378 THE REIGN OF LAW. 



kind, that long ages of comparative silence and 

 inaction are broken up, and brought to an end, by 

 shorter periods of almost preternatural activity. 

 And that activity is generally spent in paths of 

 investigation, which, though independent, are con- 

 verging. Different minds, pursuing different lines 

 of thought, find themselves meeting upon common 

 ground. Such, in respect to literature, was the 

 period of the Revival of Learning: such, in respect 

 to Religion, was the period of the Reformation : 

 such, in respect to the abstract sciences, was the 

 period of Tycho Brahe, of Galileo, and of Kepler. 

 Hardly less memorable than these, certainly not 

 less powerful, as affecting the condition of society, 

 were those few years in the last quarter of the 

 eighteenth century, which were marked by such 

 an extraordinary burst of Mechanical Invention. 

 Hargraves, and Arkwright, and Watt, and 

 Crompton, and Cartwright, were all contempo- 

 raries. They were all working at the same time, 

 and in the same direction. Out of their inven- 

 tions there arose for the first time what is now 

 known as the Factory system ; and out of the 

 Factory system arose a condition of things as 



