CHAP. VIII. TIIK GtBAND TRUNK CANAL. 427 



of the carriaiLiy hv this mode so enhanced the price, that 

 it is clear that in the case of many articles it must have 

 acted as a prohibition, and greatly checked production 

 ;n id consumption. Kven corn, coal, lime, and iron-stone 

 were conveyed in the same way, and the operations of 

 agriculture, as of manufacture, were alike injuriously 

 impeded. There were no shops then in the Potteries, 

 the people being supplied with wares and drapery by 

 packmen and hucksters, or from Newcastle-under-Lyme, 

 which was the only town in the neighbourhood worthy 

 of the name?) 



The people of the district in question were quite as 

 rough as their roads. Their manners were coarse, and 

 their amusements brutal. Bull-baiting, cock-throwing, 

 and goose-riding were the favourite sports. When 

 Wesley first visited Burslem, in 1760, the potters assem- 

 bled to jeer and laugh at him. They then proceeded to 

 pelt him. " One of them," he says, " threw a clod of 

 earth which struck me on the side of the head ; but it 

 neither disturbed me nor the congregation." About 

 that time the whole population of the Potteries did not 

 amount to more than about 7000. The villages in 

 which they lived were poor and mean, scattered up and 

 down, and the houses were mostly covered with thatch. 

 Hence the Rev. Mr. Middleton, incumbent of Stone a 

 man of great shrewdness and quaintness, distinguished 

 for his love of harmless mirth and sarcastic humour 

 when enforcing the duty of humility upon his leading 

 parishioners, took the opportunity, on one occasion, 



and iron, at the same price, delivered j may be computed to carry 312 tons 



on their road t<> Newcastle. Large I of cloth and Manchester wares in the 



quantities of ]x>t-\vure are conveyed 

 on horses' backs from Burslem and 

 Newcastle to liridgenorth and Ik-wd- 

 ley tor exportation about one hun- 

 dred tons yearly, at 21. 10s. per ton. 

 Two broad-wheel wagons (exclusive 

 "I l.~)0 | uck-horses) go from Man- 

 chester through Station! weekly, and 



year, at 31 10s. jxjr ton. The great 

 salt-trade that is carried on at North- 

 wich may 'be computed to send GOO 

 tons yearly along this canal, together 

 with Nantwieh 400, chiefly carried 

 now on horses' backs, at 10s. per ton 

 "ii a medium." 



