CHAP. xxr.
129
even of the labouring and mechanical classes offemales. Few of the women-would enter into themarried state till the joint savings of herself and herlover had amounted to sufficient to purchase a wed-ding-ring of gold. In this age the manufacture ofwatches of silver and gold became much simplifiedand improved, and the use of them vastly extended.As long as the making them remained in thehands of a few ingenious and skilful persons whowere rather artists than artisans, the price washigh, and the numbers worn were comparativelyfew; but as fast as the value of the cases inwhich the machinery was enclosed declined, andas the forming the interior parts was dividedamong different descriptions of workmen, so fastdid the demand increase, and a watch became thecommon appendage to the dress of every manand most women in the augmented number ofpersons in the middle ranks of society.
The use of an article among.a few hundred, or,when comprehending all Europe , of a few thousandrich or noble families, may be considerable; butwhen it extends to the millions, however smallthe portion of each may be, the whole mass col-lected will be increased to an incalculable extent.
If we suppose Europe at that period to havecontained one hundred million inhabitants, andone-tenth of these to have been married or wi-dowed females, with each a gold ring of only apennyweight of gold, the value of them wouldamount to two million pounds sterling. If we
VOL. II.
IC