r did not forget his mother. For years he
had constantly written to her, in PRINT HAND, so that the letters might
be more easily read by her aged eyes; he had sent her money in full
proportion to his means; and he had taken every possible care to let
her declining years be as comfortable as his altered circumstances
could readily make them. And now, in the midst of this great and
responsible work, he found time to "run down" to Eskdale (very
different "running down" from that which we ourselves can do by the
London and North Western Railway), to see his aged mother once more
before she died. What a meeting that must have been, between the poor
old widow of the Eskdale shepherd, and her successful son, the county
surveyor of Shropshire, and engineer of the great and important
Ellesmere Canal!

While Telford was working busily upon his wonderful canal, he had many
other schemes to carry out of hardly less importance, in connection
with his appointment as county surveyor. His beautiful iron bridge
across the Severn at Buildwas was another application of his favourite
metal to the needs of the new world that was gradually growing up in
industrial England; and so satisfied was he with the result of his
experiment (for though not absolutely the first, it was one of the
first iron bridges ever built) that he proposed another magnificent
idea, which unfortunately was never carried into execution. Old London
Bridge had begun to get a trifle shaky; and instead of rebuilding it,
Telford wished to span the whole river by a single iron arch, whose
splendid dimensions would have formed one of the most remarkable
engineering triumphs ever invented. The scheme, for some good reason,
doubtless, was not adopted; but it is impossible to look at Telford's
grand drawing of the proposed bridge--a single bold arch, curving
across the Thames from side to side, with the dome of St. Paul's rising
majestically above it--without a feeling of regret that such a noble
piece of theoretical architecture was never realized in actual fact.

Telford had now come to be regarded as the great practical authority
upon all that concerned roads or communications; and he was reaping the
due money-reward of his diligence and skill. Every day he was called
upon to design new bridges and other important structures in all parts
of the kingdom, but more especially in Scotland and on the Welsh
border. Many of the most picturesque bridges in Britain, which ev