- HISTORY of

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CHAP. VII.

Of the Canals of England,-—Canal of Caerdyke .— The New Riven—TheDuke of Bridgewater s Canals being the first navigable Canal made inEngland,—Difficulties surmounted in the Execution os this astonishingWork.—Account of the AqueduEl by which the Canal is carried over theRiver Irwelly near Barton Bridge.—Extracts of the A£ls enabling theDuke to cut his Canal.—Utility of this Canal .— Particulars of the Lifeof the ingenious Mr. Brindley , the Engineer employed by his Grace inthis great Work.—Description of the subterraneous Pajfage into , and theJnfide of his Grace's Coal Mine at Worfiey Mill.—Account .of the Sur -veys for an intended Inland Navigation from Liverpool to Hull.

E NGLAND, in which all the arts and sciences, commerce, andagriculture especially, flourish, is an island containing numerousrivers, rendered navigable by art, where they are not so by nature. Therivers Thames, Trent, Severn, and Mersey, extend far into the country,and almost divide the island into four parts: yet, though four of theprincipal ports of the kingdom, viz. London, Bristol, Liverpool, and Hull,are commodiously situated on these great rivers, and incessantly crowdedwith innumerable vessels, laden with the richest productions of thedifferent countries of the world, none of these great commercial portshad, for a long time, any other communication with each other, thanby a tedious and circuitous navigation, or a tiresome and expensive land-carriage: and though we had, so near us as Holland and France, severalexamples of canals for inland navigation, executed and attended with thegreatest advantage, because by them a sale was procured for a variety of

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