“The great improvement of erecting upon a navigable river a bridge of cast-iron of one arch only was first put in practice near Coalbrookdale. The bridge was executed in 1777 by Mr. Abraham Darby, and the ironwork is now quite as perfect as when it was first put up. Drawings of this bridge have long been before the public, and have been much and justly admired.” Mr. Smiles in speaking of the bridge quotes a Coalbrookdale correspondent who, writing in May, 1862, says that “at the present time the bridge is undergoing repair; and, special examination having been made, there is no appearance either that the abutments have moved, or that the ribs have been broken in the centre or are out of their proper right line. There has, it is true, been a strain on the land arches, and on the roadway plates, which, however, the main arch has been able effectually to resist.” It is a pleasing object in the landscape, and passed its centenary this year, 1879, with no other display than a few small flags which Mr. Frisby placed on the balustrades. It has paid for itself over, and over again; and the excessive toll is at present severely felt. Those sharing the benefits of the monopoly of course protest against attempts to make it a free bridge, and being private property there is no other means of effecting the object than by buying them out, or by obtaining ah Act of Parliament. There is, it is true, one other: and that the suicidal one of letting it rust to its own destruction—a course the monopolists seem resolved to take. {340} The Severn formerly was a great liquid highway for heavy goods; people took their boats to Shrewsbury to the fairs for butter, cheese, and groceries, and came down with the stream, others were carried on pack-horses; a strong enduring race now extinct.