CHAPTER VIII. 



INLAND NAVIGATION. PROPOSED GRAND TRUNK CANAL. BRIND- 

 LEY'S PLAN. DUKE OF BRIDGWATER ? S CANAL. MEETING 

 IN FAVOUR OF THE GRAND TRUNK. JOSIAH WEDGWOOD'S, 

 LIBERAL OFFER. STATE OF THE POTTERY DISTRICT. WANT 

 OF COMMUNICATION. PACK-HORSES. CLAY, FLINT, LEAD, 

 SALT, IRON, ETC. RICHARD WHITWORTH AND HIS IDEAS. 

 STATE OF THE PEOPLE IN BURSLEM. REV. JOHN WESLEY. 

 HIS FIRST VISIT TO THE POTTERIES. IS PELTED WHILE 

 PREACHING. WEDGWOOD CUTS THE FIRST SOD OF THE 



GRAND TRUNK CANAL. WONDER EXCITED AT BRINDLEY'S 



OPERATIONS WEDGWOOD'S ZEAL WITH REGARD TO THE 



CANAL. 



INLAND navigation, at the period of which I am now writing, 

 was in its veriest infancy ; but the advantages which an 

 increased water communication between different towns 

 would give to trade were fully understood by Mr. Wedg- 

 wood, whose mind, ever active, grasped the subject in all 

 its bearings, and determined him to bring those advantages 

 to his native place, and to the trade which was its sole 

 support. His mind once made up, nothing was allowed to 

 brook it. Obstacles only increased his determination, and 

 opposition his firmness of purpose. As early as 1755, a 

 scheme had been broached in Liverpool for joining, by means 

 of a canal which should pass through the great towns 

 of Chester, Stafford, Derby, and Nottingham, the rivers 

 Trent and Mersey, and thus connect the important ports of 

 Liverpool on the one hand, and Hull on the other. Surveys 

 were made for this and other schemes, some passing through 

 the " pot district," and others purposely avoiding it. 



The progress of the Duke of Bridgwater's canal inten- 



