380 hlMXDLEY CONSTRUCTS T1IK PART V. 



sarily expire before the Duke's engineer could take posses- 

 sion ; and many obstacles were thrown in the way both by 

 truants and landlords hostile to the undertaking-. In man v 

 cases the Duke had to pay dearly for the land purchased 

 under the compulsory powers of his Act. Near Lynnn, 

 the canal passed through a little bit of garden belonging 

 to a poor man's cottage, the only produce growing 

 upon the ground being a pear-tree. For this the Duke 

 had to pay thirty guineas, and it was thought a very 

 extravagant price at that time. Since the introduction 

 of railways, the price would probably be considered ridi- 

 culously low. For the land on which the warehouses 

 and docks were built at Manchester, the Duke had in all 

 to pay the much more formidable sum of about forty 

 thousand pounds. 



The Old Quay Navigation (by which the Mersey and 

 Irwell Company was called), even at this late moment, 

 thought to delay if not to defeat the Duke's operations, 

 by lowering their rates nearly one-half. Only a few days 

 after the Eoyal Assent had been given to the bill, they 

 published an announcement, appropriately dated the 1st 

 of April, setting forth the large sacrifice they were about 

 to make, and intimating that " from this Reduction in 

 the Carriage a real and permanent Advantage will arise 

 to the Public, and they will experience that Utility so 

 cried up of late, which has hitherto only existed in pro- 

 mises." The blow was aimed at the Duke, but he heeded 

 it not : he was more than ever resolved to go on with his 

 canal. He was even offered the Mersey navigation at 

 the price of thirteen thousand pounds ; but he would not 

 now have it at any price. 



The public spirit and enterprise displayed by many 

 of the young noblemen of those days was truly admirable. 

 Brindley had for several years been in close personal 

 communication with Earl Grower as to the construction 

 of the canal intended to unite the Mersey with the Trent 

 and the Severn, and thus connect the ports of Liverpool, 



