300 METAL MANUFACTURE. CHAP. X. 



almost every description of hardware from the 

 product and labour of their own land. 



The first step was thus gained, and the pro- 

 gress since has been accompanied by so much 

 talent, assiduity, and attention, that at length 

 we have surpassed our former continental in- 

 structors, and been enabled to supply the wants, 

 as they arose, of the greater part of the more 

 civilized and more wealthy inhabitants of other 

 countries. 



If Elizabeth, instead of addressing her efforts 

 towards the inferior metals, had, like most of 

 her predecessors, directed the attention of her 

 subjects to the search for gold and silver, she 

 might, like some of them, have obtained small 

 portions of those metals to supply her mints, 

 but at a cost to herself or her people far beyond 

 the value of the products ; and she would have 

 suspended if not prevented those proceedings in 

 quest of iron, copper, lead, and tin, whose sub- 

 sequent workings have enriched thousands, and 

 whose labour has afforded employment and sus- 

 tenance to millions in successive generations. 



