CHAP. VII. TELFORD'S OCCUPATIONS. 373 



since, I attended a general assembly of the canal pro- 

 prietors in Shropshire. I have to be at Chester again 

 in a week, upon an arbitration business respecting the 

 rebuilding of the county hall and gaol ; but previous 

 to that I must visit Liverpool, and after that proceed 

 into Worcestershire. So you see what sort of a life I 

 have of it. It is something like Buonaparte, when in 

 Italy, fighting battles at fifty or a hundred miles dis- 

 tance every other day. However, plenty of employ- 

 ment is what every professional man is seeking after, 

 and my various occupations now require of me great 

 exertions, which they certainly shall have so long as life 

 and health are spared to me." * 



Amidst all his engagements, Telford found time to 

 make particular inquiry about many poor families 

 formerly known to him in Eskdale, for some of whom 

 he paid house-rent, whilst he transmitted the means of 

 supplying others with coals, meal, and other necessaries, 

 during the severe winter months, a practice which 

 he continued to the close of his life. 



1 Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated Salop, 30th November, 1791). 



