Nor should it be forgotten, that every fibre passes through no less than
ten sets of machinery, hence, the united spindles and threads travel
through 1,000 miles a minute. The noise of their united frictions and
collisions, and the united hum of thousands of little spindles, each
revolving 4,000 times a minute, may, therefore, be accounted for, but can
never be conceived, unless heard in the midst of them.

It would be tedious to dwell on the well-known process of cotton
spinning; but as this manufactory produces the cleanest and most perfect
yarn made in England, of its numbers from 6 to 100, it may be worth while
to state, that this perfection appears to arise, from the systematic
perfection of all the machines, and from the astonishing cleanness of
every part of this great factory. The wheels are as bright as the grate
of a good housewife's drawing-room; every action is complete in its way,
and though cotton is a dusty article, yet I no where saw either dirt or
dust. At the same time, order prevails throughout, for as the main shaft
gives no respite to the carding, roving, and spinning machines, so every
attendant diligently and silently watches the lines of bobbins which are
performing their miraculous evolutions, while the other apparatus are
correcting and regulating the stages and steps of the production.

The whole is turned by eight or nine water wheels, of about twenty-four
feet diameter, and twenty feet in length. The fall is about twenty feet,
and the admirable contrivances of revolving balls (adopted in the
steam-engine) are affixed, to render the power uniform, by varying the
depth of the falling stream. In truth, it is one of the features of the
entire establishment, that all, that can be performed by machinery, is so
performed, and that the machinery is the very best for its purpose, and
in many instances which I witnessed, as true, as decided in its action.