r 88 HER OES OF INVENTION AND DISCO VER Y. 



to business. He removed to Oldhams, a retired place two 

 miles to the north of Bolton, where he farmed several acres, 

 kept three or four cows, and span in the upper storey of his 

 house. His yarn was still the best and finest in the market, 

 and, as a consequence, he was plagued with visitors, who came 

 prying about, under the idea that he had effected some improve- 

 ment in his invention. His servants were continually bribed 

 away from him, in the hope that they might be able to reveal 

 something that was worth knowing. Sir Robert Peel (the first 

 baronet) visited him at Oldhams, and offered him a situation 

 with a large salary, and the prospect of a partnership ; but 

 Crompton had a morbid dislike to Peel, and he declined the 

 overtures which might have led to his lasting comfort and 

 prosperity. 



Aided by the mule, the cotton manufacture prodigiously 

 developed itself; but thirty years elapsed ere any serious 

 attempt was made to recompense the ingenuity and perseverance 

 to which the increase was owing. At last, in 1812, it was 

 resolved to bring Crompton's claim before Parliament. It was 

 proved that 4,600,000 spindles were at work on his mules, 

 using up 40,000,000 lbs. of cotton annually; that 70,000 

 persons were engaged in spinning; and 150,000 more in 

 weaving the yarn so spun ; and that a population of full half-a- 

 million derived their daily bread from the machinery his skill 

 had devised. The case was clear, and Mr. Percival, the 

 Chancellor of the Exchequer, was ready to propose a handsome 

 vote of money, when Crompton's usual ill-luck intervened in a 

 most shocking manner. 



Tt was the afternoon of the nth of May, 1812, and Crompton 

 was standing in the lobby of the House of Commons, con- 

 versing with Sir Robert Peel and Mr. Blackburne. when one of 



