Few men, perhaps, have ever conferred so great a benefit on their country and reaped so little profit for themselves as Samuel Crompton, inventor of the Spinning Mule. He was born at Firwood, in the township of Tonge near Bolton, where his parents occupied a farm, and spent their leisure hours according to the custom of the period--in the operations of carding, spinning, and weaving. Soon after the birth of Samuel, the Cromptons removed to a cottage near Lower Wood in the same township, and afterwards, when their child was five years old, to a portion of the neighbouring ancient mansion called Hall-in-the-Wood. Almost immediately after this last removal Samuel's father died, at the early age of thirty seven, and he was left to be brought up under the care of his mother, a prudent and virtuous woman, who took care that her son should have the benefit of all available means of education. Samuel first attended the school of Mr. Lever in Church Street, Bolton, but was very early removed to the school of William Barlow, a master well known at that time for his success as a teacher of writing, arithmetic, and the higher branches of mathematics. From the exigencies of her situation, Mrs. Crompton was compelled to take advantage of her son's assistance, as soon as she possibly could, and there is little doubt that Samuel's legs must have been accustomed to the loom almost as soon as they were long enough to touch the treddles. Little, however, is known of his early life until the year 1769. He was then sixteen years old, and continued to reside with his mother, occupied during the day at the loom and spending his evenings at a school in Bolton, where he advanced his knowledge of algebra, mathematics, and trigonometry. For some years previous to this period there had been a greatly increased demand for all kinds of cotton goods, particularly for imitations of the fine muslins imported from India; and many attempts were made by the manufacturers in Lancashire and Scotland to produce similar fabrics, but without success, for the handspun yarn of this country could not compete with the delicate filaments produced by Hindoo fingers. Still, the demand for fine cottons of various kinds was so considerable, that the weavers, for the sake of high wages, were stimulated to make great exertions. But they were continually impeded by the scarcity of yarn for weft, which often kept them idle half their time, or compelled them to collect it in small quantities from the cottages round about.