Page:History of Manchester (1771), Volume 1, by John Whitaker.djvu/324

 Chap. IX. OF MANCHESTER. z 93 only a carpet of Ikins beneath them to. And the Britifli chairs were either merely tall rounded blocks of wood, which our Mancu- nians to this day diftinguifh by the British appellation of Crick- ets, Krig-ets, or little elevations, or were provided with backs, were mounted upon four fupporters, or refted upon a fquare balls of wood. And as we have fpecimens of all thefe chairs deline^ ated on the coins, of Cunot?eline, fo we have a cricket particu- larly exhibited twice upon them in the genuine form which it carries in Lancashire at ptefent ". The Romans probably very Jittle improved either the wooden bowl? the wooden plates or Jthe wooden chairs of the Britons. All of them perhaps were baniflied entirely to the houies of the inferior Mancunians. And among the inferior Mancunians have ail of them defcended nearly co the prefent period,, and have all continued nearly in their, original confttu&ion; The vitrification of iindy particles by the force of fire, and the various application of the vitrified matter to domeftic ufes, form one of the moft pleafing difcoveries in the whole circle of domeftic improvements.. The difcovery however refulted not in . ail probability from the creative powers of the human under* {landing. It was merely the confequ^noe of chance. Such have been alcooft all the great inventions of man, fome incident foil- citing hH attention, and reaibn. becoming the pupil of contin- gency. And fuch was moft probably the -firft invention of glafs, • land being vitrified by an, accidental fire, ,and art imitating the work of cafualty. , Many accidents of this nature muft have neceflarily happened in the. earlieft ages of the. world,. in. the. firft efforts of the pottery,, or on the Gift formation of bricks*. And tradition, altaoft the only information that we can have concerning the commencement of the domeftic arts, here con- curs with probability, and afferts the firft glafs to have been aftuaily manufa&ured by chance f But this event muft have happened many ages before the conftruftion of Tyre. And that lately emporium can have no title to the honour of the fir ft difecwery. In Tyre however w£re ere&ed the firft public glafs* iieuies that, hiftory mentions: and in Tyre was the only ftaple 4 Of ^