Whether this taste is to be considered as a proof of the weakness of our
judgment, or of innate inquisitiveness, which stimulates us to enlarge
the sphere of our knowledge, must be left to the decision of
metaphysicians; it is sufficient for our present purpose to know that it
gave rise to a numerous class of impostors in the shape of quacks,
mountebanks, poison-swallowers, fire-eaters, and pill-mongers.
There is another class of adepts, such as sleight of hand performers,
slack rope dancers, teachers of animals to perform extraordinary tricks;
in short, those persons who delude the senses, and practise harmless
deceptions on spectators, included under the common appellation of
jugglers. If these arts served no other purpose than that of mere
amusement, they yet merit a certain degree of encouragement, as
affording at once a cheap and innocent diversion; jugglers of this class
frequently exhibit instructive experiments in natural philosophy,
chemistry, and mechanics: thus the solar microscope was invented from an
instrument to reflect shadows, with which a savoyard amused a German
populace; and the celebrated Sir Richard Arkwright is said to have
conceived the idea of the spinning machines, which have so largely
contributed to the prosperity of the cotton manufactories in this
country, from a toy which he purchased for his child from an itinerant
showman.
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