HISTORY OF

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his mind. His not being able to do so might not solely arise from thevigour of his genius, always employed on great designs, but be, in part,the result of that total want of education, which, while it might addstrength to his powers in the particular way in which they were exert-ed, precluded him at the same time from those agreeable reliefs that areadministered by miscellaneous reading, and a taste in the polite and ele-gant arts. The only fault he was observed to fall into, was his suffer-ing himself to be prevailed on to engage in more concerns than couldbe completely attended to by any single man, how eminent soevermight be his abilities and diligence. It is apprehended, that by thismeans Mr. Brindley shortened his days, and in a certain degreeabridged his usefulness. There is at least the utmost reason to believethat his intense application in general to the important undertakings hehad in hand, brought on a hectic fever, which continued upon himsome years with little or no intermission, and at length terminated hislife. He died at Turnhurst in Staffordshire, on the 27th of September1772, in the 56th year of his age, and was buried at New Chapel inthe fame county. The vast works Mr. Brindley was engaged in atthe time of his death he left to be carried on and completed by hisbrother-in-law Mr. Henshall, for whom he had a peculiar regard, andof whose integrity and abilities, in conducting these works, he had thehighest opinion.

Thus was the world deprived, at a comparatively early period, of thisgreat genius,

“ Of mother wit, and wife without the schools,”

who very soon gave great indications of uncommon talents and ex-tensive views in the application of mechanical principles, and who, bya happy concurrence of circumstances, the chief of which was the pa-tronage of his grace the duke of Bridgewater, was favoured with an op-portunity of unfolding and displaying his wonderful powers in the

execution