of all the principal scientific bodies of Europe and America. He bore his honours with the same meekness and humility which had distinguished him in the days of his obscurity. "So patient and, withal, so distinguished and successful a follower of science under difficulties, perhaps does not occur in the whole range of biography." Sir William Herschel possessed, and, indeed, deserved, the love of his relatives, not on account of the celebrity which the genius of the astronomer conferred on their name, but on account of the gentle benevolence, the candour and mildness of temper which characterized his private life. He lived to the good old age of eighty-three, and died, in the year 1822, happy and respected, having had the great pleasure of seeing his son prepared to follow in his own path.

SIR RICHARD ARKWRIGHT.

AMONG the many trees and plants with which a bountiful Creator has enriched the earth, and which He has given to man either for food or

clothing, none is more useful and valuable than the cotton-plant. Its beautiful produce has been converted by human skill into a great variety of clothing. Calicoes of every description, from their cheapness and durability, the principal material for the dresses of the poor,-nankeens, corduroys,

muslins, chintzes, lace, wicks of candles, and, lastly, paper, are all made from the cotton-plant.

The produce of this plant is a soft downy substance, bearing so great a resemblance to sheeps' wool, that it was called by the ancients "wool of trees." In our own language it is known by the name of cotton-wool. In colour it is white, or slightly yellow, and it is composed of delicate fibres, so long and flexible, that they can be spun into an extremely fine thread. It grows upon the plant enclosed within pods, which protect it from injury till it is ripe, when the pods burst, and the cotton is ready to be gathered. The cotton-plant is a native of India and America. There are several different sorts of this plant, some of which, as the cotton-tree, grow to the height of 100 feet; others, again, are about the size of currant-bushes; but the most useful species is an annual, which grows from eighteen to twenty-four inches high, and which is cultivated in the United States, India, and China.

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The art of weaving cotton cloth, or calico," so called from the city of Calicut, in India, from whence the goods were originally imported, was known to the Indians at a very early period. The celebrated ancient historian, Herodotus, who lived about the year 445 B.C., tells us that the Indians possess a kind of plant, which, instead of fruit, produces wool, of a finer and better quality than that of sheep," and that "of this they make their clothes." The Indian calicoes and muslins-the

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latter remarkable for their extreme fineness and delicacy, and even now scarcely equalled by any thing made in England-were for many centuries imported into Europe. From India the manufacture of cotton spread through Asia to Africa. When America was discovered by the Spaniards, the cotton manufacture was found existing there in great perfection. Columbus found the cotton-plant growing wild in the West-India Islands, and in South America, where the inhabitants wore cotton dresses, and made their fishing-nets of the same material. Cotton also formed the principal article of clothing among the Mexicans.

In all hot climates, cotton, which is found to be the material best suited for wear, grows so readily and abundantly, that it is the cheapest material of which clothing can be made.

The first country in Europe into which the manufacture of cotton was introduced was Spain. The art was brought over in the tenth century by the Moors, who taught the Spaniards many things of which they were ignorant, such as the cultivation of cotton and rice, of the mulberry-tree, and the sugar-cane. The cloth made by the Spaniards was called fustian. They also made paper of cotton, long before that most useful article was known in any other part of Europe. We next hear of the cotton manufacture in Italy, from whence it spread northward, through Germany and the Low-Countries, into England, which may be called its second birth-place. This was about the seventeenth cen

tury for some time previously, however, stuffs, called Manchester cottons, though they were entirely made of wool, had been fabricated in England. It was a long time before the art made much progress in this country. The cloths that were made were of a very coarse description. Owing to the rudeness of the spinning machinery, fine yarnı could not be spun, and, consequently, fine goods could not be woven; and large quantities of calico, muslins, and chintzes were still imported from India. Between 1720 and 1740, however, this manufacture increased rapidly, and Manchester and other towns, where it was chiefly carried on, increased accordingly in wealth and importance. But the cotton-trade would never have become as extensive as it now is, had it not been for the discovery of the steam-engine by James Watt, and for the invention, by men of talent and skill, of machines for making yarn, both of a better quality, and in a far larger quantity. Among these men we must give the first place to Sir Richard Arkwright; and though his life is not so interesting as those of Watt and Stephenson, it is both useful and valuable, as an example which shows us how industry and perseverance will, in the end, prove victorious, in spite of poverty, obscurity, and want of learning.

Richard Arkwright was born at Preston, in Lancashire, in 1732. Like Wedgwood, he was the youngest of thirteen children, and his parents, who were very poor, could not afford to send him to