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275 
are drawn along by one horfe to Manchefter. 
The canal in other places is carried over 
public roads by means of arches, and where 
it is too high the road is Jowered with a gentle 
defcent, and rifes again on the other fide. 
But one of the moft ftupenduous works on 
this canal is the noble aquedu€ over the 
river Irwell, where the canal] runs forty feet 
above the river, and where the Duke’s barges 
are feen pafling on the canal, and the veflels 
tn the river in full fail. under them. At 
Barton-bridge, three miles from Worfley, this 
aqueduct begins, and is carried for upwards 
of two hundred yards over a valley; and at 
the Irwell it is about forty feet above the 
level of the river. When the works ap- 
proached this fpot, they were viewed by feve- 
ral artifts who pronounced the ‘completion 
impra€icable, and one furveyor went {fo far 
as to call it building a cafle in the air. The 
Duke was repeatedly advifed to drop the bu- 
finefs, but, confiding in the aflurances of Mr. 
Brindley, he perfevered, and the aqueduct 
over the river Irwell will remain as a monu- 
ment: of the public fpirit of the Duke of 
Bridgwater, and the abilities of the artift, for 
ages. In this canal are many ftops and flood- 
gates, fo contrived, that fhould any of the 
banks give way, the flood-gates rife by the 
motion, and prevent any great quantity of 
water from overflowing the country. The 
agueduct is conftruéted at confiderable la- 
bourand expence. Indeed, the Duke had re- 
folved that in the execution of tais work no 
expence fhould be fpared, and that every 
thing fhould be complete ; and that, to avoid 
Jocks, the canal fhould be conftruéted on a 
level, to accomplifh which many difficulties 
occurred, which, to any, genius lefs fertile 
than Brindley’s would have been infurmount- 
able. The aqueduct, which is carried over 
meadows on each fide the Merfey, and crofs 
Sale Moor, at incredidle expence, required of 
Brindley all the exertions of his art, and de- 
ferves to be noticed. He firft caufed trenches 
to be made, and then placed deal balks in an 
upright pofition, backing and fupporting them 
with other baiks laid lengthways and in rows, 
driving in fome thoufands of oak piles of dif- 
ferent lengths between them, on the front 
fide of which he threw the clay and earth, 
and rammed them together to form the canal. 
Having thus finifhed forty yards, he removed 
the balks and proceeded as before. At Strat- 
ford the caifloon was forty yards long and 
thirty-two broad. Open bottcmed boats were 
employed in this caiffoon to carry and difcharge 
loads of earth, and thereby raife the ground 
where the level required it. At Cambroke 
is a circular wear to keep the water of the 
canal to its proper height ; the furplus flows 
over the nave of a circle in the middle of 
the wear, and, by a fubterraneous tunnel, is 
conveyed to the ufual channels. In order to 
feed that end of the navigation which is near 
Manchefter, Brindley raifed the river Med- 
loce by a large and beautiful wear, built of 
The Duke of Bridgwater. 
ftone, bedded in terrafs, and clamped with 
iron, The water, when ata proper height, to 
fupply the navigation, flows over the nave. 
In fhort this canal is carried over rivers and 
vallies, and no obftasle feems to have been ca- 
pable of impeding Brindley in the execution 
of his plan. The ingenuity and contrivance 
difplayed throughout the whole is won- 
derful. The tmiths’ forges, carpenters’ and 
mafons’ workfhops, were all on covered 
barges, which floated on the canal and fol- 
lowed the work from place to place. Hav- 
ing completed this work in the year 1760, 
the whole was opened in prefence of the 
Duke,many of his friends,and a vat concourfe 
of people from every part of the couniry, 
with great ceremony and rejoiciag 3 and his 
Grace had the fatisfaGion to fee the extraor- 
dinary man he had patronized, fucceed even 
beyond his hopes, But the Duke’s defigns 
were not confined to this canal. On a fure 
ther furvey and taking levels, he found it 
practicable to extend it from Longfora-bridge 
to the river Merfey ; and, in 1762, he ap- 
plied for another aét of parliament to carry 
hat objet into efteét. Here, alfo, he met 
with a ftrong and ill-jadged oppofition, but 
at length fucceeded, and the fuccefs of this un- 
Jertaking is another proof of the Duke’s judg- 
‘ment. “The whole length from Worfley to 
Manchefter is twenty-nine miles; there is not 
any fall on the whole line, except at Run- 
corn, into the river Merfey, where there are, 
locks which convey the boats down ninety- 
four feet into the river in a very fhort {pace of 
time. The whole was completed in about 
five years. But what is feen above ground 
is only a part of the Duke’s ftupendous une 
dertaking. His mines run under a large 
mountain, and a fubterraneous paflage is cut 
in the bill to an amazing ‘extent, which, 
being level with the canal, is ufed to convey 
cut the boats. To enter further intoa dee, 
tail ef the Duke’s works is unneceflary 5 it 
is fufficient to fay they have fully anfwered 
his purpofe. An idea may be formed of the 
immenfe profit arifing from this undertaking 
by arecent event. When the loan, commonly 
called the loyalty lean, was negociating his 
Grace was able to fubfcribe for, and actually 
paid down immediately, the fum of 100,900). 
Befides the Duke’s concern in this canal, he. 
has been a liberal promoter of and fubfcriber 
to that great work, the Grand Trunk-naviga~ _ 
tion, which extends from his own naviga~ 
tion, at Prefton-brook, to the river Trent, 
near Derby. He was, indeed, fo convinced of 
the utility of thefe kinds of undertakings,as to 
be always ready to ailift with his parliamentary 
influence for the furthering of anywell-digeft- 
edplan. In politics, the Duke of Bridgwater 
did nottake any very active part. Yet we 
fometimes found him at his place in the Houfe 
of Peers. In 1762 his name is in the divi- 
fion, on a motion to withdraw the Britifh. 
troops from Germany, and on the lofs of, 
the motion joiping ina proteft. When the 
repeal 
