Supply of Water to the Metropolis. 253 



expected ; but that, in the space of less than nine years, it should 

 have given birth to the frightful enormity which I am about to 

 expose, could not have entered into the imagination. 



The Grand Junction Water- Works Company, as I have already 

 shown, was not set on foot by any portion of the inhabitants of 

 the metropolis, who felt themselves aggrieved by the conduct of 

 the existing companies, but originated in a set of " Manchester 

 gentlemen,*' holding a board in some alley in the City, and look- 

 ing for their profits solely to an increase in the market-price of 

 the shares, and by realizing the premiums which they could obtain 

 upon a transfer of those shares. 



That seven thousand families, in such a city as Westminster, 

 should be bound hand and foot, and placed at the mercy of jobbers 

 of this stamp, for a supply of an article, without the daily use of 

 which they can have no life, is a state of things too frightful to 

 contemplate. That it will be endured, when those families shall 

 see how their comforts and their lives have been sported with by 

 those jobbers, is impossible. — p. 40-42. 



This is very strong language, — in our opinion much too 

 strong : we wonder the author risked it ; however, it is followed 

 up by what may to some appear its justification, namely, a 

 contrast between the promises and performances of the said 

 Grand Junction Company. These we shall condense as far 

 as is consistent with perspicuity. 



They promise, by advertisement under the date of November 

 15, 1810, to supply abundance of pure and excellent water, 

 even in the upper stories of houses ; and to do this at a com- 

 paratively small expense : and in a second advertisement, they 

 promise to give a supply so copious and regular, that the water 

 is always on, pure in the pipes, and constantly fresh. They 

 moreover undertake to make no additional charge for high 

 service^ and to avoid all delay in cases of fire, by keeping the 

 pipes constantly full, and the supply always on. The water, 

 they say, being perfectly clear^ would not, in case of fire, 

 tarnish the furniture. (This savours of quackery.) They 

 then tell us that " the annexed analyses show the water to be 

 peculiarly adapted to all domestic purposes :" but to us these 

 analyses are sadly disappointing ; in fact, they are merely a few 

 lines signed by Mr. Aikin and Mr. Accum, attesting its general 

 purity and fitness for domestic use ; but what it contains, or 

 what are its impurities, we are not told : this deficiency we 

 shall therefore endeavour in due time to supply. 



