LAW IN POLITICS. 381 



upon social conditions are concerned, was that it 

 was separate and not gregarious. It did not 

 interfere with, but rather was congenial to, Family 

 Life. Thus, for thousands of years, 



" Maids at the Wheel, Weavers at the Loom, 

 Sat blithe and happy." * 



But the pressure of new necessities had arisen, 

 and these could be met only by new inventions. 

 Towards the middle of the eighteenth century, the 

 greatest difficulty was experienced by weavers 

 and spinners in England in maintaining their 

 position in the markets of the world. It is 

 curious how each new -mechanical invention rave 

 rise to the necessities out of which the next arose. 

 The invention of the Fly Shuttle in weaving, so 

 early as 1733, seems to have given the first im- 

 pulse to all that followed. By means of this in- 

 vention the power of weaving overtook the power 

 of spinning. An adequate supply of yarn could 

 not be procured under the ancient methods of that 

 most ancient industry. New conditions gave rise 



* Wordsworth's noble sonnet — 



" Nuns fret not at their convent's narrow room." 



