xix Pyrometer or Thermometer 253 



a much greater degree than they do now. Their houses 

 were miserable huts ; the lands were poorly cultivated, 

 and yielded little of value for the food of man or beast ; 

 and these disadvantages, with roads almost impassable, 

 might be said to have cut off our part of the country 

 from the rest of the world, besides not rendering it 

 very comfortable to ourselves. Compare this picture, 

 which I know to be a true one, with the present state 

 of the same country. The workmen earning nearly 

 double their former wages, their houses mostly new 

 and comfortable, and the lands, roads, and every other 

 circumstance bearing evident marks of the most pleas- 

 ing and rapid improvements. . . . Industry has been 

 the parent of this happy change. A well-directed and 

 long-continued series of industrious exertions, both in 

 masters and servants, has so changed for the better 

 the face of our country, its buildings, lands, roads (he 

 might have added canals), and, notwithstanding the 

 present unfavourable appearances, I must say the 

 manner and deportment of its inhabitants too, have 

 been such as to attract the notice and admiration of 

 countries which had scarcely heard of us before ; and 

 how far these improvements may still be carried on by 

 the same laudable means which have brought us thus 

 far, has been one of the most pleasing contemplations 

 of my life." 



Wedgwood had still another pamphlet to issue. It 

 has already been said that many efforts were made by 

 foreigners and others to induce the best workmen to 



