Successless oft their industry, when cease
The loom and shuttle in the troubled streets;
Their motions stopt by wild intemperance,
Toil's scoffing foe, who lures the giddy rout
To scorn their task-work, and to vagrant life
Turns their rude steps; while misery, among
The cries of infants, haunts their mould'ring huts.
O when through every province shall be rais'd
Houses of labour, seats of kind restraint
For those who now delight in fruitless sports
More than in cheerful works of virtue's trade,
Which honest wealth would yield and portion due
Of public welfare? Ho, ye poor, who seek
Among the dwellings of the diligent,
For sustenance unearn'd; who stroll abroad
From house to house, with mischievous intent,
Feigning misfortune! Ho, ye lame, ye blind,
Ye languid limbs, with real want oppress'd,
Who tread the rough highways and mountains wild,
Through storms and rains, and bitterness of heart;
Ye children of affliction, be compell'd

To happiness: the long wish'd daylight dawns,
When charitable rigour shall detain

Your step-bruis'd feet. Ev'n now the sons of trade
Where'er their cultivated hamlets smile,
Erect the mansion: here soft fleeces shone;
The card awaits you and the comb and wheel
Here shroud you from the thunder of the storm;
No rain shall wet your pillow; here abounds
Pure beverage; here your viands are prepar❜d.
To heal each sickness, the physician waits,
And priest entreats to give your Maker praise.
Behold in Calder's vale, where wide around
Unnumber'd villas creep the shrubby hills,
A spacious dome, for this fair purpose rise.
High o'er the open gates, with gracious air,
Eliza's image stands. By gentle steps
Uprais'd from room to room we slowly walk,
And view with wonder and with silent joy

The sprightly scene; where many of busy hand,

Where spoles, cards, wheels, and looms, with motion quick,

And ever murm'ring sound, th' unwonted sense

Wrap in surprise. To see them all employ'd,

All blithe, it gives the spreading heart delight,

As neither meats, nor drinks, nor aught of joy
Corporeal can bestow. Nor less they gain
Virtue than wealth, while on their useful works
From day to day intent, in their full minds
Evil no place can find. With equal scale
Some deal abroad the well assorted fleece,

These card the short, those comb the longer flake;
Others the harsh and clotted lock receive,

Yet sever and refine with patient toil,

And bring to proper use. Flax too, and hemp,
Excites their diligence. The younger hands
Ply at the easy work of winding yarn
On swiftly-circling engines, and their notes
Warble together, as a choir of larks:
Such joy arises in the mind employ'd.
Another scene displays the more robust
Rasping or grinding tough Brazilian woods,
And what Campeachy's disputable shore
Copious affords, to tinge the thirsty web:
And the Caribbean isles, whose dulcet canes
Equal the honey-comb. We next are shown
A circular machine of new design,

In conic shape: it draws and spins a thread
Without the tedious toil of needless hands.
A wheel invisible, beneath the floor,
To ev'ry member of th' harmonious frame
Gives necessary motion. One intent
O'erlooks the work; the carded wool he sees
Is smoothly lapp'd around the cylinders,
Which, gently turning, yield it to yon cirque
Of upright spindles, which, with rapid whirl,
Spin out, in long extent, an even twine."

169

The following note is given with respect to the spinning machine:

"A circular machine'-a most curious machine, invented by Mr. Paul. It is at present contrived to spin cotton, but it may be made to spin fine carded wool."

Dyer then proceeds—

"From this delightful mansion (if we seek
Still more to view the gifts which honest toil
Distributes) take we now an eastward course,
To the rich fields of Birstal. Wide around

Hillock and valley, farm and village smile;
And ruddy roofs and chimney tops appear
Of busy Leeds, up wafting to the clouds
The incense of thanksgiving: all is joy,
And trade and business guide the living scene,
Roll the full cars adown the winding Aire,
Load the slow sailing barges, pile the pack

On the long tinkling train* of the slow pac'd steeds;
As when a sunny day invites abroad

The sedulous ants, they issue from their cells

In bands unnumber'd, eager for their work;

O'er high, o'er low, they lift, they draw, they haste
With warm affection to each other's aid,

Repeat their virtuous efforts, and succeed:
Thus all is here in motion, all is life."

The fourth book describes the foreign trade:

"Now, with our woolly treasures amply stor❜d,
Glide the tall fleets into the wid'ning main,
A floating forest: every sail unfurl'd,

Swells to the wind, and gilds the azure sky."

And conducting the reader to every part of the globe where the woollen manufactures found a market, concludes"Wide o'er

The globe terraqueous, let Britannia pour
The fruits of plenty from her copious horn.
What can avail to her, whose fertile earth

By ocean's briny waves are circumscrib'd,

The armed host, and murdering sword of war,

And conquest o'er her neighbours? She ne'er breaks
Her solemn compact, in the lust of rule:
Studious of arts and trade, she ne'er disturbs
The holy peace of states. 'Tis her delight
To fold the world with harmony, and spread
Among the habitations of mankind

The various wealth of toil, and what her fleece
To clothe the naked, and her skilful looms
Peculiar give. Ye too rejoice, ye swains;
Increasing commerce shall reward your cares.
A day will come, if not too deep we drink

* Even in the memory of the compiler, before the improvements in roads and now rail-roads, pack-horses were in great use.

The cup, which luxury on careless wealth
(Pernicious gift) bestows; a day will come

When, through new channels sailing, we shall clothe
The Californian coast, and all the realms

That stretch from Ainan's straits to proud Japan,
And the green isles, which in the left arise
Upon the glassy brine, whose various capes
Not yet are figured on the sailor's chart:
Then every variation shall be told

Of the magnetic steel; and currents mark'd,
Which drive the heedless vessel from her course.
That portion, too, of land—a tract immense,
Beneath th' Antarctic spread, shall then be known,
And new plantations on its coast arise.
Then rigid winter's ice no more shall wound
The only naked animal; but man

With the soft fleece shall ev'rywhere be clothed.
Th' exulting muse shall then in vigour fresh
Her flight renew. Meanwhile, with weary wing,
O'er ocean's wave returning, she explores
Siluria's flow'ry vales, her old delight,

The shepherd's haunts, where the first springs arise
Of Britain's happy trade, now spreading wide,
Wide as the Atlantic and Pacific seas,

Or as air's vital fluid o'er the globe."

Though the poet has occasionally indulged in that license which is always allowed to his profession, his description of the wool trade and the woollen manufacture at the time when he writes is correct, and his language is beautiful; and as he has brought it to the end of the reign of George II., it is a fit point to close this chapter.

CHAPTER IV.

FROM THE YEAR 1765 To 1790.

Inspectors appointed at Fulling Mills-Register of Cloth Milled-Act to prevent Embezzlement of Yarn and Wool-Superiority of English Woollen Manufacture-Lord Sheffield's Observations thereon-Improvements in Machinery -Riots in the West of England-Committee of Manufacturers, to prevent Frauds in the Worsted Trade-Value of Woollen Goods from 1772 to 1776 Consideration of the present system of Laws respecting Wool, by Thomas Pownal, Esq., M. P.-Proceedings of Deputies from Manufacturing Towns-Poor Rates at Norwich-1764 to 1773-Exeter-Mr. Wolrich's Estimate of Woollen Manufactures in Yorkshire, Calculations, Correspondence, &c.-Governor Pownal on the Exportation of Wool-Meetings respecting the Exportation of Wool-Glover's Letters on the Exportation of Wool-General Meeting of Wool Growers in Lincolnshire -Meetings at Leeds-Meeting of Delegates in London-Meetings in Yorkshire and Huntingdonshire-Description and Use of Long Wool-The Question considered, by Sir John Dalrymple, Bart.-Reflection on the low Price of coarse Wool, by Dean Tucker-An Answer to Sir John Dalrymple, by Nathan Forster, D. D.-The Contrast: a Comparison between the Woollen, Silk, and Linen Manufactures-An Answer to Sir John Dalrymple, by " A Plain Matter of Fact Man"-Plain Reasons, in answer to Sir John Dalrymple-A Letter to the Hundred Gentlemen of Lincolnshire-A Letter on the subject of Wool, by William Mugleston-Inquiry into the Nature and Qualities of English Wool and Sheep-Introduction of Spinning Machines-Laws passed then-Estimate of each Manufacture in EnglandConsideration of the Woollen Manufacture of Ireland-Lord Sheffield on the Woollen Trade of Ireland-History of the Woollen Manufacture of Ireland-Value of Woollens imported into Ireland-Value of Irish Wool and Yarn-Committee to prevent Fraud in Wool-Spanish Sheep imported by George III.-Laws to prevent Smuggling Wool-Deputation to London from the Manufacturing Districts—Quantity of Wool grown in England-The Question of Wool truly stated-Table of Woollens Exported-Calculation as to the Value of Manufactures and Agriculture-Sir Joseph Banks on the Exportation of English Wool to France-A Letter to Arthur Young, by Thomas Day-Law passed-Letter to Lincolnshire Graziers, by Incola.

IN 1765, the various laws for regulating the manufacture of woollen cloths in the West-Riding of Yorkshire were brought before Parliament, and confirmed; and the Justices of the West-Riding (not being themselves concerned in the woollen trade) were directed to appoint men of good character, bred