308 TELFORD A WORKING MASON IN LONDON. PART VIII. 



CHAPTEE III. 



TELFORD A WORKING MASON IN LONDON, AND FOREMAN OF 

 MASONS AT PORTSMOUTH. 



A COMMON working man, whose sole property consisted 

 in his mallet and chisels, his leathern apron and his 

 industry, might not seem to amount to much in " the 

 great world of London." But, as Telford afterwards 

 used to say, very much depends on whether the man has 

 got a head, with brains in it of the right sort, upon his 

 shoulders. In London the weak man is simply a unit 

 added to a vast floating crowd, and may be driven 

 hither and thither, if he do not sink altogether ; whilst 

 the strong man will strike out, keep his head above 

 water, and make a course for himself, as Telford did. 

 There is indeed a wonderful impartiality about London. 

 There the capable person usually finds his place. When 

 work of importance is required, nobody cares to ask 

 where the man who can do it best comes from, or what 

 he has been ; but what he is, and what he can do. Nor 

 did it ever stand in Telford' s way that his father had 

 been a poor shepherd in Eskdale, and that he himself had 

 begun his London career by working for weekly wages 

 with his mallet and chisel. 



After duly delivering up the horse, Telford pro- 

 ceeded to present a letter with which he had been 

 charged by his friend Miss Pasley on leaving Lang- 

 holm. It was addressed to her brother, Mr. John Pasley, 

 an eminent London merchant brother also of Sir 

 Thomas Pasley, and uncle of the Malcolms. Miss 

 Pasley requested his influence on behalf of the young 



