LIFE 



OF 



SIR HUGH MYDDELTON 



CHAPTEK I. 



WATER SUPPLY OF LONDON IN EARLY TIMES. 



WHILE the engineer has so often to contend with all his 

 skill against the powers of water, and to resist it as a 

 fierce enemy, he has also to deal with it as a useful 

 agent, and treat it as a friend. Water, like fire, though 

 a bad master, is a most valuable servant ; and it is 

 the engineer's business, amongst other things, to render 

 the element docile, tractable, and useful. Even in the 

 Fens, water was not to be entirely got rid of. Were 

 this possible, the Great Level, instead of a boggy reed 

 swamp, would be merely converted into an arid, dusty 

 desert. Provision had, therefore, to be made for the 

 accommodation and retention of sufficient water to serve 

 for irrigation and the watering of cattle, at the same 

 time that the lines of drains or cuts were so laid out 

 its to 1)0 available for purposes of navigation. 



But water is also one of the indispensable necessaries 

 of life for man himself, an abundant supply of it being 

 essential for human lira 1th and comfort. Hence all 

 the ancient towns were planted by the banks of rivers, 

 principally because the inhabitants required a plentiful 

 supply of water for their daily use. Old London liad 

 riot only the advantage of its pure, broad stream flowing 



