Sleep! for along the shore The waves lie smooth and still, The night breeze stirs no more The dry grass on the hill; What vexes thee that only thou Folds not the restless wing That swept the ocean spray? Sleeps not each weary thing That toiled and roved all day? Has all the soothing calm That quiets earth and sea No power to hush, no spell to charm Then lift thine eyes above Each sparkling star that wakes, To watch like faithful love O'er those the sun forsakes, High in the broad blue arch Suspends its vigil bright, When the moon goes forth on her radiant march, And well may'st thou repose; Tracks all the steps of those Who claim thine anxious prayer. Sleep! as the stars all sleep, When the moon's full glories shine; And heaven a warier watch shall keep Than those sad eyes of thine! H. F. THE REFUGEE MANUFACTURERS. THE services rendered by the French Military Refugees who fought in William the III.'s armies, were brilliant, but transient. They powerfully contributed to consolidate the dynasty elected by the Revolution of 1688, and helped it to conquer rebellious Ireland. The war over, their influence ceased, or assumed a new character. The influence exercised by the refugee manufacturers and traders, was more durable than that of their more warlike brethren. They imparted to English trade and manufactures an immense impulse, whose effects are felt to the present day. Charles Weiss, Professor of History at the Lycée Buonaparte, has written a deeply interesting memorial of them, and we glean from it the following information. The revocation of the Edict of Nantes, sent into the three kingdoms about 70,000 manufacturers and workmen, most of whom proceeded from Normandy, Picardy, the maratime provinces of the west, the Lyonnais and Touraine. A great number settled in London, in Soho, and St. Giles, then suburban, and in lonely Spital Fields, which they entirely peopled, and which their descendants still inhabit. We were indebted to them for the introduction of several new manufactures, which soon contributed to the public wealth, and for the improvement of others still in their infancy. Before that period, the paper made in England was of common description, and greyish colour; and the better qualities of glass ware, hats, and a number of other articles of every-day consumption, were imported from the Continent, and especially from France. The refugees taught us how to manufacture these for ourselves, and moreover, showed us how to produce silks, brocades, satins, velvets, light tissues of linen and wool, clocks and watches, glass ware, cutlery, French locks, surgical instruments. The Bill of Rights was passed about this time, and gave the signal for a very large augmentation of our manufactures, commerce and navigation. Of all the manufactures which the refugees introduced, not one acquired a more magnificent development than that of silks. Skilful workmen from Tours and Lyons, established themselves at Canterbury. In 1694 they possessed 1000 looms, and employed 2,700 persons. The majority finally settled in Spitalfields. Thence they carried their enterprise to Dublin, where it assumed an unexpected importance. Our country then presented the striking sight of a manufacture borrowed from the foreigners, consuming foreign materials, yet equalling, and even surpassing the productions of the countries from which it came. The French artisans took into England models of looms similar to those of Tours and Lyons. They taught us improved methods of weaving, and the mode of making brocades, satins, paduasoys, watered silks, black and fancy velvets, stuffs and mixed silk and cotton. The figured silks made in London at the end of the seventeenth century, were almost exclusively due to the industry of three refugees. A refugee artist supplied the designs. Mongeorge, a common workman, took them the secrets recently discovered at Lyons, of giving lustre to silk taffety. The French Ambassador tried to bribe him to return to France; but it was too late, the secret was known. Up to that time, our forefathers had made, every year, very large imports of black lustrings, manufactured on purpose for them, and known as English taffeties. The British government first tripled the duty, and then entirely prohibited the importation. This branch of the Lyons trade was soon ruined. Refugee workmen made it a home manufacture. English merchants exported to other countries, not only taffeties, but many other silk articles which France had exclusively supplied. By means of the stocking loom, Italy was supplied with silk stockings, at a moderate price. A Neapolitan shop keeper, in 1730, wishing to recommend his silks, declared them to be English. Thus do the wicked punish themselves. During the whole of the eighteenth and part of the nineteenth century, our country has beheld an annual increase of profits from a manufacture which we owe to the revocation of the Edict of Nantes. Five and a half millions of pounds of raw silk are now annually imported into Great Britain. In 1849, the exportation to France alone of those English silk manufactures upon which there is not a prohibition duty, reached a value of four millions of francs. So well has this pacific conquest been appreciated, that no pains have been spared to advance its interests. In the eighteenth century, the most skilful workmen. were unceasingly allured from Lyons, by the bait of high wages, in order to secure the highest talent and taste for these manufactures which the refugees gave us. The emigration begun in 1685, continued under Louis XV., under Louis XVI., and especially during the long cessation of work at Lyons in 1793 and 1794. It required the most persevering efforts on the part of the First Consul, to get back to France a certain number of emigrants who had left during the reign of terror. By his express orders, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, wrote especially to the ambassador in London, to do the utmost to send home the Lyons' silk workers. In our own day, when the revolution had made labour languish in that industrious city, the agents of our manufacturers redoubled their efforts to get hold of the best French workmen, and offered such advantages, that a large number was tempted, and went to London to infuse new life into establishments founded by the refugees. Before the revocation, our country purchased a large quantity of sail cloth in Normandy and Brittany. In 1669, no less than £171,000 was paid for that article alone. From these provinces also, came the white linens which we exported to the West Indies. Well, in 1681, the elders and deacons of the French church in Threadneedle Street, supplied funds for the establishment of a linen manufactory at Ipswich, where Charles the II. had permitted the refugees to found a colony. Bonhomme, of Paris, one of the most skilful manufacturers of linen cloth in that city, spread its manufacture in England, and also taught the way of making sailcloth. In 1685, a sailcloth factory was added to the linen factory at Ipswich. The result was, that St. Malo merchants bitterly complain of a diminution of exports, and that the linen trade of Morlaix, Brest, and Landernan, was soon lessened by two-thirds. Not only the Protestant workmen, but even a crowd of Papists, followed their masters across the channel. At least, 4,000 went from Rennes, Nantes, and Vitré alone. Contances quite lost the fine linen manufacturers. Masters and men were all in England. Out of 20,000 workmen at Laval, more than 14,000 emigrated. Counteracting efforts were made, to some slight extent successfully; pistoles and crowns, lies and stratagems, ruined the Ipswich and other factories. But after 1688, new manufactories were established by the refugees, and William favoured them by every means in his power. They have ever since, gone on prosperously. In 1850, we exported 122,397,457 yards of linen. Printed calicoes were made for the first time in England, in 1690, by a refugee. He established a factory on the banks of the Thames, near Richmond. A larger one was commenced at Bromley Hall, Essex, and transferred to Lancashire in 1768. We need not |