84 Conciſe Account of Inland Navigation)[Aue

by the olimmerivg of dim tapers, ſómé’digging the jetty ore out. of the bowels of the earth, ſome again loading Wt in wagg0DS, made for the purpoſe, others drawing the waggons to the boats.

« To a ſuperficial obſerver ſuch ſcenes ſerve only to amuſe the eye by their novelty 5 but; to a refle@ting mind, they afford ample matter of inßruCtion, When we behold a part of ouf ſpeétices de prived ok ſun-ſhine, the common inheritance of mai-kind,- and buried na Oa and confined cavern, in which“they‘can {carcely ſtand upright, our feelings prompt us to comtmiſerate cheir condition:. but when we obſerve the lively ray of chear- fulneſs break forth in this ſcene of darkneſs and diſtreſs; when we behold the glow of health in the midit of damps and ſuffocation, we then ceaſe to pity them, and begin to examine ourſelves: we diſcover that our enjoyments abave ground ſerve only to multi- ply, our wants, and we are convinced of the truth of that maxim, which aſſures us, that bappinefſs is every where, or no where.’

Although the boats which we have mentioned are only ſeven tons burthen, it' may be proper to remark, that theſe boats 2re only employed for coals, and to paſs on other canals which communicate with this, And where the locks will not admit veſſels of greater breadth; but the boats principally uſed on the canal are of the burthen of forty or fifty tons, and are drawn by two. horſes, have a maſt and ſail, and croſs the Merſey from Runcorn to Liverpool, even when the wind is freſh, They are, however, flat-bottomed, and can only venture the paſſage at certain times. The’ proprietors of the-Trent and Merſey canal have made their canal of ſuficient-breadth to- admit ſuch "boats as high up as Middlewich, in Cheſhire. The Trent and Merſey, or G rand Trunk Canal, was the ſecond utn- dertaking of this kindin England, and which we ſhall proceed to deſcribe.

The Duke having thus led the way, ſeveral other plans for navigable canals were immediately“ brought forward, and the ſucceſs which attended the firſt eſſay prompted many to under- tike the. like works. The gentlemen, who reaſoned properly, naturally éoncluded that every thing which cauſed a ready com- munication between one place‘and another would increaſe the value of their eſtates, and the manufaQurer reaſoned in the ſame way, with reſped to the fall of his commodities. Among the noblemen and gentlemen who patroniſed the undertaking were Lord Gower, brother-in-law to the Duke of Bridgwater, Mr. Egerton, of Chehbire, and Mr. Anſon, of Shuckborough, in Staffordſhire. In a part of that country near Newcaſtle there are ſeveral towns near each other where the-coarſe eathen-ware thén in uſe was manufa@ured,‘and which ſpot is, from that cir- cumſtance, called the Pottery, The inhabitants of this part ‘clearly ſaw the advantage ſuch an undertaking would be to them,