Thus was the canal from Paisley to Saltcoats rendered unnecessary; but even the part of the canal which had been executed as far as Paisley, was on the eve of being superseded by the introduction of iron railways, traversed by locomotive steam-engines. At this crisis, Mr Houston, an enlightened canal proprietor, contrived and brought into use a method of doubling the speed of canal boats dragged by horses. He found that the foreship of a boat drawn by a rope is raised by the resistance of the water in her passage through it; so that when the motion becomes very rapid the whole boat is raised, and skims, as it were, on the surface of the water; encountering less resistance than when it moved with less velocity. But while this new mode of conveyance was adopted in the canals, and regarded as a profitable improvement, locomotive steam-carriages were set a-going on the turnpike road between Glasgow and Paisley, and conveyed passengers in a shorter time, and a cheaper rate, than the fly passage-boats on the canal. These carriages, however, have been discontinued since Mr Telford wrote this part of his work; but they will doubtless be replaced by the superior arrangements of a regular railway.

After improving the river Wear navigation between Northwich and Runcorn in Cheshire, Mr Telford was intrusted with a work of considerable magnitude on the Trent and Mersey Canal, executed by the celebrated Brindley. In the infancy of his art, this skilful engineer constructed a tunnel through Harecastle Hill 2888 yards in length, and 197 feet perpendicular, under the highest surface of the hill. This tunnel, which took eleven years to execute, is, where it is largest, only twelve feet high and nine wide; so that a boat seven feet wide, with a moderate lading, could scarcely pass through it. As there was no towing-path for a horse, it became necessary to propel the boats by the power of men; and this was effected in a very strange way by a class of persons called leggars, who lay upon their backs upon the top of the lading, and propelled the boat by pushing with their feet against the roof and sides of the tunnel. With such a novel and variable propelling power, two hours were consumed in passing through the tunnel; and much contention and confusion took place among the numerous boats which were waiting their turns. The company were, owing to these causes, and to the threats of rival canals and railroads, at last compelled, in the year 1822, to consult Mr Telford on the practicability of making a second tunnel. Having found the scheme both advisable and practicable, the tunnel was begun in July 1825, and the passage opened to the public on the 30th of April 1827. This tunnel, which runs parallel to that of Brindley, at the distance of twenty-six yards, was 2926

yards long, sixteen feet high, and fourteen feet broad; four feet nine inches of it being occupied by the towing-path, which was supported by small pillars. The line of the tunnel, which is accurately straight, contains fifteen pit shafts, the deepest pit being one hundred and seventy-nine feet; and it was completed at an expense of L.112,68.

Before this tunnel was completed, Mr Telford was employed to execute the Macclesfield Canal, which, extending from the north end of the tunnel, skirts the Derbyshire hills, and passes by the manufacturing towns of Congleton and Macclesfield to the Peak Forest Canal to Marple. It is twenty-nine miles in length, and, after proceeding ten miles on one level to the north bank of the Don, it ascends one hundred and fourteen feet by eleven locks, which in succession occupy about one mile.

In 1828, our author was employed by the Birmingham Canal Company, to plan and direct the several improvements requisite to be made on that canal. This portion of our inland navigation was originally planned by Brindley; but with the view, no doubt, of avoiding the expense of deep cuttings and embankments, the canal ran into numerous and inconvenient curvatures, and in other respects was in such a state that Mr Telford describes it as little better than a crooked ditch, with scarcely the ap'pearance of a haling-path, the horses frequently sliding and staggering in the water, the haling-lines sweeping the gravel into the canal, and the entanglement at the meeting of boats incessant; 'while at the locks at each end of the short summit, crowds of 'boatmen were always quarrelling or offering premiums for a ' preference of passage, and the mine owners injured by the de'lay.' Aided by the enlightened arguments of Mr James Watt, Mr Telford prevailed upon the managing committee to make a series of very expensive though essential improvements upon this canal. By cutting off the numerous bends he restored the canal to nearly a straight line from Birmingham to Smethwick summit, the obsolete curvatures being converted into separate branches or basins, which gave accommodation to the numerous mines on each side of the canal. In this way the main line from Birmingham to Autherley was reduced from twenty two to fourteen miles! Mr Telford greatly extended the objects of this canal by cutting down the Smethwick summit to the depth of seventy feet; and he supplied it with water by constructing, in a dingle adjacent to Birmingham, a reservoir of eighty acres water surface, and fortyfive feet depth at the retaining bank. The details of these various improvements, including cast-iron bridges, one of which is one hundred and fifty feet span, are minutely given in sections and elevations executed on a large scale, and capable of guiding the labours of future engineers.

6

From the year 1825, though marked by a rage for speculation almost insane, we must date the commencement of some of the grandest undertakings of which any nation can boast-undertakings which cannot fail to give a new character to all our political and social relations. Availing themselves of the prevailing mania, the iron-masters, whose trade, owing to the low price of iron, was in a state of extreme depression, encouraged the construction of railways in every direction. The most important of these schemes was a railway from Liverpool to London, through Birmingham ; and such was the alarm which this project occasioned among the canal proprietors, that they consulted Mr Telford as to the most ' advisable manner of protecting their property. Considering the proposed railway as intended principally for the transportation of goods, Mr Telford recommended the construction of the Birmingham and Liverpool junction Canal; as a work which would supply those facilities of conveyance, which the trade between London and Lancashire still seemed to require. It was accordingly executed under his direction, extending thirty-nine miles, independent of the Newport branch of eleven miles. another means of counteracting the effects of the several rail'ways, which about this time were proposed to be made between 'London and Birmingham,' Mr Telford recommended the extension of this canal from Wolverhampton to the Ellesmere and Chester Canal at Nantwich; but neither the one canal nor the other have obstructed the execution of that magnificent national undertaking which reflects honour on the age in which it was executed.*

As

One of the greatest and most useful works in which Mr Telford was engaged, was the drainage of the great Fen district, and especially of the Bedford Level, and the execution of the Nene Outfall. This last undertaking was carried on through the active patronage of the present Duke of Bedford-a nobleman whose liberality and patriotism will be long remembered by his country -under Mr Rennie, Mr Telford, and the present Sir John Rennie.

The great Fen district comprehends the low lands which lie on each side of the Wash, a bay which divides the counties of Nor

In speaking of the proposed railway from Liverpool through Birmingham to London, Mr Telford remarks, that all physical obstruc'tions were forgotten, or overlooked, amid the splendour of this gigantic ' undertaking.' We, who have seen these obstructions surmounted, should learn to respect those grand conceptions which provide for the moral and physical wants of our species. When a railway shall carry our persons from London to Edinburgh in the fraction of a day, and a penny-post shall convey in the same brief period the products of our thoughts, and the expressions of our affections, we may be disposed to extend a little more of our confidence to the speculations of ingenious minds.

folk and Lincoln, and is about sixty miles long, and twenty-five broad. The area of the Bedford Level exclusively, is about three hundred and fifty English square miles, or 340,000 English acres, which are the most productive in Britain. The Nene Outfall is a new tidal channel for discharging the waters of the river Nene into the sea. The Eaubrink Cut, which now forms the lower portion of the river Ouse, and the sluices on the South Level, were planned by the late Mr Rennie previous to Mr Telford's appointment; and this eminent engineer had the satisfaction of seeing the Cut successfully opened in July 1821, only a few months previous to his death. Sir Thomas Hyde Page and Mr Robert Mylne, the engineers under the Act of 1816-17, had differed about the dimensions of the Eaubrink Cut; and the difference was settled by Mr Joseph Huddart, in the exact terms of whose arbitration the work was executed. Its capacity, however, was found too small for the river, and Mr Telford recommended that it should be enlarged one-third, which was accordingly executed at an expense of L.37,000. The present Sir John Rennie, who succeeded his father as engineer of drainage, was associated with Mr Telford in the execution of the Nene Outfall; but the new drainage of the North Level was executed by Mr Telford alone.

The contractors for deepening the Nene Outfall, commenced their operations in August 1827, and in a short time 1100 men were employed on the work, under the superintendence of William Swansborough.

The expense of executing the Nene Outfall has been about L.200,000. About 1500 acres of fertile marsh land has been secured from the sea by embankment, and are now producing annually excellent crops of grain. An additional tract of about 2000 acres is fit for enclosing, and about 4000 acres more will soon be gained by the diversion of the channel from the ancient estuary. These valuable acquisitions, however, Mr Telford regarded as nothing, compared to the benefit derived from a natural drainage for the entire North Level, South Holland, and the contiguous districts.

The works for the drainage of the North Level were begun in July 1830, and finished in 1834; and Mr Tycho Wing informs us, that their effects upon the productiveness of the soil, and on the 'welfare and comfort of the inhabitants, surpass all previous ex'pectation.' 'This work,' he continues,' was undertaken upon 'Mr Telford's advice and responsibility, when only a few of the 'persons engaged in the Nene Outfall believed that the latter 'could be made, and, if made, sustained. Mr Telford distin'guished himself then 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 realized to the 'extent of the most sanguine hopes.'

Our author next proceeds to give an account of some of the most interesting improvements which he made upon harbours in the estuaries of rivers. The most important of these were the harbours of Aberdeen and Dundee.

Aberdeen, as a maritime city, may be ranked as the third in Scotland. In place of a population of 6500, to which it amounted in 1707, Aberdeen now contains 58,019 inhabitants. In 1773, the celebrated Mr Smeaton made important improvements on the harbour of this city. In order to make the land floods diminish the bar, he confined the irregular channel of the Dee by founding the north pier, which extends 700 feet eastward from highwater mark, and 500 feet further with a northern slant, in order to turn the current into a proper direction. Opposite to this pier, on the north side of the river, he constructed a breast-wall about half the length of the pier, and he added to these two short jetties and a small basin. As the commerce of this port increased, new improvements on its harbour were required. With this view, in 1797, Mr Rennie proposed to abandon the river, and to construct floating docks on the sandy flats called Foot Dee; but, in consequence of the distance of this locality from the mercantile establishments of the city, his plan was abandoned.

The

Although Mr Telford had surveyed this harbour in 1801, yet it was not till 1810 that an Act was obtained for carrying his designs into execution. The most difficult part of the work which Mr Telford's plan required, was the extension of the north pier. This was done in 1811 to the extent of 300 feet, but the effect of this extension was so beneficial, that the trustees resolved to continue it; and in 1813 the extension of the pier, effected under Mr Telford's direction, measured 865 feet. outside of this pier is composed of roughly dressed granite ashlar, with a core of large gneisse ruble stones. Owing to the great length of this pier, a corresponding extension of the south pier became necessary, and a solid breakwater, 800 feet long, constructed of large ruble stones, was accordingly made from the south shore, in a north-east direction, so as to leave a space of about 250 feet as an entrance. The cost of the north pier and breakwater was L.81,955; but the gain of a permanent depth of five or six feet in the harbour, has been an ample compensation for the expense. By dredging the inner harbour, at a cost of L.18,000, Mr Telford gained an additional depth of between