124 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICE OF 
young man, I perceived that his countenance 
seemed actually withered with care and sorrow. 
He is not a common character; he was the ap- 
prentice of Messrs. Boulton and Watt, and has 
an extraordinary degree of the most useful know- 
ledge of every kind. He is modest, virtuous, 
and prudent; of astonishing application, and, in 
a word, one of the first young men I ever knew. 
These qualities recommended him to the notice 
of the manufacturers, among whom he exercised 
his profession of a mechanic and engineer. He 
had offers of partnership from the first houses 
there, and was actually taken into the house of 
Mr. Oldknow, of Stockport, about a year ago, at 
- that time perhaps the first establishment in Lan- 
cashire. Mr. Oldknow you must have heard of, 
as the original fabricator of muslin in this country, 
and a man of first-rate character. He has laid 
out a property of £50,000 on building and ma- 
chinery alone. His partner, (the young gentleman 
I speak of,) is named Ewart, the younger brother 
of Mr. Ewart, the late Envoy at Berlin. It is 
men such as these that are reduced to such 
extremities.” 
In consequence probably of this fearful de- 
pression of commerce, surpassing evidently in 
