Great Britain -- Description and travel; Railroad travel -- Great Britain; Railroads -- Great Britain
Paper-making is carried on extensively in the neighbourhood of Manchester
from cotton waste. This was formerly thrown away; scavengers were even paid
to cart it away. After a time, as its value became quietly known among
paper-makers, parties were found willing to take on themselves the expense of
removing it. By degrees the waste became a regular article of sale; and now,
wherever possible, a paper-mill in this part of the country is placed near,
or worked in conjunction with, a cotton-mill. The introduction of cotton
waste has materially reduced the price of paper. No doubt, when the excise
is abolished, many other articles will be employed for the same purpose.
To describe the railroads, which are every hour departing for every point of
the compass, would take up too much space. But the railway stations, several
of which have been united by works as costly, and almost as extensive, as the
Pyramids of Egypt, are not among the least interesting sights. At these
stations barrels of flour will be found, literally filling acres of warehouse
room, and cucumbers arrive in season by the ton.
* * * * *
THE CANALS must be mentioned, and remind us that at Worsley, near Manchester,
the Duke of Bridgwater, "the Father of Inland Navigation," aided by the
genius of Brindley (another of the great men, who, like Arkwright and
Stephenson, rose from the ranks of labour, and directly contributed to the
rise of this city) commenced the first navigable canal constructed for
commercial purposes in Great Britain.
At the present day the construction of a canal is a very commonplace affair,
but it is impossible to doubt the high qualities of the mind of the Duke of
Bridgwater, when we consider the education and prejudices of a man of his
rank at that period, and observe the boldness with which he accepted, the
tenacity with which he adhered to, the energy and self-sacrifice with which
he prosecuted the plans of an obscure man like Brindley.
A disappointment in love is said to have first driven the Duke into
retirement, and rendered him shy and eccentric, with an especial objection to
the society of ladies, although he had once been a gay, if not dissipated,
young gentleman, fond of the turf. He rode a race at Trentham Hall, the seat
of his brother-in-law, the Marquis of Stafford.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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