I went to Audlem, because I wished to be at a place which had no dependence on Manchester. That was just the very place, I was told, because, although there had been ten families there employed in shoemaking, the distress in the manufacturing districts, where their shoes had found a market, had thrown them out of employment, and they were all either supported by the parish, or wandering about seeking for work. A very pretty independence it was, I said to the people there. At Chester I had engaged the Theatre for my lecture but it was the property of the Dean and Chapter, and had formed part of the Convent of St. Werburg, and I had speedy notice from their lessee, that the place was licensed for plays and interludes, and that the manager would not be permitted to let it for a lecture on the Corn Laws. Punch might squeak, and beat Judy there—licentious plays and broad farces might be performed there—but the ancient walls of St. Werburgh would be profaned if any voice was heard there denouncing the landlord laws! The news of the refusal soon spread through the ancient city, and I had a numerous meeting including a goodly attendance of farmers, in one of the Old Cloth Halls, erected when Chester fair was the great mart for manufacturers supplying the Principality of Wales. My Nantwich chartist friend followed me there, but did not venture to say anything, for the meeting went thoroughly with me. The same man appeared at a great meeting addressed by me, a few days afterwards, at Liverpool, but there the audience went so enthusiastically with me, that he could not muster courage to address it. The question arose, by whom were the men paid who thus "dodged" the movements of the League members and the lecturers, and attempted to disturb their meetings, whenever they saw, or thought they saw, any chance of success?
At the close of December I visited Chesterfield, and delivered an address in the large assembly-room, which
