[Image] Section of Top of Pont-Cyslltau Aqueduct.

It is scarcely necessary to refer to the other works upon this
canal, some of which were of considerablemagnitude, though they

may now seem dwarfed by comparison with the works of recent
engineers, Thus, there were two difficult tunnels cut through hard

rock, under the rugged ground which separates the valleys of the
Dee and the Ceriog. One of these is 500 and the other 200 yards in

length. To ensure a supply of water for the summit of the canal,
the lake called Bala Pool was dammed up by a regulating weir, and

by its means the water was drawn off at Llandisilio when required
for the purposes of the navigation; the navigablefeeder being six

miles long, carried along the bank of the Llangollen valley.
All these works were skilfully executed; and when the undertaking

was finished, Mr. Telford may be said to have fairly established
his reputation as an engineer of first rate ability.

We now return to Telford's personal history during this important
period of his career. He had long promised himself a visit to his

dear Eskdale, and the many friends he had left there; but more
especially to see his infirm mother, who had descended far into the

vale of years, and longed to see her son once more before she died.
He had taken constant care that she should want for nothing.

She formed the burden of many of his letters to Andrew Little.
"Your kindness in visiting and paying so much attention to her,"

said he, "is doing me the greatest favour which you could possibly
confer upon me." He sent his friend frequent sums of money, which

he requested him to lay out in providing sundry little comforts for
his mother, who seems to have carried her spirit of independence so

far as to have expressed reluctance to accept money even from her
own son. "I must request," said he, "that you will purchase and

send up what things may be likely to be wanted, either for her or
the person who may be with her, as her habits of economy will

prevent her from getting plenty of everything, especially as she
thinks that I have to pay for it, which really hurts me more than

anything else."*[7] Though anxious to pay his intended visit, he
was so occupied with one urgent matter of business and another that

he feared it would be November before he could set out. He had to
prepare a general statement as to the navigation affairs for a

meeting of the committee; he must attend the approaching Salop
quarter sessions, and after that a general meeting of the Canal

Company; so that his visit must be postponed for yet another month.
"Indeed," said he, "I am rather distressed at the thoughts of

running down to see a kind parent in the last stage of decay, on
whom I can only bestow an affectionate look, and then leave her:

her mind will not be much consoled by this parting, and the
impression left upon mine will be more lasting; than pleasant."*[8]

He did, however, contrive to run down to Eskdale in the following
November. His mother was alive, but that was all. After doing what

he could for her comfort, and providing that all her little wants
were properly attended to, he hastened back to his responsible

duties in connection with the Ellesmere Canal. When at Langholm,
he called upon his former friends to recount with them the incidents

of their youth. He was declared to be the same "canty" fellow as
ever, and, though he had risen greatly in the world, he was "not a

bit set up." He found one of his old fellow workman的复数">workmen, Frank Beattie,
become the principal innkeeper of the place. "What have you made of

your mell and chisels?" asked Telford. "Oh!" replied Beattie,
"they are all dispersed--perhaps lost." "I have taken better care

of mine," said Telford; "I have them all locked up in a room at
Shrewsbury, as well as my old working clothes and leather apron:

you know one can never tell what may happen."
He was surprised, as most people are who visit the scenes of their

youth after a long absence, to see into what small dimensions
Langholm had shrunk. That High Street, which before had seemed so

big, and that frowning gaol and court-house in the Market Place,
were now comparatively paltry to eyes that had been familiar with

Shrewsbury, Portsmouth, and London. But he was charmed, as ever,
with the sight of the heather hills and the narrow winding valley--

"Where deep and low the hamlets lie
Beneath their little patch of sky,

And little lot of stars."
On his return southward, he was again delighted by the sight of old

Gilnockie Castle and the surroundingscenery. As he afterwards
wrote to his friend Little, "Broomholm was in all his glory."

Probably one of the results of this visit was the revision of the
poem of 'Eskdale,' which he undertook in the course of the

following spring, putting in some fresh touches and adding many new
lines, whereby the effect of the whole was considerably improved.

He had the poem printed privately, merely for distribution amongst
friends; being careful," as he said, that "no copies should be

smuggled and sold."
Later in the year we find him, on his way to London on business,

sparing a day or two for the purpose of visiting the Duke of
Buckingham's palace and treasures of art at Stowe; afterwards

writing out an eight-page description of it for the perusal of his
friends at Langholm. At another time, when engaged upon the viaduct

at Pont-Cysylltau, he snatched a few day's leisure to run through
North Wales, of which he afterwards gave a glowing account to his

correspondent. He passed by Cader Idris, Snowdon, and Penmaen Mawr.
"Parts of the country we passed through," he says, "very much

resemble the lofty green hills and woody vales of Eskdale. In other
parts the magnificentboldness of the mountains, the torrents,

lakes, and waterfalls, give a special character to the scenery,
unlike everything of the kind I had before seen. The vale of

Llanrwst is peculiarly beautiful and fertile. In this vale is the
celebratedbridge of Inigo Jones; but what is a much more

delightful circumstance, the inhabitants of the vale are the most
beautiful race of people I have ever beheld; and I am much

astonished that this never seems to have struck the Welsh tourists.
The vale of Llangollen is very fine, and not the least interesting

object in it, I can assure you, is Davidson's famous aqueduct
[Pont-Cysylltau], which is already reckoned among the wonders of

Wales. Your old acquaintance thinks nothing of having three or
four carriages at his door at a time."*[9] It seems that, besides

attending to the construction of the works, Telford had to
organise the conduct of the navigation at those points at which the

canal was open for traffic. By the middle of 1797 he states that
twenty miles were in working condition, along which coal and lime

were conveyed in considerable quantifies, to the profit of the
Company and the benefit of the public; the price of these articles

having already in some places been reduced twenty-five, and in
others as much as fifty, per cent. "The canal affairs," he says in

one of his letters, "have required a good deal of exertion, though
we are on the whole doing well. But, besides carrying on the

works, it is now necessary to bestowconsiderable attention on the
creating and guiding of a trade upon those portions which are

executed. This involves various considerations, and many
contending and sometimes clashing interests. In short, it is the

working of a great machine: in the first place, to draw money out
of the pockets of a numerous proprietary to make an expensive

canal, and then to make the money return into their pockets by the
creation of a business upon that canal." But, as if all this

business were not enough, he was occupied at the same time in
writing a book upon the subject of Mills. In the year 1796 he had

undertaken to draw up a paper on this topic for the Board of
Agriculture, and by degrees it had grown into a large quarto

volume, illustrated by upwards of thirty plates. He was also
reading extensively in his few leisure moments; and among the solid

works which he perused we find him mentioning Robertson's
'Disquisitions on Ancient India,' Stewart's 'Philosophy of the

Human Mind,' and Alison's 'Principles of Taste.' As a relief from
these graver studies, he seems, above all things, to have taken

peculiar pleasure" In occasionally throwing off a bit of
poetry. Thus, when laid up at an hotel in Chester by a blow on his