40 CROMPTON. 



In October, 1807, Mr. Crompton, in the hopes of gaining the 

 patronage of Sir Joseph Banks, wrote a letter to him, but unfortu- 

 nately addressed it to Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Society of 

 Arts, and it is probable that Sir Joseph never read the letter, but 

 transmitted it to the Society to which it was addressed; in any 

 case, no notice was taken of this letter, and Crompton's too mor- 

 bidly sensitive mind thus received an additional wound. 



Two or three years after this, his family circumstances became 

 very precarious, and in the undefined hope of yet obtaining some 

 recompense for his labours which might better his position, 

 Crompton, in the year 1811, commenced a statistical investigation 

 into the results of his invention. For this purpose he visited the 

 various manufacturing districts of Great Britain, and, from the 

 information he obtained, calculated that between four and five 

 millions of mule spindles were then in actual use. But this estimate 

 was afterwards found to be much too low, as it did not include any 

 of the numerous mules used in the manufacture of woollen yarn. 



A story is told of Mr. Crompton, that, when at Glasgow engaged 

 in collecting this information, he was invited to a complimentary 

 dinner, but his courage was unable to carry him through so formid- 

 able an ordeal ; and so when the time came for going, to use his 

 own words, " rather than face up, I first hid myself and then fairly 

 bolted from the city." 



Mr. Crompton laid the result of his investigation before some 

 kind Mends* at Manchester, who undertook to dra\v up a memorial 

 to Parliament on his behalf. But in this matter Crompton's con- 

 tinued ill-fortune was singularly displayed. When the time came 

 for the grant to be proposed to Parliament (May 11, 1812), Mr. 

 Percival, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who had intended pro- 

 posing 20,OOOZ. as the sum to be awarded, was assassinated while 

 entering the lobby of the House of Commons. Crompton's petition 

 was consequently postponed, and ultimately 5000. was all that \\ as 

 awarded to the Inventor of the Spinning-Mute; and thus, after having 

 haunted the lobby of the House of Commons for five wearisome 

 months, Samuel Crompton went back to Bolton with this shadow of 

 a national reward. 



Late in life Mr. Crompton's family became dispersed, and as old 

 rept on he became less and less fitted for business, and now for 

 the first time sank into actual poverty. 



A noble effort was, however, made by some of the inhabitants of 

 Bolton to rescue him from his distressing position, and by their 

 efforts an annuity of 63Z. per annum was secured to him for the 

 remainder of his life. 



In the year 1827 Samuel Crompton's melancholy life came to an 

 end. He died at his house in King Street, Great Bolton, aged 



* Mr. Lee, Mr. Kennedy, and Mr. George Duckworth. 



