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our first thought would naturally be of the benefit conferred upon mankind by the rapid and cheap production of so many articles in common use. Every machine by which labour and expense are saved enables the poor man to purchase such articles at a less cost, and so increases the comforts of the people at large; but our second thought will very probably be, "Does not this saving of labour tend to rob the poor man of his employment?" The labourer and the artisan will of course be the first persons to take this view of the subject; and we find that the first introduction of machinery in any department of labour has been attended with great opposition from the labouring classes, who have fancied themselves about to be deprived of their employment.

One of the first inventors of a printing-machine was a compositor in the Times office, named Thomas Martyn. The proprietor, Mr. Walter, finding great difficulty in supplying the public with copies of the newspaper, gladly supplied Martyn with money to complete the work. Soon, however, the news got abroad amongst the printers that Martyn had invented a machine which would work itself; and the pressmen, fearing that it would take away their employment, vowed vengeance against him; in truth, he went in danger of his life, for he was obliged to wear all sorts of strange disguises that he might escape their notice and fury. As for the machinery, he was forced to introduce it bit by bit into the printing-office, at night or by day, pretending it was something else, for the pressmen wanted only the opportunity to destroy his contrivance.

This is but one instance of many similar attempts made by shortsighted workmen to obstruct the progress of an invention which has been of the utmost benefit to all connected with the printing trade. The benefits which have arisen from machine-printing are incalculable. The machine has relieved men of hard toil, which was often hurtful to health; sheets of a greatly

increased size can now be printed, the cost of printing has been much reduced, and (observe this) the employment of printers greatly increased. The result has been an extraordinary diffusion of all kinds of knowledge and a great advance in the civilization of the world.

When we remember the number of people who found employment at the spinning-wheel, we cannot be surprised at the alarm which many felt at the news that machinery was to take away all this occupation. When Hargreaves first invented a spinning-machine, he kept the secret to himself for some time, employing it to prepare his own yarn; but when, by an accident, the invention was noised abroad, it excited so much illwill. among the spinners that they broke into the poor man's cottage, destroyed the machine and most of his furniture by fire, and even threatened violence to Hargreaves himself, who was obliged to leave his native place and to settle elsewhere in consequence.

This took place not quite ninety years ago. Who can sum up the advantages which have accrued to our country from this and similar inventions by which it has been followed up? The peasant-who can purchase his clothing for a tenth of the sum which it cost his forefathers, and can clothe his children comfortably from head to foot, instead of leaving them barefoot and half-clad-is reaping every day the benefit of these wonderful inventions; and without enlarging upon the extension of our commerce, and the increase of our national wealth, it will be enough to remark that it is calculated that the cotton manufacture supplies employment to three millions and a half of people, which is an eighth part of the entire population of Great Britain.

Some of us can remember the agitation caused in the agricultural districts a few years back by the introduction of the Threshing Machine. Ignorant men were excited by this to acts both lawless and wicked. Experience has shown that the common use of the

threshing-machine has relieved the labourer of very toilsome work, and not diminished the number of persons employed in the cultivation of the land. Other machines are now coming into use, and we need not be afraid that they will injure the industrious poor.

THE GRASSHOPPER.

HAPPY insect! what can be
In happiness compar'd to thee?
Fed with nourishment divine,
The dewy morning's gentle wine!
Nature waits upon thee still,
And thy verdant cup does fill ;
"Tis fill'd wherever thou dost tread,
Nature self's thy Ganymede.

Thou dost drink, and dance, and sing;
10 Happier than the happiest king!
All the fields which thou dost see,
All the plants belong to thee,
All that summer hours produce,
Fertile made with early juice.
Man for thee does sow and plough,
Farmer he, and landlord thou!
Thou dost innocently enjoy;
Nor does thy luxury destroy;
The shepherd gladly heareth thee,
20 More harmonious than he.

Thee country hinds with gladness hear,
Prophet of the ripened year!

Thee Phoebus loves, and does inspire;

Phoebus is himself thy sire.

To thee of all things upon earth,
Life is no longer than thy mirth,

Happy insect, happy thou,

Dost neither age nor winter know.

But when thou'st drunk, and danc'd, and sung

30 Thy fill the flow'ry leaves among,

(Voluptuous, and wise withal, Epicurean animal!)

Sated with thy summer feast,

Thou retir'st to endless rest.

COWLEY.

THE SWALLOW.

FOOLISH prater! what dost thou
So early at my window do
With thy tuneless serenade?
Well 't had been had Tereus made
Thee as dumb as Philomel;

There his knife had done but well.
In thy undiscover'd nest
Thou dost all the winter rest,
And dreamest o'er thy summer joys
Free from the stormy season's noise:
Free from th' ill thou'st done to me;
Who disturbs or seeks out thee?
Hadst thou all the charming notes.
Of the wood's poetic throats,
All thy art could never pay
What thou'st ta'en from me away.
Cruel bird! thou'st ta'en away
A dream out of my arms to-day-
A dream that ne'er must equall'd be
By all that waking eyes may see.

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Thou this damage to repair,

Nothing half so sweet or fair,

Nothing half so good canst bring,

Though men say thou bring'st the spring.

COWLEY.

OF MYSELF.

THIS only grant me, that my means may lie
Too low for envy, for contempt too high.
Some honour I would have
Not from great deeds, but good alone.
The unknown are better than ill-known.
Rumour can ope the grave.

Acquaintance I would have, but when 't depends
Not on the number, but the choice of friends.
Books should, not business, entertain the light;
And sleep, as undisturb'd as death, the night.
My house a cottage, more

Than palace, and should fitting be
For all my use, no luxury.

My garden painted o'er

With Nature's hand, not Art's; and pleasures yield,
Horace might envy in his Sabine field.

Thus would I double my life's fading space;
For he that runs it well, runs twice his race.
And in this true delight,

These unbought sports, this happy state,
I would not fear, nor wish my fate,
But boldly say each night,

To-morrow let my sun his beams display,
Or in clouds hide them; I have liv'd to-day.

COWLEY.

THE COTTAGE GARDEN.

TO EVERY Cot the lord's indulgent mind,
Has a small space for garden-ground assign'd;
Here-till return of morn dismiss'd the farm-
The careful peasant plies the sinewy arm,
Warm'd as he works, and casts his look around
On every foot of that improving ground;
It is his own he sees-his master's eye
Peers not about some secret fault to spy;
Nor voice severe is there, nor censure known :
Hope, profit, pleasure-they are all his own.

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