national prosperity; the sowing may have been late in the history of the world, but the growth has been most rapid. Some people, astonished at the amazing development of science and art in Britain, imagine that she has reached the height of greatness, and that her decline has already begun; but, considering the unabated energy with which her people improve what they possess, and invent what they require, we may say with truth that chagrin and envy, not facts, have given rise to this idea.

The chief sources of Britain's power are her mines of coal and iron. Immense treasures of these minerals are dug out of the earth every year, and enable the Briton to command the comforts and luxuries of all parts of the world. Hundreds of thousands of tons of coals are consumed annually in steam-boats, locomotives, factories, and private dwellings; keeping us in easy communication with all nations, however distant, bringing nearly the whole of the island within a day's journey of the metropolis, and furnishing wealth to the enterprising, employment to multitudes, and comfort to all. Iron is equally useful,

and perhaps more valuable. Ninety years ago, there was reasonable cause to fear that most of these and other mines would soon cease to be wrought, and that Britain would be crippled in her main source of strength. The proprietors, instead of making handsome fortunes, were threatened with ruin; men knew that countless wealth lay buried underground, but they had not the means of lifting it to the surface without loss. The working expenses of the steam-engine then in use for keeping the mine clear of water, and raising the iron or coal, swallowed up almost all the profits. James Watt arose; and by a contrivance,

so simple that many said it was no discovery at all, turned this awkward and expensive machine into the elegant and economical steam-engine of the present day. He shewed how steam, so terrific in its effects, when not kept under due control, might be made the handmaid of man to do the hardest or the lightest work which he requires; and the engine thus constructed by his genius was the first great step in the present prosperity and progress of Great Britain.

It was not long, however, before the steam-engine was applied to other purposes than raising water, coals, and iron from the depths of the earth. Several ingenious men in the manufacturing districts of England improved the process of making cotton yarn, and weaving it into cloth. The ability to produce more and better goods in the same time was followed by an increased demand both at home and abroad. The quantity of cotton imported into Britain, principally from America and the West Indies, rose in about seventy years from three millions to three hundred millions of pounds annually; and the quantity of cotton cloth exported rose from almost nothing until it formed nearly half of the whole exported produce of Great Britain. The steam-engine has greatly contributed to these results. Manual labour was soon unable to meet the increasing demands for cotton goods annually poured into the manufacturing districts; machinery could supply them as good and at a smaller cost, and the steam-engine was called in to do the work of men. Twelve or fifteen hundred cast-iron looms of the most improved construction are ranged in rows on the ground floor of a factory; a steam-engine of forty or fifty horse