ascertain what is real and what is fictitious, than to deduce just conclusions from the data after they are discovered. For instance, this appears to me to be the case with that large class of questions which treat of events that happened, or are supposed to have happened, before the general use of alphabetical writing and the existence of authentic history; the origin of ancient nations, their primitive seats, their early migrations, the route they pursued, the obstacles they encountered, the language they spoke, the forms of government they established, the deities they worshipped, the laws they enacted, the sciences they originated, the arts they practised, the virtues by which they were adorned, and the vices by which they were disfigured. In moral subjects of this sort we are as much, perhaps more, perplexed by the paucity and uncertainty, than in our physical inquiries by the exuberance and diversity, of facts. On many of these topics we have volumes of dissertations, the subject of which was clearly a nonentity, and never existed at all, so that to engage in such inquiries is like sowing the wind to reap the whirlwind. In connexion with the early history of Hindustan, we have elaborate investigations as to the chronological era when Fo, or Budha, made his appearance, and from the contradictory accounts some have supposed two and some more; while there is conclusive evidence from the epithets or names of Budha in Sanskrit, to prove that it is merely one of the innumerable Asiatic names of the sun, and that Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva are no more. The Indian Budha is identical with the European Woden, and in the antiquities of the Northern nations, we are perplexed with the same inquiries respecting the period of his appearance, as we had previously been with regard to that of his Indian prototype, and of course with the same success; for how can we write a history of that which never existed? There can be nothing of an historical character in such inquiries, but the period at which the people first appeared who professed to follow Budha, or Woden, called themselves after their names, and ascribed to them the origin of a code of religious opinions, moral precepts, and ceremonial observances. The chronology of the early, or heroic, ages of Greece, as we read it arranged in tables, is little more than a transcript from the Parian marble, and the latter had no existence until after the age of Alexander, and may well be denominated a composition in more senses than one. Up to the period of Herodotus all detail is little more than waste of time, until we have asked and satisfied ourselves as to the previous question, Did such a person ever live, did the events ascribed to him ever really happen? Menes, the reputed founder of the Egyptian monarchy, appears to be identical with the Indian Menu, or Menus, a name of the sun; Nimrod, the founder of the Assyrian monarchy, is a Persic name of the sun; and there appears to have been a fabulous Cyrus, the founder of the Persian monarchy, whose exploits are mixed up with the true one, the name being derived from the Persic word Khur, the literal name of the sun, with the Greek termination Os. Phoroneus, the second king of Argos, is identical with Pharoah, or Pharaon, in Coptic a name of the sun. Memnon, the son of Aurora, or the dawn, and Tithonus, or the earth, was a name of the sun, and probably identical with the supposed inventor of letters of that name in Egypt. Cadmus is the Hebrew word Kedem, the east; Abaris, the Scythian, the Latin word Jubar, a sun-beam, in the Oriental languages probably written Aibar; and Orpheus, the inventor of letters, the Arabic word Harf, a letter, a mere abstraction, or personification. Though the Argonautic Expedition, the War of Thebes, and the Siege of Troy, are related at greater length, I believe they are not one jot more real or veracious than the earlier events in Grecian history, and to make them the basis of a chronological system is really like attempting to apply chronology to the novel of Clarissa Harlowe, or any similar work of fiction. Nay, such was Richardson's spirit of minute accuracy, that I think it highly probable that the work was written with an almanack before him, and that it would be found very difficult to convict him of the fault into which Mrs. Radcliffe is said to have sometimes fallen, of having two full moons in one month. 19. Perhaps one of the most powerful illustrations of the essential difference between Metaphysics and Physics is afforded by the Economical history of England during the last three quarters of a century. Of the large class of subjects denominated metaphysical, many were as well understood by the Greek philosophers two or three and twenty hundred years ago, as they are now, or as they will be two or three and twenty hundred years hence. They are not founded on fact, cannot be improved by observation, or become the subject of experiment, are not cognizable by the senses, hardly conceivable by the understanding, and, not being susceptible of being defined in words, cannot become matter of reasoning. Let us contrast this with a few of the results produced by Mechanics and Chemistry, results so powerful, that they have already changed the whole face of society, and opened a future prospect of indefinite improvement. In enumerating the causes which tend most efficaciously to promote the progress of national wealth, the political economist places in the foremost rank the division of labour, or that arrangement by which one man's exertions are confined to one trade, or to one branch of a complicated manufacture, the effect of which has been to increase his skill, augment his power of production, and ultimately lower the price of the article on which his labour is employed, or in which it is fixed. The division of labour, independently of its result to increase manual skill and dexterity, has tended in at least an equal degree to improve machinery, by its effect of keeping any particular process constantly before the eyes of the labourer, and making it almost the only subject of his thoughts. About the year 1760, Hargreaves, a common weaver, invented the carding machine, and in 1767 the spinning jenny, which, by working eighty spindles, increased human power eighty-fold. Mythology describes Briareus with his hundred hands as warring against the gods, but here every hand was more usefully employed, with the additional advantage that he would be quiet when you desired him to be so; unlike some domestic utensils in the Oriental tale, which, being converted into water-carriers by the spell of some magician, and no force being able to stop them short of that which had set them in motion, persevered in their labour until they were in danger of inundating a city. About the same period, Sir Richard Arkwright invented that still more extraordinary piece of mechanism, the spinning frame. In 1775, Mr. Samuel Crompton invented the mule jenny, a great improvement upon Sir Richard Arkwright's invention; and, by the united operation of all these inventions, the productive powers of labour were increased to a degree that the most sanguine could never have dreamed of. 20. So far as the improvement and excellence of machinery were concerned, hardly anything was left to be wished for; but in another branch of the subject there was still a great want and deficiency, which became more obvious and pressing in the exact ratio that machinery attained perfection, and that the manufacturing interest was extended, this was the want of a moving power. Of this, up to that period, only two kinds had been employed, that of horses and that of water. The first was both expensive in its nature, and limited in its application; and the second entailed the very inconvenient necessity of building all manufactories in the vicinity of considerable streams of running water, while the interests of the proprietors and the convenience of the workmen required that they should be situated in the very centre of Glasgow, Manchester, or London; and a beautiful invention was soon devised by which every inconvenience was remedied, and every advantage attained. In the year 1761, accident directed the attention of Mr. James Watt, one of those extraordinary men who appear from time to time destined to effect improvements so vast, productive of consequences so important, that they revolutionise the forms and fashions of society, to the circumstance of the prodigious expansive power of steam; when the fortunate idea occurred to him that it might, by possibility, be used with success as a general moving force*; and the final result of many experiments and many failures, of contrivances which exhausted all The principle of the steam-engine was known to the Marquess of Worcester, but for all practical purposes Mr. James Watt may be regarded as its inventor. the resources of mechanics, and expedients which availed themselves of all the improvements of chemistry, was the steam-engine, beyond all controversy one of the noblest monuments of human perseverance, ingenuity, and invention. The battle was now completely gained. Like another benevolent Prometheus, Mr. Watt came to assist the fortunes and raise the condition of man, and the Titans, the emblems of the powers of nature, were enlisted on the side of humanity. Enceladus, instead of shaking Etna with his convulsive throes, communicated motion throughout all the parts of a vast manufactory of six or seven stories; while Briareus with his hundred arms turned the spindle, plied the shuttle, and directed the loom. 21. Though so much was achieved, the powers of the steam-engine, so far from being exhausted, were hardly developed. Two distinct triumphs were in reserve for it, which have since been completed; and how many more are to follow, it would be difficult to say. After the fact had been established that the steam-engine was susceptible of being so employed as to convey almost every modification of motion to almost every species of machinery, a long interval of time was suffered to elapse before it appears to have occurred to any one that the steam-engine might be applied to the production of locomotion, with as much success as to communicating an impetus to machinery. It would be more strictly correct, however, to say, that no practical man attempted so to employ it, than that speculative men had not conceived the idea that it might be so employed; for in Dr. Darwin's Botanic Garden, the third and last part of which appeared in 1792, we find the following curious prophecy, which is now in the process of being accomplished in every part of Europe, America, and even Asia: "Soon shall thy arm, unconquer'd Steam, afar Canto 1. Even after the steam-engine had been applied successfully to the purpose of navigation on the great rivers of America, doubts continued to be raised if it could be made |