CHAP. V. DCKE'S CANAL TO THE MKIISKV. ;;;: 



k llir Lonls ontli." But the bill passed the Upper 

 House iw without opposishin," and received the Royal 

 A-M'iit on flic 24th of the same month. 



On the day following the passage of the bill through 

 the House of Lords (of which Brindley makes the 

 triumphant entry, "Lord Strange defetted"), he set out 

 for Lancashire, after nine weary weeks' stay in London. 

 To hang about the lobbies of the House and haunt the 

 office of the Parliamentary agent, must have been exces- 

 sivrly irksome to a man like Brindley, accustomed to 

 incessant occupation and to see work growing under his 

 1 ia nds. During this time we find him frequently at the 

 office of the Duke's solicitor in " Mary Axs ;" sometimes 

 with Mr. Tomkinson, who paid him his guinea a-week 

 during the latter part of his stay ; and on several occasions 

 he is engaged with gentlemen from the country, advising 

 them about " saltworks at Droit witch " and mill-arrange- 

 ments in Cheshire. Many things had fallen behind 

 during his absence and required his attention, so he at 

 once set out home ; but the first day, on reaching Dun- 

 stable, he was alarmed to find that his mare, so long 

 unaccustomed to the road, had " allmost lost ye use of her 

 Limes" [limbs]. He therefore pushed on slowly, as 

 the mare was a great favourite with him his affection 

 for the animal having on one occasion given rise to a 

 serious quarrel between him and Mr. Gilbert and he 

 did not reach Congleton until the sixth day after his 

 setting out from London. He rested at Congleton for 

 two days, during which he " settled the geering of the 

 silk-mill," and then proceeded straight on to Worsley to 

 set about the working survey of the new canal. 



