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Inter, as the former had done. Accordingly, no sooner 

 liad it passed than he set out for his seat at Worsley to 

 t a k ( 1 1 it ' requisite measures for constructing the canal . The 

 Duke was fortunate in having for his land-agent a very 

 shrewd, practical, and enterprising person, in John Gil- 

 bert, whom he consulted on all occasions of difficulty. 

 Mr. Gilbert was the brother of Thomas Gilbert, the 

 originator of the Gilbert Unions, then agent to the Duke's 

 brother-in-law, Lord Gower. That nobleman had for 

 some time been promoting the survey of a canal to unite 

 the Mersey and the Trent, on which Brindley had been 

 employed, who was thus well known to Gilbert as well 

 as to his brother. We find from an entry in his pocket- 

 book, that the millwright had sundry interviews with 

 Thomas Gilbert on matters of business previous to the 

 ] Kissing of the first Bridge water Canal Bill, though there 

 is no evidence that Brindley was employed in making 

 the survey. Indeed, it is questionable whether any sur- 

 vey was made of the first scheme, engineering projects 

 being then submitted to Parliamentary Committees in 

 a very rough state ; levels being guessed at rather than 

 surveyed and calculated ; and merely general powers 

 taken enabling such property to be purchased as might 

 by possibility be required for the execution of the works 

 the prices of land and compensation for damage being 

 assessed by a local committee appointed by the Act for 

 the purpose. 



When the Duke proceeded to consider with Gilbert 

 the best mode of carrying out the proposed canal, it 

 very shortly appeared that the plan originally contem- 

 plated was faulty in many respects, and that an applica- 

 tion must be made to Parliament for further powers. 

 By the original Act it was intended to descend from 

 the level of the coal-mines at Worsley by a series of 

 locks into the river Irwell. This, it was found, would 

 necessarily involve both a heavy cost in the construction 

 and working of the canal, as well as considerable delay 



