148 ELEVENTH EVENING.

suppose, for so many curious works; what sort of
knowledge is most necessary ? a

Fa, There is not any which may not be occasionally
employed ; but the two sciences which most assist the
manufacturer are mechanics and chemistry. The one
for building mills, working of mines, and in general for
constructing wheels, wedges, pulleys, &c., either to
‘shorten the labour of man, by performing it in less
time, or to perform what the strength of man alone
could not accomplish :—the other in fusing and work-
ing ores, in dyeing and bleaching, and extracting the
virtues of various substances for particular uses;
making of soap, for instance, is a chemical operation ;
and,. by chemistry, an ingenious gentleman, some time
ago, found out a way of bleaching a piece of cloth in
eight-and-forty hours, which by the common process
would have taken up a great many weeks._-You
have heard of Sir Richard Arkwright, who died some
years since P

tien. Yes, I have heard he was at first only a barber,
and shaved people for a penny apiece.

a. He did so; but having a strong turn for mecha-
nics, he invented, or at least perfected, a machine, by
which one pair of hands might do the work of twenty
or thirty ; and, as in this country every one is free to
rise by merit, he acquired the largest fortune in the
county, had a great many hundreds of workmen
under his orders, and had leave given him by the king
to put Ser before his name.

flen. Did that do him any good?

a. It pleased him, I suppose, or he would not have
accepted of it; and you will allow, I imagine, that if
titles are used, it does honour to those who bestow
them, when they are given to such as have made them-
selves noticed for something useful Arkwright used
to say, that if he had time to perfect his inventions, he
would put a fleece of wool into a box, and it should
— eeme out broad-eloth. |