he was
one of the most honourable and capable men in Yorkshire: even those who disliked
him were forced to respect him. He was much beloved by the poor, because he was
thoroughly kind and very fatherly to them. To his workmen he was considerate and
cordial: when he dismissed them from an occupation, he would try to set them on
to something else; or, if that was impossible, help them to remove with their
families to a district where work might possibly be had. It must also be
remarked that if, as sometimes chanced, any individual amongst his hands showed
signs of insubordination, Yorke - who, like many who abhor being controlled,
knew how to control with vigour - had the secret of crushing rebellion in the
germ, of eradicating it like a bad weed, so that it never spread or developed
within the sphere of his authority. Such being the happy state of his own
affairs, he felt himself at liberty to speak with the utmost severity of those
who were differently situated; to ascribe whatever was unpleasant in their
position entirely to their own fault, to sever himself from the masters, and
advocate freely the cause of the operatives.
    Mr. Yorke's family was the first and oldest in the district; and he, though
not the wealthiest, was one of the most influential men. His education had been
good; in his youth, before the French Revolution, he had travelled on the
continent: he was an adept in the French and Italian languages. During a two
years' sojourn in Italy, he had collected many good paintings and tasteful
rarities, with which his residence was now adorned. His manners, when he liked,
were those of a finished gentleman of the old school; his conversation, when he
was disposed to please, was singularly interesting and original; and if he
usually expressed himself in the Yorkshire dialect, it was because he chose to
do so, preferring his native Doric to a more refined vocabulary. »A Yorkshire
burr,« he affirmed, »was as much better than a Cockney's lisp, as a bull's
bellow than a ratton's squeak.«
    Mr. Yorke knew every one, and was known by every one for miles round; yet
his intimate acquaintance were very few. Himself thoroughly original, he had no
taste for what was ordinary: a racy, rough character, high or low, ever found
acceptance with him; a refined, insipid personage, however exalted in station,
was his aversion. He would spend an hour any time in talking freely with a
shrewd workman of his