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always a slow, difficult, and expensive operation; and, when the manuscript is finished, it is perhaps laid aside among the stores of some great library, where it may be neglected by students, and must, at any rate, be accessible to very few persons, and subject to be destroyed by numerous accidents. But the admirable invention of printing enables the artist to make a thousand copies from the original manuscript, by having them stamped upon paper, in far less time, and with less expense, than it would cost to make half a dozen such copies with the pen. From the period of this glorious discovery, knowledge of every kind might be said to be brought out of the cloisters and universities, where it was known only to a few scholars, into the broad light of day, where its treasures were accessible to all men. The Bible itself, in which we find the rules of eternal life, as well as a thousand lessons for our conduct in this world, was, before the invention of printing, totally inaccessible to all save the priests. But, by means of printing, this inestimable treasure, formerly concealed from the public, was placed within the reach alike of the laity and the clergy; and every one, above the most wretched poverty, may now, at a cheap price, possess himself of the blessed rule of life. The same noble art made knowledge of a temporal kind as accessible as that which concerned religion. Whatever works of history, science, morality, or entertainment, seemed likely to instruct or amuse the reader, were printed and distributed among the people at large by printers and booksellers, who had a profit by doing so. Thus the possibility of important discoveries being forgotten in the course of years, or of the destruction of useful arts or elegant literature, by the loss of the records, in which they are preserved, was in a great measure removed. In a word, the printing press is a contrivance, which enables any one individual to address his whole fellowsubjects on any topic which he thinks important; and which enables a whole nation to listen to the voice of such individual, however obscure, with the same ease and greater certainty of understanding what he says, than if a chief of Indians were haranguing the tribe at his council-fire. Nor is the important difference to

be forgotten, that the orator can only speak to the persons present, while the author of a book addresses him self, not only to the race now in existence, but to all succeeding generations, while his work shall be held in estimation. Scott.

ON THE MULTIPLICITY OF TRADES AND EMPLOYMENTS IN LONDON.

THAT familiarity produces neglect, has been long observed. The effect of all external objects, however great or splendid, ceases with their novelty. The courtier stands without emotion in the royal presence; the rustic tramples under his foot the beauties of the spring, with little attention to their colours or their fragrance; and the inhabitant of the coast darts his eye upon the immense diffusion of waters, without awe, wonder, or terror.-Those, who have passed much of their lives in this great city, look upon its opulence and its multitudes, its extent and variety, with cold indifference ; but an inhabitant of the remoter parts of the kingdom is immediately distinguished by a kind of dissipated curiosity, a busy endeavour to divide his attention amongst a thousand objects, and a wild confusion of astonishment and alarm. The attention of a new-comer is generally first struck by the multiplicity of cries that stun him in the streets, and the variety of merchandise and manufactures, which the shopkeepers expose on every hand; and he is apt, by unwary bursts of admi ration, to excite the merriment and contempt of those, who mistake the use of their eyes for effects of their un derstanding, and confound accidental knowledge with just reasoning. But surely these are subjects, on which any man may, without reproach, employ his meditations; the innumerable occupations, among which the thousands, that swarm in the streets of London, are distri buted, may furnish employment to minds of every cast, and capacities of every degree. He, that contemplates the extent of this wonderful city, finds it difficult to conceive, by what method plenty is maintained in our markets, and how the inhabitants are regularly supplied

with the necessaries of life: but, when he examines the shops and warehouses, sees the immense stores of every kind of merchandise piled up for sale, and runs over all the manufactures of art and products of nature, which are every where attracting his eye and soliciting his purse, he will be inclined to conclude, that such quantities cannot easily be exhausted, and that part of mankind must soon stand still for want of employment, till the wares already provided shall be worn out and destroyed. As Socrates was passing through the fair at Athens, and casting his eyes over the shops and customers, "How many things are there," says he, “that I do not want." The same sentiment is, every moment, rising in the mind of him that walks the streets of London, however inferior in philosophy to Socrates. He beholds a thousand shops crowded with goods, of which he can scarcely tell the use, and which, therefore, he is apt to consider as of no value; and indeed, many of the arts, by which families are supported, and wealth is heaped together, are of that minute and superfluous kind, which nothing but experience could evince possible to be prosecuted with advantage, and which, as the world might easily want, it could scarcely be expected to encourage. But so it is, that custom, curiosity, or wantonness, supplies every art with patrons, and finds purchasers for every manufacture; the world is so adjusted, that not only bread, but riches may be obtained without great abilities or arduous performances; the most unskilful hand and unenlightened mind have sufficient incitements to industry; for he, that is resolutely busy, can scarcely be in want. There is, indeed, no employment, however despicable, from which a man may not promise himself more than competence, when he sees thousands and myriads raised to dignity, by no other merit, than that of contributing to supply their neighbours with the means of sucking smoke through a tube of clay; and others raising contributions upon those, whose elegance disdains the grossness of smoky luxury, by grinding the same materials into a powder, that may at once gratify and impair the smell.-Not only by these popular and modish trifles, but by a thousand unheeded and evanescent kinds of business,

are the multitudes of this city preserved from idleness, and consequently from want. In the endless variety of tastes and circumstances, that diversify mankind, nothing is so superfluous, but that some one desires it, or so common, but that some one is compelled to buy it. As nothing is useless but because it is in improper hands, what is thrown away by one is gathered up by another; and the refuse of part of mankind furnishes a subordinate class with the materials necessary to their support. When I look round upon those who are thus variously exerting their qualifications, I cannot but admire the secret concatenation of society, that links together the great and the mean, the illustrious and the obscure; and consider, with benevolent satisfaction, that no man, unless his body or mind be totally disabled, has need to suffer the mortification of seeing himself useless or burthensome to the community. He, that will diligently labour, in whatever occupation, will deserve the sustenance which he obtains, and the protection which he enjoys; and may lie down every night, with the pleasing consciousness of having contributed something to the happiness of life. Contempt and admiration are equally incident to narrow minds: he, whose apprehensions can take in the whole subordination of mankind, and whose perspicacity can pierce to the real state of things, through the thin veils of fortune or of fashion, will discover meanness in the highest stations, and dignity in the meanest; and find that no man can become venerable but by virtue, or contemptible but by wickedness. In the midst of this universal hurry, no man ought to be so little influenced by example, or so void of honest emulation, as to stand a lazy spectator of incessant labour; or please himself with the mean happiness of a drone, while the active swarms are buzzing about him. No man is without some quality, by the due application of which he might deserve well of the world: and whoever he be, that has but little in his power, should be in haste to do that little, lest he be confounded with him that can do nothing.

Johnson.

TRADES AND EMPLOYMENTS IN LONDON

(CONTINUED).

By this general concurrence of endeavours, arts of every kind have been so long cultivated, that all the wants of man may be immediately supplied: Idleness can scarcely form a wish, which she may not gratify by the toil of others; or Curiosity dream of a toy, which the shops are not ready to afford her. Happiness is enjoyed only in proportion as it is known: and such is the state or folly of man, that it is known only by experience of its contrary. We, who have long lived amidst the conveniences of a town immensely populous, have scarce an idea of a place, where desire cannot be gratified by money. In order to have a just sense of this artificial plenty, it is necessary to have passed some time in a distant colony, or those parts of our island, which are thinly inhabited. He, that has once known how many trades every man, in such situations, is compelled to exercise, with how much labour the products of nature must be accommodated to human use, how long the loss or defect of any common utensil must be endured, or by what awkward expedients it must be supplied, how far men wander with money in their hands, before any can sell them what they wish to buy,-will know how to rate, at its proper value, the plenty and ease of a great city. But, that the happiness of man may still remain imperfect, as wants in this place are easily supplied, new wants are likewise easily created. Every man, in surveying the shops of London, sees numberless instruments and conveniences, of which, while he did not know them, he never felt the need; and yet, when use has made them familiar, wonders how life could be supported without them. Thus it comes to pass, that our desires always increase with our possessions: the knowledge that something remains yet unenjoyed, impairs our enjoyment of the good before us.-They, who have been accustomed to the refinements of science, and multiplications of contrivance, soon lose their confidence in the

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