Mechanic Arts. 40S 



loured pictures of the magnificence and sensuality 

 which reigned at different times, in Greece and 

 Rome ; and in more modern days we read many 

 descriptions of luxury which superficial thinkers 

 w^ould suppose to indicate much greater plenty, 

 comfort, and splendour, than are now commonly 

 enjoyed. But they are, for the most part, descrip- 

 tions of plenty without taste, and of luxury with- 

 out enjoyment. AVhen we compare the ancient 

 modes of living, with the dress," the furniture, the 

 equipage, the conveniences of travelling, and the 

 incomparably greater ease with which the same 

 amount of comfortable accommodation may be 

 obtained at present, none can hesitate to give a 

 decided preference, in all these respects, to mo- 

 dern times. Perhaps it would not be extrava- 

 gant to say that many of the higher orders of 

 mechanics and day labourers now wear, better 

 clothes, and live, not more plentifully, but in 

 some respects more conveniently, more neatly, 

 and with more true taste, than many princes and 

 kings were in the habit of doing two centuries ago, 

 and in a manner quite as pleasant as multitudes 

 of a rank far superior to themselves, at a later 

 period. In short, the remarkable and unprece- 

 dented union of neatness and simplicity, cheapness 

 and elegance, which has been exhibited, in the 

 art of living, within the last thirty or forty years, 

 is, at once, a testimony of the rapid improvement 

 of the mechanic arts, and one of the most unques- 

 tionable points in which we may claim a superi- 

 ority over our predecessors. 



11 When the author speaks of the superiority of modern dress to the an- 

 cient, he wishes to be understood not as asserting that it is superior in its 

 form: this he is persuaded would not be in all respects true : the full and 

 flowing garments of the Greeks were, probably, more healthful, as well 

 as more graceful; but in the texture^ convenicncy, and cheapness of drew, it 

 ^s presumed later fashions have greatly the advantage. 



