TTie Life oflVilliam Hutton, of Birmingham. 



63? 



ttiem, lest I should not be able to pro- requested my company, anti °'*»ten hy 



cure another, (hat they continued my 

 best for five years. 



HIS SETTLEMENT IN TRADE. 



It was now time to look out for a 

 future place of residence. A large town 

 must be the mark, or there would be 

 no roofn for exertion. London was 

 thout^hc o(, between my sister and me, 

 for I had no soul else to consult. This 

 was rejected for two reasons. I could 

 not venture into such a place wirhnut a 

 capital, and my work was not likely to 

 pass amonw a crowd of judges. 



My plan was to fix upon some market- 

 town, within a stage of Noitiiigliam j and 

 Open shop there on the niarket-dny, till 

 I should be better prepared to begin the 

 world at Birmingham. 



I fixed upon Southwell, as the first 

 Step of elevation. It was fourteen miles 

 (iisCnnt, and the town as despicable as 

 the road to it. I went over at iVJichael- 

 tuas, look a shop at the rate of twenty- 

 shillings a year, sent « frnv board-, for 

 shelves, a lew tools, and about two hun. 

 dred weight of trash, »vhich might be 

 dignified with the name of boohs, and 

 worth, perhaps, a year's rent of my <.hop. 

 I was my own joiner, put up the shelves 

 and their furniture, and in one day be- 

 came the must eminent bookseller in the 

 place. 



During this rainy winter, I set out at 

 five every Saturday morning, carried a 

 burthen of from three pounds weight to 

 thirty, opened shop at ten, starved in it 

 all day upon bread, cheese, and half a 

 pint of ale, took frcjm one to six shillings, 

 shut up at four, and, by trudging through 

 the solitary night and the deep roads five 

 iiours more, I arrived at Nottingham by 

 nine; where I always found a mess of 

 milk porridge by the fire, prepared by a 

 Taiitable sister. 



Nothing short of a surprising resolu- 

 tion and rigid economy, could have car- 

 ried me through this scene. 



On the 10th of April, 1750, I entered 

 Bircninghnin, for the thirti tune, to try if 

 I could be accommodated with a small 

 ihop. If I could procure any situation, 

 I should be in the way of procuring a 

 better. On the llth, I traversed the 

 fttreets of Birmingham; agreed with IMrs. 

 Dix, for the lesser half of her shop, No. 

 6, in Bull-street, at one lihilling a week ; 

 And slept at Lichfield, in my way batk 

 to Nottingham. 



Oi) May 13th, Mr. Iludsdall, a dis^ 

 tenting minister of Gainsboroi^h, with 

 whom mj sister had lived as a servant, 

 travelling from Nottingham to Stamford, 



JdoNTULY Ma*. No. 29a. 



pay my expences, and give me eig. 

 pence a day for my time. The aft^V^ 

 noon was wet in the extreme. He askedt 

 why I did not bring my great coat? 

 Shame forbade an answer, or I could 

 have said I had none. The water com- 

 pletely soaked through my clothes, but 

 not being able to penetiate the skin, it 

 filled my boots. Arriving at the ion, 

 every traveller, I found, was wet; and 

 every one procured a change of apparel 

 but me. I was left out, because the 

 house could produce no more. I was 

 obliged to sit the whole evening in my 

 drenched garments, and to put them on 

 nearly as wet on my return the tiexC 

 morning! What would 1 expect buc 

 destruction? Fortunately I sustained no 

 injury. 



It happened that Mr. Rudsejall now 

 declined housekeeping, his wife being 

 dead. He to!d my sister that he should 

 part with the refuse of his library, and 

 would sell it to me. She replied, "He 

 has no money." "We will not diffep 

 about that. Let him come to Gains- 

 borough; he shall have the books at hia 

 own price." I walked to Gainsborough 

 on the 15th May, stayed there the 16;b, 

 and came back on the 17th. 



The books were about two hundred 

 pounds weight. Mr. Rudsdall gave me 

 his corn chest for their deposit; and, for 

 payment, drew the following note, which 

 I signed. 



" I promise to pay to Ambrose Ruds- 

 dall, one pound seven shillings, when E 

 am able." 



Mr, Rudsdall observed, "you never 

 need pay this note, if you only say you 

 are not able." The books made a better 

 shew, and were more valuable, than all 

 I possessed beside. 



I had now a most severe trial to un- 

 dergo; parting with my friends, and re- 

 siding wholly among strangers. May 23, 

 I left Nottingham, and I arrived at Bir- 

 mingham on the 25th. Having little to 

 do but look into the street, it seemed 

 singular to see thousands of faces pass, 

 and not one that I knew. I had en- 

 tered a new world, in which I led a me- 

 lancholy life; a life of silence and tears. 

 Though a young man, and rather of n 

 cheerful turn, it was remarked, "tiiat I 

 was never seen to smile." The rud« 

 family into which I was cast added Co 

 the load of melancholy. 



My brother came ro see me about six 



weeks after my arrival, to whom 1 ob- 



seri'ed, that the trade had fully supported 



aie, F»v« ihillinos a week covered everjr 



1 M «xpen»(i ; 



