, aided by a number of
other ingenious persons, whom he was enabled to employ. It was the
cause of improving the mechanism of mills for grinding corn, and
others of different descriptions, far beyond what they had been,
although the most able engineer in that line (Mr. Smeaton) died before
the last and greatest improvements were made.

The same thing may be observed of the cotton-spinning-machines, and
with a little difference of all the inventions that have been brought to
perfection, under the influence of exclusive privileges.
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[end of page #271]

perfection, and turned to more advantage in this country than in any
other.

This advantage, which England enjoys over other countries, is a more
solid one than it appears to be, for it is intimately connected with the
government and laws of the country, and with that spirit which sees
the law well administered, which, in the case of patents, is a matter of
no small difficulty, and prevents others from becoming our rivals, or
attaining the same degree of perfection; {209} for, unless the law is
well administered, there can never be the great exertion that is
necessary to create excellence.

The fine arts and the mechanic arts are quite different in regard to the
manner in which they are brought to perfection. Individual capacity
and genius will make a man, even without much teaching, excel in one
of the fine arts; whereas, in the mechanic arts, to know how an
operation is performed is every thing, and all men can do it nearly
equally well. The consequence of this is, that, as experience improves
the manner of working, the mechanic arts improve, from age to age, as
long as they are encouraged and practised. It is not so with the fine
arts, or only so in a very small degree, and from this it arises, that, in
sculpture, poetry, painting, and music, the ancients, perhaps, excelled
the moderns. In the mechanic arts they were quite inferior. The best
examples of this, (and better need not be,) are an antique medal,
boldly and finely executed, but ragged on the edges, not on a flat
ground, or of equal thickness, compared with a new guinea, or a
Birmingham button tamely engraved but trimly executed. In the
former, there is every mark of the artist, none of the machine. In the
latter, there are some faint and flat traces of an artist, but great proof
of mechanical excellence. The skill of the artist, necessary to produce
the first, cannot be commanded, though it may, by e