Question

In this excerpt from The Life of Charlotte Brontë by Elizabeth Gaskell, what does the author mean by the sentence “The West Riding men are sleuth-hounds in pursuit of money”?
The West Riding men are sleuth-hounds in pursuit of money. Miss Brontë related to my husband a curious instance illustrative of this eager desire for riches. A man that she knew, who was a small manufacturer, had engaged in many local speculations, which had always turned out well, and thereby rendered him a person of some wealth

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Answer 1

The author means to highlight greed as one the main characteristics of the "West Rising Men", who are also described as "sleuth-hounds", meaning they are nothing but agents hired by an investigator to do the dirty work in exchange for money -regardless of their own judgement.

The author also exemplifies the actions of a small manufacturer as a means to evidence her previous claim.

Answer 2

The statement 'The West Riding men are sleuth-hounds in pursuit of money' means that the riders from the west (or in layman's term, cowboys) are only interested gaining wealth or money. They are money-hungry people who'd find ways to make themselves as rich as possible.