of that country, which is two hundred feet broad, and, commencing at Pekin, extends southward, to the distance of about nine hundred miles. It is supposed to have been constructed about eight centuries ago; but there are a great many smaller works of the same kind in the country, many of which are undoubtedly much older. The Chinese are unacquainted, as were also the ancients, with the contrivance called a lock, by means of which different levels are connected in modern canals, and which, as probably all our readers know, is merely a small intermediate space, in which the water can be kept at the same elevation as either part of the channel, into which the boat is admitted by the opening of one floodgate, and from which it is let out by the opening of another, after the former has been shut;-the purpose being thus attained, of floating it onwards, without any greater waste of water than the quantity required to alter the level of the enclosed space. When locks are not employed, the canal must be either of uniform level throughout, or it must consist of a succession of completely separated portions of water-way, from one to the other of which the boat is carried on an inclined plane, or by some other mechanical contrivance.

Canals have also been long in use in several of the countries of modern Europe, particularly in the Netherlands and in France. In the former, indeed, they constitute the principal means of communication between one place and another, whether for commercial or other purposes. In France, the canals of Burgundy, of Briare, of Orleans, and of Languedoc, all contribute important facilities to the commerce of the country. The last mentioned, which unites the Mediterranean to the Atlantic, is sixty feet broad and one hundred and fifty miles in length. It was finished in 1681; having employed twelve thousand men for fifteen years, and cost twelve hundred thousand pounds sterling.

It is remarkable that, with these examples before her, England was so late in availing herself of the advantages of canal naviga. tion. The subject, however, had not been altogether unthought of. As early as the reign of Charles the Second, a scheme was in agitation for cutting a canal (which has since been made) between the Forth and the Clyde, in the northern part of the kingdom; but the idea was abandoned, from the difficulty of procuring the requi. site funds. A very general impression, too, seems to have been felt, in the earlier part of the last century, as to the desirableness of effecting a canal navigation between the central English counties and either the metropolis or the eastern coast.

The first modern canal actually executed in England, was not begun till the year 1755. It was the result of a sudden thought

on the part of its undertakers, nothing of the kind having been contemplated by them when they commenced the operations which led to it. They had obtained an act of parliament for rendering navigable the Sankey brook, in Lancashire, which flows into the river Mersey, from the neighborhood of the now flourishing town of St. Helen's, through a district abounding in valuable beds of coal. Upon surveying the ground, however, with more care, it was considered better to leave the natural course of the stream altogether, and to carry the intended navigation along a new line; in other words, to cut a canal. The work was accordingly commenced; and the powers of the projectors having been enlarged by a second act of parliament, the canal was eventually extended to the length of about twelve miles. It has turned out both a highly successful speculation for the proprietors, and a valuble public accommodation.

It is probable that the Sankey Canal, although it did not give birth to the first idea of the great work we are now about to describe, had at least the honor of prompting the first decided step towards its execution. Francis, duke of Bridgewater, who, while yet much under age, had succeeded, in the year 1748, by the death of his elder brothers, to the family estates, and the title, which had been first borne by his father, had a property at Worsley, about seven miles west from Manchester, extremely rich in coal-mines, which, however, had hitherto been unproductive, owing to the want of any sufficiently economical means of transport. The object of supplying this defect had for some time strongly engaged the atten. tion of the young duke, as it had, indeed, done that of his father; who, in the year 1732, had obtained an act of parliament enabling him to cut a canal to Manchester, but had been deterred from commencing the work, both by the immense pecuniary outlay which it would have demanded, and the formidable natural difficulties against which, at that time, there was probably no engineer in the country able to contend. When the idea, however, was now revived, the extraordinary mechanical genius of Brindley had already acquired for him an extensive reputation, and he was applied to by the duke, to survey the ground through which the proposed canal would have to be carried, and to make his report upon the practicability of the scheme. New as he was to this species of engi neering, Brindley, confident in his own powers, at once undertook to make the desired examination, and, having finished it, expressed his conviction that the ground presented no difficulties which might not be surmounted. On receiving this assurance, the duke at once determined upon commencing the undertaking; and an act of parliament having been obtained in 1758, the powers of which were

considerably extended by succeeding acts, the formation of the canal was begun that year.

From the first, the duke resolved that, without regard to expense, every part of the work should be executed in the most perfect manner. One of the chief difficulties to be surmounted was that of procuring a sufficient supply of water; and, therefore, that there might be as little of it as possible wasted, it was determined that the canal should be of uniform level throughout, and of course without locks. It had consequently to be carried in various parts of its course both under hills and over wide and deep valleys. The point, indeed, from which it took its commencement was the heart of the coal mountain at Worsley. Here a large basin was formed, in the first place, from which a tunnel of three quarters of a mile in length had to be cut through the hill. We may just mention, in passing, that the subterraneous course of the water beyond this basin has since been extended in various directions for about thirty miles. After emerging from under ground, the line in the canal was carried forward, as we have stated, by the intrepid engineer, on the same undeviating level; every obstacle that presented itself being triumphed over by his admirable ingenuity, which the difficulties seemed only to render more fertile in happy inventions. Nor did his comprehensive mind ever neglect even the most subordinate departments of the enterprise. The opera. tions of the workmen were every where facilitated by new machines of his contrivance; and whatever could contribute to the economy with which the work was carried on, was attended to only less anxiously than what was deemed essential to its completeness. Thus, for example, the materials excavated from one place were employed to form the necessary embankments at another, to which they were conveyed in boats, having bottoms which opened, and at once deposited the load in the place where it was wanted. No part of his task, indeed, seemed to meet this great engineer unprepared. He made no blunders, and never had either to undo any thing, or to wish it undone; on the contrary, when any new difficulty occurred, it appeared almost as if he had been all along providing for it-as if his other operations had been directed from the first by his anticipation of the one now about to be undertaken.

In order to bring the canal to Manchester it was necessary to carry it across the Irwell. That river is, and was then, navigable for a considerable way above the place at which the canal comes up to it; and this circumstance interposed an additional difficulty, as, of course, in establishing the one navigation, it was indispensa ble that the other should not be destroyed or interfered with. But nothing could dismay the daring genius of Brindley. Thinking it,