advantage of his native country, and Sir Thomas was resolved to
venture his money, and to furnish his brother with whatever sums

should be necessary for executing so bold and so generous a
design. His brother went accordingly over to Italy; and after a

long stay and a great expense in that country, he found means to
see this engine so often, and to pry into the nature of it so

narrowly, that he made himself master of the whole invention and
of all the different parts and motions belonging to it."

John Lombe was absent from England for several years. While
occupied with his investigations and making his drawings, it is

said that it began to be rumoured that the Englishman was prying
into the secret of the silk mill, and that he had to fly for his

life. However this may be, he got on board an English ship, and
returned to England in safety. He brought two Italian workmen

with him, accustomed to the secrets of the silk trade. He
arrived in London in 1716, when, after conferring with his

brother, a specification was prepared and a patent for the
organzining of raw silk was taken out in 1718. The patent was

granted for fourteen years.
In the meantime, John Lombe arranged with the Corporation of the

town of Derby for taking a lease of the island or swamp on the
river Derwent, at a ground rental of 8L. a year. The island,

which was well situated for water-power, was 500 feet long and 52
feet wide. Arrangements were at once made for erecting a silk

mill thereon, the first large factory in England. It was
constructed entirely at the expense of his brother Thomas. While

the building was in progress, John Lombe hired various rooms in
Derby, and particularly the Town Hall, where he erected temporary

engines turned by hand, and gave employment to a large number of
poor people.

At length, after about three years' labour, the great silk mill
was completed. It was founded upon huge piles of oak, from 16 to

20 feet long, driven into the swamp close to each other by an
engine made for the purpose. The building was five stories high,

contained eight large apartments, and had no fewer than 468
windows. The Lombes must have had great confidence in their

speculation, as the building and the great engine for making the
organzine silk, together with the other fittings, cost them about

30,000L.
One effect of the working of the mill was greatly to reduce the

price of the thrown-silk, and to bring it below the cost of the
Italian production. The King of Sardinia, having heard of the

success of the Lombe's undertaking, prohibited the exportation of
Piedmontese raw silk, which interrupted the course of their

prosperity, until means were taken to find a renewed supply
elsewhere.

And now comes the tragic part of the story, for which Mr. Hutton,
the author of the 'History of Derby,' is responsible. As he

worked in the silk mill when a boy, from 1730 to 1737, he
doubtless heard it from the mill-hands, and there may be some

truth in it, though mixed with a little romance. It is this:-
Hutton says of John Lombe, that he "had not pursued this

lucrative commerce more than three or four years when the
Italians, who felt the effects from their want of trade,

determined his destruction, and hoped that that of his works
would follow. An artful woman came over in the character of a

friend, associated with the parties, and assisted in the
business. She attempted to gain both the Italian workmen, and

succeeded with one. By these two slow poison was supposed, and
perhaps justly, to have been administered to John Lombe, who

lingered two or three years in agony, and departed. The Italian
ran away to his own country; and Madam was interrogated, but

nothing transpired, except what strengthened suspicion." A
strange story, if true.

Of the funeral, Hutton says:-- "John Lombe's was the most superb
ever known in Derby. A man of peaceabledeportment, who had

brought a beneficial manufactory into the place, employed the
poor, and at advanced wages, could not fail meeting with respect,

and his melancholy end with pity. Exclusive of the gentlemen who
attended, all the people concerned in the works were invited.

The procession marched in pairs, and extended the length of Full
Street, the market-place, and Iron-gate; so that when the corpse

entered All Saints, at St. Mary's Gate, the last couple left the
house of the deceased, at the corner of Silk-mill Lane."

Thus John Lombe died and was buried at the early age of
twenty-nine; and Thomas, the capitalist, continued the owner of

the Derby silk mill. Hutton erroneously states that William
succeeded, and that he shot himself. The Lombes had no brother

of the name of William, and this part of Hutton's story is a
romance.

The affairs of the Derby silk mill went on prosperously. Enough
thrown silk was manufactured to supply the trade, and the weaving

of silk became a thriving business. Indeed, English silk began
to have a European reputation. In olden times it was said that

"the stranger buys of the Englishman the case of the fox for a
groat, and sells him the tail again for a shilling." But now the

matter was reversed, and the saying was, "The Englishman buys
silk of the stranger for twenty marks, and sells him the same

again for one hundred pounds."
But the patent was about to expire. It had been granted for only

fourteen years; and a long time had elapsed before the engine
could be put in operation, and the organzine manufactured. It

was the only engine in the kingdom. Joshua Gee, writing in 1731,
says: "As we have but one Water Engine in the kingdom for

throwing silk, if that should be destroyed by fire or any other
accident, it would make the continuance of throwing fine silk

very precarious; and it is very much to be doubted whether all
the men now living in the kingdom could make another." Gee

accordingly recommended that three or four more should be erected
at the public expense, "according to the model of that at

Derby."[5]
The patentexpired in 1732. The year before, Sir Thomas Lombe,

who had been by this time knighted, applied to Parliament for a
prolongation of the patent. The reasons for his appeal were

principally these: that before he could provide for the full
supply of other silk proper for his purpose (the Italians having

prohibited the exportation of raw silk), and before he could
alter his engine, train up a sufficient number of workpeople, and

bring the manufacture to perfection, almost all the fourteen
years of his patent right would have expired. "Therefore," the

petition to Parliament concluded, "as he has not hitherto
received the intended benefit of the aforesaid patent, and in

consideration of the extraordinary nature of this undertaking,
the very great expense, hazard, and difficulty he has undergone,

as well as the advantage he has thereby procured to the nation at
his own expense, the said Sir Thomas Lombe humbly hopes that

Parliament will grant him a further term for the sole making and
using his engines, or such other recompense as in their wisdom

shall seem meet."[6]
The petition was referred to a Committee. After consideration,

they recommended the House of Commons to grant a further term of
years to Sir Thomas Lombe. The advisers of the King, however,

thought it better that the patent should not be renewed, but that
the trade in silk should be thrown free to all. Accordingly the

Chancellor of the Exchequer acquainted the House (14th March,
1731) that "His Majesty having been informed of the case of Sir

Thomas Lombe, with respect to his engine for making organzine
silk, had commanded him to acquaint this House, that His Majesty

recommended to their consideration the making such provision for
a recompense to Sir Thomas Lombe as they shall think proper."

The result was, that the sum of 14,000L. was voted and paid to
Sir Thomas Lombe as "a reward for his eminent services done to