CHAPTER XII.

BRINDLEY'S LAST CANALS-HIS DEATH AND CHARACTER.

It is related of Brindley that, on one occasion, when giving evidence before a Committee of the House of Com mons, in which he urged the superiority of canals over rivers for purposes of inland navigation, the question was asked by a member, "Pray, Mr. Brindley, what then do you think is the use of navigable rivers?" "To make canal navigations, to be sure,' was his instant reply. It is easy to understand the gist of the engineer's meaning. For purposes of trade he regarded regularity and certainty of communication as essential conditions of any inland navigation; and he held that neither of these could be relied upon in the case of rivers, which are in winter liable to interruption by floods, and in summer by droughts. In his opinion, a canal, with enough of water always kept banked up, or locked up where the country would not admit of the level being maintained throughout, was absolutely necessary to satisfy the requirements of commerce. Hence he held that one of the great uses of rivers was to furnish a supply of water for canals. was only another illustration of the "nothing like leather" principle; Brindley's head being so full of canals, and his labours so much confined to the making of canals, that he could think of little else.

It

In connection with the Grand Trunk-which proved, as Brindley had anticipated, to be the great aorta of the canal system of the midland districts of England—nnerous lines were projected and afterwards carried out under our engineer's superintendence. One of the most important of these was the Wolverhampton Canal, connecting the Trent with the Severn, and authorised in the same

year as the Grand Trunk itself. It is now known as the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal, passing close to the towns of Wolverhampton and Kidderminster, and falling into the Severn at Stourport. This branch opened up several valuable coal-fields, and placed Wolverhampton and the intermediate districts, now teeming with population and full of iron manufactories, in direct connection with the ports of Liverpool, Hull, and Bristol. Two years later, in 1768, three more canals, laid out by Brindley, were authorised to be constructed: the Coventry Canal to Oxford, connecting the Grand Trunk system by Lichfield with London and the navigation of the Thames; the Birmingham Canal, which brought the advantages of inland navigation to the very doors of the central manufacturing town in England; and the Droitwich Canal, to connect that town by a short branch with the river Severn. In the following year a further Act was obtained for a canal laid out by Brindley, from Oxford to the Coventry Canal at Longford, eighty-two miles in length.

These were highly important works; and though they were not all carried out strictly after Brindley's plans, they nevertheless formed the groundwork of future Acts, and laid the foundations of the midland canal system. Thus, the Coventry Canal was never fully carried out after Brindley's designs; a difference having arisen between the engineer and the Company during the progress of the undertaking, in consequence, as is supposed, of the capital provided being altogether inadequate to execute the works considered by Brindley as indispensable. He probably foresaw that there would be nothing but difficulty, and very likely there might be discredit attached to himself by continuing connected with an undertaking the proprietors of which would not provide him with sufficient means for carrying it forward to completion; and though he finished the first fourteen miles between Coventry and Atherstone, he shortly after gave up his connection with the undertaking, and it remained in an unfinished

state for many years, in consequence of the financial difficulties in which the Company had become involved through the insufficiency of their capital. The connection of the Coventry Canal with the Grand Trunk was afterwards completed, in 1785, by the Birmingham and Fazeley and Grand Trunk Companies conjointly, and the property eventually proved of great value to all parties concerned.

The Droitwich Canal, though only a short branch five and a half miles in length, was a very important work, opening up as it did an immense trade in coal and salt between Droitwich and the Severn. The works of this navigation were wholly executed by Brindley, and are considered superior to those of any others on which he was engaged. Whilst residing at Droitwich, we find our engineer actively engaged in pushing on the subscription to the Birmingham Canal, the capital of which was taken slowly. Matthew Boulton, of Birmingham, was one of the most active promoters of the scheme, and Josiah Wedgwood also bestirred himself in its behalf. In a letter written by him about this time, we find him requesting one of his agents to send out plans to gentlemen whom he names, in the hope of completing the subscription-list. Brindley did not live to finish the Bir

*

*The letter is so characteristic of Josiah Wedgwood that we here insert it at length, as copied from the original in the possession of Mr. Mayer of Liverpool :

"Burslem, 12th July, 1769.

"Dear Sir,-I should have wrote to you about young Wilson, but the multiplicity of branches you wrote me he was expected to learn, made me despair of teaching him any. Pray give my compliments to his father, and if he chooses to have his son to learn to be a warehouseman and bookkeeper, which is quite sufficient and better than more for any one person, I will learn him those in the best manner; but, even then, Mr. Wilson must not expect him to be set on the top of a ladder without set

| ting his feet upon the lowermost steps; and unless he will let the Boy pursue that

method, I would not be concerned with him on any account. I will not attempt to teach him any more trades; it would injure the Boy, and do me no good. If he has a mind at his leisure time to amuse himself with drawing I have no objection, and would encourage him in it, as an innocent amusement, and what may be of use to him, but would not make this a branch of his business. If the business I propose is too humble for Mr. Wilson's son, I would not by any means have him accept of it.

Mr. Brindley desires you'll send 30 plans to each of the undermentioned Gentlemen by the first Waggons, and let us know when they are sent, as we shall advertise them in several of the Country papers: Mr. Walker, of Oxford, Steward to D. of Marlbro'-you may perhaps get

mingham Canal; it was carried out by his successors,partly by his pupil, Mr. Whitworth, and partly by Smeaton and Telford. Brindley's plan was, as usual, to cut the canal as flat as possible, to avoid the necessity for lockage; but his successors, in order to relieve the capital expenditure, as they supposed, constructed it with a number of locks to carry it over the summit at Smithwick. Shortly after its opening, however, the Company found reason to regret their rejection of Mr. Brindley's advice, and they lowered the summit by cutting a tunnel, as he had originally recommended, thereby incurring an extra expense of about 30,000%.

Another of Brindley's canals, authorised in 1769, was that between Chesterfield and the river Trent, at Stockwith, about forty-six miles in length, intended for the transport of coal, lime, and lead from the rich mineral districts of Derbyshire, and the return trade of deals, corn, and groceries to the same districts. It would appear that Mr. Grundy, another engineer, of considerable reputation in his day, was consulted about the project, and that he advised a much more direct route than that pointed out by Brindley, who looked to the accommodation of the existing towns, rather than shortness of route, as the main thing to be provided for. Brindley, in this respect, took very much the same view in laying out his canals as was afterwards taken by George Stephenson-a man whom he resembled in many respects-in laying out railways. He would rather go round an obstacle in the shape of an elevated range of country, than go through it, especially if in going round and avoiding expense he could accommodate a number of towns and villages. Besides, by avoiding the hills and following the course of the valleys,

them sent from Marlbro' house; Mr. Dudley, Attorney-at-Law, Coventry; Mr. Richardson, Silversmith, in Chester; Mr. Perry, Wolverhampton.

"We shall send you this week end, double salts, creams, pott'y potts, table

plates of all sorts, sallad dishes, covered do., pierced desert plates, &c. We cannot get Sadler to send us any pierced desert ware, &c. Pay Addison 5 or 6 guineas.

"Yours, &c., J. W."

along which the population usually lies, he avoided expense of construction and secured flatness of canal; just as Stephenson secured flatness of railway gradient. Although the length of canal to be worked was longer, yet the cost of tunnelling and lockage was avoided. The population of the district was also fully accommodated, which could not have been accomplished by the more direct route through unpopulated districts or under barren hills. The proprietors of the Chesterfield Canal concurred in Brindley's view, adopting his plan in preference to Grundy's, and it was accordingly carried into effect. This navigation was, nevertheless, a work of considerable difficulty, proceeding, as it did, across a very hilly country, the summit tunnel at Hartshill being 2850 yards in extent. Like many of Brindley's other works projected about this time, it was finished by his brother-in-law, Mr. Henshall, and opened for traffic several years after the great engineer's death.*

The whole of these canals were laid out by Brindley, though they were not all executed by him, nor precisely after his plans. No record of any kind has been preserved of the manner in which the works were carried out. Brindley himself made few reports, and these merely stated results, not methods; yet he had doubtless many formidable difficulties to encounter, and must have overcome them by the adoption of those ingenious expedients, varying according to the circumstances of each case, in which he was always found so fertile. He had no trea

* The following were the canals laid out and principally executed by Brindley:

The Duke's Canals Worsley to Manchester

Longford Bridge to the Mersey below Runcorn 24 Grand Trunk Canal Proper, from Wilden Ferry to Preston Brook 88 Wolverhampton Canal

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Coventry

Birmingham

Droitwich