PICTURES BY
CHARLESGREEN%
HEDLEYFITTON
*»-
Presented to the
LIBRARY of the
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO
by
REVEREND A.F. POLLEX
THE MANCHESTER MAN.
1896.
X
fell! ""1 il5'
< * ' ;• i ' . . :• ' -v. \ i .'
MRS. G. L. BANKS.
From a Photograph by Elliott &> fry
1 V HafhANlSHESTt*.
PR
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER
I. The Flood
II. No One Knows
III. How the Rev. Joshua Brookes and Simon
Interpreted a Shakesperian Text
IV. Mischief
V. Ellen Chadwick ...
VI. To Martial Music
VII. The Reverend Joshua Brookes
VIII. The Blue-Coat School
IX. The Snake
X. First Antagonism
XI. The Blue-Coat Boy
XII. The Gentleman
XIII. Simon's Pupil
XIV. Jabez goes out into the World
XV. Apprenticeship
XVI. In War and Peace ...
XVII. In the Warehouse
XVIII. Easter Monday
XIX. Peterloo
XX. Action and Reaction ...
XXI. Wounded
XXII. Mr. Clegg
XXIII. In the Theatre Royal
XXIV. Madame Broadbent's Fan
Clegg
PAGE
I
10
20
30
39
50
59
67
77
87
96
107
"3
122
I32
142
152
l62
172
1 86
196
205
214
222
VI.
CONTENTS — Continued.
CHAPTER
XXV. Retrospective
XXVI. On the Portico Steps
XXVII. Manhood
XXVIII. Once in a Life
XXIX. On Ardwick Green Pond...
XXX. Blind
XXXI. Coronation Day ...
XXXII. Evening: Indoors and Out
XXXIII. Clogs
XXXIV. Birds of a Feather ...
XXXV. At Carr Cottage ...
XXXVI. The Lovers' Walk ...
XXXVII. A Ride on a Rainy Night
XXXVIII. Defeated
XXXIX. Like Father, Like Son ...
XL. With all His Faults...
XLI. Marriage...
XLII. Blows
XLI II. Partnership
XLIV. Man and Beast
XLV. Wounds Inflicted and Endured
XLVI. The Mower with His Scythe ...
XLVII. The Last Act
PAGE
231
241
250
258
268
279
288
299
3°9
3*9
327
337
347
357
367
376
385
395
406
4*7
428
438
447
INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS.
PORTRAITS.
(DRAWN BY HEDLEY FITTON.)
THE AUTHOR (From a Photograph by Elliott & Fry) ... FRONTISPIECE.
To FACE PAGE.
THE REV. JOSHUA BROOKES, M.A. (From a Woodbury-type of the
Oil-painting by Minasi) ... ... ... ... 21
THE REV. JEREMIAH SMITH, D.D. (From an Engraving in the
Grammar School Register ... ... ... ... 97
HUMPHREY CHETHAM, Fundator (From an Engraving) ... ... 130
JOSEPH NADIN (From an Engraving in Chetham Library) ... 164
SAMUEL BAMFORD (From an Engraving) ... .., .... 176
HENRY HUNT (From an Engraving-, after Woolnooth) ... 215
HENRY LIVERSEEGE (From an Engraving, after Bradley) ... 301
GEORGE PILKINGTON (From a Photograph)... ... ... 405
MRS. ABEL HEYWOOD (ttee GRIMES) (From a Photograph) ... 444
FULL PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS.
To FACE
CHAPTER ARTIST. PAGE
i. — THE RESCUE Chas. Green ... 6
2.— THE OLD CHURCH, N.E Hedley Fitton ... 18
4. — " THE SEVEN STARS " INN ... ... ... ,, ,, ... 35
5. — ELLEN CHADWICK WANTS PRINCE WILLIAM... Chas. Green ... 41
6. — MANCHESTER INFIRMARY ... Hedley Fitton ... 54
viii. INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS — Continued.
To FACE
CHAPTER ARTIST. PAGE
8. — CRUMPSALL HALL, HUMPHREY CHETHAM'S
BIRTHPLACE Hedley Fitton ... 70
8. — READING-ROOM, CHETHAM LIBRARY ,, ,, ... 73
8. — SNAKE CELLAR ,, „ ... 81
10. — THE FIGHT IN THE COLLEGE YARD Chas. Green ... 94
ii. — SMITHY DOOR AND CATEATON STREET ... Hedley Fitton ... 106
12. — MARKET PLACE AND EXCHANGE ,, ,, ... no
13. — HUNT'S BANK AND BRIDGE , ,, ... 114
13. — KITCHEN, CHETHAM HOSPITAL , ,, ... 117
16. — MARKET STREET LANE (Lower End) .. ,, ,, ... 144
16. — CLEGG'S ENTRY IN LONG MILLGATE ... ,, ,, ... 147
16. — WHAT WOULD MRS. BROADBENT SAY? ... Chas. Green ... 149
17. — GRAMMAR SCHOOL AND COLLEGE GATE ... Hedley Fitton ... 153
19. — A P'ETERLOO INCIDENT Chas. Green ... 181
20. — " THE STAR " INN Hedley Fitton ... 191
23. — BRAVO, CLEGG ! ... ... ... ... Chas. Green ... 221
24. — WHALEY BRIDGE Hedley Fitton ... 225
25. — CARR COTTAGE ... ... ... ... ,, ,, ... 234
26. — BY THE PORTICO STEPS ... ... ... Chas. Green ... 245
29. — ON ARDWICK GREEN POND , ,, ... 275
34. — BIRDS OF A FEATHER ,, ,, ... 322
38. — THE MIDNIGHT STRUGGLE „ ,, ... 363
41.— COURTYARD, BARLOW HALL ... Hedley Fitton ... 389
43. — MAN AND WIFE Chas. Green . . 413
45. — BARLOW HALL Hedley Fitton ... 435
46. — NEW BAILEY BRIDGE AND RIVER IRWELL ... ,, ,, ... 441
APPENDIX. — REFECTORY, CHETHAM'S HOSPITAL... ,, ,, ... 471
Ditto. — HUMPHREY CHETHAM'S STATUE ... Elias Bancroft ... 480
INITIALS.
i. — AN ARK OF SAFETY Chas. Green ... i
4. — "SEVEN STARS" — Interior Hedley Fitton ... 30
6. — PRINCELY RECOGNITION ... ... ... Chas. Green ... 50
INDEX TO ILLUSTRATIONS — Continued.
CHAPTER ARTIST.
To FACE
PAGE
7. — COLLEGE OUTLET TO THE RIVER Hedley Fitton ... 59
8. — EXIT FROM COLLEGE YARD ... ... ... ,, ,, ... 67
10. — COLLEGE-GATE AND GRAMMAR SCHOOL ... ,, ,, ... 87
n. — A BLUE-COAT BOY '., ... ,, „ ... 96
13. — JABEZ ON CELLAR STEPS Chas. Green ... 113
14. — COLLEGE KITCHEN-DOOR Hedley Fitton ... 122
16. — SHAW'S SHOP, MARKET STREET , „ ... 142
17. — JABEZ TEACHING TOM HULME Chas. Green ... 152
18. — BALANCED Hedley Fitton ... 162
19. — SAM BAMFORD'S COTTAGE ,, ,, ... 172
20. — SHOT DOWN Chas. Green ... 186
22. — HOUSE OF JOSHUA BROOKES Hedley Fitton ... 205
25.— SEDAN CHAIR Chas. Green ... 231
28. — CROWNING JABEZ WITH PUNCH-BOWL .. ,, ,, ... 258
32. — AUGUSTA AT HER HARP ,, ,, ... 299
33. — HOUSE OF GRAMMAR SCHOOL MASTER ... ,, ,, ... 309
34.— " THE PALACE " INN Hedley Fitton ... 319
35. — « WHITE HART " SIGN „ ,, ... 327
37.— A MIDNIGHT ALARM Chas. Green ... 347
38. — ATTEMPTED FLIGHT ,, ,, ... 357
40. — A DYING GIFT Hedley Fitton ... 376
42. — AUGUSTA DRESSING Chas. Green ... 394
46. — THE NEW BAILEY PRISON Hedley Fitton ... 438
47.— EMPTIES ,, ,, ... 447
MAPS.
To FACE
PAGE
PLAN OF MANCHESTER AND SALFORD taken about 1650 3
BRITTON'S MAP OF MANCHESTER AND SALFORD, 1807 87
PIGOT'S NEW PLAN OF MANCHESTER AND SALFORD, 1821 ... ... 288
THE MANCHESTER MAN.
CHAPTER THE FIRST.
THE FLOOD.
HEN Pliny lost his life, and
Herculaneum was buried,
Manchester was born. Whilst
lava and ashes blotted from
sight and memory fair and
luxurious Roman cities close
to the Capitol, the Roman
soldiery of Titus, under their
general Agricola, laid the
foundations of a distant city
which now competes with the
great cities of the world.
Where now rise forests of tall
chimneys, and the hum of
whirling spindles, spread the dense woods of Arden ; and from
the clearing in their midst rose the Roman castrum of Mamutium,*
which has left its name of Castle Field as a memorial to us. But
where their summer camp is said to have been pitched, on the
* Prior to the close of the Fourteenth Century, Manchester was written Mamecester.
AN ARK OF SAFETY.
2 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
airy rock at the confluence of the rivers Irk and Irvvell, sacred
church and peaceful college have stood for centuries, and only
antiquaries can point to Roman possession, or even to the
baronial hall which the Saxon lord perched there for security.
And only an antiquary or a very old inhabitant can recall
Manchester as it was at the close of the last century ; and
shutting his eyes upon railway-arch, station, and esplanade, upon
Palatine buildings, broad roadways, and river embankments, can
see the Irk and the Irwell as they were when the Cathedral
was the Collegiate Church, with a diminutive brick wall three
parts round its ancient graveyard. Then the irregular-fronted
rows of quaint old houses which still, under the name of Half
Street, crowd upon two sides of the churchyard, with only an
intervening strip of a flagged walk between, closed it up on a
third side, and shut the river (lying low beneath) from the view,
with a huddled mass of still older dwellings, some of which
were thrust out of sight, and were only to be reached by flights
of break-neck steps of rock or stone, and like their hoary
fellows creeping down the narrow roadway of Hunt's Bank,
overhung the Irwell, and threatened to topple into it some
day.
The Chetham Hospital or College still looks solidly down on
the Irk at the angle of the streams ; the old Grammar School
has been suffered to do the same ; and — thanks to the honest
workmen who built for our ancestors — the long lines of houses
known as Long Millgate are for the most part standing, and
on the river side have resisted the frequent floods of centuries.
In 1799 that line was almost unbroken, from the College
(where it commenced at Hunt's Bank Bridge) to Red Bank.
The short alley by the Town Mill, called Mill Brow, which led
down to the wooden Mill Bridge, was little more of a gap than
those narrow entries or passages which pierced the walls like
fill
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O
a
UG
Q
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THE MANCHESTER MAN. 3
slits here and there, and offered dark and perilous passage to
courts and alleys, trending in steep incline to the very bed of
the Irk. The houses themselves had been good originally, and
were thus cramped together for defence in perilous times, when
experience taught that a narrow gorge was easier held against
warlike odds than an open roadway.
Ducie Bridge had then no existence, but Tanners' Bridge —
no doubt a strong wooden structure like that at Mill Brow —
accessible from the street only by one of those narrow steep
passages, stood within a few yards of its site, and had a place
on old maps so far back as 1650. Its name is expressive, and
goes to prove that the tannery on the rocky banks of the Irk,
behind the houses of Long Millgate, then opposite to the end
of Miller's Lane, was a tannery at least a century and a half
before old Simon Clegg worked amongst the tan-pits, and called
William Clough master.
To this sinuous and picturesque line of houses, the streams,
with their rocky and precipitous banks, will have served in olden
times as a natural defensive moat (indeed, it is noticeable that
old Manchester kept pretty much within the angle of its rivers),
and in 1799, from one end of Millgate to the other, the
dwellers by the waterside looked across the stream on green
and undulating uplands, intersected by luxuriant hedgerows, a
bleachery at Walker's Croft, and a short terrace of houses near
Scotland Bridge, denominated Scotland, being the sole breaks in
the verdure.
Between the tannery and Scotland Bridge the river makes a
sharp bend ; and here, at the elbow, another mill, with its
corresponding dam, was situated. The current of the Irk, if not
deep, is strong at all times, though kept by its high banks
within narrow compass. But when, as is not unseldom the case,
there is a sudden flushing of water from the hill-country, it
4 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
rises, rises, rises, stealthily, though swiftly, till the stream overtops
its banks, washes over low-lying bleach-crofts, fields, and gardens,
mounts foot by foot over the fertile slopes, invades the houses,
and, like a mountain-robber sweeping from his fastness on a
peaceful vale, carries his spoil with him, and leaves desolation
and wailing behind.
Such a flood as this, following a heavy thunder-storm,
devastated the valley of the Irk, on the i/th of August,
1799.
Well was it then for the tannery and those houses on the
bank of the Irk which had their foundations in the solid rock,
for the waters surged and roared at their base and over pleasant
meadows — a widespread turbulent sea, with here and there an
island of refuge, which the day before had been a lofty mound.
The flood of the previous Autumn, when a coach and horses
had been swept down the Irwell, and men and women were
drowned, was as nothing to this. The tannery yard, high as it
was above the bed of the Irk, and solid as was its embankment,
was threatened with invasion. The surging water roared and
beat against its masonry, and licked its coping with frothy
tongue and lip, like a hungry giant, greedy for fresh food, Men
with thick clogs and hide-bound legs, leather gloves and aprons,
were hurrying to and fro with barrows and bark-boxes for the
reception of the valuable hides which their mates, armed with
long-shafted hooks and tongs, were dragging from the pits pell-
mell, ere the advancing waters should encroach upon their
territory, and empty the tan-pits for them.
Already the insatiate flood bore testimony to its ruthless
greed. Hanks of yarn, pieces of calico, hay, uptorn bushes,
planks, chairs, boxes, dog-kennels, and hen-coops, a shattered
chest of drawers, pots and pans, had swept past, swirling and
eddying in the flood, which by this time spread like a vast lake
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 5
over the opposite lands, and had risen within three feet of the
arch of Scotland Bridge, and hardly left a trace where the
mill-dam chafed it commonly.
Too busy were the tanners, under the eye of their master,
to stretch out hand or hook to arrest the progress of either
furniture or live stock, though bee-hives and hen-coops, and more
than one squealing pig, went racing with the current, now rising
towards the footway of Tanners' Bridge.
Every window of every house upon the lower banks was
crowded with anxious heads, for flooded Scotland rose like an
island from the watery waste, and their own cellars were fast
filling. There had been voices calling to each other from window
to window all the morning ; but now from window to window,
from house to house, rang one reduplicated shriek, which caused
many of the busy tanners to quit their work, and rush to the
water's edge. To their horror, a painted wooden cradle, which
had crossed the deeply-submerged dam in safety, was floating
foot-foremost down to destruction, with an infant calmly sleeping
in its bed ; the very motion of the waters having seemingly
lulled it to sounder repose !
" Good Lord ! It's a choilt 1 " exclaimed Simon Clegg, the
eldest tanner in the yard. " Lend a hand here, fur the sake o'
th' childer at whoam.'
Half a dozen hooks and plungers were outstretched, even
while he spoke ; but the longest was lamentably too short to
arrest the approaching cradle in its course, and the unconscious
babe seemed doomed. With frantic haste Simon Clegg rushed
on to Tanners' Bridge, followed by a boy ; and there, with
hook and plunger, they met the cradle as it drifted towards
them, afraid of over-balancing it even in their attempt to save.
It swerved, and almost upset ; but Simon dexterously caught his
hook within the wooden hood, and drew the frail bark and its
6 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
living freight close to the bridge. The boy, and a man named
Cooper, lying flat on the bridge, then clutched at it with
extended hands, raised it carefully from the turbid water, and
drew it safely between the open rails to the footway, amidst the
shouts and hurrahs of breathless and excited spectators.
The babe was screaming terribly. The shock when the first
hook stopped the progress of the cradle had disturbed its dreams,
and its little fat arms were stretched out piteously as strange
faces looked down upon it instead of the mother's familiar
countenance. Wrapping the patchwork quilt around it, to keep
it from contact with his wet sleeves and apron, Simon, tenderly
as a woman, lifted the infant in his rough arms, and strove to
comfort it, but in vain. His beard of three days growth was
as a rasp to its soft skin, and the closer he caressed, the more
it screamed. The men from the tannery came crowding round
him.
"What dost ta mean to do wi' th' babby?" asked the man
Cooper of old Simon. "Aw'd tak' it whoam to my missis, but
th' owd lass is nowt to be takken to, an' wur as cross as two
sticks when oi only axed fur mi baggin* to bring to wark wi'
mi this mornin'," added he, with rueful remembrance of the
scolding wife on his hearth.
"Neay, lad, aw'l not trust th' poor choilt to thy Sally. It
'ud be loike chuckin' it out o' th' wayter into th' fire (Hush-a-
by, babby). Aw'll just tak it to ar' Bess, and hoo'll cuddle it
up and gi' it summat to sup, till we find its own mammy,"
answered Simon, leaving the bridge. " Bring the kaytherf alung,
Jack," (to the boy) "Bess'll want it. We'n noan o' that tackle
at ar place. Hush-a-by, hush-a-by, babby."
But the little thing, missing its natural protector, and half
stifled in the swathing quilt, only screamed the louder ; and
* Food for a meal, so called from the bag in which it was carried. f Cradle.
THE RESCUE.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 7
Simon, notwithstanding his kind heart, was truly glad when his
daughter Bess, who had witnessed the rescue from their own
window, met him at the tannery gate, and relieved him of his
struggling charge.
" Si thi, Bess ! here's a God-send fur thi — a poor little babby
fur thee to tend an' be koind to, till them it belungs to come
a-seekin' fur it," said he to the young woman ; " but thah mun
give it summat better than cowd wayter — it's had too mich o'
that a'ready."
• " That aw will, poor darlin' ! " responded she, kissing the
babe's velvet cheeks as, sensible of a change of nurses, it nestled
to her breast. " Eh ! but there'll be sore hearts for this blessed
babby, somewheere." And she turned up the narrow passage
which led at once from the tan-yard and the bridge, stilling
and soothing the little castaway as adroitly as an experienced
nurse.
" Neaw, luk thi, lad," Simon remarked to Cooper ; " is na it
fair wonderful heaw that babby taks to ar Bess ? But it's just
a way hoo has, an' theere is na a fractious choilt i' a' ar yard
but'll be quiet wi' Bess."
Cooper looked after her, nodded an assent, and sighed, as if
he wished some one in another yard had the same soothing
way with her.
But the voice of the raging water had not stilled like that of
the rescued infant. Back went the two men to their task, and
worked away with a will to carry hides, bark, and implements
to places of security. And as they hurried to and fro with
loads on back or barrow, up, up, inch by inch, foot by foot,
the swelling flood rose still higher, till, lapping the foot-bridge,
curling over the embankment, it drove the sturdy tanners back,
flung itself into the pits, and, in many a swirling eddy, washed
tan and hair and skins into the common current.
8 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
Not so much, however, went into its seething caldron as
might have been, had the men worked with less vigour ; and,
quick to recognise the value of ready service, Mr. Clough led his
drenched and weary workmen to the " Skinners' Arms," in Long
Millgate, and ordered a supply of ale and bread and cheese to
be served out to them.
At the door of the public-house, where he left the workmen to
the enjoyment of this impromptu feast, he encountered Simon Clegg.
The kind fellow had taken a hasty run to his own tenement,
"just to see heaw ar Bess an' th' babby get on ;" and he brought
back the intelligence that it was " a lad, an' as good as goold."
" Oh, my man, I've been too much occupied to speak to you
before," cried Mr. Clough. "I saw you foremost in the rescue
of that unfortunate infant, and shall not forget it. Here is a
crown for your share in the good deed. I suppose that was the
child's mother you gave it to ?"
Simon was a little man, but he drew back with considerable
native dignity.
" Thenk yo', measter, all th' same, but aw connot tak' brass
fur just doin' my duty. Aw'd never ha' slept i' my bed gin
that little un had bin dreawned, an' me lookin' on loike a
stump. Neay ; that lass wur Bess, moi wench. We'n no notion
wheere th' lad's mother is."
Mr. Clough would have pressed the money upon him, but
he put it back with a motion of his hand.
" No, sir ; aw'm a poor mon, a varry poor man, but aw
connot tak' money fur savin' a choilt's life. It's agen' ma
conscience. I'll tak' mi' share o' the bread an' cheese, an' drink
yo'r health i' a sup o' ale, but aw cudna' tak' that brass if aw
wur deein'."
And Simon; giving a scrape with his clog, and a duck of
his head, meant for a bow, passed his master respectfully, and
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 9
went clattering up the steps of the " Skinners' Arms," leaving
the gentleman standing there, and looking after him in mingled
astonishment and admiration.
CHAPTER THE SECOND.
NO ONE KNOWS.
HEN the scurrying water, thick with sand and mud,
and discoloured with dye stuffs, which floated in
brightly-tinted patches on its surface, filled the arch
of Scotland Bridge, and left only the rails of
Tanners' Bridge visible, the inundation reached its climax ; but a
couple of days elapsed before the flood subsided below the level
of the unprotected tannery-yard, and until then neither Simon
Clegg nor his mates could resume their occupations.
There was a good deal of lounging about Long Millgate and
the doors of the " Queen Anne " and " Skinners' Arms " of
heavily shod men, in rough garniture of thick hide — armoury
against the tan and water in which their daily bread was
steeped.
But in all those two days no anxious father, no white-faced
mother, had run from street to street, and house to house, to
seek and claim a rescued living child. No, not even when the
week had passed, though the story of his "miraculous preservation"
was the theme of conversation at the tea-tables of gentility
and in the bar-parlours of taverns ; was the gossip of courts
and alleys, highways and byways ; and though echo, in the
guise of a " flying stationer," caught it up and spread it
broadcast in catchpenny sheets, far beyond the confines of the
inundation.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. n
This was the more surprising as no dead bodies had been
washed down the river, and no lives were reported " lost." Had
the child no one to care for it ? — no relative to whom its little
life was precious ? Had it been abandoned to its fate, a waif
unloved, uncared for ?
The house in which Simon Clegg lived was situated at the
very end of Skinners' Yard, a cul-de-sac, to which the only
approach was a dark, covered entry, not four feet wide. The
pavement of the yard was natural rock, originally hewn into
broad flat steps, but then worn with water from the skies, and
from house- wifely pails, and the tramp of countless clogs, to a
rugged steep incline, asking wary stepping from the stranger on
exploration after nightfall. Gas was, of course, unknown, but
not even an oil-lamp lit up the gloom.
In the sunken basement a tripe-boiler had a number of stone
troughs or cisterns, for keeping his commodities cool for sale.
The three rooms of Simon Clegg were situated immediately
above these, two small bed-rooms overlooking the river and
pleasant green fields beyond; the wide kitchen window having
no broader range of prospect than the dreary and not too
savoury yard. Even this view was shut out by a batting frame,
resembling much a long, narrow French bedstead, all the more
that on its canvas surface was laid a thick bed of raw (that is,
undressed) cotton, freckled with seeds and fine bits of husky pod.
Bess was a batter, and her business was to turn and beat the
clotted mass with stout lithe arms and willow-wands, until the
fibres loosened, the seeds and specks fell through, and a billowy
mass of whitish down lay before her. It was not a healthy
occupation : dust and flue released found their way into the
lungs, as well as on to the floor and furniture ; and a rosy-cheeked
batter was a myth. Machinery does the work now — but this
history deals with then !
12 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
During the week dust lay thick on everything ; even Bessy's
hair was fluffy as a bursting cotton pod, in spite of the kerchief
tied across it ; but on the Saturday, when she had carried her
work to Simpson's factory in Miller's Lane, and came back with
her wages, broom and duster cleared away the film ; wax and
brush polished up the old bureau, the pride and glory of their
kitchen ; the two slim iron candlesticks, fender and poker, were
burnished bright as steel ; the three-legged round deal table was
scrubbed white ; and then, mounted on tall pattens, she set
about with mop and pail, and a long-handled stone, to cleanse
the flag floor from the week's impurities.
She had had a good mother, and, to the best of her ability,
Bess tried to follow in her footsteps, and fill the vacant place
on her father's hearth, and in his heart. Her mother had been
dead four years, and Bess, now close upon twenty, had since
then lost two brothers, and lamented as lost one dearer than a
brother — the two former by death, the other by the fierce demands
of war. She had a pale, interesting face, with dark hair and
thoughtful, deep grey eyes, and was, if anything, too quiet and
staid for her years ; but when her face lit up she had as
pleasant a smile upon it as one would wish to see by one's
fireside, and not even her dialect could make her voice otherwise
than low and gentle.
Both her brothers had been considerably younger than herself;
and possibly the fact of having stood in loco parentis to them
for upwards of two years had imparted to her the air of
motherliness she possessed. Certain it is that if a child in the
yard scalded itself, or cut a finger, or knocked the bark off an
angular limb, it went crying to Bessy Clegg in preference to its own
mother ; and she healed bruises and quarrels with the same balsam —
loving sympathy. She was just the one to open her arms and
heart to a poor motherless babe, and Simon Clegg knew it.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 13
Old Simon, or old Clegg, he was called, probably because he
was graver and more serious than his fellows, and had never
changed his master since he grew to manhood ; certainly not
on account of his age, which trembled on the verge of fifty,
only. He was a short, somewhat spare man, with a face deeply
lined by sorrow for the loved ones he had lost. But he had
a merry twinkling eye, and was not without a latent vein of
humour. The atmosphere of the tannery might have shrivelled
his skin, but it had not withered his heart ; and when he
handed the child he had saved to his daughter, he never
stopped to calculate contingencies.
The boy, apparently between two and three months' old, was
dressed in a long gown of printed linen, had a muslin cap, and
an under one of flannel, all neatly made, but neither in make
nor material beyond those of a respectable working-man's child ;
and there was not a mark upon anything which could give a
clue to its parentage.
The painted wooden cradle, which had been to it an ark of
safety, was placed in a corner by the fireplace ; and an old
bottle, filled with thin gruel, over the neck of which Bess had
tied a loose cap of punctured wash-leather, was so adjusted that
the little one, deprived of its mother, could lie within and feed
itself whilst Bess industriously pursued her avocations.
These were not times for idleness. There had been bread
riots the previous winter ; food still was at famine prices ; and
it was all a poor man could do, with the strictest industry and
economy, to obtain a bare subsistence. So Bess worked away
all the harder, because there were times when babydom was
imperative, and would be nursed.
She had put the last garnishing touches to her kitchen on
Saturday night, had taken off her wrapper-brat,* put on a clean
* A sort of close pinafore.
14 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
blue bedgown,* and substituted a white linen cap for the
coloured kerchief, when her father, who had been to New
Cross Market to make his bargains by himself on this occasion,
came into the kitchen, followed by Cooper, who having helped
to save the child, naturally felt an interest in him.
The iron porridge-pot was on the low fire, and Bess, sifting the
oatmeal into the boiling water with the left hand, whilst with
the other she beat it swiftly with her porridge-stick, was so intent
on the preparation of their supper, she did not notice their entrance
until her father, putting his coarse wicker market-basket down on
her white table, bade Cooper " Coom in an' tak' a cheer."
Instead of taking a chair, the man walked as quietly as his
clogs would let him to the cradle, and looked down on the
infant sucking vigorously at the delusive bottle. Matt Cooper
was the wwhappy father of eight, whose maintenance was a sore
perplexity to him ; and it may be supposed he spoke with
authority when he exclaimed —
"Whoy, he tak's t' th' pap-bottle as nat'rally as if he'n ne'er
had nowt else ! "
And the big man — quite a contrast to Simon — stooped and
lifted the babe from the cradle with all the ease of long practice,
and dandled it in his arms, saying as he did so,
"Let's hev a look at th' little chap. Aw've not seen the
colour o' his eyen yet."
The eyes were grey, so dark they might have passed for
black; and there was in them more than the ordinary inquiring
gaze of babyhood.
" Well, thah'rt a pratty lad ; but had thah bin th' fowestf
i' o' Lankisheer, aw'd a-thowt thi mammy'd ha' speeredj fur
thi afore this," added he, sitting down, and nodding to the child,
which crowed in his face.
* A short loose jacket. f Ugliest. % Inquired,
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 15
" Ah ! one would ha* reckoned so," assented Bess, without
turning round.
"What ar" ta gooin' to do, Simon, toward fandin' th' choilt's
kin ? " next questioned their visitor.
Simon looked puzzled.
"Whoy, aw've hardly gi'en it a thowt."
But the question, once started, was discussed at some length.
Meanwhile the porridge destined for two Bess poured into three
bowls, placing three iron spoons beside them with no more
ceremony than, "Ye'll tak' a sup wi' us, Mat."
Mat apologised, feeling quite assured there was no more than
the two could have eaten ; but Simon looked hurt, and the
porridge was appetising to a hungry man ; so he handed the
baby to the young woman, took up his spoon, and the broken
thread of conversation was renewed at intervals. What they
said matters not so much as what they did.
The next morning being Sunday, Cooper called for Clegg
just as the bells were ringing for church ; and the two, arrayed
in their best fustian breeches, long-tailed, deep-cuffed coats,
knitted hose, three-cornered hats, and shoes, only kept for
Sunday wear, set out to seek the parents of the unclaimed
infant, nothing doubting that they were going to carry solace to
sorrowing hearts.
Their course lay in the same track as the Irk, now pursuing
its course as smilingly under the bright August sun as though
its banks were not strewed with wreck, and foul with thick
offensive mud, and the woeful devastations were none of its
doing. There were fewer houses on their route than now, and
they kept closely as possible to the course of the river, questioning
the various inhabitants as they went along. They had gone
through Collyhurst and Blakely without rousing anyone to a
thought beyond self-sustained damage, or gaining a single item
i6 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
of intelligence, though they made many a detour in quest of it.
At a roadside public-house close to Middleton they sat down
parched with heat and thirst, called for a mug of ale each, drew
from their pockets thick hunks of brown bread and cheese,
wrapped in blue and white check handkerchiefs, and whilst
satisfying their hunger came to the conclusion that no cradle
could have drifted safely so far, crossing weirs and mill dams,
amongst uprooted bushes, timber, and household chattels, and
that it was best to turn back.
In Smedley Vale, where the flood seemed to have done its
worst, and where a small cottage close to the river lay in ruins,
a knot of people were gathered together talking and gesticulating
as if in eager controversy. As they approached, they were
spied by one of the group.
" Here are th' chaps as fund th' babby, an' want'n to know
who it belungs to," cried he, a youth whom they had interrogated
early in the day.
To tell in brief what Simon and his companion learned by
slow degrees — the hapless child was alone in the world, orphaned
by a succession of misfortunes. The dilapidated cottage had
been for some fifteen months the home of its parents. The
father, who was understood to have come from Crumpsall with
his young wife and her aged mother, had been summoned to
attend the death-bed of a brother in Liverpool, and had never
been heard of since. The alarm and trouble consequent upon
his prolonged absence prostrated the young wife, and caused not
only the babe's premature birth, but the mother's death. The
care of the child had devolved upon the stricken grandmother,
who had brought him up by hand, as Matthew's sagacity had
suggested. She was a woman far advanced in years, and feeble,
but she asked no help from neighbours or parish, though her
poverty was apparent. She kept poultry and knitted stockings,
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 17
and managed to eke out a living somehow, but how, none of
those scattered neighbours seemed to know — she had " held her
yead so hoigh " (pursued her way so quietly).
She had been out in her garden feeding her fowls when the
flood came upon them without warning, swept through the open
doors of the cottage, and carried cradle and everything else
before it, leaving hardly a wall standing. In endeavouring to
save the child she herself got seriously hurt, and was with
difficulty rescued. But between grief and fright, bruises and the
drenching, the old dame succumbed, and died on the Thursday
morning, and had been buried by the parish — from which in life
she had proudly kept aloof — that very afternoon, and no one
could tell other name she had borne than Nan.
Bess sobbed aloud when she heard her father's recital, which
lost nothing of its pathos from the homely vernacular in which
it was couched.
" An' what's to be done neaw ?" asked Cooper, as he sat on
one of the rush-bottomed chairs, sucking the knob of his walking
stick, as if for an inspiration. "Yo canno' think o' keeping th'
choilt, an' bread an' meal at sich a proice ! "
" Connot oi ? Then aw conno' think o1 aught else. Wouldst
ha' me chuck it i' th' river agen ? What does thah say, Bess?"
turning to his daughter, who had the child on her lap.
"Whoi, th' poor little lad's got noather feyther nor mother,
an' thah's lost boath o' thi lads. Mebbe it's a Godsend, feyther,
after o', as yo said'n to me," and she kissed it tenderly.
"Eh, wench!" interposed Matthew, but she went on without
heeding him.
" There's babby clooas laid by i' lavender i' thoase drawers
as hasna seen dayleet sin ar Joe wur a toddler, an' they'll just
come handy. An' if bread's dear, an' meal's dear, we mun just
ate less on it arsels, an' there'll be moore fur the choilt. He'll
i8 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
pay yo back, feyther, aw know, when yo're too owd to
wark."
" An' aw con do 'bout 'bacca, lass. If the orphan's granny
wur too preawd to ax help o' th' parish, aw'll be too preawd to
send her pratty grandchoilt theer."
And so, to Matthew Cooper's amazement, it was settled. But
the extra labour and self-denial it involved on the part of Bess,
neither Matthew nor Simon could estimate.
In the midst of the rabid scepticism and Republicanism of
the period, Simon Clegg was a staunch " Church and King "
man, and, as a natural consequence, a stout upholder of their
ordinances. Regularly as the bell tolled in for Sunday morning
service, he might be seen walking reverently down the aisle of
the old church, to his place in the free seats, with his neat,
cheerful-looking daughter following him sometimes, but not always
— so regularly that the stout beadle missed him from his seat
the Sunday after the inundation, and meeting him in the
churchyard a week later, sought to learn the why and wherefore.
The beadle of the parish church was an important personage
in the eyes of Simon Clegg ; and, somewhat proud of his notice,
the little tanner related the incidents of that memorable flood-week
to his querist, concluding with his adoption of the child.
The official h'md and ha'd, applauded the act, but shook his
powdered head, and added, sagely, that it was a "greeat charge,
a varry greeat charge."
" Dun yo' think th' little un's bin babtised ? " interrogated
the beadle.
"Aw conno* tell; nob'dy couldn't tell nowt abeawt th' choilt,
'ut wur ony use to onybody. Bess an' me han talked it ower,
an' we wur thinkin' o' bringin' it to be kirsened, to be on th'
safe soide loike. Aw reckon it wouldna do th' choilt ony harm
to be kirsened twoice ower ; an' 'twoud be loike flingin' th'
I
THE OLD CHURCH, FROM NORTH-EAST.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 19
choilt's soul to Owd Scrat gin he wur no kirsened at o'. What
dun yo' thinken'?"
The beadle thought pretty much the same as Simon, and it
was finally arranged that Simon should present the young
foundling for baptism in the course of the week.
CHAPTER THE THIRD.*
HOW THE REV. JOSHUA BROOKES AND SIMON CLEGG INTERPRETED
A SHAKESPERIAN TEXT.
Q
ANCHESTER had at that date two eccentric
clergymen attached to the Collegiate Church. The
one, Parson Gatliffe, a fine man, a polished gentleman,
« W
an eloquent preacher, but a bon vivant of whom
many odd stories are told. The other, the Reverend Joshua
Brookes, a short, stumpy man (so like to the old knave of clubs
in mourning that the sobriquet of the " Knave of Clubs " stuck
to him), was a rough, crusted, unpolished black-diamond, hasty
in temper, harsh in tone, blunt in speech and in the pulpit, but
with a true heart beating under the angular external crystals ;
and he was a good liver of another sort than his colleague.
He was the son of a crippled and not too sober shoemaker,
who, when the boy's intense desire for learning had attracted
the attention and patronage of Parson Ainscough, went to the
homes of several of the wealthy denizens of the town, to ask
for pecuniary aid to send his son Joshua to college. The
youth's scholarly attainments had already obtained him an
exhibition at the Free Grammar School, which, coupled with the
donations obtained by his father and the helping hand of Parson
Ainscough, enabled him to keep his terms and to graduate at
Brazenose, to become a master in the grammar school in which
he had been taught, and a chaplain in the Collegiate Church.
* See Appendix.
REV. JOSHUA BROOKES, M.A.
Front a Woodbury-tvpe Photograph by Brothers.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 21
So conscientious was he in the performance of his sacred
duties that, albeit he was wont to exercise his calling after a
peculiarly rough fashion of his own, he married, christened,
buried more people during his ministry than all the other
ecclesiastics put together.
It was to this Joshua Brookes (few ever thought of prefixing
the " Reverend " in referring to him) that Simon Clegg brought
" Nan's " orphan grandchild to be baptised on Tuesday, the yth
of September, just three weeks from the date of his involuntary
voyage down the flooded Irk.
It had taken the tanner the whole of the week following his
conversation with the beadle to determine the name he should
give the child, and many had been his consultations with Bess on
the subject. That very Sunday he had gone home from church
full of the matter, and lifting his big old Bible from its post
of honour on the top of the bureau (it was his whole library),
he sat, after dinner, with his head in his hands and his elbows
on the table, debating the momentous question.
" Yo' see, Bess," said he, " a neame as sticks to one all one's
loife, is noan so sma' a matter as some folk reckon. An' yon's
noan a common choilt. It is na every day, no, nor every year,
that a choilt is weshed down a river in a kayther, and saved
from th' very jaws of deeath. An' aw'd loike to gi'e un a
neame as 'ud mak' it remember it, an' thenk God for his
mercifu' preservation a' th' days o' his loife."
After a long pause, during which Bess took the baby from
the cradle, tucked a napkin under its chin, and began to feed it
with a spoon, he resumed —
" Yo' see, Bess, hadna aw bin kirsened Simon, aw moight ha'
bin a cobbler, or a whitster,-f* or a wayver, or owt else. But
feyther could read tho' he couldna wroite ; an' as he wur a
t Bleacher.
22 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
reed-makker, he towt mi moi A B C wi' crookin' up th1 bits
o' wires he couldna use into th' shaps o' th' letters ; an' when
aw could spell sma' words gradely*, he towt me to read out o'
this varry book ; an aw read o' Simon, a tanner, an* nowt 'ud
sarve mi but aw mun be a tanner too; so tha sees theer's
summat i' a neame after o'."
Bess suggested that he should be called Noah, because Noah
was saved in the ark ; but he objected that Noah was an old
greybeard, with a family, and that he knew the flood was
coming, and built the ark himself; he was "not takken unawares
in his helplessness loike that poor babby."
Moses was her next proposition — Bess had learned something
of Biblical lore at the first Sunday school Manchester could
boast, the one in Gun Street, founded by Simeon Newton in
1788 — but Simon was not satisfied even with Moses.
"Yo' see, Moses wur put in' th' ark o' bulrushes o' purpose,
an' noather thee nor mi's a Pharaoh's dowter, an' th' little chap's
not loike to be browt oop i* a pallis."
Towards the end of the week he burst into the room ; " Oi
hev it, lass, oi hev it ! We'n co' the lad ' Irk '; nob'dy'll hev
a neame loike that, an' it'll tell its own story ; an' fur th'
afterneame, aw reckon he mun tak' ours."
Marriages were solemnized in the richly-carved choir of the
venerable old Church, but churchings and baptisms in a large
adjoining chapel ; and thither Bess, who carried the baby, was
ushered, followed by Simon and Matt Cooper, who were to act
as its other sponsors.
At the door they made way for the entrance of a party of
ladies, whom they had seen alight from sedan-chairs at the upper
gate, where a couple of gentlemen joined them. A nurse
followed, with a baby, whose christening robe, nearly two yards
* Properly.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 23
long, was a mass of rich embroidery. The mother herself, —
a slight, lovely creature, additionally pale and delicate from her
late ordeal — wore a long, plain-skirted dress of vari-coloured
brocaded silk. A lustrous silk scarf, trimmed with costly lace,
enveloped her shoulders. Her head-dress, a bonnet with a bag-
crown and Quakerish poke-brim, was of the newest fashion, as
were the long kid gloves which covered her arms to the elbows.
The party stepped forward as though precedence was theirs
of right even at the church door, heeding not Simon's mannerly
withdrawal to let them pass ; and the very nurse looked
disdainfully at the calico gown of the baby in the round arms
of Bess, a woman in a grey duffle cloak and old-fashioned flat,
broad-brimmed hat, tied down over the ears.
Is there any thrill, sympathetic or antagonistic, in baby-veins,
as they thus meet there for the first time on their entrance into
the church and the broad path of life? For the first time —
but scarcely for the last.
Already a goodly crowd of mothers, babies, godfathers and
godmothers had assembled — a crowd of all grades, judging from
their exteriors, for dress had not then ceased to be a criterion ;
and all ceremonies of this kind were performed in shoals — not singly.
The Rev. Joshua Brookes, followed by his clerk, came
through the door in the carven screen, between the choir and
baptismal chapel, and took his place behind the altar rails.
And now ensued a scene which some of my readers may think
incredible, but which was common enough then, and there,
and is notoriously true. The width of the altar could scarcely
accommodate the number of women waiting to be churched ;
and the impatient Joshua assisted the apparitors to marshal
them to their places, with a sharp " You come here ! You kneel
there 1 Yon woman's not paid ! " accompanied by pulls and
pushes, until the semi-circle was filled.
24 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
But still the shrinking lady, and another, unused to jostle
with rough crowds, were left standing outside the pale.
Impetuous Joshua had begun the service before all were
settled. " Forasmuch as it hath pleased "
His quick eye caught the outstanding figures. Abruptly
stopping his exordium, he exclaimed, in his harsh tones, which
seemed to intimidate the lady,
" What are you standing there for ? Can't you find a place ?
Make room here ! " (pushing two women apart by the shoulder),
" thrutch up closer there ! Make haste, and kneel here ! " (to
the lady, pulling her forward). " You come here ; make room,
will you ? " and having pulled and pushed them into place, he
resumed the service.
Presently there was another outburst. There had been a
hushing of whimpering babies, and a maternal smothering of
infantile cries, as a chorus throughout ; but one fractious little
one screamed right out, and refused to be comforted. The
nervous tremor on that kneeling lady's countenance might have
told to whom it belonged, had Joshua been a skilful reader of
hearts and faces. His irritable temper got the better of him.
He broke off in the midst of the psalm to call out, " Stop that
crying child ! " The crying child did not stop. In the midst
of another verse he bawled, " Give that screaming babby the
breast ! " He went on. The clerk had pronounced the " Amen "
at the end of the psalm ; the chaplain followed, "Let us pray;"
but before he began the prayer, he again shouted, " Take that
squalling babby out ! " — an order the indignant nurse precipitately
obeyed ; and the service ended without further interruption.
Then followed the christenings, and another marshalling (this
time of godfathers and godmothers, with the infants they
presented), in which the hasty chaplain did his part with hands
and voice until all were arranged to his satisfaction.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 25
It so happened that the tanner's group and the lady's group were
ranked side by side. The latter was Mrs. Aspinall, the wife of a
wealthy cotton merchant, who, with two other gentlemen and a lady,
stood behind her, and this time gave her their much-needed support.
Indeed, what with the damp and chillness of the church, and
the agitation, the delicate lady appeared ready to faint.
" Hath this child been already baptized or no ? " asked
Joshua Brookes, and was passing on, when Simon's unexpected
response arrested him.
" Aw dunnot know."
" Don't know ? How's that ? What are you here for ? "
were questions huddled one on the other, in a broader vernacular
than I have thought well to put in the mouth of a man so
deeply learned.
" Whoi, yo' see, this is the choilt as wur weshed deawn th'
river wi' th' flood in a kayther ; an' o' belungin' th' lad are
deead, an' aw mun kirsen him to mak' o' sure."
Joshua listened with more patience than might have been
expected from him, and passed on with a mere " Humph ! " to
ask the same question from each in succession before proceeding
with the general service. At length he came to the naming of
several infants.
" Henrietta Burdelia Fitzbourne " was given as the proposed
name of a girl of middle-class parents.
" Mary, I baptise thee," &c., he calmly proceeded, handed
the baby back to the astonished godmother, and passed to the
next, regardless of appeal.
Mrs. Aspinall's boy took his name of Laurence with a noisy
protest against the sprinkling. Nor was the foundling silent
when, having been duly informed that the boy's name was to
be " Irk? self-willed Joshua deliberately, and with scarcely a
visible pause, went on —
26 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
"Jabez, I baptise thee in the name," &c., and so overturned,
at one fell swoop, all Simon's carefully-constructed castle.
Simon attempted to remonstrate, but Joshua Brookes had
another infant in his arms, and was deaf to all but his own
business. Such a substitution of names was too common a
practice of his to disturb him in the least But Simon had a
brave spirit, and stood no more in awe of Joshua Brookes —
" Jotty " as he was called — than of another man. When the
others had gone in a crowd to the vestry to register the
baptisms, he stopped to confront the parson as he left the altar.
" What roight had yo' to change the neame aw chuse to gi'e
that choilt ? "
" What right had yo' to saddle the poor lad with an Irksome
name like that ? " was the quick rejoinder.
" Roight ! why, aw wanted to gi'e th' lad a neame as should
mak' him thankful for bein' saved from dreawndin' to the last
deays o' his loife."
" An Irksome name like that would have made him the butt
of every little imp in the gutters, until he'd have been ready to
drown himself to get rid of it. Jabez is an honourable name,
man. You go home, and look through your Bible till you find
it."
Simon was open to conviction ; his bright eyes twinkled as a
new light dawned upon them.
The gruff chaplain had brushed past him on his way to the
robing-room ; but he turned back, with his right hand in his
breeches pocket, and put a seven-shilling piece in the palm of
the tanner, saying :
" Here's something towards the christening feast of th' little
chap I've stood godfather to. And don't you forget to look in
' Chronicles ' for Jabez ; and, above all, see that the lad doesn't
disgrace his name."
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 27
Joshua Brookes had the character, among those who knew
him least, of loving money overmuch, and this unwonted exhibi-
tion of generosity took Simon's breath.
The chaplain was gone before he recovered from his amaze-
ment— gone, with a tender heart softened towards the father-
less child thrown upon the world, his cynicism rebuked by the
true charity of the poor tanner, who had taken the foundling
to his home in a season of woeful dearth.
And, to his credit be it said, the Rev. Joshua Brookes never
lost sight of either Simon or little Jabez. He was wont to
throw out words which he meant to be in season, but his harsh,
abrupt manner, as a rule, neutralized the effect of his impromptu
teachings. Now, however, the seed was thrown in other ground ;
and, as he intended, Simon's curiosity was excited. The Bible
was reverently lifted from the bureau as soon as they reached
home, and after some seeking, the passage was found.
Simon's reading was nothing to boast of, but Cooper could
not read at all ; and in the eyes of his unlettered comrades
Clegg shone as a learned man. He could decipher "black print,"
and that, in his days, amongst his class, was a distinction.
Slowly he traced his fingers along the lines for his own informa-
tion, and then still more slowly, with a sort of rest after every
word, read out to his auditors — Bess, Matthew, and Matthew's
wife (there in her best gown and best temper) — with slight
dialectal peculiarities which need not be reproduced —
And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his
name Jabez, because she bare him with sorrow. And Jabez called on the God of
Israel, saying, O that Thou wouldst bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that
Thine hand might be with me, and that Thou wouldst keep me from evil, that it
may not grieve me 1 And God granted him that which he requested.*
" Eh, Simon, mon, owd Jotty wur woiser nor thee. Theer's
a neame for a lad to stand by! It's as good as a leeapin'-
* I Chron. iv. 9, 10.
28 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
pow'* that it is, t' help him ower th' brucksf and rucks J o' th'
warld."
Simon sat lost in thought At length he raised his head,
and remarked soberly —
" Parson Brookes moight ha' bin a prophet ; th' choilt's mother
did bear him wi' sorrow. The neame fits th' lad as if it had
bin meade for him."
"Then aw hope he's a prophet o' eawt, feyther, an' o' th'
rest'll come true in toime," briskly interjected Bess ; adding —
"Coom, tay's ready;" further appending for the information of
their visitors — "Madam Clough sent the tay an' sugar, an' th'
big curran'-loaf, when hoo heeard as feyther had axed for a
holiday fur the kirsenin' ; an' Mester dough's sent some yale
[ale], an' a thumpin' piece o' beef."
" Ay, lass ; an' as we'en a'ready a foine kirsenin' feast, we'en
no change parson's seven-shillin' piece, but lay it oop fur th'
lad hissen."
But the christening feast did not proceed without sundry
noisy demonstrations from Master Jabez. If, as Simon had once
hinted, he was an angel in the house, he flapped his wings
and blew his trumpet pretty noisily at times.
" Eh, lass, aw wish Turn wur here neaw, to enjoy hisself wi'
us. Aw wonder what he'd say to yo' nursin' a babby so bonnily?"
Simon was munching a huge piece of currant-cake as he
uttered this, after a meditative pause. A look of pain passed
over Bess's face. She rarely mentioned the absent Tom, though
he was seldom out of her thoughts.
" Yea, an' aw wish he wur here ! " she echoed with a sigh,
the fountain of which was deep in her own breast. "Aw wonder
where he is neaw."
" Feightin,' mebbe ! " suggested her father.
* Leaping-pole. f Brooks. $ Heaps— impediments.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 29
" Killed, mebbe !" was the fearful suggestion of her own heart,
and she was silent for some time afterwards.
But the feast proceeded merrily for all that, and no wonder
where Charity was president. And there was quite as happy
a party under that humble roof in Skinners' Yard as that
assembled in the grand house at Ardwick, where Master Laurence
Aspinall was handed about in his embroidered robes for the
inspection of guests who cared very little about him, although
they did present him with silver mugs, and spoons, and corals,
and protest to his pale and exhausted mamma that he was the
finest infant in Manchester.
CHAPTER THE FOURTH.
MISCHIEF.
T was a time of distress at
home and war abroad. Glory's
scarlet fever was as rife an
epidemic in Manchester as
elsewhere. The town bristled
with bayonets ; corps of
volunteers in showy uniforms,
on parade or exercise, with
banners flying, dotted it like
spots on a peacock's tail ; the
music of drum and fife
drowned the murmurs of
discontented men, the groans
of poverty-stricken women,
and the cries of famishing
children. All nostrums were prescribed for the evils of famine
except a stoppage of the war. The rich made sacrifices for the
poor; pastry was banished by common consent from the tables
of the wealthy in order to cheapen flour ; soup-kitchens were
established for the poor, and in the midst of the general dearth
the nineteenth century struggled into existence.
It was this war-fever which had carried off Bessy Clegg's
sweetheart, Thomas Hulme, to Ireland, in Lord Wilton's Regiment
' SEVEN STARS' — INTERIOR.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 31
of Lancashire Volunteers, three years before. The honest, true-
hearted fellow could not write for himself, postage was expensive
and uncertain, and in all those three years only two letters,
written by a comrade, had reached the girl. To her simple,
uninformed mind, Ireland was as foreign and distant a country
as Australia is to us in these days. And to be stationed there
with his regiment amongst those "wild Irishmen," conveyed only
the idea of battles and bloodshed. Yet she kept a brave heart
on the matter, and hid her anxieties from her father as well as
she was able. In some respects little Jabez was a Godsend to
her. The frequent attention he required, combined with her
labours at the batting-frame and her household duties, tended
to distract her mind from the dark picture over which she was
so much inclined to brood, and to make her, if anything, more
cheerful. Once more the voice which had been silent tuned up
in song, for the gratification of the youngster, and in amusing
him she insensibly cheered and refreshed herself.
Yet, as she trilled her quaint ballads, or Sabbath-school
hymns, she little thought her vocalization was to furnish an
envious mind with a shaft to wound herself, and the one of all
others dearer than herself.
Soon after the memorable christening feast, Matthew Cooper
and his family had removed— or "flitted," as they called it —
from Barlow's Yard to Skinners' Yard ; and Sally, that peaceable
man's termagant wife, was not the most desirable of neighbours.
The tea, and the currant-cake, and the beef, on that unusually
well-spread board, had filled her with pleasure for the time, but
turned to gall and bitterness ere they were digested. Why
should the Cleggs be so high in the favour of Mr. and Madam
Clough, and her Matt get nothing better than half-a-crown-piece ?
He'd quite as much to do in saving the brat's life as Simon
had, and, with such a family, wanted it a fine sight more. So
32 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
she argued and argued with herself, quite ignoring, or blind to
the fact that it was not the mere impulse which saved, but the
humanity which kept the babe, that Mr. Clough recognized, and
never lost sight of.
As Simon grew in favour at the tannery, the more excited
grew Sally Cooper, until nothing would do but a removal to
the opposite yard, where she could see for herself the " gooin's
on o' them Cleggs ; " and once there, she contrived to harass
Bess by numberless little spiteful acts, as well as by her
vituperative tongue.
Nor did little Jabez himself escape. Parson Brookes, grumbling
loudly at every downward step, found his way to Bess o' Sim's,
guided by the quick-swishing, regular beat of the batting-wands.
Mrs. Clough having, by ocular demonstration, satisfied herself
that Bess was a sufficiently notable house-wife and a kindly
nurse, had replaced the worn out long-clothes which Jabez
inherited from " brother Joe," by a set of more serviceable and
suitable short ones ; had, moreover, sent an embrocation to allay
Simon's rheumatic pains, and to crown the whole, supplied a
go-cart for the boy, to help him to walk, and yet leave the
hands of industrious Bess at liberty.
As Miss Jewsbury has said, in her exquisite story of "The
Rivals," that go-cart "was the drop added to the brimming cup,
the touch given to the falling column."
Matt's worse-half — an inveterately clean woman, be it said —
was occupied with her Saturday's " redding up," when she saw
the wood-turner carry it in ; and she thereupon trundled her
mop at the door so vigorously and viciously, that the children
instinctively shrank into corners, or ran out of the yard altogether,
beyond reach of her weighty arm. And as, one by one, they
ventured back, after what they thought a safe interval, creeping
stealthily over the freshly-sanded floor, and mayhap leaving the
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 33
impression of wet clogs thereon, jerks, cuffs, and slaps were
administered with a freedom born of her supposed wrongs.
When Mat came home, to offer his wages upon the household
altar, the storm had not subsided, and he was fain to retreat
to the quiet fireside of Simon to smoke his pipe in peace, and
escape its pitiless peltings. He could not have selected a worse
haven. It was a flagrant going over to the enemy. Thither
she followed him in her wrath, and in her blind fury assailed
not only him, but Bess, Simon, Mr. Clough, and Joshua Brookes,
whom she mingled in indiscriminate confusion, casting aspersions
on the girl, which wounded nobody more than her own husband.
In the midst and in spite of all this, Jabez grew apace.
Life was not altogether sweetened for him by Mrs. Clough's
kindness, only made a little less bitter, and certainly not less
hard ; since almost his first experience with the go-cart was to
tilt at the open doorway, and pitch head-foremost down a flight
of three steps into the stony yard, whence frightened Bess raised
him, with a bleeding nose and a great lump on his forehead,
amidst the mocking laughter of Sal Cooper.
A chair was overturned across the doorway as a barrier,
until Simon could place a sliding foot-board there. But Jabez
had still many a knock against chair or table until Bess made
a padded roll for his forehead, as a protective coronal. Then
every tooth cost him a convulsion, and any one less patient and
tender hearted than Bess would have abandoned her self-imposed
charge in despair, his accidents and ailments made such inroads
on her rest and on her time.
But even patience has its limits, and Sally Cooper strained
the cable until it snapped. At a war of words Bess was no
match for her antagonist: and, rather than endure a second
contest, the Cleggs left the fiery serpent behind, and quitted
the yard.
34 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
Not willingly, for Simon, contrary to the roving habits of
ordinary weekly tenants, had not changed his abode since his
wedding-day, and the river was as a friend to him. He declared
he "could na sleep o' neets without wayter singin' to him."
However, he contrived to find a very similar tenement, in just
such another cul-de-sac, with just such another tripe-dresser's
cellar underneath, and that, too, without quitting Long Millgate.
Midway between the College and the tannery this court was
situated, its narrow mouth opening to the breezes wafting down
Hanover Street ; they could still look out on the verdure of
Walker's Croft, and the Irk laved its stony base as at that same
Skinners' Yard, which Simon lived to see demolished.
It was May ; bright, sunny, perfumed May. The hawthorn
hedges on the ridge of the croft were white with scented
blossoms, and the Irk — not the muddled stream which improve-
ment (?) is fast shutting out of remembrance — went on its
dimpled way, smiling at the promise of the season. The echoes
of the May-day milkcart bells, and the flutter of their decorative
ribbons, were dying out of all but infantile remembrance — the
month was more than a fortnight old.
It was 1802, and Jabez was almost three years old. He was
running, or rather scrambling, about the uneven court, gathering
strength of limb and lung from their free use, albeit at the cost
of dirt on frock and face, and the trouble of washing for
Bess.
She was singing at her batting-frame — not an unusual thing
now, for rumour had whispered in her ear that the Lancashire
Volunteers were on their homeward march. Even as she sang,
a stout young fellow in uniform stopped at the narrow entrance
of the court, and questioned two or three gossiping women, who,
with arms akimbo, blocked up the passage, if they knew the
whereabouts of Simon Clegg, the tanner, and his daughter Bess,
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 35
" What ! th' wench as has the love-choilt ? " answered one of
the women.
"The girl I mean had no child when I saw her last,"
responded he, between his set teeth.
" Happen that's some toime sin', mester, or it's not th' same
lass. That's her singin' like a throstle o'er her wark at the
oppen winder."
"And that's her choilt," said another, ending by a lusty call,
" Jabez, lad, coom hither."
Jabez, taught to obey his elders, came at a trot in answer
to the woman's call. The volunteer looked down upon him.
The child had neither Bess's eyes nor Bess's features ; but he
heard the voice of Bess, and over the woman's shoulder he
caught a glimpse of her face at the distant window. It was
Bess, sure enough !
Sick at heart, Tom Hulme, for it was he, leaned for support
against the side of the dark entry. These women but confirmed
what he had heard in Skinners' Yard from Matt Cooper's
vindictive wife. The deep shadow of the entry hid his change
of countenance. Without a condemnatory word, without a step
forward towards the girl whose heart was full of him, he steadied
himself and his voice, and mustering courage to say, " No, that
is not the lass I want," strode resolutely out of the entry ;
and, bending his steps to the right, turned up Toad Lane, and
so on to the " Seven Stars," in Withy Grove, where he was
billeted.
He had come back from Ireland full of hope, and this was
the end of it ! He had been constant, and she was frail ! She
whom he had left so pure had sunk so low that, though she
bore the brand of shame, she could sing blithely at her work,
unconscious or reckless of her degradation ! Tom had only been
a hand-loom weaver, and was but a private in his regiment, but
36
THE MANCHESTER MAN.
he had a soul as constant in love, as sensitive to disgrace,
as the proudest officer in the corps. He might have doubted
Sally Cooper's artful insinuations, but for the unconscious con-
firmation of the other women, and the personal testimony of
poor little Jabez; the innocent child, borne with sorrow by
his own dead mother, bringing sorrow to his living maiden-foster-
mother.
The little lispings of the child conveyed no impression to
Bess's understanding, but one of the women bawled out to her
from the open court
"Aw say, theer's bin a volunteer chap axin' fur a lass
neamed Bess Clegg, but he saw thee from th' entry, and said
yo're not th' lass he wanted ! "
Her heart gave a great leap, and the blood flushed up to
her pale face. Could it be possible that there was another
Bess Clegg of whom a volunteer could be in search ? Yet, had
that been her Tom, he would have known his Bess again, even
after five — ay, or twenty years. She would know him anywhere !
And so all that day, and the next, her heart kept in a flutter
of expectation and perplexity. She wondered he did not come.
The regiment was in town ; he surely had not been misled in
his inquiries because they had "flitted." Yet in all her thoughts
the grim reality had no place. Her perfect innocence and
singleness of heart had never suggested such a possibility to
her.
The days went by from the i$th to the 22nd, yet he came
not. After working hours Simon tried to hunt him up ; but
the billeting system and ill-lighted streets, set his simple tactics
at defiance. On the latter day, Lord Wilton gave a dinner in
the quadrangle of the College, to the non-commissioned officers
and privates in his regiment, to celebrate their return, and the
peace and plenty then restored to the land,
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 37
At the first sound of fife and drum, Bess snatched up
Jabez, and leaving house and batting-frame to take care of
themselves, rushed along the street to the " Sun Inn " corner,
where Long Millgate turns at a sharp angle, the old Grammar
School and the Chetham College gate standing at the outer
bend of the elbow. The better to see, she mounted the steps
of the house next to the "Sun" — a house kept by a leather-
breeches maker, — and strained her eyes as the gay procession
wound from the apple-market, passed the handsome black-
and-white frame-house of the Grammar School's head-master,
and, with banners flying, and drums beating, marched under
the ancient arched gateway between a double row of blue-coat
boys.
She held Jabez high up in her arms to let him see, and
his little arms clasped her neck, as she scanned every passing
soldier's features. Two-thirds of the corps had passed — she saw
the loved and looked-for face, and, radiant with delight, stretched
forward, and in eager tones called — " Tom ! "
There was a mutual start at recognition; two faces crimsoned
to the brow ; then one white as ashes, a keen meaning glance
at the child, teeth clenched, and eyes set with stern resolution ;
and, without another look, without a word, Tom Hulme went
on under the Whale's-jawbone gateway ; and Bess, with brain
bewildered, hands and limbs relaxed, sank on to the breeches-
maker's steps in a dead faint.
A lady (Mrs. Chadwick), who had a little girl by the hand,
caught Jabez as they fell, and putting his hand in her daughter's,
bade her take care of him — she was perhaps a year or two
older than he — whilst she raised the poor young woman's head,
and applied a smelling-bottle to her nose.
Strange parting, strange meeting ! How close the founts of
sweet and bitter waters lie ! How often separate streams of life
38 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
meet and part again ; some to meet and blend in after years,
some to meet never more!
Another week, and Lord Wilton's Lancashire volunteer regiment
had a man the less, the line had a man the more. Private
Thomas Hulme had exchanged.
CHAPTER THE FIFTH*
ELLEN CHADWICK.
OHE song of the human throstle was heard no more
floating across the batting frame out of the window
of its cage, in the dreary yard on the banks of the
Irk. The swish of the wands might be heard when
other sounds were low, but no more snatches of melody flowed
in between.
Kind-hearted Mrs. Chadwick had not been content to leave poor
Bessy at the breeches-maker's when her swoon was over ; but,
seeing that the girl continued in a dazed kind of stupor, sent
to the adjoining " Sun Inn " for cold brandy-and-water, to
stimulate the dormant mind. Bess drank, half unconsciously, and
Mrs. Chadwick, leaving her little daughter Ellen to amuse astonished
Jabez, waited patiently until the young woman could collect her
ideas, and not only tell where she lived, but prepare to walk
home.
By that time the road was tolerably clear. Mrs. Chadwick
thanked the breeches-maker, and bidding Miss Ellen march in
advance with little Jabez, herself helped Bessy Clegg home-
ward.
She never asked herself why or wherefore the girl had fainted,
or whose the child she carried in her arms. She merely saw a
* See Appendix.
40 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
modest-looking young woman stricken down by illness or distress,
and put out a Christian hand to help her.
It was past Simon's dinner-hour, and they found him on the
look-out for the absentees. He was more bewildered than Bess
when he saw her brought home pale and trembling by a
stranger, whose dress and manner bespoke her superior station,
Mrs. Chadwick explained, seeing that Bess was incapable.
"The poor girl fainted almost opposite to the College gate,
as she watched Earl Wilton's regiment march past. She recovered
so slowly, I was afraid to let her come through the streets
unprotected, especially as she had so young a child in her
charge."
Simon thanked her, as well he might. Benevolence will
relieve distress with money, or passing words of sympathy, but
it is not often silken skirt and satin bonnet walk through a
crowded thoroughfare in close conjunction with bonnetless cotton
and linsey.
Yet Simon was utterly at a loss to account for her swoon.
He could only conjecture that she had missed her sweetheart
from the corps, and that the enquiring volunteer had been a
comrade sent to announce Tom Hulme's death. Observing how
much he was confounded, the good lady thought it best to retire,
and leave them to themselves.
" Come, Ellen, it is time we went home."
But Ellen, seated on a low stool in the corner, had her lap
full of broken toys, which had found their way hither from the
C lough nursery, and which Jabez displayed to all comers."
" My daughter appears wonderfully attracted to your little
grandson."
" He's noa gran'son o' moine, Missis, though aw think aw
love th' little lad as much as if he did belung to us. Aw just
picked him eawt o' th' wayter, i' th' greet flood abeawt two
ELLEN CHADWICK WANTS PRINCE WILLIAM.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 41
year an' hauve back. Aw dunnot know reetly who th' young
un belungs to."
"And you have kept him ever since — through all the trying
time of scarcity ? "
"Yoi; aw could do no other, an' a little chap like Jabez
couldna ate much."
"It does you credit," said the lady.
" Mebbe. Aw dunnot know. Aw dunnot see mich credit i'
doin' one's clear duty. But aw think theer'd ha' bin discredit
an' aw hadna done it."
" I wish everyone shared your sentiments," replied she.
By this time the little girl had relinquished the toys, kissed
the little boy patronisingly, and was by her mother's side, ready
to depart. A word of sympathy and encouragement from Mrs.
Chadwick, and father and daughter were left alone with their
new sorrow.
Sorely puzzled was Simon to account for Tom Hulme's
strange conduct. He could only come to the conclusion that he
had picked up a fresh sweetheart in Ireland, and was ashamed
to show his face.
"An' if so, lass, yo're best off without him," said he.
The stern, troubled look on the young volunteer's face, which
Bess had seen and her father had not, he could not understand,
and therefore could not credit.
One day the girl said, as if struck by a sudden thought —
"Feyther, aw saw Turn look hard at Jabez. D'un yo' think
as heaw he fancied aw wur wed ? "
" He moight, lass, he moight," said he, knocking the ashes
out of his pipe ; " but dunnot thee fret, aw'll look Turn up,
and set it o' reet, if that's o'."
But there was no setting it right, for by that time Tom had
left the corps and the town, and thenceforth Bess's musical
42 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
pipe was out of tune, and stopped utterly. She worked, it is
true, but she had no heart in her work ; and though before
her father she kept up a show of cheerfulness, in his absence
she shed many and bitter tears.
Smiles and tears are among a child's earliest perceptions and
experiences. Of the mother's smile in its full sense Jabez knew
nothing. With all her winning ways, Bess could never supply
that want, if want it could be, where it was never missed,
having so good a substitute. But of the change which came
over her when she knew that Tom was indeed lost to her,
even the three years' child could be sensible. He had been
early taught to show a brave front when he hurt himself, and
the starting tears would subdue to a whimper; but, for all that,
tears to him meant pain or disappointment, and as they fell
and wetted the (not always clean) little cheek laid lovingly
against hers, a tender chord was struck ; he would press his
small arm tighter round her neck, and with a sympathetic
"Don't ky, Beth!" nestle closer, and try to kiss away the
drops, which only fell the faster.
Low-spirited nurses do not make lively children, and Jabez,
after a stout tussle with the whooping-cough, began to droop as
much as Bess ; so clear-eyed Simon instituted a series of
Sunday rambles for the three, in search of plants and posies, to
brighten their dull home, and of bloom to brighten the fading
cheeks. Sometimes Matt Cooper, with one or two of his
youngsters, would join them, but not often, Sal was so jealous
of his friendship with the Cleggs, and the pleasant day was so
certain to be marred by an unpleasant reception in the evening
at home.
These summer walks seldom extended beyond Collyhurst
Clough and quarries, or Smedley Vale, or through the fields to
Cheetham Hill, stopping at the "Cow and Calf" to refresh, and
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 4.3
rest the little ones, before they came back laden with wild
flowers down Red Bank and over Scotland Bridge, to their
respective "yards" in Long Millgate.
At first, whenever they took the pleasant lower road through
Angel Meadow, they did their best to ferret out the parentage
and connections of Jabez, hoping by their inquiries even to keep
alive the memory of his marvellous deliverance, so that in case
the missing father should return, there might be a mutual
restoration.
These Sunday excursions did not drop with the sere autumnal
leaves. A crisp clear day called them forth surely as sunshine
had done, Jabez mounting pick-a-back on the shoulders of Simon
or Matt when his little feet could no longer keep up their trot
beside the bigger Cooper boys. Frames were invigorated, cheer-
fulness came back to face and home, and Simon, who had a
deep-seated love of Nature in his soul, finding her so good a
physician, kept up the acquaintance through rounding seasons
and years. And from Nature he drew lessons which he dropped
as seed into the boy's heart, as unconscious of the great work
he was doing as was Jabez himself.
The boy throve and grew hardy. Companionship with older
and rougher lads, sturdy fellows with wills of their own, made
him sturdy too ; a lad who would take a blow and give one
on occasion ; who would run a race and lose, and a second, and
third, until he could win. But Bess's gentle training was
something very different from Sal's, and Jabez grew up tender
as well as strong and bold.
A persecuted kitten had taken refuge under Bess's batting-
frame in the foundling's go-cart days, and in care for that
kitten, and for a wounded brown linnet brought home one
Sunday, he learned humanity. Matthew's lads were given to
bird-nesting, and Matt himself saw no harm in it; but when
44 ™E MANCHESTER MAN.
that young linnet's wing was broken in a scuffle for the nest
stolen from a clump of brushwood, Simon read the robbers
such a homily they had never heard in their young lives, and as
a corollary he took the bird home to be fed and nursed by Bess
and Jabez till it could fly, an event which never came about.
In hot weather the lads pulled off clogs and stockings (there
were no trousers to turn up — they wore breeches), and waded
into pools and brooks, and Jabez would be no whit behind.
On one of these occasions, either the current was too strong
for the venturesome child, or the gravel slipped from under his
feet, or his companions pushed him — no matter which, — but in
he went, and, but for the presence of Simon, would have been
drowned. Simon had been born on the river banks, and could
swim like a fish. At once he resolved that Jabez should learn
to do the same, and begin at once.
" Yo' see, Bess, if aw hadna bin theer he'd a bin dreawnded,
sure as wayter's wet, an' th' third toime pays off fur o' ; so he
mun larn to tak' care on himsel' th' next toime he marlocks
[gambols] among th' Jack-sharps."
Jabez was not six years old when Simon Clegg gave him
and the young Coopers their first lesson in swimming, in a
delightful and sequestered part of Smedley Vale, where the Irk
was clear and bright. He had shown them, nearer home, how
a frog used its limbs, and then, after a few preliminary evolutions,
to show how a man used his, took the lad on his back, and,
after swimming with him awhile, shook him off into the water
to flounder about for himself.
Bess was often left at home on Sundays after that ; and Jabez
was not merely the better for his bath, but by the time he was
eight years old was a fearless swimmer.
Yet, although these country rambles had become an institution,
Simon Clegg never neglected his Sabbath duties. Sunday morning
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 45
was sure to see him, clean-shaven, in his best suit, with Jabez
by the hand, and mild-eyed Bess beside, on the free seats of
the Old Church, under the eye of parsons and churchwardens ;
and Jabez, if he could understand little of the service, could
gather in a sense of the beautiful from the grand old architecture,
from the swell of the solemn organ, the harmonious voices of
the choristers — of the Blue-coat boys in the Chetham gallery
over the churchwardens' pew, and of the Green-coat children
farther on. Then the silver mace carried before the parson was
a thing to wonder at, and fill him with awe ; and no one could
tell how the clerical robes, and choristers' surplices, transfigured
common mortals in his admiring eyes.
Those years of Jabez Clegg's young life had been full of
history for Manchester and Europe. The town had grown as well
as the foundling. Invention had been busy. Volunteer regiments
had been one by one disbanded, a daily newspaper was started,
and peaceful arts flourished. Then, ere another year expired,
Napoleon declared the British Isles in a state of blockade; British
subjects on French soil, whether civil or military, to be prisoners
of war; British commodities lawful spoil; and so War — red-handed
War — broke loose once more. Again Manchester rose up in arms
to defend country and commerce. A " Loyalty Fund " of £22,000
was raised for the support of Government. No fewer than nine
separate volunteer corps sprang from the ashes of the old ones,
and the town was one huge garrison. The commander of one
regiment — the Loyal Masonic Rifle Volunteer Corps — Colonel
Hanson — a remarkable man in many ways — was distinguished
by a command from George III. to appear at Court in full
regimentals, and with his hat on.
Messrs. Pickford offered to place at the disposal of Government
four hundred horses, fifty waggons, and twenty-eight boats. Loyal
townsmen, with more money than courage of their own, sought to
46 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
stimulate that of others by sending gold medals flying amongst
the officers of the volunteer corps. "The British Volunteer"
came from the press of Harrop in the Market Place, and once
more the music of drum and trumpet was in the ascendant
To crown the whole, Manchester, which had never been called
upon to entertain British Royalty since Henry VII. looked in
upon the infant town, was visited in 1804 by Prince William,
Duke of Gloucester, commander of the North-west District, and
his son, to review this Lancashire volunteer army ; and the
whole town was consequently in a ferment of excitement
Nothing was thought of, or talked of, but the visit of the Duke
and Prince, and the coming review, the more so as reports
differed respecting the appointed site.
Market Street, Manchester, which George Augustus Sala has
commemorated as one of the " Streets of the World," was then
Market Street Lane, a confused medley of shops and private
houses, varying from the low and rickety black-and-white tenement
of no pretensions to the fine mansion with an imposing frontage,
and ample space before. But the thoroughfare was in places so
very narrow that two vehicles could not pass, and pedestrians
on the footpath were compelled to take refuge in the doorways
from the muddy wheels which threatened damage to dainty
garments, while the whole was ill-paved and worse lighted.
At the corner where it opens a vent for the warehouse traffic
of High Street, then stood a handsome new hotel, the Bridge-
water Arms, in front of which a semi-circular area was railed
off with wooden posts and suspended chains. Within this area,
on the bright morning of April the 12th, two sentinels were
placed, who, marching backwards and forwards, crossed and
recrossed each other in front of the hotel door ; tokens that
the Royal Duke and his suite had taken up their quarters
within.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 47
Beyond the semi-circle of chained posts, mounted horsemen
kept back the concourse of spectators which pressed closely on
the horses' heels. Among the crowd was Simon Clegg, with
Jabez mounted on his shoulders, albeit he was a somewhat
heavy load. Simon was a man of peace, but he was a staunch
believer in Royalty, and that, quite as much as the spectacle,
had drawn him thither.
It was a mild and cheery April morn ; the windows of the
upper room in which sat the Prince, the centre of a brilliant
circle, were open, and the loyal multitude feasted their un-
accustomed eyes with the sight. As Jabez looked on in a
child's ravishment, a little dark-haired, dark-eyed girl, some six
or seven years old, turned sharply round the narrow street by
the side of the hotel on the flags where there was no chain to
bar ; passing unquestioned the sentinel on guard, who, seeing
only a well-dressed solitary child in white muslin, with a sash
and hat-ribbons of pink satin, concluded that she belonged to
the hotel. Once there, she asked fearlessly —
" Where is Prince William ? I want Prince William ! "
Then the sentinel began to question ; but the little maid had
but one reply —
"I want Prince William!"
The soldier would have turned her back, but the disputation
had attracted attention in the room above.
An officer's head was thrust out.
"What's the matter?" asked he.
" I want to see the Prince. I want to know "
' Bid the little lady come up hither."
And the little lady went up, all unconscious of state etiquette
or ceremonial.
An officer in rich uniform, with jewels on his breast, took her
on his knee, and asked what she wanted with Prince William.
48 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
" Oh, mamma and my aunts are wanting ever so to know if
the review is going to be on Camp Field or on Sale Moor ;
and Aunt Ellen says it's to be in one place, and mamma thinks
it's the other ; and so, as I was dressed first, I just slipped out
at the back door and ran here to ask Prince William himself,
for I thought he would be sure to know.
The gentleman laughed heartily, and the others followed
suit.
"And who is your mamma, my dear?"
" My mamma is Mrs. Chadwick, and I'm Ellen Chadwick ;
and we live in Oldham Street."
" Oh, indeed ! And why are the ladies so anxious to know
where the Prince holds the review?" asked the officer on whose
knee she sat
"Ah — that's just it. If he reviews at Sale Moor he will go
past our house ; and then we shall see all the soldiers from
our own windows. Won't it be fine ? "
Another gentleman asked what the ladies were doing when
she left ; and I'm afraid Ellen made more revelations anent
their toilettes than were strictly necessary, for the laughter was
prolonged.
She did not, however, lose sight of her self-imposed mission.
Struggling from her seat, she said —
" Oh, please do tell me where is Prince William ; I must go
home, and I do so want to know."
"Tell your mamma, Miss Ellen," said he, smiling, "that the
Prince will review at Sale Moor ; and take this, my dear, for
yourself," putting a shilling (shillings at that time were perfectly
plain from over-long use) in her hand.
" Oh, thank you ! But are you sure — quite sure it is Sale
Moor?"
"Quite sure."
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 49
The little damsel set off, as much elated with her news as
with her shilling. As she ran briskly down the broad steps,
and beyond the barrier, she came in contact with Simon, who
made way for her exit ; and, as she looked up smiling to thank
him, her glance rested for a moment on the boy he carried ;
but no spark of recognition flashed into the eyes of either, and
no one in all that crowd saw any connection between that
dainty, white-frocked, pink-slippered, pink-sashed miss, and the
rough lad in the patched suit (a Clough's cast-off) and wooden
clogs.
CHAPTER THE SIXTH.
TO MARTIAL MUSIC.
SECOND time Jabez and
Ellen saw each other ere
the day was out.
She had rushed home
with eager feet and eyes,
through back streets, to
startle Mrs. Chadwick, her
newly-married sister, Mrs.
Ashton, and a bevy of
friends, with the confident
assurance that the review
would be at Sale, and to
confirm it by a display of
the plain shilling, which
"an osifer had given her."
New Cross, where the volunteers assembled, was not then a
misnomer. A market cross occupied the centre space between
the four wide thoroughfares, of which Oldham Street is one;
and the open area was considerable.
The trumpets' bray, the tramp of troops, were heard long
before the brilliant cavalcade was set in motion ; and every
window — every house in Oldham Street (all good private residences
of the Gower Street stamp) held its quota of heads and eyes
and costumes as brilliant as the eyes.
PRINCELY RECOGNITION.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 51
The house of Mr. Chadwick was situated near the lower end,
and commanded a good view of the Infirmary, its gardens, and
pond in Piccadilly. To-day, however, the royal party and the
volunteers, many of whom had friends looking out for them, were
the only prospect worth a thought ; and as they marched proudly
on, to the gayest of gay tunes, kerchiefs waved, heads nodded,
and eyes sparkled with delight and pleasure.
As the Duke of Gloucester and his suite rode by, their charges
prancing to the music, Ellen, mounted on a chair by the window,
between Mrs. Ashton and her mother, suddenly pointed to an
officer in their midst, resplendent with stars and orders, and in
an ecstasy of delight screamed out —
" Mamma, mamma! that's the gentleman that gave me the shilling!"
The little treble voice pierced even through the clamorous
music. A noble head was bowed, a plumed hat was raised, and
lowered until it swept the charger's mane,
" Why, child, that is Prince William ! " was the simultaneous
exclamation, as all the eyes from all the houses across the street
were turned in wonderment to see the Chadwicks so distinguished ;
and Simon, who, still carrying Jabez, was trying to keep pace
with the troops, wondered too. Moreover, he recognised the lady
and the little girl, though seen but once; for he earned his own
living, such as it was, and had been too proud to call on the
Chadwicks to say how his daughter fared, lest they should think
he sought charity.
"Jabez, lad, si thi; yon's th' lady and little lass as browt yo'
whoam, when yo' went seein' the sodgers afore ! "
And Jabez, from his shoulder-perch, looked up at the little
bright-eyed brunette, to remember the white frock and pink
ribbons he had seen at the Bridgewater, but nothing beyond.
The man's exclamation and attitude had at the same time
attracted Mrs. Chadwick, who, smiling down on him and Jabez,
c2 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
spoke to Ellen ; and she, reminded of the little baby who had
been saved from drowning in a cradle, looked down and, in the
fulness of her new importance, nodded too.
The momentary stoppage called forth a loud objurgation, as
a reminder, from Sally Cooper, who was in advance with Matthew
and such of her bigger lads as could step out; and Simon,
equally anxious not to lose sight of the royal party, hurried on.
But Sale Moor is beyond the confines of Lancashire, and Simon
found the five miles stiff walking, with a child nearly six years
old on his shoulders, and Master Jabez had to descend from his
seat, and trudge on his own feet. This caused them to lag
behind their friends, Sally insisting on Matt's keeping up with
the soldiers, in order that they might get a good place on the
Moor, and they were thus separated. Bess had remained at
home. Never again could she look on marching troops without
a pang.
Sale Moor was alive with expectant sightseers. Stands and
platforms had been erected for the accommodation of those who
could afford and cared to pay ; there was a sprinkling of heavy
carriages, and a crowd of carts, but the mass of spectators were
on foot, vehicular locomotion being of very limited capacity.
Of these latter were the Coopers and Cleggs, of course. Sally,
with the elders of her turbulent brood, had reached the ground
in time to be deafened by the score of cannon Lord Wilton's
artillery fired as a salute to princedom. She had planted herself
firmly against one of the supports of an elevated platform, where
the crowd of hero-worshippers was densest. She was tightly
jammed and crushed against the woodwork ; but what matter ?
she had a fine sight of the field, and as she watched the
evolutions of the volunteers, congratulated herself and Matthew
on having left "that crawling Clegg an' the brat so far
behint."
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 53
Almost as she spoke, there was a faint crackle, then another,
and a yielding of the post against which she leaned — a loud
crash, a chorus of shrieks, half drowned by music and musketry,
and the whole platform was down, with the living freight it had
borne ; and she was down with it.
The fashion, wealth, and beauty of Cheshire and South
Lancashire had their representatives amongst that struggling
swooning, writhing, shrieking, groaning mass of humanity, heaped
and huddled in indiscriminate confusion, with up-torn seats, posts,
and draperies. Strange to say, only one person was killed
outright — that is, on the spot — for in its downfall the stand bore
with it many of the throng beneath. But of the injured and
the shaken, those who went to hospital and home to linger long
and die at last, history has kept no record.
Amongst these, this story tells of two — two differing in all
but sex. Mrs. Aspinall, ever frail and delicate, was borne to
her carriage with whole limbs, but insensible, her husband and
their son Laurence both uninjured by her side. Physicians were
in attendance, and never left her until she was safely lodged
in her own luxurious chamber, overlooking Ardwick Green, and
could be pronounced out of immediate danger. Sally Cooper,
with a sprained ancle, a dislocated shoulder, and many internal
bruises, was placed in a light cart on a bed of straw procured
from a neighbouring farm, with another of the injured, and
carried to the Manchester Infirmary, to try the skill and the
patience of the doctors and nurses.
Neither recovered. The unwounded lady, sorely shaken,
succumbed to the shock her nervous system had received ; and
Master Laurence, already petted and wilful, was left to be
still further spoiled by his widowed father and Kitty, his
mother's old nurse. Sally, strong of frame and will, impatient
of pain and of restraint, was restive under the surgeons'
54 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
hands, and defeated their efforts to ascertain her injuries.
She exhausted herself with shrieks and cries, tossed about and
disturbed bandages, rejected physic, which she called "poison,"
and soon put her case beyond the cure of physicians. Too late
she became sensible of her own folly. Then, when recovery
was impossible, she repented of many misdeeds, and of none
more than her slander of poor Bess.
And thus it was. When the mother was taken from the
head of Cooper's home, Bess's kind heart yearned to help the
disconsolate man and his troop of children. Fortunately, the
eldest was a girl of sixteen, and there was a younger girl of
ten. Both of these had gone out to work, but now Molly had
to stay at home and try to keep all right and tight there.
And here Bess came to her aid. Without scolding or brawling,
she put the girl into the way of doing things quickly and
quietly. She encouraged her to persevere, so that her cleanly
mother should detect no eyesores when she came home restored.
She tried to persuade the boys to be less refractory — to help,
not to irritate, their sister; and somehow Cooper's home began
to miss Sail, much as one misses a whirlwind.
The kindness of Bess o' Sim's was duly reported to the
Infirmary patient, and at first chafed her sorely. She "hated to
be under obligations, and to that lass o' a' others." But Bess,
leaving her own work — and the loss of an hour meant the loss
of an hour's earnings — herself went to see Sally ; and such was
the influence of her gentle voice and touch, that Sally's chagrin
imperceptibly wore away.
Towards the last she grew delirious, raved of Bess and Tom
Hulme and forgiveness, and in the short calm preceding dissolution,
confessed to Matt Cooper and the attendant nurse that she had
cast a slur on Bess Clegg's good name. Had made Tom Hulme
believe that Simon had taken the lass from Skinners' Yard to
.i ' l<r.~.77/A::".M ^fErSg i ' \
W
K
H
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 55
hide her shame. That everybody in the yard knew that Bess
had a child. And that she had bade him inquire for himself.
And almost her last word was a hope that Bess would forgive her.
Matthew Cooper himself hardly forgave his dead wife. How,
therefore, should he carry this confession to Bess, and ask her
to forgive ? He took a medium course ; and after a few days'
consideration, while they and the rest of the tanners were eating
their " baggin " (a workman's luncheon, so called from the bag
it is, or was, usually carried in), sat down beside Simon on a
bundle of thick leather, and told him as well as he was
able.
Simon was troubled ; but he was not vindictive. He would
have been less than a man had he not been bitter against the
cruel woman who had causelessly wrecked his good daughter's life.
But he was sorry for Matt, and broke out into no revilings. The
woman was dead. The ill she had done had been fearfully
punished, and neither curses nor reproaches could affect her or
undo the mischief.
He left his cheese and jannock on the hides untasted, drew his
hand across his forehead, and went down to the river-side and
across the wooden bridge for a breath of fresh air and a waft of
fresh thought. He was only a rugged tanner, but he had a heart
within his breast ; he had a daughter on his hearth with a great
wound in her heart, a blast on her good name, and he was called
upon to forgive the author of this mischief !
Simon had long been used to commune with his own heart.
He had built up a wall round it with the leaves of that one book
on his bureau ; and whenever he was in doubt or difficulty, he read
the precepts inscribed upon that wall. He went back to Cooper,
whose appetite had been no better than his own.
"Aw mun think this ower, Matt. Aw connot say aw furgive
yo'r Sail o' at a dash. Hoo's done that as may niver be undone
56 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
whoile thee an' me's alive; an' aw connot frame to say as aw
furgive her loike o' on a sudden. An' aw mun think it ower before
eawt be said to eawr Bess, poor wench ! "
A week elapsed before the subject was broached again. Then
Simon spoke to Matthew as they were leaving the tannery-yard.
" Coom into th' ' Queen Anne ' " (he called it quean), " Matt,
and have a gill ; aw've summat t' say to thee."
There was nobody in the taproom. They sat down to their
half-pint horns of ale — times were too hard to afford deeper
draughts — and Simon said :
"Aw've bin thinkin' o' this week, an' as aw connot furgive yo'r
Sail, gradely loike, aw'll no put th' same temptation i' th' way of
eawr Bess. Hoo'd better think Turn's takken oop wi' some other
wench, than ha' th' shame o' knowin' th' lad's toorned her up i'
disgrace. Hoo's getten ower th' worst o' her trouble, an' awm not
gooin to break her heart outreet, and mebbe set her agen little
Jabez into th' bargain."
Matthew could but assent to Simon's proposition. But Simon
had not said all his say.
" But aw'm not gooin' to sit deawn wi' my honds i' mi' lap,
an' that great lump o' dirty slutch stickin' to moi lass. Yo'
mun help me t' find eawt wheer Tom Hulme's getten to, an'
help to set o' straight afore aw forgive yo'r Sail, tho' hoo be
dead an' gone."
" Wi' o' my heart ! " responded Matt ; and he gave his huge
hand to Simon in token thereof.
When the Duke of Gloucester inspected the volunteers at
Ardwick on the 3Oth of September that same year, not one of
the people I have linked together witnessed the show.
The blinds were down at Mr. Aspinall's to shut out a sight the
like of which had made him a widower ; and within the darkened
nursery, wilful, obstreperous Laurence fought and kicked and bit
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 57
at old Kitty, because she kept him within doors and from the
windows at his father's command.
There was a christening party in Mosley Street, at the Ashtons',
at which not only the Chadwicks, but the Rev. Joshua Brookes —
who had that day named the infant Augusta — were present. They
had selected a public occasion for their private festival. It was a
grand affair. Mr. Ashton was a small-ware manufacturer in an
extensive way of business, his house and warehouse occupying a
large block of buildings at the corner of York Street. And the
baby Augusta, born the previous month, was a first child, his wife
being younger than himself considerably. Miss Ellen, too, was
there, her wonderful shilling, through which a hole had been
drilled, suspended from her neck like an amulet.
Simon and Matt had given up their holiday to fruitless inquiries
after Tom Hulme ; and Jabez, after a stand-up fight with a boy
in the yard in defence of his kitten, had come to have his bleeding
nose and bruised forehead doctored by Bess, who shed over him
the tears long gathering in their fountains for Tom Hulme's
defection And somehow at that stylish christening feast, where the
baby Augusta was a personage of importance almost as great as
the celebrated Miss Kilmansegg, the orphan Jabez and his fosterers
came on the table for discussion along with the dessert ; Mrs.
Chadwick, Mr. Clough, and Joshua Brookes concurring in the opinion
mooted by the lady that something should be done to relieve the
worthy tanner and his daughter of the cost and trouble of main-
taining the boy as he grew older and would want educating. That
they should talk of the cost of maintenance when bread was a
shilling a loaf, was no marvel; but that "education" should be
named as a necessity for one of " nobody's children," can only be
cited as a proof that either the boy's strange introduction to
Manchester, or Simon's strange generosity, had excited an interest
in both beyond the common run.
58 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
Yet that something was vague. The only definite and practicable
view of the subject was held by Joshua Brookes, and he kept his
opinion to himself.
CHAPTER THE SEVENTH.*
THE REVEREND JOSHUA BROOKES.
OSHUA BROOKES had a
child's love for toffy and other
sweetmeats. These he pur-
chased— or obtained without
purchase — from an old woman
as odd and eccentric as him-
self, a Mrs. Clowes, who
occupied a bow-windowed shop
in Half Street, which literally
overlooked the churchyard, three
or four steps having to be
mounted by her customers.
And how numerous were her
customers, and how great the
demand for her toffy, lozenges,
and "humbugs" may be judged
from the fact that her work-
men and apprentices used up
eight or nine tons of sugar every
week. Yet she was apparently
only a shop-keeper, and had
begun business in a very humble way ; but she was persevering
and industrious, and success followed. She was active and
* See Appendix.
COLLEGE OUTLET TO THE RIVER.
60 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
energetic, and expected those around her to be the same. Yet
she was kind to them, as may be supposed, for she gave every
Sunday a good dinner to fourteen old men and women on
whom fortune had looked unkindly, waiting upon them herself,
and never tasting her own dinner until her pensioners had
dined.
Regular in her own attendance at the old Church, she
required her household to be regular too, though she left them
little enough time to dress — possibly because her own toilette
was so scant. The dress in which she presented herself at church
was certainly unique for a woman of wealth. Her gown of sober
stuff was well worn ; a mob-cap (a fashion which came in with
the French Revolution) adorned her head, over which, by way
of bonnet, a brown silk handkerchief was tied. On rare — very
rare — occasions, an old black silk bonnet covered all.
Joshua Brookes,' at odds with his clerical brethren, with his
pupils, and half the world besides, was on good terms with
Mrs. Clowes. Rough, prompt, and uncompromising was she ;
rough; irritable and unmannerly was he ; both unpromising hard-
husked nuts, with sweet and tender kernels. So rough, few ever
suspected the soft heart ; yet the woman who fed the poor
before herself, and the learned clergyman who had a fancy for
pigeons, and who cherished the drunken and abusive old crippled
shoemaker, his father, to the last, must have intuitively known
the inner life of each other.
The day following Augusta Ashton's christening, it fell within
the round of the Reverend Joshua's duty to read the burial
service over a dead townswoman in the churchyard. And now
occurred one of those incidents in which the ludicrous and the
profane blended, and brought impulsive Joshua into disfavour.
As was not unfrequently the case, he broke off in the midst of
the service, left the mourners and the coffin beside the open
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 61
grave, threw his legs over the low wall, and, mounting the steps
into the confectioner's shop, said:
" Here, quick, dame ? Give me some horehound drops for
my cough."
On his entrance Mrs. Clowes broke off a narrative over which
she and her shopwoman were laughing heartily, in order to reach
the required drops, which went into a paper without weighing,
and for which no payment was tendered. Back he strode over
the churchyard wall to resume the interrupted ceremonial.
It must here be observed that Joshua had remarkably shaggy
eyebrows, overhanging his quick eyes like pent-houses, and that
it was the wont of the schoolboys and others to annoy him
by drawing their fingers significantly over their own. A young
sweep sat upon the churchyard wall to witness the funeral, and —
young imp of Satan that he was ! — he could not forbear drawing
a thumb and forefinger over each brow, full in Joshua's sight,
just as he reached the passage — " I heard a voice from heaven
saying "
The shaggy eyebrows contracted ; he roared out —
"Knock that little black rascal off the church wall!"
The mischievous little blackamoor was off, with a beadle
after him ; and the eccentric chaplain, whom no sense of
irreverence seemed to strike, concluded the ceremony with no
further interruption.
At its close, Mr. Aspinall and another mourner took the
clergyman to task for his disrespect to the remains of the deceased
Mrs. Aspinall, whose obsequies had been so irregularly performed.
They said nothing of disrespect to the Divinity profaned ; their
own feelings and importance had been outraged, and they forgot
all else even by the dust and ashes in the gaping grave ; and
little Laurence, cloaked and hooded, forgot his grief in watching
the chase after the sweep.
62 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
" How dare you, sir, give way to these indecencies at the
funeral of my wife? It has been most indecorous and insulting,
both to the dead and her afflicted relatives."
"She's had Christian burial, hasn't she?" gruffly interrogated
Joshua.
"Hardly," was the hesitating answer.
" She's been laid in consecrated ground, and I've read the
burial service over her ; what more would you have ? Some
folk are never satisfied."
Emptying half his horehound drops into the hand of Master
Laurence, Joshua turned on his heel, went to the chapter-house
to disrobe, and then back over the wall to Mrs. Clowes.
" I say, dame, you were not at church on Sunday."
" No, Parson Brookes ; I was in Liverpool."
"Oh!" grunted he, "in Liverpool. Sugar-buying, I suppose?"
"Yea; an' a fine joke I've had."
" Joshua pricked up his ears ; he did not object to a little fun.
"You mun know I thought I'd give Branker, the new sugar-
broker, a trial, an' I went there an' asked to see samples ; but
the young whipper-snapper of a salesman looked at me from
top to toe, an', I suppose, reckoned up the value of my old
black bonnet, my kerchief an' mutch, an' my old stuff dress,
and fancied my pockets must match my gown, for he was barely
civil, and didn't seem to care for the trouble o' shovvin' th'
samples. So I bade my young man good day, an' said I'd call
again."
" And didn't, I suppose. Just like a woman," put in Joshua.
"Oh, yea, I did. I borrowed my landlady's silk gown and
fine satin bonnet, and put on my lady's manners ; and then Mr.
Whipper-snapper could show his samples, and his best manners,
too. But when I gave my orders by tons, and not hundred-
weights, he looked at me, and looked again, as if he thought
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 63
I'd escaped from a madhouse ; an' at last he began to h'm an'
ah, an' talk of large orders, an' cash payment, an' references ;
an' I told him to make out th' invoice and bring it. An'
when I pulled out this old leather pocket-book, and counted
the bank-notes to pay him down on the nail, good gracious !
how the fellow stared ! I reckon I'll not need to borrow a
silk dress when I give my next order. It was as good as a play."
" Um ! You women-folk think yourselves wonderfully clever.
But come, I can't waste my time here. (Joshua had heard all
he went for.) Give me quarter-a-pound of humbugs ; I threw
half the other things away," said he.
"I don't think it's much you'll throw away, Jotty," replied the
old confectioner, with independent familiarity, as she weighed and
parcelled the sweets, for which this time he put down the money.
" It's much you know about it, Mother Clowes," he jerked
out, as if throwing the words at her over his shoulder, as he
turned to leave the shop, putting the package in one of the
large pockets of his long flap waistcoat as he went.
His own house, not more than three hundred yards away,
adjoined the Grammar School, a red brick building, with stone
quoins, now darkened by time and smoke, one gable of which
overhung the Irk ; the other, pierced for four small-paned
windows, almost confronting the antique Sun Inn, at the acute
angle of Long Millgate, and quite overlooking an open space,
flanked by the main entrance to the College. From this, the
east wing of the College, it is separated by a plain iron gateway
and palisades on the Millgate side, and by a low wall which
serves as a screen from the river on the other side ; the enclosed
space between rails, wall, College, and the front of the school
serving as a playground for such scholars as were willing to keep
within bounds. It was divided into upper, middle, and lower
schools, the last being in the basement, and designed for elementary
64 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
instruction. The high and middle schools together occupied the
same long room above this. Joshua Brookes, as second master,
presided over the middle school, and surely never M.A. had so
thankless an office. He was placed at a terrible disadvantage in
the school, not altogether because he had risen from its lowest
ranks — not altogether because a drunken, foul-mouthed cripple
interfered with their sports, or went reeling to his son's domicile
next door — not because he was unduly severe ; other masters were
that — but because his own eager thirst for knowledge as a boy
had made him intolerant towards indolence, incredulous of
incapacity; and his constitutional impatience and irritability
made his harsh voice seem harsher when he reproved a
dullard. He lost his self-command, and with that went his
command over others. Meaning to be affable to the poor,
from whose ranks he sprang, he became familiar ; and they
reciprocated the familiarity so fully as to draw down the
contempt of his confreres. He was a man to be respected, and
they slighted him ; a man to be honoured, and they snubbed
him. What wonder, then, that eccentricities grew like barnacles
on a ship's keel, or that the boys failed in obedience and
respect to a master when their elders set them the example ?
This defence of a misunderstood man has not taken up a
tithe of the time he gave to his refractory class, to whom he
went straightway from the confectioner's, whose "humbugs" had
melted considerably, not wholly down his own throat, before the
hour when the boys closed their Latin Grammars and Greek
Lexicons, and poured as if they were mad down the steps, and
through the gate, to the road. Yet even the sweets he gave to
the attentive did not conciliate ; they only made the intractable
more defiant ; and the recipients felt they were bribed.
Warned by the uproar of a large school in motion, as well
as by the long-cased clock, Tabitha, his one servant, had her
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 65
master's tea ready for him the instant he came in from the
school,^'as he generally did, fagged and jaded, with the growl
of a baited bear.
That day he simply put his head into the house, and bawled,
"Tea ready, Tab?" and without waiting for an answer, went
on, "Keep it hot till I get back;" then, closing the door, took
his way eastwards down Long Millgate. His journey was not
a long one. It ended at the bottom of a yard where a sad,
pale-faced young woman was switching monotonously at a mass
of downy cotton, and listening at the same time to the equally
monotonous drawl of a youngster in the throes of monosyllabic
reading.
" Get laming, lad ! — get laming ! Larning's a great thing.
Yo' shan read i' this big picture-book when you can spell
gradely, ' had been Simon's precept and inducement ; and Jabez,
to whom that big pictorial Bible was a mysterious, unexplored
crypt, did try with all his little might.
"J-a-c-k — Jack, w-a-s — was, a g-o-o-d — good, b-o "
"And I hope you're a good boy, as well as Jack," said
Joshua Brookes abruptly, as he put his head into the room, and
put a stop to the lesson at the same time. " But, hey-day "
(observing the swollen nose and bruised forehead), " You've been
in the wars. Good boys don't fight."
" Then what did Bill Barnes throw stones at ar pussy for ?
Good boys dunnot hurt kittlins," said Jabez, nothing daunted.
Bess explained.
" Um ! " quoth Joshua, when she had finished, " he's fond of his
kitten, is he?" and drawing Jabez towards him by the shoulder,
with one finger uplifted as a caution, he looked down on the
shrinking child, and said, impressively —
" Never fight if you can help it, Jabez ; but if you fight to save
a poor dumb animal from ill-usage, or to protect the weak against
66 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
the strong, Jotty Brucks is not the man to blame you. Here,
lad," and into the pinafore of Jabez went the remainder of the
"humbugs."
He patted the boy on the head, bade him get on with his
reading, he did not know what good fortune might come of it, told
him to come regularly to church, to love God and God's creatures,
and went away, leaving Bess to prepare her father's porridge (tea was
from twelve to sixteen shillings a pound, and beyond their reach).
Almost on the threshold he encountered Simon.
" Can't you keep that young sprig out of mischief ? If he
begins fighting and quarrelling at six years old, what will he do
when he is sixteen ? " he cried, gruffly, as he brushed past the
tanner, and was far up the yard before the man could think of
a reply.
A couple of young pigeons were sent for Jabez about a week
after, with a large bag of stale cakes and bread to feed them
with. The name of the sender was unknown, but anyone
acquainted with the habits of Joshua Brookes (who contracted for
Mrs. Clowes' waste pastry, to fill the crops of his own feathered
colony) would not have been troubled to guess.
Simon stroked his raspy chin, and seemed dubious, cost of
keep being a question ; but Jabez looked so wistful, his foster-
father borrowed tools and answered the appeal by making a
triangular cote for them, and Jabez found fresh occupation in
their care. Yet occupation was not lacking, young as he was.
He could fetch and carry, run short errands, and help Bess to
clean. Their living-room no longer waited a week to be swept
and dusted, Jabez did it every day, standing on a chair to reach
the top of the bureau, where lay the cynosure of his young eyes.
He still took his Sunday lessons in field or stream with Simon,
and through the week clambered up from monosyllables to
dissyllables with Bess,
CHAPTER THE EIGHTH.
THE BLUE COAT SCHOOL.
HE children of the poor
begin early to earn their
bread. Legislature has
stepped in to regulate the
age and hours for labour
in manufacturing districts,
and to provide education
for the humblest. Jabez
Clegg was not born in
these blissful times, and he
only narrowly escaped the
common lot.
He was not eight years
old, yet Simon, on whom
war-prices pressed as
heavily as on his neigh-
bours, began to discuss with Bess the necessity for sending the lad
to Simpson's factory (where Arkwright's machinery was first
set in motion).
" He mun goo as sune as the new year taks a fair grip,"
decided Simon, and 1805 was at its last gasp as he said it.
But the new year brought Jabez a reprieve by the uncoflrtly
hands of Joshua Brookes.- Meeting Simon and Jabez at a stall
EXIT FROM COLLEGE YARD.
68 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
in the Apple Market, where, the better to bargain, he had laid
down a pile of old classical school-books (Joshua was a collector
of these, which he retailed again to the boys at prices varying
with his mood, or his estimate of the purchaser's pocket), he
accosted the former.
" Well, old Leathershanks, what are you going to make of young
Cheat-the-fishes there? I suppose he's to follow your own trade,
he began to tan hides so early?" And the glance which shot
from under his shaggy brows caused the boy to blush, and shrink
behind his protector.
Simon's eyes twinkled, but he shook his head as he answered :
"Nay, Parson Brucks, we'n thowt o' sendin' him t' th' cotton
fac'try ; but it fair goos agen th' grain to send th' little chap
through th' streets to wark Winter an' Summer, weet or dry,
afore th' sun's oop an' abeawt his wark. But we conno' keep
him bout it — toimes are so bad."
" H'm ! Then what a stupid old leather-head you must be not
to think of the College, where he'd be kept and fed and clothed
and educated ! — educated^ man, do you hear ? "
Simon heard, and his eyes again twinkled and winked at the
new idea presented to him.
"And 'prenticed!" he echoed, with a long-drawn, gasping breath.
"Ay, and apprenticed."
The parson, cramming his pockets with apples, for which he had
higgled with much persistence, handed one to Jabez with the
question —
" How would you like to be a College boy, Jabez, and wear a
long blue coat, like that fellow yonder " (pointing to a boy then
crossing the market on an errand), " and learn to write and cypher,
as well as to read ? "
* If you please'n, aw'd loike it moore nor eawt." His animated
face was a clearer answer than his words.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. gg
Joshua then read the lad a brief homily to the effect that only
good and honourable boys could find admission, winding up with —
"If you're a very good lad, I'll see what can be done for
you."
He interrupted thanks with —
"Easter's very near, Sim, so you'll have to stir your stumps to
prove that our honourable young friend came honourably into the
world. I'll get the forms and fill them up for you, and his
baptismal register too."
He snatched up his books and was off, the tassel of his
collegiate cap and the cassock he wore flying loose as he hurried
away muttering to himself —
" What an old fool I am to bother about the lad ! I daresay
he'll turn round and sting me in the end, like the rest of the snakes
I have warmed. As great an idiot as old Dame Clowes ! "
Chetham's College, or Hospital, is a long, low, ancient stone
edifice, built on the rock above the mouth of the Irk, with two
arms of unequal length, stretching towards church and town, and
embracing a large quadrangle used as a playground, which has
for its fourth and southern boundary a good useful garden.
It is needless to grope upward from the time when the Saxon
Theyn built a fortified residence on its site; sufficient for us
that Thomas de la Warr, youngest son of the feudal baron of
Manchester, was brought up to the Church, and in the fourteenth
century inducted into the Rectory of Manchester, his father being
patron. His elder brother dying at the close of the century,
the rector (a pious Churchman) became baron. And then he
put his power and wealth to sacerdotal uses. He petitioned the
king, obtained a grant to collegiate Christ Church, erected the
College, endowed it with lands ; and here at his death the
Warden of the Collegiate Church had his residence. Of these
wardens, the celebrated Dr. Dee, whose explorations into alchemy
70 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
and other occult sciences brought him into trouble with Queen
Elizabeth, was one ; and Dr. Dee's room is still extant — in
occupation of the governor.
In 1580, at Crumpsall Hall, Humphrey Chetham was born;
and he, a prosperous dealer in fustians, never marrying, at his
own expense fed and clothed a number of poor boys ; and, by
his will, not only bequeathed a large sum of money to be
expended in the foundation and endowment of a hospital for
the maintenance, education, and apprenticing of forty poor boys
for ever, but one thousand pounds to be expended in a library,
free to the public — the first free library in Britain.
The estate was vested in feoffees, and with them lay the
power alike to elect boys and officials. From the townships of
Manchester, Droylsden, Crumpsall, Bolton-le-Moors, and Turton,
the boys were to be elected between the ages of six and ten,
and were required to be of honest, industrious parents, and
neither illegitimate nor diseased ; and baptismal registers had to
be produced. They had to be well maintained, well trained,
and carefully apprenticed at fourteen, a fee of four pounds (a
large sum in Humphrey Chetham's time) being given with them.
The churchwardens and overseers were to prepare lists of boys,
doubling the number of vacancies, stating their respective claims,
which lists they had to sign.
Easter Monday was the period for election, after which the
feoffees dined together in Dr. Dee's quaintly-carved room.
Joshua Brookes was as good as his word. He procured a
blank form from the governor, and, Simon being no great
scholar, filled it in for him. He found him the baptismal
register without charging the regulation shilling, got the name
of Jabez inserted in the churchwardens' list, and such influence
as he had with feoffees he exerted to the utmost, for the case
was one involving doubt and difficulty.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. ji
Nor had Simon Clegg been idle. He and his crony, Matthew,
scoured Smedley and Crumpsall, and more successful than in
their quest for Tom Hulme, discovered the nurse who presided
at the birth of Jabez. Her testimony, so far as it went, was
important. He had interested both Mr. and Mrs. Clough in
the election of the foundling, and where the influence of the
gentleman failed, that of the lady prevailed ; so that when the
important Easter Monday arrived, two-thirds of the feoffees were
fully acquainted with his peculiar case, and more or less impressed
in his favour.
It was on the i8th of April, bright, sunny, joyous. Compared
with its present proportions, Manchester then was but as a cameo
brooch on a mantle of green ; and that green was already starred
with daisies, buttercups, primroses, and cowslips. By wells and
brooks, daffodil and jonquil hung their heads and breathed out
perfume. Bush and tree put out pale buds and fans of promise.
The tit-lark sang, the cuckoo — to use a village phrase — had
" eaten up the mud ; " and the town was alive with holiday-
makers from all the country round about.
It was the great College anniversary, not only election day, but
one set apart for friends to visit Blue-coat boys already on the found-
ation, and for the curious public to inspect the Chetham Museum.
The main entrance in Millgate (said to be arched with the
jaw-bone of a whale) and the smaller gate on Hunt's Bank,
were both thrown open. A stream of people of all grades, in
festival array, poured in and out, and College cap and gown
seemed to be ubiquitous.
The pale, sad widow or widower, holding an orphan boy by
the trembling hand, the uncle or next of kin to the doubly-
orphaned candidate, were there, standing in a long line ranged
against the building, and representing hopes and fears and
eventualities little heeded by the shifting stream of gazers.
73 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
For the previous week Mrs. Clowes and her assistants had been
working night and day; her shop was in a state of siege. Every
boy, and every boy's friend, seemed to have pocket-money to
spend, and to want to spend it over her counter. Then it was
the great wedding-day of the year, and the churchyard swarmed
like a hive ; from every one of the many public-houses round
College and Church, music and mirth, clattering feet, and loud-
voiced laughter issued. "The Apple Tree," "The Pack Horse,"
"The Ring o1 Bells," "The Blackamoor's Head," were filled to
repletion with wedding guests ; whilst " The College Inn " and
the old " Sun Inn " held a less boisterous quota of the
Collegians' friends and relatives.
On those wet days when outdoor play was impossible, the
boys, besides darning their stockings, occupied their spare hours
in carving spoons and apple-scrapers out of bone, in working balls and
pincushions in fanciful devices with coloured worsted, and a stitch
locally known as " colleging ; " and with these, on Easter Monday
and at Whitsuntide, they reaped a harvest of pocket-money, having
liberty to offer them for sale. And when it is remembered that our
notable female ancestors, poor and rich, wore indoors a pincushion
and sheathed scissors suspended at their sides, it is not to be
wondered that these found ready purchasers as memorials of the visit.
But in that College Yard were anxious and expectant as well
as buoyant faces. And there in that line, waiting to be called
when their turn came, stood Jabez between Simon Clegg and Bess,
with Matthew and the nurse on either hand. And ever and anon
their eyes went up to the oriel window which faced the main
entrance, for in the room it lighted the arbiters of the boy's
destiny sat in judgment on some other orphan's claim. At length
the summons came for "Jabez Clegg."
With palpitating hearts — for any body of men with irresponsible
powers is an awful tribunal — they passed under the arched portal
^x
READING ROOM, CHETHAM LIBRARY.
1
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 73
at the western angle of the building, following their guide past the
doors of the great kitchen on the right hand, and the boys' refectory
and Dr. Dee's room on the left, up the wide stone staircase,
with its massive carved oak balusters, along the gallery, at once
library and museum, where gaping holiday-folk followed a Blue-
coat cicerone past shelves and glass cases, and compartments
separated for readers' quiet study by carven book-shelf screens,
hearing, but heeding little of the parrot-roll the boys checked off:
" Here's Oliver Crummle's sword ; theer's a loadstone ; theer's a
hairy mon ; theer's the skeleton of a mon ; " and so forth, but
following their own guide to the nail-studded oaken door of the
feoffees' room — that door which might open to hope, only to close
on disappointment.
The feoffees' room — now the reading-room of the library —
deserves more than a passing notice. It is a large, square, antique
chamber, with a deeply-recessed oriel window, opposite the door,
containing a table and seats for readers. There are carved oak
buffets of ancient date, ponderous chairs, and still more ponderous
tables, one of which is said to contain as many pieces as there
are days in the year. Dingy-looking portraits of eminent
Lancashire divines stare at you from the walls ; but the left-
hand wall contains alone the benevolent presentment of Humphrey
Chetham, the large-hearted, clear-headed founder. Its place is
over the wide chimneypiece, which holds an ample grate ; and on
either hand it is flanked by the carved effigy of a bird, the one a
pelican feeding its young brood with its own blood, the other
a cock, which is said (and truly) to crow when it smells roast
beef.
But we smell the feoffees' dinner, and must not delay the
progress of Jabez and his friends. A large body of feoffees
were present, many in the uniforms of their special volunteer
regiments.
74 ^HE MANCHESTER MAN.
" So this is the little fellow who was picked up asleep in a cradle
during the flood of August, 1799," observed rather than inquired
one of the gentlemen, who appeared as spokesman.
"Yoi, yo'r honours," answered Simon, making a sort of
bow.
" Who can bear witness to that ? "
"Aw con" — "An" aw con," responded Simon and Matt Cooper
in a breath. "It wur uz as got him eawt o' th' wayter."
"Anyone else?"
Bess stepped forward modestly.
" He wur put i' moi arms on Tanners' Bridge, an' aw've browt
him oop ivver sin'."
" Have you never sought for his parents ? "
"Ay, mony a toime. Matt an' me have spent mony a day i'
seekin' 'em," said Simon promptly, an' we could fand no moore
than that papper tells" — referring to a sheet in the questioning
feoffee's hand.
" Then how do you date the boy's age with such precision ? ''
The nurse now sidled confidently to the front.
"If it please your honour's worship, aw wur called to stiff-
backed Nan's dowter in the last pinch, when hoo wur loike to die,
an' that little chap wur born afore aw left, an' that wur o' th'
fifth o' May, seventeen hunderd and nointy-noine. Aw know it,
fur aw broke mi arm th' varry next day."
" And the mother died ? "
"Yea! — afore the week wur eawt."
"And you think she was lawfully married? Where was her
husband ? "
" Ay ! that's it ! Hoo had a guinea-goold weddin'-ring on ;
an' owd Nan said it wur a sad thing th' lass had ever got
wedded, an' moore o' the same soort. An' aw geet eawt o' her
that they'n bin wedded at Crumpsall, an' a' th' neebors knew
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 75
as th' husbant had had a letter to fatch him to Liverpool, an'
had niver come back. Onybody i' Smedley knows that!"
"And you think they were honest, industrious people?"
" Ay ! that they were, but rayther stiff i' th' joints, yo' know
— seemed to think theirsel's too good to talk to folk like ; or,
mebbe we'd ha' known th' lad's neame an' o' belongin' to
him. They owed nobbody nowt, an' aw wur paid fur moi
job."
Jabez was called forward and examined, and he came pretty
well out of the fire. They found that he could read a little,
knew part of his catechism, and they saw that he was a well-
behaved, intelligent boy, with truthful dark grey eyes and a
reflective brow.
There was a long and animated discussion, during which the
boy and his friends were bidden to retire. It was contended
that the marriage of the boy's parents was not proven — that his
very name was dubious, — and that the founder's will was specific
on that head.
Then one of Mrs. Clough's friends rose and grew eloquent.
He asked if they were to interpret the will of the great and
benevolent man, whose portrait looked down upon them, by the
spirit or by the letter? If they themselves did not feel that the
boy was eligible, as the nurse's testimony went to prove ? That
this was a case peculiarly marked out for their charitable
construction. And he wound up by inquiring if they thought
Humphrey Chetham would expect his representatives to be less
humane, less charitable, less conscientious in dealing with a bounty
not their own, than that poor struggling, hard-working tanner and
his daughter, who had maintained and cherished the orphan in
spite of cruelly hard times, and still more cruel slander. And
then he told, as an episode, what Sally Cooper had confessed,
and how and why Bess had lost her lover.
76 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
This turned the quivering scale. "Jabez Clegg and his friends"
were called in ; the verdict which changed the current of his life
was pronounced — Jabez Clegg was a Blue-coat boy !
Before the night was out, while the flood-gates or all their
hearts were open, Matthew Cooper, though nearly twenty years
her senior, asked Bess to be his wife!
CHAPTER THE NINTH.
THE SNAKE.
*W — * OWEVER ambitious either Jabez or his kind fosterers
Ir ^» had been to see him a Blue-coat boy, the parting
J^^ £ between them was a terrible wrench. They were to
him all the friends or parents he had ever known.
Then there were his playmates in the yard, with liberty to
run in and out at will ; and lastly, there were his dumb pets —
his kitten (grown to a cat), his pigeons, and the lame linnet,
hopping from perch to finger, and paying him for his love with
the sweetest of songs.
He was not more stunned by the noise and Easter Monday
bustle in the College Yard, or more awed by the imposing
presence of Governor Terry and the feoffees, than by the magnitude,
order, and antique grandeur of the building henceforth to be his
home. Nevertheless, wide open as the gates were for the day,
he felt that they would close, and shut him in among the cold
strong walls and strangers, never to see his pets or his loving
friends again until Whitsuntide should bring another holiday.
They older, more experienced, with a better knowledge of all
the boy would gain — all the privation and premature labour he
would escape — felt only how dull their humble home would be
without the willing feet and hands, the smiling face, and the
cheerful voice of the sturdy little fellow who for more than seven
years had been as their own child.
78 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
He had given his last charge respecting his furry and
feathered brood, exchanged the last clinging embrace under the
dark arch, then tore away in quest of a deserted corner, where
he could hide the tears he could not wholly restrain.
At first the new dress of which he was so proud, the yellow
stockings and clasped shoes in place of clogs, the yellow baize
petticoat, the long-skirted blue overcoat or gown, the blue
muffin-cap, the white clerical band at the throat (all neat,
and fresh, and unpatched as they were), felt awkward and
uncomfortable — the long petticoat especially incommoded him.
But in a few days this wore off. There were other lads equally
strange and unaccustomed to robes and rules. Fellow-feeling
drew them towards each other, and with the wonderful adaptability
of childhood, they fell into the regular grooves, and were as
much at home as the eldest there in less than a fortnight. And
from the Chetham Gallery in the Old Church he could see and
be seen by Simon and Bess on Sabbath mornings from the free
seats in the aisle, and that contented them.
The training and education of the Chetham College boys
was, and is, conducted on principles best adapted for boys
expected to fight their way upwards in the world. They were
not encumbered with a number of " ologies " and " isms " (the
highest education did not stand on a par then with the moderate
ones of this day) ; their range of books and studies was limited.
Reading, writing, and arithmetic, sound and practical information
alone were imparted, so much as was needed to fit the dullest
for an ordinary tradesman, and supply the persevering and
intelligent with a fulcrum and a lever. Nor did their education
end with their lessons in the schoolroom, nor was it drawn from
books and slates alone.
Their meals were regular, their diet pure and ample, but
plain. They rose at six, began the day with prayer, and retired
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 79
to rest at eight. Besides their duties in the schoolroom, they
darned their own stockings, made their own beds, helped the
servants to keep their rooms clean, and six of the elder boys
were set apart to run errands and carry messages beyond the
precincts of the College.
Strength of muscle and limb were gained in the open courtyard
in such games as trap and football ; patience and ingenuity had
scope in the bead purses, the carved apple-scoops and marrow-
spoons, the worsted balls and pincushions they made to fill their
leisure hours indoors. There was no idleness. Their very play
had its purpose.
Let us set Jabez Clegg under the kind guardianship oi
Christopher Terry, the Governor, and under the direct supervision
of the Reverend John Gresswell, the schoolmaster, to con his
Mavor, and make pothooks-and-ladles, on a form in the large
schoolroom at the east end of the College, and to rise, step by
step, up the first difficult rungs of that long ladder of learning
which may indeed rest on our common earth, but which reaches
far above the clouds and human ken.
Christmas and Midsummer vacations came and went, so did
those red-letter days of his College life, Easter and Whitsuntide,
when he was free to rush to the old yard, so near at hand, and
after hugging Bess and Simon, whom he astonished with his
learning, could assure himself his dumb family had been well-
cared for.
And if those passing seasons traced deeper lines on Simon's
brow, gave more womanly solidity to Bess's form and character,
they brought no change the foundling could mark. Tom Hulme's
whereabouts was still undiscovered. Matt Cooper was still a
widower. But they and his masters could note the steady progress
he made, and his chivalrous love of truth and sense of honour
shown in many ways in little things. Yet there was one event a
8o THE MANCHESTER MAN.
grief to him. His little brown linnet pined for its young friend,
and died before the first Whitsunday came.
He was not much over ten years old when he was proved to
possess courage, as well as truth and honour.
For some time Nancy, the cook, had observed that the cream
was skimmed surreptitiously from the milk-pans in the dairy, that
the milk itself was regularly abstracted, and she was loud in
complaint. She could scarcely find cream enough to set on the
governor's table, and servants and schoolboys were in turn accused
of being the depredators.
Complaints were made to Mr. Terry, servants and boys were
alike interrogated and watched, and punished on suspicion, but
nothing could be proved, and no precautions could save the milk.
The lofty and spacious kitchen had its entrance almost under the
porch, and close beside it was a flight of stone steps leading to the
dairy, a cellar below the kitchen, lit by a small window high up
on the side towards the river, and of course opposite to the steps.
Stone tables occupied the two other sides, on which were
ranged a number of wide, shallow pans of good milk. In the
extreme corner, at right angles with the door at the head of
the stairs, was another entrance, a small oaken door in a Gothic
frame, which opened on another and shorter flight of steps, cut
in the rock and washed by the river, which sometimes rose
and beat against the cellar-door for admission, beat so oft and
importunately as to wear away the oak where it met the floor.
It was nearly breakfast time. Long rows of wooden bowls
and trenchers were ranged on the white kitchen-table. The
oatmeal porridge was ready to pour out. The cook ran short of
milk. Through a window overlooking the yard she espied Jabez,
whip in hand, driving a biped team of play-horses.
"Jabez, Jabez Clegg!" she called out at the pitch of her
voice, "come hither."
THE MANCHESTER MAN. gi
Down went the reins, and the prancing steeds proceeded
without a driver.
" Fetch a can of milk from the cellar, Jabez ; an' look sharp,
An' see as yo' dunna drink none!"
"I never do," said Jabez, not overpleased at the imputation.
"Well, see as yo' don't, for some on yo' do."
Jabez took the bright tin can, without putting down the whip,
and descended the unguarded cellar-stairs, whistling as he went.
He gave a jump down the last few steps, and to his utter
surprise, I cannot say dismay, saw that he had disturbed a great
greenish-brown snake, spotted with black and having a yellowish
ring round its neck. It lay coiled on the stone table opposite
to him, and with its head elevated above the rim of a milk-pan,
was taking its morning draught, and in so doing reckoning
without its host.
"Oh! you're the thief, are you, Mr. Snake? It's you've robbed
us of our milk, and got us boys thrashed for it!" cried Jabez,
without a thought of danger, planting himself between the culprit
and the small postern door, as the snake, gliding from the slab,
turned thither for exit, putting out its forked tongue and hissing
at him as it came.
Without thought or consideration — without a cry of alarm to
those above, he struck at the threatening foe with his whip ; and
as the resentful snake darted at him, jumped nimbly aside, and
struck and struck again ; and as the angry snake writhed and
twisted, and again and again darted its frightful head at him with
distended jaws, he whipped and whipped away as though a top
and not a formidable reptile had been before him.
Cook, out of patience, called "Jabez Clegg!" more than
once, in anything but satisfactory tones ; and then, patience
exhausted, came to the top of the dairy stairs. Then she heard
Jabez, as if addressing some one, say : '• Oh ! you would, would
82 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
you?" and the commotion having drawn her so far down the
steps that she could peer into the cellar and see what was going
on, she set up a prolonged scream. This was just as Jabez,
shifting the position of his whip, brought the butt-end down
on the head of the snake with all the force of his stout young
arm, and his exhausted foe dropped, literally whipped to death.
The woman's screams brought not only the governor and the
school-master, but Dr. Stone, the librarian, to the spot. And there
stood Jabez, all his prowess gone, with his back towards them,
his head down on his arms, which rested on the stone slab,
sobbing violently for the very life he had just destroyed.
" Oh, he's bin bitten — he's bin bitten ! The vemonous thing's
bitten the lad 1 He'll die after it ! " cried the cook in an ecstasy
of terror.
" Stand aside, Nancy," said Dr. Stone ; " that snake is not
venomous. If I mistake not, the brave boy's heart is wounded,
not his skin."
And, coming down, the kind, discerning librarian lifted the snake
with the one hand, and took hold of Jabez with the other, simply
saying to him —
"Come into the governor's room, Jabez, and tell us all about
it."
And Jabez, drying his red eyes on the cuff of his coat, was
ushered before the Doctor up the stairs, and into the governor's
room, where breakfast was laid for the three gentlemen. There he
briefly told how he had found the snake drinking the milk ; and
having intercepted the reptile's retreat, had been obliged, in self-
defence, to fight with it until he had whipped it to death — a
consummation as unlocked for as regretted,
He had not, as at first surmised, escaped unwounded in the
contest ; but, as Dr. Stone had said, and the surgeon who dressed
the bites confirmed, the terrible-looking reptile was but the common
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 83
ringed-snake, which takes freely to the water ; and its bite was
harmless. From the dais in the refectory both snake and whip
were exhibited to the boys after breakfast.
" My lads," said the governor, " I daresay you will all be glad
to know that the thief who stole the milk has been taken."
There was a general shout of assent, with here and there a
wondering glance at the vacant seat of Jabez, who, having his
wounds washed and bound up, had not sat down with them, but
had a sort of complimentary breakfast with the servants in the
kitchen.
"And I daresay you would like to see the thief, and know
how he was caught."
There was another general " Ay, ay, sir ! "
"Well, here he is" (and he held the snake aloft); "but I
don't think any of you will be thrashed on his account again.
Jabez Clegg, here " (and he pulled the reluctant boy forward
by the shoulder), "caught the sly robber drinking the milk,
and, with nothing but this whip and a fearless, resolute arm, put
a stop to his depredations, and restored the lost character of
the school."
There was a loud hurrah for Jabez Clegg, who for the time
being was a hero. Then, the snake being carried to the
schoolroom, the Rev. John Gresswell improved the occasion by
a lesson on snakes in general, and that one in particular. But
when he dissipated the popular belief that all snakes were
venomous, and assured the boys that the bite of this was
innocuous, more than one of the Blue-coated lads thought Jabez
was not such a hero after all.
The heads of the College thought otherwise. The snake, and
whip also, were placed high up against a wall in the College
museum, close beside the " woman's clog which was split by a
thunderbolt, and hoo wasn't hurt." They made part of the
84 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
catalogue of the Blue-coat guides — nay, even Jabez may have
run the rapid chronicle from the reel himself; but the pain
and shock of having wilfully killed a living creature neutralised
and prevented the harm which might have followed self-
glorification.
The long unknown secret spoiler of the dairy had been such
a blemish on the spotless character of the Chetham Hospital —
such a scandal in its little world — that its capture became of
sufficient importance for Dr. Thomas Stone to communicate to
the Reverend Joshua Brookes on his next visit to the library,
Jabez being considered a sort of prot/gJ of his.
Before the day was out the parson found his cough troublesome,
and, of course, went to Mrs. Clowes for horehound-drops.
" Well, what do you think of young Cheat-the-fishes now ? "
came raspily from his lips, as he leaned on the counter, evidently
prepared for a gossip, shop-chairs being unheard-of superfluities
in those days.
Mrs. Clowes knew perfectly well whom the parson meant by
" young Cheat-the-fishes " ; indeed, the boy, on his rare holidays,
had been a customer, as were the boys of College and Grammar
School generally.
"Now? Why, what's th' lad been doing? Naught wrong, I
reckon ? "
You see she had faith in the boy's open countenance.
" Humph ! that's as folk think," he growled, keeping his own
opinion to himself. " I don't suppose I need to tell you the
hubbub there's been over there " (jerking his finger in the
direction of the College) " about the stolen milk ? That tale's
old enough."
Mrs. Clowes nodded her mob-cap in assent.
"Well, that lad Jabez found a snake, four feet long, with
its head in the milk pans the other morning, The sly thief
*THE MANCHESTER MAN. 85
turned spiteful, and the two had a battle-royal all to themselves
in the cellar. The pugnacious rapscallion had a whip in his
hand, and he — lashed the snake to death ! "
Mrs. Clowes echoed his last words, and uplifted her hands in
amazement. A snake was a terrible reptile to her.
" Ah ! and then blubbered like a cry-a-babby because he had
killed it! What do you think of that, Dame Clowes?"
" Eh ! I think he was a brave little chap to face a sarpent,
but I think a fine sight more of his blubbering, as you call it,"
said she, taking a tin canister from a shelf, and putting it on
the counter with an emphatic bounce.
" Ah ! I thought I could match the young fool with an old
one," said he derisively, to hide his own satisfaction, as he took
his short legs to the door.
But Mrs. Clowes called him back, put a large paper parcel
in his hand, and said —
" Here, Jotty, see you give these sweetmeats to your cry-a-
babby, and tell him an old woman says there's no harm in
fighting in self-defence with any kind of a snake, or for his
own good name, or to protect the helpless ; but, if he fights
just to show off his own bravery, he's a coward. And you tell
him from me never to be ashamed of tears he has shed in
repentance for injury he may have done to any living thing.
Now see you tell him, parson ; and maybe my preachment may
be worth more to him than my cakes or toffy, or your sarmons."
And she nodded her head till her cap-border flapped like a
bird's wings.
" Ugh ! dame, you'll be for wagging that tongue and mutch
of yours in my pulpit next," said he, gruffly.
But he delivered the parcel and the " preachment " both
faithfully, and, moreover, turned over his stores of old school
books for a Latin grammar, which he put into the hand of
86 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
Jabez, with a promise to instruct the boy in the language, if he
would like to learn.
Forthwith Jabez, not caring to seem ungracious, though
without any special liking for the task, had to encroach upon
his play hours for a new study, under-rated by the pupil, over-
rated by the teacher.
Could Joshua Brookes have put mathematical instruments
within his reach, or given him pencils and colours, the boy's
eyes would have sparkled, and study been a pleasure.
Dnmn aitdSiynired under Ac, iteration of J.JSria»n.
red fyJJtaper iffv/n a Jun-ty Jfr- Thi'nUan
f.amlt>/i~fiihfisfit,i far tfte 'Avpne&miiy Vernor,&<ied Jt Jharpc, foul&y. -Ip '•?•
flnant antlSiyntred under die ^nation ffJCJMOfM.
Penurr,Sft^ Jt J^arpt.fffuloy, Apr.
tv accompany <%e Beouluf
CHAPTER THE TENTH.
FIRST ANTAGONISM.
HE extensive oblong enclosure
. known as Ardwick Green,
situated at the south-eastern
extremity of the town, on the
left-hand side of the highway
to Stockport and London, was,
in 1809, part of a suburban
village, and from Piccadilly to
a blacksmith's forge a little
beyond Ardwick Bridge, fields
and hedges were interspersed
with the newly-erected houses
along Bank Top.
The Green, studded here
and there with tall poplars
and other trees, was fenced round with quite an army of stumpy
wooden posts some six feet apart, connected by squared iron
rods, a barrier against cattle cnly. A long, slightly serpentine
lake spread its shining waters from end to end within the soft
circlet of green ; and this grassy belt served as a promenade
for the fashionable inhabitants. And there must have been such
in that village of Ardwick early in the century, as now, for the
one bell in the tiny turret of St. Thomas's small, plain, red-
COLLEGE GATE AND GRAMMAR SCHOOL.
88 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
brick chapel rang a fashionable congregation into its neat pews,
to listen to the well-toned organ and the devoutly-toned voice
of the perpetual curate, the Reverend R. Tweddle, if we may
credit an historian of the time.
Red-brick church, red-brick houses, hard and cold outside,
solid and roomy and comfortable within, as Georgian architecture
ever was, overlooked green and pond, but, luckily, overlooked
them from a reasonable distance, and, moreover, did not elbow
each other too closely, but were individually set in masses of
foliage, which toned down the staring brickwork. Time and
smoke have done so more effectually since.
One of the best, and best-looking of these houses, near the
church, was the one in which the delicate Mrs. Aspinall had
presided for a few brief years. An iron palisade, enclosing a
few shrubs and evergreens, separated it from the wide roadway,
but behind the screen of brick ran a formal but extensive garden
and orchard, well-kept and well-stocked, with a fish-pond as
formal in the midst.
Fish-ponds encourage damp, and damp encourages frogs, efts,
and their kin. Here they abounded, and Master Laurence had a
sort of instinctive belief that they were created solely for his sport
and amusement. Mr. Aspinall, his father, immersed in business
during the day, and occupied with friends at home or abroad until
late hours at night, saw very little of his son, who was thus . con-
signed to servants during those hours not spent, or supposed to be
spent, at a preparatory school close at hand.
The boy was quick and intelligent, had his mother's amber curls
and azure eyes, her delicate skin and brilliant colour, but the
handsome face had more of the father therein, and was too
unformed to brook description here.
What he might have been with other training is not to be told,
but under the supposition that he inherited his mother's fragile
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 89
constitution, he had been woefully spoiled and pampered. Opposition
to his will was forbidden.
" Bear with him, Kitty, for my sake, and do not thwart him, or
you will break his fine spirit," had been Mrs. Aspinall's dying
charge to her old nurse ; and as every demonstration of temper
was ascribed by both parents to this same " fine spirit," what
wonder that he grew up masterful — and worse ?
His imperious disposition early ingratiated him into the favour
of Bob, his father's groom ; and this man, thinking no evil, ignoran-tly
sowed the seeds of cruelty in his young heart.
When the horses were singed, the boy was allowed to be a
spectator ; if a whelp had his ears cropped, or the end of its tail
bitten of, he was treated to a sight. If a brood of kittens or a
litter of puppies had to be drowned, Master Laurence was sure to
be in at the death. He was taken to surreptitious cock-fights and
rat hunts ; and though, when too late, Mr. Aspinall turned the man
away for inclining his son to "low pursuits," nothing was said or
done to counteract these lessons of cruelty ! No wonder, then, that
to him the sight of pain inflicted brought pleasure, or that inhumanity
went hand-in-hand with self-will.
One incident — a real one — will suffice to show what Laurence
Aspinall was, when Jabez Clegg shed tears over the snake he had
killed perforce.
Kitty was in the kitchen alone. The maids were in other parts
of the house. She was sitting close to a blazing fire on account of
her " rheumatics," and was in a dose. The evening was drawing in.
Master Laurence, coming direct from the garden and the fish-pond,
burst open the kitchen door with a whoop which made Kitty start
from her nap in a fright. Thereupon he set up a loud laugh as the
poor old woman held her hand to her side, and panted for breath.
In his hand was his pocket-handkerchief, tied like a bundle, in
which something living seemed to move and palpitate. They were
90 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
young frogs in various stages ot development " Now, Kitty," said
he, " I'll show you some rare sport " and taking one of the live
frogs out of the handkerchief, deliberately threw it into the midst
of the glowing fire,
" There, Kitty ; did you hear that ? " cried he in rapture, as the
poor animal uttered a cry of agony almost human, whilst he danced
on the hearth like a frantic savage round a sacrificial fire.
"Oh, Master Laurence! Master Laurence! don't do that — don't
be so cruel ! " appealed Kitty, piteously.
But he had drawn another forth, and crying, " Cruel ! It's fun,
Kitty — fun ! " tore it limb from limb, and threw it piecemeal into
the blaze.
" There's another ! and there's another ! " he shouted in glee, as
the rest followed in swift succession ; and Kitty, shrieking in pain
and horror, ran from the kitchen, bringing the cook and housemaid
downstairs with her cries.
For the first time in his life Mr. Aspinall administered a sound
castigation to his son, regretting that he had not done it earlier.
No more was said of his son's fine spirit; but, prompt to act,
he lost no time in seeking his admission into the Free Grammar
School ; and either to spare him the long daily walk, in tenderness
for his health (Ardwick was more than a mile away), or to place
him under strict supervision, boarded Laurence with one of the
masters.
Yet he gave that master no clue to his son's besetting sin ;
so he was left free to tantalise and torment every weaker creature
within his orbit, from the schoolmaster's cat, which he shod with
walnut-shells, to the youngest school-boy, whose books he tore and
hid, whose hair he pulled, whose cap and frills he soused in the mud.
It was a misfortune for himself and others that his pocket
money was more abundant than that of his fellows. Never had the
apple-woman or Mrs, Clowes a more lavish customer, or one who
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 91
distributed his purchases more freely. Boys incapable of discrimina-
ting between generosity and profusion dubbed him generous ; and
that, coupled with his handsome face and spirited bearing, which
they mistook for courage, brought him partizans.
Thus, long before his first year expired, and he was drafted
from the lower school to the room above, where he came under
the keen eye and heavy ferule of Joshua Brookes, he had a
body of lads at his beck (many older than himself), ready for
any mischief he might propose.
As well may be supposed, there was a natural antagonism
between the boys of the Grammar School and of Chetham's
Hospital. As at the confluence of two streams the waters chafe
and foam and fret each other, so it is scarcely possible for two
separate communities, similar, yet differing in their constitutions,
to have their gateways close together at right angles without
frequent collision between the rival bodies.
In the great gate of the College, only open on special
occasions, was a small door or wicket, for ordinary use ; and
some of the Grammar School boys, under pretence of shortening
their route homeward, finding it open, would make free to cross
the College Yard at a noisy canter, and let themselves out at
the far gate on Hunt's Bank. It was a clear trespass. They
were frequently admonished by one official or another ; their
passage was disputed by the Blue-coat boys ; but they persisted
in setting up a right of road, and opposition only gave piquancy
to their bravado.
That which began with individual assumption soon attained
the character of boldly-asserted party aggression, and, as the
Blue-coat boys were as determined to preserve their rights as the
others were to invade them, many and well-contested were the
consequent fights and struggles. And thus the two boys, Jabez
Clegg and Laurence Aspinall, brought together first at the church
go THE MANCHESTER MAN.
young frogs in various stages of development. " Now, Kitty," said
he, " I'll show you some rare sport " and taking one of the live
frogs out of the handkerchief, deliberately threw it into the midst
of the glowing fire.
"There, Kitty; did you hear that?" cried he in rapture, as the
poor animal uttered a cry of agony almost human, whilst he danced
on the hearth like a frantic savage round a sacrificial fire.
" Oh, Master Laurence ! Master Laurence ! don't do that — don't
be so cruel ! " appealed Kitty, piteously.
But he had drawn another forth, and crying, " Cruel ! It's fun,
Kitty — fun ! " tore it limb from limb, and threw it piecemeal into
the blaze.
" There's another ! and there's another ! " he shouted in glee, as
the rest followed in swift succession ; and Kitty, shrieking in pain
and horror, ran from the kitchen, bringing the cook and housemaid
downstairs with her cries.
For the first time in his life Mr. Aspinall administered a sound
castigation to his son, regretting that he had not done it earlier.
No more was said of his son's fine spirit; but, prompt to act,
he lost no time in seeking his admission into the Free Grammar
School ; and either to spare him the long daily walk, in tenderness
for his health (Ardwick was more than a mile away), or to place
him under strict supervision, boarded Laurence with one of the
masters.
Yet he gave that master no clue to his son's besetting sin ;
so he was left free to tantalise and torment every weaker creature
within his orbit, from the schoolmaster's cat, which he shod with
walnut-shells, to the youngest school-boy, whose books he tore and
hid, whose hair he pulled, whose cap and frills he soused in the mud.
It was a misfortune for himself and others that his pocket
money was more abundant than that of his fellows. Never had the
apple-woman or Mrs. Clowes a more lavish customer, or one who
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 91
distributed his purchases more freely. Boys incapable of discrimina-
ting between generosity and profusion dubbed him generous ; and
that, coupled with his handsome face and spirited bearing, which
they mistook for courage, brought him partizans.
Thus, long before his first year expired, and he was drafted
from the lower school to the room above, where he came under
the keen eye and heavy ferule of Joshua Brookes, he had a
body of lads at his beck (many older than himself), ready for
any mischief he might propose.
As well may be supposed, there was a natural antagonism
between the boys of the Grammar School and of Chetham's
Hospital. As at the confluence of two streams the waters chafe
and foam and fret each other, so it is scarcely possible for two
separate communities, similar, yet differing in their constitutions,
to have their gateways close together at right angles without
frequent collision between the rival bodies.
In the great gate of the College, only open on special
occasions, was a small door or wicket, for ordinary use ; and
some of the Grammar School boys, under pretence of shortening
their route homeward, finding it open, would make free to cross
the College Yard at a noisy canter, and let themselves out at
the far gate on Hunt's Bank. It was a clear trespass. They
were frequently admonished by one official or another ; their
passage was disputed by the Blue-coat boys ; but they persisted
in setting up a right of road, and opposition only gave piquancy
to their bravado.
That which began with individual assumption soon attained
the character of boldly-asserted party aggression, and, as the
Blue-coat boys were as determined to preserve their rights as the
others were to invade them, many and well-contested were the
consequent fights and struggles. And thus the two boys, Jabez
Clegg and Laurence Aspinall, brought together first at the church
94 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
the deep gateway until all were within, rushed, with vociferous
shouts, from under cover, and tore across the large yard in the
direction of the other gate, daring anyone to check them.
The College boys, just emerging from their school-room door
in the corner, were, for the moment, taken aback. Then, from
the mouth of Joshua Brookes' new Latin scholar, rang, clear
and distinct, Humphrey Chetham's motto — "Quod tuum tene!"
(What you have, hold!) and the Blue -coat boys, with one George
Pilkington for their leader, threw themselves, at that rallying cry,
like a great wave, headlong upon the intruders.
They met the shock as a rock meets a wave, and down went
many a gallant Blue-coat in the dust Up they were in an
instant, face to face with the besiegers ; and then, each singling
out an opponent, fought or wrestled for the mastery with all the
courage and animosity, if not the skill, of practised combatants.
Ben Travis and George Pilkington fought hand to hand, and Jabez
— not for the first time — measured his strength with Laurence.
Heavier, stronger, older by a few months, Jabez might have
overmatched his antagonist; but Laurence had profited by the
lessons of Bob, the discarded groom, and every blow was planted
skilfully, and told. Then Bob's teaching had been none of the
most chivalrous, and Laurence took unfair advantage. He "struck
below the belt," and then tripping Jabez up, like the coward that
he was, kicked him, as he lay prostrate, with the fury of a
savage.
Governor, schoolmaster, librarian, and porter had hastened to
the scene; but the assailants nearly doubled the number of the
College boys, and set lawful authority at defiance, hurling at
them epithets such as only schoolboys could devise.
Fortunately, their own Blue-coat boys were amenable to
discipline, and, called off, one by one retreated to the house,
often with pursuers close at their heels. Then the Grammar
THE FIGHT IN THE COLLEGE YARD.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 95
School tribe set up a scornful, triumphant shout, and, with Ben
Travis and Laurence Aspinall at their head, marched out of the
College Yard at the Hunt's Bank gate, exulting in their victory,
even though they left one of their bravest little antagonists
insensible behind them
CHAPTER THE ELEVENTH.
THE BLUE-COAT BOY.
HOSE were rough days, when
an occasional brawl was sup-
posed essential to test the
mettle of man or boy, so
that bruises and black eyes
(the result of an encounter
for the honour of the school)
were passed over with much
lighter penalties than would
be dealt out now-a-days if
young gentlemen in a public
academy descended to black-
guardism.
At that time, too, the
pupils of the Grammar School
assembled at seven in the
morning, and sure punishment awaited the laggard who failed
to present himself for prayers. There were few loiterers on that
drear October morning. Conscience, and perhaps a dread of
consequences, had kept the preceding day's war-party sufficiently
awake, even where sore limbs did not But, with the exception
of a few smart raps with the ferule, to warm cold fingers, and
A BLUE-COAT BOY.
THE REV. JEREMIAH SMITH, D.D.
From an EtlflwVlttf.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 97
a general admonition — little heeded — the early hours of the
morning passed quietly enough, more congratulatory than prophetic.
That day went by, and the next. Laurence Aspinall, whose
"science" had saved his head from more damage than a cut
lip, was especially boastful ; and, after his own underhand fashion,
strove to stir big Ben Travis to fresh demonstrations.
Then a cloud loomed in the horizon and darkened every
master's brow. Another whisper was in circulation that Governor
Terry had been seen to enter the head-master's ancient black
and white old house, and had been closeted with Dr. Smith for
more than an hour. Still the quiet was unbroken, and, to the
wise, the very calm was ominous.
The second of November brought a revelation. On the
slightly-raised floor of the high school, at the Millgate end of
the room, sat, not only Dr. Jeremiah Smith, but the trustees of
the school, the Reverend Joshua Brookes, and the assistant
masters ; and with them was Governor Terry, of the Chetham
Hospital — all grave and stern. Dr. Smith's mild face was
unusually severe, and Joshua's shaggy brows loured menacingly
over his angry eyes. The senior pupils, chiefly young men
preparing for college, were ranged on either side.
As the last of these awful personages filed in through the
two-leaved door, and took his place, the palpitating hearts of
the delinquents beat audibly, and courage oozed from many a
clammy palm.
The boys were summoned from the lower school, and one by
one, name by name, Ben Travis and his followers were called to
take their stand before this formidable tribunal, Laurence Aspinall
shrinking edgeways, as if to screen himself from observation.
There was little need for Dr. Smith to strike his ferule on
the table to command attention, silence was so profound. Even
nervous feet forgot to shuffle, Dr. Smith's commanding eye
98
THE MANCHESTER MAN.
swept the trembling rank from end to end, as he stood with
impressive dignity to address them.
After a brief exordium, in which he recounted the several
charges brought against the boys by Governor Terry, he proceeded
to say that the good character of the Manchester Grammar
School was imperilled by lawless conduct such as the boys
before him had exhibited the previous Tuesday, in forcibly
entering, and then rioting within, the College Yard.
One of the youths — most likely Ben Travis — blurted forth that
they had a right to go through the College Yard, and that the
College boys stopped them.
"You mistake," said the doctor, sternly; "there is no public right
of road through the College Yard. Permission is courteously
granted, but there is no right. There is a right for the public to
pass to and from the College and its library on business, within the
hours the gates are open ; but even that must be in order and
decency. Your conduct was that of barbarians, not gentlemen."
At this point of the proceedings Jabez Clegg came into the
school-room, leaning on the arm of George Pilkington. The face
of the latter was bruised and swollen, but Jabez looked deplorable.
His long blue overcoat was rent in more than one place ; he walked
with a limp ; a white bandage round his head made his white face
whiter still, showing more distinctly the livid and discoloured
patches under the half-closed eyes. In obedience to a nod from
Governor Terry, George Pilkington led his Blue-coat brother to a
seat beside him ; but Dr. Smith, drawing the boy gently to his
side, removed the bandage, and showed Jabez to the school with
one deeply-cut eyebrow plaistered up.
" What boy among you has been guilty of this outrage ? " he
asked, sternly.
There was no answer. Some of the little ones took out their
handkerchiefs and began to whimper, fearing condign punishment
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 99
The doctor repeated his question. The boys looked from one to
another, but there was still no reply. Laurence Aspinall edged
farther behind his coadjutor, but he had not the manliness either
to confess or regret. His only fear was detection, or betrayal
by a traitor. There was little fear of that ; grammar-school boys
have a detestation of a "sneak."
"Boys, we cannot permit the perpetrator of such an outrage
to remain in your midst ; he must be expelled ! "
Still no one spoke.
"Do you think you could recognise your assailant — the boy
who kicked you after you were down ? " (a murmur ran round
the school as the classes were ordered to defile -slowly past Dr.
Smith's desk).
Ben Travis walked with head erect — he would have scorned
such a deed — and Laurence tried to do the same, but his cruel
blue eyes could not meet those of his possible accuser,
There was a struggle going on in the heart of Jabez. It was
in his power to revenge himself for many taunts and sarcasms,
and much previous abuse. He called to mind — for thought is
swift — that Shrove Tuesday when Laurence and his friends
caught him as he descended Mrs. Clowes' steps with a penny-
worth of humbugs in his hand, and snatching his cap from his
head, kicked it about Half Street and the churchyard as a
football, And he seemed to feel again the twitch at his dark
hair and the dreadful pain in his spine and loins, as they bent
him backwards over the coping of the low wall, in order to
wrest his sweets from him, and held him there perforce till
stout Mrs. Clowes, armed with a rolling-pin, came to his rescue,
laying about her vigorously, and kept him in her back parlour
until he revived.
" Forgive and forget " are words for the angels, and Jabez
was not an angel, but a boy with quick-beating pulses, and a
ioo THE MANCHESTER MAN.
vivid memory. There was a fight going on in his breast fiercer
than either that in Half Street or that in the College Yard.
His sore, stiff limbs, and smarting brow, urged him like voices
to " pay him off for all," and revenge began to have a sweet
savour in his mouth.
As he hesitated, watching the slow approach of his foe among
his nobler mates, a harsh voice behind him called out, " Jabez,
why do you not answer Dr. Smith ? "
The emphasis Joshua Brookes had laid upon the " Jabez "
recalled the boy's better self. The oft-repeated text flashed across
his mind, "Jabez was an honourable man," and it shaped his
reply.
"Well, sir, it was almost dark, and — and" — he was going to
add too dark to distinguish features, but he recollected that that
would be a falsehood, and lying was no more honourable than
malice.
" And you could not recognise him, you mean ? " suggested
Dr. Smith.
His lip- quivered.
"No, sir, I do not mean that. It was very dark, but I
think I should know him again. But, oh ! if you please, sir,
I should not like to turn him out of school. You see, we were
all fighting together, and we were all in a passion, and — and — it
would be very mean of me to turn him out of school because he
hurt me in a fight" (Jabez did not say a fair fight).
" Ah ! " said Dr. Smith, and, turning to Mr. Terry, asked,
"Are all the Chetham lads reared on the same principle?"
Then there was a low-voiced discussion amongst trustees and
masters. Finally, Dr. Smith turned round. His clear eye had
detected the culprit as he winced beneath the gaze of Jabez.
But the injured boy had forgiven, and it was not for him to
condemn.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. lot
Again he spoke — proclaimed how Jabez had magnanimously
declined to single out his cowardly antagonist ; and that the
boy, whoever he might be, had to thank his most honourable
victim that he was not ignominiously expelled. Then quietly,
but emphatically, he pronounced the decision of the trustees that
instant expulsion should follow any or every repetition of the
offence which had called them together — not only the expulsion
of the ringleaders, but of all concerned ; and that even a fair fight
between a Grammar School and a Blue-coat boy should be visited
with suspension pending enquiry, the offender to be expelled,
whether from School or College.
" Good lad, Jabez — good lad ! " said Joshua Brookes to him, as
George Pilkington helped his limping steps from the room.
On the broad flat step outside the door they encountered big
Ben Travis, who caught the hand of Jabez in a rough grip, with
the exclamation, " Give us your fist, my young buck ! You've
more pluck in your finger than that carroty Aspinall has in his
whole carcase, the mean cur! An' look you, my lad, if any of
them set on you again, I'll stand by and see fair play ; or I'll
fight for you if it's a big chap, or my name's not Ben Travis."
"Who talks of fighting? Haven't you had enough for one
while, you great raw-boned brute? You'd better keep your ready
fists in your pockets, Travis, if you don't want to be kicked
out of school!" After which gruff reminder Joshua left them,
and Jabez went back to the College with one more friend in the
world ; but that friend was not Laurence Aspinall.
He, smarting under a sense of obligation, shrunk away to bite
his nails and vent his spleen in private, conscious that he "was
shunned by his classmates, and despised by honest Ben Travis.
As months and seasons sped onwards, they plucked the hairs
from Simon Clegg's crown, and left a bald patch to tell of care
or coming age ; they stole the roundness from Bess's figure, the
102 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
hope from her heart and eyes. There was less vigour in the beat
of her batting-wand, less elasticity in her step. The periodical
holidays and cheering visits of Jabez were the only pleasant
breaks in the monotonous life of the Cleggs. Beyond the
knowledge obtained at the billeting office in King Street that
Tom Hulme had entered the army and gone abroad with his
regiment, no tidings of the self-exiled soldier had come to them.
In the great vortex of war his name had been swallowed up and
lost. But she never said "Ay" to Matthew Cooper, though he
waited and waited, smoking his Sunday pipe by the fireside even till
his own Molly was old enough to have a sweetheart, and to want
to leave her father's crowded hearth for a quieter one of her own.
Those same months and years added alike to the stature and
attainments of Jabez Clegg and Laurence Aspinall, though in very
unequal ratio. The former, though he had long since astonished
Simon with his fluent rendering of the big Bible, was but a
plodding scholar of average ability, the range of whose studies was"
limited, notwithstanding Parson Joshua's voluntary Latin lessons.
The latter had an aptitude for learning, which made his masters
press him forward; and Joshua Brookes forgave the tricks he
played, his translations were so clear and so correct. Yet, when
he wrote stinging couplets or "St. Crispin" on the Parson's door,
or put cobblers'-wax on the pedagogue's chair, the covert reference
to his parentage stung the irascible man more than the damage to
kerseymere, and in his wrath he birched his pupil into penitence.
His penitence took a peculiar form. A discovery was made
that a general dance in the school-room would shake the pewter
platters and crockery down from dresser and corner cupboard in
Joshua's house adjoining. Whenever the dominie had growled over
bad lessons with least cause, Laurence was sure to propose a grand
hornpipe after school hours. Back would rush Joshua fast as his
short legs would carry him, spluttering with passion ; but the
THE MANCHESTER MAN.
103
nimbler lads disappeared when they heard the crash, and, as a
rule, Joshua's temper cooled before morning.
Laurence Aspinall's chief source of amusement from his first
entrance into the Grammar School had been the crippled father
of Joshua Brookes. As the old fellow staggered home drunk, the
street boys would hoot at him, pull him about, pelt him with mud,
and mock at him, till his impotent fury found vent in a storm of
vile and opprobrious language. Laurence was sure to enjoy a
scene of this kind, but he was generally sly enough to act as
prompter, not as principal.
The old man was a great angler; and that he might enjoy
unmolested his favourite pastime, his son had obtained from Colonel
Hansom permission for him to fish in Strangeways Park ponds.
Thither he had an empty hogshead conveyed, and the crippled old
cobbler, with a flask of rum for company, sat within it, often the
night through, to catch fish. The Irk had not then lost its repute
for fine eels, and old Brookes — who, by the way, wore his hair in
a pigtail — was likewise wont to plant himself, with rod and line, on
what was the Waterworth Field, on the Irwell side of Irk Bridge,
to catch eels.
Returning one afternoon (Joshua was busied with clerical duties),
Laurence Aspinall and his fellows met the old man staggering along
with his rod over his shoulder and a basket of eels in one hand.
He had called at the "Packhorse" for a dram, and went on, as
was his wont, talking noisily to himself. He had steered
round the corner in safety; but hearing one lively voice call
out, "Here's Old Fishtail;" and another, "Here's St. Crispin's
Cripple ;" and a third, " Make way for Diogenes," as he was
passing the high-master's ancient house he gave a lurch, meaning
to reprove them solemnly — the top of his rod caught in the
prominent pillar of the doorway, and was torn from his insecure
grasp. Striving to recover it, he pitched forward, and in falling
1
104 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
dropped his basket in the mud, and set the writhing, long-lived
fish at liberty to swim in the gutter swollen with recent rain.
The lounging lads at once set up a shout ; but Laurence,
with a timely recollection that the front of Dr. Smith's was
scarcely the most convenient place for his purpose, winked at
his companions, and, with an aspect of mock commiseration,
politely assisted the old man to rise, begged the others to
capture the eels and carry the basket for him, and, under
pretence of putting the angler's rod in order, contrived to fasten
the hook to the end of his old-fashioned pigtail.
Then he helped his unsteady steps until they were fairly out
of Dr. Smith's sight and hearing ; but they did not suffer him
to reach his son's house before they showed their true colours.
Loosing his hold, Laurence snatched at the rod, and, darting
with it towards the College gate, cried out in high glee, "I've
been fishing; look at the fine snig (eel) I've caught!" And,
as he capered about, he dragged the poor old cripple hither
and thither backwards by his pigtail, to which hook and line
were attached.
Old Brookes screamed in impotent rage and pain ; the boys
laughed and shouted the louder. The one with his basket set it
on his head, and paraded about, crying, " Who'll buy my snigs ?
Fine fresh snigs!" with the nasal drawl of a genuine fish-seller.
Once or twice the old man fell down, uttering awful threats
and imprecations ; but Laurence only laughed the more, and
jerked him up again with a smart twitch of the line, which
was a strong one, and the other three or four young ruffians
put up their shoulders, and limped about singing —
" The fishes drink water,
Old Crispin drinks gin ;
But the fishes come out
When the hook he throws in.
Tol de rol."
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 105
It may be wondered that none of the neighbours interfered.
But it must be remembered that they were accustomed, not only
to the uproar of a boyish multitude, but to the drunken ravings
of old Brookes, who was an intolerable nuisance. Public traffic
then was not as now, and policemen were unborn.
The satisfaction of Laurence was at its height, He kept
hold of the line ; one of his comrades, named Barret, lashed the
persecuted man with an eel for a whip, and their mirth was
boisterous, when Jabez (now thirteen) came quietly through the
wicket on an errand from the governor.
He took in the scene at a glance. He could not stand by
and see injustice done. His dark eyes flashed with indignation
as he dashed forward, pulling the line from the hand of
Laurence, and tried to disentangle the cruel hook from the
unfortunate pigtail.
"Who asked you to interfere? you petticoated jackanapes!"
bawled Laurence, darting forward, his face as red as his hair, at
the same time" dealing Jabez a heavy blow on the chest.
"My duty!" answered Jabez, stoutly, taking no notice of the
sneer at himself. " How could you gentlemen torment a poor
old cripple like that?"
" He's a drunken old sot !" cried Barret.
"It's downright cruel!" continued Jabez, as he stood between
the jabbering drunkard and his tormentors.
" We're no more cruel than he is ! He's been catching
fishes all day. We've only given him a taste of his
own hook ; and we'll have none of your meddling !" and
out went the pugilistic arm of Laurence straight from the
shoulder to deal another blow, when it was caught from
behind by the bony hand of Ben Travis, bigger and stronger
by two years' growth, whilst the other hand gripped his jacket
collar.
io6 THE MANCHESTER MAN
"So you're at your cowardly tricks again, Aspinall ?" exclaimed
he, holding the other as if in a vice. But if I see you lay
another ringer on that lad, I'll report you to Dr. Smith."
"Oh! you'd turn sneak, would you?" sneered Laurence,
striving to twist himself loose, and disordering his broad white
frill in the endeavour.
" I'd think I did the Grammar School a service to turn
either you or Barret out of it, I would ! Think of you setting
on that noble chap who wouldn't turn tell-tale, though he'll
carry the mark of your boot to his grave with him !"
Pointing with outstretched hand to Jabez, who, by this time,
was handing old Brookes over to the grumbling care of Tabitha,
and whose right eyebrow yet showed a red seam, Travis relaxed
his hold of Laurence, and he shook himself free.
Some warm altercation followed. There was a scowl of sullen
defiance on Aspinall's face, and an evil glance towards Jabez,
which Travis observing, with a significant nod he linked his arm
in that of the Blue-coat boy, and never left him till he reached
his destination, Mr. Hyde's ancient and picturesque tea-shop, in
Market-street Lane. Yet it meant a detour by Cateaton Street,
to leave an important note from Dr. Stone at the shop of Ford,
the dealer in rare books, and a stretch up Smithy Door to the
Market Place, where the office of Harrop the printer confronted
them, and the trusty messenger had to wait.
SMITHY-DOOR AND CATEATON STREET
CHAPTER THE TWELFTH.
THE. GENTLEMAN.
OHAT afternoon a gentleman who had witnessed part
of the foregoing scene from the breeches-maker's
window, whither he had gone for a pair of buckskin
riding-gloves — struck by the dauntless manner of
Jabez, related what he had seen to his wife, Mrs. Ashton, the
stately sister of Mrs. Chadwick; whilst Augusta, their eight-year-old
daughter, sat on a footstool by her side, hemming a bandana
handkerchief for her father, an inveterate snuff-taker — occasionally
putting in a word, as only spoiled daughters did in those days.
" Mamma, I daresay that's the little boy Cousin Ellen told
me about,"
" Pooh, pooh ! Augusta," said Mr. Ashton, tapping the lid of
his snuff-box, and then, from force of habit, handing it to his
wife, the wave of whose hand put it back — "pooh, pooh ! child.
Do you think there's only one Blue-coat boy in the town ?
Besides, he was not such a little boy. I know I thought
something of myself when I was his size," said Mr. Ashton,
dusting the snuff from his ruffles as he spoke.
" But he would be a little boy when Ellen knew him first.
She says it was before I was born."
" He could not be a Blue-coat boy then, my dear," observed
Mrs. Ashton; "he was too young,"
io8 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
" But Ellen showed him to me when we went to the College
at Easter; and she says he has killed a snake — a real live
snake, papa. And Aunt Chadwick bought Ellen such a pretty
pincushion he had worked, and, oh ! such a handsome bead
purse ! "
Mr. Ashton smiled at his daughter's enthusiasm.
" Ah ! I think I have heard of him before ; he is a sort of
protigt of Parson Brookes."
"He is a very honest boy," appended Mrs. Ashton, as she
examined Augusta's hemming by the light of the nearest wax
candle. "Ellen lost Prince William's shilling that same day.
You know she always wears it dangling from her neck, absurd
as it is for a great girl of fifteen."
" Well ? " said Augusta, looking up inquiringly.
" Well, my dear, the very next afternoon, the boy Jabez Clegg
knocked at the door in Oldham Street, bearing the shilling,
which he said he had found in sweeping the library, and
remembered seeing it on Miss Chadwick's neck. Many a boy,
at Easter, would have spent it in cakes or tony."
" I suppose, to use one of your favourite maxims, he must
have thought 'honesty the best policy,'" remarked her husband.
" Yes ; and ' duty its own reward ' — for he refused the
half-crown that Sarah offered him."
Mr. Ashton took another pinch of snuff, with grave consideration,
then put the box, after some deliberation, into his deep waistcoat
pocket, and again flapped the snuff off ruffles and neck-cloth ends.
" Wouldn't take the money, you say ? "
" Would not take it," his wife repeated, folding up the finished
handkerchief.
After a pause, Mr. Ashton said, with his head on one side, —
" I think I shall look after that younker. What is he
like?"
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 109
" Oh ! that I cannot tell ; I was not with them. But I think
Sarah said he had got an ugly scar on one of his eyebrows."
Mr. Ashton brought down his hand with a clap on that of
Augusta, resting on his knee.
"Then, my little Lancashire witch, the poor cripple's champion
and Ellen's hero of romance will be one and the same. I must
certainly look after that lad."
But even as Mr. Ashton came to that conclusion Jabez was
in mortal peril, and his romance and theirs threatened to end
at the beginning.
Laurence Aspinall was not of a temper to brook interference
with his sport, or to be treated as the inferior of a " common
charity boy." Since the hour that Jabez had declined to single
him out for punishment, he had resented the sense of his own
inferiority, which conscience pressed upon him. In refusing to
tender either thanks or apology at Ben Travis's instigation, he
lost caste in the school, and the knowledge rankled in his breast.
Against the debt of gratitude he owed to Jabez he laid up a
fund of envy and spite, out of which he meant to pay him in
full the first opportunity. That opportunity had arrived. There
were some birds of his own feather, who stuck by him, of whom
Ned Barret was one.
Old Brookes had been too drunk to swear positively who
had molested him, or to obtain credence if he did ; but the
inopportune arrival of Jabez and Ben Travis had made detection
certain, and nothing was Joshua Brookes so sure to punish with
severity as an attack on the father who made his life a burden
to him.
On the principle that they might "as well be hanged for a
sheep as a lamb," the noble five resolved to waylay the Blue-
coat boy on his return, and either extract from him a promise
of secrecy, or give him a sound drubbing for his pains.
no THE MANCHESTER MAN.
They were too like-minded for long conference. To put the
old breeches-maker off the scent, all dispersed but one, Kit
Townley, who pulled a top from his pocket and whipped away
at it with as much energy as ever did his Anglo-Saxon ancestors.
Perhaps he thought he had a meddlesome College boy under
his lash.
After a time, the others sauntered back one by one, from
contrary directions ; there was more top-whipping, and some ot
the whips and tops were new, Then when they saw they were
unobserved, they adjourned to the school-yard, and laying a cap
on the broad step, two or three of them sat down to a game
at cob-nut, so that if any unlikely straggler did come that way
there might be an apparent reason for their presence.
It was late in the year. The breeches-maker was seated at
early tea, and so were most of his neighbours. The twilight
was coming gently down, and the boys, tired of waiting, were
about to go home to their own — Aspinall expecting a reprimand
for being late. Jabez, who had been delayed at the office of
Harrop the printer in the Market Place, came briskly up with
a parcel in his hand just as they reached the gate. One of
them snatched the parcel from him and ran with it into the
school-yard. As a natural consequence Jabez followed to regain
his property.
That was just what they wanted. The light iron gate was
pushed-to, and there they were, shut in and screened from
observation, between the deserted Grammar School on the one
hand, and the College School-room on the other, which with
the dormitory above, was equally sure to be empty at that hour.
They were free to torment him as they pleased. The parcel
was tossed from hand to hand with subdued glee, and their
whip-lashes and strung cob-nuts cut at his arms and shoulders,
as Jabez sprang forward and darted hither and thither, perplexed
THE MANCHESTER MAN. m
and baffled in his efforts to recover it. Once or twice it went
down on the damp ground, and gained in grime what it lost
in shape.
" Oh ! dear, dear ! do give me my parcel ! " cried Jabez, in
perplexity. " Our governor will think I've been loitering."
"And so you have, you canting yellow-skirt. You stopped
to put your long finger in our pie!" was the swift retort of
Laurence, as he interposed his body between Jabez and the boy
who held his lost charge.
" Eh ! and you went off with Travis, wasting your time ! "
added Kit Townley.
" I never waste my time on an errand."
" Oh ! Miss Nancy never wastes time on an errand," mimicked
Ned Barret ; and still they kept the boy on the run, until he
leaned, out of breath, against the wall which served as a parapet
above the river.
Then, the disputed prize being kept by Kit Townley at a
respectable distance, Laurence advanced to parley with him, offer
ing to restore his parcel and let him go if he would take
a solemn oath, which he dictated, to maintain silence on all
which had transpired that afternoon.
" I cannot ; I must account for my time," firmly answered
Jabez, "and I must account for that dirty parcel."
"Tell them you tumbled down and hurt yourself," suggested
Aspinall.
" I cannot ; it would be untrue ! "
At this the lads set up a loud guffaw, as if truth were
somewhat out of fashion ; but the one who stood nearest
the gate with the parcel looked restless, as if beginning to
be tired of the whole business. Just then Laurence went
blustering up to the College boy, and, thrusting his face forward,
said —
H2 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
" If you don't go down on your marrow-bones this instant,
and swear to tell no tales, \ve'll pitch you over the wall."
" You dare not ! " boldly retorted Jabez, with a set face.
"Oh! daren't we? We'll see that! Lend a hand."
" No, you dare not ! " repeated he, planting himself firmly
against the wall.
There was a sudden rush ; they closed round him, more in
bravado than with any intent to do him bodily harm ; sliding
him up against the smooth-worn brickwork, they hoisted him
above their shoulders, meaning to hold him there. But in their
eagerness they had thrust him too far, and crowding on each
other, one, being jostled, let go, and Jabez toppled over the
precipice !
There was a scream ; a splash in the water. Tabitha, taking
clothes from a line in the back-yard, cried out, " What is
that ? " Parson Brookes' startled pigeons flew from their dove-
cote, and wheeling round in widening circles, cooed affrightedly.
The white-faced boys stood aghast. Unless his fall had been
seen from the opposite croft, their victim would be drowned
before any aid they could bring was available ; a wide circuit
must be taken before a bridge could be reached. Buildings
blocked up that side of the river. They looked at each other
and spoke in whispers ; then, with an animal instinct of self-
preservation, sneaked off in silence and terror, leaving him to
his fate.
Not all. Kit Townley, who held the parcel, had drawn near
to remonstrate. With a shriek he threw down the paper, and,
hardly conscious what he did, tore wildly through the gates,
and across the College Yard, to startle the first he met with
the alarm that a College boy was drowning in the Irk !
CHAPTER THE THIRTEENTH.
SIMON'S PUPIL.
T was fortunate for Jabez
that the late rains had
raised the level of the
Irk ; otherwise, that being
the shallowest part of the
stream, there would not
have been sufficient depth
of water to buoy him up
when he was pitched over
the wall ; and had his
head come in contact with
rock or stone, falling from
such an elevation, his
history would have closed
with the last chapter. It
was doubly fortunate that sensible Simon had taught him that
without which no boy's education — nor, indeed, any girl's either —
is complete, and that Jabez, from very love of the water, had
kept himself in practice whenever a holiday had given him
opportunity.
He had gone over the wall backwards, turning a somersault
as he fell, and so clearing the rock, but not altogether unprepared ;
and to him head first, heels first, forward or backward, were all
JABEZ ON CELLAR STEPS.
H4 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
as one. Like a cork he rose, and struck out across the river.
The slimy stone embankment seemed to slip from his touch ;
there was no hold for his hand ; it was too steep and smooth
to climb ; and he felt that the river, swift in its fulness, was
bent on bearing him to the Irvvell, so dangerously near.
He raised his voice for " Help ! " Tabitha, listening, answered
with a scream and a shout, and, bolting into the house, disturbed
the Parson and his besotted father "at their tea" by the outcry
she made, as she rushed on into the street with the alarm of
" A lad dreawndin ! " just as the conscious culprits slunk past to
their own quarters.
Doctor Stone, the first recipient of terrified Kit Townley's
incoherent intelligence, was simultaneously racing at full speed,
with a troop of College boys at his heels, down towards Hunt's
Bank and the outlet of the Irk, with the swift consciousness
that the only hope of saving life was in the chance of reaching
the confluence of the rivers first. He thought the dusk never
came down so rapidly. A lamplighter, with ladder and flaring
long-spouted oil-can light, was going his rounds.
"Turn back, my man, with ladder and light," he called out,
without stopping ; and the man, seeing something unusual was
astir or amiss, followed at a canter without question.
At Irk Bridge the librarian took the light from the man, and
swung it to cast its reflection over the Irwell ; but nothing was
to be seen or heard but the full river, and the wash of its
waters. To cross the bridge, in fear that the boy was beyond
help, was but the work of a moment.
Slower, along the wooden railing of the Irk embankment, he
held the lamp low. There was neither eddy or bubble on the
water to tell where a drowning mortal had gone down.
" Jabez ! Jabez Clegg ! " he cried, but there was no response.
Again and again he [raised his voice — " Jabez ! Jabez ! " The
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 115
only answer was from an advancing crowd, with Parson Brookes
and Tabitha in their midst, who had rushed to the rescue with
ropes and poles down the bridge at Mill Brow.
" I fear it's no use, Parson Brookes," said the librarian sadly ;
" the river's high, and poor Jabez may have been drifting past
Stannyhurst before we were out of the College Yard."
" Jabez ? " exclaimed Joshua aghast, " you cannot mean that
Jabez Clegg is the boy drowned ! " and he staggered as if some
one had struck him.
" Indeed, Parson, if this boy speaks truth, I fear it is so,"
and he turned to question his informant ; but Kit Townley,
seeing his impulsive schoolmaster approach, had edged away,
and was gone.
Gruff Joshua drew the back of his hand across his shaggy
brows.
" And so the greedy river has swallowed the bright lad at
last ! He was a boy of promise, Dr. Stone, and his untimely
fate is a — a — trouble to me ; " and the rough Parson's harsh
voice shook with emotion. " I baptised him, Doctor, and I hoped
to see him grow up a credit to us all."
They, and the dispersing crowd, seeing the uselessness of
longer stay, were moving on towards Mill Brow as he spoke.
" Who's this ? " he cried, as they neared the bridge, and a
working woman, her hair flying loose from the kerchief on her
head, rushed across it with an impetus gained in the steep
descent.
It was Bess, with Simon at her heels, close as his stiff
rheumatic limbs would carry him. She wrung her hands bitterly.
"Is it true?" she cried in anguish, "is it true? Oh, Parson
Bracks, is it true that ar Jabez is dreawnded ? ''
There was the same choking in his voice as he answerecj —
"I'm afraid so, Bess."
n6 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
Simon's voice now broke in.
" But are yo' sartain, Parson ? Ar Jabez couldn swim loike
a duck. An' how cam' he i' th' wayther, aw shouldn loike to
know?"
" Swim, did you say ? " interrogated Dr. Stone. " Then there
may be hope yet. If the eddies would not let him land at
Waterworth Field, he might swim ashore at Stannyhurst."
"Pray God it be so!" ejaculated Bess, from a full heart.
Dr. Stone, hurrying forward, continued —
" Follow me to the College for lanterns to renew the search/'
And no second invitation was needed.
And where was Jabez ? He heard Tabitha's cry, but it came
from the wrong side, and he had sense to know was useless to
save, unless he could withstand the current till help came round.
But the strong stream was bearing him on against his will.
Suddenly he bethought him of the dairy steps, and, with a
stroke of his left arm, swerved towards the hoary building
looming through the twilight. One moment later, and the steps
had been passed, not to be recovered, for the current was
stronger than he ; but that providentially abrupt turn, and a few
skilful strokes brought him upon them. Literally upon them, for
the water was within a few steps of the door. With difficulty
he obtained a footing, they were so slippery. Once above the
water, he hammered at the door and called, but his voice was
weakened by exertion and the shivering consequent on cold,
wet, clinging garments. Again and again he knocked and called,
but everyone was out in the quadrangle, or away in search of
him, and no one heard.
He had been excited and over-heated in his prolonged
struggle with his persecutors, and, short as was the distance he
swam, his efforts to stem the overmastering current had exhausted
him, Cold and exposure did the rest. He sank on the topmost
I ' — '-
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 117
step with his head against the door, in the angle it formed
with the wall, his feet in the water ; and there he lay, too
faint to respond when Dr. Stone's voice fell on his ear as on
that of a dreamer. His dark robe, his position, the jutting
wall — all contributed to hide him from the poor rays of the
one oil-lamp which was flashed along the stream to find
him.
And there he might have lain and died had not Nancy, for
lack of a boy at hand to wait on her, gone down to the cellar
for milk for the boys' supper. As she filled the wooden piggin
she had taken with her, she fancied she heard a moan, and,
listening breathless, heard another, and another, from the outside
of a door which was (to her thought) inaccessible to mortal.
Down went the piggin and the milk (she was not a strong-
minded woman, and it was a superstitious age), up the steps
she stumbled in her fright, crying —
" Oh, theer's a boggart in th' dairy ! — theer's a boggart ! "
Dr. Stone and his companions came in at the porch as she
fled upwards towards the kitchen. The firelight gleaming on her
frightened face caught his attention. Half- fainting she repeated
her exclamation, adding —
" It moaned like summut wick."
"Moaned, did you say? Goodness! If it should be "
Not stopping to finish his sentence, he snatched a light from
the table, and was unbolting the cellar-door before the governor
or anyone else could comprehend his movements. They
understood well enough when he came back into their midst,
burdened with the limp, dripping form of Jabez, white and
insensible, and depositing him on a settle near the kitchen fire,
cried out for restoratives.
That was a terrible next morning, when the young miscreants,
as much afraid to play truant as to face possibilities at school,
n8 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
sneaked to their places and set to their studies with industry
out of the common. Laurence Aspinall, boarding with a master,
had no choice in the matter.
How Jabez got into the water was not clear ; he was too ill
to be questioned over-night, and was in a fever and delirious by
noon the next day. But he had never been known to loiter or
go astray when sent on an errand. Kit Townley's impulsive cry
of alarm had suggested foul play, and neither Joshua Brookes nor
Governor Terry had let the night pass without an effort to dive
into the truth.
Dr. Stone had conjectured Kit Townley to be a Grammar
School boy, although personally unknown to him ; and that
conjecture recalled to Joshua his father's ravings of ill-usage, which
he had at the time regarded as drunken maudling. It was
ascertained that the boy had been at Ford's and at Harrop's.
Inquiry, and the search for the missing parcel, resulted in the
discovery of a trampled playground, broken whiplashes, a string
of cobnuts, and, neatly marked in red cotton with his initials,
one of Laurence Aspinall's cambric ruffles, torn and muddy as
the parcel.
There was a conference with Dr. Jeremiah Smith before the
night was out. A messenger was sent to Mr. Aspinall in Cannon
Street the next morning, as well as to the trustees of the
school.
The following day saw such another conclave as before in the
Grammar School. Dr. Stone, who was present, picked out the
boy who had given the alarm; and Kit Townley, trembling for
himself, told all he knew. Ben Travis, at the outset, in his
indignation, proffered his evidence, which went to prove malice
prepense.
The boys, asked what they had to say for themselves, simply
answered they had done it for "sport" — that they did not mean
THE MANCHESTER MAN.
iig
to throw him over, but only to frighten him to "hold his tongue,"
and excused their running home on the plea that they were
"afraid," Laurence Aspinall boldly said that he knew the boy
could swim and did not think a ducking would do him much
harm, and offered to jump off the wall and swim down the river
himself. Liar as well as boaster, he received a summary check
from Dr. Smith, apart from the reprimand administered to him
as the proven ring-leader.
In these days such a case of outrage would have been brought
before a magistrate, and the offenders' names sent flying through
newspaper paragraphs. Then, whether to spare the parental feelings
of such influential men as Mr. Aspinall, or to save from tarnish
the fair fame of the school, or to avert the further debasement
of the boys from prison contact, and give them a chance to
amend, the school tribunal was allowed to be all-sufficient.
Ignominious expulsion was dealt out not only to Laurence
Aspinall and to Ned Barret, but to each of the conspirators —
Kit Townley, honourably acquitted by them of participation in the
final attack, alone escaping with a caution, a severe reprimand, and
as severe a flogging ; which special immunity he had purchased
by running white-faced to give the alarm. It is possible he
scarcely estimated the value of that immunity at the time.
But the loud hurrahs which hailed this sentence testified how
the Grammar School boys valued their honour as a school, and
how proud they were to be purged of such offenders.
Mr. Aspinall, too much agitated to witness his son's public
disgrace, waited the result of the inquiry in the head-master's
house ; and if ever Laurence Aspinall felt ashamed of his own
misconduct, it was when his father refused to take his unworthy
hand as they left the door-step, and he heard Dr. Smith's closing
words of reproof mingled with compassion for the father, in
whose eyes were signs of tears a bad son had drawn.
120 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
Long before Jabez was able to resume his own place in the
school, Laurence Aspinall had been removed to an expensive
boarding-school at Everton, near Liverpool ; and this time the
merchant laid stress on his tendency " for vicious and low
pursuits," and begged that no efforts or expense might be spared
to make him a gentleman in all respects. Still he tampered
with the truth, lest the school-master (he would be called a
Principal in these factitious days) should refuse to admit a pupil
with such antecedents, and decline the task of eradicating cruelty
and ingratitude.
Here Laurence certainly mixed only with boys of his own
class, from whom money could buy neither flattery nor favour,
and where only his own merits could procure either. And here
we must leave him, to pursue the fortunes of the boy whose
life he had wantonly imperilled.
Had anything been wanting to bespeak Joshua Brookes's
good-will, Jabez supplied it when he interfered to protect the
elder Brookes from the derisive indignities of others. Not only
to Mrs. Clowes did he rehearse in his own peculiar manner the
story, as told by Ben Travis, with its supplementary drama which
had so nearly proved a tragedy, but at such tables as he
frequented — Mr. Chadwick's among the rest.
Mr. Ashton, who was present, spoke of being himself a witness
to the former scene, and, whilst presenting his inevitable snuff-
box to the eccentric chaplain, repeated his previous observation —
•' I must look after that boy — I must indeed ! "
If the parson had been commonly observant he would have
noticed a pair of black eyes fixed in eager attention on his, as
he, who rarely uttered a commendation, held forth in praise of
his father's champion, the Blue-coat boy; the said black eyes
being matched by the black hair, and somewhat dark skin, of
the plain but intelligent daughter of his host.
THE MANCHESTER MAN.
121
But girls of fifteen were then counted in the category of
children, and were taught only to "speak when spoken to," so
Ellen Chadwick passed no other commentary on the actions of
Jabez than was expressed by her glowing cheeks and eloquent
eyes.
•
CHAPTER THE FOURTEENTH.
JABEZ GOES INTO THE WORLD.
SHARP illness followed the
precipitation of Jabez into the
Irk ; but he was young, had
a strong constitution, and, to
the satisfaction of all in the
College, and many out of it,
was able to take his place in
the refectory, and clear the beef
or the potato-pie from his
wooden trencher before the
month expired. Prior to this,
he was allowed an afternoon,
ere he was well enough to
resume fully his routine duties,
to show himself to the kind
friends who had exhibited most
anxiety for his recovery.
Mrs. Clowes was one of
these. Jam, jelly, and cakes,
never concocted within the area of the College, had found their
way to his bedside. Grateful for kindness from so unlikely a
quarter, Jabez paid his first visit to the shop in Half Street, to
KITCHEN DOOR.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 123
thank the queer old lady. But not one word of thanks would
she hear.
" Eh, lad, say naught about it ; you did your duty, and I
did mine, and so we're quits ; " and shook her open hand a few
inches in advance of her face, as if she were shaking a disclaimer
out of it "And where are you taking your white face to
now ? " she asked quickly, the better to turn the tide of his
stammering thanks.
"To Aunt BessV
" Why, lad, Bess Clegg'll have naught to give thee fit for
sick folk to eat. It's much to me if she'll have either a potato
or a drop of milk. If she's a bit of jannock, or oat-cake, it's
as much as the bargain. War may be glorious for kings and
generals, but it's awful for poor folk ; Mesters can't sell their
goods, and can't pay wages bout money ; and I've heard that,
since th' potato riots in Shudehill last spring, the folk have been
so clemmed that some on them couldna be known by their
friends who hadna seen them for awhile ; they were naught but
skin and bone, poor things!"
Whilst indulging in this tirade against war and its concomitants,
to distract his attention, she bustled about, often with her back
to him ; then dived into her parlour, and returned with a basket,
which she was handing to him with a charge to " take that to
Bess, and be sure to bring the basket back safe," when she found
that Joshua Brookes was standing behind Jabez, amongst waiting
customers, with a sharp eye on her proceedings.
"I say, young Cheat-the-fishes, what have you got to say for
yourself? A nice young ragamuffin you are, to go a-bathing
without leave, spoiling your clothes, and giving yourself cold !
I hope they gave you plenty of physic, to teach you better,"
said Joshua roughly, taking the boy by the shoulder, and turning
him sharply round to confront him,
.
124 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
"Yes, sir — they gave me plenty of physic," said Jabez, doffing
his cap respectfully. "But I did not go bathing; I got into the
water by accident."
"By what? Do you call that an accident?" growled the parson,
to get at the boy's meaning.
"An accident done a-purpose," chimed in Mrs. Clowes, whilst
her scales jingled, and she and her helper weighed out her
commodities for the people at the counter.
"Yes, sir," answered Jabez, composedly: "it must have been
an accident. I don't think they really could mean to push me
over. I think they only meant to frighten me "
" Well ? " queried Joshua, seeing that he hesitated.
"I think one of them slipped, and let go, and then I slipped
too, sir," he replied, modestly.
" Slipped, indeed ! You'd very nearly slipped into the next
world!" exclaimed the parson "I suppose you'll say next that
my poor old father was dragged about by the young wretches
by accident, too?"
The colour of Jabez rose.
" No, sir ; that was very cruel."
"Oh! you do call some things by their right names (here, let
that woman pass out). I suppose you're glad enough the rascals
have got their deserts?"
A dubious change came over the boy's face. He did not
answer at once ; he hardly knew his own feelings on the subject,
The question was repeated.
" Well, sir, I'm glad they won't be there to torment me any
more, but it must be a very dreadful thing for a young gentleman
to be turned out of school in disgrace, and I don't think I ought
to be glad of that. I should never get over it, if it was me."
" Here, take your basket, and be off with you ! " said Joshua
Brookes, hurrying him out of the shop, that he might stay and
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 125
rate the old woman for "spoiling young Cheat-the-fishes," conscious
all the while that he had been doing his best to get the lad a
good home in the future.
Bess and Simon received him with open arms, glad not only
to see him well again, but thankful he had been placed where he
was secure from the bitter want which pinched both their stomachs
and their faces. To them Mrs. Clowes' basket brought what they
had not seen for months — a white loaf and a good lump of cold
meat, to say nothing of a tiny paper of tea, and some sugar —
those luxuries of the rich — and half-a-crown in another paper.
How those half-famishing hard-workers, whose home had been"
denuded of their goods to keep life within them, thanked old
Mrs. Clowes ! She had made it a festival to them indeed, and
all for the sake of the boy they had kept.
There were no pigeons — these had been sold long ago, to pay
for provisions, though much against Simon's will. The cat was
there, lean and gaunt ; it managed to pick up a subsistence some-
how ; and the big bible was there — Simon had not parted with
that, though the bright bureau was gone, ay, and the cradle which
had been an ark to the orphan.
The change touched Jabez sorely. Snugly housed and fed
within the College, rumours of outer poverty made no lasting
impression ; but here he saw its grim reality, and sitting down on
the three-legged stool, he covered his face with his hands to hide
the tears called up by that insight into their impoverished condition.
Yet they had some alleviation of their pain. Poverty appeared
to have lost half its bitterness for Bess. She had had a letter
from her long-mourned Tom, and the joyful news served to
brighten up the visit for Jabez and all.
It was a long and deeply repentant letter, of course, written
by a comrade. It was dated from Badajoz, and had been a weary
while in reaching them. He had been wounded in that brilliant
126 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
assault, and while in hospital had fallen in with another Lancashire
lad, also wounded — no other than the boy who had lent a hand
to rescue the infant Jabez, and who had been driven to enlist by
the sharp pangs of hunger, only two years before. From this
young fellow, Private John Smith (Tom was himself a Corporal),
he had learned how grievously his Bess had been slandered ; but
with that knowledge had come the conviction that he had con-
demned her hastily and harshly on mere hearsay, and the letter
was incoherent in its remorseful contrition. In his soldier-life he
had been tossed hither and thither — known pain, and thirst, and
famine ; and said he owed it all to his own jealous credulity, when
he ought to have known so much better. He told of marchings
and counter-marchings, battles and bloodshed ; but of never one
wound to himself, though he had not " cared a cast of the shuttle "
for his life until that bayonet-thrust which had laid him side by
side with John Smith, who had lost an eye. But he wound up
with a prayer for Bess and himself, and a hope for their re-union,
if the war should ever end. He " was sick of it."
All that letter was to Bess and Simon, Jabez could not com-
prehend ; but he took Mrs. Clowes her empty basket, and went
back to the College satisfied that one ray of sunshine lit up the
poor home of his friends.
And Matthew Cooper's last chance was gone.
*****
Mr. Ashton was what is known in trade as a small-ware manu-
facturer— that is, he was a weaver of tapes, inkles, filletings ; silk,
cotton, and worsted laces (for furniture) ; carpet bindings, brace-webs,
and fringes. Moreover, he manufactured braces and umbrellas, for
which latter his brother-in-law supplied the ginghams. He had
at work, both in Manchester and at Whaley-Bridge, a number of
swivel -engines, the design of which came from those unrivalled
tape-weavers, the Dutch, and which would weave twenty-four
THE MANCHESTER MAN.
127
lengths of tape or bed-lace at one time. Otherwise, the bulk of
his workpeople — winders, warpers, brace, fringe, and umbrella-
makers — carried away materials to their own homes, and brought
back their work in a finished state.
Mr. Chadwick, as we have mentioned, was a manufacturer of
ginghams — this included checks and fustians ; but much of his
trade being foreign, the war had locked up his resources, and
his anxieties preyed on his health.
Mr. Ashton had suffered less in this particular, not having
disdained to take his sensible wife's advice — "Never put too
many eggs in one basket." Mrs. Ashton, be it said, had a
leaning towards "proverbial philosophy" more homely and terse
than Tupper's, which, vulgar as it is accounted now, was
in esteem when our century was young; and, had it been
otherwise, would have been equally impressive from her deliberately
modulated utterance. This same lady had, moreover, an aptitude
for business. Mr. Ashton employed a number of young women,
and Mrs. Ashton might be found most days in the warehouse,
either " putting out " or inspecting the work brought in by them,
with a gingham wrapper over her "silken sheen." If the footman
announced visitors, the wrapper was thrown aside in a moment,
and she stepped into her drawing-room as though fresh from
her toilette, and with no atmosphere of dozens, grosses, or great-
grosses about her.
She was wont to say, " The eye of a master does more work
than both his hands;" accordingly in house or warehouse her
active supervision kept other hands from idling, and she certainly
dignified whatever duties she undertook, whether she used hands
or eyes only.
In those days a seven-years' apprenticeship to any trade or
business was deemed essential ; apprentices were part and parcel
of commercial economy, and when Mr, Ashton spoke of "looking
128 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
after that boy," it was that he thought Jabez Clegg bade fair
to be a fitter inmate and a more reliable servant than others
whose terms were about to expire.
Through his friend the Rev. Joshua Brookes he ascertained
the boy's age and other particulars, and sought the House-
Governor, Mr. Terry, and laid before him a proposition to take
Jabez Clegg as his apprentice, on very fair terms. He then
learned that Mr. Shaw, the saddler at the bottom of Market-
street Lane, was also desirous to obtain the same Blue-coat boy
as an apprentice, his friend the leather-breeches maker having
named the lad to him.
At the Easter meeting of feoffees both proposals were laid
before them — Simon Clegg, as standing in loco parentis to Jabez,
being present. After some little discussion Mr. Ashton's proposal
was accepted, to the great satisfaction of the tanner, and in a
few days Jabez was transferred to his new master for mutual
trial until Ascension Day, when, if all parties were satisfied,
his indentures would be signed. As the Governor said, it had
"been but the toss of a button" whether he had gone to Mr.
Shaw or Mr. Ashton, yet upon that toss of a button the whole
future of Jabez depended.
The boy entered on his new career under good auspices —
that is, he bore with him a good character for steadiness and
probity, though nothing was said of brilliant parts, or any special
talent which he possessed. Indeed, his schoolmaster had said
that only his indomitable perseverance had enabled him to keep
pace with others. If he had any latent genius — any particular
vocation, no one had discovered it ; his faculty for disfiguring
doors and walls with devices in coloured chalks, picked up
amongst the gravel, had been matter for punishment, not praise,
and none but the College-boys themselves cared to know where
the fresh patterns for purses and pincushions came from,
THE MANCHESTER MAN,
129
Steadiness, perseverance, probity — they were good materials out
of which to manufacture a tradesman (so Mr. Ashton thought),
and congratulations were mutual.
Jabez Clegg went, with his new outfit, to his new home under
good auspices, inasmuch as both master and mistress were pre-
possessed in his favour, and they stood in the foremost rank of
those who began to recognise that English apprentices were not
bondslaves in heathendom. Instead of being crammed to sleep like
dogs in holes under counters; left to wash at a pump and wipe
themselves where they could ; obliged to sit at a table in a
back kitchen, and dip their spoons into one common dish of
porridge, or potatoes and buttermilk ; to eat such scraps and
refuse as sordid employers, or ill-disposed cooks, chose to set
before their primitive Adamite forks — instead of a system like
this, from which apprentices (of whatever grade) only emerged
at the beginning of this century, the Ashtons' apprentices had a
comfortable dormitory in the attic, there was a coarse jack-towel
by the scullery-sink for their use, they had their meals with the
servants in the kitchen, where was an oak settle by the fire for
them when work was over.
But work did not end with the close of the warehouse. They
were expected to keep their attic clean and in order, to cleanse
the wooden or pewter platters, or porringers, from which they
had dined or supped ; to rinse the horns which had held their
table-beer ; to fetch and carry wood, coals, and water, for
servants too lazy to do their own work ; and it was not much
rest any apprentice had from five or six in a morning until
eight or nine at night, when he went to his bed.
As the youngest apprentice, the roughest of this work fell on
Jabez, but, luckily, his training had made him equal to the
occasion ; though Kezia, the red-faced cook, set herself steadfastly
to dislike him, because Mr. Ashton had bespoken her favour for
130 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
him. In the warehouse, too, the evident goodwill of principals
roused the jealousy of underlings, so that " good auspices " had
their corresponding drawbacks.
It was not much of a pleasure to Jabez to find Kit Townley
also seated as an apprentice on the kitchen settle ; but the
youth seemed disposed to be friendly, and Jabez forbore to
create a grievance by recalling unpleasant reminiscences. With
Kit Townley, who was his senior by a year, a heavy premium
had been paid, and on this he was inclined to presume. But
neither Mr. nor Mrs. Ashton made any social distinction between
the twain, and Jabez was strong enough to hold his own.
During the few weeks' probation, Jabez was transferred from
department to department, alike to test his capacity and his
own liking for the business. Both proved satisfactory.
On Ascension Day, 1813, there was another appearance in
that ancient room before the College magnates, many of whom,
as officers in volunteer regiments, were in full-dress uniform (a
dinner pending). The indentures had to be signed, the premium
of £4. (returnable to the boy when his term expired) had to be
paid.
Simon Clegg's best clothes had long been lost in the
pawnbroker's bottomless pit ; but some one unknown (mayhap
Mrs. Clowes or Mrs. Clough) had sent him overnight a suit of
fresh ones, pronounced by him and Bess " welly as good as
new ;" and he presented himself for the important ceremony
(overlooked by the painted face of the orphan's benevolent
friend, Humphrey Chetham) as proud almost of his own restored
respectability as of the part he was about to perform. When
it came to his turn to sign the document, the little man took
the pen with a flourish, as if he were a hero about to perform
some mighty action. He stooped to the heavy oaken table,
bent his head low, alternately to the right and left, and with
HUMPHREY CHETHAM.
Fro tn ait Engraving,
THE MANCHESTER MAN. ^j
his fingers in an unaccountable crump, imprinted his self-taught
signature in Roman capitals thereon, then handed back the quill,
as if to say "The deed is done!"
Governor, schoolmaster, and feoffees congratulated Mr. Ashton
and Jabez both. Simon, with moist eyes, shook Jabez by the
hand, and holding the boy's shoulder with his left to look the
better in his clear, dark eyes, said, with deliberate emphasis —
"Jabez, lad, aw'm preawd on yo' this day. But moind —
thah's an honourable neame ; do nowt to disgrace it, an' yo'r
fortin's made !"
Jabez was too abashed to make reply at the time ; but at
the supper given in the Mosley Street kitchen to mark his
installation at Mr. Ashton's — to which Bess and Simon were both
invited — Jabez contrived to whisper,
" You needn't clem any more, Bess ; I'll give you all my
wages."
CHAPTER THE FIFTEENTH.
APPRENTICESHIP.
TABEZ now began his work in earnest, in the packing-
room — the very lowest rung of the ladder. Not long
did he remain there. The bright colours in the rooms
for brace-webs and upholsterers' trimmings had an
attraction for him, and he argued with himself that the better
he did the rough work assigned him the sooner he should mount
above it. And Jabez, the plodding Blue-coat boy, was ambitious.
That ambition had a threefold stimulus.
Manchester people were then, as a rule, steady church and
chapel-goers. Mr. Ashton had two pews at the Old Church :
one for his family, the other for servants and apprentices, the
attendance of the latter being imperative. Jabez thus came in
frequent contact with his old-time friends, from the Blue-coat
boys in the Chetham Gallery to the Cleggs, to whom went
every penny of his earnings ; their distress, like that of others,
having deepened with the continuation of the Napoleonic war.
Sometimes old Mrs. Clowes, meeting him in the churchyard,
would grasp him by the hand, and leave something in it, as,
in her old black stuff dress and a coloured kerchief tied over her
mob-cap, she hurried home to scold dilatory handmaids, and put
her Christianity in practice amongst her pensioners.
Now and then Joshua Brookes crossed his path, and if he
did not put his hand in his breeches' pocket for Jabez — now a
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 133
well-grown youth — he gave him more than sterling coin in
sterling advice, though, unfortunately, in so abrupt and grotesque
a manner its effect was frequently lost. Yet one day when the
Blue-coat boy had been barely two years at the Mosley Street
manufacturer's, he put a spur into the sides of his ambition.
"Young Cheat-the-fishes, were you ever in Mrs. Chad wick's
green parlour?"
" Yes, sir — I was there once for half-an-hour." (The day he
took back Miss Ellen's shilling.)
"Well, did you read the sermons on the walls?"
Jabez answered respectfully —
" I did not see any sermons, sir. I saw some pictures in
black frames with gilt roses at the corners."
"And didn't look at them, I suppose?" in a harsh grunt.
" Yes, sir, I did ! I was waiting till Mrs. Chad wick had done
dinner. They were about two boys — a good and a bad apprentice."
"Oh, then, you did use your eyes? The next time they let
you inside that room, just use your understanding, too. William
Hogarth, the artist, from his grave preaches a sermon to you
and your fellows as good as Parson Gatliffe preached from the
pulpit this morning, mark that ! " and he turned on his heel
with an emphasising nod to fix his sermon on the boy's
mind.
The opportunity came before long. It was customary when
an apprentice went with a message to leave him in the hall, or
send him into the kitchen; but Jabez, being sent by Mrs, Ashton
with several samples of furniture-binding and fringes for her
sister's use, he was shown with his parcel into the parlour, where
Mrs. Chadwick, neatly attired in a brown stuff dress, with a
French cambric kerchief lying in folds under the square bodice,
sat at work with an upholsteress, in the midst of a mass of chintz
and moreen, preparing for the new home of Ellen's elder sister
134 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
Charlotte ; for, in spite of war, distress, or famine, people will
marry and give in marriage. And had not a glorious peace
just been concluded ?
Ellen, a comely but not pretty girl, about seventeen, whose
black eyes and hair were her chief attractions, sat there in a
purple bombazine dress, with her sheathed scissors and College
pincushion suspended by a chain from her girdle, plying her
needle most industriously. He was not accustomed to parlours,
and no doubt his bow was as awkward as his blush ; but he
had a message to deliver, and he did that in a business-like
manner. He had to wait until pattern after pattern was tried
against the chintz, and calculations made. Mrs. Chadwick, seeing
his eyes wander wistfully from picture to picture, courteously
gave him permission to examine them.
At. once Ellen, who was sitting close under one, rose to act
as interpreter. She was recalled by the mild voice of her mother.
" Sit down, Ellen. Jabez Clegg does not require a young lady's
help to understand those pictures — they explain themselves."
Ellen went back to her seat and her sewing with a raised
colour, and a private impression that the rebuke was uncalled
for, though she spoke never a word. Perhaps Mrs. Chadwick
thought condescension should have its limits, and did not believe
in a lady's impulsive civility to an apprentice Blue-coat boy, Yet
that was not like Mrs. Chadwick.
Miss Augusta had been staying with her aunt. Part of his
commission was to convoy her home; she was an only child, and
too precious to be trusted out alone, though she was in her
eleventh year, and the distance was nothing. But so many
desperadoes had been let loose by the termination of the war,
that crime and violence was rampant, footpads infested highways
and byways, and Cicily, Augusta's maid — ex-nurse — was no longer
deemed a protection.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 135
He stood before the last engraving when Augusta — in no awe
of her father's apprentice — came dancing into the room in a
nankeen dress and tippet, a hat with blue ribbons, long washing-
gloves which left the elbows bare, and blue shoes tied with a
bunch of ribbons.
Bright, beautiful, buoyant — she was a picture in herself; and
Jabez turned from the dingy engraving to think so. She often
came tripping into the warehouse or the kitchen, and exchanged
a bright word with one or other, and away again ; but Jabez had
thought of her only as a pretty playful child until that afternoon.
Joshua Brookes pointing Hogarth's lessons had given the one
spur; that lovely brown-eyed, brown-haired maiden, with her
simple, "Come, Jabez — I'm ready," had given another.
She put her little gloved hand in his, after bidding her aunt
and cousin good-bye, and went dancing, skipping, and chattering
by his side down Oldham Street, and let him lift her over the
muddy crossing to Mosley Street, unconscious of the chimerical
dreams floating through his apprentice brain all the while. His
original ambition to make a home for Simon and Bess, where
neither penury nor care should trouble them, dwarfed before the
new ideas crowding upon his mind. He had read the sermon
on the wall, but the old " Knave of Clubs," as Joshua was called,
little thought how that pretty, piquant little fairy, the " master's
daughter," would point it with something higher than ambition.
There were at that period in Manchester two schools for
young ladies, which, being celebrated at the time, deserve to be
mentioned. The one was situated at the extreme end of Bradshaw
Street, looking through its vista across Shudehill to the gaps in
brickwork called Thomas Street and Nicholas Croft, where, in
highly genteel state Mrs. (or Madame, as she insisted on being
called) Broadbent superintended the education of a large and very
select circle.
136 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
Education must have been at a low ebb when the chief manu-
facturers of the town consigned their daughters to this pompous,
pretentious woman, who could not speak correctly the language
she professed to teach. In her attempt to appear the print
and pattern of a lady, she "clipped the King's English,"
and made almost as glaring errors as Mrs. Malaprop. Yet,
strange to say, she turned out first-class pupils (for the period).
The fact is, she was shrewd enough to know her own deficiencies,
and relegated her duties to others who were in all respects
efficient.
Then she was a wonderful trumpeter of her own fame ; made
frequent visitations at houses where she was well-entertained, and
her bombast was listened to for the sake of her young charges;
held half-yearly recitations, and also exhibitions of the plain sewing,
embroidery, knitting, knotting, filigree, tambour, and lace work of
her pupils ; and matrons, proud of their own daughters' achieve-
ments, seldom paused to reckon up the tears, the headaches, the
heartaches, the sore fingers which those minutely-stitched shirts,
those fine lace aprons and ruffles, those pictures and samplers, had
cost. For Madame Broadbent, besides being a martinet rigid in
her rule — having a numbered rack for pattens and slippers, numbered
pegs for cloaks and hats, book-bags and work-bags, safe-guards
(receptacles for sewing, &c., like a huckster's pocket) and slates,
all numbered likewise — was not of too mild a temper, and had
a penchant for pinching her pupils' ears until the blood tinged
her nails ; while stocks for the feet, backboards for the shoulders,
and dry bread diet were her prescriptions for the cure of such
delinquencies as an unauthorised word, an omitted curtsey, a bag
or garment on the wrong hook, a dropped stitch in knitting, a
blotted copy, a puckered seam ; and work had to be done and
undone until stitches were almost invisible, and little eyes almost
blind. She had other peculiarities, had Madame Broadbent — but
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 137
my portrait is growing too large for its frame, and she was not
a large personage at all.
It was to this delectable individual's school ("establishments"
had not been invented then, or her's would have been one)
that Miss Augusta Ashton was consigned for conversion into a
well-behaved, well-informed, useful, and accomplished young
lady.
Her cousins, the Misses Chadwick, had in their turns escaped
from this penitentiary for the manufacture of ladyhood. But in
Piccadilly was a school of a very different description, where
young ladies of talent and fortune went to qualify for ivifehood ;
and here at this time Ellen Chadwick was finishing her education,
with many others, in learning the culinary art in all its branches.
How came it that Madame Broadbent's school flourished and
survived the decay of its neighbourhood, being in existence when
the writer of this was a child, and the other had died and been
forgotten, save by the antiquary, before she was born ?
To fetch Miss Ashton home from Madame Broadbent's on
dark or stormy afternoons, was the understood duty of one or
other of the apprentices ; but Kit Townley, having no more
liking for wet weather than a cat, generally contrived to be out
of earshot when his services were required. It devolved on Jabez,
therefore, to carry the grey duffel hooded-cloak with which to
cover the dainty one of scarlet kerseymere, to tie the pattens on
the tiny feet, to carry the school-bag, and hold the brilliant blue
gingham umbrella over the head elevated by the pattens so much
nearer to his shoulder, and to be thanked by one of the sweetest
voices in the world.
It was dangerous work, though no one knew it, least of all
Jabez. True, she was only a child, but she was tall for her
age, And was he much more than a boy ? A boy let out from
the seclusion of an almost monastic institution, to whom her little
138 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
airs and graces, her pretty vanities, her very waywardness and
caprice, only made her beauty more piquant.
Madame Broadbent's infallibility being taken for granted, all
attempts to make known school troubles and grievances were met
with " Never tell tales out of school," from Mrs. Ashton, but they
were poured fresh and warm into the ear of Jabez, as she trotted
by his side ; and he, his school-days unforgotten, listened with
ready sympathy. And this went on as months and years went
by, adding to her stature, narrowing the space between them ;
and he still did duty as her humble escort, unless when Kit
Townley was especially told off for the service, and went
reluctantly, grumbling at being made " lackey to a school miss."
Yet Kit Townley did not think it any degradation to play
practical jokes on Jabez, or on Kezia, leaving the younger appren-
tice to bear the blame. Billets of wood, scuttles of coal,
pails of water brought in for her use by Jabez, were dexterously
removed to doorways and other unsuspected places, where " cook "
was sure to stumble over them, and then cuff Jabez for his
carelessness or wilfulness, all protestations on his part being
disregarded. Creeping behind the settle where Jabez sat watching,
and perhaps basting the roast for the master's table for late
dinners on company days, he would steal his sly arm round the
corner, himself unseen, and lifting the wheel of the spit out of
the smoke-jack chain, bring spit and all thereon into the
dripper, with a splash which brought the irate Kezia down on
astounded Jabez with whatsoever weapon of offence came nearest
to her hand, from the paste-pin to the basting-ladle, or even a
saucepan lid — it was all one to Kezia.
From Kezia, however, these frequent chances and mischances
went to Kezia's mistress ; and, appearances being against him,
the very steadiness of denial, unaccompanied with any accusation
of another (other waggeries of Kit Townley in the warehouse
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 139
being also laid on his shoulder), Mrs. Ashton's faith in the youth
was somewhat shaken, and he was conscious of being under a
cloud. But he still kept on his way, and looked to the
end
The cloud dispersed after a while. Kit Townley was something
of a glutton, with a very boy's love of pastry and sweets. It
so happened that on a special occasion (rejoicing for peace or
something) Kezia had set aside in her roomy pantry, the door
of which fastened only with a button, a tray of tartlets, custards,
a trifle, moulds of jelly and blanc-mange, and other dainties for
a large party. Kit's mouth watered to get at these things.
Often and often had he stolen the fruit from under a pie-crust,
and sat silent while Jabez bore the blame, but now he meditated
a more sweeping raid. There was a fine young retriever in the
yard. Watching Kezia out of the way, he crammed mouth and
pockets with the pastry, and made an inroad into the trifle. Then
he whistled to Nelson, raised the dog on his hind feet, and printed
the forepaws on the pantry-shelf, dishes, and tart-tray, and round
the button of the door.
But he was compelled to wait until bedtime to fairly enjoy
his spoil, and then could not manage it unknown to his
companion. Hoping to close the other's mouth literally and
figuratively, he offered him a share, but Jabez told him he was
not a receiver of stolen goods, and left him to digest that with
his feast. It was a harder morsel than even Jabez knew.
The next morning before breakfast they were in the warehouse,
when there was heard a terrible commotion in the yard. From
the back windows Kezia was seen belabouring Nelson with a
broomstick, her face redder than ordinary, whilst the poor beast
whined piteously.
Jabez ran down to interpose, and the infuriated woman turned
on him, then ran in her rage to fetch her mistress to witness
140 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
the damage done, and the footprints of the depredator, and to
own that punishment was just.
But as Mrs. Ashton ascended the warehouse stairs that
afternoon, she heard Jabez and Kit loud in altercation, and
before they were aware she possessed a clue to much that had
gone before.
Something Jabez had said was answered by a loud guffaw
from Kit, and the words —
" Let them laugh that win. I call it a deuced good
joke."
"And I call it cowardly and dishonourable to let the poor
beast suffer for your greediness," Jabez answered, indignantly.
"Now don't you put in your oar, young yellow-skirt. I'll
let no charity-boy hector over me," blustered Kit.
Jabez put down a bundle of umbrella whalebones he had on
his shoulder, to confront the other, then counting ferules into
dozens. Umbrellas used to have brass ferules, like elongated
thimbles, on the sticks.
" Look you, Kit, I've borne many a scurvy trick of yours
without saying a word, but I will not even give the sanction
of silence to dishonesty, and will not see a noble animal ill-used
to screen a coward."
" Won't you ? " sneered Kit, " then we'll see whose word
weighs heaviest"
Mrs. Ashton came into the room.
"Townley," said she, "your word will not weigh down a
feather henceforth," adding in the same dignified tone, " Are
those ferules counted 1 Jackson is waiting for them."
No further notice was taken, but Jabez soon found he stood
on a firmer footing in house and warehouse. Mrs. Ashton
remarked to her husband, as she finished dressing for their
dinner party — •
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 141
"It was a slight circumstance, William, but straws show
\yhich way the wind blows."
And he tapped his silver snuff-box, and said, " Just so ; "
then courteously offering his hand to his fine-looking wife, led
her from the room, her purple velvet robe trailing after her,
the plumes on her head nodding as they went.
CHAPTER THE SIXTEENTH.
IN WAR AND PEACE.
CLAP of thunder burst over
Europe, and the great war-
eagle flapped his monstrous
wings again. Napoleon had
escaped from Elba ere crops
had had time to grow on his
trampled battle-fields ; yet crops
of men rose ripe for the sickle,
and home expectations were
dashed to the ground.
How many an anxious
parent, how many a longing,
love-sick maiden, looked for
her warrior back from Canada
or the Continent, if only on
furlough or sick-leave ! How many a weary soldier, sated with
blood, looked for discharge with pension or reward, and thirsted
for the fountain of home joys !
And from how many lips was the cup of delight dashed when
the cry "To arms!" rang out from mount to vale, from peak to
peak, from town to town, and the sheathed sword flashed forth
to light, and forges belched forth flame through day and night,
preparing for fresh holocausts in the new carnival of blood !
SHAW'S SHOP, MARKET STREET.
THE MANCHESTER MAN 143
Trade centres at all such times are most convulsed, as being
also centres of humanity — depots whence fresh relays are drafted
from the ranks of men whose peaceful work is at a sudden
standstill. But that war-blast came like a fiery flash, and
commerce, only then a feeble convalescent, sank crushed and
hopeless.
Mr. Chadwick felt it keenly, and, but that his more cautious
and wealthy brother-in-law came to his help with hand as open
as his snuff-box, his credit must have gone. His two eldest sons
had gone from him, drawn away by the phantom, "Glory." One,
Richard, was a midshipman upon Collingwood's ship; the other,
Herbert, a lieutenant in the /and, or Manchester Volunteers, had
departed with his regiment to fight in the Peninsula. A third
son, John, had been left to do his quiet duty in the counting-
house, but Death had laid its clutches upon him soon after his
sister Charlotte's marriage, and Ellen alone kept the house from
utter desolation.
She was a girl of strong feelings and quick impulses, but
pursued her way with so little show or pretence, she was hardly
accredited with all the comfort she brought to the hearth; and
scarcely her mother even suspected how that hidden heart of
hers could throb — how intense were her emotions.
Her love for every member of the family was deep, but when
her brother John died, after the first terrible outburst of grief
she dried her tears, and by mere force of will set herself to
soothe those who had lost a son. The prolonged absence of the
others had been fruitful of pain, and the blighted prospect of
Herbert' return came to her, as to father and mother, with a
shock like a stab.
There was another hearth we have ere-while visited— a hearth
which, thanks to Jabez and a few months' regular employment
for the batting-rods and the tanner's plunger, was less poverty-
144 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
stricken than it had been — and where Hope had held out
delusive banners to herald a soldier's return, only to furl them
again for another march, before eye could meet eye, or lip
meet lip.
Thirteen years had come and gone since last Tom Hulme
and Bessy Clegg had looked woefully upon each other — thirteen
years of unrecorded trial and suffering — yet still they were apart.
The home in which he had known her first, Tanner's Bridge, on
which he had first made love to her, had been swept away to
make room for Ducie Bridge and a new high-road ; and the
best years of her womanhood were passing too. Would he ever
come back whilst grey-haired Simon could bless their union?
Would he ever come back again? Tears fell on Bess's batting;
and Simon had not one word of comfort to give her. Even
Matt Cooper, who had long since resigned himself to his
widowhood, was magnanimous enough to be sorry.
The new war between the "Corsican Vampire" and allied
Europe was fortunately of short duration ; but how much of
carnage and misery was compressed into that campaign which
had its brilliant close at Waterloo!
In the onset of that terrible conflict, Herbert Chadwick and
a cousin, fighting side by side, fell in a storm of grape-shot like
green corn under an untimely shower of hail, and their blood
went to fertilise the Belgian farmer's future crops of wheat.
Herbert was his father's favourite son. Not a mail-morning
passed but the old man made one of the crowd hurrying down
the narrow way called Market-street Lane to the Exchange, to
catch a sight of whatever bulletins might be posted up; and,
his own mind relieved, sent an apprentice from the Fountain
Street warehouse with the words, "All's well!" to cheer up
those at home. That dreadful morning when his fearful eye ran
down the black list of the killed at Waterloo, and rested on
rs=<"^slsC»^ " r~iSF • ;'i -~^-~'>~- > '
-
MARKET STREET LANE.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 145
Lieutenant Chadwick's name, the letters seemed to turn blood-
red ; he shrivelled up like a maple-leaf in a blighting wind
his face and limbs began to twitch, and he fell forward into
the arms of a bystander, in a fit.
He was carried by compassionate hands to the nearest house,
that of John Shaw, the saddler. A merchant on 'Change (Mr.
Aspinall) undertook to break the doubly-calamitous intelligence to
Mrs. Chadwick. Dr. Hardie, whom the general excitement had
drawn to the spot, was with him in an instant, his white
neckcloth was loosened, and, whipping out a lancet, the doctor
bled him in the arm without delay. He rallied sufficiently to
bear lifting into a carriage, kindly placed at the doctor's disposal
to convey him home.
Dr. Hull was already in waiting. All that their united skill
could suggest was tried. His recovery was slow and imperfect ;
he dragged his right leg after him ; he was paralysed for life.
He was not a young man, and the supreme shock, coming as
it did above a pressure of commercial difficulties, had been too
much for him.
It was an overwhelming disaster ; but in anxiety and active
care for the stricken one, whose life was in imminent peril, the
sharp edge of the keener stroke was blunted for Ellen and her
mother.
The Ashtons were, as ever, kind and thoughtful.
" William," said Mrs. Ashton, meditatively, to her husband over
the tea-urn, the day after Mr. Chadwick's attack, "we must not
forget that if John is not related to us, Sarah [Mrs. Chadwick]
and Ellen are. 'Blood is thicker than water,' and it will not
do, for their sakes, to let John's business go to rack and ruin
for want of supervision."
"Just so, just so," he replied, reflectively, taking his snuff-box
out of his pocket mechanically, and putting it back again
146
THE MANCHESTER MAN.
unopened, as contrary to tea-table propriety ; " I have been
thinking the same myself. I will go round to the warehouse
to-morrow, and see how matters stand ; we must keep things
ship-shape somehow till John is himself again."
And he was as good as his word, though he had really never
thought about it until prompted by his clear-headed wife. He
had a habit of thus falling in with her suggestions, though had
anyone hinted that he followed the lead of a woman, so much
younger than himself, too, he would have rejected the imputation
with scorn.
With returning peace came joyful restorations to many homes,
humble as well as lofty.
Before the time of their extreme privation, before even Simon
was out of work, he had taken one of the smallest of the
garden plots on the higher ground on the opposite side of the
Irk, and cultivated it in what little leisure he had, Bess giving
him a helping hand occasionally, and by the sale of penny
posies to Sunday ramblers from the town, and herbs and salad
to the market women in Smithy-door, he did his best to beat
back the gaunt wolf when the wolf came.
Bess had laid by her batting-wands, put a turf in the grate
to kindle up a handful of cinders and slack to boil their
supper-porridge, for, though autumn was striding on, they could
not waste fuel on a mid-day fire ; Simon was away working in
his garden whilst the daylight held, and she sat, as she
frequently did now, on a low stool in front of the grate, her
elbows on her knees, and her head on her hands, watching, in
a kind of hazy dream, the red glow creeping through the heart
of the turf, when a footstep on the threshold caused her to
turn round.
Like a picture framed by the doorway, stood the tall figure
of a bronzed soldier, with his left arm in a sling. Before the
Vk\
<=. - v -*•
- Jr. ^
' v— =3*1
A-rft
t f/«h
ENTRY TO CLEGG S YARD, MILLGATE.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 147
sharp cry of joy had well parted her lips, his other arm was
around her — both hers around his neck ; their lips met in a
long kiss, which told of pain and trouble past, and love through
all ; and then her head fell on his shoulder in a fit of
convulsive sobbing such as had not shaken her frame for years.
Sorrow and joy have alike their baptism of tears !
It was a glad sight for Simon to see them sitting with
their hands locked in each other's, side by side on an old box,
which served them for a seat — all Simon's lost furniture had
not come back — silent from excess of happiness, yet radiant as
though the glow of youth were returning in the Midsummer of
their lives.
In the roughest war-time the common requirements of life
have to be satisfied, and peaceful trades and arts are of
necessity carried on, albeit they flourish not. And the farther
from the seat of war, and the less private interest is involved,
the less business and household routine is infringed on.
Thus Mr. Ashton, whose large capital had enabled him to
bide the issues of the Continental and American stoppage of
trade, and who had no nearer relatives in danger than his wife's
nephews, pursued his way in comparative quiet. Indeed, he was
an easy-going man, with much less vigour of character than his
wife ; and she bore little resemblance to her own sister.
So we may carry our readers away from the poorly-furnished
room in a dreary Long-Millgate yard, leaving the re-united lovers
to the enjoyment of the present and their reminiscences of the
past, and look in upon the Ashtons in their cosy tea-room
before Waterloo cast a black shadow over the family.
It was a spacious apartment (as were most of the rooms in
that habitation), the walls above the surbase (a wooden moulding
some two feet above the skirting-board) were painted a warm
dove colour, the surbase and all below in two shades of light
148 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
blue. The window-tax — a result of war — laid an embargo on
light, by restricting size and number, so the house, like most in
the neighbourhood, having been built subsequently to "Billy
Pitt's" obnoxious impost, there were only two windows, and those
were narrow. They were draped with heavy curtains, and
festooned valances of dove-coloured moreen, trimmed with blue
orris-lace, and worsted-bullion fringe, with spiral silken droplets
here and there to shimmer in the rays of sun or chandelier.
For there was a chandelier, of fanciful device, pendent from the
wonderfully moulded ceiling, a septenary of lacquered serpents,
whose interlaced and twisted tails met upwards, separated below
in graceful coils, and branching out their seven heads, turned up
their gaping jaws to close them on wax-lights. The chandelier
was no misnomer ; but the fiery serpents kept their flames for
state occasions, when the serpent branches on each side the long
Venetian looking-glass, between the windows, were on duty
likewise. There was another Venetian glass above the high,
painted chimney-piece, so elaborately carved, but here the serpent
candelabra lit the room for common use, and were supplemented
with lights in tall silver candlesticks upon the centre table.
Spanish mahogany alike were chairs and tables, and Miss
Augusta's grand piano — ranged against the wall from the door,
so that the window light should fall upon the keys — and chairs
and tables were alike club-footed, massive, and plain ; there were two
folded card tables, a cellaret, and a work-table, all with tapering
legs and club-feet ; and there was a ponderous sofa on the
flower-besprent Brussels carpet, which, without the adventitious
aid of artificial steel springs, was elastic and soft, and wooed the
weary to rest aching limbs or aching head upon its cushions.
There were no antimacassars — hair-seating did not soil readily.
The air was odorous with rose, lavender, and jessamine, for
the windows were both open, and what little air there was
" WHAT WOULD MRS. BROADBENT SAY ?
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 149
stirring swept over a large summer nosegay in a china vase
between the windows. The mahogany teaboard was set with
miniature unhandled cups and saucers of china, more precious
than the fragrant decoction they were designed to hold ; the
brass tea-urn hissed and spluttered ; Mrs. Ashton, in a rich dress,
sat at the table to infuse the tea; Mr. Ashton had drawn his
softly-cushioned easy-chair nearer ; it was past five by the tall
clock in the hall, and Miss Augusta had not presented her-
self.
As a thorough business woman, Mrs. Ashton was punctuality
itself. She expected her family to be punctual also. Five
o'clock, the Manchester hour for tea, and no Augusta!
" James ! " (to the footman), " inquire for Miss Ashton ; she is
not kept in at school — it is a holiday."
As the man retired, Augusta, in a white cambric frock heavy
with tambour-work, tripped in at the door, her diaper pinafore
not so clean as it might have been, her hands full of something
which she set down on a side table.
" It is past five o'clock, Augusta ; where have you been
until now ? And how came Cicily to send you in to tea with
a soiled pinafore?" asked Mrs. Ashton, with the quiet dignity
which seldom relaxed.
"Is it? I did not hear the clock strike, I was so busy;
and Cicily has not seen my pinafore," was Augusta's light,
consecutive reply.
"So busy!— Cicily not seen you!" her mother exclaimed in
surprise. "Let me look at your hands. I am shocked, Augusta!
What would Mrs. Broadbent say?" (The hands were worse
than the pinafore.) "Have I not told you repeatedly that
'cleanliness is next to godliness?' Go to Cicily and be washed
immediately, or you can have no tea."
Augusta pouted.
-- '.^,,
150
THE MANCHESTER MAN.
"Must I, papa ?"
The management of this child was the only point on which
Mr. and Mrs. Ashton differed.
" Well, my dear, your mamma says so ; but I think for this
once it may be overlooked, if you will be more careful another
time," said he, willing to excuse and temporise.
"'Only this once/ William, 'is the parent of thrice,'" responded
Mrs. Ashton, gravely, as she poured out the tea, giving some-
thing like milk-and-water to Miss Augusta. "You will spoil that
child ; and if you spoil her to-day, she will spoil herself to-morrow.
However, as you are inclined to tolerate that which I think
disrespectful to us, and wanting in self-respect on the child's
part, I can say no more."
Thus Mrs. Ashton yielded against her judgment ; Mr. Ashton
took out his snuff-box, to put it back like a culprit ; and Miss
Augusta sat down to the table, not knowing whether to be more
pleased or sorry that she had got her own way.
To turn the subject, Mr. Ashton asked —
" What is that you put on the card-table, my dear ? "
" Oh ! I'll show you," and away the young lady was running,
only to be recalled by her mother's decided —
" After tea, Augusta."
So after tea it was that Miss Augusta brought her treasure
to her father — sundry sheets of paper, on which scraps of variously-
coloured leather had been arranged and pasted in ornamental
patterns, floral and geometrical, aided by the stamps employed
in piercing brace-ends for the embroiderers, and in cutting stars
to cover the umbrella-wheels inside.
" Who did those ? " asked mother and father in a breath.
" Jabez Clegg, in the warehouse. Aren't they pretty ? " was
Augusta's ready reply, as she looked admiringly on her curious
pictures.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 151
" Oh ! then that accounts for your being late, and in that
condition at the tea-table," said Mrs. Ashton, as she glanced from
the rich designs before her to the sullied hands and pinafore.
"And so Jabez Clegg has been wasting our leather to make
playthings for you ? " remarked Mr. Ashton interrogatively, in a
not unkindly tone of voice.
<f No, he hasn't ! " answered little miss, briskly. " He only
used the waste tiny bits. I wanted to take a big piece to make
a housewife" (a case for thread and needles), "and he would not
let me have it. He said he had no right to give it, and I had
no right to take it. Was he right, mamma ? "
[Along with many other vain fashions, " papa " and " mamma "
had come over from France to supersede our more sterling "father"
and "mother," as refugees from the Revolution.]
" Yes, my dear, quite right ; but I wish my little daughter
would not run so much into the kitchen and warehouse among
the apprentices," said the mother, kindly, smoothing down the
light brown hair, in which the sunbeams seemed to weave golden
threads. " It is not becoming in a young lady."
Mr. Ashton, who had been all the while examining the glowing
devices before him, interrupted her with —
" I think I have discovered a new faculty in our apprentice.
I shall buy Jabez Clegg a box of colours to-morrow. We are
sadly in want of fresh patterns, and I think he can make them."
Mr. Ashton took a large pinch of snuff on the strength of his
discovery.
And Jabez, for the first time in his life the possessor of
paints and brushes, became valuable to his master.
CHAPTER THE SEVENTEENTH.
IN THE WAREHOUSE.
UTABILITY is the epitaph
of worlds. Change alone is
changeless. People drop out
of the history of a life as
of a land, though their work
or their influence remains.
A passing word may suffice
to dismiss such from our
pages.
The Reverend John Gress-
well had been taken by
Death from the Chetham
College schoolroom before
more than half the term
of Jabez Clegg's pupilage had run. Dr. Stone's resignation of
his librarianship followed closely on his discovery of the half-
drowned boy on the dairy steps. After a long engagement with
a young lady who refused many eligible offers, and withstood
much parental persuasion for his sake, he — the curate of St.
John's Church — accepted the first vacant living in the gift of
the College whereof he was Fellow. A bridal closed their almost
Jacob's courtship, and the constant couple retired to the seclusion
of Wooton Rivers, where his learning and eloquence had seldom
JABEZ TEACHING TOM HULME,
GRAMMAR SCHOOL AND COLLEGE GATE.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 153
more appreciative auditory than smock-frocked Wiltshire rustics
and their families.
About the same time, or not long after, old Brookes was
missed from the Packhorse, and the Ring-o'-Bells, and the
Apple Tree, and the Sun Inn — the breeches-maker and his
neighbours ceased to hear his foul and offensive maunderings
and imprecations as he staggered past to his son's home, there
to test his endurance. He had gone home to his mother-earth,
sober and silent for evermore. And Parson Brookes, left to his
books and his pigeons, sent in his resignation, and the Grammar
School knew him no more as a master. So the boys felt
themselves free to take greater liberties with him than ever
and kept his hot blood for ever on the simmer.
As all these changes preceded the change which converted
Jabez from a Blue-coat boy into Mr. Ashton's apprentice, so
were they anterior to the changes wrought by war in the homes
of the Chadwicks and the Cleggs — changes differing even more
widely than did the two homes.
Poverty had made sad havoc amongst Simon Clegg's household
goods ; but Tom Hulme had not come home empty-handed,
and soon their furniture came back, or was replaced, and the
three rooms brightened up wonderfully. Though Simon's flowers
brought pence to his pocket as well as the other produce of
his garden, he had always a spare posy for the broken jug on
window-sill or mantel-shelf; and Bess, full-hearted, if not full of
work, sent her voice quivering through that unmusical yard in
songs of gladness and rejoicing.
Very little fresh wooing was necessary. To people who had
been so stinted as they had been, in common with others, Tom's
pension seemed more than it was ; and no sooner was he able to
discard his sling than he talked of immediate marriage, and was
wonderfully sanguine about obtaining work as soon as his left arm
154 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
regained its old power — which it never did. It was no use setting
up a loom ; he could no longer throw the shuttle back. He
would have to seek some other employment. But thousands of
other men were seeking employment too — men with the full use
of all their limbs — men who had not disqualified themselves for
peaceful arts by "going soldiering," and Tom Hulme stood little
chance. Mr. Clough would have taken him on as a timekeeper,
but lack of penmanship was a barrier in the way.
Lamenting this in the presence of Jabez, the youth offered to
be his instructor ; and with the permission of Mr. Ashton, who
granted leave of absence, set him copies and gave him lessons
on Sunday afternoons, at first on an old slate, to save the cost
of paper, which was dear. And then, at Mr. Ashton's suggestion,
Jabez superadded arithmetic, thus keeping himself in practice,
besides helping one dear to those who had helped him.
Of course, a weekly or fortnightly lesson was not much ; but
the disabled soldier was a persevering pupil, and brought a clear
head and an eager desire to his task. The maintenance of a
better home for Bess depended on it.
About this time a matter occurred at the Ashtons' which
had a material influence on the fortunes of the Cleggs. Though
the house of Mr. Ashton was in Mosley Street, the premises
extended as far as Back Mosley Street, where was the warehouse
door. The workpeople entered at a side door under a gateway
which led to the stable, gighouse, and courtyard between house
and warehouse, guarded by the black retriever, Nelson.
You may look in vain for house and warehouse now. A
magnificent block of stone warehouses, having threefold frontage,
occupies the site.
More than once Jabez Clegg, frequently entrusted with outdoor
business requiring promptitude and accuracy, came upon Kit
Townley, and one or other of the tassel-makers or fringe weavers,
THE MANCHESTER MAN,
155
in close conference under the dim gateway at closing-time on
Saturdays, or in the still darker doorway at the stairfoot of the
workmen's entrance. The first time they moved aside to let him
pass, afterwards they separated hastily ; but not before Jabez,
who had quick ears, caught the chink of money as it passed
from one to the other.
On the first of these occasions his attention was barely
arrested ; it was the repetition and the avoidance which struck
him with its air of secrecy, and set him pondering what business
his fellow-apprentice could have with the hands out of proper
place and time. He knew him to be not over-scrupulous. He
had seen him at Knott Mill Fair and Dirt Fair (so called from
its being held in muddy November), or at Kersal Moor Races,
with more money to spend in pop, nuts, and gingerbread, shows
and merry-go-rounds, flying boats and flying boxes, fighting
cocks and fighting men, than he could possibly have saved out
of the sum his father allowed him for pocket-money, even if he
had been of the saving kind ; and, coupling all these things
together, Jabez was far from satisfied. He was aware that of
late years stock-taking had been productive of much uneasiness
to both Mr. and Mrs. Ashton. There were deficiencies of raw
material in more than one department, for which it was impossible
to account, save that the quantity accredited to " waste " was
far out of reasonable proportion.
Mr. Ashton, suspecting systematic peculation or embezzlement
(of which many masters were complaining) had privately com-
municated with Joseph Nadin, the deputy constable, a gnarled
graft from Bow Street, who bore the official character of
extraordinary vigilance and smartness. He was supposed to set
a watch on workpeople and others, but nothing came to light.
Perhaps he was too busy manufacturing political offences, or
hunting down political offenders, to look after the interests of
156 ^THE MANCHESTER MAN.
private manufacturers. Sure it is that silk, worsted, webs, and
gingham once gone were not to be traced. Jabez was also aware
that a shade rested on the establishment of which he was an
item, and felt that it behoved him to clear it away for his own
sake, if possible.
Since the discovery of his faculty for design, much of his
time had been occupied at a desk with pencils and colours,
making patterns for the wood-turner, the mould-coverer, the
tassel-maker, the fringe-weaver ; for bell-ropes, brace-webs, carpet
and furniture bindings ; and although some of these things
admitted but of little variety, there was plenty found for him
to do.
This was well-pleasing enough to Jabez, but the College
officials, who never lose sight of the boys they apprentice,
demurred. His indentures provided that he should learn small-
ware manufacturing in all its branches ; and pattern-designing,
if part and parcel, was only one branch. Mr. Ashton was too
just not to assent, and Jabez went to his active employment
again. But he had a love for his new art, and an interest in
his master's interest, which prompted him to say —
" If it would be all the same to you, sir, I could draw
patterns before breakfast, or in the dinner-hour, or in an evening,
if Kezia had someone else to wait on her."
The inevitable snuff-box came out, Mr. Ashton's head went
first on one side, then on the other, as he took a long pinch
before he answered.
" No, my lad, it won't be all the same to me, nor to you
either," he said, at length, and Jabez began to look rueful.
"You're a lad of uncommon parts, and I'm willing enough to
find them employment. But if you work extra hours, apprentice
or no apprentice, you must have extra pay. So you see, Jabez,
it won't be the same to either of us You shall have the little
THE MANCHESTER MAM. 157
room at the end of the lobby to yourself, and there you may
earn all you can for your own friends and for me."
" Oh, thank you, master ! " interjected Jabez, his thoughts
flying at once to the old yard in Long Millgate.
"And let Kezia wait upon herself if there are no other idle
folk about;" concluded Mr. Ashton, and the business was
settled.
This was about the time Jabez first began to suspect Kit
Townley of unfair dealing ; and being once more in frequent
contact with him in the warehouse, he could not shut his eyes
or his ears.
Kit was then assistant putter-out in the fringe and tassel
department, counted out the moulds, weighed out silk and worsted,
and called out the quantities each hand took away, for a young
booking-clerk to enter.
Jabez was still in the brace and umbrella room, but there was
a wide door of communication between the two, and he had
frequently to pass through the former with finished goods for the
ware and show-rooms on the lower floors, and had to go cautiously
past the large scale, lest he should tilt the beam with his
ungainly burdens. Now and then it occurred to him that the
bulk of silk or worsted in the scale was large in proportion to
the weight, as called out by Kit Townley, and once he was
moved to say —
"Is that balance true? or have you made a mistake, Townley?"
" Mind your own business, Clegg, and don't hinder mine.
Naught ails the scales, and I know better than make mistakes."
"Well, I only thought," persisted Jabez.
"I wish you'd think and keep those umbrellas clear of tne
beam. You're always thrutching past with great loads on your
shoulder when I am weighing out," interrupted Kit, testily, and
Jabez held his peace.
158 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
But if he went on his way quietly, he was equally observant,
and saw the same thing happen again too often to be the result
of accident. Moreover, from the window of the little room
where he had a broad desk for designing, he saw Kit meet the
same men and women stealthily after hours under the opposite
gateway.
"Kit," said he, one night, when they went to their attic, "what
do you meet Jackson, Bradley, and Mary Taylor under the gate-
way for so often ? "
Kit, arrested with his warehouse jacket half on and half of
asked sharply —
" Who says I meet them under the gateway ? "
" I say so. I have seen you myself."
" And what if you have ? " Kit retorted, snappishly. " There's
no harm in saying a civil word to poor folk that I know
off."
"No harm, if that were all," returned Jabez, seriously, sitting
down on the edge of his truckle-bed to take off his blue
worsted stockings (knitted by himself), " but I have seen them
give you money."
"And what of that, you Blue-coat spy ? If they're kind enough
to call at old mother Clowes' shop for toffy and humbugs for
me, and give me the change back, what's that to you ? " he
blustered, coming up to Jabez with a defiant air.
" I know you've a sweet tooth, Townley," replied Jabez, unmoved,
" but I fear nothing half so good as Mrs. Clowes' toffy takes
you there so stealthily."
"Perhaps, Mr. Wiseacre, you know my business better than I
do myself?" returned Kit, bold as brass, though he did begin to
feel qualmish.
''Perhaps I do, for I suspect you of double-dealing, and I
know what the end of that must be ; and I warn you that I
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 159
cannot stand by and see our good master robbed. I should be
as bad as you if I did."
Townley, enraged, struck at him, and there was a scuffle in
the dark, the bit of candle in their horn lantern having burnt out.
Kezia, who slept in the adjoining attic, rated them soundly
the next morning for the disturbance they had made, threatening
to tell Mrs. Ashton. Had she done so, inquiry would have
followed.
Jabez, troubled and perplexed, the very next Sunday consulted
old Simon Clegg as to the course he should pursue, being alike
unwilling to tell tales on suspicion, or to see his kind master
wronged.
" Eh, lad," quoth Simon, rubbing down his knees as he sat,
" aw've manny a time bin i' just sich a ' strait atween two ; ' but
aw allus steered moi coorse by yon big book, and tha' mun
do t' seame. Thah munriot think what thah loikes, or what
thah dunnot loike ; but thah mun do reef, chuse what comes or
goes. It is na reet to steeal ; and to look on an' consent to a
thief is to be a thief. Thi first duty's to thi God, an' thi next
to thi payrents (if tha' had anny), an' thi next to thi measter.
Thah's gi'en the chap fair warnin', an' if he wunnot tak it th'
faut's noan thoine."
It so happened that the "putter-out" in the brace and umbrella-
room was an old man named Christopher, who had been in the
employment of the Ashtons (father and son) for thirty years. He
professed to be very pious and very conscientious, but lamented
that increasing years brought with it many ailments and infirmities,
such, for instance, as headaches, dizziness, sudden weakness of the
limbs, and attacks of spasms — for the cure of which he kept a
bottle of peppermint in a corner cupboard.
It was into this room Augusta used to come dancing, to
coax old Christopher out of bits of waste leather, and other odds
106 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
and ends, for which only a child could find use. She was fond
of cutting and snipping, and, with an eye to his own advantage,
the cunning old fellow had taught her how to use the stamps,
so that she might amuse herself by helping him. Then he
bespoke her compassion for his aches and pains, and often, on
holiday afternoons, was troubled with one or other ailment,
which a pull at the bottle and a nap on the bundles of leather,
or gingham, alone could relieve — "if Miss Augusta would be so
obleeging an' so koind as to stamp out a few tabs or straps for
him, or count out umbrella ferules, or wheels, or handles," for him.
And she, full of the superabundant energy of youth, did it,
nothing loth ; though as her own years increased, and with them
her ability to help, came a sharp sense that old Christopher was
a hypocrite — knowledge she confided to Jabez one day, when the
sanctimonious putter-out was resting his aching head and uncertain
legs, as usual ; and in order to convince him, she drew a bottle
of gin, not peppermint, from under a pile of white kid.
Jabez, too, had been sorry for the old fellow, and often added
a good part of Christopher's work to his own, to relieve him. It
was this fact which brought both Christophers to book. The old
cant was so grievously afflicted on the Monday afternoon, that
Jabez, seeing him quite incapable of doing his work properly (he
was putting out umbrellas), undertook to do it for him, though it
was no business of his — and so Mrs. Ashton would have told
him, had she been there.
He measured off what he knew to be sufficient gingham for
two dozen umbrellas (a workwoman standing by in waiting), and
was about to cut off the length when the woman arrested his hand.
" Yo're furgettin1 th' weaste, mi lad ; Mester Christopher allus
alleaws fur weaste."
He looked at the woman, aware there could be no waste in
cutting umbrella-gores. She winked at him.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 161
"Oh!" said Jabez, conscious he was learning something not
down in his indentures. "And how much does he allow?"
"Abeawt a yard an' a hauve th' dozen," she replied.
"And how do you contrive to waste it?" Jabez asked.
She winked again.
"Eh, but yo're a young yorney. Yo'd best ax Mester
Christopher that."
"I think I'd best ask Mrs. Ashton that, if she's in the
warehouse," rejoined he, sending his scissors through the gingham
at the proper place.
"Yo'd better not, or yo'n cut off yo'r nose to spite yo'r own
feace;" and the woman nodded her head knowingly. "T'other
'prentice knows whatn weaste means, if thah dunnot ; an1 manny's
th' breet shillin' it's put in his breeches pocket, my lad."
"Oh, that's it, is it?" said Jabez, whilst he was counting over
the already bundled up whalebone, sticks, &c., to complete the
umbrella fittings. "As our mistress would say, 'We may live
and learn.' "
He found the whalebone, ferrules, handles, leathers, wheels,
were all in excess. An extra umbrella might be made from the
superabundant materials. Thereupon he wakened Christopher to
do his own work, simply remarking that he thought the bundles
of sticks, &c., had been miscounted.
" Oh, no, Clegg, they're a' reet ; we're obleeged to put in
moore fur fear some on 'em shouldn' split in makkin' oop," said
old Christopher, cunningly, as if for his information.
Jabez took no further notice then, but shouldering a great
bundle of large umbrellas, carried them through the fringe room,
and there noticed that, despite the caution he had given, his
fellow-apprentice was dexteriously manipulating silk and scales to
falsify the weights he called out.
CHAPTER THE EIGHTEENTH.
EASTER MONDAY.
BALANCED.
JHAT evening Jabez, a clear-
eyed, open-browed youth in
his seventeenth year, upright,
well-knit, and firmly built for
his age, knocked at the parlour-
door after Miss Augusta had
been sent to bed. There was
some trouble on his countenance,
as though he was bent on an
errand utterly repugnant to him.
He was truly sorry to be the
means, however remotely, of
bringing disgrace on both an old man and a young one ; but
Simon had led him to the conclusion that if there was little
honour in turning informer, there would be absolute dishonesty
in keeping silence whilst he saw his master robbed.
Yet he hesitated, and lingered with his hand on the handle
of the door, after the clear voice of Mr. Ashton had twice
invited him to " come in."
Mr. Ashton therefore opened the door, and saw Jabez with
a design for a bell-rope tassel in his hand.
"Well, Jabez, what is it? Something special you have to
show us?"
THE MANCHESTER MAN. I^^
" No, sir ; I only brought this lest any of the servants should
be curious about my errand here."
Mrs. Ashton, who was reading a romance from Mrs. Edge's
circulating library in King Street, lifted up her head at this ;
and Jabez came in, closing the door.
" Then what is the errand which needs such precaution ? "
asked Mr. Ashton, resuming his seat and looking up at the
clear face of Jabez.
" I think t sir," — and he laid an emphasis on the " think " —
" I have found out how you are being robbed, and who it is
that robs you."
" You — what ? " exclaimed Mr. Ashton, placing his hand on
the elbows of his chair, and bending forward inquiringly.
Jabez repeated his statement, adding, " I think, sir, some of
your putters-out and workpeople are in league to defraud
you."
Out came Mr. Ashton's snuff-box, down went Mrs. Ashton's
romance, whilst Jabez told succinctly how his suspicions had
been first aroused, and how they had been confirmed that
day.
" I did not tell my suspicions to Christopher, sir, thinking I
had best not interfere, or put the — the — them on their guard
until I had spoken to you. I feared lest I should defeat your
plans," said Jabez, modestly.
" Just so, Jabez, just so ; you were quite right, Jabez," said
his master, whilst a shower of snuff fell on neckcloth ends
and shirt frills.
"Yes, quite right!" assented Mrs. Ashton, with customary
dignity. " ' A still tongue shows a wise head ;l but we seldom
see an old head on such young shoulders."
No active steps were taken for a few days, but Mrs. Ashton
was in the warehouse, and doubly observant; and Mr. Ashton
164 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
was also on the alert They saw enough to convince them
that Jabez was correct, and, acting on first impulses, Nadin was
again communicated with.
From the window of Jabez Clegg's little room, Kit Townley
was seen to receive payment from a fringe-weaver for his share
of the spoil ; and then Nadin, who knew all about it quite
well enough before, followed up the clue to a waste dealer's who
bought at his own price workpeople's "waste" (*>., warp, weft,
silk, &c., remaining after work was completed), and found trades-
people willing enough to re-purchase, well knowing that commodities
so varied, and so far below market value, were not honestly
come by.
Nadin, big and blustering when there was nothing to be
gained by silence, was for hauling the whole lot off to prison —
the two Kits, the waste dealer, and sundry workpeople — and the
criminal code was a very terrible dispensation then.
But Mr. Ashton was more merciful ; he was for milder
measures. Besides, Mr. Townley was an old friend of his, and
for the sake of the father he forbore to drag the son into a
court of justice; and unless he prosecuted all, he could not
prosecute any.
The sight of Nadin and his rough men, in their red-cuffed,
red-collared brown coats, with their staves and handcuffs ready
for use, was sufficiently terrifying. The distress of old Mr.
Townley was painful to witness. As for Kit himself, he seemed
less conscious of his guilt than ashamed of being found out,
openly declaring that he "did no more than was customary"
and no more than old Christopher, who had led him into it,
had done for years.
That old hypocrite went down on his knees with many
whining protestations of his innocence; but, finding proof too
strong, he made a clean breast of it, and on learning that,
JOSEPH NADIN
From a Print in the Chetha.ui Library.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 165
through the generosity of his employer, he was about to escape
prosecution, which would have led to transportation, he begged
piteously to be allowed to retain the situation he had held for
so many years.
" No, Kit," said Mrs. Ashton ; " ' there is no rogue like an old
rogue ;' you have not only robbed us yourself, but taught
others the trick. Think well you have escaped the New
Bailey," (the Manchester and Salford prison).
At that period the constable who apprehended a criminal
received a bonus on each conviction, called " blood-money," so
large a proportion of felons were executed ; and Nadin, gruff
and uncourteous even to his superiors, was disposed to resist
Mr. Ashton's amiable " interference with the course of justice."
A liberal douceur from the elder Mr. Townley's well-stocked
purse was potent to allay his zeal. His runners were dismissed,
and his friend the waste-dealer had a longer lease.
The clearance of rogues paved the way for honest men,
besides suggesting measures to prevent like embezzlement in
future. The Ashtons rightly thought that the best way to
reward Jabez was to serve his friends. A situation as putter-out
to the weavers was offered to Tom Hulme, Mr. Ashton having
had his eye on him for some time, and old Simon, being sent
for, went home delighted with commendations of Jabez, and the
consciousness that the only barrier to Bess's marriage was now
removed, and that through the foundling's instrumentality.
The only bar, that is, save the double fees of Lent, and the
" ill-luck " supposed to follow a couple united during the
penitential forty days. Tom put up the banns, however, and
Easter Monday was chosen as the day of days for the ceremony.
Tom Hulme's parents had been married on an Easter Monday,
Simon had been tied to his wife on an Easter Monday, Jabez
had been made a Blue-coat boy on an Easter Monday, and
1 66 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
apprenticed on an Easter Monday ; it was consequently an
anniversary to be observed and respected.
Early marriages prevail amongst the class made early self-
dependent by earning their own living. Matt Cooper had long
been a grandfather, Molly and his three eldest boys having been
married and settled. A brisk young butcher coming to the
tannery with hides had met Martha, the other girl, bearing her
father's dinner, and been so taken with her sharp, active gait,
and saucy answers, that he proposed to transfer her to his shop
beyond Ancoats Lane canal bridge, and to make his offer more
palatable, suggested an amalgamation of the two households,
and to take the youngest lad — Matthew, aged fourteen — as his
apprentice.
So ardent and promising a lover was not to be despised.
Martha did not say "No," and Matt, beginning to stoop in the
shoulders, rejoiced at the prospective haven for his declining
years.
It was arranged that they should be married along with Bess
and Tom Hulme ; and so Matthew Cooper went with the Cleggs
to church, not as a gallant bridegroom, but, more suitably, to
give away a bride.
And now, how shall I describe the scene at the Old Church
on Easter Monday, to convey anything like an idea to modern
readers, unacquainted with the locality, the period, and the
habits of the people ?
It must be borne in mind that registrars' offices did not
exist ; that there was no marrying at dissenting chapels ; that
few, if any, churches were licensed for the solemnisation of
matrimony ; and that the collegiate parish church of Manchester
was the nucleus towards which the marriageable inhabitants of
all the surrounding townships and villages turned at the most
important epoch of their lives.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 167
The venerable pile (now being doctored by restorers) was
set, as it were, in a ring-fence of old houses, with an inner
ring of low wall encircling the churchyard, which, as grave-stones
testified, had once extended to the very house steps. As I have
elsewhere said, the path between this wall and the houses was
known as Half Street, a portion of which, containing Mrs.
Clowes' old shop, still remains ; and did I enumerate all the
public-houses in this ring-fence which offered accommodation to
wedding and christening parties, only a future generation of
antiquaries would thank me ; and even they might doubt the
facts set down in a work of fiction.
Nevertheless, on Easter Monday not one of these hostelries
had a spare foot of room. Every window and every door
stood wide open. Men and women, gaily dressed as their own
means or friendly wardrobes would allow, went in and out, filled
rooms and passages, leaned from the windows with ribbons flying
loose, or with pipes and ale-pots in their hands, calling to their
friends below, whilst rival fiddlers (almost every party having its
own) scraped away in anything but harmony. Horses and carts
blocked up every avenue, and the churchyard itself was thronged
with an excited crowd.
Only the parties immediately interested were admitted into the
sacred edifice, but to reach the doors they had to force their
way, and could only return in couples through a dense avenue of
humanity, amid a shower of jests, many not the most seemly.
Bess wore only a white cambric gown, and a straw bonnet
crossed with white ribbon, both of which Mrs. Ashton had
provided; but somewhere in Tom's Peninsular campaigns he had
picked up a bright-coloured scarf, which made her glorious to
behold, and the envy of many a country bride. His old uniform
had been kept for the occasion, and they looked grand together;
but the quiet content on Bess's face was better than the grandeur.
168 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
Nat Bradshaw, the butcher-bridegroom, was of a jovial turn,
and nothing would do but the whole double wedding-party, Jabez
included, should turn into the Ring-o'-Bells to drink health and
happiness to the brides, and give them spirit to go through the
ceremony befittingly. Bess and Martha hung back blushing like
peonies ; but Nathaniel was not to be gainsaid, and in they went ;
and whilst the brides sipped, he quaffed, and pressed the others
to do likewise.
At length Jabez, who had been brought up temperately, cried
out they would be too late — Parson Brookes had been gone into
the church half-an-hour.
There was a general rush from the room, and in the scramble
to get first the party got separated; Matthew pulling his daughter
along and leaving the bridegroom to follow. They elbowed their
way into the church, and reached the choir just as Joshua
pronounced the benediction over some twenty couples closely
packed around the altar. Then there was a jostle and a scramble
for "first kisses," amidst which rose the rough voice of the
chaplain.
"Now clear out, clear out! Do your kissing outside. There
are other folks waiting to be wed. Do you think I want to be
kept here all day tying up fools?"
That instalment of the married having been hustled away to
sign the church books, with their attendant witnesses, Joshua
called out impatiently to the waiting couples, amongst which were
Bess and Tom —
'•Come, come! How long do you mean to keep me standing
here? Do you intend to be married or not? Oh! it's thee, is
it? [to Bess.] Well, thah's waited long enough, See that you
make her a good husband [to Tom.] Kneel down here," and he
placed them, not roughly, almost in the centre of the altar,
pulling others to their knees beside them, with scant ceremony.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 169
"What do you want here?" in his harshest tones he asked a
very youthful-looking couple.
"To be wed," was the prompt answer of the young man.
"Ugh!" grunted the Parson, "what's the world coming to? I
used to marry men and women — now I marry children! Here,
you silly babies, take your places."
Another file of candidates for matrimony being ranged (after
some pushing and pulling) in pairs round the altar, Joshua took
his book, and the service began.
So long as it was general, all went tolerably smoothly— women
and men alike were too bashful and confused to know much
what was said, or what they responded, and certainly they rarely
looked in each other's faces. At length there was a slight stir
and a whispering from the quarter where Matt Cooper stood
beside his daughter.
"Silence there!" roared Joshua, in a voice which set a row ot
hearts in a flutter, and there was silence.
But he had come to the troth-plight, and again the same
commotion was apparent as he approached the Coopers.
"What's wrong here?" he demanded, pausing before Martha,
who was all in a tremble.
"Moi lass is waitin' fur her mon," answered Matthew from
behind.
"Ugh! I can't wait for laggards. Here, you [addressing Tom
Hulme], answer for him. What's his name?" [to Martha.]
"Nathaniel," she faltered.
"I, Nathaniel, take thee, Martha, to be my " he went on,
insisting on the response of Tom, who looked aghast at the
prospect of marrying the wrong woman, and being told "to pair
as they went out," as Joshua had summarily adjusted a like
mistake heretofore; or, what was worse, of being saddled with
two wives*
170 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
On imperturable Joshua went with the ceremony, bent on a
marriage by proxy. His experience having taught him that women
of the working class, as a rule, took charge of their wedding-rings,
he asked Martha for hers, which was duly produced, and without
further ado he directed Tom Hulme to place it on Martha's finger,
as he had previously put one on Bess's, and with the same
formula.
They had got as far as "With this ring I thee wed," when the
missing bridegroom came in hot haste through the side door into
the chancel, closely followed by Jabez, who had been in quest of
him.
He was flushed with ale and excitement, but was clear-headed
enough to perceive what was going forward, and to the chaplain's
chagrin, plucked the young woman back from the altar and his
proxy, and the ring rolled to the ground.
Then ensued an altercation between the butcher and Joshua
Brookes, the latter insisting that what was good enough for princes
might be good enough for him, and refusing to go over the
ceremony again. But an apparitor drew the tardy bridegroom
aside, and whispered to him a few mollifying words, whilst Joshua
concluded the ceremonial, and then hurried from the altar with
hardly a look at either Jabez or Simon as he passed out of
the chancel, chafed and angry. Another clergyman took his
place, and in the next group Nat Bradshaw and the half-married
Martha took theirs. The lost ring had a substitute provided by
the clerk for such emergencies ; and this time they were as surely
married as Bess and Tom had been.
Jabez had found the truant bridegroom at the " Ring-o'-Bells,"
oblivious of the flight of time, or of his party. The story having
got wind, there was a general rush in their direction.
" Here's th' mon wur too late to be wed ! "— " Tak' care thi woife
hasna two husbants ! "— " Hoo's getten two husbants o'ready I '—
THE MANCHESTER MAN.
171
"See thah's tied up gradely, lass ! "— " Thah'rt a pratty fellow!"
and much more which might have provoked a man less good-
humoured in his cups.
As it was the new brides clung to their husbands, half afraid
of those noisy demonstrations, and were not sorry to get clear of
the crowd, and thread their way to Ancoats Lane, where the
thriving butcher, assisted by Mrs. Ashton, Mrs. Clowes, and Mrs.
dough, had prepared a dinner which bore no proportion to the
" short commons " of every-day' fare.
CHAPTER THE NINETEENTH.
PETERLOO.
EOPLE had been naturally san-
guine that the conclusion of
peace would inaugurate pros-
perity, that commerce would
flourish with the flourish of
pens on the parchments of
a treaty. But the war had
been of too long continuance,
too universal, too destructive
of life and property and crops.
When grounds lie untilled for
years ; when swords reap har-
vests that should have been
left for the sickle; when cattle
are slaughtered wholesale for unproductive soldiery, or for lack of
provender ; when orchards and vineyards which have taken years
to mature are given to the flames, there can be no sudden
re-adjustment of commercial matters. Food products are the staple
of trade, which is only a system of exchange facilitated by coin
and paper.
What could a food-producing continent, down-trod by the iron
hoof of war, have to offer in exchange for our textile fabrics and
hardware ?
SAM BAMFORD'S COTTAUB,
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 173
Trade could not revive until there was food to sustain it. Yet
the mass of the people in 1816, still further impoverished by a
deficient home harvest, imputed the evil to defective legislation,
and the exclusion of foreign corn, save at famine prices, and
discontent became universal.
Strangely enough, the agricultural districts which the Corn
Laws were supposed to protect, were the first to cry out against
them, and to break out into riot — not Manchester, Oldham,
Nottingham, and the manufacturing centres.
This year closed on a popular demand for Parliamentary
reform, but not a riotous one. Sunday schools had created readers
on humble hearths, and William Cobbett supplied them with books
and pamphlets bearing on their own rights and wrongs. They
were read with avidity, and he became a power. He counselled
peaceful persistence, not armed resistance. Hampden Clubs were
formed all over the country, in which the political questions of
the day were discussed with as much freedom as stringent
law permitted. Public speakers and poets, of whom Samuel
Bamford was one, arose from the ranks of the working classes ;
and the men banded together under such leadership called
themselves Radical Reformers, a title which soon degenerated into
Radicals.
The members of these rapidly-spreading clubs subscribed a
penny a week each. Delegates were sent to meet and debate
together; and on the 4th November, 1816, a large meeting was
held in St. Peter's Field, Manchester (strangely enough, the site
of the present Free Trade Hall), "to take into consideration the
distressed state of the country."
Other meetings were held by the Reformers and their delegates;
and on the 13th January, 1817, their political opponents held a
counter-meeting, to consider the "necessity of adopting measures
for the maintenance of the public peace;" for certainly the
174 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
meeting of large masses of disaffected people, however peacefully
disposed in the outset, and individually, becomes threatening in
the aggregate. No one cares much for a grain of gunpowder ;
but mass the grains into pounds, and the pounds into tons, and
there is certainly need of precaution in dealing with it.
Amongst the precautionary measures deemed necessary for the
protection of the peace, and the suppression of seditious meetings,
were the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, and the enrolment
of the Manchester and Cheshire Yeomanry Cavalry, under the
command of Sir T. J. Trafford ; Laurence Aspinall, Ben Travis,
and John Walmsley joining the corps.
On the 24th of March — since known as Blanket Monday — a
large number of men assembled in St. Peter's Field, with blankets
upon their shoulders, with the openly-expressed design of walking
to London, to lay their grievances before George, the Prince
Regent, in person. The blankets were intended for coverlets on
the wayside beds Mother Earth alone would spread for them.
The meeting was dispersed by military, the newly-formed Yeomanry
distinguishing themselves by trapping a number of the Blanketeers
who had prematurely set out, and who had not got farther than
Stockport.
This was the signal for widespread alarm, and for Joseph
Nadin to prove his discrimination and vigilance by scenting out
imaginary plots, and arresting suspected plotters, whom he tied
together, handcuffed, ill-used, and hauled to prison, or before
magistrates (whether for acquittal or conviction), for little other
reason than the dangerous power given by the suspension of the
Habeas Corpus Act. He was a big, blustering, overbearing
fellow, with a large grizzled head, closely set on strong, broad
shoulders, with overhanging brows drawn close, and a sallow skin ;
and his officious zeal in arresting such persons as Samuel Bamford,
the weaver-poet, Thomas Walker, and the amateur actors he had
THE MANCHESTER MAN, 175
earlier laid hands on at a public-house in Ancoats Lane, laying
to their charge plots which had their origin in his own brain,
did more to embitter the people against their rulers than those
dust-blinded rulers suspected.
The Radical agitation reached its climax in 1819, when our
friend Jabez was a well-formed, well-favoured young man of
twenty, high in the estimation of his master and mistress.
Popular rights had found a fresh champion in Henry Hunt, the
son of a well-descended Wiltshire yeoman, a man of gentlemanlike
bearing and attire, agreeable features, mobile in expression, and
dull grey eyes which lit like fiery stars when in the fervour of
his speech his soul shone out of them.
" Orator Hunt," as he was ironically dubbed by those who
loved him not, was the very man to move the people as he
himself was moved ; his energy and fervid eloquence carried his
hearers with him, and as he was wont to lash himself to a fury
which streaked his pale eyes with blood, and forced them
forward in their sockets, no wonder the Manchester magnates
were afraid of his influence on the multitude, or that the Prince
Regent should issue a proclamation against seditious meetings
and writings, or the military drilling of the populace, then carried
on with so fervid an orator to inflame them.
When Henry Hunt made a public entry into Manchester, and
attended the theatre the same evening, a disturbance ensued ; he
was expelled, and the next evening the theatre was closed to
preserve peace. Then a Watch-and-Ward, composed of the chief
inhabitants, was established ; a meeting called by the Radicals
was prohibited; but that did not deter the calling of another
on St. Peter's Field, on the i6th of August, when a couple of
large waggons were boarded over to serve as temporary hustings,
whence Orator Hunt from the midst of his friends might address
the assembled multitude.
176 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
Augusta Ashton had just passed her fifteenth birthday. She
was slim, graceful, and tall beyond her age, and was surpassing
lovely. She was still under Mrs. Broadbent's care, and went to
school that morning as usual, other meetings having passed off
quietly, and no apprehension of disorder being entertained until
long after nine oclock.
About that hour the people began to assemble from all
quarters on the open ground near St. Peter's Church — not blood-
thirsty roughs, but men, women, and children, drawn thither for
a sight of a holiday spectacle. True, of the collective eighty
thousand, though there were many thousands of earnest, thinking
men who went to grapple with important questions, yet no such
mighty gathering could be without its leaven of savagery and
mischief.
But those who went from the mills and the workshops, the
hills and the valleys around Manchester, walking in procession,
with bugles playing and gay banners flying, though they might
look haggard, pinched and careworn, made no attempt to look
deplorable, or excite compassion. They wore their Sunday suits
and clean neckties ; and by the side of fustian and corduroy
walked the coloured prints and stuffs of wives and sweethearts,
who went as for a gala-day, to break the dull monotomy of
their lives, and to serve as a guarantee of peaceable intention.
Such at least was the main body, marshalled in Middleton
by stalwart, stout-hearted Samuel Bamford, which passed in
marching order, five abreast, down Newton Lane, through Oldham
Street, skirted the Infirmary Gardens, and proceeded along Mosley
Street, each leader with a sprig of peaceful laurel in his hat.
Women and little ones preceded them, or ran on the footway,
singing, dancing, shouting gleefully in the bright sunshine, as at
any other pageant to which the music of the bugle gave life and
spirit, and waving flags gave colour.
SAMUEL BAMFORD.
From a Photograph.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 177
Such, too, were the bands which, with banners and music, fell
in with them on their route, and together parted the dense
multitude as a wedge, on their way to the decorated platform.
Thence Samuel Bamford observed that other leaders had been
less temperate. There were to be seen black banners and
placards inscribed with seditious mottoes and emblems: caps of
liberty, skull and crossbones " Bread or Blood," " Liberty or
Death," " Equal Representation or Death ; " this last with an
obverse of clasped hands and heart, and the one word "Love,"
but all of the same funereal black and white.
But ere he could well note or deplore this, the scattered
bands struck up " God Save the King," and " Rule, Britannia,"
deafening shouts rent the air, and Henry Hunt, drawn in an
open barouche by white horses, made his way slowly to the
hustings amidst the enthusiastic cheering of the multitude. A
Mrs. Fildes, arrayed in white, with a cap of liberty on her head,
and a red cap borne on a pole before her, sat on the box-seat.
It is said she had been hoisted there from the crowd. Be this
as it may, she paid dearly for her temerity before the day
was out.
Barely had Henry Hunt ascended the platform, taken off his
white hat, and begun to address his attentive auditory, when
there was a startling cry, " The soldiers are upon us ! " and the
I5th Hussars, galloping round a corner, came with their spare
jackets flying loose, their sabres drawn, and threw themselves,
men and horse, upon the closely-packed mass, without a note
of warning. All had been preconcerted, pre-arranged.
From the early morning, magistrates had been sitting in
conclave at the "Star Inn," and there Hugh Birley, a cotton-
spinner, was said to have regaled too freely the officers and
men of his yeomanry corps, so soon to be let loose on the
"swinish multitude," as they called them.
17^ THE MANCHESTER MAN.
A cordon of military and yeomanry had been drawn round
St. Peter's Field, like a horde of wolves round a flock of sheep.
The boroughreeve and other magistrates issued their orders from
a house at the corner of Mount Street, which overlooked the
scene ; and thence (not from a central position, where he could
be properly seen and heard) a clerical magistrate read the Riot
Act from a window in an inaudible voice.
Then Nadin, the cowardly bully, having a warrant to apprehend
the ringleaders — although he had a line of constables thence to
the hustings, — declared he dared not serve it without the support
of the military.
His plea was heard ; and thus through the blindness, the
incapacity, the cowardice, or the self-importance of this one man,
soldiery hardened in the battle-field, yeomanry fired with drink,
were let loose like barbarians on a closely-wedged mass of un-
armed people, and one of the most atrocious massacres in history
was the result.
Amid the shouts and shrieks of men and women, cries of
"Shame! shame!" "Break! break!" "They are killing them
in front ! " " Break ! break ! " Hussars, infantry, yeomanry rushed
on the defenceless people. They were sabred, stabbed, shot,
pressed down, trampled down by horse and infantry ; and in less
than ten minutes, the actual field was cleared of all but mounds of
dead and dying, severed limbs, torn garments, pools of blood, pawing
steeds and panting heroes (?). Men and maidens, mothers and babes,
had been butchered by their own countrymen for no crime.
Hunt had been taken, Bamford had escaped — to be arrested
afterwards — and Mrs. Fildes, hanging suspended by a nail in
the platform which had caught her white dress, was slashed
across her exposed body by one of the brave cavalry.
But the butchery and the panic had spread from the deserted
Aceldama over the whole town, and ere long the roar of cannon
THE MANCHESTER MAN.
179
began to add its thunder to the terrors of the day. As the
first shrieking fugitives rushed for their lives down Mosley
Street, with the Manchester and Cheshire Yeomanry in swift
pursuit, Mrs. Ashton, for the first time alarmed for the safety
of Augusta, hurried through the warehouse in search of Mr
Ashton, who was nowhere to be found. On the stairs she mef
Jabez, in a state of equal excitement.
" Miss Augusta ! Is she at school ? Had I not better "
"Oh, yes! Run! run!" cried the mother, anticipating him.
"Go through the back streets, and take her to her aunt's. It
is not safe to bring her home."
He was gone before she concluded. (His master's daughter
was the very light of his young eyes.) From Back Mosley
Street he tore down Rook Street and Meal Street, into Fountain
Street, across Market Street — already in a ferment — and onward
down High Street without a pause.
By good fortune he met the young girl and a schoolfellow
on their usual homeward route, at the Corner of Church Street,
almost afraid to proceed, the distant firing had so scared them.
" This way, this way, Miss Ashton !" was his impetuous cry,
as he hurried them from the main thoroughfare (into which a
stream of terror-stricken people was flowing), through by-streets,
and a private entry to the back door of Mr. Chadwick's house,
which they found unfastened ; and then he thanked God in his
heart of hearts that she at least was safe.
Upstairs rushed Augusta, followed by her young friend, in
search of her aunt and cousin, whom she found in the drawing-
room in a state of the greatest trepidation and alarm.
Dolly, a stout woman-servant, had gone to Fountain Street,
as was her custom, to assist her paralysed master home to
dinner. From the windows, meanwhile, they had seen men,
women, and children flying along, hatless, bonnetless, shoeless, their
180 tHB MANCHESTER MAN.
clothes rent, their faces livid and ghastly, cut and bleeding, shrieking
in pain and terror as they ran or dropped in the path of
pursuing troopers; and their hearts throbbed wildly with affright
as they pictured the helpless old man caught in that whirlpool
of horror and destruction, with only a woman's arm to protect
him.
" Jabez will go and meet them," cried Augusta ; " he is
below !"
"Jabez!" exclaimed Ellen, starting to her feet, her white face
flushed for a brief moment. "Oh, no! no!"
But without waiting to hear her cousin's exclamation, or to
note her change of colour, Augusta had run downstairs to Jabez,
waiting in the long kitchen, and communicated her aunt's fears
to him.
Personal danger was unthought of when Augusta Ashton
pointed to needful service. The lobby door closed after him
with a bang before she had well explained her wishes ; and
when Augusta re-appeared in the drawing-room, Ellen Chadwick's
head was stretched from the window, watching the sturdy young
man stem the on-rushing tide of humanity — the only one in all
that crowd with his face turned towards the danger from which
the rest fled in desperation.
The sights and sounds that met her eyes and ears were
terrible ; gashed faces and maimed limbs ; appeals and impre-
cations mingled with the roar of a surging crowd ; the dropping
fire of musketry ; the coarse shouts of the yeomanry, drunk with
wine and blood !
As her fearful eyes followed Jabez, a man rushed past whose
hand had been chopped off at the wrist. With the remaining
hand he held his hat to catch the vital stream which gushed
from the bleeding stump ; and as he ran, he cried " Blood for
blood ! blood for blood !" in a tone which made her shudder.
A PETERLOO INCIDENT.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 181
Faint and sick she drew back her head ; but open
apprehension for her dear father, and secret fear for the
apprentice who had gone so readily to pilot him through that
surging human sea, caused her to look forth once more.
Augusta and her friend, with blanched cheeks and lips, were
also at the window, fascinated as it were with that which
chilled them.
Jabez turned the corner into Piccadilly, where one or two good
brick houses had been converted into shops without lowering the
floors or removing the original palisades, which enclosed bold
flights of steps leading to doors with respectable shop-windows
on each side. A confectioner of some standing named
Mabbott occupied the second of these. He and his neighbour
were hurriedly putting up their shutters as Jabez, crushing his
way through the thickening crowd, saw Molly and Mr. Chadwick
jammed up against the palisades, a young mounted yeomanry
officer, in all his pride of blue and silver, brandishing his sabre,
urging his unwilling steed upon them, and shouting —
" Move on, you rebels, move on ! or I'll cut you down !"
Strong of nerve and will, Jabez thrust the impending throng
aside, and grasped the horse's reins to force it back, crying as
he did so —
" Shame, you coward ! to attack a woman and a paralysed
man!"
"Come in here, quick, Mr. Chadwick!" cried Mr. Mabbott at
that instant, opening his closed gate and drawing the feeble
gentleman and his attendant within, as the sabre, raised either to
terrify or strike the old man, came down on the outstretched arm
of Jabez, gashing it frightfully.
Another of the corps riding past, with his eyes full upon them,
stopped his horse at the gallop, as if to interpose, but he was
too late.
!82 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
"My God! Aspinall, what have you done?" he exclaimed, and
throwing his own reins over the palisades, he dismounted hastily,
caught at Jabez, who had staggered back, and drew him too
within the iron screen, and helped him also into the confectioner's,
as the other, with a derisive laugh which ill-became his handsome
face, turned at a hand-gallop up Oldham Street, where he over-
took a confrere, and with him sneered at "that soft-hearted
Ben Travis."
Ellen and Augusta had not lost sight of Jabez many minutes
when two of the Manchester Yeomanry, their dripping sabres
flashing in the August sun, wheeled their panting charges round,
and rode (heedless of the shrinking wretches beneath their hoofs)
across the footway, and made the brute beasts rear and plunge
against the area-rails.
"Shut your windows, or we'll fire upon you!" they shouted.
Nothing daunted, Ellen called back indignantly —
"John Walmsley, I'm ashamed of you!"
Not sober enough to distinguish friends from foes, again the
pair launched their threat, "Shut the window, or we fire!" and
Ellen, seeing pistols advanced, drew the window down, Mrs.
Chadwick, in much trepidation, closing the other.
"Who was that handsome officer with John?" asked Augusta,
as they drew back; "he's a perfect Adonis." (Augusta dipped
surreptitiously into Mrs. Edge's novels at times, and a handsome
man in uniform was, of course, a hero in her eyes.)
"Oh, Augusta, how can you talk of handsome officers at such
a fearful time?" remonstrated Ellen. "I think them hideous,
every one!"
"But who is he? Do you know him?" she asked, even through
the tears drawn by the scenes she beheld.
"Oh, yes; know him? yes. He's a friend of John Walmsley.
He's too wild to please either Charlotte or me !— Oh, mother! I
THB MANCHESTER MAN. 183
do wish father had come home!" and Ellen turned a worried
look towards Mrs. Chadwick, whose rigid face and clasped hands
betrayed the anxiety which kept her silent.
Augusta, though not naturally void of feeling, longed to know
more of the handsome yeomanry officer who had so captivated
her young fancy; but that was not the season for such inquiries,
and she was conscious of it.
"Hark! what is that?" burst from Mrs. Chadwick, some half-
hour later, as the sound of feet was heard from below ; and
Ellen, rushing to the stairs, came back followed by her father
leaning on the arm of a big muscular man, in the blue and silver
uniform of the yeomanry cavalry, a red cord down his pantaloons,
hessian boots, and, to make assurance sure, M.Y.C. upon the
shako which his height compelled him to doff ere he entered
the doorway.
"Where is Jabez Clegg?" faltered Ellen, as she pressed to her
father's side, led him to his chair, and placed his cushions to his
liking, Augusta bringing a buffet on which to rest his foot.
The stalwart young fellow's eyes followed the attentive
daughter, as he answered —
"We have left Jabez Clegg at Mr. Mabbott's, Miss Chadwick,"
with an inclination of his head. " He was afraid you would be
anxious for your father's safety, and I offered to see Mr. Chadwick
home in his stead."
Ellen's black eyes expanded questioning, and Mrs. Chadwick's
mild voice, in accents indicative of some fear, asked —
"I hope not of necessity, sir?"
" Well, yes, madam ; and I must hasten back ; he has received
a sabre-cut on Eh, dear!"
Ben Travis, for he it was, darted forward to catch Ellen
Chadwick, just as he had previously caught Jabez at Mabbott's
gate :— AspinalPs sabre had wounded two instead of one— Ellen
184 !THE MANCHESTER MAN.
Chadwick, who that day had seen what sabre-cuts meant, had
fainted; Ben Travis bore her to the sofa, Mr. Chadwick pulled
the bell-rope, Augusta ran for water, Mrs. Chadwick called for
vinegar and burnt feathers, and in the midst of the commotion
Mr. Ashton burst into the room in a state of excitement very
foreign to his nature, which was tolerably easy-going.
" Thank God, Augusta, you are here ! " he exclaimed. " Your
mother is almost distracted about you — Why, what is the matter
with Ellen ? The whole world seems gone mad to day — or hell
has set its demons loose. I've just seen our friend Captain
Hindley's horse take fright in Mosley Street at the firing, and
dash with him against those half-built houses at the corner of
Stable Street. He was pitched off amongst the bricks and
scaffolding, and the horse dropped. Old Simon Clegg happened
to be there, and he helped me and another to raise Hindley,
who had fared better than his horse, for it was stone-dead, and
he is only badly hurt."
He had gone on talking, though hardly anyone had listened
to him. Ellen's fainting fit engrossed feminine attention, and
the yeoman, seeing her revive, was saying to Mr. Chadwick,
"You will excuse me now, sir. I must look after our poor
friend Jabez."
" Eh ! what ! Jabez ? You don't mean to say anything has
happened to Jabez Clegg?" exclaimed Mr. Ashton, pausing in the
act of drawing forth his snuff-box.
Travis was gone, but Mr. Chadwick, whose tongue now was
none of the readiest, stammered out —
" Yes, William, w-we le-ft him at Mab-bott the confectioner's.
In try-ying to-o save me he got b-badly wounded. I'm v-very
s-sorry, for he is a n-noble y-young man."
"The wretches! I'd almost as soon they'd wounded me!
Stay here, Augusta ; " and with that Mr. Ashton was off after
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 185
Ben Travis. The main streets were unsafe, so he also took the
back way, and across Back-Piccadilly to Mr. Mabbott's, with a
celerity scarcely to have been expected, for he was not a young
man. But his apprentice had won upon him not only by his
integrity and business qualifications, but by his manifest interest
in the family he served, especially the daughter. Let me not be
misunderstood. Augusta was the cynosure of Mr. Ashton's eyes ;
the homage of the apprentice to the school-girl, he estimated as
the homage of an apprentice merely, and was gratified thereby,
but his imagination never travelled beyond.
He found Jabez on a chintz-covered couch in Mr. Mabbott's
sitting-room, his arm bound tightly with a towel, through which
the blood would force its way. He was pale and exhausted
from excessive haemorrhage, but seemed more concerned about
the fate of the multitude outside than for his own.
Ben Travis, discovering that no one had dared to venture in
quest of a doctor, threw himself across his horse, which he found
where he had left it, and was off up Mosley Street and thence
back to Piccadilly, intent on bringing either Dr. Hull or Dr. Hardie.
His undform was a protection, and so the doctors told him ;
Dr. Hardie plainly saying that black cloth was not plate-armour,
and that his friend, whosoever he might be, must wait until the
tumult had somewhat subsided.
But Jabez was only a couple of hours without attention. There
were hundreds wounded that day, who had to skulk into holes
and corners to hide themselves and their agony as best they
might, afraid of seeking surgical aid, lest Nadin and his myrmidons
should pounce upon them, and haul them to prison as rebels.
CHAPTER THE TWENTIETH.*
ACTION AND RE-ACTION.
HE August sun had looked
down in its noontide splen-
dour when the events I
have attempted to describe
took place , but the tide of
terror and destruction swept
beyond the limits I have
covered, and after the fierce
onslaught, as if the carnage
had been insufficient, artil-
lery went rattling and thun-
dering through the streets,
to awe the peaceful and
terrified inhabitants. As the
flying crowd, dispersing, left bare St. Peter's Field, pressing outward
and onwards through all accessible ramifications, the main thorough-
fares thinned, and the scene of action took a wider radius.
Still the gallant hussars and yeomanry went prancing through
these thoroughfares, dashing hither and thither, slashing at strag-
glers, shouting to the rebels, and to each other, to "clear the
way"; driving curious and anxious spectators from doors and
windows, and firing at refractory outstretched heads.
* See Appendix.
SHOT DOWN.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 187
To clear the streets more effectually, cannon were planted at
the entrances of the leading outlets from the town, and, as if
that were not enough, the artillery had orders to fire.
At New Cross two of these guns (which went rattling up
Oldham Street, to the dismay of Augusta and the Chadwicks,
as well as their neighbours) were posted, one with its hard iron
mouth directed up Newton Lane, the other set to sweep Ancoats
Lane, not then so wide as at present.
Nathaniel Bradshaw's butcher's shop was situated at the nar-
rowest part of Ancoats Lane, a little beyond the canal bridge.
The shutters had been closed precipitately on the first alarm, but
Martha Bradshaw and her young brother Matthew opened the
window of the room above, and had their heads stretched out
to watch and question the white-faced people scurrying past in
disorder, when Matt Cooper, who lived with his genial son-in-law,
came hurriedly home for dinner. His route from the tannery lay
in a straight line up Miller's Lane, past Shude Hill Pits, and
the New Cross, into Ancoats Lane, where he crossed only just
before the cannon lumbered up.
His clogs had rattled as swiftly over the pavement as his
stiffening, hide-bound, long legs would carry them, and observing
the heads of Martha and Matthew advanced from the window,
he waved his hand in gesticulation for them to withdraw from a
post so fraught with peril. But youth is wilful, and woman
curious. They either did not understand, or did not heed his
warning. They did not know all he had seen at New Cross,
or how narrow an escape he had had from Aspinall's flashing
sabre.
"Do goo in, childer!" he cried, as he drew near, "if yo'
wantn to kep the yeads on yo'r shoulders. Wenches and lads
shouldna look on such soights."
" Han yo' seen Nat ? " the wife asked, anxiously.
i88 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
" Nawe."
" He's gone t' see what o' th* mob and feightin's abeawt. Aw
wish he wur whoam ! "
Matt wished the same, but went in at the unfastened door,
and passed on to the room beyond, where he found the untended
lobscouse boiling over into the fire. He took the lid off the
pot; then went to the stair-foot, and called "Martha!"
There being no answer, he strode back through the shop,
saying as he went —
" Dang it, hoo'll not be content till hoo's hurt ! "
He stepped out on the rough pavement, and, looking up,
called out —
" Do put yo'r yeads in ; yo'll "
A musket-shot, splintering a corner of the stone window-sill
on which they leaned, was more effective than his adjuration.
The cannon boomed simultaneously — a shriek recalled the hastily-
withdrawn heads; and there, on the rough, sun-baked ground
before their eyes, lay weltering in blood, a doubled-up form,
which a minute before had been their father, Matt Cooper the
tanner, the preserver of Jabez, the friend of Simon and
Bess.
This harrowing event was the last of the painful incidents
of that fatal day coming within the scope of this history, which,
isolated as they are, the writer knows to be true, even though
they may not be chronicled elsewhere.
The streets grew silent and deserted, save by the military
and medical men, as the day and the night advanced ; but
within the houses of poor and rich there were loud complaints
and groans, and murmurings, which did not sink to silence with
the day that called them forth.
The town was, as it were, in a state of siege ; and men of
business, whether Tories or Radicals, alike felt the stoppage of
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 189
trade and commerce in their pockets, whether they felt the cruelty
and injustice to the injured in their hearts or not.
But chiefly those who had friends wounded by design or
accident in the melee were loud in their denunciation of the whole
proceedings ; and of these neither Mr. Chadwick nor Mr. Ashton
was the least prominent, even though the one was paralysed, and
they were of contrary shades of politics, the former being what he
himself called "a staunch and true out-and-out Tory," the latter
having a leaning towards Liberal — not to say Radical — opinions,
and at county elections voting with the Whigs.
The stiff •' Church and King " man, whose sons had dis-
tinguished themselves in the Army and Navy, and whose son-
in-law, Walmsley, might also be said to have distinguished himselt
in the loyal Manchester Yeomanry — he who had been a member
of John Shaw's Club in the Market Place, and called for his
P. or his Q. bowl of punch even before the aroma of Jacobitism
ceased to flavour the delectable compound, and while yet John
Shaw himself lived to draw his silver spoon from its particular
pocket to concoct the same, and (inexorable autocract that he
was) could crack his whip in his poky bar-parlour in the ears
of even noble customers who lingered after his imperative " Eight
o'clock, gentlemen ; eight o'clock ! " or summon his sturdy factotum
Molly, with mop and pail, to drive thence with wetted feet
those whom the whip had failed to influence — he who had stuck
to the club even after John Shaw, Molly, and the punch-house
itself had gone to the dust — he, Charles Chadwick, whose Toryism
had grown with his growth, was foremost in condemning the
proceedings of Peterloo.
In his own person he had witnessed how the actual breakers
of the peace were those commissioned to preserve it. In the
wanton attack on himself, an unarmed, defenceless, disabled old
man, he recognised the general characteristics of the whole affair,
igo THE MANCHESTER MAN.
and entered his protest against so lawless an exposition of the
law. He was himself a peaceable man, a loyal subject, going
quietly about his own business when Jabez intercepted, to his
own hurt, the sabre destined for his grey head ; Matthew Cooper,
his tenant's father-in-law, was as peaceable and well-disposed ;
and, if so, might not the bulk of the so-called rebels have been
the same ? In his gratitude to Jabez he denounced the mounted
yeoman who had sabred him as " a drunken, blood-thirsty
miscreant," though in the hurry, excitement, and agitation
attending his own withdrawal from the press by Mr. Mabbott,
he had failed to identify his pursuer with John Walmsley's
dashing friend, and the exclamation of Ben Travis had not
reached his ear in the confusion.
Easy-going Mr. Ashton also seemed transformed by the event.
He had certainly lost the valuable services of his apprentice for
some time to come ; but that was the very least ingredient in
the cup of his wrath. By faithful, intelligent service ; by per-
severing industry, by a thousand little actions which had shown
his interest in his employers, and his devotion to his old friends,
Jabez had. won a place in his master's esteem and affection no
other apprentice of any grade had ever attained.
And now that Jabez had risked the dangers of the soldier-
ridden streets to bear his beloved daughter to a place of safety,
and had braved the storm of foot and horse, and fire and steel,
to rescue his brother-in-law by endangering his own life or limbs,
his admiration and gratitude rose to their highest, and in
proportion his denunciation of an outrage which called for such
a sacrifice was strong and vehement — all the more that he
sympathised with the objects of the meeting.
When he and Simon Clegg (who had been drawn to the
scene in his dinner-hour with others, like moths to a candle)
picked up his cavalry friend, Robert Hindley, from amongst the
J.-l
•m nis
STAR INN.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 19I
building materials, and disengaged him from his dead horse, he
could not refrain from telling the disabled warrior, with all a
friend's frankness, that " it served him right ! "
Open expression of private opinion on the conduct of rulers
was dangerous at that period, as may be supposed ; but private
opinion became public opinion, too strong and too universal to
be put in fetters.
Mr. Tyas, the Times reporter, had been taken prisoner on
the hustings, and it was imagined that only a one-sided account —
forwarded by the magistracy in justification of their conduct —
would reach London. But other intelligent reporters were at
large, the garbled statements sent to the Government press were
confuted by the truth-telling narratives of Messrs. Archibald
Prentice and John Edward Taylor, which appeared the following
day, and roused the indignation of the realm. These statements
being more than substantiated by the Times reporter on his
liberation, national indignation rose to a ferment.
This alarmed the Manchester magistrates ; a meeting was
hurriedly arranged to take place on Thursday, the igth (the third
day from Peterloo), at the Police Station ; thence adjourned to
the " Star Inn " in Deansgate ; and, as though the meeting had
been a public one, resolutions were passed thanking magistrates
and soldiers for their services on the previous Monday.
Then Manchester rose, as it were, en masse, to vindicate its
own honour, and reject participation in a disgraceful deed.
"A declaration," says one historian, "was issued, protesting
against the 'Star Inn' resolutions, which, in the course of two or
three days, received close upon five thousand signatures," in
obtaining which none were more active than Mr. Ashton and
(despite his paralysis) Mr. Chadwick. Old Mrs. Clowes talked
her customers into signing, and Parson Brookes was not idle. Mr.
William Clough, whose old servant Matthew Cooper had been shot
192 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
down at his own door, gave the tanners a holiday, that they might
influence their fellows ; and Simon Clegg, Tom Hulme, and
Nathaniel Bradshaw seemed ubiquitous, they went to work with
such determined zeal. They did not feel " thankful " to the
magistrates for the blood shed on Peterloo Monday.
Neither did the bulk of the inhabitants; and an energetic
protest against the proceedings and representations of the magistracy
was the result.
To counteract this, the Prince Regent, through his mouthpiece,
Lord Sidmouth, sent his thanks to the magistrates and the military
leaders for "their prompt, decisive, and efficient measures." But
this, instead of calming, lashed the public mind to frenzy.
Meetings to remonstrate with the Regent and to petition for
inquiry were held in all the large towns, Sir Francis Burdett
presiding at one held in Westminster.
Subscriptions were also got up for the relief of such wounded
and disabled persons as had crept into holes and corners to hide
themselves and their wounds from Nadin and his constabulary;
and here, too, William Ashton and William Clough worked
hand-in-hand to bring relief to sufferers not in the Infirmary ; and
Parson Brookes, to the disgust of some of his clerical brethren,
lent his aid in ferreting out the miserables, if he did not
ostentatiously flourish his subscription in their service ; and I
rather think a certain " J. S." in the subscription list represented
the mite of the Grammar School head-master, but I could not
take an affidavit on the subject. But when the wounded, as far
as ascertained, amounted to six hundred, irrespective of the killed,
subscriptions had need to be many and ample.
Another token of the change in public sentiment was
shown in the satires and pasquinades which appeared on the
walls, or were distributed from hand to hand. Previously to
Peterloo a set of anonymous verses in ridicule of the popular
THE MANCHESTER MAN. jg*
leader had been distributed. They began and were headed as
follows : —
ORATOR HUNT.
i.
Blithe Harry Hunt was an orator bold —
Talked away bravely and blunt ;
And Rome in her glory, and Athens of old,
With all their loud talkers, of whom we are told,
Couldn't match Orator Hunt !
II.
Blithe Harry Hunt was a sightly man-
Something 'twixt giant and runt ;
His paunch was a large one, his visage was wan,
And to hear his long speeches vast multitudes ran,
O rare Orator Hunt !
VI.
Orator Hunt was the man for a riot —
Bully in language and front —
And thought when a nation had troubles to sigh at,
'Twas quite unbecoming to sit cool and quiet,
0 rare Orator Hunt !
VIII.
How Orator Hunt's many speeches will close -
Tedious, bombastic, and blunt—
In a halter or diadem, God only knows :
The sequel might well an arch-conjurer pose.
O rare Orator Hunt !
Sufficient has been given to show the nature of the lampoon
without repeating its scurrility. The following, of which we
only quote the first two stanzas, is of pretty much the same
order, though emanating from the other side, and after terrible
provocation had been given : —
194 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
THE RENOWNED ATCHIEVEMENTS OF PETERLOO,
ON THE GLORIOUS i6TH OF AUGUST, 1819.
BY SIR HUGO BURLO FURIOSO DI MULO SPINNISSIMO, Bart.,
M.Y.C. AND A.S.S.
The music by the celebrated DR. HORSEFOOD ; to be had at the " Cat and Bagpipes?'
St. Mary's Gate, Manchester.
RECITATIVE.
When fell sedition's stalking through the land,
It then behoves each patriotic band
OF NOBLE-MINDED YEOMAN CAVALIERS
To sally forth and rush upon the mob,
And execute the MAGISTERIAL JOB
Of cutting off the ragamuffins' ears.
AKIA BRAVURA.
Forte. How valiantly we met that crew
Of infants, men, and women too,
Upon the plain of Peterloo:
And gloriously did hack and hew
The d d reforming gang.
Our swords were sharp, you may suppose,
Some lost their ears — some lost a nose ;
Our horses trod upon their toes
Ere they could run t' escape our blows :
With shouts the welkin rang.
Andante. So keen were we to rout these swine,
Whole shoals of constables in line
We galloped o'er in style so fine,
By orders of the SAPIENT NINE —
First friends, then foes, laid flat.
By Richardson's best grinding skill
Our blades were set with right good will,
That we these rogues might bleed or kill,
And " give them of Reform their fill ! "
And what d'ye think of that?
And so on the satire ran, in mock-bravura style, through the
whole course of piano, sotto voce, pianissima-mento, and con baldanza,
THE MANCHESTER MAN.
'95
with foot-notes to strengthen or elucidate the text. And that the
writer remained undiscovered and unprosecuted spoke loudly for
the re-action which had taken place in men's minds.
CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FIRST.
WOUNDED.
T the extreme end of Mr. Mabbott's long double-
countered shop was an expansive archway, closed in
general by folding doors, through which entrance
was afforded to a narrow sitting-room, the length of
which was just by so much less than the width of the shop as
was required for a passage and staircase. Once a year the open
archway revealed a shimmering mass of snowy sugar-work, the
towers and turrets of a castle on a rock, or the illuminated
windows of a magnificent palace, fit for any princess of fairyland,
with pleasure-gardens and lake, or fountain and pond, wherein
stately swans floated, and were overlooked by dames and cavaliers
created by the confectioner and his satellites.
For the fifty other weeks it was simply a snug parlour,
comfortably furnished according to the fashion of the time.
And it was in this room we left Jabez, whilst good-natured
Ben Travis, leaving his more patriotic comrades to "hack and
hew" at their pleasure, galloped hither and thither in search of
a surgeon to dress the wounded arm.
Every doctor in the Infirmary had his hands full ; Dr. Hull,
from his windows in Mosley Street, and Dr. Hardie from his in
Piccadilly, had been satisfied that if they ventured forth they
might soon need doctoring themselves — and they both pleaded
"medical etiquette" in excuse for their lukewarmness. They were
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 197
"physicians, not surgeons." He bethought himself of Mr. Huertley,
in Oldham Street, but even he had more than one wounded
patient in his surgery, and was loth to encounter the danger
outside. Ben Travis, however, would take no denial. He waited
until sundry gaping wounds were closed, cuts plaistered and
bandaged, a broken limb set, and a bullet extracted, even lending
a hand himself where unskilled help could be available, being less
bemused with liquor than many of his cavalry corps. Then,
although they were almost within a stone's throw of their des-
tination— as Oldham Street was not safe for a civilian to cross
on foot, with loaded cannon in such close proximity — Travis
mounted the surgeon behind him, the latter not sorry to have
the yeoman's capacious body in its conspicuous uniform for a
shield, as they dashed across into Back-Piccadilly to Mabbott's
back door.
Ere they rode off the younger man cast a sharp glance of
scrutiny at Chadwick's drawing-room windows, and bowed low
in recognition of the face for which he was looking — the face he
had seen so pale and pitiful, bending over an afflicted father, and
so shocked to hear of even an apprentice wounded in that father's
behalf.
Ben Travis had a big body and a big heart, but he had little
knowledge of the hearts of womankind, or he might have found
another solution for Ellen Chadwick's fainting fit. He did not
know how she had trembled for another on seeing him dismount
at Mr. Huertley 's door, nor how she had watched, too sick and sad
to descend to the dining-room, when the spoiled dinner was at
length set on the table— watched eagerly and anxiously, her heart's
pulsations counting each second a minute, as hours elapsed
before she saw them mount and ride away, and noted the direction
they took. And she saw no admiration in the low bow of the
fine soldierly young gentleman— only the polite salutation of a
igS THE MANCHESTER MAN.
stranger introduced casually by the untoward events of the day,
albeit, having rendered her father a service, and professed himself
the friend of Jabez, she was bound to recognise him as he passed.
To Jabez himself, lying faint and exhausted with loss of blood
on kind Mr. Mabbott's chintz-covered squab-sofa, everything was a
haze, and the people around him little more than voices. He was
perfectly conscious when Mr. Mabbott hastily cut away the sleeve
of his jacket, and bound the wounded arm as tightly as towels
could bind. When Mr. Ashton put his troubled face into the con-
fectioner's small parlour, Mr. Mabbott was in the act of reaching
from a corner-cupboard a small square spirit decanter, and an
engraved wine-glass, in order to administer a dose of brandy to
the young man, then rapidly sinking into unconsciousness.
Under its influence he revived for awhile ; but, as the blood
gradually soaked through the towelling, he grew fainter, in spite
of brandy, and by the time Ben Travis (who had surely kept the
promise made in school-boy days) brought Dr. Huertley to his aid,
he had lapsed into a stupor from which the manipulations of the
surgeon barely aroused him.
"You should have tied a ligature tightly as possible round the
arm above the wound, first thing," said the surgeon, addressing
those around him — " a bit of tape, a strip of linen, a garter — any-
thing narrow to stop the haemorrhage. Had this been done, there
would have been less effusion of blood, and our patient would not
have been so utterly prostrated."
"Just so, just so," assented Mr. Ashton, adding, "but Mr. Mabbott
had "
"Done his best — no doubt," interrupted the surgeon, "or our
young friend might have bled to death. But the tight, narrow
ligature would have been better ; and many a valuable life may
have been saved or lost this day through that bit of knowledge
or — the want of it."
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 199
Mr. Ashton's " Just so, just so ; I daresay you are right," was
followed up by " Shall we be able to remove him to-night, Mr.
Huertley? He is my apprentice, and has been injured whilst
bravely protecting your opposite neighbour, Mr. Chadwick, my
brother-in-law. I should like to get him home, to be under Mrs.
Ashton's care, as well as to relieve Mr. Mabbott, to whom, I am
sure, we all feel greatly indebted."
" Don't name it, I beg ; at fearful times like this," said Mr.
Mabbott, with a shudder, "it does not do to think of trouble or of
ceremony. But I do not imagine the doctor would counsel the
young man's removal to-night, even if the road were clear and
safe."
"Certainly not," replied Mr. Huertley, as he packed up his lint
and instruments. " And in my opinion, if you remove him to-morrow
you must do it carefully on every account, and will have to smuggle
him away in a hackney-coach, lest he should be pounced upon as
a wounded rebel."
Two days, however, elapsed before Mr. Mabbott's sofa lost its
occupant, and even then the strong arm of Tom Hulme and the
loving care of Bess were needed to help Jabez, feeble and wan,
to the hackney-carriage brought up to the back door, which bore
him slowly away, avoiding the main streets until they passed
under the arched gateway in Back Mosley Street, whence he had
last emerged at a headlong pace to prevent Miss Augusta getting
into danger.
Some remembrance of this flashed through the brain of Jabez
as the coach stopped in the courtyard, and on the house doorsteps
he beheld Mrs. Ashton, Augusta, and Ellen Chadwick, all three
waiting to receive him as if had been a wounded relative returning
from far-off victories to his own hearth. Nay, the very servants
hovered in the background, even cross Kezia pressing to have a
first look at him.
300 TEE MANCHESTER MAM.
Mrs. Ashton herseifi with the graceful dignity which sat so
well upon her, went down the steps to lead him op and into
the boose, and, as she touched his left hand and unwounded
arm, sae said impressively,
"Jabez Clegg, I understand we owe our brother's life to TOOT
self-abnegation, if not that of our daughter aba I icgiel that
your noble intervention should have cost you so dear; but I
thank you most truly, and shall not forget U."
The stately lady's eyes were humid as she led Jabez into their
common parlour (the room in which Augusta had displayed his
specimens of incipient artistryX and there placed him on the
large soft sofa, already prepared with pillows for his reception.
The attention touched him to the heart ; the humble apprentice,
feeling himself honoured, raised the lady's hand to his lips as
gracefully and reverently as ever did knight of old romance.
And then he would have closed his eyes for very weariness ;
but a little soft, warm hand stole into his feeble one, and, thrilling
through him, a faint tinge chased the deathly pallor from his
face as Augusta's voice, full of commiseration, said apologetically,
* I had no idea, Jabez, that I was sending you into danger when
I asked you to look for Uncle Chadwick; I am so sorry yon
have been hurt"
He held the little hand of his master's daughter for one or
two delicious minutes, while he answered feebly, "Never mind,
Miss Ashton ; I was only too glad to be there in time ; " and
lapsed into so ethereal a dream as he released it, that the low,
broken, grateful thanks of Ellen Chadwick left but the impression
on his mind that she was very much in earnest, and had called
him Mr. CUgg.
Mr. Clegg: When had the College-boy— the Blue-coat
apprentice — been anything but Jabez Clegg? Mr. Clegg! It
was from such lips social recognition, and so blent strangely with
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 201
his dream. Ah! could he but have known how much of latent
tenderness was embodied in those incoherent expressions of a
daughter's gratitude, or that the speaker dared not trust her
faltering tongue with his Christian name !
Mrs. Ashton called the young ladies away.
"My dears, you had better resume your occupations, and leave
Jabez to repose ; it is not well to crowd about an invalid on so
sultry a day as this."
So Miss Chad wick went, with her tatting-shuttle, back to her
seat by the one window where the friendly shade of the dove-
coloured curtains screened from observation any glances which
might chance to stray from the tatting to the sofa; and Miss
Ashton went back to her music-stool, where the sunbeams, falling
through the other window, lit up her lovely profile, shot a glint of
gold through her hair, and showed the dimples in her white
shoulder to the half-shut, dreaming eyes of Jabez, who listened,
entranced, as she practised scales and battle-pieces, waltzes and
quadrilles, totally unconscious that she was feeding a fever in the
soul of the apprentice more to be feared than the stroke of
AspinalTs sabre, though it had cut into the bone.
Not that she was a simple school-girl, and ignorant of the
power of beauty. She was pretty well as romantic as any girl
of that romantic age who, being fifteen, looked a year older, and
learned the art of fascination from the four-volume novels of
the period. Mrs. Ashton herself subscribed to the fashionable
circulating library of the town, but she was somewhat choice in
her reading, and had Miss Augusta stopped where her mother did
she would have done welL But it so happened that, after feasting
on the wholesome peas her mother provided, she fell with avidity
on husks obtained surreptitiously elsewhere. Kisses from Augusta
could always coax coins from papa, and as a Miss Bohanna kept
open a well-known, well-stocked circulating library in Shudehill,
202 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
albeit in a cellar, its contiguity to Bradshaw Street and
Mrs. Broadbent's enabled Miss Ashton (or Cicely for her) to
smuggle in amongst her school-books ether fictions, such as
Elizabeth Helme and Anna Maria Roche used to concoct,
and Samuel Richardson provided, to delight our grandmothers
with.
So Miss Ashton was quite prepared to be admired and play
the heroine prematurely ; but she had been reared in the same
house with Jabez, had been caressed and waited upon by him
as a child, and anything so absurd as her father's apprentice
falling in love with her had never dawned upon her apprehension.
Then not even his wounded arm could make him handsome
enough for a hero, so she plunged through the " Battle of
Prague," and " Lodoiska," and glided into the " Copenhagen
Waltz," with no suspicion of a listener more than ordinary.
Mrs. Ashton, who was back-stitching a shirt-wristband (family
linen was then made at home), imagined that Jabez was dozing,
and, unwilling to disturb him, only spoke when a false note, or
a passage out of time, called for a low-voiced hint to her
daughter, or when she found occasion to make some slight
observation to the equally silent Ellen.
Presently the clock in the hall proclaimed " five." Miss
Ashton closed music-books and piano ; Miss Chadwick completed
a loop, then put her tatting away in a small, oblong, red
morocco reticule ; Mrs. Ashton laid the wristband in her work-
basket, which she put out of sight in a panelled cupboard
within the wall, sheathed the scissors hanging from her girdle,
and folded up the leather housewife containing her cut skeins of
thread, &c. James brought in the tea-board, with its genuine
China tea-service, plates with cake and bread-and-butter, and
whilst he went back to Kezia for the tea-urn, in walked Mr.
Ashton, and with him the Reverend Joshua Brookes.
THE MANCHESTER MAN.
203
One might have supposed his first salutation would have
been to the lady of the house. Nothing of the kind ! With
a passing nod to Mrs. Ashton, who had extended her hand,
he marched straight to the sofa, and greeted its occupant
with
"Well, young Cheat-the-fishes, so you've been in the wars
again?"
"Yes, sir," said Jabez, attempting to rise.
" Lie still, lad ! And so you thought a velveteen jacket
defensive armour against sharpened steel ? "
" I never thought about it, sir."
" Ugh ! Then I suppose you reckoned a young man's arm
worth less than an old man's head ! Eh ? "
Jabez smiled.
"Certainly, sir."
" Humph ! I thought as much ! " Then darting a keen
inquisitive glance from under his shaggy eyebrows at the prostrate
young fellow, he added, in his very raspiest tones, "And I
daresay you've no notion whose sabre carved the wing of the
goose so cleverly ? "
What little blood was left in his body seemed to mount to
the face of Jabez, the old scar on his brow — which every year
made less conspicuous — purpled and grew livid. Old Joshua
needed no more.
" Ah, I see you do ! Well, are you inclined to forgive the
fellow this time ? "
All ears were on the alert. Jabez caught the quick turn of
his kind master's head. He hesitated, paled, and flushed again.
Joshua Brookes waited. There was some indecision in the reply
when it did come.
" I am not sure, sir. But he was very drunk. I don't think
he would have done it if he had been sober."
204
THE MANCHESTER MAN.
"Just so, Jabez — just so!" assented Mr. Ashton with evident
satisfaction, and a tap on his snuff-box lid.
Ben Travis had revealed the name of Mr. Chadwick's assailant
to the manufacturer, and he to the chaplain.
" Oh ! that's your opinion, is it ? " cried the latter, crustily,
wheeling sharply round to disguise a smile. " Here, madam,
let's have a cup of sober tea after that ! "
" I think, Mr. Brookes," said Mrs. Ashton, as she seated
herself, "with all due deference to you — I think you ask too
much from Jabez. I do not consider drunkenness any excuse
for brutality."
" No excuse for the brute, madam, certainly ; but a reason
why a reasoning man should forgive the brute incapable ot
reason."
" Just so, Parson ! " chimed in Mr. Ashton, laying his Barcelona
handkerchief across his knee.
" I don't see it, sir," argued Mrs. Ashton, handing a willow-
patterned cup and saucer, with his tea, to her interlocutor ; " a
man who is a brute when intoxicated should keep sober. For my
own part, I should be loth to let the same stick beat me twice.
Our apprentice has borne quite too much from that fellow "
(she waxed indignant), "and there is a limit to forgiveness."
" Yes, madam," answered the Parson snappishly, " there is a
limit to forgiveness ; but the limit is ' not seven times, but
seventy times seven ! ' "
There was no more to be said. The rough chaplain spoke
with authority, and from experience, and Jabez knew it.
CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SECOND.
MR. CLEGG !
OWEVER grateful Mrs. Ashton
might be she never lost sight
of her personal dignity, and
had no idea of admitting
Jabez on terms of equality
after that first reception.
In his helpless condition
he required attention, which
she could not condescend to
render personally; yet she was
as little inclined to delegate the
duty to Kezia, who was never
over well-disposed towards him,
and might have resented the
call to "wait on a 'prentice
lad," or to Cicily, who was
too young to have the run ot a young man's chamber. It was
like herself to hit on a happy mean, and invite Bess Hulme at
once to satisfy her own longings, and meet the requirements of
the case, by waiting on her foster-child in his helplessness,
bringing with her her own boy, now two years old, to be
committed to willing Cicily's care when the mother was herself
engaged.
HOUSE OF JOSHUA BROOKES.
206 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
Yet the apprentice never again sank into the old ruts. His bed
in the attic was turned over to his successor. From that parlour
where he had lain and listened to Augusta's music, and Parson
Brookes' dictum ; where Mrs. Ashton had placed his pillows, and
Ellen Chadwick had supplied his wants with such intuitive perception
at tea-time; from that room he went to a chamber on an upper
floor, furnished neatly but plainly, with due regard to comfort.
There was a mahogany camp-bedstead, draped with chintz of
most extraordinary device. The bed was of feathers — not flock.
An oak chest of drawers, which did duty for a dressing-table,
stood by the window, which itself overlooked the yard, and on the
top stood a small oval swing looking-glass. There were small
strips of carpet along the two sides of the bed which did not
touch the wall ; an almost triangular washstand in one corner,
and near the middle of the room a rush-bottomed chair and a
small tripod table. There was also a cushioned easy-chair, which
had a suggestiveness of being there for that special occasion only;
and Jabez, who, on his first glance around, began to speculate
whether the whole would not vanish with his convalescence, was
reassured when he saw that his wooden box had been brought
from the attic and stood against the wall.
The six-foot, bronzed, bearded man of forty remains a child to
the mother who bore him, or the woman who nursed him. And
as she had laid him in his cradle when a baby, Bess helped
Jabez to his _new bed, fed him with the beef-tea which Kezia had
prepared (for a wonder, without a grumble), gave him the cooling
draught Mr. Huertley had sent in, smoothed his pillows for repose,
and kissed his brow, with a " God bless thee 1" much as she had
done when he was an ailing child, but with all the access of
motherliness her own maternity had given.
Nevertheless he did not sleep readily. Neither Bess's soothing
hand nor the soft bed superinduced slumber. He was modest,
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 207
and " Mr. Clegg " haunted him. He could not see the connection
between his impulsive rush forward to check the yeoman's
plunging steed, and his employer's recognition of the service
rendered.
" I only did my duty," he debated with himself, as he lay there,
with a mere streak of light from the glimmering rushlight showing
between the closely-drawn curtains — " I only did my duty. Any-
one else would have done the same in my place. If I had once
thought of consequences and grasped the reins deliberately, there
would have been some bravery in that. But I never thought of
the sword, not I. I only thought of poor old Mr. Chadwick and
Molly; and I'm sure Mr. Mabbott's ready hand did as good
service as mine. Only, I happened to get hurt. Yes, that's it!
And they are sorry for me. I wonder if that ruffianly fellow
did know whom he was striking at? I hardly think he did, he
was so very tipsy. If I fancied he did, I — but he could not. He
was just blind drunk. What a pity, for such a handsome fellow,
not older than I am, and a gentleman's son, too! Forgive him!
I don't think I've much to forgive. I'd bear the pain twice over
for all the kind things that have been said and done since!
Tea in the parlour with Parson Brookes and all! And this
handsome bed-room [handsome only in untutored eyes]. And all
the thanks I have had for so little. And, oh ! the bliss of holding
Augusta's delicate hand in mine, and hearing the music those
white fingers made. It's worth the pain three times over. And
Mr. Clegg, too ! Mr. Clegg ! How like a gentleman it does sound !
Will anybody call me Mr. Clegg besides Miss Chadwick? How
fond she must be of her father, from the way she thanked
me!"
(Ah, Jabez ! what oculist can cure blindness such as thine ?)
If less consecutive, still in some such current ran the young
man's thoughts, until chaos came, and his closed eyes saw
2o8 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
innumerable Mr, Cleggs written on walls, and floor, and curtains,
and a delicious symphony seemed to chorus the words, and "lap
him in Elysium."
After that, once each day, Mrs. Ashton paid him a brief
visit of inspection and inquiry, generally timed so as to meet
the surgeon. Mr. Ashton, with less of ceremony, dropped in
occasionally, to bring him a newspaper, book, or pamphlet to
beguile the hours, and was not above loitering for a pleasant
chat on matters indoors and out, the state of political feeling,
and of business, in a manner so friendly Jabez was at a loss
to account for it. Once or twice Augusta tapped at the door,
to ask if Jabez was better, and to "hope he would soon be
well," and the simple words ran through his brain with a thousand
chimerical meanings.
Joshua Brookes paid him a couple of visits, brought him papers
of sweetmeats and messages from Mrs. Clowes, and a Latin
Testament and a worn ^Eneid from his own stores, as a little
light reading. Mrs. Chadwick, too, made her appearance at his
bedside, with kindly and grateful words from her husband ; and
amongst them he was in a fair way of becoming elevated into
a hero to his own hurt.
Simon Clegg (who pulled off his thick Sunday shoes in the
kitchen, and went up-stairs in his stocking feet, lest he should
make a clatter and spoil the carpets) counteracted the mischief,
and somewhat clipped the pinions of soaring imagination.
Jabez, his arm bandaged and sustained by a sling, lay with
his head against the straight, high back of his padded chair,
between the window and the fireplace, which glowed, not with
live coals, but a beau-pot of sunflowers and hollyhocks from
Simon's garden. At his feet lay little Sam, fast asleep, with his
fat arms round the neck of Nelson, the black retriever, which
had somehow contrived to sneak past Kezia with his tail
THE MANCHESTER MAN.
209
between his legs, and to follow Bess up-stairs, where he had
established himself in perfect content.
Simon greeted his foster-son with bated breath, awed no doubt
by the lamp-bearing statues in the hall and on the staircase, and
hardly raised his voice above a whisper while he stayed. He had
much to tell which the reader already knows, but he took his
leave with quite a long oration, impressed no doubt by the comfort
in that chamber, as well as by the grandeur in rooms of which
he had caught a glimpse through open doors. Jabez, himself,
being still feeble, had spoken but little.
" Moi lad," said he, " this is a grand place, but dunnot yo'
let it mak' yo' preawd ; an' aw hope as yo'r thenkful yo'han
fallen among sich koind folk."
"Indeed I am."
"Yo' did nowt but whatn wur yo'r duty, moi lad, as aw
trust thah allays wilt ; and thah's getten a mester an' missis i*
ten theawsand, to mak' so mich on a cut in a 'prentice's arm —
ay, tho it wur got i' savin' one o' theer own kin ! Luk yo',
Jabez : o' th' mesters aw ever saw afore thowt as 'prentices,
body an' soul, wur theer own ; an' yo've lit on yo'r feet, aw con
tell yo'. An' yo' conno' do too mich for sich folk. Aw see
they're makkin' a man on yo', an' dunnot yo' spoil o' by thinldn'
yo' han earnt it, an' han a reet to it. We're unprofitable
sarvants, th' best on us. An' dunnot yo' harbour anny malice
agen th' chap as chopped at yo'. Them Yowmanry Calvary wur
as drunk as fiddlers, an' as blind as bats. Thah tuk* thi chance
wi' the ruck, an' came off better than some folk. So thenk God
it's no waur, an' bear no malice ; an' thenk God as sent yo'
theer i' the nick o' time."
In little more than a fortnight Jabez was downstairs again,
although his arm, not being thoroughly healed, yet needed
support, and he was not hurried into the warehouse. Neither
2io THE MANCHESTER MAN.
was he again invited to join the family, Mrs. Ashton having
objected to Mr. Ashton's proposition.
" It would lift the young man out of his sphere, William, and
do him more harm than good. Only very strong heads can
stand sudden elevation; and it is well to make no more haste
than good speed."
But Mr. Ashton's " Just so " was less definite than ordinary,
and he took a second pinch of snuff unawares, with a prolonged
emphasis, which supplied the place of words. To the observant,
Mr. Ashton's snuff-box contained as much eloquence as did Lord
Burleigh's celebrated wig. He had taken a liking to the lad
from the first, paid very little deference to Mrs. Grundy, and
gave Jabez credit for a stronger head than did his more cautious
and philosophic lady.
Yet, Jabez, to his surprise, found that his little room down
stairs had undergone a transformation. It was no longer a bare
office, fitted only with a desk and stool. Desk and stool were
there still, but a carpet, hanging shelves, a few useful books, and
other furniture had been introduced, the result being a compact
parlour. Mrs. Ashton had her own way of showing good-
will.
His previous application to work in that room, when his fellow-
apprentices in over hours were cracking jokes on the kitchen settle,
lounging about the yard, tormenting or being tormented by Kezia,
had served somewhat to isolate and lift him above them, albeit
he took his meals in the kitchen with the rest. This separation
was now confirmed by orders Kezia received to " serve Clegg's
dinner in his own room," orders which Kezia resented with
asperity, and at least three days' ill-humour, and which James
declined to execute. He was " not goin' to disgrace his cloth by
waitin' on 'prentice lads!" Ready-handed Cicily came to the
rescue, and took the office on herself, amid the banter of the
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 211
kitchen, which the quick-witted maid returned with right good
will and right good temper.
Permission to receive his friends in his own room occasionally
had been graciously accorded by Mrs. Ashton herself, with the
characteristic observation —
"They are worthy people, Jabez Clegg, and you owe them a
son's duty ; besides, you need some relaxation — ' The over-strained
bow is apt to snap,' and 'All work and no play makes Jack a
dull boy.'"
Altogether he was more than satisfied. He was not demon-
strative, but his heart swelled as he felt within himself that all
these little things were stepping stones upwards ; and he mentally
resolved to mount them fairly. He recognised that he was rising,
and ere the week was out he found that others recognised it also.
His blood-stained garments had been removed, whither he knew
not, and he had to fall back on his grey frieze Sunday suit. Be
sure he began to calculate the chances of getting a fresh one.
As he was able to go out, he was employed on out-door
business until his arm should regain its full vitality, and one of
his errands was with a note to Mr. Chadwick's tailor, in King
Street. At first he thought there was some mistake when the
fraction of a man proceeded without more ado to take his measure.
Saturday night proved there had been no mistake. On his
bed, accompanied by a very kind note from Mr. Chadwick
(written with his left hand), lay not only a well-cut, well-made
suit of clothes, but a hat, white linen shirts, neck-cloths, and hose.
Did ever a young girl turn up her back hair, or young man
assume his first coat indifferently? To Jabez— the foundling— the
Blue-coat apprentice, this was not merely a first coat, not merely
a badge of approaching manhood, — the whole outfit, provided
as it was by his master's brother-in-law, seemed a recognition of
the station he was henceforth to fill. No clerk in the counting-
212 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
house was so well equipped as he, when he stood before his oval
swing-glass (for the first time far too small), and endeavoured to
survey himself therein, that fine September Sunday morning.
I will not presume to say that he looked the conventional
gentleman in that suit of glossy brown broadcloth, and beaver
hat ; I will not say that he did not feel stiff in them. Only use
gives ease; but this I will say, that a more manly figure never
gave shape to garments, or a more noble head to a hat, albeit
there was more of strength than beauty in the face it shaded.
His forehead was broad and well developed ; the reflective as
well as the perceptive faculties were there. There was just a
slight defensive rise on the else straight nose ; the eyebrows were
full save where a scar broke the line of one. Firm but pleasant
were mouth and dimpled chin, and the lower jaw was somewhat
massive ; but his full grey eyes, dark almost to blackness, and
standing far apart, were clear and deep as wells where truth lay
hid, though deep emotion had power to kindle them with the
luminosity of stars.
I am afraid he was not the only one on whom Parson Gatliffe's
eloquence was thrown away that Sabbath morning. If he looked
up at the Blue-coat boys in the Chetham Gallery with their quaint
blue robes and neat bands, to throw memory back and imagination
forward, others were doing likewise, from old Simon in his free
seat to his envious fellow-'prentices in the pew, whose mocking
grimaces drew upon them the sharp censure of the beadle.
Party spirit was then at a white heat. Had Peterloo been
written on his forehead it could not have marked him out for
curious eyes more surely than his sling.
Greetings, not altogether congratulatory, followed him through
the churchyard. But old Simon caught his left hand in a
tremulous grasp, his eyes moist with proud emotion. Tom Hulme
beamed upon him, and Mrs, Clowes, energetic as ever, overtook
THB MANCHESTER MAN. 213
them a few yards from the chapter-house, just as Joshua Brookes
emerged from the door.
" Well, my lad, I'm glad to see you at church again ! " she
exclaimed, shaking him warmly by the left hand. " I hardly knew
you in your fine clothes. They've made quite a gentleman of
you. We shall have to call you Mr. Clegg now, I reckon."
"Now, Mother Clowes, don't you give Jabez humbug of that
sort ; it's sweet, but not wholesome. ' Fine feathers make fine
birds.' He's as proud as a peacock already, Mr. Clegg, indeed!
and him a 'prentice lad not out of his time ! Let him stick to
the name we gave him at his baptism — it's worth all your fine
Misters." And Joshua turned off, muttering, " Mr. Clegg, indeed ! "
as he went away.
Neither the old woman in her antiquated gown and kerchief-
covered mutch, nor the old parson in his cassock and square cap,
modulated their loud voices. Jabez blushed painfully. Both had
touched sensitive chords.
But others had heard the "Mr. Clegg," and he heard it again,
from Kezia and the apprentices, in every tone of mockery and
derision. Thence it travelled into the warehouse. He bore it
with set teeth through many a painful week, until the title stuck
to him, and the taunt was forgotten in the force of habit.
CHAPTER THE TWENTY-THIRD.*
IN THE THEATRE ROYAL.
IT has been said that Madame Broadbent had various
subtle ways of advertising' her "Academy" (as the
directory has it), by which she generally contrived to
"kill two birds with one stone." One of these would
scarcely have been practicable in any but a theatrical town like
Manchester, where not even the fierceness of party politics could
close the theatre doors. She was particularly fond of a good
play, and as particularly careful of her own pocket. So she
watched for such occasions as a special benefit or "Bespeak '
night, to engage one of the dress-boxes, and take tickets for a
select party of her pupils. The young ladies — apart from all
natural love of amusement and display — were taught to regard
their admission to Mrs. Broadbent's train as a high honour — a
mark of exceeding distinction ; and few were the parents so stern
or so niggardly as to refuse the four shillings for a box-ticket
when Madame invited and Miss pleaded.
The then Theatre Royal, in Fountain Street, which was opened
in 1807, under Macready's management, and brought to the
ground by fire in 1844, was, in 1820, a building so capacious — so
solidly built — it might not fear comparison with Drury Lane.
Stage, scene-rooms, dressing-rooms, were all on an extensive scale.
* See Appendix.
HENRY HUNT.
Front an Engraving.
THE MANCHESTER MAN.
215
There were three tiers of boxes, a large pit, and an immense
gallery breaking the line of the third tier. With the exception of
the large side boxes, which were partially on the stage, all these
boxes were open to the view, having only a divisional barrier the
height of the parapet, light iron pillars supporting the weight
above. There were no chairs — only narrow, baize-covered benches,
innocent of backs. And the theatre was lighted by sperm-oil lamps,
those round the auditorium being suspended by cords over pulleys,
so as to be lowered for lighting, trimming, &c. But the glory of
that theatre, of which it was shorn at a later date, was its box-
lobby — a lofty, open promenade, wide as a street, and long in
proportion, for its one grand entrance was in Fountain Street,
the other in Back Mosley Street. Only for the step or two at
either end, carriages might have driven through, or, depositing their
living loads within at the saloon doors, have turned easily and
driven back.
This lobby was naturally a lounge, as well as a waiting-place
for servants and others with wraps and pattens, neither carriages
nor hackney-coaches being numerous, and the streets being — well,
not quite so clean or well-paved as at present.
The ten days' trial of Henry Hunt and his compatriots at
York had, as is well known, resulted in sentence of imprisonment
for different terms, to the discomfiture of one party, the exultation
of the other. Close upon the promulgation of this sentence came
Easter week, at the beginning of April, 1820, when Jabez had
little more than a month to serve of his apprenticeship. Edmund
Kean was then playing at the Theatre Royal, supported by Sophia
M'Gibbon — daughter of Woodfall, the memorable printer of
"Junius" — a favourite on the Manchester "boards."
Either to mark their satisfaction at the result of the trial, or
their admiration of the great tragedian, the officers of the
Manchester Yeomanry Cavalry bespoke "Othello" for the
2i6 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
Wednesday evening, and Mrs. Broadbent made the most of the
glorious opportunity. She engaged a box close to the centre of
the dress-circle, on terms well understood, and as small people
take less room than large ones, and her front row was very
juvenile, she contrived to make it a profitable investment, even
though she took a teacher with her (at a lower rate). The
young ladies assembled at the school, and made quite a
procession to the theatre, where Mrs. Broadbent's own maid took
charge of hats and cloaks, and waited drearily in the saloon.
Then, duly marshalled by Madame Broadbent and Miss Nuttall,
they filed into the box decorously and took their seats, the
youngest in the van — the whole programme having been rehearsed
and re-rehearsed for a day or two beforehand.
A bouquet of white rosebuds they might have been called,
white muslin was so general ; but one young lady blushed in pink
gauze, and Augusta Ashton's lovely head and shoulders were set
off by delicate blue crape. There were round necklaces of coral
or pearl, long loose gloves of cambric or kid, and every damsel
in her teens had her fan. But of fans, commend me to Madame
Broadbent's. It was no light trifle of ivory or sandal-wood, but
of strong green paper, spotted with gold, with ribs and frame of
ebony, and it measured nearly half-a-yard when closed. Her
well-saved, long-waisted, stiff brocaded robe and petticoat might
have been her wedding-dress kept for state occasions ; but that
fan, slung by a ribbon from her wrist, was part of her
individuality — the symbol of her authority inseparable from her
walking self. A relic of her younger days, she employed it —
citing Queen Charlotte as her examplar — to arrest attention, to
admonish, to chastise ; and woe to the luckless little lady on
whom it came in admonition !
The box was filled to the very door, where Miss Nuttall kept
guard. Madame Broadbent displayed her own important person
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 217
on the third row above the curly heads of the smaller fry, and to
Augusta Ashton — being a profitable pupil of whom she had reason
to be proud — was allotted a seat next to herself.
The house was full and fashionable, both stage boxes being
occupied by members of the Manchester Yeomanry, resplendent in
silver and blue. Laurence Aspinall, John Walmsley, and Ben
Travis were of the party. In the pit were the critics, pressing
as closely as possible to the stage. Nods and smiles from friends
in different quarters of the theatre greeted the component parts
of Madame Broadbent's bevy of innocents, and smiles responded.
Then rose the green curtain upon Edmund Kean's Othello
and Mrs. M'Gibbon's Desdemona. The audience was enthralled.
Act by act the players kept attention fixed, and all went well
until the last scene. But, as Othello pressed the murderous pillow
down, one of Madame Broadbent's white-frocked misses in the
front row, with whose relatives Desdemona lodged when she was
not Desdemona, started up, and cried out piteously —
"He's killing Mrs. M'Gibbon ! He's killing Mrs. M'Gibbon !"
The clear voice rang through the house to the consternation of
the actors, the amusement of some, and the annoyance of the
audience. Some of the officers laughed outright in the very face
of the tragic Moor ; but Madame Broadbent was furious, all the
more that she was bound to suppress her passion then and
there.
For the credit of her "Academy" she, however, felt bound to
resent so flagrant a breach of decorum. Tapping the tearful culprit
on the shoulder with her ready fan, in a stern whisper, scarcely less
audible than the child's impulsive tribute to the great tragedian,
she asked, "How can you bemean yourself so far, miss, to the
disgrace of the school?" and beckoning the child forth, she was
passed to Miss Nuttall at the very back of the box, sobbing more
for Mrs. M'Gibbon than for Mrs. Broadbent.
218 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
This caused a change of places, which brought Miss Ashton
more prominently into view. Laurence Aspinall, an ardent
admirer of beauty, put his hand on the shoulder of the officer
before him, and said — " Good heavens, Walmsley ! Do you see
that lovely creature in Mother Broadbent's box?"
"Which?" was the obtuse answer.
"Which!" (contemptuously echoed.) "The divine beauty in
celestial blue. Who is she?" And his admiring gaze brought a
conscious blush to the young lady's forehead, although the
querist was beyond her hearing.
"In blue?" And Walmsley lazily scanned the group. "Oh!
that's Charlotte's cousin, Augusta Ashton ! Yes, she is rather
pretty ; " and the married man turned away to the stage.
" Rather pretty ! She's an angel ! You must introduce me !"
" Well, well !:' answered the other testily, anxious to end a
colloquy which distracted his attention from the tragedy, "I'll
see. But she's only a schoolgirl — not yet sixteen !"
" Egad ! but she looks seventeen, and she'll mend of that
disqualification every day ;" and still he kept his eyes on
Augusta in a manner extremely disconcerting, though her romantic
little heart fluttered, for in him she recognised the " Adonis "
who had reared his horse so threateningly in front of her Uncle
Chadwick's house,
The green curtain came down amid universal plaudits. Ladies
rose to rest themselves and chat, as was the custom. Gentlemen
quitted their seats to join friends elsewhere, to lounge in saloon
or box-lobby, or to take a hasty glass at the " Garrick's Head "
adjoining.
Amongst the latter were Walmsley and Aspinall ; but they
did not return when the prompter's bell rang the curtain up.
There was a pas de deux of Tyrolean peasants by the chief
dancers of the company. Then followed an interlude, and then
THB MANCHESTER MAN.
a comic song, all before the last piece ; but the comrades did
not return ; and Augusta found herself wondering whether the
handsome officer, with the rich copper-coloured hair, would come
back at all.
They did make their appearance during the progress of the
drama (Monk Lewis's "Castle Spectre," in which Mrs. M'Gibbon
gave ocular demonstration that she was not killed), both seemingly
exhilarated, but they left again before the drama concluded.
Well drilled as were Madame Broadbent's pupils, they could
not quit their box in the same order they entered it — big people
so seldom recognise the right of little ones to precedence. They
straggled into the saloon, separated by the crowd. There Madame
Broadbent, assisted by Miss Nuttall, collected her brood, and
passing on to the box— lobby, they looked around for their
respective attendants.
There was one — a fine young man, in height some five feet
ten — who sprang forward with shawl and calesh for Miss Ashton,
at the same time bowing deferentially to the pompous dame with
the big fan. He proceeded to adjust the shawl round the dimpled
shoulders so very precious to him, and said —
"I hope you have had a pleasant evening, Miss Augusta."
Then bowing again to Mrs. Broadbent, he offered his hand
respectfully to the young lady to conduct her home.
On the instant they were intercepted by Aspinall and Walmsley,
neither so sober as he might have been.
" Augusta, here's my friend, Aspinall ; deuced good fellow —
quite struck with you," was Captain Walmsley's unceremonious
introduction — at a time, too, when introductions were somewhat
formal.
" Quite, Miss Ashton," he assented. " Ton my soul, I am !
Your charming face has quite captivated me, and those eyes
pierce my heart like bullets. Permit me to escort you home."
22O THE MANCHESTER MAN.
There was an amusing consciousness of his own attractions in
this free expression of his admiration. A woman of the world,
with her weapons ready, might have dismissed him either with
hauteur, badinage, or cool indifference; but to Augusta Ashton,
almost a child in years, it was bewildering and disconcerting.
Her eyes fell — her colour rose. She stood silent, abashed, and
confused. Native modesty took alarm.
Jabez came to her relief.
" Miss Ashton is under my protection, sir ; she requires no
other escort."
The words were cool as those of a man who, having his
temper well under control, did not choose to quarrel, though his
pulses were beating like drums. With cool effrontery his old
antagonist looked him full in the face.
" So it's you again, yellow-skirt ! A nice fellow to protect a
pretty girl : a fellow without skill to defend himself, or spirit
to resent an insult ;" and the speaker's red lips curled with
derision.
The eyes of Jabez kindled and his teeth set. There was no
lack of spirit, but not the spirit of which common brawls are
made. He was anxious to get the trembling Augusta away
from the gathering crowd.
Madame Broadbent, shorn of half her pretty train, came up
aghast.
" Young lady ! Miss Ashton ! What is "
A wave of the silver-braided sleeve set her aside, chafed and
indignant at the freedom and impertinence.
"Keep out of the way, Mother Broadbent. Look after the
rest of your lambkins. Miss Ashton's cousin and I propose to
see your pupil home."
" All right, Augusta," said Walmsley, thickly ; " we'll see you
home."
" BRAVO CLEGG !
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 221
But she clung in dismay to the arm of Jabez, and not
Hercules himself could have torn her from him. Ignoring the
coarse taunt of Lieutenant Aspinall, he endeavoured to lead her
past them, simply saying to Captain Walmsley —
" Mr. Ashton committed his daughter to my care. I am
answerable for her safety,"
Aspinall, mistaking his calmness for pusillanimity, again
intercepted their passage, and would have taken Augusta's hand.
But a will strong as his own — an arm strengthened by lifting
and carrying heavy burdens — was opposed to him. Jabez struck
no blow ; he thrust out an arm with muscles like leather, swept
the offensive lieutenant aside, and down he went on the stone
pavement of the lobby.
"Bravo, Clegg!" exclaimed a voice from the rear, and the
burly form of Ben Travis parted the curious crowd, as leviathan
parts the waves, before the infuriated Aspinall could rise or
Walmsley interpose. " That's right ; take the young lady away,
and leave these gallant bucks to me. I'll guard the honour of
our corps."
The terrified young lady and the inebriated young bully were
alike in sure hands. But consequential Madame Broadbent,
ignored, forgotten, had received a blow to her importance she
was not likely to forget or overlook.
CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FOURTH.
MADAME BROADBENT'S FAN.
OHEY had made their exit from the Fountain Street
end of the box-lobby to avoid the rush from the
gallery door in Back Mosley Street, which somewhat
lengthened the short distance Jabez had to convey
his precious charge, who appeared more apprehensive of offending
Madame Broadbent by scant and unceremonious leave-taking
than troubled by the impertinence of the young officers.
Truth to tell, the whole adventure had a savour of Miss
Bohanna's circulating library about it, and she felt herself
elevated into a heroine by the occurrence. But her appearance
before Madame Broadbent in the morning would be very real
and unromantic, that lady resenting nothing so much as
disrespect.
"You see, Jabez, I did not even make a curtsey to her as
we came away. I am afraid she will be displeased."
" If you think so, Miss Ashton," he replied, respectfully, " I
will hasten back as soon as I have seen you safely home, and
bear your apologies to Madame Broadbent. She may not have
left the theatre. Besides, I feel that I also owe an apology for
leaving a lady of her age unprotected in the midst of such a
scene. It was very remiss on my part," he added, " but, indeed,
at the time I thought only of placing you beyond reach of
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 223
further insult ;" and Augusta could hear him mutter between his
teeth, "The impertinent puppy!"
The distance even from Fountain Street was very inconsiderable,
and they had reached the broad steps of the door in Mosley
Street, and his hand was on the lion-headed knocker when this
ejaculation escaped him.
Service from Jabez was so much a matter of course that
Augusta regarded his care for herself, and his proffer to run
back at her bidding, only in the light of apprentice-duty; but
that muttered exclamation spoke of smothered passion, and
before James was roused from his doze in front of the far-away
kitchen fire by that peal on the knocker, and sleepily opened
the door, she had added a caution as an addendum to her
message to Madame Broadbent.
" I hope, Jabez, you are not going back to — to interfere or
quarrel with Mr. Walmsley and the other officer. If they are
not quite sober, you must remember they are gentlemen."
" I will forget nothing I should remember, Miss Ashton,"
said he, as James unclosed the door for her entrance, and he
darted off, the emphasis she had laid on her closing words
having stung him keenly with a sense of his social inferiority
in her sight. " She evidently thinks the apprentice College-boy
has no right to raise his hand against gentility in uniform, how-
ever drunk or disorderly it may be," he thought, as he ran along,
spurred by a manly desire to show that it was not cowardice
which had caused him to leave his prostrate enemy in the
hands of a deputy.
He was not three minutes in reaching the box-entrance in
Back Mosley Street ; but for all that, the short walk home, and
the brief delay caused by sleepy-headed James, had given ample
time to empty and close the theatre, from which more than
half the audience had dispersed before they left. Even the oil
224 THE MANCHESTER MAN,
lamps over the doors were extinguished ; and though a few
stragglers loitered about — the natural hangers-on to histrionic skirts
— and there were brawlers in the neighbourhood, he saw none
of those he went to seek.
The fact was, Captain Travis had hauled Lieutenant Aspinall
from the ground with little ceremony, and with a sharp reproof
for "the disgrace he was bringing on their corps by insulting a
young lady in a public place, as if sufficient odium did not
attach to the Yeomanry already," forced him into a waiting
hackney-coach, giving the driver orders to bear him home to his
father's house on Ardwick Green, heedless of the young officer's
remonstrance to the contrary. But Jehu, who knew his fare
drove him instead to the " George and Dragon " on the opposite
side of the Green, and Mr. Aspinall saw nothing of his hopeful
son that night.
Nor would Charlotte Walmsley have seen much more of her
husband, had not kind-hearted Ben gone far out of his own way
to land John safely at home. Perhaps it would be hardly fair
to calculate too nicely how far he was influenced to that by the
relation of the Walmsleys to Ellen Chadwick, since the secret
springs of action often lie too far down even for self-knowledge.
As for Madame Broadbent, no sooner had Miss Nuttall disposed
of the last of the budding misses than she hid her indignation
in the deep shadow of her large calesh, and with an access of
importance, left the theatre, slightly in advance of her humble
dependants, and made her fearless way through Fountain Street
and High Street, with a step which augured unpleasantness for
all beneath her roof if her supper were not done to a turn and
served to a nicety.
Augusta was somewhat loth to leave her pillow in the morning,
after the night's unusual dissipation, and was still more reluctant
to encounter her lessons and Mrs. Broadbent ; and she for the
WHITE HART, WHALEY BRIDGE.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 225
first time remarked to Cicily that she thought she was "quite
too old to go to school." As if the world was not one huge
school, wherein the dunces get punished most severely, and
even the best and brightest do not escape the rod. But Augusta
Ashton, buoyant, blooming, cherished, admired, adored, could not
see that her real schooling would begin when Madame Broadbent's
reign ceased.
No doubt Mr. Ashton would have been coaxed into granting
an extension of his darling daughter's Easter holiday, and suffered
her to remain at home that Thursday morning, but he was at
Whaley-Bridge ; and mamma met her request with : —
" No, my dear, you have had quite holiday enough. It would
be setting a bad example to infringe Madame Broadbent's rules.
Go, my dear, and go cheerfully. I will send Cicily for you at
noon. The streets will be rather rough this week."
She went, though not cheerfully, and Cicily was duly despatched
to bring her home ; but neither Cicily nor Miss Ashton had
returned when dinner was put upon the table at half-past
twelve o'clock. Then Mrs. Ashton recalled her own words
respecting the rough streets, and the insult offered as unwelcome
tribute to Augusta's beauty over-night ; and, though by no means
a nervous woman, the mother grew restless and apprehensive —
a lovely daughter who is an only child is so very anxious a
charge. As she sat down to her solitary meal, another thought
crossed her mind.
"James, ask Mr. Clegg to oblige me by stepping this
way."
Mr. Clegg was with her in an instant : the summons was
unusual.
"Jabez, I'll thank you to ascertain why Miss Ashton has
not returned from school at the usual time. Cicily has been
gone almost an hour. Should Madame be keeping her in for
226 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
any breach of etiquette last night, pray offer an apology for me
and my daughter also, but at the same time politely insist on
Miss Ashton's immediate return to dinner."
" I believe I owe Madame Broadbent an apology myself,"
answered Jabez, smiling. " I shall be glad of an opportunity to
discharge the debt."
The schoolroom door was midway down the dark, narrow,
arched entry. Groups of girls, with slates and bags in their
hands, loitering on the pathway at the entrance and in the
passage, made way for him, with curious looks and whispers
among themselves (Jabez was not unknown to some of the senior
pupils). The schoolroom door stood ajar ; the whole place was
in a commotion unprecedented in that precise establishment.
Madame Broadbent, holding by the copy-slip axiom,
"Familiarity breeds contempt," preserved her dignity and that
of her high office by avoiding personal contact with her pupils,
save at stated hours. Her assistant-governesses were at their
posts from nine until twelve, from two until four ; but Madame
herself only sailed into the long room from the house door
across the entry at eleven o'clock to receive, reports, inspect
work, dispense rewards, or administer reproof and chastisement.
"Spare the rod and spoil the child " had not been abolished
from the educational code fifty-five years back.
The double shock her importance had received at the theatre
sent her home to quarrel with her supper ; and, as a meal
despatched in an ill-humour does not easily digest, Othello and
the Castle Spectre haunted her pillow, and broke her rest with
nightmares.
She rose late, and stepped into her schoolroom later than
usual, to visit her accumulation of disagreeables on minor
delinquents, as well as on the primary offenders.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 227
Let us be just. Madame Broadbent had gracious smiles and
approving words to dispense to the ultra-good, and their very
rarity made them valuable. But if she rewarded any that day,
it was only that severity might stand out in contrast. Little
hearts beat, little fingers plied industrious needles, little eyes
bent over work, when Madame's step was heard in the entry ;
but when her august presence fairly filled the room, every little
damsel rose simultaneously, and saluted her entrance with a low,
formal, deferential curtsey.
Two rooms had evidently been thrown into one to give
required space, the back portion being curiously lit by a narrow
small-paned window extending along the side, high above the
rows of racks and pegs. It was the writing end of the room.
Madame Broadbent occupied a seat in the front portion, almost
opposite to the door ; and as she marched towards it with more
than ordinary loftiness, and beat her fan on her table with one
peremptory tap, instead of a short rapid quiver, to enforce her
command, " Attention, ladies ! " the very youngest of those ladies
could interpret the signs portentously. Lucky was the young lady
whose work passed muster that morning; so many were condemned
to stocks, backboard, columns of spelling, recitations from the
" Speaker " and Thomson's " Seasons," lengths of open hem, back-
stitching, or seaming !
At length Madame Broadbent, having dismissed ordinary
business, rapped her fan upon the table, and, in a sharp,
peremptory tone, called " Miss Ashton ! " — and Miss Ashton, who
had been expecting the summons all the morning, came forward
at her bidding, but not with the ordinary alacrity of pupilage.
She had left her childhood (I had almost said her girlhood)
behind her in the box-lobby of the Theatre Royal.
" Miss Brookes ! " cried the same sharp voice ; and, with a
painful start, the little girl who had committed such a terrible
228 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
breach of decorum before a whole theatre as to utter her
impromptu commentary on the tragedian's art, rose, trembled,
burst into tears, but was too agitated to obey with sufficient
promptitude. Her seat was on a low front form. Madame took
a step forward, stretched out her arm, and dragged the child
by the ear to the side of Augusta, then gave her a smart cuff
as an admonition to more prompt obedience another time.
Then with another rap of her fan on the table, which set all
hearts palpitating, she began an inflated harangue to the mite
of a child and the budding woman, in which she reproached
them both with bringing disgrace on the "Academy," hitherto so
irreproachable. The one had drawn the attention of a whole
theatre to her ill-breeding and want of proper training; the
other by " boldness of look and manner had licensed the free
speech of loose men ; " and, as if that were not enough, had
"been the cause of an unpardonable insult to herself." She,
Madame Broadbent, so highly honoured and respected by the
chief people in the town, to be called " Mother Broadbent ! " — it
was an outrage not to be endured !
Her temper interrupted her oration ; she shook Augusta
violently, and condemned her to remain in school until she
had learned one of Mrs. Chapone's letters by heart. Then
she darted on the smaller Miss as the primary cause of all,
shook her till the little teeth chattered, and dragged her by the
lobe of the ear towards a dark closet, set apart for heinous
offenders.
Something akin to rebellion had been growing in Augusta's
breast all the morning. She was a girl of quick impulses and
sympathies, and was not only struck by the disproportion of
punishment meted out, but by the terror on the little one's
face. She threw herself in their path, and to the utter astonish-
ment alike of pupils and teachers laid hold of the child to
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 229
release her, exclaiming as she did so, "You shall not lock her
in the dark! you will kill her with fright, you cruel Madame
Broadbent!"
If Madame Broadbent had been wrathful before she was
furious now. Never in her long experience had she been so
braved. Without thought, without premeditation, she raised her
heavy fan and struck sharply at Augusta. The blow fell on her
beautiful bare neck, the collar-bone snapped, as it will do with
a very slight matter, and Augusta dropped !
Cicily, waiting outside at the time, heard Madame's raised
voice and Augusta's impetuous remonstrance; then a thud, a fall,
and a suppressed scream from the girls ; and without pausing
to knock, she pushed open the door. Cicily had been too long
the recipient of Augusta's school-girl confidence to stand in much
awe of Mrs. Broadbent at best of times. Now she darted
forward to raise her young mistress, whom she almost worshipped,
and certainly did not consult either Madame's feelings or dignity
in the epithets she launched at her.
No one had been more electrified at the effect of that stroke
with the fan than Mrs. Broadbent's self. She seemed petrified,
and Cicily's indignant outburst fell on deaf ears ; but as Miss
Nuttall ran for water, and Cicily cried out for a doctor, she
roused to self-consciousness, and closed the school-room door as
if to keep the outer world in ignorance of what was going on
inside.
A wide latitude was then allowed for school discipline; but
even Madame Broadbent was sensible that the blow which had
felled Mr. Ashton's only daughter was a blow to imperil her
seminary.
Augusta did not revive. Miss Nuttall suggested that the
school should be dismissed, and a doctor fetched ; and, before
either could be effected, Jabez was on the spot. He took in
230 THE MANCHESTEk MAN.
the scene at a glance ; Augusta, white as her frock, her hair
all in disorder, lay extended on a form, her head supported by
the kneeling Cicily, whilst excited girls and teachers flocked
helplessly around.
" Good heavens ! what is the matter ? What has happened to
Miss Ashton?" was his hurried and agitated inquiry.
One said one thing, one another. Wrathful Cicily came
nearest to the mark. "That old wretch has struck ar darlin' wi1
her great fan. A'm afeared her neckbone's brokken ! "
" Impossible ! She could not be so heartless ! " he cried, as
the group made way for him to pass, and he knelt down
opposite to the sobbing Cicily, on the other side of the form,
and sprinkled the pallid face so dear to him with water some
one had brought in.
There was no sign of revival. " My God ! this is terrible !
Oh, madam, how could you do it ? Mrs. Ashton will be
distracted ! " and he started to his feet, inexpressible anguish in
every feature. "But this is no time for revilings. Where is the
nearest doctor?"
" There is Mr. Campbell in Hanover Street — and "
Brushing unceremoniously past his informant, he was with the
Scotch surgeon before Miss Nuttall had recovered from her
surprise, or Madame from her stupor.
Mr. Campbell was quickly on his way to attend this new
patient, and Jabez speeding towards the top of Market Street.
There he hired a hackney coach from the stand, close as he
was to home, and drove straight to Dr. Hull's. He bore the
doctor from his unfinished dinner with impetuosity, brooking no
delay. They found Augusta Ashton faint, pale, but restored to
consciousness, in Madame's own dingy parlour, where the author
of the mischief was doing her best to put a favourable colour
on the disaster.
CHAPTER THE TWENTY-FIFTH.
RETROSPECTIVE.
HE collar-bone was broken ;
there was no mistake about
that ; but Jabez, mindful of
Mrs. Ashton's protracted
anxiety, lingered no longer
where he would fain have
remained than to see the
surgeon prepare — under Dr.
Hull's supervision — to reduce
the fracture ; a delicate
process, since to the collar-
bone no splints can be
applied.
Augusta's affection for
her mother overcame her pain.
" You will be careful how you tell mamma, Jabez, I know ;
do not frighten her ^more than you can help ; she will be so
terribly distressed," faintly murmured she, as he again departed.
With all his haste and care, so much time had been spent,
Mrs. Ashton's fears had already conjured up all manner of evils,
all, of course, wide of the mark. That something was wrong
she felt assured, and he found her dressing to follow her
dilatory messengers. The stoppage of the coach and his evident
SEDAN CHAIR.
232 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
agitation were confirmatory ; but the absolute facts roused as
much indignation as grief.
Yet Mrs. Ashton never forgot herself; and though the waiting
coach bore her to Bradshaw Street to add her maternal
reproaches to the wrathful utterances of Cicily, the rough
rebukes of Dr. Hull, and the prickings of Madame Broadbent's
own conscience, the natural dignity of her manner more overawed
and impressed the resentful schoolmistress than all which had
gone before. She was as profuse in apologies as in extenuating
pleas, but she was not prepared to combat Mrs. Ashton's
proverbial argumentation.
"Facts are stubborn things, madam, and she who cannot
govern herself is not fit to govern others."
Neither coach-making nor road-making had reached the acme
of perfection, and Augusta's removal home, without the
displacement of the bone, had to be considered.
A sedan chair — one of the last in the town — was still kept for
invalid use behind the Infirmary. Jabez was aware of this, and
before Dr. Hull could make the suggestion, he had proposed to
go for it, and was back with the black, brass-nailed sedan long
before the doctors thought their patient fit to be removed.
As the unfamiliar vehicle waited at the " Academy " door,
it attracted the notice not only of neighbours and returning
schoolgirls, but of passers-by, until Madame Broadbent was in a
fever. The reputation of her school was at stake, and she felt
that every extra moment that hand-carriage and wheel-carriage
remained standing there, the bruit of the lamentable occurrence
was spreading farther afield.
There had been no cessation of afternoon school duties, albeit
the teachers alone presided, and discipline was somewhat relaxed.
But when patient, doctors, friends, and vehicles had gone their
way, and the school was soon after dismissed, the harassed,
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 233
agitated, and prescient disciplinarian surrendered herself to
alternate fits of hysteria, passion, lamentation, and overweening
assumption.
That first outburst over, the self-important dame stood on her
" right to maintain discipline," even when confronted by Mr.
Ashton, no longer the easy-going, pleasant parent of a paying
pupil, but the angry father of an injured only child, who had
posted from Whaley Bridge on the first intelligence of the
mischance, leaving his business incomplete.
Not alone to the inmates of the house in Mosley Street was
Augusta Ashton precious. Notwithstanding her sometime
waywardness (the result of her father's over-indulgence), she had
endeared herself, by her affectionate heart and winsome ways,
to a wide circle of friends ; even Joshua Brookes was less grim
with Augusta ; so no wonder Jabez was secretly devoted to her
heart and soul. Great and general was the sympathy expressed
on the occasion.
Mrs. Chadwick and Ellen were with Mrs. Ashton before the
afternoon was out, and at Augusta's eager desire her cousin
remained behind, not only for companionship, but as chief nurse'
an office for which Ellen had that peculiar fitness observable in
some women, coupled with the deftness and experience gained
in long attendance on her father.
And now, leaving Augusta in the hands of love and skill,
with all that affection and wealth can lavish upon her in
furtherance of recovery, let us step backwards to the previous
September, when Peterloo was fresh, and Jabez yet wore his
left arm in a sling.
Whaley Bridge has been mentioned more than once, for in
that village, near the high road from Manchester to Buxton, Mr.
Ashton possessed a water-mill on the picturesque banks of the
river Goyt, which there divided the counties of Cheshire and
234 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
Derbyshire. It had been established in the previous century,
together with another in the contiguous vale of Taxal, by a
speculative ancestor of Mrs. Ashton, whose old hall was in the
locality. The two places had been chiefly colonised by his
workpeople, many of whom had been pauper apprentices from
Manchester and Warrington.
Besides the mill, Mr. Ashton owned the "White Hart" Inn,
close to the bridge, where the Buxton coaches stopped ; and
Carr Cottage, a long, low, rough-cast building, nestling under the
shadow of a fine old farmhouse which crowned the elevated
ridge of Yeardsley-cum-Whaley, lang-syne the Gothic stone Hall
of the warlike Yeardsleys.
From this farmhouse Carr Cottage was separated by a retired
walk at the back, which — itself a wilderness of nettles, gave access
to the cellarage and a clear well — led the adventurer away
up the hill between the cottage grounds and the farmer's tall
high-banked hedges, which almost overtopped the cottage roof.
And on the left of the cottage (as viewed from the high road)
spread the granaries, stabling, and farmyard, enclosed by remains
of the ancient wall, and entered by a step or two through an
ancient Gothic doorway, over which ivy and honeysuckle clambered
in luxurious rivalry.
The cottage, which on each floor contained four capacious
rooms in its length, was on the ground divided in the middle
by a respectable lobby — the house-place and kitchen lying on
the left, the parlours to the right as you entered. There were
two staircases, one at each end of the building, the one running
upwards in the kitchen itself, the other from a small enclosed
space at the back of a parlour, containing also a china closet
door, and lit by a low window close to the foot of the staircase,
whence it was possible to step out into the garden, unseen by
anyone in the house. Otherwise, both chambers and parlours
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 235
had doors of communication from end to end of the building,
the two middle chambers being only accessible through the
others.
The lower windows in the front — at least, those of the large
parlours— were brought close to the ground, and overlooked a
charming landscape ; descending, at first suddenly, from the
widespread flower garden (with its one great sycamore to the
right of the cottage for shade), then with a gradual slope to a
beanfield below, to a meadow crossed by a narrow rill ; then,
after a wider stretch of grass, the alder and hazel fringe of a
trout stream, skirting the high road, on the far side of which
tall poplars waved, and in autumn shed their leaves in the wider
waters of the Goyt fresh from the bridge, where the road bends.
Rivulets, road, and river ran parallel. And from the road a
broad wooden gate gave access (over a bridge across the trout
stream) to a wide, steep avenue between trim hedges, rising
to the level of the cottage, in itself as delightful a retreat as
any wearied denizen of town could desire. To Mr. Ashton it
was necessary as an adjunct to his factory; an occasional home
for his family in the summer, a lodge for himself when a visit
of inspection was desirable.
Hearing that the general discontent was spreading amongst
his own workpeople at Whaley Bridge, Mr. Ashton, without
waiting for the stage coach, put himself into a long-skirted drab
overcoat, with high collar and small double cape, ordered reluctant
James to "find another for Clegg," and having stowed away a
carpet bag and a case of pistols, lest they should be molested
on the road, he mounted his high gig, with Jabez by his side,
and set off to "take the bull by the horns," as Mrs. Ashton
had advised.
Away they drove through the mild September air, up London
Road (where houses had been growing in the years since we
236 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
scanned it last) and past Ardwick Green Pond, where a dashing
young buck, booted and spurred, lounged at the door of the quaint
" George and Dragon," and followed them curiously with his eyes ;
yet not so swiftly but Jabez had time to recognise with
accelerated pulse his former assailant, Laurence.
Longsight, Burnage, Fallowfield left behind ; Stockport Bridge
gained, they went walking by their horse's head up the steep hill,
between frowning houses, to the " Pack Horse " in the Market
Place, where the beast was baited, and the travellers dined at
the same table, Jabez not for one moment forgetting the social
distance between his master and himself.
Again seated, they quickly left the smoke-begrimed, higgledy-
piggledy mass of brick and mortar called 'Stockport' behind, and
were away on country roads, where yellow leaves were blown
into their faces, where brown-faced, white-headed cottage children
were stripping blackberries from the wayside brambles, or ripe
nuts from the luxuriant hazels which have since changed the very
name of the Bullock Smithy, through which they drove at a
gallop, to Hazel Grove.
It was a glorious treat for Jabez, was that drive, and Mr.
Ashton, conversing with him as they went, was surprised to
discover his love of Nature, and his knowledge of her secrets.
This induced reminiscences of the early years of Jabez when
Simon took him pick-a-back into the fields on Sundays ; and Mr.
Ashton led him on to dilate on his childhood among his first
friends, until he had a closer insight into the young man's heart
than in all the years he had served them.
But the object of their journey had not been forgotten ; and
at Disley, hearing Mr. Ashton remark that they were but three
miles from Whaley Bridge, Jabez ventured to suggest —
''Do you not think, sir, as I am unknown in Whaley Bridge, I
might make enquiries, and ascertain the feeling of the people
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 237
better if I went on foot, having no apparent connection with you?"
" That is a wise thought of yours, young man. Just so. I will
put you down at the next milestone. Here is a guinea for your
expenses at the 'White Hart.' But country people are inquisitive;
what do you propose to be?"
"Well, sir, I took the liberty to bring a sketch-book with me
— I don't get many such opportunities — I could represent myself
as an artist ; or I could cram my pockets with plants and roots
as I went along, and say I was a botanist in search of specimens."
" Stick to the artist, Jabez ; our country botanists would soon
floor you on their own ground — they know more of plants than
pencils, I'll warrant." And Mr. Ashton, handing the reins to
Jabez, took a pinch of snuff on the strength of it
Mr. Ashton, putting up the collar of his topcoat, drove direct
to Carr, much to the surprise of his unprepared overlooker and
wife, who had charge of the cottage. He said nothing of any
companion ; and Jabez some twenty minutes later walked into
the bar of the "White Hart," dusty and weary, as if with long
walking ; called for bread-and-cheese and ale ; intimated his
intention to remain the night, if he could have a bed ; talked of
the scenery, and led the host to tell of the best points for
sketching.
Professing fatigue, he kept his seat in the bar-parlour the
remainder of the day. The sling, not yet wholly discarded, drew
attention, as he expected it would. The incomers, eyeing him
askance, talked politics before him, and finding him less glib than
themselves, whispered that he was a refugee from Peterloo, and,
to show their sympathy with the party to which he was supposed
to belong, freely discussed the political aspect of the district
before him.
He was young, free with his money, and they were not reticent.
He found that the overlooker had made himself, and his master
238 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
through himself, obnoxious to his weavers, and that only prompt
measures would prevent an outbreak.
The next morning Mr. Ashton put his head into the inn,
greeted " Mr. Clegg " as some one he was surprised to meet in so
remote a spot, and invited him to Carr Cottage.
Jabez accepted the invitation for the afternoon, saying he could
not spare the morning. Under pretence of sketching, he took his
way by the Goyt to the neighbourhood of the mill with pencils
and sketch-book ; women and children flocked inquisitively round
him in their dinner-hour, and talked to him; then he rested in a
weaver's cot, and when he found his way to Carr in the afternoon,
and sat with Mr. Ashton for privacy under the dropping keys of
the sycamore, he had brought with him the key to the prevailing
discontent.
Mr. Ashton listened, took an enormous quantity of snuff,
dropped an occasional "Just so," and, knowing the sore, set about
healing it. He drove back to Manchester, leaving Jabez as his
temporary deputy — high honour for so young a man — and the
overlooker was required to render up his accounts.
A fortnight later, as Jabez was midway up the avenue to Carr
in the afternoon, he turned, hearing the blithe bugle of the coming
Buxton coach, and watched its dashing progress along the road.
To his astonishment it stopped at the gate. He himself reached
the spot at a run.
His eyes had not played him false. Simon Clegg, in his
best clothes, was there on the box seat ; Tom Hulme and
Bess and little Sim sat close behind him. Mr. Ashton was himself
an inside passenger.
In the bustle and confusion of alighting, and dragging boxes
from the boot and from the top, curiosity was kept on the stretch.
It was not until the entire party were under the roof of the cottage
that Jabez was enlightened. Tom Hulme was the new overlooker,
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 239
Bess the new caretaker of Carr Cottage, which was henceforth
their rural rent-free home ; and to Simon, long disqualified by
rheumatism for the wet and slush of the tannery, was given the
charge of the garden, with a boy under him. And of all the
group old Simon and little Sim were most delighted.
Some eight months before, Sim (then about two years old) had
slipped on the frosty stones in the old Long Millgate Yard, and,
rolling down its rugged declivity, was supposed to have injured
his spine, and he had been too delicate ever since to run about
freely. To the child, therefore, whose shoulders seemed unnaturally
high, the change from the stifling court was something too
exuberant for expression. To Simon Clegg, who, in losing his
crony Matt, had felt the old haunts oppressive, the bountiful
expanse of nature before him, and the comfortable fragrant home,
were matters for deep thankfulness.
"Moi lad," said he to Jabez, when the latter was about to
depart with Mr. Ashton, after they were fairly inducted, " ar
Bess said thah would be a Godsend to us, an' thah has bin.
This Paradise o' posies has o' grown eawt o' thy cradle. God
bless thee!"
" I think, my dear, the experiment will succeed. There is a
matronly air of respectability about Mrs. Hulme that will help
to uphold her husband's position amongst the workpeople, and
I can trust his soldierly discipline for keeping the rebellious in
order."
Thus said Mr. Ashton to his good lady, sitting by the fireside
after supper, the night of his return home. Then, after a little
pondering and trifling with his snuff-box, he added, as if
reflectively —
" It is all very well, my dear, to serve the young man's
friends and ourselves at the same time, but I should like to do
something for Jabez himself. It is entirely to his clear head
240
THE MANCHESTER MAN.
and his tact that we owe the preservation of peace at Whaley
Bridge. I should like to give him a rise."
" My dear William, make no more haste than good speed,
and never do things in a hurry," replied his calm proverbial
philosopher. "We must not excite the envy of his fellow-clerks,
or we shall surround him with enemies from the first. In
removing his humble friends you have cleared one barrier to his
advancement."
Mr. Ashton did not say "Just so!" for a wonder; he turned
his gold box round and round in his fingers, and at length
gave utterance to a thought which took Mrs. Ashton by surprise.
"If we remove all the young man's old associations, don't
you think we ought to provide him with new ones ? "
" I think, William, we ought to ' leave well alone ; ' smooth
paths are slippery paths. The young man will be out of his
time in six months ; you can then advance him if you think
proper — in the warehouse — but I do not feel disposed to open
our drawing-room to him, if that is what you are driving at ; "
and she drew herself up as if her dignity had received a blow.
" We-11, no — not exactly ! " and Mr. Ashton, unable to express
what he did mean exactly, shuffled and fidgeted till he upset
his snuff on the Brussels carpet.
CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SIXTH.
ON THE PORTICO STEPS.
ETWEEN that expedition to Whaley Bridge, with its
terminal connubial conversation, and the breakage of
Augusta Ashton's collar-bone, rather more than six
months intervened — six months during which Mr.
Clegg, as his good master had anticipated, felt the solitary
state of his trim sitting-room somewhat oppressive, the permission
to receive his old friends becoming a nullity on their removal.
He occupied a position midway between parlour and kitchen —
above his old associates of the porringers, the fireside settle, and
the sanded stone floor, and beneath the family seated round
the tea-urn on cushioned chairs and Brussels carpet. Towards
the former he cast few backward looks of regret — he had put
his past behind him — but, oh ! who shall tell his unuttered
longings for the "Open Sesame I" to that paradise of which he
had had one rapturous glimpse, and one only — that paradise
where his master's daughter, so high above him, moved like a
seraph, and filled the air with harmony !
I am afraid that at this time he brooded over his
orphanhood and that unknown father who had disappeared so
mysteriously, and strained his soaring thoughts in their flight
towards possibilities more than was good for him. He was too
much alone for one of his years, and there were times in those
long, candle-lit winter evenings when books and pencils dropped
242 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
from his wearied hands, and for lack of a companion he held
dreamy converse with the fire.
Of course his library was restricted, and there were no
institutions in Manchester at that time where young men of
his class could meet for mutual improvement, or that mental
polish caused by the attrition of mind upon mind. Occasionally,
at long intervals, and at first to the utter confusion of James,
Captain Travis had inquired for "Mr. Clegg," and been shown
into the little sitting-room with a disregard to " caste " very
creditable to both of them ; and now and then Mr. Chadwick
and Mr. Ashton would drop in together for half-an-hour's chat,
the gratitude of the former being deeper than the surface.
But rarely did a feminine face save Cicily's brighten up his
solitude, and she, devoted to her young mistress, had always
something to say about Augusta, if only what she wore or how
she looked, which sent him off into dreamland immediately.
Sunday was a very chequered day ; when he missed his old
friends most. True, he followed the family to church, perhaps
carried Augusta's prayer-book, exchanged a word of kindly
greeting with old Mrs. Clowes and Parson Brookes, who was not
as hale as he had been ; but there was no old Simon to grip
his hand, no Bess to give him a motherly smile, and unless
the weather was fine enough for a ramble in the fields with
Nelson for companion, the rest of the day was very dull indeed.
The fan which broke Augusta's collar-bone broke down a
barrier for Jabez. No personal sacrifice attended the service he
rendered. He but went and came as an active messenger.
But he went and came with intelligence and promptitude, and
exercised for mother and daughter both the care and forethought
of a much older man.
In the father's absence the father was not missed. What
came under Mrs. Ashton's own eye Mrs, Ashton could appreciate.
THE MANCHESTER MAN.
243
and the commendation of Dr. Hull was not without its weight.
He had said —
" Capital fellow to send for a doctor, that messenger of yours,
Mrs. Ashton ! A determined, persistent fellow ! Would see
me and haul me off with only half a dinner, though I protested
and he had already got a surgeon there before me ! "
His thought about the sedan chair, which he had accompanied
to Mosley Street to insure care on the part of the chair-men,
and had ordered into the very lobby of the house, the cautious
manner in which he had lifted Augusta thence and borne her
to the ready couch, coupled with his protection of her daughter
in the theatre the night before, weighed down the scale already
trembling in the balance, and Mrs. Ashton's " Jabez, I am
deeply indebted to you," was not mere words. He was her
messenger to the Chadwicks, her amanuensis to Mr. Ashton, and
when Ellen and her mother arrived somewhere about tea-time
for the second occasion he was invited to join their party ; and
one, if not two, pair of cheeks burned as the invitation was given.
Then, the night Mr. Ashton returned home, to find Augusta
an invalid, he was gratified to see Jabez again at the tea-table,
and after that at odd times, until the restraint upon him
gradually wore away, and he would read to Augusta and Ellen,
as the latter sat at work, and do his best to make the time
pass pleasantly.
Next Mr. Ashton took it into his head to teach him
backgammon and cribbage, to help to make his own evenings
at home more lively.
And Mrs. Chadwick, who for some occult reason had resisted
her husband's desire to show courtesy to his preserver, could
scarcely be less gracious than her grander sister, who owed him so
much less ; so now the green-parlour door in Oldham Street
was opened to him, and as Jabez refreshed his memory with
244 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
Hogarth's prints, he felt that he had made another step up the
ladder.
Those were halcyon days ; while Augusta, too tall to be robust,
recovered so slowly, and was so much gratified by his attempts
to entertain her. Halcyon days for more than one.
Yet, ere Jabez was out of his apprenticeship, or Augusta had
left her pillowed sofa, a pebble was thrown into the stream
which broke the surface of the tranquil waters, and disturbed
them for ever.
Mr. Ashton was one of the original shareholders in the Portico,
a classic stone building erected in 1806 as a library and reading-
room, on the other side of Mosley Street, which, with its pillared
facade and flight of steps, like an Ionic temple, looked down on
the plain red-brick front of the Assembly Rooms, though its
opposite neighbour stood quite as high in repute, and was equally
exclusive in its constitution.
Mr. Aspinall, the Cannon Street cotton-merchant (who dined
with the Scramble Club, instituted by business men whose
homes were in the suburbs), was likewise a shareholder in the
Portico ; and from constant meeting at the long tables within
the book-shelved, galleried walls of its lofty reading-room, he
and Mr. Ashton had a tolerably lengthy acquaintance, although
it had never ripened into intimacy — the men were so dissimilar.
Charlotte Walmsley was naturally troubled by the result of
Madame Broadbent's notions of discipline, and not unnaturally
(considering the condition in which Ben Travis had taken him
home) blamed her husband as the primary cause. As naturally
he shifted the onus to the shoulders of Laurence Aspinall, and,
taking him to task, plainly told him he ought to apologise.
Laurence snatched at the proposal.
" My dear Jack, nothing would please me better ! I'll make a
thousand apologies, if you'll only introduce me."
BY THE PORTICO STEPS.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 245
John Walmsley had had quite enough of introductions ;
besides, he stood in some awe of Mrs. Ashton, and did not know
how she might take it, especially as his friend Aspinall had
acquired the character of a " wild spark." He emphatically
declined. But if Laurence Aspinall once set his mind on a
thing he would attain it, if within the range of possibility,
whether by fair means or foul, whatever might be the con-
sequences.
For a few days he was on his best behaviour at home ; and
having won his father over by expressions of deep contrition,
and promises of reformation, and the assurance that he would
never again do anything " unbecoming a gentleman," he prevailed
on him to introduce him to Mr. Ashton, with a view to making
his own apologies in person.
'•Well, Laurence, you can go with me to the Portico to-morrow
morning, and if Mr. Ashton is there we will see what can be
done ; " the tone in which this was said clearly implying, " If we
seek an introduction to the Ashton's for the purpose of making
the amende honorable as befits gentlemen, there can be no doubt
of its acceptance.
But when they met Mr. Ashton on the steps of the Portico
the following morning; the self-complacence of the lofty gentleman
received a slight but uncontemplated check. Mr. Ashton nodded
to Mr. Aspinall with a beaming face, and would have passed
his acquaintance with a mere " Good morning," but the other
stopped, and after shaking hands, and remarking that trade was
slack, presented, with due formality, the handsome, elegant, six
feet of dandyism who bore him company.
" Mr. Ashton, let me make you acquainted with my son, sir —
Mr. Ashton, my son Laurence ; Laurence, Mr. Ashton."
The young gentleman raised his stylish beaver from his rich
coppery curls, and bowed with courtly grace in acknowledgment
246 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
of Mr. Ashton's formal bow, whilst his father continued, almost
in the tone of one who confers an honour —
"The fact is, my son, sir, desires an opportunity of expressing
to Miss Ashton his deep regret for the indiscretion of which he
was guilty in the lobby of the Theatre Royal, some ten days back."
The smile faded from the face of Mr, Ashton, who, with a
reserve very foreign to him, put his hand into his pocket for his
snuff-box instead of extending it to the young man, and, tapping
it with a little impatience, caught at his words.
"Indiscretion, sir? What you are pleased to call 'indiscretion'
has placed my daughter in the doctor's hands with a broken
collar-bone."
Before Mr. Aspinall could reply, Laurence, better skilled to
temporise, interposed.
"So, to my infinite regret, my friend Mr. Walmsley has already
informed me, sir. And I assure you, I take shame to myself that
any word or action of mine should have led to consequences so
lamentable. No one, sir, can deplore the injury Miss Ashton has
sustained, more than myself — the unhappy cause. It is this, Mr.
Ashton, which impels me to seek an opportunity to express the
sensibilty of my grave offence, and my extreme regret, to Mrs.
Ashtcn and Miss Ashton in person. I cannot rest until I have
implored their pardon !"
The tones in which this apolegetic speech was delivered were
at once so suave, remorseful, and sympathetic that Mr. Ashton,
whose sternness was seldom of long duration, was considerably
mollified. He looked at the handsome, dashing blade before him,
whose blue eyes seem full of gentleness and pity, and felt as
though the boy he had seen torturing old Brookes, and the
yeomanry officer who had slashed at Mr. Chadwick and Jabez
Clegg, could never be one and the same. He reverted to the
latter circumstance —
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 247
" I think, young sir, you owe an apology to someone else under
my roof — the young man who received the sabre-cut you designed
for my brother-in-law, Mr. Chadwick."
Aspinall's handsome face flushed. His father's quick reply
gave him time to think.
"You surely, Mr. Ashton, would not expect my son to
apologise to an apprentice-lad, a mere College-boy."
"Just so! I would expect him to apologise to anyone he had
injured, were it a beggar!"
Here the son interposed : " My good sir, do not remind me of
the horrors of that dreadful day ! I shudder when I recall it. We
acted under orders, and I swear I was utterly unconscious and
irresponsible for my actions throughout the whole affray."
And Laurence seemed desirous to wash his hands of the
responsibility.
"The fact is," said Mr. Aspinall, coming to his son's rescue,
"Laurence had taken more wine than his young head would stand
on both occasions. It takes years to season a cask, you know,
Mr. Ashton, and we must not be too hard on young fellows, if
they slip sometimes. We have all had some wild oats to sow."
This was a platitude of the period, but Mr. Ash ton's "Just so!"
was not a cordial assent; and Laurence, fearing the conversation
was taking an unfortunate turn, led it back to its original request.
But Mr. Ashton tapped his box, and, offering it to his interlocutors,
took a pinch himself, and then a second, before he came to a
decision. It was evidently a debatable question.
" I will mention your request to Mrs. Ashton, young gentleman,
and if I find her agreeable to receive you, I can take you across
with me to-morrow morning, provided you meet me here.
Good day."
Mr. Aspinall's "Good day" was somewhat stiff. He had held
his head very high all his life, metaphorically as well as physically,
248 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
and was not disposed to be snubbed by one whose status he
considered scarcely on a par with his own. He was disposed to
look on his son's peccadilloes as some of those " wild oats " which
young gentlemen of spirit were expected to sow, and considered
his fine figure and beautiful features, his education, accomplishments,
and prospects, passports to any society ; and that Mr. Ashton
should for one moment hesitate to open his heart and his doors
to his son, was an indignity not to be borne.
" The fact is, Laurence, that, if you make an apology to those
people after this, you have less spirit than I take you to have!"
was his conclusion.
" Never you mind, father, I know what I'm about. I want
to get my foot in there," answered subtle Laurence. And he
managed it
Mr. Ashton went home to dinner full of his conversation on
the Portico steps, and set his romantic daughter's heart in a flutter
by mooting the point at issue in her presence.
" Oh, papa ! do bring him ; I want to see him again, he is so
handsome!"
"'Handsome is that handsome does,' Augusta," was Mrs.
Ashton's commentary on that young lady's impulsive exclamation.
"Charlotte says he is very wild," remarked Ellen, "and I feel
as if I should shudder at the sight of him, after his conduct at
Peterloo."
"You don't shudder when Captain Travis calls, and you don't
shut the door in John Walmsley's face, and they may have done
things just as bad, if you did but know it, Ellen," retorted
Augusta, standing on the defensive for the absent "Adonis."
"Just so my dear, so they might," admitted Mr. Ashton, whilst
Ellen held her peace, silenced by something in her cousin's retort.
"Yes, William, but look on the poor bandaged neck and
shoulders of our child, and think of that ruffian's cruelty to
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 249
Jabez and others when a schoolboy. I don't think either John
Walmsley or Mr. Travis could have done anything so bad."
" Well, but, mamma," argued spoiled Augusta, " Jabez forgave
him ; and I think Madame Broadbent is more to blame than
Mr. Aspinall — he only offered to bring me home."
Mrs. Ashton shook her head as she rose from table.
" Besides, mamma, he says he only wants to apologise, and
you know you need not invite him again unless you like. It
would be so rude to refuse.
"Just so, just so," assented Mr. Ashton, willing to humour
his pet in her invalid state, and perhaps it might do the young
fellow good to see the consequences of his folly.
As usual, where Augusta enlisted her father on her side,
Mrs. Ashton's dissent grew feebler,
The next day Mr. Ashton made at least one false step in his
life, and brought over his own threshold a blight.
Faultless were the curves of the stylish hat, faultless the fit of
pantaloons, and coat, and Hessian boots, and York-tan gloves ;
graceful the figure they adorned; graceful the apology tendered
so adroitly — more to the mother than to the daughter — but if
ever a graceless good-for-nothing cast a shadow on a good man's
hearth, it was the wolf in sheep's clothing whose hungry jaws
were watering for the pet lamb of the fold, and who made so
courtly an exit full in the sight of Jabez, as he crossed the end
of the hall to his solitary dinner in his own room.
CHAPTER THE TWENTY-SEVENTH.
MANHOOD.
yOUNG as he was, Laurence Aspinall was wont to say
he "wouldn't give a fig for any man who could
not be anything in any society;" and the Laurence
Aspinall of the cock-pit, the ring, and the bar-parlour,
was a very different being from the Laurence Aspinall of the
Assembly or drawing-room. He could be a blackguard amongst
blackguards, a gentleman amongst ladies.
Nature had done much for him, art had done more. Nature
had given him at twenty-one a symmetrical figure, and art an
easy carriage. Nature had given him the clear pink-and-white
complexion which so often accompanies ruddy hair, and art had
trained his early growth of whisker to counteract effeminacy of
skin. Nature had given him a lofty forehead, art had clustered
his bronze curls so as to hide how much that brow receded.
Nature had given an aquiline nose, eyes of purest azure, flexile
lips with curves like Cupid's bow; and art had taught that eyes
set so close, whose hue was so apt to change as temper swayed
him, and lips so cruelly thin, might be tutored to obey volition,
and contradict themselves, if so their owner willed. To crown
all, Nature had gifted him with a flexible voice, and art had set
it to music.
The Liverpool schoolmaster had obeyed Mr. Aspinall's instruc-
tions to the letter; all that education and accomplishments could
THE MANCHESTER MAN.
251
do to polish and refine the physical man into the gentleman, as
the word was then understood, had been done for him ; but
under the stucco was the rough brickwork Bob the groom had
heaped together, and which no trained or loving hand had
removed.
Be sure Laurence Aspinall did not carry this analysis into
society, written on his forehead. Instead, he had cultivated the
art of fascination ; and in the brief space occupied by that
apologetic introductory visit in Mosley Street, he not only
contrived to dazzle the romance-beclouded eyes of Augusta, but,
what was almost as much to his purpose, to win over Mr.
Ashton, and to weaken the prejudice of Miss Augusta's less
pliant mamma. Ellen Chadwick was the only one on whom he
made no impression, the only one who retained a previous
opinion — confirmed. Possibly, as Charlotte Walmsley's sister, she
knew something of his life below the surface, and had imbibed
that sister's notion that he "led John Walmsley away." Possibly,
too, as Charles Chadwick's daughter, she contrasted the silken
speech of the drawing-room dandy with the hectoring, sword-in-
hand, yeomanry cavalry lieutenant who, in striking at her father,
had wounded Jabez, his deliverer, instead.
At all events, she met the enthusiastic admiration of Augusta
after his departure, the gratified encomiums of her uncle, and
the more subdued approbation of her aunt, with the unvarying
expression, " He would have murdered my dear father but for
Jabez Clegg, and Mr. Clegg is worth a hundred of him."
Mr. Laurence knew better than to presume on that introduction
all at once. From their gardens and greenhouses at Ardwick
and Fallowfield, he sent small baskets of early flowers and fruit
to Mrs. Ashton, for her daughter, with courteous inquiries ; but
he allowed several days to elapse before he presented himself
in person, and then his call was of the briefest,
252
THE MANCHESTER MAN.
He knew he had prejudice to overcome, and worked his way
gradually. Meanwhile Augusta progressed favourably ; and if
Aspinall grew in favour with the family, so did Jabez.
May, sweet-scented month of promise, brought to Jabez Clcgg
in 1820 his natural and legal heritage — manhood and manhood's
freedom. He was no longer an apprentice bound to a master
by the will of others. He had a right to think and act for
himself, subject only to the laws of God and of the realm.
True, that free agency brought with it a train of responsibilities,
but the new man was not the one to overlook or ignore the fact.
He had thought long and keenly of the coming change, and all
it might involve, months before it came.
His fixed wages as an indoor apprentice, according to
indenture, were no great matter ; but, supplemented by coin he
extracted from his paint-box after business hours, he had found
a margin for saving, besides contributing to the humble wants of
his early fosterers. The latter duty he had never neglected, but
Simon was as sternly just as the lad had been gratefully
generous, and, even when poverty bit the hardest, would never
accept the whole of his earnings.
" Si thi, Jabez, if thah dunnot keep summat fur thisel' to put
by fur a nest-egg, thah'll ne'er see the good o' thi own earmn's,
an' thah'll lose heart in toime," the old tanner had been wont
to say, when sturdily limiting the extent to which his foster-son
should open his small purse.
So Jabez, leading a steady, industrious life, spending little- on
personal gratification, save what he invested in books, had quite
a little store laid by — the result of very small savings — against
the time when he might have to shift for himself. Two things
had troubled him — the possibility of having to find a situation
elsewhere (Mr. Ashton having said no word of retaining him,
though, on the contrary, he had said nothing of his removal),
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 253
and the necessity for quitting the house which had been to him
a home so long that even the grumbling cook and the affectionate
dog had welded themselves into his daily life, how much more the
kind master and mistress, and that beatific vision, their beautiful,
bewitching daughter, who had held him in vassalage from the very
day of his apprenticeship, and tyrannised over him as only a
wayward, spoiled beauty — child or woman — could.
The bright morning of the fifth of May set this at rest. He
was called into the inner counting-house, and passed the high
stools of inquisitive-eyed, quill-driving clerks, with a palpitating
heart, conscious how much depended on the issue of that
interview.
As he opened the curtained glass door, to his surprise he
found himself confronted by, not only Mr. Ashton, but Mr.
Chadwick, and Simon Clegg, who had been brought from Whaley
Bridge for the occasion.
Business men, as a rule, are not demonstrative over business,
and, after the first salutations and surprised greetings, the
congratulations of the day were soon said, and the stereotyped
"And now to business" put sentiment to flight. And yet not
entirely so, as will be seen.
There was nothing luxurious in that counting-house of the past.
Besides the high desk and stool, it contained an oilcloth-topped
hexagon table, with a deep rim of partitioned drawers, three
wooden chairs, a sort of fireguard fender, and a poker ; but there
was neither carpet nor oilcloth on the floor, and the walls had but
a dim recollection of paint.
Mr. Ashton, snuff-box in hand, occupied one of these chairs ;
Mr. Chadwick, resting hands and chin on a stout walking-stick,
another; the third, a little apart, had been assigned to old
Simon, now on the shady side of seventy). Jabez remained
standing.
254 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
Mr. Ashton, as was his manner, tapping his fingers on his
snuff-box lid whilst he spoke, opened fire, " No doubt, Jabez,
you have been expecting me to say something respecting your
prospects and position when your indentures are given up ? "
"Well, sir," answered Jabez with a frank smile, "I believe I
have."
" Just so ! I knew you would. It was but likely. And I
should have spoken to you some time since, but for brother
Chadwick here. Both Mrs. Ashton and myself have watched your
conduct and progress, during the whole term of your apprentice
ship, with entire satisfaction."
Here a pinch of snuff emphasised the sentence, and both
Simon and Jabez felt their cheeks begin to glow.
"You have been unusually steady and persevering — have not
been merely obedient, but obliging, and your rectitude does
full credit to the * honourable ' name Parson Brookes gave to
you."
This was quite a long speech for Mr. Ashton ; he paused to
take breath ; and old Simon, proud of the young man as if he
had been his own son, feeling the encomium as some sort of
halo round his own grey head, exclaimed —
"Aw'm downreet preawd to yer [hear] yo' say it, sir. It'll
mak' ar Bess's heart leap wi' joy."
But Jabez, blushing, half ashamed of hearing his own praises
rung out as from a belfry, could only stammer forth —
" I've endeavoured to do my duty, that is all, sir."
" A — 11 ! " interjected Mr. Chadwick, in his imperfect speech,
"Nelson sa — said du — u — ty was all Engla — and expected of
ev — ev'ry man, but it w — won the b — battle of Tr — Trafalgar ! "
"Duty wins the battle of life, brother," put in Mrs. Ashton,
who had quietly entered the counting-house by the door behind
Jabez.
MANCHESTER MAN. 255
" Just so, just so ! " assented Mr. Ashton, as he rose and
handed his chair to the lady whose stately presence seemed to
fill the room ; " and Jabez has only to continue doing his duty
to win his battle of life, I take it. But to our business. — You
have hitherto served us well, Jabez, in the warehouse and out of
it ; you have been doubly useful to me as a designer and as a
detector of the roguery and mismanagement of others. Then, to
my daughter, who is far dearer than either warehouse or trade,
you have rendered more than one service,"
"Oh, sir, do not name it, I beg. It has been my highest
pleasure to serve Miss Ashton — or yourself," Jabez exclaimed,
the two last words rising to his lips simultaneously with the
thought that his sudden outburst might fail of appreciation by
Miss Ashton's wealthy relatives.
" Just so ! but I must name it, Jabez, as a reason for my proposal
to retain you in my employ, and for assigning to you a situation
and salary higher than is usually accorded to an apprentice just
out of his time. But as you have shown stability and judgment
beyond your years, and I know you to be honourable in all
respects, I feel I am justified in making the offer."
Mr. Ashton then stated, with a little seasoning of snuff, the
salary he proposed to give the young man, and the duties he
required as an equivalent, if Jabez accepted his proposition.
The eyes of Jabez sparkled and his cheeks glowed. As for
Simon, he seemed dumb with delight and astonishment at the
good fortune of the foundling.
"IF !" cried Jabez, "there can be no 'if,' sir; you overpower me with
an offer so far above my deserts. I accept it most gratefu "
"Stay, Mr. Clegg," interrupted Mrs. Ashton, as Mr. Chadwick
raised his head from its rest on his hands and stick, and made
an ineffectual effort to speak. "'Think twice before you speak
once/ my bro — — "
256 fuE MANCHESTER MAN.
" Oh, madam ! there is no need," Jabez began, but she silenced
him with a mere gesture of her raised hand ; and Mrs. Ashton,
acting as interpreter for her slow-tongued brother-in-law,
resumed —
"You have done us some services, Mr. Clegg, but 'a man will
give all he possesses for his life,' and Mr. Chadwick :reels that
his debt to you is greater than ours."
Jabez looked from one to another, bewildered.
Mr. Ashton took up the thread — " Just so ! and that brings me
to the point we have been driving at. You see, Jabez, Mr.
Chadwick is not so capable of managing his business as he used
to be ; things go wrong he scarcely knows how, and he is
desirous to bring some one into his warehouse on whom he can
rely. He therefore offers to take you at a higher salary than I
think at all suitable for so young a man, and if you prove your
competence to take the management within a reasonable time,
to give it over into your hands, and ultimately — it may be in a
very few years — to give you a small partnership interest in the
concern."
It is difficult to say whether Jabez or Simon was the most
completely stunned.
"You must not look on this altogether as a testimony to
your business qualifications, Jabez, I think," continued Mr.
Ashton, "but as the outflow of a grateful heart, and the
proposition of a man who has no son capable of keeping his
trade together. Is not that so?" turning to Mr. Chadwick.
" Cer — certainly ! "
Jabez looked from one to another, then to Simon, but no
help was forthcoming from that quarter.
Mrs. Ashton came to his relief : " I think, Mr. Clegg, you
had better 'look before you leap.' Whatever decision you make
will equally satisfy us. But I see you need time to consider.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 257
Suppose you consult your foster-father, and give Mr Ashton
your decision at the outcome-supper to-night"
The hesitation of Jabez was only momentary. We are told
that all the marvels and glories of Paradise were revealed to
Mahomet before a single drop of water had time to flow from
a pitcher overturned in his upward flight ; and even whilst Mrs,
Ashton spoke, Jabez had time to think.
"Thank you, madam," said he, "but I need no deliberation.
I know not for whose kindness to be most grateful ; but I do
know that I should be most ungrateful if I were to quit the
master and mistress to whom both myself and my dear friends
owe so very much for the first tempting offer made to me.
Mr. Chadwick overrates my service ; Mr. Mabbott rendered quite
as efficient aid ; besides, I have no acquaintance with the
manufacture of piece-goods, and have no right to take advantage
of Mr. Chadwick's extreme generosity, knowing my own
disqualifications. And, pardon my saying so, if Mr. Chadwick
has no mercantile son, he may some day have a son-in-law
better fitted in every way for the office and promise held out to
me. I trust, Mr. Chadwick, you will not consider me ungracious
in declining your liberal offer, but, indeed, I have been trained
to the smallware manufacture, and here lies my duty, for here I
feel I may be able to render something of a quid pro quo?
Before anyone had time for reply, the Infirmary clock struck
twelve, and, as if simultaneously, there was a rush from the
warehouse into the yard, an outcry and a din, as if Babel had
broken loose, the sacred precincts of the counting-house was
invaded, and Jabez was carried off vi ct armis.
CHAPTER THE TWENTY-EIGHTH.
ONCE IN A LIFE.
USTOMS change with the
manners of the times, and as
the apprentice is no longer
the absolute bond-slave of
his master, release from the
seven years bondage is now
seldom accompanied by the
active and noisy demonstra-
tion which of old marked
that epoch of a tradesman's
or artisan's career.
But if the sudden uproar,
which chased quiet from the
CROWNING JABKZ WITH PUNCH-BOWL, precincts of Mr. Ashton's
warehouse and manufactory when the Infirmary clock told noon,
broke prematurely upon the conference in the counting-house, it
was not unexpected. Every apprentice had been similarly
greeted at the same period of his life. Until the clock
proclaimed twelve, business routine had been undisturbed, but
those twelve beats of the timekeeper's hammer had been the
signal for every apprentice and workman on the premises to
rush pell-mell into the yard, each bearing with him some
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 259
implement or symbol of his trade, anything which would clash
or clang being preferred. Remnants of fringe, bed-lace, and
carpet-binding waved and fluttered like streamers from the hands
of the women ; umbrella sticks were flourished ; strings of waste
ferrules, brass wheels, brace buckles, button and tassel moulds,
cops, and spindles were jingled and jangled together; tin cans
were beaten with picking-rods, punches, hammers, leather stamps,
and other tools by apprentices and men ; whilst Jabez himself,
hoisted on the shoulders of the two smallware-weavers who had
seized and borne him from his master's presence, claiming him
as one of their own body, a recognised lawful member of their craft,
was paraded round and round that inner court-yard with the
crowd in extemporised procession, amid shouts, hurrahs, songs,
and that peculiar instrumental accompaniment which was — noise —
not music.
The household servants had crowded to the scullery door ;
clerks stood aloof under the gateway, where Simon Clegg kept
them in company in an ecstasy of satisfaction ; Mr. and Mrs.
Ashton and Mr. Chadwick surveyed the proceedings from the
counting-house window, whilst even Ellen and Augusta were
curious enough to look on from those back hall steps where they
had once before received the hero of that scene, wounded — from
a very different one.
More than six years had elapsed since the last indoor
apprentice had been borne in triumph round that yard (Kit
Townley's indentures had been prematurely cancelled), and Jabez
may be pardoned if he contrasted the two occasions, and construed
the wilder excitement and enthusiasm of this in his own favour,
when his employers and their daughter noticed it also.
"It is easy to tell what a favourite Jabez must be in the
warehouse, by the uproar. The last outcome, I remember, was
quite tame beside this."
260 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
" Well, Augusta," answered Ellen, " I believe he deserves it.
I know my father thinks there is not such another young man
as Mr. Clegg in all Manchester."
"Yes, he's very kind, and obliging, and clever, and persevering,
and all that, and I like him very well ; but then you know,
Ellen, he is not a gentleman, and he is not handsome by any
means," responded Augusta, in quite a patronising tone.
Ellen looked grave.
" He is all that is good and noble, if he was not born a
gentleman ; and 7 think him handsome. He has a frank, open,
expressive countenance, and a good figure, and good manners,
and what more would you have?"
Augusta turned her head sharply, and looked up archly in her
cousin's face.
"It's well Captain Travis does not hear you, Ellen, or he might
be jealous of the prentice-knight," she said, banteringly.
Ellen coloured painfully.
"When shall I make you understand that Mr. Travis is nothing
to me?" asked she.
"When my cousin makes me understand that she is nothing
to Mr. Travis," was the quick reply, as Jabez was being borne
past for the last time, and the young ladies once more waved
their handkerchiefs in salutation.
It may be very gratifying and very triumphant to be borne
aloft on other men's shoulders, but it is neither dignified, nor
graceful, nor comfortable ; and Jabez, being carried off bare-headed,
had neither hat nor cap to wave in return. He made the best
use of his right hand, his left being required to steady himself,
yet I am afraid he was more desirous to make a good impression
on the romantic young lady muffled in a shawl — to hide the
swathing bandages — than on his less-attractive and elder champion
by her side.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 261
It was half-past twelve ; the dinner-bell rang, Jabez was
lowered to terra firma, and there was a general rush to the
packing-room, which had been cleared out to receive tressels and
planks for the tables, and an abundant supply of cold meat, cheese,
bread, and ale, provided by the master.
And then and there, before a mouthful was cut, Mr. Ashton,
standing at the head of the table, having Mr. Chadwick by his
side, and Simon Clegg close at hand, presented Jabez with his
indentures, with many expressions of his good will and his good
opinion, and an intimation to those assembled that Mr. Clegg
would in all probability continue in his employ, an announcement
which was received with loud acclaim ; and the hungry operatives
set to at the collation with right good will.
This was the master's feast ; that of the apprentice, for which
it was customary to save up long in advance, was at night, and
held at the neighbouring "Concert-Hall Tavern" in York Street,
opposite to the then " Gentleman's Concert-Hall,"
Prior to that, however, Mrs. Ashton had somewhat to say to
the young man, and she chose his own sitting-room to say it in.
Of course, his apprenticeship over, it behoved him to shift his
quarters ; and he had looked forward to his abdication with regret
undreamed of by Mrs. Ashton, or she would certainly have
hesitated ere she made the proposal she did.
As it was, she kindly and thoughtfully considered that Jabez
had no good parental home to return to; that she had no other use
for the rooms he occupied, so she proposed to him that he should
continue to occupy them whilst he thought fit, since he had
elected to remain in their service.
He had already looked at lodgings in Charlotte Street, close
at hand ; but this unexpected proposal came like a reprieve to an
exile, and he was as prompt in his acceptance as he had been in
that previous decision which had so thoroughly swamped all
262 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
Mr. Chad wick's plans for his advancement. His eager "Oh,
madam, you cannot mean it! You overwhelm me with kindness.
Remain under this roof! It is a privilege I had not anticipated,
and I shall be proud to embrace it!" sent Mrs. Ashton away
well pleased.
It was doubly satisfactory to find the comforts of their home
appreciated after seven years' experience, and to be able to
refute Mr. Ashton's theory that "all young men like to shake
a loose leg, and Jabez would be too glad to escape from
grumbling Kezia's jurisdiction to accept the offer."
Mr. Ashton, however, did not abandon the opinion he had
formed. " I'll wager my gold snuff-box against a button-mould,"
asserted he, " that Clegg only said ' Yes ' because gratitude would
not let him say ' Nay ! ' It's not likely a young man would
care to be always under the eyes of a master or mistress,
however steady he may be."
Ah, but neither Mr. nor Mrs. Ashton knew there was a
magnet under their roof, stronger than all the ordinary
inducements which might otherwise have drawn him away — and
perhaps it was as well for him they did not.
Simon, who was present at the time, seemed literally
overpowered with gratitude for all the good which was falling
into the lap of the child of his adoption. He, however, took
his own views of the matter, views not calculated to puff Jabez
up in his own esteem, and when Mrs. Ashton was gone he broke out —
" Eh, Jabez, lad ! but thah's lit on thi feet ! Thah's bin -a
good lad, aw reckon, an' thah's sarved thi master gradely ; but
thah sees many a lad does that as never gets a lift such as
thah's getten. An' aw canno' but thenk it o' comes o' that
prayer o' thy Israelite namesake, as aw towt thee when thou
were no bigger than sixpenn'orth o' copper. Yo' hanna furgetten
it, aw hope ? "
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 263
No, Jabez had not forgotten it! It would be strange if he
had. Nay, only that morning, in the flush of success he had
carried from the counting-house, with the buoyant presumption
of youth, a conviction that it was not so much a prayer as a
prophecy nearing fulfilment.
Simon brought his soaring pinions down from their Icarian flight.
"Well, lad, it may be 'the Lord has enlarged thi coast,' but
if so be He han, thah sees theer's moore room fur thee to slip
as well as to stond, and theer's moore rayson whoi thah shouldn
be thenkful and humble ! for the big book says, ' Let him that
stondeth tak' heed lest he fall,' an' aw shouldna loike t' see thi
young yead torned wi proide."
His lecture was somewhat of a cold shower-bath to Jabez in
his hour of triumph, but no doubt it was salutary in its
ultimate effects. At all events, it kept the vaulting ambition of
the new man a little in check.
People — especially work-people — then observed early hours. At
seven o'clock the outcome supper was on the tables at the
" Concert Hall Tavern ;" and the elder apprentices, and all such
of the workmen as were absolutely engaged on the premises,
were there to partake when Jabez found old Simon a seat,
himself taking the head of the table, with the two senior
apprentices on his right hand and left.
The cost of such suppers usually fell on the apprentice, but
sometimes, as in this case, the master added his quota. If
plain, the provision was substantial and ample. Rounds of beef
and legs of mutton, piles of floury potatoes, and red cones of
carrot on pale beds of mashed turnip, smoked on the board, and
the two-pronged forks and horn-hafted knives were flanked with
earthenware jugs and horns of ale.
It was ^..-"ITrsi; essay of Jabez in the art of carving, and no
doubt he made rather an unskilled president. But in the then
264 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
condition of the lower classes a large joint of meat was a rare
sight to a working-man, and so he cut away with no fear of
critics. Amidst the rattle of cutlery and crockery, and the rapid
play of jaws, beef and mutton disappeared, and were succeeded
by a tremendous plum-pudding — the contribution of old Mrs.
Clowes — and half a cheese, which came to the table in the then
common japanned receptacle locally known as a cheese-biggin.
Appetite and the viands fled together, the noise of tongues
succeeded to the noise of knives and forks, and Lancashire
humour vented itself in jest and repartee, sometimes coarse, but
seldom mischievous. Old Simon enjoyed it immensely. It seemed
like a renewal of his own youth.
It was not, however, until the supper- table was cleared that
the chief ceremonial of the evening took place. Then an arm-chair
was mounted upon the table, in which Jabez was enthroned, the
two eldest apprentices standing also on the table on either hand
as supporters. An immense bowl of steaming punch was brought
in, which was held over the head of Jabez by the one apprentice
(when he was said to be crowned), whilst the other, wielding the
punch-ladle as a symbol of authority, with many a theatrical
grimace, began to ladle the odorous compound into the glasses
of the guests ; and the head overlooker of the manufactory, from
the opposite end of the table, prepared to propose the health of
the late apprentice, as a new member of their craft.
At this juncture in walked their master, Mr. Ashton, closely
followed by Mr. Chadwick, leaning on the arm of the Rev.
Joshua Brookes, who with many a " pish " and " pshaw ! " and
" pooh ! " had professed to come reluctantly " to see a sensible
lad make a fool of himself." Their entrance, and the volley of
cheers which greeted it, made a momentary pause in the
proceedings. Then Mr. Ashton, being duly supplied with a
ladleful of punch, took his overlooker's place, and, the glass
THE MANCHESTER MAN.
265
serving as a substitute for his snuff-box, he proposed and drank
" Mr. Clegg's health and prosperity," and welcomed him among
the confraternity of small-ware weavers.
This was succeeded by a prolonged cheer, and then, as one
by one each man's glass was filled, ere he touched it with his
lips he sang separately (with whatsoever voice he might happen
to have, musical or otherwise) the following toast to proclaim
the released apprentice a freeman of the trade, the chorus being
taken up afresh after every repetition of the quatrain : —
Here's a health to he that's now set free,
That once was a 'prentice bound,
And for his sake this merriment we make,
So let his health go round ;
Go round, go round, go round, brave boys,
Until it comes to me ;
For the longer we sit here and drink,
The merrier we shall be.
Chorus — Go round, go round, &c.
Mr. Ashton had ordered up another bowl of punch, and that
being distributed with like ceremony over the new small-ware
monarch's head, Jabez, from his temporary throne, with all the
warmth of freshly-stimulated gratitude, delivered a very genuine
oration on the excellence of the master then present, and
proposed, as a toast, " Mr. and Mrs. Ashton, our worthy and
esteemed master and mistress."
Nowadays I'm afraid the master would have been dubbed a
" governor," and the mistress ignored altogether ; but, though it
is only fifty-five years since, servants were not ashamed to own
they had masters and mistresses, and, consequently, were not
above being amenable to rule.
During this digression, at a hint from someone (I believe old
Simon), Jabez, whose eloquence must surely have come from the
punch-bowl, dilated on the spiritual relation between the reverend
266 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
chaplain and the party assembled, there being scarcely an
individual present who had not been either baptised or married
by the Rev. Joshua Brookes ; and he wished " health and long
life to him " with much sincerity.
A general shout rose in response, but Joshua made no other
reply than to turn on his heel (the better to hide his face), and
growl out, " Long life, indeed ! Ugh ! pack of tomfoolery ! " as
he hurried from the room, before either Mr. Ashton or his
paralysed brother-in-law could follow. Yet, in spite of his gruff
disclaimer, he added another bowl of punch to the "tomfoolery" —
at least, one was brought in soon after, and no one there was
called upon to pay for it.
Relieved from the restraining presence of the gentlemen,
tongues wagged freely, long pipes were introduced, song, jest,
and toast succeeded each other, and, as the fun grew and the
smoke thickened, they mingled confusedly, until at length clear-
headed Simon drew his arm through that of the novice, and,
watching his opportunity, led him unnoticed into the open air,
with his head spinning like a teetotum.
Jabez awakened the next morning with a terrible headache,
and a dim recollection of having encountered stately Mrs. Ashton
in the hall overnight, when the very statues had seemed to shake
their heads at him, and her mild, " Fie, Jabez ! " followed him
upstairs, apparently carpeted with moss or indiarubber for the
nonce. It was his first dissipation, and his last. He never forgot
it. And if anything was wanting to destroy the germs of self-
sufficiency and elation, it was found in the consciousness of his
own frailty, and the sense of shame and self-reproach it
engendered.
Experienced heads knew that the surrounding fumes of liquor
and tobacco had been more potential than the small quantity
of punch he had imbibed. But he did not know it, and by the
THE MANCHESTER MAN.
267
hail-fellow-well-metishness of those workmen who were most
inclined at all times to keep Saint-Monday, and who came to
their work, or stayed from their work, unfit for their work, was
a sensitive chord of his nature struck, far more than by the
quiet caution of Simon, the light badinage of Mr. Ashton, or the
jeers of captious Kezia.
In making light of it, Jabez felt they made light of him,
and he was long after afraid lest those whose opinion he held
in esteem should make light of him also — Augusta Ashton chief
of these.
CHAPTER THE TWENTY-NINTH.*
ON ARDWICK GREEN POND.
T was in vain Madame Broadbent waited on Mrs. and
Mr. Ashton and solicited Miss Ashton's return to her
establishment on her ultimate recovery. The pupil
was not more shudderingly reluctant to be replaced
under her despotic rule than the parents were peremptory in
their refusal.
When her plea for the " maintenance of discipline " failed,
and she tried cajolery as ineffectually, she gave way to the
expression of her natural fears that it would "be the ruin of
the Academy" if Mr. Ashton did not reverse his decision. He
loved his daughter too well to yield, and Mrs. Broadbent went
back to Bradshaw Street to find, as years rolled on, that she
had been a true prophetess.
The injury done to Miss Ashton's collar-bone had been bruited
about, and slowly but surely it helped to sap the foundation
of the once-flourishing seminary, It continued to exist for some
years, but its prestige was gone, its glory departed. Yet she
maintained her personal importance to the last, and exhibited
her flock in the "lower boxes" of the Theatre Royal on Mrs.
M'Gibbon's benefit nights with undiminished dignity through
successive seasons.
* See Appendix,
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 269
The rapidly-ripening young lady had her will ; she had done
with the schoolroom for ever, and her lessons on the harp from
Mr. Horobin, and on the piano from George Ware, the leader
of the Gentlemen's Concerts, came under quite another category.
Nor did she think it beneath her aspirations to retain her place
in Mrs. Eland's fashionable dancing-room, where she practised
cotillons, quadrilles, and the newly-imported waltz, with partners
on a par with herself. But these were accomplishments, and we
all know, or ought to know by this time, that accomplishments
require much more prolonged and arduous application than the
merely useful and essential branches of knowledge, theorists for
the higher education of women notwithstanding.
Miss Augusta was desirous to be captivating and shine in
society, and so proud was Mr. Ashton of his beautiful daughter
that he fell in readily with the expansive views of the incipient
belle, and new steps or new melodies were paraded for his
gratification week by week. But Mrs. Ashton, telling her
daughter that "knowledge was light of carriage," sent her to
Mr. Mabbott's to take lessons in cookery and confectionery, and
into the kitchen to put them in practice under the eye of
Kezia; and, exercise being good for health, according to the
same sensible mother, she was required to assist in bed-making,
furniture polishing, dusting, and general household matters, for
which the young lady had little liking, and was not to be
spurred into liking by any citation of her cousin Ellen's
qualifications in these respects. She preferred to dress with all
the art at her command to make her beauty more bewildering,
and to take her place at harp or piano, or embroidery frame,
ready to receive visitors either with or without her mother, and
to be as fascinating as possible, especially when Laurence
Aspinall was the caller; or she would sit in d6shabi!16 in the
retirement of her own chamber and read Moore and Byron
270 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
because they were tabooed, and the handsome lieutenant quoted
them so enchantingly, whilst Cicily, who had something to
answer for in this respect, bustled about and overworked herself
to spare her darling Miss Augusta, who, with all her faults,
must have been a loving and lovable creature to win such
devotion from a dependent.
It happened that the young lady received visitors alone more
frequently than was desirable, Mrs. Ashton being usually tied to
the warehouse in consequence of the interest Mr. Ashton took
in the establishment of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce
and in the project for the widening of Market Street and other
of the cramped thoroughfares of the growing town, which
necessarily took him much from home and his private business,
to say nothing of the excitement consequent on the trial of
Queen Caroline during its long progress.
But the year 1820, which had opened only to close the long
volume of George the Third's life, and to open that of George
the Fourth's reign at a chapter of regal wife persecution which
has few parallels, had itself grown old and died, and 1821 had
thrust itself prominently forward.
It came with a white robe and a frost-bitten countenance,
which grew sharper and more pinched as weeks and months went
by. It looked down on the currents of rivers and canals, on the
secluded still waters of Strangeways Park, the oblong pond in
front of the Infirmary, and the leech-shaped lakelet within the
area of Ardwick Green, until their ripples curdled under the
chilling glance of the New Year.
Sterner grew its aspect as the shivering weeks counted them-
selves into months, and the shrinking waters spread first a thin
film, then a thick and a thicker barrier of ice between them and
the freezing atmosphere. Every gutter had its slide, along which
clattering clogs sped noiselessly; every pool its vociferous throng
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 271
of boys, and every pond its mingled concourse of skaters and
sliders. Of these, the Infirmary and Ardwick Green waters were
most patronised ; the former having the more numerous, the latter
having the more select body of skaters, and consequently the
more fashionable surrounding of spectators.
The amusements of the town were then on so limited and
exclusive a scale that long frost was quite a boon to the younger
portion of the community ; and during the sixteen weeks of its
continuance, the Green became a promenade gay with the warm
hues of feminine attire, as ladies flocked to witness and extol the
feats of husbands, brothers, cousins, or particular friends. There
was no fear of vulgar overcrowding (except on Sundays) ; working-
hours were long, and there were no Saturday half-holidays, so
that only those whose time was at their own disposal could share
the sport or overlook it.
Amongst these, much to the annoyance of Mr. Aspinall, his
son Laurence chose to enrol himself, with less regard to the
fluctuation of the cotton market, or the comparative value of
American or East Indian staples than the Cannon Street merchant
thought necessary to fit him for his future partner or successor.
The younger man had chosen to construe liberally the word
" gentleman," which had been the be-all and end-all of his training,
and to regard elegant idleness as its synonym. What availed
his fine figure and proficiency in arts and athletics, if he had no
opportunity for the display of his person or his skill? And to
throw away the rare chance the winter had provided was clearly
to scorn the gift of the gods.
Accordingly he spent more time on Ardwick Green Pond than
in the counting-house, varied occasionally with a visit to the
Assembly Billiard-room in Back Mosley Street, or a morning
promenade in the Infirmary Gardens, from the open gates of
which he generally contrived to emerge as Miss Ashton descended
272 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
the steps from Mr. Mabbott's, and just in time to hand her
courteously and daintily across the roadway, and bear her
company to her own door, discoursing of recent assemblies or
concerts, from the former of which she had hitherto been
debarred, and of the last occasion on which he had the "exquisite
pleasure of seeing her at Ardwick Green " — occasions which were
seldom reported at home, any more than the chance meetings
on her way from Mr. Mabbott's; and the reticence, be sure,
boded no good.
Dr. Hull had long ago advised "out-door exercise" for the
rapidly-growing girl, and there was no embargo on her walks
abroad, Mrs. Ashton suspecting no danger, and no surreptitious
meetings. Her visits to the Green during the long skating
season were quite as unrestrained, except that an escort became
a necessity. Occasionally her mother accompanied her, sometimes
Mrs. Walmsley and John (then there was generally a nurse and
baby in the rear), sometimes Ellen and Mrs. Chadwick ; and
Augusta had always returned so exhilarated by her country walk,
and so delighted with all she had seen, that once or twice, when
imperative business withheld Mrs. Ashton from bearing her
daughter company, as promised, rather than disappoint, the lady
had made Mr. Clegg her deputy, an honour on which he perhaps
set far too high a value.
Mrs. Ashton would have drawn herself up with double dignity,
and repudiated as an insult the suggestion of any other of their
salesmen or clerks as an escort for her beautiful daughter ; but
Jabez lived in the house, had lived there so long, had even from
her childhood been the girl's frequent guardian, and proved
himself so worthy of the trust, that she committed her to his
care now much as of old, and perhaps all the more readily
because she saw, or fancied she saw, a disinclination on Miss
Augusta's part to be so accompanied.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 273
In March the cold was as intense as in January, and Miss
Ashton as eager to watch the skaters. One afternoon towards
the close of the month, when the breaking-up of the frost was
anticipated, quite a family party had gone to the Green, wrapped
n fur-trimmed pelisses of velvet or woollen, with fur-rimmed
hats and Brobdignagian muffs.
It was not yet closing time when Mr. Ashton, always disposed
to be friendly with Jabez, accosted him.
"The ladies are gone to the Green, Clegg. Suppose you
lend me an arm along the slippery roads, and we go to meet
them, eh?"
The sparkling eyes of Jabez confirmed his ready tongue's
"With pleasure, sir," as, sensible of the honour done him, he left
the sale-room, whistled his black friend Nelson from the yard,
and they set off at a brisk pace, to keep the blood in circulation,
the dog leaping, bounding, and barking before them, in token of
good fellowship. As they passed the Infirmary pond, Jabez
remarked that the ice began to look watery, to which Mr.
Ashton replied,
" Yes ; I think Jack Frost's long visit is near its end, and
there must be some truth in the old saw that 'a thaw is colder
than a frost.'"
At that moment Mr. Aspinall's carriage rolled past them,
bearing the merchant homewards in distinguished state (private
carriages were by no means common), whereat Mr. Ashton
observed with a shrug,
"How pride punishes itself! Fancy a tall fellow like Mr.
Aspinall cramped up in a stifling box upon wheels on a day
like this, when he has the free use of his limbs ! "
Contrary to expectation, they did not come in sight of the
ladies until they gained the Green, which they found a scene of
wild hubbub and commotion ; skaters and spectators gathering
274 THB MANCHESTER MAN.
towards the centre of the Green, whence came a confused noise
of voices, shouting, crying, and screaming.
The quick eye of Jabez was at once arrested by the figure of
Augusta on the opposite bank, the centre of an appalled group,
wringing her hands in the very impotence of terror, and as he
penetrated the excited crowd, he saw the hatless head of a
man, whose body was submerged, resting with its chin upon a
ledge of the ice, which had apparently broken under him. At
the first glance he failed to distinguish the head from the distance,
and rushed forward, apprehensive lest it should be that of either Mr.
Walmsley or his friend Travis, whom he knew to be of the party.
Recognition came, accompanied by a shock that staggered him.
If the ice had attractions for Aspinall and Walmsley, Ellen
Chadwick had certainly as great attractions for Ben Travis ; but
it is certain that neither cousins, nor mother, nor aunt were
sensible that they had been drawn thither simply as a sort of
decorous train to Miss Augusta Ashton, whose inspiriting had in
turn been the fascinating lieutenant, the most graceful and
accomplished skater on the pond. Perhaps she hardly knew it
herself, not being given to searching her own heart for its motives.
But a hint from him had set her longing for "another sight of
the skating before the chance was gone," and her imperative will
no less than her persuasive voice had swayed the rest.
Laurence had made the most of the occasion, glad of an
opportunity to cultivate the acquaintance of the whole family,
and display his graceful figure, and his skill to the best advantage.
Now and then he joined the Chadwicks and the Ashtons on
the bank, anon darted off) wheeling hither and thither, so swift
in his evolutions, the eye could scarcely follow him.
Amongst the skaters the man and his feats stood out. He
was the observed of all observers, and not vainer was he of his
accomplishments than was Augusta at being singled out for
ON ARDWICK GREEN POND.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 275
attention in the face of so many damsels of his acquaintance, all, as
she foolishly supposed, equally desirous to bask in the sun of his smile.
A small match will kindle a large flame if combustibles be
there. Fired by her too apparent satisfaction, and Mrs. Ashton's
presence, his excessive vanity induced him to perform what, with
the imperfect skates of the period, was a distinguished feat. He
was ordinarily proud of his calligraphy. Now, he wound and
twisted, lifted his skates or dashed them down, until he had
scored upon the ice an alphabet in bold capitals ; but whether
he had miscalculated his space, or the strength of the ice —
broken into for the use of cattle at the upper end — or the crowd
of inquisitive or envious followers had been too great for its
resistance, as he made the last curl of the letter Z, the ice
gave way, and he was plunged in up to the neck, amid the
shrieks of women and the shouts of men. His chin had caught
upon the ice with a stunning blow ; but it rested there, and,
aided by the buoyancy of the water beneath, upheld him until,
with returning sense, he struggled to bring his shoulders above
the surface, and upheave himself. He trod the water, and it
sustained him, but the ice would not. He was forced to content
himself with the use of his hands beneath as paddles, to relieve
the pressure on his chin, and wait for help, which seemed an
eternity in coming.
He had been in the water some time when Jabez and Mr.
Ashton appeared on the scene, amongst women shrieking with
affright, and men rushing about without presence of mind, or
paralysed to powerlessness. Mr. Travis alone appeared to have a
thought, and he had sent for ropes and hatchets to cut a way
to him through the ice itself. But there was a question, would
his strength hold out?
"Will no one save him? Will no one save him?" cried
Augusta, piteously.
276 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
" Fifty pounds to him who will save my son ! " was the cry
of the frantic father, who had witnessed the accident from his
own carnage window. " A hundred ! — two hundred pounds ! — five
hundred pounds to anyone who will save him ! "
" It's noan a bit o' use, measter," said a working man, with
a shake of his head. " Men wunna chuck their lives aweay fur
brass ; an' yon ice is loike a pane o1 glass wi' a stone through it."
Unfortunately, impulsive Ben Travis had darted forward to
his rescue at the outset, and his ponderous weight had cracked
the already broken ice in all directions. He had himself retreated
with difficulty ; and now no offers of reward would tempt men
to put their own lives in peril, though Kit Townley was there,
urging others to the attempt, and Bob, the ex-groom, had rushed
for ropes they had neither pluck nor skill to use, since a noosed
cord, flung like a lasso, would have strangled him.
" Oh ! save him ; save him, Jabez ! " implored Augusta, as he
and her father came up.
Jabez looked at her strangely. His head seemed to spin.
His face went livid as that on the ice. Had his secret devotion
no other end than this ? True, she had called him " Jabez," but
so she had called him in his servitude. She had appealed to him
as one she trusted in implicitly ; but the appeal sounded as
made for one she loved, and that was not himself, but he who,
as boy and man, had wounded him in soul and body. The
very tone of her cry was as a knell to his hopes and himself.
It was his foe and his rival who was perishing ! Was he called
upon to risk his life to warm a serpent to sting him again?
The conflict in his breast was sharp and terrible. "If thine
enemy hunger, give him food," seemed to float in his ears.
There was a small gloved hand on his arm, a pale, sweet face
looking up into his. The moments were flying fast.
" Oh ! Jabez, Jabez, do try ! "
TKB MANCHESTER MAN. 277
" I will," said he, hoarsely.
Had he not often declared in his secret heart that he would
give his life to serve her ? — and should he be ungenerous enough
to shrink now ?
" It is folly to attempt. I forbid it ! " exclaimed Mrs. Ashton,
laying her hand on his arm. And Ellen Chadwick, pale as
Augusta, tried to stop him with — "You must not! you must
not ! You will perish ! "
Even strangers from the crowd warned him back. But he
was gone ere Mrs. Chadwick softly recalled her daughter to
herself. "Hush, Ellen! This is not seemly. Mr. Clegg will
attempt nothing impossible."
He hurried to the side nearest Laurence ; called to him,
"Keep up; help is coming!" — asked for ladders; gave a word
or two of instruction to Mr. Ashton and Travis ; sent Nelson on
the ice to try its strength ; secured a rope round his own waist ;
then, lying flat on the cold ice, cautiously felt his way to the
farther side of Aspinall, whose eyes were closed, and whose
strength was ebbing fast. He hardly heard the words of cheer
addressed to him."
Two long ladders had been lashed side by side to give
breadth of surface. These, by the help of cords and Nelson,
whose sagacity was akin to reason, he drew across the cracked
and gaping ice ; and crept slowly from rung to rung, watched
from the land breathlessly, until he reached his almost insensible
rival. With rapidly benumbing ringers he secured strong ropes
beneath each shoulder, sending Nelson back to the bank with
the main line, in case his own strength was insufficient to lift
the dead weight of Laurence, or that the ice should yield beneath
the double weight.
Someone sent a brandy-flask back by the dog.
"Can you swallow?" he asked. There was no answer, but a gurgle.
278 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
He moistened the blue lips, while the head bent slightly back,
introduced a small quantity of the potent spirit between his set
teeth ; and, having warmed himself by the same means, essayed
to lift the freezing skater, who was almost powerless to aid. But
the latter with an extreme effort raised an arm above the ice,
and grasped recumbent Jabez. And now Nelson proved his worth.
He set his teeth in Aspinall's high coat-collar, and tugged until
their united strength drew him upwards and across the ladder
sledge, almost as stiff and helpless as a corpse.
To lessen the weight, Jabez crept from the ladders ; they
were drawn to the side with their living freight before he himself
was out of danger ; for the heavy pressure and the swift motion
set the ice cracking under him, and with extreme difficulty he
dragged himself to the bank to sink down on the hardened
snow, overcome by the strain of mind and muscle, whilst the
approving crowd set up a shout, and Augusta Ashton thanked
him tremulously.
" I'm afraid, Clegg, you've spent your strength for a dead
man," said Travis, grasping his hand warmly, "and Aspinall was
scarcely worth it, alive or dead."
But Jabez made no reply. He rose slowly and painfully,
shook off the congratulatory crowd of strangers and friends on
the plea of needing to "warm and dry himself," refused point
blank to accept the grateful hospitality of Mr. Aspinall, and,
taking the proffered arm of Travis, turned towards the " George
and Dragon," as little like one who had done a noble action as
could be imagined.
Mr. Ashton followed, tapping his gold snuff-box in wonder
and perplexity. He saw that something was wrong, but knew
not that Augusta's hasty thanks had closed the young man's
heart against all but its own pain.
r
CHAPTER THE THIRTIETH.
BLIND !
O white, so cold, so still was the rigid figure borne
fr°m the pond to Mr. Aspinall's house, Travis might
well count him "a dead man," as the rumour ran
concerning him, and feeble old Kitty sent up a
lamentation as over the dead.
Mrs. Ashton, who knew that to be a home without a thinking
woman at its head, volunteered her services, and entered the
house with the bearers, leaving the trembling Augusta with their
friends. She gently put the old woman aside, and felt pulse and
heart.
"There is life," said she, "and while there is life there is hope.
Keep tears until there is time to shed them ; now we must act."
Then, turning to the scared and scurrying servants, she gave her
orders much as though she had been in her own warehouse, and
with a stately authority there was no disputing.
The butler was bidden to " bring brandy, quick ! " The footman
was required to " wheel this sofa to the fire and pile up the coals !"
A maid was asked for "hot blankets without delay!" and moaning
Kitty was set to work to "help to strip her young master and
chafe his limbs." And so promptly were her clear, cool orders
obeyed, that when the doctor arrived in hot haste with Mr.
Aspinall, half his work was done. The pulse had quickened and
the limbs began to glow, though the eyelids remained closed.
280 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
Most grateful then was Mr. Aspinall for the efficient matronly
service rendered to his motherless boy by the stately lady, who
was drawn nearer to him in his helplessness by her own kindly act
than by all the conciliatory visits and peace-offerings with which
Laurence had himself sought to propitiate her. And for once Mr.
Aspinall accepted a kindness as a favour, not as a tribute to his
personal importance, and he placed his carriage at the disposal
of Mr. Ashton and herself for their return home without a sign
of his usual self-inflation.
His importance received a considerable shock, however, when
he called at the house in Mosley Street the following day to
report progress, and relieve himself of his obligation to his son's
preserver by paying over the five hundred pounds he had in
his extremity offered as a reward.
"I do not think Mr. Clegg will accept a reward," said Mr.
and Mrs. Ashton in a breath.
"Not accept it!" and the portly figure seemed to swell! "five
hundred pounds is a large sum for a young man in his position;
only a fool or a madman would refuse it."
"Just so, just so," replied Mr. Ashton, offering his open snuff-
box to his visitor, whilst Mrs. Ashton stirred the fire as a sort
of dubious disclaimer; "but I think, for all that, you will find
we are right ; Mr. Clegg is not a common man, and is not
actuated by common motives. — My dear?" He nodded, and
Mrs. Ashton pulled the bell-rope.
Mulberry-suited James answered on the instant.
"Mr. Clegg is wanted."
Mr. Clegg, labouring under the disadvantage of a cold caught
the previous afternoon, to which any huskiness of voice might
be attributed, obeyed the summons. He was presented duly to
Mr. Aspinall, and much to that gentleman's surprise, was invited
to take a seat.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 28i
"Absolutely invited to take a seat;" as he afterwards recounted
in indignation to a friend ; " these Whigs have no respect for a
gentleman's feelings."
Nor had Jabez. He was pale enough when he entered, but
his face flushed, his lips compressed, and the scar on his brow
showed vividly, as Mr. Aspinall drew forth a roll of crisp bank-
notes from his pocket-book, and loftily offered to him the reward
he had "earned by his bravery."
He flushed, put back the notes with a movement of his hand,
and said, coldly : " You owe me nothing, sir. The meanest
creature on God's earth should have freely such service as I
rendered to your son. I cannot set a price on life."
But I offered the reward, and the fact is, I must discharge
the debt. Reconsider, young man, it is a * large sum ; many a
man starts the world with less."
"A large sum to pay for your son's life, or for mine, sir?"
interrogated Jabez, drawing himself up stiffly ; adding, without
waiting for reply, " I do not sell such service, sir. You owe me
nothing. Let your son thank Miss Ashton for his life ; he is
her debtor, not mine."
The words seemed to rasp over a nutmeg-grater, they came
so hoarsely, as did his request for leave to withdraw ; and he
closed the door on the five hundred pounds, and on the smiles
of husband and wife, before the rebuffed cotton merchant could
master his indignation to reply.
The notes in his palm were light enough, but lying there they
represented liberality contemned ; a debt unpaid ; an undischarged
obligation to an inferior; and not thrice their value in gold
could have pressed so heavily on Mr. Aspinall as that last
consideration. The frigid manner of Jabez he construed into
Radical impudence ; he resented the salesman's repudiation of
reward as a personal affront, and did not scruple to express his
282 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
views openly, then and there, winding up with a question which
startled his interlocutors.
"What did the singular young man mean by his reference to
Miss Ashton?"
Had they followed the " singular young man " across the hall
to the sanctuary of his own sitting-room, seen him dash himself
down into a chair, and bury his head in his hands on the table
with unutterable anguish on his face, and heard burst from his
lips — more as a groan than embodied thought — "Oh, Augusta,
adored Augusta, what a presumptuous madman I have been ! "
— they would but have had half the answer. But had they
mounted the polished oaken stairs to the dainty chamber where
Augusta Ashton lay in bed with a " cruel headache," brought on
by the fright, and eyes red with weeping at the catastrophe
which had befallen her adorable admirer, the gallant lieutenant,
and heard her half-audible lamentations, the answer might have
been complete.
Mrs. Ashton had heard Augusta's frantic appeal to Jabez at
the pond, had seen him stagger and turn livid as if shot, noted
the inward struggle ere he said, " I will ;" but she had ascribed
it to old and unforgiven injuries, and thinking it hard that he
should be called upon to hazard his life for his known enemy with
chances so heavy against him, had herself forbidden the attempt.
This was all the solution she had to offer Mr. Aspinall. In the
excitement of the accident and the rescue, she had overlooked
Augusta's excessive emotion, but now her mother's heart took
alarm. Could it be that the younger eyes of Jabez had seen a
preference for the handsome scapegrace which she had not?
The matter was talked over by husband and wife long after
Mr. Aspinall had left ; and the anxious mother questioned the
maiden in the privacy of her own room, to come thence with
the sad conviction that Augusta had prematurely been led captive
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 283
by a handsome face and a dashing air, irrespective of worth or
worthlessness. Yet she consoled herself and Mr. Ashton with the
reflection, "It is, after all, only a girlish fancy, and will die out."
"Just so, and as the young rake is laid by the leg for one
while, there is all the more chance," assented Mr. Ashton.
"If his immersion does not convert him into a hero," added
the matron, with a clearer knowledge of her daughter. Yet
neither asked themselves how the intuitive perception of Jabez
came to be more acute than their own, nor what power impelled
him to risk his life for an enemy at the mere bidding of Augusta.
Indeed, they set the hazardous exploit down to the score of
magnanimity and bravery only.
Equally unobservant were they of Ellen Chadwick's remonstrance,
or her feverish watch of every perilous turn Jabez and Nelson
had taken on the ice, or of the caresses she lavished on the dog
when all was over. Only Mrs. Chadwick had seen that, as she
had seen fainter signs years before ; but she held her peace, and,
having a leaven of her sister's pride, "hoped she was mistaken."
There were three young hearts consumed by the same passion —
that which lies at the root of the happiness or misery of the world,
— one nursing the romance, two fighting against its hopelessness in
silence and concealment; but "the race is not always to the
swift, nor the battle to the strong."
Jabez Clegg could not tell when he had not loved Augusta
Ashton, from the time wherfshe was young enough to play about
the ware-rooms, or to be lifted across the muddy roadways in his
strong apprentice arms, when it was his pleasant duty to protect
her to and from school. But he could trace back the time when
Hogarth's prints gave to that love a definite shape, and he began
to look upon his master's daughter as a prize to be attained.
All things had tended to confirm his belief in its possibility, and
love and ambition had gone hand in hand, and fed each other.
284 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
The child had come to him for companionship and entertainment,
the girl under his protection had confided to him her school-day
troubles, and come to him for help in difficulties, with lessons on
slate or book. She had looked up to him, trusted him, clung
to him ; and though she was as a star in his firmament, he
had had a sort of vague impression that the star which shone
upon him from afar would draw nearer, and, as he rose to it,
come down to meet him.
His first sharp awakening was her reminder that the pair of
intoxicated officers who had insulted her in the theatre were
"gentlemen," and so not to be chastised by him. His second —
and then jealousy added a sting — was meeting Aspinall face to
face in the hall, when the latter smilingly bowed himself out
on his first visit. And now he brooded in despair over the final
dissipation of his dream beneath the icicle-hung boughs on Ardwick
Green ; for the first time conscious that she belonged to another
sphere. .
Never by look or word had he done himself, or her, or her
parents, the dishonour of giving expression to his ambitious
love ; and now another had looked on his divinity, and won he
for himself. It came upon him like a flash when that white-
faced agony, that piteous cry, called him to imperil his own life,
— worthless in the scale against another, and that other. It
came upon him with a flash that scathed like lightning. He
had forgiven the boy Aspinall long ago ; and the man — well,
Augusta's happiness demanded the sacrifice, and he had made
it. Out of his very love for Augusta he had saved the rival's
life she had prayed for. And he had been offered money for
the act which wrecked his own life. Thank God he had rejected
it with scorn !
A kind hand laid on his shoulder interrupted a reverie which
had induced torpor*
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 285
"Mr. Clegg, you are ill— your cold requires attention. You
had better seek repose : you are quite feverish."
Repose! The man's soul was on fire, as well as his body.
Yet from his chamber a fortnight later emerged a grave
business man, without an apparent thought beyond the warehouse.
And what of Laurence Aspinall, whom we left with closed
eyes, wrapped in blankets, on a sofa? He had hung suspended
in the water for an hour by the clock in the tower of St.
Thomas' ivy-clad church ; and, notwithstanding he had kept his
limbs and the water in motion so long as he had power, the
chill had extended upwards, and though life had been called
back, sight and reason were in abeyance.
Shorn of his rich curls, for weeks he raved and struggled in
the grasp of brain fever ; and old Kitty, forgetting everything
but her promise to his dead mother, watched and tended him
night and day, albeit nurses from the Fever-Ward relieved each
other in their well-paid care of him.
The frost was gone ; vegetation, bound so long, had leapt
upwards from its chains. Lilacs and may buds greeted him
with perfume through the open windows, and even the daffodil
and narcissus sent up their incense from the brim of the garden
pond when he began to show signs of amendment.
" Better," " Much better," were the answers to inquirers (among
whom may be 'cited Kit Townley, and Bob, their sometime
groom) ; but the lilac and the hawthorn ripened and faded, and
the daffodils gave place to the wallflower and carnation, and the
rosebuds opened their ripe lips to June, yet the rich cotton
merchant's son saw nothing of the glow.
Over the blue eyes of Laurence the lids were closed, and not
an oculist in the town had skill to open them. Dr. Hull, the
consulting physician of the Eye Institution, and his surgical
colleagues, Messrs. Wilson and Travers, had laid their heads
286 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
together over a case peculiar in all its bearings, but the lids
remained obstinately shut.
At length, when Hope had folded her drooping wings in
despair, and Mr. Aspinall was borne down with grief for his
sightless son, someone suggested that, as water had done the
mischief, water in action might cure it.
" Can he swim ? " asked rough Dr. Hull curtly of Kitty.
" Swim ? ay, he can do owt he shouldna do," replied the old
woman, having no faith in the value of her charge's peculiar
accomplishments.
" Is he a good swimmer ? "
" Aw reckon so ! He used to swim fur wagers i' Ardy
(Ardwick) Green Pond when he wur quoite a little chap."
"That will do."
Mr. Aspinall was conferred with, and the next day's mail
coach took the blind patient, his father, Kitty, and one of the
surgeons to Liverpool. After a night's rest at the York Hotel,
they were driven down to St. George's Pier, a very humble
presentment of what it is in this our day. Like Manchester,
Liverpool has vastly swelled in size and importance within the
last fifty years, and her docks have grown with the shipping
needing shelter. The Mersey was not the crowded highway it
is now — there were fewer ships and no steamers to cross each
other's track, and set the waters in commotion, defying wind
and tide.
Mr. Aspinall had engaged a boat to be in readiness. The
sightless athlete was rowed a short distance from curious spectators
on the pier, and then, his face being turned towards Birkenhead,
he plunged into the swelling river, which he breasted like a
Triton, so welcome and native seemed the element to him. And
as the salt wave buoyed him up, or dashed over his cropped
head, he appeared to gain fresh strength with every stroke.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 287
Anxiously his three attendants followed in his wake, lest
cramp should seize him, or his impaired strength give out before
the river — there rather more than a mile in breadth — could be
crossed. Yet not a yard of the distance bated he.
By instruction he had bent his course slightly down stream,
so as to meet the opposing tide, then rolling in with a freshet.
He struck out boldly, the very dash of the salt waves invigorating
him as they broke over his bare poll, or laved his naked limbs.
Still well in advance of the boat, he seemed at last to cross
the current as a conqueror. He touched the shore at Rock
Ferry, and — miracle of miracles ! — his eyes were opened. Laurence
Aspinall, who for weeks had cursed his darkened existence, could
once more see !
Q
CHAPTER THE THIRTY-FIRST.*
CORONATION DAY.
ISFORTUNE binds closer than prosperity. The
calamity which tied Laurence Aspinall down in a
strait-waistcoat to a bed of fever, with shaven head
and sightless eyes, touched the Ashtons in a tender
point. Themselves the parents of an only child, the very crown
and glory of their lives, their sympathies went forth to Mr.
Aspinall in spite of his haughty assumption. Indeed, distress
brought him down to the common level of humanity, and having
neither sister, aunt, nor cousin to undertake the care of his sick
son for love, and not for fee, he learned the comparative
powerlessness of wealth, and hailed with all the gratitude in his
nature the occasional visits of Mrs. Ashton, in whose stately
bearing, no doubt, he recognised a sort of kinship.
It was, however, not Mrs. Ashton the business woman, not
Mrs. Ashton the lofty lady, but Mrs. Ashton the mother who
laid her cool hand on the young man's fevered forehead,
questioned the nurses, made suggestions for the benefit of the
invalid, and by means of a " Ladies' Free Registry " in Chapel
Walk, found a staid woman of experience to act as housekeeper
and bring the disorganised household into order without treading
on the toes of attached but incapable Kitty.
The head of Antinous shorn of its glorious locks, swathed
in lotion-cloths, tossing in delirium, would scarcely appear so
* See Appendix.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 289
attractive as to fill the most timid mother with fears for a
romantic daughter's heart, and so, whilst sympathy was awake,
vigilance slumbered. Yet never need vigilance have been more
awake. She saw him as he was — Augusta, as he had been.
Through other channels than the maternal she heard of his
condition from day to day, and how in his delirium he had
mixed up her name with the slang of the cock-pit, the race-
course, and the prize-ring; but with strange infatuation she
ignored all that should have warned, and clung to all that was
pleasant to her own self-love. Never had she been so assiduous
in her visits to her aunt Chadwick and her cousin Walmsley,
and her smiling "I've brought my work and come to sit with
you this afternoon," should have been translated, " I hope John
or Mr. Travis will drop in. They are sure to have something
to say about Mr. Laurence ; it is so dreadful not to know how
he is going on."
And pretty generally her calculations were correct. The two
gentlemen were interested in Aspinall as a member of their
yeomanry corps, apart from private friendship, and were constant
in their inquiries, even finding their way to his bedside ; and
Mr. Benjamin Travis, who could not very well every day manage
to meet Mr. Chadwick accidentally on his way from the
warehouse and lend his stout arm as a support, appeared only
too glad to be the bearer of bulletins from Ardwick as an
excuse for calling in Oldham Street and hovering about the
chair or the window where Ellen Chadwick sat at her sewing or
knitting and grew silent on his entrance, blushing when she
heard his footstep or his voice in the hall, from motives sadly
misinterpreted.
There was no mistaking the true purport of his frequent
visits and assiduous attention to the crippled old gentleman, so
Augusta, having settled in her own mind that Ellen was either
2go
THE MANCHESTER MAN.
too reserved or too shy to give her big, good-natured, but timid
lover proper encouragement, took upon herself to play into his
hands and make opportunities for his wooing.
"What a delightful afternoon for a walk!" Whether he or
she made the observation, the other was sure to assent, and
then wilful Miss Augusta, unaccustomed to be gainsaid, and
seconded by her aunt, also a secret ally of Ben Travis, would
drag her cousin forth in defiance of any excuse or protestation,
to the undisguised satisfaction of their magnificent cavalier.
It was remarkable that on these occasions, whether they took
their way up Ancoats, or Dale Street, or Piccadilly, or Garret
Road, they would eventually be led so near to Ardwick Green
that it would have been unkind had not Mr. Travis " just
stepped across to see how Mr. Laurence progressed."
And so, too, whenever she went abroad with Cicily at her
heels, or when Cicily was sent on errands, nothing would
content her imperative young mistress but that she should hasten
(whether in her way or out of it), with "Mrs. Ashton's
compliments," to ascertain the condition of the invalid scapegrace.
Many a scolding did breathless Cicily get in consequence
from angry Kezia, the queen of the kitchen, which Augusta
paid her messenger for with coins, or ribbons, or kerchiefs, or
smooth words, as might be most convenient at the time. And
Mrs. Ashton was accredited by the Aspinalls with a degree of
attention never contemplated by herself.
But there was one person in the house Augusta avoided
from that afternoon at the end of March, when her fascinating
hero would have lost his life but for a much humbler hero, of
less pretension and fewer attractions. She might have been blind
as father and mother to his attachment until that afternoon ; but
that one wild, impassioned, agonized look of Jabez into her eyes
had opened them for ever : she felt she had tasked him beyond
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 291
human endurance, and was ashamed to look him in the
face.
The presumption of the ex-apprentice paled before his devotion
and self-abnegation, but, self-conscious, after that first outburst of
thanks on the Green, she had shrunk from meeting him in hall or
on staircase, and had always a reason ready why he should not be
invited to their own tea-table when father or mother proposed it.
Public events march on irrespective of private joys or sorrows,
and no individual goes out into the world after three months'
seclusion to find things just as he left them. The first use
Laurence Aspinall made of his eyes was to look at himself in a
mirror ; the second, on his return to Manchester, to select a
substitute for the clustering curls of which he had been despoiled.
Closely shut in the carriage which Mr. Ashton had lightly designated
a box, he was driven down Market Street, to discover that the
Spirit of Improvement, "fell bane of all that's picturesque," had
touched the ancient, many-gabled, black-and-white houses with
which his earliest recollections were associated, and they were
crumbling into dusty ruins before the potent incantation " Space."
It was the beginning of a very necessary widening of the main
thoroughfares of the growing commercial metropolis ; but the
blanks in the narrow street took Laurence by surprise.
There was a newspaper the more for his restored sight to
scan, albeit the Manchester Guardian, which Jeremiah Garnett
and John Edward Taylor first gave to the world on the fifth
of May, was scarcely likely to take his view of party politics,
or of his share in the " Peterloo massacre," which was still a
disturbing element in the town. Just now the paper, which he
found at the perruquier's, was given over to the discussion of
the approaching coronation of George IV., which likewise formed
the theme of conversation, not only at the wig-maker's, but
whithersoever he turned when once more presentable.
292 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
Somehow, though he found his way to the warehouse, and the
Cockpit, and the Assembly Billiard Club, and to Tib Street, where
Bob the groom had a pretty daughter very much at the young
man's disposal, he did not present himself at his Mosley Street
friend's as soon as might have been expected, considering all
things ; and Augusta, in the most becoming of morning robes,
watching with eager expectation for his coming, began to pant
and chill with the sickness of hope deferred. He was by no
means the only admirer of the lovely heiress, and was sufficiently
desirous to complete his conquest before other competitors were
fairly in the field ; but he was in perplexity how to deal with
Jabez Clegg, who stood in his way after another sort. He was
grateful — after a fashion — for the preservation of his life ; but
ungrateful, inasmuch as Jabez was the preserver.
" Hang it ! " said he, in conference with himself, as he tied on a
neck-cloth at the glass, " if the fellow had but taken the five
hundred pounds, there'd have been an end of it ; and one could
have wiped one's hands of him. What right had the beggarly
charity-boy to refuse a reward, as if he were a gentleman, I should
like to know ? I wonder what Kit Townley and Walmsley were
about — the cowardly ninnies — to let an upstart like that pull me
out of the hole. I'd almost as lief have been drowned."
And away went a spoiled cravat across the room in his
temper, and he rummaged for a fresh one, to the detriment of
linen, as he went on —
"There's one thing positive, I must either bring down my
pride or give up the girl, and be d d to it! That old
Ashton, with his 'Just so!' like a cuckoo, would certainly shut
the door in my face if I neglected to make a set speech and
thank his precious protege, who knocks you down with one hand
and picks you up with the other. Well, I don't feel inclined
to surrender the finest girl in Lancashire, and with such a
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 293
fortune as she'll have, so I'm in for it. I must make a virtue
of necessity. Egad ! I'll write to this Mr. Clegg. No, I won't.
It would be a feather in his cap to have a thanksgiving letter
of mine to exhibit."
Having at length determined his course, Mr. Laurence betook
himself to Mosley Street, made his bow duly and gracefully to
Mrs. Ashton and the young lady, keeping the hand of the latter
as long within his own as etiquette would permit, and sending
the warm blood mantling to her cheek, with a supplicating
glance of devotion as potent as words. Then, with some little
prolixity, he professed his desire to "thank his noble preserver"
for the life he had saved ; and at his request Mr. Clegg (whom
he might just as well have thanked in the warehouse without
ceremony) was sent for. Coming into the parlour all unwittingly
as he did, to find Laurence Aspinall, handsome as ever, and
more interesting from illness, standing under the lacquered-serpent
chandelier in close proximity to Augusta, sparkling with animation,
and blushing like the rose he had just offered her with a
pretty simile, his emotions so overmastered him that the
polished gentleman had him at a disadvantage, and shone in
comparison.
Both Augusta and her mother noted the contrast between the
elegant manner, suave tones, and rounded periods of Laurence
Aspinall's thanks and the curt disclaimer of Jabez, though their
deductions were different. Augusta was in raptures with the
rose-giver.'
" Ah ! my dear, all is not gold that glitters. There is more
sterling metal in your father's salesman, mark my words, than
in the tinselled lieutenant," was the summing-up of the elder,
as she replaced cake and wine in sideboard and cellaret. She
was clearly no friend to Aspinall now that he had recovered
sense and sight.
294. THE MANCHESTER MAN.
The town, which had been strong and outspoken in its
condemnation of the new king during the trial of Queen Caroline,
was now all alive with preparations to celebrate his coronation
with befitting magnificence, one branch of trade vicing with
another which should make the greatest display in the coming
procession to the Green, the like of which never had been, and
never would be again. And this competition, productive of
marvellous results — due, in a great measure, to trade rivalry and
an ambitious desire to outshine — was set down by historians,
rightly or wrongly, as a proof of the excessive loyalty of the
Mancestrians.
In all classes, from the highest to the lowest, something was
being done, and nothing was talked of, thought of, dreamed of,
but the coronation and the procession. In courts and alleys
there were making, and mending, and washing; and no little
pinching was undergone by hard-working fathers and mothers to
provide the girls with white cambric frocks, tippets, and net caps, or
the lads with fresh jackets and breeches and shoes, so as not to
disgrace the Sunday schools under whose banners they were to walk.
The finest horses of the Old Quay Company and Pickford's
were put into new harness and the finest condition, and every
lurry (a long, flat, sideless waggon) was called into requisition.
Smiths, saddlers, sign and scene painters, were at work day and
night for weeks ; and such was the request for banners that
ladies undertook the work when skilled labour was not to be found.
The important ceremony was fixed for the iQth of July. On
the 1 7th a deputation of small-ware weavers waited on Mr. Ashton
in despair. They could get neither flag nor banner ; the painter
had thrown over the order at the last moment.
"An' Tummy Worthington's getten a foine un, measter. It'll
be a sheame an' a disgrace to us o' if we let Worthington's
cut us eawt."
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 295
[The said Worthington was a rival small-ware manufacturer.]
Mr. Ashton had recourse to his snuff-box, and then to his
wife.
"My dear, what is to be done? There will be no flag. The
painters cannot execute the jobs in hand. Worthington's have a
fine one I hear."
" No flag ! That will never do. We must have a flag. Let
me consider."
Ellen Chadwick was busy helping Augusta to make favours
for the men. She looked up.
"Do you not think Mr. Clegg could paint you one?" she
suggested.
Mr. Ashton brightened, but his "Just so!" was nipped in the
bud by the recollection that there was no time.
"Where there's a will there's a way," said Mrs. Ashton, and
sought out Jabez.
" It is quite out of my line, but I can try. It would be a
pity to disappoint the men," answered he.
" And nothing beats trying but doing," added Mrs. Ashton.
Silk and colours were procured. There was no leisure for
complex design or elaboration. At that time the dark blue
covers of the Dutch tapes in gross bore the symbolic device of
the flax plant within a rude scroll. This Jabez transferred in
colours to his silk on a colossal scale, both sides bearing the
same emblem of their trade, more effective on its completion
than any elaborate work. He had bargained to be left without
interruption. The men fidgeted about the warehouse in a state
of nervous trepidation (it was an important matter to them), but
at dawn on the ipth it was finished, and borne off by the
weavers in triumph and exultation.
Market Street Lane being in ruins at one end, and a narrow
gully at the other, Mosley Street became the natural course for
296 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
the procession (two miles and a half in length) from Peter's Field
to the Green, where a royal salute was to be fired ; and like
every other house on the line of route, Mr. Ashton's was filled
with guests, and from garret to basement every window had its
streamer, and was crowded with gaily-dressed spectators, mostly
feminine, the gentlemen of the town taking part in the procession,
officially or otherwise. The Chadwicks and Mrs. Walmsley were
there of course, and Mrs. Clough amongst others ; and on another
floor Jabez — who being above the warehousemen, and not a
master, did not walk — had as a companion good Bess Hulme,
who with her husband had come over from Whaley Bridge, where
there was, of course, a holiday. To Tom had been assigned the
honour of chief standard bearer.
In all such processions the military element, with its brilliant
uniforms and stirring music, prevails. But here (where every item
of the cavalcade had its own brass band) were also all the
dignitaries of the church, with every silver badge of office
resplendently burnished for the occasion ; the borough-reeve, and
other magistrates, and constabulary, in new uniforms ; the lamp-
lighters with new smocks, carrying their ladders and cans ; the
firemen and fire-engines, bright as paint and polish could make
them ; the gentlemen of the town, all with favours ; the Sunday-
school children, marshalled under their respective banners or
tablets, walking six abreast; the Ladies' Jubilee School; the
Green-Coat School; and the Blue-Coat School, on which Jabez
looked down with curiously-mingled feelings.
But the marked feature of the magnificent procession was the
display made by the trades, with their banners, a lurry accompanying
each, bearing well-dressed workmen and machines in full operation.
At the head of these came two figures, representing Adam and
Eve, in a perfect bower of greenery, as representatives of the
primitive condition before dress was invented. They were followed
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 297
by a lurry, on which tailors (whose art is the first on record) sat
cross-legged, and stitched and pressed, as if on a shopboard,
whilst a select band of journeymen walked after, bearing minature
garments on wands, or ferruginous geese and sleeveboards.
The blacksmiths wrought on their anvil, and carried also on
long poles, horse-shoes, &c. The brass and copper smiths, likewise
at work, had a bright array of kettles, candlesticks, and a mounted
man in armour, as had also the tin-plate workers. The glass-
blowers made a goodly array, and gave away tokens as they
went. The men wore hats and caps brittle and brilliant, with
wavy plumes of spun glass, whilst birds, ships, goblets, and
decanters on their poles glistened in the beams of the hot sun.
A printing-press distributed appropriate verses, worked off in the
course of the procession. And St. Crispin's followers waxed their
threads and plied their awls on boots and shoes as they and
their benches were borne along, followed by their leather-aproned
fraternity, holding aloft their productions, from the most gigantic
of Wellingtons to the tiniest infant's slipper.
All branches of the cotton trade were represented. There was
cotton in bags ; twist in bales ; carding, roving, spinning, weaving,
all going on under the eyes of the onlookers, with the workpeople
following in their best and brightest.
Shouts and hurrahs attended the whole line of march, not
wholly unaccompanied by hisses ; but as the small-ware weavers
passed Mr. Ashton's the cheers were deafening. A loom was at
work weaving lengths of binding for garters, on which was
inwoven "God save King George IV.," with the date, and these
were lifted on long wands to the ladies at the windows on their
way, or scattered to others in the street ; and as Tom Hulme
caught the eye of Jabez, he pointed proudly to their banner,
which had no rival in all the elaborately painted flags waving in
the wind, and the impromptu artist was well satisfied. But the
298 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
brightest day has its cloud. As the Manchester Yeomanry went
prancing past, Travis and Walmsley alike saluted the ladies at
the drawing-room window, but to the pain of Jabez and the
indignation of Mrs. Ashton, Lieutenant Aspinall had the audacity
to kiss his hand to Augusta.
CHAPTER THE THIRTY-SECOND.
EVENING : INDOORS AND OUT !
HE two-miles-and-a-half-long pro-
cession was not the only popular
demonstration which made the
Coronation of George IV.
memorable in the annals of
Manchester. There were no
telegraph wires to flash intelli-
gence to the supporters of
Queen Caroline that she had
been repulsed from the Abbey
gates, and driven thence to die
broken-hearted and uncrowned.
So, in the absence of a cause
for indignation, loyalty, or its
substitute, contrived to add a pendant of disorder and excess
only to be recorded as the dung-heap out of which grew flowers
of promise.
As in most of the private houses along the line of route, a
cold collation had been prepared for the refreshment of the
friends who crowded Mr. Ashton's open windows. But no
calculation had been made of the space the unwonted pageant
would cover, or the time it would occupy in passing ; and Mrs.
Ashton, having discovered that sight-seeing in the dust and glare
AUGUSTA AT HER HARP.
300 THB MANCHESTER MAN.
of July was parching and fatiguing, issued orders for tea to be
handed round when the last banner had disappeared, and before
her less intimate friends should rise to depart.
In giving these orders, she unwittingly stirred the kitchen fire
into a white heat. Lavish hospitality was a characteristic of the
time, and when a family of good position professed to keep
"open house," it was generally equal to the most extravagant
demands. As a rule, Mrs. Ashton had little leaning towards
impromptu parties, and Kezia considerably less, preferring those
grand and formal receptions which involved elaborate preparation,
and placed imaginary feathers in the caps of mistress and maids.
Kezia herself considered the honour of the house involved in
everything under her control being " in apple-pie order ; " and the
surprise which put her on her mettle, put her also in a fume.
Recalled from the window — whence her head had been poked
far as the farthest — to provide tea and its concomitants for an
indefinite number of strangers, she accompanied her erratic
movements about her domain with explosive outbursts of spleen
at " bein' takken unawares when nowt's ready to hand."
" Here's missus bin an' ordered tay fur the whole boilin' of
folk up-stairs ; an' theer's Cicily and t'other wenches a' agog ower
th' crownation, an' not worth 'toss of a pancake ! "
She jerked out her anger in the ears of Bess Hulme, who,
seated on the settle, had just lulled to sleep Mrs. Walmsley's
crying baby, which (neglected by its gaping nurse) had
commemorated the day by a fall from a high bed.
Bess made a temporary couch for the baby in a snug corner,
and quietly came to Kezia's assistance; then Ellen Chad wick,
intuitively perceptive of kitchen troubles, busied herself in bringing
reserves of china, glass, plate, linen, and sweetmeats from closets
and store-room ; Cicily and Dolly came down in due time ; and
the credit of the establishment lost nothing in Kezia's hands,
HENRY LIVERSEEGE.
From an Engraving.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 301
even though there was an additional influx of visitors, and a
supper also to provide.
That was Mr. Ashton's affair. He had tired of his processional
march in the broiling sun by the time they had skirted Ardwick,
and defiled into Chancery Lane. The two friends by his side,
Mr. John McConnell and Mr. John Green (both cotton-spinners
with whom he dealt), being of the same mind, they had fallen
out of the line in Ancoats Lane, and turned down Canal Street
to the house of the latter, to refresh themselves with something
less dry than snuff or road-dust.
Mr. Green was the uncle of Henry Liverseege the artist, fragile
of form and spiritual of face, but the latter was then only a
genius in his nineteenth year — with fame and an early grave
dimly foreshadowed. They found him on the doorstep, with his
fusssy and fidgety, though kind-hearted aunt, just back from
Mr. Gore's in Piccadilly, whence they had seen the show. The
gentlemen's requirement, a "draught of ale," was soon supplied,
accompanied by a spasmodic comment on the "gand display,"
and the exhibition of a pair of the loyally inscribed fillets she
had secured as the smallware-weavers passed.
"By-the-bye, that was a wonderfully effective banner of yours,
Mr. Ashton," interposed the thin voice of Liverseege. "Who
painted it?"
A young fellow in my employ, who occasionally designs
for us," answered Mr. Ashton, handing his snuff-box to the group
in rotation — " quite a self-taught artist ! "
" Indeed ! It was not much like an amateur's brush. I should
like to know him. You see I do something in that way myself."
The young painter, conscious of his own latent power, was
sensitively alive to undeveloped art in another.
" Would you ? Just so ! Then you shall. Come along, all of
you, and finish the day with us. Mrs. Ashton will find us a
302 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
dish of tea, and I am sure, Mrs. Green, she will be proud to
see you also." Turning to the gentlemen, who had by this time
emptied their talboy glasses, he added, "And I think I have a
few bottles of rare old port waiting among the cobwebs for us
to drink the King's health."
It was a period of much pressing and many excuses, but the
excitement of the day had so far destroyed ceremony that even
Mrs. Green, who was somewhat punctillious, after a little nervous
trepidation anent the fitness of her last new cap for company,
consented, and accepted the arm Mr. Ashton gallantly offered to
pilot her across the crowded street, along which the tail of the
procession had only just trailed.
Graciously, though with her natural stateliness, Mrs. Ashton
received the new comers ; Mrs. Green, finding the company
generally in morning visiting dress, was at ease about her cap ;
the tea was exhilarating, the viands toothsome, the wines
excellent ; there was one common topic for discussion ; the ice
of ceremony had thawed hours before; and genial Mr. Ashton,
having locked the doors to prevent the escape of a guest before
the supper he had bespoken was demolished, was thoroughly in
his element.
Mrs. Ashton was not quite so much at ease, though she was
too well-bred to manifest her disquiet, which had two sources.
In the first place, the presumptious salutation of Augusta by
Lieutenant Aspinall had jarred a sensitive nerve. In the second,
Mr. Ashton, generously impulsive, had introduced Mr. Clegg to
their friends, and as a friend of whom he was himself proud. She
thoroughly appreciated Jabez, and equally contemplated his
advancement ; but she was for " making no more haste than good
speed," and considered it more prudent to raise him by insensible
degrees. And as she watched her husband, radiant with goodwill,
cross the room with Jabez (discomposed at the very doorway by
THB MANCHESTER MAN.
3°3
the wondering eyes of Augusta), and present him to Mr. Green
and Mr. Liverseege, thus ran her thoughts : —
" Dear me ! William is very inconsiderate ! He will turn the
young man's head, and insult our visitors at the same time. I
hope Mrs. Clough will not recognise him. How indignant she
would be if she thought we expected her to associate with one
who once wore her son's cast-off clothes ! Certainly he is well-
conducted, and worthy in all respects, but — people don't forget such
things ! If Mr. Green and Mr. McConnell only knew William was
introducing our Blue-coat apprentice, what would they say ? — I am
glad, however, to see young Mr. Liverseege so affable with Jabez."
To her surprise, at this juncture Mr. McConnell drew his chair
close to Jabez and Mr. Liverseege, and, attributing the evident
embarassment of the former to the newness of his position,
endeavoured to dissipate it by taking part in the conversation,
to which quiet Mr. Green occasionally added a word. The lady,
who was so afraid of touching the dignity of her friends, had
not heard her less exclusive lord whisper to the two cotton-
spinners, " I'm afraid I've committed a grave misdemeanour in
Mrs. Ashton's sight by bringing young Clegg among our party ;
but kings are net crowned every day, and I thought it a good
opportunity to bring a worthy lad out. You and I" — and he
tapped his snuff-box — "know what Manchester men are made of,
and that young fellow has good stuff in him ! He was made
to rise, sirs."
Mr. Ashton's friends nodded in acquiescence, and willing to
humour their kindly host, and perhaps desirous to test the calibre
of an aspirant so introduced, wittingly or unwittingly did their
part in helping him to " rise " by the very distinction of their
prolonged attention. It was an act quite in the way of John
McConnell, who had already given a lift to his rising young
countryman, Fairbairn, the engineer.
THE MANCHESTER MAN.
Presently Mr. Chadwick, beckoning attentive Ellen to his side,
and using her shoulder as a support, involuntarily seconded his
brother-in-law by joining the group, and, putting out his hand
to Jabez (who rose at his approach, and offered his own seat to
the paralytic gentleman), said : —
"Wha-at inter-rests yo-you so m-much, M-Mr. Clegg, th-that
you f-forget old f-friends ? "
" No, sir, I had not forgotten you, nor Miss Chadwick either "
(Ellen coloured), "but Mr. Ashton having honoured me with an
introduction to Mr. Liverseege and these gentlemen" (bowing to
them), "I was not at liberty to break away, had I felt so
disposed."
"We were discussing the influence of art on our local
manufactures," added Henry Liverseege, and thereupon the subject
was resumed, Ellen, necessarily in close attendance on her father,
standing there with sparkling black eyes, an animated and
attentive listener, well pleased that Mr. Clegg's merits (as seen
by her) had at length found recognition.
Meanwhile Augusta, the centre of a group of young people,
indulged in sentimental chit-chat, and, trifling with her fan and
human hearts, completed the enslavement of her last admirer, a
fair-haired Mr. Marsland ; while Jabez, from his distant seat,
looked and longed in vain.
Cards were, as a matter of course, proposed for the amusement
of this extemporised party, and in filling up tables for whist or
loo, Mrs. Ashton's fears for the sensibility of her friends were
forgotten. They were utterly put to the rout by a loud
rat-tat-tat at the street door, followed by the entrance of Mr.
Clough and the Reverend Joshua Brookes, the latter less vigorous
than of yore, but in a state of unusual excitement. His loud
voice was heard before he was seen. " Hogs, sir, hogs ! They
are no better than hogs, sir!" he was saying even as he came
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 305
into the drawing-room. He appeared too much ruffled to
respond composedly to the kindly greetings of his many friends ;
even Augusta, who put forth her little white hand with her
most winning smile, attracted no more attention than a hurried
"How d'ye do, lass? How d'ye do?"
" What is the matter, Mr. Brookes ? You seem "
He interrupted Mr. Ashton's inquiry with —
" Matter, sir ? Waste and riot, intemperance and indecency,
are the matter. These old eyes have seen that which is enough
to bring a curse upon the coronation and a blight upon the
town."
Conversation was arrested, flirtation forgot its part, cards were
laid down, save by three or four inveterate players, and young
and old were alike on the qui mve, crowding round the speaker.
" Permit me," said Mr. Clough, commencing an explanation.
" I suppose you are all aware that the new market in Shude Hill
is the chief station of the nine appointed for the distribution of
meat, bread, and ale to the populace ? "
" Populace, indeed ! — the very scum and dregs of the town —
say rather the lowest, roughest rabble ! " broke in old Joshua.
"Well, Parson, for the credit of our working population, let us
hope so," chimed in Mr. Clough, resuming — "Whilst Mr. Brookes
and I were at tea in his sanctum, Tabitha ran in breathless to
tell us that the platform erected for recipients in front of the
storehouse had given way, that several persons were injured, and
one had been killed on the spot."
" Ah ! " said the Parson, drawing a long breath between his
teeth, while Jabez, unobserved by either, drew nearer to listen, and
the ladies put up their hands in horror.
" It was not our most direct route, but either curiosity or
compassion took us round by Shude Hill Market on our road
hither, and never shall I forget the scene we witnessed. Loaves
306 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
and junks of meat were being pitched high and far amongst the
crowd from the warehouse doors and windows, as if flung to
hounds."
" Hounds, sir ! " burst in impatient Joshua, " don't slander the
better animal. Only the commonest curs would have yelped, and
scrambled, and struggled, and fought for their rations, as did the
human beasts we saw clutching and gripping from weaker women
and children that which had fallen within their reach, or trampling
in the mud underfoot the food they were too greedy or too drunk
to devour. Ay, mud, for the very kennels ran with ale thrown in
pitchers-full amongst the people, to be caught in hats, and bonnets,
and hollowed hands, as if it were rain in an African desert. Ale !
the atmosphere reeked of ale ! Men, women, and children of all
ages carried it away, or drank it from all sorts of vessels ; reeled,
hiccoughed, and staggered under their burden, or sank down by
the wayside ; whilst others, shouting like maniacs, drained the
half-empty mugs. I tell you, sirs, Captain Cook never fell in with
greater savages. Even death and disaster in their midst had not
awed them ! Ugh ! I say again they are hogs, absolute hogs ! "
As Joshua paused to take breath, and sank into a chair, Jabez
modestly put the question to the excitable chaplain —
"Do you not think the distributors are most to blame for this
wanton waste and excess, to say nothing of the loss of life ?
Surely the arrangements of the committee must have been
defective."
The Parson's harsh tones softened as he put out his hand to
grasp the speaker's.
"Ay, Jabez, lad, is that thee? I'm glad to see thee here" —
and he laid emphasis on the word — "Ay, the distributors are
answerable for "
But the personal recognition had created a diversion. The
question Jabez had mooted was talked over by separate knots
TKB MANCHESTER MAN. 307
of individuals in different quarters of the large room, whilst
Mr. Clough, to Mrs. Ashton's amazement — yes, and gratification
also — shook the salesman warmly by the hand, and congratulated
him on his apparent success. Moreover, he bore him away to
Mrs. Clough, at the loo-table, and called her attention to the
change time had effected in the old tanner's foster-child, in the
most cordial manner.
Thanks to Mr. Ashton, Mr. Clegg had truly got his first foot
into Manchester society that coronation-day, and his old hopes
might have revived, had not a disturbing element crept into the
room during the denunciatory oration of his clerical friend.
John Walmsley, not finding his wife at home when released
from yeomanry duty, had come in quest of her, bringing two of
his comrades ; and when Mr. Clegg retired from the loo-table
with a bow, his eye fell first on the conspicuous figure of
Captain Travis, in the silver-and-blue glory of uniform, bending
deferentially to address Miss Chadwick ; and in another moment
on the elegant Adonis he had dragged from icy death, toying
with Miss Augusta's carved ivory fan, and whispering low to her,
whilst she hid her Indian-muslin robe and too eloquent face
behind the screen of her convenient harp, and drew her flexible
fingers lightly across the chords.
The lustre of that evening's introduction was dimmed for Jabez.
Augusta scarcely looked at him as she brushed past to supper,
leaning on the arm of Lieutenant Aspinall, her white dress in
strong contrast to his dark uniform ; and no doubt his pain was
pictured on his face, for Ellen Chadwick sighed, as she too passed
him with her martial cavalier, and half turned to look pitifully
as she went.
There was no lack of ladies, so Mrs. Ashton paired Mr. Clegg
off with a chatty damsel of thirty or thereabouts, and he did his
best to listen and make himself agreeable, but not even the novelty
308 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
of his situation could keep his thoughts or his eyes from wandering
where they should not.
Along the whole course of the procession the Manchester
Yeomanry had been greeted with more hisses and groans than
cheers. This had chafed their noble spirits, and on disbanding
they had sought consolation in the wine-cup, which temperate
Jabez was not slow to observe, although their degree oi
exhilaration was not then considered a disqualification for the
drawing-room or for the society of ladies.
Mr. Ashton's strong home-brewed supper-ale was not a sedative,
yet still Augusta smiled on Laurence, in spite of her mother's
frowns, driving Mr. Marsland to desperation, and Jabez to despair.
Indeed, he was glad when the repast was over, for then
Joshua Brookes rose to depart, sober as when he sat down, and
the Chadwicks also. He had thus an opportunity of escaping
from his torment, by offering his escort to tottering Mr. Chadwick
and the Parson in succession, if the latter did not object to the
slight detour. Jabez foresaw that Mr. Travis was ready to do
Miss Chadwick suit and service ; but in offering his arm to assist
the slow feet of the disabled father, he little dreamed how gladly
the daughter would have made an exchange ; nor, had he been
wiser, would he have thrust himself in big Ben's way, any more
than would Mrs. Chadwick, who openly favoured the "personable
and unimpeachable" captain.
CHAPTER THE THIRTY-THIRD.
CLOGS.
EAVING the Chadwicks at
their own door, where
Captain Travis would fain
have lingered had he been
encouraged, Jabez and he
fell back as guards to
their reverend friend, whose
excitability might other-
wise have involved him
in some unpleasantness,
so disorderly a riff-raff
occupied the streets.
Turning down Church
Street, they pursued their
dimly-lighted way along
Cannon Street (so named from dismounted cannon said to be
captured from " rebels " which served as corner posts), through
Hanging Ditch to Hyde's Cross, thence past the deserted Apple
Market and Dr. Smith's ancient labyrinth of a house, to the
Parson's less antiquated domicile in the corner by the Grammar
School and those College gates which had been the portals of
peace and promise to Jabez, and not only to him, but to
hundreds besides.
[AR-SCHOOL MASTER.
3io
THE MANCHESTER MAN.
The excitement of old Joshua had been toned down amongst
the wax-lights and pleasant faces around the Ashton's well-spread
supper table, and at first he was disposed to be conversable,
after his own peculiar manner. They had purposely avoided
Shudehill Market by an ample circuit ; but stragglers of both
sexes from the scene of riot lay maundering or asleep in their
path, or crossed it at every turn, in all stages of inebriation and
disorder, until the natural irritability of the chaplain (increased
by failing health) broke forth in loud-voiced indignation, ending
in a wail that he was "getting old and powerless," or he would
"rise like another John Knox and denounce the wickedness
rampant in the land."
"A good man lives there, Jabez," said he, pointing to the
black-and-white home of the head-master-, where lighted windows
told of hospitality awake, "a good man, but for whom I should
not be alive to tell you ; but there are those in the pulpit, my
lads, whom the Church ought to spew out, lest they poison the
flocks it is their duty to feed. Can the stream be pure if the
fountain be polluted ? And how shall we rebuke the gross
excesses of the untaught rabble whilst chambering, gluttony, and
drunkenness defile the high places of the land ? Ugh ! There
wants another flood to wash Europe sweet and clean. The sin
on the earth was not greater in the days of Noah !"
They were crossing the space before the two closed gates
when he paused for lack of breath, and Travis, with no thought
but to change the subject, observed to Jabez, over the head of
the panting Pastor
" How quiet this little nook of ground is now ! Yet to me, and
no doubt to you, Mr. Clegg, it is haunted by ghosts of old times!"
That set Joshua off again.
" Ugh ! to hear a lad of five-and-twenty talk of old times !
What's the world coming to? Ghosts, indeed! It had like to
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 311
have been haunted by ghosts of something more than old times,
as Jabez and I know to our cost. I've never been right since
the young ruffians had me in their clutches ! And mark you,
my lads, and think of it when you have young ones of your
own to rear : there's no worse sign for a country or a family
than when the young jibe and jeer, mock and scorn their
elders. When grey hairs fail to command respect, virtue,
principle, and religion are at their lowest ebb."
He stood within his own gate as he said this, and as
Tabitha opened the door for her master, he checked all reply
with
" There ! you've had a sermon for nothing. Ugh ! you'll forget
it when the old man's back turns. Good night, lads ! See
you steer clear of brawls, and give drunken fools a wide berth."
Leaving the young men so abruptly dimissed to retrace their
steps towards Hyde's Cross, it may be as well if we throw a
light on some of Parson Brookes's dark allusions. Time had
not smoothed the old man's eccentricities, nor modified the
antagonism between the Grammar School boys and the ex-master.
They were always at war, and there never was wanting a cams
belli. The previous September he had been more than usually
irritated by a lampoon which began
" O Jotty, you dog,
Your house we well know
Is headquarters of prog "
the purport of which was to fix on him the stigma of inviting
a friend to dine, and regaling him with a black-pudding only.
Lashed to fury, he burst into the Grammar School when the
first and second-form boys were assembled in the afternoon to
rehearse the speeches which, according to custom, they were to
deliver in public at the annual commemoration in October. He
braved them in his hottest style, winding up with, "You are a
312 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
set of blockheads ! I would not come to hear your speeches if
you would pay me for it!"
There was a general cry, " Turn him out ! Turn him out ! "
But Jotty would not be turned out. He stuck himself in the
doorway with his legs against the door-post, and his back against
the door itself, to the extreme risk of broken limbs, whilst his
young and vigorous opponents brought their strength to bear
upon the door to force him out.
With such odds he was sure to be overcome ; but, driven into
the yard, he fought with his antagonists like a mastiff at bay,
and they, like the cowards they must have been, to have assailed
in a body an old man (under any provocation), by sheer force of
numbers, bore him backwards to the wall, and, but for the
opportune arrival of Dr. Smith, would have repeated the outrage
perpetrated on Jabez Clegg eight years before.
He might well say Dr. Smith had saved his life. Such a fall,
whether in high or low water, to so old a man, would have
been certain destruction. They broke his heart, I think, if they
did not break his limbs, for he never was the same man afterwards.
Even old Mrs. Clowes used to rally him on his frequent "fits
of the dumps."
Whether Jabez and Ben Travis had, or had not, lost sight of
the Parson's homily, they were linked arm in arm, the rich
yeomanry officer and the unpretending smallware-salesman, just
as, nearly nine years previously, the big, raw-boned youth, with
a heart large enough to match his frame, had linked his arm in
that of the poor Blue-coat boy, as a friend and protector, when
as yet his admittance into society was undreamed of.
Where the four roads met at Hyde's Cross, a staggering Charlie
(as the watchmen were called, much as, at this day, they are
Bobbies) passed them, with his horn lantern and staff, and his
rattle in his belt, proclaiming —
THE MANCHESTER MAN.
313
"Past ten o'clock!" (hiccup). "And a foin moonleet
neet ! "
The two stood for a moment ; then, animated by a desire to
ascertain if Joshua Brookes had spoken sooth, or, in his spleen
exaggerated, they turned up Shudehill, all alive with people who
were ordinarily at that hour in bed, and made their way to
the market.
Exaggerate ! Joshua Brookes had seen but in part, and painted
but in part. Every avenue to the market was a scene of
debauchery. Hogarth's print of " Gin Lane " was feeble beside
it. The distribution of food was over, but that of drink
continued. The oil lamps of the street, the dying illumination
lamps, and the misty moonlight showed a picture of unimaginable
grossness ; whilst their ears were assailed with foulness which
would have shocked a hardened man of the world — how much
more these inexperienced young friends !
Children, men, and women, their clothes torn or disarrayed, lay
singly, or in groups, on the paths, or in the gutters, asleep or
awake, drunk, sick, helpless, exposed ; there was fighting and
cursing over the ale yet procurable ; there were loaves in the
gutters, and meat trampled in the mire ; food which, properly
distributed, would have gladdened many a poor, hard-working
family, too self-respecting to join that clamorous mob.
The two young men turned away sick and disgusted.
" Henry Hunt, in advocating the disuse of excisable liquors,"
said Jabez, thoughtfully, " may only have designed to cripple the
Government ; but surely no one could witness scenes like these,
whether Whig or Tory, without feeling that some restriction on
drink is absolutely necessary for the safety of the State and
.the comfort of the people."
" You are right, Mr. Clegg," responded Travis, heartily. " Men
of all politics ought to meet on this ground. I shall see how
314 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
far my little influence goes to check intemperance henceforth.
Something must be done, and that promptly."
"Whatever I can do to second you, you may depend on,
though beyond our own warehouse my opportunities are small,"
said Jabez ; " still, if I can influence one within our walls, that
one may act on two outside, and so we may prevail in the
end."
''Yes," added Travis, "and if this night be not eloquent in its
protest against drink, all humanity must be equally debased and
brutalised."
Some caution had been necessary to cross the Market, so as
to avoid insult, the captain's bulk and uniform rendering him
conspicuous, and his corps being in anything but good odour.
They had kept well within the shade of the pillared piazza
which extended along the side to their right, and, stunned by
the uproar of brawling and fighting crowds, picked their way
between degraded humanity in heaps on the pavement, crushed
hats and bonnets, torn caps and shawls, boots and shoes which
had done duty as drinking vessels, sodden meat and bread, and
had much ado to avoid splashing through puddles of ale and
other abominations. They had emerged into Oak Street, glad
to have got tolerably clear of the clamour and brutality, when
a cry from the direction of Tib Street, " Watch ! Help ! Watch ! "
fell on their ears in tones which had a strangely familiar ring
to Jabez.
Hastening on at a run, they came upon a decently-dressed
man struggling against three or four drunken ruffians with heavy
clogs on their feet. They had got the man down, and were
vociferating with oaths not to be repeated here.
"Gie him a lick wi' thi clog!" " Punce him well!" "Shut
up his tater-trap fur him ! " " Purr him i' th' bread-basket ! "
" Fettle his mug wi' thi clog ! "
MANCHESTER MAN. 315
Before Jabez and his companion could prevent it, a heavy
thud, followed by a groan, told of a brutal kick; the two only
dashed among them in time to arrest the other clogs, already on
the backward swing for force ; and saved the prostrate man by
turning the fury of the savages on themselves. The cowardly
brutes, however, stood little chance against sobriety and skill,
backed by the muscular frame of Jabez and the herculean one of
Travis, even though they carried weapons of offence on their
feet, and plied them vigorously; and before a droning watchman
hove in sight to spring his rattle for assistance, they were over-
mastered or put to the rout.
Most thankful was Jabez for the impulse which had directed
their steps that way when, on raising the fallen man, the light
of an adjacent oil-lamp projecting from the wall fell on his
blood-stained face, and revealed Tom Hulme, who had been drawn
into that unusually disorderly neighbourhood by like curiosity
with their own, and had been set upon without provocation. He
walked with pain, and they supported his steps to the Infirmary,
not finding Mr. Huertley, on whom they called, at home. But
so fertile had that evening been of serious injuries, he was some
time before he could obtain attention. Thirteen far more urgent
cases had preceded his. At length his head and cut lip were
plaistered up, a reviving draught administered, and after some
examination of bruises, and poking and pressing of his body, three
of his ribs were pronounced "broken." His defenders were
disposed to smile at the surgeon when, besides an embrocation
for bruises, he prescribed " a succession of oatmeal poultices applied
internally" — in other words, a cushion of as much oatmeal porridge
as the patient could consume, to press the crushed ribs gently
into position.
It was, however, not much of a laughing matter to Tom Hulme,
or to loving Bess, who looked aghast at this deplorable termination
316 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
of a day's jollity. Nor was there a trace of mirth on the face
of Jabez when, at parting with Ben Travis on the Mosley Street
door-step, he gripped, more in pain that pleasure, the big hand
extended so cordially.
It was after midnight, but from the open windows of the
still-lighted drawing-room the thin quick ears of Jabez had caught
the sound of Augusta's melodious voice blending with that of
Laurence Aspinall in a popular duet, although the notes of the
latter were neither so clear nor so steady as they might have been.
The pallor on her foster-son's face Bess attributed to tender-
hearted sympathy for her injured husband; but Jabez hurried
away from her oppressive thanks to the solitude of his own
chamber, where he could bury his face in his quivering hands,
and unseen wrestle with emotions of which she had no conception.
Never had he known a day so chequered. The same sun
which had looked down at noontide on the triumph of his
amateur brush, had beamed on Augusta Ashton's conscious cheeks,
as she accepted his rival's familiar act of gallantry without so
much as a frown. The evening had made a man of him — lifted
him into a new sphere — brought him, so to speak, nearer to his
divinity, within the radius of her smiles, the music of her voice.
She had put her small white hand within his, and blessed him
with a word or two of shy recognition ; but Laurence Aspinall
had again come like a cloud between him and his sunbeam ; her
sweetest smiles, her softest tones, were for the intruder; her arm
had rested willingly on his, her voice had blent with his in
sentimental song, and darkness once more shut out hope from
Jabez.
"Common sense might have taught me that my love was
folly, presumption, madness!" he argued with himself; that the
heiress of a wealthy man would not stoop to her father's Blue-
coat apprentice. But oh ! " he groaned, " I had hoped to raise
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 317
myself step by step nearer to her level — to make myself worthy
of her as a man, if I had not riches to lay at her feet. She
is young, and what might I not accomplish with industry ere
she came of age ? but now "
He tore his neckcloth off, and cast it from him, stripped off
coat and vest, and flung them aside, as though they held his
passionate folly, and he had done with it, then sank into a chair,
the very impersonation of listless hopelessness. He had gone
through all this struggle once before, and thought he had overcome
his weakness ; but at the touch of the enchanter's wand love
had blazed up afresh, and was not to be smothered.
His reverie was broken into by the tread of many feet on the
staircase below, and the murmur of voices calling one to another ;
the hall-door shut with a clang, and then a light foot came
tripping up the stair alone, and from heart and lips dropped
unconsciously the soft refrain of that too well-known duet. She,
too, was carrying to her chamber memories of the night, and
bearing the burden lightly.
He listened until a door closed upon step and song. Then, as
if its echoes pierced his soul he set his teeth and clenched his
outstretched hands in mute agony. There was more than hopeless
love in this — there was jealousy also. Then he murmured half
audibly, "If he were only worthy of her I could bear it better;
but to see her cast her heart at the feet of one who will trample
on it, is beyond mortal endurance."
He started to his feet. A bright thought irradiated his face.
" Coward that I am ! I am quitting the battle without striking
a blow. I am myself unworthy of Augusta if I surrender her to
a heartless profligate without an effort to save her. ' Faint heart
never won fair lady.' Women have stooped lower, and lowly men
have looked higher ere now. I am making way, but I must make
money too, if I would look above me. Father and mother look
3*8 THB MANCHESTER MAN.
on me with favour, and why not the daughter? She may learn
the worthlessness of the fine gentleman in time. Courage, Jabez !
Work with a will ; do your duty. Miss no opportunity, and the
gold and the goddess may both be yours in the end, and
honestly won."
He sprang into bed fresher and lighter than he had been all
day, the prayer of that other Jabez rising from his heart with the
fervour of old times.
CHAPTER THE THIRTY-FOURTH.
BIRDS OF A FEATHER.
HE "Palace Inn" on the north
side of Market Street Lane
was the last relic of that
cramped thoroughfare to dis-
appear at the bidding of
Improvement. Possibly, be-
cause its many eyes and bald
dark-red-brick face looked out
on a space so much beyond
the twenty-one yards assigned
by Act of Parliament to the
regenerated street that the
Improvement Committee had
no powers to meddle with it, for surely its historic associations
were not sufficient to protect it. Prince Charles Edward had been
hospitably lodged and entertained beneath its roof by its owner,
Mr. Dickenson, long ere it became an inn ; he had harangued his
devoted followers from the stone plateau of its double flight of
steps, with his hand perchance on its smooth rail of unornamented
iron ; but in isolated dignity rather than palatial pretensions lay
its chief safeguard. Be that as it may, fourteen or fifteen years
elapsed between the first act of demolition for widening (at the
shop of a Mr. Maund), and that last feat of narrowing, which
PALACE INN.
320 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
blocked up and darkened history (as represented by the Palace)
with common stone warehouses for every-day merchandise. Alas !
Clio and all her sister muses must succumb when Mammon is on
the march !
But Mammon had only got his first foot in the street on that
Thursday morning in July, which blushed at the doings of the
Coronation night, and the "Palace Inn" yet held its head high as
beseemed its historic state. The open space in front was
enlivened by the newly-painted London stage-coach, the "Lord
Nelson," the fresh scarlet coats of coachmen and guards, the
assembling of passengers and luggage, the shouting and swearing
of half-awake ostlers and porters, the grumbling of the first-
comers (shivering in the raw air) at the unpunctuality of the stage,
the excuses of the booking-clerk, the self-gratulations of the last
arrival that he was "in time," the dragging of trunks and
portmanteaus on to the top, the thrusting of bags and boxes
into the boot, the harnessing of snorting steeds the horsing of
the vehicle, the scrambling of the "outsiders" to the top by the
ladder and wheel, the self-satisfied settlement of the " insides "
in the places they had "booked for," the crushing and thrusting
of friends with last messages and parting words, the crack of the
whip, the sound of the bugle, the prancing of horses, the rattle
of wheels, and the dashing off up Market Street Lane of the
gallant four-in-hand, amid the hurrahs of excited spectators.
Every morning witnessed a somewhat similar scene of bustle
and excitement at five o'clock, when the London coach started,
but every morning did not see Jabez mounted on the box-seat
with the coachman. Nor did every morning see the coach an
hour behind time, or the driver's face quite so red, or the
spectators so heavy-eyed, or so much handing up of horns and
glasses to the passengers, to be returned empty, or leave Mr.
Ashton standing there when the "Lord Nelson" had bowled away.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 321
That Coronation Day had much to answer for.
When Tom Hulme should have risen at four o'clock to
return home, his bruised limbs were so stiff and sore that the
soldier, who had borne the fatigue of many a campaign, who had
bivouacked on the battle-field, after a forced march, and being
ready with the sun for the day's duties, had to confess himself
" fettled " by Lancashire clogs, and unable to stir. There was no
alternative but to acquaint Mr. Ashton. The mill could not be
left without a manager.
After the night's unwonted dissipation, Mr. Ashton slept
heavily, and was with difficulty aroused. When once he com-
prehended the state of affairs, he was on the alert.
" It's a bad business ! " said he to his wife, as he dressed in
haste.
" ' There is nothing so bad, but it might be worse,' " was her
consolatory reply. " Never bewail a loss till you have done
your best to repair it. Can you not send Mr. Clegg to Whaley
Bridge for a few days?"
" My dear, your counsel is invaluable, but I fear there is not
time to catch the coach ; it is twenty minutes past four now."
"It is sure to be late this morning^ and Jabez will catch it
if it is to be caught," was her quick rejoinder.
Bess had already awakened Jabez, and he, fully dressed, met
Mr. Ashton at his bedroom door with " Can I be of any service,
sir?" A prompt commentary on Mrs. Ashton's declaration.
A few necessaries hastily crammed into a carpet bag ; a bowl
of milk and a crust of bread as hastily swallowed ; and Jabez,
accompanied by Mr. Ashton, was on his way to the Palace
coach-office confident they were in time, not having heard the
guard's bugle, or met the coach. There was, however, barely
time to claim for Mr. Clegg the place already booked for " Mr.
Hulme" (Mrs. Hulme's seat was forfeited), and for him to take
322 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
his seat, before they were off in a canter, and Mr. Ashton's
business mind was relieved.
As the manufacturer, satisfied that the mill-hands at Whaley
Bridge would not be left altogether to their own devices, stood
within a short distance of the high steps looking after the
vanishing coach, a party of roysterers came swaggering out of the
inn, hallooing with all their tipsy might. One in advance of the
rest, observing an elderly gentleman below, pointed him out to
his companions as fair game, and leaning over the rail to steady
himself, cried out —
" Halloo, old fogey ; are you a Tory or a Radical ? D me,
take your hat off before gentlemen!" and, suiting the action to
the word, extended a riding-whip he carried, and jerked Mr.
Ashton's hat off into the dust; whereupon his worthy comrades
set up a loud guffaw in admiration of the feat.
Naturally Mr. Ashton, his brief reverie disturbed, stooped to
pick up the fallen beaver, and making due allowance for the
unwonted occasion, turned to remonstrate good-humouredly with
an excited stranger who had evidently drunk the king's health
too frequently.
It was not with more surprise than annoyance that he recognised
four of the hilarious party in the doorway and on the steps of
the inn, which had apparently been open the night through. Not
one of the four was in a condition to recognise him, although
two of them, John Walmsley and Laurence Aspinall, had supped
overnight at his own table, although the third, Kit Townley, had
good reason for remembrance, and Ned Barret was anything but
a stranger.
Loud laughter hailed the fall of the hat. A second attempt to
" uncover the obstinate old fogey " was made, but dexterously
avoided by Mr. Ashton, in his absolute astonishment, stepping
backward beyond range.
BIRDS OF A FEATHER.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 323
"Young gentlemen, do you know whom you are insulting?"
There was another laughing chorus. Aspinall almost toppled
over the rail as he leaned forward, impotently striking out with
his whip.
" I protest the old rad's demnibly li-ke the lovely Augusta's
snuffy old dad," drawled out he, in a sort of tipsy wisdom.
"Just so!" appended Walmsley, mimicking the old gentleman's
peculiarity.
Mr. Ashton, though a reasonably temperate man himself, was
not so greatly shocked at these young carousers as we might
be. Long usage blunts sensibilities. It was a glorious distinction
to be a three-bottle man ; the inability to drink a solitary bottle
of wine at a sitting was a sort of disqualification for good
fellowship ; and it was considered a fine thing for a boy of
seven to " toss off a glass like a man ; " so the genial old
gentleman was inclined to allow some latitude for the special
occasion. But they had touched him on a tender point. The
light mention of his darling daughter's name roused his blood.
" John Walmsley," he cried angrily, looking up, " what brings
you, a married man, with these young rakes at this hour of
the morning ? "
" Pray wha-at brought y-you here, old fogey ? " hiccoughed
Aspinall, answering for the other.
One of the ostlers — Bob, the ex-groom — squeezed between the
rollicking fellows to whisper in the ear of Laurence. He was
impatiently thrust back with an elbow.
" Tchut ! don't believe it. Old snuff-an'-tuppeny's fast 'shleep
in bed shuresh a gun. I know b-better. I say, you "
But " old snuff-an'-tuppeny " had turned on his heel, too wise
to enter into contention with a set of inebriated boobies, though
not proof against the disrespectful epithets of Laurence, or the
derisive laughter of his boon companions. His irritation half
324 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
emptied his snuff-box before he got home, so often he tapped
smartly on its golden lid, and so often his ringer and thumb
travelled between it and his nose with a touch of ruminant
displeasure.
Neither he nor Mrs. Ashton was disposed to overlook the
fact that Kit Townley and Ned Barret — scapegraces by repute —
were of the party, nor that Augusta's name had been familiarly
used in their midst.
" ' Birds of a feather flock together,' " said the lady ; " and if
Mr. Aspinall's son associates with that reckless and dishonest
Kit Townley, he is a very unfit friend for John Walmsley, and
still worse for our dear Augusta."
"Just so; for a dashing blade with a handsome face, who
sports a uniform, talks poetry, and sings sentimental songs, is just
the fellow to take a silly girl's fancy, before she is old enough
to think. I know I regret I ever brought him here? said Mr.
Ashton seriously, as Augusta came in the room to breakfast,
entering at the door behind her mother's back.
"Well, William," observed Mrs. Ashton loftily, her hand on
the china coffee-pot, "you can imagine my annoyance when John
and Mr. Laurence walked in arm-in-arm last night, after the
liberty he had taken in the morning — kissing his hand to our
daughter from the public procession in the face of all our friends,
as if Augusta had been a flaunting barmaid. I was most
indignant!"
Augusta said " Good morning," and took her seat with a
heightened colour. Such a construction of the gallant officer's
salute had not occurred to her, and native delicacy took
alarm.
Mrs. Ashton continued to pour out her thoughts along with
the coffee. It was fit Augusta should know her sentiments on
this head.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 325
" It would have been a breach of hospitality to resent it
before our friends, and not good policy either. But I shall put
a stop to his visits henceforth."
" Oh ! mamma," exclaimed Augusta dropping her hands at
this climax, " you cannot mean that ? "
"Yes, my dear, I do. If Mr. Aspinall has depraved associates,
he must be depraved himself; and I am sure my daughter" —
she drew herself up proudly — "would not choose her friends from
those of Christopher Townley."
Augusta's colour suffered no decrease. She paused as she
was taking her dry toast from the silver rack, and half-hesitatingly
remonstrated.
" Of course I should not wish to associate with Mr. Townley's
friends. But papa may be mistaken. I do not think Mr.
Aspinall would mix with them. People meet and mingle at
coach-offices who are strangers."
"Just so, my dear; but " interposed her father.
" Why, mamma," the persistent young lady went on, " no more
perfect gentleman enters our doors than Mr. Laurence Aspinall.
His manners are most refined. Then he talks enchantingly, and
sings divinely. And " — this she thought conclusive — " is he not
intimate with Charlotte and John ? "
"Just so," quickly answered Mr. Ashton, glancing across the
table at his attentive wife, "and all the worse for Charlotte and
John. I shall have a word with them on the subject. I
called in Marsden Square on my way home, and found Charlotte
with red eyes. John had not been home all night." And Mr.
Ashton battered the top of an egg whilst delivering what he
regarded as a crushing argument.
Breakfast and the discussion were unusually prolonged, the
only impression left on the young lady's romantic, impressible,
and inexperienced mind being that her parents were unaccountably
326 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
harsh to her and unjust to Mr. Laurence, in her eyes the
beau-ideal of a man. Such a figure and such a face could
only enshrine divinity, And if he was a little wild, so were
all heroes at his age.
Let not the inexperienced young girl be over-much condemned
for this. The opinion generally prevailed in her day ; she had
heard the sentiment expressed in farces on the stage, in society
at home and elsewhere ; even her own father's hospitality
trended in the same direction.
Mrs. Ashton was a woman of her word. The door in Mosley
Street was closed against Mr. Laurence Aspinall, and James
was incorruptible.
But the teaching of Miss Bohanna's library being that Love
was far-seeing and parents were blind, it followed that Miss
Augusta (who would have resented any supposition of wilful
disobedience or intentional disrespect towards the good father
and mother she loved so dearly) met the fascinating gentleman
(always by chance) either at her cousin's in Marsden Square or
in her walks abroad, and scented billet-doux came and went
between the leaves of four-volumed romances which Cicily carried
to and from the library. One of these fell into Mrs. Ashton's
hands, when, finding her advice contemned, she took measures
to check this premature and clandestine love-making, as she
thought, effectually.
CHAPTER THE THIRTY-FIFTH.
AT CARR COTTAGE.
OM HULME was most
anxious to get back to
Whaley Bridge and the
mill, and motherly Bess
was equally uneasy to re-
turn to her poor little Sim,
afraid lest he should tax
his grandfather's strength
over-much, or meet with
some fresh accident. Yet
more than a week elapsed
before her husband was fit
to travel, and in the interim
Mr. Ashton had himself
"WHITE HART" SIGN OK EASEL. gone thither to ascertain
how the new substitute filled the post.
He was still at Carr Cottage when the "Lord Nelson" stopped
at the end of the avenue, and Jabez, with fragile Sim mounted
on his shoulder, trotted down to the gate to welcome Bess and
her invalid home. They had travelled inside, but John Loudon
MacAdam had not yet been appointed "Surveyor of Roads,"
and Tom Hulme had suffered severely from the jolting of the
coach.
328 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
Bess clasped her child tenderly, and held him up for his
father's kiss ; but she put him down to waddle on before them
(he could not run), whilst she and Jabez helped the injured
corporal to ascend the steep incline. Old Simon, who seemed
to have got a new lease of life from the invigorating country air
and occupation, had already breakfasted, and was in the bean-
field gathering the first ripe pods for a dinner of beans and bacon.
"Eh, Turn, lad," said he, as he entered the house-place, and
saw his son-in-law's pale face against the blue-and-white check
cover of the arm-chair, " whoi, thi feace is as whoite as a clout !
Tha'll noan be fit to wark fur one whoile. Thah's nobbut fit fur
t' sit under th' sycymore tree, an' look at th' fleawers, an' watch
me put th' garden i' fettle."
"Just so," said Mr. Ashton, bringing his pleasant face in at
the door ; " I think Mr. Clegg will have to do duty for you a
while longer. And don't distress yourself about it, Mr. Hulme,
for I fancy a little fresh air will do him no harm this hot weather ;
he has been overworking lately, and does not look too brisk."
"You are very kind, sir," responded Jabez, "but I trust a few
days' rest will set Mr. Hulme on his feet again." He said nothing
of himself.
But Tom Hulme had received unsuspected internal injuries,
and many weeks went by before he was stout as before — weeks
pregnant with fate for Jabez ; and not Jabez alone.
Factory hours were long, but the summer days were longer,
and he was glad after work was over to ramble away through
the valley of the Goyt, following the winding of the stream, or
over the larch-clad hills above Taxal, whence he would return
with the rising moon, bringing pockets full of the crisp-brown
fir-cones for Sim to play with. In the pine-woods, alone with
nature, he could give vent to his emotions, or indulge in meditation
at his will.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 329
Mr. Ashton, however, found him other occupation for his spare
hours. The landlord of the "White Hart," bearing in mind that
Mr. Clegg had come under his roof first as a travelling artist,
had expatiated to Mr. Ashton with much pathos on the deplorable
condition of the inn sign, not without sundry broad hints that
Mr. Clegg's temporary residence on the spot was a glorious
opportunity not to be neglected. Mr. Ashton had smiled, said
"Just so," taking a pinch from the immense snuff-box lying on
the bar-parlour chimney-piece, then falling back upon his own,
had gone away, and forgot the dingy sign altogether, until
another hint from his tenant refreshed his memory.
As he stood at the inn door waiting for the Manchester coach,
an upward sly glance of the jolly host's caused him to say to the
young man by his side, "Do you think you could manage to paint
a new sign for the 'White Hart,' to oblige Chapman and me?"
Jabez hesitated, not from unwillingness.
"I'm afraid, sir, to attempt. It's not in my line, and "
" Oh ! you can do it well enough. Remember the banner."
" I've no materials here, sir, else "
" If that is all, you shall have them in a day or two."
In a few days an easel, a new sign-board, and colours were sent
by the Manchester and Buxton carrier, and Jabez set to work,
to the especial wonder and admiration of little Sim, who delighted
to stand by his side, and grew rebellious when " bedtime " was
announced. Jabez was, however, but an untaught artist, and his
painting hours were few; the couchant hart was rubbed in and
wiped out over and over again before he was satisfied even with
the outline ; but then it grew in fair proportion under his brush,
until he felt there was something in him beyond the region of
tapes and braces.
The graceful animal, resplendent in golden collar and chain,
looked mildly out from the easel in the parlour nearest to the
33° THE MANCHESTER MAN.
passage (used, when the family was there, as an eating-room),
and little Sim gravely reported to his elders it only wanted "gass,
an' tee, an' ky," when the inmates of Carr Cottage were startled
by the arrival of unexpected visitors.
It was the second week in August ; the air was heavy with
the perfume of clove carnations, honeysuckle, mignonette, lavender,
musk, and mint. Golden sunflower and crimson hollyhock were
in their glory; bees and wasps hovered over balsams and china
asters, or hid themselves in the blue Canterbury bells or the
amber nectary of the stately white lily. Fruits were ripe for the
gatherer, grain was falling under the sickle. Bess, in a fair white
muslin cap, a large check apron over her dark chocolate-and-white-
print gown (her blue bedgown days were over), was moving quietly
about the house-place, preparing their early breakfast, no longer
restricted to oatmeal porridge.
Tom, looking worn, but clean and neat as loving hands could
make him, leaned back in his soft arm-chair, and watched her
with well-satisfied eyes. Little Sim was already in the garden
with his grandfather, helping to gather raspberries and currants
for preserving.
The tall oak-cased clock struck seven, and then, true to time,
the guard's bugle announced the coming of the coach from
Manchester. Instinctively Bess went to the door, as was her
wont, when the coach came in. She uttered an exclamation
of surprise.
" Eh, Turn ! aw declare t' coach is stoppin' at ar gate. Happen
theer's a parcel or summat for ar Jabez."
And off she set past the kitchen window and the farm-yard
Gothic doorway, and down the avenue, with the light foot of
a younger woman. Before she reached the avenue gate, the
stuffy vehicle had yielded up three ladies and two bandboxes,
and the guard having unlocked the capacious boot (a kind of
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 331
closet at the back), dragged thence, with much superfluous
puffing and straining, two hair trunks of moderate dimensions.
Yes, there stood Mrs. Ashton, grandly calm ; bright-haired
Augusta, tall, slim, and, it must be added, unamiably silent ;
and Ellen Chadwick, whose black eyes had an absolute glow
of expectancy in their depths. Bess put up her hand in
amazement.
" Eh, Mrs. Ashton, madam ! Yo' han takken us unawares !
An' theer is na a bit o' flesh meat i' th' heause, an' th' butcher's
cart wunna be reawnd agen till Setterday ! But awn downreet
glad to see yo' an' th' young ladies (she dropped a respectful
curtsey) an' a' lookin' so weel. Aw wur afeard yo' wur no'
comin' this summer."
" Never mind the butcher's meat, Mrs. Hulme ; having come
to Carr, we must do as Carr does. I do not doubt we shall
fare very well," said the stately lady, reassuringly. " I trust we
shall find your good husband free from pain, and Mr. Clegg and
your family in health."
Bess thanked Mrs. Ashton for her kind inquiries, but somehow
she boggled over the "Mr. Clegg." She was proud enough of
his advancement, but to her he was still "Jabez," and he did
not seek to be otherwise.
There was a difficulty about the luggage, no men being about.
By this time old Simon was nearly down the hill, little Sim following
at his heels, his face, hands, and pinafore stained with fruit.
"I run for Joe," cried crippled Sim, as Bess tried the weight
of a trunk, and Ellen interposed. Run, indeed ! It was the
very travestie of a run !
"Well, yo' see as heaw o' Moore's folk are eawt i' th' fields
cuttin' whoats [oats]. Feyther an' me con carry one on 'em
atween us. They're noan so heavy," said Tom, who had
followed in the wake of Bess.
332 THB MANCHESTER MAN.
Mrs. Ashton would not hear of it. Just then little Sim came
back with Joe — his most particular friend, to whom he was chief
patron — a drivelling idiot, a man in frame, a child in heart and
brain. He was a pitiable object, the scoff of the rabble, but
he had sense enough to know his protectors. At the instance
of the four-year-old child he shouldered the box with a vacant
chuckle, and Sim, loaded with an oval pasteboard bandbox half
as big as himself, waddled after him as fast as his deformity
would permit.
Before the travellers could reach the top of the avenue Jabez
Clegg was with them, the other trunk upon his shoulder. He
had heard at the "White Hart" of their arrival, and had almost
sacrificed the dignity of his position in his desire to run.
There were more greetings, accompanied by a cordial shaking
of hands, and Bess and Simon looked on with pleasure, not
unmixed with pain, that the foundling they had adopted and
reared had mounted far above their heads, albeit in rising he
had drawn them up too.
He breakfasted not with them in the house-place, but with
the new-comers in the parlour, and Bess herself waited upon
them, Meg, her little maid, being off in the harvest field
gleaning for a bed-ridden mother.
She heard him conversing freely, if deferentially, with the
lofty Mrs. Ashton on topics, and in a language her provincial
tongue could never compass. She saw him turn to answer the
arch sallies of Miss Ashton, and the quieter observations of
Miss Chadwick, and noted that the dark eyes of the latter
kindled when he spoke, and her cheeks had a warmer glow, as
if they caught their hue from the flushed face of Jabez.
Breakfast over — little Sim had sat on the doorstep to share
his with Crazy Joe, whilst Ellen and Augusta retired to unpack —
Mrs. Ashton graciously accepted the escort of Mr. Clegg to the
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 333
mill, and they trod the avenue and the high-road side by side,
discussing business matters, her dignity losing no whit by the
companionship. Mrs. Ashton was one of those who could lift up
without stooping.
Clouds never lingered on Augusta's face ; she had been
transported thither, as she said, "with no more ceremony than
a bale of twist," but she put off her displeasure with her
travelling bonnet, and danced into the kitchen airily as a sylph,
to help Bess out of the quandary caused by their advent.
" I am afraid our arrival has been very inauspicious," Augusta
said, " but I can assure you I was not consulted, and am not
to blame." (She had certainly not been consulted — blame was
another matter.) " And now what can I do for you, Mrs.
Hulme?"
Augusta tucked up the sleeves of her peach-coloured gingham
dress, borrowed a linen apron from Bess, who confessed to
being " rayther a heavy hond at paste," and soon the matron
was at ease respecting pies, and tarts, and custards. Simon
Clegg brought in a dish of trout fresh from the stream, the
larder supplied savoury ham and eggs, the garden furnished
peas, so Mrs. Ashton was not far wrong.
It was but a spurt on Augusta's part ; her tender im-
pressionable heart had melted at Mrs. Hulme's first look of dismay,
but, the impulse over, there was no more tucking up of sleeves
or handling of paste pins. Fortunately for their digestion, Ellen
Chadwick had no less skill, since, quiet as she was, she seemed
to lack an outlet for superabundant energy, and, obtrusively
restless, helped Bess she hardly knew how, or how much.
Augusta wandered about cottage and garden, or sat for hours
under the shade of the great sycamore tree, singing low-voiced
plaintive ditties ; feeling herself the most ill-used and wretched
being in existence, separated from her adorable lover ; and the
334 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
more she brooded, the more discontented and melancholy she
became. It was all very real and very much to be deplored.
No knife cuts so keenly at the heart-strings as the sharp edge
of a first love turned in upon itself; and Augusta was as much
in love as ever was maiden of seventeen.
Mrs. Ashton went daily to the mill, but a casual remark of
Mrs. Hulme's on " Miss Ashton's mopin' an' malancholy " aroused
the attention of the energetic mother, and she did her best to
counteract morbid fancies with long sharp walks in the early
morning (extending, on one occasion, as far as Shawcross Hall,
where she astonished her relatives by an informal visit), and a
repetition of the dose in the evening, when Mr. Clegg made
one of the party, thus unconsciously adding fuel to the fires
which, unknown to her, consumed alike her niece and her
warehouseman.
At the end of ten days, Mrs. Ashton returned to Manchester,
leaving the girls behind. She had extorted a promise from
Augusta that she would not write to Mr. Laurence Aspinall, and
relied on that promise being faithfully kept Moreover, after
some debate with herself, as they walked from the mill together
on the last afternoon of her stay, she committed her daughter
and niece to Jabez Clegg's care.
" You are a very young man for so important a charge," she
said, " but you are steady as old Time, and of your integrity
and fidelity we have had many proofs. Miss Ashton's health
demands a prolonged stay on this breezy hill-side, but I fear
she feels it dull after Manchester. If you will endeavour to
amuse her when you see her drooping, I shall consider myself
your debtor, sir ; and should anything unusual attract your notice,
I depend on your calling our attention to it."
" I feel honoured by the trust you repose in me, madam,"
replied he, a grave consciousne5S of his own danger stirring at
THE MANCHESTEP MAN. 335
his heart ; " you may depend on my watchfulness over Miss
Ashton and her cousin."
But of any danger to Miss Ashton beyond that arising from
a sensitively delicate frame, which might need the sudden
summons of Dr. Hull to allay the fears of parents anxious for
their only child, he had no suspicion or perception. He had no
more clue to Mrs. Ashton's hidden meaning than she to his
secret emotions. It had been wiser to have been more explicit.
Without that charge he might have made it a point of honour,
if not of duty, to hold aloof from the young ladies, lest he
should be obtrusive ; as it was, the more he pondered, the more
he became satisfied that it was only a delicate way of giving
sanction to a companionship he might otherwise have regarded
as presumptuous.
Accordingly, he constituted himself their cavalier after business
hours, fulfilling to the letter his instructions to endeavour to amuse
Augusta whenever he found her drooping, well rewarded if he
could win back a smile or a peal of the rippling laughter he had
heard so oft in her school-girl days. His attentions to Miss
Chadwick were tinctured with the profoundest respect, but there
was no effort to entertain or be agreeable ; on the contrary, it
was Miss Chadwick who kept the light shafts of her cousin's
wit within bounds when they were likely to wound — as they did
sometimes.
The "White Hart," to Sim's disquiet, would have suffered long
from dearth of herbage, had not thunderous clouds emptied their
reservoirs amongst the hills, until brooks became rivers, and roads
almost impassable. Then Jabez resumed his brush, Sim clapped
his thin little hands with delight, whilst the sedate young lady of
twenty-four, and the bewitching damsel of sweet seventeen, varied
the monotony of piano, book, or embroidery-frame, with an occa-
sional criticism of his work,
336 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
It was a time fraught with intoxicating delight, but ol terrible
temptation to Jabez. The frequent fits of languor which bowed
Augusta down like a drooping lily, made her only more dangerously
dear to him, and it needed all his strength to remember that she
was his master's daughter, and confided to his care. If he now
thought of Laurence Aspinall and his fascination, it was only as
a butterfly beau, for whom no sensible maiden could entertain a
permanent liking. Not even when, turning back one forenoon
for something in the closet which he had forgotten, he found her
in tears on the low ledge of the open window at the foot of
the staircase.
"Good heavens! Miss Ashton, what is the matter? Are you
ill ? Is anything troubling you ? "
"Nothing," sobbed she, the clear drops falling faster.
"Nothing! oh, Miss Ashton, this cannot be for nothing," and
he sat down on the window-ledge beside her, not daring so much
as to touch her hand, his own were in such a quiver.
" Miss Ashton — Augusta — you told me your troubles when you
were a school-girl, am I less worthy your confidence now ? Can
I do anything to serve you ? I would lay my life down to save
you from pain ; " and the earnest tenderness of his voice spoke
volumes.
She had subdued her emotion. Gathering herself up with a
reflex of her mother's stateliness, she said haughtily, " It is nothing,
sir, I am better," and swept past him up the staircase, leaving him to
set his teeth and turn away with clenched hands, alike exasperated
at his own loss of self-command and grieved for her grief.
On the narrow landing which ran parallel with the staircase
like a balcony, Augusta found her cousin Ellen, with one hand
on her side, leaning against the chamber door-post, as if for
support, with closed eyes and pale lips. She had been "over-
come by the heat" — so she said.
CHAPTER THE THIRTY-SIXTH.
THE LOVERS' WALK.
TABEZ held a responsible post, and had no more leisure
than other business men for emotional indulgence. He
hurried out of the cottage, and down the avenue, shutting
up his bitter feelings within the door of his heart as he
went. But the process closed his eyes and ears to external
sounds, and the old postman, with his long tin horn, which had
been echoing through the straggling village a full quarter of an
hour, passed him in the avenue and said, " Good day," without so
much as arresting his attention.
At the mill he found letters waiting — one, which had been
post-paid as a double letter, conspicuous amongst the wafered
business communications, not only because of its thick, gilt-edged
paper, and crimson disk of crested wax, but from its curious folding,
as if to baffle prying eyes.
It was signed " Ben Travis," and was so long, it went into a
pantaloon pocket, to be read when his multifarious duties allowed
him more leisure.
When the hands were dismissed at noon, and the one clerk
had left the counting-house, he took out the voluminous epistle,
which was dated September loth, and certainly found therein
matter of interest. Amongst a few preliminary items of news, he
learned that the excesses of the Coronation night had created
so much disgust in the minds of thinking men that many of
338 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
those who had denounced Henry Hunt's advocacy of abstinence
and at the public expense had formerly disseminated printed
laudations of good brown ale, the " old English beverage," as " a
cheering and strengthening drink," no longer branded the water-
drinkers as " enemies to the corporeal constitution of Englishmen,"
but had given their countenance to social gatherings whence
intoxicating liquors were excluded. Travis himself was doing what
he could to promote these temperate meetings, and looked for the
earnest co-operation of Mr. Clegg on his return to Manchester. (And
reformers saw in advance how universal would become the
temperance movement of which this was the unpretending
precursor.
The letter went on to say —
"Miss Chadwick and her fair cousin were spirited aivay
mysteriously. At first I blamed myself as the unhappy cause. I
have since discovered my mistake, through a quarrel betiueen Mr.
Walmsley and Mr. Laurence Aspinall, when both were slaves to
Bacchus — "/# vino veritas /" I suppose, you know that Mr. Aspinall
the elder is a martyr to the gout, and has been driven by his enemy
to the Buxton baths. The cause, I have heard, was a gentlemanly
debauch in a fit of passion or wounded pride. His son joins him to-
day. I scarcely think he will call on your young ladies after what
has occurred!'
"What has occurred?" repeated Jabez, "what can he mean
by that ? I wish correspondents would be more explicit ! "
He pondered over this sentence, but could make nothing of
it, and after reading a little way, came to the real object of
the letter, prefaced as it was with much circumlocution.
"// may seem strange that a great, big, burly fellow like myself
should be such a booby as to seek the intervention of a third person
in an affair of the heart. Yet, if I have any insight into your
nature, 1 think I may confide in you, and defend on your good
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 339
offices. After so many months'1 dangling, and craven hesitation, I
summoned up courage to make my pretensions known to Miss
Chadwick. I know I did it clumsily and ungracefully ; the very
strength of my passion fettered my tongue. I shall never forget the
pitiful look of the sweet girl as she burst into tears, assiired me of
her esteem, but declined my suit. Her tears unnerved me, and I had
not power to plead my oivn cause. Do not despise me, Clegg ; neither
Samson nor Hercules was any stronger. I cannot resign myself to
that verdict. I would throw myself again at Ellen's feet, and
beseech her pity, but that I dread its repetition. Can I count on
your good offices to move her in my behalf? I knoiv the value
Miss Chadwick sets on your opinion, and how highly she esteems you,
or I should not think of asking this. The trust I repose in you is
the best proof I can give of friendship. Do not hesitate to tell
me the ivorst. I hope I am brave enough to bear my fate — when I
know it. Mrs. Chadwick does not believe her daughters decision final."
This was a disquieting letter. Mr. Travis had been his firm,
true friend, in spite of difference in position and fortune. He
had overlooked that difference from the first, but would Miss
Chadwick, his employer's niece, overlook it, if he stepped beyond
privileged bounds? From the depths of his own conscious heart
he felt grieved for his friend, but how to approach so delicate
a subject to serve him was perplexing. He never thought of
shirking the trust.
It was late when he got home to dinner. Ellen and Bess
were both on the look-out for him. He quickened his pace,
fearing some evil to his beloved Augusta, whom he had last
seen in tears.
" What an anomaly is woman ! " he thought, as he found
her fingers rattling over the keys of her piano in accompaniment
to the merriest ditty he had heard from her lips since she was
a child,
340 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
There was a strange sparkle in her eyes, a vivacity in her
manner so opposed to her sadness that he asked himself if he
had been dreaming before, or was dreaming then. She blushed
over her willow-pattern plate as she took her seat, but, after
that first token of susceptibility, chatted with a volubility unusual
to her, and curiously in contradistinction to the silence and reserve
of Ellen Chadwick. In the morning he had debated whether
that secret trouble came within the category of " unusual " things
Mrs. Ashton required to be informed of, and, behold ! it was
gone!
She rallied both Jabez and Ellen on their gravity, and at
length, as if on a sudden inspiration, asked, playing with her
green-handled, two-pronged fork —
" Shall you be very busy at the mill this afternoon, Mr.
Clegg?"
It was an unusual question. He answered —
"Rather. Some bales of twist have come in from Messrs.
Evans, of Darley-Abbey Mills. I must see them unpacked, and
compare the twist with samples. But — your motive for asking ? "
" Oh, if you are busy Well, perhaps after tea will be better ;
it will be cooler. I wish you would just take Ellen a good long
walk ; I found her fainting with the heat this morning."
Ellen coloured vividly.
"Augusta!" she remonstrated.
" And yourself, Miss Ashton ? " questioned he.
"Oh, I have a heap of clear-starching to do. My frills and
laces are in a woeful plight. I shall be clap, clap, clap, all the
afternoon, and this sultry weather prohibits ironing until there
is a cool evening breeze to fan me through the window. Without
it I should be as likely to faint as Ellen."
Miss Chadwick made light of her faintness, and objected, if
not too strenuously, to be so disposed of; but Augusta, in her
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 341
old wilful way, insisted, and Jabez, with his friend's letter on
his mind, was not likely to throw opposition in the way. So,
notwithstanding his recent rebuff, he was once more " Miss
Ashton's humble servant to command."
After an early tea, which was but a fiction to all three,
Augusta was left behind, busy with her box-iron and her lady-
like laundry of lace and muslin in the house-place, whilst Ellen
Chadwick and Jabez went rambling with the winding waters of
the translucent Goyt, under umbrageous trees on pleasant
mountain slopes, where foxgloves nodded and horsetail grasses
bent before them, and only an occasional reaper or gleaner
crossed their path.
Had these two been incipient lovers, no more embarrassing
silence could have fallen upon them. If Jabez, her junior by
two years, had had a tussle to keep his love within bounds,
there had at least been a glimmer of hope in the distance, and
the struggle was upwards. Ellen had been trained from her
childhood to keep her naturally strong feelings under control,
but there was a war in her breast between maidenly shame
and unsought, hopeless love, and the two hacked at each other
and at her heart in the rayless dark, and the struggle was
downwards.
Here she was, for the first time, alone with the man she
loved with all the strength of a strong heart, with the newly-
gained knowledge that he " would die to save her cousin pain ;"
and he, conscious of a sacred and delicate mission, all unaware
of her secret love for himself, was perplexed how best to
approach the subject and take advantage of the opportunity
so afforded him. At length
"I had a letter from my friend Captain Travis to-day," he
began.
With little perceptible emotion, she replied
342 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
" Indeed ! I hope he was in good health. You are honoured
in your friendship, sir. Mr. Travis is a noble gentleman, and I
esteem him highly."
This paved the way for him to expatiate on Ben Travis's many
good qualities. He told the story of the big, raw-boned youth's
first patronage of himself, and found an attentive listener as he
traced the growth of their friendship upwards, and related
favourable anecdotes which have no place in this history. But
no sooner did he begin to plead his friend's cause with all the
warmth of young friendship, than her manner entirely changed.
Her colour came and went ; she panted as if for breath, and,
gasping out, " Oh — h ! Mr. Clegg, for mercy's sake, don't — don't !"
was seized with a sudden faintness for the second time that
day.
A lichen-covered old tree trunk, shattered and uptorn in the
late thunderstorms, was at hand ; he seated her upon it,
bringing water to revive her from a runnel near; but any
attempt to renew the subject only seemed to give her exquisite
pain, and he desisted on her telling him, in a suffocating
voice
" Honour forbids that I should listen to Mr. Travis ; I — I —
love another."
Something in her tone or manner told him that her love
was as hopeless as his own for Augusta, and nothing could be
more respectful and gentle than his bearing towards her on their
homeward way, thus adding fuel to the fire which consumed
her.
The evening shadows were fast closing in when they reached
the cottage, and she, with a simple inclination of the head, left
Jabez on the threshold, and, passing through the parlours, carried
her overmastering emotions upwards to her room, to be grappled
with in the silence of the night.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 343
"Wheere's Miss Ashton?" asked Bess. " Hoo said it wur
too hot to bide i' th1 heawse, and hoo put her irons deawn, an'
after tittivatin' herseP oop a bit, went eawt a-seekin' yo'."
In some surprise, not unmixed with alarm, for the hour was
late — as times and country went — and the harvest brought rough
strangers into the neighbourhood, Jabez set off at full speed
down the avenue, and ere he had reached the first brook, saw
her lithe figure advancing buoyantly, and, if his eyes and the
gathering mist did not deceive him, a second figure parted from
her at the gate.
She was the first to speak. "Whichever way did you people
ramble off?"
" Oh ! down by the Goyt, Taxal way, Miss Ashton," answered
Jabez.
" Ah ! and I went up the Buxton Road ; we were certain
to miss."
" I thought I saw you part from some one at the gate ? Could
I be mistaken?" half-questioned her interlocutor.
"Oh, Crazy Joe! that was all!" and he took her reply in all
sincerity, not believing Augusta Ashton capable of untruth.
A day or two went by, during which Jabez wrote to tell Ben
Travis he " must arm himself with fortitude " — that " the world
was full of disappointments" — that "Miss Chadwick loved
elsewhere" — but there was "something more for men to do than
die of disappointments or blighted love."
And yet another day or two, during which Augusta's moods
were as variable as the gusty shadows of the sycamore, changing
from wild exuberance which rallied Ellen on her depression,
and condescended to play or dance for Sim, to a moping, moody
melancholy, enlivened by frequent showers. She was given to
snatch up her hat and " run out into the garden for a breath of
fresh air," but she generally came in panting, as if the "run" had
344 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
been literal ; and sometimes she would be found in the house
when supposed out of it, and vice versa.
The "White Hart" had not yet walked away, although Jabez
considered it complete. It waited Mr. Ashton's coming and his
verdict, and stood on the easel in the dining-room.
The morning post had brought a message to Simon Clegg
concerning fruit and vegetables for the Manchester home, and
having sought him in the kitchen-garden to deliver it, Jabez
entered the house at dinner-time by the lower staircase window
(frequently used for entrance and exit). His passage through the
best parlour was arrested by voices in the room beyond, one of
which he knew too well. It was that of Laurence Aspinall. His
painting was evidently under free criticism, and had been for
some time. There was some jesting at the sign-painter.
"You see, Miss Ashton, what a few touches can effect!"
The speaker had apparently made free with Clegg's colours
and brushes, and there was a murmured sound of assent from
Miss Ashton.
"Well, Barret, Nee scire fas est omnia ; Ne sutor idtra crepidam.
What say you?"
" Yes ; let the cobbler stick to his last. If this Clegg would
be an artist, let him stick to his brush; if a tradesman, let him
stick to his trade. If a man means to succeed, he must never
Sirt with either art or trade. It's just as bad as wooing two
women at once."
Jabez heard no more. The blow which had been aimed at
his art-pretensions drove him back by the way he came, and he
paced the long terrace parallel with the "Lovers' Walk" for fully
half-an-hour. When he turned the corner of the cottage, and
went in at the front door, the critics were gone, but Aspinall's
"few touches" remained. They had indeed given life to the "White
Hart.'* Henceforth the "cobbler" resolved to "stick to his last."
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 345
Ellen Chadwick had been away, with little Sim by the hand,
to take some substantial comforts to Meg's bedridden mother.
She appeared annoyed when she heard of their masculine visitors
from Buxton. Her evident displeasure set Jabez wondering what
Travis meant by " after what has occurred," and he wrote that
afternoon for enlightenment, sending his letter as a packet by
coach, there being no second post.
It has been said that the cellarage of the cottage was only
accessible by flights of steps in the portion of the weed-grown
" Lovers' Walk " which lay at the windowless back of the long
low building, where nettles grew so thick and rank that even the
square unused trap over one set of steps was half hidden by
them. The path was rarely used, the farmer having made a
nearer cut from the farmyard to his ancient dwelling.
Tom Hulme was slowly recovering, under the care of a Buxton
doctor who came thrice a week. He could walk about the garden
with a stick, but there was no sending him to the dark cellar for
anything. The doctor had ordered him port wine, and Bess, who
kept the key, had asked Mr. Clegg to fetch a couple of bottles
from the cellar.
Tea was over, but he fancied there was sufficient light to guide
him without a lantern. He had got the wine, and was approaching
the cellar door at the foot of the sunken steps when he heard the
sound of voices coming along the walk from the direction of
the moor.
Every pulse in his body seemed to grow still as he recognised
the tones of Augusta Ashton and Laurence Aspinall, and
heard with deepening anguish the unmistakable sound of kisses
interchanged. They had apparently paused close to the stair-
head for that embrace ; and then he heard — and thanked God
that he was there to hear, though that hearing blighted every
hope he had — his rival, with every argument which passionate
346 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
love or skilful sophistry could employ, persuade her to elope with
him the following night.
Backwards and forwards they walked in the gathering dusk,
but never beyond the length of the premises ; and now and then
they stopped, and drove him mad with their caresses. The place
was so retired and lonely, precaution was neglected ; and Jabez,
chained to the spot as it were, gathered that proposals for her
hand, made by Laurence himself, had been peremptorily rejected
by Mr. Ashton, who was set down as a despot and a tyrant for
refusing to surrender a silly girl of seventeen to a rake of two-and-
twenty. He heard her tell that Jabez Clegg had found her sobbing
at the separation, even whilst her darling's letter was at the gate.
And he heard it said that the elder Aspinall not only
countenanced this secret courtship, but had furnished funds for
the proposed elopement. This generosity was set against the
cruelty of her own parents ; her affection, her pride, the romance
in her nature were appealed to, but still Augusta's better angel
held her safe, until, coward that he was, Laurence terrified her
with a threat to "blow his brains out" if she refused him.
She wept her assent upon his breast, and then Jabez, already
half-stunned, heard the details of evidently previously concocted
arrangements for their elopement and marriage at Gretna Green,
professedly with his father's sanction.
CHAPTER THE THIRTY-SEVENTH.
A RIDE ON A RAINY NIGHT.
A B E Z, bottles in hand, his
mind a chaos, had walked
in at the wash - kitchen
door precisely as Augusta,
^ stealthily creeping through
^ a gap in the privet hedge,
made her way to the con-
venient staircase window,
shivering more from fright
than from the chill drizzling
rain which had begun to
fall. Putting her head in
at the parlour-door, where
Ellen was sewing, with a
brief " I'm off to bed," she hurried upstairs in the dusk to lave
her flushed face, smooth her disordered hair, crush it under a
nightcap, and place her head on a pillow, to still her heart's
flutterings under the screening counterpane, and hide her emotions
from her cousin under the semblance of sleep, though sleep was
an absolute impossibility,
In 1821 the village of Gretna Green, on the Scottish border,
was the general resort of runaway lovers, who, being in their
minority, could not be married legally in England without
A MIDNIGHT ALARM,
348 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
parental consent, whereas in Caledonia a mere promise to marry
made in the presence of witnesses was held binding. At Gretna
a man not in holy orders, but metaphorically called "the
blacksmith," because he riveted the chains of matrimony, lived in
the first house beyond the bridge which spanned the river Sark,
and, with a ceremonial as unseemly as it was brief, married all
comers, often with pursuers at his very doors ; and the marriages
so contracted were not to be set aside. For more than half a
century Gretna Green weddings had figured largely in the
literature of the stage and of the circulating library ; and there
is no doubt that the halo of romance thrown around an elope-
ment to Gretna blinded to the impropriety of the prenuptial
flight many a foolish or headstrong girl whom the actual ceremony
shocked and startled.
Augusta Ashton, with all her sentimental romance, all her
petulant wilfulness, all her resentment at being exiled from home
and her Adonis, yet loved her parents well, although her reverence
and filial obedience had been gradually undermined by the
plausible sophistry and impassioned eloquence of her ardent
lover. But if she loved them much, she unfortunately, loved
Laurence more. He was, to do him justice, terribly in earnest ;
and in the inexperience of her seventeen years she could not be
expected to sift and analyse that passionate earnestness for its
many components. With her all was love, and love was all.
His proposition had, nevertheless, come upon her with a shock.
She was not prepared to ignore the prudent teaching of her
mother, or to brave the indignation of her indulgent father, or
to forfeit her own self-respect, and nothing could have moved
her to consent but that appalling threat of suicide, and he knew
her tender heart well when he made it?
But neither that threat nor her promise could reconcile her to
the rash step, and she lay in bed shuddering with her own fears,
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 349
and, strangely enough, her first thought was — "What would Jabez
say if he knew it ? " Not her father, not her mother, but the
Jabez whom she had rebuffed only a week before, yet of whose
opinion she somehow slood more in awe than of all else
besides.
What did Jabez think, seeing that he did know ? Think ?
He scarcely could think. Feeling seemed to overpower thought,
reason, perception. When after a stagnant time he emerged from
the stairhead, it was more as a culprit than Jabez Clegg. He
put down the bottles and escaped again into the open air, cowed
alike by the knowledge which had overpowered him, and by a
sense oi dishonour at having played the unworthy part of a
listener, albeit the listening had been involuntary, seeing that the
shock of his discovery had stunned him like a blow from a
sledge-hammer, crushing his own long-cherished hopes to death.
His next thought was of intense thankfulness that by any means
the schemes of Aspinall had been bared to him, and in time to
attempt the rescue of his idolised Augusta from the clutches of
a villain.
Unacquainted with the events which had preceded Augusta's
removal to Carr — unaware that the Mosley Street doors had been
closed against Laurence, or that a formal proposal for the young
lady's hand had been made by the elder Aspinall on behalf of
his son, and peremptorily declined by the Ashtons ; ignorant
that imperious Mr. Aspinall, in his gouty wrath, had sworn
" upon his honour " that his son should " marry the girl in spite
of the paltry beggars'-inkle-weaver," and having no faith in the
man himself, Jabez regarded the use of the father's name only
as a proof of his greater perfidy, and gave him no credit even
for an honourable intention or an honest emotion. The time was
past for Clegg to find excuses for the wrong-doing of his
adversary
350 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
Now, with every nerve unstrung, he was required to act, and
that promptly. To-morrow would be too late. What if he should
take Miss Chadwick into his confidence? But no, he could not
lower Augusta in the eyes even of her own cousin ; and neither
she nor anyone there had authority to detain Miss Ashton
against her will even if her foot were on the step of the post-
chaise. It was imperative that he should reach Manchester
immediately, yet how to do so without exciting alarm perplexed
him. There was a horse in the stable at the mill, but as he
had a bed in Simon's room, and could neither leave it nor return
to it in the night without passing through the Hulmes' sleeping
apartment, there was a difficulty in quitting the house un-
known.
"I must be at the mill before daybreak to-morrow, having
something of importance to attend to, so I will sleep on the
squab in the house-place, Mrs. Hulme. If I am not in for
breakfast, do not wait for me," said he ; and no one questioned
him, although Mrs. Hulme and her husband were of joint opinion
that "Jabez looked terribly put eawt," and wondered what business
he could have on hand of so much consequence.
No one thought of locking country cottage doors. By nine
o'clock all the inmates were in bed and asleep. Before ten
Jabez, sad at heart, had quietly left the cottage for the mill,
had saddled Peveril, and, though no great horseman, was speeding
past the "White Hart" along the highway to Manchester, fast
as the steady-going roadster would travel. The wind had risen,
and the rain came down persistently ; but, heedless of discomfort
or danger, with the one thought paramount in his mind — the
preservation of his master's daughter — he set his teeth and rode
on with feverish impatience, which at length communicated itself
to Peveril, and quickened the beat of the sensible animal's hoof;
impatience which would have sent him flying over the toll-gates,
THE MANCHESTER MAN, 351
had either he or his steed been equal to the exploit, and which
could barely brook the delay of drowsy tollkeepers.
Nevertheless as he turned from Piccadilly into Mosley Street,
the muffled-up old watchman, catching the echoes of the
Infirmary clock, bawled out, to mark his own vigilance, "Just
one o'clock, an' a dark, rainy neet!" and the Ashton household
had closed its eyelids and its account with the day at least a
couple of hours.
It is never pleasant to be the bearer of ill-tidings, so no
wonder Jabez hesitated with the lion-headed knocker in his hand
ere he sent its reverberations growling through the silent house.
His hesitation must have influenced the knocker, for the lion had
to roar again, and louder, before he heard the window above
unclose, and saw Mr. Ashton's night-capped head thrust out, to
ask, in alarm, "Who's there? What's the matter?"
Jabez stepped back to the kerbstone to let the dull rays of
an oil lamp fall upon his face.
" It is I, Jabez Clegg, sir ; I have a matter of importance to
communicate."
" Good heavens, Clegg, you ! Surely the mill's not been
burned down?"
" No, sir, all's right at the factory. There's no harm done
anywhere at present. If you will please to come down, I hope
there may be time to prevent that which is threatened."
" Just so ; I'll be down directly."
There were no lucifer matches with which to procure
instantaneous light, but during this brief colloquy Mrs. Ashton
had been groping on the tall chimney-piece for their precusors,
the Prometheans, and having found them, by dipping a -small
chemically prepared match into a tiny bottle of fluid, she
obtained a light as soon as the window was closed and the
draught shut out,
352 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
Too uneasy to waste much time in dressing, before many
minutes had flown Mr. and Mrs. Ashton, whose fears had
equally pointed to their daughter — the one in a roquelaire, and
the other in her warehouse overall — were both listening with
agitated and anxious faces to Mr. Clegg's communication, made
with a discomposure great as their own.
" Elope !" both parents exclaimed, simultaneously.
"Elope!" reiterated the mother. "Our daughter consent to
elope, and with a reprobate like him ? It is not possible ! "
" So I should have said, madam, yesterday," rejoined Jabcz,
sadly, as he sank on a chair, overpowered more by the strain on
his feelings than by the fatigue of his long, wet, midnight ride,
" and I would have given the world to have been able to doubt
the evidence of my own ears."
Mrs. Ashton, with clasped hands up, sat opposite to Jabez ;
Mr. Ashton, lacking the consolation and inspiration of his snuff-
box, walked about the room with one hand to his head in a
state of distressing perturbation. He stopped in his walk to
ask, "What's to be done?" as Jabez made this declaration,
unconscious of its force.
The light of the chamber candle fell upon the haggard face
and drenched garments of the young man. The elder one
looked full at him, paused, then drawing near and laying his
right hand heavily on the other's wet shoulder, asked in a
troubled voice, with an inquisitorial, but not unkind manner
"My lad, did no other motive than duty to your employers
bring you eighteen miles through the rain this dark night to
save Miss Ashton from an imprudent marriage?"
Jabez had not stopped to analyse his own motives. Thus
questioned, it was not without embarrassment that he answered,
"Mrs. Ashton desired me, sir, to watch over Miss Ashton, and
acquaint you with any matter affecting her welfare. But apart
THB MANCHESTER MAN. 353
from that, sir, I could not see Miss Ashton in the toils of a
libertine without an attempt to rescue her. I should have been
a dastard to sit passive, and even now I feel we are losing
time."
"Just so, just so," assented Mr. Ashton. "That reminds me,
Peveril is in the street, and you are soaked to the skin. My
dear" — turning to his wife — "will you arouse the servants, and
see that neither horse nor rider suffers in our service more than
we can help ?"
Having thus got rid of his wife, of whom he stood somewhat
in awe, he resumed his searching catechism of Jabez.
"And so, Clegg, you have no motive beyond a chivalrous
desire to save your master's daughter, no interest to serve beyond
your duty to us?"
The ordeal was terrible. Jabez rose, his features working
convulsively.
"Mr. Ashton, you are torturing me. Humble as I am, I
love Miss Ashton with my whole life and soul. But knowing
the distance between us, I have striven to keep the secret in
my own breast. And I protest I had no double motive in my
journey hither."
The genial smallware manufacturer, to whom that night had
brought two revelations, looked Jabez steadfastly in the face as
he made his avowal ; then, taking him kindly by the hand,
said — his eyes swimming
" Just so, just so, my lad ! I believe you. And, Jabez
Clegg, let me tell you that I would rather give my daughter
to an upright, persevering man like you, without a penny, than
to a spendthrift like Laurence Aspinall, though he rolled in riches.
But it is no use saying that now?
Indeed there was no use, and time was flying. A glance of
grateful attachment, and a mute pressure of his liberal master's
AA
354
THE MANCHESTER MAN.
hand, were the sole acknowledgment of Jabez. But a new bond
was established between the twain.
Mrs. Ashton had come back to discuss with her husband and
Jabez the best mode of procedure. She was not less shrewd
than her lord, and had not failed to perceive that the young
man's heart was in the service he now rendered them. The blow
dealt by Augusta to her pride dashed down the impalpable
barrier between them and she took counsel with him as a tried
and true friend.
Mr. Clegg pointed out the necessity for his return to the mill
before it should open, and he be missed ; and taking a proffered
glass of brandy and water to avert cold, he hurried, whilst hot
coffee was preparing, to change his soaked garments preparatory
to the ride back; his elders also taking the opportunity to dress
and prepare for departure with the morning coach.
Not a moment was wasted, but though Peveril had been well
groomed and fed, he was not so fresh to the road as he had
been ; still the journey was homeward, the rain had abated ; day
began to dawn as he left Stockport behind, and without much
use of the whip, Jabez had his horse back in the stable before
the factory bell began to ring. And then the beast was allowed
to rest. The jaded man had to rouse himself to another day's
work, another day's trial and excitement, without a moment for
repose.
To everybody's astonishment, Mr. and Mrs. Ashton stepped
out of the " Lord Nelson " coach that morning at the bottom of
the avenue, with a carpet-bag for luggage. The difference of
their reception by daughter and niece was palpable, and they
could not fail to observe how much the former was disconcerted
by their arrival.
"Oh, aunt and uncle, this is a pleasant surprise!" exclaimed
Ellen, running down the avenue to meet them.
TKB MANCHESTER MAN. 355
" You do not appear very well pleased to see us, Augusta,"
remarked Mrs. Ashton, as she met her lazily sauntering through
the garden towards them, as captivating in her printed morning
dress as a sleepless night, an anxions headache, and her unmis-
takable confusion would permit the recognised beauty to be.
" Oh, yes, I am pleased enough, but I should have been better
pleased if you had written instead of coming upon one so
suddenly. It is quite startling!" and the petulance of her tone
gave effect to the pettish frown on her brow.
"My dear, ill thoughts make ill looks," said Mrs. Ashton,
gravely, with a searching glance. "What is the matter with you
this morning ? Nothing serious, I hope."
The very inquiry apparently annoyed her.
"Oh, I've got a headache, that's all. I heard a man's foot
on the gravel-walk long after everyone was in bed, and I got
a fright."
"I think it was only Crazy Joe — he hangs about at all hours,"
put in Ellen, who had not heard the crunch of Mr. Clegg's heel
on the gravel, as he stood for a moment under their window, to
breathe a prayer for the safety and well-being of the supposed
sleeper, before he turned away swiftly on his errand.
Almost Mr. Ashton's first inquiry was for Mr. Clegg.
" He's at the mill, sir. He was off afore any on us was up ;
an' he said happen he mightna git whome fur breakfast, he wur
so busy," was the reply of Bess.
But Mr. Ashton, setting off towards the factory, encountered
Jabez on the way, and they returned together to breakfast, as if
they had met for the first time that morning. On Mrs. Ashton's
suggestion, Augusta was neither questioned nor accused.
" We should only tempt her to deny, and perhaps provoke
ill-will towards our informant, with no good end," she said. " Better
wait and ascertain beyond question what her intentions are,"
356 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
Jabez would fain have spared her the pain and shame of
exposure, but the matter was out of his hands.
The day passed unmarked save by Augusta's restless look-out
for Crazy Joe, and the way she hung about her mother, as if
half afraid of the rash step she contemplated.
Mr. Ashton meanwhile, to cover his distress and agitation,
busied himself about the transfer of the "White Hart" (which he
pronounced " admirable ") to its place over the inn-door, and
managed to elicit from Chapman, the gossiping landlord, without
direct inquiry, that a fine young spark in hunting gear had put
up his horse there several times within the past week, and was
ike to make the fortune of Crazy Joe, he gave the poor softy
so many half-crowns; but Joe was "deep, and never let on
what he got them for."
CHAPTER THE THIRTY-EIGHTH.
DEFEATED.
ATTEMPTED PLIGHT.
which
'. ABEZ CLEGG and the
young ladies occupied ad-
joining chambers (the two
inner rooms of the suite),
but the door of communi-
cation was locked, and
they were attained by
different staircases. Thus,
as he was compelled to
pass through the Hulmes'
sleeping apartment, so
Ellen and Augusta were
constrained to go back-
wards and forwards through
that of Mr. and Mrs.
long use had probably
Ashton — an arrangement to
reconciled them.
It was this fact which had so much disconcerted Augusta,
since she foresaw a difficulty in escaping unheard ; and not
meeting with Joe (that most unpromising of Cupids), she was as
equally unable to convey a message to her expectant lover.
She repented her rash promise, and would fain have availed
herself of a pretext for delay, but the night came, and, haunted
358 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
by imaginary pictures of Laurence with a pistol to his head, she
dared not disappoint him. She had promised to meet him at
that entrance of the Lovers' Walk which opened below Yeardsley
Hall Farm into Moor Lane, whilst, the lane being a steep
declivity, he was to keep the post-chaise in waiting at the
foot.
Her headache served as an excuse for retiring to bed earlier
than her cousin, and scarcely could her father and mother
restrain themselves as she kissed them lingeringly before she
went. Indeed, Mr. Ashton would much have preferred to "have
it out with the girl at once, and have done with it," there not
being much " waiting " blood in his veins.
He had kept out of her sight most of the day, fidgeting over
one thing and another, whilst his waistcoat and shirt-frill bore
testimony to the constant raid on his snuff-box.
" I don't like to see my poor lass trapped like a bird in a
cage," he said in confidence to Jabez, whose opinion he already
knew agreed with his own, as did the desire to "thrash the
infernal scoundrel within an inch of his life."
The last straw had broken the camel's back, and Jabez was
no longer inclined to be passive.
Laurence had bid Augusta take no care for her wardrobe ;
his purse was ample, and he would dress her like a queen if she
would only consent to fly with him. So, after collecting a few
immediate necessaries and trinkets, and placing the reticule which
contained them out of sight, she crept into bed, to lie and listen
for the household to follow her example. How lazily the hours
lagged ! She heard old Simon shuffling about, and the creaking
of his camp-bedstead as he settled his old rheumatic bones for
the night, but the firm foot of Jabez she did not hear, though
the house clock struck nine, and Ellen came up with the last
stroke.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 359
In answer to a question, Ellen said that Mr. Clegg was asleep
on the squab, and that she understood he had slept there the
previous night, to be able to go to the mill very early without
disturbing anyone else.
" I saw him as he lay there, where he had fallen asleep
shortly after tea, and I have been speaking to my uncle about
him ; he looks so dreadfully worn and jaded, I am sure he is
either killing himself with overwork or has some great trouble
on his mind," and a deep sigh followed this expression of opinion.
Augusta was silent. Something within her secret heart
whispered that the trouble of Jabez Clegg would be intensified
sevenfold by her act of that night, and, haughty as she was
betimes, she pitied him. And whatever were her compunctions,
fears, or emotions, Jabez certainly shared with her parents in
her thoughts.
Ellen slept. The clock struck ten. Father and mother
entered their room, and through the door which Augusta had
artfully requested Ellen to " leave open on account of the heat "
came the sound of their voices in low but earnest converse —
"You leave her to me, William," spoken with decision, being
the only words she could distinguish, though she heard her
father walk about for some time. Indeed, she thought he would
never go to bed.
Eleven ! She slipped stealthily from the side of her sleeping
cousin, and by the light of the moon, clear enough to-night,
dressed as noiselessly and rapidly as her trepidation would
permit. From habit she knelt to pray, but as she came to the
passage, " Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,"
a new meaning seemed to flash through the words, and she
half wavered in her purpose.
" Poor Jabez ! " she murmured to herself, as she caught up
her shoes and reticule, and listened in the open doorway for
360 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
the deep breathing which came from behind the dimity curtains
of the four-post bed. Re-assured, she stepped lightly across the
room in her stocking-feet, turned the drop-handle of that chamber
door as silently as the squeaking latch would permit, and fled
swiftly down the stairs, sitting down at the bottom to put on
her shoes.
She had raised the sash, and was in the very act of stepping
over the low window-sill, when a foot was heard on the stair,
and, turning her head, she saw her mother fully dressed,
close by her side, and felt her slight wrist grasped as in a
vice.
" Is this your filial love and obedience, misguided girl ? Is
this the result of Madame Broadbent's training ? Have you no
more sense of honour and decency than to elope at midnight
with any man, least of all with the worthless reprobate who
has caught your silly fancy ? Could you not think that chastity
is the brightest jewel in a woman's crown, and the soonest
dimmed, that you were ready to leave your character at the
mercy of every gossip who had a tongue to wag ? "
She had drawn Augusta, too much stunned to speak, into the
parlour close at hand, and had shut the doors — a needless
precaution, seeing how remote were all sleepers. A few words
of gentle motherly inquiry might have softened impulsive, tender-
hearted Augusta to tears, and turned the whole current of her
life ; but Mrs. Ashton's stateliness had become sternness, and,
fresh from the evil teaching of Laurence Aspinall, her daughter's
proud spirit rose in rebellion, and answered her.
"We are going to be married. And I was not going with
Laurence alone. Cicily was to travel with us. Laurence himself
proposed it."
" Infatuated girl ! " exclaimed Mrs. Ashton, " Cicily was in
Mosley Street last night."
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 361
" And so were you, mother," was the smart retort, " but the
coach which dropped you here carried her to Buxton. Outside
passengers were muffled up, but she waved her handkerchief as
she passed, as a sign to me."
" Sign to you, indeed ! I marvel you are not ashamed of
yourself and your hero, who is not content with corrupting my
daughter, but must corrupt our servants also ! A fine hero indeed,
whose qualifications are all external ! I cannot see what there is
to admire in him."
" Not see what there is to admire in that exquisite figure and
beautiful face ? Why, I shall be the envy of half the girls in
Manchester when I marry him ! " Augusta exclaimed, with anything
but the air of a culprit just detected.
"But you are not likely to marry him, you forward chit.
You go back to Manchester to-morrow, and I will take good
care you don't marry either clandestinely or openly a man so
sure to make your heart ache, if he were thrice as hand-
some !"
" But I WILL marry him, mamma — Vll please my eye, if 1
plague my heart !"
" Then as you make your bed, so must you lie, miss" answered
Mrs. Ashton, gravely and deliberately. " But take my word for
it, neither your papa nor myself will give our consent. And now
go to your room, Augusta, and thank God you have been saved
from disgrace this night, and thank us that we have kept you
from open exposure. Not even your cousin has a notion of this
last folly. Our daughter's honour is dearer to us than to herself,"
and the mother's tone softened as she spoke.
"Your daughter's honour has never been in any danger," said
Augusta, haughtily, as she swept from the room, to encounter at
the foot of the stairs, flooded by moonlight through the open
window, her father — and Jabez.
362 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
Up to that moment she had stood on the defensive, her
wayward spirit upholding and arming her for retort. The sight of
the father who had indulged her every whim, and of Jabez, whose
esteem she valued more than she herself knew, gave a sudden
shock to her overwrought nerves, and she fell forward into the
arms of Jabez in a deep swoon.
Tenderly, respectfully, sadly, he bore her into the parlour, and
placing her on the sofa, relinquished her to her mother, divesting
himself of his shoes in order to procure water to restore her
without creating alarm.
When she recovered he was gone ; she was alone with the
parents whose counsels she had despised, whose love she had
wounded ; herself detected and humiliated.
A greater humiliation had fallen to the lot of elate, enamoured,
and self-satisfied Laurence Aspinall, when, leaving his friend
Barret with the post-chaise, their saddle-horses, and Cicily at
the bottom of Moor Lane, he mounted the hill and whistled
softly at the entrance of the Lovers' Walk, to call forth —
not a blushing maiden, half afraid of her own temerity, but — two
justly incensed and indignant men. His low-voiced "Augusta — "
died upon his lips ; he recoiled, stammered —
" You ! I — I did not expect D — nation ! What brought
you here? I thought "
"Just so, you atrocious scoundrel, you thought God had left
our pet lamb to the fangs of the wolf, and that neither father
nor friend was near to protect the innocent ! " exclaimed Mr.
Ashton, raising the stout bamboo with which he was provided.
"If that infernal Cicily has betrayed us, I'll "
The threat was not completed, for Jabez interrupted him
with —
" No, sir, it was not Cicily. You betrayed yourself. You
laid bare your whole scheme in this walk within my hearing,
THE MIDNIGHT STRUGGLE.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 363
Mr. Laurence Aspinall, and the sophistry which misled a
simple, confiding girl could not delude one who knew you as I
do."
" D — nation ! " hissed Laurence between his teeth. " You
infernal charity-school whelp ! Am I to meet you at every turn ?
I suppose you want Miss Ashton for yourself, but I'll baulk
you yet ! " and, but that Jabez had a quick eye and hand, his
riding-whip would have seamed the latter's manly face.
Jabez dexterously caught the light whip, and wrenched it
from him, a simultaneous sharp blow of Mr. Ashton's bamboo on
Aspinall's shoulders tending to loosen his grasp. And then the
two young men, with all the fever of jealousy added to old
animosity, closed and grappled with each other as might a lion
and a tiger in the arena. And Mr. Ashton, his love of fair play
yielding to his exasperation, made good use of his bamboo
whenever he could deal a blow without harming Jabez.
The two combatants were not unequally matched ; there was
little difference in size and weight, but the scientific skill of
Laurence had more than a counterpoise in the nerve and
muscle of Jabez, strengthened by exercise and a temperate life,
whilst vicious courses had somewhat impaired his own athletic
frame.
The struggle on the steep hill-side was too deadly for noise.
At length Laurence — himself booted and spurred — in striving to
take an unfair advantage and rip the unprotected calves of Jabez
with the rowels of his spurs, lost his foothold, and was borne
to the earth, falling heavily. He lay on the ground stunned and
motionless. At once Jabez, with a swift revulsion of feeling,
knelt down by the side of his prostrate foe, and raised his head,
Mr. Ashton bending over them inquiringly, just as Barret, whom
curiosity and impatience had drawn from his post below, came
on the scene. A stifled groan, and a muttered curse, having
364 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
assured Clegg that his rival was not mortally injured, he called
to Barret —
" Here, sir, take charge of your worthy principal ; and be
careful, when next you plan an elopement, that you have not a
man to deal with instead of a credulous girl."
Mr. Ashton's " Just so ! " coming sharply in as chorus, the
young man put his arm in that of the elder and drew him away,
leaving Barret and the postilion to restore Laurence Aspinall,
and assist him into the post-chaise by the side of Cicily, whose
trepidation would have been very much increased could she have
seen how the blood was trickling down from a wound in his
head, staining still more the torn, miry coat, and the disordered
shirt-frill over which he was usually so fastidious.
Barret, leading his companion's horse, rode on in advance of
the vehicle, to prepare the pompous gentleman, laid up with the
gout in Buxtpn Crescent, for the reception of his gentlemanly
son in a highly gentlemanlike condition — hatless, wigless, dirty,
dilapidated, bruised, bloody — and unsuccessful. The hat had rolled
downhill, to be crushed under the wheels of the chaise; the wig
and broken whip were found the next morning by Crazy Joe, who
exercised his witless head respecting them and the trampled ground
to small purpose ; then brought them to his friend Sim as
playthings. Had they fallen into the hands of a reasoning mortal,
much more perplexity, and a very serious mystery, might have
been the result.
Buxton being only five miles from Whaley Bridge, Barret again
made his appearance in the neighbourhood of the "White Hart,"
whilst the new sign still attracted rustic admirers; and, finding no
rumours current respecting the occurrence of the preceding night,
he rode off again, having first committed to Crazy Joe a scarcely
decipherable missive from the discomfited lover to the not less
disconsolate damsel.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 365
The evening coach bore the Ashtons and Ellen back to
Manchester ; Augusta, still in a rebellious mood, the cause of
which, being hidden from her cousin, occasioned the latter no little
perplexity. There was something, too, in the manner of her
uncle and aunt to Jabez, and of Jabez to all, which, being
undefmable and impalpable, struck her as peculiar. He seemed
suddenly to have risen to another footing. How was it they
had taken him into their confidence ?
Not until the last moment — when attention was distracted by
the bustle at the inn-door, the disposal of the luggage, and the
taking of seats — could Crazy Joe (with cunning worthy a better
cause) contrive to slip the billet-doux into Miss Ashton's reticule
unseen by all but herself.
Not until she reached her own room in Mosley Street, could
she scan its characteristic contents, which ran as follows : —
" Crescent, Buxton,
"September , 1821.
"Adored Augusta,
"Excuse this scrawl; I can scarcely hold my pen in
consequence of a ruffianly attack made upon me by your father's
favourite factotum, Jabez Clegg, in Moor Lane last night. Can
you disclose to me the strange fatality which kept you from my
expectant arms, and revealed our plans to that upstart foundling?
Had not Mr. Ashton also struck at me with a stick, I could
readily have disposed of his assistant ; but my foot tripped over
a stone, and falling, I lay at their mercy. Yet, sweet Augusta,
if my blood flowed it was for thy sake, and for thy sake I
endure.
'•Be constant, be firm; let no tyranny coerce you, and I will
make a ivay for our union, if I steal you from their very midst.
I have a dislocated ankle, a bruised and swollen hand, a
plaistered crown, and I write painfully. I shall feel every hour
366
THE MANCHESTER MAN.
a year until I hold you m my arms again. But if my angelic
Augusta be only true to fur promise, she will soon, in spite of
spies artii informers, be tfte adored wife of her
"Most devoted
" Laurence?
CHAPTER THE THIRTY-NINTH.
LIKE FATHER, LIKE SON.
IT is no uncommon thing for a woman to gild a block,
wreathe it with flowers, and then fall down and
worship the idol she has adorned. Augusta's hero
needed no outward embellishment, so she fitted the
fair exterior with the perfections and virtues of the high-spirited,
noble, generous Mortimers and Mowbrays, whose acquaintance she
had made in print, and had set him on a very elevated pedestal, in
spite of all warnings. With that misleading letter of his before
her, no wonder if the "blood shed for her sweet sake" converted
the hero into the martyr, and placed Jabez and her father in the
category of cruel persecutors. It did more, It erected a barrier
against reconciliation. In vain her placable father held out a
flag of truce ; she kept aloof resentfully, though in the solitude
of her own chamber she gave way, and wept at her isolation
from all who loved her.
Mrs. Ashton, whose sense of propriety had been outraged,
whose maternal pride had received a terrible shock, was less
readily disposed to condone her daughter's offence; and, being a
better business woman than a psychologist, her tactics showed
none of her ordinary shrewdness.
The failure of Augusta's banishment to Carr should have taught
her that romance is nursed in solitude, and that conciliation is
368 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
better than coercion. Had she spared a few hours from the
warehouse to arrange a dance, or a gipsy -party to Dunham Park;
chaperoned her lovely daughter to assembly, theatre, or concert-
room ; invited her companionship in a stroll through St. Ann's
Square and King Street, calling at Mrs. Edge's fashionably-
frequented library by the way ; joined the after-morning-church
promenaders in the Infirmary Gardens, or given a little time to
morning calls, she would have brought Augusta into contact with
young people of her own age, and with the attractive of the
opposite sex, and so have supplied an antidote for the poison
Laurence and ultra-sentimental literature had instilled.
Instead, never was the golden fruit of the Hesperides more
vigilantly guarded. She was kept much within doors. There
was no Cicily to sympathise or convey clandestine billet-doux.
The modern notion that a daily airing is indispensable had not
been promulgated, or had not become the creed of the
manufacturing community. Mrs. Ashton had "no leisure for
gadding," and Augusta cared little to drive in the gig with only
James for her charioteer, or even to walk with Ellen, so long
as the mulberry-coloured livery was in attendance. (It might
have been otherwise, had not the said James held it as much
" beneath his dignity " to accept a bribe as he had formerly done
to wait upon Mr. Clegg.) From her old bedroom, which
overlooked Mosley Street, she was relegated to one in the rear,
which commanded no wider prospect than their own courtyard, nor
anything more interesting than Nelson and his kennel — by-the-bye,
Nelson had been in favour since the sad accident on the ice.
Then, visits to Marsden Square were prohibited, lest she should
there meet John Walmsley's undesirable friend ; and, altogether, her
escapade had converted home into a cage, in spite of its gilding.
As might have been expected, the high-spirited wayward girl,
so long her father's pet, so long indulged in her caprices, chafed
f'HB MANCHESTER MAN. 369
and rebelled against every fresh token of restraint, and contrasted
the dull monotony of her life with the freedom and gaiety
promised so frequently by Laurence as the certain concomitants
of wifehood with him.
With all her haughty spirit, she had a clinging, affectionate
nature, tinged though it was with poetry and romance, and now
that her father looked so unusually grave, and her mother so
frigid, and she felt herself an alien from both their hearts,
instead of bewailing her premeditated flight as a crime, the
tendrils of her love only clung closer to him who professed so
much, and the more she was isolated from them, the more she
brooded on the ill-used and maligned Laurence, his manly beauty
and accomplishments, his lavish generosity, his fascinations of
voice and manner, and the fervour of his passion for her.
Meanwhile, Tom Hulme had resumed his duties at Whaley
Bridge Mill, and Jabez returned home to his. Much to
Augusta's surprise, he was not only invited to dine with them
on the day of his return, but to take his place henceforth at
their board as one of the family.
With Laurence's misrepresentations fixed in her mind as truths,
she construed the daily association thus thrust upon her as a
deliberate affront, and resented it with a silent scorn which cut
Jabez to the soul. He knew nothing of AspinalFs letter, or
that he was accused of a "ruffianly attack ;" he only felt that
he would have died to serve her, and had done what he had
to save her from life-long misery, without a single thought of
keeping her for himself.
A few more days, and back to Manchester came Mr. Aspinall,
senior, having left a little of his portliness with his gout in the
Buxton Baths. Back with him came his son, and his son's
congenial companion, Mr. Edmund Barret ; the former still
smarting under his defeat at Carr, and all the more resolutely
370 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
determined to carry off Augusta, jealousy adding a new element
to his love, a new aliment to his hate.
Sitting idly by the parlour window on the third of October,
with her head leaning against the frame, meditating on her own
unhappiness and her parents' harshness, Augusta suddenly started
to her feet with a suppressed cry of delight, a vivid glow upon
her cheeks, a brilliant sparkle in her eye. Laurence Aspinall,
mounted on Black Ralph, his favourite hunter, was riding up the
street, the dislocated ankle apparently not affecting his enjoyment
of equestrian exercise. As he raised his new beaver in graceful
salutation, even the flutter into which she was thrown could not
prevent her missing his glorious curls. He had not deemed it
necessary to replace his wig, and the poll shorn during fever
_had not yet grown a fresh crop ripe for harvest. The
unfavourable impression passed with the moment, as he brought
his obedient steed on the flagged pavement close under the
window, and, without a moment's hesitation, she raised the sash,
and leaned forward to speak with him, glad of the opportunity.
"Oh, Laurence!"
" My own Augusta, this is indeed fortunate ! "
Their hands clasped upon the window-sill — the elevation of
the house raising her to his level — her tearful eyes looked up in
his for traces of suffering after the " ruffianly attack," and found
there, mingled with the fierce light of violent love, a bitter sense
of defeat, a resolve to obtain her by fair means or foul.
Each had the separate experience of that memorable
September night to relate, coloured as passion or prejudice
prevailed ; but neither could fully enlighten the other as to the
share Mr. Clegg had had in preventing the elopement.
He could tell her that Jabez had avowed overhearing their
conversation in the Lovers' Walk, though where he could have
been to overhear, or what strange fatality could bring Mr. and
MANCHESTER MAN. 371
Mrs. Ashton to Carr in time to become the recipients of his
eavesdropping and defeat their plans, was a puzzle to both.
Be sure Laurence put the worst colour on the encounter in the
lane, and urged all he had himself endured to strengthen his
claims upon her — claims she was quite willing to admit, had she
the power to concede to them.
Having shown with very evident annoyance, how impossible
it was for her to meet or give him a private interview, he
exclaimed with indignation —
" What ! not allowed to visit a relation, or to go abroad
without a gaoler ! My dearest Augusta, this is a cruel state of
captivity. But my bird must not be allowed to fray her beautiful
plumage in beating against the bars of her cage. I must devise
a better plan for her escape. Any means are justifiable to obtain
release from tyranny' like this. What says my love? Is she still
willing to trust her Laurence ? "
" To the death ! " she whispered, emphatically.
" You are alone here every morning ? "
Her lips could barely frame a "Yes," when a voice and step
in the hall warned her to close the window with a hurried
gesture to him ; and before Mrs. Ashton, who had lingered to
give an order to James, could enter the room, Black Ralph was
cantering towards the Portico, and Augusta occupied with the
third volume of "Alinda, or the Child of Mystery."
Very little escaped Mrs. Ashton's eye. The clatter of hoofs
on the flags, audible through the thick front door, had left no
sensible impression on her brain, but the heightened colour of
Augusta attracted her attention at once. She brought her
work-basket from the panel-cupboard, took thence a strip of
cambric muslin, and handed it to her daughter.
" My dear," said she, quietly, " ' all play makes no hay.'
Your eyes are younger than mine, and I think it will do you
372 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
more good to hem your father's shirt-frills than to pore over
sentimental books from morning until night. So much romance
reading is not good for you. I see that you are quite flushed
and excited over the one you are perusing now."
There was a sharp rat-tat on the lion's head, and in burst
Mr. Ashton, much more flushed and excited than his daughter.
He had met Mr. Laurence on Black Ralph just as he was
quitting the Portico, after an angry discussion with Mr. Aspinall
the elder.
"You are quite right, my dear, in saying, 'Like father, like
son,' " cried he, " for I'll swallow my snuff-box if that pompous
old cotton-merchant did not justify his scapegrace son in his
attempt to carry off our Augusta ! He said that ' the end
justified the means," that we 'ought to be proud of such an
alliance ' " — Mrs. Ashton's lip curled — " that ' he was glad Miss
Ashton had more discernment than her parent,' that 'his boy
had set his heart upon her, and should not be thwarted in his
choice by any beggar's-inkle-weaver in England.' And no sooner
had I left him in the reading-room, to digest my opinion on the
subject, and put my foot on the steps of the Portico, than up
rode young Hopeful, and took off his hat to me, bowing down
to his black horse's mane."
Having delivered himself of this explosive intelligence, Mr.
Ashton walked about, and sought a sedative in his snuff-box ;
and Augusta, who, folding the hem of the frill, had not lost
one word, said, drily,
"I think Mr. Aspinall's justification of his son's design may
at least be taken as a vindication of Mr. Laurence's honourable
intentions, of which so many doubts have been expressed. And
the bow equally absolves Laurence from a charge of malice."
With a proud toss of her shapely head, she walked towards
the dining-room, rejecting the proffered arm of Jabez, who had
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 373
entered the parlour whilst Mr. Ashton was speaking, and thus
closed a discussion which could not be continued in the presence
of servants.
******
Jabez, on his return from Carr, had found his rough old
clerical friend confined to his room seriously ill. Tabitha was
worn out with his humours and eccentricities, and was glad
when the young man offered to relieve her twice or thrice a
week ; and old Joshua welcomed him as a relief from the
monotonous garrulity of an unlettered old woman. Jabez could
bring him news of another stamp. Through Ben Travis (who
had discovered that activity was the best antidote to melancholy),
he kept him informed of the progress of the incipient temperance
movement, in which the Parson took uncommon interest; through
Mr. Ashton, he kept him an courant of town politics, and for
general intelligence he brought newspapers with him to be read,
interrupted by many and unique commentaries. In order that
Tabitha might obtain repose, Mr. Clegg usually remained until
a late hour, Mrs. Ashton herself entrusting him with a latch-key
on these occasions.
One night, towards the middle of October, when Joshua had
been more than ordinarily crusty, and Jabez did not quit the
classic corner until the " wee short hour ayont the twal," he was
struck as he turned the corner from Market Street into Mosley
Street to find Mr. Aspinall's carriage in waiting with four horses
and postilions.
He stood still for a moment to re-assure himself, but carriages
were not so common that he should mistake that particular one;
and his heart drummed an alarm within his breast.
Hurrying on with sad misgivings, he passed two tall figures
muffled in cloaks, whom he had no difficulty in recognising, from
build and walk, to be the Aspinalls, father and son ; and increasing
374 TtiB MANCHESTER MAN.
his speed he gained the door, inserted his key in the latch, and
was on the stairs before the cloaked individuals had finished
their speculations respecting his being a robber escaped from a
constable.
Formerly, Augusta had to pass his room door to reach her
own, on the opposite side of the long corridor. Her new chamber
was next to his own, and nearer to the staircase. A thin stream
of light shot through the key-hole, and a bright narrow line cast
upon the opposite wall showed the door ajar. He stood still in
his surprise.
As if a tipsy, musically-disposed man were going past, the
refrain of a rollicking song was trolled out in the street ; and then
Augusta, equipped as for a journey, came forth from her chamber
to descend the stairs. She had calculated on the signal an hour
earlier, and expected Jabez an hour later. As she stole on tiptoe
down the stairs Jabez confronted her and barred her progress.
Her silver candlestick dropped from her hand, with the one word
" Again !" and rolling down with a clang, awakened Mr. and
Mrs. Ashton, the only sleepers on that floor, and set Nelson
barking furiously. They were in the dark, but he had caught
her hand.
" Miss Ashton, this is infatuation — madness."
"No matter, sir, let me pass; you have no right to detain
me!"
"But I have, miss," said her father coming behind, guided by
their voices, his scant apparel as invisible in the gloom as himself.
"Is this another attempt to disgrace us by eloping? Oh, my child,
my child, you are breaking your poor old father's heart!"
"And mine!" floated like the echo of despair's last sigh from
the lips of Jabez.
But the utter hopelessness of the old man's tone touched a
sensitive chord of Augusta's soul, and turning, she fell upon his
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 375
neck crying tearfully, " Oh, forgive me, father, forgive me. I did
not think you would take it so much to heart."
The appeal of affection to affection had accomplished what
reason and authority had failed to effect.
CHAPTER THE FORTIETH.
WITH ALL HIS FAULTS.
UGUSTA'S penitence exhaled like
dew from a flower. In the
light of her mother's lofty
displeasure her tears dried,
and self-will once more exerted
its pre-eminence. She locked
herself in her own room, and
resolutely refused to come
forth.
" So long as that odious
meddler, Jabez Clegg, remains
under our roof, I will stay here ;
and if you will not consent to my marriage with Laurence
Aspinall, I will starve myself to death ! " was her angry declaration,
as she closed the door and turned the key.
"Leave her alone," said Mrs. Ashton, "she will want her food
before her food wants her ; and a little wholesome solitude is
good for reflection. She will change her mind before the day
closes."
This was at mid-day; but night came, and another noon, yet
there was no sign of Miss Ashton's appearance ; and Mrs. Ashton
had made no overtures to her refractory daughter. The tender-
hearted father was in a pitiable state of perturbation. In and
A DYING GIFT.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 377
out the warehouse he was twenty times in the day — as Kezia
observed, "For a' th' world like a hen on a hot griddle;" and
his snuff-box was hardly ever out of his hand. Business seemed
altogether beyond his grasp ; he answered questions at random,
or was unconscious when addressed.
To this state of trouble Jaber unintentionally contributed his
quota. Over the tea-table, unenlivened by Augusta's sparkling
presence, though she was the one sole topic of conversation — he
said, and not without an effort —
" It has occurred to me, and I have thought the matter well
over, that since my unfortunate position in relation to late events
has made my very presence obnoxious to Miss Ashton it might
be better for all concerned if I were to shift my quarters without
delay. There are lodgings vacant close at hand ; and I have no
right to linger here and disturb the peace of any one member of
your kind family."
"Jabez Clegg," remonstrated Mr. Ashton, with wide-open
eyes.
" Have you any other reason to be dissatisfied with present
arrangements ? " asked Mrs. Ashton stiffly.
" Oh ! Mrs. Ashton, how can I have ? This house has been my
home for years, and such a home as rarely falls to the lot of
the fatherless. To you, my benefactors, I owe everything —
almost myself; and I should ill repay your uniform kindness by
remaining to create discord."
" If your only desire to remove is to gratify Miss Ashton's
whims, you will oblige me, Mr. Clegg, by remaining," replied
Mrs. Ashton, with grave decision ; whilst Mr. Ashton, looking the
very picture of consternation, laid his hand upon the young man's
sleeve, and said slowly —
" My lad, you have been one of the household for many years ;
do not be the first to make a breach in the family. If the child
378 THE MANCHESTER MAM.
of our blood and our affections goes forth to strangers wilfully,
and repudiates us, do not let the son of our adoption leave us
to lament her loss in solitude."
This was strong language, but Mrs. Ashton did not gainsay
it, and Mr, Clegg could not longer press the point, though his
own pain was intensified by the fear of adding to the distress of
Augusta, who, he was confident, regarded him as an interloper
and a mischief-maker.
Little had been seen of Ellen since the return from Carr
Cottage. A message despatched by Mrs. Ashton to her sister,
in her dilemma, was answered by another to pray them to "excuse
Miss Chadwick, who was not well enough to go out."
This somewhat disconcerted Mrs. Ashton, who, more alarmed
than she would admit, and disturbed by the restless uneasiness of
her husband, had looked for Ellen to act as a mediator without
any compromise of her own dignity.
At the close of the second day, as Augusta pertinaciously
refused to open the door, at the instance of Jabez the lock was
forced; and even then a barrier of chairs and boxes had to be
thrust back by sheer strength. She was exhausted from want
of food, but her will was indomitable, and neither her father's
entreaties, nor her mother's commands could induce her to partake
of the viands spread before her.
Jabez was in agony. Delicacy and her obvious dislike had
kept him from intruding upon her privacy, but as hour after
hour was added to the night, and Augusta persistently dashed
aside the food placed to her lips, he joined his prayers to those
of her father, and neither availing, rushed out of the house,
and in less than a quarter of an hour returned with Dr. Hull.
He was not a man to stand any nonsense.
"Here, sir," — to Jabez — "you are young and strong. Hold
the silly child's arms whilst her teeth are forced apart. If she
THB MANCHESTER MAN. 379
will no take food, she shall take physic, and see which she
likes the best."
But the struggle to nourish her frame through set teeth was
prolonged and painful, and the parents were likely to yield
before the child.
Servants may be faithful, but they have eyes and ears, and
not always discreet tongues. Family matters discussed freely
in the kitchen before apprentices found their way into the
warehouse and beyond it, and Mrs. Ashton's nerves tingled when
she became acquainted with the rumours afloat.
From Tim, the Ashton stable-boy, Aspinall's emissary (Bob
the groom, once more in his old service) had no difficulty in
obtaining all the information his young master required.
Laurence waylaid Mr. Ashton, inquired anxiously after the
obstinate girl's health, and, having paved the way by as much
contrition as he thought necessary, called at the house the
following morning, in company with his father, to renew proposals
for Miss Ashton's hand.
Worn out by Augusta's obstinacy, which she and Laurence
agreed to call "constancy," father and mother were in a
different frame of mind to receive this proposition than when
they had given their former peremptory rejection. They were
not one whit more convinced by Mr. Laurence's assurance that
he meant to " reform," or Mr. Aspinall's quotation of the adage,
" A reformed rake makes the best husband ; " but, rather than
see their child starve herself to death before their very eyes,
they yielded, and Laurence Aspinall, profuse alike in thanks and
professions, was permitted by aching hearts and reluctant lips to
introduce Augusta to his father then and there as his bride-
elect.
It was a moment ot triumph for Laurence when Augusta
refused to come down stairs without an assurance under his own
380 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
hand. He pencilled on a card, " My Augusta, I wait for you, —
Laurence." And presently, supported by a maid-servant, she
entered the room, her dress of purple poplin serving to show
how wan and transparent her fair skin had grown, how unnatural
was the brilliance of her eyes,
She would have fallen, as much from weakness as emotion,
on her entrance into the parlour, but that Laurence darted
forward and caught her in an embrace which brought back
somewhat of her lost colour ; and if anything could have softened
the pain of that hour to her parents, it was the apparent ardour
and sincerity of the lover, the hope that a genuine passion might
tend to wean him from his old habits and associates.
Mr. Aspinall's reception of Augusta was characteristic.
" My charming Miss Ashton, I see my son has brought back
the roses to your cheeks. May they never fade again, but
bloom perennially without a thorn ! I rejoice to kiss your hand
paternally on this auspicious occasion, and to assure you that I
shall be proud to welcome such beauty, and such constancy, as
the wife of my noble son."
Consent once obtained, the Aspinalls were as eager to press
forward the marriage as the Ashtons were to retard it, neither
her father nor mother affecting a satisfaction they did not feel.
"My dear," said the latter to Augusta one day, when her
eyes were sparkling over a costly present just received from
Laurence, "your father was in hopes you would have fixed your
heart on some good steady man like Jabez Clegg, who would
have been a comfort and a credit to all of us, and have kept
the business in the family after we were in our graves."
" Pshaw, mamma ? how preposterous ! I am surprised at my
father's infatuation for that young man. I esteem him quite
sufficiently for a friend, but" — and she locked an emerald earring
in her delicate ear — "I could not exist with a husband whose
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 381
heart was in his business. My husband's heart must hold me,
and me only ; and I must have something to look at as well
as to love."
" Ah ! Augusta, it must be a very small heart indeed which
cannot find room both for a wife and a business to maintain
her fittingly. The sheen of a dress which must last a life is of
less consequence than its durable texture."
" Well, mamma, so long as the material pleases my eyes, I
will take the wear upon trust. And do not be surprised that
your daughter prefers a fine man and a gentleman to one whose
fortune is in the clouds, and whose origin is so obscure he has
not even a name to call his own:'
She was standing to admire herself and her new jewellery in
the Venetian glass between the windows as she said this, and her
mother's figure filling in the frame, Jabez Clegg came and went
unseen, a pang in his heart and an intensified resolve to make
both fortune and name for himself even though his master's
daughter vanished from his vision.
Nothing would induce Mr. Ashton to part with his child until
she was at least eighteen; and in that particular he was proof
against the importunities of Laurence and the cajoleries of Augusta.
So for ten months (during which the lawyers had ample time to
quarrel over the settlement of Augusta's £18,000, so that too
much or too little should not be tied down on the lady) the
dashing young blade was on his trial, so to speak, and contrived
to beguile both father and mother of their prejudices; whilst to
Augusta a new world of gaiety was opened out.
As her daughter's chaperon, Mrs. Ashton renewed her acquaint-
ance with the yellow satin cushions of the Assembly Rooms, the
Gentlemen's Concerts discoursed sweet music in their ears, Miss
Ashton could take her seat in the boxes of the Theatre Royal
without fear of Madame Broadbent's fan, and Kezia was in her
382 TUB MANCHESTER MAN.
glory, so many balls and parties had to be catered for ; and Mr.
Laurence Aspinall was in the ascendant.
All this was inexpressibly painful to Jabez, but as he had
written to Ben Travis that "there was something more for men
to do than die of disappointment or blighted love," so he set his
face like a rock against the breakers, and gave himself entirely
to business. He said to himself it would be cowardice to flee
from that which must be borne and mastered, so never another
word was heard of his seeking a home elsewhere. If he was
brave, he was not foolhardy enough to court pain in the sight of
his rival's triumph, and though in his determination to " stick to
his last," he had eschewed all art which came not within the
scope of pattern designing, to that he turned with redoubled
assiduity after business hours, having found a profitable market
apart from Mr. Ashton's firm, as his account with the Savings
Bank in Cross Street had borne witness from the date of its
establishment in January, 1818.
But for a brief space, and that whilst the wound was raw and
new, his ministrations to the dying chaplain of the Old Church
not only carried him out of sight and hearing, but in a measure
drew his thoughts away from his own sorrow.
Once only did Joshua scarify the sore. In an interval of pain
he said with his customary abruptness —
"And so that pretty lass of thy master's is going to throw
herself away on the wild rascal who pitched thee over the
wall?"
Jabez could not trust himself to answer save by a movement
of his head.
"Ugh! she'd better ha' takken a fancy to thee!"
Half-an-hour or more elapsed. Waking from a doze, he said —
" Dost thou remember my telling thee to look at ' Hogarth's
Apprentice' in Chadwick's parlour?"
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 383
" Indeed, I do ! Those pictures have influenced my life," answered
Mr, Clegg with a sigh, pouring out a dose of medicine as he spoke.
"More physic, eh? Ugh! doctors kill more than they cure
with their stuff! Ay, lad, thah'st mounted up, thou'lt be a master
thyself some day, if thou dost not forget that Jabez must be an
honourable man !"
" I never did forget it sir, even though the apprentice boy was
mad enough to aspire to his master's daughter! But losing her,
I have learned a new lesson. The prayer of the clden Jabez,
which has been mine night and morn from boyhood, was a prayer
for self, and self only, and I had no right to look for an answer
to all the hopes I based upon it. If I have not been 'kept from
evil/ and it has 'grieved me,' I prayed for myselt alone, and in
grief I have my answer. Prayer should take a wider range."
" Right, lad, right ! now let me sleep."
When he waked again he remarked —
" It's time for thee to be off, Jabez ; but time is running faster
with me than thee, lad. Here, reach yon "Terence" from the
bureau. It is the Edinburgh edition. Keep it for the sake of
the rough old Parson who gave thee thy name. And take care
of it. Good night. How thick the fog is!" He had lost the
sight of one eye, and the other was rapidly going.
That was the ninth of November. When Jabez came again
on the eleventh, the fog had cleared away from Joshua Brookes's
sight for ever; and fountains of tears ran freely from many eyes
for the hot, hasty, single-minded, and learned Parson whose name
was a household word in the town, and who had ever been a
kind friend to Jabez. In his life he had been at war with
huckster-women, street-urchins, school-boys, and his ecclesiastical
brethren. In his death the wide parish, and more than the parish,
united to reverence his memory, those who had laughed loudest
at his eccentricities being foremost to bewail him,
384 THB MANCHESTER MAN.
Even the November clouds hung thick and heavy as a pall
over the Old Church and churchyard, crowded with mourners,
when his silent remains were carried to their bed in the cross
aisles his feet had trodden so many active years, and if others
besides Jabez shed tears over the open and honoured grave,
there was many an old creature mourning in solitude, besides
the queer old woman, in kerchief and mutch, who sat amongst
her sweets in a closed shop, and lamented that so young a
man as Parson Brookes should be carried off before her.
" Well-a-day ! and only sixty-seven ! He'll want no more
humbugs, and no more cakes for his pigeons. Poor Jotty ! "
There was no mention of Jabez in his will, but when the
young man took the old worn " Terence " sadly and reverently
down from the shelf where he had first placed it, on turning
over its leaves he found a banknote for ^"300 pinned to the
fly-leaf, on which was inscribed his own name and that of the
eccentric donor.
CHAPTER THE FORTY-FIRST.
MARRIAGE !
E.D Jabez been vindictive, the opportunity, or at least
the promise of revenge on his successful rival was
not wanting. Various efforts had been made to
call the Manchester Yeomanry to account for their
doings at Peterloo, and many had been the overtures and
suggestions to Jabez Clegg by members of the Radical party
to join in the prosecution of the offenders. But he resolutely
refused to identify the trooper who struck him, saying
" I forgave the man at the time, believing him to be drunk,
and incapable of discrimination. If I have since had reason to
think otherwise, I cannot be so mean as to allow private
feelings to influence a public act."
It would be false to say there never was a tug at his
heart-strings when the tempters were again at his elbow, before
they made their final attempt in 1822. But he said to
himself
" If it would have been revengeful at the time when the
bodily injury was fresh, it would be doubly revengeful, mean,
and dishonourable now that he has supplanted me in love. And in
striking at him I should wound Augusta, and that must never
be."
The temptation to expose his adversary was set aside, and
thus it was that Laurence Aspinall's name was not added to
cc
386 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
those of the four defenders on the record of the trial at Lancaster
in April ; and as that trial, after the examination of nearly a
hundred witnesses of all ranks, terminated unsuccessfully for the
prosecution, the forbearance of our friend Jabez spared him at
least the mortification of defeat.
The year rolled on. At the instance of Mr. Ashton, Jabez
withdrew the bulk of his deposits from the Savings Bank, and
adding to Joshua Brookes's gift the £200 he had accumulated
by working late and early, and saving small sums even during
his apprenticeship, placed all in his master's hands to be invested
in the business and so return him a higher rate of interest.
And this was the first absolute start of Jabez as a capitalist.
The joyous excitement attending Augusta's own preparations
for her approaching nuptials was somewhat damped by the
unaccountable condition of Ellen Chadwick, whose health, instead
of improving during her visit to Carr Cottage, had appeared to
decline still more perceptibly. A constant pain at her chest,
frequent headaches, uncertain spirits, and increasing langour gave
Mr, and Mrs. Chadwick real cause for uneasiness ; but Ellen
would not hear of a doctor, and maintained that it was "nothing
to trouble about," she would " be better soon."
She did not get "better soon," and when the first August
sun shone on Augusta's birthday and bridal, it taxed her powers
to the utmost to sustain efficiently her part as bridesmaid.
Had Captain Travis accepted his lieutenant's invitation to be
groomsman, she would have found it still more difficult ; but a
comparative stranger, a Mr. Joseph Bennett, of Gorton, filled the
post, the bride's father having objected very decidedly to bold
Ned Barret.
Yet Ben Travis and Jabez Clegg were both among the guests,
albeit it cost each a struggle. The two had mutually
strengthened each other as such friends should, arriving at the
THE MANCHESTER MAN, 387
Spartan decision to "suffer and be silent, facing their fate like
men." And indeed, old Mr, Ashton had wrung the hand of
Jabez at least a week before, and said —
" I'm sorry for you, Clegg ; I am, upon my soul ; and I'm
sorry for our poor lass, too, for she's made a mistake. But
keep a brave heart, and don't let that slashing yeomanry fellow
crow over you. As Mrs. Ashton would say, ' What can't be
cured must be endured,' and we must all of us show the best
face at the wedding that we can."
If that meant elaborate display in dress and decorations, and
provision for the bridal breakfast and dinner, then the face
exhibited was a shining one. Mrs. Hodgson, the fashionable
mantua-maker and milliner, of Oldham Street (where two or
three of the private houses had already been converted into
shops), had kept her apprentices at work almost night and day
for weeks, executing bridal orders from the Ashtons and their
friends. A very snowstorm might have passed through the
workroom, such heaps of white French crape and satin, lace
and organdi, lute-string and gauze, littered and covered available
space, putting matronly brocade, velvet, and llama quite into the
shade.
The warehouse saw little of Mrs. Ashton for a week or ten
days previously. Cicily, who had gone over to the Aspinalls,
had begged to be allowed to help Kezia for that occasion, and
she roasted her own face in spinning gold and silver webs
and baskets from sugar for the table, making "floating islands,"
syllabubs, trifles, jellies, and blanc-mange to supplement the solid
dishes Kezia dressed with so much skill. And Mr. Mabbott
sent in a sugary "Temple of Hymen" and a bride's cake
prepared six weeks in advance.
The bride, alternately radiant and tearful like an April day,
veiled with laqe and crowned with white rosebuds and orange-
388 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
blossoms, wore a low-bodiced dress of white satin, festooned
round the narrow skirt with costly lace, whilst on neck and
arms, and in her tiny ears, were neglig6, bracelets, and earrings
of pearl, the gift of the gallant bridegroom's gallant father.
The bridegroom was scarcely less resplendent in his high-
collared blue coat and gold buttons, his white waistcoat buttoned
to match, his glossy white trousers, and low shoes tied with a
bunch of silk ferret. An oblong brooch set with a rim of
pearls held down his broad fine shirt-frills; from his fob hung
a huge bunch of gold seals pendant from a flat gold watch
chain ; and in his hand (not crushing his elaborate curls, now
clustering richly as ever) he carried a hat of white beaver of
the newest shape.
To Mr. and Mrs. Ashton it was a matter of open regret that
Joshua Brookes, who had christened Augusta, should not have
lived to marry her also ; but Mr. Aspinall, whose reminiscences
of the old chaplain were of another order, was much better
satisfied to see his own personal friend, Parson Gatliffe, the bon
vivant, behind the altar rails.
If the bride was tall and graceful, with sunshine in her eyes
and in her classic curls, tall and stately was the bride's mother,
whose long train of purple silk velvet swept the aisles, though
trains had ceased to be general. There was no faltering over
the responses. There was a glow of modest pride on the cheek
of Augusta; a look of mingled ardour and exultation on the
face of Laurence ; his " I will " was pronounced with a force
which was almost fierce, yet, as she faintly promised to "obey,"
he pressed her hand with smiling significance.
The ceremony over, the bride did not faint, but turning to
her tearful-eyed father, threw her arms around his neck and clung
to him, whispering how grateful she was that he had given her
the man of her choice, and that he should see what a good wife
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 389
she would make ; and the impromptu embrace sent a shower of
snuff over white satin and lace.
Yet some one fainted, whom Ben Travis caught in his strong
arms and carried to the church door for air ; a dark-haired, black-
eyed bridesmaid, whose face was white and skin transparent as
her own robe.
Custom had not set its imperative seal on the wedding tour
as a necessity, but after a magnificent solid dinner, to which the
party did full justice, and an elaborate dessert, during which the
cake was cut, and Mr. Aspinall proposed the health of the bride
in an inflated toast, demanding that it should be drunk in
bumpers, "and no heel-taps," the wedded pair drove off in Mr.
Aspinall's carriage to the family mansion at Fallowfield, there
to spend the honeymoon.
" Good-bye, Jabez," said Augusta, putting her small soft hand
into his as they left the house ; " you will comfort my father and
mother, will you not ? I trust them to you."
And he replied with the fervency of truth, " I accept the
trust willingly. Good-bye, Mrs. Aspinall" (how the word choked
him !) " May God bless you, and the marriage you have
contracted. Good-bye!"
He did not kiss her hand, had not taken the common liberty
of guests to kiss the bride's lips in church ; he did but press her
hand as any old friend who had grown up with her under the
same roof might have done ; but before the carriage had well
dashed from the door, or the bridegroom had fairly settled
himself on his seat, Laurence turned to the fair young wife,
whose prophetic tears were now falling fast, with the sharp
rebuke —
"What was that foundling fellow mumbling over your hand?
You will please to remember that that hand is mine now, Mrs,
Aspinall. You have promised to love and obey me — ME your LORD
3go THE MANCHESTER MAN.
and MASTER. And MASTER I mean to be. I have borne the
fooling of your friends and your own pretty caprices long enough.
It is my turn now ; and if any man so much as dares to look at
you I'll pound him to a jelly! And now dry your eyes and
give me a kiss!"
And that was the inauguration of Augusta ApinalPs married
life.
It has been said that the bridesmaid fainted. Every lady
carried a smelling bottle, and means to revive her were not far
to seek. She soon recovered, and with a sensitive blush withdrew
from the arms which had been so proud to sustain her, casting
her eyes round as if in search of some other whose service might
have been more acceptable. But she suffered no relapse. She
was ready to wait upon the bride, to sign " Ellen Chadwick " in
the church register, and to assist a Mr. Joseph Bennett in cutting
up the cake for distribution, with cards and gloves, to friends not
present. It was an arduous task, and she succumbed before it
was half completed.
" Miss Chadwick, you are not well ; let me relieve you," said
Jabez, coming to her assistance after the " happy pair " had driven
off, and whilst peals of laughter, shouts, and hurrahs came from
the dining-room, where gentlemen were honouring the bridal by
drinking themselves senseless and speechless.
Ellen remained with her aunt a few days longer, during which
Jabez, exceedingly pained to see the ravages hidden disease had
made in so estimable a young lady, was pitifully attentive.
He could not, however, fail to see that his attentions distressed
her ; and, on the whole he was not sorry when Augusta's parents
and he were left to themselves, to talk of their own dear one
and speculate on her future.
Weeks went by. Mrs. Aspinall visited her old home, but
never without her husband ; and seldom was she allowed to
THB MANCHESTER MAN. jgi
remain more than an hour. Her spirits seemed exuberant, but
somehow her unusual vivacity jarred on her mother's nerves, and
she suspected that her spirits were forced.
Meanwhile Ellen Chadwick faded. Dr. Hardie, called in at
last, watched his patient with curious and attentive eye, perplexed
and dubious. He had been friend as well as physician since Mr.
Chadwick's attack of paralysis, and was a close observer. Now
he came and went in a gossiping sort of way, to put his patient
at ease, and off her guard. He was there one day when Jabez
was announced, and saw a sudden spasmodic action of the face,
a dilation of the pupils, a scarcely perceptible pant and parting
of the lips, and then he watched her closer. He introduced Mr.
Clegg's name, as if casually, whilst his ringers were on her pulse.
The result of his observations were told to Mr. Chadwick the
same day.
"Your daughter has no specific disease, Mr. Chadwick, she is
simply love-sick"
" L-love-s-sick?"
" Yes ; and her secret passion is consuming her. Medicine
cannot save the patient's life if her affection be not returned,
and that right speedily."
Mr. Chadwick was aghast.
"I feared as much," said Mrs. Chadwick, with a sigh.
" Then you will have an inkling who is the desired object ? "
said the doctor.
"I think so."
" Does your maternal instinct point to Mr. Clegg ? " he asked,
with a curious look.
" It does ; but he himself has no suspicion, and I am sure
regards Ellen only as a friend — a friend elevated a little above
him."
" Is the young man courting ?
3g2 YHB MANCHESTER MAN.
"I believe not."
" Then," said the doctor, sententiously, " the sooner he is, the
better for Miss Chadwick. Her life is not worth a month's
purchase unless Mr. Clegg become the buyer. But let not Miss
Ellen hear a whisper of my opinion. Good day."
And, snatching up his hat, the doctor departed, leaving them
to their reflections.
Here was a delicate subject to be dealt with, and that
without either loss of time or the sacrifice of their beloved
child's sensitiveness and reserve.
Unknown to Ellen, a family conclave assembled under the
Mosley Street roof, to discuss the momentous question, and
deliberate what was best to be done. Long and grave were
their deliberations. At length, taking Mr. Chadwick's imperfect
speech into consideration, Mr. Ashton consented to lay the case
before Jabez, and leave his brother-in-law to supplement it, if
necessary ; though opinions were divided as to the result.
It was after business hours, and Mr. Ashton found Jabez in
his own room, doing his best to dissipate thought by hard work,
mind and hand being busy with a chintz pattern for calico-
printing.
There was a nervous plunge into the gold snuff-box, and a
consequent flourish of a gay bandana, and some time spent in
examining the incomplete design on the desk before Mr. Ashton
could fairly enter on his embassy. After a little prelude, in
which, whilst enlarging on the serious nature of his niece's illness,
he elicited from Jabez that he held the young lady in the very
highest esteem, and was deeply grieved to hear of her perilous
state, he put down his snuff-box on the table before him, and
drawing up his chair so as to bring their heads closer together,
looked steadfastly into the other's clear eyes as he put the
question —
THB MANCHESTER MAN. 393
"And what should you think of love as the cause of her
malady ? "
" LOVE ! " echoed Jabez, his mind running off to the agonised
confession made to him on the Taxal hillside.
"Yes, love, and for the very man whose merits my foolish
child failed to see."
Jabez looked at him vaguely.
"Surely, not Mr. Marsland ! "
" Pah ! no ! " exclaimed Mr. Ashton, as if disgusted at his
obtuseness. " Yourself, man — Jabez Clegg."
Jabez fixed his eyes on his informant in blank amazement, a
monosyllabic long-drawn " Me ! " being his sole response.
" Just so ! " assented Mr. Ashton, and he took a pinch of
snuff on the strength of it.
" Oh, sir, there must be some mistake ! How has this been
ascertained ? Has Miss Chadwick made "
" No, Clegg, the poor lass has never said one word, except
with her eyes and pulse. Dr. Hardie has made the discovery
now, and it turns out Mrs. Chadwick suspected it long ago."
"Oh, dear! dear 1 this is very terrible!"
He was estimating the pain in Ellen's heart by that in his own.
" Very terrible indeed, Clegg, for Hardie says the lass's life
is not worth so much as a yard of filleting if her love meet
no return."
The head of Jabez sank in his open hands upon the table.
What would his friend Travis think of all this ? Presently he
raised his face, over which a strange change had passed.
" Mr. Ashton, what would you have me do ? "
"Whatever Jabez Clegg thinks he ought to do," he answered
steadily, adding in another tone, "I would have been glad to
have given thee my own child ; my brother-in-law implores thee
to take his child, to save her life,"
394 THB MANCHESTER
After a prolonged silence Jabez spoke.
" Mr. Ashton, I hold that love alone can sanctify marriage ;
my love has blossomed and died fruitless. Yet so highly do I
esteem Miss Chadwick, and so proud am I of the great honour
she has done me in her preference, that I place myself in your
hands. If I can spare so amiable a young lady the pain I
suffer from rejected love, I should be a brute and a savage to
refuse her the remnant of a valueless life. We may at least
soften its asperities for each other."
The Chadwicks went home with minds relieved, but Jabez
had stipulated that nothing should be said to Ellen of their
overtures to him, no hint given which could alarm her shrinking
modesty.
The following day he called to inquire about her health,
made his genuine anxiety apparent, and noted, as he had never
done before, how her lip trembled and her eyelid drooped.
Gradually, as his attentions became more marked, her health
and spirits rose, and when at last he proposed to her calmly,
quietly, as though he sought a haven when the frothy waves of
a first passion had subsided, she accepted him as God's best
gift, all unaware that his offer was not spontaneous, or that her
cousin Augusta was yet deeply shrined in his secret heart.
He had been at first greatly concerned about Ben Travis,
but the generous fellow, to whom he felt in honour bound to
explain his conduct, only wrung his hand, and said —
" I could not resign her to a worthier."
CHAPTER THE FORTY-SECOND.
BLOWS.
ICHARD CHADWICK, who
had served as a midshipman
under Admiral Collingwood,
and shared in the victory of
Trafalgar, was a midshipman
still, and his vessel had long
been away on a foreign
station. Few, brief, and far
between had been his oppor-
tunities to visit home and
friends. Ships had been paid
off, but he had been ex-
changed, several years had
elapsed since he had set foot
in Manchester, and the hearts
of his kin yearned towards their sailor.
His very whereabouts was unknown to them, and when
written communication was necessary, letters had to be forwarded
through the Admiralty.
Ellen's engagement and prospective marriage called forth a
voluminous epistle, crossed and recrossed like a trellis, from Mrs.
Chadwick to her son, whose presence she craved, if leave of
absence could possibly be obtained. The letter was a singular
AUGUSTA DRESSING.
39$ THE MANCHESTER MAN.
compound of gratulation and apology, through which a thin
undercurrent of dissatisfaction meandered like a stream. His
sister's strange malady and infatuation for a man of apparently
low origin, whose name and parentage were alike unknown, were
set forth to be deplored. Still, since the sole remedy for Ellen's
ailment rested with this obscure Mr. Clegg, whose career upwards,
from his floating cradle to his honourable position in the
Ash ton house and warehouse, was circumstantially detailed, his
personal worth was a matter for congratulation ; and the deep
obligation of the whole family to him for the service rendered
on Peterloo Day seemed dragged in as a sort of extenuating
circumstance. Clearly the Mr. Travis, whose name and pre-
tensions cropped up here and there throughout the letter would
have been a more acceptable son-in-law in the sight of Mrs.
Chad wick and his other sister, Charlotte Walmsley, and just as
clearly it was made apparent that his paralysed father (hale
and strong in all other respects) was as much infatuated with the
young man as was Ellen, having " positively offered to take
him into partnership on his entrance into the family." And
even there Mrs. Chadwick felt " constrained to admit that the
clear head, business tact, and energy of Mr. Clegg would be a
great acquisition."
This item of news closed the missive, which must have gone
a circuitous round of red tape it was so long upon its travels.
Months came and went ; Father Christmas shook his snowy locks
over the town ; but neither the midshipman nor a written substitute
put in an appearance.
Meanwhile Jabez, who had crushed down in the garden of his
heart those roots of his love for Augusta which mocked his
strength to eradicate, did his best to plant and foster above
them a grateful affection for the one who had chosen him, and
hoped in time that the newer growth might utterly extinguish
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 397
the old, His attentions to Ellen were more assiduous than, under
the circumstances, might have been expected , but he argued with
himself —
"I must endeavour to atone to her for a proposal in which
love had no part She must never have occasion to suspect the
truth. I should be a brute did I remain insensible to the
unconquerable love she has so long cherished in secret for me.
Augusta's face, alas ! was more divinely fair, her manner more
enchanting ; but Ellen, though she is older than myself, will
doubtless make the better wife for a business man who has to
carve his way to fortune, and she loves me!"
Ellen, too, had her seasons of doubt and perplexity. She
had been so sensitively alive to the silent homage of Jabez
Clegg to her younger and fairer cousin that at first her mind
had refused to realise the fact that he desired to marry her,
even though his proposal had been preceded by direct and
palpable attention. She had been at first inclined to attribute
his many acts of kindness and courtesy to friendship and
compassion for her failing health. And when he had spoken
of being won by her many estimable qualities to seek her for
a wife, she had listened incredulously ; then, overpowered by
contending emotions, sank back amongst her cushions in a
state of insensibility. Even her tremulous acceptance had been
uttered as in a blissful dream, which might vanish all too
soon. From time to time she perplexed herself with questions
of the motive for so sudden a change in one so steadfast as
Jabez, and at last wavered between the two suppositions that
Augusta's wilfulness had wearied him, or that she owed her
lover to pique. Of the real state of the case she had no inkling.
She was not alone in her latter supposition.
"A happy new year to you, Mrs. Clowes!" said our friend
Jabez to his friend the old confectioner, as at one stride he took
398 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
the two steps to her confined shop on the bright frosty second
of January, 1823, and extended his hand to her across the counter,
where she still kept up a show of activity in spite of age and
wrinkles.
"Same to you, Mr. Clegg."
She had been one of the first to recognise his right to the
prefix, and, with all her old-fashioned familiarity, never dropped
it.
"Eh, but now I look at thee, thah doesn't look ower bright
an* happy ; " and she peered into his face inquiringly.
He smiled.
" Looks are not always to be relied on. I ought to be
happy, for I am about to be married, and my errand hither is
to "
She interrupted him with —
"So I've heard. But what o' that? Is she th' reet un ?
For I wouldna give a mince-pie for thi' happiness if she isna."
The blood mounted painfully to his forehead.
" Miss Chadwick is all that is estimable and amiable, Mrs.
Clowes," he answered steadily, "and if I am not happy with her
it will be my own fault."
The old dame was not satisfied. The white linen lappets of
her antiquated mutch flapped like a spaniel's ears as she shook
her head.
"Eh, well!" sighed she, opening and shutting a drawer in the
counter abstractedly, "you should know best, but both me and
Parson Brookes (dead and gone as he is) thought you'd set your
mind on th' lass that rantipollin lad Aspinall snapped up. I hope
thah's not goin' to wed th' cousin out o' spite," and she looked
up in his face, over which a cloud had swept. " It would be
the worst day's work you ever did, either for her or you."
He had mastered his emotion, and answered cheerfully —
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 399
" Make your mind easy, Mrs. Clowes. I am not marrying from
any unworthy motive, and I think our prospect of happiness is
about the average. I came to ask you, as the oldest friend I
have in the town, to be present on the occasion."
Mrs. Clowes was overpowered.
"What! Mr. Clegg ! Me, in my old black stuff gown and
mutch, among your grand folk ? Nay, nay ; I'm too old to don
weddin' garments. But I tell you what " — and her face puckered
with pride and pleasure — " you shall have the finest wedding-cake
that ever was baked i' Manchester, and the old woman will
mebbe look on the weddin' from some quiet nook, out o' the
way. It's a thousand pities Jotty is not alive to marry you."
" There will be no grand folk, Mrs. Clowes ; I am but a poor
man struggling upwards, and Miss Chadwick has not had good
health of late ; so we shall be married very quietly on Wednesday
week. Only very near relatives or old friends are invited."
Customers interrupted the colloquy. When the shop was clear
she asked where he was going to live after marriage, and was
told with his bride's parents.
" Eh ! but that's a bad look out. Now, I've built some
houses in a new street off Oxford Road as they call Rosamond
Street, an' I'll tell you what, you shall have one to live in at
a peppercorn rent, and I'll lend you the money to furnish it.
Young folk are best by themselves."
Clear and bright were the eyes that met hers in reply.
"Thank you, Mrs. Clowes, thank you heartily for your kind
offer; but I think you lose sight of Mr. Chadwick's infirmity.
He has acted very liberally towards me — in fact, has offered to
take me into partnership — and I should ill repay him by
removing from his hearth the good daughter on whom he
relies. It is rather my duty to add to the comfort of his
declining years,"
4co THE MANCHESTER MAN.
" Oh ! " said she, sharply, " if that's how you raise your crust
I'd best keep my fingers out of your pie."
Jabez was going. The shop was full.
" Stay, Mr. Clegg," said she, beckoning him into her parlour,
and closing the door. " It's hard cheese for a man to owe
everything to his father-in-law. I've got £500 hanging on hand.
It's not much, but the least bit of capital would make you feel
independent, and it's heartily at your service ; and if you don't
like to take it without interest you can pay me one per cent,
and repay me when you've made a fortune ; and if that doesn't
come till I lay under a stone bed-quilt, you can hand it over
to my first godchild."
That same evening Augusta Aspinall stood before a large
oval swing-glass in her luxurious dressing-room, the blazing fire
shed its warm glow on polished furniture, amber silk hangings,
bright fireirons, costly mirrors, and expensive toilet ware (of
execrable shape). She was robing for a ball at the Assembly
Rooms, and Cicily, who, although cook, insisted on retaining her
post as lady's-maid on such occasions, had just fastened the last
hook of a delicate lilac figured silk as soft as it was lustrous,
with swansdown fringing skirt, sleeves, and bodice, as if to show
how fair was the symmetrical neck of the wearer to stand such
test
In came Laurence fresh from the Spread Eagle in Hanging
Ditch, where he, a newly-elected member of the Scramble Club,
had spent the afternoon with one or two others, forgetful that
the origin of the club was the fourpenny pie and glass of ale,
or at most the slice from a joint despatched in a hurry or
" scramble " by business men to whom time was money.
Neither time nor money seemed of much value to Mr. Laurence,
who was equally lavish with both, taking as much from his father's
business and adding as little as could well be imagined. His step
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 401
on the threshold caused Augusta to turn round, beaming and
beautiful, and dart towards him, exclaiming —
" I'm so glad you've come ! " simultaneously with his " Clear
out, Cis ! " and a warm embrace which somewhat disarranged the
dainty dress. His wife was yet a new toy, and his passion had
not had time to evaporate. She was a something to admire and
exhibit for admiration as a possession of his own ; and though
her love had received one or two rude shocks, he was still a
glorified being in her eyes, and she clung to him as a true
wife should cling. She was still but a girl in her teens, proud
of the admiration she excited. Disengaging herself, she cried —
"Oh, Laurence, see how you have crushed my swansdown!
and now, dear, do make haste and dress, we shall be so late,"
and putting the fluffy trimming in order, she unlocked a small
jewel case on the table, and took thence the pearls she had worn
on her wedding-day.
" What will you say for these, Augusta ? " cried he, dangling
before her eyes a gossamer scarf and an exquisite ivory fan,
whilst his other arm thrown over her white shoulders again
threatened the elastic down.
" Oh, Laurence, you are a darling ! Where did those beautiful
things come from ? " and she gave him more than one kiss in
payment.
India, my love ; they are ' far-fetched and dear-bought,' and
so must be good for you, my lady. I met your uncle Chadwick
with an old sea-captain, from whom I bought them. By the
way, matrimony seems catching. We are invited to a wedding,"
and he began leisurely to undress as he spoke.
" A wedding ! Whose ? "
He laughed.
"Ah, woman all over! I thought I had news for you.
Guess ! "
PO
402 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
In small things as well as great it was his delight to
tantalise, so he kept her guessing whilst he proceeded with his
toilet, and she began to clasp her pearls on arms and neck, and
in her pretty ears.
"Well," said he at length, "who but your cousin Ellen!"
" Ellen ?" She had gone so little near her own family that
this was indeed news for her.
"Yes; I thought she meant to die an old maid, but it seems
she's not too proud to wear your cast-off slippers."
"My cast-off slippers ? What do you mean?" and she paused
whilst clasping her bracelet with a look of bewildered interrogation.
"Now, Augusta, pray don't look so innocent! Your father's
favourite fetch-and-carry, that sneaking, canting fox, Jabez Clegg,
finding that Miss Ashton was a sour grape, has straightway
gone wooing to Miss Ashton's cousin as fruit ripe enough and
near enough to drop into his vulpine jaws, and, by G , the
girl has had no more spirit than to drop when he shook the
boughs, rather than hang on untasted !"
The speaker's lip and nose had curled with contempt as he
began, then his nostril dilated, and he struck his wet hand on
the washstand with a force which threatened the earthenware
and set it jingling.
Augusta was not yet schooled to silence ; her generous spirit
rose to repel these allegations.
" Oh, Laurence, how can you ? Ellen has had plenty of
admirers ; she has no need to wear anyone's cast-off shoes.
And as for Mr. Clegg ! He is no cast-off slip " she checked
herself; a thousand trivial and forgotten things flashed across
her mind at once ; there was no doubt that Jabez had aspired
to her own hand — he must have offered himself to Ellen in
pique, to look as if he didn't care ; she could not add the "of
mine," which should have rounded her sentence ; she substituted,
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 403
with barely a moment's pause, " He is neither a sneak nor a
cant, and if Ellen marries him she will have a good husband ;"
adding with marvellously little tact or knowledge of her own
husband, " I am sure, Laurence, dear, you have no right to
speak ill of the man who saved your life in the very pond that
is frozen over now before our doors ! And you cannot really
think him mercenary, when he refused the £500 your father
offered as a reward for his bravery."
Not lightning was more quick and scathing than the fury
which flashed from her husband's eyes and almost paralysed
his tongue as the last words fell from her lips. With the
damp towel in his hand he struck across her beautiful bare
shoulders with a force which traced red lines upon their snow ;
then marked her round arm with a band as red by tearing away
the suspended fan and scarf, which he threw behind the fire
without one thought of either " far-fetched " or " dear-bought."
"Soh, madam!" he hissed, rather than spoke, whilst Augusta
shrank from him in affright, " soh ! you dare defend the wretch
who played the spy on us at Carr — attacked me, an unarmed
man, with a stick, like a coward, and left me bleeding there for
dead, hoping to win the heiress for himself!"
From her father and Cicily both she had gathered the truth
of that night's exploits. His misrepresentations no longer
misled ; but for very fear she held her peace. He went on —
" Madam, that night's savage attack cancelled every debt of
gratitude I owed the calculating knave who turned his back on
my father's £500, thinking to multiply it by thousands from
your father !"
"It is not true!" she dared to say, her sense of justice and
her spirit of resistance rising in defence of one she knew to be
foully aspersed. Not because he was Jabez Clegg, but because
he was an absentee maligned,
404 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
A shriek rang through the big house, and servants came
scurrying up, with Mr. Aspinall in their midst; and Cicily, the
first to dash between them, caught on her well-covered back the
blow from the madman's brace, which would else have fallen
afresh on the naked shoulders of his wife, already scored by it
with livid welts.
Carry away the fainting lady — soothe the infuriated savage —
apply raw beef to shoulders as red, if not as raw — let the brute
steep himself in brandy unto stupefaction. The morning will
come, when the fumes of passion and brandy will alike have
passed away, and the man will repent him of his cruelty. But
the sting of groundless jealousy will remain, and the broad livid
stripes across the white shoulders. Time and care will efface
those marks, but neither kisses, nor caresses, nor presents, nor
time itself can obliterate the hieroglyphics stamped with that
buckskin brace on the young wife's heart. He has fixed the name
of Jabez Clegg there, and in conjunction " brute " and " liar," as
equivalent to his own.
It might have been expected after this that the Aspinalls
would have been conspicuous by their absence from the cousin's
wedding, or that Augusta might have laid her wrongs before
her mother. But, no ; your jealous man never spares himself a
pang if he hopes to inflict one ; and the wilful woman who finds
she has made a mistake in marriage is the last to confess it.
Cold weather and recent indisposition served as an apology
for the violet velvet spencer which, worn above the pale lilac silk,
covered bust and neck ; and it was far from unbecoming to the
young matron or the occasion.
Old Mrs. Clowes — who had kept her word anent the cake,
which was a triumph of confectionery skill — from some long-
closed coffer brought forth a stiff brocade of ancient make and
texture, placed a bonnet on her unaccustomed head, and from a
GEORGE PILKINGTON.
From a Photograph.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 405
far seat in the choir watched Jabez Clegg enter with his college
friend and groomsman, stalwart George Pilkington, though she
did not see them linger to read the inscription over the grave
of Joshua Brookes, or look up with grateful remembrance to the
Chetham Gallery, where they had worshipped together. But she
remembered them as boys in long blue gowns and yellow under-
skirts, and could not help contrasting the college dress of the
past with the high-collared bright blue coats, the gilt buttons,
lemon-coloured vests, light trousers, and white kid gloves, in which
they found their way to her to shake hands, whilst waiting for
the trembling white-robed bride and her friends.
And there Mrs. Clowes sat and listened to the irrevocable
words which bound Jabez to " love and cherish " the woman who
loved him with her whole soul; whilst in spite of himself his very
brain was reeling with memories of that other wedding-day,
when Laurence Aspinall and Augusta Ashton, now standing calm
and beautiful in the background, had breathed the selfsame vows
before that altar; and somehow the old dame had a secret
misgiving when all was 'over that it was " not the reet one
after all."
"All over!" had been the cry from the heart of Jabez then.
"All over!" was the echo now, as the last "Amen" sounded,
and he registered a silent oath, not down in the rubric, to keep
the troth he had plighted, although no electric thrill answered
the shy touch of Ellen's hand, or the dumb devotion of her glance,
and although Augusta's greeting of her new " cousin " jarred a
still sensitive nerve.
All over! so men delude themselves. "All over!" they say,
when disappointment closes the door of the past, and veils their
eyes to the vista of the future. "All over!" when the curtain
falls on the prologue of life's drama. Yet it rises again, and they
find that the play has but just begun.
CHAPTER THE FORTY-THIRD.
PARTNERSHIP.
Y dint of persuasion old Mrs. Clowes was induced to
place her well-saved brocade at the table graced by
the wedding-cake she had manufactured ; though, as
she afterwards said confidentially to Jabez, " I must
have had as much brass in my face as I had i' my pocket to
sit down cheek-by-jowl wi' grand folks with foine manners, who
might come into my shop th' next day to be served with a
pound o' gingerbread ; but I'd not ha' missed Mester Ashton's
toast for summat. And I don't know as annybody turned up a
nose bout it wur that spark Aspinall, who owes me for manny
a quarter a pound of humbugs."
Round that hospitable and substantial wedding breakfast,
which owed much of its success to the bride's own deft fingers,
also gathered the Cloughs, who had watched the career of the
bridegroom with interest from his cradle — Miss Clough as
bridesmaid ; Mr. John M'Connell and Henry Liverseege, who had
cultivated his friendship from their first introduction ; John
Walmsley and Charlotte, who privately chafed at his reception
into the family ; and Augusta, whose brilliancy was somewhat
dimmed by the overt watchfulness of too courteous and attentive
Laurence ; but there was no Ben Travis, and missing him, Jabez
was disposed to gravity. But though there were uncongenial
elements present, George Pilkington's cheery voice and lively
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 407
sallies sufficed to set mirth afoot and keep her dancing ; whilst
Mrs. Ashton, stately and proverbial, seemed to share some
pleasant secret with which Mr. Chadwick and her husband were
on the qui vive.
It was the age for toasts and sentiments. Some smart and
witty things had been uttered, but not until the cake was cut
and commended, and a post-chaise at the door waited to convey
the newly-married pair to Carr Cottage and the earliest friends
of the bridegroom, did Mr. Ashton rise to his feet, snuff-box
in hand, and, with a merry twinkle in his eye, propose —
" Success to the new partnership ! "
" Stop, my friends ! " said he, as glasses were elevated in
honour of the toast ; perhaps I had better explain what is meant
by the new partnership."
" I should think that was pretty obvious," whispered
Laurence to his friend Walmsley across the table, but he
changed his opinion presently.
" There are partnerships for life," continued Mr. Ashton,
"where the contract is attested in church, as we have had the
pleasure of witnessing to-day, and, I am sure, with the best of
wishes for its success ; and there are partnerships in business,
which are usually signed, sealed, and attested in a lawyer's
office ; and it is to such a one I now refer, in conjunction with
the former."
He paused to consult his snuff-box, and smiled to see
how suddenly inattentive heads were eagerly bent forward to
listen.
" It may not be generally known that my dear nephew Jabez,
at the close of his honourable apprenticeship, declined an eligible
offer from brother Chadwick, in order to remain with us."
(Walmsley and Aspinall exchanged glances. Mrs. Clowes looked
knowing.)
408 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
"It may not be generally known that he has a small amount
of capital invested in our concern at present."
(" Small enough, I should say," muttered Laurence.)
" Now, there being no likelihood that his son Richard will
ever leave his ship for a warehouse, Mr. Chadwick proposed to
take his son-in-law Jabez into equal partnership, considering his
integrity, his business tact, and energy to be equivalent to
capital."
" Hear ! hear ! " in which Mr. Chadwick's stumbling tongue was
loudest, and "Success to the new partnership!"
(The snuff-box closed, the bandana was disposed of, the speaker's
beaming face was all in a glow.)
" Stop ! stop ! gentlemen ! not so fast, You will have to fill
your glasses afresh. We have not yet got to the new partnership."
("What the d 1 is he driving at?" was Aspinall's polite
query to Walmsley, who shook his head in token of ignorance.)
"Brother Chadwick had concluded that Mr. Clegg was wholly
without capital, whereas he happens to have more than a
thousand pounds at his disposal."
(Broadcloth made sudden acquaintance with chair backs.
George Pilkington grasped his friend's hand ; there was a
puckering of Mrs. Clowes's wrinkles ; there were lowering brows
from Laurence and John.)
"And Mr. Clegg being perfectly satisfied with his present
investment, and anxious to join the gingham manufacturer without
quitting the smallware manufacturer, proposed "—pinch of snuff—
"that the two concerns should be amalgamated, and he have a
share. Gentlemen and ladies, the proposal was hailed as an
inspiration; and, as soon as the change can be legally effected,
the firm will be gazetted as ' Ashton, Chadwick, and Clegg!'
And now let us drink— ' Success to the new partnerships,
matrimonial and commercial ! "
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 409
Aspinall's voice alone remained silent amongst the enthusiastic
cheers with which the toast was drunk. Ellen, with humid eyes,
escaped to change her garments, and Augusta also rose; but as
she passed the new Manchester man, around whom friends
crowded with congratulations, she put out her hand with a smile,
and said, "Cousin Jabez, I wish success to both your partnerships
with all my heart."
Laurence was at her elbow, apparently to lead her with
courteous ceremony from the room, and whilst offering one hand
with a graceful inclination of his head, he contrived with the
other to pinch the upper part of her arm, and to whisper in her
ear, between his set teeth —
" D — n you, madam ! You shall smart for this ! "
An irrepressible ejaculation of pain burst from her. More
than one turned round. There was real concern on the brow
of Jabez as he asked —
"What is the matter, Mrs. Aspinall? Are you hurt?"
She made light of it.
" Oh, nothing, nothing. I struck my foot against a chair —
that was all."
But Jabez saw the white, frightened face, and felt there was
something more ; and that scared look haunted him for many a day.
Laurence attended his wife to the staircase, smiling blandly
whilst within sight or earshot. Ere he left her at the stairfoot
he gripped her tiny hand till her jewelled rings cut the flesh ;
and the smile became satanic as he whispered —
"You are discreet, madam. I charge you to remain so — for
your life ! "
Once in Ellen's crowded bedchamber she became hysterical,
to her cousin's great grief. But she overmastered her emotion
by a violent effort, excused it on the plea of recent indisposition,
and was consoled by her mother and other sagacious matrons
410 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
with the remark that such affections might be expected. The
newly-married pair were whirled away down Oldham Street and
up Piccadilly ; old Mrs. Clowes took her departure, and then
Augusta, acting on Mrs. Clough's advice, lay on the drawing-
room sofa to rest.
Not until night did the guests depart, Mr. Liverseege being
the first to retire. There was a late dinner at six o'clock, and
when the gentlemen rose from their post-prandial wine, and
sought the drawing-room, all considerably elevated, Laurence
Aspinall was too intoxicated to move. The Aspinall carriage
had been waiting an hour. The coachman and Bob the groom
grew anxious and impatient about the horses.
" Mr. Laurence drunk ? Eh ! that matters nowt ! " exclaimed
the latter. " Steve an' me '11 manage him." And taking the
limp young Hercules between them, they somehow hauled him
to the carriage, and ensconced him in one corner, with his head
drooping on his breast.
Augusta shrank from joining him, afraid lest he should awake
to malicious consciousness on the road.
" Oh ! I dare not go home with him ! Indeed, I dare not go
home with him ! "
" My dear," said her mother gravely, " I am afraid you must.
A wife cannot absent herself from home because her lord and
master indulges in too much wine, even though he may
occasionally make a beast of himself. It is too late to think
of this now. What cannot be cured must be endured. As you
made your own bed, you will have to lie on it to the end.
Those who leave the spring for the stream must expect muddy
water. However, there is nothing so bad but it might be worse.
Once is not always, and love overlooks lapses."
Augusta's persistence that she dared not be "shut up with
him alone," caused Mrs. Ashton to say —
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 411
" Well, my daughter, the occasion has been so unusual that
even your own father has taken more wine than his wont, or he
might bear you company. That groom seems a steady man ;
suppose he rides inside to support his master ; and, whatever
you do, remember when wine is in wit is out; silence is a wife's
safeguard, and you will have to make the best of a bad bargain."
A month back Augusta would have tossed her head, and
laughed lightly at her mother's pet philosophy. That night she
rode home from Jabez Clegg's wedding feast with a groom and a
drunken man, pondering whether spirited resentment or tame
submission was her best course. The morning dawned on a wife
pinched black and blue, with hardly strength or spirit to sob.
Then followed a reaction, and a period of remorseful uxorious
penitence, during which Laurence submitted with a tolerable
grace to a lecture from Mr. Aspinall, senior, who saw that something
was amiss ; and chivalrous gallantry towards woman being part
of this gentleman's creed, he did not spare his son.
Nor did Laurence spare himself. He knelt at his wife's feet,
called her "an angel," and himself "a savage," implored her
forgiveness, excused his jealousy on the ground of passionate
love, lavished his means on extravagant gifts for her, and
exhausted language in fair promises. But so proud was he of
his wife's beauty, that he must needs exhibit at theatre and
assembly the jewel he had won; whilst the admiration she excited
set his jealous brain on fire, and she paid the penalty in the
silence of night, or even in the close carriage driving home.
But his contrition and the old plea of "excessive love" for his
jealous infirmity won her over, and not even Cicily more than
suspected half his cruelty.
******
Great preparations had been made at Whaley Bridge for the
reception of Mr. and Mrs. Clegg ; the factory windows were extra
412 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
burnished; the landlord of the "White Hart" hoisted a flag;
the mill-hands lined the road to greet them ; the avenue gate
was thrown open that the chaise might drive on to the cottage;
somebody had put Crazy Joe into a new suit of clothes for the
occasion, and he stood by the side of little Sim on the step of
the Gothic arch (the greater child of the twain) to laugh and
chuckle a welcome, as sincere in its way as the homely greetings
of the orphan's fosterers.
It was a fine stalwart young man, of open but grave
countenance, around whom Bess threw her motherly arms,
while Tom Hulme helped the bride to alight, and marshalled
the way for the pair, who followed arm-in-arm into the
house-place, where Simon, stiff with age and rheumatism,
kept possession of the padded chair set apart for the sick or
aged.
In some way the knowledge that Mr. Clegg came as a master,
and not as a servant, had preceded him.
" Eh, Jabez, lad," exclaimed Simon, tears of joy coursing down
his cheeks, " that aw should ever live to see this day ! Would
annyone ha' thowt as th' little lass at' played wi' ar Jabez an'
his toys, an1 kissed him when he wur a babby, would come to
wed him when he wur a mon — an' a gentlemen into th' bargain !
An' neaw let thi wife goo an* tak' off her pelisse while thah talks
to me ; hoo'll be tired wi' th' lung journey, aw reckon. Theere's a
fire i' th' best parlour, that's th' place fur gentlefolk, an' yo'r
supper's laid theer."
Old Simon naturally concluded that young lovers wanted no
society but each other. On five-year-old Sim such a consciousness
had not yet dawned, and so he penetrated into the "best parlour,"
and, much to the relief of the bridegroom, broke into that first
domestic tete-a-tete to exhibit some wonderful pictures he had drawn
with red ruddle picked from the gravel-path.
MAN AND WIFE.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 413
They had been at Carr Cottage little more than ten days or a
fortnight, the first week being wet ; Jabez, without neglecting
Ellen, busied himself with contemplated changes and improvements
at the mill, and thus the great bane of the modern honeymoon
was avoided. The occupation thus found for the mind and hand
of Jabez at that particular epoch of his life was a blessing for
which Ellen had need to be thankful in after years, if she had
but known it.
As it was, she did fancy he might have given her a little
more of his time, and not have needed her suggestion to re-visit
Taxal and the spot where he had wooed her for another, and
not for himself. Yet a very slight hint was sufficient, and, taking
advantage of a clear, dry day, the two re-trod the old path by
the Goyt, which awoke reminiscences that could but be flattering
to that self-love of which every human being has a share.
Sitting down as man and wife on the lightning-scathed tree-
trunk, which had never been removed, he remembered the
confession wrung from her agony on that very spot. His arm
stole round her waist in the pitiful compassion it evoked. A
new emotion stirred within his breast. He folded his wife in
his arms, and pressed upon her answering lips his first spon-
taneous kiss of dawning affection.
Half-way home they were met by Crazy Joe, who had been
sent to seek them. A consecutive message was beyond his
grasp. All they could make out was, "Back! Sharp! Quick!"
And, hastening on in alarm, they at length discerned Mr. Ashton
at the gate, on the look-out. His pleasant nod was reassuring.
" My dear," he cried to Ellen, as they advanced, " Dick has
got his promotion at last ; Lieutenant Chadwick has been duly
gazetted. Here is his letter to your mother, dated from Mai —
Stop, my dear!" — Ellen had put out her hand for the thick,
heavy missive — "A communication which called your old uncle
4H THE MANCHESTER MAN.
Ashton out of his way to act as courier is not to be dealt
with lightly. And before it is read I must know whether you
would rather be Mrs. Clegg or Mrs. Travis ?"
Closer she clung to the arm of Jabez.
"Oh, uncle! How can you ask?"
There was a sly gleam in the corner of his eye.
"Ah! just so. That's it. How can I ask?"
But his face sobered. He handed the letter to his new nephew.
"Jabez, I think you had better carry it to your own room
for private perusal. I will communicate its contents to all
whom it may concern besides."
Jabez had deep feelings, though he was not demonstrative,
and long before he had mastered its contents he was thankful
for the delicacy which had spared him an open display of
irrepressible emotion.
The writer, who was stationed at Malta, after dwelling on
his own promotion, and answering sundry maternal questions
relative to himself, went on to say —
" And so our Nell's going to be married. Well, it's about
time — she'll be twenty-six next April, or I've lost my reckoning.
"And so she was fretting herself to fiddle-strings for a fellow
younger than herself, and without a shilling or a name, when
she might have had a finer fellow, with name and shiners to
boot. Bravo ! Nell, for choosing a brave lad instead of a
money-bag! She's the sister for a sailor, whatever Charlotte
may think.
"But your story of the flood and the cradle, and your mention
of Mr. Travis, coming both together, recall a story I had
forgotten, which may perhaps furnish a name for Nell's hero of
the Irk and Peterloo.
"We had a broad-set sailor on board the Royal Sovereign,
who was always getting into scrapes for chalking caricatures of
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 4*5
the officers on the bunks and cabin-doors ; but there wasn't a
man fore or aft that hadn't at some time or other coaxed a
picture or portrait out of him, to send to mother or sweetheart,
and never a Jack Tar amongst them would split on good-
natured Ben Travis."
Down dropped the shaking hand that held the letter. Ben
Travis ! What strange coincidence was this ?
" His father had been a Liverpool shipbroker, and Ben took
to me because I was a Lancashire lad like himself, though he
was old enough to be my father. He had been pressed, and
as I was the youngest middy, and he the master of the
forecastle, many a time had he told me the sad story of his
life. His father had died without a will, and Ned, his eldest
brother, had laid his clutches on everything but a hundred
pounds or so, which had been the mother's. Ben turned his
back on Liverpool and his brother, and being smart with his
pencil, took to that to get a living. He wandered about to
pick up bits of scenery, and at Crumpsall fell in with a widow
and her daughter, both named Ann Crompton, and went to
lodge with them. After a while he married the lass, and
thinking if he meant to earn a living for his wife and the
child that was coming he'd best seek a large town, he removed
to Manchester, and took an old cottage in Smedley Vale, where
he hoped to turn his talent to account."
The paper rattled, and Jabez leaned against the window-
frame, as much for support as light, as he read on with panting
lips.
*' He tried portrait-painting, but lacked a patron ; he turned
his head to pattern-designing, but no one would employ a raw
beginner. His money was dwindling, and a birth was near at
hand. He doted on his wife, and for her sake wrote to his
brother, who was married when their father died. Ned wrote
416 THE MANCHESTER MAN,
back enclosing a bank-note, and begging to see him at once.
His wife had died, leaving a baby-boy, whom he had christened
Ben, after his runaway brother. Ned said her loss was killing
him, and he wished to leave his boy in his brother's care before he
died. Poor Ben Travis kissed his wife, and went by coach to
Liverpool. Before he could reach his brother's office in Castle
Street, near the docks, he was pounced upon by a pressgang,
dragged on board a ship in the Mersey, and never saw
brother, or wife, or home again. I have seen Ben's tears roll
down his weather-beaten cheeks many a time as he told this. He
was one of the first sent down to the cock-pit at the battle of
Trafalgar, and when Admiral Nelson's glorious remains went home
to be buried, Ben went likewise, to hospital, and I lost sight of
him. When I was exchanged to the Excellent, Ben turned up
again, hearty, but aged with grief. He had sought his dear ones,
but a flood had swept through Smedley Vale in 1799, and left
no trace of his home. A man at the dye-works remembered
something about an old woman they called stiff-backed Nan
being killed by the falling house in trying to save a baby ; but
Ben could learn no more, and his own impression was that wife,
child, and mother-in-law had perished in the same catastrophe,
He went to Liverpool. Death had swept off his brother ; executors
swept off the son Ben, his namesake. He went back to sea, and
I saw the brave Ben Travis drowned in trying to save a bumboat
woman, who fell overboard off Spithead.
" And now, mother, you used to be a good hand at patchwork —
piece my story and your story together, and see if Ellen's poor
cradle-friend is not near of kin to your rich friend, Mr. Benjamin
Travis, with quite as good a right to be called Mr. Travis too.
"I should have a rough sketch of the old sailor, drawn with
a quid of 'bacca on the fly-leaf of his Prayer-book, I'll look it
up for Nell."
CHAPTER THE FORTY-FOURTH.
MAN AND BEAST.
OHE January twilight had deepened into dusk, and from
dusk to dark, before Jabez was sufficiently master of
himself to descend into the light of the rooms below.
Whatever of surprise or satisfaction Richard
Chadwick's letter had held for him, a wave of sorrow had passed
over soul and countenance for the sad fate of the parents whom
he had never known. As his footstep was heard overhead, Ellen
flew to meet him at the foot of the staircase, and threw herself
into his arms.
"My love! my own husband!" was all she said, but such an
intensity of devotion and sympathy was in the act and tone that
he felt he had indeed a true heart beating with his as he held
her close, and his lips touched her forehead as a seal to a
new bond.
It was but a single step to the parlour door, which opened on
a room all aglow with light, and radiant faces. On Mr. Ashton's
inspiriting, Simon's easy chair had been wheeled in from the
house-place, there being no stately Mrs. Ashton at hand to demur
at the innovation, or to whisper a syllable of class distinctions.
And surely that was not — yes, it was — Ben Travis himself standing
by the rheumatic old tanner, with both hands outstretched, to
greet a new cousin in his long-time friend. And there was Bess,
proudly glancing from his face to a piece of yellow paper. " It's
EE
418 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
as like as two peas," she cried for the twentieth time, handing
to her tall foster-son a sketch which, though little more than a
succession of brown smears, was a ludicrous resemblance to
himself.
"Well, Jabez," said Mr. Ashton, sitting by the fire, with his
handkerchief over his knee, after the first hubbub of congratulation
had subsided, "it is as well our new partnership has not been
gazetted. I suppose there will have to be a change of name,
and Ellen there will be Mrs. Travis after all."
This was but a playful sally on his part, but Ben Travis
visibly winced, and quick-eyed Jabez saw it.
" No, sir," replied Jabez, calmly, with his hand on his wife's
shoulder, " there will be no change. I bear the name of the kind
friends who saved my infant life ; fed, clothed, and kept me
through evil report and good report, through pinching poverty,
privation, and pain" (he glanced towards Bess); "as Jabez Clegg
I was enrolled as a Blue-coat boy ; as Jabez Clegg I was
apprenticed to you, sir ; as Jabez Clegg I married my wife ; as
Jabez Clegg I have been honoured with a place in your firm ;
and Jabez Clegg shall go with me to the grave. I had no
name when that good man " (pointing to Simon) " lent me his ;
time has made it mine, and I mean to keep it as honourable
as it came to me." He looked down : " Mrs. Clegg are you
content ? "
"Perfectly, Jabez."
A long-sustained pinch of snuff spoke Mr. Ashton's approbation,
whilst Simon could only reiterate, " Eh, lad, when aw tuk thee
eawt o' the wayter, aw little thowt whatn a blessin' theaw'd
be to us, or the credit theaw'd bring on ar neame ! Aw nobbut
wish Parson Brucks wur aloive neaw to yer thee."
"Our relationship will only bind our friendship closer, whatever
name you bear," put in Ben Travis, warmly, in spite of himself
TUB MANCHESTER MAN. 419
pleased with the decision which would spare him the pain of
addressing Ellen as Mrs. Travis.
"An* meals come reawnd whatever neame yo' ca' them by."
supplemented Bess, who, like Martha, troubled with much serving,
had been running in and out during the colloquy, whilst a
combination of savoury odours, and a clatter of knives and
plates, came from the adjoining room ; " it's supper toime neaw,
an' nobbody's had even theer tay yet."
" Just so, just so, Mrs. Hulme. But never mind the tea," said
Mr. Ashton ; " here comes your good husband in from the cellar,
with a bottle or two of generous wine to drink to new
relationships."
" I think I shall go abroad for a few months, Cousin Jabez,"
said Travis to him, as Mr. Ashton mounted first into the gig
to return home next day. " I require to dissipate thought. If
I were occupied as you are from morning until night there might
be less necessity. But — I say, Chapman the landlord here tells
me you painted his sign. I think the faculty must run in the
blood, for I do a bit in that line myself sometimes. How is it
I have not seen a brush in your hands latterly ? "
" Well, I got a hint, through painting that very sign, that
trade and art were incompatible, and seeing the force of the
remark, as counselled — ' the cobbler has stuck to his last.' "
"Look you, Cousin" (Travis seemed fond of the word), "the
fabled shield had two sides — stick to your trade if you like, but
don't let your trade absorb you. A business man who allows
himself no leisure, and has no resource out of his business, is
apt to degenerate into a money-grubber. I hope better things
of you."
A nod, a shake of the hand, the gig rolled off with its
occupants, and Jabez stood looking after them, hesitating whether
to go back to the mill or to the cottage, The casual word of
420 THB MANCHBSTBR MAN.
warning had come not one whit too soon. That which was
sending Travis abroad had kept Jabez close to business. He had
not sought so much to dissipate thought as to circumvent it by
substitution. If he had given his leisure to the cultivation of art,
it had of late been art only as connected with manufacture and
money-making. Even his honeymoon he was casting into the
X mill as grist. He was ever ready to take a hint. He turned
his steps towards Carr with something like a sigh.
"Well, perhaps, I might as well give my afternoons to Ellen
whilst we are here. I did not come to work, and the poor thing
does need some compensation for the lack of a lover's ardour.
God forbid that she should ever suspect that I married her out
of pity, or that I should become a money-grubber. I wonder if
Travis thought I was likely to neglect her ? It is a thousand
pities she should set her mind on me instead of him. And why
she should passes my comprehension. He has every advantage of
face, figure, and fortune, to say nothing of his evident devotion.
Ah ! women are strange creatures, and men are not much better.
I fear I am very ungrateful not to reciprocate her attachment more
fully. Why, here she is running down the avenue to meet me,
as if I had been gone a month. I really ought to love her
better than I do. But love can neither be forced nor crushed.
Heigho ! "
*****
Back to Manchester they went, rather sooner than expected ;
and then, though Jabez threw himself into business with a will, he
bore in mind the parting words of Ben Travis.
The contemplated amalgamation was effected, not without
extra draughts on Jabez and his leisure. But as partner of a
large firm; even though a junior, it was obvious he could not
work as designer for calico-printers, or for any other than their
own house. Consequently, not being a man of pleasure, his
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 421
evenings hung rather heavily on his hands, especially as neither
Ellen nor he cared for the card-parties which formed the visiting
staple. His very marriage had driven away his closest friend,
and broken in upon plans and schemes which otherwise would
have found sufficient occupation for his spare hours. Other friends,
however, dropped in for an occasional chat, notably George
Pilkington (to whom the wine trade had opened a road to
fortune), with his reminiscences and jocularity, broke in on the
monotony of married life, that monotony which is as much to
be dreaded by young couples as is a first quarrel.
Ellen knew it not, but Augusta's image often and often rose
up between husband and wife, and would not be driven back ;
whilst Ellen's very caresses were a source of pain to him, so
much he felt himself a debtor to her love. There was a void
in his breast which she could never wholly fill ; he himself
complained of a dearth of intellectual recreation, and when Henry
Liverseege suggested a return to painting, he fell back upon his
advice.
The fact is he needed to be alone, to have a place where
he could shut himself up with himself, whether to indulge in
day-dreams or to discipline his soul, or to think out the ideas
of art, trade, or social economy which floated through his brain,
and were dispersed by actual business or fireside chat ; such a
sanctum as had been his so many years in Mosley Street ; but,
self-conscious, he had shrunk from making the proposal, afraid
to wound his devoted wife by showing a desire to isolate himself.
The young artist's open remark was enough for Ellen. At once
a small room, or rather closet, partitioned off from a large one,
at the top of the house, was set apart for his use. He shelved
one wall for books, set up an office-desk, carried thither easel,
papers, and painting materials ; enclosed the fly-leaf of his father's
Prayer-book within glass and a black frame, suspending it on the
422 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
wall before him as a sacred relic, and there, after warehouse
hours, he was wont to shut himself in, and almost forget that he
was a married man. But this room acted as a safety-valve.
Luckily, in Ellen's eyes, Jabez could do no wrong ; he was
gentleness itself in all his comportment towards her, and the love
which had sprung to life unsought, and lived so long without
encouragement, asked but slight return to sustain it. It was
treason for Mrs. Chadwick to hint that Jabez was " unsocial," or
gave them " too little of his company." She was ever ready to
resent it with the reply that —
" If he is not dull shut up there by himself, I am sure we
three have no right to complain of dulness down here together ; "
yet if we analysed her heart very closely there were longings
and yearnings for his society known only to herself.
It was judged advisable, for the further introduction and
extension of Ashton, Chadwick, and Clegg's business, that one of
the partners should travel occasionally as their commercial repre-
sentative ; and naturally this duty devolved upon the active junior,
whose capacity for the undertaking revealed itself not only in
heavy remittances and a full order-book, but in a paucity of bad
debts. Of course he travelled with a horse and gig for the
carriage of samples, and now and then he would take Ellen with
him on a short journey, an indulgence which appeared to fill
the cup of her delight. And altogether the marital yoke in a few
months adjusted itself to their shoulders very naturally.
It was during their absence on one of the earliest of these
journeys that an event occurred which set the indignant blood
of Jabez on the boil, and showed there was a fire smouldering,
not extinguished.
The Aspinall home at Fallowfield was an ancient, many-
gabled grange, with mullioned windows, recessed window-seats,
expansive two-leaved entrance arched above; noble hall, with
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 423
trophies from the hunting-field ; grand staircase, with massive
carved oak balusters, flights of broad low steps, and wide square
landings ; long corridors, three or four rooms of magnificent
proportions, and clusters of little ones grouped around unsuspected
passages and stairs ; open fire-places recently enclosed, and double
doors to the chief chambers. Antiquity had set its seal upon the
place, and filled the panelled rooms with quaint or obsolete
furniture and adornments, as each successive generation had left
its quota. High-backed chairs, sofas of grotesque device with dim
worsted-work cushions and covers, heavy draperies of silk or velvet,
and tables with legs of all possible patterns.
It had come to the former Mrs. Aspinall from her ancestors,
and from her to her son on his marriage ; consequently this was
the home proper of Laurence and his wife, although they had
a suite of rooms set apart for them at Ardwick, and Mr.
Aspinall would fain have had his fascinating daughter-in-law abide
there always, instead of making his house a mere convenience for
visiting in town.
Stabling and other outhouses were attached, the gardens
were well laid out, there was a good quantity of grass land, all
enclosed within a high wall, and it lay away from the main
road. Mr. Aspinall's carriage was a close one, for service as
well as show. Mr. Laurence, on his accession to his mother's
property and his wife's dowry, added to other extravagances not
a like carriage, but a new Tilbury, and astonished the crowd by
driving tandem.
Whitsuntide is the great annual festival of Manchester. It
is the race week, the time when the Sunday-school children
dress in their best to walk in procession and have excursional
treats into the country. In 1823 Whit-Sunday fell on the i8th
of May, when the hawthorn scented the air, and cherry-blossom
snowed on the carriage which Mr. Aspinall sent for his daughter-
424 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
in-law, that she might witness from his drawing-room windows
the interesting spectacle on the Green, and preside over the
hospitalities of his open house during the week. At that time,
as now, Monday was the day set apart for the children of all
the Established Church Schools to assemble at the Collegiate
Church, sing anthems, and thence defile in long procession six
abreast, attended by their respective clergy and teachers, until
they reached the Green, where the girls, in their white caps and
frocks, were ranged within the enclosure round the Pond, the boys
forming a dark cordon around them, and the crowd a motley
one beyond. And then from the multitudinous young throats
poured forth anthems of praise in a volume of swelling harmony
which hushed to silence the listening birds above them.
Augusta, not in robust health, lay on a couch by the window
and looked on, her father-in-law watching her and anticipating
her wants with the homage of old-world gallantry, for young
Mrs. Aspinall was becoming an important person in his eyes.
Nor was Laurence much less attentive. He had been on
his best behaviour for some time, and would scarcely let the
wind of heaven blow too roughly upon her.
At that period Manchester races were held on Kersal Moor,
an extensive tract of land generously set apart for the purpose
by the owner, Miss Byrom.
" The glass of fashion and the mould of form," was the
handsome man who patted Augusta's shoulders and stooped
down to kiss her on Wednesday, the first race day ; but it was
with something more than a shade of anxiety she saw him
draw on his buckskin gloves, take the long reins, and mount
his high Tilbury, with Bob beside him, and dash round the
lower end of the Green at a canter.
Evening came to verify her fears. Back from Kersal Moor
came the tandem and the tandem's master, but the biped was
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 425
cbrius. He was in that stage of self-satisfied elation which a
contradictory word would change to fierceness, and the whim of
the hour was to drive his wife to Fallowfield, and show her how
dexterous a whip he was, and that not Ducrow could manage
a tandem better than he.
It was in vain she or his father pleaded her delicate health,
the height of the vehicle, the shaking she would sustain ; he
laughed at her fears, then fiercely insisted, and not daring to
disobey, she was hoisted to her perilous seat.
In much alarm, Mr. Aspinall mounted Bob on a saddle-
horse to follow. The roads were dotted with vehicles and
people, the latter shouting and singing, or muttering tipsy oaths,
as the fortune of the day inclined them. Laurence proved his
dexterity in guiding his far-off leader through all intricacies, but so
close did wheel often come to wheel that Augusta's heart seemed to
leap into her throat, and her teeth chattered, although it was May.
After they turned off from the Stockport Road at Longsight,
they " spun along at a rattling pace," as he said ; but she had to
hold by the rail to keep her seat, notwithstanding which, at the
sharp angle by Birch Fold, the vehicle gave a lurch which almost
pitched her off. At their own gate there was an abrupt stoppage
for opening, their return being unexpected. Then the foremost
horse refused to obey the rein and canter up the drive. Laurence
plied his whip, which did not mend the matter, and but that Bob
and the gardener were there to soothe the animals, and lead them
to the house, worse might have followed.
As it was, Mrs. Laurence Aspinall was half-dead with fear
and the shaking. She was lifted down and carried, almost
insensible, into the house. Cicily and one of the maids got her
to bed, whilst Aspinall himself, calling groom and gardener from
the stables into the drawing-room, sat down to have a drinking
bout with them.
426 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
Presently Cicily put a white face in at the door, and beckoned
forth Bob, whom no drink seemed to affect, and sent him off as
fast as four legs could carry him, to bring back a doctor, and
acquaint Mr. Aspinall and the Ashtons that his young mistress
was very ill.
In less time than might have been expected, Mr. Aspinall's
carriage brought to the Grange that gentleman, Mrs. Ashton,
and Mr. Windsor, a young Quaker practitioner from Piccadilly.
A competent nurse from the Infirmary was on the box.
There was no doubt she was in a critical state, but the
immediate danger was warded off; and though Augusta was not
able to leave her room in the interim, the scent of June's roses
came in at the open windows before her baby was born, when
penitent Laurence went into raptures over wife and son.
For two or three days he hovered about the house, nervously
anxious lest any sound should disturb the young mother. He
saw that every domestic was shod with list, stopped the great
hall clock, and had the rolled-up carpets laid down on the
polished oaken stairs.
Four days sufficed. On the fifth he rode off to town on
Black Ralph on a pretence of business ; but very little did
Cannon Street see of Mr. Laurence that day. With every
acquaintance he met was a glass to be drunk, "to wet the
child's head." At the Scramble Club, where he dined, he paid
for two or three bottles of wine, also " to wet the child's head,"
according to the practice of the club. Riding home, he stopped
at the "George and Dragon," Ardwick Green, and went through
the same process.
There some one remarked that he was too drunk to stand,
much less ride home, when he swore with an oath that he would
show them how he could ride ; he and Black Ralph were equal
to anything. And then, amid roars of derisive laughter, he flung
THE MANCHESTER MAN.
out another oath, and laid a wager which was regarded merely
as the boasting of drunken braggadocio.
He had kissed his wife's pale lips on leaving in the morning,
and she faintly implored him to be home early — she did not dare
add, "and sober." Towards nightfall she began to listen for his
return. Hour after hour went by, and at one in the morning
she heard the great gates and the door thrown open for their
impatient master by the watching servants, and the strong steed
come tearing up the gravel — ay, and on up the broad, flat steps,
clattering through the great oaken hall, and, urged with whip
and spur, and a madman's voice, mount the freshly-carpeted
stairs, cross the landing at a stride, and driving back the affrighted
nurse, enter that sick chamber where, with her baby at her side,
lay the fair young wife, gasping and shrinking with terror, and
there stand with quivering flanks and panting nostrils, as the
reckless rider on his back cried in exultation —
"By G— d, I've done it!"
He had done it. No matter what noise accompanied the
removal of horse and rider, the wife, whom in his sober hours
he professed to love so passionately, lay insensible to sight or
sound, and wakened only to a morrow of delirium.
CHAPTER THE FORTY-FIFTH.
WOUNDS INFLICTED AND ENDURED.
OH E spark lies cold in the flint until it is struck ; and
Ellen had not believed her quiet husband capable of
so much passionate indignation as burst from him on
the receipt (at Sheffield) of the details just given.
"Brute! ruffian!" burst from his lips, as the letter he had
crushed in his grasp fell to the floor ; and with a stamp he rose
to his feet, pressed one hand across his knitted brows, and paced
the dingy carpet from end to end in a state of restless perturbation,
his wrath finding vent in epithets and invectives foreign to his
tongue.
"Whatever is the matter, Jabez, love?" Ellen asked in
amazement.
"Oh, Ellen, dear! that brute Aspinall ." He could get no
further. Feeling choked his utterance.
She picked up the crumpled letter, and with almost equal
exasperation and pain made herself mistress of its contents, in her
womanly indignation and love for her cousin losing sight of her
husband's excessive emotion.
Jabez left his journey unfinished, and drove back home with
all speed. Ellen shared with Mrs. Ashton and her own mother
the anxious watch in that large dim room, where the favourite
of the family tossed her head from side to side, and muttered
incoherent words.
TUB MANCHESTER MAN. 429
In the sudden emergency, Bob the old groom's recommen-
dation of his own daughter as a wet-nurse for the poor frail baby
passed without cavil. Not until long afterwards was it known
that Sarah Mostyn was the last woman to have entered that
house, and on such a footing.
One month, two months wore out before Augusta rallied, and
Mr. Windsor, whose medical creed was to "let nature take its
course," pronounced her out of danger, and fit for the removal
contemplated by her friends, and resisted by Laurence. Double
doors, however, could not exclude outer sounds, and so long as
she shrank and shuddered at every crunch on the gravel, every
echo of his raised voice, recovery was retarded. So the elder
Mr. Aspinall, exasperated with his son, and most solicitous for
the welfare of his son's charming wife, added his dictum to that
of the doctor, offered his own carriage for her conveyance, and
threatened to disinherit Laurence if he interfered.
Once in her childhood's home she amended rapidly, but with
increasing strength came maternal yearnings for her infant, still
in charge of the wet-nurse at Fallowfield. A hackney-coach was
sent to bring Sarah Mostyn with the child to its mother ; but not
a step would the nurse budge. She had no orders from her
master, and the master paid her wages, and she " shouldna tak'
orders from annybody else." Messages were sent, and notes were
written to Laurence, which he tore to shreds ; but he kept away
from his wife, and kept back the child.
At length she pined so much for her " dear babe," that Mr.
Ashton and Jabez together sought Laurence out in one of his
haunts (a tavern near Cockpit Hill), to prevail on him to let
Augusta have her boy with her.
" Mrs. Aspinall herself deserted her child," he replied, all the more
haughtily, seeing that Jabez was Mr. Ashton's seconder. " When
Mrs. Aspinall thinks fit to return home to her maternal and wifely
43° THE MANCHESTER MAN.
duties, she will find the nursery door open, and her son in
trustworthy care. A true wife's place is by her husband's hearth."
"Yes, sir, when the husband is a true man," replied Jabez, with
decision.
"And who dares to say I am not a true man?" retorted
Laurence boldly.
"I do!" promptly answered the other. "No true man would
have imperilled his wife's life by a reckless drive in the dark
night in a tandem Tilbury ! Only a reckless madman or a ruffian
would have forced a horse into a wife's sick-chamber, to drive
her delirious with terror!"
"And pray, sir," haughtily responded the other, "how long has
Mrs. Aspinall made you her confidant ? "
" I have not the honour of Mrs. Aspinall's confidence," answered
Jabez sturdily, looking him full in the face ; " such facts are
trumpet-tongued."
"Just so," put in Mr. Ashton, drawing his arm through that
of his junior partner. "And the fact that Augusta shrinks at
your name has spoken so loudly to us that if ever she sits on
your hearth again it won't be with my consent. Come away,
Clegg."
After this declaration, Aspinall changed his tactics. He
wrote to his wife, requesting her return ; then entreating it ;
and finally went in person to beseech her to " come back,"
vowing to "atone for the past with the devotion of a life."
The young mother yearned for her babe, the tender-hearted
wife could not resist the appeal of the husband whom, with all
his faults, she yet loved ; and, regardless of the previsions of
her mother, or the entreaties of her father, she allowed him to
drive her home again to the Grange.
Her first thought was the nursery. There she found, in
Addition to her own boy, drawing its sustenance from the nurse's
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 431
breast, a well-dressed child, some two years old, playing with a
wooden milkmaid rattle on the rug. Something in the child's
face and auburn curls made her ask, " Sarah, whose child is
that ? "
" Mine. Whose should it be ? " was the pert answer ; and
the boldness of the woman's manner checked further inquiry.
But Augusta's heart had received a shock -which shook the
pedestal on which her idol sat enthroned.
For a short space Laurence kept terms with his wife, and
before her father or strangers he was her most devoted slave,
but she underwent a species of slow torture in secret.
She soon found that Sarah Mostyn was mistress of the house
as well as of the nursery, and that Sarah Mostyn's child was ot
as much importance as her own baby-boy.
Then Laurence filled the Grange with his riotous associates,
and compelled his wife to do the honours of his table, though
their oaths and conversation overpowered her with disgust. And
if one, flushed with wine, or more bold than the rest, paid her
a compliment, or looked too warm an admiration, he was sure
to find his way to her side with his common undertone threat —
"D n you, madam, you shall smart for this!" — a threat
always accompanied with sly pinches, which left their marks
beneath her sleeves. Then, straightway, " my dear," or " my
love," would be asked, in the blandest of tones, to sing a song,
play a rondo, or perform some act of courtesy for the very
guest who had excited his jealousy.
They had few lady visitors. The neighbourhood was remote
from town, and sparsely inhabited. Mr. Laurence Aspinall's
reputation was as a yellow flag to warn gentlewomen who had
daughters or husbands to lose against close intimacy with their
neighbours of the Grange. Pitying the isolation of one so
formed to adorn society, Mr. Aspinall gave mixed parties at
432 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
Ardwick Green in the name of Mrs. Laurence, when the splendour
of her attire and the assiduous attention of her husband set
rumour to contradict rumour. But save on an occasional family
gathering, she saw few of her own sex at Fallowfield.
And her position in her own home was rendered intolerable
by the continued presence of Sarah Mostyn, who, at first
familiar, then impertinent, had become at last openly defiant. .
It was not until all efforts to keep the nurse in her proper
place had failed, that Augusta appealed to Laurence to discharge
her, the woman having refused to take a dismissal from anyone
but her master.
"Tchut!" said he, "I'll soon settle that business!" and
forthwith stalked to the nursery, whence his voice was heard in
loud command ; but the result was not the woman's removal,
only a temporary submission, to be followed by fresh rebellion,
and the confirmation of Augusta's worst suspicions. How often
did the aggrieved wife then recall her thoughtless declaration to
her mother, that her " husband's heart must hold her and her
only" not even business to share in its possession ! And how
thankful she would have been to have had no rival then but
business ! She was finding the bed she had made for herself a
woefully hard one ; but she did not succumb readily, she had high
spirits and a buoyant nature, and would hardly admit to herself
how much she suffered or how great a mistake she had made.
But Cicily, that most faithful of faithful followers, cognisant of
her mistress's wrongs long before her mistress, paid Sarah Mostyn
off in her own coin on various occasions, and took care that
through one means or other the Ashtons should know what a life
their darling led.
Amongst his other little peculiarities Mr. Laurence was an
epicure, and one of his favourite tit-bits was that spongy lining of
a goose's frame known as the soul. It chanced at a family dinner,
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 433
rather more than a year after Augusta's return home, that a fine
stubble goose formed part of the bill of fare, and Cicily, who had
long owed him a grudge for his heartless treatment of her young
mistress, determined to pay him off, and expose him before the
whole company. A good caterer for a dainty palate, Cicily knew
her power and privileges, but in this case she overshot the mark.
One of the accomplishments of that generation was dexterous
carving, and Laurence prided himself on being able to dismember
a large fowl without once shifting his fork. The goose was set
before himself, and duly helped, but, lo ! when his knife would fain
have extracted his favourite morsel it scraped bare bones.
The flat bell-rope was pulled violently. Cicily was summoned,
and Cicily, in clean linen cap and apron, stood in the doorway
curtseying respectfully.
" What have you done with the soul of this goose ?" he
demanded, in a tone of suppressed passion.
Cicily came a step or two forward with an aspect of marvellous
innocence. " Eh, sir, it's not a goose, it's a gonder, and ganders
have no souts."
Scarcely an individual present but took the covert innuendo, and •
glances were exchanged across the board ; but the look he shot
at the woman as, incapable of speech, he waved her to retire,
was one never to be forgotten, so much demoniac wrath was
concentrated therein.
From the time when Jabez was acknowledged on 'Change as a
Manchester man, was admitted into Manchester "society," and had
absolutely become a member of the same family as his son, Mr.
Aspinall punctiliously invited him with his wife; and Laurence,
with widely different feelings, followed suit.
It was not until after the noble exploit to which Augusta so
nearly fell a sacrifice that Mr. Clegg could be induced so far to
listen to Ellen's desire for conciliation, " now that they were all
FF
434 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
of one family," as to accept one of these invitations. After that
event he was of Mrs. Ashton's mind that "as offenders never
pardon," Augusta needed a friend to watch over her. So he left
his books, and his brushes, and his schemes for the class amongst
whom he had been reared, and (believing his growing affection
for his wife, and the babe she had borne him, a sufficient
guarantee to his own heart for his own good faith) when the
Aspinalls next invited, he accepted.
As previously stated, Augusta had not dropped into tame
submission all at once ; her old wilfulness would have way at
times, and the light shafts of her satire were frequently aimed
with effect against her recalcitrant lord. More than once Jabez
had averted disastrous consequences by checking her vivacity ere
it went too far. But never had he been so thankful for his self-
appointed guardianship as on the night when Cicily thought to
pay back her darling's wrongs.
To his surprise and pleasure, Ben Travis, just returned from
the Continent, was of the party. He had not yet called on the
family in Oldham Street, and Jabez never asked him wherefore
The cousins had much to talk over, and whilst Laurence Aspinall
was pouring wine on his wrath, they discussed a project in which
Jabez took an interested part, and which eventuated the following
year in the Manchester Mechanics' Institution. But through all
their discussion Jabez never once lost sight of Laurence, and from
his excessively polite manner to her augured ill for Augusta when
the restraining presence of friends was removed. He communicated
his fears to Travis, and when the good-byes were said, and the
various conveyances rolled out between the great gates, a fee to
Luke the gardener, who was also gatekeeper, kept them open. A
whispered word was sufficient for those who had seen the look
Laurence directed across the dinner-table from Cicily to his wife,
and who knew the character and disposition of the man,
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 435
Mr. Travis's gig and the Ashton's hackney-coach were kept in
waiting close at hand, Mrs. Ashton and Ellen, well wrapped up
within, waiting anxiously for they knew not what.
Back towards the closed house went Mr. Ashton and the
cousins, treading carefully over the gravel. There was a flagged
footway round the building, and from the windows of dining and
drawing rooms light was still streaming. The last owner had
lowered the middle window of the drawing-room as a door of
access to the lawn.
As if by accident the curtains had been dragged a little aside
in each apartment, and now there were watchers at the apertures.
The elder Mr. Aspinall had made an excuse and retired to bed
early. Augusta, with a shawl wrapped round her, sat weeping
on a sofa in the drawing-room, afraid to go to bed. High words
had evidently passed whilst those outside had made their
arrangements at the gate.
Presently, into the dining-room sauntered Laurence, with his
arm round the shoulders of Sarah Mostyn, the shameless nurse.
They sat down to the supper-table ; he poured out wine into a
goblet, and they drank from the same glass ; he fed her with
delicacies, and kissed and caressed her with an assured familiarity
which told it was no new experience.
Long they lingered drinking and dallying, and the watchers
might have thought no danger need be apprehended. Suddenly a
word of the woman's, like a match to petroleum, set the whole
man ablaze. He rushed from the room with a loud oath, the
woman after him, apparently in alarm. The movement her friends
made outside in gaining the other window caused Augusta to
raise her beautiful head, and at that moment her husband stood
before her, brandishing his cavalry sabre, and with his eyeballs
glaring, fiercely vociferating, " I'll teach you, madam, to set my
servants to insult meT he made a fearful slash at her.
436 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
As she sprang aside with a terrified shriek, the old woodwork
of the glass-door gave way, and before the tipsy madman could
recover his guard to strike a fresh blow, his sabre was wrenched
from him, and himself struggling in the grasp of three powerful
men, his own gardener being one.
Poor Mr. Ashton's care was his stricken child, whose white
shoulders, bathed in blood, were washed by a father's tears.
Thankful then was Jabez to have been at hand, and on the alert,
with so powerful an ally as Travis ; thankful to have saved
Augusta's life at any sacrifice of personal feeling ; and only
himself could tell what his presence under that roof cost him.
Even Laurence had no inkling of it ; the marriage of Jabez
had closed his jealous eyes. But now, finding in his old opponent
an unseen watcher over his wife — her defender when he had least
expected — his baffled rage was something terrible to look upon.
He fought, struggled, vociferated, threatened, and foamed at the
mouth ; and Mr. Aspinall, coming thither in his dressing-gown,
aroused by the uproar, could barely master his indignation and
disgust as he ordered the men-servants, crowding in half-dressed,
to " help to bind that murderous maniac down ! "
It was well, too, that Mrs. Ashton and Ellen were close at
hand, and a vehicle ready to despatch for a surgeon, for Augusta
needed all their care.
Before three days were over there was a little coffin in the
house, holding a still-born child, and there was a young mother,
with a plaistered shoulder, lying, white as her pillow, in a state
of coma.
Dr. Windsor having exercised his best skill, as was his wont,
left nature to do the rest, and youth and nature between them, did
their work effectually.
Fain would Mr. Ashton have removed his child once and for
all. He offered to set up a carriage for her, if she would but
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 437
leave her husband, and seek a legal separation, insisting that
she owed a duty to herself, as well as to her husband. Mr.
Aspinall himself begged that she would take up her abode with
him, at Ardwick, if only for her own security. He had ceased
to find excuses for his son, and his son's charming wife stood
high in his esteem.
But Laurence had been beforehand, and with plausible
promises and penitential tears, and an adroit parade of her little
Willie, also in tears '' for mamma," won her over to pardon, and
to give him another trial ; and not all Mr. Ashton's eloquence,
nor Mrs. Ashton's proverbial battery, could win her from her
decision.
"My dear mother," said she, "remember you told me 'what
could not be cured must be endured,' and that 'as I made my
bed so must I lie.' ' It is a long lane,' mother, ' that has never a
turn,' I have heard you say many a time ; and who knows but
Laurence may take a turn now, and reform ? At all events, it is
my duty to give him a fair trial, and keep my own wayward
nature in check, so as not to provoke him ; and I must not leave
Willie alone with that woman. I think Mr. Clegg would say I
am right."
I am afraid she overrated Mr. Clegg's magnanimity much as
she overrated her wild husband's promised reformation, for her
decision struck a pang into the heart of Jabez, little dreamed of by
Ellen. Indeed, it cost him a sore struggle to subdue his concern
for Augusta within the bounds of duty to his own wife, whose
many virtues were gradually winning their way into his heart,
and towards whom his attention never relaxed.
CHAPTER THE FORTY-SIXTH.
THE MOWER WITH HIS SCYTHE.
NEW BAILEY PRISON.
EARS went by — Laurence had
promised to remove Sarah
Mostyn, but the woman
laughed, refused to stir, and
he let her remain — a thorn
in his wife's side — training
up the boy she had nursed,
and whom he idolised, to
scorn and jeer at his own
mother; whilst her red-haired
girl ran about the place wild
as a young hare. He broke
out from time to time, and
his wife was the sufferer ; he
horse-whipped her, shot at
way that malignity could
her, and tortured her in every
devise.
No wonder that so many tiny coffins of immature babes should
be carried from the gates of the Fallowfield Grange. No wonder
if Augusta began to compare her lot with Ellen's, and to repent
her scorn of a true heart because of its plebeian origin.
Meanwhile, the firm of Ashton, Chadwick, and Clegg prospered
beyond expectation, the business tact and integrity of the junior
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 439
partner alike aiding the extension and stability of the firm. To
make way for its expansion more warehouse room was required.
The Ashtons, not without a sigh for old association, relinquished
their house, and removed to another close at hand in George
Street, little less commodious, however much Kezia might grumble
at it. This was when Ben Travis, lacking employment for time,
mind, and money, offered them to the growing establishment, and
his influence as "Co." was accepted. This combination of capital
and energy, as Jabez had foreseen, worked wonders for them
commercially, enabling them to tide over the trade distress of 1826
with security and advantage. Long before then Jabez had offered
to pay Mrs. Clowes her loan, with interest ; but she told him she
was going to render up her account where, not the coin she
had, but that which she had given away, would be put to her
credit ; and so, as at first proposed, she made it over to her little
godson, Joshua Clegg, before she was gathered to the great
garner.
But the universal mower reaped a heavier harvest in 1828, when
he swept his keen scythe over the bed of the river.
In 1822 Mr. Ashton (one of the first promoters of the Chamber
of Commerce), notwithstanding his advancing years, took an active
part in the formation of a New Quay Company, for the better
navigation of the river Irwell. The company was established,
quays were constructed, warehouses erected, boats built, traffic
was extended, and the town generally benefited.
In the February of 1828, the axe, the adze, and the hammer
made a busy noise in the boat-building yard of the company, and
sail-makers were active with their needles ; for a flat or barge,
destined to convey cargoes of merchandise to and from Liverpool,
was to be ready for the launch on the 26th, a day destined to
send a thrill of horror tingling through the veins of Manchester,
so sad was the catastrophe it closed upon.
44° THE MANCHESTER MAN.
The launch of the Emma was an event in the annals of the
company, and of the town ; consequently a large number of
spectators assembled, a goodly proportion being admitted to the
yard to take part in the ceremony, and to go with the flat on her
trial trip under Captain Gaudy.
Mrs. Ashton, saying, "that when the cat's away the mice will
play," had decided on remaining at home to watch the mice, but
Mr. Ashton compensated himself by taking Ellen and her two
elder boys, leaving baby with its grandma ; Jabez, detained by
business in the counting-house, promising to overtake them before
they were on board. Mr. Aspinall, too, was there, and on his
arm was his son's wife, and Laurence, with his boy Willie, close
beside them. He was too jealous of the admiration she excited,
to permit her to go into company, even with his father, unless
he had also his own eye upon her, especially where there was a
chance of meeting Jabez Clegg. He brought the boy for a treat.
It was quite a gala-day, and as the pleasant company mounted
the deck, peered into the low cabin, and chatted gaily to one
another, they little thought to how many that would be a launch
into eternity.
The boat, a large flat, fully rigged, painted white above the
water-line, and black below, with sails set and flags flying,
rested in well-greased cradles, her head down ; the shipwrights
stood ready with their daggers ; painters with their cans and
brushes to dab her sides as she slid past them ; a band upon the
quay played lively tunes, and (fatal mischance) the people on deck
flocked to one side to listen. The sponsor, a Miss Grimes, with
her sister and our friends, advanced to the bows. The word was
given ; the ready daggers struck away the shores ; the boat began
to move ; Miss Grimes caught firmly the bottle (suspended by a
ribbon), and shattered it upon the vessel, proclaiming, with that
baptism of wine, the boat was henceforth the Emma. Hurrahs
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 441
and exclamations followed. The bows touched the water, which
first splashed the faces, then lifted from their feet the christeners
and the Ashton party. The flat had dipped too deeply, it heeled
over on her crowded side, and sank with her living cargo clinging
and fettering each other in the swirling waters, whilst shrieking
spectators looked on helpless from bridge and bank, watching
others braver and bolder, or better skilled, rush to the rescue to
their own risk.
Who shall picture the horror and confusion of that moment,
when some scores of holiday people — men, women, children — were
precipitated at one fell swoop into the water, shrieking and clinging
to one another with that tenacity of grip proverbial with the
drowning ?
The bridge, the Old Quay, the open space in front of the New
Bailey Prison — railed off at an elevation far above the stream — the
steep steps, and the towing-path beneath, were all lined with
spectators, though the fatal launch was made from a yard lower
down the river on the Manchester side. (The New Bailey was in
Salford.)
As the vessel struck the ground, shuddering from stem to
stern, before turning over on her side, and the final catastrophe
was imminent, Laurence (sober for once) snatched his darling boy
up in his arms, whispered a hasty word of instruction and
confidence, and, regardless of aught besides, sprang with him into
the water in the contrary direction, far as possible beyond the eddy
and suction, and keeping clear of the struggling wretches who were
pulling each other down, swam with him to the towing-path. But
not until he had placed Willie under safe charge, beyond danger
from the scurrying throng, did he hasten back to attempt the
rescue of wife or father ; and then neither was to be seen.
Mr. Aspinall had been an able swimmer in his day, and made
a bold effort for self-preservation; but cramp seizing his gouty
4 1-2 THB MANCHESTER MAN.
limbs, he was one of the first to disappear and perish, though boats
and swimmers had put out to the general rescue.
It was vain to search for individuals; though well was his son's
prowess tested that day ; more than one drowning wretch he
clutched from behind by clothes or hair, and urged forward to the
bank, where the Humane Society's men, with ropes and grapnels,
were ably seconded by volunteer humanity, and strong hands were
outstretched to haul the helpless up.
Ben Travis had waited for Jabez, detained in the warehouse
by courtesy to Mr. Gregson, the buyer for Messrs. Leaf, of London,
and the two, hurrying to make up for lost time, only reached the
New Quay with Nelson at their heels as the hurrahs died out in
appalling screams, and the waters of the Irwell closed over all
the twain held dearest in life.
With the celerity of light, coats were doffed and shoes cast off,
and the two leaped from the stone quay in hope and dread, but
the good old dog was before them, its teeth in a child's coat,
swimming to the shore. Almost as Jabez touched the water, a
sinking woman clutched his legs. With a plunge he freed himself,
then catching at her long hair, towed her behind him to the side,
and swam back to seek and save his own wife and little ones, if
that were possible.
A floating scarf, a mass of matchless brown curls, a hand and
arm above the water, and Jabez knew that Augusta Aspinall was
sinking there before him. A few strokes brought him to the spot;
he dived ; a youth was clinging to her skirts, and held her down.
One or both must have drowned. With a blow which went to his
heart, he freed her, and, catching her beneath the armpit, held her
well from him as he made for shore. To the Humane Society's
men he yielded her. So far gone, the men shook their heads
over the lovely woman, as though she were beyond help. But
they bore the dripping lady to the sail-room close at hand, whilst
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 443
Jabez, taking the precaution to secure a rope to his waist, plunged
boldly into the midst of the entangled mass in quest of his own.
It was a vain search; he brought one strange child, and then
another to bank, and then a man ; but he was again laid hold of
when his strength was exhausted ; and only for the precautionary
rope, he would have given to the greedy river the life Simon Clegg
had saved from it.
Travis had the good fortune to rescue Mr. Ashton, but he had
been some time in the water, and the old man was far spent; but
there was no trace of Ellen or her boys, even though he dived close
by the sunken flat, and brought up lifeless bodies in their stead.
Jabez and he could only hope some other of the brave men,
putting their own lives in peril, had saved them.
The governor of the gaol had opened his house doors, the
recovered dead were carried into the gaol itself, the sail-maker's
room was crowded, every tavern near was filled, but no trace was
found of Ellen or their sons, and Jabez was like one distraught.
He was but one agitated atom in that seething, surging, frantic
crowd, where women shrieked for their husbands, parents for their
children, children for their parents ; where passing strangers threw
themselves into the water to save life, and lost their own ; where
ignorance lifted the hapless by the heels " to pour the water out "
and extinguished the last spark of vitality; and where yelping
dogs astray were caught and slaughtered, that medical skill might
transfuse the warm blood of the lesser animal into the veins of
the human, as a last resource to restore suspended animation.
Even gallant old Nelson narrowly escaped falling a sacrifice to
the surgeons.
Jabez entered the room where Augusta Ashton was lying, to
all appearance, dead — ordinary means of resuscitation having
failed, and a surgeon was about so to operate on her from a
bleeding spaniel on the ground. Jabez shrank with a strange
444 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
loathing ; in an instant bared his arm to the doctor's lancet ;
and if he did not give his life to serve her, as he had once said,
he gave his life's blood to save her; and as the warm fluid
passed from his quick veins to hers, he saw the blue, quivering
lids tremble, light pass into the brown eyes, breath part the blue
lips once more, and from the depths of his anguished heart he
thanked God as a faint "Jabez" indicated recognition as well as
returning animation.
He had restored a wife to thankless Aspinall ; but who should
restore to him the darling boys who had crept about his knees
and round his heart, and the good wife who had won a place
there, in spite of fate, by her own patient, but intense, love?
The Emma was raised and floated, so little damaged that
she was speedily ready for use, and continued so for many
years. In her cabin were found the remains of Ellen and her
sons, where the childish curiosity of the elder one had doubtless
led all three ; but they were raised from the water only to
be committed to the earth, and covered up out of sight and
hearing for evermore ; and never did Jabez know fully all she
had become to him until he stood with Travis by the side of an
open grave, and heard the clods rattle on the coffin lid. She
was all as one then to the man who had worshipped her, and
the man she had worshipped ; and though the babe she had left
behind was nearer to the one, it would be hard to say to which
little Nelly was the dearer in the aftertime.
Including the bodies found beneath the flat and those laid out
in the gaol and elsewhere for inquest, thirty-three lives were
sacrificed on the altar of the Emma; and of these must be
reckoned the brave men who cast their lives away to rescue
others.
Among the early saved were the Captain, Miss Grimes, and
her sister, the two latter being hastily conveyed home in a
MRS. ABEL HEYWOOD (MISS GRIMES).
From a Photograpli.
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 445
private carriage (mayhap Mr. Aspinall's), with coats and cloaks
wrapped around their saturated garments.
Good, kind, genial Mr. Ashton never recovered from the effects
of his long immersion. He was a man far advanced in years,
and the shock was too much for him. He hobbled about the
warehouse, snuff-box in hand, a few months, and then dropped
asleep in his easy chair after a game of cribbage with Jabez —
never to wake again.
And then the excitement and agitation consequent on the loss
of his dear Ellen and her romping boys having brought on Mr.
Chadwick a fresh attack of paralysis, which left him still more
helpless (though he survived many years to pet and spoil Ellen's
baby-girl), Mrs. Ashton, lonely in her large house, proposed that
her sister's family (Jabez included) should join her in George
Street ; but when she would have said " the more the merrier," the
words died on her lips. Who were they but the survivors of two
wrecked households ?
After a little hesitation the offer was accepted, and the whole
family gathered in their shorn proportions under one roof. But
there was another proposition from another quarter, to which there
was considerably more demur. Mrs. Hulme, in a warm, grey-
duffle-cloak, for the preservation of her new mourning, travelled
from VVhaley Bridge, to ask as a favour that baby Nelly should
be committed to her care.
"You see, Mrs. Chaddick, th' poor little babby'll thrive better
yond than here i' th' smooak ; an' aw'd fain do summat for
Mester Clegg, he have done so much fur feyther an "
Jabez interrupted her.
" Hush ! Mrs. Hulme. I owe life, and all that life has given,
to your father and yourself. What little I have done in return
has been but dust in the balance. Yet as it is your desire, and
I know baby would be best in your hands, if grandmother will
446 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
consent to part with her, Nelly and her nurse shall go back with
you for the coming summer months."
And so, though parting with Ellen's baby seemed parting
with Ellen over again, the little blossom went away to other
blossoms on the healthy 'hill-side.
Tom Hulme was no longer overlooker, but responsible manager
at the Whaley Bridge Mill, with a good salary ; and if Jabez
gratefully traced his fortune back to his cradle, so too did the
Hulmes trace their amended position to the same source. But Bess
more immediately referred to the benefit Simon Clegg had derived
from the Buxton Baths, whither Jabez had sent him year after
year, for the relief of his rheumatism, and to his care of steadfast
little Sim. He had first placed the crippled lad with a doctor
celebrated for his treatment of bodily deformities, under whom the
boy's bent body had strengthened and straightened considerably,
and then removed him for education to the house of a married
clergyman, where there were no rough boys to torment him.
Jabez knew well what were the amenities of public schools.
CHAPTER THE FORTY-SEVENTH.
THE LAST ACT.
HE catastrophe which deprived
Laurence Aspinall of a father,
and had almost robbed him
of a loving, patient wife, would
have steadied any man less
reckless and selfish than he.
But that he should rescue
strangers, and Jabez save his
wife, and that through trans-
fusion the blood of Jabez
should course through Au-
gusta's veins, formed a com-
bination of mischances beyond
EMPTIES. parallel, and the honey was
changed to gall. Nay, he was
graceless enough to exclaim, in the first burst of his jealous
rage, " I would rather she had died outright than have that
fellow triumph in her restoration through his means. D
him!"
And yet there were times when in his uxorious fondness he
wholly persuaded himself, and half persuaded her, that his very
extravagances arose from excess of love!
448 THE MANCHESTER MAN,
His fancied wrongs culminated when first the will of his father,
and after a brief period that of Augusta's father, were read
and proved.
The former set forth that, disgusted with the ungentleman-like
excesses of his son, and convinced that his course of lavish
extravagance would end in penury, he had determined to settle
on his son's wife, Augusta Aspinall, for her sole use and benefit,
the house and premises on Ardwick Green, with all therein
contained, together with a sufficient sum in the funds to maintain
a befitting state; in the event of her decease, the reversion to
pass to any child or children she had or might hereafter bear
to his son Laurence. To him he left the residue of his means,
and the old business in Cannon Street, with a charge to apply
himself to merchandise.
The latter will, though equally stringent, was a much more
prolix affair. After a number of legacies, of which Jabez came in
for one, Mr. Ashton bequeathed to his wife all other properties
whatsoever he died possessed of, together with half his share in
the firm of Ashton, Chadwick, Clegg, and Co. ; the other half to
his beloved daughter, limiting the annual sum she was to draw
from the firm, and which was in nowise to pass into the hands
of her depraved husband ; and Jabez Clegg and Benjamin Travis
were appointed executors for the due performance of its provisions.
Imagine the excitement and jealous fury of Laurence Aspinall
on thus being set aside even by his own father and superseded
by his wife ; and as if that were not sufficient degradation, to
have Jabez Clegg, whose charity-school face yet bore the impress
of his foot, set as his wife's executor, to dole out what he called
a " pittance " where he had anticipated a fortune !
It so happened that the early duties of his executorship called
Jabez once or twice unexpectedly to Fallowfield, and that on each
occasion the master of the mansion was from home,
THE MANCHESTER MAN, 44.9
It might be that the river had washed the roses from Augusta's
cheeks so effectually that her complexion had never regained its
tone ; or it might be that her skin looked white in contrast with
the blackness of her bombazine and crape ; certain it was that
Jabez was struck with the pallor of her countenance, and his inquiry,
"Are you not well, Mrs. Aspinall ?" was tinctured with alarm.
As a light flush tinged her cheek, then faded away again, and
she received him with a timid indecision very unlike her former
girlish freedom, a sense of her almost supernal loveliness brought
something of the old ache into his heart, and out of respect for
himself and her, he hurried over his business, and having obtained
the signatures for which he came, mounted his horse and rode
back to town, haunted by look, and voice, and manner.
Yet in the integrity of his own heart he had no conception
that her embarrassment was the result of fear — fear of the
interpretation her jealous madman of a husband would put on so
unwonted a visit.
He thought he saw a smile of malice in the corners of the
mouth of the bold woman who met him in the hall, and nodded
to him so freely as he passed her on his way out ; but no
prescient spirit whispered in his ear that his twenty minutes' visit
on absolute business would furnish envy and jealousy with a
pretext for foul-mouthed slander, for coarse vituperation, for the
use of a whip, and for calumnious accusations which cut deeper
than its lash.
Cicily, who intervened to save her mistress, might have conveyed
some inkling of this to Mrs. Ashton, but Augusta absolutely
forbade her sympathetic servant's interference.
" You would do no good, Cicily," she said ; " the evil is beyond
earthly remedy; you would only distress my dear mother to no
purpose, and she has suffered too much on my account already.
It cannot last for ever!"
GG
45° THE MANCHESTER MAN.
On the next occasion Jabez was accompanied by his joint-
executor, but even that fact did not save Augusta from her
husband's wrath, and his vile aspersions went far to drive out the
last lingering sentiment of affection or regard she had for him.
But she clung to her child, and that bound her to her home and
him whom in an evil hour she had chosen ; though tears fell
bitterly on Willie's curly head, when he, like his father, gave her
back blows for kisses. And if at times her conscience smote her
for her haughty repulse of Jabez by the stair-foot window at Carr
Cottage, what wonder ? Had not Laurence himself scored his
rejected rival's name on her heart with his braces and whip-lash?
She shut the obtrusive memory out with a shudder, and,
dropping on her knees, prayed earnestly for strength to bear and
to forbear.
Yet much of the cruelty of Laurence at this time arose from
another source than causeless jealousy. He had been living far
beyond his private means, and was greatly involved. He had
calculated on laying his hand on a good round sum, and was
disappointed. In order, however, to raise the needful, he sold his
father's old-established concern to their head clerk, far below its
value. On the Fallowfield estate his friend Barret held a
mortgage, and, had it been possible, he would similarly have
disposed of Augusta's possessions. Here, however, he was doubly
baffled, and he turned on her as the primary cause.
The old law which preserved the woman's absolute right over
properties legally settled upon herself, by strange anomaly did not
secure to her one guinea of the coin those properties produced.
Well did Jabez watch over Augusta's interest, but his heart
ached as he saw her sad countenance, and the greedy triumphant
eyes of ever-present Laurence when her dividends were paid
in. For, before his very face, Laurence laid his hand upon the
money, to squander it as he had squandered his own on Sarah
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 451
Mostyn and other dissolute companions, leaving his wife without
so much as would purchase a pocket-handkerchief.
Then, lest she should make her wrongs known, he kept her
a close prisoner at Fallowfield, and, for all the pleasure she had
of her Ardwick mansion, she might as well have been without
it.
No wonder if each fresh act of personal violence snapped
some bond between them, until the only one link to bind her to
life and her husband was her boy Willie ; whilst the only human
trait of Laurence was his fondness for his son, whom he was
rapidly ruining with false indulgence, as he himself had been
ruined.
It was customary, when the hay-making season came round,
for Laurence to gather such friends as his wife or he retained —
the married with their children — for a frolic in the hayfields, and
the bringing home the last waggon-load in triumph to crown or
inaugurate a feast.
On these occasions he had the grace, or the diplomacy, to keep
Sarah Mostyn in the background, though she flaunted boldly
enough about the house in the presence of his wife, and her
child mingled with the children.
The harvest-home of 1831 was attended with the customary
festivities, Willie, a rough playmate, was half smothering Nelly
Clegg in the hay, or chasing the Walmsleys amongst the haycocks,
until the last load was ready, and then the boy insisted that he
and his companions should be mounted atop. Shouts and cheers
announced their coming to the party in the drawing-room ; they
came crowding to the windows, and, the glass-door being open,
one or two sauntered out on to the flagged walk. Merrily they
came along the gravelled drive, under the hot sun, dreaming of
no danger, Willie clapping his hands and calling, "Look at us
papa," when, right in front of the drawing-room window, the pin
452 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
which held the body of the cart down, by some means became
displaced, the cart tilted up, and hay and children were sent
flying.
Beyond a few bruises, none of the children were injured but
one ; they had fallen amongst hay, or on the spongy lawn ; but
Willie, the one jewel in the Aspinall casket, pitched with his head
on the flagged pavement, and was killed on the spot.
Draw we the curtain over consternation and bereavement, and
pass on to results. If a change came over Laurence, it was not
for the better. He drank incessantly, became alternately moody
and defiant, and added a coping-stone to his offences by placing
Sarah Mostyn at his table by the side of his wife, and boldly
avowing that her child was his child also.
Then all the woman rose within Augusta, so long cowed and
dispirited. She left the table, and, the insult being repeated,
again retired in indignation.
Of the servants none had pitied her so much as Cicily, but
for whom communication with her friends had been cut off.
Often had the former waxed savage over indignities she could
neither check nor prevent ; but in many little ways the faithful
domestic was enabled to ameliorate the condition of her mistress.
Now that Mrs. Aspinall — more lovely in her sad womanhood
than in her brilliant girlhood — was virtually supplanted, a prisoner
under torture in her husband's house, with no tie of motherhood
to bind her there, her old nurse, as the mouthpiece of Mrs.
Ashton and her aunt Chadwick, had urged upon her once more
the necessity for legal separation, and she no longer turned a
deaf ear.
When Jabez came to hand over the next quarter's dividends
Travis accompanied him, and then Augusta, in the presence of
both her executors, demanded and claimed her right to a legal
separation from her husband.
THE MANCHESTER MAN, 453
Laurence, taken by surprise, started to his feet, then, resuming
his seat, said, with a scowl and a contemptuous sneer —
"You had better obtain a divorce, madam, whilst you are
about it. Mr. Clegg will not object to the cost, if you can only
be made Mrs. Clegg by Act of Parliament."
It was a cruel and uncalled-for sneer, and Travis, firing up,
resented it for his friend, who appeared dumbfounded by the
suggestion.
" If she had been Mrs. Clegg, sir, instead of Mrs. Aspinall,
there would have been no necessity now for the interference of
friends for her protection ! "
" Of course not," sneered Aspinall. " Mr. Clegg is the white
hen that never lays away ; and now, having favoured you with
one of Mrs. Ashton's pithy proverbs, perhaps, gentlemen, you will
favour me by taking your departure ; this house and this lady are
alike my property."
The value he set upon the latter article of property was
testified by an immediate application of a horsewhip, so savagely
applied that even Bob, and Luke the gardener, drawn thither
by Augusta's screams, wrenched the whip from him, and
covered her escape, the latter declaring he would " no longer
stay an' witness sich wark."
To this man, who was also gatekeeper, Cicily crept at nightfall,
and offered him a goodly sum down, out of her own savings,
promising a much larger one from Mrs. Aspinall, with the offer
of a new situation at Ardwick, if he would only suffer her ill-used
mistress to "get clear o' that brute's violence."
The man, to his credit be it told, refused the money, but
opened the gate ; and, when Laurence wakened from his sodden
sleep at noon the next day, wife, cook, and gardener were missing.
The three had walked to Ardwick, and once there, though
Augusta found sad havoc had been made in the place, all was
454 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
her own, carnage included, and the domestics in charge welcomed
her with gladness.
Without waiting for even the show of a breakfast, Augusta
hurried like a frightened bird to her mother's nest in George
Street, where alone she felt secure.
Jabez and Travis were summoned, and when Aspinall, recovering
from his stupor, sought his human property at Ardwick, he found
the trustee under his father's will — a Mr. Lillie — holding the place
for Augusta in right of his trust. And in George Street he was
refused admission, Mrs. Ashton justifying her daughter's flight
with "self-preservation is the first law of nature. A good Jack
makes a good Jill. It is the last straw breaks the camel's back.
If you sow the wind, you must reap the whirlwind. He who
beats his friend makes an enemy."
He threatened, and she answered —
"Threatened folk live long. You had best, Mr. Aspinall, keep
your breath to cool your porridge. Augusta's friends will defend
her from her only enemy. Pending separation you see her no
more."
He never saw her more. The deed of separation was sealed
but never signed.
With Augusta, all good angels seemed to have flown from
Fallowfield. In his demoniac passion, he strove to blacken her
character, to find himself met with laughter — his own life had
been so chaste ! Whilst, as if to refute him, when she took refuge
with her mother, Jabez deemed it a point of honour to retreat.
Accordingly he took up his temporary abode with Travis, in
delicacy towards her, and as a check upon himself. No act, or
thought, or word of his must give an evil tongue a chance to foul
that spotless woman with its slime.
In the midst of all this, Aspinall's embarrassments increased.
Creditors pressed ; writs showered in upon him ; Barret foreclosed,
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 455
and men were put in possession of the Grange. He flew to his
old remedy, and it drove him mad, Lancaster Gaol for debtors
loomed upon him. From his chamber window he beheld a sheriffs
officer approach with a warrant. His cavalry-pistols were in his
dressing-room. A sharp report rang through the house. Laurence
Aspinall, in the prime of life, delirious with drink, driven to
desperation by his own profligate excess, set a blood-red seal on
the deed of separation.
*****
Ten years had passed from the partnership of Ashton,
Chadwick, and Clegg — years in which money well employed had
multiplied itself. Jabez was a rich man — a man of influence in
the town ; no longer the amateur artist, but the patron of art, as
well Henry Liverseege and others could have told. As he had
been one of the first promoters and directors of the Manchester
Mechanics' Institution, so was he now the supporter of the Royal
Institution for the Advancement of Art ; and seeing farther than
Mr. Ashton, who, as a member of the New Quay Navigation
Company, had opposed the Act for a railway between Manchester
and Liverpool, he threw his energy into the project, and helped
to carry it out, his cousin Travis working with him.
His widowerhood had cast a gloom over him for a time, but
he left himself small leisure for morbid reflection, and that was
cheered by the prattle of his little Nelly. Then came the crash
at Fallowfield, and when darkness set upon Aspinall and his deeds,
light broke upon the path of Jabez Clegg — at first a mere ray,
but he worked the more cheerfully in its light. It was not hope
for himself; it was merely a joyful consciousness that there was
hope and calm in the sky over the head of their fluttering and
wounded dove, and that Augusta could now rest in peace with
her mother in the house at Ardwick, with no dread of a brutal
husband bursting on them unawares.
456 fHB MANCHESTER MAN.
He came and went as friend and executor, but it was long
before it flashed across his comprehension that the fearful ordeal
through which Augusta had passed but brought his old master's
daughter closer to him ; or that the prayer old Simon had taught
was being answered to the full. That which was " above rubies "
had blessed his life, and kept his human heart warm whilst his
" coast had enlarged ; " he had been kept from the evil of a
wilful and capricious wife ; and at last when he had resigned all
prospect of setting the purified pearl as a star on his own breast,
it dropped into his hand, unsought, unsolicited.
He had schooled his heart, we know. He had married from
a sense of duty and grateful compassion. He was a faithful
husband to a true wife, and when he lost her he mourned her
as a valued friend. But though all the early love of his being
had been kept alive and in a ferment by the sufferings of
Augusta, as an honourable man he suffered no word or look to
betray more than a friend's sympathy. And still he kept as
strong a guard over himself, though the tragic end of Laurence
had set her free once more.
The last fatal act struck a sensitive chord in Augusta's nature.
There was no exultation at release. For a time she lost sight
of his profligacy and cruelty, and accused herself of having
hastened the catastrophe by leaving him to his own unbridled
will and the temptress by his side. She wept for the handsome
lover who had captivated her young fancy ; she mourned for the
besotted soul gone to its account with all its imperfections rampant.
" Let her alone," said Mrs. Ashton to her sister ; " the sharpest
shower wears itself out soonest ; she will come to her senses
long before her crape is worn out."
Mrs. Ashton was a true prophetess. For a long time the
Fallowfield tragedy cast a shadow over the house at Ardwick,
and they led very retired lives. Then harp and piano were
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 457
heard once more, visitors were admitted, and the mansion that
Kezia and Cicily united in declaring " worse than a nunnery,"
grew bright and cheerful, though the widow's weeds were not
cast aside. (Kitty had been laid under the mould whilst
Augusta was yet a bride.)
Almost two years had elapsed. Suitors in plenty had been
attracted by the wealthy young widow's many charms, her old
admirer, Mr. Marsland, among the rest, yet Mrs. Aspinall showed
no disposition to change her state ; and the one man who had
loved her longest and best was not of the number at her feet.
He scorned to importune now in his widowerhood for the love
withheld when they were both young. He counted age by
events, not years.
It was for Augusta noiv, she who had been taught by her
very husband's taunts and sneers to think upon the true man
she had set aside, to think of him daily and hourly with rapidly
strengthening attachment, and think of him as one who had
dropped her from the book of his life for ever. Her whole
thought was how could she become worthy the love of such a
man ; yet every day and hour the fear pressed heavily upon her
that the quiet virtues of Ellen had driven her out of his heart
altogether. Of all her guests he was the one most welcome,
most desired, but he was the one she received with most reserve,
the one whose stay was briefest, whose visits fewest. " Business "
appeared to have more imperative claims on him than when he
had his way to make ; and Augusta, whose sables had long
since been cast aside, seemed to wear them on her heart. The
vivacity which had never wholly forsaken her in all her trials,
forsook her now — she grew listless and melancholy.
Meanwhile Captain Richard Chadwick had come home on half-
pay to brighten up the somewhat dull house in George Street,
and comfort the old folk — to say nothing of astonishing Sim and
45^ THE MANCHESTER MAN.
Nelly with his long yarns and adventures. Sim always spent
part of his vacations with Mr. Clegg, who well paid back to Bess
all her early care for him. He indulged the boy's craving for
books and pencils, first implanted by himself, and in which he
saw the dawn of his future career. That which in his own case
had been repressed and subordinated to trade and money-making,
should not be so checked in that boy ; and old Simon, to whom
the lad appeared a marvel, never ceased to pride himself on his
forecast in pronouncing Jabez a "Godsend."
It was during the second summer of her widowhood, when
Augusta accompanied her mother (not a whit the less stately
than of yore) to Carr Cottage for the first time since her
attempted elopement, that the feeling of all she had cast from
her, and all that she had brought upon herself, all that might
have been, and now never would be, pressed heaviest upon her.
She had gone thoughtfully over the old ground, had trod the
nettle-grown Lovers' Walk, and sat down on the open window-
ledge at the stairfoot as once before, and wept tears of penitent
bitterness. How long she sat there she could not tell ; she was
weeping for a life lost and a love rejected. As once before, ths
voice of Jabez (whom she imagined eighteen miles away) broke
upon her solitude, but now it thrilled through her.
There was a light touch upon her shoulder.
"Mrs. Aspinall?"
She shuddered.
" Oh 1 don't call me by that name — here ! " broke from her,
imploringly.
"What name shall I call you by?" half wonderingly ; then, in
in a lower semi-smothered tone of entreaty — "Augusta?"
Lower sank her head in her hands ; but there was no answer
save her sobs. It was thus he had addressed her there once
before,
THE MANCHESTER MAN. 459
"Augusta!" — and this time the hand on her shoulder shook
— "Augusta — dear Augusta, once on this very spot I found you
weeping thus, and I begged to be allowed to share your
grief. I told you I would give my life to serve you — what I
said then I repeat now — I would give my life to serve you,
and you know it!" He gently drew one hand from her
agitated face. " Tell me your trouble, as you would tell it to
a brother!"
A brother — ah, that was it! She drew her hand back, but she
did not rise, and her sobs seemed to choke her.
Again he took her hand, and his other arm went round her
soothingly, protectingly. "Oh, Augusta, this is inexpressibly
painful to me. I love you, as never man loved woman. Can you
not tell me what troubles you?" and the earnest tenderness of
his voice made strange music in her ears.
He had seated himself on the narrow window-ledge beside her,
and now he thought she was about to punish his presumption
and quit him haughtily as before.
But no! She only slid from his arm to his very feet, and
cried, with still covered face —
" Oh, Jabez — dear Jabez, forgive me all I made you suffer here ;
for oh! I have repented bitterly."
He was stunned, bewildered. His passionate declaration of
love was made as a claim to her confidence, not to her affection ;
and now — "dear Jabez!" Did he hear aright? For an instant
he was silent from very incapacity to speak. Her bent head
touched his knees.
Slowly, reverently, as if she had been a saint, with every
nerve of his strong frame trembling with emotion, he raised her
from the ground ; but no arm went round her now. He held
both her hands in his, and looked steadfastly down upon her ;
but no answer made he to her plea for pardon. Constraint in
460 THE MANCHESTER MAN.
voice and words was apparent and painful, but emotion grew
too strong for control.
"Augusta, what is the meaning of this? For God's sake do
not mislead me ! I seem on the threshold of Heaven or madness.
Is it possible that I, plain Jabez Clegg, can be 'dear' to you?"
"Dearer than life!"
Clear, full, and earnest came the words from her soul, clear
and truthful were the eyes that now sought his.
"Thank God!"
He held her in his arms with a straining clasp, which told
how long they had quivered to embrace her so. His eyes lit up
with an intensity of love she knew not he could feel, and never
had his lips met woman's in such fond kisses as he pressed
on hers.
The concentrated love of years seemed gathered to a focus
then. "Life of my life!" he called her, and she knew and felt
it was so.
If the shade of the departed Ellen could have looked upon
them there, remembering how she had rushed to his embrace in
that very spot, and how different had been the kiss imprinted on
her wifely brow, would she have reproached him? I wis not.
Is it needful to add that, before the summer waned, the
Manchester Man, rapidly rising into public note and favour,
entered into another partnership ; or that Jabez Clegg, in right
of Augusta his wife, took possession of the mansion at Ardvvick,
to the satisfaction of Mrs. Ashton, who said, " Better late than
never!" Or to tell how the trade of Ashton, Chadwick, Clegg
and Co. continued to extend ? Or that Travis remained Co. to
the end of the chapter — the children's Co. never taking a wife
unto himself,
THE END.
APPENDIX No. I.
T N the foregoing story of the :t Manchester Man," I have in a great measure
•*• dealt with history, recorded and unrecorded, with absolute people, events,
and places.
I have not thought it advisable to break the narrative with cumbrous foot-notes
calculated to disturb the general reader; but I consider an elucidating Appendix clue
alike to myself and to all those who, in perusing a work of this kind, care to dis-
criminate fact from fiction.
Little of the Manchester I have depicted remains intact, a whirlwind of
improvement (!) has swept over the town, but old inhabitants will, I think,
recognise the faithfulness of my descriptions, as they will remember many of the
persons who come and go incidentally throughout.
CHAP. I.— After writing this chapter, I learned that a cradled infant was washed
down the Irwell from the Broughton, not the Smedley and Irk side, in the flood
of 1837. I was familiar with the incident I relate when I was quite a child
myself, and I am now fifty-four.
The two cases are therefore distinct, yet equally facts. In 1771, during the
floods which swept away Tyne Bridge, Newcastle, a vessel took up at sea a cradle
in which was a child alive and well.
CHAP. III. — The Rev. Joshua Brookes comes into my pages naturally — no story
of Manchester life at the commencement of this century would be complete without
him. I have endeavoured to do justice to a little-understood man. Many of his
eccentricities are on record. At my own baptism and my mother's churching,
occurred the scene which I have endeavoured to reproduce; the delicate lady pushed
and pulled about was a stranger to my mother and sponsors. A characteristic
anecdote, which I have not met with in print, may not be out of place here.
A printer, of Republican tendencies, named Cowdroy, took his son to the font,
and on the child's name being required, answered "Citizen!" — "Citizen?" growled.
Joshua, " that's no name. I shall not give the child a name like that ! " " I've
a right to call my child what name I please, and I dare you to baptise him
otherwise," boldly asserted Mr. Cowdroy. " Oh, you may call him Beelzebub
if you like," testily responded the chaplain, and Citizen the boy was accordingly
baptized; and the large signboard of C. Cowdroy, Printer, overlooked the Old
Churchyard long years after Joshua Brookes was laid low in dust and ashes.
462 APPENDIX I.
His odd friendship with old Mrs. Clowes is matter of fact. Similar scenes to those I
have described took place at funerals and weddings when he officiated; and his last
contest with the Grammar School boys may be found in Har^and's " Collectanea,"
CHAPS. IV. and V. — The little girl who made her way into the presence ot
Prince William, sat on his knee and amused him and his suite with details of
toilettes in progress at home, to be rewarded with a plain shilling, the required
information, and a bow as the cortlge passed down Oldham Street, was Amelia
Daniel, in after years my own mother. The incident of the falling platform on
Sale Moor is noted in history.
CHAP. VII. — Mrs. Clowes was as eccentric in her way as Parson Brookes ; but
beyond her dealings with the chaplain and school-boys, her journey to Liverpool,
her Sabbath dinners to the poor, and her attire, her place in this story belongs to
the region of fiction. Her shop passed to a relative, but the date of her death is
unknown to the writer.
CHAPS, XVIII. and XIX.— Peterloo is rapidly passing out of remembrance, and
those who were not themselves eye-witnesses may accuse me of exaggeration. To
such I can only say that I have had my details from actors or spectators. The
house I have assigned to Mr. Chadwick in Oldham Street, was occupied by my
maternal grandfather, John Daniel, and he was the paralysed old gentleman in
charge of his servant Molly, who, but for the timely interposition of a young man
named Tomlinson, one of his own weavers, and Mr. Mabbott, would have been cut
down. His daughters, anxious for his safety, looking out for his return home from
the warehouse, saw from their open window more than I describe ; for one thing—
a woman passed with her breast cut off; the two vaunting officers who reared
their steeds against the house with threats were a cousin and a f.anci\ the man
who was shot down in Ancoats Lane, whilst bidding fit's girls to retire, was, I
believe, my grandfather's tenant. The female sabred on the hustings was a Mrs.
Fildes when I knew her. Her son, Henry Hunt Fildes, was in my father's
employ ; and his nephew is now an artist not altogether unknown to the world.
From Miss Hindley I had nine years ago the story of her father's fall. The
author of the satire on the yeomanry was my paternal grandfather, James Varley,
of Pendleton.
CHAP. XXXIII. — For the purpose of my narrative, I have antedated an occurrence
in the Theatre Royal. I was myself the little miss who cried out in alarm that
Edmund Kean was >; killing Mrs. McGibbon," but it was a few years later. Mrs.
Broadbent's school occupied the next box to our party on that occasion. I need
scarcely add that I have drawn that lady, her schoolroom, &c., from information and
observation. The broken collar-bone is not an invention.
CHAPS. XXIX. and XXX. — The skating incident on Ardwick Green Pond was an
episode in the early life of the same John Daniel before-named. Blindness followed
his long immersion, and when all remedies known in the last century failed, he
regained his sight by swimming across the Mersey, as related. I owe it to his
memory to say that he must not otherwise be confounded with the man whom I
have called Laurence Aspinall.
APPENDIX I. 463
CHAP. XXXII. — The Act for widening Market Street was obtained in 1821 ; but
I find that the ancient houses did not begin to l! crumble into dust " until the
following year.
CHAP. XXXVIII. — " I'll please my eye if I plague my heart," with its
answer and consequences, formed the original base of this story ; the wilful girl and
her handsome savage of a husband being in all respects but their names' realities
They were both in their graves before the period I assign to their union. The
old Hall which witnessed so many outrages and such sad catastrophes may be
found in the map of Hardwick's History of Preston under its true name.
CHAP. XLVI. — For much information respecting the fatal launch of the Emma, I
am indebted to the courtesy of the Secretary of the Bridgewater Navigation Com-
pany, and also to Mrs. Abel Heywood, who has just presented to Manchester a statue
of Oliver Cromwell, in the name ot her former husband, Mr. Goadsby, who had
been Mayor of the city. Mrs. Heywood was originally the Miss Grimes who
christened the luckless flat.
I cannot close this Appendix without acknowledging much kind assistance from
literary and antiquarian friends in my researches. Of these the late John Harland,
Esq , antiquary and historian; the late Thomas Jones, Esq., librarian of Chetham
Hospital; and the Rev. J. Finch Smith, M.A., R.D., must be placed foremost.
ISABELLA BANKS.
London, January, 1876.
APPENDIX No. II.
SINCE the publication of the last edition of "The Manchester Man," the following
letter has appeared in the Sheffield Daily Telegraph, April 5th, 1879. It is
here reproduced in the hope that for some of my readers it may have interest,
since it adds a new feature to my portrait of Madame Broadbent : —
To the Editor of the "Sheffield Daily Telegraph."
"Sir,— In your advertisement of the new tale by Mrs. Linnseus Banks, about to
appear in the pages of your journal, you quote some critiques on ' The Manchester
Man,' by the same author. One of the characters is true to the very life. Hers
was the first school I ever attended, and I have a vivid recollection of the venerable,
stately, little dame— a rigid martinet, exacting the utmost deference from all who
approached her, and invariably addressed as ' Madam ' Broadbent. I have often
since recalled my feelings of delight when for the first time I went with her and
my schoolfellows in great state to the theatre, as described in her novel. She
educated the daughters of most of the leading Manchester merchants of that day, the
wife of a recent Mayor being one of them.
" Madame Broadbent did not profess the innumerable subjects now required, but
all that was attempted was well taught. She inculcated habits of the strictest
order, neatness, and regularity. The needlework was very beautiful, and would excite
astonishment in these sewing machine days. The punishment for talking was very
ludicrous. The delinquent was required to sit with her face to the wall — a hideous
contrivance of red cloth called the ' red tocgue ' hanging down her back ; it was
considered a great disgrace. She succeeded in teaching a deaf and dumb girl to
speak — a feat of which she was justly proud.
" If you think the above remarks on a character well known in Manchester during
the early part of the present century are of interest, they are at your service.
"C. B.
"Rotherham, March 30th, 1879."
I regret that at the time this letter- of so much interest to me— appeared, I was
too ill to communicate with the writer through the medium of the newspaper, and
so the opportunity for thanks or correspondence was lost.
It is also possible that some of those who have followed the Rev. Joshua Brookes
through this narrative may be amused by the following category of the books in his
library, as advertised for sale after his decease, it not only affordine; some insight
APPENDIX II, 465
into the inner self of the man, but being characteristic of the advertising of the
period : —
"Library of the late Rev. Joshua Brookes, consisting of nearly six thousand volumes.
"To be Sold by Auction, by Mr. Thomas Dcdd, at his auction repertory, No, 28, King-
street, Manchester, on Monday, May 1 3th, 1822, and nine following days, Saturday
and Sunday except eel. To commence precisely at half- past ten in the forenoon, and
at three in the afternoon of each day.
" The interesting Collection of Books is replete in the most valuable works in
Divinity and Ecclesiastical History, Classics, Lives, Memoirs, History and Important
Events, Voyages, Travels, Tours, Poetry, Education, Bibliography, Magazines, Reviews,
Tracts, and a profusion of Miscellaneous Facetia of the most enlivening and entertaining
description, abounding in Prophetic Admonitions, Solid Remarks, Comfortable Treatises,
Learned Compendiums, Solid Discourses, Pious Devotions, Moral Emblems, Profound
Researches. Happy Thoughts, Gospel Treasures. Choice Gleanings, Unerring Guides,
Divine Parables, Pleasant Reflections, Poetical Blossoms, Flowers of Literature,
Wonderful Predictions, Notable Discoveries, Desirable Acquisitions, Remarkable Adven-
tures, Profitable Pursuits, Diverting Anecdotes, Lively Sallies, Singular Occurrences,
Chronological Details, Curious Paradoxes, Astonishing Conjurations, Strange Bubbles,
Elegant Epistles, Select Letters, Acute Criticisms, Charming Themes, Delightful Novels,
Old Romances, Comical Works, Droll Transactions, Exquisite Epigrams, Smart
Repartees, Fairy Tales, Facetious Puns, Humourous Stories, Merry Lucubrations, Love
Stratagems, Ingenious Enigmas, Revealed Mysteries, Useful Hints, Magical Tricks,
Whimsical Customs, Odd Freaks, Queer Jokes, Flim Flams, Entertaining Recreations,
Experimental Philosophy, Classical Odes, Delphic Oracles, Eloquent Orations, Keen
Satires, Striking Incidents, Happy Intelligence, Tea Table Chat ; and, lastly. Wine
and Oil for Drooping Souls.
" The Books may be viewed on Thursday, May 9th, and previous to the Days of
Sale, when Catalogues may be had at one shilling each."
It is only honest to add that I am indebted to a correspondent of the Manchester
City News "Notes and Queries" for the above.
I. B.
London, April, 1881.
FINAL APPENDIX (HISTORICAL.)
The lapse of years since this novel was penned, the sweeping demolition of the
town it describes, and the birth of generations who cannot recall it, not only furnish
reasons for the issue of this pictorial edition, but for the author to add somewhat to
her former communications with her readers, before she, too, is swept away, and further
annotation from her pen is impossible.
THE RIVER IRK AND HUNT'S BANK BRIDGE— CHAPTERS I. AND XIII. — I have said
that only an antiquary or a very old inhabitant "could recall Manchester as it was
at the close of the last century ; " and time has since removed most of the old people
who, leaning over the stout wooden railing along the embanked river-side, had stood to
watch the Irk chafe its swift waters against the rocky base of Grammar School and
College, or rush along in flood under the arch of Hunt's Bank Bridge to "join the
brimming" Irwell ; for this must have been before the Lancashire and Yorkshire
Railway shut it out of sight and memory. And I question if any but myself can
remember to have seen the ancient cannon-ball imbedded in the rock below the College,
for that may also have been covered up and buried. It is more than sixty years since
my brother pointed it out to me as a memorial of the siege. The maps introduced into
the volume will show at least where the river ran, and where Simon had his garden-
plot on Walker's Croft above the embankment, along with others.
CHAP. III.— THE SEVEN STARS INN is still in existence. It is said to be the most
ancient inn in Lancashire. At all events, it has been a licensed house since the reign
of Edward III., the first licence having been granted A D. 1356. Being a county licence,
the record was preserved in the Record Office, Lancaster Castle, but along with other
documents relating to the Duchy of Lancaster has since been removed to London.
There is a tradition that the workmen engaged in building the Parish Church,
afterwards the Collegiate Church, and now the Cathedral, were paid a penny a day
(or a peck of meal), and got their dinners at the " Seven Stars Inn." Sixty or more
years ago it was a noted resort for country carriers, " Seven Stars Yard," in the rear
(through which there was a convenient thoroughfare) never being without its complement
of their covered carts and waggons from outlying or distant places. The ' Boar's
Head" at Hyde's Cross was another rendezvous of the kind, chiefly affected by the
Cheshire carriers, who brought occasional passengers as well as baskets, boxes, and
parcels, and never asked inconvenient questions in the interest of the Post Office.
FINAL APPENDIX. 467
CHAPS. IV.— V. — THE SUN INN. — I am not aware of any ancient record of this
inn, either as a licensed house or a private abode. It was brought into prominence
when Mr. William Earnshaw, a native of Colne, one of my father's old friends, and
the father of one of my pupils, migrated from Cheetham to become the landlord,
drew round him the literary men of the town, and inscribed the legend on the front,
"Poets' Corner." This was in the early forties, when John Critchley Prince was in
the ascendant, and lived over the way. A glimpse of the inn may be seen through
the College Gateway initial, and again, in the larger view ot the Old Grammar
School, comes a shoulder of antiquarian interest where a narrow strip of window
marks the sometime " Poets' Fratorium."
The leather-breeches maker next door, whose name I have forgotten, was one of
the old inhabitants when I was young. A railed area, and a descent into one of
the cellar dwellings common at the time, necessitated an ascent of three or four steps
to what was evidently the shop and workshop both. When buckskin-breeches were in
vogue he had done a flourishing trade there, but in my time it was only kept alive
by a few old customers, and those chiefly for making and cleaning buckskin gloves
and braces.
CHAP. V.— THE BRIDGEWATER HOTEL.— This hotel must have disappeared in
the general onslaught on Market Street Lane, but I believe that the curious may
still discover remains of the old stabling of Bridgewater Yard in a little back street
leading out of High Street.
CHAP. V. — COLONEL HANSON was extremely popular with the working people,
who dubbed him " the weavers' friend." His politics landed him in prison. On
his release a gold cup, purchased by the united pence of 32,000 weavers, was
presented to him at his residence, Strangeways Hall. His tenancy followed that of
John Varley, my father's uncle, to one ol whose daughters he was engaged. For
some private reason the match was abruptly broken off; whether on account of a
duel he fought or for prudential reasons was not known.
CHAPS. VI. AND XXL— MANCHESTER INFIRMARY.— This valuable institution has
undergone many changes since it was originally founded by Mr. Joseph Bancroft and
Mr. Charles White, the eminent and eccentric surgeon of King Street. At that time
an ordinary dwelling-house in Garden Street, Salford, was obliged to suffice for the
sick poor. It was but the experiment of two Samaritans. But so forcibly did it
justify its existence in its utter inadequacy to meet the pressing claims upon it, that
outer benevolence was stimulated : friends rallied round the first promoters, donations
were ready, and Sir Oswald Mosley, Lord of the Manor, executed a conveyance of
the waste land around, and including, the old Daub Hole, as a site for a more
commodious building. Of this new Infirmary Mr. Miles Brown laid the first stone,
and it was opened for patients in 1755, at a cost of ^4,000, Mr. James Massey
being the first President. The Daub Hole (clay pit) where the ancient ducking-stool
had served to cool the hot blood of cantankerous scolds, became a long pond railed
in along with a still wider area devoted to shrubs and healing herbs. Ten years
later a Lunatic Asylum rose in line with the Infirmary, though structurally apart.
Such they remained for many years, the broad gravelled walk in front, with wide
468 FINAL APPENDIX.
stretches of emerald grass on either hand, becoming the recognised promenade for
Manchester merchants' and tradesmen's families after Divine service on Sunday
mornings, albeit it was not called "Church Parade." I may here mention that in
1766 simultaneous sermons— inaugurated by Warden Peploe— were preached in all the
Manchester churches in aid of this great institution, realising about ^164, thus creating
a precedent for "Hospital Sunday" a century in advance of the modern movement.
It was not until 1781 that Public Baths were erected within the Infirmary area, close
to the expansive triple gates, confronting the gardens, and turning a high blank wall
to that end of George Street.
Such was the Infirmary as it was connected with my narrative, and as it existed in
1820, and as Mr. Fitton has depicted. I personally remember the lighting up of the
clock with gas in 1825, and various later alterations in the building, such as the
filling in of the gap between the Asylum aud the Infirmary proper. Then the
fronting of the whole with stone, when a noble pillared portico was added to the
fa9ade, having an imposing ascent of several steps to the vestibule door. Within
this vestibule was kept an old sedan chair which I recollect once seeing in use, and
only once.
And such, too, was the Infirmary through successive decades, until the sluggish
pond— which in 1851 welcomed the visit of Queen Victoria with the spray from
three upspringing fountains — was voted a nuisance, was dried up, as had been the
chalybeate springs of the superseded baths, and its site was converted into a flagged
esplanade, adorned with statues, and supplied with seats for the wear}'. But it is
no longer the Infirmary of my childhood, or of my story, and no wilful Augusta
could within its area find the convenient shrubbery in which to keep clandestine
appointments with any " darling Laurence." And now this is to be re-built.
CHAPS. VIII. to XII. — CHETHAM'S HOSPITAL OR COLLEGE. — The word hospital has
for many years been associated with institutions for the reception and treatment of
the sick or disabled. But when the benevolent merchant, Humphrey Chetham, made
his will, and suggested the purchase of this stronghold on the Irk — the site of the
Roman Proetorium — as a home for poor and parentless boys, the word retained its
monastic meaning of a guest-house, or hospitium, for the shelter and entertainment of
way-worn or belated travellers, irrespective of rank or condition, hence its legal
application to this foundation. Yet, for two previous centuiies the building had been
a College attached to Christ's Church, the pious priest-lord, Thomas de la Warr,
having surrendered his baronial hall for the reception of the Warden and Fellows
when he obtained Royal permission to collegiate the church, then newly-built of stone
to replace an earlier structure of wood. The name of " College " stuck to the building,
and very properly so, considering its two-fold dedication to learned and pious uses,
whether as a home and school for the training of deserving boys, or as the repository
of Chetham's unique library of rare and priceless books, open and free to the students
of the world.
It was thus the boys on Humphrey Chetham's foundation became, known as "College
Boys." And long may they be so designated, albeit "Owens College" at the Chorlton
end of the town now claims to be the Manchester College per se, having University rank.
FINAL APPENDIX. 469
Since the bygone days when Dr. Stone was librarian, and the present writer admitted
Jabez Clegg to the privileges of the " College," many changes and alterations have
taken place in and around the citadel on the rock. These call for notice in this
historical appendix, not only for the preservation of memorials swept away within the
past half-century, but for the behoof of readers of the present generation.
The first marked innovation began in 1844-5 with the Manchester and Leeds
Railway Company (now the Lancashire and Yorkshire) when the directors, who had
already made havoc of Walker's Croft, and the Cholera Burial-ground, lacking space
for the extension of offices, arched over the Irk from Hunt's Bank all along beneath
the College, which they would fain have absorbed likewise, had it been possible.
Prior to that intrusion, the College had possessed several outlets to the river, at one
time well stocked with fish. There were the Dairy-steps (initial I), the steps to
the old Pump-court (initial J), others to the Boat-house, and a long flight which
must still be visible clinging to the outer wall, and only terminating at the upper
level of what is now known as the Governor's Garden. This I am informed by the
present courteous Governor, Mr. Walter T. Browne, was formerly called the Scurvy
Garden. He says : " The reason it obtained this name is because in the early days
of the school, the boys afflicted with zymotic diseases were confined here apart like
the lepers of old. They also slept apart in the three small cells adjoining, now used
for other purposes." All these steps rose from a narrow platform of rock slightly
raised above the river at low water, and more or less covered in stormy or showery
weather.
It is just thirty years ago — 1866 — since I visited the College for the purposes of
this story, and, after a brief chat with my old friend, Mr. James Crossley, the
bibliographer, and Mr. Thomas Jones, the librarian, Mr. Richard Hanby, the gentle
and genial house-governor, conducted me over the building, from cellerage to dormitory.
I then discovered that "change," under the name of " Progress." had begun its work
internally. To provide more room tor the library, the old museum had been displaced,
and the bulk (or the " rubbish," according to Mr. John Plant, curator) transferred to
the Peel Park Museum, where its significance was lost. The dingy curios, there of
no account, were part of the antiquity of the College, telling of a time before steam
brought the ends of the world into contact, when an alligator or a porpoise was a
curiosity to be prized and exhibited, and science had not made the human skeleton
familiar to the young. To me it seemed as if a leaf had been violently rent from
the archives of the Hospital and of my memory. How often had I in my childhood
followed, with open ears and eyes alert, some Blue-coat cicerone as he ran over, like
a parrot's roll, the list of curios ranged on shelves protected by a network of brass-
wire, or mounted high on walls or over doorways, when I had wished he would not
gabble on so fast, but leave time for closer inspection. There was generally another
guide with a separate party close on his heels, and no doubt this frequent iteration
would be annoying to studious readers who had only the holiday time for research,
for one of these committed his irritation to print, and so preserved an inventory of
an earlier date than that of Mr. John Rylance (himself an "old boy") or that the
Rev. John Henn has included in his :; Memoir of Richard Hanby;' In producing
470 FINAL APPENDIX.
this catalogue, for which I am indebted to another " old boy," Mr. John Lea, of
Sale, I am omitting a splenetic prelude little to the purpose, and beg leave to say
it is otherwise precisely given as I have heard, and can recall,
"TIM BOBBIN'S
' Choice Oratorical Catalogue ' of the rare and valuable Curiosities in the
College Library, Manchester.
Printed by J. PRATT, Bridge Street, 1827."
[Enter BOY and BOOBIES.]
BOY. — " That's th' Skeleton of a Man— that's a Globe— that's a Telescope— that's a
a Snake — over the snake's back's two Watch-Bills— those are four ancient swords —
that with a white haft once belonged to General Wolfe— that's the Whip that the
Snake was kilt with — that topmost's a Crocodile— that bottomost's an Alligator — that
boot once belonged to Queen Elizabeth — that's an Indian Pouch— that's an ancient
Stiletto— that's part of Humphrey Chetham's Armour - that with the white face is a
Monkey — side o1 th' monkey's a Green Lizard — side o' th' lizard's a Porpus's Skull —
under th' porpus's skull's an Alligator — under the alligator's a Turtle - those Bows and
Arrows belonged to the Indians — that's a Porpus's Head — those are various kinds of
Adders, Worms, Snakes, Fishes, and venomous Creatures— those are a pair of Eagle's
Claws — that Arrow belonged to one o' th' legions that fought under the Duke of
Richmond, at the Battle of Bosworth Field, in the year 1485, when King Richard
the 3rd, King of England, was slain — those Arrows once belonged to Robin Hood —
that's a Sea Hen— that's a Sea Weed— that's a Unicorn Fish— that's part of an
Indian's Skull — that's th' top part of it — that's part of Oliver Cromwell's Stone
Tankard— those Balls are took out of a Cow — that's part of a Loadstone— those two
Pieces of Wood was Almanacks before printing was found out— that's a Hairy Man —
under the hairy man's a Speaking Trumpet— side o' th' speaking trumpet's Oliver
Cromwell's Sword— that's a Leathern Bag — side o' th' leather bag's two Cokey Nut
Shells— side o' th' porpus's skull's a pumkin — side o' th' pumkin's an American Cat —
over th' pumkin's a Turtle — side o' th' turtle's a Sea Weed — that top one's a Crocodile —
under the crocodile's an Alligator— under the alligator's a Woman's Clog that was split
by a thunderbolt, and hoo wasn't hurt — side o' th' crocodile's tail's a Sea Hen — side
o' th' sea hen's a Laplander's Snow Shoe— that in a box is the Skeleton of a
Nightingale — that Table has as many pieces in it as th' days in the year — this Clock
only strikes once a year — that's the Cock that crows when it smells roast beef— and
that's the way out!"
I may add, as does the spurious Tim Bobbin, that the boy, who never asked, but waited,
here expected a trifle for his services, and well deserved it. No pictures then dis-
puted precedence with that of the Founder above the fireplace, at least on that side of the
room That of Humphrey Chetham's brother above the doorway, and those of
Bradford, the Martyr, and Hugh Oklham by its side, were unseen by the "boobies"
who stood with awe upon the threshold, and they had no place in the vocal category.
Consequently the pictures included in the catalogues of Mr. Rylance and Mr. Henn,
REFECTORY, CHETHAM HOSPITAL.
FINAL APPENDIX. 471
along with other articles they include, belong to a period beyond the range of ' ' The
Manchester Man."
Yet in justice to myself and those who may expect to find the College exactly
as I pourtrayed it, I must add that between my explorations under the guidance of
Mr. Hanby and my last visit, when a Mr. Tinkler did the honours, years had
slipped by, and many had been the changes, even structurally. My new guide
omitted to say that the improvements he vaunted had been made, when in 1882-4
Oliver Heywood Esq., one of the Feoffees, had munificently furnished funds for the
repair of the entire building, but he exultingly pointed to the discovery of a large
recess and a fine raftered ceiling in the refectory, previously concealed under lath
and plaster. I was shown how the removal of the ancient and effete museum had made
the library more commodious, how fresh portraits had been admitted to the com-
panionship of the Founder in the renovated reading-room, and where a secret door
had been discovered in the oak-panelling by a boy, a door leading by a private
staircase to the Minstrel's gallery and to the cloisters.
I admitted the undoubted improvements, but I felt as if old memories had been
disturbed. The cellarage I did not ask to see. The changes there have only
recently been revealed to me. But when Mr. Tinkler led me forth into the play-
ground to inspect a brand new schoolroom, and I beheld a troop of boys in common
suits of corduroy, the shock overpowered me, I waxed indignant, and if I did not
say all I thought of the change, I certainly asked how the boys came to be clad
otherwise than in the reputable long blue-coat prescribed by Humphrey Chetham's
will, the mercantile style of his period? Some shuffling apology of insufficient
iunds was made, but I left the old building full of ire at the paltry disregard of
the Founder's will, and his motto. " Quad tuum tene."
I have, however, lately been much gratified by hearing from Mr. W. T. Browne
that measures were on foot for the restoration of the time-honoured uniform, and
that probably before these lines are in print the College yard may be again
traversed by Blue-coat boys, as proud of their attire as are those of Christ Church
School, London. And respecting the costume, let me say that in this edition I
have given the boys yellow stockings at the instance of an individual much my
elder, and I believe an " Old Boy." Those of the Christ Church boys are yellow.
But Baines, in his •' History and Gazetteer," date 1825, describes Chetham's as blue. And
dark blue they were as I remembered and described them originally, probably the
result of an innovation prior to the historian's date.
CHAP. XXIX.— ARDWICK GREEN POND.— Like the Infirmary pond, this has ceased
to be a memory to any but persons of middle age, it has been so long filled up, the
Green being now an acknowledged public recreation ground. It was always so more
or less, within my recollection and many years before that. The pond, shaped something
like the London " Serpentine," was surrounded by a broad border of grassy turf, here
and there planted with trees and bushes. With the exception of a small paved space
at the upper end, in form like a horse-shoe, bounded by a stone coping, and which
was set apart for the watering of horses and cat^e, the whole Green was surrounded
by stout wooden posts, connected by thick bars of wrought iron, the entire enclosure
472 FINAL APPENDIX.
being traditionally reputed to measure a mile round. School boys and girls, who had
holidays, made it a recreation ground (there were no holidays then for the children of
the poor), and the horizontal bars from frequent use by amateur gymnasts became warped
and distorted. The bars gave place to chains, which served quite as well to swing upon.
At Whitsuntide and other grand processional celebrations, the Sunday-school children
were ranged within this enclosure to sing hymns and the National Anthem ; and the
girls being mostly dressed in white, with white caps and tippets, it was a very pretty
and interesting sight. In winter, when frost bound the lakelet, it was taken possession
of by boys and men as an established skating ground, and nobody said them nay. So
that it was a recognised recreation ground before the Green was formally made over
to the Corporation, and robbed of its chief attraction. The pond could scarcely have
been stagnant, if it was true a brooklet ran through its length and kept it fresh.
In the old maps it is styled a " Canal." Certainly soot might accumulate on its
surface in these later days ; but sixty years ago the young angler might find more
than jack-sharps there, for horse-mussels were abundant. And at least one old
Lancashire conchologist added to his collection from its depths, since specimens of
Planorbis, Spherium and Limnsea, collected by the hand now dead, have been added
to my collection by a kind Manchester scientific friend as historical relics of a pond
which has also ceased to exist. The pond was not altogether without its tragedy,
for when I was about nine years old a fine young woman, named Eliza ,
summarily dismissed from her situation close by, drowned herself by bending over the
coping at the watering-place. She had formerly been my baby-sister's nurse.
CHAPS. V., VI., XII., £c.— OLDHAM STREET. — This thoroughfare, so closely con-
nected with the incidents of this story, and the history of the town, had no
existence until 1772, when the highway through Newton to Oldham was selected by
members of the Newton family and others, for the erection of good Georgian houses
of red brick suited to the requirements of merchants and private gentlemen. They
were houses of which Gower Street, London, may stand as a type, having similar
pillared doorways and fanlights, similar steps of broad flags, and, in most cases, areas
railed in to protect the steps descending to the basement kitchens. Such they were
when the main events recorded in these pages passed into history. In a very few
years shops began to invade the residential street ; then the areas and the basements
became tenanted by working craftsmen, who made there the goods they had for sah,
and executed repairs, in some cases living there entirely ; otherwise they served as
workshops or storehouses for the ground-floor tradesmen whose goods demanded
space. At the corner of Dale Street was a many-pinnacled Wesleyan Chapel,
celebrated for its connection with John Wesley, who had preached therein, notably
at its opening. Now, the chapel has gone the way of private abodes, projecting
steps and areas, and from end to end the busy thoroughfare has been given up
to enterprising shopkeepers, who have remodelled and extended frontages so that
the Oldham Street in which the "Manchester Man" is published is not to be recog-
nised as that in which the writer was born in 1821.
CHAPS. VI. AND XX.— NEW CROSS. — This Cross, which may be found marked on
the map for 1807. at the junction of the four wide thoroughfares - Oldham Street,
FINAL APPENDIX. 473
Ancoats Lane, Newton Lane (now Oldham Road), and Swan Street (then New Cross
Street)— was the centre round which clustered an open-air market and shambles in
the early years of this century. It was known as " New Cross Market," and long
years after the wholesale fruit and vegetable markets had been removed for
centralisation to the wide area of Smithfield and Shudehill, and the butchers removed
to newly-built shambles lying between Swan Street and Smithfield, where dealers in
pottery, tinware, baskets, toys, and cast-off clothes, had been drawn as into a focus,
the name remained, though the Cross had been taken down in 1821, and New Cross
Market it continued to be called for years afterwards, to my knowledge, whatever it
might be officially. Even the stall-keepers were loth to quit their old ground, and
edged into Swan Street, until the shopkeepers rose against their intrusion as a
nuisance, and they were peremptorily " moved on," What became of the Cross, or
what was its architectural appearance, I could never ascertain, though I asked many
questions about it when I was young and its removal recent ; and unless it was
in a ruinous condition I think it might have been allowed to remain, since it marked
a place of sepulture, for there, twenty years later, were unearthed the skeletons of
suicides a cruel law had denied more sacred ground. However, if Laurent's plan
may be trusted, it was more a monument than a cross, and consisted of an elongated
tone or spire, on a square, fluted pedestal, having a low step cr two round the base,
and a light fane surmounting the spire. It has, anyway, left its name on the locality.
CHAPS. I AND XIII.— THE IRK AND ITS BRIDGES.— Of these, the one at Hunt's
Bank, where the Irk debouches into the Irwell (though under cover) must be the most
ancient, since here by the Prcetorium was the Roman Road to Ribchester, and a
biidge becomes a foregone conclusion, though it might not be the precise one
Mr. Fitton has depicted as coeval with College and old Houses of Correction, and which
we find marked on maps as Irk Bridge or Hunts Bank Bridge indiscriminately.
Farther up the river, beyond the Grammar School and a short row of dwelling-houses,
the steep descent of a narrow alley under the frowning walls of the Town Mill,
landed your footsteps on a strong wooden erection, having an earthen floor, and known
as Mill Brow Bridge. It was the common footway from Millgate to Walker's Croft,
and overlooked the first mill-dam on the Irk. Still higher up the stream, and closed
in by the Millgate line of houses, was the very ancient pile denominated Tanners'
Bridge, which had been swept away long ere the houses opposite to Millers' Lane
were demolished to make way in 1814 for the wide arch of Ducie Bridge, and the
new highway through Cheetham to the North. Prior to this the only route had been
through narrow Long Millgate to an abrupt turn and steep descent just by Pinmill
Brow to Scotland Bridge (the last of the Irk bridges within our scope), and thence
up the twice-lowered acclivity of Red Bank, toilsome to the pedestrian, and for
vehicular traffic intolerable. Travellers to Scotland no longer use the bridge or the
road cut through the red sandy hill, and the obvious nomenclature of the bridge itself
has become a puzzle for the curious.
CHAP. XVI.— SIMON'S GARDEN PLOT. — A glance at the map for 1807 will show
where a number of such plots were grouped together. It was then quite a practice
for a tradesman confined all the week to shop or warehouse to have a garden plot and
474 .b'lXAL APPENDIX.
summer-house outside the town where he and his family might take their ease on
Sunday afternoons in summer time. It must be remembered that business hours were
long ; there were no weekly half-holidays for employers or employed, whilst suburban
residences were few and far between, and tenanted by the well-to-do. No wonder
then that tradespeople and artizans betook themselves to the green fields on Sunday
afternoons, or that tea-gardens came into existence, while humbler caterers cultivated
garden plots, as did Simon Clegg, and purveyed posies and summer fruits.
CHAPS. XVIII. AND XLVI.— THE NEW BAILEY.— Until 1790 the only gaol in
Manchester was the House or Correction on Hunt's Bank, under the very shadow ot
the College. But this, notwithstanding re-building, became so utterly inadequate for
the growing needs of the town (partly owing to the blood-money system for the
manufacture of criminals), that after an Act oi Parliament had been obtained, the
New Bailey Prison was erected on the Salford side of the Irwell, with its frontage
to the river. Its appearance on completion may be seen in the initial to Chapter
XLVI. But though it was opened in 1790 for the admission of prisoners, many years
elapsed before its completion. Its nucleus was a central building constructed on
John Howard's plan, and shaped so as to permit a warder at the centre to have
the whole four wards or alleys within his view, a system of signalling by
tablet allowing the prisoners to communicate with the gaoler. It was three storeys
high, but manifestly too small for the requirements of Manchester and Salford in those
unsettled times, although offenders beyond magisterial jurisdiction were carted off to
Lancaster for trial. However, a wider area had to be walled in, and gradually other
accommodation provided under the shadow of the newly- extended southern wall. And
in time, even before the passing of the Prisons Act in 1823, workshops were set up
along the south-eastern wall, where the prisoners were usefully employed in batting,
tailoring (for prison wear), shoe, mat, rug, or basket making, instead of herding
together like cattle, as had been the case in too many common gaols. And I have
little doubt the horrors and abuses in Ilchester Gaol, brought to light by Henry Hunt's
demand for a Commission to inquire into its condition during his incarceration there as
a political offender, had no little influence in the amendment of the law. At all
events, the treadmill— invented in 1817— was not set up in the New Bailey Prison
until 1824, and the first person sent to it was a woman-servant who had robbed my
parents very extensively. This treadmill ground dyewoods for manufacturers, and was
therefore made to pay its expenses. I saw it in use when, with this novel in
contemplation, and armed with a sufficient order, I was shown over the prison,
which I had previously contemplated only from its exterior. But as the whole
edifice has long been razed to the ground, a few words anent that exterior may not
be out ot place. I need not tell middle-aged people that its frontage and entrance
were in Satnley Street, high up above the Irwell, which it frowned down upon.
Strong iron gates gave access to a space a few yards wide, bounded by as strong an
iron gate or grating. (It was within this narrow space the bodies recovered after the
wreck of the Emma were laid out for identification.) As at Newgate (the Old Bailey),
the symbolic fetters or leg-irons were suspended above the entrance, and conveyed no
idle threat when the century was in its teens. The Governor's house, slightly recessed
FINAL APPENDIX. 475
beyond this entrance, was situated above the ground floor and magisterial offices, and
was approached by a double flight of steps with a very needful handrail. It may,
perhaps, be remembered that the square outer walls of the prison were exceedingly
high and massive, with bastions at the four corners, pierced with loop-holes for
musketry, as were the upper walls.
It was not thus originally. Twice within my own recollection had those walls been
raised and strengthened. In the first instance, above the original wall of rustic masonry,
surmounted by a chevaux-de-frise, rose a course of brick-work to a higher level, to which
the revolving chevaux-de-frise was transferred as an additional security. Rioting and tumult
had apparently rendered the precaution necessary. Later riots, turn-outs, incendiary
fires, and other acts of violence still more menacing, caused the authorities again to
increase the elevation of the walls with brick-work, adding the loop holes and bastions
to awe the threatening multitude. I was not of an age to specialize these separate
riots, having unfortunately known so many, but I could not pass the New Bailey to
visit my Grandfather Varley without observing these changes, and inquiring the reason.
MOSLEY STREET. — There were no warehouses in this street during the period covered
by this narrative. If other manufacturers there were, they had their business premises
in the rear, with entrances in the narrow back streets, as had my Ashton prototype.
It was essentially a residential quarter for private families and physicians of repute,
It was, moreover, studded with public buildings. The Royal Hotel occupied the
corner at the Piccadilly end, with an outlook across the Infirmary pond. A few
yards beyond rose an unobtrusive Unitarian Chapel, having a very small burial-ground
wedged in between the chapel and other premises. I remember the outcry made
against the desecration of this cramped-up place of sepulture, when the site of the
chapel was required for a warehouse ; an outcry which only subsided when the
purchasers agreed to arch over the place of the dead, and build above the arched
foundation. Higher up, cornering Charlotte Street, the plain — not to say ugly —
Assembly Rooms gave to Mosley Street something of an aristocratic status, confronted
as it was with the pillared fa$ade of the Portico. A large and well-attended
Independent Chapel occupied the third corner of Charlotte Street, beyond the Assembly
Rooms. Higher up still, abutting on Princess Street, was an exclusive "Academy
for young gentlemen," and close beyond that, like two prim and antiquated spinsters
retiring from the obtrusive crush of modern society, two quaint and neat two-storey
houses stood back as it were in a recess, railed in behind a flagged forecourt, as
clean as the windows and bright brass knockers. But the second decade of the
century had worn itself out before St. Peter's solitary Church (guiltless of dome, or
spire, or steeple) looked down an unbroken vista of brick and stone. It stood "a
thing apart" for many years after the fugitives from Peterloo rushed past, pursued by
horsemen with flashing sabres. Yet the church had been completed, and commerce
had taken full possession of Mosley Street long ere a line of the " Manchester Man "
was penned, and tram-cars have now usurped the place where private carriages rolled
in state on great occasions.
CHAP. XIX. AND XX.— PETEULOO.— By one of Time's strange ironies the Free Trade
Hall now occupies a portion of the extensive plot of waste ground known in 1819 as
476 FINAL APPENDIX.
St. Peter's Fields, from its proximity to St. Peter's Church, and which in that year
obtained unenviable notoriety as Peterloo Fields. At that date Waterloo was so
recent an event that the mental association of the two names was a natural sequence
when the atrocious attack of armed cavalry on a defenceless multitude of men, women, and
children converted the ground into another Aceldama. By whomsoever originated the
woful catastrophe was by common consent spoken of as the "Peterloo Massacre," the
" Battle of Peterloo," and the designations passing from fathers to sons have so come
down to us.
An objection has been raised to my introduction of artillery, as untrue to history.
I described what my near relations saw and knew. Further, it is stated by Edward
Baines, who, I believe, was one of the reporters present — "The military, consisting
of the Manchester and Cheshire Yeomanry Cavalry, the I$th Hussars, a detachment
of the 83th Regiment of Foot, and some pieces of royal artillery, were all in
readiness, but they were not then seen by the persons forming the meeting." And
again, "The panic-struck reformers, with all the banners and emblems, fled in all
directions, while some of those at a distance threw stones and brick-bats at the
Yeomanry, who galloped over the field in triumph, chasing the fugitives. The Cheshire
Yeomanry, and the I5th Hussars, who had now reached the ground, followed by two
pieces of flying artillery ', assisted to clear the field," &c. Wheeler, in his "History
of Manchester," also says, "Thanks were sent 'officially' to persons who had rendered
active service in maintaining order, which comprised the Manchester and Cheshire
Yeomanry, the I51h Hussars, detachments of the 88th and the 3ist Foot, with pieces
of artillery" &c. The statement of Mr. Archibald Prentice was — "Near to the field,
ready the moment their services were required, were six troops of the I5th Hussars,
a troop of horse aitillery with two guns" &c.
This combined testimony, I think, dispels all doubt of my accuracy. And these
historians testify something more, namely, that the onslaught was made before the
Riot Act was read, and that solely to enable Nadin to execute his warrant for the
arrest of the speakers, his force of 200 constables being (according to his representations)
insufficient to support him. The Magistrate who read the Riot Act was, I believe,
Parson Wray, as he was called in my time.
The memory of this inhuman outrage was not soon permitted to die out of the
Manchester mind ; for so surely as Peterloo Day came round, it was commemorated
by a long procession of working-men, headed by an immense banner on which the
scene of the massacre was represented with startling effect, if not with consummate
art. Year after year I beheld the long procession and its ponderous banner until
I had outgrown my childhood and any likelihood of forgetfulness. But when these
annual processions were abandoned, or what became of the scenic banner, I have no
means of ascertaining. For a long while I have been under the impression that Mr.
Henry Whaite, of Bridge Street (who went over to the majority six-and-twenty years
back), was the painter, as well as the producer of the banner. And I fear, in my
endeavours to assure myself of the fact and establish the identity of the Peterloo
picture (there being a second in existence), that I have been troublesome
to his descendants, both of the first and second generation, who have courteously
FINAL APPENDIX. 477
endeavoured to recover " the missing link " for me. Mr. Whaite made the banner,
that I knew, whosoever painted it ; and I have come to the conclusion, taxing my
own memory, that the crude engraving bearing the signature of Jas. Wroe— a Radical
of the Radicals — and disseminated so freely during the "Old Manchester" Exhibition,
is simply a reduction in black and white of the highly-coloured scene upon the
banner ; and is not truly representative.
There is another and much superior picture of Peterloo extant, an engraving of
which was published with the following dedication : —
"TO HENRY HUNT, ESQ.,
as Chairman of the Meeting assembled on St. Peter's Field, Manchester, on the
l6th of August, 1819, and to the Female Reformers of Manchester and the adjacent
Towns, who were exposed to and suffered from the Wanton and Furious Attack
made on them by that brutal armed force, THE MANCHESTER AND CHESHIRE
YEOMANRY CAVALRY,
This plate is dedicated
by their Fellow Labourer,
RICHARD CARLILE."
"(Published Aug. i, /<?— (indistinct) ly Rd. Carlilft 53, Fleet St., London.)"
Of this — which is evidently a faithful representation of the awful scene -I have
been most anxious to preserve a copy here, and only relinquish my proposal with extreme
reluctance on my publisher's assurance that the fine lines of the old photograph
possessed by Mr. Fitton are too faint for reproduction by modern processes.
No artist's signature is distinguishable, yet it is with scarcely a doubt a fac-simik of the
oil-painting by Mr. Thomas Whaite, and formerly in the possession of his nephew,
Mr. Frederick A. Whaite, of Bridge Street, whose pictures were unfortunately dispersed
nearly a dozen years ago, and all clue to its whereabouts lost. Wherever it may be,
it is a picture of historic value, and should belong to the City.
It is no fancy sketch. It has certainly been painted by an eye-witness, who mastered
all the details upon the spot. And the brothers Henry and Thomas Whaite, with a
brother-in-law named Richardson, were all upon the field as adherents of the cause
of Radical reform, and of Henry Hunt as its exponent.
According to Bradley, the artist, Thomas Whaite was the best portrait painter in
Manchester, and that the principal individuals in even the faint photo are portraits any
old inhabitant of the town might testify, as I can. Not only may the clerical magistrate
at the open window on the left be readily identified, but Henry Hunt and his
supporters upon the waggon-platform, with horror depicted in every feature. The whole
scene is realistic ; from the lady sabred in the barouche, to the panic-stricken fugitives
trampling on their fallen fellows, regardless of all but the instinct of self-preservation ;
husbands dragging at their wives ; women clasping their babes ; the wounded lying
unheeded underfoot; the deserted child imploring mercy from the mounted barbarian
about to smite ; the meagre, half-famished man turning in his flight to clench his fist
and curse the slashing cavalry ; it has all the impress of truth. The uniforms are as
real as their reckless wearers: and there can be no mistaking the multitude for anything
478 FINAL APPENDIX.
but Lancashire operatives of all grades, clad after the manner of the period, as fortune
or misfortune had the upper hand.
This is really the picture of Peterloo. And I am truly sorry no reproduction can
be offered to my readers of an historic relic of so much interest. I am equally sorry
that a portrait of Mrs. Broadbent, also by Thomas Whaite. could not be given,
being also lost.
CHAP. XIX. — THE STAR INN.— This inn, which obtained so much notoriety from
its connection with Peterloo, was then the principal coaching-house at the Deansgate
end of the town, and the -'Star Inn" yard was like the " Bridgewater," noted for
its capacity to accommodate horses and vehicles without count. At that time it was
not altogether detached. Across what is now an open street, an arched roof extended
from the side door of the inn to the dingy brick wall of Bridge Street Market (or
shambles), and this, which was called the Arcade, formed the covered way to the
stabling in the rear. The Market, which has disappeared, might be commodious
within, but it was enclosed in as unlovely a wall of brick-work as ever disgraced a
town. Each alley of the square market had a separate entrance about the width of
a respectable doorway, and as if to prevent the intrusion of any four-footed beast
larger than a sheep dog, an iron post was set up under each archway, so that a
buyer of robust proportions would need to rest her basket on the post to obtain an
entrance. But no doubt the market brought country customers to the " Star Inn "
and the inn yard, long before it aspired to rank as the " Star Hotel." The Arcade
had vanished before my day.
CHAP. XVI. £c.— THE ASSEMBLY ROOMS.— The original shareholders, with a desire
to render these rooms exclusive and aristocratic, laid down a law that no tradesman
or manufacturer, whatever might be his wealth, should obtain admission under the charmed
roof. Any puppy in uniform, any member of one of the three black-coated learned
professions, was eligible, and the ladies they might present, but their lordships ignored
trade. And so long as private gentry, with or without titles, resided within the town
or in the immediate suburbs, the law was strictly kept. But as the town advanced,
and a new type of manufacturers came to the Iront, the stringent rule, which
threatened the Assembly Rooms with dissolution, had to be modified, otherwise neither
the Aspinalls nor the Ashtons could have penetrated the exclusive circle.
CHAP. XXXIX. — "ALINIJA; OR, THE CHILD OF MYSTERY." — This was one of four
novels written by Sophia M 'Gibbon, the actress, a great favourite on the Manchester
boards. She was the daughter of Woodfall, the reporter to the House of Commons,
and the printer of "The Letters of Junius." At that time Parliamentary reporters
were not permitted to take notes. Yet Woodfall's newspaper, The Advertiser, was
sure to have verbatim reports of the speeches on the morning after a debate. The
secret was this : His daughter Sophia, then only about thirteen, sat up waiting for
him until whatever hour the House closed. Then, with a flying pen, she set down
the speeches as they fell verbatim .rom his lips, and "copy" was ready for the
printer. It was this faculty procured him the soubriquet of "Memory Woodfall."
AS with most fluent writers, her penmanship was execrable.
FINAL APPENDIX. 479
CHAP. XLIV.— BARLOW HALL.— By the kind intervention of Mr. Thomas Letherbrow,
and the gracious permission of Sir William Cunliffe Brookes, I am enabled for the
first time to name and to present views of the old hall at Fallowfield in which those
incidents in Augusta Ashton's married life which formed the original basis of my
novel absolutely took place. As I named to Mr. Letherbrow the real prototype of
Aspinall, there was no difficulty in identifying his home, and to both the former
gentlemen my thanks are clue.
CHAP. XXIII — CLOGS. — I find that much misapprehension exists respecting the
Lancashire clogs, and that they are confounded in the popular mind with the sabots
or wocden shoon of France and Holland. They differ in this respect. The sabots
are entirely of wood. Of the clogs only the thick soles are of wood, to which
stout upper leathers are closely nailed round.
CHAP. XLVI. — THE IRWELL AT NEW BAILEY BRIDGE. — This was the scene of
the fatal launch of the Emma. On the right of Mr. Fitton's sketch is the New
Quay, where the flat (or barge) was built. On the left is the oM towing path. A
long steep flight of steps clinging to the higher embankment, below the visible
railings, and guarded by such another hand-rail, gave access to this path, and served
passengers going to and from the Warrington and Runcorn packet-boats which there
found a landing stage. They were something like elongated and flat-topped Noah's
arks ; the flat roofs serving for outside passengers as on our present tram-cars and
omnibuses. The house-boat is a glorified imitation. Samuel Bamford has said, "Venice
hath its Bridge of Sighs, Manchester hath its Bridge of Tears," and this is appro-
priately so named, not merely on account of the Emma catastrophe, but on account ot
the numbers who had crossed it on their way to the prison frowning down upon the
stream, crossed it to their doom ; for when it was built the death-penalty was exacted
for very light offences.
CHAP. IV.— LONG MILLGATE AND CLEGG'S YARD. — There is a shadowy suggestion
of a factory at the right of Mr. Fitton's picture, which locates the old houses. The
factory looked up Hanover Street, and the entry to the yard I have assigned to
Simon Clegg was there when I was a girl in my teens. But by that time the
two houses nearest the entry had given place to others less tumble-down, though
the yard and the narrow tunnel which gave access to it were still in evidence, and
the old tripe-dealer did a busy trade among his cool stone tanks.
CHAP. XI. — THE MARKET PLACE AND EXCHANGE. — There has been such a wholesale
destruction of ancient houses and thoroughfares, and an opening out of more imposing new
ones in the centre of what is now the " City of Manchester," that I fear, but for the foot
of Market-street Lane coming into Mr. Fitton's picture, readers of the present generation
will scarcely be able to locate or realise it without reference to a map. Yet here,
for centuries, had been the principal market of the town, spreading its open stalls
down narrow Smithy Door on the left, and Short Millgate on the right as far as the
obscurely covered-in poultry mart and shambles. And here, in the last century, when
the stocks and pillory were institutions as venerable as the Market Cross beside them,
there stood, not the handsome circular-fronted Exchange here depicted, but a small
erection more like a country market-hall than the commercial building it professed to be,
480 FINAL APPENDIX.
whereon were spiked the decapitated heads ot three Manchester Jacobites to overawe
their fellow -townsmen. In 1792 this first Exchange — having been abandoned and
become a foul lazaretto — was taken down, and its site remained unoccupied save by
a stone pillar and posts. The fine circular-fronted Exchange was quite a new
erection when Jabez, with Ben Travis as companion, went his errand to Harrop, the
printer's, next door to the Post Office, which had not yet been removed to the back
of the new Exchange. The stocks, pillory, and cross were still in situ, and I had
hoped Mr. Fitton might have included them in his picture, had the same courtesy
been extended in this direction which we found elsewhere. But now the Market has
been shifted, and even the second Exchange, notwithstanding its extension towards St.
Ann's Square, is itself a thing of the past, so far forgotten that a writer in the Queen's
Jubilee year ignored its existence altogether, and accredited the scenic representation
of the first Exchange in the " Old Manchester " Exhibition as that of the only predecessor of
the immense pile where merchants most do congregate in this day, which presents
its frontage to Cross Street, takes a long slice out of Market Street, and rejoices in
being the Exchange of a great city and sea-port, not a mere town.
CHAPS. X., XL, &c. — GEORGE PILKINGTON. — I cannot close this historical and
topographical appendix without a few words anent the genial old acquaintance of my
girlhood. I used to meet him at the house of intimate friends, before I had any
foreshadowing of my career as a novelist, or any inkling of the great good there
was in the man it was my proud privilege to chat with so pleasantly. Indeed. I
had introduced him into my novel simply as a Blue-coat boy, before I knew how
modestly, yet how effectively, he had testified his gratitude to his benefactor,
Humphrey Chetham, to whose foundation he was indebted for the training
which had paved his way to fortune. A grateful and a generous heart only
could have prompted such an expression of reverence for his Alma-Mater, as
he has stamped in marble and placed in the sacred house of God, where
he, the Blue-coat boy, sang and worshipped with his schoolmates. There was
no monument to the far seeing, liberal merchant, until George Pilkington raised
to his memory, and that of his foundation, the statue of which an engraving is here
presented, and did it without any parade of his own name whatsoever. This book may
pass to readers who have never entered our city, or its Cathedral, so I think I do
well to preserve the memory of one Blue-coat boy— one true Manchester man— who
combined the three virtues of gratitude, modesty, and generosity.
And lest I should be deemed wanting in the first of these attributes, I hasten to
thank all those who in any way have furthered my endeavours to preserve an historical
picture of the Manchester which existed when I was young, but which has passed
away from the sight and memory of the present generation. Of these I can only name
gratefully, Sir William Cunliffe Brookes, Mr. Walter T. Browne, Mr. John Lea, Mr.
Thomas Letherbrow, Mr. Albert Nicholson, Mr. Chas. Sutton, librarian, and his
brother, Mr. Albert Sutton, Mr. Clarence Whaite, P.R.C.A., and his nephew, Mr.
Herbert Whaite .
ISABELLA BANKS.
London, November I4th, 1896.
HUMPHREY CHETHAM S STATUE.
PLEASE DO NOT REMOVE
CARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKET
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY
PR Banks, Isabella Varley
6003 Tne Manchester man
A54M3
1896
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