STOKE-UPON-TRENT--STAFFORDSHIRE--MANCHESTER--LEEDS--CARLISLE.
We arrived at Stoke-upon-Trent at noon. Our valises deposited at the
coat-room of the station, we sallied out for a restaurant dinner and a
visit to the pottery of the Mintons. There are many places of crockery
manufacture here, all having a dingy look; most of them are of brick or
stone, and two or three stories high. The buildings are not large, but
each establishment has several, with chimneys forty to sixty feet high,
tapering largely as they rise. The greatest facilities are furnished
for visiting the works. We greatly enjoyed our visit, and theoretically
know just how it is done; yet we couldn't excel practically the
youngest apprentice. It is hardly in order to give lessons, but some
information may be worth a passing word.
The clay is uncommon and found in but few places. It has also to be
peculiarly prepared. When ready to be moulded it looks very much like
putty or wheaten dough. The dish is made in the usual manner, on the
potter's wheel, or on a mould. It is partially dried and then baked in
a great oven, from which it comes out white as chalk. If it is to be
white and undecorated, it is then dipped into a tank of liquid sizing,
in appearance like dirty milk. It drips off, and is then put again into
an oven and subjected to intense heat. The sizing melts or vitrifies,
and turns into glazing. The oven cools off slowly, and the ware is
taken out glossy and ready for sale.
If the dish is to be ornamented, the figures are put on with a
stencil-plate, or printed on the white ware after the first baking and
before the glazing. Of course any desired color can be rubbed over
the stencil. If the ware is to be printed, this is done with a soft
roller, which takes its tint and impression from a stamp. This roller
is passed over the stamp as a similar article is rolled over printer's
type; only the figure is imprinted on the pottery, not with the stamp
or type itself, but with the roller, from whose soft surface the figure
is readily absorbed by the moist clay. After this the ware is dipped
into sizing and finished as before described. If the ware is to be
rudely ornamented with flowers, these are often painted on it by hand,
after the first baking, women and girls being employed for the purpose.
Of course glazing and burning must always follow the decoration. If
colored stripes are desired, these also are put on by hand. If ware
is to be elegantly adorned, with pictures of flowers, animals, or
landscapes,--in a word, Sèvres or Worcester ware,--this also is done by
the patient hand-labor at the benches. A hundred women are sometimes at
work in a single room, as if they were making water-color drawings. If
gold lines are to be put on, this is done with gold paint. It is black
when it comes from the furnace, but is then rubbed down with cornelian
burnishers and the gold color restored. China is no more nor less than
thin ware made of a peculiar clay. Of the secrets of coloring we know
nothing. Hundreds of years have been employed in experimenting on the
minor details; and with all their generous entertainment of strangers,
and perhaps of angels unawares,--not being sure the visitor is not a
fallen one, and so inclined to abuse the information,--the artisans are
not free to impart information which seems small, but is really of the
utmost importance.
The town is situated on the River Trent, as its name implies, and
the entire parish, including Stanley and many other suburbs, has a
population of 89,262. It has numerous wharves and warehouses, and is
intersected by the great Trent canal and the Staffordshire railway.
It has the honor of being the birthplace of Rev. John Lightfoot, the
celebrated ecclesiastical writer and Hebrew scholar. He was born here
March 29, 1602, and died at Ely, where he was prebend at the cathedral,
Dec. 6, 1675. The town receives its notoriety solely from its potteries.
Our second visit was to the warerooms of Minturn & Hollins, who are
celebrated, as are the original Minturns, for the elegance of their
work, which is well known in America as well as Europe. Their display
was wonderful for fineness of execution and exquisite coloring.
Our notebook, as well as our vivid recollection, defines it as "an
inexpressibly smoky place, with hundred of chimneys, in groups of from
ten to twenty, belching forth thick and black smoke."
At 4 P. M. we took a train for another great workshop, and on
our way must needs go through, not Samaria, but Staffordshire, which is
one of the best examples of a _smoke district_; and--like Niagara in
this--that one is enough for a world.
STAFFORDSHIRE.
In this region the smelting and manufacture of iron abounds. Hundreds
of chimneys, large and small, single and in groups, begin to meet the
view as soon as we are fairly out of Stoke Village. Everywhere the air
is permeated with dense though by no means very disagreeable smoke;
that is, it did not produce half the ill effect on the eyes or the body
that it did on the shirt bosoms and the mind.
The vast extent of the domain astonished us. As we merged into
the thicker part, the sun was entirely obscured, the people were
weird-like, and all things wore a smoky aspect. Condensed masses of
smoke hung like thunder-clouds, and they were lighted up by the glare
that issued Pandemonium-like from a hundred chimney-tops. In the
dimness below, the men at the blastfurnaces, handling red-hot rods, or
pouring molten iron into moulds, seemed like so many imps, and we had a
vivid representation of the _other place_, that was talked of a hundred
years ago. We were glad of the experience, for it was unlike anything
seen before, or likely to be seen again; but how we enjoyed a change to
clear atmosphere and a blue sky, and how increased was our ability to
enjoy the
"Sweet fields of living green,
And rivers of delight,"
by which the swift train presently hustled us!
We need not say that bituminous and not anthracite coal is used in
England. It burns with a brilliant red flame, and its smoke is either
black, gray, or white. It is found in great profusion (as hard coal is
in our Pennsylvania) in the same regions with iron ore.
It is as common to see coal-mine openings--their cheap houses over
them, and their railways,--as to see iron mines. No manufacturing
region would seem complete without them. It is providential that
these two useful minerals, coal and iron, are found together, and so
conveniently near the geographical centre of Great Britain as to make
them accessible to each section of the island.
We are at our journey's end, in
MANCHESTER,
after the ride of less than two hours. It was not our intention to
remain here long, and our first view of the place confirmed the
wisdom of our decision. It is a large city, smoky from the thousands
of manufactories, with nothing antique to be seen. Our older western
cities, like Cincinnati, much resemble Manchester. Our stay was
occupied principally with an observant walk of some miles through
the principal avenues and among the manufactories. There are grand
buildings, but the general smoky outlook prevails. Manchester is
situated on both sides of the River Irwell, and has a suburb called
Salford. The city proper has a population of 351,189, and the latter
124,801,--475,990 in all. There are two municipal governments, but the
two cities are practically one, being united by eight bridges.
This spot was a chief station of the Druids, who here had an altar
called Meyne. In A. D. 500 it was an unfrequented woodland.
In 620 it was taken by Edwin, king of Northumbria, and soon after was
occupied by a company of Angles. It next passed to the Danes, who were
expelled about 920, by the king of Mercia. A charter, giving it the
privilege of a borough, was granted in 1301.
The first mention of Manchester cotton was in 1352, and designated
coarse woollen cloth, made from unprepared fleece. At the time of the
Civil Wars it had become a place of active industry, and suffered much
from both parties. In 1650 its manufactures had wonderfully increased,
and ranked among the first in extent and importance; and its people
were described as the most industrious in the northern part of the
kingdom.
The value of cotton exports, as early as 1780, was $1,775,300; in 1856
it was $190,000,000; and in 1862 more than one half the operatives
were thrown out of employment in consequence of the American Civil
War, which deprived Manchester of the raw material. In 1871 there were
connected with the cotton and woollen manufactures 322 factories,
employing 33,671 persons, and using 21,000 horse-power of steam. In
the manufacture of metal goods, glass, chemicals, and leather, there
were 467 manufactories, 14,895 work-people, and 3,996 horse-power. The
mechanical list, including builders, and cabinet-makers, involved 2,783
shops and 73,235 employees, using 28,515 horse-power.
The Royal Exchange, commenced in 1868 and just completed, is one of the
finest structures in Great Britain, costing $1,250,000. Hospitals and
charitable institutions are plentiful. The schools are of a high grade,
and the city is one of the most enterprising in England.
At 10.20 A. M., Friday, we left for Leeds. These three
places, Birmingham, Manchester, and Leeds, are an epitome of English
manufactures, and we can hardly pass without examining them, though we
confess to a daintiness obtained from the beauties amidst which we had
been passing the weeks; and we feel that we shall be glad when our tour
through the manufacturing districts ends, for we are impressed anew
with the proverb, "God made the country, but man made the town."
LEEDS
is situated on both sides, but chiefly on the left side, of the River
Aire, and has a population of 259,212. The site was once a Roman
station, and the mediæval name was Loidis. As a manufacturing town it
dates back to the sixteenth century. The larger part of the city has
an old look. The streets generally are narrow and crooked, but well
kept. The new streets are wide and contain many fine buildings; and the
tramways and omnibuses give it a Bostonian appearance. The spacious
town-hall was completed in 1858. Like all the principal English cities,
it has its share of statues, and a fine one of Robert Peel is in front
of the court-house. It is said to have 225 places of public worship.
In woollen manufactures and leather-tanning Leeds surpasses all other
places in the kingdom. 12,000 persons are employed in manufacturing
woollen goods alone. The city is a railroad centre. There are 200
collieries in the surrounding district. It is reported that one quarter
of the inhabitants are engaged in manufactures of some kind, and yet
pauperism flourishes fearfully. There is a library founded in 1768,
by the renowned Dr. Priestley, of scientific as well as theologic
fame. He was pastor of a church in Leeds, and gave much attention to
religious subjects. After an industrious life of some years here,--a
large portion of which was employed in scientific pursuits and
authorship,--he removed to Birmingham, and was pastor of a church
there. At length he went to America, arriving in New York, June 4,
1794, and dying at Northumberland, Pa., Feb. 6, 1804. A celebration,
in honor of his discovery of oxygen, was inaugurated by American
chemists at the place of his death, Aug. 1, 1874, and on the same day
his statue was unveiled in Birmingham, England. In 1860 another statue
was placed in the museum of Oxford University. A catalogue of his
publications, prepared for the library of Congress, for the Centennial
of 1876, comprises more than three hundred works on chemistry, history,
theology, metaphysics, politics, and other subjects.
The markets of Leeds are large. New potatoes, May 31, were for sale,
smaller than English walnuts. The fish markets are supplied with more
varieties than we have seen anywhere else. The flower marts have great
displays of perfect plants, especially pelargoniums and geraniums.
Kirkstall Abbey is about three miles away, on the edge of the city.
Nothing can excel the beauty of this ancient place. It is situated
near a country road, and slopes to the river a distance of perhaps a
thousand feet. The walls are varied in outlines and heights. The tower
and walls are quite complete, and the adjoining ruins are as fine as
any in England. They comprise many rooms, roofless for centuries. The
low-cropped grass, with its thick math, fills them, and there are ten
or twelve elm-trees, full two feet in diameter, growing in the deserted
apartments. In one part is the small enclosed garden, perfect as at the
first. In the walls are places of burial of the pietists who once dwelt
here; and on one side are rooms, opening into the garden, that once
were monks' cells and their later place of sepulture. There are many
stone coffins; and the apartments and the close, with the ivy-mantled
walls, are of extreme beauty. The position is remarkably fine. Removed
from other habitations; quietly situated at the side of the great road,
and on this meadow-like lawn; the river running leisurely by, washing
the borders; the old trees; its ingenuity of arrangement,--this gem is
a connecting link between the old dispensation and the new. We could
but wish we might do as Scott advises of Melrose Abbey, "visit it by
the pale moonlight;" but we did not have that privilege. We could only
see it at the close of this fine day, when the low sun sent its rays
aslant the openings, and gave an indescribable tranquillity to the
place.
This is one of the few spots we would again make an effort to see.
As the lamented Bayard Taylor was lured from his course of travel by
Longfellow's "Belfry of Bruges," and could not rest till he had been
there, so this Kirkstall Abbey influences us, and will till the end of
earthly journeys. Built in 1157, in the Reformation it was abandoned
and unroofed, its relics destroyed, its tombs rifled, and ruin begun;
and now for more than three hundred years, as if subservient to the
will of Cromwell, and mute with alarm and solitary in its shame, it
has stood beautiful and enduring, though dying atom by atom in its own
loneliness.
On Saturday, June 1, a pleasant day, though so cool that overcoats were
still comfortable, we took train for
CARLISLE.
This is another cathedral town, and the last in England we are to visit
till we have passed through Scotland. We have journeyed from London
northerly to Oxford; then, northwesterly to the manufacturing towns;
and now we are to go from Carlisle to Glasgow, and we expect to see
London again in a couple of weeks after. The places are most of them
but a few hours' ride apart. The trip is quite like one from Boston,
through Worcester, Springfield, Albany, to our western cities, and then
southerly, via Washington and Philadelphia and New York, to Boston, and
as easily performed. We arrived at 2 P. M., and were fortunate
in making our visit on a market-day, when the place was full of people;
for here was an opportunity to see an English market-day at its best.
On hundreds of tables, and in stalls and booths, every conceivable
kind of domestic article was displayed for sale,--crockery, tinware,
dry-goods (such as White or Jordan & Marsh never have for sale), new
and second-hand clothing, hardware, provisions of all kinds; and a
happier set of people we had not seen. Both buyer and seller were in
fine mood, and good cheer prevailed. These market-days are a part of
the common life of the people, and to abolish them would be taken as
one more sign of the near approach of the final consummation of all
things.
The city is situated on the River Eden, and is a grand old place with
good buildings and streets, all replete with fine specimens of English
people and life. It is one of the very oldest in England and was a
Roman station. Its proximity to the border made it an important place
at the time of the wars between the English and the Scotch.
The cathedral is situated not far from the centre of business, and the
iron fence on one side of its grounds marks the bounds of an important
thoroughfare. The ground is not large--perhaps an acre in extent--and
is well kept. The cathedral itself was originally an important
building, but is not now remarkable for size or beauty. Cromwell
destroyed the greater part of the nave. The building is only 137 feet
long, but it is 124 feet wide at the transepts, and the height is 75
feet from floor to vaultings. The parapet of the tower is 127 feet from
the ground. The cathedral was nearly destroyed by fire in 1292, and the
present choir was completed 1350. This fire is said to have consumed
thirteen hundred houses. The tower was built in 1401. The edifice was
originally dedicated to the Virgin Mary, but Henry VIII., after he
had suppressed the priory connected with it, named it the Church of
the Holy and Undivided Trinity. Up to that time it had been under the
administration of twenty-nine different bishops,--many of them men of
note, of whom it would be pleasant to speak did our limits not forbid.
Owen Oglethorpe, the thirtieth bishop, was noted as the only one who
could be prevailed upon to crown Queen Elizabeth, all others having
refused to do so. History says that "during the performance of the
ceremony he was commanded by the queen not to elevate the host; to
prevent the idolatry of the people, and to omit it because she liked it
not." It is a question whether he obeyed. Wood says: "He sore repented
him of crowning the queen all the days of his life, which were for
that special cause both short and wearisome." He was fined $1,250 by
the council for not appearing at a public disputation, and was soon
afterwards deprived of his office.
A worthy and well-known bishop of this cathedral was James Usher, who
was appointed in 1642. He was an Irishman by birth, and had since 1625
been Archbishop of Armagh in Ireland. He died March 21, 1655, at the
age of seventy-five, and Cromwell ordered him a magnificent funeral,
which took place at Westminster Abbey, and the great Protector signed
a warrant to the Lords of the Treasury, to pay Dr. Bernard $1,000 to
defray the expenses of it. Bishop Usher was a theological writer, noted
as the author of the system of chronology which is frequently printed
in the margin of the Bible. On the restoration of the church, Richard
Sterne was elected bishop. He is celebrated as having been domestic
chaplain to the notorious Archbishop Laud, and attending him on the
scaffold. He was also a prisoner in the Tower, with several others, on
complaint made by Cromwell, that they had used the Cambridge College
plate for the king's relief at York; but in 1664 he was translated to
York Minster, and died there in 1683.
One of the honors of this cathedral is that, in 1782, William Paley,
the writer on Political Economy, Natural Theology, and Evidences of
Christianity, was its archdeacon, and it was here that these works were
written. His burial-place and monument are both in the cathedral.
Near the market-place are the remains of a castle, built by the
Normans in 1092. It is much dilapidated, but prominent portions are in
excellent preservation. A race of people at the zenith of power erected
and used this castle. This race declined, and a new one came out of its
decay. Kingdoms have since risen and gone into oblivion. The march of
humanity has for eight centuries been going on its way, but the castle
remains,--changed only as time has disintegrated the stone, and so
gradually that no one generation has realized the transformation. More
substantial material for thought may be obtained from these old English
places, than from almost any other spots in Europe.
At 6 P. M. this Saturday night we took train for Glasgow, and
so are for a short time to be among the stalwart Caledonians.
SCOTLAND.