310 LIFE OF BRINDLKY. PART V. 



ment made in Mr. Henshall's memoir of Brindley, 1 to the 

 effect that Brindley' s father was the freehold owner of 

 his croft, does not appear to have any foundation ; as the 

 present owner of the property, Dr. Fleming, informs us 

 that it was purchased, about the beginning of the present 

 century, from the heirs of the last of the Hey wards. 

 who became its owners in 1688. No such name as 

 Brindley occurs in any of the title-deeds belonging to 

 the property ; and it is probable that the engineer's 

 father was an under-tenant, and merely rented the 

 old cottage in which our hero was born. There is no 

 record of his birth, nor does the name of Brindley occur 

 in the register of the parish of Wormhill, in which the 

 cottage was situated ; but registers in those days were 

 very imperfectly kept, and part of that of Wormhill 

 has been lost. 



It is probable that Brindley' s father maintained his 

 family by the proceeds of his little croft, and that he was 

 not much, if at all, above the rank of a cottier. It is 

 indeed recorded of him that he was by no means a steady 

 man, and was fonder of sport than of work. He went 

 shooting and hunting, when he should have been labour- 

 ing ; and if there was a bull-running within twenty 

 miles, he was sure to be there. The Bull King of the 

 district lay less than three miles off, at the north end of 

 Long Eidge Lane, which almost passed his door ; and of 

 that place of popular resort Brindley 's father was a 

 regular frequenter. These associations led him into bad 

 company, and very soon reduced him to poverty. He 

 neglected his children, not only setting before them a 

 bad example, but permitting them to grow up without 

 education. Fortunately, Brindley's mother in a great 

 measure supplied the father's shortcomings : she did what 

 she could to teach them what she knew, though that was 

 but small ; but, perhaps more important still, she encou- 



l\i|.|iis"s ' l>i(>;j,r;i|)lii;i Britannic;],' Art. 



