CHAP. VH. <;iin\\TII <>F MANCHESTER, 409 



AVorsley, to Jolni Gilbert, liis coal-pits, liis drainage, his 

 mills, and his canals. 



Xo wonder IK- was fond of Worsley. It had been the 

 scene of liis triumphs, and the foundation of his greatness. 

 Illustrious vi>itors from all parts resorted thither to 

 witness Brindley's "castle in the air," and to explore the 

 underground excavations beneath Worsley-hill. Frisi, 

 the Italian, spoke of the latter with admiration when they 

 were only a mile and a half in length ; since then they 

 have been extended to nearly forty miles. Among the 

 numerous visitors entertained by the Duke was Fulton, 

 the American artist, with whose speculations he was much 

 interested. Fulton had given a good deal of attention 

 fo t lie subject of canals, and was then speculating on 

 the employment of steam power for the propulsion of 

 canal boats. The Duke was so much impressed with 

 Fulton's ingenuity, that he urged him to give up the 

 profession of a painter and devote himself to that of a 

 civil engineer. Fulton acted on his advice, and shortly 

 after we find him residing at Birmingham the central 

 w< >rkshop of England studying practical mechanics, and 

 fitting himself for superintending the construction of 

 canals, on which he was afterwards employed in the 

 midland counties. 1 The Duke did not forget the idea 

 which Fulton had communicated to him as to the em- 

 ployment of steam as a motive power 'for boats, instead 

 of horses; and when he afterwards heard that Syming- 

 ton's steam-boat, The Dundas, had been tried success- 

 fully on the Forth and Clyde Canal, he arranged to have 

 six canal boats constructed after Symington's model; for 

 he was a man to shrink from no expense in carrying out 

 an enterprise which, to use his own words, had " utility 



1 The treatise which Fulton aftcr- 

 \v;inls published, entitle*! 'A Treatise 

 on Canal Navigation, exhibiting the 

 numerous advantages to be <1> 



Iron i small Cjinals, Are., with a <le- j engineers. 

 script ion of the machinery tor facili- 



tating conveyance by water through 

 the most mountainous countries, in- 

 <lej>endent of Locks and Aqueducts,' 

 (London, 1796,)is well known amongst 



