forward to write his biography. Before he
turned a sod of his new water channel, he
obtained a strictly legal conveyance from the
London corporation, of all authority vested in
them under their several acts of parliament
concerning the water supply. In his dealings with
water consumers, after his works were finished,
and he was established with his partners as a
water-seller, he showed no particular sentimental
liberality. His bills, no doubt, were punctually
delivered; and payment was promptly demanded,
on a scale—to judge by specimens preserved in
local records—which showed him anxious to
get as much money for as little water as possible.
In 1616, he granted a lease for twenty-one years
to a citizen and his wife of "a pipe or quill of
half an inch bore, for the service of their yarde
and kitchine, by means of tooe of the smallest
swan-necked cockes, in consideration of the
yearly sum of twenty-six shillings and eightpence."
The water then was accused of being
muddy, and several rival schemes were put
forward by rival speculators.

The work he had to do, and the difficulties
he had to surmount, were, no doubt, enormous,
and we may give him credit for the skill, industry,
and perseverance he displayed, without investing
him with imaginary qualities. He had to
contend against the opposition of certain landed
proprietors through whose grounds he wished
to cut his channel, and against mechanical
obstacles which the slender engineering skill of
the time scarcely knew how to overcome. This
is how the New River came to have its chief
beauty—its winding course. He had to petition
the corporation for an extension of the time
granted him to complete the undertaking; and
this being conceded, he brought the water from
the springs of Chadwell and Amwell in
Hertfordshire as far as Enfield, when he discovered
that his funds were exhausted. He again
applied to the corporation—this time to induce
them to take a pecuniary interest in the
concern, or to grant him a loan. Both requests
were refused, on account of the great cost of the
enterprise, and the uncertainty of its profitable
results. In his extremity, he applied to King
James the First, and succeeded in inducing him
to take a half-share in the business, upon
condition that the king should pay all the cost of
that portion of the work which then remained
unexecuted. The firm from that hour became
practically Myddelton and James; and they
opened as dealers in water, when the New River
entered the reservoir now called the New River
Head, in the parish of Clerkenwell, with much
music and rejoicing, feasting, processions, and
reciting of poems, on the 29th of September,
1613.

Thus was finished one of the most beautiful
of artificial rivers; a winding channel forty-
eight miles in length, thirty feet deep in many
places, spanned by some eight hundred arches
in stone and wood, which had employed six
hundred men for more than five years. It was
disposed of in underground pipes of lead and
wood, "serving the highest parts of London in
their lower rooms, and lower parts of London
in their higher rooms."

CHAPTER IV.

THE New River—as the whole works are
still popularly called—is no more like it was,
than the fancy portrait of Master Hugh
Myddelton's character is probably like the original.*
One of the ancient springs—the old Amwell
spring—has entirely disappeared, having oozed
away silently, about 1830, into the bed of the
river Lea. The Chadwell spring, that mysterious,
circular, chalky pool, in the Hertfordshire
valley, which has been the drinking-fountain for
centuries of countless thirsty millions, no longer
gives forth drink with its accustomed liberality.
Springs, like men, must be allowed to grow
weary with work and old age, and must submit
to see younger followers rising up to supply
their place. The old river channel, winding
between flowers and grassy slopes, dipping under
roadways, flowing past cottages, churchyards,
and country taverns, has had its loops cut off,
at different times, until its length has been
reduced to something like twenty-eight miles, and
it now only counts as one reservoir amongst
many. Even the royal partnership was dissolved
by Charles the First, who re-granted to Sir Hugh
Myddelton, then a baronet, the half-share in the
undertaking, in consideration of an annual
payment into the Exchequer of five hundred pounds.
At this time the chartered enterprise was at
very low-water mark, and the act of "royal
bounty" may have been a prudent and selfish
act, produced by an application—or "call"—on
the part of Sir Hugh for more money. The
seventy-two parts into which the property is
now divided, are still counted as thirty-six
"adventurers'," and thirty-six "king's" shares, and
the royal annuity is still paid out of the profits
apportioned to the latter. It is a curious fact
that Hugh precluded James from taking any
part in the management of the company,
although he allowed a person to be present at
the meetings, to prevent injustice to his royal
principal. This preclusion still extends to the
holders of the royal shares. Probably the great
water-company projector had no faith in the
business talents of kings; or he may have
thought that majesty on board days would have
shown itself a little too radiant "in the chair."

* Mr. Samuel Smiles is preparing an elaborate
biography of Sir Hugh, the materials of which have
been gathered from unpublished documents. It will
probably enlighten the public on this last matter.

The original cost of the undertaking has to be
guessed, because all the documents of the
company were destroyed by a fire at their office in
Dorset-street, Fleet-street, in 1769. These
guesses have varied from five hundred thousand
to one hundred thousand pounds sterling; an
estimate of one hundred and fifty thousand
pounds being, perhaps, nearest to the mark.

The New River Company still holds the first
place in the present water system of London.
Its sources of supply are the old Chadwell
spring, before alluded to; four Artesian wells