ingenious, had many defects. It was, however, afterwards considerably improved and simplified, but was not in a state to be applied to general use, till it came under the hands of the ingenious Watt.

Mr Watt was a native of Greenock, and settled in Glasgow, as a maker of philosophical instruments, in 1757. He was appointed instrument-maker to the University, and thus became acquainted with Dr Black, then professor of medicine, and lecturer on chemistry in that University, who about this time published an account of his important and interesting discovery of latent heat. The knowledge of this discovery led Watt to reflect on the prodigious waste of heat in the steam-engine then in use, where steam was used merely for the purpose of creating a vacuum in the cylinder under the piston, and, for that end, was condensed in the cylinder itself, the piston being then forced down solely by atmospheric pressure. The cylinder was thus alternately warmed by the steam and cooled by the admission of cold water, to condense it; and the necessary consequence of this process was a profuse expenditure both of heat and of the fuel which produced the steam.

It happened that Watt was employed, in the year 1763, to repair a small working model of Newcomen's steam-engine, for Professor Anderson. He saw its defects, and studied how they might be remedied. He perceived the vast capabilities of an engine, moved by so powerful an agent as steam, if that agent could be properly applied. His scientific knowledge, as well as his mechanical ingenuity, was called forth. All the resources of his sagacious and philosophical mind were devoted to the task; and, after years of patient labour and costly experiments, which nearly exhausted his means, he succeeded in removing every difficulty, and making the steam-engine the most valuable instrument, for the application of power, which the world has ever known.

Three great improvements which Watt made in the steam-engine, are thus briefly described :—1st, The con

densation of the steam in a separate vessel: this increased the original powers of the engine, giving to the atmospheric pressure, and to the counter-weight, their full energy, while, at the same time, the waste of steam was greatly diminished. 2d, The employment of steampressure, instead of that of the atmosphere, by the admission of steam above as well as alternately below the piston this accomplished a still further diminution of the waste, and was fertile in other advantages. The third improvement was the double-impulse, by the employment of two cylinders instead of one, which may be considered as the finishing touch given to the engine, by which its action is rendered nearly as uniform as the water-wheel.

After Mr Watt had thus perfected the steam-engine, so as to adapt its mechanism to the production of a rotative motion, and the working of machinery, it was some time before it came into general use in manufacturing operations; but as soon as it was adopted as part of the factory system, it gave a prodigious additional impulse to a branch of industry, which had already arrived at a great pitch of prosperity, by means of the spinning machinery. "The steam-engine," says Mr Baines, "stands in the same relation to the spinning machines, as the heart does to the arms, hands, and fingers in the human frame; the latter perform every task of dexterity and labour; the former supplies them with all their vital energy." A French writer has drawn a still closer parallel between the animal mechanism and that of the steam-engine. "Heat," say he, "is the principle of its movement. It makes, in its different operations, a circulation like that of the blood in the veins, having valves that open and shut opportunely; it feeds and evacuates itself at proper intervals, and derives from its labour all that is necessary for its subsist

ence.

"

* Beledor, Architecture Hydraulique.

EIGHTH WEEK-TUESDAY.

CLOTHING. THE WOOLLEN MANUFACTURE-ITS BRITISH

HISTORY.

THE manufacture of wool, as it was probably among the first established in the world, so it was certainly more early than any other introduced into this country. It was known in Britain so far back as the period when the Romans were in possession of this country. That remarkable people, who carried the arts of civilized life in the train of their arms, having persuaded the rude and savage inhabitants of this island, not only to exchange the skins in which, when they used any dress, they had been hitherto clothed, for the more comfortable attire of their conquerors, but also to turn their attention to the art of weaving, a manufacture was established at Winchester, of sufficient magnitude to supply the Roman army; and there is reason to believe that, as long as the Romans remained in possession of the country, the manufacture was continued. From the period of their quitting it, till the commencement of the tenth century, there are no evidences, either direct or indirect, by means of which we can judge of the state of this manufacture; but, at the latter period, from the prices of wool, which are mentioned at the current rate of the fleece, there is reason to suppose that this article was cultivated with considerable attention. The demand for fine cloth, which seems to have been pretty general among the nobility, during the reign of Henry II., led to the introduction of Spanish wool; but this was soon prohibited by a statute which was framed for the encouragement of the British farmer, and the improvement of his wool. About the year 1240, the importation of fine cloth began to be encouraged; the consequence of which was, that English

wool, being in some measure deprived of the home market, was sent to Flanders, where it was manufactured.

This kind of traffic subsisted about a hundred years without interruption, till, about the year 1330, the English began seriously to encourage the manufacture of woollens among themselves; and the mode which they adopted for the purpose, displays a liberal and sound policy, very creditable to the times. Sensible of the superior expertness of the Flemings, they tempted them to come over and settle in this country.

From this period, the history of the manufacture remains for some time in a state of obscurity. That it materially suffered by the injudicious interference of an ignorant goverment, there can be no doubt. Not only did the legislature prohibit the exportation of the raw material, but they limited by name the towns, both in the north and west of England, in which it was to be carried on. The manufacture, however, was now so firmly established, as not to be easily destroyed. It not only maintained itself, but in 1614 underwent, in the west, a great improvement by the invention of what is called medley, or mixed cloth, for which Gloucester is still famous.

At the end of the seventeenth century, the total annual manufacture of woollens was estimated at eight millions value in pounds sterling. In the year 1770, as has been proved by documents laid before Parliament, the exports which, at the beginning of that century, amounted to somewhat more than three millions, had increased to four millions. I do not know what was the amount of the home consumption at that time, but thirteen years afterwards, I find the whole produce of the woollen manufacture rated at nearly seventeen millions.

There are two grand seats of the woollen manufacture in England, where natural facilities exist for particular branches of the trade, namely, the West Riding of Yorkshire, and the counties of Gloucester, Wiltshire, and Somersetshire. In the former of these localities, as well

VOL. IV.

P

as in some other places, it is interesting to remark that there still remain some traces of the original state of the woollen manufacture, in what is called the domestic system. According to this system, the manufacture is conducted by a number of master manufacturers, generally men of small capital, who, besides carrying on their manufacture of woollen cloth, have small farms of a few acres, partly for the support of their families, and partly for the convenience of their manufacture.

The introduction of expensive machinery, and the employment of large capital in the manufacture, has greatly circumscribed the operation of this system, and without doubt, it will finally yield to the greater pecuniary advantages of the factory system. The relative benefits of the two modes of operation, considered in a mercantile light, formed a subject of investigation by a Committee of the House of Commons in 1806, who found that there were circumstances of superiority on both sides. In a moral point of view, the domestic system is undoubtedly preferable; though, as applied to the woollen trade, the factory plan is not so dangerous to the morals of the people employed, as when applied to the cotton trade.

It is exceedingly distressing to think, that a system on which the pecuniary and commercial prosperity of the community so essentially depends, should, in its present state, have a direct and almost necessary tendency to vitiate the morals, and injure the health of those who are employed in it. This, however, is undeniably the case with the factory system, and it is a truth which cannot fail to damp the pleasure of every good man, in reflecting on the prosperity of this great manufacturing country, that the further the enterprise of the people is carried, and the more their pecuniary capital is extended, the more demoralizing appear to become the effects on the manufacturing community.

This reflection forces itself on the mind in comparing the condition of the population in the woollen districts