of eight or ten miles! A piastre, however, would always set matters right, and cause me to be left undisturbed.' Lady Hester had expected great benefit from the climate of Constantinople, but met a severe disappointment. She is told that the sulphureous baths of Asia might be of service, and she resolves to go thither. Brusa is well described, but there is nothing about it sufficiently interesting to make us detain the reader. They return again to Constantinople and hire a house. Poor Lady Hester is all along sadly neglected, the worthy physician being too much engrossed with himself. This is amusing. studded with diamonds, and mounted on horses almost sinking under the weight of gold housings. Our ideas were confused by the magnificence which we saw displayed. And now, on a sudden, the crowd, which had been noisy and making their remarks on the scene before them, was hushed. A solemn and really an awful silence prevailed, whilst only low whispers were heard that the commander of the faithful was near. Every Turk immediately folded his long robe over his breast, crossed his hands before him, dropped his head on his bosom, and, in a tone of voice just audible, prayed Allah and Mahomet to preserve the perpetuity of the royal race. Our object was curiosity, and we looked eagerly for the sultan, but could hardly obtain a glimpse of him. His person, too sacred to be gazed on, was almost hidden by the lofty plumes of feathers of the attendants who surrounded him, each of whom wore a vest of glittering stuff representing resplendent armour, and on his head a crested helmet. Fancy must assist the reader in imagining the gorgeous housings, studded with rubies, emeralds, and other precious stones, on a ground of gold, that covered the sultan's horse, which was a milk-white stallion. He passed, and lo! an ugly blackamore, the minister of his pleasures, entitled the Kislar aga, followed him. His deformity rendered him hideous, yet was he rivalled in it by fifty other black eunuchs, and as many white ones, who filled up his train. These were succeeded by a dwarf. Three hundred chokhadars, or pages, closed the procession, all clad in white, and all extremely beautiful in person. There were several men appointed, according to custom, to throw money to the mob; and several others whose duty it was to beat them unmercifully if they thronged too riotously to pick it up; so that, between the sixpences and the blows, which seemed to be dealt out in about equal shares, there was much diversion for a bystander. The procession arrived at the mosque. Prayers were said. But within those sacred walls, on such an occasion, no infidel dared cast even a glance, and we retired to our homes delighted with what we had seen, but mortified by our exclusion from the termination of the cere-left-handed, and, in this way, the javelin is discharged as mony.' We have hitherto had almost nothing of Lady Hester; now, however, she hires a house in the village of Therapia, ten miles from Constantinople, and is attacked with a severe indisposition. That her ladyship may not pass altogether unnoticed, we here give a letter which she despatches to a friend. It is certainly a poor affair: 'Terapia, upon the Bosphorus, December 21, 1810. My dear, Since the fire at Pera good houses are so scarce that I have taken up my abode at this place, where I have a fine view of the coast of Asia, and mouth of the Black Sea. Lord S and B- — are about to set off upon a tour; the latter returns here in a few weeks, but my lord means to take his passage to Malta by the first opportunity, and to return to us in the early spring. I flatter myself that you will take my word for his having the best of hearts, and being a most friendly creature, till you can judge yourself of his good qualities. B desires to be most kindly remembered to you. Canning [now Sir Stratford Canning], has behaved to me in the civilest, kindest manner possible, but has never once mentioned his cousin's `name.' They spent the winter, therefore, near Constantinople; the physician of Lady Hester enjoying, he tells us, capital shooting. There was abundance of wild fowl on the Bosphorus during the cold weather; and I used sometimes to cross into Asia in a wherry to shoot. On two different occasions, I brouglit home two pelicans. They swam towards the boat, and suffered the gun to be levelled at them without showing the least symptom of alarm. Those who are desirous of shooting on the canal, or indeed anywhere in the neighbourhood of Constantinople, must obtain a teskery, or permission to that effect. I was stopped more than once by the keepers, who resorted to various stratagems to get money. One keeper, when I showed him my license, told me it was very true I had a teskery; but that an order had come down that no guns were to be fired on the canal, because two of the sultan's ladies were lying-in-at a distance 'My long residence in Constantinople had given me time to form an extensive acquaintance, and, from some successful cures, I was much solicited to settle there. It would indeed have been a desirable situation as far as money was concerned; but I was under engagements with Lady Hester which precluded such a thought. The Turks, and also the Armenians, were exceedingly liberal in their fees; the Greeks were not so. During the summer I learned to throw the girýd, or blunt javelin; and, as I conceive it to be thrown by the Turks in the same manner as practised by the ancients during the time of the Trojan war, I shall endeavour to make the reader understand it. When a javelin is put into the hand of a person unused to handle such a weapon, and he is desired to throw it, he invariably ele vates his hand and arm; and, holding the javelin on a level with his head, or still higher, throws it overhanded. But this I conceive is not the mode employed by the ancients; nor is the same degree of power acquired as in the underhanded manner, which is as follows. The javelin, being from three and a half to five feet long, and of equal weight at both ends, is taken in the palm of the hand, resting in a position out of the horizontal one by a trifling elevation of the point, and is pressed almost entirely by the finger and thumb alone. The arm is straightened, the bend of the arm faces outwards, and the elbow is turned inwards, so that it points to the hip-bone. Then a position is assumed, exactly such as a man would take who should fence if slung from the whole arm, without any effort at the wrist, and little at the elbow. On horseback, the impulse is greater, because the horse is brought to a sudden halt and a wheel about to the left, just at the moment of throwing the javelin. Girýd is an Arabic word, meaning a branch of the palm-tree; such a branch being generally used for a sham javelin, as being firm, heavy, and elastic, and having a slight tapering from one extremity to the other.' Having applied without success to the war minister to get permission to locate herself for a season in the south of France, Lady Hester resolves. at all events, not to risk another winter in Constantinople-and so preparations are made for quitting that city. She first thought of trying Athens, but at last resolves to go to Egypt. They hire a Greek vessel with a Greek crew, and are again upon the waters. Live poultry, sheep, wine, every thing that could make the voyage comfortable, had been provided; but alas, on the 27th of October, four days after sailing, the ship sprung a leak, and the cry of all hands to the pump showed that some danger impended. The description of the shipwreck must be given entire. Lady Hester, for the first time, appears to exhibit something like character. It is seldom that the Levantine ships have pumps, or, when they have, they are so little used as generally to be found unserviceable when wanted: and such was the case with ours. The water increased rapidly, and every exer tion was necessary to check its progress. Mr B., Mr Pearce, myself, and all the servants, were unremittingly employed in raising and lowering the buckets, which were plied at the hatchways as well as at the wells; whilst the pilot directed the ship's course towards Rhodes. In the meantime, Lady Hester, who had been informed of the leak, became aware, from the confusion which prevailed, that great danger was apprehended. She dressed herself, and quietly directed her maid to furnish a small box with a few articles of the first necessity, to be prepared against the worst. There was a cask of wine in the cabin, which had been brought to drink on the voyage. This her ladyship, with her own hands, drew and distributed among the sailors, to cheer them under the labour, which became very severe. The wind had now risen to a complete gale, and, about twelve o'clock, the ship heeled gunwale down, and was so waterlogged that she never recovered an upright position afterwards. As our situation became more alarming, two or three of the Greek servants began to lose courage, and, throwing themselves flat on the deck, vented the most womanish lamentations, nor could they be induced by either threats or promises to work any more. One shook as if he had an ague fit; and another invoked the Virgin Mary, with continued exclamations of Panagia mou! panagia mou!' Things wore this unpromising appearance when, about three o'clock, the south-west point of the island of Rhodes was discovered on our weather bow. The pilot immediately put the ship's head as direct to it as the wind would permit. Every person took fresh courage, and our exertions became greater than ever. But the ship was no longer obedient to the helm, and we lost, in lee-way, what we gained in progress. We were perhaps not more than two miles from the island, and it was resolved to let go an anchor. The anchor, however, proved of no use, and the ship still drove. The leak had now gained so much upon us that there was every probability the ship could not long keep afloat, and it was resolved that the long-boat should be hoisted out as our only resource. This was made known to Lady Hester, and, the order having been given that no one should burden the boat with luggage, it was with much difficulty lowered into the sea. Whilst this was doing, I went down into the cabin, and took from my trunk a bag of dollars, which, with my sabre and a pistol, was all that I saved. I hastened upon deck, and, jumping into the boat, where already twenty-four persons had got before me, we let go the rope, and placed all our hopes on reaching a rock, which was about half a mile to leeward of us. No sooner were we free from the lee of the ship than the danger to which we were exposed became still more formidable than before. Almost every wave beat over us. Providence, however, watched over our safety; and we at last got to the leeward side of the rock, where a little creek, just large enough to shelter the boat, received us, and we landed. But, when we came to reflect on our position, it seemed still very deplorable. There was only one place, a sort of cavity in the rock, which afforded shelter from the spray. There was no fresh water, and, in the hurry of quitting the ship, that, as well as provisions, had been forgotten. Fatigue, however, was at present the most urgent sensation; and we all composed ourselves, in our wet clothes, to sleep; the cave in the rock being assigned to Lady Hester and her maid. About midnight the wind abated a little, and the master proposed attempting to reach the land; averring it was as well to perish at once as to be starved to death. He suggested that, if the crew only was taken with him, there would be a much better chance of effecting his purpose; and that, once arrived, he could provide boats for our deliverance: whereas, if all went, the boat would in all probability sink. These arguments were deemed valid, and, accompanied by our prayers, they launched off. It was agreed that, when they reached the shore, they should make a fire as a signal of their safety; and, in the course of two hours, we saw the wished-for blaze. Daylight came, and we remained without food or drink, anxiously looking out for the return of the crew. Our reflections were by no means comfortable: for, knowing the character of the Greeks, we could not be sure that, once safe themselves, they would not abandon us to our fate. We watched all day, and it was not until about a quarter of an hour before sunset, that a black speck was seen on the sea, which we at length distinguished to be a boat. It contained the crew, but without the captain, who had declined the danger of coming off again. They brought us bread, cheese, water, and arrack; and thus, after thirty hours' fasting, we satisfied our hunger Things, however, continue in a bad state for a requisite length of time-almost all their property, including linen and body clothes, had been lost in the wreck; and after going to Lindo, exhausted by hunger and fatigue, Lady Hester falls ill of a fever, on recovering from which, she sends a long letter to a friend. The following is a specimen. She is describing the wreck: 'We have lost a poor dog, which was quite a treasure; it was so frighted and so sick, we could not get it into the boat. I lament this every day, and little else, except the most beautiful collection of conserves for you and two other people, violets, roses, orange-flowers, and almost every sort of fruit.' [Fudge!] On her ladyship's recovery she went to reside at Rhodes, and took up her abode in the house of a person named Philippaki, who was, it appears, an archon, and nearly allied to a prince. Rhodes, however, could not supply all that her destitute situation rendered indispensable, and the physician is sent off to Smyrna to procure money and clothes. Lady Hester, whose brain had, let us in charity guess, been affected by the recent storm and her subsequent hardships, adopts now the resolution of dressing like a man and a Turk! Her physician does his best to defend her conduct on different grounds, but with nothing like success. If it was no fault in Lady Stanhope's case to renounce the dress of her sex and assume the robes of a Turk, it can be no fault in any other lady who visits these parts to do so too; it was not, and it could not come to good, but it got Lady Hester into repute-it gratified her vanity, and she from that hour attracted notice and recovered health. Our author sets off for Smyrna, and after living there for a month or two, he returns with plenty of money and gay new dresses to Rhodes. He found Lady Hester and her maidens living in a fine cottage by the delightful sea-shore, and after being, reasonably, it would seem, scolded for remaining so long away, is ordered to unbuckle his pack and exhibit: 'It was accordingly opened, and the party assumed their dresses.' The island of Rhodes, the physician tells us, surpasses in picturesqueness and fertility all others of the Archipelago. The town bears still the marks of having been anciently very handsome. It has baths, mosques, and derives much wealth from holding maritime intercourse with Egypt. A squabble between Lady Hester and her servants is next recorded, and here in the Salsette frigate she sets sail for Alexandria. We cannot call this portion of the physician's volume the most interesting part. He does not seem to have a mind susceptible of those sublime emotions which are consequent on recollections of the past, associating themselves with scenes of present grandeur or dreary decay. Judging from his polished style, he must be a scholar, and yet he unquestionably eschews pedantry or classical allusion with most religious scrupulosity. The scenes through which he has already led us were singularly rife with memories of the past, and yet he will no more quote Horace or make reference to Virgil than Beau Brummel would, in assemblies of ton, praise spinage or make mention of greens. He has one excuse for being deficient in this respect in Egypt-though Darwin, Volney, and Dr Clarke, might with equal justice have adduced the same he was 'consumedly' plagued with mosquitoes and fleas stung like a tench,' in short. The party remained a few days at Rosetta, and greatly admired that famous town. Nothing can exceed the beauty of the gardens in the suburbs. They left Rosetta on the 9th of March, and proceeded up the Nile. The villages of the peasants are described as being an assemblage of hovels, or of mud bricks baked in the sun. When sailing in this manner, and within ten miles of Cairo, the Pyramids are announced, but though the physician went on deck to see them, they excited no astonishment, for the size of their base is so large as to render their height much less striking than it otherwise would be.' Oh, my dear doctor, get down again and finish your sherbet! They soon after this arrive at Cairo, where one of their first employments was to see the best riders of the old Mamelukes, whose reputaThey get safely landed, and Lady Hester seeks with her tion for horsemanship in Turkey is unrivalled. The openwaiting-maid the temporary accommodation of a windmill.ing of a mummy was the next exhibition that seemed to and thirst.' delight, and not knowing how to spend the evening, they send for the dancing women. In the prospect of being paid, these amiable personages left their beds, obedient to the summons, and presented themselves before the English party half asleep. In order to rouse them, it was necessary to give them drink, and then they became gay, though, on the whole, their movements excited disgust! The Egyptian women, he says, are most graceful walkers,' they seem so many tawny Venuses, and yet they do not wear stays. To save appearances they give a day to the Pyramids-but a modern tourist would bestow more notice on the man, and here it is,' and the bird was carried away. has T spot, a feeling which the appearance of it is well calculated to inspire. For several miles around it, the mountains are bare, rugged, and rocky, presenting a uniformly deserted appearance. The city is seen standing as if cut off from the rest of the world, and its high walls, on the and outside of which no object meets the eye but here there an insulated church, add to the gloominess of Still the prospect. We entered by the gate of Bethlehem.' ing on with the cavalcade. BEAUTIFUL INCIDENT. Who else was it but the God of Elijah, who, a short time out of ago, in our neighbourhood, so kindly delivered a poor man his distress; not, indeed, by a raven, but by a poor singing bird? You are acquainted with the circumstance. The man was sitting, early in the morning, at his house door; his eyes were red with weeping, and his heart cried to heaven, for he was expecting an officer to come and distrain him for a small debt; and whilst sitting thus, with his heavy heart, a little bird flew through the street, fluttering up and down, as if in distress, until, at length, quick as an arrow, it flew over the good man's head into his cottage, and perched itself within an empty cupboard. The good man, who had little imagined who had sent him the bird, closed the door, caught the bird, and placed it in a I waken to mirth The drooping earth, And beauty I spread in my path. Crystalline towers, And diamond bowers, I build in the northern sea; My streamers bright I unfurl to the night, Where the icebound regions be I linger awhile By some lonely isle That gems the brow of ocean; Yet never I rest, But away to the west I hurry with ceaseless motion. When wearied and worn, To my couch I return, And sink on the western billow; The twilight skies, With their myriad dies, Are curtained round my pillow. When the morning stars sung O'er the world yet young, I join'd in their heav'n-echoed hymn; And on shall I glide In my glory and pride, Till the stars in their spheres grow dim. Chaotic night fled When my banner I spread O'er a world in the flush of its prime, And its folds shall wave free Till Eternity conquereth Time. R. P. S. Edinburgh; to whom all communications are to be addressed. cage, where it immediately began to sing very sweetly, Printed and published by JAMES HOGG, 122 Nicolson Street, **The INSTRUCTOR' being printed from Stereotype Plates, the No. 71. EDINBURGH, SATURDAY, JULY 4, 1846. PROGRESS OF MECHANISM IN SPINNING. AMONG the many wonderful changes in modern society brought about by the stupendous discovery of James Watt, not the least wonderful is that effected in the manufacture of fibrous substances into fabrics of various kinds, and which has issued in the development of the modern factory system. Processes which formerly were difficult, tedious, imperfect, and exceedingly scanty in their results, are now performed with the utmost ease, rapidity, and certainty; the production of fabrics of all kinds has been increased to an amazing extent; and immense populations have been accumulated in the manufacturing towns, numbering by hundreds of thousands, and constantly increased by accessions from the agricultural districts, who derive their sole subsistence from tending and guiding the spindles and power-looms driven by the never-tiring steam-engine. As with all other arts, that of spinning fibrous substances was originally of the rudest description. So far as we can now ascertain, the distaff and the spindle were the first simple instruments employed by the spinner. The distaff was a stick or reed about a yard in length, with a fork or expansion near the top, round which the flax or wool was wound, previously prepared by carding or combing. The distaff was usually held under the left arm, and the fibres were drawn out from the projecting ball, being at the same time spirally twisted by the forefinger and thumb of the right hand. The thread so produced was spun by the turning round of the spindle, and was then wound upon it, until the quantity was as great as it could carry. A fresh spindle was then mounted, and those already loaded with thread were stored in a basket until a sufficient quantity was collected for the weaver. The Hindoos to this day form their distaff of the leading shoot of some young tree, carefully peeled; and for the spindle they select part of a beautiful shrub, which has hence obtained the popular name of the Spindle Tree. With these simple implements, and by aid of that exquisite touch which the Hindoos possess, they are enabled to spin those delicate cotton yarns from which the celebrated Indian muslins are made. The ancients appear to have had no other method of spinning than by the distaff and spindle, and as these primitive tools are still made use of by the modern Egyptians, it is probable that the cloth with which mummies are bandaged was spun by the same method 3000 years ago. The use of the spindle and distaff was superseded in England by the spinning wheel about the reign of Henry VIII. It was probably introduced from Hindostan, where it had been in use for ages. Two kinds of household PRICE 1d. wheels have been described as long in use among spinsters. One of these is commonly called in this country the big wheel,' from the size of its rim, or the wool wheel,' from its being chiefly employed in the spinning of wool; the other is the Jersey wheel, used for the spinning of flax, and of which the Saxony wheel was an improvement, inasmuch as it enabled the spinner to mount two spindles on the same wheel, so as to form a thread with each hand. The demand for cotton, linen, and woollen goods, having very much increased about the middle of last century, the manufacture of these articles greatly extended, giving abundant occupation to the female members of every poor family. According to Dr Taylor, this was the commencement of the system of infant labour; for spinning being found so profitable, every child in the cottage was forced to help in the process. And when the father was a weaver, and the mother a spinner, the tasks imposed on the children were often cruelly severe. The articles so produced, it need scarcely be said, were very much inferior in quality to those now in use among even the poorest classes. An improvement was made in this comparatively rude process about the year 1764, when James Hargreaves, then living in the neighbourhood of Blackburn, invented his spinning jenny. The principle of this machine is precisely that of the common spinning wheel; its merit consisting in its greatly increased productiveness. Hargreaves was, it seems, quite satisfied to spin yarn sufficient for his own loom, without telling his neighbours by what means it was produced. This secret was, however, let out through the vanity of a female member of the family, who boasted to a sick friend of having spun a pound of cotton since her last visit, shortly before. This was soon noised abroad, and when Hargreaves' neighbours at length discovered that he had invented a machine by which one woman could easily spin, within the same time, as much as had formerly been spun by twenty persons, they broke into his house, destroyed the machine, burnt nearly all his furniture, and threatened him with violence. Probably this was one of the first exhibitions of the popular hostility to machinery, which has since so often broken out in England, sometimes with devastating fury. Soon after this, the method of drawing the fibres by rollers, instead of by hand, came into operation. The first mill for this purpose was erected at Nottingham, and the machinery was turned by horses; but this method being found too expensive, another mill was shortly afterwards built at Cromford, in Derbyshire, which was worked by a water wheel, and hence the spinning machinery was called the water frame,' and the yarn produced by it water twist,' a name still continued to be applied to similar descriptions of yarn. The progress of invention from this point continued to be very rapid; and the Factory System was soon fairly commenced. Its beginning originated in this way: Up to the time of which we speak cotton-flax had been prepared at the houses of the workmen, with such simple machinery as the hand or stock cards, the spinning-wheel, and the loom. When the spinning-jenny came into use, and the number of spindles was greatly increased, a workshop was added to the cottage. But when carding and other machines had been invented, and when improvements in them had also introduced a greater number of processes and a more marked division of labour, more space was required than a cottage or a workshop could furnish. The weight of the new machinery also needed strongly built mills; and to put and keep them in motion they required more force than the human arm could supply. Hence mills arose on the banks of streams, and their waters were placed under contribution to supply the power to drive them. But water power was found so variable and uncertain-influenced as it was by the state of the weather-there being sometimes too much and sometimes too little water, that that regularity of speed which is so essential to the spinning of fine numbers could not be obtained. This obstruction, however, to the progress and perfection of our textile manufactures, was completely removed by the invention of the steam-engine; after which there rapidly sprung up, on the hills, plains, and valleys, throughout the manufacturing districts, mills for the spinning of cotton, flax, wool, silk, and other fibrous substances. The progress made in every department of machinery has been so great, that we soon outstripped the whole world; and have attained to such rapidity and cheapness of production, that we are able to bring the cotton and silk of India from a distance of thousands of miles, and after manufacturing it into goods, send it back to India again, and there undersell the native Hindoo even in his own market. It is the same with wool and other articles. standing a diminution in the hours of labour. On comparing the two periods of 1831 and 1840, it appears from the books of Messrs Marshall of Leeds, above referred to, that in the former year the average wages of 139 men were 19s. 10d. per week; of 385 women and girls, 5s. 3d. per week; and of 250 children, 3s. 23d. per week; the mills running 72 hours per week. Whereas, in 1840, when the hours of running had been reduced to 66 hours per week, that is, by about one-eighth, the average wages of 135 men had risen to 21s. 8d., and of 478 women and girls to 58. 114d. In the case of the children, the average had fallen to 2s. 5 d. per week, in consequence of the Factories Regulation Act limiting their labour to half-a-day, fresh relays of children being employed during the other half; so that here, also, the actual wages for the period of labour allowed is also increased by more than one-third. Many of the young women employed, both in the flax and cotton mills, are paid from 8s. to 12s. per week; which is more than the average of sempstresses can earn, and more even than many highly educated young women acting as governesses receive. It is well observed by Mr Hickson, in the last report of the Handloom Commissioners, that one of the greatest advantages resulting from the progress of manufacturing industry, and from severe manual labour being superseded by machinery, is its tendency to raise the condition of women. Education only is wanted to place the women of Lancashire higher in the social scale than in any other part of the world. The great drawback to female happiness among the middle and working classes, is their complete dependence and almost helplessness in securing the means of subsistence. The want of other employment than the needle cheapens their labour, in ordinary cases, until it is almost valueless. In Lancashire, profitable employment for females is abundant. Domestic servants are so scarce that they can only be obtained from the neighbouring counties. A young woman, prudent and careful, and living with her parents, from the age of 16 to 25, may, in that time, by factory employment, save £100 as a wedding portion. I believe it to be the interest of the community, that every young woman should have this in her power. She is not then driven into an early marriage by the necessity of seeking a home; and the consciousness of independence in being able to earn her own living, is favourable to the development of her best moral energies.' Some idea of the extent of the modern factory system may be formed from a few facts stated by Mr Leonard Horner, in a report just made to Parliament, respecting the district (Lancashire and Cheshire) over which he is Inspector. He states, that the 1519 firms in his books occupy 2068 factories; having 1552 steam-engines with the power of 44,338 horses, and 515 water wheels with the power of 5,413 horses. They employ 221,437 persons of all ages; of which number 14,441 are children between 8 and 13 years of age, 65,546 between 13 and 18 years of This, we believe, is a fair representation of what might age, and 77,208 above 18 years of age. Of the whole, be the consequence of factory occupation, and what would 77,208, or about one-third, are females. This estimate, be have been the actual condition of the great body of female it remembered, excludes the manufacturing districts of operatives now had moral and intellectual culture kept Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Nottingham, Ireland and Scotland. pace with the development of the factory system. It has From a paper lately read before the Leeds Mechanics' been the result of factory employment at Lowell and else and Literary Institution, by Mr Horsman, it appears that where in the United States; and why should it not be so the firm of Marshall & Son, Leeds, with which that gentle in England? Certainly there is nothing in the occupation man is connected, employs upwards of 3000 persons, and of spinning either flax, cotton, or silk, which is detrimenabove 500 horse power. In one single room of their tal to moral and social improvement, more than in any manufactory, 40,000 spindles are constantly at work, other occupation; on the other hand, there is every reason making from 2000 to 3000 revolutions every minute for 64 to believe, that with proper attention to the cultivation of hours per week, and turning off in that time probably a the minds and morals of those employed in it, they would great deal more than the whole spinster population of Greaterelong become one of the most respectable and valued Britain could do in a year with the one-thread spinning- portions of our industrial community. wheel, about a century ago! " THE VENERABLE BEDE.' BEDE, or BEDA, whom posterity has universally agreed to designate by the deserved title of venerable,' is the most distinguished name in Anglo-Saxon literature. His chief work, the Ecclesiastical History of England,' is likewise the principal original authority for the early civil history of his country. The following memoir of this learned and good man lately appeared in the Newcastle Guardian, and, though brief, brings together in a very able manner all the important particulars which have come down to us regarding his personal history: While the immense abundance and cheapness of all spun and woven productions has brought them within the reach of almost all classes of the population, it is also gratifying to be able to state, that the earnings of the labourers have, on the whole, nearly kept pace with the rapidity and cheapness of the productions. Formerly, spinsters made the most miserable wages-little more than sempstresses do now. The number employed, also, was comparatively small to what are engaged now-a-days in manufacturing processes. The population of all rural districts still keep flocking to the manufacturing towns to obtain employment in the mills. And notwithstanding, we say, the immense increase in the productiveness of the machinery, and the immense increase also in the numbers of those employed, the wages of the operatives have kept up wonderfully well; In the gallery of the Cathedral Church at Durham stands and in the flax trade, they have even increased, notwith- a low antique table monument, bearing the above inscrip Hac sunt in fossa, |