read and write, "nevertheless," as Thomas Carlyle says of him, "the man had notions in his own rough head." His discovery of a method of preparing and dyeing hair for the wig-maker, lifted him out of the cellar-shop and into the highway. Hair-buying took him among the poorest workmen in the cotton-spinning district. As he went from hamlet to hamlet he heard talk of the need for a better and more rapid method of spinning. The yarn was not only insufficient in quantity but was so poor in quality that flax had to be used for warp. The all-cotton fabrics had to be imported from India, and were very expensive. Arkwright saw that Hargreave's jenny could spin eight threads at once, but that the yarn was still inferior.
He had once been through a rolling mill and seen iron bars lengthened and strengthened by being forced through rolls. Why not apply the process to cotton? He had a little money laid by, but he had no knowledge of mechanics. So he employed a clock-maker to construct his machine The first part of it consisted of two sets of rolls turning on each other like those of a clothes wringer. One roll of each pair was of steel, finely ground, the other was covered with leather. The filaments of the cotton plant were drawn through the grooves, spun and compressed. Spindles then took the yarn and stretched and. twisted it. Fearing the spinning frame he had invented might be destroyed, he took it to Nottingham and began to use his yarn in hosiery mills. He obtained his first patent the same year, 1769, that Watt secured his on the separate condenser stationary engine. And Arkwright was one of the first to operate a factory by steam power. He made the first all-cotton fabrics produced in England. His wonderful invention inspired the jealousy of rivals, his patents were attacked and declared void, and he was compelled to pay duty by having his goods classed as East Indian calicoes. His spinning frame was copied with impunity. However, they "couldn't copy his mind." In 1775, Arkwright took out new patents on machines for equipping an entire textile factory. It is said that no other patent ever issued was so comprehensive, and covered so many distinct mechanical inventions, all necessary to the processes of one industry. It covered every stage of manufacture from the raw fibre to the finished fabric ready for the merchants' shelves, and provided for various weaves and mixtures of cotton with wool, silk and flax.
Many biographers have scant appreciation of the man, while admitting his genius and the value of his inventions. He won a fortune and a knighthood, and he educated himself to fit his new station in life, employing private tutors and giving an hour each day to study after he was fifty years old. His force of character and executive ability are shown in his organizing the factory system. Before Arkwright's time spinning was a cottage industry, and much of the weaving was also done in private houses. The -workmen labored irregularly, and the product was far from uniform in quality. Arkwright brought his workmen under a factory roof, compelled cleanliness, order and regularity of hours, and established standards in quality and quantity of fabrics produced. His cotton factory at Crawford became the model system which other plants that were to prosper had to adopt. He put into practice the principles of industrial economy that Adam Smith taught—the saving accomplished by organized, disciplined division of labor.
Aside from London, the county of Lancashire is to-day the most populous and prosperous part of England. When Arkwright patented his invention, the county had only 600,000 people. To-day Liverpool, the greatest cotton market in the world, has a greater population; and Manchester, the largest cotton manufacturing city, has nearly as many. The county has a population of nearly 7,000,000. For a century and a quarter Lancashire has grown and thriven chiefly on Arkwright's, inventions, and there are few people on the globe who have not profited by them. It must be admitted, however, that the inventor was not disinterested. He never sacrificed his own interests or did anything by intention to endear himself to an admiring and grateful world. See Heroes of Science, by T. C. Lewis, M.A.
Arlington, Mass., an attractive residential town in Middlesex County, situated on the Boston & Maine R, R., about seven miles northwest of Boston and connected with it by an electric railway. It has numerous fine buildings, including a well-equipped public library. Its chief industries besides market gardening, are ice-cutting and ice-tool manufacturing. Settled about the year 1650, it received its present name in 1867. See Cutter's History of the Town of Arlington. Population (1910), 11,187.
Arma'da, Spanish, the great expedition sent out against England in 1588 by-Philip of Spain. England was at this time the bulwark of the Protestant faith, and for this reason Philip, who was the great Catholic champion, desired to crush her. For many months the Spanish nation used all its energies in gathering a mighty force, and in July, 1588, the fleet, of 150 vessels, carrying over 19,000 soldiers and 8,460 sailors, besides slaves as rowers, and armed with 2,431 cannon, set sail from Spain, under command of the Duke of Medina-Sidonia. His project was to sail through the Channel and pick up at Flanders,
