134 
STATE AGKICULTUEAL SOCIETY 
miserable assumptions whose only foundation is adventitious and changing 
circumstance. Shakspeare was the son of a common glover, and to the day 
of his death wore no title, inherited or eonferred. But what earl, or duke, 
or king would not give the empire of the world, were it his to give, could he 
but go down the ages with the simple name and imperishable glory of Wil¬ 
liam Shakspeare !***** 
From the classic fields of Stratford-upon-Avon and of Shottery to the smoke 
and roar of great Birmingham, how marked the contrast! The way hither 
has been through magni6cent scenery, the approach heralded by the gleam¬ 
ing fires of furnaces, the thickening smoke of monster foundries, rolling 
mills and manufactories, and by the bewildering dissonances of clank and 
champ and hiss and ringing crash,'‘which here, as nowhere else in all the 
world, surprise and stun the ear. It is as if Pluto and Vulcan had joined 
hands to batter down and re-forge the world, and this Birmingham were their 
grand, central workshop. Leading city of England in the working of metals ; 
also famous for its manufacture of india rubber fabrics, papier mache, 
mother of pearl, tortoise-shell and ivory goods, and glass ware. Stands up¬ 
on a number of sandstone hills, well built; population, a quarter of a million. 
It owes its greatness to the rich mines of iron and coal in the midst of which 
it is located, and to the genius of the immortal Watt, which gave the world 
that wonder-worker, the steam engine. For many centuries it was a town 
of no special importance, though so favorably located. But immediately af¬ 
ter the application of steam as a motive power, and the construction of a 
railroad to London—completed in 1838—it became the centre of an immense 
trafi&c and has since rapidly advanced in wealth and population. * * * 
Lancashire. Who does not know that that means cotton ? Yes, there is 
at least one place where Cotton is King. Lancashire is his empire ; Man¬ 
chester the seat of government. Just now when the cotton interest is defy¬ 
ing every other in my native land, and fiercely attempting to establish its 
supremacy there and everywhere, Manchester is a place of peculiar interest. 
A large and handsome cit^^, built chiefly upon high ground, undulating, and 
upon both sides of the river Irwell; the east and west side connected by 
eight bridges, both divisions meandered by numerous railroads and canals ; 
population about half a million. Thirteen hundred years ago it was an im¬ 
portant station of the Druids, whose altar they called Meyne, To-day 
it is one of the finest and wealthiest cities of Europe ; distinguished alike 
for its splendid edifices, for the number and quality of its public institutions, 
religious, educational, industrial and charitable, for the activity and enter¬ 
prise of its people, and especially as being the greatest cotton manufacturing 
city in the world. 
One hundred years ago the amount of raw cotton imported into Manches¬ 
ter was a little over two million pounds; in 1800 it was fifty-six millions, and 
in 1?F56 one thousand and twenty-one millions. Value of the exports of 
cotton manufactures in 1860, about two hundred and fifty millions of dollars. 
But the amount manufactured is not the only thing of interest. The won¬ 
derful improvements in the quality is also worthy of note. At first, indeed 
but a few years since, the spinning was not only slowly but roughly done; 
the finest threads being comparatively coarse and knotty. Now processes 
are in use by which an almost invisible thread is made nearly as smooth and 
uniform as the most infinitesimal gold wire. Think of 15,COO spindles run¬ 
ning in one factory, each making 5,000 revolutions in a minute, and winding 
up a thread so fine that it requires 2,500 hanks or skeins, of 840 yards each, 
to make one pound ; or, in other words, so fine that 20 pounds of it tied end 
to end would reach around the world ! Think of a fabric so gossamer-like 
that a lady could put a dress pattern into one side of her porte monnaie and hard¬ 
ly know it was there ! Such are the achievements of this wonderful age. 
One of the most interesting of all the processes we examined was the means 
used for spinning these fine threads. When spun as fine as possible, they are 
each passed through a flame of burning gas, and then through holes in a brass 
plate, made by machinery, just the size of the intended thread. The flame 
singes off all superfluous fibres, and the infinitesimal perforation in the met¬ 
al scrapes off all knots and reduces it to a uniform size. The singeing is a 
surprise to every new spectator; for the thread moves so swiftly that it 
