The work was fatiguing, but the open air life seemed to give him new vigour, and his health was reestablished.

The work had interested him much, and he believed that an immense tract of bog might be reclaimed.  The obstacles he foresaw were want of capital and the danger of litigation.  As long as the bogs were unprofitable there was no incitement to a strict definition of boundaries, but if the land was reclaimed many lawsuits would follow.  Maria thus describes the difficulties encountered by her father:—­’He wished to undertake the improvement of a large tract of bog in his neighbourhood, and for this purpose desired to purchase it from the proprietor; but the proprietor had not the power or the inclination to sell it.  My father, anxious to try a decisive experiment on a large scale, proposed to rent it from him, and offered a rent, till then unheard of, for bogland.  The proprietor professed himself satisfied to accept the proposal, provided my father would undertake to indemnify him for any expense to which he might be put by future lawsuits concerning the property or boundaries of this bog.  He was aware that if he were to give a lease for a long term, even for sixty years, this would raise the idea that the bog would become profitable; and still further, if ever it should be really improved and profitable, it would become an object of contention and litigation to many who might fancy they had claims, which, as long as the bog was nearly without value, they found it not worth while to urge.  It was impossible to enter into the \ insurance proposed, and, consequently, he could not obtain this tract of bog, or further prosecute his plan.  The same sort of difficulty must frequently recur.  Parts of different estates pass through extensive tracts of bog, of which the boundaries are uncertain.  The right to cut the turf is usually vested in the occupiers of adjoining farms; but they are at constant war with each other about boundaries, and these disputes, involving the original grants of the lands, hundreds of years ago, with all subsequent deeds and settlements, appear absolutely interminable. . . .

’It may not be at present a question of much interest to the British public, because no such large decisive experiment as was proposed has yet been tried as to the value and attainableness of the object; but its magnitude and importance are incontestable, the whole extent of peat soil in Ireland exceeding, as it is confidently pronounced, 2,830,000 acres, of which about half might be converted to the general purposes of agriculture.’

It was in 1811 that Edgeworth constructed, ’upon a plan of his own invention, a spire for the church of Edgeworth Town.  This spire was formed of a skeleton of iron, covered with slates, painted and sanded to resemble Portland stone.  It was put together on the ground within the tower of the church, and when finished it was drawn up at once, with the assistance of counterbalancing weights, to the top of the tower, and there to be fixed in its place.