LIFE OF JAMES BRINDLEY. 



CHAPTER I. 



THE WHEELWRIGHT'S APPRENTICE. 



Ix the third year of the reign of George I., whilst the 

 British Government were occupied in extinguishing the 

 <-ii i UTS of the Jacobite rebellion which had occurred in 

 i li<- | > receding year, the first English canal engineer was 

 born in a remote hamlet in the High Peak of Derby, 

 in the midst of a rough country, then inhabited by quite 

 as roii^-h a people. 



The nearest town of any importance was Macclesfield, 

 where a considerable number of persons were employed, 

 about the middle of last century, in making wrought 

 I iit tons in silk, mohair, and twist such being then the 

 staple trade of the place. Those articles were sold 

 throughout the country by pedestrian hawkers, most of 

 whom lived in the wild country called " The Flash," from 

 a hamlet of that name situated between Buxton, Leek, 

 and Macclesfield. They squatted on the waste lands and 

 c< minions in the district, and were notorious for their wild, 

 half-ba rbarous manners, and brutal pastimes. Travelling 

 about from fair to fair, and using a cantor slang dialect, 

 Iliev became generally known as "Flash men," and the 

 name still survives. Their numbers so grew, and their 

 encroachments on the land became so great, that it was 

 at length found necessary to root them out ; but for 

 some time no bailiff was found sufficiently bold to 

 attempt to serve a writ in the district. At length an 

 officer was found who undertook to arrest several of 



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