CHAP. IX. lUMNDLKVS LAST CANALS. 463 



formation of a canal bet \veen Kendal and Man- 

 clu-stcr, denounced the wretched state of the turnpike- 

 roads, which were maintained by "an enormous tax," 

 and exclaimed, "May we all scorn to plod through the 

 dirt as \vc long liave done at so large an expense; and 

 for the support of our drooping manufactories, let canals 

 lc made through the \\hole nation as common as the 

 public highways." 



There seemed, indeed, to be every probability that tin's 

 desire would be shortly fulfilled ; for so soon as the canals 

 which had been made began to pay dividends, the strong 

 motive of personal gain became superadded to that of 

 public utility. The rapid increase of wealth which they 

 promoted served to stimulate the projection of new 

 schemes ; and in a very few years after Brindley's death 

 we find an immense number of Navigation Acts receiving 

 the sanction of the legislature, and canal works in pro- 

 gress in all parts of the country. The shares were quoted 

 upon 'Change, when they became the subject of commerce, 

 and very shortly of wild speculation . By the year 1792, 

 tlic country was in a perfect ferment about canal shares. 

 Xotices of eighteen new canals were published in the 

 ' Gazette ' of the 1 8th August in that year. The current 

 premiums of single shares in those companies for winch 

 Acts had been obtained were as follows : Grand Trunk, 

 350/. ; Birmingham and Fazeley, 1170/. ; Coventry, 

 350/. ; Leicester, 155/. ; and so on. There was a rush 

 to secure shares in the new schemes, and the requisite 

 capitals were at once eagerly subscribed. At the first 

 meeting, held in 1790, of the promoters of the Ellcs- 

 mere Canal, 112 miles in extent, to connect the Mersey, 

 the Dee, and the Severn, applications were madeforfour 

 times the disposable number of shares. A great num- 

 ber of worthless and merely speculative schemes were 



1 'A Cursory \'ic\v of a ]>roi><.sr<l uivat manufacturing town of Man- 

 Canal from Kendal to the Duke of rlirslcr.' 17>.~>. 

 Iri(liH'\vau'r's Canal, leading to the 



