256 
hundred children from the overfeers of 
St. Giles’s, and bring them down in eo- 
vered waggons, never to fee, or hear of, 
or care for their parents more, what can 
we call fuch vehicles, but flave-veffels 
upon wheels, or what fuch faétories, but: 
what I heard one of them emphatically 
called, a receptacle for white negroes ? 
In many cates, mdeed, the children are 
well lodged and fed, and, in fome cafes, 
taught; but then, the fchool-hours are 
robbed frem the hours of recreation, and 
not from thofe of labour; and, when chil- 
dren have been worked from fix to fix, 
with the only neceffary intermiffion of 
meals, few perfons, I fuppofe, will quef- 
tion, whether the interval between, and 
bed-time, would be better employed in 
_ the fchool or in the play-field. 
Further, the objeét of their engage- 
ment is to attend to the bufinefs of the 
factory ; that ,is, to fuperintend the re- 
gular progrefs of a feries of operations, 
produced by machinery, fuch as the 
tying of broken threads, the ferving of 
cardings, rovings, and twift, to the dif- 
ferent parts of the machine. Not one 
of thefe things fit them for afterwards 
fupporting themfelves ; fo that when the 
time of their emancipation is arrived, 
and they are turned adrift, to have their 
places fupplied by another fucceffion of 
children, whocan be paid and fed at a 
fmalier charge, the only refource for the 
men, is the army; for the women, the 
wretched and pitiable trade of proftitu- 
tion. 
There is fiill another evil confequence 
of thefe eftablifhments, which, though 
perhaps of lefs importance, has made 
more noife, becaufe people are too com- 
monly moft affected by what may affect 
themfelves. It has been found, that the 
work is better performed the lefs air is 
admitted into the factory; the circula- 
tion of frefh air is, therefore, too much 
difcouraged, and of courfe the feeds of 
contagion are accumulated. In fome in- 
ftances, too, the works have been kept 
going day and night; and the two fets 
have fucceded each other in the unventi- 
Jated rooms of the one, and the yet 
warm beds of the other, till fomething 
very like plague has been repeatedly ge- 
nerated. "Fhofe who with co fee this 
matter fet im its true light, may confult 
Sir William Clerke’s Thoughts on Con- 
tazion, the Reports of the Manchefter 
- Phyficians, and Regulations and Orders 
of the Magiftrates at the Manchefter 
Quarter-feilions. 
I truft 1 thall not be fufpedted of any 
Northern Tour.——Ufe of Machines. 
thing fo abfurd,-as the wifh to check the 
progrefs of mechanical improvements, 
or to fay to the inventive powers of the 
mind, “hitherto fhall ye go, but no far- 
ther.” Whenever any ftate has aéted on 
fo wild a principle, the only effeét has 
been to drive reftrained genius to take 
refuge in another, which has received 
the benefit with open arms, and laughed 
at the folly of its rival—Nor do I, by 
any means, wifh to be underftood, as 
applying the above obfervations to every 
eftablifhment of this nature. 
owners paid fuch attention to the com- 
fort, health, and improvement, of thofe 
whom they employ, as the benevolent 
Mr. Da te, of Lanerk, there would be 
lefs occafion for either public or private 
animadverfion ; but as this, it is to be 
feared, is not foon likely to be the cafe, 
it appears to me, that thefe large facto- 
ries are very fair objects of legiflative re- 
gulation. For every ftate is bound to 
take care, that even genius itfelf fhail 
not fo ufe its own, as to injure that of 
another; and that it is in an efpecial 
manner bound to proteét the poor from 
being abufed or corrupted by the rich 
leaders either of the Janded or commer- 
cial ariftecracy : to the introduétion af 
which latter clafs, I look upon thefe ef- 
tablifhments to have been eminently in- 
ftrumental. OPE, 
To proceed to more. agreeable fub- 
jets. The inhabitants of the county of 
Lancafter feem to aét very much uport 
the principle, ‘‘ that nothing be loft.”” 
I was ftruck with fome curious applica- 
tions of the hot water arifing from the 
fteam condenfed in the cylinders of fire- 
engines. Inone place, I faw it applied 
to the wafhing of pieces, after coming 
from the bleaching-ground ; in another, 
it was made to fupply a large common 
wafh-houfe, in which, however, it would 
have been much more effectual by the 
ufe of a proportion of Lord Dunpo- 
NALD’s foda, to decompofe the earthy 
falts, which give a degree of kardnefs to 
the water. In another place, an inge- 
genious fellow had contrived a long 
winding conduit, covered with open flag 
ftones, like a common drain, and run- 
ning once or twice under each bed of his 
little garden, by which means the warm 
vapour was applied to the foreing of his 
garden produce, the luxuriance of which 
was prodigious. : 
At Botton, I heard a curious fag in 
natural hiftory, from a worthy_perfon, - 
upon whofe veracity I can abfolutely 
rely. Taking an evening walk in the 
country, 
oa. 
If alitheir 
