( IIM-. III. THE DUKE OF BRIDGEWATER. 343 



at fburpence-lialfpenny fourpence for ale, and a half- 

 penny for tobacco." The progress of luxury was further 

 aided by the holding of a dancing assembly once a-week 

 in a room situated at the middle of the now fashionable 

 street called King Street, the charge for which was 

 half-a-crown the quarter ; the ladies having their maids 

 to come with lantherns and pattens to conduct them 

 home ; " nor," adds Aikin, " was it unusual for their 

 partners also to attend them." l 



The imperfect state of the communications leading to 

 and from Manchester rendered it a matter of some diffi- 

 culty at certain seasons to provide food for so large a 

 population. In winter, when the roads were closed, the 

 place was in the condition of a beleaguered town ; and 

 even in summer, the land about Manchester itself being 

 comparatively sterile, the place was badly supplied with 

 fruit, vegetables, and potatoes, which, being brought from 

 considerable distances slung across horses' backs, were 

 so dear as to be beyond the reach of the mass of the popula- 

 tion. The distress caused by this frequent dearth of provi- 

 sions was not effectually remedied until the canal naviga- 

 tion became completely opened up. Thus a great scarcity 

 of food occurred in Manchester and the neighbourhood 

 in 1757, which the common people attributed to the 

 millers and corndealers ; and unfortunately the notion 

 was not confined to the poor who were starving, but 

 was equally entertained by the well-to-do classes who had 

 enough to eat. An epigram by Dr. Byrom, the town 

 clergyman, written in 1737, on two millers (tenants of the 

 School corn-mills), who, from their spare habits, had been 

 nicknamed "Skin" and "Bone," was now revived, and 

 tended to fan the popular fury. It ran thus : 



" Bone and Skin, two millers thin, 



Would starve the town, or near it ; 

 But be it known to Skin and Bone, 

 That Flrsh and Blood can't bear it." 



Aikin, p. 187. 



