The Life of Thomas Telford, Civil Engineer: With an Introductory History of Roads and Travelling in Great BritainSmiles, Samuel
History
The Life of Thomas Telford, Civil Engineer: With an Introductory History of Roads and Travelling in Great Britain
Smiles, Samuel
Civil engineers -- Great Britain -- Biography; Roads -- Great Britain; Telford, Thomas, 1757-1834
He travels into all parts of Europe with the sole object of doing
good, merely for its own sake, and not for the sake of men's praise.
To give an instance of his delicacy, and his desire to avoid public
notice, I may mention that, being a Presbyterian, he attended the
meeting-house of that denomination in Shrewsbury on Sunday morning,
on which occasion I accompanied him; but in the afternoon he
expressed a wish to attend another place of worship, his presence
in the town having excited considerable curiosity, though his wish
was to avoid public recognition. Nay, more, he assures me that he
hates travelling, and was born to be a domestic man. He never sees
his country-house but he says within himself, 'Oh! might I but rest
here, and never more travel three miles from home; then should I be
happy indeed!' But he has become so committed, and so pledged
himself to his own conscience to carry out his great work, that he
says he is doubtful whether he will ever be able to attain the
desire of his heart--life at home. He never dines out, and scarcely
takes time to dine at all: he says he is growing old, and has no
time to lose. His manner is simplicity itself. Indeed, I have
never yet met so noble a being. He is going abroad again shortly
on one of his long tours of mercy."*[1] The journey to which
Telford here refers was Howard's last. In the following year he
left England to return no more; and the great and good man died at
Cherson, on the shores of the Black Sea, less than two years after
his interview with the young engineer at Shrewsbury.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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