FISHES AND FISHING. 253 



being forty-five tons, and with only thirty-five tons 

 in, and ten horses to draw the barge, I have felt her 

 grate on the gravel in going over the site of Coway 

 stakes, just above Walton Bridge, where it is asserted 

 Julius Csesar crossed the Thames, when he left his 

 camp on St. George's hills, the trenches of which were 

 quite visible sixty or seventy years ago. 



Dr. Battie was the person who caused horses to be 

 used instead of men, to tow barges on the Thames, 

 which so offended the men who were thus employed, 

 that they attempted once to throw him over Marlow 

 Bridge ; but he placed his wig wrong side in front, 

 and acted Punch to them so irresistibly and hu 

 morously, that they let him escape; after which, he 

 always carried pistols. He lost 1,500 by the spe 

 culation. 



A horse can draw horizontally, 770lbs ; a man can 

 draw HOlbs. ; therefore, it requires seven men to 

 produce a tractile power equal to one horse ; now, as 

 that time fifteen to twenty horses were necessary to 

 tow a large barge up against the stream then existing, 

 it would take from 105 to 140 men to tow a barge up, 

 and then they could only work whilst the river was 

 confined within its banks. 



He cured a young gentleman of quinsey by acting 

 Punch in the same way, which gave rise to the fol 

 lowing lines : 



