stock had been disposed of, handed the money to the party in charge of the cart. Two days afterwards, namely, on the evening of the 30th July, an assemblage of the populace collected in the village of Oldham, under the delusive hope that the vengeance they denounced against the dealers in provisions would reduce their price, never reflecting for a moment that the scarcity of the article was the obvious cause of its high rate of value. The crowd, chiefly composed of women and boys, demolished the windows of Messrs. John Taylor, Primrose bank, Richard Broome, Joseph Bradley, Robert Mayall, and Abram Jackson, provision dealers. The following morning Joseph Pickford, Esq., magistrate, of Royton, arrived in Oldham at an early hour, and shortly afterwards a troop of light horse from Manchester took up their quarters in the place for a few hours. A large crowd again collected, but chiefly to gaze at the soldiery. Several of the rioters of the previous evening being taken into custody, were committed to the Salford gaol, but whilst being conveyed there, under an escort of the military, and when near the Methodist chapel, the mob attempted to rescue the prisoners. This effort, however, proved unsuccessful, and terminated in several of the rioters being wounded by the firing of the pistols and the slashing of the swords of their opponents. On the succeeding Saturday, August 1st, 1795, there were indications of a renewal of the outrages, but Sir Watts Horton, Bart., magistrate, of Chadderton, addressing the populace in a kind and considerate manner on the folly of such tumults, the crowd were prevailed upon to disperse. On the following Tuesday, August 4th, a great number of people from Saddleworth marched through Oldham to the corn mill at Edge lane, Royton, professedly for the purpose of destroying that building, but being treated in a mild and free spirit by the owner, they desisted from their object, and returned to Oldham, where they visited the shops of the provision dealers, and by their alarming conduct induced the tradesmen to lower the price of provisions. On the 6th of the

138