I prefer visiting the cottages of Turton to those of Egerton; the latter may be suspected of being something of a show-place. Its immense water-wheel is one of the wonders of Lancashire, and draws crowds of visitors. Few of them fail to be attracted by the substantial neatness of the cottages in the village, and hence the families of the operatives, being used to inspection, may be supposed in some cases to prepare for it. This is not the case at Turton, which lies out of the main lines of road, and is a secluded nook which is not to be reached without some trouble. The principal village occupied by the operatives is named Banktop, from the circumstance of its being situated on the summit of the side of the ravine remote from Mr. Ashworth's dwelling. The situation, though open and airy, is not unsheltered; the cottages are built of stone, and contain from four to six rooms each; backpremises with suitable conveniences are attached to them all. I did not observe any traces of that taste for the cultivation of flowers which I found rife among the occupants of Mr. Ashton's cottages at Hyde in Cheshire, nor did I find that any of the operatives raised in their gardens a supply of vegetables sufficient for the consumption of their families, as I have found in other places. I saw, however, some fine plants of rhubarb, and learned that they often furnished materials for dinner in the shape of puddings. Let me here observe that the domestic economy of the working population would be vastly benefited by a

larger and cheaper supply of sugar than they can at present obtain. It is obvious that fruit and rhubarb pies and puddings would be a cheap and wholesome substitute for meat if the high price of sugar did not more than counterbalance the cheapness of the other materials.* I need not apologize to you for introducing this subject, which many will regard as trifling, for one of the earliest lessons I learned from your Lordship was the importance of the text, "Despise not the day of small things; " and for my own part, I regard nothing as trifling which can tend in any way to promote the health, the happiness, and the comfort of the working population.

I visited the interior of nearly every cottage; I found

* I leave this passage as originally written, though it is loosely expressed, and does not convey my meaning. Were I to propose that any vegetable diet should be "a substitute for meat" in the operative's standard of food, I should have deserved much heavier reprobation than my indulgent censor in the Times' has chosen to bestow upon me. I believe that the standard of food could not be lowered without greatly impairing the health, the efficiency, the national value, and even the morality of the operative. My meaning was, that pies, dumplings, &c., might prove an acceptable variety in the operative's fare, and be a good substitute for meat to those who are unable to procure that aliment, which in nine instances out of ten is the case with the junior branches of the operative's family. My opinion on these points is not worth much, but, as the Times' has in some degree forced me to express it, I beg leave to say that I consider the standard of food and comfort for the working population of England already far too low, and that one great object at which I have aimed in this little work is to show the danger of any further depression.

all well, and very many respectably, furnished: there were generally a mahogany table and chest of drawers. Daughters from most of the houses, but wives, as far as I could learn, from none, worked in the factory. Many of the women were not a little proud of their housewifery, and exhibited the Sunday wardrobes of their husbands, the stock of neatly folded shirts, &c. ; and one of them gave me a very eloquent lecture on the mysteries of needlework, of which, though a tailor, I did not comprehend a syllable; but I could very well appreciate the results in the neatness and comfort around me. I found that there were some processes connected with the cotton manufacture which the women were permitted to execute in their own houses. "The pay," said one of the women, "is not much, but it helps to boil the pot."

As these cottages belong to Mr. Ashworth, I deemed it right to inquire how far the letting of them could be identified with the truck system. I was informed by the operatives that permission to rent one of the cottages was regarded as a privilege and favour, that it was in fact a reward reserved for honesty, industry, and sobriety, and that a tenant guilty of any vice or immorality would at once be dismissed. Mr. Ashworth was said to be very strict in enforcing attention to cleanliness, both of house and person, and in requiring the use of separate sleeping apartments for the children of different sexes. It was sufficiently bvious, from the gossip I heard, that public opinion

had established a very stringent form of moral police in the village, which superseded the necessity of any other. All were not merely contented with their situation, but proud of it; they contrasted their position with that of operatives in mills working halftime, or where business had been suspended, and sometimes expressed a nervous alarm lest the continued depression of trade should at last reach Turton, and reduce its operatives to the condition of those in Bolton. There were many persons employed in the mill who resided at a considerable distance from it, and I found instances of persons who had to walk from three to four miles to their work.

A visit to the schools of Turton and Egerton was peculiarly interesting; the children sang in chorus two hymns, Moore's melody "Those Evening Bells," and some other pieces, with great taste, feeling, and propriety. I examined the children in mental arithmetic, geography, scripture history, and the nature of objects on all these points the average was above that of any school which I ever visited in my life. The needlework of the girls was very good, and I believe that they receive something of an industrial training in addition to a mere literary education. This, which is valuable everywhere, becomes of the highest importance in Lancashire, where girls, obtaining mill-employment at an early age, have little opportunity of being instructed in domestic economy, and acquiring the knowledge of the countless little

D

contrivances which contribute so much both to the savings and the comfort of a wife and mother. In at least twenty different places I spoke upon this subject, and endeavoured to persuade the proprietors and managers of schools to have the children initiated into the mysteries of plain and cheap cookery; in all I was met with the same unanswerable argument,— the disproportionate taxation on all the materials from which cheap nutritious dishes can be made. Unfortunately taxation upon articles of food seems to increase in the inverse ratio of the ability to bear it.

It is not easy to fix upon a statistical test for measuring the intelligence of the adult operatives. I found clocks and small collections of books in all their dwellings; several had wheel-barometers, and in one house I noticed a hygrometer of very delicate construction. The books were for the most part on religious subjects; next to the Bible I found that Thomas à Kempis is the greatest favourite with the people of Lancashire. Nowhere did I see a book of immoral or even questionable tendency, unless the writings of the Mormonites, or Latter-day Saints, may be considered as such, for this strange form of fanaticism, which we have imported from America, appears to be taking deep root in Lancashire. Enthusiasm in everything, indeed, appears to be a marked characteristic of this branch of the Saxon race, and it is equally manifested in new forms of religion and in new forms of machinery. In a con