work, for in 1590 it was still unfinished. It was, however, finally accomplished ; a succession of reservoirs at different levels was constructed, each communicating with the other, and through two mains of seven inch bore, the neighborhood of St. Giles was supplied. Originally these works belonged to the city of London, but in 1692 they were transferred to a company incorporated by the name of the Hampstead Water Co., which now furnish a daily average of 150 gallons of water each to about 2500 houses on the Hampstead Road, Kentish-town and Camden-town — all suburbs of the city. 52 PRELIMINARY ESSAY. Lambe's Conduit, was constructed at his own cost, by a gentleman of the name of Lambe, who belonged to the chapel royal of Henry VIIL, and who thus conferred great advantage on the populous neighborhood of Snow Hill. Numerous other conduits were established, from different spring heads, and at different times. These conduits were for the most part small, circular buildings, with a spacious basin within, into which flowed the water through leaden pipes, from the source, and thence was carried by watermen, who made it a business, or by the servants of the neighboring houses ; the vessels in which water was carried about were called tankards, holding about three gallons, and resembling in shape the cans used by milk-sellers. All the conduits were under the special supervision of the city authorities, whose animal visit to inspect their condition was quite a festival ; the aldermen proceeding on horseback, and having the diversion beforehand, of hunting the hare — the ladies following in wagons, to partake in the sport — and all assembling afterwards in the true spirit of corporation enjoyments, at a good dinner.* Like the Arabian fountains in the Alhambra, too, these conduits were made to pro- mote moral instruction, by short sentences inscribed on them. We annex one or two specimens : Upon the Conduit in Grateous (Gracechurch) Street. " Let money be a slave to thee, Yet keep his service if you can ; For if thy purse no money have, Thy person is but half a man." On that in Cornwall (Cornhill). "Bread, earned with honest, lab'ring hands, Tastes better than fruite of ill-gotte lands." " A man without mercy, of mercy shall misse, And he shall have mercy, that merciful is." On that in Cheapside. " Life is a debt which at that day, The poorest hath enough to pay." The whole supply of these conduits was soon found insufficient ; and, moreover, they furnished, not any of them, water within the houses. The desire of this conve- nience, and of a more abundant supply, led in 1581, the 23d of Queen Elizabeth, to a grant by the Lord Mayor and Commonalty, of a lease for 500 years, to a Dutchman named Peter Morice, who undertook, by machinery constructed under the first arch of London Bridge, to force water above its level, into a reservoir that should distribute it into the upper parts of the adjoining houses. This was the origin of the London Bridge Water * Stowe ; Survey of London. PRELIMINARY ESSAY. 53 Works, which for centuries afterwards furnished the chief supply of the city. The Dutchman succeeded so well with his first wheel — for it was nothing else than a water wheel, driven by the tide and acting upon a series of forcing pumps — that two years afterwards, a similar lease of 500 years was granted to him for the second arch. In the Philosophical Transactions, for the year 1731, Mr. Beighton, an engineer, gives a detailed description of the London Bridge Water Works, which, though increased in extent and number of wheels, preserved the original design of Morice. There were then three water wheels, each operating upon 16 pumps. The wheels and machinery were fixed in a strong frame of oak, that rose and fell with the tide, which, whether ebbing or flowing, imparted motion to the wheels. The whole yield of all the pumps was 1954 hogsheads per hour.* The lease and management of these works, continued in Morice's family till 1701, when, finding the profits diminished by the competition of the New River Company r, the proprietor sold out for £38,000, to one Soames, citizen and goldsmith of London, who made a joint stock of the concern, and obtained from the corporation the lease of another arch. Subsequently the use of two more arches was granted to the company, and thus enlarged, the works were vigorously carried on — a considerable portion of the inhabitants of the city, both experiencing and acknowledging their utility. The revenue, however, was not large, as the distribution had originally been made through wooden pipes, which were found incapable of sustaining the pressure necessary for conveying water to