1823.] 
tains somewhat of ‘its rural, cottage- 
like character, wholly distinct from that 
of the mercantile edifices which have 
sprung up around it. Figure to your- 
self a tract of country, the surface of 
which, cut, scarred, burnt, and 
ploughed up in every direction, ‘dis- 
plays ‘a heterogeneous mass of hovels 
and palaces, farm-houses and factories, 
chapels and churches, canals and coal- 
pits, corn-fields and brick-fields, gar- 
dens and furnaces, jumbled together 
in “‘ most admired disorder,” and you 
will have a pretty correet idea of the 
Staffordshire potteries. Then pervade 
the spate your fancy has thus pictured, 
with a_ suffocating smoke, vomited 
‘forth incessantly from innumerable 
fires, and the thing will be complete. 
The people, however, who pass their 
lives alnid this dingy atmosphere, this 
“palpable obscure,” this worse ‘than 
Egyptian darkness, seem to experience 
no inconvenience from it; and, in fact, 
to be scarcely sensibleof the existence 
of the evil. Onc of them asked me, with 
most amusing simplicity, “ whether 
London was nota terribly smoky place 
tolive in!” The inhabitants, neverthe- 
less, I repeat, though certainly not bless- 
ed with the rosy checks we generally see 
in country-folks, appear to enjoy good 
health, with the exception of the col- 
liers, and a few pallid mortals em- 
ployed in the preparation of certain 
deleterious articles made use of in the 
manufacture of pottery. 
The population of this vast bee-hive, 
with that of the contiguous town, New- 
castle-under-Lyme, exceeds 60,000 
souls, and is constantly increasing. To 
give you some faint idea of the rapi- 
dity with which it advances, J extract 
from the returns of 1811 and 1821 a 
comparative view of the numbers of 
inhabitants of two or three of the prin- 
cipal towns at those periods: 
18]1 1821, 
Burslem: «+--+ + + 8625 9699 
Hanley -----+-- 4481 5622 
Lane End -.---- 4930 7100 
Shelton -«++++++ 5487 7325 
23523 29746 
The proportion of those who are 
connected with trade and manufac- 
tures, of course, preponderates greatly 
over the other classes. In Burslem, 
which contains 2087 families, sixty 
only are described as employed in 
agriculture; and in Hanley, which con- 
tains 1157 families, only three ! 
You will, of course, expect me to say 
The Staffordshire Potteries. 
291 
a few words upon the manners, cus- 
toms,and tone of thinking, of the neigh- 
bourhood ; and I will therefore endea- 
vour to gratify you. Of ihe political 
opinions of the people in general I 
scarcely feel quatified to offer a de- 
cided opinion, though I believe, as in 
most other places, the majority of the 
rich are of the Tory party, and the 
whole of the lower classes of the liberal 
or radical. With regard to religious 
matters I can speak more confidently, 
for sectarism has certainly made this 
her chosen’ seat; I suspect I speak 
greatly within compass, when I assert, 
that two-thirds of the population are 
dissenters, of one denomination or ano- 
ther: Ebenezer, Zion, Bethel, and 
New Jerusalem, chapels, offend the 
orthodox eye at every turning ; and in 
Hanley and Shelton alone, three new 
conventicles have been built during 
the present year, while in the whole of 
the potteries there are but four 
churches, which would not contain 
one-tenth of the population. Of the 
names and characters of the different 
sects I know but little; there are Inde- 
pendents, Wesleyans, Whitfieldites, 
Calvinists, Presbyterians, and heaven 
knows what beside. At Cobridge 
there is a Roman Catholic chapel, with 
a seminary attached to it; and a Uni- 
tarian place of worship, now building 
at Hanley, will be opened early in 
1824, The evil arising from the want 
of church-room has long been sensibly 
felt; for many who frequent the dis- 
senting chapels are not so much 
attracted there by inclination as driven 
by necessity, not being able to gain 
admission to the churches, where the 
vile system of seat-selling, and lock- 
ing up pews by individuals who seldom 
visit them, prevails far too extensively. 
‘Truly was it said the other day by a 
public writer of the neighbourhood, 
“‘ Every thing has thrived, and pros- 
pered, and improved around us, but 
the temples of our devotions.” Mea- 
sures, however, are at length in pro- 
gress for diminishing the grievance ; 
and the old church of Stoke is immedi- 
ately to be pulled down, to make room 
for a larger one. This, which is the 
parish-church of the district, and was 
built centuries before the potteries ex- 
isted, will scarcely hold 600 persons: 
the new building will be adapted to the 
accommodation of thrice the number. 
To forward this undertaking, the Dean 
of Lichfield has generously giyen 
1500/. from his own purse, in addition 
to 
