CHAP. xxr. GOLD RINGS. 



even of the labouring and mechanical classes of 

 females. Few of the women would enter into the 

 married state till the joint savings of herself and her 

 lover had amounted to sufficient to purchase a wed- 

 ding-ring of gold. In this age the manufacture of 

 watches of silver and gold became much simplified 

 and improved, and the use of them vastly extended. 

 As long as the making them remained in the 

 hands of a .few ingenious and skilful persons who 

 were rather artists than artisans, the price was 

 high, and the numbers worn were comparatively 

 few ; but as fast as the value of the cases in 

 which the machinery was enclosed declined, and 

 as the forming the interior parts was divided 

 among different descriptions of workmen, so fast 

 did the demand increase, and a watch became the 

 common appendage to the dress of every man 

 and most women in the augmented number of 

 persons in the middle ranks of society. 



The use of an article among a few hundred, or, 

 when comprehending all Europe, of a few thousand 

 rich or noble families, may be considerable ; but 

 when it extends to the millions, however small 

 the portion of each may be, the whole mass col- 

 lected will be increased to an incalculable extent. 



If we suppose Europe at that period to have 

 contained one hundred million inhabitants, and 

 one-tenth of these to have been married or wi- 

 dowed females, with each a gold ring of only a 

 pennyweight of gold, the value of them would 

 amount to two million pounds sterling. If we 



VOL. II. K 



