of February, we find him entering in his note-book that the Duke sent out "200 leators" to members-friends of the measure; doubtless containing his statement of reasons in favour of the bill. On the 20th Mr. Tomkinson, the Duke's solicitor, was under examination for four hours and a half. Sunday intervened, on which day Brindley records that he was "at Lord Harrington's." On the following day, the 22nd, the evidence for the bill was finished, and the Duke followed this up by sending out 250 more letters to members, with an abstract of the evidence given in favour of the measure. On the 26th there was a debate of eight hours on the bill, followed by a division, in Committee of the whole House, thus recorded by Brindley :

"ad a grate Division of 127 fort Duk

98 nos

for te Duk 29 Me Jorete"

But the bill had still other discussions and divisions to encounter before it was safe. The Duke and his agents worked with great assiduity. On the 3rd of March he caused 250 more letters to be distributed amongst the members; and on the day after we find the House wholly occupied with the bill. We quote again from Brindley's record: "4 [March] ade bate at the Hous with grate vigor 3 divisons the Duke carred by Numbers evory time a 4 division moved but Noos yelded." On the next day we read "wont thro the closos;" from which we learn that the clauses were settled and passed. Mr. Gilbert and Mr. Tomkinson then set out for Lancashire the bill was safe. It passed the third reading, Brindley making mention that "Lord Strange" was "sick with geef [grief] on that affair Mr. Wellbron want Rong god," which latter expression we do not clearly understand, unless it was that Mr. Wilbraham wanted to wrong God. The bill was carried to the Lords, Brindley on the 10th March making the entry,

"Touk the Lords oath." But the bill passed the Upper House "without opposishin," and received the Royal Assent on the 24th of the same month.

On the day following the passage of the bill through the House of Lords (of which Brindley makes the triumphant entry, "Lord Strange defetted"), he set out for Lancashire, after nine weary weeks' stay in London. To hang about the lobbies of the House and haunt the office of the Parliamentary agent, must have been excessively irksome to a man like Brindley, accustomed to incessant occupation and to see work growing under his hands. During this time we find him frequently at the office of the Duke's solicitor in "Mary Axs;" sometimes with Mr. Tomkinson, who paid him his guinea a-week during the latter part of his stay; and on several occasions he is engaged with gentlemen from the country, advising them about "saltworks at Droitwitch" and mill-arrangements in Cheshire. Many things had fallen behind during his absence and required his attention, so he at once set out home; but the first day, on reaching Dunstable, he was alarmed to find that his mare, so long unaccustomed to the road, had "allmost lost ye use of her Limes" [limbs]. He therefore pushed on slowly, as the mare was a great favourite with him-his affection for the animal having on one occasion given rise to a serious quarrel between him and Mr. Gilbert and he did not reach Congleton until the sixth day after his setting out from London. He rested at Congleton for two days, during which he "settled the geering of the silk-mill," and then proceeded straight on to Worsley to set about the working survey of the new canal.

CHAPTER VI.

BRINDLEY CONSTRUCTS THE DUKE'S CANAL TO RUNCORN.

THE course of this important canal, which unites the trade of Manchester with the port of Liverpool, is about twenty-four miles in length. From Longford Bridge, near Manchester, its course lies in a south-westerly direction for some distance, crossing the river Mersey at a point about five miles above its junction with the Irwell. At Altrincham it proceeds in a westerly direction, crossing the river Bollin about three miles further on, near Dunham. After crossing the Bollin, it describes a small semicircle, proceeding onward in the valley of the Mersey, and nearly in the direction of the river as far as the crossing of the high road from Chester to Warrington. It then bends to the south to preserve the high level, passing in a southerly direction as far as Preston, in Cheshire, from whence it again turns round to the north to join the river Mersey.

The canal lies entirely in the lower part of the new red sandstone, the principal earthworks consisting of the clays, marls, bog-earths, and occasionally the sandstones of this formation. The heaviest bog to be crossed was that of Sale Moor, on a bottom of quicksand, west of the Mersey, the construction of the canal at this part being a work of as much difficulty as the laying of the

railroad upon Chat Moss some sixty years later. But Brindley, like Stephenson, looked upon a difficulty as a thing to be overcome; and a difficulty no sooner presented itself, than he at once set his wits to work to study how it was best to be grappled with and surmounted. There were also a large number of brooks to be crossed, and two important rivers, involving a number of aqueducts, bridges, and culverts, to provide for the accommodation of the district. It will, therefore, be obvious that this undertaking 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 to 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. Brindley'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 locks into the river Mersey. Lord Ellesmere has observed 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

sarily expire before the Duke's engineer could take possession; and many obstacles were thrown in the way both by tenants and landlords hostile to the undertaking. In many cases the Duke had to pay dearly for the land purchased under the compulsory powers of his Act. Near Lymm, 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 ridiculously 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 Royal 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 promises." 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 Gower 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,