The life and adventures of Michael Armstrong, the factory boy

Preface

WfiEX the author of " Michael Armstrong" first determined on attempting to draw the attention of her countrymen to the fearful evils inherent in the Factory System, as carried out in our manufacturing towns, she intended to divide her work into two portions, which should present the same subject under two different phases. It was her intention in the first of these to drag into the light of day, and place before the eyes of Englishmen, the hideous mass of injustice and suffering to which thousands of infant labourers are subjected, who toil in our monster spinning-mills. In the second, she proposed that the hero of her tale, having lived through his toil-worn boyhood, should have*been seen embarked in those perfectly constitutional struggles for the amelioration of the sufferings of his class, in which many of the more enlightened operatives have been for some years engaged.

The first division of the subject has been some time in the reader's hands. The true but most painful picture has been drawn faithfully and conscientiously. Of course voices have been raised to deny loudly the truth of all the author's statements, and to assert the whole to be a mere tissue of invention and falsehood. The same charges have been made against her upon another occasion, and she has lived to see the truth of her statements, so impugned, universally admitted. She awaits with perfect confidence the time when similar justice shall be rendered to these pages.

But with respect to that division of the subject which it was intended to bring forward in the latter part of her work, the author's views have undergone very considerable change. Knowing the immense amount of evil to be remedied, and the urgent necessity, for many reasons, that this remedy should not be delayed, it is grievous to see

IV PREFACE.

misguided and unfortunate men pursuing a course which must necessarily neutralize the efforts of their true friends. When those in whose behalf she hoped to move the sympathy of their country are found busy in scenes of outrage and lawless violence, and uniting themselves with individuals whose doctrines are subversive of every species of social order, the author feels that it would be alike acting in violation of her own principles, and doing injury to the cause she wishes to serve, were she to persist in an attempt to hold up as objects of public sympathy, men who have stained their righteous cause with deeds of violence and blood. The author is well aware that many, as well operatives as their superiors, who were engaged in a virtuous struggle against the lawless power which oppresses them, deplore the madness of these ill-advised men as much as herself. But the cause has been too much sullied, and the sufferers too closely associated in the public eye with those who have been guilty of all she most deprecates, to permit her continuing the work as she intended.

Under these circumstances she has determined that the existence of her hero as an operative shall close with his childhood. No misconstruction of principles, no misconception of motives can exist with regard to an attempt to ameliorate the lot of infant labourers. That her pages may assist in promoting this object is her humble and most ardent hope. " The Life and Adventures of Michael Armstrong" are, therefore, concluded in the twelfth number.

Chapter I. Page

Description of Dowling Lodge and its appurtenances — Of its master — Of its mistress — And all the Masters and Misses Dowling — A large dinner-party — A hot drawing-room, and the way to escape from it ... I

Chapter XV

A tHc*u-tete walk"— Lively if not instructive conversation — The rich visiting the podr— Misplaced confidence — Innocent sin 158

CHAPTER XVL

Miss Brotherton visits the widow Armstrong, and lays the foundation of a very lasting friendship— She then calls at Dowling Lodge, but fails of obtaining what she went for ,..< 163

CONTENTS. VU

Chapter XXI

Miss Brotherton exerts her eloquence, and nurse Tremlett is brought to reason thereby — The heiress hardens her heart, and speaks harsh truths to Martha Dowling, but all in vain — She conceives a project, and sets about putting it in execution with great spirit 219

Chapter XXII

Miss Brotherton sets off on her travels, and feels frightened at her own temerity — But speedily recovers her courage, and plays the heroine — Siie visits some factories, and is introduced to a Sunday-school — She approaches the precincts of the Deep Valley 235

Chapter XXIII

Miss Brotherton and her friend arrive at the Deep Valley — A review — Disappointment — " A sudden thought strikes" the heiress — She concludes a bargain, though not the one for which she meditated — She sets out upon a walk 254

Chapter XXIV

The walk proves too fatiguing to one of the party, but not to Miss Brotherton — She wanders further, and meets with an adventure, but at last returns in safety to her inn — A journey homeward, and a fact related without ornament 262

Vlll CONTENTS.

Chapter XXV. Page

The narrative returns to its hero — And relates why and wherefore he was kept alive— The boy grows tall, and takes to thinking 278

Chapter XXVI

A dismal enterprise, and its melancholy result — Martha Dowling punished more severely than she deserved — Very wild projects conceived by Miss Brotherton, and speedily put in execution 289

Chapter XXVII

Michael Armstrong sets out upon a dangerous expedition — Its termination proves rather more than he can bear — He meets a good man and takes service under him — He asks and obtains a holiday, and meets several adventures in the course of it 297

Chapter XXXII

Mr. Augustus Dowling gives his sister Martha notice to quit the premises, which occasions Michael to appear in a new character — A long journey taken by novices, but they do not lose their way, and arrive at the right place at last 370

Chapter XXXIII

A tite~a~t$te—A second— A third— A mysterious result— Conclusion .... 379

THE

LIFE AND ADVENTURES

OF

MICHAEL ARMSTRONG,

THE FACTORY BOY.

Chapter I. Description Of Dowling Lodge And Its Appurtenances

OF ITS MASTER — OF ITS MISTRESS AND ALL THE MASTERS AND

MISSES DOWLING A LARGE DINNER-PARTY A HOT DRAWING- ROOM, AND THE WAY TO ESCAPE FROM IT.

No traveller can ride or drive within sight of Dowling Lodge, without being tempted to inquire, "Whose house is that ?"

It forms, indeed, a very striking object on the right of the London road, as the hill rises gradually, and overlooks the town of Ashleigh, one of the busiest in Lancashire, to the left ; for although the trees about the mansion are not yet of sufficient growth to make it picturesque, its lofty portico, well-proportioned wings, and commanding site, render it an ornament to the neighbourhood for miles round.

Those who are admitted to a nearer view of the house (and, for the convenience of the public, every Wednesday is set apart for its being shown), will find still more to admire, than such as see it only from a distance. It has its park and its pinery ; conservatories, which cause the mercury in the thermometer, when paraded through them, to run up to the cocoa-ripening heat of the tropics, and icehouses that would bring it down again to the temperature of Bhering's Straits. It has three drawing-rooms, two dining-rooms, a great library, all full of new books; as many bedrooms, dressing-rooms, and boudoirs, as a great man's house ought to have, and a study besides — Sir Matthew Dowling's own private study. This delightful little apartment is small, not more than twelve feet square ; but nothing can be more agreeable and convenient. It opens by one door from the great hall of entrance, and by another commu-

B nicates through a long stone-passage with the offices of the mansion ; enabling the knight to receive, without interruption, not only his overlookers (Sir Matthew being the proprietor of many cotton-mills), but his coachman, gardener, bailiff, and whomever else he might wish to transact business with.

Of the fitting up of this princely mansion, it is only necessary to say, that it is done in a spirit of emulative imitation, which renders it fully equal, in this respect, to the most finished private dwellings in Europe. The furniture is uniformly rich throughout : the picture-frames in the best style of art ; Saxony carpets in the drawing-rooms, Turkey ditto in the dining-rooms, Brussels in the bedrooms, and indeed not a single inch of Kidderminster any where, except in the garrets.

I will not attempt to state the amount of Sir Matthew Dowling's wealth ; Cocker himself would have found it a laborious task to make the calculation ; and it is sufficient for the gratification of all reasonable curiosity to say, that throughout the whole line of that Golconda country, which, being the busiest of the manufacturing districts, is probably the richest in the world, there was not any one who could vie in wealth with him. In a word, he shone amidst his rich neighbours like a golden sun, surrounded by silver moons.

But Sir Matthew was a superior man in all ways. He was six feet two inches in height, and stout in proportion, with hands and feet that might have sufficed a giant. His intellectual gifts were also of no ordinary character. He liked well enough, perhaps, to stand pre-eminent in the commercial estimation of his neighbours ; but so enlightened was his spirit, that he liked better still to shine before their eyes as a man of taste, a literary and accomplished gentleman, a speaker of modern languages, a critical French scholar, a playful votary of the muses himself, and a universal Mecsenas to all who wielded a pen in their service. But beyond all else, Sir Matthew valued himself upon his reputation for the lighter graces of wit and gallantry : he sought to make himself into something of a delightful mixture between Kiiligrew and the Count de Gramont ; and there was no receptacle of wit from Joe Miller downwards, no gallant memoirs in an intelligible tongue, that he did not study with assiduity and perseverance of the highest order.

He was often heard to declare, that he loved nothing so well as the promotion of mirth and light-heartedness among his fellow-creatures ; but tragedy and comedy often walk through the world hand in hand together, and their alliance may be traced without difficulty in the career of Sir Matthew Dowling.

The wife of this prosperous gentleman had also many admirable qualities. She was not one of the idle gossipers who delight in chattering about their own concerns to every one who will listen ; she despised such weakness, and had never been heard to hint at her own parentage, or early history, to any one; rightly considering, that when such matters are unceasingly discussed, they may be exceedingly likely to prevent people's minding their own business, while devoting an undue share of attention to that of others.

Nevertheless, with nice and laudable discrimination, she took care that her neighbours should be well acquainted with all such facts respecting her as it concerned them to know. There was hardly an individual within ten miles who was not aware that Lady Dowling kept two carriages, six horses, one coachman, one postilion, five gardeners, two grooms, three footmen, one butler, and a page — not to mention two nurses, four nursery-maids, and more ladies'- maids, housemaids, cookmaids, kitchen-maids, laundry-maids, stillroom maids, dairy-maids, and the like, than any other lady in the county. Neither could any be ignorant that, except in the article of jewels, her wardrobe might vie with that of any duchess in the land, and all might see, moreover, that she was comely still, both in form and feature. She conversed with great ability on all subjects connected with fashionable life ; and though some few carping critics thought that she was too apt to diversify the monotony of the English language, by indulging in some remarkable variations from its ordinary laws, nobody, or scarcely any body, attempted to deny that she was on the whole a very charming woman. Such was the testimony of her general acquaintance ; those who knew her better were aware that her moral qualities outshone, as they always ought to do, all her external graces. She was a faithful and exceedingly fond wife, and doted upon all her children ; no woman could more heartily detest every species of light flirting airs in females, and, being deeply sensible of the dangerous attractions of youth and beauty in her own sex, she studiously avoided bringing those of her family who might suffer thereby from coming in contact with any thing of the kind ; so that the female portion of her establishment consisted of the ugliest set of neat and carefully dressed middle-aged women that ever were found assembled together.

The knight and his excellent lady were blessed with a very numerous progeny, certainly not less than eighteen or twenty ; but, as they were rarely all at home together, it was at no time easy to count them.

Augustus, the eldest of the family, was a prodigiously fine young man, just returned from college. He had not indeed thought it necessary to take a degree, nor did Sir Matthew or her ladyship particularly wish it ; both of them being of opinion that little distinction could be gained by the assumption of a title which was never used in society, and to which he conceived every Englishman to be eligible who could just read and write a little. But as, on all points that concerned the interest of his eldest son, Sir Matthew was too deeply interested to run any risk of blundering : he did not give his consent for the return of Augustus, without his having gone through this idle academic ceremony, till he had paid a visit to the rector of his parish, to elicit from him some information on the subject.

" May I ask, sir," said Sir Matthew abruptly, " what degree you took at the university V*

Mr. Hetherington was a new incumbent, and might, perhaps, have been a little affronted at a question which, by the blunt manner of it, seemed almost to insinuate a doubt whether he had taken any

b2 degree at all ; but, though a good man, and an excellent clergyman to boot, he had a strong taste for humour, and had already discovered that his neighbour at the great house was rich in more ways than one. It was, therefore, with the utmost civility that he answered, " My degree, Sir Matthew, was that of Master of Arts."

" And pray, sir, does it give you any title by which you can be distinguished as in any way a superior sort of person in society ?"

" I am afraid not, Sir Matthew," was the reply.

" I thank you, sir, for your sincerity," rejoined the knight. " It was important that I should ascertain the truth on this point. — You are, then, never addressed in company as Mr. Master of Arts, or any thing of that kind ?"

" I have never yet, Sir Matthew, met with any one of sufficient politeness to do me that honour," replied Mr. Hetherington gravely.

" And I suppose you have lived in respectable society ?"

" Very decent society — very decent, Sir Matthew," replied Hetherington, whose mother was the daughter of a distinguished nobleman.

" Good morning, sir; I shall be happy to see you at Bowling Lodge — that is to say, sir, if your gown does not lead you to object to elegant amusements. I love science, Mr. Hetherington, and am indeed devoted to every thing intellectual ; but, notwithstanding this, I am a worshipper at the shrine of grace and wit, and could not exist among people who did not relish the lighter embellishments of society."

" I shall be happy, Sir Matthew, to share in your gayer hours, provided I am fortunate enough to find that you have no objection to profit by my graver ones," replied the clergyman.

Sir Matthew returned from this visit very well pleased with the new rector. Mr. Augustus was immediately comforted by a letter, informing him that he might call in his accounts, and prepare to leave the university as soon as he pleased ; and, within ten days after receiving it, the amiable young man was restored to the bosom of his family.

Next to this primal hope of the Dowling race, came three young ladies, between the ages of seventeen and twenty-one; the two eldest of them being as like as two peas, and the third like nothing on earth but herself. Then followed several young gentlemen, who were placed at different fashionable schools ; for Sir Matthew, who was a man of very enlarged mind, declared it to be his opinion and his principle, that the patronage of such a fortune as his should be extended as widely as possible. After these young gentlemen came, one after the other, with the interval of about eleven months between them, ever so many little girls, who, for the present, were all educated at home, having a particularly clever French governess. All the rest were nice little children of different degrees of babyhood ; the dear little girls being remarkable for their long plaited hair, short frocks, and furbelowed trousers, and the dear little boys for the manly bustle with which they wore their Scotch bonnets and plaided tunics, which, considering that neither Sir Matthew nor his lady had ever been in Scotland in their lives, showed great enlargement of national feeling. Altogether, it was considered to be the finest family ever seen.

It happened upon a broiling day about the middle of July, during one of the hottest summers England had ever known, that Sir Matthew and Lady Dowling " entertained a party of distinguished fashionables" at dinner.

It may have been remarked by those who study such subjects, that there is a difference between a dinner-party given at such a grand mansion as that of Sir Matthew Dowling, and one at a dwelling of perhaps not a quarter the size, where the owners are of a different order of the aristocracy, having a longer pedigree, and a shorter purse. At both, probably, the banquet will be a costly one, yet the one entertainment will come off in a manner as unlike as possible to the other. There is something in the usual way of wearing stiff new-made grandeur, not far unlike that of wearing stiff new-made clothes. Neither the one nor the other sit easily.

At this splendid dinner at Dowling Lodge, the company consisted of a selection from the neighbouring families, made on the most legitimate principles of exclusiveness ; no family being invited who did not drive four horses at the races. To this there were indeed two exceptions. The first was the Right Honourable Lady Clarissa Shrimpton ; but this distinguished lady, though she drove only one pony instead of four horses, was considered by all the country round as the one thing needful to render a party completely elegant. She was, indeed, neither young, handsome, nor rich, but she was Lady Clarissa, and this was enough.

The other exception was to be found in the rotund person of Dr. Crockley, who having formerly been a celebrated quack, made a little fortune, and taken out a diploma, had lately married a beauty, and settled in the town of Ashleigh, where he was well pleased to pick up a few guinea fees, both as a public evidence of his being a real M.D., and as a private fund wherewith to indulge his still very tender passion, by buying finery for his pretty young wife.

This fat little gentleman was an especial favourite with Sir Matthew, chiefly on account of his jocund humour and ready laugh ; and also, perhaps, because he had a pleasant way, peculiar to himself, of paying compliments in the bluntest and most unstudied manner possible.

But, notwithstanding the presence of all these distinguished persons, the dinner moved on very slowly. Sir Matthew, indeed, was as brilliant as it was possible for any man to be under the circumstances, and Lady Clarissa, who did not scruple to declare that she was very partial to him, listened to all he said to her with as much attention at least as any lady could be expected to do, who was making one of sixteen at a dinner, where there were an equal number of dishes of hot meats reeking upon the table, and the thermometer standing at 87°. Dr. Crockley, too, laughed repeatedly ; but his laugh was like a Lucifer match that fails, just kindling and sputtering a little, but going out before it is able to communicate its light.

The very sight of the servants as they panted round the table, was quite enough to smother and stifle all inclination for enjoyment — their shoes creaked — their faces shone — ice became water — the salad looked as if it were stewed — the cucumbers seemed to have fainted away — the prodigious turbot smelt fishy, and its attendant lobster-sauce glowed not with a deeper tint, than did my Lady Dowling's cheeks as her nose caught the unfragrant gale. In short, it was a great dinner in the dog-days, and no more need be said of it.

Great was the inward satisfaction of every guest, when at last Lady Dowling rose, and gave signal that the party was to be divided in half. The languid ladies welcomed the coolness of the marble hall as they passed through it, and the gentlemen gazed eagerly at the butler as he brought forward a fresh supply of claret, and a reinforcement of ice. But the enjoyment of neither party lasted long; for Lady Dowling was too grand and too solemn not to marshal all her company into her fine drawing-room, where they were all ceremoniously deposited on satin sofas, amidst swelling pillows that might have defied the frosts of January ; while seven or eight hot-looking children were commanded to walk round the circle and kiss every body.

Nor did the gentlemen fare much better ; for scarcely had the drawing-room door closed after the ladies, before the shining baldhead of Dr. Crockley stretched itself up nearly to a level with the long-backed Sir Matthew's breast-pin, whilst, with a very ominous sort of growl, making itself heard before his lips opened, he first preluded, and then uttered the following speech.

" I don't like it, Sir Matthew. — I don't like this business at the "Weavers' Arms."

" What business, Doctor ?" replied his friend sharply. ""Why this meeting, Sir Matthew. I can't get the notion of a strike out of my head." Every chair was drawn towards the little doctor : nobody had heard a word of it. " Well, gentlemen, perhaps I am mistaken — perhaps there has been no meeting," resumed the friendly doctor. " God knows, I don't wish to spoil the enjoyment of this delightful hour ; but at any rate, my good friends, it is as well for you to be on the look-out." Then lowering his voice, he muttered, as near to the ear of Sir Matthew as he could reach, " I know that your people are meeting, in doors and out of doors. But you are such a good, generous, kind-hearted creature, that I dare say we shall hear, before long, of your having done some d — d goodnatured thing or other, and that perhaps will set all right ; who knows?"

Sir Matthew gave an almost imperceptible nod, and pushed on the claret-jug; but the gaiety of the party had been effectually checked, and it was not long before the second richest man in company (Sir Matthew of course being the first) said, " I do think and believe, Sir Matthew, that my lady's coffee would do more to cool us than your wine." The opinion was not opposed, and, much earlier than usual, the gentlemen rose, and followed the ladies.

But this movement did not appear greatly to increase the enjoyment of either party. It was near nine o'clock, but the heat continued to be most oppressive, and the company being for the most part massive in all ways, their union produced more additional caloric than gaiety. The whole process seemed to have the power of turning the hours into molten lead as they passed, a portion of which appeared to drop, and weigh heavily on each individual head. In vain Sir Matthew made the circuit of the company, pausing in front either of the richest or handsomest ladies, as duty or inclination preponderated ; in vain he uttered his newest puns and freshest bon-mots — not one of them had strength to laugh, beyond a little feeble " he, he !" and even that was evidently a painful effort.

Things were in this state, when Lady Clarissa Shrimpton suddenly rose from the silken couch amidst whose pillows she was imbedded, and, without explaining her intentions to my Lady Dowling, or any one else, darted through the open French-window, and out upon the well-shaven lawn.

Had it been possible that any one in the room could have been ignorant of the rank of Lady Clarissa, he must from that moment have felt an innate conviction that she was somebody ; for nobody that was not somebody could have ventured upon so daring an escapade from such a solemn presence-chamber. The effect it produced was electric. Sir Matthew darted across the room with the eagerness of a man of gallantry and gaiety. He piqued himself upon being, of all the great men in the neighbourhood, the one upon whom Lady Clarissa bestowed the most attention. His estimate of the outward advantages of his extensive person was indeed not a low one ; and, despite all his lady could do to crush such an odious idea, he was conscious that he was devoted to the fair sex, and flattered himself that the fair sex was not ungrateful. In fact, his general manner to ladies had a good deal of what in female slang is called swaining ; but to Lady Clarissa it was certainly something more. Had she been simply Miss Shrimpton, it is probable that, notwithstanding her great mental advantages, she would never have been exposed to the danger of this fascinating distinction, for she was nearly forty years old, had a sharp nose, and was deplorably thin. But Sir Matthew was not a man to be insensible to the charm of getting talked of in the neighbourhood about his devotion to Lady Clarissa any body, even had she been a skeleton with a Gorgon's head. There was, however, independently of her bewitching title, a charm in her conversation and character, to which the knight was peculiarly sensible. Her ladyship was celebrated for her devotion both to literature and art ; and she permitted all the world to know, for indeed she never ceased to repeat it, that talent of every kind was to her an object of idolatry. Now Sir Matthew knew that he was full of talent — poetical talent, pictorial talent, epigrammatic talent, every kind of talent, and it was certainly very delightful to be appreciated by such a superior creature as Lady Clarissa. So strongly indeed did this intellectual sympathy between them occasionally manifest itself, that not even the sharp elbows and red-tipped nose of the noble lady, who, to borrow the phrase of an inimitable describer, was in every sense " preter-blve perfect," could render Lady Dowling quite easy respecting the nature of the friendship. Nor was it without something like a pang that she marked the sudden alacrity of movement with which Sir Matthew now strode across the floor to accompany Lady Clarissa in the extraordinary frolic which led her, in white satin shoes and a gauze dress, to exchange the drawing-room for the garden, at nine o'clock in the evening.

But upon this occasion, as upon many others, Lady Dowling found consolation in the well-known fact, that Lady Clarissa rarely moved a step without being obsequiously attended by her humble companion, Miss Mogg. This young lady had been selected to fill her present enviable situation, principally from her appeaiance, though she was indeed by no means void of many other qualifications admirably suited to it. But in appearance she was a striking contrast to her tall and slender patroness; and, notwithstanding Lady Clarissa's mental superiority, she was not insensible to the advantage of having a foil that should set off the charms upon which she particularly prided herself. Lady Clarissa had a thin, narrow foot, and an ancle that resembled nothing so much as the leg of a Robin red-breast ; the person of Miss Mogg was supported on shafts that told her Saxon origin, and feet that need not have shrunk from sustaining an ox. Lady Clarissa's slender waist might have been encircled by a ring of six inches diameter ; a cestus of nearly double the span had often gone nigh to suffocate her plump companion. The throat of Lady Clarissa had not only all the flexile length of the swan's, but might even be said to resemble that of the stork in its proportions ; while the head of Miss Mogg was separated from her shoulders by an interval so trifling, as hardly to be perceptible at all. The hair of her ladyship, though not very abundant, was as black as ink, and its straighten ature enabled her to lay it in classic bands upon her forehead, furnishing a graceful foundation for the wreath of oak leaves with which, in judicious imitation of Domenichino's exquisite head of Sappho, she usually adorned herself when in full dress : while Miss Mogg, on the contrary, had a bushy abundance of flaxen curls, which gave a round fussy sort of contour to her face, that could not fail of setting off to advantage the severer outline of the noble lady ; and, in a word, the contrast was altogether perfect.