GRAND TRUNK CANAL. 175 



would annoy the men who are cutting towards the centre of the 

 hill. The clay he cuts out serves for bricks to arch the subterra- 

 neous part, which we heartily wish to see finished to Wilden Eerry, 

 when we shall be able to send coals and pots to London, and to 

 different parts of the globe." 



The zeal which Wedgwood showed in the furtherance of 

 this scheme is thus well expressed in the private manuscript 

 to which I have before had occasion to refer. When he once 

 fairly took up the subject, "business, family, everything, 

 gave place to this important object, for many months in the 

 year 1765. Drawing around him the few that then thought 

 with him on the subject, or were inclined to take an active 

 part, they concerted on the means of gaining friends, and 

 overcoming opposition. At this time the principle itself of 

 the utility of canal navigation was disputed, and if any 

 advantages were admitted, they did not appear to a very 

 powerful class of the people as of sufficient importance to 

 counterbalance the injuries they apprehended to themselves. 

 Here was a great deal of intellectual ground to be cleared, 

 and the contest was not for this or that modification, but 

 whether the thing itself should exist at all. In this struggle 

 Mr. Wedgwood was certainly the foremost and most active 

 person, and for three months, during the progress of the Bill 

 in Parliament, was nearly as much lost to his private con- 

 nections as though he had been in China. The canal in 

 question was called the Grand Trunk, because it was foreseen 

 that many lesser ones would break out of it, as has since 

 happened. It is upwards of ninety miles in length, joining 

 the Trent about a mile below Cavendish Bridge, in Derby- 

 shire, and terminating in the Duke of Bridgwater's Canal, 

 in Preston Brook, in Cheshire. The internal passage through 

 the hill at Harecastle is an object of great curiosity, being a 

 mile and three quarters in length, and crossing many veins 

 of coal, which are got at a small expense, being thus laid 

 dry, and the canal is greatly benefited by the supply of 

 water. Mr. Brindley began this work on both sides at the 

 same time, and his workmen met in the middle. The con- 



