — Liverpool ferries — Barton-on-Humber ferries — Forth ferries — Gilpin's voyage across the Severn to Bristol — Proposals to improve navigable rivers in England — Want of money the obstacle — Lancashire navigations 291-304 CONTENTS OF VOL. I. PART V. — LIFE OF JAMES BRINDLEY. CHAPTEK I. Brindley's native district — Flash men — Brindlcy's birth — His father — Early mechanical bias — Is bound apprentice to a wheelwright and mill- wright — His master, Abraham Bennett — The millwright class — Brind- li'v's bungling prentice work — His self-improvement — Repairs a silk- mill — Masters the difficulties of mechanism in a paper-mill — Conducts his master's business for him Page 307-318 CHAPTER II. Bogins business as a wheelwright and millwright at Leek — Character of his work — His pocket memoranda books — Is extensively employed in the Pottery districts to erect flint-mills — Succeeds in clearing the Clifton coal- mines of water — Erects the machinery of a silk-mill at Congleton — More flint-mills — Attempts the improvement of the steam-engine — His engine breaks down — His patent of an improved engine 319-333 CHAPTER III. Lancashire navigations — The Duke of Bridgewater's attention directed to the subject — Early life of the Duke — Manchester at the middle of last cen- tury — Roads in South Lancashire — Difficulty of supplying Manchester with coals and food — The Duke of Bridgewater determines to make a canal between Worsley and Manchester 334-345 CHAPTER IV. The Duke's first Canal Act — John Gilbert, the Duke's land-steward — Brindley employed to revise the plans of the Duke's canal — A new Act obtained — Barton Aqueduct, Brindley's " Castle in the Air " — The canal embankments — Worsley Basin and tunnels — Brindley's ingenuity and laboriousness — The canal opened between Worsley and Manchester 346-361 CHAPTER V. Brindley surveys an extension of the Duke's canal to Kuncorn— The Mersey navigation — Growth of Liverpool — Liverpool stage-coach accommoda- tion — Brindley's journeys to London — Appears before Parliament to give evidence on the Duke's Bill — Parliamentary opposition to the measure — Anecdotes of Brindley — The Bill passed . . . . 362-377 CHAPTER VI. 1> rind ley constructs the Duke's canal to Runcorn — Description of the works — His methods of economizing labour — Embankment on Sale Moor Moss — Ingenious r.\]>r Runcorn — Extension of the underground workings at Worsley — Total cost of the works — Brindley's pay as the Duke's engineer — The Duke's interest in the working of his canal and mines — Anecdotes of the Duke — His characteristics — The Duke a public benefactor — Effects of his canal on the prosperity of Manchester and Liverpool — Rapid growth of Man- chester Page 394-423 CHAPTER VIII. The Grand Trunk Canal surveyed by Brindley — The earthenware manu- facture— Roads in the Potteries — The population — Wesley's visit to Burslem in 1760 — Josiah Wedgwood — His enterprise — Supports the Grand Trunk Canal — Rival schemes — Line of the canal — Construction of the works — Harecastle tunnel — Benefits resulting from the construction of the canal 424-448 CHAPTER IX. Brindley's opinion as to the use of rivers — -Constructs the Wolverhampton Canal — Designs the Coventry Canal — Constructs the Droitwich Canal — The Chesterfield Canal — Extensively employed as consulting engineer — His survey of the Thames, and report on the improvement of its navigation — Canal speculation — Importance of canals as a means of inland communi- cation in England 449-466 CHAPTER X. Brindley's domestic life — His marriage — His wife — His home at Turnlmrst — His colliery at Golden Hill — His illness and death — Characteristics 467-476 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PORTRAIT OF SIR HUGH MYDDELTON .J AMKS P>RINDLEY .. Frontispiece, tofacepaye 305. PAGE Koiitney Marsh 8 M;q> of the Lower Thames .. 12-13 Mnp of the Fens as drowned .. 26 Map of Ilatfield Chase 42 Ma]> of the Fens as drained .. .. 51 Plan of Dagenhain Breach . . . . 78 ]); i -TII ham Lake 80 The Thames from Dagenham Bank 82 Brading Haven 81: Map of My, Melton's Native District 94 My. Melton's House, Galch-hill .. 95 My. Melton Brass in Whitchurch .. 96 Whitchureh, Denbigh 106 Map of New Biver Ill Section of New Kiver Work . . . . 121 Boarded River, Bush-hill . . . . 122 Brick Arch, Bush-hill 123 " X.-w River Water!" 127 Am well Spring 132 Map of Brading Haven 134 Entrance to Brading Harbour . . 139 Chart of Mining District, North Wales 142 Plan of Cwmsymlog 145 Ancient Causeway near Whitby . . 154 The Old Stage Waggon 167 The Pack-hone Convoy .. .. 179 I 'arkhorse Halfpenny Tokens .. 181 Site of Ancient Fair, Dartmoor .. 190 Devonshire Crooks 191 Tin- Basket-Coach 200 M ct calf's Birthplace, Knaresbro' .. 209 Portrait of Metealf 226 M et calf's House, Spoiforth .. .. 2:5i» Dunstan Pillar 234 Ancient British Bridge, Dsirtmoor 236 Croyhind Bri 1-e 241 OldBo\\ Hi-idg.' 244 WakelieM Hridge 249 Raglan Castle Bridge 250 Inigo Jones's Bridge, Llanrwst . . 252 PAGE 256 259 267 269 Old London Bridge, 1559 . . Old London Bridge, 1650 Portrait of William Edwards . . Ruins of Caerphilly Castle . . Pont-y-Prydd 272 Ancient manner of constructing Piers 283 Yarmouth Old Pier 286 Pharos, Dover Castle 287 Old English Beacon 288 Tour de Cordouan 290 Worsley Basin 306 Map of Brindley's Native District 308 Brindley's Croft 309 Map of Pottery District 321 Portrait of the Young Duke of Bridgewater 339 Manchester in 1740 341 Map of the Duke's Canal . . 348-9 Barton Aqueduct 354 Liverpool in 1650 365 Fac- simile of Brindley's Hand- writing 370 Plan of Canal Lock 375 Brindley's Ballast Boats . . . . 383 Longford Bridge 388 Duke's Dock, Liverpool 393 Worsley Old Hall 395 Runcorn Locks 399 Portrait of Duke of Bridgewater .. 411 Map of Manchester 417 Bridgewater Halfpenny Token . . 423 Ivy House, Burslem 430 Portrait of Jonah Wedgwood .. 434 Map of Grand Trunk Canal .. .. 438 Xoithern Entrance of Harecastle Tunnels 442 Section of Tunnel 443 Brindley's House, Turnhurst .. 469 Brindley's Burial-place, at New Chapel 476 EARLY WORKS OF EMBANKING AND DRAINING, VOL. T. EARLY WORKS OF EMBANKING AND BRAISING CHAPTEK I. KOMNEY MARSH AND THE EMBANKMENT OF THE THAMES. THE numerous ancient earthworks existing in various parts of Britain show that the Navvy is by no means a modern character. The mounds of Old Sarum and Si 1 bury Hill, in Wiltshire, by whatever means and for whatever purpose raised, testify to a large amount of patient industry on the part of those who heaped them together. In Wales, Yorkshire, Devonshire, and the more hilly parts of England, the remains of the formid- able ditches and embankments constructed for purposes of defence, afford abundant proof that the former people of this country must have been familiar with the use of the spade and mattock. But it would appear, from the remains of ancient British dwellings still extant in dif- ferent parts of the country, that the early inhabitants lived in mere wigwams, and that engineering skill was scarcely to be expected of them. Their houses seem to have been formed by digging so many round holes in the earth, and covering them over with the branches of trees. Dr. Young, of Whitby, examined the remains of upwards of forty ancient British villages on the Yorkshire Wolds, from which he inferred that the abori- gines, especially the more northern tribes, were no further advanced in civilization than the Caffres or B 2 ROMNEY MARSH AND TART I. Bechuaiias of the present day.1 Numerous traces of ancient habitations of a similar kind have been met with in the southern counties, of which those at Bowliill, in Sussex, are probably the most remarkable.2 The valleys and low-lying grounds being then mostly covered with dense forests, the naturally cleared high lands, where timber would not grow, were selected as the sites of the old villages. Tillage was not yet under- stood nor practised ; the people subsisted by hunting, or upon their herds of cattle, which found ample grazing among the hills of Dartmoor, and on the downs of Sussex and Wiltshire, where most of these remains have been found.3 They are especially numerous along the skirts of Dartmoor, where the hills slope down to the watercourses. The heights above them are mostly crowned by tors, or rude fortifications of earth, which exhibit no greater engineering skill in construction 1 Their clothing:, when they wore any, consisted of skins; they stained their bodies with paint or ochre, and often marked them with figures, in the way of the South Sea tattooing. They lived in circular huts nearly in the shape of bee-hives, like those of the native Africans, as we may yet see in the remains of these dwellings at Eyton Grange, Harewood Dale, &c. To construct a hut, they dug a round hole hi the ground, and, with the earth and stones cast out in the dig- ging, made a kind of wall, which was surmounted with boughs of trees meeting together at the top to form a sort of roof, over which there might be a covering of sods to protect them from the weather, a hole being left on one side to serve the triple purpose of a door, a window, and a chimney. The fire was placed in the centre of the floor, and the inhabitants sat or lay on the ground around it. Remains of the charcoal of their fires are found in digging in the middle of the hollows that mark the sites of these ancient dwellings. In such wretched huts large families of men, women, and children would bo promiscuously huddled together, as is the case with the South African savages; and this mode of life might give rise to the statements of (Vsar and Dion ('assius, that among the Britons it was cus- tomary for every ten or twelve men, and those the nearest relations, to have their wives in common. — Dr. Young's ' History of Whitby and its Vicinity.' 2 See * Notitia Britannia.' P>y VY. D. Saul. 1845. :i We have undoubted proofs from history and from existing remains that the earliest habitations were pits, or slight excavations in the ground, covered and protected from the incle- mency of the weather by boughs ot trees or sods of turf. The high grounds were pointed out by nature as tin- fittest for these early settlements, being less encumbered by wood, and affording a better pashm- lor the nu- merous flocks and herds, from which the erratic tribes of the first colonists drew their means of subsistence. — Sir It. C. Hoare on the 'Antiquities of Wiltshire.' CHAP. I. Till-: EMBANKMENT OF TIIK TIIAMKS. 5 than is t<» he found in many a New Zealand pah. But, ignorant though the people then seem to have been of the art of construction, it would appear that they must have possessed some skill in mechanical appliances, to have been enabled to transport those huge blocks of stone to their places on Stonehenge, and to erect the cyclopean bridges over the Teign and Dart in Devon- shire, the remains of which are among the greatest curiosities extant of ancient engineering.1 The art of embanking and draining was introduced into England by quite another race — the adventurous tribes of Belgium and Friesland, who early landed in great numbers along the south-eastern coasts, and made good their footing by the power of numbers, as well as their superior civilization. These men were tillers of the soil, and wherever they went they settled down to the arts of agriculture, clearing the ground of its primitive forest, and more especially occupying the rich arable lands along the valleys and by the seaside. The early settlement of Britain by the races which at present occupy it, is usually spoken of as an invasion and a conquest ; but there is good reason to believe that it was principally effected by a system of immigration and colonization, such as is going forward under our own eyes at this day in America, Australia, and New Zealand ; and that the people who swarmed into the country in early times from Friesland, Belgium, and Jutland, secured their settlement by the spade far more than by the sword. The Celts were a pastoral raee, whilst the immigrants were tillers of the ground. Wherever the new men came, they settled themselves down on their several bits of land, which became their holdings; and they bent their backs over the stubborn soil, watering it with their sweat, and delved, and drained, and cultivated it, until it became fruitful. siil isr« | in-lit chapter, on OKI Bridges. ROMNEY MARSH AND PART I. Thus these agricultural colonists spread themselves over the richer arable lands of the country, and became the dominant race, as is shown by the dominancy of their language in the districts which they occupied, the older population gradually receding before them to the hunting and pastoral grounds of the north and west. The process was slow, but it was continuous. The settlers made the land their own by their labour ; and what they recovered by toil from the waste, the forest, and the moor, they held by the strength of their right arms. But the whole proceeding was one of simple persevering industry rather than of war. The men of Teutonic race thus gradually occupied the whole of the reclaimable land, until they were stopped by the hills of Cumberland, of Wales, and of Cornwall. The same pro- cess seems to have gone on in the arable districts of Scotland, into which a swarm of colonists from Northum- berland poured in the reign of David I.,1 and quietly settled upon the soil, which they proceeded to cultivate. It is a remarkable confirmation of this view of the early settlement of the country by its present races that the modern English language extends over the whole of the arable land of England and Scotland, and the Celtic tongue only begins where the plough ends.2 1 See Cosmo Innes's * Sketches of Early Scottish History,' 1861. 2 This was formerly the case in the hill country of Cumberland and Corn- wall, where the ancient language has now entirely disappeared. But in Wales, the Scotch Highlands, and the western parts of Ireland, the English traveller still finds himself amongst a race of people who can neither read his language nor understand him when he speaks to them. If they reply, it is ob- vious that they only partially under- stand the language ; for they speak in broken English, like foreigners. Are they foreigners ? No ; these are the descendants of the early inhabitants of the soil, speaking the language which was spoken all over Britain long be- fore the English language hud been formed or English literature created. Yet there is every reason to believe that even those Celtic races were at one time but foreigners in Britain, and drove forth, if they did not extermi- nate, some previous race — the men who lived in caves, pits, and holes in the ground, such as are still to be found under Blackheath Point, at Crayford, Dartford Heath, ^ Tilbury, and various other places in Kent, Essex, and the southern counties of England. Probably the remains of the very oldest nice in the British Islands are no-.v to be found in tin- least accessible districts of Galway CHAP, I. THE EMBANKMENT OF THE THAMES. One of the most extensive districts along the English coast which lay the nearest to the country from which flu* continental immigrants first landed was the tract of Romney Marsh,1 containing about 60,000 acres of land, lying along the south coast of Kent. The re- clamation of this tract is supposed to be due to the Frisians, who were familiar with embanking, their own country being in a great measure the result of laborious industry in reclaiming and preserving it from the inland as well as the outland waters. English history does not reach so far back as the period at which Romney Marsh was first reclaimed, but doubtless the work is one of great antiquity. The district is about fourteen miles long and eight broad, divided into Romney Marsh, Wallend Marsh, Denge Marsh, and Guildford Marsh. The tract is a dead uniform level, extending from Hythe, in Kent, westward to Winchelsea, in Sussex ; and it is to this day held from the sea by a continuous wall or bank, on the solidity of which the preservation of the in Ireland, where the people exhibit features altogether different from the more modem Milesian Celts of Mini- ster, whose fine physical and moral characteristics remind one of the often- quoted description of them by O'Con- nell, as " the finest peasantry in the world"; nor was the description by any means exaggerated. The same process of colonization to which we have above referred is even now going forward in the western parts of Ire- land, where the old Gal way race is being gradually submerged by the wave of modern Irish flowing over them from the northern province of I'lstrr, and driving them to emigra- tion in large numbers. It may further be observed that the same qualities which enabled the Teutonic races in early times to colonize the arable lands of England, continue, to render the modern Englishman the best of all colonists. His self-dependence fits him for enduring the solitude of a wilder- ness until he has reclaimed it by his | industry. He builds a house in the | midst of his clearing, takes up his | dwelling there, and his house becomes his castle. This remarkable and in- herent difference between the Celt and the Teuton is curiously exemplified by the actual state of things in modem France and England. In the former the agricultural population live in villages, often far from the land they cultivate ; in the latter they live in hamlets and detached dwellings, directly upon the soil on which they work. The same characteristic is illustrated in another way. When a Frenchman makes a fortune, he settles in Paris; when an Englishman does so, he retires to live in the country. 1 l\umen-ea, Sax. — i. e., the large watery place. Mr. Holloway is, how- ever, of opinion that the word Roman- ea means " the Isle of the Romans," and was applied to the town of Romney, originally situated upon an island re- claimed by that people. — Holloway 's * History of Romney Marsh.' KOMNEY MARSH AND PART I. district depends, the surface of the marsh being under the level of the sea at the highest tides. The following descriptive view of the marsh, taken from the high ground above the ancient Roman fortress of Portus Limanis, near the more modern but still ancient castle of Lymne, will give an idea of the extent and geo- graphical relations of the district. DESCRIPTIVE VIEW OF ROMNKY MARSH, FROM LYAINE CASTLE. [By Percival Skelton, after his original design.] The tract is so isolated, that the marshmen say the world is divided into Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and Bomney Marsh. It contains few or no trees, its principal divisions being formed by dykes and water- courses. It is thinly peopled, but abounds in cattle and sheep of a peculiarly hardy breed, which are a source of considerable wealth to the marshmen ; and it affords sufficient grazing, in genial years, for more than half a million of sheep, besides numerous herds of cattle. The first portion of the district reclaimed was an island, upon which the town of Old Ronmey now stands ; CHAP. I. TIIK EMBANKMENT OF THE THAMKS. 9 and cml>;mkments were extended southward as far as New Romney, where an accumulation of beach took place, forming a natural barrier against further en- croachments of the sea at that point. The old town of Lydd1 also originally stood upon another island, as did Ivychurch, Old Winchelsea, and Guildford; the sea sweeping round them and rising far inland at every tide. Burmarsh, and the districts thereabout, were re- claimed at a more recent period ; and by degrees the islands disappeared, the sea was shut out, and the whole became firm land. Large additions were made to it from time to time by the deposits of shingle along the coast, which left several towns, formerly important sea- ports, stranded upon the beach far inland. Thus the ancient Eoman port at Lymne, past which the Limen or Rother is supposed originally to have flowed, is left high and dry more than three miles from the sea, and sheep now graze where formerly the galleys of the Romans rode. West Hythe, one of the Cinque Ports, originally the port for Boulogne, is silted up by the wide extent of shingle used by the modern School of Mus- ketry as their practising-ground. Old Eomney, about the centre of the marsh, past which the Rother after- wards flowed, was one of the ancient ports of the dis- trict, but it is now about two miles from the sea. The marshmen seem to have followed up the receding waters, and then founded the town of New Romney, which also became a Cinque Port ; but a storm which occurred 1 Somncr, in his ' Treatise of the Human Ports and Forts in Kent,' cites the Charter of OlYa, king of tin- Angles, by which he grants the Manor of Lydd in Archbishop .lanibert in the year 774; and the boundaries are thus de- scribed :— " The sea on the north and east, and on the south the territory of King Kdwy. It is called Deiigemarsh as far as the stone which is placed at the extreme point of the land; and to the west and north, the confines of the kingdom, as far as to Bleechingc." " From whence," adds Somner, " clear enough it is, that the sea, with a large and spacious inlet, arm, and estuary, in those days flowed in between Lydd and I Journey, ami was there met with the river Limen." Up this river a Danish fleet of 250 vessels sailed many miles inland in the year SUM, and the Danes built a castle at Appledore, where they for sonic time held their rende/.vous. 10 ROMNEY MARSH AND PART I. in the reign of Edward I. so blocked up the Rother witli shingle, at the same time breaching tlie wall, that the river took a new course, and flowed thenceforward by Rye into the sea ; and the port of New Romney became lost. The point of Dungeness, running almost due south, gains accumulations of shingle so rapidly from the sea, that it is said to have extended more than a mile seaward within the memory of persons living. Rye was founded on the ruins of the Romneys, and also became a Cinque Port ; but notwithstanding the advan- tage of the river Rother flowing past it, that port has also become nearly silted up, and now stands about two miles from the sea. New Winchelsea, the Portsmouth and Spithead of its day, is left stranded like the rest of the old Cinque Ports, and is now but a village sur- rounded by the remains of its ancient grandeur. All this ruin, however, wrought by the invasions of the shingle upon the seacoast towns, has only served to in- crease the area of the rich grazing ground of the marsh, which continues year by year to extend itself seaward. The colonists who first reclaimed the district must have found it necessary at once to organize some method of maintaining the lands won from the sea. Accord- ingly we find a very ancient local usage existing in Romney Marsh, which, though at first unwritten, eventually acquired the force of law, and was after- wards extensively applied in other districts. Indeed, '• the law and custom of Romney Marsh'' to this day lies at the bottom of all English legislation on the sub- ject of embanking and draining. Twenty-four of the chief men or elders were chosen by the inhabitants to take all such measures as might be necessary to main- tain the sea-banks, and their custom was to levy a rate upon the occupiers of marsh lands in proportion to their holdings, for the purpose of executing the neces- sary repairs. As long ago as the reign of Henry I IF., or more than six hundred years since, when complaint ( 'HAP. I. THE EMBANKMENT OF TFIK THAMES. 11 was made to him by the twenty-four "jurats" —as the conservators of the marshes were called — that cert ;i in holders of lands in the marshes refused to pay their rateable proportion of expenses for maintaining the banks, the King, referring to "the ancient and ap- proved custom" of the district, ordered the sheriff to execute warrants of distress upon the defaulters, and thus support the jurats in the exercise of their cus- toms and liberties for the defence of themselves and others against the sea, and that no peril might by their neglect in so doing come to the King or his kingdom. In due course of time the custom became embodied in a written law, confirmed by the letters patent of suc- cessive monarchs ; and for many hundred years the successive embankments of land in Romney Marsh have been continued under this ancient jurisdiction, which, in all essential respects, remains in force at the present day. From the very earliest times the tendency to " scamp " work seems to have existed ; and not only so, but the tendency to job on the part of those who had public moneys to disburse. Thus, in the reign of Edward II., we find that the sea broke through the bank near Denge Marsh, and inflicted great injury on the marsh- men. On inquiry it was found that the maintenance had been neglected, that the banks had been imperfectly repaired, and that the whole mischief had been caused " through the pravity of ill-disposed men, who chiefly mind their particular gain, though it be by cheating the public ; that were it not for a strict watch over them, all good order would be subverted, and little else but cosenage, if not rapine, would be practised." l The same custom of Romney Marsh with respect to tlic embankment of lands, prevailed all over Kent; and in the Isle of Thanet, at Sandwich, and along the low marsh lands in the valley of the Stour, the like practice 1 Dugdale, 'History of [mbankmg and Draining,' p. 29 — a work con- taining a great deal of curious inform- ation on this subject. 12 ROMNEY MARSH AND PART I. was extensively adopted.1 But by far the most interest- ing and important early work of tins class was the em- bankment of the Thames, now become the great high- way between the capital of Britain and the world. It may not be generally known, but it is nevertheless true, that the Thames is an artificial river almost from Richmond to the sea. Before human industry confined it within its present channel, it was a broad estuary, in many parts between London and Gravesend several miles wide. The higher tides covered Plumstead and Erith Marshes on the south, and Plaistow, East Ham, and Barking Levels on the north ; the river meandering in many devious channels at low water, leaving on either side vast expanses of rich mud and ooze. Opposite the MAP OF THE VALLEY OF THE THAMES (WESTERN PART). [Ordnance Suivey.] City of London, the tides washed over the ground now covered by Southwark and Lambeth ; the district called Marsh still reminding us of its former state, as Banks! dc informs us of the mode by which it was reclaimed by the banking out of the tidal waters. A British settlement is supposed to have been formed at 1 There is a tradition extant to the effect that Goodwin Sands were once dry land protected by embankments, and that in consequence of a rate levied for their repair having been diverted towards the building of Tent mien Steeple, the sea burst in and swallowed up the land. Hence the well-known proverb, otherwise inexplicable, of " Tenterden Steeple the cause of ( iood- win Sands;" though, if tin- tradition be founded on fact, it possesses the usual l>ertinence of most old proverbs. TIIK EMBANKMENT OF THE THAMES, 13 an curly period on the high ground ou which St. Paul's Cathedral stands, by reason of its natural defences, being bounded on the south by the Thames, on the west by the Fleet, and on the north and east by morasses, Moorfields Marsh having only been reclaimed within a comparatively recent period. The natural advantages of the situation were great, and the City seems to have acquired considerable importance even before the Roman period. The embanking of the river has been attri- buted to that indefatigable people ; but on this point no evidence exists. The numerous ancient British camps found in all parts of the kingdom afford sufficient proof that the early inhabitants of the country possessed a knowledge of the art of earthwork ; and it is not im- MAP OF THE VALLEY OF THE THAMES (EASTERN PART). N.B. The dotted line represents the embankments raised along the banks of the river. probable that the same Belgian tribes who reclaimed Romney Marsh were equally quick to detect the value for agricultural purposes of the rich alluvial lands along the valley of the Thames, and proceeded accordingly to embank them after the practice of the country from which they had come. The work was carried on from one generation to another, as necessity required, until the Thames was confined within its present limits, the process of embanking serving to deepen the river and greatly improve it for purposes of navigation, while large tracts of fertile land were at the same time added to the food-producing capacity of the country. 14 ROMXEY MAUSH AX1> PART I. It was long, however, before the banks effectually re- sisted the higher tides in the Thames, and scarcely a season passed without some breach occurring, followed by an inundation of the marsh-lands which had been won. There were frequent burstings of the bank on the south side between London Bridge and Greenwich ; the district of Bermondsey, then green fields, being especially liable to be submerged. Commissions were appointed on such occasions, with full powers to distrain for rates and to impress labourers in order that the requisite repairs might at once be carried out. In some cases the waters for a long time proved the victors, and carried everything before them. Thus, in the reign of Henry Till., the marshes of Plumstead and Lesnes, now used as a prac- tising-ground by the Woolwich garrison, were completely drowned by the waters which had burst through Erith Breach, and for a considerable time all measures taken to reclaim them proved ineffectual. The low lands lying immediately to the east of the royal palace at Greenwich, called Combe Marshes, were also inundated, and they were only reclaimed by the help of one Acontius, an Italian ; in reward for which an allotment was made to him of some six hundred acres of the recovered land. Another Italian, Baptista Castilione, with other under- takers, won back a further portion ; and at length the banks were all securely raised again along the south side of the river. The maintenance of the embankment along the north shore seems to have been a work of still greater diffi- culty, and destructive inundations were frequent down to a comparatively recent period. Thus we hear of breaches occurring at Wapping and Limehouse as late as the sixteenth century, and the Isle of Dogs was often overflowed and recovered with difficulty. Lower down the river, the long bank which protects the Dagen- ham and Barking Levels was particularly liable to be burst through, by which the whole valley of the Lea, as CHAP. I. THE EMBANKMENT OF TIIK THAMES. If, well ns the rich lands along- the soiitli })OTni(lary of x, were frequently laid under water. The drowned state of these lands led to the employment, in 1621, of the distinguished Dutch engineer Cornelius Yermuyden, who succeeded in repairing the breaches and recovering a large extent of inundated country ; although we shall afterwards find the waters from time to time breaking through the banks, and temporarily re-establishing their ascendency. In many other parts of England, similar works of reclamation were carried out according to the law and custom of Romney Marsh. There was an extensive tract of marsh in Somerset to which the same practice was successfully applied — the well-known district of Sedgemoor ; so called because of the rushes, reeds, and sedge with which it was overgrown in summer, whilst in winter it was covered with water and could only be traversed in boats. In ancient times, an abbot of Glas- tonbury made a causeway across the level, which is still named after him Graylock's Fosse. But it was not until the reign of James I. that that rich tract of about thirteen thousand acres of land, now covered with orchards and cornfields, was reclaimed by drainage and embankment ; and it was the dykes or " rhines " cut in the moor which afterwards threw Monmouth's untrained troops into confusion during their night-attack on the royal army, and in a great measure caused their dis- comfiture. For many centuries the English people were thus engaged in slowly subduing the stubborn soil, reclaiming the waste places, and making the land pleasant and healthy to live in. While the population remained comparatively scanty, the urgency to labour was not excessive, and the progress made, although steady, was but slow. Englishmen were, for the most part, satisfiec^ in those olden times to live like respectable country folks ; not burdened with many younger sons ; enjoying 16 ROMNEY MARSH AND EMHAXKMEXT OF THAMES. PART T. leisure and enjoying liberty ; not very enterprising nor very laborious ; taking things easy. But the growth of a healthy population, confined within a limited territory, gradually stimulated them to increased effort, and brought out their full working energy. The climate was favourable to labour, and patient industry was the in- heritance of the race which held possession of the soil. By degrees its native riches were brought to light: it was abundantly stored with the best raw materials, — stone, lime, clay, coal, iron, and the useful metals ; but, best of all, it was peopled with strong, hardy, willing men. The land was too full of natural wealth, and lay too near the powerful military nations of Europe, to be held by a weak or idle people. It was large enough for independence, and, though limited by its coast-line on all sides, contained within it the elements of almost boundless expansion. It lay anchored by the side of Europe, in the watery highway between north and south, with its chief navigable river, the Thames, offering a convenient access to ships from every port. By persistent industry the land was gradually trans- formed. Year by year, and century by century, the people went on improving it. From a pasture-range it became a corn-farm and a garden ; and alongside of agriculture there grew up handicrafts, trades, and manu- factures, by which its rich raw materials were worked up in all manner of tools, machines, and fabrics. The powers of nature were laid under contribution, and wind, water, and steam became the allies and servants of man. Bridle-paths were superseded by wheel-roads ; rivers were dug out and deepened, or used to feed arti- ficial channels of water-communication ; and from a land of horse-vehicles it became one of steam-trains and iron railroads. All branches of agriculture, trade, and manu- facture, advanced with accelerated pace, until England has become the world's school of industry and the world's workshop. CUM-. II. TIIK GREAT LKVKL <>F TIIK FF.XS. 17 CHAPTEK II. THE GREAT LEVEL OF THE FENS. SITUATED as Britain is in a vapoury climate, and sur- rounded by the sea, water was, from the first, the chief element which English skill and industry had to fi^lit against ; and in effectively resisting it, or in subjugating and controlling it, the engineer's talent was first dis- played. We have seen that to reclaim and hold the land against the violence of the ocean, embankments and sea- walls were built around the low-lying grounds on the coast. A subsequent stage of operations was to conduct the surplus rain and river waters descending from the interior across long stretches of level land, sometimes through fens and marshes, into the sea ; for which pur- pose wide drains had to be dug, and powerful sluices erected at the point of junction of the fresh water with the salt. Then, still contending with the powers of water, the engineer raised lighthouses on solitary rocks, far out at sea, capable of resisting the most violent force of the waves ; whilst around the coast he built piers and formed harbours for the accommodation of the ships thus safely lighted to port. To connect county with county, the opposite banks of rivers were bound together by means of bridges, the engineer still fighting against water in securing the foundations for his piers. Then he skilfully contrived to subdue the same element, and convert it into his most docile servant ; leading it through new channels to drive mills and machinery, or along aqueducts for the supply of towns, or in canals upon which boats and ships laden with merchandise be safely floated. VOL. i. c 18 TIIK <;i?K.\T LFYKL OF THE FENS. PART I. In the first place, water had to l>e contended against as a fierce enemy. Tins was the case at Romney Marsh and along the banks of the Thames, as we have already described. But perhaps the most interesting district of the kind in England, where for centuries the struggle has been persistently maintained by ingenuity and industry against the powers of water both within and without the land, is the extensive low-lying tract of country, situated at the junction of the counties of Lincoln, Huntingdon, Cambridge, and Norfolk, common Iv known as the Great Level of the Fens. The area of this dis- trict presents almost the dimensions of a province, being from sixty to seventy miles from north to south, ami from twenty to thirty miles broad, the high lands of the interior bounding it somewhat in the form of a horse- shoe. It contains about 680,000 acres of the richest land in England, and is as much the product of art as the kingdom of Holland, opposite to which it lies. It has been reclaimed and drained by the labour of succes- sive generations of engineers, and it is only preserved for purposes of human habitation and culture by con- tinuous watchfulness from day to day. As presenting a series of some of the finest works which energy and perseverance have ever achieved, we regard these great Fen districts — flat and unattractive though they be to the lovers of the picturesque — as among the most in- teresting parts of England. Not many centuries ago, this vast tract of about two thousand square miles of land was entirely abandoned to the waters, forming an immense estuary of the Wash, into which the rivers Witham, Welland, Glen, Nene, and Ouse discharged the rainfall of the central counties of England. It was an inland sea in winter, and a noxious swamp in summer, the waters expanding in many places into settled seas or meres, swarming wiili fish and screaming with wild-fowl. The more elevated parts were overgrown with tall reeds, which appeared CHAP. II. TIIK (illKAT LKVKL <>F TIIK KKNS. 19 at a distance like fields of waving* corn; and they were haunted by immense flocks of starlings, which, when disturbed, would rise in such numbers as almost to darken the air. Into this great dismal swamp the floods descending from the interior were carried, their waters mingling and winding by many devious channels before they reached the sea. They were laden with silt, which became deposited in the basin of the Fens. Thus the river-beds were from time to time choked up, and the intercepted waters forced new channels through the ooze, meandering across the level, and often winding back upon themselves, until at length the surplus waters, through many openings, drained away into the Wash. Hence the numerous abandoned beds of old rivers still traceable amidst the Great Level of the Fens — the old Nene, the old Ouse, and the old Wei la iid. The Ouse, which in past times flowed into the Wash at Wisbeach (or Ouse Beach), now enters at King's Lynn, near which there is another old Ouse. But the probability is that all the rivers flowed into a lake, which existed on the tract known as the Great Bedford Level, from thence finding their way, by numerous and frequently shifting channels into the sea. Along the shores of the Wash, where the fresh and salt waters met, the tendency to the deposit of silt was the greatest ; and in the course of ages, the land at the outlet of the inland waters was raised above the level of the interior. Accordingly, the first land reclaimed in the district was the rich fringe of deposited silt lying along the shores of the Wash, now known as Marshland and South Holland. This was the work of the Romans, a hard-working, energetic, and skilful people; of whom the Britons an- said to have complained1 that they wore out and consumed their hands and bodies in clearing 1 Tacitus, 'Liferf Agricola.' c 2 20 THE GREAT LEVEL OF THE FENS. PART I. the woods and banking the fens. The bulwarks or causeways which they raised to keep out the sea are still traceable at Po-Dyke in Marshland, and at various points near the old coast-line. On the inland side of the Fens the Romans are sup- posed to have constructed another great work of drain- age, still known as Carr Dyke, extending from the Nene to the Witham. It means Fen Dyke, the fens being- still called Carrs in certain parts of Lincoln. This old drain is about sixty feet wide, with a broad, flat bank on each side ; and originally it must have been at least forty miles in extent, winding along under the eastern side of the high land, which extends in an irregular line up the centre of the district from Stamford to Lin- coln. It was calculated to receive all the high-land and flowing waters, preventing them flooding the lower grounds ; and was thus of the nature of an intercepting or " catch-water " drain. l The same people also laid several causeways across the Fens for military purposes. Thus Herodian 2 alludes to the construction of such causeways for the purpose of enabling the Roman soldiers to pass over them and fight on dry land, the Britons having taken refuge from them by swimming. Such was probably the origin of the causeway made of gravel — still traceable, though in most places covered over with moor-soil — extending 1 Mr. Rennie had the highest opinion of this work ; and in one of his reports, upon, and in others to be silted up, to the great injury of the country written about fifty years since, he thus I originally benefited by it ; and, al- described it : — " This great Roman though the part between the Nene work extended originally from the and the Welland has been kept in river Nene below Peterbo rough to the ( better repair than any other part I city of Lincoln, and perhaps even to have seen, it is far short of what it the river Trent at Torksey. I have j ought to be ; and to the bad condition traced its course for the greatest part i of this drain much of the injury of the way, and a more judicious and j done by the floods to the first district well-laid-out work I have never seen. J of the North Level is to be attri- But through neglect it has been suf- buted." fered in many places to be encroached I 2 * Life of Severus,' lib. iii. CHAP. II. Till-: GREAT LEVEL <>K THE FENS. from Denver in Norfolk over the Great Wash to riiarke, and from thence to Marsh and Peterborough, a distance of nearly thirty miles.1 The eastern parts of Marshland and Holland were thus the first lands reclaimed in the district, and they were available for purposes of agriculture long before any attempts had been made to drain the lands of the interior. Indeed, it is not improbable that these early embankments thrown up along the coast had the effect of increasing the inundations of the lower- lying lands of the level ; for, whilst they dammed the salt water out, they also held back the fresh, no provision having been made for improving and deep- ening the outfalls of the rivers flowing through the Level into the Wash. The Fen lands in winter were thus not only flooded by the rainfall of the Fens themselves, and by the upland waters which flowed from the interior, but also by the daily flux of the tides which drove in from the German Ocean, holding back the fresh waters, and even mixing with them far inland.2 The Fens, therefore, continued flooded with water down to the period of the Middle Ages, when there seems to have been water enough in the Witham to float the ships of the Danish sea rovers as far inland as Lincoln, where ships' ribs and timbers have recently 1 The causeway was about sixty feet broad, and laid with gravel about three ieet thick. A cutting made across it at Eldernell shows the per- manent manner in which the Romans did their work. It is laid upon the moor, the lowest layer being of oak- brancla-s, tlien a considerable thick- ness nf Northamptonshire rough flag- stone, and then alternate layers of -ravel with a small layer of clay, which, together, have formed a cement that nothing hut the vigorous appllra- tion of the pick can remove. 2 The tides in the Wash are about the highest and strongest on the east coast. They rush with great vehe- mence through the harbours of Lynn, AYisheach, and Boston, — the resistance caused by their meeting with the ebb-waters being called the Aegar, which rises to its greatest impetuosity during the equinoxes. This word Aegar, or Higre, it may be added, is merely the name of the old North- men's god, applied, like Neptune, to the sea itself. 22 THE GREAT LEVEL OF THE FENS. PART I. been found deep sunk in the bed of the river. The first reclaimers of the Fen lands seem to have been the religious recluses, who settled upon the islands over- grown with reeds and rushes which rose up at intervals amidst the Fen level, and where, amidst the waste, they formed their solitary settlements. One of the first of the Fen islands thus occupied was the Isle of Ely, or Eely — so called, it is said, because of the abundance and goodness of the eels caught in the neighbourhood, and in which rents were paid in early times. It stood solitary amidst a waste of waters, and was literally an island. Etheldreda, afterwards known as St. Audrey, the daughter of the King of the East Angles, retired thither, secluding herself from the world and devoting herself to a recluse life. A nunnery was built, then a town, and the place became famous in the religious world. The pagan Danes, however, had no regard for Christian shrines, and a fleet of their pirate ships, sailing across the Fens, attacked the island and burnt the nunnery. It was again rebuilt and a church sprang up, the fame of which so spread abroad that Canute, the Danish king, determined to visit it. It is related that as his ships sailed towards the island his soul rejoiced greatly, and on hearing the chanting of the monks in the quire wafted across the waters, the king joined in the singing and ceased not until he had come to land. Canute more than once sailed across the Fens with his ships, and the tradition survives that on one occasion, when passing from Ramsey to Peterborough, the waves were so boisterous on Whittlesea Mere (now a district of fruitful cornfields), that he ordered a channel to be cut through the body of the Fen westward of Whittlesea to Peterborough, which to this day is called by the name of the" King's Delph." The Fen islands were also the refuge of that loose and lawless portion of the population, which even in civil I/AM 1 societies invariably hovers aboul Ilie nun-gin of the moor, CHAP. II. TIIK (illKAT U'YKL <>K Till-; I'MXS. 23 tin- waste, and the fen. The islands were long the haunts of marauders and banditti, and when plunder failed them, the abundance of iisli and fowl offered them a readv means of subsistence. But about the period of the Conquest a new class of refugees swarmed into them. The defeated and still resisting Saxons fled thither for shelter against the mailed men-at-arms of the Norman. The situation of Ely at the junction of the ancient branch of the Ouse (called the West River) with the Cam 011 its course from Essex and Cambridgeshire, surrounded by morasses and fens, and accessible only by one entrance at Aldreth High Bridge, rendered it of great strength. It became a camp of refuge for the Saxons, who, led by Hereward, maintained for many years their last desperate but unavailing struggle for independence. The other Fen islands which acquired a similar cele- brity in those ancient times were Crowland, Ramsey, Thorney, and Spinney. They rose up at intervals far apart amidst the dead watery level of the Fens, grown over with rushes, flags, and sedge. The atmosphere which hung over them was moist and putrid, and " full of rotten harrs." But the very desolation and horror which enveloped the district seem to have proved attrac- tions in the eyes of the recluse Gluthlac — the saint of the Fen islands. Having journeyed towards the margin of the Fens, he inquired of the borderers what they knew thereof; and they told him many things of the dread- fulness and solitude of these places, but especially that in the remote and secret parts of the Fen there lay a certain island which no one dared to inhabit because of the strange and uncouth monsters with which it abounded. Whereupon Guthlac earnestly entreating that he might be shown that place, a fisherman pro- ceeded to row him thither in his boat, and landing him ai the spot now known as (Voyland, there left him. Guthlac built for himself " a hut in a hollow, on the side 24 THE GREAT LEVEL OF THE FENS. TAUT I. of a heap of turf ;" and what with worship and what with work, Guthlac gradually converted the little island into a green oasis amidst the waste.1 As his fame spread abroad, other worshippers and labourers gathered around him, and Croyland soon became the most flourishing of all the islands in the Fens. At first the soil was so rotten and boggy, that a pole might be thrust down into it for thirty feet ; but by digging and embank- ment, by tillage and culture, the land was converted into a garden of plenty. On the site of Guthlac' s wooden oratory a new and stately stone structure was built on oak and alder piles driven deep into the bog, and the abbey of Croyland became the resort of pilgrims from far and near. A village and then a town sprang up — causeways and embankments were extended farther into the Fens — drains and sluices were dug to let off water from the standing pools — more land was reclaimed and tilled — until the monastery grew richer and richer, and increasing numbers of people resorted to Croyland for purposes of devotion, employ- ment, and subsistence. Other islands near at hand were gradually subdued in like manner, to which the Croy- 1 The horrors first encountered by Guthlac in his desolate island are graphically described in the following metaphorical account, contained hi the Life of the Saint in the Cottonian Library. Not long after his landing, the legend says, — " St. Guthlac, being awake in the night time, be- twixt his hours of prayer, as he was accustomed, of a sudden he discerned his cell to be full of black troops of unclean spirits, which crept in under the door, as also at chinks and holes ; and, coming in both out of the sky and from the earth, filled the air, as it were, with dark clouds. In their looks they were cruel, and of form terrible, having great heads, long necks, lean faces, pale countenances, ill- favoured beards, rough ears, wrinkled foreheads, fierce eyes, stinking mouths, teeth like horses, spitting fire out of their throats, crooked jaws, broad lips, loud voices, burnt hair, great cheeks, high breasts, rugged thighs, bunched knees, bended legs, swohi ankles, pre- posterous feet, open mouths, and hoarse cries; who with such mighty shrieks were heard to roar, that they filled almost the whole distance I ruin heaven with their bellowing noises; and by and by rushing into the house, first bound the holy man, then drew him out of his cell, and cast him over- head and ears into the dirty fen; and, having so done, carried him through the most rough and troublesome parts thereof, drawing him amongst bram- bles and briars for the tearing of his limbs." It would appear from this graphic report as if the horrid stag- nancy of the fens had afflicted the saint with an intolerable nightmare. CHAP. II. THE GREAT LEVEL OF THE FENS. 25 land men went in their boats or skerries to milk the cows — the boats being so small that they could carry only two men and their milk-pails. As yet no corn grew within five miles of Croyland, and there was an old proverb of the district which said that " all the carts tliat come to Croyland are shod with silver," for the good reason that the ground all about it was so boggy that neither horse nor cart could approach it; and hence the proverb. Thorney and Eamsey were other Fen islands, each the seat of an abbey. Both stood solitary amidst the dead level waste around them. Deep and boggy quag- mires separated Ramsey from the high lands on the west, whilst several large meres, abounding in eels, pikes, hakedes, and other fish, stretched away towards the east. Like Croyland and Thorney, it was approach- able only by boats, until a causeway was made to it across the marsh — the monks being the engineers. Another of these causeways was made from Soham to Ely, which was considered in its day a work so won- derful, that it was afterwards attributed to a miracle performed by the monk who constructed it ; and Egelric, a Peterborough monk, made a firm causeway of wood and gravel through the Fens between Deeping and Spalding, for the convenience of foot-passengers. A considerable inducement to the industry of the church- men was, no doubt, the increased value given to the Fen lands thus reclaimed, which were added from time to time to the endowments of their respective esta- blishments. Hence we find serious disputes occurring between the Bishops of Ely and the Abbots of Eamsey as to the boundaries of their Fen lands, and the contro- versy became so hot amongst the brethren on one occa- sion, that it is related that " on the feast-day of Saint Peter ad Vincula, two of the canons of the priory of the Holy Trinity, disputing thereof, grew to such high words as contracted an implacable hatred betwixt them, that, 26 THE GREAT LEVEL OF THE FENS. PART 1. studying a revenge, the one took an opportunity to murther the other." l PART LtNCOUJSHlRB m§ 'Mf £ v^^vv* /faT^/'Q ^^f"0^ M'"V ^ ^ •aX^' \JfU<{f»7ia/t vAS •' '\r>? '•* •-" : :^^J"^ Pp^.-///"///:-" > y '--x v ^'vvs^ -.\-&A«'\ *'r"x r-r AV^- <^ 'w^i EU«T of 7% CAMnaiDOKSHIRE ft"X a£ "^Wfc^-^X R A MAPP t «»=.^r/- I^KJ MAP OF THE FENS AS THEY LAY DEOWNED.2 [After Dufedale.] These attempts at reclaimment, however, made com- paratively small impression on the vast extent of drowned lands forming the great Fen Level. They touched only the higher points, and being conducted on no defined plan or system, the efforts made to drain one spot often had the effect of only sending a flood of water upon another, or perhaps diverting in some new 1 Dugdale, ' History of Draining and Imbanknient.' 2 The map represents the Fens as they lay drowned at a much later period than that above described. The parts dark shaded were covered with water as late as the reign of James I. The map is corrected from Pugdale's * History of Drainage and Imbankmcnt,' and rendered more in- telligible to modem readers. In Dug- dale's book, the south is at the top of the map, and the west to the right hand — the reverse of our present ar- rangement. But the old map-makers wer,e by no means particular; and there are other maps in Dugdalr in which the north is to the right of the map, and the west is at the top. CHAP. II. THE GREAT LEVEL OF THE FENS. 'J7 direction the water which before had driven a mill, or formed a channel for purposes of navigation. The rivers also were constantly liable to get silted up, and to form for themselves new courses ; sometimes in a night undoing all that it had taken years to accomplish. Hence we find perpetual local litigation prevailing in the district from a very early date ; and numerous in- quisitions were held for the purpose of determining in what way the waters were best to be dammed back, or in any way got rid of. In these inquisitions the Bishop of Ely, the Abbots of Croyland, Thorney, and Ramsey, and the Prior of Spalding, took a leading- part — being concerned for the large Fen property attached to their respective establishments. A few of the large landowners attempted experiments in drainage on a small scale ; but in those days the enterprise of the barons was mostly in a warlike direction. In 1427 Gilbert Halloft, a Baron of the Exchequer, residing at Well, in what is called the North Level, drained and cultivated a small tract of country with tolerable success ; and another baron, Richard de Rulos, Lord of Burne and Deeping, by diverting the waters of the Welland and building them back by strong embankments, suc- ceeded in reclaiming the very rich lands of Market Deeping, " out of the very pits and bogs thereby ninking a garden of pleasure." Deep Ing, or Low Meadow, is one of the lowest parts of the Fens, being below the level of the sea at high- water, but rich and fertile as any land in England. Indeed many of the richest Fen lands lie consider;! hly beneath the sea-level — those inland being even lower tlmn the marsh lands which fringe the sea-coast. The floor of the old church at Wigenhall, St. Germans, was at least seven feet below high-water mark of the river Ouse. The same river, after one of its burstings, washed away the churchyard at Old Lynn, and com- pelled the removal of the church farther inland. The 28 THE GREAT LEVEL OF THE FENS. PART I. violence of the sea was often felt by the poor inhabitants of these remote districts ; for sometimes, in a single night, was undone the tedious industry of centuries. But the district then lay far apart from the highways of intercourse in England. Marshland was cut off from the inland counties by the impassable Fens which lay in the hollow of the Great Level ; and the troubles and sufferings of the marshmen and fenmen excited but little interest. On one occasion, however, a royal army had nearly been cut off by the fury of the sea driving up the Wash, impelled by one of the north-east winds formerly so destructive along that coast. It was the army of King John when crossing the marshes between King's Lynn and Sleaford. They had nearly reached the north shore when they heard the terrible roar of the Aegar. Pressing on, impelled by terror, the King, with his immediate followers, succeeded in reaching the firm land, but not a minute too soon, for the carriages and sumpter horses, which bore the military chest, were swallowed up in the whirlpool caused by the furious meeting of the flowing tide with the waters of the Welland. Hence Shakespeare, in his tragedy of ' King John,' makes Falconbridge say to Hubert— " I tell thee, Hubert, half my power this night, Passing these flats, is taken by the tide ; These Lincoln washes have devoured them ; Myself, well-mounted, hardly have escaped." Each suffering locality, acting for itself, did what it could to preserve the land which had been won from the sea, and to check the recurrence of inundations. Dyke- reeves were appointed along the sea-borders, with a force of shore-labourers at their disposal, to see to the security of the embankments ; and fen-wards were con- stituted inland, over which commissioners were set, for the purpose of keeping open the drains, maintaining the dykes, and preventing destruction of life and property by floods, whether descending into the Fens from the CHAP. II. THE GREAT LEVEL OF THE FENS. 29 high lands or bursting in upon them from the sea. Where lands became suddenly drowned, the Sheriff wal~~ authorised to impress diggers and labourers- for raising embankments ; and commissioners of sewers were after- wards appointed, with full powers of local action, after the law and usage of Eomney Marsh. In one district we find a public order made that every man should plant with willows the bank opposite his portion of land towards the fen, " so as to break off the force of the waves in flood times ; " and swine were not to be allowed to go upon the banks unless they were ringed, under a penalty of a penny (equal to a shilling in our money) for every hog found unringed. One of the first works attempted on a large scale, with a view to the thorough drainage of part of the North Level, was that carried out by John Morton, Bishop of Ely, in the reign of Henry VII. He caused a forty-foot cut or canal to be dug from near Peter- borough to Guyhirne, continuing it eastward, through Wisbeach, to the sea, the distance being forty miles. Its object was, to enable the overflowings of the river Nene, into which the drainage of many thousands of acres of land flowed, to be more quickly evacuated, and at the same time to enable navigation to be carried on between Peterborough and the sea. The Bishop took great pleasure in superintending the construction of the work, which is still called by his name, ' Morton's Learn.' He had a lofty brick tower built at Guyhirne, where the waters met, and " up into that tower he would often go to oversee and set out the works." l This Bishop was the first to introduce into the district the practice of making straight cuts and artificial rivers for the purpose of more rapidly voiding the waters of the Fens — a practice which has been extensively adopted ^oy the engineers who succeeded him. 1 Atkyns's Report, anno 1618. 30 THE GttEAT LEVEL OF THE EEXs. PART 1. At the dissolution of the monasteries, in the reign of Henry Till., the drainage of the Fens, which, up to that time, had heen conducted principally by the church- men, suffered a serious check. The embankments were neglected ; the rivers were allowed to silt up ; and the Fen lands, covered with water, were abandoned to fishes and water-fowl. The sea on the one hand, and the inland waters on the other, required the exer- cise of unceasing vigilance. Not only had the sea to be held back, but the inland waters must be got rid of; and of the two, the latter were usually the most danger- ous. Where the river outfalls were neglected, and allowed to be choked up by silt, the first heavy rain- fall in the interior brought down a flood, for whose escape there was no adequate outlet ; hence devastating inundations from time to time occurred, and the waters rapidly regained their dominion over the land. Thus, in Elizabeth's reign, there occurred a great drowning of the East Fen, near Boston, by which some five thou- sand acres of land, under partial cultivation, were com- pletely submerged; and the poor fenmen who had formed their miserable settlements on the islets rising above the waste, saw their little holdings swept awav. Most of them barely escaped with their lives, but many were drowned. Appeals were sent up to the Govern- ment respecting the deplorable state of the district ; and renewed efforts were made to keep out the waters. A commission was appointed (20th Elizabeth) with the object of devising and adopting measures for the drainage of the North Level ; but the work was of so formidable a character as to deter the commissioners from taking any steps beyond the simplest defensive measures to protect the land already reclaimed. A General Drainage Art was passed some years later, by the advice of Lord Burghley (43rd Elizabeth), which was of so compre- hensive a character that it embraced the drainage of all the marshes and drowned lands in England. But com- ClIAl'. II. TIIK CIIKAT LKVKI, OF TIIK FKN'S. 31 paratively little was done to curry its provisions into effect, although measures were al>out tliat time adopted, under concessions made to the Cecils and the Fitx- williams, which enabled them to drain, and that very ineffectually, several portions of land near dough's Cross, to the eastward of Peterborough* A. few years later James I. ascended the throne, and shortly after, in 1607, a series of destructive floods 1 mrst in the embankments along the eastern coast of England, and, sweeping away many farms and vil- lages, did immense damage. One of the worst occurred through the bursting of Terington Dyke, near King's Lynn, by reason of the violence of a storm from the north-east, which drove the spring-tide through the sea- 1 >anks. The jury for the hundred of Freebridge held an inquest upon the bodies of those who were drowned, and the following brief extract from their presentment will give an idea of the horrors of the situation : — "In their distress the people of the town fled to the church for refuge ; some to haystacks ; some to the baulks in the houses, till they were near famished ; poor women leaving their children swimming in their beds, till good people, adventuring their lives, went up to the breast in the water to fetch them out at the windows ; whereof Mr. Browne, the minister, did fetch divers to the church upon his back ; and had it not pleased Grod to move the hearts of the mayor and aldermen of King's Lynn with compassion, who sent beer and victual thither by boat, many had perished ; which boats came the direct way over the soil from Lynne to Terington." 1 1 The toll, .wins description is given in a curious little black-letter lxx)k of tin- ju-riotl, entitled 'More strange Newes of Flouds in Knghmd :' — "In the danger every man laved first handes on what he loned best; some made away with his wife, some his children, some, careles both of wife and child, hurried away his goods. He that had scene this troublesome night's work would have thought upon the miserable night of Troy. Here waded one up to the middle loaded with wealth, when noting how the water increased, and calling to mind his haplesse children, with a sigh, as 32 THE GREAT LEVEL OF THE FENS. J'AliT 1. When the King was informed of this great calamity which had befallen the inhabitants of the Fens, prin- cipally through the decay of the old works of drainage and embankment, he is said to have made the right royal declaration, that " for the honour of his kingdom, he would not any longer suffer these countries to be abandoned to the will of the waters, nor to let them lie waste and unprofitable ; and that if no one else would undertake their drainage, he himself would be- come their undertaker." A commission was in the first place appointed to ascertain the extent of the evil, and from the schedule which was shortly afterwards pre- pared and sent in of the drowned lands lying more par- ticularly along the river Ouse, it appeared that there were not less than 307,242 acres lying outside the Fen dykes which required drainage and protection. A bill was brought into Parliament for the purpose of enabling rates to be levied and measures to be taken for the drainage of this land, but the Bill was summarily rejected. Two years later, the "little bill" for draining 6000 acres in Waldersea county was passed — the first- district act for Fen drainage sanctioned by Parliament. The King then called Chief-Justice Popham to his aid, and sent him down to the Fens to undertake a portion of the work ; and he induced a company of Londoners to undertake another portion, the adventurers receiving two-thirds of the reclaimed lands as a recompense. "Popham's Eau," and "The Londoners' Lode," still mark the scene of these operations. The works, how- ever, did not prove very successful, not having been carried out with sufficient practical knowledge on the loath to part from what he so deerly loued, he throwes it downe, runs to bedde, wakens his wife, and from her sides snatches the sleeping infants. Here comes a husband with his wile on his backe, and under either arme an infant. The sonne carries the father, the brother the sister, the daughter the mother, whilest the un- merciful conqueror break* s downe the walles of the houses, taking pi Hie neither of aged nor sere, findes some at play, some a slccpe in chayres, many in their beds, that never dreamed of misfortune till it waked them." CHAP. u. Tin-: 9BEAT i.KVKi. <»F THK FKNS. 33 part of the adventurers, nor after any well-devised plan. Indeed, so long as the river outfalls were neglected, the drainage of one district only had the effect of drowning some other ; and hence arose perpetual quarrels amongst the fen-owners, with constant appeals to the law. The England of that day was very weak in engineering ability ; and it was natural that the King, in this emer- gency, should bethink him of resorting for help to the skilled drainers of Holland, then the great country of water engineers. Out of this necessity arose the em- ployment of Cornelius Yermuyden, the Dutchman, whose career in England will form the subject of suc- ceeding chapters. The need of skilled engineering for the rescue of the drowned lands in the Fens was at this time certainly most imminent. It would be difficult to imagine any- thing more dismal than the aspect which they pre- sented. In winter, a sea without waves; in summer, a dreary mud-swamp. The atmosphere was heavy with pestilential vapours, and swarmed with insects. The meres and pools were, however, rich in fish and wild- fowl. The Welland was noted for sticklebacks, a little fish about two inches long, which appeared in dense shoals near Spalding, every seventh or eighth year, and used to be sold during the season at a halfpenny a bushel, for field manure. Pikes were plentiful near Lincoln; hence the proverb, " Witham pike, England hath none like." Fen-nightingales, or frogs, especially abounded. The birds-proper were of all kinds ; wild- geese, herons, teal, widgeons, mallards, grebes, coots, godwits, whimbrels, knots, dottrels, yelpers, ruffs, and reeves, many of which have long since been banished from England. Mallards were so plentiful that 3000 of them, with other birds in addition, have been known to be taken at one draught. Round the borders of the fens there lived a thin and haggard population of " Fen-slodgers," called u yellow-bellies "in other VOL. I. D 34 THE GREAT LEVEL OF THE FENS. PART I. districts, who derived a precarious subsistence from fowling and fishing. They were described by writers of the time as "a rude and almost barbarous sort of lazy and beggarly people." Disease always hung over the district, ready to pounce upon the half-starved fen- men. Camden spoke of the country between Lincoln and Cambridge as "a vast morass, inhabited by fen- men, a kind of people, according to the nature of the place where they dwell, who, walking high upon stilts, apply their minds to grazing, fishing, or fowling." The proverb of "Cambridgeshire camels" doubtless origi- nated in this old practice of stilt-walking in the Fens; the fenmen, like the inhabitants of the Landes, mount- ing upon high stilts to spy out their flocks across the dead level. But the flocks of the fenmen consisted principally of geese, which were called the " fenmen' s treasure;" the fenman's dowry being "three-score geese and a pelt," or sheep-skin used as an outer garment. The geese throve where nothing else could exist, being equally proof against rheumatism and ague, though lodging with the natives in their sleeping-places. Even of this poor property, however, the slodgers were liable at any time to be stripped by sudden inundations. In the oldest reclaimed district of Holland, containing many old village churches, the inhabitants, in wet seasons, were under the necessity of rowing to church in their boats. In the other less reclaimed parts of the Fens the inhabitants were much worse off. "In the winter time," said Dugdale, "when the ice is only strong enough to hinder the passage of boats, and yet not able to bear a man, the inhabitants upon the hards and banks within the Fens can have no help of food, nor comfort for body or soul; no woman aid in her travail, no means to baptize a child or partake of the Communion, nor supply of any necessity saving what these poor desolate places do afford. And what expectation of health can there be to the bodies of men, CHAP. II. THE GREAT LEVEL OF THE FENS. 35 where there is no element good? the air being for the most part cloudy, gross, and full of rotten harrs; the water putrid and muddy, yea, full of loathsome vermin; the earth spungy and boggy, and the fire noisome by the stink of smoaky hassocks." The wet character of the soil at Ely may be inferred from the circumstance that the chief crop grown in the neighbourhood was willows; and it was a common saying there, that "the profit of willows will buy the owner a horse before that by any other crop he can pay for his saddle." 2 There was so much water constantly lying above Ely, that in olden times the Bishop of Ely was accustomed to go in his toat to Cambridge. When the outfalls of the Ouse became choked up by neglect, the surrounding districts were subject to severe inunda- tions; and after a heavy fall of rain, or after a thaw in winter, when the river swelled suddenly, the alarm spread abroad, "the bailiff of Bedford is coming!" the Ouse passing by that town. But there was even a more terrible bailiff than he of Bedford ; for when a man was stricken down by the ague, it was said of him, " he is arrested by the bailiff of Marsh-land ; " this disease extensively prevailing all over the district when the poisoned air of the marshes began to work. 1 Dugdale, * History of Imbank- [ subject. He was employed under ing and Draining.' In this curious ' The Adventurers' when a young old book a great deal of interesting matter is to be found relating to the drainage works of early times, though overlaid with considerable ' Dryasdust' citation. Dugdale seems to have ran- sacked all literatim- for any informa- tion bearing, however remotely, on his man, as early as 1643, and afterwards published his book at the request of Lord Georges, for some time Surveyor- General of the Great Bedford Level. 2 ' Anglorum Speculum; or, the Worthies of England in Church and State :' London, 1684. D 2 36 DRAINAGE <>F HATFIKLD rilASK PART I. CHAPTER III. DRAINAGE OF HATFIELD CHASE — SIR CORNELIUS YERMUYDEN. CORNELIUS YERMUYDENT, the Dutch engineer, was in- vited over to England, about the year 1621, to stem a breach in the embankment of the Thames near Dairrii- ham, which had been burst through by the tide. He was a person of good birth and education, the son of Giles Yermuyden, by Sarah his wife, who was the daughter of Sir Cornelius Wordendyke, a gentleman of some importance in his time. His birthplace was at St. Martin's Dyke, in the isle of Tholen, in Zeeland. He had been trained as an engineer, and having been brought up in a country where embanking was studied as an art and afforded employment to a considerable proportion of its inhabitants, he was familiar with the most approved L methods of defending land against the encroachments of the sea. He was so successful in his operations at Dagen- ham, that when it was found necessary to drain the royal park at Windsor, he was employed to direct the labourers in that work, by which he became known to James I., who took a peculiar interest in works of in- ternal improvement.1 Among the several public under- takings promoted by that monarch, were the reclamation of Canvey Island, at the mouth of the Thames ; Sedge- moor, in Somersetshire ; Brading Haven, in the Isle of Wight ; and the drainage of Hatfield Level and the Great Bedford Level ; as well as the construction of the New River, hereafter to be described. 1 From an order on the Exchequer, dated 13th Feb., 1623, it appears that the trenching and drainage of Windsor Great Park were executed under the direction of Vennuydrn, ;it an expense of 300?.—' Statr Paper ()ftic< — Issues of the Exchequer.' CHAP. 111. Slli CORNELIUS YKK.M r Y1>K\. 37 The extensive district of A xli< >lnie, of which tlie Level of Hatficld Chase formed only a part, resembled the Great Level of the Fens in many respects, being a large fresh-water bay formed by the confluence of the rivers Don, Went, Ouse, and Trent, which brought clown into the Hinnber almost the entire rainfall of Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Nottingham, and North Lincoln, and into which the sea also washed. The uplands of Yorkshire lion IK led this watery tract on the west, and those of Lincolnshire on the east. Eising up about midway I >et ween them was a single hill, or rather elevated ground, formerly an island, and still known as the Isle of Ax- holme. There was a ferry between Sandtoft and that island in times not very remote, and the farmers of Axliolme were accustomed to attend market at Don- caster in their boats, though the bottom of the sea over which they then rowed is now amongst the most pro- ductive corn-land in England. The waters extended to Hatfield, which lies along the Yorkshire edge of the level on the west ; and it is recorded in the ecclesiastical history of that place that a company of mourners, with the corpse they carried, were once lost when proceeding by boat from Thome to Hatfield. When Leland visited the county in 1607, he went by boat from Thorne to Tudworth, over what at this day is rich ploughed land. The district was marked by numerous merestones, and many fisheries are still traceable in local history as ha ving existed at places now far inland. The Isle of Axholme was in former times a strong- hold of the Mowbrays, being unapproachable save by water. In the reign of Henry II., when Lord Mowbray held it against the King, it was taken by the Lincoln- shire men, who attacked it in boats; and, down to the reiv;n of James I., the only green spot which rose above the wide waste of waters was this solitary isle. In early times the whole of the south-eastern part of the county of York, from Conisborough Castle to the sea, belonged 38 DRAINAGE OF HATFIELD CHASE— PART I. to the royal domains ; but one estate after another was alienated, until at length, when James I. succeeded to the crown of England, there only remained the manor of Hatfield, which, watery though it was, continued to be dignified with the appellation of a Royal Chase. There was, however, plenty of deer in the neighbour- hood, for De La Pryme says that in his time they were as numerous as sheep on a hill, and that family venison was as abundant as mutton in a poor man's kitchen.1 But the principal sport which Hatfield furnished was in the waters and meres adjacent to the old timber manor- house. Prince Henry, the King's eldest son, on the occasion of a journey to York, rested at Hatfield on his way, and had a day's sport in the Royal Chase, which is curiously described by De La Pryme : — " The prince and his retinue all embarked themselves in almost a hundred boats that were provided there ready, and having fright- ened some five hundred deer out of the woods, grounds, and closes adjoining, which had been drawn there the night before, they all, as they were commonly wont, took to the water, and this little royal navy pursuing them, soon drove them into that lower part of the level, called Thome Mere, and there, being up to their very necks in water, their horned heads raised themselves so as almost to represent a little wood. Here being en- compassed about with the little fleet, some ventured amongst them, and feeling such and such as were fattest, they either immediately cut their throats, or else tying a strong long rope to their heads, drew them to land and killed them." Such was the last battue in the Royal Chase of Hat- field; for shortly after, King James brought the subject of the drainage of the tract under the notice of Cornelius Yermuyden, who, on inspecting it, declared the project to be quite practicable. The level of the Chase con- 1 De La Pryme, « History of the Level of Hatfk-M Clias<-.' CHAP. III. SIR CORNELIUS VEBMUYDEN. ;;-.i tained about 70,000 acres, the waters of which found their way to the sea through many changing channels, like the rivers of the Fens. There were numerous places in the level deeper than others; some of them meres abounding in fish; hence Fishlake and Fishtoft, which were famous for this commodity. Yarious at- tempts had been made to diminish the flooding of the lands. In the fourteenth century several deep trenches were dug, to let off the water, but they probably admitted as much as they allowed to escape, and the drowning continued. Commissioners were appointed, but they did nothing. The country was too poor, and the people too unskilled, to undertake so expensive and laborious an enterprise. A local jury was then summoned by the King to consider the question of the drainage, but they broke up, after expressing their opinion of the utter im- practicability of carrying out any effective plan for the withdrawal of the waters. Yermuyden, however, declared that he would undertake and bind himself to do that which the jury had pronounced to be impossible. The Dutch had certainly been successful beyond all other nations in projects of the same kind. No people had fought against water so boldly, so perseveringly, and so successfully. They had made their own land out of the mud of the rest of Europe, and, being rich and prosperous, were ready to enter upon similar enter- prises in other countries. On the death of James I., his successor confirmed the preliminary arrangement which had been made with Yermuyden, with a view to the drainage of Hatfield Manor ; and on the 24th of May, 1626, after a good deal of negotiation as to terms, Articles were drawn up and signed between the Crown and Yermuyden, by which the latter undertook to reclaim the drowned lands, and make them fit for tillage and pasturage. It was a condition of the contract that Yermuyden and his partners in the adventure were 40 DRAINAGE OF HATFIELD CHASE— TAUT I. to have granted to them one entire third of the lands so recovered from the waters. Yeramyden was a bold and enterprising man, full of energy and resources. He also seems to have possessed the confidence of capitalists in his own country, for we find him shortly after proceeding to Amsterdam to raise the money, of which England was then so deficient; and a company was formed, composed almost entirely of Dutchmen, for the purpose of carrying out the neces- sary works of reclamation. Amongst those early specu- lators in English drainage we find the names of the Yalkenhurgh family, the Yan Peenens, the Yernatti, Andrew Boccard, and John Corsellis. Of the whole number of shareholders amongst whom the lands were ultimately divided, the only names of English sound are those of Sir James Cambell, Knight, and Sir John Ogle, Knight, who were amongst the smallest of the parti- cipants. Many of the Dutch capitalists came over to look after their own interest, and Yermuyden collected from different parts the skilled labour of a large number of Dutch and Flemish workmen. It so happened that there were then scattered up and down over England numerous foreign labourers — Dutchmen who had been brought from Holland to embank the lands at Dagenham and Canvey Island on the Thames, and others who had been driven from their own countries by religious persecution - - French Protestants from Picardy, and Walloons from Flanders. The countries in which those people had been born and bred resembled in many respects the marsh and fen districts of England, and they were practically familiar with the reclamation of such lands, the digging of drains, the raising of embankments, and the cultivation of marshy ground. Those immigrants had already settled down in large numbers in the eastern counties, and along the borders of the Fens, at Wisbeach, Whittlesea, Thorney, Spaldino-. ('n.vr. IN. SIK CORNELIUS VKIIMCYDHX. 41 ami the neighbourhood.1 The poor foreigners readily answered Vermuyden's call, and many of them took service under him at Hatfield Chase, where they set to work with such zeal, and laboured with such diligence, that before the end of the second year the work was so far advanced that a commission was issued for the survey and division amongst the participants of the reclaimed lands.2 The plan of drainage adopted seems to have been, to carry the waters of the Idle by direct channels into the Trent, instead of allowing them to meander at will through the level of the Chase. Deep drains were cut, through which the water was drawn from the large pools standing near Hatfield and Thome. The Don also was blocked out of the level by embankments, and forced through its northern branch, by Turn-bridge, into the river Aire. But this last attempt proved a mistake, for the northern channel was found insufficient for the discharge of the waters, and floodings of the old lands about Fishlake, Sykehouse, and Snaith took place; to prevent which, a wide and deep channel, called the Dutch River, was afterwards cut, and the waters of the Don were sent directly into the Ouse, near Goole. This great and unexpected addition to the cost of the undertaking appears to have had a calamitous effect, 1 It has been observed that the buildings in many of the old Fen towns to tliis day have a Flemish appear- ance, as the names of many of the in- habitants have evidently a foreign origin. Those of Dcscow, Le Plas, Kgar, Brnynne, £c., are said to be still nmmion. Among the settlers in the level of Hatfield was Mathew de la I'rynie, who emigrated from Ypivs in (•'landers during the persecutions of the Duke of Alva. Professor Pryme, of the reclaimed lands: — "July 11, J 628. Grant to Cornelius Vermuydeii, of the manors of Hatfield, Fishlake, Thorpe, Stainforth, and Dowesthorpe, county York, subject to a rent of 150?. per annum, and to a covenant for the grant to be void if his Majesty repay to the grantee 10,0007. with interest on Septr. 25th."— Docquet. \Ve also lind in the same papers (vol. cvii. 1.4) a grant to Yernmyden for lives of himself, his son, and his of Cambridge, has been mentioned as two daughters, Sarah and Catherine, a lineal descendant of the family. of a moiety of divers wastes and snr- Tablets to several of the name are still rounded grounds belonging to Misen, to be found in Hatfield Church. in the county of Nottingham, consist- - The following document in the ing of 2600 acres, reclaimed by the State Paper Office relates to the grant same works. 42 DRAINAGE OF HATFIELD CHASE— PART J. and brought distress and ruin on many who had engaged in it. The people who dwelt on the northern branch of the Don complained loudly of the adventurers, who MAP OF THE LEVEL OF HATFIELD CHASE. [Corrected, after Du£dale.] were denounced as foreigners and marauders; and they were not satisfied with mere outcry, but took the law into their own hands; broke down the embankments, assaulted the Flemish workmen, and several persons lost their lives in the course of the riots which ensued.1 1 R. Ansbie writes the Duke of Buckingham from Tickill Castle, under date the 21st August, 1628, as follows : — " What has happened be- twixt Mr. Vermuyclen's friends and workmen and the people of the Isle of Axliolmc these inclosed will give a taste. Great riots have been com- mitted by the people, and a man killed by the Dutch party, the killing CHAP. III. Sill rnUNKLlUS VERMUYDKX. 43 V en ni i y »lni did what he could to satisfy the in- 1 1 ; 1 1 1 i t a n ts. He employed large numbers of native work- n icii, at considerably higher wages than had before been paid there ; and he strenuously exerted himself to relieve those who had suffered from the changes he had effected, so far as could be done without incurring a ruinous expense.1 Dugdale relates that there could be no question about the great benefits which the execu- tion of the drainage works conferred upon the labouring population ; for whereas, before the reclamation, the country round about had been " full of wandering beggars," these had now entirely disappeared, and there was abundant employment for all who would work, at good wages. An immense tract of rich land had been completely recovered from the waters, but it could only be made valuable and productive after long and diligent cultivation. Vermuyden was supported by the Crown, and on the 6th of January, 1 629, he received the honour of knighthood at the hands of Charles I., in recogni- tion of the skill and energy he had displayed in adding so large a tract to the cultivable lands of England. In the same year he took a grant from the Crown of the of whom is conceived to be murder in j l F. Vernatti, one of the Dutch all who gave direction for them to go I capitalists who had contributed largely armed that day. These outrages will | towards the cost of the works, writes produce good effects. They will pro- to Monsieur St. Gillis, in October, cure conformity in the people, and 1628 : — " The absence of Mr. Ver- enforce Vermuyden to sue for favour muyden, and the great interest the at the Duke's hands, — if not for him- self, for divers of his friends, especially for Mr. Saines, a Dutchman, who has tin adventure of 13,OOOZ. in this work. Upon examination of the rest of Ver- muydeii's people, thinks it will appeal- writer takes in the business of em- bankment at Haxey, has led him to engage in it with eye and hand. The mutinous people have not only de- sisted from their threats, but now give their work to complete the dyke, that lie gave them orders to go armed. which they have fifty times destroyed Expected to have heard from Mr. and thrown into the river. A royal Forthcrley about Vermuyden's defeaz- proclamation made by a serjeant-at- ance, but he having fallen short , arms in their village, accompanied by therein, it has been given out by Ver- j the sheriff and other officials, with muyden's party that he has bought fifty horsemen, and an exhortation the lordship ; but the writer, with | mingled with threats of fire and ven- strong assurances, has removed that | geance, have produced tliis result." — stumbling-block." — ' State Papers,' vol. cxiii. 38. ' State Papers,1 vol. cxix. 73. 44 DRAINAGE OF HATF1ELD CHASE— PART I. whole of the reclaimed lands in the manor of Hatfield, amounting to about 24,500 acres, agreeing to pay the Crown the sum of 16,080/., an annual rent of 193/. 3s. 5Jd., one red rose ancient rent, and an im- proved rent of 42 5/. from Christmas, 1630.1 Power was also granted him to erect one or more chapels wherein the Dutch and Flemish settlers might worship in their own language;2 and they then settled down peacefully to cultivate the soil which their labours had won. They built houses, farmsteads, and windmills; and even now the Dutch look of the villages, and the Dutch character of many of the inhabitants in the district, ;nv still observable. It was long, however, before the hostility and jealousv of the native population could be appeased. The idea of foreigners settling . as colonists upon lands over which, though waste and swamp, their forefathers had enjoyed rights of common, was especially distasteful to them, and bred bitterness in many hearts. All over the Fen district the dispossessed fenmen were almost in a state of revolt, and they had numerous sympathisers among the rest of the population. Thus, on one occa- sion, we find the Privy Council sending down a warrant to all postmasters to furnish Sir Cornelius Vermuyden with horses and a guide to enable him to ride post from London to Boston, and from thence to Hatfield.3 But at Royston " Edward Whitehead, the constable, in the absence of the postmaster, refused to provide horses, and on being told he should answer for his neglect, replied, ' Tush ! do your worst : you shall have none of my horses in spite of your teeth.' ' Complaints were made to the Council as to the injury done to the surrounding districts by the drainage works ; and an inquisition was ' State Papers,' vol. cxlvii. 21. vol. clxvi. 56. " 'State Papers,' vol. cxxiii. 26. 4 Affidavit of (ion-c Johnson, ser- \V ; i rrant of Council, dated \Yhitr- vanl of Sir Cornelius Ycrnmyden. — hall, May 12th, 1630.—' State Papers/ ' State Papers; vol. elxx. 17. CHAP. 111. SIR mitNKUrs Y KIIM C VI )KN. 4o held on ilic subject before tlir Karls otThnv mid New- castle, and Sir Gervase Clifton. Vermuyden was heard in defence, and a decision was given in his favour ; but lie seems to have acted with precipitancy in taking out subpoenas against many of the old inhabitants for damage said to have been done to him and his agents. Several persons were apprehended and confined in York gaol, and the feeling of bitterness between the native population and the Dutch settlers grew more intense from day to day. Lord Went worth, President of the North, at length interfered ; and after surveying the lands, he ordered that all suits should cease, and the restoration of the old rights of common, which had in some cases been interfered with. Yerrnuyden was also directed to assign to the tenants certain tracts of moor and marsh ground, to be enjoyed by them in common. He attempted to evade the decision, holding it to be unjust ; but the Lord President was too powerful for him, and he therefore felt that, as opposition was of no use, it was better that he should altogether withdraw from the undertaking, which he did ; first conveying his lands to trustees, and afterwards disposing of his interest in them.1 The necessary steps were then taken to relieve the old lands which had been flooded, by the cutting of the Dutch River at a heavy expense. Great difficulty was experienced in raising the requisite funds; the Dutch capitalists now holding their hand, or transferring their 1 The Dutch settlers lived for the most part in single houses, dispersed through the newly-recovered country . A house built by Vermuyden remains. It \vas chiefly of timber, and what is culled s(in/-lxniit'/. It was built round a quadrangular court. The eastern front was the dwelling-house. The afterwards became the property of the Boynton family. Sir Philibert Ver- natti and the two De Witts ereeud theirs near the Idle. A chapel for the settlers was also erected at Sand- toft, in which the various ordinances of religion were performed; and the public service was read alternately in other three sides were stables and the Dutch and French languages. — barns. Another good house was The Rev. Joseph Hunter's * History built by Mathew Valkenburgh, on | and Topography of the Deanery of the Middle Ing, near the D«.nj which Doncaster,' 1828, vol. i. 165-fi. 40 DRAINAGE OF HATFIELD CHASE— PART I. interest to other proprietors, at a serious depreciation in the value of their shares. The Dutch Eiver was, how- ever, at length cut, and all reasonable ground of com- plaint, so far as respected the lands along the North Don, was removed. For some years the new settlers cultivated their lands in peace; when suddenly they were reduced to the greatest distress, through the troubles arising out of the wars of the Commonwealth. In 1642 a committee sat at Lincoln to watch over the interests of the Parliament in that county. The Yorkshire royalists were very active on the other side of the Don, and the rumour went abroad that Sir Ealph Humby was about to march into the Isle of Axholme with his forces. To prevent this the com- mittee at Lincoln gave orders to break the dykes, and pull up the flood-gates at Snow-sewer and Millerton- sluice, which was done. Thus in one night the results of so many years' labour were undone, and the greater part of the level again lay under water. The damage inflicted on the Hatfield settlers in that one night was estimated at not less than 20,000/. The people who carried out these orders were, no doubt, glad to have the opportunity of taking their full revenge upon the foreigners, who, they alleged, had robbed them of their commons. They levelled the houses of the settlers, destroyed their growing corn, and broke down the fences; and, when some of them tried to stop the destruction of the sluices at Snow-sewer, the rioters stood by with loaded guns, and swore they would stay until the whole levels were drowned again, and the foreigners forced to swim away like ducks. After this mischief had been done, the commoners set up their claims as participants in the lands which had not been drowned, and from which the foreigners had been driven. In this they were countenanced by Colonel Lilburne, who, with a force of Parliamenta- rians, occupied Sandtoft, driving the Protestant minister CHAP. III. SIR CORNELIUS VERMUYDKN. 47 out of his house, and stabling their horses in the chapel. A bargain was actually made between the Colonel and tlir commoners, by which 2000 acres of Epworth Common were to be assigned to him, on condition of their right being established as to the remainder, and that they were to be held harmless on account of the cruelties which they had perpetrated on the poor settlers of the level.1 When the injured parties attempted to obtain redress by law, Lilburne, by his influence with the Parliament, the army, and the magis- trates, parried their efforts for eleven years.2 He was, however, eventually compelled to disgorge; and though the original settlers at length got a decree of the Council of State in their favour, and those of them who survived were again permitted to occupy their holdings, the nature of the case rendered it impossible that they should receive any adequate redress for their losses and sufferings.3 In the mean time Sir Cornelius Yermuyden had not been idle. He was as eagerly speculative as ever. Before he had parted with his interest in the reclaimed lands at Hatfield, he was endeavouring to set on foot his scheme for the reclamation of the drowned lands in the Cambridge Fens; for we find the Earl of Bedford, 1 In the course of the riots not fewer than eighty-two dwelling-houses of the foreign settlers were destroyed, and their chapel at Sandtoft was de- faced, with circumstances which dis- tinctly mark the vulgar and brutal character of the assailants. For ten days the isle-men were in a state of open rebellion. — Hunter's ' History of the Deanery of Doncaster,' vol. i. p. 166. 2 Colonel Lilburne attempted an in- effectual defence of himself in the tract entitled ' The Case of the Tenants of the Manor of Epworth truly stated by Col. Jno. Lilburne,' Nov. 18th, 1651. 3 For a long time after this, indeed, the commoners continued at war with the settlers, and both were perpetually resorting to the law — of the courts as well as of the strong hand. One Reading, a counsellor, was engaged to defend the rights of the drainers or participants, but his office proved a very dangerous one. The fen-men regarded him as an enemy, and re- peatedly endeavoured to destroy him. Once they had nearly burned him and his family in their beds. Reading died in 1716, at a hundred years old, fifty of which he had passed in constant danger of personal violence, having fought " thirty-one set battles " with the fen-men in defence of the drainers' rights. — See the Rev. W. B. Stonehouse's * History and Antiquities of the Isle of Axholme,' 4 to., London, 1839. 48 DKAINAGE OF HATFIELD CHASE— PART I. in July, 1630, writing to Sir Harry Vane, recom- mending him to join Sir Cornelius and himself in the enterprise.1 Before the end of the year we find Ver- muyden entering into a contract with the Crown for the purchase of Malvern Chase, in the county of Worcester, for the sum of 5000/.,2 which he forthwith proceeded to reclaim and enclose. Shortly after he took a grant of 4000 acres of waste land on Sedgemoor, with the same object, for which he paid 1 2,000 1. Then in 1631 we find him, in conjunction with Sir Robert Heath, taking a lease for thirty years of the Dovegang lead-mine, near Wirksworth, reckoned the best in the county of Derhy. But from this point he seems to have become involved in a series of lawsuits, from which he never altogether shook himself free. Legal troubles accumulated about him with reference to the Hatfield estates, and he appears for some time to have suffered imprisonment.3 He was also harassed by the disappointed Dutch capitalists at the Hague and Am- sterdam, who had suffered heavy losses by their invest- ment at Hatfield, and took legal proceedings against him. He had no sooner, however, emerged from confinement than we find him fully occupied with his new and grand project for the drainage of the Great Level of the Fens. 1 ' State Papers,' vol. clxxi. 30. 2 ' State Papers,' vol. clxxiv. 1. 3 Feb. 25th, 1634. Petition of Sir Cornelius Vermuyden to the King, for reparation for his imprisonment and unjust prosecution, and for compensa- tion for 216Z. 8s., which he overpaid. —'State Papers,' Chas. I., No. 242, May 1634; Report on the Petition, Ibid., No. 769. (H.M.. IV. sin CORNELIUS 7ERMUYDEN. 49 CHAPTER IV. DRAINAGE OF THE GREAT LEVEL — SIR CORNELIUS VERMUYDEN. TIIK outfalls of the numerous rivers flowing through the Fen Level having been neglected, and the old drains suffered to be silted up, the waters were rapidly regaining their old dominion. Districts which had been partially reclaimed were again becoming drowned, and the waters even threatened with ruin the older settled farms and villages situated upon the islands of the Fens. The Commissioners of Sewers at Huntingdon attempted to raise funds for the purposes of drainage by levying a tax of six shillings an acre upon all marsh and fen lands, but not a shilling of the tax was col- lected. This measure having failed, the Commissioners of Sewers of Norfolk, at a session held at King's Lynn, in 1629, determined to call to their aid Sir Cornelius Vermuyden. At an interview, to which he was invited, he offered to find the requisite funds to undertake the drainage of the Level, and to carry out the works after the plans submitted by him, on condition that 95,000 acres of the reclaimed lands were granted to him as a recompense. A contract was entered into on those terms ; but so great an outcry was immediately raised against such a contract being made with a foreigner that it was abrogated before many months had passed. Then it was that Francis, Earl of Bedford, the owner of many of the old church-lands in the Fens, was in- duced to take the place of Vermuyden, and become chief undertaker in the drainage of the extensive tract of fen country now so well known as the Great Bedford Level. Several others of the large adjoining landowners VOL. I. K 50 DRAINAGE OF THE GREAT LEVEL. PART I. entered into the project with the Earl, contributing sums towards the work, in return for which a propor- tionate acreage of the reclaimed lands was to he allotted them. The new undertakers, however, could not dis- pense with the services of Vermuyden. He had, after long study of the district, prepared elaborate plans for its drainage, and, besides, had at his command an organized staff of labourers, mostly Flemings, who were well accustomed to this kind of work. Westerdyke, also a Dutchman, prepared and submitted plans, but Yermuyden's were preferred, and he accordingly pro- ceeded with the enterprise. The difficulties encountered in carrying on the works were very great, arising principally from the want of funds. The Earl of Bedford became seriously crippled in his resources ; he raised monev upon his other valuable landed property until he could raise no more, and many of the smaller undertakers were com- pletely ruined. Yermuyden, with much determination, took measures to provide the requisite means to pay the workmen and prosecute the drainage to completion ; until the undertakers became so largely his debtors that they were under the necessity of conveying to him many thousand acres of the reclaimed lands, even before the works were completed, as security for the large sums which he had advanced. The most important of the new works executed at this stage were as follows : — Bedford River (now known as Old Bedford River), extending from Erith on the Ouse to Salter's Lode on the same river : this cut was 70 feet wide and 21 miles long, and its object was to relieve and take off the high floods of the Ouse.1 Bevill's Learn was another extensive cut, extending from Whittlesea Mere 1 We insert the annexed map at this place, although it includes the drain- age-works subsequently constructed, in order that the reader may be enabled more readily to follow the history of the various cuts and drains executed in the Fen country from nlmut the. middle of the sixteenth century down to about the year 1830. MAP OF THE FENS AS DRAINED IN 18aO. [After Telford's Plan and the Ordnance Survey.] E 2 52 DRAINAGE OF THE GREAT LEVEL— PART I. to Guyhirne, 40 feet wide and 10 miles long ; Sam's Cut, from Feltwell to* the Ouse, 20 feet wide and G miles long ; Sandy's Cut, near Ely, 40 feet wide and 2 miles long ; Peakirk Drain, 17 feet wide and 10 miles long ; with other drains, such as Mildenhall, New South Eau, and Shire Drain. Sluices were also erected at Tydd upon Shire Drain, at Salter's Lode, and at the Horseshoe below Wisheach, together with a clow,1 at Clow's Cross, to keep out the tides ; while a strong fresh-water sluice was also provided at the upper end of the Bedford River. These works were not permitted to proceed without great opposition on the part of the Fen men, who frequently assembled to fill up the Cuts which the labourers had dug, and to pull down the banks which they had constructed. They also abused and maltreated the foreigners when the opportunity offered, and some- times mobbed them while employed upon the drains, so that in several places they had to work under a guard of armed men. Difficult though it was to deal with the unreclaimed bogs, the unreclaimed men were still more impracticable. Although their condition was very miserable, they nevertheless enjoyed a sort of wild liberty amidst the watery wastes, which they were not disposed readily to give up. Though they might alter- nately shiver and burn with ague, and become prema- turely bowed and twisted with rheumatism, still the Fens were their " native land," such as it was, and their only source of subsistence, precarious though it might be. The Fens were their commons, on which their geese grazed. They furnished them with food, though the finding thereof was full of adventure and hazard. What cared the Fen men for the drowning of the land ? Did not the water • bring them fish, and the fish attract wild-fowl, which they could snare and shoot ? Thus the proposal to drain the Fens and to convert them into 1 A clow is a sluice regulated by I larly, like a portcullis. The other being lifted or dropped perpendicu- | sluices open and shut like irates. CHAP. IV. sill COHNEL1US VERMUVDKN. wholesome and fruitful lands, however important in a national point of view, as enlarging the resources and increasing the Avralth of the country, had no attraction whatever in the eyes of the Fen men. They muttered their discontent, and everywhere met the " adventurers," as the reclaimers were called, with angry though in- effectual opposition. But their numbers were too few, and they were too widely scattered, to make any com- bined effort at resistance. They could only retreat to other fens where they thought they might still be safe, carrying their discontent with them, and complaining that their commons were taken from them by the rich, and, what was worse, by foreigners — Dutch and Flemings. The jealous John Bull of the towns became alarmed at this idea, and had rather that the water than these foreigners had possession of the land. " What ! " asked one of the objectors, " is the old activitie and abilities of the English nation grown now soe dull arid insuffi- cient that wee must pray in ayde of our neighbours to improve our own demaynes ? For matter of securitie, shall wee esteem it of small moment to put into the hands of strangers three or four such ports as Linne, Wisbeach, Spalding, and Boston, and permit the countrie within and between them to be peopled with over- thwart neighbours ; or, if they quaile themselves, must wee give place to our most auncient and daungerous ene- mies, who will be readie enough to take advantage of soe manie fair inlets into the bosom of our land, lying soe near together that an army landing in each of them may easily meet and strongly entrench themselves with walls of water, and drowne the countrie about them at. tlii-ir pleasure ? " 1 'The Dniyucr Confirmed,' tract, !<'>•_".). Another violent. pamphlet against the drainage was |iul»lisheF THK GREAT LEVEL— PART I. Tims a great agitation against the drainage sprang up in the Fen districts, and a wide-spread discontent prevailed, which, as we shall afterwards find, exercised an important influence on the events which culminated in the Great Rebellion of a few years later. Among the other agencies brought to bear against the Fen drainers was the publication of satirical songs and ballads — the only popular press of the time; and the powtes or poets doubtless accurately enough represented the then state of public opinion, as their ballads were sung with great applause about the streets of the Fen towns. One of these, entitled ' The Powte's Com- plaint,' was among the most popular.1 In another — a 1 This poem is quoted in Bade- s lade's * History of the Ancient and I 'resent State of King's Lynn and of Cambridge,' London, 172o, an as follows : — THE POWTE'S COMPLAINT. Come, Brethren of the water, and let us all assemble, To treat upon this Matter, which makes us quake and tremble ; For we shall rue, if it be true that Fens be undertaken, And where we feed in Fen and Reed, they'll feed both Beef and Bn on. They'll sow both Beans and Oats, where never Man yet thought it ; Where Men did row in Boats, ere Undertakers bought it; But, Ceres, thou behold us now, let wild Oats be their Venture, Oh, let the Frogs and miry Bogs destroy where they do enter. Behold the great Design, which they do now determine, Will make our Bodies pine, a prey to Crows and Vermine ; For they do mean all Fens to drain, and Waters overmaster, All will be dry, and we must die — 'cause Essex calves want pasture. Away with Boats and Rudder, farewel both Boots and Skatrhes, No need of one nor t'other, Men now make better Matches; Stilt-Makers all, and Tanners, shall complain of this Disaster, For they will make each muddy lake for Essex Calves a Pasture. The feather'd Fowls have Wings, to fly to other Nations ; But we have no such things, to help our Transportations ; We must give place, 0 grevious Case ! to horned Beasts and Cattle, Except that we can all agree to drive them out by Battel. Wherefore let us intreat our antient Water- Nurses To shew their Power so great as t' help to drain their Purses ; And send us good old Captain Flood to lead us out to Battel, Then Two-penny Jack, with Scales on 's Back, will drive out all the < 'at I It This Noble Captain yet was never know to fail us, But did the conquest get of all that did assail us ; His furious Rage none could assuage ; but, to the World's great Wonder, He tears down Banks, and breaks their Cranks and Whirligigs assunder. < '••> 1 Kolus, we do thee pray that thou wilt not be wanting ; Thou never said'st us nay — now listen to our canting; Do thou deride their Hope and Pride that puipose our Confusion, And send a Blast that they in haste may work no good Conclusion. CIIAI-. IV. SIR CORNMUrS VKILMl'VDF.N. 55 dri liking song — we find the Dutch pointed at as llir chief offenders. The following stanzas may serve as a specimen : — " Why should we stay here, and perish with thirst? To tli* new world in the moon away let us goc, For if the Dutch colony «jot thither first, "Pis a thcusand to one but they'll drain that too ! Then apace, apace drink, drink deep, drink deep, Whilst 'tis to he had let's the liquor ply; The drainers are up, and a coile they keep, And threaten to draine the kingdom dry." l The Fen drainers might, however, have outlived these attacks, had the works executed by them been successful ; but unhappily they failed in many respects. Notwithstanding the numerous deep cuts made across the Fens in all directions at such great cost, the waters still retained their dominion over the land. The Bedford Eiver and the other drains merely acted as so many addi- tional receptacles for the surplus water, without relieving the drowned districts to any appreciable extent. This arose from the engineer confining his attention almost exclusively to the inland draining and embankments, while he neglected to provide any sufficient outfalls for the waters themselves into the sea. Vermuyden com- mitted the error of adopting the Dutch method of drainage, in a district where the circumstances were dif-' ferent in many respects from those which prevailed in Holland. In Zeeland, for instance, the few rivers passing through it were easily banked up and carried < ireat X''i>tme, God of Seas, this Work must needs provoke ye ; They mean thee to disease, mid with l;en- Water choak thee ; But with thy Mace do tliou deface, and quite confound this matter, And send thy Sands to make dry lands when they shall want fresh Water. And eke we pray thee, Moon, that tliou wilt be propitious, To Bee that nought },t. done to prnsjK-r the Malicious; Tlio' Summer's Heat hath wrought a Feat, whereby themselves they flatter, Yet be so good as send a Flood, lest Essex Calves want Water. 1 This soii'j; is ] in-served in the favour of the drainage, entitled 'A collection entitled * Witt and Drollery,' London, 1655. A poetical pamphlet was, however, published in i heroic lines. True and Natural Description of the Great Level of the Fenns,' in 216 56 DRAINAGE OF THE GREAT LEVEL— PART I. out to sea, whilst the low lying lands were kept clear of surplus water by pumps driven by windmills. There, the main object of the engineer was to build back the river and the ocean ; whereas in the Great Level the problem to be solved was, how to provide a ready out- fall to the sea for the vast body of fresh water falling upon as well as flowing through the Fen districts. This essential point was unhappily overlooked by the early drainers ; and it has thus happened that one of the principal labours of the modern engineers has been to rectify the errors of Yermuyden and his followers ; more especially by providing efficient outlets for the dis- charge of the fen waters, deepening and straightening the rivers, and compressing the streams in their course through the level, so as to produce a more powerful current and scour, down to their point of outfall into the sea. This important condition of successful drainage having been overlooked, it may readily be understood how un- satisfactory was the result of the works first carried out in the Bedford Level. In some districts the lands were no doubt improved by the additional receptacles provided for the surplus waters, but the great extent of fen land still lay for the most part wet, waste, and unprofitable. Hence, in 1634, a Commission of Sewers held at Hun- tingdon pronounced the drainage to be defective, and the 400,000 acres of the Great Level to be still subject to inundation, especially in the winter season. The King, Charles I., then resolved himself to undertake the reclamation, with the object of converting the Level, if possible, into " winter grounds." He took so much per- sonal interest in the work that he even designed a town to be called Charleville, which was to be built in the midst of the Level, for the purpose of commemorating the undertaking. Sir Cornelius Yermuyden was again employed to carry out the King's design. He had ma 1 1 y enemies, but he could not be dispensed with ; being tin or NIVERSITY CHAP, IV. SIR CORNELIUS VERMUTDE3T 57 only man of recognised ability in works of drainage at that time in England. The works constructed in pursuance of this new design were these : — an embankment on the south side of Morton's Learn, from Peterborough to Wisbeach ; a navigable sasse, or sluice, at Standground ; a new river cut between the stone sluice at the Horse-shoe and the sea below Wisbeach, 60 feet broad and 2 miles long, embanked at both sides ; and a new sluice in the marshes below Tydd, upon the outfall of Shire Drain. These and other works were in full progress, when the political troubles of the time came to a height, and brought all operations to a stand still for many years. The discon- tent caused throughout the Fens by the drainage opera- tions had by no means abated ; but, on the contrary, considerably increased. In other parts of the kingdom, the attempts made about the same time by Charles I. to levy taxes without the authority of Parliament, gave rise to much agitation. In 1637 occurred Hampden's trial, arising out of his resistance to the payment of ship- money : by the end of the same year the King and Par- liamentary party were mustering their respective forces, and a collision between them seemed imminent. At this juncture the discontent which prevailed throughout the Fen counties was an element of influence not to be neglected. It was adroitly represented that the King's sole object in draining the Fens was merely to fill his impoverished exchequer, and enable him to govern without a Parliament. The discontent was thus fanned into a fierce flame ; on which Oliver Cromwell, the member for Huntingdon, until then comparatively un- known, ;i\ ailing himself of the opportunity which offered, of increasing the influence of the Parliamentary party in the Fen counties, immediately put himself at the head of a vigorous agitation against the further prosecution < >f 1 lie scheme. He was very soon the most popular man in 1 he district ; he was hailed * Lord of the Fens ' by the 58 DIJAIXACJE OF THE GREAT LEVEL— PART I. Fen men ; and he went from meeting to meeting, stirring up the public discontent, and giving it a suitable direc- tion. " From that instant," says Mr. Forster,1 " the scheme became thoroughly hopeless. With such desperate determination he followed up his purpose — so actively traversed the district, and inflamed the people every- where— so passionately described the greedy claims of royalty, the gross exactions of the commission, nay, the questionable character of the improvement itself, even could it have gone on unaccompanied by incidents of tyranny, — to the small proprietors insisting that their poor claims would be merely scorned in the new distri- bution of the property reclaimed, — to the labouring peasants that all the profit and amusement they had derived from commoning in those extensive wastes were about to be snatched for ever from them, — that, before his almost individual energy, King, commissioners, noble- men-projectors, all were forced to retire, and the great project, even in the state it then was, fell to the ground." The success of the Cambridge Fen men in resisting the reclamation of the wastes, encouraged those in the more northern districts to take even more summary measures to get rid of the drainers, and restore the lands to their former state. The Earl of Lindsey had succeeded at great cost in enclosing and draining about 35,000 acres of the Lindsey Level, and induced numerous farmers and labourers to settle down upon the land, to plough and sow it. They erected dwellings and farm-buildings, and were busily at work, when the Fen men suddenly broke in upon them, destroyed their buildings, killed their cattle, and let in the waters again upon the land. So, too, in the West and Wildmore Fen district, between Tattershall and Boston in Lincolnshire, where consider- able progress had been made by a body of " adventurers" in reclaiming the wastes. After many years' labour and 1 Lives <>!' Eminent British Statesmen (Ljinlner's 'Cabinet Cydopaxliu,' vol. vi. p. (JO). CHAP. iv. sin roiiXFLirs VKIIMTYDKN. 59 much cost, they had succeeded in draining, enclosing, and cultivating an extensive tract of rich land, and they were peaceably occupied with their farming pur- suits, when a mob of Fen men collected from the sur- rounding districts, and under pretence of playing at football, levelled the enclosures, burnt the corn and the 1 louses, destroyed the cattle, and even killed many of the people who occupied the land. They then proceeded to destroy the drainage works, by cutting across the em- bankments and damming up the drains, by which the country was inundated, and restored to its original con- dition. The greater part of the Level thus again lay waste, and the waters were everywhere extending their domi- nion over the dry land through the choking up of the drains and river outfalls by the deposit of silt. Matters were becoming even worse than before, but could not he allowed thus to continue. In 1641 the Earl of Bedford and his participants made an application to the Long Parliament then sitting, for permission to re-enter upon the works ; but the civil commotions which still continued prevented any steps being taken, and the Earl himself shortly after died, in a state of comparative penury, to which he had reduced himself by his devo- tion to this great work. Again, however, we find Sir Cornelius Yermuyden upon the scene. Undaunted by adversity, and undismayed by the popular outrages com- n n't ted upon his poor countrymen in Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, he still urged that the common weal of Eng- land demanded that the rich lands lying under the waters of t lie Fens should be reclaimed, and made profitable for human uses. He saw a district almost as large as the whole of the Dutch United Provinces remaining waste and worse than useless, and he gave himself no rest until he had set on foot some efficient measure for its drainage and reelaniation. What part he took in the political discussions of the time, we know not; but we 60 DRAINAGE OF THE GREAT LEVEL- PART I. find the eldest of his sons, Cornelius, a colonel in the Parliamentary army l stationed in the Fens under Fair- fax, shortly before the battle of Naseby. Yermuyden himself was probably too much engrossed by his drainage project to give much heed to political matters ; and besides, he could not forget that Charles, and Charles's father, had been his fast friends. In 1642, whilst the civil war was still raging, ap- peared Yermuyden's ' Discourse ' on the Drainage of the Fens,2 wherein he pointed out the works which still remained to be executed in order effectually to reclaim the 400,000 acres of land capable of growing corn, which formed the area of the Great Level. His suggestions formed the subject of much pamphleteering discussion,3 for several years, during which also numerous petitions were presented to Parliament, urging the necessity for perfecting the works. At length, in 1649, authority was granted to William, Earl of Bedford, and other participants, to prosecute the undertaking which 1 " The party under Vermuyden waits the King's army, and is about Deeping ; lias a command to join with Sir John Gell, if he commands him." — Cromwell's Letter to Fairfax, 4th June, 1645. This Vermuyden re- signed his commission a few days be- fore the battle of Naseby, having, as he alleged, special reasons requiring his presence beyond the seas, whence he does not seem to have returned until after the Restoration. In 1665 we find him a member of the Corpora- tion of the Bedford Level. 2 The title of Vermuyden's tract is — ' A Discourse touching the Drayn- ing the Great Fennes lying within the severall Covnties of Lincolne, North- ampton, Huntingdon, Norfolke, Suf- folke, Cambridge, and the Isle of Ely, as it was presented to his Majestic by Sir Comelivs Vermviden, Knight ; whereunto is annexed the Designe or Map. Published by Authority. Lon- don : Printed by Thomas Fawcct, dwelling in (Jriib Street, neere the lower pumpe. 1642.' (Small 4to. pp. 32.) 3 Among the numerous replies were the following : — ' Exceptions against Sr. Cornelius Veraiuden's Discourse for the Draining of the Great Fein us, &c., which, in January, 1638, he pre- sented to the King for his designe. Wherein his Majesty was misinformed and abused in regard it wanteth all the esscntiall parts of a iVsiune. And the greate advantageous Workes made by the late Earle of Bedford slighted, and the whole adventure disparaged. Published by And re \v< s P.nrrell, (Jcn- tleman.' (4to. Lond., 1642, pp. 10.) [This curious tract is by one who was himself a drainer, and bitterly op- posed to Vermuyden and all other foreign adventurers in England,] ' An- drewes Burrell's Briefe Kelation.' (Small 4to. Lond. 1642.) [This is another and smaller tract, in which the author exposes the draining views of Vermuyden, and himself suggests a more practicable course. I CHAP. IV. SIR CORNELIUS VERMUYDEX. 01 his father had begun, and steps were shortly after taken to commence the works. Again was Westerdyke, the Dutch engineer, called in to criticise Vermuy den's plans; and again was Vermuyd en triumphant over all his opponents. He was selected, once more, to direct the drainage, which, looking at the defects of the works previously executed by him, and the difficulties in which tlir first Earl had thereby become involved, must be regarded as a marked proof of the man's force of purpose, as well as his recognised integrity of character. Yermuyden again collected his Dutchmen about him, and vigorously began operations. But they had not proceeded far before they were again almost at a stand still for want of funds; and throughout their entire progress they were hampered and hindered by the same great difficulty. Some of the participants sold and alienated their shares in order to get rid of further liabilities ; others held on to the last, but were reduced to the lowest ebb. Means were, however, adopted to obtain a supply of cheaper labour ; and application was made by the adventurers for a supply of men from amongst the Scotch prisoners who had been taken at the battle of Dunbar. A thousand of them were granted for the purpose, and employed on the works to the north of Bedford Eiver, where they continued to labour until the political arrangements between the two countries enabled them to return home.1 When the Scotch la- bourers had left, some difficulty was again experienced in carrying on the works. The local population were still hostile, and occasionally interrupted the labourers employed upon them ; a serious riot at Swaff ham having only been put down by the help of the military. For- tunately, Blake's victory over Van Tromp, in 1652, supplied the Government with a large number of Dutch 1 Wells, in his * History of the Bed- \ origin of most of the Scotch families lord Level,' adds : — "Many, however, ' and names that now exist in the settled in the Fens, and were the- Great Level." (Vol. i. p. 244.) 62 DRAINAGE OF THE GREAT LEVEL— PART I. prisoners, five hundred of whom were at once forwarded to the Level, where they proved of essential service in prosecuting the works. The most important of the new rivers, drains, and sluices included in this second undertaking, were the following : — The New Bedford River, cut from Erith on the Ouse to Salter's Lode on the same river, reducing its course between these points from 40 to 20 miles : this new river was 100 feet broad, and ran nearly parallel with the Old Bedford River. A high bank was raised along the south side of the new cut, and an equally high bank along the north side of the old river, a large space of land, of about 5000 acres, being left between them, called the Washes, for the floods to " bed in," as Yer- muyden termed it. Then the river Welland was de- fended by a bank, 70 feet broad and 8 feet high, extending from Peakirk to the Holland bank. The river Nene was also defended by a similar bank, extending from Peterborough to Gruyhirne ; and another bank was raised between Standground and Guyhirne, so as to defend the Middle Level from the overflowing of the Northampton- shire waters. The river Ouse was in like manner restrained by high banks extending from Over to Erith, where a navigable sluice was provided. Smith's Learn was cut, by which the navigation from Wisbeach to Peterborough was opened out. Among the other cuts and drains completed at the same time, were Vermuyden's Eau, or the Forty Feet Drain, extending from Welch's Dam to the river Nene near Eamsey Mere ; Hammond's Eau, near Somersham, in the county of Huntingdon ; Stonea Drain and Moore's Drain, near March, in the Isle of Ely ; Thurlow's Drain, extending from the Forty Feet to Popham's Eau ; and Conquest Lode, leading to Wliit- tlesea Mere. And in order to turn the tidal waters into the Hundred Feet River, as well as to prevent the upland floods from passing up the Ten Mile River towards Little- port, Denver Sluice, that great bone of after contention. CHAP, IV. Sin CORNELIUS VERMUYDEN. G3 was riveted. Another important work in the South Level was the cutting of a large river called St. John's, or l)o\\ nliaui Eau,1 120 feet wide, and 10 feet deep, from Denver Sluice to Stow Bridge on the Ouse, with sluices at both ends, for the purpose of carrying away with u'i -cater facility the flood waters descending from the several rivers of that level. Various new sluices were also fixed at the mouths of the rivers, to prevent the influx of the tides, and most of the old drains and cuts were at the same time scoured out and opened for the more ready flow of the surface waters. At length, in March, 1652, the works were declared to be complete, and the Lords Commissioners of Adju- dication appointed under the Act of Parliament pro- ceeded to inspect them. They embarked upon the New River, and sailing over it to Stow Bridge, sur- veyed the new eaus and sluices executed near that place, after which they returned to Ely. There Sir Cornelius Yermuyden read to those assembled a discourse, in which he explained the design he had carried out for the drainage of the district ; in the course of which he stated as one of the results of the undertaking, that in the North and Middle Levels there were already 40,000 acres of land " sown with cole seed, wheat, and other winter grain, besides innumerable quantities of sheep, cattle, and other stock, where never had been any before. These works," he added, "have proved themselves sufficient, as well by the great tide about a month since, which overflowed Marshland banks, and drowned much ground in Lincolnshire and other places, and a flood by reason of a great snow, and rain upon it following soon after, and yet never hurt any part of the whole Level ; and the view of them, and the considera- tion of what hath previously been said, proves a clear 1 The St. John's Eau, being a straight cut, is known in the district as "The Poker;" and Marshland Cut, being in the shape of a pair of tongs, is commonly called " Tongs Drain." L 64 DRAINAGE OF THE GREAT LEVEL— PART I. draining according to the Act." He concluded thus,— " I presume to say no more of the work, lest I should be accounted vain-glorious ; although I might truly affirm that the present or former age have done nothing like it for the general good of the nation. I humbly desire that God may have the glory, for his blessing and bringing to perfection my poor endeavours, at the vast charge of the Earl of Bedford and his participants."1 A public thanksgiving took place to celebrate the completion of the undertaking; and on the 27th of March, 1653, the Lords Commissioners of Adjudication of the Reclaimed Lands, accompanied by their officers and suite, — the Company of Adventurers, headed by the Earl of Bedford, — the magistrates, and leading men of the district, with a vast concourse of other persons, — attended public worship in the cathedral of Ely, when the Rev. Hugh Peters, chaplain to the Lord- General Cromwell, preached a sermon on the occasion. Vermuy den's perseverance had thus far triumphed. He had stood by his scheme when all others held aloof from it. Amidst the engrossing excitement of the civil war, the one dominating idea which possessed him was the drainage of the Great Level. While the nation was divided into two hostile camps, and the deadly struggle was proceeding between the Royalists and Parliamentarians, Yermuy den's sole concern was how to raise the funds wherewith to pay his peaceful army of Dutch labourers in the Fens. To carry on the works he sold every acre of the lands he had reclaimed ; he first sold the allotment of lands won by him from the Thames at Dagenham in 1621 ; then he sold his interest in his lands at Sedgemoor and Malvern Chase ; and in 1654 we find him conveying the remainder of his lands in Hatfield Level. He was also under the necessity of selling all the lands apportioned to him in the Bedford Wells's ' History of the Bedford Level,' vol. i., 275. CHAP. IV. SIR CORNELIUS VERMUYDEX. r,:> Level itself, in order to pay the debts incurred in their drainage. But although he lost all, it appears that the company in the end preferred heavy pecuniary claims against him which he had no means of meeting; and in 1656 we find him appearing before Parliament as a suppliant for redress. Thenceforward he entirely dis- appears from public sight; and it is supposed that, very shortly after, he went abroad and died, a poor, broken down old man, the extensive lands which he had reclaimed and owned having been conveyed to strangers.1 The drainage of the Fens, however, was not yet com- plete. The district was no longer a boggy wilderness, but much of it in fine seasons was covered with waving crops of corn. As the swamps were drained, farm buildings, villages, and towns gradually sprang up, and the toil of the labourer was repaid by abundant har- vests. The anticipation held forth in the original charter granted by Charles I.2 to the reclaimers of the Bedford Level was more than fulfilled. " In those places which lately presented nothing to the eyes of the beholders but great waters and a few reeds thinly scattered here and there, under the Divine mercy might be seen plea- sant pastures of cattle and kine, and many houses be- longing to the inhabitants." But the tenure by which the land continued to be held was unremitting vigilance and industry ; the difficulties interposed by nature tending to discipline the skill, to stimulate the enterprise, and evoke the best energies of the people who had rescued the fields from the watery waste. There was still the ten- 1 Yermnydcn's second daughter, Catherine, married Thomas Babington, Msij., of Somersham, Buntmgdonshire, son and heir of Thomas J'al.in-ton, KSe ivim-mln Ted that Xachary Macaulay married into the I'abinxtoii family, and that (he late Thomas Macaulay was Wii at VOL. I. Hothli-y Temple. — There is a tradition at Hat field that Verniuyden died in the ]xx>r-house at Belton, but Dr. Hunter, in his ' Deanery of Doncaster,' says this is incorrect. 2 The Charter, commonly known as "The Lynn Law," was granted in lo Car. I. 66 DHAINAGE OF THE GREAT LEVEL- PART I. dency of the river outfalls to silt up and fall into decay. At any time neglect was certain to be followed by inun- dation,1 and the " Bailiff of Bedford " for nearly another century continued to pay the dwellers in the Fens many a rude visit, sometimes in a night sweeping away the polder works of many homesteads. In 1713 a violent tide rushed up the Ouse, and, en- countering high floods descending from the uplands, their combined force was such that Denver Sluice was blown up and destroyed. The ebb of the Bedford waters flowed nearly two hours up the Cambridge River, carrying with them additional silt and sand every spring tide. The state of the South Level gradually became much deteriorated, until the year 1748, when the sluice was reconstructed under the direction of Labelye, the Swiss architect who built Westminster Bridge. Yarious engineers were employed at different times during the last century in correcting the defects of the early works, or in carrying out further improvements ; the most pro- minent being Perry, Golborne, and Kinderley. The great scheme of Kinderley, proposed in 1751, was a suggestion of genius. He designed to convey the con- joined waters of the Ouse and the Nene into the centre of the Wash, there to unite with the Welland and the Witham. By this measure the navigation of the Wash would have been greatly improved, and its shifting sands avoided, whilst as much new land would have been drained and reclaimed as almost to have justified the addition of a new county. Every one of his cuts was proposed on the same principle that has governed later improvements — that of avoiding broad channels with shifting sand banks, and confining the rivers to narrow channels, in order to secure depth by force and weight of current. But Kinderley' s grand idea was not 1 The account of a destructive inun- dation is given in a publication en- titled ' A true and impartial Relation of the great damages done by the late groat Tempest, and overflowing of tlx Tide ii] ion tlie coast of Lincolnsliin and Norfolk/ &c. 1671. CHAP. IV. SIR COnXELirs VBBMUYDBN, 67 carried out ; it was too large for the narrow views and the still narrower purses of the landed proprietors in the Level a hundred years since. It was reserved for Mr. KVmiie to evoke the enterprise of the Fen lords, and induce them to carry out the thorough drainage of the low lying lands on sound scientific principles. He clearly pointed out that this could only be satisfactorily effected by cutting down the outfalls to low water of spring tides, and thus facilitating the escape of the waters to the utmost extent, — a course of action which, as we shall hereafter point out, he carried into effect with remark- able success. Meanwhile, improvements of all kinds went steadily on, until all the rivers flowing through the Level were artificially altered and diverted into new channels, ex- cepting the Nene, which is the only natural river in the Fen district remaining comparatively unaltered. New dykes, causeways, embankments, and sluices were formed ; many droves, learns, eaus, and drains were cut, furnished with gowts or gates at their lower ends, which were from time to time dug, deepened, and widened. Mills were set to work to pump out the water from the low grounds ; first windmills, sometimes with double-lifts, as practised in Holland ; and more recently powerful steam-engines, as first recommended by Mr. Rennie. Sluices were also erected to prevent the inland waters from returning ; strong embankments extending in all directions, to keep the rivers and tides within their defined channels. To protect the land from the sea waters as well as the fresh, — to build and lock back the former, and to keep the latter within due limits, — was the work of the engineer ; and by his skill, aided by the industry of his contractors and workmen, water, instead of being the master and tyrant as of old, became man's servant and pliant agent, and was used as an irrigator, a conduit, a mill-stream, or a water-road for extensive districts of country. In short, in no part F 2 DRAINAGE OF TITK GKEAT LEVEL. PART 1. of the world, except in Holland, have more industry and skill been displayed in reclaiming and preserving the soil, than in Lincolnshire and the districts of the Great Bedford Level. Six hundred and eighty thou- sand acres of the most fertile land in England, or an area equal to that of North and South Holland, have been converted from a dreary waste into a fruitful plain, and fleets of vessels traverse the district itself, freighted with its rich produce. Taking its average annual value at 4:1. an acre, the addition to the national wealth and resources may be readily calculated. The prophecies of the decay that would fall upon the country, if "the valuable race of Fenmen" were deprived of their pools for pike, and fish, and wild-fowl, have long since been exploded. The population has grown in numbers, in health, and in comfort, with the progress of drainage and reclamation. The Fens are no longer the lurking places of disease,1 but as salubrious as any other parts of England. Dreary swamps are supplanted by pleasant pastures, and the haunts of pike and wild-fowl have become the habitations of industrious farmers and husbandmen. Even Whittlesea Mere and Eamsey Mere, — the only two lakes, as we were told in the geography books of our younger days, to be found in the south of England, — have been blotted out of the map, for they have been drained by the engineer, and are now covered with smiling farms and pleasant homesteads. 1 It is stated in a recent report of the Registrar-General that, whilst the mortality of Pan in the Pyrenees, a place resorted to by IJritish invalids on account of its salnlinoiisiKss, is 23 in 1000, that of Ely is only 17 in 1000. CHAP. V, STi-:i''oni«: dismissing from consideration those early under- l;i kin^s of embankment and drainage, we may briefly allude to further works which were rendered necessary by the neglected embankment of the Thames down to a comparatively recent period. The banks first raised seemed to have been in many places of in sufficient strength ; and when a strong north- easterly wind blew down the North Sea, and the waters became pent up in that narrow part of it lying between the Belgian and the English coasts, — and especially when this occurred at a time of the highest spring tides, — the strength of the river embankments became severely tested throughout their entire length, and breaches often took place, occasioning destructive inundations. Thus, in the year 1676, a serious breach took place at Limehouse, by which a number of houses was destroyed, and it was with great difficulty the waters could be banked out again. The wonder is that sweeping, as the new current did, over the Isle of Dogs, in the direction of Wapping, and in the line of the present West India Docks, the channel of the river was not then permanently altered. But Deptford was already established as a royal dockyard, and probably the diversion of the river would have inflicted as much local injury, judging by comparison, as it unquestionably would do at the pre- sent day. The breach was accordingly stemmed, and the course of the river held in its ancient channel by Dept- ford and Greenwich. Another destructive inundation shortly after occurred through a breach made in the 70 STOPPAGE OF DAGENHAM BREACH— PART I. embankment of the West Thurrock Marshes, in what is called the Long Keach, nearly opposite Greenhithe ; where the lands remained under water for seven years, and it was with great difficulty the breach could be closed. But at length the tides were shut out, leaving a large lake upon the land in the direction in which the waters had rushed ; and the breach and lake are to be found marked on the maps to this day. But the most destructive and obstinate breach of all was that made by the river in the north bank a little to the south of the village of Dagenham, by which the whole of the Dagenham and Havering Levels lay drowned at every tide. It will be remembered that a similar breach had occurred about 1621, which Ver- muyden had succeeded in stopping; and at the same time he embanked or " inned " the whole of Dagenham Creek, through which the little rivulet flowing past the village of that name found its way to the Thames. Across the mouth of this rivulet Yermuyden had erected a sluice, of the nature of a " clow," being a strong gate suspended by hinges, which opened to admit of the egress of the inland waters at low tide, and closed against the entrance of the Thames when the tide rose. It happened, however, that a heavy inland flood, and an unusually high spring tide, occurred simultaneously during the prevalence of a strong north-easterly wind, in the year 1707 ; when the united force of the waters meeting from both directions blew up the sluice, the repairs of which had been neglected, and in a very short time nearly the whole area of the above Levels was covered by the waters of the Thames. At first the gap was so slight as to have been easily closed, being only from 14 to 16 feet broad. But having been neglected, the tide ran in and out of the opening for years, and every tide wore the channel deeper, and made the stoppage of the breach more difficult. At length the channel was upwards of 30 feet deep at low water, CHAP. V. CAPTAIN PERRY. 71 jilxmt 100 feet wide; and a lake more than a mile and a half in extent was formed inside the line of the river embankment. Above a thousand acres of rich lands were spoiled for all useful purposes, and by the scouring of the waters out and in at every tide, about a hundred and twenty acres were completely washed away. The soil was carried into the channel of the Thames, where it formed a bank of about a mile in length, reaching halfway across the river. This state of things could not be allowed to continue, for the navigation of the Thames was seriously interrupted by the obstruction, and there was no knowing where the mischief would stop. Various futile attempts were made by the adjoining landowners to stem the breach. They filled old ships with chalk and stones, and had them scuttled and sunk in the hole, throwing in baskets of chalk and earth outside them, together with bundles of straw and hay to stop up the interstices ; but when the full tide rose, it washed them away like so many chips, and the open- ing was again bored clean through. Then the expedient was tried of sinking into the hole gigantic trunks made expressly for the purpose, fitted tightly together, and filled with chalk. Power was obtained to lay an em- bargo on the cargoes of chalk and ballast contained in passing ships, for the purpose of filling these ma- chines, as well as damming up the gap ; and as many as from ten to fifteen freights of chalk a day were thrown in, but without effect. One day when the tide was on the turn, the force of the water lifted one of the monster trunks sheer up from the bottom, when it toppled round, the lid opened, out fell the chalk, and, righting again, the immense box floated out into the stream and down the river. One of the landowners interested in the stoppage ran along the bank, and shouted out at the top of his voice " Stop her ! oh stop her!" But the unwieldy object being under no guid- ance was carried down stream towards the shipping 72 STOPPAGE OF DAGEXHAM BKKACH— PART I. lying at Gravesend, where its unusual appearance, standing so high out of the water, excited great alarm amongst the sailors. The empty trunk, however, floated safely past, down the river, until it reached the Nore, where it stranded upon a sandbank. The Government next lent the undertakers an old royal ship called the Lion, for the purpose of being sunk in the breach, which was done, with two other ships ; but the Lion was broken in pieces by a single tide, and at the very next ebb not a vestige of her was to be seen. No matter what was sunk, the force of the water at high tide bored through underneath the obstacle, and only served to deepen the breach. After the destruction of the Lion, the channel was found deepened to 50 feet at low water, at the very place where she had been sunk. All this had been merely tinkering at the breach, and every measure that had been adopted merely proved the mcompeteiicy of the undertakers. The obstruction to the navigation through the deposit of earth and sand in the river being still on the increase, and after the bank had been open for a period of seven years, an Act was passed in 1714, enabling it to be repaired at the public expense. But it is an indication of the very low state of engineering ability in the kingdom at the time, that several more years passed before the mea- sures taken with this object were crowned with success, and the opening was only closed after a fresh succes- sion of failures. The works were first let to one Boswell, a contractor. He proceeded very much after the method which had already failed so egregiously, sinking two rows of caissons or chests across the breach, between which he proposed to erect the piles and drift work ; but his chests were blown up again and again. Then he tried pontoons of ships, which he loaded and sunk in the opening ; but the force of the tide, as before, rushed under and around them, and broke them all to pieces, the only result being to make the gap in CHAP. V. ('ATTAIN TKItllY. 7:; flic hank considerably biirirer than before. Boswell ;it length abandoned all further attempts to close it, after suffering a heavy loss ; and the engineering skill of England seemed likely to be completely baffled by this hole in a river's bank. The competent man was, however, at length found in Captain Perry, who had just returned from Russia, where, having been able to find no suitable employment for his abilities in his own country, he had for some time been employed by the Czar Peter in carrying on extensive engineering works. John Perry was born at Rodborough, in Gloucester- shire, in 1669, and spent the early part of his life at sea. In 1693 V?Q find him a lieutenant on board the royal ship the M^ontague. The vessel having put into harbour at Portsmouth to be refitted, Perry is said to have dis- played considerable mechanical skill in contriving an engine for throwing out a large quantity of water from deep sluices (probably for purposes of dry docking) in a very short space of time. The Montague having been repaired, she put to sea, and was shortly after lost. As the English navy had suffered greatly during the same year, partly by mismanagepent, and partly by treachery, the Government was in a' very bad temper, and Perry was tried for alleged misconduct. The result was, that he was sentenced to pay a fine of 1000£., and to un- dergo ten years' imprisonment in the Marshalsea. This sentence must, however, have been subsequently miti- gated, for we find him in 1695 publishing a "Regu- lation for Seamen," with a view to the more effectual manning of the English navy ; and in 1698 the Marquis of Caennarthen and others recommended him to the notice of the Czar Peter, then resident in England, by whom he was invited to go out to Russia, to super- intend the establishment of a royal fleet, and the execu- tion of several gigantic works which he contemplated for the purpose of opening up the resources of hi- 74 STOPPAGE OF DAGENHAM BREACH— PART I. empire. Perry was engaged by tlie Czar at a salary of 300/. a year, and shortly after accompanied him to Holland, from whence he proceeded to Moscow to enter upon the business of his office. One of the Czar's grand designs was to open up a system of inland navigation, to connect his new city of Petersburg!! with the Caspian Sea, and also to place Mos- cow upon another line, by forming a canal between the Don and the Yolga. In 1698 the works had been begun by one Colonel Breckell, a German officer in the Czar's service. But though a good military engineer, it turned out that he knew nothing of canal making ; for the first sluice which he constructed was immediately blown up. The water, when let in, forced itself under the founda- tions of the work, and the six months' labour of several thousand workmen was destroyed in a night. The Colonel, having a due regard for his personal safety, im- mediately fled the country in the disguise of a servant, and was never after heard of. Captain Perry entered upon this luckless gentleman's office, and forthwith proceeded to survey the work he had begun, some seventy-five miles beyond Moscow. Perry had a vast number of labourers placed at his disposal, but they were altogether unskilled, and therefore comparatively useless. His orders were to have no fewer than 30,000 men at work, though he seldom had more than from 10,000 to 15,000 ; but one twentieth the number of skilled labourers would have better served his purpose. He had many other difficulties to contend with. The local nobility or boyars were strongly opposed to the under- taking, declaring it to be impossible ; and their obser- vation was, that God had made the rivers to flow one way, and it was presumption in man to think of at- tempting to turn them in another. Shortly after the Czar had returned to his dominions, he got involved in war with Sweden, and was de- feated by Charles XII. at the battle of Narva, in 1701. CHAP. V. CAPTAIN PERRY. 75 Althoug] i flic Don and Volga canal was by this time Imlf dug, and many of the requisite sluices were finished, the Czar sent orders to Perry to let the works stand, and attend upon him immediately at St. Petersburg!!. Leaving one of his assistants to take charge of what had been done, Perry waited upon his royal employer, who had a great new design on foot of an altogether different character. This was the formation of a royal dockyard on one of the southern rivers of Russia, where he contemplated building a fleet of war ships, where- with to act against the Turks in the Black Sea. Perry immediately entered upon the office to which he was appointed, of Comptroller of Russian Maritime Works, and proceeded to carry out the new project. The site of the Royal Dockyard was fixed at Veronize on the Don, and there Perry was occupied for several years, with a vast number of workmen under him, in building a dockyard, with storehouses, ship sheds, and workshops. He also laid down and superintended the building of numerous vessels, one of them of eighty guns ; and the slips on which he built them are said to have been very ingenious and well contrived. The creation of this dockyard was far advanced, when Perry received a fresh command to appear before the Czar at St. Petersburgh. Peter had now founded his new capital there, and desired to connect it with the Volga by means of a canal, to enable provisions, timber, and building materials to flow freely to the city from the interior of the empire. Perry forthwith entered upon an extensive survey of the intervening country, tracing to their respective heads the rivers flowing into Lake Ladoga. He surveyed three routes, and recom- mended for execution, as the most easy, that by the river Svir from Lake Ladoga to Lake Onega, from thence by the river Kovja to Lake Biela, then down into the Volga by a cut from Bielozersk to Schneska. The fall on the Petersburgh side of the navigation was 445 70 STOPPAGE OF DAGKXIIAM UHKACH— feet from the summit level, and 110 feet to the Volga. The works were immediately begun, and carried on. though with occasional interruptions, caused l>v the war in which Peter was for some time longer engaged with his formidable enemy of Sweden, but whom he even- tually routed at Pultawa, in 1709. Before the works were completed, however, Perry fled from Russia like his predecessor, but not for the same reason. During the whole of his stay in the king- dom he had been unable to get paid for his work, valu- able although his services had been. His applications for his stipulated salary were put off with excuses from year to year. Proceedings in the courts of law were out of the question in such a country ; he could only dun the Czar and his ministers ; and at length his arrears had become so great, and his necessities so urgent, that he could no longer endure his position, and threatened to quit the Czar's service. It came to his ears that the Czar had threatened on his part, that if he did, he would have Perry's head ; and the engineer immediately took refuge at the house of the British minister, who shortly after contrived to get him safely conveyed out of the country, but without being paid. He returned to England in 1712, as poor as he had left it, though he had so largely contributed to create the navy of Russia, and to lay the foundations of its afterwards splendid system of inland navigation. Shortly after his return to this country he published his description of Russia,1 which, 1 The title of the book, now little known, is — ' The State of Russia under the present Czar : In relation to the great and remarkable things he has done, as to his naval preparations, the regulating his army, the reforming his people, and improvement of his coun- try; particularly those works on which the author was employed, with the reasons of his quitting the Czar's service, after having been fourteen years in that country. London : Printed for Benjamin Tookc, at tin- Middle Temple Gate in Fleet Street, 1716.' The work was translated into French, under the title — ' Kttit pre- sent de la Grande llussie on j\lo,scovir,' &c. Paris and Brussels, 12mo. 1717 ; The Hague, 1'Jmo. 1717 ; Amsterdam, 12mo. 1720. It was also published in German, entitled — ' Der .Jet/igc Staat von liiissland odor Moskaii,' &c. 2 vols. Leipzig, 1724. CHAP. V. CAPTAIN 1'KIMIY. 77 as the first authentic account of flic extraordinary pro- gress of that new empire, was road with great avidity in Kngland, and was shortly after translated into nearly all the I; m places of Europe. It will be remembered that all attempts made to stop llic breach at DagenhaJD bad thus far proved ineffectual; and it threatened to bid defiance to the engineering talent of England. Perry seemed to be one of those men wh<> delight in difficult undertakings, and he no sooner heard of the work than he displayed an eager desire to enter upon it. He went to look at the breach shortly after his return, and gave in a tender with a plan for its repair; but on Boswell's being accepted, which' was tlni lowest, he held back until that contractor had tried his best, and failed. The road was now clear for Perry, and again he offered to stop the breach and execute the necessary works for the sum of 25,000/.1 His offer was this time accepted, and the works were commenced in the beginning of the year 1715. The opening was now of great width and depth, and a lake had been formed on the land from 400 to 500 feet broad in some places, and extending nearly 2 miles in length. Perry's plan of operations may be briefly explained with the aid of his own map. (See next page.) In the first place he sought to relieve the tremendous pressure of the waters against the breach at high tide, by making other openings in the bank through which they might more easily flow into and out of the inland lake, without having exclusively to pass through the gap which it was his object to stop. He accordingly had two openings, protected by strong sluices, made in the bank a little below the breach, and when these had been opened and were in action, he commenced operations at the breach itself. He began by driving in a row of strong timber piles across the channel ; and these piles price hu«l IHVM lreach ; ami proposals for rendering tin- Torts of Dover and Dublin commodious for entertaiiiiii'j; lar-c ships; to which 'is prefixed a Plan of the Levels which were overflowed liv the JJivach.' 8vo. London, 1721. VOL. I. G 82 STOPPAGE OF DAGENHAM BHEACll. PART I. supplying the stone and timber required for the new works at excessive prices, and others forming what was called " the family compact," or a secret arrangement for dividing the spoil amongst them. The plan of Perry was only carried out to a limited extent ; and though the pier-heads and stone sluice were built, the most im- portant part of the work, the cutting of the new channel, was only partly executed, when the undertaking was suspended for want of funds. From that time forward, Perry's engineering ability was very much confined to making reports as to what things should be done, rather than in being employed to do them. In 1727 he published his "Proposals for Draining the Fens in Lincolnshire ;" and he seems to have been employed there as well as in Hatfield Level, where " Perry's Drain " still marks one of his work*. He was acting as engineer for the adventurers who undertook the drainage of Deeping Fen, in 1732, when he was taken ill and died at Spalding, in the sixty-third year of his age ; and he lies buried in the churchyard of that town. THE THALIES FROM DAGENHA11 BANK, LOOKING UP THE ! [By E. P. Leitch, after a Sketch by the Author ] LIFE OF SIK HUGH MYDDELTON. o 2 VIEW OF BRADJNG HAVEN, TEMPORARILY RECLAIMED BY SIR HUGH MYDDELTON, AS SEEN FROM THE VILLAGE OF BRAD1NG. [By Perciva) Skellon, after bis original Drawing.] LIFE OF SIR HUGH MYDDELTON CHAPTEK I. WATER SUPPLY OF LONDON IN EARLY TIMES. WHILE the engineer has so often to contend with all his skill against the powers of water, and to resist it as a fierce enemy, he has also to deal with it as a useful agent, and treat it as a friend. Water, like fire, though a bad master, is a most valuable servant ; and it is the engineer's business, amongst other things, to render the element docile, tractable, and useful. Even in the Fens, water was not to be entirely got rid of. Were this possible, the Great Level, instead of a boggy reed swamp, would be merely converted into an arid, dusty desert. Provision had, therefore, to be made for the accommodation and retention of sufficient water to serve for irrigation and the watering of cattle, at the same time that the lines of drains or cuts were so laid out its to 1)0 available for purposes of navigation. But water is also one of the indispensable necessaries of life for man himself, an abundant supply of it being essential for human lira 1th and comfort. Hence all the ancient towns were planted by the banks of rivers, principally because the inhabitants required a plentiful supply of water for their daily use. Old London liad riot only the advantage of its pure, broad stream flowing 86 LIFE OF ST1J IirCJH PABT 11. along its southern boundary, so useful as a water road, Imt it also possessed an abundance of wells, from which a supply of pure water was obtained, adequate for the requirements of its early population. The river of Wells, or Wallbrook, flowed through the middle of the city; and there were numerous wells in other quarters, the chief of which were Clerke's Well, Clement's Well, and Holy Well, the names of which still survive in the streets built over them. As London grew in size and population, these wells were found altogether inadequate for the wants of the inhabitants; besides, the water drawn from them became tainted by the impurities which filter into the soil wher- ever large numbers are congregated. Conduits weiv then constructed, through which water was led from Pad- dington, from James's Head, Mewsgate, Tyburn, High- bury, and Hampstead. There were sixteen of such pul >lic conduits about London, and the Conduit Streets which still exist throughout the metropolis mark the sites of several of these ancient works.1 The copious supply of water by these conduits was all the more necessary at that time, as London was for the most part built of timber, and liable to frequent fires, to extinguish which promptly, every citizen was bound to have a barrel full of water in readiness outside his door. The corporation watched very carefully over their protection, and in- flicted severe punishments on such as interfered with 1 The conduits used, in former times, to be yearly visited with considerable ceremony. For instance, we find that —"On the 18th of September, 1562, the Lord Mayor (Harper), the Alder- men, with many worshipful persons, and divers of the Masters and Wardens of the twelve companies, rode to the Conduit's-head [now the site of Con- duit Street, New Bond Street], for to see them after the old custom. And afore dinner they hunted the hare and killed her, and thence to dinner at the head of the Conduit. There was a good number entertained with good checre by the Chamberlain, and, alter dinner, they hunted the fox. There was a great cry for a mile, and at length the hounds killed him at the end of St. Giles's. Great hallooing at his death, and blowing of homes ; and thence the Lord Mayor, with all his company, rode through London to his place in Lombard Street." — Stowe's ' Survey of London.' It would ap- pear that the ladies of the Lord Mayor and Aldermen attended on these jovial occasions ridin in wiins. CHAP. i. WATKI; SITIM.Y OF LONDON IN I:AI:LV TIMES. 87 the flow of water through them. We find a curious instance of this in the City Records, from which it appears tliat, on the 12th November, 1478, one William Tampion, resident in Fleet Street, had cunningly tapped the conduit where it passed his door, and conveyed tlie water into a well in his own house, "thereby occa- sioning a lack of water to the inhabitants/' Campion was immediately had up before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, and after being confined for a time in the Comptour in Bread Street, the following further punish- ment was inflicted on him. He was set upon a horse with a vessel like unto a conduit placed upon his head, which being filled with water running out of small pipes from the same vessel, he was taken round all the conduits of the city, and the Lord Mayor's proclamation of his offence and the reason for his punishment was then read. When the conduit had run itself empty over the culprit, it was filled again. The places at which the proclamation was read were the following, — at Leadenhall, at the pillory in Cornhill, at the great conduit in Chepe, at the little conduit in the same street, at Ludgate and Fleet Bridge, at the Standard in. Fleet Street, at Temple Bar, and at St. Dunstan's Church in Fleet Street ; from whence he was finally marched back to the Comptour, there to abide the will of the Lord Mayor and Aldermen.1 The springs from which the conduits were supplied in course of time decayed; perhaps they gradually diminished by reason of the sinking of wells in their neighbourhood for the supply of the increasing sub- urban population. Hence a deficiency of water began to be experienced in the city, which in certain seasons a Imns t amounted to a famine. There were frequent contentions at the conduits for " first turn," and when water was scarce, these sometimes grew into riots. The \\a1er carriers came prepared for a fight, and at length * Corporation Records.' Index No. I., fo. 184 b. 88 LIFT, OF Sill IIUOTI MYDDFJ/roN. PART II. the Lord Mayor had to interfere, and issued his pro- clamation forbidding persons from resorting to the con- duits armed with clubs and staves. This, however, did not remedy the deficiency. It is true the Thames, — " that most delicate and serviceable river," as Nichols terms it,1 was always available ; but an increasing proportion of the inhabitants lived at a distance from the river. Besides, the attempt was made by those who occupied the lanes leading towards the Thames to stop the thoroughfare, and allow none to pass without paying a toll. A large number of persons then obtained a living as water carriers,2 selling the water by the " tan- kard " of about three gallons ; and they seem to have Ion ned a rather unruly portion of the population. The difficulty of supplying a sufficient quantity of water to the inhabitants by means of wells, conduits, and water carriers, continued to increase, until the year 1582, when Peter Morice, a Dutchman, undertook, as the in- habitants could not go to the Thames for their water, to carry the Thames to them. With this object he erected an ingenious pumping engine in the first arch of London Bridge, worked by water wheels driven by the rise and fall of the tide, which then rushed with great velocity through the arches. This machine forced the water through leaden pipes, which were laid into the houses of the citizens ; and the power with which Morice' s forcing pumps worked was such, that he was enabled 1 ' Progresses of James I.,' vol. ii., 699. The Corporation records con- tain numerous references to the pre- servation of the purity of the water in the river. The Thames also furnished a large portion of the food of the city, then abounding in salmon and other fish. The London fishermen consti- tuted a large class, and we find nu- merous proclamations made relative to the netting of the " salmon and porpoises " — wide nets and wall nets being especially prohibited. Fleets of swans on the Thames were a pictu- resque feature of the river down even to the time of James II. 2 The water carrier was commonly called a " Cob," and Ben Jonson seems to have given a sort of celebrity to the character by his delineation of " Cob" in his ' Every Man in his Hu- mour.' Giftbrd, in a note on the play, pointed out that there is an avenue still called " Cob's Court," in Broad- way, Blackfriars ; not improbably (he adds) from its having formerly l>rr LONDON IN KAIJI.Y TIMES, 91 li\ his adventures on the Spanish Main, observing the greal inconvenience suffered by the population from 1 1 1 i s wan! of watrr, as well as the difficulty of furnishing the ships frequenting the port with that indispensable necessary, conceived the project of supplying the defi- ciency by leading a store of water to the town from one of the numerous springs on Dartmoor. Accordingly, in 1587, when he represented Bossiney (Tintagel) in Cornwall, he obtained an Act enabling him to convey a stream from the river Mew or Heavy; and in the preamble to the Act it was expressed that its object was not only to ensure a continual supply of water to the inhabitants, but to obviate the inconvenience hitherto sustained by seamen in watering their vessels. It would appear, from documents still extant, that the t< >wn < >f I'lyim >uth contributed 200£. towards the expenses of the works, Sir Francis being at the remainder of the cost ; and on the completion of the undertaking the corporation agreed to grant him a lease of the aqueduct for a term of twenty years, at a nominal rental. Drake lost no time in. carrying out the work, which was finished in four years after the passing of the Act ; and its com- pletion in 1591, on the occasion of the welcoming of the stream into the town, was attended with great public rejoicings.1 The " Leet," as it is called, is a work of no great mag- nitude, though of much utility. It was originally nothing more than an open trench cut along the sides of the moor, in which the water flowed by a gentle inclination into the town and through the streets of Plymouth. The distance between the head of the aqueduct at Sheep's 1 The tradition survives to this day that Sir Francis Drake did not cut the Leet l>y the power of money and engineering skill, but by the power of magic. It is said of him that, calling Cor his horse, he mounted it and rode about Dartmoor until he came to a spring sufficiently copious for his design, mi which, pronouncing si >me magical words, he wheeled round, and, starting off at a gallop, the stream formed its own channel, and followed his horse's heels into the town. 92 LIFE OF SIR HUGH MYDPKLTOX. PART I L Tor and Plymouth, as the crow flies, is only seven miles ; but the length of the Leet — so circuitous are its wind- ings— is nearly twenty-four miles. After its completion Drake presented the Leet to the inhabitants of Plymouth " as a free gift for ever," and it has since remained vested in the corporation, — who might, however, bestow more care than they do on its preservation against impurity. Two years after the completion of the Leet, the burgesses, probably as a mark of their gratitude, elected Drake their representative in parliament. The water proved of immense public convenience, and Plymouth, instead of being one of the worst supplied, was rendered one of the best watered towns in the kingdom. Until a com- paratively recent date the water flowed from various public conduits, and it ran freely on either side of the streets — as is still observed at Salisbury and other south- ern towns — that all classes of the people might enjoy the benefit of a full and permanent supply throughout the year.1 One of the original conduits still remains at the head of Old Town-street, bearing the inscription, " Sir Francis Drake first brought this water into Plymouth, 1591." The example of Plymouth may possibly have had an 1 Westcote, who was contemporary with Drake, thus alludes to his un- dertaking:—" The streets [of Ply- mouth] are fairly paved and kept clean and sweet, much refreshed by the fresh stream running through it plenteously, to their great ease, plea- sure, and profit; which was brought into the town by the skill and indus- trious labours of the ever to be remem- bered with due respect and honour- able regard, Sir Francis Drake, Knight; who, when it was a dry town, fetching their water and drying their clothes some miles thence, by a composition made with the magistracy lie brought in this fair stream of fresh water. The course thereof from the head is seven miles, but by indenting and circling through hills, dales, and waste bogs, but with greatest labour and cost through a mighty rock gene- rally supposed impossible to be pierced, at least thirty. But in this his un- daunted spirit and bounty (like an- other Hannibal making way through the impassable Alps) had soon tin- victory, and finished it to the great, and continual commodity of the town, and his own commendation." — Wcst- cote's 'Devonshire in 1630.' lt<». Exeter, 1845, p. 378. For the site of the " mighty rock, generally sup- posed," &c., see the Ordnance map of Devon, a little to the north of Ply- mouth, where the word " Tunnel " is found marked on the course of the old Dartmoor granite tramway, parallel with which, in that locality, the Leet CHAK i. \VATKI; sri'i'LY OF LONDON IN KAIMA TIMKS. «c; influence upon the Corporation of London in obtaining the riMjiiisitr powers from Parliament to enable them to bring the springs of Chadwell and Amwell to the thirsty population of the metropolis; but unhappily they had as yet no Drake to supply the requisite capital and energy. In March, 1608, one Captain Edmond Tnlthurst petitioned the Court of Aldermen for per- mission to enter upon the work ; l but it turned out that the probable cost was far beyond the petitioner's means, without the pecuniary help of the corporation, and that being withheld, the project fell to the ground. After this, one Edward Wright is said to have actually begun the works;2 but they were suddenly suspended, and the citi/eiis of London were as far from their supply of pure water as ever. At this juncture, when all help seemed to fail, and when men were asking each other " who is to do this great work, and how is it to be done ?" citizen Hugh Myddelton, impatient of further delay, came forward and boldly said, " If no one else will under- take this work, I will do so, and execute it at my own cost." Yet Hugh Myddelton was 110 engineer, not even an architect or a builder, but only a goldsmith ; pos- sessing, however, an amount of energy of character and enterprising public spiritedness, in which the Londoners of iliose days seem to have been generally wanting. 1 ' Records of the City of London,' 6th James I. -^Art. '('anal,' in Addenda to Hut- ton's ' Mathematical and PhUoBOphical author of a celebrated treatise on Navi- gation, entitled 'Certain Krrors in Navigation Detected and Corrected/ originally published in 1509, and re- Dictionary.' Mr. Wright was the printed, with additions, in 1657. 94 lin;il MYDDELTON, GOLDSMITH AND TAUT IT. CHAPTER II. HUGH MYDDELTON, GOLDSMITH AND MERCHANT ADVENTURER. THE Myddeltons are an ancient family in North AVales, and have at various times held large possessions in the vale of Clwyd and the neighbourhood. They I trace their origin to a •™ noted chieftain of the twelfth century, one SjCn Blaidd, lord of Penllyn, Sfrom whom also descend- jj ed the Mostyn family, the L % i Yaughans of Nannau, and 'fgjrlt the Salusburies of Llaii- sjd rwst. One of Blaidd' s descendants married Ce- ^nlTs^T* ciHa> the ^Ughter and heiress of Sir Alexander Myddelton of Myddelton, Shropshire, whose name he assumed, and various branches of Myddeltons sprang from the union. Those of Gwaenynog, near Denbigh, are the elder branch, and the estate is still held by their lineal descendant. Ystrad was another patrimony of the Myddeltons in the time of the Tudors, and there are monuments of the family still to be seen in Llanrhaiadr church. Nearer Denbigh is a third estate which be- longed to the Myddeltons, called Galch-hill : it is situated between Gwaenynog and the town of Denbigh, within sight of the old castle, which commands a view of one of the richest and most beautiful valleys in the kingdom. Three brothers held the several estates of CHAP. II. MKIK'HANT ADVKNTUfKl!. Gwaenynog, Ystrad, and Galch-hill about the end of the sixteenth century — Robert, John, and Richard;1 tin1 last being the father of Sir Hugh Myddeltnn. the subject of our present memoir. MYDDELTON'3 HOUSE AT GALCH-HILL, DENBIGH.2 [By E. M. Wirnperis, after an original Sketch.] Richard Myddelton, of Galch-hill, was governor of Denbigh Castle in the reigns of Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth. He seems to have been a man eminent for uprightness and integrity, and is supposed to have been 1 Williaius's ' Ancient and Minimi Denbigh.' From this book we take tin- following incident relating to the MyddeltOD tiunily in early times: — " David .Mvddelton, Heceiver of Den- bigh in tlie 19th Edward IV., and Valerius <'orona> in the 2nd Richard III., paid his addresses to Klyn, daughter of Sir John Donne, of Ut- kintoii, in Cheshire, and gained the lady's affections. But the parents ) .re- ferred their relative, Hit-hard Donne, of Croton. The marriage wa> accord- ingly celebrated ; Imt David Myddel- t-'H \\atehed the bridegroom leading his bride out of church, killed him on the spot, carried away his widow, and married her forthwith. So that she was maid, widow, and a wife twice in one day. From Ko^er, the eldest son of this match, the Myddeltons of the above branch are descended." 2 The old-fashioned whitewashed house, the back of which is repre- sented in the above eni raving, is said to have been the house in which Iluuh Myddelton was born. It has, how- ever, undergone numerous alteration* since his time, though some portions of it, on the lower story, are very an- cient. 96 HUGH MYDDELTON, GOLDSMITH AND II. the first member who sat in Parliament for Denbigh.1 His wife was one Jane Dryhurst, the daughter of an alderman of Denbigh, by whom he had a very nume- rous family. He was buried, with his wife, in the parish FAG SIMILE OF THE MYDDELTON BRASS IN WHITCHUECH 'PORCH. church of Denbigh, called Whitchurch or St. Marcellus, where a small monumental brass placed within the porch, represents Richard Myddelton and Jane his wife, with their sixteen children, all kneeling. Behind him are nine sons, and behind her seven daughters. He died in 1575 ; she in 1565. The tablet rehearses his virtues in the quaint lines inscribed underneath.2 1 The privilege was first granted 33rd Henry VIII. But it is also pro- about the year 1536, in the 27th bable that he represented the town in Henry VIII. The first name in the the preceding Parliament, which sat list of representatives of the borough only forty days. — Williams's 'Records which has been preserved, is that of Denbigh.' of Richard Myddelton, 1542, in the 2 In vayu we bragg and boast of blood, in vayne of sinne we vaunte, Syth flesh and blood must lodge at last where nature did us graunte. So where he lyeth that lyved of late with love and favour mm -lie, To f'ynde his friend, to feel his foes, his country skante had suche. Whose lyft'did well repoite his death, whose death hys lytt'doth tiye, And poyntes with fyiiger what he was that here in claye doth lye. His vertucs shall enroll his actes, histmnbe. shall tell his name, His sonncs and daughters left Ix-hinde shall blaze on earth his fame. Look under feete and you shall tindc, upon the stone y«>\v stande, The race he ranne, the lyft'he led, each with an upright hande. CflAP. II. M KUCHA NT ADVKNTC KK1I. «»7 The c])it;i])h was more truthful than epitaphs usually are; and as respects the fame of Richard Myddelton's offspring, it might even be regarded as prophetic. The third son, William, was one of Queen Elizabeth's famous sea captains. He was educated at Oxford, but, inflamed with a love of adventure, he early went to sea, and eventually rose to distinction. In 1591 we find him with the small English fleet sent to intercept the Spanish galleons off the Azores. Philip II., having received intelligence of the design, had equipped and sent to sea a much more powerful squadron for the purpose of effectually frustrating it. Captain Myddelton first sighted the enemy, and kept company with them for three days, until he had obtained full intelligence of their strength, when he rejoined the fleet under Admiral Howard. The vigilance of Myddelton on the occasion is said to have saved the English squadron, though Sir Richard Greville, the Vice- Admiral, got entangled with the enemy, and his ship (the only one taken) was cap- tured by the Spaniards, after resisting their whole force for twelve hours, and repulsing their boarders fifteen times.1 While engaged on his various cruises, Myd- delton occupied his leisure hours in translating the Book of Psalms into Welsh. He finished the work in the West Indies, and it was published in 1603, shortly after his death.2 He was also the author of ' Barddoniaeth, or the Art of Welsh Poetry,' a work for some time held in considerable estimation. The fourth son of Richard Myddelton was Thomas, an eminent citizen and grocer ( )f London. He served the office of sheriff in 1 603, when died, and his ship went Imgly departing from this body, \cn\- «lu\vu t\v<» days alter the fight. His j in;j; behind the lasting fame of having death was as nohle as his life had hem. hehaved as every valiant soldier is in Shortly before his death he said: — his duty bound to do. "Here T, Richard (ireville, die, with a joyful and quiet mind ; for that I have ended my life as a true soldier ought - William Myddelton's version of the Psalms was reprinted at Llanfair, Caereinion, in 1827, with a preface by to do, lighting lor his country, Queen, that eminent Welsh scholar and poet, religion, and honour; my soul wil- Walter Davies. VOL. r. 11 HUGH MYDDELTON, GOLDSMITH AND PART II. he was knighted; and he was elected Lord Mayor in 1613. He was the founder of the. Chirk Castle family, now represented by Mr. Myddelton Biddulph.1 Charles, the fifth son, succeeded his father as governor of Den- bigh Castle, and when he died bequeathed numerous legacies for charitable uses connected with his native town. The sixth son was Hugh Myddelton, the illus- trious goldsmith and engineer. Robert, the seventh, by trade a skinner, was, like two of his brothers, a London citizen, and afterwards a member of parliament. Foulk, the eighth son, served as high sheriff of the county of Denbigh. This was certainly a large measure of worldly prosperity and fame to fall to the lot of one man's offspring. The precise date of Hugh Myddelton's birth is un- known ; but it was probably about the year 1555.2 We have no record of his early life, and have no desire to invent anything to supply the defect. All that we know is, that he was bred to business in London, under the eye of his elder brother Thomas, the grocer and merchant 1 Sir Thomas realised considerable wealth by trade, and occasionally helped King Jarnes with loans of money during that monarch's pecu- niary difficulties. Thus we find his name appearing in the ' Pell Records ' (24 June, 1609) as the recipient of 3000Z., together with 290Z. 15s., being the interest thereon, which he had ad- vanced as a loan to King James for one year. The interest was at the then current rate of between nine and ten per cent. Sir Thomas contributed 5002. towards the Free Schools of the Grocers' Company, of which he was a member ; and he also left 11. a year to the poor of the same Company, as well as the rent of two tenements in Baynard's Castle, which they enjoy to this day. Nor did he forget his Welsh countrymen, for he provided the Welsh " nation " with a new edi- tion of the Scriptures at his own ex- pense. He is the same Sir Thomas Myddelton of whom it is related that, having married a young wife in his old age, the famous song, " Room for cuckolds, here comes my Lord Mayor," was composed in his honour on the occasion. 2 His mother died in 1565, after having given birth, as we have seen, to sixteen children; Hugh being the sixth of nine sons. He was thus, pro- bably, at least ten years old at his mother's death. This surmise as to the probable period of his birth is con- firmed by a passage which occurs in a letter written by Myddelton to his cousin, Sir John Wynne, in 1625, in which he declined entering upon any new undertakings because of the in- firmities of age. His words were, " I am grownc into years." At that time he would probably be about seventy, though we find him alive in 1631, six years later. (HAP. II. .MKIM'HAXT ADVKNTl'KKK. '..!• adventurer. In those days country gentlemen of mode- rate income were accustomed to bind their sons appren- tice's to merchants, especially where the number of younger sons was large, as it certainly was in the case of Richard Myddelton of Galch-hill. There existed at that time in the metropolis numerous exclusive com- panies or guilds, the admission into which was regarded as a safe road to fortune. The merchants were then few in number, and they constituted almost an aris- tocracy in themselves; indeed, they were not unfre- quently elevated to the peerage because of their wealth as well as public services, and not a few" of our present noble families can trace their pedigree back to some wealthy skinner, mercer, or tailor, of the reigns of James or Elizabeth. Hugh Myddelton was entered an apprentice of the guild of the Goldsmiths' Company. Having thus set his son in the way of well-doing, Richard Myddelton left him to carve out his own career, and rely upon his own energy and ability. He had done the same with Thomas, whom he had helped until he could stand by himself; and William, whom he had educated at Oxford as thoroughly as his means would afford. These sons having been fairly launched upon the world, he be- queathed the residue of his property to his other sons and daughters.1 The goldsmiths of that day were not merely dealers in plate, but in money. They had succeeded to much of the business formerly carried on by the Jews and Venetian merchants established in or near Lombard-street. They usually united to the trade of goldsmith that of banker, money-changer, and money-lender, dealing generally in the precious metals, and exchanging plate and foreign coin lor gold and silver pieces of English manufacture, which had become much depreciated by long use as well ' Kccoiils of Denbigh,' p. 201-2. H 2 100 HUGH MYDDELTON, GOLDSMITH AND PART II. as by frequent debasement.1 It was to the goldsmiths that persons in want of money then resorted, as tliry would now resort to money-lenders and bankers ; and their notes or warrants of deposit circulated as money, and suggested the establishment of a bank-note issue, similar to our present system of bullion and paper currency. They held the largest proportion of the precious metals in their possession ; hence, when Sir Thomas Gresham, one of the earliest bankers, died, it was found that the principal part of his wealth was com- prised in gold chains.2 The place in which Myddelton's goldsmith's shop was situated was in Bassishaw (now called Basinghall) Street, and he lived in the overhanging tenement above it, as was then the custom of city merchants. Few, if any, lived away from their places of business. The roads into the country, close at hand, were impassable in bad weather, and dangerous at all times. Basing Hall was only about a bow-shot from the City Wall, beyond which lay Finsbury Fields, the archery ground of London, which extended from the open country to the very wall itself, where stood Moor Gate. The London of that day con- sisted almost exclusively of what is now called The City ; and there were few or no buildings east of Aldgate, north of Cripplegate, or west of Smithfield. At the accession of James I. there were only a few rows of thatched cottages in the Strand, along which, on the river's side, the boats lay upon the beach. At the same time there were groves of trees in Finsbury, and green pastures in Holborn ; Clerkenwell was a village ; St. Pancras boasted only of a little church standing in meadows ; and St. Martin's, like St. Giles's, was literally 1 Henry VIII. suffered his coin to ! for English coins. — Macpherson's be so lav debased that no regular ex- * Annals of Commerce.' 4to., 1805. changes could be made ; and the con- j Vol. ii., p. 357. fusion made way for the London | 2 It may be remembered that Rubens goldsmiths to leave off their proper was accustomed to be paid for his pic- trade of goldsmith rie, and to turn ex- tures by so many links of gold chain, changers of plate and foreign money ! I. MKIICIIANT ADVENTURER. KM " in the fields." All the country to the west was farm and pasture land ; and woodcocks and partridges flew over the site of the future Regent Street, May Fair, and Belgravia. The population of the city was about 150,000, living in some 17,000 houses,1 which were nearly all of timber, \virl i picturesque gable-ends, and sign boards swinging over the footways. The upper parts of the houses so overhung the foundations, and the streets were so nar- row, that D' Avenant said the opposite neighbours might shake hands without stirring from home. The ways were then quite impassable for carriages, which had not yet indeed been introduced into England ; all travelling being on foot or on horseback. When coaches were at length introduced and became fashionable, the aris- tocracy left the city, through the streets of which their carriages could not pass, and migrated westward to Co vent Garden and Westminster. Those were the days for quiet city gossip and neigh- bourly chat over matters of local concern ; for London had not yet grown so big or so noisy as to extinguish that personal interchange of views on public affairs which continues to characterize most provincial towns. Mer- chants sat at their doorways in the cool of the summer evenings, under the overhanging gables, and talked over the affairs of trade ; whilst those courtiers who still had their residences within the walls, hung about the fashion- able shops to hear the city gossip and talk over the latest iM-ws. My ddel ton's shop appears to have been one of such fashionable places of resort, and the pleasant tra- dition was long handed down in the parish of St. Matthew, Friday-street, that Hugh Myddelton and Walter Raleigh used to sit together at the door of the goldsmith's shop, and smoke the newly introduced weed, tobacco, greatly to the amazement of the passers by.2 It is not impro- 1 StryjK-'s Edition of Stowe's ' Sur- I 2 Malcolm's 'Manners and Customs vey.' I of London,' p. 115. 102 IIHJH MYDDELTON, GOLDSMITH AXD PART H. bable that Captain William Myddelton, who lived in London * after his return from the Spanish main in 1591, formed an occasional member of the group ; for Pennant states that he and his friend Captain Thomas Price, of Plasgollen, and another, Captain Koet, were the first who smoked, or as they then called it, " drank " tobacco publicly in London, and that the Londoners flocked from all parts to see them.2 Hugh Myddelton did not confine himself to the trade of a goldsmith, but from an early period his enterprising spirit led him to embark in ventures of trade by sea ; and hence, when we find his name first mentioned in the year 1597, in the records of his native town of Denbigh, of which he was an alderman and " capitall burgess," as well as the representative in Parliament, he is described as " Cittizen and Grouldsmythe of London, and one of the Merchant Adventurers of England." The trade of London was as yet very small, but a beginning had been made. A charter was granted by Henry VII., in 1505, to the Company of Merchant Adventurers of England, conferring on them special privileges. Previous to that time, almost the whole trade had been monopolized by the Steelyard Company of Foreign Merchants, whose exclusive privileges were formally withdrawn in 1 5 5 2 . But for want of an English mercantile navy, the greater part of the foreign carrying trade of the country continued long after to be conducted by foreign ships. The withdrawal of the privileges of the foreign mer- chants in England had, however, an immediate effect in stimulating the home trade, as is proved by the fact, that in the year following the suppression of the foreign com- pany, the English Merchant Adventurers shipped off 1 He resided at the old Elizabethan | 2 'Tour in Wales,' vol. ii., p. 31. house in Highgate, afterwards occu- Ed. 1784. pied as an inn, called the " King's 3 Williains's ' Ancient and Modern Head." iVnhMi,' p. 105. CHAP. II. MKIICIIANT ADVENTURE!;. 103 t'<>r Inlanders no less than 40,000 pieces of cloth.1 Cloth- ma king now luM-amr one of the staple manufactures of Kngland. and instead of allowing the foreigners to ex- port the raw wool, work it up abroad by foreign artisans, and return it for sale in the English markets, the English merchants themselves employed the English artisans, aided by the numerous Protestant refugees who had fled into England from French Flanders and the Low Countries, to work up the raw material, when they became large exporters instead of importers of the manufactured articles. Into this trade of cloth manu- facture Hugh Myddelton entered with great energy ; and he prosecuted it with so much success, that in a speech delivered by him in the House of Commons on the proposed cloth patent, he stated that he and his partner then maintained several hundred families by that trade.2 Besides engaging in this new born branch of manu- facture, it is not improbable that Myddelton's enterprising spirit, — encouraged by his intimacy with Raleigh and other sea captains, including his own brother William, who had made profitable captures on the Spanish main, — led him to embark in the maritime adventures which were so common at that period, though they would now be regarded as little better than piracy.3 Drake sacked the Spanish towns, burnt their ships, and carried off their gold, while England was yet at peace with Spain. Drake's vessels were the property of private persons, who sent them forth upon adventures on the high seas; and the results were so astounding, that it was no wonder the example should be followed, more especially after Spain had declared war against England. The 1 • Tutorial History of England,' i light, even at that time; for Camden vol. ii., p. 784. says, " Nothing troubled Drake more 2 'House of Commons' Journals,' than that some of the chief men ;it vol. i., p. 491. (20th May, 1614.) The proceedings of Drake seem to bri'ii regard rd by some in this court refused to accept the gold which he offered them, as being gotten by piracy." h>-i iin 'ii M YIMM-:LT» >N. i .t ii.hswr records ol the corpora t ion ol London contain some curious entries relative t M t he fitting out of the ships which were sent to sea tor the capture of galleons, and the siih- scqiieiit divisi(»n of the spoil. ()n such occasions the several companies ot the citv comhined with the corpo- ration in tormin^ a common purse, and hound them- selves hv agreement lo share in the loss or i^ain ol their adventures, in proportion to the amounts severally stihscrihed l»y them. In l.V.i;> \\-e tind a richlv laden carraek captured hv Sir Walter Raleigh, and hrouu'ht into t he Thames a ] >n/e : and on the 1 ."it h of Xoveml :or. in that vear. a committee was a])])ointed "on hehall <>t such of the city companies as had ventured in the late licet, to join Avith such honourable personages as the Queen hath appointed, to take a perfect view ot all such v;oods, prizes, spices, jewels, pearls, treasures. &<•., lately taken in the carraek', and to make sale and division thereof."1 It appears that 1 L>, ()()()/. (or equivalent to ahoiit tour times the value of our present nionev) was divided amongst the companies which had adventured ; and SOOO/. was similarlv netted hv them on another occasion. I>iit the poor of the citv were not forgotten <• dist nl »iii ion ot the nionev; two shillings in tin the poor people living within the Freedom visited 1»\- 1 ' < '(irpurut inn iif ('itv ol I.MinliiM • \\-;is \\ ii iiin. Wife, rliiMivii, ;iin! MT- I ''••"!•';-." '\"'.\ '_'."., l"l. l.'.i;. \-;ints hell niiiiirj; to tlml Imiisc must Till' |'!;rjl|r \S;|S thru ;| Irnjllrht \Vr;ir \\ilitr 1'dils ill llicif liaiuls Id!' i'll\'. N UUlcri ills I'l'ii- t i i 1 I't \'->l \ ii;l\'^ Ipi'Jiii'c thr\' \VrlV ('ii||- • • :•• i., nlc h\' tin- l.ni'ii siiliTi'i) |'iir':r'l. Ii \\'as also nnlcrcil rci, ii'i iclainat i' ii,si iriirfin^ \vclU and n|' C\'ITV linii>r inl'i ri r ii isc-, tin- inhalii- mrjlil ha\ c kimu Inl^c that such house r-njuiiicii i « i sri up \vas iulrrti i). ' ( 'orjior.il ion ol' < 'it v o| ' ciiAi'. II. .MKI.VIIANT AI>VKNTU:KI!. i<>:. At a comparatively advanced age, Myddelton took t<> lii nisei f a wife; and the rank and fortune of the lady lie married afford some indication of the position he had thru attained. She was Miss Elizabeth Olmstead, the daughter and sole heiress of John Olmstead of Ingate- stone, Essex, with whom the thriving goldsmith and merchant adventurer received a considerable accession of property. That he had secured the regard of his nciirli hours, and did not disdain to serve them in the local offices to which they chose to elect him, is apparent from the circumstance that he officiated for three years as churchwarden for the parish of St. Matthew, to which post he was appointed in the year 1598. But he had public honours offered to him of a more distinguished character. He continued to keep up a friendly con- nection with his native town of Denbigh, and he seems to have been mainly instrumental in obtaining for the borough its charter of incorporation in the reign of Elizabeth . In return for this service the burgesses elected him their first alderman, and in that capacity he signed the first by-laws of the borough in 1597. On the back of the document are some passages in his hand-writing, commencing with " Tafod aur yngenau dedwydd " [A golden tongue is in the mouth of the blessed], followed by other aphorisms, and concluding with some expressions of regret at parting with his brethren, the burgesses of Denbigh, whom he had specially visited on the occasion. On his next visit to the town he appears to have entered upon a mining enterprise, in the hope of being able to find coal in the neighbourhood. In a letter written by him in 1625 to Sir John Wynne, he thus refers to the adventure : — " It may please you to under- stand that my first undertaking of publick works was amongst my own people, within less than a myle of the place where I hadd my first beinge (24 or 25 years 100 HUGH MYDDELTON, GOLDSMITH, &c. TAUT II. since), in seekinge of coals for the town of Denbighe." l Myddelton was most probably deceived by the slaty appearance of the soil into the belief that coal wras to be found in the neighbourhood, and after spending a good deal of money in the search, he finally gave it up ns ;i hopeless undertaking. . 1 The common story told of Myd- delton's subsequent execution of the Xe\v River, is, that he was enabled to carry out the works by means of the large fortune he had realised by the working of a " silver-mine in Wales." This has been repeated by every writer on the subject of Sir Hugh Myddelton's career from Stowe down- wards; but it is alto-ether without foundation, the only mining adven- ture on which he entered previous to the New River enterprise being that at Denbigh, which proved a total failure. ----- ~ffl" WHtTCHUHCH, OK ST. MARCELLUS, DENBIGH. [By E. M. Wim peris, after an origical Sketch.] (,i\i-. III. lircil MYDDKLTON, M.I'. 107 CHAPTER III. HUGH MYDDELTON, M.P. — THE NEW EIVEK WORKS BEGUN. IN 1603 Hugh Myddelton was returned representative of his native town to the first parliament summoned by James I. In those days the office of representative was not so much coveted as it is now, and boroughs remote from the metropolis were occasionally under the necessity of paying their members to induce them to serve. Thus it was an advantage to the burgesses of Denbigh that they had a man so able to represent them as Hugh Myd- delton, resident in London, and who was moreover an alderman and a benefactor of the town. His two brothers — Thomas Myddelton, citizen and grocer, and Robert, citizen and skinner, of London — were members of the same parliament, and we find Hugh and Robert frequently associated on committees of inquiry into matters connected with trade and finance. Among the Hrst committees to which we find the brothers appointed was one on the subject of a bill for explanation of the Statute of Sewers, and another for the bringing of a fresh stream of running water from the river of Lea, or Uxbridge, to the north parts of the city of London.1 Tims the providing of a better supply of water to the inhabitants of the metropolis came very early under his notice, and doubtless had some influence in directing his future action on the subject. At the same time the business in Bassishaw-street was not neglected, for, shortly after the arrival of King James in London, we find Myddelton supplying jewelry for Commons' Journals,' vol. i. 262. 31st January, 1C>05. 108 HUGH MYDDELTON, M.P.— PART II. Queen Anne, whose rage for finery of that sort was excessive. A warrant, in the State Paper-office, orders 250/. to be paid to Hugh Myddelton, goldsmith, for a jewel given by James I. to the queen ; l and it is pro- bable that this connection with the Court introduced him thus early to the notice of the king, and facilitated his approach to him when he afterwards had occasion to solicit His Majesty's assistance in bringing the New River works to completion. The subject of water supply to the northern parts of the city was still under the consideration of parlia- mentary committees, of which Myddelton was invariably a member ; and at length a bill passed into law, and the necessary powers were conferred. But no steps were taken to carry them into effect. The chief difficulty was not in passing the Act, but in finding the man to execute the work. A proposal made by one Captain Colthurst to bring a running stream from the counties of Hertford and Middlesex, was negatived by the Common Council in 1608. Fever and plague from time to time decimated the population, and the citizens of London seemed as far as ever from being supplied with pure water. It was at this juncture that Hugh Myddelton stepped forth and declared that if no one else would undertake it, he would, and bring the water from Hertfordshire into London. " The matter," quaintly observes Stowe, " had been well-mentioned though little minded, long debated but never concluded, till courage and resolution lovingly shook hands together, as it appears, in the soule of this 1 " By order, 2 6 th of February, 1604. ! ferred from the circumstance stated To Hugh Middleton, Goldsmith, the j by Dr. Steven in his 'Memoir of sum of 250Z. for a pendant of one dia- George Heriot,' the King's goldsmith mond bestowed upon the Queen by (founder of Heriot's Hospital, Edin- His Majesty. By writ dated 9th day burgh), that during the ten years of January, 1604, 2507." — Extract which immediately preceded the ac- i'rom the * Pell llecords.' [The sum | cession of King James to the throne of named would be equivalent to about Great Britain, Heriot's bills for the 1 OOO/. of our present money. The Queen's jewels alone could not amount Queen's passion for jewels may be in- ; to less than 50,OOOZ. sterling.] iiAi-. III. THK NKNV KIVKK \VolM\S BBOUN, 109 no wav to U.' daunted, well-minded gentleman." When all others held back — lord mayor, corporation, and eiti/ens — Myddelton took courage, and showed what one strong practical man, borne forward by resolute will arid purpose, can do. "The dauntless Welshman," says Pennant, in his ex- cusable admiration for his distinguished kinsman of the Principality, " stept forth and smote the rock, and the waters flowed into the thirsting metropolis." Fuller is no less eulogistic in describing the achievement of this genuine English, or Welsh worthy. " If those," says he, " be recounted amongst David's Worthies, who, breaking through the army of the Philistines, fetcht water from the well of Bethlehem to satisfie the longing of David (founded more in fancy than necessity), how meritorious a work did this worthy man perform, who, to quench the thirst of thousands in the populous city of London, fetcht water on his own cost more than 24 miles, en- countering all the way an army of oppositions, grappling with Hills, struggling with Rocks, fighting with Forests, till, in defiance of difficulties, he had brought his project to perfection ! " 1 Myddelton' a success in life seems to have been attri- butable not less to his quick intelligence than to his laborious application and indomitable perseverance. He had, it is true, failed in his project of finding coal at Denbigh ; but the practical knowledge which he acquired, during his attempt, of the arts of mining and excava- tion, had disciplined his skill and given him fertility of resources, as well as cultivated in him that power of grappling with difficulties, which emboldened him to undertake this great work, more like that of a Roman emperor than of a private London citizen. The corporation were only too glad to transfer to him the powers with which they had been invested by tin- legislature, together with the labour, the anxiety, the 1 « Wnrthirs ..I Kn-liinii,' vol. ii., 590. 110 HUGH MYDDKITOX, M.P.— PAKT expense, and the risk of carrying out the undertaking wliieh they regarded as so gigantic. On the 28tli of March, 1609, the corporation accordingly formally agreed to his proposal to bring a supply of water from Amwell and Chadwell, in Hertfordshire, to Isling- ton, as being " a thing of great consequence, worthy of acceptation for the good of the city;" but subject to his beginning the works within two months from the date of their acceptance of his offer, and doing his best to finish the same within four years.1 A regular indenture was drawn up and executed between the parties on the 21st of April following;2 and Myddeltoii began the works and "turned -the first sod" in the course of the following month, according to the agreement. The principal spring was at Chadwell, near Ware,3 and the operations commenced at that point. The second spring was at A mwell, near the same town ; both being about twenty miles from London as the crow flies. The works were no sooner begun than a host of oppo- i'hents sprang up. The owners and occupiers of lands through which the New River was to be cut, strongly objected to it as destructive of their interests. In the petition presented by them to parliament, they alleged that their meadows would be turned into " bogs and 1 ' Common Council Journals, Cor- poration of London,' 28 March, 1609. 2 Curiously enough, there is no re- cord in the Repertories or Journals of the Corporation of this document, which was afterwards cancelled by mutual agreement, and a second (based upon the first, and a letter of attorney) was executed on the -8th March, 1611, and sealed on the 14th April following. 3 " Ware [in Herts], so named from a sort of dam anciently made there to stop the current [of the river Lea] ; commonly called a Weir or Ware, which, as it is confirmed by an abun- dance of waters thereabouts, that might put them under a necessity of such contrivances, so particularly I mm the inundation in the year 1408, when it was almost all drowned ; ' since which time,' says Norden, 'and be- fore, there was great provision made by weirs and sluices for the better preservation of the town, and the grounds belonging to the same/ The plenty of waters hereabouts gave occa- sion to that ingenious and useful pro- ject of cutting the channel from hence to London, and conveying thither the Xe\v 1 {iver, to the great convenience and advantage of that city, which river was at lirst called also 'Myddel- ton's Waters,' from Sir Hugh Myddel- toii, a great undertaker in that work/' — Camden's ' I>rit,' by Gibson, vol. i., 319, 320. CIIAI-. III. Tin-; M-:\V WORKS BEGUN. in quagmires," ;mlr land become " squallid ground ;" tliat their farms would be "mangled " and their fields cut up into quillets and " small peeces ;" that the " cut," which was no better than a deep ditch, dan- gerous to men and cattle, would, upon " soden raines," inundate the adjoining meadows and pastures, to the utter ruin of many poor men ; that the church would be wronged in its tithe without remedy ; that the highway between London and Ware would be made impass- able ; and that an infinity of similar evils would be perpe- trated, and irretrievable in- juries inflicted on them- selves and their pos- terity. The opponents The annexed map will enable the reader easily to trace the line of the New River works between Am well, Chad well, and London. The dotted lines indicate those partsofthe old course which have since been superseded by more direct cuts, repre- sented by the continuous black line. Where the loops have been detached tVoni the present line o!' works, they are, in most insiMiiccs, laid dry, and may be examined ;md measure.'! correctly, as also the soil of which the banks were origin- ally formed. 0 ' MAP OP THE NEW R!' [Supplied by W. 0. Alylnc, Esq . Engineer of the New Kiver Company.] Hi' HUGH MYDDELTON, M.P.— PAST II. also pointed out that the Mayor and corporation would have nothing to do with the business, but, by an irre- vocable act of the Common Council, had transferred their powers of executing the works to Mr. Myddelton and his heirs, " who doth the same for his own private benefit."1 The agitation against the measure was next taken up in parliament. " Much ado there is in the House," writes Mr. Beaulieu, on the 9th of May, 1610, to a friend in the country, " about the work undertaken, and far advanced already by Myddelton, of the cutting of a river and bringing it to London from ten or twelve miles oft', through the grounds of many men, who, for their par- ticular interests, so strongly oppose themselves to it, and are like (as it is said) to overthrow it all."2 On the 20th of June following, a bill was introduced and com- mitted to repeal the Act authorizing the construction of the New Eiver. A committee of ten was appointed a few days after " to view " the river and to certify re- specting the progress made with the works, doubtless with the object of ascertaining what damage had actually been done, or was likely to be done, to private property. The committee were directed to make their report in the next session ; but as parliament was prorogued in July and did not meet again for four years, the subject is not again mentioned in the Journals of the House. The corporation of the City did what they could to oppose the bill for the repeal of the New Eiver Acts. On the 25th of May they sent a deputation of aldermen, accompanied by the Town Clerk and Remembrancer, to wait upon the Home Secretary, Chancellor of the Ex- chequer, and other official men of influence, earnestly 1 These objections and the answers to them are stated in a curious docu- ment deposited in the State Paper of 3 and 4 Jac. I., for bringing tin- New Eiver into London ; stating the objections against those Acts, and Office (' Domestic Calendar of State j answers to the objections.' Papers,' vol. 78), entitled, ' The effect 2 Nichols's « Progresses of James I.,' of a [proposed] Bill to repeal the Acts i ii., 313. < HAP. in. TIII-: xi-:\v JMVI-:I; \VOIM\S BEGUN. 11:; entreating- them to oppose the Repeal bill, on the ground that the stream of fresh water proposed to be brought into the northern parts of the city "would be a thing very commodious for the preservation of health in the city, and which stream hath been already brought onward about ten miles at the charges of Mr. Hugh Myddelton, the city's deputy, amounting already to the sum of 3000/. and above."1 Worse than all, was the popular opposition which Myddelton had to encounter. The pastor of Tottenham, writing in 1631, speaks of the New Riveras "brought with an ill wille from Ware to London." 2 Stowe, who was a contemporary and enthusiastic admirer of Myd- delton, says bitterly, " If those enemies of all good endeavours, Danger, Difficulty, Impossibility, Detraction, Contempt, Scorn, Derision, yea, and Desperate Despight, could have prevailed, by their accursed and malevolent interposition, either before, at the beginning, in the very birth of the proceeding, or in the least stolne advantage of the whole prosecution, this Worke, of so great worth, had never been accomplished." 3 Stowe records that he rode down divers times to see the progress made in cutting and constructing the New River, and " diligently observed that admirable art, pains, and industry were bestowed for the passage of it, by reason that all grounds are not of a like nature, some being oozy and very muddy, others again as stiff, craggy, and stony. The depth of the trench," he adds, "in some places descended full thirty feet, if not more, whereas in other places it required a sprightful art again to mount it over a valley in a trough, between a couple of hills, and the trough all the while borne up by wooden arches, some of them fixed in the ground very deep, and rising in height above twenty-three feet." 1 * Common Council Journals,' 25th May, 1610. Cambell, Mayor. 2 ' Briefc Description of the Townc ..1 Tottenham.' I'.y tin- lli-v. Wil- VOL. I. liam Bedwell, Pastour of the Parish of Tottenham. 4to. London, 1631. 3 Stowe's ' Survey.' Ed. 1633. 114 HUGH MYDDELTON, M.P.— PART IT. It shortly became apparent to Myddeltoii that the time originally fixed by the Common Council for the comple- tion of the works had been too short, and we accordingly find him petitioning the Corporation for its extension. This was granted him for five years more, on the ground of the opposition and difficulties which had been thrown in his way by the occupiers and landowners along the line of the proposed stream.1 It has usually been alleged that Myddelton fell short of funds, and that the Corpora- tion refused him the necessary pecuniary assistance ; but the Corporation records do not bear out this statement, the only application apparently made by Myddeltoii being for an extension of time. It has also been stated that he was opposed by the water-carriers, and that they even stirred up the Corporation to oppose the construction of the New River ; but this statement seems to be equally without foundation.2 The principal obstacle which Myd- delton had to encounter was unquestionably the oppo- sition of the landowners and occupiers ; and it was so 1 * Common Council Journals,' 27th February, 1610. Craven, Mayor. 2 It is Malcolm who says, in his ' Londinium Redivivum,' that the City refused aid to Myddelton lest, by granting it, they should prejudice the interests of the water-carriers. This, however, is at variance with the fact that they had been instrumental — principally at the instigation of Myd- delton himself — in pressing the Corpo- ration to obtain the requisite powers from Parliament to enable fresh water to be brought from Middlesex or Hertfordshire into the city. The Corporation Records contain no facts bearing on the subject; though there is a petition deposited in the Guildhall Library, without date, but, judging from the writing and spelling, probably framed about the close of the 16th or the beginning of the 17th century, entitled: "The humble petition of the whole companic of poore water- tankerd-bearers of the Citie of Lon- don, ;m//. As the books of the New River Company were acci- dentally destroyed by a fire many years ago, we are unable to test the accuracy of these figures by comparison witli the financial records of the Company ; but, taken in conjunction with other circumstances hereafter to be mentioned, the amount stated represents, with as near an approach to accuracy as can now be reached, the half of tlu' original cost of constructing the New River works.1 1 It appears from the "pageant" which took place on the day of open- iiiLT, that as many as 600 labourers were employed upon the works at one time. As the pay of labourers was not then more than Gd. a day, and of artificers Is. a day, the amount expended on labour during the period the works were under construction — allowing for their suspension for a time through local opposition and bad weather — and on land, mate- rials, inspection, &c., could not have amounted to more than about seven- teen thousand pounds. The statements heretofore printed as to the original cost of constructing the New River are, for the most part, gross exaggera- tions. The assertion that 500,000?. of the money of the period, or equal to about two millions of our present money, was expended on the works, has !)een repeated by various writers, but without any data, excepting the loose statement made by Pennant in his ' Tour in Wales,' to the effect that "2000?. a month, which Sir Hugh gamed from the Cardiganshire mines, were swallowed up in this river." Whereas the fact was, that Myddelton lost heavily by his first mining en- terprise near Denbigh, which proved a complete i'ailuiv, and he did not enter upon his mining operations in Cardigan until long after the New River had been completed. The fact that so large a sum as 17,000?. was expended in the construction of a public work at the beginning of the 17th century is quite strong enough, and stands in no need of ex- aggeration. It was a very large sum to be expended at that time, when London was comparatively small, and England comparatively poor. It was a larger sum to raise at that period — taking trade, commerce, and public wealth into account — than as many millions would be at this day. It must also be added that Stowe, Maitland, Fuller, Pennant, Morant (who have been generally followed by subsequent encyclopedists and biographic com- pilers), evidently drew largely upon their imaginations when describing the achievements of Sir Hugh. They all repeat the same story of the " silver- mine in Wales," of his having died in obscurity and poverty, and other like groundless fables. Maitland even mag- nifies the few and unimportant bridges over the New River to the number of eight hundred, and the fiction is copied by most subsequent writers on the subject. 120 SIR HUGH MYDDELTON, M.V.— TART IT. CHAPTER IV. SIR HUGH MYDDELTON, M.P. — THE NEW KIVER COMPLETED. ALTHOUGH the cutting of the New Biver may now be regarded as a work of comparatively small account, by men familiar with the canals and railways of this day, it was very different at the time of its projection. It- will be remembered that though successive A cts of Par- liament had been obtained to enable such a work to be carried out, none dared venture upon its execution until Hugh Myddelton declared himself willing to be its undertaker. It was the greatest enterprise of the kind that had yet been attempted in this country. It was both much more costly and more difficult of execution than the Leet at Plymouth, which consisted mainly of the diversion of one stream into another, whereas this was an entire new river from end to end. Myddelton had no past experience to serve as his guide, nothing but strong good sense and sound practical judgment, whilst in the earlier period of the enterprise he had to encounter the lot of the bold, original man in all times, —sneers, derision, and ridicule, — and at the same time to battle at every step against the harassing opposition of the tenantry and landowners. But all these obstruc- tions he eventually overcame, with his own and the Bang's help. The general plan adopted by Myddelton was to follow a contour line, as far as practicable, from the then level of the Chadwell spring to the circular pond at Islington, subsequently called the New Biver Head.1 The stream 1 The site of the New River Head had always been a pond, "an open, idell poole," says Hawes, " commonly called the Ducking-pond ; being now by the master of this work reduced into a comley pleasant shape, and CHAP. IV. TIN-: NK\V 1,'IYKK COMPLKTKD. 121 originally presented a fall of about 2 inches in the mile, and its City end was at the level of about 82 feet above what is now known as Trinity high water mark. Where the fall of the ground was found inconveniently rapid, a stop-gate was introduced at such places across the stream, penning from 3 to 4 feet perpendicularly, the water flowing over such weirs down to the next level. By the charter granted by King James, power was p veil to Myddelton to negotiate and arrange for sufficient land to form a watercourse of 10 feet in width, together with a right or easement to pass with carts and horses along either side of the stream, for the purpose of cleansing and repairs. The bridges over the stream were about a hundred and sixty in number, mostly of timber, and they were invariably executed with a water way under them not exceeding 10 feet. Taking the width of the original river at 10 feet, the probability is that it could not have been more than 4 feet in depth. To accommodate the cut to the level of the ground as much as possible, numerous deviations were made, and the river was led along the sides of the hills, from which sufficient soil was excavated to form the lower ba i ik of the intended stream. Each valley was traversed on one side until it reached a point where it could be crossed ; and there an embankment became necessary, in some cases of from 8 to 10 feet in height, along the top of which the water was conducted in a channel of the dimen- sions above stated. In those places where embank- many wayes adorned with buildings," &c. The basin is now thrice its ori- ginal size. The house adjoining it, 1>:-1 nixing to the Company, was erected in 1613, but having been Dew-fronted in 1782, and more recently enlarged, it has lost all external appearance of antiquity. A view of it is to be found in Lewis's ' Islington.' 122 HUGH MYDDELTON. M.P.— PART II. ments were run out, provision had of course to be madr for the passage of the surface waters from the west of the line of works into the river Lea, which forms the natural drain of the district. In some cases these drainage waters were conveyed under the New River in culverts, and in others over it by what were termed flashes.1 Openings were also left in the banks for ilic passage of roads under the stream, the continuity of which was in such cases maintained either by arches or timber troughs lined with lead. One of these troughs, at Bush Hill, near Edmonton, was about 660 feet lon.u1, and 5 feet deep.2 A brick arch also formed part of this THE BOARDED RIVER FORMERLY AT BUSH HILL. [After a Drawing in the • Gentleman's Magazine,' Vol. T,IV.] 1 At each of these " flashes " there were extensive swamps, where the flood-waters were upheld to such a level as to enable them to pass over the flash, which consisted of a wooden trough, about twelve feet wide and three deep, extending across the river ; and from these swamps, as well as from every other running stream, such appa- ratus wras introduced as enabled the Company to avail themselves of the sup- ply of water which they afforded, when required. Mr. Mylne is of opinioi i thai the river, as originally constructed by Myddelton, obtained quite as large a supply from the grass lands along the hill-sides as was obtained from the Hertfordshire springs. 2 The trough was lied together by imposts seven inches by three; the uprights were eight inches by lour, with a height of six feet, like but- tresses ; the uprights resting on eighty brick piers two-and-a-half feet high, CHAP. IV. Till-: XKW IflYKI! COMPLETED, 123 aqueduct, under wliich flowed a stream which had its source in Enfield Chase; the arch sustaining the trough BRICK ARCH UNDER THE NEW RIVER, FORMERLY NEAR BUSH HILL. [After a Drawing in the ' Gentleman's Magazine,' Vol. LIV.] and the road along its side.1 Another strong timber aqueduct, 460 feet long and 17 feet high, conducted the New River over the valley near where it entered the parish of Islington. This was long known in the neigh- bourhood as " Myddelton's Boarded River." 2 At Is- lington also there was a brick tunnel executed for a considerable distance, and another at Newington. That at Islington averaged in section about 3 feet by 5, and appears to have been executed at different periods, in short lengths. Such were the principal works along though these were not erected at equal distances. Between every two of these piers an equal number of im- posts and uprights were fixed, resting on piles of similar dimensions on the basement timbers of the frame, liobin- son, in his 'History of Mdmonton,' says that in the year 17SO, during the riots in London, the rioters threatened to destroy this aqueduct, luit, on application to Government, a party of cavalry was sent down to guard it, and they remained there some days. 1 This was considered one of the most important structures belonging to the original New River works. Salmon ('History of Hertfordshire/ p. 20"), speaking of the "great ex- pense "at which the river was made, observes of this brick arch and aque- duct that " it is said to have cost 500/." ! It was evidently regarded as a great work in its time. ~ These troughs were both removed by the late Mr. Mylnc, Engineer to the New River Company, and clay embankments substituted. 124 SIR HUGH MYDDELTON, M.P.— TART II. the New River. Its original extent was much greater than it is at present, caused by its frequent windings along the high grounds for the purpose of avoiding heavy cuttings and embankments. Although the dis- tance between London and Ware is only about 20 miles, the New River, as originally constructed, was not less than 38 f miles in length. As the works proceeded, the voice of derision became hushed, and congratulations began to rise up on all sides upon the probable early completion of Myddelton's bold enterprise. The scheme had ceased to be visionary, for the water was already brought within a mile of Islington ; all that was wanted to admit it to the reser- voir being the construction of the tunnel near that place. At length that too was finished, and now King, corpo- ration, and citizens, vied with each other in doing honour to the brave and patriotic Hugh Myddelton. The cor- poration elected his brother, Thomas Myddelton, Grocer and Citizen, Lord Mayor for the ensuing year ; and on Michaelmas- day, 1613, the citizens assembled in great numbers to celebrate by a public pageant the entrance of the New River waters to the metropolis. The ceremony took place at the new cistern at Islington, in the pre- sence of the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Common Council, amidst a great concourse of spectators. A troop of some three score labourers, in green Monmouth caps, bearing spades and mattocks, or such other implements as they had used in the construction of the work, marched round about the cistern to the martial music of drums and trumpets, after which a metrical speech, composed by one Thomas Middleton,1 was read aloud as expressive 1 This Thomas Middleton is sup- posed to have been the dramatist, the author, amongst other plays, of ' A Mad World, my Masters,' and ' The Roaring Girl.' He occasionally wrote in conjunction with Beaumont and Fletcher, and other poets of the time. A large print was afterwards pub- lished by G. Bickham, in comme- moration of the event, entitled ' Sir Hugh Myddelton's Glory ;' it rqnv- sents the scene of the ceremony, the reservoir, with the stream rushing into it; the Lord Mayor (Sir John Swinnerton) on a white palfrey, point- ing exultingly to Sir Hugh ; the lie- < 'JIAP. IV. THE NEW IMVKIt COMPLETED. 125 of the sentiments of the rest of the workmen.1 At the conclusion of the recitation the flood-gates were thrown <>]>r n, ;mwned in the New River which he had enabled Sir Hugh Myddelton to complete. He had gone out one winter's day after dinner to ride in the park at Theobalds accom- panied by his son Prince Charles ; when, about three miles from the palace, his horse stumbled and fell, and the King was thrown into the River. It was slightly frozen over at the time, and the King's body disappeared under the ice, nothing but his boots remaining visible. Sir Richard Young rushed in to his rescue, and dragged lii] n out, when " there came much water out of his mouth and body."2 He was able to ride back to Theobalds, where he got to bed and was soon well again. The King, corder, Sir Henry Montague, after- wards Lord Keeper and Earl of Man- el ask' r, and by his side the Lord Mayor elect, the projector's brother, ]\Iaister Thomas Myddelton. Vari- ous figures gesticulating their admira- tion occupy the foreground, whilst the foot of the print is garnished with liitlr " chambers,'' or miniature mor- tars, spontaneously exploding. There is a copy of the original print in the British Museum. 1 The following extract may be given, as showing the character of the workmen employed in the under- taking:— First, here's the Overseer, this try'd man, An antient souMii-r ami an artizan ; The Clearke ; next him the Mathematian ; The Maister of the Timber-worke takes place Next after these ; the Measui-er in like case ; Bricklayer, and Enginer ; and after those The Borer, and the Pavier ; then it showes The Labourers next; Keeper of Amwell Head ; The Walkers last ; — so all their names are read. Yet these but parcels of six hundred more, That, at one time, have been imploy'd before ; Yet these in sight and all the rest will say That all the weeke they had their Royall pay ! 2 The accident, which occurred on the 9th of January, 1621-2, is related by Nichols in his ' Progresses of James I.,' and by other contemiiorary writers. 126 SIR HUGH MYDDELTOX, M.P.— PART II. however, did not forget the circumstance, attributing his accident to the neglect of Sir Hugh and the Corporation of London in not taking measures to properly fence the river ; for when the Lord Mayor, Sir Edward Bark- ham, accompanied hy the Recorder, Sir Heneage Finch, attended the -King at Greenwich, in June, 1622, to he knighted, James took occasion, in rather strong terms, to remind the Lord Mayor and his brethren of his recent mischance in " Myddelton's Water." It is scarcely necessary to point out the great benefits conferred upon the inhabitants of London by the con- struction of the New Eiver, through the provision by its means of an abundant and unremitting supply of pure water for domestic and other purposes.1 Along this new channel were poured into the city several millions of gallons daily ; and the reservoirs at New River Head being, as before stated, at an elevation of 82 feet above the level of high water in the Thames, they were thus capable of supplying through pipes the basement stories of the greater number of houses then in the metropolis.2 The pipes which were laid down in the first instance to convey the water to the inhabitants were made of woody principally elm ; and at one time the New River Company had wooden pipes laid down through the 1 In the * Gentleman's Magazine,' vol. xxiii., pp. 114-6, is to be found a curious paper by Sir Christopher Wren on the subject of the distribution of tin- water of the New River — "that noble acqueduct," as he designates it. 2 The distribution of the water was, in the opinion of Mr. Mylne, the en- gineer, by far the most expensive part of the original undertaking. The powers granted for the formation of the New River did not extend to the purchase of lands across which it be- came necessary to lay the pipes to connect the water in the ponds with the pipes and the public ways leading to the city. About a hundred acres of grass-land then surrounded the New River Head, about one-half of which belonged to a Welsh family named Lloyd, and the other half to the Northampton family. A grant, for a term of years only, was obtained to lay the pipes across those lands so as to reach the public thoroughfares, at a fixed rent for eacli line of pipes ; and as the requirements of the public rapidly increased, so did the heavy charge for the easement ; and ulti- mately the lands became covered with a network of wooden pipes traversing them in all directions. The annual burden became so heavy that it seri- ously affected the profits of the Xe\\- River ('inn] any, until it became ex- tinguished by purchase ; but this por- tion of the expenditure did not fall on Sir Hugh Myddelton, who at an early period sold the greater part ot his shares in the concern. CHAP. IV. TIIK \K\V n>MlM.KTKI>. streets to the extent of about 400 miles! But the leakage \vas so great through the porousness of the material, — about one-fourth of the whole quantity of water supplied passing away by filtration, — the decay of the ])i]»es in ordinary weather was so rapid, and they \vere so liable to burst during frosts, that they were ultimately abandoned when media nieal skill was suffi- ciently advanced to enable pipes of cast iron to be sub- stituted for them. For a long time, however, a strong prejudice existed against the use of water conveyed through pipes of any kind, and the cry of the water carriers long continued to be familiar to London ears, of " Any New River water here ! " " Fresh and fair Xew River water ! none of your pipe sludge ! " Many persons also conti- nued to support the water carriers because they were poor people, with nothing but water-carrying to turn to for a living. The alleged dearness of the water supplied through the pipes was another ground of popular objection to them ; though there really seems to have been but little reason for complaint on this score. The following fact will convey an idea of the mode of charging for a supply of water adopted at an early period. In 16 14 the Court of Com- mon Council ordered Mr. Chamberlain to pay Mr. Hugh Myddelton twenty shillings for a fine, and five shillings a quarter yearly, in consideration of a quill of water of ha I fan inch bore, taken from the pipes of the said Hugh Myddrlton, to serve the Sessions House at Justice Hall, and Richard Weaver to see that no waste he made thereof.1 "NEW RIVER WATER!' [After an Ancient Print.] • ( ' i i \ • il'I ,< «i i« Ion Corjwration Records/ 128 SIR HUGH MYDDELTON, M.P.— TART II. In another case we find a sum of twenty-six shillings and eight pence paid yearly for a similar pipe, to supply the yard and kitchen of a householder at Islington.1 Among the many important uses to which the plentiful supply of New River water was put, was the extinction of fires, then hoth frequent and destructive, in consequence of the greater part of the old houses in London being built of wood. Stowe 2 particularly mentions the case of a fire which broke out in Broad-street, on the 12th No- vember, 1623, in the house of Sir William Cockaigne, which speedily extended itself to several of the adjoining buildings. We are told by the chronicler, that " Sir Hugh Myddelton, upon the first knowledge thereof, caused all the sluices of the water-cisterne in the field to be left open, whereby there was plenty of water to quench the fire. The water " [ of the New River], he continues, " hath done many like benefits in sundrie like former distresses." 3 We now proceed to follow the fortunes of Sir Hugh in connexion with the New River Company. The year after the public opening of the cistern at Islington, we find him a petitioner to the Corporation for a loan of 3000/., for three years, at six per cent., which was granted him " in consideration of the benefit likely to accrue to the city from his New River ;" his sureties being the Lord Mayor (Hayes), Mr. Robert Myddelton (his brother), and Mr. Robert Bateman.4 There is every reason to believe that Myddelton had involved himself in difficulties by locking up his capital in this costly undertaking; and that he was driven to solicit the loan to carry him through until he had been enabled to dispose of the greater part of his 1 Nelson's ' History of Islington.' 2 Stowe's * Chronicle.' 3 The main of the New Kiver at Islington was, it is said, shut down at the time of the Great Fire of Lon- don in 1666 ; and it was believed by some, who pretended to the means of knowing, that the supply of water had been stopped by Captain John Graunt, a papist, under whose name Sir William Petty published his ob- servations on the bills of mortality. — Burnet's 'Own Times,' ed. 1823. Vol. i., p. 401. 4 ' City of London Corporation I!c- cords,' 6th Sept., 1614. CHAP. IV. THK NT.W IMYKI! ( 'OM I'LKTKD. I'J'.t interest in the undertaking to oilier capitalists. This he seems to have done very shortly after the completion of the works. The capital was divided into seventy-two shares, one half of which belonged to Sir Hugh and the other half to the King, in consideration of the latter 1 la vi ng borne one half of the cost. Of the thirty-six shares owned by Sir Hugh, as many as twenty-eight were sold by him to other persons, most probably for considerable sinus.1 The enterprise was now regarded as successful ; its projector had been crowned with public honours, and there could be no doubt as to the large consumption of the Xew 1 liver water. In that stage of affairs, before the actual paying qualities of the concern could be ascer- tained, but while the most sanguine anticipations were formed as to the large profits to be derived from the sale of the water, it seems probable that Sir Hugh would 1m Ye little difficulty in inducing other capitalists to em- hark in the undertaking. At all events he did sell twenty-eight of his shares, and that he must have rea- lized a considerable sum is countenanced by the circum- stance that we find him shortly after embarked in an undertaking hereafter to be described, requiring the command of a very large capital. The shareholders were incorporated by letters patent on the 21st of June, 1619, under the title of "The Go- vernors and Company of the New Eiver brought from rim dwell and Amwell to London." The government of the corporation was vested in the twenty-nine adven- turers who held amongst them the thirty-six shares originally belonging to Sir Hugh, who had by that time 1 In Pennant's 'London' it is i amount to more than 18,0007., in stated that the original shares in the ', which ease the eapital represented by eoiicern were 1/. eaeh, whereas eaeli original share would be about Kntiek makes them to have amounted 'J."><'/. - On the occasion of its subsequent continuation by parliament, Sir Kd- ward ('<>ke said: "This is a very bill, and prevents one ^reat mis- to not less than 70OO/. each ! This is only another il lust ration of the hap-ha/ard statements put forth re- d specting Sir lluuh and his works. We have seen that the original cost chief that lianas over the city. of the Xt w Iliver probably did not Nimia potatio : frequen* incendium." VOL. I. K 130 SIR HUGH MYDDELTON, M.P.— PART 11. reduced his holding to only two shares. From the first Minute of the Court of the Company, held on the 2nd of November, 1619, it appears that his son Hugh also held one share, and his brother, Sir Thomas, another. Several persons of distinction held shares, but none more than two each. Amongst these original proprietors we find the names of Sir Henry Montague the Lord Chief Justice, Sir William Borlase, Sir Lawrence Hide, and Sir Henry Nevill. There were four other shareholders of the name of Middleton, but it does not appear that they were relatives of the goldsmith. At this first Court Sir Hugh was appointed Governor, and Robert Bateman Deputy-Governor of the Company. Under the arrangement made by Sir Hugh with the King, the latter was precluded from taking any part in the management, in order to prevent what, it was thought, might lead to undue influence ; and lie was only allowed a representative at the meetings of the Company, to prevent injustice to the royal interests. On the 9th of November, 1619, we find a grant made to Sir Giles Mompesson1 of the Survey orship of the profits of the New River, with authority to attend their meetings, inspect their accounts, &c., with a grant to him for such service of 200/. per annum of the King's moiety of the profits of the said river. It was long, however, before there were any profits to be divided ; for the expenses of making repairs and improvements, and laying down wooden pipes, continued to be very great for many years; and the ingenious method <>{' paying dividends out of capital, to keep up the price of shares and invite further speculation, had not yet- been invented. In fact, no dividend whatever was paid until, after the lapse of twenty years from llic date of opening the New River at Islington ; and the 1 ' Domestic Calendar of State Pa- pers.' This Sir Giles Mompesson is understood to have been the original of Sir Giles Overreach in Massinger's ' New Way to Pay Old Debts.' CHAP. IV. TIIK \I-\V RIVER COMPLETED. l;;i first dividend <>nlv ;iim>untr' the whole area of the haven as only almost everything heretofore published S.~»t; neivs. relating to 'him, luvn stated at 2000 - See the eimraving at p. 84, 134 SIR HUGH MYDDELTOX'S KMl'.AXIOI KXT TART 11 in the course of the works undertaken by Sir Hugh Myddeltonfor its recovery from the sea, a well, strongly eased with stone, was discovered near the middle of the haven, in- dicating the exist- ence of a former settled population 011 the soil. The sea must, how- ever, have burst in and destroyed the settlements, laying the whole valley under wa- ter.1 In King- James's reign, when the inning of drowned lands began to receive an unusual degree of attention, the project of reclaim- ing Brad ing Ila- ven was again re- vived ; and in the MAP OF BEADING HAVEN. [Ordnance Survey ] year 1616 a grant was made of the drowned district2 to one John Gibb, the King reserving to hi nisei fa rental of 20/. per annum. The owners of the adjoining lands contested the grant, claiming a prior right to the pro- perty in the haven, whatever its worth might be. But the verdict of the Exchequer went against the land- owners, and the right of the King to grant the area of 1 Sundry traditions arc extant in MK- neighbourhood as to ihe drcum- stances connected with the inundation. See k Land \\Y 2 (Jrant by 1 I -lac. I. in,' vol. i., 262. Seal, JS ,Iulv CHAP. V. OF HKADINVr JIAVKN. 135 tin- haven for tlie purpose of reclamation was main- hiim-il. It a])|K'ars that Gibb sold liis ^raiit to one Sir IV vis ThrKvall, a pn^-e of the King's bedchamber, who at once invited Sir Hugh Myddeltoii to join him in in i< In-taking the work; but Thelwall would not agivr to pay (iil)l) anything until the enterprise had been found practicable. In 1620 we find that a correspond- ence was in progress as to "the composition to be made by the Solicitor-General with Sir Hugh touching the draining of certain lands in the Isle of Wight, and the bargain having been made according to such direc- tions as His Majesty hath given, then to prepare the surrender, and thereupon such other assurance for His Majesty as shall be requisite." l A satisfactory arrangement having been made with the King, Myddelton began the work of reclaiming the haven in the course of the same year. He sent to Hol- land tor Dutch workmen familiar with such undertakings; and from the manner in which he carried out his em- bankment, it is obvious that he mainly followed the Dutch method of reclamation, which, as we have already seen in the case of the drainage of the Fens by Vermuy- den, was in many respects but ill adapted for English practice. But it would also appear, from a patent for < Ira in ing land which he took out in 1621,2 that he em- ployed some invention of his own for the purpose of facilitating the work. The introduction to the grant of the patent runs as follows :— " WHEREAS wee are given to vnderstand that our welbeloved sul licet Hugh Middleton, Citizen and Goldsmith of London, hath to his very great charge maynteyned many strangers and others, ai id bestowed much of his tyme to invent a new way, and by his Industrie, greate charge, paynes, and long experience, hath devised ; mIX<; 11AVKX. 137 Haven AY;IS begged first of all of King James by one Mi1, .loin i (lihb, being a groom of his bedchamber, and the man that King James trusted to carry the reprieve to Winchester for my Lord George Cobham and Sir Walter Rawleigh, when some of them were on the scaffold to be executed. This man was put on to beg it of King James by one Sir Bevis Thelwall, who was then one of the pages of the bedchamber. After he had begged it, Sir Bevis would give him nothing for it until the haven were cleared ; for the gentlemen of the island whose lands joined to the haven chal- lenged it as belonging unto them. King James was wonderful earnest in the business, both because it concerned his old servant, and also because it would be a leading case for the fens in Lincoln- shire. After the verdict went in the Chequer against the gentlemen, then Sir Bevis Thelwall would give nothing for it till he could see that it was feasible to be inned from the sea ; whereupon one Sir Hugh Myddelton was called in to assist and undertake the work, and Dutchmen were brought out of the Low Countries, and they began to inn the haven about the 20th of December, 1620. Then, when it was taken in, King James compelled Thelwall and Myddel- ton to give John Gribb (who the King caUed 'Father') 2000/.1 Afterwards Sir Hugh Myddelton, like a crafty fox and subtle citizen, put it off wholly to Sir Bevis Thelwall, betwixt whom afterwards there was a great suit in the Chancery ; but Sir Bevis did enjoy it some eight years, and bestowed much money in building of a barn- house, mill, fencing of it, and in many other necessary works. "But now let me tell you somewhat of Sir Bevis Thelwall and Sir Hugh Myddelton, and of the nature of the ground after it was inned, and the cause of the last breach. Sir Bevis was a gentle- man's son in Wales, bound apprentice to a mercer in Cheapside, and afterwards executed that trade till King James came into Eng- land : then he gave up, and purchased to be one of the pages of the bedchamber, where, being an understanding man, and knowing how to handle the Scots, did in that infancy gain a fair estate by getting the Scots to beg for themselves that which he first found out for them, and then himself buying of them with ready money under half the value. He was a very bold fellow, and one that King James very 1 On the 30th June, 1(522, the ha- ven was granted by the King (the original grant to Gibb having been can- celled) t«> Hugh Myddelton, Esquire, Robert Bateman, Citizen andSkynner, of London, and Richard Middleton, Citi/eii and (inxvr, in consideration of 20007. paid to the King by Hugh Myddelton, viz., 10007. down, and the remaining 10007. by two half-yearly payments at Lady-day and Michael- mas, 1622 ; the King passing the 10007. and the bonds for the two sums of 5007. to John Gibb. 338 SIR HUGH MYDDELTON'S EMBANKMENT TAUT II. well affected. Sir Hugh Myddelton was a goldsmith in London. This and other famous works brought him into the world, viz., his London waterwork, Brading Haven, and his mine in Wales. " The nature of the ground, after it was inned, was not answer- able to what was expected, for almost the moiety of it next to the sea was a light running sand, and of little worth. The best of it was down at the farther end next to Brading, my Marsh, und Knight's Tenement, in Bembridge. I account that there was 200 acres that might be worth 6s. Sd. the acre, and all the rest 2,?. §d. the acre. The total of the haven was 706 acres. Sir Hugh Myddelton, before he sold, tried all experiments in it : he sowed wheat, barley, oats, cabbage seed, and last of all rape seed, which proved best ; but all the others came to nothing. The only incon- venience was in it that the sea brought in so much sand and ooze and seaweed that choked up the passage of the water to go out, insomuch as I am of opinion that if the sea had not broke in Sir Bevis could hardly have kept it, for there would have been no cur- rent for the water to go out ; for the eastern tide brought so much sand as the water was not of force to drive it away, so that in time it would have laid to the sea, or else the sea would have drowned the whole country. Therefore, in my opinion, it is not good meddling with a haven so near the main ocean. " The country (I mean the common people) was very much against the inning of it, as out of their slender capacity thinking by a little fishing and fowling there would accrue more benefit than by pasturage ; but this I am sure of, it caused, after the first three years, a great deal of more health in these parts than Avas over before ; and another thing is remarkable, that whereas we thought it would have improved our marshes, certainly they were the worse for it, and rotted sheep which before fatted there. " The cause of the last breach was by reason of a wet time when the haven was full of water, and then a high spring tide, when both the waters met underneath in the loose sand. On the 8th of March, 1630, one Andrew Eipley that was put in earnest to look to Brading Haven by Sir Bevis Thelwall, came in post to my house in New- port to inform me that the sea had made a breach in the said haven near the easternmost end. I demanded of him what the charge might be to stop it out ; he told me he thought 40s., whereupon I bid him go thither and get workmen against the next day morning, and some carts, and I would pay them their wages ; but the sea the next day came so forcibly in that there was no meddling of it, for liipley went up presently to London to Sir J >ovis Thelwall himself, ('HAP. V. OF l'>KADIN(r IIAVKN. 13\v-\vater; and only a few years since the old gates which served for a sluice were dug up near the Boat Houses. At the ex- tremity of the sand-ridge there is a ferry across to the village of 15cm- bridge, in front of which is the narrow entrance into the haven. There have been serious encroachments of the sea on that side of late years, and the channel has become much impeded; so much so that it has been feared that the navigation would be li.st. The old church-tower of St. Helen's, I'aeed with brick and whitewashed, on the right of the view, is still used as a sea-mark. 140 EMBANKMENT OF BRADING HAVEN. PART II. thought that the law would not compel her unto it, and therefore desired to be excused, which answer we returned to ray lord. What the event will be I know not, but it seemeth to me not reasonable that she should suffer for not complying with his request. If he had not inned the haven this accident could never have happened ; there- fore he giving the cause, that she should apply the cure I understand not. But this I am sure, that Sir Bevis thinketh to recover of her and her son all his charges, which he now sweareth every way to be 2000?. For my part, I would wish no friend of mine to have any hand in the second inning of it. Truly all the better sort of the island were very sorry for Sir Bevis Thelwall, and the com- moner sort were as glad as to say truly of Sir Bevis that he did the country many good offices, and was ready at all times to do his best for the public and for everyone. " Sir Hugh Myddelton took it first in, and it was proper for none but him, because he had a mine of silver in Wales to maintain it. It cost at the first taking of it in 4000?., then they gave 2000?. to Mr. John Gibb for it, who had begged it of King James ; after- wards, in building the barn and dwelling-house, and water-mill, with the ditching and quick-setting, and making all the partitions, it could not have cost less than 200?. more : so in the total it stood them, from the time they began to take it in, until the 8th of March, a loss of 7000?." It will thus be observed that the loss of this under- taking fell upon Thelwall, and not upon Myddelton ; Sir Hugh having sold out of the adventure long before the sea burst through his embankment. The date of his conveyance to Sir Bevis Thelwall was the 4th Sep- tember, 1624, nearly six years before the final ruin of the work. He had, therefore, got his capital out of the adventure, most probably with his profit as con- tractor, and was thus free to embark in the important mining enterprise in Wales, on which we find him next engaged. CHAP. VI. SIR IK'fill M V! >] >Kl/r< >X'S MINING IN WALES. 141 CHAPTEE VI. MINING ENTERPRISE IN WALES — MYDDELTON'S DEATH. SIR HUGH continued to maintain his Parliamentary connection with his native town of Denbigh, of which he was still the representative. We do not find that he took an active part in political questions. The name of his brother, Sir Thomas, frequently appears in the parliamentary debates of the time, and he was throughout a strong opponent of the Court party ; but that of Sir Hugh only occurs in connection with commercial topics or schemes of internal improvement, on which he seems to have been consulted as an authority. Sir Hugh's occasional visits to his constituents brought him into connection with Welsh families, and made him acquainted with the mining enterprises then on foot in different parts of Wales — so rich in ores of copper, lead, and iron. It appears that the Governor and Company of Mines Royal in Cardiganshire l were incorporated in the year 1604, for the purpose of working the lead and silver mines of that county. The principal were those at Cwmsymlog and the Darren Hills, situated about mid- way, as the crow flies, between Aberystwith and the mountain of Plinlimmon, and at Tallybout, about mid- way between Aberystwith and the estuary at the mouth of the River Dovey. They were all situated in the town- slii]> of Skibery Coed, in the northern part of the county of Cardigan. For many years these mines (which were 1 Meyrick, in his ' History of Car- diganshire,' gives the names of the t unity-two members who constituted the original Company, under their Governor, Philip Earl of Pembroke; but the name of Myddelton does not appear amongst them. 142 SIR HUGH MYDDELTON'S PART IT. first opened out by the Romans) were worked by the Corporation of Mines Royal ; but it does not appear that — of Mat /tart of ' ttin shirt ^arf//*/AiHes — *y* £****•- and t'empfaf Mine CHART OP MINES IN NORTH WALES. [From an old Print in the British Museum.] much success attended their operations. Mining was little understood then, and all kinds of pumping HIM I lifting machinery were clumsy and inefficient. Althoi iirl i there was no want of ore, the mines were so drowned by water that the metal could not well be got at and worked out. Myddelton's spirit of enterprise was excited by the prospect of battling with the water and getting at the rich ore, and he had confidence that his mechanical ability would enable him to overcome the difficulty. The Company of Mines Royal were only too glad to get rid of their unprofitable undertaking, and they airnvd to farm their mines to Sir Hugh at the rental of 40 O/. per annum. This was in the year 1617, some time after he had completed his New River works, but before he CHAP, 71. MIXIX(i FATKIMMIISK IX WALKS. 143 had commenced tlir embankment of Brad m^- IFaven,— and Sir !><>vis Thelwall was also a partner with him in tin's new venture. It took him some time to clear the mines of \vater, which he did by pumping-machines of liis own contrivance; but at length sufficient ore was raised to enable it to be tested, and it was then found to contain a considerable proportion of silver. His opera- tions seem to have been attended with success, for we shortly find him sending considerable quantities of silver to the Royal Mint to be coined. King James was so much gratified by these further proofs of Myddelton' s skill and enterprise, as displayed in his embankment of Brading Harbour and his suc- cessful mining operations in Wales, that he raised him to the dignity of a Baronet on the 1 9th of October, 1622; and the compliment was all the more marked by His Majesty directing that Sir Hugh should be dis- charged from the payment of the customary fees, amounting to 1095/., and that the dignity should be conferred upon him without any charge whatever.1 The patent of baronetcy granted on the occasion sets forth the " reasons and considerations " which induced the King to confer the honour ; and it may not be out of place to remark, that though more eminent industrial services have been rendered to the public by succeeding engineers, there has been no such cordial or graceful recognition of them by any succeeding monarch. The patent states that King James had made a baronet of 1 1 ugh Myddelton, of London, goldsmith, for the following reasons and considerations :— " 1. For bringing to the city of London, with excessive charge and greater difficulty, a new cutt or river of fresh water, to the great benefit and inestimable preservation thereof. 2. For gaining 1 Sloane MS. (British Museum), vol. ii., 4177. Also 'Calendar of Domestic State Papers,' Oct. 19th, 1G22. Grant to Hugh Myddelton of the rank of I5ari>iiet, grunti of 10957. due on being made a I5;i- ronct. 144 SIR HUGH MYDDKLTOX'S TAUT II- a very great and spacious quantity of land in Bra ding Haven, in the Isle of Wight, out of the bowells of the sea, and with hankes and pyles and most strange defensible and chargeable mountains, fortifying the same against the violence and fury of the waves. 3. For finding out, with a fortunate and prosperous skill, exceeding industry, and noe small charge, in the county of Cardigan, a royal and rych myne, from whence he hath extracted many, silver plates which have been coyned in the Tower of London for current money of England." 1 The King, however, did more than confer the title- he added to it a solid benefit in confirming the lease made to Sir Hugh by the Governor and Company of Mines Royal, " as a recompense for his industry in bringing a new river into London," 2 waiving all claim to royalty upon the silver produced, although the Crown was entitled, according to the then interpretation of the law,3 to a royalty on all gold and silver found in the lands of a subject ; and it is certain that the lessee 4 who succeeded Sir Hugh did pay such royalty into the State Exchequer. It also appears from documents preserved amongst the State Papers, that large offers of royalty were actually made to the King at the very time that this handsome concession was granted to Sir Hugh.5 The discovery of silver in the Welsh mountains doubt- less caused no small talk at the time, and, as in Australia and California now, there were many attempts made by lawless persons to encroach upon the diggings. On this, a royal proclamation was published, warning such persons 1 Harleian MS., No. 1507, Art, 40. (British Museum.) 2 ' Domestic Calendar of State Pa- pers,' Feb. Stt, 1625. Vol. clxxxiv. 15. 3 Sir S. R. Meyricke. Introduc- tion to the * History of Cardiganshire,' pp. ccx. ; 12-14. 4 Subsequent to 1636, Thomas Bushell (who purchased the lease) paid 1000Z. per annum to the King ; and some years after, in 1647, we find him agreeing to pay 2;~OOZ. per annum to the Parliament. As a curious fact, we may here add that, under date Die Sabbati, 14 August, 1641, Parliament granted an order or license to Thomas Bushell to dig turf on the King's wastes within the limits of Cardiganshire, for the purpose of smelting and refining the lead ores, &c., his predecessor (Myddelton) hav- ing used up almost all the wood grow- ing in the neighbourhood of the mines. 5 Proposals by William Gomeldon, Feb., 1625. CHAP. VI. MINIXC KXTKIM'IMSE IN WALES. 145 tlu> coiiscfjiiciices of their trespass, and orders were issued that summary proceedings should be taken against them.1 It appears that Sir Hugh and his parir ners continued to work the mines with profit for a period of about sixteen years, although it is stated that during that time, in consequence of the large quantity of water met with, little more than the superficies of the mine could be worked.2 The water must, however, have been sufficiently got under to enable so much ore eventually to be raised. Waller says an engine was employed at Cwmsymlog ; and a tradition long existed among the neighbouring miners that there were two engines placed about the middle of the work. There were also several " levels " at Cwmsymlog, one of which is called to this day " Sir Hugh's Level." The following rude cut, from Pettus' ' Fodinee Regales,' may give an idea of the . , DDELTUVS SILVER MINING WORKS AT CWMSYMLOG A. The old works of Myddclton and Bushel 1. B. The round holes are the shafts of the mine. C. Windlac" to wind up ore from the shafts. I). A new vein. K. Sir II. Myddelton's adit. F. A new adit. 0. Adits to drain works. H. Myddelton's decayed chapel. I. Old stamping-house. K. The smelting mills, supposed six miles from the hill. Ij. Unwrought ground. AI. The brook that divides the hill. N. The stream which drives the mills. 1 * State Papers,' Jas. I., vol. clii., 22. 2 So stated in the certificate from VOL. I. the miners presented to the liujht Hon. the Lords and others of II. M. Privy Council (1042). L 146 SIR MYnnKLTOX'S L'AUT II. manner in which the works of Cwmsymlog (facetiously styled by the author or his printer " Come-some-luck ! ") were laid out. From a statement made by Bushell to parliament of the results of the working subsequent to 1636, it appears that the lead alone amounted to the value of above 5000/. a year, to which there was to be added the value of the silver — Bushell alleging, in his petition to Charles I., deposited in the State Paper-office,1 that Sir Hugh had brought "to the Minte theis 16 yeares of puer silver 100 poundes weekly." A ton of the lead ore is said to have yielded about a hundred ounces of silver, and the yield at one time was such that Myddelton's profits were alleged by Bushell to have amounted to at least two thousand pounds a month. There is no doubt, there- fore, that Myddelton realized considerable profits by the working of his Welsh mines, and that towards the close of his useful life he was an eminently prosperous man. Successful as he had been in his enterprise, he was ready to acknowledge the Giver of all Good in the matter. He took an early opportunity of presenting a votive cup, manufactured by himself out of the Welsh silver, to the corporation of Denbigh, and another to the head of his family at Gwaenynog in its immediate neighbourhood, both of which are still preserved. On the latter is inscribed " Mentem non munus — Omnia a Deo— Hugh Myddelton." While conducting the mining operations, Sir Hugh resided at Lodge, now called Lodge Park, in the imme- diate neighbourhood of the mines. The house was the property of Sir John Pryse, of Gogerddan, whose son Richard, afterwards created a baronet, was married to Myddelton's daughter Hester. The house stood on the top of a beautifully wooded hill, overlooking the estuary 1 Dated 22nd October, 1G30. The prayer of Bushcll's petition I" Charles I. is, that His Majesty will ratify his agreement with Lady Myddelion (l>y that time a widow) for the purchase of the resid ue u f h < • r lease. MINIM; KNTKIMMIISI-: IN WALKS. 147 of tin- Dovrv mid the givat bog of Gorsfochno, the vk-\v bring bounded by picturesque hills on the one hand and by the sea oil the other. Whilst residing here, on CUM.- of liis visits to the mines, a letter reached him from his cousin. Sir John Wynn, of Gwydir, dated the 1st Sep- irmkT, 1 <>25, asking his assistance in an engineering project in which he was interested. This was the recla- mation of the large sandy marshes, called Traeth-Mawr and Traeth-Bach, situated at the junction of the counties of Caen i a r von and Merioneth, at the northern extremity of the bay of Cardigan. Sir John, after hailing his g< >< >(.! cousin as " one of the great honours of the nation," congratulated him on the great work which he had performed in the Isle of Wight, and added, " I may say to you what the Jews said to Christ, We have heard of thy greate workes done abroade, doe now somewhat in thine own country." After describing the nature of the land proposed to be reclaimed, Sir John declares his willingness " to adventure a brace of hundred pounds to joyne with Sir Hugh in the worke," and concludes by urging him to take a ride to Traeth-Mawr, which was not above a day's journey from where Sir Hugh was residing, and afterwards to come on and see him at Gwydir House, which was at most only another day's journey or about twenty-five miles further to the north- west of Traeth-Mawr. The following was Sir Hugh's reply :- " HONOURABLE SIR, " I have received your kind letter. Few are the things done by me ; for which I give God the glory. It may please you to understand my first undertaking of public works was amongst my owne kindred, within less than a myle of the place where I hadd my first being, 24 or 25 years since, in seekinge of coales for the town of Denbighe. " Touching the drowned lands near your lyvinge, there are many things considerable therein. Iff to be gayned, which will hardlie be performed without great stones, which was plentiful at the Weight [Isle of Wight], as well as wood, and great sums of money i. 2 148 SIR HUGH MYDDELTON'S PART II. to be spent, not hundreds, but thousands ;! and first of all his Majesty's interest must be got. As for myself, I am grown into years, and full of business here at the mynes, the river at London, and other places, my weeklie charge being above 200?. ; which maketh me verie unwillinge to undertake any other worke ; and the least of theis, whether the drowned lands or mynes, requireth a whole man, with a large purse. Noble sir, my desire is great to see you, which should draw me a farr longer waie ; yet such are my occasions at this tyme here, for the settlinge of this great worke, that I can hardlie be spared one howr in a daie. My wieff being also here, I cannot leave her in a strange place. Yet my love to publique works, and desire to see you (if God permit), male another tyme drawe me into those parts. Soe with my heartie cofnendations I cofnit you and all your good desires to God. " Your assured lovinge couzin to command, 11 HUGH MYDDELTON. " Lodge, Sept. 2nd, 1625." At the date of this letter Sir Hugh was an old man of seventy, yet he still continued industriously to apply himself to business affairs. Like most men with whom work has become a habit, he could riot be idle, and an active pursuit seems to have become necessary to his happiness. To the close of his life we find him engaged in correspondence on various subjects — on mining, draining, and general affairs. When in London he continued to occupy his house in Bassishaw-street, where the goldsmith business was carried on in his absence by his son William. Thus we find him addressing a letter to Lord Secretary Con way, dated Bassishaw-street, 15th 1 A long time passed before the at- tempt was made to reclaim the large tract of land at Traeth-Mawr ; but after the lapse of two centuries, it was undertaken by William Alexander Madocks, Esq., and accomplished in spite of many formidable difficulties. Two thousand acres of Penmoria Marsh were first enclosed on the western side of the river, after which :n i embankment was constructed across the estuary, about a mile in length, by which 6000 additional acres were secured. The sums expended on the works are said to have exceeded 100,0002.; but the expenditure has proved productive, and the principal part of the reclaimed land is now under cultivation. Tremadoc, or Ma- dock's Town, and Tort Madoc, are two thriving towns, built, by the pro- prietor on the estate thus won from the sea. CHAP, VI. MINING ENTERPRISE IN WALES. 140 January, 1G2T,1 on l>ehalf of a young man "of civill life and honest conversation," whom he desired to serve i>\ com mending him to the notice of his lordship. He als<> continued to maintain his pleasant country house at Bush Hill, near Edmonton, which he occupied when engaged on the engineering business of the New River, near to which it was conveniently situated. At length all correspondence ceases, and the busy hand and head of the old man find rest in death. Sir Hugh died on the 10th of December, 1631, at the advanced age of seventy-six. In his will, which he made on the 21st November, three weeks before his death, when he was "sick in bodie" but "strong in mind," for which he praised God, he directed that he should be buried in the church of St. Matthew, Friday- street, where he had officiated as churchwarden and where six of his sons and five of his daughters had been baptized. It had been his parish church, and was hal- lowed in his memory by many associations of family griefs as well as joys ; for there he had buried several of his children in early life, amongst others his two eldest-born sons. The church of St. Matthew, however, lias long since ceased to exist, though its registers have been preserved : it was destroyed in the great fire of 1666, and the monumental record of Sir Hugh's last resting-place perished in the common ruin. The popular and oft-repeated story of Sir Hugh Myddelton having died in poverty and obscurity is only one of the numerous fables which have accumulated a l)o ul his memory.2 He left fair portions to all the 1 ; State Paper OHiee : Domestic I'aper.s,' Charles I., vol. xlix.. Art. 41. 2 The tradition still survives that Sir Hn^li retired in his old age to the village of Kemberton, near ShiiVnal, Salop, where he lived in great indi- gence under the assumed name of Raymond, and that he was there occa- sionally employed as a street paviour ! The parish register is said to contain an entry ••!' his l.nrial on the llth of March, 1702; by which date Hugh Myddelton, had he lived until then, would have been about 150 years old ! The entry in the register was com- municated by the rector of the parish in 1809 to the ' Gentleman's Magazine' (vol. Ixxix., p. 795), but it is scarcely 150 siu nn ELTON'S PART 11. children who survived him, and an ample provision to his widow.1 His eldest son and heir. William, who suc- ceeded to the baronetcy, inherited the estate at Rnthin, and afterwards married the daughter of Sir Thomas Harris, Baronet, of Shrewsbury. Elizabeth, the daughter of Sir William, married John Grene, of Enfield, clerk to the New River Company, and from her is lineally descended the Rev. Henry Thomas Ellacombe, M.A.. rector of Clyst St. George, Devon, who still holds two shares in the New River Company, as trustee for the surviving descendants of Myddelton in his family. Sir Hugh left to his two other sons, Henry and Simon,- besides what he had already given them, one share each in the New River Company (after the death of his wife) and 400/. a-piece. His five daughters seem to have been equally well provided for. Hester was left DOG/., the remainder of her portion of 1900/. ; Jane having already had the same portion on her marriage to Dr. Chamber- lain, of London. Elizabeth and Ann, like Henry and Simon, were left a share each in the New River Com- pany and 500/. a-piece. He bequeathed to his wife, Lady Myddelton, the house at Bush Hill, Edmonton, and the furniture in it, for use during her life, with remainder to his youngest son Simon and his heirs. He also left her all the " chains, rings, jewels, pearls, bracelets, and necessary to point out that it can have no reference whatever to the subject of this memoir. 1 On the 24th June, 1632, Lady Myddelton memorialised the Common Council of London with reference to the loan of 3000Z. advanced to Sir Hugh, which does not seem to have been repaid; and more than two years later, on the 10th Oct., 1634, we find the Corpora- tion allowed 1000Z. of the amount, in consideration of the public benefit con- ferred on the city by Sir Hugh through the formation of the New Hiver, and for the losses alleged to have hem sustained by liim through breaches in the water-pipes on the occasion of divers great fires, as well as for the " present comfort " of Lady Myddel- ton. It is to be inferred that the ba- lance of the loan of ,°,non/. \\as then repaid. Lady Myddelton died at Bush Hill on the 19th July, 1C 1:5, aged sixty-three, and wras interred in the chancel of Edmonton Church, Middlesex. On her monumental tablet it is stated that she was " the mother of lilt een children." 2 Simon's son Hugh was created a, Haronct, of Hackney, Middlesex, in 1681. He married Dorothy, the daughter of Sir William Oglander, of Nunwell, CHAP. VI. MINIMI KNTF.IMMIISK IN WALKS. 151 buttons, which she hnlh in her custody and uscth to wear at festivals. an lying for them at the Bank of England, are altogether unfounded. No such annuity has been left, no such sum has accrued, and no such advertisement has appeared. EARLY ROADS AND MODES OF TRAVELLING - r <. UENT CAUSEWAY IN COCK UILL WouD, N [By Percival Skelton, after aa original Sketch by Mi KARLY HO ADS A\l> MODES OF TRAVELLING. CHAPTEE I. OLD KOADS. ROADS have iii all times been among the most influential agencies of society; and the makers of roads, by en- abling men readily to communicate with each other, have properly been regarded as among the most effective pioneers of civilization. Roads are literally the path- ways not only of industry, but of social and national intercourse. Wherever a line of communication be- 1 ween men is formed, it renders commerce practicable ; and, where commerce penetrates, it invariably creates a civilization and leaves a history. Roads place the city and the town in connection with the village and the farm, open up markets for field produce, and provide out- lets for manufactures. They enable the natural resources of a country to be developed, facilitate travelling and intercourse, break down local jealousies, and in all ways tend to bind together society and bring out fully that healthy spirit of industry which is the life and soul of every great nation. The road is so necessary an instrument of social well-being that in every new colony it is one of the first things thought of. First roads, then institutions, followed by schools, churches, and newspapers. The new country, as well as the old, can only be effectually kw opened up." as the common phrase is, by roads, and 156 OLD H<> ADS. PART 111. until these are made it is virtually closed. Freedom itself cannot exist without free communication, every limitation of movement on the part of the members of society amounting to a positive abridgment of their personal liberty. Hence roads, canals, and railways, by providing the greatest possible facilities for locomotion and information, are essential for the freedom of all classes, of the poorest as well as the richest. By bring- ing the ends of a kingdom together, they reduce the inequalities of fortune and station, and, by equal- izing the price of commodities, to that extent they render them accessible to all. Without their assistance the concentrated populations of our large towns could neither be clothed nor fed; but by their instrumen- tality an immense range of country is brought as it were to their very doors, and the sustenance and em- ployment of our large masses of people become com- paratively easy. In the raw materials required for food, for manufacturing, and for domestic purposes, the cost of transport necessarily forms a considerable item ; and it is clear that the more this cost can be reduced by facilities of communication, the cheaper do these articles become, the more they are multiplied, and so enter into the consumption of the community at large. Let any one imagine what would be the effect of closing the roads, railways, and canals of England. The country would be brought to a dead lock, employment would be re- stricted in all directions, and a large proportion of the inhabitants concentrated in the large towns must at certain seasons perish of cold and hunger. In the earlier periods of English colonization roads were of comparatively less consequence. While the population was thin and scattered, and men lived by hunting and pastoral pursuits, the track across the down, the heath, and the moor, sufficiently answered their purpose. Yet even in those districts unencumbered with wood, where the first settlements were made— ('HAP. I. OLD KOADS. 157 ns on tlio downs of Wilts! lire, the moors of Devonshire, ;u id the wolds of Yorkshire— -stone tracks were laid down hy the tribes between one village and another. We have given, at the beginning of this chapter, a repre- sentation of one of those ancient trackways, as its remains still exist, in the neighbourhood of Whitby, in York- si i i re ; and there are many of the same description of old roads to be met with in other parts of England. In some districts they are called trackways or ridge ways, hrinir narrow causeways usually following the natural ridge of the country, and probably serving in early times as local boundaries. On Dartmoor they are constructed of stone blocks, irregularly laid down on the surface of the ground, forming a rude causeway of about five or six feet wide.1 The Romans, with many other arts, first brought into I1] n gland the art of road-making. They thoroughly understood the value of good roads, regarding them as the essential means for the maintenance of their empire in the first instance, and of social prosperity in the next. It was the road, not less than the legion, which made them masters of the world. Wherever they went they opened up the communications of the countries they subdued, and the roads which they made were certainly among the very best of their kind.2 For centuries after they had left England the Roman roads continued to be the main highways of internal communication, and their remains are even to this day to be traced in many parts of the country. Settlements were made and towns sprang up along these old "streets;" and the numerous Stretlbrds and Stratfords, and towns wielding great authority. Plutarch says of Cams Gracchus, when ap- pointed supreme director for making roads, &c., that the people were charmed to see him go forth on his tours of road-making, followed l>y such numbers of architects, artificers, ambassadors, and magistrates. 1 An interesting description old trackways in Devonshire is ;j;iven by the Rev. Samuel Eowe, M.A., Vicar of Crediton, in his ' IVrambula- timis iif tlu- Ancient and Royal Forest of Dart moor.' London, 1848. 3 The Curator Viarum of the Un- mans waii an official of distinction, 158 OLD I JO ADS. I'AKT 111. ending in " le-street " — as Ardwick-le-street, in York- shire, and Chester-le-street, in Durham — mostly mark the direction of these ancient lines of road.1 There is one peculiarity in the roads constructed by the Romans which must have struck many observers — their remark- able straightness. Level does not seem to have been of consequence, compared with directness. This pecu- liarity is supposed to have originated in an imperfect knowledge of mechanics, for the Romans do not appeal- to have been acquainted with the moveable joint in wheeled carriages. The carriage-body rested solid Iv upon the axles, which" in four-wheeled vehicles were rigidly parallel with each other. Being unable readily to turn a bend in the road, it has been concluded that for this reason all their great highways were constructed in as straight lines as possible. But most of these old roads having been neglected and allowed to fall into decay, the forest and the waste gradually resumed their dominion over them in most places, until the roads of England became about the worst in Europe. We find, however, that numerous attempts were made in early times to preserve the ancient ways and enable a communication to be main- tained between the metropolis and the rest of the country, as well as between one market town and another. The state of the highways may be inferred from the character of the legislation applying to them. One of the first laws on the subject was passed in 1285, directing that all bushes and trees along the roads leading from one market to another should be cut down for two hundred feet on either side, to prevent robbers lurking therein ; but nothing was proposed for amend- ing the condition of the ways themselves. In 1346, Edward III. authorised the first toll to be levied for the repair of the roads leading from St. (riles' s-in-tlie-Fie Ids 1 In Yorkshire, the old l!<»maii n>;ul I in part by the name ol " Street - from Tadcaster to York is still known Houses." CHAP. I. <>L1> ROADS. 159 fco the village of Charing (now Charing Cross), and from the same quarter to near Temple Bar (down Drury- Lane), as well as the highway then called Perpoole (now Gray's Inn Lane). The footway at the entrance of Temple Bar was interrupted by thickets and bushes, and in wet weather was almost impassable. The roads further west were so bad that when the sovereign went to Parliament faggots were thrown into the ruts in King-street, Westminster, to enable the royal cavalcade to pass along. In Henry VIII.'s reign several remark- able statutes were passed relating to certain worn-out and impracticable roads in Sussex and the Weald of Kent. From these it would appear that when the old roads were found too deep and miry to be passed, they were merely abandoned and a new track was selected. This is apparent from the Act 14 Henry VIII., chap. (j, which giveth liberty to every man having highway that is worn deep and incommodious for passage to lay out another way in some such other place of his land as shall be thought meet by the view of two justices of the peace and twelve other men of wisdom and discretion. Another Act passed in the same reign related to the repairs of bridges and of the highways at the ends of bridges. But as these Acts were for the most part merely permissive, they could have had but little prac- tical effect in improving the communications of the kingdom. In the reign of Philip and Mary (in 1555), the Act was passed providing that each parish should elect two surveyors of highways to see to the main- tenance of their repairs by compulsory labour; and to this day parish and cross roads are maintained on the principle of Mary's Act, though the compulsory labour has since been commuted into a compulsory tax. In Elizabeth and James's reigns other Acts were passed, but, from the statements of contemporary writers, it would appear that very little substantial progress was made in consequence, and travelling continued to be 160 OLD ROADS. PART III. encompassed with difficulties. Even in the neighbour- hood of the metropolis the roads were in certain seasons scarcely passable. The great Western road into London was especially bad, and about Kiiightsbridge, in winter, the traveller had to wade through deep mud. Wyatfs men entered the city by this approach in the rebellion of 1554, and were called the " draggle-tails," because of their wretched plight. At a greater distance from the metropolis the roads were still worse. They were in many cases but rude tracks across heaths and commons, as furrowed with deep ruts as ploughed fields, and in winter to pass along one of them was like travelling in a ditch. The attempts made by the adjoining occupiers to mend them were for the most part confined to throwing large stones into the bigger holes to fill them up. It was easier to allow new tracks to be made than to mend the old ones. The lands of the country were still mostly unenclosed, and it was thus possible, in fine weather, to get from place to place, in one way or another, with the help of a guide. In the absence of bridges, guides were necessary to point out the safest fords as well as to pick out the least miry tracks. The most frequented lines of road were struck out from time to time by the drivers of pack-horses, who, to avoid the bogs and the sloughs, were usually careful to keep along the higher grounds ; but, to pre- vent those horsemen who departed from the beaten track being swallowed up in quagmires, beacons were erected to warn them against the more dangerous places.1 In some of the older-settled districts of England the old roads are still to be traced in the hollow Ways or 1 See Ogilvy's c Britannia Depicta,' the traveller's ordinary guide-book between 1675 and 1717, as Brad- shaw's Railway Time-book is now. The Grand Duke. Cosmo, in his * Tra- vels in England in 1669,' speaks of the country between Northampton and Oxford as for the most part un- enclosed and uncultivated, abounding in weeds. From Ogilby's fourth edi- tion, published in 1749, it ap] tears that the roads in the midland and northern districts of Knghind were still, for the most part, entirely unen- closed. CHAP. T. OLD ROADS. H.I Lanes, which are met with, in some places, eight and ten feet deep. Horse-tracks in summer, and rivulets in winter, the earth became gradually worn into these deep furrows, many of which, in Wilts, Somerset, and Devon, n -present the tracks of roads as old as, if not older tlian, the Conquest. When the ridgeways of the earliest settlers on Dartmoor, above alluded to, were abandoned, the tracks were formed through the valleys, but the new roads were no better than the old ones. They were narrow and deep, fitted only for a horse passing along laden with its crooks, as so capitally described in the ballad of " The Devonshire Lane." l 1 This ballad is so descriptive of flu- i >l(l roads of the south-west of Kii'jland that \\v arc H-mpted to quote it at Irimth. It was written by the I lev. .Mm Marriott, sometime vicar of Broadclist, Devon ; and Mr. Eowe, vicar of Crediton, says, in his * Peram- bulation of Dartmoor,' that he can readily imagine the identical lane near Broadclist, leading towards Polte- more, which might have sat for the portrait. VOL. T. In a Devonshire lane, as I trotted along T'other day, much in want of a subject for song, Thinks I to myself, I have hit on a strain, Sure marriage is much like a Devonshire lane. In the first place 'tis long, and when once you are in it, It holds you as fast as a cage does a linnet ; For howe'er rough and dirty the road may be found, Drive forward you must, there is no turning round. But tho' 'tis so long, it is not very wide, For two are the most that together can ride ; And e'en then, 'tis a chance but they get in a pother, And jostle and cross and run foul of each other. Oft poverty meets them with mendicant looks, Aud care pushes by them, o'erladen with crooks ; And strife's grazing wheels try between them to pass, And stubbornness blocks up the way on her ass. Then the banks are so high, to the left hand and right, That they shut up the beauties around them from sight ; And hence, you'll allow, 'tis an inference plain, That marriage is just like a Devonshire lane. But thinks I, too, these banks, within which we are pent, With bud, blossom, and berry, are richly besprent; And the conjugal fence, which forbids us to mini, Looks lovely, when deck'd with the comforts of home. In the rock's gloomy crevice the bright holly grows ; The ivy wav«s tivsh o'er the withering rose, And the ever-green love of a virtuous wiii- Soothes the roughness of care, cheers the winter of life. Then long be the journey, and narrow the1 wnv, I'll rejoice that I've seldom a turnpike to pay ; And whate'er others say, be the last to complain, Though marri;iIJ> ROADS. PART ITT. Similar roads existed until recently in the immediate neighbourhood of Birmingham, long the centre of con- siderable traffic. The sandy soil was sawn through, as it were, by generation after generation of human feet, and by pack-horses, helped by the rains, until in some places the tracks were as much as from twelve to four- teen yards deep;1 one of these, partly filled up, retain- ing to this day the name of Holloway Head. In the neighbourhood of London there was also a Hollow way, which now gives its name to a populous metropolitan parish. Hagbush Lane was another of such roads ; before the formation of the Great North Road it was one of the principal bridle-paths leading from London to the northern parts of England, but it was so narrow as barely to afford passage for more than a single horse- man, and so deep that the rider's head was beneath the level of the ground on either side. The roads of Sussex long preserved an infamous noto- riety. Chancellor Cowper, when a barrister on circuit, wrote to his wife in 1690, that "the Sussex ways art- bad and ruinous beyond imagination. I vow 'tis me- lancholy consideration that mankind will inhabit such a heap of dirt for a poor livelihood. The country is a sink of about fourteen miles broad, which receives all the water that falls from two long ranges of hills on both sides of it, and not being furnished with convenient draining, is kept moist and soft by the water till the middle of a dry summer, which is only able to make it tolerable to ride for a short time." It was almost as difficult for old persons to get to church in Sussex during winter as it was in the Lincoln Fens, where they rowed there in boats. Fuller saw an old lady being drawn to church in her own coach by the aid of six oxen. T lie Sussex roads were indeed so bad as to pass into a bye- word. A contemporary writer says, that in travelling Button's ' History of Birmingham.' Ed. 1836, p. 21. ( IIAI-. I. OLD ROADS. L63 ;i slmiL>-li of extraordinary miryness, it used to be called " the Sussex bit of the road ;" and he satirically alleged lli; it the reason why the Sussex girls were so long- limbed was because of the tenacity of the mud in that county ; the practice of pulling the foot out of it " by the strength of the ancle " tending to stretch the muscle and lengthen the bone ! * But the roads in the immediate neighbourhood of London seem to have been almost as bad as those in Sussex. Tims, when the poet Cowley retired to Chertsey, in 1665, lie wrote to his friend Sprat to visit him, and, by way of encouragement, told him that he might sleep the first night at Hampton town ; thus occupying two days in tin- performance of a journey of twenty-two miles in the immediate neighbourhood of the metropolis. As late as 1736 we find Lord Hervey, writing from Kensington, complaining that " the road between this place and London is grown so infamously bad that we live here in the same solitude as we would do if cast on a rock in the middle of the ocean; and all the Londoners tell us that there is between them and us an impassable gulf of mud." The mud was no respecter of persons, either ; for we are informed that the carriage of Queen Caroline could not, in bad weather, be dragged from St. James's Palace to Kensington in less than two hours, and occasionally the royal coach stuck fast in a rut, or \\;is even overthrown into the mud. The streets of London themselves were no better at that time, the kennel being still permitted to flow in the middle of the street, which was paved with round stones, — flagstones for the pedestrians being as yet unknown. * Her Sussexiense? By Dr. John Burton. M 2 EARLY MODES OF CONVEYANCE. PART TIL CHAPTER II. EARLY MODES OF CONVEYANCE. SUCH being the early state of the roads, the only practicable modes of travelling were on foot and on horseback. The poor walked and the rich rode. Kings rode and Queens rode. Gentlemen rode and robbers rode. Judges rode circuit in jack-boots, and the Bar sometimes walked and sometimes rode. Chaucer's ride to Canterbury will be remembered as long as the Eng- lish language lasts. Hooker rode to London on a hard- paced nag, that he might be in time to preach his first sermon at St. Paul's. Ladies rode on pillions, holding on by the gentleman or the serving-man mounted before. Shakespeare incidentally describes the same style of tra- velling among the humbler classes in his ' Henry IT.' l The party, afterwards set upon by Falstaff and his companions, bound from Rochester to London, were up by two in the morning, expecting to perform the journey of thirty miles by close of day, and to get to town " in time to go to bed with a candle." Two are carriers, one of whom has "a gammon of bacon and two razes of ginger, to be delivered as far as Charing Cross ;" the other has his panniers full of turkeys. There is also a franklin of Kent, and another, " a kind of auditor," probably a tax-collector, with several more, forming in all a company of eight or ten, who travel together for mutual protection. Their robbery on Gad's Hill, as painted by Shakespeare, is but a picture, by no means exaggerated, of the adventures and dangers of the road at the time of which he wrote. 1 King Henry the Fourth (Part I.), Act II. Scene 1. CHAP. n. KAIILV MODKS or CONVEYANCE. 165 Distinguished personages sometimes rode in horse- I in ITS, hi it ridinir on horseback was generally preferred. (v)urcn Elizabeth made most of her journeys in this way,1 and \\IK-II slu> went into the City she rode on a pillion be- liind her Lord Chancellor. The Queen, however, was at k'n (irth provided with a coach, which must have been a very remarkable machine. This royal vehicle is said to have been one of the first coaches used in England, and it was introduced by the Queen's own coachman, one I>oonien, a Dutchman.2 It was little better than a cart without springs, the body resting solid upon the axles. Taking the bad roads and ill-paved streets into ac- count, it must have been an excessively painful mode of conveyance. Indeed, at one of the first audiences which the Queen gave to the French ambassador in 1 f>()8, she recounted to him the nature of the jolting she haueeii was accustomed to priately termed " Muddy Lane. .»n horseback l>rt\vecu her palaces '- For inucli curious information on this subject see a paper by J. H. Mark land, F.R.S., entitled " Remarks ou the Early Use of ( 'arria-es," in ' vi •!. \x. (London, 1824), at Greenwich and Kltham is still in existence, a little to the south of Mor- den College, IMackheath. It winds irregularly throu-h the tiel.ls, broad in , places and narrow in others. Probably it is very little different PP . 443-76. 3 ' Depeehesde La Mothe Fenelou,' from what it was when used as a S\o., 1S.'5S. Vol. i., ]>. '_'7 166 KAltLY MODES OF CONVEYANCE. excited much wonder. It is related of " that valyant knyght Sir Harry Sidney," that on a certain day in the year 1583 he entered Shrewsbury in his waggon, "with his Trompeter blowynge, verey joyfull to behold and see." l From this time the use of coaches gradually spread, more particularly amongst the nobility, superseding the horse-litters which had till then been used for 1he conveyance of ladies and others unable to bear the fatigue of riding on horseback. The first carriages were heavy and lumbering, and upon the execraUe roads of the time they went pitching over the stones and into the ruts, with the pole dipping arid rising like a ship in a rolling sea. That they had no springs, is clear enough from the statement of Taylor, the water- poet, that in the paved streets of London men and women were so " tost, tumbled, rumbled, and jumbled about in them." Although the road from London to Dover, along the old Roman Watling-street, was then one of the best in England, the journey of the French household of Queen Henrietta, when they were sent forth from the palace of Charles I., occupied four tedious days before they reached Dover. But it was only a few of the main roads leading from the metropolis that were practicable for coaches ; and on the occasion of a royal progress, or the visit of a lord- lieutenant, there was a general turn out of labourers and masons to mend the ways and render the bridges at least temporarily secure. When the judges, usually old men and bad riders, took to going the circuit in their coaches, juries were often kept waiting until their lordships could be dug out of a bog or hauled out of a slough by the aid of plough-horses. In the seventeenth century scarcely a Quarter Sessions passed without presentments from the grand jury against certain districts on account of the bad state of the roads, and nianv were the fines CHAP. II. EARL? MODKS or rnXVKYAN'CK. which tin.' judges imposed upon them as a set-oft' against their bruises and other damages while on circuit. For a long time the roads continued barely practi- cable for wheeled vehicles of the rudest sort, though Fynes Morison (writing of the time of James I.) gives an account of " carryers, who have long covered wag- gons, in which they carry passengers from place to THE OLD STAGE WAGGON. [By Louis Husrd, after a Print by Eowlandscu.] place; but this kind of journeying," he says, "is so tedious, by reason they must take waggon very early and comr very late to their innes, that none but women and people of inferior condition travel in this sort." The waggons of which Morison wrote, made only from ten to fifteen miles in a long summer's day : that is, supposing them not to have broken down by pitching over the boulders laid along the road, or stuck fast in a quagmire, when they had to wait for the arrival of the next team of horses to help to drag them out. The waggon, however, continued to be adopted as a popular 168 EARLY MODES OF CONVEYANCE. PAKT III. mode of travelling until late in the eighteenth century ; and Hogarth's picture illustrating the practice will be remembered, of the cassocked parson on his lean horse, attending his daughter newly alighted from the York waggon. The introduction of stage-coaches about the middle of the seventeenth century formed a new era in the history of travelling by road. At first they were only a better sort of waggon, and confined to the more practicable highways near London. Their pace did not exceed four miles an hour, and the jolting of the unfortunate pas- sengers conveyed in them must have been very hard to bear. It used to be said of their drivers that they were " seldom sober, never civil, and always late." The first mention of coaches for public accommodation is made by Sir William Dugdale in his Diary, from which it appears that a Coventry coach was on the road in 1659. But probably the first coaches, or rather waggons, were run between London and Dover, as one of the most prac- ticable routes for the purpose. M. Sobriere, a French man of letters, who landed at Dover on his way to London in the time of Charles II., alludes to the exist- ence of a stage-coach, but it seems to have had no charms for him, as the following passage will show : " That I might not," he says, " take post or be obliged to use the stage-coach, I went from Dover to London in a waggon. I was drawn by six horses, one before another, and driven by a waggoner, who walked by the side of it. He was clothed in black, and appointed in all things like another St. George. He had a brave monteror on his head and was a merry fellow, fancied he made a figure, and seemed mightily pleased with himself." Shortly after, coaches seem to have been running as far north as Preston in Lancashire, as appears by a letter from one Edward Parker to his father, dated November, 1663,1 in which he says, "I got to London 1 Paper in ' Archaiologia,' quoted above. CRAP. II. EARLY MODES OF CONVEYANCE. 1G9 on Saturday last ; but my journey was noe ways plea- si mt, being forced to ride in the boote all the waye. Ye company yt came up with mee were persons of greate quality, as knights and ladyes. My journey's expense was 30s. This traval hath soe indisposed mee, yt I am resolved never to ride up againe in ye coatch." These vehicles must, however, have considerably increased, as we find a popular agitation was got up against them ; the Londoners nicknamed them " hell-carts;" pamphlets were written recommending their abolition ; and attempts were even made to have them suppressed by Act of Parliament. Thoresby occasionally alludes to stage-coaches in his Diary, speaking of one that ran between Hull and York in 1 070, from which place he had to proceed by Leeds in the usual way on horseback. This Hull coach did not run in winter, because of the state of the roads ; stage-coaches being usually laid up in that season like ships during Arctic frosts.1 Afterwards, when a coach was put on between York and Leeds, it performed the journey of twenty-four miles in eight hours ; 2 but the road was so bad and dangerous that the travellers were accustomed to get out and walk the greater part of the way. Thoresby often waxes eloquent upon the subject of his manifold deliverances from the dangers of travelling by coach. He was especially thankful when he had passed the ferry over the Trent in journeying between Leeds and London, having on several occa- sions narrowly escaped drowning there. Once, on his 1 " 4th May, 1714. Morning : we dined at ( J rai it ham, had the annual >olenmity (tliis being the first time the eoaeh passed the road in May), and the coachman and horses being deeke.l with ribbons and flowers, the town music and young people in couples before us ; we lodged at Stam- ford, a senrvy, dear town. 5th May : had other passengers, which, though females, were more chargeable with wine and brandy than the former pail of the journey, wherein we had neither ; but the next day we gave them leave to treat themselves." — Thoresby's * Diary,' vol. ii., 207. 2 " May 22, 1708. At York. Eose between three and four, the coach being hasted by Captain Crome (whose company we had) upon the Queen's business, that we got to Leeds by noon ; blessed be God for mercies to me and my p found it impossible to accomplish their journey in conse- quence of the waters that covered the country thereabout. The introduction of stage-coaches, like every other public improvement, was at first regarded with prejudice, and had considerable obloquy to encounter. In a curious book published in 1673, entitled ' The Grand Concern of England Explained in several Proposals to Parliament,' 3 stage-coaches and caravans were denounced as one of the greatest evils that had happened of late years to the kingdom, mischievous to the public, destructive to trade, and prejudicial to lands. It was alleged that travelling 1 Thoresby 's 'Diary,' vol. i., 29-"). ! cellany,' vol. viii., p. H47. - Way len's * Marlborough.' to have Ixrii written by one ,l<>lm •f Reprinted in the ' Harlcian Mis- ( » rosso t, of the Charterhouse. CHAP. II. KAIILY MODES OF CONVEYANCE. 171 1 >\ coacli was calculated to destroy the breed of horses, and make men careless of good horsemanship, — that it hindered the training of watermen and seamen, and inter- fered with the puhlic resources. The reasons given are curious. It was said that those who were accustomed to travel in coaches became weary and listless when they rode a few miles, and were unwilling to get on horse! >ack — "not able to endure frost, snow, or rain, or to lodge in the fields ;" that to save their clothes and keep themselves clean and dry, people rode in coaches, and thus contracted an idle habit of body ; that this was ruinous to trade, for that " most gentlemen, before they travelled in coaches, used to ride with swords, belts, pistols, holsters, portmanteaus, and hat-cases, which, in these coaches, they have little or no occasion for : for, when they rode on horseback, they rode in one suit and carried another to wear when they came to their journey's end, or lay by the way; but in coaches a silk suit and an Indian gown, with a sash, silk stockings, and beaver- hats, men ride in, and carry no other with them, because they escape the wet and dirt, which on horseback they cannot avoid ; whereas, in two or three journeys on horseback, these clothes and hats were wont to be spoiled ; which done, they were forced to have new very often, and that increased the consumption of the manufactures and the employment of the manufacturers; which tra- velling in coaches doth no way do." The writer of the same protest against coaches gives some idea of the extent of travelling by them in those days ; for to show the iripmtic nature of the evil he is contending against, IM- avers that between London and the three principal towns of York, Chester, and Exeter, not fewer than eighteen persons, making the journey in five days, travel by them weekly (the coaches running thrice in the week), and a like number back ; " which come, in the whole, to e i u 1 1 teen hundred and seventy-two in the year." Anotl i e r U'reat nuisance, the \vriti the soft inhabitants of Sybaris." In 1710 a Manchester manufacturer, taking his family up to London, hired a coach for the whole way, which, in the then state of the roads, must have made it a journey of probably eight or ten days. And, in 1742, the system of travelling had so little improved that a lady, wanting to come with her niece from Worcester to Man- chester, wrote to a friend in the latter place to send her a hired coach, be- cause the man knew the ra/'/, having brought from thence a family some time before." — Aikin's ' Manchester.' CHAP. II. KAIll.Y MoDKs (>!•• CONVEYANCE. 175 ml >l>crs and vagabonds who lived by plunder. Turpin and I>radslia\v beset the Great North Road; Duval, Madiraili, .Maclean, and hundreds more notorious high- waymen infested Hounslow Heath, Finchley Common, Shooter's Hill, and all the approaches to the metro- polis. A sight common to be seen then, was a gibbet erected by the roadside, with the skeleton of some former malefactor hanging from it in chains ; and " Hang- ma u's-lanes" were very numerous in the neighbourhood of London.1 It was considered most unsafe to travel a fter dark, and when the first "night coach" was started, the risk was thought too great, and it was not patronised. Travellers armed themselves on setting out on a journey as if they were going to battle, and a blunderbuss was considered as indispensable for a coachman as a whip. Dorsetshire and Hampshire, like most other counties, were beset with gangs of highwaymen ; and when the Grand Duke Cosmo set out from Dorchester to travel to London in 1669, he was "convoyed by a great many horse- soldiers belonging to the militia of the county, to secure him from robbers." 2 Thoresby, in his Diary, frequently alludes with awe to his having passed safely " the great common where Sir Ralph Wharton slew the highway- man," and he also makes special mention of Stonegate Hole, " a notorious robbing place " near Grantham. Like every other traveller, the pious man carried loaded pistols in his bags, and on one occasion he was thrown 1 Lord Campbell mentions the re- markable circumstance that Popham, afterwards Lord Chief Justice in the rei-n of Kliy.alieth, took to the road extraordinary is, that Popham is sup- posed to have continued in his course as a highwayman even after he was railed to the Bar. This seems to have in early life, and robbed travellers on j been quite notorious, for when he was (lad's Hill. Highway robbery could not, however, have been considered a very ignominious pursuit at that lime, as during Popham's youth a statute was made by which, on a first convic- made Serjeant the wags reported that. he served up some wine destined for an Alderman of London, which he had intercepted on its way from Southampton. — Aubrey, iii., 492. — tion for robbery, a peer of the realm i Campbell's ' Chief Justices,' i., 210. or lord of parliament was entitled to j 2 ' Travels of Cosmo the Third, have benefit of clergy, " though he ! Grand Duke of Tuscany,' p. 147. cannot read !" What is still more ; 176 KAIILY MODES OF CONVEYANCE. PART III. into great consternation near Topcliffe, in Yorkshire, on missing them, believing that they had been al >stracted by some designing rogues at the inn where lie had last slept.1 No wonder that, before setting out on a journey in those days, men were accustomed to make their wills. When Mrs. Calderwood, of Coltness, travelled from Edinburgh to London in 1756, she relates in her Diary that she travelled in her own postchaise, attended by John Eattray, her stout serving man, on horseback, with pistols at his holsters and a good broad sword by his side. The lady had also with her in the carriage a case of pistols, for use upon an emergency. Eobberies were then of frequent occurrence in the neighbourhood of Bawtry, in Yorkshire, and one day a suspicious-looking character, whom they took to be a highwayman, made his appearance ; but " John Eattray, talking about powder and ball to the postboy, and showing his whanger, the fellow made off." Mrs. Calderwood started from Edinburgh on the 3rd of June, when the roads were dry and the weather was fine, and she reached London on the evening of the 10th, which was considered a rapid journey in those days. The danger, however, from footpads and highwaymen was not greatest in remote country places, but in and about the metropolis itself. The proprietors of Bell size House and gardens, in the Hampstead-road, then one of the principal places of amusement, had the way to London patrolled during the season by twelve " lusty fellows ;" and Sadler's Wells, Yauxhall, and Ranelagh 1 " It is as common a custom, as a cunning politic in thieves, to place chamberlains in such great inns where cloathiers and graziers do lye ; and by their large bribes to infect others, who were not of their own preferring ; who noting your purses when you draw them, they'l gripe your cloak- bags, and feel the weight, and so in- form the master thieves of what they think, and not those alone, but the Host himself is oft as base as they, if it be left in charge with them* all night; he to his roaring guests either gives item, or shews the purse itself, who spend liberally, in hope of a speedie recruit." See 'A Brief yet Notable Discovery of Housebreakers,1 &c., 1659. See also 'Street II..I.- beries Considered ; a Warning for Housekeepers,' 1676; 'Hanging not Punishment Enough,' 1701, &c. CHAP. II. KA1ILY MODKS OF CONVEYANCE 177 advertised similar advantages. Foot passengers pro- (•«•«•, lino- towards Kensington and Paddington in the ('vniiii^, would wait until a sufficiently numerous band had collected to set footpads at defiance, and then they started in company. Carriages were stopped in broad daylight in Hyde Park, and even in Piccadilly itself, and pistols presented at the breasts of fashionable people, who were called upon to deliver up their purses. Horace AValpole relates a number of curious instances of tin's sort, he himself having been robbed in broad day, with Lord Eglinton, Sir Thomas Robinson, Lady Albe- 1 1 1; t rle, and many more. A curious robbery of the Ports- mouth mail, in 1757, illustrates the imperfect postal communication of the period. The boy who carried the post had dismounted at Hammersmith, about three miles from Hyde Park Corner, and called for beer, when some thieves took the opportunity of cutting the mail- h;ig from off the horse's crupper and got away undis- covered ! The means adopted for the transport of merchandise were as tedious and difficult as those ordinarily em- ployed for the conveyance of passengers. Corn and wool were sent to market on horses' backs,1 manure was carried to the fields in panniers, and fuel was conveyed from the moss or the forest in the same way. The little coal used in the southern counties was principally sea- borne, though pack-horses occasionally carried coal in- land for the supply of the blacksmiths' forges. When \Yollatoii Hall was built by John of Padua for Sir Francis W i 1 long] 1 1 >y in 1580, the stone was all brought on horses' 1 Tin- HMM! of London was then | straw, beans, ] eas, and oats, used in principally brought to town in pan- j London, were principally raised within niers. The Copulation Ix-iim mm pa- j a circuit of twenty miles of the mo ratively small, the feeding OI London j tropolis ; but large quantities were was still praeticable in this way; lx- also brought from Ilenley-on-Thames sides, the city always possessed the and other western parts, as well as ureat advantage of the Thai nes, which i from below < Jravcsend, l>y water; and secuivd a supply of food by sea. In 'The (irand Concern of Knuland Iv\- plained,' it is stated that tin- hay. many ships laden with beans came from Hull, and with oats from Lynn ami Hnston. VOL. I. N 178 KAliLY MODES OF CONVEYANCE. PART 111. backs from Ancaster, in Lincolnshire, thirty-five miles distant, and they loaded back with coal, which was taken in exchange for the stone. The roads being almost impassable in certain seasons and difficult at all times, there was necessarily very little trade between one part of the kingdom and another. For without ready communication either by land or water. the commercial exchange of bulky articles — raw produce or manufactured commodities — is simply impossible. Hence England was not, and as yet could not be, very much of a commercial country. It was cheaper to bring foreign wares to London by sea than to bring them by tedious journeys on horses' backs from the interior of the country. Two centuries ago the inland carriage of goods from Norwich was as much as the sea freight from Lisbon. From London to Birmingham the charge was from 5/. to 11. a ton, and from London to Exeter 12/. A century later the charge between Birmingham and London was reduced to between 8s. and 9s. a ton for every ten miles, or an average of about 5/. a ton ;* but at the same time the rate of carriage between Leeds and London was 131. a ton. This rate, it will readily be imagined, was prohibitory as regarded the large mass of manufactured articles in general consumption. But many articles now in common domestic use even amongst the poorest classes were then comparatively little known. No manufacture of pottery but of the very coarsest kind existed ; vessels of wood, of pewter, and even of leather, formed the principal part of the household and tal>lr utensils of genteel and opulent families ; and we long continued to import our cloths, our linen, our glass, our "Delph" ware, our cutlery, our paper, and even our hats, 'from France, Germany, and Holland. The little trade which existed between one part of the kingdom and the other was carried on by means < >f pa < • k - 1 'A History of Inland Navigation.' London, 17C9, ]>. 7-"». CHAP. II. KAIM.Y MoDKS or CONVEYANCE. horses, along roads little better than bridle-paths. These horses travelled in lines, with the bales or panniers strapped across their Lacks. The foremost horse bore a bell or a collar of bells, and was hence called the "bell- h< >rse." He was selected because of his sagacity ; and by THE PACK-HORSE CONVOY. [By Touis Huard. after his original Drawing ] the tinklings of the bells he carried, the movements of his followers were regulated. The bells also gave notice of the approach of the convoy to those who might be advancing from the opposite direction. This was a matter of some importance, as in many parts of the path there was not room for two loaded horses to pass each other, and quarrels and fights between the drivers of the pack-horse trains were frequent as to which of the inert in liV I'AUT CHAPTEK III. MANNERS AND CUSTOMS INFLUENCED BY THE STATE OF THE ROADS. WHILST the road communications of the country remained thus imperfect, the people of one part of England knew next to nothing of the people of the other parts. When a shower of rain had the effect of rendering the high- ways impassable, even horsemen were cautious in ven- turing far from home, and it was only a limited number who could afford to travel on horseback. The labouring people journeyed a-foot, and the limited middle class used the waggon or the coach. But the amount of inter- course between the people of different districts — then exceedingly limited at all times — was, in a country so wet as England, necessarily suspended during the greater part of the year. This slight degree of communication consequently produced numerous distinct and strongly- marked local dialects, local prejudices, and local customs, which survive to this day, though they are rapidly dis- appearing, to the regret of many, under the influence of our improved facilities for travelling. Every village had its witches, sometimes of different sorts, and there was scarcely an old house but had its white lady or moaning old man with the long beard. There were ghosts in the fens which walked on stilts, whilst the sprites of the hill country rode on flashes of fire. But those village witches and local ghosts have long since dis- appeared, excepting perhaps in a few. of the less pene- trable districts, where they still survive. It is curious to find that down even to the beginning of the seventeenth century, the inhabitants of the southern districts of the island regarded those of the north as a CII.M-. III. TiiK STATK OF T11K i;n.\DS. 183 kind of ngres. Lancashire was supposed to be almost impeuetrable as indeed it was to a considerable extent, —and inhabited l»y a 1 mil-savage race. Camden vaguely described it, previous to his visit in 1607, as that part of the country lying " beyond the mountains towards the Western Ocean." He acknowledged that he ap- proached the Lancashire people "with a kind of dread," but determined at length "to run the hazard of the attempt/' trusting in the Divine assistance. Camden was favoured in his northern visit even beyond his expectations, and after making his survey of the county, lie succeeded in returning within the bounds of civiliza- tion in safety. About a century later, in 1700, the Rev. Mr. Brome, rector of Cheriton in Kent, entered upon a series of travels in England as if it had been a newly-discovered country. He set out in spring, so soon as the roads had become passable. His friends convoyed him on the first stage of his journey, and left him, commending him to the care of Providence. He was, however, careful to employ guides to conduct him from one place to another, and in the course of his three years' travels he saw ninny new and wonderful things; but when the winter and wet weather set in, he was compelled to suspend his travelling and lay up, like an arctic voyager, for several months, until spring came round again. He passed through Northumberland into Scotland, down the western side of the island towards Devonshire, where he found the fanners gathering in their corn upon horse- bark, the roads being so narrow that it was impossible for tlirm to use waggons. He desired to travel into Cornwall, the boundaries of which he reached, but was prevented proceeding farther by tin- rains, and accord- ingly made the best of his way homewards.1 The vicar of Hieriton was considered a wonderful 1 'Tlirtv Years' Travels in Kn^- I P.roine, M.A., Hector of Clicritmi, land, Scotland, and Wales.' P.y .IMHU-S ] Kent. London, 1726. 184 MANNEBS AND CUSTOMS INFLUENCED OT PART III. man in his day, — almost as adventurous as we should now regard a traveller in Central Africa. Twenty miles of sloughs, or an unbridged river between two parishes, were greater impediments to intercourse than the Atlantic Ocean now is between England and America. There were towns situated even in the same county, more widely separated, for all practical purposes, than London and Glasgow are at the present day. There were many districts which travellers never visited, and where the appearance of a stranger produced as great an excitement as the arrival of a white man in an African village.1 Although this comparative seclusion of most districts produced a picturesqueness and variety of manners throughout England, it also produced a con- siderable amount of brutality, of which the local amuse- ments of bull-running, cock-fighting, cock-throwing, Plough-Monday, and such like, were the fitting ex- ponents. People knew little except of their own narrow district. The world beyond was as good as closed against them. Almost the only intelligence of general affairs which reached them was communicated by pedlars and packmen, who were accustomed to retail to their customers the news of the day with their wares ; or, at most, a news-letter from London, after it had been read nearly to pieces at the great house of the district, would find its way to the village, and its driblets of 1 The treatment lie received was occasionally even less polite. When William Hutton, of Birmingham, ac- companied by another gentleman, went to view the field of Bosworth, in 1770, " the inhabitants," he says, " set their dogs at us in the street, merely because we were strangers. Human figures not their own are sel- dom seen in these inhospitable re- gions. Surrounded with impassable roads, no intercourse with man to hu- manise the mind, nor commerce to smooth their rugged manners, they continue the boors of Nature." In certain villages in Lancashire and Yorkshire, not very remote from large towns, the appearance of a stranger, down to a comparatively recent period, excited a similar commotion amongst the villagers, and the word would pass from door to door, "Dost knaw 'im?" "Naya." " Is 'e straungerr'" " Ey, for sewer." " Then pans' 'im — Eave a duck at Mm — Fettle 'im!" And the "straunger" would straight- way find the "ducks" tlying al»>ut his head, and be glad to make his escape from the village with liis life. CHAP. II F. THE STATE OF THE ROADS. 185 information would thus become diffused amongst the little community. Matters of public interest were long in becoming known in the remoter districts of the country. Maeaiilay relates that the death of Queen Elizabeth was not heard of in some parts of Devon until the courtiers of her successor had ceased to wear mourning for her. The news of Cromwell's being made Protector only reached Bridge water nineteen days after the event, when the bells were set a-ringing; and the churches in the Orkneys continued to put up the usual prayers for Blames II. three months after he had taken up his abode at St. Germains. There were then no shops in the smaller towns or villages, and comparatively few in the larger ; even these being badly furnished with articles in general use. The country people were irregularly supplied by hawkers, \vlio sometimes bore their stocks upon their backs, and occasionally on pack-horses. Pots, pans, and household utensils were thus sold from door to door; and until a comparatively recent period the whole of the pottery- \\are manufactured in Staffordshire was hawked about and disposed of in this way. The pedlars carried frames resembling camp-stools, on which they were accustomed to display their wares when the opportunity .occurred for showing them to advantage. The articles which they sold were chiefly of a fanciful kind — ribbons, laces, and female finery; the housewives' great reliance for the supply of general clothing in those days being on d< miestic industry. In autumn the mistress of the house- hold \v as accustomed to lay in a store of articles sufficient to serve for the entire winter. It was like laying in a stock of provisions and clothing for a siege during the time that the roads were closed. The greater part of the meat required for winter's use was killed and salted down at Martinmas, whilst stockfish and baconed luri ings were provided for Lent. Scatcherd says that in his district the clothiers united in groups of three or four, 186 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS INFLUENCED BY PAKT III. and at the Leeds winter fair they would purchase an ox, which, having divided, they salted and hung- the pieces for their winter's food.1 There was also the winter's stock of firewood to be provided, and the rushes with which to strew the floors — carpets being a comparatively modern invention ; besides, there was the store of wheat and barley for bread, the malt for ale, the honey for sweetening (then used for sugar), the salt, the spiceries, and the savoury herbs so much employed in the ancient cookery. When the stores were laid in, the housewife was in a position to bid defiance to bad roads for six months to come. This was the case of the well-to-do ; but the poorer classes, who could not lay in a store for winter, were often very badly off both for food and firing, and in many hard seasons they literally starved. But charity was active in those days, and many a poor man's store was eked out by his wealthier neighbour. When the household stores were thus laid in, the mistress, with her daughters and servants, sat down to their distaffs and spinning-wheels ; for the manufacture of the family clothing was usually the work of the winter months. The fabrics then worn were almost entirely of wool, silk and cotton being scarcely known. The wool, when not grown on the farm, was purchased in a raw state, and was carded, spun, dyed, and in many cases woven at home : so also with the linen clothing, which, until quite a recent date, was entirely the produce of female fingers and household spinning-wheels. This kind of work occupied the winter months, occasionally alternated with knitting, embroidery, and tapestry work. Many of our old country houses to this day bear witness to the steady industry of the ladies of even the highest ranks in those times, in the fine tapestry hangings with which the walls of many of the older rooms in such mansions are covered. Amongst the humbler classes the same winter's work went on. The women sat round 1 Scateherd, ' History of Morloy.' CHAT. III. Till-: STATE OF Till-: i;<>.\l>s. fires knitting, plaiting, and spinning by their light. even in the daytime. Glass had not yet come into general use, and the openings in the wall which served for windows had necessarily to be shut up close to keep out the cold, though at the same time this shut out the light. The chimney, usually of lath and plaster ending overhead in a cone arid funnel for the smoke, was so roomy in the old cottages as to accommodate almost the whole family sitting around the fire of logs piled in the reredosse in the middle, and there they carried on their winter's work. Such was the domestic occupation of women in the rural districts in olden times ; and it may perl raps be questioned whether the revolution in our social system, which has taken out of their hands so many branches of household manufacture and useful domestic employment, be an altogether unmixed blessing. Winter at an end, and the roads once more available for travelling, the Fair of the district was looked forward to with interest. Fairs were among the most important institutions of past times, rendered necessary by the then imperfect communications. Every town had its fair, which was also its festival, held under the protection of some patron saint ; and the business as well as the gaiety of the neighbourhood usually centred on the occasion. High courts were held by the Bishop or Lord of the Manor, to accommodate which special buildings were erected, used only at fair time. Royal charters were granted to certain towns authorising them to hold fairs, and granting to them peculiar privileges.1 Amongst those of the first class were Winchester, St. Botolph's Town (Boston), and St. Ives. We find the great London 1 Tin- charter of Portsdown Fair, held on Portsdown Hill, near Ports- mouth, is said to have been granted on condition that a loaf of bread was |iri'sciitcd to the lord of the manor from wheat that had lieen raised, which the fair was held. We are told that the ancient ceremony has heen re- cently performed ; but Portsdown Fair, which formerly was a great cloth- market, has now degenerated into a saturnalia of \Vaterlo<>-ilys, merry-go- - roii ud, and baked on the ground on | rounds, gin, and gingerbread-nuts. 188 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS INFLUENCED BY PART III. merchants travelling thither in caravans, bearing with them all manner of goods, and bringing back the wool purchased by them in exchange. Winchester Great Fair attracted merchants from all parts of Europe. It was held on the hill of St. Giles, and was divided into streets of booths, named after the merchants of the different countries who exposed their wares in them. " The passes through the great woody districts, which English merchants coming from London and the West would be compelled to traverse, were on this occasion carefully guarded by mounted 4 serjeants- at-arms,' since the wealth which was being conveyed to St. Giles' s-hill attracted bands of outlaws from all parts of the country." l Weyhill Fair, near Andover, .was another of the great fairs in the same district, which wn s to the West country agriculturists and clothiers what Winchester St. Giles's Fair was to the general merchant. That of St. Botolph's Town was one of the principal fairs for the northern districts, to which people resorted from great distances to buy and sell. Thus we find, from the ' Compotus ' of Bolton Priory,2 tliat the monks of that house sent their wool to St. Botolph's Fair to be sold, though it was a good hundred miles distant, and there they bought their groceries, spiceries, and other necessary articles. That fair, too, was often beset by robbers, and on one occasion a strong party of them, under the disguise of monks, attacked and robbed certain booths, setting fire to the rest ; and such was the amount of destroyed wealth, that it is said the veins of molten gold and silver ran along the streets. The concourse of persons attending these fairs was immense. The nobility and gentry, the heads of the religious houses, the yeomanry and the commons, resort c< 1 to them to buy and sell all manner of agricultural pro- 1 Murray's 'Handbook of Surrey, I 2 Wbitaker's * History of Craven.' Hunts, and Isle of Wight,' 168. CHAP. III. TIIK STATE OF THE ROADS. 189 (lure. The farmers sold their wool and cattle, and hired fhrir servants there. The housewives sold the surplus produce of their winter's industry, and bought their cutlery, bijouterie, and more tasteful articles of apparel. There were caterers for all customers — stuffs and ware's offered for sale from all countries. And in the wake of this business part of the fair there invariably followed a crowd of ministers to the popular tastes — quack doctors and merry andrews, jugglers and minstrels, singlestick players, grinners through horse-collars, and sportmakers of every kind. Smaller fairs were held in all districts for similar purposes of exchange. At these the staples of the district were sold and servants usually hired. Many were for special purposes— cattle fairs, leather fairs, cloth fairs, bonnet fairs, fruit fairs. Scatcherd says that less than a century ago a large fair was held between Huddersfield and Leeds, in a field still called Fairstead, near Birstal, which used to be a great mart for fruit, onions, and such like ; and that the clothiers resorted thither from all the country round to purchase the articles, which were stowed away in barns, and sold at booths by lamplight in the morning.1 Even Dartmoor had its fair, on the site of an ancient British village or temple near Merivale Bridge, testify- ing to its great antiquity ; for it is surprising how an ancient fair lingers about the place on which it has been accustomed to be held, long after the necessity for it has erased. The site of this old fair at Merivale Bridge is the more curious, as in its immediate neighbour- hood, on the road between Two Bridges and Tavistock, is found the singular-looking granite rock, bearing so remarkable a resemblance to the Egyptian sphynx, in a mutilated state: it is of similarly colossal proportions, and stands in a district almost as lonely as that in which 1 Scatcherd's ' History of Morley,' 22G. 190 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS INFLUENCED BY TART III. the Egyptian sphynx looks forth over the sands of the Memphean Desert.1 SITE OF AN ANCIENT BRITISH VILLAGE AND FAIR ON DARTMOOR. [By Percival Skelton, after his oriAinal Drawing ] The last occasion on which the fair was held in this secluded spot was in the year 1625, when the plague raged at Tavistock ; and there is a part of the ground, situated amidst a line of pillars marking a stone avenue— a characteristic feature of the ancient aboriginal worship 1 Vixen Tor is the name of this singular-looking rock. Mr. Rowe thus describes it : " Fronting the river [ Walkham] the huge masses of which the tor is composed are piled up tier after tier, in a rude but noble facade, divided into three compartments by fissures, through which an ascent to the summit can be effected, whereon appearances of rock-basins will be ob- served. The river-front faces directly south, and this lofty Vixen-rock is traditionally reported to have been re- sorted to in past times for astronomical purposes. Vixen Tor, whether con- sidered in itself or with reference to the striking scenery of which it forms the central object, is one of the most interesting in the moorland district." — ' Perambulations of Dartmoor,' 186. It is proper, however, to add, that the appearance of the rock is most probably accidental, and that the head of the Sphynx is produced by the three angular blocks of rock being seen in profile. But Mr. Borlasc, in his 'Antiquities of Cornwall,' ex- presses the opinion that the rock- basins on the summit of the rock were used by the Druids for purposes connected with their religious cere- monies. CHAP, III. TIIK STATK ol- Till- I'.tl —which is to tli is ut the glory of the givat fairs has long since departed. They declined with the extension of turnpikes, and rail- roads gave them their deathblow. Shops now exist in i iveiy little town and village, drawing their supplies regularly by road and canal from the most distant parts. St. Bartholomew, the great fair of London,1 and Donny- brook, the great fair of Dublin, have been suppressed as nuisances ; and nearly all that remains of the dead but long potent institution of the Fair, is the occasional exhi- bition, at periodic times in country places, of pig-faced ladies, dwarfs, giants, double-bodied calves, and such-like wonders, amidst a blatant clangour of drums, gongs, and 1 The provisioning of London, now grown so populous, would be almost impossible but for the perfect system of mads HOW converging on it from all parts. In early times, London, like country places, had to lay in its stix-.k of salt-provisions against win- ter, d ra wing its supplies of vegetables from the country within easy reach of the capital. Hence the London mar- ket-gardeners petitioned against the extension of turnpike-roads about a century ago, as they afterwards peti- tioned against the extension of rail- ways, fearing lest their trade should be destroyed by the competition of country-grown cabbages. But the ex- tension of the roads had become a matter «»f absolute necessity, ill order I" Iced the huge and ever-increasing mouth of the Great Metropolis, the population of which has grown in about two centuries from four hundred thousand to three millions. This enormous population has, perhaps, never at any time more than a fort- night's supply of food in stock, and most families not more than a few days; yet no one ever entertains the slightest apprehension of a failure in the supply, or even of a variation in the price from day to day in conse- quence of any jjossible shortcoming. That this should be so would be one of the most surprising things in the history of modern London, but that it is sufficiently accounted for by the magnificent system of roads, canals, and railways, which connect it with the remotest corners of the kingdom. Modern London is mainly fed by steam. The Express Meat-Train, which runs nightly from Aberdeen to London, drawn by two engines, and makes the journey in twenty-four hours, is but a single illustration of the rapid and certain method by which modem London is fed. The north Highlands of Scotland have thus, by means of railways, become grazing- grounds for the metropolis. Express fish-trains from Dunbar and Eye- mouth (Smeaton's harbours), aug- mented by fish-trucks from Culler- coats and Tynemouth on the North- umberland coast, and from Redcar, \Yhitby, and Scarborough on the Yorkshire coast, also arrive in Lon- don every morning. And what with steam-vessels bearing cattle, meat, and tish, arriving by sea, and canal- boats laden with potatoes from inland, and railway-vans laden with butter and milk drawn from a wide circuit of country, and road-vans piled high with vegetables within easy drive of Covent Garden, the Great Mouth is thus from day to day regularly, satis- laetorily, and expeditiously tilled. 192 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS INFLUENCED BY PAKT III. cymbals. Like the sign of the Pack-Horse over the village inn door, the modern village fair, of which the principal article of merchandise is gingerbread-nuts, is but the vestige of a state of things that has long since passed away. There were, however, remote and almost impenetrable districts which long resisted modern inroads. Of such was Dartmoor, which we have already more than once referred to. The difficulties of road-engineering in that quarter, as well as the sterility of a large proportion of the moor, had the effect of preventing its becoming opened up to modern traffic ; and it is accordingly curious to find how much of its old manners, customs, traditions, and language has been preserved. It looks like a piece of England of the Middle Ages, left behind on the march. Witches still hold their sway on Dartmoor, where there exist no less than three distinct kinds — white, black, and grey,1 — and there are still professors of the craft, male as well as female, in most of the villages. As might be expected, the pack-horses held their ground in Dartmoor the longest, and in some parts of North Devon they are not even yet extinct. When our artist was in the neigh- bourhood, sketching the ancient bridge on the moor2 and the site of the old fair, a farmer said to him, " I well remember the train of pack-horses and the effect of their jingling bells on the silence of Dartmoor. My grandfather, a respectable farmer in the north of Devon, was the first to use a ' butt ' (a square box without wheels, dragged by a horse) to carry manure to field ; he was also the first man in the district to use an umbrella, which on Sundays he hung in the church-porch, an object of curiosity to the villagers." We are also informed by a gentleman who resided for some time at South Brent, 1 The white witches are kindly j 2 Sec Part IV. — Frontispiece ti> disposed, the black cast the "evil ] ' Bridges, Harbours, and Ferries.' eye," and the grey are consulted for the discovery of theft, &c. CHAP. III. TIIK STATE OF THE ROADS. 1D3 on the borders of the Moor, that the introduction of the first curt in that district is remembered by many now living, and the bridges were shortly afterwards widened to accommodate the wheeled vehicles. But the primitive features of the district are perhaps best represented by the interesting little town of Chag- tord, situated in the valley of the North Teign, an ancient stannary and market town, backed by a wide stretch of moor. The houses of the place are built of moor stone — grey, ancient-looking, and substantial — some with projecting porch and parvise room over, and granite- mullioned windows ; the ancient church, built of granite, with a stout old steeple of the same material, its em- battled porch and granite-groined vault springing from low columns with Norman-looking capitals, forming the sturdy centre of this ancient town clump. A post- chaise is still a phenomenon in the place, the roads and lanes leading to it being so steep and rugged as to be but ill adapted for springed vehicles of any sort. The upland road or track to Tavistock scales an almost pre- cipitous hill, and though well enough adapted for the pack-horse of the last century, is quite unfitted for the cart and waggon traffic of this. Hence the horse with panniers maintains its ground in the Chagford district, and the double-horse, furnished with a pillion for the lady riding behind, is still to be met with in the country roads. Among the patriarchs of the hills the straight- Invasted blue coat may yet be seen, with the shoe fastened with buckle and strap, as in the days when George III. was king ; and old women are still found retaining the cloak and hood of their youth. Old agri- cultural implements continue in use. The slide or slrdge is seen in the fields; the flail, with its mono- tonous strokes, resounds from the barn-floors; the corn is silted by the windstow — the wind merely blowing a\\ ay the chaff from the grain when shaken out of sieves by the motion of the hand on some elevated spot; the VOL. I. O 194 MANNERS AND CUSTOMS INFUTAVKD BY PAUT HI. old wooden plough is still at work, and the goad is still used to urge the yoke of oxen in dragging it along. " In such a place as Chagford," says Mr. Kowe, " the cooper or rough carpenter will still find a demand for the pack-saddle, with its accompanying furniture of crooks, crubs, or dung-pots. Before THE DEVON SHIR [By Louis Huard. after an original Sketch ] the general introduction of carts, these rough and ready contrivances were found of great utility in the various operations of husbandly, and still prove exceedingly convenient in situations almost, or altogether, inaccessible to wheel-carriages. The long crooks are used for the carriage of corn in sheaf from the harvest-field to the mowstead or barn, for the removal of furze, browse, faggot-wood, and other light materials. The writer of one of the happiest effu- sions of the local muse,1 with fidelity to nature equal to Cowper or 1 Sec ' The Devonshire Lane,' above quoted, note to )>. 1<»1. TIIF, STATK <»[• Till' 1!OAI>S. (Y;iM>r, has introduced the figure of a Devonshire pack-horse bend- ing under the ' swagging load ' of the high-piled crooks as an emblem of care toiling along the narrow and rugged path of life. The force and point of the imagery must be lost to those who have never seen (and, as in an instance which came under my own knowledge, never heard of) this unique specimen of provincial agricultural machinery. The crooks are formed of two poles,1 about ten feet long, bent, when green, into the required curve, and when dried in that shape are connected by horizontal bars. A pair of crooks, thus completed, is slung over the pack-saddle — one ' swing- ing on each side to make the balance true.' The short crooks, or rrnlm, are slung in a similar manner. These are of stouter fabric, and angular shape, and are used for carrying logs of wood and other heavy materials. The dung-pots, as the name implies, were also much in use in past times, for the removal of dung and other manure from the farmyard to the fallow or plough lands. The s//Wtf, or sledge, may also still occasionally be seen in the hay or corn fields, sometimes without, and in other cases mounted on low wheels, rudely but substantially formed of thick plank, such as might have brought the ancient Koinan's harvest load to the barn some twenty centuries ago." 2 1 Willow saplings, crooked and dried in the required form. Mrs. l>r;iy says the crooks are called by tin1 country people "Devil's tooth- picks." A correspondent informs us that the queer old crook-packs repre- sented in our illustration are still in use in North Devon. lie adds : "The pack-horses were so accustomed to their position when travelling in line (when going in double file) and so jealous of their respective places, that i! one got wrong and took another's place, the animal interfered with would strike at the offender with his crooks." - Howe's * Perambulation of Dart- moor,' pp. 87, S, !>. The primitive contrivance (Mr. Howe further oh- |) lor hanging the g:itrs of the moorland crofts and commons may also be seen in this neighbourhood. No iron hinge of any kind, nor gate- post, is employed. An oblong moor- stone block, in which a socket is drilled, is built into the wall, from which it projects sufficiently to re- ceive the back-stanchion of the gate, while a corresponding socket is sunk in a similar stone fixed in the ground below, unless a natural rock should be found in situ, suitable for the pur- pose, which is frequently the case. The gate, thus secured, swings freely, swivel-like, in these sockets; and thus, from materials on the spot, without the assistance of iron, a simple, dura- ble, and eflicient hinge is formed by the rural engineer. — P. 89. o 2 10(5 ROADS AND TltAVF.LLINt i CHAPTER IV. ROADS AND TRAVELLING TOWARDS THE END OF LAST CENTURY. THE progress made in the improvement of the roads throughout the kingdom was exceedingly slow. Thougl i some of the main thoroughfares were mended up so as to admit of stage-coach travelling at the rate of from four to six miles an hour, the lesser-frequented roads continued to be all but impassable. Travelling was still difficult, tedious, and dangerous. Only those who could not well avoid it ever thought of undertaking a journey, and travelling for pleasure was out of the question. A writer in the ' Gentleman's Magazine,' in 1752, says that a Londoner at that time would no more think of travelling into the west of England for pleasure than of going to Nubia. But signs of progress were not awanting. In 1754 some enterprising Manchester men advertised a " flying- coach " for the conveyance of passengers between that town and the metropolis ; and, lest they should be classed with projectors of the Munchausen kind, they heralded their enterprise with this statement : " However in- credible it may appear, this coach will actually (barring accidents) arrive in London in four days and a half after leaving Manchester ! " Fast coaches were also esta- blished on other of the northern roads, though not with very extraordinary results as to speed. When John Scott, afterwards Lord Chancellor Eldon, travelled from Newcastle to Oxford in 1766, he mentions that he journeyed in what was denominated " a fly," because of ils rapid travelling; yet he was three or four days and nights on the road. There was no such velocity, how- CHAP. IV. TOXVAIIDS THE END OF LAST CENTURY. 197 ever, ;is to endanger overturning or other mischief. On the panels of the coacli were painted the appropriate n ml t o of Sat cito si sat bene — quick enough if well enough —a motto which the future Lord Chancellor made his own.1 The journey by coach between London and Edinburgh still occupied a week or more, according to the state of the weather, as late as 1763. Between Bath or Bir- mingham and London occupied between two and three davs. The road across Hounslow Heath was so bad, that it was stated before a Parliamentary Committee that it was frequently known about that time to be two feet deep in mud. The rate of travelling was about six and a half miles an hour; but the work was so heavy that it "tore the horses' hearts out," as the common saying went, so that they only lasted for two or three years. When the Bath road became improved, Burke was enabled, in the summer of 1774, to travel from Lon- don to Bristol, to meet the electors there, in little more than four and twenty hours ; but his biographer takes care to relate that he "travelled with incredible speed." Glasgow was still a fortnight's distance from the metro- polis, and the arrival of the mail there was so important an event that a gun was fired to announce its coming in. Sheffield set up a "flying machine on steel springs" to London in 1760 : it "slept" the first night at the Black Man's Head Inn, Nottingham ; the second at the Angel, Northampton ; and arrived at the Swan with Two Necks, Lad-lane, < m the evening of the third day. The fare was II. 17s., and 14 Ibs. of luggage was allowed. But the 1 We may incidentally mention three other journeys south by "future Lords Clianeellors. Mansfield rode up from Scotland to London when a boy, taking two months to make the journey on his i ony. Wedderburn'fl journey liy coaeh horn Edinburgh to London, ill 1757, occupied him six days. " When I tirst reached London," said the late Lord Campbell, " I perlornud the same journey in three nights and two days, Mr. Palmer's mail-coaches being then established; but this switt travelling was considered dangerous as well as wonderful, and I was gravely ad- vised to stay a day at York, as a passengers who had gone through with- out stopping had died of a] ople.xy from the rapidity of the motion !" 1M ROADS" AND TRAVELLING I'AKT III. heaviest part of the charge was for living and lodging on the road, not to mention the fees to guards and drivers. The style in which the journey was performed mav he inferred from the circumstance that on one occasion, when a quarrel took place between the guard and a pas- senger, the coach stopped to see them fight it out on the road. Though the Dover road was still one of the best in the kingdom, the Dover flying-machine, carrying only four passengers, 'took a long summer's day to perform the journey. It set out from Dover at four o'clock in the morning, breakfasted at the Red Lion, Canterbury, and the passengers ate their way up to town at various inns on the road, arriving in London in time for supper. Smollett complained of the innkeepers along this route as the greatest set of extortioners in England. What a ride by coach was in those days has been so well described by a Prussian clergyman, Mr. Charles H. Moritz, that we cannot do better than give his account of one from Leicester to Northampton, and from thence to London. The journey was made in the year 1782 :— " Being obliged," he says, " to bestir myself to get back to London, as the time grew near wben the Hamburgh captain with whom I intended to return had fixed his departure, I determined to take a place as far as Northampton on the outside. But this ride from Leicester to Northampton I shall remember as long as I live. " The coach drove from the yard through a part of the house. The inside passengers got in from the yard, but we on the outside were obliged to clamber up in the street, because we should have had no room for our heads to pass under the gateway. My com- panions on the top of the coach were a farmer, a young man very decently dressed, and a black-a-moor. The getting up alone was at the risk of one's life, and when I was up I was obliged to sit just at the corner of the coach, with nothing to hold by but a sort of little handle fastened on the side. I sat nearest the wheel, and the moment that we set off I fancied that I saw certain death before me. All I could do was to take still tighter hold of the handle, and to be strictly careful to preserve my balance. The machine rolled along with prodigious rapidity over the stones through the town, and every moment we seemed to fly into the air, so much so To\YAlM>S Till-] KND OF LAST CENTURY. 1 «.»'.» that it appeared to me a complete miracle that we stuck to the coach at all. But we were completely on the wing as often as we passed through a village or went down a hill. " This continual fear of death at last became insupportable to me, and, therefore, no sooner were we crawling up a rather steep hill, and consequently proceeding slower than usual, than I care- fully crept from the top of the coach, and was lucky enough to get myself snugly ensconced in the basket behind. " ' 0, Sir, you will be shaken to death !' said the black-a-moor ; hut I heeded him not, trusting that he was exaggerating the un- pleasantness of my new situation. And truly, as long as we went on slowly up the hill it was easy and pleasant enough ; and I was just on the point of falling asleep among the surrounding trunks and packages, having had no rest the night before, when on a sudden the coach proceeded at a rapid rate down the hill. Then all the boxes, iron-nailed and copper-fastened, began, as it were, to dance around me ; everything in the basket appeared to be alive, and every moment I received such violent blows that I thought my last hour had come. The black-a-moor had been right, I now saw clearly ; but repentance was useless, and I was obliged to suffer horrible torture for nearly an hour, which seemed to me an eternity. At last we came to another hill, when, quite shaken to pieces, bleed- ing, and sore, I ruefully crept back to the top of the coach to my former seat. ' Ah, did I not tell you that you would be shaken to death ? ' inquired the black man, when I was creeping along on my stomach. But I gave him no reply. Indeed, I was ashamed ; and I now write this as a warning to all strangers who are inclined to ride in English stage-coaches, and take an outside seat, or, worse still, horror of horrors, a seat in the basket. " From Harborough to Northampton I had a most dreadful journey. It rained incessantly, and as before we had been covered with dust, we now were soaked with rain. My neighbour, the young man who sat next me in the middle, every now and then tell asleep ; and when in this state he perpetually bolted and rolled s i gainst me, with the whole weight of his body, more than once nearly poshing me from my seat, to which I clung with the last strength of di-spair. My forces were nearly giving way, when at last, happily, we reached Northampton, on the evening of the 14th July, 1782, an ever-memorable day to me. " On the next morning I took an inside place for London. We started early in the morning. This journey from Northampton to the metropolis, however, I can scarcely call a ride, for it was a per- 200 ROADS AND TRAVELLING PART ITT. petual motion, or endless jolt from one place to another, in a close wooden box, over what appeared to be a heap of unhewn stones and trunks of trees scattered by a hurricane. To make my happiness complete, I had three travelling companions, all farmers, who slept so soundly that even the hearty knocks with which they hammered their heads against each other and against mine did not awake them. Their faces, bloated and discoloured by ale and brandy and the knocks aforesaid, looked, as they lay before me, like so many lumps of dead flesh. " I looked, and certainly felt, like a crazy fool when we arrived at London in the afternoon." ] THE BASKET COACH, 17SO. [By Louis Huard, after a Print by Kowlandson ] Arthur Young, in his books, inveighs strongly against the execrable state of the roads in all parts of England towards the end of last century. In Essex he found the ruts "of an incredible depth," and he almost swears at one near Tilbury. " Of all the cursed roads," he says. 1 C. H. Moritz : * Ixeisc eincs Deutschen in England im Jalirc 1782.' Berlin, 1783. GHAP. iv. rmvAiiPs TIIK K\I> OF LAST CENTURY. 201 "that ever disgraced tin's kingdom in the very ages of barbarism, none ever equalled that from Billericay to llic King's Jlead at Tilbury. It is for near twelve miles so narrow that a mouse cannot pass by any carriage. I saw a fellow creep under his waggon to assist me to lift, if possible, my chaise over a hedge. To add to all the infamous circumstances which concur to plague a tra- veller, I must riot forget the eternally meeting with chalk waggons, themselves frequently stuck fast, till a collec- tion of them are in the same situation, and twenty or thirty horses may he tacked to each to draw them out one by one ! " Yet, will it be believed, the proposal to form a turnpike-road from Chelmsford to Tilbury was resisted, as Arthur Young says, " by the Bruins of the country, whose horses were worried to death with bringing chalk th rough those vile roads ! ' ' No better did he find the turnpike between Bury and Sudbury, in Suffolk : " I was forced to move as slow in it," he says, " as in any unmended lane in Wales. For ponds of liquid dirt, and a scattering of loose flints just sufficient to lame every horse that moves near them, with the addition of cutting vile grips across the road under the pretence of letting the water off', but without effect, altogether render at least twelve out of these sixteen miles as infamous a turnpike as ever was beheld." Between Tetsworth and Oxford he found the so-called turnpike abounding in loose stones as large as one's lie; id, full of holes, deep ruts, and withal so narrow that with un -ill difficulty he got his chaise out of the way of 1 1 K ' \V i i iu -y waggons. " Barbarous " and " execrable " are the words which he constantly employs in speaking of the roads ; parish and turnpike, all seemed to be alike bad. From Gloucester t< > Xewnliam. a distance of twelve miles, he found a " cursed road," "infamously stony," with " ruts all the way." From Newnham to Chepstow 1 Arthur Young's 'Six Weeks' I of En-land ami Wales.' 2nd Eil., Tour through the Southern (\.untirs | 1769, pp. 88-9. 202 ROADS AND TRAVELLING I'AKT III. he notes another bad feature in the roads, and that is the perpetual hills; "for," he says, "you will form a clear idea of them if you suppose the country to represent the roofs of houses joined, and the road to run across them." Passing still further west, the unfortunate traveller, who seems scarcely able to find words to express his sufferings, continues :— " But, my dear Sir, what am I to say of the roads in tliis country ! the turnpikes ! as they have the assurance to call them and the hardiness to make one pay for ? From Chepstow to the half-way house between Newport and Cardiff they continue mere rocky lanes, full of hugeous stones as big as one's horse, and abominable holes. The first six miles from Newport they were so detestable, and without either direction-posts or milestones, that I could not well persuade myself I was on the turnpike, but had mis- took the road, and therefore asked every one I met, who answered me, to my astonishment, ' Ya-as! ' Whatever business carries you into this country, avoid it, at least till they have good roads : if they were good, travelling would be very pleasant."1 At a subsequent period Arthur Young visited the northern counties ; but his account of the roads in that quarter is not more satisfactory. Between Richmond and Darlington he found them like to " dislocate his bones," being broken in many places into deep holes, and almost impassable ; " yet," says he, " the people will drink tea ! " — a decoction against the use of which the travel lei- is found constantly declaiming. The roads in Lancashire made him almost frantic, and he gasps for words to express his rage. Of the road between Proud Preston and Wigan he says : " I know not in the whole range of language terms sufficiently expressive to describe this infernal road. Let me most seriously caution all tra- vellers who may accidentally propose to travel this terrible country, to avoid it as they would the devil ; for a thousand to one they break their necks or their limbs 1 ' Six Weeks' Tour in. the Southern Counties pp. 153-5. TOWARDS TIIK I-:NI> <>F I-\ST crATrny. 203 l>y ovortlmws or breakings-down. They will here meet with ruts, which f actually measured four feet deep, and floating with mud only from a wet summer. What, therefore, must it he after a winter ? The only mending it receives is tumbling in some loose stones, which serve no other purpose than jolting a carriage in the most intolerable manner. These are not merely opinions, but facts ; for I actually passed three carts broken down in those eighteen miles of execrable memory." l It would even appear that the bad state of the roads in the Midland counties about the same time had nearly caused the death of the heir to the throne. On the 2nd of September, 1789, the Prince of Wales left Went- worth Hall, where he had been on a visit to Earl Fitz- william, and took the road for London in his carriage. Wlien about two miles from Newark the Prince's coach was overturned by a cart in a narrow part of the road ; it rolled down a slope, turning over three times, and landed at the bottom, shivered to pieces. Fortunately, the Prince escaped with only a few bruises and a sprain ; but the incident had no effect in stirring up the local authorities to make any improvement in the road, which remained in the same wretched state until a compara- tively recent period. \Ve may briefly refer to the several stages of improve- ment— if improvement it could be called — in the most frequented highways of the kingdom, and to the action of the legislature with reference to the extension of turn- pi kes. The trade and industry of the country had been stradily improving; but the greatest obstacle to their further progress was always felt to be the disgraceful state of the roads. As long ago as the year 1663 an Act was passed2 authorising the first toll-gates or turn- pikes to be erected, at which collectors were stationed to levy small sums from those using the road, for the 1 'A Six Months' Tour through the North of En^lainl,' vol. iv., i>. 431. 2 Act 15 Car. II., c. 1. 204 ROADS AND TRAVELLING PART ITT. purpose of defraying the needful expenses of their maintenance. This Act, however, only .applied to a portion of the Great North Road between London and York, and authorised the new toll-bars to be erected at Wade's Mill in Hertfordshire, at Caxton in Cambridge- shire, and at Stilton in Huntingdonshire.1 This Act was not followed by any others for a quarter of a century, and even after that lapse of time the .Acts passed of a similar character were few and far between. For nearly a century more, travellers from Edinburgh to London met with no turnpikes until within about 110 miles of the metropolis. North of that point there was only a narrow causeway fit for pack-horses, flanked with clay sloughs on either side. It is, however, stated that the Duke of Cumberland and the Earl of Albemarle, when on their way to Scotland in pursuit of the rebels in 17 JO, did contrive to reach Durham in a coach and six ; but there the roads were found so wretched that they were under the necessity of taking to horse, and Mr. George Bowes, the county member, made His Royal Highness a present of his nag to enable him to proceed on his journey. The rebellion of 1745 gave a great impulse to the construction of roads for military as well as civil pur- poses. The nimble Highlanders, without baggage or waggons, had been able to cross the border and pene- trate almost to the centre of England before any definite knowledge of their proceedings had reached the rest of 1 The preamble of the Act recites I barley and malt that cometh to Ware, that " The ancient highway and post- road leading from London to York, and so into Scotland, and likewise from London into Lincolnshire, lieth for many miles in the counties of Hertford, Cambridge, and Hunting- don, in many of which places the road, by reason of the great and many in loads which are weekly drawn waggons through the said places, as well as by reason of the great trade of and so is conveyed by water to the city of London, as well as other car- riages, both from the north parts as also from the city of Norwich, St. Edmondsbury, and the town of Cam- bridge, to London, is very ruinous and become almost impassable, inso- much that it is become very dangerous to all his Majesty's liege people that pass that way," &c. TOWARDS THE KM) »)!•' LAST CKXTUIY. 205 flu- kingdom. In the metropolis itself little information could be obtained of the movements of the rebel army for several days after they had left Edinburgh. Light of foot, they outstripped the cavalry and artillery of the royal army, which were delayed at all points by impass- able roads. No sooner was the rebellion put down than Government directed its attention to the best means of securing the permanent subordination of the Highlands, and with this object the construction of good highways was declared to be indispensable. The expediency of opening up the communication between the capital and the principal towns of Scotland was also generally ad- mitted ; and from that time, though slowly, the construc- tion of the main high routes between north and south made steady progress. The extension of the turnpike system, however, encountered violent opposition from the people, being regarded as a grievous tax upon their freedom of movement from place to place. Armed bodies of men assembled to destroy the turnpikes; and they burnt down the toll-houses and blew up the posts with gunpowder. The resistance was the greatest in Yorkshire, along the line of the Great North Road t< > wards Scotland, though riots also took place in Somer- setshire and Gloucestershire, and even in the immediate neighbourhood of London. At Selby, in Yorkshire, the public bellman summoned the inhabitants one May n i<> ruing to assemble with their hatchets and axes at midnight, to cut down the turnpikes erected by Act of Parliament; and they were not slow to accept his invi- tation. Soldiers were then sent into the district to protect the tollbars and the tolltakers ; but this was a difficult matter, for the tollgates were numerous, and wherever a "pike" was left unprotected for a night, it was found destroyed in the morning. The Yeadon and Otley mobs, near Leeds, were especially violent. On the 18th of June, 1753, they made quite a raid upon the turnpikes, burning or destroying about a dozen of them 206 ROADS AND TRAVELLING I'AKT 111. in one week. A score of the rioters were apprehended, and while on their way to York Castle a rescue was attempted, when the soldiers were under the necessity of firing, and many persons were killed and wounded. The prejudices entertained against the turnpikes were so strong, that in some places the country people would not even use the improved roads after they were made.1 For instance, the driver of the Marlborough coach obsti- nately refused to use the New Bath road, but stuck to the old waggon-track, called " Ramsbury." He was an old man, he said : his grandfather and father had driven the aforesaid way before him, and he would continue in the old track till death.2 Petitions were also presented to Parliament against the extension of turnpikes ; but here the opposition was of a much less honest character than that of the misguided and prejudiced country folks. The agriculturists in the neighbourhood of the metropolis, having secured the advantages which the turnpike-roads first constructed had conferred upon them, desired to retain a monopoly of their improved means of commu- nication. They alleged that if turnpike-roads were extended into the remoter counties, the greater cheapness of labour there would enable the distant farmers to sell their grass and corn cheaper in the London market than themselves, and that thus they would be ruined.3 This opposition, however, did not prevent the progress of turnpike and highway legislation; and we find that, from 1760 to 1774, no fewer than four hundred and fifty-two Acts were passed for making and repairing highways. Nevertheless the roads of the kingdom long continued in a very unsatisfactory state, chiefly 1 The Blandford waggoner said, I op and down the country." — Iiolx-risV " lloads had but one object— lor r4 Social History of the Southern Coun- \v a LIL:; on-driving. He required but j ties.' four-foot width in a lane, and all the 2 ' Gentleman's Magazine' for IV- ivst might go to the devil." He added, cumber, 1752. "The gentry ought to stay at home, 3 Adam Smith's ' \\Yalth <>f Xa- aud be d d, and not run gossiping tions,' book i., chap, xi., part i. TOWARDS TIIK KM) OF LAST CENTUBX '^>7 arising from the extremely imperfect manner in which they were made. Road-making as a profession was as yet unknown. Deviations were made in the old roads to make them 11 ion1 easy and straight; but the deep ruts were merely filled up with any materials that lay nearest at hand, a i id st < >i les taken from the quarry, instead of being broken and laid on carefully to a proper depth, were tumbled down and roughly spread, the country road-maker trust- ing to the operation of cart-wheels and waggons to crush them into a proper shape. Men of eminence as engi- neers— and there were very few such at the time — con- sidered road-making beneath their consideration; and it was even thought singular that, in 1768, the dis- tinguished Smeaton should have condescended to make a road across the valley of the Trent, between Markham and Newark. The making of the new roads was thus left to such persons as might choose to take up. the trade, special skill not being thought at all necessary on the part of a road-maker. It is only in this way that we can account for the remarkable fact, that the first extensive maker of roads who pursued it as a business, was not an engineer, not even a mechanic, but a Blind Man, bred to no trade, and possessing no experience whatever in the arts of surveying or bridge-building, yet a man possessed of extraordinary natural gifts, and unquestionably most successful as a road-maker. We allude to John Metcalf, commonly known as " Blind Jack of Knaresborough," to whose biography, as the constructor of nearly two hun- dred miles of capital roads — as, indeed, the first great Knglish road-maker — we propose to devote our next chapter. 208 .JOUX METCALF, ROAD MAKER. FART III. CHAPTER V. JOHN METCALF, Bo AD MAKER. JOHX METCALF was born at Knaresborough in 1717, the son of poor working people. When only six years old he was seized with virulent small-pox, which totally destroyed his sight. The blind boy, when sufficiently recovered to go abroad, first learnt to grope from door to door along the walls on either side of his parents' dwelling. In about six months he was able to feel his way to the end of the street and back without a guide, and in three years he could go on a message to any part of the town. He grew strong and healthy, and longed to join in the sports of boys of his age. He went bird- nesting with them, and climbed the trees while the boys below directed him to the nests, receiving his share of the eggs and young birds. Thus he shortly became an expert climber, and could mount with ease any tree that he was able to grasp. He rambled into the lanes and fields alone, and soon knew every foot of the ground for miles round Knaresborough. He next learnt to ride, delighting above all things in a gallop. He contrived to keep a dog and coursed hares : indeed, the boy was the marvel of the neighbourhood. His unrestrainablo activity, his acuteness of sense, his shrewdness, and his cleverness, astonished everybody. The boy's confidence in himself was such, that though blind, he was ready to undertake almost any adventure. Among his other arts he learnt to swim in the Nidd, and became so expert that on one occasion he saved the lives of three of his companions. Once, when two men were drowned in a deep part of the river, Metcalf \vas CHAP. V. .loHN MKTCAI.F, IM>AI> MAKKK. 209 for to r them, which IK- did, and l.ron^lit iij> of the hodies at the fourth (living: the other had heeii carried down the stream, lie thus also saved a manufacturer's varn, a lar^e <|uantity of which had been carried l»v a sudden flood inlo a deep hole under the IIPLACE, KNAKESBORODGH.l t. Wimperis, after a Sketch by T. Sntclifle, Leeds ] 1 We give Mr. SulclilVc's account • •I' his search alter Blind .lack's hirth- j'lacc, and of the origin of the almvr illustration, in his own won Is : — "It was market-day in Knareslxmm^li," he says, "ami my first act on arriving was 1. 1 go into the market and j.ut a stoj» to all other business by assem- VOL. T. the old country people and holding a public eonterene;1 as to where .lack was burn. Although many of them had s 'en him, none of them knew where lie was ]>orn or when- he had died; but they assured me I could ' larn all silioot him Ira tlT toon-crier, wha was an auld man and P 210 JOHN METCALF, ROAD MAKER. PART III. High Bridge. At home, in the evenings, he learnt to play the fiddle, and became so skilled 011 the instrument, that he was shortly aLle to earn money by playing dance music at country parties. At Christmas time he played waits, and during the Harrogate season he played to the assemblies at the Queen's Head and the Green Dragon. On one' occasion, towards dusk, he acted as guide to a belated gentleman along the difficult road from York to Harrogate. The road was then full of windings and turnings, and in many places it was no better than a track across unenclosed moors. Metcalf brought the gentleman safe to his inn, the Granby, late at night, and was invited to join in a tankard of negus. On Metcalf leaving the room, the gentleman observed to the land- lord— " I think, landlord, my guide must have drunk a great deal of spirits since we came here." " Why so, Sir?" " Well, I judge so, from the appearance of his eyes" " Eyes ! bless you, Sir," rejoined the landlord, " don't you know that he is blind ? " " Blind ! What do you mean by that ? " "I mean, Sir, that he cannot see — he is as blind as a stone." " Well, landlord," said the gentleman, " this is really too much : call him in." Enters Metcalf. " My friend, are you really blind ? " knew ivverybody.' To the town- crier I went, but could learn nothing satisfactory from him. I then walked up and down the streets, looking into the doors and windows, and wherever I saw an old head I walked into the house, and asked the possessor if he or she knew Blind Jack. I was at last directed to the Rev. Thomas Col- lins, an aged gentleman, to whose father's house Jack had been accus- tomed to go regularly to play the fiddle. Mr. Collins did not know his exact birthplace, but directed me to seek out a certain Mr. Calvert, aged ninety-five, the author of ' The History of Knaresborough,' and from this gentleman I learned that Jack's l>i rlli place was pulled down to make room lor the house in which the Rev. Mr. Collins himself resided. He also described to me Jack's house, its cha- racter and extent ; from which I could form a very accurate idea of it. As Jack's garden and croft came down as far as the churchyard, my next move was to the top of the chureh-tower, from which place 1 sketched, de- signed, and filled up, from the descrip- tions given me, the view of Blind Jack's birthplace ; and 1 believe it to be as faithful a representation of the house as it is possible, under the cir- cumstances, to present. The gable- end, at the low right-hand corner, is the grammar-school, which was then only one-story high. A street of houses and cottages must have gone up from thence towards the castle at the top of the hill, though trees might have hid most of them from sight." CHAP, V. JOHN METCALF, ROAD MAKER. 211 k' Yes, Sir," said he, " I lost my sight when six years old." "Had I known that, I would not have ventured with you 011 that road from York for a hundred pounds." " And I, Sir," said Metcalf, " would not have lost my w;i\ for a thousand." Metcalf now thrived and saved money, and he bought and rode a horse of his own ! He had a great affection for the animal, and when he called, it would immediately answer him by neighing. The most surprising thing is that he was a good huntsman ; and to follow the hounds was one of his greatest pleasures. He was as bold a rider as ever took the field. He trusted much, no doubt, to the sagacity of his horse ; but he himself was appa- rently regardless of danger. The hunting adventures which are related of him, considering his blindness, seem altogether marvellous. He would also run his horse for the petty prizes or plates given at the feasts in the neigh- bourhood, and he attended the races at York and other places, where he made bets with considerable skill, keeping well in his memory the winning and losing horses. After the races, he would return to Knares- borough late at night, guiding others who but for him could never have made out the way. On one occasion he rode his horse in a match in Knaresborough Forest. The ground was marked out by posts, including a circle of a mile, and the race was three times round. Great odds were laid against the blind man, because of his supposed inability to keep the course. But his ingenuity was never at fault. He pro- cured a number of dinner-bells from the Harrogate inns and set men to ring them at the several posts. Their sound was enough to direct him during the race, and the blind man came in the winner ! After this race was over, a gentleman who owned a notorious runaway horse came up and offered to lay a bet with Metcalf that he could not gallop the horse fifty yards and stop it within two hundred. Metcalf accepted the bet, with the con- p 2 212 .10I1X METCALF, ROAD MAKKH. PART ITT. dition that he might choose his ground. This was agreed to, but there was to be neither hedge nor wall in the dis- tance. Metcalf forthwith proceeded to the neighbourhood of the large bog near the Harrogate Old Spa, and having placed a person on the line in which he proposed to ride, who was to sing a song to guide him by its sound, he mounted and rode straight into the bog, where lie had the horse effectually stopped within the stipulated two hundred yards, stuck up to his saddle-girths in the mire. Metcalf scrambled out and claimed his wager ; but it was with the greatest difficulty that the horse could be extricated. The blind man also played at bowls very successfully, receiving the odds of a bowl extra for the deficiency of each eye. He had thus three bowls for the other's one ; and he took care to place one friend at the jack and another midway, who, keeping up a constant discourse with him, enabled him readily to judge of the distance. In athletic sports, such as wrestling and boxing, he was also a great adept ; and being now a full-grown, man, of great strength and robustness, about six feet two in height, few durst try upon him the practical jokes which cowardly persons are sometimes disposed to play upon the blind. Notwithstanding his mischievous tricks and youthful wildness, there must have been something exceedingly winning about the man, possessed of a strong, daring, manly, and affectionate nature; and we are not, there- fore, surprised to learn that the daughter of the landlord of the Granby fairly fell in love with Blind Jack and married him, much to the disgust of her relatives. When asked how it was that she could marry such a man, her woman-like reply was, " Because I could not be happy without him : his actions are so singular, and his spirit so manly and enterprising, that I could not help loving him." But, after all, Dolly was not so far wrong in her choice as her parents thought her. As the result pro\ < •< 1 . JOHN MF/IVALK, 1!<>.\!> MAKKK. 213 Metealt' hud in liim elements of success in life, which, even according to the world's estimate, made him eventually a very "good match," and the woman's clear sight in tli is case stood her in good stead. But before this marriage was consummated, Metcalf had wandered far and "seen" a good deal of the world, as lie termed it. He travelled on horseback to Whitby, and from thence he sailed for London, taking with him his fiddle, by the aid of which he continued to earn enough to maintain himself for several weeks in the 1 1 ietr< >] x )lis. Returning to Whitby, he sailed from thence to Newcastle to "see" some friends there, whom he had known at Harrogate while visiting that watering-place. He was welcomed by many families and spent an agreeable month, afterwards visiting Sunderland, still supporting himself by his violin playing. Then he returned to Whitby for his horse, and rode homeward alone to Knaresborough by Pickering, Malton, and York, over very bad roads, the greater part of which he had never before travelled upon, yet without once missing his way. When he arrived at York it was the dead of n in-lit, and he found the city gates at Middlethorp shut. They were of strong planks, with iron spikes fixed on the top; but throwing his horse's bridle-rein over one of the spikes, he climbed up, and by the help of a corner of the wall that joined the gates, he got safely over ; then opening them from the inside, he led his horse through. After another season at Harrogate he made a second visit to London, in the company of a North countryman who played the small pipes. He was kindly entertained l>\ Colour! Liddell, of Ravensworth Castle, who gave him a general invitation to his house. During this visit, \vhich was in 1730-1, Metcalf ranged freely over the metropolis and visited Maidenhead and Reading, re- turning by Windsor and Hampton Court, The Harro- gate season being at hand, he prepared to proceed thither Colonel Liddell, who was also about setting out for 214 JOHN METCALF, KOA1) MAKER. PART III. Harrogate, offering him a seat behind his coach. Metcalf thanked him, but declined the offer, observing that he could, with great ease, walk as far in a day as he, the Colonel, was likely to travel in his carriage ; besides, he preferred the walking. That a blind man should under- take to walk a distance of two hundred miles over an unknown road, in the same time that it took a gentleman to perform the same distance in his coach, dragged by post-horses, seems almost incredible ; yet Metcalf actually arrived at Harrogate before the Colonel, and that without hurrying by the way. The circumstance is at once accounted for by the deplorable state of the roads, which made travelling by foot on the whole considerably more expeditious than travelling by coach. The story is even extant of a man with a wooden leg being once offered a lift upon a stage coach ; but he declined, with " Thank'ee, I can't wait ; I'm in a hurry." And he stumped on, ahead of the stage-coach. The account of Metcalf 's journey on foot from London to Harrogate is not without a special bearing on our subject, as illustrative of the state of the roads at that time. He started on a Monday morning, about an hour before the Colonel in his carriage, and his suite, which consisted of sixteen servants on horseback. It was arranged that they should sleep that night at Welwyn, in Hertfordshire. Metcalf made his way to Barnet ; but a little north of that town, where the road branches off to St. Albans, he took the wrong way, and thus made a considerable detour. Nevertheless he arrived at Welwyn first, to the surprise of the Colonel. Next morning he set off as before, and reached Biggleswade ; but there he found the river swollen and no bridge provided to enable travellers to cross to the further side. He made a con- siderable circuit, in the hope of finding some method of crossing the stream, and was so fortunate as to fall in with a fellow wayfarer, who led the way across some planks, Metcalf following the sound of his feet. Arrived CHAP. V -KMIX MKTCALF, KOAD MAKK1I. 215 at the other side, Metcalf, taking some pence from liis pocket, said, "Here, my good fellow, take that and get a pint of beer." The stranger declined, saying he was \\ < 1 ( -ome to his services. Metcalf, however, pressed upon liis guide the small reward, when the other asked, " Pray, can you see very well ? " " Not remarkably well," said Metcalf. " My friend," said the stranger, " I do not mean to tithe you: I am the rector of this parish; so God bless you, and I wish you a good journey." Metcalf set forward again with the blessing, and reached his journey's end safely, again before the Colonel. On the Saturday after thus setting out from London, the tra- vellers reached Wetherby, where Colonel Liddell desired to rest until the Monday ; but Metcalf proceeded on to 1 1 arrogate, thus completing the journey in six days — the other arriving two days later. He now renewed his musical performances at Harro- gate, and was also in considerable request at the Ripon assemblies, which were attended by most of the families of distinction in that neighbourhood. When the season at Harrogate was over, he retired to Knaresborough with his young wife, and having purchased an old house, he had it pulled down and another built oh its site — he himself getting the requisite stones for the masonry out of the bed of the adjoining river. The uncertainty of the income derived from musical performances led him to think of following some more settled pursuit, now that he had a wife to maintain as well as himself. He ac- cordingly set up a four-wheeled and a one-horse chaise for the public accommodation — Harrogate up to that time having been without any vehicle for hire. The inn- keepers of the town soon followed his example, on which he gave up the trade and took to fish-dealing. He bought fish at the coast, which he conveyed on horseback to Leeds and other towns for sale. He continued very indefatigable at this business for some time, being on the road often for nights together ; but he was at length 216 .inllN METCALF, ROAD MAKER. I'AKT III. forced to abandon it in consequence of the inadequacy of the returns. He was therefore under the necessity of again taking up his violin ; and he was employed as a musician, in the Long Eoom at Harrogate, at the time of the outbreak of the Eebellion of 1745. The news of the rout of the Royal army at Preston- pans, and the intended march of the Highlanders south- wards, put a stop to business as well as pleasure, and caused a general consternation throughout the northern counties. The great bulk of the people were, however, comparatively indifferent to the measures of defence which were adopted; and but for the energy displayed by the country gentlemen in raising forces in support of the established government, the Stuarts might again have been seated on the throne of Britain. Among the county gentlemen of York who distinguished themselves on the occasion was William Thornton, Esq., of Thorn- ville Royal. The county having voted ninety thousand pounds for raising, clothing, and maintaining a body of four thousand men, Mr. Thornton proposed, at a public meeting held at York, that they should be embodied with the regulars and march with the King's forces to meet the Pretender in the field. This proposal was, however, 'over- ruled, the majority of the meeting resolving that the men should be retained at home for purposes merely of local defence. On this decision being come to, Mr. Thornton determined to raise a company of volunteers at his own expense, and to join the Royal army with such force as he could muster. .He then went abroad among his tenantry and servants, and endeavoured to induce them to follow him, but altogether without success. Still determined on raising his company, Mr. Thornton next cast about him for other means ; and who should he think of in his emergency but Blind Jack ! Metcalf had often played to his family at Christmas time, and Thornton knew him to be one of the most popular men in the aeighbourhood. Accordingly lie proceeded forthwith to CHAP. V. -loIIN MF/IVAI.F, !!<>AI> MAKKK. -17 Knaresborough : it was about the beginning of October, <>nlv a fortnight after the battle of Prestonpans, and, sending for Jack to his inn, Mr. Thornton told him of the state of affairs — that the French were coming to join the Scotch rebels — and that if the country were allowed to fall into their hands, no man's wife, daughter, nor sister would be safe. Jack's loyalty was at once kindled. If no one else would join Mr. Thornton, he would ! Thus enlisted — perhaps carried away by his love of daring adventure not less than by his feeling of patriotic duty — Metcalf immediately proceeded to enlist others, and in two days a hundred and forty men were obtained, from whom Mr. Thornton drafted sixty-four, the intended number of his company. The men were immediately drilled and brought into a state of as much efficiency as was practicable in the time ; and when they marched off to join General Wade's army at Boroughbridge, the ( 'aptain said to them on setting out, " My lads! you are going to form part of a ring-fence to the finest estate in the world ! " Blind Jack played a march at the head of the company, dressed in blue and buff, and in a gold- laced hat. The Captain said he would willingly give a hundred guineas for only one eye to put in Jack's head —he was such a useful, spirited, handy fellow. On arriving at Newcastle, Captain Thornton's company was united to Pulteney's regiment, one of the weakest. The army lay fora week in tents on the Moor. Winter had set in, and the snow lay thick on the ground; but intelligence arriving that Prince Charles, with his High- landers, was proceeding southwards by way of Carlisle, General Wade gave orders for the immediate advance of the army on Hexham, in the hope of intercepting them !>y that route. They set out on their march amidst hail and snow, and in addition to the obstruction caused by the weather, they had to overcome the difficulties occa- sioned by the badness of the roads. The men were oftei i three or four hours in marching a mile, the pioneers 218 JOHN METCALF, ROAD MAKER. TART III. having to fill up ditches and clear away many obstruc- tions in making a practicable passage for the artillery and baggage. The army was only able to reach Oving- ham, a distance of little more than ten miles, after fifteen hours' marching. The night was bitter cold, the ground was frozen so hard that but few of the tent-pins could be driven, and the men lay down upon the earth amongst their straw. Metcalf, to keep up the spirits of his company —for sleep was next to impossible — took out his fiddle and played lively tunes whilst the men danced round the straw, which they set on fire. Next day the army marched to Hexham ; but the rebels having already passed southward, General Wade retraced his steps to Newcastle to gain the high road leading to Yorkshire, whither he marched in all haste ; and for a time his army lay before Leeds on fields now covered with streets, some of which still bear the names of Wade-lane, Camp-road, and Camp-field, in consequence of the visit. On the retreat of Prince Charles from Derby, General Wade again proceeded to Newcastle, whilst the Duke of Cumberland hung upon the rear of the rebels along their line of retreat by Penrith and Carlisle. Wade's army proceeded by forced marches into Scotland, and at length came up with the High- landers at Falkirk. Metcalf continued with Captain Thornton and his company throughout all these march- ings and countermarchings, determined to be of service to his master if he could, and at all events to see the end of the campaign. At the battle of Falkirk he played his company to the field ; but it was a grossly-mis- managed battle on the part of the E.oyalist General, and the result was a total defeat. Twenty of Thornton's men were made prisoners, with the lieutenant and ensign : Captain Thornton himself only escaped by taking refuge in a poor woman's house in the town of Falkirk, where he lay hid for many days ; Metcalf return- ing to Edinburgh with the rest of the defeated army. CHAP. V. JOHN METCALF, ROAD MAKER. 219 Some of the Dragoon officers, hearing of Jack's escape, sent for him to head-quarters at Holy rood, to question liini about liis (1;i]>1;iin. One of them took occasion to speak ironically of Thornton's men, and asked Metcalf li<>\\ lie had contrived to escape. " Oh ! " said Jack, " I found it easy to follow the sound of the Dragoons' horses —they made such a clatter over the stones when flying from the Highlandmen." Another asked him how he, a blind man, durst venture upon such a service ; to which Metcalf replied, that had he possessed a pair of good eyes, perhaps he would not have come there to risk the loss of them by gunpowder. No more questions were asked, a n< I Jack withdrew ; but he was not satisfied about the disappearance of Captain Thornton, and he determined on going back to Falkirk, within the enemy's lines, to get news of him, and perhaps to rescue him, if that were still possible. The rest of the company were very much disheartened at the loss of their officers and so many of their comrades, and wished Metcalf to furnish them with the means of returning home. But he would not hear of such a thing, and strongly encouraged them to remain until, at all events, he had got news of the Captain. He then set out for Prince Charles's camp. On reaching the outposts of the English army, he was urged by the officer in com- mand to lay aside his project, which would certainly cost him his life. But Metcalf was not now to be dissuaded, and he was permitted to proceed, which he did in com- pany with one of the rebel spies, pretending that he wished to be engaged as a musician in the Prince's army. A woman whom they met returning to Edinburgh from the field of Falkirk, laden with plunder, gave Metcalf a token to her husband, who was Lord George Murray's cook, and this secured him an access to the Prince's quarters ; but, notwithstanding a most diligent search, he could hear nothing of his master. Unfortunately for him, a person who had seen him at Harrogate, pointed him out 220 JOHN METCALF, ROAD MAKER. MS M suspicious character, and he was seized and put in confinement for three days, after which he was tried by court martial; but as nothing could be alleged against him, he was acquitted, and shortly after made his escape from the rebel camp. On reaching Edinburgh, very much to his delight, he found Captain Thornton had safely arrived there before him. On the 30th of January, 1746, the Duke of Cumber- land reached Edinburgh, and put himself at the head of the Royal army, which proceeded northward in pursuit of the Highlanders. At Aberdeen, where the Duke gave a ball, Metcalf was found the only musician in camp who could play country dances, and he played to the company, standing on a chair, for eight hours — the Duke several times, as he passed him, shouting out " Thornton, play up ! " Next morning the Duke sent him a present of two guineas ; but as his Captain would allow him to receive no money while in his pay, Metcalf spent the gift, with the Captain's permission, in giving a treat to the Duke's two body servants. The battle of Culloden, so disastrous to the poor Highlanders, shortly after occurred ; on which Captain Thornton, Metcalf, and the Yorkshire Volunteer Company, proceeded home- wards. Metcalf 's young wife had been in great fears for the safety of her blind, fearless, and almost reckless partner ; but she received him with open arms, and his spirit of adventure being now considerably allayed, he determined to settle quietly down to the steady pursuits of business. During his stay in Aberdeen, Metcalf had made himself familiar with the articles of clothing manu- factured at that place, and he came to the conclusion that a profitable business might be carried on in buying them on the spot and selling them by retail to customers in Yorkshire. He accordingly proceeded to Aberdeen in the following spring, and bought a considerable stock of cotton and worsted stockings, which he found he could CHAP. V. .inllN HETCALF, ROAD MAKKH. ±M readily dispose of on liis return liomc. His knowledge of horseflesh- in \vliich he was, of course, mainly guided l»v his acute sense of feeling — also proved highly ser- viceable to him, and he bought considerable numbers of horses in Yorkshire for sale in Scotland, bringing back galloways in return. It is supposed that at the same time he carried on a profitable contraband trade in tea ami such like articles. After this he began a new line of business, that of common carrier between York and Kiiaresborough, plying the first stage-waggon on that road. He made the journey twice a week in summer and once a week in winter. He also undertook the con- veyance of army baggage, most other owners of carts at that time being afraid of soldiers, regarding them as a wild rough set, with whom it was dangerous to have any dealings. But Metcalf knew them better, and whilst he drove a profitable trade in carrying their baggage from town to town, they never did him any harm. By these means, he very shortly succeeded in realising a considerable store of savings, besides being able to main- tain his family in respectability and comfort. Metcalf, however, had not yet entered upon the main business of his life. The reader will already have observed how strong of heart and resolute of purpose he was. During his adventurous career he had acquired a more than ordinary share of experience of the world. Stone blind as he had been from his childhood, he had not been able to study books, but he had carefully studied men. He could read characters with wonderful quick- ness, rapidly taking stock, as he called it, of those with whom he came in contact. In his youth, as we have seen, he could follow the hounds on horse or on foot, and managed to be in at the death with the most expert riders. His travels about the country as a guide to those who could see, as a musician, soldier, chapman, fish- dealer, horse-dealer, and waggoner, had given him a perfectly familiar acquaintance with the northern roads. 222 JOHN METCALF, ROAD MAKER. PART III. He could measure timber or hay in the stack, and rapidly reduce their contents to feet and inches after a mental process of his own. Withal he was endowed with an extraordinary activity and spirit of enterprise, which, had his sight been spared him, would probably have rendered him one of the most extraordinary men of his age. A s it was, Metcalf now became one of the greatest of its road-makers and bridge-builders. About the year 1765 an Act was passed empowering a turnpike-road to be constructed between Harrogate and Boroughbridge. The business of contractor had not yet come into existence, nor was the art of road-making much understood ; and in a remote country place such as Knaresborough the surveyor had some difficulty in finding persons capable of executing the necessary work. The shrewd Metcalf discerned in the proposed enterprise the first of a series of public roads of a similar kind throughout the northern counties, for none knew better than he did how great was the need of them. He determined, therefore, to enter upon this new line of business, and offered to Mr. Ostler, the master surveyor, to construct three miles of the proposed road between Minskip and Fearnsby. Ostler knew the man well, and having the greatest confidence in his abilities, he let him the contract. Metcalf sold his stage-waggons and his interest in the carrying business between York and Knaresborough, and at once proceeded with his new undertaking. The materials for metaling the road were to be obtained from one gravel-pit for the whole length, and he made his arrangements on a large scale accord- ingly, hauling out the ballast with unusual expedition and economy, at the same time proceeding with the formation of the road at all points ; by which means he was enabled the first to complete his contract, to the entire satisfaction of the surveyor and trustees. This was only the first of a vast number of similar projects on which Metcalf was afterwards engaged, CHAP.V. JOHN MK'IVALF, 1!OA1> MAKKII. 223 extending over a period of more than thirty years. By the time that he had finished the road, the building of a bridge at Boroughbridge was advertised, and Metcalf sent in his tender with many others. At the same time lie frankly stated that, though he wished to undertake the work, he had not before executed anything of the kind. His tender being on the whole the most favour- able, the trustees sent for Metcalf, and on his appearing before them, they asked him what he knew of a bridge. He replied that he could readily describe his plan of the one they proposed to build, if they would be good enough to write down his figures. " The span of the arch, 18 feet," said he, "being a semi-circle, makes 27 : the arch-stones must be a foot deep, which, if multiplied by 27, will be 486 ; and the basis will be 72 feet more. This for the arch; but it will require good backing, for which purpose there are proper stones in the Old Roman wall at Aldborough, which maybe used for the purpose, if you please to give directions to that effect." It is doubtful whether the trustees were able to follow his rapid calculations ; but they were so much struck by his readiness and apparently complete knowledge of the work he proposed to execute, that they gave him the contract to build the bridge ; and he completed it within the stipulated time in a satisfactory and workmanlike manner. He next agreed to make the mile and a half of turn- pi ke-road between his native town of Knaresborough and Harrogate — ground with which he was more than ordi- narily familiar. Walking one day over a portion of the ground over which the road was to be made, whilst still covered with grass, he told the workmen that he thought it differed from the ground adjoining it, arid he directed them to try for stone or gravel underneath ; and, strange to say, not many feet down, the men came upon the stones of an old Roman causeway, from which he obtained much valuable material for the making of 224 .lolIX METCALF, ROAD MAKER. PART III. his new road. At another part of the contract there was a bog to he crossed, and the surveyor thought it impos- sible to make a road over it. Metcalf assured him that he could readily accomplish it ; on which the other offered, if he succeeded, to pay him for the straight road the price that he would have to pay if the road were constructed round the bog. Metcalf set to work accord- ingly, and had a large quantity of furze and ling laid upon the bog, over which he spread layers of gravel. The plan answered effectually, and when the materials had become consolidated, it proved one of the best parts of the road. It would be tedious to describe in detail the construc- tion of the various roads and bridges which Metcalf subsequently executed, but a brief summary of the more important will suffice. In Yorkshire, he made the roads between Harrogate and Harewood Bridge ; between Chapeltown and Leeds; between Broughton and Ad- dingham ; between Mill Bridge and Halifax ; between Wakefield and Dewsbury ; between Wakefield and Don- caster ; between Wakefield, Huddersfield, and Saddle- worth (the Manchester road); between Standish and Thurston Clough ; between Huddersfield and Highmoor ; between Huddersfield and Halifax, and between Knares- borough and Wetherby. In Lancashire also he made a large extent of roads, which were of the greatest import- ance in opening up the communications of that count v. Previous to their construction, almost the only means of communication between districts were by horse-track's and mill-roads, of sufficient width to enable a laden horse to pass along them with a pack of goods or a sack of corn slung across its back. Metcalf s principal roads in Lan- cashire were those constructed by him between Bury and Blackburn, with a branch to Accrington ; between Bury and Haslingden ; and between Haslingden and Accrington, with a branch to Blackburn. He also made some highly important main roads connecting York si lire CHAP.V, .lollN .MKTCAU-\ K<>AI> MAKKR. 'JL'f, and Lam-ashire with each other ;it many parts : as, for instaiicr, those between Skipton, Colne, and Burnley; and I »et ween Docklane Head and Ashtoii-uiider-Lyne. The roads from Ashton to Stockport and from Stockport to Mottram Langdale were also his work. He was, besides, extensively employed in the same way in the counties of Cheshire and Derby ; constructing the i « >ads between Macclesfield and Chapel-le-Frith ; between \Vlia ley and Buxtou ; between Congleton and the Red Bull (entering Staffordshire), and in various other directions. The total mileage of turnpike-roads thus constructed by him was about one hundred and eighty miles, for which he received in all about sixty-five thou- sand pounds. The making of these roads also involved the building of many bridges, retaining- walls, and cul- verts. We believe it was generally admitted of the works <•< instructed by Metcalf that they well stood the test of tin ie and use ; and, with a degree of justifiable pride, he was afterwards accustomed to point to his bridges, when others were tumbling during floods, and boast that none of his had fallen. This extraordinary man not only made the highways which were designed for him by other surveyors, but himself personally surveyed and laid out many of the most important roads which he constructed, in difficult and mountainous parts of Yorkshire and Lancashire. One who personally knew Metcalf thus wrote of him during his lifetime : " With the assistance only of a long staff, I have several times met this man traversing the roads, asrrnding steep and rugged heights, exploring valleys and investigating their several extents, forms, and situations, so as to answer his designs in the best manner. The plans which he makes, and the estimates he prepares, are done in a method peculiar to him- self, and of which he cannot well convey the meaning to others. His abilities in tin's respect are, nevertheless, so great that he finds constant employment, Most of VOL. I. Q 226 JOHN METCALF, li<>Al> MAKKIt. PABT III. the roads over the Peak in Derbyshire have heeii altered by his directions, particularly those in the vicinity <>F Buxton ; and he is at this time constructing a new one betwixt Wilmslow and Congleton, to open a rommuni- JuHN METCALF. [By T. D. Scott..] cation with the great London road, without being obliged to pass over the mountains. I have met this blind pro- jector while engaged in making his survey. He was alone as usual, and, amongst other conversation, I made some inquiries respecting this new road. It was really astonishing to hear with what accuracy he described its .KHIN MKTcAi.r, i;»».\i> MAKKII. ^-JT course and the nature of the different soils fchroilgh which il was conducted. Having meiit i<>nreiri\ of Manelu-ster,' vol. i., pp. 172-174. Paper read 17th April, 17-L' 228 JOHN METCALF, ROAD MAKKK. PART Til. was, therefore, necessary for him to surmount the diffi- culty in some other way, though he remained firm in his resolution not to adopt the plan proposed by the surveyor. After much cogitation he appeared again before the trustees, and made this proposal to them : that he should make the road across the marshes after his own plan, and then, if it should be found not to answer, he would be at the expense of making it over again after the surveyor's proposed method. This was agreed to ; and as he had undertaken to make nine miles of the road within ten months, he immediately set to work with all despatch. Nearly four hundred men were employed upon the work at six different points, and their first operation was to cut a deep ditch along either side of the intended road, and throw the excavated stuff inwards so as to raise it to a circular form. His greatest difficulty was in .getting the stones laid to make the drains, there being no firm footing for a horse in the more boggy places. The Yorkshire clothiers, who passed that way to Huddersfield market — by no means a soft-spoken race — ridiculed Metcalf s proceedings, and declared that he and his men would some day have to be dragged out of the bog by the hair of their heads ! Undeterred, however, by sarcasm, he persistently pursued his plan of making the road practicable for laden vehicles ; but he strictly enjoined his men for the present to keep his manner of proceeding a secret. His plan was this. He ordered heather and ling to be pulled from the adjacent ground, and after binding it together in little round bundles, which could be grasped with the hand, these bundles were placed close together in rows in the direction of the line of road, after which other similar bundles were placed transversely over I hciii; and when all had been pressed well down, stone and gravel were led on in broad-wheeled wagons, and spread over the bundles, so as 1o make a linn and level CIIAI-. V. .InllX MF/IVALF. IK >AI > MAKER. 229 way. When the first load was brought and laid on, and the horses reached the firm ground again in safety, loud cheers were set up by the persons who had assembled in the expectation of seeing both horses and waggons disappear in the bog. The whole length was finished in like manner, and it proved one of the best, and even the driest, parts of the road, standing in very little need of repair for nearly twelve years after its construction. The plan adopted by Metcalf, we need scarcely point out, was precisely similar to that afterwards adopted by George Stephenson, under like circumstances, when constructing the railway across Chat Moss. It consisted simply in a large extension of the bearing surface, by which, in fact, the road was made to float upon the surface of the bog ; and the ingenuity of the expe- dient proved the practical shrewdness and mother-wit of the blind Metcalf, as it afterwards illustrated the promptitude as well as skill of the clear-sighted George Stephenson. Metcalf was upwards of seventy years old before he left off road-making. He was still hale and hearty, wonderfully active for so old a man, and always full of enterprise. Occupation was absolutely necessary for his comfort, and even to the last day of his life he could not bear to be idle. Whilst engaged in road-making in Cheshire, he brought his wife to Stockport for a time, and there she died, after thirty-nine years of happy married life. One of Metcalf's daughters became married to a person engaged in the cotton business at Stockport, and, as that trade was then very brisk, Metcalf himself com- menced it in a small way. He began with six spinning- jennies and a carding-engine, to which he afterwards added looms for weaving calicoes, jeans, and velveteens. But trade was fickle, and finding that he could not sell his yarns except at a loss, he made over his jennies to his son-in-law, and again went on with his road- making. The last line which he constructed was one of 230 .101 IX METfALF. KOAD MAKKH. PART the most difficult lie had ever undertaken, — that between IlMslin^lrii ;ind Accrington, with a branch road to Bury. Numerous canals being under construction at the same time, employment was abundant and wages rose, so that though he honourably fulfilled his contract, and was paid for it the sum of 3f)()0/., he found himself a loser of exactly 40/. after his two years' labour and anxiety. He completed the road in 1702, when he was seventy-five years of age, after which he retired to his farm at Spofforth, near Wetherby, where for some 'ALP'S HOUSE AT SPOFFORTH. [By E. M. Wimperis, after a sketch by Tbos. Sutclifle, Leeds.] years longer he continued to do a little business in his old line, buying and selling hay and standing wood, and superintending the operations of his little farm. During the later years of his career he occupied himself in dictating to an amanuensis an account of the incidents in his remarkable life;1 and finally, in the year 1810, 1 « The Life of John Metcalf.' Dedi- cated by him "to the Nobility and Gentry usually resorting to Harrogate Spa," Published by Edward Bnines. Leeds, 1801. There are many per- sons still living in the neighbourhood of Knaivslioroiigli who well remember Metcalf. When our friend Mr. Sut- cliffe visited the place he found many full of their reminiscences of Blind Jack. One person had been a road- maker under him, and lie says -lack would poke alxnit will) his long stick, and wherever there was a hollow CHAP. V. JOHN Mi'/iVALK, I;<>AI> MAKKU. 281 tin's stroiiir-lienrted juicl resolute man — his life's work over — laid down his stall' and peacefully departed in the iiiiietv-iliinl year of his ;ILIV : leaving behind him four children, twenty grand-children, and ninety great grand- children. The roads constructed by Metcalf and others had the effect of greatly improving the communications of York- si n'rc and Lancashire, and opening up those counties to the trade then flowing into them from all directions. But the administration of the highways and turnpikes l>eiiiir entirely local, their good or bad management depending upon the public spirit and enterprise of the uvntlemeii of the locality, it frequently happened that whilst the roads of one county were exceedingly good, those of the adjoining county were altogether execrable. Thus it was long before road-improvement penetrated the slow-going counties to the south of London. Almost within the memory of the existing generation there was no carriage-road between London and Horsham, but only a horse-track, impassable in winter. Even in the immediate vicinity of the metropolis the Surrey roads remained comparatively unimproved. Mr. Nash, one of the trustees, when examined before a Committee of the House of Commons in 1786, stated that the turnpike- road between Camberwell and the Elephant and Castle place in tin- road he would find it out, and say " Here, let's ha' some in here!" One old lady told Mr. Sut- clit't'e that when her mother was first married she \vas standing at the door, when she saw .lack coming up the street ; and, having heard that he could tell when he passed anyone, she remained perfectly still; but -lack had im sooner uot near to her than he siid, "<} MAKEK. I 'ART III. had in several places been hardly passable, and the pitching in the holes and ruts had broken the perches of several carriages. The roads through the interior of Kent were no better. When Mr. Rennie, the engineer, was engaged in sur- veying the Weald with a yiew to the cutting of a canal through it in 1802, he found the country almost destitute of practicable roads, although so near to the metropolis on the one hand and to the sea-coast on the other. The interior of the county was then comparatively untrn- versed, except by hands of smugglers, who kept the inhabitants in a state of constant terror. Sydney Smith, in reviewing those times, says that before the age of stone-breaking Macadam and of railways, it took him nine hours in travelling the forty miles between Taun- ton and Bath, during which he suffered between ten and twelve thousand severe contusions, whilst his clothes were rubbed to pieces by being jolted about in the stage- coach basket, which was without springs. " Whatever miseries I suffered," he adds, " there was no post to whisk my complaints for a single penny to the remotest corners of the empire ; and yet, in spite of all these privations, I lived on quietly, and am now ashamed that I was not more discontented, and utterly surprised that all these changes and inventions did not occur two centuries ago." In an agricultural report on the county of North- ampton as late as the year 18 13,1 it is stated that the only way of getting along some of the main lines of road in rainy weather was by swimming! "For instance," says the reporter, "between Daventry and Banbury are several unpleasant, if not dangerous fords on the Char- well, which I crossed in July. I was in water for two hundred yards in one and for a considerable distance in others without knowing the bottom, or the road." In 1 f General View of the Agriculture of the County of Northampton. Drawn up for the consideration of the Board of Agriculture :md Infernal Improvement.' By William Pitt. London, 1813, p. 231. CII.M-. V. .lollX MKTCALr. 1M).\D MAKKII. 233 I lie neighbourhood <>f tlir city of Lincoln the communi- cations were little U'tter, and there still stands upon \\hat is called Lincoln Heath — though a heath no longer —a curious memorial ol'tlie past in the shape of Dunstan Pillar, a column seventy feet high, erected about the middle of last century in the midst of the then dreary, UtiTen waste, for the purpose of serving as a mark to wayfarers by d;iy and a beacon to them by night.1 At that time the Heath was not only uncultivated, but it was also unprovided with a road across it. When the late Lady Robert Manners visited Lincoln from her residence at Bloxholm, she was accustomed to send forward a groom to examine some track, that on his return lie might be able to report one that was practi- cable. Travellers frequently lost themselves upon this heath. Thus a family, returning from a ball at Lincoln, strayed from the track twice in one night, and they were obliged to remain there till morning. All this is now (•hanged, and Lincoln Heath has become covered with excellent roads and thriving farmsteads. " This Dunstan Pillar," says Mr. Pusey, in his review of the agriculture of Lincolnshire, in 1843, " lighted up no longer time ago for so singular a purpose, did appear to me a striking witness of the spirit of industry which, in our own days, has reared the thriving homesteads around it, and spread a mantle of teeming vegetation to its very base. And it was certainly surprising to discover at once the finest farming I had ever seen and the only land lighthouse ever raised. Now that the pillar has ceased to cheer the wayfarer, it may serve as a beacon to encourage other landowners in converting their dreary moors into similar scenes of thriving industry." 2 1 The pillar was erected by Squire heard of it, lie exclaimed, "What Dashwooa in 1751; the lantern on — what ! Lincolnshire ? All flats, fogs its summit was regularly lighted lill and feus — Eh, Eh ! " 1788, and occasionally till 1808, when 2 'Essay on the Agricultural Im- it was thn>\vn down and never re- j>n >\enients of Lincolnshire.' By Phi- placed. The Earl of Buckingham lip Pusey, M.P. — 'Journal of the afterwards mounted a statoe of GI Agricultural Society of England, 111. on the top. When the King 1843.' 234 JOHN METCALF, ROAD MAKER. PART TIL In all this series of improvements, roads have played an important part. They have brought the population nearer to each other in all respects, and thoroughly opened up the national resources. The several stages of improvement by which the pack-horse has been super- seded by the waggon, the waggon by the coach, and both by the railway train — in the course of which Brad- shaw the highwayman has been succeeded by Bradshaw the railway guide printer — mark the steps of a silent revolution which has affected not only the physical but the moral condition of the entire population of the empire. LAND LIGHTHOUSE ON LINCOLN HEATH. [By Percival Skelton.] BRIDGES, HARBOURS, AND FERRIES. ANCIENT BRITISH BRIDGE ON DARTMOOR. [By Percival Skelton, after bis oiiginal Drawing.] BRIDGES, HARBOURS, AND FEEKIES. CHAPTER I. OLD BRIDGES. I\ a country such as Britain, full of running streams, bridges form an essential part of every system of roads connecting the various districts of the kingdom with each other. The west wind is constantly scattering showers over its undulating surface, the surplus waters finding their way to the sea along the valleys extend- ing in all directions from the central high land dis- tricts ; so that it is impossible to travel any distance in England without having to cross many rivers and rivulets, which, though easily fordable in summer, become impassable torrents in winter. So long as the population was scanty and the inter- course between different parts of the country of a limited character, the necessity for bridges, by which the continuity of the tracks was preserved, was probably little felt. The shallow and broad parts of rivers, pro- vided with a gravelly bottom, were naturally selected as the places for fords, which could be easily waded by men or horses when the water was low ; and even in the worst case, when the waters were out, they could be crossed by swimming. Towns and villages sprang up at these fordable places, along the main lines of communi- cation, the names of many of which survive to this day 238 OLD BRIDGES. and indicate their origin. Tims, along thr, old line of road between London and Dover, there was first Deep Ford, now Deptford, at the crossing of the Unveiis- bonrrie — next Crayford on the river Cray — Dartford on the Darent — and Aylesford on the Medway, upon the line of the pilgrim's road between the west of England and Becket's shrine at Canterbury. In all other direc- tions round London it was the same. Thus, eastward, there was Stratford l on the Lea, Romford on the Bourne, and Chelmsford on the Chelmer. Westward were Brent- ford and Twyford on the Brent, Watford on the Colne, and Oxenford or Oxford on the Isis.2 And along the line of the Great North Road, crossing as it did the large streams descending from the high lands of the centre of England towards the North Sea, the fords were very numerous. At Hertford the Maran was crossed, at Bedford the Ouse, at Stamford the Welland, and so on through the northern counties of England. As population and travelling increased, the expedient of the Bridge was adopted, to enable rivers of moderate width to be crossed dryshod. An uprooted tree thrown across a narrow stream was probably the first bridge : and he would be considered a potent man in his way who laid down a couple of such trees, fixed upon them a cross-planking, and so enabled foot-passengers and pack-horses to cross from one bank to the other. But these loose timber structures were very apt to lie swept away by the rains of autumn, and thus the con- tinuous track would again become completely broken. In a rough district, where rocky streams with rugged banks had to be crossed, such interruptions must ne- cessarily have led to considerable inconvenience, and hence arose the idea of tying the rocky gorges together 1 There are numerous 1 nidges in England at places called Stratford or Stretlbrd — literally the lord on the 2 Oxenford was the sj ot at which the Thames, then called the Isis, was most easily fordable for cattle. — H. street or road, the lord being after- Brand ret h, Ksq., in ' Archseologia,1 wards superseded by the bridge. [ vol. xxvii., 97. CHAP. i. <>LI> IJIIIIMIKS. 939 l>v means of stone bridges of a more solid mid permanent character. The first of such bridges in Britain were probably tliose erected across tli<> streams of Dartmoor. The rivers of that district are rapid and turbulent in winter, and come sweeping down from the hills with great fury. The deep gorges worn by them in the rocks amidst which they run, prevented their being forded in the usual way; and the ordinary expedient of bridging the gaps in the track by means of felled trees thrown across, was found impracticable in a district where no trees grew. But there was an abundance of granite blocks, which not only afforded the means of forming solid piers, but were also of sufficient size to be laid in a tabular form from one pier to another, so as to constitute a solid enough road for horsemen and foot-passengers. Hence tlie Egyptian-looking Cyclopean bridges of Dartmoor— a series of structures most probably coeval with the building of Stonehenge, and of the greatest possible interest. One of the largest of these bridges is that crossing the East Dart, near Post Bridge, on the road between Moreton and Tavistock, of which we have above given a representation. Though the structure is rude, it is yet of a most durable character, otherwise it could not have withstood the fury of the Dart for full twenty centuries, as it most probably has done. The bridge is of three piers, each consisting of six layers of granite- slabs above the foundation. One of the side piers, by an-ident or design, has unfortunately been displaced, and the tabular slabs originally placed upon it now lie in tlu- bottom of the river. Each of the table stones is about fifteen feet long and six feet wide, and the whole structure is held together merely by the weight of the blocks. There are other more perfect specimens of these Cyclo- pean bridges in existence on Dartmoor, but none of a size equal to that above delineated. For instance, there is one of three openings, in a very complete state, in 240 OLD BRIDGES. TAUT IV. the neighbourhood of Sittaford Tor, spanning the North Teign : it is twenty-seven feet long, with a roadway seven feet wide, and, like the others, is entirely formed of granite blocks. There is another over the Cowsic, near Two Bridges, presenting five openings : this bridge is thirty-seven feet long and four feet broad, but it is only about three feet and a half above the surface ; nevertheless it has firmly withstood the moorland torrents of centuries. There is a fourth on the Blackabrook, consisting of a single stone or clam. We believe that no structures re- sembling these bridges have been found in any other part of Britain, or even in Brittany, so celebrated for its aboriginal remains. The only bridges at all approach- ing them in character are found in ancient Egypt, to which indeed they bear a striking resemblance. Although the Komans were great bridge-builders, it is not certain that they erected any arched stone bridges l during their occupation of England, though it is probable that they built numerous timber bridges upon stone piers. The most important were those of Rochester, Newcastle, and London. Not many years since, when a railway-bridge was being built across the Medway at Rochester, the workmen came upon the foundations of the ancient structure in a place where no such foundations were looked for, and their solidity caused considerable interruption to the work. So at Newcastle, when the old bridge over the Tyne was taken down in 1771, the foundations of the piers, which were laid on piles of fine black oak, in a perfect state of preservation, were found to be of Roman masonry. Mr. Wright is, however, of opinion j considered to be Roman. The masonry that some of the Roman bridges in England had arches ; and lie says Mr. Roach Smith has pointed out a very fine semi-circular arched bridge over the little river Cock, near its en- of this bridge is massive, and remark- ably well preserved ; the stones are carefully squared and sharply cut, and in some of them the mason's mark, an R, is distinctly visible. The roadway was very narrow. — trance into the Wharfe, about halt'-a- mile Mow Tadcaster, on the Roman ; ' rrhc Celt, the Roman, and the road leading southward from that ; Saxon,' 2nd Ed., p. 187. town (the ancient Calcaria), which he ClIAl'. I. ()!. 1) 1',1,'IIHJKS. 241 Similar bridi^vs were erected at different points along tlir lines of the Roman military roads wherever a river had to be crossed; and it is probable that the town of PonU'f'ract (Pons fractus) derived its name from a broken Roman bridge in that neighbourhood, the remains ol which were visible in the time of Leland. The first arched bridge of stone erected in England is said to have been the singular-looking structure still standing in the immediate neighbourhood of Croyland Abbey in the Fens. As the monks were in early times the YLAND BRIDGE. [Prom the Topographia Britannica ] principal agriculturists, gardeners, and land-reclaimers, so they were the principal church and bridge-builders. This triangular bridge at Croyland, however, could have been erected for no particularly useful purpose, but rather as a curiosity; and it has been conjectured that it was reared out of the - offerings of pilgrims to the shrine of St. Guthlac, the saint of the Fens, as VOL. I. R 242 OLD BRIDGES. PART IV. an emblem of the Trinity.1 The bridge stands on three piers, from each of which springs the segment of a circular arch, all the segments meeting at a point in the centre. It is situated at the junction of the three principal streets of the little town, which was originally built on piles ; and along those streets the waters of the Nene, the Welland, and the Catwater respectively, used to flow and meet under the bridge. Carrying out the Trinitarian illustration, each pier of the bridge was said to stand in a different county : one in Lincoln, the second in Cambridge, and the third in Northampton. The road over the bridge is so steep that horses can scarcely cross it, and they usually go under it ; indeed the arches underneath are now quite dry. This curious structure is referred to in an ancient charter of the year 943, although the precise date of its erection is unknown. On the south-west wing, facing the London road, is a sitting figure, carved in stone, very much battered about the face by the mischievous boys of the place. The figure has a globe or orb in its hand. It is supposed to be a statue of King Ethelbald, though it is commonly spoken of in the village as Oliver Cromwell holding a penny loaf ! The first road-bridge of which we have any authentic account is that erected at Stratford over the river Lea, several miles to the east of London. The road into Essex by the Old Ford across the Lea is noticed as early as the seventh century, when it appears that the body of St. Erkenwald was stopped there by the flood while being conveyed from the abbey of Barking, where he 1 The famous bridge at Croyland is j money, than for any real use ; for the greatest curiosity in Britain, if I though it stands in a bog, and must not in Europe. It is of a triangular form, rising from three segments of a circle, and meeting at a point at top. It seems to have been built under the direction of the abbots, rather to excite admiration and furnish a pretence for granting indulgences and collecting have cost a vast sum, yet it is steep in its ascent and descent that neither carriages nor horsemen can get over it. — ' History and Antiqui- ties of Croyland Abbey.' Bibliotheca Tc>}K>graphica Britannica, No. 11. CHAP. I. OLD BKIlx.Ks. 243 died, for interment in London. It appears that many lives were afterwards lost in crossing the Old Ford, and amongst those who narrowly escaped drowning was Matilda, Queen-Consort of Henry I. To prevent tin's great danger to travellers, the good Queen directed two bridges to be built over the two branches of the Lea — one at Bow, the other at Channelsea, connected by a gravel causeway ; and she bequeathed certain manors and a mill to the abbess of Barking for their main- tenance and repair. The bridges were erected some time between the years 1100, when Matilda became Queen, and 1118, the year of her death; and they are sup- posed to have been named " de Arcubus," or the Bows, because of their arched form. Stowe says, "the bridge (of Stratford-le-Bow) was arched like a bow ; a rare piece of work, for before that the like had never been seen in England." Notwithstanding the ample endowment of the bridges, and the additions made to it by successive benefactors, their repairs seem to have been sadly neglected, and the approaches were often found impassable. The crowns of the arches became worn into deep ruts, and they must shortly have fallen in, had not one Hugh Pratt, who lived in the neighbourhood in the time of King- John, contrived, by begging aid from the passers by, to keep the structures in repair. His son continued the practice, and even obtained leave to levy tolls, amongst which we find the following : " For every cart carrying corn, wood, coal, &c., one penny; of one carrying tasel, two pence; and of one carrying a dead Jew, eight pence." ' At a still later period, we find collections made in all the churches throughout the City, for the purpose of repairing Bow Bridge, as " a work of great necessity for the passage of victual unto the inhabitants;" and in the 1 IVoltalily the last toll was ini- .lewisli burying-ground situated to posed on the bodies of .lews in j»r<»- the eastward <>f the bridge. of removal for interment in a R 2 I'AKT IV. reiu'ii <>t I']Ii/;ilietli we find M letter, signed h\' Burlciu'h. Lincoln, Sussex. Miid other Lnrds ot the Privy (Council. t'> the ( ' M' I >t >I'M 1 1 ' il i . MC|\ i low ledu.'! 1 1 ;_[' tliitt such collection llMd heell ll!M«li' ot' the t 'l'ee-\\ | | | 1 to he dl'MWl) into M ] H'eeei leht |(»r C( >]|| | >el 1 1)1*^' tile e|tl/.ell> Ml MllV llltlU'e tlllie t<> he M! the cost o| |'e ] >M ! I'l I !!_!' the Slid hl'id-e.1 l)iiw [>ridu;'e \\';i^ illlollest KillMhK M structure it MS M rnre jueee tit' \\'til'l\. It J)OSSCSS(_'(1 llti Ll'l'eMt lllel'lt 111 .III II I'd I 1 I et't 1 1 I'M I [itillit tit' Y1CW. MS Will he ohviollS I'l'tilll the folloWlllLI1 -il I »| inrt Mi'j' >in;ill Mlid lo\\ -MI'cheil opening's, with hl;_rh I'M 1 t Ie) i |e I 1 1 > (iif the enclosure M| ;| I'OMdwMY i»| tile ||Ml'- l'o\\e>t |io>sih|e d I 1 1 le 1 1 >l< M I >. The jtlcl'S \\efe |>r<>\lded 245 with hirire ; i uvular projections, not only to divide the force of the current but to admit of spaces for foot- pnsse n^ers to retire into, and thus avoid danger from e;ir rinses and horsemen when passing along the narrow roadway. Indeed, its extreme narrowness, notwith- standing the attempts made to widen it, eventually led to the removal of the bridge, and the substitution of a new one of a single arch on the same site some twenty years ago. The great convenience of bridges gradually led to their erection along many of the principal routes through the country. In the first place they superseded fords; and when the art of bridge-building had become more advanced, they superseded ferries — always an incon- venient, and often a dangerous, method of crossing rapid rivers. The bridge brought the inhabitants of certain districts into immediate connection with those on the opposite bank of the river flowing between them, and enabled them freely to hold intercourse and exchange produce with each other; and the public advantages of this improved means of communication were found so irreat as to lead many benevolent and thoughtful men, in those early days, to bequeath large sums of money, for the purpose of building and maintaining bridges ; in like manner as public benefactors, in after- times, left money to build and endow churches and hos- pitals. Yet popular tradition in some places attributes these structures to a very different origin. Thus the fine old bridge of three arches over the river Lune at K i rkby Lonsdale, in Westmoreland, is said to have been the work of the devil.1 The religious orders seem early to have taken in 1 Il)>rar. The inconveniently narrow, like all the liridiie is very lofty, and of excellent i old bridges. It is evidently of the workmanship. It consists of thin- Norman period, and the erection of a semi-circular ril>l>cd arches, the centre very clever architect, one Ix'iiiir much higher than the -'•in OLD lillNMJKS. I'AUT IV. hand the erection and maintenance of bridges, and we owe to the old Churchmen the finest structures of this kind still extant, many others having been superseded by modern works. An order called the Brothers of the Bridge was founded by St. Benezet, the builder of the noble bridge at Avignon early in the thirteenth century; and the brethren spread into England, and went from one work to another, building bridges and chapels thereon, — the provision of a bridge-chantry characterizing nearly all the early structures in this country. Indeed, the architecture of the early bridges in many respects resembled that of the early cathedrals. From the point at which the piers rose above the level of the stream, ribs of stone usually spanned the openings from one pier to the other, precisely similar to the Gothic arching of cathedrals and vaults of chapter-houses; and it is most probable that the bridges and cathedrals were built by the same class of workmen. One of the finest of such bridges was that erected by A 1 )bot Bernard over the Trent at Burton, until recently the longest in England. It was 1545 feet in length, and consisted of thirty-four arches, built of squared freestone, — a most useful and substantial structure. Another old bridge of the same period is that over the Wensum at Norwich, still called Bishop's Bridge, a sin- gular-looking old building of patched-up stone and flint, erected in 1295. It consists of three arches, inside of which are some grotesque heads and remains of old ornamental work. Fairs used formerly to be held on it at Easter and Whitsuntide, as was the practice on several other old bridges. At Leeds the weekly cloth- market was held on the old bridge at the foot of Briggate, some of the old arches of which are still in existence ; the clothiers being summoned to assemble by the ringing of a bell in the old bridge-chapel, when they exposed their cloth for sale on the parapets. But the bridge was so narrow, and the market caused so great CHAP. I. OLD 247 jin obstruction, that at length a special clotli-liall was built, to which the clothiers removed about the end of last century. The erection of Wade Bridge over the river Camel, in Cornwall, is an example of the origin of many of these structures in early times. The benevolent vicar of Kgloshayle, lamenting the number of lives that were annually lost in crossing the ferry, determined to raise a fund sufficient to build a bridge, and success crowned his efforts. It was erected in 1485, and claimed the distinction, with Burton, of being the longest in Eng- land. It consisted of seventeen arches, and was a highly picturesque object, though it has since been replaced by a more convenient structure. The vicar must have been a man of great energy, for it is recorded of him that he deigned the bridge and worked diligently upon it until it was finished.1 At his death he left an endowment of 20/. a vear towards its maintenance. . Rochester Bridge was an important part of the great highway between London and the Continent, and a Eoman timber roadway on stone piers formed part of the ancient Watling-street. The bridge long con- tinued to be of timber, and we find Simon de Mont- fort burning it down in 1264. Twenty years later, having been repaired in the interval, it was seriously dam; i god by the breaking up of the ice, the force of which, rushing down the Medway, carried away several of the piers. It was patched up from time to time until the reign of Ivlwarcl III., when the gallant Sir Eobert Ki miles, who had raised himself by his valour from the rank of a private soldier to that of a commander in the roval army during the wars in France, returning to England, and determining to leave behind him some 1 It is said lit- 1i;ul great difficulty in siruriii'.: foundations, owing to the sandy natuiv of the ground, until he hail ivroiirse to "packs of wool," which In- placed under the piers. The same tradition was handed down of London Bridge, but the expedient could not possibly have answered the porpon. 248 OLD BRIDGES. L'AHT IV. useful work by which his name should be held in kindly remembrance by his countrymen, resolved upon the erection of an arched stone bridge over the Medway, and it was accordingly built at his charge and made over by him to the public. It was completed in the fifteenth year of the reign of Richard II., and was con- sidered one of the finest bridges at that time in Eng- land. It had eleven arches, resting on substantial piers, the foundations of which were blown up, not many years since, by the mines sprung by the Royal Engineers, at a considerable expenditure of gunpowder.1 A chapel was afterwards erected by Sir John Cobham at its east end, where collections were made in the usunl manner for maintaining the structure. But it appears that the monies thus collected had been insufficient, and the bridge shortly fell into decay; for about a century after its erection (in 1489) we find John Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury, adopting the extraordinary expedient of publishing a remission from purgatory for forty days, of all manner of fines, to such persons as should give any- thing towards the repairs, as the bridge had by that time become very much broken. Bishop- Auckland Bridge over the Wear, and Newcastle Bridge over the Tyne, were similar structures, maintained by the voluntary offerings collected by the priests who ministered in the chantries. The chapel was invariably dedicated to some patron saint. That on old London Bridge was dedicated to St. Thomas, on Bow Bridge to St. Catherine, and others were dedicated to St. Nicholas, the patron saint of sailors. Those chapels were exceedingly picturesque objects, and were often highly decorated. They were erected over one of the piers, about the centre of the bridge, elongated for the - The foundations seem to have been obtained in the then usual man- ner, by throwing loose rubble and which occupied a very large part <>l the water-way, and consequently pre- sented a serious obstruct inn t<> the chalk into the river, and surrounding navigation of the Medway. the several heaps with huge starlings, , CHAP. I. purpose ; ;md a brother stood at the door to receive the offerings of the passers-by towards the repairs of the bridge and the support of the services in the chantry. Nearly all these old bridge-chapels have perished, but a beautiful specimen has happily been preserved in the chantry on \Vakefield Bridge, of which the following is a representation. WAKEFIELD BRIDGE AND CHANTKY. [By E. M. Wimperis. after an original Drawing by T. Sutcliffe, New Water Colour Society ] This bridge is supposed to have been built by Edward Duke of York, afterwards Edward IV., in memory of his father and followers who fell at the battle of Wake- lirld, in the wars of the Roses; and it is said to have heen richly endowed, that prayers might be offered up t hei v ft >r the souls of the slain, and especially of poor little Rutland. However this may be, the bridge chantry at WakeiieM. which has recently been renovated in excel- lent taste, is one of the most beautiful and interesting <»f these ancient structures. The entrance to the chapel is directly from the roadway, and it stands upon an elon- gated pier obviousK erected for the purpose, and forming L'fx > OLD BlIIlXiKS. PABTIV, part of the original structure. The bridge itself has undergone many changes, in order to adapt it to the improved modes of travelling. When chaises, stage- coaches, and waggons came into general use, the old erections were found altogether inadequate for the traffic. They were very narrow,1 and often very steep ; and though they had been well enough adapted for the foot- passenger, the horseman, and the pack-horse convoy, many of them did not admit of sufficient width for the convenient passage of wheeled vehicles. The picturesque gateways at the ends of old bridges — such as existed over the Monnou at Monmouth and over the Ouse at York, and a specimen of which still exists at Eaglan Castle, as shown in the annexed cut — were also found to be a great obstacle to stage- coach travelling, as the arched gateways did not admit of the passage of a coach without danger to the outside passengers ; a 1 1< I where it was not found practicable to turn the thoroughfare another way, they were at once demo- lished. The bridges them- selves were widened and enlarged ; and though in many cases, as at Wake- field, the old piers were included in the new work, the original picturesque cha- racter of the bridge was in a great measure lost. Notwithstanding the increased necessity for such RAGLAN CASTLE BRIDGE. 1 De Quincey, in his ' Autobio- | teen miles on coming to a bridge in graphic Sketches,' says he has known | Cumberland built in some remote age when as yet post-chaises were neither known nor anticipated, and, unfor- of a case, even in the nineteenth century, where a post-chaise of the common narrow dimensions was obliged to retrace its mute for four- timatelv, too narrow by three or four il:ches to enable the X'eliicle to 1'iiss. •jr. i structures, the art of bridge-building seems to have fallen into decay until about the middle of last century; and whilst many of the erections of the Brothers of the Bridge con tinned to stand firm on their foundations, as they had done for centuries, the bridges of more modern con- strnctioi i were liable to be swept away by the first winter's Hood. The only mode of securing foundations was the clumsy one of throwing loose stones promiscuously into tlie bed of the river, so as to find their own bearing, and then, on the top of these loose stones, to erect the stone- work of the starlings. The piers were built up on the foundations thus rudely formed; but they were con- stantly liable, as may be readily imagined, to be unsettled, undermined, and carried away by any unusual pressure of water. No architect of eminence devoted himself to bridge-building; and although Inigo Jones furnished the design for the bridge of Llanrwst, over the Con way in Wales, in 1G34, it was a work of a comparatively unimportant character, and the only one of the kind on which lie seems to have been employed. In the plan of this h ridge the pointed arch is no longer adopted, but three segmental arches, the middle of which is of the span of fifty-eight feet. The roadway approached a horizontal line, and was of a sufficient breadth to accommodate carriage traffic. On the whole, the design was of a verv modern character, and was probably adopted, to a considerable extent, as a model by succeeding bridge- builders. The work, however, seems to have been so badly done, that it was shortly after found necessary to rebuild one of the arches; and to this day the bridge is known as k* the shaking bridge,"1 not standing by any means I irmly on its foundations. The people of the locality 1 A tnurist in Xnrth \Yales says: — " While standing mi tin.1 bridge, ad- miring tin- beautiful scenery, two or three men came and asked me in broken Mnglish ' whether I would like t«i have a shake.' On inLI) LONDON BIUDOF, PART IV. called starlings, for the purpose of breaking the rush of t lie water and protecting1 the foundation piles. Another statement was long current — that London Bridge was built on wool-packs, — arising probably from the circumstance that a tax was levied by the King upon wool, skins, and leather, towards defraying the cost of its construction. The bridge was in a measure regarded as a national work, and for more than two centuries after its erection, tribute continued to be levied upon the in- habitants of the counties nearest the metropolis for its maintenance and repair. Liberal gifts and donations were also made with the same object, until at length the Bridge Estates yielded a large annual income. LONDON BRI Not less than thirty-three years were occupied in the erection of this important structure. It was begun in the reign of Henry II., carried on during that of Richard I., and finished in the eleventh year of King John, 1209. Before then, however, the aged priest, its architect, died, and he was buried in the crypt of the chapel which had by that time been erected over the centre pier. At his death another priest, a Frenchman, called Isenbert, who had displayed much skill in con- structing the bridges at Saintes and Rochelle, was recom- mended by the King as his successor. But his appointment CHAP. II. OLD LoXDOX H1MDGE. 257 was not confirmed by the Mayor and citizens of London, who deputed three of their own body to superintend the finishing of the work, — the chief difficulties connected with which had indeed already been surmounted. The bridge, when finished, was a remarkable and euri< nis W( >rk. That it possessed the elements of stability ;md strength was sufficiently proved by the fact that upon it the traffic of London was safely borne across the river for more than six hundred years. But it was an unsightly mass of masonry, so far as the bridge was con- cerned ; although the overhanging buildings extending along both sides of the roadway, the chapel on the centre pier, and the adjoining drawbridge, served to give it an exceedingly picturesque appearance. One of the houses adjoining the drawbridge was dignified with the name of Nonsuch House : it was said to have been constructed in Holla ml and brought over in pieces, when it was set up without mortar or iron, being held together solely by wooden pegs. The piers of the bridge were so close, and the arches so low, that at high water they resembled a long low series of culverts hardly deserving the name of arches. The piers were of various dimensions, in some cases almost as thick as the spans of the arches which they supported were wide. The structure might be compared to a very strong stone embankment built across the river, perforated by a number of small openings, through which the water rushed with tremendous force as the tide was rising or falling, the power thus produced being at a later period economised and employed in some of the arches to work water-engines. The bridge had not less than twenty arches, including the drawbridge, some of them being too narrow to admit of the passage of boats of any kind. This great obstruction of the stream, at a point where the river is about the narrowest, had the effect of producing a series of cataracts at the rise and fall of each tide, so that what was called " the VOL. r. p 258 OLD LONDON BRIDGE. TART IV. roar of the bridge " was heard a long way off. The feat of " shooting the bridge " was in those days attended with considerable danger, and lives were frequently lost in the attempt. Hence prudent passengers, who took a boat for down river, usually landed above the bridge and walked to the nearest wharf below, where they again embarked. The more venturesome risked " shooting the bridge," and thus boats were often swamped and their passengers drowned. In 1428 John Mowbray, second Duke of Norfolk, when passing under one of the arches, ran his boat upon the pile-work, and had very nearly perished ; but leaping on to one of the starlings, he was then hauled up to the bridge by ropes let down to him for the purpose. The risk attending this operation of shooting the bridge explains the old proverb, that " London Bridge was made for wise men to go over and fools to go under." Perhaps the most singular features of the old bridge? were its upper platform, consisting of two rows of houses with a narrow roadway between, the chapel and draw- bridge, and the turreted battlements at either end. The length of the roadway was 926 feet, and from end to end it was enclosed by the lofty timber-houses, which were held together by arches crossing overhead from one range to the other and thus keeping the whole in posi- tion. The street was narrow, dark, and dangerous. There were only three openings along it on either side, provided with balustrades, from which a view of fhe river and its shipping might be obtained, as well as of the rear of the houses themselves, which overhung the parapets arid completely hid the arches from sight. On the centre pier was the chapel with its tower, and at the ends of the bridge were the gate-houses, on which the grim heads of traitors and unfortunate partisans were stuck upon poles until a comparatively recent period. Hentzner, a German traveller, counted above thirty heads displayed upon them as late as the year l..">!-)8. CHAP. IJ. OLD LONDON BlUIXii:. 259 The drawbridge was another curious feature. It occu- pied the fourteenth arch from the north end, and pro- vided an opening of about thirty feet. It was used for purposes of defence as well as to provide for the passage of masted ships. When Jack Cade was told of the army marching against him, Shakespeare makes him say, " Let's go fight with them ; but first go and set London Bridge on fire." But Cade's project having failed, his head was taken off and placed upon a pole, amongst those of other traitors, over the southern gatehouse, with his face looking towards Kent. The bridge was also used as a place of public punishment. Persons found guilty of practising witchcraft were compelled to do penance there. No less a personage than Eleanor Cobham, Duchess of Gloucester, was exposed upon the bridge in 1440, for the alleged crime of witchcraft. OLD LONDON BRIDGE, 16£0. [By E. M. Wimperis, after the Painting by Claude de Jongh.] The bridge had a long history and many vicissitudes. It had scarcely been completed ere the timber-houses upon it were consumed by a great fire, and the bridge was thus at once stripped of its cumbrous load. But, as the revenues required for its maintenance and repair were in a great measure derived from the rental of the houses, which let for high sums, they were shortly after erected in even more cumbersome forms than before, 260 OLD LONDON BRIDGE. PART IV. and were for a long time principally inhabited by pin and needlemakers. At a very early period the bridge showed signs of weakness and required constant patching. Before the end of its first century a patent was issued by Edward I., authorising its speedy repair, in order to prevent its sudden fall and " the destruction of innumerable people dwelling thereon." Tolls were authorised to be taken— for every man crossing, a farthing ; for every horseman, a penny ; arid for every pack carried on a horse, one half- penny. There was not a word of vehicles, which did not as yet exist. The repairs then done to the structure do riot seem to have been of much effect; for in 1281 five of the arches, with the buildings over them, were carried away by a flood following a thaw, and the repairs had to be begun again on a more extensive scale than before. At a subsequent period Stowe's gate, tower, and arches, at the Southwark side, also fell into the river. But after repeated patching, the bridge nevertheless continued to hang together for several centuries longer. It witnessed the processions of priests, the jousting of knights, the march of Kentish rebels, the triumphal march of Henry V. into the City after the battle of Agincourt, the funeral procession of the same monarch when borne to his royal tomb in Westminster Abbey, and the entrance to the metropolis of his successor after being crowned King of France at Notre Dame. Generation after gene- ration of toiling men and women passed over the bridge, wearing its tracks deep with their feet, and sometimes moistening them with their tears. Still the old bridge stood on, almost down to our own day ; for we shall find, in the lives of Smeaton and Eennie, that these eminent engineers, amongst others, were called upon from time to time to direct its repair ; until at last the old structure, which had served its purpose so long, was condemned and taken down, and the magnificent New London Bridge erected in its stead. CHAP. II. OLD LONDON BRIDGE. 261 It was long before any second bridge was built over tin- Thames m-ar London. The advantages derived from the current of traffic passing through the City from a dis- trict extending for fifty or sixty miles on either side the river, were felt to be of such importance that the citizens would not lightly part with them. Bridges were regarded as the best feeders of towns and cities, and wherever one was erected, all the avenues by which it was approached became speedily converted into streets of valuable houses. At the two ends of the Thames Bridge were London and Southwark ; at Tyne Bridge, Newcastle and Gateshead ; and at the Medway Bridge, Rochester and Strood. But London was extending westward with such rapid strides, and the population of Westminster as well as Lambeth had so much increased, that the provision of an addi- tional bridge for those districts, in course of time came to be regarded as a matter of absolute necessity. A movement with this object seems to have been commenced in the reign of Charles II., but the project was vigorously resisted by the citizens of London. They waited upon his Majesty in state, and implored him to oppose the measure ; and, on his compliance with their petition, their expression of gratitude towards him was as great as if he had delivered the City from a famine, or a plague, or a great fire, or some such overwhelming calamity. It is not improbable that the citizens secured his Majesty's support by the offer of money, which he very much wanted at the time ; for we find from the records of the Common Council, of date the 25th October, HUM, that upon advancing, by way of loan, the sum of 100,000£. to Charles II., the citizens took occasion to thank his Majesty in the following terms for preventing the erection of the new bridge at Westminster :— " And withal to represent unto his Majesty the City's great sense and apprehension of, and most humble thanks for, the great instance of his Majesty's good and favour towards them expressed in preventing of the new 262 OLD LONDON BRIDGE. TART IV. bridge proposed to be built over the river of Thames betwixt Lambeth and Westminster, which, as is con- ceived, would have been of dangerous consequence to the state of this city." l A. few years later, in 1671, a similar project was attempted, and a bill was brought into the House of Commons to enable a bridge to be erected over the Thames as far west as Putney. But the Corporation of London were again up in arms, protesting against the establish- ment of any bridge which should enable the traffic to pass from one side of the river to the other without going through the City. The debate on the subject, as recorded by Mr. Grey, is exceedingly curious, read 1>\ the light of the present day. Mr. Love declared the opinion of the Lord Mayor to be, " that if carts were to go over the proposed new bridge, London would be destroyed." Sir William Thompson opposed it because it " would make the skirts of London too big for the body," besides producing sands and shelves in the river, and affecting the below-bridge navigation, which would cause the ships to lie as low down as Woolwich ; whilst Mr. Boscawen opposed the bill, because, if conceded, there might be a claim set up for even a third bridge, at Lambeth, or some other point.2 The bill was thrown out on these grounds by a majority of 67 to 54 ; and for nearly a hundred years more, London had no second bridge, notwithstanding that the old structure was so narrow that there was not room for two carts to pass each other ! Since that time, however, ten bridges have been thrown across the river between Putney and the City, and London is not yet destroyed, — indeed, the cry is still for more bridges. The second bridge was built in 1738-50, nearly oppo- site the palace of Westminster. During the many cen- 1 'City of London Records,' jor. mons, from the year 1667 to 1694.' 45, 423. Collected by the Hon. A. Grey. 2 ' Debates of the House of Com- | London, 1769. CIIAI-. II. OLD LONDON lilMlMiK. turiesthat had elapsed since old London Bridge had been erected, the science of bridge-building had made but little progress in England. The principal structures of the sort were of wood. Trees, merely squared, were laid side by side, at right angles with the stream, sup- ported on perpendicular piles, the roadway being planked over and covered with gravel. Old Battersea Bridge was an example of the primitive structures by means of which many of our wide rivers long continued to be crossed. Few were built of stone, and these, of a com- paratively rude kind, were principally situated upon the main lines of road ; but they were usually liable to be swept away by the first heavy flood. During the period referred to, however, the science of construction had made great progress in France, and from the practice of French engineers our best models continued for some time longer to be drawn. Hence, when the sanction of Parliament was at length obtained to a second bridge being built across the Thames, Labelye, the French en- gineer, a native of Switzerland, was employed to design and execute the work. It will have been observed that the chief difficulty with the early bridge-builders was in securing proper foundations for their piers. A common practice was to sink baskets of small dimensions, full of stones, in the bed of the river, and on these, when raised above water, the foundations were laid. But where the bottom was com- posed of loose, shifting material, such as sand, it will be obvious that a firm basis could scarcely be secured by such a method. The plan adopted by Labelye, though considere« Ian improvement at the time, was even inferior to tlie method employed by Peter of Colchurch in found- ing the piers of old London Bridge in the 13th cen- tury. For, clumsy though the latter structure was, it stood more than six hundred years, whilst Westminster Bridge had not been erected a century before it exhibited signs of giving way. >!.!> l.o\l>t).\ 1',1,'llxil-:. Lai >el\v's method nt' f< iiindlliL:' Ins piers \V;is a^ fol- liiWS. Jit- li;|il ;| sufficient 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 M ' K < > f 1; I 1'ILL't ' < ", 1 1 SS( »1 IS. ( )]' Watel'-t iLl'lll dieslS prepared i i r\" \\';is <•( tiniiK 'i i< •< 'i I within it. ainl c;irri«'(l up to a luvd \vitli tlic stivam. \vln-n tlic timluT siil«is wcix1 rt'lIK )\T<1 ;|]|il tile pMT AVas Ict't I'cstlllU' lil'llllv oil till' bottom u'rat IIIL:'. rriiuinlat ions \vt-n' tlicii protcctcil l>v sheet-] nliiii:'. tliat js. l»v a row of tinilx-rs driA'cii firm v side l>v side into tlir cartli all round tlir jncrs. \Vestini list el1 Iii'idii'L1 was ori^mallv intcinK-d for a wooden liridirc. l»nt tin.' design was siil>sciiir of stone, Lal>d\T con si during it m/rcssarv to liavr a u'i'«';it weight of masonry in order to kcrp liis caissons at tlir proper level. To add to tills weight tlir rliu'llirrr added a lofty parapet, wliidi ( 1 n islrv. a Frrndi traveller. fii-ra\'rl\' asserted was placed there lor the purpose o| pl'eN'el 1 1 1 li!_i' the Londoners tl'olll e< i) 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 ! 1 IL:' slllehle ! X(»t inaliX" Years alter \\estliillister IJl'idii'r had hern opened, the London ( 1oi union ( 'oiinril, in order to iarihtatr tli'1 passa^'r ol trallir arross tlir Thames as near t< > 1 he rent re of tlir ('itv as jiossihlr. apjiliril to 1 >arhamriit for powers to construct ;i hndLi'f at lilaek t riars : and the mpnsitr Art having1 lirrli passed, the \vorks \vrrr comiiirlicrd in 1 / liU. a i id 111) jshcd ill 1 Hi1, i. ri ir architect a I id diLi'i I irer of niaekfriars IJrid^'r \\as IJoliert M\lne. and a nohlc piece (»t ma>onr\' it \\'as. '1 he principal ne\\ feature in this structure wa> tli(1 elliptical arch.1 \\ludi Mr. Mvlnr CHAP. II. OLD LoXDoX BlMlxiK. 265 w;is the first to introduce in England. The innovation gave rise to a lively controversy at the time, in wliidi Dr. Johnson took part, in opposition to Mr. Mylne, and in support of liis friend (Jwvn, wh<> was tlie aiitlior of a rival ]»];in. Boswell, in his 6 Life of Johnson/ defends the design of Mylne, his countryman, and adds, "it is well known that not only has Blackfriars Bridge never sunk either in its foundation or in its arches, which were so much the subject of contest, but any injuries which it has suffered from the effects of severe frosts, have been already, in some measure, repaired with sounder stone, and every necessary renewal can be completed at a moderate expense." This was written in 1791, only twenty years after the bridge had been opened ; and, though it may have been true then, it is so no longer. When the numerous heavy piers of old London Bridge were removed, the velocity of the unimpeded tide, sweep- ing up and down the river twice in every twenty- four hours, and the consequent increased scour of the water along the bottom of the Thames above bridge, soon began to tell upon the foundations both of Black- friars and Westminster Bridges ; and they exhibited the unsightly appearance of numerous props and centerings to prevent the further subsidence of their foundations. Hence Labelye's bridge at Westminster has already been removed, and the probability is that before long Mylne's bridge at Blackfriars will share the same fate. the stone, .which must necessarily be had not the foundations of the structure capable of resisting the severest com- proved defective, Blackfriars Bridge jnvssion. Mylne overcame these vari- | might have stood for a thousand \var* O118 difficulties with Lireat ability: and and more. 26fi WILLIAM KDNVARDS, BHIDiiK BUILDER. I'AKT IV. CHAPTER III. WILLIAM EDWARDS, BRIDGE BUILDER. THE difficulties encountered by the early bridge builders cannot be better illustrated than by a brief account of the life of William Edwards, the architect of Pont-y- Prydd, a remarkable work erected at Newbridge, in South Wales, about the middle of last century. Edwards was born in 1 719, in a small farm-house in the parish of Eglwysilan, in Glamorganshire. His father died when William was only two years old ; but his mother, who was an industrious, well-doing woman, kept on the farm, and piously and virtuously brought up her family. William's literary culture was confined to Welsh, which he could read and write from his early youth ; but as he grew older he also learnt to read and write English, though more imperfectly. He had the character of being a very obstinate, stubborn, and self-willed boy — qualities which, under the guidance of rectitude and integrity, became developed into inflexible courage and resolution in his manhood. Until eighteen years of age he was regarded as a wild, headstrong fellow, with little promise of good in him ; but he was gradually tamed and disci- plined by hard work, and as he grew older he became thoughtful and sedate even beyond his years. Edwards' s ordinary employment was common farm- work ; but at the same time he was a diligent self-edu- cator, taking lessons in arithmetic from a neighbour in the evenings. It happened that, in the ordinary course of affairs, he had occasion to repair the dry stone walls about the farm. He took particular pleasure in this kind of work, and very soon became remarkably handy at it ; WILLIAM KDWAIiDS, I'.HIIHiK IH'ILDKK. but lie always longed to do bettor. Some masons having come into the neighbourhood to build a smithy, Edwards would occasionally leave his farm-work and takr his stand in the field over against which the masons were employe* 1. XM EDWARDS. [By M. Morgan ] on o-er ly watching them while they worked. He admired tlir way in which they handled their tools and prepared the stones for the building. One thing that he particu- larly noted was the way in which they dressed the rough blocks by means of the pointed end of the mason's ascertained the cause (>t iii^ tadure, and went to ;i smith and had ;i steeled point added in his hammer. With thl> li<- succeeded in dressini:1 ln> stones milch more neativ ;iinl ipncklv than he h;nl heen ahle to do heiore. Practice1 and application, and tin- desire in excel, even in drv si i >ne-wa 1 1 huddinii'. nic\"itahl\' e;irrv a man < >n\\"a rd : and Ivlwards s< )<>n 1 >ecame s<> expert in t his sort <>t Work, that he \vas extensively employed in iv| >;i I I'l liv.' and huddinu' drv st<»ne walls t<>r the neiu'ldx Hiring' tanners. JIis \\'alls were ol>scrvc he s<» neat. ><> linn, and so sci'viceal >Ie. that lie was eveivwhere in rei 1'iest. and his earnings wen.1 reu'iilarlx' added to the eoninmn stock <>t his mother and brothers, \\'h<» carried (>li the hlisiness (>t the (ami. lie Ix.'U'ail to consider himself fitted lor something hetter than c oecoine ;i hinlder <>t houses. An oj i| M trt unit v occurred of ej-ect inu' a lit t le \\"< irkshoji i* 'ii i i ^ i i ' IT* i i' ii t<»r a neiLi'l M M iii r. and r^uwnrds acijuitted hiniselt ^< > well. that he gained liilicli praise tt t \\cnt \-i»ne \\dien he \\'as einplo\cd to hmld an N'MH for^-e at ('ardill. and \\lnle ca rr\'i i ILI' on t!ie work he lodured \vith a hhnd man. named I Josser. h\ trade a hakei1. IJn»er kiie\\' the Knu'lish laiiL:'iia;j'e. \\ hieh as vet Md\\'ards ilid not : and. \\ hat was more, the hi 1 1 id man could leach it h » ot hers. The \ < ui i iu' ina>on del ( • n 1 1 1 1 KM I to take lessons ol Ins landlord * and such \\'as his assiduil \ and perse \'era nee (hiring his leisure hoiifs. that he ver\ shortly contri\"ed to master the ne\\ laii'j'iia-j'c. When he had completed \\\> contract, which he (lid to the entire satisfaction ol his employers, he r< "j'i i la rl \ entered upon the hlisiness ot a In >nse-l iinlder CHAP. Ill- WIM.mi KDWAIIDS, HllIDGE BUILDER. L'H'.i on a considerable scale, and very shortly there was no building <>fany magnitude or importance in tin- neigh- bourhood— whether it were a mansion, a mill, or an iron forire — whieh IK- was not willing as well as competent to undertake. During liis leisure he took great pleasure in studying the ruins of Caerphilly Castle, near to where he lived. RUINS OF CAEBPHIIXY CASTLE. This castle was once the largest in the kingdom next to Windsor, and its ruins are still of great extent, covering an area of about thirty acres. Its walls are of prodigious thickness, and its leaning tower lias stood for centuries, inclining as much as eleven feet out of the perpendicular, held together principally by the strength of its cement. This old castle was the college in which Edwards studied the principles of masonry; and he himself was accustomed to say that he had derived more advantage from wandering about the ruins, observing the methods adopted by the ancient builders, the manner in which they had hewed, dressed, and set their stones, than from all the other instruction he reeeived. It was while employed in erecting a mill in his own parish that lie iirst applied the knowledge he had g: lined by studying the ruins of (1aerphilly, in the construction of an arch. The mill was finished to admi- 270 WILLIAM EDWARDS, BRIDGE BUILDEK. PART IV. ration, and professional builders pronounced Edwards's arch to be an excellent piece of masonry. Employment now flowed in upon him, and when any work of more than ordinary difficulty was proposed, ap- plication was usually made to William Edwards. Hence, in 1746, when it was proposed to throw a bridge over the river Taff, he w^as employed to build it ; and though he was only twenty-seven years old, and had not yet built any bridge, he had the courage at once to undertake the work. The bridge was built of three arches, in a style superior to anything of the kind that had been erected in the neighbourhood ; the stones were excellently dressed and closely jointed ; the arches were light and elegant, and supposed to be sufficiently sub- stantial for the duty they had to perform ; and as a whole the erection was much admired, and greatly added to the fame of its builder. It would appear, however, that Edwards had not sufficiently provided for the passage of the floods, which in certain seasons rush down from the Brecknock Beacon mountains with great impetuosity. Above Newbridge several rivers of considerable capacity, such as the Crue, the Bargold Taff, and the Cynon, besides numberless brooks descending rapidly from the high grounds, contribute to swell the torrent so as to render it almost irresistible. The piers of Edwards's new bridge unfortunately proved a serious obstruction in tin* way of a heavy flood which swept down the valley about two years and a half after the bridge had been completed. Trees were torn up by the roots and carried down the stream, lodging athwart the piers, where brush- wood, haystacks, and field-gates, becoming firmly stuck amongst their branches, choked up the arches and fairly dammed the torrent. The waters rapidly accumulated above the bridge and rose to the parapets ; the sides of the valley being steep, left no room for their escape, and the tremendous force finally swept away arches and piers together, carrying the materials far down the river. (NAT. 1IJ. WILLIAM KDWAKDS, HKH.XJK HUL1>K!I. 271 This destruction of liis first bridge was doubtless a terrihle blow to the builder, who was bound in sureties to maintain it for a period of seven years. But worse even than the loss of his time and labour was the failure of his work, the most distressing of all things to the man who takes a proper pride in his calling. He resolved, however, to fulfil his contract, and began the building of a second bridge of only one arch, to avoid the defect which had proved the ruin of the first. This second bridge, without piers, was a much more difficult work than the first, in consequence of the wide span of the arch, which was not less than 140 feet, the segment of a circle of 170 feet in diameter. No such extensive span had yet been attempted in England; and even on the Continent, where the science of bridge-building was much 1 tetter understood, the only bridges of larger span were of ancient construction, chiefly Roman. Michael Angelo's beautiful bridge of the Bialto, at Venice, was the largest span attempted in modern times, and its width was only about 100 feet. The result of Edwards's daring experi- ment proved its extreme difficulty. He succeeded in finishing the arch, but had not added the parapets, when the tremendous pressure of the masonry over the haunches forced them down, the light crown of the bridge sprang up, the key stones were forced out, and a second time the labour of Edwards was lost, and his masonry lay a ruin at the bottom of the river. Yet not altogether lost : for by failure he learnt experience, dearly bought though it had been. The undaunted man determined to try again. Twice lie had failed, yet he was not utterly defeated in resources. He would try a new expedient, and he believed he should eventually succeed. Fortunately his friends believed in him too, for they generously came forward and helped him with the means of building his third bridge, which proved a complete success, and the courage and skill of Edwards were crowned at last. The plan which he 272 WILLIAM KDWAHDS, BRIDGE BUILDER. PAKT IV. adopted of more equally balancing the work and relieving the severe thrust upon the haunches, was to introduce three cylindrical holes or tunnels in the masonry at that part of the bridge. The same plan is found to have been adopted in some of the ancient bridges, and Perronet, the great French engineer, not only formed such tunnels over the haunches, but occasionally in the piers them- selves. Where Edwards gained his information as to the expedient, or whether he had gathered it from his own bitter experience, is not known; but it answered PONT-Y-PRYDD. [By Percival Skelton.j his purpose. Three cylindrical holes wrere built over each haunch — the lowest and outermost nine feet in diameter, the next six feet, and the highest and inner- most three feet. The arch, the same in width as tliat which fell four years before, was finished in 1755, and II. \VII.U\M EDWARDS, BRIDGE BUILDER. 273 the beautiful *' rainbow bridge" liglitly spans the Taff at Xe\\ bridp- to this day. Tin1 singular inflexibility of purpose displayed by our engineer in grappling with and overcoming the diffi- culties encountered bv him in the erection of his first bridge, became the subject of general, interest through- out Wales. When it was finished and opened for public traffic, and the news spread abroad that the extraordinary arch of Pont-y-Prydd at last stood firm as the rocks on which it rested, strangers flocked from all parts to view it, and the Welsh people, as was natural, became proud of their countryman. Employment flowed in upon him, and he went on building bridge after bridge in all parts of South Wales. Among the more important of the later works of Edwards were the large and handsome bridge over the river Usk, at the town of Usk, in Mon- mouthshire; one of three arches, over the river Tame, near Swansea; another, of one arch of 95 feet span, over the same river near Morriston ; a third, with an arch of 80 feet, at Pont-cer-Tame, several miles higher u j> ; and Bettws and Llandovery Bridges, in the county of Caermarthen, the latter of 84 feet span. He also built Aberavon Bridge, in Glamorganshire, with an arch of TO feet span; and Glasbury Bridge, of four arches, over the Wye, near Hay, in Brecknockshire, afterwards carried away by one of the floods so common in the district. Edwards' 8 strong judgment and quick observant faculties, ripened by experience, enabled him to intro- duce many improvements in his bridges as lie grew older. He flattened his arches, so as to render the passage of vehicles over them more easy than in the case of Pont-y-Prydd, the steepness on either side of which was found to be so great an obstacle that it was afterwards found necessary to supersede its use by a more level bridge erected on modern principles. Hence his later works presented a considerable improvement VOL. T. T 274 WILLIAM EDWARDS, BRIDGE BUILDER. TAKT IV. in this respect upon his earlier ones ; and while he con- tinued to be equally careful in providing ample water- way under the arching, and to erect his bridges with a view to the greatest possible durability, he took in- creasing pains to provide a more capacious and level roadway over them, and render them in all ways more easy and convenient for public use. Besides his numerous bridges, Edwards continued, during the remainder of his long life, to erect smelt- ing-houses, forges, and buildings of various kinds for purposes of manufacture. Nor did his building busi- ness exclusively occupy his time, for, in addition to his trade or profession as a building engineer, he carried on the business of a farmer until the close of his life. Not even on Sundays did he cease from his labours ; but, though the Sabbath was no day of rest for him, his labours then were all labours of love. In 1750 he became an ordained preacher amongst the Independents. Shortly after, he was chosen minister of the congregation to which he belonged, and he continued to hold the office for about forty years, until his death. He occa- sionally preached in the neighbouring meeting-houses : amongst others, in that of Mr. Eees, the father of Abra- ham Rees, editor of the well-known ' Encyclopedia.' This meeting-house was one of the numerous buildings erected by Edwards himself. He always preached in Welsh, and his discourses are said to have been simple, sensible, and full of loving-kindness. His fellow-country- man Malkin l says of him, that, though a Calviiiist, he was one of a very liberal description ; indeed, he carried his charity so far that many persons suspected he Lad changed his opinions, and for that reason spoke very unhandsomely of him. As he grew older he became increasingly charitable and tolerant of other men's views, avoiding points of doctrinal difference, but urging 1 'The Scenery, Antiquities, and I Benjamin Heath Malkin, Esq., IM.A.. Biography of South Wales.' By | F.A.S. 1807. Vol. i., p. 144. CHAP. III. WILLIAM Ml >\\ A III >S. I >> RIDGE BUILDER. L>7.-. and enforcing" tliat flic love of God and of our neigh- bour is the aim and end of all religion. Holding it to be the duty of every religious society to contribute liberally of their means to the support of their ministry, he regularly took the stipulated salary which his con- gregation allowed to their preachers, but distributed the whole of it amongst the poorer members of his church, often adding to it largely from his own means. rl'h is worthy Christian labourer died at the advanced a ire of seventy, respected and beloved by men of all parties, and he was buried in the churchyard of his native parish of Eglwysilan, amidst the graves of his children. Three of his sons were, like their father, eminent bridge-builders : David having constructed the fine five-arched bridge over the Usk at Newport, as well as the bridges at Llandilo, Edwinsford, Pontloyrig, Bed- wax, and other places. Indeed, William Edwards may be said to have fairly inaugurated the revival of the art of bridge-building in England. After his time, it was taken up by Smeaton, Rennie, and Telford, arid its progress will accordingly be found described in connec- tion with the lives and works of those distinguished engineers. T 2 276 HARBOURS AND LIGHTHOUSES. I'.M;I IV. CHAPTER IV. HARBOURS AND LIGHTHOUSES. THE maritime greatness of Britain is of as modern a character as its engineering, and has been mainly the creation of the last century. At a time when Spain, Holland, France, Genoa, and Venice were great mari- time powers, England was almost without a fleet, the little trade which it carried on with other countries being conducted principally by foreigners. Our best ships were also built abroad by the Venetians or the Danes, but they were mostly of small tonnage, little bigger than modern herring-boats. In 1540 there were only four vessels belonging to the Thames of 120 tons burden.1 Bristol, then next in importance to London, possessed several large foreign-built ships ; but the principal craft belonging to that port were of only from 50 to 100 tons each. In Queen Elizabeth's time the whole shipping of Liverpool was only 223 tons; the largest vessel being of but 40 tons burden.2 It is, however, astonishing to find what bold and daring things were done by the men who navigated these diminutive vessels. Sir Humphry Gilbert crossed the Atlantic and sailed along the coast of America in the Squirrel of only 10 tons. Martin Frobisher set out with two barques of 25 tons each to discover the North- West Passage. Sir Francis Drake's fleet, which left the English shores for the circumnavi- gation of the globe, consisted of five vessels, the largest 1 So stated by one Wheeler, secre- ! 2 Wedgwood and Bentley's j mili- tary to the English Company of Mer- ; phlet, entitled, * A View of the Ad- chant Adventurers, as quoted in Mac- vantages of Inland Navigation.' pherson's ' Annals of Commerce,' vol. London, 1765. ii., p. 85. HAlMlnrilS AND LIGHTHOUSES. 277 of which was not of 100 tons burden.1 In the year 1575 there were only one hundred and thirty-five ships in nil iMi^hind above 100 tons. The royal navy was on a ]>;ir with the mercantile ; and at the time when the Spanish Armada bore down upon the English coast, it c< insisted of only twenty-three ships, eight of which were under 120 tons. There were only nine of 500 tons and upwards, the ship of the greatest burden being of 1000 tons, carrying only forty guns. The principal part of tin1 fleet which held at bay the Armada until the storms had scattered it, were coasting- vessels of small burden, belonging to Lyme, Weymouth, and other ports along the southern coast. Of the whole seventy-five vessels which constituted the squadrons under the Lord Ad- miral and Sir Francis Drake, not fewer than sixty were from 400 down to as low as 20 tons. About the same period, the small but flourishing republic of Venice pos- sessed a fleet of more than three thousand vessels of various kinds, carrying upwards of thirty-six thousand seamen. The English navy, however, made gradual progress. In 1613 there were ten vessels of 200 tons belonging to the port of London. The suppression of the mono- poly of the carrying trade, which had virtually been enjoyed by the merchants of the Low Countries and the Hanse Towns of Germany until the year 1552, had thr effect of giving a considerable impetus to English shipping business; and by the year 1640 we find the number of English ships and sailors more than trebled. It would appear that not only had the greater part of the 1 One of the last of Sir Francis Drake's shij s was used, until quite n vi nily, as a Thames l»ar-e. It was 1 m -ken up i nily a li-w years ago. An- other interesting little vessel, the In- /v.s//V/(//o/-, ..I' about l.~>n tons, used to lie moored off Somerset House, where it was used as one of the floating sta- tions of the Thames Uiver Police, hut 1 1 a s si uce been replaced by the Royalist. The Invest i'/ti for was the vessel in which Captain Ross made his first voya-e to the Polar Seas in the search for a North- West 1'assage. A I.T.I >ri;s AMI i.iiiirrn( >rsi-:s. foreign trade of Kim'land hern previously conducted in foreign SJlIJtS. 1)111 e\'ell ( »! 1 1' < '< i;ist S Wl ')'(' fished 1»\- foreign fishermen. Tin1 writer of a pamphlet published in Mi 14. i i i i >iie 1 < »1 'i;ts ( Jen t lull niii, ;t fisherman and mariner, pointed nut the jLi'i'eat amount of wealth yearly taken out of his Majesty's seas by the IIollan<>r. idle, and ne(U"li- Li'eiit. and eonstrained e\'en to bee; bread of the " plump Hollanders." Mr. (Jentleinan was indignant at seeing the foreigners, whose indnstrv and diligence he never- theless o'reatly praised, iisinu' our seas as a rich treasury, and drawing wealth iroin them as ironi a ^'old-mine. Six hundred Dutch busses, of some six seore tons each, were employed in the herring' fishery aloii(U' the Rvitisli coast, from the mouth of the Thames as far north as Shetland, besides numerous others in the eod-fishery, protected by some twenty, thirty, and e\"eii forty ships of war to preyent their be in Li1 pillaged by the Dunkirkers, who were the chief pirates of those times. That these Dutchmen should come into <»ur markets and sell us (>ur • i\\ n lish, carrying a\\'a\" e.'reat (pianlities (if our ufold and silyer. \\diils1 Kn^i'lisli ships la\' ii]> a-rottinu', was a thine; that Mr. ( Jeiit leina n thought was not coolly to be borne. i i " ' i i i i i It is mucli to he lamented, sanl he, tlioii^li we ha\'e such a plentiful ( 'mini ry and Store of able and idle peojtle, that not one of 111-- Ma jcsty's Subjects is t here to be seen, all the whole Summer, to hsh or to ta ke one 1 1 erring : but only the Xorth-sea l*oats of the Sea-coast To\\ns. that cv;o to take ( <><{>'. 1 1 ie\" do ta\*' so niaii\a-> they need to bait their I looks, and no more. \\ e are daily scorned by these Hollanders for be in u1 so neirhii'ent of our Profit and careless o| our FislimiLi* : and the\ do daily flout us that be the poor I' i she r men ol h]i iLi'la nd, 1 o < H \ r l^aees a t >ea, calling1 to us and >a\iii'j'. ) a l^nu'lish. i/r oinl *<'CSKS. 'J7. <>8. -' Hu^li Miller's 'Schools ami S 282 HAKBOURS AND LIGHTHOUSES. PART IV. Among the early ports, Bristol ranked next in im- portance to London; it also was provided with a con- venient river, the Avon, up which ships were floated by the tide to port. At the siege of Calais, in Edward III.'s time, Bristol furnished almost as many ships and mariners as London ; and it went on increasing in importance down to the end of the seventeenth century, at which time Liverpool had scarcely sprung into existence, and was as yet little better than a fishing village. Before the art of engineering had advanced so far as to enable harbour walls to be built in deep water, these tidal rivers sufficiently answered the purpose of harbours. Hence London on the Thames, Bristol on the Avon, Hull on the river Hull, Chester (the principal shipping-port for Ireland) on the Dee, Gloucester on the Severn, Boston on the Witham, and Newcastle on the Tyne. At Bristol the ships lay upon the mud at low water, the course of the river Froom having been turned, in early times, in order to make " a softe and whosy (oozy) harbour e for grete shippes ;" and the habit of lying on the mud made the Bristol ships so bulge and swell out, that until quite recently " a Bristol hog " could be recognised by the practised sailor's eye far off at sea. Bristol was only provided with floating docks at the beginning of the present century, long after Liverpool had overcome the difficulties of the Mersey and provided for itself a system of docks now considered superior to everything else of the kind in the kingdom. The ample line of the British coast, broken by innu- merable deep water bays and inlets, also afforded con- siderable convenience for the shipping of early times. The small size of the craft enabled them to be beached with ease, and the utmost that was done in the way of harbour works was to empty large stones roughly into the sea so as to form a breakwater or a pier at the har- bour head. But the sea was found a fickle and dan- gerous neighbour, and those early works were often ANCIENT MANNER OF CONSTRUCTING PIERS CUM-. IV. HABBOUB8 AND LIGHTHOUSES. 283 washed away. Mr. Roberts gives the rough representa- tion shown in the annexed cut, of the mode of con- structing the ancient pier at Lyme Regis, and most probably the same method was pursued elsewhere. The rocks which lay upon the shore n i were noated over IT p , the line 01 the pro- posed sea-work by means of casks, and dropped into their places, after which — or, in certain cases, before the stones were sunk — strong oak piles were driven into the ground along either side to hold them together. Great reliance was placed on timber, and especially upon oak. The Cobb or harbour at Lyme Regis was so successfully put together in this way, that Queen Mary ordered the workmen to be impressed and forwarded to Dover, to execute a similar work for the protection of the harbour at that place. They were next employed at Hastings, where they reared a pier of huge rocks edgeways without timber. But the seas of the ensuing winter completely overthrew the structure ; and again, in 1597, the workmen erected another pier, using much timber in cross-dogs, bars, and braces. The work was thirty feet high, " bew- tyfull to behold, huge, invariable, and unremoveable in the judgment of all beholders;" but on the next All Saints day a storm upon a spring tide scattered the whole,1 and to this day Hastings is without a pier. Among the numerous fine natural harbours on the south coast were those of Portsmouth, Plymouth, Weyniouth, Falmouth, and Dartmouth, all situated at the mouths of rivers or bays, as their names indicate. None of them had piers until a comparatively recent date, the only landing-places at Portsmouth and Southampton being on "the Hard." The Cinque Ports, on the coast of 1 Robert* '* * Social History of the Southern Counties,' 305. 284 HARBOUIS AND LIGHTHOrSKS. Kent, were mostly beach harbours, and were constantly liable to be choked by the movement of the shingle up channel, so that Winchelsea, Eomsey, and Hythe thus became completely lost. For the same reason Dover was always a port most difficult to be preserved. The shingle, rolled up along the coast by the prevailing- south- westerly winds, from time to time blocked up the port by a bank which extended from east to west, until the pent-up inland waters collecting behind it forced their way to sea, and thus maintained an opening always more or less partial. Various attempts were made to preserve the harbour in early times, the most important improvements being those conducted by Sir John Thompson, master of the Maison Dieu in the reign of Henry VIII. He enclosed a small basin with a quay by driving two rows of piles into the sea bottom as far out as the Mole Rock, and filling in the interstices with blocks of stone and chalk. The stones were floated along shore from Folkestone by means of empty casks, as at Lyme. It is said that not less than 50,000/. were expended on these works ; but the imperfect manner in which they were constructed may be inferred from the fact that the sea very soon made several breaches in the wall and the pier, and the beach accumulated as before all round the bay, so that a boat drawing only four feet of water could scarcely enter the harbour. Foreign engineers were then called in — amongst others Ferdinand Poins, a Fleming, and Thomas Diggs, who had studied harbour- construction in the Netherlands ; and various additions were made by them to the works in the reigns of Eliza- beth and James. The harbour was always, however, in danger of becoming silted up down to our own times ; and the best means of improving it has formed the subject of repeated reports of Perry, Smeaton, Eennie, and Telford. Indeed it is doubtful, notwithstanding the enormous expenditure which has been incurred in the construction of the modern works at Dover Harbour, whether the IIAIM'.OCIIS AND I.ICIITIlorSKS. problem of the preservation of the haven be even yet satisfactorily solved. Along the eastern coast of England the early harbours were few and bad. Thoresby relates that in his time (1G82) Whitby, in Yorkshire, possessed a harbour formed hy a rough quay projecting at the mouth of the river; hut he adds that there was no other haven for ships hot ween that place and Yarmouth, in Norfolk. The last-mentioned port has, like Dover, been the subject of much unavailing engineering in early times, arising from the peculiar difficulties of its situation. It stands on the hanks of the rivers Yare and Burr, from the former of which it received its name. It was always liable to be silted up by the sands which abound along shore. Nevertheless it continued to maintain a trade, and down to Henry VIII.'s reign, and even later, it was regarded as the most important maritime town on the east coast. But the channels leading to it were so liable to become choked up, that its prosperity was very irregular, and sometimes its navigation was all but lost. The Yarmouth people were reduced to even greater straits than ordinary in the reign of Elizabeth, on which they adopted the then usual expedient of sending abroad for an engineer of reputation to recover their navigation, and Joyse Johnson, a celebrated man in his day, came over from Holland to direct the works. He caused a strong pier of piles to be formed, which had the effect of directing the current in such a manner, in a north-easterly direc- tion, as to uive relief for a time; though the difficulty was by no means surmounted, for we still find the in- habitants fighting against the sea-banks which hemmed them in, all through the reigns of James and Charles, and through the time of the Commonwealth ; until eventually a south pier was formed, the continuation of which, in a fine curve, was carried up the river, and formed an extensive wharf, affording considerable accommodation and serurity for shipping. The original 286 HARBOURS AND LIGHTHOUSES. PART IV. north pier was subsequently abandoned, and a new north pier was erected, on a plan chiefly intended to assist in warping ships into the harbour. The fol- lowing cut gives an indication of .the nature of this curious and interesting old haven. YARMOUTH "OLD PIER. [By R. P. I-eitch.] The lighting up of the coast by means of beacons and lighthouses, for the purpose of insuring greater safety to shipping approaching our coasts by night, received very little attention in early times ; our lighthouses being amongst the triumphs of modern engineering. So long as our mercantile navy was comparatively insignificant and the amount of our foreign trade but small, the lighting up of our shores after dark was of much less importance than it is now. The idea of the lighthouse is very old, and the ancient commercial nations were familiar with its use, erecting a Pharos on any dangerous part of a much-frequenlcd coast. The Romans were the first to introduce the practice in England, and on the summit of Dover Mount CHAP. IV. AND LIGHTHOUSES. 287 still stands the Roman Pharos, which is supposed to have been used to light vessels from the coasts of France to their station at Portus Rutupise (now Richborough) near Sandwich, or to Regul- hinm (now known as the Reculvers) on the Thames. The old English adopted a similar practice ; but their beacons were of a more rough and homely character. Lambarde says, " before the time of King Edward III. they were made of great stacks of wood ; but about the ele- venth yeere of his raigne it was ordained that in our shyre they should be high standards, with their pitch-pots."1 These beacons were, however, oftener used to alarm the country on the approach of danger than for the pur- pose of lighting the coasts, though there is good reason to believe that the same sort of beacons were employed for the latter purpose at a more recent period. Professor Faraday says, the first idea of a lighthouse was the candle in the cottage window, guiding the husband across the water or the pathless moor. In the dark the main point was a steady light, and it mattered not whether it was given forth by pitch-pots, coals, or oil. But wood, being the article readiest at hand, was most generally used. The Tour de Cordouan, situated off the coast of France, '.-i, DOVER CASTLE. 1 William Lambarde'fl ' Perambu- lation of Kmt.' Speaking of Dun- licncss Point, Lambanie says : " Before this neshe lieth a flat into the sea, threatening ;j;reat danger to sailors. In tin- ivi-n of I'M ward III. it was lirM ordered that beacons in this country should have their pitch-pots, and that they should no lon-er he made of WOOd-gtacks or piles, as they be yet in Wiltshire and elsewhere." On this Holloway ('History of Rorn- ney Marsh ') observes : " This must imply that either a beacon was now first erected on the Ness Point, or that there had previously been one com- posed of wood, and for which a pitch- pot was now introduced, as U'iui; considered preferable." IlAKT.orh'S AND LKJIITHOUSI-X I'AirHY. was lit up by oak billets brought from the Gascon foivsis, and until a comparatively recent period the lighthouses at Spurn Point and on the Isle of May were lit up by coal-chauffers. [By R. P. Leitch. The Design of the Standard fixm Roberta's ' Social Historv.'] The importance of insuring greater safety to ships al sea led to steps being taken with that object by the early monarchs; and in the year 1515 Henry VIII. incorpo- rated the Trinity House, for the purpose of protecti no- commerce and navigation by licensing and regulating- pilots, and erecting beacons, lighthouses, and buovs around the coast. The only step taken, however, to carry out these important objects, was merely the granting of leases by the Crown, for a definite number of years, to private persons willing to find the means of building and maintaining lights, in consideration of which, authority was given them to levy tolls on passing shipping. Very little was actually done to in- sure the greater safety of the coast by means of lights. The first erected was on Dungeness Point, in the CIIAI-. IV. IIAIII'.orKS AM) Ll< JlITIlnrsKS. -js-j ivi'u'ii of James F. ; but it would appear that it was the practice, about the same time, to light up some parts of tin.' const of Cornwall, for we are informed, in the Travels of the Grand Duke Cosmo in England, about two centuries ago, that the Plymouth shipping " paid lour pence per ton for the lights which were in the light- houses at night." l We also find from the records of the Corporation of Rye, that a light was hung out from the south-cast angle of the castellated building in that town, called the Ypres Tower, as a guide for vessels entering the harbour in the night-time, and that not being found sufficient, another light was ordered by the Corporation "to be hung out o' nights on the south-west corner of the church, for a guide to vessels entering the port." A ligl it-pot used also to be hung out from the spire of old Arundel Church for the purpose of guiding vessels entering the harbour of Littlehampton after dark, and we arc informed that the iron support of the rude apparatus is still to be seen.2 That lights were used for the guid- ance of ships may also be learnt from the practice which then prevailed among the wreckers along the Cornish coast of displaying false lights, and thus luring passing vessels to their destruction ; the shipwreck season being long regarded as the harvest season in Cornwall. With the increase of navigation, the erection of lighthouses at the more dangerous parts of the coast became a matter of urgent necessity; and it was such necessity, as we shall afterwards find, which brought to light the genius of Srneaton. 1 ' Travels of Cosmo the Third, (irand Duke of Tuscany, through Mii-laml ' (li;r,8-y). London, 1821. - The tower of Hadley Church, near Chipping Barnet -in Middlesex, WB6 r-iinilarly usr«l in ancient times, luit as a It/id beacon. The iron in which the pitch-pot was pl;i< still then1. It is sai.l that a lain), used formerly to be hung from the old steeple of All Saints, York, for the purpose of -uiding travellers at night over the forest of (Jahres, and the hook of the pulley by which the lamp was raised is still in its place. Lan- tern lights were also hung from the steeple of Bow Church, London, Stowe says, " whereby travellers to the city might have the better sight thereof, and not miss their way." VOL. I. U 290 ii \i;i',(>ri;s AND M<;irniorsi«:s. I'AUT IV. /"R DB COKDOUAN. Until the Eddystone Lighthouse of that engineer, the only stone lighthouse in Kumpe erected out at sea was the fine Tour de CYmloiian, on a flat rock off the mouth of the Garonne in the Bay of Biscay. It was finished and lit ii]) more than two hundred and fifty years ago; and though one of the earliest, it continues one of the most splendid structures ^ of the kind in ex- istence. It replaced • a lighthouse founded by the English on the rock in 13 62-71, whilst the Black Prince was Governor of Guienne. The stone building was begun by Louis de Foix, one of the architects of the Escurial, in 1584, in the time of Henry III., and was continued all through the reign of Henry IV., being finally completed in 1611, in the reign of Louis XIII. Its height originally was 169 feet French ; but in 1727 it was raised to the height of 175 feet French, or 186| feet English. The building- exhibits that taste for magnificence in construction which attained its meridian in France under Louis XIV. The tower does not receive the shock of the waves, but is protected at the base by a wall of circumvallatioii, which encloses the apartments for the attendants. Jt is not conical like the Eddystone, but is constructed in three successive stages, angular in the interior, and con- sequently more susceptible of decoration than the simple and solid structures of Smeaton, Rennie, and Stevenson. The Tour de Cordouan is further memorable as the first lighthouse in which a revolving light was ever exhibited. CHAP . V. KKI.'I.'IKS AND NAY l< i AI'.LK IMYKKS. 291 CHAPTER V. FERRIES AND NAVIGABLE EIVERS. NOTWITHSTANDING the great want of roads and bridges wlrjch we have found to exist in the earlier periods of English history, comparatively little use was made of the abundant facilities for inland navigation which the rivers of the country presented. The trade of the king- dom In' ing comparatively small, the strings of pack-* horses, and afterwards the heavy waggons drawn by horses or oxen, proved sufficient for its accommodation. The" goods carried were mostly of a light character — the cutlery and ironware of Birmingham and Sheffield, the cloths of the villages of Wilts and Somerset, and the cottons (or coatings) and baizes of Manchester and the neighbourhood. The light articles brought from abroad to the ports of London and Bristol were in like manner distributed through the country by pack- horse or waggon. The chief difficulty was in trans- porting food and fuel. But as corn was mostly sent to London by sea, and the city lay fronting the ports of Holland, almost at the door of Europe, there were usually abundant facilities for supplying its large and rapidly increasing population. The tide lifted daily into the heart of the country fleets of ships laden with stores from all parts of the world, and London tended more than ever to become the metropolis of Europe. The difficulties of sending coal from Newcastle to London in early times seem, however, to have been considerable. For a long period a strong prejudice existed against the use of "sea coal." Edward I. issued a proclamation against it, and a man was actually hanged during his reign for committing the crihie of u 2 FKIIHIES AND NAVIGABLE KIYERS. PART IV. burning it within the limits of the City. But as the forests became consumed for the production of " charre coal " for domestic purposes and for iron-smelting,1 there was no alternative but to fall back upon the rich stores of coal found in the northern parts of England. Then it was that the Newcastle coal shipping-trade sprang into importance, and ever since has proved the principal nursery of our seamen. The fleets of colliers entering the Thames, added to the other shipping, caused a gr,eat throng of vessels in the river ; and what with the coal- lighters and merchandise-barges, which formed the com- munication between the vessels lying in the Pool or down the river, and the warehouses and coalyards on shore, it became a very crowded arid often a very con- fused scene. The merchandise, thus borne from the vessels to the warehouses, became liable to serious de- predations ; and the losses from this cause, as well as the crowding of the river, at length led to the provision of floating docks at various points, and to a further vast development of the port of London. The Thames was not only the harbour but the great highway of the metropolis. The city lay mostly along the line of the river, and the streets and roads for a long time continued so bad, that passengers desiring to proceed eastward or westward almost invariably went by boat. 1 The destruction of the woods was a topic of lamentation with the poets of the time. George Withers, in 1634, tells us with what feelings he beheld The havoc and the spoyle, Which, ev'n within the compass of my dayes, Is made through every quarter of this He — In woods and groves, which were this kingdom's praise. Stowe, also, in his ' Annals,' says : "At this present, through the great consuming of wood as aforesaid, and the neglect of planting of woods, there is so great scarcity of wood throughout the whole kingdom that not only the city of London, all haven towns, and in very many parts within the land, the inhabitants in general are con- strained to make them fires of sea- coal or pit-coal, even in the chambers of honourable personages; and through necessity, which is the mother of all arts, they have of very late years de- vised the making of iron, the making of all sorts of glass, and burning of brick, with sea-coal or pit-coal. \V i 1 1 1 i 1 1 thirty years last, the nice dames of London would not come into any house or room where sea-coals were burned, nor willingly eat of the meat that was either sod or roasted with sea-coal lire." — Stowe's ' Annals,' by Home)-. London, 1G32, p. 1025. CHAP.'V I-'KIMMKS \\l> NAVIGABLE H1VK1IS. 293 There were also ferry-boats constantly plying from side to side of the river, and so long as London Bridge pre- sented the only means of crossing by coach or on foot, the number of persons daily using the ferries was neces- sarily very considerable. A horse-ferry plied between Lambeth Palace and Millbank, the tolls of which belonged to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and there was an- other across the river at Hungerford, both being ren- dered comparatively unnecessary when the second bridge was erected at Westminster. The extent of the river traffic may be inferred from the circumstance stated by Stowe, that in his time the Watermen's Company could at any time furnish twenty thousand men for the fleet. But as the streets of the metropolis were improved, as more bridges were built, and when the use of coaches had extended — against which the watermen strongly protested — their numbers rapidly diminished, until at length they have almost become extinct. What was called the Long Ferry, however, continued to be used until a comparatively recent period. In early times, the Continental Route was by river to Gravesend, and thence by road to Dover. Gravesend Manor be- longed to the Abbot of Tower-hill, who, " finding that by the continual recourse to and from Calais, the passage by water between London and Gravesend was much fre- quented, both for the great ease, good, cheap, and speedy transportation (requiring not one whole tide), made offer to the young King Richard the Second, that if he would be pleased to grant unto the inhabitants of Gravesend ami Milton the privilege that none should transport any I >; i ssengers by water from Gravesend to London but they only, in their own boats, then should they, of these two parishes, undertake to carry all such passengers, either for twopence each one with his farthell (a truss of straw) or otherwise, making the whole fare or passage worth four shillings." To this proposal the King consented, and 1 ' A Perambulation of Kent.' By William Lambarde, of Lincoln's Inn, (lent. London, HJ50, p. 534. 294 FERRIES AN1> NAVIGABLE RIVERS. TART TV. hence the route to and from the Continent long continued to be by Gravesend — Ambassadors to the Kind's Court usually taking boat there for London ; and probably a more noble entrance into the great Capital of the king- dom could not well have been selected. The comfort of the long ferry for the commoner sorts of people could not have been great, the passengers being required to bring with them their respective trusses of straw to lie on, whilst they were sometimes under the necessity of landing in the mud a mile or two short of their destina- tion when the tide was low, and either, wade their way to shore ,or pay for being carried on the backs of the mud-larks. The boatmen rendered themselves liable to a penalty only if they landed the passengers more than two miles short of their destination ! Fielding has left an account, in his ' Voyage to Lisbon,' of the tediousness and discomfort of voyaging about the middle of last century. His ship was fixed to sail from opposite the Tower Wharf at a certain time, and Fielding, ghastly and ill, was rowed off to it in a wherry, running the gauntlope through rows of sailors and watermen, who jeered and insulted him as he passed. The ship, however, did not set out for several days, and Fielding was compelled to spend the intervening time in the confines of Wapping and Redriff. The vessel at length sailed, and reaching Gravesend anchored there until the evening of the following day. Xext day they sailed for the Nore, and the day after that tlicv anchored off Deal, and lay there for a week. It took four days more to beat down Channel to Ryde, where Fielding was landed in the mud fifteen days after his embarcation at the Tower ; and a long, long time elapsed before the termination of his voyage at Lisbon. When coaches began to run upon the improved road between London and Dover, passing by Blackheath and Dartford to Rochester and Canterbury, the principal parl of the continental traffic was diverted from Gravesend, though the comfort of the journey does not seem to ha\<- I-T.IMMKS \M) NAVIGABLE IIIVF.IIS. been iniicli improved. Smollett gives a rather dismal account of his progress from London to Boulogne in 17<>:5, \vliidi presents a curious contrast to the facilities of travelling 1 >y the modern Boulogne steam route. After tc \AY!<;.\W,!«: IMVKRS. •_"..: boar:>(> we find one Francis Mathew addressing ( Yomwrll and his .Parliament l on the immense advantage of opening up a water-communication between London and Bristol. But he only proposed to make the rivers I sis and Avon navigable to their sources, and then either to connect their heads by means of a short sasse or canal of about three miles across the intervening ridge of country, or to form a fair stone causeway between the heads of the two rivers, across which horses or carts might carry produce between the one and the other. His object, it will be observed, was mainly the opening up of the existing rivers ; " and not," he says, " to have the old channel of any river to be forsaken for a shorter passage." Mathew fully recognised the formidable cha- racter of his project, and considered it quite out of the question for private enterprise, whether of individuals or a n v corporation, to undertake to execute it ; but he ven- tured to think that it might not be too much for the power of the State to construct the three miles of canal and carry out the other improvements suggested by him, with a rea- sonable prospect of success. The scheme was, however, too daring for Mathew' s time, and another century elapsed before a canal was made in England. A few years later, in 1677, a curious work was pub- lished by one Andrew Yarranton, gentleman,2 in which he strongly pointed out what the Dutch had done by means of inland navigation, and what England ought to do as the best means of excelling the Dutch without lighting them. The main feature of his scheme was the improvement of our rivers so as to render them navigable, and the inland country thus more readily accessible to cnnnnerce. For in England, said he, there are large 1 ' Of the Opening of Rivers for Navigation; tlu- U-nriit exemplified liy the t\vii Avoiis of Salisbury and \vi a Mediterranean i,v Water for Ellandere of Thirty Ton 2 ' England's Improvement by Sea and Land : To outdo the Dutch with- out fighting, to pay Debts without Moneys, to set at work all the Poor of England with the growth of our between Bristol and London, with the j own Land,' &c. London, 1677. ivsulls.' London, 1 XAYKIABLK RIVERS. PART IV. rivers well situated I'm1 trade, great woods, good wool and large beasts, witli plenty <>f iron stone, and pit coals, with lands fit to hear flax, and with mines of tin and lead ; and besides all these things in it, England has a good air. But to make these advantages available, the country, he held, must be opened up by navigation. First of all, he proposed that the Thames should be improved to Oxford, and connected with the Severn by the Avon to Bristol — these two livers, lie insisted, being the master rivers of England. When this has been done, says Mr. Yarranton, all the great and lieavv carriage from Cheshire, all Wales, Shropshire, Staf- fordshire, and Bristol, will be carried to London and recarried back to the great towns, especially in the winter time, at half the rates they now pay, which will much promote and advance manufactures in the counties and places above named. " If I were a doctor," he says, " and could read a Lecture of the Circulation of the Blood, I should by that awaken all the City: For London is as the Heart is in the Body, and the great Rivers are as its Veins ; let them be stopt, there will then be great danger either of death, or else such Veins will apply themselves to feed some other part of the Body, which it was not properly intended for : For I tell you, Trade will creep and steal away from any place, provided she may be better treated elsewhere." But he goes on — " I hear some say, You projected the making Navigable the River Stoure in Worcestershire : what is the reason it was not finished ? I say it was my projec- tion, and I will tell you the reason it was not finished. The River Stoure and some other Rivers were granted by an Act of Parliament to certain Persons of Honour, and some progress was made in the work ; but within a small while after the Act passed it was let fall again. But it being a brat of my own, I was not willing it should be Abortive; therefore I made offers to perfect it, leaving a third part of the Inheritance to me and my CHAP.V. FMIMMMS AND NAVHJAliMM IIIVMIJS. :;<>:; heirs for ever, ;nxl we came to ;ni agreement. I'pon which I fell on, ;in receding year, the first English canal engineer was born in a remote hamlet in the High Peak of Derby, in the midst of a rough country, then inhabited by quite as roii^-h a people. The nearest town of any importance was Macclesfield, where a considerable number of persons were employed, about the middle of last century, in making wrought I »iit tons in silk, mohair, and twist — such being then the staple trade of the place. Those articles were sold throughout the country by pedestrian hawkers, most of whom lived in the wild country called " The Flash," from a hamlet of that name situated between Buxton, Leek, and Macclesfield. They squatted on the waste lands and c< minions in the district, and were notorious for their wild, half-ba rbarous manners, and brutal pastimes. Travelling about from fair to fair, and using a cantor slang dialect, Iliev became generally known as "Flash men," and the name still survives. Their numbers so grew, and their encroachments on the land became so great, that it was at length found necessary to root them out ; but for some time no bailiff was found sufficiently bold to attempt to serve a writ in the district. At length an officer was found who undertook to arrest several of x 2 308 LIFE OF 15IMXDLKV. I'AKT V. them, and other landowners, taking courage, followed the example ; when those who refused to hecome tenants left, to squat elsewhere ; and the others then consented to settle down to the cultivation of their farms. Ano- ther set of travelling rogues belonging to the same ^XN. BRINDLEY'S NATIVE DISTRICT [Ordnance Survey.] neighbourhood was called the " Broken Cross Gang," from a place called Broken Cross, situated to the south- east of Macclesfield. Those fellows consorted a good deal with the Flash men, frequenting markets and travelling from fair to fair, practising the pea-and-thimble trick, and enticing honest country people into the temptation of gambling. They proceeded to more open thieving and pocket-picking, until at length the magistrates of the district took active measures to root them out of Broken Cross, and the gang became broken up. Such was the district and such the population in the neigh- bourhood of which our hero was born. James Brindley first saw the light in a humble cottage standing about midway between the hamlet of Great Kocks and that of Tunstead, in the liberty of ThornsHt, some three miles to the north-east of Buxton. The house in which he was born, in the year 17J 6, has long since fallen to ruins — the Brindley family having been its last occupants. The walls stood long after the roof TIIK WHEELWRIGHTS APPIIKNTICK. 309 had fallm in, and ut lengtli the materials were removed to huild cowliouses; but in the middle of the ruin there u'lvvv up a vouni;1 ash tree, forcing up one of the flags of the cottage-floor. It looked so healthy and thriving a plant, that the labourer employed to remove the stones for the purpose of forming the pathway to the neigh- bouring farm-house, spared the seedling, and it grew ii j) into the large and flourishing tree, six feet nine inches in girth, standing in the middle of the Croft, and now known as " Brindley's Tree." This ash tree is nature's own memorial of the birth-place of the engineer, and it is the only one as yet erected to the genius of Brindley. BRINDLEY'8 CROFT.1 [By Percival Skelton, after a sketch by ilrs. Fleming ] Although the enclosure is called Brindley's Croft, this name was only given to it of late years by its tenant, in memory of the engineer who was born there. The state- 1 The site of the Croft is very ele- vated, and commands an extensive view as far as Topley Pike, between liakewell and liiixton, at the top of what is called the Lmi'4 Hill. Tnplry Pike is hehind the spectator in look- in i at the Croft in the above aspect. The rising ground In-hind the ash tree is called Wormhill Common, though n<>\v rnelosed. The old road I nun Iliixt4.ii to Tideswell skirts the front of the risiu.u m-<>nnd. 310 LIFE OF BRINDLKY. PART V. ment made in Mr. Henshall's memoir of Brindley,1 to the effect that Brindley' s father was the freehold owner of his croft, does not appear to have any foundation ; as the present owner of the property, Dr. Fleming, informs us that it was purchased, about the beginning of the present century, from the heirs of the last of the Hey wards. who became its owners in 1688. No such name as Brindley occurs in any of the title-deeds belonging to the property ; and it is probable that the engineer's father was an under-tenant, and merely rented the old cottage in which our hero was born. There is no record of his birth, nor does the name of Brindley occur in the register of the parish of Wormhill, in which the cottage was situated ; but registers in those days were very imperfectly kept, and part of that of Wormhill has been lost. It is probable that Brindley' s father maintained his family by the proceeds of his little croft, and that he was not much, if at all, above the rank of a cottier. It is indeed recorded of him that he was by no means a steady man, and was fonder of sport than of work. He went shooting and hunting, when he should have been labour- ing ; and if there was a bull-running within twenty miles, he was sure to be there. The Bull King of the district lay less than three miles off, at the north end of Long Eidge Lane, which almost passed his door ; and of that place of popular resort Brindley 's father was a regular frequenter. These associations led him into bad company, and very soon reduced him to poverty. He neglected his children, not only setting before them a bad example, but permitting them to grow up without education. Fortunately, Brindley's mother in a great measure supplied the father's shortcomings : she did what she could to teach them what she knew, though that was but small ; but, perhaps more important still, she encou- l\i|.|iis"s ' l>i(>;j,r;i|)lii;i Britannic;],' Art. TIIK WHEELWRIGHT'S APPRENTICE. 311 them in thr formation of good habits by her own steady industry.1 The different members of the family, of whom James was the eldest, were thus under the necessity of going out to work at a very early age to provide for the family wants. James worked at any ordinary labourer's em- ployment which offered until he was about seventeen years old. His mechanical bias had, however, early displayed itself, and lie was especially clever with his knife, making models of mills, which he set to work in little mill-streams of his contrivance. It is said that one <>f the tilings in which he took most delight when aboy, was to visit a neighbouring grist-mill and examine the water-wheels, cog-wheels, drum- wheels, and other at- tached machinery, until he could carry away the details in his head ; afterwards imitating the arrangements by means of his knife and such little bits of wood as he could obtain for the purpose. We can thus readily un- derstand how he should have turned his thoughts in the direction in which we afterwards find him employed, and that, encouraged by his mother, he should have determined to bind himself, on the first opportunity that offered, to the business of a millwright. The demands of trade were so small at the time, that Brindley had no great choice of masters; but at the village of Sutton, near Macclesfield, there lived one Abraham Bennett, a wheelwright and millwright, to whom young Brindley offered himself as apprentice ; and in the year 1733, after a few weeks' trial, he became bound to that master for the term of seven years. A It li< muli tlir employment of millwrights was then of a very limited character, a great deal of valuable practical 1 Brind ley's lather seems afterwards to have somewhat recovered himself; tor we tind him, in 1729, purchasing an undivided share of a small e>t;iic at Lowe Hill, within a mile of Leek, in Staffordshire, where he had before gone to settle; and he contrived to realise the remaining portion before his death, and to leave it to his son .lames. None of the Brindley family remained at Wormhill, and the name has disappeared in the district. 312 LIFE OF BK1XULKY. information was obtained whilst carrying on their busi- ness. The millwrights were as yet the only engineers. In the course of their trade they worked at the foot-lathe, the carpenter's bench, and the anvil, by turns ; thus cultivating the faculties of observation and comparison, acquiring practical knowledge of the strength and qualities of materials, and dexterity in the handling of tools of many different kinds. In country places, where division of labour could not be carried so far as in the larger towns, the millwright was compelled to draw largely upon his own resources, and to devise expedients to meet pressing emergencies as they arose. Necessity thus made them dexterous, expert, and skilful in me- chanical arrangements, more particularly those connected with mill-work, steam-engines, pumps, cranes, and such like. Hence millwrights in those early days were looked upon as a very important class of workmen. The nature of their business tended to render them self-reliant, and they prided themselves on the importance of their calling. On occasions of difficulty the millwright was invariably resorted to for help ; and as the demand for mechanical skill arose, in the course of the progress of manufacturing and agricultural industry, the men trained in millwrights' shops, such as Briridley, Meikle, Rennie, and Fairbairn, were borne up by the force of their prac- tical skill and constructive genius into the highest rank of skilled and scientific engineering. Brindley, however, only acquired his skill by slow degrees. Indeed, his master thought him slower than most lads, and even stupid. Bennett, like many well- paid master mechanics at that time, was of intemperate habits, and gave very little attention to his apprentice, leaving him to the tender mercies of his journeymen, who were for the most part a rough and drunken set. Much of the lad's time was occupied in running for beer, and when he sought for information he was often met with a rebuff. Skilled workmen were then very jealous Till-; WHEELWRIGHT'S Al'l'KKNTiri:. 313 of new hands, and those who were in any lucrative employment usually put their shoulders together to exclude those who were out. Brindley had thus to find out nearly everything for himself, and he only worked his way to dexterity through a succession of hlunders. He was frequently left in sole charge of the wheelwrights' shop — the men being ahsent at jobs in the country, and the master at the public-house, from which he could not easily be drawn. Hence, when customers called at the shop to get any urgent repairs done, the apprentice was under the necessity of doing them in the best way he could, and that often very badly. When the men came home and found tools blunted and timber spoiled, they abused Brindley and complained to the master of his bungling apprentice's handiwork, declaring him to be a mere " spoiler of wood." On one occasion, when Ben- net t and the journeymen were absent, he had to fit in the spokes of a cart-wheel, and was so intent on com- pleting his job that he did not find out that he had fitted them all in the wrong way until he had applied the -aiige-stick. Not long after this occurrence, Brindley was left by himself in the shop for an entire week, working at a piece of common enough wheelwright's work, without any directions; and he made such a kb mess " of it, that on the master's return he was so enraged that he threatened, there and then, to cancel the indentures and send the young man back to farm- la 1 tourer's work, which Bennett declared was the only tiling for which he was fit. Brindley had now been two years at the business, and in his master's opinion had learnt next to nothing; though it shortly turned out that, notwithstanding the apprentice's many blunders, he had really groped his way to much valuable practical information on matters relating to his trade. Bennett's shop would have been a bad school for an ordinary youth, but it proved a pro- lific one for Brindley, who was anxious to learn, and 314 LIFE OF IWINDLKY. PARTY. determined to make a way for himself if lie could not find one. He must have had a hrave spirit to withstand the many difficulties he had to contend against, to learn dexterity through blunders, and success through defeats. But this is necessarily the case with all self-taught work- men ; and Briridley was mainly self-taught, as we have seen, even in the details of the business to which he had hound himself apprentice. In the autumn of 1735 a small silk-mill at Ma cries- field, the property of Mr. Michael Daintrv, sustained considerable injury from a fire at one of the gudgeons inside the mill, and Bennett was called upon to execute the necessary repairs. Whilst the men were employed at the shop in executing the new work, Brindlev was sent to the mill to remove the damaged machinery, under the directions of Mr. James Milner, the superin- tendent of the factory. Milner had thus frequent occa- sion to enter into conversation with the young man, and was struck with the pertinence of his remarks as to the causes of the recent fire and the best means of avoiding similar accidents in future. He even applied to Bennett, his master, to permit the apprentice to assist in executing the repairs of certain parts of the work, which was reluctantly assented to. Bennett closely watched his " bungling apprentice," as he called him ; but Brindley, encouraged by the superintendent of the mill, succeeded in satisfactorily executing his allotted portion of the repairs, not less to the surprise of his master than to the mortification of his men. Many years after, Brindley, in describing this first successful piece of mill-work which he had executed, observed, " I can yet remember the delight which I felt when my work was fixed and fitted complete ; and I could not understand why my master and the other workmen, instead of being pleased, seemed to be dissatisfied with the insertion of every fresh part in its proper place." The completion of the job was followed by tlie usual . TIIK WIIKKLWUICIIT'S AIM'IIKXTKT. 31f> supper mid drink ;it flic- only tavern in the town, then on Parsonage (iivm. Brindley' s share in the work was a good deal ridiculed by the men when the drink began to operate ; on which Mr. Milner, to whose intercession liis participation in the work had been entirely attribu- table, interposed and said, " I will wager a gallon of the best ale in the house, that before the lad's apprentice- ship is but he will be a cleverer workman than any here, whether master or man." We have not been in- formed whether the wager was accepted ; but it was l<>ng remembered, and Brindley was so often taunted with it by the workmen, that he was not himself allowed to forget that it had been offered. Indeed, from that time forward, he zealously endeavoured so to apply him- self as to justify the prediction, for it was nothing less, of his kind friend Mr. Milner ; and before the end of his third year's apprenticeship his master was himself con- strained to admit that Brindley was not the " fool " and the " blundering blockhead " which he and his men had so often called him. Very much to the chagrin of the latter, and to the surprise of Bennett himself, the neigh- bouring millers, when sending for a workman to execute repairs in their machinery, would specially request that " the young man Brindley " should be sent them in pre- ference to any other of the workmen. Some of them would even have the apprentice in preference to the master himself. At this Bennett was greatly surprised, and, quite unable to understand the mystery, he even went so far as to inquire of Brindley where he had obtained his knowledge of mill-work ! Brindley could not tell ; it " came natural-like ;" but the whole secret consisted in Brindley working with his head as well as with his hands. The apprentice had already been found peculiarly expert in executing mill repairs, in the course of which he would frequently suggest alterations and improvements, more especially in the application of the water-power, which no one had before thought of, but 310 UI-'K OF mJlXDLKY. PART A'. which proved to be founded on correct principles, and worked to the millers' entire satisfaction. Bennett, on afterwards inspecting the gearing of one of the mills repaired by Brindley, found it so securely and sul>- stantially fitted, that he even complained to him of his style of work. " Jem," said he, " if thou persist in this foolish way of working, there will be very little trade left to be done when thou comes out of thy time : thou kiiaws firmness of wark's th' ruin o' trade." Brindley, however, gave no heed whatever to the unprincipled suggestion, and considered it the duty and the pride of the mechanic always to execute the best possible work. Among the other jobs which Brindley's master was employed to execute about this time, was the machinery of a new paper-mill proposed to be erected on the river Dane. The arrangements were to be the same as those adopted in the Smedley paper-mill on the Irk, and at Throstle-Nest on the Irwell, near Manchester; and Bennett went over to inspect the machinery at those places. But Brindley was afterwards of opinion that he must have inspected the taverns in Manchester much more closely than the paper-mills in the neighbourhood ; for when he returned, the practical information lie brought with him proved almost a blank. Nevertheless, Bennett could not let slip the opportunity of undertaking so lucrative a piece of employment in his special line, and, ill-informed though he was, he set his men to work upon the machinery of the proposed paper-mill. It very soon appeared that Bennett was altogether unfitted for the performance of the contract which he had undertaken. The machinery, when made, would not fit; it would not work; and, what with drink and what with perplexity, Bennett soon got completely be- wildered. Yet to give up the job altogether would be to admit his own incompetency as a mechanic, and must necessarily affect his future employment as a millwright. He and his men, therefore, continued distractedly to OHAF.I. TIIK WHKBLWBIGHTS AITIIKNTK'K. 817 persevere in their oj ^rations, but without the slightest appearance of satisfactory progress. About this time an old hand, who happened to he passing the place at which the men were at work, looked in upon them and ex; i mined what they were about, as a mere matter of curiosity. When he had done so, he went on to the nearest public-house and uttered his sentiments on the subject very freely. He declared that the job was a farce, and that Abraham Bennett was only throwing his employer's money away. The statement of what the " experienced hand" had said, was repeated until it came to the ears of young Brindley. Concerned for the honour of his shop as well as for the credit of his master —though he probably owed him no great obligation on the score either of treatment or instruction — Brindley formed the immediate resolution of attempting to master the difficulty so as to enable the work to be brought to a satisfactory completion. At the end of the week's work Brindley left the mill without saying a word of his intention to any one, and instead of returning to his master's house, where he lodged, he took the road for Manchester. Bennett was in a state of great alarm lest he should have run away ; for Brindley, now in the fourth year of his apprentice- ship, had reached the age of twenty-one, and the master feared that, taking advantage of his legal majority, he had left his service never to return. A messenger was despatched in the course of the evening to his mother's house ; but he was not there. Sunday came and passed —still no word of young Brindley : he must have run a way ! On Monday morning Bennett went to the paper- in ill to proceed with his fruitless work ; and lo ! the first person he saw was Brindley, with his coat off, working away with greater energy than ever. His disappear- ance was soon explained. He had been to Smedley Mill to inspect the machinery there with his own eyes, and clear up his master's difficulty. He had walked the 318 LI KM OK r.lJLMHJ-y. PARTY. twenty-live miles thither on the Saturday night, and on the following Sunday morning he had waited on Mr. Appleton, the proprietor of the mill, and requested per- mission to inspect the machinery. With an unusual degree of liberality Mr. Appleton gave the required consent, and Brindley spent the whole of that Sunday in the most minute inspection of the entire arrangements of the mill. He could not make notes, but he stored up the particulars carefully in his head ; and believing that he had now thoroughly mastered the difficulty, he set out upon his return journey, and walked the twenty-five miles back to Macclesfield again. Having given this proof of his determination, as he had already given of his skill in mechanics, Bennett was only too glad to give up the whole conduct of the con- tract thenceforth to his apprentice ; Brindley assuring him that he should now have no difficulty in completing it to his satisfaction. No time was lost in revising the whole design ; many parts of the work already fixed were rejected by Brindley, and removed; others, after his own design, were substituted; several entirely new improvements were added ; and in the course of a few weeks the work was brought to a conclusion, within the stipulated time, to the satisfaction of the proprietors of the mill. There was now no longer any question as to the ex- traordinary mechanical skill of Bennett's apprentice. The old man felt that he had been in a measure saved by young Brindley, and thenceforth, during the re- mainder of his apprenticeship, he left him in principal charge of the shop. Thus for several years Brindley maintained his old master and his family in respectability and comfort ; and when Bennett died, Brindley carried 011 the concern until the work in hand had been com- pleted and the accounts wound up ; after which he removed from Macclesfield to begin business on his own account at the town of Leek, in Staffordshire. KY AS MASTK1I \VII KKLWIIK JUT, \T. :Ji;. CHAPTER II. BRINDLEY AS MASTER WHEELWRIGHT AND MILLWRIGHT. BKIXDLEY had now been nine years at his trade, seven as apprentice and two as journeyman ; and he began business as a wheelwright at Leek at the age of twenty- six. He had no capital except his skill, and no influence except that which his character as a steady workman gave him. Leek wTas not a manufacturing place at the time when Brindley began business there in 1742. It was but a small market town, the only mills in the neigh- bourhood being a few grist-mills driven by the streamlets (lowing into the waters of the Dane, the Churnet, and the Trent. These mills usually contained no more than a single pair of stones, and they were comparatively rude and primitive in their arrangement and construction. Brindley at first obtained but a moderate share of em- ployment. His work was more strongly done, and his charges were consequently higher, than was customary in the district ; and the agricultural classes were as yet too poor to enable them to pay the prices of the best work. He gradually, however, acquired a position, and became known for his skill in improving old machinery or inventing any new mechanical arrangement that might be required for any special purpose. He was very careful to execute anything committed to him within the stipulated time, and he began to be spoken of as a thoroughly reliable workman. Thus his business gradu- ally extended to other places at a distance from Leek, and more especially into the Staffordshire Pottery dis- tricts, shortly about to rise into importance under the fostering energy of Josiah Wedgwood. 320 BRINDLEY AS MASTER WHEELWRIGHT PART V. At first he kept neither apprentices nor journeymen, but felled his own timber and cut it up himself, with such assistance as he could procure on the spot. As his business increased he took in an apprentice, and then a journeyman, to carry on the work in the shop while he was absent; and he wras often called to a considerable distance from home, more particularly for the purpose of being consulted about any new machinery that was proposed to be put up. Nor did he confine himself to mill-wTork. He was ready to undertake all sorts of ma- chinery connected with the pumping of water, the draining of mines, the smelting of iron and copper, and the various mechanical arrangements connected with the manufactures rising into importance in the adjoining counties of Cheshire and Lancashire. Whenever he was called upon in this way, he endeavoured to introduce improvements ; and to such an extent did he carry this tendency, that he became generally known in the neigh- bourhood by the name of " The Schemer." A number of Brindley 's memoranda books l are still in existence, which show the various character of his employment during this early part of his career. It appears from the entries made in them, that he was not only employed in repairing and fitting up silk-throwing mills at Macclesfield, all of which were then driven by water, but also in repairing corn-mills at Congleton, New- castle-imder-Lyne, and various other places, besides 'those in the immediate neighbourhood of Leek, where he lived. We believe the pocket memoranda books, to which we refer, were the only records which Brindley kept of his early business transactions ; the rest he carried in his memory, which by practice became remarkably retentive. Whilst working as an apprentice at Macclesfield, he had taught himself the art of writing ; but he never mastered 1 In the possession of Joseph Mayer, Esq., of Liverpool, who has kindly permitted the author to inspect the whole of his valuable Brindley manu- scripts, so curiously illustrative of the early part of his career. AND MILLWIMGHT. it thoroughly, and 1<> the end of his life lie wrote with difficulty, and almost illegibly. His spelling was also very had ; and what with the bad spelling and what with the hieroglyphics in which he wrote, it is sometimes very difficult to decyphef the entries made by him from time to time in his memoranda books. We find him frequently at Trentham, entering, on one occasion, a " Loog of Daal 20 foot long," and at another time fitting a pump for " Arle Grower," the Earl being one of Brindley's first patrons. The log of deal, it afterwards appears, was required for a flint-mill (•fa Mr. Tibots — " a mow [new ?] in volition," as Brindley enters it in his book — of which more hereafter. On May 18, 1755, he enters " Big Tree to cut 1 day," and lie seems to have felled the tree, and, some months after, to have cut it up himself, entering so many days at two shillings a < 1 a y for the labour. W hen lie had to travel some distance, he set down sixpence a day extra for expenses. Thus on one occasion he makes this entry: "For Mr. Kent e<>ni mill of Codan look- ing out a shaft neer Broun Edge 1 day 0 : 2 : 6." Between Leek and Trentham lay the then small pottery village of Burslem, which Brindley had frequent occa- sion to pass through in going to and from his jobs for THE POTTERIES DISTRICT [Ordnance Survey ] VOL. I. V 322 BR1NDLEY AS MASTER WHEELWRIGHT TARTY. the Earl. The earthenware then manufactured at Burs- lem was of a very inferior sort, consisting almost entirely of brown ware ; and the quantity turned out was so small that it was hawked about on the backs of the potters themselves, or sold by higglers, who carried it from village to village in the panniers of their donkeys. The brothers Elers, the Dutchmen, erected a potwork of an improved kind near Burslem, at the beginning of the century, in which they first practised the art of salt- glazing, brought by them from Holland. The next improvement introduced was the use of powder of flints, used at first as a wash or dip, and afterwards mixed with tobacco-pipe clay, from which an improved ware was made, called " Flint potters." The merit of introducing this article is usually attributed to William Astbury, of Shelton, who, when on a journey to London, stopping at an inn at Dunstable, noticed the very soft and delicate nature of some burnt flint-stones when mixed with water (the hostler having used the powdered flint as a remedy for a disorder in his horses' eyes), and from thence he is said to have conceived the idea of applying it to the purposes of his trade. In first using the calcined flints, Mr. Astbury 's practice was to have them pounded in an iron mortar until perfectly levigated ; and being but sparingly used, this answered the demand for some time. But when the use of flint became more common, this tedious process would no longer suffice. The brothers John and Thomas Wedgwood carried on the pottery business in a very small way, but were nevertheless hampered by the short supply of flint powder, and it was found necessary to adopt some means of in- creasing the quantity. In their emergency the potters called " The Schemer " to their aid ; and hence we find him frequently occupied in erecting flint-mills, in Burslem and the neighbourhood, from that time forward. The success which attended his efforts brought Brindley not only fame, but business. It happened that, while thus CHAP. II AND MILL\Vi:i<;iIT. 323 occupied, Mr. John Kdensor Heathcote, owner of the riii'ton estate near Manchester, was married to one of the daughters of Sir Nigel Gresley, of Knypersley, in the neighbourhood of Burslem, and that the marriage festivities were in progress, when the remarkable inge- nuity of the young millwright of Leek was accidentally mentioned in the hearing of Mr. Heathcote one day at dinner. The Manchester man, in the midst of pleasure, did not forget business ; and it occurred to him that this ingenious mechanic might be of use to him in con- triving some method for clearing his Clifton coal-mines of the water by which they had so long been drowned. The old methods of the gin-wheel and tub, and the chain- pump, had been tried, but entirely failed to keep the water under : if this Brindley could but do anything to help him in his difficulty, he would employ him at once ; at all events, he would like to see the man. Brindley was accordingly sent for, and the whole case was laid before him. Mr. Heathcote described as minutely as possible the nature of the locality, the direction in which the strata lay, and exhibited a plan <»t' the working of the mines. Brindley was perfectly silent for a long time, seemingly absorbed in a considera- tion of the difficulties to be overcome ; but at length his countenance brightened, his eyes sparkled, and he briefly pointed out a method by which he thought he should be enabled, at no great expense, effectually to remedy the evil. His explanations were considered so satisfactory, that lie was at once directed to proceed to Clifton, with full powers to carry out his proposed plan of operations. This was, to call to his aid the fall of the river Irwell, which formed one boundary of the estate, and pump out the water from the pits by means of the greater power of the water in the river. With this object Brindley contrived and executed his first tunnel, which he drove through the solid rock for a distance of six hundred yards, and in this tunnel he led the river on to the breast Y 2 324 UIMNDLKY AS MASTK1! WHEELWRIGHT TAUT V. of an immense water-wheel fixed in a chamber sonic thirty feet below the surface of the ground, from the lower end of which the water, after exercising its power, flowed away into the lower level of the Irwell. The expedient, though bold, was simple, and it proved effec- tive. The machinery was found fully equal to the emer- gency ; and in a very short time Brindley's wheel and pumps, working night and day, so cleared the mine of water as to enable the men to get the coal in places from which they had long been completely " drowned out." We are not informed of the remuneration which the engineer received for carrying out this important work ; but from the entries in his memorandum book it is pro- bable that all he obtained was only his workman's wage of two shillings a-day. Notwithstanding his ingenuity and hard-working energy, Brindley never seems, during the early part of his career, to have earned more than about one-third the wage of skilled mechanics in our own time ; and from the insignificant sums charged 1 >y him for expenses, it is clear that he was satisfied to live in the fashion of an ordinary labourer. What modern en- gineers will receive ten guineas a-day for doing, lie, with his strong original mind, was quite content to do for two shillings. But eminent constructive skill seems to have been lightly appreciated in those days, if we may judge by the money value attached to it.1 To tin's, however, it must be added, that at the time of which 1 Long before Brindley's time, Inigo Jones was paid only eight shillings and Iburpence a-day as architect and sur- veyor of the Whitehall Banqueting House, and forty-six pounds a-year for house-rent, clerks, and incidental expenses; whilst Nicholas Stowe, the master mason, was allowed but four and tenpence a-day. When the Duchess of Marlborough was after- wards engaged in resisting the claims of one of her Blenheim surveyors, she told him indignantly " that Sir Chris- topher Wren, while employed upon Saint Paul's, was content to be dragged up to the top of the building three times £.-week in ;i basket, at the great ha/ard of his life, for only 20()/. a- year " — the actual amount of his sa la ry as architect of that magnificent Cathe- dral. Brindley, however, tared worst- still, and lor a long time does not seem to have risen above mere mechanic's pay, even whilst engaged in construct- ing the celebrated canal for the Duke of Bridgeware!', which laid the founda- tion of so many gigantic fortunes. I. AND MILLWRIGHT. 325 we speak, the people of the country were comparatively poor— manufacturers as well as landowners. In Maccles- lield and the neighbourhood, where the inventions of men sucli as Brindley have issued in so extraordinary a development of wealth, the operations of trade were as yet in their infancy, and had numerous obstructions and difficulties to contend against. Perhaps the greatest difficulty of all was the absence of those facilities for communicating between one district and another, without which the existence of trade is simply impossible ; but we shall shortly find Brindley also entering upon this great work of opening up the internal communications of the country, with an extraordinary degree of ability and success. By the middle of last century, Macclesfield and the neighbouring towns were gradually rising out of the small button-trade, and aiming at greater things in the \\av of manufacture. In 1755 Mr. N. Pattison of Lon- don, Mr. John Clayton, and a few other gentlemen, entered into a partnership to build a new silk-mill at Congleton, in Cheshire, on a larger scale than had yet been attempted in that neighbourhood. Brindley was employed to execute the water-wheel and the com- moner sort of mill- work about the building ; but the smaller wheels and the more complex parts of the ma- chinery, with which it was not supposed Brindley could he acquainted, were entrusted to a master joiner and millwright, named Johnson, who also superintended the progress of the whole work. The superintendent re- quired I >r 5 1 idley to work after his mere verbal directions, without 1 1 1 e a i d of any plan ; and Brindley was not even allowed to inspect the models of the machinery required for the proposed mill. He thus worked at a great disad- vantage, and the operations connected with the construc- tion of the intended machinery were very shortly found in a state of great confusion. The proprietors had reason to suspect that their superintendent was not equal to the 326 BRINDLEY AS MASTER WHEELWRIGHT TAUT Y. enterprise which he had undertaken. At first he endea- voured to assuie them that all was going right; hut at last, after various efforts, he was ohliged to confess his incompetency and his inability to complete the work. The proprietors, becoming alarmed, then sent for Brindley and told him of their dilemma. " Would he undertake to complete the works ? " He asked to see the model and plans which the superintendent engineer had proposed to follow out. But on being applied to, the latter positively refused to submit his designs to a com- mon millwright, as he alleged Brindley to be. The proprietors were almost in despair, and their only reliance now was on Brindley's genius. " Tell me," he said, " what is the precise operation that you wish to perform, and I will endeavour to provide you with the requisite machinery for doing it ; but you must let me carry out the work in my own way." To this they were only too glad to assent; and having been furnished with the requisite powers, he forthwith set to work. His intelli- gent observation of the process of manufacture in the various mills he had inspected, his intimate practical knowledge of machinery of all kinds then in use, and his fertility of resources in matters of mechanical arrange- ment, enabled him to perform- even more than he had promised ; and he not only finished the mill to the com- plete satisfaction of its owners, but added a number of new and skilful improvements in detail, which afterwards proved of the greatest value. For instance, lie adapted lifts to each set of rollers and swifts, by means of wliicli the silk was enabled to be wound upon the bobbins equably, instead of in wreaths as in other mills ; and he so arranged the shafting as to throw out of gear arid stop either the whole or any part of the machinery at will— an arrangement subsequently adopted in the throstle of the cotton-spinning machine, and though common enough now, then thought perfectly marvellous. And, in order that the tooth-arid-pinion wheels should fit with perfect CIIAI-. II. AND MILLWRIGHT. 327 I >reeisi< >ii, lie expressly invented machinery for their manu- i'arture — a thing that had not before been attempted- all such wheels having, until then, been cut by hand at great labour and cost. By means of this new machinery, ;is much work, and of a far better description, could be cut in a day as had before occupied at least a fortnight. The result was, that the new silk-mill, when finished, was found to be one of the most complete and economical arrangements of manufacturing machinery that had up to that time been erected in that neighbourhood. After the Congleton silk-mill had been completed, we find Briiidley engaged in erecting flint-mills in the Pot- teries, of a more powerful and complete kind than any that had before been tried, but which were rendered necessary by the growing demands of the earthenware- manufacture. One of the largest was that erected for Mr. Thomas Baddely, at a place called Machins' of the Mill, near Tunstall. We find these entries in Brindley's pocket-book :— " March 15, 1757. With Mr. Badley to Mather so about a now flint mill upon a windey day 1 day 3s. Gd. March 19 draing a plann 1 day 2s. 6d. March 23 draing a plann and to sat out the wheel race 1 day 45." This new mill was driven by water-power, and the wheel both worked the pumping apparatus by which the adjoin- ing coal-mine was drained, and the stamping machinery for pounding and grinding the flints. The wheel, which was of considerable diameter, was fixed in a chamber below the surface of the ground, and the water was con- veyed to it from the mill-pool through a small trough opening upon it at its breast, which kept the paddle- !><> xes of the descending part constantly filled, without any waste whatever, and thus, by the rotation of the wheel, the pumps and stampers were effectually worked. The main shaft was more than two hundred yards from the mill ; and to work the pumps Brindley then invented the slide rods, which were moved horizontally by a crank at the mill, and gave power to the upright arm of a crank- 328 BRIXDEEY AS MASTER WHEELWRIGHT lever, whose axis was at the angle, and the lift at the other extremity. In course of time, as improvements were introduced in the grinding of flints, the stamping apparatus was detached from the machinery ; but this water-wheel continued its constant and silent operation of pumping out the mines for full forty years after the death of its inventor ; and when it was at length broken up, about the year 181 2, the pump-trees, which consisted of wooden staves firmly bound together with ashen hoops, were found to be lined with cow-hides, the working- buckets being also covered with leather — a contrivance of which the like, it is believed, has not before been recorded.1 About the same time Brindley was requested by Mr. John Wedgwood to erect a windmill for a similar pur- pose on an elevated site adjoining the town of Burslem, called the Jenkins ; this being one of the first, if not the very first, experiments made of the plan of grinding the calcined flints in water, which in this case was pumped by the action of the machinery from a well situated within the mill itself. This invention, which was of considerable importance, has by some been attributed to Brindley, whose ingenious mind was ever ready to suggest improvements in whatever process of manufacture came under his notice. It was natural that he should closely watch the operation of flint-grinding, having to construct and repair the greater part of the machinery used in the process ; and he could not fail to notice the distressing consequences resulting from inhaling the fine particles with which the air of the flint-mills was laden. Hence the probability of his suggesting that the flints should be ground in water, as calculated not only to prevent waste and preserve the purity of the air, but also to facilitate the operation of grinding, — a simple enough suggestion, but, as the result proved, a most valuable one. With this object he invented an improved 1 ' History of the Borough of Stoke-up.n-Tivnt.' I'.y .John Ward. 1853. P. 164. °f THE WWVCRSIT.V AND MILLWTUtaiT. Or / 399 ^^iroBuKtjfe mill, wliich consisted ol'a 1 a rge circular vat, about tli irt y inches deep, having a central step fixed in the bottom, to carry the axis of a vertical shaft. The moving power was applied to this shaft by a crown cog-wheel placed on the top. At the lower part of the shaft, at right angles to it, were four arms, upon which the grinding- stones were fixed, large blocks of stone of the same kind 1 icing likewise placed in the vat. These stones were a very hard silicious mineral, called "Chert," found in abundance in the neighbourhood of Bakewell, in Derby- shire. The broken flints being introduced to the vat and completely covered with water, the axis was made to revolve with great velocity, when the calcined flints were easily reduced to an impalpable powder. This contrivance of Brindley's proved of great value to Wedg- wood, and it was shortly after adopted throughout the Potteries, and continues in use to this day. Being thus extensively occupied in the invention and erection of machinery driven by one power or another, it was natural that Brindley's attention should have been attracted to the use of steam power in manufacturing operations. Wind and water had heretofore been almost the exclusive agents employed for the purpose ; but far- srring philosophers and ingenious mechanics had for cen- turies been feeling their way towards the far greater j »( » wer derived from the pent-up force of vaporised water ; and engines had actually been contrived which rendered it probable that the problem would ere long be solved, and a motive agent invented, which should be easily con- tn.llaMr. and independent alike of wind, tides, and water- falls. Reserving for another place the history of the successive stages of this great invention, it will be suffi- cient for our present purpose merely to indicate, briefly, the direction of Brindley's labours in this important field. It appears that Newcomen had as early as the year 1711 erected an atmospheric engine for the purpose of drawing water from a coal-rnine in the neighbourhood of Wolver- 330 BRINDLEY AS MASTER WHEELWRIGHT TAUT V. Hampton ; and after considerable difficulties had been experienced in its construction and working, the engine was at length pronounced the most effective and econo- mical that had yet been tried. Other engines of a similar kind were shortly after erected in the coal districts of the north of England, in the tin and copper mines of Corn- wall, and in the lead mines of Cumberland, for the purpose of pumping water from the pits. Brindley, like other contrivers of power, felt curious about this new invention, and proceeded to Wolverhampton to study one of Newcomen's engines erected there. He was greatly struck by its appearance, and, with the irrepres- sible instinct of the inventor, immediately set about contriving how it might be improved. He found the consumption of coal so great as to preclude its use ex- cepting where coal was unusually abundant and cheap, as, for instance, at the mouth of a coal-pit, where the fuel it consumed was the produce and often the refuse of the mine itself; and he formed the opinion that unless the consumption of coal could be reduced, the extended use of the steam-engine was not practicable, by reason of its dearness, as compared with the power of horses, wind, or water. With this idea in his head, he proceeded to contrive an improved engine, the main object of which was to ensure greater economy in fuel. In 1756 we find him erecting a steam-engine for one Mr. Broade, at Fenton Vivian, in Staffordshire, in which he adopted the expe- dient, afterwards tried by James Watt, of wooden cylin- ders made in the manner of coopers' ware, instead of cylinders of iron. He also substituted wood for iron in the chains which worked at the end of the beam. Like Watt, however, he was under the necessity of abandoning the wooden cylinders ; but he surrounded his metal cylinders with a wooden case, filling the in- termediate space with wood-ashes ; and by this means, and using no more injection of cold water than [. AND MILLWRIGHT. 331 necessary for the purpose of condensation, lie succeeded in reducing the waste of steam by almost one-half. Whilst husy with Mr. Broade's engine, we find from the entries in his pocket-book that Brindley occasionally spent several days together at Coalbrookdale, to super- intend the making of the boiler-plates, the pipes, and other iron-work. Returned to Fenton Vivian, he pro- ceeded with the erection of his engine-house and the fitting of the machinery, whilst, during five days more, lie appears to have been occupied in making the hoops for the cylinders. It takes him five days to get the " great leavor fixed," thirty-nine days to put the boiler together, and thirteen days to get the pit prepared ; and as lie charges only workman's wages for those days, we infer that the greater part of the work was done by his o \\-ii hands. He even seems to have himself felled the requisite timber for the work, as we infer from the entry in his pocket-book of " falling big tree 3^ days." The engine was at length ready after about a year's work, and was set a-going in November, 1757, after which we find these significant entries: "Bad louk [luck] five days ;" then, again, " Bad louk " for three days more ; and, after that, " Midlin louk ;" and so on with "Midlin louk" until the entries under that head come to an end. In the spring of the following year we find him again striving to get his "engon at woork," and it seems at length to have been fairly started on the 19th of March, when we have the entry " Engon at woork 3 days." There is then a stoppage of lour days, and again the engine works for seven days more, with a sort of "loud cheer" in the words added to the entry, of "driv a-Heyd !" Other intervals occur, until, on the 16th of April, we have the words "at woor good ordor 3 days," when the entries come to a sudden close. The engine must certainly have U'iveii Brindley a great deal of trouble, and almost driven him to despair, as we now know how very im- 332 IUMNDLKY AS MASTKH \Y11EEL\Y1MGI1T perfect an engine with wooden hooped cylinders must have been ; and we are not therefore surprised at the entry which he honestly makes in his pocket-book 011 the 21st of April, immediately after the one last men- tioned, when the engine had, doubtless, a second time broken down, " to Bun about a Drinking, 0:1: 6." IVr- haps he intended the entry to stand there as a warning against giving way to future despair ; for he underlined the words, as if to mark them with unusual emphasis.1 Brindley did not long give way to this mood, but set to work upon the contrivance and erection of another engine upon a new and improved plan. What his plan was, may be learnt from the specification lodged in the- Patent Office, on the 26th December, 1758, by "James Brindley, of Leek, in the county of Stafford, Mill- wright." 2 In the arrangement of this new steam-engine he provided that the boiler should be made of brick or stone arched over, and the stove over the fireplace of cast-iron, fixed within the boiler. - The feeding-pipe for the boiler was to be made with a clack, opening and shutting by a float upon the surface of the water in the boiler, which would thus be self-feeding. The great chains for the segments at the extremity of the beams were of wood ; and the pumps were also of wooden staves strongly hooped together. Brindley seems, indeed, to have long retained his early predilection as a millwright for wood, and to have preferred it to iron wherever its use was practicable. His plans were, however, snl>- 1 We find the following memoran- dum in Brindley's pockei>book,relating to the expense of working the engine in the year 1760 : — Miss Clare Maria Broad* fire engine at fentan vivian. First yeer's work and repare night and day £164 Do. torn back .' 025 Due for te first yeer 139 Due for the second veer 102 2 He describes it as " A Fire-En- gine for Drawing Water out of Mines, or for Draining of Lands, or for Sup- plying of Cityes, To wins, or (!ar- dens with Water, or which may be applicable to many other great and usefull Purposes, in a better and more effectual Manner than any Engine or Machine that hath hitherto l>een made or used for the like Purpose."—' Speci- fications of Patents,' No. 730. I. AND MILLWKKUIT. ;;:;:; jrrird to modification ;m lime, us experience JM .intcd out ; and in the course of a lr\\ years, 1 trick, stone, and wood were alike discarded in favour of iron; until, in 1763, we find Brindley erecting a steam-engine for the Walker Colliery, at NY w castle, wholly of iron, manufactured at Coalbrook- dale, which was pronounced the most "complete and noble piece of ironwork " that had up to that time been produced.1 But by this time Brindley's genius had Uvu turned in. another direction; the invention of the steam-engine being now safe in the hands of Watt, who was perse veringly occupied in bringing it to com- pletion. 1 Stuart's ' Anecdotes of Steam-Engines,' p. fi'2(>. 334 THE UF/llXXIX'iS OF CANAL& CHAPTER III. THE BEGINNINGS OF CANALS — THE DUKE OF BRIDGEWATEK. VERY little had as yet been done to open up the inland navigation of England, beyond dredging and clearing out in a very imperfect manner the channels of several of the larger rivers, so as to admit of the passage of small barges. Several attempts had been made in Lancashire and Cheshire, as we have already shown, to open up the navigation of the Mersey and the Irwell from Liverpool to Manchester. There were similar projects for im- proving the Weaver from Frodsham, where it joins the Mersey, to Winford Bridge above North wich ; and the Douglas, from the Bibble to Wigan. About the same time like schemes were started in Yorkshire, with the object of opening up the navigation of the Ahv and Calder to Leeds and Wakefield, and of the Don from Doncaster to near Sheffield. One of the Acts passed by Parliament in 1737 is worthy of notice, as probably the beginning of the Bridgewater Canal enterprise : we allude to the Act for making navigable the Worsley Brook to its junction with the river Irwell, near Manchester. A similar Act was obtained in 1755, for making navigable the Sankey Brook from the Mersey, about two miles below Warrington, to St. Helens, Gerrard Bridge, and Penny Bridge. In this case the canal was constructed separate from the brook, but alongside of it ; and at several points locks were provided to adapt the canal to the level of the lands passed through. The same year in which application was made to Parliament for powers to construct the Sankey Canal, CHAP. III. TIIF Di'KM OF BRIDGEWATER. 335 the (1orpor:ition of Liverpool had under their considera- tion a much larger scheme — no less than a canal to unite the Trent and the Mersey, and thus open a water-com- munication between the ports of Liverpool and Hull. 1 1 was proposed that the line should proceed by Chester, Stafford, Derby, and Nottingham. A survey was made, principally at the instance of Mr. Hardman, a public spirited merchant of Liverpool, and for many years one of its representatives in Parliament. Another survey was made at the instance of Earl Gower, afterwards Marquis of Stafford, and it was in making this survey that Brindley's attention was first directed to the business of canal engineering. We find his first entry relating to the subject was on the 5th of February, 1758 — "novo- cion [navigation] 5 days ;" the second, a little better spelt, on the 19th of the same month — " a bout the novo- pition 3 days;" and afterwards — " surveing the novoga- tion from Long brigg to Kinges Milles 12 days |." It does not, however, appear that the scheme made much progress, or that steps were taken at that time to bring the measure before Parliament ; and Brindley con- tinued to pursue his other employments, more especially the erection of " fire-engines " after his new patent. This continued until the following year, when we find him in close consultation with the Duke of Bridgewater relative to the construction of his proposed canal from Worsley to Manchester. The early career of this distinguished nobleman was of a somewhat remarkable character. He was born in 1736, the fifth and youngest son of Scroop, third Earl and first Duke of Bridgewater, by Lady Eachel Russell. He lost liis father when only five years old, and all his brothers died by the time that he had reached his twelfth year, at which early age he succeeded to the title of Duke of Bridgewater. He was a weak and sickly child, and his mental capacity was thought so defective, that steps were even in contemplation to set him aside in favour of the 336 THE BK(HXX1X(JS <>F CANALS— I'AHT V. next heir to the title and estates. His mother seems almost entirely to have neglected him. In the first year of her widowhood she married Sir Richard Lyttleton, and from that time forward took the least possible notice of her boy. He did not give much promise of surviving his consumptive brothers, and his mind was considered so incapable of improvement, that he was left in a great measure without either domestic guidance or intellectual discipline and culture. Horace Walpole writes to Mann in 1761 : " You will be happy in Sir Richard Lyttleton and his Duchess; they are the best-humoured people in the world." But the good humour of this handsome couple was mostly displayed in the world of gay life, very little of it being reserved for home use. Possibly, however, it may have been even fortunate for the young Duke that he was left so much to himself, and to profit by the wholesome neglect of special nurses and tutors, who are not always the most judicious in their bringing up of delicate children. At seventeen, the young Duke's guardians, the Duke of Bedford and Lord Trentham, finding him still alive and likely to live, determined to send him abroad on his travels — the wisest thing they could have done. They selected for his tutor the celebrated traveller, Robert Wood, author of the well-known work on Troy, Baal- bec, and Palmyra; afterwards made Under-Secretary of State by the Earl of Chatham. Wood was an accom- plished scholar, a persevering traveller, and withal a man of good business qualities. His habits of intelligent ob- servation could not fail to be of service to his pupil, and it is not unnatural to suppose that the great artificial watercourses and canals which they saw in the course of their travels had some effect in afterwards determining the latter to undertake the important works of a similar character by which his name became so famous. During their residence in Italy the Duke and his tutor visited all the galleries, and Mr. Wood sat to Mengs for his portrait. CHAP. III. Till-: ]>riF J'.IMlMIKWATKR. 337 \v 1 1 i( -1 1 sti 11 forms part of the Bridgewater collection. The Duke also purchased works of sculpture at Eome ; but that IK- himself entertained no great enthusiasm for art is evident from the fact related by the late Earl of Elles- mere, that tl iese works remained in their original packing- cases until after his death.1 Returned to England, he seems to have led the usual life of a gay young nobleman of the time, with plenty of money at his command. In 1756, when he was only twenty years of age, he appears from the ' Racing Calen- dar ' to have kept race-horses ; and he occasionally rode them himself. Though in after life a very bulky man, lit1 was so light as a youth, that on one occasion, Lord Ellesmere says a bet was jokingly offered that he would be blown off his horse. Dressed in a livery of blue silk and silver, with a jockey cap, he once rode a race against His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland, on the long terrace at the back of the wood in Trentham Park, the seat of his relative, Earl Gower. During His Royal Higlmess's visit, the large old green-house, since taken down, was hastily run up for the playing of skittles ; and prison-bars and other village games were instituted for the recreation of the guests. Those occupations of the Duke were varied by an occasional visit to his racing- stud at Newmarket, where he had a house for some time, and by the usual round of London gaieties during the season. A young nobleman of tender age, moving freely in circles where were to be seen some of the finest speci- mens of female beauty in the world, could scarcely be expected to pass heart-whole ; and hence the occurrence of the event in his London life which, singularly enough, is said to have driven him in a great measure from society, and induced him to devote himself to the con- 1 ' K>xiys iii History, liio^rapliy, I tlir late Karl of Ellesmere. London, Geography, Knuimvniiii/ &c. By | 1858. P. 226. VOL. I. Z THE BEGINNINGS OF CANALS- PART V. struction of canals ! We find various allusions in the letters of the time to the rumoured marriage of the young Duke of Bridgewater. One rumour pointed to the only daughter and heiress of Mr. Thomas Revell, formerly M.P. for Dover, as the object of his choice.1 But it appears that the lady to whom he became the most strongly attached was one of the Gunnings — the comparatively portionless daughters of an Irish gentle- man, who were then the reigning beauties at court. The object of the Duke's affection was Elizabeth, the youngest daughter, and perhaps the most beautiful of the three. She had been married to the fourth Duke of Hamilton, in Keith's Chapel, Mayfair, in 1752, " with a ring of the bed-curtain, half-an-hour after twelve at night," 2 but the Duke dying shortly after, she was now a gay and beautiful widow, with many lovers in her train. In the same year in which she had been clandes- tinely married to the Duke of Hamilton, her eldest- sister was married to the sixth Earl of Coventry. The Duke of Bridgewater paid his court to the young widow, proposed, and was accepted. The arrangements for the marriage were in progress, when certain rumours reached his ear reflecting seriously upon the character of Lady Coventry, his intended bride's elder sister, who was certainly more fair than she was wise. Believing the reports, he required the Duchess to desist from further intimacy with her sister, a condition which 1 id- high spirit would not brook, and, the Duke remaining 1 Thomas and Maria Revell were both servants in the family of Mr. Nightingale, of Knibsworth. They afterwards married, and took a farm at Shingay, under my Lord Orford, who, taking a liking to their two eldest sons, Thomas and Russell, gave them an English education, and got them both places in the Victualling Office. The eldest, Thomas, was M.P. for Dover, and, dying in 1752 at Bath, was buried, as I think, at or near Leatherhead, Surrey, leaving an only daughter behind him, to whom he left about 120,000?. or 130,0002. It is thought she is to be married to the present Duke of Brid^-watcr, her cousin.— 'The Cole MSS.' (British Museum), vol. ix., 113. 2 'Walpole to Mann,' Feb. 27th, 1752. K>RTRAIT OF THE YOUNG DUKE. [By T D. Scott.] x 2 340 THE IW01XNTXGS OF CAXALS— PARTY. firm, the match was broken off. From that time for- ward lie is said never to have addressed another woman in the language of gallantry.1 The Duchess of Hamilton, however, did not remain long a widow. In the course of a few months she was engaged to, and afterwards married, John Campbell, subsequently Duke of Argyll. Horace Walpole, writing of the affair to Marshal Con- way, January 28th, 1759, says : "You and M. de Kareil do not exchange prisoners with half as much alacrity as Jack Campbell and the Duchess of Hamilton have exchanged hearts. . . . It is the prettiest match in the world since yours, and everybody likes it but the Duke of Bridgewater and Lord Conway. What an extraordinary fate is attached to these two women ! Who could have believed that a Gunning would unite the two great houses of Campbell and Hamilton ? For my part, I expect to see my Lady Coventry Queen of Prussia. I would not venture to marry either of them these thirty years, for fear of being shuffled out of the world prematurely to make room for the rest of their adventures." The Duke of Bridgewater, like a wise man, seems to have taken refuge from his disappointment in active and useful occupation. Instead of retiring to his beautiful seat at Ashridge, we find him straightway proceeding to his estate at Worsley, on the borders of Chat Moss, in Lancashire, and conferring with John Gilbert, his land-steward, as to the practicability of cutting a canal by which the coals found upon his Worsley estate might be readily conveyed to market at Manchester. Manchester and Liverpool at that time were improving towns, gradually rising in importance and increasing in population. The former place had long been noted for Chalmers, in his 'Biographical j the late Earl of Hllcsmere, continued Dictionary,' vol. xiii., 94, ^ivv thai name. The Manchester people also made fus- tians, mixed stuffs, and small wares, amongst which leather-laces for women's bodice, shoe-ties, and points were the more important. But the operations of manu- facture were still carried on in a clumsy way, entirely by hand. The wool was spun into yarn by means of the common spinning- wheel, for the spinning-jenny had not yet been discovered, and the yarn was woven into cloth by the common hand-loom. There was no whirr of engine- wheels then to be heard; for Watt's steam-engine had not yet been invented. The air was free from smoke, except what arose from household fires, and there was not a single factory-chimney in Man- chester. In 1724 Dr. Stukeley says Manchester con- tained no fewer than 2400 families, and that their trade VIEW OF A1ANCLLLSTKH IN I'M. [Fac simile of au En$ravin$ of Uje period by J. Harris, published by Robert Whitworth.] was " incredibly large " in tapes, ticking, girth-webb, and fustians. In 1757 the united population of Man- chester and Salford was only 20,000 -,1 it is now, after the lapse of a century, 460,000 ! The Manchester 1 Aikin's ' Description <>l the Country iVoni Thirty to Fo/ty Miles iminri\i-: OF I'.IMIXJKWATKI!. 345 to In- carried to tin- doors of the consumers, — so that there was little, it' any saving to be effected by that route. Besides, the minimum charge insisted on by the Mersey Navigation Company of 3s. 4d. a ton for even the shortest distance, proved an effectual barrier against any coal reaching Manchester by the river. The same difficulty stood in the way of the transit of goods between Manchester and Liverpool. By road the charge was 40,9. a ton, and by river 12,5. a ton; that between Warrington and Manchester being 105. a ton : besides, there was great risk of delay, loss, and damage by the way. Some idea of the tediousness of the river- navigation may be formed from the fact, that the boats were dragged up and down stream exclusively by 11 it- labour of men, and that horses and mules were not em- ployed for this purpose until after the Duke's canal had been made. It was, indeed, obvious that unless some means could be devised for facilitating and cheapening the cost of transport between the seaport and the manu- la< -tn ring towns, there was little prospect of any con- siderable further development being effected in the industry of the district. Such was the state of things when the Duke of Bridge- water turned his attention to the making of a water-road for the passage of his coal from Worsley to Manchester. The Old Mersey Company would give him no facilities for sending his coals by their navigation, but levied the full charge of 3s. Ad. for every ton he might send to Manchester by river even in. his own boats. He there- tore perceived that to obtain a vend for his article, it was necessary he should make a way for himself; and it became obvious to him that if he could but form a water- road or canal between the two points, he would at once be enabled to secure a ready sale for all the coals that he coidd raise from his Worsley pits. 346 THE BRIDGEWATER CANAL PART V. CHAPTElt IV. THE BRIDGEWATER CANAL FROM WORSLEY TO MANCHESTER. WE have already stated that, as early as 1737, an Act had been obtained by the Duke's father, to enable the Worsley Brook to be made navigable to the point at which it entered the Irwell. But the enterprise seemed to be too difficult, and its cost too great ; so the powers of the Act were allowed to expire without anything being done to carry them out. The young Duke now deter- mined to revive the Act in another form, and in the early part of 1759 he applied to Parliament for the requi- site powers to enable him to cut a navigable canal from Worsley Mill eastward to Salford, and to carry the same westward to a point on the river Mersey, called Hollin Ferry. He introduced into the bill several important concessions to the inhabitants of Manchester. He bound himself not to exceed the freight of 2s. 6d. per ton 011 all coals brought from Worsley to Manchester, and not to sell the coal so brought from the mines to that town at more than 4d . per hundred, which was less than half the then average price. It was clear that, could such a canal be made and the navigation opened up as proposed, it would prove a great public boon to the inhabitants of Manchester, and it was hailed by them as such accord- ingly. The bill was well supported, and it passed the legislature without opposition, receiving the Royal assent in March, 1759. The Duke gave further indications of his promptitude and energy, in the steps which he adopted to have llic works carried out without loss of time. He had no inten- tion of allowing the powers of this Act to remain a dead riloM \V01ISLKY To M. \\rHKSTKIJ. :J!7 Inter, as the former had done. Accordingly, no sooner liad it passed than he set out for his seat at Worsley to t a k ( • 1 1 it ' requisite measures for constructing the canal . The Duke was fortunate in having for his land-agent a very shrewd, practical, and enterprising person, in John Gil- bert, whom he consulted on all occasions of difficulty. Mr. Gilbert was the brother of Thomas Gilbert, the originator of the Gilbert Unions, then agent to the Duke's brother-in-law, Lord Gower. That nobleman had for some time been promoting the survey of a canal to unite the Mersey and the Trent, on which Brindley had been employed, who was thus well known to Gilbert as well as to his brother. We find from an entry in his pocket- book, that the millwright had sundry interviews with Thomas Gilbert on matters of business previous to the ] Kissing of the first Bridge water Canal Bill, though there is no evidence that Brindley was employed in making the survey. Indeed, it is questionable whether any sur- vey was made of the first scheme, — engineering projects being then submitted to Parliamentary Committees in a very rough state ; levels being guessed at rather than surveyed and calculated ; and merely general powers taken enabling such property to be purchased as might by possibility be required for the execution of the works —the prices of land and compensation for damage being assessed by a local committee appointed by the Act for the purpose. When the Duke proceeded to consider with Gilbert the best mode of carrying out the proposed canal, it very shortly appeared that the plan originally contem- plated was faulty in many respects, and that an applica- tion must be made to Parliament for further powers. By the original Act it was intended to descend from the level of the coal-mines at Worsley by a series of locks into the river Irwell. This, it was found, would necessarily involve both a heavy cost in the construction and working of the canal, as well as considerable delay .3-48 THE BRIDGKWATEli CANAL I'.MIT V. MAP OP THE DDKE'S CANAL [Western Fart ] in the conduct of the traffic, which it was most desirable to avoid. Neither the Duke nor Gilbert had any prac- tical knowledge of engineering ; nor, indeed, were there many men in the country at that time who knew much of the subject. For it must be remembered that this canal of the Duke's was the very first project in England for cutting a navigable trench through the dry land, and carrying merchandise across the country in it independent of the course of the existing streams. It was in this emergency that Gilbert advised the Duke to call to his aid James Brindley, whose fertility of resources and skill in overcoming mechanical diffi- culties had long been the theme of general admiration in the district. Doubtless the Duke was as much im- pressed by the native vigour and originality of the un- lettered genius thus introduced to him, as were all with whom he was brought in contact. Certain it was that the Duke showed his confidence in Brindley by en- ri:<»M \Y<)ltST,KY TO MANCHESTER, MAP OF THE DUKE'S CANAL. [Eastern Part.] trusting; liim with the conduct of the proposed work; Mini, as the first step, he was desired to go over ilir ground at once, and give his opinion as to the best plan to be adopted for carrying it out with dispatch. Brindley, accordingly, after making what he termed an " ochilor [ocular] servey or a ricconitoring," speedily To ruied his conclusion, and came back to the Duke with his advice. It was that, instead of carrying the canal down into the Irwell by a flight of locks, and so up au'ain on the other side to the proposed level, it should be < -a rr i rd right over the river, and constructed on one entire level throughout. But this, it was clear, would involve a series of formidable works, the like of which 1 1 ; i « 1 never before been attempted in England. Iii the first |.l;i time, in the course of the same year, while the details of the plan were being prepared with a view to the intended application to Parliament, he occasionally stayed with the Duke for several weeks together. He made a de- tailed survey of the new line, and at the same time, in order to facilitate the completion of the undertaking when the new powers had been obtained, he proceeded with the construction of the sough or level at Worsley Mill, and such other portions of the work as could be executed under the original powers. During the same period Brindley travelled backwards and forwards a great deal, on matters connected with his various business in the Pottery district. We find, from his record, that he was occupied at mtei¥ATals in carrying forward his survey of the proposed canal through Staffordshire, visiting with this object the neighbourhood of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Lichfield, and Tamworth. He also continued to give his attention to mills, water-wheels, cranes, and fire-engines, which he had erected, or required repairs, in various parts of the same district. In short, he seems at this time to have been fully employed as a millwright ; and although, as we have seen, the remuneration which he received for his skill was comparatively small, being a man of frugal habits he had saved a little money ; for about this time we find him able to raise a sum of 543Z. 6s. 8<7.. being CHAP. IV. F1M)M WOIISLKY TO MANCHESTER. 351 his fourth share of the purchase-money of the Turnhurst estate, situated near Golden Hill, in the county of Staf- ford. It appears, however, from his own record that he borrowed the principal part of this amount from his friend Mr. Launcelot, of Leek ; showing that, amongst liis townsmen and neighbours, who knew him best, he stood in good credit and repute. His other partners in the1 purchase were Mr. Thomas Gilbert (Earl Gower's agent), Mr. Henshall (afterwards his brother-in-law), and his brother John Brindley. The estate was under- stood to be full of minerals, the knowledge of which had most probably been obtained by Brindley in the course of his surveying of the proposed Staffordshire canal ; and we shall afterwards find that the purchase proved a good investment. At length the new plans of the canal from Worsley to Manchester were completed and ready for deposit ; and on the 23rd of January, after a visit to the Duke and Gilbert at the Hall, we find the entry in Brindley's pocket-book of " Sot out for London." On the occasion of his visits to London, Brindley adopted the then most convenient method of travelling on horseback, the journey usually occupying five days. We find him varying his route according to the state of the weather and of the roads. In summer he was accustomed to go by Coventry, but in winter he made for the Great North Road by Northampton, which was usually in better condition for winter travelling. The second Act passed without opposition, like the first, early in the session of 17GO. It enabled the Duke to carry his proposed canal over the river Irwell, near Barton Bridge, some five miles westward of Man- chester, by means of a series of arches, and to vary its course accordingly ; whilst it further authorised him to extend a short branch to Longford Bridge, near Stret- ford, — that to Hollin Ferry, authorised by the original Act, being abandoned. In the mean time the works near 352 THE BPJPGEWATER CANAL PART V. Worsley had been actively pushed forward, and con- siderable progress had been made by the time the addi- tional powers had been obtained. That part of the canal which lay between Worsley Mill and the public highway leading from Manchester to Warring-ton had been made ; the sough or level between Worsley Mill and Middlewood, for the purpose of supplying water to the canal, was con- siderably advanced ; and operations had also been begun in the neighbourhood of Salford and on the south of the river Irwell. The most difficult part of the undertaking, however, was that authorised by the new Act ; and the Duke looked forward to its execution with the greatest possible anxiety. Although aqueducts of a far more formidable description had been executed abroad, nothing of the kind had until then been projected in this country ; and many regarded the plan of Brindley as altogether wild and impracticable. The proposal to confine and carry a body of water within a water-tight trunk of earth upon the top of an embankment across the low grounds on either side of the Irwell, was considered foolish and impossible enough; but to propose to carry ships upon a lofty bridge, over the head of other ships navigating the Irwell which flowed underneath, was laughed at as the dream of a madman. Brindley, by leaving the beaten path, thus found himself exposed to the usual penalties which befall originality and genius. The Duke was expostulated with by his friends, and strongly advised not to throw away his money upon so desperate an undertaking. Who ever heard of so large a body of water being carried over another in the manner proposed ? Brindley was himself appealed to ; but he could only repeat his conviction as to the entire practicability of his design. At length, by his own desire and to allay 1 1 ie Duke's apprehensions, another engineer was called in and consulted as to the scheme. To Brindley's surprise and dismay, the person consulted concurred in the view so M WollSLKY TO MAXCHKSTKII. 353 strongly expressed l»v tin; public. He characterised the phiii uf the Barton a pass underneath without lowering their masts. The bridge is entirely of stone blocks, those on the faces being < 1 K -sst M 1 on t he front, beds, and joints, and cramped with iron. The canal, in passing over the arches, is confined within a puddled " channel to prevent leakage, and is in as good 1 We Lave heard the name of duced to a semi-lluid state, and ren- Smcaton mentioned as that of the en- dered impervious to water by manual gineer eonsulted on the occasion, but | labour, as by working and chopping we are unalile to speak witli certainty J it about with spades. It is usually on the point. Kxcepting Smeaton, applied in three or more strata to a however, there was then no other en- gineer in the country of recognised depth or thickness of about three feet; and care is taken at each opera- eminence in the profession. [ tion so to work the new layer of pud- - The process of puddling is of con- j dling stuff as to unite it with the siderablc importance in canal eimineer- stratum immediately beneath. Over ing. Puddle is formed l>y a mixture the top course a layer of common soil of well-tempered clay and sand re- is usually laid. It is only by the VOL. I. 2 A 354 a stale nmv as on the1 day on which it was completed. Although the Barton aqueduct has since been thrown into the shade by the vastly greater works of modern BARTON AQUEDUCT. [By Percival Skelton, after his original Drawing.] engineers, it was unquestionably a very bold and inge- nious enterprise, if we take into account the time at which it was erected. Humble though it now appears, it \\ as the parent of the magnificent aqueducts of Rennie and Telford, and of the viaducts of Stephenson and Brunei, >\ liich rival the greatest works of any age or country. The embankments formed across the low grounds on rard'ul employment <>!' puddling that the tiltnitiim <>!' rlic water of canals into the lu'iu'lilioin-iim l<>\vcr lands \vhicli they pass tually prevented. In- effec- CHAP. IV. Flfn.M \Y< HISU-1Y TO MANCHESTER. either side of the Barton viaduct were.' also considered very formidable works at ihal day. A contemporary writer speaks of the embankment across Stretford Meadows as an ama/ing bank of earth 900 yards long, 112 feet in breadth across the base, 24 feet at top, and 17 feet high. The greatest diflieiilty anticipated, was the holding of so large a body of water within a hollow channel formed of soft materials. It was supposed at first that the water would soak through the bank, which its weight would soon burst, and wash away all before it. But Brindley, in the course of his experience, had learnt something of the powers of clay-puddle to resist the passage of water. He had already succeeded in stopping the breaches of rivers flowing through low grounds by this means ; and the thorough manner in which he finished the bed of this canal, and made it impervious to water, may be cited as not the least remarkable illustration of the engineer's practical skill, taking into account the early period at which this work was executed. Not the least difficult part of the undertaking was the formation of the canal across Trafford Moss, where the weight of the embankment pressed down and "blew up" the soft oozy stuff on either side ; but the difficulty was again overcome by the engineer's specific of clay-puddle, which proved completely successful. Indeed, the execution of these embankments by Brindley was regarded at the time as something quite as extraordinary in their way as the erection of t lie Barton aqueduct itself. The rest of the canal between Longford and Man- chester, being mostly on sidelong ground, was cut down on the upper side and embanked up on the other by UK ans of the excavated earth. This was comparatively easy work ; but a matter of greater difficulty was to accommodate the streams which flowed across the course of the canal, and which were provided for in a highly ingenious manner. For instance, a stream called Corn- brook was found too high to pass under the canal at its 2 A 2 350 THE BRJDGEWATEB CANAL PACT V. natural level. Accordingly, Brindley contrived a weir, over which the stream fell into a large basin, from whence it flowed into a smaller one open at the bottom. From this point a culvert, constructed under the bed of the canal, carried the waters across to a well situated 011 its further side, where the waters, rising up to their natural level, again flowed away in their proper channel. A similar expedient was adopted at the Manchester terminus of the canal, at the point at which it joined the waters of the Medlock. It was a principle of Brmdley's never to permit the waters of any river or brook to intermix with those of the canal except for the purpose of supply ; as it was clear that in a time of flood such intermingling would be a source of great danger to the navigation. In order, therefore, to provide for the free passage of the Medlock without causing a rush into the canal, a weir was contrived, 366 yards in circumference, over which its waters flowed into a lower level, and from thence into a well several yards in depth, down which the whole river fell. It was received at the bottom in a subter- ranean passage, by which it passed into the river Irwell, near at hand. The weir was very ingeniously contrived, though it was afterwards found necessary to make con- siderable alterations and improvements in it, as experi- ence suggested, in order effectually to accommodate the flood-waters of the Medlock. Arthur Young, when visiting the canal, shortly after it was opened up to Manchester, says, " The whole plan of these works shows a capacity and extent of mind which foresees difficulties, arid invents remedies in anticipation of possible evils. The connection and dependence of the parts upon each other are happily imagined; and all are exerted in concert, to command by every means the wished-for success." l Brindley 's labours, however, were riot confined to the 1 ' Six Months' Tour through the North of England,' vol. iii., p. -f>s. Ed. 1770. CHAP. IV. FlloM WoHSLFT TO MAXCHKSTER. 3.~>7 construction of the canal, but liis attention seems to have been equally dim-ted to tlie contrivance of the whole arraiiirniH'iits and machinery by which it was worked. The open navigation between Worsley Mill and Man- el irster was 10| miles in length. At Worsley, where a large basin was excavated of sufficient capacity to contain a givat many boats, and to serve as a head for the navigation, the canal did not stop, but entered the bottom of the hill by a subterraneous channel which extended for a great distance, — connecting the different workings of the mine, and enabling the coals readily to be transported in boats to their place of sale. In Brindley's time, this subterraneous canal, hewn out of the rock, was only about a mile in length, but it now extends to nearly forty miles in all directions un- derground.1 Where the tunnel passed through earth or coal, the arching was of brick- work ; but where it- passed through rock, it was simply hewn out. This tunnel acts not only as a drain and water-feeder for the canal itself, but as a means of carrying the facilities of the navigation through the very heart of the collieries ; and it will readily be seen of how great a value it must have proved in the economical working of the naviga- tion, as well as of the mines, so far as the traffic in coals was concerned. 1 Worsley-basin lies at the base of a cliff of sandstone, some hundred feet in height. [See the cut at p. 306.] Luxuriant foliage overhangs its pre- I archway is the entrance of a wider which would be caused by the en- trance and egress of so many barges through a single passage. The other cipitous side, and Ix-yond is seen the graceful spire <>f Worsley church, In contrast to this bright nature above, lies the almost stagnant pool beneath. The barges are deeply laden with their black freight, which they have brought iron i the mine through the two lo\v, semi-circular arches opening at the channel, extending nearly six miles in the direction of Bolton, and from which various other canals diverge in different directions. The barges are narrow and long, each convoying about ten tons of coal. They are drawn along the tunnels by means of staples fixed along the sides. When of the rock, such being the en- they are empty, and consequently trances to the underground canals. higher in the water, they are so near Tin- smaller aperture is the mouth ol the roof that the bargemen, lying on a canal of only halt' a mile in length, their backs, can propel them with serving to prevent the obstruction their feet. 358 TIIK BRIDGEWATKR CANAL PART V. At every point Brindley's originality and skill were at work. He invented the cranes for the purpose of more readily loading the boats with the boxes filled with the Duke's " black diamonds/' He also contrived and laid down within the mines a system of underground rail- ways, all leading from the face of the coal (where the miners were at work) to the wells which he had made at different points in the tunnels, through which the coals were shot into the boats waiting below to re- ceive them. At Manchester, where they were unloaded for sale, the contrivances which he employed were equally ingenious. It was at first intended that the canal should terminate at the foot of Castle Hill, up which the coals were dragged by their purchasers from the boats in wheelbarrows or carts. But the toil of dragging the loads up the hill was found very great ; and, to remedy the inconvenience, Brindley contrived to extend the canal for some way into the hill, opening a shaft from the surface of the ground down to the level of the water. The barges having made their way to the foot of this shaft, the boxes of coal were hoisted to the surface by a crane, worked by a box waterwheel of 30 feet diameter and 4 feet 4 inches wide, driven by the waterfall of the river Medlock. In this contrivance Brindley was only adopting a modification of the losing and gaining bucket, moved on a vertical pillar, which he had before successfully employed in drawing water out of coal-mines. By these means the coals were rapidly raised to the higher ground, where they were sold and distributed, greatly to the convenience of those who came to purchase them. Brindley's practical ability was equally displayed in planning and building a viaduct and in fitting up a crane —in carrying out an embankment or in contriving a coal-barge. The range and fertility of his constructive genius were extraordinary. For the Duke, he invent < -d water- weights at Eough Close, riddles to wash coal for n;<>M \Vl!-at<'\ -er-sl K >t mill of a new construction, driven by a wheel twenty-four feet in diameter, which worked three pair of stones for grinding corn, besides a dressing or boulting mill, and a machine for sifting sand and mixing mortar.2 Brindley's quickness of observation and readiness in turning circumstances to account, were equally displayed in the mode by which he contrived to obtain an ample supply of lime for building purposes during the progress of the works. We give the account as related by Arthur Young : — " In carrying on the navigation," he observes, " a vast quantity of masonry was necessary for building aqueducts, bridges, warehouses, wharves, &c., and the want of lime was felt severely. The search that was made for matters that would burn into lime was for a long time fruitless. At last Mr. Brindley met with a substance of a chalky kind, which, like the rest, he tried ; hut found (though it was of a limestone nature — lime- 1 A writer in the ' St. James's Chronicle,' under date the 30th of September, IT'i.'L nives tin- following account of this apparatus, lonu removed : — '' At the lilollth of the cavern is erected a water-bel lows, U-iirj; the Itody of a tree, forming a hollo\v cylinder, standing upri-lit. Upon this a wooden bason is lixed, in the ion n of a tunnel, which receives a current of water from the higher ground. This water falls into the cylinder, and issues out at the bottom of it, but at the same time carries a quantify of air with it, which is re- eeived into the pipes and forced to the innermost nc.-sses of the coal- pits, where it issues out as if from a pair of IK-HOWS, and rarefies the body of thick air, which would otherwise prevent the workmen from subsisting on the spot where the oials are diur." 2 Youiur's 'Six Months' Tour,' vol. iii., p. -~*. 300 TIIK BlIIDCIEWATEI! CANAL PARTY. marl, which was found along the sides of the canal, about a foot below the surface) that, for want of adhesion in the parts, it would not make lime. This most inventive genius happily fell upon an expedient to remedy this misfortune. He thought of tempering this earth in the nature of brick-earth, casting it in moulds like bnYks. and then burning it; and the success was answerable in his wishes. In that state it burnt readily into excellent lime ; and this acquisition was one of the most important that could have been made. I have heard it asserted more than once that this stroke was better than twenty thousand pounds in the Duke's pocket; but, like most common assertions of the same kind, it is probably an exaggeration. However, whether the discovery was worth five, ten, or twenty thousand, it certainly was of noble use, and forwarded all the works in an extraordina rv manner." It has been stated that Brindley's nervous excitement was so great on the occasion of the letting of the water into the canal, that he took to his bed at the Wlieat- sheaf, in Stretford, and lay there until all cause for ap- prehension was over. The tension on his brain must have been great, with so tremendous a load of work and anxiety upon him ; but that he " ran away,"2 as some of 1 'Six Months' Tour,' vol. iii., p. this curions book (published at Paris) 270-1. Mr. Hughes, C.E., says of was dated " Hotel Kgerton, Paris, '_' 1st this discovery : " The lime thus made ; Dec., 1818;" the second part \va would appear to be the first cement of published two years later; and which we have any knowledge in this : third part, consisting entirely n! country; since the calcareous marl ! note about Hebrew inter] uvtat ions, \\ a here spoken of would probably pro- | published subsequently, lie had ii duce, when burnt, a lime of strong I the mean time become Karl of Bridge hydraulic properties." water, in October, 1823, having lM \VOKSI. KY TO M. \\riiKSTKli. 861 his detractors have alleged, is at variance with the whole diameter and history of the- man. The Duke's canal, when finished, was for a long time regarded as the wonder of the neighbourhood. Strangers i locked from a distance to see Brindley's "castle in the air ;" and contemporary writers spoke in glowing terms of the surprise with which they saw several barges of great burthen drawn by a single mule or horse along " a river hung in the air," and over another river under- neath, by the side of which some ten or twelve men might be seen slowly hauling a single barge against the stream. A lady who writes a description of the work in 17G5, speaks of it as " perhaps the greatest artificial curiosity in the world;" and she states that "crowds of people, including those of the first fashion, resort to it daily." l The chief value of the work, however, con- sisted in its uses. Manchester was now regularly and cheaply supplied with coals. The average price was at once reduced by one-half — from 7c?. the cwt. to 3 \d. (six score being given to the cwt.) — and the supply was regular instead of intermitting, as it had formerly been. But the full advantages of this improved supply of coals were not experienced until many years after the opening of the canal, when the invention of the steam- engine, and its extensive employment as a motive power in all manufacturing operations, rendered a cheap and abundant supply of fuel of such vital importance to the growth and prosperity of Manchester and its neigh- bourhood. merits of the Egertons, the proper translation of Hebrew, the ancient languages gem-rally, but more cspeci- heing waited on by a special valet. The most creditable thing the Karl did was to leave the sum of 12,000?. ally about prophecy and poodle-dogs. to the British Museum, and 8000Z. to When he drove a Ion-- the Houlevanls meritorious literary men lor writing in Paris, nothing could l>e seen of his the well-known ' Hridgewater Tiva- Inrdship lor j oodle-dogs looking out ! tises.' He died in February, 1829. of the carriage-windows. The poodles 1 Mr. Newbery's 'Lady's 1'oekel- sat at table with him at dinner, each ! book.' 3fi2 CHAPTER V. PROPOSED EXTENSION OF THE DUKE'S CANAL TO THE MERSEY. THE CANAL had scarcely been opened to Manchester when we find Briiidley occupied, at the instance of tlie Duke, in surveying the country between Stretford and the river Mersey, with the object of carrying out a canal in that direction for the accommodation of tin- growing trade between Liverpool and Manchester. The first boat-load of coals sailed over the Barton viaduct to Manchester on the 17th of July, 1761, and on the 7th of September following we find Briiidley at Liver- pool,1 " rocconitoring ;" and, by the end of the month, he is busily engaged in levelling for a proposed canal to join the Mersey at Hempstones, about eight miles belmv Warrington Bridge, from whence there was a natural tideway to Liverpool, about fifteen miles distant. The project in question was a very important one on public grounds. We have seen how the community of Manchester had been hampered by its defective road and water communications, which seriously affected its supplies of food and fuel, and, at the same time, by re- tarding its trade, hindered to a considerable extent the regular employment of its population. The Duke of 1 It would almost seem as if the extension of the canal to the Mersey had formed part of the Duke's original plan; for Brindley was engaged in making a survey from Longford to Dunham in the autumn of the pre- ceding year, as appears from the fol- lowing account of Brindley's expenses in making the survey, preserved at the Bridgewater Canal Office at Man- chester : — " Expenses in Surveying from Longford Bridge to Dunham. Octr 21st 1760. Spent at Stretford o c At Altringhiun all Night .. .. v constructing his canal, had opened up an abundant supply of coal, but the transport of the raw materials of manufacture was still as much impeded as before. Liverpool was the natural port of Manchester, from which it drew its supplies of cotton, wool, silk, and other produce, and to which it returned them for export when worked up into manufactured articles. There were two existing modes by which the com- munication was kept up between the two places : one was by the ordinary roads, and the other by the rivers Mersey and Irwell. From a statement published in December, 1761, it appears that the quantity of goods then carried by land from Manchester to Liverpool was " upwards of forty tons per week," or about two thousand tons a year. This quantity of goods, in- significant though it appears when compared with the enormous traffic now passing between the two towns, was then thought very large, as no doubt it was when the very limited trade of the country was taken into account. But the cost of transport was the important feature ; it was not less than two pounds sterling per ton —this heavy charge being almost entirely attributable to the execrable state of the roads. It was scarcely possible to drive waggons along the ruts and through the sloughs which lay between the two places at certain seasons of the year, and even pack-horses had consider- able difficulty in making the journey. The other route between the towns was by the navi- gation of the rivers Mersey and Irwell. The raw ma- terials used in manufacture were principally transported from Liverpool to Manchester by this route, at the cost of about twelve shillings a ton ; the carriage of timber and such like articles costing not less than twenty per cent, on their value at Liverpool. But the navigation was also very tedious and difficult. The boats could only pass up to the first lock at the Liverpool end with the assistance of a spring-tide ; and further up the river 364 PROPOSED EXTENSION OF THE PATH- V. there were numerous fords and shallows which the boats could only pass in great freshes, or, in dry seasons, by drawing extraordinary quantities of water from the locks above. Then, in winter, the navigation was apt to be impeded by floods, and occasionally it was stopped altogether. In short, the growing wants of the popula- tion demanded an improved means of transit between the two towns, which the Duke of Bridge water now determined to supply. The growth of Liverpool as a seaport had been com- paratively recent. At a time when Bristol and Hull possessed thriving harbours, resorted to by foreign ships, Liverpool was little better than a fishing-village, its only distinction being that it was a convenient place for setting sail to Ireland. In the war between France and England which broke out in 1347, when Edward the Third summoned the various ports in the kingdom to make contributions towards the naval power accord- ing to their means, London was required to provide 25 ships and 662 men ; Bristol, 22 ships and 608 men ; Hull, 16 ships and 466 men ; whilst Liverpool was only asked to find 1 bark and 6 men! In Queen Elizabeth's time, the burgesses presented a petition to Her Majesty, praying her to remit a subsidy which had been imposed upon the seaport and other towns, in which they sty KM! their native place " Her Majesty's poor decayed town of Liverpool." Chester was then of considerably greater importance as a seaport. In 1634-5, when Charles I. made his unconstitutional levy of ship-money through- out England, Liverpool was let off with a contribution of 15/., whilst Chester paid 100/., and Bristol not less than 1000/. The channel of the Dee, however, becoming silted up, the trade of Chester decayed, and that of Liverpool rose upon its ruins. In 1699 the excavation of the old dock was commenced ; but it was used only as a tidal harbour (being merely an enclosed space with a small pier) until the year 1709, when an Act was DCKK'S (ANAL To TIIK MKIISKY. ol)t;iiiK'(l enabling its conversion into ;i \vet dock; since which time a scries of docks have been constructed, extending for about five miles along the north shore of the Mersey, which are among the greatest work's of modern times, and afford an unequalled amount of shipping accommodation. LIVERPOOL IN 1600. [From Troughton a History of Liverpool.] From that time forward the progress of the port of Liverpool kept steady pace with the trade and wealth of the country behind it, and especially with the manu- facturing activity and energy of the town of Manchester. Its situation at the mouth of a deep and navigable river, in the aeighbourhood of districts abounding in coal and iron, and inhabited by an industrious and hardy popula- tion, were unquestionably great advantages. But these of themselves would have been insufficient to account for the extraordinary progress made by Liverpool within the last century, without the opening up of the great Astern of canals, which brought not only the towns of Yorkshire, Cheshire, and Lancashire into immediate eoiinection with that seaport, but also the manufacturing 366 PROPOSED EXTENSION OF THE PART V. districts of Staffordshire, Warwickshire, and the other central counties of England situated at the confluence of these various navigations.1 Liverpool thus became the great focus of import and export for the northern and western districts. The raw materials of commerce were poured into it from Ireland, America, and the Indies ; and from thence they were distributed along the canals amongst the various seats of manufacturing industry, returning mostly by the same route to the same port for shipment to all parts of the world. At the time of which we speak, however, it will be observed that the communication between Liverpool and Manchester was as yet very imperfect. It was not only difficult to convey goods between the two places, but it was also difficult to convey persons. In fine weather, those who required to travel the thirty miles which separated them, could ride or walk, resting at Warrington for the night. But in winter the roads, like most of the other country roads at the time, were simply impassable. Although an Act had been passed as early as the year 1726 for repairing and enlarging the road from Liver- pool to Prescott, coaches could not come nearer to the town than Warrington in 1750, the road being imprac- ticable for such vehicles even in summer.2 A stage-coach was not started between Liverpool and Manchester until the year 1767, performing the journey only three times a-week. It required six and sometimes eight horses to draw the lumbering vehicle and its load along the ruts and through the sloughs, — the whole day being occupied in making the journey. The coach was accustomed to start early in the morning from Liverpool ; 1 Progress of Liverpool. I were then very rare, and it is men- Vessels ! tioned as a singular fact that at the entered. ald- j ])oriod in question (1750) there was 1701 102 8,019 .. j but one gentleman's carriage in the 17GO 1,245 £2,330 j town of Liverpool, and that carriage 1800 4,740 450,060 23,379 \ Wa8 kept by a jady of the name of 21,352 4,441,943 347,889 Clayton."-' History of Lancashire,' 2 Mr. Baines says : " Carriages vol. iv., p. 90. hri\l"S CANAL TO TIIK MKIISKY. 3G7 it breakfasted ,-ii IVescott, dined at Warrington, ;mF TIIK His only idle day during that month seems to have the 22nd, which was a holiday, for he makes the entry in his book of " crounation of Georg and Sharlot," the new King and Queen of England. By the 25th we find him again witli the Duke at YVorsley, and on the 30th he makes the entry, " set out at Dunham to Level for Liver- pool." The work then went on continuously ; the survey was completed ; and on the l^tli of Xovemher lie set out for London, with 11. 18*. in his pocket. In the course of his numerous journeys, we find Brindley carefully noting down the various items of his expenses, which were curiously small. Although he was four or five days on the road to London, and stayed eight days in town, his total expenses, both going and returning, amounted to only 4/. 86-. ; though it is most probable that he lived at the Duke's house whilst in town. On the 1st of December we find him, on his return journey to Worsley, resting the first night at a place called Brick- hill ; the next at Coventry, where he makes the entry, " Moy mar had a bad fall in the frasst ;" the third at Sandon ; the fourth at Congleton ; and the fifth at Wors- ley. He had still some inquiries to make as to the depth of water and the conditions of the tide at Heinpstones ; and for three days he seems to have been occupied in traffic-taking, with a view to the evidence to be given before Parliament; for on the 10th of December we find him at Stretford, "to count the caridgos," and on the 12th he is at Manchester for the same purpose, " counting the loded caridgos and horses." The following bill refers to some of the work done by him at this time, and is a curious specimen of an engineer's travelling charges in those days — the engineer himself being at the same time paid at the rate of 3s. 6J. a day :— CHAP. V. DI'KK'S CANAL T<> T1IK MKIISKY. • .sv'.syV //Vs '//-ace Me /)«& r/ Bridgwator to pay for traveling Chareges by James Brindley. 18 Novem— 1761. 18 No masuring a Cros from Dunh;im to \Yurbuton Mercey and Thalwall, 3s - lid Dunham for 2 diners Is - 3d for the man ls-0 go with him to the theatre to see G-arrick in the play of ' Eichard III.,' and he went. He had never been to an entertainment of the kind before ; but the excitement which it caused him was so great, and it so completely disturbed his ideas, that he was unfitted for business for several days after. He then declared that no consideration should tempt him to go a second time, and he held to CHAP. V. ITKI'/S CANAL TO Till- MKIJSKY. 371 his resolution. This was his lirst ;ine found. It is probable that the Parliamentary papers connected with this application to Parliament were destroyed by the lire which consumed so many similar documents some twenty years a_<>. 374 I'lKH'uSKh KXTKXSIOX <>F THE 1'Aiu'Y. bridge, lie replied that he had no plan of it on paper, but he would illustrate it by a model. He went out and bought a large cheese, which he brought into the room and cut into two equal parts, saying, "Here is my model." The two halves of the cheese represented the semicircular arches of his bridge ; and by laying over them some long rectangular object he could thus readily communicate to the committee the position of the river flowing underneath and the canal passing over it.1 On another occasion, when giving his evidence, he spoke so frequently about "puddling," describing its uses and advantages, that some of the members expressed a desire to know what this extraordinary mixture was that could be applied to so many and important purposes. Pre- ferring a practical illustration to a verbal description, Briiidley caused a mass of clay to be brought into the committee-room, and, moulding it in its raw un tempered state into the form of a trough, he poured into it some water, which speedily ran through and disappeared. He then worked the clay up with water to imitate the process of puddling, and again forming it into a trough, filled it with water, which was now held in wit bout a particle of leakage. " Thus it is," said Brindley, "that I form a water-tight trunk to carry water over rivers and valleys, wherever they cross the path of the canal." On another occasion, when Brindley was giving evi- dence before a committee of the House of Peers as to the lockage of his proposed canal, one of their Lordships asked him, " But what is a lock ? " on which the engineer took a piece of chalk from his pocket and proceeded to explain it by means of a diagram which he drew upon the floor, and made the matter clear at once.3 1 Stated by Mr. Hughes, in bis ' Memoir of Brindley,' as having been communicated by James Loch, Msq., M.P., the agent lor the Duke's Trus- tees. rs on Hughes, C.E. in 'Weale's Papen Civil Engineering.1 3 As tin; render ni;iy possibly de- sire information on the snme point. \ve iiiny here hrielly explain the n;i- ': 'Memoir of Brindley,' by S. ture of a Canal Lock. It is employed IM'KF/S CANAL To Till-; MK1ISKY. 875 On the rindley. like Stephenson, looked upon a difficulty as a tln'n^ to be overcome ; and a difficulty no sooner present^ I itself, than lie at once set his wits to work to study how it was l>est to l)o grappled with and surmounted. There were also a large number of brooks to be crossed, and two important rivers, involving a number of aqueducts, 1) ridges, and culverts, to provide for the accommodation of 1 1 1 e d i s t r i e t . 1. 1 wi 1 1 , tl lerefore, be obvious that this under- taking was of a much more formidable character — more difficult for the engineer and much more costly to the noble proprietor — than the comparatively limited and inexpensive work between Worsley and Manchester, which we have above described. The capital idea which Brindley early formed and determined to carry out, was to construct a level of dead water all the way from Manchester to a point as near lo the junction of the canal with the Mersey as might be found practicable. Such a canal, he clearly saw, would not be so expensive to work as one furnished with locks at intermediate points. Briiidley's practice of securing long levels of water in canals was in many respects similar to that of George Stephenson with reference to flat gradients upon railways ; and in all the canals that he constructed, he planned and carried them out upon this leading principle. Hence the whole of the locks on the Duke's canal were concentrated at its lower end near Runcorn, where the navigation descended by a flight of lorks into the river Mersey. Lord Ellesmere has ob- served that this uninterrupted level of the Bridgewater Canal from Leigh and Manchester to Runcorn, and the concentration of its descent to the Mersey at the latter place, have always been considered as among the most striking evidences of the genius and skill of Brindley. There was, as usual, considerable delay in obtaining possession of the- land on which to commence the works. The tenants required a certain notice, which must neces- 380 hlMXDLEY CONSTRUCTS T1IK PART V. sarily expire before the Duke's engineer could take posses- sion ; and many obstacles were thrown in the way both by truants and landlords hostile to the undertaking-. In man v cases the Duke had to pay dearly for the land purchased under the compulsory powers of his Act. Near Lynnn, the canal passed through a little bit of garden belonging to a poor man's cottage, the only produce growing upon the ground being a pear-tree. For this the Duke had to pay thirty guineas, and it was thought a very extravagant price at that time. Since the introduction of railways, the price would probably be considered ridi- culously low. For the land on which the warehouses and docks were built at Manchester, the Duke had in all to pay the much more formidable sum of about forty thousand pounds. The Old Quay Navigation (by which the Mersey and Irwell Company was called), even at this late moment, thought to delay if not to defeat the Duke's operations, by lowering their rates nearly one-half. Only a few days after the Eoyal Assent had been given to the bill, they published an announcement, appropriately dated the 1st of April, setting forth the large sacrifice they were about to make, and intimating that " from this Reduction in the Carriage a real and permanent Advantage will arise to the Public, and they will experience that Utility so cried up of late, which has hitherto only existed in pro- mises." The blow was aimed at the Duke, but he heeded it not : he was more than ever resolved to go on with his canal. He was even offered the Mersey navigation at the price of thirteen thousand pounds ; but he would not now have it at any price. The public spirit and enterprise displayed by many of the young noblemen of those days was truly admirable. Brindley had for several years been in close personal communication with Earl Grower as to the construction of the canal intended to unite the Mersey with the Trent and the Severn, and thus connect the ports of Liverpool, CHAP. VI. Dl'KK's CAXAL TO iM'N'mi.'N. 331 Hull. ;iinl IVisto]. l.y M system of inland water-eomnnini- cation. With this ohjeet. MS we have seen, lie had often visited the Karl ;it liis seat at Trentham, and discussed with him tlu> plans l»y whieh this truly magnificent enter- prise was to he earned out ; and lie had frequently visited the Earl of Stamford at his seat at Enville for the same purpose. But those schemes were too extensive and costly to he carried out hy the private means of either of these ooblemen, or even by both combined. They were, therefore, under the necessity of stirring up the latent enterprise of the landed proprietors in their respective districts, and waiting until they had received a sufficient a mount of local support to enable them to act with vigour in carrying their great design into effect. The Duke of Bridgewater's scheme of uniting Manchester and Liver- pool by MH entirely new line of water-communication, cut across bogs and out of the solid earth in some places, and carried over rivers and valleys at others by bridges Miid embankments, was scarcely less bold or costly. Though it was spoken of as another of the Duke's " castles in the air," and his resources were by no means overflow- ing at the time he projected it, he nevertheless determined to enter upon the undertaking, and to go on alone with it though no one else should join him. The Duke thus proved himself a real Dux or leader of the industrial enterprise of his district ; and by cutting his canal, and providing a new, short, and cheap water-way between Liverpool and Manchester, which was afterwards ex- tended through the counties of Chester, Stafford, and Warwick, he thus unquestionably paved the way for the creation and development of the modern manufacturing system existing in the north-western counties of England. We need scarcely say how admirably he was supported throughout by the skill and indefatigable energy of his engineer. Brindley's fertility in resources was the theme of general admiration. Arthur Young, who visited the works during their progress, speaks with enthusiastic 382 BRINDLEY roXSTlUVTS THE PABT V. admiration of his "bold and decisiTe strokes of genius," his " penetration which sees into futurity, and prevents obstructions unthought of by the vulgar mind, merely by foreseeing tlieni : a man," says he, " with siieh ideas, moves in a sphere that is to the rest of the world ima- ginary, or at best a terra incognita." It would be uninteresting to describe the works of the Bridgewater Canal in detail : one part of a canal is usually so like another, that to do so were merely to involve a needless amount of repetition of a necessarily < 1 ry description. We shall accordingly content < n irse I ves with referring to the original methods by which Brindley contrived to overcome the more important difficulties of the undertaking. From Longford Bridge, where the new works commenced, the canal, which was originally about eight yards wide and four feet deep, was carried upon an embankment of about a mile in extent across the valley of the Mersey. One might naturally suppose that the conveyance of such a mass of earth must have exclusively employed all the horses and carts in the neighbourhood for years. But Brindley, with his usual fertility in expedients, contrived to make the construction of the canal itself subservient to the completion of the remainder. He had the stuff required to make up the embankment brought in boats partly from Worsley and partly from other parts of the canal where the cutting was in excess; and the boats, filled with this stuff, were conducted from the canal along which they had come into caissons or cisterns placed at the point over which the earth and clay had to be deposited. The boats, being double, fixed within two feet of each other, had a triangular trough supported between them of sufficient capacity to contain about seventeen tons of earth. The bottom of this trough consisted of a line of trap-doors, which flew open at once on a pin being drawn, and discharged their whole burthen into the bed of the canal in an instant. Thus the level of CHAP. VI DUKE'S CANAL TO RUNOORN. 383 the enihankinent was raised to the point necessary to enable the canal to he carried forward to the next length. Arthur Young was of opinion that the saving effected l.y constructing the Stretford embankment in tin's way, instead of by carting* the stuff, was equivalent to not less than five thousand per cent. ! The materials of the caissons employed in executing tin's part of the work were afterwards used in forming temporary locks across the valley of the Bollin, whilst the embankment was he ing constructed at that point by a process almost the very reverse, but of like ingenuity. BBINDLET'S BALLAST BOATS. In the same valley of the Mersey the canal had to be carried over a large brook subject to heavy floods, by means of a strong bridge of two arches, adjoining which was a third, affording provision for a road. Further on, the canal was carried over the Mersey itself upon a bridge with one arch of seventy feet span. Westward of this river lay a very difficult part of the work, occa- sioned by the carrying of the navigation over the Sale Moor Moss. Many thought this an altogether imprac- ti cable thing ; as not only had the hollow trunk of earth in which the canal lay to be made water-tight, but to I » reserve the level of the water-way it must necessarily be raised considerably above the level of the Moor across which it was to be laid. Brindley overcame the difficulty in the following manner. He made a strong casing of timber-work outside the intended line of embankment on ( -it her side of the canal, by placing deal balks in an erect position, hacking and supporting them on the outside with other balks laid in rows, and fast screwed together ; and on the front side of this woodwork he had his earth- 384 BRINDLEY CONSTRUCTS Till'- PARTY. work brought forward, hard rammed, and puddled, to form the navigable canal ; after which the casing was moved onward to the part of the work further in advance, and the bottom having previously been set with rubble and gravel, the embankment was thus carried forward by degrees, the canal was raised to the proper level, and the whole was substantially and satisfactorily finished. A steam-engine of Brindley's contrivance was erected at Dunham Town Bridge to pump the water from tlie foundations there. The engine was called a Sawney, for what reason is not stated, and, for long after, the bridge was called Sawney's Bridge. The foundations of the under-bridge, near the same place, were popularly sup- posed to be set on quicksand ; and old Lord Warrington, when he had occasion to pass under it, would pretend cautiously to look about him, as if to examine whether the piers were all right, and then run through as fast as he could. A tall poplar-tree stood at Dunham Banks, 011 which a board was nailed showing the height of the canal level, and the people long after called the place by the name of " The Duke's Folly," believing his scheme to be altogether impracticable. But the skill of the engineer baffled these and other prophets of evil ; and the success of his expedients, in nearly every case of difficulty thai occurred, must certainly be regarded as remarkable, con- sidering the novel and unprecedented character of the undertaking. Brindley invariably contrived to economise labour as much as possible, and many of his expedients with this object were very ingenious. So far as he could, he endea- voured to make use of the canal itself for the purpose of forwarding the work. He had a floating blacksmith's forge and shop, provided with all requisite appliances, fitted up in one barge ; a complete carpenter's shop in another ; and a mason's shop in a third ; all of which were floated on as the canal advanced, and were thus always at hand to supply the requisite facilities for prosecuting the opera- CHAP. VI. nrKF/S CANAL To lirNCOllX. 385 lions with economy and despatch. Where there was a break in the line of work, occasioned, for instance, by tin- erection of some bridge not yet finished, the engi- neer had similar barges constructed and carried by land to other lengths of the canal which were in pro- gress, where they were floated and advanced in like manner for the use of the workmen. When the bridge across the Mersey, which was pushed on with all despatch with the object of economising labour and cost of mate- rials, was completed, the stone, lime, and timber were brought along the canal from the Duke's own property at Worsley, as well as supplies of clay for the purpose of puddling the bottom of the water-way ; and thus the work rapidly advanced at all points. As one of the great objections made to the construction of the canal had been the danger threatened to the sur- rounding districts by the bursting of the embankments, Brindley made it his object to provide against the occur- rence of such an accident by an ingenious expedient. He had stops or floodgates contrived and laid in various parts of the bed of the canal, across its bottom, so that, in the event of a breach occurring in the bank and a rush of waters taking place, the .current which must necessarily set in to that point should have the effect of immediately raising the valvular floodgates, and so shut- ting off the stream and preventing the escape of more water than was contained in the division between the two nearest gates on either side of the breach. At the sin ne time, these floodgates might be used for cutting off the waters of the canal at Different points, for the purpose of making any necessary repairs in particular lengths ; the contrivance of waste tubes and plugs being so arranged that the bed of any part of the canal, more especially where it passed over the bridges, might be laid bare in a few hours, and the repairs executed at once. In devising these ingenious expedients, it ought to be remembered that Brindley had no previous experience VOL. i. 2 c 380 BRINDLEY L'ONSTIMTTS TIFK PART V. to fall back upon, and possessed no knowledge of the means which foreign engineers might have adopted to meet similar emergencies. All had been the result of his own original thinking and contrivance ; and, indeed, many of these devices were altogether new and original, and had never before been tried by any eiigim-rr. It is curious to trace the progress of the works by Brindley's own memoranda, which, though brief, clearly exhibit his marvellous industry and close a] (plication to every detail of the business. He seems to have settled with the farmers for their tenant-right, sold and ac- counted for the wood cut down and the gravel dug out along the line of the canal, paid the workmen employed,1 laid out the work, measured off the quantities done from time to time, planned and erected. the bridges, designed the canal-boats required for conveying the earth to form the embankments, and united in himself the varied func- tions of land-surveyor, carpenter, mason, brickmaker, boat-builder, paymaster, and engineer. We even find him descending to count bricks and sell grass. No thing was too small for him to attend to, or too bold for him to attempt when the necessity arose. At the same time we find him contriving a water-plane for the Duke's collieries at Worsley, and occasionally visiting Newchapel, Leek, arid Congleton, in Staffordshire, for the purpose of attending to the business on which he still continued to be employed at those places. 1 The following bill is preserved amongst the Bridgewater Canal papers. Simcox was a skilled mechanic, and acted as foreman of the caqx'ntrrs : " His Grace the Duke of Bridgewater to Sam1 Simcox. Dr £. s. d. 23 Mar1' 1760 To 12 days work at 21<« per 1 1 0 23 Aug* To 6 days more d° at d° 010 6 6 Sepr To 8 days more d° at d° 014 0 2 5 rilin;.i ' Lelh-r 1" tin- Parisians,' ;il>o\e referred to, alley's that the 388 BRINDLEY CONSTKIVTS TIIK PARTY. We find the following further entries on the subject in Brindley's note-book: "Thursday 17 Novr past 7 o'clock at night M Gilbert and sun Tom caled on mee at Gorshill and I went with them to ye Coik [sign of the Cock] tha stade all night and the had balk [blank?] bill of parsill 18 Fry day November 7 morn I went to the Cock and Bruckfast with Gilberts he in davred to imploye ye carpinters at Cornhill in making door and window frames for a Building in Castle field and shades for the inynors in Dito and other things I want them to Saill Moor Hee took upon him diriction of ye back- drains and likwaise such Lands as be twixt the 2 hoi is and ceep uper side the large farme and was displesed with such raing as I had pointed out." Those differences between Brindley and Gilbert seem eventually to have become reconciled, most probably by the mediation of the Duke, for the services of both were alike essential to him ; and we afterwards find them working cordially together and consulting each other as LONGFORD BRIDGE. before on any important part of the undertaking. At the end of the year 1763, by dint of steady work, Long- which he seems to have been very j suit of his Imsim-ss. The Earl says fond, — and the consequence was that Brindley was under the impression the engineer was for a time pre- that Gilbert had contrived Hi is out «>t vented using the animal in the pur- spite. C&AP.VI. DUKF/S CANAL To Rl M '< >KN. 389 ford I>n«l(MV AV;IS liiii^liril ;m«l gravel KM I over, and the ciiiUmkinriii was steadily proceeding U'yond the Mersey in tin1 manner above' dcscriU'd. I>rindley did not want for good workmen to carry out liis plans. He found plenty of labourers in the neigh- bourhood accustomed to hard work, who speedily became expert excavators ; and though there was at first a lack of skilled carpenters, blacksmiths, and bricklayers, they soon became trained into such under the vigilant eye of so expert a master as Brindley was. We find him, in his note-book, often referring to the men by their names, or rather byenames, for in Lancashire proper names seem to have been little used at that time. " Black David" was one of the foremen most employed on diffi- cult matters, and "Bill o Toms" and " Busick Jack" seem also to have been confidential workmen in their respective departments. We are informed by a gentle- man of the neighbourhood1 that most of the labourers employed were of a superior class, and some of them were " wise " or " cunning men," blood-stoppers, herb- doctors, and planet-rulers, such as are still to be found in the neighbourhood of Manchester.2 Their very super- 1 It. ItaAvlinson, Esq., C.K., En- earth's diurnsil and annual motion, gineer to the Bridgewater (.'anal. after the manner of an orrery. The : Whilst constructing the canal, whole of the calculations were made Brindley was very intimate with one j by himself, and the machine is said Lawrence Karnshaw, of Mottram, a to have been so exactly contrived and kindred mechanical genius, though in a smaller way. Lawrence was a very | .oor man's son, ami had served a seven executed that, provided the vibration of the pendulum did not vary, the machine would not alter a minute in years' apprenticeship to the trade of a . a hundred years ; but this might pro- tailor, after which he bound himselt bably be an extravagant estimate on apprentice to a clothier for seven j the part of Eamshaw'fl friends. He years; but these trades not suiting was also a .musical instrument maker his tastes, and Ix-ing of a strongly and music teacher, a worker in metals mechanical turn, he finally bound himself apprentice to a clockmaker, whom lie also served for seven years. This eccentric pel-son invented many curious and ingenious machines, which and in wood, a painter and gla/ier, an optician, a Itellldiinder, a chemist and metallurgist, an engraver — in short, an almost universal mechanical genius. But though he could make were regarded as of great merit in his all these things, it is mentioned as a time. One of these was an astro-no- remarkaUe tact that with all his in- mical and geographical machine, U-aiitilully executed, showing the genuity, and after many efforts (for he made many), he never could make 390 BHIXDLEY CONSTRUCTS THE PART V. stitions, says our informant, made them thinkers and calculators. The foreman bricklayer, for instance, as his son used afterwards to relate, always " ruled the planets to find out the lucky days on which to commence any important work," and he added, " none of our work ever gave way." The skilled men had their trade-secrets, in which the unskilled were duly initiated, and the following were amongst them, — simple matters in themselves, but not without use : — A wet embankment can be prevented from slipping by dredging or dusting powdered lime in layers over the wet clay or earth. Sand or gravel can be made water-tight by shaking it together with flat bars of iron run in some depth, say two feet, and washing down loam or soil as the bars are moved about, thus obviating the necessity for clay- puddle. .Dry-rot can be prevented in warehouses by setting the bricks opposite the ends of the main beams of the warehouse in dry sand. As to the details of the canal works, Mr. l?awlmson observes, " All the bridges and culverts ;nv set in the best hydraulic mortar. The plans are simple, and 1m vc special contrivances to suit peculiarities of situation, &c. As a rule, there is a vertical joint betwixt the spandrils and wing walls of bridges, to prevent injury by unequal settlements or bearings." a wicker-basket ! Indeed, trying to be a universal genius was his ruin. He did, or attempted to do, so much, that he never stood still and estab- lished himself in any one thing ; and, notwithstanding his great ability, he died " not worth a groat." Amongst Earnshaw's various contrivances was a piece of machinery to raise water from a coal-mine at Hague, near Mot- tram, and (about 1753) a machine to spin and reel cotton at one operation — in fact, a spinning-jenny — which lie showed to some of his neighljours as a curiosity, but, after having con- vinced them of what might be done by its means, lie immediately destroyed it, saying that " he would not be the means of taking bread out of the mouths of the poor." He was a total abstainer from strong drink, long be- fore the days of Teetotal Societies. Towards the end of his life he con- tinued on intimate terms with Brind- ley, holding frequent meetings with him; and when they met they did nt. I easily separate. Karnshaw died in 17'il, at sixty year* ot'aur. IH'KK's CANAL To 11UNOMN. 391 Whilst the works were in full progress, which during several years, from three to four hundred men were regularly employed upon them, divided into gangs of about fifty, over each of which was appointed a captain and setter-out of the works. One who visited the canal while in progress thus writes to the ' St. James's Chronicle,' under date July 1st, 17G5 : "I sur- veyed the Duke's men for two hours, and think the industry of bees or labour of ants is not to be compared to them. Each man's work seems to depend on and be connected with his neighbour's, and the whole posse appeared as I conceive did that of the Tyrians when they wanted houses to put their heads in at Carthage." At Stretford the visitor found "four hundred men at work, putting the finishing stroke to about two hundred yards of the canal, which reached nearly to the Mersey, and which, on drawing up the floodgates, was to receive a proper quantity of water and a number of loaded barges. One of these appeared like the hull of a collier, with its deck all covered, after the manner of a cabin, and having an iron chimney in the centre ; this, on inquiry, proved to be the carpentry, but was shut up, being Sabbath-day, as was another barge, which con- tained the smith's forge. Some vessels were loaded with soil, which was put into troughs (see Cut at p. 383) fas- tened together, and rested on boards that lay across two barges; between each of these there was room enough to discharge the loading by loosening some iron pins at the bottom of the troughs. Other barges lay loaded with the foundation-stones of the canal bridge, which is to carry the navigation across the Mersey. Near two thousand oak piles are already driven to strengthen the foundations of this bridge. The carpenters on the Lan- cashire side were preparing the centre frame, and on the Cheshire side all hands were at work in bringing down the soil and beating the ground adjacent to the founda- tions of the bridge, which is designed to by the open tideway of the Mersey to the harbour of Liverpool, at which place the Duke made arrangements to provide another dock for their accom- modation. Brindley made frequent visits to Liverpool for the purpose of directing its excavation, and it still continues devoted to the purposes of the canal naviga- timi. It lies between the Salthouse and Albert Docks on the north, and the Wapping and King's Docks on the south. The Salthouse was the only public dock near it at the time that Brindley excavated this basin. There were only three others in Liverpool to the north, and not one to the south; but the Duke's Dock is now the centre of about five miles of docks, extending from it on either side along the Lancashire shore of the Mersey. THE DOKE'S DOCK. LIVERPOOL [By E M. Wimperis ] 304 TIIK DUKE'S DIFFICULTIES— CHAPTER VII. THE DUKE'S DIFFICULTIES — GROWTH OF MANCHESTER. LONG before the Runcorn locks were constructed, ami before the canal from Longford Bridge to the Mersey could be made available for purposes of traffic, the Duke found himself reduced to the greatest straits for want of money. Numerous unexpected difficulties had occurred, so that the cost of the works considerably exceeded his calculations; and though the engineer carried on the whole operations with the strictest regard to economy, the expense was nevertheless almost more than any single purse could bear. The execution of the original canal from Worsley to Manchester did not cost more than about a thousand guineas a mile, to which was to he added the cost of the terminus at Manchester. There was also the outlay which had to be incurred in building the requisite boats for the canal, in opening out the underground workings of the collieries at Worsley, and in erecting various mills, workshops, and warehouses for carrying on the new business. The Duke was enabled to do all this without severely taxing his resources, and he even entertained the hope of being able to grapple witli the still greater under- taking of cutting the twenty-four miles of IICAV canal from Longford Bridge to the Mersey. But before these works were half finished, and whilst the large amount of capital invested in them was lying entirely unproductive, he found that the difficulties of the undertaking were likely to prove almost too much for him. Indeed, it seemed an enterprise beyond the means of any private CHAP. VII. (JKoWTIl or MANVIIKSTKII. 395 person — more like that <>i';i monarch with State resources at his rMimnand, than oi'a young English nobleman. Hut the Duke was possessed })y a brave spirit. He had put his hand to the work, and he would not look back. He had become thoroughly inspired by his great idea, and determined to bend his whole energies to the task of earrving it out. He was only thirty years of age — the owner of several fine mansions in different parts of the country, surrounded by noble domains — he had a fortune sufficiently ample to enable him to command the pleasures and luxuries of life, so far as money can secure them; yet all these he voluntarily denied himself, and el lose to devote his time to consultations with an unlet- tered engineer, and his whole resources to the cutting of a canal to unite Liverpool and Manchester. 'Faking up his residence at the Old Hall at Worsley— a fine specimen of the old timbered houses so common -LEY OLD HALL. [By Peicival Skelton, after his original Drawing.] in South Lancashire and the neighbouring counties, — he cut down every unnecessary personal expense ; denied himself every superfluity, except perhaps a pipe of tobacco; paid off his following of servants; put down his carriages and town house; and confined himself and his Ducal establishment to a total expenditure of 400/. 396 THE DUKE'S DIFFICULTIES— PART V. a-year. A horse was, however, a necessity, for the pur- pose of enahling him to visit the canal works during their progress at distant points ; and he accordingly con- tinued to maintain one horse for himself and another for his groom. Notwithstanding this rigid economy, the Duke still found his resources inadequate to the heavy cost of vigorously carrying on the works, and on Saturday nights he was often put to the greatest si lifts to raise the requisite money to pay his large staff of era Its- men and labourers. Sometimes their payment had to be postponed for a week or more, until the cash could be raised by sending round for contributions among the Duke's tenantry. Indeed, his credit fell to the lowest ebb, and at one time he could not get a bill for 500/. cashed in either Liverpool or Manchester.1 When Mr. George Rennie, the engineer, was engaged, in 1825, in making the revised survey of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, he lunched one day at Worsley Hall with Mr. Bradshaw, manager of the Duke's pro- perty, then a very old man. He had been a contem- porary of the Duke, and knew of the monetary straits to which his Grace had been reduced during the construc- tion of the works. Whilst at table, Mr. Bradshaw pointed to a small whitewashed cottage on the Moss, about a mile and a half distant, and said that in that cottage, formerly a public-house, the Duke, Brindley, and Gilbert had spent many an evening discussing the prospects of the canal when in progress. One of the principal topics of conversation on those occasions was the means of raising the necessary funds against the next pay-night. " One evening in particular," said Mr. 1 There is now to be seen at Wors- ley, in the hands of a private person, a promissory note given by the Duke, I >rariii^ interest, for as low a sum as five j. omuls. Amongst the persons known to be lenders of money, to taking. whom the Duke applied at tin- time, was Mr. C. Smith, a. merchant, at Rochdale; but he would not lend a. I'a rlhing, believing the I hike to lie engaged in a jierfectly ruinous under- CHAP. VII. (JHOWTII ()F MANCHESTER. 397 Hradshaw, "the party w;is unusually dull and silent. The Duke's funds were exhausted ; the canal was by n<> means nearly finished; his Grace's credit was at the lowest ehh; and lie was at a loss what step to take next. There they sat, in the small parlour of the little public-house, smoking their pipes, with a pitcher of ale before them, melancholy and silent. At last the Duke broke the silence by asking, in a querulous tone, ' Well, Brindley, what's to be done now ? How are we to get at the money for finishing this canal?' Brindley, after a few long puffs, answered through the smoke, 'Well, Duke, I can't tell ; I only know that if the money can be got, I can finish the canal, and that it will pay well.' ' Ay,' rejoined the Duke, ' but where are we to get the money ? ' Brindley could only repeat what he had a heady said; and thus the little party remained in moody silence for some time longer, when Brindley sud- denly started up and said, ' Don't mind, Duke ; don't be cast down ; we are sure to succeed after all ! ' The party shortly after separated, the Duke going over to Worsley to bed, to revolve in his mind the best mode of raising money to complete his all-absorbing project." Still undaunted by the difficulties that beset them, the Duke and his agents exerted themselves to the utmost to find the requisite means for completing the works. Gil- bert was employed to ride round among the tenantry of the neighbouring districts, and raise five pounds here and ten pounds there, until he had gathered together enough to pay the week's wages. Whilst travelling about among the farmers on one of such occasions, Gil- bert was joined by a stranger horseman, who entered into conversation with him ; and it very shortly turned upon the merits of their respective horses. The stranger offered to swap with Gilbert, who, thinking the other's horse better than his own, agreed to the exchange. On afterwards alighting at a lonely village inn, which he had not before frequented, Gilbert was surprised to be 398 THE DUKE'S DIFFICULTIES— PART V. greeted by the landlord with mysterious marks of recog- nition, and still more so when he was asked if he had got a good booty. It turned out that he had exchanged horses with a highwayman, who had adopted this expe- dient for securing a nag less notorious than the one which he had exchanged with the Duke's agent.1 At length, when the tenantry could furnish no further advances, and loans were not to be had on any terms in Manchester or Liverpool, and the works must needs come to a complete stand unless money eould be raised to pay the workmen, the Duke took the road to London on horseback, attended only by his groom, to try what could be done with his London bankers. The house of Messrs. Child and Co., Temple Bar, was then the prin- cipal banking-house in the metropolis, as it is the oldest ; and most of the aristocratic families kept their accounts there. The Duke had determined at the outset of his undertaking not to mortgage his landed property, and he had held to this resolution. But the time arrived when he could not avoid borrowing money of his bankers on such other security as he could offer them. He had already created a valuable and lucrative property, which was happily available for the purpose. The canal from Worsley to Manchester had proved remunerative in an extraordinary degree, and was already producing a large annual income. He had not the same scruples at pledgi i ig the revenues of his canal that he had to mortgage his lands ; and an arrangement was concluded with the Messrs. Child under which they agreed to advance the Duke sums of money from time to time, by means of which he was eventually enabled to finish the entire canal. The books of the firm show that he obtained his first advance from them of 3800/. about the middle of the year 1765, at which time he wras in the greatest difficulty : shortly after a further sum of 15,000/. ; then 2000/., 1 The Earl of Ellesmere's ' Essays on History, liin^riijiliy," iVe., j>. LI ."»'',. CHAP. VII. <>F .MANTI1KSTKII. and v which canal arious oilier sums, making a total of 25,OOOZ. ; remained owing until the year 1769, when the was paid off — douUless from the profits of the tral'hV as we'll as the economised rental of the Duke's unbur- thened estates. The entire level length of the new canal from Longford Bridge to the upper part of Runcorn, near- ly twenty-eight miles in extent, was finished and opened for traffic in the year 1767, after the lapse of about five years from the pass- ing of the Act. The for- midable flight of locks, THE LOCKS AT RUNCORN. [By Percivai Skelton, after his original Drawing ] from the level part of the canal down to the waters of the Mersey at Runcorn, were not finished for several \\-ars later, by which time the receipts derived by the 400 THE DUKE'S DIFFICULTIES— TAUT V. Duke from the sale of his coals and the local traffic of the undertaking, enabled him to complete them with com- paratively little difficulty. Considerable delay was oc- casioned by the resistance of an obstinate landowi id- near Runcorn, Sir Richard Brooke, who interposed every obstacle which it was in his power to offer ; but his opposition too was at length overcome, and the new and complete line of water-communication between Manchester and Liverpool was finally opened through- out. In a letter written from Runcorn, dated the 1st January, 1773, we find it stated that "yesterday the locks were opened, and the Heart of Oak, a vessel of 50 tons burden, for Liverpool, passed through them. This day, upwards of six hundred of his Grace's work- men were entertained upon the lock banks with an ox roasted whole and plenty of good liquor. The Duke's health and many other toasts were drunk with the loudest acclamations by the multitude, who crowded from all parts of the country to be spectators of these asto- nishing works. The gentlemen of the country for a long time entertained a very unfavourable opinion of this undertaking, esteeming it too difficult to be accomplished, and fearing their lands would be cut and defaced with- out producing any real benefit to themselves or the public ; but they now see with pleasure that their fears and apprehensions were ill-grounded, and they join with one voice in applauding the work, which cannot fail to produce the most beneficial consequences to the landed property, as well as to the trade and commerce of this part of the kingdom." Whilst the canal works had been in progress, great changes had taken place at Worsley. The Duke had year by year been extending the workings of the coal ; and when the King of Denmark, travelling under the title of Prince Travindahl, visited the Duke in 1768, the Griswell's ' Account of Runcorn and its Environs,' pp. 63-5. <;|{0\YT11 ()F MANVIIKSTKK. 401 tunnels had already hem extended for nearly two miles under the hill. When the Duke began these works, he possessed only such of the coal-mines us 1 Belonged to the Worsley estate, l>nt from time to time he purchased the adjoining lands containing seams of coal which run under the high ground between Worsley, Bolton, and Bury; and in course of time the underground canals connecting the different workings extended for a distance of nearly forty miles.1 Both the hereditary and the purchased mines are worked upon two main levels, though in all there are four different levels, the highest being a hundred and twenty yards above the lowest. The coals worked out of the higher seams are shot into the boats placed below at certain appointed places ; the whole of the subter- ranean produce being dragged to the light through the tunnels, the entrances to which are shown in our illus- tration. In opening up these underground workings the Duke is said to have expended about 168,000/. ; but the immense revenue derived from the sale of the coals by canal rendered this an exceedingly productive out- lay. Besides the extension of the canal along these tunnels, the Duke subsequently carried a branch by the edge of Chat-Moss to Leigh, by which means new supplies of coal were introduced to Manchester from that district, and the traffic was still further increased. It was a saying of the Duke's, that " a navigation should always have coals at the heels of it." The total cost of completing the canal from Worsley to Manchester, and from Longford Bridge to the Mersey at Runcorn, amounted to 220,000/. A truly magnifi- cent undertaking, nobly planned and nobly executed. The power conferred by wealth was probably never more munificently exercised than in this case ; for, though the traffic proved a source of immense wealth to the Duke, it conferred incalculable blessings upon the 1 Sec the- cut at p. 30'!, >li<>\vinur the t'litrancc.s to tlu-M- umU'i^rouiul canals. VOL. I. 2 D 402 THE DUKE'S DIFFICULTIES— TAUT ^7 . population of the district. It greatly added to their comforts, increased their employment, and facilitated the operations of industry in all ways. The canal Avas no sooner opened than its advantages were at once felt. The charge for water-carriage between Liverpool and Manchester was lowered one-half. All sorts of pro- duce were brought to the latter town, at moderate rates, from the farms and gardens adjacent to the navigation, whilst the value of agricultural property was immediately raised by the facilities afforded for the conveyance of lime and manure, as well as by reason of the more ready access to good markets which it provided for the farming classes. The Earl of Ellesmere has not less truly than elegantly observed, that " the history of Francis Duke of Bridgewater is engraved in intaglio on the face of the country he helped to civilize and enrich." Probably the most remarkable circumstance connected with the money history of the enterprise is this : that although the canal yielded an income which eventually reached about 80,000/. a year, it was planned and exe- cuted by Brindley at a rate of pay considerably less than that of an ordinary mechanic of the present day. The highest wage he received whilst in the employment of the Duke was 3s. 6d. a day. For the greater part of the time he received only half-a-crown. Brindley, no doubt, accommodated himself to the Duke's pinched means, and the satisfactory completion of the canal was quite as much a matter of character with him as of pay. Indeed, he seems to have studied economy in everything, and strove to keep down his expenses to the very lowest point. Whilst superintending the works at Longford Bridge, we find him making an entry of his day's per- sonal expenses at only 6d. for " ating and drink." On other days his expenditure was confined to 2d. for the turnpike. When living at " The Bull," near the works at Throstle Nest, we find his dinner costing Sd. mid his breakfast (if/. His entire expenses were on an equally (JKOWTII OF MANCHESTER. 403 low scale, for lu' studied in all ways to economize the Duke's means, that every available shilling might he expended oil the ] M'oseelit loll of the Works. Tlie inadequate diameter of his remuneration was dm i hi less well enough known to Brindley himself, and rendered liim very independent in his hearing towards the Duke.1 They had frequent differences as to the 1 The Earl of Bridgewater, in his singular publication, the ' Letter to the Parisians,' above referred to, states that " Brindley offered to stay en- tirely with the I hike, and do business lor no one else, if lie would give him a guinea a week;" and this statement is related by the late Karl of Kllesmere in his 'Essays on His- tory, Biography,' &c. But, on the lace of it, the statement looks untrue; and we have since found, from Brind- lev's own note-hook, that, on the 25th of May, 1762, he was receiving a guinea a day from the Earl of "\Var- rington for performing services lor that nobleman ; nor is it at all likely that lie would prefer the Duke's threc- and-sixpence a day to the more ade- quate rate of payment which he was accustomed to charge and to re- ceive from other employers. It is quite true, however — and the fact is confirmed by Brindley 's own record — that he received no more than a guinea a week whilst in the Duke's service; which only affords an illustration of the fact that eminent constructive genius may be displayed and engineer- ing greatness achieved in the absence ol any adequate material reward. We re i: ret to have to add that I 'rind- ley's widow (afterwards the wife of Mr. Williamson, of Longport) in vain petitioned the Ihike and his repre- sentatives, as well as the above Earl of Bridgewater, for payment of a balance said to have lx>en due to Brindley lor services, at the time of the engineer's death. In her letter to Robert Bradshaw, M.I'., dated the 'Jnd May, 1803, Mrs. Williamson says: "It will doubt h ss appear to \ou extraordinary that, so very late an application should now lie made .... but I must beg leave to state that repeated applications were made by rne (after Mr. Brindley's sudden and unexpected death) to the late Mr. Thomas Gilbert and also to his bro- ther, but without any other ei:< < t than that of constant promises to lay the matter before His Grace ; and I conceive it owing to this channel ol application that no settling ever took place. A letter was also written to His Grace on this subject so late as the year 1801, but no answer wras re- ceived. From the year 1765 to 1772, Mr. Brindley received no money on account of his salary. At that time he was frequently in veiy great want, and made application to the Duke, whose answer (to use the Duke's expression) wyas, * 1 am much more distressed for money than ycu ; however, as soon as I can recover my- self, your services shall not go unre- warded.' In consequence of this, Mr. Brindley was under the necessity of borrowing several sums to make good engagements he was then under to various canal companies. In the year 1774, two years alter Mr. Briudley's death, the late Mr. John Gilbert paid my brother, Mr. Henshall, the trifling sum of 100?. on account of Mr. Brind- ley's time, which is all that has Urn received. 1 beg leave to suggest how small and inadequate* a return this is for his services during a period of seven years. Mr. M.'s travelling ex- ] enses on His Grace's account during that time were considerable, towards which, when he had not sufficient money to carry him the whole jour- ney, he now and then received a small sum. How far his plans and under- takings have Urn beneficial to His 1 interest is well known." In 404 THE DTKF/S DIFFICULTIES TAUT V. proper mode of carrying on the works ; but Brindley was quite as obstinate as the Duke on such occasions, and when he felt convinced that his own plan was the right one he would not yield an inch. It is said that, after long evening discussions at the hearth of the old timbered hall at Worsley, or at the Duke's house at Liverpool, while the works there were in progress, the two would often part at night almost at daggers-drawn. But next morning, on meeting at breakfast, the Duke would very frankly say to his engineer, " Well, Brindley, I have been thinking over what we were talking about last night. I find you may be right after all ; so just finish the work in your own way." The Duke himself, to the end of his life, took the greatest personal interest in the working of his coal- mines, his canals, his mills, and his various branches of industry. These were his hobbies, and he took pleasure in nothing else. He was utterly lost to the fashionable world, and, as some thought, to a sense of its proprieties. Shortly after his canal had been opened for the convey- ance of coals, the Duke established a service of passage- boats between Manchester and Worsley, and between Manchester and a station within two miles of Warring- ton, by which passengers were conveyed at the rate of a penny a mile. The boats were fitted up like the Dutch treckschuyts, and, being found cheap as well as con- venient, were largely patronized by the public.1 This a statement of the claims of Mr. Brindley's representatives, forwarded to the Earl of Bridgewater on the 3rd of November, 1803, it is further stated that "during the period of his em- ploy under His Grace, many highly advantageous and lucrative offers were made to him, particularly one from the Prince of Hesse, in 1766, who at that time was meditating a canal through his dominions in Germany, and who offered to subscribe to any terms Mr. Brindley might stipulate. T»> this engagement his family strongly urged him, but the solicitation of the Duke, in this as in every other in- stance, to remain with him, out- weighed all pecuniary considerations; relying upon such a remuneration from His Grace as the profits of his work might afterwards justify." 1 When the Duke had put on the boats and established the service, he offered to let them for 60/. a year; but not being able to iind any person to take them at that price, he was under the necessity of conducting the service himself, l>y means of an agent. THAI-. VII. GROWTH OF MANCIIKSTKIJ. 405 service WMS afterwards extended 1<> Runcorn, and from thence to Liverpool, The Duke delighted to travel by his own boats, prd'crring them to any more stately and aristocratic method. He often went by them to Man- chester to watch how the coal-trade was going on. AVI i en the passengers alighted at the coal-wharf, there were usually many poor people about, wheeling away their barrow-loads of coals. One of the Duke's regula- tions was, that whenever any deficiency in the supply was apprehended, those people who came with their wheelbarrows, baskets, and aprons for small quantities, should be served first, and waggons, carts, and horses sent away until the supply was again abundant. The numbers of small customers who thus resorted to the Duke's coal-yard rendered it a somewhat busy scene, and the Duke liked to look on and watch the proceedings. One day a customer, of the poorer sort, having got his sack filled, looked about for some one to help it on to his back. He observed a stoutish man standing near, dressed in a spencer, with dark drab smallclothes. " Heigh ! mester ! " said the man, " come, gie me a lift wi' this sack o' coal on to my shouder." Without any hesi- tation, the person in the spencer gave the man the re< jiiired " lift," and off he trudged with the load. Some one near, who had witnessed the transaction, ran up to ihe man, and asked, "Dun yo know who's that yo've been speaking tull ? " " Naw ! who is he ? " " Why, it's th' Duke his-sen ! " " The Duke ! " exclaimed the man, dropping the bag of coals from his shoulder, " Hey ! wliaf 11 he do at me ? Maun a goo an ax his pardon ? " But the Duke had disappeared. I le was very fond of watching his men at work, espe- cially when any new enterprise was on foot. When they In the course of a short time the 1 Mints were !<>iiii!' Kllcsmere and the Correspondence, I860.' The noble late Duke oi Sutherland. lady here referred to was grandmother ! CHAP. VH. <;iin\\TII <>F MANCHESTER, 409 AVorsley, to Jolni Gilbert, liis coal-pits, liis drainage, his mills, and his canals. Xo wonder IK- was fond of Worsley. It had been the scene of liis triumphs, and the foundation of his greatness. Illustrious vi>itors from all parts resorted thither to witness Brindley's "castle in the air," and to explore the underground excavations beneath Worsley-hill. Frisi, the Italian, spoke of the latter with admiration when they were only a mile and a half in length ; since then they have been extended to nearly forty miles. Among the numerous visitors entertained by the Duke was Fulton, the American artist, with whose speculations he was much interested. Fulton had given a good deal of attention fo t lie subject of canals, and was then speculating on the employment of steam power for the propulsion of canal boats. The Duke was so much impressed with Fulton's ingenuity, that he urged him to give up the profession of a painter and devote himself to that of a civil engineer. Fulton acted on his advice, and shortly after we find him residing at Birmingham — the central w< >rkshop of England — studying practical mechanics, and fitting himself for superintending the construction of canals, on which he was afterwards employed in the midland counties.1 The Duke did not forget the idea which Fulton had communicated to him as to the em- ployment of steam as a motive power 'for boats, instead of horses; and when he afterwards heard that Syming- ton's steam-boat, The Dundas, had been tried success- fully on the Forth and Clyde Canal, he arranged to have six canal boats constructed after Symington's model; for he was a man to shrink from no expense in carrying out an enterprise which, to use his own words, had " utility 1 The treatise which Fulton aftcr- \v;inls published, entitle*! 'A Treatise on Canal Navigation, exhibiting the numerous advantages to be <1> Iron i small Cjinals, Are., with a endent of Locks and Aqueducts,' (London, 1796,)is well known amongst 410 THE IH'KE'S D1FFKTLTIKS— PART V. at the heels of it." But the Duke dying' shortly after, the trustees refused to proceed with the experiment, and the project consequently fell through.1 Had the Duke lived, cana] steam-tugs would doubtless have been fairly tried; and he might thus have initiated the practical introduc- tion of steam-navigation in England, as he unquestionably laid the foundations of the canal system. He lived long enough, however, to witness the introduction of tram- roads, and he saw considerable grounds for apprehension in them. " We may do very well," he once observed to Lord Kenyon, "if we can keep clear of these - tram-roads." He was an admirable judge of character, and was rarely deceived as to the men he placed confidence in. John Gilbert was throughout his confidential adviser — a prac- tical out-doors man, full of energy and perseverance. When any proposal was made to the Duke, he would say, "Well, thou must go to Gilbert and tell him all about it ; I'll do nothing without I consult him." From living so much amongst his people, he had contracted their style of speaking, and " thee'd " and " thou'd " those whom he addressed, after the custom of the district. He was rough in his speech, and gruff and emphatic in his manner, like those amidst whom he lived ; but with the rough word he meant and did the kindly act. His early want of education debarred him in a measure from the refining influences of letters ; for he read little, except perhaps an occasional newspaper, and he avoided writing whenever he could. He also denied himself the graces of female society ; and the 1 The Earl of Ellesmere, in his ' Essay on Aqueducts and Canals,' states that the Duke made actual experiment of a steam-tug, and quotes the following from the communication of one of the Duke's servants, alive in 1844: "I well remember the steam- tug experiment on the canal. It was between 1796 and 1799. Captain Shanks, R.N., from Deptford, was ! p. 2-11. at Worsley many weeks preparing it, by the Duke's own orders and under his own eye. It was set going, and tried with coal-boats; but it went slowly, and the paddles made sid work with the bottom of the canal, and also threw the water on the bank. The Worsley people called it r*>na- [arte." — Lord Kllesmere's 'Essays,' ClIA!'. V <;i!<>\YTIl <•!•' MAXUIKSTKII. Ill seclusion which liis early disappointment in love had iirst driven liini to. at length grew into a habit. He lived wifeless and died childless. He would not even allow a woman servant to wait upon him. In person lie was large and corpulent; and the slim youth on whom the het had heen laid that lie would :.S DDKE OF BR1D5EWATER (A O Scott. r.fter i icrtn.'s enAraviuft ] l»e Mown off his horse when riding the race in Trentham Park so many years before, had grown into a bulky and unwieldy man. His features strikingly resembled those of George III. and other members of the royal family. He dressed carelessly, and usually wore a suit of brown 412 THE DUKE'S DIFFICULTIES— PART V. —something of the cut of Dr. Johnson's — with dark drab breeches, fastened at the knee with silver buckles. At dinner he rejected, with a kind of antipathy, nil poultry, veal, and such like, calling them " white meats," and wondered that everybody, like himself, did not prefer the brown. He was a great smoker, and smoked far more than he talked. Smoking was his principal evening's occupation when Brindley and Gilbert were pondering with him over the difficulty of raising funds to complete the navigation, and the Duke continued his solitary enjoyment through life. One of the droll habits to which he was addicted was that of rushing out of the room every five minutes, with the pipe in his mouth, to look at the barometer. Out of doors he snuffed, and he would pull huge pinches out of his right waistcoat pocket and thrust the powder up his nose, accompanying the operation with sundry strong short snorts. He would have neither conservatory, pinery, flower- garden, nor shrubbery at Worsley ; and once, on his return from London, finding some flowers which had been planted in his absence, he whipped their heads off with his cane, and ordered them to be rooted up. The only new things introduced about the place were some Turkey oaks, with which his character seemed to have more sympathy. But he took a sudden fancy for pictures, and with his almost boundless means the purchase of pictures was easy.1 Fortunately, he was well advised as to the paintings selected by him, and the numerous fine 1 Lord Ellesmere says : " An acci- dent laid the foundation of the Bridge- water collection. Dining one day with his nephew, Lord Gower, after- wards Duke of {Sutherland, the Duke saw and admired a picture which the latter had picked up a bargain, for some 10Z., at a broker's in the morn- were doubtless not wanting to cater for the taste thus suddenly deve- loped ; and such advisers as Lord Farnborough and his n<'j>lir\v lent him the aid of their judgment. His purchases from Italy and Holland were judicious and important, and, finally, the distractions of France ing. 'You must take me,' he said, forcing the treasures of the Orleans 'to that d d fellow to-morrow.' Gallery into this country, he Uranie Whether this impetuosity produced a principal in the fortunate sjK'cula- any immediate result we are not in- tion of its purchase." — ' Kssays on formed, but plenty of such 'fellows' History, Biography,' &e. CHAP. VII. (ih'oWTH ()F MANVIIKSTKIf. 413 works of art wlnYli were pouring into the country at tin: time, occasioned by the disturbances prevailing on tin' Con tiiinii. rimHrd him to lay the foundation of tin- famous IJridgi'water Gallery, now reckoned to be one of the finest private collections in Europe. At his death, iii 1803, its value was estimated at not less than L50,000& The Duke very seldom took part in politics, but usually followed the lead of his relative Earl Gower, afterwards Marquis of Stafford, who was a Whig. In 1762, we find his name in a division on a motion to withdraw the British troops from Germany, and on the loss of the motion he joined in a protest on the subject. \\ hen the repeal of the American Stamp Act was under discussion, his Grace was found in the ranks of the opposition to the measure. He strongly supported Mr. Fox's India Bill, and generally approved the policy of that statesman. The title of Duke of Bridge water died with him.1 The Earldom went to his cousin General Egerton, seventh Earl of Bridge water, and from him to his brother the 1 In 1720, when Scroop Egerton, Earl of Bridgewater, had obtained the promise of a dukedom, he acquainted liis brother with the circumstance, and told him, moreover, he had so much interest he could get the duke- dom settled collaterally upon him and his heirs male, in case there should happen a failure of males in his own line direct, provided his bro- ther would pay the additional officc- \\hich amounted to less than 320/., lor extending the patent. His brother, then I»i simp of Hereford (and who, if he had lived, was to have been Archbishop of York), replied that if the Duke would consent to entail the old family estates uj)on the dukedom, he would consent to dis- charge the additional fees. To this the Muke answered that he himself had no immediate concern, and no particular interest, in the above pro- posal. He made it solely because he conceived it might be acceptable to his brother ; he would bind himself, however, by no promise or condition in a matter which regarded the Bishop alone. If the Bishop thought it worth while to give about three hundred guineas for the chance, well; other- wise, the patent would stand as it was already directed to be made out. Hence the patent was not extended, and now there is a failure of males in the Duke's own line direct. The dukedom of Bridgewater is conse- quently become extinct, in the branch of the family of Egerton, by the death of Francis, the lake I>uke; and the Earldom of Bridgewater is de- volved to the direct heir of tin- al«>vc- mentioned Henry Bishop of Here- ford.— ' < ieiitleman's Ma •_;•.' lor .lime, 1807. Vol. 77, p. 499. 414 THE DUKK'S DIFFICULTIES— crazed Francis Henry, eighth Earl ; and 011 his death at Paris, some thirty years since, that title too became extinct. The Duke bequeathed about G00,000£. in legacies to his relatives, General Egerton, the Countess of Carlisle, Lady Anne Yernon, and Lady Louisa Mar- donald. He devised most of his houses, his pictures, and his canals, to his nephew George Qranville (son of Earl Gower), second Marquis of Stafford and first Duke of Sutherland, with reversion to his second son, Lord Francis Egerton, first Earl of Ellesmere, who thus suc- ceeded to the principal part of the vast property created by the Duke of Bridgewater. The Duke was buried in the family vault at Little Gaddesden, Hertfordshire, in the plainest manner, without any state, at his own express request. The Duke was a great public benefactor. The bold- ness of his enterprise, and the salutary results which flowed from its execution, entitle him to be regarded as one of the most useful men of his age. A Liverpool letter of 1765 says, " The services the Duke has rendered to the town and neighbourhood of Manchester have en- deared him to the country, more especially to the poor, who, with grateful benedictions, repay their noble bene- factor." l If he became rich through his enterprise, the public grew rich with him and by him ; for his undertak- ing was no less productive to his neighbours than it was to himself. His memory was long venerated by the peo] >le amongst whom he lived, — a self-reliant, self-asserting race, proud of their independence, full of persevering energy, and strong in their attachments. The Duke was a man very much after their own hearts, and a good deal after their own manners. In respecting him, they were perhaps but paying homage to those qualities which they most cherished in themselves. Long after the Duke had gone from amongst them, they spoke to each oilier CHAI-. vii. <;i;o\YTii or MANVIIKSTKK. of liis rough words niul liis kindly acts, his business and liis indomitable courage. He was the first " ManrhrstiT man." His example deeply penetrated tlic Lancashire character, and his presence seems even yet to hover about the district. The Duke's canal still carries a large proportion of the merchandise of Man- el irstrr and the neighbouring towns ; the Duke's horses1 still draw the Duke's boats; the Duke's coals still issue from the Duke's levels ; and when any question affecting the traffic of the district is under consideration, the questions are still asked of " What will the Duke say ? " " What will the Duke do ?" Manchester men of this day may possibly be surprised t<> learn that they owe so much to a Duke, or that the old blood has helped the new so materially in the develop- ment of England's modern industry. But it is never- theless true that the Duke of Bridgewater, more than any other single man, contributed to lay the founda- tions of the prosperity of Manchester, Liverpool, and the surrounding districts. The cutting of the canal from Worsley to Manchester conferred upon that town the immediate benefit of a cheap and abundant supply of coal ; and when Watt's steam-engine became the great motive power in manufactures, such supply became ab- solutely essential to its existence as a manufacturing town. Being the first to secure this great advantage, Manchester thus got the start forward which she has never since lost.2 be employed ; and that the Duke con- sequently dodged the provisions of the Acts by employing mules. But this is not the case, there being no clause in any of them prohibiting the 1 The Duke at first employed mules m hauling the canal-ln.ats, because of the greater endurance and freedom I'rom disease of those animals, and also because they could cat almost any description of provender. The Duke's bleed of mules was tor a long 2 The cotton trade was not of time the finest that had Urn known much im]ortance at first, though it in Kngland. The popular impression rapidly increased when the steam- in Manchester is, that the 1 hike's engine and spinning-jenny had Ix.'- Acts of Parliament authorising the come gem-rally adopted. It may be construction of his canals, forbade the interesting to know that sixty years u*' of horses, in order that men might since it was considered satisfactory if 416 GROWTH OF ^lAXC PAKT V. But, besides being a waterway for coal, the Duke's canal, when opened out to Liverpool, immediately conferred upon Manchester the immense advantage of direct connection with an excellent seaport. New canals, supported by the Duke and constructed by the Duke's engineer, grew out of the original scheme be- tween Manchester and Runcorn, which had the further effect of placing the former town in direct water-com- munication with the rich districts of the north-west of England. Then the Duke's canal terminus became so important, that most of the new navigations were laid out so as to join it ; those of Leigh, Bolton, Stockport, Rochdale, and the West Riding of Yorkshire, being all connected with the Duke's system, whose centre was at Manchester. And thus the whole industry of these dis- tricts was brought, as it were, to the very doors of that, town. But Liverpool was not less directly benefited by the Duke's enterprise. Before his canal was constructed, the small quantity of Manchester woollens and cottons manufactured for exportation, was carried on horses' backs to Bewdley and Bridgenorth on the Severn, from whence they were floated down that river to Bristol, then the chief seaport on the west coast. No sooner, however, was the new water-road opened out than the Bridgenorth pack-horses were taken off, and the whole export trade of the district concentrated on Liverpool. The additional accommodation required for the increased business of the port was promptly pro- vided as occasion required. New harbours and docks were built, and before many years had passed Liverpool had shot far ahead of Bristol, and became the chief port on the west coast, if not in all England. Had Bristol been blessed with a Duke of Bridge water, the one cotton-flat a day reached Man- chester from Liverpool. In the Duke's time the flats always "cast anchor" on their way, or at least laid up for the night, at six o'clock starting again at MX oVl<> following morning. CHAP. VII. <;i!o\VTH OF MANCHESTER. 417 result ini^'lit have been altogether different; and the valleys of Wilts, the coal ami iron fields of Wales, and the estuary of the Severn, might have been what South Lancashire and the Mersey are now. Were statues any proof of merit, the Duke would long since have had the highest statue in Manchester as well as Liverpool erected to his memory, and that of Brindley would have been found standing by his side ; for they were both heroes of industry and of peace, though even in com- mercial towns men of war are sometimes more honoured. We can only briefly glance at the extraordinary growth of Manchester since the formation of the Duke's canal, as indicated by the annexed plan. PLAN OF MANCHESTER, SHOWING ITS E>: THREE PERIODS. Ih" pins print\YTll <>F MA N< 'II KSTKIJ. «9 extending from the Old Bridge (now Victoria Bridge) to about the end of Gravel Lane — a country road con- taining only a few detached cottages. The compara- tively rural character of Manchester may he inferred from the circumstance that the Medlock and the Irk, the Tib and Shooter's Brook, were favourite fishing streams. Salmon were caught in the Medlock and at the mouth of the Irk ; and the others were well stocked with trout. The Medlock and the Irk are now as black as old ink, and as thick ; but the Tib and Shooter's Brook are entirely lost, — having been absorbed, like the London Fleet, in the sewage system of the town. Tib Street and Tib Lane indicate the former course of the Tib ; but of Shooter's Brook not a trace is left. The townships of Ardwick Green, Hulme, and Chorl- ton-upon-Medlock (formerly called Chorlton Row), were purely rural. The old rate-books of Chorlton Row exhibit some curious facts as to the transformations effected in that township. In 1720, a " lay" of 14d. in the pound produced a sum of 26/. 18s., the whole disbursements for the year amounting to 28/. 8s. 5J. From the highway-rate laid in 1722, it appears that the contri- butors were only twenty persons in all, whose payments ranged from Sd. to II. 13s. 4c?., producing a total levy of 6/. 18s. IQd. for the year. From the disbursements, it appears that the regular wage paid to the workmen em- ployed was a shilling a-day. In 1750, a lay of 3d. in the pound produced only 61. 2s. l^d. ; so that the popu- lation and value of property in Chorlton Row had not much increased during the thirty years that had passed. In 1770, two brought in 57/. 8s. Qd. ; and in 1794, four levies made in that year produced 208/. 2s. 4t/.] Among the list of contributors in the latter year we find " Mrs. Quincey 16s. 6<7." — the mother of De Quincey, 1 Recent " poor-lays " exhibit a very different result from what they diil in limner years. In 1SI5O-1 the poor-rate levied in ( 'Imrlton-upon- Medlock yielded (at 2s. 1O7. in the l*mnd), 18,798Z. ; the property in the township beinj; of the rateable value of 145,8447. 2 K 2 420 GROWTH OF MAXriIKSTKH. PART V. the English opium-eater, who was brought up in Ohorlton Row. De Quincey describes the home of his childhood as a solitary house, " beyond which was nothing but a cluster of cottages, composing the little hamlet of Green- hill." It was connected by a winding lane with the Rusholme road. The house, called Greenheys — the nu- cleus of an immense suburban district — built by De Quincey's father, " was then," he says, " a clear mile from the outskirts of Manchester," Princess Street being then the termination of the town on that side.1 Now it is en- veloped by buildings in all directions, and nothing of the former rural character of the neighbourhood remains but the names of Greenhill, Rusholme, and Greenheys. Coming down to the second expansion of Manchester, as exhibited on our plan, it will be observed that a con- siderable increase of buildings had taken place in the interval between 1770 and 1804. The greater part of the town was then contained in the area bounded by Deansgate, the crooked lanes leading to Princess Street, Bond Street, and Dand Street, to the Rochdale Canal, and round by Ancoats Lane (now Great Ancoats Street) and Swan Street, to Long Millgate, then a steep narrow lane forming the great highway into North Lancashire. Very few buildings existed outside the irregular quad- rangle indicated by the streets we have named. The straggling houses of Deansgate, which were principally of timber, ended at Knott Mill. A few dye-works stood at intervals along the Medlock, now densely occupied with buildings for miles along both banks. Salford had not yet extended to St. Stephen's Street in one direction, nor above half way to Broughton Bridge in another.2 The comparatively limited spaces thus indicated sufficed, 1 De Quincey's ' Autobiographic Sketches,' pp. 34, 48. 2 The corner of Irwell Street, Sal- ford, as recently as 1828, was occupied by an old canal " flat," tenanted by an eccentric character, after whom it was designated " Bannister's Ship." Op- posite it was a row of cottages with gardens in front. Oldfield and Ordsall Lanes were country roads, and fhc streets adjacent to them were not as yet in existence. CIIAI-. VII. n's Farm," which #i\v a name first in the " lane." period as " Geary's Farm.' and subsequently to the " street." Jt Chester Road and the recently formed City Eoad. Higher up, near the end of Upper Jackson Street, at the junc- tion of Chapman Street with Preston Street, are still standing, but without any field near, the buildings, also covered with gray flags, which were known within a comparatively recent 422 GROWTH OF MANCHESTER. TAUT V. principal of which was at the White House. Late roy- sterers at that place of resort, unless they could form a party or secure the services of " the patrol," had fre- quently to sojourn there all night. The officers consti- tuting the patrol l carried swords and horn lanterns ; and, clad as they were in heavy greatcoats with many capes, they were by no means light of foot, or at all formidable adversaries to the footpads who " worked " the district. Among the most remarkable improvements in Man- chester of late years, have been the numerous spacious thoroughfares which have been opened up in all direc- tions. In this respect, the public spirit of Manchester has not been surpassed by any town in the kingdom, — the new streets being laid out on a settled plan with a view to future extension, and executed with admirable judgment. Narrow, dark, and crooked ways have thus been converted into wide and straight streets, admitting light, air, and health to the inhabitants, and affording spacious highways for the great and growing traffic of the town and district. The important street-improve- ments executed in Manchester during the last thirty years have cost an aggregate of about 800,000/. The central and oldest part of the town has thus undergone a complete transformation. So numerous are the dark and narrow entries that have been opened up — the ob- structive buildings that have been swept away, the pro- jecting angles that have been cut off, and the crooked ways that have been made straight — that the denizen of a former age would be very unlikely to recognise the Man- chester of to-day, were it possible for him to revisit it. Some of the street-improvements have their peculiar social aspects, and call up curious reminiscences. The 1 On the subject of watchmen, it may be mentioned that the first watchman was appointed for Chorlton- on-Medlock in 1814. In 1832 an Act \vas obtained for improving ;mni the country, consisting sometimes of from twenty to thirty couples, accompanied by fiddlers, visited " t' Owd Church " to get married. The ' Ring o' Bells ' was the rendezvous until the parties were duly married and ready to form and depart homewards, in a more or less orderly manner, headed by their fiddlers as they had come. The 4 Ring o' Bells ' was also a favourite resort of the recruit- ing-serjeant, and more recruits, it is said, were enlisted the iv than at any other public-house in the kingdom. But these, and many other curious characteristics of old .Manchester, have long since passed away; and not only the town but its population have become entirely new. 424 Tin-; <;KA\I> THTNK CANAL. CHAPTER VIII. THE GRAND TRUNK CANAL. LONG before the Duke's canal was finished, Brindlry was actively employed in carrying out a still larger enterprise — no less than the canal to connect the Mersey with the Trent, and both with the Severn ; thus uniting by a grand line of water-communication the ports of Liverpool, Hull, and Bristol. He had, indeed, already made a survey of such a canal, at the instance of Earl Grower, before his engagement as engineer for the Bridgewater undertaking. Thus, in the beginning of February, 1758, before the Duke's bill had been even applied for, we find him occupied for days together "a bout the novogation," and he then appears to have surveyed the country between Longbridge, in Stafford- shire, and King's Mills, in Derbyshire. The enterprise, however, seems to have made little progress. It was of too formidable a character, and canals were as yet too untried in England, to be hastily entered upon. But again, in 1759, we find Brindley proceeding with his survey of the Staffordshire Canal ; and in the middle of the following year he was occupied about twenty days in levelling from Harecastle, at the summit of the pro- posed canal, to Wilden, near Derby ; and we find him frequently with Earl Glower, at Trentham, and with the Earl of Stamford, at Enville, discussing the project. The next step taken was the holding of a public meeting at Sandon, in Staffordshire, as to the proper course in which the canal should be constructed. Con- siderable difference of opinion was expressed at that meeting, in consequence of which it was arranged that CHAI-. VIII. TI1K GRAND TIM'NK CANAL. 4'_T. Mr. Smeaton slioiild lie railed upon to ro-operate with Brindley in making ;i joint survey ;me engrave* 1 and circulated amongst the landowners and others interested in the project. Here the matter rested for several years more, without any action being taken. Brindley was hard at work upon the Duke's canal, and the Staffordshire projectors were disposed to wait the issue of that experiment ; but no sooner had it been opened, and its extraordinary suc- cess become matter of fact, than the project of the canal through Staffordshire was again revived. The gentle- men of Cheshire and Staffordshire, especially the salt- manufacturers of the former county and the earthen- ware-manufacturers of the latter, now determined to enter into co-operation with the leading landowners in concerting the necessary measures with the object of opening up a line of water-communication with the Mersey and the Trent. The earthenware manufacture, though in its infancy, had already made considerable progress, but, like every other branch of industry in England at that time, its further development was greatly hampered by the wretched state of the roads. Throughout Staffordshire they were as yet, for the most part, narrow, deep, cir- cuitous, miry, and inconvenient ; barely passable with rude waggons in summer, and almost impassable, even with ] >aek-horses, in winter. Yet the principal materials used in the manufacture of pottery, especially of the best kinds, were necessarily brought from a great distance —flint-stones from the south-eastern ports of England, and clay from Devonshire and Cornwall. The flints were brought by sea to Hull, and the clay to Liverpool. From Hull the materials were brought up the Trent in boats to Willington ; and the clay was in like manner brought from Liverpool up the Weaver to Winslord, in 426 THE GRAND TRUNK CANAL. v. Cheshire. Considerable quantities of clay were also conveyed in boats from Bristol, up the Severn, to Bridgenorth and Bewdley. From these various points the materials were conveyed by land-carriage, mostly on the backs of horses, to the towns in the Potteries, where they were worked up into earthenware and china. The manufactured articles were returned for export in the same rude way. Large crates of pot-waiv were slung across horses' backs, and thus conveyed to their respective ports, not only at great risk of breakage and pilferage, but also at a heavy cost. The expense of carriage was not less than a shilling a ton per mile, and the lowest charge was eight shillings the ton for ten miles. Besides, the navigation of the rivers above men- tioned was most uncertain, arising from floods in winter and droughts in summer. The effect was, to prevent the expansion of the earthenware manufacture, and very greatly to restrict the distribution of the lower-priced articles in common use."^ ^The same difficulty and cost of transport checked the growth of nearly all other branches of industry, and made living both dear and uncomfortable. The indis- pensable article of salt, manufactured at the Cheshire Wiches, was in like manner carried on horses' backs all over the country, and reached almost a fabulous price by the time it was sold two or three counties off. About a hundred and fifty pack-horses, in gangs, were also occupied in going weekly from Manchester, through Stafford, to Bewdley and Bridgenorth, loaded with woollen and cotton cloth for exportation ;l but the cost 1 In a curious book published in 1766, by Richard Whitworth, of Balcham Grange, Staffordshire, after- wards Sir Richard Whitworth, mem- ber for Stafford, entitled 'The Ad- vantages of Inland Navigation,' he points to the various kinds of traffic that might l>e expected to come upon the canal then proposed by him, and amongst other items he enumerates the following : — " There are three pot- waggons go from Newcastle and Burs- lem weekly, through Eccleshall and Newport to Bridgenorth, and carry about eight tons of pot-ware every week, at 31. per ton. The same wag- gons load back with ten tons of close s, consist! nil of white clay, grocery, CHAP. VIII. TIIK GtBAND TRUNK CANAL. 427 of the carriaiLiy hv this mode so enhanced the price, that it is clear that in the case of many articles it must have acted as a prohibition, and greatly checked production ;n id consumption. Kven corn, coal, lime, and iron-stone were conveyed in the same way, and the operations of agriculture, as of manufacture, were alike injuriously impeded. There were no shops then in the Potteries, the people being supplied with wares and drapery by packmen and hucksters, or from Newcastle-under-Lyme, which was the only town in the neighbourhood worthy of the name?) The people of the district in question were quite as rough as their roads. Their manners were coarse, and their amusements brutal. Bull-baiting, cock-throwing, and goose-riding were the favourite sports. When Wesley first visited Burslem, in 1760, the potters assem- bled to jeer and laugh at him. They then proceeded to pelt him. " One of them," he says, " threw a clod of earth which struck me on the side of the head ; but it neither disturbed me nor the congregation." About that time the whole population of the Potteries did not amount to more than about 7000. The villages in which they lived were poor and mean, scattered up and down, and the houses were mostly covered with thatch. Hence the Rev. Mr. Middleton, incumbent of Stone — a man of great shrewdness and quaintness, distinguished for his love of harmless mirth and sarcastic humour — when enforcing the duty of humility upon his leading parishioners, took the opportunity, on one occasion, and iron, at the same price, delivered j may be computed to carry 312 tons on their road t<> Newcastle. Large I of cloth and Manchester wares in the quantities of ]x>t-\vure are conveyed on horses' backs from Burslem and Newcastle to liridgenorth and Ik-wd- ley tor exportation — about one hun- dred tons yearly, at 21. 10s. per ton. Two broad-wheel wagons (exclusive "I l.~)0 | uck-horses) go from Man- chester through Station! weekly, and year, at 31 10s. jxjr ton. The great salt-trade that is carried on at North- wich may 'be computed to send GOO tons yearly along this canal, together with Nantwieh 400, chiefly carried now on horses' backs, at 10s. per ton "ii a medium." 428 THE GRAND TRUNK CANAL. PART V. after the period of which we speak, of reminding them of the indigence and obscurity from which they L;i ex lend, a demand for his articles sprang up not only in London but in foreign countries. lint there was this great difficulty in his way, — that tin1 roads in his neighbourhood were so bad that he was at tlic same time prevented from obtaining a sufficient supply of the best kinds of clay and also from disposing of his wares in distant markets. This great evil weighed heavily upon the whole industry of the district, and Wedgwood accordingly appears to have bestirred him- self at an early period in his career to improve the local communications. In conjunction with several of the leading potters he promoted an application to Parlia- ment for powers to repair and widen the road from the Red Bull at Lawton, in Cheshire, to Cliff Bank, in Staffordshire. This line, if formed, would run right throuuli the centre of the Potteries, open them to traffic, and tall at either end into a turnpike road. The mea- sure was, however, violently opposed by the people of Newcastle-under-Lyme, on the ground that the proposed new road would enable waggons and packhorses to travel north and south from the Potteries without passing through their town. The Newcastle innkeepers acted as if they had a vested interest in the bad roads ; but the bill passed, and the new line was made, stopping short at Burslem. This was, no doubt, a great advantage, hut- it was not enough. The heavy carriage of clay, coal, and earthenware needed some more convenient means of transport than waggons and roads; and, when the sub- ject of water communication came to be discussed, Josiah Wedgwood at once saw that a canal was the very thing for the Potteries. Hence he immediately entered with Lireat spirit into the movement again set on foot for the construction of Brindley's Grand Trunk Canal. The field was not, however, so clear now as it had been before. The success of the Duke's canal led to the projection < >f a host of competing schemes in the county of 432 THE GRAND TRUNK CANAL. PART V. Cheshire, and it appeared that Brindley's Grand Trunk project would now have to run the gauntlet of a powerful local opposition. There were two other projects besides his, which formed the subject of much pamphleteering and controversy at the time, one entering the dis- trict by the river Weaver, and another by the Dee. Neither of these proposed to join the Duke of Bridge- water's canal, whereas the Grand Trunk line was laid out so as to run into his at Preston-on-the-Hill near Runcorn. As the Duke was desirous of placing his navigation — and through it Manchester, Liverpool, and the inter- vening districts — in connection with the Cheshire Wiclics and the Staffordshire Potteries, he at once threw the whole weight of his support upon the side of Brindley's Grand Trunk. Indeed, he had himself been partly at the expense of its preliminary survey, as we find from an entry in Brindley's memorandum-book, under date the 12th of April, 1762, as follows: " Worsley— Eecd from Mr Tho Gilbert for ye Staffordshire survey, on account, 331. 16s. lie?." The Cheshire gentlemen pro- tested against the Grand Trunk scheme, a& calculated to place a monopoly of the Staffordshire and Cheshire traffic in the hands of the Duke ; but they concealed the fact, that the adoption of their respective measures would have established a similar monopoly in the hands of the Weaver Navigation Company, whose line of navigation, so far as it went, was tedious, irregular, and expensive. Both parties mustered their forces for a Parliamentary struggle, and Brindley exerted himself at Manchester and Liverpool in obtaining support and evidence on behalf of his plan. The following letter from him to Gilbert, then at Worsley, relates to the rival schemes. "21 Deer. 1765 " On Tusdey Sr Georg [Warren] sent Nuton in to Manchester to make what intrest he could for Sir Georg and to gather ye old Navogtors togather to meet Sir Georg at Stoperd to mab' Head a ganst His Grace ( HAP. VIII. TIM': (illAND TIM'NK CANAL. 433 'k I s taken to apply for a bill conferring the neces- sary powers in the ensuing session of Parliament. Mr. Wedgwood put his name down for a thousand pounds towards the preliminary expenses, and promised to sub- scribe largely for shares besides.1 The promoters of the 1 Wedgwood even entered tin- lists ! Trunk project, ami, in 1765, he and as a luniphletrer in :ii»l of the (irand j liis )mrtner, Mr. Bentley (son of Dr. VOL. I. 2 F JOS1AH WEDGWUOIV [By I . E>. Scott, after Reynolds.] measure proposed to designate the undertaking " The Canal from the Trent to the Mersey ;" but Brindley, with sagacious foresight, urged that it should be called The Grand Trunk, because, in his judgment, numerous other canals would branch out from it at various points of its course, in like manner as the arteries of the human system branch out from the aorta ; and we need scarcely Bentley, archdeacon of Ely), drew up a very able statement, showing the advantages likely to be derived from the construction of the proposed canal, under the title of 'A View of the Advantages of Inland Navigation, with a plan of a Navigable Canal in- tended tor a communication bet \\een tin- torts "I' Liverpool and pointed out in glowing language the advantages to be derived from opening up the internal communications of a country by means of roads, canals, &c. ; and showed how the comfort and even the necessity of all classes must IK- so iniieli belter provided lor 1>\ a reduction in the cost of carriage of usel'ul and mressarv commodities. OBAP. VIII. TIIK QBAND TIIUNK CANAL. 435 add that, l>etbre many years had passed, our engineer's anticipations of the progress of canal enterprise were fully justified. The Staffordshire potters were so much rejoiced at the decision of the meeting that on the fol- lowing eveni'iii;1 they assembled round a large bonfire at Uurslem, and drank the healths of Lord Gower, Mr. Gilbert, and the other promoters of the scheme, with ferment demonstrations of joy. The opponents of the measure also held meetings at which they strongly declaimed against the Duke's pro- posed monopoly, and set forth the superior merits of their respective schemes. One of these was a canal from the river Weaver, by Nantwich, Eccleshall, and Stafford, to the Trent at Wilden Ferry, without touching the Potteries at all. Another was for a canal from the Weaver at Northwich, passing by Macclesfield and Stock- port, round to Manchester, thus completely surrounding the Duke's navigation, and preventing its extension southward into Staffordshire or any other part of the Midland districts. But there was also a strong party opposed to all canals whatever — the party of croakers, who are always found in opposition to improved com- munications, whether in the shape of turnpike roads, canals, or railways. These proclaimed that if the pro- posed canals were made, the country would be ruined, the breed of English horses would be destroyed, the innkeepers would be made bankrupts, and the pack- horses and their drivers would be deprived of their subsistence. It was even said that the canals, by putting a stop to the coasting-trade, would destroy the race of seamen. It is a fortunate thing for England that it has contrived to survive these repeated pro- pi lecies of ruin. But the manner in which our country- men contrive to grumble their way along the high road of enterprise, thriving and grumbling, is one of the peculiar features in our character which perhaps Eng- lishmen only can understand and appreciate. 2 F 2 430 THE GRAND TIU'NK CAXAL. TART V. It is a curious illustration of the timidity with which the projectors of those days entered upon canal enter- prise, that one of their most able advocates, in order to mitigate the opposition of the pack-horse and waggon interest, proposed that " no main trunk of a canal should be carried nearer than within four miles of any great manufacturing and trading town ; which distance from the canal would be sufficient to maintain the same num- ber of carriers and to employ almost the same number of horses as before."1 But as none of the towns in the Potteries were as yet large manufacturing or trading places, this objection did not apply to them, nor pre- vent the canals being carried quite through the centre of what has since become a continuous district of popu- lous manufacturing towns and villages. The vested interests of some of the larger towns were, however, for this reason preserved, greatly to their own ultimate injury ; and when the canal, to conciliate the local op- position, was so laid out as to pass them at a distance, not many years passed before they became clamorous for branches to join the main trunk — but not until the mischief had been done, and a blow dealt to their own trade, in consequence of being left so far outside the main line of water communication, from which many of them never after recovered. It is not necessary to describe the Parliamentary con- test upon the Grand Trunk Canal Bill. There was the usual muster of hostile interests, — the river navigation companies uniting to oppose the new and rival com- pany ; the array of witnesses on both sides, — Brindley, Wedgwood, Gilbert, and many more, giving their evi- dence in support of their own scheme, and a powerful array of the Cheshire gentry and Weaver Navigation Trustees appearing on behalf of the others; and ilic whipping-up of votes, in which the Duke of Bridgewater 1 'The Advantage* «•!' Inland Navigation,' l.y II. Wlutwortli. CII.M-. VIII. THK (iKAXD TIM'NK CANAL, 487 and Ivirl (lower worked their intlurnrr with the party to good purpose. Brindley's plan was, on the whole, considered the best. It was the longest and the most circuitous, hut it appeared calculated to afford the largest amount of accommodation to the public. It would p;i>x through important districts, urgently in need of an im- proved communication with the port of Liverpool on the one hand, and with Hull on the other. But it was not so much the connection of those ports with each other that was needed, as a more convenient means of com- munication between them and the Staffordshire manu- facturing districts ; and the Grand Trunk system — some- what in the form of a horse-shoe, with the Potteries lying along its extreme convex part — promised effec- tually to answer this purpose, and to open up a ready means of access to the coast on both sides of the island. A glance at the course of the proposed line will show its great importance. Starting from the Duke's canal at Preston-on-the-Hill, near Runcorn, it passed south- wards by Northwich and Middlewich, through the great salt-manufacturing districts of Cheshire, to the summit at Harecastle. It was alleged that the difficulties pre- sented by the long tunnel at that point were so great that it could never be the intention of the projectors of the canal to carry their " chimerical idea," as it was railed, into effect. Brindley however insisted, not only that the tunnel was practicable, but that, if the necessary powers were granted, he would certainly execute it.1 1 In one of the many angry pam- j ing the chimerical idea of cutting pldets published at the time, the I through Hare Castle ! We rather be- c Supplement to a pamphlet entitled j lieve that they are desirous of cutting Seasonable Conaderationfi on a Navi- < their canal at both ends, and of leaving gable Cana] intended to IK- cut from the Trent to the Mersey,' &c., the following passage occurs : " When « tin- all is at stake, these uent Icmen [the promoters of the ( Irand Trunk Canal] must not l>e surprised at lx)ld truths. We conceive more favourably of their understand) n>/ than of their motive; we cannot suspect them of entertain- the middle for the project of a future day. Are these projectors jealous of their Jumotir? Let them adopt a clause (which reason and justice stron-lv enforce) to restrain them from meddling with either end till they have finished the great trunk. This, and this alone, will shield them from suspicion." 438 THE GHAX1) TKUNK CANAL. PABTV, -.WOR8LEYSMIU .WARRINGTON , MANCHESTER ALTRINCHAM CHEAOL KNUT CONGI CLOUGHHAU NEWCASTLE TRENTHAM < IHARECASTLE 'TVIN8TALU , BARLASTOrj DARLSTONo \\oSTONE Descending from the summit level into the val- ley of the Trent, the canal would then pro- ceed southwards through the Pot- tery districts, passing close to Burslem, Han- ley, Stoke, and Lane End. It then passed on- ward, still south, by Trentham, Stone, and Shutborough, to Haywood, where it joined the canal projected to unite the Severn with the Mersey. Still following the valley of the RUDGELEV 1STON T^WILDEN KINCSMILLS LICHFIELD WOLVERHAMPTON I TAMWORTH Trent, the canal near Rugeley, turning sharp round, pro- ceeded in a north- easterly direction, nearly parallel with the river, passing Burton and Asliton, to a junction with the main stream at Wilden Ferry. a little above where the Derwent falls into Ilir Trent BIRMINGHAM GRAND TRUNK CANAL /COLEBROOK CHAP. VIII. TIIK CIIAND TIM'NK CANAL. l.'V.i near Derbv. From tlienee there \v;is ;i clear line <>!' iiavi^alion, by Nottingham, Newark, and (lainsborough, to the Humber. Provided this admirable project could be carried out, it appeared likely to meet all the neces- sities of t lie case. Ample evidence was given in support of the allegations of its promoters ; and the result was, tliat Parliament threw out the bills promoted by the Cheshire gentlemen on behalf of the old river naviga- tion interest, and the Grand Trunk Canal Act passed into law. At the same time another important Act was passed, empowering the construction of the Wolver- liamptoii Canal, from the river Severn, near Bewdley, to the river Trent, near Haywood Mill ; thus uniting the navigation of the three rivers which had their termini at the ports of Liverpool, Hull, and Bristol, on the opposite sides of the island. There was great rejoicing at Burslem on the news arriving at that place of the passing of the bill; and very shortly after, on the 26th of July, 1766, the first sod of the canal was cut by Josiah Wedgwood on the declivity of Bramhills, in a piece of land within a few yards of the bridge which crosses the canal at that place. Brindley was present on the occasion, and due honours were paid to him by the assembled potters. After Mr. Wedgwood had cut the first sod, many of the leading persons of the neighbourhood followed his example, putting their hand to the work by turns, and each cutting a sod or wheeling a barrow of earth in honour of the occasion. It was, indeed, a great day tor the Potteries, as the event proved. In the after- noon a sheep was roasted whole in Burslem market- place, for the good of the poorer class of potters ; a feu de jole was performed in front of Mr. Wedgwood's house, and sundry other demonstrations of local rejoicing followed the auspicious event. Wedgwood was of all others the most strongly im- pressed with the advantages of the proposed canal. 440 THE GUAM) TIM'XK CANAL. He knew and felt how mticli his trade had been hin- dered by the defective communications of the neigh- bourhood, and to what extent it might be increased provided a ready means of transit to Liverpool, Hull, and Bristol could be secured ; and, confident in the accuracy of his anticipations, he proceeded to make the purchase of a considerable estate in Shelton, in- tersected by the canal, on the banks of which he built the celebrated Etruria — the finest manufactory of the kind up to that time erected in England, alongside of which he built a mansion for himself and cottages for his workpeople. He removed his works thither from Burslem, partially in 1769, and wholly in 1771, shortly before the works of the canal had been com- pleted. The Grand Trunk was the most formidable under- taking of the kind that had yet been attempted in Eng- land. Its whole length, including the junctions with the Birmingham Canal and the river Severn, was 139^ miles. In conformity with Brindley's practice, he laid out as much of the navigation as possible upon a level, concentrating the locks in this case at the summit, near Harecastle, from which point the waters fell in both directions, north and south. Brindley's liking for long flat reaches of dead water made him keep clear of rivers as much as possible. He likened water in a river flowing down a declivity, to a furious giant running along and overturning everything ; whereas (said he) " if you lay the giant flat upon his back, he loses all his force, and becomes completely passive, whatever his size may be." Hence he contrived that from Middle- wich, a distance of seventeen miles, to the Duke's canal at Preston Brook, there should not be a lock ; but goods might be conveyed from the centre of Cheshire to Man- chester, for a distance of about seventy miles, along tlie same uniform water level. lie carried out the same practice, in like manner, on the Trent side of Harecastle, CHAP. VIII. THK «;i?AM> TIM'NK CANAL, 441 where IK- hiid out the canal in as many long lengths of dead water as possible. The whole rise »>!' the canal from the level of the Mer.M-\ , including the Duke's locks at Runcorn, to the summit at Ilarecastle, is 395 feet; and the fall from thence to the Trent at Wilden is 288 feet 8 inches. The locks on the Grand Trunk proper, on the northern side of Harecastle, are thirty-five, and on the southern side forty. The dimensions of the canal, as originally constructed, were twenty-eight feet in breadth at the top, sixteen at the bottom, and four and a-half feet in depth ; but from Wilden to Burton, and from Middlewich to Preston-on-the-Hill, it was thirty-one feet broad at the top, eighteen at the bottom, and five and a-half feet deep, so as to be navigable by large barges ; and the locks at those parts of the canal were of correspondingly large dimensions. The width was afterwards made uniform throughout. The canal was carried over the river Dove on an aqueduct of twenty-three arches, ap- proached by an embankment on either side — in all a mile and two furlongs in length. There were also aqueducts over the Trent, which it crosses at four dif- ferent points — one of these being of six arches of twenty- one feet span each — and over the Dane and other smaller streams. The number of minor aqueducts was about 160, and of road-bridges 109. But the most formidable works on the canal were the tunnels, of which there were five — the Harecastle, 2880 yards long; the Hermitage, 130 yards; the Barnton, 560 yards ; the Saltenford, 350 yards ; and the Preston- on-the-Hill, 1241 yards. The Harecastle tunnel (subse- quently duplicated by Telford) was constructed only nine feet wide and twelve feet high ; * but the others 1 Brindley's tunnel had only si ace to IK- worked in the same way, while I'm- a narrow canal-l>oat to pass horses haul the boats through the through, and it was propelled l>y the whole length of Telford's wider tun- tedious and hilarious |.n«vss of what i nel. The men who " leg " the Uiat, is ealled ki Irving." It still continues literally kick it al<>n^ from one end to 442 THE GRAND TRUNK CANAL. PART V. were seventeen feet four inches high, and thirteen feet six inches wide. The most extensive ridge of country to be penetrated was at Harecastle, involving by far the most difficult work in the whole undertaking. This ridge is but a continuation of the high ground, forming what is called the " back-bone of England/' which extends in a south-westerly direction from the Yorkshir< NORTHERN ENTRANCE OF HARECASTLE TUNNELS l [By E. M. Wimperis, after a Sketch by the Author.] tains to the Wrekin in Shropshire. The flat county of Cheshire, which looks almost as level as a bowling-green when viewed from the high ground near New Chapel, seems to form a deep bay in the land, its innermost point being almost immediately under the village of Hare- the other. They lie on their backs on the boat-cloths, with their shoul- ders resting against some package, and propel it along by means of their feet pressing against the top or sides of the tunnel. 1 The smaller opening into the hill on the right-hand of the view is Brindley's tunnel ; that on the left is Telfonl's, executed some forty years since. Harecastle church and village occupy the ground over the tunnel entrances. CHAP. VIM. THI-; <;I;AM> TRUNK CANAL. 443 castle; and IVoin thence to the valley of the Trent the ridge is at the narrowest. That Brindley was correct in determining to t'onn his tunnel at this point has since been confirmed 1>\ the survey of Telford, who there constructed his parallel tunnel for the same canal, and still more recently by the engineers of the North Staffordshire Railway, who have also formed their railway tunnel almost parallel with the line of both canals. When Brindley proposed to cut a navigable way under this ridge, it was declared to be chimerical in the extreme. The defeated promoters of the rival projects continued to make war upon it in pamphlets, and in the exasperating language of mock sympathy proclaimed Brindley 's proposed tunnel to be "a sad misfortune," ] inasmuch as it would utterly waste the capital raised by the subscribers, and end in the inevitable ruin of the concern. Some of the small local wits spoke of it as another of Brindley' s " Air Castles ;" but the allusion was not a happy one, as his first " castle in the air," despite all prophecies to the contrary, had been built, and con- tinued to stand firm at Barton ; and judging by the issue of that undertaking, it was reasonable to infer that he might equally succeed in this, difficult though it was on all hands admitted to be. The Act was no sooner passed than Brindley set to work to execute the impossible tunnel. Shafts were sunk from the hill-top at different points down to the level of the intended canal. The stuff was drawn out of LONGITUDINAL SECTION OF TUNNEL, SHOWING THE STRATA. the shafts in the usual way by horse-gins ; and so long as the water was met with in but small quantities, the power 1 * Sr;i.xon:ililr ( '< msiNK CANAL. 445 thus : — " Gentlemen conic to view our eighth wonder of t lir w< >rld, the subterraneous navigation, which is cutting by tin1 irreat Mr. Brindley, who handles rocks as easily ;is you would plum-pies, and makes the four elements subservient to his will. He is as plain a looking man as one of the boors of the Peak, or as one of his own carters ; but when he speaks, all ears listen, and every mind is filled with wonder at the things he pronounces to be practicable. He has cut a mile through bogs, which he binds up, embanking them with stones which he gets out of other parts of the navigation, besides about ;i quarter of a mile into the hill Yelden, on the side of which he has a pump worked by water, and a stove, the fire of which sucks through a pipe the damps that would annoy the men who are cutting towards the centre of the hill. The clay he cuts out serves for bricks to arch the subterraneous part, which we heartily wish to see finished to Wilden Ferry, when we shall be able to semi Coals and Pots to London, and to different parts of the globe." In the course of the first two years' operations, twenty- two miles of the navigation had been cut and finished, and it was expected that before eighteen months more had elapsed the canal would be ready for traffic by water between the Potteries and Hull on the one hand, and Bristol on the other. It was also expected that by the same time the canal would be ready for traffic from the north end of Harecastle Tunnel to the river Mersey. The execution of the tunnel, however, proved so tedious ;ii id difficult, and the excavation and building went on so slowly, that the Committee could not promise that it would be finished in less than five years from that time. As it was, the completion of the Harecastle Tunnel occupied nine years more ; and it was not finally com- pleted until the year 1777, by which time the great engineer li;id finally rested-from his labours. It is scarcely necessary to describe the benefits which 446 THE GRAND TRUNK CANAL. PART V. the canal conferred upon the inhabitants of the dis- tricts through which it passed. As we have already seen, Staffordshire and the adjoining counties had been inaccessible during the chief part of each year. The great natural wealth which they contained was of little value, because it could with difficulty be got at ; and even when reached, there was still greater difficulty in distributing it. Coal could not be worked at a profit, the price of land-carriage so much restricting its use, that it was placed altogether beyond the reach of the great body of consumers. It is difficult now to realise the condition of poor people situated in remote districts of England less than a century ago. In winter time they shivered over scanty wood-fires, for timber was almost as scarce and as dear as coal. Fuel was burnt only at cooking- times, or to cast a glow about the hearth in the winter evenings. The fireplaces were little apartments of them- selves, sufficiently capacious to enable the whole family to ensconce themselves under the chimney, to listen to stories or relate to each other the events of the day. Fortunate were the villagers who lived hard by a bog or a moor, from which they could cut peat or turf at will. They ran all risks of ague and fever in summer, for the sake of the ready fuel in winter. But in places remote from bogs, and scantily timbered, existence was scarcely possible; and hence the settlement and culti- vation of the country were in no slight degree retarded until comparatively recent times, when better commu- nications were opened up. So soon as the canals were made, and coals could be readily conveyed along them at comparatively mode- rate rates, the results were immediately felt in tlie increased comfort of the people. Employment became more abundant, and industry sprang up in their neigh- bourhood in all directions. The Duke's canal, as we have seen, gave the first great impetus to the industry of Manchester and that district. The Grand Trunk had pre- CHAP. viii. TIII-: TKUNK CANAL. 447 cisdy tlic sniiir effect throughout the Pottery and other districts of StalVonlshiru ; :mI- verliampton was f>/. a tun: (lie canal reduced it to II. 5s. The lanai lies' s * History of the Commerce fn>m Liverpool to Binning- I and Town of Liverpool.' ham, and also to Stourport, was 57. ! 448 THE GKAXD TIIUNK CANAL. PAKT V. persons were then employed in the earthenware-mann- facture alone, besides the large number of others em- ployed in digging coals for their use, and the still larger number occupied in providing materials at distant parts, and in the carrying and distributing trade by land and sea. The annual import of clay and flints into Stafford- shire at that time was from fifty to sixty thousand tons ; and yet, as Wedgwood truly predicted, the trade wns but in its infancy. The outwards and inwards tonnage to the Potteries is now upwards of three hundred thousand tons a-year. The moral and social influences exercised by the canals upon the Pottery districts were not less remarkable. From a half-savage, thinly-peopled district of some 7000 persons in 1 760, partially employed and ill-remunerated, we find them increased, in the course of some twenty-five years, to about treble the population, abundantly em- ployed, prosperous, and comfortable.1 Civilization is doubtless a plant of very slow growth, and does not necessarily accompany the rapid increase of wealth. On the contrary, higher earnings, without improved morale, may only lead to wild waste and gross indulgence. But the testimony of Wesley to the improved character of the population of the Pottery district in 1781, within a few years after the opening of Brindley's Grand Trunk Canal, is so remarkable, that we cannot do better than quote it here ; and the more so, as we have already given the account of his first visit in 1760, on the occasion of his being pelted. " I returned to Burslem," says Wesley ; " how is the whole face of the country changed in about twenty years ! Since which, inhabitants have continually flowed in from every side. Hence the wilderness is literally become a fruitful field. Houses, villages, towns, have sprung up, and the country is not more improved than the people." 1 The population of the same district in 1801 wns I'mmd to In- upwards of 120,000. IAP. IX. milXDLKVS I, AST CANALS. CHAPTER IX. BRINDLEY'S LAST CANALS. IT is related of Brindley that, on one occasion, when giving evidence before a committee of the House of Commons, in which he urged the superiority of canals to rivers for purposes of inland navigation, the question was asked by a member, " Pray, Mr. Brindley, what then do you think is the use of navigable rivers?" " To make canal navigations, to be sure," was his instant reply. It is easy to understand the gist of the engineer's meaning. For purposes of trade he regarded regularity and certainty of communication as essential conditions of any inland navigation ; and he held that neither of these could be relied upon in the case of rivers, which are i 1 1 winter liable to interruption by floods, and in summer by droughts. In his opinion, a canal, with enough of water always kept banked up, or locked up where the country would not admit of the level being maintained throughout, was absolutely necessary to satisfy the requirements of commerce. Hence he held that one of tlir great uses of rivers was to furnish a supply of water for canals. It was only another illustration of the " nothing like leather " principle ; Brindley 's head being so full of canals, and his labours so much confined to the making of canals, that he could think of little else. In connection with the Grand Trunk — which proved, as Brindley had anticipated, to be the great aorta of the canal system of the midland districts of England- numerous lines were projected and afterwards carried out under our engineer's superintendence. One of the most important of these was the Wolverhampton Canal, VOL. i. 2 a 450 BRINDLEY'S LAST CANALS. PART V. connecting the Trent with the Severn, and authorised in the same year as the Grand Trunk itself. It is now known as the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, passing close to the towns of Wolverhampton and Kid- derminster, and falling intathe Severn at Stourport. This branch opened up several valuable coal-fields, and placed Wolverhampton and the intermediate districts, now teeming with population and full of iron manufactories, in direct connection with the ports of Liverpool, Hull, and Bristol. Two years later, in 1768, three more canals, laid out by Brindley, were authorised to be con- structed : the Coventry Canal to Oxford, connecting the Grand Trunk system by Lichfield with London and the navigation of the Thames ; the Birmingham Canal, which brought the advantages of inland navigation to the very doors of the central manufacturing town in England ; and the Droitwich Canal, to connect that town by a short branch with the river Severn. In the following year a further Act was obtained for a canal, laid out by Brindley, from Oxford to the Coventry Canal at Long- ford, eighty-two miles in length. These were highly important works ; and though they were not all carried out strictly after Brindley's plans, they nevertheless formed the groundwork of future Acts, and laid the foundations of the midland canal system. Thus, the Coventry Canal was never fully carried out after Brindley's designs ; a difference having arisen between the engineer and the Company during the pro- gress of the undertaking, in consequence, as is supposed, of the capital provided being altogether inadequate to execute the works considered by Brindley as indispen- sable. He probably foresaw that there would be nothing but difficulty, and very likely there might be discredit attached to himself by continuing connected with an undertaking the proprietors of which would not provide him with sufficient means for carrying it forward to completion ; and though he finished the first fourteen CHAP. IX. IJIIINDLKVS I. AST CANALS. 451 miles between Coventry and Atherstone, he shortly after gave up his connection with the undertaking, and it remained in an unfinished state for many years, in consequence of the financial difficulties in which the Company had become involved through the insufficiency of their capital. The connection of the Coventry Canal with the Grand Trunk was afterwards completed, in ITS 5, by the Birmingham and Fazeley and Grand Trunk Companies conjointly, and the property eventually proved of great value to all parties concerned. The Droitwich Canal, though only a short branch five and a half miles in length, was a very important wrork, opening up as it did an immense trade in coal and salt between Droitwich and the Severn. The works of this navigation were wholly executed by Brindley, and are considered superior to those of any others on which he was engaged. Whilst residing at Droitwich, we find our en- gineer actively engaged in pushing on the subscription to the Birmingham Canal, of which the capital was taken slowly. Matthew Boulton, of Birmingham, was one of the most active promoters of the scheme, and Josiah Wedg- wood was also bestirring himself in its behalf. In a letter written by him about this time, we find him requesting one of his agents to send out plans to gentlemen whom he names, in the hope of completing the subscription- list.1 Brindley did not live to finish the Birmingham The letter is so characteristic of be set on the top of a ladder without set- Josiah Wedgwood that we here insert ting his feet upon the lowermost steps; and it at length, as copied from the ori- unless he will let the Boy pursue that m.- Uiiial in the possession of Mr. Mayer thod' 1 would not te concerned with him of Liverpool • I on any account> I wiU not attempt t<> tea< h him any more trades ; it would in- "Burslem, li'th July, 1769. • jlire the Boy, and do me no good. If he " l>e;ir Sii-. — 1 should have wrote to you has a mind at his leisure time to amuse about young Wilson, but the multiplicity himself with drawing I have no objection, «.f l>ranclir.> you wrote me he was expected and would encourage him in it, as an inno- t«> Irani, made me despair of teaching him j cent amusement, and what may be of use any. Pray give my compliments to his to him, but would not make this a branch father, and if he chooses to have his >on to of his business. If the business I propose learn to lie a waichouseman and book- j is too humble for Mr. Wilson's son, I would keeper, which is guineas. Silversmith, in Chester; Mr. Perry, Wol- I " Yours, &c., .1. W." verhampton. CIIAI-. IX. lUMXDLKY'S LAST CANALS. 453 of towns MIM! villages. "He-sides, l>y avoiding the hills and following the course of the valleys, along which population usually lies, he avoided expense of construc- tion and secured flatness of canal; just as Stephenson secured llatness of railway gradient. Although the In i -ili of canal to be worked was longer, yet the cost of tunnelling and lockage was avoided. Besides, the population of the district was fully accommodated, which could not have been accomplished by the more direct route through unpopulated districts or under barren hills. The proprietors of the Chesterfield Canal con- curred in Brindley's view, adopting his plan in prefer- ence to Grundy's, and it was accordingly carried into effect. This navigation was, nevertheless, a work of considerable difficulty, proceeding, as it did, across a very hilly country, the summit tunnel at Hartshill being 2850 yards in extent. Like many of Brindley's other works projected about this time, it was finished by his brother-in-law, Mr. Heiishall, and opened for traffic several years after the great engineer's death.1 The whole of these canals were laid out by Brindley, though they were not all executed by him, nor precisely after his plans. No record of any kind has been pre- served of the manner in which these works were carried out. Brindley himself made few reports, and these merely stated results, not methods ; yet he had doubtless many formidable difficulties to encounter, and must have overcome them by the adoption of those ingenious expe- dients. varying according to the circumstances of each 1 The following \vi-re the canals laid out and principally executed by Brindley : — Miles. furl, chains. The Duke's C-iivils/ W"r>ll'.v tn M;inrh,'>t.-r ........ 10 li 0 " \ I.on-fonl lin-lp. tn the M.T.sry U-lnw liunn.rn 'J4 1 7 Grand Tnmk Canal Proper, from WiMt-u 1-Vny to Preston Brook 88 7 9 Wblverhampton Canal ................ 4t> 4 o <'"\<-ntiy , ................ 30 7 8 Birmingham Droitwidi Oxford 24 -2 0 549 *:.' 7 o -|li (I M 454 lUMXDLKVS LAST CANALS. I'AIIT Y. case, in which he was always found so fertile. He had no treasury of past experience, as recorded in books, to consult, for he could scarcely read English ; and cer- tainly he could neither read French nor Italian, in which languages the only engineering works of emi- nence were then written ; nor had he any store of Eng- lish experience to draw from, he himself being the first of the English engineers of eminence, and having all his experience to make for himself. It would doubtless have been most interesting could we have had some authentic record of this strong original man's struggles with opposition and difficulty, and the methods by which he contrived not only to win persons of high station to support him with their influence but also with their purses, at a time when money was comparatively a much rarer commodity than it is now. " That want of records, journals, and memoranda," says Mr. Hughes, " which is ever to be deplored when we seek to review the pro- gress of engineering works, is particularly felt when we have to look back upon those undertakings which first called for the exercise of engineering skill in many new and untried departments. In Brindley's day, the entire absence of experience derived from former works, the obscure position which the engineer occupied in the scale of society, the imperfect communication between the profession in this country and the engineers and works of other countries, and, lastly, the backward con- dition of all the mechanical arts and of the physical sciences connected with engineering, may all be ranked in striking contrast with the vast appliances which are placed at the command of modern engineers." Moreover, the great canal works upon which Brindley was engaged during the later part of his career, were as yet scarcely appreciated as respects the important influences which they were calculated to exercise upon 'Memoir,' by Samuel Hughes, C.K. \V wile's * Quarterly Paper*/ 1844. CHAP. ix. r,i;iM>LKVs LAST CANALS, 455 society at large. The only ])CrsoriS who seeiu to have regarded them with interest were fax-sighted men likattrrsra. with the object of having it improved for purposes of navigation. As usual, Brindley strongly recommended the eonstruction of a canal in preference to carrying 011 the navigation by the river, where it was liable to be interrupted by the tides and floods, or by the varying deposits of silt in the shallow places. In his first report to the Common Council, dated the 16th of June, 1770, he pointed out that the cost of hauling the barges was greatly in favour of the canal. For example, he stated that the expense of taking a vessel of 100 or 120 tons from Isleworth to Sunning, and back again to Isleworth, was 80£., and sometimes more ; whilst the cost by the canal would only be 16£. The saving in time would be still greater, for the double voyage might easily be performed in fifteen hours ; whereas by the river the boats were sometimes three weeks in going up, and almost as much in coming down. He esti- mated that there would be a saving to the public of at least 64/. on every voyage, besides the saving of time in performing it. After making a further detailed exa- mination of the district, and maturing his views on the whole subject, he sent in a report, accompanied by a profile of the river about seven feet long. We quote the document, which is little known, as a specimen of P)i indley's reports, though doubtless written by a more practised hand : — " To THE COMMITTEE OF THE COMMON COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF LONDON. " GENTLEMEN, — Pursuant to your instructions, dated 27th July, 1770, I have made a survey of the River Thames from Boulter's Lock to Mortlake in Surrey, and have made a plan and profile of the same, with a level and fall line, remarking the different falls from one town to another ; and likewise have examined the most material obstructions and inconveniences that attend the present navigation, 458 BKINDLEY'S LAST CANALS. PART V. which are considerable and many ; for it hath been found by long experience to be impassable for barges in time of flood, which in most years continues several months during the winter, and is out of the power of art to remedy. It likewise is impassable in time of long droughts, for want of a sufficient depth of water ; but this difficulty may be removed, and the most effectual way to do it would be by making dams and (cistern) locks, the dams to pound up one to another : the number of which may be ascertained by the profile, which, I suppose, will be about twelve ; for if they be made to pound more than five or six feet, some of the adjacent lands will be laid under water, or be subject to be soon flooded, as may be seen by the surface of it in the profile. But the expense of improving so large a river in this way will be so great that I suppose it will not be put in practice. " It is impossible for me to tell what the expense would be, but dare make bold to say it will be five or six times the expense of making a cansfl, and, when done, will be far from being so safe and speedy a conveyance ; yet the river may be made better than it is, and that at no very extraordinary expense. The method that I would propose is, to contract the channel in the shallow and broad places, most of which are marked in the plan. By this means a sufficient depth of water, I suppose, may be obtained in all places, or at least may be made much better than it is ; but the fall will remain the same, and the current increase by the increased depth of water, and consequently it will require more strength of men and horses to draw the barges against the stream ; yet by this means it may be rendered much more certain than it is, and an easy navigation downward (except in time of flood) ; but the great labour and expense of taking a vessel upwards cannot be taken away by any method that I know of but by making a canal, by means of which most places upon the banks of the river may be supplied by collateral cuts ; for it is practicable to make branches from the main canal to fall into the river wheresoever it may be most useful to the country, viz. one may be made to communicate with the river above Windsor Bridge ; the length will be about a mile, and the fall or lockage ten feet. Another cut may very easily be made from near West Bedford to the lower end of Staines : the length will be about two miles and seven furlongs, and the fall twenty-six feet. And whenever it is thought proper, another may be made to communicate with the river at or near Shepperton : this would be convenient to the Guildford navigation and the several places down the stream to Kingston. By these collateral cuts all the places CHAP. IX. BRINDLEY'S LAST CANALS. 459 upon the river (at least above Kingston) may be much better, cheaper, and more certainly supplied with their commodities than ever they were, or ever can be, by the river navigation alone, sup- posing the shallow places to be contracted (as mentioned before) so Unit the vessels have a sufficient depth of water to carry them down (lie stream from the ends of the cuts to the several places where they are designed. " "When I made my former report about the canal, I was informed that the vessels came very well up to Isleworth, but now understand it was generally at two tides ; yet notwithstanding I take Isleworth to be the most proper place for the canal to com- municate with the river, for the reasons there given. " With respect to the latter part of my instructions, directing me to make an estimate of the expense of improving the river, it is impossible for me to make an estimate with any degree of accuracy. I can only say, that whatever sum is thought proper to be laid out — suppose 10,000/. in contracting, &c. — in the best manner, the river may be made much better than it is, or perhaps ever was ; but if twenty times that sum be laid out, it would not make it a good and permanent navigation. " Upon examining that part of the river between Mortlake and Eichmond Gardens, I find much time is lost, particularly in neap tides, owing to the shoals and sand-banks arising on or towards the towing-side between those two places, which cannot be passed over for a great part of the tide of ebb, so that vessels not being able to reach this place before high water must remain till the next tide ; which they need not do, as the towing part begins at Mortlake, could they have a sufficient depth of water to float them up. To remedy this inconvenience, I would propose a dam to be made across the river, somewhere between Mortlake and Kew Bridge, with a lock at each end. This would receive all vessels from London that could save their tide to this place, and by being come to the towing-path would proceed up to the canal or towards Kingston without hindrance or delay. " Also all vessels coming down would, for the whole tide, have deep water and an easy passage into the tideway. This would also be very useful in another respect, as it would make Kew Bridge a convenient landing-place for all passengers, and would preserve a pool of water large enough to receive commodiously all vessels which must wait during the flood-tide before they can proceed to- wards London. The river being thus sufficiently raised, will render the navigation to the mouth of the canal and towards Kingston I'.1;IN1»LKY'S LAST CANALS. extremely easy, and he of -Teat utility to the several towns of r>ivi!tft>rd. Isleworth. Kiclniiond. and Twickenham, and render that part of the country in general perhaps the uu^t delightful spot in " The expense of tins dam and two lucks (from the hest accounts I have heeii ahlc to e;et of the price of materials) will he ahout 1 7.") (HI/. •• .!A.MI;S P>I;INI>I.KY. This plan, however, was never carried out ; tlic ]>r<»- jM'sil to (.'< .nist 1'iict a canal parallel with the Thames having hoon ahand<.)noe ;ilid 1 1 111 i lel'ni is < )tlier schemes 111 Various parts oi ihe (/ountrv at Stockton, ;it Loods, at ('anihridii'o, at (lieMer. ;it Salishiirv and Southampton, at Lancaster, and in Scotland— -fully occupied t ho attention ol' Brindloy : in addition to which, there was the personal superintend- ence which he must necessarily irive to the canals in active progress, ami lor the execution ot \vlnch lie was responsihle. In fact, there was scarcely a design ol' cana Jia\ ii!'at ion set on loot throughout the kingdom, during lli(' later years of his hie. on which he was not consulted, and the plans of which he did not entirely i< >rm. < »r 1'cyise and ini] »r< ivc. In addition to his canal works, Urindlev was also con- sulted as to the hest mode ol draining the low lands in different parts ol [^incolnslurc, and the (Jreat Le\'id ill the lieiLl'hhoUrhood of the Isle of Klv. lie slljijilled the corporation of Li\'erpool witli a plan lor cleansing the dock's ami kei-jjiu^1 them clear of mud. which is said to have proved very eliective; and he pointed out to th'-in an economical method of huildmir walls against the >c;i without mortar, which |on;_^ continued to he employed with complete success. In siidi cases he l;nr si iroiH 1 niLi' Ins i )i'oee(.'dn IL:'S in a 1 1 v i n vslerv . 1 !•• was free and oj ie 1 1 \\ it h professional men. harhourm^' IX. mtlNm.KVS I, AST CANALS. n;i no petty jealousy of rivals. His pupils had free access to all liis methods, ami lie took a pride in so training then i that they should he an honour to the profession tli»'n rising into importance, and enabled, after he had left the scene, to carry on those great industrial under- takings, which h r j >rohahly foresaw clearly enough in the future of England. Before dismissing the subject of Brindley's canals, we may briefly allude to the influence which they exercised upon the enterprise as well as the speculation of the time. " When these fellows," says Sheridan in the ' Critic,' "have once got hold of a good thing, they do not know when to stop." This might be said of the speculative projectors of canals, as afterwards of railways. The commercial success which followed the opening of the Duke's Canal, and shortly after it the Grand Trunk, soon infected the whole country, and canal schemes were projected in great numbers for the accommodation even of the most remote and unlikely places. In those districts where the demand for improved water-communi- cation grew out of an actual necessity — as, for instance, where a large coal-field required to be opened up for the supply of a population urgently in need of fuel — or where two large towns, such as Manchester and Liver- pool, required to be provided with a more cheap and convenient means of trading intercourse than had for- merly existed — or where districts carrying on extensive and various manufactures, such as Birmingham, Wolver- hampton, and the Potteries, needed a more ready means of communication with other parts of the kingdom — there was no want of trade for the canals ; and those constructed for such purposes very soon had as much traffic as they could carry. The owners of land discovered that their breed of horses was not destroyed, and that their estates were not so cut up as to be rendered useless, as many of them had prognosticated. On the contra rv. the demand 462 BRINDLEY'S LAST CANALS. PART V. for horses to carry coals, lime, manure, and goods to and from the canal depots, rapidly increased. The canals meandering through their green fields were no such un- sightly objects after all, and they very soon found that inasmuch as the new water-ways readily enabled agricul- tural produce to reach good markets in the large towns, they were likely even to derive considerable pecuniary advantages from their formation. Another objection alleged against canals, on public grounds, was alike speedily disproved. It was said that inland navigation, by reason of its greater cheapness, ease, and certainty, must necessarily diminish the coasting trade, and consequently discourage the training of sea- men, the constitutional bulwark of the kingdom. But the extraordinarily rapid growth of the shipping-trade of Liverpool, and the vastly increased number of seagoing vessels required to accommodate the traffic now con- verging on that seaport, very soon showed that canals, instead of diminishing, were calculated immensely to promote the naval power and resources of England. Thus it was found that in the thirty years which elapsed subsequent to the opening of the Duke's Canal between Worsley and Manchester, — during which time the navi- gation had also been opened to the Mersey, and the Grand Trunk and other main canals had been con- structed, connecting the principal inland towns with the sea-ports, — the tonnage of English ships had increased threefold, and the number of sailors been more than doubled. So great an impulse had thus been given to the industry of the country, and it had become so clear that facility of communication must be an almost unmixed good, that a desire for the extension of canals sprang up in all districts ; and instead of being resisted and de- nounced, they everywhere became the rage. They were advocated in pamphlets, in newspapers, and at public meetings. One enthusiastic pamphleteer, advocating CHAP. IX. lUMNDLKVS LAST CANALS. 463 formation of a canal bet \veen Kendal and Man- clu-stcr, denounced the wretched state of the turnpike- roads, which were maintained by "an enormous tax," and exclaimed, "May we all scorn to plod through the dirt as \vc long liave done at so large an expense; and for the support of our drooping manufactories, let canals l»c made through the \\hole nation as common as the public highways." There seemed, indeed, to be every probability that tin's desire would be shortly fulfilled ; for so soon as the canals which had been made began to pay dividends, the strong motive of personal gain became superadded to that of public utility. The rapid increase of wealth which they promoted served to stimulate the projection of new schemes ; and in a very few years after Brindley's death we find an immense number of Navigation Acts receiving the sanction of the legislature, and canal works in pro- gress in all parts of the country. The shares were quoted upon 'Change, when they became the subject of commerce, and very shortly of wild speculation . By the year 1792, tlic country was in a perfect ferment about canal shares. Xotices of eighteen new canals were published in the ' Gazette ' of the 1 8th August in that year. The current premiums of single shares in those companies for winch Acts had been obtained were as follows : Grand Trunk, 350/. ; Birmingham and Fazeley, 1170/. ; Coventry, 350/. ; Leicester, 155/. ; and so on. There was a rush to secure shares in the new schemes, and the requisite capitals were at once eagerly subscribed. At the first meeting, held in 1790, of the promoters of the Ellcs- mere Canal, 112 miles in extent, to connect the Mersey, the Dee, and the Severn, applications were madeforfour times the disposable number of shares. A great num- ber of worthless and merely speculative schemes were 1 'A Cursory \'ic\v of a ]>roi><.sr.~>. I»ri(liH'\vau'r's Canal, leading to the 464 1UIIXD1.KVS LAST CANALS. thus set on foot, which brought ruin upon many, and led to waste both of labour and capital. But numerous sound projects were at the same time launched, and an extraordinary stimulus was thus given to the prosecution of measures, too long delayed, for effectually opening up the communications of the country. The movement ex- tended to Scotland, where the Forth and Clyde Canal, and the Crinan Canal, were projected ; and to Ireland, where the Grand Canal and Royal Canal were under- taken. But, as Arthur Young pithily remarked, in reference to these latter projects, " a history of public works in Ireland would be a history of jobs." ,_Jn the course of the four years ending in 1794, not fewer than eighty-one Canal and Navigation Arts were obtained : of these, forty-five were passed in the two latter years, authorising the expenditure of not less than 5,300,000/. As in the case of the railways at a subsequent period, works which might, without pressure upon the national resources, easily have been executed if spread over a longer period, were under- taken all at once ; and the usual consequences fol- lowed, of panic, depreciation, and loss. But though individuals lost, the public were eventually the gainers. Many projects fell through, but the greater number were commenced, and after passing through the usual financial difficulties, were finished and opened for traffic. The country became thoroughly opened up in all directions by about 2600 miles of navigable canals in England, 276 miles in Ireland, and 225 miles in Scot- land. The cost of executing these great water ways is estimated to have amounted to about fifty millions ster- ling. There was not a place in England, south of Durham, more than fifteen miles from water communi- cation ; and most of the large towns, especially in the manufacturing dictricts, were directly accommodated witl i the means of easy transport of their goods to the prin- cipal marketsTX " At the beginning of the present ecu- WMNDLMY'S LAST CANALS. 405 ttiry," says Dr. Aikcn, writing in 17'.'."), " il was thought a most arduous task to make a high road prart irablr for eari-iagi's over the hills and moors which separate York- shire I'roiu Lancashire, and now they are pierced through by three navigable canals !" Many of tliese great works were executed by the engineers whose biographies will form the subject of succeeding chapters; but in this place we may take the opportunity of stating, that notwithstanding the great additional facilities for conveyance of merchandise which have been provided of late years by the construction of railways, a very large proportion of the heavy carrying trade of the country still continues to be conducted upon • •anals. It was indeed at one time proposed, during the railway mania, and that byasomewhat shrewd engineer, to fill up the canals and make railways of them. It was even predicted, during the construction of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, that "within twelve months of its opening, the Bridgewater Canal would be closed, and the place of its waters be covered over with rushes." But canals have stood their ground, even against rail- ways ; and the Duke's Canal, instead of being closed, con- ti iiues to carry as much traffic as ever. It has lost the conveyance of passengers by the fly-boats,1 it is true ; but it has retained and in many instances increased its traffic in minerals and merchandise. The canals have stood the competition of railways far more successfully than the old turnpike-roads, though these too are still, in their way, as indispensable as canals and railways themselves. Not less than twenty millions of tons of traffic are esti- The following curious paragraph is the 'Times' of the 19th Decem- ber, ISnC. It relates to the despatch- ing of troops from London for Ireland, during a time of ;j;reat excitement : — " The first division of the troops that are to proceed by PaddingtOD Canal for Liver|(K>l, and thence- horses for the canal-lxiats have by tran.sports for Dublin, will leave ordered to be in readiness at all the raddin-ton to-ilay, and will be fol- ! stations." VOL. I. 2 II lowed by others to-morrow, and on Sunday. By this mode of conveyance the men will lie <>,>/// .sr/vy/ L'. CHAP. X. niMNPU-lY's DEATH— CHABACTBBI8TIC8. 467 CHAPTER X. BRINDLEY'S DEATH — CHARACTERISTICS. IT will be observed that Brindley's employment as an engineer extended over a wide district. Even before his employment by the Duke of Bridge water, he was under the necessity of travelling great distances to fit up water-mills, pumping-engines, and manufacturing machinery of various kinds, in the counties of Stafford, Cheshire, raid Lancashire. But when he had been appointed to superintend the construction of the Duke's canals, his engagements necessarily became of a still more engrossing character, and he had very little leisure left to devote to the affairs of private life. He lived principally at inns, in the immediate neighbourhood of his work ; and though his home was at Leek, he some- times did not visit it for weeks together. He had very little time for friendship, and still less for courtship. Nevertheless, he did contrive to find time for marrying, though at a comparatively advanced period of his life. In laying out the Grand Trunk Canal, he was neces- sarily brought into close connection with Mr. John Henshall, of the Bent, near New Chapel, land-surveyor, who assisted him in making the survey. We find him visiting liis house in September, 1762, and settling with him as to the preliminary operations. At these visits Brindley serins to have taken a special liking for Mr. Henshall's daughter Anne, then a girl at school, and when he went to see her father, he was accustomed to take a store of irinuvrlnvad for Anne in his pocket. She must have been a comely girl, judging by the portrait of her as a woman, which we have seen. In 2 H 2 468 P.IMXnU'lY's DEATH- CHARACTERISTICS. course of time, the liking ripened into an attachment ; and shortly after tlie girl had left school, at the age of only nineteen, Brindley proposed to her. and was ac- cepted. By tin's time lie was close upon his fiftieth year, so that the union may possibly have heen quite as much a matter of convenience as of love on his part. He had now left the Duke's service for the purpose of entering upon the construction of the Grand Trunk Canal, and witli that object resolved to transfer his home to the immediate neighbourhood of Harecastlc, as we'll as of his colliery at Golden Hill. Shortly after the marriage1, the old mansion of Turnhurst fell vacant, and Brindley became its tenant, with his young wife. The marriage took place on the 8th December, 1765, in the parish church of TTolstanton, Brindley being described in the register as "of the parish of Leek, engineer ;" but from that time until the date of his death his home was at Turnhurst. The house at Turnhurst was a comfortable, roomy, old- fashioned dwelling, with a garden and pleasure-ground behind, and a little lake in front. It was formerly the residence of the Bellot family, arid is said to have been the last house in England in which a family fool was maintained. Sir Thomas Bellot, the last of the name, was a keen sportsman, and the panels of several of ihc upper rooms contain pictorial records of some of his exploits in the field. In this way Sir Thomas seems to have befooled his estate, and it shortly after became the property of the Alsager family, from whom Brindley rented it. A little summer-house, standing at the corner of the outer courtyard, is still pointed out as Brindley's office, where he sketched his plans and prepared his calculations. As for his correspondence, it was nearly all conducted, subsequent to his marriage, by his wife, who, notwithstanding her youth, proved a most clever, useful, and affectionate partner. Turnhurst was conveniently near to the works then BKINDLKY'S HOUSE AT TURNHURST. in progress at Harecastle Tunnel, which was within easy walking distance, whilst the colliery at Golden Hill was <>nl\ a few fields off. From the elevated ground at (loldon Hill, the whole range of high ground maybe seen under which the tunnel runs — the populous pottery towns of Tunstall and Burslem filling the valley of the Trent towards the south. At Golden Hill, Brindley curried out an idea which he had doubtless brought with him from Worsley. He and his partners had an under- ground canal made from the main line of the Harecastle Tunnel into their coal-mine, about a mile and a half in length ; and by that tunnel the whole of the coal above t hat level was afterwards worked out, and conveyed away for sale in the Tottery and other districts, to the great profit of the owners as well as to the equally great con- venience of the public. These various avocations involved a great amount of labour as well as anxiety, and probably considerable tear and wear of the vital powers. But we doubt. whether mere hard work ever killed any man, or whether Brindley's labours, extraordinary though they 470 BRIXDT/RY'S DEATH— CHARACTERISTICS. PARTY. were, would have shortened his life, but for the far more trying condition of the engineer's vocation — irre- gular living, exposure in all weathers, long tasting, and then, perhaps, heavy feeding when the nervous system was exhausted, together with habitual disregard of the ordinary conditions of physical health. These are the main causes of the shortness of life of most of our eminent engineers, rather than the amount and duration of their labours. Thus the constitution becomes strained, and is ever ready to break down at the weakest place. Some violation of the natural laws more flagrant than usual, or a sudden exposure to cold or wet, merely presents the opportunity for an attack of disease which the ill-used physical system is found unable to resist. Such an accidental exposure unhappily proved fatal to Brindley. While engaged one day in surveying a branch canal between Leek and Froghall, he got drenched near Ipstones, and went about for some time in his wet clothes. This he had often before done with im- punity, and he might have done so again ; but, unfor- tunately, he was put into a damp bed in the inn at Ipstones, and this proved too much for his constitution, robust though he naturally was. He became seriously ill, and was disabled from all further work. Diabetes shortly developed itself, and, after an illness of sonic duration, he expired at his house at Turnhurst, on the 27th of September, 1772, in the fifty-sixth year of his age, and was interred in the burying-ground at New Chapel, a few fields distant from his dwelling. James Brindley was probably one of the most re- markable instances of self-taught genius to be found in the whole range of biography. The impulse which he gave to social activity, and the ameliorative influence which he exercised upon the condition of his country- men, seem out of all proportion to the meagre intel- lectual culture which he had received in the course CHAP. X. BRINDLKVS DEATH— CHARACTERISTICS. !71 of his laborious and active career. We must not, how- ever, judge liim merely by tlie literary test. It is true, lie could scarcely read, and lie was thus cut off, to his own great loss, from familiar intercourse with a large class of cultivated minds, living and dead ; for he could not share in the conversation of educated men, nor en- rich his mind by reading the stores of experience found treasured up in. books. Neither could he write, except with difficulty and inaccurately, as we have shown from the extracts above quoted from his note-books still extant. Brindley was, nevertheless, a highly-instructed man in many respects. He was full of the results of care- ful observation, ready at devising the best methods of overcoming material difficulties, and possessed of a powerful and correct judgment in matters of business. Where any emergency arose, his quick invention and ingenuity, cultivated by experience, enabled him almost at once unerringly to suggest the best means of pro- viding for it. His ability in this way was so remark- able, that those about him attributed the process by which lie arrived at his conclusions rather to instinct than reflection — the true instinct of genius. " Mr. Brindley," says one of his contemporaries, "is one of those great geniuses whom Nature sometimes rears by her own force, and brings to maturity without the ne- ity of cultivation. His whole plan is admirable, and so well concerted that he is never at a loss ; for, if any difficulty arises, he removes it with a facility which appears so much like inspiration, that you would think Minerva was at his fingers' ends." His mechanical genius was indeed most highly culti- vated. From the time when he bound himself ap- prentice to the trade of a millwright — impelled to do so by the strong bias of his nature — he had been under- going a course of daily and hourly instruction. There was noihinir to distract his attention, or turn him from 472 BIMNDLEY'S BEATO— CHARACTERISTICS. pursuing' liis favourite study of practical media The training of his inventive faculty and constructive skill was, indeed, a slow but a continuous process ; and when the time and the opportunity arrived for turning these to account — when the silk-throwing machinery of the Congleton mill, for instance, had to be perfected and brought to the point of effectively doing its intended duty — Brindley was found able to take it in hand and finish the work, when even its own designer had given it up in despair. But it must also be remembered that this great facility of Brindley had been in a great mea- sure the result of the closest observation, the most pains- taking study of details, and the most indefatigable in- dustry. The same qualities were displayed in his improve- ments of the steam-engine, and his arrangements to economise power in the pumping of water from drowned mines. It was often said of his works, as was said of Columbus' s discovery, " how easy ! how simple !" but this was after the fact. Before he had brought his fund of experience and clearness of vision to bear upon a difficulty, every one was equally ready to exclaim, " how difficult ! how absolutely impracticable !" This was tlie case with his " castle in the air," the Barton Viaduct- such a work as had never before been attempted in England, though now any common mason would under- take it. It was Brindley 's merit always to be ready with his simple, practical expedient ; and he rarely failed to effect his purpose, difficult although at first sight its accomplishment might seem to be. Like men of a similar stamp, Brindley had great con- fidence in himself and in his powers and resources. Without this, it were impossible for him to have accom- plished so much as he did. It is said that the King of France, hearing of his great natural genius, and the works he had performed for the Duke of Bridgewater at Worsley, expressed a desire to see him, and sent a CHAP. X. HHINDLKVS DEAl'H— CHARACTERISTICS. IT;1, message inviting him to view the great canal of Lan- guedoc. But Brindley's reply was characteristic : " I will have no journeys to foreign countries," said he, " unless to be employed in surpassing all that has been a heady done in them." 1 1 is observation was remarkably quick. In surveying a district, he rapidly noted the character of the country, the direction of the hills and the valleys, and, after a few journeys on horseback, he clearly settled in his mind the best line to be selected for a canal, which almost in- variably proved to be the right one. Iri like manner he would estimate with great rapidity the fall of a brook or river while walking along the banks, and thus deter- mined the height of his cuttings and embankments, which he afterwards settled by a more systematic sur- vey. In these estimates he was rarely, if ever, found mistaken. His brother-in-law, Mr. Henshall, has said of him, " when any extraordinary difficulty occurred to Mr. Briiidley in the execution of his works, having little or 110 assistance from books or the labours of other men, his resources lay within himself. In order, therefore, to be quiet and uninterrupted whilst he was in search of the necessary expedients, he generally retired to his bed ;l and he has been known to be there one, two, or three days, till he had attained the object in view. He would then get up and execute his design, without any drawing or model. Indeed, it was never his custom to make either, unless he was obliged to do it to satisfy his employers. His memory was so remarkable that he has often declared that he could remember, and execute, all the parts of the most complex machine, provided he had time, in his survey of it, to settle in his mind the 1 The younger Pliny seems to have et milii ivlictus, non oculos animo adapted almost a similar method: sed animum oculis sequor, qui eadi-in "Claus:c lcii"str;i- inanciit. Miivcnim qua1 incus vidciit quoties non vident silcntio ct tciirliris animus alitnr. alia." — Epist. lib. ix., ep. 36. Al> iis qua- a vocai it alnluctus, et liber, VOL. I. 2 I 474 BRINDLEY'S DEATH— CHARACTERISTICS. PART V. several parts and their relations to each other. His method of calculating the powers of any machine in- vented by him was peculiar to himself. He worked the question for some time in his head, and then put down the results in figures. After this, taking it up again at that stage, he worked it further in his mind for a cer- tain time, and set down the results as before. In the same way he still proceeded, making use of figures only at stated parts of the question. Yet the ultimate result was generally true, though the road he travelled in search of it was unknown to all but himself, and per- haps it would not have been in his power to have shown it to another." The statement about his taking to bed to study his more difficult problems is curiously confirmed by Brind- ley's own note-book, in which he occasionally enters the words " lay in bed," as if to mark the period, though he does not particularise the object of his thoughts on such occasions. It was a great misfortune for Brindley, as it must be to every man, to have his mental opera- tions confined exclusively within the limits of his pro- fession. He thought and lived mechanics, and never rose above them. He found no pleasure in anything else ; amusement of every kind was distasteful to him ; and his first visit to the theatre, when in London, was also his last. Shut out from the humanising influence of books, and without any taste for the politer arts, his mind went on painfully grinding in the mill of me- chanics. "He never seemed in his element," said his friend Bentley, " if he was not either planning or exe- cuting some great work, or conversing with his friends upon subjects of importance." To the last he was full of projects, and full of work ; and then the wheels 1 ' Biographia Britannica,' 2nd Ed. Edited by Dr. Kippis. The mate- rials of the article are acknowledged to have been obtained principally from Mr. Henshall by Messrs. Wedg- wood and Bentley, who wrote and published the memoir in testimony of their admiration and respect for their deceased friend, the engineer of the ( irand Trunk Canal. ( 'HA ]•. X. WJINIM.KVS DI'.ATH CHARACTERISTICS. 475 of life cimir t<> a sudden stop, when he could work no longer. It is related of him that, when dying, some cairn' canal undertakers insisted on having an inter- view with him. They had encountered a serious diffi- culty in the course of constructing their canal, and they must have the advice of Mr. Brindley on the sub- ject. They were introduced to the apartment where he lay scarce able to gasp, yet his mind was clear. They explained their difficulty — they could not make their canal hold water. " Then puddle it," said the engineer. They explained that they had already done so. " Then puddle it again — and again." This was all he could say, and it was enough. It remains to be added that, in his private character, Brindley commanded general respect and admiration. His integrity was inflexible ; his manner, though rough and homely, was kind ; and his conduct unimpeachable.1 He was altogether unassuming and unostentatious, and dressed and lived with great plainness. He was the furthest possible from a narrow or jealous temper, and nothing gave him greater pleasure than to assist others with their inventions, and to train up a generation of engineers, in the persons of his pupils, able to carry out the works he had designed, when 110 longer able to con- duct them. The principal undertakings in which he was engaged up to the time of his death were carried on by his brother-in-law, Mr. Henshall, formerly his 1 It has, indeed, been stated in the crazy publication of the last Earl of Bridgewater, to which we have already alluded, that when in the service of the Duke, Brindley was " drunken.'' But this is completely contradicted by the testimony of !>rind ley's own friends; by the evi- dence of Brindley*a note-book, from repeated entries in which it appears that his " atinu; and drink '" at dinner cost no more than 8h, 14. A.DTCOTUREB8, drainage by, in Isleof Axholme antl Lincolnshire, 39, 4l.i, 61. AnvKNTritKRs, Merchant, of England, 102. AI:<;AI: or HK;I:K, the, 21, 28. -\n;i: ami CU.DKU NAVIGATION, 303. AI.DKKTH HIGH BI:II>GI;. •_' :. AMWKI.I. SHMNG, i»n, 110, 132. ANVIENT earthworks, ;5 ; roads, 157. APPLEDORE, 9. Asrr.rcv, WILLIAM, pottery manufacturer, 322. Ax HOLME, Isle of, 37. B. BAIM>I:I.V, Briirlley erects flint-mill for ; Mr., 327. BAILIFF of Bedford, 35 ; of Marsh-land, ih. BALLAST-BOATS, Brindley's, 383. I'.ANKSIDE, 12. BAKKING LEVEL, 12, 14. !'• AI:TON AnruxxT, 351. BASKET-I mm, the, 2uo. B\ m, travelling between London and, 197. BATTKI;SI; \ I'.IMIM.I:, -JM.".. BEACONS, .,l.l Mn-lMi, 287. 1 >i : i >K >!;i>. Marl of Bedford and drainage of Great Level, 49, 60. BEDFORD LEVEL (See Great Level and Fens). Bi:m ORD RIVER, old, 50 ; new, f.-j. BELGIANS, early settlers in England, 5. BENNETT, AUUAHAM, Brindley's master, 311. BUIMO.MISKY MARSHKS, 14. BI.I nKGTON,Hon. Mr.,lirindley's Plains, 476. BIRMINGHAM <' \N \i . 451. BISHOP AUCKLAND BRIDGE, 248. BIMIOP'S BRIDGE, Norwich, 24i>. BLACKFRIARS BI:II>GI;, 265. BOSTON, 21, 30 ; its fair, 188. BO-\\ 1.1. i,, contra, tnr at 1 Vagenham Breach, 72. BOSWU.L, JAMI.S, mi BlacktViars Bridge, 265. BOULOGNE, Smollett's voyage to, in 1763, 295. Bow BRIDGE, 242. BEUTDLEY. 1'x >w 1 1 1 LL, Sussex, remains of ancient dwellings at, 4. BI:AI»IN<; HAVEN, cml):inknn'iit of, by Sir H. .My. Melton, 36, 84, 13:5. BIIASS to Myddelton thmily in Whitchurch, 96. BREACHES in the embankments of the Thames, 14, 69. BI:II>«;ES, ancient British, on Dartmoor, 236- 239 ; Roman, 2-Mi ; Cr,,yland, 241 ; Bow, 242 : K'irkby Lonsdale, 245 ; Burton-on- Trent, 246 ; Bishop's Bridge, Norwich, !'>. • Leeds, ib. • Wade, 247 ; Rochester, 240, 247; Bishop Auckland, 248; Wakefield, 249 ; Raglan Castle, 250 ; Llanrwst, 251 ; London, 253 ; Westminster, 262 ; Black- friars, 264 ; Pont-y-Prydd, 270. BRIDGEWATER, Duke of, — his birth, 335 ; his travels, 336 ; his racing exploits, 337 ; his love affair, 338 ; and disappointment, 340 ; retires to Worsley and begins canal making, 346 ; his first Canal Act, 347 ; calls Brindley to his assistance, 348 ; the Duke's second Act, 351 ; the first length of canal opened, 360 ; projects its extension to Runcorn, 362 ; passage of the bill through Parliament, 371-7 ; the Duke's difficulties, 394 ; how he raised money, 397 ; comple- tion of canal to Rvmcorn, 400 ; total cost of his canals, 401 ; benefits conferred by the Duke on Manchester and Liverpool, 402 ; characteristic's of the Duke, 405; viewed as a public benefactor, 414. BiMiMiuwATEii, Karl of,— his letters to the Parisians, 360, 387, 403, 475. r.iMNDi.KV, .IAMI:S. di.strict in which he was born, 307 ; Brindley's Croft, 309 ; his parents, 310; his early mechanical bias, 311; puts himself apprentice to a mill- wright at Sutton, near Macclesfield, 311 ; his improvements in a paper-mill, 316 ; begins business at Leek, 319 ; " The Schemer," 320 ; contrives flint-mills, 321 ; employed to drain the Clifton mines, 323 ; hi- \\;iurt-s :'.-_'4 ; employe I ,,n a silk-mill at Congleton, 325 ; improves the steam-engine, 329 ; constructs the Duke of Bridgewatei 's canals, 348 ; buys part of a colliery at Golden Hill, 351 ; constructs Barton Aque- 478 INDEX TO VOL. I. duct, 352 ; his various contrivances, 356 ; surveys a canal to Runcorn, 362, 367 ; journeys to London, 368 ; fac-simile of handwriting, 370 ; anecdotes of, 373 ; evidence on the Duke's third bill, 376 ; constructs the canal to Runcorn, 378 ; embankment across Sale Moor, 383 ; expe- dients in economizing labour, 384; his valvular flood-gates, 385; quarrel with Gilbert, 387 ; his workmen, 389 ; Brindloy's |iay while serving the Duke, 402 ; Grand Trunk Canal, 424 ; the parliamentary struggle, 432-436 ; construes the canal and Harecastle Tunnel, 440 ; his last canals, 449 ; marriage, 467 ; death and charac- teristics, 470. BRISTOL, port of, 282, 364, 416. BRISTOL CHANNEL, ferry of, 298. BRITISH, ancient works, 1-13 ; dwellings, 3 ; inhabitants, 20 ; bridges, 236, 239. BROADE, Brindley erects engine for Mr., 330. BROKEN CROSS GANG, 308. BROME, Rev. Mr., travels in England, 183. BROTHERS of the Bridge, 246. BUCCANEERS, early English, 281. BuRSLEMPoTTERiES,321,328,427,438,448. BURTON-ON-TRENT, bridge at, 246. BrsiucLL, THOMAS, Myddelton's successor in his silver mines, 144, 146, 151. BUSH HILL, New River works near, 122. BUXTON, Brindley 's birthplace near, 308. CAERPHILLY CASTLE, ruins of, 269. CALDERWOOD'S, Mrs., journey to London, 176. CA.Mr.KiiHii: FENS, 18, 34, 50. CAMPBELL'S, Lord, first journey to London, 197. CAM i- of refuge at Ely, 23. CANALS, early continental, 300 ; early English, 301, 302, 304 ; Duke of Bridgewater's, 348, 362, 378 ; canal lock, 375 ; Grand Trunk, 424 ; opposition to, 435 ; beneficial effects of, 415, 446 ; Wolverhampton, 449 ; Coventry, 450 ; Droitwich, 451 ; Birmingham, ib. ; Leeds and Liverpool, 455 ; canal speculation, 46 1 ; extent of British canals and traffic, 464. CANUTE, his " King's Delph" in the Fens, 22 ; his canal through Southwark, 254. CANVEY ISLAND reclaimed, 36. CAROLINE, Queen, overturned in Kensington road, 163. CARR DYKE, in Lincolnshire, 20. CARRIAGE of Merchandise, cost of, 178, 344, 426, 447. CASTILIONE, an Italian, drains Greenwich Marsh, 14. CASTLES IN THE AIR, Brindley's, 353, 361, 437, 443. CATCIIWATER drains, 20. CAUSEWAYS, Roman, 21 ; in the Fens, 25 ; ancient British, 154, 156. CELTS, a pastoral race, 5 ; their language, 6 ; Irish, 7. CHADWELL SPRING, 90, 1 10. CHAGFORD, Dartmoor, 193. CHANTRIES, BRIDGE, 249. CHARACTERISTICS of Brindley, 470. CHARLES I., promotes works of drainage, 43, 56. CHASK, Hat field, its drainage, 37. CiiAirKu's ride to Canterbury, 164. CHERTSEY, road from London to, 163. CHESTERFIELD CANAL, 452. CHILD and Co., their advances to Duke <>t' Bridge water, 398. CINQUE PORTS, 9, 280, 284. CLAY-PUDDLE, 353, 355, 374, 475. CLIFTON COAL-MINES, Brindley's drainage of, 323. CLOTH MANUFACTURE, 103. CLOUGH'S CROSS, 31. COACHES, in London, 101, 165 ; travelling by, 166 ; stage coaches, 168. COAL TRADE, early, 291. COALBROOKDALE, 331. COLECHURCII, Peter of, builder of Old London Bridge, 255. COLONIZATION, early British, 5 ; of Scotland, 6. COMBE Marshes near Greenwich, reclaimed, 14. COMMONWEALTH, drainage interrupted l>y wars of, 46, 54. CONDUITS, London, 86. CONGLETON, Cheshire, 320, 325, 428. CONTINENTAL routes, former, 293. CONVEYANCE, early modes of, — on horse- back, 164; in coaches, 166. CORDOUAN, Tour de, 287, 290. CORNISH wrecking, 289. CORNBROOK, the Duke's canal at, 355. COSMO DE' MEDICI, travels in England, 175, 289. COVENTRY CANAL, 450. COWLEY, Sprat's visit to, at Chertsey, 163. COWPER, Chancellor, description of Sussex mids, 162. CROFT, Brindley's, 309. CROMWELL, leads the opposition to drainage in the Fens, 57. CROOKS, the Devonshire, 194. CROYLAND, 23; its bridge, 241. Ci •MKKIM.AND, Duke of, 204, 220, 337. CWMSYMLOS Myddelton's mine at, 141, 145. CYCLOPEAN bridges on Dartmoor, 239. D. DAGENHAM LEVEL, 14 ; breach, 36, 39 ; stopped by Perry, 77 ; lake, 80. DANES in England, 9, 21, 22. JNDKX TU VOL. 1. 479 I'AR'l MooR. DARTMOOR, ancient villages on, 4 ; Plymouth, WBter Ripply led from, hv Sir F. Diake, C,U ; ancient roads in, 161, 192; ancient lair on, 189; ancient bridges on, 230, 239. DEEPING, in Lincolnshire, ±~>, 27, 82. DENP.IGII, 94, 107, 147. DENGE MARSH, 7,9, 11 ; Ness, 10 ; light on, DENVER SLUICE, 62, 66. Di.pn--i.mi>, 69. DEVIL, suppose! to be a bridge-builder, 245. DEVON-SHIRK LANE, The, 161; Crooks, 194. DON, river, 41. DOUGLAS NAVIGATION, 304. DOVER, port of, 282, 284; Pharos, 287; Smollett's opinion of, 295. DRAKE, Sir FRANCIS, his Leet, 90; adven- tures on Spanish Main, 103 ; the Armada, 1 )RAIN AGE, Hatfield Level, 39 ; Great Level of the Fens, 49. DROITWICH CANAL, 451. DROWNED lands in the Fens, 18, 26. 1 )i K i ; ( 1 1 - lii ; i Dt , EW ATER (See Bridgewater}. DUKE'S DOCK, Liverpool, 393. DUNKIRK pirates, 281. DUNSTAN pillar, laud lighthouse on Lincoln Heath, 233. DURHAM, roads in, 204. DUTCH, their drainage works in England, 15, 36, 39, 45, 53, 61 ; capitalists embark in English drainage, 40 ; their methods of drainage, 55 ; fish the English coasts, 278. DUTCH RIVER, Yorkshire, 41, 45. DWELLINGS of ancient British, 3. DYKE-REEVES, Lincolnshire, 28. E. EAKNSIIAW, LAWRENCE, self-taught mechanic, 389. EARTHENWARE manufacture, 319, 327, 425. EARTHWORKS, ancient, 3. F.I >IN BURGH, travelling between London and, 197. EDWARDS, WILLIAM, bridge builder, — his early life, 266 ; becomes a builder, 268 ; studies masonry in Caerphilly Castle, 269 ; builds successive bridges over the Taft', 270 ; Pont-y-Prydd, 272 ; his other bridges in Wales, 273 ; death, 275. EGELRIC'S CAUSEWAY, Spalding, 25. l'.i.iH)N, Lord, his lirst journey to Oxford, 196. Ki.i/ \r,ETH,(2ueen, her visits to the City, 164. l'.i.i:i:.S ln-otliers, founders of pottery manu- facture, 322. ELY, We of, 22, 35, 68. EMBANKMENTS, of Komney Marsh, 7; of Thames, 12, 69, 80; of Marsh-laud and South Holland, 19. ENGLAND, natuial \\ealth of, 16 ; shipping of, in early tim«-s, 276; H-a* of, fished l,y foreigners, 278; old taacons of, 287. ERITII MARSHES, 12, 14. ESSEX, roads in, 200. EllIELDREDA, Prill. vss, '_'•_'. ETRTRIA, Wedgwood's works at, 440. F. FAHW in early times, 187. FEEDING of London, 177, 191. FENS, description of Great Level of the, 17, 33 ; early reclamations by the Romans, 19; by religious recluses, 22; Guthlac, saint of the, 23; reclamations by the monks, 25 ; works of Morton, Bishop of Ely, 29; destructive inundations of the Fens, 30 ; drainage by Vermuyden and the Adventurers under the Earl of Bedford, 49 ; riots amongst the fenmen, 52 ; the drainage completed, 63. FEN-SLODGERS, 32, 52. IT:NTON-\ IVIAN, Brindley's steam-engine at, 330. FEUIMES, of the Thames,— early, 253, 293; long ferry to Gravesend, ib.; across the Channel, 295 ; Humber, 297 ; Forth, ib. ; Bristol Channel, 298 ; Mersey, ib. FIELDING'S voyage to Lisbon, 294. FISHERIES, early, 278. FISHES in the Fens, 33. FISIILAKE and Fishtoft, 39. FLASH DISTRICT, near Macclesfield, 307. FLEMINGS employed on English drainage works, 40, 50, 53 ; on harbours, 284. FLINT-MILLS, Brindley's contrivance of, 321, 327. FORDS, ancient, 238. FOREIGNERS reclaim our marshes, 14; drain our fens, 36, 49 ; fish our sea.s, 278 ; build bridges, 263 ; and harbours, 284. FORTH FERRIES, 297. !• o; N i >ATIONS of early bridges, 251, 255, 263. FKIKSLAND settlers in England, 5, 7. FRENCH, characteristics of modern, 7. FULTON, American engineer, 409. G. GALCH HILL, Myddelton of, Denbigh, 95. GILBERT, JOHN, Duke of Bridgewater's agent, 347, 387, 397, 408. <;M.I;I:UT, THOMAS, Earl Gower's agent, 347, 432. GILPIN'S account of Bristol Cliannel ferry, 298. GLASGOW, travelling between London and, 197. GLOUCEM KusHiiu;, roads in, 201. GOLDEN HILL, Brindley's colliery at, 351, 468, 476. GOLDSMITHS' COMPANY, 99. GOOLE, 41. 480 INl'KX To VOL. 1. GOWKH, EAK1.. • JOWEU, Earl, :>21, :»:;.">. :;:'.7. 380, S92; his Counter, 4'is. GRAND TKCXK CANAL, 424 : it*> adv;;r.ta>jy>. 44C. (ii: AVI.OCK'S FOSSE, 15. <;KAVI:SI:NI>, the long i'eny to, •_'!i:>.. GREAT LEVEL of the Fens* 18, 33, 49. GREAT NORTH ROAD, 102, 204. GREAT REBELLION, interrupts tho Fen drain- age, 46, 54. GREVILLE, Sir RICHARD, 97. GROCERS' COMPANY, 98. GUILDFORD, Romney Marsh, 7, 9. GUNNIX<;, tin.-. Misses, 338. GUTHLAC, the saint of the Fens, 23, 241. GUYHIRNE, 29, 62. H. HAGBUSH LANE, 162. HARBOURS, the Thames, 281 ; Bristol, 282 ; Lyme Regis, 283; Dover, 284; Whitby, 285 ; Yarmouth, ib. HARDMAN, Mr., Liverpool, projects a canal, 335. HARECASTLE TUNNEL, 437, 441. HASTINGS PIER, 283. HATFIELD CHASE, drainage of, 37. HAVERING LEVEL, 70. HEATHCOTE, Mr. J. E., employs Brindley, 323. HENSHALL, JOHN, surveyor, 453; Brindley's marriage to his daughter, 467. HENSHALL, HUGH, engineer, 475. HEREWARD, the Saxon, 23. HKHIUXG-FISHING on English coasts by the Dutch, 278. HERVEY, Lord, on the roads near Kensington, 163. HIGRE, the, 21, 28. HIGHWAY ROBBERIES, 175. HOLLAND, Lincolnshire, 19, 34. HOLLOW WAYS, 160, 162. HOOKER'S ride to London, 164. HORSEBACK travelling in early times, 164. HORSE-FERRIES at London, 293. HOUSEHOLD life in early times, 185. HUMBER FERRIES, 297. HYTHE, 7. I. IDLE, RIVER, 41. INLAND water communication, 299, 334. (See Canals.} INUNDATIONS, destructive, in the Fens, 30. IRWELL NAVIGATION, 304, 344; fall at Clifton, 323. I.-i.i: OF AXIIOLME, 37. KM: OF DOGS, 14, r.'.i. l.lVKKl'ool.. England, 14. J. .JAME-; I., King, - promotes drainage of the Fens, 32 ; drainage works oncourage.l i>y, •"»•>: supports Hugh Myddelton's New River enterprise, 115; is nearly drowned in the New River, 125; his reward of Myddelton, 143. .1 i:\vs' TOLL, levied upon dead Jews on Bow Bridge, 213. JOHN, King, overtaken by the Aegar, 28. JONES, IXKIO, his bridge at Llanrwst, 251; his salary, -">•_' 4. Jr KVTS of Romney Marsh, 11. K. KENSINGTON, roads in the neighbourhood of, it;;;. KENT, roads in, 232. KIXDERLEY, engineer, 64. KING'S LYNN, 19, 21, 27, 28, 31. KING'S DELPH, Canute's work of, 22. KlRKBY LONSDALE BRIDGE, 245. KNOLLES, Sir R., rebuilds Rochester Bridge, 247. LABELYE, builder of Westminster Bridge, 6(3, 263. LAMUETIT, 12. LAND LIGHTHOUSES, 23:$, 289. LANCASHIRE, roads in, 183, 202, 224, 342. LAW and Custom of Romney Marsh, 10. LEA, Bow Bridge across the, 242. LEAM, Bishop Morton's, 29. LEEDS, roads near, 180, 205 ; bridge, 240. LEEDS AND LIVERPOOL CANAL, 455. LEEK, Brindley begins business at, 319. Li:i:r, Plymouth, 91. LEVEL. (See Great Level and Fens.} LEVEL lengths on canals, Brindley's capital idea of, 379. LIGHTHOUSES, early, 286 ; Pharos at Dover, 287 ; Tour de Cordouan, 287, 290 ; Spurn Point and Isle of May, 288; Dungeness, ib. ; Plymouth, 289; Rye, t'6. ; Littlt- hampton, /'/>. LILBURNE, Colonel, at Hatfield Chase, 46. LIMKIIOUSE, breaches at, 14, 69. LINCOLNSHIRE, Fens, 20, 34, 181, 4(50; roads, 233. LINDSEY LEVEL, Lincolnshire, 58. Lmi.KiiAMi'TON, harbour lights at, 289. LIVERPOOL, fi-rri.^, •_".•?: .ninniKincations IXDKX TO VOL. I. 481 LLAKEWBT. with Maiieh.-st.-r, 345, 863, :'.iiti; com- pared with Bristol, 3i!4, 4U>; Liverpool in li;.">n, ;iii;, ; advantages of its port, 865; communication with London, '•>t>~ ; Duke's Dock, .'S'.i.'J; benefits conferred on Liverpool by the Duke's canals, 410; Brindley's plan ot' building sea walls at, 400. LI.ANKWST, shaking bridge at. 25 1. LOCK, Canal, 375. I. i. |'\I:K, Myddelton's residence in Wales 140. I.OM.ON, ancient, 12; water supply, 85 ; in Sir Hu^li Mvddeltun's time, 100; Corpora- tion adventure.* in piracy, 103 ; Corporation and the New River works, 109 ; water- carriers, 88, 114; St. Matthew, Friday Street, 105, 149 ; roads and streets, 158 ; bridge, •_'."> 3; shipping in early times, 277, 281, 292 ; watermen, 293. Li > N i x » x BRIDGE, Old, — first bridge of timber, 254 ; rebuilt in stone by Peter of Cole- chuivh, 255; its foundations, ib.; period of its construction, 250 ; its characteristics, 257 ; shooting the bridge, 258 ; its vicissi- tudes, 259 ; its many repairs, 200 ; opposi- tion to any second bridge across the Thames, 261. L<).MX>M:KS' LODE, in the Fens, :',•_'. L<>.\<; FKKUY on the Thames, 293. I.«»ri;niMiitoi «,li, Lord, his first journey to London, 197. LYDD, Komney Marsh, 9. LVMK Ri:<;is, harbour works at, 283. LY.MM: : Port us Limanis), 8, 9. I.VNN 'See Kiiif's Lynn), M. MACCLESFIELD, and district, 3i>7, 314, 32u, 325. M \i.\ I.IIN CHASE re,-laiine 1, 48. M \M'iii.>i i;i:, its coniiuunications with Lon- don, 174, 11MJ; its early trade, 181, 3 10, 340; roads near, 343; its detective supplies ot' coals and provisions, 345; effects of the Duke's Canal, 301, 402, 415; smallness of the cotton trade sixty years since, 415; description of the growth of Manchester during the last century, 417; foreign trade through Bristol, 420.' M\\-I.I;S and custom-; influenced by roads, 182. M \\-i 11. i. D, Lord, his tirst journey to London, L97. MAMI Actn:i:s, origin of English, In:',, 17s. M\I-N; the Kens as drowned, 2ti ; Hatfield Level, 42; the 1-Vns as drained, 51; Da- geiiham Breach, 7s : Myddehon's native di>tri.-t, 94: New River, 111; Brading Haven, 134; mine- in Cardigaiisliii-e. 143; I'.rindley's native district. 3ns ; the IN- NAVVY. district, 321 ; Duke of Bridgcw;iter's Canal, 348-9; Manche.-,t.-i-, 417;' Crand Trunk Canal, 438. MAIIKI.T DI.I:IMN<;, 27. M \i;sn, in Lambeth, 13. M \I:MI, Roinu,'V, and nth.-rs, 7. M \i;sni.AM), L'incolnshire, 19, 28. MAI IILW, propo>al of, in Cromwell's time, to improve navi-rable rivers, 301. MATILDA, Queen, erects Bow Bridge, §43. MAY, Isle of, lighthouse, 288. MuM'HANT Adventurers of England, 102. M 1:1: i VALE BRIDGE, Vixen Tor near, 189. MERSEY FERRY at Liverpool, 297. MEIISEY NAVIGATION, 303, 334, 345, 363, 372, 380. METCALF, JOHN, roadmaker, — birth and early life, 208 ; journeys on horseback and on foot, 213 ; joins a regiment in the rebellion of 1745, 217; becomes a travelling mer- chant, 220 ; road contractor and bridge builder, 222; his roads, 224: his mode of surveying, 225; his skill in road-ma kint:, 227; his death, 231. M 1 1 . i .\\ RIGHTS, their business and training, 311. MIM:S ROYAL, of Cardiganshire, 141. MOORFIELDS MARSH, 13. MORICE, PETER, Dutch engineer, 88. MORITZ'S description of journey by basket coach, 198. MORTON'S LEAM (Bishop of Ely), 29, 57. MYDDELTON, Sir HUGH, — ancestry, 94 ; birth, 98 ; goldsmith's apprentice, 99 ; begins the trade of goldsmith in Bassishaw Street, London, 101 ; becomes merchant adven- turer, 102; cloth manufacturer, 103; marriage, 105 ; alderman of Denbigh, ib. ; his first coal-mining adventure, ib. • M.P. for Denbigh, 107 ; undertakes to construct the New River, 1()9 ; is supported by James I.. 115; description of New River works, 12O; ceremony at the opening, 125 ; embankment of Brading Haven, 133 ; Myddelton's patent, 135; mining enterprise in Wales, 141 ; is made a knight, 125; and baronet, 143; letter to Sir John Wynn, 147 ; Myddelton's death, 149; his will, 150; his descendants, 152. MYDDELTON, Sir TIX>M \v. '.17, 124. MYM.KI.TON, Lady (of Sir Hugh), 105, 150. MYI>IU:LTON, Captain WILLIAM, 97, 102. MYI.M:, Mr., architect of Black friars Bridge, 265. X. NAVIGATION, INLAND, — rivers improved, 308, 334; in Lancashire, 345, 3(13; the Duke of Bridge-water's, 348, 362, 378 ; ad- vantages of, 381. NAVVY, the ancient British. 3. 482 INDEX TO VOL. I. NAVY, English, in early time.;, 276. NENE, river, 19, 62, 67. NEWCASTLE-OX-TYNE, bridge, 240 ; airly coal trade, 291. NEWCASTLE-UNDER-LYME, 320, 427, 428, 431. NEW CHAPEL, 467 ; Brindley's burial-place at, 476. NEW RIVER, 89 ; the Act obtained, 108 ; map of, 111 ; description of the works, 120 ; its probable cost, 119; distribution of the water, 126 ; constitution of the Company, 129 ; its prosperity, 131. NEW ROMNEY, 9. NEWS, slow propagation of, in early times, 184. NEW WlNCHELSEA, 10. NONSUCH HOUSE, on old London Bridge, 257. NORWICH, Bishop's Bridge at, 246. O. OGLANDER FAMILY, their MS. relating to Brading Harbour, 136. OLD LONDON BRIDGE. (See London Bridge.'} OLD ROMNEY, 9. OLD WINCIIELSEA, 9. OUSE (Cambridge), 19, 32, 62, 66. OUSE (Yorkshire), 41 ; bridge, at York, 250. OVERY, JOHN, London Ferry, tradition of, 253. P. PACK-HORSE travelling, 179, 192, 416, 426. PACKMEN and pedlars, 185, 322. PAPER-MILL at Macclesfield, Brindley's fitting of, 316. PASSAGE-BOATS established by Duke of Bridge- water, 404. PATTISON, Mr. N., his silk-mill at Congleton, 325. PEAK OF DERBY, Brindley's birthplace in, 307. PERRY, Captain, engineer, — brought up at sea, 73 ; employed by Czar of Russia, ib. ; makes canals and builds docks for the Emperor, 74; returns to England, 76; stops Dagen- ham Breach, 77 ; employed at Rye Har- bour, 81 ; death, 82. PETERBOROUGH, 22, 29. PHAROS at Dover, 287. PIERS, ancient, 283. PIRACY of the early English, 103, 279. PITCH-POTS used for coast lights, 287. PLAISTOW MARSH, 12. PLAGUE in London, 104, 108. PLUMSTEAD MARSH, 12, 14. PLYMOUTH, water supply by Drake, 90 ; lights, 289. PO-DYKE in Marshland, 20. PONT-Y-PRYDD, 270. 8COTCII. POOLE, piratical expedition sent out by, 280. POI-HAM, his Kau, 32; freebooting exploits, 175. PORTS DOWN FAIR, 187. POTTERY districts, 319, 321, 327, 425, 440. POWTE'S COMPLAINT, the, 54. PRESTON-ON-THE-HILL, 348, 378, 392, 432, 437, 441. PRINCE OF WALES, accident to, from bad roads, 203. PROVISIONING of London, 177, 191. PIIYMK, DE LA, 38, 41. PUDDLING, process of, 353, 355, 374, 475. PIMPING-ENGINES, Morice's, 88 ; Brindley's, :i23, 327, 329, 359, 444. PUTNEY, proposed early bridge at, 202. E. RAGLAN CASTLE BRIDGE, 250. RALEIGH, Sir WALTER, 101, 103, 137. RAMSEY, 22, 25 ; Mere, 68. REBELLION of 1 745, led to improvement of roads, 204. RENNIE, Mr., engineer, 20, 67. RIALTO, the, 271. RIDING on horseback in early times, 164, 174. RlOTS caused by Fen drainage, 46, 52, 58, 61 ; by turnpike roads, 205. RIVERS made navigable, 303. ROADS, — uses of, 153; ancient, 157 ; Roman, ib. ; legislation respecting, 158, 203; (ireat North Road, 162, 204; in Sussex, 162, 231 ; near London, 163, 176 ; in the country, 166, 183; Arthur Young's description of them, 200 ; turnpike riots, 205 ; Metcalf 's roads, 207,222; in Lancashire, 183, 202, 224; in Essex, 200 ; Surrey, 231 ; Durham, 204 ; Kent, 232 ; Northampton, ib. ; Lincolnshire, 233; Staffordshire, 425, 431. ROCHESTER BRIDGE, old, 240, 247. ROMAN works in England, 7, 9, 13, 19, 157. ROMNEY MARSH, 7 ; old and new, 9. ROTHER, RIVER, 9. RUNCORN, Brindley's proposed aqueduct nt, 392 ; locks and dock at, 399. RUSSIA in Czar Peter's time, 74. RYE, town of, 10 ; harbour, 81 ; lights, 289. S. SALE MOOR Moss, canal across, 378, 383. SALT, carriage of, on horseback, 426. SANDWICH, 11. SANDTOFT, Hatfield Chase, 37, 45, 46. SANKEY NAVIGATION, 334. SARUM, earthworks at Old, 3. SAWNEY'S BRIDGE, Duke's Canal, 384. SCAMPING, ancient, 11. SCHEMER, Brindley designati-d the, .°>2o. SCOTCH prisoners employed on 1-Vn drainap-. ' ' 1 . INDEX TO VOL. I. 483 8EDGEMOOR. Si:n<;r.Moou. 1 ."> ; its drainage, 48. SIIAKI.>IM:\I;I.'S d.-MTiptimi of early tra- velling, 1«14. SHAKING l.Kiixii: at Llanrwst, Inigo Jones's, 251, Siiii-iMN.;, early English, 102, 276. SlI(M)'l'INS, ancient village, 181. Sii.r.ruv III!. I., earthworks at, 3. Sn.K manufactures in Cheshire, 314, 325. SII.VKII mine iu Wales, Myddelton's, 144. SLEAFORD, 28. SMITH, SYDNEY, on old roads and travelling, 232. SMOLLETT, journey to London, 179; voyage to Boulogne, 295. SMI AM CAUSEWAY, 25. SM-THWAKK, 12. SPALIMM;, -'>. Si-r.t ILATION in canal shares, 461. Sl'INNEY, 23. SITKN POINT Lighthouse, 288. STAFFORDSHIRE Pottery districts, 319, 321, 327, 425, 428, 440. S i- A. IE-COACH travelling, 168. STAMFORD, Earl of, 381. Si i: \M-r.\<;iNE, Brindley's improvements in, 3-29, 384. STEAM navigation on canals, 409. STOUR, valley of the, 11. SHAVE, on the New River works, 113. STREETS or roads, Roman, 157. Sri'i:i;s in IONS, 182. SURREY ROADS, 231. SUSSEX ROADS, 162, 231. SrrroN, near Macclesfield, 311. T. TI-;T:INGTON DYKE burst, 31. Tr. i IONIC characteristics, 5-7. THAMES, embankment of, 12, 09,80; early shipping of, -77, L'Sl ; a great highway, 2 '.»•_' ; lirindlfy's survey of, 457. Til A NET, Isle of, 11. Tiir.or.ALD's PARK, 115. TIIORESBY'S notices of ancient travelling, 169, 175. TIIOKNEY, 23, 25. THURROCK MARSHES, 70. TOBACCO, introduction of, 101. Tons, ancient, 4. TOUR DE CORDOUAN, 287, 290. TRACKWAYS, ancient, 157. Ti: u.ni-.M \wi;, embankment of, 147. Ti: \i i ORD Moss, Duke's Canal across, 355. Ti: \\ 1.1.1. i N<;, on horseback, 164 ; by carriage, 165; by stage waggons, 167; by stage coach, 168; by pack horses, 179; at the end \\IUTCIII-HCH. of last century, 196 ; between London and the principal towns, 196. TIM. vm AM, 321, ."..".7, 4i.'.i. TRENT and Mersey Canal, 335, 380, 392, 424, 438. TIMAMIULAE BRIDGE, Croyland, 241. TRINITY HOUSE established, 288. Ti vsiKAD, lirindley's birthplace at, 308. TriiNin -I:ST, Briudley's house at, 469. Tri:xi'iKES, establishment of, 203. V. VERMUYDEX, the Dutch engineer, 15, 33; his birth, 36 ; employed to stop Dagenham Breach, &c., ib. ; his drainage of Hatfield Chase, 38 ; is knighted by Charles I., 43 ; is violently opposed by the native popula- tion, 44 ; his embankments destroyed, 46 ; his mining adventures, 48 ; his drainage of the Great Level, 49, 59 ; his Discourse on Draining, 60 ; the works completed, 63 ; his perseverance, 64 ; his death, 65. VILLAGES, ancient British, 3. VIXEX TOR, near Merivale Bridge, 189. W. WADE BRIDGE, Cornwall, 247. WAGGON, the old stage, 167. WAKEFIELD BRIDGE, 249. WALDERSEA drainage, 32. WALKER COLLIERY steam-engine, Brindley's, 333. WALLEND MARSH, 7. WALPOLE, HORACE, his letters, 177, 336, 340. WAPPIXG, breaches of the Thames at, 14, 69. WARE, in Hertfordshire, 110, 170. WARRINGTON, Lord, 384. WASH, the Great, 19, 21. WATER-CARRIERS, London, 88, 114. WATER, the engineer's enemy and friend, 17,85. WATER supply of London, early, 85. WEAVER NAVIGATION, 304, 432. WEDGWOOD, the brothers, 322, 328. WEDGWOOD, JOSIAH, 429 ; his first pottery, 430 ; forms a road through the Potteries, 431 ; supports the Grand Trunk Canal, 431, 433 ; cuts the first sod, 439; Wedg- w.M.d's manufactures, 447 ; letter of, 451 ; his memoir of Brindley, 474. WELLAND, RIVER, 19, 27, 62. WELLS, London, 86. WESLEY, his visit to Burslem, 427, 448 ; to Congleton, 428. WESTERDYKE, Dutch engineer, 50, 61. WESTMINSTER BRIDGE, 262. \Vi:viui.i, FAIR, 188. WHITBY, old harbour, 285. WHITCHURCH, Denbigh, 96, 106. \Vllll II |.*| \ M; .!:; . •_-_'. - -. Wn i , : > . II _ . V • . l.'.'i. •• . 7 . ' ' . 1 • • : ! it .-.:>". \Vi\, m *i 1. 1: Hi, -it I . I>N. V\ IN -. . :; l'\!:K. ,lraii .'.- , :. :'•••. \\'i>i:i \i ii. i". -i. •_".'. \VllH.\M.ri\' . x. '_'!. \\'i 'l.\ i !:ii \ Mr i' >\ < ' \ \ \i . ; ; '. \\""i'. K'"]:i.i:i, t t'-r l» I'ukr ..i' I'.iid Win. 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MURRAY'S LIST OF NEW WORKS. 11 A RE-ISSUE OF MUKRAY'S HOME AND COLONIAL LIBRARY, AT A REDUCED PRICE. THE object of MR. MURRAY'S COLONIAL LIBRARY, when first pub- lished, was to furnish the highest Literature of the day, at a very low price. The great success which has attended its publication shows how well suited it was to the wants of the reading public at that period. Since then a fresh class of readers has arisen, and the establishment of Literary Institu- tions, School and Village Clubs, Book Hawking Societies, Parochial and Lending Libraries, has become so general, that it appears to the Publisher a good opportunity to disseminate these Volumes, at a rate which shall place them within reach of the less wealthy classes. By removing the impediment of price, he hopes to throw open these attractive and useful Works to the Million ; so that having hitherto been the delight of the Parlour and Drawing-room, they may now do equally good service in the Factory and Workshop — in the Cottage of the Peasant and Log-hut of the Colonist — in the Soldier's Barrack and the Sailor's Cabin. The Works composing the "Colonial and Home Library" have been selected for their acknowledged merit, the ability of their authors, and are exclusively such as are calculated to please all classes and circles of readers. The character of the work is made. It is so well known and esteemed as no longer to require expensive advertising, so that the publisher is enabled to circulate it at a great reduction in price. The attention of the Clergy, of Secretaries of Village Reading-Clubs, of Masters of Factories and Schools, is especially invited to the above announce- ment and the lists which follow, in which the various Works have been arranged under two distinct heads. CLASS A. BIOGRAPHY, HISTOEY, AND HISTOKIC TALES. CLASS B. VOYAGES, TRAVELS, AND ADVENTURES. Each Work will be complete in itself, and may be obtained separately, neatly bound in cloth. *** For List of Works see next page. 12 ME. MURRAY'S LIST OF NEW WORKS. MURRAY'S HOME AND COLONIAL LIBRARY. CLASS A. L HISTORY of the SIEGE of GIBRAL- TAR, 1779-83. With a Description and Account of that Garrison. By JOHN DRINKWATER. 2s. II. The AMBER WITCH— the most inter- esting Trial for Witchcraft ever known. By Lady DUFF GORDON. 2s. III. LIVES of CROMWELL and BUNYAN. By ROBERT SOUTHEY, LL.D. 2s. IV. LIFE, and EXPLOITS of Sir FRANCIS DRAKE. By JOHN BARROW. 2s. V CAMPAIGNS of the BRITISH ARMY at WASHINGTON. By the Rev. G. R. GLEIG. 2*. VI. The FRENCH in ALGIERS. Translated by Lady DUFF GORDON. 2s. VII HISTORY of the FALL of the JESUITS in the 18th CENTURY. 2s. VIII. LIVONIAN TALES. By A LADY, 2s. IX. LIFE of CONDE. By Lord MAHON. 3s. &d. X. SALE'S BRIGADE in AFFGHANIS- TAN. By the Rev. G. R. GLEIG. 2s. XI. The SIEGES of VIENNA. Translated by Lord ELLESMERE. 2s. XII. The WAYSIDE CROSS. A Tale of the CarlistWar. 2s. XIII SCENES from the WAR of LIBERA- TION in GERMANY. By Sir ALEX- ANDER DUFF GORDON. 3s. Gd. XIV. The STORY of the BATTLE of WATER- LOO. By Rev. G. R. GLEIG. 3s. 6d. XV. ADVENTURES. From the Autobiogra- phy of HENRY STEFFENS. 2s. XVI LIVES of the BRITISH POETS : with an Essay on English Poetry. By THOMAS CAMPBELL. 3s. Gd. XVH. HISTORICAL and CRITICAL ESSAYS. By Lord MAHON. 3s. Gd. XVIII LIFE of LORD CLIVE. By the Rev. G. R. GLEIG. 3s. Gd. XIX. STOKERS and POKERS ; or, The North- Western Railway. By Sir FRANCIS B. HEAD. 2«. XX. LIFE of Sir THOMAS MUNRO. By Rev. G. R. GLEIO. 3s. Gd. CLASS B. 008*8*5, Iratt, ani I. The BIBLE in SPAIN; or, The Ad- ventures of an Englishman in an Attempt to Circulate the Scriptures. By GEORGE BORROW. 3s. Gd. II. The GIPSIES of SPAIN ; then- Manners and Customs. By GEORGE BORROW. 3s. Gd. III. IV. A JOURNEY through INDIA, from Calcutta to Bombay, Madras, and the Southern Provinces. By Bishop HEBER. 2 vols. 7«. V. TRAVELS in the HOLY LAND. By Captains IRBY and MANGLES. 2s. VL WESTERN BARBARY, its Wild Tribes and Savage Animals. By J. DRUMMOND HAY. 2s. VII. LETTERS from the SHORES of the BALTIC. By a LADY. 2*. VIII. NOTES and SKETCHES of NEW SOUTH WALES. By Mrs. MEREDITH. 2s. IX. The WEST INDIES. From the Journal of M. G. LKWIS. 2s. X. SKETCHES of PERSIA. By Sir JOHN MALCOLM. 3s. Gd. XI. THIRTEEN YEARS at the COURT of PEKIN. By FATHER RIPA. 2s. XII. XIII. TYPEE and OMOO ; or, The Marque- sas Islanders. By HERMAN MELVILLE. 2 volfi. 7s. XIV. MEMOIRS of a MISSIONARY in CAN- ADA. By Rev. J. ABBOTT. 2s. XV. LETTERS from MADRAS. By a LADY. 2s. XVI. The WILD SPORTS of the HIGH- LANDS. By CHARLES ST. JOHN. 3s. Gd. XVII. RAPID JOURNEYS ACROSS THE PAMPAS. By Sir FRANCIS HEAD. 2s. XVIII. GATHERINGS FROM SPAIN. By RICHARD FORD. 3s. Gd. XIX. A VOYAGE UP THE RIVER AMA- ZON. By WILLIAM EDWARDS. 2«. XX. A POPULAR ACCOUNT of INDIA. By Rev. CHARLES ACLAND. 2s. XXI MEXICO and the ROCKY MOUN- TAINS. By GEORGE F. RUXTON. 3s. M. XXII. PORTUGAL and GALICIA. By Lord CARNARVON. 3s. Gd. XXIII. BUSH LIFE in AUSTRALIA. By Rev. H. W. HAYGARTH. 2«. XXIV. ADVENTURES in the LIBYAN DE- SERT. By BAYLE ST. JOHN. 2s. XXV. LETTERS from SIERRA LEONE. By a LADY. 9». Gd. S L. 14 DAY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED »> «d belo /, or •& Kenewea DOORS are subject to immediate recall. FEB 5JJ REC'D LD 2 7 '65.' LD 21A-50m-ll,'62 (D3279slO)476B SEP MAY 0 General Library University of California Berkeley U. C BERKELEY LIBRARIE