169. It will, I hope, be the result of the interest lately awakened in art through our provinces, to enable each town of importance to obtain, in permanent possession, a few--and it is desirable there should be no more than a few--examples of consummate and masterful art: an engraving or two by Duerer--a single portrait by Reynolds--a fifteenth century Florentine drawing--a thirteenth century French piece of painted glass, and the like; and that, in every town occupied in a given manufacture, examples of unquestionable excellence in that manufacture should be made easily accessible in its civic museum. I must ask you, however, to observe very carefully that I use the word _manufacture_ in its literal and proper sense. It means the making of things _by the hand_. It does not mean the making them by machinery. And, while I plead with you for a true humility in rivalship with the works of others, I plead with you also for a just pride in what you really can honestly do yourself. You must neither think your work the best ever done by man:--nor, on the other hand, think that the tongs and poker can do better--and that, although you are wiser than Solomon, all this wisdom of yours can be outshone by a shovelful of coke. 170. Let me take, for instance, the manufacture of lace, for which, I believe, your neighbouring town of Nottingham enjoys renown. There is still some distinction between machine-made and hand-made lace. I will suppose that distinction so far done away with, that, a pattern once invented, you can spin lace as fast as you now do thread. Everybody then might wear, not only lace collars, but lace gowns. Do you think they would be more comfortable in them than they are now in plain stuff--or that, when everybody could wear them, anybody would be proud of wearing them? A spider may perhaps be rationally proud of his own cobweb, even though all the fields in the morning are covered with the like, for he made it himself--but suppose a machine spun it for him? Suppose all the gossamer were Nottingham-made, would a sensible spider be either prouder, or happier, think you? A sensible spider! You cannot perhaps imagine such a creature. Yet surely a spider is clever enough for his own ends? You think him an insensible spider, only because he cannot understand yours--and is apt to impede yours. Well, be assured of this, sense in human creatures is shown also, not by cleverness in promoting their own ends and interests, but by quickness in understanding other people's ends and interests, and by putting our own work and keeping our own wishes in harmony with theirs.