way out, as well as it could, by the roof, the door, or the windows. The houses were mostly built of wattling, plastered over with clay; the floors were of earth, strowed, in families of distinction, with rushes. The beds were only straw pallets, with a log of wood for a pillow. In this respect, even the king was no better off than his subjects; for, in the time of Henry the Eighth, we find directions, "to examine, every night, the straw of the king's bed, that no daggers might be concealed therein." In the discourse prefixed to Hollingshed's Chronicle, published in 1577, the writer, speaking of the progress of luxury, mentions three things, especially, that were marvellously altered for the worse. in England: the multitude of chimneys lately erected; the great increase of lodgings; and the exchange of treene-platters into pewter, and wooden spoons into silver and tin; and he complains bitterly that nothing but oak, for building houses, was then regarded: "for when our houses," says he, "were built of willow, then we had oaken men; but now that our houses are come to be made of oak, our men are not only become willow, but a great many altogether straw, which is a sore alteration."

CHAPTER V.

MANUFACTURE OF CLOTH, PAPER, ETC.

THIS forms one the most interesting as well as important branches of the arts. To convert the short and weak fibres of wool, cotton, &c., into strong and flexible textures, adapted to a great variety of purposes, might seem to be the highest effort of human ingenuity. And yet it is an effort, which, under the pressure of necessity, is made at the earliest periods of civilization. Animals have been provided by their Creator with a covering suited to the zones in which they dwell. But man, the universal denizen, the inhabitant of every

zone, has been left to supply this ever-varying want, by the efforts of his own industry and skill. At first, he may be satisfied to clothe himself in the skins which he has taken from the animals destroyed in the chase. Choice, however, soon conspires with necessity, in prompting him to seek a more convenient, comely, and salubrious covering. Hence we find, in the earliest records of human history, notices of "fine linen;" and there is little doubt, that both cotton and wool were manufactured, the former in India and the latter in Greece, at very remote periods of their history. At such times, patient industry, joined with manual skill, succeeds, though destitute of science, in accomplishing, with considerable accuracy, complicated processes, which are now executed with yet greater perfection, and almost entirely by machinery. It will be our object, in treating of this subject, to explain the principles on which the manufacture of cloth, paper, &c., depends, and to show its connexion (as conducted at present) with mechanics and chemistry.

I. The constituent fibres of cloth, paper, &c., are held together, principally, by friction and adhesion among themselves. The efforts of the manufacturer are directed to interweaving or intermixing them so together, that any force which is applied will tend, as in the arch, rather to bind them together than to separate them. This is accomplished, in different ways, according to the material which we use, and the purpose to which the fabric is to be applied. If we would manufacture cloth, we commence by twisting the fibres together into small threads, and then we unite these threads into a continuous texture, by weaving. If it be our object to make cordage, or ropes, the threads are united, not by weaving, but by twisting alone; and finally, if we propose to make paper, or the felt for hats, the fibres, instead of being twisted, are united principally by pressure.

Previous to being united, the fibres are in all cases subjected to a treatment, which is calculated to render

them more flexible, even, and uniform. Thus, flax is broken and hatcheled, in order to exclude the husk and coarse fibres, and to render the remainder even and pliable: cotton is picked and carded: wool is either carded or combed, according as its fibres are shorter or longer, and then oiled, to enable these fibres to move freely upon each other, during the process of spinning and weaving: furs, and other materials for felting, are intimately mixed together, by bowing:* and the rags, from which paper is generally made, are minutely subdivided by cutters, and immersed in water, till they form a thin, uniform pulp.

The most common mode of uniting flexible fibres is by twisting; and as this is never effected without some machine, we shall have occasion to describe it more particularly, when we come to speak of spinning by machinery. Weaving is a more complicated process. Threads are arranged longitudinally and parallel to each other, which are called the warp, and these are crossed at right angles by another thread, called the woof, weft, or filling, which, in common weaving, passes alternately over and under the threads of the warp. In twilled goods, however, it crosses only at the third, fourth, fifth, or sixth, threads; and, when great fineness is wanted, only, in some cases, at the sixteenth. In weaving gauze, the threads of the warp, instead of remaining parallel, are crossed, and partially twisted to the right and left, alternately, at each stroke of the loom. In lace, the threads of the weft, instead of moving at right angles to the warp, are made to pass in cross directions, and obliquely round the warp threads, so as to produce the hexagonal meshes, which distinguish this kind of fabric. In velvet, plush, and corduroy, as also in Brussels and Turkey carpets, the threads are drawn up in loops, which are cut open,

and

* This depends on the vibration of an elastic spring, which, moving rapidly backwards and forwards through the fur, is well calculated to remove all irregularities, and dispose them in a light and uniform arrangement.

thus form a soft uniform nap. In Kidderminster carpets, Marseilles quilts, &c., there are two webs, each consisting of a separate warp and a separate woof, which intersect each other at intervals, so as to produce a definite figure. It should also be added, that the warp and weft are not always of the same material; linen, cotton, &c., being often used as a filling, for woollen; and there are other cases, as in the Turkey carpet and in tapestry, where both are of linen, and are yet concealed by the wool, which is introduced to produce the figures, and give to the fabric its fine and ornamented surface.

When the web has been woven, it needs, in many cases, some additional process, in order to fit it for convenient use. Thus, cotton, when taken from the loom, is covered with rough down, formed by the projecting ends of the fibres, which is generally removed by burning,

the heat being applied and withdrawn so rapidly, as not to injure the texture of the cloth. Woollens require to be scoured, in order to remove the oily matter previously applied; and to restore roughness to the fibres; and, if composed of short wool, the web is found so loose and open, that it must be submitted to another operation, called fulling. This is performed by a fullingmill, in which the cloth is immersed in water, and subjected to repeated compressions, by the action of large beaters formed of wood, which repeatedly change the position of the cloth, and cause the fibres to felt, and combine more closely together. By this process, the cloth is reduced in its dimensions, and the beauty and stability of the texture are greatly improved. The tendency to become thickened, by fulling, is peculiar to wool and hair, and does not exist in the fibres of cotton and flax. It depends on a certain roughness of these animal fibres, which permits motion in one direction, while it retards it in another. It thus promotes entanglement of the fibres, which serves to shorten and thicken the woven fabric.

The nap, or downy surface of broadcloth, and also

of hats, is raised by a process, which, while it improves the beauty, tends somewhat to diminish the strength, of the texture. It is produced by carding the cloth with a species of bur, the fruit of the common teasel, which is cultivated for the purpose. This operation extracts a part of the fibres, and lays them in a parallel direction. The nap, composed of these fibres, is then cut off to an even surface, by the process of shearing.

II. Machinery used in the manufacture of cloth, &c. -It is obvious, that, without the aid of machinery, the human hands could do very little at twisting and weaving flexible fibres. Hence the spinning-wheel and loom are among the earliest inventions of human ingenuity. Among the Greeks and Romans, spinning was the chief employment of the women. The rites of marriage directed their attention to it, and the distaff and fleece were not only the emblems, but the objects, of the most important domestic duties of a wife. The machinery employed in weaving, though rude in construction, was in principle similar to that still in use; and the process of fulling and preparing the cloth seems to have resembled the modern practice, in every particular point, except that of shearing the nap, with which the ancients do not appear to have been acquainted. In early records, we do not read, however, of cloth being measured, which appears to have arisen from a custom of weaving no more cloth in one piece than was sufficient to form a single dress.

Muslins are to this day manufactured by the primitive boor, in India, probably without any material alteration of the form in use during the earliest ages of its invention. It consists merely of two bamboo rollers, one for the warp the other for the weft, with a pair of gear; the shuttle performing the office of the batoon. This simple apparatus the Indian weaver frequently erects under the shade of a tree. He digs a hole, large enough to contain his legs, and the lower part of his gear; he then stretches his warp, by fastening the rollers at due dis