Elihu Burritt

“ One might think that a miner who had grubbed in coal-seams fifty fathoms under-ground for six days in the week, if he was a devout man, would feel himself at "a half-way house on the road to heaven" when standing the seventh on this Beulah hill of a new world. This common pasture for man and beast, which yields such fresh pure air for the one, and sweet though short grazing for the other, contains about 500 acres, all perfectly safe and secure as a common inheritance of the inhabitants of the villages below, and as a field of recreation for the people of the country around. ”

“ Such is part of the story of Dud Dudley, told in his own words. Such was the angry opposition he met in his attempt to utilize the vast deposits of coal, ten yards deep, in the Black Country, in working its iron mines. And this persecution from ironmasters and their men he suffered, when the wood of the district had nearly all been consumed, and when there was not a mile of canal or railway for the importation of charcoal from a distance. Such a sturdy hero, who fought one of the great decisive battles against the forces of pig-headed ignorance, stupidity, and prejudice, deserves a monument. ”

“ The park is more classical in aspect than the mansion itself, which is a portly, rectangular, modern-looking building externally, looking more like the pretentious house of a retired manufacturer than the country-seat of one of the most scholarly noblemen of England. ”

“ Having surveyed The Black Country from Dudley Castle, the tourist or visiter of the district should go immediately to another view-tower but a few miles distant, which commands a scenery of remarkable contrast with the iron region of fire and smoke. This is the Clent Hills, in or rather over Hagley. It is doubtful if such a contrast can be found elsewhere in any country. It is a contrast which affects equally all the senses and faculties of enjoyment, and therefore all the more difficult to describe. ”

“ Some portions of it are built upon hills uplifted above the smoke of the valley, but still enveloped thinly with smoke of their own making; for furnaces or forges are planted like redoubts on the ridgy eminences. As nearly every one of the towns and villages in the district is carrying on the iron and coal business in common with all the others, each is nevertheless distinguished by some special branch of manufacture. Perhaps the distinctive speciality of Dudley is Wright's Anvil and Vice factory. The anvil business has been carried on by the Wright family for 200 years. ”

“ The fingers of the Creator made the first garment for man, but He left to human hands the clothing of naked Nature; and these are the beautiful garments they have worked for her—dresses how varied of green and gold and of every tint the rainbow's pallet can blend and bring to the adornment! ”

“ Never was there a better natural site for a romance, and I wonder some novelist has not made it the scene of one. Doubtless the moral material might be found in the history of the Dudley family.
The special and more immediate gift of the present Earl to the town is the most costly and superb fountain yet erected in England. As a work of art it ranks among the best specimens of the latest school of design and execution. ”

“ The oriental potentate, who owns and fleeces an immense flock of human sheep, penned in hovels and pastured in cheaply-made wilds, was so pleased with this great work of art and industry, as to order a spiral stairway of glass from the same firm, to ascend from the hall-floor of his palace to its dome. ”

“ In 1866 there was a local Exhibition of Arts and Industry in Dudley for the benefit of an object of great interest to the people. The most skilful artisans and eminent manufacturers contributed their best specimens to this exposition. The Earl was a distinguished exhibitor in both of his capacities—as one of the largest iron manufacturers in the district and also as one of the wealthiest noblemen of the realm, in possession of the choicest and rarest works of art. ”

“ This is an excellent institution: it is one of the thousand acorns planted here and there over the kingdom a century ago, which have grown into great outspreading oaks of strength, refuge, and protection for thousands of poor men's children of this generation. The school is always full, as it is sure to be; and the property on which it is founded is constantly increasing; for the oak is watered and fostered by the busy industries of the district, and the pick-men, forge-men, and furnace-men at their toil strengthen and lengthen its branches. ”

“ Then there is another coincidence that gives the aspect of real fact to the illusion. The Earl of Dudley, who owns the Castle and nearly all that can be seen from it with the naked eye, is a veritable Vulcan in himself. He not only owns many of the coal and iron mines of the district, but is one of the most extensive iron-workers in South Staffordshire. And it is a distinctive peculiarity of his Vulcanic operations, that he works his own minerals exclusively and only. The iron ore, coal, and lime are all his own, taken from his own estates. ”

“ Peter Wright, introduced, some years ago, a great improvement, for which he obtained a patent. It simply consists in making the anvil of one solid piece of iron; whereas, by the old system, the different parts were made separately and then welded together. This was a difficult and unsatisfactory process, for frequently the weld would not be perfect in some places, and the hammer and sledge would ere long find out the defect, for the anvil would ring like a cracked bell under their strokes, and after awhile the horn or beck would go sheer by the board. ”

“ Chain-making is another manufacture of Dudley, of great perfection and extent. Samuel Lewis, another name well-known by the hardware dealers in America, is one of the oldest and largest manufacturers of the town in this department. He turns out chains of every size and use, from the halter of a ship-of-the-line to that of a Scotch terrier. Hand-made nails constitute another large business, but as it more especially distinguishes other towns, the notice of it may be more properly reserved until we come to speak of them. ”

“ Stourbridge sustains a very important relation not only to all the iron and other metal works of England, but of the United States and other countries. Its fire-clay is the best yet found in the world, and its value to furnace and forge can hardly be over-estimated. ”

“ He was a generous and genial patron of these two kinds of literature, and attracted the companionship, and encouraged the labours, and stimulated the genius of eminent writers and artists. There are several monuments standing among the trees of the park, erected to some of these poets and men of mark. The present Lord Lyttelton, a greater, if not more productive, scholar than the ancestor who first won the title he has inherited, is a man of large and active ability, which he devotes to every good word and work for the well-being of the people, especially the working classes. ”

“ One could almost wish that they might be allowed to revisit the earth and see the trees of their planting at their full growth and worth. Still thousands do see these trees at their growth, and can go forth and plant acorns by sight which the good men of the olden years planted by faith, without knowing, as we know, what would come of it. ”

“ With his unlimited capital, and all the machinery and other means it could command, he raised the standard and recovered the prestige, producing an article which brought a higher price than any other branded house in the district realizes. It is a token of a very interesting industrial copartnership or connexion to see a large invoice of iron to an edge-tool-making company in a Massachusetts village, bearing the name and arms of "The Earl of Dudley" as manufacturer. ”

“ After I had made a second blast and tryal, the fesibility of making Iron with Pit-cole and Sea-cole I found by my new invention, the quality to be good and profitable, but the quantity did not exceed 3 Tuns per week. After I had brought my Invention into some perfection, and profitable. I doubted not in the future to have advanced my Invention to make quantity also. ”

“ It conveys a good, healthy suggestion, that one of the very wealthiest noblemen in England supplies the hammers of a New England axe factory from his own mines and furnaces worked by himself. And no better test could be applied to the quality of the iron he manufactures than its exclusive use by the Douglas Edge Tool Manufacturing Company in Massachusetts, which probably turns out the best implements of the kind to be found in the world. ”

“ Stourbridge has been distinguished for the perfection and extent of its glass manufacture, in which there are about a dozen houses engaged. As a proof of the excellence to which they have raised the art, one of these firms. ”

“ He is Lord-Lieutenant of Worcestershire, and that and every other public duty devolving upon him he performs with assiduous devotion and ability. It may be gratifying to all interested in a name so intimately connected with classical literature to learn the fact, that its present noble incumbent has made ample provision for its perpetuation. ”

“ They are then apprenticed to different trades and the premium is paid for them. If they behave and do well, at the end of their apprenticeship they are furnished with certain sums of money to aid them in setting up businesses for themselves. ”