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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +This etext produced by Eric Hutton, email: bookman@rmplc.co.uk +additional proof reading by David G Haren and Simon Allen + + + + + +The Life of Thomas Telford civil engineer with an +introductory history of roads and travelling in Great Britian + +by Samuel Smiles + + + + "Let us travel, and wherever we find no facility for + travelling from a city to a town, from a village to a + hamlet, we may pronounce the people to be barbarous" + --Abbe Raynal + + "The opening up of the internal communications of a + country is undoubtedly the first and most important + element of its growth in commerce and civilization" + --Richard Cobden + + +CONTENTS + +Preface + +EARLY ROADS AND MODES OF TRAVELLING + +CHAPTER I. Old Roads + +Roads as agents of civilization +Their important uses +Ancient British trackways or ridgeways +The Romans and their roads in Britain +Decay of the Roman roads +Early legislation relating to highways +Roads near London +The Weald of Kent +Great Western roads +Hollow ways or lanes +Roads on Dartmoor +in Sussex +at Kensington + + +CHAPTER II. Early Modes of Conveyance + +Riding on horseback the ancient mode of traveling +Shakespear's description of travelling in 'Henry IV.' +Queen Elizabeth and her coach +Introduction of coaches or waggons +Painful journeys by coach +Carriers in reign of James I +Great north Road in reign of Charles I +Mace's description of roads and travellers stage-coaches introduced +Sobriere's account of the Dover stage-coach +Thoresby's account of stage-coaches and travelling +Roads and travelling in North Wales +Proposal to suppres stage-coaches +Tediousness and discomforts of travelling by coach +Pennant's account of the Chester and London stage +Travelling on horseback preferred +The night coach +Highway robbers and foot-pads +Methods of transport of the merchandize pack-horse convoys +Traffic between lancashire and Yorkshire +Signs of the pack-horse + + +CHAPTER III. Influence of Roads on Society + +Restricted intercourse between districts +Local dialects and customs thereby preserved +Camden's fear of travelling into the barbarous regions of the North +Rev. Mr Brome's travels in England +Old Leisure +Imperfect postal communication +Hawkers and pedlars +Laying in stores for winter +Household occupations +Great fairs of ancient times +Local fairs +Fair on Dartmoor +Primitive manners of Dartmoor District + + +CHAPTER IV. Roads in Scotland last centuary + +Poverty of Scotland +Backwardness of agriculture +Idleness of the people +Andrew Flecher's description of Scotland +Slavery of colliers and salters +Improvements in agriculture opposed +Low wages of the labouring population +State of the Lothians and Ayrshire +Wretched states of the roads +Difficulty of communication between districts +Coach started between Edinburgh and Glasgow +Carrier's perils between Edinburgh and Selkirk +Dangers of travelling in Galloway +Lawlessness of the Highlands +Picking and lifting of cattle +Ferocity of population on the Highland Border +Ancient civilization of Scotland + + +CHAPTER V. Travelling in England last century + +Progress made in travelling by coach +Fast coaches established +Bad state of the roads +Foreigners' accounts of travelling in England +Herr Moritz's journey by the basket coach +Arthur Young's description of English roads +Palmer's mail coaches introduced +The first 'Turnpike' roads +Turnpike riots +The rebellion of 1745 +Passing of numerous highway Acts +Road-making thought beneath the dignity of the engineer + + +CHAPTER VI. John Metcalf, road-maker. + +Metcalf's boyhood +His blindness +His boldness +Becomes a Musician +His travels +Journey on foot from London to Harrogate +Joins the army as musician in the rebellion of 1745 +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 aking his surveys +His skill in road-making +His last road--his death +Roads in the south of England +Want of roads on Lincoln Heath +Land lighthouses +Dunstan pillar +Rapid improvement in the roads +Application of steam +Sydney Smith on improved facilities of communication + + +THE LIFE OF THOMAS TELFORD + + +CHAPTER I. Eskdale. + +Eskdale +Langholm +Former lawlessness of the Border population +Jonnie armstrong +Border energy +Westerkirk +Telford's birthplace +Glendinning +Valley of the Meggat +The 'unblameable shepherd' +Telford's mother +Early years +Laughing Tam +Put to school +His school-fellows + + +CHAPTER II. Langholm--Telford a Stonemason + +Telford apprenticed to a stonemason +Runs away +Re-apprenticed to a mason at Langholm +Building operations in the district +Miss Pasley lends books to young Telford +Attempt to write poetry +Becomes village letter-writer +Works as a journeyman mason +Employed on Langholm Bridge +Manse of Westerkirk +Poem of 'Eskdale' +Hews headstones and doorheads +Works as a mason at Edinburgh +Study of architecture +Revisits Eskdale +His ride to London + + +CHAPTER III. Arrives in London + +Telford a working man in London +Obtains employment as a mason at +Somerset House +Correspondence with Eskdale friends +Observations on his fellow-workman +Propses to begin business, but wants money +Mr. Pulteney +Becomes foreman of builders at Portsmouth Dockyard +Continues to write poetry +Employment of his time +Prints letters to his mother + + +CHAPTER IV. Becomes Surveyor for the County of Salop + +Superintends repairs of Shrewsbury Castle +Appointed Surveyor for County of Salop +Superintends erection of new gaol +Interview with John Howard +His studies in science and literature +Poetical exercises +Fall of St. Chad's Church, Shrewsburg +Discovery of the Roman city of Uriconium +Overseer of felons +Mrs. Jordan at Shrewsbury +Telford's indifference to music +Politics, Paine's 'Rights of Man' +Reprints his poem of 'Eskdale' + + +CHAPTER V. Telford's First Employment as an Engineer + +Advantages of mechanical training to an engineer +Erects Montford Bridge +Erects St. Mary Magdalen Church, Bridgenorth +Telford's design +Architectural tour +Bath +Studies in British Museum +Oxford +Birmingham +Study of architecture +Appointed Engineer to the Ellesmere Canal + + +CHAPTER VI. The Ellesmere Canal + +Course of the Ellesmire Canal +Success of the early canals +The Act obtained and working survey made +Chirk Aqueduct +Pont-Cysylltau Aqueduct, +Telford's hollow walls +His cast iron trough at Pont-Cysylltau +The canal works completed +Revists Eskdale +Early impressions corrected +Tours in Wales +Conduct of Ellesmere Canal navigation +His literary studies and compositions + + +CHAPTER VII. Iron and other Bridges + +Use of iron in bridge-building +Design of a Lyons architect +First iron bridge erected at Coalbrookdale +Tom paine's iron bridge +Wear iron bridge, Sunderland +Telford's iron bridge at Buildwas +His iron lock-gates and turn-bridges +Projects a one-arched bridge of iron over the Thames +Bewdley stone bridge +Tougueland Bridge +Extension of Telford's engineering buisness +Literary friendships +Thomas Campbell +Miscellaneous reading + + +CHAPTER VIII. Higland Roads and Bridges + +Progress of Scotch agriculture +Romilly's account +State of the Highlands +Want of roads +Use of the Cas-chrom +Emigration +Telford's survey of Scotland +Lord Cockburn's account of the difficulties of travelling +the North Circuit +Parliamentary Commission of Highland Roads and Bridges appointed +Dunkeld Bridge built +920 miles of new roads constucted +Craigellachie Bridge +Travelling facilitated +Agriculture improved +Moral results of Telford's Highland contracts +Rapid progress of the Lowlands +Results of parish schools + + +CHAPTER IX. Telford's Scotch Harbours + +Highland harbours +Wick and Pulteney Town +Columnar pier work +Peterhead Harbour +Frazerburgh Harbour +Bannf Harbour +Old history of Aberdeen, its witch-burning and slave-trading +Improvements of its harbour +Telford's design carried out +Dundee Harbour + + +CHAPTER X. Caledonian and other Canals + +Canal projected through the Great Glen of the Highlands +Survey by James Watt +Survey by Telford +Tide-basin at Corpach +Neptune's Staircase +Dock at Clachnaharry +The chain of lochs +Construction of the works +Commercial failure of the canal +Telford's disappointment +Glasgow and Ardrossan Canal +Weaver Navigation +Gotha Canal, Sweden +Gloucester and Berkeley, and other canals +Harecastle Tunnel +Birmingham Canal +Macclesfield Canal +Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal +Telford's pride in his canals + + +CHAPTER XI. Telford as a road-maker + +Increase of road-traffic +Improvement of the main routes between the principal towns +Carlisle and Glasgow road +Telford's principles of road-construction +Macadam +Cartland Crags Bridge +Improvement of the London and Edinburgh post road +Communications with Ireland +Wretched state of the Welsh roads +Telford's survey of the Shrewsbury and Holyhead road +Its construction +Roads and railways +London and Shrewsbury post road +Roads near London +Coast road, North Wales + + +CHAPTER XII. The Menai and Conway Bridges + +Bridges projected over the Menai Straits +Telford's designs +Ingenious plan of suspended centering +Design of a suspension bridge over the Mersey at Runcorn +Design of suspension bridge at Menai +The works begun +The main piers +The suspension chains +Hoisting of the first main chain +Progress of the works to completion +The bridge formally opened +Conway Suspension Bridge + + +CHAPTER XIII. Docks, Drainage, and Bridges + +Resume of English engineering +General increase in trade and poulation +The Thames +St. Katherine's Docks +Tewkesburg Bridge +Gloucester Bridge +Dean Bridge, Edinburgh +Glasgow Bridge +Telford's works of drainage in the Fens +The North Level +The Nene Outfall +Effects of Fen drainage + + +CHAPTER XIV. Southey's tour in the highlands + +Southey sets out to visit the Highlands in Telford's company +Works at Dundee Harbour +Bervie Harbour +Mitchell and Gibbs +Aberdeen Harbour +Approach to Banff +Cullen Harbour +The Forres road +Beauly Bridge +Bonar Bridge +Fleet Mound +Southey's description of the Caledonian Canal and works +John Mitchell +Takes leave of Telford +Results of Highland road-making + + +CHAPTER XV. Mr Telford's later years--His death and character + +Telford's residence in London +Leaves the Salopian +First President of Institute of Civil Engineers +Consulted by foreign Governments as to roads and bridges +His views on railways +Failure of health +Consulted as to Dover Harbour +Illness and death +His character +His friends +Integrity +Views on money-making +Benevolence +Patriotism +His Will +Libraries in Eskdale supported by his bequests + + +PREFACE + +The present is a revised and in some respects enlarged edition of +the 'Life of Telford,' originally published in the 'Lives of the +Engineers,' to which is prefixed an account of the early roads and +modes of travelling in Britain. + +From this volume, read in connection with the Lives of George and +Robert Stephenson, in which the origin and extension of Railways is +described, an idea may be formed of the extraordinary progress +which has been made in opening up the internal communications of +this country during the last century. + +Among the principal works executed by Telford in the course of his +life, were the great highways constructed by him in North Wales and +the Scotch Highlands, through districts formerly almost inaccessible, +but which are now as easily traversed as any English county. + +By means of these roads, and the facilities afforded by railways, +the many are now enabled to visit with ease and comfort magnificent +mountain scenery, which before was only the costly privilege of the +few; at the same time that their construction has exercised a most +beneficial influence on the population of the districts themselves. + +The Highland roads, which were constructed with the active +assistance of the Government, and were maintained partly at the +public expense until within the last few years, had the effect of +stimulating industry, improving agriculture, and converting a +turbulent because unemployed population into one of the most loyal +and well-conditioned in the empire;-- the policy thus adopted with +reference to the Highlands, and the beneficial results which have +flowed from it, affording the strongest encouragement to Government +in dealing in like manner with the internal communications of +Ireland. + +While the construction of the Highland roads was in progress, +the late Robert Southey, poet laureate, visited the Highlands in +company with his friend the engineer, and left on record an +interesting account of his visit, in a, manuscript now in the +possession of Robert Rawlinson, C.E., to whom we are indebted for +the extracts which are made from it in the present volume. + +London, October, 1867. + + +EARLY ROADS AND MODES OF TRAVELLING. + + +CHAPTER I. OLD ROADS. + +Roads have in all times been among the most influential agencies of +society; and the makers of them, by enabling men readily to +communicate with each other, have properly been regarded as among +the most effective pioneers of civilization. + +Roads are literally the pathways not only of industry, but of +social and national intercourse. Wherever a line of communication +between men is formed, it renders commerce practicable; and, +wherever commerce penetrates, it 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 +outlets 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 nation. + +The road is so necessary an instrument of social wellbeing, +that in every new colony it is one of the first things thought of. +First roads, then commerce, institutions, schools, churches, +and newspapers. The new country, as well as the old, can only be +effectually "opened up," as the common phrase is, by roads +and 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 bringing the ends of a kingdom together, they reduce the +inequalities of fortune and station, and, by equalizing 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 instrumentality +an immense range of country is brought as it were to their very doors, +and the sustenance and employment of large masses of people become +comparatively easy. + +In the raw materials required for food, for manufactures, 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 these articles +become, and the more they are multiplied and 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 restricted in all directions, and a +large proportion of the inhabitants concentrated in the large towns +must at certain seasons inevitably perish of cold and hunger. + +In the earlier periods of English history, 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--as on the downs of Wiltshire, the moors of +Devonshire, and the wolds of Yorkshire--stone tracks were laid down +by the tribes between one village and another. We have given here, +a representation of one of those ancient trackways still existing +in the neighbourhood of Whitby, in Yorkshire; + +[Image] Ancient Causeway, near Whitby. + +and there are many of the same description to be met with in other +parts of England. In some districts they are called trackways or +ridgeways, being 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. + +The Romans, with many other arts, first brought into England 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 their roads, as well as their legions, that made +them masters of the world; and the pickaxe, not less than the sword, +was the ensign of their dominion. Wherever they went, they opened +up the communications of the countries they subdued, and the roads +which they made were among the best of their kind. They were +skilfully laid out and solidly constructed. For centuries after +the Romans left England, their roads continued to be the main +highways of internal communication, and their remains are to this +day to be traced in many parts of the country. Settlements were +made and towns sprang up along the old "streets;" and the numerous +Stretfords, Stratfords, and towns ending' in "le-street" +--as Ardwick-le-street, in Yorkshire, and Chester-le-street, +in Durham--mostly mark the direction of these ancient lines of road. +There are also numerous Stanfords, which were so called because they +bordered the raised military roadways of the Romans, which ran +direct between their stations. + +The last-mentioned peculiarity of the roads constructed by the +Romans, must have struck many observers. Level does not seem to +have been of consequence, compared with directness. This +peculiarity is supposed to have originated in an imperfect +knowledge of mechanics; for the Romans do not appear to have been +acquainted with the moveable joint in wheeled carriages. +The carriage-body rested solid 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 the great Roman highways were constructed in as +straight lines as possible. + +On the departure of the Romans from Britain, most of the roads +constructed by them were allowed to fall into decay, on which the +forest and the waste gradually resumed their dominion over them, +and the highways 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 +maintained 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;*[1] but nothing was proposed for amending 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. Giles's-in-the-Fields to 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 remarkable statutes were passed +relating to certain worn-out and impracticable roads in Sussex and +the Weald of Kent. From the earliest of these, it would appear +that when the old roads were found too deep and miry to be passed, +they were merely abandoned and new tracks struck out. After +describing "many of the wayes in the wealds as so depe and noyous +by wearyng and course of water and other occasions that people +cannot have their carriages or passages by horses uppon or by the +same but to their great paynes, perill and jeopardie," the Act +provided that owners of land might, with the consent of two +justices and twelve discreet men of the hundred, lay out new roads +and close up the old ones. 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 measures were for the most part merely permissive, +they could have had but little practical effect in improving the +communications of the kingdom. In the reign of Philip and Mary +(in 1555), an Act was passed providing that each parish should elect +two surveyors of highways to see to the maintenance of their +repairs by compulsory labour, the preamble reciting that +"highwaies are now both verie noisome and tedious to travell in, +and dangerous to all passengers and cariages;" 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 the reigns of Elizabeth and James, other road Acts were passed; +but, from the statements of contemporary writers, it would appear +that they were followed by very little substantial progress, and +travelling continued to be attended with many difficulties. Even in +the neighbourhood of the metropolis, the highways were in certain +seasons scarcely passable. The great Western road into London was +especially bad, and about Knightsbridge, in winter, the traveller +had to wade through deep mud. Wyatt's men entered the city by this +approach in the rebellion of 1554, and were called the "draggle-tails" +because of their wretched plight. The ways were equally bad as far +as Windsor, which, in the reign of Elizabeth, is described by Pote, +in his history of that town, as being "not much past half a day's +journeye removed from the flourishing citie of London." + +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 land of the country was still +mostly unenclosed, and it was 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 sloughs, +were usually careful to keep along the higher grounds; but, to +prevent those horsemen who departed from the beaten track being +swallowed up in quagmires, beacons were erected to warn them +against the more dangerous places.*[2] + +In some of the older-settled districts of England, the old roads +are still to be traced in the hollow Ways or Lanes, which are to +be met with, in some places, eight and ten feet deep. They were +horse-tracks in summer, and rivulets in winter. By dint of +weather and travel, the earth was gradually worn into these deep +furrows, many of which, in Wilts, Somerset, and Devon, represent +the tracks of roads as old as, if not older than, 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 graphically described in the ballad +of "The Devonshire Lane."*[3] + +Similar roads existed until recently in the immediate neighbourhood +of Birmingham, now the centre of an immense traffic. The sandy +soil was sawn through, as it were, by generation after generation +of human feet, and by packhorses, helped by the rains, until in +some places the tracks were as much as from twelve to fourteen +yards deep; one of these, partly filled up, retaining 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 horseman, 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 notoriety. +Chancellor Cowper, when a barrister on circuit, wrote to his wife +in 1690, that "the Sussex ways are bad and ruinous beyond +imagination. I vow 'tis melancholy consideration that mankind will +in habit 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 were +rowed thither in boats. Fuller saw an old lady being drawn to +church in her own coach by the aid of six oxen. The Sussex roads +were indeed so bad as to pass into a by-word. A contemporary +writer says, that in travelling a slough of extraordinary miryness, +it used to be called "the Sussex bit of the road;" and he +satirically alleged that 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!*[4] +But the roads in the immediate neighbourhood of London long +continued almost as bad as those in Sussex. Thus, when the poet +Cowley retired to Chertsey, in 1665, he 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 the 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." + +Nor was the mud any respecter of persons; 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 was even capsized in the mud. About the same time, the streets +of London themselves were little better, the kennel being still +permitted to flow in the middle of the road, which was paved with +round stones,--flag-stones for the convenience of pedestrians +being as yet unknown. In short, the streets in the towns and the +roads in the country were alike rude and wretched,--indicating a +degree of social stagnation and discomfort which it is now +difficult to estimate, and almost impossible to describe. + + +Footnotes for chapter I + +*[1] Brunetto Latini, the tutor of Dante, describes a journey made +by him from London to Oxford about the end of the thirteenth +century, resting by the way at Shirburn Castle. He says, +"Our journey from London to Oxford was, with some difficulty and +danger, made in two days; for the roads are bad, and we had to +climb hills of hazardous ascent, and which to descend are equally +perilous. We passed through many woods, considered here as +dangerous places, as they are infested with robbers, which indeed +is the case with most of the roads in England. This is a +circumstance connived at by the neighbouring barons, on +consideration of sharing in the booty, and of these robbers serving +as their protectors on all occasions, personally, and with the +whole strength of their band. However, as our company was +numerous, we had less to fear. Accordingly, we arrived the first +night at Shirburn Castle, in the neighbourhood of Watlington, under +the chain of hills over which we passed at Stokenchurch." This +passage is given in Mr. Edward's work on 'Libraries' (p. 328), +as supplied to him by Lady Macclesfield. + +*[2] See Ogilby's 'Britannia Depicta,' the traveller's ordinary +guidebook between 1675 and 1717, as Bradshaw's Railway Time-book is +now. The Grand Duke Cosmo, in his 'Travels in England in 1669,' +speaks of the country between Northampton and Oxford as for the +most part unenclosed and uncultivated, abounding in weeds. From +Ogilby's fourth edition, published in 1749, it appears that the +roads in the midland and northern districts of England were still, +for the most part, entirely unenclosed. + +*[3] This ballad is so descriptive of the old roads of the +south-west of England that we are tempted to quote it at length. +It was written by the Rev. John Marriott, sometime vicar of +Broadclist, Devon; and Mr. Rowe, vicar of Crediton, says, in his +'Perambulation of Dartmoor,' that he can readily imagine the +identical lane near Broadclist, leading towards Poltemore, which +might have sat for the portrait. + + In a Devonshire lane, as I trotted along + T'other day, much in want of a subject for song, + Thinks I to myself, half-inspired by the rain, + 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, + And care pushes by them with dirt-laden 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 roam, + Looks lovely, when deck'd with the comforts of home. + + In the rock's gloomy crevice the bright holly grows; + The ivy waves fresh o'er the withering rose, + And the ever-green love of a virtuous wife + Soothes the roughness of care, cheers the winter of life. + + Then long be the journey, and narrow the way, + I'll rejoice that I've seldom a turnpike to pay; + And whate'er others say, be the last to complain, + Though marriage is just like a Devonshire lane. + +*[4] Iter Sussexiense.' By Dr. John Burton. + + +CHAPTER II. + +EARLY MODES OF CONVEYANCE. + +Such being the ancient 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. Judges rode circuit +in jack-boots. Gentlemen rode and robbers rode. The Bar sometimes +walked and sometimes rode. Chaucer's ride to Canterbury will be +remembered as long as the English 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 ancient style of travelling +among the humbler classes in his 'Henry IV.'*[1] + +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. + +Distinguished personages sometimes rode in horse-litters; but +riding on horseback was generally preferred. Queen Elizabeth made +most of her journeys in this way,*[2] and when she went into the +City she rode on a pillion behind her Lord Chancellor. The Queen, +however, was at length 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 Boomen, a Dutchman. 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 account, +it must have been an excessively painful means of conveyance. +At one of the first audiences which the Queen gave to the French +ambassador in 1568, she feelingly described to him "the aching +pains she was suffering in consequence of having been knocked about +in a coach which had been driven a little too fast, only a few days +before."*[3] + +Such coaches were at first only used on state occasions. +The roads, even in the immediate neighbourhood of London, were so +bad and so narrow that the vehicles could not be taken into the +country. But, as the roads became improved, the fashion of using +them spread. When the aristocracy removed from the City to the +western parts of the metropolis, they could be better accommodated, +and in course of time they became gradually adopted. They were +still, however, neither more nor less than waggons, and, indeed, +were called by that name; but wherever they went they excited great +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."*[4] + +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 the conveyance of ladies and +others unable to bear the fatigue of riding on horseback. +The first carriages were heavy and lumbering: and upon the execrable +roads of the time they went pitching over the stones and into the +ruts, with the pole dipping and rising like a ship in a rolling sea. +That they had no springs, is clear enough from the statement of +Taylor, the water-poet--who deplored the introduction of carriages +as a national calamity--that in the paved streets of London men and +women were "tossed, 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 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. Of one of Queen Elizabeth's +journeys it is said:-- "It was marvellous for ease and expedition, +for such is the perfect evenness of the new highway that Her +Majesty left the coach only once, while the hinds and the folk of a +base sort lifted it on with their poles." + +Sussex long continued impracticable for coach travelling at certain +seasons. As late as 1708, Prince George of Denmark had the +greatest difficulty in making his way to Petworth to meet Charles VI. +of Spain. "The last nine miles of the way," says the reporter, +"cost us six hours to conquer them." One of the couriers in +attendance complained that during fourteen hours he never once +alighted, except when the coach overturned, or stuck in the mud. + +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 Session passed without presentments from the grand jury +against certain districts on account of the bad state of the roads, +and many were the fines which the judges imposed upon them as a +set-off against their bruises and other damages while on circuit. + +For a long time the roads continued barely practicable for wheeled +vehicles of the rudest sort, though Fynes Morison (writing in the +time of James I.) gives an account of "carryers, who have long +covered waggons, in which they carry passengers from place to +place; but this kind of journeying," he says, "is so tedious, by +reason they must take waggon very early and come very late to their +innes, that none but women and people of inferior condition travel +in this sort." + +[Image] The Old Stage Waggon. + +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 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. + +A curious description of the state of the Great North Road, in the +time of Charles II., is to be found in a tract published in 1675 by +Thomas Mace, one of the clerks of Trinity College, Cambridge. The +writer there addressed himself to the King, partly in prose and +partly in verse; complaining greatly of the "wayes, which are so +grossly foul and bad;" and suggesting various remedies. He pointed +out that much ground "is now spoiled and trampled down in all wide +roads, where coaches and carts take liberty to pick and chuse for +their best advantages; besides, such sprawling and straggling of +coaches and carts utterly confound the road in all wide places, so +that it is not only unpleasurable, but extreme perplexin and +cumbersome both to themselves and all horse travellers." It would +thus appear that the country on either side of the road was as yet +entirely unenclosed. + +But Mace's principal complaint was of the "innumerable +controversies, quarrellings, and disturbances" caused by the +packhorse-men, in their struggles as to which convoy should pass +along the cleaner parts of the road. From what he states, it would +seem that these "disturbances, daily committed by uncivil, +refractory, and rude Russian-like rake-shames, in contesting for +the way, too often proved mortal, and certainly were of very bad +consequences to many." He recommended a quick and prompt punishment +in all such cases. "No man," said he, "should be pestered by +giving the way (sometimes) to hundreds of pack-horses, panniers, +whifflers (i.e. paltry fellows), coaches, waggons, wains, carts, +or whatsoever others, which continually are very grievous to weary +and loaden travellers; but more especially near the city and upon a +market day, when, a man having travelled a long and tedious +journey, his horse well nigh spent, shall sometimes be compelled to +cross out of his way twenty times in one mile's riding, by the +irregularity and peevish crossness of such-like whifflers and +market women; yea, although their panniers be clearly empty, they +will stoutly contend for the way with weary travellers, be they +never so many, or almost of what quality soever." "Nay," said he +further, "I have often known many travellers, and myself very +often, to have been necessitated to stand stock still behind a +standing cart or waggon, on most beastly and unsufferable deep wet +wayes, to the great endangering of our horses, and neglect of +important business: nor durst we adventure to stirr (for most +imminent danger of those deep rutts, and unreasonable ridges) till +it has pleased Mister Garter to jog on, which we have taken very +kindly." + +Mr. Mace's plan of road reform was not extravagant. He mainly +urged that only two good tracks should be maintained, and the road +be not allowed to spread out into as many as half-a-dozen very bad +ones, presenting high ridges and deep ruts, full of big stones, +and many quagmires. Breaking out into verse, he said -- + + "First let the wayes be regularly brought + To artificial form, and truly wrought; + So that we can suppose them firmly mended, + And in all parts the work well ended, + That not a stone's amiss; but all compleat, + All lying smooth, round, firm, and wondrous neat." + +After a good deal more in the same strain, he concluded-- + + "There's only one thing yet worth thinking on + which is, to put this work in execution."*[5] + +But we shall find that more than a hundred years passed before the +roads throughout England were placed in a more satisfactory state +than they were in the time of Mr. Mace. + +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 passengers 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 practicable 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 existence of a +stagecoach, 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 montrero 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, in which he says, +"I got to London on Saturday last; but my journey was noe ways +pleasant, 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."*[6] +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 1679, from which +latter place he had to proceed by Leeds in the usual way on +horseback. This Hull vehicle did not run in winter, because of the +state of the roads; stagecoaches being usually laid up in that +season like ships during Arctic frosts.*[7] + +Afterwards, when a coach was put on between York and Leeds, it +performed the journey of twenty-four miles in eight hours;*[8] +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 occasions +narrowly escaped drowning there. Once, on his journey to London, +some showers fell, which "raised the washes upon the road near Ware +to that height that passengers from London that were upon that road +swam, and a poor higgler was drowned, which prevented me travelling +for many hours; yet towards evening we adventured with some country +people, who conducted us over the meadows, whereby we missed the +deepest of the Wash at Cheshunt, though we rode to the +saddle-skirts for a considerable way, but got safe to Waltham +Cross, where we lodged."*[9] On another occasion Thoresby was +detained four days at Stamford by the state of the roads, and was +only extricated from his position by a company of fourteen members +of the House of Commons travelling towards London, who took him +into their convoy, and set out on their way southward attended by +competent guides. When the "waters were out," as the saying went, +the country became closed, the roads being simply impassable. +During the Civil Wars eight hundred horse were taken prisoners +while sticking in the mud.*[10] When rain fell, pedestrians, +horsemen, and coaches alike came to a standstill until the roads +dried again and enabled the wayfarers to proceed. Thus we read of +two travellers stopped by the rains within a few miles of Oxford, +who found it impossible to accomplish their journey in consequence +of the waters that covered the country thereabout. + +A curious account has been preserved of the journey of an Irish +Viceroy across North Wales towards Dublin in 1685. The roads were +so horrible that instead of the Viceroy being borne along in his +coach, the coach itself had to be borne after him the greater part +of the way. He was five hours in travelling between St. Asaph and +Conway, a distance of only fourteen miles. Between Conway and +Beaumaris he was forced to walk, while his wife was borne along in +a litter. The carriages were usually taken to pieces at Conway and +carried on the shoulders of stout Welsh peasants to be embarked at +the Straits of Menai. + +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,'*[11] stagecoaches and caravans were +denounced as among the greatest evils that had happened to the +kingdom, Being alike mischievous to the public, destructive to +trade, and prejudicial to the landed interest. It was alleged that +travelling by coach 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 interfered with the public +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 horseback +--"not being 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 camp 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 +travelling in coaches doth in no way do."*[12] 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 gigantic nature +of the evil he was contending against, he averred that between +London and the three principal towns of York, Chester, and Exeter, +not fewer than eighteen persons, making the journey in five days, +travelled by them weekly the coaches running thrice in the week), +and a like number back; "which come, in the whole, to eighteen +hundred and seventy-two in the year." Another great nuisance, +the writer alleged, which flowed from the establishment of the +stage-coaches, was, that not only did the gentlemen from the +country come to London in them oftener than they need, but their +ladies either came with them or quickly followed them. "And when +they are there they must be in the mode, have all the new fashions, +buy all their clothes there, and go to plays, balls, and treats, +where they get such a habit of jollity and a love to gaiety and +pleasure, that nothing afterwards in the country will serve them , +if ever they should fix their minds to live there again; but they +must have all from London, whatever it costs." + +Then there were the grievous discomforts of stage-coach travelling, +to be set against the more noble method of travelling by horseback, +as of yore. "What advantage is it to men's health," says the +writer, waxing wroth, "to be called out of their beds into these +coaches, an hour before day in the morning; to be hurried in them +from place to place, till one hour, two, or three within night; +insomuch that, after sitting all day in the summer-time stifled +with heat and choked with dust, or in the winter-time starving and +freezing with cold or choked with filthy fogs, they are often +brought into their inns by torchlight, when it is too late to sit +up to get a supper; and next morning they are forced into the coach +so early that they can get no breakfast? What addition is this to +men's health or business to ride all day with strangers, oftentimes +sick, antient, diseased persons, or young children crying; to whose +humours they are obliged to be subject, forced to bear with, and +many times are poisoned with their nasty scents and crippled by the +crowd of boxes and bundles? Is it for a man's health to travel with +tired jades, to be laid fast in the foul ways and forced to wade up +to the knees in mire; afterwards sit in the cold till teams of +horses can be sent to pull the coach out? Is it for their health to +travel in rotten coaches and to have their tackle, perch, or +axle-tree broken, and then to wait three or four hours (sometimes +half a day) to have them mended, and then to travel all night to +make good their stage? Is it for a man's pleasure, or advantageous +to his health and business, to travel with a mixed company that he +knows not how to converse with; to be affronted by the rudeness of +a surly, dogged, cursing, ill-natured coachman; necessitated to +lodge or bait at the worst inn on the road, where there is no +accommodation fit for gentlemen; and this merely because the owners +of the inns and the coachmen are agreed together to cheat the +guests?" Hence the writer loudly called for the immediate +suppression of stagecoaches as a great nuisance and crying evil. + +Travelling by coach was in early times a very deliberate affair. +Time was of less consequence than safety, and coaches were +advertised to start "God willing," and "about" such and such an +hour "as shall seem good" to the majority of the passengers. +The difference of a day in the journey from London to York was a +small matter, and Thoresby was even accustomed to leave the coach +and go in search of fossil shells in the fields on either side the +road while making the journey between the two places. The long coach +"put up" at sun-down, and "slept on the road." Whether the coach +was to proceed or to stop at some favourite inn, was determined by +the vote of the passengers, who usually appointed a chairman at the +beginning of the journey. + +In 1700, York was a week distant from London, and Tunbridge Wells, +now reached in an hour, was two days. Salisbury and Oxford were +also each a two days journey, Dover was three days, and Exeter +five. The Fly coach from London to Exeter slept at the latter place +the fifth night from town; the coach proceeding next morning to +Axminster, where it breakfasted, and there a woman Barber "shaved +the coach."*[13] + +Between London and Edinburgh, as late as 1763, a fortnight was +consumed, the coach only starting once a month.*[14] The risk of +breaks-down in driving over the execrable roads may be inferred +from the circumstance that every coach carried with it a box of +carpenter's tools, and the hatchets were occasionally used in +lopping off the branches of trees overhanging the road and +obstructing the travellers' progress. + +Some fastidious persons, disliking the slow travelling, as well as +the promiscuous company which they ran the risk of encountering in +the stage, were accustomed to advertise for partners in a postchaise, +to share the charges and lessen the dangers of the road; and, +indeed, to a sensitive person anything must have been preferable to +the misery of travelling by the Canterbury stage, as thus described +by a contemporary writer:-- + + "On both sides squeez'd, how highly was I blest, + Between two plump old women to be presst! + A corp'ral fierce, a nurse, a child that cry'd, + And a fat landlord, filled the other side. + Scarce dawns the morning ere the cumbrous load + Boils roughly rumbling o'er the rugged road: + One old wife coughs and wheezes in my ears, + Loud scolds the other, and the soldier swears; + Sour unconcocted breath escapes 'mine host,' + The sick'ning child returns his milk and toast!" + +When Samuel Johnson was taken by his mother to London in 1712, to +have him touched by Queen Anne for "the evil," he relates,-- +"We went in the stage-coach and returned in the waggon, as my mother +said, because my cough was violent; but the hope of saving a few +shillings was no slight motive.... She sewed two guineas in her +petticoat lest she should be robbed.... We were troublesome to the +passengers; but to suffer such inconveniences in the stage-coach +was common in those days to parsons in much higher rank." + +Mr. Pennant has left us the following account of his journey in +the Chester stage to London in 1789-40: "The first day," says he, +"with much labour, we got from Chester to Whitchurch, twenty +miles; the second day to the 'Welsh Harp;' the third, to Coventry; +the fourth, to Northampton; the fifth, to Dunstable; and, as a +wondrous effort, on the last, to London, before the commencement of +night. The strain and labour of six good horses, sometimes eight, +drew us through the sloughs of Mireden and many other places. +We were constantly out two hours before day, and as late at night, +and in the depth of winter proportionally later. The single +gentlemen, then a hardy race, equipped in jackboots and trowsers, +up to their middle, rode post through thick and thin, and, guarded +against the mire, defied the frequent stumble and fall, arose and +pursued their journey with alacrity; while, in these days, their +enervated posterity sleep away their rapid journeys in easy +chaises, fitted for the conveyance of the soft inhabitants of +Sybaris." + +No wonder, therefore, that a great deal of the travelling of the +country continued to be performed on horseback, this being by far +the pleasantest as well as most expeditious mode of journeying. +On his marriage-day, Dr. Johnson rode from Birmingham to Derby with +his Tetty, taking the opportunity of the journey to give his bride +her first lesson in marital discipline. At a later period James +Watt rode from Glasgow to London, when proceeding thither to learn +the art of mathematical instrument making. + +And it was a cheap and pleasant method of travelling when the +weather was fine. The usual practice was, to buy a horse at the +beginning of such a journey, and to sell the animal at the end of +it. Dr. Skene, of Aberdeen, travelled from London to Edinburgh in +1753, being nineteen days on the road, the whole expenses of the +journey amounting to only four guineas. The mare on which he rode, +cost him eight guineas in London, and he sold her for the same +price on his arrival in Edinburgh. + +Nearly all the commercial gentlemen rode their own horses, carrying +their samples and luggage in two bags at the saddle-bow; and hence +their appellation of Riders or Bagmen. For safety's sake, they +usually journeyed in company; for the dangers of travelling were +not confined merely to the ruggedness of the roads. The highways +were infested by troops of robbers and vagabonds who lived by +plunder. Turpin and Bradshaw beset the Great North Road; Duval, +Macheath, Maclean, and hundreds of notorious highwaymen infested +Hounslow Heath, Finchley Common, Shooter's Hill, and all the +approaches to the metropolis. A very common sight then, was a +gibbet erected by the roadside, with the skeleton of some +malefactor hanging from it in chains; and " Hangman's-lanes" were +especially numerous in the neighbourhood of London.*[15] It was +considered most unsafe to travel after dark, and when the first +"night coach" was started, the risk was thought too great, and it +was not patronised. + +[Image] The Night Coach + +Travellers armed themselves on setting out upon 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."*[16] + +Thoresby, in his Diary, alludes with awe to his having passed +safely "the great common where Sir Ralph Wharton slew the +highwayman," and he also makes special mention of Stonegate Hole, +"a notorious robbing place" near Grantham. Like every other +traveller, that good man carried loaded pistols in his bags, and on +one occasion he was thrown into great consternation near Topcliffe, +in Yorkshire, on missing them, believing that they had been +abstracted by some designing rogues at the inn where he had last +slept.*[17] 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 Rattray, 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. Robberies 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 Rattray 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 Bellsize 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, Vauxhall, and Ranelagh advertised +similar advantages. Foot passengers proceeding towards Kensington +and Paddington in the evening, would wait until a sufficiently +numerous band had collected to set footpads at defiance, and then +they started in company at known intervals, of which a bell gave +due warning. 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 Walpole relates a number of curious instances +of this sort, he himself having been robbed in broad day, with Lord +Eglinton, Sir Thomas Robinson, Lady Albemarle, and many more. +A curious robbery of the Portsmouth 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-bag from off the horse's crupper +and got away undiscovered! + +The means adopted for the transport of merchandise were as tedious +and difficult as those ordinarily employed for the conveyance of +passengers. Corn and wool were sent to market on horses' +backs,*[18] manure was carried to the fields in panniers, and fuel +was conveyed from the moss or the forest in the same way. During +the winter months, the markets were inaccessible; and while in some +localities the supplies of food were distressingly deficient, in +others the superabundance actually rotted from the impossibility +of consuming it or of transporting it to places where it was +needed. The little coal used in the southern counties was +principally sea-borne, though pack-horses occasionally carried coal +inland for the supply of the blacksmiths' forges. When Wollaton +Hall was built by John of Padua for Sir Francis Willoughby in 1580, +the stone was all brought on horses' backs from Ancaster, in +Lincolnshire, thirty-five miles distant, and they loaded back with +coal, which was taken in exchange for the stone. + +[Image] The Pack-horse Convoy + +The little trade which existed between one part of the kingdom and +another was carried on by means of packhorses, along roads little +better than bridle-paths. These horses travelled in lines, with +the bales or panniers strapped across their backs. The foremost +horse bore a bell or a collar of bells, and was hence called the +"bell-horse." He was selected because of his sagacity; and by the +tinkling 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 meeting convoys was to pass down +into the dirt and allow the other to pass along the bridleway. The +pack-horses not only carried merchandise but passengers, and at +certain times scholars proceeding to and from Oxford and Cambridge. +When Smollett went from Glasgow to London, he travelled partly on +pack-horse, partly by waggon, and partly on foot; and the +adventures which he described as having befallen Roderick Random +are supposed to have been drawn in a great measure from his own +experiences during; the journey. + +A cross-country merchandise traffic gradually sprang up between the +northern counties, since become pre-eminently the manufacturing +districts of England; and long lines of pack-horses laden with +bales of wool and cotton traversed the hill ranges which divide +Yorkshire from Lancashire. Whitaker says that as late as 1753 the +roads near Leeds consisted of a narrow hollow way little wider than +a ditch, barely allowing of the passage of a vehicle drawn in a +single line; this deep narrow road being flanked by an elevated +causeway covered with flags or boulder stones. When travellers +encountered each other on this narrow track, they often tried to +wear out each other's patience rather than descend into the dirt +alongside. The raw wool and bale goods of the district were nearly +all carried along these flagged ways on the backs of single horses; +and it is difficult to imagine the delay, the toil, and the perils +by which the conduct of the traffic was attended. On horseback +before daybreak and long after nightfall, these hardy sons of trade +pursued their object with the spirit and intrepidity of foxhunters; +and the boldest of their country neighbours had no reason to +despise either their horsemanship or their courage.*[19] +The Manchester trade was carried on in the same way. The chapmen +used to keep gangs of pack-horses, which accompanied them to all the +principal towns, bearing their goods in packs, which they sold to +their customers, bringing back sheep's wool and other raw materials +of manufacture. + +The only records of this long-superseded mode of communication are +now to be traced on the signboards of wayside public-houses. +Many of the old roads still exist in Yorkshire and Lancashire; but +all that remains of the former traffic is the pack-horse still +painted on village sign-boards -- things as retentive of odd bygone +facts as the picture-writing of the ancient Mexicans.*[20] + +Footnotes for Chapter II. + +*[1] King Henry the Fourth (Part I.), Act II. Scene 1. + +*[2] Part of the riding road along which the Queen was accustomed +to pass on horseback between her palaces at Greenwich and Eltham is +still in existence, a little to the south of Morden College, +Blackheath. It winds irregularly through the fields, broad in some +places, and narrow in others. Probably it is very little different +from what it was when used as a royal road. It is now very +appropriately termed "Muddy Lane." + +*[3] 'Depeches de La Mothe Fenelon,' 8vo., 1858. Vol. i. p. 27. + +*[4] Nichols's ' Progresses,' vol. ii., 309. + +*[5] The title of Mace's tract (British Museum) is "The Profit, +Conveniency, and Pleasure for the whole nation: being a short +rational Discourse lately presented to his Majesty concerning the +Highways of England: their badness, the causes thereof, the reasons +of these causes, the impossibility of ever having them well mended +according to the old way of mending: but may most certainly be +done, and for ever so maintained (according to this NEW WAY) +substantially and with very much ease, &c., &c. Printed for the +public good in the year 1675." + +*[6] See Archaelogia, xx., pp. 443-76. + +*[7] "4th May, 1714. Morning: we dined at Grantham, had the annual +solemnity (this being the first time the coach passed the road in +May), and the coachman and horses being decked with ribbons and +flowers, the town music and young people in couples before us; we +lodged at Stamford, a scurvy, dear town. 5th May: had other +passengers, which, though females, were more chargeable with wine +and brandy than the former part of the journey, wherein we had +neither; but the next day we gave them leave to treat themselves." +--Thoresby's 'Diary,' vol. ii., 207. + +*[8] "May 22, 1708. At York. Rose 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 poor family."--Thoresby's 'Diary,' vol. ii., 7. + +*[9] Thoresby's 'Diary,' vol. i.,295. + +*[10] Waylen's 'Marlborough.' + +*[11] Reprinted in the 'Harleian Miscellany,' vol. viii., p. 547. +supposed to have been written by one John Gressot, of the +Charterhouse. + +*[12] There were other publications of the time as absurd (viewed +by the light of the present day) as Gressot's. Thus, "A Country +Tradesman," addressing the public in 1678, in a pamphlet entitled +'The Ancient Trades decayed, repaired again,--wherein are +declared the several abuses that have utterly impaired all the +ancient trades in the Kingdom,' urges that the chief cause of the +evil had been the setting up of Stage-coaches some twenty years +before. Besides the reasons for suppressing; them set forth in the +treatise referred to in the text, he says, "Were it not' for them +(the Stage-coaches), there would be more Wine, Beer, and Ale, drunk +in the Inns than is now, which would be a means to augment the +King's Custom and Excise. Furthermore they hinder the breed of +horses in this kingdom [the same argument was used against Railways], +because many would be necessitated to keep a good horse that keeps +none now. Seeing, then, that there are few that are gainers by them, +and that they are against the common and general good of the +Nation, and are only a conveniency to some that have occasion to go +to London, who might still have the same wages as before these +coaches were in use, therefore there is good reason they should be +suppressed. Not but that it may be lawful to hire a coach upon +occasion, but that it should be unlawful only to keep a coach that +should go long journeys constantly, from one stage or place to +another, upon certain days of the week as they do now"-- p. 27. + +*[13] Roberts's 'Social History of the Southern Counties,' p. 494. +Little more than a century ago, we find the following advertisement +of a Newcastle flying coach:-- "May 9, 1734.--A coach will set out +towards the end of next week for London, or any place on the road. +To be performed in nine days,--being three days sooner than any +other coach that travels the road; for which purpose eight stout +horses are stationed at proper distances." + +*[14] 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 Manchester, wrote to a friend in the latter place to +send her a hired coach, because the man knew the road, having +brought from thence a family some time before."--Aikin's 'Manchester.' + +*[15] Lord Campbell mentions the remarkable circumstance that +Popham, afterwards Lord Chief Justice in the reign of Elizabeth, +took to the road in early life, and robbed travellers on Gad's +Hill. Highway robbery could not, however, have been considered a +very ignominious pursuit at that time, as during Popham's youth a +statute was made by which, on a first conviction for robbery, a +peer of the realm or lord of parliament was entitled to have +benefit of clergy, "though he cannot read!" What is still more +extraordinary is, that Popham is supposed to have continued in his +course as 'a highwayman even after he was called to the Bar. +This seems to have been quite notorious, for when he was 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.--Campbell's 'Chief Justices,' i., +210. + +*[16] Travels of Cosmo the Third, Grand Duke of Tuscany,' p. 147. + +*[17] "It is as common a custom, as a cunning policie 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 inform 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,' &c., 1659. See also 'Street Robberies Considered; +a Warning for Housekeepers,' 1676; 'Hanging not Punishment Enough,' +1701; &c. + +*[18] The food of London was then principally brought to town in +panniers. The population being comparatively small, the feeding of +London was still practicable in this way; besides, the city always +possessed the great advantage of the Thames, which secured a supply +of food by sea. In 'The Grand Concern of England Explained,' it is +stated that the hay, straw, beans, peas, and oats, used in London, +were principally raised within a circuit of twenty miles of the +metropolis; but large quantities were also brought from +Henley-on-thames and other western parts, as well as from below +Gravesend, by water; and many ships laden with beans came from +Hull, and with oats from Lynn and Boston. + +*[19] 'Loides and Elmete, by T.D. Whitaker, LL.D., 1816, p. 81. +Notwithstanding its dangers, Dr. Whitaker seems to have been of +opinion that the old mode of travelling was even safer than that +which immediately followed it; "Under the old state of roads and +manners," he says, "it was impossible that more than one death +could happen at once; what, by any possibility, could take place +analogous to a race betwixt two stage-coaches, in which the lives +of thirty or forty distressed and helpless individuals are at the +mercy of two intoxicated brutes?" + +*[20] In the curious collection of old coins at the Guildhall there +are several halfpenny tokens issued by the proprietors of inns +bearing the sign of the pack-horse, Some of these would indicate +that packhorses were kept for hire. We append a couple of +illustrations of these curious old coins. + +[Image] + + +CHAPTER III. + +MANNERS AND CUSTOMS INFLUENCED BY THE STATE OF THE ROADS. + +While the road communications of the country remained thus imperfect, +the people of one part of England knew next to nothing of the other. +When a shower of rain had the effect of rendering the highways +impassable, even horsemen were cautious in venturing far from home. +But only a very limited number of persons could then afford to +travel on horseback. The labouring people journeyed on foot, +while the middle class used the waggon or the coach. But the amount +of intercourse between the people of different districts +--then exceedingly limited at all times--was, in a country so wet +as England, necessarily suspended for all classes during the greater +part of the year. + +The imperfect communication existing between districts had the +effect of perpetuating numerous local dialects, local prejudices, +and local customs, which survive to a certain extent to this day; +though they are rapidly disappearing, to the regret of many, under +the influence of 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 a long beard. There were ghosts in the fens which walked on +stilts, while the sprites of the hill country rode on flashes of +fire. But the village witches and local ghosts have long since +disappeared, excepting perhaps in a few of the less penetrable +districts, where they may 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 kind of ogres. Lancashire was supposed to be +almost impenetrable-- as indeed it was to a considerable +extent,--and inhabited by a half-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 approached 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 exposed to +still greater risks in his survey of Cumberland. When he went into +that county for the purpose of exploring the remains of antiquity +it contained for the purposes of his great work, he travelled along +the line of the Roman Wall as far as Thirlwall castle, near +Haltwhistle; but there the limits of civilization and security +ended; for such was the wildness of the country and of its lawless +inhabitants beyond, that he was obliged to desist from his +pilgrimage, and leave the most important and interesting objects of +his journey unexplored. + +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 +Divine protection. 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 many new and wonderful things. He was +under the necessity of suspending his travels when the winter or +wet weather set in, and to lay up, like an arctic voyager, for +several months, until the spring came round again. Mr. Brome +passed through Northumberland into Scotland, then down the western +side of the island towards Devonshire, where he found the farmers +gathering in their corn on horse-back, the roads being so narrow +that it was impossible for them to use waggons. He desired to +travel into Cornwall, the boundaries of which he reached, but was +prevented proceeding farther by the rains, and accordingly he made +the best of his way home.*[1] The vicar of Cheriton was considered +a wonderful man in his day,-- almost as as venturous as we should +now regard a traveller in Arabia. Twenty miles of slough, or an +unbridged river between two parishes, were greater impediments to +intercourse than the Atlantic Ocean now is between England and +America. Considerable towns situated in the same county, were then +more widely separated, for 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.*[2] + +The author of 'Adam Bede' has given us a poet's picture of the +leisure of last century, which has "gone where the spinning-wheels +are gone, and the pack-horses, and the slow waggons, and the +pedlars who brought bargains to the door on sunny afternoons. "Old +Leisure" lived chiefly in the country, among pleasant seats and +homesteads, and was fond of sauntering by the fruit-tree walls, and +scenting the apricots when they were warmed by the morning +sunshine, or sheltering himself under the orchard boughs at noon, +when the summer pears were falling." But this picture has also its +obverse side. Whole generations then lived a monotonous, ignorant, +prejudiced, and humdrum life. They had no enterprize, no energy, +little industry, and were content to die where they were born. The +seclusion in which they were compelled to live, produced a +picturesqueness of manners which is pleasant to look back upon, now +that it is a thing of the past; but it was also accompanied with a +degree of grossness and brutality much less pleasant to regard, and +of which the occasional popular amusements of bull-running, +cock-fighting, cock-throwing, the saturnalia of Plough-Monday, and +such like, were the fitting exponents. + +People then 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 +newsletter 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 information would thus become diffused among +the little community. Matters of public interest were long in +becoming known in the remoter districts of the country. Macaulay +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 Bridgewater 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 James 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; and these were badly furnished with articles for general +use. The country people were irregularly supplied by hawkers, who +sometimes bore their whole stook upon their back, or occasionally +on that of their pack-horses. Pots, pans, and household utensils +were sold from door to door. Until a comparatively recent period, +the whole of the pottery-ware 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 domestic industry. + +Every autumn, the mistress of the household was 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, while stockfish and baconed herrings were provided for +Lent. Scatcherd says that in his district the clothiers united in +groups of three or four, 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.*[3] 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 supply was 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 country +houses continue to 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. + +Among the humbler classes, the same winter's work went on. +The women sat round log fires knitting, plaiting, and spinning by +fire-light, even in the daytime. Glass had not yet come into +general use, and the openings in the wall which in summer-time +served for windows, had necessarily to be shut close with boards to +keep out the cold, though at the same time they shut out the light. +The chimney, usually of lath and plaster, ending overhead in a cone +and funnel for the smoke, was so roomy in 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 perhaps 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 locality was looked forward to with interest. Fairs +were among the most important institutions of past times, and were +rendered necessary by the imperfect road communications. The right +of holding them was regarded as a valuable privilege, conceded by +the sovereign to the lords of the manors, who adopted all manner of +devices to draw crowds to their markets. They were usually held at +the entrances to valleys closed against locomotion during winter, +or in the middle of rich grazing districts, or, more frequently, in +the neighbourhood of famous cathedrals or churches frequented by +flocks of pilgrims. The devotion of the people being turned to +account, many of the fairs were held on Sundays in the churchyards; +and almost in every parish a market was instituted on the day on +which the parishioners were called together to do honour to their +patron saint. + +The local fair, which was usually held at the beginning or end of +winter, often at both times, became the great festival as well as +market of the district; and the business as well as the gaiety of +the neighbourhood usually centred on such occasions. High courts +were held by the Bishop or Lord of the Manor, to accommodate which +special buildings were erected, used only at fair time. Among the +fairs of the first class in England were Winchester, St. Botolph's +Town (Boston), and St. Ives. We find the great London 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 '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."*[4] Weyhill Fair, near Andover, was +another of the great fairs in the same district, which was to the +West country agriculturists and clothiers what Winchester St. +Giles's Fair was to the general merchants. + +The principal fair in the northern districts was that of +St. Botolph's Town (Boston), which was resorted to by people from +great distances to buy and sell commodities of various kinds. +Thus we find, from the 'Compotus' of Bolton Priory,*[5] that the +monks of that house sent their wool to St. Botolph's Fair to be sold, +though it was a good hundred miles distant; buying in return their +winter supply of 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 religions houses, the +yeomanry and the commons, resorted to them to buy and sell all +manner of agricultural produce. The farmers there sold their wool +and cattle, and hired their servants; while their wives disposed of +the surplus produce of their winter's industry, and bought their +cutlery, bijouterie, and more tasteful articles of apparel. +There were caterers there for all customers; and stuffs and wares +were 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 most districts for similar purposes of +exchange. At these the staples of the locality 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.*[6] Even +Dartmoor had its fair, on the site of an ancient British village or +temple near Merivale Bridge, testifying 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 ceased. The site of this old fair at Merivale Bridge is +the more curious, as in its immediate neighbourhood, 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 the Egyptian sphynx looks forth over the sands of the +Memphean Desert.*[7] + +[Image] Site of an ancient British village and fair on Dartmoor. + +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--which is to this day pointed out and called by the name of +the "Potatoe market." + +But the glory of the great fairs has long since departed. They +declined with the extension of turnpikes, and railroads gave them +their death-blow. Shops now exist in every little town and +village, drawing their supplies regularly by road and canal from +the most distant parts. St. Bartholomew, the great fair of +London,*[8] and Donnybrook, 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 +exhibition 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 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,*[9]--and there are still +professors of witchcraft, 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 yet +extinct. When our artist was in the neighbourhood, sketching the +ancient bridge on the moor 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', +on the borders of the Moor, that the introduction of the first cart +in that district is remembered by many now living, the bridges +having been shortly afterwards widened to accommodate the wheeled +vehicles. + +The primitive features of this secluded district are perhaps best +represented by the interesting little town of Chagford, 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, venerable-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 embattled 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 Chagford, the roads and +lanes leading to it being so steep and rugged as to be ill adapted +for springed vehicles of any sort. The upland road or track to +Tavistock scales an almost precipitous hill, and though well enough +adapted for the pack-horse of the last century, it 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-breasted 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 agricultural +implements continue in use. The slide or sledge is seen in the +fields; the flail, with its monotonous strokes, resounds from the +barn-floors; the corn is sifted by the windstow--the wind merely +blowing away the chaff from the grain when shaken out of sieves by +the motion of the hand on some elevated spot; the old wooden plough +is still at work, and the goad is still used to urge the yoke of +oxen in dragging it along. + +[Image] The Devonshire Crooks + +"In such a place as Chagford," says Mr. Rowe, "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 +general introduction of carts, these rough and ready contrivances +were found of great utility in the various operations of husbandry, +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 effusions of the local muse,*[10] with fidelity to nature +equal to Cowper or Crabbe, has introduced the figure of a +Devonshire pack-horse bending 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,*[11] 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 'swinging on each side to make the balance +true.' The short crooks, or crubs, 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 slide, 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 Roman's harvest +load to the barn some twenty centuries ago." + +Mrs. Bray says the crooks are called by the country people +"Devil's tooth-picks." A correspondent informs us that the queer +old crook-packs represented in our illustration are still in use in +North Devon. He adds: "The pack-horses were so accustomed to their +position when travelling in line (going in double file) and so +jealous of their respective places, that if one got wrong and took +another's place, the animal interfered with would strike at the +offender with his crooks." + +Footnotes for Chapter III. + +*[1] 'Three Years' Travels in England, Scotland, and Wales.' +By James Brome, M.A., Rector of Cheriton, Kent. London, 1726. + +*[2] The treatment the stranger received was often very rude. +When William Hutton, of Birmingham, accompanied 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 seldom seen in these +inhospitable regions. Surrounded with impassable roads, no +intercourse with man to humanise 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 straunger?" "Ey, for sewer." "Then paus' 'im-- 'Eave a duck +[stone] at 'im-- Fettle 'im!" And the "straunger" would straightway +find the "ducks" flying about his head, and be glad to make his +escape from the village with his life. + +*[3] Scatcherd, 'History of Morley.' + +*[4] Murray's ' Handbook of Surrey, Hants, and Isle of Wight,' 168. + +*[5] Whitaker's 'History of Craven.' + +*[6] Scatcherd's 'History of Morley,' 226. + +*[7] Vixen Tor is the name of this singular-looking rock. But it +is proper to add, that its appearance is probably accidental, the +head of the Sphynx being produced by the three angular blocks of +rock seen in profile. Mr. Borlase, however, in his ' Antiquities +of Cornwall,' expresses the opinion that the rock-basins on the +summit of the rock were used by the Druids for purposes connected +with their religious ceremonies. + +*[8] The provisioning of London, now grown so populous, would be +almost impossible but for the perfect system of roads now +converging on it from all parts. In early times, London, like +country places, had to lay in its stock of salt-provisions against +winter, drawing its supplies of vegetables from the country within +easy reach of the capital. Hence the London market-gardeners +petitioned against the extension of tumpike-roads about a century +ago, as they afterwards petitioned against the extension of +railways, fearing lest their trade should be destroyed by the +competition of country-grown cabbages. But the extension of the +roads had become a matter of absolute necessity, in order to feed +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 fortnight'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 +consequence of any possible 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 Eyemouth +(Smeaton's harbours), augmented by fish-trucks from Cullercoats and +Tynemouth on the Northumberland coast, and from Redcar, Whitby, and +Scarborough on the Yorkshire coast, also arrive in London every +morning. And what with steam-vessels bearing cattle, and meat and +fish 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, satisfactorily, and expeditiously filled. + +*[9] The white witches are kindly disposed, the black cast the +"evil eye," and the grey are consulted for the discovery of theft, +&c. + +*[10] See 'The Devonshire Lane', above quoted + +*[11] Willow saplings, crooked and dried in the required form. + + +CHAPTER IV. + +ROADS AND TRAVELLING IN SCOTLAND IN THE LAST CENTURY. + +The internal communications of Scotland, which Telford did so much +in the course of his life to improve, were, if possible, even worse +than those of England about the middle of last century. The land +was more sterile, and the people were much poorer. Indeed, nothing +could be more dreary than the aspect which Scotland then presented. +Her fields lay untilled, her mines unexplored, and her fisheries +uncultivated. The Scotch towns were for the most part collections +of thatched mud cottages, giving scant shelter to a miserable +population. The whole country was desponding, gaunt, and haggard, +like Ireland in its worst times. The common people were badly fed +and wretchedly clothed, those in the country for the most part +living in huts with their cattle. Lord Kaimes said of the Scotch +tenantry of the early part of last century, that they were so +benumbed by oppression and poverty that the most able instructors +in husbandry could have made nothing of them. A writer in the +'Farmer's Magazine' sums up his account of Scotland at that time in +these words:--"Except in a few instances, it was little better than +a barren waste."*[1] + + +The modern traveller through the Lothians--which now exhibit +perhaps the finest agriculture in the world--will scarcely believe +that less than a century ago these counties were mostly in the +state in which Nature had left them. In the interior there was +little to be seen but bleak moors and quaking bogs. The chief part +of each farm consisted of "out-field," or unenclosed land, no +better than moorland, from which the hardy black cattle could +scarcely gather herbage enough in winter to keep them from +starving. The "in-field" was an enclosed patch of illcultivated +ground, on which oats and "bear," or barley, were grown; but the +principal crop was weeds. + +Of the small quantity of corn raised in the country, nine-tenths +were grown within five miles of the coast; and of wheat very little +was raised--not a blade north of the Lothians. When the first crop +of that grain was tried on a field near Edinburgh, about the middle +of last century, people flocked to it as a wonder. Clover, +turnips, and potatoes had not yet been introduced, and no cattle +were fattened: it was with difficulty they could be kept alive. + +All loads were as yet carried on horseback; but when the farm was +too small, or the crofter too poor to keep a horse, his own or his +wife's back bore the load. The horse brought peats from the bog, +carried the oats or barley to market, and bore the manure a-field. +But the uses of manure were as yet so little understood that, if a +stream were near, it was usually thrown in and floated away, and in +summer it was burnt. + +What will scarcely be credited, now that the industry of Scotland +has become educated by a century's discipline of work, was the +inconceivable listlessness and idleness of the people. They left +the bog unreclaimed, and the swamp undrained. They would not be at +the trouble to enclose lands easily capable of cultivation. +There was, perhaps, but little inducement on the part of the +agricultural class to be industrious; for they were too liable to +be robbed by those who preferred to be idle. Andrew Fletcher, +of Saltoun--commonly known as "The Patriot," because he was so +strongly opposed to the union of Scotland with England*[2]-- +published a pamphlet, in 1698, strikingly illustrative of the +lawless and uncivilized state of the country at that time. +After giving a dreadful picture of the then state of Scotland: +two hundred thousand vagabonds begging from door to door and robbing +and plundering the poor people,-- "in years of plenty many +thousands of them meeting together in the mountains, where they +feast and riot for many days; and at country weddings, markets, +burials, and other like public occasions, they are to be seen, both +men and women, perpetually drunk, cursing, blaspheming, and +fighting together,"--he proceeded to urge that every man of a +certain estate should be obliged to take a proportionate number of +these vagabonds and compel them to work for him; and further, +that such serfs, with their wives and children, should be incapable +of alienating their service from their master or owner until he had +been reimbursed for the money he had expended on them: in other +words, their owner was to have the power of selling them. +"The Patriot" was, however, aware that "great address, diligence, +and severity" were required to carry out his scheme; "for," said he, +"that sort of people are so desperately wicked, such enemies of all +work and labour, and, which is yet more amazing, so proud in +esteeming their own condition above that which they will be sure to +call Slavery, that unless prevented by the utmost industry and +diligence, upon the first publication of any orders necessary for +putting in execution such a design, they will rather die with +hunger in caves and dens, and murder their young children, than +appear abroad to have them and themselves taken into such +service."*[3] + +Although the recommendations of Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun were +embodied in no Act of Parliament, the magistrates of some of the +larger towns did not hesitate to kidnap and sell into slavery lads +and men found lurking in the streets, which they continued to do +down to a comparatively recent period. This, however, was not so +surprising as that at the time of which we are speaking, and, +indeed, until the end of last century, there was a veritable slave +class in Scotland--the class of colliers and salters--who were +bought and sold with the estates to which they belonged, as forming +part of the stook. When they ran away, they were advertised for +as negroes were in the American States until within the last few +years. It is curious, in turning over an old volume of the 'Scots +Magazine,' to find a General Assembly's petition to Parliament for +the abolition of slavery in America almost alongside the report of +a trial of some colliers who had absconded from a mine near +Stirling to which they belonged. But the degraded condition of the +home slaves then excited comparatively little interest. Indeed, it +was not until the very last year of the last century that praedial +slavery was abolished in Scotland--only three short reigns ago, +almost within the memory of men still living.*[4] The greatest +resistance was offered to the introduction of improvements in +agriculture, though it was only at rare intervals that these were +attempted. There was no class possessed of enterprise or wealth. +An idea of the general poverty of the country may be inferred from +the fact that about the middle of last century the whole circulating +medium of the two Edinburgh banks--the only institutions of the +kind then in Scotland--amounted to only 200,000L., which was +sufficient for the purposes of trade, commerce, and industry. +Money was then so scarce that Adam Smith says it was not uncommon +for workmen, in certain parts of Scotland, to carry nails instead +of pence to the baker's or the alehouse. A middle class could +scarcely as yet be said to exist, or any condition between the +starving cottiers and the impoverished proprietors, whose available +means were principally expended in hard drinking.*[5] + +The latter were, for the most part, too proud and too ignorant to +interest themselves in the improvement of their estates; and the few +who did so had very little encouragement to persevere. Miss Craig, +in describing the efforts made by her father, William Craig, +laird of Arbigland, in Kirkcudbright, says, "The indolent obstinacy +of the lower class of the people was found to be almost +unconquerable. Amongst other instances of their laziness, I have +heard him say that, upon the introduction of the mode of dressing +the grain at night which had been thrashed during the day, all the +servants in the neighbourhood refused to adopt the measure, and +even threatened to destroy the houses of their employers by fire if +they continued to insist upon the business. My father speedily +perceived that a forcible remedy was required for the evil. +He gave his servants the choice of removing the thrashed grain in +the evening, or becoming inhabitants of Kirkcudbright gaol: they +preferred the former alternative, and open murmurings were no +longer heard."*[6] + +The wages paid to the labouring classes were then very low. Even +in East Lothian, which was probably in advance of the other Scotch +counties, the ordinary day's wage of a labouring man was only five +pence in winter and six pence in summer. Their food was wholly +vegetable, and was insufficient in quantity as well as bad in +quality. The little butcher's meat consumed by the better class +was salted beef and mutton, stored up in Ladner time (between +Michaelmas and Martinmas) for the year's consumption. Mr. Buchan +Hepburn says the Sheriff of East Lothian informed him that he +remembered when not a bullock was slaughtered in Haddington market +for a whole year, except at that time; and, when Sir David Kinloch, +of Gilmerton sold ten wedders to an Edinburgh butcher, he +stipulated for three several terms to take them away, to prevent +the Edinburgh market from being overstocked with fresh butcher's +meat!*[7] + +The rest of Scotland was in no better state: in some parts it was +even worse. The rich and fertile county of Ayr, which now glories +in the name of "the garden of Scotland," was for the most part a +wild and dreary waste, with here and there a poor, miserable, +comfortless hut, where the farmer and his family lodged. There +were no enclosures of land, except one or two about a proprietor's +residence; and black cattle roamed at large over the face of the +country. When an attempt was made to enclose the lands for the +purposes of agriculture, the fences were levelled by the +dispossessed squatters. Famines were frequent among the poorer +classes; the western counties not producing food enough for the +sustenance of the inhabitants, few though they were in number. +This was also the case in Dumfries, where the chief part of the grain +required for the population was brought in "tumbling-cars" from the +sandbeds of Esk; "and when the waters were high by reason of spates +[or floods], and there being no bridges, so that the cars could not +come with the meal, the tradesmen's wives might be seen in the +streets of Dumfries, crying; because there was no food to be +had."*[8] + +The misery of the country was enormously aggravated by the wretched +state of the roads. There were, indeed, scarcely any made roads +throughout the country. Hence the communication between one town +and another was always difficult, especially in winter. There were +only rough tracks across moors, and when one track became too +deep, another alongside of it was chosen, and was in its turn +abandoned, until the whole became equally impassable. In wet +weather these tracks became "mere sloughs, in which the carts or +carriages had to slumper through in a half-swimming state, whilst, +in times of drought it was a continual jolting out of one hole into +another."*[9] + +Such being the state of the highways, it will be obvious that very +little communication could exist between one part of the country +and another. Single-horse traffickers, called cadgers, plied +between the country towns and the villages, supplying the +inhabitants with salt, fish, earthenware, and articles of clothing, +which they carried in sacks or creels hung across their horses' +backs. Even the trade between Edinburgh and Glasgow was carried on +in the same primitive way, the principal route being along the high +grounds west of Boroughstoness, near which the remains of the old +pack-horse road are still to be seen. + +It was long before vehicles of any sort could be used on the Scotch +roads. Rude sledges and tumbling-cars were employed near towns, +and afterwards carts, the wheels of which were first made of +boards. It was long before travelling by coach could be introduced +in Scotland. When Smollett travelled from Glasgow to Edinburgh on +his way to London, in 1739, there was neither coach, cart, nor +waggon on the road. He accordingly accompanied the pack-horse +carriers as far as Newcastle, "sitting upon a pack-saddle between +two baskets, one of which," he says, "contained my goods in a +knapsack." + +In 1743 an attempt was made by the Town Council of Glasgow to set +up a stage-coach or "lando." It was to be drawn by six horses, +carry six passengers, and run between Glasgow and Edinburgh, a +distance of forty-four miles, once a week in winter, and twice a +week in summer. The project, however, seems to have been thought +too bold for the time, for the "lando" was never started. It was +not until the year 1749 that the first public conveyance, called +"The Glasgow and Edinburgh Caravan," was started between the two +cities, and it made the journey between the one place and the other +in two days. Ten years later another vehicle was started, named +"The Fly" because of its unusual speed, and it contrived to make +the journey in rather less than a day and a half. + +About the same time, a coach with four horses was started between +Haddington and Edinburgh, and it took a full winter's day to +perform the journey of sixteen miles: the effort being to reach +Musselburgh in time for dinner, and go into town in the evening. +As late as 1763 there was as only one stage-coach in all Scotland +in communication with London, and that set out from Edinburgh only +once a month. The journey to London occupied from ten to fifteen +days, according to the state of the weather; and those who +undertook so dangerous a journey usually took the precaution of +making their wills before starting. + +When carriers' carts were established, the time occupied by them on +the road will now appear almost incredible. Thus the common +carrier between Selkirk and Edinburgh, a distance of only +thirty-eight miles, took about a fortnight to perform the double +journey. Part of the road lay along Gala Water, and in summer time, +when the river-bed was dry, the carrier used it as a road. The +townsmen of this adventurous individual, on the morning of his +way-going, were accustomed to turn out and take leave of him, +wishing him a safe return from his perilous journey. In winter the +route was simply impracticable, and the communication was suspended +until the return of dry weather. + +While such was the state of the communications in the immediate +neighbourhood of the metropolis of Scotland, matters were, if +possible, still worse in the remoter parts of the country. Down to +the middle of last century, there were no made roads of any kind in +the south-western counties. The only inland trade was in black +cattle; the tracks were impracticable for vehicles, of which there +were only a few--carts and tumbling-cars--employed in the immediate +neighbourhood of the towns. When the Marquis of Downshire +attempted to make a journey through Galloway in his coach, about +the year 1760, a party of labourers with tools attended him, to +lift the vehicle out of the ruts and put on the wheels when it got +dismounted. Even with this assistance, however, his Lordship +occasionally stuck fast, and when within about three miles of the +village of Creetown, near Wigton, he was obliged to send away the +attendants, and pass the night in his coach on the Corse of Slakes +with his family. + +Matters were, of course, still worse in the Highlands, where the +rugged character of the country offered formidable difficulties to +the formation of practicable roads, and where none existed save +those made through the rebel districts by General Wade shortly +after the rebellion of 1715. The people were also more lawless +and, if possible, more idle, than those of the Lowland districts +about the same period. The latter regarded their northern +neighbours as the settlers in America did the Red Indians round +their borders--like so many savages always ready to burst in upon +them, fire their buildings, and carry off their cattle.*[10] + +Very little corn was grown in the neighbourhood of the Highlands, +on account of its being liable to be reaped and carried off by the +caterans, and that before it was ripe. The only method by which +security of a certain sort could be obtained was by the payment of +blackmail to some of the principal chiefs, though this was not +sufficient to protect them against the lesser marauders. Regular +contracts were drawn up between proprietors in the counties of +Perth, Stirling, and Dumbarton, and the Macgregors, in which it was +stipulated that if less than seven cattle were stolen--which +peccadillo was known as picking--no redress should be required; but +if the number stolen exceeded seven--such amount of theft being +raised to the dignity of lifting--then the Macgregors were bound to +recover. This blackmail was regularly levied as far south as +Campsie--then within six miles of Glasgow, but now almost forming +part of it--down to within a few months of the outbreak of the +Rebellion of 1745.*[11] + +Under such circumstances, agricultural improvement was altogether +impossible. The most fertile tracts were allowed to lie waste, for +men would not plough or sow where they had not the certain prospect +of gathering in the crop. Another serious evil was, that the +lawless habits of their neighbours tended to make the Lowland +borderers almost as ferocious as the Higlanders themselves. Feuds +were of constant occurrence between neighbouring baronies, and even +contiguous parishes; and the country fairs, which were tacitly +recognised as the occasions for settling quarrels, were the scenes +of as bloody faction fights as were ever known in Ireland even in +its worst days. When such was the state of Scotland only a century +ago, what may we not hope for from Ireland when the civilizing +influences of roads, schools, and industry have made more general +progress amongst her people? + +Yet Scotland had not always been in this miserable condition. There +is good reason to believe that as early as the thirteenth century, +agriculture was in a much more advanced state than we find it to +have been the eighteenth. It would appear from the extant +chartularies of monastic establishments, which then existed all +over the Lowlands, that a considerable portion of their revenue was +derived from wheat, which also formed no inconsiderable part of +their living. The remarkable fact is mentioned by Walter de +Hemingford, the English historian, that when the castle of +Dirleton, in East Lothian, was besieged by the army of Edward I., +in the beginning of July, 1298, the men, being reduced to great +extremities for provisions, were fain to subsist on the pease and +beans which they gathered in the fields.*[12] This statement is all +the more remarkable on two accounts: first, that pease and beans +should then have been so plentiful as to afford anything like +sustenance for an army; and second, that they should have been fit +for use so early in the season, even allowing for the difference +between the old and new styles in the reckoning of time. +The magnificent old abbeys and churches of Scotland in early times +also indicate that at some remote period a degree of civilization +and prosperity prevailed, from which the country had gradually +fallen. The ruins of the ancient edifices of Melrose, Kilwinning, +Aberborthwick, Elgin, and other religious establishments, show that +architecture must then have made great progress in the North, +and lead us to the conclusion that the other arts had reached a like +stage of advancement. This is borne out by the fact of the number +of well-designed and well-built bridges of olden times which still +exist in different parts of Scotland. "And when we consider," says +Professor Innes, "the long and united efforts required in the early +state of the arts for throwing a bridge over any considerable +river, the early occurrence of bridges may well be admitted as one +of the best tests of civilization and national prosperity."*[13] +As in England, so in Scotland, the reclamation of lands, the +improvement of agriculture, and the building of bridges were mainly +due to the skill and industry of the old churchmen. When their +ecclesiastical organization was destroyed, the country speedily +relapsed into the state from which they had raised it; and Scotland +continued to lie in ruins almost till our own day, when it has +again been rescued from barrenness, more effectually even than +before, by the combined influences of roads, education, and industry. + +Footnotes for Chapter IV. + +*[1] 'Farmer's Magazine,' 1803. No. xiii. p. 101. + +*[2] Bad although the condition of Scotland was at the beginning of +last century, there were many who believed that it would be made +worse by the carrying of the Act of Union. The Earl of Wigton was +one of these. Possessing large estates in the county of Stirling, +and desirous of taking every precaution against what he supposed to +be impending ruin, he made over to his tenants, on condition that +they continued to pay him their then low rents, his extensive +estates in the parishes of Denny, Kirkintulloch, and Cumbernauld, +retaining only a few fields round the family mansion ['Farmer's +Magazine,' 1808, No. xxxiv. p. 193]. Fletcher of Saltoun also +feared the ruinous results of the Union, though he was less +precipitate in his conduct than the Earl of Wigton. We need +scarcely say how entirely such apprehensions were falsified by the +actual results. + +*[3] 'Fletcher's Political Works,' London, 1737, p. 149. As the +population of Scotland was then only about 1,200,000, the beggars +of the country, according to the above account, must have +constituted about one-sixth of the whole community. + +*[4] Act 39th George III. c. 56. See 'Lord Cockburn's +Memorials,' pp. 76-9. As not many persons may be aware how recent +has been the abolition of slavery in Britain, the author of this +book may mention the fact that he personally knew a man who had +been "born a slave in Scotland," to use his own words, and lived to +tell it. He had resisted being transferred to another owner on the +sale of the estate to which he was "bound," and refused to "go below," +on which he was imprisoned in Edinburgh gaol, where he lay for a +considerable time. The case excited much interest, and probably +had some effect in leading to the alteration in the law relating +to colliers and salters which shortly after followed. + +*[5] See 'Autobiography of Dr. Alexander Carlyle,' passim. + +*[6] 'Farmer's Magazine.' June. 1811. No. xlvi. p. 155. + +*[7] See Buchan Hepburn's 'General View of the Agriculture and +Economy of East Lothian,' 1794, p. 55. + +*[8]Letter of John Maxwell, in Appendix to Macdiarmid's 'Picture of +Dumfries,' 1823 + +*[9] Robertson's 'Rural Recollections,' p. 38. + +*[10] Very little was known of the geography of the Highlands down +to the beginning of the seventeenth century The principal +information on the subject being derived from Danish materials. +It appears, however, that in 1608, one Timothy Pont, a young man +without fortune or patronage, formed the singular resolution of +travelling over the whole of Scotland, with the sole view of +informing himself as to the geography of the country, and he +persevered to the end of his task through every kind of difficulty; +exploring 'all the islands with the zeal of a missionary, though +often pillaged and stript of everything; by the then barbarous +inhabitant's. The enterprising youth received no recognition nor +reward for his exertions, and he died in obscurity, leaving his +maps and papers to his heirs. Fortunately, James I. heard of the +existence of Pont's papers, and purchased them for public use. They +lay, however, unused for a long time in the offices of the Scotch +Court of Chancery, until they were at length brought to light by +Mr. Robert Gordon, of Straloch, who made them the basis of the +first map of Scotland having any pretensions to accuracy that was +ever published. + +*[11] Mr. Grant, of Corrymorry, used to relate that his father, +when speaking of the Rebellion of 1745, always insisted that a +rising in the Highlands was absolutely necessary to give employment +to the numerous bands of lawless and idle young men who infested +every property.--Anderson's 'Highlands and Islands of Scotland,' +p. 432. + +*[12] 'Lord Hailes Annals,' i., 379. + +*[13] Professor Innes's 'Sketches of Early Scottish History.' The +principal ancient bridges in Scotland were those over the Tay at +Perth (erected in the thirteenth century) over the Esk at Brechin +and Marykirk; over the Bee at Kincardine, O'Neil, and Aberdeen; +over the Don, near the same city; over the Spey at Orkhill; over +the Clyde at Glasgow; over the Forth at Stirling; and over the Tyne +at Haddington. + + +CHAPTER V. + +ROADS AND TRAVELLING IN ENGLAND TOWARDS THE END OF LAST CENTURY. + +The progress made in the improvement of the roads throughout +England was exceedingly slow. Though some of the main throughfares +were mended so as to admit of stage-coach travelling at the rate of +from four to six miles an hour, the less 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 1749 Birmingham +started a stage-coach, which made the journey to London in three +days.*[1] 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 incredible 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 established on several 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 its rapid travelling; yet he +was three or four days and nights on the road. There was no such +velocity, however, as to endanger overturning or other mischief. +On the panels of the coach were painted the appropriate motto of +Sat cito si sat bene--quick enough if well enough--a motto which +the future Lord Chancellor made his own.*[2] + +The journey by coach between London and Edinburgh still occupied +six days or more, according to the state of the weather. Between +Bath or Birmingham and London occupied between two and three days +as late as 1763. The road across Hounslow Heath was so bad, that +it was stated before a Parliamentary Committee that it was +frequently known 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 two or three years. + +When the Bath road became improved, Burke was enabled, in the +summer of 1774, to travel from London 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 ten days' distance from the metropolis, +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, on the evening of the third day. The fare was 1L. l7s., +and 14 lbs. of luggage was allowed. But the principal part of the +expense of travelling was for living and lodging on the road, not +to mention the fees to guards and drivers. + +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 that route as the greatest set of +extortioners in England. The deliberate style in which journeys +were performed may be inferred from the circumstance that on one +occasion, when a quarrel took place between the guard and a +passenger, the coach stopped to see them fight it out on the road. + +Foreigners who visited England were peculiarly observant of the +defective modes of conveyance then in use. Thus, one Don Manoel +Gonzales, a Portuguese merchant, who travelled through Great +Britain, in 1740, speaking of Yarmouth, says, "They have a comical +way of carrying people all over the town and from the seaside, for +six pence. They call it their coach, but it is only a wheel-barrow, +drawn by one horse, without any covering." Another foreigner, Herr +Alberti, a Hanoverian professor of theology, when on a visit to +Oxford in 1750, desiring to proceed to Cambridge, found there was +no means of doing so without returning to London and there taking +coach for Cambridge. There was not even the convenience of a +carrier's waggon between the two universities. But the most +amusing account of an actual journey by stage-coach that we know +of, is that given by a Prussian clergyman, Charles H. Moritz, who +thus describes his adventures on the road between Leicester and +London in 1782:-- + + "Being obliged," he says, "to bestir myself to get + back to London, as the time drew near when 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 companions 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 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, then I carefully crept + from the top of the coach, and was lucky enough to + get myself snugly ensconced in the basket behind. + "'O,Sir, you will be shaken to death!' said the + black-a-moor; but I heeded him not, trusting that he + was exaggerating the unpleasantness 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, + bleeding, 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 at, 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, so now we were soaked with + rain. My neighbour, the young man who sat next me in + the middle, every now and then fell asleep; and when + in this state he perpetually bolted and rolled + against me, with the whole weight of his body, more + than once nearly pushing me from my seat, to which I + clung with the last strength of despair. 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. The journey + from Northampton to the metropolis, however, I can + scarcely call a ride, for it was a perpetual 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."*[3] + +[Image] The Basket Coach, 1780. + +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 swore at one near Tilbury. "Of all the cursed roads, +"he says, "that ever disgraced this kingdom in the very ages of +barbarism, none ever equalled that from Billericay to the King's +Head 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 +traveller, I must not forget the eternally meeting with chalk +waggons, themselves frequently stuck fast, till a collection of +them are in the same situation, and twenty or thirty horses may be +tacked to each to draw them out one by one!"*[4] Yet will it be +believed, the proposal to form a turnpike-road from Chelmsford to +Tilbury was resisted "by the Bruins of the country, whose horses +were worried to death with bringing chalk through those vile +roads!" + +Arthur Young did not find the turnpike any better 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 head, full of holes, deep ruts, and +withal so narrow that with great difficulty he got his chaise out +of the way of the Witney 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 +to Newnham, a distance of twelve miles, he found a "cursed road," +"infamously stony," with "ruts all the way." From Newnham to +Chepstow he noted another bad feature in the roads, and that was +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." It was at one time even +matter of grave dispute whether it would not cost as little money +to make that between Leominster and Kington navigable as to make +it hard. 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 + this 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 + mistook 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."*[5] + +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 traveller is found +constantly declaiming. The roads in Lancashire made him almost +frantic, and he gasped 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 travellers 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 by overthrows or breakings-down. + +They will here meet with ruts, which I actually measured, four feet +deep, and floating with mud only from a wet summer. What, +therefore, must it be 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."*[6] + +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 Wentworth Hall, where he had been on a visit to Earl +Fitzwilliam, and took the road for London in his carriage. When +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 comparatively recent period. + +When Palmer's new mail-coaches were introduced, an attempt was made +to diminish the jolting of the passengers by having the carriages +hung upon new patent springs, but with very indifferent results. +Mathew Boulton, the engineer, thus described their effect upon +himself in a journey he made in one of them from London into +Devonshire, in 1787:-- + + "I had the most disagreeable journey I ever + experienced the night after I left you, owing to the + new improved patent coach, a vehicle loaded with iron + trappings and the greatest complication of + unmechanical contrivances jumbled together, that I + have ever witnessed. The coach swings sideways, with + a sickly sway without any vertical spring; the point + of suspense bearing upon an arch called a spring, + though it is nothing of the sort, The severity of the + jolting occasioned me such disorder, that I was + obliged to stop at Axminster and go to bed very ill. + However, I was able next day to proceed in a + post-chaise. The landlady in the London Inn, at + Exeter, assured me that the passengers who arrived + every night were in general so ill that they were + obliged to go supperless to bed; and, unless they go + back to the old-fashioned coach, hung a little lower, + the mail-coaches will lose all their custom."*[7] + +We may briefly refer to the several stages of improvement --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 turnpikes. The trade and industry of the country +had been steadily 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 passed*[8] +authorising the first toll-gates or turnpikes to be erected, at +which collectors were stationed to levy small sums from those using +the road, for the 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 it authorised the +new toll-bars to be erected at Wade's Mill in Hertfordshire, at +Caxton in Cambridgeshire, and at Stilton in Huntingdonshire.*[9] +The Act was not followed by any others for a quarter of a century, +and even after that lapse of time such Acts as were passed of a +similar character were very 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 1746, 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 roads west of Newcastle were so bad, +that in the previous year the royal forces under General Wade, +which left Newcastle for Carlisle to intercept the Pretender and +his army, halted the first night at Ovingham, and the second at +Hexham, being able to travel only twenty miles in two days.*[10] + +The rebellion of 1745 gave a great impulse to the construction of +roads for military as well as civil purposes. The nimble +Highlanders, without baggage or waggons, had been able to cross the +border and penetrate almost to the centre of England before any +definite knowledge of their proceedings had reached the rest of the +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 impassable roads. No sooner, however, 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 admitted; and from that time, though slowly, the +construction 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 towards Scotland, though riots also took place in +Somersetshire and Gloucestershire, and even in the immediate +neighbourhood of London. One fine May morning, at Selby, in +Yorkshire, the public bellman summoned the inhabitants to assemble +with their hatchets and axes that night at midnight, and cut down +the turnpikes erected by Act of Parliament; nor were they slow to +act upon his summons. Soldiers were then sent into the district to +protect the toll-bars and the toll-takers; but this was a difficult +matter, for the toll-gates were numerous, and wherever a "pike" was +left unprotected at 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 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.*[11] For instance, the driver of the +Marlborough coach obstinately 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.*[12] Petitions were also presented to Parliament against +the extension of turnpikes; but the opposition represented by the +petitioners was of a much less honest character than that of the +misguided and prejudiced country folks, who burnt down the +toll-houses. It was principally got up by the agriculturists in the +neighbourhood of the metropolis, who, having secured the advantages +which the turnpike-roads first constructed had conferred upon them, +desired to retain a monopoly of the improved means of +communication. 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.*[13] + +This opposition, however, did not prevent the progress of turnpike +and highway legislation; and we find that, from l760 to l774, 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 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 more easy and straight; but the +deep ruts were merely filled up with any materials that lay nearest +at hand, and stones 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 trusting to the operation of +cart-wheels and waggons to crush them into a proper shape. Men of +eminence as engineers--and there were very few such at the time-- +considered road-making beneath their consideration; and it was even +thought singular that, in 1768, the distinguished 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, +nor 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 hundred miles of capital roads--as, indeed, the first great +English road-maker--we propose to devote the next chapter. + +Footnotes for Chapter V. + +*[1] Lady Luxborough, in a letter to Shenstone the poet, in 1749, +says,--"A Birmingham coach is newly established to our great +emolument. Would it not be a good scheme (this dirty weather, when +riding is no more a pleasure) for you to come some Monday in the +said stage-coach from Birmingham to breakfast at Barrells, +(for they always breakfast at Henley); and on the Saturday following +it would convey you back to Birmingham, unless you would stay longer, +which would be better still, and equally easy; for the stage goes +every week the same road. It breakfasts at Henley, and lies at +Chipping Horton; goes early next day to Oxford, stays there all day +and night, and gets on the third day to London; which from +Birmingham at this season is pretty well, considering how long they +are at Oxford; and it is much more agreeable as to the country than +the Warwick way was." + +*[2] We may incidentally mention three other journeys south by +future Lords Chancellors. Mansfield rode up from Scotland to +London when a boy, taking two months to make the journey on his pony. +Wedderburn's journey by coach from Edinburgh to London, in 1757, +occupied him six days. "When I first reached London," said +the late Lord Campbell, "I performed the same journey in three +nights and two days, Mr. Palmer's mail-coaches being then +established; but this swift travelling was considered dangerous as +well as wonderful, and I was gravely advised to stay a day at York, +as several passengers who had gone through without stopping had +died of apoplexy from the rapidity of the motion!" + +*[3] C. H. Moritz: 'Reise eines Deutschen in England im Jahre 1782.' +Berlin, 1783. + +*[4] Arthur Young's 'Six Weeks' Tour in the Southern Counties of +England and Wales,' 2nd ed., 1769, pp. 88-9. + +*[5] 'Six Weeks Tour' in the Southern Counties of England and +Wales,' pp. 153-5. The roads all over South Wales were equally +bad down to the beginning of the present century. At Halfway, near +Trecastle, in Breconshire, South Wales, a small obelisk is still to +be seen, which was erected to commemorate the turn over and +destruction of the mail coach over a steep of l30 feet; the driver +and passengers escaping unhurt. + +*[6] 'A Six Months' Tour through the North of England,' vol. iv., +p. 431. + +*[7] Letter to Wyatt, October 5th, 1787, MS. + +*[8] Act 15 Car. II., c. 1. + +*[9] The preamble of the Act recites 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 Huntingdon, in many of which +places the road, by reason of the great and many loads which are +weekly drawn in waggons through the said places, as well as by +reason of the great trade of barley and malt that cometh to Ware, +and so is conveyed by water to the city of London, as well as other +carriages, both from the north parts as also from the city of +Norwich, St. Edmondsbury, and the town of Cambridge, to London, is +very ruinous, and become almost impassable, insomuch that it is +become very dangerous to all his Majesty's liege people that pass +that way," &c. + +*[10] Down to the year 1756, Newcastle and Carlisle were only +connected by a bridle way. In that year, Marshal Wade employed his +army to construct a road by way of Harlaw and Cholterford, +following for thirty miles the line of the old Roman Wall, the +materials of which he used to construct his "agger" and culverts. +This was long after known as "the military road." + +*[11] The Blandford waggoner said, "Roads had but one object--for +waggon-driving. He required but four-foot width in a lane, and all +the rest might go to the devil." He added, "The gentry ought to +stay at home, and be d----d, and not run gossiping up and down the +country."--Roberts's 'Social History of the Southern Counties.' + +*[12] 'Gentleman's Magazine' for December, 1752. + +*[13] Adam Smith's 'Wealth of Nations,' book i., chap. xi., part i. + + +CHAPTER VI. + +JOHN METCALF, ROAD-MAKER. + +[Image] Metcalf's birthplace Knaresborough + +John 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 +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 unrestrainable 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 +learned 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 was sent +for to dive for them, which he did, and brought up one of the +bodies at the fourth diving: the other had been carried down the +stream. He thus also saved a manufacturer's yarn, a large quantity +of which had been carried by a sudden flood into a deep hole under +the High Bridge. At home, in the evenings, he learnt to play the +fiddle, and became so skilled on the instrument, that he was shortly +able 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 landlord--"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 +yon 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." Enter Metcalf. "My friend, are you really blind?" +"Yes, Sir," said he, "I lost my sight when six years old." "Had I +known that, I would not have ventured with you on that road from +York for a hundred pounds." "And I, Sir," said Metcalf, "would not +have lost my way for a thousand." + +Metcalf having thriven and saved money, 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 as a +rider as ever took the field. He trusted much, no doubt, to the +sagacity of his horse; but he himself was apparently 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 neighbourhood, 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 Knaresborough 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 procured 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 the +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 condition that he might choose his +ground. This was agreed to, but there was to be neither hedge nor +wall in the distance. 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 he 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, as he was, of a strong, manly, and affectionate nature; +and we are not, therefore, surprised to learn that the land lord's +daughter 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 +the choice as her parents thought her. As the result proved, +Metcalf had in him 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 this 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 he 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 +metropolis. 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 travelled before, yet +without once missing his way. When he arrived at York, it was the +dead of night, 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 by Colonel Liddell, of Ravensworth +Castle, who gave him a general invitation to his house. During +this visit which was in 1730-1, Metcalf ranged freely over the +metropolis, visiting Maidenhead and Reading, and returning by +Windsor and Hampton Court. The Harrogate season being at hand, +he prepared to proceed thither,--Colonel Liddell, who was also about +setting out for 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 undertake 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 easily 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 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 the time. He started on a Monday +morning, about an hour before the Colonel in his carriage, with 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 considerable 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 at the other side, Metcalf, taking some pence from his +pocket, said, "Here, my good fellow, take that and get a pint of beer." +The stranger declined, saying he was welcome to his services. +Metcalf, however, pressed upon his 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 their setting out from London, +the travellers reached Wetherby, where Colonel Liddell desired to +rest until the Monday; but Metcalf proceeded on to Harrogate, thus +completing the journey in six days,--the Colonel arriving two days +later. + +He now renewed his musical performances at Harrogate, 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 on 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 accordingly set up a four-wheeled and a one-horse +chaise for the public accommodation,--Harrogate up to that time +being without any vehicle for hire. The innkeepers of the town +having followed his example, and abstracted most of his business, +Metcalf next took to fish-dealing. He bought fish at the coast, +which he conveyed on horseback to Leeds and other towns for sale. +He continued indefatigable at this trade for some time, being on +the road often for nights together; but he was at length 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 Room at Harrogate, at the +time of the outbreak of the Rebellion of 1745. + +The news of the rout of the Royal army at Prestonpans, and the +intended march of the Highlanders southwards, 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 +Thornville 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, overruled, 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 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 the Squire knew him to be one of the most +popular men in the neighbourhood. He accordingly proceeded to +Knaresborough to confer with Metcalf on the subject. It was then +about the beginning of October, only a fortnight after the battle +of Prestonpans. Sending for Jack to his inn, Mr. Thornton told +him of the state of affairs--that the French were coming to join +the 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 the Squire, +he would! Thus enlisted--perhaps carried away by his love of +adventure not less than by his feeling of patriotism Metcalf +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 Captain 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 for a 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 Highlanders, 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 by 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 occasioned by the badness of the roads. The men were +often three or four-hours in marching a mile, the pioneers having +to fill up ditches and clear away many obstructions in making a +practicable passage for the artillery and baggage. The army was +only able to reach Ovingham, 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 for 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 event. + +On the retreat of Prince Charles from Derby, General Wade again +proceeded to Newcastle, while 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 Highlanders at Falkirk. Metcalf +continued with Captain Thornton and his company throughout all +these marchings 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-mismanaged battle on the part of the +Royalist General, and the result was a total defeat. Twenty of +Thornton's men were made prisoners, with the lieutenant and +ensign. The Captain himself only escaped by taking refuge in a +poor woman's house in the town of Falkirk, where he lay hidden for +many days; Metcalf returning to Edinburgh with the rest of the +defeated army. + +Some of the Dragoon officers, hearing of Jack's escape, sent for +him to head-quarters at Holyrood, to question him about his +Captain. One of them took occasion to speak ironically of +Thornton's men, and asked Metcalf how he 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, and Jack withdrew; but he was not satisfied +about the disappearance of Captain Thornton, and 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 command to lay aside his +project, which would certainly cost him his life. But Metcalf was +not to be dissuaded, and he was permitted to proceed, which he did +in the company of 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 as a suspicions +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 arrived there before him. + +On the 30th of January, 1746, the Duke of Cumberland 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 to be 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 the +Captain would not allow him to receive such gifts while in his pay, +Metcalf spent the money, with his permission, in giving a treat to +the Duke's two body servants. The battle of Culloden, so +disastrous to the poor Highlanders; shortly followed; after which +Captain Thornton, Metcalf, and the Yorkshire Volunteer Company, +proceeded homewards. 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 pursuit of business. + +During his stay in Aberdeen, Metcalf had made himself familiar with +the articles of clothing manufactured at that place, and he came to +the conclusion that a profitable trade might be carried on by +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 readily dispose of on his return +home. His knowledge of horseflesh--in which he was, of course, +mainly guided by his acute sense of feeling--also proved highly +serviceable 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 and such like articles. + +After this, Metcalf began a new line of business, that of common +carrier between York and Knaresborough, 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 conveyance +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 the blind man knew them +better, and while 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 maintain 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 was from his childhood, he had not been +able to study books, but he had carefully studied men. He could +read characters with wonderful quickness, 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. 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. As it was, Metcalf now became one of the greatest +of its road-makers and bridge-builders. + +[Image] John Metcalf, the blind road-maker. + +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 accordingly, 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, 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 he +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 favourable, 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 +semicircle, 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 may be 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 turnpike-road between +his native town of Knaresborough and Harrogate--ground with which +he was more than ordinarily familiar. Walking one day over a +portion of the ground on which the road was to be made, while still +covered with grass, he told the workmen that he thought it differed +from the ground adjoining it, and 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 his new road. +At another part of the contract there was a bog to be crossed, and +the surveyor thought it impossible 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 which he would have to pay if the road were constructed round +the bog. Metcalf set to work accordingly, 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 construction 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 Addingham; between Mill +Bridge and Halifax; between Wakefield and Dewsbury; between +Wakefield and Doncaster; between Wakefield, Huddersfield, and +Saddleworth (the Manchester road); between Standish and Thurston +Clough; between Huddersfield and Highmoor; between Huddersfield and +Halifax, and between Knaresborough and Wetherby. + +In Lancashire also, Metcalf made a large extent of roads, which +were of the greatest importance in opening up the resources of that +county. Previous to their construction, almost the only means of +communication between districts was by horse-tracks 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 Lancashire 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 Yorkshire and Lancashire with each other at many parts: +as, for instance, those between Skipton, Colne, and Burnley; and +between Docklane Head and Ashton-under-Lyne. The roads from Ashton +to Stockport and from Stockport to Mottram Langdale were also his +work. + +Our road-maker was also extensively employed in the same way in the +counties of Cheshire and Derby; constructing the roads between +Macclesfield and Chapel-le-Frith, between Whaley and Buxton, +between Congleton and the Red Bull (entering Staffordshire), and in +various other directions. The total mileage of the turnpike-roads +thus constructed was about one hundred and eighty miles, for which +Metcalf received in all about sixty-five thousand pounds. +The making of these roads also involved the building of many bridges, +retaining-walls, and culverts. We believe it was generally +admitted of the works constructed by Metcalf that they well stood +the test of time 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 life-time:. "With the assistance only of a long staff, +I have several times met this man traversing the roads, ascending +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 himself, and of which he +cannot well convey the meaning to others. His abilities in this +respect are, nevertheless, so great that he finds constant +employment. Most of the roads over the Peak in Derbyshire have +been altered by his directions, particularly those in the vicinity +of Buxton; and he is at this time constructing a new one betwixt +Wilmslow and Congleton, to open a communication with the great +London road, without being obliged to pass over the mountains. +I have met this blind projector 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 course and the nature of +the different soils through which it was conducted. Having +mentioned to him a boggy piece of ground it passed through, he +observed that 'that was the only place he had doubts concerning, +and that he was apprehensive they had, contrary to his directions, +been too sparing of their materials.'"*[1] + +Metcalf's skill in constructing his roads over boggy ground was +very great; and the following may be cited as an instance. When +the high-road from Huddersfield to Manchester was determined on, +he agreed to make it at so much a rood, though at that time the +line had not been marked out. When this was done, Metcalf, to his +dismay, found that the surveyor had laid it out across some deep +marshy ground on Pule and Standish Commons. On this he +expostulated with the trustees, alleging the much greater expense +that he must necessarily incur in carrying out the work after their +surveyor's plan. They told him, however, that if he succeeded in +making a complete road to their satisfaction, he should not be a +loser; but they pointed out that, according to their surveyor's +views, it would be requisite for him to dig out the bog until he +came to a solid bottom. Metcalf, on making his calculations, found +that in that case he would have to dig a trench some nine feet deep +and fourteen yards broad on the average, making about two hundred +and ninety-four solid yards of bog in every rood, to be excavated +and carried away. This, he naturally conceived, would have proved +both tedious as well as costly, and, after all, the road would in +wet weather have been no better than a broad ditch, and in winter +liable to be blocked up with snow. He strongly represented this +view to the trustees as well as the surveyor, but they were +immovable. It was, therefore, necessary for him to surmount the +difficulty 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 +them; and when all had been pressed well down, stone and gravel +were led on in broad-wheeled waggons, and spread over the bundles, +so as to make a firm and level 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 expedient 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. While engaged on 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 commenced 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 the most difficult he had everundertaken,-- that between +Haslingden and 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 3500L., he found himself a +loser of exactly 40L. after two years' labour and anxiety. +He completed the road in 1792, when he was seventy-five years of age, +after which he retired to his farm at Spofforth, near Wetherby, +where for some 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, +and finally, in the year 1810, this strong-hearted and resolute man +--his life's work over--laid down his staff and peacefully departed +in the ninety-third year of his age; leaving behind him four +children, twenty grand-children, and ninety great grand-children. + +[Image] Metcalf's house at Spofforth. + +The roads constructed by Metcalf and others had the effect of +greatly improving the communications of Yorkshire 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 being entirely local, their good or bad management +depending upon the public spirit and enterprise of the gentlemen of +the locality, it frequently happened that while the roads of one +county were exceedingly good, those of the adjoining county were +altogether execrable. + +Even in the immediate vicinity of the metropolis the Surrey roads +remained comparatively unimproved. Those through the interior of +Kent were wretched. When Mr. Rennie, the engineer, was engaged in +surveying the Weald with a view to the cutting of a canal through +it in 1802, he found the country almost destitute of practicable +roads, though 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 untraversed, except by bands of smugglers, who kept +the inhabitants in a state of constant terror. In an agricultural +report on the county of Northampton as late as the year 1813, it +was stated that the only way of getting along some of the main +lines of road in rainy weather, was by swimming! + +In the neighbourhood of the city of Lincoln the communications were +little better, and there still stands upon what is called Lincoln +Heath--though a heath no longer--a curious memorial of the 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, +barren waste, for the purpose of serving as a mark to wayfarers by +day and a beacon to them by night.*[2] + +[Image] Land Lighthouse on Lincoln Heath. + +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 he might be able to report one that was practicable. +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 until +morning. All this is now changed, 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.*[3] 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."*[4] When the improvement of the high roads of +the country fairly set in, the progress made was very rapid. +This was greatly stimulated by the important inventions of tools, +machines, and engines, made towards the close of last century, +the products of which--more especially of the steam-engine and +spinning-machine--so largely increased the wealth of the nation. +Manufactures, commerce, and shipping, made unprecedented strides; +life became more active; persons and commodities circulated more +rapidly; every improvement in the internal communications being +followed by an increase of ease, rapidity, and economy in +locomotion. Turnpike and post roads were speedily extended all +over the country, and even the rugged mountain districts of North +Wales and the Scotch Highlands became as accessible as any English +county. The riding postman was superseded by the smartly appointed +mail-coach, performing its journeys with remarkable regularity at +the average speed of ten miles an hour. Slow stagecoaches gave +place to fast ones, splendidly horsed and "tooled," until +travelling by road in England was pronounced almost perfect. + +But all this was not enough. The roads and canals, numerous and +perfect though they might be, were found altogether inadequate to +the accommodation of the traffic of the country, which had +increased, at a constantly accelerating ratio, with the increased +application of steam power to the purposes of productive industry. +At length steam itself was applied to remedy the inconveniences +which it had caused; the locomotive engine was invented, and +travelling by railway became generally adopted. The effect of +these several improvements in the means of locomotion, has been to +greatly increase the public activity, and to promote the general +comfort and well-being. They have tended to bring the country and +the town much closer together; and, by annihilating distance as +measured by time, to make the whole kingdom as one great city. +What the personal blessings of improved communication have been, no +one has described so well as the witty and sensible Sydney Smith:-- + + "It is of some importance," he wrote, "at what period + a man is born. A young man alive at this period + hardly knows to what improvement of human life he has + been introduced; and I would bring before his notice + the changes which have taken place in England since I + began to breathe the breath of life, a period + amounting to over eighty years. Gas was unknown; + I groped about the streets of London in the all but + utter darkness of a twinkling oil lamp, under the + protection of watchmen in their grand climacteric, + and exposed to every species of degradation and + insult. I have been nine hours in sailing from Dover + to Calais, before the invention of steam. It took me + nine hours to go from Taunton to Bath, before the + invention of railroads; and I now go in six hours + from Taunton to London! In going from Taunton to + Bath, I suffered between l0,000 and 12,000 severe + contusions, before stone-breaking Macadam was + born.... As the basket of stage-coaches in which + luggage was then carried had no springs, your clothes + were rubbed all to pieces; and, even in the best + society, one-third of the gentlemen at least were + always drunk..... I paid 15L. in a single year for + repairs of carriage-springs on the pavement of + London; and I now glide without noise or fracture on + wooden pavement. I can walk, by the assistance of the + police, from one end of London to the other without + molestation; or, if tired, get into a cheap and + active cab, instead of those cottages on wheels which + the hackney coaches were at the beginning of my + life..... Whatever miseries I suffered, there was no + post to whisk my complaints for a single penny to the + remotest comer 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. + +With the history of these great improvements is also mixed up the +story of human labour and genius, and of the patience and +perseverance displayed in carrying them out. Probably one of the +best illustrations of character in connection with the development +of the inventions of the last century, is to be found in the life +of Thomas Telford, the greatest and most scientific road-maker of +his day, to which we proceed to direct the attention of the reader. + +Footnotes for Chapter VI. + +*[1] 'Observations on Blindness and on the Employment of the other +Senses to supply the Loss of Sight.' By Mr. Bew.--'Memoirs of the +Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester,' +vol.i., pp. 172-174. Paper read 17th April, 1782. + +*[2] The pillar was erected by Squire Dashwood in 1751; the lantern +on its summit was regularly lighted till 1788, and occasionally till +1808,, when it was thrown down and never replaced. The Earl of +Buckingham afterwards mounted a statue of George III. on the top. + +*[3] Since the appearance of the first edition of this book, a +correspondent has informed us that there is another lighthouse +within 24 miles of London, not unlike that on Lincoln Heath. It is +situated a little to the south-east of the Woking station of the +South-western Railway, and is popularly known as "Woking Monument." +It stands on the verge of Woking Heath, which is a continuation of +the vast tract of heath land which extends in one direction as far +as Bagshot. The tradition among the inhabitants is, that one of the +kings of England was wont to hunt in the neighbourhood, when a fire +was lighted up in the beacon to guide him in case he should be +belated; but the probability is, that it was erected like that on +Lincoln Heath, for the guidance of ordinary wayfarers at night. + +*[4] 'Journal of the Agricultural Society of England, 1843.' + + + +LIFE OF THOMAS TELFORD. + +CHAPTER I. ESKDALE. + +[Image] Valley of "the Unblameable Shepherd", Eskdale + +Thomas Telford was born in one of the most Solitary nooks of the +narrow valley of the Esk, in the eastern part of the county of +Dumfries, in Scotland. Eskdale runs north and south, its lower end +having been in former times the western march of the Scottish +border. Near the entrance to the dale is a tall column erected on +Langholm Hill, some twelve miles to the north of the Gretna Green +station of the Caledonian Railway,--which many travellers to and +from Scotland may have observed,--a monument to the late Sir John +Malcolm, Governor of Bombay, one of the distinguished natives of +the district. It looks far over the English border-lands, which +stretch away towards the south, and marks the entrance to the +mountainous parts of the dale, which lie to the north. From that +point upwards the valley gradually contracts, the road winding +along the river's banks, in some places high above the stream, +which rushes swiftly over the rocky bed below. + +A few miles upward from the lower end of Eskdale lies the little +capital of the district, the town of Langholm; and there, in the +market-place, stands another monument to the virtues of the Malcolm +family in the statue erected to the memory of Admiral Sir Pulteney +Malcolm, a distinguished naval officer. Above Langholm, the country +becomes more hilly and moorland. In many places only a narrow strip +of land by the river's side is left available for cultivation; +until at length the dale contracts so much that the hills descend +to the very road, and there are only to be seen their steep +heathery sides sloping up towards the sky on either hand, and a +narrow stream plashing and winding along the bottom of the valley +among the rocks at their feet. + +[Image] Telford's Native District + +From this brief description of the character of Eskdale scenery, +it may readily be supposed that the district is very thinly peopled, +and that it never could have been capable of supporting a large +number of inhabitants. Indeed, previous to the union of the crowns +of England and Scotland, the principal branch of industry that +existed in the Dale was of a lawless kind. The people living on the +two sides of the border looked upon each other's cattle as their +own, provided only they had the strength to "lift" them. They were, +in truth, even during the time of peace, a kind of outcasts, +against whom the united powers of England and Scotland were often +employed. On the Scotch side of the Esk were the Johnstones and +Armstrongs, and on the English the Graemes of Netherby; both clans +being alike wild and lawless. It was a popular border saying that +"Elliots and Armstrongs ride thieves a';" and an old historian says +of the Graemes that "they were all stark moss-troopers and arrant +thieves; to England as well as Scotland outlawed." The neighbouring +chiefs were no better: Scott of Buccleugh, from whom the modern +Duke is descended, and Scott of Harden, the ancestor of the +novelist, being both renowned freebooters. + +There stands at this day on the banks of the Esk, only a few miles +from the English border, the ruin of an old fortalice, called +Gilnockie Tower, in a situation which in point of natural beauty is +scarcely equalled even in Scotland. It was the stronghold of a +chief popularly known in his day as Johnnie Armstrong.*[1] He was a +mighty freebooter in the time of James V., and the terror of his +name is said to have extended as far as Newcastle-upon-Tyne, +between which town and his castle on the Esk he was accustomed to +levy black-mail, or "protection and forbearance money," as it was +called. The King, however, determining to put down by the strong +hand the depredations of the march men, made a sudden expedition +along the borders; and Johnnie Armstrong having been so ill-advised +as to make his appearance with his followers at a place called +Carlenrig, in Etterick Forest, between Hawick and Langholm, James +ordered him to instant execution. Had Johnnie Armstrong, like the +Scotts and Kers and Johnstones of like calling, been imprisoned +beforehand, he might possibly have lived to found a British +peerage; but as it was, the genius of the Armstrong dynasty was for +a time extinguished, only, however, to reappear, after the lapse +of a few centuries, in the person of the eminent engineer of +Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the inventor of the Armstrong gun. + +The two centuries and a half which have elapsed since then have +indeed seen extraordinary changes.*[2] The energy which the old +borderers threw into their feuds has not become extinct, but +survives under more benignant aspects, exhibiting itself in efforts +to enlighten, fertilize, and enrich the country which their +wasteful ardour before did so much to disturb and impoverish. +The heads of the Buccleugh and Elliot family now sit in the British +House of Lords. The descendant of Scott of Harden has achieved a +world-wide reputation as a poet and novelist; and the late Sir +James Graham, the representative of the Graemes of Netherby, on the +English side of the border, was one of the most venerable and +respected of British statesmen. The border men, who used to make +such furious raids and forays, have now come to regard each other, +across the imaginary line which divides them, as friends and +neighbours; and they meet as competitors for victory only at +agricultural meetings, where they strive to win prizes for the +biggest turnips or the most effective reaping-machines; while the +men who followed their Johnstone or Armstrong chiefs as prickers or +hobilers to the fray have, like Telford, crossed the border with +powers of road-making and bridge-building which have proved a +source of increased civilization and well-being to the population +of the entire United Kingdom. + +The hamlet of Westerkirk, with its parish church and school, +lies in a narrow part of the valley, a few miles above Langholm. +Westerkirk parish is long and narrow, its boundaries being the +hill-tops on either side of the dale. It is about seven miles long +and two broad, with a population of about 600 persons of all ages. +Yet this number is quite as much as the district is able to +support, as is proved by its remaining as nearly as possible +stationary from one generation to another.*[3] But what becomes of +the natural increase of families? "They swarm off!" was the +explanation given to us by a native of the valley. "If they +remained at home," said he, "we should all be sunk in poverty, +scrambling with each other amongst these hills for a bare living. +But our peasantry have a spirit above that: they will not consent +to sink; they look up; and our parish schools give them a power of +making their way in the world, each man for himself. So they swarm +off--some to America, some to Australia, some to India, and some, +like Telford, work their way across the border and up to London." + +One would scarcely have expected to find the birthplace of the +builder of the Menai Bridge and other great national works in so +obscure a corner of the kingdom. Possibly it may already have +struck the reader with surprise, that not only were all the early +engineers self-taught in their profession, but they were brought up +mostly in remote country places, far from the active life of great +towns and cities. But genius is of no locality, and springs alike +from the farmhouse, the peasant's hut, or the herd's shieling. +Strange, indeed, it is that the men who have built our bridges, +docks, lighthouses, canals, and railways, should nearly all have +been country-bred boys: Edwards and Brindley, the sons of small +farmers; Smeaton, brought up in his father's country house at +Austhorpe; Rennie, the son of a farmer and freeholder; and +Stephenson, reared in a colliery village, an engine-tenter's son. +But Telford, even more than any of these, was a purely country-bred +boy, and was born and brought up in a valley so secluded that it +could not even boast of a cluster of houses of the dimensions of a +village. + +Telford's father was a herd on the sheep-farm of Glendinning. +The farm consists of green hills, lying along the valley of the Meggat, +a little burn, which descends from the moorlands on the east, and +falls into the Esk near the hamlet of Westerkirk. John Telford's +cottage was little better than a shieling, consisting of four mud +walls, spanned by a thatched roof. It stood upon a knoll near the +lower end of a gully worn in the hillside by the torrents of many +winters. + +The ground stretches away from it in a long sweeping slope up to +the sky, and is green to the top, except where the bare grey rocks +in some places crop out to the day. From the knoll may be seen +miles on miles of hills up and down the valley, winding in and out, +sometimes branching off into smaller glens, each with its gurgling +rivulet of peaty-brown water flowing down from the mosses above. +Only a narrow strip of arable land is here and there visible along +the bottom of the dale, all above being sheep-pasture, moors, and +rocks. At Glendinning you seem to have got almost to the world's end. +There the road ceases, and above it stretch trackless moors, +the solitude of which is broken only by the whimpling sound of the +burns on their way to the valley below, the hum of bees gathering +honey among the heather, the whirr of a blackcock on the wing, the +plaintive cry of the ewes at lambing-time, or the sharp bark of the +shepherd's dog gathering the flock together for the fauld. + +[Image] Telford's Birthplace + +In this cottage on the knoll Thomas Telford was born on the 9th of +August, 1757, and before the year was out he was already an orphan. +The shepherd, his father, died in the month of November, and was +buried in Westerkirk churchyard, leaving behind him his widow and +her only child altogether unprovided for. We may here mention that +one of the first things which that child did, when he had grown up +to manhood and could "cut a headstone," was to erect one with the +following inscription, hewn and lettered by himself, over his +father's grave: "IN MEMORY OF + JOHN TELFORD, + WHO AFTER LIVING 33 YEARS + AN UNBLAMEABLE SHEPHERD, + DIED AT GLENDINNING, + NOVEMBER, 1757," + +a simple but poetical epitaph, which Wordsworth himself might have +written. + +The widow had a long and hard struggle with the world before her; +but she encountered it bravely. She had her boy to work for, and, +destitute though she was, she had him to educate. She was helped, +as the poor so often are, by those of her own condition, and there +is no sense of degradation in receiving such help. One of the +risks of benevolence is its tendency to lower the recipient to the +condition of an alms-taker. Doles from poor's-boxes have this +enfeebling effect; but a poor neighbour giving a destitute widow a +help in her time of need is felt to be a friendly act, and is alike +elevating to the character of both. Though misery such as is +witnessed in large towns was quite unknown in the valley, there was +poverty; but it was honest as well as hopeful, and none felt +ashamed of it. The farmers of the dale were very primitive*[4] +in their manners and habits, and being a warm-hearted, though by no +means a demonstrative race, they were kind to the widow and her +fatherless boy. They took him by turns to live with them at their +houses, and gave his mother occasional employment. In summer she +milked the ewes and made hay, and in harvest she went a-shearing; +contriving not only to live, but to be cheerful. + +The house to which the widow and her son removed at the Whitsuntide +following the death of her husband was at a place called The Crooks, +about midway between Glendinning and Westerkirk. It was a thatched +cot-house, with two ends; in one of which lived Janet Telford +(more commonly known by her own name of Janet Jackson) and her son +Tom, and in the other her neighbour Elliot; one door being common to +both. + +[Image] Cottage at the Crooks. + +Young Telford grew up a healthy boy, and he was so full of fun and +humour that he became known in the valley by the name of "Laughing +Tam." When he was old enough to herd sheep he went to live with a +relative, a shepherd like his father, and he spent most of his time +with him in summer on the hill-side amidst the silence of nature. +In winter he lived with one or other of the neighbouring farmers. +He herded their cows or ran errands, receiving for recompense his +meat, a pair of stockings, and five shillings a year for clogs. +These were his first wages, and as he grew older they were +gradually increased. + +But Tom must now be put to school, and, happily, small though the +parish of Westerkirk was, it possessed the advantage of that +admirable institution, the parish school. The legal provision made +at an early period for the education of the people in Scotland, +proved one of their greatest boons. By imparting the rudiments of +knowledge to all, the parish schools of the country placed the +children of the peasantry on a more equal footing with the children +of the rich; and to that extent redressed the inequalities of +fortune. To start a poor boy on the road of life without +instruction, is like starting one on a race with his eyes bandaged +or his leg tied up. Compared with the educated son of the rich man, +the former has but little chance of sighting the winning post. + +To our orphan boy the merely elementary teaching provided at the +parish school of Westerkirk was an immense boon. To master this was +the first step of the ladder he was afterwards to mount: his own +industry, energy, and ability must do the rest. To school +accordingly he went, still working a-field or herding cattle during +the summer months. Perhaps his own "penny fee" helped to pay the +teacher's hire; but it is supposed that his cousin Jackson defrayed +the principal part of the expense of his instruction. It was not +much that he learnt; but in acquiring the arts of reading, writing, +and figures, he learnt the beginnings of a great deal. Apart from +the question of learning, there was another manifest advantage to +the poor boy in mixing freely at the parish school with the sons of +the neighbouring farmers and proprietors. Such intercourse has an +influence upon a youth's temper, manners, and tastes, which is +quite as important in the education of character as the lessons of +the master himself; and Telford often, in after life, referred with +pleasure to the benefits which he had derived from his early school +friendships. Among those to whom he was accustomed to look back +with most pride, were the two elder brothers of the Malcolm family, +both of whom rose to high rank in the service of their country; +William Telford, a youth of great promise, a naval surgeon, +who died young; and the brothers William and Andrew Little, the former +of whom settled down as a farmer in Eskdale, and the latter, +a surgeon, lost his eyesight when on service off the coast of Africa. +Andrew Little afterwards established himself as a teacher at +Langholm, where he educated, amongst others, General Sir Charles +Pasley, Dr. Irving, the Custodier of the Advocate's Library at +Edinburgh; and others known to fame beyond the bounds of their +native valley. Well might Telford say, when an old man, full of +years and honours, on sitting down to write his autobiography, +"I still recollect with pride and pleasure my native parish of +Westerkirk, on the banks of the Esk, where I was born." + +[Image] Westerkirk Church and School. + +Footnotes for Chapter I. + +*[1] Sir Waiter Scott, in his notes to the 'Minstrelsy of the +Scottish Border,' says that the common people of the high parts of +Liddlesdale and the country adjacent to this day hold the memory of +Johnnie Armstrong in very high respect. + +*[2] It was long before the Reformation flowed into the secluded +valley of the Esk; but when it did, the energy of the Borderers +displayed itself in the extreme form of their opposition to the old +religion. The Eskdale people became as resolute in their +covenanting as they had before been in their free-booting; the +moorland fastnesses of the moss-troopers becoming the haunts of the +persecuted ministers in the reign of the second James. A little +above Langholm is a hill known as "Peden's View," and the well in +the green hollow at its foot is still called "Peden's Well"--that +place having been the haunt of Alexander Peden, the "prophet." His +hiding-place was among the alder-bushes in the hollow, while from +the hill-top he could look up the valley, and see whether the +Johnstones of Wester Hall were coming. Quite at the head of the +same valley, at a place called Craighaugh, on Eskdale Muir, one +Hislop, a young covenanter, was shot by Johnstone's men, and buried +where he fell; a gray slabstone still marking the place of his rest. +Since that time, however, quiet has reigned in Eskdale, and its +small population have gone about their daily industry from one +generation to another in peace. Yet though secluded and apparently +shut out by the surrounding hills from the outer world, there is +not a throb of the nation's heart but pulsates along the valley; +and when the author visited it some years since, he found that a +wave of the great Volunteer movement had flowed into Eskdale; +and the "lads of Langholm" were drilling and marching under their +chief, young Mr. Malcolm of the Burnfoot, with even more zeal than +in the populous towns and cities of the south. + +*[3] The names of the families in the valley remain very nearly the +same as they were three hundred years ago--the Johnstones, Littles, +Scotts, and Beatties prevailing above Langholm; and the Armstrongs, +Bells, Irwins, and Graemes lower down towards Canobie and Netherby. +It is interesting to find that Sir David Lindesay, in his curious +drama published in 'Pinkerton's Scottish Poems' vol. ii., p. 156, +gives these as among the names of the borderers some three hundred +years since. One Common Thift, when sentenced to condign +punishment, thus remembers his Border friends in his dying speech: + + "Adew! my bruther Annan thieves, + That holpit me in my mischeivis; + Adew! Grosaws, Niksonis, and Bells, + Oft have we fairne owrthreuch the fells: + + Adew! Robsons, Howis, and Pylis, + That in our craft hes mony wilis: + Littlis, Trumbells, and Armestranges; + Baileowes, Erewynis, and Elwandis, + Speedy of flicht, and slicht of handis; + The Scotts of Eisdale, and the Gramis, + I haf na time to tell your nameis." + +Telford, or Telfer, is an old name in the same neighbourhood, +commemorated in the well known border ballad of 'Jamie Telfer of +the fair Dodhead.' Sir W. Scott says, in the 'Minstrelsy,' that +"there is still a family of Telfers. residing near Langholm , who +pretend to derive their descent from the Telfers of the Dodhead." +A member of the family of "Pylis" above mentioned, is said to have +migrated from Ecclefechan southward to Blackburn, and there founded +the celebrated Peel family. + +*[4] We were informed in the valley that about the time of Telford's +birth there were only two tea-kettles in the whole parish of +Westerkirk, one of which was in the house of Sir James Johnstone +of Wester Hall, and the other at "The Burn," the residence of +Mr. Pasley, grandfather of General Sir Charles Pasley. + + +CHAPTER II. + +LANGHOLM--TELFORD LEARNS THE TRADE OF A STONEMASON. + +The time arrived when young Telford must be put to some regular +calling. Was he to be a shepherd like his father and his uncle, +or was he to be a farm-labourer, or put apprentice to a trade? +There was not much choice; but at length it was determined to bind +him to a stonemason. In Eskdale that trade was for the most part +confined to the building of drystone walls, and there was very +little more art employed in it than an ordinarily neat-handed +labourer could manage. It was eventually decided to send the +youth--and he was now a strong lad of about fifteen--to a mason at +Lochmaben, a small town across the hills to the westward, where a +little more building and of a better sort--such as of farm-houses, +barns, and road-bridges--was carried on than in his own immediate +neighbourhood. There he remained only a few months; for his master +using him badly, the high-spirited youth would not brook it, and +ran away, taking refuge with his mother at The Crooks, very much to +her dismay. + +What was now to be done with Tom? He was willing to do anything or +go anywhere rather than back to his Lochmaben master. In this +emergency his cousin Thomas Jackson, the factor or land-steward at +Wester Hall, offered to do what he could to induce Andrew Thomson, +a small mason at Langholm, to take Telford for the remainder of his +apprenticeship; and to him he went accordingly. The business +carried on by his new master was of a very humble sort. Telford, +in his autobiography, states that most of the farmers' houses in the +district then consisted of "one storey of mud walls, or rubble +stones bedded in clay, and thatched with straw, rushes, or heather; +the floors being of earth, and the fire in the middle, having a +plastered creel chimney for the escape of the smoke; while, instead +of windows, small openings in the thick mud walls admitted a scanty +light." The farm-buildings were of a similarly wretched +description. + +The principal owner of the landed property in the neighbourhood was +the Duke of Buccleugh. Shortly after the young Duke Henry succeeded +to the title and estates, in 1767, he introduced considerable +improvements in the farmers' houses and farm-steadings, and the +peasants' dwellings, as well as in the roads throughout Eskdale. +Thus a demand sprang up for masons' labour, and Telford's master +had no want of regular employment for his hands. Telford profited +by the experience which this increase in the building operations of +the neighbourhood gave him; being employed in raising rough walls +and farm enclosures, as well as in erecting bridges across rivers +wherever regular roads for wheel carriages were substituted for the +horse-tracks formerly in use. + +During the greater part of his apprenticeship Telford lived in the +little town of Langholm, taking frequent opportunities of visiting +his mother at The Crooks on Saturday evenings, and accompanying her +to the parish church of Westerkirk on Sundays. Langholm was then a +very poor place, being no better in that respect than the district +that surrounded it. It consisted chiefly of mud hovels, covered +with thatch--the principal building in it being the Tolbooth, +a stone and lime structure, the upper part of which was used as a +justice-hall and the lower part as a gaol. There were, however, +a few good houses in the little town, occupied by people of the +better class, and in one of these lived an elderly lady, Miss Pasley, +one of the family of the Pasleys of Craig. As the town was so +small that everybody in it knew everybody else, the ruddyy-cheeked, +laughing mason's apprentice soon became generally known to all the +townspeople, and amongst others to Miss Pasley. When she heard that +he was the poor orphan boy from up the valley, the son of the +hard-working widow woman, Janet Jackson, so "eident" and so +industrious, her heart warmed to the mason's apprentice, and she +sent for him to her house. That was a proud day for Tom; and when +he called upon her, he was not more pleased with Miss Pasley's +kindness than delighted at the sight of her little library of +books, which contained more volumes than he had ever seen before. + +Having by this time acquired a strong taste for reading, and +exhausted all the little book stores of his friends, the joy of the +young mason may be imagined when Miss Pasley volunteered to lend +him some books from her own library. Of course, he eagerly and +thankfully availed himself of the privilege; and thus, while +working as an apprentice and afterwards as a journeyman, Telford +gathered his first knowledge of British literature, in which he was +accustomed to the close of his life to take such pleasure. +He almost always had some book with him, which he would snatch a +few minutes to read in the intervals of his work; and on winter +evenings he occupied his spare time in poring over such volumes as +came in his way, usually with no better light than the cottage +fire. On one occasion Miss Pasley lent him 'Paradise Lost,' and he +took the book with him to the hill-side to read. His delight was +such that it fairly taxed his powers of expression to describe it. +He could only say; "I read, and read, and glowred; then read, and +read again." He was also a great admirer of Burns, whose writings +so inflamed his mind that at the age of twenty-two, when barely out +of his apprenticeship, we find the young mason actually breaking +out in verse.*[1] By diligently reading all the books that he could +borrow from friends and neighbours, Telford made considerable +progress in his learning; and, what with his scribbling of "poetry" +and various attempts at composition, he had become so good and +legible a writer that he was often called upon by his less-educated +acquaintances to pen letters for them to their distant friends. +He was always willing to help them in this way; and, the other working +people of the town making use of his services in the same manner, +all the little domestic and family histories of the place soon +became familiar to him. One evening a Langholm man asked Tom to +write a letter for him to his son in England; and when the young +scribe read over what had been written to the old man's dictation, +the latter, at the end of almost every sentence, exclaimed, +"Capital! capital!" and at the close he said, "Well! I declare, +Tom! Werricht himsel' couldna ha' written a better!"--Wright being +a well-known lawyer or "writer" in Langholm. + +His apprenticeship over, Telford went on working as a journeyman at +Langholm, his wages at the time being only eighteen pence a day. +What was called the New Town was then in course of erection, +and there are houses still pointed out in it, the walls of which +Telford helped to put together. In the town are three arched +door-heads of a more ornamental character than the rest, of Telford's +hewing; for he was already beginning to set up his pretensions as a +craftsman, and took pride in pointing to the superior handiwork +which proceeded from his chisel. + +About the same time, the bridge connecting the Old with the New +Town was built across the Esk at Langholm, and upon that structure +he was also employed. Many of the stones in it were hewn by his +hand, and on several of the blocks forming the land-breast his +tool-mark is still to be seen. + +Not long after the bridge was finished, an unusually high flood or +spate swept down the valley. The Esk was "roaring red frae bank to +brae," and it was generally feared that the new brig would be +carried away. Robin Hotson, the master mason, was from home at the +time, and his wife, Tibby, knowing that he was bound by his +contract to maintain the fabric for a period of seven years, was in +a state of great alarm. She ran from one person to another, +wringing her hands and sobbing, "Oh! we'll be ruined--we'll a' be +ruined!" In her distress she thought of Telford, in whom she had +great confidence, and called out, "Oh! where's Tammy Telfer-- +where's Tammy?" He was immediately sent for. It was evening, and +he was soon found at the house of Miss Pasley. When he came +running up, Tibby exclaimed, "Oh, Tammy! they've been on the brig, +and they say its shakin'! It 'll be doon!" "Never you heed them, +Tibby," said Telford, clapping her on the shoulder, "there's nae +fear o' the brig. I like it a' the better that it shakes-- +it proves its weel put thegither." Tibby's fears, however, were not +so easily allayed; and insisting that she heard the brig "rumlin," +she ran up--so the neighbours afterwards used to say of her--and set +her back against the parapet to hold it together. At this, it is +said, "Tam bodged and leuch;" and Tibby, observing how easily he +took it, at length grew more calm. It soon became clear enough +that the bridge was sufficiently strong; for the flood subsided +without doing it any harm, and it has stood the furious spates of +nearly a century uninjured. + +Telford acquired considerable general experience about the same +time as a house-builder, though the structures on which he was +engaged were of a humble order, being chiefly small farm-houses on +the Duke of Buccleugh's estate, with the usual out-buildings. +Perhaps the most important of the jobs on which he was employed was +the manse of Westerkirk, where he was comparatively at home. +The hamlet stands on a green hill-side, a little below the entrance +to the valley of the Meggat. It consists of the kirk, the minister's +manse, the parish-school, and a few cottages, every occupant of +which was known to Telford. It is backed by the purple moors, +up which he loved to wander in his leisure hours and read the poems +of Fergusson and Burns. The river Esk gurgles along its rocky bed +in the bottom of the dale, separated from the kirkyard by a steep +bank, covered with natural wood; while near at hand, behind the +manse, stretch the fine woods of Wester Hall, where Telford was +often wont to roam. + +[Image] Valley of Eskdale, Westerkirk in the distance. + +We can scarcely therefore wonder that, amidst such pastoral +scenery, and reading such books as he did, the poetic faculty of +the country mason should have become so decidedly developed. +It was while working at Westerkirk manse that he sketched the first +draft of his descriptive poem entitled 'Eskdale,' which was published +in the 'Poetical Museum' in 1784.*[2] These early poetical efforts +were at least useful in stimulating his self-education. For the +practice of poetical composition, while it cultivates the +sentiment of beauty in thought and feeling, is probably the best of +all exercises in the art of writing correctly, grammatically, +and expressively. By drawing a man out of his ordinary calling, too, +it often furnishes him with a power of happy thinking which may in +after life become a source of the purest pleasure; and this, we +believe, proved to be the case with Telford, even though he ceased +in later years to pursue the special cultivation of the art. + +Shortly after, when work became slack in the district, Telford +undertook to do small jobs on his own account such as the hewing of +grave-stones and ornamental doorheads. He prided himself especially +upon his hewing, and from the specimens of his workmanship which +are still to be seen in the churchyards of Langholm and Westerkirk, +he had evidently attained considerable skill. On some of these +pieces of masonry the year is carved--1779, or 1780. One of the +most ornamental is that set into the wall of Westerkirk church, +being a monumental slab, with an inscription and moulding, +surmounted by a coat of arms, to the memory of James Pasley of Craig. +He had now learnt all that his native valley could teach him of the +art of masonry; and, bent upon self-improvement and gaining a +larger experience of life, as well as knowledge of his trade, he +determined to seek employment elsewhere. He accordingly left +Eskdale for the first time, in 1780, and sought work in Edinburgh, +where the New Town was then in course of erection on the elevated +land, formerly green fields, extending along the north bank of the +"Nor' Loch." A bridge had been thrown across the Loch in 1769, +the stagnant pond or marsh in the hollow had been filled up, +and Princes Street was rising as if by magic. Skilled masons were +in great demand for the purpose of carrying out these and the numerous +other architectural improvements which were in progress, and +Telford had no difficulty in obtaining employment. + +Our stone-mason remained at Edinburgh for about two years, during +which he had the advantage of taking part in first-rate work and +maintaining himself comfortably, while he devoted much of his spare +time to drawing, in its application to architecture. He took the +opportunity of visiting and carefully studying the fine specimens +of ancient work at Holyrood House and Chapel, the Castle, Heriot's +Hospital, and the numerous curious illustrations of middle age +domestic architecture with which the Old Town abounds. He also made +several journeys to the beautiful old chapel of Rosslyn, situated +some miles to the south of Edinburgh, making careful drawings of +the more important parts of that building. + +When he had thus improved himself, "and studied all that was to be +seen in Edinburgh, in returning to the western border," he says, +"I visited the justly celebrated Abbey of Melrose." There he was +charmed by the delicate and perfect workmanship still visible even +in the ruins of that fine old Abbey; and with his folio filled with +sketches and drawings, he made his way back to Eskdale and the +humble cottage at The Crooks. But not to remain there long. +He merely wished to pay a parting visit to his mother and other +relatives before starting upon a longer journey. "Having acquired," +he says in his Autobiography, "the rudiments of my profession, +I considered that my native country afforded few opportunities of +exercising it to any extent, and therefore judged it advisable +(like many of my countrymen) to proceed southward, where industry +might find more employment and be better remunerated." + +Before setting out, he called upon all his old friends and +acquaintances in the dale--the neighbouring farmers, who had +befriended him and his mother when struggling with poverty--his +schoolfellows, many of whom were preparing to migrate, like +himself, from their native valley--and the many friends and +acquaintances he had made while working as a mason in Langholm. +Everybody knew that Tom was going south, and all wished him God +speed. At length the leave-taking was over, and he set out for +London in the year 1782, when twenty-five years old. He had, like +the little river Meggat, on the banks of which he was born, floated +gradually on towards the outer world: first from the nook in the +valley, to Westerkirk school; then to Langholm and its little +circle; and now, like the Meggat, which flows with the Esk into the +ocean, he was about to be borne away into the wide world. Telford, +however, had confidence in himself, and no one had fears for him. +As the neighbours said, wisely wagging their heads, "Ah, he's an +auld-farran chap is Tam; he'll either mak a spoon or spoil a horn; +any how, he's gatten a good trade at his fingers' ends." + +Telford had made all his previous journeys on foot; but this one he +made on horseback. It happened that Sir James Johnstone, the laird +of Wester Hall, had occasion to send a horse from Eskdale to a +member of his family in London, and he had some difficulty in +finding a person to take charge of it. It occurred to Mr. Jackson, +the laird's factor, that this was a capital opportunity for his +cousin Tom, the mason; and it was accordingly arranged that he +should ride the horse to town. When a boy, he had learnt rough +riding sufficiently well for the purpose; and the better to fit him +for the hardships of the road, Mr. Jackson lent him his buckskin +breeches. Thus Tom set out from his native valley well mounted, +with his little bundle of "traps" buckled behind him, and, after a +prosperous journey, duly reached London, and delivered up the horse +as he had been directed. Long after, Mr. Jackson used to tell the +story of his cousin's first ride to London with great glee, and he +always took care to wind up with--"but Tam forgot to send me back +my breeks!" + +[Image] Lower Valley of the Meggat, the Crooks in the distance. + +Footnotes for Chapter II. + +*[1] In his 'Epistle to Mr. Walter Ruddiman,' first published in +'Ruddiman's Weekly Magazine,' in 1779, occur the following lines +addressed to Burns, in which Telford incidentally sketches himself +at the time, and hints at his own subsequent meritorious career; + + "Nor pass the tentie curious lad, + Who o'er the ingle hangs his head, + And begs of neighbours books to read; + For hence arise + Thy country's sons, who far are spread, + Baith bold and wise." + +*[2] The 'Poetical Museum,' Hawick, p.267. ' Eskdale' was +afterwards reprinted by Telford when living at Shrewsbury, when he +added a few lines by way of conclusion. The poem describes very +pleasantly the fine pastoral scenery of the district:-- + + "Deep 'mid the green sequester'd glens below, + Where murmuring streams among the alders flow, + Where flowery meadows down their margins spread, + And the brown hamlet lifts its humble head-- + There, round his little fields, the peasant strays, + And sees his flock along the mountain graze; + And, while the gale breathes o'er his ripening grain, + And soft repeats his upland shepherd's strain, + And western suns with mellow radiance play. + And gild his straw-roof'd cottage with their ray, + Feels Nature's love his throbbing heart employ, + Nor envies towns their artificial joy." + +The features of the valley are very fairly described. Its early +history is then rapidly sketched; next its period of border strife, +at length happily allayed by the union of the kingdoms, under which +the Johnstones, Pasleys, and others, men of Eskdale, achieve honour +and fame. Nor did he forget to mention Armstrong, the author of the +'Art of Preserving Health,' son of the minister of Castleton, a few +miles east of Westerkirk; and Mickle, the translator of the 'Lusiad,' +whose father was minister of the parish of Langholm; both of whom +Telford took a natural pride in as native poets of Eskdale. + + +CHAPTER III. + +TELFORD A WORKING MASON IN LONDON, AND FOREMAN OF MASONS AT PORTSMOUTH. + +A common working man, whose sole property consisted in his mallet +and chisels, his leathern apron and his industry, might not seem to +amount to much in "the great world of London." But, as Telford +afterwards used to say, very much depends on whether the man has +got a head with brains in it of the right sort upon his shoulders. +In London, the weak man is simply a unit added to the vast floating +crowd, and may be driven hither and thither, if he do not sink +altogether; while the strong man will strike out, keep his head +above water, and make a course for himself, as Telford did. +There is indeed a wonderful impartiality about London. There the +capable person usually finds his place. When work of importance is +required, nobody cares to ask where the man who can do it best +comes from, or what he has been, but what he is, and what he can +do. Nor did it ever stand in Telford's way that his father had been +a poor shepherd in Eskdale, and that he himself had begun his +London career by working for weekly wages with a mallet and chisel. + +After duly delivering up the horse, Telford proceeded to present a +letter with which he had been charged by his friend Miss Pasley on +leaving Langholm. It was addressed to her brother, Mr. John Pasley, +an eminent London merchant, brother also of Sir Thomas Pasley, and +uncle of the Malcolms. Miss Pasley requested his influence on +behalf of the young mason from Eskdale, the bearer of the letter. +Mr. Pasley received his countryman kindly, and furnished him with +letters of introduction to Sir William Chambers, the architect of +Somerset House, then in course of erection. It was the finest +architectural work in progress in the metropolis, and Telford, +desirous of improving himself by experience of the best kind, +wished to be employed upon it. He did not, indeed, need any +influence to obtain work there, for good hewers were in demand; but +our mason thought it well to make sure, and accordingly provided +himself beforehand with the letter of introduction to the architect. +He was employed immediately, and set to work among the hewers, +receiving the usual wages for his labour. + +Mr. Pasley also furnished him with a letter to Mr. Robert Adam,*[1] +another distinguished architect of the time; and Telford seems to +have been much gratified by the civility which he receives from +him. Sir William Chambers he found haughty and reserved, probably +being too much occupied to bestow attention on the Somerset House +hewer, while he found Adam to be affable and communicative. +"Although I derived no direct advantage from either," Telford says, +"yet so powerful is manner, that the latter left the most +favourable impression; while the interviews with both convinced me +that my safest plan was to endeavour to advance, if by slower steps, +yet by independent conduct." + +There was a good deal of fine hewer's work about Somerset House, +and from the first Telford aimed at taking the highest place as an +artist and tradesman in that line.*[2] Diligence, carefulness, +and observation will always carry a man onward and upward; and before +long we find that Telford had succeeded in advancing himself to the +rank of a first-class mason. Judging from his letters written about +this time to his friends in Eskdale, he seems to have been very +cheerful and happy; and his greatest pleasure was in calling up +recollections of his native valley. He was full of kind remembrances +for everybody. "How is Andrew, and Sandy, and Aleck, and Davie?" +he would say; and "remember me to all the folk of the nook." +He seems to have made a round of the persons from Eskdale in or about +London before he wrote, as his letters were full of messages from +them to their friends at home; for in those days postage was dear, +and as much as possible was necessarily packed within the compass +of a working man's letter. In one, written after more than a +year's absence, he said he envied the visit which a young surgeon +of his acquaintance was about to pay to the valley; "for the +meeting of long absent friends," he added, "is a pleasure to be +equalled by few other enjoyments here below." + +He had now been more than a year in London, during which he had +acquired much practical information both in the useful and +ornamental branches of architecture. Was he to go on as a working +mason? or what was to be his next move? He had been quietly making +his observations upon his companions, and had come to the +conclusion that they very much wanted spirit, and, more than all, +forethought. He found very clever workmen about him with no idea +whatever beyond their week's wages. For these they would make every +effort: they would work hard, exert themselves to keep their +earnings up to the highest point, and very readily "strike" to +secure an advance; but as for making a provision for the next week, +or the next year, he thought them exceedingly thoughtless. On the +Monday mornings they began "clean;" and on Saturdays their week's +earnings were spent. Thus they lived from one week to another-- +their limited notion of "the week" seeming to bound their existence. + +Telford, on the other hand, looked upon the week as only one of the +storeys of a building; and upon the succession of weeks, running on +through years, he thought that the complete life structure should +be built up. He thus describes one of the best of his fellow-workmen +at that time--the only individual he had formed an intimacy with: +"He has been six years at Somerset House, and is esteemed the +finest workman in London, and consequently in England. He works +equally in stone and marble. He has excelled the professed carvers +in cutting Corinthian capitals and other ornaments about this +edifice, many of which will stand as a monument to his honour. +He understands drawing thoroughly, and the master he works under +looks on him as the principal support of his business. This man, +whose name is Mr. Hatton, may be half a dozen years older than +myself at most. He is honesty and good nature itself, and is +adored by both his master and fellow-workmen. Notwithstanding his +extraordinary skill and abilities, he has been working all this +time as a common journeyman, contented with a few shillings a week +more than the rest; but I believe your uneasy friend has kindled a +spark in his breast that he never felt before." *[3] + +In fact, Telford had formed the intention of inducing this +admirable fellow to join him in commencing business as builders on +their own account. "There is nothing done in stone or marble," he +says, "that we cannot do in the completest manner." Mr. Robert Adam, +to whom the scheme was mentioned, promised his support, and said he +would do all in his power to recommend them. But the great +difficulty was money, which neither of them possessed; and Telford, +with grief, admitting that this was an "insuperable bar," went no +further with the scheme. + +About this time Telford was consulted by Mr. Pulteney*[4] +respecting the alterations making in the mansion at Wester Hall, +and was often with him on this business. We find him also writing +down to Langholm for the prices of roofing, masonry, and timber-work, +with a view to preparing estimates for a friend who was building a +house in that neighbourhood. Although determined to reach the +highest excellence as a manual worker, it is clear that he was +already aspiring to be something more. Indeed, his steadiness, +perseverance, and general ability, pointed him out as one well +worthy of promotion. + +How he achieved his next step we are not informed; but we find him, +in July, 1784, engaged in superintending the erection of a house, +after a design by Mr. Samuel Wyatt, intended for the residence of +the Commissioner (now occupied by the Port Admiral) at Portsmouth +Dockyard, together with a new chapel, and several buildings +connected with the Yard. Telford took care to keep his eyes open to +all the other works going forward in the neighbourhood, and he +states that he had frequent opportunities of observing the various +operations necessary in the foundation and construction of +graving-docks, wharf-walls, and such like, which were among the +principal occupations of his after-life. + +The letters written by him from Portsmouth to his Eskdale +correspondents about this time were cheerful and hopeful, like +those he had sent from London. His principal grievance was that he +received so few from home, but he supposed that opportunities for +forwarding them by hand had not occurred, postage being so dear as +scarcely then to be thought of. To tempt them to correspondence he +sent copies of the poems which he still continued to compose in the +leisure of his evenings: one of these was a 'Poem on Portsdown Hill.' +As for himself, he was doing very well. The buildings were +advancing satisfactorily; but, "above all," said he, "my proceedings +are entirely approved by the Commissioners and officers here-- +so much so that they would sooner go by my advice than my master's, +which is a dangerous point, being difficult to keep their good +graces as well as his. However, I will contrive to manage it"*[5] + +The following is his own account of the manner in which he was +usually occupied during the winter months while at Portsmouth Dock:-- +"I rise in the morning at 7 (February 1st), and will get up +earlier as the days lengthen until it come to 5 o'clock. +I immediately set to work to make out accounts, write on matters of +business, or draw, until breakfast, which is at 9. Then I go into +the Yard about 10, see that all are at their posts, and am ready to +advise about any matters that may require attention. This, and +going round the several works, occupies until about dinner-time, +which is at 2; and after that I again go round and attend to what +may be wanted. I draw till 5; then tea; and after that I write, +draw, or read until half after 9; then comes supper and bed. This +my ordinary round, unless when I dine or spend an evening with a +friend; but I do not make many friends, being very particular, nay, +nice to a degree. My business requires a great deal of writing and +drawing, and this work I always take care to keep under by +reserving my time for it, and being in advance of my work rather +than behind it. Then, as knowledge is my most ardent pursuit, a +thousand things occur which call for investigation which would +pass unnoticed by those who are content to trudge only in the +beaten path. I am not contented unless I can give a reason for +every particular method or practice which is pursued. Hence I am +now very deep in chemistry. The mode of making mortar in the best +way led me to inquire into the nature of lime. Having, in pursuit +of this inquiry, looked into some books on chemistry, I perceived +the field was boundless; but that to assign satisfactory reasons +for many mechanical processes required a general knowledge of that +science. I have therefore borrowed a MS. copy of Dr. Black's +Lectures. I have bought his 'Experiments on Magnesia and +Quicklime,' and also Fourcroy's Lectures, translated from the +French by one Mr. Elliot, of Edinburgh. And I am determined to +study the subject with unwearied attention until I attain some +accurate knowledge of chemistry, which is of no less use in the +practice of the arts than it is in that of medicine." He adds, that +he continues to receive the cordial approval of the Commissioners +for the manner in which he performs his duties, and says, "I take +care to be so far master of the business committed to me as that +none shall be able to eclipse me in that respect."*[6] At the same +time he states he is taking great delight in Freemasonry, and is +about to have a lodge-room at the George Inn fitted up after his +plans and under his direction. Nor does he forget to add that he +has his hair powdered every day, and puts on a clean shirt three +times a week. + +The Eskdale mason was evidently getting on, as he deserved to do. +But he was not puffed up. To his Langholm friend he averred that +"he would rather have it said of him that he possessed one grain of +good nature or good sense than shine the finest puppet in +Christendom." "Let my mother know that I am well," he wrote to +Andrew Little, "and that I will print her a letter soon."*[7] +For it was a practice of this good son, down to the period of his +mother's death, no matter how much burdened he was with business, +to set apart occasional times for the careful penning of a letter +in printed characters, that she might the more easily be able to +decipher it with her old and dimmed eyes by her cottage fireside at +The Crooks. As a man's real disposition usually displays itself +most strikingly in small matters--like light, which gleams the +most brightly when seen through narrow chinks--it will probably +be admitted that this trait, trifling though it may appear, was +truly characteristic of the simple and affectionate nature of the +hero of our story. + +The buildings at Portsmouth were finished by the end of 1786, when +Telford's duties there being at an end, and having no engagement +beyond the termination of the contract, he prepared to leave, and +began to look about him for other employment. + +Footnotes for Chapter III. + +*[1] Robert and John Adam were architects of considerable repute in +their day. Among their London erections were the Adelphi Buildings, +in the Strand; Lansdowne House, in Berkeley Square; Caen Wood +House, near Hampstead (Lord Mansfield's); Portland Place, Regent's +Park; and numerous West End streets and mansions. The screen of the +Admiralty and the ornaments of Draper's Hall were also designed by +them. + +*[2] Long after Telford had become famous, he was passing over +Waterloo Bridge one day with a friend, when, pointing to some +finely-cut stones in the corner nearest the bridge, he said: +"You see those stones there; forty years since I hewed and laid them, +when working on that building as a common mason." + +*[3]Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated London, July, 1783. + +*[4] Mr., afterwards Sir William, Pulteney, was the second son of +Sir James Johnstone, of Wester Hall, and assumed the name of +Pulteney, on his marriage to Miss Pulteney, niece of the Earl of +Bath and of General Pulteney, by whom he succeeded to a large +fortune. He afterwards succeeded to the baronetcy of his elder +brother James, who died without issue in 1797. Sir William Pulteney +represented Cromarty, and afterwards Shrewsbury, where he usually +resided, in seven successive Parliaments. He was a great patron of +Telford's, as we shall afterwards find. + +*[5] Letter to Andrew Little, Langholm, dated Portsmouth, July 23rd, +1784. + +*[6] Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated Portsmouth +Dockyard, Feb. 1, 1786. + +*[7] Ibid + + +CHAPTER IV. + +BECOMES SURVEYOR FOR THE COUNTY OF SALOP. + +Mr. Pulteney, member for Shrewsbury, was the owner of extensive +estates in that neighbourhood by virtue of his marriage with the +niece of the last Earl of Bath. Having resolved to fit up the +Castle there as a residence, he bethought him of the young Eskdale +mason, who had, some years before, advised him as to the repairs of +the Johnstone mansion at Wester Hall. Telford was soon found, and +engaged to go down to Shrewsbury to superintend the necessary +alterations. Their execution occupied his attention for some time, +and during their progress he was so fortunate as to obtain the +appointment of Surveyor of Public Works for the county of Salop, +most probably through the influence of his patron. Indeed, Telford +was known to be so great a favourite with Mr. Pulteney that at +Shrewsbury he usually went by the name of "Young Pulteney." + +Much of his attention was from this time occupied with the surveys +and repairs of roads, bridges, and gaols, and the supervision of +all public buildings under the control of the magistrates of the +county. He was also frequently called upon by the corporation of +the borough of Shrewsbury to furnish plans for the improvement of +the streets and buildings of that fine old town; and many +alterations were carried out under his direction during the period +of his residence there. + +While the Castle repairs were in course of execution, Telford was +called upon by the justices to superintend the erection of a new +gaol, the plans for which had already been prepared and settled. +The benevolent Howard, who devoted himself with such zeal to gaol +improvement, on hearing of the intentions of the magistrates, made +a visit to Shrewsbury for the purpose of examining the plans; and +the circumstance is thus adverted to by Telford in one of his +letters to his Eskdale correspondent:--"About ten days ago I had a +visit from the celebrated John Howard, Esq. I say I, for he was on +his tour of gaols and infirmaries; and those of Shrewsbury being +both under my direction, this was, of course, the cause of my being +thus distinguished. I accompanied him through the infirmary and the +gaol. I showed him the plans of the proposed new buildings, and had +much conversation with him on both subjects. In consequence of his +suggestions as to the former, I have revised and amended the plans, +so as to carry out a thorough reformation; and my alterations +having been approved by a general board, they have been referred to +a committee to carry out. Mr. Howard also took objection to the +plan of the proposed gaol, and requested me to inform the +magistrates that, in his opinion, the interior courts were too +small, and not sufficiently ventilated; and the magistrates, having +approved his suggestions, ordered the plans to be amended +accordingly. You may easily conceive how I enjoyed the conversation +of this truly good man, and how much I would strive to possess his +good opinion. I regard him as the guardian angel of the miserable. +He travels into all parts of Europe with the sole object of doing +good, merely for its own sake, and not for the sake of men's praise. +To give an instance of his delicacy, and his desire to avoid public +notice, I may mention that, being a Presbyterian, he attended the +meeting-house of that denomination in Shrewsbury on Sunday morning, +on which occasion I accompanied him; but in the afternoon he +expressed a wish to attend another place of worship, his presence +in the town having excited considerable curiosity, though his wish +was to avoid public recognition. Nay, more, he assures me that he +hates travelling, and was born to be a domestic man. He never sees +his country-house but he says within himself, 'Oh! might I but rest +here, and never more travel three miles from home; then should I be +happy indeed!' But he has become so committed, and so pledged +himself to his own conscience to carry out his great work, that he +says he is doubtful whether he will ever be able to attain the +desire of his heart--life at home. He never dines out, and scarcely +takes time to dine at all: he says he is growing old, and has no +time to lose. His manner is simplicity itself. Indeed, I have +never yet met so noble a being. He is going abroad again shortly +on one of his long tours of mercy."*[1] The journey to which +Telford here refers was Howard's last. In the following year he +left England to return no more; and the great and good man died at +Cherson, on the shores of the Black Sea, less than two years after +his interview with the young engineer at Shrewsbury. + +Telford writes to his Langholm friend at the same time that he is +working very hard, and studying to improve himself in branches of +knowledge in which he feels himself deficient. He is practising +very temperate habits: for half a year past he has taken to +drinking water only, avoiding all sweets, and eating no +"nick-nacks." He has "sowens and milk,' (oatmeal flummery) every +night for his supper. His friend having asked his opinion of +politics, he says he really knows nothing about them; he had been +so completely engrossed by his own business that he has not had +time to read even a newspaper. But, though an ignoramus in +politics, he has been studying lime, which is more to his purpose. +If his friend can give him any information about that, he will +promise to read a newspaper now and then in the ensuing session of +Parliament, for the purpose of forming some opinion of politics: +he adds, however, "not if it interfere with my business--mind that!', +His friend told him that he proposed translating a system of +chemistry. "Now you know," wrote Telford, "that I am chemistry mad; +and if I were near you, I would make you promise to communicate any +information on the subject that you thought would be of service to +your friend, especially about calcareous matters and the mode of +forming the best composition for building with, as well above as +below water. But not to be confined to that alone, for you must +know I have a book for the pocket,*[2] which I always carry with me, +into which I have extracted the essence of Fourcroy's Lectures, +Black on Quicklime, Scheele's Essays, Watson's Essays, and various +points from the letters of my respected friend Dr. Irving.*[3] +So much for chemistry. But I have also crammed into it facts +relating to mechanics, hydrostatics, pneumatics, and all manner of +stuff, to which I keep continually adding, and it will be a charity +to me if you will kindly contribute your mite."*[4] He says it +has been, and will continue to be, his aim to endeavour to unite +those "two frequently jarring pursuits, literature and business;" +and he does not see why a man should be less efficient in the +latter capacity because he has well informed, stored, and humanized +his mind by the cultivation of letters. There was both good sense +and sound practical wisdom in this view of Telford. + +While the gaol was in course of erection, after the improved plans +suggested by Howard, a variety of important matters occupied the +county surveyor's attention. During the summer of 1788 he says he +is very much occupied, having about ten different jobs on hand: +roads, bridges, streets, drainage-works, gaol, and infirmary. +Yet he had time to write verses, copies of which he forwarded to his +Eskdale correspondent, inviting his criticism. Several of these +were elegiac lines, somewhat exaggerated in their praises of the +deceased, though doubtless sincere. One poem was in memory of +George Johnstone, Esq., a member of the Wester Hall family, and +another on the death of William Telford, an Eskdale farmer's son, +an intimate friend and schoolfellow of our engineer.*[5] These, +however, were but the votive offerings of private friendship, +persons more immediately about him knowing nothing of his stolen +pleasures in versemaking. He continued to be shy of strangers, +and was very "nice," as he calls it, as to those whom he admitted +to his bosom. + +Two circumstances of considerable interest occurred in the course +of the same year (1788), which are worthy of passing notice. +The one was the fall of the church of St. Chad's, at Shrewsbury; +the other was the discovery of the ruins of the Roman city of +Uriconium, in the immediate neighbourhood. The church of St. Chad's +was about four centuries old, and stood greatly in need of repairs. +The roof let in the rain upon the congregation, and the parish +vestry met to settle the plans for mending it; but they could not +agree about the mode of procedure. In this emergency Telford was +sent for, and requested to advise what was best to he done. After a +rapid glance at the interior, which was in an exceedingly dangerous +state, he said to the churchwardens, "Gentlemen, we'll consult +together on the outside, if you please." He found that not only the +roof but the walls of the church were in a most decayed state. +It appeared that, in consequence of graves having been dug in the +loose soil close to the shallow foundation of the north-west pillar +of the tower, it had sunk so as to endanger the whole structure. +"I discovered," says he, "that there were large fractures in the +walls, on tracing which I found that the old building was in a most +shattered and decrepit condition, though until then it had been +scarcely noticed. Upon this I declined giving any recommendation as +to the repairs of the roof unless they would come to the resolution +to secure the more essential parts, as the fabric appeared to me +to be in a very alarming condition. I sent in a written report to +the same effect." *[6] + +The parish vestry again met, and the report was read; but the +meeting exclaimed against so extensive a proposal, imputing mere +motives of self-interest to the surveyor. "Popular clamour," says +Telford, "overcame my report. 'These fractures,' exclaimed the +vestrymen, 'have been there from time immemorial;' and there were +some otherwise sensible persons, who remarked that professional men +always wanted to carve out employment for themselves, and that the +whole of the necessary repairs could be done at a comparatively +small expense."*[7] The vestry then called in another person, +a mason of the town, and directed him to cut away the injured part +of a particular pillar, in order to underbuild it. On the second +evening after the commencement of the operations, the sexton was +alarmed by a fail of lime-dust and mortar when he attempted to toll +the great bell, on which he immediately desisted and left the +church. Early next morning (on the 9th of July), while the workmen +were waiting at the church door for the key, the bell struck four, +and the vibration at once brought down the tower, which overwhelmed +the nave, demolishing all the pillars along the north side, and +shattering the rest. "The very parts I had pointed out," says +Telford, "were those which gave way, and down tumbled the tower, +forming a very remarkable ruin, which astonished and surprised the +vestry, and roused them from their infatuation, though they have +not yet recovered from the shock."*[8] + +The other circumstance to which we have above referred was the +discovery of the Roman city of Uriconium, near Wroxeter, about five +miles from Shrewsbury, in the year 1788. The situation of the place +is extremely beautiful, the river Severn flowing along its western +margin, and forming a barrier against what were once the hostile +districts of West Britain. For many centuries the dead city had +slept under the irregular mounds of earth which covered it, like +those of Mossul and Nineveh. Farmers raised heavy crops of turnips +and grain from the surface and they scarcely ever ploughed or +harrowed the ground without turning up Roman coins or pieces of +pottery. They also observed that in certain places the corn was +more apt to be scorched in dry weather than in others--a sure sign +to them that there were ruins underneath; and their practice, when +they wished to find stones for building, was to set a mark upon the +scorched places when the corn was on the ground, and after harvest +to dig down, sure of finding the store of stones which they wanted +for walls, cottages, or farm-houses. In fact, the place came to be +regarded in the light of a quarry, rich in ready-worked materials +for building purposes. A quantity of stone being wanted for the +purpose of erecting a blacksmith's shop, on digging down upon one +of the marked places, the labourers came upon some ancient works of +a more perfect appearance than usual. Curiosity was excited +--antiquarians made their way to the spot--and lo! they pronounced +the ruins to be neither more nor less than a Roman bath, in a +remarkably perfect state of preservation. Mr. Telford was requested +to apply to Mr. Pulteney, the lord of the manor, to prevent the +destruction of these interesting remains, and also to permit the +excavations to proceed, with a view to the buildings being +completely explored. This was readily granted, and Mr. Pulteney +authorised Telford himself to conduct the necessary excavations at +his expense. This he promptly proceeded to do, and the result was, +that an extensive hypocaust apartment was brought to light, with +baths, sudatorium, dressing-room, and a number of tile pillars +--all forming parts of a Roman floor--sufficiently perfect to show +the manner in which the building had been constructed and used.*[9] +Among Telford's less agreeable duties about the same time was that +of keeping the felons at work. He had to devise the ways and means +of employing them without risk of their escaping, which gave him +much trouble and anxiety. "Really," he said, "my felons are a very +troublesome family. I have had a great deal of plague from them, +and I have not yet got things quite in the train that I could wish. +I have had a dress made for them of white and brown cloth, in such +a way that they are pye-bald. They have each a light chain about +one leg. Their allowance in food is a penny loaf and a halfpenny +worth of cheese for breakfast; a penny loaf, a quart of soup, and +half a pound of meat for dinner; and a penny loaf and a halfpenny +worth of cheese for supper; so that they have meat and clothes at +all events. I employ them in removing earth, serving masons or +bricklayers, or in any common labouring work on which they can be +employed; during which time, of course, I have them strictly +watched." + +Much more pleasant was his first sight of Mrs. Jordan at the +Shrewsbury theatre, where he seems to have been worked up to a +pitch of rapturous enjoyment. She played for six nights there at +the race time, during which there were various other' +entertainments. On the second day there was what was called an +Infirmary Meeting, or an assemblage of the principal county +gentlemen in the infirmary, at which, as county surveyor, Telford +was present. They proceeded thence to church to hear a sermon +preached for the occasion; after which there was a dinner, followed +by a concert. He attended all. The sermon was preached in the new +pulpit, which had just been finished after his design, in the +Gothic style; and he confidentially informed his Langholm +correspondent that he believed the pulpit secured greater +admiration than the sermon, With the concert he was completely +disappointed, and he then became convinced that he had no ear for +music. Other people seemed very much pleased; but for the life of +him he could make nothing of it. The only difference that he +recognised between one tune and another was that there was a +difference in the noise. "It was all very fine," he said, "I have +no doubt; but I would not give a song of Jock Stewart *[10] for the +whole of them. The melody of sound is thrown away upon me. One +look, one word of Mrs. Jordan, has more effect upon me than all the +fiddlers in England. Yet I sat down and tried to be as attentive as +any mortal could be. I endeavoured, if possible, to get up an +interest in what was going on; but it was all of no use. I felt no +emotion whatever, excepting only a strong inclination to go to +sleep. It must be a defect; but it is a fact, and I cannot help it. +I suppose my ignorance of the subject, and the want of musical +experience in my youth, may be the cause of it."*[11] Telford's +mother was still living in her old cottage at The Crooks. Since he +had parted from her, he had written many printed letters to keep +her informed of his progress; and he never wrote to any of his +friends in the dale without including some message or other to his +mother. Like a good and dutiful son, he had taken care out of his +means to provide for her comfort in her declining years. "She has +been a good mother to me," he said, "and I will try and be a good +son to her." In a letter written from Shrewsbury about this time, +enclosing a ten pound note, seven pounds of which were to be given +to his mother, he said, "I have from time to time written William +Jackson [his cousin] and told him to furnish her with whatever she +wants to make her comfortable; but there may be many little things +she may wish to have, and yet not like to ask him for. You will +therefore agree with me that it is right she should have a little +cash to dispose of in her own way.... I am not rich yet; but it +will ease my mind to set my mother above the fear of want. That has +always been my first object; and next to that, to be the somebody +which you have always encouraged me to believe I might aspire to +become. Perhaps after all there may be something in it!" *[12] +He now seems to have occupied much of his leisure hours in +miscellaneous reading. Among the numerous books which he read, he +expressed the highest admiration for Sheridan's 'Life of Swift.' +But his Langholm friend, who was a great politician, having invited +his attention to politics, Telford's reading gradually extended in +that direction. Indeed the exciting events of the French +Revolution then tended to make all men more or less politicians. +The capture of the Bastille by the people of Paris in 1789 passed +like an electric thrill through Europe. Then followed the +Declaration of Rights; after which, in the course of six months, +all the institutions which had before existed in France were swept +away, and the reign of justice was fairly inaugurated upon earth! + +In the spring of 1791 the first part of Paine's 'Rights of Man' +appeared, and Telford, like many others, read it, and was at once +carried away by it. Only a short time before, he had admitted with +truth that he knew nothing of politics; but no sooner had he read +Paine than he felt completely enlightened. He now suddenly +discovered how much reason he and everybody else in England had for +being miserable. While residing at Portsmouth, he had quoted to his +Langholm friend the lines from Cowper's 'Task,' then just +published, beginning "Slaves cannot breathe in England;" but lo! +Mr. Paine had filled his imagination with the idea that England was +nothing but a nation of bondmen and aristocrats. To his natural +mind, the kingdom had appeared to be one in which a man had pretty +fair play, could think and speak, and do the thing he would,-- +tolerably happy, tolerably prosperous, and enjoying many blessings. +He himself had felt free to labour, to prosper, and to rise from +manual to head work. No one had hindered him; his personal liberty +had never been interfered with; and he had freely employed his +earnings as he thought proper. But now the whole thing appeared a +delusion. Those rosy-cheeked old country gentlemen who came riding +into Shrewsbury to quarter sessions, and were so fond of their +young Scotch surveyor occupying themselves in building bridges, +maintaining infirmaries, making roads, and regulating gaols-- +those county magistrates and members of parliament, aristocrats all, +were the very men who, according to Paine, were carrying the +country headlong to ruin! + +If Telford could not offer an opinion on politics before, because +he "knew nothing about them," he had now no such difficulty. Had +his advice been asked about the foundations of a bridge, or the +security of an arch, he would have read and studied much before +giving it; he would have carefully inquired into the chemical +qualities of different kinds of lime--into the mechanical +principles of weight and resistance, and such like; but he had no +such hesitation in giving an opinion about the foundations of a +constitution of more than a thousand years' growth. Here, like +other young politicians, with Paine's book before him, he felt +competent to pronounce a decisive judgment at once. "I am +convinced," said he, writing to his Langholm friend, "that the +situation of Great Britain is such, that nothing short of some +signal revolution can prevent her from sinking into bankruptcy, +slavery, and insignificancy." He held that the national expenditure +was so enormous,*[13] arising from the corrupt administration of +the country, that it was impossible the "bloated mass" could hold +together any longer; and as he could not expect that "a hundred +Pulteneys," such as his employer, could be found to restore it to +health, the conclusion he arrived at was that ruin was +"inevitable."*[14] Notwithstanding the theoretical ruin of England +which pressed so heavy on his mind at this time, we find Telford +strongly recommending his correspondent to send any good wrights he +could find in his neighbourhood to Bath, where they would be +enabled to earn twenty shillings or a guinea a week at piece-work-- +the wages paid at Langholm for similar work being only about half +those amounts. + +In the same letter in which these observations occur, Telford +alluded to the disgraceful riots at Birmingham, in the course of +which Dr. Priestley's house and library were destroyed. As the +outrages were the work of the mob, Telford could not charge the +aristocracy with them; but with equal injustice he laid the blame +at the door of "the clergy," who had still less to do with them, +winding up with the prayer, "May the Lord mend their hearts and +lessen their incomes!" + +Fortunately for Telford, his intercourse with the townspeople of +Shrewsbury was so small that his views on these subjects were never +known; and we very shortly find him employed by the clergy +themselves in building for them a new church in the town of +Bridgenorth. His patron and employer, Mr. Pulteney, however, knew +of his extreme views, and the knowledge came to him quite +accidentally. He found that Telford had made use of his frank to +send through the post a copy of Paine's 'Rights of Man' to his +Langholm correspondent,*[15] where the pamphlet excited as much +fury in the minds of some of the people of that town as it had done +in that of Telford himself. The "Langholm patriots "broke out into +drinking revolutionary toasts at the Cross, and so disturbed the +peace of the little town that some of them were confined for six +weeks in the county gaol. + +Mr. Pulteney was very indignant at the liberty Telford had taken +with his frank, and a rupture between them seemed likely to ensue; +but the former was forgiving, and the matter went no further. It is +only right to add, that as Telford grew older and wiser, he became +more careful in jumping at conclusions on political topics. +The events which shortly occurred in France tended in a great measure +to heal his mental distresses as to the future of England. When the +"liberty" won by the Parisians ran into riot, and the "Friends of Man" +occupied themselves in taking off the heads of those who differed +from them, he became wonderfully reconciled to the enjoyment of the +substantial freedom which, after all, was secured to him by the +English Constitution. At the same time, he was so much occupied in +carrying out his important works, that he found but little time to +devote either to political speculation or to versemaking. + +While living at Shrewsbury, he had his poem of 'Eskdale' reprinted +for private circulation. We have also seen several MS. verses by +him, written about the same period, which do not appear ever to +have been printed. One of these--the best--is entitled 'Verses to +the Memory of James Thomson, author of "Liberty, a poem;"' another +is a translation from Buchanan, 'On the Spheres;' and a third, +written in April, 1792, is entitled 'To Robin Burns, being a +postscript to some verses addressed to him on the establishment of +an Agricultural Chair in Edinburgh.' It would unnecessarily occupy +our space to print these effusions; and, to tell the truth, they +exhibit few if any indications of poetic power. No amount of +perseverance will make a poet of a man in whom the divine gift is +not born. The true line of Telford's genius lay in building and +engineering, in which direction we now propose to follow him. + +[Image] Shrewsbury Castle + +Footnotes for Chapter IV. + +*[1] Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated Shrewsbury Castle, +21st Feb., 1788. + +*[2] This practice of noting down information, the result of +reading and observation, was continued by Mr. Telford until the +close of his life; his last pocket memorandum book, containing a +large amount of valuable information on mechanical subjects--a sort +of engineer's vade mecum--being printed in the appendix to the 4to. +'Life of Telford' published by his executors in 1838, pp. 663-90. + +*[3] A medical man, a native of Eskdale, of great promise, who died +comparatively young. + +*[4] Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm. + +*[5] It would occupy unnecessary space to cite these poems. +The following, from the verses in memory of William Telford, relates +to schoolboy days, After alluding to the lofty Fell Hills, which +formed part of the sheep farm of his deceased friend's father, the +poet goes on to say: + + "There 'mongst those rocks I'll form a rural seat, + And plant some ivy with its moss compleat; + I'll benches form of fragments from the stone, + Which, nicely pois'd, was by our hands o'erthrown,-- + A simple frolic, but now dear to me, + Because, my Telford, 'twas performed with thee. + There, in the centre, sacred to his name, + I'll place an altar, where the lambent flame + Shall yearly rise, and every youth shall join + The willing voice, and sing the enraptured line. + But we, my friend, will often steal away + To this lone seat, and quiet pass the day; + Here oft recall the pleasing scenes we knew + In early youth, when every scene was new, + When rural happiness our moments blest, + And joys untainted rose in every breast." + +*[6] Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated 16th July, 1788. + +*[7] Ibid. + +*[8] Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated 16th July, 1788. + +*[9] The discovery formed the subject of a paper read before the +Society of Antiquaries in London on the 7th of May, 1789, published +in the 'Archaeologia,' together with a drawing of the remains +supplied by Mr. Telford. + +*[10] An Eskdale crony. His son, Colonel Josias Stewart, rose to +eminence in the East India Company's service, having been for many +years Resident at Gwalior and Indore. + +*[11] Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated 3rd Sept. 1788. + +*[12] Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated Shrewsbury, +8th October, 1789. + +*[13] It was then under seventeen millions sterling, or about a +fourth of what it is now. + +*[14] Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated 28th July, 1791. + +*[15] The writer of a memoir of Telford, in the 'Encyclopedia +Britannica,' says:--"Andrew Little kept a private and very small +school at Langholm. Telford did not neglect to send him a copy of +Paine's 'Rights of Man;' and as he was totally blind, he employed +one of his scholars to read it in the evenings. Mr. Little had +received an academical education before he lost his sight; and, +aided by a memory of uncommon powers, he taught the classics, and +particularly Greek, with much higher reputation than any other +schoolmaster within a pretty extensive circuit. Two of his pupils +read all the Iliad, and all or the greater part of Sophocles. +After hearing a long sentence of Greek or Latin distinctly recited, +he could generally construe and translate it with little or no +hesitation. He was always much gratified by Telford's visits, +which were not infrequent, to his native district." + + +CHAPTER V. + +TELFORD'S FIRST EMPLOYMENT AS AN ENGINEER. + +As surveyor for the county, Telford was frequently called upon by +the magistrates to advise them as to the improvement of roads and +the building or repair of bridges. His early experience of +bridge-building in his native district now proved of much service +to him, and he used often to congratulate himself, even when he had +reached the highest rank in his profession, upon the circumstances +which had compelled him to begin his career by working with his own +hands. To be a thorough judge of work, he held that a man must +himself have been practically engaged in it. + +"Not only," he said, "are the natural senses of seeing and feeling +requisite in the examination of materials, but also the practised +eye, and the hand which has had experience of the kind and +qualities of stone, of lime, of iron, of timber, and even of earth, +and of the effects of human ingenuity in applying and combining all +these substances, are necessary for arriving at mastery in the +profession; for, how can a man give judicious directions unless he +possesses personal knowledge of the details requisite to effect +his ultimate purpose in the best and cheapest manner? It has +happened to me more than once, when taking opportunities of being +useful to a young man of merit, that I have experienced opposition +in taking him from his books and drawings, and placing a mallet, +chisel, or trowel in his hand, till, rendered confident by the +solid knowledge which experience only can bestow, he was qualified +to insist on the due performance of workmanship, and to judge of +merit in the lower as well as the higher departments of a +profession in which no kind or degree of practical knowledge is +superfluous." + +The first bridge designed and built under Telford's superintendence +was one of no great magnitude, across the river Severn at Montford, +about four miles west of Shrewsbury. It was a stone bridge of three +elliptical arches, one of 58 feet and two of 55 feet span each. +The Severn at that point is deep and narrow, and its bed and banks +are of alluvial earth. It was necessary to make the foundations +very secure, as the river is subject to high floods; and this was +effectuality accomplished by means of coffer-dams. The building +was substantially executed in red sandstone, and proved a very +serviceable bridge, forming part of the great high road from +Shrewsbury into Wales. It was finished in the year 1792. + +In the same year, we find Telford engaged as an architect in +preparing the designs and superintending the construction of the +new parish church of St. Mary Magdalen at Bridgenorth. It stands at +the end of Castle Street, near to the old ruined fortress perched +upon the bold red sandstone bluff on which the upper part of the +town is built. The situation of the church is very fine, and an +extensive view of the beautiful vale of the Severn is obtained from it. +Telford's design is by no means striking; "being," as he said, +"a regular Tuscan elevation; the inside is as regularly Ionic: its +only merit is simplicity and uniformity; it is surmounted by a +Doric tower, which contains the bells and a clock." A graceful +Gothic church would have been more appropriate to the situation, +and a much finer object in the landscape; but Gothic was not then +in fashion--only a mongrel mixture of many styles, without regard +to either purity or gracefulness. The church, however, proved +comfortable and commodious, and these were doubtless the points to +which the architect paid most attention. + +[Image] St. Mary Magdalen, Bridgenorth. + +His completion of the church at Bridgenorth to the satisfaction of +the inhabitants, brought Telford a commission, in the following +year, to erect a similar edifice at Coalbrookdale. But in the mean +time, to enlarge his knowledge and increase his acquaintance with +the best forms of architecture, he determined to make a journey to +London and through some of the principal towns of the south of +England. He accordingly visited Gloucester, Worcester, and Bath, +remaining several days in the last-mentioned city. He was charmed +beyond expression by his journey through the manufacturing +districts of Gloucestershire, more particularly by the fine scenery +of the Vale of Stroud. The whole seemed to him a smiling scene of +prosperous industry and middle-class comfort. + +But passing out of this "Paradise," as he styled it, another stage +brought him into a region the very opposite. "We stopped," says he, +"at a little alehouse on the side of a rough hill to water the +horses, and lo! the place was full of drunken blackguards, +bellowing out 'Church and King!' A poor ragged German Jew happened +to come up, whom those furious loyalists had set upon and accused +of being a Frenchman in disguise. He protested that he was only a +poor German who 'cut de corns,' and that all he wanted was to buy a +little bread and cheese. Nothing would serve them but they must +carry him before the Justice. The great brawny fellow of a landlord +swore he should have nothing in his house, and, being a, constable, +told him that he would carry him to gaol. I interfered, and +endeavoured to pacify the assailants of the poor man; when suddenly +the landlord, snatching up a long knife, sliced off about a pound +of raw bacon from a ham which hung overhead, and, presenting it to +the Jew, swore that if he did not swallow it down at once he should +not be allowed to go. The man was in a worse plight than ever. +He said he was a 'poor Shoe,' and durst not eat that. In the midst +of the uproar, Church and King were forgotten, and eventually I +prevailed upon the landlord to accept from me as much as enabled +poor little Moses to get his meal of bread and cheese; and by the +time the coach started they all seemed perfectly reconciled." *[1] +Telford was much gratified by his visit to Bath, and inspected its +fine buildings with admiration. But he thought that Mr. Wood, +who, he says, "created modern Bath," had left no worthy +successor. In the buildings then in progress he saw clumsy +designers at work, "blundering round about a meaning"--if, indeed, +there was any meaning at all in their designs, which he confessed +he failed to see. From Bath he went to London by coach, making the +journey in safety, "although," he says, the collectors had been +doing duty on Hounslow Heath." During his stay in London he +carefully examined the principal public buildings by the light of +the experience which he had gained since he last saw them. He also +spent a good deal of his time in studying rare and expensive works +on architecture--the use of which he could not elsewhere procure-- +at the libraries of the Antiquarian Society and the British Museum. +There he perused the various editions of Vitruvius and Palladio, +as well as Wren's 'Parentalia.' He found a rich store of ancient +architectural remains in the British Museum, which he studied with +great care: antiquities from Athens, Baalbec, Palmyra, and +Herculaneum; "so that," he says, "what with the information I was +before possessed of, and that which I have now accumulated, I think +I have obtained a tolerably good general notion of architecture." + +From London he proceeded to Oxford, where he carefully inspected +its colleges and churches, afterwards expressing the great delight +and profit which he had derived from his visit. He was entertained +while there by Mr. Robertson, an eminent mathematician, then +superintending the publication of an edition of the works of +Archimedes. The architectural designs of buildings that most +pleased him were those of Dr. Aldrich, Dean of Christchurch about +the time of Sir Christopher Wren. He tore himself from Oxford with +great regret, proceeding by Birmingham on his way home to +Shrewsbury: "Birmingham," he says, "famous for its buttons and +locks, its ignorance and barbarism--its prosperity increases with +the corruption of taste and morals. Its nicknacks, hardware, and +gilt gimcracks are proofs of the former; and its locks and bars, +and the recent barbarous conduct of its populace,*[2] are evidences +of the latter." His principal object in visiting the place was to +call upon a stained glass-maker respecting a window for the new +church at Bridgenorth. + +On his return to Shrewsbury, Telford proposed to proceed with his +favourite study of architecture; but this, said he, "will probably +be very slowly, as I must attend to my every day employment," +namely, the superintendence of the county road and bridge repairs, +and the direction of the convicts' labour. "If I keep my health, +however," he added, "and have no unforeseen hindrance, it shall not +be forgotten, but will be creeping on by degrees." An unforeseen +circumstance, though not a hindrance, did very shortly occur, which +launched Telford upon a new career, for which his unremitting +study, as well as his carefully improved experience, eminently +fitted him: we refer to his appointment as engineer to the +Ellesmere Canal Company. + +The conscientious carefulness with which Telford performed the +duties entrusted to him, and the skill with which he directed the +works placed under his charge, had secured the general approbation +of the gentlemen of the county. His straightforward and outspoken +manner had further obtained for him the friendship of many of them. +At the meetings of quarter-sessions his plans had often to encounter +considerable opposition, and, when called upon to defend them, he +did so with such firmness, persuasiveness, and good temper, that he +usually carried his point. "Some of the magistrates are ignorant," +he wrote in 1789, "and some are obstinate: though I must say that +on the whole there is a very respectable bench, and with the +sensible part I believe I am on good terms." This was amply proved +some four years later, when it became necessary to appoint an +engineer to the Ellesmere Canal, on which occasion the magistrates, +who were mainly the promoters of the undertaking, almost +unanimously solicited their Surveyor to accept the office. + +Indeed, Telford had become a general favourite in the county. +He was cheerful and cordial in his manner, though somewhat brusque. +Though now thirty-five years old, he had not lost the humorousness +which had procured for him the sobriquet of "Laughing Tam." +He laughed at his own jokes as well as at others. He was spoken of +as jolly--a word then much more rarely as well as more choicely used +than it is now. Yet he had a manly spirit, and was very jealous of +his independence. All this made him none the less liked by +free-minded men. Speaking of the friendly support which he had +throughout received from Mr. Pulteney, he said, "His good opinion +has always been a great satisfaction to me; and the more so, as it +has neither been obtained nor preserved by deceit, cringing, nor +flattery. On the contrary, I believe I am almost the only man that +speaks out fairly to him, and who contradicts him the most. +In fact, between us, we sometimes quarrel like tinkers; but I hold +my ground, and when he sees I am right he quietly gives in." + +Although Mr. Pulteney's influence had no doubt assisted Telford in +obtaining the appointment of surveyor, it had nothing to do with +the unsolicited invitation which now emanated from the county +gentlemen. Telford was not even a candidate for the engineership, +and had not dreamt of offering himself, so that the proposal came +upon him entirely by surprise. Though he admitted he had +self-confidence, he frankly confessed that he had not a sufficient +amount of it to justify him in aspiring to the office of engineer +to one of the most important undertakings of the day. The following +is his own account of the circumstance:-- + +"My literary project*[3] is at present at a stand, and may be +retarded for some time to come, as I was last Monday appointed sole +agent, architect, and engineer to the canal which is projected to +join the Mersey, the Dee, and the Severn. It is the greatest work, +I believe, now in hand in this kingdom, and will not be completed +for many years to come. You will be surprised that I have not +mentioned this to you before; but the fact is that I had no idea of +any such appointment until an application was made to me by some of +the leading gentlemen, and I was appointed, though many others had +made much interest for the place. This will be a great and +laborious undertaking, but the line which it opens is vast and +noble; and coming as the appointment does in this honourable way, +I thought it too great a opportunity to be neglected, especially as I +have stipulated for, and been allowed, the privilege of carrying on +my architectural profession. The work will require great labour +and exertions, but it is worthy of them all."*[4] Telford's +appointment was duly confirmed by the next general meeting of the +shareholders of the Ellesmere Canal. An attempt was made to get up +a party against him, but it failed. "I am fortunate," he said, "in +being on good terms with most of the leading men, both of property +and abilities; and on this occasion I had the decided support of +the great John Wilkinson, king of the ironmasters, himself a host. +I travelled in his carriage to the meeting, and found him much +disposed to be friendly."*[5] The salary at which Telford was +engaged was 500L. a year, out of which he had to pay one clerk and +one confidential foreman, besides defraying his own travelling +expenses. It would not appear that after making these +disbursements much would remain for Telford's own labour; but in +those days engineers were satisfied with comparatively small pay, +and did not dream of making large fortunes. + +Though Telford intended to continue his architectural business, +he decided to give up his county surveyorship and other minor matters, +which, he said, "give a great deal of very unpleasant labour for +very little profit; in short they are like the calls of a country +surgeon." One part of his former business which he did not give up +was what related to the affairs of Mr. Pulteney and Lady Bath, with +whom he continued on intimate and friendly terms. He incidentally +mentions in one of his letters a graceful and charming act of her +Ladyship. On going into his room one day he found that, before +setting out for Buxton, she had left upon his table a copy of +Ferguson's 'Roman Republic,' in three quarto volumes, superbly +bound and gilt. + +He now looked forward with anxiety to the commencement of the +canal, the execution of which would necessarily call for great +exertion on his part, as well as unremitting attention and +industry; "for," said he, "besides the actual labour which +necessarily attends so extensive a public work, there are +contentions, jealousies, and prejudices, stationed like gloomy +sentinels from one extremity of the line to the other. But, as I +have heard my mother say that an honest man might look the Devil in +the face without being afraid, so we must just trudge along in the +old way."*[6] + +Footnotes for Chapter V. + +*[1] Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated Shrewsbury, +10th March, 1793 + +*[2] Referring to the burning of Dr. Priestley's library. + +*[3] The preparation of some translations from Buchanan which he +had contemplated. + +*[4] Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated Shrewsbury, +29th September, 1793. + +*[5] John Wilkinson and his brother William were the first of the +great class of ironmasters. They possessed iron forges at Bersham +near Chester, at Bradley, Brimbo, Merthyr Tydvil, and other places; +and became by far the largest iron manufacturers of their day. +For notice of them see 'Lives of Boulton and Watt,' p. 212. + +*[6] Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated Shrewsbury, +3rd November, 1793. + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE ELLESMERE CANAL. + +The ellesmere canal consists of a series of navigations proceeding +from the river Dee in the vale of Llangollen. One branch passes +northward, near the towns of Ellesmere, Whitchurch, Nantwich, and +the city of Chester, to Ellesmere Port on the Mersey; another, +in a south-easterly direction, through the middle of Shropshire +towards Shrewsbury on the Severn; and a third, in a south-westerly +direction, by the town of Oswestry, to the Montgomeryshire Canal +near Llanymynech; its whole extent, including the Chester Canal, +incorporated with it, being about 112 miles. + +[Image] Map of Ellesmere Canal + +The success of the Duke of Bridgewater's Canal had awakened the +attention of the landowners throughout England, but more especially +in the districts immediately adjacent to the scene of the Duke's +operations, as they saw with their own eyes the extraordinary +benefits which had followed the opening up of the navigations. +The resistance of the landed gentry, which many of these schemes had +originally to encounter, had now completely given way, and, instead +of opposing canals, they were everywhere found anxious for their +construction. The navigations brought lime, coal, manure, and +merchandise, almost to the farmers' doors, and provided them at the +same time with ready means of conveyance for their produce to good +markets. Farms in remote situations were thus placed more on an +equality with those in the neighbourhood of large towns; rents rose +in consequence, and the owners of land everywhere became the +advocates and projectors of canals. + +The dividends paid by the first companies were very high, and it +was well known that the Duke's property was bringing him in immense +wealth. There was, therefore, no difficulty in getting the shares +in new projects readily subscribed for: indeed Mr. Telford relates +that at the first meeting of the Ellesmere projectors, so eager +were the public, that four times the estimated expense was +subscribed without hesitation. Yet this navigation passed through +a difficult country, necessarily involving very costly works; and +as the district was but thinly inhabited, it did not present a very +inviting prospect of dividends.*[1] But the mania had fairly set +in, and it was determined that the canal should be made. And +whether the investment repaid the immediate proprietors or not, it +unquestionably proved of immense advantage to the population of the +districts through which it passed, and contributed to enhance the +value of most of the adjoining property. + +The Act authorising the construction of the canal was obtained in +1793, and Telford commenced operations very shortly after his +appointment in October of the same year. His first business was to +go carefully over the whole of the proposed line, and make a careful +working survey, settling the levels of the different lengths, +and the position of the locks, embankments, cuttings, and aqueducts. +In all matters of masonry work he felt himself master of the +necessary details; but having had comparatively small experience of +earthwork, and none of canal-making, he determined to take the +advice of Mr. William Jessop on that part of the subject; and he +cordially acknowledges the obligations he was under to that eminent +engineer for the kind assistance which he received from him on many +occasions. + +The heaviest and most important part of the undertaking was in +carrying the canal through the rugged country between the rivers +Dee and Ceriog, in the vale of Llangollen. From Nantwich to +Whitchurch the distance is 16 miles, and the rise 132 feet, +involving nineteen locks; and from thence to Ellesmere, Chirk, +Pont-Cysylltau, and the river Dee, 1 3/4 mile above Llangollen, the +distance is 38 1/4 miles, and the rise 13 feet, involving only two +locks. The latter part of the undertaking presented the greatest +difficulties; as, in order to avoid the expense of constructing +numerous locks, which would also involve serious delay and heavy +expense in working the navigation, it became necessary to contrive +means for carrying the canal on the same level from one side of the +respective valleys of the Dee and the Ceriog to the other; and +hence the magnificent aqueducts of Chirk and Pont-Cysylltau, +characterised by Phillips as "among the boldest efforts of human +invention in modem times."*[2] The Chirk Aqueduct carries the canal +across the valley of the Ceriog, between Chirk Castle and the +village of that name. At this point the valley is above 700 feet +wide; the banks are steep, with a flat alluvial meadow between +them, through which the river flows. The country is finely +wooded. Chirk Castle stands on an eminence on its western side, +with the Welsh mountains and Glen Ceriog as a background; the whole +composing a landscape of great beauty, in the centre of which +Telford's aqueduct forms a highly picturesque object. + +[Image] Chirk Aqueduct + +The aqueduct consists of ten arches of 40 feet span each. +The level of the water in the canal is 65 feet above the meadow, +and 70 feet above the level of the river Ceriog. The proportions +of this work far exceeded everything of the kind that had up to +that time been attempted in England. It was a very costly structure; +but Telford, like Brindley, thought it better to incur a considerable +capital outlay in maintaining the uniform level of the canal, than +to raise and lower it up and down the sides of the valley by locks +at a heavy expense in works, and a still greater cost in time and +water. The aqueduct is a splendid specimen of the finest class of +masonry, and Telford showed himself a master of his profession by +the manner in which he carried out the whole details of the +undertaking. The piers were carried up solid to a certain height, +above which they were built hollow, with cross walls. The spandrels +also, above the springing of the arches, were constructed with +longitudinal walls, and left hollow.*[3] The first stone was laid +on the 17th of June, 1796, and the work was completed in the year +1801; the whole remaining in a perfect state to this day. + +The other great aqueduct on the Ellesmere Canal, named Pont-Cysylltau, +is of even greater dimensions, and a far more striking object in +the landscape. Sir Walter Scott spoke of it to Southey as "the +most impressive work of art he had ever seen." It is situated about +four miles to the north of Chirk, at the crossing of the Dee, in +the romantic vale of Llangollen. The north bank of the river is +very abrupt; but on the south side the acclivity is more gradual. +The lowest part of the valley in which the river runs is 127 feet +beneath the water-level of the canal; and it became a question with +the engineer whether the valley was to be crossed, as originally +intended, by locking down one side and up the other--which would +have involved seven or eight locks on each side--or by carrying it +directly across by means of an aqueduct. + +The execution of the proposed locks would have been very costly, +and the working of them in carrying on the navigation would +necessarily have involved a great waste of water, which was a +serious objection, inasmuch as the supply was estimated to be no +more than sufficient to provide for the unavoidable lockage and +leakage of the summit level. Hence Telford was strongly in favour +of an aqueduct; but, as we have already seen in the case of that at +Chirk, the height of the work was such as to render it impracticable +to construct it in the usual manner, upon masonry piers and arches +of sufficient breadth and strength to afford room for a puddled +water-way, which would have been extremely hazardous as well as +expensive. He was therefore under the necessity of contriving some +more safe and economical method of procedure; and he again resorted +to the practice which he had adopted in the construction of the +Chirk Aqueduct, but on a much larger scale. + +[Image] Pont-Cyslltau--Side view of Cast Iron Trough + +It will be understood that many years elapsed between the period at +which Telford was appointed engineer to the Ellesmere Canal and the +designing of these gigantic works. He had in the meantime been +carefully gathering experience from a variety of similar +undertakings on which he was employed, and bringing his +observations of the strength of materials and the different forms +of construction to bear upon the plans under his consideration for +the great aqueducts of Chirk and Pont-Cysylltau. In 1795 he was +appointed engineer to the Shrewsbury Canal, which extends from that +town to the collieries and ironworks in the neighbourhood of +Wrekin, crossing the rivers Roden and Tern, and Ketley Brook, after +which it joins the Dorrington and Shropshire Canals. Writing to his +Eskdale friend, Telford said : "Although this canal is only +eighteen miles long, yet there are many important works in its +course--several locks, a tunnel about half a mile long, and two +aqueducts. For the most considerable of these last, I have just +recommended an aqueduct of iron. It has been approved, and will be +executed under my direction, upon a principle entirely new, and +which I am endeavouring to establish with regard to the application +of iron."*[4] + +It was the same principle which he applied to the great aqueducts +of the Ellesmere Canal now under consideration. He had a model made +of part of the proposed aqueduct for Pont-Cysylltau, showing the +piers, ribs, towing-path, and side railing, with a cast iron trough +for the canal. The model being approved, the design was completed; +the ironwork was ordered for the summit, and the masonry of the +piers then proceeded. The foundation-stone was laid on the 25th +July, 1795, by Richard Myddelton, Esq., of Chirk Castle, M.P., and +the work was not finished until the year 1803,--thus occupying a +period of nearly eight years in construction. + +The aqueduct is approached on the south side by an embankment 1500 +feet in length, extending from the level of the water-way in the +canal until its perpendicular height at the "tip" is 97 feet; +thence it is carried to the opposite side of the valley, over the +river Dee, upon piers supporting nineteen arches, extending to the +length of 1007 feet. The height of the piers above low water in the +river is 121 feet. The lower part of each was built solid for 70 +feet, all above being hollow, for the purpose of saving masonry as +well as ensuring good workmanship. The outer walls of the hollow +portion are only two feet thick, with cross inner walls. As each +stone was exposed to inspection, and as both Telford and his +confidential foreman, Matthew Davidson,*[5] kept a vigilant eye +upon the work, scamping was rendered impossible, and a first-rate +piece of masonry was the result. + +[Image] Pont-Cyslltau Aqueduct + +Upon the top of the masonry was set the cast iron trough for the +canal, with its towing-path and side-rails, all accurately fitted +and bolted together, forming a completely water-tight canal, with a +water-way of 11 feet 10 inches, of which the towing-path, standing +upon iron pillars rising from the bed of the canal, occupied 4 feet +8 inches, leaving a space of 7 feet 2 inches for the boat.*[6] +The whole cost of this part of the canal was 47,018L., which was +considered by Telford a moderate sum compared with what it must +have cost if executed after the ordinary manner. The aqueduct was +formally opened for traffic in 1805. "And thus," said Telford, "has +been added a striking feature to the beautiful vale of Llangollen, +where formerly was the fastness of Owen Glendower, but which, now +cleared of its entangled woods, contains a useful line of +intercourse between England and Ireland; and the water drawn from +the once sacred Devon furnishes the means of distributing +prosperity over the adjacent land of the Saxons." + +[Image] Section of Top of Pont-Cyslltau Aqueduct. + +It is scarcely necessary to refer to the other works upon this +canal, some of which were of considerable magnitude, though they +may now seem dwarfed by comparison with the works of recent +engineers, Thus, there were two difficult tunnels cut through hard +rock, under the rugged ground which separates the valleys of the +Dee and the Ceriog. One of these is 500 and the other 200 yards in +length. To ensure a supply of water for the summit of the canal, +the lake called Bala Pool was dammed up by a regulating weir, and +by its means the water was drawn off at Llandisilio when required +for the purposes of the navigation; the navigable feeder being six +miles long, carried along the bank of the Llangollen valley. +All these works were skilfully executed; and when the undertaking +was finished, Mr. Telford may be said to have fairly established +his reputation as an engineer of first rate ability. + +We now return to Telford's personal history during this important +period of his career. He had long promised himself a visit to his +dear Eskdale, and the many friends he had left there; but more +especially to see his infirm mother, who had descended far into the +vale of years, and longed to see her son once more before she died. +He had taken constant care that she should want for nothing. +She formed the burden of many of his letters to Andrew Little. +"Your kindness in visiting and paying so much attention to her," +said he, "is doing me the greatest favour which you could possibly +confer upon me." He sent his friend frequent sums of money, which +he requested him to lay out in providing sundry little comforts for +his mother, who seems to have carried her spirit of independence so +far as to have expressed reluctance to accept money even from her +own son. "I must request," said he, "that you will purchase and +send up what things may be likely to be wanted, either for her or +the person who may be with her, as her habits of economy will +prevent her from getting plenty of everything, especially as she +thinks that I have to pay for it, which really hurts me more than +anything else."*[7] Though anxious to pay his intended visit, he +was so occupied with one urgent matter of business and another that +he feared it would be November before he could set out. He had to +prepare a general statement as to the navigation affairs for a +meeting of the committee; he must attend the approaching Salop +quarter sessions, and after that a general meeting of the Canal +Company; so that his visit must be postponed for yet another month. +"Indeed," said he, "I am rather distressed at the thoughts of +running down to see a kind parent in the last stage of decay, on +whom I can only bestow an affectionate look, and then leave her: +her mind will not be much consoled by this parting, and the +impression left upon mine will be more lasting; than pleasant."*[8] + +He did, however, contrive to run down to Eskdale in the following +November. His mother was alive, but that was all. After doing what +he could for her comfort, and providing that all her little wants +were properly attended to, he hastened back to his responsible +duties in connection with the Ellesmere Canal. When at Langholm, +he called upon his former friends to recount with them the incidents +of their youth. He was declared to be the same "canty" fellow as +ever, and, though he had risen greatly in the world, he was "not a +bit set up." He found one of his old fellow workmen, Frank Beattie, +become the principal innkeeper of the place. "What have you made of +your mell and chisels?" asked Telford. "Oh!" replied Beattie, +"they are all dispersed--perhaps lost." "I have taken better care +of mine," said Telford; "I have them all locked up in a room at +Shrewsbury, as well as my old working clothes and leather apron: +you know one can never tell what may happen." + +He was surprised, as most people are who visit the scenes of their +youth after a long absence, to see into what small dimensions +Langholm had shrunk. That High Street, which before had seemed so +big, and that frowning gaol and court-house in the Market Place, +were now comparatively paltry to eyes that had been familiar with +Shrewsbury, Portsmouth, and London. But he was charmed, as ever, +with the sight of the heather hills and the narrow winding valley-- + + "Where deep and low the hamlets lie + Beneath their little patch of sky, + And little lot of stars." + +On his return southward, he was again delighted by the sight of old +Gilnockie Castle and the surrounding scenery. As he afterwards +wrote to his friend Little, "Broomholm was in all his glory." +Probably one of the results of this visit was the revision of the +poem of 'Eskdale,' which he undertook in the course of the +following spring, putting in some fresh touches and adding many new +lines, whereby the effect of the whole was considerably improved. +He had the poem printed privately, merely for distribution amongst +friends; being careful," as he said, that "no copies should be +smuggled and sold." + +Later in the year we find him, on his way to London on business, +sparing a day or two for the purpose of visiting the Duke of +Buckingham's palace and treasures of art at Stowe; afterwards +writing out an eight-page description of it for the perusal of his +friends at Langholm. At another time, when engaged upon the viaduct +at Pont-Cysylltau, he snatched a few day's leisure to run through +North Wales, of which he afterwards gave a glowing account to his +correspondent. He passed by Cader Idris, Snowdon, and Penmaen Mawr. +"Parts of the country we passed through," he says, "very much +resemble the lofty green hills and woody vales of Eskdale. In other +parts the magnificent boldness of the mountains, the torrents, +lakes, and waterfalls, give a special character to the scenery, +unlike everything of the kind I had before seen. The vale of +Llanrwst is peculiarly beautiful and fertile. In this vale is the +celebrated bridge of Inigo Jones; but what is a much more +delightful circumstance, the inhabitants of the vale are the most +beautiful race of people I have ever beheld; and I am much +astonished that this never seems to have struck the Welsh tourists. +The vale of Llangollen is very fine, and not the least interesting +object in it, I can assure you, is Davidson's famous aqueduct +[Pont-Cysylltau], which is already reckoned among the wonders of +Wales. Your old acquaintance thinks nothing of having three or +four carriages at his door at a time."*[9] It seems that, besides +attending to the construction of the works, Telford had to +organise the conduct of the navigation at those points at which the +canal was open for traffic. By the middle of 1797 he states that +twenty miles were in working condition, along which coal and lime +were conveyed in considerable quantifies, to the profit of the +Company and the benefit of the public; the price of these articles +having already in some places been reduced twenty-five, and in +others as much as fifty, per cent. "The canal affairs," he says in +one of his letters, "have required a good deal of exertion, though +we are on the whole doing well. But, besides carrying on the +works, it is now necessary to bestow considerable attention on the +creating and guiding of a trade upon those portions which are +executed. This involves various considerations, and many +contending and sometimes clashing interests. In short, it is the +working of a great machine: in the first place, to draw money out +of the pockets of a numerous proprietary to make an expensive +canal, and then to make the money return into their pockets by the +creation of a business upon that canal." But, as if all this +business were not enough, he was occupied at the same time in +writing a book upon the subject of Mills. In the year 1796 he had +undertaken to draw up a paper on this topic for the Board of +Agriculture, and by degrees it had grown into a large quarto +volume, illustrated by upwards of thirty plates. He was also +reading extensively in his few leisure moments; and among the solid +works which he perused we find him mentioning Robertson's +'Disquisitions on Ancient India,' Stewart's 'Philosophy of the +Human Mind,' and Alison's 'Principles of Taste.' As a relief from +these graver studies, he seems, above all things, to have taken +peculiar pleasure" In occasionally throwing off a bit of +poetry. Thus, when laid up at an hotel in Chester by a blow on his +leg, which disabled him for some weeks, he employed part of his +time in writing his 'Verses on hearing of the Death of Robert +Burns.' On another occasion, when on his way to London, and +detained for a night at Stratford-on-Avon, he occupied the evening +at his inn in composing some stanzas, entitled 'An Address to the +River Avon.' And when on his way back to Shrewsbury, while resting +for the night at Bridgenorth, he amused himself with revising and +copying out the verses for the perusal of Andrew Little. +"There are worse employments," he said,"when one has an hour to +spare from business;" and he asked his friend's opinion of the +composition. It seems to have been no more favourable than the +verses deserved; for, in his next letter, Telford says, "I think +your observation respecting the verses to the Avon are correct. +It is but seldom I have time to versify; but it is to me something +like what a fiddle is to others, I apply to it in order to relieve +my mind, after being much fatigued with close attention to +business." + +It is very pleasant to see the engineer relaxing himself in this +way, and submitting cheerfully to unfavourable criticism, which is +so trying to even the best of tempers. The time, however, thus +taken from his regular work was not loss, but gain. Taking the +character of his occupation into account, it was probably the best +kind of relaxation he could have indulged in. With his head full of +bridges and viaducts, he thus kept his heart open to the influences +of beauty in life and nature; and, at all events, the writing of +verses, indifferent though they might have been, proved of this +value to him--that it cultivated in him the art of writing better +prose. + +Footnotes for Chapter VI. + +*[1] The Ellesmere Canal now pays about 4 per cent. dividend. + +*[2] 'A General History of Inland Navigation, Foreign and +Domestic,' &c. By J. Phillips. Fourth edition. London, 1803. + +*[3] [Image] Section of Pier + +Telford himself thus modestly describes the merit of this original +contrivance: "Previously to this time such canal aqueducts had been +uniformly made to retain the water necessary for navigation by +means of puddled earth retained by masonry; and in order to obtain +sufficient breadth for this superstructure, the masonry of the +piers, abutments, and arches was of massive strength; and after all +this expense, and every imaginable precaution, the frosts, by +swelling the moist puddle, frequently created fissures, which burst +the masonry, and suffered the water to escape--nay, sometimes +actually threw down the aqueducts; instances of this kind having +occurred even in the works of the justly celebrated Brindley. +It was evident that the increased pressure of the puddled earth was +the chief cause of such failures: I therefore had recourse to the +following scheme in order to a void using it. The spandrels of the +stone arches were constructed with longitudinal walls, instead of +being filled in with earth (as at Kirkcudbright Bridge), and across +these the canal bottom was formed by cast iron plates at each side, +infixed in square stone masonry. These bottom plates had flanches +on their edges, and were secured by nuts and screws at every +juncture. The sides of the canal were made water-proof by ashlar +masonry, backed with hard burnt bricks laid in Parker's cement, on +the outside of which was rubble stone work, like the rest of the +aqueduct. The towing path had a thin bed of clay under the gravel, +and its outer edge was protected by an iron railing. The width of +the water-way is 11 feet; of the masonry on each side, 5 feet 6 +inches; and the depth of the water in the canal, 5 feet. By this +mode of construction the quantity of masonry is much diminished, +and the iron bottom plate forms a continuous tie, preventing the +side-walls from separation by lateral pressure of the contained +water."--'Life of Telford,' p. 40. + +*[4] Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated Shrewsbury, +13th March, 1795. + +*[5] Matthew Davidson had been Telford's fellow workman at Langholm, +and was reckoned an excellent mason. He died at Inverness, +where he had a situation on the Caledonian Canal. + +*[6] Mr. Hughes, C.E., in his 'Memoir of William Jessop,' published +in 'Weale's Quarterly Papers on Engineering,' points out the bold +and original idea here adopted, of constructing a water-tight +trough of cast iron, in which the water of the canal was to be +carried over the valleys, instead of an immense puddled trough, +in accordance with the practice until that time in use; and he adds, +"the immense importance of this improvement on the old practice is +apt to be lost sight of at the present day by those who overlook +the enormous size and strength of masonry which would have been +required to support a puddled channel at the height of 120 feet." +Mr. Hughes, however, claims for Mr. Jessop the merit of having +suggested the employment of iron, though, in our opinion, without +sufficient reason. + +Mr. Jessop was, no doubt, consulted by Mr. Telford on the subject; +but the whole details of the design, as well as the suggestion of +the use of iron (as admitted by Mr. Hughes himself), and the +execution of the entire works, rested with the acting engineer. +This is borne out by the report published by the Company +immediately after the formal opening of the Canal in 1805, in which +they state: "Having now detailed the particulars relative to the +Canal, and the circumstances of the concern, the committee, in +concluding their report, think it but justice due to Mr. Telford to +state that the works have been planned with great skill and +science, and executed with much economy and stability, doing him, +as well as those employed by him, infinite credit. (Signed) +Bridgewater." + +*[7] Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated Shrewsbury, +16th Sept., 1794. + +*[8] lbid. + +*[9] Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated Salop, 20th Aug., +1797. + + +CHAPTER VII. + +IRON AND AND OTHER BRIDGES. + +Shrewsbury being situated in the immediate neighbourhood of the +Black Country, of which coal and iron are the principal products, +Telford's attention was naturally directed, at a very early period, +to the employment of cast iron in bridge-building. The strength as +well as lightness of a bridge of this material, compared with one +of stone and lime, is of great moment where headway is ofimportance, +or the difficulties of defective foundations have to be encountered. +The metal can be moulded in such precise forms and so accurately +fitted together as to give to the arching the greatest possible +rigidity; while it defies the destructive influences of time and +atmospheric corrosion with nearly as much certainty as stone itself. + +The Italians and French, who took the lead in engineering down almost +to the end of last century, early detected the value of this material, +and made several attempts to introduce it in bridge-building; +but their efforts proved unsuccessful, chiefly because of the +inability of the early founders to cast large masses of iron, +and also because the metal was then more expensive than either stone +or timber. The first actual attempt to build a cast iron bridge was +made at Lyons in 1755, and it proceeded so far that one of the +arches was put together in the builder's yard; but the project was +abandoned as too costly, and timber was eventually used. + +It was reserved for English manufacturers to triumph over the +difficulties which had baffled the foreign iron-founders. Shortly +after the above ineffectual attempt had been made, the construction +of a bridge over the Severn near Broseley formed the subject of +discussion among the adjoining owners. There had been a great +increase in the coal, iron, brick, and pottery trades of the +neighbourhood; and the old ferry between the opposite banks of the +river was found altogether inadequate for the accommodation of the +traffic. The necessity for a bridge had long been felt, and the +project of constructing one was actively taken up in 1776 by +Mr. Abraham Darby, the principal owner of the extensive iron works +at Coalbrookdale. Mr. Pritchard, a Shrewsbury architect, prepared +the design of a stone bridge of one arch, in which he proposed to +introduce a key-stone of cast iron, occupying only a few feet at +the crown of the arch. This plan was, however, given up as +unsuitable; and another, with the entire arch of cast iron, was +designed under the superintendence of Mr. Darby. The castings were +made in the works at Coalbrookdale, and the bridge was erected at a +point where the banks were of considerable height on both sides of +the river. It was opened for traffic in 1779, and continues a most +serviceable structure to this day, giving the name to the town of +Ironbridge, which has sprung up in its immediate vicinity. The +bridge consists of one semicircular arch, of 100 feet span, each of +the great ribs consisting of two pieces only. Mr. Robert Stephenson +has said of the structure--"If we consider that the manipulation of +cast iron was then completely in its infancy, a bridge of such +dimensions was doubtless a bold as well as an original undertaking, +and the efficiency of the details is worthy of the boldness of the +conception."*[1] + +[Image] The first Iron Bridge, Coalbrookdale. + +It is a curious circumstance that the next projector of an iron +bridge--and that of a very bold design--was the celebrated, or +rather the notorious, Tom Paine, whose political writings Telford +had so much admired. The son of a decent Quaker of Thetford, who +trained him to his own trade of a staymaker, Paine seems early to +have contracted a dislike for the sect to which his father +belonged. Arrived at manhood, he gave up staymaking to embrace the +wild life of a privateersman, and served in two successive +adventures. Leaving the sea, he became an exciseman, but retained +his commission for only a year. Then he became an usher in a +school, during which he studied mechanics and mathematics. Again +appointed an exciseman, he was stationed at Lewes in Sussex, where +he wrote poetry and acquired some local celebrity as a writer. +He was accordingly selected by his brother excisemen to prepare their +petition to Government for an increase of pay, *[2] -- the document +which he drew up procuring him introductions to Goldsmith and +Franklin, and dismissal from his post. Franklin persuaded him to go +to America; and there the quondam staymaker, privateersman, usher, +poet, an a exciseman, took an active part in the revolutionary +discussions of the time, besides holding the important office of +Secretary to the Committee for Foreign Affairs. Paine afterwards +settled for a time at Philadelphia, where he occupied himself with +the study of mechanical philosophy, electricity, mineralogy, and +the use of iron in bridge-building. In 1787, when a bridge over +the Schnylkill was proposed, without any river piers, as the stream +was apt to be choked with ice in the spring freshets, Paine boldly +offered to build an iron bridge with a single arch of 400 feet +span. In the course of the same year, he submitted his design of +the proposed bridge to the Academy of Sciences at Paris; he also +sent a copy of his plan to Sir Joseph Banks for submission to the +Royal Society; and, encouraged by the favourable opinions of +scientific men, he proceeded to Rotherham, in Yorkshire, to have +his bridge cast.*[3] An American gentleman, named Whiteside, having +advanced money to Paine on security of his property in the States, +to enable the bridge to be completed, the castings were duly made, +and shipped off to London, where they were put together and +exhibited to the public on a bowling-green at Paddington. +The bridge was there visited by a large number of persons, and was +considered to be a highly creditable work. Suddenly Paine's attention +was withdrawn from its further prosecution by the publication of +Mr. Burke's celebrated 'Thoughts on the French Revolution,' which +he undertook to answer. Whiteside having in the meantime become +bankrupt, Paine was arrested by his assignees, but was liberated by +the assistance of two other Americans, who became bound for him. +Paine, however, was by this time carried away by the fervour of the +French Revolution, having become a member of the National +Convention, as representative for Calais. The "Friends of Man," +whose cause he had espoused, treated him scurvily, imprisoning him +in the Luxembourg, where he lay for eleven months. Escaped to +America, we find him in 1803 presenting to the American Congress a +memoir on the construction of Iron Bridges, accompanied by several +models. It does not appear, however, that Paine ever succeeded in +erecting an iron bridge. He was a restless, speculative, unhappy +being; and it would have been well for his memory if, instead of +penning shallow infidelity, he had devoted himself to his original +idea of improving the communications of his adopted country. +In the meantime, however, the bridge exhibited at Paddington had +produced important results. The manufacturers agreed to take it +back as part of their debt, and the materials were afterwards used +in the construction of the noble bridge over the Wear at Sunderland, +which was erected in 1796. + +The project of constructing a bridge at this place, where the rocky +banks of the Wear rise to a great height oh both sides of the +river, is due to Rowland Burdon, Esq., of Castle Eden, under whom +Mr. T. Wilson served as engineer in carrying out his design. +The details differed in several important respects from the proposed +bridge of Paine, Mr. Burdon introducing several new and original +features, more particularly as regarded the framed iron panels +radiating towards the centre in the form of voussoirs, for the +purpose of resisting compression. Mr. Phipps, C.E., in a report +prepared by him at the instance of the late Robert Stephenson, +under whose superintendence the bridge was recently repaired, +observes, with respect to the original design,--"We should probably +make a fair division of the honour connected with this unique +bridge, by conceding to Burdon all that belongs to a careful +elaboration and improvement upon the designs of another, to the +boldness of taking upon himself the great responsibility of +applying. this idea at once on so magnificent a scale, and to his +liberality and public spirit in furnishing the requisite funds +[to the amount of 22,000L.]; but we must not deny to Paine the credit +of conceiving the construction of iron bridges of far larger span +than had been made before his time, or of the important examples +both as models and large constructions which he caused to be made +and publicly exhibited. In whatever shares the merit of this great +work may be apportioned, it must be admitted to be one of the +earliest and greatest triumphs of the art of bridge construction." +Its span exceeded that of any arch then known, being 236 feet, with +a rise of 34 feet, the springing commencing at 95 feet above the +bed of the river; and its height was such as to allow vessels of +300 tons burden to sail underneath without striking their masts. +Mr. Stephenson characterised the bridge as "a structure which, as +regards its proportions and the small quantity of material employed +in its construction, will probably remain unrivalled." + +[Image] Wear Bridge, at Sunderland. + +The same year in which Burdon's Bridge was erected at Sunderland, +Telford was building his first iron bridge over the Severn at +Buildwas, at a point about midway between Shrewsbury and Bridgenorth. +An unusually high flood having swept away the old bridge in the +Year 1795, he was called upon, as surveyor for the county, to +supply the plan of a new one. Having carefully examined the bridge +at Coalbrookdale, and appreciated its remarkable merits, he +determined to build the proposed bridge at Buildwas of iron; and as +the waters came down with great suddenness from the Welsh mountains, +he further resolved to construct it of only one arch, so as to +afford the largest possible water-way. + +He had some difficulty in inducing the Coalbrookdale iron-masters, +who undertook the casting of the girders, to depart from the plan +of the earlier structure; but he persisted in his design, which was +eventually carried out. It consisted of a single arch of 130 feet +span, the segment of a very large circle, calculated to resist the +tendency of the abutments to slide inwards, which had been a defect +of the Coalbrookdale bridge; the flat arch being itself sustained +and strengthened by an outer ribbed one on each side, springing +lower than the former and also rising higher, somewhat after the +manner of timber-trussing. Although the span of the new bridge was +30 feet wider than the Coalbrookdale bridge, it contained less than +half the quantity of iron; Buildwas bridge containing 173, whereas +the other contained 378 tons. The new structure was, besides, +extremely elegant in form; and when the centres were struck, the +arch and abutments stood perfectly firm, and have remained so to +this day. But the ingenious design of this bridge will be better +explained by the following representation than by any description +in words.*[4] The bridge at Buildwas, however, was not Telford's +first employment of iron in bridge-building; for, the year before +its erection, we find him writing to his friend at Langholm that he +had recommended an iron aqueduct for the Shrewsbury Canal, +"on a principle entirely new," and which he was "endeavouring to +establish with regard to the application of iron."*[5] This iron +aqueduct had been cast and fixed; and it was found to effect so +great a saving in masonry and earthwork, that he was afterwards +induced to apply the same principle, as we have already seen, +in different forms, in the magnificent aqueducts of Chirk and +Pont-Cysylltau. + +The uses of cast iron in canal construction became more obvious +with every year's successive experience; and Telford was accustomed +to introduce it in many cases where formerly only timber or stone +had been used. On the Ellesmere, and afterwards on the Caledonial +Canal, he adopted cast iron lock-gates, which were found to answer +well, being more durable than timber, and not liable like it to +shrink and expand with alternate dryness and wet. The turnbridges +which he applied to his canals, in place of the old drawbridges, +were also of cast iron; and in some cases even the locks were of +the same material. Thus, on a part of the Ellesmere Canal opposite +Beeston Castle, in Cheshire, where a couple of locks, together +rising 17 feet, having been built on a stratum of quicksand, were +repeatedly undermined, the idea of constructing the entire locks of +cast iron was suggested; and this unusual application of the new +material was accomplished with entirely satisfactory results. + +But Telford's principal employment of cast iron was in the +construction of road bridges, in which he proved himself a master. +His experience in these structures had become very extensive. +During the time that he held the office of surveyor to the county +of Salop, he erected no fewer than forty-two, five of which were of +iron. Indeed, his success in iron bridge-building so much +emboldened him, that in 1801, when Old London Bridge had become so +rickety and inconvenient that it was found necessary to take steps +to rebuild or remove it, he proposed the daring plan of a cast iron +bridge of a single arch of not less than 600 feet span, the segment +of a circle l450 feet in diameter. In preparing this design we +find that he was associated with a Mr. Douglas, to whom many +allusions are made in his private letters.*[6] The design of this +bridge seems to have arisen out of a larger project for the +improvement of the port of London. In a private letter of Telford's, +dated the 13th May, 1800, he says: + +"I have twice attended the Select Committee on the Fort of London, +Lord Hawkesbury, Chairman. The subject has now been agitated for +four years, and might have been so for many more, if Mr. Pitt had +not taken the business out of the hands of the General Committee, +and got it referred to a Select Committee. Last year they +recommended that a system of docks should be formed in a large bend +of the river opposite Greenwich, called the Isle of Dogs, with a +canal across the neck of the bend. This part of the contemplated +improvements is already commenced, and is proceeding as rapidly as +the nature of the work will admit. It will contain ship docks for +large vessels, such as East and West Indiamen, whose draught of +water is considerable. + +"There are now two other propositions under consideration. One is +to form another system of docks at Wapping, and the other to take +down London Bridge, rebuild it of such dimensions as to admit of +ships of 200 tons passing under it, and form a new pool for ships +of such burden between London and Blackfriars Bridges, with a set +of regular wharves on each side of the river. This is with the view +of saving lighterage and plunderage, and bringing the great mass of +commerce so much nearer to the heart of the City. This last part of +the plan has been taken up in a great measure from some statements +I made while in London last year, and I have been called before the +Committee to explain. I had previously prepared a set of plans and +estimates for the purpose of showing how the idea might be carried +out; and thus a considerable degree of interest has been excited on +the subject. It is as yet, however, very uncertain how far the +plans will be carried out. It is certainly a matter of great +national importance to render the Port of London as perfect as +possible."*[7] + +Later in the same year he writes that his plans and propositions +have been approved and recommended to be carried out, and he +expects to have the execution of them. "If they will provide the +ways and means," says he, "and give me elbow-room, I see my way as +plainly as mending the brig at the auld burn." In November, 1801, +he states that his view of London Bridge, as proposed by him, has +been published, and much admired. On the l4th of April, 1802, he +writes, "I have got into mighty favour with the Royal folks. I have +received notes written by order of the King, the Prince of Wales, +Duke of York, and Duke of Kent, about the bridge print, and in +future it is to be dedicated to the King." + +The bridge in question was one of the boldest of Telford's designs. +He proposed by his one arch to provide a clear headway of 65 feet +above high water. The arch was to consist of seven cast iron ribs, +in segments as large as possible, and they were to be connected by +diagonal cross-bracing, disposed in such a manner that any part of +the ribs and braces could be taken out and replaced without injury +to the stability of the bridge or interruption to the traffic over it. +The roadway was to be 90 feet wide at the abutments and 45 feet +in the centre; the width of the arch being gradually contracted +towards the crown in order to lighten the weight of the structure. +The bridge was to contain 6500 tons of iron, and the cost of the +whole was to be 262,289L. + +[Image] Telford's proposed One-arched Bridge over the Thames. + +The originality of the design was greatly admired, though there +were many who received with incredulity the proposal to bridge the +Thames by a single arch, and it was sarcastically said of Telford +that he might as well think of "setting the Thames on fire." +Before any outlay was incurred in building the bridge, the design +was submitted to the consideration of the most eminent scientific +and practical men of the day; after which evidence was taken at +great length before a Select Committee which sat on the subject. +Among those examined on the occasion were the venerable James Watt +of Birmingham, Mr. John Rennie, Professor Button of Woolwich, +Professors Playfair and Robison of Edinburgh, Mr. Jessop, +Mr.Southern, and Dr. Maskelyne. Their evidence will still be found +interesting as indicating the state at which constructive science +had at that time arrived in England.*[8] There was a considerable +diversity of opinion among the witnesses, as might have been +expected; for experience was as yet very limited as to the +resistance of cast iron to extension and compression. Some of them +anticipated immense difficulty in casting pieces of metal of the +necessary size and exactness, so as to secure that the radiated +joints should be all straight and bearing. Others laid down certain +ingenious theories of the arch, which did not quite square with the +plan proposed by the engineer. But, as was candidly observed by +Professor Playfair in concluding his report--"It is not from +theoretical men that the most valuable information in such a case +as the present is to be expected. When a mechanical arrangement +becomes in a certain degree complicated, it baffles the efforts of +the geometer, and refuses to submit to even the most approved +methods of investigation. This holds good particularly of bridges, +where the principles of mechanics, aided by all the resources of +the higher geometry, have not yet gone further than to determine +the equilibrium of a set of smooth wedges acting on one another by +pressure only, and in such circumstances as, except in a +philosophical experiment, can hardly ever be realised. It is, +therefore, from men educated in the school of daily practice and +experience, and who to a knowledge of general principles have +added, from the habits of their profession, a certain feeling of +the justness or insufficiency of any mechanical contrivance, that +the soundest opinions on a matter of this kind can be obtained." + +It would appear that the Committee came to the general conclusion +that the construction of the proposed bridge was practicable and +safe; for the river was contracted to the requisite width, and the +preliminary works were actually begun. Mr. Stephenson says the +design was eventually abandoned, owing more immediately to the +difficulty of constructing the approaches with such a head way, +which would have involved the formation of extensive inclined +planes from the adjoining streets, and thereby led to serious +inconvenience, and the depreciation of much valuable property on +both sides of the river.*[9] Telford's noble design of his great +iron bridge over the Thames, together with his proposed embankment +of the river, being thus definitely abandoned, he fell back upon +his ordinary business as an architect and engineer, in the course +of which he designed and erected several stone bridges of +considerable magnitude and importance. + +In the spring of 1795, after a long continued fall of snow, a +sudden thaw raised a heavy flood in the Severn, which carried away +many bridges--amongst others one at Bewdley, in Worcestershire,-- +when Telford was called upon to supply a design for a new structure. +At the same time, he was required to furnish a plan for a new +bridge near the town of Bridgenorth; "in short," he wrote to his +friend, "I have been at it night and day." So uniform a success had +heretofore attended the execution of his designs, that his +reputation as a bridge-builder was universally acknowledged. +"Last week," he says, "Davidson and I struck the centre of an arch +of 76 feet span, and this is the third which has been thrown this +summer, none of which have shrunk a quarter of an inch." + +Bewdley Bridge is a handsome and substantial piece of masonry. +The streets on either side of it being on low ground, land arches +were provided at both ends for the passage of the flood waters; +and as the Severn was navigable at the point crossed, it was +considered necessary to allow considerably greater width in the +river arches than had been the case in the former structure. +The arches were three in number--one of 60 feet span and two of 52 +feet, the land arches being of 9 feet span. The works were +proceeded with and the bridge was completed during the summer of +1798, Telford writing to his friend in December of that year-- +"We have had a remarkably dry summer and autumn; after that an early +fall of snow and some frost, followed by rain. The drought of the +summer was unfavourable to our canal working; but it has enabled us +to raise Bewdley Bridge as if by enchantment. We have thus built a +magnificent bridge over the Severn in one season, which is no +contemptible work for John Simpson*[10] and your humble servant, +amidst so many other great undertakings. John Simpson is a +treasure--a man of great talents and integrity. I met with him +here by chance, employed and recommended him, and he has now under +his charge all the works of any magnitude in this great and rich +district." + +[Image] Bewdley Bridge. + +Another of our engineer's early stone bridges, which may be +mentioned in this place, was erected by him in 1805, over the river +Dee at Tongueland in the county of Kirkcudbright. It is a bold and +picturesque bridge, situated in a lovely locality. The river is +very deep at high water there, the tide rising 20 feet. As the +banks were steep and rocky, the engineer determined to bridge the +stream by a single arch of 112 feet span. The rise being +considerable, high wingwalls and deep spandrels were requisite; but +the weight of the structure was much lightened by the expedient +which he adopted of perforating the wings, and building a number of +longitudinal walls in the spandrels, instead of filling them with +earth or inferior masonry, as had until then been the ordinary +practice. The ends of these walls, connected and steadied by the +insertion of tee-stones, were built so as to abut against the back +of the arch-stones and the cross walls of each abutment. Thus great +strength as well as lightness was secured, and a very graceful and +at the same time substantial bridge was provided for the +accommodation of the district.*[11] + +[Image] Tongueland Bridge. + +In his letters written about this time, Telford seems to have been +very full of employment, which required him to travel about a great +deal. "I have become," said he, "a very wandering being, and am +scarcely ever two days in one place, unless detained by business, +which, however, occupies my time very completely." At another time +he says, "I am tossed about like a tennis ball: the other day I was +in London, since that I have been in Liverpool, and in a few days I +expect to be at Bristol. Such is my life; and to tell you the +truth, I think it suits my disposition." + +Another work on which Telford was engaged at this time was a +project for supplying the town of Liverpool with water conveyed +through pipes in the same manner as had long before been adopted in +London. He was much struck by the activity and enterprise apparent +in Liverpool compared with Bristol. "Liverpool," he said, +"has taken firm root in the country by means of the canals" +it is young, vigorous, and well situated. Bristol is sinking in +commercial importance: its merchants are rich and indolent, and in +their projects they are always too late. Besides, the place is +badly situated. There will probably arise another port there +somewhat nearer the Severn; but Liverpool will nevertheless +continue of the first commercial importance, and their water will +be turned into wine. We are making rapid progress in this country-- +I mean from Liverpool to Bristol, and from Wales to Birmingham. +This is an extensive and rich district, abounding in coal, lime, +iron, and lead. Agriculture too is improving, and manufactures +are advancing at rapid strides towards perfection. Think of such a +mass of population, industrious, intelligent, and energetic, in +continual exertion! In short, I do not believe that any part of the +world, of like dimensions, ever exceeded Great Britain, as it now +is, in regard to the production of wealth and the practice of the +useful arts."*[12] Amidst all this progress, which so strikingly +characterized the western districts of England, Telford also +thought that there was a prospect of coming improvement for Ireland. +"There is a board of five members appointed by Parliament, to act +as a board of control over all the inland navigations, &c., of +Ireland. One of the members is a particular friend of mine, and at +this moment a pupil, as it were, anxious for information. This is +a noble object: the field is wide, the ground new and capable of +vast improvement. To take up and manage the water of a fine island +is like a fairy tale, and, if properly conducted, it would render +Ireland truly a jewel among the nations."*[13] It does not, +however, appear that Telford was ever employed by the board to +carry out the grand scheme which thus fired his engineering +imagination. + +Mixing freely with men of all classes, our engineer seems to have +made many new friends and acquaintances about this time. While on +his journeys north and south, he frequently took the opportunity of +looking in upon the venerable James Watt--"a great and good man," +he terms him--at his house at Heathfield, near Birmingham. +At London he says he is "often with old Brodie and Black, each the +first in his profession, though they walked up together to the +great city on foot,*[14] more than half a century ago--Gloria!" +About the same time we find him taking interest in the projects of +a deserving person, named Holwell, a coal-master in Staffordshire, +and assisting him to take out a patent for boring wooden pipes; +"he being a person," says Telford, "little known, and not having +capital, interest, or connections, to bring the matter forward." + +Telford also kept up his literary friendships and preserved his +love for poetical reading. At Shrewsbury, one of his most intimate +friends was Dr. Darwin, son of the author of the 'Botanic Garden.' +At Liverpool, he made the acquaintance of Dr. Currie, and was +favoured with a sight of his manuscript of the ' Life of Burns,' +then in course of publication. Curiously enough, Dr. Currie had +found among Burns's papers a copy of some verses, addressed to the +poet, which Telford recognised as his own, written many years +before while working as a mason at Langholm. Their purport was to +urge Burns to devote himself to the composition of poems of a +serious character, such as the 'Cotter's Saturday Night.' With +Telford's permission, several extracts from his Address to Burns +were published in 1800 in Currie's Life of the poet. Another of +his literary friendships, formed about the same time, was that with +Thomas Campbell, then a very young man, whose 'Pleasures of Hope' +had just made its appearance. Telford, in one of his letters, says, +"I will not leave a stone unturned to try to serve the author of +that charming poem. In a subsequent communication*[15] he says, +"The author of the 'Pleasures of Hope' has been here for some time. +I am quite delighted with him. He is the very spirit of poetry. +On Monday I introduced him to the King's librarian, and I imagine +some good may result to him from the introduction." + +In the midst of his plans of docks, canals, and bridges, he wrote +letters to his friends about the peculiarities of Goethe's poems +and Kotzebue's plays, Roman antiquities, Buonaparte's campaign in +Egypt, and the merits of the last new book. He confessed, however, +that his leisure for reading was rapidly diminishing in consequence +of the increasing professional demands upon his time; but he bought +the 'Encyclopedia Britannica,' which he described as "a perfect +treasure, containing everything, and always at hand." He thus +rapidly described the manner in which his time was engrossed. +"A few days since, I attended a general assembly of the canal +proprietors in Shropshire. I have to be at Chester again in a +week, upon an arbitration business respecting the rebuilding of the +county hall and gaol; but previous to that I must visit Liverpool, +and afterwards proceed into Worcestershire. So you see what sort +of a life I have of it. It is something like Buonaparte, when in +Italy, fighting battles at fifty or a hundred miles distance every +other day. However, plenty of employment is what every +professional man is seeking after, and my various occupations now +require of me great exertions, which they certainly shall have so +long as life and health are spared to me."*[16] Amidst all his +engagements, Telford found time to make particular inquiry about +many poor families formerly known to him in Eskdale, for some of +whom he paid house-rent, while he transmitted the means of +supplying others with coals, meal, and necessaries, during the +severe winter months,--a practice which he continued to the close +of his life. + +Footnotes for Chapter VII. + +*[1] 'Encyclopedia Britannica,' 8th ed. Art. "Iron Bridges." + +*[2] According to the statement made in the petition drawn by Paine, +excise officers were then (1772) paid only 1s. 9 1/4d. a day. + +*[3] In England, Paine took out a patent for his Iron Bridge in +1788. Specification of Patents (old law) No. 1667. + +*[4] [Image] Buildwas Bridge. + +The following are further details: "Each of the main ribs of the +flat arch consists of three pieces, and at each junction they are +secured by a grated plate, which connects all the parallel ribs +together into one frame. The back of each abutment is in a +wedge-shape, so as to throw off laterally much of the pressure of +the earth. Under the bridge is a towing path on each side of the +river. The bridge was cast in an admirable manner by the +Coalbrookdale iron-masters in the year 1796, under contract with +the county magistrates. The total cost was 6034L. l3s. 3d." + +*[5] Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated Shrewsbury, +l8th March, 1795. + +*[6] Douglas was first mentioned to Telford, in a letter from +Mr. Pasley, as a young man, a native of Bigholmes, Eskdale, who had, +after serving his time there as a mechanic, emigrated to America, +where he showed such proofs of mechanical genius that he attracted +the notice of Mr. Liston, the British Minister, who paid his +expenses home to England, that his services might not be lost to +his country, and at the same time gave him a letter of introduction +to the Society of Arts in London. Telford, in a letter to Andrew +Little, dated 4th December, 1797, expressed a desire "to know more +of this Eskdale Archimedes." Shortly after, we find Douglas +mentioned as having invented a brick machine, a shearing-machine, +and a ball for destroying the rigging of ships; for the two former +of which he secured patents. He afterwards settled in France, where +he introduced machinery for the improved manufacture of woollen +cloth; and being patronised by the Government, he succeeded in +realising considerable wealth, which, how ever, he did not live to +enjoy. + +*[7] Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated London, l3th May, +1800. + +*[8] The evidence is fairly set forth in 'Cresy's Encyclopedia of +Civil Engineering,' p. 475. + +*[9] Article on Iron Bridges, in the 'Encyclopedia Britannica,' +Edinburgh, 1857. + +*[10] His foreman of masons at Bewdley Bridge, and afterwards his +assistant in numerous important works. + +*[11] The work is thus described in Robert Chambers's ' Picture of +Scotland':--"Opposite Compston there is a magnificent new bridge +over the Dee. It consists of a single web, the span of which is 112 +feet; and it is built of vast blocks of freestone brought from the +isle of Arran. The cost of this work was somewhere about 7000L. +sterling; and it may be mentioned, to the honour of the Stewartry, +that this sum was raised by the private contributions of the +gentlemen of the district. From Tongueland Hill, in the immediate +vicinity of the bridge, there is a view well worthy of a painter's +eye, and which is not inferior in beauty and magnificence to any in +Scotland." + +*[12] Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated Salop, +13th July, 1799. + +*[13] Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated Liverpool, +9th September, 1800. + +*[14] Brodie was originally a blacksmith. He was a man of much +ingenuity and industry, and introduced many improvements in iron +work; he invented stoves for chimneys, ships' hearths, &c. He had +above a hundred men working in his London shop, besides carrying on +an iron work at Coalbrookdale. He afterwards established a woollen +manufactory near Peebles. + +*[15] Dated London, l4th April, 1802. + +*[16] Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated Salop, +30th November, 1799. + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +HIGHLAND ROADS AND BRIDGES. + +In an early chapter of this volume we have given a rapid survey of +the state of Scotland about the middle of last century. We found a +country without roads, fields lying uncultivated, mines unexplored, +and all branches of industry languishing, in the midst of an idle, +miserable, and haggard population. Fifty years passed, and the +state of the Lowlands had become completely changed. Roads had been +made, canals dug, coal-mines opened up, ironworks established; +manufactures were extending in all directions; and Scotch +agriculture, instead of being the worst, was admitted to be the +best in the island. + +"I have been perfectly astonished," wrote Romilly from Stirling, +in 1793, "at the richness and high cultivation of all the tract of +this calumniated country through which I have passed, and which +extends quite from Edinburgh to the mountains where I now am. +It is true, however; that almost everything which one sees to admire +in the way of cultivation is due to modem improvements; and now and +then one observes a few acres of brown moss, contrasting admirably +with the corn-fieids to which they are contiguous, and affording a +specimen of the dreariness and desolation which, only half a century +ago, overspread a country now highly cultivated, and become a most +copious source of human happiness."*[1] It must, however, be +admitted that the industrial progress thus described was confined +almost entirely to the Lowlands, and had scarcely penetrated the +mountainous regions lying towards the north-west. The rugged +nature of that part of the country interposed a formidable barrier +to improvement, and the district still remained very imperfectly +opened up. The only practicable roads were those which had been +made by the soldiery after the rebellions of 1715 and '45, through +counties which before had been inaccessible except by dangerous +footpaths across high and rugged mountains. An old epigram in +vogue at the end of last century ran thus: + + "Had you seen these roads before they were made, + You'd lift up your hands and bless General Wade!" + +Being constructed by soldiers for military purposes, they were +first known as "military roads." One was formed along the Great +Glen of Scotland, in the line of the present Caledonian Canal, +connected with the Lowlands by the road through Glencoe by Tyndrum +down the western banks of Loch Lomond; another, more northerly, +connected Fort Augustus with Dunkeld by Blair Athol; while a third, +still further to the north and east, connected Fort George with +Cupar-in-Angus by Badenoch and Braemar. + +The military roads were about eight hundred miles in extent, +and maintained at the public expense. But they were laid out for +purposes of military occupation rather than for the convenience of +the districts which they traversed. Hence they were comparatively +little used, and the Highlanders, in passing from one place to +another, for the most part continued to travel by the old cattle +tracks along the mountains. But the population were as yet so poor +and so spiritless, and industry was in so backward a state all over +the Highlands, that the want of more convenient communications was +scarcely felt. + +Though there was plenty of good timber in certain districts, the +bark was the only part that could be sent to market, on the backs +of ponies, while the timber itself was left to rot upon the ground. +Agriculture was in a surprisingly backward state. In the remoter +districts only a little oats or barley was grown, the chief part of +which was required for the sustenance of the cattle during winter. +The Rev. Mr. Macdougall, minister of the parishes of Lochgoilhead +and Kilmorich, in Argyleshire, described the people of that part of +the country, about the year 1760, as miserable beyond description. +He says, "Indolence was almost the only comfort they enjoyed. +There was scarcely any variety of wretchedness with which they were +not obliged to struggle, or rather to which they were not obliged to +submit. They often felt what it was to want food.... To such an +extremity were they frequently reduced, that they were obliged to +bleed their cattle, in order to subsist some time on the blood +(boiled); and even the inhabitants of the glens and valleys +repaired in crowds to the shore, at the distance of three or four +miles, to pick up the scanty provision which the shell-fish +afforded them."*[2] + +The plough had not yet penetrated into the Highlands; an instrument +called the cas-chrom*[3] + +[Image] The Cas-Chrom. + +--literally the "crooked foot"--the use of which had been forgotten +for hundreds of years in every other country in Europe, was almost +the only tool employed in tillage in those parts of the Highlands +which were separated by almost impassable mountains from the rest +of the United Kingdom. + +The native population were by necessity peaceful. Old feuds were +restrained by the strong arm of the law, if indeed the spirit of +the clans had not been completely broken by the severe repressive +measures which followed the rebellion of Forty-five. But the people +had hot yet learnt to bend their backs, like the Sassenach, to the +stubborn soil, and they sat gloomily by their turf-fires at home, +or wandered away to settle in other lands beyond the seas. It even +began to be feared that the country would so on be entirely +depopulated; and it became a matter of national concern to devise +methods of opening up the district so as to develope its industry +and afford improved means of sustenance for its population. +The poverty of the inhabitants rendered the attempt to construct +roads--even had they desired them--beyond their scanty means; but +the ministry of the day entertained the opinion that, by contributing +a certain proportion of the necessary expense, the proprietors of +Highland estates might be induced to advance the remainder; and on +this principle the construction of the new roads in those districts +was undertaken. + +The country lying to the west of the Great Glen was absolutely +without a road of any kind. The only district through which +travellers passed was that penetrated by the great Highland road by +Badenoch, between Perth and Inverness; and for a considerable time +after the suppression of the rebellion of 1745, it was infested by +gangs of desperate robbers. So unsafe was the route across the +Grampians, that persons who had occasion to travel it usually made +their wills before setting out. Garrons, or little Highland ponies, +were then used by the gentry as well as the peasantry. Inns were +few and bad; and even when postchaises were introduced at Inverness, +the expense of hiring one was thought of for weeks, perhaps months, +and arrangements were usually made for sharing it among as many +individuals as it would contain. If the harness and springs of the +vehicle held together, travellers thought themselves fortunate in +reaching Edinburgh, jaded and weary, but safe in purse and limb, +on the eighth day after leaving Inverness.*[4] Very few persons +then travelled into the Highlands on foot, though Bewick, the father +of wood-engraving, made such a journey round Loch Lomond in 1775. +He relates that his appearance excited the greatest interest at the +Highland huts in which he lodged, the women curiously examining +him from head to foot, having never seen an Englishman before. +The strange part of his story is, that he set out upon his journey +from Cherryburn, near Newcastle, with only three guineas sewed in +his waistband, and when he reached home he had still a few +shillings left in his pocket! + +In 1802, Mr. Telford was called upon by the Government to make a +survey of Scotland, and report as to the measures which were +necessary for the improvement of the roads and bridges of that part +of the kingdom, and also on the means of promoting the fisheries on +the east and west coasts, with the object of better opening up the +country and preventing further extensive emigration. Previous to +this time he had been employed by the British Fisheries Society-- +of which his friend Sir William Pulteney was Governor--to inspect +the harbours at their several stations, and to devise a plan for +the establishment of a fishery on the coast of Caithness. +He accordingly made an extensive tour of Scotland, examining, among +other harbours, that of Annan; from which he proceeded northward by +Aberdeen to Wick and Thurso, returning to Shrewsbury by Edinburgh +and Dumfries.*[5] He accumulated a large mass of data for his +report, which was sent in to the Fishery Society, with charts and +plans, in the course of the following year. + +In July, 1802, he was requested by the Lords of the Treasury, most +probably in consequence of the preceding report, to make a further +survey of the interior of the Highlands, the result of which he +communicated in his report presented to Parliament in the following +year. Although full of important local business, "kept running," +as he says, "from town to country, and from country to town, never +when awake, and perhaps not always when asleep, have my Scotch +surveys been absent from my mind." He had worked very hard at his +report, and hoped that it might be productive of some good. + +The report was duly presented, printed,*[6] and approved; and it +formed the starting-point of a system of legislation with reference +to the Highlands which extended over many years, and had the effect +of completely opening up that romantic but rugged district of country, +and extending to its inhabitants the advantages of improved +intercourse with the other parts of the kingdom. Mr. Telford +pointed out that the military roads were altogether inadequate to +the requirements of the population, and that the use of them was in +many places very much circumscribed by the want of bridges over +some of the principal rivers. For instance, the route from +Edinburgh to Inverness, through the Central Highlands, was +seriously interrupted at Dunkeld, where the Tay is broad and deep, +and not always easy to be crossed by means of a boat. The route to +the same place by the east coast was in like manner broken at +Fochabers, where the rapid Spey could only be crossed by a +dangerous ferry. + +The difficulties encountered by gentlemen of the Bar, in travelling +the north circuit about this time, are well described by Lord +Cockburn in his 'Memorials.' "Those who are born to modem +travelling," he says, "can scarcely be made to understand how the +previous age got on. The state of the roads may be judged of from +two or three facts. There was no bridge over the Tay at Dunkeld, +or over the Spey at Fochabers, or over the Findhorn at Forres. +Nothing but wretched pierless ferries, let to poor cottars, who +rowed, or hauled, or pushed a crazy boat across, or more commonly +got their wives to do it. There was no mail-coach north of +Aberdeen till, I think, after the battle of Waterloo. What it must +have been a few years before my time may be judged of from Bozzy's +'Letter to Lord Braxfield,' published in 1780. He thinks that, +besides a carriage and his own carriage-horses, every judge ought +to have his sumpter-horse, and ought not to travel faster than the +waggon which carried the baggage of the circuit. I understood from +Hope that, after 1784, when he came to the Bar, he and Braxfield +rode a whole north circuit; and that, from the Findhorn being in a +flood, they were obliged to go up its banks for about twenty-eight +miles to the bridge of Dulsie before they could cross. I myself +rode circuits when I was Advocate-Depute between 1807 and 1810. +The fashion of every Depute carrying his own shell on his back, in +the form of his own carriage, is a piece of very modern +antiquity."*[7] North of Inverness, matters were, if possible, +still worse. There was no bridge over the Beauly or the Conan. +The drovers coming south swam the rivers with their cattle. There +being no roads, there was little use for carts. In the whole +county of Caithness, there was scarcely a farmer who owned a +wheel-cart. Burdens were conveyed usually on the backs of ponies, +but quite as often on the backs of women.*[8] The interior of the +county of Sutherland being almost inaccessible, the only track lay +along the shore, among rocks and sand, and was covered by the sea +at every tide. "The people lay scattered in inaccessible straths +and spots among the mountains, where they lived in family with +their pigs and kyloes (cattle), in turf cabins of the most +miserable description; they spoke only Gaelic, and spent the whole +of their time in indolence and sloth. Thus they had gone on from +father to son, with little change, except what the introduction of +illicit distillation had wrought, and making little or no export +from the country beyond the few lean kyloes, which paid the rent +and produced wherewithal to pay for the oatmeal imported."*[9] +Telford's first recommendation was, that a bridge should be thrown +across the Tay at Dunkeld, to connect the improved lines of road +proposed to be made on each side of the river. He regarded this +measure as of the first importance to the Central Highlands; and as +the Duke of Athol was willing to pay one-half of the cost of the +erection, if the Government would defray the other--the bridge to +be free of toll after a certain period--it appeared to the engineer +that this was a reasonable and just mode of providing for the +contingency. In the next place, he recommended a bridge over the +Spey, which drained a great extent of mountainous country, and, +being liable to sudden inundations, was very dangerous to cross. +Yet this ferry formed the only link of communication between the +whole of the northern counties. The site pointed out for the +proposed bridge was adjacent to the town of Fochabers, and here +also the Duke of Gordon and other county gentlemen were willing to +provide one-half of the means for its erection. + +Mr. Telford further described in detail the roads necessary to be +constructed in the north and west Highlands, with the object of +opening up the western parts of the counties of Inverness and Ross, +and affording a ready communication from the Clyde to the fishing +lochs in the neighbourhood of the Isle of Skye. As to the means of +executing these improvements, he suggested that Government would be +justified in dealing with the Highland roads and bridges as +exceptional and extraordinary works, and extending the public aid +towards carrying them into effect, as, but for such assistance, the +country must remain, perhaps for ages to come, imperfectly opened up. +His report further embraced certain improvements in the harbours of +Aberdeen and Wick, and a description of the country through which +the proposed line of the Caledonian Canal would necessarily pass-- +a canal which had long been the subject of inquiry, but had not as +yet emerged from a state of mere speculation. + +The new roads, bridges, and other improvements suggested by the +engineer, excited much interest in the north. The Highland Society +voted him their thanks by acclamation; the counties of Inverness +and Ross followed; and he had letters of thanks and congratulation +from many of the Highland chiefs. "If they will persevere," says he, +"with anything like their present zeal, they will have the +satisfaction of greatly improving a country that has been too long +neglected. Things are greatly changed now in the Highlands. Even +were the chiefs to quarrel, de'il a Highlandman would stir for them. +The lairds have transferred their affections from their people to +flocks of sheep, and the people have lost their veneration for the +lairds. It seems to be the natural progress of society; but it is +not an altogether satisfactory change. There were some fine +features in the former patriarchal state of society; but now +clanship is gone, and chiefs and people are hastening into the +opposite extreme. This seems to me to be quite wrong."*[10] +In the same year, Telford was elected a member of the Royal Society +of Edinburgh, on which occasion he was proposed and supported by +three professors; so that the former Edinburgh mason was rising in +the world and receiving due honour in his own country. The effect +of his report was such, that in the session of 1803 a Parliamentary +Commission was appointed, under whose direction a series of +practical improvements was commenced, which issued in the +construction of not less than 920 additional miles of roads and +bridges throughout the Highlands, one-half of the cost of which was +defrayed by the Government and the other half by local assessment. +But in addition to these main lines of communication, numberless +county roads were formed by statute labour, under local road Acts +and by other means; the land-owners of Sutherland alone +constructing nearly 300 miles of district roads at their own cost. + +[Image] Map of Telford's Roads. + +By the end of the session of 1803, Telford received his +instructions from Mr. Vansittart as to the working survey he was +forthwith required to enter upon, with a view to commencing +practical operations; and he again proceeded to the Highlands to +lay out the roads and plan the bridges which were most urgently +needed. The district of the Solway was, at his representation, +included, with the object of improving the road from Carlisle to +Portpatrick--the nearest point at which Great Britain meets the +Irish coast, and where the sea passage forms only a sort of wide +ferry. + +It would occupy too much space, and indeed it is altogether +unnecessary, to describe in detail the operations of the Commission +and of their engineer in opening up the communications of the +Highlands. Suffice it to say, that one of the first things taken in +hand was the connection of the existing lines of road by means of +bridges at the more important points; such as at Dunkeld over the +Tay, and near Dingwall over the Conan and Orrin. That of Dunkeld +was the most important, as being situated at the entrance to the +Central Highlands; and at the second meeting of the Commissioners +Mr. Telford submitted his plan and estimates of the proposed +bridge. In consequence of some difference with the Duke of Athol as +to his share of the expense--which proved to be greater than he had +estimated--some delay occurred in beginning the work; but at length +it was fairly started, and, after being about three years in hand, +the structure was finished and opened for traffic in 1809. + +[Image] Dunkeld Bridge. + +The bridge is a handsome one of five river and two land arches. +The span of the centre arch is 90 feet, of the two adjoining it 84 +feet, and of the two side arches 74 feet; affording a clear +waterway of 446 feet. The total breadth of the roadway and foot +paths is 28 feet 6 inches. The cost of the structure was about +14,000L., one-half of which was defrayed by the Duke of Athol. +Dunkeld bridge now forms a fine feature in a landscape not often +surpassed, and which presents within a comparatively small compass +a great variety of character and beauty. + +The communication by road north of Inverness was also perfected by +the construction of a bridge of five arches over the Beauly, and +another of the same number over the Conan, the central arch being +65 feet span; and the formerly wretched bit of road between these +points having been put in good repair, the town of Dingwall was +thenceforward rendered easily approachable from the south. At the +same time, a beginning was made with the construction of new roads +through the districts most in need of them. The first contracted +for, was the Loch-na-Gaul road, from Fort William to Arasaig, +on the western coast, nearly opposite the island of Egg. + +Another was begun from Loch Oich, on the line of the Caledonian +Canal, across the middle of the Highlands, through Glengarry, +to Loch Hourn on the western sea. Other roads were opened north +and south; through Morvern to Loch Moidart; through Glen Morrison +and Glen Sheil, and through the entire Isle of Skye; from Dingwall, +eastward, to Lochcarron and Loch Torridon, quite through the county +of Ross; and from Dingwall, northward, through the county of +Sutherland as far as Tongue on the Pentland Frith; while another +line, striking off at the head of the Dornoch Frith, proceeded +along the coast in a north-easterly direction to Wick and Thurso, +in the immediate neighbourhood of John o' Groats. + +There were numerous other subordinate lines of road which it is +unnecessary to specify in detail; but some idea may be formed of +their extent, as well as of the rugged character of the country +through which they were carried, when we state that they involved +the construction of no fewer than twelve hundred bridges. Several +important bridges were also erected at other points to connect +existing roads, such as those at Ballater and Potarch over the Dee; +at Alford over the Don: and at Craig-Ellachie over the Spey. + +The last-named bridge is a remarkably elegant structure, thrown +over the Spey at a point where the river, rushing obliquely against +the lofty rock of Craig-Ellachie,*[11] has formed for itself a deep +channel not exceeding fifty yards in breadth. Only a few years +before, there had not been any provision for crossing this river at +its lower parts except the very dangerous ferry at Fochabers. +The Duke of Gordon had, however, erected a suspension bridge at that +town, and the inconvenience was in a great measure removed. +Its utility was so generally felt, that the demand arose for a second +bridge across the river; for there was not another by which it +could be crossed for a distance of nearly fifty miles up Strath Spey. + +It was a difficult stream to span by a bridge at any place, in +consequence of the violence with which the floods descended at +particular seasons. Sometimes, even in summer, when not a drop of +rain had fallen, the flood would come down the Strath in great +fury, sweeping everything before it; this remarkable phenomenon +being accounted for by the prevalence of a strong south-westerly +wind, which blew the loch waters from their beds into the Strath, +and thus suddenly filled the valley of the Spey.*[12] The same +phenomenon, similarly caused, is also frequently observed in the +neighbouring river, the Findhorn, cooped up in its deep rocky bed, +where the water sometimes comes down in a wave six feet high, like +a liquid wall, sweeping everything before it. + +To meet such a contingency, it was deemed necessary to provide +abundant waterway, and to build a bridge offering as little +resistance as possible to the passage of the Highland floods. +Telford accordingly designed for the passage of the river at +Craig-Ellachie a light cast-iron arch of 150 feet span, with a rise +of 20 feet, the arch being composed of four ribs, each consisting +of two concentric arcs forming panels, which are filled in with +diagonal bars. + +The roadway is 15 feet wide, and is formed of another arc of +greater radius, attached to which is the iron railing; the +spandrels being filled by diagonal ties, forming trelliswork. +Mr. Robert Stephenson took objection to the two dissimilar arches, +as liable to subject the structure, from variations of temperature, +to very unequal strains. Nevertheless this bridge, as well as many +others constructed by Mr. Telford after a similar plan, has stood +perfectly well, and to this day remains a very serviceable +structure. + +[Image] Craig-Ellachie Bridge. + +Its appearance is highly picturesque. The scattered pines and beech +trees on the side of the impending mountain, the meadows along the +valley of the Spey, and the western approach road to the bridge cut +deeply into the face of the rock, combine, with the slender +appearance of the iron arch, in rendering this spot one of the most +remarkable in Scotland.*[13] An iron bridge of a similar span to that +at Craig-Ellachie had previously been constructed across the head +of the Dornoch Frith at Bonar, near the point where the waters of +the Shin join the sea. The very severe trial which this structure +sustained from the tremendous blow of an irregular mass of fir-tree +logs, consolidated by ice, as well as, shortly after, from the blow +of a schooner which drifted against it on the opposite side, and +had her two masts knocked off by the collision, gave him every +confidence in the strength of this form of construction, and he +accordingly repeated it in several of his subsequent bridges, +though none of them are comparable in beauty with that of +Craig-Ellachie. + +Thus, in the course of eighteen years, 920 miles of capital roads, +connected together by no fewer than 1200 bridges, were added to the +road communications of the Highlands, at an expense defrayed partly +by the localities immediately benefited, and partly by the nation. +The effects of these twenty years' operations were such as follow +the making of roads everywhere--development of industry and +increase of civilization. In no districts were the benefits +derived from them more marked than in the remote northern counties +of Sutherland and Caithness. The first stage-coaches that ran +northward from Perth to Inverness were tried in 1806, and became +regularly established in 1811; and by the year 1820 no fewer than +forty arrived at the latter town in the course of every week, and +the same number departed from it. Others were established in +various directions through the highlands, which were rendered as +accessible as any English county. + +Agriculture made rapid progress. The use of carts became +practicable, and manure was no longer carried to the field on +women's backs. Sloth and idleness gradually disappeared before the +energy, activity, and industry which were called into life by the +improved communications. Better built cottages took the place of +the old mud biggins with holes in their roofs to let out the smoke. +The pigs and cattle were treated to a separate table. The dunghill +was turned to the outside of the house. Tartan tatters gave place +to the produce of Manchester and Glasgow looms; and very soon few +young persons were to be found who could not both read and write +English. + +But not less remarkable were the effects of the road-making upon +the industrial habits of the people. Before Telford went into the +Highlands, they did not know how to work, having never been +accustomed to labour continuously and systematically. Let our +engineer himself describe the moral influences of his Highland +contracts:--"In these works," says he, "and in the Caledonian +Canal, about three thousand two hundred men have been annually +employed. At first, they could scarcely work at all: they were +totally unacquainted with labour; they could not use the tools. +They have since become excellent labourers, and of the above number +we consider about one-fourth left us annually, taught to work. +These undertakings may, indeed, be regarded in the light of a +working academy; from which eight hundred men have annually gone +forth improved workmen. They have either returned to their native +districts with the advantage of having used the most perfect sort +of tools and utensils (which alone cannot be estimated at less than +ten per cent. on any sort of labour), or they have been usefully +distributed through the other parts of the country. Since these +roads were made accessible, wheelwrights and cartwrights have been +established, the plough has been introduced, and improved tools and +utensils are generally used. The plough was not previously +employed; in the interior and mountainous parts they used crooked +sticks, with iron on them, drawn or pushed along. The moral habits +of the great masses of the working classes are changed; they see +that they may depend on their own exertions for support: this goes +on silently, and is scarcely perceived until apparent by the +results. I consider these improvements among the greatest +blessings ever conferred on any country. About two hundred thousand +pounds has been granted in fifteen years. It has been the means of +advancing the country at least a century." + +The progress made in the Lowland districts of Scotland since the +same period has been no less remarkable. If the state of the +country, as we have above described it from authentic documents, +be compared with what it is now, it will be found that there are few +countries which have accomplished so much within so short a period. +It is usual to cite the United States as furnishing the most +extraordinary instance of social progress in modem times. But +America has had the advantage of importing its civilization for the +most part ready made, whereas that of Scotland has been entirely +her own creation. By nature America is rich, and of boundless +extent; whereas Scotland is by nature poor, the greater part of her +limited area consisting of sterile heath and mountain. Little more +than a century ago Scotland was considerably in the rear of Ireland. +It was a country almost without agriculture, without mines, without +fisheries, without shipping, without money, without roads. +The people were ill-fed, half barbarous, and habitually indolent. +The colliers and salters were veritable slaves, and were subject to +be sold together with the estates to which they belonged. + +What do we find now? Praedial slavery completely abolished; +heritable jurisdictions at an end; the face of the country entirely +changed; its agriculture acknowledged to be the first in the world; +its mines and fisheries productive in the highest degree; its +banking a model of efficiency and public usefulness; its roads +equal to the best roads in England or in Europe. The people are +active and energetic, alike in education, in trade, in manufactures, +in construction, in invention. Watt's invention of the steam +engine, and Symington's invention of the steam-boat, proved a +source of wealth and power, not only to their own country, but to +the world at large; while Telford, by his roads, bound England and +Scotland, before separated, firmly into one, and rendered the union +a source of wealth and strength to both. + +At the same time, active and powerful minds were occupied in +extending the domain of knowledge,--Adam Smith in Political +Economy, Reid and Dugald Stewart in Moral Philosophy, and Black and +Robison in Physical Science. And thus Scotland, instead of being +one of the idlest and most backward countries in Europe, has, +within the compass of little more than a lifetime, issued in one of +the most active, contented, and prosperous,--exercising an amount +of influence upon the literature, science, political economy, and +industry of modern times, out of all proportion to the natural +resources of its soil or the amount of its population. + +If we look for the causes of this extraordinary social progress, +we shall probably find the principal to consist in the fact that +Scotland, though originally poor as a country, was rich in Parish +schools, founded under the provisions of an Act passed by the +Scottish Parliament in the year 1696. It was there ordained +"that there be a school settled and established, and a schoolmaster +appointed, in every parish not already provided, by advice of the +heritors and minister of the parish." Common day-schools were +accordingly provided and maintained throughout the country for the +education of children of all ranks and conditions. The consequence +was, that in the course of a few generations, these schools, +working steadily upon the minds of the young, all of whom passed +under the hands of the teachers, educated the population into a +state of intelligence and aptitude greatly in advance of their +material well-being; and it is in this circumstance, we apprehend, +that the explanation is to be found of the rapid start forward +which the whole country took, dating more particularly from the +year 1745. Agriculture was naturally the first branch of industry +to exhibit signs of decided improvement; to be speedily followed by +like advances in trade, commerce, and manufactures. Indeed, from +that time the country never looked back, but her progress went on +at a constantly accelerated rate, issuing in results as marvellous +as they have probably been unprecedented. + +Footnotes for Chapter VIII. + +*[1] Romilly's Autobiography,' ii. 22. + +*[2] Statistical Account of Scotland,' iii. 185. + +*[3] The cas-chrom was a rude combination of a lever for the +removal of rocks, a spade to cut the earth, and a foot-plough to +turn it. We annex an illustration of this curious and now obsolete +instrument. It weighed about eighteen pounds. In working it, the" +upper part of the handle, to which the left hand was applied, +reached the workman's shoulder, and being slightly elevated, the +point, shod with iron, was pushed into the ground horizontally; the +soil being turned over by inclining the handle to the furrow side, +at the same time making the heel act as a fulcrum to raise the +point of the instrument. In turning up unbroken ground, it was +first employed with the heel uppermost, with pushing strokes to cut +the breadth of the sward to be turned over; after which, it was +used horizontally as above described. We are indebted to a +Parliamentary Blue Book for the following representation of this +interesting relic of ancient agriculture. It is given in the +appendix to the 'Ninth Report of the Commissioners for Highland +Roads and Bridges,' ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, +19th April, 1821. + +*[4] Anderson's 'Guide to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland,' +3rd ed. p.48. + +*[5] He was accompanied on this tour by Colonel Dirom, with whom he +returned to his house at Mount Annan, in Dumfries. Telford says of +him: "The Colonel seems to have roused the county of Dumfries from +the lethargy in which it has slumbered for centuries. The map of +the county, the mineralogical survey, the new roads, the opening of +lime works, the competition of ploughing, the improving harbours, +the building of bridges, are works which bespeak the exertions of +no common man."--Letter to Mr. Andrew. Little, dated Shrewsbury, +30th November, 1801. + +*[6] Ordered to be printed 5th of April, 1803. + +*[7] 'Memorials of his Time," by Henry Cockburn, pp. 341-3. + +*[8] 'Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Sir John Sinclair, Barb,' +vol. i., p. 339. + +*[9] Extract of a letter from a gentleman residing in Sunderland, +quoted in 'Life of Telford,' p. 465. + +*[10] Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated Salop, 18th +February, 1803. + +*[11] The names of Celtic places are highly descriptive. +Thus Craig-Ellachie literally means, the rock of separation; Badenoch, +bushy or woody; Cairngorm, the blue cairn; Lochinet, the lake of nests; +Balknockan, the town of knolls; Dalnasealg, the hunting dale; +Alt'n dater, the burn of the horn-blower; and so on. + +*[12] Sir Thomas Dick Lauder has vividly described the destructive +character of the Spey-side inundations in his capital book on the +'Morayshire Floods.' + +*[13] 'Report of the Commissioners on Highland Roads and Bridges.' +Appendix to 'Life of Telford,' p. 400. + + +CHAPTER IX. + +TELFORD'S SCOTCH HARBOURS. + +No sooner were the Highland roads and bridges in full progress, +than attention was directed to the improvement of the harbours +round the coast. Very little had as yet been done for them beyond +what nature had effected. Happily, there was a public fund at +disposal--the accumulation of rents and profits derived from the +estates forfeited at the rebellion of 1745--which was available for +the purpose. The suppression of the rebellion did good in many ways. +It broke the feudal spirit, which lingered in the Highlands long +after it had ceased in every other part of Britain; it led to the +effectual opening up of the country by a system of good roads; +and now the accumulated rents of the defeated Jacobite chiefs were +about to be applied to the improvement of the Highland harbours for +the benefit of the general population. + +The harbour of Wick was one of the first to which Mr. Telford's +attention was directed. Mr. Rennie had reported on the subject of +its improvement as early as the year 1793, but his plans were not +adopted because their execution was beyond the means of the +locality at that time. The place had now, however, become of +considerable importance. It was largely frequented by Dutch +fishermen during the herring season; and it was hoped that, if they +could be induced to form a settlement at the place, their example +might exercise a beneficial influence upon the population. + +Mr. Telford reported that, by the expenditure of about 5890L., a +capacious and well-protected tidal basin might be formed, capable +of containing about two hundred herring-busses. The Commission +adopted his plan, and voted the requisite funds for carrying out +the works, which were begun in 1808. The new station was named +Pulteney Town, in compliment to Sir William Pulteney, the Governor +of the Fishery Society; and the harbour was built at a cost of +about 12,000L., of which 8500L. was granted from the Forfeited +Estates Fund. A handsome stone bridge, erected over the River Wick +in 1805, after the design of our engineer, connect's these +improvements with the older town: it is formed of three arches, +having a clear waterway of 156 feet. + +The money was well expended, as the result proved; and Wick is now, +we believe, the greatest fishing station in the world. The place +has increased from a little poverty-stricken village to a large and +thriving town, which swarms during the fishing season with lowland +Scotchmen, fair Northmen, broad-built Dutchmen, and kilted +Highlanders. The bay is at that time frequented by upwards of a +thousand fishing-boats and the take of herrings in some years +amounts to more than a hundred thousand barrels. The harbour has +of late years been considerably improved to meet the growing +requirements of the herring trade, the principal additions having +been carried out, in 1823, by Mr. Bremner,*[1] a native engineer +of great ability. + +[Image] Folkestone Harbour. + +Improvements of a similar kind were carried out by the Fishery +Board at other parts of the coast, and many snug and convenient +harbours were provided at the principal fishing stations in the +Highlands and Western Islands. Where the local proprietors were +themselves found expending money in carrying out piers and harbours, +the Board assisted them with grants to enable the works to be +constructed in the most substantial manner and after the most +approved plans. Thus, along that part of the bold northern coast of +the mainland of Scotland which projects into the German Ocean, many +old harbours were improved or new ones constructed--as at Peterhead, +Frazerburgh, Banff, Cullen, Burgh Head, and Nairn. At Fortrose, +in the Murray Frith; at Dingwall, in the Cromarty Frith; +at Portmaholmac, within Tarbet Ness, the remarkable headland of the +Frith of Dornoch; at Kirkwall, the principal town and place of +resort in the Orkney Islands, so well known from Sir Walter Scott's +description of it in the 'Pirate;' at Tobermory, in the island of +Mull; and at other points of the coast, piers were erected and +other improvements carried out to suit the convenience of the +growing traffic and trade of the country. + +The principal works were those connected with the harbours situated +upon the line of coast extending from the harbour of Peterhead, +in the county of Aberdeen, round to the head of the Murray Frith. +The shores there are exposed to the full force of the seas rolling in +from the Northern Ocean; and safe harbours were especially needed +for the protection of the shipping passing from north to south. +Wrecks had become increasingly frequent, and harbours of refuge +were loudly called for. At one part of the coast, as many as +thirty wrecks had occurred within a very short time, chiefly for +want of shelter. + +The situation of Peterhead peculiarly well adapted it for a haven +of refuge, and the improvement of the port was early regarded as a +matter of national importance. Not far from it, on the south, are +the famous Bullars or Boilers of Buchan--bold rugged rocks, some +200 feet high, against which the sea beats with great fury, boiling +and churning in the deep caves and recesses with which they are +perforated. Peterhead stands on the most easterly part of the +mainland of Scotland, occupying the north-east side of the bay, +and being connected with the country on the northwest by an isthmus +only 800 yards broad. In Cromwell's time, the port possessed only +twenty tons of boat tonnage, and its only harbour was a small basin +dug out of the rock. Even down to the close of the sixteenth +century the place was but an insignificant fishing village. It is +now a town bustling with trade, having long been the principal seat +of the whale fishery, 1500 men of the port being engaged in that +pursuit alone; and it sends out ships of its own building to all +parts of the world, its handsome and commodious harbours being +accessible at all winds to vessels of almost the largest burden. + +[Image] Peterhead + +It may be mentioned that about sixty years since, the port was +formed by the island called Keith Island, situated a small distance +eastward from the shore, between which and the mainland an arm of +the sea formerly passed. A causeway had, however, been formed +across this channel, thus dividing it into two small bays; after +which the southern one had been converted in to a harbour by means +of two rude piers erected along either side of it. The north inlet +remained without any pier, and being very inconvenient and exposed +to the north-easterly winds, it was little used. + +[Image] Peterhead Harbour. + +The first works carried out at Peterhead were of a comparatively +limited character, the old piers of the south harbour having been +built by Smeaton; but improvements proceeded apace with the +enterprise and wealth of the inhabitants. Mr. Rennie, and after +him Mr. Telford, fully reported as to the capabilities of the port +and the best means of improving it. Mr. Rennie recommended the +deepening of the south harbour and the extension of the jetty of +the west pier, at the same time cutting off all projections of rock +from Keith Island on the eastward, so as to render the access more +easy. The harbour, when thus finished, would, he estimated, give +about 17 feet depth at high water of spring tides. He also +proposed to open a communication across the causeway between the +north and south harbours, and form a wet dock between them, 580 +feet long and 225 feet wide, the water being kept in by gates at +each end. He further proposed to provide an entirely new harbour, +by constructing two extensive piers for the effectual protection of +the northern part of the channel, running out one from a rock north +of the Green Island, about 680 feet long, and another from the Roan +Head, 450 feet long, leaving an opening between them of 70 yards. +This comprehensive plan unhappily could not be carried out at the +time for want of funds; but it may be said to have formed the +groundwork of all that has been subsequently done for the +improvement of the port of Peterhead. + +It was resolved, in the first place, to commence operations by +improving the south harbour, and protecting it more effectually +from south-easterly winds. The bottom of the harbour was +accordingly deepened by cutting out 30,000 cubic yards of rocky +ground; and part of Mr. Rennie's design was carried out by +extending the jetty of the west pier, though only for a distance of +twenty yards. These works were executed under Mr. Telford's +directions; they were completed by the end of the year 1811, and +proved to be of great public convenience. + +The trade of the town, however, so much increased, and the port was +found of such importance as a place of refuge for vessels +frequenting the north seas, that in 1816 it was determined to +proceed with the formation of a harbour on the northern part of the +old channel; and the inhabitants having agreed among themselves to +contribute to the extent of 10,000L. towards carrying out the +necessary works, they applied for the grant of a like sum from the +Forfeited Estates Fund, which was eventually voted for the purpose. +The plan adopted was on a more limited scale than that Proposed by +Mr. Rennie; but in the same direction and contrived with the same +object,--so that, when completed, vessels of the largest burden +employed in the Greenland fishery might be able to enter one or +other of the two harbours and find safe shelter, from whatever +quarter the wind might blow. + +The works were vigorously proceeded with, and had made considerable +progress, when, in October, 1819, a violent hurricane from the +north-east, which raged along the coast for several days, and +inflicted heavy damage on many of the northern harbours, destroyed +a large part of the unfinished masonry and hurled the heaviest +blocks into the sea, tossing them about as if they had been +pebbles. The finished work had, however, stood well, and the +foundations of the piers under low water were ascertained to have +remained comparatively uninjured. There was no help for it but to +repair the damaged work, though it involved a heavy additional +cost, one-half of which was borne by the Forfeited Estates Fund and +the remainder by the inhabitants. Increased strength was also +given to the more exposed parts of the pierwork, and the slope at +the sea side of the breakwater was considerably extended.*[2] +Those alterations in the design were carried out, together with a +spacious graving-dock, as shown in the preceding plan, and they +proved completely successful, enabling Peterhead to offer an amount +of accommodation for shipping of a more effectual kind than was at +that time to be met with along the whole eastern coast of Scotland. + +The old harbour of Frazerburgh, situated on a projecting point of +the coast at the foot of Mount Kennaird, about twenty miles north +of Peterhead, had become so ruinous that vessels lying within it +received almost as little shelter as if they had been exposed in +the open sea. Mr. Rennie had prepared a plan for its improvement +by running out a substantial north-eastern pier; and this was +eventually carried out by Mr. Telford in a modified form, proving +of substantial service to the trade of the port. Since then a +large and commodious new harbour has been formed at the place, +partly at the public expense and partly at that of the inhabitants, +rendering Frazerburgh a safe retreat for vessels of war as well as +merchantmen. + +[Image] Banff. + +Among the other important harbour works on the northeast coast +carried out by Mr. Telford under the Commissioners appointed to +administer the funds of the Forfeited Estates, were those at Banff, +the execution of which extended over many years; but, though +costly, they did not prove of anything like the same convenience as +those executed at Peterhead. The old harbour at the end of the +ridge running north and south, on which what is called the +"sea town" of Banff is situated, was completed in 1775, when the +place was already considered of some importance as a fishing station. + +[Image] Banff Harbour. + +This harbour occupies the triangular space at the north-eastern +extremity of the projecting point of land, at the opposite side of +which, fronting the north-west, is the little town and harbour of +Macduff. In 1816, Mr. Telford furnished the plan of a new pier +and breakwater, covering the old entrance, which presented an +opening to the N.N.E., with a basin occupying the intermediate +space. The inhabitants agreed to defray one half of the necessary +cost, and the Commissioners the other; and the plans having been +approved, the works were commenced in 1818. They were in full +progress when, unhappily, the same hurricane which in 1819 did so +much injury to the works at Peterhead, also fell upon those at +Banff, and carried away a large part of the unfinished pier. +This accident had the effect of interrupting the work, as well as +increasing its cost; but the whole was successfully completed by +the year 1822. Although the new harbour did not prove very safe, +and exhibited a tendency to become silted up with sand, it proved +of use in many respects, more particularly in preventing all swell +and agitation in the old harbour, which was thereby rendered the +safest artificial haven in the Murray Firth. + +It is unnecessary to specify the alterations and improvements of a +similar character, adapted to the respective localities, which were +carried out by our engineer at Burgh Head, Nairn, Kirkwall, Tarbet, +Tobermory, Portmaholmac, Dingwall (with its canal two thousand +yards long, connecting the town in a complete manner with the Frith +of Cromarty), Cullen, Fortrose, Ballintraed, Portree, Jura, +Gourdon, Invergordon, and other places. Down to the year 1823, +the Commissioners had expended 108,530L. on the improvements of +these several ports, in aid of the local contributions of the +inhabitants and adjoining proprietors to a considerably greater +extent; the result of which was a great increase in the shipping +accommodation of the coast towns, to the benefit of the local +population, and of ship-owners and navigators generally. + +Mr. Telford's principal harbour works in Scotland, however, were +those of Aberdeen and Dundee, which, next to Leith (the port of +Edinburgh), formed the principal havens along the east coast. +The neighbourhood of Aberdeen was originally so wild and barren that +Telford expressed his surprise that any class of men should ever +have settled there. An immense shoulder of the Grampian mountains +extends down to the sea-coast, where it terminates in a bold, rude +promontory. The country on either side of the Dee, which flows +past the town, was originally covered with innumerable granite +blocks; one, called Craig Metellan, lying right in the river's +mouth, and forming, with the sand, an almost effectual bar to its +navigation. Although, in ancient times, a little cultivable land +lay immediately outside the town, the region beyond was as sterile +as it is possible for land to be in such a latitude. "Any wher," +says an ancient writer, "after yow pass a myll without the tonne, +the countrey is barren lyke, the hills craigy, the plaines full of +marishes and mosses, the feilds are covered with heather or peeble +stons, the come feilds mixt with thes bot few. The air is temperat +and healthful about it, and it may be that the citizens owe the +acuteness of their wits thereunto and their civill inclinations; +the lyke not easie to be found under northerlie climats, damped for +the most pairt with air of a grosse consistence."*[3] But the old +inhabitants of Aberdeen and its neighbourhood were really as rough +as their soil. Judged by their records, they must have been +dreadfully haunted by witches and sorcerers down to a comparatively +recent period; witch-burning having been common in the town until +the end of the sixteenth century. We find that, in one year, no +fewer than twenty-three women and one man were burnt; the Dean of +Guild Records containing the detailed accounts of the "loads of +peattis, tar barrellis," and other combustibles used in burning +them. The lairds of the Garioch, a district in the immediate +neighbourhood, seem to have been still more terrible than the +witches, being accustomed to enter the place and make an onslaught +upon the citizens, according as local rage and thirst for spoil +might incline them. On one of such occasions, eighty of the +inhabitants were killed and wounded.*[4] Down even to the middle of +last century the Aberdonian notions of personal liberty seem to +have been very restricted; for between 1740 and 1746 we find that +persons of both sexes were kidnapped, put on board ships, and +despatched to the American plantations, where they were sold for +slaves. Strangest of all, the men who carried on this slave trade +were local dignitaries, one of them being a town's baillie, another +the town-clerk depute. Those kidnapped were openly "driven in +flocks through the town, like herds of sheep, under the care of a +keeper armed with a whip."*[5] So open was the traffic that the +public workhouse was used for their reception until the ships +sailed, and when that was filled, the tolbooth or common prison was +made use of. The vessels which sailed from the harbour for America +in 1743 contained no fewer than sixty-nine persons; and it is +supposed that, in the six years during which the Aberdeen slave +trade was at its height, about six hundred were transported for +sale, very few of whom ever returned.*[6] This slave traffic +was doubtless stimulated by the foreign ships beginning to +frequent the port; for the inhabitants were industrious, and their +plaiding, linen, and worsted stockings were in much request as +articles of merchandise. Cured salmon were also exported in large +quantities. As early as 1659, a quay was formed along the Dee +towards the village of Foot Dee. "Beyond Futty," says an old +writer, "lyes the fisher-boat heavne; and after that, towards the +promontorie called Sandenesse, ther is to be seen a grosse bulk of +a building, vaulted and flatted above (the Blockhous they call it), +begun to be builded anno 1513, for guarding the entree of the +harboree from pirats and algarads; and cannon wer planted ther for +that purpose, or, at least, that from thence the motions of pirats +might be tymouslie foreseen. This rough piece of work was finished +anno 1542, in which yer lykewayes the mouth of the river Dee was +locked with cheans of iron and masts of ships crossing the river, +not to be opened bot at the citizens' pleasure."*[7] After the +Union, but more especially after the rebellion of 1745, the trade +of Aberdeen made considerable progress. Although Burns, in 1787, +briefly described the place as a "lazy toun," the inhabitants were +displaying much energy in carrying out improvements in their +port.*[8] In 1775 the foundation-stone of the new pier designed by +Mr. Smeaton was laid with great ceremony, and, the works proceeding +to completion, a new pier, twelve hundred feet long, terminating in +a round head, was finished in less than six years. The trade of +the place was, however, as yet too small to justify anything beyond +a tidal harbour, and the engineer's views were limited to that +object. He found the river meandering over an irregular space about +five hundred yards in breadth; and he applied the only practicable +remedy, by confining the channel as much as the limited means +placed at his disposal enabled him to do, and directing the land +floods so as to act upon and diminish the bar. Opposite the north +pier, on the south side of the river, Smeaton constructed a +breast-wall about half the length of the Pier. Owing, however, +to a departure from that engineer's plans, by which the pier was +placed too far to the north, it was found that a heavy swell +entered the harbour, and, to obviate this formidable inconvenience, +a bulwark was projected from it, so as to occupy about one third of +the channel entrance. + +The trade of the place continuing to increase, Mr. Rennie was +called upon, in 1797, to examine and report upon the best means of +improving the harbour, when he recommended the construction of +floating docks upon the sandy flats called Foot Dee. Nothing was +done at the time, as the scheme was very costly and considered +beyond the available means of the locality. But the magistrates +kept the subject in mind; and when Mr. Telford made his report on +the best means of improving the harbour in 1801, he intimated that +the inhabitants were ready to cooperate with the Government in +rendering it capable of accommodating ships of war, as far as their +circumstances would permit. + +In 1807, the south pier-head, built by Smeaton, was destroyed by a +storm, and the time had arrived when something must be done, not +only to improve but even to preserve the port. The magistrates +accordingly proceeded, in 1809, to rebuild the pier-head of cut +granite, and at the same time they applied to Parliament for +authority to carry out further improvements after the plan +recommended by Mr. Telford; and the necessary powers were +conferred in the following year. The new works comprehended a +large extension of the wharfage accommodation, the construction of +floating and graving docks, increased means of scouring the harbour +and ensuring greater depth of water on the bar across the river's +mouth, and the provision of a navigable communication between the +Aberdeenshire Canal and the new harbour. + +[Image] Plan of Aberdeen Harbour + +The extension of the north pier was first proceeded with, under the +superintendence of John Gibb, the resident engineer; and by the +year 1811 the whole length of 300 additional feet had been +completed. The beneficial effects of this extension were so +apparent, that a general wish was expressed that it should be +carried further; and it was eventually determined to extend the +pier 780 feet beyond Smeaton's head, by which not only was much +deeper water secured, but vessels were better enabled to clear the +Girdleness Point. This extension was successfully carried out by +the end of the year 1812. A strong breakwater, about 800 feet long, +was also run out from the south shore, leaving a space of about 250 +feet as an entrance, thereby giving greater protection to the +shipping in the harbour, while the contraction of the channel, by +increasing the "scour," tended to give a much greater depth of +water on the bar. + +[Image] Aberdeen Harbour. + +The outer head of the pier was seriously injured by the heavy +storms of the two succeeding winters, which rendered it necessary +to alter its formation to a very flat slope of about five to one +all round the head.*[9] + +[Image] Section of pier-head work. + +New wharves were at the same time constructed inside the harbour; +a new channel for the river was excavated, which further enlarged +the floating space and wharf accommodation; wet and dry docks were +added; until at length the quay berthage amounted to not less than +6290 feet, or nearly a mile and a quarter in length. By these +combined improvements an additional extent of quay room was +obtained of about 4000 feet; an excellent tidal harbour was formed, +in which, at spring tides, the depth of water is about 15 feet; +while on the bar it was increased to about 19 feet. The prosperity +of Aberdeen had meanwhile been advancing apace. The city had been +greatly beautified and enlarged: shipbuilding had made rapid +progress; Aberdeen clippers became famous, and Aberdeen merchants +carried on a trade with all parts of the world; manufactures of +wool, cotton, flax, and iron were carried on with great success; +its population rapidly increased; and, as a maritime city, Aberdeen +took rank as the third in Scotland, the tonnage entering the port +having increased from 50,000 tons in 1800 to about 300,000 in +1860. + +Improvements of an equally important character were carried out by +Mr. Telford in the port of Dundee, also situated on the east coast +of Scotland, at the entrance to the Frith of Tay. There are those +still living at the place who remember its former haven, consisting +of a crooked wall, affording shelter to only a few fishing-boats or +smuggling vessels--its trade being then altogether paltry, scarcely +deserving the name, and its population not one fifth of what it now +is. Helped by its commodious and capacious harbour, it has become +one of the most populous and thriving towns on the east coast. + +[Image] Plan of Dundee Harbour. + +The trade of the place took a great start forward at the close of +the war, and Mr. Telford was called upon to supply the plans of a +new harbour. His first design, which he submitted in 1814, was of +a comparatively limited character; but it was greatly enlarged +during the progress of the works. Floating docks were added, as +well as graving docks for large vessels. The necessary powers were +obtained in 1815; the works proceeded vigorously under the Harbour +Commissioners, who superseded the old obstructive corporation; and +in 1825 the splendid new floating dock--750 feet long by 450 broad, +having an entrance-lock 170 feet long and 40 feet wide--was opened +to the shipping of all countries. + +[Image] Dundee Harbour. + +Footnotes for Chapter IX. + +*[1] Hugh Millar, in his 'Cruise of the Betsy,' attributes the +invention of columnar pier-work to Mr. Bremner, whom he terms "the +Brindley of Scotland." He has acquired great fame for his skill in +raising sunken ships, having warped the Great Britain steamer off +the shores of Dundrum Bay. But we believe Mr. Telford had adopted +the practice of columnar pier-work before Mr. Bremner, in forming +the little harbour of Folkestone in 1808, where the work is still +to be seen quite perfect. The most solid mode of laying stone on +land is in flat courses; but in open pier work the reverse process +is adopted. The blocks are laid on end in columns, like upright +beams jammed together. Thus laid, the wave which dashes against +them is broken, and spends itself on the interstices; where as, +if it struck the broad solid blocks, the tendency would be to lift +them from their beds and set the work afloat; and in a furious +storm such blocks would be driven about almost like pebbles. +The rebound from flat surfaces is also very heavy, and produces +violent commotion; where as these broken, upright, columnar-looking +piers seem to absorb the fury of the sea, and render its wildest +waves comparatively innocuous. + +*[2] 'Memorials from Peterhead and Banff, concerning Damage +occasioned by a Storm.' Ordered by the House of Commons to be +printed, 5th July, 1820. [242.] + +*[3] 'A Description of Bothe Touns of Aberdeene.' By James Gordon, +Parson of Rothiemay. Reprinted in Gavin Turreff's 'Antiquarian +Gleanings from Aberdeenshire Records.' Aberdeen, 1889. + +*[4] Robertson's 'Book of Bon-Accord.' + +*[5] Ibid., quoted in Turreff's 'Antiquarian Gleanings,' p. 222. + +*[6] One of them, however, did return--Peter Williamson, a native +of the town, sold for a slave in Pennsylvania, "a rough, ragged, +humle-headed, long, stowie, clever boy," who, reaching York, +published an account of the infamous traffic, in a pamphlet which +excited extraordinary interest at the time, and met with a rapid +and extensive circulation. But his exposure of kidnapping gave +very great offence to the magistrates, who dragged him before their +tribunal as having "published a scurrilous and infamous libel on +the corporation," and he was sentenced to be imprisoned until he +should sign a denial of the truth of his statements. He brought an +action against the corporation for their proceedings, and obtained +a verdict and damages; and he further proceeded against Baillie +Fordyce (one of his kidnappers, and others, from whom he obtained +200L. damages, with costs. The system was thus effectually put a +stop to. + +*[8] 'A Description of Bothe Touns of Aberdeene.' By James Gordon, +Parson of Rothiemay. Quoted by Turreff, p. 109. + +*[8] Communication with London was as yet by no means frequent, +and far from expeditious, as the following advertisement of 1778 +will show:--"For London: To sail positively on Saturday next, the +7th November, wind and weather permitting, the Aberdeen smack. +Will lie a short time at London, and, if no convoy is appointed, +will sail under care of a fleet of colliers the best convoy of any. +For particulars apply," &c., &c. + +*[9] "The bottom under the foundations," says Mr. Gibb, in his +description of the work, "is nothing better than loose sand and +gravel, constantly thrown up by the sea on that stormy coast, +so that it was necessary to consolidate the work under low water by +dropping large stones from lighters, and filling the interstices +with smaller ones, until it was brought within about a foot of the +level of low water, when the ashlar work was commenced; but in +place of laying the stones horizontally in their beds, each course +was laid at an angle of 45 degrees, to within about 18 inches of +the top, when a level coping was added. This mode of building +enabled the work to be carried on expeditiously, and rendered it +while in progress less liable to temporary damage, likewise +affording three points of bearing; for while the ashlar walling was +carrying up on both sides, the middle or body of the pier was +carried up at the same time by a careful backing throughout of +large rubble-stone, to within 18 inches of the top, when the whole +was covered with granite coping and paving 18 inches deep, with a +cut granite parapet wall on the north side of the whole length of +the pier, thus protected for the convenience of those who might +have occasion to frequent it."--Mr. Gibb's 'Narrative of Aberdeen +Harbour Works.' + + +CHAPTER X. + +CALEDONIAN AND OTHER CANALS. + +The formation of a navigable highway through the chain of locks +lying in the Great Glen of the Highlands, and extending diagonally +across Scotland from the Atlantic to the North Sea, had long been +regarded as a work of national importance. As early as 1773, +James Watt, then following the business of a land-surveyor at Glasgow, +made a survey of the country at the instance of the Commissioners +of Forfeited Estates. He pronounced the canal practicable, and +pointed out how it could best be constructed. There was certainly +no want of water, for Watt was repeatedly drenched with rain while +he was making his survey, and he had difficulty in preserving even +his journal book. "On my way home," he says, "I passed through the +wildest country I ever saw, and over the worst conducted roads." + +Twenty years later, in 1793, Mr. Rennie was consulted as to the +canal, and he also prepared a scheme: but nothing was done. The +project was, however, revived in 1801 during the war with Napoleon, +when various inland ship canals--such as those from London to +Portsmouth, and from Bristol to the English Channel--were under +consideration with the view of enabling British shipping to pass +from one part of the kingdom to another without being exposed to +the attacks of French privateers. But there was another reason for +urging the formation of the canal through the Great Glen of Scotland, +which was regarded as of considerable importance before the +introduction of steam enabled vessels to set the winds and tides at +comparative defiance. It was this: vessels sailing from the +eastern ports to America had to beat up the Pentland Frith, often +against adverse winds and stormy seas, which rendered the navigation +both tedious and dangerous. Thus it was cited by Sir Edward Parry, +in his evidence before Parliament in favour of completing the +Caledonian Canal, that of two vessels despatched from Newcastle on +the same day--one bound for Liverpool by the north of Scotland, and +the other for Bombay by the English Channel and the Cape of Good Hope +--the latter reached its destination first! Another case may be +mentioned, that of an Inverness vessel, which sailed for Liverpool +on a Christmas Day, reached Stromness Harbour, in Orkney, on the +1st of January, and lay there windbound, with a fleet of other +traders, until the middle of April following! In fact, the Pentland +Frith, which is the throat connecting the Atlantic and German Oceans, +through which the former rolls its, long majestic waves with +tremendous force, was long the dread of mariners, and it was +considered an object of national importance to mitigate the dangers +of the passage towards the western Seas. + +As the lochs occupying the chief part of the bottom of the Great +Glen were of sufficient depth to be navigable by large vessels, +it was thought that if they could be connected by a ship canal, +so as to render the line of navigation continuous, it would be used +by shipping to a large extent, and prove of great public service. +Five hundred miles of dangerous navigation by the Orkneys and +Cape Wrath would thereby be saved, while ships of war, were this +track open to them, might reach the north of Ireland in two days +from Fort George near Inverness. + +When the scheme of the proposed canal was revived in 1801, +Mr. Telford was requested to make a survey and send in his report on +the subject. He immediately wrote to his friend James Watt, saying, +"I have so long accustomed myself to look with a degree of reverence +at your work, that I am particularly anxious to learn what occurred +to you in this business while the whole was fresh in your mind. The +object appears to me so great and so desirable, that I am convinced +you will feel a pleasure in bringing it again under investigation, +and I am very desirous that the thing should be fully and fairly +explained, so that the public may be made aware of its extensive +utility. If I can accomplish this, I shall have done my duty; and +if the project is not executed now, some future period will see it +done, and I shall have the satisfaction of having followed you and +promoted its success." We may here state that Telford's survey +agreed with Watt's in the most important particulars, and that he +largely cited Watt's descriptions of the proposed scheme in his own +report. + +Mr. Telford's first inspection of the district was made in 1801, +and his report was sent in to the Treasury in the course of the +following year. Lord Bexley, then Secretary to the Treasury, took +a warm personal interest in the project, and lost no opportunity of +actively promoting it. A board of commissioners was eventually +appointed to carry out the formation of the canal. Mr. Telford, +on being appointed principal engineer of the undertaking, was +requested at once to proceed to Scotland and prepare the necessary +working survey. He was accompanied on the occasion by Mr. Jessop +as consulting engineer. Twenty thousand pounds were granted under +the provisions of the 43 Geo. III. (chap. cii.), and the works +were commenced, in the beginning of 1804, by the formation of a +dock or basin adjoining the intended tide-lock at Corpach, near +Bannavie. + +[Image] Map of Caledonian Canal + +The basin at Corpach formed the southernmost point of the intended +canal. It is situated at the head of Loch Eil, amidst some of the +grandest scenery of the Highlands. Across the Loch is the little +town of Fort William, one of the forts established at the end of +the seventeenth century to keep the wild Highlanders in subjection. +Above it rise hills over hills, of all forms and sizes, and of all +hues, from grass-green below to heather-brown and purple above, +capped with heights of weather-beaten grey; while towering over all +stands the rugged mass of Ben Nevis--a mountain almost unsurpassed +for picturesque grandeur. Along the western foot of the range, +which extends for some six or eight miles, lies a long extent of +brown bog, on the verge of which, by the river Lochy, stand the +ruins of Inverlochy Castle. + +The works at Corpach involved great labour, and extended over a +long series of years. The difference between the level of Loch Eil +and Loch Lochy is ninety feet, while the distance between them was +less than eight miles. It was therefore necessary to climb up the +side of the hill by a flight of eight gigantic locks, clustered +together, and which Telford named Neptune's Staircase. The ground +passed over was in some places very difficult, requiring large +masses of embankment, the slips of which in the course of the work +frequently occasioned serious embarrassment. The basin on Loch Eil, +on the other hand, was constructed amidst rock, and considerable +difficulty was experienced in getting in the necessary coffer-dam +for the construction of the opening into the sea-lock, the +entrance-sill of which was laid upon the rock itself, so that there +was a depth of 21 feet of water upon it at high water of neap tides. + +At the same time that the works at Corpach were begun, the dock or +basin at the north-eastern extremity of the canal, situated at +Clachnaharry, on the shore of Loch Beauly, was also laid out, and +the excavations and embankments were carried on with considerable +activity. This dock was constructed about 967 yards long, and +upwards of 162 yards in breadth, giving an area of about 32 acres, +--forming, in fact, a harbour for the vessels using the canal. The +dimensions of the artificial waterway were of unusual size, as the +intention was to adapt it throughout for the passage of a 32-gun +frigate of that day, fully equipped and laden with stores. The +canal, as originally resolved upon, was designed to be 110 feet +wide at the surface, and 50 feet at the bottom, with a depth in the +middle of 20 feet; though these dimensions were somewhat modified +in the execution of the work. The locks were of corresponding +large dimensions, each being from 170 to 180 feet long, 40 broad, +and 20 deep. + +[Image] Lock, Caledonian Canal + +Between these two extremities of the canal--Corpach on the +south-west and Clachnaharry on the north-east--extends the chain of +fresh-water lochs: Loch Lochy on the south; next Loch Oich; then +Loch Ness; and lastly, furthest north, the small Loch of Dochfour. +The whole length of the navigation is 60 miles 40 chains, of which +the navigable lochs constitute about 40 miles, leaving only about +20 miles of canal to be constructed, but of unusually large +dimensions and through a very difficult country. + +The summit loch of the whole is Loch Oich, the surface of which is +exactly a hundred feet above high water-mark, both at Inverness and +Fort William; and to this sheet of water the navigation climbs up +by a series of locks from both the eastern and western seas. +The whole number of these is twenty-eight: the entrance-lock at +Clachnaharry, constructed on piles, at the end of huge embankments, +forced out into deep water, at Loch Beady; another at the entrance +to the capacious artificial harbour above mentioned, at Muirtown; +four connected locks at the southern end of this basin; +a regulating lock a little to the north of Loch Dochfour; +five contiguous locks at Fort Augustus, at the south end of Loch Ness; +another, called the Kytra Lock, about midway between Fort Angustus +and Loch Oich; a regulating lock at the north-east end of Loch Oich; +two contiguous locks between Lochs Oich and Lochy; a regulating +lock at the south-west end of Loch Lochy; next, the grand series of +locks, eight in number, called "Neptune's Staircase," at Bannavie, +within a mile and a quarter of the sea; two locks, descending to +Corpach basin; and lastly, the great entrance or sea-lock at Corpach. + +The northern entrance-lock from the sea at Loch Beauly is at +Clachnaharry, near Inverness. The works here were not accomplished +without much difficulty as well as labour, partly from the very +gradual declivity of the shore, and partly from the necessity of +placing the sea-lock on absolute mud, which afforded no foundation +other than what was created by compression and pile-driving. +The mud was forced down by throwing upon it an immense load of earth +and stones, which was left during twelve months to settle; after +which a shaft was sunk to a solid foundation, and the masonry of +the sea-lock was then founded and built therein. + +In the 'Sixteenth Report of the Commissioners of the Caledonian +Canal,' the following reference is made to this important work, +which was finished in 1812:-- "The depth of the mud on which it may +be said to be artificially seated is not less than 60 feet; so that +it cannot be deemed superfluous, at the end of seven years, to +state that no subsidence is discoverable; and we presume that the +entire lock, as well as every part of it, may now be deemed as +immovable, and as little liable to destruction, as any other large +mass of masonry. This was the most remarkable work performed under +the immediate care of Mr. Matthew Davidson, our superintendent at +Clachnaharry, from 1804 till the time of his decease. He was a man +perfectly qualified for the employment by inflexible integrity, +unwearied industry, and zeal to a degree of anxiety, in all the +operations committed to his care."*[1] + +As may naturally be supposed, the execution of these great works +involved vast labour and anxiety. They were designed with much +skill, and executed with equal ability. There were lock-gates to +be constructed, principally of cast iron, sheathed with pine +planking. Eight public road bridges crossed the line of the +canal, which were made of cast iron, and swung horizontally. +There were many mountain streams, swollen to torrents in winter, +crossing under the canal, for which abundant water-way had to be +provided, involving the construction of numerous culverts, tunnels, +and under-bridges of large dimensions. There were also powerful +sluices to let off the excess of water sent down from the adjacent +mountains into the canal during winter. Three of these, of great +size, high above the river Lochy, are constructed at a point where +the canal is cut through the solid rock; and the sight of the mass +of waters rushing down into the valley beneath, gives an impression +of power which, once seen, is never forgotten. + +These great works were only brought to a completion after the +labours of many years, during which the difficulties encountered in +their construction had swelled the cost of the canal far beyond the +original estimate. The rapid advances which had taken place in the +interval in the prices of labour and materials also tended greatly +to increase the expenses, and, after all, the canal, when completed +and opened, was comparatively little used. This was doubtless +owing, in a great measure, to the rapid changes which occurred in +the system of navigation shortly after the projection of the +undertaking. For these Telford was not responsible. He was called +upon to make the canal, and he did so in the best manner. +Engineers are not required to speculate as to the commercial value +of the works they are required to construct; and there were +circumstances connected with the scheme of the Caledonian Canal +which removed it from the category of mere commercial adventures. +It was a Government project, and it proved a failure as a paying +concern. Hence it formed a prominent topic for discussion in the +journals of the day; but the attacks made upon the Government +because of their expenditure on the hapless undertaking were +perhaps more felt by Telford, who was its engineer, than by all the +ministers of state conjoined. + +"The unfortunate issue of this great work," writes the present +engineer of the canal, to whom we are indebted for many of the +preceding facts, "was a grievous disappointment to Mr. Telford, +and was in fact the one great bitter in his otherwise unalloyed cup +of happiness and prosperity. The undertaking was maligned by +thousands who knew nothing of its character. It became 'a dog with +a bad name,' and all the proverbial consequences followed. +The most absurd errors and misconceptions were propagated respecting +it from year to year, and it was impossible during Telford's lifetime +to stem the torrent of popular prejudice and objurgation. It must, +however, be admitted, after a long experience, that Telford was +greatly over-sanguine in his expectations as to the national uses +of the canal, and he was doomed to suffer acutely in his personal +feelings, little though he may have been personally to blame, the +consequences of what in this commercial country is regarded as so +much worse than a crime, namely, a financial mistake."*[2] + +Mr. Telford's great sensitiveness made him feel the ill success of +this enterprise far more than most other men would have done. +He was accustomed to throw himself into the projects on which he +was employed with an enthusiasm almost poetic. He regarded them +not merely as so much engineering, but as works which were to be +instrumental in opening up the communications of the country and +extending its civilization. Viewed in this light, his canals, +roads, bridges, and harbours were unquestionably of great national +importance, though their commercial results might not in all cases +justify the estimates of their projectors. To refer to like +instances--no one can doubt the immense value and public uses of +Mr. Rennie's Waterloo Bridge or Mr. Robert Stephenson's Britannia +and Victoria Bridges, though every one knows that, commercially, +they have been failures. But it is probable that neither of these +eminent engineers gave himself anything like the anxious concern +that Telford did about the financial issue of his undertaking. +Were railway engineers to fret and vex themselves about the commercial +value of the schemes in which they have been engaged, there are few +of them but would be so haunted by the ghosts of wrecked speculations +that they could scarcely lay their heads upon their pillows for a +single night in peace. + +While the Caledonian Canal was in progress, Mr. Telford was +occupied in various works of a similar kind in England and Scotland, +and also upon one in Sweden. In 1804, while on one of his journeys +to the north, he was requested by the Earl of Eglinton and others +to examine a project for making a canal from Glasgow to Saltcoats +and Ardrossan, on the north-western coast of the county of Ayr, +passing near the important manufacturing town of Paisley. A new +survey of the line was made, and the works were carried on during +several successive years until a very fine capacious canal was +completed, on the same level, as far as Paisley and Johnstown. +But the funds of the company falling short, the works were stopped, +and the canal was carried no further. Besides, the measures adopted +by the Clyde Trustees to deepen the bed of that river and enable +ships of large burden to pass up as high as Glasgow, had proved so +successful that the ultimate extension of the canal to Ardrossan +was no longer deemed necessary, and the prosecution of the work was +accordingly abandoned. But as Mr. Telford has observed, no person +suspected, when the canal was laid out in 1805, "that steamboats +would not only monopolise the trade of the Clyde, but penetrate +into every creek where there is water to float them, in the British +Isles and the continent of Europe, and be seen in every quarter of +the world." + +Another of the navigations on which Mr. Telford was long employed +was that of the river Weaver in Cheshire. It was only twenty-four +miles in extent, but of considerable importance to the country +through which it passed, accommodating the salt-manufacturing +districts, of which the towns of Nantwich, Northwich, and Frodsham +are the centres. The channel of the river was extremely crooked +and much obstructed by shoals, when Telford took the navigation in +hand in the year 1807, and a number of essential improvements were +made in it, by means of new locks, weirs, and side cuts, which had +the effect of greatly improving the communications of these +important districts. + +In the following year we find our engineer consulted, at the +instance of the King of Sweden, on the best mode of constructing +the Gotha Canal, between Lake Wenern and the Baltic, to complete +the communication with the North Sea. In 1808, at the invitation +of Count Platen, Mr. Telford visited Sweden and made a careful +survey of the district. The service occupied him and his +assistants two months, after which he prepared and sent in a series +of detailed plans and sections, together with an elaborate report +on the subject. His plans having been adopted, he again visited +Sweden in 1810, to inspect the excavations which had already been +begun, when he supplied the drawings for the locks and bridges. +With the sanction of the British Government, he at the same time +furnished the Swedish contractors with patterns of the most +improved tools used in canal making, and took with him a number of +experienced lock-makers and navvies for the purpose of instructing +the native workmen. + +The construction of the Gotha Canal was an undertaking of great +magnitude and difficulty, similar in many respects to the +Caledonian Canal, though much more extensive. The length of +artificial canal was 55 miles, and of the whole navigation, +including the lakes, 120 miles. The locks are 120 feet long and +24 feet broad; the width of the canal at bottom being 42 feet, +and the depth of water 10 feet. The results, so far as the engineer +was concerned, were much more satisfactory than in the case of the +Caledonian Canal. While in the one case he had much obloquy to +suffer for the services he had given, in the other he was honoured +and feted as a public benefactor, the King conferring upon him the +Swedish order of knighthood, and presenting him with his portrait +set in diamonds. + +Among the various canals throughout England which Mr. Telford was +employed to construct or improve, down to the commencement of the +railway era, were the Gloucester and Berkeley Canal, in 1818; the +Grand Trunk Canal, in 1822; the Harecastle Tunnel, which he +constructed anew, in 1824-7; the Birmingham Canal, in 1824; and the +Macclesfield, and Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canals, in 1825. +The Gloucester and Berkeley Canal Company had been unable to +finish their works, begun some thirty years before; but with the +assistance of a loan of 160,000L. from the Exchequer Bill Loan +Commissioners, they were enabled to proceed with the completion of +their undertaking. A capacious canal was cut from Gloucester to +Sharpness Point, about eight miles down the Severn, which had the +effect of greatly improving the convenience of the port of +Gloucester; and by means of this navigation, ships of large burden +can now avoid the circuitous and difficult passage of the higher +part of the river, very much to the advantage of the trade of the +place. + +The formation of a new tunnel through Harecastle Hill, for the +better accommodation of the boats passing along the Grand Trunk +Canal, was a formidable work. The original tunnel, it will be +remembered,*[3] was laid out by Brindley, about fifty years +before, and occupied eleven years in construction. But the +engineering appliances of those early days were very limited; the +pumping powers of the steam-engine had not been fairly developed, +and workmen were as yet only half-educated in the expert use of +tools. The tunnel, no doubt, answered the purpose for which it was +originally intended, but it was very soon found too limited for the +traffic passing along the navigation. It was little larger than a +sewer, and admitted the passage of only one narrow boat, seven feet +wide, at a time, involving very heavy labour on the part of the men +who worked it through. This was performed by what was called +legging. The Leggers lay upon the deck of the vessel, or upon a +board slightly projecting from either side of it, and, by thrusting +their feet against the slimy roof or sides of the tunnel-walking +horizontally as it were -- they contrived to push it through. +But it was no better than horsework; and after "legging" Harecastle +Tunnel, which is more than a mile and a half long, the men were +usually completely exhausted, and as wet from perspiration as if +they had been dragged through the canal itself. The process +occupied about two hours, and by the time the passage of the tunnel +was made, there was usually a collection of boats at the other end +waiting their turn to pass. Thus much contention and confusion +took place amongst the boatmen--a very rough class of labourers-- +and many furious battles were fought by the claimants for the first +turn "through." Regulations were found of no avail to settle these +disputes, still less to accommodate the large traffic which +continued to keep flowing along the line of the Grand Trunk, +and steadily increased with the advancing trade and manufactures of +the country. Loud complaints were made by the public, but they were +disregarded for many years; and it was not until the proprietors +were threatened with rival canals and railroads that they +determined on--what they could no longer avoid if they desired to +retain the carrying trade of the district the enlargement of the +Harecastle Tunnel. + +Mr. Telford was requested to advise the Company what course was +most proper to be adopted in the matter, and after examining the +place, he recommended that an entirely new tunnel should be +constructed, nearly parallel with the old one, but of much larger +dimensions. The work was begun in 1824, and completed in 1827, +in less than three years. There were at that time throughout the +country plenty of skilled labourers and contractors, many of them +trained by their experience upon Telford's own works, where as +Brindley had in a great measure to make his workmen out of the +rawest material. Telford also had the advantage of greatly improved +machinery and an abundant supply of money--the Grand Trunk Canal +Company having become prosperous and rich, paying large dividends. +It is therefore meet, while eulogising the despatch with which he +was enabled to carry out the work, to point out that the much +greater period occupied in the earlier undertaking is not to be set +down to the disparagement of Brindley, who had difficulties to +encounter which the later engineer knew nothing of. + +The length of the new tunnel is 2926 yards; it is 16 feet high and +14 feet broad, 4 feet 9 inches of the breadth being occupied by the +towing-path--for "legging" was now dispensed with, and horses +hauled along the boats instead of their being thrust through by +men. The tunnel is in so perfectly straight a line that its whole +length can be seen through at one view; and though it was +constructed by means of fifteen different pitshafts sunk to the +same line along the length of the tunnel, the workmanship is so +perfect that the joinings of the various lengths of brickwork are +scarcely discernible. The convenience afforded by the new tunnel +was very great, and Telford mentions that, on surveying it in 1829, +he asked a boatman coming; out of it how he liked it? "I only +wish," he replied, "that it reached all the way to Manchester!" + +[Image] Cross Section of Harecastle Tunnel. + +At the time that Mr. Telford was engaged upon the tunnel at +Harecastle, he was employed to improve and widen the Birmingham +Canal, another of Brindley's works. Though the accommodation +provided by it had been sufficient for the traffic when originally +constructed, the expansion of the trade of Birmingham and the +neighbourhood, accelerated by the formation of the canal itself, +had been such as completely to outgrow its limited convenience and +capacity, and its enlargement and improvement now became absolutely +necessary. Brindley's Canal, for the sake of cheapness of +construction--money being much scarcer and more difficult to be +raised in the early days of canals--was also winding and crooked; +and it was considered desirable to shorten and straighten it by +cutting off the bends at different places. At the point at which +the canal entered Birmingham, it had become "little better than a +crooked ditch, with scarcely the appearance of a towing-path, the +horses frequently sliding and staggering in the water, the +hauling-lines sweeping the gravel into the canal, and the +entanglement at the meeting of boats being incessant; whilst at the +locks at each end of the short summit at Smethwick crowds of +boatmen were always quarrelling, or offering premiums for a +preference of passage; and the mine-owners, injured by the delay, +were loud in their just complaints."*[4] + +Mr. Telford proposed an effective measure of improvement, which +was taken in hand without loss of time, and carried out, greatly +to the advantage of the trade of the district. The numerous bends +in the canal were cut off, the water-way was greatly widened, the +summit at Smethwick was cut down to the level on either side, and a +straight canal, forty feet wide, without a lock, was thus formed +as far as Bilston and Wolverhampton; while the length of the main +line between Birmingham and Autherley, along the whole extent of +the "Black country," was reduced from twenty-two to fourteen miles. +At the same time the obsolete curvatures in Brindley's old canal +were converted into separate branches or basins, for the +accommodation of the numerous mines and manufactories on either +side of the main line. In consequence of the alterations which had +been made in the canal, it was found necessary to construct +numerous large bridges. One of these--a cast iron bridge, +at Galton, of 150 feet span--has been much admired for its elegance, +lightness, and economy of material. Several others of cast iron +were constructed at different points, and at one place the canal +itself is carried along on an aqueduct of the same material as at +Pont-Cysylltau. The whole of these extensive improvements were +carried out in the short space of two years; and the result was +highly satisfactory, "proving," as Mr. Telford himself observes, +"that where business is extensive, liberal expenditure of this kind +is true economy." + +[Image] Galton Bridge, Birmingham Canal. + +In 1825 Mr. Telford was called upon to lay out a canal to connect +the Grand Trunk, at the north end of Harecastle Tunnel, with the +rapidly improving towns of Congleton and Macclesfield. The line +was twenty-nine miles in length, ten miles on one level from +Harecastle to beyond Congleton; then, ascending 114 feet by eleven +locks, it proceeded for five miles on a level past Macclesfield, +and onward to join the Peak Forest Canal at Marple. The navigation +was thus conducted upon two levels, each of considerable length; +and it so happened that the trade of each was in a measure +distinct, and required separate accommodation. The traffic of the +whole of the Congleton district had ready access to the Grand Trunk +system, without the labour, expense, and delay involved by passing +the boats through locks; while the coals brought to Macclesfield to +supply the mills there were carried throughout upon the upper +level, also without lockage. The engineer's arrangement proved +highly judicious, and furnishes an illustration of the tact and +judgment which he usually displayed in laying out his works for +practical uses. Mr Telford largely employed cast iron in the +construction of this canal, using it in the locks and gates, as +well as in an extensive aqueduct which it was necessary to +construct over a deep ravine, after the plan pursued by him at, +Pont-Cysylltau and other places. + +The last canal constructed by. Mr. Telford was the Birmingham and +Liverpool Junction, extending from the Birmingham Canal, near +Wolverhampton, in nearly a direct line, by Market Drayton, +Nantwich, and through the city of Chester, by the Ellesmere Canal, +to Ellesmere Port on the Mersey. The proprietors of canals were +becoming alarmed at the numerous railways projected through the +districts heretofore served by their water-ways; and among other +projects one was set on foot, as early as 1825, for constructing a +line of railway from London to Liverpool. Mr. Telford was +consulted as to the best means of protecting existing investments, +and his advice was to render the canal system as complete as it +could be made; for he entertained the conviction, which has been +justified by experience, that such navigations possessed peculiar +advantages for the conveyance of heavy goods, and that, if the +interruptions presented by locks could be done away with, or +materially reduced, a large portion of the trade of the country +must continue to be carried by the water roads. The new line +recommended by him was approved and adopted, and the works were +commenced in 1826. A second complete route was thus opened up +between Birmingham and Liverpool, and Manchester, by which the +distance was shortened twelve miles, and the delay occasioned by +320 feet of upward and downward lockage was done away with. + +Telford was justly proud of his canals, which were the finest works +of their kind that had yet been executed in England. Capacious, +convenient, and substantial, they embodied his most ingenious +contrivances, and his highest engineering skill. Hence we find him +writing to a friend at Langholm, that, so soon as he could find +"sufficient leisure from his various avocations in his own +unrivalled and beloved island," it was his intention to visit +France and Italy, for the purpose of ascertaining what foreigners +had been able to accomplish, compared with ourselves, in the +construction of canals, bridges, and harbours. "I have no doubt," +said he, "as to their inferiority. During the war just brought to +a close, England has not only been able to guard her own head and +to carry on a gigantic struggle, but at the same time to construct +canals, roads, harbours, bridges--magnificent works of peace--the +like of which are probably not to be found in the world. Are not +these things worthy of a nation's pride?" + +Footnotes for Chapter X. + +*[1] Mr. Matthew Davidson, above referred to, was an excellent +officer, but a strange cynical humourist in his way. He was a +Lowlander, and had lived for some time in England, at the Pont +Cysylltau works, where he had acquired a taste for English comforts, +and returned to the North with a considerable contempt for the +Highland people amongst whom he was stationed. He is said to +have very much resembled Dr. Johnson in person and was so fond +of books, and so well read in them, that he was called +'the Walking Library.' He used to say that if justice were done to +the inhabitants of Inverness, there would be nobody left there in +twenty years but the Provost and the hangman. Seeing an artist one +day making a sketch in the mountains, he said it was the first time +he had known what the hills were good for. And when some one was +complaining of the weather in the Highlands, he looked sarcastically +round, and observed that the rain certainly would not hurt the +heather crop. + +*[2] The misfortunes of the Caledonian Canal did not end with the +life of Telford. The first vessel passed through it from sea to +sea in October, 1822, by which time it had cost about a million +sterling, or double the original estimate. Notwithstanding this +large outlay, it appears that the canal was opened before the works +had been properly completed; and the consequence was that they very +shortly fell into decay. It even began to be considered whether +the canal ought not to be abandoned. In 1838, Mr. James Walker, +C.E., an engineer of the highest eminence, examined it, and +reported fully on its then state, strongly recommending its +completion as well as its improvement. His advice was eventually +adopted, and the canal was finished accordingly, at an additional +cost of about 200,000L., and the whole line was re-opened in 1847, +since which time it has continued in useful operation. The passage +from sea to sea at all times can now be depended on, and it can +usually be made in forty-eight hours. As the trade of the North +increases, the uses of the canal will probably become much more +decided than they have heretofore, proved. + +*[3] 'Brindley and the Early Engineers,' p. 267. + +*[4] 'Life of Telford,' p. 82, 83. + + +CHAPTER XI. + +TELFORD AS A ROAD-MAKER. + +Mr. Telford's extensive practice as a bridge-builder led his friend +Southey to designate him "Pontifex Maximus." Besides the numerous +bridges erected by him in the West of England, we have found him +furnishing designs for about twelve hundred in the Highlands, of +various dimensions, some of stone and others of iron. His practice +in bridge-building had, therefore, been of an unusually extensive +character, and Southey's sobriquet was not ill applied. But besides +being a great bridge-builder, Telford was also a great road-maker. +With the progress of industry and trade, the easy and rapid transit +of persons and goods had come to be regarded as an increasing +object of public interest. Fast coaches now ran regularly between +all the principal towns of England; every effort being made, +by straightening and shortening the roads, cutting down hills, +and carrying embankments across valleys and viaducts over rivers, +to render travelling by the main routes as easy and expeditious as +possible. + +Attention was especially turned to the improvement of the longer +routes, and to perfecting the connection of London with the chief +town's of Scotland and Ireland. Telford was early called upon to +advise as to the repairs of the road between Carlisle and Glasgow, +which had been allowed to fall into a wretched state; as well as +the formation of a new line from Carlisle, across the counties of +Dumfries, Kirkcudbright, and Wigton, to Port Patrick, for the +purpose of ensuring a more rapid communication with Belfast and the +northern parts of Ireland. Although Glasgow had become a place of +considerable wealth and importance, the roads to it, north of +Carlisle, continued in a very unsatisfactory state. It was only in +July, 1788, that the first mail-coach from London had driven into +Glasgow by that route, when it was welcomed by a procession of the +citizens on horseback, who went out several miles to meet it. +But the road had been shockingly made, and before long had become +almost impassable. Robert Owen states that, in 1795, it took him +two days and three nights' incessant travelling to get from +Manchester to Glasgow, and he mentions that the coach had to cross +a well-known dangerous mountain at midnight, called Erickstane +Brae, which was then always passed with fear and trembling.*[1] +As late as the year 1814 we find a Parliamentary Committee +declaring the road between Carlisle and Glasgow to be in so ruinous +a state as often seriously to delay the mail and endanger the lives +of travellers. The bridge over Evan Water was so much decayed, that +one day the coach and horses fell through it into the river, when +"one passenger was killed, the coachman survived only a few days, +and several other persons were dreadfully maimed; two of the horses +being also killed."*[2] The remaining part of the bridge continued +for some time unrepaired, just space enough being left for a single +carriage to pass. The road trustees seemed to be helpless, and did +nothing; a local subscription was tried and failed, the district +passed through being very poor; but as the road was absolutely +required for more than merely local purposes, it was eventually +determined to undertake its reconstruction as a work of national +importance, and 50,000L. was granted by Parliament with this +object, under the provisions of the Act passed in 1816. The works +were placed under Mr. Telford's charge; and an admirable road was +very shortly under construction between Carlisle and Glasgow. +That part of it between Hamilton and Glasgow, eleven miles in length, +was however left in the hands of local trustees, as was the +diversion of thirteen miles at the boundary of the counties of +Lanark and Dumfries, for which a previous Act had been obtained. +The length of new line constructed by Mr. Telford was sixty-nine +miles, and it was probably the finest piece of road which up to +that time had been made. + +His ordinary method of road-making in the Highlands was, first to +level and drain; then, like the Romans, to lay a solid pavement of +large stones, the round or broad end downwards, as close as they +could be set. The points of the latter were then broken off, and a +layer of stones broken to about the size of walnuts, was laid upon +them, and over all a little gravel if at hand. A road thus formed +soon became bound together, and for ordinary purposes was very +durable. + +But where the traffic, as in the case of the Carlisle and Glasgow +road, was expected to be very heavy, Telford took much greater +pains. Here he paid especial attention to two points: first, to lay +it out as nearly as possible upon a level, so as to reduce the +draught to horses dragging heavy vehicles,--one in thirty being +about the severest gradient at any part of the road. The next point +was to make the working, or middle portion of the road, as firm and +substantial as possible, so as to bear, without shrinking, the +heaviest weight likely to be brought over it. With this object he +specified that the metal bed was to be formed in two layers, rising +about four inches towards the centre the bottom course being of +stones (whinstone, limestone, or hard freestone), seven inches in +depth. These were to be carefully set by hand, with the broadest +ends downwards, all crossbonded or jointed, no stone being more +than three inches wide on the top. The spaces between them were +then to be filled up with smaller stones, packed by hand, so as to +bring the whole to an even and firm surface. Over this a top course +was to be laid, seven inches in depth, consisting of properly +broken hard whinstones, none exceeding six ounces in weight, and +each to be able to pass through a circular ring, two inches and a +half in diameter; a binding of gravel, about an inch in thickness, +being placed over all. A drain crossed under the bed of the bottom +layer to the outside ditch in every hundred yards. The result was +an admirably easy, firm, and dry road, capable of being travelled +upon in all weathers, and standing in comparatively small need of +repairs. + +A similar practice was introduced in England about the same time by +Mr. Macadam; and, though his method was not so thorough as that of +Telford, it was usefully employed on most of the high roads +throughout the kingdom. Mr. Macadam's notice was first called to +the subject while acting as one of the trustees of a road in +Ayrshire. Afterwards, while employed as Government agent for +victualling the navy in the western parts of England, he continued +the study of road-making, keeping in view the essential conditions +of a compact and durable substance and a smooth surface. At that +time the attention of the Legislature was not so much directed to +the proper making and mending of the roads, as to suiting the +vehicles to them such as they were; and they legislated backwards +and forwards for nearly half a century as to the breadth of wheels. +Macadam was, on the other hand, of opinion that the main point was +to attend to the nature of the roads on which the vehicles were to +travel. Most roads were then made with gravel, or flints tumbled +upon them in their natural state, and so rounded that they had no +points of contact, and rarely became consolidated. When a heavy +vehicle of any sort passed over them, their loose structure +presented no resistance; the material was thus completely +disturbed, and they often became almost impassable. Macadam's +practice was this: to break the stones into angular fragments, so +that a bed several inches in depth should be formed, the material +best adapted for the purpose being fragments of granite, +greenstone, or basalt; to watch the repairs of the road carefully +during the process of consolidation, filling up the inequalities +caused by the traffic passing over it, until a hard and level +surface had been obtained. Thus made, the road would last for +years without further attention. in 1815 Mr. Macadam devoted +himself with great enthusiasm to road-making as a profession, and +being appointed surveyor-general of the Bristol roads, he had full +opportunities of exemplifying his system. It proved so successful +that the example set by him was quickly followed over the entire +kingdom. Even the streets of many large towns were Macadamised. +In carrying out his improvements, however, Mr. Macadam spent several +thousand pounds of his own money, and in 1825, having proved this +expenditure before a Committee of the House of Commons, the amount +was reimbursed to him, together with an honorary tribute of two +thousand pounds. Mr. Macadam died poor, but, as he himself said, +"a least an honest man." By his indefatigable exertions and his +success as a road-maker, by greatly saving animal labour, +facilitating commercial intercourse, and rendering travelling easy +and expeditious, he entitled himself to the reputation of a public +benefactor. + +[Image] J. L. Macadam. + +Owing to the mountainous nature of the country through which +Telford's Carlisle and Glasgow road passes, the bridges are +unusually numerous and of large dimensions. Thus, the Fiddler's +Burn Bridge is of three arches, one of 150 and two of 105 feet span +each. There are fourteen other bridges, presenting from one to +three arches, of from 20 to 90 feet span. But the most picturesque +and remarkable bridge constructed by Telford in that district was +upon another line of road subsequently carried out by him, in the +upper part of the county of Lanark, and crossing the main line of +the Carlisle and Glasgow road almost at right angles. Its northern +and eastern part formed a direct line of communication between the +great cattle markets of Falkirk, Crief, and Doune, and Carlisle and +the West of England. It was carried over deep ravines by several +lofty bridges, the most formidable of which was that across the +Mouse Water at Cartland Crags, about a mile to the west of Lanark. +The stream here flows through a deep rocky chasm, the sides of +which are in some places about four hundred feet high. At a point +where the height of the rocks is considerably less, but still most +formidable, Telford spanned the ravine with the beautiful bridge +represented in the engraving facing this page, its parapet being +129 feet above the surface of the water beneath. + +[Image] Cartland Crags Bridge. + +The reconstruction of the western road from Carlisle to Glasgow, +which Telford had thus satisfactorily carried out, shortly led to +similar demands from the population on the eastern side of the +kingdom. The spirit of road reform was now fairly on foot. +Fast coaches and wheel-carriages of all kinds had become greatly +improved, so that the usual rate of travelling had advanced from +five or six to nine or ten miles an hour. The desire for the rapid +communication of political and commercial intelligence was found to +increase with the facilities for supplying it; and, urged by the +public wants, the Post-Office authorities were stimulated to +unusual efforts in this direction. Numerous surveys were made and +roads laid out, so as to improve the main line of communication +between London and Edinburgh and the intermediate towns. The first +part of this road taken in hand was the worst--that lying to the +north of Catterick Bridge, in Yorkshire. A new line was surveyed by +West Auckland to Hexham, passing over Garter Fell to Jedburgh, and +thence to Edinburgh; but was rejected as too crooked and uneven. +Another was tried by Aldstone Moor and Bewcastle, and rejected for +the same reason. The third line proposed was eventually adopted as +the best, passing from Morpeth, by Wooler and Coldstream, +to Edinburgh; saving rather more than fourteen miles between the +two points, and securing a line of road of much more favourable +gradients. + +The principal bridge on this new highway was at Pathhead, over the +Tyne, about eleven miles south of Edinburgh. To maintain the +level, so as to avoid the winding of the road down a steep descent +on one side of the valley and up an equally steep ascent on the +other, Telford ran out a lofty embankment from both sides, +connecting their ends by means of a spacious bridge. The structure +at Pathhead is of five arches, each 50 feet span, with 25 feet rise +from their springing, 49 feet above the bed of the river. Bridges +of a similar character were also thrown over the deep ravines of +Cranston Dean and Cotty Burn, in the same neighbourhood. At the +same time a useful bridge was built on the same line of road at +Morpeth, in Northumberland, over the river Wansbeck. It consisted +of three arches, of which the centre one was 50 feet span, and two +side-arches 40 feet each; the breadth between the parapets being 30 +feet. + +The advantages derived from the construction of these new roads +were found to be so great, that it was proposed to do the like for +the remainder of the line between London and Edinburgh; and at the +instance of the Post-Office authorities, with the sanction of the +Treasury, Mr. Telford proceeded to make detailed surveys of an +entire new post-road between London and Morpeth. In laying it out, +the main points which he endeavoured to secure were directness and +flatness; and 100 miles of the proposed new Great North Road, south +of York, were laid out in a perfectly straight line. This survey, +which was begun in 1824, extended over several years; and all the +requisite arrangements had been made for beginning the works, when +the result of the locomotive competition at Rainhill, in 1829, had +the effect of directing attention to that new method of travelling, +fortunately in time to prevent what would have proved, for the most +part, an unnecessary expenditure, on works soon to be superseded by +a totally different order of things. + +The most important road-improvements actually carried out under +Mr. Telford's immediate superintendence were those on the western +side of the island, with the object of shortening the distance and +facilitating the communication between London and Dublin by way of +Holyhead, as well as between London and Liverpool. At the time of +the Union, the mode of transit between the capital of Ireland and +the metropolis of the United Kingdom was tedious, difficult, and +full of peril. In crossing the Irish Sea to Liverpool, the packets +were frequently tossed about for days together. On the Irish side, +there was scarcely the pretence of a port, the landing-place being +within the bar of the river Liffey, inconvenient at all times, and +in rough weather extremely dangerous. To avoid the long voyage to +Liverpool, the passage began to be made from Dublin to Holyhead, +the nearest point of the Welsh coast. Arrived there, the +passengers were landed upon rugged, unprotected rocks, without a +pier or landing convenience of any kind.*[3] But the traveller's +perils were not at an end,--comparatively speaking they had only +begun. From Holyhead, across the island of Anglesea, there was no +made road, but only a miserable track, circuitous and craggy, +full of terrible jolts, round bogs and over rocks, for a distance of +twenty-four miles. Having reached the Menai Strait, the passengers +had again to take to an open ferry-boat before they could gain the +mainland. The tide ran with great rapidity through the Strait, +and, when the wind blew strong, the boat was liable to be driven +far up or down the channel, and was sometimes swamped altogether. +The perils of the Welsh roads had next to be encountered, and these +were in as bad a condition at the beginning of the present century +as those of the Highlands above described. Through North Wales +they were rough, narrow, steep, and unprotected, mostly unfenced, +and in winter almost impassable. The whole traffic on the road +between Shrewsbury and Bangor was conveyed by a small cart, which +passed between the two places once a week in summer. As an +illustration of the state of the roads in South Wales, which were +quite as bad as those in the North, we may state that, in 1803, +when the late Lord Sudeley took home his bride from the +neighbourhood of Welshpool to his residence only thirteen miles +distant, the carriage in which the newly married pair rode stuck in +a quagmire, and the occupants, having extricated themselves from +their perilous situation, performed the rest of their journey on +foot. + +The first step taken was to improve the landing-places on both the +Irish and Welsh sides of St. George's Channel, and for this purpose +Mr. Rennie was employed in 1801. The result was, that Howth on the +one coast, and Holyhead on the other, were fixed upon as the most +eligible sites for packet stations. Improvements, however, +proceeded slowly, and it was not until 1810 that a sum of 10,000L. +was granted by Parliament to enable the necessary works to be +begun. Attention was then turned to the state of the roads, +and here Mr. Telford's services were called into requisition. +As early as 1808 it had been determined by the Post-Office authorities +to put on a mail-coach between Shrewsbury and Holyhead; but it was +pointed out that the roads in North Wales were so rough and +dangerous that it was doubtful whether the service could be +conducted with safety. Attempts were made to enforce the law with +reference to their repair, and no less than twenty-one townships +were indicted by the Postmaster-General. The route was found too +perilous even for a riding post, the legs of three horses having +been broken in one week.*[4] The road across Anglesea was quite as +bad. Sir Henry Parnell mentioned, in 1819, that the coach had been +overturned beyond Gwynder, going down one of the hills, when a +friend of his was thrown a considerable distance from the roof into +a pool of water. Near the post-office of Gwynder, the coachman had +been thrown from his seat by a violent jolt, and broken his leg. +The post-coach, and also the mail, had been overturned at the +bottom of Penmyndd Hill; and the route was so dangerous that the +London coachmen, who had been brought down to "work" the country, +refused to continue the duty because of its excessive dangers. +Of course, anything like a regular mail-service through such a +district was altogether impracticable. + +The indictments of the townships proved of no use; the localities +were too poor to provide the means required to construct a line of +road sufficient for the conveyance of mails and passengers between +England and Ireland. The work was really a national one, to be +carried out at the national cost. How was this best to be done? +Telford recommended that the old road between Shrewsbury and +Holyhead (109 miles long) should be shortened by about four miles, +and made as nearly as possible on a level; the new line proceeding +from Shrewsbury by Llangollen, Corwen, Bettws-y-Coed, Capel-Curig, +and Bangor, to Holyhead. Mr. Telford also proposed to cross the +Menai Strait by means of a cast iron bridge, hereafter to be +described. + +Although a complete survey was made in 1811, nothing was done for +several years. The mail-coaches continued to be overturned, and +stage-coaches, in the tourist season, to break down as before.*[5] +The Irish mail-coach took forty one hours to reach Holyhead from +the time of its setting out from St. Martin's-le-Grand; the journey +was performed at the rate of only 6 3/4 miles an hour, the mail +arriving in Dublin on the third day. The Irish members made many +complaints of the delay and dangers to which they were exposed in +travelling up to town. But, although there was much discussion, no +money was voted until the year 1815, when Sir Henry Parnell +vigorously took the question in hand and successfully carried it +through. A Board of Parliamentary Commissioners was appointed, of +which he was chairman, and, under their direction, the new +Shrewsbury and Holyhead road was at length commenced and carried to +completion, the works extending over a period of about fifteen years. +The same Commissioners excrcised an authority over the roads +between London and Shrewsbury; and numerous improvements were also +made in the main line at various points, with the object of +facilitating communication between London and Liverpool as well as +between London and Dublin. + +The rugged nature of the country through which the new road passed, +along the slopes of rocky precipices and across inlets of the sea, +rendered it necessary to build many bridges, to form many +embankments, and cut away long stretches of rock, in order to +secure an easy and commodious route. The line of the valley of the +Dee, to the west of Llangollen, was selected, the road proceeding +along the scarped sides of the mountains, crossing from point to +point by lofty embankments where necessary; and, taking into +account the character of the country, it must be acknowledged that +a wonderfully level road was secured. While the gradients on the +old road had in some cases been as steep as 1 in 6 1/2, passing +along the edge of unprotected precipices, the new one was so laid +out as to be no more than 1 in 20 at any part, while it was wide +and well protected along its whole extent. Mr. Telford pursued the +same system that he had adopted in the formation of the Carlisle +and Glasgow road, as regards metalling, cross-draining, and +fence-walling; for the latter purpose using schistus, or slate +rubble-work, instead of sandstone. The largest bridges were of +iron; that at Bettws-y-Coed, over the Conway--called the Waterloo +Bridge, constructed in 1815--being a very fine specimen of +Telford's iron bridge-work. + +Those parts of the road which had been the most dangerous were +taken in hand first, and, by the year 1819, the route had been +rendered comparatively commodious and safe. Angles were cut off, +the sides of hills were blasted away, and several heavy embankments +run out across formidable arms of the sea. Thus, at Stanley Sands, +near Holyhead, an embankment was formed 1300 yards long and 16 feet +high, with a width of 34 feet at the top, along which the road was +laid. Its breadth at the base was 114 feet, and both sides were +coated with rubble stones, as a protection against storms. By the +adoption of this expedient, a mile and a half was saved in a +distance of six miles. Heavy embankments were also run out, where +bridges were thrown across chasms and ravines, to maintain the +general level. From Ty-Gwynn to Lake Ogwen, the road along the face +of the rugged hill and across the river Ogwen was entirely new +made, of a uniform width of 28 feet between the parapets, with an +inclination of only 1 in 22 in the steepest place. A bridge was +thrown over the deep chasm forming the channel of the Ogwen, the +embankment being carried forward from the rook cutting, protected +by high breastworks. From Capel-Curig to near the great waterfall +over the river Lugwy, about a mile of new road was cut; and a still +greater length from Bettws across the river Conway and along the +face of Dinas Hill to Rhyddlanfair, a distance of 3 miles; its +steepest descent being 1 in 22, diminishing to 1 in 45. By this +improvement, the most difficult and dangerous pass along the route +through North Wales was rendered safe and commodious. + +[Image] Road Descent near Betws-y-Coed. + +Another point of almost equal difficulty occurred near Ty-Nant, +through the rocky pass of Glynn Duffrws, where the road was +confined between steep rocks and rugged precipices: there the way +was widened and flattened by blasting, and thus reduced to the +general level; and so on eastward to Llangollen and Chirk, where +the main Shrewsbury road to London was joined.*[6] + +[Image] Road above Nant Frrancon, North Wales. + +By means of these admirable roads the traffic of North Wales +continues to be mainly carried on to this day. Although railways +have superseded coach-roads in the more level districts, the hilly +nature of Wales precludes their formation in that quarter to any +considerable extent; and even in the event of railways being +constructed, a large part of the traffic of every country must +necessarily continue to pass over the old high roads. Without them +even railways would be of comparatively little value; for a railway +station is of use chiefly because of its easy accessibility, and +thus, both for passengers and merchandise, the common roads of the +country are as useful as ever they were, though the main post-roads +have in a great measure ceased to be employed for the purposes for +which they were originally designed. + +The excellence of the roads constructed by Mr. Telford through the +formerly inaccessible counties of North Wales was the theme of +general praise; and their superiority, compared with those of the +richer and more level districts in the midland and western English +counties, becoming the subject of public comment, he was called +upon to execute like improvements upon that part of the post-road +which extended between Shrewsbury and the metropolis. A careful +survey was made of the several routes from London northward by +Shrewsbury as far as Liverpool; and the short line by Coventry, +being 153 miles from London to Shrewsbury, was selected as the one +to be improved to the utmost. + +Down to 1819, the road between London and Coventry was in a very +bad state, being so laid as to become a heavy slough in wet +weather. There were many steep hills which required to be cut down, +in some parts of deep clay, in others of deep sand. A mail-coach +had been tried to Banbury; but the road below Aylesbury was so bad, +that the Post-office authorities were obliged to give it up. The +twelve miles from Towcester to Daventry were still worse. The line +of way was covered with banks of dirt; in winter it was a puddle of +from four to six inches deep--quite as bad as it had been in Arthur +Young's time; and when horses passed along the road, they came out +of it a mass of mud and mire.*[7] There were also several steep and +dangerous hills to be crossed; and the loss of horses by fatigue in +travelling by that route at the time was very great. + +Even the roads in the immediate neighbourhood of the metropolis +were little better, those under the Highgate and Hampstead trust +being pronounced in a wretched state. They were badly formed, +on a clay bottom, and being undrained, were almost always wet and +sloppy. The gravel was usually tumbled on and spread unbroken, +so that the materials, instead of becoming consolidated, were only +rolled about by the wheels of the carriages passing over them. + +Mr. Telford applied the same methods in the reconstruction of these +roads that he had already adopted in Scotland and Wales, and the +same improvement was shortly felt in the more easy passage over +them of vehicles of all sorts, and in the great acceleration of the +mail service. At the same time, the line along the coast from +Bangor, by Conway, Abergele, St. Asaph, and Holywell, to Chester, +was greatly improved. As forming the mail road from Dublin to +Liverpool, it was considered of importance to render it as safe +and level as possible. The principal new cuts on this line were +those along the rugged skirts of the huge Penmaen-Mawr; around the +base of Penmaen-Bach to the town of Conway; and between St. Asaph +and Holywell, to ease the ascent of Rhyall Hill. + +But more important than all, as a means of completing the main line +of communication between England and Ireland, there were the great +bridges over the Conway and the Menai Straits to be constructed. +The dangerous ferries at those places had still to be crossed in +open boats, sometimes in the night, when the luggage and mails were +exposed to great risks. Sometimes, indeed, they were wholly lost +and passengers were lost with them. It was therefore determined, +after long consideration, to erect bridges over these formidable +straits, and Mr. Telford was employed to execute the works,--in +what manner, we propose to describe in the next chapter. + +Footnotes for Chapter XI. + +*[1] 'Life of Robert Owen,' by himself. + +*[2] 'Report from the Select Committee on the Carlisle and Glasgow +Road,' 28th June, 1815. + +*[3 A diary is preserved of a journey to Dublin from Grosvenor +Square London, l2th June, 1787, in a coach and four, accompanied by +a post-chaise and pair, and five outriders. The party reached +Holyhead in four days, at a cost of 75L. 11s. 3d. The state of +intercourse between this country and the sister island at this part +of the account is strikingly set forth in the following entries:-- +"Ferry at Bangor, 1L. 10s.; expenses of the yacht hired to carry +the party across the channel, 28L. 7s. 9d.; duty on the coach, 7L. +13s. 4d.; boats on shore, 1L. 1s.; total, 114L. 3s. 4d." +--Roberts's 'Social History of the Southern Counties,' p. 504. + +*[4] 'Second Report from Committee on Holyhead Roads and Harbours,' +1810. (Parliamentary paper.) + +*[5] "Many parts of the road are extremely dangerous for a coach to +travel upon. At several places between Bangor and Capel-Curig there +are a number of dangerous precipices without fences, exclusive of +various hills that want taking down. At Ogwen Pool there is a very +dangerous place where the water runs over the road, extremely +difficult to pass at flooded times. Then there is Dinas Hill, that +needs a side fence against a deep precipice. The width of the road +is not above twelve feet in the steepest part of the hill, and two +carriages cannot pass without the greatest danger. Between this +hill and Rhyddlanfair there are a number of dangerous precipices, +steep hills, and difficult narrow turnings. From Corwen to +Llangollen the road is very narrow, long, and steep; has no side +fence, except about a foot and a half of mould or dirt, which is +thrown up to prevent carriages falling down three or four hundred +feet into the river Dee. Stage-coaches have been frequently +overturned and broken down from the badness of the road, and the +mails have been overturned; but I wonder that more and worse +accidents have not happened, the roads are so bad."--Evidence of +Mr. William Akers, of the Post-office, before Committee of the +House of Commons, 1st June, 1815. + +*[6] The Select Committee of the House of Commons, in reporting as +to the manner in which these works were carried out, stated as +follows:-- "The professional execution of the new works upon this +road greatly surpasses anything of the same kind in these +countries. The science which has been displayed in giving the +general line of the road a proper inclination through a country +whose whole surface consists of a succession of rocks, bogs, +ravines, rivers, and precipices, reflects the greatest credit upon +the engineer who has planned them; but perhaps a still greater +degree of professional skill has been shown in the construction, or +rather the building, of the road itself. The great attention which +Mr. Telford has devoted, to give to the surface of the road one +uniform and moderately convex shape, free from the smallest +inequality throughout its whole breadth; the numerous land drains, +and, when necessary, shores and tunnels of substantial masonry, +with which all the water arising from springs or falling in rain is +instantly carried off; the great care with which a sufficient +foundation is established for the road, and the quality, solidity, +and disposition of the materials that are put upon it, are matters +quite new in the system of road-making in these countries."-- +'Report from the Select Committee on the Road from London to +Holyhead in the year 1819.' + +*[7] Evidence of William Waterhouse before the Select Committee, +10th March, 1819. + + +CHAPTER XII. + +THE MENAI AND CONWAY BRIDGES. + +[Image] Map of Menai Strait [Ordnance Survey] + +So long as the dangerous Straits of Menai had to be crossed in an +open ferry-boat, the communication between London and Holyhead was +necessarily considered incomplete. While the roads through North +Wales were so dangerous as to deter travellers between England and +Ireland from using that route, the completion of the remaining link +of communication across the Straits was of comparatively little +importance. But when those roads had, by the application of much +capital, skill, and labour, been rendered so safe and convenient +that the mail and stage coaches could run over them at the rate of +from eight to ten miles an hour, the bridging of the Straits became +a measure of urgent public necessity. The increased traffic by this +route so much increased the quantity of passengers and luggage, +that the open boats were often dangerously overloaded; and serious +accidents, attended with loss of life and property, came to be of +frequent occurrence. + +The erection of a bridge over the Straits had long been matter of +speculation amongst engineers. As early as 1776, Mr. Golborne +proposed his plan of an embankment with a bridge in the middle of it; +and a few years later, in 1785, Mr. Nichols proposed a wooden +viaduct, furnished with drawbridges at Cadnant Island. Later still, +Mr. Rennie proposed his design of a cast iron bridge. But none of +these plans were carried out, and the whole subject remained in +abeyance until the year 1810, when a commission was appointed to +inquire and report as to the state of the roads between Shrewsbury, +Chester, and Holyhead. The result was, that Mr. Telford was called +upon to report as to the most effectual method of bridging the +Menai Strait, and thus completing the communication with the port +of embarkation for Ireland. + +[Image] Telford's proposed Cast Iron Bridge + +Mr. Telford submitted alternative plans for a bridge over the +Strait: one at the Swilly Rock, consisting of three cast iron +arches of 260 feet span, with a stone arch of 100 feet span between +each two iron ones, to resist their lateral thrust; and another at +Ynys-y-moch, to which he himself attached the preference, +consisting of a single cast iron arch of 500 feet span, the crown +of the arch to be 100 feet above high water of spring tides, and +the breadth of the roadway to be 40 feet. + +The principal objection taken to this plan by engineers generally, +was the supposed difficulty of erecting a proper centering to +support the arch during construction; and the mode by which +Mr. Telford proposed to overcome this may be cited in illustration +of his ready ingenuity in overcoming difficulties. He proposed to +suspend the centering from above instead of supporting it from +below in the usual manner--a contrivance afterwards revived by +another very skilful engineer, the late Mr. Brunel. Frames, 50 feet +high, were to be erected on the top of the abutments, and on these, +strong blocks, or rollers and chains, were to be fixed, by means of +which, and by the aid of windlasses and other mechanical powers, +each separate piece of centering was to be raised into, and +suspended in, its proper place. Mr. Telford regarded this method of +constructing centres as applicable to stone as well as to iron +arches; and indeed it is applicable, as Mr. Brunel held, to the +building of the arch itself.*[1] + +[Image] Proposed Plan of Suspended Centering + +Mr. Telford anticipated that, if the method recommended by him were +successfully adopted on the large scale proposed at Menai, all +difficulties with regard to carrying bridges over deep ravines +would be done away with, and a new era in bridge-building begun. +For this and other reasons--but chiefly because of the much greater +durability of a cast iron bridge compared with the suspension +bridge afterwards adopted--it is matter of regret that he was not +permitted to carry out this novel and grand design. It was, +however, again objected by mariners that the bridge would seriously +affect, if not destroy, the navigation of the Strait; and this +plan, like Mr. Rennie's, was eventually rejected. + +Several years passed, and during the interval Mr. Telford was +consulted as to the construction of a bridge over Runcorn Gap on +the Mersey, above Liverpool. As the river was there about 1200 feet +wide, and much used for purposes of navigation, a bridge of the +ordinary construction was found inapplicable. But as he was +required to furnish a plan of the most suitable structure, he +proceeded to consider how the difficulties of the case were to be met. +The only practicable plan, he thought, was a bridge constructed on +the principle of suspension. Expedients of this kind had long been +employed in India and America, where wide rivers were crossed by +means of bridges formed of ropes and chains; and even in this +country a suspension bridge, though of a very rude kind, had long +been in use near Middleton on the Tees, where, by means of two +common chains stretched across the river, upon which a footway of +boards was laid, the colliers were enabled to pass from their +cottages to the colliery on the opposite bank. + +Captain (afterwards Sir Samuel) Brown took out a patent for forming +suspension bridges in 1817; but it appears that Telford's attention +had been directed to the subject before this time, as he was first +consulted respecting the Runcorn Bridge in the year 1814, when he +proceeded to make an elaborate series of experiments on the +tenacity of wrought iron bars, with the object of employing this +material in his proposed structure. After he had made upwards of +two hundred tests of malleable iron of various qualities, he +proceeded to prepare his design of a bridge, which consisted of a +central opening of 1000 feet span, and two side openings of 500 +feet each, supported by pyramids of masonry placed near the +low-water lines. The roadway was to be 30 feet wide, divided into +one central footway and two distinct carriageways of 12 feet each. +At the same time he prepared and submitted a model of the central +opening, which satisfactorily stood the various strains which were +applied to it. This Runcorn design of 1814 was of a very +magnificent character, perhaps superior even to that of the Menai +Suspension Bridge, afterwards erected; but unhappily the means were +not forthcoming to carry it into effect. The publication of his +plan and report had, however, the effect of directing public +attention to the construction of bridges on the suspension +principle; and many were shortly after designed and erected by +Telford and other engineers in different parts of the kingdom. + +Mr. Telford continued to be consulted by the Commissioners of the +Holyhead Roads as to the completion of the last and most important +link in the line of communication between London and Holyhead, +by bridging the Straits of Menai; and at one of their meetings in +1815, shortly after the publication of his Runcorn design, the +inquiry was made whether a bridge upon the same principle was not +applicable in this particular case. The engineer was instructed +again to examine the Straits and submit a suitable plan and +estimate, which he proceeded to do in the early part of 1818. +The site selected by him as the most favourable was that which had +been previously fixed upon for the projected cast iron bridge, +namely at Ynys-y-moch--the shores there being bold and rocky, +affording easy access and excellent foundations, while by spanning +the entire channel between the low-water lines, and the roadway +being kept uniformly 100 feet above the highest water at spring tide, +the whole of the navigable waterway would be left entirely +uninterrupted. The distance between the centres of the supporting +pyramids was proposed to be of the then unprecedented width of 550 +feet, and the height of the pyramids 53 feet above the level of the +roadway. The main chains were to be sixteen in number, with a +deflection of 37 feet, each composed of thirty-six bars of +half-inch-square iron, so placed as to give a square of six on each +side, making the whole chain about four inches in diameter, welded +together for their whole length, secured by bucklings, and braced +round with iron wire; while the ends of these great chains were to +be secured by a mass of masonry built over stone arches between +each end of the supporting piers and the adjoining shore. Four of +the arches were to be on the Anglesea, and three on the +Caernarvonshire side, each of them of 52 feet 6 inches span. +The roadway was to be divided, as in the Runcorn design with a +carriage way 12 feet wide on each side, and a footpath of 4 feet in +the middle. Mr. Telford's plan was supported by Mr. Rennie and other +engineers of eminence; and the Select Committee of the House of Commons, +being satisfied as to its practicability, recommended Parliament to +pass a Bill and to make a grant of money to enable the work to be +carried into effect. + +[Image] Outline of Menai Bridge + +The necessary Act passed in the session of 1819, and Mr. Telford +immediately proceeded to Bangor to make preparations for beginning +the works. The first proceeding was to blast off the inequalities +of the surface of the rock called Ynys-y-moch, situated on the +western or Holyhead side of the Strait, at that time accessible +only at low water. The object was to form an even surface upon it +for the foundation of the west main pier. It used to be at this +point, where the Strait was narrowest, that horned cattle were +driven down, preparatory to swimming them across the channel to the +Caernarvon side, when the tide was weak and at its lowest ebb. The +cattle were, nevertheless, often carried away, the current being +too strong for the animals to contend against it. + +At the same time, a landing-quay was erected on Ynys-y-moch, which +was connected with the shore by an embankment carrying lines of +railway. Along these, horses drew the sledges laden with stone +required for the work; the material being brought in barges from +the quarries opened at Penmon Point, on the north-eastern extremity +of the Isle of Anglesea, a little to the westward of the northern +opening of the Strait. When the surface of the rock had been +levelled and the causeway completed, the first stone of the main +pier was laid by Mr. W.A. Provis, the resident engineer, on the +10th of August, 1819; but not the slightest ceremony was observed +on the occasion. + +Later in the autumn, preparations were made for proceeding with the +foundations of the eastern main pier on the Bangor side of the +Strait. After excavating the beach to a depth of 7 feet, a solid +mass of rock was reached, which served the purpose of an immoveable +foundation for the pier. At the same, time workshops were erected; +builders, artisans, and labourers were brought together from +distant quarters; vessels and barges were purchased or built for +the special purpose of the work; a quay was constructed at Penmon +Point for loading the stones for the piers; and all the requisite +preliminary arrangements were made for proceeding with the building +operations in the ensuing spring. + +A careful specification of the masonry work was drawn up, and the +contract was let to Messrs. Stapleton and Hall; but as they did not +proceed satisfactorily, and desired to be released from the contract, +it was relet on the same terms to Mr. John Wilson, one of Mr. Telford's +principal contractors for mason work on the Caledonian Canal. +The building operations were begun with great vigour early in 1820. +The three arches on the Caernarvonshire side and the four on the +Anglesea side were first proceeded with. They are of immense +magnitude, and occupied four years in construction, having been +finished late in the autumn of 1824. These piers are 65 feet in +height from high-water line to the springing of the arches, the +span of each being 52 feet 6 inches. The work of the main piers +also made satisfactory progress, and the masonry proceeded so +rapidly that stones could scarcely be got from the quarries in +sufficient quantity to keep the builders at work. By the end of +June about three hundred men were employed. + +The two principal piers, each 153 feet in height, upon which the +main chains of the bridge were to be suspended, were built with +great care and under rigorous inspection. In these, as indeed in +most of the masonry of the bridge, Mr. Telford adopted the same +practice which he had employed in his previous bridge structures, +that of leaving large void spaces, commencing above high water mark +and continuing them up perpendicularly nearly to the level of the +roadway. "I have elsewhere expressed my conviction," he says, when +referring to the mode of constructing these piers, "that one of the +most important improvements which I have been able to introduce +into masonry consists in the preference of cross-walls to rubble, +in the structure of a pier, or any other edifice requiring strength. +Every stone and joint in such walls is open to inspection in the +progress of the work, and even afterwards, if necessary; but a +solid filling of rubble conceals itself, and may be little better +than a heap of rubbish confined by side walls." The walls of these +main piers were built from within as well as from without all the +way up, and the inside was as carefully and closely cemented with +mortar as the external face. Thus the whole pier was bound firmly +together, and the utmost strength given, while the weight of the +superstructure upon the lower parts of the work was reduced to its +minimum. + +[Image] Section of Main Pier + +Over the main piers, the small arches intended for the roadways +were constructed, each being 15 feet to the springing of the arch, +and 9 feet wide. Upon these arches the masonry was carried +upwards, in a tapering form, to a height of 53 feet above the +level of the road. As these piers were to carry the immense weight +of the suspension chains, great pains were taken with their +construction, and all the stones, from top to bottom, were firmly +bound together with iron dowels to prevent the possibility of their +being separated or bulged by the immense pressure they had to +withstand. + +The most important point in the execution of the details of the +bridge, where the engineer had no past experience to guide him, was +in the designing and fixing of the wrought iron work. Mr. Telford +had continued his experiments as to the tenacity of bar iron, until +he had obtained several hundred distinct tests; and at length, +after the most mature delilberation, the patterns and dimensions +were finally arranged by him, and the contract for the manufacture +of the whole was let to Mr. Hazeldean, of Shrewsbury, in the year +1820. The iron was to be of the best Shropshire, drawn at Upton +forge, and finished and proved at the works, under the inspection +of a person appointed by the engineer. + +[Image] Cut showing fixing of the chains in the rock + +The mode by which the land ends of these enormous suspension chains +were rooted to the solid ground on either side of the Strait, was +remarkably ingenious and effective. Three oblique tunnels were made +by blasting the rock on the Anglesea side; they were each about six +feet in diameter, the excavations being carried down an inclined +plane to the depth of about twenty yards. A considerable width of +rock lay between each tunnel, but at the bottom they were all +united by a connecting horizontal avenue or cavern, sufficiently +capacious to enable the workmen to fix the strong iron frames, +composed principally of thick flat cast iron plates, which were +engrafted deeply into the rock, and strongly bound together by the +iron work passing along the horizontal avenue; so that, if the iron +held, the chains could only yield by tearing up the whole mass of +solid rock under which they were thus firmly bound. + +A similar method of anchoring the main chains was adopted on the +Caernarvonshire side. A thick bank of earth had there to be cut +through, and a solid mass of masonry built in its place, the rock +being situated at a greater distance from the main pier; involving +a greater length of suspending chain, and a disproportion in the +catenary or chord line on that side of the bridge. The excavation +and masonry thereby rendered necessary proved a work of vast +labour, and its execution occupied a considerable time; but by the +beginning of the year 1825 the suspension pyramids, the land piers +and arches, and the rock tunnels, had all been completed, and the +main chains were firmly secured in them; the work being +sufficiently advanced to enable the suspending of the chains to be +proceeded with. This was by far the most difficult and anxious part +of the undertaking. + +With the same careful forethought and provision for every +contingency which had distinguished the engineer's procedure in the +course of the work, he had made frequent experiments to ascertain +the actual power which would be required to raise the main chains +to their proper curvature. A valley lay convenient for the purpose, +a little to the west of the bridge on the Anglesea side. +Fifty-seven of the intended vertical suspending rods, each nearly +ten feet long and an inch square, having been fastened together, a +piece of chain was attached to one end to make the chord line 570 +feet in length; and experiments having been made and comparisons +drawn, Mr. Telford ascertained that the absolute weight of one of +the main chains of the bridge between the points of suspension was +23 1/2 tons, requiring a strain of 39 1/2 tons to raise it to its +proper curvature. On this calculation the necessary apparatus +required for the hoisting was prepared. The mode of action finally +determined on for lifting the main chains, and fixing them into +their places, was to build the central portion of each upon a raft +450 feet long and 6 feet wide, then to float it to the site of the +bridge, and lift it into its place by capstans and proper tackle. + +At length all was ready for hoisting the first great chain, and +about the middle of April, 1825, Mr. Telford left London for Bangor +to superintend the operations. An immense assemblage collected to +witness the sight; greater in number than any that had been +collected in the same place since the men of Anglesea, in their +war-paint, rushing down to the beach, had shrieked defiance across +the Straits at their Roman invaders on the Caernarvon shore. +Numerous boats arrayed in gay colours glided along the waters; the +day--the 26th of April--being bright, calm, and in every way +propitious. + +At half-past two, about an hour before high water, the raft bearing +the main chain was cast off from near Treborth Mill, on the +Caernarvon side. Towed by four boats, it began gradually to move +from the shore, and with the assistance of the tide, which caught +it at its further end, it swung slowly and majestically round to +its position between the main piers, where it was moored. One end +of the chain was then bolted to that which hung down the face of +the Caernarvon pier; whilst the other was attached to ropes +connected with strong capstans fixed on the Anglesea side, the +ropes passing by means of blocks over the top of the pyramid of the +Anglesea pier. The capstans for hauling in the ropes bearing the +main chain, were two in number, manned by about 150 labourers. When +all was ready, the signal was given to "Go along!" A Band of fifers +struck up a lively tune; the capstans were instantly in motion, and +the men stepped round in a steady trot. All went well. The ropes +gradually coiled in. As the strain increased, the pace slackened a +little; but "Heave away, now she comes!" was sung out. Round went +the men, and steadily and safely rose the ponderous chain. + +[Image] Cut of Bridge, showing state of Suspension Chain + +The tide had by this time turned, and bearing upon the side of the +raft, now getting freer of its load, the current floated it away +from under the middle of the chain still resting on it, and it +swung easily off into the water. Until this moment a breath less +silence pervaded the watching multitude; and nothing was heard +among the working party on the Anglesea side but the steady tramp +of the men at the capstans, the shrill music of the fife, and the +occasional order to "Hold on!" or "Go along!" But no sooner was the +raft seen floating away, and the great chain safely swinging in the +air, than a tremendous cheer burst forth along both sides of the +Straits. + +The rest of the work was only a matter of time. The most anxious +moment had passed. In an hour and thirty-five minutes after the +commencement of the hoisting, the chain was raised to its proper +curvature, and fastened to the land portion of it which had been +previously placed over the top of the Anglesea pyramid. Mr. Telford +ascended to the point of fastening, and satisfied himself that a +continuous and safe connection had been formed from the Caernarvon +fastening on the rock to that on Anglesea. The announcement of the +fact was followed by loud and prolonged cheering from the workmen, +echoed by the spectators, and extending along the Straits on both +sides, until it seemed to die away along the shores in the distance. +Three foolhardy workmen, excited by the day's proceedings, had the +temerity to scramble along the upper surface of the chain--which +was only nine inches wide and formed a curvature of 590 feet--from +one side of the Strait to the other!*[2] Far different were the +feelings of the engineer who had planned this magnificent work. +Its failure had been predicted; and, like Brindley's Barton Viaduct, +it had been freely spoken of as a "castle in the air." Telford had, +it is true, most carefully tested every part by repeated experiment, +and so conclusively proved the sufficiency of the iron chains to +bear the immense weight they would have to support, that he was +thoroughly convinced as to the soundness of his principles of +construction, and satisfied that, if rightly manufactured and +properly put together, the chains would hold, and that the piers +would sustain them. Still there was necessarily an element of +uncertainty in the undertaking. It was the largest structure of +the kind that had ever been attempted. There was the contingency +of a flaw in the iron; some possible scamping in the manufacture; +some little point which, in the multiplicity of details to be +attended to, he might have overlooked, or which his subordinates +might have neglected. It was, indeed, impossible but that he +should feel intensely anxious as to the result of the day's +operations. Mr. Telford afterwards stated to a friend, only a few +months before his death, that for some time previous to the opening +of the bridge, his anxiety was so great that he could scarcely +sleep; and that a continuance of that condition must have very soon +completely undermined his health. We are not, therefore, surprised +to learn that when his friends rushed to congratulate him on the +result of the first day's experiment, which decisively proved the +strength and solidity of the bridge, they should have found the +engineer on his knees engaged in prayer. A vast load had been +taken off his mind; the perilous enterprise of the day had been +accomplished without loss of life; and his spontaneous act was +thankfulness and gratitude. + +[Image] Menai Bridge + +The suspension of the remaining fifteen chains was accomplished +without difficulty. The last was raised and fixed on the 9th of +July, 1825, when the entire line was completed. On fixing the final +bolt, a band of music descended from the top of the suspension pier +on the Anglesea side to a scaffolding erected over the centre of +the curved part of the chains, and played the National Anthem +amidst the cheering of many thousand persons assembled along the +shores of the Strait: while the workmen marched in procession along +the bridge, on which a temporary platform had been laid, and the +St. David steam-packet of Chester passed under the chains towards +the Smithy Rocks and back again, thus re-opening the navigation of +the Strait. + +In August the road platform was commenced, and in September the +trussed bearing bars were all suspended. The road was constructed +of timber in a substantial manner, the planking being spiked +together, with layers of patent felt between the planks, and the +carriage way being protected by oak guards placed seven feet and a +half apart. Side railings were added; the toll-houses and +approach-roads were completed by the end of the year; and the +bridge was opened for public traffic on Monday, the 30th of January, +1826, when the London and Holyhead mailcoach passed over it for the +first time, followed by the Commissioners of the Holyhead roads, +the engineer, several stage-coaches, and a multitude of private +persons too numerous to mention. + +We may briefly add a few facts as to the quantities of materials +used, and the dimensions of this remarkable structure. The total +weight of iron was 2187 tons, in 33,265 pieces. The total length of +the bridge is 1710 feet, or nearly a third of a mile; the distance +between the points of suspension of the main bridge being 579 feet. +The total sum expended by Government in its erection, including the +embankment and about half a mile of new line of road on the +Caernarvon side, together with the toll-houses, was 120,000L. + +Notwithstanding the wonders of the Britannia Bridge subsequently +erected by Robert Stephenson for the passage across the same strait +of the Chester and Holyhead Railway, the Menai Bridge of Telford is +by far the most picturesque object. "Seen as I approached it," says +Mr. Roscoe, "in the clear light of an autumnal sunset, which threw +an autumnal splendour on the wide range of hills beyond, and the +sweep of richly variegated groves and plantations which covered +their base--the bright sun, the rocky picturesque foreground, +villas, spires, and towers here and there enlivening the prospect-- +the Menai Bridge appeared more like the work of some great magician +than the mere result of man's skill and industry." + +[Image] Conway Suspension Bridge + +Shortly after the Menai Bridge was begun, it was determined by the +Commissioners of the Holyhead road that a bridge of similar design +should be built over the estuary of the Conway, immediately +opposite the old castle at that place, and which had formerly been +crossed by an open ferry boat. The first stone was laid on the +3rd of April, 1822, and the works having proceeded satisfactorily, +the bridge and embankment approaching it were completed by the summer +of 1826. But the operations being of the same kind as those +connected with the larger structure above described, though of a +much less difficult character, it is unnecessary to enter into any +details as to the several stages of its construction. In this +bridge the width between the centres of the supporting towers is +327 feet, and the height of the under side of the roadway above +high water of spring tides only 15 feet. The heaviest work was an +embankment as its eastern approach, 2015 feet in length and about +300 feet in width at its highest part. + +It will be seen, from the view of the bridge given on the opposite +page, that it is a highly picturesque structure, and combines, +with the estuary which it crosses, and the ancient castle of Conway, +in forming a landscape that is rarely equalled. + +Footnotes for Chapter XII. + +*[1] In an article in the 'Edinburgh Review,' No. exli., from the +pen of Sir David Brewster, the writer observes:--"Mr. Telford's +principle of suspending and laying down from above the centering of +stone and iron bridges is, we think, a much more fertile one than +even he himself supposed. With modifications, by no means +considerable, and certainly practicable, it appears to us that the +voussoirs or archstones might themselves be laid down from above, +and suspended by an appropriate mechanism till the keystone was +inserted. If we suppose the centering in Mr. Telford's plan to be +of iron, this centering itself becomes an iron bridge, each rib of +which is composed of ten pieces of fifty feet each; and by +increasing the number of suspending chains, these separate pieces +or voussoirs having been previously joined together, either +temporarily or permanently, by cement or by clamps, might be laid +into their place, and kept there by a single chain till the road +was completed. The voussoirs, when united, might be suspended from +a general chain across the archway, and a platform could be added +to facilitate the operations." This is as nearly as possible the +plan afterwards revived by Mr. Brunel, and for the originality of +which, we believe, he has generally the credit, though it clearly +belongs to Telford. + +*[2] A correspondent informs us of a still more foolhardy exploit +performed on the occasion. He says, "Having been present, as a boy +from Bangor grammar school, on the 26th of April, when the first +chain was carried across, an incident occurred which made no small +impression on my mind at the time. After the chain had reached its +position, a cobbler of the neighbourhood crawled to the centre of +the curve, and there finished a pair of shoes; when, having +completed his task, he returned in safety to the Caernarvon side! +I need not say that we schoolboys appreciated his feat of +foolhardiness far more than Telford's master work." + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +DOCKS, DRAINAGE, AND BRIDGES. + +It will have been observed, from the preceding narrative, how much +had already been accomplished by skill and industry towards opening +up the material resources of the kingdom. The stages of improvement +which we have recorded indeed exhibit a measure of the vital energy +which has from time to time existed in the nation. In the earlier +periods of engineering history, the war of man was with nature. +The sea was held back by embankments. The Thames, instead of being +allowed to overspread the wide marshes on either bank, was confined +within limited bounds, by which the navigable depth of its channel +was increased, at the same time that a wide extent of land was +rendered available for agriculture. + +In those early days, the great object was to render the land more +habitable, comfortable, and productive. Marshes were reclaimed, and +wastes subdued. But so long as the country remained comparatively +closed against communication, and intercourse was restricted by the +want of bridges and roads, improvement was extremely slow. +For, while roads are the consequence of civilisation, they are also +among its most influential causes. We have seen even the blind +Metcalf acting as an effective instrument of progress in the +northern counties by the formation of long lines of road. Brindley +and the Duke of Bridgewater carried on the work in the same +districts, and conferred upon the north and north-west of England +the blessings of cheap and effective water communication. Smeaton +followed and carried out similar undertakings in still remoter +places, joining the east and west coasts of Scotland by the Forth +and Clyde Canal, and building bridges in the far north. Rennie made +harbours, built bridges, and hewed out docks for shipping, the +increase in which had kept pace with the growth of our home and +foreign trade. He was followed by Telford, whose long and busy +life, as we have seen, was occupied in building bridges and making +roads in all directions, in districts of the country formerly +inaccessible, and therefore comparatively barbarous. At length the +wildest districts of the Highlands and the most rugged mountain +valleys of North Wales were rendered as easy of access as the +comparatively level counties in the immediate neighbourhood of the +metropolis. + +During all this while, the wealth and industry of the country had +been advancing with rapid strides. London had grown in population +and importance. Many improvements had been effected in the river, +But the dock accommodation was still found insufficient; and, as +the recognised head of his profession, Mr. Telford, though now +grown old and fast becoming infirm, was called upon to supply the +requisite plans. He had been engaged upon great works for upwards +of thirty years, previous to which he had led the life of a working +mason. But he had been a steady, temperate man all his life; and +though nearly seventy, when consulted as to the proposed new docks, +his mind was as able to deal with the subject in all its bearings +as it had ever been; and he undertook the work. + +In 1824 a new Company was formed to provide a dock nearer to the +heart of the City than any of the existing ones. The site selected +was the space between the Tower and the London Docks, which +included the property of St. Katherine's Hospital. The whole extent +of land available was only twenty-seven acres of a very irregular +figure, so that when the quays and warehouses were laid out, it was +found that only about ten acres remained for the docks; but these, +from the nature of the ground, presented an unusual amount of quay +room. The necessary Act was obtained in 1825; the works were begun +in the following year; and on the 25th of October, 1828, the new +docks were completed and opened for business. + +The St. Katherine Docks communicate with the river by means of an +entrance tide-lock, 180 feet long and 45 feet wide, with three +pairs of gates, admitting either one very large or two small +vessels at a time. The lock-entrance and the sills under the two +middle lock-gates were fixed at the depth of ten feet under the +level of low water of ordinary spring tides. The formation of these +dock-entrances was a work of much difficulty, demanding great skill +on the part of the engineer. It was necessary to excavate the +ground to a great depth below low water for the purpose of getting +in the foundations, and the cofferdams were therefore of great +strength, to enable them, when pumped out by the steam-engine, to +resist the lateral pressure of forty feet of water at high tide. +The difficulty was, however, effectually overcome, and the wharf +walls, locks, sills and bridges of the St. Katherine Docks are +generally regarded as a master-piece of harbour construction. +Alluding to the rapidity with which the works were completed, +Mr. Telford says: "Seldom, indeed never within my knowledge, has there +been an instance of an undertaking; of this magnitude, in a very +confined situation, having been perfected in so short a time;.... +but, as a practical engineer, responsible for the success of +difficult operations, I must be allowed to protest against such +haste, pregnant as it was, and ever will be, with risks, which, in +more instances than one, severely taxed all my experience and +skill, and dangerously involved the reputation of the directors as +well as of their engineer." + +Among the remaining bridges executed by Mr. Telford, towards the +close of his professional career, may be mentioned those of +Tewkesbury and Gloucester. The former town is situated on the +Severn at its confluence with the river Avon, about eleven miles +above Gloucester. The surrounding district was rich and populous; +but being intersected by a large river, without a bridge, the +inhabitants applied to Parliament for powers to provide so +necessary a convenience. The design first proposed by a local +architect was a bridge of three arches; but Mr. Telford, when +called upon to advise the trustees, recommended that, in order to +interrupt the navigation as little as possible, the river should be +spanned by a single arch; and he submitted a design of such a +character, which was approved and subsequently erected. It was +finished and opened in April, 1826. + +This is one of the largest as well as most graceful of Mr. Telford's +numerous cast iron bridges. It has a single span of 170 feet, with +a rise of only 17 feet, consisting of six ribs of about three feet +three inches deep, the spandrels being filled in with light +diagonal work. The narrow Gothic arches in the masonry of the +abutments give the bridge a very light and graceful appearance, +at the same time that they afford an enlarged passage for the high +river floods. + +The bridge at Gloucester consists of one large stone arch of 150 +feet span. It replaced a structure of great antiquity, of eight +arches, which had stood for about 600 years. The roadway over it +was very narrow, and the number of piers in the river and the small +dimensions of the arches offered considerable obstruction to the +navigation. To give the largest amount of waterway, and at the same +time reduce the gradient of the road over the bridge to the +greatest extent, Mr. Telford adopted the following expedient. +He made the general body of the arch an ellipse, 150 feet on the +chord-line and 35 feet rise, while the voussoirs, or external +archstones, being in the form of a segment, have the same chord, +with only 13 feet rise. "This complex form," says Mr. Telford, +"converts each side of the vault of the arch into the shape of the +entrance of a pipe, to suit the contracted passage of a fluid, thus +lessening the flat surface opposed to the current of the river +whenever the tide or upland flood rises above the springing of the +middle of the ellipse, that being at four feet above low water; +whereas the flood of 1770 rose twenty feet above low water of an +ordinary spring-tide, which, when there is no upland flood, rises +only eight or nine feet."*[1] The bridge was finished and opened in +1828. + +[Image] Dean Bridge, Edinburgh. + +The last structures erected after our engineer's designs were at +Edinburgh and Glasgow: his Dean Bridge at the former place, and his +Jamaica Street Bridge at the latter, being regarded as among his +most successful works. Since his employment as a journeyman mason +at the building of the houses in Princes Street, Edinburgh, the New +Town had spread in all directions. At each visit to it on his way +to or from the Caledonian Canal or the northern harbours, he had +been no less surprised than delighted at the architectural +improvements which he found going forward. A new quarter had risen +up during his lifetime, and had extended northward and westward in +long lines of magnificent buildings of freestone, until in 1829 its +further progress was checked by the deep ravine running along the +back of the New Town, in the bottom of which runs the little Water +of Leith. It was determined to throw a stone bridge across this +stream, and Telford was called upon to supply the design. The point +of crossing the valley was immediately behind Moray Place, which +stands almost upon its verge, the sides being bold, rocky, and +finely wooded. The situation was well adapted for a picturesque +structure, such as Telford was well able to supply. The depth of +the ravine to be spanned involved great height in the piers, the +roadway being 106 feet above the level of the stream. The bridge +was of four arches of 90 feet span each, and its total length 447 +feet; the breadth between the parapets for the purposes of the +roadway and footpaths being 39 feet.*[2] It was completed and +opened in December, 1831. + +But the most important, as it was the last, of Mr. Telford's stone +bridges was that erected across the Clyde at the Broomielaw, +Glasgow. Little more than fifty years since, the banks of the river +at that place were literally covered with broom--and hence its +name--while the stream was scarcely deep enough to float a +herring-buss. Now, the Broomielaw is a quay frequented by ships of +the largest burden, and bustling with trade and commerce. Skill and +enterprise have deepened the Clyde, dredged away its shoals, built +quays and wharves along its banks, and rendered it one of the +busiest streams in the world, + +It has become a great river thoroughfare, worked by steam. On its +waters the first steamboat ever constructed for purposes of traffic +in Europe was launched by Henry Bell in 1812; and the Clyde boats +to this day enjoy the highest prestige. + +The deepening of the river at the Broomielaw had led to a gradual +undermining of the foundations of the old bridge, which was +situated close to the principal landing-place. A little above it, +was an ancient overfall weir, which had also contributed to scour +away the foundations of the piers. Besides, the bridge was felt to +be narrow, inconvenient, and ill-adapted for accommodating the +immense traffic passing across the Clyde at that point. It was, +therefore, determined to take down the old structure, and Build a +new one; and Mr. Telford was called upon to supply the design. +The foundation was laid with great ceremony on the 18th of March, 1833, +and the new bridge was completed and opened on the 1st of January, +1836, rather more than a year after the engineer's death. It is a +very fine work, consisting of seven arches, segments of circles, +the central arch being 58 feet 6 inches; the span of the adjoining +arches diminishing to 57 feet 9 inches, 55 feet 6 inches, and 52 +feet respectively. It is 560 feet in length, with an open waterway +of 389 feet, and its total width of carriageway and footpath is 60 +feet, or wider, at the time it was built, than any river bridge in +the kingdom. + +[Image] Glasgow Bridge + +Like most previous engineers of eminence--like Perry, Brindley, +Smeaton, and Rennie--Mr. Telford was in the course of his life +extensively employed in the drainage of the Fen districts. He had +been jointly concerned with Mr. Rennie in carrying out the +important works of the Eau Brink Cut, and at Mr. Rennie's death he +succeeded to much of his practice as consulting engineer. + +It was principally in designing and carrying out the drainage of +the North Level that Mr. Telford distinguished himself in Fen +drainage. The North Level includes all that part of the Great +Bedford Level situated between Morton's Leam and the river Welland, +comprising about 48,000 acres of land. The river Nene, which brings +down from the interior the rainfall of almost the entire county of +Northampton, flows through nearly the centre of the district. +In some places the stream is confined by embankments, in others it +flows along artificial outs, until it enters the great estuary of +the Wash, about five miles below Wisbeach. This town is situated on +another river which flows through the Level, called the Old Nene. +Below the point of junction of these rivers with the Wash, and +still more to seaward, was South Holland Sluice, through which the +waters of the South Holland Drain entered the estuary. At that +point a great mass of silt had accumulated, which tended to choke +up the mouths of the rivers further inland, rendering their +navigation difficult and precarious, and seriously interrupting the +drainage of the whole lowland district traversed by both the Old +and New Nene. Indeed the sands were accumulating at such a rate, +that the outfall of the Wisbeach River threatened to become +completely destroyed. + +Such being the state of things, it was determined to take the +opinion of some eminent engineer, and Mr. Rennie was employed to +survey the district and recommend a measure for the remedy of these +great evils. He performed this service in his usually careful and +masterly manner; but as the method which he proposed, complete +though it was, would have seriously interfered with the trade of +Wisbeach, by leaving it out of the line of navigation and drainage +which he proposed to open up, the corporation of that town +determined to employ another engineer; and Mr Telford was selected +to examine and report upon the whole subject, keeping in view the +improvement of the river immediately adjacent to the town of +Wisbeach. + +Mr. Telford confirmed Mr. Rennie's views to a large extent, more +especially with reference to the construction of an entirely new +outfall, by making an artificial channel from Kindersleys Cut to +Crab-Hole Eye anchorage, by which a level lower by nearly twelve +feet would be secured for the outfall waters; but he preferred +leaving the river open to the tide as high as Wisbeach, rather than +place a lock with draw-doors at Lutton Leam Sluice, as had been +proposed by Mr. Rennie. He also suggested that the acute angle at +the Horseshoe be cut off and the river deepened up to the bridge at +Wisbeach, making a new cut along the bank on the south side of the +town, which should join the river again immediately above it, +thereby converting the intermediate space, by draw-doors and the +usual contrivances, into a floating dock. Though this plan was +approved by the parties interested in the drainage, to Telford's +great mortification it was opposed by the corporation of Wisbeach, +and like so many other excellent schemes for the improvement of the +Fen districts, it eventually fell to the ground. + +The cutting of a new outfall for the river Nene, however, could not +much longer be delayed without great danger to the reclaimed lands +of the North Level, which, but for some relief of the kind, must +shortly have become submerged and reduced to their original waste +condition. The subject was revived in 1822, and Mr. Telford was +again called upon, in conjunction with Sir John Rennie, whose +father had died in the preceding year, to submit a plan of a new +Nene Outfall; but it was not until the year 1827 that the necessary +Act was obtained, and then only with great difficulty and cost, in +consequence of the opposition of the town of Wisbeach. The works +consisted principally of a deep cut or canal, about six miles in +length, penetrating far through the sand banks into the deep waters +of the Wash. They were begun in 1828, and brought to completion in +1830, with the most satisfactory results. A greatly improved +outfall was secured by thus carrying. the mouths of the rivers out +to sea, and the drainage of the important agricultural districts +through which the Nene flows was greatly benefited; while at the +same time nearly 6000 acres of valuable corn-growing land were +added to the county of Lincoln. + +But the opening of the Nene Outfall was only the first of a series +of improvements which eventually included the whole of the valuable +lands of the North Level, in the district situated between the Nene +and the Welland. The opening at Gunthorpe Sluice, which was the +outfall for the waters of the Holland Drain, was not less than +eleven feet three inches above low water at Crab-Hole; and it was +therefore obvious that by lowering this opening a vastly improved +drainage of the whole of the level district, extending from twenty +to thirty miles inland, for which that sluice was the artificial +outlet, would immediately be secured. Urged by Mr. Telford, an Act +for the purpose of carrying out the requisite improvement was +obtained in 1830, and the excavations having been begun shortly +after, were completed in 1834. + +A new cut was made from Clow's Cross to Gunthorpe Sluice, in place +of the winding course of the old Shire Drain; besides which, a +bridge was erected at Cross Keys, or Sutton Wash, and an embankment +was made across the Salt Marshes, forming a high road, which, with +the bridges previously erected at Fossdyke and Lynn, effectually +connected the counties of Norfolk and Lincoln. The result of the +improved outfall was what the engineer had predicted. A thorough +natural drainage was secured for an extensive district, embracing +nearly a hundred thousand acres of fertile land, which had before +been very ineffectually though expensively cleared of the surplus +water by means of windmills and steam-engines. The productiveness +of the soil was greatly increased, and the health and comfort of +the inhabitants promoted to an extent that surpassed all previous +expectation. + +The whole of the new cuts were easily navigable, being from 140 to +200 feet wide at bottom, whereas the old outlets had been variable +and were often choked with shifting sand. The district was thus +effectually opened up for navigation, and a convenient transit +afforded for coals and other articles of consumption. Wisbeach +became accessible to vessels of much larger burden, and in the +course of a few years after the construction of the Nene Outfall, +the trade of the port had more than doubled. Mr. Telford himself, +towards the close of his life, spoke with natural pride of the +improvements which he had thus been in so great a measure +instrumental in carrying out, and which had so materially promoted +the comfort, prosperity, and welfare of a very extensive +district.*[3] + +We may mention, as a remarkable effect of the opening of the new +outfall, that in a few hours the lowering of the waters was felt +throughout the whole of the Fen level. The sluggish and stagnant +drains, cuts, and leams in far distant places, began actually to +flow; and the sensation created was such, that at Thorney, near +Peterborough, some fifteen miles from the sea, the intelligence +penetrated even to the congregation then sitting in church--for it +was Sunday morning--that "the waters were running!" when +immediately the whole flocked out, parson and all, to see the great +sight, and acknowledge the blessings of science. A humble Fen poet +of the last century thus quaintly predicted the moral results +likely to arise from the improved drainage of his native district:- + + "With a change of elements suddenly + There shall a change of men and manners be; + Hearts thick and tough as hides shall feel remorse, + And souls of sedge shall understand discourse; + New hands shall learn to work, forget to steal, + New legs shall go to church, new knees to kneel." + +The prophecy has indeed been fulfilled. The barbarous race of +Fen-men has disappeared before the skill of the engineer. As the +land has been drained, the half-starved fowlers and fen-roamers +have subsided into the ranks of steady industry--become farmers, +traders, and labourers. The plough has passed over the bed of +Holland Fen, and the agriculturist reaps his increase more than a +hundred fold.. Wide watery wastes, formerly abounding in fish, +are now covered with waving crops of corn every summer. Sheep graze +on the dry bottom of Whittlesea Mere, and kine low where not many +years since the silence of the waste was only disturbed by the +croaking of frogs and the screaming of wild fowl. All this has been +the result of the science of the engineer, the enterprise of the +landowner, and the industry of our peaceful army of skilled +labourers.*[4] + +Footnotes for Chapter XIII. + +*[1] Telford's Life, p261 + +*[2] The piers are built internally with hollow compartments, as at +the Menai Bridge, the side walls being 3 feet thick and the cross +walls 2 feet. Projecting from the piers and abutments are pilasters +of solid masonry. The main arches have their springing 70 feet from +the foundations and rise 30 feet; and at 20 feet higher, other +arches, of 96 feet span and 10 feet rise, are constructed; the face +of these, projecting before the main arches and spandrels, +producing a distinct external soffit of 5 feet in breadth. +This, with the peculiar piers, constitutes the principal distinctive +feature in the, bridge. + +*[3] "The Nene Outfall channel," says Mr. Tycho Wing, +"was projected by the late Mr. Rennie in 1814, and executed jointly +by Mr. Telford and the present Sir John Rennie. But the scheme of +the North Level Drainage was eminently the work of Mr. Telford, +and was undertaken upon his advice and responsibility, when only a +few persons engaged in the Nene Outfall believed that the latter +could be made, or if made, that it could be maintained. Mr. Telford +distinguished himself by his foresight and judicious counsels at +the most critical periods of that great measure, by his unfailing +confidence in its success, and by the boldness and sagacity which +prompted him to advise the making of the North Level drainage, in +full expectation of the results for the sake of which the Nene +Outfall was undertaken, and which are now realised to the extent of +the most sanguine hopes." + +*[4] Now that the land actually won has been made so richly +productive, the engineer is at work with magnificent schemes of +reclamation of lands at present submerged by the sea. The Norfolk +Estuary Company have a scheme for reclaiming 50,000 acres; the +Lincolnshire Estuary Company, 30,000 acres; and the Victoria Level +Company, 150,000 acres--all from the estuary of the Wash. By the +process called warping, the land is steadily advancing upon the +ocean, and before many years have passed, thousands of acres of the +Victoria Level will have been reclaimed for purposes of +agriculture. + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +SOUTHEY'S TOUR IN THE HIGHLANDS. + +While Telford's Highland works were in full progress, he persuaded +his friend Southey, the Poet Laureate, to accompany him on one of +his visits of inspection, as far north as the county of Sutherland, +in the autumn of 1819. Mr. Southey, as was his custom, made careful +notes of the tour, which have been preserved,*[1] and consist in a +great measure of an interesting resume of the engineer's operations +in harbour-making, road-making, and canal-making north of the Tweed. + +Southey reached Edinburgh by the Carlisle mail about the middle of +August, and was there joined by Mr. Telford, and Mr. and Mrs. +Rickman,*[2] who were to accompany him on the journey. They first +proceeded to Linlithgow, Bannockburn,*[3] Stirling, Callendar, the +Trosachs, and round by the head of Loch Earn to Killin, Kenmore, +and by Aberfeldy to Dunkeld. At the latter place, the poet admired +Telford's beautiful bridge, which forms a fine feature in the +foreground of the incomparable picture which the scenery of Dunkeld +always presents in whatever aspect it is viewed. + +From Dunkeld the party proceeded to Dundee, along the left bank of +the Firth of Tay. The works connected with the new harbour were in +active progress, and the engineer lost no time in taking his friend +to see them. Southey's account is as follows:-- + +"Before breakfast I went with Mr. Telford to the harbour, to look +at his works, which are of great magnitude and importance: a huge +floating dock, and the finest graving dock I ever saw. The town +expends 70,000L. on these improvements, which will be completed in +another year. What they take from the excavations serves to raise +ground which was formerly covered by the tide, but will now be of +the greatest value for wharfs, yards, &c. The local authorities +originally proposed to build fifteen piers, but Telford assured +them that three would be sufficient; and, in telling me this, he +said the creation of fifteen new Scotch peers was too strong a +measure.... + +"Telford's is a happy life; everywhere making roads, building +bridges, forming canals, and creating harbours--works of sure, +solid, permanent utility; everywhere employing a great number of +persons, selecting the most meritorious, and putting them forward +in the world in his own way." + +After the inspection at Dundee was over, the party proceeded on +their journey northward, along the east coast:-- + +"Near Gourdon or Bervie harbour, which is about a mile and a half +on this side the town, we met Mr. Mitchell and Mr. Gibbs, two of +Mr. Telford's aides-de-camp, who had come thus far to meet him. The +former he calls his 'Tartar,' from his cast of countenance, which +is very much like a Tartar's, as well as from his Tartar-like mode +of life; for, in his office of overseer of the roads, which are +under the management of the Commissioners, he travels on horseback +not less than 6000 miles a year. Mr. Telford found him in the +situation of a working mason, who could scarcely read or write; but +noticing him for his good conduct, his activity, and his firm +steady character, he, has brought him forward; and Mitchell now +holds a post of respectability and importance, and performs his +business with excellent ability." + +After inspecting the little harbour of Bervie, one of the first +works of the kind executed by Telford for the Commissioners, the +party proceeded by Stonehaven, and from thence along the coast to +Aberdeen. Here the harbour works were visited and admired:-- + +"The quay," says Southey, "is very fine; and Telford has carried +out his pier 900 feet beyond the point where Smeaton's terminated. +This great work, which has cost 100,000L., protects the entrance +of the harbour from the whole force of the North Sea. A ship was +entering it at the time of our visit, the Prince of Waterloo. +She had been to America; had discharged her cargo at London; and we +now saw her reach her own port in safety--a joyous and delightful +sight." + +The next point reached was Banff, along the Don and the line of the +Inverury Canal:-- + +"The approach to Banff is very fine,"*[4] says Southey, "by the +Earl of Fife's grounds, where the trees are surprisingly grown, +considering how near they are to the North Sea; Duff House-- +a square, odd, and not unhandsome pile, built by Adams (one of the +Adelphi brothers), some forty years ago; a good bridge of seven +arches by Smeaton; the open sea, not as we had hitherto seen it, +grey under a leaden sky, but bright and blue in the sunshine; Banff +on the left of the bay; the River Doveran almost lost amid banks of +shingle, where it enters the sea; a white and tolerably high shore +extending eastwards; a kirk, with a high spire which serves as a +sea-mark; and, on the point, about a mile to the east, the town of +Macduff. At Banff, we at once went to the pier, about half finished, +on which 15,000L. will be expended, to the great benefit of this +clean, cheerful, and active little town. The pier was a busy +scene; hand-carts going to and fro over the railroads, cranes at +work charging and discharging, plenty of workmen, and fine masses +of red granite from the Peterhead quarries. The quay was almost +covered with barrels of herrings, which women were busily employed +in salting and packing." + +The next visit was paid to the harbour works at Cullen, which were +sufficiently advanced to afford improved shelter for the fishing +vessels of the little port:-- + +"When I stood upon the pier at low water," says Southey, "seeing +the tremendous rocks with which the whole shore is bristled, and +the open sea to which the place is exposed, it was with a proud +feeling that I saw the first talents in the world employed by the +British Government in works of such unostentatious, but great, +immediate, palpable, and permanent utility. Already their excellent +effects are felt. The fishing vessels were just coming in, having +caught about 300 barrels of herrings during the night.... + +"However the Forfeited Estates Fund may have been misapplied in +past times, the remainder could not be better invested than in +these great improvements. Wherever a pier is needed, if the people +or the proprietors of the place will raise one-half the necessary +funds, Government supplies the other half. On these terms, +20,000L. are expending at Peterhead, and 14,000L. at Frazerburgh; +and the works which we visited at Bervie and Banff, and many other +such along this coast, would never have been undertaken without +such aid; public liberality thus inducing private persons to tax +themselves heavily, and expend with a good will much larger sums +than could have been drawn from them by taxation." + +From Cullen, the travellers proceeded in gigs to Fochabers, thence +by Craigellachie Bridge, which Southey greatly admired, along +Speyside, to Ballindalloch and Inverallen, where Telford's new road +was in course of construction across the moors towards Forres. +The country for the greater part of the way was a wild waste, nothing +but mountains and heather to be seen; yet the road was as perfectly +made and maintained as if it had lain through a very Goschen. +The next stages were to Nairn and Inverness, from whence then +proceeded to view the important works constructed at the crossing +of the River Beauly:-- + +"At Lovat Bridge," says Southey, "we turned aside and went four +miles up the river, along the Strathglass road--one of the new +works, and one of the most remarkable, because of the difficulty of +constructing it, and also because of the fine scenery which it +commands..... + +"Lovat Bridge, by which we returned, is a plain, handsome structure +of five arches, two of 40 feet span, two of 50, and the centre one +of 60. The curve is as little as possible. I learnt in Spain to +admire straight bridges; But Mr. Telford thinks there always ought +to be some curve to enable the rain water to run off, and because +he would have the outline look like the segment of a large circle, +resting on the abutments. A double line over the arches gives a +finish to the bridge, and perhaps looks as well, or almost as well, +as balustrades, for not a sixpence has been allowed for ornament on +these works. The sides are protected by water-wings, which are +embankments of stone, to prevent the floods from extending on +either side, and attacking the flanks of the bridge." + +Nine miles further north, they arrived at Dingwall, near which a +bridge similar to that at Beauly, though wider, had been constructed +over the Conan. From thence they proceeded to Invergordon, to +Ballintraed (where another pier for fishing boats was in progress), +to Tain, and thence to Bonar Bridge, over the Sheir, twenty-four +miles above the entrance to the Dornoch Frith, where an iron +bridge, after the same model as that of Craigellachie, had been +erected. This bridge is of great importance, connecting as it does +the whole of the road traffic of the northern counties with the +south. Southey speaks of it as + +"A work of such paramount utility that it is not possible to look +at it without delight. A remarkable anecdote," he continues, +"was told me concerning it. An inhabitant of Sutherland, whose +father was drowned at the Mickle Ferry (some miles below the bridge) +in 1809, could never bear to set foot in a ferry-boat after the +catastrophe, and was consequently cut off from communication with +the south until this bridge was built. He then set out on a journey. +'As I went along the road by the side of the water,' said he, +'I could see no bridge. At last I came in sight of something +like a spider's web in the air. If this be it, thought I, it will +never do! But, presently, I came upon it; and oh! it is the finest +thing that ever was made by God or man!'" + +Sixteen miles north-east of Bonar Bridge, Southey crossed Fleet +Mound, another ingenious work of his friend Telford, but of an +altogether different character. It was thrown across the River +Fleet, at the point at which it ran into the estuary or little +land-locked bay outside, known as Loch Fleet. At this point there +had formerly been a ford; but as the tide ran far inland, it could +only be crossed at low water, and travellers had often to wait for +hours before they could proceed on their journey. The embouchure +being too wide for a bridge, Telford formed an embankment across +it, 990 yards in length, providing four flood-gates, each 12 feet +wide, at its north end, for the egress of the inland waters. +These gates opened outwards, and they were so hung as to shut with +the rising of the tide. The holding back of the sea from the land +inside the mound by this means, had the effect of reclaiming a +considerable extent of fertile carse land, which, at the time of +Southey's visit,--though the work had only been completed the year +before,--was already under profitable cultivation. The principal +use of the mound, however, was in giving support to the fine broad +road which ran along its summit, and thus completed the +communication with the country to the north. Southey speaks in +terms of high admiration of "the simplicity, the beauty, and +utility of this great work." + +This was the furthest limit of their journey, and the travellers +retraced their steps southward, halting at Clashmore Inn: +"At breakfast," says Southey, "was a handsome set of Worcester china. +Upon noticing it to Mr. Telford, he told me that before these roads +were made, he fell in with some people from Worcestershire near the +Ord of Caithness, on their way northward with a cart load of +crockery, which they got over the mountains as best they could; +and, when they had sold all their ware, they laid out the money in +black cattle, which they then drove to the south." + +The rest of Southey's journal is mainly occupied with a description +of the scenery of the Caledonian Canal, and the principal +difficulties encountered in the execution of the works, which were +still in active progress. He was greatly struck with the flight of +locks at the south end of the Canal, where it enters Loch Eil near +Corpach:-- + +"There being no pier yet formed," he says, "we were carried to and +from the boats on men's shoulders. We landed close to the sea shore. +A sloop was lying in the fine basin above, and the canal was full +as far as the Staircase, a name given to the eight successive +locks. Six of these were full and overflowing; and then we drew +near enough to see persons walking over the lock-gates. It had +more the effect of a scene in a pantomime than of anything in real +life. The rise from lock to lock is eight feet,--sixty-four, +therefore, in all. The length of the locks, including the gates +and abutments at both ends, is 500 yards;-- the greatest piece of +such masonry in the world, and the greatest work of the kind beyond +all comparison. + +"A panorama painted from this place would include the highest +mountain in Great Britain, and its greatest work of art. That work +is one of which the magnitude and importance become apparent, when +considered in relation to natural objects. The Pyramids would +appear insignificant in such a situation, for in them we should +perceive only a vain attempt to vie with greater things. But here +we see the powers of nature brought to act upon a great scale, +in subservience to the purposes of men; one river created, another +(and that a huge mountain-stream) shouldered out of its place, and +art and order assuming a character of sublimity. Sometimes a beck +is conducted under the canal, and passages called culverts serve as +a roadway for men and beasts. We walked through one of these, just +lofty enough for a man of my stature to pass through with his hat +on. It had a very singular effect to see persons emerging from this +dark, long, narrow vault. Sometimes a brook is taken in; a cesspool +is then made to receive what gravel it may bring down after it has +passed this pool, the water flowing through three or four little +arches, and then over a paved bed and wall of masonry into the canal. +These are called in-takes, and opposite them an outlet is sometimes +made for the waters of; the canal, if they should be above their +proper level; or when the cross-stream may bring down a rush. +These outlets consist of two inclined planes of masonry, one rising +from the canal with a pavement or waste weir between them; and when +the cross-stream comes down like a torrent, instead of mingling +with the canal, it passes straight across. But these channels +would be insufficient for carrying off the whole surplus waters in +time of floods. At one place, therefore, there are three sluices +by which the whole canal from the Staircase to the Regulating Lock +(about six miles) can be lowered a foot in an hour. The sluices +were opened that we might see their effect. We went down the Bank, +and made our way round some wet ground till we got in front of the +strong arch into which they open. The arch is about 25 feet high, +of great strength, and built upon the rock. What would the +Bourbons have given for such a cascade at Versailles? The rush and +the spray, and the force of the water, reminded me more of the +Reichenbach than of any other fall. That three small sluices, each +only 4 feet by 3 feet, should produce an effect which brought the +mightiest of the swiss waterfalls to my recollection, may appear +incredible, or at least like an enormous exaggeration. But the +prodigious velocity with which the water is forced out, by the +pressure above, explains the apparent wonder. And yet I beheld it +only in half its strength; the depth above being at this time ten +feet, which will be twenty when the canal is completed. In a few +minutes a river was formed of no inconsiderable breadth, which ran +like a torrent into the Lochy. + +"On this part of the canal everything is completed, except that the +iron bridges for it, which are now on their way, are supplied by +temporary ones. When the middle part shall be finished, the Lochy, +which at present flows in its own channel above the Regulating Lock, +will be dammed there, and made to join the Speyne by a new cut from +the lake. The cut is made, and a fine bridge built over it. +We went into the cut and under the bridge, which is very near the +intended point of junction. The string-courses were encrusted with +stalactites in a manner singularly beautiful. Under the arches a +strong mound of solid masonry is built to keep the water in dry +seasons at a certain height; But in that mound a gap is left for +the salmon, and a way made through the rocks from the Speyne to +this gap, which they will soon find out." + +Arrived at Dumbarton, Southey took leave of John Mitchell, who had +accompanied him throughout the tour, and for whom he seems to have +entertained the highest admiration:-- + +"He is indeed," says Southey, "a remarkable man, and well deserving +to be remembered. Mr. Telford found him a working mason, who could +scarcely read or write. But his good sense, his excellent conduct, +his steadiness and perseverance have been such, that he has been +gradually raised to be Inspector of all these Highland roads which +we have visited, and all of which are under the Commissioners' care +--an office requiring a rare union of qualities, among others +inflexible integrity, a fearless temper, and an indefatigable +frame. Perhaps no man ever possessed these requisites in greater +perfection than John Mitchell. Were but his figure less Tartarish +and more gaunt, he would be the very 'Talus' of Spenser. Neither +frown nor favour, in the course of fifteen years, have ever made +him swerve from the fair performance of his duty, though the lairds +with whom he has to deal have omitted no means of making him enter +into their views, and to do things or leave them undone, as might +suit their humour or interest. They have attempted to cajole and to +intimidate him alike in vain. They have repeatedly preferred +complaints against him in the hope of getting him removed from his +office, and a more flexible person appointed in his stead; and they +have not unfrequently threatened him with personal violence. +Even his life has been menaced. But Mitchell holds right on. +In the midst of his most laborious life, he has laboured to improve +himself with such success, that he has become a good accountant, +makes his estimates with facility, and carries on his official +correspondence in an able and highly intelligent manner. In the +execution of his office he travelled last year not less than 8800 +miles, and every year he travels nearly as much. Nor has this life, +and the exposure to all winds and weathers, and the temptations +either of company or of solicitude at the houses at which he puts +up, led him into any irregularities. Neither has his elevation in +the slightest degree inflated him. He is still the same temperate, +industrious, modest, unassuming man, as when his good qualities +first attracted Mr. Telford's notice." + +Southey concludes his journal at Longtown, a little town just +across the Scotch Border, in the following words:-- + +"Here we left Mr. Telford, who takes the mail for Edinburgh. + +This parting company, after the thorough intimacy which a long +journey produces between fellow-travellers who like each other, is +a melancholy thing. A man more heartily to be liked, more worthy to +be esteemed and admired, I have never fallen in with; and therefore +it is painful to think how little likely it is that I shall ever +see much of him again,--how certain that I shall never see so much. +Yet I trust that he will not forget his promise of one day making +Keswick in his way to and from Scotland." + +Before leaving the subject of Telford's public works in the +Highlands, it may be mentioned that 875 miles of new roads were +planned by him, and executed under his superintendence, at an +expense of 454,189L., of which about one-half was granted by +Parliament, and the remainder was raised by the localities +benefited. Besides the new roads, 255 miles of the old military +roads were taken in charge by him, and in many cases reconstructed +and greatly improved. The bridges erected in connexion with these +roads were no fewer than twelve hundred. Telford also between the +year 1823 and the close of his life, built forty-two Highland +churches in districts formerly unprovided with them, and capable of +accommodating some 22,000 persons. + +Down to the year 1854, the Parliamentary grant of 5000L. a year +charged upon the Consolidated Fund to meet assessments and tolls of +the Highland roads, amounting to about 7500L. a year, was +transferred to the annual Estimates, when it became the subject of +annual revision; and a few years since the grant was suddenly +extinguished by an adverse vote of the House of Commons. The Board +of Commissioners had, therefore, nothing left but to deliver over +the roads to the several local authorities, and the harbours to the +proprietors of the adjacent lands, and to present to Parliament a +final account of their work and its results. Reviewing the whole, +they say that the operations of the Commission have been most +beneficial to the country concerned. They "found it barren and +uncultivated, inhabited by heritors without capital or enterprise, +and by a poor and ill-employed peasantry, and destitute of trade, +shipping, and manufactures. They leave it with wealthy proprietors, +a profitable agriculture, a thriving population, and active +industry; furnishing now its fair proportion of taxes to the +national exchequer, and helping by its improved agriculture to meet +the ever-increasing wants of the populous south." + +Footnotes for Chapter XIV. + +*[1] We have been indebted to Mr. Robert Rawlinson, C.E., in whose +possession the MS. now is, for the privilege of inspecting it, and +making the above abstract, which we have the less hesitation in +giving as it has not before appeared in print. + +*[2] Mr. Rickman was the secretary to the Highland Roads +Commission. + +*[3] Referring to the famous battle of Bannockburn, Southey writes +--"This is the only great battle that ever was lost by the English. +At Hastings there was no disgrace. Here it was an army of lions +commanded by a stag." + +*[4] See View of Banff facing p. 216. + + +CHAPTER XV. + +MR. TELFORD'S LATER YEARS--HIS DEATH AND CHARACTER. + +When Mr. Telford had occasion to visit London on business during +the early period of his career, his quarters were at the Salopian +Coffee House, now the Ship Hotel, at Charing Cross. It is probable +that his Shropshire connections led him in the first instance to +the 'Salopian;' but the situation being near to the Houses of +Parliament, and in many respects convenient for the purposes of his +business, he continued to live there for no less a period than +twenty-one years. During that time the Salopian became a favourite +resort of engineers; and not only Telford's provincial associates, +but numerous visitors from abroad (where his works attracted even +more attention than they did in England) took up their quarters +there. Several apartments were specially reserved for Telford's +exclusive use, and he could always readily command any additional +accommodation for purposes of business or hospitality. + +The successive landlords of the Salopian came to regard the +engineer as a fixture, and even bought and sold him from time to +time with the goodwill of the business. When he at length resolved, +on the persuasion of his friends, to take a house of his own, and +gave notice of his intention of leaving, the landlord, who had but +recently entered into possession, almost stood aghast. "What! leave +the house!" said he; "Why, Sir, I have just paid 750L. for you!" +On explanation it appeared that this price had actually been paid by +him to the outgoing landlord, on the assumption that Mr. Telford +was a fixture of the hotel; the previous tenant having paid 450L. +for him; the increase in the price marking very significantly the +growing importance of the engineer's position. There was, however, +no help for the disconsolate landlord, and Telford left the Salopian +to take possession of his new house at 24, Abingdon Street. Labelye, +the engineer of Westminster Bridge, had formerly occupied the +dwelling; and, at a subsequent period, Sir William Chambers, the +architect of Somerset House, Telford used to take much pleasure in +pointing out to his visitors the painting of Westminster Bridge, +impanelled in the wall over the parlour mantelpiece, made for +Labelye by an Italian artist whilst the bridge works were in +progress. In that house Telford continued to live until the close +of his life. + +One of the subjects in which he took much interest during his later +years was the establishment of the Institute of Civil Engineers. +In 1818 a Society had been formed, consisting principally of young +men educated to civil and mechanical engineering, who occasionally +met to discuss matters of interest relating to their profession. +As early as the time of Smeaton, a social meeting of engineers was +occasionally held at an inn in Holborn, which was discontinued in +1792, in consequence of some personal differences amongst the +members. It was revived in the following year, under the auspices +of Mr. Jessop, Mr. Naylor, Mr. Rennie, and Mr. Whitworth, and +joined by other gentlemen of scientific distinction. They were +accustomed to dine together every fortnight at the Crown and Anchor +in the Strand, spending the evening in conversation on engineering +subjects. But as the numbers and importance of the profession +increased, the desire began to be felt, especially among the junior +members of the profession, for an institution of a more enlarged +character. Hence the movement above alluded to, which led to an +invitation being given to Mr. Telford to accept the office of +President of the proposed Engineers' Institute. To this he consented, +and entered upon the duties of the office on the 21st of March, +1820.*[1] During the remainder of his life, Mr. Telford continued +to watch over the progress of the Society, which gradually grew in +importance and usefulness. He supplied it with the nucleus of a +reference library, now become of great value to its members. +He established the practice of recording the proceedings,*[2] minutes +of discussions, and substance of the papers read, which has led to +the accumulation, in the printed records of the Institute, of a +vast body of information as to engineering practice. In 1828 he +exerted himself strenuously and successfully in obtaining a Charter +of Incorporation for the Society; and finally, at his death, he +left the Institute their first bequest of 2000L., together with +many valuable books, and a large collection of documents which had +been subservient to his own professional labours. + +In the distinguished position which he occupied, it was natural +that Mr. Telford should be called upon, as he often was, towards +the close of his life, to give his opinion and advice as to +projects of public importance. Where strongly conflicting opinions +were entertained on any subject, his help was occasionally found +most valuable; for he possessed great tact and suavity of manner, +which often enabled him to reconcile opposing interests when they +stood in the way of important enterprises. + +In 1828 he was appointed one of the commissioners to investigate +the subject of the supply of water to the metropolis, in conjunction +with Dr. Roget and Professor Brande, and the result was the very +able report published in that year. Only a few months before his +death, in 1834, he prepared and sent in an elaborate separate +report, containing many excellent practical suggestions, which had +the effect of stimulating the efforts of the water companies, and +eventually leading, to great improvements. + +On the subject of roads, Telford continued to be the very highest +authority, his friend Southey jocularly styling him the "Colossus +of Roads." The Russian Government frequently consulted him with +reference to the new roads with which that great empire was being +opened up. The Polish road from Warsaw to Briesc, on the Russian +frontier, 120 miles in length, was constructed after his plans, and +it remains, we believe, the finest road in the Russian dominions to +this day. + +[Image] Section of Polish Road + +He was consulted by the Austrian Government on the subject of +bridges as well as roads. Count Szechenyi recounts the very +agreeable and instructive interview which he had with Telford when +he called to consult him as to the bridge proposed to be erected +across the Danube, between the towns of Buda and Pesth. On a +suspension bridge being suggested by the English engineer, the +Count, with surprise, asked if such an erection was possible under +the circumstances he had described? "We do not consider anything to +be impossible," replied Telford; "impossibilities exist chiefly in +the prejudices of mankind, to which some are slaves, and from which +few are able to emancipate themselves and enter on the path of +truth." But supposing a suspension bridge were not deemed advisable +under the circumstances, and it were considered necessary +altogether to avoid motion, "then," said he, "I should recommend +you to erect a cast iron bridge of three spans, each 400 feet; such +a bridge will have no motion, and though half the world lay a +wreck, it would still stand."*[3] A suspension bridge was +eventually resolved upon. It was constructed by one of Mr. Telford's +ablest pupils, Mr. Tierney Clark, between the years 1839 and 1850, +and is justly regarded as one of the greatest triumphs of English +engineering, the Buda-Pesth people proudly declaring it to be "the +eighth wonder of the world." + +At a time when speculation was very rife--in the year 1825-- +Mr. Telford was consulted respecting a grand scheme for cutting a +canal across the Isthmus of Darien; and about the same time he was +employed to resurvey the line for a ship canal--which had before +occupied the attention of Whitworth and Rennie--between Bristol and +the English Channel. But although he gave great attention to this +latter project, and prepared numerous plans and reports upon it, +and although an Act was actually passed enabling it to be carried +out, the scheme was eventually abandoned, like the preceding ones +with the same object, for want of the requisite funds. + +Our engineer had a perfect detestation of speculative jobbing in +all its forms, though on one occasion he could not help being used +as an instrument by schemers. A public company was got up at +Liverpool, in 1827, to form a broad and deep ship canal, of about +seven miles in length, from opposite Liverpool to near Helbre +Isle, in the estuary of the Dee; its object being to enable the +shipping of the port to avoid the variable shoals and sand-banks +which obstruct the entrance to the Mersey. Mr. Telford entered on +the project with great zeal, and his name was widely quoted in its +support. It appeared, however, that one of its principal promoters, +who had secured the right of pre-emption of the land on which the +only possible entrance to the canal could be formed on the northern +side, suddenly closed with the corporation of Liverpool, who were +opposed to the plan, and "sold", his partners as well as the +engineer for a large sum of money. Telford, disgusted at being made +the instrument of an apparent fraud upon the public, destroyed all +the documents relating to the scheme, and never afterwards spoke of +it except in terms of extreme indignation. + +About the same time, the formation of locomotive railways was +extensively discussed, and schemes were set on foot to construct +them between several of the larger towns. But Mr. Telford was now +about seventy years old; and, desirous of limiting the range of his +business rather than extending it, he declined to enter upon this +new branch of engineering. Yet, in his younger days, he had +surveyed numerous lines of railway--amongst others, one as early as +the year 1805, from Glasgow to Berwick, down the vale of the Tweed. +A line from Newcastle-on-Tyne to Carlisle was also surveyed and +reported on by him some years later; and the Stratford and Moreton +Railway was actually constructed under his direction. He made use +of railways in all his large works of masonry, for the purpose of +facilitating the haulage of materials to the points at which they +were required to be deposited or used. There is a paper of his on +the Inland Navigation of the County of Salop, contained in +'The Agricultural Survey of Shropshire,' in which he speaks of the +judicious use of railways, and recommends that in all future +surveys "it be an instruction to the engineers that they do examine +the county with a view of introducing iron railways wherever +difficulties may occur with regard to the making of navigable canals." +When the project of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway was started, +we are informed that he was offered the appointment of engineer; +but he declined, partly because of his advanced age, but also out +of a feeling of duty to his employers, the Canal Companies, stating +that he could not lend his name to a scheme which, if carried out, +must so materially affect their interests. + +Towards the close of his life, he was afflicted by deafness, which +made him feel exceedingly uncomfortable in mixed society. Thanks to +a healthy constitution, unimpaired by excess and invigorated by +active occupation, his working powers had lasted longer than those +of most men. He was still cheerful, clear-headed, and skilful in +the arts of his profession, and felt the same pleasure in useful +work that he had ever done. It was, therefore, with difficulty that +he could reconcile himself to the idea of retiring from the field +of honourable labour, which he had so long occupied, into a state +of comparative inactivity. But he was not a man who could be idle, +and he determined, like his great predecessor Smeaton, to occupy +the remaining years of his life in arranging his engineering papers +for publication. Vigorous though he had been, he felt that the time +was shortly approaching when the wheels of life must stand still +altogether. Writing to a friend at Langholm, he said, "Having now +being occupied for about seventy-five years in incessant exertion, +I have for some time past arranged to decline the contest; but the +numerous works in which I am engaged have hitherto prevented my +succeeding. In the mean time I occasionally amuse myself with +setting down in what manner a long life has been laboriously, and I +hope usefully, employed." And again, a little later, he writes: +"During the last twelve months I have had several rubs; at +seventy-seven they tell more seriously than formerly, and call for +less exertion and require greater precautions. I fancy that few of +my age belonging to the valley of the Esk remain in the land of the +living."*[4] + +One of the last works on which Mr. Telford was professionally +consulted was at the instance of the Duke of Wellington--not many +years younger than himself, but of equally vigorous intellectual +powers--as to the improvement of Dover Harbour, then falling +rapidly to decay. The long-continued south-westerly gales of 1833-4 +had the effect of rolling an immense quantity of shingle up Channel +towards that port, at the entrance to which it became deposited in +unusual quantities, so as to render it at times altogether +inaccessible. The Duke, as a military man, took a more than +ordinary interest in the improvement of Dover, as the military and +naval station nearest to the French coast; and it fell to him as +Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports to watch over the preservation of +the harbour, situated at a point in the English Channel which he +regarded as of great strategic importance in the event of a +continental war. He therefore desired Mr. Telford to visit the +place and give his opinion as to the most advisable mode of +procedure with a view to improving the harbour. The result was a +report, in which the engineer recommended a plan of sluicing, +similar to that adopted by Mr. Smeaton at Ramsgate, which was +afterwards carried out with considerable success by Mr. James +Walker, C.E. + +This was his last piece of professional work. A few months later he +was laid up by bilious derangement of a serious character, which +recurred with increased violence towards the close of the year; and +on the 2nd of September, 1834, Thomas Telford closed his useful and +honoured career, at the advanced age of seventy-seven. With that +absence of ostentation which characterised him through life, he +directed that his remains should be laid, without ceremony, in the +burial ground of the parish church of St. Margaret's, Westminster. +But the members of the Institute of Civil Engineers, who justly +deemed him their benefactor and chief ornament, urged upon his +executors the propriety of interring him in Westminster Abbey. + +[Image] Telford's Burial Place in Westminster Abbey + +He was buried there accordingly, near the middle of the nave; +where the letters, "Thomas Telford, 1834, mark the place beneath +which he lies.*[5] The adjoining stone bears the inscription, +"Robert Stephenson, 1859," that engineer having during his life +expressed the wish that his body should be laid near that of +Telford; and the son of the Killingworth engineman thus sleeps by +the side of the son of the Eskdale shepherd. + +It was a long, a successful, and a useful life which thus ended. +Every step in his upward career, from the poor peasant's hut in +Eskdale to Westminster Abbey, was nobly and valorously won. The man +was diligent and conscientious; whether as a working mason hewing +stone blocks at Somerset House, as a foreman of builders at +Portsmouth, as a road surveyor at Shrewsbury, or as an engineer of +bridges, canals, docks, and harbours. The success which followed +his efforts was thoroughly well-deserved. He was laborious, +pains-taking, and skilful; but, what was better, he was honest and +upright. He was a most reliable man; and hence he came to be +extensively trusted. Whatever he undertook, he endeavoured to excel +in. He would be a first-rate hewer, and he became one. He was +himself accustomed to attribute much of his success to the thorough +way in which he had mastered the humble beginnings of this trade. +He was even of opinion that the course of manual training he had +undergone, and the drudgery, as some would call it, of daily labour +--first as an apprentice, and afterwards as a journeyman mason-- +had been of greater service to him than if he had passed through +the curriculum of a University. + +Writing to his friend, Miss Malcolm, respecting a young man who +desired to enter the engineering profession, he in the first place +endeavoured to dissuade the lady from encouraging the ambition of +her protege, the profession being overstocked, and offering very +few prizes in proportion to the large number of blanks. "But," +he added, "if civil engineering, notwithstanding these +discouragements, is still preferred, I may point out that the way +in which both Mr. Rennie and myself proceeded, was to serve a +regular apprenticeship to some practical employment--he to a +millwright, and I to a general house-builder. In this way we +secured the means, by hard labour, of earning a subsistence; and, +in time, we obtained by good conduct the confidence of our +employers and the public; eventually rising into the rank of what +is called Civil Engineering. This is the true way of acquiring +practical skill, a thorough knowledge of the materials employed in +construction, and last, but not least, a perfect knowledge of the +habits and dispositions of the workmen who carry out our designs. +This course, although forbidding to many a young person, who +believes it possible to find a short and rapid path to distinction, +is proved to be otherwise by the two examples I have cited. For my +own part, I may truly aver that 'steep is the ascent, and slippery +is the way.'"*[6] That Mr. Telford was enabled to continue to so +advanced an age employed on laborious and anxious work, was no +doubt attributable in a great measure to the cheerfulness of his +nature. He was, indeed, a most happy-minded man. It will be +remembered that, when a boy, he had been known in his valley as +"Laughing Tam." The same disposition continued to characterise him +in his old age. He was playful and jocular, and rejoiced in the +society of children and young people, especially when well-informed +and modest. But when they pretended to acquirements they did not +possess, he was quick to detect and see through them. One day a +youth expatiated to him in very large terms about a friend of his, +who had done this and that, and made so and so, and could do all +manner of wonderful things. Telford listened with great attention, +and when the youth had done - he quietly asked, with a twinkle in +his eye, "Pray, can your friend lay eggs?" + +When in society he gave himself up to it, and thoroughly enjoyed it. +He did not sit apart, a moody and abstracted "lion;" nor desire to +be regarded as "the great engineer," pondering new Menai Bridges; +But he appeared in his natural character of a simple, intelligent, +cheerful companion; as ready to laugh at his own jokes as at other +people's; and he was as communicative to a child as to any +philosopher of the party. + +Robert Southey, than whom there was no better judge of a loveable +man, said of him, "I would go a long way for the sake of seeing +Telford and spending a few days in his company." Southey, as we +have seen, had the best opportunities of knowing him well; for a +long journey together extending over many weeks, is, probably, +better than anything else, calculated to bring out the weak as well +as the strong points of a friend: indeed, many friendships have +completely broken down under the severe test of a single week's +tour. But Southey on that occasion firmly cemented a friendship +which lasted until Telford's death. On one occasion the latter +called at the poet's house, in company with Sir Henry Parnell, when +engaged upon the survey of one of his northern roads. Unhappily +Southey was absent at the time; and, writing about the circumstance +to a correspondent, he said, "This was a mortification to me, in as +much as I owe Telford every kind of friendly attention, and like +him heartily." + +Campbell, the poet, was another early friend of our engineer; and +the attachment seems to have been mutual. Writing to Dr. Currie, +of Liverpool, in 1802, Campbell says: "I have become acquainted with +Telford the engineer, 'a fellow of infinite humour,' and of strong +enterprising mind. He has almost made me a bridge-builder already; +at least he has inspired me with new sensations of interest in the +improvement and ornament of our country. Have you seen his plan of +London Bridge? or his scheme for a new canal in the North Highlands, +which will unite, if put in effect, our Eastern and Atlantic +commerce, and render Scotland the very emporium of navigation? +Telford is a most useful cicerone in London. He is so universally +acquainted, and so popular in his manners, that he can introduce +one to all kinds of novelty, and all descriptions of interesting +society." Shortly after, Campbell named his first son after +Telford, who stood godfather for the boy. Indeed, for many years, +Telford played the part of Mentor to the young and impulsive poet, +advising him about his course in life, trying to keep him steady, +and holding him aloof as much as possible from the seductive +allurements of the capital. But it was a difficult task, and +Telford's numerous engagements necessarily left the poet at many +seasons very much to himself. It appears that they were living +together at the Salopian when Campbell composed the first draft of +his poem of Hohenlinden; and several important emendations made in +it by Telford were adopted by Campbell. Although the two friends +pursued different roads in life, and for many years saw little of +each other, they often met again, especially after Telford took up +his abode at his house in Abingdon Street, where Campbell was a +frequent and always a welcome guest. + +When engaged upon his surveys, our engineer was the same simple, +cheerful, laborious man. While at work, he gave his whole mind to +the subject in hand, thinking of nothing else for the time; +dismissing it at the close of each day's work, but ready to take it +up afresh with the next day's duties. This was a great advantage to +him as respected the prolongation of his working faculty. He did +not take his anxieties to bed with him, as many do, and rise up +with them in the morning; but he laid down the load at the end of +each day, and resumed it all the more cheerfully when refreshed and +invigorated by natural rest, It was only while the engrossing +anxieties connected with the suspension of the chains of Menai +Bridge were weighing heavily upon his mind, that he could not +sleep; and then, age having stolen upon him, he felt the strain +almost more than he could bear. But that great anxiety once fairly +over, his spirits speedily resumed their wonted elasticity. + +When engaged upon the construction of the Carlisle and Glasgow +road, he was very fond of getting a few of the "navvy men," as he +called them, to join him at an ordinary at the Hamilton Arms Hotel, +Lanarkshire, each paying his own expenses. On such occasions +Telford would say that, though he could not drink, yet he would +carve and draw corks for them. One of the rules he laid down was +that no business was to be introduced from the moment they sat down +to dinner. All at once, from being the plodding, hard-working +engineer, with responsibility and thought in every feature, Telford +unbended and relaxed, and became the merriest and drollest of the +party. He possessed a great fund of anecdote available for such +occasions, had an extraordinary memory for facts relating to +persons and families, and the wonder to many of his auditors was, +how in all the world a man living in London should know so much +better about their locality and many of its oddities than they did +themselves. + +In his leisure hours at home, which were but few, he occupied +himself a good deal in the perusal of miscellaneous literature, +never losing his taste for poetry. He continued to indulge in the +occasional composition of verses until a comparatively late period +of his life; one of his most successful efforts being a translation +of the 'Ode to May,' from Buchanan's Latin poems, executed in a +very tender and graceful manner. That he might be enabled to peruse +engineering works in French and German, he prosecuted the study of +those languages, and with such success that he was shortly able to +read them with comparative ease. He occasionally occupied himself +in literary composition on subjects connected with his profession. +Thus he wrote for the Edinburgh Encyclopedia, conducted by his +friend Sir David (then Dr.) Brewster, the elaborate and able +articles on Architecture, Bridge-building, and Canal-making. +Besides his contributions to that work, he advanced a considerable +sum of money to aid in its publication, which remained a debt due +to his estate at the period of his death. + +Notwithstanding the pains that Telford took in the course of his +life to acquire a knowledge of the elements of natural science, +it is somewhat remarkable to find him holding; acquirements in +mathematics so cheap. But probably this is to be accounted for by +the circumstance of his education being entirely practical, and +mainly self-acquired. When a young man was on one occasion +recommended to him as a pupil because of his proficiency in +mathematics, the engineer expressed the opinion that such +acquirements were no recommendation. Like Smeaton, he held that +deductions drawn from theory were never to be trusted; and he +placed his reliance mainly on observation, experience, and +carefully-conducted experiments. He was also, like most men of +strong practical sagacity, quick in mother wit, and arrived rapidly +at conclusions, guided by a sort of intellectual instinct which can +neither be defined nor described.*[7] Although occupied as a +leading engineer for nearly forty years-- having certified +contractors' bills during that time amounting to several millions +sterling--he died in comparatively moderate circumstances. Eminent +constructive ability was not very highly remunerated in Telford's +time, and he was satisfied with a rate of pay which even the +smallest "M. I. C. E." would now refuse to accept. Telford's +charges were, however, perhaps too low; and a deputation of members +of the profession on one occasion formally expostulated with him on +the subject. + +Although he could not be said to have an indifference for money, he +yet estimated it as a thing worth infinitely less than character; +and every penny that he earned was honestly come by. He had no +wife, *[8] nor family, nor near relations to provide for,--only +himself in his old age. Not being thought rich, he was saved the +annoyance of being haunted by toadies or pestered by parasites. His +wants were few, and his household expenses small; and though he +entertained many visitors and friends, it was in a quiet way and on +a moderate scale. The small regard he had for personal dignity may +be inferred from the fact, that to the last he continued the +practice, which he had learnt when a working mason, of darning his +own stockings.*[9] + +Telford nevertheless had the highest idea of the dignity of his +profession; not because of the money it would produce, but of the +great things it was calculated to accomplish. In his most +confidential letters we find him often expatiating on the noble +works he was engaged in designing or constructing, and the national +good they were calculated to produce, but never on the pecuniary +advantages he himself was to derive from them. He doubtless prized, +and prized highly, the reputation they would bring him; and, above +all, there seemed to be uppermost in his mind, especially in the +earlier part of his career, while many of his schoolfellows were +still alive, the thought of "What will they say of this in +Eskdale?" but as for the money results to himself, Telford seemed, +to the close of his life, to regard them as of comparatively small +moment. + +During the twenty-one years that he acted as principal engineer for +the Caledonian Canal, we find from the Parliamentary returns that +the amount paid to him for his reports, detailed plans, and +superintendence, was exactly 237L. a year. Where he conceived any +works to be of great public importance, and he found them to be +promoted by public-spirited persons at their own expense, he +refused to receive any payment for his labour, or even repayment of +the expenses incurred by him. Thus, while employed by the +Government in the improvement of the Highland roads, he persuaded +himself that he ought at the same time to promote the similar +patriotic objects of the British Fisheries Society, which were +carried out by voluntary subscription; and for many years he acted +as their engineer, refusing to accept any remuneration whatever for +his trouble.*[10] + +Telford held the sordid money-grubber in perfect detestation. +He was of opinion that the adulation paid to mere money was one of +the greatest dangers with which modern society was threatened. +"I admire commercial enterprise," he would say; "it is the vigorous +outgrowth of our industrial life: I admire everything that gives it +free scope:, as, wherever it goes, activity, energy, intelligence-- +all that we call civilization--accompany it; but I hold that the +aim and end of all ought not to be a mere bag, of money, but +something far higher and far better." + +Writing once to his Langholm correspondent about an old schoolfellow, +who had grown rich by scraping, Telford said: "Poor Bob L---- His +industry and sagacity were more than counterbalanced by his +childish vanity and silly avarice, which rendered his friendship +dangerous, and his conversation tiresome. He was like a man in +London, whose lips, while walking by himself along the streets, +were constantly ejaculating 'Money! Money!' But peace to Bob's +memory: I need scarcely add, confusion to his thousands!" Telford +was himself most careful in resisting the temptations to which men +in his position are frequently exposed; but he was preserved by his +honest pride, not less than by the purity of his character. +He invariably refused to receive anything in the shape of presents +or testimonials from persons employed under him. He would not have +even the shadow of an obligation stand in the way of his duty to +those who employed him to watch over and protect their interests. +During the many years that he was employed on public works, no one +could ever charge him in the remotest degree with entering into a +collusion with contractors. He looked upon such arrangements as +degrading and infamous, and considered that they meant nothing less +than an inducement to "scamping," which he would never tolerate. + +His inspection of work was most rigid. The security of his +structures was not a question of money, but of character. As human +life depended upon their stability, not a point was neglected that +could ensure it. Hence, in his selection of resident engineers and +inspectors of works, he exercised the greatest possible precautions; +and here his observation of character proved of essential value. +Mr. Hughes says he never allowed any but his most experienced and +confidential assistants to have anything to do with exploring the +foundations of buildings he was about to erect. His scrutiny into +the qualifications of those employed about such structures extended +to the subordinate overseers, and even to the workmen, insomuch +that men whose general habits had before passed unnoticed, and +whose characters had never been inquired into, did not escape his +observation when set to work in operations connected with +foundations.*[11] If he detected a man who gave evidences of +unsteadiness, inaccuracy, or carelessness, he would reprimand the +overseer for employing such a person, and order him to be removed +to some other part of the undertaking where his negligence could do +no harm. And thus it was that Telford put his own character, +through those whom he employed, into the various buildings which he +was employed to construct. + +But though Telford was comparatively indifferent about money, he +was not without a proper regard for it, as a means of conferring +benefits on others, and especially as a means of being independent. +At the close of his life he had accumulated as much as, invested at +interest, brought him in about 800L. a year, and enabled him to +occupy the house in Abingdon Street in which he died. This was +amply sufficient for his wants, and more than enough for his +independence. It enabled him also to continue those secret acts of +benevolence which constituted perhaps the most genuine pleasure of +his life. It is one of the most delightful traits in this excellent +man's career to find him so constantly occupied in works of +spontaneous charity, in quarters so remote and unknown that it is +impossible the slightest feeling of ostentation could have sullied +the purity of the acts. Among the large mass of Telford's private +letters which have been submitted to us, we find frequent reference +to sums of money transmitted for the support of poor people in his +native valley. At new year's time he regularly sent remittances of +from 30L. to 50L., to be distributed by the kind Miss Malcolm of +Burnfoot, and, after her death, by Mr. Little, the postmaster at +Langholm; and the contributions thus so kindly made, did much to +fend off the winter's cold, and surround with many small comforts +those who most needed help, but were perhaps too modest to ask +it.*[12] + +Many of those in the valley of the Esk had known of Telford in his +younger years as a poor barefooted boy; though now become a man of +distinction, he had too much good sense to be ashamed of his humble +origin; perhaps he even felt proud that, by dint of his own +valorous and persevering efforts, he had been able to rise so much +above it. Throughout his long life, his heart always warmed at the +thought of Eskdale. He rejoiced at the honourable rise of Eskdale +men as reflecting credit upon his "beloved valley." Thus, writing +to his Langholm correspondent with reference to the honours +conferred on the different members of the family of Malcolm, he +said: "The distinctions so deservedly bestowed upon the Burnfoot +family, establish a splendid era in Eskdale; and almost tempt your +correspondent to sport his Swedish honours, which that grateful +country has repeatedly, in spite of refusal, transmitted." + +It might be said that there was narrowness and provincialism in +this; But when young men are thrown into the world, with all its +temptations and snares, it is well that the recollections of home +and kindred should survive to hold them in the path of rectitude, +and cheer them in their onward and upward course in life. And there +is no doubt that Telford was borne up on many occasions by the +thought of what the folks in the valley would say about him and his +progress in life, when they met together at market, or at the +Westerkirk porch on Sabbath mornings. In this light, provincialism +or local patriotism is a prolific source of good, and may be +regarded as among the most valuable and beautiful emanations of the +parish life of our country. Although Telford was honoured with the +titles and orders of merit conferred upon him by foreign monarchs, +what he esteemed beyond them all was the respect and gratitude of +his own countrymen; and, not least, the honour which his really +noble and beneficent career was calculated to reflect upon "the +folks of the nook," the remote inhabitants of his native Eskdale. + +When the engineer proceeded to dispose of his savings by will, +which he did a few months before his death, the distribution was a +comparatively easy matter. The total amount of his bequeathments +was 16,600L.*[13] About one-fourth of the whole he set apart for +educational purposes, --2000L. to the Civil Engineers' Institute, +and 1000L. each to the ministers of Langholm and Westerkirk, in +trust for the parish libraries. The rest was bequeathed, in sums +of from 200L. to 500L., to different persons who had acted as +clerks, assistants, and surveyors, in his various public works; and +to his intimate personal friends. Amongst these latter were Colonel +Pasley, the nephew of his early benefactor; Mr. Rickman, Mr. Milne, +and Mr. Hope, his three executors; and Robert Southey and Thomas +Campbell, the poets. To both of these last the gift was most +welcome. Southey said of his: "Mr. Telford has most kindly and +unexpectedly left me 500L., with a share of his residuary property, +which I am told will make it amount in all to 850L. This is truly a +godsend, and I am most grateful for it. It gives me the comfortable +knowledge that, if it should please God soon to take me from this +world, my family would have resources fully sufficient for their +support till such time as their affairs could be put in order, and +the proceeds of my books, remains, &c., be rendered available. +I have never been anxious overmuch, nor ever taken more thought for +the morrow than it is the duty of every one to take who has to earn +his livelihood; but to be thus provided for at this time I feel to +be an especial blessing.'"*[14] Among the most valuable results of +Telford's bequests in his own district, was the establishment of +the popular libraries at Langholm and Westerkirk, each of which now +contains about 4000 volumes. That at Westerkirk had been +originally instituted in the year 1792, by the miners employed to +work an antimony mine (since abandoned) on the farm of Glendinning, +within sight of the place where Telford was born. On the +dissolution of the mining company, in 1800, the little collection +of books was removed to Kirkton Hill; but on receipt of Telford's +bequest, a special building was erected for their reception at Old +Bentpath near the village of Westerkirk. The annual income derived +from the Telford fund enabled additions of new volumes to be made +to it from time to time; and its uses as a public institution were +thus greatly increased. The books are exchanged once a month, on +the day of the full moon; on which occasion readers of all ages and +conditions,--farmers, shepherds, ploughmen, labourers, and their +children,--resort to it from far and near, taking away with them as +many volumes as they desire for the month's readings. + +Thus there is scarcely a cottage in the valley in which good books +are not to be found under perusal; and we are told that it is a +common thing for the Eskdale shepherd to take a book in his plaid +to the hill-side--a volume of Shakespeare, Prescott, or Macaulay-- +and read it there, under the blue sky, with his sheep and the green +hills before him. And thus, so long as the bequest lasts, the good, +great engineer will not cease to be remembered with gratitude in +his beloved Eskdale. + +Footnotes for Chapter XV. + +*[1] In his inaugural address to the members on taking the chair, +the President pointed out that the principles of the Institution +rested on the practical efforts and unceasing perseverance of the +members themselves. "In foreign countries," he said, "similar +establishments are instituted by government, and their members and +proceedings are under their control; but here, a different course +being adopted, it becomes incumbent on each individual member to +feel that the very existence and prosperity of the Institution +depend, in no small degree, on his personal conduct and exertions; +and my merely mentioning the circumstance will, I am convinced, be +sufficient to command the best efforts of the present and future +members." + +*[2] We are informed by Joseph Mitchell, Esq., C.E., of the origin +of this practice. Mr. Mitchell was a pupil of Mr. Telford's, living +with him in his house at 24, Abingdon Street. It was the engineer's +custom to have a dinner party every Tuesday, after which his +engineering friends were invited to accompany him to the Institution, +the meetings of which were then held on Tuesday evenings in a house +in Buckingham Street, Strand. The meetings did not usually consist +of more than from twenty to thirty persons. Mr. Mitchell took +notes of the conversations which followed the reading of the papers. +Mr. Telford afterwards found his pupil extending the notes, +on which he asked permission to read them, and was so much pleased +that he took them to the next meeting and read them to the members. +Mr. Mitchell was then formally appointed reporter of conversations +to the Institute; and the custom having been continued, a large +mass of valuable practical information has thus been placed on +record. + +*[3] Supplement to Weale's 'Bridges,' Count Szechenyi's Report, p. 18. + +*[4] Letter to Mrs. Little, Langholm, 28th August, 1833. + +*[5] A statue of him, by Bailey, has since been placed in the east +aisle of the north transept, known as the Islip Chapel. It is +considered a fine work, but its effect is quite lost in consequence +of the crowded state of the aisle, which has very much the look of +a sculptor's workshop. The subscription raised for the purpose of +erecting the statue was 1000L., of which 200L. was paid to the Dean +for permission to place it within the Abbey. + +*[6] Letter to Miss Malcolm, Burnfoot, Langholm, dated 7th October, +1830. + +*[7] Sir David Brewster, observes on this point: "It is difficult +to analyse that peculiar faculty of mind which directs a successful +engineer who is not guided by the deductions of the exact sciences; +but it must consist mainly in the power of observing the effects of +natural causes acting in a variety of circumstances; and in the +judicious application of this knowledge to cases when the same +causes come into operation. But while this sagacity is a prominent +feature in the designs of Mr. Telford, it appears no less +distinctly in the choice of the men by whom they were to be +practically executed. His quick perception of character, his +honesty of purpose, and his contempt for all otheracquirements,-- +save that practical knowledge and experience which was best fitted +to accomplish, in the best manner, the object he had in view,--have +enables him to leave behind him works of inestimable value, and +monuments of professional celebrity which have not been surpassed +either in Britain or in Europe."--'Edinburgh Review,' vol. lxx. p. 46. + +*[8] It seems singular that with Telford's great natural powers of +pleasing, his warm social temperament, and his capability of +forming ardent attachments for friends, many of them women, he +should never have formed an attachment of the heart. Even in his +youthful and poetical days, the subject of love, so frequently the +theme of boyish song, is never alluded to; while his school +friendships are often recalled to mind and, indeed, made the +special subject of his verse. It seems odd to find him, when at +Shrewsbury--a handsome fellow, with a good position, and many +beautiful women about him--addressing his friend, the blind +schoolmaster at Langholm, as his "Stella"! + +*[9] Mr. Mitchell says: "He lived at the rate of about 1200L. a +year. He kept a carriage, but no horses, and used his carriage +principally for making his journeys through the country on business. +I once accompanied him to Bath and Cornwall, when he made me keep +an accurate journal of all I saw. He used to lecture us on being +independent, even in little matters, and not ask servants to do for +us what we might easily do for ourselves. He carried in his pocket +a small book containing needles, thread, and buttons, and on an +emergency was always ready to put in a stitch. A curious habit he +had of mending his stockings, which I suppose he acquired when a +working mason. He would not permit his housekeeper to touch them, +but after his work at night, about nine or half past, he would go +up stairs, and take down a lot, and sit mending them with great +apparent delight in his own room till bed-time. I have frequently +gone in to him with some message, and found him occupied with this +work." + +*[10] "The British Fisheries Society," adds Mr. Rickman, "did not +suffer themselves to be entirely outdone in liberality, and shortly +before his death they pressed upon Mr. Telford a very handsome gift +of plate, which, being inscribed with expressions of their +thankfulness and gratitude towards him, he could not possibly +refuse to accept."--'Life of Telford,' p. 283. + +*[11] Weale's 'Theory. Practice, and Architecture of Bridges,' +vol.i.: 'Essay on Foundations of Bridges,' by T. Hughes, C.E., p. 33. + +*[12] Letter to Mr. William Little, Langholm, 24th January, 1815. + +*[13] Telford thought so little about money, that he did not even +know the amount he died possessed of. It turned out that instead of +16,600L. it was about 30,000L.; so that his legatees had their +bequests nearly doubled. For many years he had abstained from +drawing the dividends on the shares which he held in the canals and +other public companies in which he was concerned. At the money +panic of 1825, it was found that he had a considerable sum lying in +the hands of his London bankers at little or no interest, and it +was only on the urgent recommendation of his friend, Sir P. Malcolm, +that he invested it in government securities, then very low. + +*[14] 'Selections from the Letters of Robert Southey,' vol. iv., +p. 391. We may here mention that the last article which Southey +wrote for the 'Quarterly' was his review of the ' Life of Telford.' + + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of The Life of Thomas Telford by Smiles + + Binary files differdiff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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