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The Life of Thomas Telford-Part30_Samuel Smiles(1812-1904)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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the notice of Mr. Liston, the British Minister, who paid his

expenses home to England, that his services might not be lost to



his country, and at the same time gave him a letter of introduction

to the Society of Arts in London. Telford, in a letter to Andrew



Little, dated 4th December, 1797, expressed a desire "to know more

of this Eskdale Archimedes." Shortly after, we find Douglas



mentioned as having invented a brick machine, a shearing-machine,

and a ball for destroying the rigging of ships; for the two former



of which he secured patents. He afterwards settled in France, where

he introduced machinery for the improved manufacture of woollen



cloth; and being patronised by the Government, he succeeded in

realising considerablewealth, which, how ever, he did not live to



enjoy.

*[7] Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated London, l3th May,



1800.

*[8] The evidence is fairly set forth in 'Cresy's Encyclopedia of



Civil Engineering,' p. 475.

*[9] Article on Iron Bridges, in the 'Encyclopedia Britannica,'



Edinburgh, 1857.

*[10] His foreman of masons at Bewdley Bridge, and afterwards his



assistant in numerous important works.

*[11] The work is thus described in Robert Chambers's ' Picture of



Scotland':--"Opposite Compston there is a magnificent new bridge

over the Dee. It consists of a single web, the span of which is 112



feet; and it is built of vast blocks of freestone brought from the

isle of Arran. The cost of this work was somewhere about 7000L.



sterling; and it may be mentioned, to the honour of the Stewartry,

that this sum was raised by the private contributions of the



gentlemen of the district. From Tongueland Hill, in the immediate

vicinity of the bridge, there is a view well worthy of a painter's



eye, and which is not inferior in beauty and magnificence to any in

Scotland."



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

13th July, 1799.



*[13] Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated Liverpool,

9th September, 1800.



*[14] Brodie was originally a blacksmith. He was a man of much

ingenuity and industry, and introduced many improvements in iron



work; he invented stoves for chimneys, ships' hearths, &c. He had

above a hundred men working in his London shop, besides carrying on



an iron work at Coalbrookdale. He afterwards established a woollen

manufactory near Peebles.



*[15] Dated London, l4th April, 1802.

*[16] Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated Salop,



30th November, 1799.

CHAPTER VIII.



HIGHLAND ROADS AND BRIDGES.

In an early chapter of this volume we have given a rapid survey of



the state of Scotland about the middle of last century. We found a

country without roads, fields lying uncultivated, mines unexplored,



and all branches of industry languishing, in the midst of an idle,

miserable, and haggard population. Fifty years passed, and the



state of the Lowlands had become completely changed. Roads had been

made, canals dug, coal-mines opened up, ironworks established;



manufactures were extending in all directions; and Scotch

agriculture, instead of being the worst, was admitted to be the



best in the island.

"I have been perfectly astonished," wrote Romilly from Stirling,



in 1793, "at the richness and high cultivation of all the tract of

this calumniated country through which I have passed, and which



extends quite from Edinburgh to the mountains where I now am.

It is true, however; that almost everything which one sees to admire



in the way of cultivation is due to modem improvements; and now and

then one observes a few acres of brown moss, contrasting admirably



with the corn-fieids to which they are contiguous, and affording a

specimen of the dreariness and desolation which, only half a century



ago, overspread a country now highly cultivated, and become a most

copious source of human happiness."*[1] It must, however, be



admitted that the industrial progress thus described was confined




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