No. 199.] 345 



belong to the Mechanic Arts. Since the day that he was dooraecl to 

 eat his bread by the sweat of his brow, he has been obliged to con- 

 trive arfd invent, and use every endeavor and artifice in order to pro- 

 cure the means of subsistence. In the earliest ages, or the antedela- 

 vian period, he enjoyed, we have reason to believe, much more of 

 nature's munificence and spontaneous productions than, since it be- 

 came necessary, for his great wickedness, to destroy the earth by a 

 flood. But even then he made advancement in the mechanical and 

 useful arts, and made tools and instruments for various purposes, and 

 evinced a considerable degree of genius and skill. After the re- 

 peopling of the world, in the most remote ages, rapid and astonishing 

 proficiency was made in the Arts and in Science. The Chinese, who 

 claim the highest antiquity, have been from time immemorial, an in- 

 genius people j and although their progressive improvement has been 

 by no means equal, for the last few centuries, to that of the nations 

 of Western Europe, yet, from the peculiar nature of their govern • 

 ment, and its internal regulation, they must at a very early period of 

 their histoi*y, have attained a degree of perfection in some of the 

 manufacturing arts which has never since been surpassed, if it has 

 even been equalled. Some descriptions of Chinese manufacture are 

 matters of universal admiration, and they must, from the very circum- 

 stances under which they are made, long, and it may be always, con- 

 tinue unequalled. Their china, an article of manufacture deriving its 

 name from them, is probably superior to that which is made in any 

 part of the world. And mitil very recently, their silk and cotton 

 fabrics took the lead not only among the great mass of purchasers, 

 but were eagerly sought after and bought at very exorbitant prices by 

 the higher and the most wealthy circles. 



Besides the Chinese, the Jews very early reached to great perfec- 

 tion in the Arts. For magnificence and splendor, and elegance of 

 architecture and ornament, what building, since erected, has ever 

 equalled the Temple of Solomon ; and yet, exquisite and masterly as 

 was the workmanship manifest in its construction, it was performed 

 soon after their settlement in the land of Canaan. 



If we approach the West, or rather the South, still further, we shall 

 find equal evidence of early and amazing progress in mechanism " 



