lights in the old hall at dead of night, and
unusual sounds were heard, and unusual things
done; and soon Samuel got the reputation of
being a " conjuror" — an inventor, according to
Bolton phraseology. All his money now went
in his experiments. He was for ever getting the
wayside blacksmith " to file his bits of things,"
and the joiner to make him odd-looking wheels
and rollers; and then, to supply the drain
perpetually going on, he hired out himself and his
violin to the orchestra at Bolton theatre, and
got eighteenpence a night for his "fiddle and
his bow." This sum, though small, helped him
wonderfully; it enabled him to carry on the
war with poverty, want of knowledge, repetition
of what had been already done, and all the other
enemies of an ignorant and solitary worker; and
after five years' toil and thought and love he
perfected his rude machine, called then
"Hall-i'-th'-Wood Wheels," or "Muslin Wheel." Thus,
his great aim, the discovery of a machine which
would enable him to spin fine yarn fit for the
muslin used for ladies' dresses, he finally
accomplished without help or aid of any kind.

Crompton's fine yarn soon attracted attention.
How did he do it? What was his secret? Neither
Hargreave's spinning- jenny nor Arkwright's
water-frame could produce such yarn as this
young man gave up, week after week, from the
Old Hall in the Wood; and public curiosity,
mingled with something of public indignation,
waxed high and raged severely. The hall was
besieged. Some brought ladders and climbed
up to the window of the room where Samuel
worked; others offered bribes; one, more
persevering than the rest, concealed himself in the
loft, and watched the "conjuror" at work
through a gimlet-hole bored in the ceiling;
Arkwright travelled sixty miles to see the new
muslin wheel; and Peel, the father of the great
Sir Robert, came with an offer to take Crompton
into partnership; or— according to Mr. French
— with the intention of getting the secret
underhand and for nothing. The inventor was plagued
to death; and, being a shy man, a moody man,
and a mistrustful man, heartily wished that his
persecutors would break their necks some of
these fine days, when they swarmed too thickly
upon him. His muslin wheel was destined to
bring him only disappointment and annoyance;
and whether he kept the secret or displayed
it, he was equally sure to be troubled and mis-
handled. He had no means of buying a patent;
so, after a time, determined to give up his
invention to the public, on condition of receiving
a miserable sum of sixty pounds, which was
subscribed by most of the leading manufacturers
of the district. But the worst part of the story
is, that many of those who had set their names
down for certain sums, refused to pay them
when required, even threatening Samuel grossly,
and accusing him of imposture when he called
upon them for their guineas. It was this last
piece of treachery which put the finishing stroke
to the morbid pride and suspicion of Crompton's
character. Henceforth he and the world were
Ishmaelites, face to face.

As Crompton's muslin-wheel came more into
notice and repute, it changed its name and took
that of the Mule; being a kind of hybrid
between Hargreave's jenny and Arkwright's water-frame,
partaking of the principles of both, but
differing in application from both. Its "great
and important invention was the spindle-carriage,
and the principle of the thread's having no strain
upon it until it was completed. The carriage
with the spindles could, by the movement of
the hand and knee, recede just as the rollers
delivered out the elongated thread in a soft state,
so that it could allow of a considerable stretch
before the thread had to encounter the stress of
winding on the spindle. This was the cornerstone
of the merit of his invention." It was
a great misfortune that Crompton could not
make any real use of his discovery. Had he
joined Peel, who had all the business habits and
capability which the Bolton weaver wanted, they
would have advanced the cotton manufacture by
twenty years, says Mr. French, and Samuel
would have made his fortune. But he chose
his own path, and elected a life of solitude and
loneliness; and when a man, by obstinacy or by
want of clear-sightedness, has set himself to his
own loss, it is very hard to prevent him. No
life with which I am acquainted is such a
striking instance of the folly of pride and
exclusiveness as that of clever, moody, sensitive
Samuel Crompton.

The mule got into the market; and soon the
mule-maker was distanced by his own machine.
Various improvements in detail were applied
the rough wooden rollers were replaced by
others of smooth, swift-running metal; David
Dale, of Lanark, applied water-power to its use;
Peel and Arkwright, and all the great manufacturers
adopted it, with all its improvements, in
their gigantic mills; while the inventor toiled
humbly and sadly in his old behind-handed
workshop, and nursed the smarting wounds which he
made all the worse by contemplation. And then
he clothed himself anew in his impenetrable
garment of pride and reserve, and thought
himself ill-used because the world regarded him as
a celebrity. If he saw himself pointed at, or
spoken of, in the market, he would not attempt
to transact business, but would return home
with all his samples in his pocket; or if a
"rough-and-ready manufacturer" offered him less
than he asked, he would wrap up his samples and
leave him, never condescending to explain or to
bargain. He used to complain bitterly of the
manner in which he was watched and suspected
of still further improvements; and took the
natural curiosity of men, even their natural
homage to his genius, as so many insults and
wrongs. In fact, every incident of his life
shows how entirely morbid and wrong-headed
he was in all his dealings with the world and his
fellow-men.

Seventeen hundred and ninety-three was a
year of unexampled prosperity to the muslin
weavers of Bolton. A piece of twenty-four
yards brought four guineas, or three-and-six-pence
a yard for the weaver," whose trade was