e evidence the records of history, give greater
weight and effect to the lessons she may teach.

The situation in which this stone is at present placed, has often been
thought improper; for it is undoubtedly exposed to injuries from the
wantonness of play, and is so little conspicuous from its place in the
obelisk, that nothing appears necessarily to attract the attention of the
stranger. A situation more private, though not wholly so, would be more
proper; such a one as the garden of the Infirmary would afford: it would
there have all the publicity the curious could wish, and all the security
the antiquary could desire.

Our visitor, continuing his walk along this street, which, as he probably
will know, is on the great road from the metropolis to the north-west
part of the kingdom, arrives at a scene of busy traffic. Here, among
numbers of newly-erected dwellings (proofs of the increasing population
of the town) is the public and principal wharf on the navigable canal,
near which is an iron foundery. This canal was formed, in consequence of
a bill passed in 1791, for the purpose of opening a communication with
the Loughborough canal, and through that, with the various navigations,
united to the Trent. The line of the canal from Leicester to
Loughborough is near sixteen miles in extent, and serves to supply
Leicester with coal, lime, and the greater part of all the other heavy
articles, which the consumption of a place, containing sixteen thousand
inhabitants, requires.

The rates of tonnage, according to the act, from Loughborough to
Leicester, are--

For coals 1s. 2d. per ton.
Iron, timber, &c. 2s. 6d.

Quantity of the articles brought by this canal:

_tons_
Coal annually consumed in Leicester and its vicinity 35,000
Ditto forwarded to other canals 18,000
Merchandize for Leicester 4,000
Ditto sent down (chiefly wool) 1,600

Thus, whether we consider the saving of corn, &c. consumed by the horses
employed in land carriage, the comparative cheapness of the conveyance,
or the improved state of our roads, relieved from such heavy weights, it
must be acknowledged that this canal adds more than might have been
expected to the convenience of Leicester, and the greater part of its
county. Indeed, these _water-roads_, as navigable canals