It was now, 1766, that the murmurs of the spinning women ripened to acts of violence. At first the men were pleased with the jenny, which gave eight threads of weft instead of one; but, when it threatened to supersede hand-spinning altogether, they joined with the women in resisting its use. They marched out of Blackburn in mobs, and broke all the jennies, reduced the works at Brookside to absolute wreck, and levelled the house of James Hargreaves at Stanehill Moor with the ground. Hargreaves, his wife, and child, fled for their lives, first to Manchester, and then to Nottingham. After many difficulties, he obtained the assistance of a person named Strutt, and the jenny was brought into use at Nottingham (1766-67), also at Derby. Mr. Strutt made a fortune out of it, which, with his sagacity, integrity, and business habits, has descended to the eminent family who still bear that name at Derby. It has been said that James Hargreaves died a pauper at Nottingham. This was repeated in books for many years, but more recent investigation has proved that, though neither so rich as the Strutts, Peels, or Arkwrights, he was not a pauper. In his will he bequeathed £4000 to relatives.

When the buildings and machinery were demolished at Brookside, the mob proceeded to Altham, six miles distant, and destroyed the works which William Peel, the eldest son, had erected

there. Everywhere the Peels were hunted for the next twelve months. At last the father turned his back on Lancashire, and took up his abode at Burton-on-Trent, in Staffordshire, where he established both spinning and printing. Meanwhile Robert, the third son, was diligently fulfilling an apprenticeship, with the Bamber Bridge printers already named. When at liberty to enter upon business for himself, he selected a green, sunny spot, with abundance of water, close to the town of Bury, in Lancashire. His brothers did the same, at the hamlet of Church, near to which has since arisen the thriving and populous town of Accrington.

The wonderful success of the whole family of the Peels as merchants, manufacturers, and calico printers, is a part of the industrial history of Britain. Nothing more can be done here than to name it. Robert, from the magnitude of his works at Bury, and from his political tendencies, became the best known. He married the daughter of Mr. Yates, one of his partners in business, and by her had a large family.

He extended his works to other places than Bury. Near Tamworth, in Staffordshire, he acquired property (where there was an abundance of water), and built the town of Fazeley, besides giving employment to the population of Tamworth. In 1790 he became member of Parliament for the latter place. In 1797, when the government was

distressed for money, he subscribed £10,000 to the voluntary contribution. Next year, when invasion was first seriously feared, he raised six companies of volunteers, chiefly among his own workpeople at Bury, and became their lieutenantcolonel. He published several political pamphlets. He was the first to claim legislative protection to young persons employed in factories. He had been careful to regulate his own establishment more in accordance with humanity than most of his neighbours, and founded his bill of 1802 to "ameliorate the condition of apprentices in the cotton and woollen trade" on the regulations which he had practically adopted. At various times he re-opened this question during the next seventeen years, but never with that success which he desired. In 1801, he was created a baronet; about which time he purchased the estate of Drayton Manor, close beside Fazeley. He died there, and was interred in the church of Drayton Bassett, in 1830, where the escutcheon, with its bees and the word "industria," was raised over his tomb by his more celebrated son. But there, too, the son is now lying-" Dust to dust, ashes to ashes."

His son, the second Sir Robert Peel, was born 5th February, 1788, at Bury. His latter years were identified with the untaxing of bread, and Bury was the first to propose a monument to his memory in gratitude for that legislation. This monument was completed, and opened to public

view on the 8th September, 1852. It bears the following inscription, quoted from one of his latest speeches "It may be that I shall leave a name sometimes remembered with expressions of goodwill in the abodes of those whose lot it is to earn their daily bread by the sweat of their brow, when they shall recruit their exhausted strength with abundant and untaxed food-the sweeter because it is no longer leavened by a sense of injustice."

From Bury he was sent to school at Harrow, where he displayed great diligence and aptitude for learning. Lord Byron was his contemporary, and, long before the statesman reached his great eminence, bore testimony to his unusual ability and diligence. He said:"Peel, the orator and statesman that was, or is, or is to be, was my formfellow, and we were both at the top of our remove, in public phrase. We were on good terms, but his brother was my intimate friend. There were always great hopes of Peel amongst us all, masters and scholars, and he has not disappointed us. As a scholar, he was greatly my superior; as a declaimer and actor, I was reckoned at least his equal. As a schoolboy out of school, I was always in scrapes; he never; and in school he always knew his lesson, and I rarely." Mr. Peel proceeded to Christ-Church, Oxford. On taking his degree, he was the first man of his year. In 1809, he obtained a seat in Parliament for the borough of Cashel, in Ireland. In 1810 he was made

under-secretary of state. In September, 1812, he was appointed chief secretary for Ireland. In 1817, Mr. Abbott, speaker of the House, and member for the University of Oxford, being elevated to the peerage, Mr. Peel was elected for the university in his stead. In 1822, he succeeded Lord Sidmouth as secretary of state for the home department, and, with a short interval, filled that office eight years. In 1819, he carried a measure effecting great changes in the currency. In 1826, he introduced measures for the reform of the criminal code. In 1828-29, he reformed the police system; and in the latter year, with the Duke of Wellington, carried the Catholic Emancipation Act. Before entering on this last measure, he resigned his seat for the university, and stood a new election, but was rejected. In 1830, he succeeded to the baronetcy and a magnificent fortune as Sir Robert Peel. In 1831-32, he opposed Lord John Russell's Reform Bill. In addressing the electors of Tamworth, in 1832, he made a declaration of his principles, which did not seem so true then as it does now, when his life and legislation are a part of national history. He said: "I have never been the decided supporter of any band of partisans, but have always thought it better to look steadily at the peculiar circumstances of the times in which we live, and, if necessities were so pressing as to demand it, to conclude that there was no discredit or dishonour in relinquishing

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