xix Pyrometer or Thermometer 251 



the antique, as well as from his own imaginative 

 handicraft. 



Wedgwood had the greatest difficulty in retaining 

 his best workmen. Foreigners prowled about his 

 works, got into conversation with the men, and en- 

 deavoured to bribe them to take service in foreign 

 countries. Boulton and Watt of Birmingham were also 

 besieged by the same adventurers, so that they were 

 forced to close their gates against all piratical foreign 

 workmen. 



A good deal of lawlessness prevailed in the manu- 

 facturing districts about that time. The cotton-spinners 

 in Lancashire went from mill to mill to break down the 

 machinery by which they earned their living. The 

 working people thought that when any of their own 

 number founded an industry and made it profitable, 

 it was all for their own advantage, and tended to the 

 misery of the poor. Their capital was all stolen from 

 the workpeople ! Troops were brought out to put an 

 end to the cotton-spinners' strike. The same lawless- 

 ness prevailed in Staffordshire. The men who worked 

 at the potteries could only go home in bands to protect 

 themselves against the highwaymen who paraded the 

 roads. The men who worked at Etruria dared not quit 

 the works singly or unarmed. The police were set upon 

 the highwaymen ; some of whom were arrested, com- 

 mitted, and tried at Stafford, but the depredations 

 continued. A mob seized one of Wedgwood's boats, 



O 



filled with goods for Manchester ; it was rifled of its 



