1841.] 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECT'S JOURNAL. 



49 



gineer, had been patronised bv Sir William Pulteney, and employed 

 in reconstructing some parts of' " Tlie Castle" in Shvewsbmy, became 

 acquainted with Hazledine, and these kindred spirits formed an niti- 

 macy which lasted through life. 



Telford soon after was engaged in constructing the EUesmere and 

 Chester Canal, and Mr. Hazledine became the contractor for the Chirk 

 and Pontvcy?svlte Aqueducts, the latter being one of the most magni- 

 ficent works of the kind in Europe, which he completed so entirely to 

 the satisfaction of Mr. Telford and the proprietors, that he was imme- 

 diately engaged in all the national works in which the Government at 

 that time plunged. The erection of the stupendous locks on the Cale- 

 donian Canal was entrusted to him, and executed to the entire satis- 

 faction of the engineer and tlie country. 



Hazledine's fame was now established, and he was employed in a 

 series of great works. The following is a summary : — 



Pontycyssyle cast-iron Aqueduct over the river Dee, and the valley 

 at Llangollen, in 1S02. 

 A Bridge, 15U feet cast-iron, over the river Bonar, in Scotland. 

 A Bridge, 150 feet ditto, over the river Spey, in Scotland. 

 The Lock-gates on the Caledonian Canal. 



The beautiful Waterloo Bridge, 105 feet span, near Bettws-y-Coed, 

 un the Holyhead road. 



The iroii Swivel Bridges at Liverpool Docks. 

 The Liverpool New Market Columns. 



A Bridge, 150 feet span of one arch, and two arches of 105 feet, 

 over the river Esk, near Carlisle. 



The Menai Suspension Chain Bridge. 

 The Conivay Suspension Chain Bridge. 



The Iron Roofs for the Dublin Custom House and Store-houses. 

 The Iron Roofs for Pembroke Stores, &c. 

 Many Swivel Bridges for Sweden. 



A large quantity of three-feet Pipes for India, Demerara, &c. 

 A Bridge built for Earl Grosvenor, 150 feet, at Eaton Hall. 

 A Bridge over the Severn at Tewkesbury, I7U feet span. 

 A new Bridge over the Dee, 105 feet span. 



A Bridge for Earl Morley, at Plymouth, comprising five arches, of 

 100 feet, 'M, and S 1 feet span. 

 A Bridge at Bath. 



Holt Fleet Bridge, 1 JU feet, over 1he Severn, near Worcester. 

 The Swivel Bridges at the London Docks. 

 The Marlow Chain Bridge. 

 Montrose Chain Bridge. 



Several small Iron Bridges in this county, and many others all over 

 the kingdom, besides the Lock-gates on the Ellesinere and other 

 Canals. 



At the present moment, Hazledine's foundry is executing a very ex- 

 tensive work, namfely, several pairs of iron lock-gates for Newport, in 

 Monmouthshire, South Wales, each pair weighing 120 tons, the largest 

 ever executed. 



In 1832, when the present Queen, then Princess Victoria, and her 

 august mother, the Duchess of Kent, honoured the Earl of Liverpool 

 with a visit at Pitchford Park, near this town, Mr. Hazledine had the 

 honour of receiving, through the Earl of Liverpool, the commands of 

 the Royal personages to wait upon them at Pitchford Park, and ex- 

 plain the principles and construction of the Menai Suspension Bridge 

 — Hazledine's greatest work. The Royal party expressed great satis- 

 faction at the lucid and instructive manner in which the explanations 

 were given, and the tact and shrewdness displayed in Mr. Hazledine's 

 answers. Persons who were present describe the interview as most 

 interesting. Mr. Hazledine received a present as a token of appro- 

 bation ; and we cannot avoid adding, from personal knowledge, that 

 her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent, when she passed over the 

 Menai Bridge, examined every part of it minutely, according to Mr. 

 Hazledine's description, and even entered the caves in which the iron 

 suspension cables are fixed. 



'This is a slight view of Mr. Hazledine's public works, and it gives 

 a portrait of him as a practical man. There are other features, which 

 we are unable to paint with the warmth and fidelity which they de- 

 serve. His strong afi'ection fur the members of his family rendered 

 his fireside one of the most happy round which an English family ever 

 gathered. He was ever devising some simple means of increasing 

 their enjoyments; and he attended personally to everything in which 

 their comforts were involved. At that trying season, when the wheel 

 of the "Union" coach locked into that of his gig on the Wyle Cop, 

 and overthrew him and shattered his arm in several places, and he was 

 carried home in such plight as threw his affectionate wife into such 

 agony as deprived her of life by a disorder arising from the grief she 

 suffered from his illness — even in that accumulation of sorrows his 

 presence of mind and affectionate care never for a moment ceased ; 

 and whilst his face was suffused with sweat from the extreme agony 



he was suffering from the bone of his arm having to be again broken 

 by the surgeon — even then he took upon himself the whole prepara- 

 tion for the funeral of his beloved wife, down to the minutest fittings 

 up of the coffin and funeral clothes ; and what all his own sufferings 

 could not wring from him, he gave way to with the utmost bitterness 

 when the dead body of her he so much loved was carried into his 

 chamber, that he might kiss it before it was for ever removed from 

 his sight ! 



As a master he was kind and considerate to all employed under him ; 

 his W'orkmen, if they conducted themselves well, became grey, and 

 died in his service. In our obituary last month we recorded the death 

 of John Maybrey, sen., who had been upwards of 40 years in the em- 

 ])loyment of Mr. Hazledine, who, indeed, reminds us of Addison's 

 character of Sir Roger de Coveiley : — " You see the goodness of the 

 master even in the house-dog, and in his grey horse, that is kept in the 

 stable vfith great care and tenderness, out of regard to his past ser- 

 vices, though he has been useless several years." 



The religion of Hazledine was also somewhat characterised by Ad- 

 dison : — " Nothing is so glorious in the eyes of mankind, and orna- 

 mental to human nature — setting aside the infinite advantages which 

 arise from it — -as a strong, steady, masculine piety ; but Enthusiasm 

 and Superstition are the weaknesses of human reason — that expose us 

 to the scorn and derision of Infidels, and sink us even below the beasts 

 that perish." 



A very short time before he was confined to bed by his last illness, 

 a nobleman, equally distinguished by his literary and legal talents, and 

 filling one of the highest situations which a subject can occupy, arrived 

 in the town, at a little before seven in the morning, and inquired at tlie 

 Lion if Mr. Hazledine was likely to be up ? 



"Oh yes," was the replv ; " he passed here an hour and a half ago, 

 on his way to the foundry." 



" I regret that," said his lordship, " for I wanted a few minutes' con- 

 versation with him, which I cannot now have; but tell him from me, 



that Lord inquired after him, and is happy to hear he is so well. 



My belief is," added his lordship, "that William Hazledine is the first 

 practical man in Europe." 



PROPOSAL FOR ESTABLISHING A BRITISH ASSOCIATION 

 FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF THE FINE ARTS. 



A knovi'ledge and consequent due appreciation of the fine arts, — 

 the arts which purify and ennoble, — are now observable amongst much 

 larger masses of persons in the metropolitan cities of the United King- 

 dom, than was the case twenty years ago ; and must inevitably go on 

 to augment in a greatly multiplied ratio, as every step gained becomes 

 the means of further advances. In the provinces, too, where there are 

 fewer "appliances and means to boot," the attention of the people to 

 the importance of the fine arts as civilizing agents, and as tending to 

 promote the general good and therefore the general happiness, has 

 visibly increased, and lias manifested itself in more than one good re- 

 sult. Still there is a wide field here open for exertion; and so un- 

 deniably important is the object to be attained, so vast is the good that 

 would result from spreading a taste for the fine arts throughout the 

 country, and inculcating a love of the beautiful, that no efforts could 

 be too great, no scheme of operations could be too extensive, which 

 should propose to efi'ect it. 



Experience shows the advantages which have resulted from the 

 establishment of the "British Association for the Promotion of Science," 

 not chiefly to science per se, although these have been great and mani- 

 fold, but to the people generally : attention has been awakened in the 

 minds of thousands to subjects before unthought of ; a spirit of inquiry 

 has been induced : and whole towns innoculated with an admiration ot 

 knowledge, and a determination to pursue it, to the exclusion of de- 

 moralizing sources of excitement, until then indulged in. Why, then, 

 might there not be formed an association for tlie encouragement ot 

 ART, which, like this, should meet annually at a different town in Eng- 

 land, Ireland, or Scotland, and at which meeting painting, poetry, 

 sculpture, architecture, &c., &c., in all their varieties, and with all 

 their ramifications, should form the subjects for the consideration of 

 the different sections. A large and important exhibition of works of 

 art might be collected, and an Art-Union arranged so as to secure the 

 sale of a certain number of them, and thus to ensure the assistance of 

 the most eminent artists, by lendering the society directly as well as 

 indirecth- advantageous to them. A small subscription (say of one 

 pound) would constitute a member of the association for the year, the 

 aggregate of which, after deducting the expenses necessarily immrred, 

 would probably enable the committee (which should be partly local, 

 partly general) to offer prizes for competition in the higher branches 



H 



