the Poor in Bavaria. 273 



ful labour, it was necessary to give them such work, 

 at first, as was very easy to be performed, and in which 

 the raw materials were of little value ; and then by de- 

 grees, as they became more adroit, to employ them in 

 manufacturing more valuable articles. 



As hemp is a very cheap commodity, and as the 

 spinning of hemp is easily learned, particularly when 

 it is designed for very coarse and ordinary manufac- 

 tures, 15,000 pounds of that article were purchased 

 in the Palatinate, and transported to Munich ; and 

 several hundred spinning-wheels, proper for spinning 

 it, were provided ; and several good spinners, as in- 

 structors, were engaged and in readiness when this 

 House of Industry was opened for the reception of the 

 poor. 



Flax and wool were likewise provided, and some 

 few good spinners of those articles were engaged as 

 instructors ; but by far the greater number of the poor 

 began with spinning of hemp, and so great was their 

 awkwardness at first that they absolutely ruined almost 

 all the raw materials that were put into their hands. 

 By an exact calculation of profit and loss, it was found 

 that the manufactory actually lost more than 3,000 

 florins upon the articles of hemp and flax, during the 

 first three months ; but we were not discouraged by 

 these unfavourable beginnings. They were indeed easy 

 to be foreseen, considering the sort of people we had 

 to deal with, and how necessary it was to pay them 

 at a very high rate for the little work they were able 

 to perform, in order to keep up their courage, and 

 induce them to persevere with cheerfulness in acquir- 

 ing more skill and address in their labour. If the 

 establishment was supported at some little expense in 



VOT.. TV. lS 



