Sir Hugh Middleton, to enable himself to complete this grand work, had at last, after spending his own fortune, been obliged to apply to King James I. who advancing a sum of money became entitled to a moiety of the profits; he was also obliged to sell many other shares, and in short, was in a manner entirely ruined by a project, that has been attended with unspeakable benefit to this city: since by the water of this river, a speedy stop has been put to a great number of dreadful fires, and the health of the city has been remarkably preserved by the cleanliness it has introduced among us. Yet so little was the great advantages that might then, and are now derived from this river, at that time understood, that for above thirty years there were not divided above 5_l._ odd money, to each of the shares, which are seventy-two in number. This river now draws most of its water from the Lee, which being the property of the city of London, that corporation, contrary to the interest of the city in general, opposed a bill brought into parliament for giving farther powers to the New River company, to take the advantage that might be obtained by the river Lee: but the opposition was without effect, and in 1738–9 the bill passed into a law. The Governors of the New River company then agreed with the proprietors of the lands on the river Lee for a cut of two cubic feet of water from that river, at a certain rate; and after the agreement, told them they would double the price for a four foot cut, which the proprietors agreed to, not considering the great disproportion between the two cuts; and this cut of the river Lee now supplies the largest share of the New River water. In this river there are forty three sluices, and over it two hundred and fifteen bridges. On its approaching the reservoir, called New River Head, there are several small houses erected at a considerable distance from each other on its banks, into which the water runs and is conveyed by pipes to the nearer and more easterly parts of this metropolis. On its entering the above reservoir, it is there ingulphed by fifty-eight main pipes, each of seven inches bore; and here also an engine worked by horses, throws a great quantity of water up to another reservoir, situated on much higher ground, from which the water runs in pipes to supply the highest ground in the city, and its liberties. Many years ago 30,000 houses were thus supplied by this water, and since that time several main pipes have been laid to carry it into the liberties of Westminster.