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vations:- "With reference to the extreme facility whereby the powers of an engine are brought into action, and accumulated forces expended in some particular moment of contact, without affording to the observer any sensible indication of the resistance that has been overcome-it would seem, that the greater the deed to be done, the less the noise and disturbance; and this, as it were, in analogy and contrast with the struggle to conquer of a determined heart, and the squabbling warfare of more grovelling minds. The above reflection occurred to me on witnessing, within a celebrated manufactory of machinery, the attempt, while the more important operations within the chamber were performing in glibness and comparative silence, to reduce an old misshapen grindstone to its pristine circular form. As it revolved under an overpowering force, notwithstanding the softness of the material, the remonstrance of this λaas avaions, this radical grindstone,' was absolutely deafening. Although grown ancient in the cause of the levelling system, and protuberant in the exercise of grinding down its betters, yet the moment the experiment was retorted upon itself, it emitted cries as if an hundred hogs were under discipline."

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The same writer, in another page of his 'Home Tour,' makes a few valuable observations on the artizans employed in such establishments valuable, because they come from one who knows much both of our manufacturing and agricultural districts. "There can be no spectacle," he says, more grateful to the heart of an Englishnian than, viewing the interior of a manufactory of machinery, to observe the features of each hard-working mechanic blackened by smoke, yet radiant with the light of intelligence; to contrast with his humble station the lines of fervid thought that mark his countenance and direct his sinewy arm, and to reflect that, to such combination of the powers of mind and body, England owes her present state of commercial greatness. It is no less pleasing to consider, that although particular classes of men have suffered by the substitution of machinery for manual labour, such evils arise from the mutability of human affairs are such as the most zealous philanthropist cannot avert-and, lastly, are of themselves insignificant compared with the general demand for labour throughout the country, which has not only kept pace with the increase of machinery, but no doubt might be shown even to have exceeded it. Nay, it might be made manifest, that not only is the grand total of operatives employed throughout the manufacturing districts augmented, but additional employment afforded in like proportion for mechanics, to supply the wear and tear of machinery and buildings dependent thereupon, as well as for workmen upon all works to be traced to a similar cause-such as railroads, bridges, viaducts, aqueducts, &c." These words were written at a time when it was the fashion to cry down manufacturing labour as a wretched and demoralizing system.

greatest of the Yorkshire manufactures-the staple of the place-we must speak of a solitary remnant of early days, near Leeds,―

KIRKSTALL ABBEY.

There are not many of our great manufacturing towns which have monastic ruins so near to them as the ruins of Kirkstall Abbey are to Leeds. It is pleasant to have such a spot to ramble in, as a memento of the past in the vicinity of the present; but it is not pleasant to have fire and smoke almost under the walls of this venerable ruin; the 'Kirkstall Forge' is much too near a neighbour to the fine old crumbling arches of the Abbey.

Kirkstall Abbey has the reputation of having exhibited unity of design and execution to an unusual degree. It was all planned by one man, and by him carried out to completion. Dr. Whitaker says of this majestic ruin: "Not only the arrangement, proportion, and relation of the different apartments are rigidly conformed to that peculiar principle, which prevailed in the construction of religious houses erected for, rather than at the expense of, the monks; but every moulding and ornament appears to have been wrought from models previously studied, and adapted to the general plan. Deviating by one step from the pure Norman style, the columns of the church are massy as the cylinders of the former age, but channelled rather than clustered; the capitals are Norman; the intercolumniations, though narrow, yet nearly one-third wider than those of the most massy Saxon; the arches which surmount them are grooved and moulded with an evident relation to the columns. One feature of the pure Norman is wanting in this, though a building of much higher dignity than those churches in which it is often found. Even on the great west-door of the church there are no basso-relievos or other enrichments of sculpture; but though the entrance is deep and complex, and has had detached single shafts beneath each of its members, there appears to have been a studied abstinence from everything gaudy and ornamental."

The rise of Kirkstall Abbey has a legend attached to it; which, like legends generally, will form part and parcel of its history as long as the crumbling stones remain. The legend runs thus :-During the reign of Henry I., in the early part of the eleventh century, the Virgin Mary appeared in a dream to Seleth, a poor shepherd residing in the south of England. She said, "Arise, Seleth, and go into the province of York, and seek diligently, in the valley of Airedale, for a place called Kirkstall; for there shalt thou prepare a future habitation for brethren serving my Son." And Seleth trembled in his sleep, and was fearfully troubled: but the vision continued: "Fear not, Seleth! I am Mary, the mother of Jesus of Nazareth, the Saviour of the world!" Upon which he arose and betook himself to travel, in search of Kirkstall: living upon charity and the spontaneous productions of the earth. When, after Before we turn our gossip in the direction of the having escaped great dangers and fatigues, he arrived

at the entrance of a shady valley, which some herdsman informed him was the place he was in search of; he fixed his solitary abode there, paying his devotions. Long was his humble cell revered by the neighbouring villagers, and visited by the curious or the pious; in times of distress the intercessions of Seleth were resorted to; and the hermitage of Kirkstall became famous throughout the country. The reports of his piety and self-denial reaching the ears of some young devotees, Seleth was persuaded by them to accept the office of Superior. Their united body was formed into a small community, which built for themselves cells beside the River Aire.

At the point where the legendary passes into the historical, we find that Henry de Lacy, Earl of Lincoln, who had estates at or near Leeds, while suffering under a violent disease, engaged himself by a solemn vow to erect a monastery if ever he should recover his health. He acquainted the abbot of Fountain's Abbey with his vow; and this abbot, having just before heard of the pious recluses at Kirkstall, impressed upon him the benefits which would accrue from the erection of a religious house at that spot. Arrangements were soon made by all the parties interested, Kirkstall Abbey was built, and an abbot and monks took up their abode there in 1152, during the reign of Stephen. The abbots had at first many contentions respecting a disputed title to the estate; but the abbey ultimately rose to great prosperity.

The ruins of Kirkstall extend over a considerable area. Their length from north to south is about 340 feet, and from east to west 445 feet. They enclose a quadrangle of 143 feet by 115. At a small distance north-west of the principal mass stands what was once the chief gate of the abbey. The church is in the form of a cross; over the intersection of which is a square tower, of Tudor architecture. The roof between the tower and the east end was adorned with fret-work and intersecting arches; but the weather now plays its havoc where the roof once stood. At the east end are the broken remains of the high altar. South of the church, and on the east part of the ruins, are several vaulted chambers, supported by strong columns, and most gloomy in appearance. The pencil--the moonlight, or rather moonlit pencil, as we will in this instance term it-of Mr. Harvey, (see Cut, No. 6), will show that these ruins still present some lovely artistic bits.

THE FLAX FACTORIES OF LEEDS. Leeds-as was explained in a former page-stands at the north-east corner of the clothing district of the West Riding. It is the chief town of the district, in respect both to the flax and the woollen manufactures. None of the other towns, excepting, perhaps, Barnsley, partake in any notable degree in the former of these two manufactures; but at Leeds it has led to the construction of one of the finest factories in the world, and to others of great inagnitude.

at the present day, can afford to remain in ignorance of 'Marshall's flax-mill:' it is one of the lions of the place. Without, within, over it, under it-all is vast, strange, and wonderful. Situated at a short distance south of the River Aire, and bounded mostly by poor dwellings, it must be sought for before it will be found; and when found, there is one portion of the establishment, the old mill, which is too much like other mills to call for observation; but the new mill is a marked feature.

Egypt seems to have been in the thoughts of the architect when he planned this building; for the chimney has the form and proportions of the world-renowned Cleopatra's Needle;' while the chief entrance exhibits a front nearly analogous in character to that of an Egyptian temple. The building, unlike almost all other large factories, is only one story in height. It exhibits on the eastern façade a long range of windows of large dimensions, a range of massive pillars or pilasters between the windows, and a bold cornice running along the top. The whole front being formed of stone, and minute detail being avoided, there is a sort of massive grandeur in this long low façade. The other façades are remarkable only for their great length.

Those who have the good fortune to get a peep into the interior, will not soon forget the sight which meets the eye. One room comprises the whole: but such a room! If we call it the largest in the world, we cannot be far in error. About four hundred feet long, by more than two hundred broad, it covers nearly two acres of ground. Birmingham is justly proud of its Town Hall, but this wonderful factory-room is nine times as large; Exeter Hall is one of the largest rooms in London, but it would require seven such to equal the area of this room; the London club-houses present façades of great length, but it would require four of the largest to equal the length of this room. The room is about twenty feet high, and the roof is supported by about fifty pillars. The spaces between the pillars allow the roof to be partitioned off into a series of flattish domes, or groined arches, sixty or seventy in number; and in the centre of each dome is a lofty conical skylight, of such large size that the whole series together contain ten thousand. square feet of glass. The view through the room is quite without a parallel. Vista after vista meets the eye, formed by the ranges of columns; whether we stand at the side, the end, the corner, the centre-still these long-stretching, well-lighted, busily-occupied avenues carry the eye in beautiful perspective to far distant points. There are, we believe, upwards of a thousand persons in this room alone, mostly females; and the large and complicated machines are very numerous: yet there is a kind of airiness and roominess felt, unusual in factories. Here, in one part of the room, are the "flax-drawing" operations going on; in another part the "roving;" in another the "spinning;" in another the "twisting,"-all with such perfect harmony and system, that confusion and idleness are equally out of

No one who pretends to know anything about Leeds the question.

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We have seldom any inducement to go to the lower regions of a factory, the vaults or passages of the basement: but such a visit is not without its interest in this vast structure. Brick-vaulted passages extend hither and thither; containing in some parts the shafts for moving the machinery above, and in others the arrangements for warming and ventilating the building. These arrangements are consistent with all else around us: there is a steam-engine employed in forcing air into two large steam-chests, where it becomes heated previous to being passed into the mill; and in order to regulate the temperature to the state of the weather, valves and doors are placed in various parts.

As little inducement have we, generally, to visit the roof as the basement of a factory; but here the roof is perhaps the strangest part of the whole building. The roof is a green field, on which (if we mistake not) sheep are allowed to graze! Being so large and so flat, and being covered thickly with plaster and asphalte, the roof offers a good support for a stratum of earth; while this earth renders an equivalent service by protecting the asphalte from the heat of the sun. Here we walk, then, among the grass-" out in the fields," if we please so to term it; and at every few yards we meet with the skylights, which shoot up conically to a height of seven or eight feet above the grass. Beneath us, we look down through the skylight at the spindles busily at work; above us, is the blue sky; around us, the build

ings and smoke of Leeds. The drainage of this factoryfield passes down the fifty pillars which support the roof: they are made hollow for this purpose.

If anything could make us delighted with the flax manufacture, it would be to see it carried on in this unequalled room. There are, however, many dirty processes which are conducted in the old mill; and all the other flax-mills of Leeds have their share in these less-attractive operations. This is not the place to dwell at any great length on the details of the manufacture; but it will suffice for our purpose to say that the making of flax-yarn or flax-thread is the ultimate process in the great factories of Leeds. The weaving of this yarn into cloth is not a feature of Leeds' industry. It groups itself (so far as Yorkshire is concerned) in and around the town of Barnsley, lying about five-and-twenty miles south of Leeds. There are manufacturers at Barnsley, who buy flaxyarn from the spinners, and give it out to hand-loom weavers these latter ply the shuttle from morning to night, in their own humble homes, and produce those varieties of flax-cloth to which the dealers give the several names of 'linen,' 'duck,' 'drill,' 'check,' drabbet,' 'huckaback,' 'tick,' ' diaper,' ' towelling,' &c.

THE DOMESTIC OR COUNTRY CLOTHIERS. The woollen manufacture is far more important to

this district than that of flax.

The west of England | from the wool-stapler, and employs persons to work it up into cloth; giving each separate process to distinct sets of men, who work either at their own houses or at the house of the master-clothier.

used to take precedence in this matter; but it must now yield the palm of superiority to the West Riding. The Gloucestershire clothing villages lie mostly on the Stroud Water, those of Wiltshire on the Avon and its tributaries, and those of Yorkshire on the rivers beforenamed: the valleys of these rivers have been, and still are, the chief localities of the manufacture. Dyer, in his poem of 'The Fleece,' versified in a humble way this kind of valley-industry :

"Next, from the slacken'd beam the woof unroll'd,
Near some clear-sliding river, Aire or Stroud,
Is by the noisy fulling-mill received;

Where tumbling waters turn enormous wheels,
And hammers, rising and descending, learn

To imitate the industry of man.

Oft the wet web is steeped, and often rais'd,
Fast-dripping, to the river's grassy bank;

And sinewy arms of men, with full-strain'd strength,
Wring out the latent water."

The woollen manufacture flourished in England soon after the Conquest, and we have frequent allusions to it in the subsequent reigns. Edward III., while on the continent, found that the Flemish clothiers were more skilful workmen than the English; and he invited some of the former over. Fuller, in his Church History,' says, that the Flemish apprentices were treated by their masters "rather like heathens than Christians, yea, rather like horses than men; early up, and late to bed, and all day hard work and harder fare, (a few herrings and mouldy cheese)." And then follows a picture of what such apprentices might hope for, if they would only come to merry England. "Here they should feed on fat beef and mutton, till nothing but their fulness should stint their stomachs; yea, they should feed on the labours of their own hands, enjoying a proportionable profit of their gains to themselves. Their beds should be good, and their bed-fellows better, seeing that the richest yeomen in England would not disdain to marry their daughters to them-and such English beauties, that the most curious foreigners could not but commend them." Whether Edward III. really gave such a glowing description of England to the Flemish clothiers, we know not; but it is understood that Flemings did settle from time to time in this country. Town after town became the centre of the manufacture; roads were made, and pack-horses employed; these roads were improved, and wagons built; the canal and the barge gradually gained ground over the road and the wagon; the railway and the locomotive gained a triumph over them all. The steamengine came to the aid of the workman, and the factory to the aid of the employer. Hull and Goole became ports for the shipment of cloth; and thus arose the vast clothing manufacture of the West Riding.

We can only understand the social features of this manufacture, by viewing it in its three developments: the Master Clothier system of the West of England, and the Domestic and Factory systems of Yorkshire. In the first of these, the master-clothier buys his wool

The Domestic system, acted on in the villages of the West Riding, is very remarkable, and has given quite a tone and character to the Yorkshire clothiers, which has withstood all changes, such as have affected the cotton manufacture. In the beginning of the present century, before the factory system became developed to any remarkable degree in the clothing district, there were between three and four thousand small master manufacturers in the West Riding. These were scattered over the whole face of the district which we have marked out, lying south and west of Leeds; they were men of small capital, some with a small farm annexed to their business, and some with a field or two, to support a horse or a cow. Although they occupied the entire range of villages, whether among the hills or in the valleys, yet they grouped themselves in something like order, according to the two kinds of broadcloth which they made-the mixed cloth or the white cloth. The mixed cloth manufacturers resided chiefly near Leeds. The white cloth manufacturers located themselves chiefly in a tract of country forming an oblique belt along the hills that separate the Vale of Calder from the Vale of Aire, beginning near Wakefield, and ending near Shipley. Leeds, Bradford, Halifax, and Huddersfield formed the central or market-towns for these villages, and became the seats of the larger factories. Although the steam-engine has wrought great changes in the larger towns, every one of the villages abovenamed retains nearly the same manufacturing features to the present day.

The third system-that of Factories-is the growth of the steam-engines and of machinery, and essentially belongs to our own day. Here the entire range of processes is conducted in vast buildings, replete with every aid which science and capital can furnish. Here a bag of wool goes in at one door, and a bale of finished superfine cloth comes out at another: every stage of the operations having its distinct part of the building. In the Domestic system, the master and the workman were combined in one person; in the factory system the employer is the owner of all, and pays the wages of labour in money.

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In the early days of the woollen manufacture, the wool was scribbled' and carded' at the humble home of the workman, perhaps by the members of his family; it was then spun' and 'woven,' then carried to the fulling mills to be fulled,' and lastly, returned and sold in the white state. A next stage in advance was to scribble the wool by some sort of machinery, which was worked by asses or horses, or by a species of rude windmill. As, however, the fulling was performed in mills situated on the banks of the streams, and moved by water power, it required no great sketch of inventive skill to adapt the scribbling machinery to the same localities. These united fulling and scribbling mills were invariably situated on the

banks of the Airé, Calder, Wharfe, or some other West | pany-mills, matters are not left in such a rude state. Riding stream. Great as were the conveniences of There is a regular deed of partnership drawn up; and these mills to the clothiers, yet there were countervail- it is specified to exist for a definite number of years. ing disadvantages, which, to us at the present day, seem Some of the partners are appointed regular trustees for rather formidable. It was customary, for instance, for the whole. The maximum number of shares to be carts to come as many as twelve miles into the clothing held by each partner is limited; and the shares are districts for wool three times a week, which wool had paid for by regular instalments. The clothier-partners to be brought first into the district from neighbouring all reside near the mill. All the partners are bound towns; when scribbled, it had to be returned to be by penalty to act in turn on the committee; and all comspun and woven; then it had to be re-sent to the mill mittee proceedings are duly entered. Each member's to be fulled, and lastly to be returned for sale at the subscribed share is held as a security for the due fulfilmarket. Hence the clothiers situated at a distance ment of his engagements towards his co-partners. The from these mills found it to their interest to club their money is deposited in a bank. All work done at the means together, and build other mills for their own use. mill, whether for the partners or others, is paid for The invention of the steam-engine gave a great impetus once a month. The accounts are made up at a general to the change; for, with the aid of beds of coal lying meeting of the partners every four months. immediately beneath the district, the clothiers became more and more independent of the rivers. The same cause also led to the more frequent centralization of the manufacture in large towns than in the country districts. The first Company Mill,' near Leeds, according to the new order of things, was erected at Stanningley, about five-and-thirty years ago; the next was built at Ecclesfield; and they have since multiplied with great rapidity. Each Company Mill' is a joint-stock undertaking, of which all the partners must be clothiers. In the formation of such an enterprise, a number of clothiers, varying from ten to fifty (generally about thirty), determine on the amount of capital to be raised, and divide it into shares, generally of 251. each, which they appropriate according to the means and inclination of each one individually. Deeds of partnership are drawn up, land is purchased, a mill is erected, machinery is put into it, a manager is appointed, and work is taken in to be scribbled, or fulled, or both-the price of the work being matter of agreement, and the work being executed, both for those who are not, and for those who are, partners in the mill.

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The more simple and less systematic of these Company-mills are managed somewhat as follows:-There is neither partnership deed nor printed regulations; but the company is governed by a president and a committee, chosen from the partners, who meet once a week for the transaction of business, and who make byelaws for their own guidance. At one of these meetings they appoint a person, who takes upon himself the multifarious duties of manager, book-keeper, treasurer, and secretary; he receives and pays all moneys. At subsequent meetings the committee give him directions what to do, and he acquaints them with what he has done during the week. He accounts to the partners, at any time when called on, for the business which he has transacted, and the money which he holds or has disbursed. When his funds are run out, he asks for more, which the partners severally and equally advance. The partners have no legal hold on each other, or on their manager. It is an understanding that whatever work the partners have to do must be done at their own mill,-the joint-stock shop is to be dealt at by all. But in the more recent and better managed Com

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This, then, is the general character of the Company Mill' system;-a system to which we do not remember anything exactly similar in any other branch of manufacture. At Sheffield, it is true, there are wheels,' or grinding establishments, at which are a large number of workmen, employed independently of each other; but they simply rent a certain amount of standing-room and of steam-power, each one for himself, and have no share in the proprietorship of the building itself. In the best of these West Riding jointstock mills, the processes carried on therein are scribbling, carding, and slubbing the wool, and fulling the cloth after the weaving has been effected; the processes of spinning, warping, weaving, and burling are done at home by the members of the clothier's family. The whole of the cloth so produced is sold in the 'balk,' or rough state, at the cloth halls, unfinished and undyed; the purchasers either possessing or employing the requisite manufacturing means for conducting the finishing processes. The cloth generally brought to these Company-mills is of inferior quality, varying from four to seven shillings a yard in the balk' state.

The Shoddy Mill,' (another West Riding idea) is a remarkable exponent of our age-of the spirit which leads men to grind, and cut, and melt, and alter any or every thing that can by possibility come into use. There are many such mills on the river Calder, between Leeds and Dewsbury, or in the vicinity of Dewsbury. Shoddy' is the very homely name for old woollen rags when torn or cut up into infinite fragments; and devil' is the very emphatic name for the machine by which the process is conducted. The ruthless tearing which the rags undergo is effected in machines carefully enclosed or boxed in, and containing cylinders armed with hooks, and rotating in opposite directions. The rags are put in at the top of each machine, and come out at the bottom like coarse dirty wool. The shoddy thus prepared, by being moistened with oil, and mixed with a little new wool, is coaxed and persuaded into the assumption of the various forms of carding and yarn, and at length takes part in the formation of cloth which-though perhaps smart and glossy without-is somewhat hollow-hearted within.

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