152 ENGLAND. 



so delicate are the tones of the English fibres, that the patients cap 

 perceive, both in drinking and bathing, a difference between the sea- 

 water of one coast and that of another. 



Canals. ...Within the last fifty years a great number of canals have 

 been cut in various parts of England, which have greatly contributed 

 to the improvement of the country, and the facilitating of commercial 

 intercourse between the trading towns. The first of these, in point 

 of date, is the Sankey canal, the act of parliament for which was ob- 

 tained in 1755. It was cut to convey coals from the coal-pits at St. 

 Helens to the river Mersey, and so to Liverpool, and is in length 12 

 miles. 



But the canals of the late duke of Bridgewater, the great father of 

 inland navigation in this country, are of much greater importance, 

 both for the extent and the natural difficulties that were surmounted 

 by the fertile genius of that extraordinary mechanic, Mr. Brindley- 

 Of these great works, the first was begun in 1758, at Worsley-mill, 

 about seven miles from Manchester, where a basin is cut containing 

 a great body of water which serves as a reservoir to the navigation. 

 The canal runs through a hill, by a subterranean passage large enough 

 for the admission of long flat-bottomed boats towed by hand-rails on 

 each side, near three quarters of a mile, to the duke's coal-works. 

 There the passage divides into two channels, one of which goes 500 

 yards to the right, and the other as many to the left. In some pla- 

 ces the passage is cut through solid rock, in others arched over with 

 brick. Air-funnels, some of which are 37 yards perpendicular, are 

 cut, at certain distances, through the rock to the top of the hill. At 

 Bartonbridge, three miles from the basin, is an aqueduct, which, for 

 upwards of 200 yards, conveys the canal across a valley and the navi- 

 gable river Irwell. There are three arches over this river ; the cen- 

 tre one 63 feet wide, and 38 feet high above the water, which will 

 admit the largest barges to go through with masts and sails standing. 

 The whole of the navigation is more than 29 miles: it falls 95 feet 5 

 and was finished in 5 years. 



The Grand Trunk or Staffordshire canal was begun in 1766, under 

 the direction of Mr. Brindley, in order to form a communication 

 between the Mersey and Trent, and in consequence between the Irish 

 Sea and the German Ocean. It was completed in 1777, after the 

 death of Mr. Brindley, who died in 1772, by his brother-in-law, Mr. 

 Henshall. Its length is 22 miles; it is 29 feet broad at the top; 26 

 at the bottom, and five deep. It is carried over the river Dove by an 

 aqueduct of 23 arches, and over the Trent by one of six. At the hill 

 of Harecustle in Staffordshire, it is conveyed through a tunnel more 

 than 70 yards below the surface of the ground, and 2880 yards in 

 length. In the same neighbourhood there is another subterraneous 

 passage of 350 yards, and at Preston on the Hill another 1241 yards 

 in length. From the neighbourhood of Stafford a branch goes off 

 from this canal, and joins the Severn near Bewdley: two other branches 

 go, the one to Birmingham, and the other to Worcester. 



The Braunston or Grand Junction canal (so called from its uniting 

 ,the inland navigation of the central counties) extends from the 

 Thames at Brentford, to the Oxford canal at Braunston in Northamp- 

 tonshire. A branch of it likewise goes from Uxbridge tg Padding- 

 ton ; and a plan has been proposed, and considerable sums of money 

 subscribed, for extending a cut from the latter place to the new West- 

 India docks at Blackwall : but whether this design will be carried 

 into execution is as yet uncertain. 



