Page:English Historical Review Volume 37.djvu/405

1922 The enforced concentration of Oldknow upon his enterprise at Mellor opened a new phase in his career which lasted for the remaining thirty years of his life, for the history of which down to 1812 the material is fairly abundant. We cannot better take leave of him on the threshold of this decisive change than by citing a document that strikingly illustrates the difference between the new phase and the old. It is a rough estimate of the main outlines of the new factory economy dated August 1798.

"Rent of Mellor Mill 1,600 (£) a year"

"That 12d. a lb. on 3,700 is the real cost of Spinning and £1 10s. 0d. over."