The progress of the arts, is equal to the progress of time; they began,
and will end together. Though some of both are lost, yet they both
accumulate.
The manufacture of iron, in Birmingham, is ancient beyond research; that
of steel is of modern date.
Pride is inseparable from the human character, the man without it, is
the man without breath: we trace it in various forms, through every
degree of people; but like those objects about us, it is best
discovered in our own sphere; those above, and those below us, rather
escape our notice; envy attacks an equal.
Pride induced the Pope to look with contempt on the European Princes,
and now induces them to return the compliment; it taught insolence to
the Spaniard, selfishness to the Dutch; it teaches the rival nations of
France and England to contend for power.
Pride preserves a man from mean actions, it throws him upon meaner; it
whets the sword for destruction; it urges the laudable acts of humanity;
it is the universal hinge on which we move; it glides the gentle stream
of usefulness, it overflows the mounds of reason, and swells into a
destructive flood; like the sun, in his milder rays, it animates and
draws us towards perfection; but, like him, in his fiercer beams, it
scorches and destroys.
Money is not the necessary attendant of pride, for it abounds no where
more than in the lowest ranks. It adds a sprucer air to a sunday dress;
casts a look of disdain from a bundle of rags; it boasts the _honor_ of
a family, while poverty unites a sole and upper-leather with a bandage
of shop-thread. There are people who even _pride_ themselves in
humility.
This dangerous _good_, this necessary _evil_, supports the female
character; without it, the brightest part of the creation would
degenerate.
It will be asked, "What portion may be allowed?" Prudence will answer,
"As much as you please, but _not_ to disgust."
It is equally found in the senate-house, or the button-shop; the scene
of action is the scene of pride; and I, unable to adorn this work with
erudition, take a pride in cloathing a worn-out subject afresh, and that
pride will increase, should the world smi ---- "But why, says my friend,
do you forsake the title of your chapter, and lead us a dance through
the mazes of pride? Can there be any connexion between that sovereign
passion, and forging a bar of steel?" Yes, he who makes steel prides
himself in carrying the art one step higher than he who makes iron.
This art appeared among us in the seventeenth century; was introduced by
the family of Kettle. The name of Steelhouse-lane will convey to
posterity the situation of the works, the commercial spirit of
Birmingham, will convey the produce to the Antipodes.
From this warm, but dismal climate, issues the button, which shines on
the breast, and the bayonet, intended to pierce it; the lancet, which
bleeds the man, and the rowel, the horse; the lock, which preserves the
beloved bottle, and the screw, to uncork it; the needle, equally
obedient to the thimble and the pole.