380 THE REIGN OF LAW. 



employments were free which had arisen since 

 the commencement of the seventeenth century, 

 and, secondly, that even the older crafts were free 

 also if they were prosecuted outside the boun- 

 daries of towns. 



Such was the condition of the law when the in- 

 ventions of Adam Smith's contemporaries brought 

 into existence employments which were entirely 

 new, and opened them to that unrestricted com- 

 petition, the advantage of which he had laid down 

 as a universal doctrine. 



Spinning and weaving were not new. They 

 were as old as the memory of Mankind. But 

 the simple mechanism by which these arts were 

 prosecuted were almost equally old, and had un- 

 dergone little change and little improvement. 

 In 1760 the Spinning- Wheel, and the common 

 Loom, as used by the people of Yorkshire, were 

 little in advance of the implements for the same 

 purpose which had been in use beyond the reach 

 of History. The Spindle which is depicted on 

 the monuments of Egypt was, until a few years 

 ago, familiar in the Highlands. The essential 

 feature of this ancient industry, so far as its effects 



