JAMES BRINDLEY. 59 



family estates, and the title, which had been first borne by 

 his father, had a property at Worsley, about seven miles west 

 from Manchester, extremely rich in coal mines, which, how- 

 ever, had hitherto been utiproductive, owing to the want of 

 any sufficiently economical means of transport. The object 

 of supplying this defect had for some time strongly engaged 

 the attention of the young duke, as it had indeed done that 

 of his father, who, in the year 1732, had obtained an Act of 

 Parliament enabling him to cut a canal to Manchester, but 

 had been deterred from commencing the work, both by the 

 immense pecuniary outlay which it would have demanded, 

 and the formidable natural difficulties against which at that 

 time there was probably no engineer in the country able to 

 contend. When the idea, however, was now revived, the 

 extraordinary mechanical genius of Brindley had already 

 acquired for him an extensive reputation, and he was applied 

 to by the duke to survey the ground through which the 

 proposed canal would have to be carried, and to make his 

 report upon the practicability of the scheme. New as he 

 was to this species of engineering, Brindley, confident in his 

 own powers, at once undertook to make the desired examina- 

 tion, and, having finished it, expressed his conviction that the 

 ground presented no difficulties which might not be sur- 

 mounted. On receiving this assurance, the duke at once 

 determined upon commencing the undertaking; and an Act 

 of Parliament having been obtained in 1758, the powers of 

 which were considerably extended by succeeding Acts, the 

 formation of the canal was begun that year. 



From the first the duke resolved that, without regard to 

 expense, every part of the work should be executed in the 

 most perfect manner. One of the chief difficulties to be 



