A /I old Canoe from the Irzvell Valley. 251 



odes, psalms, and sweet sonnets, wrote histories which are 

 classical to the student of Italian literature, and as an 

 orator and essayist he influenced the public conscience in 

 favour of the righteous work of his friends, Wilberforce and 

 Clarkson, the liberators of the African slave. 



We also find him, with the sanction of Parliament, 

 engaged in improving Chat Moss, dividing it into farms, 

 draining it, and making it increase the food supply of this 

 country. For more than a quarter of a century this 

 energetic lover of utility and beauty devoted himself and 

 his fortune to the cultivation of this morass. 



In 181 1 a poet pays homage to his achievements : 



Koscoe to whose patriot breast belong 

 The Roman virtue and the Tuscan song, 

 Led Ceres to the bleak and barren moor, 

 Where Ceres never gained a wreath before. 



It is interesting to note that it was through the work of 

 William Roscoe's steward, Mr. Stannard, that the difficulty 

 of crossing Chat Moss by the Manchester and Liverpool 

 Railway was overcome, as Mr. Stannard took the contract 

 to make the railway across the Moss, and it is possible that, 

 had it not been for his great experience in moss treatment, 

 Stevenson would have taken the railway a mile and a half 

 further north at a considerable expense to the Company. 



Mr. Edward Baines continued the cultivation of Chat 

 Moss, commenced by Mr. Roscoe, and there are now 

 hundreds of acres under cultivation. 



Permit me in conclusion to call the attention of the 

 members of the Society to the opportunities, which should 

 not be neglected, now presented to the geologist, the 

 antiquary, and to all students of the knowledge of causes, for 

 the Ship Canal steam navvies have opened more than 20 

 miles of the Irwell valley, and those who study the story 

 of the rocks have in the book before them, the records of 

 centuries on each page. 



