ADDENDA. 445 



so delicious from which death will not at length snatch us. It was 

 placed here by the amiable owner, as a memento of the certainty of 

 that event. Perhaps, also, as a secret memorial of some loss of a 

 tender nature in his early days : for he was wont often to hang 

 over it in affectionate and firm meditation.* The Chinese house, 

 a little farther on, is a true pattern of the architecture of that 

 nation, taken in that country, by Sir Percy Brett. 



Opposite to the back-front of the house, on the banks of the Sow, 

 stand the small remains of the ancient mansion, which, according to 

 Leland, originally belonged to " Suckborrow with a long beard/' 

 who, as some say, gave it to the mitre of Lichfield and Coventry.f 

 It must have been in very early times ; for the manor of Haywood, 

 just mentioned, (in which this is included,) belonged to that See in 

 1085, the twentieth of William the Conqueror, and so continued till 

 the reign of Edward VI. who gave it to Lord Paget. The house, 

 before that time, was an episcopal palace. The remains still stand- 

 ing, serve to give the appearance of reality and ruin to some beau- 

 tiful Grecian columns, and other fragments of ancient architecture ; 

 which were added to the front by Thomas Anson, Esq. J 



The most powerful machinery in the world for raising water, is 

 employed in Bilston coalpit-field, and in that neighbourhood, the 

 property of the Birmingham Canal Company. They have there 

 erected a double steam engine of twice sixty-horse power, for 

 pumping the subterraneous mine water into their canal. This ma- 

 chinery put in motion the beginning of summer, when the natural 

 supply of water begins to slacken, will, in about three or four 

 months, entirely exhaust and completely empty this reservoir be- 

 neath the earth; and some considerable effect may be expected, 

 the strength of 1:20 horses being employed ; they are thus enabled 

 to keep their canal brim-full during the droughts of the driest 

 summer, this subterraneous reservoir losing nothing by evapora- 

 tion in hot weather. 



At Ocker-hill, not far distant from this, is another tier of power- 

 ful steam-engines, but of inferior force to the preceding, which 

 raises the water from a lower level of the canal, about sixty feet 

 rise into the main summit ; so that their water, after supplying a 

 tier of nine or ten locks, is returned to its original source : and far- 



* Pennant, 93. + Magna Brit. V. 89. 



* Pennant, 94. For an account of this noble family, see " Peerage," in 

 thig Work. 



