dressed, present a really distinguished appearance. He seemed to be
possessed of two opposite natures--the rough and the smooth. It was said
that once, on a Royal Duke visiting Liverpool, he received a salute from
Williamson, and was so struck with its gracefulness that he inquired who
he was, and remarked that "it was the most courtly bow he had seen out of
St. James's." Williamson was very fond of children. The voice of a
little one could at any time soothe him when irritable. He used to say
of them, "Ah, there's no deceit in children. If I had had some, I should
not have been the _arch_-rogue I am.". The industrious poor of Edge-hill
found in Williamson a ready friend in time of need, and when work was
slack many a man has come to the pay-place on Saturday, who had done
nothing all the week but dig a hole and fill it up again. Once, on being
remonstrated with by a man he had thus employed, on the uselessness of
the work, Williamson said, "You do as you are told--you honestly earn the
money by the sweat of your brow, and the mistress can go to market on
Saturday night--I don't want you to think." He often regaled his
work-people with a barrel of ale or porter, saying they "worked all the
better for their throats being wetted." His vast excavations when they
were in their prime, so to speak, must have been proof of the great
numbers of men he employed. He always said that he never made a penny by
the sale of the stone. He gave sufficient, I believe, to build St.
Jude's Church. He used vast quantities on his own strange structures.

A lady of my acquaintance once caught Williamson intently reading a book.
She inquired its purport. He evaded the question, but being pressed,
told her it was the Bible, and expressed a wish that he had read much
more of it, and studied it, and that he always found something new in it
every time he opened it. This lady said that the touching way, the
graceful expression of Mr. Williamson's manner, when he said this, took
her completely by surprise, having been only accustomed to his roughness
and ruggedness. He added, "The Bible tells me what a rascal I am." Mr.
Stephenson, the great engineer, inspected the excavations, and it was
with pride Mr. Williamson repeated Mr. Stephenson's expressions of high
estimation of his works. Mr. Stephenson said they were the most
astonishing works he had ever seen in their way. When the tunnel to
Lime-street from Edge-hill was in progress,