d, choosing his material, mixing
his colours, and timing his work with exact felicity. And when he had
found the right way he had the rare skill to communicate his knowledge
to others and thus to train them for the work.

Queen Square, Bloomsbury, was the first scene of his labours; but as the
firm prospered and the demands for their work grew, Morris found the
premises too small. At one time he had hopes of finding a suitable spot
near the old cloth-working towns at the foot of the Cotswolds, where
pure air and clear water were to be found; but the conditions of trade
made it necessary for him to be nearer to London. In 1881 he bought an
old silk-weaving mill at Merton near Wimbledon, on the banks of the
Wandle, and this is still the centre of the work.

To study special industries, or to execute a special commission, he was
often obliged to make long journeys to the north of England or
elsewhere; but the routine of his life consisted in daily travelling
between his house at Hammersmith and the mills at Merton, which was
more tiresome than it is to-day owing to the absence of direct connexion
between these districts. But his energy overbore these obstacles; and,
except when illness prevented him, he remained punctual in his
attendance to business and in close touch with all his workers. Towards
them Morris was habitually generous. The weaker men were kept on and
paid by time, long after they had ceased to produce remunerative work,
while the more capable were in course of time admitted as profit-sharers
into the business. Every man who worked under him had to be prepared for
occasional outbursts of impatient temper, when Morris spoke, we are
told, rather as a good workman scornful of bad work, than as an employer
finding fault with his men; but in the long run all were sure to receive
fair and friendly treatment.

Such was William Morris at his Merton works, a master craftsman worthy
of the best traditions of the Middle Ages, fit to hold his place with
the masons of Chartres, the weavers of Bruges, and the wood-carvers of
Nuremberg. As a manager of a modern industrial firm competing with
others for profit he was less successful. The purchasing of the best
material, the succession of costly experiments, the 'scrapping' of all
imperfect work, meant a heavy drain on the capital. Also the society had
been hurriedly formed without proper safeguards for fairly recompensing
the various members according to their work; and w