_France_, _Germany_ and _Holland_; such as those of Brass,
Tin, Copper, Lead and Iron Work, in all their amazing Species; those of
Glass, Tapestry, Hats, Silk, Leather, Paper, Pins, Needles, Lace,
Earthen-Ware, and Numbers of others, of which our own Island can
largely supply the Materials, if we wou'd make use of them. Whether it
proceeds from our Ignorance or our Poverty, our before mentioned
Laziness, or want of Capacity I cannot say; but Arts and Manufactures
seem to be discourag'd so remarkably, in this unthinking and unthought
of Island, as if we wou'd fain obtain the Name, of _Omnium bonarum
Artium noverca_, formerly as I remember given to _Scythia_. Even those
few Attempts we make to deserve well in some of them, are brow-beaten
or neglected by our People of Fashion. This is a Complaint I must often
make, and can never be too often repeated in their Ears, as without
their Help no Workmen, how industrious soever, can thrive. 'Tis
miserable that our polite People, will not be content to Ruin their own
Families by their extravagant Finery, but their Country too, and all
who dare endeavour to exert a little Industry in home Manufactures.
Surely the Wearers of all Foreign Goods, and especially the Fair Sex,
do not believe, or do not consider, that they deliberately starve their
own poor Countrymen and their Families, by making them Work in vain.
They shou'd in Pity, in Generosity, in Justice reflect, that since we
are not allowed to Export our Silk and Woollen Goods abroad, the least
that every Friend to _Ireland_ can do, is to encourage them so far, as
to wear them at Home, tho' they do not quite come up to those that are
Imported to us. Tho' we are terribly impoverish'd by this fondness for
Goods which other Nations send us, it is still some Comfort, that there
is no Law to force us to it as yet, and that the whole of this dreadful
Ruin, is grounded on our own Humours, which a little thinking, some
Charity, and a general Poverty, may remove in Time. I know no reason,
why a Thousand beautiful Faces I have seen in _Ireland_, shou'd desire
to look lovelier than Nature, and the Produce of their native Kingdom
can make them: And for our Gentlemen (if they are Gentlemen) they
shou'd take a Pride in wearing nothing but what is wrought in _Irish_
Looms, and make it a Case of Conscience, like Archbishop _King_, Bishop
_Berkeley_, and Crowds of Patriots I cou'd Name, to be cloathed by our
own People. The _Dutch_ I am told, hav