THERE are few of us who are not acquainted with the touching story which records the invention of the " stocking-frame "—how, in 1589, William Lee, who had been expelled from St. John's College, Cambridge, for marrying contrary to the statutes, sat in his humble home and read while his wife was knitting stockings to contribute to their task which he now foresaw, if completed, would lead to fortune—a consideration which resulted in the supercession not only of the knitting but of the lady also. Whichever of these stories be true, it is certain that William Lee invented the first " stocking-frame," and that, instead of being knitted of coarse woollen yarn or cut out of linen or silk cloth, and sewn together, hose were woven of a more perfect shape and with a greatly superior fabric. It is said that Queen Elizabeth herself visited the inventor at his lodgings in Bunhill-fields, saw him at work, and accepted a specimen of his skill. Those were the days of patronage; and the expectations of William Lee might well have been inordinately raised when Sir W. Carey, willing to participate in the expected profits, bound himself as an apprentice to the new trade. But these high-flown anticipations were ill-founded, and, after waiting in vain for the assistance both of Elizabeth and James, Lee transferred himself and his invention to France, and established a factory at Rouen. Here again he was doomed to disappointment. The King was murdered, the Protestant persecutions began, and the skilful mechanician died heartbroken and in poverty. His effigy still survives in the arms of the Framework-knitters' Company, which consist of a stocking-loom, supported on one side by a clergyman and on the other by a woman presenting an unused knitting-skewer. From the time of William Lee to the present day the history of the stocking trade has been the most romantic in our commercial annals. Innumerable improvements and a constantly-increasing production have raised this branch of industry to a position of national importance, although its progress has been marked by a blind opposition on the part of the operatives, which has sometimes threatened to extinguish it altogether. From 1730, when the first pair of cotton stockings were produced, till 1817, the vicissitudes of its fortunes were most varied and interesting, since they comprised the constant and patient endeavours of inventors to effect improvements on the one hand, and the fearful and destructive riots of the Luddites on the other—a state of affairs which in 1811 produced an Act of Parliament making it death to break a stocking or lace frame, a piece of legislation which seems utterly to have failed in producing the desired result. The latest improvement in the manufacture of stockings bears no small resemblance to the first, since as William Lee achieved a victory over knitting, so Mr.Owen's invention is intended
to abolish the similarly tedious.process of darning. This improvement, too, seems to have had its origin in circumstances resembling those which first produced the "stocking frame" since we have been told that it was during one of those domestic occasions when a pile of wellworn hose is collected for their periodical mending that Mr. Owen's sympathies were aroused on behalf of the good housewives who are so frequently called upon to devote eyes, fingers, and patience to a most uncongenial task. Happily we live in times when it is not necessary to seek either royal or "distinguished" patronage to ensure the success of an invention which is likely to conduce to the public benefit or comfort. Given real utility and the means of rapid production, the result will be attained by public appreciation. Thus it is that the old town of Tewkesbury has recently started into fresh life, and is already the scene of renewed labour and activity. The fortunes of this ancient place have fluctuated strangely since the time when the Saxon hermit theot built his cell there, and since the two Dukes of Mercia founded the monastery whose collegiate sanctuary is still the parish church. The Wars of the Roses have given place to other and far different struggles, and the clatter of machinery and the daily fight for food have been going on in the ancient streets. In a general election, it is true, the borough has had its share of importance, but otherwise the advances of this age of progress have too little influenced either the well-being of the town or the prosperity of its inhabitants, for it has participated but scantily even in those improvements which have been effected in its own particular branch of industry, while Nottingham has apparently absorbed the greater part of the hosiery trade. Save the silk factory—established in the old theatre—it is many years since Tewkesbury has received any fresh commercial stimulus; and it is not too much to hope that the immense factory of the Patent Renewable Hosiery Company will be the means of restoring the fading fortunes of its hosiery trade, and of increasing the comfort of its poorer operatives. With respect to the building itself, although, like most other factories of any magnitude, its exterior presents but little architectural display, its very size constitutes a striking effect, and its immense chimney is one of the first objects seen on approaching the town. The internal arrangements are admirably contrived, both as to facilities for business and the comfort of the workpeople, of whom upwards of six hundred will shortly be employed. Our Illustation represents one of the principal frame-rooms, all of which are immense and lofty apartments, well lighted, well ventilated, and warmed by the hot air
apparatus. The peculiarity which at first strikes the visitor is the absolute cleanliness of the whole establishment, and the profound
silence, broken only by the strange sound emanating from some four hundred "stocking-frames." Of the advantages of the "renewable stockings" this is not the place to speak; but, if they fulfil all the qualities which are attributed to them by the inventors, our countrywomen will lose very little time in adopting their advice—" to darn no more."