CHAP. X. HHINDLKVS DEAl'H CHARACTERISTICS. IT; 1 , 



message inviting him to view the great canal of Lan- 

 guedoc. But Brindley's reply was characteristic : " I 

 will have no journeys to foreign countries," said he, 

 " unless to be employed in surpassing all that has been 

 a heady done in them." 



1 1 is observation was remarkably quick. In surveying 

 a district, he rapidly noted the character of the country, 

 the direction of the hills and the valleys, and, after a 

 few journeys on horseback, he clearly settled in his mind 

 the best line to be selected for a canal, which almost in- 

 variably proved to be the right one. Iri like manner he 

 would estimate with great rapidity the fall of a brook or 

 river while walking along the banks, and thus deter- 

 mined the height of his cuttings and embankments, 

 which he afterwards settled by a more systematic sur- 

 vey. In these estimates he was rarely, if ever, found 

 mistaken. 



His brother-in-law, Mr. Henshall, has said of him, 

 " when any extraordinary difficulty occurred to Mr. 

 Briiidley in the execution of his works, having little or 

 110 assistance from books or the labours of other men, 

 his resources lay within himself. In order, therefore, 

 to be quiet and uninterrupted whilst he was in search of 

 the necessary expedients, he generally retired to his 

 bed ; l and he has been known to be there one, two, or 

 three days, till he had attained the object in view. He 

 would then get up and execute his design, without any 

 drawing or model. Indeed, it was never his custom to 

 make either, unless he was obliged to do it to satisfy his 

 employers. His memory was so remarkable that he 

 has often declared that he could remember, and execute, 

 all the parts of the most complex machine, provided he 

 had time, in his survey of it, to settle in his mind the 



1 The younger Pliny seems to have et milii ivlictus, non oculos animo 



adapted almost a similar method: sed animum oculis sequor, qui eadi-in 



"Claus:c lcii"str;i- inanciit. Miivcnim qua 1 incus vidciit quoties non vident 



silcntio ct tciirliris animus alitnr. alia." Epist. lib. ix., ep. 36. 

 Al> iis qua- a vocai it alnluctus, et liber, 



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