CHAP. VI. DUKE'H CANAL TO RUNCORN. 3H7 



The heavy works at the crossing of the Mersey occu- 

 pied him almost exclusively towards the end of the year 

 1 ?(';;. He was there making dams and pushing on the 

 building of the bridge. Occasionally he enters the 

 words, " short of men at Cornbrook." Indeed, he seems 

 then to have lived upon the works, for we find the 

 almost daily entry of " dined at the Bull, 8d" On the 

 10th of November he makes this entry : " Aftor noon 

 Battled about the size of the arch over the river Marsee 

 [Mersey] to be 66 foot span and rise 16*4 feet." Next 

 day he is " landing balk out of the ould river in to the 

 canal." Then he goes on, " I prosceded to Worsley 

 Mug was corking ye boats the masons woss making 

 the senter of the waire [weir]. Whith 6 was osing to put 

 the lator side of the water-wheel srouds on I orderd 

 the pit for ye spindle of ye morter-mill to be sunk level 

 with ye canal Mr. Gilbert sade ye 20 Tun Boat should 

 be at ye water mitang [meeting] by 7 o'clock the next 

 morn." Next morning he is on the works at Cornhill, 

 setting "a carpentar to make scrwos " [screws], superin- 

 tending the gravelling of the towing-path, and arranging 

 with a farmer as to Mr. Gilbert's slack. And so he 

 goes on from day to day with the minutest details of the 

 undertaking. 



He was not without his petty " werrets " and troubles 

 either. Brindley and Gilbert do not seem to have got 

 on very well together. They were both men of strong 

 tempers, and neither would tolerate the other's inter- 

 ference. Gilbert, being the Duke's factotum, was accus- 

 tomed to call Brindley's men from their work, which the 

 other would not brook. Hence we have this entry on 

 one occasion, " A meshender [messenger] from Mr G 

 I ret on ied the a user No more sosiety." In fact, they 

 to have quarrelled, 1 



quarrel originated in Uillx.'rt's hoisr 

 breaking into the field where Hrind- 

 ley's mare was ^ra/injjj an animal of 



2 c 2 



1 The Karl of r>ri<l-e\\ater, in his 

 ranil>lin;.i ' Lelh-r 1" tin- Parisians,' 

 ;il>o\e referred to, alley's that the 



