1 86 HER OES OF INVENTION AND DISCO VEJi Y. 



room in the old place. His wife was a first-rate spinner, and 

 her expertness, it is said, first drew his attention to her. Orders 

 for his fine yarn, at his own prices, poured in upon him ; and 

 though he and his young wife spun their hardest, they were 

 quite unable to meet a hundredth part of the demand. Hall- 

 in-the-Wood became besieged with manufacturers, praying for 

 supplies of the precious yarn, and burning with desire to pene- 

 trate the secret of its production. All kinds of stratagems were 

 practised to obtain admission to the house. Some climbed up 

 the windows of the workroom and peeped in ; Crompton set up 

 a screen to hide himself, and even that was not sufficient. 

 One inquisitive adventurer is said to have hid himself for some 

 days in a loft, and to have watched Crompton at work through 

 a gimlet hole in the ceiling. 



If Crompton had only possessed a mere trifle of worldly 

 experience, there is no reason why, at this juncture, he might 

 not have made his fortune. Unhappily, his seclusion and soft 

 disposition placed him as a babe at the mercy of sharp and 

 crafty traders. He discovered he could not keep his secret. 

 " A man," he wrote, " has a very insecure tenure of a property 

 which another can carry away with his eyes. A few months 

 reduced me to the cruel necessity either of destroying my 

 machine, or of giving it to the public. To destroy it, I could 

 not think of; to give up that for which I had laboured so long, 

 was cruel. I had no patent, nor the means of purchasing one. 

 In preference to destroying, I gave it to the public." 



Many, perhaps the majority of inventors, have lacked the 

 means to purchase a patent, but have, after due inquiry, usually 

 found some capitalist willing to provide the requisite funds. 

 There seems no doubt that, had Crompton had the sense to 

 bestir himself, he could easily have found a I'riend to assist him 



