Historical memoir of the family of Eglinton and Winton

88 THE FAMILY OF
intermission, and with unabated ardour, did his
lordship proceed with this great undertaking down
to the close of his unwearied life ; but though pro-
bably he had expended not less than from two to
three hundred thousand pounds sterling upon it, he
had as yet little or no encouragement from his la-
bours beyond the hope of future fame and reward
to his successors, both of which are now being re-
alised far above the most sanguine expectations
which could have been entertained by any one.
Originally there was connected with these gigantic
works the purpose of a barge canal bewixt this har-
bour and the city of Glasgow ; and by about the end
of the year 1810, this was executed from the latter
place as far westward as the town of Johnstone.
But the taiut of all national prosperity lay in the
dark unyielding anti-commercial principles of the
government for more than an entire generation sub-
sequent to that narrow bigotted period : and indeed
it was not until science had disclosed the miraculous
powers of the railway, and the immortal Peel came
to establish the all-wise free-trade policy, that the
great capabilities of Ardrossan began to manifest
themselves and to be understood. Since which time,
however, its progress and prosperity has been quite
unequalled anywhere on the west coast north of
the great emporium of Liverpool itself; and not-
withstanding the ample scale on which everything
was at first constructed, great extension of harbour
accommodation already is felt to be indispensable.
Indeed, the time is perhaps not distant when the