engaged in forming his mind: a young man once fairly launched in life
may safely confine himself for a time to the studies that bear directly
upon his own special chosen subject. The thing that Telford began
closely to investigate was--lime. Now, lime makes mortar; and without
lime, accordingly, you can have no mason. But to know anything really
about lime, Telford found he must read some chemistry; and to know
anything really about chemistry he must work at it hard and
unremittingly. A strict attention to one's own business, understood in
this very broad and liberal manner, is certainly no bad thing for any
struggling handicraftsman, whatever his trade or profession may happen
to be.

In 1786, when Telford was nearly thirty, a piece of unexpected good luck
fell to his lot. And yet it was not so much good luck as due recognition
of his sterling qualities by a wealthy and appreciative person. Long
before, while he was still in Eskdale, one Mr. Pulteney, a man of social
importance, who had a large house in the bleak northern valley, had
asked his advice about the repairs of his own mansion. We may be sure
that Telford did his work on that occasion carefully and well; for now,
when Mr. Pulteney wished to restore the ruins of Shrewsbury Castle as a
dwelling-house, he sought out the young mason who had attended to his
Scotch property, and asked him to superintend the proposed alterations
in his Shropshire castle. Nor was that all: by Mr. Pulteney's influence,
Telford was shortly afterwards appointed to be county surveyor of public
works, having under his care all the roads, bridges, gaols, and public
buildings in the whole of Shropshire. Thus the Eskdale shepherd-boy rose
at last from the rank of a working mason, and attained the well-earned
dignity of an engineer and a professional man.

Telford had now a fair opportunity of showing the real stuff of which he