“But you have said nothing about the perfection to which they carried their machinery,” said the professor. “I think the ancients deserve our thanks for their mechanical inventions.”
“I cannot confer praise on any invention, however brilliant it may be, that must come into operation at the expense of human sufferings, don’t you see,” observed the other; “and all those machines which were brought into use for the purpose of diminishing the amount of manual employment, did produce a very great degree of human wretchedness. It may be very satisfactory to some parties, to consider that the country becomes more wealthy according to the increasing facility with which its manufactures are sent to market; but the time must come, if this rapidity of creating produce continue, when the supply must exceed the demand, and then finding an inadequate market for its manufactures, the country must become poor. But while this result is gradually brought about by the manufacturers endeavouring to produce their goods by means of machinery, at as little cost and with as great facility as it is possible to attain, the thousands who gained their subsistence by the labour which these machines have supplied, are left without a resource; they must crawl out the remainder of their miserable lives as they can, and are left to famish, to beg, or to steal. It is pleasant, perhaps, to know that machinery allows you to purchase half a dozen pairs of shoes at the price you formerly paid for one, but while every one can get shoes for a trifle, they who make them can neither get shoes nor bread.”
“Are you still arguing, gentlemen?” inquired Oriel Porphyry as he returned from another part of the ship to which he had proceeded with the captain on the approach of the philosophers. “There certainly must be a great fascination in your method of reasoning, or you would either be tired of talking, or want subjects to talk about. What has been the matter in debate on this occasion?”
“We have been arguing upon the superiority of the ancients over the moderns,” replied the professor. “I maintained and do still maintain, that the ancients far exceeded us in intelligence, in skill, and in every thing which is a sign of superior civilisation. Their works of learning are invaluable—their efforts in art not to be surpassed—their discoveries in science have been the admiration of every succeeding age.”
“And what says the doctor to this?” inquired the young merchant. Fortyfolios looked round, and discovered that his antagonist had left the field.
[CHAP. VIII.]
LOVE MISPLACED.
Zabra’s disposition appeared to have undergone a complete change. He was no longer to be found in the cabin delighting every one with the stirring eloquence of his language, or on the quarter-deck instructing the gentle Lilya in the wonders of the ship. Instead of, as had hitherto been the case, seeking the company of Oriel Porphyry as the greatest enjoyment he possessed, he had for several days avoided every place where they were likely to meet. He roamed about the vessel without attempting to converse with either officers or crew, and if any one ventured to address him, the proud look with which the speaker was regarded, as the young creole turned away, was sufficiently repulsive to prevent the experiment being repeated. Even those with whom he had used to be on terms of intimacy, the captain and the young midshipman, were passed by with the same gloomy look. Every one wondered at the change, and all were ignorant of the cause.