invention, and a partnership was entered into with Arkwright, whose
road to fortune was now clear. The patent was secured in the name
of "Richard Arkwright, of Nottingham, clockmaker," and it is a
circumstance worthy of note, that it was taken out in 1769, the
same year in which Watt secured the patent for his steam-engine. A
cotton-mill was first erected at Nottingham, driven by horses; and
another was shortly after built, on a much larger scale, at
Cromford, in Derbyshire, turned by a water-wheel, from which
circumstance the spinning-machine came to be called the water-
frame.

Arkwright's labours, however, were, comparatively speaking, only
begun. He had still to perfect all the working details of his
machine. It was in his hands the subject of constant modification
and improvement, until eventually it was rendered practicable and
profitable in an eminent degree. But success was only secured by
long and patient labour: for some years, indeed, the speculation
was disheartening and unprofitable, swallowing up a very large
amount of capital without any result. When success began to appear
more certain, then the Lancashire manufacturers fell upon
Arkwright's patent to pull it in pieces, as the Cornish miners fell
upon Boulton and Watt to rob them of the profits of their steam-
engine. Arkwright was even denounced as the enemy of the working
people; and a mill which he built near Chorley was destroyed by a
mob in the presence of a strong force of police and military. The
Lancashire men refused to buy his materials, though they were
confessedly the best in the market. Then they refused to pay
patent-right for the use of his machines, and combined to crush him
in the courts of law. To the disgust of right-minded people,
Arkwright's patent was upset. After the trial, when passing the