moorcroft’s letters. 
447 
forward on a large scale ; and, in order to manufacture them so as 
to be able to afford them as cheap as common shoes, a greater 
capital must he employed than I can possibly spare from my 
present business. The apparatus is nearly completed, and the 
experiments made, so that I think £2000 would be sufficient to 
carry it on to the greatest advantage. 
In the present scarcity of money, I do not expect that any indi- 
vidual would be willing to accommodate me with so large a sum 
on the usual terms, and have, therefore, by the advice of some of 
my friends, adopted a mode for raising the beforementioned sum, 
by applying to twenty gentlemen for the loan of £100 each, to be 
returned at the end of four years. For this sum I would give my 
note, bearing interest at 5 per cent., payable yearly. 
The superiority of one thing over another can only be ascer- 
tained by experiment. I believe no one besides myself has had 
an opportunity of giving a fair trial to parallel-seated shoes ; and 
I have, at the same time, witnessed the effects of thin-heeled ones, 
and compared them not only with the former but with those in 
common use. The result of my experience is, that the thin-heeled 
shoes are better than the common ones; but the paralled-seated 
shoes maintain a decided superiority over both, as they possess 
every advantage of the thin-heeled ones without any of their dis- 
advantages. This, I doubt not, will in a short time be manifest 
to every one. For my own part, I am so convinced of its being 
a fact, that I would submit the parallel-seated shoe to any test ; 
and, at present, the opinions of the first mechanical men in the 
kingdom are in favour of it. I do not offer this shoe to the public 
as an invention of my own, or as by any means a new one. 
I have seen a pattern shoe on this principle, which was made 
forty years ago, and I believe it was not then considered as a new 
one. The only reason that can be assigned for its not having been 
in general use has been its high price, inconsequence of the labour 
employed in making it ; and all the merit I assume is, that of 
having reduced to practice, by means of machinery, a principle 
generally acknowledged a good one. 
I am, Sir, with respect, 
Your very obedient and humble servant, 
William Moorcroft. 
Capt. Edw. Codring ton. 
