it over the lesser glen of a minor tributary, the Ceriog. Both
these beautiful works were designed and carried out entirely by
Telford. They differ from many other great modern engineering
achievements in the fact that, instead of spoiling the lovely
mountain scenery into whose midst they have been thrown, they
actually harmonize with it and heighten its natural beauty. Both
works, however, are splendid feats, regarded merely as efforts of
practical skill; and the larger one is particularly memorable for
the peculiarity that the trough for the water and the elegant
parapet at the side are both entirely composed of iron. Nowadays,
of course, there would be nothing remarkable in the use of such a
material for such a purpose; but Telford was the first engineer to
see the value of iron in this respect, and the Pont Cysylltau
aqueduct was one of the earliest works in which he applied the new
material to these unwonted uses. Such a step is all the more
remarkable, because Telford's own education had lain entirely in
what may fairly be called the "stone age" of English engineering;
while his natural predilections as a stonemason might certainly
have made him rather overlook the value of the novel material. But
Telford was a man who could rise superior to such little accidents
of habit or training; and as a matter of fact there is no other
engineer to whom the rise of the present "iron age" in engineering
work is more directly and immediately to be attributed than to
himself.

Meanwhile, the Eskdale pioneer 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