ORIGIN OF THE UNDERTAKING--THE FIRST COMPETITION, NOVEMBER 1829--DESCRIPTION OF MR. BRUNEL’S PLANS--MR. TELFORD’S DECISION AS UMPIRE--MR. TELFORD’S DESIGN--THE SECOND COMPETITION--MR. BRUNEL APPOINTED ENGINEER, MARCH 1831--COMMENCEMENT OF THE WORKS, AUGUST 1836--DESCRIPTION OF THE DESIGN--ABANDONMENT OF THE WORKS, 1853--FORMATION OF A NEW COMPANY AND COMPLETION OF THE BRIDGE, 1864. _NOTE_: THE HUNGERFORD SUSPENSION BRIDGE. After Mr. Brunel had recovered from his accident in the Thames Tunnel, he went for a trip to Plymouth, where he examined with great interest the Breakwater and other engineering works in the neighbourhood. He notes in his diary that he went to Saltash, and that he thought the river there ‘much too wide to be worth having a bridge.’ This remark was no doubt made in consequence of his father having some years before been consulted as to the construction of a suspension bridge at this place, which Mr. Brunel himself, eighteen years afterwards, selected for the crossing of the Tamar by the Cornwall Railway, and built there the largest and most remarkable of his bridges. For the remainder of the year 1828, and during the greater part of 1829, Mr. Brunel kept himself fully employed in scientific researches, and in intercourse with Mr. Babbage, Mr. Faraday, and other friends; but he was without any regular occupation, until, in the autumn of 1829, he heard that designs were required for a suspension bridge over the Avon at Bristol, and he determined to compete. This project originated in a bequest made in 1753, by Alderman William Vick, of the sum of 1,000_l._ to be placed in the hands of the Society of Merchant Venturers of Bristol, with directions that it should accumulate at compound interest until it reached 10,000_l._, when it was to be expended in the erection of a stone bridge over the river Avon, from Clifton Down to Leigh Down. Alderman Vick stated that he had heard and believed that the building of such a bridge was practicable, and might be completed for less than 10,000_l._ * * * * * The legacy was duly paid to the Society of Merchant Venturers, and invested by them. The interest accumulated; and in 1829, when the fund amounted to nearly 8,000_l._, a committee was appointed to consider in what way it would be possible to carry out Alderman Vick’s intentions. An estimate for a stone bridge was procured, but as it gave the cost at 90,000_l._, it was evident that this scheme must be abandoned. * * * * *