hardly do it more effectually than by writing a volume on the labors of primitive spinsters, ere the distaff was adopted, or the spindle (the original fly-wheel) was invented; by detailing the circumstances that gave birth to those implements, with the trials, observations, customs and anecdotes connected with their introduction and their uses-imagining the congratulations that were poured upon the artist who wove the first web in a loom, and the praises bestowed upon the author of that machine and the shuttle-recalling the times and scenes when groups of laughing females were hastening to examine the first colored mantles; and recording the bursts of admiration which dropped from them (in all the force of oriental hyperbole) upon witnessing the processes by which purple and scarlet and crimson and green, &c. were produced-recounting the methods by which the art of dyeing wrought a revolution in costume, and how it became one of the great sources of wealth to Babylon and Tyre-referring to the gratification which the invention of needles and pins, of thimbles and combs, conferred on ancient dames; and noticing the influence of these in improving the dress and deportment of women-describing the trials of artists before they succeeded in perfecting these instruments, and so on, until every addition to domestic dwellings, to household furniture, and to dress be reviewed-until every thing which a modern lady possesses over an Indian's squaw be brought forward and described, with all the known facts and circumstances associated with its history and application; -and thus form a series of essays on the arts, in which every line would be poetry, and every incident new.
A new species of drama might here take its rise; one possessing equal attractions and exhibiting equally interesting pictures of human life, as any thing which writers of comedy or tragedy have yet produced. Here are characters and customs of every variety, age, and nation-incidents and adventure in the greatest profusion-the extremes of misery and bliss, of poverty and wealth, of suffering virtue and unrequited toil, and their opposites. Here the humblest individuals have, by industry and ingenuity, risen from obscurity and astonished the world. Mechanics have become kings like the old potter of Sicily, (Agathocles,) Aurelius the blacksmith of Rome, and Leitz the tinker who founded the caliph dynasty of the Soffarites. Kings have left their thrones to become workmen in brass and silver, wood and iron; as Demetrius at his lathe, Æropus making lamps and tables, Charles V. in his watchmaker's shop; and if some bizarre examples are wanted, there is still to be seen the mantua-making apartments of Ferdinand VII. with specimens of his work.
A play might be founded on the fairs held at Delos, (the Pittsburg of of the old Greeks,) where merchants (observes Pliny) assembled from all parts of the world to purchase hardware and bronze. An island whose artists were ennobled for the beauty and finish of their works in the metals, and who particularly excelled in brazen feet for chairs, tables, and bedsteads, and in statues and other large works in brass. Then there was the workmen of Ægina, who beat all others in fabricating branches and and sockets of candelabra; while those of Tarentum produced the best pedestals or shafts. In connection with which, there is the singular story of the Lady Gegania, who, after giving 50,000 sesterces for a bronze candlestick, adopted its ill-favored and hump-backed maker for her companion
How rich in interest would a dramatic scene be if laid in an antediluvian smith's shop! (Forges have always been places of resort.) To notice the characters of the visitants, listen to their remarks, examine the instruments fabricated by the artist, his materials, fuel, bellows, and other tools!