When James Watt was learning his trade of an instrument
maker in London, a hundred years ago, he durst scarcely walk abroad lest
he should be seized and sent to India or the American plantations. Less
than a hundred years ago, the colliers and salters of Scotland were
slaves. It is not forty years since women and children worked in
coalpits. Surely we are not to go down upon our knees and pray for a
restoration of the horrible things that existed a hundred years ago.
A hundred years ago, Ireland was treated like a conquered country; and
hangings and shootings of rebels were frequent. The fleet at the Nore
mutinied; and the mutiny was put down by bloodshed and executions. Towns
and cities swarmed with ruffians; and brutal sports and brutal language
existed to a frightful degree. Criminals were hanged, five or six
together, at Tyburn. Gibbets existed at all the cross-roads throughout
the country. The people were grossly ignorant, and altogether neglected.
Scepticism and irreligion prevailed, until Wesley and Whitfield sprang
up to protest against formalism and atheism. They were pelted with
rotten eggs, sticks, and stones. A Methodist preacher was whipped out of
Gloucester.
A hundred years ago, literature was at a very low ebb. The press was in
a miserable state. William Whitehead was Poet Laureate! Who knows of him
now? Gibbon had not written his "Decline and Fall.
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