there was no Black Country.
Charcoal was employed in the manufacture of hardware, and the Sussex
iron works produced a small quantity of pig-iron at a great cost. Fuel
was giving out, and England, rich in iron, imported over 49,000 tons of
iron a year from Russia and Sweden. The discovery that coal and coke
could be used for smelting was made about 1750, and in 1760 a new era in
the manufacture was ushered in by the foundation of the Carron
ironworks, which had blast furnaces for coal. The improvements in
Newcomen's steam engine, effected by Watt between 1765 and 1782,
facilitated smelting by coal by providing the furnaces with a stronger
blast. In 1783-4 Cort of Gosport invented processes for converting
pig-iron into malleable by the use of coal, and for converting malleable
iron into bars by rollers, instead of sledge-hammers. Iron became cheap
and was used for purposes never dreamt of a few years before; the first
iron bridge crossed the Severn at Coalbrookdale in 1779. By 1796 the use
of charcoal had almost ceased, and the produce of blast furnaces had
risen from 68,300 tons in 1788 to over 125,000 tons. Vast iron works
were established in the coal districts, which soon ceased to be
agricultural. Among the many other manufactures expanded by new
processes was that of pottery. In 1760 Staffordshire stoneware was rough
and badly glazed, and much ware was imported from France. A few years
later Wedgwood succeeded in producing a ware at his works at Etruria
which was superior to any brought from abroad; it was largely used in
England, and five-sixths of the produce of his works was exported.

[Sidenote: _THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION._]

The increasing call for coal both for manufacture and for fuel and the
needs consequent on the growth of trade and the expansion of agriculture
were met by greater facilities of transport. Roads, though they were
gradually improved, could not have answered the demands for the
conveyance of the ever-increasing bulk of heavy goods. A better method
was found in the introduction of canals by the third Duke of
Bridgewater. The canal between Worsley and Manchester, made by him and
his engineer, Brindley, and opened in 1761, enabled the Manchester
people to buy the duke's coal at 3-1/2d. instead of 7d. a cwt.; its
extension to Runcorn reduced the cost of carriage by water between
Liverpool and Manchester from 12s. to 6s. a ton, while by road it was
40s.; and the Grand Trunk canal from Runcorn to