CHAPTER IV. 



" The flesh will quiver where the pincers tear !" 



— Young. — " The Revenge." 



" Hungry ruin had me in the wind." 



"There's stakes an' watch-bills, just loik poikes, 

 'Ot Hunt an' aw th' reformink toikes, 

 An' thee an' me, an' Sam o' Moiks, 

 Once took a blanketeerink." 



— "Songs of the Wilsons." 



rilHE 23rd and three subsequent days of April, 1826, are marked 

 -*- with a red letter in the annals of Popular Outbreaks. On the 

 26th of the month an angry crowd of rioters advanced through the 

 Rossendale valley towards Bacup, marshalled by ringleaders 

 bearing in their hands, and over their shoulders, such formidable 

 instruments as pikes, axes, cleavers, and huge fore-hammers. 

 Their followers were a motley crowd of dirty, hungry-looking men 

 and youths, and a sprinkling of bareheaded, unkempt women ; the 

 latter by far the most noisy and demonstrative of the crowd. The 

 men indeed scarcely exchanged a word as they proceeded on their 

 unlawful mission, but a strange mixture of fear, revenge, and 

 defiance was visible upon their countenances. These were the 

 Power-Loom Breakers of April 1826. 



Property is a sacred and weighty word in Lancashire — nowhere 

 more sacred and weighty than in Rossendale, and its possession 

 counts for a good deal. It is a serious thing to damage or destroy 

 property. Those who purpose undertaking its destruction should 

 sit down and count the cost before beginning. If their 



