Without, however, dwelling longer upon this portion of our subject, which time will not permit, let us now proceed to trace out, in some measure, the history and progress of that more perfect and ingenious invention, MODERN PAPER; and in so doing, I can hardly forbear making some allusion to the incalculable advantages which have resulted to mankind from the introduction of so ingenious and extraordinary a discovery. It certainly would appear very remarkable, that not only amongst mankind generally, but even with those intimately associated with that branch of commerce, so little interest should be found to exist in an acquaintance with its origin and advancement, beyond the bare knowledge which directly concerns them. It is true that with them, no less than with people in general, the very indispensableness of the material renders familiarity at once an unconscious stumbling-block, to any conception of the grandeur of its importance, or its vastly interesting, and varied associations. Yet what infinite trouble and labour, what fruitless consumption of time, has not been saved by the invention of paper. How many toilsome and dangerous experiments have not philosophical projectors been spared. What laborious investigations and study have not thus been abridged, by the facts of others’ researches being so conveyed to posterity—knowledge, more than any one man could have attained to in a thousand years, though born with faculties in maturity. To enumerate all the advantages which the invention of paper has afforded mankind, it were, indeed, useless to attempt; for, whether we look at the traveller, traversing sea and land, without the knowledge of geography, and navigation; without those beautiful charts of the ocean, by which he is now enabled to proceed with safety, and even to predict with certainty, his arrival at the most distant ports: or, whether we look at the man of science, who being neither artist, nor manufacturer, is thus enabled to communicate his plans and projects with accuracy and ease, for mechanics afterwards to improve and perfect: or, indeed, whether we view the growing youth, educated with such facility in the principles of their duty, backward even to barbarous states, softened and enlightened by means of the discovery; its value, in the applicability of its purposes, stands out alike in each, declaring it distinctly above all other inventions, as truly the most wonderful, useful, and important, which has ever yet transpired in any age of the world; inasmuch, as without it, every other discovery must necessarily have continued comparatively useless to society. For, be it remembered, that in contrasting the results of this invention, with the productions of former periods, we are, in fact, arraying in our train, the mighty arm of the press against the feeble efforts of an unwieldy style, or the tedious and uncertain process of the slow-paced pen, which prior to an acquaintance with the art of printing, were the only