MANUFACTURES. 15]

Ma. That is what manufacturers can do; here wan
is a kind ofa creator, and, like the great Creator, he
mav please himself with his work, and say, it 1s good.
Jn the last-mentioned manufacture, too, that of steel,
the English have the honour of excelling all the world.

Hen, What are the chief manufactures of England ?

4a, We have, at present, a greater variety than I
can pretend to enumerate ; but our staple manwfacture
is woollen cloth. England abounds in fine pastures
and extensive downs, which feed great numbers of
sheep: hence our wool has always been a valuable
article of trade; but we did not always know how to
work it. We used to sell it to the Flemish or Lom-
bards, who wrought it into cloth; till, in the year 1826,
Edward the Third invited some Flemish weavers over,
to teach us the art. But there was not much cloth made
in England till the reign of Henry the Seventh. Man-
chester and Birmingham are towns which have arisen
to great consequence from small beginnings, almost
within the memory of old men now living; the first
for cotton and muslin goods, the second for cutlery
and hardware, in which we at this moment excel all
Europe. Of late years, too, carpets, beautiful as fine
tapestry, have been fabricated in this country. Our
clocks and watches are greatly esteemed. The earthen-
ware plates and dishes, which we all use in common,
and the elegant set for the tea-table, ornamented with
musical instruments, which we admired in our visit
yesterday, belong to a very extensive manufactory, the
seat of which is at Burslem, in Staffordshire. The
principal potteries there belong to one person, an ex-
-ellent chemist, and a man of great taste; he, in con-
unction with another man of taste, who is since dead,
nas made our clay more valuable than the finest por-
celain of China. He has moulded it into all the forms
of grace and beauty that are to be met with in the
precious remains of the Greek and Etruscan artists,
In the more common artieles, he has pencilled it with
the most elegant designs, shaped it into shells and