LIVES OF THE ENGINEERS. 



LIFE OF JOHN SMEA 



R A 



OF THE 



UNIVERSITY 



or 



CHAPTER i. 



SMEATON'S BOYHOOD AND EDUCATION. 



THE engineer of the Eddystone Lighthouse was Brindley's 

 junior by only eight years. They frequently met in 

 consultation upon important engineering undertakings ; 

 sometimes Smeaton advising that Brindley should be 

 called in, and Brindley, on his part, recommending 

 Smeaton. They were, in fact, during their lifetime, the 

 leading men in their profession ; and at Brindley's 

 death Smeaton succeeded to much of his business as 

 consulting engineer in connection with the construction 

 of canals and of public works generally. 



Smeaton had the great advantage over Brindley of a 

 good education and bringing up. He had not, like the 

 Macclesfield millwright, to force his way up through the 

 obstructions of poverty, toil, and parental neglect ; but 

 was led gently by the hand from his earliest years, and 

 carefully trained and cultured after the best methods 

 then known. But Smeaton, not less than Brindley, 

 was impelled to the professional career on which he 

 entered by a like innate genius for construction which 

 displayed itself at a very early age ; and, being per- 

 mitted to follow his own bent, his force of character and 

 strong natural ability, diligently cultivated by study and 



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