"What made the quartern loaf and Luddites rise?" JAMES SMITH. We purpose re-writing the history of the Luddites. In doing so we shall avail ourselves to some extent of the brief accounts already written, but our narrative will be founded largely on information gathered from the newspapers of the period and from the lips of some of the few surviving old people who witnessed the stirring events of that dark and cheerless time. It is thought by some that the Luddites had their origin in Yorkshire, but many of our readers will be aware that risings of a similar character at Nottingham preceeded the lawless doings which took place in the West-riding; the discontent here being tanned into flame by the apparent success which attended the risings in the capital of the lace trade, the two being in fact closely connected. In order that our readers may be acquainted with the wide-spread character of the Luddite conspiracy, we have thought it better to devote one or two of the opening chapters to a general account of the risings. Though these may perhaps not be so interesting as those in which we shall deal with the disturbances in our own locality, they are still necessary to a proper understanding of the origin and progress of the movement. |