ON THE HISTORY OF MECHANICS. 187 



tinent, since the linen manufacture was little advanced in England till 150 

 years later ; but embroidery was much practised, although in the 12th 

 century silks were principally woven in Sicily. The manufactory of cloth 

 was considerably improved, in the 14th century, by the establishment of 

 Kempe and other Flemish weavers in England : and many of the arts 

 were benefited, about the same time, by the invention of the method of 

 drawing wire, which was first introduced at Nuremberg. In the succeed- 

 ing century, the increasing number of hands employed in various manu- 

 factures, suggested to some mind of superior penetration the great principle 

 of the division of labour, by which each individual is enabled to acquire 

 so high a degree of perfection in a very limited branch of each manufac- 

 ture, that the whole work is performed much more perfectly, as well as 

 more expeditiously, than if it had been begun and completed by any one 

 person, even of greater abilities and experience. The invention of the 

 modern spinning wheel is attributed to Jiirgen of Brunswick, and the year 

 1530 is assigned as its date : England soon profited by the improvement ; 

 many manufacturers took refuge in this country from the Duke of Alva's 

 persecutions in Flanders, and before the end of the century a new modifi- 

 cation of the art of weaving was introduced by Lee of Cambridge, who 

 invented the stocking loom, imitating the texture of the knit stockings, 

 which were first manufactured in Spain about the year 1550. Mills for 

 drawing wire and for slitting iron were also first erected in the sixteenth 

 century ; Birmingham and Sheffield were even at that time, according to 

 Camden, celebrated for their manufactures; and the machinery which 

 has been since introduced at different periods in those places, affords a 

 facility and expedition which astonish every unexperienced spectator. The 

 names of Watt and of Boulton have acquired a just celebrity from their 

 refined improvements ; but many other mechanics of inferior rank have 

 exhibited a degree of ingenuity which would have done honour to the 

 most distinguished talents. The manufactures of Manchester are also of 

 considerable antiquity ; but they are very greatly indebted to the inven- 

 tions of Ark wright and his followers, which have also been introduced in 

 many other parts of the united kingdom. The importance of these 

 improvements may be estimated from the quantity of cotton which is 

 annually imported into Great Britain ; in 1787, it amounted to 23 million 

 pounds, and gave employment to 420 thousand manufacturers; in 1791, 

 it was increased to 32 millions : about one half is consumed in white goods, 

 one fourth in fustians, and the remainder in hosiery, mixtures, and candle 

 wicks. But the woollen manufactory affords a subsistence to above a 

 million persons, who receive annually for their work about nine millions 

 sterling, and employ as much wool as is worth about three.* 



In architecture, the Anglonorman style prevailed in this country from 

 the conquest to the beginning of the thirteenth century ; the arch was fre- 

 quently employed, and its form was semicircular. 'The Gothic architecture, 

 distinguished by its pointed arches, which is said to have originated from 

 thG Saracens, was first introduced into England about the year 1170, and 



* See Baines's History of the Cotton Manufacture, 1835 ; or art. Cotton Manu- 

 facture, Encyc. Brit. 



