8 Conciſe Account of-Inland Navigation.[July

with ſtene. The canal then deſcends, paſſing many towns: into the Gardane, a little below Toulouſe. The breadth is 144 feet, including the towing paths, the depth 6 feet, and the length 64 Erench leagues. The higheſt part is 600 feet aboye the loweſt level.

In Spain the canal of Arragon was begun in 1781, and when complete will open a new conveyance for the productions of that country: there are in fa& two canals, both of which begin at Navarre, and run through Arragon, and at length fall into the Ebro. Theſe works have been effeded by labours deſerving; of admiration: beſide dykes, banks, fluices,&c. where ne- ceſlary; there is an aqueduct 710 fathoms-in length, in which this canal runs. They have alſo other canals,‘but of leſs note, and as the Miniſters of Spain ſeem to attend to com- mercial improvements, there can be little doubt but that their number will increaſe.

Let us now turn to our own country. T'here we find the veſtige of a canal, now called Caerdyke, which ſeems to have been cut from the river Hyne, near Peterborough, to the riyer Witham, near Lincoln, and moſt probably with intention to join thoſe rivers. It was forty miles in length, and is nearly filled up; and whether cut by the Romans or Danes is uncertain. Except this, no attempt was made at canal navigation in England, till within about forty years. This might poſſibly ariſe from the many fine navigable rivers we poſieſs, ſome of which extend far into the country, and theſe kinds of artificial navigations were poſlibly thought unneceſſary; eſpecially as ſeveral of the rivers had, by art, been rendered navigable much further than they were by nature. j

About the middle of the laſt century, however, our country- meñ began to turn their thoughts to this grear object: and for- tunately at the ſame time there lived one of thoſe wonderful geniuſes which ſeldom appear; and, by a happy concurrence of cir- cumſtances, a ſpirited young nobleman, jul come to the poſ- ſeſſion of a good eſtate, and inclined co patronize him. i

This man was the juſtly celebrated Mr. James Brindly, and his patron the preſent Duke of Bridgwater. Mr, Brindly con- ſidered chat although the four great rivers of England, the Thames, the‘Trent, the Merſey, and the Severn, extend far into the country; yet the four great ports of the kingdom ſituated on theſe rivers, viz. London, Briſtol, Liverpool, and Hull, had no communication by water with each other, except by 2, naviga- tion, circuîtous, always tedious, and in winter extremely danger= ous. Mr Brindly‘formed a plan to unite them, and private intéreſt has led the way to the completion of this truly great and national undertaking.

Juſtice requires that we ſhould‘give ſome account of the very ſingular an who planned and laid the firſt foundation of thee