104 NORTH DERBYSHIRE. 



nified or reimbursed for their losses ;" on which 



I said, " Then Mr. 8 , you shall build the 



bridge; I accept your ticket, although it is 

 the highest." This letting took place early 

 in the year. The public convenience required 

 the bridge to be finished before the winter. 



The work was commenced and carried on 

 with vigour, and the key-stones of the arch 

 being on the point of being placed on the 

 crown of it, when one of those floods in 

 August, which have left such records of dis- 

 aster in our valleys in times gone by, carried 

 away the centres of the arch and all the 

 mason-work raised on the timbers, leaving 

 nothing but the foundations and haunches of 

 the bridge; and yet the bridge was built 

 within the time specified, and, " true to their 

 words," Messrs. never asked for a shil- 

 ling more from either county than the sum 

 for which they contracted to build the bridge. 



i 

 It is a poor consolation, when the contrac- 



