iv 1MIKFACK. 



next to law papers, a.re about the driest possible reading, 

 except to those professionally interested in them. 



Circumstances such as these have probably concurred 

 in deterring literary men from entering upon this field 

 of biography, which has hitherto remained comparatively 

 unexplored. Hence, most of the Lives and Memoirs 

 contained in the following series are here attempted 

 for the first time. All that has appeared relating 

 to Brindley, Smeaton, and Rennie, is comprised in 

 the brief and unsatisfactory notices contained in Ency- 

 clopedias and Biographical Dictionaries. What has 

 been published respecting Myddelton's life is for the 

 most part inaccurate, whilst of Yermuyden no memoir 

 of any kind exists. It is true, a ' Life of Telford ' has 

 appeared in quarto, but, though it contains most of that 

 engineer's reports, the history of his private life as well 

 as of his professional career is almost entirely omitted. 



Besides the Lives of these more distinguished men, 

 the following volumes will be found to contain memoirs 

 of several meritorious though now all but forgotten 

 persons, who are entitled to notice as amongst the 

 pioneers of English engineering. Such were Captain 

 Perry, who repaired the breach in the Thames embank- 

 ment at Dagenham ; blind John Metcalf, the Yorkshire 

 road-maker ; William Edwards, the Welsh bridge-builder ; 

 and Andrew Meikle, Rennie' s master, the inventor of 

 the thrashing-machine. Although the Duke of Bridge- 

 water was not an engineer, we have included a memoir 

 of him in the Life of Brindley, with whose early history 

 he was so closely identified ; and also because of the 

 important influence which he exercised on the extension 

 of the canal system and the development of modern 

 English industry. 



The subject, indeed, contains more attractive elements 

 than might at first sight appear. The events in the 



