ance of throwing fine silk very precarious; and it is very much to be doubted whether all the men now living in the kingdom could make another." Gee accordingly recommended that three or four more should be erected at the public expense, "according to the model of that at Derby.":

The patent expired in 1732. The year before, Sir Thomas Lombe, who had been by this time knighted, applied to Parliament for a prolongation of the patent. The reasons for his appeal were principally these: that before he could provide for the full supply of other silk for his purpose (the Italians having prohibited the exportation of raw silk), and before he could alter his engine, train up a sufficient number of work-people, and bring the manufacture to perfection, almost all the fourteen years of his patent right would have expired. "Therefore," the petition to Parliament concluded, 66 as he has not hitherto received the intended benefit of the aforesaid patent, and in consideration of the extraordinary nature of this undertaking, the very great expense, hazard, and difficulty he has undergone, as well as the advantage he has thereby procured to the nation at his own expense, the said Sir Thomas Lombe humbly hopes the Parliament will grant him a further term for the sole making and using his engines, or such other recompense as in their wisdom shall seem meet."t

*The Trade and Navigation of Great Britain Considered," p. 94. †The petition sets forth the merits of the machine at Derby for making Italian organzine silk—“ a manufacture made out of fine raw silk, by reducing it to a hard-twisted, fine, and even thread. This silk makes the warp, and is absolutely necessary to mix with and cover the Turkey and other coarser silks thrown here, which are used for Shute-so that, without a constant supply of this fine Italian organzine silk, very little of the said Turkey or other silks could be used, nor could the silk-weaving trade be carried on in England. This Italian organzine (or thrown) silk has in all times past been bought with our money, ready made (or worked) in Italy, for want

Sir Thomas Lombe Rewarded.

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The petition was referred to a committee. After consideration, they recommended the House of Commons to grant a further term of years to Sir Thomas Lombe. The advisers of the king, however, thought it better that the patent should not be renewed, but that the trade in silk should be thrown free to all. Accordingly the Chancellor of the Exchequer acquainted the House (14th of March, 1731) that "his majesty, having been informed of the case of Sir Thomas Lombe, with respect to his engine for making organzine silk, had commanded him to acquaint this House that his majesty recommended to their consideration the making such provision for a recompense to Sir Thomas Lombe as they shall think proper."

66

The result was, that the sum of £14,000 was voted and paid to Sir Thomas Lombe as a reward for his eminent services done to the nation in discovering with the greatest hazard and difficulty the capital Italian engines, and introducing and bringing the same to full perfection in this kingdom, at his own great expense."* The trade was accordingly thrown open.

of the art of making it here. Whereas now, by making it ourselves out of fine Italian raw silk, the nation saves near one-third part; and by what we make out of fine China raw silk, above one half of the price we pay for it ready worked in Italy. The machine at Derby contains ninety-seven thousand seven hundred and forty-six wheels, movements, and individual parts (which work day and night), all which receive their motion from one large water wheel, are governed by one regulator, and it employs about three hundred persons to attend and supply it with work." In Rees' Cyclopedia (art. "Silk Manufacture") there is a full description of the Piedmont throwing-machine introduced to England by John Lombe, with a good plate of it.

* Sir Thomas Lombe died in 1738. He had two daughters. The first, Hannah, was married to Sir Robert Clifton, of Clifton, County Notts; the second, Mary Turner, was married to James, seventh Earl of Lauderdale. In his will, he "recommends his wife, at the conclusion of the Darby concern," to distribute among his "principal servants or managers five or six hundred pounds."

Silk-mills were erected at Stockport and elsewhere; Hutton says that divers additional mills were erected in Derby; and a large and thriving trade was established. In 1850 the number employed in the silk manufacture exceeded a million persons. The old mill has recently become disused. Although supported by strong wooden supports, it showed signs of falling, and it was replaced by a larger mill, more suitable to modern requirements.

CHAPTER V.

WILLIAM MURDOCK,

HIS LIFE AND INVENTION.

"Justice exacts that those by whom we are most benefited should be most admired."--DR. Johnson.

"The beginning of civilization is the discovery of some useful arts, by which men acquire property, comforts, or luxuries. The necessity or desire of preserving them leads to laws and social institutions.

In reality, the origin as well as the progress and improvement of civil society is founded on mechanical and chemical inventions."-SIR HUMPHRY Davy.

Ar the middle of last century, Scotland was a very poor country. It consisted mostly of mountain and moorland; and the little arable land it contained was badly cultivated. Agriculture was almost a lost art. "Except in a few instances," says a writer in the Farmers' Magazine of 1803, "Scotland was little better than a barren waste." Cattle could with difficulty be kept alive; and the people in some parts of the country were often on the brink of starvation. The people were hopeless, miserable, and without spirit, like the Irish in their very worst times. After the wreck of the Darien expedition, there seemed to be neither skill, enterprise, nor money left in the country. What resources it contained were altogether undeveloped. There was little communication between one place and another, and such roads as existed were for the greater part of the year simply impassable.

There were various opinions as to the causes of this

frightful state of things. Some thought it was the union between England and Scotland; and Andrew Fletcher of Saltoun, "The Patriot," as he was called, urged its repeal. In one of his publications, he endeavored to show that about one sixth of the population of Scotland was in a state of beggary-two hundred thousand vagabonds begging from door to door, or robbing and plundering people as poor as themselves. Fletcher was accordingly as great a repealer as Daniel O'Connell in after-times. But he could not get the people to combine. There were others who held a different opinion. They thought that something might be done by the people themselves to extricate the country from its miserable condition. It still possessed some important elements of prosperity. The inhabitants of Scotland, though poor, were strong and able to work. The land, though cold and sterile, was capable of cultivation.

Accordingly, about the middle of last century, some important steps were taken to improve the general condition of things. A few public-spirited landowners led the way, and formed themselves into a society for carrying out improvements in agriculture. They granted long leases of farms as a stimulus to the most skilled and industrious, and found it to their interest to give the farmer a more permanent interest in his improvements than he had before enjoyed. Thus stimulated and encouraged, farming made rapid progress, especially in the Lothians; and the example spread into other districts. Banks were established 'for the storage of capital. Roads were improved, and communications increased between one part of the country and another. Hence trade and commerce arose, by reason of the facilities afforded for the inter

*Fletcher's "Political Works," London, 1737, p. 149.