of themselves, might the capitalist and wealthy employer of labour 

 hope to benefit those beings less fortunate than himself. Hence 

 the artisan's blue shirt, that, on one occasion at least, he wore 

 at the Congress. But why, one is inclined to ask, should a 

 strong and original genius, on an occasion like that described, 

 run counter to the harmless prejudices and customs, of the 

 class to which he himself actually belonged, when those whom 

 he desired to serve, could in no wise benefit by his action ? 

 He might, if he chose, in his passion for work, and urged by 

 his resolve to let nothing be done in his workshops that he 

 could not with his own hand do himself, rise at daybreak, and 

 be at his loom ten minutes after waking. Sharp work certainly, 

 but he wasted no time over an unnecessary toilette ; for he 

 never looked in a mirror, and indeed would not have one in 

 his bedroom, or in any of the downstairs rooms. In his own 

 house and garden, he might dress as he pleased ; and at Queen 

 Square or Oxford Street show his chintzes and papers to 

 customers, himself making out the bill to purchasers, in any 

 costume, that his taste or common-sense, suggested as appropriate, 

 It might be wise to mingle with his workmen and with his fellows 

 on the Socialist League to all appearance one of themselves, but 

 surely it was unnecessary to appear before an audience of his 

 equals looking like a working man, for he was not a working 

 man except in the restricted sense of being an indefatigable 

 worker. 



Everybody present knew this ; knew that he was well-born and 

 wealthy ; had been educated at Marlborough and Oxford, and 

 had originally intended to enter the Church ; that a visit to the 

 Continent, where he fell in love with the grand Gothic churches 

 of France, made him resolve to become an architect that he 

 entered Street's office and remained a year ; that, urged by 

 Rossetti, he had had thoughts of adopting painting as his profession, 

 but that, after all, impelled by the overmastering wish to make 

 things, and make them well and beautifully the selling of them 

 being of secondary importance and aware that to do so on any 

 extensive scale would necessitate co-ordination of labour, he became 

 a manufacturer. It was also common knowledge that he had a 

 lovely house on the Upper Thames, and a comfortable London 

 residence with a large and charming garden at Hammersmith. 



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