(1) The process of change was set i

(1) The process of change was set in motion everywhere from Land's End to John O'Groats. (2) But it was in northern cities that our modern world was born. (3) These stocky, taciturn people were the first to live by steam, cogs, iron, and engine grease, and the first in modern times to demonstrate the dynamism of the human condition. (4) This is where, by all the rules of heredity, the artificial satellite and the computer were conceived. (5) Baedeker may not recognize it, but it is one of history's crucibles. (6) Until the start of the technical revolution, in the second half of the eighteenth century, England was an agricultural country, only slightly invigorated by the primitive industries of the day. (7) She was impelled, for the most part, by muscular energies — the strong arms of her islanders, the immense legs of her noble horses. (8) But she was already mining coal and smelting iron, digging canals and negotiating bills of exchange. (9) Agriculture itself had changed under the impact of new ideas: the boundless open fields of England had almost all been enclosed, and lively farmers were experimenting with crop rotation, breeding methods and winter feed. (10) There was a substantial merchant class already, fostered by trade and adventure, and a solid stratum of literate yeomen.