Page:A tour through the northern counties of England, and the borders of Scotland - Volume II.djvu/222

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part taken off by the Birmingham Canal, which, connected with others, forms a communication be- tween this place and all parts of England. The po- pulation is about 19,000. The country for several miles to the eastward of Wolverhampton, as we tra- velled towards Birmingham, is quite a land of Cy- clopses; spotted in all directions with vast works, for the preparation of iron; founderies, slitting-mills, and steam-engines; pouring out flames and smoke, and forming a sight truly tremendous to those who are unaccustomed to the operations of these large manufactories. Add to this, the appearance of a soil of fire, where the earth literally burns visibly to the eye, and the no less fearful sight of vast heaps of red-hot coke on all sides, the fiend-like look of the dingy workmen managing the liquid flaming metal; and the horrible din of engines and bellows, the rushing of the steam, and the roaring of the flame, and nothing carried on in the haunts of men can give so compleat an idea of the appear- ances which we conceive those places would repre- sent, where " the worm dieth not, and the fire is ' not quenched." Such are the vast works of Bradeley to the right of Bilston, belonging to Mr. Wilkinson; and the lesser of inferior iron-masters, around and beyond that place. The surface of the ground also is scarred and broken in all directions.

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