of the earth; because the human capabilities are brought into exercise. This gives to man his full enjoyment, in the pursuit of happiness. In contrast with South America, it is pleasing to see the spirit of enterprise and improvement rising in every part of our country. This spirit, if not now universal, is rapidly becoming so. We see it breaking out every where, in the middle states, in the northern, in the southern, in the western; and like the kindling of fire, we see it gathering strength, as it rises and spreads. Who does not see in this rising spirit, a subject of national felicitation? Perhaps the greatest this country ever had before; certainly greater than any other country ever possessed. Was even the spirit of liberty itself, which produced the revolution, and gave us our independence, more a subject of national congratulation? Who can estimate the value of this new born spirit which now animates our country, when we consider our great and rapidly increasing population, their characteristic ardour in every lucrative pursuit, and the boundless scope which our country affords for the range of this spirit? Here we have every thing to invite to enterprise and encourage hope; the great and growing market afforded by our commerce and our manufactures is rendering every article of produce valuable and productive. Thus every department of wealth aids and unites in replenishing the boundless resources of our happy country.

"An object is not insignificant, because the operation by which it is effected is minute: the first want of men in this life, after food, is clothing, and as this machinery enables them to supply it far more easily and cheaply than the old methods of manufacturing, and to bring cloths of great elegance and durability within the use of the humble classes, it is an art whose utility is inferior only to that of agriculture. It contributes directly and most materially to the comforts of life, among all nations where manufactures exist, or to which the products of manufacturing industry are conveyed; it ministers to the comfort and decency of the poor, as well as to the taste and luxury of the rich. By supplying one of the great wants of life with a much less expenditure of labour than was formerly needed, it sets at liberty a larger proportion of the population, to cultivate literature, science, and the fine arts. To England, these inventions have brought a material accession of wealth and power. They are not confined in their application to one manufacture, however extensive, but that they have given

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nearly the same facilities to the woollen, the worsted, the linen, the stocking, and the lace manufactures, as well as to silk and cotton; and that they have spread from England to the whole of Europe, to America, and to parts of Africa and Asia: it must be admitted that the mechanical improvements in the art of spinning have an importance which it is difficult to over-estimate. By the Greeks, their authors would have been thought worthy of deification; nor will the enlightened judgment of moderns deny that the men to whom we owe such inventions deserve to rank among the chief benefactors of mankind."-Baines.

"Cotton spinning, the history of which is almost romantic, has been made poetical by Dr. Darwin's powers of description and embellishment. In his Botanic Garden' he thus sings the wonders of Arkwright's establishment on the Derwent, at Cromford."

"Where Derwent guides his dusky floods
Through vaulted mountains, and a night of woods,
The nymph Gossypia treads the velvet sod,
And warms with rosy smiles the wat'ry god,
His pond'rous oars to slender spindles turns,
And pours o'er massy wheels his foaming urns,
With playful charms her hoary lover wins,
And wields his trident while the monarch spins.
First, with nice eye, emerging Naiads cull
From leathery pods the vegetable wool:
With wiry teeth revolving cards release

The tangled knots, and smooth the ravel'd fleece:
Next moves the iron hand with fingers fine,
Combs the wide card, and forms the eternal line;
Slow, with soft lips, the whirling can acquires
The tender skeins, and wraps in rising spires;
With quickened pace successive rollers move,
And these retain, and those extend the rove;
Then fly the spokes, the rapid axles glow,

While slowly circumvolves the labouring wheel below."

MEMOIR OF SAMUEL SLATER.

CHAPTER I.

FROM HIS BIRTH TO HIS LEAVING ENGLAND.

"Nothing is here for tears, nothing to wail,

Or knock the breast; no weakness, no contempt,
Dispraise or blame; nothing but well and fair,
And what may quiet us, in death so noble."

MILTON.

In writing the volumes of biography so frequently presented to the world, the motives of their authors have been various, and the subjects diversified. Mankind take an interest in the history of those, who, like themselves, have encountered the trials, and discharged the duties of life. Too often, however, publicity is given to the lives of men, splendid in acts of mighty mischief, in whom the secret exercises of the heart would not bear a scrutiny. The memoirs are comparatively few of those engaged in the business and useful walks of life.

Biography, of late years, has been rendered interesting, chiefly, by an extensive and learned correspondence; so that the compilers have scarcely room for narrative or reflection. These collections of letters from eminent persons are read with avidity, as a matter of curiosity, and as an indulgence to the inquisitive desire to enter into the private moments and opinions of individuals extensively known to fame. It is of a man well known in the business transactions of this country that we write. Notwithstanding his business and acquaintance were so extensive, and his success so complete, the materials for writing his memoir are scanty