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The Life of Thomas Telford-Part24_Samuel Smiles(1812-1904)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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*[8] Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated 16th July, 1788.

*[9] The discovery formed the subject of a paper read before the



Society of Antiquaries in London on the 7th of May, 1789, published

in the 'Archaeologia,' together with a drawing of the remains



supplied by Mr. Telford.

*[10] An Eskdale crony. His son, Colonel Josias Stewart, rose to



eminence in the East India Company's service, having been for many

years Resident at Gwalior and Indore.



*[11] Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated 3rd Sept. 1788.

*[12] Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated Shrewsbury,



8th October, 1789.

*[13] It was then under seventeen millions sterling, or about a



fourth of what it is now.

*[14] Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated 28th July, 1791.



*[15] The writer of a memoir of Telford, in the 'Encyclopedia

Britannica,' says:--"Andrew Little kept a private and very small



school at Langholm. Telford did not neglect to send him a copy of

Paine's 'Rights of Man;' and as he was totally blind, he employed



one of his scholars to read it in the evenings. Mr. Little had

received an academical education before he lost his sight; and,



aided by a memory of uncommon powers, he taught the classics, and

particularly Greek, with much higher reputation than any other



schoolmaster within a pretty extensivecircuit. Two of his pupils

read all the Iliad, and all or the greater part of Sophocles.



After hearing a long sentence of Greek or Latin distinctly recited,

he could generally construe and translate it with little or no



hesitation. He was always much gratified by Telford's visits,

which were not infrequent, to his native district."



CHAPTER V.

TELFORD'S FIRST EMPLOYMENT AS AN ENGINEER.



As surveyor for the county, Telford was frequently called upon by

the magistrates to advise them as to the improvement of roads and



the building or repair of bridges. His early experience of

bridge-building in his native district now proved of much service



to him, and he used often to congratulate himself, even when he had

reached the highest rank in his profession, upon the circumstances



which had compelled him to begin his career by working with his own

hands. To be a thorough judge of work, he held that a man must



himself have been practically engaged in it.

"Not only," he said, "are the natural senses of seeing and feeling



requisite in the examination of materials, but also the practised

eye, and the hand which has had experience of the kind and



qualities of stone, of lime, of iron, of timber, and even of earth,

and of the effects of human ingenuity in applying and combining all



these substances, are necessary for arriving at mastery in the

profession; for, how can a man give judicious directions unless he



possesses personal knowledge of the details requisite to effect

his ultimate purpose in the best and cheapest manner? It has



happened to me more than once, when taking opportunities of being

useful to a young man of merit, that I have experienced opposition



in taking him from his books and drawings, and placing a mallet,

chisel, or trowel in his hand, till, rendered confident by the



solid knowledge which experience only can bestow, he was qualified

to insist on the due performance of workmanship, and to judge of



merit in the lower as well as the higher departments of a

profession in which no kind or degree of practical knowledge is



superfluous."

The first bridge designed and built under Telford's superintendence



was one of no great magnitude, across the river Severn at Montford,

about four miles west of Shrewsbury. It was a stone bridge of three



elliptical arches, one of 58 feet and two of 55 feet span each.

The Severn at that point is deep and narrow, and its bed and banks



are of alluvial earth. It was necessary to make the foundations

very secure, as the river is subject to high floods; and this was



effectuality accomplished by means of coffer-dams. The building




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