CHRONICLE. 



Ill 



limited income, arising chiefly 

 from uncertain sources, would 

 not even furnish this scanty sup- 

 ply ; and I was reduced to the 

 necessity — to me a most painful 

 one — of confining- my cliarity 

 within much smaller boundaries. 

 Companies of 5, or S, or 12 

 poor manufacturers, able and 

 willing to work, ha^e been n)any 

 times in the course of a day at 

 my door, soliciting bread, and 

 what has often cut me to the 

 heart, necessarily soliciting in 

 vain. 



" Multitudes went through the 

 country, offering to work at any 

 thing merely for a little food, not 

 even expecting wages, and thus 

 gained a little temporary employ- 

 ment and subsistence ; but still 

 their %vives and children were at 

 home in the greatest possible dis- 

 tress. 



" Within a small distance of my 

 house is a large iron- work; the 

 machinery of which extends for 

 neaily half a mile. It was a 

 noble manufactory. I passed by 

 it one morning after its opera- 

 tions were suspended, and was 

 exceedingly affected with the 

 sight : a little before, it was all 

 animation and industry, affording 

 the honourable means of liveli- 

 hood to many thousands of my 

 fellow-creatuics : the silence that 

 now pervades it spoke more elo- 

 quently and impressively to my 

 heart than any language could 

 possibly do ; it was the silence of 

 unmingled desolation. 1 visited 

 a row of houses occupied by the 

 workmen : the doors were used 

 to be open, inviting the eye of 

 the stranger to glance as he went 

 along at their neatness, cleanli- 

 ness, and felicity ; little groups 



of healthful chiklren were accus- 

 tomed to appear about the cot- 

 tages, full of merriment and joy, 

 and tlie inhabitants, strong and 

 healthy, saluted you as you went 

 by. But the scene was lamentably 

 changed : it produced a melan- 

 choly on my spirits that 1 did not 

 lose for a considerable period : 

 the cottages were closed — the in- 

 habitants could not bear to have 

 it known that they were stripped 

 of their little ornaments — no 

 children played around the doors 

 — the A'ery plants trained up in 

 their windows had pined and died 

 — one man only appeared, emaci- 

 ated and ghastly, a living spectre, 

 as if the peaceful sepulchre had 

 sent forth its inhabitants to fill 

 with terror the abodes of the 

 hving. 



" When I have told these poor 

 creatures that the parish must 

 find them food or laljour, they 

 have replied, ' Sir, they cannot 

 do either;' and some who have 

 fared the best when our manu- 

 factories were flourishing around 

 us, have said, ' We would lather 

 die. Sir, than be dependent on 

 the parish.' 



" It is an unanswerable proof 

 of the excellent disposition of 

 tliese poor manufacturers, that 

 although there are many thou- 

 sands of them in the most dis- 

 tressed condition imaginable, 

 there is very little depredation in 

 the country. 



" If it will aid you in your 

 benevolent designs, I will go 

 thiough any pait of our neigh- 

 bourhood from house to house, 

 and give you a particular state- 

 ment of the circumstances of 

 each family: the labour will be 

 to me a delightful remuneration ; 



doing 



