Mechanical Arts or Handy-Crafts prefuppofe by the Way, that Man ftands in Need of Three Temporal Things, Aliments, Houfes and Cloathing, for the neceflary Maintenance of this Life. Aliments are requir'd to restore the daily Confumption cf radical Moisture, wafting away by natural Heat, as the Oyl does by the burning Week in the Lamp; ftill fupplying fresh Recruits of moift Nourishment, either by Bread, Wine, Flesh or other Food, to fupport a Man's Being and Life in Proportion. Whence arose feveral common Trades of innumerable HandyCrafts-Men, without mentioning their Names; to prepare for us the ufual Provision of Victuals neceffary for our daily Suftenance. The Ufe of Houfes, in the next Place, is abfolutely neceffary for our private Retirement and Refuge, not to live always in the publick Streets, open Fields or in Common; but to folace our felves in private, fuccour our Families, and keep our Goods under Covert, like fociable Creatures or fober Chriftians. Whence arofe feveral laborious Devices of ingenious Architects, without a Poffibility of reciting them; to erect us ftately Edifices, or convenient Buildings to dwell in; for our Well Being, fheltering us from the Weather, and providing for the Welfare, Safety and Protection of our Lives in feparate Habitations. The Ufe of Cloathing is likewife of as indifpenfable Neceffity to cover our Naked nefs, to preserve the natural Heat of our Bodies, and keep them from external Cold, or catching worfe Distempers. Whence arofe feveral witty Inventions of induftrious Mechanicks, without Number; to make us Cloaths by an Art as old as fowing of Fig-Leaves together, and to provide us with warm well-wrought Garments or fuit R 3 able able Apparel, for the better Preservation of our Healths, as well as Decency of our Perfons. Good Cloathing is as neceflary, prudential and expedient as our daily Nutriment and we are highly oblig'd, or originally beholden to the Handy-Crafts of the Distaff and useful Works of the Spindle, for that genteel Accomplishment. But after All, it is the undeniable Duty of all Artificers, to avoid any Fraud or Deceit, as well as Negligence or Naughtinefs in their vendible Wares and curious Manufactures. They are under the greatest Obligation ftill, to refer the chief End of their Labours more to the common Profit, Intereft, and Service of the rest of Mankind, than their own private Gain or Advantage. However, if we may believe the Poets, it is to the Wifdom of Minerva, that we owe the Invention of Spinning and Weaving. She foundout the Ufe of Oyl, as well as the Art of making and colouring of Cloth: fo that many of the greatest Perfonages of Old did not difdain to fubmit their willing Hands, in fome Measure, to incourage fuch ufeful Artifices and profitable Imployments; and why fhould most of our Moderns utterly reject or neglect them in all Points of Proficiency in Trade: confidering that they claim a Goddefs for their Director; and for the Authority, Goodnefs, or Eftablishment of their Manufactories. HUMILITY intitles our virtuous Lady, by this Text, to the nobleft Character and higheft Encomium; however difproportionable to her Dignity, or falling far fhort of her fuperlative Worth, both Humane and Divine. Firft, fhe walks humbly with her glorious God, and then fets her bleffed Family at Work by her inftrutive Example, with Mecknefs, Patience, and Long Long-fuffering. She is not high-minded; but lowly to the last Degree of Love, Candour and Condefcention. She fhews no imperious Pride, and discovers no infulting Haughtiness. Without this Virtue, fhe believes there can be no real Greatness, nor Perfection, acceptable to the Author of it, and the Giver of that Grace. It puts her upon great Exploits, without Vanity; upon dangerous Hazards, without Fear; upon forlorn Hardships, without Defpair; upon fortunate Attempts, without Difcouragement; and upon extreme Difficulties, without any Dejection of Mind, Disturbance of Thought, or Change of Temper. She is not humble out of a meer Contempt or Abjection of her felf in Thought and Action; but in a modeft Purfuit of unaffected Honour and involuntary Glory not for popular Oftentation, but as a never-failing Reward of the tacit Virtue it Self. She thinks all other Glory falfe and fpurious, as well as vain and vicious. She affects no Honour voluntarily by humbling her felf, but what her Works manifeftly deserve, and confequently must be given her even against her Will. Her greatest Honour is readily to refuse it when it becomes due, and to defpife the forward Payment of the Debt fo justly contracted upon Honour. She values no fecular Grandeur, Preferment or Riches, any more than gilded Bambles, or noify Rattles, in Comparison of Humility. She knows her felf better than to be proud of her Virtue, or to magnify it into a Vice. When the compares the frequenteft Notes with her Creator, The annihilates her felf as an undeferving diminutive Creature: and refolves All at last into this fingle Point, that nothing but a perverse and deprav'd Judgment can prize Earth before. R 4 Hea Heaven, or prefer temporal Pleasures before eternal Felicities. By her great Humiliation, he becomes obedient to Superiors, familiar with Equals, and courteous towards Inferiors: never wedded to her own Will, Humour, Genius, Singularity, or Inclination. She receives all Of fences or Affronts with Patience, and gives nonę with Defign, Paffion or Prejudice. She bears the vileft Indignities with a hearty Forgive nefs, or abfolute Refignation to the fole Propri etor of Revenge: and does all the good Offices in her Power for evil Ones, by her fingular Grace of a general Pardon, and a particular Oblivion. She carries an univerfal Indemnity about her for all fuch little worthless Rebels against Virtue, Betrayers of Innocence, and Murderers of good Nature, as reproach her Humility. In fhort, fhe is filent, not talkative; loves Privacy and Retirement, not publick Concourses or intriguing Interviews; delights in fecret Solitudes and peaceable Soliloquies, not in Court-Ceremo nies or common Conferences of Amour and contracts the Affairs of the whole World (as it were) into the narrow Compass of her own Bofom. Her own inoffenfive Breast she takes to be her beft Confident. She is always true and faithful to her felf; fedate and ferious in her Thoughts; modeft and circumfpect in her A&tions; grave and graceful in her Speech; pleafant and delightful in her Countenance; difcreet and prudent in her Carriage or Behaviour in Publick infomuch that one may read the Humility of her Heart on the Outfide of her Body. Thus fhe ftands ever well prepar'd for humbling her felf, and fubmitting her ufeful Hands to help her Domefticks, by condefcending to the meaneft : meanest Offices of Virtue, Kindness, and Indutry in her Houshold-Works. IT is worth Obfervation, what true Pains fuch an induftrious Trades Woman, as I may call her, takes to discharge the Duty of a faithful Miftrefs of her Houthold. For the better Riddance of her Work, fhe lays her Hands readily to any Thing that comes in her Way, as well as the Distaff and Spindle; and will be fure to give it a Lift in the Family with her own Fingers, either to oblige her Husband, deferve her Children's good Word, or recommend her own prudent Conduct and Behaviour to the World. By this Means, the makes one of the best Common-Wealth's-Women, in a right Senfe. ClothWorking was always juftly efteem'd a commendable Imploy, as well as profitable; efpecially when it is undertaken by proper Perfons, for fo laborious a Province. I do not mean that Ladies of Quality are oblig'd to fuch fervile Offices. But they might incourage them in others, more for the Promotion of Trade. However, nothing comes amifs to our generous handy Cloth Worker's Mind in the Text: nothing falls under her Reluctancy or Retentment, but the Fear of giving Offence to the Neighbouring HoufeWives where he lives, and becoming their Enemy by a reputed Over-doing her Duty, to their Difgrace. But fuch idle Reflections as Theirs can prove only the Foil of her Virtues, and fet them off with the brighter Glory. Such envious Reproaches are charg'd too deep; and, like foul Guns, immediately recoil upon themselves in the Discharge. I. A virtuous Wife need not be afham'd to handle the Distaff or hold it in Efteem. She reckons it no Difparagement for a Country Geatles |