Peter Ewart* 245 



gentleman's return- from Liverpool, and what money he was 

 able to raise, they had consented should be laid out in 

 oatmeal, which being boiled up with water, potatoes, and 

 some of the coarser pieces of beef, should be shared out in 

 fair proportions among them, and thus in the cheapest 

 manner provide for their subsistence. As the house had 

 many thousands owing them in Liverpool, though he knew 

 there was no hope of any considerable debts being paid, he 

 had no fear of not being able to procure the sum imme- 

 diately wanted. He had been using every effort for two 

 days, and had actually threatened to arrest two of our 

 principal merchants on the Exchange, but he had not been 

 able to raise a single guinea. How he was to face the 

 poor people he knew not, each of whom had four to six 

 weeks' wages due. But he could appeal to heaven for the 

 anxious exertions which he had made to relieve distresses 

 which he could neither foresee nor prevent. As I looked at 

 this young man, I perceived that his countenance seemed 

 actually withered with care and sorrow. He is not a 

 common character ; he was the apprentice of Messrs. 

 Boulton and Watt, and has an extraordinary degree of the 

 most useful knowledge of every kind. He is modest, 

 virtuous, and prudent, of astonishing application, and, in 

 a word, one of the first young men I ever knew. These 

 qualities recommended him to the notice of the manu- 

 facturers, among whom he exercised his profession of a 

 mechanic and engineer. He had offers of partnership 

 from the first houses there, and was actually taken into the 

 house of Mr. Oldknow, of Stockport, about a year ago, at 

 that time perhaps the first establishment in Lancashire. 

 Mr. Oldknow you must have heard of as the original 

 fabricator of muslin in this country, and a man of first rate 



