VI

PREFACE.

durable than that which arises from useful inventions. Whitney andWhittemore, Evans and Fulton, will be remembered as longas cotton gins,carding machines, steam-engines, and steam-boats are known on thesecontinents, and when Contemporary politicians are wholly forgotten—infact most of these are so already. The name of Watt will be known whilethat of every warrior and monarch and statesman of his day has perished;and so it ought to be, for with few exceptions, he contributed more to thehappiness of his species than have such men from the beginning of time.No one is now interested in learning any thing respecting the sanguinaryBull of Burgundy and his wily antagonist, the eleventh Louis of France ,whose contests kept for years the European world in an uproar ; and thelatter, not content with murdering his species by Wholesale, in his old ageslew infants that he might acquire new vigor by bathing in their blood :but as long as time endures, the world will revere the names of theircontemporaries—Gottenburg, Koster, Faust, and Schoeffer and their asso-ciates in printing and type-founding.

Science and the arts are renovating the Constitution of society. Thedestiny of nations cannotbe much longer held by political gamblers, wealthydolts, titled buffoons, and royal puppets ; these no longer sustained byfactitious aids must descend to their own level. Theories of governmentswill not be opposed to nature and carried out in violation of her laws ; butpractical Science will be the ruling principle; and practical philosopherswill be, as God designed they should be, the master spirits of the world.The history and progress of the useful arts will soon become a subject ofgeneral study. Historians will hereafter trace in them the rise and fall ofnations ; for power and preeminence will depend upon new discoveries inand applications of Science. Battles will soon be fought by engineersinstead of generals, and by mechanism in place of men. But battles, wetrust, will hereafter be few ; for if ever men were called upon by thatwhich is dear to them and their race—by that which is calculated to rousethe purest feelings and exterminate the worst ones, it is to denounce thatspirit of military glory which encourages and induces offensive wars. Takeaway all the false glare and pomp of wars, and tyranny will expire—for itwould have nothing to Support it. Put war in its true light, and no wellregulated mind would ever embrace it as a profession.

To poets and writers of romance, the annals of mechanism present un-explored sources of materials. They are mines of the richest ores—fields teeming with the choicest fruits and flowers. Here are to be foundincidents as agreeable and exciting in their natures, and as important intheir effects as anything that can be realized by the imagination alone ;such too, as present nothing to offend the finest taste, or conflict with thepurest morals. When novelists have worn out the common ground ; (andthey seem already to have done so,) when mere Sentiment grows flat, andthe exhibition of the passions becomes stale ; when politics, history andlove are exhausted—-Works founded on the origin, progress, and maturityof the useful arts will both charm the imagination and improve the judgmentof readers. Does an author wish to introduce characters who have leftpermanent impressions of their genius upon the world 1 Where can he findthem in such variety as in the race of inventors ? Is he desirous of enrich-ing his pages with singulär coincidences, curious facts, surprising results—to facinate his readers, and cause them to anticipate the end of his pageswith regret 1 Let him detail the circumstances that led to the conception,and accompanied the improvement of those inventions and discoveries thathave elevated civilized man above the savage.

Is such a writer desirous, for instance, to entertain the sex ? He could