590 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



in the Levant and Italian trade. At 

 the age of twenty-one, Mr. N. hav- 

 ing previously been taken into part- 

 nership with his father, set out upon 

 a tour through Europe, with a view 

 to estabh'sh correspondences, and to 

 acquire general knowledge ; at the 

 end of two years, having travelled 

 through France, Italy, and Sicily, 

 he was obliged to return home with- 

 out visitingGermany, on account of 

 the continental war, in which Eng- 

 land was at that time engaged. — 

 Whilst abroad he gained a perfect 

 knowledgeof the Frenchand Italian 

 languages,vvhich bespoke and wrote 

 with the fluency and correctness of 

 a native, acquired a great taste for 

 the fine arts, and brought homewith 

 him a valuable collection of pictures 

 and prints, &c. which he continued 

 to augment for many years after his 

 return to this country. In the year 

 1761 , he married Elizabeth, the on- 

 ly daughter and heiress of^eter De- 

 lamare, esq.of Greatness, whose an- 

 cestors were likewise refugees from 

 France, in 1686. In right of his 

 wife he became possessed of the 

 silk mills at Greatness; they had 

 been erected upon a very confined 

 scale, and at that period they did 

 not produce above 300/. perannum. 

 He, however, soon perceived that 

 great advantages were to be obtain- 

 ed by them, and possessing a pro- 

 found knowledge of mechanics aqd 

 mathematics, after expending at 

 least 20,000/. in enlarging and im- 

 proving the machinery, he very con- 

 siderably increased their produce. 

 Some parts of the machinery which 

 he invented are so ingvnious in their 

 construction and movements as to 

 render the silk, preprred by them, 

 for different branches of manufac- 

 ture, far superior to that worked by 

 any others in this country. He first 



introduced the manufacture of 

 crapes into England, which before 

 his time, were imported from Bo- 

 logna; by his own ingenuity he dis- 

 covered the process of their manu- 

 facture, and soon rivalled them in 

 his manner of preparing them. In 

 the year 1778, partly through the 

 imprudentspeculations of a near re- 

 lation, in whom he placed implicit 

 confidence, and partly by heavy 

 losses, occasioned by the failure of 

 a house with which he transacted 

 business, he became a bankrupt. — 

 The unkindness and oppression 

 which he experienced from some of 

 his relatives upon this occasion con- 

 siderably aggravated, and certainly 

 tended to confirm this misfortune, 

 which might have been averted, had 

 proper time been given him to set- 

 tle his affairs. He was, however, 

 amply compensated by the counte- 

 nance and friendlj' offers of assist- 

 ance which he received from many 

 of the most eminent merchants in 

 the city, amongst the foremost of 

 whom was his ever valued friend, 

 Peter Gaussen, esq. then governor 

 of the Bank. After the sale of his 

 effects and collections, he prose- 

 cuted his business with unceasing 

 energy. The silk mills now became 

 his chief object ; he more than dou- 

 bled their number, and brought 

 them to so high a degree of perfec- 

 tion that they produced many thou- 

 sands perannum, and in a few years 

 he was enabled, as he had hoped 

 to do, from the hour of his misfor- 

 tune, most honourably to discharge 

 the residue of his debts, which 

 would have been due to the credi- 

 tors had not the bankruptcy taken 

 place, and which, after it had, he 

 could be under no legal obligation 

 to pay. It was a measure, dictated 

 alone by that high sense of honour 



and 



