Shortly before this, Crompton had married Mary Pimlott, the daughter of a gentleman residing at New Keys Hall, near Warrington. After his marriage he lived in a cottage attached to the old Hall, though he still continued to occupy part of the mansion, in one of whose large rooms he now operated upon the mule with the utmost secrecy and with perfect success, startling the manufacturing world by the production of yarn which both in fineness and firmness had hitherto been unattainable. This seems to have been the happiest portion of Crompton's life. He was then twenty-seven years of age, and the acknowledged inventor of a machine which, from the first hour of its operation, altered the entire system of cotton manufacture in this country. Its merit was universally acknowledged by all engaged in the trade who had an opportunity to examine the yarn spun on it, or the fabrics made from that yarn; but paradoxical as it may appear, the very perfection of his principle of spinning, was in a measure instrumental in depriving him of the harvest for which he had so laboriously worked.

The demand for his yarn became so extensive and urgent, that the old Hall was literally besieged by manufacturers and others from the surrounding districts-many of whom came to purchase yarn, but many more to try and penetrate the mystery of the new wheel, and to discover if possible the principle of its operations. All kinds of stratagems were practised in order to obtain admission to the house; and one inquisitive adventurer is said to have ensconced himself for some days in the cockloft, where he watched Samuel at work through a gimlet-hole pierced through the ceiling.

Crompton, at length wearied out, and seeing the utter impossibility of retaining his secret, or of spinning upon the machine with the undisturbed secrecy he desired, yielded to the urgent solicitations, and liberal but deceitful promises of numerous manufacturers, and surrendered to them not only the secret of the principle upon which he spun the much prized yarn, but likewise the machine itself. This he did on the faith of an agreement drawn up by themselves, in which they promised to subscribe certain sums as a reward for his improvement in spinning. No sooner, however, was the mule given up to the public than the subscriptions entirely ceased, and many of those who had previously put down their names evaded or refused payment; some actually denounced Crompton as an impostor, and when he respectfully put before them their own written agreement, asked him how he dared to come on such an errand!

The gross sum of money realized by this subscription amounted to between 50 and 1007. Mr. Crompton himself says:-"I received as much by way of subscription as built me a new machine, with only four spindles more than the one I had given up—the old one having forty-eight, and the new one fifty-two spindles." This shameful treatment rested in Crompton's memory through life, and

to the morbid distrust of his fellow-men, which it engendered, may be ascribed many of the misfortunes which attended his succeeding life.

About the year 1785 Mr. Crompton removed from the 'Hall-inthe-Wood' to a farmhouse at Oldhams, in the township of Sharples, about two miles from Bolton. Here he farmed several acres of land, and kept three or four cows; while in the upper story of the house was erected his spinning mule, upon which he continued to spin with as much privacy as possible. He was, nevertheless, still troubled by many curious visitors, who were desirous of seeing the improvements he was supposed to have made on it. Among others he received two visits from the first Sir Robert Peel, then an eminent though untitled manufacturer, who came with the hope of inducing Crompton to join his establishment, and on his second visit made him an offer of partnership. It is much to be regretted that this offer was declined, as Mr. Peel's enterprising business character was exactly that most suited for supporting Crompton's great inventive genius. Had these two men continued as partners at this particular time, the successful development of the cotton trade would have been hastened by at least twenty years, while a large and well deserved fortune might have been secured to Crompton and his children.

Excelling all other spinners in the quality and fineness of his yarn, Crompton continued to obtain a high price for all he could produce, but his production was restricted to the work of his own hands, (an increasing family having deprived him of the aid of his wife); for whenever he commenced to teach any new hands to assist him in his work, no matter how strictly they were bound to serve him by honour, by gratitude, or by law, as soon as they acquired a little knowledge and experience under his tuition, they were invariably seduced from his service by his wealthy competitors; so that he was ultimately compelled to renounce the use of his mules, and betake himself to his original occupation of weaving, or at least to spin only such yarn as he could employ in his own looms as a small manufacturer.

In 1800 some gentlemen of Manchester, among whom ought to be mentioned Mr. George Lee and Mr. Kennedy, sensible that Mr. Crompton had been illused and neglected, agreed, without his knowledge, to promote a subscription on such a scale as would result in a substantial reward for his labours. But this scheme, although generous and noble in its intention, in a great measure failed. Before it could be carried out, the country suffered severe distress from a failure in the crops; in addition to this the horrors of the French Revolution approached their crisis; war broke out, and trade was all but extinguished. Ultimately, all that could be realized amounted to about 4501., and this was handed over to Crompton to enable him to increase his operations in spinning and weaving.

In October, 1807, Mr. Crompton, in the hopes of gaining the patronage of Sir Joseph Banks, wrote a letter to him, but unfortunately addressed it to Sir Joseph Banks, President of the Society of Arts, and it is probable that Sir Joseph never read the letter, but transmitted it to the Society to which it was addressed; in any case, no notice was taken of this letter, and Crompton's too morbidly sensitive mind thus received an additional wound.

Two or three years after this, his family circumstances became very precarious, and in the undefined hope of yet obtaining some recompense for his labours which might better his position, Crompton, in the year 1811, commenced a statistical investigation into the results of his invention. For this purpose he visited the various manufacturing districts of Great Britain, and, from the information he obtained, calculated that between four and five millions of mule spindles were then in actual use. But this estimate was afterwards found to be much too low, as it did not include any of the numerous mules used in the manufacture of woollen yarn.

A story is told of Mr. Crompton, that, when at Glasgow engaged in collecting this information, he was invited to a complimentary dinner, but his courage was unable to carry him through so formidable an ordeal; and so when the time came for going, to use his own words, "rather than face up, I first hid myself and then fairly bolted from the city."

Mr. Crompton laid the result of his investigation before some kind friends at Manchester, who undertook to draw up a memorial to Parliament on his behalf. But in this matter Crompton's continued ill-fortune was singularly displayed. When the time came for the grant to be proposed to Parliament (May 11, 1812), Mr. Percival, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who had intended proposing 20,000l. as the sum to be awarded, was assassinated while entering the lobby of the House of Commons. Crompton's petition was consequently postponed, and ultimately 5000l. was all that was awarded to the Inventor of the Spinning-Mule; and thus, after having haunted the lobby of the House of Commons for five wearisome months, Samuel Crompton went back to Bolton with this shadow of a national reward.

Late in life Mr. Crompton's family became dispersed, and as old age crept on he became less and less fitted for business, and now for the first time sank into actual poverty.

A noble effort was, however, made by some of the inhabitants of Bolton to rescue him from his distressing position, and by their efforts an annuity of 631. per annum was secured to him for the remainder of his life.

In the year 1827 Samuel Crompton's melancholy life came to an end. He died at his house in King Street, Great Bolton, aged

* Mr. Lee, Mr. Kennedy, and Mr. George Duckworth.

seventy-three, of no particular complaint, but by the gradual decay of nature. His body was placed in a grave near the centre of the parish churchyard, underneath a flagstone with the following inscription:-" Beneath this stone are interred the mortal remains of Samuel Crompton, of Bolton, late of Hall-i'-th'- Wood, in the township of Tonge, inventor of the spinning machine called the Mule; who departed this life the 26th day of June, 1827, aged seventy-two years. "*— The Life and Times of Samuel Crompton, &c., by Gilbert J. French, F.S.A., &c. Manchester and London, 1860.

JOHN DALTON, D.C.L., L.L.D., F.R.S., L. and E.

MEMBER OF THE INSTITUTE OF FRANCE.

Born September 5, 1766. Died July 27, 1844.

John Dalton was born at Eaglesfield, a small village in Cumberland, near Cockermouth. His father, Joseph Dalton, was a woollenweaver, and at the birth of his second son, John, gained but a scanty subsistence by weaving common country goods. At the death of his elder brother, however, he inherited a small estate of sixty acres, which enabled him to give up weaving. John Dalton had consequently few opportunities of obtaining a good education; he was emphatically self-taught, and from his very childhood began to acquire those habits of stern self-reliance and indomitable perseverance which in after life, rather than any direct inspirations of genius (as Dalton himself used to affirm), enabled him to work out his grand discovery of the 'Atomic Theory.'

Dalton attended the schools in the neighbourhood of Eaglesfield until eleven years old, by which time he had gone through a course of mensuration, surveying, and navigation. At the age of twelve he began to teach in the village school, and for the next two or three years continued to be partially occupied in teaching and in working on his father's farm. When fifteen years old he removed to Kendal, to become an assistant in a boarding school established there; and, after remaining in this capacity for four years, he determined to undertake, with the assistance of his elder brother, the management of the same school. Dalton continued to be connected with this school for the next eight years, during which time he occupied his leisure in studying Greek, Latin, French, and Natural Philosophy, and was also a frequent contributor to the 'Gentleman's

* There is an unaccountable mistake of one year in Mr. Crompton's age as engraved on his tombstone.

and Lady's Diaries,' two periodicals then in considerable repute. While residing at Kendal, Dalton became acquainted with Mr. Gough, a man who, though blind from infancy, was yet possessed of high scientific attainments. With this gentleman he contracted an intimate friendship, and in 1793 was invited, chiefly through Mr. Gough's favourable recommendation, to join a college, established in Manchester by a body of Protestant dissenters, as tutor in the department of mathematics and natural philosophy. He resigned this appointment after holding it for a period of six years, but continued to reside in Manchester during the whole of his subsequent life.

In September 1793 Dalton published his first work, entitled 'Meteorological Observations and Essays,' the materials of which were, however, collected, and the work entirely completed during his residence at Kendal. A second edition was printed in 1834, and he continued to pay much attention to this subject until within a short period of his death, by which time he had recorded upwards of 200,000 meteorological observations.

In the year 1794 Dalton became a member of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester, of which, during the course of his life, he filled in succession all the more important offices; including that of the presidentship, which he held from the period of his election in 1817, until his death in 1844. On the 31st of October, 1794, he read his first paper to this Society, entitled, 'Extraordinary Facts relating to the Vision of Colours,' in which he gives an account of a singular defect in his own vision, known by the name of colour-blindness, which rendered him incapable of distinguishing certain colours, such as scarlet and green. He first became aware of this defect in his sight from the following circumstance. When a boy he had gone to see a review of troops, and being surprised to hear those around him expatiating on the gorgeous effect of the military costume, he asked, "In what a soldier's coat differed from the grass upon which he trod," a speech which was received by his companions with derisive laughs and exclamations of wonder.* Until Dalton had announced his own case, and described the cases of more than twenty persons similarly circumstanced, this peculiar form of blindness was supposed to be very rare. In the annals of the above-mentioned Society, Dalton published a long series of important essays, among the most remarkable of which are some papers read in the year 1801, entitled, 'Experimental Essays on the Constitution of Mixed Gases;' 'On the Force of Steam or Vapour and other liquids at different temperatures in a vacuum and in air;' 'On Evaporation,' and 'On the Expansion of Gases by Heat.' In January 1803 he read to the same Society an inquiry On the tendency of Elastic fluids to diffusion through each other, and in October of the same year wrote an Essay containing * Memoir, by Dr. T. S. Trail, Encyclopædia Britannica.