6 SMEATON'S BOYHOOD AND EDUCATION. PART VT. 



proper market for their cloth, first on Mill Hill, and 

 afterwards in the Calls; finally, in 1757, erecting a 

 large hall for the markets in the Parks, which is now 

 known as the Coloured Cloth Hall. But even then the 

 place remained comparatively rural in point of size and 

 surroundings. 



ml 



VIEW OF LEEDS, EARLY PART OP 18TH CENTURY. 1 

 [From Thoresby's ' Ducatus Leodensis.'] 



Smeaton was greatly favoured in his home and his 

 family. He received his first education at his mother's 

 knees, and when not occupied with his lessons he led the 

 life of a healthy, happy country boy. Austhorpe was 

 then quite in the country, the only houses in the neigh- 

 bourhood being those of the little hamlet of Whitkirk, 

 with the large old mansion of Temple Newsam, sur- 

 rounded by its noble park and woods, close at hand. 

 Young Smeaton was not much given to boyish sports, 

 early displaying a thoughtfulness beyond his years. 

 Most children are naturally fond of building up minia- 

 ture fabrics, and perhaps still more so of pulling them 

 down. But the little Smeaton seemed to have a more 

 than ordinary love of contrivance, and that mainly for 



1 The principal buildings shown in 

 the above view of Leeds, about the 

 time when Smeaton was born, are the 



Parish Church (described by Thoresby 

 " black, but comely "), St. John's 



as 



Church, and Call Lane Chapel. 



