We who reside in the interior parts of the kingdom may observe the first
traces of a river when it issues from its fountain, the current so
extremely small, that if a bottle of liquor, distilled through the
urinary vessels, were discharged into its course, it would manifestly
augment the water and quicken the stream: the reviving bottle, having
added spirits to the man, would seem to add spirits to the river. If we
pursue this river, winding through one hundred and thirty miles, we
shall observe it collect strength as it runs, expand its borders, swell
into consequence, employ multitudes of people, carry wealth in its
bosom, and exactly resemble thread-making in Birmingham. If we represent
to our ideas a man able to employ three or four people, himself in an
apron one of the number, but who being _unable_ to write his name, shows
his attachment to the Christian religion by signing the _cross_ to
receipts; whose method of book-keeping, like that of the publican, is _a
door and a lump of chalk_; producing a book which none can peruse but
himself; who having manufactured forty pounds weight of thread, of
divers colours, and rammed it into a pair of leathern bags, something
larger than a pair of boots, which we might deem the arms of his trade
_empaled_; slung them on a horse, and placed himself on the top by way
of a _crest_; visits an adjacent market, to starve with his goods at a
stall, or retail them to the mercer, nor return without the money--we
shall see a thread-maker of 1652. If we pursue this occupation, winding
through the mazes of one hundred and thirty years, we shall see it
enlarge its boundaries, multiply its people, increase its consequence
and wealth, till in 1782 we behold the master in possession of correct
accounts, the apron thrown aside, the stall kicked over, the bags tossed
into the garret, and the mercer overlooked in the grand prospect of
exportation. We farther behold him take the lead in provincial concerns,
step into his own carriage, and hold the king’s commission as a
magistrate.[441]
[441] Hutton’s History of Birmingham.
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