mother, under foreboding of coming evil, and
a manhood drenched and blighted by the pitiless descent of the storm,
could painfully impress the mind, _his_ probably was impressed in no
golden characters.

If, however, he had a great end of restoration in view, it was not in
his power to employ great means for its attainment. He was obliged to be
content with the day of small things. When he came to Yorkshire,
he--whose ancestors had owned warehouses in this seaport, and factories
in that inland town, had possessed their town-house and their
country-seat--saw no way open to him but to rent a cloth-mill in an
out-of-the-way nook of an out-of-the-way district; to take a cottage
adjoining it for his residence, and to add to his possessions, as
pasture for his horse, and space for his cloth-tenters, a few acres of
the steep, rugged land that lined the hollow through which his
mill-stream brawled. All this he held at a somewhat high rent (for these
war times were hard, and everything was dear) of the trustees of the
Fieldhead estate, then the property of a minor.

At the time this history commences, Robert Moore had lived but two years
in the district, during which period he had at least proved himself
possessed of the quality of activity. The dingy cottage was converted
into a neat, tasteful residence. Of part of the rough land he had made
garden-ground, which he cultivated with singular, even with Flemish,
exactness and care. As to the mill, which was an old structure, and
fitted up with old machinery, now become inefficient and out of date, he
had from the first evinced the strongest contempt for all its
arrangements and appointments. His aim had been to effect a radical
reform, which he had executed as fast as his very limited capital would
allow; and the narrowness of that capital, and consequent check on his
progress, was a restraint which galled his spirit sorely. Moore ever
wanted to push on. "Forward" was the device stamped upon his soul; but
poverty curbed him. Sometimes (figuratively) he foamed at the mouth when
the reins were drawn very tight.

In this state of feeling, it is not to be expected that he would
deliberate much as to whether his advance was or was not prejudicial to
others. Not being a native, nor for any length of time a resident of the
neighbourhood, he did not sufficiently care when the new inventions
threw the old workpeople out of employ. He never asked himself where
those to whom he no longer