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diff --git a/13271.txt b/13271.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..006ade0 --- /dev/null +++ b/13271.txt @@ -0,0 +1,10389 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Rides on Railways, by Samuel Sidney + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Rides on Railways + +Author: Samuel Sidney + +Release Date: August 25, 2004 [eBook #13271] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RIDES ON RAILWAYS*** + + +This eBook was prepared by Les Bowler, St. Ives, Dorset. + + + + + +RIDES ON RAILWAYS +by Samuel Sidney. + + +PREFACE. + + +The following pages are an attempt to supply something amusing, instructive, +and suggestive to travellers who, not caring particularly where they go, or +how long they stay at any particular place, may wish to know something of the +towns and districts through which they pass, on their way to Wales, the Lakes +of Cumberland, or the Highlands of Scotland; or to those who, having a brief +vacation, may wish to employ it among pleasant rural scenes, and in +investigating the manufactures, the mines, and other sources of the commerce +and influence of this small island and great country. + +In performing this task, I have relied partly on personal observation, partly +on notes and the memory of former journeys; and where needful have used the +historical information to be found in cyclopaedias, and local guide-books. + +This must account for, if it does not excuse, the unequal space devoted to +districts with equal claims to attention. But it would take years, if not a +lifetime, to render the manuscript of so discursive a work complete and +correct. + +I feel that I have been guilty of many faults of commission and omission; but +if the friends of those localities to which I have not done justice will take +the trouble to forward to me any facts or figures of public general interest, +they shall be carefully embodied in any future edition, should the book, as I +hope it will, arrive at such an honour and profit. + +S. S. + +LONDON, AUGUST, 1851. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +LONDON AND NORTH WESTERN RAILWAY +EUSTON STATION +THE MIXED TRAIN +CAMDEN STATION +AYLESBURY +WOBURN AND BEDFORD +THE BUCKS RAILWAY +BANBURY +OXFORD +WOLVERTON STATION +BLISWORTH, NORTHAMPTON +WEEDON +RUGBY AND ITS RAILWAYS +ARNOLD AND HIS SCHOOL +COVENTRY TO BIRMINGHAM +BIRMINGHAM +WARWICK, LEAMINGTON, KENILWORTH, STRATFORD-ON-AVON +SOHO +THE BLACK COUNTRY (WALSALL, DUDLEY, WEDNESBURY, DARLASTON) +STAFFORD +LIVERPOOL +MANCHESTER +THE ROAD TO YORKSHIRE +YORKSHIRE +LEEDS +THROUGH LINCOLNSHIRE TO SHEFFIELD +SHEFFIELD +DERBYSHIRE +FROM CHESTER TO NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE +THE LAKES +HOME + + + + +LIST OF ENGRAVINGS. + + +EUSTON SQUARE, LONDON +HARROW-ON-THE-HILL +VIADUCT OVER THE RIVER COLNE, NEAR WATFORD +LOOKING FROM THE HILL ABOVE BOXMOOR STATION TOWARDS BERKHAMSTED +BERKHAMSTED STATION +LEIGHTON BUZZARD +DENBIGH HALL BRIDGE +THE WOLVERTON VIADUCT +BRIDGE IN THE BLISWORTH EMBANKMENT +VIEW FROM TOP OF KILSBY TUNNEL, LOOKING TOWARDS RUGBY +COVENTRY +THE SHERBORNE VIADUCT, NEAR COVENTRY +THE AVON VIADUCT +THE ASTON VIADUCT +ASTON HALL +NEWTON ROAD STATION, NEAR BIRMINGHAM +THE RAILWAY NEAR PENKRIDGE +STAFFORD +VIEW NEAR WHITMORE +VALE-ROYAL VIADUCT +EXCAVATION AT HARTFORD +VIADUCT OVER THE MERSEY AND MERSEY AND IRWELL CANAL, KINGSTON +THE DUTTON VIADUCT +THE WARRINGTON VIADUCT + + + + +LONDON AND NORTH WESTERN RAILWAY. + + +According to Mr. Punch, one of the greatest authorities of the day on all +such subjects, the nearest way to Euston Station is to take a cab; but those +who are not in a hurry may take advantage of the omnibuses that start from +Gracechurch Street and Charing Cross, traversing the principal thoroughfares +and calling at the George and Blue Boar, Holborn, the Green Man and Still, +Oxford Street, and the Booking Offices in Regent Circus. + +Euston, including its dependency, Camden Station, is the greatest railway +port in England, or indeed in the world. It is the principal gate through +which flows and reflows the traffic of a line which has cost more than +twenty-two millions sterling; which annually earns more than two millions and +a-half for the conveyance of passengers, and merchandise, and live stock; and +which directly employs more than ten thousand servants, beside the tens of +thousands to whom, in mills or mines, in ironworks, in steam-boats and +coasters, it gives indirect employment. What London is to the world, Euston +is to Great Britain: there is no part of the country to which railway +communication has extended, with the exception of the Dover and Southampton +lines, which may not be reached by railway conveyance from Euston station. + +The Buckinghamshire lines from Bletchley open the way through Oxford to all +the Western counties, only interrupted by the break of gauge. The +Northampton and Peterborough, from Blisworth, proceeds to the Eastern coast +of Norfolk and Lincoln. At Rugby commences one of several roads to the +North, either by Leicester, Nottingham, and Lincoln, or by Derby and +Sheffield; and at Rugby, too, we may either proceed to Stafford by the direct +route of the Trent Valley, a line which is rendered classical by the memory +of Sir Robert Peel, who turned its first sod with a silver spade and honoured +its opening by a celebrated speech; or we may select the old original line +through Coventry, Birmingham, and Wolverhampton, passing through a network of +little railways leading to Warwick and Leamington, the result of unprofitable +competition. A continuation of the Trent Valley line intersects the Pottery +district, where the cheapest Delft and the most exquisite specimens of China +ware are produced with equal success; and thus we reach Liverpool and +Manchester by the straightest possible line. + +At Stafford we can turn off to Shrewsbury and Chester, or again following the +original route arrive at Crewe, the great workshop and railway town of the +London and North Western. Crewe affords an ample choice of routes--1st, to +Leeds by Stockport (with a branch to Macclesfield) and Huddersfield, or from +Leeds to York, or to Harrogate, and so on by the East Coast line through +Durham, Newcastle, and Berwick, to Edinburgh; 2dly, direct to Manchester; +3rdly, to Warrington, Newton, Wigan, and the North, through the salt mining +country; and, 4thly, to Chester. At Chester we may either push on to Ireland +by way of the Holyhead Railway, crossing the famous Britannia Tubular Bridge, +or to Birkenhead, the future rival of Liverpool. + +At Liverpool steamers for America warranted to reach New York in ten days are +at our command; or, leaving commerce, cotton, and wool, we may ride through +Proud Preston and Lancaster to Kendal and Windermere and the Lake district; +or, pressing forward through "Merry Carlisle," reach Gretna at a pace that +defies the competition of fathers and guardians, and enter Scotland on the +direct road to Glasgow, and, if necessary, ride on to Aberdeen and Perth. + +A short line from Camden Station opens a communication with the East and West +India Docks and the coast of Essex, and another, three miles and a half in +length, from Willesden Station, will shortly form a connexion with the South +Western, and thereby with all the South and Western lines from Dover to +Southampton. + +The railway system, of which the lines above enumerated form so large a part, +is barely twenty-five years old: in that space of time we have not only +supplied the home market but taught Europe and America to follow our example; +even Egypt and India will soon have their railways, and we now look with no +more surprise on the passage of a locomotive with a few hundred passengers or +tons of goods than on a wheelbarrow or Patent Hansom Cab. Grouse from +Aberdeen, fat cattle from Norfolk, piece goods from Manchester, hardwares +from Sheffield, race horses from Newmarket, coals from Leicestershire, and +schoolboys from Yorkshire, are despatched and received, for the distance of a +few hundred miles, with the most perfect regularity, as a matter of course. +We take a ticket to dine with a friend in Chester or Liverpool, or to meet +the hounds near Bletchley or Rugby, as calmly as we engage a cab to go a +mile; we consider twenty miles an hour disgustingly slow, and grumble awfully +at a delay of five minutes in a journey of a hundred miles. Millions have +been spent in order to save an hour and a half between London and Liverpool; +yet there are plenty of men not much past thirty who remember when all +respectable plain practical common sense men looked upon the project for a +railway between London and Birmingham as something very wild if not very +wicked; and who remember too, that in winter the journey from London to +Liverpool often occupied them twenty-two hours, costing 4 pounds inside and 2 +pounds out, besides having to walk up the steepest hills in Derbyshire,--the +same journey which is now completed in six hours at a cost of 2 pounds 5s., +and in twelve hours for 16s. 9d., by the Parliamentary train in an enclosed +carriage. + +It may be perhaps a useful wholesome lesson to those who are in the habit of +accepting as their just due--without thought, without thankfulness--the last +best results of the industry and ingenuity of centuries, if, before entering +the massive portals of Euston Station, we dig up a few passages of the early +history of railways from dusty Blue Books and forgotten pamphlets. + +In 1826, the project of a railway from Liverpool to Manchester came before a +Committee of the House of Commons, and, after a long investigation, the +principle was approved, but the bill thrown out in consequence of defects in +the survey. The promoters rested their case entirely on a goods' traffic, to +be conveyed at the rate of six or seven miles an hour. The engineer was +George Stephenson, the father of the railway system, a man of genius, who, +although he clearly foresaw the ultimate results of his project, had neither +temper nor tact enough to conciliate the ignorant obstinacy of his opponents; +in fact, he was a very bad witness and a very great man. It is curious, in +reading the evidence, to observe the little confidence the counsel for the +bill had in their engineer, and the contempt with which the counsel for the +opposition treated him. The promoters of the railway expected few +passengers, hoped to lower the rates of the canals, and had not made up their +minds whether to employ locomotives or horses; George Stephenson looked +forward confidently at that same period to conveying the greater portion of +the goods and passenger traffic by a complete railway system; but he either +would not or could not explain the grounds of his confidence, and therefore +we find Mr. Harrison, the most eminent Parliamentary counsel of that day, +speaking in the following insolent strain of a man whose genius he and his +friends were unable to appreciate:-- + +"Every part of this scheme shows that this man (George Stephenson) has +applied himself to a subject of which he has no knowledge, and to which he +has no science to apply. . . . . When we set out with the original +prospectus, we were to gallop at the rate of twelve miles an hour, with the +aid of the devil in the form of a locomotive, sitting as postillion on the +fore horse. But the speed of these locomotives has slackened. The learned +Sergeant would like to go seven, but he will be content with six miles an +hour. I will show that he cannot go six. Practically, or for any useful +purposes, they may go at something more than four miles an hour. The wind +will affect them: any gale of wind which would affect the traffic on the +Mersey, would render it impossible to set off a locomotive engine, either by +poking the fire, or keeping up the pressure of the steam until the boiler +burst. A shower of rain retards a railway, and snow entirely stops it." + +In reply, Mr. Adams modestly observed, "I should like my learned friend to +have pointed out any part of the publication in favour of the Liverpool and +Manchester Railway, which justified his statement that we professed that +goods were to be carried at the rate of twelve miles an hour; we have proved +that they can be carried at seven miles an hour, and it was never intended +they should be conveyed at a higher rate." + +In the following year the Liverpool and Manchester Bill was carried, and in +1830 the career of the civilizing locomotive commenced, but it took many more +years to convince "Practical men" that the Railway would successfully compete +with the Coach and Canal. + +When, in 1831, the scheme of a Railway between London and Birmingham was made +public, a very clever pamphlet appeared under the title of "Beware the +Bubbles," in which we find the following comical prognostications of the +results of Railways:-- + +"After all, what advantage does the London and Birmingham Railway hold out? +Only one,--celerity of motion; and, after all, the ten miles an hour is +absolutely slower than the coaches, some of which go as fast as eleven or +twelve miles an hour; and, with the length of time that the engine and its +cumbrous train requires ere it can stop, and the other contingencies, there +would be little difference in the time of a twelve miles an hour coach and a +fifteen miles an hour engine, supposing twenty or thirty stoppages, to pick +up little parcels, between London and Birmingham. The conveyance is not so +safe as by coach." + +After enumerating a series of theoretical dangers, he proceeds. "Another +consideration, which would deter invalids, ladies, and children from making +use of the Railway, would be want of accommodation along the line, unless the +Directors of the Railway chose to build inns at their own expense. But those +inns the Directors would have, in great part, to support, because they would +be out of the way of any business except that arising from the Railway, and +that would be trifling. Commercial travellers would never, by any chance, go +by the Railroad. The occasional traveller, who went the same route for +pleasure, would go by the coach-road also, because of the cheerful company +and comfortable dinner. + +"Not one of the nobility, the gentry, or those who travel in their own +carriages, would really like to be drawn at the tail of a train of waggons, +in which some hundreds of bars of iron were jingling with a noise that would +drown all the bells of the district, and in momentary apprehension of having +his vehicle broken to pieces, and himself killed or crippled by the collision +of those thirty-two ton masses. Even if a man had no carriage of his own, +what inducement could he have to take so ungainly a conveyance. Three hours +is more than the maximum difference by which the ordinary speed of coaches +could be exceeded; and it is not one traveller in a thousand to whom an +arrival in London and Birmingham three hours sooner would be of the slightest +consequence. + +"Then as to goods. The only goods that require velocity in coming to London, +are ribands from Coventry. Half the luggage room of a coach, on a Saturday +night, is quite adequate to the conveyance of them. The manufacturers of +Coventry will never be such fools as to send their property on an errand by +which it must travel further and fare worse. For heavy goods, the saving by +canal would be as twelve to one, beside the perfect safety. In the canal +boat there is no danger of fracture, even to the most delicate goods; +whereas, if fine China goods were to be brought by the rapid waggons, the +breakage would probably be twenty-five per cent. + +"As to the profits of the undertaking let us be extravagantly liberal. +Suppose that the Railway was to get one-third of the goods, as well as one- +third of the passengers, see what they would make of it:-- + +One-third of the Goods . . . 96,540 pounds +One-third of the Passengers . 30,240 + -------- + 126,780 pounds + -------- +Annual expenses . . . . . 385,000 pounds +Returns. . . . . . . . 126,780 + -------- +Annual deficiency . . . . 258,220 pounds + -------- + To meet an outlay of 7,500,000 pounds. + +"But the probability is that canals would reduce their rates one-half; and +thus, competing wholesomely, extinguish the railway. The coach-masters would +do the same thing--run for twelve months at half the present fares, and then +not one man in his senses would risk his bones on the railway. The +innkeepers would follow a course precisely similar, and give nice smoking +dinners, foaming tankards and bottles of beeswing at so cheap a rate, and +meet their customers with so good humoured faces, and do so many of those +kind offices that legions would flock to the hospitable road. And while all +this was going on, and the thousands of men which the authors of this +ridiculous scheme had expected to send upon the parish were thriving, the +solitary stranger who had nobody to tell him better would go swinging at the +tail of the engine, bumping first on the iron plates on this side and then on +the iron plates on that side; and if he escaped being scalded to death by the +bursting of his engine, or having all his bones broken by collision with +another, he would be fain to rest for the night within some four bare walls +and gnaw a mouldy crust which he brought in his pocket, or, as an alternative +of luxury, wade some ten miles through the mire, and feast upon a rasher of +rusty bacon and a tankard of the smallest ale at the nearest hedge alehouse." + +All this now sounds inexpressibly droll, and yet this prophet of evil was not +entirely wrong; nay, in some important particulars he was more right than the +railway promoters, whom he so heartily detested. The railway did cost nearly +seven millions instead of four millions as calculated by the projectors, and +the cost of working before the amalgamation with the Grand Junction did +amount to 380,000 pounds per annum: two figure facts which would have +effectually crushed speculation could they have been proved in 1831; but then +the per contra of traffic was equally astounding in its overflow, instead of +one-third of the existing traffic, or 126,780 pounds a-year allowed by the +pamphleteer, the London and Birmingham earned a gross revenue of nearly +900,000 pounds, while still leaving a traffic in heavy goods on the canals +sufficient to pay from 6 to 30 pounds per cent. to the proprietors, in spite +of a reduction of rates of upwards of 50 pounds per cent. Indeed this +traffic actually increased on the Grand Junction Canal, since the opening of +the Birmingham Railway, from 750,000 pounds in 1836, to 1,160,000 pounds in +1847. + +Perhaps on no point would the expectation of the most sanguine among the +early projectors of railways been more satisfactorily exceeded than in regard +to safety. Swiftness, and cheapness, and power, acute intelligent engineers +foresaw; but that millions of passengers should be whirled along at a speed +varying from twenty to fifty miles an hour with more safety than they could +have secured by walking a-foot, would have seemed an anticipation of the very +wildest character. Yet such is the case. In 1850, upwards of seventy +millions of souls were conveyed by railway; when eleven passengers were +killed and fifty-four injured, or less than one to each million of passengers +conveyed. + +Even at the risk of seeming trite, prosy, and common-place, it is right to +remind the young generation who consider the purchase of a railway ticket +gives them a right to grumble at a thousand imaginary defects and +deficiencies in railway management, how great are the advantages in +swiftness, economy, and safety, which they enjoy through the genius, +enterprise, and stubborn perseverance of George Stephenson and his friends +and pupils in 1825. + + + + +EUSTON STATION. + + +This station was an after-thought, the result of early experience in railway +traffic. Originally the line was to have ended at Camden Town, but a +favourable opportunity led to the purchase of fifteen acres, which has turned +out most convenient for the public and the proprietors. It is only to be +regretted that it was not possible to bring the station within a few yards of +the New Road, so as to render the stream of omnibuses between Paddington and +the City available, without compelling the passenger to perspire under his +carpet-bag, railway-wrapper, umbrella, and hat-box, all the way from the +platform to the edge of Euston Square. + +The great gateway or propylaeum is very imposing, and rather out of place; but +that is not the architect's fault. It cost thirty thousand pounds, and had +he been permitted to carry out his original design, no doubt it would have +introduced us to some classic fane in character with the lofty Titanic +columns: for instance, a temple to Mercury the winged messenger and god of +Mammon. But, as is very common in this country,--for familiar examples see +the London University, the National Gallery, and the Nelson Column,--the +spirit of the proprietors evaporated with the outworks; and the gateway leads +to a square court-yard and a building the exterior of which may be described, +in the language of guide books when referring to something which cannot be +praised, as "a plain, unpretending, stucco structure," with a convenient +wooden shed in front, barely to save passengers from getting wet in rainy +weather. + +[EUSTON SQUARE, LONDON: ill1.jpg] + +As Melrose should be seen by the fair moonlight, so Euston, to be viewed to +advantage, should be visited by the gray light of a summer or spring morning, +about a quarter to six o'clock, three-quarters of an hour before the starting +of the parliamentary train, which every railway, under a wise legislative +enactment, is compelled to run "once a-day from each extremity, with covered +carriages, stopping at every station, travelling at a rate of not less than +fifteen miles an hour, at a charge of one-penny per mile." We say wise, +because the competition of the Railway for goods, as well as passengers, +drove off the road not only all the coaches, on which, when light-loaded, +foot-sore travellers got an occasional lift, but all the variety of vans and +broad-wheeled waggons which afforded a slow but cheap conveyance between our +principal towns. + +At the hour mentioned, the Railway passenger-yard is vacant, silent, and as +spotlessly clean as a Dutchman's kitchen; nothing is to be seen but a tall +soldier-like policeman in green, on watch under the wooden shed, and a few +sparrows industriously yet vainly trying to get breakfast from between the +closely packed paving-stones. How different from the fat debauched-looking +sparrows who throve upon the dirt and waste of the old coach yards! + +It is so still, so open; the tall columns of the portico entrance look down +on you so grimly; the front of the booking-offices, in their garment of clean +stucco, look so primly respectable that you cannot help feeling ashamed of +yourself,--feeling as uncomfortable as when you have called too early on an +economically genteel couple, and been shown into a handsome drawing-room, on +a frosty day, without a fire. You cannot think of entering into a gossip +with the Railway guardian, for you remember that "sentinels on duty are not +allowed to talk," except to nursery maids. + +Presently, hurrying on foot, a few passengers arrive; a servant-maid carrying +a big box, with the assistance of a little girl; a neat punctual-looking man, +probably a banker's clerk on furlough; and a couple of young fellows in +shaggy coats, smoking, who seem, by their red eyes and dirty hands, to have +made sure of being up early by not going to bed. A rattle announces the +first omnibus, with a pile of luggage outside and five inside passengers, two +commercial travellers, two who may be curates or schoolmasters, and a brown +man with a large sea-chest. At the quarter, the scene thickens; there are +few Hansoms, but some night cabs, a vast number of carts of all kinds, from +the costermonger's donkey to the dashing butcher's Whitechapel. There is +very little medium in parliamentary passengers about luggage, either they +have a cart-load or none at all. Children are very plentiful, and the +mothers are accompanied with large escorts of female relations, who keep +kissing and stuffing the children with real Gibraltar rock and gingerbread to +the last moment. Every now and then a well-dressed man hurries past into the +booking-office and takes his ticket with a sheepish air as if he was pawning +his watch. Sailors arrive with their chests and hammocks. The other day we +had the pleasure of meeting a travelling tinker with the instruments of his +craft neatly packed; two gentlemen, whose closely cropped hair and pale plump +complexion betokened a recent residence in some gaol or philanthropic +institution; an economical baronet, of large fortune; a prize fighter, going +down to arrange a little affair which was to come off the next day; a half- +pay officer, with a genteel wife and twelve children, on his way to a cheap +county in the north; a party of seven Irish, father, mother, and five grown- +up sons and daughters, on their way to America, after a successful residence +in London; a tall young woman and a little man, from Stamford, who had been +up to London to buy stone bottles, and carried them back rattling in a box; a +handsome dragoon, with a very pretty girl,--her eyes full of tears,--on his +arm, to see him off; another female was waiting at the door for the same +purpose, when the dragoon bolted, and took refuge in the interior of the +station. In a word, a parliamentary train collects,--besides mechanics in +search of work, sailors going to join a ship, and soldiers on furlough,--all +whose necessities or tastes lead them to travel economically, among which +last class are to be found a good many Quakers. It is pleasing to observe +the attention the poor women, with large families and piles of packages, +receive from the officers of the company, a great contrast to the neglect +which meets the poorly clad in stage-coach travelling, as may still be seen +in those districts where the rail has not yet made way. + +We cannot say that we exactly admire the taste of the three baronets whom a +railway superintendent found in one third-class carriage, but we must own +that to those to whom economy is really an object, there is much worse +travelling than by the Parliamentary. Having on one occasion gone down by +first-class, with an Oxford man who had just taken his M.A., an ensign of +infantry in his first uniform, a clerk in Somerset House, and a Manchester +man who had been visiting a Whig Lord,--and returned third-class, with a +tinker, a sailor just returned from Africa, a bird-catcher with his load, and +a gentleman in velveteens, rather greasy, who seemed, probably on a private +mission, to have visited the misdemeanour wards of all the prisons in England +and Scotland; we preferred the return trip, that is to say, vulgar and +amusing to dull and genteel. Among other pieces of information gleaned on +this occasion, we learned that "for a cove as didn't mine a jolly lot of +readin and writin, Readin was prime in winter; plenty of good vittles, and +the cells warmed." + +It must be remarked that the character of the Parliamentary varies very much +according to the station from which it starts. The London trains being the +worst, having a large proportion of what are vulgarly called "swells out of +luck." In a rural district the gathering of smock-frocks and rosy-faced +lasses, the rumbling of carts, and the size, number, and shape of the trunks +and parcels, afford a very agreeable and comical scene on a frosty, +moonlight, winter's morning, about Christmas time, when visiting commences, +or at Whitsuntide. No man who has a taste for studying the phases of life +and character should fail to travel at least once by the Parliamentary. + +The large cheap load having rumbled off from the south side of the station, +about nine o'clock preparations are commenced for the aristocratic Express, +which, on this line, is composed of first-class carriages alone, in which, at +half the price of the old mail coach fares, the principal stations on the +line are reached at railway speed. + +To attend the departure of this train, there arrive not only the republican +omnibi and cabs, from the damp night crawler to the rattling Hansom, but +carriages, with coronets and mitres emblazoned, guarded by the tallest and +most obsequious of footmen, and driven by the fattest and most lordly of +coachmen; also the neatest of broughams, adorned internally with pale pink +and blue butterfly bonnets; dashing dogcarts, with neat grooms behind, +mustached guardsmen driving; and stately cabriolets prance in, under the +guidance of fresh primrose-coloured gloves. + +But, although the passengers by the Express train are, in every respect, a +contrast to those by the Parliamentary, the universal and levelling tendency +of the railway system is not less plainly exhibited. + +The earl or duke, whose dignity formerly compelled him to post in a coupe and +four, at a cost of some five or six shillings a mile, and an immense +consumption of horse-flesh, wax-lights, and landladies' curtsies on the road, +now takes his place unnoticed in a first-class carriage next to a gentleman +who travels for a great claret and champagne house, and opposite another +going down express to report a railway meeting at Birmingham for a morning +paper. If you see a lady carefully and courteously escorted to a carriage +marked "engaged," on a blackboard, it is probably not a countess but the wife +of one of the principal officers of the company. A bishop in a greatcoat +creates no sensation; but a tremendous rush of porters and superintendents +towards one carriage, announces that a director or well-known engineer is +about to take his seat. In fact, civility to all, gentle and simple, is the +rule introduced by the English railway system; every porter with a number on +his coat is, for the time, the passenger's servant. Special attention is +bestowed on those who are personally known, and no one can grumble at that. +Some people, who have never visited the continent, or only visited it for +pleasure, travelling at their leisure, make comparisons with the railways of +France and Germany, unfavourable to the English system. Our railways are +dearer than the foreign, so is our government,--we make both ourselves; but +compare the military system of the continental railways; the quarter of an +hour for admission before the starting of the train, during which, if too +early or too late, you are locked out; the weighing of every piece of +baggage; the lordly commanding airs of all the officials if any relaxation of +rules be required; the insouciance with which the few porters move about, +leaving ladies and gentlemen to drag their own luggage;--compare all this with +the rapid manner in which the loads of half-a-dozen cabs, driving up from +some other railway at the last moment, are transferred to the departing +Express; compare the speed, the universal civility, attention, and honesty, +that distinguish our railway travelling, and you cannot fail to come to the +conclusion that for a commercial people to whom time is of value, ours is the +best article, and if we had not been a lawyer-ridden people we might also +have had the cheapest article. + +Before starting the Express train, we must not fail to note one new class of +passengers, recruited by the speed of railways, viz., the number of gentlemen +in breeches, boots, and spurs, with their pinks just peeping from under their +rough jackets, who, during the season, get down to Aylesbury, Bletchley, and +even Wolverton, to hunt, and back home again to dinner. But the signal +sounds. The express train moves off; two gentlemen at the last moment are, +in vain, crying out for Punch and the Times, while an unheeded hammering at +the closed door of the booking-office announces that somebody is too late. +There is always some one too late. On this occasion it was a young gentleman +in a pair of light top-boots, and a mamma and papa with half-a-dozen children +and two nursery-maids in a slow capacious fly. + +We cannot bestow unqualified praise upon the station arrangements at Euston. +Comfort has been sacrificed to magnificence. The platform arrangements for +departing and arriving trains are good, simple, and comprehensive; but the +waiting-rooms, refreshment stand, and other conveniences are as ill-contrived +as possible; while a vast hall with magnificent roof and scagliola pillars, +appears to have swallowed up all the money and all the light of the +establishment. + +The first-class waiting-room is dull to a fearful degree, and furnished in +the dowdiest style of economy. The second-class room is a dark cavern, with +nothing better than a borrowed light. + +The refreshment counters are enclosed in a sort of circular glazed pew, open +to all the drafts of a grand, cold, uncomfortable hall, into which few ladies +will venture. + +A refreshment-room should be the ante-room to the waiting-room, and the two +should be so arranged with reference to the booking-office and cloak-rooms, +that strangers find their way without asking a dozen questions from busy +porters and musing policemen. + +Euston Station reminds us of an architect's house, where a magnificent +portico and hall leads to dungeon-like dining-room, and mean drawing-room. +Why are our architects so inferior to our engineers? + +On the platform is the door of the telegraph office, which also has offices +for receiving and transmitting messages at all the principal stations. + + + + +THE MIXED TRAIN. + + +The Mixed train on this line holds an intermediate rank between the +Parliamentary and the Express, consisting as it does of first and second- +class carriages, at lower fares than the one and higher than the other, +stopping at fewer stations than the Parliamentary, and at more than the +Express; but worth notice on the present occasion, because it is by these +trains only that horses and carriages are allowed to be conveyed. + +Carriages require very careful packing on a truck. At the principal stations +this may be very well left to the practised porters, but at road-side +stations it is a point which should be looked to; for it has not unfrequently +happened that the jogging, lateral motion of the railway has heated the axles +of a carriage or truck, so that at the end of the journey the wheels have +been found as fast as if they had been welded, and quite unfit to travel. + +Travelling in a carriage on a truck is by no means safe: some years since +Lady Zetland and her maids were nearly burned to death, sparks from the +engine having set fire to their luggage. The maid threw herself off the +truck, and had an extraordinary escape. + +The arrangements of the boxes for carrying horses are now very complete, and +when once a horse, not of a naturally nervous disposition, has been +accustomed to travel by rail, it will often be found better to take him on to +hunt at a distance than to send him overnight to a strange place with all the +disadvantages of change of food, and temptations to neglect in the way of the +groom. It is, however, a class of traffic to which few of the railway +companies have paid much attention; yet, in our opinion, capable of great +development under a system of moderate fares, and day tickets. The rates are +not always stated in the time tables, but on the London and North Western a +day ticket for a horse costs fourteen shillings for thirty miles. + +Besides horses, packs of hounds, and even red deer are occasionally sent by +rail. But deer travel in their own private carriages. Hounds are generally +accompanied by the huntsman, or whip, to keep them in order. And on the +Great Western line a few years ago a huntsman was nearly stifled in this way. +The van had been made too snug and close for travelling comfortably with +twenty couple of warm fox-hounds. + +If there is the slightest doubt about a horse entering the van quietly, the +best way is to blindfold him before he becomes suspicious. Among other +pursuits, horse racing has been completely revolutionised by the rail. The +posting race-horse van was a luxury in which only the wealthiest could +indulge to a limited extent, but now the owner of a string of thoroughbreds, +or a single plater, can train in the South or the North, and in four and +twenty hours reach any leading course in the kingdom; carrying with him, if +deemed needful, hay, straw, and water. + +As we move slowly off toward Camden Station, by the fourth of the eighteen +passenger trains which daily depart from Euston, and emerging with light +whirl along within sight of rows of capital houses, whose gardens descend to +the edge of the cuttings, we are reminded that under the original act for +taking up Euston, it was specially provided, at the instance of Lord +Southampton, that no locomotive should be allowed to proceed further to the +south than Camden Town, lest his building land should remain neglected garden +land for ever. This promise was accepted with little reluctance by the +company, because in 1833 it was popularly considered that the ascent to reach +Camden Town could not be easily overcome by a heavily loaded locomotive. +Consequently a pair of stationary engines were erected at Camden Town, and a +pair of tall chimneys to carry off their smoke and steam. + +But the objections in taste, and difficulties in science, have vanished. On +this line, as on all others, tenants are readily found for houses fringing a +cutting; locomotives run up even such ascents as the Bromsgrove Lickey, +between Worcester and Birmingham, with a load of 500 tons. So ten minutes +have been saved in time, and much expense, by doing away with the rope +traction system. The stationary engines have been sold, and are now doing +duty in a flax mill in Russia, and the two tall columns, after slumbering for +several years as monuments of prejudices and obstacles overcome, were swept +away to make room for other improvements. + +It is, however, very odd, and not very creditable to human nature, that +whenever a railway is planned, the proprietors are assailed by unreasonable +demands for compensation, in cases where past experience has proved that the +works will be an advantageous, and often an ornamental addition. + +In 1846 a Sheffield line was vehemently opposed by a Liverpool gentleman, on +the ground that it would materially injure the prospect from a mansion, which +had been the seat of his ancestors for centuries. The tale was well told, +and seemed most pitiful; an impression was produced on the committee that the +privacy of something like Hatfield, or Knebworth, was about to be infringed +on by the "abominable railway." A stiff cross-examination brought out the +reluctant fact, however, that this "house of my ancestors," this beautiful +Elizabethan mansion had been for many years let as a Lunatic Asylum at 36 +pound per annum. + +In another instance a railway director sold a pretty country seat, because +the grounds were about to be intersected by a railway embankment; two years +after the completion of the railway he wished to buy it back again, for he +found that his successor, by turfing and planting the slope, had very much +increased the original beauty of the gardens. + + + + +CAMDEN STATION. + + +But thus gossiping, we have reached Camden Station, and must take advantage +of an unusual halt to look into the arrangements for building waggons and +trucks, and conveying coals, merchandise, goods, and all live stock included +between pigs and bullocks. + +Not without difficulty did Mr. Robert Stephenson succeed in inducing the +directors to purchase thirty acres of land here; it was only by urging, that, +if unused, the surplus could be sold at a profit, that he carried out his +views. Genius can foresee results which, to ordinary capacities, are dark +and incomprehensible. Since 1845 it has been found necessary to take in an +additional plot of three more acres, all now fully occupied. + +In no respect were the calculations of parties engaged in the construction of +railways more at fault than with regard to the station accommodation needed +for goods traffic, which, on the principal lines, has added full twenty-five +per cent. to the original estimates. George Stephenson calculated the cost +of getting over Chat Moss at 40,000 pounds; his opponent proved that it would +cost four hundred thousand: but it was executed at exactly the sum Stephenson +set down, while the capital involved in providing Station Room for +merchandise at Liverpool and at Manchester, has probably exceeded the +original estimate for the whole line. + +On this railway the increase of the goods traffic has been of very recent +date. At a very early period after the opening of the line, the merchandise +department became the monopoly of the great carriers, who found it answer +their purpose to divide the profits afforded by the discount allowed to +carriers by the railway company, without seeking to develop an increase of +occupation. Under this system, while carriers grew rich, the goods traffic +remained stationary. But when the amalgamation with the Grand Junction, +which had always been its own carrier, took place, a great reduction in rates +was made, as well as arrangements for encouraging the conveyance of every +kind of saleable article. The company became a common carrier, but employing +Messrs. Pickford, and Chaplin and Horne to collect goods. + +The result was a marvellous increase, which has been progressing ever since. + +A regular trade is now carried on between London and the most remote parts of +the kingdom in every conceivable thing that will bear moving. Sheep have +been sent from Perth to London, and Covent Garden has supplied tons of the +finer description of vegetables to the citizens of Glasgow; every Saturday +five tons of the best fish in season are despatched from Billingsgate to +Birmingham, and milk is conveyed in padlocked tins, from and beyond Harrow, +at the rate of about one penny per gallon. In articles which are imported +into both Liverpool and London, there is a constant interchange, according to +the state of the market; thus a penny per pound difference may bring a +hundred chests of congou up, or send as many of hyson down the line. All +graziers within a day of the rail are able to compete in the London market, +the probability of any extraordinary demand increases the number of beasts +arriving weekly at Camden Station from the average of 500 to 2000, and the +sheep from 2000 to 6000; and these animals can be brought from the furthest +grazing grounds in the kingdom without any loss of weight, and in much better +condition than the fat oxen were formerly driven to Smithfield from the rich +pastures round Aylesbury, or the Valley of the Thames. + +Camden station, under the alterations effected in 1848-9, has a double line, +for goods waggons only, 2,500 feet in length, entirely clear of the main +line. The length of single lines, exclusive of the main line, exceeds twelve +miles. + +To describe it in detail would be a very unsatisfactory task; because, in the +first place, it can ill be understood without a map, and in the next, changes +are constantly taking place, and still greater changes will be forced on the +company by the increase of goods traffic, which, great as it is, is only in +its infancy. Even now freights are paid to the London and North Western for +all the way to China. But, as an agricultural implement of commerce, the +locomotive has been comparatively as little used as the stationary engine, +although hundreds of trades of a semi-rural character are drawing toward the +railway lines, and away from the country towns, which were formerly the +centre of rural commerce, because standing on the highways or near canals. +But such a revolution can only be effected slowly. + +At Camden will be found a large yard for the reception of the Midland +Counties' coal, the introduction of which has had a considerable effect in +bringing down the price of sea-borne coal. + +The cattle pens have lately been altered and enlarged. Just before Christmas +this place is almost as amusing and exciting as a Spanish bull-fight; +although, as a general rule, the silence of a place where, during every +quarter of an hour, of day and night, so enormous a business is being carried +on, is very surprising. + +Twenty-four steam waggon horses, or engines, for heavy loads are kept in a +circular engine-house, or stable, 160 feet in diameter, with an iron roof. +This form renders every engine accessible at a moment's notice. The steam +race-horses for the passenger work are kept in an oblong building opposite +the carters. The demand being more regular, there is no need for the +expensive circular arrangement of stables for this class of engines. In a +large boiler-house, boiling water and red-hot coke are kept ready night and +day, so that on the occasion of any sudden demand no time need be lost in +getting up steam. There is besides a waggon-building department, a shop for +executing such trifling repairs in the locomotives as need no reference to +the great workshop at Wolverton. The passenger carriages are most of them +built at Euston station, by Mr. Wright. + +The carrying department is very conveniently situated close to the Regent's +Canal, so as to have easy communication with inland as well as sea +navigation. A series of sheds occupy an area of 135,000 superficial feet, +and the platforms to receive goods from railway trucks on one side and from +waggons on the other, occupy 30,000 feet. These platforms and sheds are +provided with 110 cranes, for loading and unloading, with a power varying +from one ton and a half to twenty tons. By these appliances, work of the +most miscellaneous character goes on all day, and part of the night. + +The railway trucks and waggons are moved about by horses: it is amusing to +see the activity with which the heavy brutes often bring a waggon up at a +trot, jump out of the way just at the right moment, and allow the waggon to +roll up to the right spot by its own momentum. + +The horses are lodged in stables in the underground vaults, which we cannot +commend, as they are dark, damp, full of draughts, and yet ill ventilated; +but it was necessary to use these vaults, and difficult to find stabling for +such a number of horses close at hand. + +The carrying department at Camden is very miscellaneous, and moves +everything, from the contents of a nursery ground to a full grown locomotive, +but they do not impress a stranger so much as the arrangements at Manchester +and Liverpool. The annual consumption of gas at Camden exceeds six million +cubic feet. + +Under the railway system the certainty and rapidity with which merchandise +can be transmitted, changes and simplifies more and more every year the +operations of trade. For instance, Southampton is the great port for that +part of our Indian, South American, and Mediterranean trade which is +conducted by steamers. When a junction has been effected between the London +and North Western and the South Western, costly packages of silk, muslin, +gold tissue, jewellery, may be sent under lock from the Glasgow manufacturers +to the quay alongside at Southampton in a few hours, without sign of damage +or pilferage, and at the last moment before the departure of the steamer. The +communication between the docks on the Thames and Camden Town, will enable a +grocer in Manchester to have a hogshead of sugar or tobacco sent in answer to +a letter by return of post, at a saving in expense which may be imagined from +the fact, that it costs more to cart a butt of sherry from the London Docks +to Camden Town, than to send it by rail all the way to Manchester. + +To provide for the enormous and annually increasing traffic in passengers and +merchandise, there are:-- + + 1 State carriage. 260 Horse boxes. +555 Locomotives and tenders. 132 Sheep vans. +494 First-class mails. 7385 Goods waggons. +420 Second-class carriages. 14 Trolleys. +342 Third-class. 1155 Cribb rails. + 25 Post-offices. 5150 Sheets. +242 Carriages,--trucks for 162 Cart horses. + letters and newspapers. 41 Parcel carts. +201 Guards' brakes. + Making a grand total rolling stock of 10,663. + +The passenger carriages afford eleven miles of seat room, and would +accommodate 40,196 individuals, or the whole population of two such towns as +Northampton. + +The loading surface of the goods equals eleven acres, and would convey 40,000 +tons. + +If the tires of all the company's wheels were welded into one ring, they +would form a circle of seventy-two miles. + +To keep this rolling stock up in number and efficiency, there are two +establishments, one at Camden Town, and one at Wolverton. + +Camden Town is the great coach house of the line, where goods waggons are +built and repaired in one division, where sound locomotives, carriages and +trucks are kept ready for use in another. + +The waggon building department of Camden is worth visiting, especially by +railway shareholders. + +Every one is interested in railways being worked economically, for economy +gives low rates and increased profits, which both increase trade and multiply +railways. Hitherto the details of carrying, especially as to the +construction of waggons and trucks, have been much neglected. + +On one line running north, it is said that the loss in cheese stolen by the +railway servants, amounts to as much as the whole sum paid for carrying +agricultural produce, and on the line on which we are travelling, breakages +have sometimes amounted to 1,200 pounds a-month. + +The fact is, that railway carriers have been content to use rude square boxes +on wheels, covered when loaded, if covered at all, with a tarpaulin, without +any precautions for draining off the wet, to which it was constantly exposed +when out of use,--without "buffers" or other protecting springs, so that the +wear and tear of the waggon and its load, from inevitable shocks, was very +great. + +The imperfect protection of a tarpaulin was, and is, a great temptation to +pilferage. These sources of expense, in wear and tear of conveyances, loss +of tarpaulin coverings, each worth 6 pounds 6s., breakage, pilferage of +goods, combine to sum up a formidable discount from the profits of railway +carrying, and, in the case of certain goods, lead the owners to prefer the +slower transit of a canal boat. Even iron suffers in market value from +exposure to the weather; porcelain and glass are liable to perpetual smashes, +on waggons without buffers, in spite of the most careful packing; while tea, +sugar, cheese, and all untraceable eatables are pilfered to an enormous +extent, besides more valuable goods. + +It was hoped that railway transit would put an end to the dishonesty which +was carried on wholesale on the canals; but, where open trucks are used, this +expectation has been only partly realised, for the temptation of opportunity +has been too strong, for even the superior class of men employed on railways. + +In order to meet these evils, Mr. Henson, who has the charge of the waggon- +building department at Camden, has built and patented a covered waggon with +buffers, which unites with great strength, safety, capacity, and smoothness +of motion. The scientific manner in which these waggons are framed, gives +them strength in proportion to their weight. The buffers with which they are +fitted, and the roof, protecting from the weather, render them altogether +durable, and therefore economical; while the construction, as will be seen +from our vignette, renders pilferage, unless by collusion with the +respectable party who overlooks the unloading, almost impossible. + +A diminution of the cost for repairs of rolling stock (on an average equal to +12 pounds per ann.), and of the cost for compensation to customers for +breakage and pilferage, should be a leading object with every sensible +railway director. Indeed these losses, with deadweight, and lawyer's bills, +are the deadly enemies of railway directors. + +Further improvements in these waggons have been effected by the use of +corrugated iron, which is light and strong at the same time; and the iron +waggons have been again improved by employing iron covered with a thin +coating of glass, under a new patent, which renders rust impossible and paint +unnecessary. The simple contrivance by which the door and moveable roof is +locked and unlocked by one motion, is worthy of the notice of practical men. +600 of these lock-up waggons, with springs and buffers, are in use on the +London and North Western Railway. + +Mr. Henson has also succeeded in establishing a traffic in gunpowder, by +inventing a carriage of sheet iron, lined with wood, in which four-and-a-half +tons of gunpowder can be conveyed without fear of explosion either from +concussion or external combustion. + +The shops at Camden have room for building or repairing 100 waggons. They +are to be seen in every stage of progress. + +The great object is to combine strength with lightness. If the strength +being the same, the saving of a ton can be effected in a waggon, it will +amount to from thirty to ninety tons in an ordinary goods train. An +important consideration, for deadweight is the great enemy of the railway, +and ninety tons of useless weight is equivalent to a loss of 90 pounds in +sending a goods train a journey to Birmingham. British oak is the favourite +wood for the frames of railway waggons; teak, if of equal quality, is dearer, +and the inferior is heavier, without being so strong. If in any of the many +countries with which we trade a wood can be discovered as good and as cheap +as English oak, the railways which are constantly extending their carrying +stock, can afford a steady demand. + +About the passenger carriages, which every one can see and examine for +himself, there is not much to be said. On the Continent, where they cannot +afford to use mahogany, they use sheet-iron and papier-machee for the panels; +in England, mahogany chiefly in the first class. When we began, stage +coaches were imitated; there are some of the old cramped style still to be +seen on the Richmond line; then came enormous cages--pleasant in summer, +fearfully cold in winter, without fires, which have not been introduced in +England, although they are found in the north of Europe and America. A +medium size has now come into favour, of which some fine specimens are to be +seen in the Hyde Park Exhibition. + +On the Great Northern line some second-class carriages have been introduced, +varnished, without paint, and very well they look. Economy again, and the +increase of branches, have led to the use of composite carriages for first +and second-class passengers all on one body. These, which were in use years +ago on the northern coal lines, are now revived and improved. + +The Camden station has received an entirely new feature by the completion of +the line to the docks and to Fenchurch Street, with stations at Islington, +Hackney, and Bow. Already an immense omnibus traffic has been obtained--a +sort of traffic which produces the same effect on engines as on horses. They +are worn out rapidly by the continual stoppages. But horses show wear and +tear directly, whereas iron and brass cannot speak except through increased +expenses and diminished dividends. + +Leaving Camden, at which trains stop only on arriving, we swiftly pass +Kilburn, where an omnibus station is to be established for the benefit of the +rising population of citizens, to Willesden, where the junction line through +Acton to the South Western is to commence. Willesden has been rendered +classic ground, for the Hero-worshippers who take highwaymen within the +circle of their miscellaneous sympathies, by Mr. Harrison Ainsworth's "Jack +Sheppard,"--the "cage" where this ruffian was more than once confined still +remains in its original insecurity. + +Sudbury affords nothing to detain us. The next station is within a mile of +Harrow-on-the-Hill, with its beacon-like church spire. Rich pasture lies +around, famous for finishing off bullocks fed in the north. Harrow school is +almost as much one of the institutions of England as Oxford and Cambridge +Universities. It is one of the great public schools, which, if they do not +make the ripest scholars, make "men" of our aristocracy. This school was +founded by one John Lyon, a farmer of the parish, who died in 1592. + +[HARROW-ON-THE-HILL: ill2.jpg] + +Attached to it there are four exhibitions of 20 pounds each, and two +scholarships of 50 pounds each. + +The grand celebrity of the school rests upon the education of those who are +not on the foundation. The sons of noblemen and wealthy gentlemen, who in +this as in many other instances, have treated those for whose benefit the +school was founded, as the young cuckoo treats the hedge sparrow. Among its +illustrious scholars Harrow numbers Lord Byron and Sir Robert Peel. + +An old saw runs: "Eton fops, Harrow gentlemen, Winchester scholars, and +Westminster blackguards." + +Since the palmy days when Dr. Drury was master and Byron and Peel were +pupils, Harrow has declined to insignificance, and been by the abilities of +Dr. Wordsworth raised again. The term of Harrow gentlemen still deservedly +survives, Harrow being still the gate through which the rich son of a parvenu +family may most safely pass on his way to Oxford, if his father desires, as +all fathers do in this country, that his son should amalgamate with the +landed aristocracy. + +At Pinner, the next station, we pass out of Middlesex into Hertfordshire. + +Watford, a principal station, is within a mile of the town of that name, on +the river Colne. Here Henry VI. encamped with his army before the battle of +St. Albans. Cassiobury Park, a favourite spot for picnics, is close to the +station. It was the opposition of the late proprietor, the Earl of Essex, +that forced upon the engineer of the line the formidable tunnel, which was +once considered an astonishing railway work,--now nothing is astonishing in +engineering. + +[VIADUCT OVER THE RIVER COLNE: ill3.jpg] + +Near King's Langley we pass the Booksellers' Provident Retreat, erected on +ground given by Mr. Dickenson, the great paper maker, who has seven mills on +the neighbouring streams, and reach Boxmoor, only noticeable as the first +station opened on the line. + +[LOOKING FROM THE HILL ABOVE BOX MOOR STATION TOWARDS BERKHAMSTED: ill4.jpg] + +The next station is Berkhamsted. Cowper the poet was born here, his father +was rector of the parish. Berkhamsted Castle is part of the hereditary +property of the Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall. At this castle William +the Conqueror, after the battle of Hastings, met the Abbot of St. Albans with +a party of chiefs and prelates, who had prepared to oppose the Norman, and +disarmed their hostility by swearing to rule according to the ancient laws +and customs of the country. Having, of course, broken his oath, he bestowed +the castle on his half-brother, Robert Moreton, Earl of Cornwall. King John +strengthened the castle, which was afterwards besieged by the Dauphin of +France. When Edward III. created the Black Prince Duke of Cornwall, the +castle and manor of Berkhamsted were bestowed upon him "to hold to him, and +the heirs of him, and the eldest sons of the kings of England, and the dukes +of the said place;" and under these words through civil wars and revolutions, +and changes from Plantagenet to Tudor, from Tudor to Stuart, with the +interregnum of a republic, an abdication, and the installation of the +Brunswick dynasty. The castle is now vested in Albert Prince of Wales. + +[BERKHAMSTED STATION: ill5.jpg] + +The Chiltern Hills, including the Chiltern Hundreds, the only office under +the crown always open to the acceptance of all without distinction of +parties, lies within a short distance of Berkhamsted. Ashdridge Park, +formerly the seat of the Duke of Bridgewater, the originator and author, with +the aid of Brindley and Telford, of our great canal system, lies about a mile +to the eastward. The scenery of the park and gardens are fine. The house is +modern. + +Tring station, a mile and a half from the town, may be reached from London, +31.5 miles, in less than an hour by the express train, and the traveller +arrives in as wild a district as any in England. Three miles north of Tring +lies the town of Ivinghoe, possessing a large cruciform church, worthy of a +visit from the students of "Christian architecture," with an old sculptured +timber roof, and containing a tomb with a Norman French +inscription,--according to some the tomb of Henry de Blois, Bishop of +Winchester, brother of King Stephen. At the Rose and Crown we are informed +venison is to be had in perfection at moderate charges during the season. The +station is the highest point on the line, being 420 feet above the sea, 300 +above Camden Town, and 52 above Birmingham. + +In the course of the Tring excavation in the gravel deposits above the chalk, +the tusk and teeth of an elephant were found, and in crossing the Icknield or +Roman Way, about thirty-three miles, were sixteen human skeletons, and +several specimens of Roman pottery: two unique urns are now in the possession +of the Antiquarian Society. + +Two miles from Tring we pass from Hertfordshire into Buckinghamshire. It +remains a disputed point whether the name of the county is derived from +bucken or boccen, a deer, according to Spelman, or with Lysons, boc, a +charter, or with Camden from bucken, beech trees, which, as in his time, +still abound and flourish. Unfortunately the state of agriculture does not +allow the pastors of the country to take the ease and rest that was enjoyed +by the celebrated Mr. Tityrus before the repeal of the Roman corn laws, an +ease which has cost many an unfortunate schoolboy a flogging. + +Our next halt, Cheddington, is noticeable only because it stands on the fork, +of which a short branch, nine miles in length, leads to Aylesbury. + + + + +AYLESBURY. + + +Aylesbury, standing on a hill, in the midst of one of the richest, if not the +richest, tracts of pasture lands in England, is very ancient without being +venerable. The right of returning two members to Parliament is found +periodically profitable to the inhabitants, and these two MP's with a little +lace, constitute its only manufactures. The loss of the coaching trade by +the substitution of the railroad, was a great blow to its local prosperity. + +Among other changes, the Aylesbury butchers often go to London to buy meat, +which has passed in the shape of oxen through the town to ride to London. + +The Berry field, said to be the best field in England, lies in the Vale of +Aylesbury. The saying of "good land bad farmers," is not belied among the +mass of those who meet in the markets of Aylesbury. With a few exceptions +the farming is as bad as it can be, the farmers miserably poor, and the +labourers ignorant to a degree which is a disgrace to the resident clergy and +gentry. We had some experience of the peasantry during the railway surveys +of 1846, 1847, and found them quite innocent of thinking and reading, with a +timid hatred of their employers, and perfect readiness to do anything not +likely to be found out, for a pot of beer. They get low wages, live low, and +work accordingly. It was round Aylesbury, that for many years, the influence +of the insolvent Duke of Buckingham was paramount. + +To city sportsmen, Aylesbury has interest as the centre of Baron Rothschild's +(stag) hunt; to politicians, because of great meetings of the country party +held there. + +We must not omit to notice the duck trade carried on by the poorer order of +people round the town. They hatch the ducks under hens generally in their +living rooms, often under their beds, and fatten them up early in spring on +garbage, of which horse flesh not unfrequently forms a large part. The ducks +taste none the worse if for the last fortnight they are permitted to have +plenty of clean water and oats, or barleymeal. Most of the Aylesbury ducks +never see water except in a drinking pan. The cheap rate at which the +inferior grain can be bought has been a great advantage to these duck +feeders. + +The many means now open of reaching the best markets of the country will +probably change the style and make the fortunes of a new race of Bucks +farmers. Those of the present generation who have neither capital nor +education can only be made useful by transplantation. + +Returning from Aylesbury, and gliding out of the deep cuttings over a fine +open country, we approach the Leighton Buzzard station, and see in the +distance the lofty octagonal spire of the Leighton Buzzard church. + +The town is half a mile from the station, and commands the attention of the +church antiquary from its fine church and cross. + +The church, says a very competent authority on such matters, "is one of the +most spacious, lightsome, and well-proportioned perpendicular churches, +cruciform, with a handsome stone spire. The roof, stalls, and other wood- +work very perfect. The windows, some ironwork, and other details, full of +interest." + +The cross stands in an open area in the centre of the market place, and is +twenty-seven feet high above the basement, which is raised by rows of steps +about five feet. + +At Leighton Buzzard a branch line of seven miles communicates with DUNSTABLE. + +[LEIGHTON BUZZARD: ill6.jpg] + +Dunstable is situated in the centre of the Dunstable Chalk Downs, where the +celebrated Dunstable larks are caught which are made mention of in one of +Miss Edgeworth's pretty stories. The manufactures are whiting and straw +hats. Of an ancient priory, founded in 1131, by Henry I., and endowed with +the town, and the privileges of jurisdiction extending to life and death, +nothing remains but the parish church, of which the interior is richly +ornamented. Over the altar-piece is a large painting representing the Lord's +Supper, by Sir James Thornhill, the father-in-law of Hogarth. In a charity +school founded in 1727, forty boys are clothed, educated, and apprenticed. In +twelve almshouses twelve poor widows are lodged, and in six houses near the +church, called the Maidens' Lodge, six unmarried gentlewomen live and enjoy +an income of 120 pounds per ann. With this brief notice we may retrace our +steps. + +On leaving Leighton, within half a mile we enter a covered tunnel, and we +strongly recommend some artist fond of "strong effects" in landscape to +obtain a seat in a coupe forming the last carriage in an express train, if +such are ever put on now, sitting with your back to the engine, with windows +before and on each side, you are whirled out of sight into twilight and +darkness, and again into twilight and light, in a manner most impressive, yet +which cannot be described. Perhaps the effect is even greater in a slow than +in an express train. But as this tunnel is curved the transition would be +more complete. + +At Bletchley the church (embowered in a grove of yews, planted perhaps when +Henry VIII. issued his decrees for planting the archer's tree) contains an +altar tomb of Lord Grey of Wilton, A.D. 1412. The station has now become +important as from it diverge the Bedford line to the east, and the lines to +Banbury and Oxford to the west. + +A branch connects Bletchley with Bedford 16.25 miles in length, with the +following stations:- + +FENNY STRATFORD. LIDLINGTON. +WOBURN SANDS. AMPTHILL. +RIDGMOUNT. BEDFORD. + + + + +WOBURN AND BEDFORD. + + +Woburn is one of those dull places, neat, clean, and pretentious in public +buildings, which are forced under the hot-house influence of a great +political family. + +We pass it to visit Woburn Abbey, the residence of the Russell family, with +its extensive and magnificent gardens, its model farms, its picture gallery, +and other accessories of a great nobleman's country seat. + +It was at Woburn that Francis, Duke of Bedford, held his sheep-shearing +feasts, and by patronising, in conjunction with Coke of Norfolk and Mr. +Western, improvements and improvers in agriculture and stock-breeding, did so +much to promote agricultural improvement in this county, and to create that +large class of wealthy educated agriculturists, which confers such great +benefits on this country. + +Now that every country gentleman has at least one neighbour who is, or +professes to be, an agricultural improver, it is difficult to give an +adequate idea of the benefit we have derived from the agricultural enthusiasm +of the noblemen and gentlemen who first made the science of cultivating +breeding fashionable, we must be excused the word, among a class which had +previously been exclusively devoted to field sports or to town life. They +founded that finest of all modern characters--the English country gentleman, +educated, yet hearty, a scholar and a sportsman, a good farmer, and an +intelligent, considerate landlord; happy to teach, and ready to learn, +anything connected with a pursuit which he follows with the enthusiasm of a +student and the skill of a practical man. + +The other stations have nothing about them to induce a curious traveller to +pause. Not so can we say of BEDFORD. + +Bedford has been pauperised by the number and wealth of its charities. A +mechanic, or small tradesman, can send his child if it be sick to a free +hospital; when older to a free school, where even books are provided; when +the boy is apprenticed a fee may be obtained from a charity; at half the time +of apprenticeship, a second fee; on the expiration of the term, a third; on +going to service, a fourth; if he marries he expects to obtain from a charity +fund "a portion" with his wife, also educated at a charity; and if he has not +sufficient industry or prudence to lay by for old age, and those are virtues +which he is not likely to practise, he looks forward with confidence to being +boarded and lodged at one of Bedford's fifty-nine almshouses. + +The chief source of the charities of Bedford is derived from an estate of +thirteen acres of land in the parish of St. Andrew, Holborn, London, +bequeathed by Sir William Harpur, an alderman of that city, in the reign of +Edward VI., for founding a free school for instructing the children of the +town in grammar, and good manners. This land, now covered with valuable +houses, produces some 16,000 pounds per annum. + +On this fund there are supported, 1st. a Grammar School, with eighty boys on +the foundation, and as many private boarders; a Commercial School, containing +100 to 150 boys; a National School, of 350 boys, where on the half holidays +170 girls are received, a regular Girls' School and an Infant School. + +Beside which, the girls in the hospital for poor children, another branch of +the charity, are taught household duties, needlework, reading and writing. In +these schools the children of all resident parishioners of Bedford's five +parishes are entitled to receive gratuitous instruction. In the National +School twenty-five boys are clothed from a fund left by Alderman Newton, of +Leicester. + +The Warden and Fellows of New College, Oxford, are visitors, and appoint the +master and second master of the Grammar School. There are four masters, +viz., the head, with two assistant masters; a mathematical master, and a +writing master. The scholars enjoy the advantage of eight exhibitions, of 80 +pounds per annum each, six of which must be bestowed on town boys, the +remaining two may go to boarders. + +The cheap and good education attainable as a matter of right in this borough, +have rendered it a favourite resort of half-pay officers and unbeneficed +clergymen, blessed with large families. + +The church of St. Paul is large, with a nave and a south aisle, divided by +early English piers and arches. A stone pulpit, ornamented with gilt +tracery, on a blue ground, has been removed in favour of an oak one, with the +chancel. The church of St. Peter has an old Norman door, a fine antique +front, and some curious stained glass in the windows. + +John Bunyan, author of the "Pilgrim's Progress," was co-pastor in a Baptist +Meeting House, in Mill-lane, from 1671 until his death in 1688. The chair in +which he used to sit is still preserved in the vestry as a relic. + +A few miles from Bletchley, is a forgotten, but once celebrated spot, Denbigh +Hall, over which the traveller whirls without notice, yet worthy of +remembrance, because it affords a name and date for tracing the march of +railway enterprise. + +In 1838, a gap in the intended railway from London to Birmingham extended +from an obscure public-house, called Denbigh Hall, to Rugby. At either point +travellers had to exchange the rail for the coach or chaise. + +On June 28, 1838, when Queen Victoria was crowned, for days before the +coronation, the coaches for the intermediate space were crammed; the chaises +and post horses were monopolised, and at length, to cover thirty odd miles, +every gig, standing waggon, cart, and donkey cart that could be obtained in +the district, was engaged, and yet many were disappointed of their journey to +London. + +On this London and Birmingham line, in addition to, and without disturbing +the ordinary traffic, 2,000 souls have been conveyed in one train, at the +rate of thirty miles an hour. + +Truly Queen Victoria can set the railway conquests of her reign against the +glories of the war victories of Queen Anne and her grandfather, King George. + +[DENBIGH HALL BRIDGE: ill7.jpg] + + + + +THE BUCKS RAILWAY. + + +A recent extension from Bletchley traverses Buckinghamshire, and by a fork +which commences at Winslow, passes through Buckingham and Brackley to Banbury +by one line, and by Bicester to Oxford by the other. We need not pause at +Brackley or Winslow. Buckingham is notable chiefly as being on the road to +Princely Palatial Stowe, the seat of the Buckingham family, now shorn of its +internal glories in pictures, sculptures, carvings, tapestry, books, and +manuscripts. Its grounds and gardens, executed on a great scale in the +French style, only remain to delight the traveller; these would require, and +have been often described in, illustrated volumes. Here we shall not dwell +upon the melancholy scene of grandeur, power, and wealth frittered away in +ignoble follies. + + + + +BANBURY. + + +Banbury is more celebrated than worth seeing. Commercial travellers consider +it one of the best towns in England, as it is a sort of metropolis to a great +number of thriving villages. Banbury cakes are known wherever English +children are bred, and to them, where not educated in too sensible a manner, +the Homeric ballad of-- + + "Ride a cock horse + To Banbury Cross," + +is sung. Unfortunately, the Puritans, in the time of Edward VI., pulled this +famous cross down. + +They were in great force there; for as Drunken Barnaby, in his tour, tells +us:-- + + "There I found a Puritan one, + Hanging of his cat on Monday + For killing of a rat on Sunday." + +At Banbury was fought, after the English fashion, one of the great fights +that preceded the carrying of the Reform Bill. Previous to that change, +sixteen electors had the privilege of sending a member to Parliament. + +During the Reform excitement six of these privileged gentlemen seceded from +their usual compact, and determined to set up on their own account. For want +of a better man, they pitched upon Mr. Easthope, of the Morning Chronicle, +since that period, much to his own astonishment no doubt, pitchforked into a +baronetcy. The old original M.P. was Colonel Hutchinson, the companion of +Sir Robert Wilson in carrying off Lavalette. On entering the town, ten +thousand Reformers set up such a howling, that Colonel Hutchinson, thinking +his last hour at hand, drew a dagger. Upon which more groans and shrieks +followed, with such threats as made it prudent for the friends of the Colonel +to compel him to retreat. Under these circumstances, the streets of the town +were crammed full with an excited mob; the poll was opened; the six, amid +tremendous plaudits, voted for Easthope, and Reform; the ten very discreetly +staid at home, and thus, by six votes, a baronetcy was secured to the +unopposed candidate. + +It is droll to look back upon the movement which led public opinion to prefer +a stockjobber to a gallant soldier. + +Banbury manufactures horse girths and other kinds of webbing, as well as +excellent ale. There are two inns, both good. + +The Buckinghamshire Railway has reduced the price of coal to the inhabitants +from 22s. to 15s. per ton, on 150,000 tons per annum. + +BICESTER, commonly pronounced Bister, is thirteen miles by the road from +Oxford, a town as ancient as the Heptarchy; famous for a well once sacred and +dedicated to St. Edburgh, for its well attended markets and cattle fairs, and +especially for its excellent ale. It is in the centre of a capital hunting +country. The women make a little bone lace. + + + + +OXFORD. + + +Oxford is one of the great gates through which our rich middle classes send +their sons to be amalgamated with the landed and titled aristocracy, who are +all educated either there or at Cambridge. + +To say of any one that he is an "Oxford man," at once implies that he is a +gentleman, and when a well-looking, well-mannered, and even moderately +endowed young gentleman has passed respectably through his curriculum at +Christchurch or Magdalen, Balliol, Oriel, University, or any other of the +correct colleges, it rests with himself whether he runs the race of public +life in England on equal terms with the sons of the oldest of the titled and +untitled aristocracy, even though his father were an eminent retired dust +contractor, and his mother laundry maid or factory girl. But money alone +won't do it, and the pretension, the display, the coxcombry permitted in a +peer, must be carefully avoided by a parvenu. Thus Oxford interests classes +who care very little for its educational, antiquarian, or architectural +resources, as one of the institutions of the country by which any capable man +may cut off his plebeian entail, and start according to the continental term +"noble." + +The material beauty of Oxford is great--the situation, in a rich valley +bounded by softly flowing rivers, fine--the domes, and spires, and old grey +towers rising in clusters, prepare the mind of the approaching traveller for +the city where the old colleges and churches, planting out and almost +composing it, afford at every bend of the long streets, at every turn of the +narrow thoroughfares, some grand picture, or charming architectural effect; +even our Quakers are proud of Oxford in England when they travel in America. +Then Oxford is so decorously clean, so spotlessly free from the smoke of +engines and the roar of machinery; the groves and gardens, and trim green +turf seen through richly-carved and corbeled archways, give such a feeling of +calm study, and pleasant leisure, that we will defy the bitterest radical and +the sourest dissenter not to be softened and charmed by his first +impressions. + +To those who arrive prepared to be pleased, stored with associations of the +past, fortunate enough to have leisure and introductions to some affable don +long resident, and proud to display the treasures and glories of his beloved +Alma Mater, Oxford affords for many days a treat such as no other city in the +world can supply to an Englishman. + +The best known route from London is by the Great Western Railway, which, +according to the original plan, would have passed close to the city. But all +the University and ecclesiastical dignitaries were up in arms; they saw, in +their mind's eye, the tender, innocent undergraduates flying from the +proctor-guarded precincts, where modesty, virtue, and sobriety ever reign, to +the vice-haunted purlieus of London, at all hours of the night and day. The +proctors and professors triumphed; the railway was obliged to leave a gap of +ten miles of common road between its invading, unhallowed course, and the +sacred city; and great was the rejoicing in the Convocation Chamber, and many +the toasts in the Senior Common Rooms to the health of the faithful sons of +Oxon, who in Parliament had saved the city from this commercial desecration. + +But as even Grosvenor-square was at length glad to admit gas after abiding +longest of all in the genteel gloom of oil lamps, so was Oxford in the end +glad to be put on a branch, as it could not be put on a main line; and now, +beside the rail on which we are travelling, Worcester, Banbury, and +Wolverhampton, and two roads to London and Birmingham are open to the +wandering tastes of the callow youth of the University; as may be ascertained +by a statistical return from the railway stations whenever a steeple-chase or +Jenny Lind concert takes place in or near any of the towns enumerated. + +The entrance from Bletchley is, perhaps, the finer, as rolling round a +semicircle, we sweep into sight of the dome of Radcliffe Library and the +spire of St. Mary's Church, descend, enter the city by the Cheltenham-road, +and passing through an inferior suburb, reach the head of High-street, of +which a great German art critic declared, "that it had not its equal in the +whole world." Wide, long, and gently curving, approached from either end, it +presents in succession the colleges of Lincoln, Brasenose, University, All +Souls, Queen's, St. Mary's Church, with peeps of gardens with private houses, +and with shops, which do not detract, but rather add, to the dignity and +weight of the grand old buildings. + +Having slowly sauntered up and down, and scanned the various characters +peculiar to the City of Universities--as, for instance, an autocrat in the +person of a Dean of Christchurch, a Principal of Balliol, or a Master of +Jesus, a Proctor newly made, but already endowed with something of the +detective police expression; several senior fellows, plump, shy, proud, and +lazy--walking for an appetite, and looking into the fishmongers on their way +to the parks; a "cocky" Master of Arts, just made, and hastening to call on +all his friends and tradesmen to show off his new dignity, and rustle the +sleeves of his new gown; three lads, just entered from a public school (last +month they laid out tip in Mother Brown's tarts), on their way to order three +courses and dessert at the Mitre, where very indifferent fare is provided for +fashionable credit prices; a pale student, after Dr. Pusey's own heart, in +cap and gown, pacing monk-like along, secretly telling his beads; a tuft +(nobleman) lounging out of the shop of a tailor, who, as he follows his +lordship to the door, presents the very picture of a Dean bowing to a Prime +Minister, when a bishop is very sick. + +A few ladies are seen, in care of papas in caps and gowns, or mammas, who +look as if they were Doctors of Divinity, or deserved to be. The Oxford +female is only of two kinds--prim and brazen. The latter we will not +describe; the former seem to live in perpetual fear of being winked at, and +are indescribable. + +From these street scenes, where the ridiculous only is salient, for the quiet +and gentlemanly pass by unnoticed, while pompous dons and coxcombical +undergraduates are as certain of attention as turkeycocks and bantams, we +will turn into the solemn precincts of a few of the colleges. + +At the head stands Christchurch in dignity and size, founded by Cardinal +Wolsey, Pope Clement VII. consenting, in 1525, on the revenues of some dozen +minor monasteries, under the title of Cardinal College. The fall of +Wolsey--England's last Cardinal, until by the invitation of modern mediaeval +Oxford, Pius IX. sent us a Wiseman--stopped the works. One of Wolsey's latest +petitions to Henry was, "That his college at Oxford might go on." And by the +King, after some intermediate changes, it was finally established as +Christchurch. + +The foundation now consists of a dean, eight canons, eight chaplains, a +schoolmaster, an organist, eight choristers, and 101 students, of whom a +considerable number are exhibitioners from Westminster School. It is in +symbolism of these students that the celebrated Great Tom of Christchurch +clangs each evening 101 times. Besides these students, there are generally +nearly 1000 independent members, consisting of noblemen, gentlemen commoners, +and commoners. To be a gentleman commoner of Christchurch, all other +advantages being equal, is the most "correct thing" in the University; none +can compete with them, unless it be the gentlemen commoners of Magdalen. The +Christchurch noblemen, or tufts, are considered the leaders of fashion, +whether it be in mediaeval furniture, or rat hunting, boating, or steeple- +chase riding, old politics or new religions. + +Among the illustrious men it claims as pupils are, Sir Philip Sydney and Ben +Jonson, Camden and South, Bolingbroke and Locke, Canning and Sir Robert Peel, +whom Oxford rejected. The front is in Aldate's-street, for which consult Mr. +Spier's pretty guide card, the entrance under the lofty clock tower, whence, +at ten minutes past nine every evening, the mighty tom peals forth his +sonorous summons. The "Tom Gateway" leads into the quadrangle familiarly +termed "quad," 264 feet by 261, the dimensions originally planned by Wolsey; +but the buildings which bound it on three sides were executed after the +destruction of the old edifice in the great civil wars from designs by Sir +Christopher Wren in 1688. + +The Hall on the south side is ancient; we ascend to it by a flight of steps +under a handsome groined roof supported by a single pillar. The Hall is 115 +feet long, 40 wide, and 50 high. The open roof of oak richly carved, +decorated with the arms of Wolsey and Henry VIII. Other carvings adorn the +fire-place and a fine bay window. + +On the sides of the rooms are hung a series of 120 portraits of +ecclesiastics, poets, philosophers (these are few), statesmen, and noblemen, +representing distinguished students of the College. + +The dinner hour, when the dean and chief officers sit in state on the dais, +masters and bachelors at the side tables, and undergraduates at the lower +end, is an impressive sight, recalling feudal times. The feeding is the +worst of any in Oxford, much to the advantage of the taverns and pastrycooks. + +When in 1566 Queen Elizabeth visited Oxford, a play was performed before her +in this hall by the students, in the course of which, "a cry of hounds +belonging to themselves" having been counterfeited in the quadrangle, the +students were seized with a sudden transport; whereat her Majesty cried out, +"O excellent! these boys in very truth are ready to leap out of the window to +follow the hounds." + +Amid the many changes of taste and opinion since the days of Queen Bess, the +love of hunting still prevails in Christchurch, not one of the least healthy +tastes, in an age of perpetual competing work; and the Christchurch drag is +one of the stock amusements anathematized toward the end and permitted at the +beginning of every hunting term, for the glory of the chief tuft and the +benefit of hard-reading men, who cannot waste their time in trotting from +cover to cover dependent on the vagaries of such an uncertain animal as a +fox, and are therefore content to hunt a "cad" armed with a red herring over +the stiffest country he can pick. + +After the Hall, the Kitchen should be visited. It is the most ancient part +of the building, for Wolsey, with a truly ecclesiastical appreciation of the +foundation of all sound learning, began with the kitchen, and it survived +him. Agriculture, gardening, cooking, and confectionery, were among the +civilizing arts brought to great perfection by religious houses and lost for +a long period after the Reformation, which, like other strong medicines, +cleared our heads at the expense of our stomachs. + +In Wolsey's kitchen may be seen the huge gridiron on which our ancestors +roasted sheep whole and prepared other barbarous disgusting dishes. + +In the Peckwater Quadrangle are to be found the Library and the Guise +collection of pictures, which contains curious specimens of that early school +which the mad mediaevalists are now fond of imitating, and a few examples of +the famous Italian masters who rose on the force of genius, which did not +disdain study but did disdain imitation. + +Wickliff was a warden, and Sir Thomas More a student, in Canterbury Hall, +which was amalgamated in Wolsey's College. + +The Chapel of Christchurch is the Cathedral of Oxford. The oldest parts +belonged to the church of St. Frideswide's Priory, consecrated A.D. 1180. +Wolsey pulled down fifty feet of the nave and adapted it to the use of his +college. The stained glass windows, without which every Gothic cathedral has +a bare, naked, cold appearance, and which were peculiarly fine, nearly all +fell a sacrifice to puritanical bigotry. + +For the many curious and beautiful architectural features we must refer in +this instance, as in all others, to the architectural guides, such as +Parker's, with which every one who feels any interest in the subject will +provide himself. + +Leaving Christchurch by the Canterbury Gate up Merton-lane, we pass on one +hand Corpus Christi, founded in the reign of Henry VIII., where Bishop Sewel, +author of "The Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity," and Richard Hooker, a +Protestant whom even a Pope praised, were bred; on the other, Oriel, where +studied Walter Raleigh, one of England's greatest men, a poet and +philosopher, soldier and statesman, mariner and historian; not guiltless, yet +worthy of pity in his fall and long imprisonment, and of honour in his brave +and Christian death,--the victim of the ever feeble treacherous Stuarts. What +other line of kings has had the fate to sign away the lives of two such men +as Raleigh and Strafford? Oriel also claims as students Prynne, who, with +his libels and his ears, laid the foundation of our liberty of the press; +Bishop Butler, whose "Analogy" showed how logic and philosophy could be +applied to support the cause of Christian truth; Dr. Arnold, the reformer of +our modern school system, whom Oxford persecuted during life and honoured in +death; and lastly, the clever crotchety Archbishop Whateley, who has not only +proved that Napoleon Bonaparte never existed, but that Mr. Gibbon Wakefield's +bankrupt schemes of colonization were triumphant successes. Next we come to +Merton, the most ancient of all the colleges, founded 7th January 1264. The +oldest of its buildings now standing is the library, the oldest in England, +erected 1377. Wickliff was a student of Merton. University College, which +next falls in our way, claims to date from King Alfred, but has no charters +so ancient as those of Merton. The buildings are not more early than Charles +I., but the chapel contains some of Grinling Gibbons's best carvings, and a +monument by Flaxman of Sir William Jones, who was a fellow of this +University. The modern part, fronting High-street, is from the designs of +Barry, the architect of the Palace of Westminster. + +University College has one of the old customs, of which several are retained +in Oxford, called "chopping at the tree." On Easter Sunday a bough is +dressed up with flowers and evergreens, and laid on a turf by the buttery. +After dinner each member, as he leaves the hall, takes up a cleaver and chops +at the tree, and then hands over "largess" to the cook, who stands by with a +plate. The contribution is, for the master half a guinea, the fellows five +shillings, and other members half a crown each. In like manner, at Queen's +College, which stands opposite University, on Christmas day a boar's head is +brought into the hall in procession, while the old carol is sung-- + + The boar's head in hand bear I + Bedecked with bays and rosemary, + And I pray you, my masters, be merry. + Qui estis in convivio, + Caput apri defero, + Reddens laudes Domino. + +While on New Year's day the bursar presents to every member a needle and +thread with the words, "Take this and be thrifty." We have not been able to +obtain a statistical return of the standing of the Queen's men in the books +of the tradesmen of Oxford as compared with members of other colleges, but we +recommend the question to Mr. Newdegate or some other Oxonian figure monger. + +This college was founded by Philippa, queen of Edward III. It was directed +by the statutes that there should be twelve fellows and seventy poor +scholars, who were to be summoned to dinner by the sound of a trumpet; when +the fellows, clothed in scarlet robes, were to sit and eat, while the poor +scholars, kneeling in token of humility, were to dispute in philosophy. The +kneeling, disputing, and scarlet robes have been discontinued, but the +trumpet still sounds to dinner. There are usually about 300 members on the +books of this college. + +Lower down the High-street is All-Souls, whose two towers are picturesque +centres of most views of Oxford. The buildings are various in character and +merit, and well worth examination. The grand court was designed by Hawksmoor +rather on the principles of a painter than an architect; he wished it to make +a good picture with the existing buildings, and he succeeded. All-Souls is +composed entirely of fellows, who elect from other colleges gentlemen whose +qualification consists in being "bene nati, bene vestiti, et moderater docti +in arte musica." + +With so easy a qualification as that of being well born, well dressed, and +able to sing the Old Hundredth Psalm, Old King Cole, or Kilruddery, it may be +imagined that All-Souls has never done anything to disturb the minds of +kings, cabinets, or reviewers, or even of the musical critics. Pleasant +gentlemanly fellows, when they do get into parliament it is usually as the +advocates of deceased opinions. Had Joanna Southcote been genteel, the +fellows of All-Souls and some other colleges would have continued Joanna +Southcotians fifty years after her decease. + +All-Souls, too, has its legend and its commemorative ceremony. The diggers +of the foundations found in an old drain a monstrous mallard, a sort of +alderman among wild ducks, thriving and growing fat amid filth. On being +cooked he was found first-rate, and, in memory of this treasure-trove and of +the foundation-day, annually on the 14th January the best mallard that can be +found is brought in in state, all the mallardians chanting-- + + O the swapping swapping mallard, etc. + +From Queen's we proceed to New College, built in the palmiest days of Gothic +architecture by William of Wykeham, also architect of Windsor Castle and of +Winchester Cathedral, of which he was bishop, as well as Chancellor of +England under Edward III. He was indeed a learned, pious, earnest man. "A +worker-out of the glorious dreams he dreamed." According to his plan, a +certain number of poor boys, of origin as humble as his own, were to receive +a training in the best learning of the age; from these, the ablest were to be +selected annually and sent to New College, with the enjoyment of such an +income as would support them while studying philosophy and theology. At +present, after a year's probation, youths at eighteen or nineteen become +actual fellows, in enjoyment of an income varying from 190 to 250 pounds per +annum, until such time as they marry or are provided with a college living. + +"Wykeham laid the first stone of his new college on the 5th March 1380. Being +finished, the first warden and fellows took possession of it April 14, 1386, +at three o'clock in the morning." The original buildings consist of the +principal quadrangle, containing the hall, chapel, and library, the +cloisters, and the tower. Additions, quite out of keeping with the rich +simplicity of the original design, were made by Sir Christopher Wren. The +chapel, first shorn of its ancient splendour by puritan zeal, and since +restored in mistaken taste, is still one of the most beautiful edifices of +the kind in England,--perhaps in Europe. Weeks of study will not satisfy or +exhaust the true student of Gothic architecture here. We trust that, sooner +or later, some of the funds now spent on guttling and guzzling will be +devoted to substituting facsimiles of ancient coloured glass for the painted +mistakes of Sir Joshua Reynolds, and restoring the ancient glories of gilt +and colour to the carved work. + +If possible, the stranger should attend the service, when he will hear grand +singing and accompanied by a magnificent organ. The silver gilt crozier of +Wykeham, formerly studded with rich gems, is one of the few relics of value +preserved by New College. Charles I. received the greater part of a rich +collection of plate as a contribution to his military chest in the great +civil war. This crozier interests, for, gazing on it, we are carried back +five centuries, when it was not a bauble made in Birmingham, but a symbol of +actual power and superior intelligence. The sceptre of a prince of a church +which then absorbed almost all the intellect and all the learning of the age. +The garden with its archery-ground, and the "Slipe," with its stables and +kennels, complete what was meant to be a temple of sacred learning and active +piety, but which has become a very Castle of Indolence, a sort of Happy +Valley, for single men. Winchester School still retains its ancient +character for scholarship. (It is said to be almost impossible to "pluck" a +Wykehamist); but the foundation has been grossly abused, the elected being +not poor boys but the sons of wealthy clergymen and gentlemen, as indeed they +had need be, for, by another abuse, the parents of boys on the foundation +have to pay about 40 pounds a-year for their board. But, when a boy, +distinguished for diligence and ability among his fellows, has been, at +eighteen or nineteen years, elected to a Fellowship of New College, his work +for life is done,--no more need for exertion,--every incentive to epicurean +rest. Fine rooms, a fine garden, a dinner daily the best in Oxford, served +in a style of profusion and elegance that leaves nothing to be desired, wine +the choicest, New College ale most famous, a retiring-room, where, in +obsequious dignity, a butler waits on his commands, with fresh bottles of the +strong New College port, or ready to compound a variety of delicious drinks, +amid which the New College cyder cup and mint julep can be specially +recommended. Newspapers, magazines, and novels, on the tables of both the +junior and senior common rooms, and a stable for his horse and a kennel for +his dog, form part of this grand club of learned ignorance. And so, in idle +uselessness, he spends life, unless by good fortune he falls in love and +marries; even then, we pity his wife and his cook for the first twelve +months,--or, by reaction, flies into asceticism and becomes a father of St. +Philip Neri or a follower of Saint Pusseycat. + +But, after all this virtuous remonstrance on the misdirection of William of +Wykeham's noble endowment, we must own that, of our Oxford acquaintance, none +are more agreeable than those New College fellows of the old school, "who +wore shocking bad hats and asked you to dinner." Much better than the cold- +blooded "monks without mass" who are fast superseding them, just as idle and +more ill-natured. + +From New College we will go on to Magdalen, the finest--the wealthiest of all: +it cannot be described, it must be seen; with its buildings occupying eleven +acres and pleasure-grounds a hundred acres, its tower whereon every May +morning at daybreak a mass used to be and a carol is still sung, and its +deer-park. Here we may say, as of New College, is too much luxury for +learning. + +The sons of dukes have become mathematicians; we have known an attorney's +clerk, the son of a low publican, become an accomplished linguist in his +leisure hours,--but such men are mental miracles, almost monsters: a fellow of +Magdalen or New College who works as hard as other men deserves to be +canonized. + +We have not space to say anything of the other Colleges. St. John's is noted +for its gardens, Pembroke because Samuel Johnson lodged there for as long a +space as his poverty would permit. + +The Colleges visited, we proceed to "The Schools," which contain the Bodleian +Library, founded by Sir Thomas Bodley in 1573, and by bequests, gifts from +private individuals, by the expenditure of a sum for the last seventy years +out of the University chest, and the privilege of a copy of every new British +publication, has become one of the finest collections in Europe; especially +rich in Oriental literature. The books are freely open to the use of all +literary men properly introduced, and the public are permitted to view the +rooms three times a week. + +The Picture Gallery contains a collection of portraits of illustrious +individuals connected with the University, by Holbein, Vandyke, Kneller, +Reynolds, Wilkie, and others. Among these are Henry VIII., the Earl of +Surrey, and Sir Thomas More, by Holbein. Among the sculptures are a bust of +the Duke of Wellington by Chantrey, and a brass statue of the Earl of +Pembroke, Chancellor of the University from 1616 to 1630, which is said to +have been executed from a design by Rubens. + +There is also a chair made from timber of the ship in which Drake sailed +round the world, and the lantern of Guy Fawkes. + +On the ground floor are the Arundel marbles, brought from Smyrna in the +seventeenth century by the earl of that name. + +The Theatre, close at hand, built by Sir Christopher Wren, will contain three +thousand persons, and should be seen to be appreciated when crowded by the +elite of the University and of England, on the occasion of some of the great +Oxford festivals, when the rich costumes of the University, scarlet, purple, +and gold, are set off by the addition of England's beauty not unadorned; as, +for instance, on the last visit of the Queen and Prince Albert. + +The Clarendon Press, built from designs of Vanbrugh out of the profits of the +University (garbled) edition of "Clarendon's History of the Great Rebellion," +and the Ashmolean Museum, where may be seen the head of the dodo, that +extinct and deeply to be regretted bird, are close at hand, as also the +Radcliffe Library, from the dome of which an excellent view of the city may +be obtained. + +The University Galleries, which present an imposing front to St. Giles- +street, contain, beside antique sculpture, the original models of all +Chantrey's busts, and a collection of original drawings of Michael Angelo and +Raffaelle, made by Sir Thomas Lawrence, and purchased after his death by the +University, the present Earl of Eldon contributing two-thirds of the +purchase-money. + + + +CONSTITUTION AND COSTUME OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. + + +The University is a corporate body, under the style of "The Chancellor, +Masters, and Scholars of the University of Oxford." It includes nineteen +Colleges and five Halls, each of which is a corporate body, governed by its +own head and statutes respectively. + +The business of the University, as such, is carried on in the two Houses of +Convocation and of Congregation; the first being the House of Lords, and the +other, which includes all of and above the rank of Masters of Arts, the House +of Commons. + +The Chancellor--elected by Convocation, for life--never, according to +etiquette, sets his foot in the University, excepting on occasions of his +installation, or when accompanying Royal visitors. He nominates as his +representative a Vice Chancellor from the heads of colleges, annually, in +turn, each of whom holds his office for four years. + +The Vice Chancellor is the individual who may occasionally be seen walking +about in state, preceded by a number of beadles carrying maces, or, as they +are profanely called, "pokers." + +The two proctors are next in authority to the Vice Chancellor. Their costume +is a full dress gown, with velvet sleeves, and band-encircled neck. They are +assisted by two deputies, or pro-proctors, who have a strip of velvet on each +side of the gown front, and wear bands. The proctors have certain +legislative powers; but are most conspicuous as a detective police force, +supported by "bulldogs," i.e., constables. A proctor is regarded by an +undergraduate, especially by a fast man, with the same affection that a +costermonger looks on a policeman. In the evenings, it is their duty to +prowl round, and search, if necessary, any house within three miles, for so +far does their authority extend. The dread of the proctor compels tandem +drivers to send their leaders a distance out of town; and many an excited +youth, on the day of a neighbouring steeplechase, is stopped, when driving +out of the city, with--"Your name, sir, and of what college?" + +"Lord R. Christchurch." + +"Go back to your rooms, my lord, and call on me in an hour at Worcester." + +The members of the University are divided into those who are on the +foundation and those who are not. Those on the foundation are the dean, +president, master, warden, according to the charter of the College; the +fellows, scholars, called demies at Magdalene, and post-masters at Merton; +chaplains, bible-clerks, servitors, at Christchurch and Jesus. The +qualifications for these advantages vary; but leading colleges--Oriel and +Balliol--have set an example likely to be followed of throwing fellowships and +scholarships open to the competition of the whole university, so that the +best man may win. The disadvantage of the system lies in the fact, that +having won, the incentives are all in the direction of idleness. + +The degree was formerly obtained by passing first through a preliminary +examination termed a "little go," and afterwards through the "great go." The +latter, successfully performed, entitles, at choice, to the title of B.A. +(Bachelor of Arts), or S.C.L. (Student of Civil Law). With time and money, +the degrees of M.A. or B.C.L., and eventually D.C.L., may be obtained, +without farther examination. But very recently an intermediate examination +has been imposed. + +A candidate for a degree in music has only to perform an exercise previously +approved by the professor of music in the music schools. + +Doctors of Divinity and Masters of Arts wear a stuff gown, with two long +sleeves, terminating in a semicircle. The full dress of Doctors of Divinity +is scarlet, with sleeves of black velvet--pink silk for Doctors of Law and +Medicine. + +Bachelors wear a black stuff gown, with long sleeves tapering to a point, and +buttoned at the elbow; noblemen undergraduates a black silk gown, with full +sleeves, "couped" at the elbows, and a velvet cap with gold tassel; scholars +the same shaped gown, of a common stuff, with ordinary cloth cap; gentlemen +commoners a silk gown with plaited sleeves, and velvet cap; if commoners, a +plain black gown without sleeves, which is so hideous that they generally +carry it on their arm. + +The expense of maintaining a son at the University may be fixed at from 200 +pounds, as a minimum, to 300 pounds a-year; the latter being the utmost +needful. But a fool may spend any amount, and get nothing for it. The +fashion of drinking has gone out to a great extent; and the present race of +undergraduates are not more random and extravagant than any set of young men +of the same age and number would be if thrown together for two or three +years. + +At the same time, it is not the place to which a father to whom economy is an +object should send a son, least of all one previously educated on the milk +and water stay-at-home principle. + +As a general rule, it is not among the nobility, and sons of the wealthy +gentry, that much excess is found to prevail; but among those who at the +University find themselves for the first time without control, with money and +with credit at command. + +In a summer or autumnal visit, Christchurch Meadow, and some of the many +beautiful walks round Oxford, should be sought out and visited alone; on such +occasions, on no account be tormented with one of the abominable parrot-like +guides. These horrid fellows consider it their duty to chatter. We have +often thought that a dumb guide, with a book for answering questions, would +make a great success. + +In winter, when the flooded meadows are frozen over, those who love to see an +army of first-class skaters will find an Oxford day ticket well worth the +money--youth, health, strength, grace, and manly beauty, in hundreds, cutting +round and round, with less of drawback from the admixture of a squalid mob +than in any other locality. + +And then again in the hunting season, take the ugliest road out of Oxford, by +the seven bridges, because there you may see farthest along the straight +highway from the crown of the bridges, and number the ingenuous youth as on +hunters they pace, or in hack or in dogcart or tandem they dash along to the +"Meet." Arrived there, if the fox does get away--if no ambitious youngster +heads him back--if no steeplechasing lot ride over the scent and before the +hounds, to the destruction of sport and the master's temper--why then you will +see a fiery charge at fences that will do your heart good. There is not such +raw material for cavalry in any other city in Europe, and there is no part of +our social life so entirely novel, and so well worth exhibiting to a +foreigner, as a "Meet" near Oxford, where in scarlet and in black, in hats +and in velvet caps, in top-boots and black-jacks, on twenty pound hacks and +two hundred guinea hunters, finest specimens of Young England are to be seen. + +On returning, if the sport has been good, you may venture to open a chat with +a well-splashed fellow traveller on a beaten horse, but in going not--for an +Oxford man in his normal state never speaks unless he has been introduced. + +The only local manufactures of Oxford, except gentlemen, are boots, leather- +breeches, and boats; these last in great perfection. The regattas and +rowing-matches on the Isis are very exciting affairs. From the narrowness of +the stream, they are rather chases than races; the winners cannot pass, but +must pursue and bump their competitors. The many silent, solitary wherries, +urged by vigorous skilful arms, give, on a summer evening, a pleasing life to +river-side walks, although that graceful flower, the pretty pink bonnet and +parasol, peculiar to the waters of Richmond and Hampton, is not often found +growing in the Oxford wherry. Comedies, in the shape of slanging matches +with the barges, are less frequent than formerly, and melodramatic fistic +combats still less frequent. + +But old boatmen still love to relate to their peaceable and admiring pupils +how that pocket Hercules, the Honourable S--- C---, now a pious clergyman, +had a single combat with a saucy six foot bargee, "all alone by they two +selves," bunged up both his eyes, and left him all but dead to time, ignorant +then, and for months after, of the name of his victor. + +Oxford sometimes contends with Cambridge on neutral waters in an eight-oared +cutter match, but is generally defeated, for a very characteristic +reason--Cambridge picks a crew of the best men from the whole University; +Oxford, more exclusive, gives a preference to certain colleges over men. +Christchurch, Magdalene, and a few others, will take the lead in all +arrangements, and will not, if they can help it, admit oarsmen from the +unfashionable colleges of Jesus, Lincoln, or Worcester! + +It is worth knowing that in the long vacation, commencing on July 6, there is +no place like Oxford for purchasing good dogs and useful horses. Oxford +hacks have long been famous, and not without reason. Nothing slow would be +of any use, whether for saddle or harness; and although the proportion of +high-priced sound unblemished animals may be small, the number of quick +runners is large. There is an establishment in Holywell Street which is +quite one of the Oxford sights. There, early in winter mornings, more than a +hundred stalls are to be found, full of blood cattle, in tip-top condition, +and on summer afternoons no barracks of a cavalry regiment changing quarters +are more busy. + +We must not leave Oxford without visiting Blenheim, the monument of one of +our greatest captains and statesmen, with whom, perhaps, in genius and +fortune, none can rank except Clive and Wellington. Blenheim should be seen +when the leaves are on the trees. The House is only open between eleven +o'clock and one. The better plan is to hire a conveyance, of which there are +plenty and excellent to be had in the city, at reasonable charges. When we +remember this splendid pile--voted by acclamation, but paid for by grudging +and insufficient instalments by the English Parliament--was finished under the +superintendence of that beautiful fiery termagant, Sarah Duchess of +Marlborough, who was at once the plague and the delight of the great Duke's +life, every stone and every tree must be viewed with interest. We should +advise you, before passing a day at Blenheim, to refresh your memory with the +correspondence of the age of Queen Anne and her successors, including Swift, +Bolingbroke, Pope, and Walpole; not forgetting the letters of Duchess Sarah +herself, and Disraeli's "Curiosities of Literature," for the history of the +building of Blenheim, and how the Duchess worried the unfortunate architect, +Vanbrugh. + +Blenheim contains a large number of first class paintings, including an +altar-piece by Raffaelle, several good Titians, a very fine collection of +Rubens, choice specimens of Vandyke and Sir Joshua Reynolds. After returning +to Bletchley our next halt is at Wolverton station. + + + + +WOLVERTON STATION. + + +Wolverton, the first specimen of a railway town built on a plan to order, is +the central manufacturing and repairing shop for the locomotives north of +Birmingham. + +The population entirely consists of men employed in the Company's service, as +mechanics, guards, enginemen, stokers, porters, labourers, their wives and +children, their superintendents, a clergyman, schoolmasters and +schoolmistresses, the ladies engaged on the refreshment establishment, and +the tradesmen attracted to Wolverton by the demand of the population. + +This railway colony is well worth the attention of those who devote +themselves to an investigation of the social condition of the labouring +classes. + +We have here a body of mechanics of intelligence above average, regularly +employed for ten and a-half hours during five days, and for eight hours +during the sixth day of the week, well paid, well housed, with schools for +their children, a reading-room and mechanics' institution at their disposal, +gardens for their leisure hours, and a church and clergyman exclusively +devoted to them. When work is ended, Wolverton is a pure republic--equality +reigns. There are no rich men or men of station: all are gentlemen. In +theory it is the paradise of Louis Blanc, only that, instead of the State, it +is a Company which pays and employs the army of workmen. It is true, that +during work hours a despotism rules, but it is a mild rule, tempered by +customs and privileges. And what are the results of this colony, in which +there are none idle, none poor, and few uneducated? Why, in many respects +gratifying, in some respects disappointing. The practical reformer will +learn more than one useful lesson from a patient investigation of the social +state of this great village. + +[THE WOLVERTON VIADUCT: ill8.jpg] + +Those who have not been in the habit of mixing with the superior class of +English skilled mechanics will be agreeably surprised by the intelligence, +information, and educational acquirements of a great number of the workmen +here. They will find men labouring for daily wages capable of taking a +creditable part in political, literary, and scientific discussion; but at the +same time the followers of George Sand, and French preachers of proletarian +perfection will not find their notions of the ennobling effects of manual +labour realised. + +There are exceptions, but as a general rule, after a hard day's work, a man +is not inclined for study of any kind, least of all for the investigation of +abstract sciences; and thus it is that at Wolverton library, novels are much +more in demand than scientific treatises. + +In Summer, when walks in the fields are pleasant, and men can work in their +gardens, the demand for books of any kind falls off. + +Turning from the library to the mechanics' institution, pure science is not +found to have many charms for the mechanics of Wolverton. Geological and +astronomical lectures are ill attended, while musical entertainments, +dissolving views, and dramatic recitations are popular. + +It must be confessed that dulness and monotony exercise a very unfavourable +influence on this comfortable colony. The people, not being Quakers, are not +content without amusement. They receive their appointed wages regularly, so +that they have not even the amusement of making and losing money. It would +be an excellent thing for the world if the kind, charitable, cold-blooded +people of middle age, or with middle-aged heads and hearts, who think that a +population may be ruled into an every-day life of alternate work, study, and +constitutional walks, without anything warmer than a weak simper from year's +end to year's end, would consult the residents of Wolverton and Crewe before +planning their next parallelogram. + +We commend to amateur actors, who often need an audience, the idea of an +occasional trip to Wolverton. The audience would be found indulgent of very +indifferent performances. + +But to turn from generalities to the specialities for which Wolverton is +distinguished, we will walk round the workshops by which a rural parish has +been colonised and reduced to a town shape. + +* * * * * + +WOLVERTON WORKSHOPS.--To attempt a description of the workshops of Wolverton +without the aid of diagrams and woodcuts would be a very unsatisfactory task. +It is enough to say that they should be visited not only by those who are +specially interested in machinery, but by all who would know what mechanical +genius, stimulated as it has been to the utmost during the last half century, +by the execution of profitable inventions, has been able to effect. + +At Wolverton may be seen collected together in companies, each under command +of its captains or foremen, in separate workshops, some hundreds of the best +handicraftsmen that Europe can produce, all steadily at work, not without +noise, yet without confusion. Among them are a few men advanced in life of +the old generation; there are men of middle age; young men trained with all +the manual advantages of the old generation, and all the book and lecture +privileges of the present time; and then there are the rising generation of +apprentices--the sons of steam and of railroads. Among all it would be +difficult to find a bad-shaped head, or a stupid face--as for a drunkard not +one. It was once remarked to us by a gentleman at the head of a great +establishment of this kind, that there was something about the labour of +skilled workmen in iron that impressed itself upon their countenances, and +showed itself in their characters. Something of solidity, of determination, +of careful forethought; and really after going over many shops of +ironworkers, we are inclined to come to the same opinion. Machinery, while +superseding, has created manual labour. In a steam-engine factory, machinery +is called upon to do what no amount of manual labour could effect. + +To appreciate the extraordinary amount of intellect and mental and manual +dexterity daily called into exercise, it would be necessary to have the +origin, progress to construction, trial, and amendment of a locomotive engine +from the period that the report of the head of the locomotive department in +favour of an increase of stock receives the authorization of the board of +directors. But such a history would be a book itself. After passing through +the drawing-office, where the rough designs of the locomotive engineer are +worked out in detail by a staff of draughtsmen, and the carpenters' shop and +wood-turners, where the models and cores for castings are prepared, we reach, +but do not dwell on the dark lofty hall, where the castings in iron and in +brass are made. The casting of a mass of metal of from five to twenty tons +on a dark night is a fine sight. The tap being withdrawn the molten liquor +spouts forth in an arched fiery continuous stream, casting a red glow on the +half-dressed muscular figures busy around, which would afford a subject for +an artist great in Turner or Danby-like effects. + +But we hasten to the steam-hammer to see scraps of tough iron, the size of a +crown-piece, welded into a huge piston, or other instrument requiring the +utmost strength. At Wolverton the work is conducted under the supreme +command of the Chief Hammerman, a huge-limbed, jolly, good-tempered Vulcan, +with half a dozen boy assistants. + +The steam-hammer, be it known, is the application of steam to a piston under +complete regulation, so that the piston, armed with a hammer, regularly, +steadily, perpendicularly descends as desired, either with the force of a +hundred tons or with a gentle tap, just sufficient to drive home a tin tack +and no more. At a word it stops midway in stroke, and at a word again it +descends with a deadly thump. On our visit, an attempt was being made to +execute in wrought, what had hitherto always been made in cast iron. Success +would effect a great saving in weight. The doors of the furnace were drawn +back, and a white glow, unbearable as the noon-day sun, was made visible, +long hooked iron poles were thrust in to fish for the prize, and presently a +great round mass of metal was poked out to the door of the fiery furnace--a +huge roll of glowing iron, larger than it was possible for any one or two men +to lift, even had it been cold. By ingenious contrivances it was slipped out +upon a small iron truck, dragged to the anvil of the steam-hammer, and under +the direction of Vulcan, not without his main strength, lodged upon the +block. + +During the difficult operation of moving the white-red round ball, it was +beautiful to see the rapid disciplined intelligence by which the hammerman, +with word or sign, regulated the movements of his young assistants, each +armed with an iron lever. + +At length the word was given, and thump, thump, like an earthquake the steam- +hammer descended, rapidly reducing the red-hot Dutch cheese shape to the +flatter proportions of a mighty Double Gloucester, all the while the great +smith was turning and twisting it about so that each part should receive its +due share of hammering, and that the desired shape should be rapidly +attained, sometimes with one hand, sometimes with the other, he interposed a +flat poker between the red mass and the hammer, sharing a vibration that was +powerful enough to dislocate the shoulder of any lesser man. "Hold," he +cried: the elephant-like machine stopped. He took and hauled the great ball +into a new position. "Go on," he shouted: the elephant machine went on, and +again the red sparks flew as though a thousand Homeric blacksmiths had been +striking in unison, until it was time again to thrust the half-welded cheese +into the fiery furnace, and again it was dragged forth, and the jolly giant +bent, and tugged, and sweated, and commanded,--he did not swear over his task. +At length having succeeded in making the unwieldy lump assume an approach to +the desired shape, he observed, in a deep, bass, chuckling, triumphant aside, +to the engineer who was looking on, "I'm not a very little one, but I think +if I was as big again you'd try what I was made of." + +Since that day we have learned that the experiment has been completely +successful, with a great diminution in the weight and an increase of the +strength of an important part of a locomotive. + +We have dwelt upon the picture because it combined mechanical with manual +dexterity. A hammerman who might sit for one of Homer's blacksmith heroes, +and machinery which effects in a few minutes what an army of such hammermen +could not do. + +If our painters of mythological Vulcans and sprawling Satyrs want to display +their powers over flesh and muscle, they may find something real and not +vulgar among our iron factories. + +After seeing the operations of forging or of casting, we may take a walk +round the shops of the turners and smiths. In some, Whitworth's beautiful +self-acting machines are planing or polishing or boring holes, under charge +of an intelligent boy; in others lathes are ranged round the walls, and a +double row of vices down the centre of the long rooms. Solid masses of cast +or forged metal are carved by the keen powerful lathe tools like so much box- +wood, and long shavings of iron and steel sweep off as easily as deal +shavings from a carpenter's plane. At the long row of vices the smiths are +hammering and filing away with careful dexterity. No mean amount of judgment +in addition to the long training needed for acquiring manual skill, is +requisite before a man can be admitted into this army of skilled mechanics; +for every locomotive contains many hundred pieces, each of which must be +fitted as carefully as a watch. + +If we fairly contemplate the result of these labours, created by the +inventive genius of a line of ingenious men, headed by Watt and Stephenson, +these workshops are a more imposing sight than the most brilliant review of +disciplined troops. It is not mere strength, dexterity, and obedience, upon +which the locomotive builder calculates for the success of his design, but +also upon the separate and combined intelligence of his army of mechanics. + +Considering that in annually increasing numbers, factories for the building +of locomotive, of marine steam-engines, of iron ships, and of various kinds +of machinery, are established in different parts of the kingdom, and that +hence every year education becomes more needed, more valued, and more +extended among this class of mechanics, it is impossible to doubt that the +training, mental and moral, obtained in factories like those of Wolverton, +Crewe, Derby, Swindon, and other railway shops, and in great private +establishments like Whitworth's and Roberts' of Manchester, Maudslay and +Field's of London, Ransome and May of Ipswich, Wilson of Leeds, and +Stephenson of Newcastle, must produce by imitative inoculation a powerful +effect on the national character. The time has passed when the best workmen +were the most notorious drunkards; in all skilled trades self-respect has +made progress. + +A few passenger carriages are occasionally built at Wolverton as experiments. +One, the invention of Mr. J. M'Connel, the head of the locomotive department, +effects several important improvements. It is a composite carriage of +corrugated iron, lined with wood to prevent unpleasant vibration, on six +wheels, the centre wheels following the leading wheels round curves by a very +ingenious arrangement. This carriage holds sixty second-class passengers and +fifteen first-class, beside a guard's brake, which will hold five more; all +in one body. The saving in weight amounts to thirty-five per cent. A number +of locomotives have lately been built from the designs of the same eminent +engineer, to meet the demands of the passenger traffic in excursion trains +for July and August, 1851. + +It must be understood that although locomotives are built at Wolverton, only +a small proportion of the engines used on the line are built by the company, +and the chief importance of the factory at Wolverton is as a repairing shop, +and school for engine-drivers. + +Every engine has a number. When an engine on any part of the lines in +connection with Wolverton needs repair, it is forwarded with a printed form, +filled up and signed by the superintendent of the station near which the +engine has been working. As thus--"Engine 60, axle of driving-wheel out of +gauge, fire-box burned out," etc. + +This invoice or bill of particulars is copied into a sort of day-book, to be +eventually transferred into the account in the ledger, in which No. 60 has a +place. + +The superintendent next in command under the locomotive engineer-in-chief, +places the lame engine in the hands of the foreman who happens to be first +disengaged. The foreman sets the workmen he can spare at the needful +repairs. When completed, the foreman makes a report, which is entered in the +ledger, opposite the number of the engine, stating the repairs done, the +men's names who did it, and how many days, hours, and quarters of an hour +each man was employed. The engine reported sound is then returned to its +station, with a report of the repairs which have been effected. The whole +work is completed on the principle of a series of links of responsibility. +The engineer-in-chief is answerable to the directors for the efficiency of +the locomotives; he examines the book, and depends on his superintendent. The +superintendent depends on the foreman to whom the work was entrusted; and, +should the work be slurred, must bear the shame, but can turn upon the +workmen he selected for the job. + +In fact, the whole work of this vast establishment is carried on by dividing +the workmen into small companies, under the superintendence of an officer +responsible for the quantity and quality of the work of his men. + +The history of each engine, from the day of launching, is so kept, that, so +long as it remains in use, every separate repair, with its date and the names +of the men employed on it, can be traced. Allowing, therefore, for the +disadvantage as regards economy of a company, as compared with private +individuals, the system at Wolverton is as effective as anything that could +well be imagined. + +The men employed at Wolverton station in March, 1851, numbered 775, of whom 4 +were overlookers, 9 were foremen, 4 draughtsmen, 15 clerks, 32 engine- +drivers, 21 firemen, and 119 labourers; the rest were mechanics and +apprentices. The weekly wages amounted to 929 pounds 11s. 10d. + +Of course these men have, for the most part, wives and families, and so with +shopkeepers, raise the population of the railway town of Wolverton to about +2,000, inhabiting a series of uniform brick houses, in rectangular streets, +about a mile distant from the ancient parish church of Wolverton, and the +half-dozen houses constituting the original parish. + +For the benefit of this population, the directors have built a church, +schools for boys, for girls, and for infants, which are not the least +remarkable or interesting parts of this curious town. + +The clergyman of the railway church, the Rev. George Waight, M.A., has been +resident at Wolverton from the commencement of the railway buildings. His +difficulties are great; but he is well satisfied with his success. In +railway towns there is only one class, and that so thoroughly independent, +that the influence of the clergyman can only rest with his character and +talents. + +The church is thinly attended in the morning, for hard-working men like to +indulge in rest one day in the week; in the evening it is crowded, and the +singing far above average. + +To the schools we should like to have devoted a whole chapter now, but must +reserve an account of one of the most interesting results of railway +enterprise. + +There is a literary and scientific institution, with a library attached. +Scientific lectures and scientific books are very little patronized at +Wolverton; astronomy and geology have few students; but there is a steady +demand for a great number of novels, voyages, and travels; and musical +entertainments are well supported. + +The lecture-room is extremely miserable, quite unfit for a good concert, as +there is not even a retiring room, but the directors are about to build a +better one, and while they are about it, they might as well build a small +theatre. Some such amusement is much needed; for want of relaxation in the +monotony of a town composed of one class, without any public amusements, the +men are driven too often to the pipe and pot, and the women to gossip. + +In the summer, the gardens which form a suburb are much resorted to, and the +young men go to cricket and football; but still some amusements, in which all +the members of every family could join, would improve the moral tone of +Wolverton. + +Work, wages, churches, schools, libraries, and scientific lectures are not +alone enough to satisfy a large population of any kind, certainly not a +population of hard-handed workers. + +* * * * * + +WOLVERTON EMBANKMENT was one of the difficulties in railway making, which at +one period interested the public; at present it is not admitted among +engineers that there are any difficulties. The ground was a bog, and as fast +as earth was tipped in at the top it bulged out at the bottom. When, after +great labour, this difficulty had been overcome, part of the embankment, +fifty feet in height, which contained alum shale, decomposed, and spontaneous +combustion ensued. The amazement of the villagers was great, but finally +they came to the conclusion expressed by one of them, in "Dang it, they can't +make this here railway arter all, and they've set it o' fire to cheat their +creditors." + +On leaving Wolverton, before arriving at Roade, a second-class station, after +clearing a short cutting, looking westerly, we catch a glimpse of the tower +of the church of Grafton, where, according to tradition, Edward IV. married +Lady Gray of Groby. The last interview between Henry VIII. and Cardinal +Campeggio, relative to his divorce from Catherine of Aragon, took place at +the Mansion House of this parish, which was demolished in 1643. + +About this spot we enter Northamptonshire, and passing Roade, pause at +Blisworth station, where there is a neat little inn. + + + + +BLISWORTH, NORTHAMPTON. + + +Miles. Miles. + BLISWORTH. 34.5 OUNDLE. + 4.75 NORTHAMPTON. 40.75 WANSFORD. +15.75 WELLINGBOROUGH. STAMFORD by Coach. +20 HIGHAM FERRERS. 47.25 PETERBOROUGH. +26 THRAPSTON. + +From Blisworth branches out the line to Peterborough, with sixteen stations, +of which we name above the more important. + +The route presents a constant succession of beautiful and truly English rural +scenery, of rich lowland pastures, watered by the winding rivers, and bounded +by hills, on which, like sentinels, a row of ancient church towers stand. + +The first station is Northampton. + +* * * * * + +NORTHAMPTON, on a hill on the banks of the river Nene, is a remarkably +pleasant town, with several fine old buildings, an ancient church, an open +market square, neat clean streets, and suburbs of pretty villas, overlooking, +from the hill top, fat green meadows, flooded in winter. Shoemaking on a +wholesale scale, is the principal occupation of the inhabitants. For strong +shoes Northampton can compete in any foreign market, and a good many light +articles, cut after French patterns, have been successfully made since the +trade was thrown open by Peel's tariff. There are several factories, in +which large numbers of young persons are employed, but the majority work by +the piece at home for the master manufacturers. + +Northampton is also great in the fairs and markets of a rich agricultural +district, and rejoices over races twice a year, in which the facilities of +the railroad have rendered some compensation to the inn-keepers for the loss +of the coaching trade. Northampton was originally intended to be a main +station of the railway between London and Birmingham. The inhabitants were +silly enough to resist the bestowal of this benefit upon them, and +unfortunate enough to be successful in their resistance. In after years, +when experience had rendered fools wise, they were glad to obtain the present +branch through to Peterborough; but the injury of the ill-judged opposition +can never be cured. + +The church of All Saints, in the centre of the town, has an ancient embattled +tower which escaped the great fire of 1675. St. Peter's, near the West +Bridge, a remarkably curious specimen of enriched Norman; St. Sepulchre's, a +round church of the twelfth century, all deserve enumeration. There are also +two hospitals, the only remains of many religious houses which existed before +the Reformation. St. John's consists of a chapel and a large hall, with +apartments for inferior poor persons; St. Thomas's is for twenty poor alms- +women. No vestiges, beyond the earthworks, remain of the castle built by +Simon de St. Liz, who was created Earl of Northampton by William the +Conqueror. Northampton was a royal residence during the reigns of Richard +I., John, and Henry III.; a battlefield during the wars of the Barons and the +wars of the Roses; but the ancient character of the town was almost entirely +destroyed by the great fire of 1675,--not without benefit to the health, +though at the expense of the picturesqueness of this ancient borough. + +Northampton is important as the capital town of one of our finest grazing and +hunting counties, where soil and climate are both favourable to the farmer. + +Large numbers of the Scotch, Welch, and Herefords sold in Smithfield, are fed +in the yards and finished in the pastures of Northamptonshire. + +The present Earl of Spencer keeps up, on a limited scale, the herd of short- +horns which were so celebrated during the lifetime of his brother, better +known as Lord Althorpe,--at his seat of Althorpe, six miles from the town, and +also carries on a little fancy farming. The late Earl of Spencer was much +more successful as a breeder than as a farmer; indeed, it may be questioned +whether the prejudices of that amiable and excellent man in favour of pasture +land, did not exercise an injurious influence over the proceedings of the +Royal Agricultural Association. + +Northampton returns two members to Parliament, and has a mayor and +corporation. + +The railway route from Northampton to Peterborough presents a series of +pleasant views on either side,--so pleasant that he who has leisure should +walk, or ride on horseback, along the line of Saxon villages, visit the +series of curious churches at Wellingborough, Higham Ferrers, with its +collegiate church and almshouse, Thrapston and Oundle, and other stations. +Within two miles of Thrapston is Drayton House, Lowick, the seat of the +Sackville family, which retains many of the features of an ancient castle, +and has a gallery of paintings by the old masters. The church of Lowick +contains several monuments, brasses, and windows of stained glass. Near +Oundle is to be found the earthwork of Fotheringay Castle, where Mary Queen +of Scots was confined, tried, and executed. The castle itself was levelled +to the ground by order of her son, James I. On leaving Oundle we pass a +station appurtenant to Wansford in England, of which we shall say a word +presently. + +Here we may take coach across to Stamford in Lincolnshire (see Stamford), +unless we prefer the rail from Peterborough. There is a point somewhere +hereabouts where the three counties of Northampton, Lincoln, and Huntingdon +all meet. + +* * * * * + +WANSFORD IN ENGLAND.--If about to investigate the antiquities of Stamford or +Peterborough, the traveller will do well to stop at Wansford for the sake of +one of the best inns in Europe, well known under the sign of "The Haycock at +Wansford in England." This sign represents a man stretched floating on a +haycock, apparently in conversation with parties on a bridge. It is intended +to illustrate the legend of Drunken Barnaby, who, travelling during the time +of the plague from London northward, tasting and criticising the ale on the +road, drank so much of the Northamptonshire brewst that he fell asleep on a +haycock, in one of the flat meadows. In the night time, as is often the case +in this part of the country, a sudden flood arose, and our toper awaked to +find himself floating on a great tide of water, which at length brought him +to a bridge, upon which, hailing the passengers, he asked, "Where am I?" in +full expectation of having floated to France or Spain; whereupon they +answered, "at Wansford." "What!" he exclaimed in ecstacy, "Wansford in +England!" and landing, drank the ale and gave a new name to the inn of this +village between three counties. The inn (which belongs to the Duke of +Bedford) affords a sort of accommodation which the rapid travelling and short +halts of railways have almost abolished. But an easy rent, a large farm, and +a trade in selling and hiring hunters, enables the landlord to provide as +comfortably for his guests, as when, in old posting days, five dukes made the +Haycock their night halt at one time. On entering the well carpeted coffee- +room, with its ample screen, blazing fire, and plentiful allowance of easy +chairs, while a well appointed tempting dinner is rapidly and silently laid +on the spotless table-cloth,--the tired sportsman or traveller will be +inclined to fancy that he is visitor to some wealthy squire rather than the +guest of an innkeeper. When we add that the bed-rooms match the sitting- +rooms, that the charges are moderate, that the Pytchley, Earl Fitzwilliam's, +and the Duke of Rutland's hounds (the Beevor), meet within an easy distance; +that the county abounds in antiquities, show-houses like Burleigh, that +pleasant woodland rides are within a circle of ten miles, that good pike- +fishing is to be had nearly all the year round, while in retirement Wansford +is complete; we have said enough to show that it is well worth the notice of +a large class of travellers,--from young couples on their first day's journey, +to old gentlemen travelling north and needing quiet and a bottle of old port. + +The last station, Peterborough, presents an instance of a city without +population, without manufactures, without trade, without a good inn, or even +a copy of the Times, except at the railway station; a city which would have +gone on slumbering to the present hour without a go-a-head principle of any +kind, and which has nevertheless, by the accident of situation, had railway +greatness thrust upon it in a most extraordinary manner. + +* * * * * + +PETERBOROUGH is one of the centres from which radiate three lines to London, +viz., by the Northampton route, on which we have travelled; by the direct +line, through Herts, of the Great Northern; and by the Eastern Counties, with +all its Norfolk communications. From Peterborough also proceeds an arm of +the Midland Counties, through Stamford, Oldham, and Melton Mowbray, and the +best Leicestershire grass country, to Leicester or to Nottingham,--while the +Great Northern, dividing, embraces the whole of Lincolnshire and makes way to +Hull, by the Humber ferries, on the one hand, and to York on the other. There +is, therefore, the best of consolation on being landed in this dull +inhospitable city, that it is the easiest possible thing to leave it. + +Peterborough dates from the revival of Christianity among the Saxons; +destroyed by the Danes A.D. 870, rebuilt by Edgar in 970, it was attacked and +plundered by Saxon insurgents from the fens under Hereward the Wake, in the +time of William the Conqueror. At the dissolution of religious houses under +Henry VIII., Peterborough was one of the most magnificent abbeys, and, having +been selected as the seat of one of the new bishoprics, the buildings were +preserved entire. In the civil wars, the Lady Chapel and several conventual +buildings were pulled down and the materials sold. At present the cathedral +is a regular cruciform structure of Norman character, remarkable for the +solidity of its construction. + +It was commenced 1117, by John de Saiz, a Norman. The chancel was finished, +A.D. 1140, by Abbot Martin de Vecti. The great transept and a portion of the +central tower were built by Abbot William de Vaudeville, A.D. 1160 to 1175, +and the nave by Abbot Benedict 1177-1193. The fitting up of the choir is of +woodwork richly carved. The greater number of the monuments, shrines, and +chantry chapels, were destroyed by the Parliamentary troops. Two queens lie +buried here, Catherine of Aragon and Mary of Scotland, without elegy or +epitaph, monument or tombstone. + +The Cathedral viewed, nothing remains to detain the traveller in this +peculiarly stupid city. Within a pleasant ride of five miles lies Milton +House, the seat of Earl Fitzwilliam. + +* * * * * + +STAMFORD.--Although Stamford is not upon this line of railway, travellers +passing near should not fail to visit so ancient and interesting a town. Few +English boroughs can trace back more distinctly their antiquity. Six +churches still remain of the fifteen which, beside many conventual buildings, +formerly adorned it. For Stamford was one of the towns which, had not the +Reformation intervened, would have been swallowed up by the ever hungry +ecclesiastical maw. Stamford awakens many historic recollections. It has a +place in Domesday Book, being there styled Stanford: King Stephen had an +interview there with Ranulph, Earl of Chester. In 1190, the Jews of Stamford +were plundered and slain by the recruits proceeding to the crusades; and, ten +years afterwards, when Edward I. expelled the Jews from England, "their +synagogue and noble library at Stamford were profaned and sold." Many of the +books were purchased by Gregory of Huntingdon, a monk of Ramsey Abbey, a +diligent student of ancient languages; and thus the result of much learning, +collected in Spain and Italy, and handed down from the times when the Jews +and Arabs almost alone cultivated literature as well as commerce, was sown in +England, the last of European kingdoms to become distinguished in letters. +Stamford was the refuge of Oxford students on the occasion of disturbances in +1333. It was taken by the Lancastrian army of the North under Queen Margaret +in 1461, and given up to plunder; and, in 1462, when thirty thousand +Lincolnshire men marched, under the command of Sir Robert Wells, against +Edward IV., under the walls of Stamford they were defeated, and, flying, left +their coats behind. But the latest battles of Stamford have been between +Whig and Tory, and even these have ceased. + +The houses and public buildings are all built of a rich cream-coloured stone, +which gives an air of cleanliness and even distinction, which is an immense +advantage. There are two fine hotels. The borough returns two members, both +nominated by the Marquis of Exeter, who owns a large proportion of the vote- +giving houses. The bull-running has been abolished here, as also at Tutbury, +in Staffordshire; but those who are curious to see the ceremony may have +occasional opportunities in the neighbourhood of Smithfield market, where it +is performed under the especial patronage of the aldermen of the city of +London. + + + + +WEEDON. + + +The next station after Blisworth is Weedon, properly, Weedon Bec, so called +because formerly there was established here a religious house, or cell, to +the Abbey of Bec in Normandy. The Church, a very ancient building, contains +portions of Norman, and various styles of English, architecture. + +[BRIDGE IN THE BLISWORTH EMBANKMENT: ill9.jpg] + +The importance of Weedon rests in its being the site of a strongly fortified +central depot for artillery, small arms, and ammunition, with extensive +barracks, well worth seeing, but not to be seen without an order from the +Board of Ordnance. In passing, a few mild soldiers may be seen fishing for +roach in the canal, and a few active ones playing cricket in summer. The +Weedon system of fortification eschews lofty towers and threatening +battlemented walls, and all that constitutes the picturesque; so that Weedon +Barracks look scarcely more warlike than a royal rope manufactory. + +After Weedon we pass through Kilsby Tunnel, 2,423 yards long, which was once +one of the wonders of the world; but has been, by the progress of railway +works, reduced to the level of any other long dark hole. + +[VIEW FROM THE TOP OF KILSBY TUNNEL: ill10.jpg] + + + + +RUGBY AND ITS RAILWAYS. + + +Rugby, 83 miles from London, the centre of a vast network of railways, is our +next halting place. + +That is to say, First, an arm of the Midland to Leicester, to Burton, to +Derby, to Nottingham, and through Melton Mowbray to Stamford and +Peterborough; thus intersecting a great agricultural and a great +manufacturing district. + +Second, the Trent Valley Line, through Atherstone, Tamworth and Lichfield, to +Stafford, and by cutting off the Birmingham curve, forming part of the direct +line to Manchester. + +Third, A line to Leamington, which may be reached from this point in three- +quarters of an hour; and fourth, a direct line to Stamford, by way of Market +Harborough; which, with the Leamington line, affords the most direct +conveyance from Norfolk, and Lincolnshire, through Peterborough to +Birmingham, Gloucester, and all that midland district. + +The Oxford and Rugby Line, which was one of the subjects of the celebrated +Battles of the Gauges, has not been constructed; and it may be doubted +whether it ever will. + +The town lies about a mile from the station on the banks of the Avon, and +owes all its importance to Laurence Sheriff, a London shopkeeper in the time +of Queen Elizabeth, who, in 1567, endowed a school in his native village with +eight acres of land, situated where Lamb's Conduit-street, in London, now +stands, whence at present upwards of 5000 pounds a year is derived. + +Rugby was long considered the most snobbish of English public schools, a sad +character in a country where style and name go so far. Some twenty years +ago, when the Rugbaeans had the "presumption" to challenge the Wykehamists to +play at football, the latter proudly answered, that the Rugbaeans might put on +worsted stockings and clouted soles, and the Wykehamists in silk stockings +and pumps would meet them in any lane in England. But, since that time, the +Harrow gentlemen, the Eton fops, the Winchester scholars, and the Westminster +blackguards, have had reason to admit that Arnold, a Wykehamist, long +considered by the fellows of that venerable institution an unworthy son, +succeeded in making Rugby the great nursery of sound scholars and Christian +gentlemen, and in revolutionizing and reforming the educational system of all +our public schools. + +The following, by one of Arnold's pupils, himself an eminent example of +cultivated intellect and varied information, combined with great energy in +the practical affairs of life and active untiring benevolence, is a sketch of + + + + +"ARNOLD AND HIS SCHOOL." + + +In the year 1827, the head mastership became vacant of the Grammar School at +Rugby, and the trustees, a body of twelve country gentlemen and noblemen, +selected, to the dismay of all the orthodox, the Rev. Thomas Arnold, late +fellow of Oriel College, Oxford, and then taking private pupils at Laleham, +Middlesex. Transplanted from Oriel, the hotbed of strange and unsound +opinions, out of which the conflicting views of Whateley, Hampden, Keble, and +Newman, were struggling into day; himself a disciple of the suspected school +of German criticism; known to entertain views at variance with the majority +of his church brethren on all the semipolitical questions of the day; an +advocate for the admission of Roman Catholics to Parliament, for the reform +of the Liturgy and enlargement of the Church, so as to embrace dissenters; +the distrust with which he was regarded by all who did not know him may be +imagined. + +It was a critical time, the year 1827; the mind of the country was then +undergoing that process of change which shortly afterwards showed itself in +the emancipation of the Roman Catholics, the passing of the Reform Bill, the +foundation of the London University, and the publications of the Useful +Knowledge Society. Old opinions were on all sides the objects of attack. At +such a period, public schools, with their exclusively classical teaching and +their "fagging" systems, were naturally regarded as institutions of the past +not adapted to the present. It seemed probable that a remodelling, or, +according to the phrase of the day, a "reform" of them, would be attempted by +the new intellectual school of which Lord Brougham was regarded as the type. +It was the views of this party which, it was anticipated, Dr. Arnold would +hasten to introduce into Rugby. + +We now know that he did not do this, although he did reform not only the +school of Rugby, but gave a bias to the education of the sons of what is +still the most influential class in this country, which has lasted to the +present day, and that in a direction and in a manner which surprised his +opponents, and at one time provoked even his friends. + +It may not be uninteresting to such of our readers as love to trace the +origin of those changes of opinion, which are at times seen to diffuse +themselves over portions of society from an unseen source, to learn how this +original man commenced his task of training the minds committed to him in +those peculiar tendencies, both as to feeling and thinking, which enter +appreciably into the tone of the upper classes of the present generation. + +Dr. Arnold, from the day on which he first took charge of the school, adopted +the course which he ever after adhered to, of treating the boys like +gentlemen and reasonable beings. Thus, on receiving from an offender an +answer to any question he would say, "If you say so, of course I believe +you," and on this he would act. The effect of this was immediate and +remarkable; the better feeling of the school was at once touched; boys +declared, "It is a shame to tell Arnold a lie, because he always believes +you;" and thus, at one bold step, the axe was put to the root of the +inveterate practice of lying to the master, one of the curses of schools. In +pursuance of the same views, when reprimanding a boy, he generally took him +apart and spoke to him in such a manner as to make him feel that his master +was grieved and troubled at his wrong-doing; a quakerlike simplicity of mien +and language, a sternness of manner not unmixed with tenderness, and a total +absence of all "don-ish" airs, combined to produce this effect. Nor were his +personal habits without their effect. The boys saw in him no outward +appearance of a solemn pedagogue or dignified ecclesiastic whom it was a +temptation to dupe, or into whose ample wig javelins of paper might with +impunity be darted; but a spare active determined man, six feet high, in duck +trousers, a narrow-brimmed hat, a black sailor's handkerchief knotted round +his neck, a heavy walking-stick in his hand,--a strong swimmer, a noted +runner; the first of all the masters in the school-room on the winter +mornings, teaching the lowest class when it was his turn with the same energy +which he would have thrown into a lecture to a critical audience, listening +with interest to an intelligent answer from the smallest boy, and speaking to +them more like an elder brother than the head master. {67} They soon +perceived that they had to deal with a man thoroughly in earnest, acute, +active, and not easily deceived; that he was not only a scholar but a +gentleman, who expected them to behave as the sons of gentlemen themselves. +Their attention was awakened, and, although their fears were somewhat +excited, their sympathies and interest were at the same time aroused. This +was a good commencement; but Arnold was ready with other means no less +effectual for engaging their thoughts. He opened out to them at once "fresh +fields and pastures new," in the domain of knowledge; he established +periodical examinations, at which (if a tolerable proficiency in the regular +studies was displayed) a boy might offer to be examined in books on any +subject he might prefer, and prizes were awarded accordingly. The offer was +eagerly seized; modern history, biography, travels, fiction, poetry, were +sought after; the habit of general reading was created, and a new +intellectual activity pervaded the school. The writer well remembers the +effect produced on him when he heard that Arnold had lent one of the boys +Humphrey Clinker, to illustrate a passage in his theme. He felt from that +time forth that the keys of knowledge were confided to him, and, in proof of +this, his own little library, and those in the "studies" of many of his +neighbours, shortly doubled their numbers. French, German, and mathematics, +were encouraged by forming distinct classes on these subjects, and by +conferring for high standing in them some of the privileges as to exemption +from fagging, which previously had only attached to a similar standing in +classics. Modern history was also introduced as a recognised branch of +school study. The advantage of this was, that many of the boys, who, from +deficient early training or peculiar turn of mind, were unable to bring +themselves to proficiency in the regular Latin and Greek course of the +school, and consequently were idle and listless, found other and more +congenial paths in which intelligence and application would still meet with +their reward. + +By these simple means, now generally adopted in classical schools, but up to +that time supposed to be incompatible with high accomplishments in classical +learning, the standard of intelligence and information was incalculably +raised, and the school, as a place of education in its wider sense, became +infinitely more efficient. + +We should have stated that Dr. Arnold's skill as a teacher was unrivalled; he +imparted a living interest to all he touched, to be attributed mainly to his +habit of illustrating ancient events by "modern instances." Thus, Thucydides +and Napier were compared almost page by page; thus the "High Church party" of +the Jews was pointed to as a type of "the Tories." By means of his favourite +topic, physical geography, he sought to bring the actual theatre of events +before his pupils. Thus he would describe (when living at Laleham), the +Vatican and Janiculum hills of Rome, as being "like the hills on the right +bank of the Thames behind Chertsey;" the Monte Marie as being "about the +height and steepness of Cooper's Hill," and "having the Tiber at the foot of +it like the Thames at Anchorwick." + +To philology even, the deadly science of dead languages, and the great +business of public schools, he contrived to impart life by continually +pointing out its bearing on the history of the races of mankind. The +interest thus given to study was something before unknown in schools. + +So far we have confined ourselves to the effect of Arnold's system on the +mind, but the source of his most anxious thoughts and constant solicitude lay +deeper than this; it related to the spiritual condition, or, according to the +German phrase, "the inner life," of the boys. With his usual indifference to +personal labour he assumed the preachership of the chapel, declining however, +also, with characteristic disinterestedness, the salary attached, hitherto +given to increase the stipend of a junior master, and his famous "quarter of +an hour" sermons, into which he threw all the power of his character and his +intellect, no doubt gave him an opportunity of confirming, on certain minds, +that influence which was primarily due to his earnest acts of heart and head. + +We here approach a portion of his career on which difference of opinion must +always exist. Impressed with an abiding conviction that all earthly things +were subordinate to the relation between man and his Maker; keenly +appreciating all that was "of good report," and impatient of evil, or what +seemed to him to be of evil tendency, even to intolerance, it must be +admitted that in Arnold there was something of the zealot. With his acute +sense of responsibility as to the spiritual state of the boys, it was natural +that he should seek to impress those with whom he was brought in contact, and +he did so. The personal notice he bestowed on boys of serious tendencies, +asking them to his house and conversing with them on solemn subjects had this +effect, and soon engendered "a sect" in the school. Now, the boys who were +thus susceptible and formed this sect, were generally of the milder order of +character, and not of that precocious virility which always gives influence +in a great school; hence arose among the natural leaders of the school, the +strong in character and the stout in heart and hand, a reaction against +Arnold and against Arnold's views, as being opposed to the traditional +notions of the school. This reaction was strengthened by the peculiar nature +of some of these views, such, for instance as those on the subject of the +code of honour. Arnold, although himself a man actuated by a nice sense of +honour, felt it his duty to set himself strongly in words against the code of +honour; it was the constant object of vituperation on his part, even from the +pulpit. His notions on this point, however, never gained ground with his +hearers, who could not be brought to believe that their master (himself as +true a knight errant as ever drew sword or pen,) was serious when he told +them that the spirit of chivalry was "the true Antichrist." + +The attempt to introduce a more highly-wrought tone of religious feeling than +was perhaps of wholesome growth in very young minds was, therefore, not +without its drawbacks; the antagonism to some of his own views which it +called forth, combined with the utter disregard to established views which +characterized his own teaching, and which the school caught from him, told +upon the boys' minds. The direct and indirect effect of Arnold's school of +thought may indeed, now, we think, be traced in the general distrust of +hitherto received opinions, which, but little tinged in England it is true +with either licentiousness or irreverence, is nevertheless characteristic of +the present generation. + +These effects are also more manifest now that Arnold's personal influence can +no longer be exercised. So long as he was at his post, his earnest +simplicity of character, his purity of life, his intellectual vigour, his +fearless seeking after truth, carried away the sympathies of all who were +brought in contact with him; not one of whom but will say, on looking back to +the impression he left on them, "Behold an Israelite indeed in whom there was +no guile!" + +Thus the reform introduced into Rugby by Arnold, and indirectly into other +public schools through him, was then very different from that which was +anticipated from him. He did, it will be seen, none of the things he was +expected by his party to do. He strenuously inculcated the views of +Christian doctrine most opposed to those of the Latitudinarian party. {71} He +stoutly adhered to the system of "fagging," as being the best mode of +responsible government for the school "out of school," founding his opinion +on his own experience at Winchester, on which he often dwelt. He raised and +improved the standard of classical learning in its wider sense, so that the +scholars of Rugby gained a high standing at the universities; and by showing +that this was attainable consistently with acquirements in other branches of +learning, and with the utmost amount of intelligent interest in the knowledge +of the day, he confirmed that opinion in favour of the advantage of classical +learning, as a sound philosophical means of training the faculties for +worldly affairs, which we have seen lately advocated and applauded even in +the heart of Manchester itself, at the opening of Owen's College. + +The change he introduced was thus more thorough, more deep and comprehensive, +than any which the suggestions of his partisan supporters would have +accomplished. It was a change in the very spirit of education, reaching +beyond the years of boyhood or the limits of school walls. + + + + +COVENTRY TO BIRMINGHAM, + + +Instead of turning off from Rugby by the new route to Leamington, we will +keep the old road, and so push on straight to the great Warwickshire +manufactory and mart of ribands and watches. First appears the graceful +spire of St. Michael's Church; then the green pastures of the Lammas, on +which, for centuries, the freemen of Coventry have fed their cattle, sweep +into sight, and with a whiz, a whirl, and a whistle, we are in the city and +county of Coventry--the seat of the joint diocese of Lichfield and +Coventry--which return two members to Parliament, at the hands of one of the +most stubbornly independent constituencies in England; a constituency which +may be soft-sawdered, but cannot be bullied or bribed. + +A railroad here branches off to Nuneaton, distant ten miles, a sort of +manufacturing dependency of the great city; and on the other, at the same +distance, to Leamington, with a station at Kenilworth. + +In addition to its manufacturing importance, an importance which has survived +and increased in the face of the changes in the silk trade and watch trade, +commenced by Huskisson, and completed by Peel, Coventry affords rich food for +the antiquarian, scenes of deep interest to the historical student, a legend +for poets, a pageant for melodramatists, and a tableau for amateurs of poses +plastiques. + +Once upon a time Kings held their Courts and summoned Parliaments at +Coventry; four hundred years ago the Guilds of Coventry recruited, armed, +clothed, and sent forth six hundred stout fellows to take part in the Wars of +the Roses; at Coventry the lists were pitched for Mary of Lancaster, and +Phillip Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk, to decide in single combat their counter- +charges before the soon-to-be-dethroned Richard II. + +At Coventry you will find the effigy of vile Peeping Tom, and can follow the +course through which the fair Godiva rode naked, veiled by her modesty and +flowing tresses, to save her townsmen from a grievous tax. To be sure, some +English Niebuhrs have undertaken to prove the whole story a legend; but, for +our parts, we are determined to believe in tradition and Alfred Tennyson's +sonnet. + +There are three ancient churches in Coventry, of which St. Michael's, built +in the reign of Henry I., is the first; the spire rising 303 feet from the +ground, the lofty interior ornamented with a roof of oak, curiously carved, +and several windows of stained glass. + +[COVENTRY: ill11.jpg] + +St. Mary's Hall, a large building, now used for corporation council meetings, +and festivities, erected in the reign of Henry VI., is one of the richest and +most interesting vestiges of the ornamental architecture of England. The +principal room has a grotesquely-carved roof of oak, a gallery for minstrels, +an armoury, a chair of state, and a great painted window, which need only the +filling up of royal and noble personages, their attendants, and the rich +burgesses of Coventry, to recall the time when Richard II. held his Court in +this ancient city, and, with "old John of Gaunt," settled the sentence on +Harry of Hereford, and Philip of Norfolk. + +In this chamber is to be seen a beautiful piece of tapestry, executed in +1450, measuring thirty feet by ten, and containing eighty figures. + +In the free school, founded by John Moles, in the reign of Henry VIII., Sir +William Dugdale, the antiquarian and historian of Warwickshire, was educated. +The income is about 900 pounds a-year, and the scholars have open to +competition two fellowships of St. John's College, Oxon, one at Catherine's +Hall, Cambridge, and six exhibitions at either University. Previous to the +investigations of the Charity Commissioners, the fine school-room was locked +up, and the books of the library torn for waste paper to light fires. At +present, under the reformed system, the school is attended by a large number +of scholars. + +There are more than a dozen educational and other charities for the benefit +of the poor, enjoying a revenue of many thousands a-year. + +There are also several curious specimens of domestic architecture of the +fourteenth and fifteenth centuries to be found in Coventry. It is, however, +on the whole, a dark, dirty, inconvenient city. The surrounding belt of +Lammas lands on which the freemen have the right of pasturing their horses +and cows, has prevented any increase in the limits of the city. + +In the middle ages Coventry was celebrated for its "mysteries and pageants," +of which an account has been published by Mr. Reader, a local bookseller. + +The chief manufactures are of ribands and of watches, both transplantations +from the Continent. The electors of Coventry distinguished themselves by +their consistency during the Free-trade agitation. They exacted a pledge +from their members in favour of Free-trade, except in watches and ribands. +More recently these same Coventry men have had the good sense to prefer a +successful man of business, the architect of his own fortunes, to a Right +Honourable Barrister and ex-Railway Commissioner. + +[THE SHERBORNE VIADUCT, NEAR COVENTRY: ill12.jpg] + +One thing needful to preserve the manufacturing position of Coventry is, a +first-rate School of Design--labour, and coal, and ample means of conveyance +they have, east and west, and north and south; and now the manufacturers only +need the cultivation of true principles of taste among the whole riband- +weaving population. For taste is a rare article, and many draughts of small +fry must be made before one leviathan salmon can be caught. Great advances +have been made recently in the production of the best kinds of ribands. A +specimen produced by subscription for the Hyde Park Exhibition of 1851, +proved that Coventry was quite able to rival the choicest work of France in +the class of machine-made ribands. The application of steam power to this +class of manufactures is of but recent date. Coventry surveyed, and this may +be done in a few hours, unless the traveller is able and willing to examine +its rich manufactories, it is difficult to resist the invitation of the +railway porter, bawling, to Kenilworth, Leamington, and Warwick, names +calling up a crowd of romantic associations, from Shakspeare to Scott and +Bulwer; but for the present we must keep steadily on to Birmingham, where +steam finds the chief raw materials of poetry and fashioner of beauty. + + + + +BIRMINGHAM. + + +A run of nineteen miles brings us to what the inhabitants call the Hardware +Village, a healthy, ugly town, standing upon several hills, crowned with +smoke, but free from fog. + +The old railway station stands at the foot of one of these hills, leaving a +drive of a quarter of a mile through a squalid region, almost as bad as the +railway entrance into Bristol, before entering into the decent part of the +town; but the new station, now in course of rapid completion, will land +passengers behind the Grammar School, in New Street, the principal, and, +indeed, only handsome street of any length in Birmingham. + +At the old station there is an excellent hotel, kept by Mr. Robert Bacon, who +was so many years house steward to the Athenaeum Club, in Pall Mall; and at +the refreshment-rooms a capital table d'hote is provided four times a-day, at +two shillings a-head, servants included, an arrangement extremely acceptable +after a ride of 118 miles. + +[NEWTON ROAD STATION, NEAR BIRMINGHAM: ill16.jpg] + +At the new station similar refreshment-rooms are to be provided, and it is to +be hoped that the architect will plan the interior first, and the exterior +afterwards, so that comfort may not be sacrificed, as it usually is in +English public buildings, to the cost of an imposing portico and vestibule. + +As a railway starting point, Birmingham has become a wonderful place. In +addition to those main lines and branches passed and noted on our journey +down, it is also the centre at which meet the railroads to Derby and +Sheffield; to Worcester, Cheltenham, Gloucester, and Bristol; to London +through Oxford, by the Broad Gauge Great Western, to Shrewsbury and Chester +through Wolverhampton, beside the little South Staffordshire lines, which +form an omnibus route between Birmingham, Walsall, Dudley, and Lichfield, and +other iron nets "too tedious to describe." + +To a stranger not interested in manufactures, and in mechanic men, this is a +very dull, dark, dreary town, and the sooner he gets out of it the better. +There are only two fine buildings. The Town Hall, an exact copy externally +of the Temple of Jupiter Stator at Rome, built of a beautiful grey Anglesey +marble, from the designs of Messrs. Hansom and Welch, who also undertook to +execute it for 24,000 pounds. It cost 30,000 pounds, and the contractors +were consequently ruined. A railway company would probably have paid the +difference; but, in such cases, communities have no conscience, so the people +of Brummagem got the Hall of which they are justly proud "a bargain." + +The interior is disappointing, and wants the expenditure of some more +thousand pounds in sculptures and decorative details, to bring it into +harmony with its noble external effect. The great room, 145 feet in length, +by 65 feet in width and height, will contain upwards of 8,000 persons. + +Musical meetings are held here periodically, for the benefit of certain +charities; but the sight best worth seeing, is the Hall at the period of an +election, or of political excitement, crowded with a feverish army of +workmen, cheering, groaning, swaying to and fro, under the speeches of their +favourite orators. Then in this Pagan temple may be seen a living specimen +of a Brummagem Jupiter, with a cross of Vulcan, lion-faced, hairy, bearded, +deep-mouthed swaggering, fluent in frank nonsense and bullying clap-trap, +loved by the mob for his strength, and by the middle classes for his money. +The lofty roof re-echoes with applause. + +The temple, the man, and the multitude, all together, are well worth a +journey to Birmingham to see. + +There is also the Free School of King Edward VI., in New Street, a stately +pile, built by Barry, before he had become so famous as he is now; which +supplies first-rate instruction in classics, mathematics, modern languages, +and all branches of a useful English education, after the plan introduced +into our public schools by Dr. Arnold, to the sons of all residents, at an +extremely cheap, almost a nominal rate. Ten exhibitions of 50 pounds each +for four years at Oxford or Cambridge are open to the competition of the +scholars. + +The salary of the Head Master is 400 pounds a-year, with a residence, and the +privilege of boarding eighteen pupils. Of the Second Master, 300 pounds. +Beside Under Masters. + +These liberal appointments have secured a succession of competent masters, +and cannot fail to produce a permanent and favourable change in the character +of young Birmingham. The diffusion of sound classical learning was much +needed to mitigate the coxcombical pretensions of the half-educated, and the +vulgar coarseness of the uneducated. The inhabitants of manufacturing towns +are apt to grow petty Plutocracies, in which after wealth, ignorance and +assumption are the principal qualifications. Brass turns up its nose at +iron, and both look down upon tin, although half an hour in the world's fire +make all so black as to be undistinguishable. + +Besides this, which we may term the High School, there are four schools +supported out of King Edward VI.'s foundation, where reading, writing, and +arithmetic, are taught. + +The funds on which these magnificent ecclesiastical establishments are +supported, arise from lands in the neighbourhood which originally produced +only 21 pounds a year, and were part of the estates of the Guild of the "Holy +Cross." After being occupied first as fields and then as gardens, the rise +of manufactures and extension of the town of Birmingham, converted a great +portion into building land. The present revenue amounts to about 11,000 +pounds per annum, and are likely to be still further increased. + +Twenty years ago, school lands which are now leased for terms of years, and +covered with buildings, were occupied as suburban gardens at trifling rents. +Eventually the Birmingham Free School will enjoy an income equal to the wants +of a university as well as a school. Meagre accounts of the income and +expenditure of this noble foundation are published annually, under the +regulations of an Act of Parliament passed in 1828; but no report of the +number of scholars, or the sort of education communicated, is attached to +this balance sheet. It would be very useful; and we hope that the self- +elected corporation, who have the management, will see the propriety of +supplying it. + +Birmingham also possesses a chartered college, "Queen's College," similar to +that at Durham; first established as a medical school by the exertions of the +present dean, Mr. Sands Cox, since liberally endowed by the Rev. Dr. +Warneford to the extent of many thousand pounds, and placed in a position to +afford the courses in law, physic, and divinity, required for taking a degree +at the University of London. Also a Blue Coat School, and School for the +Blind. + +In a picturesque point of view there are few towns more uninviting than +Birmingham; for the houses are built of brick toned down to a grimy red by +smoke, in long streets crossing each other at right angles,--and the few +modern stone buildings and blocks of houses seem as pert and as much out of +place as the few idle dandies who are occasionally met among the crowds of +busy mechanics and anxious manufacturers. What neatness--cleanliness--can do +for the streets, bell-pulls, and door-knockers, has been done; the foot- +pavements are, for the most part flagged, although some of the round pebble +corn-creating footways still remain in the back streets. One suburb, +Edgbaston, is the property of Lord Calthorpe, and has been let out on +building leases which entirely exclude all manufactories and inferior classes +of houses. The result has been a crop of snug villas, either stucco or +polished red brick; many of them surrounded by gardens and shrubberies, and a +few of considerable pretension. Of this suburb the Birmingham people think a +great deal; but, as it is built upon a dead flat in long straight lines, its +effect is more pleasing to the citizen after a hard day's work, than to the +artist, architect, landscape gardener, or lover of the picturesque. + +Birmingham is, in fact, notable for its utility more than its beauty,--for +what is done in its workshops, rather than for what is to be seen in its +streets and suburbs. Nowhere are there to be found so numerous a body of +intelligent, ingenious, well educated workmen. The changes of fashion and +the discoveries of science always find Birmingham prepared to march in the +van, and skilfully execute the work needed in iron, in brass, in gold and +silver, in all the mixed metals and in glass. When guns are no longer +required at the rate of a gun a minute, Birmingham steel pens become famous +all over the world. When steel buckles and gilt buttons have had their day, +Britannia teapots and brass bedsteads still hold their own. No sooner is +electrotype invented, than the principal seat of the manufacture is +established at Birmingham. No sooner are the glass duties repealed than the +same industrious town becomes renowned for plate glass, cut glass, and +stained glass; and, when England demands a Palace to hold the united +contributions of "The Industry of the World," a Birmingham banker finds the +contractor and the credit, and Birmingham manufacturers find the iron, the +glass, and the skill needful for the most rapid and gigantic piece of +building ever executed in one year. + +In order to appreciate the independent character and quick inventive +intelligence of the Birmingham mechanic, he should be visited at his own +home. A system of small independent houses, instead of lodgings, prevails in +this town, to the great advantage of the workmen. + +It is only within a very few years that the working classes have had, in a +local School of Design, means of instruction in the principles of taste, and +arts of drawing and modelling; while, until the patent laws are put upon a +just foundation, their inventive faculties can never be fully developed. When +the artizans of Birmingham have legislative recognition of their rights as +inventors, and free access to a first-rate school of design, their "cunning" +hands will excel in beauty as well as ingenuity all previous triumphs. + +The wealthier classes have, from various causes, deteriorated within the last +sixty years, while the workmen have improved within that time. Men who have +realized fortunes no longer settle down in the neighbourhood of their +labours. They depart as far as possible from the smoke of manufactures and +the bickerings of middle class cliques, purchase estates, send their sons to +the universities, and in a few years subside into country squires. +Professional men, as soon as they have displayed eminent talent, emigrate to +London; and the habit, now so prevalent in all manufacturing towns, of living +in the suburbs, has sapped the prosperity of those literary and philosophical +institutions and private reunions, which so much contributed to raise the +tone of society during the latter half of the last century. The meetings of +an old Literary and Philosophical Society have been discontinued, and the +News Room was lately on the brink of dissolution. Instead of meeting to +discuss points of art, science, and literature, the middle classes read the +Times and Punch, and consult the Penny Cyclopaedia. The literary and +scientific character which Birmingham acquired in the days when Boulton, +Watt, Priestly, Darwin, Murdoch, and their friends, met at the Birmingham +Lunarian Society, to discuss, to experiment, and to announce important +discoveries, have passed away never to return; and we are not likely to see +again any provincial town occupying so distinguished a position in the +scientific world. The only sign of Birmingham's ancient literary pre- +eminence is to be found in several weekly newspapers, conducted with talent +and spirit far beyond average. It is an amusing fact, that the sect to which +Priestly belonged still trade on his reputation, and claim an intellectual +superiority over the members of other persuasions, which they may once have +possessed, but which has long been levelled up by the universal march of +education. The richer members publish little dull books in bad English on +abstruse subjects, and, like Consuelo's prebendary, have quartos in +preparation which never reach the press. + +In fact, the suburban system of residence and the excessive pretension of +superiority by the "pots over the kettles" have almost destroyed society in +Birmingham, although people meet occasionally at formal expensive parties, +and are drawn together by sympathy in religion and politics. + +Nothing would induce an educated gentleman to live in Birmingham except to +make a living, yet there are residing there, seldom seen out of their +factories, men of the highest scientific and no mean literary attainments. + +There are a number of manufactories, which, in addition to their commercial +importance, present either in finished articles, or in the process of +manufacture, much that will interest an intelligent traveller. + +GLASS.--Messrs. F. & C. Oslers, of Broad Street, have attained a very high +reputation for their cut and ornamental, as well as the ordinary, articles of +flint glass. The have been especially successful in producing fine effects +from prismatic arrangements. Their gigantic chandeliers of great size, made +for Ibrahim Pacha, and the Nepalese Prince, were the steps by which they +achieved the lofty crystal fountain, of an entirely original design, which +forms one of the most novel and effective ornaments of the Crystal Palace. +The manufactory as well as the show-room is open to the inspection of +respectable strangers. + +Messrs. Rice and Harris are also extensive manufacturers of cut and coloured +glass; and Messrs. Bacchus and Sons have been very successful in their +imitations of Bohemian glass, both in form and colour. Messrs. Chance have +acquired a world-wide reputation by supplying the largest quantity of crown +glass in the shortest space of time for Paxton's Palace. These works, in +which plate and every kind of crown glass is made, are situated at West +Bromwich. The proprietors have benevolently and wisely made arrangements for +the education of their workmen and their families, which are worthy of +imitation in all those great factories where the plan, which originated in +Lancashire, has not been already adopted. A letter of introduction will be +required in order to view Messrs. Chance's establishment, of which we shall +say more when noting the social state of the Birmingham operatives. + +PAPIER MACHE.--Messrs. Jennens and Bettridge's works are so well known that it +is only necessary to refer to them for the purpose of saying that in their +show-rooms some new application of the art which they have carried to such +perfection is constantly to be found. Pianos, cradles, arm-chairs, indeed +complete drawing-room suites, cornices, door-plates, and a variety of +ornaments are displayed, in addition to the tea-trays and tea-chests in which +the art of japanning first became known to us. + +Although Messrs. Jennens and Co. have the largest establishment in +Birmingham, there are several others who produce capital work; among them may +be named Mr. Thomas Lane and Messrs. M'Callum and Hodgson, who both exhibited +specimens of great merit at the last Birmingham Exhibition of manufactures. + +But metals afford the great staple of employment in Birmingham, and we shall +avail ourselves, in describing the leading trades, and touching on the social +position of the workmen, of the admirable letters on Labour and the Poor in +Birmingham which appeared in the Morning Chronicle in the course of 1850. +{81} + +* * * * * + +BIRMINGHAM BUTTONS.--"A Brummagem Button" is the old-fashioned nickname for a +Birmingham workman. The changes of fashion, and the advances of other +manufactures, have deprived that trade of its ancient pre-eminence over all +other local pursuits; but the "button trade," although not the same trade +which made great fortunes in a previous generation, still employs five or six +thousand hands, of which one-half are women and children. + +In the middle of the eighteenth century a plain white metal button was made, +which may occasionally be seen in remote rural districts, on the green coats +of old yeomen, wearing hereditary leather breeches. At that period the +poorer classes wore coarse horn or wooden buttons, chiefly home made, and the +tailor made, as well as the clothes, buttons covered with cloth. By degrees +very handsome gilt buttons came into wear, and continued to employ many +hands, while the blue coat which figures in the portraits of our grandfathers +remained in fashion. + +In 1826, the Florentine, or covered button, now in almost universal use, +which is manufactured by machinery with the aid of women and children, was +introduced, and by 1829 the gilt button trade had been almost destroyed. + +The change produced great distress, vast numbers of persons were thrown out +of work, who could not at once turn to any other employment. In 1830 a +deputation from the gilt button trade waited upon George IV. and the +principal nobility, to solicit their patronage. The application succeeded, +coloured coats with metal buttons came into fashion, and dandies of the first +water appeared in bright snuff-coloured, pale green, and blue coats, such as +are now only worn by Paul Bedford or Keeley, in broad farce. In 1836 a cheap +mode of gilding, smart for a day, dull and shabby in a week, completely +destroyed the character of gilt buttons, and brought up the Florentine again. +This change was, no doubt, materially assisted and maintained by Bulwer's +novel of "Pelham," which set all young men dressing themselves up like crows +with white shirts. + +In 1840 a deputation to Prince Albert attempted another revival of the gilt +button trade, and at the same time the silk stocking weavers waited on the +Prince to endeavour to drive out the patent leather boots, and bring in the +low shoe. Both attempts failed. At present there are symptoms of a turn of +fashion toward coloured coats and bright buttons, which may be successful, +because the fashionable world abhors monotony. The flame coloured coats, +long curls, and pink under waistcoats of George IV., were succeeded by the +solemn sables of an undertaker; the high tight stock made way for a sailor's +neckcloth. For a time shawl waistcoats, of gay colours, had their hour. Then +correct tight black yielded to the loosest and shaggiest garments that could +be invented. Perhaps the year 1852 may see our youth arrayed in blue, purple +and pale brown. + +But a very little consideration will prove that these artificial changes, +although they may benefit a class, are of little advantage to the community. +If a man gives 10s. more for a coat with gilt buttons than for one with plain +buttons, he has 10s. less to expend with some other tradesman. + +The Florentine Button, first invented in 1820, and since much improved, is a +very curious manufacture. It is made--as any one may see by cutting up a +button--of five pieces; first, the covering of Florentine, or silk; second, a +cover of metal, which gives the shape to the button; third, a smaller circle +of mill-board; fourth, a circle of coarse cloth, or calico; fifth, a circle +of metal, with a hole punched in the centre, through which the calico or +cloth is made to protrude, to form the shank, to be sewed on to the garment. + +"Ranged in rows on either side of a long room of the button factory, (says +the correspondent of the Morning Chronicle) are from 50 to 100 girls and +young women, from the age of fourteen to four or five and twenty, all busily +engaged, either at hand or steam presses, in punching out metal circles +slightly larger than the size of the button which is to be produced. Before +each press the forewoman is seated, holding in her hand a sheet of zinc or +iron, about two feet long, and four inches broad. This she passes rapidly +under the press if worked by hand, and still more rapidly if worked by steam, +punching and cutting at the rate of from fifty to sixty disks in a minute. As +they are cut they fall into a receptacle prepared to receive them. The +perforated sheets are sold to the founder to be melted up, and made into +other sheets. In other rooms younger women are engaged in cutting up +Florentine cloth, or other outside covering material, paste board and calico. +Of these a young woman can punch 57,000 a-day, and of metal, 28,000 a-day. +The upper discs are submitted by another set of girls to presses from which +each receives a blow that turns up an edge all round, and reduces it to the +exact size of the button. The lower disk is punched for the shank to come +through, stamped with the maker's name, or the name of the tailor for whom +the buttons are made, and coated with varnish, either light or black. + +"The five pieces then pass into a department where a woman superintends the +labours of a number of children from seven to ten years of age. + +"These little creatures place all five pieces, one after another, in regular +order, in a small machine like a dice-box, constructed to hold them, which is +placed under a press, when a firm touch compresses the whole together in the +neat form, which any one may examine on a black dress coat, without stitch or +adhesive matter." + +This patent was the subject of long litigation between rival inventors, to +the great benefit of the lawyers, and loss of the industrious and ingenious. + +Within the last twelve months Messrs. Chadbourne, button-makers, of Great +Charles Street, have adapted this Florentine button to nails for furniture +and carriages. + +The Patent Linen sewn-through Button is another recent invention, which has +superseded the old wire button for under garments, than which it is cheaper, +neater, and more durable. It is composed of linen and circles of zinc. + +Horn Buttons, with shanks, which are extensively used for cloth boots and +sporting jackets, are made from the hoofs of horned cattle, which are boiled, +cut, punched, dyed, stamped when soft, and polished by brushes moved by steam +power; the chief part of the work being done by women and children. + +Pearl Buttons have become an important part of the Birmingham manufactures, +partly on the decline of metal buttons. They are extensively used on coats +and waistcoats, where gilt buttons were formerly employed. + +The shell used in the manufacture of buttons, studs, card counters, etc., is +the mother of pearl, the Concha margaritifera of naturalists. Five kinds of +shell are employed:--First. The Buffalo Shell, so named because it arrived +packed in buffalo skins; it comes chiefly from Panama, is the smallest and +commonest, and sells to the trade at about 15 pounds a ton.--Second. The +Black Scotch, from the Sandwich Islands, whence it is sent to Valparaiso and +to Sydney, New South Wales, worth from 15 to 30 pounds a ton. The large +outer rim is of a blackish, or rather greenish, tint, the centre only being +white. The outer rim was formerly considered worthless, and large quantities +were thrown away as rubbish. Change of fashion has brought the prismatic +hues of the dark pearl into fashion for shooting-coats, waistcoats, and even +studs. It used to be a standing story with a Bristol barber that a square in +that city had been built on thousands of pounds worth of tobacco stalks, +thrown away as useless, until it was discovered that that part of the plant +was capable of making a most saleable snuff. And so in Birmingham; the +Irvingite Church, on New Hall Hill, is said to be built on hundreds of tons +of refuse shell, which would now be worth from 15 to 20 pounds per ton. The +third shell is the Bombay, or White Scotch, worth from 20 to 50 pounds per +ton. The fourth comes from Singapore, and is brought there to exchange for +British manufactures by the native craft which frequent that free port. It +is a first-rate article, white to the edge, worth from 80 to 90 pounds per +ton. The fifth is the Mother of Pearl Shell, from Manilla, of equal value +and size, but with a slight yellow tinge round the edge. + +Pearl buttons are cut out and shaped by men with the lathe, polished by women +with a grinding-stone, and sorted and arranged on cards by girls. + +Glass Buttons were formerly in use among canal boatmen, miners, and +agricultural labourers, in certain districts. They are now chiefly made for +the African market. The process of making them and studs is well worth +seeing. + +Beside the buttons already enumerated, they make in Birmingham the flat iron +and brass buttons, for trowsers; steel buttons, for ladies' dresses; wooden +buttons, for overcoats; agate buttons, for which material is imported from +Bohemia; and, in fact, every kind of button and stud, including papier mache. + +The manufacture of brass shanks is a separate trade, and the writer of the +letters already quoted, states the annual production at, or upwards of, three +millions per working day. Of these, part are made by hand, but the greater +number by a shank-making machine, wrought by steam power, and only requiring +the attendance of one tool-maker. + +"The machine feeds itself from a coil of brass or iron wire suspended from +the roof, and cuts and twists into shanks, by one process, at the rate of 360 +per minute, or nearly 75,000,000 per annum. Some button manufacturers employ +one of these machines; the majority buy the shanks." + +* * * * * + +GUNS AND SWORDS.--According to Hutton, the historian of Birmingham, the town +was indebted for its occupation in supplying our army with fire-arms, to an +ancestor of a gentleman who now represents a division of Warwickshire, a Sir +Roger Newdigate, in the time of William III. + +The story, however, seems only half-true. Hutton would imply that the first +muskets manufactured in England were made in Birmingham. It seems more +likely, that the connexion with William III. arose from the desire of that +monarch to have the flint-lock, which was superseding the match-lock on the +Continent, made in his own dominions. + +At any rate, the revolution of 1688, which the romantic anti-commercial party +of Young England so deeply regret, gave Birmingham its gun trade, as well as +Hampton Court its asparagus beds. + +When Walpole gave us peace, the attention of the manufacturers was directed +to fowling-pieces, and from that time forward Birmingham has contained the +greatest fire-arm factory in the world, although, of course, subject to many +fluctuations. Twenty years ago, "A long war soon," was as regular a toast at +convivial meetings of Birmingham manufacturers, as at any mess-room or in any +cock-pit in her majesty's service. + +The government has made several attempts, by establishing manufactories with +public money and under official control, to become independent of Birmingham, +but the end has invariably been great loss and pitiful results in the number +of arms produced. + +We hope to live to see the time when our navy will be built as economically +as our guns are made--by private contract--and our public ship-yards confined +to the repairing department. + +During the war which ended at the battle of Waterloo, the importance and +prosperity of the gun-makers were great. It was calculated that a gun a +minute was made in Birmingham on the average of a year, but the Peace threw +numbers out of work and reduced wages very considerably. + +Time has brought the trade to a level; indeed, it is one of the great +advantages of Birmingham, that the prosperity of the town does not rest on +any one trade; so that if some are blighted others are flourishing, and when +one fails the workmen are absorbed into other parallel employments. + +The gun trade now depends for support on the demand for--first, cheap muskets +for African and other aboriginal tribes; secondly, on cheap fowling-pieces, +rifles, pistols, blunderbusses, etc., for exportation to America, Australia, +and other countries where something effective is required at a moderate +price; thirdly, on the home demand for fowling-pieces of all qualities, from +the commonest to those sold at the West End of London, at fancy prices; +fourthly, on that for fire-arms required by our army and navy; and, lastly, +on occasional uncertain orders created by wars and revolutions on the +Continent. + +There are a vast number of guns, or parts of guns, made in Birmingham, which +bear the names of retailers in different parts of the kingdom. Even very +fashionable gun-makers find it worth their while to purchase goods in the +rough state from Birmingham manufacturers on whom they can depend, and finish +them themselves. + +This is rendered easy by the system. No one in Birmingham makes the whole of +a gun. The division of labour is very great; the makers of the lock, the +barrel, and the stock, are completely distinct, and the mechanics confine +themselves to one branch of a department. The man who makes the springs for +a lock has nothing to do with the man who makes the nipple or the hammer; +while the barrel-forger has no connexion with the stock-maker or lock-maker. + +The visitor who has the necessary introductions, should by no means omit to +visit a gun-barrel factory, as there are a good many picturesque effects in +the various processes, beside the mechanical instruction it affords. + +The following is the order of the fabrication of a common gun:-- + +The sheets for barrels are made from scraps of steel and iron, such as old +coach-springs, knives, steel chains, horse shoes and horseshoe nails, and +sheets of waste steel from steel pen manufactories. + +These, having been sorted, are bound together, and submitted first to such a +furnace, and then to such a steam hammer as we described in our visit to +Wolverton, until it is shaped into a bar of tough iron, which is afterwards +rolled into sheets of the requisite thickness. + +From one of these sheets a length sufficient to make a gun barrel is cut off +by a pair of steam-moved shears, of which the lower jaw is stationary and the +upper weighs a ton, of which plenty of examples may be seen in every steam +engine factory. + +The slip of iron is made red hot, placed between a pair of rollers, one of +which is convex and the other concave, and comes out in a semicircular trough +shape; again heated, and again pressed by smaller rollers, by which the +cylinder is nearly completed. A long bar of iron is passed through the +cylinder, it is thrust into the fire again, and, when red hot, it is +submitted to the welder, who hammers it and heats it and hammers it again, +until it assumes the form of a perfect tube. + +Damascus barrels are made by incorporating alternate layers of red hot steel +and iron, which are then twisted into the shape of a screw while at white +heat. The bar thus made is twisted in a cold state by steam power round a +bar into a barrel shape, then heated and welded together. + +These are the barrels which present the beautiful variegated appearance which +gives them the name of Damascus. + +The barrels, whether common or twisted, are then bored by a steel rod, kept +wet with water or oil, and turned by steam. The process occupies from two to +three hours for each barrel. + +The next operation is that of grinding the outside of the barrel with +sandstone wheels, from five to six feet in diameter when new, driven by +steam. These stones chiefly come from the neighbouring district of Bilston; +in four months' work, a stone of this size will be reduced to two feet. + +The employment is hard, dangerous from the stones often breaking while in +motion, in which case pieces of stone weighing a ton have been known to fly +through the roof of the shop; unwholesome, because the sand and steel dust +fill eyes, mouth, and lungs, unless a certain simple precaution is taken +which grinders never take. + +After grinding, a nut is screwed into the breech, and the barrel is taken to +the proof house to be proved. + +The proof house is a detached building, the interior of which is lined with +plates of cast iron. + +The barrels are set in two iron stocks, the upper surface of one of which has +a small gutter, to contain a train of powder; in this train the barrels rest +with their touchholes downwards, and in the rear of the breeches of the +barrels is a mass of sand. When the guns, loaded with five times the +quantity of powder used in actual service, have been arranged, the iron-lined +doors and windows are closed, and a train extending to the outside through a +hole is fired. + +Some barrels burst and twist into all manner of shapes; those which pass the +ordeal are again examined after the lapse of twenty-four hours, and, if +approved, marked with two separate marks, one for viewing and one for +proving. The mark for proving consists of two sceptres crossed with a crown +in the upper angle; the letters B and C in the left and right, and the letter +P in the lower angle. For viewing only, V stands instead of P underneath the +crown, the other letters omitted. + +After proving, the jiggerer fastens the pin, which closes up the breech. + +In the mean time the construction of the lock, which is an entirely different +business, and carried on in the neighbouring towns of Wednesbury, Darleston, +and Wolverhampton, as well as in Birmingham, has been going on. + +The gun lock makers are ranged into two great divisions of forgers and +filers, beside many subdivisions. + +The forgers manufacture the pieces in the rough, the filers polish them and +put them together. In the percussion lock, there are fifteen pieces; in the +common flint lock, eight. + +By a process patented about eleven years ago, parts of a gun lock formerly +forged by hand are now stamped with a die. The use of this invention was +opposed by the men, but without success. + +The barrel and lock next pass into the hands of the stocker. + +The stocks, of beechwood for common guns, of walnut for superior, of which +much is imported from France and Italy, arrive in Birmingham in a rough +state. The stocker cuts away enough of the stock to receive the barrel, the +lock, the ramrod, and shapes it a little. + +The next workman employed is the screw-together. He screws on the heel +plate, the guard that protects the trigger, puts in the trigger plate, lets +in the pipes to hold the ramrod, puts on the nozzle cap, and all other +mountings. + +After all this, a finisher takes the gun to pieces, and polishes, fits all +the mountings, or sends them to be polished by women; the lock is sent to the +engraver to have an elephant and the word "warranted," if for the African +market, put on it; a crown and the words "tower proof," if for our own +military service; while the stock is in the hands of the maker off and +cleanser, it is carved, polished, and, if needful, stained. + +Common gun barrels are polished or browned to prevent them from rusting, real +Damascus barrels are subjected to a chemical process, which brings out the +fine wavy lines and prevents them from rusting. + +All these operations having been performed, the barrel, the lock, and the +stock, are brought back by the respective workmen who have given them the +final touch, and put together by the finisher or gun maker, and this putting +together is as much as many eminent gunmakers ever do. But, by care and good +judgment, they acquire a reputation for which they can charge a handsome +percentage. + +For these reasons, with local knowledge, it is possible to obtain from a +Birmingham finisher who keeps no shop, a first-rate double gun at a very low +figure compared with retail prices. + +Belgium and Germany compete with Birmingham for cheap African guns, and even +forge the proof marks. Neither in quality nor in price for first-rate +articles can any country compete with us. + +* * * * * + +SWORDS AND MATCHETTS.--The sword trade of Birmingham is trifling compared with +that in guns. The foreign demand has dwindled away until it has become quite +insignificant, and the chief employment is afforded by our own army and navy. +Nevertheless, good swords are made in Birmingham, which is the only town in +England where any manufacture of the kind exists, although the blades often +bear the names of more fashionable localities. + +It is among the traditions of the Birmingham trade, that in 1817, when our +Government was about to transfer its orders for swords to Germany, in +consequence of the inferiority of English swords, a Mr. Gill claimed to +compete for the contract; and that in order to show what he could do, he +appeared before the Board of Ordnance with a sword, which he tied round his +thigh, and then untied, when it immediately became straight. In the end Mr. +Gill was the means of retaining the sword trade in Birmingham. + +Sword-grinding is worth seeing. Sword-makers find their principal employment +in producing Matchetts, a tool or weapon very much like the modern regulation +cutlass, but stronger and heavier, with a plain beech-wood handle, worth +wholesale from 6d. to 9d. each. They are used in the East and West Indies, +Ceylon, and South America, for cutting down sugar-canes and similar uses. We +take the name to be Spanish; it is used by Defoe and Dampier. We only +mention the article as one of the many odd manufactures made, but never sold +retail, in England. + +* * * * * + +STEEL PENS.--All the steel pens made in England, and a great many sold in +France, Germany, and America, whatever names or devices they may bear, are +manufactured in Birmingham. In this respect, as in many others of the same +nature, the Birmingham manufacturers are very accommodating, and quite +prepared to stamp on their productions the American Eagle, the Cap of +Liberty, the effigy of Pio Nono, or of the Comte de Chambord, if they get the +order, the cash, or a good credit. And they are very right; their business +is to supply the article, the sentiment is merely a matter of taste. + +There are eighteen steel pen manufacturers in the Birmingham Directory, and +eight penholder makers. Two manufacturers employ about 1,000 hands, and the +other seventeen about as many more. + +We can most of us remember when a long hard steel pen, which required the +nicest management to make it write, cost a shilling, and was used more as a +curiosity than as a useful comfortable instrument. About 1820, or 1821, the +first gross of three slit pens was sold wholesale at 7 pounds 4s. the gross +of twelve dozen. A better article is now sold at 6d. a gross. + +The cheapest pens are now sold wholesale at 2d. a gross, the best at from +3s.6d. to 5s.; and it has been calculated that Birmingham produces not less +than a thousand million steel pens every year. America is the best foreign +customer, in spite of a duty of twenty-four per cent; France ranks next, for +the French pens are bad and dear. + +Mr. Gillott, who is one of the very first in the steel-pen trade, rose by his +own mechanical talents and prudent industry from a very humble station. He +was, we believe, a working mechanic, and invented the first machine for +making steel pens, which for a long period he worked with his own hands; he +makes a noble use of the wealth he has acquired; his manufactory is in every +respect a model for the imitation of his townsmen, as we shall show when we +say a few words about the condition of the working population; a liberal +patron of our best modern artists, he has made a collection of their works, +which is open to the inspection of any respectable stranger. + +The following description of his manufactory, which is not open to strangers +without special cause shown, will be found interesting in a social as well as +a commercial and mechanical point of view. + +* * * * * + +GILLOTT'S STEEL-PEN FACTORY.--In the first department, sheets of steel +received from Sheffield are passed through rolling mills driven by steam, +under charge of men and boys, until they are reduced to the thinness of a +steel pen, to the length of about thirty inches, and the breadth of about +three inches. These steel slips are conveyed to a large roomy workshop, with +windows at both sides, scrupulously clean, where are seated in double rows an +army of women and girls, from fourteen to forty years of age, who, unlike +most of the women employed in Birmingham manufactories, are extremely neat in +person and in dress. A hand press is opposite each; the only sound to be +heard is the bump of the press, and the clinking of the small pieces of metal +as they fall from the block into the receptacle prepared for them. One girl +of average dexterity is able to punch out one hundred gross per day. Each +division is superintended by a toolmaker, whose business it is to keep the +punches and presses in good working condition, to superintend the work +generally, and to keep order among the workpeople. + +The next operation is to place the blank in a concave die, on which a slight +touch from a concave punch produces the shape of a semitube. The slits and +apertures which increase the elasticity of the pen, and the maker's or +vendor's name, are produced by a similar tool. + +When complete all but the slit, the pens are soft and pliable, and may be +bent or twisted in the hand like a piece of thin lead. They are collected in +grosses, or great grosses, into small square iron boxes, and placed by men +who are exclusively employed in this department in a furnace, where they +remain until box and pens are of a white heat. They are then taken out and +immediately thrown hissing into oil, which cures them of their softness, by +making them as brittle as wafers. On being taken out they are put in a sieve +to drain, and then into a cylinder full of holes, invented by Mr. Gillott, +which, rapidly revolving, extracts the last drop of moisture from the pens, +on a principle that has been successfully applied to drying sugar, salt, and +a vast number of other articles of the same nature. By this invention Mr. +Gillott saves in oil from 200 to 300 pounds a-year. + +The pens having been dried are placed in other cylinders, and polished by +mutual friction, produced by reverberatory motion. They are then roasted or +annealed, so as to procure the requisite temper and colour, whether bronze or +blue. The last process is that of slitting, which is done by women, with a +sharp cutting tool. One girl, with a quick practised finger, can slit as +many as 28,800 pens in a day. They are now ready for the young girls whose +duty it is to count and pack them in boxes or grosses for the wholesale +market. + +It has lately been stated by one of a deputation to the Chancellor of the +Exchequer, on the subject of the paper duties, that steel pens for the French +market are sent in bags instead of arranged on cards to the loss of paper +makers and female labour, in consequence of the heavy excise duty on card +board. + +* * * * * + +BRASSWORK.--Birmingham is by far the greatest producer of ornamental and +useful brasswork. In the directory will be found a list which affords some +idea of the number and varieties of the brass trade, as all these employ a +certain number of working hands, varying from two or three apprentices to +many hundred skilled workmen. It includes bell-founders, bottle-jack makers, +brass founders, bronze powder makers, brass casters, clasp makers, coach lamp +furniture, ornament makers, cock founders, compass makers, copper-smiths, +cornice pole makers, curtain ring, bronze wire fender, gas-fitting, lamps, +chandeliers (partly brass, partly glass), ecclesiastical ornament, lantern, +letter-clip, mathematical instrument, brass and metallic bedstead, military +ornament, brass nail, saddlers' ironmonger, (chiefly brass), scale, beam, and +weighing machines, stair rod, moulding and astrigal, brass thimble makers, +tube, brass and copper-wire drawers, wire workers and weavers, and many other +trades less directly connected with brass. + +New articles are made in this metal every day. One manufacturer, who first +hit upon the hand-clip for papers, made a very handsome sum by it. The +Registration of Designs Act has been a great stimulus to certain branches of +this trade. Lucifer boxes are quite a new article, unknown the other day, +now manufactured in thousands for all quarters of the globe, Germany, Russia, +Holland, India, Australia, California. Then there are ornaments for South +American and Cuban saddles and harness; rings for lassos, and bells for +sheep, cattle, and sledges, brass rings, as coins for Africa; and weights for +weighing gold in California. + +Among the branches of the brass trade which have become important, since the +increase of emigration about 5000 ship lamps have been made in one year, at a +cheap rate; and within the last five years brass egg cups have been sent in +enormous numbers to Turkey, where they are used to hand round coffee. South +America is a great mart for cheap brass ware. + +Of this trade, it may be said, in the words of a vulgar proverb, "as one door +shuts another opens." + +The use of china and glass, in conjunction with brass for house furniture and +chandeliers, has also created a variety, and afforded an advantageous impetus +to the trade. + +Mr. Winfield is one of the manufacturers in brass whose showrooms are open to +the public. He also has claims on our attention for the wise and +philanthropic manner in which he has endeavoured to supply the lamentable +deficiency of education among the working classes. + +He holds a very leading position as a manufacturer of balustrades, tables, +window-cornices, candelabra chandeliers, brackets, curtain-bands, and above +all of metal bedsteads, which last he has supplied to some of the chief royal +and princely families of Europe, besides Spain, Algeria, and the United +States. In all these works great attention has been paid to design as well +as workmanship, as was amply proved both at the local exhibition in 1849, +where a large gas bracket, in the Italian style, of brass, with Parisian +ornaments, excited much admiration; and in 1851, in Hyde Park, where we +especially noted an ormolu cradle and French bedstead in gilt and bronze, +amid a number of capital works of his production. + +Mr. Winfield is patentee of a curious process for drawing out the cylinders +used in making bedsteads. + +Messrs. Messengers and Sons have one of the finest manufactories in +ornamental iron, brass, and bronze, for lamps, chandeliers, and table +ornaments. For a long series of years they have spared no expense in +obtaining the best models and educating their workmen in drawing and +modelling. In their show-rooms will be found many very pleasing statues in +gold-colour, in bronze, and copies from antique types of vases, lamps, +candelabra, etc. + +Messrs. Salt and Lloyd are also eminent lamp makers, and generally exhibit, +beside table-lamps, the last and best carriage-lamps. + +Messrs. Ratcliffes are another enterprising firm. + +All such of these manufactories as have show-rooms open to strangers, will be +found by an inquiry at any hotel; for although Birmingham is a large town, +everybody knows everybody, and the cab drivers will usually be found +competent to guide through the voyage of investigation. + +Next, after brass, we will take steel, divided into heavy and light steel +toys. + +* * * * * + +HEAVY STEEL TOYS.--Heavy steel toys are the name by which, by a sort of +Brummagem Bull, a variety of articles which are the very reverse of toys, and +which are often not made of steel at all, are designated. Heavy steel toys +are tools or articles of an implement nature, used in domestic economy. + +The list includes nearly 600 articles. Among these are included the tools of +carpenters, coopers, gardeners, butchers, glaziers, farriers, saddlers, +tinmen, shoemakers, weavers, wheelwrights, as well as corkscrews, sugar- +tongs, sugar-nippers, boot-hooks, button-hooks, door-scrapers, calipers, +printing-irons, dog-collars, chains, whistles, tinderboxes, and tobacco- +stoppers. + +Hammers occupy a leading place, of which there are two or three hundred +varieties, belonging to different trades, each of which is divided into eight +or ten different weights. Birmingham has the largest share of the heavy toy +trade, although there are extensive manufacturers in Sheffield and +Wolverhampton. Fine edge tools are chiefly and best made at Sheffield. + +This trade increases annually in importance, as it consists of articles which +are greatly in demand in new countries; and new markets are opened by every +new colonising enterprise of the Anglo-Saxon race. The manufacture includes +a great deal of wood-work for handles, as well as iron and steel. For +although many axes are made for the American market, after special patterns, +and with national mottoes, no handles are ever sent, as the backwoodsmen have +better wood for their purpose at command. Our axe handles are stiff; a +backwoodsman must have a flexible handle or haft. + +The Germans once tried to compete with us in the home market, but the attempt +was a failure. + +As an instance of the odd accidents that affect the Birmingham trade, about +three years ago, when flounces were in fashion, a great demand sprang up for +pinking irons, previously only used for ornamenting the hems of shrouds. A +workman informed the correspondent of the Morning Chronicle that he had +earned about 3 pounds a week for two years at making them. + +The scientific tools of housebreakers are known to be made by certain +journeymen in the steel toy trade. On the other hand, hand-cuffs, leg-irons, +and similar restraining instruments are manufactured for home use and +exportation. + +Occasionally, London and Liverpool houses in the Brazilian or Cuban trade +have ordered suits of chains, intended for the use of slave-ships. These are +cheap, coarse, painted black, and horrid looking. Among the orders on the +books of a manufacturer, were several dozen pair of hand-cuffs for ladies. + +* * * * * + +THE EDGE TOOL MANUFACTURE, which is increasing in Birmingham, probably in +consequence of the repeated strikes at Sheffield, added to the superior +position of Birmingham as regards coal, and the markets of London, Liverpool, +and Bristol, is often carried on in conjunction with that of steel toys. +There are forty-five different kinds of axes; fourteen for the American +market, twelve adzes, twenty-six bills and bill-hooks, and upwards of seventy +hoes for different foreign countries--Spain, Portugal, South America, the +United States, and Australia, which will soon consume as much hardware as +America did fifty years ago. + +* * * * * + +LIGHT STEEL TOYS.--These include chatelains, watch chains, keys, seals, +purses, slides, beads, waist buckles, dress swords, steel buttons for court +dresses, bodkins, spectacle frames, knitting and netting implements, and +steel snuffers. Shoe and knee buckles, which were once universally worn, +alone employed five thousand persons in their manufacture, when it was the +staple trade of the town. The expense and inconvenience of shoe buckles sent +them out of fashion. Dragoons hung in the stirrup, and cricketers tore the +nails of their fingers in picking up cricket balls, from the inconvenient +buckle. + +The trade is extremely fluctuating, and depends very much on inventive taste +in which we are manifestly inferior to the French. Some articles we can make +better than they can, but they are always bringing out something new and +pretty. In small beads they undersell us enormously, while in beads of 1/6th +of an inch in diameter, and upwards, we can undersell them. + +A visit to a manufactory of light steel toys will afford a great deal of +amusement and instruction. + +* * * * * + +MEDALLING.--DIE SINKING.--Here again are trades by which Birmingham keeps up +its communication with all the civilised, and part of the uncivilised world. +The first great improvements in coining the current money of the realm +originated at Soho, near Birmingham, at the manufactories of two men whose +memory Englishmen can never hold in sufficient respect--Matthew Boulton and +James Watt. They were the inventors of the machinery now in use in the Royal +Mint; for a long period they coined the copper money, as also some silver +money for the United Kingdom, as well as money of all denominations for many +foreign countries, tokens, and medals innumerable. They made coins for the +French Convention. + +During the war, when money was scarce and small notes were in circulation, +many tradesmen, and several public establishments issued "tokens," which +were, in fact, metal promissory notes, as they were seldom of the intrinsic +value stamped on them. By this expedient retailers advertised themselves, +and temporarily increased their capital. Some successful speculators made +fortunes, others were ruined by the presentation of all their metal notes of +hand at periods of panic. + +At any rate, the manufacture of these articles had a great deal to do with +the education of workmen for the medal manufacture which is now so +extensively carried on. + +The dies from which coins and medals are struck, are, of course, all executed +by hand, and the excellence of each coin or medal depends on the skill of +each individual workman; therefore there has been no great improvement in +execution--indeed, some medals and coins struck two thousand years ago, rival, +if they do not excel, the best works of the present day. The improvements of +modern mechanical science are all in the die presses, and in producing cheap +metal. These improvements have enabled Birmingham to establish a large trade +in cheap medals, which are issued in tens of thousands on every occasion that +excites the public mind. Jenny Lind and Father Mathew were both excellent +customers of the medallists in their day. + +The medallists are not confined to the home market; France has been supplied +with effigies of her rival Presidents, Louis Napoleon and Cavaignac, and we +should not be surprised to find that some day a contract has been taken for +the medals which the Pope blesses and distributes. Schools and Temperance +Societies are good customers, and occasionally a good order comes in from a +foreign state or colony, for coins. In 1850 Mr. Ralph Heaton made ten tons +of copper coin for Bombay, called cock money, so called because bearing a +cock on the obverse, from dies purchased at the sale at Soho. + +The late Sir Richard Thomason was a considerable manufacturer of medals, and +a very curious collection may be seen at the showrooms of his successor, Mr. +G. R. Collis, who carries on the same trade, and is consul for a number of +countries between Turkey and Timbuctoo. + +The most important part of the die-sinking trade, is that for making patterns +in brass, mixed metal, and iron in curtain bands, pins, lamp pillars, +cornices, coffin furniture, and all articles in which stamping has superseded +the more expensive process of hammering out. + +Within the last twenty years, and notably within the last ten years, public +taste has required an increased amount of ornament in all domestic +manufactures; stimulated by this demand, great improvements have been made in +stamping, and excellence in the art of die-sinking has become more widely +diffused. The Birmingham die-sinkers admit that they are inferior to the +French in design, while in the execution of cutting heavy steel dies, they +are decidedly superior. Die-sinking is an art, like painting or sculpture, +which requires personal aptitude to enable an apprentice to acquire +excellence. + +It is carried on in Birmingham by men who work themselves, employing two or +three journeymen. The names of these artists seldom appear. A London or +Parisian tradesman undertakes an order which is passed to some noted +Birmingham House, which transmits it to a hard-handed man in a back street. + +* * * * * + +COFFIN ORNAMENTS.--The manufacture of ornaments for coffins is a very +important part of the trade, and it is curious to find, that even in this +last concession to human vanity, there is a constant demand for new designs. + +Who is it that examines and compares the ornaments of one coffin with that of +another? We never heard of the survivors of a deceased examining an +undertaker's patterns. And yet, a house which consumes forty tons of cast +iron per annum for coffin handles, stated to the gentleman to whose letters +we are indebted for this information, "Our travellers find it useless to show +themselves with their pattern books at an undertaker's, unless they have +something tasteful, new, and uncommon. The orders for Ireland are chiefly +for gilt furniture for coffins. The Scotch, also, are fond of gilt, and so +are the people in the west of England. But the taste of the English is +decidedly for black. The Welsh like a mixture of black and white. Coffin +lace is formed of very light stamped metal, and is made of almost as many +patterns as the ribbons of Coventry. All our designs are registered, as +there is a constant piracy going on, which it is necessary to check." + +Dies are cut in soft metal and then hardened. + +Die-sinking is one of the arts so interesting in all its branches, from the +first design to the finished coin or ornament, that every intelligent +traveller should endeavour to see it. + +* * * * * + +PLATERS, GILDERS, AND ELECTRO-PLATERS.--Large fortunes have been made in +Birmingham by plating copper, "in the good old times;" but Sheffield was, +until within the last ten years, the principal seat of the manufacture. +Sheffield plate was a very superior article, and for years would look and +stand wear like silver. Plating was effected by laying a thin film of silver +on a sheet of copper, which was afterwards shaped into tea or coffee +services, forks, spoons, candlesticks, trays, tea urns, and other articles +for house use. It was also applied to harness, saddlery, and every thing +formerly made of silver alone. A great impetus was given to this trade by +our intercourse with the continent at the close of the war, which sent steel +pronged forks out of fashion. The first inroad upon the plates on copper was +made by the invention of white metal, called German silver. The next was the +discovery of the art of plating by galvanic instead of mechanical agency, now +known as electro-plating. The result of the application of electric power to +plating, however, has been to transfer a large share of the Sheffield plate +business to Birmingham. It is a curious fact that a veterinary surgeon (of +the name of Askew) invented the first German silver manufactured in England, +and that a Dr. Wright, of the same town, discovered the practicability of +electro-plating about the same time that several other persons had discovered +that metal could be deposited by a galvanic current, but had not thought of +applying it practically to manufactures. + +The old system of plating is still carried on both in Sheffield and in +Birmingham; improvements have been introduced by the employment of a white +metal instead of copper as the foundation, and by grafting on, as it were, +silver tips to forks and silver edges to prominent ornaments; but the balance +of advantage in economy and facility are so greatly in favour of the electro- +plating process, that, no doubt, when the patents under which it is now +worked expire, its use will become universal. + +Since the first patent was published, important improvements have been made +in France, Germany, and America, which the original patentees have +incorporated. Copperplates cast from wood cuts and stereotypes can be +reproduced with great facility and economy, and the exact touches of an +artist in clay or wax can be reproduced in metal without the translation of +casting. Nothing is too small or too large,--the colossal statue of an Amazon +on horseback spearing a lioness, by Kiss, the Berlin sculptor, exhibiting in +the Hyde Park Exhibition of 1851, was copied in zinc and bronzed by this +process; and, by the same means, flowers, feathers, and even spiders' webs +have been covered with a metal film. + +At present, a handsome electro-plated teapot, exactly resembling silver, may +be purchased at what a Britannia metal one cost fifteen years ago. + +Messrs. Elkington and Mason, the purchasers of the secret from the original +discoverer and authors of valuable improvements, are at the head of one of +the finest and most interesting silver and electroplating establishments in +the kingdom. + +In commencing this new manufacture, the commercial difficulties they had to +overcome, in addition to those of a practical and mechanical nature, were +very formidable. + +The Messrs. Elkingtons originally intended to confine themselves to plating +for the trade. But the prejudice against the new process was so great, that +the manufacturers of the needful articles could not be induced to try it. +Messrs. Elkington were, therefore, very unwillingly, compelled to invest a +capital in becoming manufacturers of plated forks, spoons, cruets, +candlesticks, tea services, and all the et ceteras of imitation silver. The +additional venture did not serve their purpose. The retail dealers, equally +prejudiced, refused or neglected to push off the new plate. More anxiety and +more expenditure of capital followed, for the patentees were obliged to +establish retail establishments in several cities in this country, America, +and our Colonies. The struggle ended in complete success; the use of electro +plate has become universal, and the manufacture is not confined to Messrs. +Elkington, but is carried on, under licence from the Patentees, by a vast +number of firms. The result, however, has been, as already stated, to +transfer a good deal of the plated trade of Sheffield to Birmingham, for the +former town has slowly and unwillingly adopted the new method, which has +deprived its manufacturers of their ancient pre-eminence. Electro-plating +has not, as was imagined on its first discovery, lessened the demand for +manual labour in the plate trade; on the contrary, it has largely increased +it, while extending the sale of a superior, and superseding an inferior, +class of goods. + +Although for all ordinary articles, such as forks, spoons, teapots, etc., +there are, no doubt, many manufacturers in Birmingham quite equal to Messrs. +Elkingtons, their manufactory is especially worth visiting; because, in the +first place, the whole manufactory is open, and conveniently arranged for the +inspection of visitors; and, in the next place, the firm pay great attention +to the artistic merit of their more expensive work. They spare no expense to +obtain copies from the best antique models, and original designs from living +artists, beside keeping up a staff of draughtsmen and modellers. + +In the manufactory may be seen the whole history of a plated dinner service, +from the pickle fork to the epergne, or vase, which crowns the centre of the +table at a grand banquet. + +In one room men are at work in cutting out forks and spoons from flat sheets +of white metal, which is afterwards shaped, ornamented, engraved, and then, +if to be covered with silver, subjected to the action of a current of +electricity, produced by an immense pair of magnets--if to be coated with +gold, to the action of galvanic batteries; this process requires explanation +which must be sought in works, like Mr. Alfred Smee's, especially devoted to +the subject. Then comes the burnishing, by the action of leather-covered +wheels and wire brushes, in steam-driven motion, and then the burnishing by +hand, which is chiefly performed by young girls and women. And an agreeable +and profitable occupation it seems to be. + +The manufacture of such articles as teapots is equally interesting. In the +process of joining such parts as the handle and spout by hard solder, that is +to say, solder as difficult to melt as the main body of the object, one of +the most valuable inventions for chemical processes, the blow-pipe, is +employed with the aid of two other great scientific aids of modern times. The +flame of the blow-pipe is made by a stream of gas, and driven, instead of by +a man's breath, by a steam blast, so that the mechanic has a power and a +facility of manipulation which would be unattainable under the old system of +working with a lamp and puffed out cheeks. There is great matter for +reflection in the sight of the hundreds of ingenious industrious workmen and +workwomen under one roof, employed mainly through the agency of three powers, +which, if not discovered, were utilised in the last years of the eighteenth, +and early years of the nineteenth century--Steam, Gas and Electricity. + +In one series of the workshops of this same establishment, a considerable +manufacture of genuine silver plate is carried on, and it is curious to find +mechanics engaged in hammering out or chasing plate, using exactly the same +tool that was employed in the fifteenth century, or perhaps in Roman times. +No improvement has, or, as it would appear, can be, effected; all superiority +now, as then, depending on the workmen. + +A great deal of ornamental work, of a stereotype character, is done by +stamping instead of chasing. The steel dies for this purpose form a very +costly stock in trade. A single pair of dies for a sacramental cup will +sometimes cost 150 pounds. + +Among the modern improvements, we must not fail to note the patent seamless +teapots of Britannia metal, and white metal, electrotyped--capital things for +bachelors, the spouts are not likely to melt off on the hob. + +The show rooms of this establishment contain, in addition to the ordinary +contents of a silversmith's shop, a number of exquisite copies in gold, +silver, and bronze electro-plate of cups and vases of Greek and Etruscan +execution, and of chased work by Benvenuto Cellini, and other master +goldsmiths of the fifteenth century. + +The Messrs. Elkington have doubled their trade since the Birmingham +Exhibition in 1848, and there is reason to believe that, instead of +displacing labour as was anticipated, this invention has increased the number +and the wages of the parties employed. + +* * * * * + +The Britannia Metal manufacture is closely allied to the plate trade; an +ingenious improvement, well worth examination, has recently been introduced +by Messrs. Sturgis of Broad Street, by which teapots are cast whole, instead +of having the spouts and handles soldered on. + +* * * * * + +The Gilt Toy and Mock Jewellery Trade, once one of the staple employments of +Birmingham artizans, has dwindled away until it now occupies a very +insignificant place in the Directory. Bad cheap articles, with neglect of +novelty and taste in design, ruined it. In cheap rubbish foreigners can +always beat us, but the Birmingham gilt toy men made things "to sell" until +no one would buy. + +* * * * * + +FOX AND HENDERSON'S MANUFACTORY.--The London works conducted by Messrs. Fox, +Henderson, and Co., who have become known to all the world by their rapid and +successful erection of the Crystal Palace, are situated at Smethwick, about +four miles from Birmingham on the Dudley Road. They were established after +the commencement of the London and Birmingham Railway, for the manufacture of +iron and machinery required in the construction of railways. + +The shops, which are of large dimensions, are built in a quadrangle, +enclosing a large area or open space, which is employed as a yard for +material or finished goods as may be accidentally required. The first place +into which the stranger is shown is called the Truck shop, and will +accommodate three hundred carriage builders and carpenters. Adjoining it is +the Boiler Makers' shop, or, more properly, a shop for workers in plate-iron, +for boilers are not made in the establishment, but iron doors, navy casks, +and wrought iron railway carriages are produced in this department. These +shops form one side of the quadrangle. + +The forges, which are very numerous, occupy the first department of another +side of the range of buildings. The forges, as is now usual, are supplied +with air by the motion of a fan worked by the engine, and by the side of them +many strong and stalwart arms are wielded with as much skill and ingenuity as +distinguished some of the smiths of the middle ages. The Mechanical +Engineering shops join the forges, and in them will be found many of those +beautiful self-acting tools for which this age is so remarkable. There are +drilling, planing, screwing, and slotting machines of various designs and +adapted to different purposes, as well as numerous expensive and very perfect +lathes. Here the switches used for conducting trains from one line to +another are made, as well as all kinds of machine work. Connected with this +is the Turntable shop, which is, to a stranger, as interesting as any part of +the establishment, from the magnitude of the machinery and the ease with +which gigantic masses of iron are carried about by the traveller to and from +the planing and other machines. The Wheel shop, which is next visited, is +chiefly used for the manufacture of railway carriage wheels, of which, as +must be well known, there are many varieties. The Foundry and Anchor +manufactory must not be omitted in an enumeration of the departments. + +The other two sides of the quadrangle are occupied by saw-pits, painters' +shops, stores, offices, and all the conveniences required for carrying on a +business which frequently gives employment to eleven or twelve hundred men. + +The reputation of Messrs. Fox, Henderson, and Co., has been long established +among engineers for the construction of railway bridges, iron roofs, and +works of a similar kind; but it has been made European, if not universal, by +the rapidity and skill with which they have constructed the Industrial +Exhibition. + +Strangers, if introduced, are permitted to see the works. + +Besides the manufactures we have enumerated and described, there are many +others of more or less importance; and new inventions and the spur of +enterprise are creating new manufactures in Birmingham every day. + +There are manufacturers of steam-engines and other machinery, of stoves, +grates, and other iron foundry. One firm (Messrs. Hardman Iliffe) employs a +great number of workmen in making every kind of church furniture, from the +most approved mediaeval models and the designs of Mr. Pugin. Another executes +stained-glass windows. Saddlery and harness, or parts of saddles and whips, +employ a certain number of hands; and not only imitation but a good deal of +real jewellery is made. There is one large and curious manufactory of gold +chains. + +In a word, there is no town in the world in which the execution of work, +however new or complex, in metal, wood, horn, or ivory, can be so certainly +effected as in Birmingham. + +There are not many merchants in Birmingham, in the large sense of the term. +The chief mercantile business is done by parties termed factors, who in +effect are, if not actually, the agents of great merchants. These "factors" +purchase what they need for their wholesale customers from the manufacturers. +About 2,000 of the Birmingham manufacturers are what are termed garret- +masters; they work themselves, and employ a few hands. The "factor" buys as +few as half-a-dozen tea-pots, or a hundred gross of pearl buttons, from these +little men, until he makes up his number. His business partakes more of the +character of retail than wholesale, and the grinding--technically +slaughtering--system of the factors of Birmingham has an unfavourable +Yankeefying effect on their character. + +The principal mercantile houses are in direct communication with American +houses, if not actual partners or agents. A panic in New York finds an +immediate echo in Warwickshire and Staffordshire, just as a fall or rise of +cotton in New Orleans is immediately felt in Lancashire. + +It is worth observing, that in some instances great transactions are carried +on with wonderfully little show in Birmingham, and no state. We could not +give a better instance of the difficulty of "judging by appearances" than in +the following sketch from nature. + +There is a broad street of tall mean houses, which, except at the workmen's +dinner hour, seems always empty. + +In this street is a large house of a dirty, faded appearance; the cobwebbed +windows blocked up; the door with a broken knocker and a sad want of paint. +It is evidently the ci-devant residence of a Birmingham manufacturer of the +old school, before the suburbs of Edgbaston and Handsworth sprang up, now +turned into a warehouse or receptacle for lumber. As to apply to the front +door would be useless, you turn up a dark passage at the side, and reach +another dingy door, which gives way with a rattle at your touch, and closes +with a rattle and a bang; passing through you ascend a flight of creaking +deal stairs, and reach a suite of low rooms, about as imposing in appearance +as a deserted printing-office. A few juvenile clerks--the very converse of +the snug merchants' clerks of the City of London--are distributed about. A +stranger would not give 50 pounds for the furniture, capital, and credit, of +the whole concern. + +And yet, in this strange place, is conducted a trade of many tens of +thousands per annum, with branches in all the principal towns of Germany, +Spain, Portugal, South America, and British India! + +A rapid idea of the Birmingham hardware trade may be obtained from the +extensive show-rooms of Messrs. Herbert, in the Bull-ring. + +If we have failed to do justice to any branch of manufacture, we have a very +sufficient excuse in the difficulty we experienced in obtaining access to +manufactories, or even information as to what was worth examination. + + + +HEALTH AND EDUCATION. + + +After detailing at such length the material advantages of this interesting +and important community, we should not be doing right if we did not present +the reverse of the medal in certain drawbacks and deficiencies which +seriously interfere with the prosperity and progress of "the hardware +village." + +The Birmingham public are so often in the habit of hearing from their +favourite orators that they are the most intelligent, moral, and intellectual +people in the world,--that their town is the healthiest, and their opinions +the soundest, of any community in England, that it is not extraordinary if +they overlook blots which are plain enough to a stranger. Perhaps they are +quite right; perhaps they are more honest, more sensible, more sound +politicians, than any other British community. Perhaps, too, they are +cleaner, more sober, and better educated than the towns of A, B, and C; but, +without entering into comparisons, which, in such cases, are of no practical +benefit, we shall proceed to show that, with all their excellent industrious, +intelligent, and ingenious qualities, the people of Birmingham are much more +dirty, drunken, and uneducated than they ought to be, considering that the +town is in a very healthy situation; that the mass of the population is +engaged in skilled employments, and that patriots, bearded and unbearded, are +plentiful, who seem to have a great deal of influence, for good or evil. + +First, then, as to drunkenness, the great parent of British poverty and +crime--drunkenness, which is a greater tax upon us than the National Debt; let +us see what share that has in the grievances of Birmingham. + +It appears that in 1850 there were, including hotels, taverns, gin-shops, and +beer-shops, altogether 1293 establishments for the supply of intoxicating +liquors. The total number of houses in the borough being 43,000, it results +that in every 33 houses one is a wine, beer, or spirit shop. That as the +number of bakers' and chandlers' shops is only 871, there are 422 more shops +engaged in selling drink than in selling bread, and if only four persons be +supposed to be supported by selling liquors, that will be more than twice as +many as are engaged in the gun trade, viz., 2400. Or to put the calculation +in another form, if we allow the sum of 50 pounds per annum as the wages of +the five thousand persons who live by the sale of intoxicating drinks, it +will be found that the people of Birmingham must expend at least a quarter of +a million on wine, beer, and spirits. + +That too much is so expended is proved by the police returns, which show that +out of 3400 persons taken into custody in 1849, nearly half the offences +arose from intoxication. + +In other respects, considering the population, the crime of Birmingham is +rather below than above average. It cannot be said that it is either a +brutal or dishonest, but it is essentially a drunken town. The causes of the +prevalence of this degrading vice are several, and may be traced out very +clearly. + +Metal work is hard and thirsty work, but it may be doubted whether what is +really drunk while at work, or immediately after work, does harm. But it has +long been, and still is, the habit of the mechanics in a number of trades, to +make a holiday of Monday; it has even a local name--it is called Shackling +day, "Shackling" being a term which can be perfectly translated by the French +verb, flaner. A Shackler must drink, if not smoke. + +The more plentiful and pressing the work is, the more determined are the men +engaged to make Saint Monday, and very often Tuesday and Wednesday also. + +The time so lost when trade is at high water, and the losses imposed on the +manufacturer by the consequent non-fulfilment of contracts, eventually form a +second drawback on the earnings of the workman, in addition to the day's +wages lost, and the days' wages spent on "shackling days." + +Secondly, it has been proved that a large percentage of the married women +engaged in work factories are compelled so to work to support their families +in consequence of the improvidence of their husbands. + +Thirdly, in the same way children, from a very early age,--seven years, and +even younger,--work in order to support their improvident parents. + +Women engaged in work all day cannot keep comfortable houses for their +husbands. An uncomfortable home drives a husband, no matter of what rank, to +the tavern or the club. + +The custom of sending children to work from the time they can earn sixpence +a-week, renders education impossible. In the evenings they are only fit to +sleep: on Sundays, in fine weather, the majority very naturally prefer +walking in the fields to the dry task of acquiring knowledge, the value of +which they are not sufficiently educated to appreciate. + +The effect of the want of education and the habit of idle Mondays on the male +population is sufficiently lamentable. A man who can neither read nor write, +in addition to the abstract pleasure Saxons have in drinking, finds an +occupation and a substitute for ideas in a pot and pipe. The effect on the +female population is even more baneful. They are so fully occupied that they +have neither time to write, nor to cook, to read nor to sew, and they become +wives and mothers with no better qualification for their important duties +than girls educated in a fashionable school, without being able to obtain the +assistance of servants and governesses. + +Wives engaged in factories are obliged to leave their children to the care of +strangers or elder children, themselves scarcely above the age of children. + +One consequence is, that according to the report of a committee of physicians +and surgeons in 1840: "The ratio of infant mortality in Birmingham is very +considerable, greatly exceeding that of the metropolis, and of the +agricultural districts, though not as high as in some provincial towns." +"Severe burns and scalds, particularly the former, are so numerous, that in +the general hospital two rooms are devoted for their reception." + +We have not been able to obtain any precise statistics of education among the +operative classes; but we find that among criminals upwards of ninety per +cent. are either totally or very imperfectly educated, and that of 15,000 +young persons between the age of ten and fifteen engaged in manufacture, not +more than 1,000 have an opportunity of education, except from Sunday schools. + +In Sunday schools the instruction is confined to reading the scriptures and +religious books, except in the schools attached to the meeting-houses of the +Society of Friends and the Unitarians, the conductors of which have had the +good sense to accommodate their plans to the peculiar wants of a +manufacturing district. + +No general movement seems to have been attempted to correct this crying evil +of infant employment and neglected education, none of the patriots, bearded +or shaven, have ventured to exert their strong lungs in so unpopular a cause: +it is so much easier to stand on your own dunghill and abuse the lord of the +manor than to put on an apron and a cap, mix up the lime and water, and +whitewash your own cottage. But several manufacturers have honourably +distinguished themselves by beginning the work of reformation at home. + +Mr. Gillet, the pen manufacturer, whose work is principally done by females, +admits no girls into his shops under thirteen; he makes ability to read +indispensable, and gives a preference in obtaining employment to those who +can write; and requires a certificate of regular attendance from a Sunday +school teacher. + +Mr. Winfield, who employs nearly five hundred hands, of whom few are women, +established an evening school in 1844, at a charge of a penny a week, for his +own work people, in which reading, writing, arithmetic, English grammar, +geography, and drawing, are taught, with occasional lectures on the +principles of mechanics, natural philosophy, and history. A small library is +attached to the school. + +"When the school was first established, it was remarked that scarcely a boy +knew his companion except by a nickname, and that fights on entering and +leaving school were of common occurrence. At present the practice of +nicknames has disappeared, and a fight does not take place once in three +months. + +"The proceedings of the evening commenced with a hymn. An orphan boy, +fourteen years of age, a self-taught musician, placed himself before a small +organ, provided by Mr. Winfield, and played the evening hymn. All the boys +accompanied him with their voices, and sang very creditably; after this they +were formed into their usual classes. + +"The school labours under great disadvantages; the hours of attendance are +not sufficiently long; even these few hours are infringed on when trade is +brisk, and the men, working over-hours, require the boys to assist them; and +from physical exhaustion of the boys after the labour of the day, they +sometimes fall asleep over their books. + +"A hymn is sung, a prayer said, and the bible read without comment, no +catechism or doctrinal point is introduced. The school includes the sons of +people of the Church of England, Roman Catholics, Wesleyans, Presbyterians, +and Unitarians." + +Messrs. Peyton & Barlow, metal-bedstead makers, Mr. Bacchus, glass-maker, Mr. +Middlemore, currier, and Messrs. Chance, glassmakers, have also established +schools for the parties in their employ. + +Mr. William Chance is an earnest philanthropist; he has established a ragged +school, at his own expense, in Birmingham, open to all, and at his works in +Spon Lane, West Bromwich, one school for his workmen alone, and another open +to the neighbourhood. + +The first school, in Spon Lane, is divided into three departments, for +infants, for girls, and for boys. A weekly charge of 3d. is made, for which +books and stationery are provided; punctual attendance and cleanliness are +conditions insisted upon. The number of scholars, of whom one-third are from +Messrs. Chance's works, has steadily increased from the time of opening. The +boys are instructed in reading, writing, arithmetic, grammar, geography, and +the elements of drawing. The girls are taught plain needlework instead of +drawing. No catechism is taught, but the bible is read without comment. One- +half are the children of parents in communion with the Church of England, and +the other half of Dissenters. In 1850 it contained 190 boys, 80 girls, and +150 infants. + +It is difficult to rate too highly the advantage the operative classes obtain +from the preliminary training afforded by infant schools. But infant schools +are useless, if the education is to cease at seven years old. + +The other school is strictly confined to the boys and men employed in the +glass works. It opened July, 1850, with 110 scholars, all boys from twelve +years of age, before which none are admitted into the manufactory. By +degrees the men, at first deterred by shame, began to attend, and at present +a considerable number avail themselves of the advantage for commencing or +extending the imperfect education they had obtained at Sunday Schools. + +These schools are not self-supporting, but are found, even in a commercial +point of view, to repay the philanthropic firm by whom they have been founded +and supported. + +The Birmingham Free and Industrial School, founded in 1847 by the energetic +exertions of the Hon. and Rev. Grantham Yorke, Rector of St. Philip, includes +a day school for boys and girls above seven years of age; two industrial +classes; and an asylum for deserted and orphans. The scholars are not of the +class to which we are specially calling attention. We shall, therefore, +content ourselves with mentioning the existence of such a School for the +refuse population of this large town. + +The deficient education of the working classes, consequent on unregulated +infant labour, would alone be sufficient to account for the prevalence of the +idle custom of losing at least one day every week in busy times, and the +drinking habits, which are a blot upon a population of superior intelligence. +But a still more demoralizing influence exists in the state of the dwellings +of the working classes in Birmingham, which, although at first sight very +attractive in appearance, forming neat courts of cottages, compared with the +crowded lodging-houses of many manufacturing towns, are, nevertheless, +lamentably deficient in two essentials for health and decency, viz., +efficient drainage, and a sufficient supply of wholesome water. + +In two thousand courts, inhabited by fifty thousand people, the supply of +water is either obtained at great loss of time from wells, often dirty, +sometimes fetid, or purchased at an extravagant rate from itinerant water- +carriers. + +A Private Water Company exists, but has scarcely been called upon at all to +supply the houses of the working classes. Under these circumstances, with a +clean external appearance, the filth in which fifty thousand people live +seems to be only understood by the local Medical Inspectors, whose reports +have hitherto produced so little effect, it is not extraordinary that after +long hours of toil, the inhabitants fly to the bright saloons of gin shops, +and the snug tap-rooms of beer shops. + +We have dwelt thus at length upon the moral, and educational, and sanitary +shortcomings of a town which can, no doubt, draw comparisons, very much to +its own advantage, with other manufacturing district towns, because +Birmingham is in a position to set an example, to lead the way in an all- +important reform without consulting the opinions of the Ministers or the +Parliament of the day. Birmingham may, if it pleases, go far toward +affording every working man the means of drinking and washing in an ample +supply of clean water, of living in a well-drained cottage, and of sending +his children to school for two hours every day, without waiting for the +decision of Parliament upon all the crotchets of the Chartists, or plans of +the Financial Reform Association. + +Pity it is that none of the well-applauded Brummagem patriots have pluck +enough to battle a little unpopularity in so honest a cause. But clap-trap +costs less trouble than work, and gets more cheers. + +It is the misfortune of Birmingham to be sacrificed to the disagreements of +two rival factions, one calling itself Conservative, and the other Radical, +both filling the pockets and doing the work of lawyers at the expense of the +ratepayers. + +Nothing can be done until the municipal Corporation obtains the powers now +vested in several sets of virtually irresponsible Commissioners. When these +wars of the Pots and Kettles are ended, the ratepayers will be able to turn +their undivided attention to local reforms without having their minds +distracted by those little legal squabbles, under cover of which business is +neglected, and pockets are picked. It is to be hoped that the session of +1851 will settle this point. + +The whole kingdom is interested in the good government and prosperity of its +greatest inland town. {113} + + + + +WARWICK, LEAMINGTON, KENILWORTH, STRATFORD ON AVON. + + +Before leaving Birmingham, it will be convenient to say something about +Warwick, Leamington, Kenilworth, and Stratford on Avon, of which the one is +the assize town, another the watering place, and the third and fourth the +antiquarian or rather romantic lions of the county in which Birmingham stands +first, for wealth, population, manufacturing, and political importance. +Warwick, in spite of its parliamentary, municipal, and assize honours, would +soon be as much forgotten as a hundred other dull little country towns, +without local trade or local attractions, if it were not for the castle, the +church, and the river, which, in connection with striking epochs in England's +history, will ever render it a favourite pilgrimage. + +After being destroyed by the Danes, Warwick was restored by Ethelfreda, the +daughter of Alfred the Great, who built a fort there, A.D. 913. At Domesday +Survey it was a borough, and contained 261 houses, of which 126 belonged to +the king. Members were sent to Parliament in the time of Edward I., when +also the paving of the town and the erection of a wall round it were +commenced. In the time of Philip and Mary, the first charter of +incorporation was granted. + +The town stands on the west side of the river Avon,--Shakspeare's Avon, from +which it is separated by Warwick Castle and grounds. It was formerly a +little county metropolis, many of the families of rank and fortune had winter +residences there; the Warwick balls were frequented by a select and exclusive +set; a small theatre was well supported, and few races assembled more +distinguished company than used to throng the Warwick course once a year, in +family coaches and four-in-hands. All this grandeur has departed, Leamington +has absorbed the wealth and fashion of Warwick, the town mansions have fallen +into plebeian hands, the theatre has ceased to be a training school for the +London boards, the streets are silent except when a little temporary bustle +is produced by an influx of Birmingham attorneys, their clients, and +witnesses, at the assizes, of stout agriculturists and holiday labourers on +"fair days," or the annual "mop," when an ox is roasted whole, and lads and +lasses of rosy rural breed range themselves along the pavement to be hired, +or at the races twice a year, when, although the four horses with postilions +and outriders are seldom seen, railroads from a distance, and Leamington from +close at hand, pour a variegated stream of sightseers and gamblers on one of +the prettiest pieces of ground in England. + +Warwick has no manufactures, but, being a borough very evenly balanced +between the two contending political parties, its inhabitants have enjoyed a +fuller share of the favours of Government than has fallen to the lot of towns +of more commercial importance. + +Warwick stands on solid rock, in which the cellars are excavated; and this +circumstance, added to its position on the top of a hill, renders it +particularly dry and clean. + +There are several excellent inns, supported by the surrounding' farmers, +which are much to be preferred to more fashionable hotels. The roast geese +to be found at the farmers' ordinaries on market days about Michaelmas time, +are worthy of commendation; and the farmers themselves, being of a jovial and +hospitable turn of mind, render these dinners pleasanter to a stranger who +can dine at an unfashionable hour, than the eternal "anything you please, +sir; steak or chop, sir," in a solitary box, which haunts us for our sins in +the coffee-rooms of English hotels. + +Warwick deserves a long journey, if it were only for the sake of the fine +woodland scenery which surrounds it for ten miles, but the castle is the +especial object of attraction,--a castle which realizes almost more than any +other those romantic ideas of a feudal abode which were first put into +circulation by the "Castle of Otranto," and became part of the education of +our youth under the influence of the genius of Sir Walter Scott. + +The castle rises upon the brink of the river, which foams past over the weir +of an ancient mill, where once the inhabitants of the borough were bound by +feudal service to grind all their corn. The best approach is from the +Leamington Lower Road, over a bridge of one arch, built by a late Earl of +Warwick. Caesar's and Guy's towers rise into sight from a surrounding grove. +The entrance is through an arched gateway, past a lodge, where the relics of +Earl Guy, the dun cow slayer, are preserved; and a winding avenue cut in +solid rock effects a sort of surprise, which, as the castle comes again +suddenly into view, is very pleasing. The exterior realizes a baronial abode +of the fourteenth or fifteenth century; the interior has been modernized +sufficiently to be made comfortable, still retaining many striking features +of its ancient state. A closely cropped green sward covers the quadrangle, +which was formerly the tilting ground. + +The date of Caesar's tower, the oldest part of the building, is uncertain. +Guy's tower, of the latter part of the fourteenth century, is in fine +preservation. + +The great entrance hall, a grand old room sixty-two feet by thirty-seven, is +adorned with armour and other appurtenances to feudal state. At a great +fire-place with fire dogs, room might be found for a cartload of faggots. A +suite of rooms, commanding views of delightful scenery, are adorned with +ancient tapestry, armour, and pictures by Rubens, Vandyke, Velasquez, and +other eminent painters. Among the portraits are Ignatius Loyola, the founder +of the Jesuits, Prince Rupert, and Charles I. on horseback, by Vandyke. + +Hours may be profitably and agreeably spent in investigating the treasures of +Warwick Castle. The grounds, although not extensive, are picturesquely +arranged; in one of the greenhouses, the Warwick vase, an antique celebrated +for its size and beauty, will be found. The numerous copies in various +materials, but especially in metals, cast in Birmingham, have rendered the +form of this relic of classic art well known. + +After the Castle, St. Mary's Church must be visited for its beautiful chapel +with altar tomb, on which lies prostrate in humble prayer the effigy of +Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick, styled "the Good." This Beauchamp was +Regent of France in 1425, during the absence of the Duke of Bedford, and +carried on the war there with signal success. He was afterwards governor of +the infant king, Henry VI. While a second time ruling over France, he died +at Rouen on the 30th April, 1439. It was the daughter of the Good Earl who +married Richard Nevil, created, on succeeding to the Warwick estates through +his wife, Earl of Warwick, known as "the king maker;" a grand character in +Shakspeare's Henry VI., and the hero of Sir Bulwer Lytton's "Last of the +Barons." + +Then there is Leicester Hospital, founded in the time of Richard II., as two +guilds, in honour of the Virgin and St. George the Martyr, which, after the +Reformation, was re-established under its present name by Queen Elizabeth's +favourite, Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, as an almshouse for a master and +twelve brethren, "being impotent or infirm men." These last have been, in +consequence of the improved value of the trust-funds, increased to twenty, +and receive each an allowance of 80 pounds per annum: the master has 400 +pounds. The buildings of this charity consist of a quadrangle, formed by the +brethren's lodgings and public kitchen, of a chapel of ancient architecture +over the west gate of the town, and an ancient hall. + +Previous to the Reform Bill, the influence of the Warwick family returned two +members for the borough of Warwick: since that period they have as yet only +returned one; but, in the absence of the countervailing influence of any +manufactures, it seems likely that a popular Earl, of whatever politics, +would be able to resume the ancient influence of the house, and again return +two. + +* * * * * + +LEAMINGTON, about two miles distant, may be reached by two turnpike roads and +a pleasant footpath; the distance of all being about two miles. + +Mineral waters, fashion, a clever physician, the Warwickshire hounds, the +surplus capital of Birmingham, speculative builders, and excellent sanitary +regulations have contributed to the rapid rise of this picturesque and +fashionable watering-place; in what proportions it would be difficult to say. + +The waters, which resemble mild Epsom salts, first brought the village into +notice in 1794, although the existence of mineral springs at Leamington +Priory had been recorded by Camden and Dugdale. In 1794 people drank harder +than they do now, read less, played cards more, were altogether "faster," and +had more need of purifying waters and pump-room amusements. A long war shut +out our idlers from the Continent, and created an additional demand for our +native mineral produce. At a later period the talents of Dr. Jephson +attracted an army of invalids and would-be invalids; Sir Walter Scott's +novels brought Kenilworth and Warwick Castle into fashion, just as Garrick, +like a second Peter the Hermit, preached up a pilgrimage to Stratford-on- +Avon. So land-jobbers and builders rushed to prepare tempting abodes for the +armies of the sick, the sporting, and the romantic, who gathered round the +springs. + +Although the beautiful stone which has made Bath the queen of watering- +places, was not to be had, the materials for Roman cement, then lately +invented, were plentiful. With these aids the town authorities had the good +sense to enforce cleanliness, and all manner of rules for making the streets +fit for the lounging promenades of the well-dressed. Water-carts and brooms +were kept in active employment; beggars and dust-heaps were under the eye of +a vigilant police. + +The result was, that at the expense of many ruined builders and speculators, +Leamington grew from a pretty village into a fine town, peopled not only by +invalids in the water-drinking season, and sportsmen in the winter season, +but by a number of permanent residents of independent fortune, of all ranks +between retired manufacturers and Irish peers. Attached to the manufacturing +districts, it has become what Brighton is to the London Stock Exchange. + +As hunting quarters, Leamington is convenient for men with few horses, as the +meets are near and the railways convenient. An ill-natured opinion prevails +that the scarlet coat is more worn there by fortune-hunters than fox-hunters, +and that the tailor is a person of more importance with the majority of the +field than the huntsman; but this story probably originates in the number of +carriages full of pretty faces to be found at the cover sides round +Leamington. The country cannot be compared with Northamptonshire or +Leicestershire, or even Oxfordshire. The farmers are better sportsmen than +agriculturists. Warwickshire landlords think more of the politics of their +tenants, than of their intelligence or capital. Great improvements have, +however, been effected within the last ten years, and we must not forget to +mention that the Birmingham Agricultural and Poultry Show, which is the +finest local exhibition in the kingdom, draws a great many of its exhibitors +from this county. + +Leamington, long without direct railway communication, is now wrapped up +between the broad-gauge and the narrow-gauge, like a hare in a bottle-spit. +The opening of the line to Rugby affords a new short way to London. The +population will henceforward increase at the expense of its gentility, but +the police and sanitary arrangements before alluded to, will always make +Leamington a favourite with invalids, hypochondriacs, and flaneurs. + +The multiplicity of these railroads compels us to abandon the plan of +describing, as we pass, the more celebrated towns, mansions, or castles, +because it would be impossible to follow out such a zig-zag of topography. It +is better to take it for granted that the traveller will stop at certain +places, and from them make excursions to everything worth seeing in the +neighbourhood. + +In this manner, as Birmingham gave occasion for an examination into the +leading manufactures, we presume that Leamington will be the best central +encampment for a survey of everything within a circle of ten miles +interesting to the Antiquarian, the Historian, the Artist, the Poet, the +Agriculturist, and the happy beings who have a taste for all these pursuits. + +The number of interesting places within an easy walk or drive of Leamington, +forms one of its great advantages as a watering place. + +Either on foot or in a carriage (and Leamington is extremely well provided +with carriages for hire), Warwick Castle, or Stratford-on-Avon, or Guy's +Cliff, and Kenilworth, or Stoneleigh Abbey, may be visited in the course of a +day, or part of a day. + +The detailed beauties of these places will be found fully set forth in county +histories and local guides. A brief reference, sufficient to enable a +traveller to make up a plan of campaign, will be all we shall attempt. + +* * * * * + +STONELEIGH ABBEY, the residence of Lord Leigh, is noticeable for its fine +woodland scenery,--splendid oaks adorn the Park, and as having been the +subject of a series of very extraordinary trials at the suit of claimants of +the estate and ancient title. The true heirs of this estate have never been +discovered; many claimants have successively appeared, and endeavoured to +prop up their claims by extraordinary fabrications of evidence. For +instance, a certain tombstone, bearing inscriptions of great importance, was +not only described and sworn to by a cloud of witnesses, as having been at a +certain year in Stoneleigh Church, but other witnesses, with equal +circumstantiality, related how, on a particular occasion, this said tombstone +was taken down and destroyed. And yet, it was clearly proved before the +House of Lords that no such tombstone ever existed. + +The present family are now secure in the estates under the Statute of +Limitations, but the late Peer, up to a short period before the old title was +revived in his favour, occupied Stoneleigh as a trustee, as it were, for want +of a better claimant. + +In the incidents of the Leigh Peerage, are the materials of half-a-dozen +romances. + +* * * * * + +GUY'S CLIFF--where Guy, Earl of Warwick, and slayer of the Dun Cow, lived and +died as a hermit, fed daily by his Countess, little knowing whom she fed--is +situated on the banks of the Avon, about a mile from Warwick, on the high +road to Kenilworth, and may also be approached by footpaths across the fields +leading to the same village. The pictures of Guy's Cliff have been +extravagantly praised, but the natural and artificial beauties of its gardens +and pleasure grounds constitute its chief attraction. For, says Dugdale, it +is "a place of so great delight in respect to the river gliding below the +rock, the dry wholesome situation, and the fair grove of lofty elms +overshadowing it, that to one who desireth a retired life, either for his +devotions or study, the like is hardly to be found." + +What Dugdale said two hundred years ago may truly be repeated now, especially +in a warm autumn or summer evening, when the click of a water-mill adds sound +to the pleasure to be derived from the thick shade of the lofty trees +overhead, mossy turf under the feet, and the sight of flowing water. Henry +V. visited this hermitage; and Shakspeare, on what authority we know not, is +said to have frequented it. + +* * * * * + +KENILWORTH follows Guy's Cliff, once a retired country village of one street, +one church, and one inn, now vulgarized by being made the site of a railway +station. At the risk of offending the Kenilworthians, we strongly advise the +romantic youths and maidens inspired by Sir Walter Scott's romance not to +visit the ruins, which, although an excellent excuse and pleasant situation +for a picnic, have nothing romantic about them beyond grey walls. The woods +and waters which formed so important a part of the scenery during Queen +Elizabeth's visit, have disappeared, as well as all the stately buildings. + +At the same time, imagination will go a long way, and it may not be a day ill +spent after reading Laleham's "Princely Pleasures of Kenilworth," in which he +describes what he himself saw when Queen Elizabeth visited the Earl of +Leicester there in 1575, to journey over, especially if accompanied by a cold +collation, including a salad of the Avon crawfish, and a little iced punch. +It would be still better for good pedestrians to walk the distance by the +fields and push on to the inn for refreshment, without which all tame scenery +is so very flat. In the sublimity of the Alps, the Pyrenees, or even the +great Highland hills, a man may forget his dinner; but, when within the verge +of the horizon church-towers and smoking chimneys of farm-houses continually +occur, visions of fat, brown, sucking pigs, rashers of ham and boiled fowls, +with foaming tankards, will intrude unbidden after an hour or two of +contemplation. + +* * * * * + +STRATFORD ON AVON, with SHOTTERY, where Ann Hathaway was courted by +Shakspeare and CHARLECOTE, the residence of the Sir Thomas Lucy whom the poet +immortalised as Justice Shallow, are all within ten miles of Leamington. On +all these so much has been written that we will not venture to "pile up the +agony" any higher. The best companion on the road to Stratford is Charles +Knight's Life of Shakspeare, which colours all the scenes of the poet's life +in Warwickshire with the atmosphere of the sixteenth century, and summons to +meet us in the streets of Stratford costumes and characters contemporary with +Falstaff, Shallow, and Dogberry so well, that we do not see the Clods in +corduroys, the commercial Gents in paletots, and the Police in trim blue, +whom we really meet. + +[THE AVON VIADUCT: ill13.jpg] + + + + +SOHO. +WATT, BOULTON, MURDOCH. + + +On leaving Birmingham, the railway almost immediately passes from +Warwickshire into Staffordshire, through two parishes, Handsworth and Aston, +which, presenting nothing picturesque in natural scenery or remarkable in +ancient or modern buildings, with one exception, yet cannot be passed over +without notice, because they were residences of three remarkable men, to whom +we are largely indebted for our use of the inventions which have most +contributed to the civilisation and advance of social comfort in the +nineteenth century. + +Two miles from old Birmingham, now part of the modern town, lies Soho, in the +suburb of Handsworth, which, in 1762, was a bleak and barren heath. + +In that year Matthew Boulton, the son of a wealthy Birmingham hardwareman, +purchased Soho, and erected on it a mansion, with pleasure grounds, and a +series of workshops, for carrying on the then staple trades of the town, in +shoe buckles, buttons, and other articles included in the general title of +"toys." In 1774, Boulton entered into partnership with James Watt, and +commenced, in concert with him, the experiments in which Watt had been for +some years engaged for improving Savary's imperfect Steam-Pumping Engine. +After years of the concentrated labour of genius of the highest order, and +the expenditure of not less than 47,000 pounds, their success was complete, +and Watt's inventions, in the words of Lord Jeffrey, rendered the Steam +Engine "capable of being applied to the finest and most delicate +manufactures, and its power so increased, as to set weight and solidity at +defiance. By his admirable contrivances, it became a thing stupendous alike +for its force and its applicability, for the prodigious power it can exert, +and the ease and precision, and ductility with which that power can be +varied, distributed, and applied. The trunk of an elephant that can pick up +a pin or rend an oak, is as nothing to it. It can engrave a seal, and crush +masses of obdurate metal like wax before it; draw out, without breaking, a +thread as fine as gossamer, and lift a ship of war like a bauble in the air. +It can embroider muslin, and forge anchors, cut steel into ribands, and impel +loaded vessels against the fury of the winds and waves." + +The march of death and time have removed all the men who were engaged in +assisting James Watt and Matthew Boulton in their great works. The numerous +mechanical trades in coining, plating, and other Birmingham manufactures, in +addition to the construction of steam engines, which first turned the waste +of Soho into the largest workshop in Europe, have passed into other hands, +and been transplanted. The manufactory of steam engines, removed to another +site, still exists under the name of the old firm; but within a very recent +period the pleasure grounds in which James Watt often walked, in earnest +converse with the partner to whose energetic and appreciative mind he owed so +much, have been invaded by the advances of the neighbouring town, and sliced +and divided into building lots. Aston Hall and Park must soon suffer the +same fate. + +[ASTON VIADUCT: ill14.jpg] + +Very soon there will be no vestiges of the homes of these great men, but they +need no monuments, no shrines for the reverence of admiring pilgrims. Every +manufactory in the town of Birmingham is a monument of the genius which first +fully expanded within the precincts of Soho. Thousands on thousands find +bread from inventions there first perfected or suggested. + +When Watt explained to Smeaton, the architect of Eddystone Lighthouse and the +greatest engineer of the day, the plan of his steam engine, he doubted +whether mechanics could be found capable of executing the different parts +with sufficient precision; and, in fact, in 1769, when Watt produced, under +the patronage of Dr. Roebuck, his third model, with a cylinder of block tin +eighteen inches in diameter, there were only one or two men capable of giving +the requisite truth of workmanship to air-pump cylinders of two inches in +diameter. At the present day, as before observed in reference to Wolverton, +there are thousands of skilled workmen employed at weekly wages, to whom the +most difficult problems of Watt's early experiments are familiar handiwork. + +At Handsworth, too, working for a long life in the Soho manufactories as the +servant, confidential assistant, and friend, lived another remarkable man, +William Murdoch, the inventor of illumination by gas, and the author of the +first locomotive steam engine, and of several important contributions to +practical science, to which justice has scarcely been done. + +William Murdoch employed coal gas so early as 1792, for the purpose of +lighting his house and offices at Redruth, in Cornwall, when he was +superintending the pumping engines erected there by Messrs. Boulton and Watt; +for it was he who erected for them in that district the first Cornish pumping +engine, with separate condenser. He had at that time in regular use a +portable gas lantern, formed by filling a bladder with gas, and fixing to it +a jet, which was attached to the bottom of a glass lantern, which he used for +the purpose of lighting himself home at night across the moors from the +mining engines. + +His locomotive engine, made upon the non-condensing principle (since adopted +in all engines for that purpose), was constructed, in consequence of a +lameness which confined him to the sofa, and set to work at Redruth in 1784. +It is still in existence in perfect working order, and was exhibited before a +meeting of the Mechanical Engineers at Birmingham, in the year 1850, when a +memoir of Mr. Murdoch was read, which has been kindly forwarded to us by the +President, John M'Connell, Esq., C.E. + +It is among the traditions of Redruth, that one night William Murdoch, +wishing to try an experiment with his new invention, lighted the lamp under +the boiler, and set it a-going on a narrow, smooth, hard-rolled gravel walk +leading to the church, a mile distant. The little engine went off at a great +pace, whistling and hissing as it went, and the inventor followed as fast as +he could in chase. Soon he heard cries of alarm, horror, despair, and came +up to the worthy clergyman of the parish cowering up against the hedge, +almost in a fainting fit, under a strong impression that it was the Evil One +in person who just hissed past him in a fire-flaught. + +Those of this generation who remember their first encounter with a locomotive +in a dark night, can realize the terror of a country clergyman on +encountering so strange an apparition in a night walk. + +It speaks as highly for Messrs. Boulton and Watt, in whose service he passed +all the active years of his life, as for Mr. Murdoch, that on leaving +Cornwall, he refused 1000 pounds a-year, which was offered him by the mining +adventurers to remain in the county, in charge of the steam-pumping engines. +Liberal as the offer seems, it would have paid them well, for on his +departure the engines lost twenty-five per cent. of their working power. + +Handsworth Church, near Soho, contains a marble statue of James Watt, by +Chantrey, a copy of that erected in Westminster Abbey. + +The railway passes Aston Hall, where James Watt and his only surviving son +lived until his death a few years ago. The park contains some fine trees, +and the house is a good specimen of the domestic architecture of the time of +Elizabeth. + +[ASTON HALL: ill15.jpg] + +It was sold for a trifling sum, with an imperfect title, which time has +cured, to a speculating banker; and, after having been let to the late James +Watt on a long lease, is now likely to exchange mansion and park for a +congeries of cottages in rows, forming forty-shilling freeholders. + +The passion which the mechanics of Birmingham have for investing in land has +rendered land near that town dearer than in parallel situations near London. + + + + +THE BLACK COUNTRY. +WALSALL, DUDLEY, WEDNESBURY, DARLASTON. + + +The first diverging railway after leaving Handsworth, on the road to the +north, is what, for want of a better name, is called the South Staffordshire, +which connects Birmingham with Dudley, Walsall, Lichfield, and Tamworth, thus +uniting the most purely agricultural with the most thoroughly manufacturing +districts, and especially with that part of the great coal-field which is +locally known as the "Black Country." In this Black Country, including West +Bromwich, Wednesbury, Dudley, and Darlaston, Bilston, Wolverhampton, and +several minor villages, a perpetual twilight reigns during the day, and +during the night fires on all sides light up the dark landscape with a fiery +glow. The pleasant green of pastures is almost unknown, the streams, in +which no fishes swim, are black and unwholesome; the natural dead flat is +often broken by huge hills of cinders and spoil from the mines; the few trees +are stunted and blasted; no birds are to be seen, except a few smoky +sparrows; and for miles on miles a black waste spreads around, where furnaces +continually smoke, steam-engines thud and hiss, and long chains clank, while +blind gin-horses walk their doleful round. From time to time you pass a +cluster of deserted roofless cottages of dingiest brick, half-swallowed up in +sinking pits or inclining to every point of the compass, while the timbers +point up like the ribs of a half-decayed corpse. The majority of the natives +of this Tartarian region are in full keeping with the scenery--savages, +without the grace of savages, coarsely clad in filthy garments, with no +change on week-days and Sundays, they converse in a language belarded with +fearful and disgusting oaths, which can scarcely be recognized as the same as +that of civilized England. + +On working days few men are to be seen, they are in the pits or the +ironworks, but women are met on the high-road clad in men's once white +linsey-woolsey coats and felt hats, driving and cursing strings of donkeys +laden with coals or iron rods for the use of the nailers. + +On certain rare holidays these people wash their faces, clothe themselves in +decent garments, and, since the opening of the South Staffordshire Railway, +take advantage of cheap excursion trains, go down to Birmingham to amuse +themselves and make purchases. It would be a useful lesson for any one who +is particularly well satisfied with the moral, educational, and religious +state of his countrymen, to make a little journey through this Black Country. +He will find that the amiable enthusiasts who meet every May at Exeter Hall +to consider on the best means of converting certain aboriginal tribes in +Africa, India, and the Islands of the Pacific, need not go so far to find +human beings more barbarous and yet much more easily reclaimed. + +The people of this district are engaged in coal-mining, in ironworks, in +making nails, and many other articles, or parts of articles, for the +Birmingham trade. Their wages are, for the most part, good; fuel is cheap; +well supplied markets, and means of obtaining the best clothing are close at +hand. But, within sixty years a vast dense population has been collected +together in districts which were but thinly inhabited as long as the value +lay on the surface, instead of in the bowels of the earth. The people +gathered together and found neither churches, nor schools, nor laws, nor +customs, nor means for cleanliness at first, nor even an effective police to +keep order. And thus they became one of the most ignorant, brutal, depraved, +drunken, unhealthy populations in the kingdom, unless it be a set of people +in the same occupations in the neighbourhood of Manchester. + +We shall never forget, some five-and-twenty years ago, passing near Bilston +on a summer's holiday, and seeing a great red, pied bull foaming, and +roaring, and marching round a ring in which he was chained, while a crowd of +men, each with a demoniacal-looking bulldog in his arms, and a number of +ragged women, with their hair about their ears, some of them also carrying +bull-dog pups, yelled about the baited bull. It gave us an awful fright, and +haunted our childish dreams for years after. + +The first change forced upon the governing classes, by feelings of self- +protection was an organized police, and the "Black" people are now more +disgusting than dangerous. The cholera of 1832, which decimated Bilston and +Wednesbury, did something toward calling attention to the grievous social and +sanitary wants of this district. In that pestilence several clergymen and +medical men died, like heroes, in the discharge of their duties. Some +churches were built, some schools established; but an immense work remains to +be done. Bull-baiting has been put down, but no rational amusements have +been substituted for that brutal and exciting sport. + +In the northern coal fields, near Newcastle-on-Tyne especially, we have +noticed that when the miner ascends from the pit in the evening, his first +care is to wash himself from head to foot, and then to put on a clean suit of +white flannel. As you pass along the one street of a pitman's village, you +will see the father reading a Chambers' Journal or a cheap religious magazine +at the door of his cottage while smoking a pipe, and nursing a child or two +on his knee; and through the open door, a neat four-post bed and an oak or +mahogany chest of drawers bear witness to his frugality. + +In Wednesbury, Bilston, and all that district, when work is over you find the +men drinking in their dirty clothes and with grimy faces at the beer-shop of +the "Buttey," that is to say, the contractor or middleman under whom they +work, according to the system of the country, and the women hanging about the +doors of their dingy dwellings, gossiping or quarreling,--the old furies and +the young slatterns. + +In the face of such savagery, so evidently the result of defective education, +two opposite and extreme parties in the State, the anti-church Mialls and the +pro-church Anthony Denisons, combine to oppose the multiplication of +education that teaches decency if it teaches nothing else. + +One great step has been made by the Health of Town's Act, which is about to +be applied to some of these coal towns; and railways have rendered the whole +district so accessible that no foul spot can long remain unknown or +unnoticed. + +* * * * * + +WALSALL, eight miles from Birmingham, the first town in our way, which may be +reached directly by following the South Staffordshire, or by an omnibus, +travelling half-a-mile from Bescot Bridge, lies among green fields, out of +the bounds of the mining country, although upon the edge of the Warwickshire +and Staffordshire coalfield,--indeed the parliamentary borough includes part +of the rough population just described. It is very clean, without +antiquities or picturesque beauties, and contains nothing to attract visitors +except its manufactures, of which the best known is cheap saddlery for the +American, West Indian, and Australian markets. They make the leather and +wooden parts, as well as stirrups and bridles; also gunlocks, bits, spurs, +spades, hinges, screws, files, edge tools, and there is one steel-pen +manufactory, besides many articles connected with the Birmingham trade, +either finished or unfinished, the number of which is constantly increasing. +Walsall is celebrated for its pig-market, a celebrity which railroads have +not destroyed, as was expected, but rather increased. Special arrangements +for comfortably disembarking these, the most interesting strangers who visit +Walsall, have been made at the railway station. + +The principal church, with a handsome spire, stands upon a hill, and forms a +landmark to the surrounding country. The ascent to it, by a number of steps, +has, according to popular prejudice, produced an effect upon the legs of the +inhabitants more strengthening than elegant, which has originated the +provincial phrase of "Walsall-legged." But this is, no doubt, a libel on the +understandings of the independent borough. + +The houses are chiefly built of brick, but it seems as if some years ago the +inhabitants had been seized with an architectural disease, which has left its +marks in the shape of an eruption of stucco porticoes, and one or two +pretensious mansions, externally resembling jails or infirmaries, internally +boasting halls which bear the same proportion to the living rooms as +Falstaff's gallon of sack to his halfpennyworth of bread. No doubt there are +persons whom this style of house exactly suits, the portico represents their +pride, the parlour their economy. What was intended for the Walsall public +library consists of a thin closet behind a gigantic Ionic portico, now +tottering to its fall; and in like manner a perfectly dungeon-like effect has +been given to the principal hotel by another portico, which affords a much +better idea of the charges than of the accommodation to be found within. + +As a general rule in travelling, we pass by all hotels with porticoes to take +refuge in more modest Green Dragons or Blue Boars. + +Walsall has a municipal corporation of six aldermen and eighteen councillors. +The Reform Bill, to increase the troubles of this innocent borough, placed it +in schedule B, and gave it the privilege of making one M.P. + +Fierce contests at every general election have been the result, in which some +blood, much money, and more beer, have been expended. But neither party has +thought it worth while to make the education of the savages of the Black +Country a piece of politics, and, if any one did, he would only be torn to +pieces between Church and Dissenters. + +* * * * * + +DUDLEY in Worcestershire, about six miles from Walsall by the South +Staffordshire Railway, has a castle and more than one legend for the +antiquarian, a cave, and limestone pits full of fossils for the geologist, +and especial interest for the historical economist, being the centre of the +district where the first successful attempts were made to smelt iron by +coal,--a process which has contributed, almost as much as our success in +textile manufactures, to give this small island a wealth and power which a +merely agricultural non-exporting community could never have attained. + +Iron was manufactured with charcoal in England from the time of the Romans +till the middle of the eighteenth century, when the timber of many counties +had been entirely exhausted by the process. In 1558, in the reign of +Elizabeth, it was enacted that "no timber of the breadth of one foot square +at the stub, and growing within fourteen miles of the sea, or any part of the +river Thames or Severn, or any other river, creek, or stream, by the which +carriage is commonly used by boat or other vessel, to any part of the sea, +shall be converted to coal, or fuel for making iron;" {125a} and, in 1581, a +further Act was passed to prevent the destruction of timber. "For remedy +whereof it was enacted that no new iron works should be erected within +twenty-two miles of London nor within fourteen miles of the river Thames, nor +in the several parts of Sussex near the sea therein named. This Act not to +extend to the woods of Christopher Durrell, in the parish of Newdigate, +within the weald of Surrey, which woods have been coppiced by him for the use +of his iron works in those parts." + +At the same period, we find from a letter in the Stradling Correspondence, +{125b} that, while iron was made in Surrey, Sussex, and Kent, where not a +pound is now manufactured, in Glamorganshire, at present a great seat of iron +manufacture, iron was so scarce that an anvil was leased out at the rent of +3s. 4d. a year, {126} a rent at which, taking the then value of money, a very +tolerable anvil could now be purchased. + +When the woods of the kingdom began to be exhausted, attention was turned to +pit coal, which had long been in use for fuel in the counties where it was +plentifully found. A curious account of the first successful experiments is +to be found, told in very quaint language, in the Metallum Martis of Dudley +Dudley, son of Lord Edward Dudley (an ancestor of the late Earl Dudley and +Ward, and of the present Lord Ward, who now enjoys the very estates referred +to, and derives a princely income from the mineral treasures, the true value +of which was discovered by his unfortunate ancestor), published in the reign +of Charles II. + +This Mr. Dudley was an early victim of the patent laws, which, to this day, +have proved to be for the benefit of lawyers and officials, and the +tantalization of true inventors and discoverers. The following extracts +contain his story, and enable us to compare the present with the then state +of iron manufacture:-- + +"Having former knowledge and delight in ironworks of my father's when I was +but a youth, afterwards, at twenty years old, was I fetched from Oxford, then +of Baliol College, anno 1619, to look after and manage three ironworks of my +father's, one furnace and two forges in the chace of Pensnel, in +Worcestershire; but wood and charcoal growing very scanty, and pit-coals in +great quantities abounding near the furnace, did induce me to alter my +furnace and to attempt by my new invention, the making of iron with pit-coal, +and found at my trial or blast, facere est addere inventioni. After I had +proved by a second blast and trial, the feasibility of making iron with pit- +coal and sea-coal, I found by my new invention the quality good and +profitable, but the quantity did not exceed above three tons a week." + +After this, the inventor obtained a patent from King James I., for thirty-one +years in the nineteenth year of his reign. "But the year following the grant +there was so great a flood of rain,--to this day called the great May-day +flood,--that it ruined the author's ironworks and inventions, and at a market +town called Sturbridge, in comitatu Wigorniae, one resolute man was carried +from the bridge in the day time." "As soon as the author had repaired his +works, he was commanded to send all sorts of bar iron up to the Tower of +London, fit for making of muskets and carbines, {127} and the iron being so +tried by artists and smiths, that the ironmasters and ironmongers who had +complained that the author's iron was not merchantable, were silenced until +the twenty-first of King James." "At the then parliament all monopolies were +made null, and divers of the ironmeasters endeavoured to bring the invention +of making iron with pit-coal within the compass of a monopoly; but the Lord +Dudley and the author did prevail, yet the patent was limited to continue but +fourteen years." + +This exception in the Statute of Monopolies, which incontestably proves the +claim of the Dudley family to the honour of having invented the art of +smelting iron with coal, runs in the following terms:--"Provided also that +this Act shall not extend to, or be prejudicial to, a graunt or priviledge +for the melting of iron ewer, and of maling the same into sea coals or pit +coals, by His Majesties letters Patent under the Great Seale of England, made +or graunted to Edward Lord Dudley." + +After the passing of the Act, it seems that Dudley Dudley made "great store +of iron and sold it at 12 pounds a ton, and also cast-iron wares, as brewing +cisterns, pots, mortars;" but, being ousted of his works, he again set up a +furnace at "Himley, in the county of Stafford." Himley Hall is the present +residence of Lord Ward, the representative of the Dudley family. From that +time forward, the life of the unfortunate inventor was but one series of +misfortunes. Under Charles I. he got into law-suits, was the victim of riots +set on by the charcoal ironmasters, and was eventually lodged in prison in +the Compter. Then came the Great Rebellion, during which he had the +disadvantage of being a Royalist as well as an inventor, and of having +"Cromwell, with Major Wildman and many of his officers, as opponents in rival +experiments tried in the Forest of Dean, where they employed an ingenious +glassmaster, Edward Dagney, an Italian then living in Bristow," but they +failed. And so he was utterly ruined. On the accession of Charles II., he +petitioned, and eventually sent in the statement from which the preceding +extracts have been made, but apparently without any success. The king was +too busy making dukes and melting the louis d'ors of his French pension, to +think of anything so common as iron or so tiresome as gratitude. + +The iron manufacture, for want of the art of smelting by coal, and of a +supply of wood, which the march of agriculture daily diminished, dwindled +away, until, in the middle of the eighteenth century, it was revived at +Colebrook Dale by the Darbys. In the intermediate period, we were dependent +on Russia, Spain, and Sweden for the chief part of the iron used in +manufactures. + +But one of the most curious passages in Dudley's Metallum Martis, is the +following picture of the Dudley coal-field:--"Now let me show some reasons +that induced me to undertake these inventions. Well knowing that within ten +miles of Dudley Castle, there be near 20,000 smiths of all sorts, and many +ironworks within that circle decayed for want of wood (yet formerly a mighty +woodland country); secondly, Lord Dudley's woods and works decayed, but pit- +coal and iron stone or mines abounding upon his lands, but of little use; +thirdly, because most of the coal mines in these parts are coals ten, eleven, +and twelve yards thick; fourthly, under this great thickness of coal are very +many sorts of ironstone mines; fifthly, that one-third part of the coals +gotten under the ground are small, when the colliers are forced to sink pits +for getting of ten yards thick, and are of little use in an inland country, +unless it might be made use of by making iron therewith; sixthly, these +colliers must cast these coals and slack out of their ways, which, becoming +moist, heat naturally, and kindle in the middle of these great heaps, often +sets the coal works on fire and flaming out of the pits, and continue burning +like AEtna in Sicily or Hecla in the Indies." (sic.) + +At present, for more than ten miles round Dudley Castle, iron works of one +kind or another are constantly at work; no remains of mighty woodland are to +be found. The value of the ten yard coal is fully appreciated, but the +available quantity is far from having been worked out. The untouched mineral +wealth of Lord Ward in this district was valued, ten years ago, at a million +sterling. The small coal is no longer wasted, but carefully raised from the +pits and conveyed by the numerous canals, tram-roads, and railroads, to iron +works, glass works, and chemical works. But still heaps of waste, moistened +by rain, do smoke by day, and flaming by night in conjunction with hundreds +of fiery furnaces and natural gases blazing, do produce, on a night's journey +from Dudley to Wolverhampton, not the effect of one AEtna or Hecla, but of a +broad "inferno," from which even Dante might have gathered some burning +notions. + +The political croakers who are constantly predicting that the last inevitable +change, whether it be a Municipal Corporation Reform, a Tithe Commutation, or +a Corn Tax Repeal, will prove the ruin of England, should study the +geographical march of our manufactures, and mark how, on the whole +population, the rise of a new staple in one district, or the invention of a +new art, constantly creates a new demand for labour. The exhaustion of our +forests, instead of destroying, founded one great element of our world-wide +commercial influence. + +We make no apology for this digression, knowing that, to many minds, facts +connected with the rise of the iron trade will have as much interest as notes +on the scene of a battle or the birthplace of a second-rate poet, besides, as +we omit to say what we do not know, it is necessary we should say what we do. + +Besides mining and smelting iron ore, a considerable population in and around +Dudley is engaged in the manufacture of glass and of nails; the latter being +a domestic manufacture, at which men, women, and children all work at home. + +The castle dates from a Saxon prince, Dodo, A.D. 700; but, like the bird of +the same name, the original building is extinct. But very interesting ruins +of a Norman gateway, tower, and keep, are in existence; and form, with the +caves, a show-place leased by the South Staffordshire as an attraction to +their excursion trains. The caves are lighted up on special occasions, and +were honoured by a visit from the geologists of the British Association when +last they met at Birmingham. A fossil, called the Dudley locust, is found in +great quantities and varieties in the limestone quarries, which form part of +the mineral wealth of the neighbourhood. + +The broad gauge line through Birmingham and Oxford will shortly afford Dudley +a direct and rapid communication with London. To passengers this will be a +great convenience, but a mode of conveyance so unwieldy, clumsy, and costly, +is singularly ill fitted for a mineral district, as experience among the +narrow tram-ways of the north has amply proved. + +Dudley returns one member to Parliament; whose politics must, it is supposed, +be those of the holder of the Ward estate. + +Returning from Dudley through Walsall to Bescot Bridge, the rail pursues its +course through a mining country to Bilston and Wolverhampton. On the road we +pass in sight of the Birmingham canal, one of the finest works of the kind in +the kingdom. An enormous sum was spent in improving the navigation, in order +to prove that any railway was unnecessary. The proprietors, under the +influence of their officials, a snug family party, shut their eyes and spent +their money in opposing the inevitable progress of locomotive power to the +last possible moment. Even when the first London and Birmingham railway was +nearly open, a scheme for a new canal was industriously hawked round the +county; and, although there were not enough subscribers found to execute the +work, a small percentage was sufficient to furnish a surveyor's new house +very handsomely. Still, there is no probability of the canal ever ceasing to +be an important aid to the coal trade in heavy freights. + +* * * * * + +WEDNESBURY, {130} pronounced Wedgebury, and spelt Wednesberie in Domesday +Book, stands in the very heart of the coal and iron district, and is as like +Tipton, Darlaston, Bilston, and other towns where the inhabitants are +similarly employed, as one sweep is like another. Birmingham factors depend +largely on Wedgebury for various kinds of ironwork and "heavy steel toys." +The coal pits in the neighbourhood are of great value, and there is no better +place in the kingdom to buy a thoroughbred bull dog that will "kill or die on +it," but never turn tail. The name is supposed to incorporate that of the +Saxon god Woden, whose worship consisted in getting drunk and fighting, and, +to this day, that is the only kind of relaxation in which many of the +inhabitants ever indulge. The church stands upon a hill, where Ethelfleda, +Lady of Mercia, built a castle to resist the Danes, A.D. 914, about the time +that she erected similar bulwarks at Tamworth and other towns in the Midland +counties, but there are no antiquities worth the trouble of visiting. + +Parties who take an interest in the progress of education in this kingdom +among those classes where it is most needed, that is to say, masses of miners +and mechanics residing in districts from which all the higher and most of the +middle classes have removed; where the clergy are few, hard worked, and ill +paid; where the virtues of a thinly peopled agricultural district have been +exchanged for the vices, without the refinements, of a crowded town +population, should traverse this part of Staffordshire on foot. They will +own that, in spite of the praiseworthy labours of both Church and Dissent,--in +spite of the progress of Temperance Societies and Savings' Banks,--a crowd of +children are daily growing up in a state of ignorance, dirt, and degradation +fearful to contemplate. To active philanthropists, not to seekers of the +picturesque, archaeologists, and antiquarians, do we address ourselves. Still +we ought to add that, in the iron works and rolling mills, there are studies +of half naked men in active motion at night, with effect of red firelight and +dark shade, in which the power of painting flesh and muscular development +might be more effectively displayed than in the perpetual repetition of model +Eves and sprawling nymphs. + +* * * * * + +WOLVERHAMPTON formerly lay away from railroads, at a convenient omnibus +distance; but competition has doubly pierced it through and through. One +line connects it with Shrewsbury; another, on the point of completion, will +connect it with Dudley, Birmingham, and Oxford, and another with +Worcester,--add to these means of communication the canals existing before +railroads commenced, extending to Hull, Liverpool, Chester, and London, and +it will be seen that Wolverhampton is most fortunately placed. + +The great railway battle of the gauges commenced at Wolverhampton, and has +been carried on ever since at the cost of more than a million sterling in +legal and parliamentary expenses, beside the waste of capital in constructing +three railways where one would have been sufficient, and the extra cost of +land traversed where a price was paid, 1st, for the land; 2nd, for the +revenue; 3rd, for compulsion; 4th, for influence, and 5th, for vote, if the +landowner were a member of either House of Parliament. + +At the end of the battle, a competing line to London has been established, +which will end shortly in a compromise; and, if one district has two +railways, others, much needing, have none. The shareholders on both sides +have lost their money, the engineers have reaped a harvest, and the lawyers +have realized a fortune. + +The experience of water companies, gas companies, canal companies, and +railway companies, has distinctly been, that, between great monied +corporations with large capitals sunk in plant, competition is impossible and +must end in a compromise. + +But these contests are profitable to lawyers, who must always win, whether +their clients do or not. It is no exaggeration to say that, as surely as +Spain and Portugal are priest-ridden, so surely is Great Britain lawyer- +ridden. No sooner does the science, the industry, and the enterprise of the +country carve out some new road to commercial prosperity, than the attorney +sets up a turnpike upon it and takes toll; and, if dispute arises as to the +right of road, however the contest be decided, it ends in two attornies +taking toll. In chancery, in the laws affecting patents of inventions, in +the law affecting canals, in railways, a standing army of lawyers are +constantly engaged in fighting battles, which end in our bearing the wounds +and their sharing the spoil. So it was in these battles of the gauges. + +But to return to Wolverhampton, the name of which recalled battles wherein so +much useful money has been wasted, the town, although of rising importance in +a commercial point, offers no other attraction to the curious traveller than +its numerous manufactories of hardware, and machinery of various kinds, +including firearms, tinned ware, locks and keys, of extraordinary cheapness, +gun locks, files, screws, and japanned ware. + +The tea trays, and other japanned ware of Wolverhampton, are equal in taste +and execution to anything produced in Birmingham; indeed, it was at the +manufactory of the Messrs. Walton that the plan of skilfully copying the +landscapes of our best artists on japan were originated. The first tea-tray +of the kind was copied from one of Turner's Rivers of France, by a gentleman +who has since taken up a very important position in applying the true +principles of art to British manufactures. + +Wolverhampton, and all the towns and villages in the coal and iron district, +are only so many branch-Birminghams; in that hardware metropolis the greater +part of the goods made are ordered and sold. + +The town is of great antiquity, although with as few remains as most +flourishing towns built of brick, where manufactures have chased away +mansions. The name is derived from Walfrana, a sister of King Edgar, who +founded a monastery there in A.D. 996, and collected a village round it named +Walfrana Hampton, which was eventually corrupted into Wolverhampton. In the +oldest Church, St. Peter's, there is a pulpit formed of a single stone, +elaborately sculptured, and a font, with curious bas-relief figures of +saints. The Church is collegiate, and the College consists of a dean, who +holds the prebend of Wolverhampton, which was annexed by Edward IV. to his +free chapel of St. George, within the Castle of Windsor. + +A Free Grammar School, supported by endowments, affords a head master 400 +pounds a-year; the second master 200 pounds; and a third master 120 pounds. +Some years ago these gentlemen had only seventy scholars to teach, but we +trust this is, or will be, amended. + +Wolverhampton was made a Parliamentary borough by the Reform Act, returning +two members from boundaries which include the townships of Bilston, +Willenhall, Wednesfield, and the parish of Sedgeley. The population has +increased more than five fold in the last forty years. + +Bird, the artist, Congreve, inventor of the rockets which bear his name, and +Abernethy, the eminent surgeon, were natives of Wolverhampton; Huskisson, who +began the commercial reforms which Peel finished, was born at Oxley Hall, in +the immediate neighbourhood. + +Close to the town is a good racecourse, well frequented once a year, formerly +one of the most fashionable meetings in the country. The ladies' division of +the Grand Stand used to be a complete parterre of the gayest flowers; but +railroads, which have added to the quantity, have very much deteriorated the +quality of the frequenters of races, and unless a change takes place, a Grand +Stand will soon be as dark, as busy, and as dull as the Stock Exchange. + +From Wolverhampton a line nineteen miles in length, through Albrighton (where +Staffordshire ends and Shropshire begins) and Shifnal to Wellington, shortens +the route to Shrewsbury by cutting off an angle; but as there is nothing to +be said about this route except that at Albrighton are the kennels of the +hunt of that name, (a hunt in which the greater or less luxury in horseflesh +of the young ironmasters affords a thermometer of the state of the iron +trade,) we shall on this occasion take the Stafford line. + +Within an easy distance of Wolverhampton are a very large number of the +noblemen's and gentlemen's seats, in which Staffordshire is so rich; more +than one ancient and dilapidated family has been restored by the progress of +smoke-creating manufactures, which have added to the wealth even more than +they destroyed the picturesqueness of the country. + +If we were conducting a foreigner over England with the view of showing him +the wealth, the power, and the beauties of our country, we should follow +exactly the course we have hitherto pursued, and after an exhausting +inspection of the manufactories of the coal country, should turn off the +rail, after leaving Wolverhampton on our road to Stafford, and visit some of +the beautiful mansions surrounded by that rich combination of nature and art +which so eminently distinguishes the "stately homes of England." + +For instance, before reaching Penkridge we pass--on the right hand, Moseley +Court, where the ancestors of the proprietors, the Whitgreaves, concealed +Charles II. after the Battle of Worcester,--on the left, Wrottesley Hall, the +seat of the scientific nobleman of that name, and Chellington Park, the +residence of the ancient Roman Catholic family of the Giffords, where an +avenue of oaks, the growth of centuries, with a magnificent domain stocked +with deer and game, afford the admirers of English scenery delicious vistas +of wood, water, and rich undulating pasture. + +The contrast between the murky atmosphere and continued roar of the +ironmaking country, and the silence of the deer-haunted green glades is most +striking, and most grateful to eye and ear. + +As we rush along the valley of the Penk, too rapidly to drink in its full +beauties; on the right, Teddesley Hall, the mansion of Lord Hatherton, rising +above the tops of the trees, reminds us that the noble lord's farms are well +worth a visit from any one taking an interest in agriculture. Poor land has +been rendered comparatively fertile, and by a complete system of drainage, +mere marshy rush-growing meadows have been made capable of carrying capital +root and wheat crops, while the waste water has been carried to a head, and +then by a large overshot water wheel, working below the surface of the +ground, made useful for thrashing, chaff and root cutting, and other +operations of the farm. + +At Penkridge, a rural village of considerable antiquity, ten miles from +Wolverhampton, adorned by a Gothic Church, and several picturesque houses of +the Elizabethan style of domestic architecture, it will be convenient to +descend, if an expedition is intended, over Cannock Chase to Beaudesert, the +seat of the Marquis of Anglesey. + +[THE RAILWAY NEAR PENKRIDGE: ill17.jpg] + +This Cannock Chase completes the singular variations of soil and occupation +to be found in Staffordshire. From the densely-populated iron districts, and +the model agriculture of disciples of the same school as Lord Hatherton, we +can turn our faces to a vast moorland, forty miles square, stretching from +where it is first seen on the banks of the railway to the banks of the Trent, +as wild as any part of Wales or Scotland, intersected by steep hills, by deep +valleys, covered with gorse and broom, dotted with peat marshes, tenanted by +wild deer and feathered game, and fed over by the famous "Kenk" sheep, nearly +as wild as deer, and in flavour rivalling the best mountain mutton. This +great waste was once covered with dense forests, in which the wolf, the bear, +the wild boar, and the wild bull were hunted by our Saxon Kings. It is not +among the least wonders effected by the locomotive that a short hour can +transport us from the midst of the busiest centres of manufactures to a +solitude as complete as is to be found in the prairies of America or +Australia, unless we by chance stumble upon a prying gamekeeper or an idle +rustic seeking whortle-berries or snaring hares. + +On this chase, begged by his ancestors from an easy king as a kitchen garden, +the hero of the Light Cavalry at Waterloo annually takes his sport, mounted +on a perfect shooting cob, and with eighty years upon his shoulders, can +still manage to bring down his birds right and left. + +Long may such blanks of solitude and wild nature remain amid the busy hum of +commerce to remind us of what all England once was, to afford, at a few +holidays in the year, a free breathing place to the hardworking multitude, +and to the poet and student that calm delight which the golden fragrance of a +gorse-covered moor can bestow. + +Before we reach Stafford we leave on the right, although not in sight, +Shugborough, the deserted mansion of the Earl of Lichfield, a descendant of +the Lord Anson who "sailed round the world but was never in it." + + + + +STAFFORD. + + +STAFFORD CASTLE, on the summit of a high hill, whose slopes are clothed with +forest trees, gives in the romantic associations it awakens a very false idea +of the town to be found below. The towers of the Castle built by the son of +Robert de Tonei, the Standard Bearer of William the Conqueror, have survived +the Wars of the Roses and the contests of the Great Rebellion, while the +remainder has been restored in an appropriate style by the family of the +present possessors, representatives of the ancient barony of Stafford--no +relation of the Staffords who in another part of the county enjoy the Dukedom +of Sutherland. But the town, prosperous in spite of many changes of fashion, +has completely lost any antique air it may ever have enjoyed, and now, in all +the smugness of brick, quite realises the idea of a borough which at every +election is for sale to the highest bidder. + +[STAFFORD: ill18.jpg] + +The principal manufacture is that of shoes for exportation. Many remarkable +men have represented Stafford, some as remarkable for their talent as for +their folly. Sheridan's most brilliant speeches, and Urquhart's most +undeniable failures in the House of Commons, were both due to the borough of +Stafford. It is, in fact, a stepping-stone to the House of Commons, always +ready for the highest bidder and promiser, but whoever would sit for Stafford +for a series of Parliaments, would need the use of the Philosopher's Stone. +The independent electors would exhaust California if they had the chance. + +As the Stafford shoemakers, to the deep disappointment of its agricultural +neighbours, have not yet been ruined by the influx of foreign boots and +shoes, its chief interest at present is derived from its being the point from +which several important railways radiate. + +* * * * * + +STAFFORD TO MANCHESTER.--Beside the old Grand Junction line to Crewe, the +Trent Valley line, about which we intend to say a few words on our return +journey, ends, strictly speaking, at Stafford, after passing by Atherston, +Tamworth, and Lichfield; but, since the construction of the North +Staffordshire, which joins the Trent Valley at Colewich, the most direct way +to Manchester is through the pottery district and Macclesfield, instead of by +Stafford and Crewe. Direct lines have generally proved a great mistake, +except so far as they have accommodated the local traffic through which they +passed. To the shareholders they have been most unprofitable wherever the +original shareholders were not lucky enough to bully the main lines into a +lease, and, to the average of travellers very inconvenient, by dividing +accommodation. But shareholders should look at the local traffic of a +proposed direct line, on which alone good dividends can be earned. + +These direct projects were partly the result of the imperfect manner in +which, in consequence of opposition and from want of experience, the original +main branch lines were executed, and partly in that plethora of money, which, +in this thriving country, must be relieved from time to time by the bleeding +of ingenious schemers. We are enjoying, in this year of 1851, the advantages +derived from money spent, and lost to the spenders, in our own country +instead of being sunk in Greek or Spanish bonds, South American mines, or the +banks and public works of the United States. + +At one period, in the height of the ten per cent. mania, a school of railway +economists sprang up which advocated placing the construction and the profits +of railways in the hands of government, and they supported their theories by +ex post facto criticism on the blunders of railway companies,--on the +astonishing dividends of Mr. George Hudson's lines,--and on the hard terms on +which capitalists had agreed to execute French railways for the French +government. + +These ingenious reasons did not prevail. People were reminded that the steam +boats, the public works, the "Woods and Forests" under government charge, +were not managed with remarkable success or economy. The tempting dividends +melted away, and projects for French railways, on the principle of the State +taking profits and the speculators the risk, which had excited the admiration +of Cato Morrisson, first hung fire and then exploded, so that rich districts +of France which, on the system of "profits to private enterprise," would have +enjoyed railway conveyance ten years ago, are still left to the mercy of the +slow diligences and slower waggons to this hour. + +To a commercial country like England, the waste of a few millions on railways +badly planned, are of little importance compared with the national saving +effected by the cheap conveyance of produce. The great importance of the +direct line between Rugby, Macclesfield, and Manchester, is not that it saves +an hour in the transit of an impatient traveller, but that it places in easy +communication purely agricultural and thoroughly manufacturing communities, +so as to render an interchange of produce easy. Shareholders sometimes +suffer, but the public always gains. On the other hand, Parliament should +take care that railway extension to blank districts is not prevented by +conceding parallel lines to directors hunting for a dividend, by dividing +instead of increasing the existing traffic. + +When an alteration of the law settlement has released from parish bondage and +vegetation those adscripti glebae agricultural labourers, the advantage of our +network of railways will be still more felt. + +* * * * * + +STAFFORD TO SHREWSBURY.--The third line diverging from Stafford, counting the +continuation of the London as a fourth, is the railway to Shrewsbury, passing +through NEWPORT and WELLINGTON, where it joins the direct line from +Wolverhampton, and affording, by a continuation which passes near Oswestry, +Chirk, and Llangollen, {138} to Wrexham, Chester, and Birkenhead, another +route to Liverpool, and, through Chester, the nearest way to Holyhead and +Ireland. + +* * * * * + +NEWPORT.--The first station after leaving Stafford for Shrewsbury, and +immediately after crossing into Shropshire, is a small market town and +borough, with a corporation, which can be traced back to Henry III. The +church, of the fifteenth century, with an interior of great beauty, has been +frightfully disfigured by aisles built of bricks in a common builders' style +of architecture. + +This corporation offers an example which might be with advantage followed by +greater men holding the same office; they have but a small income, and they +apply it to keeping in order cisterns and conduits which supply the town with +water. + +There is a free grammar school founded by one William Adams in 1756, which +has a library attached to the school and five scholarships. The best, of 80 +pounds a year, to Christchurch, Oxford. + +* * * * * + +WELLINGTON stands at the base of the Wrekin, is the centre of the +Shropshireman's toast and the chief town of the coal and iron district, and +is the point where the line from Wolverhampton makes a junction, affording +the nearest road from Birmingham to Shrewsbury. It was here that Charles I., +on his march from Wellington to Shrewsbury, assembled his troops, and, in +order to allay the growing disaffection among them, declared that he would +"support the reformed religion, govern by law, uphold the privileges of +parliament, and preserve the liberty of the subject." + +From Wellington you may proceed by omnibus to Coalbrookdale, where the first +iron bridge was built over the Severn, where the Darbys and Dickensons have +carried on iron works for more than a century, where coal was first applied +profitably to smelting iron, and where the fine iron castings of Berlin have +been rivalled, and successful attempts have been made to introduce the +principles of the fine arts into domestic manufactures. The firm are members +of the Society of Friends. Fortunately their tenets do not prevent them from +selling us coal-scuttles of beautiful design, although their wives and +daughters are bound, according to the conservative principles of their sect, +to wear bonnets of an unvarying and hideous coal-scuttle shape. + +* * * * * + +SHREWSBURY, 10 miles from Wellington, is, in more respects than one, an +interesting town, situated partly on a precipitous peninsula formed by the +swift clear waters of the Severn, united to the opposite side by bridges, in +one of which the huge undershot waterwheels of a corn mill are for ever +turning. A stranger without letters of introduction, condemned to spend a +few hours here with nothing to do, may easily pass the time pleasantly in +hunting out picturesque bits of river scenery, or even in chucking pebbles +into the stream, instead of drinking sherry negus he does not want, or poking +about the dull streets of a modern town, while all the respectable +inhabitants are lost in wonder "who that strange man in the white hat is." +The manufactures of Shrewsbury are not very important; thread, linen, and +canvas, and iron-works in the neighbouring suburb of Coleham; a considerable +and ancient trade is carried on in Welsh flannel and cloths from the +neighbouring counties of Denbigh, Montgomery, and Merioneth, and markets and +fairs are held for the benefit of the rich agricultural district around, in +which, besides fine butter, cheese, poultry, and live stock, a large +assemblage of the blooming, rosy, broad-built Shropshire lasses show the +advantage of a mixture of Welsh and English blood. + +But Shrewsbury is most famous for its school, its cakes, its ale, and the +clock mentioned by Falstaff, for which on our last visit we found an +ingenuous Frenchman industriously searching. + +The royal free grammar school, endowed by Edward VI., was raised, by the +educational talents of the late Dr. Butler, afterwards Bishop of Lichfield +and Coventry, to a very high position among our public schools; a position +which has been fully maintained by the present master, Dr. Kennedy. + +As for the cakes and ale, they must be tasted to be appreciated, but not at +the same time. + +In the history of England and Wales, Shrewsbury plays an important part. + +It is supposed that the town was founded by the Britons of the kingdom of +Powis, while they were yet struggling with the Saxons, or rather the Angles, +for the midland counties, and, it is probable, was founded by them when they +found Uttoxeter (the Uriconiam of the Romans), no longer tenable. On the +conquest of the town by the Anglo-Saxons it received the name of Scrobbes- +byrig; that is to say Scrub-burgh, or a town in a scrubby or bushy district, +and, in the Saxon Chronicle, Scrobbesbyrig-scire is mentioned, now corrupted +or polished into Shropshire. Ethelfleda, whose name we have so often had +occasion to mention as the builder of castles and churches, founded the +collegiate church of St. Alkmund; and Athelstan established a mint here. It +is evident that the "Athelstan the Unready," mentioned in Ivanhoe, must have +very much degenerated from the ancestor who established a mint for ready +money. + +According to Domesday-Book, Shrewsbury had, in Edward the Confessor's time, +two hundred and fifty-two houses, with a resident burgess in each house, and +five churches. It was included in the Earldom of Shrewsbury, granted by +William the Conqueror to his kinsman, Roger de Montgomery, who erected a +castle on the entrance of the peninsula on which the town now stands, pulling +down fifty houses for that purpose. In the wars between Stephen and the +Empress Maude, the Castle was taken and retaken; and in the reign of John the +town was taken by the Welsh under Llewellyn the Great, who had joined the +insurgent Barons in 1215; and again attacked and the suburbs burned by the +Welsh in 1234. Shrewsbury was again taken by Simon de Montfort and his ally, +Llewellyn, grandson of Llewellyn the Great, in 1266, the year before de +Montfort fell on the field of Evesham. And here, in 1283, David, the last +Prince of Wales, was tried, condemned, and executed as a traitor. Here, too, +in 1397, in the reign of Richard II., a Parliament was held, at which the +Earl of Hereford (afterwards Henry IV.) charged the Duke of Norfolk with +treason. The charge was to have been decided by a trial of battle at +Coventry. On the appointed morning, "Hereford came forth armed at all +points, mounted on a white courser, barded with blue and green velvet, +gorgeously embroidered with swans and antelopes of goldsmiths' work. The +Duke of Norfolk rode a horse barded with crimson velvet, embroidered with +lines of silver and mulberries." + +At that time it took more days to travel from Shrewsbury to Coventry than it +now does hours. The cloth of gold was as splendidly, perhaps more +splendidly, embroidered than anything we can do now; but in the matter of +shirts, shoes, stockings, and the clothing necessary for health and comfort, +and of windows and chimneys, and matters necessary for air and shelter, +mechanics and day labourers are better provided than the squires and pages of +those great noblemen. Five years after, the Harry of Hereford having become +Henry IV. of England, assembled an army at Shrewsbury to march against Owen +Glendower, and the following year he fought the battle of Shrewsbury against +Hotspur, and his ally the Douglas, which forms the subject of a scene in +Shakspeare's play of Henry IV. At that battle Percy Hotspur marched from +Stafford toward Shrewsbury, hoping to reach it before the King, and by being +able to command the passage of the Severn to communicate with his ally +Glendower; but Henry, who came from Lichfield, arrived there first, on the +19th July, 1403. The battle was fought the next day at Hateley Field, about +three miles from the town. + +In the Wars of the Roses Shrewsbury was Yorkist. In the great Civil War +Charles I. came to Shrewsbury, there received liberal contributions, in money +and plate, from the neighbouring gentry, and largely recruited his forces; +and in the course of the war the town was taken and retaken more than once. +Thus it will be seen that Shrewsbury is connected with many important events +in English history. + +The first Charter of incorporation extant is of Richard I. + +Two members are returned to Parliament of opposite politics at present; but a +few years ago it was the boast of the Salopians, that the twelve members +returned by the different constituencies of the county were all of that class +of politics which, for want of a better name, may be called "Sibthorpian." + +Shrewsbury is a good starting point for an expedition into Wales, and we can +strongly recommend the walk from Chirk, one of the stations on the line to +Chester, over the hills by footpaths to Llangollen: from one point a view may +be caught of the three great civilizers of the eighteenth and nineteenth +centuries. A splendid viaduct, carrying the Shropshire Canal over a deep +valley, in its day considered a triumph of engineering art--the Holyhead mail +road, perhaps the best piece of work of the kind in the world, and the +railway, which has partly superseded both. There is more than one pleasant +spot on the bye-path we have suggested where a thoughtful pedestrian may sit +down, and, smoking a cigar in the presence of a sweetly calm landscape of +grassy valleys and round-topped hills, ponder over these things, not without +advantage, to the sound of bells borne by lively Welsh sheep, whose mutton +has been raised 2d. a pound in value by Stephenson's steam-engines. + +But our road lies by the English rail this time, therefore we must return to +Stafford. + +* * * * * + +STAFFORD TO CREWE.--On leaving Stafford for Crewe we pass on the right +Ingestrie Park, the seat of the Earl of Talbot; the ruins of Chartley Castle, +the property of Earl Ferrers, the defendant in the action brought by Miss +Smith for breach of promise of marriage; and Sandon Park, the seat of the +Earl of Harrowby, who for many years, before succeeding his father, +represented Liverpool in the House of Commons as Lord Sandon. + +Soon after passing Norton Bridge Station, about seven miles from Stafford, we +come in sight of Swinnerton Hall, the seat of the ancient family of Fitz- +Herbert. The first lord of the manor of Swinnerton received this name at the +hands of the Norman Conqueror. One of the farms of the present proprietor of +Swinnerton Hall is held by a Liverpool merchant, who has carried out modern +agricultural improvements, especially in stock feeding, with great success; +having availed himself of the facilities of the railroad and his commercial +knowledge, to import from Liverpool various kinds of nutritive pulse and +grain. + +Near the Whitmore Station the railway winds for two miles through an +excavation in solid stone, enclosed by intermediate slopes of turf, ending, +as it were in an arch, which, spanning the road, forms a sort of frame to a +wild region that stretches on beyond. + +[VIEW NEAR WHITMORE: ill19.jpg] + +Without anything very important to induce a halt by the way, the train runs +into Crewe. + +Crewe is a wonderful place; sixteen years ago, the quietest of country- +villages, now intersected in every direction with iron roads pointing from it +to almost every point of the compass. + +A story is extant, with what foundation of truth we know not, of a gentleman +who purchased a small farm here, as a safe investment and occasional retreat +from the bustle of Manchester, and eventually realized from it, when a +railway station was erected, more hundreds than he had paid pounds. At any +rate, if it is not true, it might have been. + +At present, besides the line formerly called the Grand Junction, until its +amalgamation with the London and Birmingham, there is a line from Crewe to +Chester and Birkenhead; another to Manchester direct, by Macclesfield, +formerly known as the Manchester and Birmingham--both are now merged in the +London and North Western; and lastly, a short cross branch of fifteen miles, +forming a union with Burslem on the North Staffordshire. + +In addition to the bustle created by the arrival and departure of innumerable +trains at Crewe, the London and North Western Company have a large +establishment for building and repairing the locomotives and other machinery +in use on their lines north of Birmingham. This establishment is under the +charge of Mr. Trevethick, C.E., a son of the Trevethick who, in 1802, in +conjunction with Vivian, took out the first patent for a locomotive engine, +which they executed the following year. {144} + +The railway village of Crewe is on the same plan as that of Wolverton, but +situated in much prettier scenery; and includes a church, infant, boys' and +girls' schools, a Library and Literary Institution, held in the Town-hall, +where a fine room is occasionally well filled by popular lectures, and balls +in the winter. + +On one occasion, about three years ago, the name of a gentleman looking over +the works in company with a foreman was recognized as that of a writer on a +popular subject, and he was requested by a deputation of the men to deliver a +lecture the same evening in the Town-hall. He consented; and a written +notice, stuck up in the workshops at one o'clock, assembled at six o'clock +upwards of six hundred of the mechanics and their wives and families, forming +a most attentive and intelligent audience. + +This establishment was considerably reduced during the depression in railway +property, and several of the mechanics emigrated to the United States. One +of these, a Chartist politician, a Methodist preacher, and a coach-spring +maker, with a little taste for sporting, expressed himself, in a letter which +found its way into the "Emigrant's Journal," well pleased with the people, +the laws, and the institutions amongst which he had transplanted himself; but +when he came to speak of the railroads, he considered them "not fit to carry +hogs to market." So much for a man criticising his own trade. + +We must not pause to describe as we could wish, in detail, the arrangements +of this interesting village; for we have heavy work before us, and must press +on. + +Parties passing, who have leisure to stay a day, will find very fair +accommodation at the inn overlooking the station, and often, about one +o'clock, a fine hot joint of grass-fed beef of magnificent dimensions. In +winter, this hotel is one of the quarters of gentlemen going to meet the +Cheshire hounds, a first-rate pack, with a country which, if not first-rate, +is far from second-rate, including certain parts of grass country which may +be fairly compared to Leicestershire and Northamptonshire. + +Crewe Hall, one of the "Meets," is the seat of Lord Crewe, the grandson of +the beautiful Mrs. Crewe, so celebrated for her wit and Buff and Blue +politics, in the time of Charles James Fox, the Duchess of Devonshire, the +Westminster Election, and "All The Talents of the last century." + +The Hall is picturesquely situated on a rising ground, well wooded, near a +small lake, and contains, among other pictures, portraits of Fox, "Coke of +Norfolk," and several other political friends with whom the first Lord Crewe +was closely associated. The hounds meet there occasionally, when a "find" is +sure, and a gallop through the park a thing to be remembered. + +* * * * * + +NANTWICH, about five miles from Crewe, is one of the towns which supplies +Cheshire's salt exports, Middlewich and Northwich being the other two. In +all, rich brine springs are found, but the celebrated mines of rock-salt are +found at Northwich only. It is vulgarly imagined that the word wich has +something to do with salt, these three towns being often described as the +"Wiches." This is an error; and wich is merely an Anglo-Saxon corruption of +the Roman word vicus, as in Harwich. The salt-works of Nantwich are +mentioned in "Domesday Book." The town was more than once besieged during +the great civil wars, lastly by Lord Byron, unsuccessfully, with an army +chiefly Irish, which was compelled to raise the siege and defeated by Sir +Thomas Fairfax and Sir William Brereton. + +Among the antiquities remaining is a cross Church, in a mixture of styles, +partly early English and partly decorated English, and a several curious old +houses of black timber and plaster. + +The trade of this place has derived much advantage from the junction of the +Chester, Ellesmere, and Liverpool and Birmingham canals, close by. + +At the Nantwich yearly fairs, samples of the famous Cheshire cheese made in +the neighbourhood, of the best brands, may be found. Major-General Harrison, +one of the Regicides who was put to death on the Restoration of Charles II., +was a native of Nantwich, and Milton's widow, who was born in the +neighbourhood, died there in 1726. + +Just before reaching the Hartford Bridge Station, on the way to Chester, we +pass Vale Royal Abbey, the seat of the Cholmondeley family, pronounced +Chumleigh, whose head was created in 1821 Lord Delamere. + +[VALE ROYAL VIADUCT: ill20.jpg] + +The Abbey lies in a valley sheltered by old trees, the remains of a great +forest; wood-covered hills rise behind it, closing in the vale; below runs +the Weaver, "that famous flood," whose praises were sung by Michael Drayton +in his Polyolbion. In this instance, as in many others, the "monks of old" +showed their taste in choosing one of the most beautiful and fertile sites in +the county for their residence. The Cheshire prophet, Nixon, lived as +ploughboy with the Cholmondeley family, according to tradition, for which we +no more answer than for his prophecies, doubts having recently been thrown on +both. A breed of white cattle with red ears are preserved at Vale Royal, in +memory of the preservation of part of the family by a white cow when in +hiding during the Civil Wars. + +But we have not space to enter into the details of this, or the historical +reminiscences connected with the ruins of Beeston Castle, which also falls in +our way to Chester; for we must get on to Liverpool and leave for the present +Cheshire, with its cheesemaking pastures, ancient mansions, and more ancient +families, as well as its coal mines and cotton mills, to visit the twin +capitals of Liverpool and Manchester, which are at once the objects of the +contempt and sources of the rent of the Cheshire territorial aristocracy. + +The antiquarian and historical student may linger long in Cheshire, which +abounds in interesting architectural remains of several centuries, +particularly of the black and white timbered mansions, and is studded with +the sites of famous stories. + +[EXCAVATION AT HARTFORD: ill21.jpg] + +We shall pass Hartford Station without notice, and shall not pause to visit +Northwich and the celebrated Marston Salt Pits, although well worth visiting, +for which purpose a cricketer's suit of flannel will be found the best +costume, and a few good Bengal lights an assistance in viewing the wonders of +the salt caves. On across the long Dutton viaduct, spanning the Weaver +navigation, we drive until, crossing the Mersey and Irwell canal and the +river Mersey, we quit Cheshire and enter Lancashire, to run into the +Warrington Station. + +[THE DUTTON VIADUCT: ill23.jpg] + +* * * * * + +WARRINGTON may be dismissed in a very few words. It is situated in the +ugliest part of Lancashire, in a flat district, among coal mines, on the +banks of a very unpicturesque river, surrounded by a population in character +much resembling that described in the "Black Country" of Staffordshire, and +Worcestershire, and Shropshire. It was one of the earliest seats of +manufacture in Lancashire, and has the advantage of coal close at hand, with +canal and river navigation and railways to Chester through Runcorn (nineteen +miles), to Crewe, to Liverpool, to Manchester, and thereby to all quarters in +the north of England. + +[THE WARRINGTON VIADUCT: ill22.jpg] + +Coarse linens and checks, then sailcloth, were its first manufactures; at +present, cotton spinning, power-loom weaving, the manufacture of glass, +machinery, and millwork, pins, nails, tools, spades, soap, hats, and +gunpowder, and many other trades, are carried on here. The markets for live +stock of the district and from Ireland are important, and market gardening is +carried on to a considerable amount in the neighbourhood of the town. The +Mersey is navigable up to Warrington at spring tides for vessels, "flats," of +from seventy to one hundred tons. A salmon and smelt fishery, which formerly +existed, has disappeared from the waters by so many manufactories. + +Warrington, under the Reform Act, returns one member to Parliament. Its ale +is celebrated: it formerly returned an M.P. The inhabitants enjoy the +benefit of three endowed schools, one of them richly endowed. Howard's work +on Prisons was first printed at Warrington. + +[WARRINGTON: ill24.jpg] + +On leaving Warrington, a few minutes bring us to Newton junction, upon the +old Manchester and Liverpool Railway, where George Stephenson established the +economy of steam locomotive conveyance twenty-one years ago. + +In half an hour we are rolling down the Edgehill Tunnel into Liverpool. + + + + +LIVERPOOL. + + +When you land on the platform, if you can afford it, go to the Adelphi Hotel, +where the accommodation is first-rate, but the charges about the same as in +Bond Street or St. James's Street, London. + +There are others to suit all purses, and plenty of dining-houses on the +London system, so that it is not absolutely necessary to submit to the dear +and often indifferent dinners which are the rule in the coffee-rooms of most +English hotels. + +Liverpool has no antiquities of any mark; the public buildings and works +worth seeing are few but important, although a page might be filled with the +names of Institutions of various kinds. + +By far the most interesting, original, and important, are those connected +with the commerce of the town. That is to say, the docks and the gigantic +arrangements at the railways for goods' traffic. St. George's Hall, a +splendid building in the Corinthian style, containing the Law Courts and a +hall for public meetings, as a sort of supplement to the Town-hall, meets the +view immediately on leaving the railway station. The Mechanics' Institution +in Mount Street, one of the finest establishments of the kind in the kingdom, +provides an excellent education for the young, and for adults, at a very +cheap rate. + +A Collegiate Institution, opened in 1843, for affording a first-class +education on the plan of the Durham and Marlborough Colleges, at a less +expense than at Oxford or Cambridge, is to be found at Everton in a handsome +Elizabethan building. + +The Town-hall, with its auxiliary buildings, encloses the Exchange on three +sides. The vestibule contains a statue of George Canning by Chantrey: in the +centre of the Exchange stands a monument to Nelson, which we cannot admire. +On the occasion of an invitation to dinner from the Mayor, or of a grand +ball, it is worth while to penetrate beyond the vestibule, otherwise the walk +through tolerably handsome rooms is scarcely worth the trouble, although it +costs nothing. + +The immense News-rooms of the Exchange, under one of the Arcades, are open to +every respectable stranger introduced,--we may almost say without +introduction. There are several other News-rooms with libraries attached. +The Lyceum in Bold Street, and the Athenaeum in Church Street, which was +founded by purchases from the library of William Roscoe, contain a number of +valuable works of reference. + +The Royal Institution of Science and Literature, founded by William Roscoe in +1814, by the subscription of shareholders, contains a museum of natural +history of considerable value, some curious pictures, a set of casts from the +AEgina and Phigaleian marbles, and a collection of philosophical instruments, +with a laboratory and a theatre in which lectures are occasionally delivered. +This Institution is not flourishing. It was lately offered to the +Corporation as a free gift by the proprietors, on condition that the museum, +etc., were to be open free to the town. The offer was declined by a small +majority. + +There are several cemeteries, one of which has been ingeniously arranged in +an exhausted stone quarry, and contains a marble statue of Huskisson, by +Gibson, commemorating the facts of his having represented Liverpool in +several Parliaments, and been killed on the 15th Sept., 1830, by a +locomotive, at the opening of the Manchester and Liverpool Railway. On the +last occasion of his election for Liverpool, in conjunction with the late +General Gascoigne, without opposition, the windows of Huskisson's friends +were smashed by the High Tory mob which accompanied Gascoigne's chairing +procession. Such are the changes of time. Where could a High Tory mob be +found now, or who now differs with the mild liberalism of Huskisson? + +A Workhouse on a very extensive scale, capable of affording indoor relief to +1800; a Blind Asylum, celebrated for the singing of the inmates, two +Infirmaries, are far from completing the list of public institutions of a +town with nearly 400,000 inhabitants; but, in the greater number, resemble +all other institutions of the same kind, and, for the rest, a local guide may +be consulted. + +The best part of the town may be seen in a walk from St. Lukes' Church at the +top of Bold Street, a short distance from the Adelphi Hotel, through Church +Street, Lord Street, crossing Castle Street, down to St. George's Pier. By +this line the best and the busiest streets of Liverpool will be seen, with +shops nearly equal to the finest in London, and with customers in fine +ladies, who are quite as pretty, and much more finely dressed, than the +residents of that paradise of provincial belles, Belgravia. Indeed both +sexes in this town are remarkable for their good looks and fashionable +costume, forming a strong contrast to the more busy inhabitants of +Manchester. + +In Bold Street is the Palatine, a miniature copy of the Clubs of Pall Mall: +at the doors and windows may be seen, in the intervals of business, a number +of young gentlemen trying very hard to look as if they had nothing to do but +dress fine and amuse themselves. But so far from being the idle fellows they +would be thought, the majority are hardworking merchants and pains-taking +attornies, who bet a little, play a little, dote upon a lord, and fancy that +by being excessively supercilious in the rococo style of that poor heathen +bankrupt Brummel, they are performing to perfection the character of men of +fashion. This, the normal state of young Liverpool, at a certain period the +butterfly becomes a grub, a money grub, and abandoning brilliant cravats, +primrose gloves, and tight shiny boots, subsides into the respectable heavy +father of genteel comedy, becomes a churchwarden, a patron of charities, a +capitalist, and a highly respectable member of society. The Manchester man +is abrupt, because his whole soul is in the money-making business of the day; +the Liverpool gentleman's icy manners are part of his costume. The "cordial +dodge," which has superseded Brummel's listless style in the really +fashionable world, not having yet found its way down by the express train to +the great mart of cotton-wool. + +'Change hours, which are twice a-day, morning and afternoon, afford a series +of picturesque groups quite different to those of any other town, which +should be kept in mind when visiting Manchester. + +But perhaps the pleasantest thing in Liverpool is a promenade on one of the +piers, or rather quays (for they run along and do not project into the river) +when the tide is coming in, the wind fair for the Mersey, and fleets of +merchantmen are driving up with full-bellied sails to take their anchorage +ground before going into dock. An examination of the Docks, with the curious +Dock arrangements of the Railway Companies, and the Sailor's Home, of which +Prince Albert laid the first stone in 1846, will take a day. The Cheshire +side of the Mersey forms a suburb of Liverpool, to which steamers are plying +every ten minutes from the villages of Rock Ferry, Tranmere, Birkenhead, +Monk's Ferry, Seacombe, Liskeard, Egremont, and New Brighton. The best idea +of the extent of the Liverpool Docks may be obtained from the Seacombe Hotel, +an old-fashioned tavern, with a bowling green, where turtle soup, cold punch, +and claret are to be had of good quality at moderate charges. + +In fine weather a seat after dinner at the window of this tavern is not a bad +place for considering the origin, rise, progress, and prospects of the +commerce of Liverpool. There is the river, with its rapidly-flowing muddy +waters before you, ploughed in all directions by boats, by ships, by +steamers, by river barges and flats; on the opposite side five miles of +Docks, wherein rise forest after forest of masts, fluttering, if it be a gala +day, with the flags of every nation--Russian, Sardinian, Greek, Turkish, +French, Austrian, but chiefly, after our own, with the stripes and stars of +the Great Republic. + +No better text for such a contemplation can be found than the following +inscription, copied from the model, contributed by Liverpool to the Great +Exhibition of Industry:-- + + PROGRESS OF THE COMMERCE OF LIVERPOOL. +Under Queen Elizabeth, | Queen Anne, | Queen Victoria, + A.D.1570. | A.D.1710. | A.D.1850. + | | +Population. 800 | 8,168 | About 400,000 + | | +Tonnage {151} 268 | 12,636 | 3,336,337 + | | +Number of 15 | 334 | 20,457 + Vessels | | + | | +Dock Dues. - | 600 | 211,743 pounds + | | +Income of 20 | 1,115 | 139,152 pounds + Corporation | | + | | +Customs Dues 272 | 70,000 | 3,366,284 pounds + +This extraordinary progress, of which we have far from seen the limits, has +been founded and supported by a position which every commercial change, every +new invention relating to sea-borne coasting trade, or inland conveyance, has +strengthened. + +The discovery of the passage around the Cape of Good Hope, and improvements +in the art of navigation, destroyed the commercial importance of Venice, and +extinguished a line of river ports from Antwerp to Cologne. In our own +country, the Cinque Ports, Harwich, Great Grimsby, and other havens, fell +into decay when navigators no longer cared to hurry into the first harbour on +coming within sight of land. But Liverpool, situated on the banks of a river +which, until buoyed and improved at a vast expense, was a very inferior port +for safety and convenience, has profited by the changes which have rendered +the American the most important of our foreign customers, and Ireland as +easily reached as Runcorn in a sailing flat. + +The rise of the cotton manufacture has been as beneficial to Liverpool as to +those districts where the yarn is spun and woven. The canal system has fed, +not rivalled or "tapped," the trade of the Mersey. The steamboats on which +the seafaring population of Liverpool at first looked with dislike and +dismay, have created for their town--first, a valuable coasting trade, +independent of wind or tide, which with sailing vessels on such a coast and +with such a river could never have existed; and next, a transatlantic +commerce, which, through Liverpool, renders New York nearer to Manchester +than Dublin was five and twenty years ago; while, at the same time, the +opposite coast of Cheshire has been transformed into a suburb, to which +omnibus-steamers ply every five minutes. And yet little more than five and +twenty years ago there was only one river steamer on the Mersey, and that a +flat bottomed cattle boat, with one wheel in the centre. + +Bristol took the lead in establishing transatlantic steamers; but Liverpool, +backed by Manchester, transplanted to her own waters the new trade, and even +the steamers that proved the problem. + +Railways (the only great idea in this generation that Liverpool has ventured +to originate and execute) have not, as was promised, transferred any part of +the Liverpool trade to Manchester; but, on the contrary, largely increased +and strengthened their connection with the cotton metropolis. An hour now +takes the cotton broker to his manufacturing customers twice a week, who +formerly rose at five o'clock in the morning to travel by coach in four hours +to Manchester, and returned wearied at midnight. + +The Electric Telegraph, the next great invention of this commercial age was +not less beneficial to this port by facilitating the rapid interchange of +communication with the manufacturing districts, and settling the work of days +in a few hours. A hundred miles apart merchants can now converse, question, +propose, and bargain. + +By all these improvements uncertainties have been reduced to certainties, and +capital has been more than doubled in value. On the expected day, well +calculated beforehand, the steamer arrives from America; with the rapidity of +lightning the news she brings is transmitted to Manchester, to Birmingham, to +Sheffield, to London, to Glasgow; a return message charters a ship, and a +single day is enough to bring down the manufactured freight. Thus news can +be received and transmitted, a cargo of raw material landed, manufactured +goods brought down by rail from the interior of England, and put on board a +vessel and despatched, in less time than it occupied a few years ago to send +a letter to Manchester and get an answer. + +And under all these changes, while commerce grows and grows, the porters and +the brokers, the warehousemen and the merchants, are able to take toll on the +consumption of England. + +Even the old dangerous roadstead, and far-falling tides of the Mersey, proved +an advantage to Liverpool; by driving the inhabitants to commence the +construction of Docks before any other port in the kingdom, and thus obtain a +certain name and position in the mercantile world, from having set an example +which cities provided with more safe and convenient natural harbours were +unwilling to follow. + +The first Dock ever constructed in England is now the site of the Liverpool +Custom House; a large building erected at a period when our architects +considered themselves bound to lodge all public institutions in Grecian +temples. + +This Dock was constructed in 1708, and twelve others have since been added, +occupying the shore from north to south for several miles, including one +which will accommodate steamers of the largest class. These Docks are far +from perfect in their landing arrangements. Cargo is discharged in all but +one, into open sheds. The damage and losses by pilferage of certain +descriptions of goods are enormous. Attempts have been repeatedly made to +establish warehouses round the docks into which goods might be discharged +without the risk or expense of intermediate cartage. But the influence of +parties possessed of warehouse property is too great to allow the execution +of so advantageous a reform. Whigs and Radicals are, in this instance, as +determined conservators of abuses which are not time-honoured as any Member +for Lincoln City or Oxford University. + +In 1764 more than half the African slave trade was carried on by Liverpool +merchants. The canal system commenced by the Duke of Bridgewater next gave +Liverpool an improved inland communication. After Arkwright's manufactures +stimulated the trade of America, cotton imports into Liverpool soon began to +rival the sugar and tobacco imports into Bristol. The Irish trade was rising +at the same time, and the comparatively short distance between the midland +counties, where Irish livestock was chiefly consumed, soon brought the Irish +traders to Liverpool. The progress of steam navigation presently gave new +openings to the coasting trade of Liverpool. In 1826 the admirable canal +system, which united Liverpool with the coal and manufacturing districts in +the kingdom, was found insufficient to accommodate the existing traffic, and +the railroad was the result. By the railroad system Liverpool has been +brought within an hour of Manchester, two hours of Leeds, and four hours of +London; and into equally easy, cheap, and certain communication with every +part of England and Scotland; while fully retaining all the advantages of +being the halfway house between the woollen districts, the iron districts, +and the cotton districts, and America--the intermediate broker between New +Orleans, Charleston, New York, and Manchester. + +Six-sevenths of all the woollen imported into England comes through +Liverpool, besides a large trade in sugar, tobacco, tea, rice, hemp, and +every kind of Irish produce. + +Thus Liverpool is in a position to take toll on the general consumption of +the kingdom; and this toll in the shape of dock dues, added to the increase +in the value of landed property, occupied by warehouses, shops, and private +residences, has enabled the municipal corporation to bestow on the +inhabitants fine buildings, and greatly improve the originally narrow +streets. Liverpool has no manufactures of any special importance. Few ships +are built there in comparison with the demands of the trade, in consequence +of the docks having taken up most of the space formerly occupied by the +building-yards. The repairs of ships are executed in public graving docks, +chiefly by workmen of a humble standing, called pitchpot masters,--a curious +system, whether advantageous or not to all parties, is a matter of dispute. + +The environs of Liverpool are particularly ugly, remarkably flat, and +deficient in wood and water. There are scarcely any rides or drives of any +kind. The best suburb, called Toxteth Park, although no park at all, lies on +the southern side of the town, parallel with the Mersey. In this direction +the wealthiest merchants have erected their residences, some of great size +and magnificence, surrounded by pleasure-grounds and fancy farms, presenting +very favourable instances of the rural tastes of our countrymen in every rank +of life. But there is nothing in the environs of Liverpool to make a special +ride necessary, unless a stranger possesses a passport to one of the mansions +or cottages of gentility to be found on each side of the macadamized road +behind rich plantations, where hospitality is distributed with splendour, and +not without taste. + +The north shore of the Mersey consists of flat sands, bounded on the land +side by barren sand hills, where, driven by necessity, and tempted by a price +something lower than land usually bears near Liverpool, some persons have +courageously built houses and reclaimed gardens. On this shore are the two +watering-place villages of Waterloo and Crosby, less populous, but as +pleasant as Margate, with salt river instead of salt sea bathing, in shade +and plenty of dust. The hard flat sands, when the tide is down, afford room +for pleasant gallops. + +The best settlement on the opposite shore, called New Brighton, has the same +character, but enjoys a share of the open Irish sea, with its keen breezes. +It must be bracing, healthy, dreary, and dull. + +* * * * * + +BIRKENHEAD is a great town, which has risen as rapidly as an American city, +and with the same fits and starts. Magical prosperity is succeeded by a +general insolvency among builders and land speculators; after a few years of +fallow another start takes place, and so on--speculation follows speculation. +Birkenhead has had about four of these high tides of prosperous speculations, +in which millions sterling have been gained and lost. At each ebb a certain +number of the George Hudsons of the place are swamped, but the town always +gains a square, a street, a park, a church, a market-place, a bit of railway, +or a bit of a dock. The fortunes of the men perish, but the town lives and +thrives. Thus piece by piece the raw materials of a large thriving community +are provided, and now Birkenhead is as well furnished with means for +accommodating a large population as any place in England, and has been laid +out on so good a plan that it will be one of the healthiest as well as one of +the neatest modern towns. It has also the tools of commerce in a splendid +free dock, not executed so wisely as it would have been if Mr. Rendel, the +original engineer, (the first man of the day as a marine engineer), had not +been overruled by the penny-wise pound-foolish people, but still a very fine +dock. Warehouses much better planned than anything in Liverpool; railways +giving communication with the manufacturing districts; in fact, all the tools +of commerce--gas, water, a park, and sanitary regulations, have not been +neglected. + +Some people think Birkenhead will be the rival of Liverpool, we think not: it +will be a dependency or suburb of the greater capital. "Where the carcase +is, there the eagles will be gathered together." Birkenhead is too near to +be a rival; shipping must eventually come to Birkenhead, but the business +will still continue to be done in Liverpool or Manchester, where are vested +interests and established capital. + +An hour or two will be enough to see everything worth seeing at Birkenhead. +To those who enjoy the sight of the river and shipping, it is not a bad plan +to stop at one of the hotels there, as boats cross every five minutes, +landing at a splendid iron pontoon, or floating stage, on the Liverpool side, +of large dimensions, constructed with great skill by Mr. W. Cubitt, C.E., to +avoid the nuisance of landing carriages at all times, and passengers at low +tides in boats. + +At Liskeard, a ferry on the Cheshire side, Mr. Harold Littledale--a member of +one of the first firms in Liverpool--has established a model dairy farm, +perhaps one of the finest establishments of the kind in the kingdom. + +All the buildings and arrangements have been executed from the plans and +directions of Mr. William Torr, the well known scientific farmer and short- +horn breeder, of Aylsby Manor, Lincolnshire. No expense has been spared in +obtaining the best possible workmanship and implements, but there has been no +waste in foolish experiments; and, consequently, there is all the difference +between the farm of a rich man who spends money profusely, in order to teach +himself farming, and a farm like that at Liskeard, where a rich man had said +to an agriculturist, at once scientific and practical, "Spare no expense, and +make me the best thing that money can make." + +The buildings, including a residence, cottages, and gardens, occupy about +four acres, and the farm consists of 350 acres of strong clay land, which has +been thoroughly drained and profusely manured, with the object of getting +from it the largest possible crops. Fifty tons of turnips have been obtained +from an acre. + +Eighty cows are kept in the shippons, ranged in rows, facing the paths by +which they are all fed at the head. They are fed on turnips, mangels, or +potatoes, with cut chaff of hay and straw, everything suitable being cut and +steamed, in the winter--on green clover, Italian ray-grass, and a little +linseed-cake, in the summer. They are curry-combed twice a day, and the dung +is removed constantly as it falls. The ventilation and the drainage has been +better managed than in most houses, so that the shippons have always a sweet +atmosphere and even temperature. The fittings, fastenings, and arrangements +of the windows, hanging from little railways, and sliding instead of closing +on hinges, are all ingenious, and worth examination. Mr. Littledale makes +use of a moveable wooden railway, carted over by a donkey in a light waggon, +to draw root crops from a field of heavy land. + +The churn in use in the dairy makes eighty pounds of butter at a time, and is +worked by the steam-engine also used for cutting and steaming the food of the +cows. The milk and cream produced at this dairy is sold by retail, +unadulterated, and is in great demand. A brief account of this farm appeared +in the "Farmer's Magazine" of May, 1848, with a ground plan; but several +improvements have been made since that time. To parties who take an interest +in agricultural improvement, a visit to Liskeard Farm will be both +interesting and profitable. + +We believe that Mr. Torr also farms another estate, which he purchased, in +conjunction with friends, from Sir William Stanley, at Eastham, near Hooton +(a pleasant voyage of an hour up the river), and cultivates after the North +Lincolnshire style, in such a manner as to set an example to the Cheshire +farmers--not a little needed. The country about Eastham is the prettiest part +of the Mersey. + +While on the subject of agricultural improvements, we may mention that Mr. +Robert Neilson, another mercantile notability, holds a farm, under Lord +Stanley, at a short railroad ride from Liverpool, which we have not yet had +an opportunity of examining, but understand that it is a very remarkable +instance of good farming, and consequently heavy crops, in a county +(Lancashire) where slovenly farming is quite the rule, and well worth a visit +from competent judges, whom as we are also informed Mr. Neilson is happy to +receive. + +If, as seems not improbable, it should become the fashion among our merchant +princes to seek health and relaxation by applying capital and commercial +principles to land, good farming will spread, by force of vaccination, over +the country, and plain tenant-farmers will apply, cheaply and economically, +the fruits of experience, purchased dearly, although not too dearly, by +merchant farmers. A successful man may as well--nay, much better--sink money +for a small return in such a wholesome and useful pursuit as agriculture, +than in emulating the landed aristocracy, who laugh quietly at such efforts, +or hoarding and speculating to add to what is already more than enough. + +If a visit be paid to Mr. Neilson's farm, it would be very desirable to +obtain, if possible, permission to view the Earl of Derby's collection of +rare birds and animals, one of the finest in the world. But permission is +rarely granted to strangers who have not some scientific claim to the favour. +Lord Derby has agents collecting for him in every part of the world, and has +been very successful in rearing many birds from tropical and semi-tropical +countries in confinement, which have baffled the efforts of zoological +societies. The aviaries are arranged on a large scale, with shrubs growing +in and water flowing through them. In fine weather some beautiful parrots, +macaws, and other birds of a tame kind, are permitted to fly about the +grounds. There is something very novel and striking in beholding brilliant +macaws and cockatoos swinging on a lofty green-leaved bough, and then, at the +call of the keeper, darting down to be fed where stately Indian and African +cranes and clumsy emus are stalking about. + +The late Earl was celebrated as a cockfighter, and the possessor of one of +the finest breeds of game fowls in the kingdom. A few only are now kept up +at Knowsley, as presents to the noble owner's friends. Knowsley lies near +Prescott, about seven miles from Liverpool. The family are descended from +the Lord Stanley who was created Earl of Derby by the Earl of Lancaster and +Derby, afterwards Henry IV., for services rendered at the battle of Bosworth +Field. An ancestress, Charlotte de la Tremouille, Countess of Derby, is +celebrated for her defence of Latham House against the Parliamentary forces +in the Great Civil War, and is one of the heroines of Sir Walter Scott's +novel of "Peveril of the Peak." {159} + +Liverpool is particularly well placed as a starting point for excursions, in +consequence of the number of railways with which it is connected, and the +number of steamboats which frequent its port, where a whole dock is +especially devoted to vessels of that class. + +By crossing over to Birkenhead, Chester may be reached, and thence the +quietest route to Ireland, by Britannia Bridge and Holyhead; or a journey +through North Wales may be commenced. By the East Lancashire, starting from +the Station behind the Exchange, a direct line is opened through Ormskirk to +Preston, the lakes of Cumberland, and to Scotland by the west coast line. + +From the same station a circuitous route through Wigan and Bolton, on the +Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, opens a second road to Manchester, and +affords a complete communication with the manufacturing districts of +Lancashire and Yorkshire. + +On the roads to London it is not now necessary to treat. + +The steam accommodation from Liverpool has always been excellent, far +superior to that afforded in the Thames. No such wretched slow-sailing tubs +are to be found as those which plied between London and Boulogne and Calais, +until railway competition introduced a little improvement. The interior +fittings and feeding on board Liverpool boats are generally superior. The +proprietors have taken the Scotch and Americans as models, and not the stingy +people of the Thames. + +It is very odd that while the French and Scotch can contrive to give a +delicious breakfast or dinner on shipboard, while the Germans on the Rhine +are positively luxurious, and while we know that a steam-boiler offers every +convenience for petits plats, the real old English steam-boats of the General +Steam Navigation Company never vary from huge joints and skinny chickens, +with vegetables plain boiled. + +We remember, some years ago, embarking on a splendid French steamer, +afterwards run down and sunk in the Channel, to go to Havre, and returning by +Boulogne to London. In the French vessel it was almost impossible to keep +from eating,--soups, cutlets, plump fowls, all excellent and not dear. On +board the English boat it was necessary to be very hungry, in order to attack +the solid, untempting joints of roast and boiled. + +This is a travelling age, and both hotel keepers and steam-boat owners will +find profit in allowing the spirit of free trade and interchange to extend to +the kitchen. Our public cooks are always spoiling the best meat and +vegetables in Europe. + +More than twenty lines of steamers ply from Liverpool to the various ports of +Ireland; the Isle of Man, which is a favourite watering-place for the +Lancashire and Cheshire people; Glasgow and other parts of Scotland, +Whitehaven and Carlisle, Bangor, Caernarvon, and other ports of Wales, beside +the deep-sea steamers to New York, Philadelphia, and Boston; to +Constantinople, Malta, and Smyrna; and to Gibraltar, Genoa, Leghorn, Civita +Vecchia (for Rome), Naples, Messina, and Palermo; so that an indifferent +traveller has ample choice, which is sometimes very convenient for a man who +wants to go somewhere and does not care where. + +The amusements of Liverpool include two theatres, an amphitheatre for +horsemanship, and several sets of subscription concerts, for the use of which +a fine hall has been erected. + +The race-course is situated at some miles distant from the town; races take +place three times a-year, two being flat races, and the third a steeple- +chase. They are well supported and attended, although not by ladies so much +as in the Midland and Northern Counties. The Liverpool races are chiefly +matters of business, something like the Newmarket, with the addition of a +mob. A large attendance comes from Manchester, where more betting is carried +on than in any town out of London. Gambling of all kinds naturally follows +in the wake of cotton speculation, which is gambling. + +The crashes produced in Liverpool by the sacra fames auri are sometimes +startling, and they come out in visible relief, because, in spite of its +size, gossip flourishes as intensely as in a village. During one of the +cotton manias a young gentleman, barely of age, in possession of an income of +some two thousand a-year from land, and ready money to the extent of one +hundred and fifty thousand pounds, joined an ingenious penniless gentleman in +speculating in cotton, and found himself in less than twelve months a +bankrupt; thus sacrificing, without the least enjoyment, a fortune sufficient +for the enjoyment of every rational pleasure, or for the support of the +highest honours in the State. + +Such instances are not uncommon, although on a less magnificent scale; +indeed, it is well to be cautious in inquiring after a Liverpool merchant or +broker after an absence of a few years; a very few years are sufficient to +render the poor rich and the rich poor, an eighth of a penny in the pound of +cotton will do it. + +The Municipal Corporation of Liverpool is the wealthiest in England after +London, and virtually richer than London, inasmuch as the expenses are +trifling, the property is improving, and the Liverpool aldermen and common- +councillors have no vested claims to costly entertainments. + +The majority is in the hands of the Conservative party, the Liberal party +having only enjoyed the sweets of power for a brief period after the passing +of the Financial Reform Bill; but the principle of representation keeps down +any inclination toward the inevitable jobberies of a close self-elected body, +and pushes local legislators on, quite up to the mark of the public opinion +of the locality they govern. + +A stranger, who has no interest in party squabbles, must confess that the +funds of this wealthy estate are on the whole fairly and wisely distributed. + +The Irish population, amounting to many thousands of the poorest and most +ignorant class, who find a refuge from the miseries of their own country in +the first port from Dublin, and employment in the vast demand for unskilled +labour caused by the perpetual movement in imports and exports, impose a +heavy tax on the poor-rates and police-rates of this borough. + +In the education of this part of the community, the Liberal Corporation made +provision in the extensive Corporation schools, by adopting the Irish +Government scheme of instruction, permitting the Roman Catholics to make use +of their own translation of the Bible, and to absent themselves from the +religious instruction of the orthodox. + +On this question the municipal elections were fought. The general education +party were eventually beaten. The Roman Catholics were withdrawn from the +schools, and thrown entirely upon the priests or the streets for education, +and great was the rejoicing among the party who carried a large wooden Bible +as their standard. + +But subsequent events have induced those who have given any attention to the +state of the operative classes in Liverpool, of whatever politics, to doubt +whether it would not have been better to have been busy, for the last fifteen +years, in teaching those classes something, who, knowing nothing, supply very +expensive customers to the Liverpool courts of law and jail. + +Liverpool returns two members to the House of Commons. + +The election contests were formerly wonderfully bitter and absurd, for on one +occasion, just before the passing of the Reform Bill, nearly two hundred +thousand pounds were spent by two parties, between whose politics there was +scarcely a shade of difference. + +William Roscoe represented Liverpool for a short time, but was rejected at a +second election, in consequence of his opposition to the Slave Trade. He was +the son of a publican, and rose from an office boy to be an attorney in large +practice, and eventually a banker. He was ruined by the stopping of his +bank, which, after being for many years under the taxing harrows of the old +corrupt bankrupt system, paid twenty shillings in the pound. William Roscoe +was a voluminous writer of political pamphlets and poetry, which are now +quite forgotten; his literary reputation deservedly rests upon his lives of +Lorenzo de Medici, published in 1796, and of Leo X; the former of which has +recently been republished by Mr. Bohn, in his cheap series of reprints. + +Of even more value than his literary productions, was the school, or party, +which he founded in Liverpool, while he was still wealthy and influential, +embracing all who had a taste for literature and art. At that period +Liverpool was rising into wealth on a vigorous prosecution of the Slave +Trade, of which its parliamentary representatives were the avowed supporters. +At that time vulgar wealth was the only distinction, and low debauchery the +almost only amusement of the principal merchants. Absurd as it may now seem, +when all the well-to-do world profess to be educated and temperate, Roscoe +and his friends rendered inestimable service by making elegant tastes and +temperate habits respectable, and by raising up an opposition to the old +Slave Trade party, whose paradise lay in turtle soup, port wine, and punch. +He set an example to merchants of stocking a library as well as a cellar, +which has been followed, until now it is considered a matter of course. +William Roscoe died in 1831, at a very advanced age. He was a remarkably +fine-looking man, with a grand aristocratic head. + +In addition to Huskisson and George Canning, Liverpool once very nearly had +the honour of sending to Parliament Henry Brougham, in days when the +Chancellorship and the House of Lords could scarcely have been expected by +that versatile genius, even in a dream. + +At present Liverpool interests are well represented in the House of Commons. +The borough has had the good sense to prefer a merchant townsman, Sir Thomas +Birch, and the son of a merchant, and friend and co-minister of the late Sir +Robert Peel, Mr. Cardwell, to a soldier, and the dreamy poetical son of a +Protectionist duke. A place like Liverpool ought to find in its own body +better men than young lords or old soldiers. But young Liverpool dearly +loves a lord, of any politics; and a little polite attention from a duke will +produce an unconscious effect even on the trade report of a broker of +"fashion." + +Mr. William Brown, at the head of the greatest American house in the world, +after Baring's, represents South Lancashire, but on Manchester influence, +scarcely with the consent of Liverpool. Mr. Brown, who is an Irishman by +birth, has been entirely the architect of his own fortune, and began +business--on a very limited scale indeed--within the memory of persons now +living. The firm has now agents in every town of any importance in the +United States, and is the means of keeping in active employment hundreds of +traders in all our manufacturing districts. The relations with Birmingham +and the hardware country are very close. Another Liverpool man of whom the +Liverpool people are justly proud, is the best debater in the House of +Commons, if he only knew his own mind, the Right Honourable William +Gladstone, the son of Sir John Gladstone, Bart., of Fasque, N.B., formerly a +Liverpool merchant. Sir John Gladstone is a Scotchman, and in conjunction +with another gentleman, also the head of a first-rate Liverpool house, Mr. +Sandbatch, went out to the West Indies (Demerara) as journeymen bakers, in +the same way that Mr. Miles, the grandfather of the members for East Somerset +and Bristol, and founder of the great Bristol banking house, went out to +Barbadoes as a journeyman cooper. If we add to these instances that the +first Sir Robert Peel and Mr. Brotherton (who himself told the House, in a +debate on the Factory Time Bill, that he had commenced life as a factory +operative), beside many others, too numerous to mention, it will be found +that our House of Commons is not so far out of the reach of industrious merit +as foreigners usually imagine. + +In conclusion, we may note that Liverpool, which gave very cold and niggard +support to the Great Exhibition (chiefly because the project was ill received +by the ducal house which patronizes the fashionables of the town), sent a +contribution which very completely represented its imports, specifying the +scientific and commercial name of each article, country of production, and +quantity imported. + +This collection occupies a considerable space, but it will be found, on +examination, that a few staples employ the greater part of the shipping +inwards. Cotton occupies by far the largest place, the air is filled with +floating motes of cotton all round the business quarters of the town; timber +probably stands next in the tonnage it employs; West Indian produce is less +important than it was formerly; a great trade is done with South America, in +hides, both dry and salted; tobacco, both from the United States and Cuba, +arrives in large quantities. There are several great snuff and cigar +manufactories in Liverpool. The hemp and tallow trade is increasing, as is +the foreign corn trade. The Mediterranean, and especially the Italian, +trade, has been rendered more important by steam communication. The China +trade has not increased as much as was expected. + +When the Docks and Public Institutions have been examined, and the places of +interest on the Cheshire shore visited, Liverpool presents nothing to detain +the traveller who has no private claims on his attention. + +It must be acknowledged that the general appearance of the town and of the +people is more agreeable than that of Birmingham or Manchester, although +Liverpool can claim none of the historical and antiquarian interest in which +Bristol and Chester are rich. There are parts of the town devoted to low +lodging houses, and accommodation for the poor Irish and emigrants, as bad as +the worst parts of St. Giles's or Spitalfields. Indeed, the mortality is +greater than that of any other town in England. + +Liverpool is a great port for emigration to the United States and Canada. On +the line of packet ships the accommodation for those who can pay 5 pounds and +upwards is excellent; in the timber ships they are packed like herrings after +being lodged like pigs. But what can be expected for the fare. At 2 pounds +the shipowners undertake to give a passage, and find two quarts of water and +a pound of bread per day. The Government Emigration Agents are indefatigable +in their efforts, municipal and Parliamentary regulations have been from time +to time applied to the subject, nevertheless the frauds and cruelties +inflicted on emigrants are frightful. + +An attempt was made some short time since to have an Emigrant's Home as a +sort of Model Barrack, erected in one of the New Docks, so as to form a +counterpoise to the frauds of emigration lodging-house keepers, but local +jealousies defeated a plan which would have been equally advantageous to the +town and the emigrants. + +The state of poverty and crime in Liverpool, fed as it is by the overflowings +of many districts, is an important subject, which has excited the anxious +attention of several enlightened residents, among others of the late Police +Magistrate, Mr. Edward Rushton, who died suddenly without being able to bring +his plans to maturity. + +In conclusion we may say of Liverpool, that it is a town which has a great +and increasing population, a wealthy Corporation, a thriving trade, yet less +of the materials of a metropolis than many other towns of less commercial +importance. + +For further temporary information, a traveller may advantageously consult the +Liverpool papers, of which there is one for every day in the week--that is to +say, an Albion, a Times, a Mail, a Standard, a Mercury, a Journal, a +Chronicle--of all shades of politics, of large size, conducted with great +ability, and affording, in addition to the news and politics of the day, a +great deal of general information, in the shape of extracts from popular +works and original articles. + +If we would learn why the opinions of inhabitants of towns prevail over the +opinions of landowners and agriculturists, we have only to compare the active +intelligence of the two as exhibited by such journals as are to be found in +Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham with those supported by the rural +community. A single sect expends more on the support of the press than all +the farmers and farmers' friends united, who are more numerous, more wealthy, +not wanting in intelligence in their own pursuits, but quite without cohesion +or combination. + +* * * * * + +LIVERPOOL TO MANCHESTER.--There are two ways from Liverpool to Manchester, one +by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, through Bolton, which has a station +behind the Exchange, and one by the old route, through Newton. The line by +the new one has Bolton upon its course, and renders the Aintree Racecourse +half as near Manchester as Liverpool. + +For choice take a Tuesday or Saturday, and travel up by the early Cotton +Brokers' Express to Manchester, so as to see one more phase of the English +commercial character. The Brokers are a jovial set and hospitable, as keen +as Yankees and as industrious. There is a marked difference between them and +the Spinners, but they are of no particular country. Liverpool, like +Manchester, although not to the same degree, is colonised by strangers. Both +Irishmen and Scotchmen are to be found among the most respectable and +successful, and a considerable number of Americans are settled there as +merchants and shipping agents; indeed it is half American in its character. + +In this year of 1851, to describe the Liverpool and Manchester Railway would +be absurd; acres of print, in all civilized languages, and yards of picture- +illustration, have been devoted to it. At Newton Station you see below you a +race-course of great antiquity, and what was once a huge hotel, built to +supply a room large enough for the Mother Partingtons of Lancashire to meet +and prepare their mops for sweeping back the Atlantic tide of public opinion. +There they met, and dined and drank and shouted, and unanimously agreed that +it was foolish legislation which transferred the right of representation from +the village of Newton to the great city of Manchester; after which they went +home, and wisely submitted to the summons which found its speaking-trumpets +at Manchester. Fortunately for this country, a minority knows how to submit +to a majority, and the Conservative Hall, by a sort of accidental satire on +its original uses, has been turned into a printing office. + +A little farther on is Chat-Moss, a quaking bog, which the opponents of the +first railway proved, to the satisfaction of many intelligent persons, to be +an impassable obstacle to the construction of any solid road. We fly across +it now reading or writing, scarcely taking the trouble to look out of the +window. But if we do, we may see reclamation and cultivation, in the shape +of root-crops and plantations, extending over the wet waste. + +William Roscoe was one of the first to attempt to reclaim this Moss; and it +is worthy of note, that it was among the literary and scientific friends of +Roscoe that George Stephenson's idea of a railroad from Liverpool to +Manchester, through Chat-Moss, found its warmest supporters, at a time when +support was much needed; for the shares were hawked, and even distributed +among friends who were guaranteed against loss, in order to make up a fitting +parliamentary subscription to what has proved one of the most successful +speculations in public works, of this century. + + + + +MANCHESTER. + + +As we roll into Manchester, and mark by what successive invasions the city +has been half-surrounded by railways, it is amusing to remember the fears +which landowners expressed in 1829, and really felt, lest the new flaming and +smoking carriage-apparatus should damage the value of property which has been +more than doubled in value by the new invention. + +Manchester is the greatest manufactory in the world. The cradle and +metropolis of a trade which employs a million and a half of souls, beside the +sailors, the merchants, the planters and the slaves, who grow or carry or buy +the raw material, it is the second city in the empire, and perhaps, +considered in relation to the commercial influence of Great Britain, scarcely +second. Blot out the capital, the credit, the living enterprise, the +manufacturing power of Manchester, and we have lost a century of commercial +progress. Manchester is essentially a place of work and action, carried on +by men recruited from every district where a mental grenadier of the +Manchester standard is to be found. Suffolk and Devonshire, Norfolk and +Cornwall send their quota, as well as the neighbouring manufacturing schools +of Yorkshire, Cheshire, and Lancashire. Scotchmen in great numbers, and some +Irishmen, chiefly from the north, are also at home there. We are speaking +now not of operatives, but of those who rise to be manufacturers or +merchants. The Americans are rather constant visitors than permanent +residents; but the Germans are sufficiently numerous to be able to form a +society of their own, the most agreeable in Manchester; and the commerce of +Greece is represented by a great number of houses, which are increasing in +number and importance. + +Then Manchester, although only an inland canal port, trades largely and +directly, through Liverpool chiefly, to the most parts of the world, +consuming one-tenth of the whole imports of that town. The correspondence of +a first-class house for one morning would alone be a lesson in geography. + +Then again, the ceaseless enterprise and enormous powers of manufacture are +supported by a constantly-improving mechanical ingenuity, which seems to +those unaccustomed to such works nothing less than miraculous: as, for +instance, some of the inventions of Mr. Whitworth and of Mr. Roberts. + +But all this is hidden from the eye of a stranger; and Manchester is a dark +and dingy ledger, closely clasped, unless he comes prepared to open a good +account, or armed with letters of introduction of a more than ordinarily +pressing nature. The gentleman who was all smiles while accepting your +civilities, and energetically amusing himself on a tour of pleasure, has +scarcely time to look up from his desk to greet you when enthroned in his +counting-house. The fact is, that these Manchester men rise early, work +hard, dine at one o'clock, work again, and go home, some distance out of +town, to work or to sleep,--so they have no time for unprofitable hospitality +or civility. + +We do not say this by way of idle reproach to the people of Manchester, who +follow their vocation, and do work of which we as Englishmen have reason to +be proud, but partly by way of warning to travellers who, armed with the sort +of letters that have proved passports to everything best worth seeing +throughout the rest of Europe, may expect to pass an agreeable day or two in +the cotton metropolis; and partly by way of hint to politicians who, very +fond of inveighing against the cold shade of aristocracy, would find +something worth imitating in the almost universal courtesy of modern +nobility, which is quite consistent with the extremest liberality of abstract +opinions. + +Dr. Dalton, the celebrated natural philosopher, for many years a resident in +Manchester, has proved that Manchester is not so damp and rainy a place as is +generally imagined; that the mean annual fall of rain is less than that of +Lancaster, Kendal, and Dumfries. Nevertheless, it is better to expect rain, +for although the day at Liverpool, Halifax, or Sheffield may have been +brilliantly fine, the probability is that you will find the train, as it +approaches the city, gradually slipping into a heavy shower or a Scotch mist. + +The walk from any of the stations is very disheartening; tall warehouses, +dingy brick houses, a ceaseless roar of carts and waggons in the main +streets, and a population of which all the better dressed march at double +quick time, with care-brent brows, and if pausing, only to exchange gruff +monosyllables and short words. + +At one o'clock the factory hands are dismissed, and the masters proceed to +dinner on horseback and in all sorts of vehicles at a thundering pace. The +working-class population will be found less unhealthy and better looking than +would be expected. The costume of the women, a cap and a short sleeved +jacket fitting the waist, called a Lancashire bedgown, is decidedly +picturesque. For a quarter of an hour some streets are almost impassable, +and the movement gives the idea of a population deserting a city. An hour's +silence follows, after which the tide flows again: the footpaths are filled +with the "hands;" and the "heads," with very red faces, furiously drive their +hundred guinea nags back to business. Now this is one of the sights of +Manchester. + +Again, Tuesday is the business day at the Exchange, in St. Ann's Square. The +room is one of the finest in the kingdom; the faces and the scene generally +afford much curious matter for the study of the artist and physiognomist. +Compare it with the groups of well dressed dawdlers at Leamington, +Cheltenham, Bath, with the very different style of acute intellect displayed +at a meeting of the Institute of Civil Engineers, or with the merchants of +Liverpool, part of whom also attend Manchester. + +The personal appearance of the Manchester manufacturers and their customers, +as seen on 'Change, fully justifies the old saw, "Liverpool gentlemen, +Manchester men, Rochdale fellows (fellies), and Wigan chaps." + +In Liverpool all are equal,--merchant deals with merchant; in Manchester the +millowner is an autocrat, restrained by customs of the trade and occasional +strikes, and he carries his rough ways into private life. + +But facts show that, with all its plate and varnish, Liverpool is as inferior +to Manchester in an intellectual, as it is superior in an external point of +view. + +In politics Manchester leads, and Liverpool and Lancashire unwillingly +follow,--in the education of the operative and middle classes,--in literary, +scientific, and musical associations,--in sanitary measures,--in the formation +of public parks and pleasure grounds, Manchester displays an incontestable +superiority; being more rapid, more energetic, and more liberal than her more +fashionable neighbours. + +A list of a few of the institutions and public establishments will show this. + +The Royal Institution in Mosley Street occupies a large building, established +for the encouragement of the Fine Arts by exhibitions of paintings and +sculptures, and the delivery of lectures. + +The Philosophical Society was established in 1781, and has numbered among its +members Dr. Dalton, Dr. Henry, and Dr. Percival, and has had its Transactions +translated into French and German. + +The Natural History Society has filled a museum in Peter Street with objects +of natural history, and opens it during holiday seasons to the public at a +nominal charge, when thousands of visitors, chiefly operatives, attend. + +The Mechanics' Institution, founded in 1824, after surviving many +difficulties, has become one of the most flourishing and useful institutions +of the kind in the kingdom. Its chief activity is displayed in the education +of the operative members in the class-rooms. The library is large, well +selected, and in constant requisition. In one department the School of +Design is carried on, and could not be conducted in a more appropriate +building. + +This School of Design, supported by the Government for the purpose of +promoting design as applied to the staple manufactures, and diffusing a +general feeling for art amongst the manufacturing community, was formerly +accommodated within the walls of the Royal Institution as a tenant, paying a +rent, strangely enough, for the use of a building which had ostensibly been +erected for promoting art and science! + +It was not until 1836, that, on the recommendation of a Committee of the +House of Commons, active steps were taken to establish in England that class +of artistic instruction applied to manufactures which had been cultivated in +France ever since the time that the great Colbert was the minister of Louis +XIV. + +At Manchester, some of the leading men connected with the calico-printing +trade and looms of art, established a School of Design within the Royal +Institution, where two rooms were lent rent-free; but, as soon as Government +apportioned a part of a special grant to the Manchester School, the +Committee, who were also as nearly as possible the Council of the Royal +Institution, with that appetite for public money which seems incident to men +of all nations, all classes, and all politics, voted 100 out of the 250 +pounds per annum for rent. This school did nothing of a practical nature, +and consequently did not progress in public estimation. The master was a +clever artist, but not up, perhaps he would have said not down, to his work. +A School of Design at Manchester is meant, not to breed artists in high art, +but to have art applied to the trades of the city. The master was changed, +and, at the request of the local committee, the Council of the School of +Design at Somerset House sent down, in 1845, Mr. George Wallis, who had shown +his qualifications as an assistant at Somerset House and as master of the +Spitalfields school. At that time the Manchester school had been in +existence five years, and had done nothing toward its original object. In +two years from the time of Mr. Wallis taking the charge, the funds of the +school were flourishing; the interest taken in it by the public was great, +and nearly half the Institution was occupied by the pupils, while the +applications for admission were more numerous than could be accommodated. +Under this management the public, who care little for abstract art, were +taught the close connexion between the instruction of the School of Design +and their private pursuits. + +This is what is wanted in all our towns. It is not enough to teach boys and +girls,--the manufacturers and purchasers need to be taught by the eye, if not +by the hand. + +According to part of Mr. Wallis's plan, an exhibition was held of the +drawings executed by the pupils for the annual prizes, which had a great +influence in laying the foundation for the efforts made by Manchester at the +Great Exhibition of Industry in Hyde Park. + +While matters were proceeding so satisfactorily, the Somerset House +authorities (who have since been tried and condemned by a Committee of the +House of Commons), proceeded to earn their salaries by giving instructions +which could not be carried out without destroying all the good that had been +done. The Manchester Committee and Mr. Wallis protested against this red +tapish interference. It was persisted in; Mr. Wallis {172} resigned, to the +great regret of his pupils and manufacturing friends in the managing council. + +The result was that the undertaking dwindled away rapidly to less than its +original insignificance,--the students fell off, and a deficit of debt +replaced the previously flourishing funds. Out of evil comes good. The case +of Manchester enabled Mr. Milner Gibson, M.P. for Manchester, to get his +Committee and overhaul the Schools of Design throughout the kingdom. + +Certain changes were effected. The school, no longer able to pay the high +rent required by the Royal Institution, was removed to its present site in +Brown Street, placed under the management of Mr. Hammersley, who had +previously been a successful teacher at Nottingham, and freed from the +meddling of incompetent authorities. And now pupils anxiously crowd to +receive instruction, and annually display practical evidence of the +advantages they are enjoying. + +The Manchester Mechanics' Institution was one of the pioneers in the movement +which led to the Great Exhibition. In 1831, was held its first Polytechnic +Exhibition for the purpose of showing the connexion between natural +productions, science, and manufactures. Subsequent Exhibitions were carried +out with great effect as a means of instruction and education, and with such +success as to pay off a heavy debt which had previously cramped the +usefulness of the Institution. + +There are also several other institutions of the same class, amongst others +Salford, Ancoats, and Miles Platting Auxiliary Mechanics' Institutes. + +The Athenaeum constitutes a kind of literary club for the middle classes, who +are provided with a good library and reading-room in a very handsome +building. + +The Manchester Library contains 10,000 volumes, the Manchester Subscription +Library, established 1765, has the most extensive collection of books in the +city. + +A Concert Hall in Peter Street, exclusively used for the purposes indicated +by its name, is supported by 600 subscribers at five guineas each. + +The Chetham Society has been founded for the purpose of publishing ancient +MSS. and scarce works connected with the history of Lancashire. + +The Exchange has upwards of two thousand subscribers. + +By way of helping the body as well as the mind, in 1846 the inhabitants of +Manchester formed by subscription three public parks, called Queen's Park, +Peel's Park, and Philip's Park, in three different parts of the suburbs. + +* * * * * + +THE FREE GRAMMAR SCHOOL was founded by Hugh Oldham, Bishop of Exeter, in the +early part of the sixteenth century. It was originally founded for the +purpose of furnishing simple and elementary instruction to the poor. This +design is sufficiently proved by the language of the foundation deed, which +describes those sought to be benefited as persons who had been long in +ignorance "on account of the poverty of their parents." The present income +of the school is upwards of 5000 pounds a-year, leaving a considerable income +over its expenditure, notwithstanding that the operations of the school have +been extended by a decree of the Court of Chancery. In the year 1833 the +Court authorised the erection of a new building to include a residence for +the master. There are two schools, called the Higher and Lower. The +instructions given embrace the Greek and Latin, and the French, German, and +other modern languages; English literature, mathematics, the modern arts and +sciences, etc. A library is attached to the school for the use of the +pupils. There are twelve exhibitions, of the annual value of 60 pounds each, +for four years, in the gift of the Warden and High Master, who, however, +respect the recommendations of the Examiners. These gentlemen are three in +number, being Masters of Arts and Bachelors of Law of two years' standing, +two of them appointed by the Professor, and one by the High Master. They +each receive 20 pounds for their services. In addition to the twelve +exhibitions mentioned above, there are fifteen others connected with the +school, the bequest of a merchant named Hulme. These are appropriated to +under-graduates of Brasenose College, Oxford. Their value is to be fixed by +the patrons, but cannot exceed the sum of 220 pounds a year. They are to be +held for four years from the thirteenth term after matriculation. There are +sixteen scholarships to the same College; and sixteen to St. John's, +Cambridge, varying in value from l8 to 26 pounds, stand in rotation with the +pupils of Marlborough and Hereford Schools, and six scholarships of 24 pounds +to Magdalen College, Oxford, Manchester pupils having the preference. The +Examiners have also the power of making awards of books or mathematical +instruments, to the value of 25 pounds, in any cases of great merit. + +The High Master's salary is fixed not to exceed 600 pounds, with house-rent +and taxes free. He is also allowed to take twenty boarders. He has the +assistance of an Usher (salary 300 pounds, with house and fifteen boarders); +an Assistant (salary 200 pounds, with house and twelve boarders); an Usher's +Assistant (salary 150 pounds, with house and ten boarders). There are, in +addition, a Master of the Lower School, a Writing, and a Mathematical Master, +a teacher of English literature, and another of foreign languages; all, with +the exception of the last, having houses, and their aggregate salaries +amounting to 800 pounds. + +Four hundred scholars attended in 1850. + +MANCHESTER NEW COLLEGE is an institution belonging to the Unitarian body, on +the plan of King's College, London, and was opened for the reception of +students on the 5th October, 1840. The curriculum of instruction embraces +every department of learning and polite literature. + +THE LANCASHIRE INDEPENDENT COLLEGE is one of the affiliated Colleges of the +London University, and was established for the education of candidates for +the Christian Ministry amongst Congregational dissenters. There are three +resident Professors, the principal being the Rev. Dr. Vaughan, formerly +Professor of History in the University of London. + +OWEN'S COLLEGE has recently been opened on the testamentary endowment of a +Mr. Owen, for affording an education on the plan of University College, +London. + +CHETHAM'S HOSPITAL, or, as it is more properly termed, "College," was founded +by Charter in the year 1665, by Humphrey Chetham, a Manchester citizen and +tradesman, who had, during his lifetime, brought up, fed, and educated +fourteen boys of Manchester and Salford. He paid a heavy fine to Charles I. +for persisting in his refusal of a baronetcy, and in 1634 was appointed +Sheriff of his county. By his will Chetham directed that the number of boys +he had previously provided for should be augmented by the addition of one +from Droylsden, two from Crumpsall, four from Turton, and ten from Bolton; +and left the sum of 7000 pounds to be devoted to their instruction and +maintenance, from six to fourteen years of age, and for their apprenticeship +afterwards to some trade. The funds having since increased, 80 boys are now +received, in the following proportions, from the several places mentioned in +the founder's will, viz.:--Manchester, 28; Salford, 12; Droylsden, 6; +Crumpsall, 4; Bolton, 20; Turton, 10. They are clothed, fed, boarded, +lodged, and instructed in reading, writing, grammar, and arithmetic. The +boys are selected by the Feoffees in annual meeting at Easter, within six +days before the Monday in which week an application must be sent in to the +Governor, accompanied by a printed note of recommendation, signed by the +overseers and churchwardens of the place in which the candidate resides. + +THE COLLEGE LIBRARY is situated in the same old building in which +accommodation is found for the College, and is a fine collection of upwards +of 25,000 volumes. The germ of this library consisted of the books +bequeathed by Humphrey Chetham, many of them of great scarcity and value. The +collection contains comparatively few volumes of modern date. The library is +open to the use of the public without charge or restriction, and a small, but +convenient, reading-room is provided for their accommodation. Books are not +allowed to be removed from the premises, and every reader is obliged to make +an entry of each volume he wishes to obtain. Notwithstanding the immense +population of Manchester and Salford, this valuable institution is +comparatively little used, the number of readers averaging less than twenty +per day. + +SWINTON SCHOOL.--In connexion with the Workhouse an Industrial House and +School has been erected at Swinton, five miles from the City, which affords +so admirable an example for imitation by all manufacturing or crowded +communities, that we are glad to be able to extract the main facts concerning +it from a graphic description in the first volume of Dickens's Household +Words:-- + + "Swinton School cost sixty thousand pounds, and is a handsome building in + the Tudor style of architecture, with a frontage of 450 feet, containing + more than 100 windows. Pleasure grounds and play grounds surround it, and + it resembles more a nobleman's palace than the Home of Pauper Children. + The inmates consist of 630 children, of whom 305 are orphans, and 124 + deserted by their parents, under charge of a Chaplain, a Head Master, a + Medical Officer, a Roman Catholic Priest, a Governor, a Matron, six + Schoolmasters, and four School-mistresses, with a numerous staff of + officials, Nurses, and Teachers of Trades, receiving salaries and wages + amounting to 1,800 pounds a-year, besides board. Some in the institution + are as young as one year and a half. + + All are educated, and those who are old enough are taught trades and + domestic employments. When they leave they are furnished with two suits + of clothes. The character of the Institution stands so high, that the + public are eager for the girls as domestic servants. If it has not + already been done, we hope that the cultivation of land on the system of + market gardens will be added to the trades, as affording a more certain, + and, in some respects, more generally useful employment. Educated + agricultural labourers are rare, much prized, and soon promoted to be + overseers and bailiffs. + + The education at Swinton is conducted on the modern plan, which prevails + in the best schools under Government inspection. The children are taught + to love and look upon their masters and mistresses as friends, to be + consulted and applied to as they would to kind parents. + + For instance take this bit, familiar to visitors of Infant Schools, but + still new to many:-- + + The children under six years of age, summoned by the sound of a whistle + from the play ground, trooped in glad groups to an anteroom, and girls and + boys intermixed, at a signal from the Master marched into the schoolroom + singing a tune. + + Then followed such viva voce instruction as too many better endowed + children do not get for want of competent teachers. Indeed a better + education is now given in Workhouses than can be obtained for children + under twelve years of age at any paid school that we know of. For + instance:-- + + "What day is this?" + "Monday." + "What sort of a day is it?" + "Very fine." + "Why is it fine?" + "Because the sun shines, and it does not rain." + "Is rain a bad thing, then?" + "No." + "What is it useful for?" + "To make the flowers and the fruit grow." + "Who sends rain and sunshine?" + "God." + "What ought we to do in return for his goodness?" + "Praise him." + "Let us praise him, then," added the Master. + + And the children altogether repeated, and then sang, a part of the 149th + psalm." + +Now all this is very fine, and a wonderful improvement on the old dog-eared +Redinmadeasy, but better follows. After a time the children grew tired and +sleepy, one fell asleep. Did the Master slap them all round and pull the +ears of the poor little fat somnus? No. He marched them all out singing and +beating time to play for a quarter of an hour. + +We commend Swinton to the consideration of the credulous disciples of the +firebrand school of economists, who believe that Manchester men devour little +children daily, without stint or mercy for their poor little bodies or souls. + +Manchester obtained a municipal corporation under the provisions of the +general act for that purpose, passed in the reign of his late Majesty William +IV. Gas works, established in 1817, are the property of the town, and +produce a surplus income amounting to between three and four thousand pounds +a year, which are devoted to public improvements. The corporation have +recently obtained power to establish water works, and to purchase up the +plant of an existing company. + +The guardians of the workhouses of Manchester have a most difficult task to +perform, especially in times of commercial depression, as thousands are +thrown upon their hands at once. Among the most troublesome customers are +the Irish, who flock to Manchester through Liverpool in search of work, and +form a population herding together, very ignorant, very poor, and very +uncleanly. + + + +MANCHESTER MANUFACTURES. + + +It is quite impossible to give the same sort of sketch of the manufactures of +this city as we gave of Birmingham, because they are on so much larger and +more complicated a scale. One may understand how a gun-barrel or a steel-pen +is made at one inspection; but in a visit to a textile mill, a sight of +whizzing machinery, under the charge of some hundred men, women, boys, and +girls, only produces an indefinable feeling of confusion to a person who has +not previously made himself acquainted with the elements of the subject. To +attempt to explain how a piece of calico is made without the aid of woodcuts, +would be very unsatisfactory. Premising, then, that the cotton in various +forms is the staple manufacture of Manchester, and that silk, mixed fabrics +of cotton and silk, cotton and wool, etc., are also made extensively, we +advise the traveller to prepare himself by reading the work of Dr. Ure or the +articles on Textiles in the Penny Cyclopaedia. + +A visit to the workshops of the celebrated machinists Messrs. Sharpe, +Roberts, & Co. would probably afford a view of some parts of the most +improved textile machinery in a state of rest, as well as a very excellent +idea of the rapid progress of mechanical arts. Improvements in manufacturing +machines are so constant and rapid, that it is almost a proverb--"that before +a foreigner can get the most improved machinery which he has purchased in +England home and at work, something better will be invented." + +A Manchester manufacturer, on the approach of a busy season, will sometimes +stop his factories to put in new machines, at a cost of twenty thousand +pounds. + +Of equal interest with Messrs. Sharpe, Roberts, & Co., are the works of +Messrs. Whitworth, the manufacturers of exquisite tools, more powerful than +any elephant, more delicately-fitted than any watch for executing the +metalwork of steam-engines, of philosophical instruments, and everything +requiring either great power or mathematical nicety. Some of these tools for +planing, boring, rivetting, welding, cutting iron and other metals, are to be +found in great iron manufactories. Indeed, Mr. Roberts and Mr. Whitworth are +of a class of men who have proved that the execution of almost all imitations +of natural mechanics are merely a question of comparative expense. If you +choose to pay for it, you may have the moving fingers of a man, or the +prehensile trunk of an elephant, perfectly executed. + +From the manufacture of machines, the next step lies naturally to some branch +of cotton manufactures. + +COTTON.--The rise of this manufacture has been wonderfully rapid. In the time +of Henry VIII., the spinning wheel came into use in England, superseding the +spindle and distaff, which may still be seen in the south of France and +Italy, and in India, where no other tools are used. In the same reign +Manchester became distinguished for its manufactures. + +In the seventeenth century, Humphrey Chetham, whose name has already been +mentioned as the founder of a splendid charity, was among the eminent +tradesmen. + +The barbarities of the Duke of Alva on the Protestants of the Netherlands, +and the revocation of the edict of Nantes, by which the persecutions of the +French Protestants was renewed, supplied all our manufacturing districts with +skilful Artisans and mechanics in silk and woollen. + +In 1786, the importation of raw cotton only amounted to nineteen million +pounds weight, obtained from the West Indies, the French, Spanish, and Dutch +colonies, and from Turkey and Smyrna. Two years previously an American ship +which imported eight bags was seized, on the ground that so much cotton could +not be the produce of the United States! + +So early as 1738, one Charles Wyatt, of Birmingham, took out a patent for +spinning yarn by machinery, which he tried at Northampton, but reaped no +profits from the invention, which was discontinued and forgotten. In 1767, +James Hargreaves, an illiterate weaver residing near Church, in Lancashire, +who seven years previously had invented a carding machine, much like that in +use at the present day, invented the spinning jenny,--by which eighty spindles +were set to work instead of the one of the spinning wheel. Hargreaves +derived no benefit from his invention; twice a mob of spinners on the old +principle rose and destroyed all the machinery made on his plan, and chased +him away. In 1769, Richard Arkwright took out his first patent (having Mr. +Need of Nottingham and Mr. Strutt of Derby as partners,) for spinning with +rollers. + +Arkwright was born in the humblest class of life at Preston in Lancashire. At +"Proud Preston" he first followed the business of a barber, then became a +dealer in hair, travelling the country to collect it, and selling it prepared +to the wigmakers. Having accumulated a little money, he set about +endeavouring to invent perpetual motion, and, in the search, invented, or +sufficiently adapted and improved, a cotton spinning apparatus to induce two +practical men like the Messrs. Need and Strutt to join him. His claim to +original invention has been disputed. That he was not the first inventor is +clear, and it is equally clear that he must have been a man of very +considerable and original mechanical genius. + +With Arkwright's patent, the rise of the cotton trade began. + +In 1786, Mr. Samuel Crompton's invention came into use, called the mule +jenny, because partaking of the movements of both Hargreaves' and Arkwright's +inventions, by which, for the first time, yarn fine enough for muslins could +be spun. Crompton did not, probably could not, afford to take out a patent, +but worked his mule jenny with his own hands in an attic at Bolton, where he +carried on a small spinning and weaving business. Already, in 1812, there +were between four and five million spindles on this principle, but the +inventor continued poor and almost unknown. Mr. Kennedy (author of a brief +memoir of Crompton), and Mr. Lee, raised 500 pounds for him by subscription, +and he afterwards received a grant of 8000 pounds from Parliament, which his +sons lost in business. Mr. Kennedy again exerted himself and raised an +annuity of 63 pounds, which the unfortunate inventor only lived two years to +enjoy. + +The spinning machines threatened to out-travel the weaving powers of the +country, when, in 1785, Dr. Cartwright, a clergyman of Kent, with no previous +knowledge of weaving, after an expenditure of 40,000 pounds, invented the +power-loom, for which he afterwards received a grant of 10,000 pounds from +Parliament. To supply our cotton manufactures, there were imported in 1849 +1,900,000 bales of 330lbs. each. Of this quantity, 1,400,000 bales came from +the United States. + +The Manchester manufacturers have lately raised a small fund by subscription, +and sent out Mr. Mackay, a barrister, author of The Western World, to examine +and report on the prospects of obtaining cotton from India; and the son of +the late Mr. John Fielden, a great manufacturer, has embarked a considerable +sum at Natal in the cultivation of cotton. The dependence on the United +States for such a staple has begun to render our Manchester men +uncomfortable. They have not, however, displayed the spirit and energy that +might have been expected either from their usual political vigour or from the +tone of their advice to the farmers in distress. + +The successive improvements in weaving by machinery we shall not attempt to +trace. To use the phrase of a Nottingham mechanic, "there are machines now +that will weave anything, from a piece of sacking to a spider's web." But +fine muslins and fancy goods are chiefly woven by hand. + +The power-loom has recently been adapted, under Bright's patent, to weaving +carpets, which are afterwards printed. + +With respect to spinning; fine yarns which cost twenty guineas a pound have +been reduced to four shillings by improved machinery, and in the Great +Exhibition of Industry Messrs. Houldsworth exhibited as a curiosity, a pound +of cotton spun 2,000 miles in length. + +Arkwright, among the early improvers, was the only one who realized a large +fortune, which his patience, his energy, his skill, his judgment, his +perseverance well deserved, whether he was an original inventor or not. + +The large supplies of cheap coals by canal soon made Lancashire the principal +seat of the manufacture. + +Among the many who realized great wealth by the new manufacture, was the +first Sir Robert Peel, who began life near Bolton as a labouring man, by +frugality accumulated enough money to commence first with a donkey a small +coal trade, and then to enter on a cotton mill, which eventually placed him +in a position to become a Member of Parliament and a baronet, and to give his +son that starting place in education and society of which he availed himself +so wisely and so patriotically, to his own honour and the permanent benefit +of his country. + +There are several mills and factories in Manchester in which the most perfect +productions of mechanical skill may be seen in operation; but it is a trade +which will be seen under much more favourable circumstances in some of those +valleys near Manchester, where the masters of the mill provide the cottages +of their "hands," or where the cottages are held in freehold by the more +frugal workmen themselves, with little gardens attached, in pure air in open +situations. + +There are many cotton lords, and the number is increasing, who take the +warmest interest in the condition of the people in their employ, and who do +all they can to promote their health, their education, and their amusements. +A visit to one of these establishments, will convince those who have taken +their ideas of a manufacturing population from the rabid novelettes and yet +more rabid railings of the Ferrand school, that there is nothing in the +factory system itself, properly conducted, opposed to the permanent welfare +of the working classes. On the contrary, in average times, the wages are +sufficient to enable the operatives to live in great comfort, and to lay by +more than in other trades; while between the comfort of their position and +that of the agricultural labourer there is no comparison, so infinitely are +the advantages on the side of the factory hand. There have also been a +series of legislative and other changes during the last twenty years, all +tending to raise the condition of this class. At the same time, it is +impossible not to observe that, quite irrespective of political opinions, +there is a wide gulf between the great mass of the employers and the +employed. There is dislike--there is undefined distrust. Those who doubt +this will do well to investigate working-class opinions for themselves, not +at election time, and in such a familiar manner as to get at the truth +without compliments. Probably in times of prosperity this feeling is not +increasing--we are strongly inclined to think it is diminishing; but it is a +question not to be neglected. Manchester men, of the class who run at the +aristocracy, the army, and the navy just as a bull runs at a red rag, will +perhaps be very angry at our saying this; but we speak as we have found mobs +at fires, and chatty fustian jackets in third class trains on the Lancashire +and Yorkshire line; and, although a friend protests against the opinion, we +still think that the ordinary Manchester millhand looks on his employer with +about the same feelings that Mr. John Bright regards a colonel in the guards. +We hope we may live to see them all more amiable, and better friends. + +Manchester during the last seventy years, has been peopled more rapidly than +the "Black Country" which we have described, with a crowd of immigrants of +the most ignorant class, from the agricultural counties of England, from +Ireland, and from Scotland. These people have been crowded together under +very demoralising circumstances. + +But we do not dwell or enter further into this important part of the +condition of Manchester, because, unlike Birmingham, the Corn Law discussions +have, to the enormous advantage of the city, drawn hundreds of jealous eyes +upon the domestic life of the poor; and because men of all parties, Church +and Dissent, Radicals and Conservatives, are trying hard and as cordially as +their mutual prejudices will allow them, to work out a plan of education for +raising the moral condition of a class, who, if neglected in their dirt and +ignorance, will become, in the strongest sense of the French term, +Dangereuse! + +But to return to the Manchester of to-day; it has become rather the +mercantile than the manufacturing centre of the cotton manufacture. There +are firms in Manchester which hold an interest in woollen, silk, and linen +manufactures in all parts of the kingdom and even of the continent. + +From a pamphlet published last year by the Rev. Mr. Baker, it appears that +there are five hundred and fifty cotton manufactories of one kind or other in +the cotton district of Lancashire and Cheshire. Of these, in Ashton-under- +Lyne, Dukinfield, and Mosley, there are fifty-three mills, Blackburn fifty- +seven, Bolton forty-two, Burnley twenty-five spinning manufactories, at +Heywood twenty-eight mills, Oldham one hundred and fifty-eight, Preston +thirty-eight, Staley Bridge twenty, Stockport forty-seven mills, Warrington +only four, Manchester seventy-eight. + +The following is a brief outline of the stages of cotton manufacture which +may be useful to those who consider the question for the first time. + +When cotton has reached Manchester from the United States, which supplies 75 +per cent. of the raw material; from Egypt, which supplies a good article in +limited quantity; from India, which sends us an inferior, uncertain, but +increasing, quantity, but which with railroads will send us an improved +increasing quantity; or from any of the other miscellaneous countries which +contribute a trifling quota--it is stowed in warehouses, arranged according to +the countries from which it has come. It is then "passed through the willow, +the scuthing machine, and the spreading machine, in order to be opened, +cleaned, and evenly spread. By the carding engine the fibres are combed out, +and laid parallel to each other, and the fleece is compressed into sliver. +The sliver is repeatedly drawn and doubled in the drawing frame, more +perfectly to strengthen the fibres and to equalize the grist. The roving +frame, by rollers and spindles, produces a coarse loose thread, which the +mule or throstle spins into yarn. To make the warp, the twist is transferred +from cops to bobbins by the winding machine, and from the bobbins at the +warping machine to a cylindrical beam. This being taken to the dressing +machine, the warp is sized, dressed, and wound upon the weaving beam. The +weaving beam is then placed in the power loom, by which machine, the shuttle +being provided with cops with weft, the cloth is woven." + +Sometimes the yarn only is exported, in other cases the cloth is bleached, or +dyed, or printed, all of which operations can be carried on in Manchester or +the surrounding auxiliary towns. + +The best mode of obtaining a general idea of the trade carried on in +Manchester will be to visit two or three of the leading warehouses in which +buyers from all parts of the world supply their respective wants. For +instance, Messrs. J. N. Phillips and Co., of Church Street; Messrs. +Bannermans and Sons, York Street; Messrs. J. and J. Watts and Co., of Spring +Gardens; and Messrs. Wood and Westhead, of Piccadilly. Next, to go over one +of the leading Cotton Mills, say Briley's or Houldsworth's; then Messrs. +Lockett's establishment for engraving the plates used in calico-printing, and +Messrs. Thomas Hoyle and Son's print works. This work completed, the +traveller will have some idea of Manchester, not without. + +* * * * * + +SILK.--The silk trade of Manchester and of Macclesfield, which for that +purpose is a suburb of Manchester, arose in the restrictions imposed upon +Spitalfields, at the request of the weavers, by successive acts of +Parliament, for the purpose of regulating employment in that district. In +1830 there were not 100 Jacquard looms in Manchester and its neighbourhood, +whilst at the present time there are probably 12,000 employed either on silk +or some branch of figure weaving. The most convenient silk manufactory for +the visit of the stranger is that of Messrs. James Houldsworth of Portland +Street, near the Royal Infirmary. This firm was established by a German +gentleman, the late Mr. Louis Schwabe, an intelligent German, who introduced +the higher class of silk manufacture with such success as to enable him to +compete with even the very first class of Lyons silks for furniture damasks. + +In addition to the extensive application of the Jacquard loom, Mr. Schwabe +introduced, and Mr. Henry Houldsworth improved and perfected, the +embroidering machines invented by Mr. Heilmann of Mulhausen. The +improvements are so great that the original inventor cannot compete with +them. Rows of needles elaborate the most tasteful designs with a degree of +accuracy to which hand labour cannot approach. + +Messrs. Winkworth and Proctor are also producers of high class silks for +ladies' dresses and gentlemen's waistcoats. + +Manchester is particularly celebrated for plain silk goods of a superior +quality at a moderate price. There are also manufactories of small wares, +which include parasols and umbrellas. A parasol begins at 4.5d. wholesale. + +In Manchester the tastes and costumes of every country are consulted and +suited. The brown cloak of the Spaniard, the poncho of the Chilean, the +bright red or yellow robe of the Chinese, the green turban of the pilgrim +from Mecca, the black blanket of the Caffre, and the red blanket of the +American Indian may all be found in bales in one Manchester warehouse. + +In passing through the streets, the sign "Fents" is to be seen on shops in +cellars. These are the odd pieces, of a yard or two in length, cut off the +goods in the manufactories to make up a certain even quantity; and +considerable trade is driven in them. Selections are sometimes bought up as +small ventures by sea captains and emigrants. + +Paper-making is carried on extensively in the neighbourhood of Manchester +from cotton waste. This was formerly thrown away; scavengers were even paid +to cart it away. After a time, as its value became quietly known among +paper-makers, parties were found willing to take on themselves the expense of +removing it. By degrees the waste became a regular article of sale; and now, +wherever possible, a paper-mill in this part of the country is placed near, +or worked in conjunction with, a cotton-mill. The introduction of cotton +waste has materially reduced the price of paper. No doubt, when the excise +is abolished, many other articles will be employed for the same purpose. + +To describe the railroads, which are every hour departing for every point of +the compass, would take up too much space. But the railway stations, several +of which have been united by works as costly, and almost as extensive, as the +Pyramids of Egypt, are not among the least interesting sights. At these +stations barrels of flour will be found, literally filling acres of warehouse +room, and cucumbers arrive in season by the ton. + +* * * * * + +THE CANALS must be mentioned, and remind us that at Worsley, near Manchester, +the Duke of Bridgwater, "the Father of Inland Navigation," aided by the +genius of Brindley (another of the great men, who, like Arkwright and +Stephenson, rose from the ranks of labour, and directly contributed to the +rise of this city) commenced the first navigable canal constructed for +commercial purposes in Great Britain. + +At the present day the construction of a canal is a very commonplace affair, +but it is impossible to doubt the high qualities of the mind of the Duke of +Bridgwater, when we consider the education and prejudices of a man of his +rank at that period, and observe the boldness with which he accepted, the +tenacity with which he adhered to, the energy and self-sacrifice with which +he prosecuted the plans of an obscure man like Brindley. + +A disappointment in love is said to have first driven the Duke into +retirement, and rendered him shy and eccentric, with an especial objection to +the society of ladies, although he had once been a gay, if not dissipated, +young gentleman, fond of the turf. He rode a race at Trentham Hall, the seat +of his brother-in-law, the Marquis of Stafford. + +When he retired from the pleasures of the fashionable world, his attention +was directed to a rich bed of coal on his estate at Worsley, the value of +which was almost nominal in consequence of the expense of carriage. He +determined to have a canal, and, if possible, a perfect canal, and who to +carry out this object he selected Brindley, who had been born in the station +of an agricultural labourer, and was entirely self-educated. To the last he +conducted those engineering calculations, which are usually worked out on +paper and by rule, by a sort of mental arithmetic. Brindley must have been +about forty years of age when he joined the Duke. He died at fifty-six, +having laid the foundation of that admirable system of internal commerce +which is better described in Baron Charles Dupin's Force Commerciale de la +Grande Bretagne than in any English work. + +One often-told anecdote well illustrates the characters of the nobleman and +his engineer, if we remember that no such works had ever been erected in +England at that time. "When Brindley proposed to carry the canal over the +Mersey and Irwell Navigation, by an aqueduct 39 feet above the surface of the +water, he desired, for the satisfaction of his employer, to have another +engineer consulted. That individual, on being taken to the place where the +intended aqueduct was to be constructed, said, that 'he had often heard of +castles in the air, but never was shown before where any of them were to be +erected.'" But the Duke had faith in Brindley, persevered and triumphed, +although, before the completion of all his undertakings, he was more than +once reduced to great pecuniary difficulties. + +The canal property of the Duke of Bridgwater, with the Lancashire estates, +are now vested in the Earl of Ellesmere, a nobleman who well knows, and +conscientiously works out, the axiom, "that property has its duties as well +as its rights." A visit to Worsley will prove what an enlightened and +benevolent landowner can do for a population of colliers and bargemen. + +The educational and other arrangements of a far-sighted character show that +there are advantages in even such large accumulations of property as have +fallen to the share of the present representative of the Duke of Bridgwater. + +Those who desire to pursue closely the state of the operative population in +Manchester, will find ample materials in the annual reports of factory +inspectors, and school inspectors, under the Committee of the Council of +Education, and of the municipal officers of health. + +* * * * * + +FIRES.--Dreadful fires occur occasionally in Manchester. If such a +catastrophe should take place during the stay of a visitor, he should +immediately pull on an overcoat, even although it be midnight, and join in +the crowd. An excellent police of 300 officers and men renders the streets +quite safe at all hours; and a fire of an old cotton factory, where the +floors are saturated with oil and grease, is indeed a fearfully imposing +sight. It also affords an opportunity of some familiar conversation with the +factory hands. + +* * * * * + +In taking leave of Manchester, which is indeed the great heart of our +manufacturing system, we may truly say that it is a city to be visited with +the deepest interest, and quitted without the slightest regret. On our +political railroad we are under deepest obligations to the Manchester +stokers; but Heaven forbid that we should be compelled to make them our sole +engineers. + + + + +THE ROAD TO YORKSHIRE. + + +MIDDLETON.--And now, before taking a glance at the woollens and hardware of +Yorkshire, we suggest, by way of change from the perpetual hum of busy +multitudes and the whizzing and roaring of machinery, that the traveller take +a holiday, and spend it in wandering over an agricultural oasis encircled by +hills, and so far uninvaded by the stalks of steam-engines, where the air is +comparatively pure and the grass green, although forest trees do not +flourish. + +The visit requires no distant journey. It is a bare six miles from the heart +of Manchester to Middleton. Nine times a-day omnibuses ply there. These +original, if not primitive vehicles, are constructed to carry forty-five +passengers, and on crowded market-days may sometimes be seen loaded with +seventy specimens of a note-worthy class. + +Middleton, lately a dirty straggling town, of 15,000 inhabitants, a number at +which it has remained stationary for ten years, built without plan, without +drains, without pavement, without arrangements for common decency, stands on +the borders, and was the manorial village, of the Middleton and Thornham +estates, which had been in the family of the late Lord Suffield for many +hundred years. In the village, land was grudgingly leased for building, and +no steam-engine manufactories were permitted. The agricultural portion of +some 2500 acres of good land for pasturage and root crops, celebrated for its +fine supplies of water and for its (unused) water-power, was divided into +little farms of from twenty to seventy acres, very few exceeding fifty acres, +inhabited by a race of Farmer-Weavers, who, from generation to generation, +farmed badly and wove cleanly in the pure atmosphere of Middleton. They +were, most of them, bound to keep a hound at walk for the Lord of the Manor. + +Now the old Lords of the Manor and owners of the estate of Middleton (the +Harbords, afterwards Barons Suffield), were proud men and wealthy, who +despised manufactures and resisted any encroachment of trade on the green +bounds within which their old Manor House had stood for ages. So when the +inventions of Crompton, Hargreaves, Arkwright, and Cartwright began to coin +gold like any philosopher's stone, for well-managing cotton manufacturers, +speculators cast their eyes upon the pleasant waters of Middleton and +Thornham, proposing to erect machinery and spin the yarn or thread, and +otherwise to use the abundant water-power. But the Lords of Middleton would +have none of such profits, (and if they could afford to reject them, we will +not say that up to a certain point they were not wise), and so they gave +short answers to the applicants, who went away and found, half-a-mile off, on +the borders of Yorkshire, similar conveniences and more accessible ground- +landlords in the Byrons, Lords of the Manor of Rochdale. And when, some time +afterwards, a like application met with a like answer, other manufacturers +went away to another corner, and built Oldham. + +So the Middleton farms continued very pretty picturesque farms; Middleton +village grew into a miserable town, and was passed over in 1830, when every +population was putting forth its claims to a share in making the laws of the +United Kingdom; while Oldham, with 30,000 inhabitants, was allotted two +members, (an honour which cost the life of one of them, our best describer of +English rural scenery, in racy Saxon English, William Cobbett); Rochdale, +with 24,000, obtained one, and eventually made itself loudly heard in the +House, in the person of John Bright, a gentleman of pluck not without +eloquence, who has done a good deal, considering the disadvantages he has +laboured under, in not having been brought to his level in a public school, +and in having been brought up in the atmosphere of adulation, to which the +wealthy and clever of a small sect are as much exposed as the scions of a +"proud aristocracy." + +A few years ago, the late lord, who had occasionally lived on the estate, +died. His successor pulled down the Manor House, became an absentee, always +in want of ready money, and introduced the Irish system into the management +of his estate. That is to say, good farming became a sure mode of inviting +an increase of rent--for indispensable repairs no ready money was forthcoming, +so tenants who had an indisputable claim to such allowances, received a +reduction of rent instead; they generally accepted the reduction, and did no +more of the repairs than would just make shift. The land in the town +suitable for building was let at chief rents to the highest bidder, with no +consideration for the mutual convenience of neighbours, or the welfare of +future residents. + +Thus mismanaged and dilapidated, the estates were brought into the market, +and purchased for Messrs. Peto & Betts, by their land agent, Mr. Francis +Fuller, for less than 200,000 pounds; and the lands of the aristocracy of +blood passed into the possession of the aristocracy of trade. Here was a +subject for a doleful ballad from "A Young Englander," commencing-- + + "Ye tenants old of Middleton ye cannot need but sigh, + Departed are the traces of your own nobility, + The Locomotivocracy have gone and done the trick, + And England's aristocracy's obliged to cut its stick." + +A visit to Middleton, however, will show that on this occasion the tenantry +have no reason either to sigh or weep, and the visit is worth making, +independently of the pleasantness of a change from town to country, because +it affords an opportunity of seeing what can be done with a neglected domain +when it passes into the hands of men of large capital, liberal views, and a +thorough determination that whatever they take in hand shall be done in the +best possible manner. + +Messrs. Peto & Betts are managing this estate on the same principles that +they have conducted the undertaking by which, in a very few years, they have +acquired a large fortune and an influential position. Not by avariciously +grasping, and meritlessly grinding all the subordinates whose services they +required; not by squeezing men like oranges, and throwing them away when +squeezed; but by choosing suitable assistants for every task they undertook, +and making those assistants, or advisers, feel that their interests were the +same, that they were prepared to pay liberally for services strenuously +rendered. By this system servants and sub-contractors worked for them with +all the zeal of friends, and by this system the tenantry of Middleton will +attain a degree of comfort and prosperity hitherto unknown, while the estate +they occupy will be largely increased in value. + +It is most fortunate that, at a time when so much landed property is passing +into the hands of men of the class of which these gentlemen may be considered +the intellectual leaders, an example has been set, by them, of liberal and +judicious management. + +For this reason we do not think these rough notes on Middleton will be +considered a useless digression. + +* * * * * + +DRAINS AND REPAIRS.--Instead of the ordinary system of bit-by-bit repairs and +instead of arrangements for the tenants to execute drains, as the first step +after the change of proprietorship, a complete survey was made of the defects +and of the value of all the holdings. On this survey the rents were fixed, +with the understanding that while no increase of rent would be imposed on a +good tenant, lazy slovenly farming would be forthwith taxed with an +additional ten per cent. + +The landlords have themselves undertaken to execute a complete deep drainage +of the whole property at a cost of 20,000 pounds. For this they charge the +tenants five per cent. on the outlay per acre occupied. Farm buildings and +farm houses are being put in thorough repair, and tenants are expected so to +keep them. + +In the course of these repairs farm houses were found in which the windows +were fixtures, not intended to open! While as to the farming, it is scarcely +possible to imagine anything more barbarous. It is not a corn-growing +district, and what corn is grown these weaver farmers, indifferent apparently +to loss of time, first lash against a board to get part of the grain out, and +then thrash the rest out of the straw! + +Market garden cultivation, stall feeding, and root crops would answer well, +but at the time of the survey only two gardens were cultivated for the sale +of produce in the unlimited markets of Oldham, Rochdale, and Manchester; and +little feeding except of pigs. + +Orchard trees are now supplied by the landlords, free of cost, to all willing +to take charge of them. + +It will be very difficult to induce these people to change their old slovenly +style of farming, for their chief pride is in their weaving, which is +excellent, and many of them are in possession of properties held for two and +three generations without change. But the system of encouraging the good, +and getting rid of the lazy, will work a reformation in time, especially as +there are some very good examples on the estate. For instance, Benjamin +Johnson, who, paying the highest rent per acre, has creditably brought up ten +children on nine acres of land, without other employment. + +Middleton is a district especially suited for small farms, so much so that it +has been determined to divide one or two of the larger ones. + +Altogether it is a very primitive curious place, with several originals among +the tenantry, and some beautiful natural scenery, among whom a morning may be +spent with profit and pleasure. + +With the town and building land an equally comprehensive system has been +adopted. + +The defects of the existing buildings are to be cured as soon as, and in the +best manner, that circumstances will admit; while all new houses are to be +built and drained on a fixed plan, and all roadside cottages to have at least +a quarter of an acre of ground for a garden. + +It will take some years to work out complete results; it is, however, +gratifying to see a landowner placing himself in the hands of competent +advisers, planning not for the profits of the hour, but for the future, for +the permanent health, happiness, and prosperity of all dwelling on his +property. + +The pecuniary results promise to be highly satisfactory; it is already +evident that increased rents will be accompanied by increased prosperity, and +it is thought in the neighbourhood that in the next ten years, the property +will, from the judicious expenditure of 30,000 pounds, be worth at least +300,000 pounds. + +So much for employing a scientific and practical agriculturist as land agent, +instead of a fashionable London attorney. {193} + + + + +YORKSHIRE. + + +From Manchester to Leeds is a journey of forty-five miles, and about two +hours. We should like to describe Yorkshire, one of the few counties to +which men are proud to belong. We never hear any one say, with conscious +pride, "I am a Hampshireman or an Essex man, or even a Lancashireman," while +there are some counties of which the natives are positively ashamed. + +But we have neither time nor space to say anything about those things of +which a Yorkshireman has reason to be proud--of the hills, the woods, the +dales, the romantic streams,--above all, of the lovely Wharfe, of the fat +plains, the great woods, the miles of black coal mines, where we have heard +the little boys driving their horses and singing hymns, sounding like angels +in the infernal regions, the rare good sheep, the Teeswater cattle, that gave +us short-horns, of horses, well known wherever the best are valued, be it +racer, hunter, or proud-prancing carriage horse; hounds that it takes a +Yorkshire horse to live with; and huntsmen, whom to hear tally-away and see +ride out of cover makes the heart of man leap as at the sound of a trumpet; +foxes stanch and wily, worthy of the hounds; and then of those famous +dalesmen farmers, tall, broad-shouldered, with bullet heads, and keen grey +eyes, rosy bloom, high cheek bones, foxy whiskers, full white-teethed, +laughing mouths, hard riders, hard drinkers, keen bargainers, capital +fellows; and besides those the slips, grafts, and thinnings from the farms, +who in factories, counting-houses, and shops, show something of the powerful +Yorkshire stamp. Everything is great in Yorkshire, even their rogues are on +a large scale; in Spain, men of the same calibre would be prime ministers and +grandees of the first class; in France, under a monarchy, a portfolio, and +the use of the telegraph, with no end of ribands, would have been the least +reward. Here the honours stop short between two dukes, as supporters arm in +arm; but still we are obliged to own that no one but a Yorkshireman could +have so bent all the wild beasts of Belgravia and Mayfair, from the Countess +Gazelle to the Ducal Elephant, to his purpose, as an ex-king did. Our task +will be confined on the present occasion to a sketch of Huddersfield and +Leeds, centres of the woollen manufacture, which forms the third great staple +of English manufactures, and of Sheffield, famed for keen blades. + +* * * * * + +HUDDERSFIELD, twenty-six miles from Manchester, is the first important town, +on a road studded with stations, from which busy weavers and spinners are +continually passing and repassing. It is situated in a naturally barren +district, where previously to 1811 the inhabitants chiefly lived on oaten +cake, and has been raised to a high degree of prosperity by the extension of +the manufactures, a position on the high road between Manchester and Leeds, +intersected by a canal, uniting the east and west, or inland navigation, and +more recently by railroads, which connect it with all the manufacturing towns +of the north. An ample supply of water-power, with coal and building stone, +have contributed to this prosperity, of which advantage has been taken to +improve the streets, thoroughfares, and public buildings. The use of a light +yellow building stone for the houses has a very pleasant appearance after the +bricks of Manchester and Liverpool. + +The Huddersfield Canal, which connects the Humber and Mersey, is a very +extraordinary piece of work. It is carried through and over a backbone of +hills by stairs of more than thirty locks in nine miles, and a tunnel three +miles in length. At one place it is 222 yards below the surface, and at +another 656.5 feet above the level of the sea. + +When we examine such works, so profitable to the community, so unprofitable +to the projectors, how can we doubt the capability of our country to hold its +own in any commercial race? Men make a country, not accidents of soil or +climate, mines or forests. For centuries California and Central America have +been in the hands of an Iberian race, fallow. A few months of Anglo-Saxon +rule, and land and sea are boiling with fervid elements of cultivation, +commerce, and civilization. With time the dregs will disappear, and churches +and schools, cornfields and fulling-mills, will supersede grizzly bears and +wandering Indians. + +All the land in Huddersfield belongs to the Ramsden family, by whom the Cloth +Hall was erected. Six hundred manufacturers attend this hall every Tuesday. + +The principal manufactures are of broad and narrow cloths, serges, +kerseymeres, cords, and fancy goods of shawls and waistcoatings, composed of +mixed cotton, silk, and wool. + +The neighbourhood of Huddersfield was the centre of the Luddite outbreak, +when a large number of persons engaged in the cloth manufacture, conceiving +that they were injured by the use of certain inventions for dressing cloth, +banded together, traversed the country at night, searching for and carrying +off fire-arms, and attacking and destroying the manufactories of persons +supposed to use the obnoxious machines. + +Great alarm was excited, some expected nothing less than a general +insurrection; at length the rioters were attacked, dispersed, a large number +arrested, tried, and seventeen hanged. Since that period not one but scores +of mechanical improvements have been introduced into the woollen manufacture +without occasioning disturbance, and with benefit in increased employment to +the working classes. + +The case of the Luddites was one of the few on which Lord Byron spoke in the +Upper House, and Horace Smith sang for Fitzgerald . . . + + "What makes the price of beer and Luddites rise? + What fills the butchers' shops with large blue flies?" + +The population is about 30,000, and returns one member to the House of +Commons. + +About half a mile from the town is Lockwood Spa, of strongly sulphurous +waters, for which a set of handsome buildings have been provided. + + + + +LEEDS. + + +LEEDS, seventeen miles from Huddersfield, is the centre of five railways, by +which it has direct connection with Hull, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, +on the east, and Carlisle on the west coast, Sheffield, Nottingham, Derby, +and Birmingham, in the Midland counties, possesses one of the finest central +railway stations in the kingdom, and has also the advantage of being in the +centre of inland navigation (a great advantage for the transport of heavy +goods), as it communicates with the eastern seas by the Aire and Calder +navigation to the Humber, and westward by the Leeds and Liverpool to the +Mersey. The town stands on a hill, which rises from the banks of the river +Aire. Leeds has claims to antiquity, but few remains. When Domesday Book +was compiled it appears to have been an agricultural district. + +Wakefield was formerly the more important town. Lord Clarendon, in 1642, +speaks of Leeds, Halifax, and Bradford, "as three very rich and populous +towns, depending wholly upon clothing." + +The first charter was granted to Leeds by Charles I., and the second by +Charles II., on petition of the clothworkers, merchants, and others, "to +protect them from the great abuses, defects and deceits, discovered and +practised by fraudulent persons in the making, selling, and dyeing of woollen +cloths." + +The principal manufacture of Leeds is woollen cloth. Formerly the trade was +carried on by five or six thousand small master clothiers, who employed their +own families, and some thirty or forty thousand servants, and also carried on +small farms. But the extension of the factory system has somewhat diminished +their numbers. There are still, however, in connection with Leeds, several +small clothing villages, in which the first stages of the operation are +carried on, in spinning, weaving, and fulling. + +Large quantities of worsted goods are brought to Leeds to be finished and +dyed, which have been purchased, in an undyed state, at Bradford and Halifax. +The dye-houses and dressing-shops of Leeds are very extensive. Goods +purchased in a rough state in the Cloth Halls and Piece Halls are taken there +to be finished. There are also extensive mills for spinning flax for linen, +canvas-sailing, thread, and manufactures of glass and earthenware. In +connection with Messrs. Marshall's flax factory, the same firm are carrying +on extensive experiments near Hull in growing flax. + +Cloth Halls.--Previous to 1711, the cloth market was held in the open street. +In 1755, the present Halls were erected, and in them the merchants purchase +the half manufactured article from the country manufacturers. + +The Coloured Cloth Hall is a quadrangular building, 127.5 yards long, and 66 +broad, divided into six departments called streets. Each street contains two +rows of stands, and each stand measures 22 inches in front, and is inscribed +with the name of the clothier to whom it belongs. The original cost was 3 +pounds 3s. This price advanced to 24 pounds at the beginning of the present +century; but it has now fallen below its original value--not owing to a +decrease in the quantity of manufactured goods, but owing to the prevalence +of the factory system--in which the whole operation is performed, from sorting +the piece to packing the cloth fit for the tailor's shelves--over the domestic +system of manufacturing. An additional story, erected on the north side of +the Coloured Cloth Hall, is used chiefly for the sale of ladies' cloths in +their undyed state. The White Cloth Hall is nearly as large as the Coloured +Cloth Hall, and on the same plan. The markets are held on Tuesdays and +Saturdays, on which days alone the merchants are permitted to buy in the +Halls. The time of the sale is in the forenoon, and commences by the ringing +of a bell, when each manufacturer is at his stand, the merchants go in, and +the sales commence. At the end of an hour the bell warns the buyers and +sellers that the market is about to close, and in another quarter of an hour +the bell rings a third time, and the business of the day is terminated. The +White Cloth Hall opens immediately after the other is closed, and the +transactions are carried on in a similar manner. + +The public buildings of Leeds are not externally imposing, and it is, without +exception, one of the most disagreeable-looking towns in England--worse than +Manchester; it has also the reputation of being very unhealthy to certain +constitutions from the prevalence of dye-works. + +The wealthy and employing classes in Leeds (we know no better term) have a +reputation for charity, and good management of charitable institutions. +Howard the philanthropist visited the workhouse, and praised the management, +at a period when to deserve such praise was rare. The subscriptions to +public charities are large, and there is an ancient fund for pious uses, said +to amount to upwards of 5000 pounds a-year, managed by a close self-elected +corporation, about the distribution of which they do not consider themselves +bound to give any detailed information. Dr. Hook, the Vicar of Leeds, has +organized a system of house-to-house visitation, for the purpose of affording +aid, in poverty and sickness, to the deserving and religious, and educational +instruction to all, which has effected a great deal of good, and would have +done more, had not well known circumstances shaken the confidence of the +Leeds public in the honesty of some of the teachers. All parties agree, +however differing in opinions, that Dr. Hook himself is a most excellent, +charitable, self-sacrificing man. + +A New Grammar School--first founded in 1552 by the Rev. Sir William Sheafield, +and since endowed by several other persons--is lodged in a building of ample +size, with residence for the head master, and enjoys an income of 2000 pounds +a-year; and there are four Exhibitions of 70 pounds a-year to Magdalen +College, Cambridge, tenable till degree of M.A. has been taken; one +Exhibition of 100 pounds a-year, tenable for five years, at Queen's College, +Oxford, open to a candidate from Leeds school; and four of 50 pounds each, at +Oxford or Cambridge, for four years. There were 174 scholars in 1850. It is +open to the sons of all residents in Leeds, without any fee to the masters, +who are liberally paid. The elements of mathematics are taught. The Charity +Commissioners reported it to be satisfactorily and ably conducted. + +The Leeds Philosophical and Literary Society, the Leeds Literary Institution, +and the Leeds Mechanics Institute, are all respectable in their class. The +Mechanics Institute forms the centre of a union of Yorkshire associations of +the same kind. + +Three newspapers are published in Leeds, of large circulation, representing +three shades of political opinion. + +The Leeds Mercury--which has, we believe, the largest circulation of any +provincial paper--was founded, and carried on for a long life, by the late Mr. +Edward Baines, who represented his native town in the first reformed +parliament, and for some years afterwards--a very extraordinary man, who, from +a humble station, by his own talents made his way to wealth and influence. He +was the author of the standard work on the cotton trade, as well as several +valuable local histories. The Mercury is still carried on by his family. One +son is the proprietor of a Liverpool paper, and another, the Right Honourable +Matthew Talbot Baines, represents Hull, and is President of the Poor-Law +Board. + +Among the celebrated natives of Leeds, were Sir Thomas Denison, whose life +began like Whittington's; John Smeaton, the engineer of Eddystone Lighthouse, +the first who placed civil engineering in the rank of a science; the two +Reverend Milners (Joseph, and Isaac, Dean of Carlisle), great polemical +giants in their day, authors of "The History of the Church of Christ;" Dr. +Priestly, inventor of the pneumatic apparatus still used by chemists, and +discoverer of oxygen and several other gases; David Hartley, the +metaphysician whom Coleridge so much admired that he called his son after +him; and Edward Fairfax, the translator of Tasso. Nor must we forget Ralph +Thoresby, author of "Ducatus Leodiensis, or the Topography of the Town and +Parish of Leeds"--a valuable and curious book, published in 1715; and of +"Vicaria Leodiensis, a History of the Church of Leeds," published in 1724. + +Wool Growing, and Woollen Manufactures.--Yorkshire is the ancient seat of a +great woollen manufacture, founded on the coarse wools of its native hills; +but coal and cheap conveyance, with the stimulus mechanical inventions have +applied in the neighbouring counties to cotton, have given Yorkshire such +advantages over many ancient seats of manufacture, that it has transplanted +and increased a considerable portion of the fine cloth trade formerly carried +on in the west of England alone, besides engrafting and erecting a variety of +other and new kinds of textiles, in which wool or hair have some very slight +part. + +It is quite certain that woollen garments were among the first manufactured +among barbarous tribes. We have seen this year, in the Exhibition in Hyde +Park, specimens of white felted cloth from India, equal, if not superior, to +anything that we can manufacture for strength and durability, which must have +been made with the rude tools, of the form which has been in use for probably +at least two thousand years. + +English coarse wools have been celebrated, and in demand among foreign +nations, from the earliest periods of our history. In the time of William +the Conqueror, an inundation in the Netherlands drove many clothiers over, +and William of Malmesbury tells us that the king welcomed them, and placed +them first in Carlisle, where there are still manufactories, and then in the +western counties, where they could find what was indispensable for their +trade--streams for washing and plenty of wood for boiling their vats. Very +early the manufacturers applied to restrain the exportation of English wool. +In the time of Edward I., we find a duty of twenty shillings to forty +shillings per bag on importation. Edward III. prohibited the export of wool, +at the same time he took his taxes and subsidies in wool, which became a +favourite medium of taxation with our monarchs, and sent his wool abroad for +sale. Under his reign, Flemish weavers were encouraged to settle here and +improve the manufacture, which became spread all over England thus--Norfolk +fustians, Suffolk baize, Essex serges and says, Kent broadcloth, Devon +kerseys, Gloucestershire cloth, Worcestershire cloth, Wales friezes, +Westmoreland cloth, Yorkshire cloth, Somersetshire serges, Hampshire, +Berkshire, and Sussex cloth: districts from a great number of which woollen +manufactures have now disappeared. We have Parliamentary records of the +mutual absurdities by which the woollen manufacturers, on the one hand, +sought to obtain a monopoly of British wool, and the wool growers endeavoured +to secure the exclusive right to supply the raw material. Act after act was +laid upon everything connected with wool, so that it is only extraordinary +that, under such restrictive trammeling, the trade survived at all. + + "Odious! In woollen! 'twould a saint provoke! + Were the last words that poor Narcissa spoke." + +In 1781, when, the price of wool being low, the Lincolnshire woolgrowers met +under the chairmanship of their great landowners, and resolved on petitions +praying "that British might be exported and that Irish wool might be excluded +from England;" thereupon the Yorkshire manufacturers met and resolved that +"the exportation of wool would be ruinous to the trade and manufactures of +England," that the manufacturers would be obliged to leave the kingdom for +want of employment, and that the importation of Irish woollen yarn ought to +be interdicted. + +The manufacturers were under the impression that no other country than +England could produce the long wools suitable for the manufacture of worsted. + +Some time afterwards the woollen manufacturers thought themselves likely to +be ruined by the introduction of cotton cloth, "to the ruin of the staple +trade of the kingdom," and succeeded in placing an excise duty upon the new +fabric. + +The contention between sheepowners and manufacturers continued until, in +1824, when the influence of Mr. Huskisson's opinions on trade were beginning +to be felt in Parliament, and to the disgust of both parties, a compromise +was effected by a reduction of all wool duties to a uniform duty of ld. per +lb. on the export of British and importation of foreign wool. The last step +was a total repeal of all duties. + +English wools may be divided into long and short staples. The long is used +for worsted, which is finished when it leaves the loom; the short for cloth, +which is compacted together, increased in bulk and diminished in breadth, by +fulling; that is, so beating as to take advantage of the serrated edges of +the wool which lead it to felt together. + +Foreign wool, known as merino, has been used from an early period. In the +time of the Stuarts, an attempt was made to monopolize all the Spanish wool +exported. + +Wars and bad government in Spain have destroyed the export trade in merino +wool, but the breed, transplanted into Germany, has multiplied and even +improved. Our finest wool is obtained from Silesia, and the breed is +cultivated with more or less success in many parts of the European continent. +In England, all attempts to cultivate the merino with profit have failed. +Next to Germany in quality, and exceeding that country in quantity, we obtain +our greatest supply of fine wool from Australia, where, in the course of +twenty-five years, the merino sheep has multiplied to the extent of twelve or +thirteen million head, and is still increasing; thus doubling our supply of a +fine article, not equal to German, but, at the low price at which it can be +furnished, helping to create entirely new manufactures by intermixing with +our own coarse wools, which it renders more available and valuable. We also +obtain wool from the Cape of Good Hope, from India, from Egypt, and from +South America. + +Besides pure wool, our manufacturers use large quantities of goat's hair, +called mohair, from the Mediterranean, of camel hair, of Thibet goat's hair, +of the long grey and black hair of the tame South American llama and alpaca, +and of the short soft red hair of the vicuna, a wild animal of the same +species. Indeed, almost every year since the repeal of all restrictions on +trade, has introduced some new raw material in wool or hair to our +manufacturers. + +The alpaca and vicuna, now an important article of trade and manufacture, +although well known to the native Peruvians at the time of the conquest by +the Spaniards, has only come into notice within the last twenty years. The +first article of the kind that excited any attention was a dress made for Her +Majesty from a flock of llamas belonging to Her Majesty, under the +superintendence of Mr. Thomas Southey, the eminent wool broker. + +The stock from the small flock of merinos taken out by Colonel Macarthur to +what was then only known as Botany Bay, now supports 300,000 souls in +prosperity in Australia, and supplies exports to the amount of upwards of a +million and a half sterling per annum. + +The Great Exhibition afforded an excellent display of the variety and +progress of Yorkshire woollen manufactures, proving the immense advantage +they derived from choice and mixture of various qualities and materials. In +several examples the body was of stout English wool, with a face of finest +Australia,--in some cases, of mohair,--and, in one instance, a most beautiful +article was produced by putting a face of vicuna on British wool. + +As at present conducted, the process of a woollen factory up to certain +stages of machinery is the same as that of a cotton factory. But it will be +seen that a great deal depends on an ample supply of water of good quality. + +Cloth Manufacture.--(1.) The first operation is that of sorting the wool. Each +fleece contains several qualities,--the division and arrangement requires +judgment; the best in a Silesian fleece may be worth 6s. a pound, and the +rest not worth half the money. After sorting, wools are mixed in certain +proportions. + +(2.) The mixture is first soaked in a hot ley of stale urine and soap, rinsed +in cold water, and pressed between rollers to dry it. + +(3.) If the cloth is to be dyed in that operation, next succeeds the +scouring. Supposing it dyed, + +(4) wyllying follows, by which it is subject to the operation of the spikes +of revolving wheels, for the purpose of opening the fibres and sending it out +in a light cloud-like appearance, to where a stream of air driven through it, +clears away all impurities by a sort of winnowing process, and sends it out +in a smooth sheet. + +(5.) If any impurities remain, it is hand picked. + +(6.) It is laid on the floor, sprinkled with olive oil, and well beaten with +staves. + +(7.) The operation of the scribbling machine follows, by which it is reduced +to a fleecy sheet and wound on rollers. + +(8.) The carding machine next reduces it to hollow loose short pipes. These +are joined + +(9) in the slubbing machine into a weak thread, and here we see the use of +the young hands, boys and girls, who piece one of these pipes as they are +drawn through the machine by a slow clockwork motion, bending one knee every +time as they curtsey sideways toward the machine. They earn very good wages +and look healthy; but, where the wool is dyed, what with the dye and what +with the oil, the piecers are all ready toileted to sing to a banjo; and +sometimes, with rubbing their faces with their dirty hands, they get sore +eyes. + +(10.) Spinning hardens the thread. + +(11.) Weaving is done by hand or by power-loom. The power-looms are becoming +more common. After weaving, it is washed in soap-water and clean water by +machinery,--then stretched on tenterhooks and allowed to dry in a smooth +extended state: + +(l2) then examined for all hair and impurities to be picked off by "burlers." +After this follows + +(13) fulling, or felting, which gives woollen goods that substance which +distinguishes them. Every hair of wool is saw-edged, and this by beating +will mass together. Superfine cloth with a thick solution of soap spread +between each layer, and, folded into many piles, is exposed to the long +continued action of revolving wooden hammers on wheels, three separate times, +for four hours each time. This process diminishes both breadth and length +nearly one half. + +After "fulling" cloth is woolly and rough; to improve the appearance it is +first + +(14) teazled--that is, raked with cylinders covered with the round prickly +heads of the teazle plant. Many attempts have been made to invent wire and +other brushes for the same purpose, but hitherto nothing has been found more +effective and economical than the teazle. To apply them the cloth is +stretched on cloth beams, and made to move in one direction, while the teazle +cylinders turn in another. When the ends of the fibres have been thus +raised, they are + +(15) sheared or clipped, in order to produce the same effect as clipping the +rough coat of a horse. Formerly this operation was performed by hand. The +introduction of machinery created formidable riots in the west of England. At +present the operation is performed with great perfection and rapidity, by +more than one process. + +When the cloth has been raised and sheared once, it is in the best possible +condition for wear; but in order to give superfine cloth beauty, it is +sheared several times, then exposed to the action of steam, and at the same +time brushed with cylinder brushes. Other operations, of minor importance, +are carried on for the purpose of giving smoothness and gloss. It may be +observed that a brilliant appearance does not always, in modern manufactures, +betoken the best cloth. An eminent woollen manufacturer having been asked +what cloth he would recommend for wear and warmth to a backwoodsman, answered +quickly, "Nothing can wear like a good blanket." The small manufacturers +generally dispose of their cloth in the rough state. + +The progress of machinery has called into existence a great number of +factories, especially in worsted and mixed stuffs, has given value to many +descriptions of wool formerly valueless, and, coupled with the repeal of the +duty, brought into the market many kinds unknown a few years ago. "Properties +once prized," Mr. Southey remarks in his Essay on Wools, "have given way to +some other property upon which machinery can better operate, and yield more +desirable results. Spanish wool, once deemed indispensable, is now little +sought after. It is supplanted by our colonial wool, which is steadily +advancing in quality and quantity, while angora goat, and alpaca wools are +forcing their way into and enhancing the value of our stuff trade." . . . +"Machinery has marshalled before its tremendous power the wool of every +country, selected and adopted the special qualities of each. Nothing, in +fact, is now rejected. Even the burr, existing in myriads in South America +and some other descriptions of wool, at one time so perplexing to our +manufacturers, can now, through the aid of machinery, be extracted, without +very material injury to the fibre." . . . "In no description of manufacture +connected with the woollen trade has machinery been more fertile in +improvements than in what may be termed the worsted stuff trade." + +"The power-looms employed, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, in the worsted +stuff trade, increased from 2,763 in 1836, to 19,121 in 1845 (and are +probably not far from 28,000 at the present time). Worsted goods formerly +consisted chiefly of bombazets, shalloons, calamancoes, lastings for ladies' +boots, and taminies. Now the articles in the fancy trade may be said to be +numberless, and to display great artistic beauty. These articles, made with +alpaca, Saxony, fine English and Colonial wools, and of goats' hair for weft, +with fine cotton for warp, consist of merinoes, Orleans, plain and figured +Parisians, Paramattas, and alpaca figures, checks, etc." + +The machines for combing and carding, of the most improved make, will work +wool of one and a half inch in the staple, while for the old process of hand- +combing four inches was the minimum. + +But we must not enter further into these details, as it is our purpose rather +to indicate the interest and importance of certain manufactures than to +describe the process minutely. + +The Yorkshire woollen manufacture is distributed over an area of nearly forty +miles by twenty, occupied by clothing towns and villages. Leeds, Bradford, +Halifax, Huddersfield, Dewsbury, and Wakefield, are the great manufacturing +centres. Mixed or coloured cloths are made principally in villages west of +Leeds and Wakefield; white or undyed cloths are made chiefly in the villages +occupying a belt of country extending from near Wakefield to Shipley. These +two districts are tolerably distinct, but at the margins of the two both +kinds of cloth are manufactured. Flannels and baizes are the principal +woollen articles made in and near Halifax, together with cloth for the use of +the army. Blankets are made in the line between Leeds and Huddersfield. +Bradford provides very largely the spun worsted required for the various +manufactures. Stuffs are made at Bradford, Halifax, and Leeds, and narrow +cloths at Huddersfield. Saddleworth furnishes broadcloth and kerseymeres. As +a specimen of the variety of articles produced in one factory, take the +following list, exhibited in the Crystal Palace by a Huddersfield +manufacturer:--"Summer shawls; summer coatings; winter woollen shawls; +vestings; cloakings; table covers; patent woollen cloth for gloves; do. +alpaca do.; do. rabbits' down do.; trowserings; stockingnett do." + +We may observe, that there is no more pleasant mode of investigating the +processes of the woollen manufacture, for those resident in the south of +England, than a visit to the beautiful valley of the Stroud, in +Gloucestershire, where the finest cloths, and certain shawls and fancy goods, +are manufactured in perfection in the midst of the loveliest scenery. White- +walled factories, with their resounding water-wheels, stand not unpicturesque +among green-wooded gorges, by the side of flowing streams, affording +comfortable well-paid employment to some thousand working hands of men and +women, boys and girls. + + + + +THROUGH LINCOLNSHIRE TO SHEFFIELD. + + +On leaving Leeds there is ample choice of routes. It is equally easy to make +for the lake districts of Cumberland and Westmoreland, or to proceed to York, +and on by Newcastle to Scotland, or to take the road to the east coast, and +compare Hull with Liverpool--a comparison which will not be attended with any +advantage to the municipal authorities of Hull. + +The aldermen of Hull are of the ancient kind--"slow," in the most emphatic +sense of the term. For proof,--we have only need to examine their docks, +piers, and landing-places; the last of which are being improved, very much +against the will of the authorities, by a Lincolnshire railway company. + +From Hull there is a very convenient and swift railway road open to London +through Lincolnshire, which, branching in several directions, renders easy a +visit either to the Wolds, where gorse-covered moors have been turned, within +the last century, into famous turnip-land, farmed by the finest tenantry in +the world; or to the Fens, where the science of engineers learned in +drainage, greatly aided by the pumping steam-engine, has reclaimed a whole +county from eels and wild ducks. + +Lincolnshire is not a picturesque county; both the wet half and the dry half, +both the Fen district and the Wold district, are treeless; and the Wolds are +only a line of molehills, of great utility, but no special beauty. But it is +the greatest producing county in England, and the produce, purely +agricultural, is the result of the industry and intellect of the men who till +the soil. In Devonshire and Somersetshire we are charmed by the scenery, and +amazed by the rich fertility of the soil, while we are amazed by the +stolidity of the farmers and their labourers--nay, sometimes of the +landlords--whose two ideas are comprised in doing what their forefathers did, +and in hating every innovation. There fences, guano, pair-horse ploughs, +threshing machines, and steam-engines, are almost as much disliked as cheap +bread and Manchester politics. But on the Wolds of Lincolnshire a race of +agriculturists are to be found who do not need to be coddled and coaxed into +experiments and improvements by the dinners and discourses of dilettanti +peers; but who unite the quick intelligence of the manufacturer with the +hearty hospitality for which the English used to be famous. Among the +Lincolnshire farmers rural life is to be seen in its most agreeable aspect. +The labourers are as superior to the southern peasantry as their employers to +the southern tenantry. Books, newspapers, and music may be found in the +farm-houses, as well as old ale and sound port wine. At Aylsby, six miles +from Great Grimsby, Mr. William Torr has a fine herd of short horns and a +flock of pure Leicester sheep, well worth a visit. The celebrated Wold +farmers are about ten miles distant. Any one of them is worth six Baden +barons. + +After crossing from Hull, if a visit to these Wold Farms be intended, Grimsby +is the best resting-place, a miserable town of great antiquity, which, after +slumbering, or rather mouldering, for centuries on the profits of +Parliamentary privileges and a small coasting trade, has been touched by the +steam-enchanter's wand, and presented with docks, warehouses, railways, and +the tools of commerce. These, aided by its happy situation, will soon render +it a great steam-port, and obliterate, it is to be hoped, the remains of the +squalid borough, which traces back its foundation to the times of Saxon sea- +kings. We must record, for the credit of Great Grimsby, that it evinced its +improved vitality by subscribing a larger sum to the Exhibition of Industry +than many towns of ten times its population and more than ten times its +wealth. + +The execution of the railway and dock works, which will render Great Grimsby +even more important than Birkenhead, has been mainly due to the exertions of +the greatest landowner in the county, the Earl of Yarborough, who has wisely +comprehended the value of a close connexion between a purely agricultural and +manufacturing district. + +His patriotic views have been ably seconded by Mr. John Fowler, the engineer +of the Manchester and Lincolnshire Railways, and Mr. James J. M. Rendel, the +engineer of these docks as well as of those at Birkenhead. + +The Grimsby docks occupy thirty-seven acres, cut off from the sea. The work +was courageously undertaken, in the midst of the depression which followed +the railway panic, by Messrs. Thomas, Hutchins, & Co., contractors, and has +been carried through in an admirable manner, in the face of every kind of +difficulty, without an hour's delay. They will open in March next. The +first stone was laid by Prince Albert in May 1849, when he electrified the +audience at dinner by one of those bursts of eloquence with which the events +of the Great Exhibition have made us familiar. It was on the occasion of his +ride to Brocklesby that Lord Yarborough's tenantry rode out to meet the +Prince, and exhibited the finest farmers' cavalcade for men and horses in +England. + +Lord Yarborough has done for Lincolnshire what the Duke of Bridgwater did for +Lancashire; and, like the Duke, he has been fortunate in having for +engineering advisers gentlemen capable of appreciating the national +importance of the task they undertook. It is not a mere dock or railway that +Messrs. Fowler and Rendel have laid out--it is the foundation of a maritime +colony, destined not only to attract, but to develop new sources of wealth +for Lincolnshire and for England, as any one may see who consults a map, and +observes the relative situation of Great Grimsby, the Baltic ports, and the +manufacturing districts of Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Cheshire. + +For the sake of the future it may be well worth while to visit these great +works. It may be a pleasant recollection for the man who, in some ten or +twenty years, beholds the docks crowded with steamers and coasters, and the +railway busy in conveying seaborne cargoes, to recall the fact that he saw +the infancy, if not the birth, of that teeming trade; for it is not to every +man that it is given to behold the commencement of such a future as seems +promised to gloomy, swampy Great Grimsby. + +At Great Grimsby we are in a position to take a large choice of routes. We +may go back to London by Louth, famous for its church, spire, and comical +coat of arms; {209} by Boston and Peterborough; or take our way through the +ancient city of Lincoln to Nottingham and the Midland Counties, where the +famous forest of Robin Hood and the Dukeries invite us to study woodland +scenery and light-land farming; but on this occasion we shall make our way to +Sheffield, over a line which calls for no especial remark--the most noticeable +station being East Retford, for the franchise of which Birmingham long and +vainly strove. What delay might have taken place in our political changes if +the M.P.'s of East Retford had been transferred to Birmingham in 1826, it is +curious to consider. + + + + +SHEFFIELD. + + +The approach to Sheffield from Lincolnshire is through a defile, and over a +long lofty viaduct, which affords a full view of the beautiful amphitheatre +of hills by which it is surrounded. + +The town is situated in a valley, on five small streams--one the "Sheaf," +giving the name of Sheffield, in the southern part of the West Riding of +Yorkshire, only six miles from Derbyshire. + +The town is very ugly and gloomy; it is scarcely possible to say that there +is a single good street, or an imposing or interesting public +building,--shops, warehouses and factories, and mean houses run zigzagging up +and down the slopes of the tongues of land, or peninsulas, that extend into +the rivers, or rather streamlets, of the Porter, the Riveling, the Loxley, +the Sheaf, and the Don. Almost all the merchants and manufacturers reside in +the suburbs, in villas built of white stone on terraces commanding a lovely +prospect. + +The picturesqueness, the wild solitude of the immediate neighbourhood of +Sheffield, amply compensates for the grimy gloom in which the useful and +disagreeable hardware trade is carried on. All around, except where the Don +opens a road to Doncaster, great hills girdle it in, some of which at their +summit spread out into heath-covered moorlands, where the blackcock used +lately to crow. Almost in sight of the columns of factory smoke, others of +the surrounding ridge are wood-crowned, and others saddlebacked and turfed; +so that a short walk transports you from the din of the workshop to the +solitude of "the eternal hills." We do not remember any manufacturing town +so fortunately placed in this respect as Sheffield. For an excellent and +truthful description of this scenery, we may turn to the poems of Ebenezer +Elliott, who painted from nature and knew how to paint in deep glowing +colours. + +"Hallamshire, which is supposed by antiquarians to include the parish of +Sheffield, forms a district or liberty, the importance of which may be traced +back to even British times; but Sheffield makes its first appearance as a +town some time after the Conquest. In the Domesday Book the manor of +Sheffield appears as the land of Roger de Busk, the greater part held by him +of the Countess Judith, widow of Waltheof the Saxon. In the early part of +the reign of Henry I. it is found in the possession of the De Levetot family, +and the site of their baronial residence. They founded an hospital, called +St. Leonard's (suppressed in the reign of Henry VIII.), upon an eminence +still called Spital Hill, established a corn mill, and erected a bridge +there, still called the Lady's Bridge, from the chapel of the Blessed Lady of +the Bridge, which had previously stood near the spot; and their exertions and +protection fixed here the nucleus of a town. The male line of the Levetots +became extinct by the death of William de Levetot, leaving an infant +daughter, Maud, the ward of Henry II. His successor, Richard, gave her in +marriage to Gerard de Furnival, a young Norman knight, who by that alliance +acquired the lordship of Sheffield. There is a tradition that King John, +when in arms against his barons, visited Gerard de Furnival (who espoused his +cause), and remained for some time at his Castle of Sheffield. + +"On the 12th of November, 1296, Edward I. granted to Lord Furnival a charter +to hold a market in Sheffield on Tuesday in every week, and a fair every year +about the period of Trinity Sunday. This fair is still held on Tuesday and +Wednesday after Trinity Sunday, and another on the 28th of November. The +same Lord Furnival granted a charter to the town, the provisions of which +were of great liberality and importance at that period, viz., that a fixed +annual payment should be substituted for the base, uncertain services by +which they had previously held their lands and tenements, that Courts Baron +should be held every three weeks for the administration of justice, and that +the inhabitants of Sheffield should be free from the exaction of toll +throughout the entire district of Hallamshire, whether they were vendors or +purchasers." + +About this time Sheffield began to be famous for the manufacture of falchion +heads, arrows, files, and whittles. Chaucer tells us of the miller that + + "A Sheffield thwytle bare he in his hose, + Round was his face, and camysed was his nose." + +The ample water-power, the supply of iron ore close at hand, and in after +times, when its value for smelting was discovered, the fields of coal--all +helped Sheffield. + +"Another only daughter, and another Maud, transferred by her marriage the +lordship of Sheffield to the more noble family of Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury. +William Lord Furnival died 12th April 1383, in his house in Holborn, where +now stands Furnival's Inn, leaving an only daughter, who married Sir Thomas +Nevil, and he in 1406 died, leaving an only daughter, Maud, who married John +Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury. George, fourth Earl of Shrewsbury, built the +lodge, called Sheffield Manor, on an eminence a little distance from the +town, and there he received Cardinal Wolsey into his custody soon after his +apprehension. It was on his journey from Sheffield Manor up to London, in +order to attend his trial, that the Cardinal died at Leicester Abbey. In the +reign of Queen Elizabeth, Mary Queen of Scots, who had been committed to the +custody of George, sixth Earl of Shrewsbury, after being confined in Tutbury +Castle, was removed in 1570 first to Sheffield Castle, and then to Sheffield +Manor House, where she spent fourteen years. It was for the alleged +intention of moving her hence that Thomas Duke of Norfolk, an ancestor of the +ducal family, still closely connected with Sheffield, suffered on the +scaffold. The grandson of this Duke of Norfolk, at whose trial the Earl of +Shrewsbury presided as High Steward, afterwards married the granddaughter of +the Earl, and thereby became possessed of this castle and estate." And now, +in 1851, another son of Norfolk is about to acquire a large fortune by a +Talbot. + +During the reign of Elizabeth, the Duke of Alva, whose persecutions did more +for extending and improving the manufactures of this country than any amount +of parchment protection, drove over, in addition to the weavers of linen and +fullers of cloth, artizans in iron and steel. These, according to the wise +rule of settling all one craft in one spot, were by the advice of the Queen's +Chamberlain, the Earl of Shrewsbury, settled on his own estate at Sheffield, +and the neighbourhood thenceforward became known for the manufacture of +shears, sickles, knives of every kind, and scissors. + +About this time (1613), according to a survey, Sheffield contained about 2207 +inhabitants, of whom the most wealthy were "100 householders, which relieve +the others, but are poore artificers, not one of whom can keep a team on his +own land, and above ten have grounds of their own, which will keep a cow." In +1624, an act of the incorporation of cutlers was passed, entituled "An act +for the good order and government of the makers of sickles, shears, scissors, +and other cutlery wares in Hallamshire and parts near adjoining." + +Gilbert, seventh Earl of Shrewsbury, the last of the male line of the house +of Talbot, who inherited the Hallamshire estates, died on the 8th May 1616, +leaving three daughters, co-heiresses. The Lady Alethea Talbot, the +youngest, married the Earl of Arundel, and the other two, dying without issue +in 1654, the whole estates descended to her grandson, Thomas Howard, Earl of +Arundel, who was restored to the title of Duke of Norfolk by Charles II., on +his restoration, and in that family a considerable property in Sheffield +remains to this day--not without narrow escapes of extinction. Charles James +Fox's friend, Jockey of Norfolk, was one of a family which seems to afford +every contrast of character in possession of the title. + +In the great civil wars, Sheffield was the scene of more than one contest. In +1644, on the 1st August, after the battle of Marston Moor, the castle was +besieged by twelve thousand infantry dispatched by the Earl of Manchester, +compelled to surrender in a few days, and demolished by order of parliament. + +The manor was dismantled in 1706 by order of Thomas Duke of Norfolk, and the +splendid park, shaven of its great trees, was converted into building land, +or accommodation land, part of which is still known by the name of the Park. + +During the eighteenth century the Sheffield trade was entirely confined to +the home market, and chiefly conducted by pack horses. In 1751 a step toward +extension was made by the completion of works, which rendered the Don +navigable up to Tinsley. In 1819 the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal was +completed; and now Manchester, Leeds, Hull, and Liverpool, are all within a +morning's ride. + +The art of silver-plating was invented at Sheffield by Thomas Bolsover, an +ingenious mechanic, in the latter half of the eighteenth century, and +extensively applied by Mr. Joseph Hancock. This trade has been seriously +affected by the invention of electro-plating, which has transferred much of +the Sheffield trade to Birmingham. The invention of Britannia metal speedily +followed that of plating. + +In 1750 a direct trade to the continent was opened by Mr. Thomas Broadbent. +The example was soon followed. The first stage-coach to London, started in +1760, and the first bank was opened in 1762. + +At present the population can be little short of 120,000. The passing of the +Reform Bill gave to Sheffield two representatives. The constituency is one +of the most independent in the kingdom. No "Man in the Moon" has any room +for the exercise of his seductive faculties in Sheffield. + +What is still more strange, until after the enactment of the Municipal +Corporation Bill, Sheffield had no local authorities. The Petty Sessions +business was discharged by county magistrates, and the Master Cutler acted as +a sort of master of the ceremonies on occasions of festivity, without any +real power. That honorary office is still retained, although Sheffield has +now its aldermen and common councillors. + +There is a "Royal Free Grammar School" founded in 1649, with an income from +endowments of about 150 pounds a-year. Free to thirty boys, as regards +classics, subject to a charge of four guineas per annum for instruction in +the commercial department. In 1850 there were eighty-one scholars. + +Manufactures.--Sheffield, through every change, has deservedly retained its +reputation for the manufacture of razors, surgical instruments, and the +highest class of cutlery, and a considerable number of carpenters' and other +steel tools. + +In the coarser steel articles Birmingham does a considerable and increasing +business, and Sheffield workmen settling in Germany and in the United States +have, from time to time, alarmed their native town by the rivalry of their +pupils; nevertheless, it may confidently be asserted, that with its present +advantages Sheffield can never lose her pre-eminence in cutlery if her sons +are only true to her and themselves. + +The steel consumed in England is manufactured chiefly from iron imported from +Sweden and Russia. It has not been exactly ascertained whence arises the +superiority of this iron for that purpose. But all foreign iron converted +into steel is composed of magnetic iron ore, smelted with charcoal. This +kind of ore is found in several countries, particularly in Spain. In New +Zealand, at New Plymouth it is said to be found in great quantities; but from +the two countries first mentioned we obtain a supply of from 12,000 to 15,000 +tons, of which about 9000 come from Sweden. The celebrated mines of Danemora +produce the finest Swedish iron, and only a limited quantity is allowed to be +produced each year. All the steel-iron used in England is imported into +Hull. Bar-steel is manufactured by heating the iron, divided into lumps, in +pots, with layers of charcoal, closely covered over with sand and clay, for +several days. By this means the iron is carbonized and converted into what +is commonly called blistered steel. The heat is kept up a longer or shorter +time according to the hardness required. + +Bar-steel, as it comes from the furnace, is divided and sorted, and the +pieces free from flaws and blisters are rolled out and converted into files, +knives, coach-springs, razors, and common implements, according to quality. +It will be seen that there is a good deal of science and judgment required to +manufacture the best steel. + +Sheer steel is made from bar-steel by repeated heating, hammering, and +welding. + +Cast steel, a very valuable invention, which has in a great degree superseded +sheer steel for many purposes, was first made in 1770 by Mr. Hunstman, at +Allercliff, near Sheffield. It is made by subjecting bar-steel, of a certain +degree of hardness, to an intense heat, for two or three hours, in a +crucible, and then casting it in ingots. + +The Indian Wootz steel, of which such fine specimens were exhibited in the +Exhibition, and from which extraordinary sabres have been made, is cast +steel, but, from the rudeness of the process, rarely obtained perfect in any +quantity. Whenever we have the good fortune to intersect India with +railroads, steel-iron will be among the number of our enlarged imports. + +The hard and elastic qualities of steel, known as "temper," are obtained by +heating and then cooling rapidly. For this purpose baths of mercury and of +boiling oil are used. Some waters are supposed to have peculiar virtues for +tempering steel. + +Case-hardening, a process much used for tools and plough-shares, consists in +superficially hardening cast iron or wrought iron by heating it in a charcoal +crucible, and so converting it into steel. + +The successful operations for converting steel into various kinds of +instruments, depends very much upon manual skill. The mechanics are united +in trades' unions of great power, and have exercised an influence over the +manufacturers of the town of a very injurious nature. At one period, the +razor-grinders and superior mechanics in several branches, were able to earn +as much as five and six, and even ten, pounds a-week. At that period, when +they had almost a monopoly of the cutlery trade, on a very trifling excuse +they would decide on taking a holiday, or, as it is termed, "playing." +Strikes for higher wages generally took place whenever any good orders from +foreign markets were known to have reached the town. By these arbitrary +proceedings, arising from an ignorance of the common principles of political +economy, which it is to be hoped that the spread of education will remove, +the Sheffield cutlery trade has been seriously injured. A few years ago +large numbers of the cutlers emigrated. + +Further depression was produced by the rivalry of Birmingham in the +electrotype process, which has, to a considerable degree, superseded the +Sheffield plate and other trades, the latter town being better placed for the +foreign trade, while the workmen are less turbulent. + +Beside cutlery and Sheffield plate, Britannia metal, and other similar +ornamental and domestic articles, a good deal of heavy ironware is made in +Sheffield. We may notice the fire-grates, stoves, and fenders, of which all +the best, wherever sold and whatever name and address they bear, come from +Sheffield. In this branch of manufacture a great deal of artistic taste has +been introduced, and many scientific improvements for distributing and +economizing heat. + +The firm of Stuart and Smith, Roscoe Place, distinguished themselves at the +Great Exhibition, by producing a series of beautiful grates, at prices +between two pounds and one hundred guineas. + +There are some establishments for the manufactory of machinery. + +Within the last year or two Sheffield has enjoyed a revival of prosperity, +especially in the article of edge tools. + +The mechanics of Sheffield are a very remarkable and interesting set of +people, with a more distinct character than the mechanics of those towns +which are recruited from various parts of the country. They are +"Sheffielders." + +A public meeting at Sheffield is a very remarkable scene. The rules of +public business are perfectly understood and observed; unless in periods of +very great excitement, the most unpopular speaker will receive a fair +hearing. A fair hearing does not express it. The silence of a Sheffield +audience, the manner in which they drink in every word of a stranger, +carefully watching for the least symptom of humbug, and unreduced by the most +tempting claptrap, is something quite awful. + +A man with a good coat on his back must dismiss all attempts at compliments, +all roundabout phrases, and plunge into the middle of the business with the +closest arguments he can muster, to produce any effect on the Sheffield +blades. Although they look on all gentlemen with the greatest distrust, and +have a most comical fear of imaginary emissaries from Government wandering to +and fro to seduce them, they thoroughly understand and practise fair play. +The sterling qualities of these men inspire one with respect, and regret that +they should be imposed upon by such "blageurs" as Feargus O'Connor and his +troop. Perhaps they are wiser now. + +The Sheffielders, by way of relaxation, are fond of gardening, cricket, dog +fighting, and formerly of hunting. They are very skilful gardeners,--their +celery is famous. A few years ago, one of the trades hired land to employ +their unemployed members. Many possess freehold cottages. + +Cricket and similar amusements have been encouraged by the circumstance that, +in summer droughts, the water-power on which the grindstones depend often +falls short, and then there is a fair reason for turning out to play or to +garden, as the case may be, according to taste. + +Sheffield bulldogs used to be very famous, and there are still famous ones to +be found; but dog fighting, with drinking, is going out of fashion. + +But, although other towns play at cricket, and love good gardening and good +dogs, we presume that the Sheffielders are the only set of mechanics in +Europe who ever kept their own pack of hounds. Such was the case a few years +ago, when we had the pleasure of seeing them; and, if they are still in +existence, they are worth going a hundred miles to see. The hounds, which +were old English harriers, slow and deep-mouthed, were quartered at various +cottages in the suburbs. On hunting mornings, when the men had a holiday, +the huntsman, who was paid by a general subscription, took his stand on a +particular hill top and blew his horn. + +In a few minutes, from all quarters the hounds began to canter up to him, and +he blew and blew again until a full complement, some ten or twelve couples, +had arrived. + +The subscribers came up in twos and threes on the hacks of the well known +"Shanks," armed with stout sticks; and then off they set, as gay and much +more in earnest than many dozen who sport pink and leathers outside on +hundred guinea nags. + +Music is a good deal cultivated among all classes in Sheffield. There are +two scientific associations, but of no particular mark. Sheffield has +produced two poets of very different metal, James Montgomery and Ebenezer +Elliott, both genuine; and a sculptor, Chantrey, who was apprenticed there to +a wheelwright. + +The railway communications of Sheffield were long imperfect,--they are now +excellent. The clothing districts of Yorkshire are united by two lines. The +North Midland connects it with Derbyshire, and affords a short road by Derby +and through Leicestershire to London on one side, and by Burton to Birmingham +on the other. The Lincolnshire line has shortened the distance to Hull, +whence the steel-iron comes, and fat cattle; the Manchester line carries away +the bars converted into cutlery, and all the plated ware and hardware, by +Liverpool, to customers in America, North or South. + +We must not forget that there are coal-pits close to the town, of extensive +workings, which are extremely well suited for the visit of an amateur. Even +a courageous lady might, without inconvenience, travel underground along the +tramways in the trucks, if she did not mind the jolting. + +The miners are not at all like our Staffordshire friends, but are very decent +fellows. There are a good many Wesleyan Methodists among them, and hymns may +be heard sometimes resounding along the vaulted galleries, and rising from +behind the air-doors, where children sit all day on duty,--dull work, but not +hard or cold. + +A well managed coal mine is a very fine sight. + + + + +DERBYSHIRE. + + +From either Sheffield or Manchester a most delightful journey is open through +Derbyshire to a good pedestrian, or to a party of friends travelling in a +carriage with their own horses. For the latter purpose an Irish outside car, +fitted either with a pole or outrigger for a pair of horses, is one of the +best conveyances we know. The front seat holds the driver; two ladies and +two gentlemen fill up the two sides. The well contains ample space for the +luggage of sensible people; umbrellas and waterproof capes can be strapped on +the intermediate cushion, and then, if the horses are provided with military +halters and nosebags, you are prepared for every eventuality. To other +impedimenta it is not amiss to add a couple of light saddles, so that, if +necessary, some of the party may ride to any particular spot. + +This mode of travelling is particularly well suited for Derbyshire, Wales, +Devonshire, and all counties where there are beautiful spots worth visiting +to which there are no regular conveyances, and which, indeed, are often only +accidentally discovered. By this mode of travelling you are rendered +perfectly independent of time and taverns, so long as you reach an inn in +time to go to bed; for you can carry all needful provant for both man and +beast with you. + +Derbyshire is in every respect one of the most beautiful counties in England, +and deserves a closer investigation than can be obtained from the outside of +a coach, much less from the windows of a flying train, whenever the promised +railway line, which we propose to traverse, shall be completed. + +Derbyshire possesses two kinds of scenery totally distinct in character, but +both remarkably picturesque, several natural curiosities of a very striking +character, two very pleasant bath towns,--Buxton and Matlock; beside the +antiquarian glories of Hardwicke and Haddon, and the palatial magnificence of +Chatsworth, with its porticoes, its fountains, its pleasure grounds, its +Victoria Regia, and the House of Glass that has been the means of making +Joseph Paxton famous all over the civilized world. + +While the country round the Peak is wild, bare, and rugged, the line of +valleys and dales on which lies the road from Matlock to Burton and +Manchester, presents the most charming series of pictures of undulating +woodland scenery, adorned by mansions and cottages, that it is possible to +imagine. The high road continually runs along the steep side of valleys,--on +one side are thick coverts climbing the rocky hill-sides, all variegated with +wild flowers, briars, and brushwood; on the other side, sometimes on a level +with the road, sometimes far below, a river winds and foams and brawls along; +if lost for a short distance, again coming in sight of the road, enlivening +and refreshing the scene. + +In the main avenue of the Crystal Palace, Mr. Carrington exhibited a model +which represented with extraordinary accuracy all this country, and which +gave a very exact picture of Derbyshire, with all the undulations of its +hills and rivers worked to a scale. Those who have never been in the county +should endeavour to see it, as it will teach them that we have a Switzerland +in England of which they knew not. + +One charm of this part of Derbyshire is the intermixture of cultivation and +wild nature, or woods so planted as to well emulate nature. On bits of level +space you meet a cottage neatly built of stone, all covered with roses and +woodbines, which flourish wonderfully on the loose soil in the showery +atmosphere. The cottages of Derbyshire are so pretty that you are at first +inclined to imagine that they are for show,--mere fancy buildings. But no; +the cheapness of good building stone, the suitability of the soil for +flowering shrubs, and perhaps something in the force of example, create +cottage after cottage fit for the dwellings of Arcadian lovers. And every +now and then the landscape opens on a villa or mansion so placed that there +is nothing left for the landscape gardener to do. + +The farm buildings, and corn mills, and silk mills, are equally picturesque: +game abounds. Early in the morning and in the evening you may often see the +pheasants feeding close to the roadside, and, in the middle of the day, the +sudden sharp noise of a detonating ball will set them crowing in the woods +all around. + +We cannot say that the streams now swarm with trout and grayling as they did +when honest Isaac Walton sung their praises in quaint poetical prose, +although they still twine and foam along their rocky beds all overhung with +willows and tufted shrubs; but, where the waters are preserved, there good +sport is to be had. + +The roadside inns are not bad. The half-mining, half-farming people are +quaint and amusing. The caverns of the Peak and the lead mines, afford +something strange and new. Altogether we can warmly commend a trip through +Derbyshire, as one affording great variety of hill and dale, wood and stream, +barren moors, and rich cultivation, fine parks and mansions, and beautiful +hamlets, cottages, and roadside gardens, where English peasant life is to be +seen under most favourable aspects. + +* * * * * + +HARDWICKE.--Supposing that we proceed from Sheffield, we would take the +railway to Chesterfield, which is not a place of any interest. Thence make +our way to Hardwicke, on the road to Mansfield. + +Hardwicke Hall is a good specimen of the style of domestic architecture in +the time of Queen Elizabeth, which has remained unaltered since that period. +Mary Queen of Scots was imprisoned here, and some remains of tapestry worked +by her are exhibited, as well as furniture more ancient than the house +itself. It belongs to the Duke of Devonshire. + +From Hardwicke we proceed to Matlock, which may be reached by an unfinished +railway, intended to traverse the vales, and thence run into Manchester. + +The village and baths are in the centre of a dale through which the river +Derwent flows, along between overhanging trees, except where, in some parts, +its course lies through the narrow gut of perpendicular rocks. On either +side rise hills, for the most part adorned with wood, to the height of three +hundred feet. + +The waters, which are supplied to several small and one large swimming bath, +have a temperature of from 66 to 68 degrees of Fahrenheit. They are not now +much in fashion, therefore the village has continued a village, and is +extremely quiet or dull according to the tastes of the visitor. At the same +time, there are a number of delightful expeditions to be made in the +neighbourhood, on foot or horseback, and on donkeys,--hills to be ascended and +caves to be explored. + +By permission of Sir Richard Arkwright of Willersley Castle, close to Matlock +and several other river preserves, good fishing may be obtained. + +From Matlock, the next halt should be at Bakewell, where there is an +excellent inn, which is a good encampment for visiting both Chatsworth and +Haddon Hall. + +Chatsworth is three miles from Bakewell. The present building occupies the +site of that which was long occupied by Mary Queen of Scots during her +captivity, and which was taken down to make room for the present structure at +the close of the seventeenth century. + +The park is ten miles in circumference, and is intersected by the river +Derwent, which flows in front of the mansion. + +This place has long been celebrated for its natural and artificial beauties, +but within the last few years the Duke of Devonshire has largely added to its +attractions, by alterations carried on at an immense expense, under the +direction of Mr. Joseph Paxton, which, among other things, include the +largest greenhouse in the world--the house where the Victoria Regia was first +made to flower, and a fountain of extraordinary height and beauty. + +These grounds, with the house, containing some fine pictures, are open to the +visits of all well-behaved persons. Indeed, from the arrangements made for +the convenience of visitors, it would seem as if the Duke of Devonshire has +as much pleasure in displaying, as visitors can have in examining, his most +beautiful domains, which is saying a great deal. + +Haddon Hall, one of the most perfect specimens of a mansion of the fifteenth +and sixteenth centuries, is situated on the left bank of the Wye, at a short +distance from Bakewell. The "interiors" of Mr. Joseph Nash have rendered the +beauties of the architecture of Haddon Hall well known, but it also enjoys +the advantage of a very fine situation, backed by old trees. It is the +property of the Duke of Rutland, uninhabited, but perfectly preserved. Good +fishing is to be obtained near Bakewell, through the landlord of the hotel. + +BUXTON may be the next halt, the Leamington of Manchester, but although more +picturesquely situated, it has not enjoyed anything like the tide of +prosperity which has flowed for the Warwickshire watering place. The thermal +waters of Buxton have been celebrated from the time of the Romans. + +The town is situated in a deep basin, surrounded by bleak hills and barren +moors, in strong contrast to the verdant valley in which the village of +Matlock lies. The only entrance to and exit from this basin is by a narrow +ravine, through which the river Wye flows on its way to join the Derwent +toward Bakewell. + +The highest mountains in Derbyshire are close at hand, one of which is one +thousand feet above the valley in which Buxton stands, and two thousand one +hundred feet higher than the town of Derby. From this mountain four rivers +rise, the Wye, the Dove, the Goyt, and the Dean. + +Buxton consists of a new and old town. In the old town is a hall, in which +Mary Queen of Scots lodged whilst visiting the Buxton waters for her health, +as a prisoner under charge of the Earl of Shrewsbury. A Latin distich, a +farewell to Buxton, scratched on the window of one of the rooms, is +attributed to the hand of that unhappy princess. + +The new part of the town commences with the Crescent, which contains two +houses, a library, an assembly-room, a news-room, baths, and other buildings, +and is one of the finest structures of the kind in the kingdom. The stables, +on a magnificent scale, contain a covered ride, a hundred and sixty feet +long. This immense pile was built by the late Duke of Devonshire in 1781, +and cost 120,000 pounds. + +The public baths are very numerous and elegant; and indeed every comfort and +luxury is to be obtained there by invalids and semi-invalids, except that +perpetual atmosphere of amusement, without form, or fuss, or much expense, +which forms the great charm of German watering places. + +We cannot understand why at the present moderate price of all kinds of +provisions in England, a tariff of prices, and a set of customs of expense +are kept up, which send all persons of moderate fortune to continental +watering places, or compel them to depart at the end of a fortnight, instead +of staying a month. + +Why do we English,--after dining at a table d'hote, all the way from Baden- +Baden to Boulogne, for something not exceeding half-a-crown a-head, without +drinking wine, unless we like,--find ourselves bound, the moment we set our +foot in England, to have a private or stereotyped dinner at five or six +shillings a-head, and no amusement. In London, for gentlemen only, there are +three or four public dinners at a moderate figure. When will some of our +bell-wethers of fashion, to whom economy is of more consequence than even the +middle classes, set the example at Leamington, Tunbridge Wells, Buxton, and +Cheltenham, of dining with their wives and daughters at the public table? How +long are we to be slaves of salt soup, fried soles, and fiery sherry? + +The decayed watering places, ruined by the competition of the continent, +should try the experiment of commercial prices, as an invitation to idlers +and half-invalids to stay at home. + +Another great help to our watering places and farmers, would be the repeal of +the post-horse tax. It brings in a mere trifle. The repeal would be an +immense boon to places where the chief attraction depends on rides and +drives. It would largely increase the number of horses and vehicles for +hire, and be a real aid to the distressed agricultural interest, by the +increased demand it would make for corn, hay, and straw. Besides, near a +small place like Matlock, or Ilfracombe, in Devonshire, farmers would work +horses through the winter, and hire them out in summer. It is a great tax to +pay four shillings and sixpence as a minimum for going a mile in any country +place where flies and cabs have not been planted. + +The environs of Buxton afford ample room for rides, drives, picnics, and +geological and botanical explorations. Beautifully romantic scenes are to be +found among the high crags on the Bakewell road, overhanging the river Wye. +Among the natural curiosities is a cave called Poole's Hole, five hundred and +sixty yards in length, with a ceiling in one part very lofty, and adorned +with stalactites, which have a beautiful appearance when lighted up by Roman +candles or other fireworks. As Buxton is only twenty-two miles from +Manchester, travellers who have the time to spare should on no account omit +to visit one of the most romantic and remarkable scenes of England. + +* * * * * + +MACCLESFIELD.--From Buxton it will not be a bad plan to proceed to +Macclesfield, and again in Cheshire, on the borders of Derbyshire, take +advantage of the rail. The turnpike road to that improving seat of the silk +manufacture is across one of the highest hills in the district, from the +summit of which an extensive view into the "Vale Royal" of Cheshire is had. +The hills and valleys in the vicinity of Whaley and Chapel-en-le-Frith are +equally delightful. Macclesfield has one matter of attraction--its important +silk manufactories. In other respects it is externally perfectly +uninteresting. The Earl of Chester, son of Henry III., made Macclesfield a +free borough, consisting of a hundred and twenty burgesses, and various +privileges were conferred by Edward III., Richard II., Edward IV., Elizabeth, +and Charles II. + +One of the churches, St. Michael's, was founded by Eleanor, Queen of Edward +I., in 1278. It has been partly rebuilt, but there are two chapels, one the +property of the Marquis of Cholmondeley, which was built by Thomas Savage, +Archbishop of York, whose heart was buried there in 1508. The other belongs +to the Leghs of Lyme. A brass plate shows that the estate of Lyme was +bestowed upon an ancestor for recovering a standard at the battle of Cressy. +He was afterwards beheaded at Chester as a supporter of Richard II. Another +ancestor, Sir Piers Legh, fell fighting at the battle of Agincourt. We do +not know what manner of men the Leghs of Lyme of the present generation are, +but certainly pride is pardonable in a family with an ancestry which took +part in deeds not only recorded by history, but immortalized by Shakspeare. + +There is a grammar school, of the foundation of Edward VI., with an income of +1500 pounds a-year, free to all residents, with two exhibitions of 50 pounds +per annum, tenable for four years. But there must be some mismanagement, as +it appears from Parker's useful Educational Register, that in 1850 only +twenty-two scholars availed themselves of these privileges; yet Macclesfield +has a population exceeding thirty thousand. + +The education of the working classes is above average, and music is much +cultivated. We abstain from giving the figures in this as in several other +instances, because the census, which will shortly be published, will afford +exact information on all these points. + +The establishment of silk factories on the river Bollen brought Macclesfield +into notice in the beginning of this century. Unhampered by the restrictions +which weighed upon the Spitalfields manufacturers, and nurtured by the +monopoly accorded to English silks, the silk weaving trade gradually attained +great prosperity between 1808 and 1825. At that period the commencement of +the fiscal changes, which have rendered the silk trade quite open to foreign +competition, produced a serious effect on the prosperity of Macclesfield. + +In 1832 the number of mills at work had diminished nearly one-half, and the +number of hands by two-thirds. Since that period, after various +vicissitudes, the silk trade has acquired a more healthy tone, and we presume +that the inhabitants do not now consider the alterations commenced by +Huskisson, and completed by Peel, injurious to their interests; since, at the +last election, they returned one free-trader, a London shopkeeper, in +conjunction with a local banker and manufacturer. + +Macclesfield has now to contend with home as well as foreign competition, for +silk manufactories have been spread over the kingdom in many directions. + +We may expect to see in a few years, as the result of the universal extension +of railway communication, a great distribution and transplantation of +manufacturing establishments to towns where cheap labour and provisions, or +good water or water-power, or cheap fuel, offer any advantages, There is +something very curious to be noted in the manner in which certain of our +principal manufactures have remained constant, while others have been +transplanted from place to place, and in which ports have risen and fallen. + +The glory of the Cinque Ports seems departed for ever, unless as harbours of +refuge, while Folkestone, by the help of a railway, has acquired a +considerable trade at the expense of Dover. The same power which has +rendered Southampton great has reduced Falmouth and Harwich to a miserably +low ebb. The sea-borne trade of Chester is gone for ever, but Birkenhead +hopes to rise by the power of steam. + +No changes can seriously injure Hull, although railways will give Great +Grimsby a large share of the overflowings of the new kind of trade created by +large steam boats and the repeal of duties on timber; and so we might run +through a long list of commercial changes, past, present, and to come. + +Macclesfield has shared largely in these influences. Having acquired its +commercial importance as one of the glasshouses in which, at great expense, +we raised an artificial silk trade, when it lay at a distance of at least +three hours from Manchester for all heavy goods, and at least three days from +London; it has now communication with London in five hours, and with the port +of Liverpool, through Manchester, in two hours if needful. Thus it enjoys +the best possible means of obtaining the raw material and sending off the +manufactured article. + +In the time of Queen Charlotte, the wife of George III., it was contrary to +the laws of the palace for any servant to wear a silk gown; but extended +commerce and improved machinery have rendered it almost a matter of course +for the respectable cook of a respectable lawyer or surgeon, to afford +herself a black silk gown without extravagance or impertinence,--which is so +much the better for the weavers and sailors. + +We shall not attempt to describe the silk manufacture, which is on the same +principles as all other textiles, except that less work can be done by +machinery. But it is one of the most pleasant and picturesque of all our +manufacturing operations. The long light rooms in which the weaving is +conducted are scrupulously clean and of a pleasant temperature,--no dust, no +motes are flying about. The girls in short sleeves, in the course of their +work are, as it were, obliged to assume a series of graceful attitudes. The +delicacy of their work, and the upward position in which they hold them, +render their hands white and delicate, and the atmosphere has something of +the same effect on their complexion. Many of the greatest beauties of +Belgravia might envy the white hands and taper fingers to be found in a silk +mill. + +Unfortunately this trade, which in factory work is healthy and well paid, is, +more than any other, subject to the vicissitudes of fashion. The plain +qualities suffer from such changes less than the rich brocades and fancy +patterns. + +It must be remarked that, although the repeal of protective duties to +eighteen per cent. produced a temporary depressing effect on the trade of +Macclesfield, the general silk trade has largely increased ever since 1826, +and has spread over a number of counties where it was before unknown, and has +become an important article of export even to France. + +An example of the readiness with which, in these railroad days, a manufacture +can be transplanted, was exhibited at Tewkesbury four years ago. The once- +fashionable theatre of that decayed town was being sold by auction; it hung +on the auctioneer's hammer at so trifling a sum that one of the new made +M.P.'s of the borough bought it. Having bought it, for want of some other +use he determined to turn it into a silk mill. In a very short space of time +the needful machinery was obtained from Macclesfield, with an overseer. While +the machinery was being erected, a bevy of girls were acquiring the art of +silk weaving, and, in less than twelve months, five or six hundred hands were +as regularly engaged in this novel process, as if they had been so engaged +all their lives. Without railroads, such an undertaking would have been the +work of years, if possible at all. + +Raw silk is obtained from Italy, from France in small quantities, as the +exportation of the finest silk is forbidden, from China, from India in +increasing quantities, and from Brusa in Asia Minor through Constantinople. + +The raw silk, imported in the state in which it is wound from the cocoons, +has to be twisted into thread, after being dyed, so as to approach the stage +of yarn in the cotton manufacture. This twisting is technically called +throwing, and is one of the departments in which the greatest improvements +have been introduced, as shown by silk throwers from Macclesfield in the +machine department of the Great Exhibition; and, by the improvements, the +cost of throwing, or twisting, has been reduced from 10s. per lb. to 3s. + +It takes about twelve pounds of cocoons to make one pound of reeled silk, and +that pound will produce from fourteen to sixteen yards of gros de Naples. + +Many attempts have been made to naturalize the silk-worm in this country, +but, after rather large sums have been expended on it, it is now quite clear +that, although it be possible to obtain large quantities of silk of a certain +quality, the undertaking cannot be made to pay: the climate is an obstacle. + +For centuries the silk-worm was only known to the Chinese,--the Greeks and +Romans used the substance without knowing from what it was produced or whence +it came. In the sixth century, in the reign of Justinian, the eggs of the +silk-worm were brought secretly to Constantinople from China by the Nestorian +monks in a hollow cane, hatched, and successfully propagated. For six +centuries the breeding of silk-worms was confined to the Greeks of the Lower +Empire. In the twelfth century the art was transferred to Sicily, and thence +successively to Italy, Spain, and France. + +Great efforts were made in the reign of James I. to promote the rearing of +silk-worms in England, and mulberry trees were distributed to persons of +influence through many counties. The scheme failed. But in 1718 a company +was incorporated, with a like purpose, and planted trees, and erected +buildings in Chelsea Park. This scheme also failed. Great efforts were made +to plant the growth of silk in the American colonies, and the brilliant +prospects of establishing a new staple of export formed a prominent feature +in the schemes for American colonization, of which so many were launched in +the beginning of the eighteenth century. But up to the present time no +progress has been made in it in that country, although silk-worms are found +in a natural state in the forests of the Union. Indeed, it seems a pursuit +which needs cheap attentive labour as well as suitable climate. Some +attempts have been made in Australia, but there again the latter question +presents an insurmountable obstacle. If the mulberry would thrive in Natal, +where native labour is cheap, it would be worth trying there, although we +cannot do better than develop the resources of the silk-growing districts of +India, where the culture has been successfully carried on for centuries. + +At the Great Exhibition an extremely handsome banner was exhibited, +manufactured from British silk, cultivated by the late Mrs. Whitby of +Newlands, near Southampton, who spent a large income, and many years in the +pursuit, solely from philanthropic motives, and carried on an extensive +correspondence with parties inclined to assist her views; but, although to +the last she was sanguine of success in making silk one of the raw staples of +England, and a profitable source of employment for women and children, we +have seen no commercial evidence of any more real progress than that of +gardeners in growing grapes and melons without glass-houses. + +Almost every country in Europe has made the same attempts, but with very +moderate success. Russia has its mulberry plantations, so has Belgium, +Austria Proper, Hungary, Bavaria, and even Sweden; but Lombardy and Cevennes +in France bear away the palm for excellence, and there is an annual increase +in the quantity and quality of silk from British India. But no matter where +it grows, we can buy it and bring it to our own doors nearly as cheap as the +natives of the country, often cheaper. + +In Macclesfield every kind of silk article is produced, including ribbons, +narrow and richly-ornamented satin, velvet, silk embroidered for waistcoats +and gown pieces. + + + + +FROM CHESHIRE TO NORTH STAFFORDSHIRE. + + +On leaving Macclesfield we are, as usual, embarrassed by a choice of routes, +due to the perseverance of Mr. Ricardo, one of the members for the Potteries, +who has endowed his constituents with a set of railways, which cut through +their district in all manner of ways. These North Staffordshire lines, Tria +juncta in uno, form an engineering continuation of the Trent Valley, and are +invaluable to the manufacturers of porcelain and pottery in that district. To +the shareholders they have proved rather a disappointment. The ten per cent. +secured to the Trent Valley Company, by the fears of the London and North- +Western, has not yet rewarded the patriotism of the North Staffordshire +shareholders. But to our route, we may either make our way by Leek, Cheadle, +Alton, and Uttoxeter to Burton, famous for the ale of Bass and game of +cricket nourished on it, and through Burton to Derby. (The learned and +lively author of the "Cricket Field" remarks, that the game of cricket +follows malt and hops--no ale, no bowlers or batsmen. It began at Farnham +hops, and has never rolled further north than Edinburgh ale.) Or by +Congleton, Burslem, Hanley, and Stoke upon Trent (the very heart of the +Potteries), then either pushing on to Uttoxeter to the north, or keeping the +south arm past Trentham to Norton Bridge, which will convey you to the Trent +Valley Line, the shortest way to London. + +* * * * * + +CONGLETON is an ancient borough of Cheshire, on the borders of Staffordshire, +containing a number of those black and white oak frame and plaster houses, +which are peculiar to that county, and well worth examining. It is situated +in a deep romantic valley on the banks of the river Dane, and enjoys a +greater reputation for health than commercial progress. The population does +not appear to have increased between the two last census. The Municipal +Corporation dates from a remote period. It appears from the Corporation +Books that the Mayor and Aldermen patronised every kind of sport--plays, cock +fights, bear baiting, morris dancing. So fond were they of bear baiting, +that in 1621, by a unanimous vote, they transferred the money intended for a +bible to the purchase of a bear. + +Times are changed; every inhabitant of Congleton can now have his own bible +for tenpence. Bear baiting and cock fighting have been discontinued; but we +hope the inhabitants have grown wiser than they were some fifteen years ago, +when they allowed themselves, for the sake of petty political disputes, to be +continually drawn through the Courts of Law and Chancery--a process quite as +cruel for the suitors, and more expensive and less amusing than bear-baiting. + +At the Town Hall is to be seen a "bridle" for a scold, which the ladies of +the present generation are too well behaved ever to deserve. President +Bradshaw, the regicide, was a Cheshireman, born and christened at Stockport. +He practised as barrister, and served the office of mayor in 1637, at +Congleton, of which he afterwards became high steward. At Macclesfield, +according to tradition, he wrote, when a boy, on a tombstone, these prophetic +lines:-- + + "My brother Henry must heir the land, + My brother Frank must be at his command, + Whilst I, poor Jack! will do that, + That all the world shall wonder at." + +Bradshaw became Chief Justice of the County Palatine of Chester under the +Commonwealth, was dismissed by Cromwell for his Republican opinions, died in +1659, was magnificently buried in Westminster Abbey, and disinterred and +gibbeted with Cromwell and Ireton at the Restoration. A piece of vengeance +on poor dead bones that remained unimitated until one of the mobs of the +first French Revolution scattered the bones of the French Kings buried in the +vaults of St. Denis. + + + + +THE LAKES. + + +Some of our readers may feel disposed to visit the charming scenery with +which Cumberland and Westmoreland abound; and that they may be assisted in +their route thereto, and in their rambles through that beautiful district, we +will furnish a few notes descriptive of the most convenient and pleasant +routes. + +From Congleton an easy diversion may be made, by railway, to Crewe, and from +thence the journey, along the North-Western line, passing Northwich +(Cheshire) and Warrington (Lancashire), via Parkside, to Preston, Garstang, +and Lancaster, is rapid and agreeable. The approach to Preston is remarkably +pleasing, the railway being carried across a magnificent vale, through which +the river Lune, a fine, wide stream, equalling in beauty the far-famed Dee, +runs towards the Irish Channel. + +* * * * * + +PRESTON is a populous manufacturing town, in which cotton-spinning is carried +on to a very large extent, and is surrounded by a rich agricultural district, +which furnishes in abundance every kind of farming produce. The borough +returns two members to Parliament, is a corporate town, and has acquired a +distinction by its Guilds, which are conducted with great spirit every twenty +years. The market, which is held on the Saturday, is well supplied with +fruits, vegetables, and fish, salmon included, taken from the river Lune. + +* * * * * + +LANCASTER, twenty miles northward, is also a borough town, returning two +members to Parliament, and is governed by a mayor and town council. It is +one of the ancient ports of Lancashire, and, being the county town, the +assizes for North Lancashire are held there. Some years ago the assizes for +the whole of Lancashire were regularly holden at Lancaster, and in those +palmy days, as the judicial sittings generally extended to sixteen or twenty +days, a rich harvest was reaped, not only by "the gentlemen of the long +robe," but also by the numerous innkeepers in the place. The assize business +for South Lancashire was at length removed to Liverpool, as the most +convenient site for the large number of suitors from that part of the county; +and since that period the town of Lancaster has lost much of its importance. +There are many objects of especial interest within the town and in the +immediate district. The ancient castle (now the county gaol), once the +residence of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster; the Nisi Prius Court, an +elegant and spacious building from a design by the late Mr. Harrison of +Chester; and the old parish church, are worthy of close inspection; whilst +from the castle terrace and churchyard delightful views of the river, +Morecambe Bay, and the distant hills of Cumberland and Westmoreland, are +commanded. The village of Hornby, a few miles northward, situated on the +banks of the Lune, is one of the most picturesque and retired spots in the +kingdom. The river, for several miles from Lancaster, is studded with +enchanting scenery, and is much frequented by the lovers of the rod and line. + +From Lancaster the tourist may proceed easily, via the Lancaster and Carlisle +railway, into the very midst of the Lake district. Kendal is about twenty +miles from Lancaster, and from the former pretty town a branch line runs +direct to Windermere, whence parties may proceed to Bowness, Ambleside, +Keswick, and other delightful and time-honoured places in Westmoreland and +Cumberland. From Kendal also Sedburgh, Orton, Kirkby Stephen, Shap, Brough, +and the high and low lands circumjacent, may be visited. Ulverston, +Ravenglass, Whitehaven, Cockermouth, all nearly equally accessible from the +Kendal railway station, will furnish another interesting route to the +traveller. + +The midland part of Cumberland consists principally of hills, valleys, and +ridges of elevated ground. To the tourist the mountainous district in the +south-west is the most interesting and attractive. This part comprises +Saddleback, Skiddaw, and Helvellyn, with the lakes of Ulleswater, Thirlmere, +Derwent-water, and Bassenthwaite. Besides these lakes there are several of +smaller size, equally celebrated for their diversified and striking scenery. +Buttermere, whose charms are sweetly sung by many of our poets, Crummock- +water, Loweswater, Ennerdale, Wast-water, and Devock-lake, are frequented by +hosts of travellers, and retain no small number of admirers. The most +remarkable phenomena connected with the Lakes are the Floating Island and +Bottom-Wind, both of which are occasionally seen at Derwent-water, and +neither of which has yet received a satisfactory explanation. Most of the +lakes abound in fish, especially char, trout, and perch; so that anglers are +sure of plenty of sport in their visits to these fine sheets of water. In +Cumberland there are several waterfalls, namely, Scale Force and Sour Milk +Force, near Buttermere; Barrow Cascade and Lowdore Cascade, near Keswick; +Airey Force, Gowbarrow Park; and Nunnery Cascade, Croglin. The highest +mountains in the same county are,--Scaw Fell (Eskdale), 3166 feet, highest +point; Helvellyn (Keswick), 3055; and Skiddaw (Keswick), 3022. The climate +of Cumberland is various; the high land cold and piercing; the lower parts +mild and temperate. The district is generally considered to be healthy, and +many remarkable instances of longevity are noted by the local historians. + +The oldest inhabitants on record are John Taylor, of Garrigall, who died in +1772, aged 132 years, and Mr. R. Bowman, of Irthington, who died June 13, +1823, aged 118 years. The oldest oak tree in Cumberland of which there is +any record--a tree which had stood for 600 years in Wragmire Moss, Inglewood +Forest--fell from natural decay on the day of Mr. Bowman's demise. + +Cumberland is wholly in the diocese of Carlisle, with the exception of the +wood of Allerdale-above-Derwent, in the diocese of Chester, and the parish of +Alston, in that of Durham. It contains 104 parishes. It is comprehended in +the province of York, and in the northern circuit. The assizes are held at +Carlisle twice a-year. The principal coach roads in Westmoreland are the old +mail road from Lancaster to Carlisle and Glasgow; and the road (formerly a +mail road) through Stamford, Newark, Doncaster, and Greta Bridge, to Carlisle +and Glasgow. There is a second road from Lancaster to Kendal, through +Milnthorp. Roads lead from Kendal south-westward to Ulverston and Dalton-in- +Furness; westward to Bowness, and across Windermere by the ferry to +Hawkshead, and Coniston Water in Furness, and to Egremont and Whitehaven in +Cumberland; north-westward by Ambleside to Keswick, Cockermouth, and +Workington, in Cumberland; north-eastward by Orton to Appleby, with a branch +road to Kirkby Stephen to Brough; eastward to Sedbergh, and onwards to +Yorkshire. + +The railways in the district are, the Preston and Carlisle, the Kendal and +Windermere, the Cockermouth and Workington, the Furness (between Fleetwood, +Furness Abbey, Ulverston, Broughton, and the Lakes), the Maryport and +Carlisle, Whitehaven Junction, and Whitehaven and Furness Junction (between +Whitehaven, Ravenglass, Bootle, and Broughton). + +Wordsworth, whose soul, as well as body, was identified with this district, +says of the mountains of Westmoreland, that "in magnitude and grandeur they +are individually inferior to the most celebrated of those in some other parts +of the island; but in the combinations which they make, towering above each +other, or lifting themselves in ridges like the waves of a tumultuous sea, +and in the beauty and variety of their surfaces and colours, they are +surpassed by none." + +The lakes are numerous, beautiful, and extensive in size. Ulleswater is +embosomed in the centre of mountains, of which Helvellyn forms part. The +upper part of it belongs wholly to Westmoreland, while its lower part, on the +border of Cumberland and Westmoreland, is about seven miles long, with an +average breadth of half a mile. The higher portion of the lake is in +Patterdale. Haweswater is formed by the expansion of the Mardale-beck; and +all the larger affluents of the Eden, which join it on the left bank, rise on +the northern slope of the Cumbrian ridge. The river Leven, which flows out +of Windermere, belongs to Lancashire; but the Rothay, or Raise-beck, which +drains the valley of Grasmere, the streams which drain the valleys of Great +and Little Langdale, and the Trout-beck, which all flow into Windermere, and +may be regarded as the upper waters of the Leven, belong to Westmoreland. +Elterwater, Grasmere, and Rydal Water, are connected with the streams which +flow into Windermere. This last-named lake has been described as situated in +Lancashire; whilst in a county survey, and in the court rolls at Lowther +Castle, it is included in Westmoreland. All the lakes, large and small, have +some distinguishing feature of beauty. Their boundary lines are either +gracefully or boldly indented; in some parts rugged steeps, admitting of no +cultivation, descend into the water; in others, gently sloping lawns and rich +woods, or flat and fertile meadows, stretch between the margin of the lake +and the mountains. Tarns, or small lakes, are generally difficult of access, +and naked, desolate, or gloomy, yet impressive from these very +characteristics. Loughrigg Tarn, near the junction of the valleys of Great +and Little Langdale, is one of the most beautiful. + +The county of Westmoreland is divided between the dioceses of Carlisle and +Chester. The parishes are only thirty-two in number. The population in 1841 +was 56,454. Of monumental remains there are but few in the county. "Arthur's +Round Table," near Eamont Bridge, is worthy of a visit, as well as other +fragments, supposed to be druidical, in the same district. There are several +ancient castles which will attract the attention of the antiquary, if he +should be near, in his journeyings, to the site of any of them. The most +conspicuous remnant of other days in Cumberland is the druidical temple near +Kirkoswald, consisting of a circle of sixty-seven unhewn stones, called Long +Meg and her Daughters. + +A brief description of the leading towns within the Lake District will be +useful. + +* * * * * + +KENDAL, as we have already stated, is about twenty miles by railway from +Lancaster. It is a market-town, pleasantly situated on the slope of a hill +rising from the river Kent; contains two churches, and several dissenting +places of worship; the ruins of the old castle of the barons of Kendal; and a +town-hall, the town being governed by a Corporation under the Municipal +Reform Act. + +The Kendal and Windermere Railway runs no farther than Birthwaite, which is +nine miles from Kendal, two from Bowness, and five from Ambleside. From the +railway terminus coaches and omnibuses meet all the trains in the summer, and +convey passengers onwards to Bowness, Ambleside, and other places. + +* * * * * + +BOWNESS is a picturesque village placed on the banks of Windermere, and +contains an ancient church, with square tower, dedicated to St. Martin. In +the churchyard are deposited the remains of the celebrated Bishop Watson, +author of "The Apology for the Bible," he having resided at Calgarth Park, in +the neighbourhood, for several years. In the vicinity are the residences of +Professor Wilson (Elleray), the Earl of Bradford (St. Catherine's), and the +Rev. Thomas Staniforth (Storrs Hall, formerly the residence of Colonel +Bolton, of Liverpool, the intimate friend of the late Mr. Canning). From the +school-house, which stands on an eminence, delightful views of Windermere, +and other parts of the district, are seen to great advantage, Belle Isle, on +the lake, appearing to be part of the mainland. This island is more than a +mile in circumference, and comprises about thirty acres. We may add, that +Storrs Hall, whilst occupied by Colonel Bolton, was frequently the retreat of +many "choice spirits," Canning, Wordsworth, Southey, and Wilson, of the +number. Mr. Bolton was a princely merchant of Liverpool, and Colonel of a +Volunteer Regiment whilst England was in dread of French invasion. He was +one of Mr. Canning's warmest political friends, and always took an active +part in the electioneering contests for Liverpool in which Canning was +engaged. Lockhart, referring to one of these "gatherings," says:--"A large +company had been assembled at Mr. Bolton's seat in honour of the minister; it +included Mr. Wordsworth and Mr. Southey. There was high discourse, +intermingled with as gay flashings of courtly wit as ever Canning displayed. +There were beautiful and accomplished women to adorn and enjoy this circle. +The weather was as Elysian as the scenery. There were brilliant cavalcades +through the woods in the mornings, and delicious boatings on the lake by +moonlight; and the last day Professor Wilson ('the Admiral of the Lake,' as +Canning called him) presided over one of the most splendid regattas that ever +enlivened Windermere. The three bards of the lakes led the cheers that +hailed Scott and Canning." Looking back on that bright scene, of which +nothing now remains but a melancholy remembrance, Wilson remarks, "Windermere +glittered with all her sails in honour of the Great Northern Minstrel, and of +him the Eloquent, whose lips are now mute in dust. Methinks we see his smile +benign--that we hear his voice--silver sweet." + +* * * * * + +WINDERMERE has been termed, not inaptly, the English Zurich. Before its +diversified beauties were "married to immortal verse," it was the favourite +resort of thousands who admired external nature. But the "Lake Poets," as +Wordsworth, Southey, Coleridge and others were once derisively termed, have +linked the Lake District with the language of the nation. Windermere Lake is +eleven miles in length, and one mile in breadth. Numerous islands diversify +its surface, one of which (Belle Isle) we have already referred to. Its +depth in some parts is about 240 feet. "The prevailing character of the +scenery around Windermere is soft and graceful beauty. It shrinks from +approaching that wildness and sublimity which characterise some of the other +lakes." It abounds with fish, especially char (salmo alpinus), one of the +epicurean dainties. + +* * * * * + +AMBLESIDE, fourteen miles north-west of Kendal, is partly in Windermere, but +chiefly in Grasmere parish. This is one of the favourite resorts of +travellers in quest of pleasure. It has been compared to a delightful Swiss +village, the town reposing in a beautiful valley, near the upper end of +Windermere Lake; "no two houses being alike either in form or magnitude," and +the entire place laid out in a rambling irregular manner, adding to its +peculiarity and beauty. The pretty little chapel which ornaments the place +was erected in 1812, on the site of an older structure. The neighbourhood is +studded with attractive villas; but the most interesting of the residences is +that of the lamented Poet Wordsworth, at Rydal Mount. + +* * * * * + +RYDAL VILLAGE is one mile and a quarter from Ambleside, and is planted within +a narrow gorge, formed by the advance of Loughrigg Fell and Rydal Knab. Rydal +Hall, the seat of Lady le Fleming, stands in the midst of a finely-wooded +park, in which are two beautiful waterfalls, shown on application at the +lodge. RYDAL MOUNT, Wordsworth's residence for many years, stands a little +above the chapel erected by Lady le Fleming. Mrs. Hemans describes it as "a +lovely cottage-like building, almost hidden by a profusion of roses and ivy." +"From a grassy mound in front, commanding a view always so rich, and +sometimes so brightly solemn, that one can well imagine its influence +traceable in many of the poet's writings, you catch a gleam of Windermere +over the grove tops." "A footpath," Mr. Phillips says, "strikes off from the +top of the Rydal Mount road, and, passing at a considerable height on the +hill side under Nab Scar, commands charming views of the vale, and rejoins +the high road at White Moss Quarry. The commanding and varied prospect +obtained from the summit of Nab Scar, richly repays the labour of the ascent. +From the summit, which is indicated by a pile of large stones, eight +different sheets of water are seen, viz., Windermere, Rydal, Grasmere, and +Coniston Lakes, and Loughrigg, Easdale, Elterwater, and Blelham Tarns. The +Solway Firth is also distinctly visible." Knab, a delightful residence +formerly occupied by De Quincy, "the English Opium Eater," and by Hartley +Coleridge, eldest son of Samuel Taylor Coleridge, is situated close by. In +the walk from Ambleside to Rydal, should the tourist pursue his course along +the banks of the Rothay, he will, having crossed the bridge, pass the house +built and inhabited by the late Dr. Arnold, Master of Rugby School. + +Grasmere Village is a short walk from Rydal, and only four miles from +Ambleside. Wordsworth lived here for eight years, at a small house at Town +End; here he wrote many of his never-dying poems; to this spot be brought his +newly-wedded wife in 1822; and in the burial ground of the parish church are +interred his mortal remains. Wordsworth quitted this sublunary scene, for a +brighter and a better, on April 23, 1850. Gray once visited Grasmere Water, +and described its beauties in a rapturous spirit. Mrs. Hemans, in one of her +sonnets, says of it:-- + + "--------------------- Fair scene, + Most loved by evening and her dewy star! + Oh! ne'er may man, with touch unhallowed, jar + The perfect music of the charm serene! + Still, still unchanged, may one sweet region wear, + Smiles that subdue the soul to love, and tears, and prayer." + +A comfortable hotel has recently been opened, from which, as it stands on an +eminence, a fine view is obtained; and at the Red Lion and Swan Inns every +necessary accommodation for tourists may be had. + +In the neighbourhood there is some delightful panoramic scenery. From +Butterlip How and Red Bank the lake and vale are seen to great advantage. +"The Wishing Gate," about a mile from Grasmere, should be visited. It has +been so called from a belief that wishes indulged there will have a +favourable issue. Helm Crag, a singularly-shaped hill, about two miles from +the inn, commands an extensive and delightful prospect; Helvellyn and +Saddleback, Wansfell Pike, the upper end of Windermere, Esthwaite Water, with +the Coniston range, and Langdale Pikes, are all distinctly visible. The Glen +of Esdaile, marked by highly-picturesque features, lies in a recess between +Helm Crag and Silver How, and the ascent commands fine retrospective views. +Throughout this district the hills and dales are remarkably interesting, and +offer numerous attractions to the tourist. Delightful excursions may be made +from Grasmere into Langdale and Patterdale, and the ascent from Grasmere to +the top of Helvellyn, to Langdale Pikes, and to Dunmail Raise will be events +not easily to be forgotten. A heap of stones on the summit of Dunmail Raise +marks the site of a conflict in 945 between Dunmail, King of Cumberland, and +Edmund, the Saxon King. In descending this hill Thirlmere comes into view. +Thirlmere lies in the Vale of Legberthwaite, and the precipices around it are +objects of special admiration. The ascent of Helvellyn is sometimes begun at +the foot of Thirlmere. + +* * * * * + +KESWICK is a market town, in the county of Cumberland, and parish of +Crosthwaite, and is situated on the south bank of the Greta, in a large and +fertile vale, about a mile from Derwent Water. Coleridge, describing the +scene, says:--"This vale is about as large a basin as Loch Lomond; the latter +is covered with water; but in the former instance we have two lakes (Derwent +Water and Bassenthwaite Mere), with a charming river to connect them, and +lovely villages at the foot of the mountain, and other habitations, which +give an air of life and cheerfulness to the whole place." The town consists +only of one street, and comprises upwards of two thousand inhabitants. Some +manufactures are carried on, including linsey-woolsey stuffs and edge tools. +Black-lead pencils made here have acquired a national repute: the plumbago of +which they are manufactured is extracted from "the bowels of the earth," at a +mine in Borrowdale. The parish church, dedicated to St. Kentigern, is an +ancient structure standing alone, about three-quarters of a mile distant, +midway between the mountain and the lake. Within this place of worship the +remains of Robert Southey, the poet and philosopher, lie buried. A marble +monument to his memory has recently been erected, representing him in a +recumbent position, and bearing an inscription from the pen of Wordsworth, +his more than literary friend for many years, and his successor to the poet- +laureate-ship. A new and beautiful church, erected at the eastern part of +the town by the late John Marshall, Esq., adds much to the quiet repose of +the scene. Mr. Marshall became Lord of the Manor by purchasing the forfeited +estates of Ratcliffe, Earl of Derwentwater, from the Commissioners of +Greenwich Hospital, to whom they were granted by the Crown. The town +contains a well-stocked public library, purchased from funds left for that +purpose by Mr. Marshall; two museums, containing numerous specimens +illustrating natural history and mineralogy; and a model of the Lake +District, made by Mr. Flintoff, and the labour of many years. The residence +of the poet Southey (Greta Hall) is, however, perhaps the most interesting +object in the neighbourhood to visitors. The house is situated on an +eminence near the town. Charles Lamb, describing it many years since, +says:--"Upon a small hill by the side of Skiddaw, in a comfortable house, +quite enveloped on all sides by a nest of mountains" dwells Robert Southey. +The poet himself, who delighted in his beautiful and calm mountain-home, and +in the charming scenery by which he was surrounded, remarks:--"Here I possess +the gathered treasures of time, the harvest of so many generations, laid up +in my garners, and when I go to the window there is the lake, and the circle +of mountains, and the illimitable sky." On another occasion, when dallying +with the muse, he says, in his finely-descriptive verse:-- + + "'Twas at that sober hour when the light of day is receding, + And from surrounding things the hues wherewith the day has adorned them + Fade like the hopes of youth till the beauty of youth is departed: + Pensive, though not in thought, I stood at the window beholding + Mountain, and lake, and vale, the valley disrobed of its verdure; + Derwent retaining yet from eve a glassy reflection, + Where his expanded breast, then smooth and still as a mirror, + Under the woods reposed; the hills that calm and majestic + Lifted their heads into the silent sky, from far Glaramara, + Bleacrag and Maidenmawr to Grisedale and westernmost Wythop; + Dark and distant they rose. The clouds had gather'd above them, + High in the middle air huge purple pillowy masses, + While in the west beyond was the last pale tint of the twilight. + Green as the stream in the glen, whose pure and chrysolite waters + Flow o'er a schistous bed, and serene as the age of the righteous. + Earth was hush'd and still; all motion and sound were suspended; + Neither man was heard, bird, beast, nor humming of insect. + Only the voice of the Greta, heard only when all is stillness." + +The scenery in the neighbourhood of Keswick is replete with beauty, and the +numerous walks and rides possess brilliant attractions. Villas and prettily- +built cottages add grace and quietness to the landscape. Gray, on leaving +Keswick, was so charmed with the wonders which surrounded him, that he felt +great reluctance in quitting the spot, and said, "that he had almost a mind +to go back again." From the eminence near Keswick on which the Druidical +circle stands a magnificent view is obtained of Derwentwater, Latrigg, +Skiddaw, Helvellyn, Dunmail Raise, with the vale of St. John and the +Borrowdale mountains. + +* * * * * + +BUTTERMERE stands near the foot of the lake, and by Seatoller is fourteen +miles from Keswick. Taking the vale of Newlands by the way, the distance is +much less. In the vicinity of Seatoller is the celebrated mine of plumbago, +or black lead. "It has been worked at intervals for upwards of two +centuries; but, being now less productive, the ore has been excavated for +several years consecutively. This is the only mine of the kind in England, +and there are one or two places in Scotland where plumbago has been +discovered, but the lead obtained there is of an inferior quality. The best +ore produced at the Borrowdale mine sells for thirty shillings a pound. All +the ore extracted from the mine is sent direct to London before a particle is +sold." Buttermere is a mere hamlet, comprising a small episcopal chapel, +only a few farm-houses, with the Victoria and another inn for the +accommodation of visitors. De Quincy, who has long been a resident of the +Lake District, and a fervent admirer of its many beauties, describes this +secluded spot as follows:--"The margin of the lake, which is overhung by some +of the loftiest and steepest of the Cumbrian mountains, exhibits on either +side few traces of human neighbourhood; the level area, where the hills +recede enough to allow of any, is of a wild, pastoral character, or almost +savage. The waters of the lake are deep and sullen, and the barren +mountains, by excluding the sun in much of his daily course, strengthen the +gloomy impressions. At the foot of this lake lie a few unornamented fields, +through which rolls a little brook, connecting it with the larger lake of +Crummock, and at the edge of this miniature domain, upon the road-side, +stands a cluster of cottages, so small and few, that in the richer tracts of +the island they would scarcely be complimented with the name of hamlet." The +well-known story of Mary, the Beauty of Buttermere, with the beautiful poem +describing her woes, entitled, "Mary, the Maid of the Inn," has given to the +village a more than common interest. As the melancholy tale is told, Mary +possessed great personal beauty, and, being the daughter of the innkeeper, +she fulfilled the duty of attendant upon visitors to the house. Among these +was a dashing young man who assumed the aristocratic title of the Honourable +Colonel Hope, brother of Lord Hopeton, but whose real name was Hatfield, and +who had taken refuge from the arm of the law in the secluded hamlet of +Buttermere. Attracted by Mary's charms, he vowed love and fidelity to her, +and she, in the guilelessness of her youth, responded to his overtures, and +became his wife. Soon after her marriage her husband was apprehended on a +charge of forgery--a capital crime in those days; he was convicted at Carlisle +of the offence, and forfeited his life on the scaffold. Mary, some years +afterwards, took to herself a second husband, a respectable farmer in the +neighbourhood, with whom she lived happily throughout the remainder of her +days. She died a few years ago amidst her native hills. + +While in this district the tourist will derive pleasure from visiting +Crummock Water, Lowes Water, and Wast Water. + +A coach travels daily between Birthwaite (the terminus of the Kendal and +Windermere railway,) and Cockermouth, connecting the Whitehaven and Maryport +line with the former railway. By this or other conveyances Cockermouth may +easily be visited, as well as Whitehaven, Maryport, etc. + +* * * * * + +COCKERMOUTH is a neat market-town, and sends two members to Parliament. The +ancient castle was a fortress of great strength, but since the Civil Wars it +has lain in ruins. Traces of a Roman castrum, with other antique remains, +are to be seen in the neighbourhood. Wordsworth was a native of Cockermouth, +and Tickell, the poet, and Addison's friend, was born at Bridekirk, two miles +distant. Inns:--The Globe and Sun. Maryport is seven miles from the town, +Workington eight miles, Keswick (by Whinlatter) twelve miles, by +Bassenthwaite Water thirteen and a half miles, Whitehaven fourteen miles, +Wigton sixteen miles, and Carlisle twenty-seven miles. + +* * * * * + +WHITEHAVEN, a market-town and seaport, in Cumberland, near the cliffs called +Scilly Bank, in the parish of St. Bees, contains about 16,000 inhabitants. +The Lowther family have large estates around the town, with many valuable +coal-mines. Coarse linens are manufactured in the place; and a large +maritime and coal trade is carried on there. There is a spacious harbour, +giving excellent accommodation to vessels within it. "The bay and harbour +are defended by batteries, formerly consisting of upwards of a hundred +pieces, but lately suffered to fall into decay. These batteries received +extensive additions after the alarm caused by the descent of the notorious +Paul Jones in 1778. This desperado, who was a native of Galloway, and had +served his apprenticeship in Whitehaven, landed here with thirty armed men, +the crew of an American privateer which had been equipped at Nantes for this +expedition. The success of the enterprise was, however, frustrated by one of +the company, through whom the inhabitants were placed on the alert. The only +damage they succeeded in doing was the setting fire to three ships, one of +which was burnt. They were obliged to make a precipitate retreat, and, +having spiked the guns of the battery, they escaped unhurt to the coast of +Scotland, where they plundered the house of the Earl of Selkirk." Among the +principal residences in the neighbourhood of Whitehaven are, Whitehaven +Castle, the seat of the Earl of Lonsdale, and Moresby Hall, built after a +design by Inigo Jones. + +Inns.--Black Lion and Golden Lion. + +* * * * * + +ST. BEES, in which parish Whitehaven is situated, is four miles to the south +of Whitehaven. The church, dedicated to St. Bega, is an ancient structure, +and is still in tolerable preservation. Until 1810 the chancel was unroofed, +but in that year it was repaired, and is now occupied as a college, for the +reception of young men intended for the church, but not designed to finish +their studies at Oxford or Cambridge. The grammar-school adjacent was +founded by Archbishop Grindal. Ennerdale Lake is nine miles to the east of +Whitehaven, from which town it is easily reached. + +* * * * * + +MARYPORT is a modern seaport on the river Ellen. The town is advancing in +prosperity, and the population rapidly increasing: an excellent maritime +trade is carried on between Maryport, Liverpool, Dublin, and other places. +The village of Ellenborough, from which the late Lord Chief Justice Law +derived his title, is in the vicinity of the town. + +* * * * * + +WORKINGTON stands on the south bank of the Derwent. Workington Hall afforded +an asylum to Mary Queen of Scots when she visited the town. + +* * * * * + +PENRITH, an ancient market town, containing about 7000 inhabitants, is on the +line of the Preston and Carlisle railway. The ruins of the Castle, supposed +to have been erected by Neville, Earl of Westmoreland, overlook the town from +the west. It is built of the red stone of the district, and has suffered +much from the action of the weather. The court is now used as a farm-yard. +The parish church, dedicated to St. Andrew, is a plain structure of red +stone. There are several ancient monuments within the church; and in the +south windows are portraits of Richard, Duke of York, and Cicely Neville, his +wife, the parents of Edward IV. and Richard III. In the churchyard is a +monument called the "Giant's Grave," said to be the burial-place of Owen +Caesarius, who was "sole king of rocky Cumberland" in the time of Ida. Not +far distant is another memorial, called the "Giant's Thumb." Sir Walter +Scott, on all occasions when he visited Penrith, repaired to the churchyard +to view these remains. The new church, recently built at the foot of the +Beacon Hill, is in the Gothic perpendicular style of architecture. "The +Beacon," a square stone building, is erected on the heights to the north of +the town. "The hill upon which the beacon-tower stands," we are informed by +Mr. Phillips, "is one of those whereon fires were lighted in former times, +when animosities ran high between the English and the Scotch, to give warning +of the approach of an enemy. A fiery chain of communication extended from +the Border, northwards as far as Edinburgh, and southwards into Lancashire. +An Act of the Scottish Parliament was passed, in 1455, to direct that one +bale should signify the approach of the English in any manner; two bales that +they were coming indeed; and four bales that they were unusually strong. Sir +Walter Scott, in his "Lay of the Last Minstrel," has given a vivid +description of the beacons blazing through the gloom like ominous comets, and +startling the night:-- + + "A score of fires + From height and hill and cliff were seen; + Each with warlike tidings fraught, + Each from each the signal caught, + Each after each they glanced to sight + As stars arise upon the night." + +The antiquities in the neighbourhood are numerous and interesting; and the +prospects from the heights are extensive and picturesque. Ulleswater, +Helvellyn, Skiddaw, Saddleback, some of the Yorkshire hills, and Carlisle +Cathedral can be distinctly seen on a clear day. BROUGHAM CASTLE is situated +one mile and three-quarters from Penrith. It was one of the strongholds of +the great Barons of the Borders in the feudal times. At present it is in a +very decayed state, but still is majestic in its ruins. Its earliest owner +was John de Veteripont, from whose family it passed by marriage into the +hands of the Cliffords and Tuftons successively, and it is now the property +of Sir John Tufton. Tradition records, but on what authority we know not, +that Sir Philip Sidney wrote part of his "Arcadia" at this baronial mansion. +Wordsworth's "Song at the Feast of Brougham Castle" is one of his noblest +lyrical effusions. "The Countess's Pillar," a short distance beyond the +castle, was erected in 1656 by Lady Anne Clifford, as "a memorial of her last +parting at that place with her good and pious mother, Margaret, Countess +Dowager of Cumberland, the 2nd of April, 1616, in memory whereof she has left +the annuity of 4 pounds, to be distributed to the poor, within the parish of +Brougham, every 2nd day of April for ever, upon a stone hereby. Laus Deo." +This was the Lady Anne Clifford of whom it was said by the facetious Dr. +Donne, that she could "discourse of all things, from predestination to slea +silk." Her well-known answer, returned to a ministerial application as to +the representation of Appleby, shows the spirit and decision of the woman:--"I +have been bullied by an usurper (the Protector Cromwell), I have been +neglected by a Court, but I'll not be dictated to by a subject--your man +shan't stand!" + +About two miles from Penrith is the curious antique relic called Arthur's +Round Table, already referred to. It is a circular area above twenty yards +in diameter, surrounded by a fosse and mound. Six miles north-east of +Penrith are the ancient remains, Long Meg and her Daughters. DACRE CASTLE is +situated five miles west-south-west of Penrith. BROUGHAM HALL, the seat of +Henry, Lord Brougham and Vaux, stands on an eminence near the river Lowther, +a short distance from the ruins of Brougham Castle. It has been termed, from +its elevated position and the prospects it commands, "The Windsor of the +north." The mansion and grounds are exceedingly beautiful, and will repay +the tourist for his visit thereto. LOWTHER CASTLE, the residence of the Earl +of Lonsdale, is in the same district, and is one of the most princely halls +in the kingdom, erected in a park of 600 acres. Hackthorpe Hall, a farm- +house, is contiguous, and was the birth-place of John, first Viscount +Lonsdale. Shap (anciently Heppe), a long straggling village in the vicinity, +and near which is a station on the Preston and Carlisle Railway, has derived +some note from the elevated moors close by, known by the name of Shap Fells. +Shap Spa, in the midst of the moors, attracts crowds of visitors during the +summer season. The spring is said to yield medicinal waters similar to those +of Leamington. + +Inns.--Greyhound, and King's Arms. + +In closing this rapid sketch of the Lake District we may add, that the +leading mountains in Cumberland and Westmoreland are thirty-five in number; +the passes, five; the lakes, eighteen; and the waterfalls, twelve. +"WANDERINGS AMONG THE LAKES," a companion volume to this, now in preparation, +will form a useful illustrated guide to their most remarkable features. + + + + +HOME. + + +Following that plan of contrasts which travellers generally find most +agreeable, we should advise that tourists, taking their route southward, will +avail themselves of the North Staffordshire lines to visit two of the most +beautiful mansions, if they were foreign we should say palaces, in +England--Alton Towers, the seat of the Earl of Shrewsbury, and Trentham Hall, +the seat of the Duke of Sutherland, and conclude by investigating the +Porcelain Manufactories, which, founded by Wedgwood, are carried on with +excellent spirit and taste by a number of potters, among whom Alderman +Copeland and Mr. Herbert Minton are pre-eminent. + +Alton Towers stand near Cheadle, on the Churnet Valley Line; Trentham Hall +not far from Stoke. + +A day may be pleasantly spent in examining the elaborate gardens of Alton, +which are a magnificent specimen of the artificial style of landscape +gardening. Mr. Loudon gives a very elaborate description of them in his +large work on the subject of gardens to great houses. + +At Cheadle the Earl of Shrewsbury has erected at his own expense, Mr. Pugin +being his architect, a small Roman Catholic Church, which is a magnificent +specimen of that gentleman's taste in the "decorated" style. "Heraldic +emblazonments, and religious emblems, painting and gilding, stained glass, +and curiously-wrought metal work, imageries and inscriptions, rood loft and +reredos, stone altar and sedilia, metal screenwork, encaustic paving, make up +the gorgeous spectacle." + +The doors of the principal entrance are painted red, and have gilt hinges +fashioned in the shape of rampant lions spreading over nearly their entire +surface. + +In one of the canopied niches is a figure, representing the present Earl of +Shrewsbury kneeling, with a model of the church in his hand as the founder, +with his "patron," St. John the Baptist, standing behind him. + +This Cheadle Church, in which Mr. Pugin has had full scope on a small scale +for the indulgence of his gorgeous faith and fancies, reminds us that at +Oscot College, within sight of the smoke of Birmingham and Wolverhampton, +towns where the best locks, clasps, hasps, bolts, and hinges can be made; the +doors and windows, in deference to Mr. Pugin's mediaeval predilections, are of +the awkward clumsy construction with which our ancestors were obliged to be +content for want of better. On the same principle the floors ought to have +been strewed with rushes, the meat salt, the bread black rye, and manuscript +should supersede print. But it is not so, there is no school in the kingdom +where the youth are better fed, or made more comfortable than at Oscot. + +TRENTHAM has a delicious situation on the Trent, which forms a lake in the +park, inhabited by swans and monstrous pike. The Hall used to be one of the +hideous brick erections of the time of pigtails and laced waistcoats,--the +footman style of dress and architecture. But the genius of Barry (that great +architect whom the people on the twopenny steamboats seem to appreciate more +than some grumbling members of the House of Commons) has transformed, without +destroying it, into a charming Italian Villa, with gardens, in which the +Italian style has been happily adapted to our climate; for instance, round- +headed laurels, grown for the purpose, taking the place of orange trees. + +This Trentham Hall used to be one of the magical pictures of the coach road, +of which the railway robbed us. For miles before reaching it, we used to +look out for the wooded park, with its herds of mottled deer, and the great +lake, where the sight of the swans always brought up that story of the big +pike, choked like a boa, with a swan's neck. A story that seems to belong to +every swan-haunted lake. + +But what one railway took from us another has restored much improved. So we +say to all friends, at either end of the lines, take advantage of an +excursion, or express train, according to your means, and go and see what we +cannot at this time describe, and what exceeds all description. For the +hour, you may enjoy Trentham Hall as much as if it were your own, with all +the Bridgwater Estates, Mines, Canals, and Railways to boot. And that is the +spirit in which to enjoy travelling. Admiration without envy, and pity +without contempt. + +From Trentham you may proceed through the Potteries. You will find there a +church built, and we believe endowed, by a manufacturer, Mr. Herbert Minton. +And then you may have a choice of routes. But to London the most direct will +be by Tamworth and Lichfield, on the Trent Valley line. + +To those who look below the surface, who care to know something about the +workman as well as the work, such a tour as we have traced could not fail to +be of the deepest interest. It embraces the whole course of the emigration +from low wages to higher that is constantly flowing in this country. New +sources of employment daily arising in mines, in ports, in factories, demand +labour; to supply that labour recruits are constantly marching from the +country lane to the paved city. + +The agricultural districts of Staffordshire have a population of under two +hundred souls per square mile. The pottery and iron districts of the same +county of over seven hundred. These swarms of men are not had where they +labour, they are immigrants. Take another instance, in Kent and Devonshire, +the wages of farm labourers are eight to nine shillings a-week. In North +Cheshire they are fifteen. The cost of living to the labourer in both places +is about the same; fuel is cheap in Cheshire. What makes the difference in +the demand for labour in Cheshire but the steam-engines? + +Towns must be prepared to lodge decently, and educate carefully, children of +rural immigrants, or woe betide us all. It is education that has saved the +United States from the consequences of the tide of ignorant misery daily +disembarking on the Atlantic shores. + +Sometimes we hear fears for the condition of farmers under manufacturer +landlords. Those who express these fears must have travelled with their ears +shut. More than seventy per cent. of the great landowners in the great +travelling counties are manufacturers, or merchants, or lawyers, by one or +two descents. In Lancashire, Cheshire, Yorkshire, or Warwickshire, examine +closely, and you will find it so. As a general rule, a rich pawnbroker +retired will make a better landlord than a poor baronet. But in this country +two generations will make one of the baronet's sons a successful shopkeeper, +and the pawnbroker's a baronet, or even a peer. + +"I tell you what, sir," said a talkative stud groom once, in charge of race +horses for Russia, and travelling first class, "I've been in Petersburg, in +Vienna, and in Berlin, and I lived ten years with the Earl of ----. For all +the points of blood our aristocracy will beat any of these foreign princes, +counts, and dukes, either for figure or for going; but it won't do to look +into their pedigree, for the crosses that would ruin a race of horses, are +the making of the breed of English noblemen." + +Here our irregular imperfect guidance ceases. Perhaps, although deficient in +minuteness of detail, this pot pourri of gossip, history, description, +anecdote, suggestion, and opinion, may not only amuse the traveller by +railway, but assist him in choosing routes leading to those scenes or those +pursuits in which he feels an interest. + + + + +NOTES. + + +{67} The operation of this personal influence on the individual boys with +whom he was brought into contact, was much assisted by the system which about +this time began to prevail at public schools, of giving each boy a small room +called "a study" of his own, in which he might keep his books, and where he +could enjoy privacy. The writer, who was at a public school both when all +the boys lived in one great school-room in which privacy was impossible and +after the separate studies were introduced, would wish to record his earnest +conviction of the advantage of the present plan of separate studies,--of the +vital influence it has on the formation of character, no less than of habits +of study in the young. He can well remember how every better impression or +graver thought was effaced, often never to return, as the boy came out from +the master's room or from reading a letter from home, and was again immersed +in the crowd and confusion of the one common school-room of such a school as +Winchester. He would here venture to suggest that the plan of separate +sleeping-rooms, like those in the model lodging-houses, would present equal +advantage with that of separate studies, and might be introduced at little +expense in public schools. It has already been introduced in the Roman +Catholic College at Oscot. + +{71} He appeared, in religious feeling, to approach the Evangelical party at +more points than any other; pungently describing them, nevertheless, when he +said--"A good Christian, with a low understanding, a bad education, and +ignorance of the world, becomes an Evangelical." He appears to have died +before he came to the application of the rules of German criticism (in which +he followed Niebuhr in history) to theological subjects. It is curious to +speculate on what the result would have been in the mind of this ardent +Anglo-Protestant and lover of truth. + +{81} These letters, full of information and suggestion, are attributed to +Charles Mackay, Esq., LL.D., the well-known poet and prose writer. + +{113} We were happy to find, while these sheets were passing through the +press, that the Birmingham Corporation have introduced a Bill for absorbing +the petty commissionership of the suburbs, which, once distant villages, now +form part of the borough; and that they seek for power to compel efficient +drainage and ample supply of water. To do all this will be expensive, but +not extravagant; nothing is so dear to a town as dirt, with its satellites, +disease, drunkenness, and crime. We sincerely trust that the Corporation +will succeed in obtaining such ample powers as will render thorough drainage +compulsory, and cause clean water to be no longer a luxury. Some of the +opposition call themselves Conservatives. In this instance it means of dirt, +fees, and bills of costs. + +{125a} 1 Eliz., c.15. + +{125b} Edited by the Rev. Montgomery Maherne. + +{126} "Touchinge an anvyle wch he did sett for a yere. The bargayne is +witnessed by two persons, viz., John Wallis Clerke, minister of Porlocke, and +John Bearde of Selworthye, who sayeth that about our Lady-day last past, R. +H. did sell to heire the said anvyle to the said Thomas Sulley at a rent of +iii.s. iiii.d. for the yere." + +{127} Showing that the manufactory of muskets had then commenced in England, +contrary to Hutton's statement, see p.85 ante. + +{130} The best way to Wednesbury is by an iron Canal Boat, drawn by horses, +at ten miles an hour. The Inn is the Royal Oak, kept by a droll character. +The event of his life is having seen the Duke of Wellington driving over +Westminster Bridge in a curricle. To obtain a good view, as the horses went +slowly up the ascent, he caught hold of a trace and hopped backwards for +twenty yards with his mouth open. + +{138} See Cathrall's Wanderings in North Wales. + +{144} See Heberts on Railroads, p.19. + +{151} We may add that, in 1850, about 160,000 emigrants embarked from the +port chiefly for the United States, employing 600 large vessels of 500,000 +tons. + +{159} The Earl of Derby has died while these sheets were passing through the +press. + +{172} At the Great Exhibition of Industry of 1851, Mr. G. Wallis, at the +suggestion of the Board of Trade, had the management and arrangement of the +department of manufactures. + +{193} Mr. Francis Fuller, whose plan of management on this estate affords a +model for both English and Irish landowners, is the gentleman, who, after +taking most active and vigorous means, in co-operation with Mr. Scott Russell +and Mr. Henry Cole, for bringing before the public Prince Albert's plan of a +Great Exhibition of Industry of All Nations, alone saved the whole scheme +from being abandoned before it was made public, by finding contractors in +Messrs. Mundays to advance the 100,000 pounds, and who did actually advance +21,000 pounds, without which the President of the Board of Trade refused to +issue the Royal Commission, on which the whole success of the scheme rested. +Until the scheme was safely launched, Mr. Fuller, as a Member of the +Executive Committee, devoted his time, and freely expended his money, for the +purpose of supporting this great undertaking. When it was fairly launched +the care of his important business, of which Middleton forms a very small +part, occupied the greater part of his time, and hence his name has appeared +less in conjunction with that splendid triumph of Industry than those of +other gentlemen. + +{209} A little boy undergoing the operation of being flogged, in the manner +that Mother Hubbard performed the deed before sending the children to bed. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RIDES ON RAILWAYS*** + + +******* This file should be named 13271.txt or 13271.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/3/2/7/13271 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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