Thus there is scarcely a cottage in the valley in which good books are not to be found under perusal; and we are told that it is a common thing for the Eskdale shepherd to take a book in his plaid to the hill-side—a volume of Shakespeare, Prescott, or Macaulay— and read it there, under the blue sky, with his sheep and the green hills before him. And thus, so long as the bequest lasts, the good, great engineer will not cease to be remembered with gratitude in his beloved Eskdale.
Footnotes for Chapter XV.
*[1] In his inaugural address to the members on taking the chair, the President pointed out that the principles of the Institution rested on the practical efforts and unceasing perseverance of the members themselves. "In foreign countries," he said, "similar establishments are instituted by government, and their members and proceedings are under their control; but here, a different course being adopted, it becomes incumbent on each individual member to feel that the very existence and prosperity of the Institution depend, in no small degree, on his personal conduct and exertions; and my merely mentioning the circumstance will, I am convinced, be sufficient to command the best efforts of the present and future members."
*[2] We are informed by Joseph Mitchell, Esq., C.E., of the origin of this practice. Mr. Mitchell was a pupil of Mr. Telford's, living with him in his house at 24, Abingdon Street. It was the engineer's custom to have a dinner party every Tuesday, after which his engineering friends were invited to accompany him to the Institution, the meetings of which were then held on Tuesday evenings in a house in Buckingham Street, Strand. The meetings did not usually consist of more than from twenty to thirty persons. Mr. Mitchell took notes of the conversations which followed the reading of the papers. Mr. Telford afterwards found his pupil extending the notes, on which he asked permission to read them, and was so much pleased that he took them to the next meeting and read them to the members. Mr. Mitchell was then formally appointed reporter of conversations to the Institute; and the custom having been continued, a large mass of valuable practical information has thus been placed on record.
*[3] Supplement to Weale's 'Bridges,' Count Szechenyi's Report, p. 18.
*[4] Letter to Mrs. Little, Langholm, 28th August, 1833.
*[5] A statue of him, by Bailey, has since been placed in the east aisle of the north transept, known as the Islip Chapel. It is considered a fine work, but its effect is quite lost in consequence of the crowded state of the aisle, which has very much the look of a sculptor's workshop. The subscription raised for the purpose of erecting the statue was 1000L., of which 200L. was paid to the Dean for permission to place it within the Abbey.
*[6] Letter to Miss Malcolm, Burnfoot, Langholm, dated 7th October, 1830.
*[7] Sir David Brewster, observes on this point: "It is difficult to analyse that peculiar faculty of mind which directs a successful engineer who is not guided by the deductions of the exact sciences; but it must consist mainly in the power of observing the effects of natural causes acting in a variety of circumstances; and in the judicious application of this knowledge to cases when the same causes come into operation. But while this sagacity is a prominent feature in the designs of Mr. Telford, it appears no less distinctly in the choice of the men by whom they were to be practically executed. His quick perception of character, his honesty of purpose, and his contempt for all otheracquirements,— save that practical knowledge and experience which was best fitted to accomplish, in the best manner, the object he had in view,—have enables him to leave behind him works of inestimable value, and monuments of professional celebrity which have not been surpassed either in Britain or in Europe."—'Edinburgh Review,' vol. lxx. p. 46.
*[8] It seems singular that with Telford's great natural powers of pleasing, his warm social temperament, and his capability of forming ardent attachments for friends, many of them women, he should never have formed an attachment of the heart. Even in his youthful and poetical days, the subject of love, so frequently the theme of boyish song, is never alluded to; while his school friendships are often recalled to mind and, indeed, made the special subject of his verse. It seems odd to find him, when at Shrewsbury—a handsome fellow, with a good position, and many beautiful women about him—addressing his friend, the blind schoolmaster at Langholm, as his "Stella"!
*[9] Mr. Mitchell says: "He lived at the rate of about 1200L. a year. He kept a carriage, but no horses, and used his carriage principally for making his journeys through the country on business. I once accompanied him to Bath and Cornwall, when he made me keep an accurate journal of all I saw. He used to lecture us on being independent, even in little matters, and not ask servants to do for us what we might easily do for ourselves. He carried in his pocket a small book containing needles, thread, and buttons, and on an emergency was always ready to put in a stitch. A curious habit he had of mending his stockings, which I suppose he acquired when a working mason. He would not permit his housekeeper to touch them, but after his work at night, about nine or half past, he would go up stairs, and take down a lot, and sit mending them with great apparent delight in his own room till bed-time. I have frequently gone in to him with some message, and found him occupied with this work."
*[10] "The British Fisheries Society," adds Mr. Rickman, "did not suffer themselves to be entirely outdone in liberality, and shortly before his death they pressed upon Mr. Telford a very handsome gift of plate, which, being inscribed with expressions of their thankfulness and gratitude towards him, he could not possibly refuse to accept."—'Life of Telford,' p. 283.
*[11] Weale's 'Theory. Practice, and Architecture of Bridges,' vol.i.: 'Essay on Foundations of Bridges,' by T. Hughes, C.E., p. 33.
*[12] Letter to Mr. William Little, Langholm, 24th January, 1815.
*[13] Telford thought so little about money, that he did not even know the amount he died possessed of. It turned out that instead of 16,600L. it was about 30,000L.; so that his legatees had their bequests nearly doubled. For many years he had abstained from drawing the dividends on the shares which he held in the canals and other public companies in which he was concerned. At the money panic of 1825, it was found that he had a considerable sum lying in the hands of his London bankers at little or no interest, and it was only on the urgent recommendation of his friend, Sir P. Malcolm, that he invested it in government securities, then very low.
*[14] 'Selections from the Letters of Robert Southey,' vol. iv., p. 391. We may here mention that the last article which Southey wrote for the 'Quarterly' was his review of the ' Life of Telford.'