But, crucially, the work of improvement was far from done.
It's an attitude I call the improving mentality: seeing that there is always room for improvement, no matter how much has already been made.
He listed them:
And, most importantly, the way to get more people improving things was for them to improve themselves, too.
(There's a reason that @BirkbeckUoL University still holds evening classes: in the 1820s it was founded as the London Mechanics' Institute.)
And he exhorted his working audience to emulate them. Many of the "great" inventors of the 1820s, after all, had originally been of humble means.
His message is just as relevant to the 2020s as it was to the 1820s. Go forth and improve!
You can read more here: antonhowes.substack.com/p/age-of-inven…